​You came, you gave, you conquered – Appreciating Srila Prabhupada’s mercy

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You came, you gave you conquered meditating on Srila Prabhupada’s extraordinary mercy. This is the 50th anniversary this year 2016 we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Krishna Consciousness movement and this occasion has become also a forum for meditating deeply on the mercy of Srila Prabhupada by which we are able to experience this glorious occasion so the incredible achievement that Srila Prabhupada did by which he established the Krishna Consciousness movement all over the world in just 11 years, that is, it has few if any parallels in world history what Srila Prabhupada achieved is extraordinary in just 11 years those two 11 years the later years of his life when he was almost 70 between the years of 70 to 80 Srila Prabhupada travelled all over the world and he circumnavigated the globe 14 times, he wrote over 70 books, he inspired millions of people all over the world he practiced bhakti and he built 108 temples, all these are stupendous achievements and yet if we just focus on these achievements, we may overlook the inner driving inspiration that led to all these achievements Srila Prabhupada once said that I have inherited the legacy of my spiritual master now if we see the Gaudiya Math which is the organization that Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master Bhaktisthan Sri Thakur started the Gaudiya Math was extremely powerful as an organization when Bhaktisthan Sri Thakur was there at 64 temples in India and 3 temples outside India in Rangoon, in Hamburg and in London and unfortunately after the departure of Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisthan Sri Thakur Srila Prabhupada after his departure the Gaudiya Math fragmented and different disciples were in charge of different mathas they continued on Bhaktisthan Sri Thakur’s mission according to their individual capacities but Srila Prabhupada was a grahastha and he did not have any official position in the Gaudiya Math and so he did not receive anything from the Gaudiya Math so in that sense Srila Prabhupada did not get any legacy in materially tangible terms he did not get any funds he did not get any institution he did not get any followers he did not get anything that was materially tangible but he got something that was spiritually tangible, supremely spiritual tangible and that was the desire to share Krishna with the world in their first and last interactions Srila Bhaktisthan Sri Thakur gave essentially the same instruction to Srila Prabhupada Srila Bhaktisthan Sri Thakur told Prabhupada that in the first meeting he told that that you are educated young man why don’t you spread the mission of Lord Chaitanya in the western world and the last instruction was in the letter that Srila Bhaktisthan Sri Thakur wrote to Srila Prabhupada just a few days before his departure and he reiterated the same thing if you share Lord Chaitanya’s message in the English language you will benefit yourself and you will benefit the world so this instruction was the fuel for Srila Prabhupada’s desire to share Krishna and Srila Prabhupada was exemplary disciple of an extraordinary spiritual master and he took that one instruction to heart and by taking that instruction to the heart he shared Krishna consciousness all over the world the legacy that the spiritual master gives to the disciple is this desire to share Krishna this desire to relish Krishna oneself and to share Krishna with others and for Srila Prabhupada it was to share with others means to share all over the world so how Srila Prabhupada shared Krishna consciousness all over the world I would like to meditate on through these three words you came, you saw, you conquered actually famous Roman conqueror he said I came, I saw, I conquered that showed how powerful he was and wherever he went he was unstoppable and he conquered everyone this is famous historical rhetorical statement but with respect to Srila Prabhupada he came he came, he conquered so he came Srila Prabhupada his coming is at various levels in Chaitanya Bhargava it is Chaitanya Bhargava it is predicted that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu will send a senapati bhakta a commander who will share Krishna consciousness who will share the chanting of the holy names far and wide Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said also that my holy name will be chanted in every town and village of the world of the earth so Srila Prabhupada we see from his actions in sharing Krishna consciousness in all the inhabited continents in the world in inspiring the practice of bhakti in all the major cities in the world Srila Prabhupada fulfilled the prophecy of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu he was indeed the the Shaktyavesh avatar he was the empowered representative of Lord Chaitanya who came from the spiritual world to the material world to bless the material world with the blessings of Krishna bhakti and Srila Prabhupada’s coming was also in a more literal sense he came from India to the western world when the western world was more or less the vortex center of the earth and that was where from where the whole culture and the civilization was being shaped all over the world Srila Prabhupada came to the western world and he came to America which had become the primary super power after the first world war after the second world war Srila Prabhupada came to the west and to people he had who had no knowledge of Krishna bhakti who had no knowledge even of the understanding of God as Krishna he infused them with so much Krishna bhakti that they became inspired enough to dedicate their whole life to Krishna and to give up everything else in their devotion to Krishna and thereafter he also came to not he went all over the world in Australia when he was there when he came a girl asked Swamiji when she heard Prabhupada’s class and she found him so beautifully asked Swamiji why didn’t you come earlier Prabhupada said because you were not born earlier we were waiting for you to be born so that we could bless you with this message so Srila Prabhupada he came not just in a abstract or merely geographical sense Prabhupada’s coming is something which has transformed all our lives he has saved all of us and it is not just that Srila Prabhupada came to the western world after going to the western world he came back to India and it was only when Indians saw the transformational potency of Krishna bhakti Indians were enamored by the west and Indians were trying to imitate the westerners when Prabhupada demonstrated how westerners were practicing Krishna bhakti and were practicing Krishna bhakti more seriously than what Indians were practicing then he created an enormous devotional revival in India thus he came to India bringing the treasures of India back to India after demonstrating the value of those treasures through the transformation in the lives of western people you came Srila Prabhupada then you gave Srila Prabhupada travelled all over the world for the purpose of blessing people one time after a program a lady asked Srila Prabhupada Swamiji can you pray for me Prabhupada replied I am always praying for you otherwise what need do I have to come in this old age crossing so many oceans to this distant land now Prabhupada came to give Krishna his charity this is the supreme spiritual charity in the Bhagavatam it is said so it is said that those who speak the message of Krishna all over the world and thus they actually they extinguish the blazing fire of material existence through the nectarean shower of the message of Krishna of the pastimes of Krishna they are the greatest benefactors for the whole world so Srila Prabhupada was such a benefactor he blessed the whole world with the profuse nectar of Krishna Bhakti you gave Srila Prabhupada was like a doctor who travelled all over the world to give medicine for people who were suffering and people may not understand their suffering in material existence but still they are suffering and when they got Krishna Bhakti their lives became transformed, they became inspired they became dedicated and they became elevated so you came you gave, Srila Prabhupada’s mission was a mission of giving the knowledge of Krishna, giving the holy names of Krishna giving love for Krishna and then you conquered this conquest was not a physical or a political conquest it was a spiritual conquest Srila Prabhupada came to conquer hearts Srila Prabhupada gave all credit to Krishna when he was asked how did you how did you achieve something so stupendous, inspired so many people all over the world to practice Krishna Bhakti Prabhupada said Krishna is all attractive I just presented Krishna as he is and he attracted everyone this is both reality and humility where Krishna is all attractive and when he is presented such an endearing, fulfilling, charming conception of God that people will become attracted to him and along with that there is also the understanding that Krishna is manifested through his devotees, so Prabhupada because of his purity and potency was so great, Prabhupada desired nothing other than to share Krishna with the world and so strong was his desire that others receive Krishna that just by coming in his presence they became infused with the desire to relish Krishna and to to give up everything else for the sake of relishing Krishna and for sharing that taste of Krishna with others so Prabhupada conquered hearts not just one or two or a hundred or thousand, millions of hearts all over the world and thus he laid he laid the foundations of the Krishna consciousness movement for hundreds and thousands of years to come, so now when we say Prabhupada came, he saw he conquered, this was not just a historic process, it is not just a historical event although of course it was historical and it is historic it has no parallels in the past in what Srila Prabhupada has achieved but it is not just historical it is actually an eternal event which can be eternally repeated every time when we read Srila Prabhupada’s books, when we meditate on Srila Prabhupada’s message, when we associate with Srila Prabhupada’s followers, when we participate, when we come to the temple that Srila Prabhupada established when we participate in the Krishna consciousness movement that he established through it all we let Srila Prabhupada come into our hearts, we let Srila Prabhupada enrich our hearts with Krishna bhakti and thus we let him conquer our heart and this is a bloodless politics conquest which will truly transform the world and Srila Prabhupada has come to bless us with such a transformation and we often face difficulties both in our practice of bhakti and in our attempts to share bhakti with others, if while facing such difficulties we remember the huge amount of difficulties that Srila Prabhupada went through in his efforts to share Krishna bhakti with the world, if we remember that then we will feel inspired yes, whatever difficulties I have to face, they are so tiny suppose a child is sick and a child is given some child is terribly sick and a child is given a terribly bitter medicine, child will say I cannot take this medicine I cannot take this medicine, child may say like that but if the child is told that child comes to know that that medicine is actually very expensive and his mother sold her precious jewelry like there is a heirloom coming down many generations, mother has sold that just so that she can have money for purchasing that medicine, then the whole perspective of the child changes the child understands that what my mother has sacrificed is so great and if she can do so much, I can tolerate this bitterness of the medicine, I will drink it and I will drink it gratefully not resentfully, similarly we may face some difficulties in taking the medicine of Krishna Bhakti, in sharing the medicine of Krishna Bhakti with others, actually by sharing also we are taking that medicine because in sharing Krishna Bhakti we are benefited, even if others are not benefited we ourselves are benefited so when we face difficulties in taking the medicine of Krishna Bhakti, when we find it too difficult if we remember the sheer magnitude of difficulty that Srila Prabhupada endured, the magnitude of the difficulties and the volume of the difficulty, the number of the difficulties then we will be able to see our own petty difficulties in perspective and we will be able to march ahead in our journey towards Krishna so Srila Prabhupada we can pray on the occasion of the 50th anniversary that he, Srila Prabhupada please bless us so that the memory of your sacrifices and your commitment stays alive in our heart and it becomes the enduring inspiration for us to dedicate our lives according to a small capacity in your great and glorious mission. Srila Prabhupada without your mercy we are nothing we can do nothing with your mercy you have brought significance to our insignificant lives you can make just as an expert musician can play even with a broken instrument Srila Prabhupada, you can make us play.
You prayed to Krishna Srila Prabhupada on the Jal Doota that make me dance, make me dance similarly today we pray to Srila Prabhupada, we are puppets, please make us dance in your service thank you