Instructions for ISKCON—Part 01

Giriraj Swami: So, we welcome you all to the Hare Krishna land seminar. When we were discussing what courses to offer, we thought of the history of Hare Krishna land and Srila Prabhupada’s struggle for the development of Hare Krishna land, so that we could better understand what Srila Prabhupada’s vision was and what sacrifices he made for the sake of the project, so that we can know what we have to do here and be inspired to do it. Because the courses were planned just recently, I suggested one format that I used at Mayapur of reading from Srila Prabhupada’s biography and commenting. So I shall read five different sections on the five different days, especially to elucidate or illuminate various aspects of Srila Prabhupada’s vision and effort.

Just to give a brief history for those who may not be aware of it, Srila Prabhupada met his guru Maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura in Calcutta in the year 1922. At the time, Srila Prabhupada was twenty-six years old. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura requested Srila Prabhupada at the very first meeting to preach Krishna consciousness in the English language throughout the whole world. Then, in 1965, Srila Prabhupada went to America, to New York, and began Krishna consciousness there. After attracting some young men and women who joined him, Srila Prabhupada returned to India in 1970 with one or two devotees who were with him. We were in America, and we got the reports from India how Srila Prabhupada had said that the people of India are already Krishna conscious; they are 90 percent Krishna conscious. But the only thing is that they lack proper guidance. So we were amazed—90 percent of the people were Krishna conscious because, in America, practically 0 percent were Krishna conscious. And Srila Prabhupada said that they could very easily become fully Krishna conscious; the only thing is they needed proper guidance.

Then, after spending some days in Calcutta, Srila Prabhupada came to Bombay and began the preaching here. Many of the leading people of Bombay came forward to meet Srila Prabhupada, and after meeting him and hearing of his activities and seeing us, they became inspired. Some of them had the idea that we should have one big pandal program in downtown Bombay. We never heard of such a thing, what to speak of having any experience practically. But Srila Prabhupada approved of the idea, and he gave the example of shooting the rhinoceros. In the jungle, a rhinoceros is very strong, very big, and very difficult to catch or kill. Practically no one can do it. So Srila Prabhupada said that we should go for the rhinoceros because if we go for the rhinoceros and fail, no one will blame us. They will say, “Well, everyone knows that you can’t get a rhinoceros.” But if we succeed, then everyone will appreciate that, “Oh, they have done the impossible; they have got the rhinoceros.” So in the same way, Srila Prabhupada said, if we attempt such a big program and if we fail, no one will blame us because everyone knows that how difficult it is. But if we succeed, then everyone will appreciate. So I will read now. Just to give an idea of how big Srila Prabhupada’s vision was and how able he was to work with very inexperienced persons.

READING from Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta

“ISKCON’s Bombay headquarters, which was a four-room flat on the seventh floor of the Akash Ganga building.”

COMMENT

Actually, the apartment is still there, and by some coincidence, the temple president of Calcutta, Abhirama Prabhu, his brother is now occupying the place. And we hear that he feels very honored and privileged to be in such a holy place.

READING (continued)

“Rent was nearly three thousand rupees a month, which was a lot then, and the devotees had no guaranteed monthly income. Because the building was in a vital, prestigious location, Srila Prabhupada had taken the risk. Such a headquarters would be a necessary base for the preaching he wanted to do in Bombay, and his next preaching would be a grand eleven-day pandal program.

“If you are going to hunt,” Prabhupada said, “then you should hunt for a rhinoceros. In that way, if you don’t succeed, everyone will simply say, ‘Oh, it couldn’t be done anyway.’ But if you do succeed, then everyone will be surprised; everyone will be amazed.”

As Prabhupada revealed his plans for a gigantic pandal festival, the devotees became keenly aware that Prabhupada’s inspiration was motivating all their preaching. Without him, they could never attempt anything so bold and ambitious at the giant pandal festival in Bombay. Often “American and European disciples” had been built along with him as if of equal importance. But the devotees saw themselves as only foolish servants trying to help the genuine pure devotee of the Lord. Although Prabhupada credited his disciples, his disciples knew that Prabhupada was Krishna’s empowered representative, and he was their authority, a personal link to Krishna.

As Prabhupada unfolded his plans for the pandal festival, the devotees doubted. How could they ever raise the money? How could they erect such a huge thing? Where would they get so much food, and who would cook it? Prabhupada seemed amused at their doubts. “You are all Americans,” he said, “so what is the use of being American unless you do something wonderful? “A Bombay pandal,” Prabhupada said, “would be the perfect way to link America’s ingenuity with India’s spirituality.” He gave the example of a blind man and a lame man.

Who knows the example of the blind man and the lame man? Who can explain?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:18:55]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, and how does the example apply here?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:19:20]

Giriraj Swami: The Western countries are spiritually blind but materially strong, or technologically advanced. So if the Western technology and the Indian culture combined together, or the Western wealth and the Indian culture combined together, then together they can make progress—they mean the whole world.

READING (continued)

Although severally they are helpless, by cooperating, the blind man carrying the lame man on his shoulders and the lame man giving direction, the two can work successfully. America, because of materialism and ignorance of God, was blind, and India, because of foreign invasion, poverty, and misinterpretations of Vedic knowledge, was lame. America had technological advancement and wealth, and India had spiritual knowledge. The job of the Krishna consciousness movement was to combine the two strengths and uplift the whole world, and one practical application would be the pandal festival.”

COMMENT

So then the work was divided. The devotees worked very hard, and Srila Prabhupada came and saw how the preparations were going and gave some advice about the publicity. He should be advertised as “World Preacher of Bhakti Cult” and the festival should be called “Bhāgavata-dharma Discourses: A Hare Krishna Festival.” Who knows what is bhāgavata-dharma? What is Bhagavat?

Bhagavān is God, who is full in all opulences, and Bhagavat means related to Bhagavān. Anything related to Bhagavān, like the devotee, he is also Bhagavat because he is related to Bhagavān, or the scripture is also called the Bhāgavata because it is related Bhagavān. So bhāgavata-dharma means the religion or the duty or the occupation of serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And that is the subject of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that is the teaching of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or in other words, devotional service. So, from the beginning Srila Prabhupada was very clear about his identity and his mission. He did not give a vague title or description but gave a clear description: “World Preacher of Bhakti Cult.” “Bhāgavata-dharma Discourses: A Hare Krishna Festival.”

And there is a beautiful picture of Srila Prabhupada from the chest up, on big posters, just like these prints on the wall. These posters were put-up all-over Bombay. Everyone saw Prabhupada’s face: “World Preacher of Bhakti Cult.” And actually, Shyamasundara Prabhu was in charge of publicity, and he was brilliant. There were handbills which the devotees would distribute on hari-nāma. There were banners at all the main intersections. There were billboards or hoardings all over the city, and he even arranged a big balloon, a helium-filled balloon that was floating high over the city right across Maidan, where the festival was, saying “Hare Krishna.” So the whole city’s attention was drawn to the Krishna Festival. Everyone know about it, everyone talking about it. Thousands and thousands of visitors came.

There was one incident that made me inquire to Srila Prabhupada and that is, one of the managers, who was trying to get the pandal workers to work. Now, probably because he wasn’t used to working with Indian laborers and didn’t know the language or the ways and means to deal. So, he started to become very, heavy and forceful. You could say he was trying to force them to work, and maybe even some of the devotees. So, this raised the question of force and I asked Srila Prabhupada, and Srila Prabhupada said, “No, we cannot force anyone. Force will not act.” He said, “But we can trick them,” and he gave the example of one student who did not want to learn arithmetic. Whenever the teacher would try to teach arithmetic, he would refuse to learn. So, one day the teacher got an idea and she drew two cows on the board and then she drew another cow and she asked the student that if the farmer has two cows and if he gets another cow, how many cows does he have? And in this way, adding, subtracting, she was teaching the boy arithmetic. Then, the school friend of the boy said, “Don’t you realize what is happening? The teacher is teaching you arithmetic.” “Is that arithmetic? I hate arithmetic.” So, in the same way, Srila Prabhupada explained that some people, they just don’t like the idea of serving God. But somehow or other, we can get them to serve God by making the idea attractive to them. So, in that sense, we can trick them, but we cannot force them.

Of course, when we come to the discussion of vaidhī-bhakti in Nectar of Devotion, we will find that in the beginning, someone may not have a spontaneous attraction for devotional service. But still, he voluntarily accepts the regimen of devotional life. And once he accepts the regimen, then he has to get up early, even if he doesn’t like to. He has to go to maṅgala-ārati, even if he doesn’t feel like it, and so many things. But that acceptance of force is voluntary. It is not actually force; it is voluntary acceptance of rules and regulations given by the scripture. But when we are dealing with new people who haven’t accepted the principles of vaidhī-bhakti, then certainly we cannot use force. We have to attract them. So, the program was a great success, and Srila Prabhupada preached very boldly. Well, first he criticized the audience for not following regulative principles; meat-eating, intoxication, and other things. And he even criticized Shankaracharya, which upset the sentiments of certain persons. And I am not saying that we can imitate Srila Prabhupada either because at another big meeting later in Vardhaman, so many big scholars and preachers of Bhagavad-gītā came, and Srila Prabhupada criticized them. But he told us on the morning walk that there is an art how to criticize, and unfortunately, you do not know that art. On another morning walk on Juhu Beach, he gave the example, some saying in Sanskrit, that instead of saying that the tree is dry, you say that the tree, which is full of beautiful branches and leaves and fruits and flowers, exuding such wonderful fragrance and emanating such beautiful light and beauty, has lost its juice. In other words, ultimately, he is saying the same thing, that the tree is dried up, but in a different, sweeter way.

. . . from Sweden and the girl, Padmavati was from Australia, and other disciples who were initiated were from different countries also. So, when Srila Prabhupada spoke at the ceremony, he commented that, “This is the real United Nations.” Everyone clapped, appreciated. And then at the end of the pandal, there was one procession because, actually, we just got the deities of Radha-Rasabihari, and They weren’t actually installed in the pandal. They weren’t ready at the time, but They were ready. So, at the end of the pandal, we had a procession from Cross Maidan to the Chowpatty beach and there, was another small pandal where Radha-Rasabihari were, but installed where the people had darshan of Them for the first time. And that was the grand finale.

READING (continued)

“The next day, the Indian Express reported headline: “Fitting Finale to Hare Krishna Festival.” It was a grand, fitting finale to the eleven-day Hare Krishna festival, which attracted thousands of devotees across Maidan in South Bombay. The decorated murtis of Radha and Krishna were taken in procession on a regal Ratha from the venue through Gurgaon Road to Chowpatty in the evening.

Dozens of nāma-saṅkīrtana mandalas from all over the city spearheaded the procession with loud and ecstatic chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, followed by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in an elegant, horse-drawn coach. Crowds chanted Hare Krishna on the roadsides as the Ratha was pulled by devotees along the route. At Chowpatty, the four-foot-tall deities, splendidly dressed and decorated with jewels and garlands, were displayed on Their magnificent siṁhāsana, donated to the Hare Krishna movement by Madhava Bhag and Mumba devi temple.”

COMMENT

Actually, there is some little story there that Yamuna was put in charge of the deities, and she had to get the outfits made and make the siṁhāsana also. But she didn’t have any money, and there was very little time. So, she was walking on one of the streets in Bombay, thinking about the situation, and she broke down in tears and started to cry. Then, by chance, the chairman of the Madhava Bhag Trust and Mumba devi Temple Trust saw her, some American lady dressed in sari, wearing tilak, and crying in the streets. So, he asked, “What is the matter?” So, she told him, and he said, “Oh, don’t worry. I have a very big trust. I will arrange the money.”

READING (continued)

“During the celebrations, Prabhupada spoke from the Gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam daily, morning and evening. More than thirty of his foreign disciples conducted kirtan, ārati, and film shows in the splendidly erected pandal. Prabhupada will deliver his final public message to the citizens before leaving in a few weeks on a preaching tour of Russia. Bombayites would not soon forget the Hare Krishna festival. And a letter from Srila Prabhupada to the ISKCON life members pledged that it had been only the beginning.”

COMMENT

Now, this is the important point, especially for the Juhu project: how even before we had the Juhu land, Srila Prabhupada was thinking of some very big projects, and he was also taking the life members into confidence because he was expecting the life members to be the main people who would help. So, this is Srila Prabhupada’s letter:

READING (continued)

“By the grace of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha and Krishna, our recent festival at Cross Maidan Exhibition Grounds has been counted a grand success, and quite noticeably, the spirit of bhakti has been actively revived in Bombay. My blessings go especially to all of you who have joined with us in service.”

COMMENT

Actually, the members, also, just like the devotees, divided the work. Shyamasundara was in charge of publicity, Guru dasa was in charge of VIPs, and different people were in charge of different departments. So, the life members also, one was in charge of the prasādam, one was in charge of the volunteers, one was in charge of the pandal.

READING (continued)

“As you may know, my plan is to establish in this most auspicious city a unique international Krishna conscious training center, where hundreds of persons from abroad may be educated in the Vedic way of life, while at the same time Indian boys and girls may be trained up for prachar, preaching work in foreign countries. We will construct classrooms, work rooms, dormitories, kitchen for large-scale public prasāda distribution, a lecture hall, library, and a beautiful temple for the glorification of Radha and Krishna.

We are on the threshold of bringing this important project to fruition, and we are very excited to inform you the program made in this respect. You will agree with me that your active participation and your direct involvement in this is most essential, and hence I appeal to you to spare your valuable time for Krishna and make it a point, in spite of your extremely busy life, to extend your unstinted cooperation. It is proposed to hold a meeting on Monday, the 26th April 1971, at 6:30, Akash Ganga, 7th Floor, 89 Bulabhai Desai Road, Bombay 26, to discuss and to finalize plans to channel our united energies to achieve the goal. It will also be a great opportunity for like-minded Krishna devotees to meet, to have darshan of the deities, and to exchange views and suggestions to make rapid progress in spiritual life.

COMMENT

So, here Srila Prabhupada mentions two points. One is, he wants the members to come to discuss the plans for development and how they can give their full support. And he also invited them to come to associate with like-minded Krishna-bhaktas, to make quick advancements in spiritual life.

READING (continued)

I very much want to meet you again, so kindly make it a must to attend our meeting. There is a lot of ground to be covered to spread Krishna consciousness to millions and millions of our slumbering brothers and sisters.”

COMMENT

So, the meeting was also very nice. Many important life members came to Akash Ganga, and Srila Prabhupada spoke on one verse from Nectar of Instructions that explained the whole life membership program on the basis of scripture. So, can anyone think of the verse? Even in the purport, Srila Prabhupada mentions how the principle is applied to life members.

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati

bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam

Which means, dadāti pratigṛhṇāti means offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts; guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati, disclosing one’s mind in confidence, means one person inquires and the other person explains, and bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva, accept prasāda and offering prasāda.

So, these six items nourish Krishna consciousness. These six reciprocations of prīti. So, life membership actually means to reciprocate with the life members in exchanges as recommended by Rupa Gosvami. And here in the purport and in the meetings, Srila Prabhupada explained how, he has some idea how he wants to spread Krishna consciousness, so he reveals his mind to the members, and they reveal their mind to him. “Do you think this will work, or do you think this would be better?” And then the same things, in terms of, spiritual practices, they inquire and he replies. And we give them gifts in the form of books dealing strictly with the subject of Krishna consciousness, as mentioned by Srila Prabhupada, or we give deity pictures and other things related to Krishna consciousness and ask for donation to help with the mission. And they invite us to their homes and give us prasāda, and we invited them to temple for prasāda.

Of course, in the first verse of Nectar of Instruction, Srila Prabhupada comments that if one goes to a rich man’s house with the idea of eating palatable foodstuffs, that means that he has come under the control of the tongue. The first verse actually tells us, how we should not come under the control of the tongue, vāco vegaṁ manasaḥ krodha-vegaṁ jihvā-vegam udaropastha-vegam. But in the mood of love or prīti, if some life member invites us and offers us some prasāda, we can accept if they are devotees. And similarly, we can also offer prasāda. So, Srila Prabhupada has given the basic idea. And the first description is training center, training center for Krishna consciousness. So, the courses now are a good beginning in the direction of training. Of course, the regular program of training has been there, but if we have special programs of training, it will be very favorable to realizing Prabhupada’s desire.

So, I will leave a few minutes so that if you have any questions or comments or realizations or anecdotes or thoughts. You can reveal your mind.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:46:10]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, the question is, how did Srila Prabhupada make the first member in Bombay?

So, when Srila Prabhupada was in Calcutta, he arranged with one man to provide accommodations for Srila Prabhupada and some disciples from Bombay also. So, the devotees were received by Kailash Seksaria, and Srila Prabhupada came and stayed there also. Kailash Seksaria and others helped arrange a press conference and then a big program on the terrace of Seksaria Bhavan on Marine Drive, where Srila Prabhupada introduced the life membership program, and they were all the leading dignitaries of Bombay. And it was a very glamorous gathering, very gorgeous arrangements. And in the course of the talk, Srila Prabhupada appealed to them to join with us. And if you follow the verse,

dante nidhāya tṛṇakaṁ padayor nipatya
kaku-śataṁ kṛtvā cāhaṁ bravīmi
he sādhavaḥ sakalam eva vihāya dūrād
caitanya-candra-caraṇe kurutānurāgam

“I take a straw in my teeth and I fall down at your feet, and I flatter you.” Of course, Srila Prabhupada didn’t say, “I flatter you,” but Srila Prabhupada said, “You are all elite people of Bombay, you are pious, opulent, and higher class of society. “O noble person, I have only one request, that whatever you have learned, you should forget. Whatever nonsense you have learned, you should forget, and you should just surrender to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.” So, Srila Prabhupada said the same thing to them in such a humble way, saying that. . . of course, he didn’t ask them to become life member and chant Hare Krishna. But he was so humble and said, “I take this straw in my teeth, and I beg you, please chant Hare Krishna.” Then we showed slides of our activities throughout the world and then gave the explanation of membership. And Srila Prabhupada himself designed the whole life membership program, where they would pay one thousand one hundred eleven rupees, which was a lot; very few people could afford it. And we would give them four things: all of the books published to date, all the books to be published in the future, lifetime subscription to Back to Godhead, and free accommodations in our centers.

So, the devotees had some questions at the time. In the course of someone’s life, we may give him, items worth more than one thousand rupees. Srila Prabhupada replied that it is expected that, in the course of their lives, they will go on giving, and that everyone will give at least five or ten thousand rupees. So, it was discussed before the appeal with Kailash Seksaria to become life member, and Jeedis Omani, who was one of the leading businessmen of India, he also became a member of the program. But they were important people, like the life members, important to society.

Yes, today we have read from the Chapter, Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta Volume 4, In Every Town and Village.” Chapter Five, “A Lot of Ground to Be Covered.” Pages 184 up to 192.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:52:15]

Giriraj Swami: Nectar of Instruction, Upadeśāmṛta, Text Four.

That is another very important point, how, as we go deeper and deeper into Srila Prabhupada’s teaching and books, we will find that everything he did was actually based on scripture. Although it might appear to be very natural or almost ordinary, it is all based on scripture. And if we make a little deviation, although it may appear to be practically the same as what Prabhupada did, but if we make a little deviation, it won’t be the same. Because bhakti, again, Prabhupada emphasized, bhakti is something very special, and not everything that appears to be bhakti is actually bhakti. Prabhupada was so expert that he designed everything in ISKCON to be completely favorable to the principles of bhakti, especially as given by Rupa Gosvami and other acharya like Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, etc. So we have to be very careful not to deviate a little bit one way or the other, and then then the bhakti will be there. And then, when the bhakti is there, then everything will spread.

Ok. All right, thank you very much. Hare Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Sri Radha-Rasabihari ki jaya!

Hare Krishna land ki jaya!

[ANOTHER LECTURE]

Giriraj Swami:

READING from Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta

. . . world number one city in wealth and fashion, less political than Delhi, more receptive to new things. So, it wasn’t unlikely that there Prabhupada would concentrate. It is the logic of Vaishnava that where the demons go all out, the devotee goes all out. Where the asuras have their greatest success in wealth and power, the devotee should go, establish a big temple and big preaching. But that means trouble, fighting on behalf of Lord Krishna, and tolerating one’s own distress.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada also said that big preaching means big enemies, because there are so many demons who will not like the preaching of Krishna consciousness and who will place obstacles. There were many obstacles, but Srila Prabhupada faced them for the sake of preaching. And he also tolerated so many personal difficulties. When we first got the land here, we had no proper place for Srila Prabhupada. We constructed some tents for the devotees and for Srila Prabhupada, Mr. Padmanov Acharya was one of the tenants on the ground floor of the A building. He gave one room, where Srila Prabhupada stayed at first. And Srila Prabhupada immediately wanted to begin preaching, so he erected one big pandal on the front portion where the temple is now, and held a Hare Krishna festival, bhāgavata-dharma Discourses, another Hare Krishna festival, and many local people came. He wanted to draw their attention to the fact that we had come here and to the philosophy of Krishna consciousness.

READING (continued)

He even said that Bombay was like Kurukshetra, a Mahābhārata of intrigues and sufferings before the Pandavas’ ultimate victory, and like Bhagavad-gītā where the Lord arouses the fighting spirit in reluctant Arjuna, imparting to him eternal knowledge. So Prabhupada destroyed his disciples’ reluctance and gave them knowledge and inspired them to fight.

COMMENT

Actually, the devotees were not used to working in India or fighting in general. And when they realized the complications in the effort to get the land and heard the threats of Mr. Nair, they were in the mood to give up. The history is that Srila Prabhupada signed the agreement for fourteen lakhs, of which fifty thousand was paid as earnest money, and another fifty thousand was paid to get possession of the land. Perhaps Srila Prabhupada suspected that there may be complications later, and he knew that if the devotees had possession of the land, then their position would be stronger. So he insisted from the beginning on possession, and Mr. Nair agreed. So, Mr. Nair gave possession, and the devotees erected the pandal, and Srila Prabhupada came and preached and left. And before leaving, he gave instructions that as we collected money, we should go on paying Mr. Nair. So we were hardly able to maintain ourselves, what to speak of collecting extra. We managed to collect seven thousand five hundred, I mean save seven thousand five hundred, which we gave to him, and that was the end.

In the meantime, Srila Prabhupada was traveling around the world, and he wanted to know what was happening about the conveyance. After paying fifty thousand earnest money and fifty thousand for possession, we were supposed to pay another one lakh, and Mr. Nair was supposed to execute the conveyance in our favor. We were supposed to mortgage the land to Mr. Nair and pay the balance to him by installment. So, Srila Prabhupada left the remaining one lakh that had to be paid for the conveyance with the lawyer, Mr. D, who at least was a very popular, pious lawyer. So he surprisingly to Srila Prabhupada, paid the remaining one lakh to Mr. Nair, but he didn’t get the conveyance executed. And Srila Prabhupada kept sending letters and then telegrams from wherever he was, saying, “Where is the conveyance?” But there was no conveyance. Then Srila Prabhupada started to suspect that there was something wrong. So we will read a little more from here.

READING (continued)

The fight to get the land

You wanted, the land for Krishna, and at first, it seemed easy enough. A paradise spot in Juhu Beach, acres with palm trees, tourist traffic, pleasant sea breezes, and your vision for a gorgeous temple and hotel. Mr. N gave a good price, and you took it, although there were suspicions, and your own disciples saw that they saw the land as a jungle. They had no building yet. In the beginning, when Srila Prabhupada discussed the proposal for the land with disciples, many objected.