Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa-puja

Giriraj Swami:

oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya
jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena
tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ

śrī-caitanya-mano-’bhīṣṭaṁ
sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale
svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ
dadāti sva-padāntikam

Hare Krishna!

I also feel very grateful to all of you for being so devoted to Srila Prabhupada and for allowing others like ourselves to come into your association. 

I was struck by both of the instructions that Srila Prabhupada gave, that Bhrgupati Prabhu read to us from Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta. And one in particular struck me: That we must preach. That if we preach we’ll have life and that if we fail to preach, we’ll become stagnant. I think of one time in Madras, where I was preaching as Srila Prabhupada had taught us. But I later discovered that many of the people in Madras, especially the intellectual community was protesting about the way I was preaching. And even our best friends were giving me advice that, “Don’t criticize others. Just say what you want about your philosophy, about your process but don’t criticize others.” So, so many people were saying the same thing from so many directions. I thought maybe I am doing something wrong. So I resolved, I will just do what they said.

I had an appointment with an industrialist and I decided I won’t get into any controversial topics. So I showed him the pictures of our activities and then I showed him the books, piled the books on the desk as Prabhupada said we should and asked him to become a life member. And the gentleman said, “Well, what about Shankaracharya? He is one of the greatest acharya of India and you have said nothing about him?” So I was really trying to be careful and I said, “Yes, he is one of the great acharyas of India.” “Well, what about him?” and he kept pushing and I kept resisting and in the end I said, “You know, I can’t resist anymore.” 

Then I opened up the teachings of Lord Chaitanya and I explained that Shankaracharya is an incarnation of Shiva but he came to bewilder the atheists and he taught philosophy that is basically atheism, but he did it in the guise of the Vedas, to re-establish the authority of the Vedas so eventually Lord Chaitanya could come and give the proper conclusion from the Vedic scriptures. And he was arguing and I was becoming discouraged. You know, I had broken my resolution and I wasn’t convincing him anyway. So, I packed up the pictures, put them in the briefcase. Packed up the books, put them in the briefcase. Locked up the brief case and said, “It was nice meeting you.” So I got up to leave. He escorted me to the door. 

As I was just about to leave, he said, “Before you leave, I want you to see my temple.” So I thought, “Oh no, he is definitely going to have a shiva-lingam and definitely going to want me to prostrate myself before shiva-lingam and I am not going to want to.” And he was insisting and I really had no choice. So, “Okay, yes I will be glad to see your temple room.” He took me in to the door to the temple room. I walked in ahead of him and it was quite a large room and there was a marble altar about three feet high and on the marble altar were large Radha-Krishna deities! And in Madras, you never saw Radha-Krishna deities. Most of the Vaishnava temples are Vishnu. And I was very happy. I offered my obeisances and I looked at him, thinking what’s happening? And he said, I am actually a devotee of Krishna and my parents and grandparents and so many generations of our family have been devotees of Krishna and I was just testing you. But you did not compromise, so I will be very happy to become your life member. So we went back to his office, sat down at his desk. He pulled out his checkbook and he paid the whole amount in one installment. And I thought well maybe—I wasn’t sure. I thought well maybe I did the right thing after all. But I wasn’t sure because of all the things that all the other people said. 

And then I got back to the place where I was staying and there was a letter from Srila Prabhupada because I had written him about my difficulties there. And Srila Prabhupada had written back that:

“The fact is (and Prabhupada was speaking about himself) the fact is that I am the only one in India who is openly criticizing not only demigod worship and impersonalism but anything that falls short of complete surrender to Krishna.”

And then he said:

“We must declare it boldly to the world that they cannot expect peace or happiness unless they surrender to Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

And then Prabhupada wrote:

“My Guru Maharaja never compromised and similarly, I have never compromised and similarly, none of my disciples should ever compromise.”

So it was a very clear instruction and a nice confirmation. But still, I must say that we can also create enemies. Of course, as we heard today, Prabhupada spoke the truth to anyone and everyone and he himself said sometimes when you preach the truth, people become enemies. But Prabhupada always spoke the truth. But he was also a little tactful because once we went with him to the Gita Pratisthan actually the beginning of 1977, in (Varda). And there were many sadhus from different institutions and Srila Prabhupada, he spoke very openly. He was brutally frank. The organizer of the conference was Rama Krishna Bajaj. The Bajaj families were very big industrialists in India: Bajaj Electricals, one branch of the family Bajaj scooters. And the purpose of the conference was to discuss how to present the Gītā. 

Prabhupada said that, “Well, first we have to agree on what the Gītā says. Otherwise, we are discussing how to present the Gītā but we have different ideas of what the Gītā says. So let’s first decide what does the Gītā say.” Prabhupada was so intelligent! He began from the verse satataṁ kīrtayanto mām, and he came to the conclusion that the Gītā says that we should chant Hare Krishna. Therefore, everyone should chant Hare Krishna. 

So after the philosophical talks, there was like the working committee conference and at the first meeting, Mr. Bajaj is quite prominent there. Srila Prabhupada said, “First of all paramparā—evaṁ paramparā-prāptam: If you are not in paramparā you have no authority to present Bhagavad-gītā.” And then specifically to Mr. Bajaj, he said “You are just a business man. Who is going to hear Bhagavad-gītā from you?” 

But here is the point of caution or moderation: On a morning walk he told us, “It is a great art, how to criticize.” and he said to us, “Unfortunately, you do not know that art.” When Prabhupada would criticize, the people loved him, but sometimes we criticize, people don’t love us.

So on this occasion, taking to heart Srila Prabhupada’s instruction to preach and to preach without compromise, at the same time considering time, place, and circumstance and the art of how to criticize. As Prabhupada said, “I am the only one who is criticizing openly, not only demigod worship and impersonalism, but anything that falls short of complete surrender to Krishna.” So I pray to Srila Prabhupada for his mercy that he will give us the intelligence how to preach without compromise as he did and as his spiritual master did. But at the same time, to sort of get a sense of the art of how to criticize in such a way that the people can appreciate what we are saying. 

Once after Prabhupada was speaking in Vrindavan, every night he would criticize the people for drinking tea. Even though they were devotees of Krishna and they do so many good things and they don’t do so many bad things that other people do, but they drink tea. And Prabhupada commented later, that, “Every night I would criticize them for drinking tea, but still they would come back for more. They wanted more. 

So I pray to you, Srila Prabhupada, please give us the intelligence how to present your message properly so that we remain alive and vital and at the same time attract people as—- we can never do it exactly as you did, but at least, following in your footsteps.

Thank you very much!