Offering to Srila Prabhupada

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. Hearing the devotees share so many wonderful pastimes and thoughts and realizations reminded me of so many thoughts and pastimes of Srila Prabhupada. I won’t be able to relate each thing that I say to what each devotee said although I would have liked to but just for the sake of time.

Srila Prabhupada initiated a disciple and gave him the name Bhavananda. Bhāva means “the material world” and ānanda means “bliss.” So he gave him the name “the bliss of the material world.” The disciple approached Srila Prabhupada and he was a little concerned what was Prabhupada saying about him, what is the meaning of the name. Srila Prabhupada replied—it is a very profound answer and it really shows Srila Prabhupada’s mood of why he left Vrindavan for example—Srila Prabhupada said that the devotee has no happiness independent of Krishna’s happiness. His experience of happiness is of Krishna’s happiness and nothing gives Krishna more pleasure than having souls come back to Him. So preaching gives Krishna the greatest pleasure and bringing people to Him gives Him the greatest pleasure but you can only do that in the material world. You can’t preach in the spiritual world and bring people back to Krishna. You can only do it in the material world and that is bhāvananda, that is the bliss of the material world, and that is the greatest bliss because it gives Krishna the greatest pleasure.

It just so happened that I was with the same devotee Bhavananda and another devotee Acyutananda. There was a lot of ānanda in those days. So Ekādaśī came and Bhavananda and I really were in the mood to go out and preach. Acyutananda said, “No, it is Ekādaśī. We shouldn’t go out. It’s inauspicious.” So we thought, Oh boy, he is really attached to rules and regulations. We really have the spirit. We are going to go out and preach. We are not going to worry about the rain.

So we went out and it was really pouring rain and it didn’t stop. It just kept coming down heavier and heavier. In Madras then, at least where we were, there was not much of a. . . there was a sewage system. What the drainage system consisted of was a canal along the side of the road and just not covered or anything. It was like a ditch but it was lined with concrete. It went down about two or three feet and that was it. What happened was that the rain kept pouring and that canal along the road got filled up with water and you couldn’t distinguish between the water on the street and the water in the drainage ditch and the water in the field.

So we were walking along very blissful on our mission and Bhavananda falls into the ditch. He is in water up to his waist. So now what to do? I don’t even remember what we did but I told Srila Prabhupada about the incident. I told him that Bhavananda had equal vision because there is that verse, paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ, he had equal vision. He didn’t distinguish between high and low. Srila Prabhupada replied, “Yes, you have theoretical knowledge but he is more advanced because he has realized knowledge.” [laughter]

Srila Prabhupada had a way of joking but I took everything as he said and did as having profound truth and I didn’t doubt it. It probably pricked my false ego a little but it didn’t bother me too much. If that’s the way it is then that’s the way it is and I thought it was true.

So then how things happen over one’s life of service, we have ups and downs, but I was heartened by hearing what Srila Prabhupada had said about that there is two ways of attaining perfection. One is by executing the regulative principles of devotional service and by the mercy of Krishna one attains perfection and the other is even if one is unable to follow all the rules and regulations but if he has an overwhelming desire to render service then Krishna or the spiritual master will by mercy bring him to the point of perfection.

So this is a very important factor, desire. Once Srila Prabhupada said, “Krishna consciousness is the art of desiring.” Of course the desire is there naturally—nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema—but we should. . . If we just have that desire Krishna and Prabhupada will fulfill our desire. That’s really all it comes to somehow or other.

Just coming back to the books, I had heard that Srila Prabhupada had said that all we have to do is have the desire to become Krishna conscious. There is that verse tatra laulyam so I asked Srila Prabhupada after a class in a big public program outdoors, “I heard that to become Krishna conscious all we need is the desire to become Krishna conscious. So does that mean that we don’t need to read books?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “If you desire to be Krishna conscious, you’ll do everything you can to help you to become Krishna conscious. So why wouldn’t you want to read the books?” It is a matter of desire but it is also a matter of expressing the desire in practical activities.

On this auspicious occasion in this august assembly I pray to Srila Prabhupada and to all of you to bless me that desire to serve his lotus feet, to serve Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the Pancha-tattva, to serve Sri Sri Radha and Krishna will become stronger and stronger and stronger. Thank you very much. [applause]