ISKCON Silicon Valley Temple Opening

Giriraj Swami: When I took my seat, His Holiness Ṛtadhvaja Swami asked me if I had had any realizations in my little excursion. And as a matter of fact, I did. I don’t know how many of you have used the facilities here, but when I was using them, I heard the beautiful kirtan that Vaisesika Prabhu was leading here, in the temple room. And the sound system was excellent. [laughter] Yes, I am always very concerned about the sound systems because śabdha, our whole process is sound; and it was so good. And I thought, Wow, even here Vaisesika Prabhu is protecting me, I can’t bother. . .” [laughter] I mean, in all places, that is the place to fall into the bodily concept of life, but even there, Vaisesika Prabhu was protecting me, the holy name was protecting me. And it was very clean.

And in India, especially in Bombay, I would meet very big people in the material world, and one of them was D.P. Mandelia. He was like the Prime Minister of the Birla empire, and he was the most highly paid employee in the world, just ahead of Robert McNamara, who was, I guess, something in General Motors. And he told me that the first thing he did when he went to any Birla factory was to walk into the workers’ bathroom. And he said by seeing how clean the workers’ bathroom was, he could understand how the whole management was going on. So, so far so good. [laughter] [applause] We are off to a good start.

I think in the appreciation of Vaisesika Prabhu and the members of the community, one of the themes has been balance, the holistic approach, and specifically, the balance between the bhāgavata-mārga and pañcarātrika-vidhi. This is a very important principle in Krishna consciousness. Thinking of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, we are in the 175th year of his birth. It is a special year for Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. And how Srila Prabhupada took up his instructions through Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. And in the emblem of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s institution, which he formed to further the mission of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, one half is bhāgavata-vidhi and other is pañcarātrika-vidhi, the two halves together make a whole. And I thought to read one verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which very beautifully and sweetly explains the wonders of both of those processes and how they come together in temples. For the sake of time, I will just read the verse once myself. This is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Three, Chapter Twenty-Five, “The Glories of Devotional Service,”

TEXT 35

paśyanti te me rucirāṇy amba santaḥ

prasanna-vaktrāruṇa-locanāni

rūpāṇi divyāni vara-pradāni

sākaṁ vācaṁ spṛhaṇīyāṁ vadanti

TRANSLATION

O My mother, My devotees always see the smiling face of My form, with eyes like the rising morning sun. They like to see My various transcendental forms, which are all benevolent, and they also talk favorably with Me.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Māyāvādīs and atheists accept the forms of the Deities in the temple of the Lord as idols, but devotees do not worship idols. They directly worship the Personality of Godhead in His arcā incarnation.

COMMENT

It is a long purport, and I would suggest everyone should read it and study it. Then the next verse,

TEXT 36 TRANSLATION

Upon seeing the charming forms of the Lord, smiling and attractive, and hearing His very pleasing words, the pure devotee almost loses all other consciousness. His senses are freed from all other engagements, and he becomes absorbed in devotional service. Thus in spite of his unwillingness, he attains liberation without separate endeavor.

COMMENT

Now, we have also been hearing about the importance of a community of individuals, and a community that exemplifies the teachings of wisdom in the books. In fact, of course, Srila Prabhupada said different things in different contexts, but in one conversation, Srila Prabhupada asked a disciple, “Why is our movement successful? Why is our movement spreading, unlike other movements?” And in that context, the disciple said, “Because of your books.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “There are so many books. So many institutions have books.” And then Srila Prabhupada answered his own question and he said, “Because my disciples live according to the books. That is what distinguishes it.” Of course, if you are living according to his books, it means that you are reading his books, but the critical point is living according to the books. And what we just read about the devotees losing all other consciousness, I have seen with these deities in the other temple, during the kirtan, the kirtan was so ecstatic, and I was watching the devotees coming forward and just looking at Sri Sri Radha-Madana-mohana, really, they were losing all other consciousness. I know, because they definitely weren’t conscious of me. [laughter] Which is good, I was glad. And that is liberation, you are absorbed in Radha and Krishna, and you forget everything else. So, that is the deity worship side, and now, the book side.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Here the word vilāsa is very important. Vilāsa refers to the activities or pastimes of the Lord. It is a prescribed duty in temple worship that not only should one visit the temple to see the Deity nicely decorated, but at the same time he should hear the recitation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā or some other literature, which is regularly recited in the temple. It is the system in Vṛndāvana that in every temple there is recitation of the śāstras. Even devotees who have no literary knowledge or no time to read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhagavad-gītā get the opportunity to hear about the pastimes of the Lord. In this way their minds may remain always absorbed in the thought of the Lord — His form, His activities and His transcendental nature. This state of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a liberated stage.

COMMENT

So, these books have really informed every detail of our lives, of the whole paramparā, and specifically, our lives, and we are so indebted to Srila Prabhupada for writing these books. Srila Prabhupada would take rest at about ten at night, sleep maybe two hours, and get up at midnight and translate these books for us. And even in his last days in Vrindavan, when he was so weak that he could not, hardly move or speak, he was just lying on his bed in Vrindavan, but even then, he was translating. You can see the pictures, he is lying on his bed, almost no flesh on his body, and Pradyumna Prabhu is holding the microphone, and very softly, Srila Prabhupada would translate Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Theoretically, we could say, “Of course, he is a pure devotee,” but his consciousness was perfectly clear. The purports that he dictated to. . . And I am so happy here to see the picture of Lord Brahma offering respects to little Krishna because that pastime was the last chapter that Srila Prabhupada translated. And such perfect consciousness, those purports are extraordinary.

And some people might think, “Oh well, Srila Prabhupada, he was reading the commentaries of the previous acharyas, and he quoted so many books, so many verses in his purports. He got the verses from the commentaries of the previous acharyas.” And that could be true, that is our system, but when Srila Prabhupada was translating at the end, he didn’t have any books to refer to, and his purports are full of references to persons from other scriptures. So, it was all inside of him. And when we think of the trouble that he took to translate these books, and of course, publish them with help, and get them distributed, we must want to absorb that knowledge. And it is not just knowledge, it is love, that was Prabhupada’s love for us that he was getting up after two hours and translating, hardly seeing.

There was a sort of humorous incident that took place in Prabhupada’s last months in Juhu. A member of parliament was arranging for a meeting between Srila Prabhupada and the newly elected Prime Minister of India, Murarji Desai. And Murarji Desai was visiting Bombay, he had an apartment on Marine Drive in Bombay. And we had a friend who was a member of parliament, arranging the meeting. And Srila Prabhupada said that he would meet the Prime Minister, but that the Prime Minister should come to Juhu to meet him. Srila Prabhupada said, “I am not proud that he has to come to me, I won’t go to him. But unless the Prime Minister had the proper attitude of respect, the meeting would be useless.” And he felt that if the Prime Minister took the trouble and made the trip to Juhu to meet him, it would show that he had the proper attitude. So, we were waiting for the member of parliament to confirm it, and finally, the phone call came at almost 11:00 o’clock at night, I was waiting for the call. And he said that the Prime Minister was very busy, schedule was very tight, he would meet Prabhupada, but only at his place.

So, I went up to Srila Prabhupada’s new quarters in the tower at Juhu, and I didn’t know what to do, so I just snuck around to the far door, and Srila Prabhupada was awake at the table with his dictaphone, translating. And he saw me, and he motioned, so I came. And he said, “I was always praying to Krishna to be able to control my tongue, but now, in this condition, I can’t eat, and I can’t sleep, and mating and defending, there is no question. So, I guess I am liberated.” [laughter] [applause] And he was, and by this process, we can also become liberated. I shouldn’t say become; I think you all are already liberated. We just have to stay close together, following Vaisesika Prabhu and all the senior devotees who are guiding us, and we will all go back home, back to Godhead, together. But we are not going home, back to Godhead, but we are already there. And that was my last realization when I was using the facility. [laughter] [applause] Because Srila Prabhupada said that this material world is like a stool house, you should do your business and get out. [laughter] But listening to Vaisesika Prabhu’s beautiful kirtan, I thought, “It doesn’t matter whether I am there or here.” [laughter] It is the same. [laughter] So, we are already there. We are already back to Godhead, we are already liberated by Srila Prabhupada’s and our paramparā’s grace.

Hare Krishna. [applause]