SB 10.2.30 – Srila Prabhupada’s Disappearance Day Celebration

Giriraj Swami: So, we welcome you to the auspicious disappearance celebration for His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder-acharya of ISKCON, and the BBT. We happened to be with His Divine Grace in Surat on his Guru Maharaja’s disappearance day, and he said, “On the absolute platform, appearance and disappearance are the same. Just like the sunrise and the sunset, both are beautiful.” So, today we will read a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Ten, Chapter Two: “Prayers by the Demigods,” Text Thirty.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Please repeat.

TEXT 30

tvayy ambujākṣākhila-sattva-dhāmni
Samādhināveśita-cetasaike
tvat-pāda-potena mahat-kṛtena
kurvanti govatsa-padaṁ bhavābdhim

TRANSLATION

O lotus-eyed Lord, by concentrating one’s meditation on Your lotus feet, which are the reservoir of all existence, and by accepting those lotus feet as the boat by which to cross the ocean of nescience, one follows in the footsteps of mahājanas [great saints, sages and devotees]. By this simple process, one can cross the ocean of nescience as easily as one steps over the hoofprint of a calf.

COMMENT

So, it is quite a long purport. Not so long, but I will have to leave you for a minute, and you can chant japa, meditate on what you’ve heard, or otherwise engage your mind in absorption on the lotus feet of Krishna. Hare Krishna.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The true mission in life is to cross the ocean of nescience, of repeated birth and death. Those in the darkness of ignorance, however, do not know this mission.

COMMENT

Which is almost everyone in the world.

PURPORT (continued)

Instead, being carried away by the waves of material nature (prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ), they are undergoing the tribulations of mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani, repeated birth and death. But persons who have achieved knowledge by the association of devotees follow the mahājanas (mahat-kṛtena). Such a person always concentrates his mind on the lotus feet of the Lord and executes one or more of the nine varieties of devotional service (śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam). Simply by this process, one can cross the insurmountable ocean of nescience.

Devotional service is powerful in any form. Śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe parīkṣid abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.265). According to this verse, Mahārāja Parīkṣit became liberated by fully concentrating his mind on hearing the Lord’s holy name, attributes and pastimes. Similarly, Śukadeva Gosvāmī simply glorified the Lord, and by speaking on the subject matters of Kṛṣṇa that constitute the entire Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he too was liberated. One may also be liberated simply by sakhya, friendly behavior with the Lord. Such is the power of devotional service, as we learn from the examples set by the Lord’s many pure devotees.

svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ

kumāraḥ kapilo manuḥ

prahlādo janako bhīṣmo

balir vaiyāsakir vayam

(Bhāg. 6.3.20)

We have to follow in the footsteps of such devotees, for by this one easy process one can cross the great ocean of nescience just as one might cross a small hole created by the hoof of a calf.

Here the Lord is described as ambujākṣa, or lotus-eyed. By seeing the eyes of the Lord, which are compared to lotus flowers, one becomes so satisfied that one does not want to turn his eyes to anything else. Simply by seeing the transcendental form of the Lord, a devotee is at once fully absorbed in the Lord in his heart. This absorption is called samādhi. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (Bhāg. 12.13.1). A yogī is fully absorbed in thoughts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for he has no other business than to think of the Lord always within the heart. It is also said:

samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ
mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ
bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ
padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām

“For one who has accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the demon Mura, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoofprint. His goal is paraṁ padam, or Vaikuṇṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step.” (Bhāg. 10.14.58) This process is recommended here by authorities like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva (svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ), and therefore we must take to this process in order to transcend nescience. This is very easy, but we have to follow in the footsteps of great personalities, and then success will be possible.

In regard to the word mahat-kṛtena, it is also significant that the process shown by great devotees is not only for them but also for others. If things are made easy, this affords facility for the person who has made them easy and also for others who follow the same principles. The process recommended in this verse for crossing the ocean of nescience is easy not only for the devotee but also for common persons who follow the devotee (mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ).

COMMENT

Although I’m going to speak primarily on this verse, the next verse goes with it, and I’ll just read the translation.

TRANSLATION

O Lord, who resemble the shining sun, You are always ready to fulfill the desire of Your devotee, and therefore You are known as a desire tree [vāñchā-kalpataru]. When ācāryas completely take shelter under Your lotus feet in order to cross the fierce ocean of nescience, they leave behind on earth the method by which they cross, and because You are very merciful to Your other devotees, You accept this method to help them.

COMMENT

Although I began by saying, “On the absolute platform, appearance and disappearance are the same. Just like the sunrise and the sunset, both are beautiful,” but actually, in a way, there is a difference, and there is a sadness that is associated with disappearance. When I visited San Diego Hospice. . . It’s a magnificent facility on a hill in San Diego, and on one side, it overlooks the ocean. And I noticed that none of the windows were facing the ocean, which is unusual because generally, people like to have an ocean view. So, I asked the administrator, “Why?” And he said that the Pacific Ocean is in the West, where the Sun sets, and they didn’t want the patients to feel sad by seeing the sunset.

And my Ayurvedic physician who goes very much according to, within the context of Ayurveda—sadhu, shastra, and guru—he also said that looking at the sunset is not good for the emotions. In a way, it is an occasion for lamenting. And such lamentation is not outside of Krishna consciousness. Many stalwart devotees have exhibited great feelings of lamentation and separation when their spiritual master, dīkṣā-guru or śikṣā-guru, or even a close spiritual friend, leave. Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami was so attached to Srila Rupa Gosvami that when Rupa Gosvami left, Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami saw everything as horrible. He was so attached to Govardhana Hill, he wrote so many beautiful prayers for residents at Govardhana Hill and shelter at Govardhana Hill, but he said that without Srila Rupa Gosvami, Govardhana Hill was just like a python. And Radha-kunda, which he personally excavated and developed and where he resided and did his service, it was like the gaping mouth of a tiger.

And there are many other examples. Narottama dasa Thakura has expressed that mood in his prayer of lamentation for separation from the Lord and His devotees. But ultimately, well, I mean, there are cases where devotees who were left behind could not stay behind for very long, there are some cases. Kuvera Prabhu from Houston related that he overheard Tamal Krishna Goswami arguing with Mother Kirtida, and she was saying, “Not now. You can’t come now.” Of course, many devotees do feel that she made arrangements.

But for most of us, the departure of the spiritual master means that we have to come to a deeper understanding of our relationship with the spiritual master, so that we can serve him in separation, and in the course of serving him in separation, feel his presence. Yamuna Devi told a story of how she came to understand that one day, Srila Prabhupada not only will not be present, but she would not always be able to have the same kind of close personal association with him that she had.

One particular incident took place that brought her to that realization, and it was at the Ardh Kumbh Mela in Allahabad in 1971. Up until then, Yamuna Devi felt that she had just as much right to be physically close to Srila Prabhupada as anyone else, and that was the mood in the early days. ISKCON was just like a family, and there weren’t so many demarcations. So, she was always eager to hear Srila Prabhupada speak, and she would always sit close to his lotus feet. So, one day at the Kumbh Mela, one of the sannyasis, Acyutananda Swami, said to her, “Do you see how the ladies are sitting and how the men are sitting? How the ladies sit apart? We’re in India now and there are different customs here.” So, she didn’t sit right at the front close to Srila Prabhupada after that. Well, beginning with one morning.

And then later, Srila Prabhupada was in his tent, and I guess through the crack in the tent, he saw Yamuna Devi pass by outside, and he called her in and said, “So, Yamuna, you don’t want to hear me anymore?” She said, “Srila Prabhupada, hearing you is my life and soul. There’s nothing I would rather do than hear you.” So, then he said, “Well, where were you?” And then, she described what the sannyasi had told her and explained that she was sitting at some distance. And she was looking towards Srila Prabhupada to find out what his response would be, and he was silent. And somehow, she was getting the idea that she might not always be able to have that close personal association. So, she asked him, “How much personal association did you have with your Guru Maharaja?” And he said, “Very few times. You could count on the fingers.” And he said that physical proximity is not so important, that he had many godbrothers who were big devotees who were very physically close to their spiritual master, but they were just a disturbance. And he gave the example of a mosquito that’s hovering very close to the king, but is just causing a disturbance.

So, she took that as a confirmation that she would have to learn to get Srila Prabhupada’s association without physical proximity. And as she commented when she related the story to me, that she feels every disciple, one day or another, will have to come to the realization that he or she will have to learn how to associate with the spiritual master without the physical presence. And she said that from then on, she was always conscious of how to manage her life in such a way that she could feel Srila Prabhupada’s presence. And she was convinced that if one did it in the best way, one could feel the presence as much as if one were in a physical association, even close association. So, this verse is giving a hint of the same idea, which is following the instructions of the spiritual master, following in the footsteps of the spiritual master, and thus being together in Krishna consciousness.

Now, in Houston, Tamal Krishna Goswami’s former secretary, Radha-Krishna dasa, told me a very nice story related to mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ—following in the footsteps of the mahājanas. So, Tamal Krishna Goswami had to deal with something. So, he asked Radha-Krishna dasa to look into it, look into the best way of doing it, and Radha-Krishna did. And after some time, Goswami Maharaja asked him, “So, did you do your research?” He said, “Yes.” “So, what did you find? What is your conclusion?” And Radha-Krishna dasa gave his conclusion. And then, Goswami Maharaja said, “No, we’re going to do it another way.” But Radha-Krishna dasa was convinced that what he was proposing was actually the best way to do it. He said, “No, gurudeva, actually, it’s better if we do it this way.” And gurudeva said, “No, we’re not. We’re going to do it the other way.” And even then, the third time, Radha-Krishna dasa insisted, “No, gurudeva, it’s actually better if we do it the other way.” And gurudeva said, “Don’t try to train me. I’ve already been trained by Srila Prabhupada.”

And when Radha-Krishna Prabhu mentioned this to me just a few days ago, he said, “Yeah, that’s the way it is. We’re coming in Srila Prabhupada’s line, so we have to do things the way Srila Prabhupada did.” I mean, in his mind, it wasn’t necessarily that Srila Prabhupada’s way from a material point of view was better. He might have still had the idea that his proposal was actually better from the material point of view. But he accepted the truth of Goswami Maharaja’s statement, “Don’t try to train me, I’ve already been trained by Srila Prabhupada.” Meaning we do it Srila Prabhupada’s way. And Radha-Krishna dasa said, “Yes, that’s true. We have to do things Srila Prabhupada’s way. And therefore, we need to know how Srila Prabhupada did things, both from his instructions on how to do things, and from his example of how to do things.”

So, in this verse, the same point is being made, that the acharya accepts the boat of the lotus feet of Krishna to cross the fierce ocean of nescience. But although he uses the boat to cross the ocean, he also leaves the boat behind so that others can also cross. In other words, he leaves the method by which he crossed behind, and others who follow the same method, they can also cross and meet him on the other side. And that method is taking shelter of the lotus feet of Krishna, which through paramparā also means taking shelter of the lotus feet of the spiritual master and all of the mahājanas in the line. And then, that vast ocean shrinks and becomes just like a puddle in the hoof print of a calf. Although there’s danger at every step in the material world, the devotee who’s fixed on Krishna and the spiritual world, he can cross over that ocean just like stepping over a puddle.

So, thinking of Krishna, the phrase Krishna consciousness means thinking of Krishna. So, that is our basic endeavor. In fact, the basic principle of sādhana-bhakti is to always remember Krishna and never forget Him. And we can remember Him through any of the nine processes of devotional service. If we engage in even one process with full absorption, we can attain perfection just by that one process.

After Lord Chaitanya took sannyasa, He decided to walk along the banks of the Ganges, and ultimately, return to Jagannatha Puri. But on the way, He wanted to stop at the homes of His different devotees and please them and fulfill their spiritual desires. And all of the devotees were completely absorbed in meditation on Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In home after home, He would go and the devotee was wrapped in thoughts of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and then suddenly, the object of their meditation appeared at their home. It was the fulfillment of their meditation. In every case, Lord Chaitanya basically told them just to continue what they are doing and do nothing else.

One example is, He went to the home of a devotee who was always absorbed in reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to his home, and he was reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, “Don’t stop, just continue.” And when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu heard the description of the glories of devotional service, He became so ecstatic that He began to dance. And that devotee kept reading for nine hours straight. And for the whole nine hours, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu danced in ecstasy. And at the end, He said, “You read so beautifully, I am giving you the name Bhagavata Acharya. You read Bhāgavatam so beautifully, I am giving you the name Bhagavata Acharya. Keep reading and don’t do anything else.” And every home Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited, He saw how the devotees were engaged, how they were absorbed. Of course, it’s not that every devotee is engaged in only one service, but whatever it was, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, “Just continue and don’t do anything else.”

From Kumara Hatha, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to Panihati, to the home of. . . Who knows? Raghava Pandita. And Raghava Pandita was a great cook. So, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu arrived, same thing, Raghava Pandita was absorbed in meditation on Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, engaged in service to His Deities. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told him, “I want you to cook for your Deities as many preparations as possible, and I will honor the remnants.” So, he was already in ecstasy, but being given that order by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, his ecstasy increased, and he cooked one after the other, after the other preparation. I don’t know how many hundreds. And then, he offered them to his Deities, and then served them to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was relishing each preparation, just shak, spinach, green leafy vegetables, there were so many varieties. And after relishing each one, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would praise it, and He would say, “I have never tasted such shak in my life.” And after each preparation, like I said, I don’t know how many hundreds, He glorified each one, He was relishing the devotion. And so, He encouraged Raghava Pandita, “Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

And the Caitanya-bhāgavata describes that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was very expert in glorifying the devotees. He could see where their devotion lay and how it was expressed in service—one particular service or several particular services—and He would glorify their service and glorify their mood of service, and encourage them just to continue and not do anything else. Not do anything else means to not be engaged in anything other than devotional service. So, I’ll leave you for a minute or two to be Krishna conscious, and I’ll be back in a minute.

So, just on this point that you can engage in one or two or nine, or any number of the processes of devotional service, the example is that Krishna is like sugar candy. It doesn’t matter how you approach the sugar candy, on which side you approach it, or if you just approach it from one side or from different sides, it all is the same, it’s nectar. So, somehow or other, if we can just fix our mind on Krishna, sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor. Of course, Maharaja Ambarīṣa is an example of someone who fixed his mind on Krishna through all of the processes, but there are so many examples of devotees who achieved perfection just by being absorbed in one of the processes.

And in our case, we have ISKCON. In a way, ISKCON is like that boat, in the sense that it embodies the instructions by which one can cross over the ocean. And when it says that acharyas who take shelter of the boat of the lotus feet of Krishna cross the ocean of nescience and they leave behind the boat, it means the instructions, and it also means the institution. The disciples who preserve the instructions and the facility to execute the instructions in the form of the institution. So, that is very important. And again, Krishna includes everything; Krishna, His name, His form, His qualities, His pastimes, His paraphernalia, His pure devotees, they’re all included in Krishna. So, if somehow, we can be absorbed in Krishna consciousness in any of those ways or all of those ways, we can cross the ocean and help others to cross as well.

The other day on the phone, His Holiness Ṛtadhvaja Swami related an incident to me in which one of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples had taken sannyasa, and he was in quite an exuberant mood, and he told Srila Prabhupada, “Now, I’m relieved of all other responsibilities, and I can just focus on chanting and hearing about Krishna.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “No, you do not understand. You give Bhāgavatam class in the morning, and you go to the bank in the afternoon.”

So, of course, we may engage in different activities and different proportions as time passes and circumstances change, but we never give up serving the mission to deliver the fallen souls. And that service may take any shape. But at the same time, we also need enough time for chanting and hearing. Srila Jiva Gosvami has described different categories of devotional service, like āropa-siddha bhakti, saṅga-siddha bhakti, and svarūpa-siddha bhakti.

And without going into the details too much, but saṅga-siddha bhakti is something that’s not spiritual in and of itself, but by association with bhakti, it becomes spiritual, it becomes part of bhakti. For example, being clean in and of itself is not spiritual, but in the context of devotional service, it is spiritual. And Prabhupada used to say, “Cleanliness is next to godliness,” he used to quote it. But svarūpa-siddha bhakti are activities that by their very nature are spiritual, like chanting and hearing and remembering Krishna. And āropa-siddha bhakti, if I recall correctly, is making arrangements that in and of themselves are not bhakti, but again, by forming part of a devotional process, it counts as part of bhakti. For example, we’re going to do a yajña. So, someone has to get ghee, wood, grains, so many things. So, in and of themselves, collecting those items are not spiritual, but because they’re being done as part of the devotional process, they become spiritual. But some activities like chanting and hearing and remembering are by their very nature spiritual. So, we have to have enough of those activities to give life to our other activities.

And so many times, Srila Prabhupada instructed us not to do too much of the making of arrangements, and not enough of the chanting and hearing. One case was in Juhu. I think it must have been seven in the evening, and Srila Prabhupada was sitting on the roof of one of the buildings, and a disciple named Haridasa, who’s still there in Juhu, was fanning him. At seven o’clock, I guess the conch blew, and then a little while after, Srila Prabhupada asked Haridasa, “Do you hear that?” Haridasa strained and he didn’t hear anything. He said, “You don’t hear that?” “Well, no, Srila Prabhupada, I don’t.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes, that’s the point. There’s no kirtan in the temple. It’s ārati time, and there’s no kirtan in the temple. Where is everyone?” So, Haridasa speculated that they must have gone out to preach and collect and have not come back yet. And Srila Prabhupada replied, “It was not my idea that devotees should go out early in the morning to collect and come back late at night. They should go out, but they should come back by five o’clock. Otherwise, they’ll become like karmis.”

And then, he asked Haridasa, “Do you know why we were successful here and Mr. Nair wasn’t? Mr. Nair was a very influential person in Bombay. He owned one of the three English daily newspapers, and he’d been the sheriff of Bombay. He was very influential, and we didn’t know anyone. And he was very wealthy, and we had no money. But we were successful and he was not. Why?” And then, Srila Prabhupada said, “Because we were working to please Krishna, and he was working for himself.”

So, we’re successful not by our own endeavors, but by acting to please Krishna. By Krishna’s pleasure and mercy, we are successful. In this context, he’s saying we should come back and chant and dance in front of the Deities to please the Deities, and by the Deities’ pleasure, we will be successful, not by our own independent efforts.

And I was so struck by the story, I did tell it recently, but I’ll tell it again just because it was so good. Srila Prabhupada visited the Atlanta temple. The devotees were very much focused on book distribution. And so, when he arrived there, Suvasa Prabhu, who was a book distributor then, asked Srila Prabhupada, “What can we do to increase our desire to distribute your books? What can we do to increase your book distribution?” And Srila Prabhupada looked up. He wasn’t even looking at the devotees, and the devotees were just waiting to hear what Srila Prabhupada would say, because that was their service, that was their life and soul. And then, Srila Prabhupada said, “If you want to increase your distribution of my books, your desire to distribute my books,” and then he paused and everyone was even more eager, “if you really want to increase your desire to distribute my books, then you should get up and chant all your rounds at one stretch.”

Sometimes I’ve heard devotees talk about this question of our personal spiritual practices and our practical devotional service, and the two really go together. And again, it’s not clear from Suvasa Prabhu’s account whether that was what Prabhupada said, or whether it was Suvasa Prabhu’s interpretation, but it sounded like it might have been what Prabhupada was saying, that if you win the battle with your mind, which is always going to convince you not to chant, if you can win the battle over your mind, then you can win the other battles that come up during the day. But if you lose the battle with your mind, your mind convinces you, “There are other more important things,” and there can be genuine reasons, but if you lose that battle with your mind and you don’t chant your rounds before you go out, then you’ll be in a weaker position when you face the challenges of the service later in the day.

I guess I would tell one sort of humorous story, in a way. But I was the type of person, I couldn’t function, it wasn’t even a matter of choice, I couldn’t function if I didn’t chant at least twelve rounds before I began my work. And Tamal Krishna Goswami was very result-oriented, and he wanted me to get on the phone and start calling people to make appointments, so we could approach them. And there were a few instances, I don’t remember the exact details of this one, but I was saying, “Goswami Maharaja, I can’t function unless I chant my rounds. And I’ve always liked chanting in the temple in front of the Deities.” And he said, “That’s what you say, but I think you just want to avoid work.” Now, of course, at the time, I didn’t believe what he said was true, but now, having matured a little, I’m aware that actually, a lot of our devotional activities can be mixed with other desires, with other motives.

When I first met Srila Prabhupada and I asked him my question and he gave his answer, I knew he was my perfect master for whom I had been searching. And then, I bowed down my head in surrender, and I kept it down for a long time. And when I would tell the story, I would tell it just like that. But when I was actually a little bit more objective, I realized that that was definitely part of it, that was probably the main impulse to bow down in obeisance and surrender to Srila Prabhupada. But there was another element, which is that it sort of became exposed that I wanted to become God, which was, really, a very abominable ambition. And Prabhupada exposed it right in that conversation, and everyone in the temple room heard it. So, I thought that they would all be despising me because I wanted to become God, and it was so obvious I couldn’t become God and that Krishna was already God.

So, part of my keeping my head on the floor in obeisance was I was afraid that if I looked up, everyone would be glaring at me, “Oh, you wanted to become God, you wanted to take the place of Krishna.” So, there can be other motives that are subtle that also get mixed with our genuine devotional sentiments and activities. But it doesn’t mean that we should stop because there’s some subtle contamination, but we should be aware of it and try not to let it predominate in our consciousness or in our activities. But if it’s really pure or as pure as possible for us at any given time, then we’ll be very close to our spiritual master, to Srila Prabhupada, to the paramparā, and we will feel their merciful connection.

And one last note, that even after leaving, of course, the spiritual master is always present and he’s there to guide his disciples. Yesterday, one of Srila Tamal Krishna Goswami’s disciples approached me near the Govardhana Hill, which was totally amazing. I mean, I’ve never seen such a wonderful Govardhana Hill, it was amazing. I mean, if I could, I would tell whoever did that, “Just keep doing that and don’t do anything else,” because you could definitely go back to Godhead just from that. So, someone I’ve been conversing with over the years, and I said, “Well, how are you doing?? And he said, “Well, not very good. I was doing well, I had a certain routine, but then I started traveling and then my routine got upset and I sort of lost what I was doing.” And then, he said, “But gurudeva came in my dream.” I said, “Oh!” He said, “Yeah, and he wasn’t pleased. He wouldn’t even speak to me.” And then he said, “But that’s exactly what I needed to get me back on track.” So yeah, the spiritual master is always there and he’s always looking after his disciples and trying to help them in any way he can. Hare Krishna. So, are there any comments or questions? Yes, Nityananda Prabhu?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:15:27] to follow, to be loyal, faithful to the acharyas, to the spiritual authorities that we have, so fortunate in our lives that they have come in our lives and help us like that. Srila Prabhupada also gave us an instruction that said that one should rack one’s brains to try to figure out ways to reach out to people and help people. And sometimes when we do that, we come up with a method that we wonder whether that method would be transgressing our loyalty, our following Prabhupada by deviating, by creating a method that was actually not something that he wanted to do.

In the example that you gave of Radha-Krishna Prabhu, gurudeva telling him, “No, no. We’re going to do it the other way because that’s how Prabhupada wanted us to do it.” So that clash, that conflict comes in the mind, “Would Srila Prabhupada have wanted me to do this? What about my spiritual master? Would he have wanted me to do this?” Yesterday, we spoke about consulting and the consultation process. Are there other things also that one should be considering when one is racking one’s brain to try and figure out newer methods or alternative methods of reaching out to people, or preaching like that?

Giriraj Swami: Well, we should know as much as possible about what Srila Prabhupada said and what Srila Prabhupada did. Many issues have come up in the last few years, which are not new at all, but they seem new because people aren’t aware that they came up before during Srila Prabhupada’s presence. So many of the same things have come up. So, we really should know what our founder-acharya said, how he dealt with situations that are similar to the ideas we have now. And a lot of the more creative ideas have come up before and Prabhupada didn’t approve of them, and that’s why they’re not current in ISKCON, other than with some people who think they just thought of something new that could really make things better, that will spread Krishna consciousness more.

I mean, I had that response, Srutakirti Prabhu, who was Srila Prabhupada’s servant. When some of these things came up, he said, “Oh, that already came up forty years ago, Prabhupada already dealt with the same thing. It’s nothing new.” I mean, in Juhu, I have more personal experience in Juhu, many ideas have come up. Srila Prabhupada had a real good friend Mr. Mohatta. He was a brilliant businessman, and he really liked Srila Prabhupada and the devotees. But he would say, “If we get some popular Mayavadis to come to the temple, that will draw more people.” And Prabhupada said, “We don’t invite Mayavadis to share our platform.” “They don’t even need to speak, they can just come and do kirtan or bhajans and people will come.” And Prabhupada said, “No, we don’t do that. We have our own standard.”

I remember in Madras, we were doing kirtan as part of our regular program, but there was a group, I think they might have been some sort of Gaudiya Vaishnavas, who did kirtan, and people were saying, “They’re really good.” So, there was a program. They came and they did their kirtan, and we did our kirtan. And our kirtan was really alive, and theirs was sort of dead. And people commented, “Your kirtan was really alive. There’s a big difference between your kirtan and their kirtan.” So, yeah, there’s a lot of things.

Renting is a little different. Because we had the auditorium in Juhu, and it could be used to rent out to make money. And Tamal Krishna Goswami asked Srila Prabhupada about giving it to Mayavadis. Prabhupada said, “No. No Mayavadis.” And Tamal Krishna Goswami said,
Well, what if they’re just renting it? They’re paying rent and just using it. They have nothing to do with the program.” And I don’t remember exactly what Prabhupada said, but he thought that could work, just renting them the facility. So, yes, consulting and discussing but with sufficient knowledge. That’s the main thing, to do our homework, as they say.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:23:33]. If we know what Srila Prabhupada said and did not say, it reminds me of a conversation that some of our devotees had with some of the spiritual scientists, Christian scientists at the Oxford University in England. These are Christian scientists, all they did was research on how to ensure that Christianity would continue and grow, what did we do in the past and what are the lessons we learned.

So, they asked them, “From your point of view, what is the most important thing we, as Hare Krishnas, can do?” And their answer was, “The most important thing you can do is to document what Srila Prabhupada did and said. The more you’re going to do that, the longer the movement will last. Because in the case of Jesus Christ,” they said, “we did not document at the time. No photographing, no documentation took place. In your case, so much documentation is there. There’s no doubt, which means that at some point, Christianity is going to be overshadowed by Krishna consciousness, Hare Krishna, that Srila Prabhupada will become more famous than Jesus Christ around the world, because people have proof, because these days people want proof. You write anything on the internet, you have ten million pages come up that speak in all directions. So, people need proof that something really happened for them to have faith in it.

In the case of Srila Prabhupada,” they said, “there’s very powerful grounds for faith. But one mistake you can make is to think that we’ve already got what we need. What you should do is actually write it down. Every one of the disciples should write down what they might have heard him say or do, because at some time in the future, some issue will arise and you’ll have a reference point, and that reference point will foster faith in the people who were there at that time. Whereas merely discussing things and talking to one another really does not deepen one’s faith. What deepens one’s faith is actual proof of an acharya.” In their case, they were thinking of the great prophets. “The great prophet’s words are extremely important, and his deeds, and his mood.”

So, thank you, Maharaja. That’s very good. It’ll be very nice, today’s Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance festival, if the disciples of Srila Prabhupada would take it as their most important duty to write their experiences, what they’ve heard, what happened, I think future generations will owe an unpayable debt of gratitude.

Giriraj Swami: Thank you. I mean, I keep hearing things I never heard before. They’re really amazing things. I mean, I know some disciples are writing now. Shyamasundara Prabhu, he writes and asks questions, and I try to give him information. And Tejasa Prabhu has spent so much time with Srila Prabhupada, received so many instructions. But that is something. I mean, this one Ratha-yatra, Prabhupada’s disciple, Chitsukhananda, was there, and we ended up talking about Prabhupada for a long time. I heard so many things that I never heard before that really put a spotlight on aspects of Srila Prabhupada that I didn’t even know were there. And I actually encouraged him to write it or speak it. I said we could even get it transcribed. I should bring that up. Yeah, and there’s so many.