Srila Prabhupada’s Disappearance

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

We have all gathered in the sacred and auspicious month of Kartik, or Damodara. The month of Damodara is compared to a sale in a store. When the store opens, it may have a promotional sale to attract new customers. And during the sale, you can get things of much greater value by paying a much lesser price. So the month of Damodara is like that. With a little investment in devotional service or spiritual practice, bhakti-yoga, one gets a great return. And that is also related to Lord Damodara’s personal nature. He is pleased by even a little service offered by His devotee, and He reciprocates with them in a wonderful way. Within the month of Kartik, there are many auspicious days. Recently, we celebrated Deepawali and then Govardhana-puja. And today, we are celebrating Srila Prabhupada’s, our founder acharya’s disappearance from this world, departure from this world, which in a way is related to Govardhana-puja. Because just a few days before he left, he expressed his desire to go to Govardhana Hill. And there was a controversy amongst Srila Prabhupada’s disciples who were with him there in Vrindavan, especially because Srila Prabhupada said he wanted to go to Govardhana Hill by bullock cart. And at the time, Srila Prabhupada’s physical body was emaciated. He hardly had any flesh. It was just skin and bones. So, some disciples were concerned that if he were to attempt this journey, especially by bullock cart, even if the bullock cart was padded with mattresses, it would be extremely hard for his body to bear, and he could even leave his body on the way to Govardhana Hill.

So one group of disciples was in the mood that he should not attempt this journey. And another group of disciples was in the mood that we should just follow the orders of the spiritual master and we should not question them. And personally, I was in Vrindavan at the time, and there were senior devotees on both sides of the controversy. And I myself was not exactly sure what should be the proper response. So as it happened, the night before, Srila Prabhupada had proposed to go on his bullock cart journey to Govardhana Hill, just before Govardhana-puja, one of Srila Prabhupada’s godbrothers, a fellow disciple of Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, came to visit Srila Prabhupada. And the disciples who, I wouldn’t say they didn’t want him to go to Govardhana Hill, but they wanted him to recover his health more before he attempted the journey, approached the godbrother thinking that he could prevail upon Srila Prabhupada not to attempt this journey in his condition. And at that time, His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami, he was Bengali and he was speaking to that godbrother in Bengali, and he was trying to persuade him to prevail upon Srila Prabhupada. And meanwhile, Tamal Krishna Goswami and Bhavananda Prabhu, they were in great anxiety because they just felt that he wouldn’t be able to sustain that journey. So they were upstairs in Prabhupada’s house in Vrindavan and then they came down. And Prabhupada understood everything that was happening. And he said, “So, what do you want? You want that I should not go?” And they said, “Yes, Srila Prabhupada, we feel that you are in no condition to make this trip by bullock cart, especially.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Alright. My right hand and my left hand are requesting me, I will not put you in anxiety.” And I said, “Yes, we were in too much anxiety.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “That is not my position to put you in anxiety.”

So, Srila Prabhupada stayed and eventually, maybe three days after Govardhana-puja, he left on this date, on this very date. But even after he left, the controversy continued amongst some of the disciples. Was it correct to have asked Srila Prabhupada not to go, or should we have just complied with his request? And I was somewhat confused. As I mentioned, I did have friends in both camps. Although I was more with the devotees who felt that Srila Prabhupada’s very fragile body would not be able to sustain that journey. So after a couple of days being preoccupied with this thought, I went into Srila Prabhupada’s room. And at that time, a new volume of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam had just arrived. The Tenth Canto, Twelfth Chapter. And sitting behind Srila Prabhupada’s bed amongst his books, I opened that volume and it just came to a statement that the Supreme Lord, who is completely independent, has one transcendental attribute, and that is that He comes under the control of His devotees. And that is the pastime of Lord Damodara being bound by His mother’s ropes. And you see the figures of Mother Yasoda and Lord Damodara. And it occurred to me that Srila Prabhupada was demonstrating the same characteristic of coming under the control of his devotees’ love.

Now, throughout this month of Damodara, we sing a prayer called the Dāmodarāṣṭakam from the Padma-Purana, which summarizes the Damodara pastime. And in this pastime, Lord Damodara shows that He is not controlled by devotees who worship Him with awe and reverence, but He is controlled by the love of devotees who serve Him in pure, spontaneous love. And that is, in a way, the essential lesson of the dāmodara-līlā. So I started considering all these transcendental features in relation to Srila Prabhupada’s final pastimes with us, that he was trying to draw out from us more love and he succeeded. When Tamal Krishna Goswami and Bhavananda Prabhu came down, Tamal Krishna Goswami said, “Srila Prabhupada, the way you deal with us, you just put us in so much anxiety and bring out so much love for you.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “That is my duty.” So all the devotees involved in the controversy were trying to serve Srila Prabhupada and please Srila Prabhupada according to their realizations. But the devotee who expressed that loving mood of wanting to keep him, and when they came down and Prabhupada agreed not to go, he said to his godbrother, “Just see how much they love me.” So, that was their love, and that love, you could say, bound Srila Prabhupada, and so he did not go on that bullock cart expedition. Although a few days later, the devotees did arrange to take Srila Prabhupada to Govardhana in deity form. I didn’t even know that we had deities of Prabhupada then, but obviously they did. So, this is our founder acharya, Srila Prabhupada, bringing that mood of loving service.

Now, so much could and has said been said, and should and will be said about Srila Prabhupada’s surrender to his spiritual master and how he took the orders of his spiritual master as his life and soul. And we also should take Srila Prabhupada’s orders as our life and soul. And that will keep us connected with him always. During those days after Srila Prabhupada left, devotees in Vrindavan, and all over the world, were wondering, “How can we survive without Srila Prabhupada? How will we continue without his association and guidance?” And I came across a passage in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that seemed exactly relevant. And later, I found that other disciples had come across the same section of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in different places. This is before computers and Google, and we just had the printed books. So this is the Fourth Canto, Twenty-eighth Chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And in this section, a king goes into the forest to perform austerities. This is the vanaprastha ashram; vana means forest, and his faithful wife accompanied him into the forest. And at a certain stage, the wife, who was tending to her husband, understood that the soul had left the body. Or in other words, that her husband had died. And then follows a series of verses about the departure of the spiritual master. And Srila Prabhupada explains that figuratively, the queen is the disciple of the husband, or the spiritual master.

So I will just read one verse to give you an idea of how relevant these verses and purports are to us as disciples and followers of Srila Prabhupada, and also as a way of understanding his service to his spiritual master. His spiritual master left this world in 1936, and Srila Prabhupada came to America all alone, without any resources, in fragile health even then, suffering two heart attacks at sea, to carry out the order of his spiritual master. That was already thirty years after his spiritual master had left. So I will just read one or two verses.

TEXT 47

Being now alone and a widow in that forest, the daughter of Vidarbha began to lament, incessantly shedding tears, which soaked her breasts, and crying very loudly.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Figuratively the queen is supposed to be the disciple of the king; thus when the mortal body of the spiritual master expires, his disciples should cry exactly as the queen cries when the king leaves his body.

COMMENT

That is certainly what happened when Srila Prabhupada left in Vrindavan. It happened not only in Vrindavan, all over the world. It happened here in New Dvaraka, when the announcement was made to the devotees.

PURPORT (continued)

However, the disciple and spiritual master are never separated because the spiritual master always keeps company with the disciple as long as the disciple follows strictly the instructions of the spiritual master. This is called the association of vāṇī (words). Physical presence is called vapuḥ. As long as the spiritual master is physically present, the disciple should serve the physical body of the spiritual master, and when the spiritual master is no longer physically existing, the disciple should serve the instructions of the spiritual master.

COMMENT

Now in one sense, this is quite an advanced topic because it addresses disciples of a spiritual master, and not everyone here has accepted a spiritual master. In the killing of the demons by Krishna, different demons represent different challenges that one may face. So, one of the demons that Krishna killed was Putana. Putana was a demon who disguised herself as a beautiful woman and came to suckle baby Krishna. She deceived him. So Putana is considered to represent the false guru. And so people are wary. They don’t want to accept a false guru, which is correct. But within the list of different types of false gurus is our own mind. So in the course of avoiding surrendering to a spiritual master on the grounds that he may deceive us, we may be deceived by another false guru, which is our own minds. So this is a critical point in one’s spiritual progress in bhakti-yoga. Srila Rupa Gosvami has written one book, the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, which Srila Prabhupada translated in a summary study as The Nectar of Devotion. Srila Rupa Gosvami lists ten preliminary items of devotional service. And until we can follow these preliminary items, we cannot progress further. And these first items are ādau guru-pāda-āśraya, to take shelter of the lotus feet of a spiritual master; śikṣyeti dīkṣyeti. One should take instruction from him, one should take initiation from him. Sad-dharma-pṛcchā, one should inquire about eternal religious principles from him.

But anyway, we are discussing the philosophy here, and the philosophy is that after the physical departure of the spiritual master, one should strictly follow the instructions of the spiritual master. And this gave great solace and guidance to Srila Prabhupada’s disciples then. Just a few more sentences. In the next verse, uttiṣṭhottiṣṭha. Have you heard that word, uttiṣṭhottiṣṭha? We say it when we wake up the deities.

TEXT 48

uttiṣṭhottiṣṭha rājarṣe
imām udadhi-mekhalām
dasyubhyaḥ kṣatra-bandhubhyo
bibhyatīṁ pātum arhasi

TRANSLATION

O best of kings, please get up! Get up! Just see this world surrounded by water and infested with rogues and so-called kings. This world is very much afraid, and it is your duty to protect her.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Whenever an ācārya comes, following the superior orders of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His representative, he establishes the principles of religion, as enunciated in Bhagavad-gītā. Religion means abiding by the orders of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Religious principles begin from the time one surrenders to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is the ācārya’s duty to spread a bona fide religious system and induce everyone to bow down before the Supreme Lord. One executes the religious principles by rendering devotional service, specifically the nine items like hearing, chanting, and remembering. Unfortunately, when the ācārya disappears, rogues and nondevotees take advantage and immediately begin to introduce unauthorized principles in the name of so-called svāmīs, yogīs, philanthropists, welfare workers, and so on. Actually, human life is meant for executing the orders of the Supreme Lord, and this is stated in Bhagavad-gītā (9.34):

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi yuktvaivam
ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ

“Engage your mind always in thinking of Me and become My devotee. Offer obeisances and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.”

The main business of human society is to think of the Supreme Personality of Godhead at all times, to become His devotees, to worship the Supreme Lord and to bow down before Him. The ācārya, the authorized representative of the Supreme Lord, establishes these principles, but when he disappears, things once again become disordered. The perfect disciples of the ācārya try to relieve the situation by sincerely following the instructions of the spiritual master. At the present moment practically the entire world is afraid of rogues and nondevotees; therefore this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is started to save the world from irreligious principles. Everyone should cooperate with this movement in order to bring about actual peace and happiness in the world.

COMMENT

So Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was an extremely powerful acharya. In fact, it is unusual to have three such powerful acharyas, one after the other: Srila Prabhupada, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and then before him, his father and śikṣā-guru, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. It is very unusual that one after the other, such extraordinarily powerful acharyas have come. And we are fortunate to be connected with them somehow or other. And our duty is to serve their mission by following their instructions. And there are many details contained in this section of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which I request you all to read. But that is the essence, that we should be prepared to lay down our lives to serve the order of the spiritual master without personal consideration. As Srila Prabhupada did for his spiritual master, which is why we are all here. If Srila Prabhupada hadn’t done that, we would not be here today.

Now this morning we heard many beautiful appreciations of Srila Prabhupada, and many of them emphasized this point of vāṇī sevā and vapuḥ sevā, serving the instructions of the spiritual master in the absence of the physical presence of the spiritual master. And many disciples during Srila Prabhupada’s physical presence asked him how they could get guidance when he is not available. And in many cases, he gave the same answer, in maybe slightly different versions, but the same answer, which is that if you chant the holy names of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra nicely, then all of the answers will come to you. I joined in the Boston temple, and Satsvarupa Maharaja was the temple president. He also asked Srila Prabhupada that, “Now you are here, and if we have any questions, we can approach you directly. But what about when you are not here? How do we get answers?” And Srila Prabhupada replied that, “The holy name of Krishna is not different from Krishna. Do you realize this fact?” And each and every one of us can realize this fact by offenseless chanting of the holy name. So, whatever happens, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ, we should always chant the holy names.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Never stop. kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. Hare Krishna.

So, are there any questions or comments? Oh yes, Lalita.

Lalita devi dasi: Which group was technically right? Was there any group that was technically right, or both of them?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, she is saying that when Srila Prabhupada expressed his desire to go to Govardhana Hill by bullock cart, one group was in favor and the other group was not in favor out of concern for his health. Which group was technically correct, or was one group technically correct?

Well, they are both correct because they both wanted to serve Srila Prabhupada and fulfill his desires according to their realization.

Lalita devi dasi: So, which attitude should we have?

Giriraj Swami: In the beginning, we should just follow the instructions. Srila Prabhupada explained that there are actually four categories of disciples. I will say three—one gets an instruction from the spiritual master and doesn’t follow it. Srila Prabhupada gave the example that he will give a disciple an instruction, and the disciple will say, “Yes, Srila Prabhupada, I will do it.” And then halfway down the stairs, he will stop and think, “Now what was it that Srila Prabhupada wanted me to do?” So that is the third category. The second category gets an instruction from the spiritual master and executes it perfectly, and the first category knows what the spiritual master wants even without the spiritual master telling him. So we should initially try to act on the second platform of executing the orders perfectly. And after we do that sufficiently, then we may come to the point where the spiritual master within the heart inspires us to do what he wants even without his physically telling us.

Devotee: Maybe you explained and I missed it. What did the godbrother say when he was asked to decide the matter?

Giriraj Swami: Oh yes. Well, I think he was inclined to support the devotees who felt that it would be too difficult for Prabhupada to endure that journey. But there was a whole drama there. There was a whole drama, but yes, he was supporting them. And, so Prabhupada said, “ Babaji Maharaja, just see how much they loved me.” But there are mysteries in this. So I don’t want to. . .And exactly what his position was, was a little mysterious. Bhakti Charu Swami approached him, and he felt that he was sympathetic. But the way it all worked out, I don’t know. I am not so clear about that.

All right. So, do we have a master of ceremonies here? Gopachandra Prabhu, you are local leader. What? Oh, prasādam. And then, after prasāda, we come back at 7:00. There will be an ārati in Srila Prabhupada’s rooms upstairs. It is a tradition in Vrindavan that they gather in Srila Prabhupada’s room because he left at about 7:25 in the evening, so they have ārati during that time. And then at 7:30, there will be a slide show in the temple about Srila Prabhupada here in Los Angeles and different sacred articles that belonged to him or were related to his mission that are housed in his quarters upstairs. And then there may be more sharing of realizations and appreciations of Srila Prabhupada. So, prasāda is just the next step in the journey; it is not the end of the journey, but it is the next step in the journey. And we hope to see you thereafter as well.

Hare Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!