SB 3.2.23 – Appreciating Srila Prabhupada’s Mercy

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. Thank you for giving me this wonderful opportunity to join you in glorifying His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, my beloved spiritual master and our beloved founder Acharya. I will read a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Three, Chapter Two, Text Twenty-three, which reminds me of Srila Prabhupada.

aho bakī yaṁ stana-kāla-kūṭaṁ

jighāṁsayāpāyayad apy asādhvī

lebhe gatiṁ dhātry-ucitāṁ tato ’nyaṁ

kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema

TRANSLATION

Alas, how shall I take shelter of one more merciful than He who granted the position of mother to a she-demon [Pūtanā] although she was unfaithful and she prepared deadly poison to be sucked from her breast?

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada 

Here is an example of the extreme mercy of the Lord, even to His enemy. It is said that a noble man accepts the good qualities of a person of doubtful character, just as one accepts nectar from a stock of poison. Lord Kṛṣṇa accepted the motherhood of Pūtanā because she pretended to be an affectionate mother, allowing Kṛṣṇa to suck her breast. The Lord accepts the least qualification of the living entity and awards him the highest reward. That is the standard of His character. Therefore, who but the Lord can be the ultimate shelter?

COMMENT

So this verse reminds me of Srila Prabhupada. “How shall I take shelter of one more merciful than he.” There was no one more merciful than Srila Prabhupada. Lord Nityananda is most merciful and Srila Prabhupada manifested the same quality of mercy as Nityananda Prabhu. When Srila Prabhupada was in Bombay he received a phone call from the temple president in Calcutta, who reported that one of Prabhupada’s earliest disciples from America had come to Calcutta and was smoking ganja, marijuana, and asked what to do Prabhupada told his secretary to relay his response, "Tell him that if he doesn't stop smoking ganja I will reject him." Afterwards Tamal Krishna Goswami asked, “Is it true that if he doesn’t stop smoking ganja you will reject him?” And Prabhupada replied, "No, I cannot reject anyone. The mercy of Lord Nityananda has no limit." 

And maybe two years later we were in Juhu and Srila Prabhupada had a disciple who fell into bad company and was living on Juhu beach and doing yoga tricks. He was doing things like putting a penny or a paisa in his ear and then making it come out somewhere else; different strange things to collect money. And he was known as a disciple of Prabhupada and a member of ISKCON so Tamal Krishna Goswami approached Srila Prabhupada and said this is happening and he is giving you a bad name and giving ISKCON a bad name, you should reject him. And again Srila Prabhupada replied, "I cannot reject anyone." Tamal Krishna Goswami asked, “But don't you have to draw the line somewhere?” And again Srila Prabhupada said, "The mercy of Lord Nityananda has no limits.” How shall I take shelter of one more merciful than he, Srila Prabhupada.

Another person whom Srila Prabhupada encouraged was Dr. C.P Patel who would almost always accompany him on his morning walks on Juhu beach. They had a friendly relationship but Dr. Patel would sometimes speak like a Mayavadi. Prabhupada would accuse him, “You are a Mayavadi,” and Dr. Patel would reply, "No sir, I am a Vaishnava, a pure Vaishnava." One morning Dr. Patel and Srila Prabhupada had a huge argument. Dr. Patel would bring up different so-called holy men of India and if they were not up to the standard Prabhupada would criticize them. So one morning Srila Prabhupada was criticizing one of Dr. Patel’s favorite revered so-called saints of India and Dr. Patel and he had a huge argument. Dr. Patel raised his voice to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Prabhupada raised his voice to Dr. Patel. They were literally shouting at each other and Dr. Patel’s friends, he had his cronies, were trying to pull him away saying, “Don't upset Swamiji, he has a heart condition,” and eventually they pulled him away.

Back at Hare Krishna Land Tamal Krishna Goswami approached Srila Prabhupada in his room and asked, “What is Dr. Patel’s position, is he a Vaishnava or a Mayavadi, an impersonalist?” In response Srila Prabhupada told a story about a man who could speak in many languages. In whatever language people addressed him he could respond fluently. No one could figure out where the man was actually from. After much discussion a neighbor said, “I will find out.” So one day when the man was preoccupied, the neighbor came up behind him and gave him a big whack. And when the man started to curse in his native tongue, his origin was disclosed. “Dr. Patel is like that,” Prabhupada  said, “He can speak very expertly. He can sound like a devotee, sound like a Vaishnava, sound like a Mayavadi, sound like anything, but when I gave him a slap where it really hurt, the so-called saintly person that he revered, his real language came out.” “So why do you put up with him,” Tamal Krishna asked. “He is so offensive. “It is our duty to engage everyone,” Prabhupada said. He wanted to give Dr. Patel a chance.

And as the years passed Dr. Patel developed great affection for Srila Prabhupada. And after Prabhupada left this world, wrote a beautiful article for Back to Godhead about his relationship with him. The article was titled “My Life's Most Precious Moments” with the subtitle “A Bombay Doctor Wins the Title Big Fool and Loves it,” because Prabhupada would always call Dr. Patel a mūḍha. Prabhupada would say, "I am not saying, Krishna is saying, na māṁ duṣhkṛitino mūḍhāḥ, anyone who doesn't surrender the Krishna is a mūḍha, fool. 

So how shall I take shelter of one more merciful than he. Srila Prabhupada had so many wonderful qualities but his most important quality, for us especially, was his extreme mercifulness. Srila Prabhupada had a good friend in Bombay named Bogilal Patel. Bogilal was elder to Srila Prabhupada by about three years and he was extremely pious. The first devotee to meet him was Gargamuni and when Gargamuni was explaining Srila Prabhupada’s work, Bogilal Patel wept profuse tears of appreciation. One day some years later Bogilal Patel came to meet Srila Prabhupada at Prabhupada’s  flat at the back of Hare Krishna Land, I had a close relationship with Seth Bogilal so I brought him up to meet Prabhupada. They were talking and as is natural in a conversation when Prabhupada was speaking I would look at him, and when Bogilal was speaking I would look at him. But at one stage while Bogilal was speaking I looked at Srila Prabhupada, which Srila Prabhupada wasn't expecting, and he was looking at me with such love and affection like a father or a grandfather. 

By age Srila Prabhupada was more like a grandfather. I was surprised that he was looking at me with so much love but as soon as Srila Prabhupada had saw me look at him, he changed his expression and became very grave and serious. I think it was some special mercy that I got a glimpse of how much love he had for us, which he didn't usually show very openly. His love was manifest for us in his care for us and is giving us the knowledge of Krishna consciousness and engaging us in Krishna’s service.

Srila Prabhupada was very reserved about touching people, including even his disciples. In 1971 in Gorakhpur as guests of Hanuman n Prasad Poddar of Gītā Press, we were staying in Poddar's largest state, Sri Krishna Niketan, which had previously been his personal residence. Srila Prabhupada was traveling with his small Radha-Krishna deities and he wanted to establish an altar for Them in Sri Krishna Niketan. He wanted some foliage for the altar so he sent a couple of devotees including me to collect some. I went out to a thicket and was collecting branches with leaves. I wasn't tearing them live, I was looking for branches and leaves that had fallen. I just kept going deeper into the woods and collecting more and more foliage and eventually I had a huge bundle as much as I could possibly carry. 

So I was lugging the bundle up the stairs and I ran. I reached the temple room Srila Prabhupada was there and the altar was being set up. I dropped the bundle on the floor and offered my obeisances and while I was on the floor Prabhupada patted me on the back. It was one of the only times, maybe the only time, that he physically touched me. I looked up and he was smiling broadly. I didn't know if he even needed any more foliage but he was pleased by my effort. Now I ask you, how shall I take shelter of one more merciful than he?

Hare Krishna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.