I offer obeisances to my gurus, to Srila Prabhupada, and to the Vaishnavas.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, my diksa guru, wrote many books glorifying Srila Prabhupada, and as an offering to him, he decided to reprint them all this year. I do proofreading for him, and I selected from his books these quotes of appreciation of Srila Prabhupada to share:
“We don’t have to do what Prabhupada did and start a worldwide society of devotees; we already have ISKCON. But it’s worth noting: We can do what we are doing in ISKCON because our founder-acarya left his family and business and went alone to Jhansi. Because he tried to spread Krishna consciousness, despite the discouragement of others, and because he persisted, we can now call ourselves devotees. We can now claim to be part of the sankirtana spirit that moved Srila Prabhupada to pick us up in the first place, that same spirit that was operating in him even in those early days in Jhansi. If Prabhupada had not come, probably I would have died or gone crazy. Or at least my life would have been totally useless.”
“You are smiling enthusiastically, eager to see the service done by your disciples and to take part by speaking Krishna’s message and guiding us in all ways. You never shirk your responsibility or take a day off; that attitude is unknown to you. Never lazy or cowardly in any way, never tired or depressed. No wonder we want to emulate you, although we cannot.”
“Prabhupada really is available to us. We are never devoid of his association. All we need is a little faith. We don’t have to give up our regular duties in Prabhupada’s service to go off and look for Prabhupada. Prabhupada (and Krishna) reveal themselves through our service. Although we speak of patience, we don’t have to wait ten thousand years before we receive any revelation; all we have to do is look around us.”
“The meaning of human life is to engage the soul in service to Krishna, and it’s to Srila Prabhupada that we are grateful because he has taught us this. He has taught us that happiness comes only when we regain our original position as servants of the servants of the servants of Krishna. Prabhupada assures us, and we are experiencing it ourselves as truth, that there is no better work and satisfaction then that which is performed as favorable service to the all-attractive Lord Krishna. We pray to realize this more consciously and deeply, becoming free of all unwanted habits, so that eventually we can attain the goal—joining the eternal blissful pastimes of Radha-Krishna and Their entourage.”
From Srila Prabhupada Smaranam: Photographs 1966–1977:
“Another man challenged Prabhupada to prove he had the realization of sama-darsanam (as stated in Bhagavad-gita), the ability to see Krishna in the heart of every living entity. Prabhupada told the man he had no such power. But then he told him the power that he did have. He said he had been able to make Vaishnavas of thousands of young people who had formerly been drunkards and drug addicts. He was able to see Krishna in their hearts and administer the medicine of chanting and hearing which converted them from meat-eating mlecchas to refined Vaishnavas and brahmanas. The man was very impressed and left the room repeating to himself, ‘He sees Krishna in everyone’s heart.’ So this was the miraculous ability that Prabhupada readily admitted he possessed. He said he had it, ‘however, only by his one hundred percent following of his spiritual master, and he strictly followed the path chalked out by Lord Caitanya.’”
On this day the last few years I have read this excerpt of a letter which Srila Prabhupada wrote to Sudama in 1972 describing the amazing success of his mission:
“Yes, from the very beginning I went to New York because I thought that Krishna Consciousness is the most important idea in the world, so let me go to that place, New York, which is the most important city in the world, and if I am able to do anything for Krishna and my Spiritual Master, even I am at the fag-end of my life, at least let me try for it there. So my dreams have all come true, and all of you nice boys and girls are getting the credit. When I was alone in your New York, I was thinking, who will listen to me in this horrible, sinful place? All right, I shall stay little longer, at least I can distribute a few of my books, that is something. But Krishna was all along preparing something I could not see, and He brought you to me one by one, sincere American boys and girls, to be trained-up for doing the work of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Now I can see that it is a miracle. Otherwise, your city of New York, one single old man, with only a few books to sell for barely getting eatables, how he can survive, what to speak of introducing God-consciousness movement for saving the humankind? That is Krishna’s miracle. Now I can see it.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Sudama, December 23, 1972)
The following quote reveals Srila Prabhupada’s great faith in power of the basic devotional principles he taught to liberate a soul and send him to the spiritual world. Commenting on the verse describing Sivananda Sena’s dog going back to Godhead, Srila Prabhupada wrote:
“Therefore, everyone in the human form of life should be induced to associate with devotees. By rendering a little service, even by eating prasadam, what to speak of chanting and dancing, everyone can be promoted to Vaikunthaloka [the spiritual world]. It is therefore requested that all our devotees in the ISKCON community become pure Vaishnavas, so that by their mercy all the people of the world will be transferred to Vaikunthaloka, even without their knowledge. Everyone should be given a chance to take prasadam and thus be induced to chant the holy names Hare Krishna and also dance in ecstasy. By these three processes, although performed without knowledge or education, even an animal went back to Godhead.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Antya 1.32, purport).
In Vijaya Prabhu’s book, Tribute to the Brhat Mridanga, there is a wonderful story about Srila Prabhupada’s amazing mercy:
“One time in America, at a book table, an old man approached the book distributor and asked him, ‘Do you have the Bhagavad-gita?’
“‘Yes, sir,’ the devotee replied.
“‘Let me see it.’ He took the book in his hand, turned it around, saw Srila Prabhupada’s picture, and said, ‘Yes, I’ll buy this one.’
“‘Why, sir?’ the devotee asked.
“Pointing to Srila Prabhupada’s picture, the man replied, ‘This man has been coming to me in dreams for years and telling me, “Buy my Bhagavad-gita, buy my Bhagavad-gita.” When I saw you dressed in the same color as him, I thought that maybe you would have his Bhagavad-gita. Now I’ve found it.’”
Dear Srila Prabhupada,
At present I try to serve you by reminding people of your instruction to perform congregational chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra in public on a daily basis. You have great faith in the power of this chanting to purify people from their demoniac tendencies and engage them in Krishna’s service. In the database of your books, lectures, conversations, and letters, you quote “ceto darpana,” about how the congregational chanting cleanses one’s mind, 553 times!
Sometimes I cannot convince other devotees to join me. Sometimes I encounter lack of interest or even resistance from the public. At challenging times I reflect on your 38-day voyage to America, your having two attacks on the boat, and your lack of assistance from others for your important missionary work, and I realize the austerities I encounter sharing the chanting with people are truly insignificant by comparison, and thus I am able to continue.
I am inspired by your great faith in the purifying power of the holy names, and I am happy to serve you by chanting Hare Krishna in public. Thank you for the opportunity. Please bless me that I may continue for the rest of my life and that I may inspire others to take the yuga dharma of congregational chanting of the holy name more seriously.
The servant of your eternal servants,
Krishna Kripa Das
