19790917 Śrīla Prabhupāda's Appearance in America Numerous Pastimes (Part 1)

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on September 17th, 1979 in Los Angeles, California. The class is Part One.

Jayapatākā Swami: “The activities of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu are just like an unfathomable ocean. It is not possible for me to enter into them, but simply standing on the shore, I am but touching the water. Whoever hears the pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu with faith analytically studying them attains the ecstatic riches of love of Godhead.

We believe that this description of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s pastimes also holds true for the activities of Śrīla Prabhupāda, the great ācārya, spiritual teacher in disciplic succession from Lord Caitanya who created the world movement of Kṛṣṇa consciousness beginning in America in the 1960s. We know that just as one worships the Ganges river by an offering of Ganges water we can glorify Śrīla Prabhupāda only by his own mercy.

Since we are his disciples, his mercy is all we are made of. We perceive that in this attempt desiring to describe him for the benefit of all who can hear, we have begun our research and writing with last 12 years of his life in this world from 1965, when he began preaching in the West through 1977. Since his personal letters from this period are the most abundant, and his associates, the most numerous and available, we have chosen to begin our work with these most important years.

When the biography is complete of course, it will start with his birth in Calcutta in 1896, and describe his early training under his Vaiṣṇava Kṛṣṇa conscious father, from whom he learned to worship Deity of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and hold the Ratha-yātrā festival. 

We shall then recount in detail his meeting in 1922 with his spiritual master Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Goswami, who instructed him to go preach in West. After his spiritual master departure from this world in 1936 Śrīla Prabhupāda started Back to Godhead magazine in 1944 and left home in 1950 to dedicate himself fully to his spiritual master’s mission. Then he went to live in Vṛndāvana and took sannyāsa initiation in 1959. 

From 1960 to 1965 Śrīla Prabhupāda stayed at historic Rādhā-Dāmodara man… temple in Vṛndāvana where he lived in two small rooms. There he wrote and published 3 volumes of his translation and commentary of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. By correspondence he also tried to create interest in a world movement of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, although he received very little response from various gentleman he approached.

Then in 1965, just before he turned 70, an age when most devotees of Kṛṣṇa are confined to Vṛndāvana and preparing to pass away, Śrīla Prabhupāda took the risk of going to the West. A Mr. Agarwal in nearby Mathurā had a son who agreed to sponsor Śrīla Prabhupāda at his home in Butler, Pennsylvania for one month and Sumati Morarji, head of Scindia steamship company agreed to give him free round-trip passage to America on… in one of her cargo ships, but he had to travel without money, since governmental restrictions prevented him from taking money out of the country.

His prospects therefore, were full of uncertainty. He had only a month’s residence in the United States. He would be living with strangers and he had no money and no formulated plan for what to do in America. But he was thoroughly convinced of the potency of spiritual master’s instructions.”

The biography begins,

“Much as reigning queens and past ages finance explores voyage to the new world. So in 1965 Śrīmati Morarji a pious Hindu lady and wealthy business magnate, financed a voyage from India to America by His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, “A preacher of Bhāgavata cult”

The Jaladuta is a regular cargo carrier of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company, but there is a single passenger cabin aboard. For the voyage from Calcutta to New York in August and September of 1965, the cabin was occupied by "Śrī Abhoy Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami," whose age was listed as sixty-nine and who was taken on board bearing "a complimentary ticket with food."

The Jaladuta, under the command of Captain Arun Pandia, whose wife was also aboard, left at 9 A.M. on Friday, August 13. Śrīla Prabhupāda, in the diary he kept for the ocean crossing, noted on the thirteenth: "The cabin is quite comfortable and thanks to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa for enlightening Sumati Morarji for all these arrangements. I am quite comfortable." But on the fourteenth he reported in his diary: "Seasickness, dizziness, vomiting—Bay of Bengal. Heavy rains. More sickness."

On the nineteenth, when the ship arrived at Colombo, Ceylon, Śrīla Prabhupāda was able to get relief from his seasickness. The captain took him ashore, and he traveled around Colombo by car. Then the ship went on toward Cochin, a city on the west coast of India.

The observance of Janmāṣṭamī, the appearance day of Lord Kṛṣṇa, occurred that year on the twentieth of August, Śrīla Prabhupāda noted that he took the opportunity to speak to the crew about the philosophy of Lord Kṛṣṇa and distributed prasāda he had cooked himself. August 21 was his seventieth birthday observed (without ceremony) at sea. On August 21 the ship arrived at Cochin and Śrīla Prabhupāda's trunks of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam volumes, which had been shipped from Bombay, were loaded on board.

By the twenty-third the ship had put out to the Red Sea, where Śrīla Prabhupāda encountered great difficulty. He noted in his diary: "Rain, seasickness, dizziness, headache, no appetite, vomiting." Although his diary gives no further description, Śrīla Prabhupāda told us several times of the two strokes he experienced on this ocean crossing. Two years later, in 1967, when he was hospitalized for a heart attack, he realized that what he had gone through on the Jaladuta on two consecutive days was a pair of heart attacks. The severe pains in his chest, he said, made him think he would die at any moment.

On board the Jaladuta, Śrīla Prabhupāda attributed the symptoms to seasickness and tolerated the difficulty, meditating on the purpose of his mission. But after two days of such violent attacks, he thought that if another came on the third day, he would certainly not survive it.

But on the night of the second day, Śrīla Prabhupāda had a dream. Lord Kṛṣṇa was rowing a boat, and He told Śrīla Prabhupāda that he should not fear, but should come along. Śrīla Prabhupāda felt assured of Lord Kṛṣṇa's protection, and the violent attacks did not recur.

The Jaladuta entered the Suez Canal on September 1 and stopped in Port Said on the second. Śrīla Prabhupāda visited the city along with the captain and reported that he liked it. By the sixth he had recovered a little from his illness and was eating for the first time, having cooked his own kichri and puris. He reported in his diary that his strength renewed little by little.

Thursday, September 9.”

This is Prabhupāda’s diary:

“To 4:00 this afternoon, we have crossed over the Atlantic Ocean for 24 hours. The whole day was clear and almost smooth. I am taking my food regularly and have got some strength to struggle. There is also a slight tacking of the ship and I am feeling a slight headache also. But I am struggling and the nectarine of life ("nectarine" is Śrīla Prabhupāda's word for "nectar") is Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta the source of all my vitality.”

The Next day: “Friday, September 10:

Today the ship is plying very smoothly. I feel today better. But I am feeling separation from Śrī Vṛndāvana [the holy abode of the Lord pastimes) and my Lord Śrī Govinda Gopīnātha Rādhā-Dāmodara. The only solace is Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta in which I am tasting the nectarine of Lord Caitanya's līlā (pastimes). I have left Bharata-bhūmi [India] just to execute the order of Śrī Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvatī in pursuance of Lord Caitanya's order. I have no qualification, but I have taken up the risk just to carry out the order of His Divine Grace. I depend fully on Their mercy so far away from Vṛndāvana.

During the voyla…. During the voyage, Śrīla Prabhupāda must have sometimes stood on the deck at the ship's rail, watching the ocean or the sky and thinking of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Vṛndāvana-dhāma, and the order of his spiritual master to go preach in the West. Mrs. Pandia, the captain's wife, whom Śrīla Prabhupāda described as “an intelligent and learned lady," foretold Śrīla Prabhupāda's future. If he were to pass beyond this crisis in health, she said, this would indicate the good will of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

The ocean voyage of 1965 was a calm one for the Jaladuta. The captain said that in his entire career he had never seen such a calm crossing of the Atlantic. Śrīla Prabhupāda replied that this calmness was Lord Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Mrs. Pandia then asked Śrīla Prabhupāda to come back with them so that they might have such a calm crossing again. Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote in his diary, "If the Atlantic would have shown its usual face, perhaps I would have died. But Lord Kṛṣṇa has taken charge of the ship." We also know that at one point Śrīla Prabhupāda sold the captain three volumes of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

On August 13 Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote a Bengali poem, a prayer composed in pure devotion. He noted in the… his diary: "32nd day of journey. Cooked bati kacauri…” Oh, “bati kacauri, It appeared to be delicious, so I was able to take some food. Today I have disclosed my mind to my companion, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. There is a Bengali poem made by me in this connection."

Bati kacauri is when a vegetable is cooked so that it starts to burn, but it’s not actually burnt. It’s very severely browned and so it gives it a charcoal taste. Prabhupāda in 1977, in October and June sometimes, and in 1977, in the beginning, when he was taking cooked food, this was his favorite preparation: Bati kacauri with uh, cauliflower and potatoes and other preps.

This prayer to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa is filled with devotional confidence in the mission Śrīla Prabhupāda was inspired to undertake on behalf of his spi… spiritual master. An English translation of the verses follows:

''I emphatically say to you, O brothers, you will obtain your good fortune when the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa… from the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, only when Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī becomes pleased with you.

Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, who is very dear to Lord Gaurāṅga [Lord Caitanya], the son of mother Śacī, is unparalleled in his service to the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He is that great saintly spiritual master who bestows intense devotion to Kṛṣṇa at different places throughout the world.

By his strong desire, the holy name of Lord Gaurāṅga will spread throughout all the countries of the Western world. In all the cities, towns, and villages on the earth, from all the oceans, seas, rivers, and streams, everyone will chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa.

As the vast mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu conquers all directions, a flood of transcendental ecstasy will certainly cover the land. When all the sinful, miserable living entities become happy, the desire of the Vaisnavas is fulfilled.

Although my Guru Mahārāja ordered me to accomplish this mission, I am not worthy or fit to do it. I am very fallen and insignificant. Therefore, O Lord, now I am begging for Your mercy so that I may become worthy, for You are the wisest and most experienced of all.

If You bestow Your power, by serving the supreme spiritual master… by serving the spiritual master one attains the Absolute Truth—one's life becomes successful. If that service is obtained, then one becomes happy and gets Your association due to good fortune.

'My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, because of my association with material desires, one after another, I was gradually falling into a blind well full of snakes, following the general populace. But Your servant Nārada Muni kindly accepted me as his disciple and instructed me how to achieve this transcendental position. Therefore, my first duty is to serve him. How could I leave his service?' [A quote from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam]

O Lord Kṛṣṇa, You are my eternal companion. Forgetting You, I have suffered the kicks of māyā birth after birth. If today the chance to meet You occurs again, then I will surely be able to rejoin You.

O dear friend, in Your company I will experience great joy once again. In the early morning I will wander about the cow pastures and fields. Running and frolicking in the many forests of Vraja, I will roll on the ground in spiritual ecstasy. Oh, when will that day be mine?

Today that remembrance of You came to me in a very nice way. Because I have a great longing to call to You. I am Your eternal servant, and therefore I desire Your association so much. O Lord Kṛṣṇa, other than You there is no means of success."

The confidential themes of these prayers are obvious, and it is not necessary to make extended commentary on them. But since we are attempting to be with Śrīla Prabhupāda as he lived his life, we must at least pause to appreciate such an intense, concentrated view of himself, in which he completely reveals his mind and soul in his confidential relationship with God.

In this first verse he declares that the only way one can get the mercy of Kṛṣṇa is to get the mercy of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī, who is the re… mercy representative of the Lord. The spiritual master is considered the representative of Rādhārāṇī, and verses two through seven describe the relationship between the disciple and the spiritual master. Śrīla Prabhupāda gives credit to his Guru Mahārāja, his spiritual master — Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvatī — who foresees the day when, through Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvatī's strong desire, the holy name of Kṛṣṇa will spread through all the countries of the Western world. He plainly states that he has been ordered to accomplish this mission of worldwide Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Feeling unworthy, he prays to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, asking to be empowered to engage as the servant of his spiritual master to fulfill the desires of the Lord and the Vaiṣṇavas, the devotees of the Lord.

Certain literary critics state that a biographer should never step ahead in time to remind the reader of the great success his subject will attain… gain, since that disturbs the reality of the time sequence. A man does not know what he will achieve until he achieves it, and the biography should capture as much as… as far as possible the experience of the man's life as he lived it, which was without knowledge of the future. But the anticipation in this prayer written aboard the Jaladuta was so great that we cannot help studying it, not only to appreciate what Śrīla Prabhupāda would do, but to appreciate what he was doing already. We trust that the reader will not be disturbed as we examine these Prabhupāda gems.

Śrīla Prabhupāda rarely made entries in his diary, yet from this ocean crossing we have a number of intimate revelations of his mind. With the same straightforward, factual tone in which he was… has noted the date, the weather, and the state of his health, he has described his helpless dependence on his "companion" Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and his absorption in the ecstasy of separation from Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda rarely wrote poems; we have found a life's total of more… no more than about half a dozen. They were not the products of idle literary hours, nor were they written for publication or fame.

(The poems and diary entries were found years later by curious disciples who uncovered them among their spiritual master's miscellaneous papers.)

The last two verses of this poem gave an unexpected confidential glimpse into Śrīla Prabhupāda’s direct relationship with Lord Kṛṣṇa. In verse 9 he calls on Kṛṣṇa as his “dear friend” and speaks of again experiencing the joy of wandering in the cow pastures and fields of Vraja. In verse 10 he relishes how this memory of Kṛṣṇa has come to him in such a nice way, because of his great desire for serving Kṛṣṇa. Surely the experiences related in this poem are above the mundane level.

Externally Śrīla Prabhupāda was experiencing great inconvenience; he had been aboard ship for a full month and had suffered heart attacks and repeated seasickness. Moreover, even if he were to recover from these difficulties, his arrival in America would undoubtedly bring many more difficulties. His arrival… But through this poem and through remarks in his diary, we can understand that Śrīla Prabhupāda's consciousness was beyond all the difficulties of material duality. Nor can we say that these writings are merely idealistic discussions. With all deference to the literary critics, we will foretell here that this seventy-year-old mendicant was actually to ignite the worldwide Hare Kṛṣṇa explosion he predicted in this poem.

And we are… what are we to make of his remembrance of his friend Kṛṣṇa wandering about in the forest of Vraja? I will not be so foolish as to attempt to understand these things. As Śrīla Prabhupāda had already written in 1961 in his Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam commentary, "Spiritual feelings of happiness and intense ecstasies have no mundane comparison. Therefore it is very difficult to give expression to such feelings. We can just have a glimpse of such ecstasy in the words of Śrī Nārada Muni." I can at least understand that Śrīla Prabhupāda was thinking of Kṛṣṇa and speaking intimately to Kṛṣṇa, and that Kṛṣṇa was reciprocating with him out of His own interest.

Śrīla Prabhupāda used to tell us that although God can certainly speak to anyone, He is selective, just like an important man in the material world who speaks only with his associates or those with whom he has some important business. To enter the association of God will be our fortune too, if we can submissively appreciate the glimpses of pure devotional service given to us by Śrīla Prabhupāda's dream of Kṛṣṇa and by his prayers and diary remarks as he sailed the Atlantic to bring Kṛṣṇa consciousness to America.

After a thirty-six-day journey from Calcutta, the Jaladuta reached Boston's Commonwealth Pier at 5:30 A.M. on September 17, 1965. Śrīla Prabhupāda recalled that among the first things he saw were the letters "A & P" painted on a pier-front warehouse. (The warehouse is still there today.) The ship was to stop in Boston briefly before proceeding to New York City, which was Śrīla Prabhupāda's port of entry. Many skyscrapers have been added to the Boston skyline since 1965, but probably the same gray waterfront dawn that occurs now at that time of year was awaiting him then, and there must have been an earlier version of today's conglomeration of lobster stands. In 1965, after a short walk across a footbridge and down a few streets, you would be in a downtown section of Boston, with old churches, warehouses, office buildings, bars, tawdry book st… bookshops, nightclubs, and restaurants. We know that Śrīla Prabhupāda went walking into the city with the captain, who did some shopping. But what is perhaps most significant about Śrīla Prabhupāda's short stay in Boston— aside from the fact that he had now set foot in America— was that Commonwealth Pier was the place where he wrote another Bengali poem, entitled 'markine bhāgavata-dharma' ("Teaching Kṛṣṇa Consciousness in America"). The translation of this prayer is printed here:

"My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, You are so kind upon this useless soul, but I do not know why You have brought me here. Now You can do whatever You like with me.

But I guess You have some business here, otherwise why would You bring me to this terrible place?

Most of the population here is covered by the material modes of ignorance and passion. Absorbed in material life, they think themselves very happy and satisfied, and therefore they have no taste for the transcendental message of Vasudeva [Kṛṣṇa]. I do not know how they will be able to understand it.

But I know that Your causeless mercy can make everything possible, because You are the most expert mystic.

How will they understand the mellows of devotional service? O Lord, I am simply praying for Your mercy so that I will be able to convince them about Your message.

All living entities have come under the control of the illusory energy by Your will, and therefore, if You like, by Your will they can also be released from the clutches of illusion.

I wish that You may deliver them. Only if You desire their deliverance will they be able to understand Your message.

The words of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are Your incarnation, and if a sober person repeatedly rep… receives it with submissive aural reception, then he will be able to understand Your message.

He will become liberated from the influence of the modes of ignorance and passion, and thus all inauspicious things accumulated in the core of the heart will disappear.

It is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.17-21): Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses himself from material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.

'By regular attendance in classes on this Bhāgavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.

As soon as irrevocable loving service is established in the heart, the effects of nature's modes of passion and ignorance, such as dust, desi… lust, desire, and hankering, disappear from the heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness, and he becomes completely happy.

Thus established in the mood of unalloyed goodness, the man whose mind has been delivered by contact with devotional service to the Lord gains positive scientific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead in the stage of liberation from all material association.

'Thus the knot in the heart is pierced, and all misgivings are cut to pieces. The chain of fruitive reactions is terminated when one sees the self as master.

How will I make them understand this message of Kṛṣṇa consciousness? I am very unfortunate, unqualified and am the most fallen. Therefore I am seeking Your benediction so that I can convince them, for I am powerless to do so on my own.

Somehow or other, O Lord, You have brought me here to speak about You. Now, my Lord, it is up to You to make me a success or failure, as You like.

O spiritual master of all the worlds! I can simply repeat Your message. So if You like You can make my power of speaking suitable for their understanding.

Only by Your causeless mercy will my words become pure. I am sure that when this transcendental message penetrates their hearts, they will certainly feel gladdened and thus become liberated from all unhappy conditions of life.

O Lord, I am just like a puppet in Your hands. So if You have brought me here to dance, then make me dance, make me dance, O Lord, make me dance as You like.

I have no devotion, nor do I have any knowledge, but I have strong faith in the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta, and now, if You like, You can fulfill the real purport of Bhaktivedanta.

Signed — the most unfortunate, insignificant beggar, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, On board the ship Jaladuta, Commonwealth Pier, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Dated 18th of September, 1965"

These are the thoughts of one who was coming, physically and spiritually, from the holiest abode of Kṛṣṇa consciousness into the hellishness of twentieth-century… century materialism—from Vṛndāvana to Boston. He could immediately see the death, suffering, illusion, the human beings reduced to animal life— as materialists could never see them. Yet he did not turn away in loathing. He had come to save these people, now… but now he felt very weak and lowly, unable to do anything on his own. He stood in the American city, a city rich with billions, populated with millions, and determined to stay the way it was. He was but an "insignificant beggar" with no money, an old man who had barely survived two heart attacks at sea, who spoke a different language, and who was dressed strangely— yet he had come to tell people to give up meat-eating, illicit sex, intoxication, gambling, and to worship Kṛṣṇa, who to them was an unknown Hindu god. What would he be able to accomplish?

But while feeling his own weakness, he directly spoke his heart to God. He was alone, with no friend, but God was his friend. And what did he wish of his friend? "I wish that You may deliver them. I am seeking Your benediction so that I may… I can convince them." And in this intimate poem he also revealed the method he would use. He would trust in the power of the transcendental vibration of the… Go… of God's holy name. As expressed in the verses he quoted from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the message of Godhead itself would clean away desire for material enjoyment and create loving service unto Kṛṣṇa as an irrevocable fact. It was complete faith in this process that he expressed, even while forced to feel the powerful influence of ignorance and passion that dominated everything around him in the American city. He was tiny, but God was the greatest, and God was Kṛṣṇa, his dearmost friend.

Therefore, although no one in Boston or New York had the slightest suspicion of it, and although he himself did not assume it, he had entered as a powerful enemy of illusion. Kṛṣṇa's empowered emissary had entered the shore of America in the form of a poor mendicant from India, and no one yet knew what it all meant. As for Śrīla Prabhupāda’s understanding of the event, he expressed it in his poem: "Somehow or other, O Lord, You have brought me here to speak about You. Now, my Lord, it is up to You to make me a success or failure, as You like."

That is the story of how Śrīla Prabhupāda left India, Vṛndāvana Dhāma and traversed on the Jaladuta ship to America. Actually, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s poems, his prayers reveal what the mood of a devotee should be to his spiritual master, for Kṛṣṇa, to Rādhārāṇī, to the order of his spiritual master.

Śrīla Prabhupāda was under the protection of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa’s yoga-māyā, Subhadrā devī, Rādhārāṇī. He predicted while out at sea how the whole world, every town and village, from every river, every sea, everywhere the holy name of Kṛṣṇa would resound. Prabhupāda was acting as the perfect instrument in the hand of his spiritual master, in the hands of Kṛṣṇa.

I remember how Śrīla prabhupāda would hear the feats of certain mystic-yogīs and bābās who could perform so called miracles by producing a rasagulla, or a sweetmeat or a sandeśa or some kind of wristwatch for his devotees. Uh, this was called miracle. Many followers came poured money and begged the mystic yogī for a blessing so their business would prosper. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda would say how, “You should tell them the real miracle is how from ₹40 to ₹400,000,000 of International preaching has been achieved. How from nothing, how so many devotees have been enlivened.”

Have these people changed one person’s heart? Śrīla Prabhupāda, he has moved the hearts of countless people. So here we see the dedication that Śrīla Prabhupāda had. Actually Śrīla Prabhupāda tried to cooperate in different ways with his Godbrothers, but they were busy in their own affairs. They were not so fortunate as our ISKCON movement which is so tightly knit. There had been dissension between some.

But in spite of being all alone, Śrīla Prabhupāda never felt himself alone because he had his spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa’s order. He didn’t left a stone unturned. It’s not that Śrīla Prabhupāda went off on his own. Actually there were so many instances where he asked to be sent as a representative of the Gauḍīya Mission, where tried to work, hand in hand with the Gauḍīya Mission, but their… there’s was not the same mood of preaching that Śrīla Prabhupāda had learned from his spiritual master, and they had all broken into factions. There was no cooperation.

Bhaktisiddhanta had ordered that there should be a Governing Body Commission, and all the disciples should surrender to it, to keep the mission together, 64 temples. But they didn’t obey him. So Prabhupāda, after many many years, he was faced with the grim future that, “All my Godbrothers who are… ”who he considered in his humility, “…they are so much senior to me, but they have not yet done anything. So although I am insignificant, anyway I must try to do. Other Godbothers have gone to Europe. They have gone to England, but they have not done anything. So, America is the richest nation, so let me go to America, where no one has yet tried. So, let me shoot the rhinoceros.

At the age of 69-70, that is no small feat, aboard an Indian cargo vessel, without any money. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that, “Had any of my disciples had to go under those conditions, they would not have been able to maintain their Krisna consciousness.” Without implicit faith in the order of the spiritual master, and the words of the scriptures, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the purport of the Vedas is not revealed, and by such implicit faith all the secrets of the Vedas are revealed. So Śrīla Prabhupāda, he had such implicit faith so everything was revealed. Before stepping off the ship, he said everything, how these people are situated and how they will be delivered.

So, I only met… Although I met Śrīla Prabhupāda’s devotees in 1967, I only met Śrīla Prabhupāda personally in 1968, in Montreal. At that time there was already three temples, one in New York, one in San Francisco and one in Montreal. There was talk about opening a center in Los Angeles. Umapati or someone had come here to check out a few places, and he said that there is a good prospect for a temple in Los Angeles. People here were favorable to such a move. So, I can’t say from any personal experience, before that time.

What happened of course we have all heard even before the biography, we’ve heard many things, from Śrīla Prabhupāda himself, and from his letters, and other devotees, how sometimes his affects were stolen, how sometimes he was beaten, how sometimes he was intimated, how some times he was befriended, how some times he was favored, how some times he was neglected, how sometimes he felt frustrated that the progress was going on too slow. But if Śrīla Prabhupāda didn’t have that patience… there were so many followers of Bhaktisiddhānta, there were so many Gauḍīya Vaisnavas, there are so many Vaiṣṇavas, there are so many Sanātana-dharmīs and Hindus, but had Śrīla Prabhupāda, had that one saintly transcendental citizen of India not come to this land to preach this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement, then we shudder think what should have been our fate today, lost in this dark pit of this material world without a glimmer of hope, just like the multi-millionaire standing outside his house.

Bhavānanda Goswami and Acyutānanda Swami, they, I don’t… may have the… the name incorrect, Hollywood Hills or something, yesterday were caught on fire, and they were watching the big houses one after the another, big, 100-foot flames going up. It was a big event. And the rich people, they’re standing with their hose trying to keep their roof wet. Flame just devours the house. So like that, we are thinking, “Oh, I will solve all my proble…. I have so many plans but we would have been simply devoured by the fire of this material world, which is still waiting to devour us any time we turn our face away from Kṛṣṇa, but there actually was no hope. Śrīla Prabhupāda has given us our lives. His devotees are preaching and still giving us, and so many others their lives.

So this is Śrīla Prabhupāda’s gift. If we are to weigh his gift to us, then how can we repay it? Just like Kṛṣṇa was… was asking His devotees to uh, weigh Him, and so they were putting so many gold objects but no matter how much gold is put he was much heavier, so finally they got the secret. They put on a tulasī leaf the word Kṛṣṇa, the name Kṛṣṇa, and they put that on that scale, and that tilted it.

That one cannot repay Kṛṣṇa or the spiritual master by any amount of gold or material things alone, one has to give just like Kṛṣṇa and his name are non-different so Kṛṣṇa plus tulasī was heavier than Kṛṣṇa. So we have to give everything --- thought, word, deed everything to Kṛṣṇa plus… plus what? What else is there, you see? So therefore even we give everything, we still can’t match, so therefore we become hopeless. How to repay the debt? But Śrīla Prabhupāda is so kind that he has given us the secret that there’s no way to repay the debt.

Even at one time if… if one syllable of the word Kṛṣṇa is given or taught to someone, that debt is so great that no amount of service, of material repayment could ever repay that debt. So simply we have to be satisfied with the attempt to repay. There are so many great people honored in history, just like the crossing of the Potomac by George Washington and the two lights one if by day, or land, and two if by sea, all these things. These are commemorated, you see. The landing of the troops in certain… already people are forgetting, and they have significance in one nation at one place.

But don’t think that Śrīla Prabhupāda setting foot in America has only significance to the Americans, but others… this has had significance and has significance to everyone throughout the whole world. In Europe, in Africa, in Australia, in South America, North America and India, Asia, everywhere. You see, Prabhupāda has started the avalanche.

Have you ever seen an avalanche? An avalanche starts in a small way. Sometimes one little bit of snow or dirt will just start to roll, and as it’s rolling, it hits other pieces and they also start to move, and the subsequent movement becomes bigger and bigger, and from a small particle, to hundreds of particles, to thousands of particles to a few tons of material, it starts to roll and gain momentum. In this way, as the avalanche gains its speed, then finally the whole mountain crushes down in a huge landslide.

Jaya Śrī-Śrī Rukmiṇī-Dvarakādhīśa. So, in the same way Śrīla Prabhupāda has started the flood of love of Godhead. He started the… and he is nurturing. He is nourishing. Simply, we are pebbles. We are insignificant particles of dust, simply taking part in this massive landslide which will completely free all the loose particles from the fixed up position, this material world, down, down into the ocean of bliss. The ocean of transcendental Love of Godhead, waiting below. Avalanche into the sea of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So this is a very historic day today and tomorrow. We should remind ourselves and commit ourselves to dedicate to the lotus feet of guru and Gaurāṅga, following in the footsteps of Śrīla Prabhupāda to spread this message which he has brought with such care and affection and compassion so that everyone can benefit, that is the service we can do to offer to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Thank You, are there any questions, or topics of discussion? Maybe someone can bring up some nice points.

Yes?

Devotee: It’s said Śrīla Prabhupāda was alone in America, preaching so when he sent some of his disciples back to India, and that too, they were there by themselves, preaching. I know you were one of them. So perhaps you could say something about that. What was it like alone, preaching in foreign countries?

Jayapatākā Swami: Wasn’t so much alone because two months… of course Acyutānanda was there for one year alone, and then after I came, after two months Śrīla Prabhupāda visited India, and every year Prabhupāda would visit at least one time to India. Although we were alone for the first 4 or 5 years, one can’t draw so much of a comparison. He was physically guiding us and training us, telling us what to do, criticizing us when we did something imperfectly.

The trial of Śrīla Prabhupāda when he was have to leave America in 1968, that time he went to Canada. At that time, I left San Francisco after Ratha Yātrā and went to Montreal to meet Śrīla Prabhupāda because I heard he was going back to India and he may never return. I thought, “I’ve been looking for years and years for some one person who has some spiritual wisdom and here I find so many enlivened devotees and that uh, now, their spiritual master, the great master who has come to India with this message he is going back. I may never meet him. So I… they tried to tell me, the temple president. “Well you should just stay here; Don’t leave the temple. Don’t worry. You won’t understand what Śrīla Prabhupāda says anyway he speaks with Indian accent.”

So I was very confused being a new bhakta; what to do. So someone took me aside, “Listen; don’t believe these guys. You just ask him, if you pay his way, would he like to go to see Śrīla Prabhupāda? Then you’ll find out the real truth. So then, uh, I could understand that he just wanted to keep another brahmacārī in the temple and sure enough he would also like to go see Śrīla Prabhupāda. So I went to see Śrīla Prabhupāda to surrender personally at his lotus feet.

And, in those we didn’t had any saṅkīrtana; we didn’t have any big book distribution. We’d print out the… we’d get a few Back to Godheads from New York and then think about how to give ‘em out to anybody who wanted ‘em, and pretty soon they were even printing a few thousand copies, but it was not really that our movement was based on book distribution. So that time all the devotees of America were signing a petition to get Prabhupāda a permanent visa status and there was no money in the temple, so when I came I had to work in a factory.

I had a job in an A & W coffee shop cleaning up after the people, because Prabhupāda was going to be evicted from his house. I was sweeping the floor and the people used to curse me why would I sing when I swept. They said, “You’re the lowest man on earth; this is the worst job in the world. You are supposed to be miserable. Why you are always singing and smiling?”

Every night I would go to hear Śrīla Prabhupāda lecture, every morning. So after that kind of experiences, working in a welding shop and all those different things… I was… I was a student of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. I was going to Prep Schools. I never really had to work like that before. After that, going to India wasn’t so bad. For six months we were working in Manpower, anything we could do go just to get… ‘cause we had to maintain Prabhupāda’s apartment and the temple and there was no book distribution. There was no real program developed yet; that all came after about two-three months after we started to gradually develop different programs, but in those days all we could do was kīrtana on the street and beg, or get jobs.

Then after that we were doing saṅkīrtana I remember, in Toronto. Four hundred ru… dollars a day was a big pick for twenty devotees; that was wonderful. Big festival. It was a big shock when I was asked to go to India, because no one… It was like, if you ask somebody “Please uh, line up at a corner and uh, the moon god’s going to come and take you to the moon. You’re gonna preach there.” No one ever went to India. Wasn’t ever thought… Wasn’t a place to go to.

But actually if one is sent on some assignment where he is forced to remember the spiritual master and depend on him in his heart, then one has to… its like being thrown in the water; one has to either sink or swim. There is no alternative. One has to either grip at the lotus feet of spiritual master very tightly, because he knows that apart from that, apart from his instructions apart from following his orders, and remembering his words that, apart for that, there is no other… there’s no other protection.

Māyā will immediately snatch one up. Māyā seems very prominent all around. Actually if you see Prabhupāda, he was… We can see in his biography, he was looking… He was looking for service, he was looking where he could get his in. For two years he was going here and there, and here and there, trying to find a way to give the people Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He had the goods, but how to merchandise it, but how to give it to them, how to find out where the market was, where the people were who would accept this transcendental commodity, that is a tremendous frustrating thing.

As soon as I arrived in India, the… Prabhupāda gave me so much service. I had never had the time to think about what to do. My service was provided. Immediately you had to get a temple, you had to…..I’d already been trained. When I was in United States and in Canada. We were told that the duty of every devotee is to open a temple. Some people even say that the best way open a temple is that first you have to get married; The husband and wife team is most effective.

So I… Tomorrow I am going to uh… I’m going to see Hamsaduta Mahārāja, Gurudeva. At one time he was very much insistent that that was the very positive course for me. I became very… very much disturbed that I was being intimidated. I was a new bhakta, and a newly initiated devotee and all of a sudden I have to give up my brahmacārī life, that I went and approached Prabhupāda that, “What should I do Śrīla Prabhupāda? Whatever you tell me, I would do.”

He said, “Well, what do you want to do?” No, he didn’t tell me that. He said uh, that uh… he asked my age and time. He told me “When you are 25 years old, then according to Vedic custom the spiritual master decides what is best for you. So either remain a brahmacārī, take sannyāsa, or get married. So right now you simply wait and I will decide at the right time what you should do. You don’t listen to anyone else. You simply wait for my order.” So I got freed from that particular danger, and uh, then we were told though, that you had to learn to cook, to do pujari work, we had to know how to do accounts, manage the temple, play a mṛdaṅga, play kartāla and preach from the gītā and Bhāgavata, and that was the way we used to be trained in those days.

Now like people specialize: saṅkīrtana, cook, pujārī. In fact when I took over as president in the Montreal temple there was only four devotees and I was the pujārī, the cook, the president, the accountant and the saṅkīrtana leader, and then I had to gradually train everyone else, how to cook, how to do the pujārī… because when the previous temple president left, he took everyone with him to open up a new temple somewhere else. So, nowadays… of course, when you go to open up a new temple, one president will go, one cook would go. About three-four men will go.

In those days they were trained that one man, two men can go anywhere. So, that… Same way, I went to open up a torento… our temple in Toronto. Immediately, start cooking prasādam, invite some people over and give ‘em prasāda. So, in that way I was prepared to go anywhere. That was… we were told that “Your duty is, anywhere that you’ll be sent, you have to go and open a temple. This is how you have to be prepared to satisfy your spiritual master.” After many years Prabhupāda said “First of all, let’s establish… let’s get the temples we have, very strong and established, before we just go on expanding.” So, now the mood is a little bit different.

But, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I remember how we used to always be thinking so deeply how to train everyone to accept responsibility for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It’s simply it’s a question of how responsible one is to the orders of the spiritual master: How… How responsible and how straightforward. There can’t be any dupliciousness before one’s spiritual master.

I remember we used to go before Śrīla Prabhupāda and I would sometimes say “Śrīla Prabhupāda I am a great fool.” And Prabhupāda said “Very good! You should always remain a fool before your spiritual master. As soon as you think you are not a fool before your spiritual master, then you are a first class fool; then you are doomed. You should simply keep your mind open like a slate so that the spiritual master can write on it.

So, Śrīla Prabhupāda he was so kind; he had so many ideas for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He would say, “I have so many ideas but I cannot reveal to you now. I cannot reveal because you are not yet ready to hear all my ideas. I will reveal one after another as you are able to do.” When Śrīla Prabhupāda left this world he said “I have finished half of my work. Yet half remains to be done.”

So Śrīla Prabhupāda, he is so kind that he has given us so much service to do. Of course, there are so many areas and each area is new experience a new exploration, but the foundation which he has left is so strong, it is so wonderful that there is a tremendous impetus, a tremendous gift making it so easy for us to expand. Simply, a little hard work, a little bit of elbow grease and deep concentration. The… He said that, “If you cannot expand what I have done, If you cannot increase it, if you cannot make it bigger and better, which is my innermost desire, then at least maintain it. Don’t let anything deteriorate.”

Of course, Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted us to double our book distribution; he wanted us to increase the preaching, more and more. Sometimes, when we gave the proposal… we’re going to build 250, 350, 400ft temple in Māyāpur, then the local people would complain that “Lord Caitanya’s temple is only 140, 150, how can you build something bigger?” and Prabhupāda would say that a rich man, he wants his son would become a wealthier man. Why is a man who is working in a job saving all his money to send his son to school? Because he wants that his son should be more successful.

I remember, some devotees would say to Prabhupāda, “Prabhupāda what about those good old days when we were struggling.” What about… These are the good old days. Those days are unmentionable. When all the devotees are chanting their sixteen rounds, attending their Bhāgavatam class, fully engaged in there service; those are good days. When one is simply struggling to create a program to enlist not very enthusiastic or willing people; those are the struggling days.

So Prabhupāda has taken that burden on himself; He has undergone all those struggle after that any subsistent struggles don’t compare at all. Actually, the more that one feels heavy pressure in service, Although at the time it may feel very difficult. Later on, once the pressure lifts a little bit, then one actually feels a little separation from that intensity. That “At that time I had a more intense appreciation of devotional service. I was brought closer to Kṛṣṇa and… my spiritual master, and Kṛṣṇa.” Just like Kuntī devī, she prayed that “Let there be danger rather than good fortune because by danger, I am calling Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa is coming.”

So, of course we hope that one day our… our Godbrothers, the disciples, the grand disciples, their grand grand disciples, and grand nephews and everything will have a whole Kṛṣṇa conscious world to practice their devotional service. But of course, this struggle is a great opportunity for us to surrender who have… who have been born in a sinful situation; so that in future our children and descendants in disciplic succession, they will be born in a Kṛṣṇa conscious situation so that it’s definitely everyone’s last birth in this material world. They’ll go right back to Kṛṣṇa. So, this is our great opportunity. We can… all of us.

We are actually all of us alone in one sense that apart from our spiritual master’s order and Kṛṣṇa, there is nothing else. Of course we have our Godbrothers. They give us reinforcement. They give us association, so we can thank Prabhupāda how kind he was. Had he not given us his association, had he not made this society, where would we be with our Godbrothers and Godsisters, without all these devotees to give us association, how much more difficult, how much more of a trial it would have it been?

In India there was such a turnover of devotees. No one could stay; Prabhupāda was always in anxiety. I don’t… I have no credit, only thing is, I just stuck it out. But that was simply by Prabhupāda’s mercy. The real dynamic force… of course we feel pleasant and advanced devotees like Śrīla Rāmeśvara Swami, who is fighting constantly against the demons who are opposing this book distribution, who are opposing this preaching. All over the movement, we see so many preachers who are daily encountering so many obstacles but who are remaining fired up, who are remaining enthused and who are preachers.

So if we can refine that and try to follow in the footsteps try to capture, what is the mood, what is the vibration of Śrīla prabhupāda when he surrendered everything to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that will be our greatest achievement. If we can capture that fire from the pure devotee and ignite our own wood-like heart, coal-like heart and keep the fanning on the fire so that it keeps burning strong and consistently, that is the greatest and most secret, confidential thing we can get from our spiritual master. Their mood, their vibration, their intense feeling and desire to satisfy Kṛṣṇa and their… first and foremost their own spiritual master.

Jaya Oṁ Viṣṇu-pāda Paramahaṁsa Parivrajakācārya Śrī Śrīmad Śrīla Abhaya Caraṇāravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda ki, 

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda kī...!

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda kī...!

Devotees: Jaya! 

Rāmeśvara Swami: Prabhupāda was so satisfied, the biggest street in America, 5th Avenue, and a beautiful Ratha-yātrā, three big carts built personally by Jayānanda prabhu. Even though during the time he was constructing the carts, he was already showing the signs of the disease that would ultimately take his body, he still went on building the carts and personally pulled… pulled the Jagannātha cart. So Prabhupāda was feeling the ecstasy at that time, and also it was a beautiful season of the year in America. The Gītā-nagarī farm was just coming up so Tamal Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja and myself were pleading with Śrīla prabhupāda, “Why travel back to India again?”

Of course Bombay wasn’t open and that was on Prabhupāda’s mind that “I have to go to India and push the construction.” and we were trying to tell Prabhupāda “Why not let others manage so that you can have some relief and you could just stay for one month or so at the Gītā Nagari farm. It’s very peaceful and your health would be so nice.” And we were describing to Prabhupāda about the milk from those cows, and his health was very bad at that time.

So anyway we were pleading with him, day after day. Even up until the last second we were going down from the eleventh floor in the elevator to the car, to the airport, we were still pleading with him, “Please don’t leave.” Finally, Prabhupāda ended the discussion by turning to us in a way that it… only… only Prabhupāda can look in this way, completely majestic that is… beyond the demigods, beyond the king, just so much beauty and magesty and nobility. So he turned to us and said, “I want the bliss of fighting for Kṛṣṇa up until my last breath.”, and the combination of the tone in his voice and the way he was majestically standing there in the elevator, going down ended the conversation once and for all. There was no question of deterring Śrīla Prabhupāda. He was determined and said “I want to follow on the footsteps of Arjuna. I want to give my whole life to Kṛṣṇa up until my last breath there is no question of resting that was Prabhupāda’s style. He used to joke with us “Work now, samādhi later.” That was his joke. So the sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters of His Divine Grace should understand their father and grandfather.

The mercy of the spiritual is available to those who catch up the spirit of his life and follow in his footsteps. He is like a raincloud which has got unlimited quantity of water. There is no limit to the mercy of Kṛṣṇa which we can all receive from Śrīla Prabhupāda. There is no limit, but there is a process for receiving that mercy. We must study the ācārya not only by his words but as he is the living example, we must study the spirit of his working, the spirit as to how he engaged himself and dovetailed himself 24 hours a day, and we are instructed by the greatest authority of Vedic knowledge Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, that if you want the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, then you must follow the footsteps of the predecessor ācārya.

Therefore every single move that Śrīla Prabhupāda made was calculated to teach us how to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Nothing in his life was whimsical. The way he pushed himself from one country to another, the way he has accepted any material difficulty for his Guru Mahārāja, the way he never stopped preaching and fighting for Kṛṣṇa up until the last breath of his life, every one of these moves is calculated to teach us how to get mercy of Kṛṣṇa. The fact is that Śrīla Prabhupāda did not have to translate on his disappearance bed. There were so many things he did not have to do, but every single move was calculated to teach us the spirit of total surrender to Kṛṣṇa.

That’s where one finds pure love for Kṛṣṇa. That is where one finds the highest state of bliss, so we should never forget the style of Śrīla Prabhupāda, rather we should try to mold our lives around his style. He is famous for telling us, if you are going out to hunt, you might as well try to shoot a rhinoceros. Don’t go after a little rabbit. Don’t think small for Kṛṣṇa, think big. Therefore Śrīla Prabhupāda would order us to build big temples in India when had about only 20 devotees in India, in different cities simultaneously money would be sent for construction and there were no devotees and still Prabhupāda was building temples.

We have to study Śrīla Prabhupāda transcendental mood for studying Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He was bold. He was the greatest warrior. He was the most encouraging personality. He had the biggest plans. Just like with our library party, practically from the day it started, Prabhupāda was asking, “How many libraries are in this planet?”, and then, we said, “Well Prabhupāda there’s a few thousand college libraries.” He said, “No, how many branches are there? How many high schools are there? How many public schools are there?” Every single thing we did was on a gigantic scale.

Anyway there are so many lessons to be learnt from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s life. We should learn those lessons. He lived in a particular way, not because it is his nature. We should not misunderstand this point. As a perfect ācārya, he deliberately lived and acted and planned and pushed himself in a way he wanted us to live and act and plan and push ourselves. We should understand that Śrīla Prabhupāda is beyond the mode of nature. It is not that he acted in a certain way because it was his nature and we can act in a different way because that is our material nature. As the ācārya, he taught how we should live.

So, just like his going away from his home, crossing the sea, going to a foreign country, no money. Just with faith in Kṛṣṇa, so there are many things that we have to learn, and as we build up our spiritual consciousness, and more and more, if we want to make advancement, we have to molding our life around the example of Śrīla Prabhupāda. That is the way for all of us to become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious. His teachings are relevant. His lifestyle is relevant. So, we should try and catch up the spirit of Śrīla Prabhupāda, his missionary spirit, his spirit of surrender and devotion. In this way our lives can become successful.

So, Śrīla Ācāryapada, on this occasion you may like to conclude this morning program with a few words. You had so much intimate association with Śrīla Prabhupāda especially in India, you know better than any of us how he pushed himself and his disciples.

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