19860919 Devotees by Nature

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on September 19th 1986, at New Tālavana Farm in Carriere, Mississippi.

Jayapatākā Swami: The devotees by nature are very meek and humble, dedicated, not desiring respect from others. Just like Lord Caitanya has prayed:

tṛṇad api sunīcena
taror api sahiṣṇunā
amānina mānadena
kīrtanīya sada hariḥ
(Śikṣāṣṭakaṁ 3)

One should be more humble than a straw in the street, more tolerant than a tree, and devoid of all sense of false prestige, not desiring admiration for oneself, but ready to offer it to others. Lord Caitanya, He sometimes would show His six handed form known as the śaḍbhuja. Remember that pastime where that brāhmaṇa was in Jagannātha Miśra’s house and he was trying to offer bhoga to his Deity. Lord Caitanya, every time that brāhmaṇa would call, He would come. So finally in the middle of the night, He revealed His form as Kṛṣṇa. He also blessed that devotee to see his ṣaḍbhuja. Now there are two ṣaḍbhuja forms of Lord Caitanya, or six handed forms. One six-handed form is very common. Lord Caitanya’s two hands with daṇḍa and kamaṇḍalu, Kṛṣṇa’s two hands with flute and Rāma’s hands with bow and arrow. There was another six handed form that Lord Caitanya manifested, that is with the hands of Kṛṣṇa, and Rāma, and Narasiṁhadeva. The hands of Narasiṁhadeva in that form, one hand is down, another hand is up. What is the difference? Why does Narasiṁhadeva, in ṣaḍbhuja form, why one hand of Narasiṁhadeva is up and one hand is down, can anyone say? Yes. One is for the demons. One is petting the head of the devotees, “Don’t worry.” Other one is for the demons. So for the devotees, Narasiṁhadeva’s fearful form is not a great cause of anxiety. Rather devotee is very happy to be under the protection of Narasiṁhadeva. 

So although this form of Narasiṁhadeva was very fearful for all the demigods, He was not fearful for Prahlāda. The demigods were also devotees, then why were they afraid? Those devotees who have got material desires, sometimes there they are afraid to meet Kṛṣṇa, especially in the fearful form. Although Kṛṣṇa will not do anything, but due to their attachments they may be afraid to give up something. That Kṛṣṇa, He may take something away from them. On the other hand, the pure devotees already accepted everything as Kṛṣṇa’s, so they are not worried. It’s not always conscious, but they just naturally feel attracted to the Lord. So death is another form of Kṛṣṇa for the non-devotee, for the devotees death is nothing to fear. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and go on to the next situation! But for the non-devotees, death is very fearful. 

bhaja huṅ re mana śrī-nanda-nandana,
abhaya-caraṇāravinda re

Worship the lotus feet of Abhaya-caraṇāravinda, and you are fearless. So somebody has carefully got rid of the material desires, there is nothing to fear from death or from Narasiṁhadeva. But those who have little desires, sometimes they feel afraid. That’s why with the torchlight of knowledge we should cut this ignorance which makes us fearful in the material world. Instead we should learn to depend upon Lord Narasiṁhadeva, Kṛṣṇa, Lord Caitanya, spiritual master, because by Their support, by Their shelter, there is no difficulty, one can easily cross over this ocean of birth and death. The Lord has two purposes, one is to protect the devotees, the other is to annihilate the miscreants. So Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that Kṛṣṇa, He comes, because if He didn’t come, the devotees wouldn’t be satisfied. The devotees of Kṛṣṇa will only be satisfied when Kṛṣṇa comes. 

It is illustrated that, one time Kṛṣṇa was trying to hide from Rādhārāṇī and the gopīs. They were looking for Him everywhere. From a distance they say, “There is Kṛṣṇa! There is Kṛṣṇa!” They all looked. “There is Kṛṣṇa!”, and they all ran to see Kṛṣṇa. So then Kṛṣṇa was thinking how to hide. “They spotted me! I can’t run away now, they will just chase me.” So He took on His four handed Viṣṇu form. When the gopīs came closer they say, “Oh this is not Kṛṣṇa, it’s Nārāyaṇa.” They bowed down and offered their obeisances. “Oṁ namo nārāyaṇāya!” Then they requested, “My dear Lord Nārāyana, we are very pleased to see you here in the forest. Kindly tell us where we can find Kṛṣṇa?” They simply wanted to find Kṛṣṇa. Even though they saw God Himself in His Nārāyana form, they only wanted to see God in His Kṛṣṇa form. They may not have thought that Kṛṣṇa was God or was... that was irrelevant. They simply wanted to be able to see Kṛṣṇa. Of course Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī came. At that time then Her separation from Kṛṣṇa was so strong, Her love was so great that then Kṛṣṇa couldn’t keep His four handed Nārāyana form in the presence of Rādhārāṇī. The two hands kept disappearing. He was trying to keep the four but two hands kept disappearing. Then he was spotted. “Aha! It’s Kṛṣṇa!” So Kṛṣṇa can hide from anyone, but He can’t conceal Himself from Rādhārāṇī because of Her intense love.” When Kṛṣṇa had all the cowherd boys and calves stolen in Vṛndāvana, and then out of His mystic power He expanded Himself into all of the cowherd calves and cowherd boys, that time He concealed Himself, or rather He concealed Himself from the vision of the other devotees. In other words the cowherd boys and calves that were stolen, when he took their form, all the parents thought that this is my son, they didn’t think that this is Kṛṣṇa. But actually it was Kṛṣṇa but He has taken the form of the cowherd boys. Similarly the calves were stolen, but Kṛṣṇa took the form of the calves. So the cows thought these are my calves. So you know in the world, parents love their own children more than anything, more than other children. But in Vṛndāvana it was different. Everyone loved Kṛṣṇa more than their own children. Their love for Kṛṣṇa was more profound than it was for their own children. But when Kṛṣṇa had expanded Himself to all of the other cowherd boys and calf forms, they couldn’t visibly distinguish these boys from the original forms. Even their parents never doubted that this is my son, but spontaneously, although it appeared to be their son, the same love and affection they were feeling to Kṛṣṇa, they started to spontaneously give to their own child. In other words Kṛṣṇa actually became all of their children, even became a child to the cows. He was sucking in the mouth from the cow's udder in the form of a small calf. For one year, He was allowing His devotees to serve Him, although none of them could recognize that this was actually Kṛṣṇa. When Balarāma noticed that all of the cows were feeling more affectionate to the calves, and all of the cowherd boys and girls were feeling more affection to their own calves, rather than to Kṛṣṇa, then Balarāma could see that something was unusual. So they were acting to their own offsprings just like they would act to Kṛṣṇa. How is that? All of a sudden that it dawned on Him that this must be Kṛṣṇa. Then He asked Kṛṣṇa, “How is it that you are expanded into all the calves and all the cowherd boys. Where are the calves and cowherd boys gone, and why are You expanded into their form?” So in this way, the way devotees are spontaneously attracted to Kṛṣṇa is revealed.

So Prahlāda Maharājā, when he saw Narasiṁhadeva, externally may be in a ferocious, very fearful kind of form but Prahlāda only could see Kṛṣṇa, he could only see his Lord. So he didn’t feel afraid. This is the wonderful aspect of devotion. Even devotees, when something happens in their life, and to consider that nothing can happen without the sanction of Kṛṣṇa. So rather than get angry for external causes, the devotees see everything as Kṛṣṇa-approved. They take it as a test or as a blessing. They take it in relation to Kṛṣṇa. So Narasiṁhadeva, He is not here to create a fearful situation for the devotees. He comes to create fear in the non-devotees or atheists, who are causing harm to the devotees. Every mood that we have is originally in Kṛṣṇa. That mood to give charity, to freely give out charity, that’s also there in Kṛṣṇa, it is coming originally from Kṛṣṇa. So in Kṛṣṇa all the different moods are there. You’ll see Kṛṣṇa protecting His devotees, you’ll see Kṛṣṇa relating in love with His devotees, you see Kṛṣṇa killing the demons, you will see Kṛṣṇa doing all kinds of pastimes. Then Kṛṣṇa expands Himself in different forms. Some of those forms specifically, in an intense manner, demonstrate one sentiment or one emotion or one aspect. For instance Narasiṁhadeva showed how He protects His devotees, a very fearful form. Lord Caitanya, as a child, showed brahminical qualities. Balarāma showed the importance of dairy, cow protection, agriculture. Vyāsadeva showed literary abilities. Nārada Muni shows devotion, like that. Each of the different forms shows a different aspect of the Lord’s personality. But all of the aspects are within Kṛṣṇa. That is why Kṛṣṇa is considered the original personality of Godhead, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (ŚB. 1.3.28). Although many qualities are within Rāma, there is more in Kṛṣṇa. Therefore great sages who studied the entire Vedas, they come to the conclusion that Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead. So Prahlāda is requesting Narasiṁhadeva to stop being angry, because already his father is taken care of. Prabhupāda explains that Kṛṣṇa comes because devotees only want Kṛṣṇa. When Rāmacandra was present, the sages of Daṇḍakāraṇya requested that, “When you come again in your next avatar as Kṛṣṇa, kindly allow us to come serve you as maid-servants.” So those who become attached to Kṛṣṇa, they are not distracted by any of the other forms of Kṛṣṇa. All those forms are included within Kṛṣṇa. Therefore we recommend that people take initiation in a Kṛṣṇa-mantra and serving Kṛṣṇa, because that would be completely perfect and complete. Hard to find a devotee like Prahlāda, who was so fearless. Even he was tortured, even he was threatened, he didn’t give up his faith in Kṛṣṇa, you see. 

So we think that this is really something unusual, something that happened millions of years ago couldn’t happen today. How a devotee could be captured like that, tortured by demons and told to give up his faith in Kṛṣṇa, otherwise he will be punished. Something that happened a long time ago couldn’t happen today. Of course it is happening right now in Russia, with our disciples that are there. Our devotees who are there, they are being told, “You have to give up your practice of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.” And because they are not, they are subjecting them to all kinds of sufferings. Actually there was a comment that in Russia those devotees are so fixed up. Because constantly māyā is attacking them, they have to take full shelter of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa gives them mercy and they are able to maintain. Sometimes when they come to the West, they get relief, then they start to take things casually, “All right… emergency is over.” And then things start to become a little bit easy and they may even fall in māyā.  Sometimes if you find in India when you preach, people say, “We cannot become devotees unless we become very wealthy, unless all our suffering is over. We can’t become devotees until we solve our economic problems.” But actually, sometime distress forces us to take more shelter of Kṛṣṇa, because we tend to look to Śrī Kṛṣṇa only when we are in distress. When it is fair-weather, then we don’t look to Kṛṣṇa. Only when it is danger then we look to Kṛṣṇa. So for that reason, sometimes even devotees who are surrendered, when they start to become careless, when they start to develop material qualities, then some of the accumulated karmas they have are allowed to act on them in a token form. That way the karma is destroyed and the devotees are reminded that don’t loosen up until you finish the race. You know the story about the proverbial tortoise and the hare. Although the rabbit was running and running, he was very puffed up. So he would sometimes stop and eat grass, he would eat this and eat that, and eventually the tortoise won the race! Because the rabbit was too proud, it didn’t continue running, even though the rabbit is much faster than the tortoise. So we have to be careful not to become proud, and thus become careless about our devotional practices, about our devotional attitudes. It is actually better, it’s Kṛṣṇa’s mercy sometimes that we are under a little bit of pressure. Sometimes you hear the devotees say, “I just like to have no pressure, why all this pressure?” But the pressure actually is good for us because our mind tends to automatically go to the material world because of long association with māyā. Under a little bit of pressure we can advance faster. Prabhupāda gave the example that under pressure, coal becomes a diamond. So under the pressure of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, a conditioned soul can become a liberated soul. That’s why those devotees who have spontaneous devotional service, they voluntarily accept so many pressures, so many risks, to spread the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. That way one is actually better equipped to face māyā at every step. For instance, Kunti Devī, she prayed to Kṛṣṇa, when Kṛṣṇa was leaving Hastināpura back to Dvārakā, “Now the battle is over, we are victorious, everything is there, but now You are leaving us. So better You stay here, don’t leave us. In fact just because our danger is over, now you are leaving. It’s better to always keep giving us trouble, so that we always keep getting your association. If that is the price, it’s better to take trouble with You, than have the material comfort without You.” That’s the mood of the devotee. Devotee only wants Kṛṣṇa. A devotee is not interested in the type of material calmness that the materialists have. Of course if we get a peaceful time to render devotional service, rather than allow ourselves to be left to take it easy, we should think the other way, that, make hay while the sun shines. Now let me do more devotional service, not take it easy. Make hay while the sun shines of course has a different connotation in America. Literally, when you cut hay, you have to dry it up before you put it in the barn. If you put wet hay in the barn, it will mold and rot. So when the sun is shining, everyone goes and cuts their hay. Same  in India. One should cut the rice from the plant, then it will start to sprout. And even if it is standing, sometimes if it is too long, until you get a sunny day, then they will cut the grains and bring it in. Unless of course it’s going to be a storm. If there is a storm, it can knock the grains off the plant. Then how can you get it off the ground, in the field? 

So in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one shouldn’t be attached to serving Kṛṣṇa only when it’s easy. If Kṛṣṇa gives us an easy time to serve Him, then we should rather take advantage. Just like when there is a steeplechase race, of course the section where you can just run flat, they will run faster. Not that they will continue jumping even though there is no hurdle. They will run in a straighter way, as fast as they can. So we should consider that if Kṛṣṇa gives us an opportunity, we take more. Just like if someone is doing saṅkīrtana, there is a quota of 25 lakṣmī points, but they are able to achieve that very quickly and there is more people to preach to, then actually the devotees will try to do more, so that since Kṛṣṇa has given the opportunity, do as much as possible. Minimum quota may be there to remind us of our goal. So if we adjust our mentality, the idea of serving Kṛṣṇa even under the most difficult situations, then it is not difficult, it is very easy. But if we adjust ourselves that we can only serve Kṛṣṇa under very perfect conditions, then as soon as those conditions are disturbed by the material nature, we become disoriented, and the material nature’s nature is to always be changing, to always be shifting, to be always be causing sometimes pain and sometimes pleasure, sometimes favourable conditions, sometimes unfavourable conditions. So normally the materialists, they are always being tossed around by the material nature. So sometimes they feel depression and fear, and sometimes they feel great hope and enthusiasm. But the devotee, seeing that I have only one business, irregardless of what the situation is. That is to serve Kṛṣṇa, serve the spiritual master. So the devotee, it doesn’t matter, whether it’s a rainy day or sunny day. Of course doesn’t matter whether there is a good time or bad time, the devotee’s only work is to serve Kṛṣṇa. If there is a better time, they will take more advantage of it. Just like in a karmī job, a normal business, if the boss is away, all the workers start to laxen up, take it easy. The boss is out, ‘cat's away, the mice will play.’ Because the boss is responsible, he has got some interest, he makes sure everybody works. But the workers, they are interested, ‘I will do my nine to five, I will get my pay cheque.’ They may not take up their work with that kind of personal initiative. But devotees, nobody is working simply from nine to five - ‘Let me somehow or another stand there and get my salary.’ Devotees working for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa. Actually in my last tour to South America, I was seeing some books being printed in one of our printers in Cuenca, Ecuador. So I happened to go there after a program we did. It was 9’ O'clock at night. So I went to the printers at eight. So the second shift gets over at nine. So we are looking at all the things, the printing, and how the things are really going on. All of a sudden at 9 o'clock, the bell rings. *ring effect* I was just standing at a table which was near the punch card. All of a sudden, there was a stampede. All the workers ran to the punch card. Just knocked me over! I had to just hold on. They are running. Punching out and running out of there. They were just running to get out of that place. One second they were working diligently, doing their work. As soon as the bell rang, they dropped their work and ran. (laughter) They are so eager to get out of that place, you see. But for the devotee, we has to make so many rules. ‘No you have to go to bed at this time.’ If you don’t, they will stay up the whole night talking about Kṛṣṇa, chanting. We have to tell them. You have to get up this time. Otherwise if we don’t make a rule, they will go on, if there is any service to do. Sometimes the devotee for preaching, they forget about eating even! Sometimes it happens. There is so much active preaching, they can’t stop to eat, they can’t stop for the break. Different things may be there. Devotee actually learns to like doing this devotional service, actually gets a taste from the service. In the initial stage the devotee also just follows, ‘Alright from this time to this time I do this... this... this.’ He does it just as a regulation but gradually one develops a taste for the service, develops an attachment for whatever necessary for Kṛṣṇa, so it is totally different. Actually the devotees that are responsible, they hardly need to be supervised. Of course sometimes, neophyte devotees are not able to control their own mind. So if there is not a senior devotee there to give some positive association, sometimes they get misled and start misusing time. So therefore, they voluntarily request that, “Please give me some senior devotee to just give me a positive association, so that I don’t get off into gossip or prajalpa or wasting time or something.” In devotional service everything is voluntary. Even a beginning devotee voluntarily wants to be guided, wants to be trained, wants to be helped. The goal should be, we should become more and more responsible, and take up our service as our personal obligation, our personal offering to Kṛṣṇa. So when that happens, that’s a great joy to the spiritual master, to the Vaiṣṇavas, to see that when someone takes up his service to Kṛṣṇa as his personal initiative. This was something that Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to be developed amongst his devotees very much, known as anurāga or rāgānugā devotion, where a devotee takes up the service with personal enthusiasm and dedication. Not simply like a material job, “I just do it…”, but actually, “This is my service to Kṛṣṇa, this is what I am able to offer to Kṛṣṇa.” Just like the gurukula children, they made the personal writing on Haridāsa Ṭhākura or Dhruva - The Picture, even the artwork may be very hieroglyphic, but somehow they are offering some personal offering to Kṛṣṇa or His devotee. So in this way, that's good training, that they personally do something.

So whether we are sweeping the floor, washing the pots, cooking, planting, ploughing, preaching, office working or whatever, if you are training the children it’s actually a personal service, which we are doing for Rādhā-Rādhā-Kānta, for Gaurā-Nitāi, for Śrīla Prabhupāda, for spiritual master. And with this consciousness, we should become more and more responsible so that we require less reminder of what our duty is. We should gradually become spontaneous (automatic), in our devotional service. Of course we don’t want something whimsical, therefore we take the permission of a senior Vaiṣṇava, of the authority, to make sure that what we are doing, what we feel spontaneously desire to do, is in fact correct. Sometimes the devotees in Māyāpur go to Śrīla Prabhupāda and ask his permission to do something, they say that this desire has been inspired by Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes he’d smash the idea saying this idea is totally strange, it’s not proper. So eventually one is supposed to try to understand the mind of the spiritual master, to anticipate what actually he wants. But in doing so, sometimes one makes mistakes. So if that happens, one should take the training patiently and in the proper attitude. Like Prabhupāda said that he was sitting everyday listening to Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭḥākura’s classes. One day someone came and tapped him on the shoulder in the middle of the class. So he tried to ignore, but he kept tapping and tapping, so he looked around to hear what he was saying. No sooner did he look, then Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭḥākura interrupted his class and said, “You don’t have to listen?” And he told it was a very special mercy that the spiritual noticed me. Although he was chastised, he took it as a kind of mercy. So we consider that if the guru gives chastisement it’s mercy, if the guru gives praise it’s mercy. Sometimes it is even more mercy to be chastised. 

I noticed that one time that there were a number of devotees who were bowing down to Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda was coming in the back door, the Deity was on the other side. So they bowed down with their feet to the Deities. Of course one should bow down to the guru. Even if the Deity is present, one bows down to the spiritual master, because you only approach Lord Kṛṣṇa through the guru. But nonetheless, when bowing down to guru, one doesn’t put his feet to Kṛṣṇa. One bows down at some other angle so that the feet are not directed towards Kṛṣṇa. So there are so many devotees, several made this mistake. But then Prabhupāda picked out Brahmānanda who was senior, and he took his cane and he whacked him on his behind, “Don’t bow down this way! don’t put your feet to Kṛṣṇa.” So somebody made a comment that, “Why did he pick him? There were so many devotees.” Because he knew that he could take it. If he criticizes him, he will take the instruction in a good consciousness. So sometimes in the beginning the spiritual master may be shy to chastise the disciple or the new devotee, because may be the devotee is not so free of the false ego to take that type of pressure. So someone gets chastised by the spiritual master has to be taken as a kind of special mercy. Now I am considered to be strong enough to be able to take the nectar of instruction. Normally we don’t offer praise in the presence of someone. Sometimes praise is offered to others, to say, “Oh, that devotee is doing very well.” But like that, sometimes Prabhupāda, he would tell us that such and such devotee is doing nice service. But he doesn’t normally talk to that person in his presence. Someone told me, when I first joined the movement, as an example, that if you want to please Prabhupāda you should listen to the class very carefully, and pick out some relevant points, and ask a question which will benefit all the listeners and allow some deeper understanding. So during the class when Prabhupāda would speak, in the end I would always ask questions. But I try to ask the question which was appropriate. I remember one time I had some question about Rādhārāṇī, thinking that this was a good thing to ask. And then Prabhupāda said, “What do you know about Rādhārāṇī. Don’t ask something about Her.” So sometimes he would answer the question, but at the same time chastised me for the question, saying it was a foolish question, but then he gave a long answer. Sometimes he just answered the question at face value. So I was going on taking the advice of that devotee. But sometimes I was getting smashed, sometimes I was being answered. I didn’t really know if that was the right thing or not, but I kept on doing it. So at that time in Montreal there was no saṅkīrtana, there was no books yet in ISKCON, in 1968. So Prabhupāda needed money for this. He didn’t need it but we had to pay rent. The temple needed to pay its rent and things, so I went out in the night. I was doing an evening shift job. So Prabhupāda was coming to the temple in the evening and giving class, so I couldn’t hear his class. So I would hear the next morning the tape. So at the end of one class, Prabhupāda asked if there were any questions. And then I heard on the tape, “Where is that Jayapatākā?” (laughter) “He asks good questions.” (laughter) Then I felt encouraged that well, all is not lost. When Prabhupāda would come to Māyāpur, for 24 hours he would praise everything. “Oh your floor is clean, this is nice, that is nice, everything is nice.” He would be watching our clock, 24 hours, 25 hours, it was like 10, 9, 8,7,6,5.... NASA launch-off-pad. Somewhere between 24 and 48 hours, Prabhupāda would completely shift. And after that he would simply point out every defect that we had. That was his mercy, to do it completely. Everything was right, he would look and find out one thing that was wrong. Walking, he saw there was tin can somewhere 50 feet, somewhere in the grass. He points at it, “What is that?” Everyone was looking and couldn't see. [audio fade]... he passed the buck and he said, “Jayapatākā Swami.” “Thanks a lot.” (laughter) So we had to  take all the responsibilities. Prabhupāda, finally he didn’t like that. He said that, “No. Everything here should be under someone’s responsibility, not the President. President should be overall. Not that President is always responsible for picking up paper. His responsibility is to see that someone else has picked up the paper. Not that the President should be responsible to turn off the faucet, but someone should be there who is responsible that all faucets are turned off, and he should see that he has done it. His duty is to supervise, he should delegate, delegate authority, that everyone is doing some service responsibly, spontaneously, and then you see that they do it. If they don’t do it, then you have to correct. 

So like that, so then sometimes, I know most of the senior devotees knew that Prabhupāda, especially in the month of November, when he came and there were no outsiders, then he would do this līlā where would just tear us apart. He said that he wanted to make a showpiece, so he was training us. We heard, although we didn’t know, because I was in India at that time. That when Prabhupāda came to the West, he didn’t involve himself so personally in the management of the temple. He would go and see, just encourage but he wouldn’t usually get so much involved in the details, unless something was blatantly wrong like putting salt in the caraṇāmṛta or something like that. But in Māyāpur, and Vṛndāvana, it was the same pastime. He would always be disturbed in Vṛndāvana if they didn’t ring the bell in time. He would listen, at the hour he would watch his clock, then if there was no bell, he would ring his buzzer, “Why is there no bell ringing?” So in this way he had to train them up every hour to ring a bell *bell effect*, like the old bells in the church. He wanted the bell rung, eight bells for eight hours, nine bells for nine o'clock, like that. One day he was going around. The leader there, he used to always say, “Everything is ok, everything is ok.” This word ok was used so much that Prabhupāda used to say this is ‘ok-so-and-so.’ So I remember I was visiting there and Prabhupāda said, “This room is not clean.” 

“No, no, everything is ok.” 

Prabhupāda was standing there. A piece of grass fell on his nose. Prabhupāda looked up, on the top of the fan, this rotating ceiling fan, there was a big bird nest. The bird had flown in and out and dropped it. Then Prabhupāda said, “Everything is ok.” (laughter) So in this way he was training the devotees. So sometimes other leaders would come, mostly they took it that this is Prabhupāda showing us how we have to train up the devotees from our zones, or temples, or departments, or whatever. We have to always strive for higher standards. But sometimes they didn’t understand this pastime of Prabhupāda. I remember one time, just at the Māyāpur festival, Prabhupāda was giving me a heavy sauce for something, I forget what it was. And all the devotees, they knew that this could go anywhere, anytime. So they were looking very serious. One new person had just come from some other country, some leader, and when Prabhupāda was chastising, he started to smile and laugh, he saw that it was humorous. Prabhupāda looked at him and *laser effect*. There was a laser beam over there. It was a lesson for everyone. That night the person got a huge fever, 106 fever, I don’t know why. But all of a sudden the person got sick. Don’t know if it is related or not but like a special pastime. One time he wanted to get the work finished before the festival, the GBC's came early. He told them, “Alright, you have to finish that work.” All the GBC’s are carrying cement bags on their heads, putting the sand on their heads. Because the coolies were on strike, he said, “You all go out there and do the work.” The coolies would not work, you go and do the work. I was running the cement mixer. I was the only one who knew how to do it. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa, different devotees, they were like coolies, doing their work, it was a very interesting pastime. Prabhupāda was standing on the verandah with his cane, watching. (laughter) 

So you see, of course Prabhupāda, he took up personally the order of Bhaktisiddhānta, the order of Caitanya, to spread this movement all over the world. He took it up so seriously. If he hadn’t taken it up, where would we be today. We owe our opportunity to serve his lotus feet in the disciple succession, simply due to his mercy of taking up that instruction of the previous ācāryas. Similarly every devotee is going out and distributing books, and making a beautiful temple for people to come to, who is engaging in different kinds of fundraising programs, different kinds of development programs and maintenance programmes, they are helping to bring other people. If they didn’t take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness seriously, in a personal committed way, then so less people would have the opportunity to come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It’s due to different devotees personally taking up the order of guru and Kṛṣṇa as a personal commitment that the movement is spread on. So it’s this devotion, this commitment, this spontaneous obligation one feels in the heart to serve guru and Kṛṣṇa that perpetuates the saṅkīrtana movement. We cannot hire people to go out and preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You will not be able to give that inner, deep, committed feeling. Someone who has taken that in the heart, that commitment to serve guru and Kṛṣṇa, they can give that to others. So that is what we need more than anything, it’s devotees who actually take up very responsibly this service to carry out the orders of the spiritual master. A guru may order different people different things, not that he orders everyone the same thing. It’s like in Māyāpur he told us, “Don’t leave any field unploughed, utilize all your agricultural land.” But when he is in the city he didn’t tell that. In the city he would say that try to send all your devotees out on book distribution, try to get distribute more books. So each place there is different dharma, different obligation, different goal. Prabhupāda had various plans for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Just like in a symphony, the director is there. He just waves on this side and the piano player does the one thing. He looks on the other side and the clarinet player or the flutist, the violinist, they do something else, everything is going on. If everyone did the same thing at the same time, if everyone played their own card…. it’s all synchronised by the conductor. So like that the spiritual master, he takes all the different devotees, different projects. And Prabhupāda, as the Founder Ācārya, he gave us an overall blueprint. Now we have to try to understand, as  an overview, specially senior devotees. They have to come to realize Prabhupāda’s master plan, and then see how different projects and how different programs fit within that. If we take up one aspect of the master plan and fanatically try to apply it to all the other aspects, then we are not going to have a symphony anymore. Everything will become like walking on one foot. Prabhupāda had an overall scheme and he had different instructions for different plans and different schemes. Wasn’t a stereotype that at every place, everything would be exactly the same. And so sometimes in one place we see the instructions in one way, then they think that everywhere else it should be exactly the same. That was alright so long as we remain the project leader of that particular place. But if we are asked to oversee a broader area, or to give a strategy for world preaching, then we have to try to understand what Prabhupāda advised for all the different places, and to preserve his instructions in each place. That’s why when I was asked to come here to New Tālavana, I wanted to see that Prabhupāda advised or ordered for this place. He may have given us some advice for Māyāpur, or I may have heard what he had advised in Los Angeles, or in Miami, or London, or other places. But what specifically did he envision for this project? Because our duty would be to try to implement that vision more than what vision he might have envisioned for another place. And when we start a new project, then we should see the project we are doing, which kind of project is it more like? What category does it fit into Prabhupāda's master plan? Of course in the future, maybe after some decades and centuries, things might change and plans may become more evolved. But in the present time, after Prabhupāda had been here and given us so many instructions, obviously the safest thing for us to do, the proper thing for us to do, is to implement his desires. Once you implement it, we may find out that there are many other horizons that would develop the project further. Just like in Māyāpur I was asking Prabhupāda some questions, “What about this, what about that?” Prabhupāda suddenly became impatient, he said, “Don’t think limitedly. Broaden your vision, broaden your vision.” So of course to build a spiritual city, you have to have a broad vision. Now we are seeing that so much spontaneous attraction to Māyāpur is coming, so many thousands of people, that to develop it as a pilgrimage place is the easiest way to develop the city. Because it’s a pilgrimage place and spontaneously more and more people are coming. But that doesn’t mean that every place may be the same. Each place will have it’s unique characteristic. But the basic principles are the same. The basic principles you read in the Bhagavad-gītā, we read in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Nectar of Devotion, principles are the same. Everyone has to accept a guru, surrender to the order of the guru, take initiation, these are the common principles. What order will be given, that's specific. Common principle is there, general principle. Preaching is the essence, books are the basis, utility is the principle and purity is the force. Attend these programmes every day, chant your 16 rounds, these are general principles. And specific principles: In New Tālavana do this, in New Vṛndāvana build seven temples on seven hills, in Māyāpur make a spiritual city, in Hyderabad make a perfect spiritual community, and somewhere else you get some other instructions. In Haridaspur he said, you make this village Kṛṣṇa conscious. I want one place where we convert a village and make it Kṛṣṇa conscious, an existing village. It’s our expression of love to try to put that dream, that vision of ecstasy into form. It’s already real but we want to put into the visible reality of this world. Just like someone has an idea of a symphony, then they put a musical score, and then he gets the band... the orchestra together, and he puts it into an audible form. So like that. Prabhupāda, he would see something and he would get an idea, this is how we could spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness here, this is how we could further Lord Caitanya’s movement and then he would express that. Now we take it to the next stage and we put it into action, and by doing that we get the blessings of Lord Caitanya and Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Verified by your humble ever Servant  

Vinoda Gopīkeśa Dāsa
06-01-2025
Māyāpur India