20231117 Śrīla Prabhupāda Tirobhāva Address

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: Yesterday I was very sick and so I was worried today that I would also be sick. It was very nice to see the drama. Śrīla Prabhupāda went to Advaita Gosāñī’s āśrama, and he was praying how to fulfill the order of His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda. Actually, the tirobhāva, the disappearance day, is very special. On the appearance day we usually glorify the different pastimes. On the tirobhāva we naturally say something for maintaining the heritage of the guru.

One time on the top floor of the Lotus building, Śrīla Prabhupāda had mentioned that after his spiritual master left, some people sold off some of the Gauḍīya Maṭha. So he requested us - at least maintain what I have done. If you can expand it, very nice. At least please don’t sell it off. In his last days he was worried how this movement will go on. He asked His Holiness Girirāja Swami if he thinks that it will go on. This was a constant thing he was worried about the future. Then, when the Will was written, he said now, I can rest in peace.

So, in the 9^th canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Prabhupāda says in the purport - man, woman, śūdra, whatever, if they are Kṛṣṇa conscious there is no difference. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted us to be very Kṛṣṇa conscious. He would just take rest from 10 pm to midnight. After that he would start writing! Śivarāma Swami Mahārāja mentioned how Śrīla Prabhupāda would combine all the ṭīkās of the previous ācāryas. Sometimes at 1 or 2 am Śrīla Prabhupāda would call me. I would wash my face and feet and go downstairs. Then he would be in a special mosquito net around his desk. He would already be working. He would put down his dicta phone, he would tell me whatever he wanted to tell me. I was on call 24/7. 1 am 2 am, did not matter. I saw these ṭīkās were all written in Sanskrit. Śrīla Prabhupāda was reading the Sanskrit and writing his purports. So, every night, he would spend writing his books. Think how much effort he put in in writing the books and purports! I saw that with my own eyes! Now, I read the books many times, but now since Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted us to get the degrees, I am studying the books very carefully and taking the exams. I am half way through my Bhakti-vedānta degree. I was in Hosur, earlier this year, a city next to Bengaluru. But it is physically in Tamil Nadu. There, a 25 years old daughter of the president, she already has the Bhakti-vedānta degree! Now she is studying for her Bhakti-Sārvabhauma. It is easier, won’t say it is easy, for children to read Śrīla Prabhupāda books and get the degrees. Bhakti-śāstrī, Bhakti-vaibhava, Bhakti-vedānta, Bhakti-Sārvabhauma. So you can still get the association with Śrīla Prabhupāda by reading his books.

In this samādhi temple, there used to be a toilet and a shower. It was an architectural wonder! Inside, shower and bathroom for ladies. Outside was for men. Everything which Śrīla Prabhupāda did, he was teaching us, he wanted Māyāpur to be an example for the whole world. Śrīla Prabhupāda once with his cane knocked the door open. Outside was men’s bathroom and toilet. We did not go and check the ladies’. But he knocked the door open. There, in the Indian pan there was night soil. Somebody had used it and not cleaned after that. Śrīla Prabhupāda, he started chastising everyone, “You call yourselves brāhmaṇas? Brāhmaṇa is always clean! This is dirty! What kind of brāhmaṇas are you?” So everyone, obviously no one knew who had left the night soil, but he was teaching everyone. Then someone, he came by taxi from Europe. And he went to see Śrīla Prabhupāda and the devotees. He saw Śrīla Prabhupāda was giving the sauce to everybody. “What kind of brāhmaṇas are you?” So this devotee from Europe was smiling, seeing Śrīla Prabhupāda giving the sauce! That was the wrong thing to do. Śrīla Prabhupāda pointed at him, “You call yourself a brāhmaṇa? A brāhmaṇa is always clean, there is dirt here. Why is there dirt here?” He, the devotee, had just driven up. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda would use his emotion to emphasize something. Everything he did in Māyāpur was to teach us.

Today we are remembering Śrīla Prabhupāda and it is a special day. We want to fulfill all the orders of Śrīla Prabhupāda. We want to do that every day, but today we are focusing on it. So, what we do in Māyāpur is meant to fulfill Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instructions. The TOVP is being built to fulfill Śrīla Prabhupāda’s dream. And we are spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness far and wide, because Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted us to fulfill Lord Caitanya’s prediction. As a previous tridaṇḍī Swami had mentioned,

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma
sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma
[CB Antya-khaṇḍa 4.126]

And everyone should try to carry out Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instructions to bring Lord Caitanya’s prediction alive! Hare Kṛṣṇa!