Are We Really Following Srila Prabhupada?
BY: YADAVENDRA DAS
Jul 04, 2012 — AUSTRALIA (SUN) — On book distribution duties on the Sunshine Coast, Australia.
Srila Prabhupada is the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON and the Institutor of the BBT. Besides being our current link in the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya, these are His two main qualifications. I may say that all His innumerable transcendental qualities and qualifications are covered by and included in these three transcendental designations.
As members of His institution, The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, it is our duty to try our utmost to not only follow in His footsteps, but also to imbibe His mood in all things, especially in the field of preaching. For practical matters, Srila Prabhupada often used to invite us: "Do as I do."
Because Srila Prabhupada was a field commander, as opposed to a bureaucrat ("You are setting a very good example in that you yourself are going with the travelling party. The Vedic concept of the commander is that he must be in front in the fight, not that he sit back behind the lines." Letter to Jagadisa, Jul 23 1973), not only did He have first-hand experience of the difficulties encountered in the preaching field, but with his perfect intelligence He also manufactured the perfect solutions for us to adopt and follow. He has chalked out the path. The task at hand is to somehow identify the relevant information and apply it.
And how do we find the required information? We carefully and regularly hear, study and digest the words emanated from Srila Prabhupada's lotus mouth, which are, in fact, the king of all knowledge and education as per Bhagavad-Gita As It Is 9.2! Whereas for transcendental self-realization purposes, mundane speculated knowledge will be nothing but a waste of time, the knowledge presented by Srila Prabhupada is by far superior. Inspiration taken from mundaners, those situated in the lower modes of passion and/or ignorance, always carries the risk of contamination and misguidance.
On the practical level and for men, for example, a tap, a water utensil and a gamsha (Indian towel) are all that's needed to take a shower. Women will need more protection. In India every man knows this way, as a matter of course. But our lives in the West have become so full of complexities, we are so brainwashed by the overt and/or covert agents and sales persons of materialism, that help is needed from a more thoughtful and less exploitative source to save us from wasting this privileged human form of life by mistakenly tilting the balance toward material engagement. Srila Prabhupada Himself demonstrated this in Bangkok when he took shower from the sink in the rest room of the airport, totally transcendental to the protests of the attendant. Please refer to Srutakirti Prabhu's "Srila Prabhupada Uvaca 45: Bangkok Airport Bath".
Another good example is milk, the miracle food, (and its transformation, yogurt), which can be conserved and consumed in full, without the help of a refrigerator, either in milk form or curd and whey form. A little honey can easily counteract the bitterness of the whey. The power food used by body builders is mostly based on whey. Whereas meat requires freezing, to remain relatively safe for human consumption! The freezer section of the refrigerator is mostly used for meat conservation. Of course, from a karmic point of view, meat is never safe for human consumption, because it cannot be offered to Krishna. Just see the difference!
According to our personal God-given talents we may less or more follow in Srila Prabhupada's footsteps, even though there is always a mandatory bottom line, that is: chant at least sixteen rounds of Hare Krishna Maha-Mantra per day, follow the four regulative principles and as far as possible make some practical contribution to the preaching effort. It should be noted in that respect that the actual occupation or nature of the offering is a secondary consideration. The first consideration is: "To what degree and how fully am I engaged in transcendental loving service to the Lord, under the supervision of a properly empowered authority, as to ultimately preserve the link to Krishna through the parampara system?" There are principles to regulate our degree of commitment to the preaching effort. Nothing is left to whim in Krishna consciousness.
From the transcendental point of view there is no distinction of inferior or superior service. Krishna's pot washer, Krishna's cook, Krishna's pujari, Krishna's temple manager and Krishna's preacher and book distributor are all situated on the one transcendental platform, even though one Krishna-servant may exhibit more service related facilities than the other, just as "in devotional service there is no distinction between the lower and higher classes of people. In the material conception of life there are such divisions, but for a person engaged in transcendental devotional service to the Lord there are not. Everyone is eligible for the supreme destination." (Bhagavad-Gita As It Is 9.32 Purport)
Let us take for example, either electronic or hard copy letter communication.
Srila Prabhupada not only would always answer all letters, but He would answer them pertinently, fearlessly, with logic, reason, consideration and superior knowledge. He would always mention the date and the place where the letter was composed.
In this respect, we may remember the passage of Nectar of Instruction, text one, purport that " Silence may appear helpful for some time, but ultimately it proves a failure".
Neither are we impersonalists, that we simply ignore the benevolent words and attention of another sentient person directed toward us. Such attitude would betray a discourteous mentality. Srila Prabhupada's and his followers' special mission is to fight impersonalism and voidism, as expressed in His second pranam mantra:
"All glories to You, o servant of Saraswati Goswami, You are preaching the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the western word, which is full of impersonalism and voidism."
and also
"Yes, we are fighting impersonalism and voidism with pure devotional service. Impersonalism and voidism kill the natural aptitude of devotion, which is lying dormant in everyone's heart. Therefore we are printing books like our KRSNA book so that people may know it that the Supreme Absolute Truth is a person."
(Letter to Bhagavan, Nov 24, 1970)
So what is it then, that prevents me from engaging in open written communication? Is it that I am a shy and/or mediocre communicator? Or is it that I am trying to hide something? I am perhaps paranoid about something? What is it now? Of course, some emails just get lost in cyberspace! But that can be easily remedied by repeating the operation.
How many of us are unfailingly answering all letters we receive and mentioning in our reply the date and place where it was composed as standard procedure? How many?
Here is even a more sensitive subject matter.
We start our letters with an expression of respects for the addressee and then many of us say;" All glories to Srila Prabhupada". This latter practice was introduced in USA, in the early days.
But I am sorry and with all due respect, I just am not comfortable with that type of greeting because it reminds me of the National Socialist German Worker's Party, or my conception of the Nazis, the followers of Hitler, who also saluted themselves with "Heil Hitler" or "All glories to Adolf Hitler", thus invoking the name of their leader and glorifying him.
This simple and genuinely existing parallel and association should be sufficient to cause us to drop the expression "All glories to Srila Prabhupada" at that particular time and place, even though there is nothing wrong at all with the expression itself. Sri Caitanya's Mahaprabhu's love of Godhead Sankirtan Movement and Adolf Hitler's Nazi party have, in their aims and means, nothing in common at all, even though violence can indeed be used in the service of Krishna, just as violence is used in the service of the many states around the world. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-Gita As It Is Chapter 2, Verse 21, Purport.
There is still more to it. Even though Srila Prabhupada's own Guru Maharaja and our Param Guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami, also carried the prestigious "Prabhupada" title, can anyone please, show even one single instance, where our Srila Prabhupada would exclaim: "All glories to Srila Prabhupada" at the beginning of one of His 6341 or so letters?
So again in this instance, how much are we following Srila Prabhupada?
Now, my third point: the last and most important one.
"Iskcon is a preaching movement and in Srila Prabhupada's own words, preaching means distributing the books of His Divine Grace: "…Preaching means selling books.'"
(Letter, Feb 11, 1972, Bhakta das)
Srila Prabhupada clearly wants every member of ISKCON, irrespective of position, ashram, gender or service, to be conversant in the art of book distribution. He has clearly stated it in a letter dated August 3rd, 1973 to Ramesvara, wherein He has given His seal of approval.
"I like also your programme of sending out your best men to teach the others. That is the actual process of Krishna Consciousness: to train others. Continue this program so that in the future every devotee in our movement will know the art of distributing books. This is approved by me."
(Letter to Ramesvara, Aug 03, 1973)
There are innumerable passages by the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON to sustain this view and one may refer to my Book Distribution Motivational Magazine, latest version 2012.5, where I have attempted to gather a few of the most prominent ones. Let me just give one more, please:
"…actually it is a fact that ultimately everyone should preach and distribute books if they want to please me in the best way. Book distribution must be given stress always. "
(Letter to Govinda, Dec 06, 1974)
So here again the following questions may be raised:
"How serious are we in surrendering to Srila Prabhupada's request and order to participate in the preaching effort constituted by the profuse distribution of His topmost transcendental literatures all over the world?"
"How much are we eager to please Srila Prabhupada and consequently to be successful in our own spiritual lives?" (Yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado yasyaprasadan na gatih kuto'pi)
"How much are we following Srila Prabhupada?"Neither
All glories to our Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON, the Institutor of the BBT and the most powerful propounder of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtan Movement!
In the service of my readers and the service of His Divine Grace!
Yadavendra das
