CONTENTS:
- A Hero, Fearless Preacher and ideal Leader;
- Most loving;
- An exemplary, dedicated and faithful Prabhupadanuga;
1. A HERO, FEARLESS PREACHER AND IDEAL LEADER
Srila Prabhupada didn’t encourage us to go to Radhakund and live there. Prabhupada didn’t encourage us to live in Vrindavan. Prabhupada wanted us to go to Vrindavan but Prabhupada wanted us to stay wherever we are and preach Krishna Consciousness, that’s the most important thing. Mahaprabhu wanted the Krishna Consciousness movement to spread. If everyone lives in Mathura, Radhakund, Vrindavan and Varsana then what will happen to this world? Who will preach Krishna Consciousness? Therefore, for the sake of Mahaprabhu’s pleasure, we don’t care for our spiritual advancement. Like Vasudeva datta, “Let me take all the sinful reactions of everybody and let me go to hell but let everybody get delivered.” That is the attitude of an advanced devotee, that is the mood that Srila Prabhupada wanted us to accept. We are prepared to go anywhere. That’s why we are prepared to go to a place called America which is non-different from hell, but we dare to go there. Everyone is saying,” Maharaja, why are you going there?” I know that place is hellish but we have to go there to preach. Other devotees are there preaching and if I stay in Ujjain because there are some problems, corona virus then will that be appropriate? As their leader I am hiding and they fighting the battle in the forefront. NO! As a leader I should be with them that’s why I am going.
(Excerpt from lecture given by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami at ISKCON Ujjain in May 2020)
2. MOST LOVING
Lust is an arrangement to exploit others for one’s sense gratification. Therefore, love and lust are diametrically opposed. Love and lust are not the same thing. Now let us look for the definition in Caitanya Caritamrta. There are two expressions. Love has been described as prema. The Sanskrit word for love is prema, and the Sanskrit word for lust is kama. So Caitanya Caritamrta is describing that atmendriya-priti-vaicha-tare bali kama, kamendriya pritiiccha dhare prema nama (CC Adi 4.165). The desire for our own sense gratification is called lust. But the desire to give pleasure to Krishna's senses is called prema. So, what is prema? Prema means or love means what? To give pleasure to Krishna's senses, and what is lust? Lust is the arrangement for our own sense gratification. So, is it the same thing? No. It’s completely opposed, opposite. Therefore, it says ataeva kama-preme bahuta antara, kamaandha-tamau, prema-nirmala bhaskara (CC Adi 4.171). Therefore, there is a great difference between love and lust. Lust is the deepest region of darkness, whereas love is brilliant as the sun. Now again we go deeper into that expression. What is love? Love is actually an energy. An energy that is manifest in performing some act. Through energy we get something done. What does this energy love do? This energy love unites the soul with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This energy is there, through this energy, the living entity is connected to Krishna, or meant to become connection to Krishna
So, and Krishna consciousness movement, ISKCON is teaching everyone how to love Krishna. So ISKCON is actually establishing the real meaning of our existence, and showing us the way to fulfill our existence. It may sound like a very big claim, but it is true. If you want to be not only happy, if you want to become even more than happy, if you want to become joyful, then please come to ISKCON, and act according to the instructions that Srila Prabhupada has given in his books. ISKCON is the institution that has been designed by Srila Prabhupada to distribute the love of Godhead, Love for Krishna, to teach us how to love Krishna. And is Prabhupada concocting some ideas or developing some new way? No. Srila Prabhupada and actually presenting the process that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna has given. Prabhupada did not create anything new. Krishna has given us all these informations.
That is how simple this loving exchange with Krishna is. AND this is how most wonderfully we can become rewarded simply by offering our love to Krishna, and that is what Bhagavad Gita is reminding us. That is what Srila Prabhupada is reminding us. That's why it's so important to read Srila Prabhupada's books. How many of you became interested in Krishna consciousness by reading Prabhupada's books? Please raise your hands. (Devotees raise their hands) So this is it. Just by reading Srila Prabhupada's books we become attracted to Krishna, we understand that how much He loves us, and we understand how simple it is to reciprocate our love for Him, to re-establish our loving relationship with Him, and that is how we can make our life successful. We have to remember this point very, very seriously that the goal of our existence is to develop our loving relationship with Krishna. So, let's try to do that. It's not difficult at all, and Prabhupada has shown us how simple, how easy it is. Now I told that about writing a love letter to Krishna. Now yes, we can also write a love letter to Krishna saying how much we love Him, but there is another way of expressing, saying that love to Krishna that "Krishna, I love you". That's even simpler. Even an illiterate person who cannot write. To write you have to become literate. So even if one is illiterate, still he can develop his loving relationship with Krishna, simply by telling Krishna, "Krishna, I love you". He doesn't have to write it. He simply has to go to Him, or tell Him, "Krishna, I love you", and how do we say that in Sanskrit? We say that in Sanskrit, the Sanskrit way of saying "Krishna, I love you" is: Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare!
(Excerpt from lecture given by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami at ISKCON Leicester UK on 15 May 2010)
3. AN EXEMPLARY, FAITHFUL AND DEDICATED PRABHUPADANUGA
Prabhupada’s biography, Lilamrita is very important. You will get to know about Srila Prabhupada. What Srila Prabhupada achieved? How Srila Prabhupada has achieved? What he has achieved is remarkable and it is going to become a history in course of time. No one has ever achieved what Srila Prabhupada achieved in the past. There are big, big heroes in the world who went out to conquer the world but all of them failed. First one was Alexander the Great, he went from Greece, Macedonia all the way to India. Alexander died in Persia. You know why he died? He dies of heart failure because his dream was shattered which was to conquer India. His idea to conquer India was synonymous to conquer the world. Anyway, another person was Napoleon and, in this way, various people who tried to conquer the world but didn’t succeed.
But there was one person who succeeded in conquering the world. Srila Prabhupada is the only person who succeeded in conquering the world and he didn’t do it with a sword. He did not try to do it with military power. He did it with love, knowledge, wisdom and he conquered in such a way that although he left his influence or his domain is increasing and becoming more and more wider. Like there are areas which were not conquered by Prabhupada. He went and made the arrangements for conquering for example Russia or Eastern European block which was behind the iron curtain before. Another difficult area was the Muslim countries, they don’t allow any other religion to be practiced. In the Muslim countries now, some country has become Gauradesa, Damodardesa (Dubai), Bahrain is Balaramdesa. If Alexander would have conquered the world, what would he have done? Spread his influence, isn’t it? Prabhupada, what did he do? He established his ideology, Krishna Consciousness. How did he do it? Without any bloodshed. The old system is gone and the new system cam in and that’s what is going to happen eventually all over the world and what is the culture? No meat eating, today’s world is full of meat eating, no intoxication, no illicit sex and no gambling and chant Hare Krishna meaning becoming devotees of Krishna.
(You tube, “Our victorious Srila Prabhupada” by HH Bhakti Charu Swami)
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Dasi)