CONTENTS:
- Srila Prabhupada, the founder Acharya of ISKCON;
- Srila Prabhupada's Appreciation; and
- Guru Maharaja’s instructions.
1. SRILA PRABHUPADA, THE FOUNDER ACHARYA OF ISKCON
When Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur first met Srila Prabhupada in 1922 he told Prabhupada, how many of you know what he told Srila Prabhupada?
So that way we can see that how much he wanted to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world because he knew that Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction will become a reality and he planted the seed of that mission in the heart of Srila Prabhupada. And what did Srila Prabhupada do? Srila Prabhupada planted that seed very wonderfully in his heart. That was in 1922. But when did Srila Prabhupada go to America, go to the western world? In 1965, it took the seed to grow into a tree 43 years and then what happened? Srila Prabhupada went to America and in ten years’ time Srila Prabhupada spread Krishna consciousness all over the world.
Actually this is the most amazing miracle that happened in the world. How long did it take Christianity to spread throughout the world? You all are coming from Christian background so you must know. It took 400 years to start the preaching of Jesus’s teaching. Who started to spread Christianity? The Roman counsel Constantine and Constantine came about 430 A.D. After 430 years after Jesus Christ and then yes, he spread it. He is the one who established the Roman Catholic Church. Prior to that earlier Christians were prosecuted so badly by the Romans. They were living in Catacombs, undergrounds. And sometimes to watch fun those early Christians were thrown in the mouth of lions. Anyway, so we can see that it took Christianity a long time to spread all over the world. Like as the colonials went after Columbus found the water way then Vasco Dagama went to India and that is how they started to take Christianity to the outside world, apart from Asia Minor and Europe. Anyway the point is it took Christianity 1500 years to spread. How long did Islam take to spread all over the world? Also about seven to eight hundred years and that also they established with the strength of the sword either take it or else. But the Hare Krishna movement how long did it take to spread all over the world? How many? Yes, 10 years. Prabhupada started the Krishna consciousness movement in 1966 in America and Prabhupada left in 1977. So isn’t it a miracle? And Prabhupada did not force anyone; Prabhupada did not bribe anyone to take to Krishna Consciousness. It was simply through the value of its own that ISKCON has been established. So today we may not understand but a time will come when the world will recognize that this is the greatest miracle that has ever happened. Now we can see that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvatī Thakur and Srila Prabhupada knew that they won’t be able to fulfil that mission of spreading Krishna consciousness in every town and village in one lifetime, in their lifetime. That’s why both of them actually recognized the need for an institution. An institution that will hold all the members together and spread Krishna consciousness. Therefore before leaving the planet Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur told his leading disciple to collectively manage the institution through a governing body and continue the mission. Yes and he did not say anything about who will be the next Acharya. He did not appoint any Acharya and he didn’t say anything about the need for an Acharya. But unfortunately after his disappearance some of his leading disciples felt that how can a spiritual organization run by a bunch of managers. For a spiritual institution we need a spiritual head or an Acharya. So they appointed an Acharya but unfortunately that Acharya fell down and when the Acharya falls down, then what happens? The whole structure collapses. And Srila Prabhupada mentioned once they appointed the Acharya, the Acharya f ell down, then everybody wanted to become the Acharya. And they continued their spiritual life; most of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur’s seniors’ disciples, sannyasis they carried on; they had their own asrama, temple; they had a few disciples they carried on with their spiritual life but the mission of spreading Krishna consciousness effectively all over the world came to a grinding halt. Because the institution was not there; the institution collapsed.
Now Srila Prabhupada was the only one out of all of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur’s disciples who understood his mission. And Srila Prabhupada what did he want to do? He went to America and all his life he was struggling to go to the West then finally at the age of seventy he goes to the West. And at first, when there was an opportunity to preach Krishna consciousness in America in New York, Srila Prabhupada invited his God brothers: “Please come; let us fulfil our mission of spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world. Please come; let’s work together to fulfil the desire of our spiritual master.” But no one came.
Therefore Prabhupada had to continue alone with a handful of disciples and Prabhupada established the “International Society for Krishna consciousness” in 1966. And Srila Prabhupada gave the absolute emphasis on the institution. He did not put himself in the centre. He kept himself at the back and he just wanted Krishna to be the centre. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
At that time many Indian spiritual leaders went to America and started to also preach their thing and they all set up their institutions by their own names. Like all those institutions were named after their names like Cinmaya mission, Bala Yogi, Mahesh Yogi they all were the personality cult. But Srila Prabhupada’s mission was Krishna Consciousness, Hare Krishna movement. So much so that even in Mayapur and in Vrindavan they don’t recognize who is the person behind ISKCON movement, Hare Krishna movement. Even now they call the temple in Mayapur as sahib math. Sahib means the temple of the English men. They don’t recognize that it was Srila Prabhupada who actually set up this mission. Why? Because Prabhupada wanted the institution to be established, not himself. But Prabhupada made it very clear that in order to establish the institution, in order to keep the institution together and function properly after his disappearance, there is a need to have the head of the institution and the managing structure of the institution. And the most important consideration was the need of the institution. As long as Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakur was on the planet everything was going on very nicely. The trouble started when he left the planet. He actually wanted that after he left the institution should continue the mission but unfortunately his leading disciples couldn’t understand that. And as a result of that the institution disintegrated. And Srila Prabhupada emphatically told us: ‘Don’t make the same mistake that my God brothers made after my Guru Maharaja’s disappearance” and he pointed out that, he wanted, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur wanted to manage the institution collectively and not appoint any head. And Srila Prabhupada made it very clear that he is going to be the head. No one is going to take his position. Is it necessary? Yes. It is not that Prabhupada wanted to aggrandize himself by being the Founder Acharya but he wanted this concept to be properly established for the benefit of the Krishna consciousness movement. And we saw in Gaudiya Math what happened. What did Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur want? He didn’t want anybody to become the Acharya, meaning after him somebody to take his position. Yes he wanted the institution to continue the mission. And he wanted the institution should be managed collectively through the governing body. So in ISKCON the mission continues to expand even after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance. Now I will make one point very clear that the Gaudiya Mission, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur’s mission disintegrated soon after Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur’s disappearance. Why did it disintegrate? They didn’t want to function collectively rather they wanted to become THE BIG LEADER. Now Srila Prabhupada pointed out: No! Collectively manage the institution. So much so that before leaving the planet do you know what was one of the most important instructions of Srila Prabhupada?
Your love for me will be shown by how you cooperate with each other. So meaning if he who doesn’t love Srila Prabhupada. Is there anybody in ISKCON who doesn’t love Srila Prabhupada? Now how do we have to express our love for Srila Prabhupada?
Through our cooperation. Now what does this cooperation mean? Work together through the institution. Now you know how long it took for Gaudiya Math to disintegrate after Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur’s disappearance? It started after the feud, the conflict started after a few weeks, then it took a few months to disintegrate, whereas with ISKCON, 37 years after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance, ISKCON is still together and ISKCON is expanding. In this last 35 to 40 years did ISKCON grow or did ISKCON diminish? What is your understanding? When Srila Prabhupada left the planet there were 108 temples. You know how many temples ISKCON has today? More than 500 and it is expanding; it is growing. When Srila Prabhupada was here the communist countries in Europe were completely behind the iron curtain; devotees couldn’t even function there. Today Krishna consciousness is booming in Russia. The east European countries are the most effective in Krishna consciousness today. Now how this is happening? Because of Srila Prabhupada’s divine arrangement of establishing ISKCON. So as I was explaining in the beginning the guru teaches in his asrama and in that respect ISKCON is an asrama. In early days the asrama used to be small in some remote corner with a guru with a few disciples but this asrama of ISKCON has spread all over the world. And was it necessary to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world. Don’t we need an asrama that has spread all over the world? Now the question is whose asrama is ISKCON?
ISKCON is Srila Prabhupada’s asrama. Did Srila Prabhupada appoint any successor for ISKCON? No, Srila Prabhupada did not appoint any successor, rather Srila Prabhupada made it clear that he would be The Founder Acharya, so that we don’t make the same mistake that they made in Gaudiya Math. So Srila Prabhupada is The Acharya of ISKCON, although Srila Prabhupada left the planet, Srila Prabhupada will continue to be the Acharya. Just as in the institution of Christianity who is the Founder Acharya? Jesus Christ. Is he present on the planet? But still isn’t he the Acharya, the head? In the Islam institution who is The Founder Acharya? Mohammad. Similarly in ISKCON Srila Prabhupada is going to be the Founder Acharya or The Head of the institution for all time. And Srila Prabhupada pointed out that this institution should be managed through the collective concept of management through the governing body. So this is what we are trying to make everybody understand in ISKCON.
2. SRILA PRABHUPADA’S APPRECIATION
Now Srila Prabhupada was the only one out of all of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur’s disciples who understood his mission. And Srila Prabhupada what did he want to do? He went to America and all his life he was struggling to go to the West then finally at the age of seventy he goes to the West. And at first, when there was an opportunity to preach Krishna consciousness in America in New York, Srila Prabhupada invited his God brothers: “Please come; let us fulfil our mission of spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world. Please come; let’s work together to fulfil the desire of our spiritual master.” But no one came. Therefore Prabhupada had to continue alone with a handful of disciples and Prabhupada established the “International Society for Krishna consciousness” in 1966. And Srila Prabhupada gave the absolute emphasis on the institution. He did not put himself in the centre. He kept himself at the back and he just wanted Krishna to be the centre. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
Your love for me will be shown by how you cooperate with each other. So meaning if he who doesn’t love Srila Prabhupada. Is there anybody in ISKCON who doesn’t love Srila Prabhupada? Now how do we have to express our love for Srila Prabhupada? Through our cooperation. Now what does this cooperation mean? Work together through the institution.
(The content of this E-magazine was based on a lecture given by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami in ISKCON Malaga, Spain on 14 July 2014)
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Dasi)