Satsvarupa dasa Goswami on Prabhupada's compassion

[JayaPrabhupada 0]

After the crowd of guests had left Prabhupāda’s room, only Hanumān and a few senior men remained. “Śrīla Prabhupāda,” Hanumān began, “Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu had one disciple in the renounced order, Choṭa Haridāsa, whom He rejected from His association because he became too much lusty after a woman . I was also one of your sannyāsa disciples, and I too became lusty after a woman. I was wondering if you have also rejected me from your association.”

 

A heavy silence followed as everyone looked at Prabhupāda, who sat with his head down. After a long pause, Prabhupāda looked up at Hanumān and said quietly, “Lord Caitanya is God. He can spread this movement all over the world in one second without the help of anyone if He likes. I am not God. I am simply a servant of God. I require so much assistance to help me spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world. If someone renders even some small service to help me, I am eternally indebted to him. You have rendered so much assistance to me, how could I reject you?”

The devotees were moved, amazed at the depth of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s compassion. Then Hanumān began to tell Śrīla Prabhupāda about his family, about his son named Bhaktivedānta.

 

“That is not very good.” Śrīla Prabhupāda shook his head. “Sometimes you may have to chastise your child, and you should not be chastising your guru.”

 

Hanumān became a little disturbed. “But Śrīla Prabhupāda,” he said, “we have already grown accustomed to calling him that. What will we call him now?”

 

Prabhupāda thought and then explained that actually it was all right because his name was Bhaktivedānta dāsa. “Just like we name all our disciples Kṛṣṇa dāsa,” Prabhupāda said. “Not Kṛṣṇa, but servant of Kṛṣṇa. Just like you are not Hanumān, but servant of.”

 

On the first evening of his visit, Prabhupāda lectured from the Bhagavad-gītā. After the lecture, he asked for questions. Hṛdayānanda Mahārāja, seated on a cushion at Prabhupāda’s feet, translated the inquiries from Spanish into English for Prabhupāda and then translated Prabhupāda’s reply into Spanish for the audience.

 

Hṛdayānanda Mahārāja: “He asks, ‘What if we’ve already committed so many offenses to chanting? At this point, how can we purify?’”

 

Prabhupāda: “If we don’t commit offense. Why do you voluntarily commit offense? You should not commit offense, then it will be all right—purified.”

Hṛdayānanda Mahārāja: “We don’t know how we can increase our desire for chanting.”

 

Prabhupāda: “By performing saṅkīrtana. Just like if a man drinks, and if he drinks and drinks, then he becomes a drunkard.” The example amused the audience, and they broke into laughter. “Drink more and more and you become a drunkard,” Prabhupāda continued. “Similarly, chant more and more and you become—perfect chanter.”

 

Hṛdayānanda Mahārāja: “What is the greatest offense?”

 

Prabhupāda: “Yes, that is the first offense, guror avajñā śruti-śāstra-nindanam, śruti-śāstra-nindanam, guror avajñā. If you accept a guru and then again disobey him, then what is your position? You are not a gentleman. You promised before guru, before Kṛṣṇa, before fire, that ‘I shall obey your order. I shall execute this.’ If again you do not do this, then you are not even a gentleman, what to speak of a devotee. This is common sense.”

 

A man asked in Spanish, “Excuse me, sir. Before, in your previous life as a karmī, what were you doing?” Hṛdayānanda Mahārāja didn’t translate the question to Śrīla Prabhupāda but immediately asserted strongly, “‘The pure devotee has never been a karmī. He is never a karmī. A pure devotee is always a transcendental person, right from his birth. He just came from the spiritual world to save us, to teach us this transcendental knowledge given out thousands and thousands of years ago by Lord Kṛṣṇa.”

 

Hṛdayānanda Mahārāja continued glorifying Śrīla Prabhupāda. “What does he say?” Prabhupāda asked Hṛdayānanda Mahārāja. But he didn’t want to say anything to Śrīla Prabhupāda. He said, “Nothing, Śrīla Prabhupāda, nothing.” He would speak strongly to the man asking this question, and when Śrīla Prabhupāda would question him, Hṛdayānanda Mahārāja would be like a little child, “Oh, Śrīla Prabhupāda, it doesn’t matter. Don’t worry about it. He’s just talking some nonsense.” Then finally Śrīla Prabhupāda just laughed and took the next question.

 

Hṛdayānanda Mahārāja: “He asks, ‘How can we control the tongue?’”

Prabhupāda: “You can take prasādam.” Prabhupāda smiled, and his answer was so pleasurable for everyone that they began to laugh.

 

from Prabhupāda-līlā by Satsvarūpa dāsa Goswāmī (Addendum to Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta)

[JayaPrabhupada 0]

SrIla Prabhupāda emphasized the difficulty of attaining spiritual knowledge in the material world. Recalling a recent talk with a psychiatrist in Caracas, he told how the man had adamantly refused to understand the existence of the soul. So the devotees were fortunate.

 

“Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu,” Prabhupāda continued, speaking slowly, “out of His great compassion for the fallen souls, He appeared. Kṛṣṇa comes also. But Kṛṣṇa is not so liberal. Kṛṣṇa makes conditions that ‘First of all you surrender, then I take charge of you.’ But Caitanya Mahāprabhu is more compassionate than Kṛṣṇa, although Kṛṣṇa and Caitanya Mahāprabhu are the same thing. By Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mercy we are so easily understanding Kṛṣṇa. That Caitanya Mahāprabhu is present here. You worship Him. It is not very difficult. Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi sumedhasaḥ. Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam/ yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana. You simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and whatever you can, offer Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He is very kind. He does not take offense. Radha-Kṛṣṇa worship is a little difficult. We have to worship with great awe and veneration. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu has voluntarily come to deliver the fallen souls.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda continued explaining the mercy of Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya does not accept any offense from His worshipers, and He is pleased just by your dancing and chanting, the easiest process for God realization.

“So as far as possible,” Prabhupāda requested, “if possible twenty-four hours—if that is not possible, at least four times, six times—chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra before Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and you will get success in your life. So I am very glad that you are worshiping Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu. So continue to do this. There is no need of installing Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, at least at the present moment. When you become more advanced in spiritual consciousness, then you can establish. But even if you do not establish, it does not matter. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is sufficient. Śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya rādhā-kṛṣṇa nahe anya. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is combination of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. In one place you worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. So I see this place is very nice, and you are also very nice. Take advantage of this opportunity and go on chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and worship Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He will bless you sufficiently to become successful in getting shelter at the lotus feet of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.”

 

from Prabhupāda-līlā by Satsvarūpa dāsa Goswāmī (Addendum to Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta)