Srila Prabhupada's Appearance Day

[Gauracandra 1]

I've been meaning to make a post regarding Srila Prabhupada's appearance day. As many of you may know (or may not know) Srila Prabhupada was born in 1896 on Janmashtami day. I had meant to make this posting on Janmashtami but couldn't locate the poem I wish to reproduce for the readers at Indiadivine.com.

 

Sometimes I think it is very easy to assume that everything that was done by Srila Prabhupada was meant to be and thus was of no real struggle - though indeed it was. In 1965 Srila Prabhupada, a renounced monk living at the Radha-Damodhar temple in Vrindavan, crossed the ocean, in a cargo ship, on the orders of his guru (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur). He was approaching 70 years of age and carried with him 3 volumes of Srimad Bhagavatam (which he translated), a small suitcase, an umbrella, and a bag of dry cereal.

 

Why would he do this? In the 1960s many Indian gurus were coming to America. But for the most part they went to Beverly Hills, or upstate New York to advise the wealthy. I'm not criticizing this. But it should be noted where Srila Prabhupada went. Alone, in a foreign country, he went to the core of American social decline - skid row, where the homeless and the drug addicted were. People of very low quality, taking drugs, engaging in illicit sexual activity, smoking, eating meat. This certainly wasn't Beverly Hills at all. He could have easily stayed in Vrindavan, worship Krsna, and lived a peaceful life. Why did he risk so much?

 

The poem below I think will shed some insight into his thinking. After reading this poem, I could only conclude that he was the personification of Sri Caitanya's Siksastakam. He was so humble that he was willing to associate with the most degraded. He had firm faith in the Holy Name of Hari, knowing that it would cleanse even the most degraded.

 

With the introduction I present to you:

 

Markine Bhagavata-Dharma

by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, at Boston Harbor, September 18, 1965

 

baro-krpa kaile krsna adhamer prati

ki lagiyanile hetha koro ebe gati

 

My dear Lord Krsna, You are so kind upon this useless soul, but I do not know why You have brought me here. Now You can do whatever You like with me.

 

ache kichu karja taba ei anumane

nahe keno aniben ei ugra-stane

 

But I guess You have some business here, otherwise why would You bring me to this terrible place?

 

rajos tamos gune era sabai acchanna

basudeb-katha ruci nahe se prasanna

 

Most of the population here is covered by the material modes of ignorance and passion. Absorbed in material life, they think themselves very happy and satisfied, and therefore they have no taste for the transcendental message of Vasudeva. I do not know how they will be able to undertand it.

 

tabe jadi taba krpa hoy ahaituki

sakal-i sambhava hoy tumi se kautuki

 

But I know Your causeless mercy can make everything possible because You are the most expert mystic.

 

ki bhave bujhale tara bujhe sei rasa

eta krpa koro prabhu kori nija-basa

 

How will they understand the mellows of devotional service? O Lord, I am simply praying for Your mercy so that I will be able to convince them about Your message.

 

tomara icchaya saba hoy maya-basa

tomara icchaya nasa mayar parasa

 

All living entities have become under the control of the illusory energy by Your will, and therefore, if You like, by Your will they can also be release from the clutches of illusion.

 

taba iccha hoy jadi tadera uddhar

bujhibe niscai tabe katha se tomar

 

I with that You may deliver them. Therefore if You so desire their deliverance, then only will they be able to understand Your message.

 

bhagavater katha se taba avatar

dhira haiya sune jadi kane bar bar

 

The words of Srimad Bhagavatam are Your incarnation, and if a sober person repeatedly receives it with submissive aural reception, then he will be able to understand Your message.

 

It is said in the Srimad Bhagavatam (1.2.17-21):

 

srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah

punya-sravana kirtanah

hrdy antah-stho hy abhadrani

vidhunoti suhrt satam

 

nasta-prayesv abhadresu

nityam bhagavata-sevaya

bhagavaty uttama-sloke

bhaktir bhavati naisthiki

 

tada rajas-tamo-bhavah

kama-lobhadayas ca ye

ceta etair anaviddham

sthitam sattve prasidati

 

evam prasanna-manaso

bhagavad-bhakti-yogatah

bhagavat-tattva-vijnanam

mukta-sangasya jayate

 

bhidyate hrdaya-granthis

chidyante sarva-samsayah

ksiyante casya karmani

drsta evatmanisvare

 

"Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramatma [supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted. By regular attendance in classes on the Bhagavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact. As soon as irrevocable loving service is established in the heart, the effects of nature's modes of passion and ignorance, such as lust, desire and hankering, disappear from the heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness, and he becomes completely happy. Thus established in the mode of unalloyed goodness, the man whose mind has been enlivend by contact with devotional service to the Lord gains positive scientific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead in the stage of liberation from all material association. Thus the know in the heart is pierced, and all misgivings are cut to pieces. The chain of fruitive actions is terminated when one sees the self as master"

 

rajas tamo hate tabe paibe nistar

hrdayer abhadra sab ghucibe tahar

 

He will become liberated from the influence of the modes of ignorance and passion and thus all inauspicious things accumulated in the core of the heart will disappear.

 

ki ko're bujhabo katha baro sei cahi

khudra ami dina hina kono sakti nahi

 

How will I make them understand this message of Krsna consciousness? I am very unfortunate, unqualified and the most fallen. Therefore I am seeking Your benediction so that I can convince them, for I am powerless to do so on my own.

 

athaca enecho prabhu katha bolibare

je tomar iccha prabhu koro ei bare

 

Somehow or other, O Lord, You have brought me here to speak about You. Now, my Lord, it is up to You to make me a success or failure as You like.

 

akhila jagat-guru! bacana se amar

alankrta koribar khamata tomar

 

O spiritual master of all the worlds! I can simply repeat Your message, so if You like You can make my power of speaking suitable for their understanding.

 

taba krpa ha'le mor katha suddha habe

suniya sabara soka duhkha je ghucibe

 

Only by Your causeless mercy will my words become pure. I am sure that when this transcendental message penetrates their hearts they will certainly feel engladdened and thus become liberated from all unhappy conditions of life.

 

aniyacho jadi prabhu amare nacate

nacao nacao prabhu naca se-mate

kasthera puttali jatha nacao se-mate

 

O Lord, I am just like a puppet in Your hands. So if You have brought me here to dance, then make me dance, make me dance, O Lord, make me dance as You like.

 

bhakti nai beda nai name khub daro

"bhaktivedanta" nam ebe sarthak koro

 

I have no devotion, nor do I have any knowledge, but I have strong faith in the holy name of Krsna. I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta (Devotion with Knowledge), and now, if You like, You can fulfill the real purport of Bhaktivedanta.

 

Signed - the most unfortunate, insignificant beggar.

 

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami,

on board the ship Jaladuta, Commonwealth Pier, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. dated 18th of September, 1965