The appearance day of Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

The appearance day of Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
by Damagosa Das

Nov 30 1976 Vrndavana – Therefore guru must be authorized person, not that bhūmi-phala-guru(?). No. “I am guru,” no. You cannot become guru unless you are agent to draw out the mercy water from the ocean of mercy of Kṛṣṇa. That is guru. And therefore a guru is not an ordinary person. He is the representative, bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung, kṛṣṇa se tomāra, kṛṣṇa dite pāra: “Vaiṣṇava Ṭhākura, Kṛṣṇa is your property. If you like, you can give.” Vedeṣu durlabhaṁ adurlabhaṁ ātma-bhaktau [Bs. 5.33]. You cannot get Kṛṣṇa by studying Vedas. That is not possible. There is Kṛṣṇa in the Vedas, but you cannot pick up. It is not possible. But if you go to the Kṛṣṇa’s favorite person… Kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya. Kṛṣṇa’s very dear servant, confidential servant, is guru. Nobody can become guru unless he is in confidence of Kṛṣṇa.

July 11 1976 NY – Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa-prāpti hoy yāhā haite. That is spiritual master, one who can give you Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa se tomāre, kṛṣṇa dite pāra, dhāi tava pāche pāche-Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. “Kṛṣṇa… I am seeking after Kṛṣṇa, Vaiṣṇava Ṭhākura, my spiritual master. So Kṛṣṇa is your property.” Kṛṣṇa is not independent. He is the property of the devotee. Kṛṣṇa se tomāra, kṛṣṇa dite pāra, dhāi tava pāche pāche: “I am just following you, sir. Because Kṛṣṇa is your property, if you like, you can deliver: ‘Take it immediately.’ ” So it is not flattering; it is in the śāstras. Vedeṣu durlabha adurlabha ātmā-bhaktau. You cannot get Kṛṣṇa by studying all the Vedas.Vedeṣu durlabha. Durlabha means it is not possible. Athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi, jānāti tattvam [SB 10.14.29]. Prasāda-leśa. Prasāda-leśa. One who has got little favor of Kṛṣṇa, he knows Kṛṣṇa-tattva. Yat-kāruṇya-kaṭākṣa-vaibhavavatāṁ gauram eva stumaḥ

SB 10,2.18 – As indicated here by the word manastaḥ, the Supreme Personality of Godhead was transferred from the core of Vasudeva’s mind or heart to the core of the heart of Devakī.We should note carefully that the Lord was transferred to Devakī not by the ordinary way for a human being, but by dīkṣā, initiation. Thus the importance of initiation is mentioned here. Unless one is initiated by the right person, who always carries within his heart the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one cannot acquire the power to carry the Supreme Godhead within the core of one’s own heart.

Madhya 15.108 purport… According to the Vaiṣṇava regulative principles, one must be initiated as a brāhmaṇa. The Hari-bhakti-vilāsa (2.6) quotes the following injunction from the Viṣṇu-yāmala: adīkṣitasya vāmorukṛtaṁ sarvaṁ nirarthakampaśu-yonim avāpnotidīkṣā-virahito janaḥ“ Unless one is initiated by a bona fide spiritual master, all his devotional activities are useless. A person who is not properly initiated can descend again into the animal species.”

Adi 7.83 purport – A neophyte disciple begins by hearing and chanting, associating with devotees and practicing the regulative principles, and thus he vanquishes all of his unwanted bad habits. In this way he develops attachment for Kṛṣṇa and cannot forget Kṛṣṇa even for a moment. Bhāva is almost the successful stage of spiritual life. A sincere student aurally receives the holy name from the spiritual master, and after being initiated he follows the regulative principles given by the spiritual master. When the holy name is properly served in this way, automatically the spiritual nature of the holy name spreads; in other words, the devotee becomes qualified in offenselessly chanting the holy name. When one is completely fit to chant the holy name in this way, he is eligible to make disciples all over the world, and he actually becomes jagad-guru. Then the entire world, under his influence, begins to chant the holy names of the Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Oct 3 1976 Vrndavana – But Kṛṣṇa, as soon as He was accepted by Arjuna as guru… Śiṣyas te ‘haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam: [Bg. 2.7] “Now, Kṛṣṇa, I accept You as my guru. Not as friend.” Because friendly talking is useless waste of time. He accepted Him as guru. When guru speaks, you cannot argue. That is not the process. You should accept a guru who is infallible. Otherwise it is useless. He accepted guru Kṛṣṇa because Kṛṣṇa is infallible. If we accept guru, a bogus guru, then it is no benefit. Guru means Kṛṣṇa’s representative. Not that everyone can be guru.

“Unless one is under the shelter of a realized spiritual master, his understanding of the Supreme is simply foolishness” quote from TLC

“If you are actually hankering after Krishna — Krishna is within yourself — He will give you a guru. He will give you a guru. Guru-krsna-krpaya. But we must be fortunate to get real guru. If I am unfortunate, I’ll not get a guru.”(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Bhuvanesvara, January 23, 1977)

SB 2.9.8 purport… One has to receive the transcendental sound from the right source, accept it as a reality and prosecute the direction without hesitation. The secret of success is to receive the sound from the right source of a bona fide spiritual master. Mundane manufactured sound has no potency, and as such, seemingly transcendental sound received from an unauthorized person also has no potency. One should be qualified enough to discern such transcendental potency, and either by discriminating or by fortunate chance if one is able to receive the transcendental sound from the bona fide spiritual master, his path of liberation is guaranteed.

SB 7.15.25-One must conquer the modes of passion and ignorance by developing the mode of goodness, and then one must become detached from the mode of goodness by promoting oneself to the platform of śuddha-sattva.All this can be automatically done if one engages in the service of the spiritual master with faith and devotion. In this way one can conquer the influence of the modes of nature.

PURPORT-Just by treating the root cause of an ailment, one can conquer all bodily pains and sufferings. Similarly, if one is devoted and faithful to the spiritual master, he can conquer the influence of sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa very easily. Yogīs and jñānīs practice in many ways to conquer the senses, but the bhakta immediately attains the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the mercy of the spiritual master. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo **. If the spiritual master is favorably inclined, one naturally receives the mercy of the Supreme Lord, and by the mercy of the Supreme Lord one immediately becomes transcendental, conquering all the influences of sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa within this material world.

SB 7.15.27– PURPORT-… The spiritual master is called sevaka-bhagavān, the servitor Personality of Godhead, and Kṛṣṇa is called sevya-bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is to be worshiped. The spiritual master is the worshiper God, whereas the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is the worshipable God. This is the difference between the spiritual master and the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

….The spiritual master is as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore one who is very serious about spiritual advancement must regard the spiritual master in this way. Even a slight deviation from this understanding can create disaster in the disciple’s Vedic studies and austerities.

February 3, 1975, Hawaii SB 4.18.5–A foolish person who manufactures his own ways and means through mental speculation and does not recognize the authority of the sages who lay down unimpeachable directions is simply unsuccessful again and again in his attempts.

PURPORT–at the present moment it has become fashionable to disobey the unimpeachable directions given by the ācāryas and liberated souls of the past. Presently people are so fallen that they cannot distinguish between a liberated soul and a conditioned soul. A conditioned soul is hampered by four defects: he is sure to commit mistakes, he is sure to become illusioned, he has a tendency to cheat others, and his senses are imperfect. Consequently we have to take direction from liberated persons.

Phalgun Krsna PancamiThird Vasista-2
.. If everyone simply sat down together and considered these things what nice preaching there could be.22). What is your order also, that everyone, coming together, should merge in your message and preach it to the world.23). If everyone just initiates then there will only be a contradictory result. As long as it goes on, there will be only failure.24). Now even, my God brothers, you return here to the order of our master, and together we engage in his puja.25). But simply a festival of flowers and fruits does not constitute worship. The one who serves the message of the guru really worships him.

The significance of Srila Prabhupada’s appearance
(by Vidura dasa)

“So my dear boys and girls, about six years ago I came to your country single-handed, with this pair of cymbals. Now you are so many chanting Hare Krishna. That is my success. It was the prediction of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu:

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma
sarvatra pracāra hoibe mora nāma
(Caitanya-bhāgavata, Antya 4.126)

Lord Caitanya desired that “In all the towns, in as many towns and villages as there are on the surface of the globe, My name will be broadcast.” He is Krishna Himself, svayam kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa caitanya-nāmine, simply changing His name as Krishna Caitanya.

So His prediction will never go in vain. That’s a fact. So my plan was that “I shall go to America. America is the leading country of the world. If I can convince younger generation of America, they will take up.” I am old man. I came here at the age of seventy years; now I am seventy-six.

So my warning is already there. In nineteen hundred and seventy-one, I had a severe heart attack. You know, all. So the mission of Caitanya Mahāprabhu is now in your hands. You are American boys and girls, very intelligent and graced by Krishna. You are not poverty-stricken. You have enough resources, prestige. Everything materially, you are all well-equipped. If you kindly take this Krishna consciousness movement seriously, your country will be saved, and the whole world will be saved.” (Arrival Lecture — Los Angeles, May 18, 1972)

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Thakur predicted:

“Soon there will appear a personality who will preach the holy name all over the world.”
Songs of the Vaiṣṇava Ācāryas, introduction, Prabhupada-approved 1974 edition

“Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted that His message should be broadcast all over the world, in every village and every town, and my Guru Mahārāja attempted. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura distributed his literature. I think, in 1896, he sent his first book, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, and I saw in McGill University that book.

And I do not know. That was the year of my birth also, 1896. So somehow or other, later on, I came in contact with Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja in 1922, and he immediately asked me that ‘Why don’t you go to the foreign countries and preach Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s blessings.'[…] In this way I started, first in New York, then in San Francisco, then Montreal, then Boston. In this way, now we have got about one hundred branches all over the world, forty branches in America. Big, big cities…” (Lectures : Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.149-171 — San Francisco, March 18, 1967)

Devotee: …you Śrīla Prabhupāda. Only by your mercy you have brought us to this Krishna consciousness movement.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: I am simply messenger. Mercy is of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Śrīla Prabhupāda. Before your coming they predicted, that “Somebody will bring.” Maybe that somebody I am. (chuckles) Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura predicted. So anyway, Krishna has given us nice place. (Arrival Talk in Room — Māyāpur, March 23, 1975)

“He [Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura] sent his first book in 1896. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was the first origin of this movement. But he simply thought of it. And he was expecting some others that willing to take up the work. Well, somebody says that I am the same man. And I was born in 1896.” (Room Conversation with Canadian Ambassador to Iran — March 13, 1975, Iran)

“Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura then comments: ‘Without being empowered by the direct potency of Lord Krishna to fulfill His desire and without being specifically favored by the Lord, no human being can become the spiritual master of the whole world. He certainly cannot succeed by mental concoction, which is not meant for devotees or religious people.

Only an empowered personality can distribute the holy name of the Lord and enjoin all fallen souls to worship Krishna. By distributing the holy name of the Lord, he cleanses the hearts of the most fallen people; therefore he extinguishes the blazing fire of the material world.

Not only that, he broadcasts the shining brightness of Krishna’s effulgence throughout the world. Such an ācārya, or spiritual master, should be considered nondifferent from Krishna – that is, he should be considered the incarnation of Lord Krishna’s potency. Such a personality is krsnalingita-vigraha-that is, he is always embraced by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna.

Such a person is above the considerations of the varṇāśrama institution. He is the guru or spiritual master for the entire world, a devotee on the topmost platform, the mahā-bhāgavata stage, and a paramahaṁsa-ṭhākura, a spiritual form only fit to be addressed as paramahaṁsa or ṭhākura.” (C.C. Madhya Līlā 25.9 How All the Residents of Vārāṇasī Became Vaiṣṇavas)