На Вьяса-пудже Индрадьюмны Свами
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · 2011
Chapters
Prabhupada's prophecy about future devotees
I'll tell you also a brief story. One time we were in Chicago City. And he said, So many good men came and helped me, and we did this and we did that. And he said, we have a bright future ahead of us.
When he paused for a moment and everyone kind of hung out of silence, like, what's Papa gonna say? He said very softly, but the best men, they will come last.
I was only devoted for maybe six, maybe a year, a year or six months or something. I didn't understand what Prabhupada meant by that.
And as our movement grew, I certainly appreciated all the men that came at the same time as me. The men and women who came with me at the same time and pioneered the movement.
And then time went on, and I kind of, I forgot that quote by the best, the best men will come last. Forgot.
And then I, couple of years ago, at the Russian Festival, I was, took great pleasure going to the lectures and seminars of the various senior devotees who are speaking. And I came into one of Gosvahi Maharaja's lectures.
He didn't see me. I sat in the back. And one of my disciples sat next to me and translated. And I was astounded by his lecture.
And so this man has received Prabhupada and the guru parampara's mercy to speak like that and to achieve the things he wants to do in this great country.
And after the talk finished, everyone applauded, and it was like an ongoing applaud. Long-long-long applaud. And suddenly that quote came back into my mind. That the best men will come last. least in our lifetime zone.
I realize
Manifestation of the Moscow temple
that one of those men was Bhakti Vijnana Goswami Maharaj because he's taken on a huge burden on his shoulders to, especially among many other things, build this wonderful temple in Moscow.
Against all odds, such a project does not manifest necessarily because of money, architectural designs, bricks, and cement. That's not what manifests a temple of that caliber that you're going to have here in Moscow.
Any great successful project of whatever nature it may be, it really manifests from the heart of that devotee because of his love for guru and Gauranga. That's why the temple manifests. That's why the project takes place.
That's why it's a success. Last year I was in America and one American devotee of Godbrother's mine, but not so much in tune with what's happening at ISKCON. He's working as a family. Not so involved.
He heard about this project, he said, is it possible? It's gonna cost millions of dollars, and you need the permission. And, you know, there's so much opposition and this and that. How is it going to be possible?
It's just not possible. Suggested the money. How are going to get that kind of money? There's so much competition now. And it's gone for different projects.
Everyone's going to these wealthy donors for their different projects and this and that. He said, how's it gonna happen? And I looked at him very coolly and very calmly.
I said, Prabhu, it's gonna happen because the man behind the project is Bhakti Vijnana Goswami Maharaj, and he's dead set on making this a success.
And I feel that Prabhupada and Radisham are gonna give him full mercy so it's gonna happen. You'll even see it in your lifetime.
Prabhupada's vision on park bench
Okay. We all know how Prabhupada, when he first got to America, at some point, I don't remember the date or even the year, but in the beginning, before there was anyone with Prabhupada,
So, some gentleman came by and sat down on the bench and could feel the the countenance of Śrīla Prabhupāda, that although he was small and dressed in saffron cloths, a little unusual in New York City at that time, there was something very special about him, something very great about Prabhupāda.
Another time Prabhupāda was walking across the street in London and with his disciples, and Śyāmasundara Prabhu fell back a little bit. And as Prabhupada crossed the crosswalk,
So this gentleman was sitting next to Prabhupāda in the park, and he looked at Prabhupāda and he said: Who are you? Do you have any followers? Do you have any properties? Do you have any projects?
And Prabhupada began describing all the projects that he had in mind.
The temples, and many devotees, devotional restaurants, the cow protection, the gurukula, and this man is, like, looking around, like, where is it all? You don't even have one follower.
Swamiji, excuse me, like, where is it all? You're alone on a park bench.
Reciprocal love of pure devotees
So, Prabhupāda said with great confidence, no, it is all there. There is only time separating. So Krishna's called Satya Sankalpa. It means that whatever the Lord desires, because He's God, that will manifest.
That will happen. Whatever truth he wants, that will be revealed, that will happen. And so it is also with the pure devotee, because the pure devotee is just like this with God, Just like one.
Like Jesus said, the Father and I are one. The Christians misinterpret that to think that Jesus is God, that He just meant they're One, they're in union, they're in love. One in love.
Like a loving gṛhastha couple. They're considered one body. And the pure devotee has the same desires as the Lord. The only difference is the Lord empowers that devotee out of love.
He gives them a service to fulfill those desires. Just like one time a devotee said to Prabhupāda, if Lord Caitanya is God, then why didn't he spread the saṅkīrtana movement all over the world? But, thought for a minute.
And he said, why? Because he wanted me to do it. This is the competition of love. The devotee wants to glorify the Lord. The Lord wants to glorify his devotee. This is love, it is reciprocal.
So it's sure and certain that in time, because Prabhupāda said it, in time all his desires will manifest, but he's very kindly given the service to his sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters because by that service, we become purified, we become qualified to go back to Godhead, and we become endeared to Him. He's so kind to give us these services.
So a neophyte devotee may think that these big challenges, these great services, these great dreams of Prabhupāda are not possible.
But a sincere follower of Śrīla Prabhupāda knows that along with the instruction of the spiritual master comes the ability to execute it, to fulfill it. So we know how dear Russia is, how dear Moscow is
to Prabhupāda, because he came here, he saw not just, you know, a communist state and apartment buildings and this and that.
He saw so many people who are givers for prayer Krishna and Nityānanda, they're all servants of Krishna they've forgotten and he came here practically alone to remind them of who they are.
And essential to the cultivation of the masses is not just book distribution, not just saṅkīrtana, not just food for life, not just nāma-haṭṭa, but a beautiful temple where the people who come from all those projects can congregate.
So important! Integral part of our culture, because if you look back in Vedic culture hundreds, thousands, millions of years, temples were always part of the integral part of that culture.
Places of worship were the house of God, where people could come and associate together and become inspired to become Krishna conscious.
Without such temples of Vishnu, without such temples of Krishna, the whole environment is actually, you can say, naked.
So there's no doubt that Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted a beautiful temple here in the heart of Russia because I don't know what city you're from, anyway, this is the heart of Russia, Moscow, and it requires a beautiful temple for the people of this city, for the people of this nation to congregate and to learn the science of Krishna consciousness, to come and hear kīrtana, take prasādam, and hear amazing lectures of the quality of a GBC Maharaj to decide to become devotees just like you did. I've seen this.
As the movement grows the last forty years, I've seen that each temple or each region or each yatra, they get to a certain point, and they need they need to a step to go bigger, and they need for that, they need more facility. And as soon as they get more facility, then more people come.
Establishing New Mayapur in France
I've seen it happen so many times. When we were in France, Śrīla Prabhupāda visited us in 1974, and he came to our temple, which was in the middle of the city. And it was on a street called Fort Rue De Sour.
That temple was so packed. When Prabhupāda was giving his lecture, you couldn't even move like this. Everyone was sitting like this! Hundreds of devotees in a room meant for a family of five!
So, Prabhupāda said at the end of the lecture, he said to our GBC man, he said, we need a bigger project. We need a farming community where these devotees can come and more people can join.
And the temple president of the GBCT, we don't have the funds, and, you know, it's it's beyond our means. And if if we get a big pop up like that, it'll be like a white elephant. There'll nobody nobody will come.
It'll be too big for us.
сейчас.] The next day, Śrīla Prabhupāda had the devotees look in the magazines and the newspapers and called the real estate agencies, and he personally went in a car about 250, 300, 400 kilometers south looking for a castle. It's disturbing the child. Looking for a castle and land to move our community.
Even if you move that group of devotees, it would only take up one little tiny corner of a big castle. And we didn't have any money! Prabhupāda looked for three days. He drove around France.
There's the famous pictures of Prabhupāda on that trip. You know, that famous picture on the original book, Science of Realization, Prabhupāda's looking like that in his charter.
One of my grandmothers Yogeshwar was taking a lot of pictures of her. Prabhupāda said, So, you want me to pose like Napoleon? So Yogeshwar said. Yeah!
Yogeshwar сказал, да. But took his feedback he went. And it became the picture on the science, the book, the English book at least, of science and science.
So we didn't find a chateau, we didn't find, but the seed was planted in the hearts of the devotees, and less than a year later we found what later became new myopur. We say in French.
Book distribution marathon in Paris
before Prabhupāda left, again, the devotee said, How are we gonna pay for it? Prabhupāda said, Distribute my books. Krishna is no poor man. And we went on a marathon for a year. We were so determined to fulfill proper desire to get that place.
I remember I did a marathon for three months, and I was living in Paris. I would go underground in the metro, and I would distribute books. I would just get up, chant my rounds, go in.
I was in the metro by 07:00 in the morning. I come out at 10:00 at night every day. I didn't see the sunrise. I didn't see the sunset. All I saw was total darkness for three months. Three months I didn't see the sun.
I've never been happier in my life. One of my godmothers, Bhugarbe, he said you're killing yourself. No, Prabhu. I'm giving, I'm getting life from that. Я сказал, нет, прабху.
Because I heard that Bhakti Sadhana Saraswathi said, preaching us life.
And the result was, well, there were many results, but one result was I won the marathon, and when Prabhupada came to the temple some months later, the winner of the marathon got to bathe Prabhupada's feet.
And myself and and Bhugarbe, we we had a plan, and we, you know, we had this big silver bowl, and we bathed Prabhupada's feet. And then when the bathing was over, we ran upstairs with a bowl of water, a big bowl of water.
We locked ourselves in the office and we drank every single drop. There's three ways to get the mercy of a pure devotee. Many ways, but they traditionally it's said.
The dust of his feet, the water of his feet, and the remnants of his food.
But really, the real success was the sankirtan, the combined effort of many devotees to fulfill Prabhupada's desire for a bigger place, and we raised enough money to put down the down payment on that building.
And let me tell you that within six months there were three fifty devotees living on that property. And still the temple in Paris was full. So many people joined.
Inspiring support for Moscow temple
So here's a program on Thursday night in the middle of the week, and this tent's already full. We need a bigger place, something a little more beautiful. This is life, but it's a tent.
People may not come to a tent, but there's a beautiful architectural wonder, something very beautiful that represents our Vedic culture. People will come just to see that. It'll become a tourist spot.
People will come for so many reasons. And when they come, they'll hear from the devotees. They'll take the prasāda. They'll buy books. It'll be like a magnet. It'll draw so many souls.
Because it's the heartbeat in Bhakti Swarup Damodar Maharaja's chest. Just by that one devotional service, I'm sure he'll merit going back home back to Godhead. But he's willing to share the mercy with all of you.
He's willing to share the service with all of you. So, you must come together and according to your abilities, according to time, according to place, according to circumstance. That's sankirtan. Everybody adds a little bit.
Work together as a team to build that wonder of Moscow. Many of you are my disciples. We're well-wishers and friends. for the country, the city, and the good of this country, to cooperate nicely in that effort.
Because the more cooperation there is, the quicker it will become, and the better it will be, and the more famous it will become. Traditionally on your birthday, you get a birthday wish. They bring a big cake.
And this year there's 62 candles on the cake. Oh, no. But if I blow them, if I make a wish, and I blow them all out, then they say the wish comes true. So usually the wish is secret. But there's no secrets in Kṛṣṇa.
We go out on the streets and we chant very loudly. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, So I have a birthday wish today on my 60th birthday, and I'm making it public!
To my disciples, my friends, and well-wishers and congregation, please, please, please cooperate as best you can with all your energy and your time and your intelligence and your lakṣmī.
Help Goswami Maharaja's dream come true so that Prabhupada's dream can become true, and this great city of Moscow will be a great bastion of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.