Srila Prabhupada Vyasa-puja

Srila Prabhupada's visit to Moscow

0:01But in Moscow he was only five days. In 1971 he came to Moscow with one of his servants and Shamash Prabhu as his secretary. And he was hoping to be able to speak to students, to some young people, as he was used to.

0:29He was hoping to reach some people, but the reality was completely different. He was closely supervised. He was basically locked in his hotel room. Russia at that time was an extremely closed country.

0:50And on the top of it, it was totally, completely, absolutely 100% atheistic country.

1:04Before that in 1936, Stalin, who was the ruler of Russia, he declared that in a few years there will be not a single person in this country who would believe in God. Of course, he failed in his prediction miserably.

1:26But I'm telling this just for you to understand the mood which was prevalent in the country. So Śrīla Prabhupāda was only allowed to speak with a professor who invited him.

1:43Śrīla Prabhupāda was in a letter exchange with Professor Kotovsky from the Orientology Institute in Moscow. And Srila Prabhupada was completely unimpressed by speaking with this professor.

2:02Because this professor was, of course, an atheist, and they didn't really understand each other.

2:13Many years later, when the Soviet Union fell apart and this professor was still alive, he came to our temple, to the first temple in Moscow. And he was sitting there and he couldn't believe his eyes.

2:31He saw so many devotees swarming around, you know, distributing books, going in and out. At that time was hundred devotees in the temple. And he started crying.

Predictions about Russia and Soviet Union

2:47Tears came to his eyes, and he said, When I spoke with Swamiji, I couldn't imagine that his movement will be so big in my country.

3:01So Prabhupada he had a vision and he knew that everyone is looking for Krishna consciousness. Everyone is dying without Krishna consciousness.

3:14And therefore he came to Russia and he spent five days and as I said he was practically locked in a room once he went to a guided tour in the city, and he was in one hill overlooking the great city of Moscow, and in 71, Russia was perhaps the most closed country in the world, and nobody could imagine that Krishna consciousness will ever take place in Russia, he said, he predicted that in this city will be thousands, tens of thousands of people chanting the holy names.

4:05And his prediction came true. In Chandogya Upanishad, there are eight signs of lakshanas of a liberated soul. And the last sign or laksana of liberated soul is Satya Sankalpa. Whatever he desires comes true.

4:33So that was his desire. He wanted that people of Russia and people of Moscow in particular would take Krishna consciousness and sure enough, it did happen.

4:46There was also one more very interesting prediction which Śrīla Prabhupāda did when he was in Moscow. He said, uh In 1971, then there was a military parade or something like this.

5:03He saw some military people going in Red Square. He was living in a hotel just in the heart of the city near Red Square and he saw military people marching in the street and

5:18he looked at Śyāmasundara, Śyāmasundara Prabhu shared it with us, and he said, this country will not last long, maximum 20 years.

Early spread of Hare Krishna movement

5:31In 1991, the country was finished exactly 20 years after his visit. So and perhaps you know those of you who read Śrīla Prabhupāda Lilāmṛta that he was able to speak with one person, Russian person.

5:56Some other people were trying to speak with Prabhupada, but Prabhupada very cleverly

6:01said, no, these are agents, KGB agents, don't let them in somehow or other he had this very clear vision but he spoke with one man practically one man who has become later his disciple.

6:18And because of this one person, the movement started in Russia and since then tens of millions of books were distributed, you know. There's in Russia.

6:31There's probably uh there's around uh more than hundred and twenty centers all over Russia, hundred and sixty or something like this, I don't remember exactly how many.

6:45And at least 30, 40,000 devotees are there practicing devotees. It's probably after India one of the most populated country as far as the number of devotees is concerned.

7:09And the movement had a very difficult history in Russia and it's still struggling in many ways because Russia is has never been an easy place. Everything is a struggle there. But at the same time, because of this struggle, people are able to better appreciate what Prabhupada has given to them.

7:42And I remember I will tell a short anecdote from my own life. I've never seen Srila Prabhupada. I came later, I started chanting Hare Krishna mantra in 1980.

7:57In 1977, in the last year of Prabhupada's presence in this earth, Gopāla Krishna Mahārāja came with the book fair. Bhaktivedanta Book Trust had a stall and a book fair in Moscow.

8:21And he was distributing secretly so many of Prabhupada's books, and one of my roommates, with whom I have been living in a hostel in Moscow State University, got a book.

8:35And because of him, I got in touch with Krishna Consciousness Movement and then I read Prabhupada's books.

8:47And at that time when I started chanting and practicing Krishna consciousness, I was doing my PhD degree, I was a postgraduate student in one of the institutions in Moscow.

9:07And it was unheard of that an intelligent person would become a believer. As I said, the religion was totally absolutely banned from Russia.

9:22If you were old lady, you know, it would be loud, it would be kind of okay if you believe in God.

KGB opposition and devotee interrogation

9:31But for young people to believe in God was totally unbelievable. So uh in KGB, which was the intelligence service in Russia, the whole department was created uh to uh watch for uh you know the first devotees.

9:55There was maybe at that time when I started practicing, at that time there was maybe, I don't know, 50 devotees in the whole country, but the whole department

10:06was created and at one point, a few years later, they came to me and they started interrogating me, asking what you're doing, what kind of activities you are doing, how dangerous you are. And they were threatening me.

10:31They said we will put you to prison, you will never be able to live normal life. So many nice techniques were applied to me.

10:45But But for me it was the most amazing thing because I saw very powerful people, people who were basically ruling the whole country. And I could see in them fear.

11:04They were fearful of a bunch of completely, I mean, uh devotees at that time were not very impressive. It was a very strange crowd of people of various backgrounds. It was not very impressive.

11:23I myself was not impressed by the first devotees when I was associating with them. But I saw that the KGB was very impressed by them.

11:36And because the KGB was so powerful, I thought to myself they probably know better the power of this movement. Probably I'm mistaken because they're supposed to know everything.

11:52And because they are so afraid of this movement, this movement must be very powerful. So, in this way, I became much more serious in my practice of Krishna consciousness. At that time I was not very much involved,

12:10but because of KGB I became very serious. And therefore I consider KGB as one of my Shiksha Gurus who really made me serious about Krishna consciousness.

Celebrating Nandotsava and honoring Prabhupada

12:28So this is this is the miracle which Śrīla Prabhupāda has done because of his determination, because of his actually because of his magnanimity, because of his mercy, and because of his very strong desire to make unfortunate people fortunate, that what he has done.

12:55And today is Nandotsov.

12:57Nandotsov is the day when Krishna is celebrating his birthday and usually according to the West custom, the one who celebrates the birthday is supposed to give gifts. If guests come to him, he gives gifts.

13:21So on this day Krishna has given the world a very beautiful gift of Śrīla Prabhupāda. That's Krishna's gift to the whole world and especially to the most unfortunate people of this world.

13:43So, this is a few things which I could say. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī! Thank you very much.