Srila Prabhupada and His Successful Preaching
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Sharja · 2016
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Opening prayers and lecture introduction
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate Viṣṇu- pādāya, kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale, śrīmate bhaktivedānta- svāmin iti nāmine. Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī- प्रचारिणे, निर्विशेष-शून्यवादी- पाश्चात्य-देश-तारिणे। [The preceding segments are prayers]
Vychakripasindu Vievacha, Vatitanam Pavaneby, Vaishnavyonamonama, Jasri Krishna Chaitanya Prabunitananda Sri Advaita Gadara Sivasadhi Guru Bhakta Brinda.
Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hari Ajannulam
Bhitibu Jokuna Kavadu Sankirtana, Kiki Taruka Mahai, tak se viswambaru, dviya varu, gudam, Bandi, Jagat Priakaru, Karu Navataru, Namtah pravi Mamma Vachi Mamampra Supam Sandivaya, taki la shakti darakswadama anyamstcha hastacharana sramat vagani pranamamo bhagavate pu shaitno.
Hare Krishna. I'm very happy to be with you this morning. And I was asked to speak a little bit about Srila Prabhupada and about preaching in Russian. And it's a very appropriate topic on the 50th anniversary of Iscorn.
Because this is the date when we have to look back and see what happened and what's going to happen. Prabhupada performed a miracle by bringing Krishna consciousness all over the world.
And all of a sudden, everywhere in every corner of this world people are chanting Hare Krishna. And of course, this is a special power which Prabhupada had.
And this power is based on his ardent desire to give people Krishna consciousness. He many times taught us that the only thing which we can do as a tiny spirit soul is to desire.
And desire is a very huge power in this world. Ultimately, everything in this world is moved because of the desire of the soul.
Everything else is arranged by the modes of material nature, Krishna is there, but the deciding factor in the creation of this scenery of this world is desire.
And as Prabhupada often used to say, the secret aven spiritual success is also the strong desire för spiritual progress. En desire är such a thing that we cannot really sort of produce it it should come.
But therefore in vadik kulture there is this thing as satsang. Satsang actually the very purpose of satsang is to create desire.
When we speak, when we hear somebody who is speaking, he is supposed to have stronger desire than us.
Story of Charlie Chaplin and enthusiasm
And when we see somebody with very strong desire and with enthusiasm, then it becomes contagious. Śrīla Prabhupāda once gave an example of Charlie Chaplin. Śrīla Prabhupāda was very fond of Charlie Chaplin.
Charlie Chaplin was a comedian, very famous. And Prabhupāda, he wanted to teach this point that enthusiasm is contagious. You know, whatever you do, you should do with enthusiasm.
If you do something and you are not really putting your heart into this, why waste time. Nothing good will come out from this action. So if we do something, the first condition of success in whatever we do is enthusiasm.
Utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt tat-karma-pravartanāt.
It is said in Upadeśāmṛta that if you want really to have success in whatever undertaking, and especially in bhakti, the first condition is utsāha. Utsāha means you are enthusiastic.
Śrīla Prabhupāda gave this example of Charlie Chaplin. He said that once Charlie Chaplin was in a ballroom and he had this funny suit with the tails, you know, this smoking. You know, this really funny Western dress.
You know, people in high circles, they're supposed to have these funny suits. I don't know. Probably because it reminds them about monkeys or kangaroos or about their ancestry. Whatever the right tales of this.
So he said that you know and you know everyone is dressed in these funny suits with these tails and uh everyone is dancing and Charlie Chaplin
sat down on a on a chair and there was uh either nail or something anyway something went wrong and one of the tails there are two tails in this funny suit so one of the tails got torn out.
And you know it it looks anyway ridiculous, but with one tail it's very ridiculous. So he finds out that he doesn't have this tail. His suit is not complete.
So without thinking twice, he tears another one off and starts dancing with great enthusiasm as if this is the way to go. And everyone is looking at him.
And instead of laughing, everyone thinks, you know, he's so confident. He's doing it with such a confidence, enthusiasm, that must be the right way to do, and everyone starts tearing off their tails.
They all followed him. Why? Because he had this enthusiasm. And Prabhupada, definitely, he had this great enthusiasm. And that's uh he himself said that's the secret of success. My great desire to please my spiritual master.
He often remembered his very
deep experience when he read Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's commentary on the verse vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ ekeha kuru-nandana, where Krishna himself says that those who are resolute in their purpose, their intelligence is one.
Vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ. Ekeha kuru-nandana. And uh otherwise other people, bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca, they become many-branched. They go here, they go there, they try to catch this, they try to achieve this goal.
And Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura in his commentary says that this vyavasāyātmikā buddhi is actually to understand the mood of one spiritual master and try to follow this mood. Try to really build or mold one's life on the desire of spiritual master.
Our spiritual desire is weak. There is no doubt about it. We have some little spark of spiritual desire, yeah.
It may be, you know, maybe not bad to be in Vaikuṇṭha. Weather is nice there and you know and Krishna is playing flute. So nice, nice entertainment, or whatever. We may not have a very strong desire.
But if we try to follow the mood of our spiritual master who has very strong desire. Look at Jayapatākā Mahārāja. His desire is amazingly strong. You know, it's just unbelievable. It's out of this world.
People in this condition, they they become depressed and morose and they cannot do anything. You know, and he's in this condition and this physical condition, he's traveling all over the world. Just this example alone.
You know, and sometimes we think, oh, if everything is so bad, you know, my situation is so bad. Look at him. Can you imagine yourself in this condition? It's very difficult to imagine.
But still, he's full of enthusiasm. He's bubbling with enthusiasm. He he's still you know it's amazing I'm I I have this great honor of serving on the GBC.
Uh and it's very difficult and demanding service. You have to deal with the madness of so many people, with insanity on different levels, on the governmental level, on the level, you know, it's it's it's a very difficult job.
So recently there was a survey. Uh who of the GBC wants to resign when? Because we are talking about succession, so and there was a sense, general sense, that you know some of the GBCs want to
resignation, and you know, Śivarāma Mahārāja practically resigned, he filed his resignation, this Mahārāja, that Mahārāja. And everyone wrote in within three years, within five years, within one year, within so many.
Only two people say, forget it. We're not going to resign. One was Jayapatākā Mahārāja, another one was গোপাল Krishna Mahārāja. He said, how can we resign from service?
You know the eldest one, the most who have the such a difficult job, you know. Still, they're full of enthusiasm.
Prabhupada's journey and conviction in preaching
And why? Because Prabhupāda, he showed this example. You know, once he came to Great Britain, and in Great Britain a reporter, journalist asked him, Why did you come to Great Britain?
Listen, what Prabhupāda answered to him. He said, British, they ruled India for 200 years and they plundered India, they took so much wealth. But they forgot one wealth, spiritual wealth.
So I came to England to bring this wealth to them because they forgot it. I'm a home delivery boy. They didn't take the they took all this useless wealth. They didn't take the real wealth of India.
So I'm, you know, I'm here to somehow or other to compensate with the with the loss, with their mistake which they did.
So again his secret of success was this ardent desire and because of this desire, because of the strong desire which was burning in his heart, he was always confident that
he will fulfill the mission of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. It's amazing, you know, somebody in the year of sixty nine, he was sixty nine when he went to America.
Uh although we always say seventy, but he was sixty nine technically speaking. But there's not much difference, sixty nine or 70, you know,
people usually they don't do anything new. They are lucky if they can do something which they already know in this age. But to go to a completely new country.
Śrīla Prabhupāda said, I didn't even know whether they will understand my English or not. And sure enough, not any not everyone could understand his Indian English. Sometimes people from America, when they heard it bardover, they just couldn't figure out what he's talking about.
And on the top of this, he had 40 rupees in his pocket. Just tell me, please, who will dare to go to America with 40 rupees in your pocket? Which is not even convertible.
I heard that this 40 rupees is still there somewhere in a museum, you know. That's the money which Prabhupada brought with him. You know, he goes there because of the desire.
But the most amazing thing, I wanted to tell you a few stories about Prabhupada and about his desire.
That when he was not even Sannyasi, he was vānaprastha, he was living in his godbrother's Math, in Mathura, in Keshevji, Gaudi Mat. There was an interesting story.
He went with one Brahmachari to a program, to a home program somewhere, and he came late back to Matt. And as you know, you know the prashadam from lunch is kept somewhere in the buckets, you know.
So they were sitting late together, two of them in the big temple room, eating some, you know, cold chapatis and cold dries and cold subjee, you know, something like this.
It's kind of uh, you know, completely empty room, two persons in the corner sitting and eating.
So at this moment, uh one Indian family, rather well-to-do, rich Indian family, you know, father, mother and few kids with them, they kind of popped out in the uh room, in the temple room, looked, didn't see anyone of any significance, closed the door and went somewhere else.
Didn't really find anyone. And when they closed the door and Prabhupada saw this, Prabhupada started chuckling. He was he was laughing and laughing and laughing, eating and laughing.
And this brahmachārī said, Why do you laugh? He said, this family, they looked in the room and they saw one old man eating dry chapatis and they went away.
Little do they know what plans Mahāprabhu has for this old man, what plans Mahaprabhu wants to fulfill through this old man. Little do they know. You know, Prabhupada is nobody. Literally, that's why he was chuckling.
You know, he was chuckling because he knew very well what's going to happen at that time. He was chuckling because he thought, you know, they they didn't notice, they didn't pay any attention.
But he was so confident because he knew that Krishna cannot do anything but reciprocate with his desire. Krishna Himself says, "I reciprocate. If somebody is worshipping me, I reciprocate accordingly."
And Prabhupada knew for sure he had complete confidence. Krishna will reciprocate with this desire. He will give me some opportunities.
He has some plans for me, and somehow or other, miraculously, these plans will be fulfilled.
So that's that's Prabhupada and the secret of his success, just completely selfless desire to serve people and to glorify Krishna and Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Mahārāja, my guru-mahārāja, once told a story, uh he was quite close with Iyengar, B.K.S. Iyengar, famous yoga teacher from Pune.
So he said that just maybe a few months before the departure of Iyengar he was speaking with him. And they were discussing the the condition of Hinduism.
Because Hindu Dharma, as we know, you know, so many new dharmas are flourishing.
And unfortunately, Hinduism, the most powerful and the most complete and the most pure and the most non-sectarian religion is not really flourishing, even in India. So many people are forgetting this.
And of course, there are so many gurus who are trying to propagate this. And they were discussing this condition of Hindu dharma.
And because Iyengar, he was actually, he was also, he did a lot to propagate yoga and glory of Vedic culture all over the world. He is the most famous all over the world. So he said the reason is simple.
Because all these people, he said, they're personally motivated. They are coming and ultimately they want to glorify themselves.
And the ultimate reason, I mean, we are all selfish, selfishness is there, but uh you know if somebody is big, it becomes very obvious, so to speak.
So and uh and uh Gurmara said that he would mention this person and that person and this person and that person.
And then he said, but Prabhupada, Prabhupada was genuine. He was the only one, basically, that's what Iyengar said. He was he was real.
Because Prabhupada, you know, in the age of 70, he went there as 69, you know, without any tangible hope for success, but with complete confidence that he'll succeed. But at the same time, you know, it's not usually you can really see through the hardship which Śrīla Prabhupāda underwent.
He was not doing it for himself, he was doing it for Krishna. He was doing it to fulfill the command or the order of his spiritual master. And that was his motivating force. There is this famous story.
Bhaktivikash Maharaj recorded this story in his book about Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati. Siddhanta Saraswati.
Then during the last Parikrama in Māyāpur in Champahati, where you know probably thousand devotees or around thousand devotees gathered together to listen to Saraswati Thakur.
And at that time, one preacher returned from England whom Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda sent. So he all of a sudden started speaking about his desire to preach in the West.
And he said, My mother, she's a pure devotee, Bhagavati Devi. While passing away on her deathbed, she ordered me you should bring Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mission on the West. And he said her words will for sure come true,
because that's her desire, and desire of a pure devotee for sure will be fulfilled. But then he said, but how I don't know. So far it doesn't really happen. It's not happening, there is not so much success.
But then all of a sudden he paused and then he said, but one of my disciples, he will go over the ocean and he will bring thousands of people back here to Mayapur. And at that moment he started looking somewhere.
And uh the Bābājī Saraswati Thakur's disciple, Nayananda Maharaj Bhabaji, he noticed that something Maharaj Bhabaji, he he noticed that something is strange going on.
He paused and uh he looked back because he saw his he's looking not where the sannyasis are sitting he's looking somewhere else
so he looked back and he saw uh Abhai Babu, Abhai Charanaravinda Śrīla Prabhupāda. Prabhupada.
And he saw that Saraswati Thakur is looking at him and Śrīla Prabhupāda is looking back at him. Prabhupada is looking back at him. And they're exchanging their looks, you know.
And he said at that moment I realized that he's something special. He's empowered. There is some empowerment in him.
So So actually, this empowerment is coming again through the medium of our desires, through our really desire to please the spiritual master. And that was life and soul of Śrīla Prabhupāda.
He wanted only one thing to please his spiritual master.
Guidance from the Supersoul in heart
And that's again, as I said, secret of his success. So I wanted to tell a few stories because of this, because of this very strong desire, one develops many things and Prabhupada was amazing.
Because Krishna is sitting in his heart and Krishna is directly guiding him.
If you are pure in your heart, as Krishna himself says, Tesham Satata Yuktanam, Bhajatam Priti Purvakam, Dadami Buddhi Yogam Tam Yana Mupayantite. I myself will give him intelligence and to guide him.
If he is pure in the heart. You know, isn't it nice to be directly guided by Krishna to be really sure that I'm doing what you know.
Once one disciple asked Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada, does the spiritual master know everything which is going on in the heart of his disciple? And Prabhupada gave a very interesting answer.
He said, he knows only those things which super soul wants him to know. Because the super soul lives in my heart and lives in the heart of disciple. So whatever super soul tells, I know. It's not that I'm omniscient.
Sometimes, you know people, they have these strange sentimental ideas that Guru has to, yeah, he has to know everything. No, he said, I only know what the super soul wants me to know.
And he didn't know a lot of things about what's going on in the hearts of disciples. I wanted to tell a few stories about this.
You know, uh Varadaraj Prabhu, one of Prabhupada's disciples, he tells his story that before initiation, he already picked up a name which he wanted to be named.
And he thought, Madam Mohan, Mad Mohan, such a nice name. She should call me Madden Mohan, Madden Mohan, Mad Mohan. He was so obsessed with this idea.
And when they were sitting before initiation, he had only one idea in the mind: Madan Mahan, Madan Mahan, Madhan Mahan. And he was he couldn't hear anything what's going on.
He was so so when his turn came to come to Srila Prabhupada to give his vows, he bowed down. And there is only one thought, Madhmohan. So he gives, somehow rather he staggers, he gives his vows to Srila Prabhupada.
And Prabhupada he keeps beads in his hand and there is a pause. And he thinks, Madma, Madmahan, only Madmahan, only Madmahan.
Then Prabhupada he stretches his hand to give his uh beats and then he looks around and he asks, do we have Madan Mohan around? Is anyone here here called Madhmohan?
And somebody says, yes, yes, Madmohan is somewhere there. He said, oh yeah, Madmohan is there, so your name will be Baradaraj. So you really could understand what's going on in the mind.
Story of a skeptical teenager tested
And there is another story again, which illustrates the same point that the Guru knows only what super soul wants him to know. This is a story which one Prabhupada's disciple, Mahabuddhi, is
He said: I was a very rebellious teenager and always chant to bring down. As teenagers usually do. That's their sports, you know. They have some inferiority complex, so they they want to bring it.
So he said I was walking, he was living somewhere in California. So I was walking in my city and I saw a big poster.
And in the poster it was said the Guru of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, he will give lectures, such and such. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, he will give lectures, such and such.
And he looks, he reads this posture and he says, Guru? Guru? What kind of guru it is? I will show that he is not a guru. He's not a real guru.
You know, some little boy, foolish boy, walks in the street and he gets this idea. I will show. So he sits in a car. He's maybe 17 years old or 16 years old at that time. He sits in a car to drive to Los Angeles.
And in the meantime, he makes in his mind conditions who how to recognize the real Guru. And in his mind, he says: the real Guru, he is the one who teaches about the absolute truth, who knows the absolute truth.
The real guru is the one who shows the way to absolute truth. The real Guru can read the thoughts of people, and the real Guru can predict the future. So, somehow or rather he got these four points.
And he said, I will show, I will prove that this guy is not real guru. Because he should really fit the bill. You know, four points should be there. So he comes to Los Angeles, Los Angeles Temple, he drives by.
He comes and the disciple down there, he says, Do you want to see Prabhupada? She said, Yes, of course, I want to see Prabhupada. I came to see him. So he comes to a room. There is room probably this size.
And there are many devotees sitting in front of the sannyāsīs with the and he's the only one who is dressed in jeans and you know he has long hairs, you know, teenager, quite confused.
So, and Śrīla Prabhupāda just finished chanting. So he sits somewhere in a corner and he feels really foreign. You know, can you imagine somebody comes to a gathering like this and he's totally...
he doesn't know what's going on, you know, everyone is strangely, strangely dressed, you know, has some have some, you know, sticks, you know.
And the guru is sitting there and he really, inside he's just, he's totally rebelling against this. And he said, Oh, I'll prove, I'll prove.
So he sits somewhere, looks very, you know, gloomy over his, you know, doesn't like what's going on.
So Śrīla Prabhupāda he finishes his chanting and he looks in a room and he sees some teenage boy with long hair sitting in a corner. And all of a sudden sannyāsīs are there.
And all of a sudden, Śrīla Prabhupāda looks directly at him. And he says, Why did you become kṛpaṇa? And why did you become kṛpaṇa? And the boy didn't expect this, you know, directly attacked.
He came to challenge, but before he could challenge Śrīla Prabhupāda already challenged him. What did you become? And he doesn't know what kṛpaṇa is.
Well he knows that it's something bad, but he doesn't know what it really means. So a very clear thought comes to his mind. Who is And Prabhupāda says, Kṛpaṇa is a miser. Why did you become a miser? Why?
You know, he starts to say within his heart, he starts saying, you know, why why does he call me miser? How does he know I'm not a miser?
You know, he starts kind of justifying himself and Śrīla Prabhupāda says, mām, yeah, he has this question in his mind, why does he call me miser?
And Śrīla Prabhupāda says, because anyone who is not looking for absolute truth, he is a miser. The miser is anyone who can know the absolute truth, but he doesn't want to know the absolute truth.
Everyone should know absolute truth. And he thought, okay, so he is teaching about the absolute truth. That's good. So now that he has these four things in in his list, four points.
And then Śrīla Prabhupāda already reads his mind. And Śrīla Prabhupāda is speaking about absolute truth. And then Śrīla Prabhupāda says, you know, to understand absolute truth, you should follow bhakti. Bhakti is the path to absolute truth. This is the method to understand absolute truth.
Okay, he says, okay, this is this, this is this. And then he has the last point in his list. Guru should teach the thoughts, guru should teach about the absolute truth, and guru should teach the method how to understand.
should teach the method how to understand absolute truth. But the last point is: guru should know the future. And he has in his mind, again, the thought or question.
You know, so what about future? Can he predict the future or not? And Śrīla Prabhupāda looks at him.
Yeah, and in the meantime, all the sannyāsīs, he's sitting somewhere on the corner. And in the meantime, everyone understood that something is going on between Śrīla Prabhupāda and this boy.
So everyone kind of you know set little aside. So there is a direct line, corridor between him and Śrīla Prabhupāda is looking at him. And he thinks in his mind, does he know future or not?
And Śrīla Prabhupāda said, bring me this book from which I was reading. And somebody is bringing him a book, and this is the 12th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam where the predictions about Kali yuga is there.
And he said, it is said here that in this age the beauty will be measured according to the length of, uh, people's hair.
And this guy is sitting with the long hair and Śrīla Prabhupāda starts reading other predictions which are there and they all fit the situation which is there. And he's totally completely he's.
Said Śrīla Prabhupāda put ticks, uh, against all these four points which I had. So he said, okay. Uh he said that I wanted to really, you know, completely disappear from the surface of the earth.
I was, you0 know, and then when the darśana was finished, he, he, he couldn't say word.
When the darśana was finished, he crawls out the room, you know, and he really he's he's looking around and he's really afraid that somebody knows
what he really thought and how he was exposed during this darśana. So he crawls out, he goes there, you know, he drives in his car, he comes back, and still Śrīla Prabhupāda's voice reverberates in his head.
Your miser, your miser.
So he takes his checkbook and he has he collected some money and you know his his hand is trembling and he writes there one thousand dollars and he says oh my goodness, it's all my money, everything which I collected so far.
But anyway, I'm not a miser. 1,000 dollars. So next day he takes this check, he wants to bring it to Prabhupāda. And then he comes to Los Angeles Temple and he sees somebody in the shop,
some devotee who is selling there in the shop, and he said, you know, and the devotee asks, you want to see Prabhupada? He said, No, no, I had enough. No, no, no, no. I don't want to see him now.
But he he gives him an envelope with the check and he says, Can you give it to your spiritual master? I don't want to see him, but please bring it to your spiritual master.
So this devotee says, You please wait here, I will bring it to my spiritual master and come back. So he goes, he's absent for a few minutes, then he comes back. And then he looks at this boy.
And he says, Prabhupāda told me to tell you that you understood everything correct. So that's the story about Prabhupāda. That's which shows, you know, if you are in the what is this name of uh Mahabudhi. Mahabhi. Mahabudhi.
Oh, okay. So that this is the story we chose that if the super soul wants to know wants the spiritual master to know something about the disciple, then he will give this knowledge.
And because Prabhupāda always had this protection from the Supersoul and this connection, he was really bold.
Boldness of Prabhupada during public talks
Prabhupāda, it's unbelievable and amazing how bold he was while he was preaching. There are a few other stories. One story I like very much. During one of his lectures, one strangely dressed man. Tppie days.
And hella, link dress robe, silver star. All. Black kind of dress with silver stars and funny hood
and something like this and he was staring at Prabhupāda during the lecture like this you know without without any blinking, you know, just kind of trying to hypnotize him.
So when the lecture was finished, he raises his hand and Prabhupada asks, Do you have any questions?
So he raises his hands, he stands up, he's a tall man with a big robe, you know, staring at Prabhupada, and he says, What about Buddha?
And Prabhupada looks at him, stares at him with the same unblinking look. And he says, What about Buddha? And you know the guy doesn't know what to answer. And then he says, Can you see God? The guy asks, Prabhupada.
He says, no, because you stand on the way. Because this big ego is there. You can see God because of the ego. And then there is another story.
Again, Prabhupada gives a lecture and uh many people are there and there is again funny looking girl is there and she's really eager to ask a question.
And Prabhupada looks at this girl and he knows that it will probably be useless question. But so but nobody else has a question. So reluctantly Prabhupada asks her, uh, what is your question?
She says, Swamiji, is it true that there are many ways to God, there are many different ways? Prabhupada says, no.
He says, if you want to eat, there is only one way through the mouth. You can't put food through your ear or through your nose or through your anus. You only should put it here. There's only one way.
It's always like. So the question was, so there's only one, there's only one correct way, everything else is not correct. So that's how Prabhupada was.
And uh again, uh the point which I was trying to make, why Prabhupada was so successful, why he was able to bring Krishna consciousness all over the world because he only has one very pure desire.
I'm not doing anything on my own. I just want to please my spiritual master, I want to fulfill his mission, and that's what I'm doing here.
And as I said, because of the purity of his desire, Krishna reciprocated with his desire. And he used to say: you know, if I am an old man can do so much, you young people should do even more.
Of course, we're young from the bodily concept of life, but spiritually we are not very young and progressive. So and the point is that if we want to succeed in our spiritual life, we really have to develop desire.
And the only way to develop desire is to associate with those who have desire, who have very strong spiritual desires. Because this is how it is, how it works in this life.
You can get actually most of our desires is not our desires. It's desires of somebody else who instilled it in our heart. They put some big advertisement, big billboard, you know, to implant desires in your heart.
Developing desire through holy association
So spiritual life works on the same principle. You know, we should get the desire, cherish this spiritual desire, which is most important. The spiritual desire is the most important achievement which we have.
All other achievements, all our bank accounts, cars, whatever, Dubai flats, whatever, is not a very significant achievement.
The only real achievement which we have is the spiritual desire which we have in the heart, which is not ours, which is the desire which came from the heart of other devotees.
And we should fan this desire by coming together and speaking about Krishna and about Prabhupada and about the glory of devotion. Thank you very much. Question can take some questions. Anybody ask some important questions?
Thank you very much uh for nice reception for regarding uh this picture desire.
Want us to tell But uh I just asked uh you know in your case, is there somebody else uh to influence you to get this desire or you yourself uh got your internal nobody nobody has this desire on his own.
We can only get this desire from somebody else. It's not possible to get this desire on its own. Yes, I was frustrated, and everyone is frustrated.
The first chapter of Bhagavad-gītā is called Viṣāda-yoga because Viṣāda means frustration, the yoga of frustration.
And this is the permanent mood in this material world, everyone is frustrated, whether they admit it or not, whether they're honest enough to say I'm frustrated or they try to put a nice facade, everything is fine with me.
Nothing is fine with anyone. So I was frustrated. I was very frustrated. I didn't know why I'm leaving, for what I'm living. But then what happened?
In 1977, Prabhupāda actually sent Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja to Russia. He went himself in 71 to Russia.
And Syama Sundar Prabhu, who was his servant at that time, says, he said that actually Russia is ready to accept Krishna consciousness.
He said: as the cook takes one rice from the whole pot of rice and tests: if the one grain of rice is cooked, then the whole pot is cooked.
So there was one Russian man who came to see the Prabhupada who was very eager who was really kind of absorbing Krishna consciousness in the very Prabhupada said, look at this boy. He's ready.
It means the whole country is ready. So, and he couldn't come again back to Russia.
So in 1977 he sent Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja for the first time in Russia with Bhakti-vedanta Book Trust was the books of Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
And Gopal Krishna Maharaj came to Russia and he wanted to sell the books but there was no dollars at that time in Russia, and rubles were not convertible.
And he he brought his books, Prabhupada's books, in different libraries. And the libraries said, Well, we are eager to get your books.
Please give us the books, but we cannot pay you because we don't have those, but we can give you Russian books in exchange.
So Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja, he brought back from Russia a bunch of Russian books and said, Prabhupāda, that's what they gave to me. I don't know. Prabhupada said, No, don't worry.
You know, and for a long time these books were sitting there, and I know the first devotees, they would go to the library and they would get Prabhupada books. That that was the only source of them.
And then in 78 uh Gopal Krishna Maharaj in 77 in May of 77 he went to Russia and he reported back to Prabhupada. That's what I did, and Prabhupada was very pleased.
So next year in 1978, at that time I was graduating from university, from Moscow State University. Yes. I guess it was. Or maybe 77. 77, I was. I don't remember now.
So and again Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja comes to Moscow with Bhaktivedanta bookstall and uh for the international book fair at that time.
And uh a friend of mine with whom I used to live in one room during my student days, he got the book from Prabhupada and he starts associating with the first Russian devotees.
And the first Russian devotees, they somehow or other they imbibe this mood from Śrīla Prabhupāda that everyone has to get Krishna consciousness by hook and by crook.
So his first disciple, Anantasanti Prabhu, somebody told me how he preached. He would stand on the bus stand. You know, there is a little crowd standing in the bus stand waiting for a bus.
And he would come to some lady or some man who is standing there, idle. They don't have anything to do. And he looks at him and says, are you already chanting mantra? And nobody has heard anything about mantra, you know.
What is mantra? And everyone, you know, can you imagine somebody comes to you, completely unknown foreign man, and asks you, are you chanting mantra? And uh naturally uh the answer was no, I'm not chanting any mantra.
He said, really? Everyone else is already chanting. How come you're not chanting? He said, really, everyone is chanting? Okay, so how to do this? That's how his technique for So
and uh yeah so my friend started associating and he uh at one point uh he saw that I was we were living in um there was a room uh the common bus room, and little room here, little room there, he was living in one room, I was living in another room.
And he thought that I was not in the room, and he went to a shower and he started taking shower and very loudly under the shower he was chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna,
Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma Rāma Rama Rama. And I'm sitting in this other room and I'm thinking, my goodness, what's going on with him?
Must be something wrong with him. This is the first time how I heard Hare Krishna Mahā-mantra. And my first reaction, my friend is taking shower and you know chanting very loudly under the shower.
I said, why? Krishna Who is Krishna? Why Rama? Why Hare Krishna? What's going on? I I I couldn't have a clue.
But because he had desire, uh to make me devotee, I don't know why, but we had nice relationships so he thought he should be, so I became because of his desire, not my desire.
Maharaj uh the Anantas Shish first Dori name is that Anand Ananda Shanti. He was the same person who met Śrīla Prabhupāda? Yes. He passed away recently. Yeah, he passed away. Śānti.
I think he gave him initiation later by mail. He gave him philosophy in the first meeting because Adoshi Rada, first you have to instill the faith in somebody.
So he gave him faith, which is most important, and then later he gave him initiation. And so many other things he gave him. I think it's out of time, so uh if you have you can do to mail you to Maharaj by mail.
Thank you very much, Maharaj, for the wonderful trust. Thank you very much. Coming here.