Vyasa-puja offering 2005
nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine
The life of Om Visnupada Paramahansa Parivrajakacarya Astotara-sata Sri Srimad A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is a spiritual gem with unlimited facets, all radiating effulgent transcendental bliss to every corner of the universe. I stand on the shore of the ever-expanding ocean of knowledge and devotion contained within the library of transcendental literature he munificently left for human society. And I beg for a drop of that ocean.
The Vedas describe that even if a person could calculate the number of atoms in the universe, he could not count the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. How, then, can such an ignorant, sinful creature as I describe the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Servitor Godhead, Srila Prabhupada, a full manifestation of the unlimited mercy of the Lord? Every instant of Srila Prabhupada’s life was a spiritual instruction on how to know and love Krsna. It is indescribable. I simply pray for the mercy of Srila Prabhupada for the strength and intelligence to continue.
Lord Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita (4.11):
ye yatha mam prapadyante
tams tathaiva bhajamy aham
“As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly.”
Later in the Gita (7.14) the Lord elaborates:
daivi hy esa guna-mayi mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te
“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.”
And in the final chapter (18.66) the Lord concludes:
sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah
“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.”
A materialist never strives for surrender. He equates surrender with suffering, something you do when you lose a war. For him, to surrender to anyone is difficult, what to speak of to God. And surrender to God is especially difficult because it demands that we relinquish our material conceptions, the very basis of life in this world. If God exists He is eternally superior and I am eternally subordinate, a thought repugnant to the materialistic mind, which is always looking for a way to achieve supremacy over others. Considering all this, I conclude that Srila Prabhupada’s example of how to be successful and happy throughout life through the process of surrender was the essence of his pastimes.
The first point is that everything comes from surrender to Krsna because as we surrender to Him He rewards us accordingly. In other words, in the process of surrender we are never the losers. Opulence, peace, freedom, knowledge, detachment, devotion, the exalted qualities of a devotee — everything comes without fear and tribulation through the process of surrender. Those who spent time with Srila Prabhupada will readily testify that one astounding feature of his daily life was how effortlessly he seemed to do things amidst the most trying of circumstances. And he faced tremendous obstacles: an uncooperative family, failure of his business, breakdown of his health, theft of his manuscripts, legal battles over properties, infighting amongst his leaders, a gigantic burden of management, sabotage by his godbrothers, to name a few. Through all that Srila Prabhupada remained positive and cheerful, undaunted in his affectionate remembrance of Sri Krsna, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and the instructions of his beloved Guru Maharaja. How can we be sure of that? Because that was all he ever talked about! While working tirelessly to overcome the hindrances to spreading Krsna consciousness single-handedly, he thought and talked of Krsna more and more; and as he did, his victory and opulence increased more and more.
Sentimentalists attribute this phenomenon to some special mystic power in Srila Prabhupada or to some inherent difference between him and themselves. Burdened by this misconception, they resort to “new” philosophies or spiritual methods that infiltrate materially concocted ideas into the path of spiritual advancement in the name of dovetailing material propensities according to time and circumstance. Instead of gaining an uncompromised victory by following in Srila Prabhupada’s footsteps, they take the “path of least resistance” and compromise — which usually means that their preaching stops. Srila Prabhupada, however, attributed his success to something very simple: that he did not adulterate the message of Krsna or his Guru Maharaja. He responded to the challenges of life by remaining surrendered to the will of his spiritual master, strict in his devotional practices, and uncompromised in his preaching and cultural activities. Moreover, through all of that, he remained positive, cheerful, and undaunted, even when forced to wait for opportunities to preach. By studying the life of this liberated soul, we shall gain the courage and strength required to surrender to his example and his precepts.
The second point is that the process of surrender is ongoing — not that we surrender once and everything is finished. Srila Prabhupada showed us that the call to surrender goes on to the very end. The statement “As all surrender, I reward them accordingly” implies a series of examinations, the last and most arduous of which is death. Incapacitated by infirmity in his final days, Srila Prabhupada still cared for us like a loving father, concerned that each newly arriving devotee had sufficient prasadam and adequate accommodation. He reciprocated with affection upon seeing us, and with enthusiasm upon hearing news of any preaching success. By this indescribable display of love, Srila Prabhupada prepared us for a lifetime of dedication to the moment-to-moment process of surrender, which will continue until our last breath. And with his last breath Srila Prabhupada showed us exactly what to do — he chanted Hare Krsna.
Another point is that surrender is for everyone, regardless of his or her social position. Srila Prabhupada passed through all the asramas; and in each, he surrendered to Krsna by following the instructions of Sastra. In his student life, he surrendered to his superiors, his father and mother, and his teachers. When the time came to marry and he wanted a prettier wife, he surrendered to the advice of his father and rejected the idea. However, even at such an early age he did not surrender blindly. He did the needful to complete his studies, satisfy his professors, and earn his degree; but he rejected their impersonal teachings.
In the grihastha-asrama, he surrendered to his prescribed duty of maintaining the family. He followed the religious principle of working honestly, even at the expense of his business. He followed the regulative principles without deviation with his wife, remaining loyal to her and the children. And after receiving initiation from his spiritual master, he demonstrated perfect surrender to guru by vigorously preaching, despite the lack of support from family members. Guru and Gauranga came first, even in his household affairs. Thus, when family life became an impediment to his devotional service, he took up the retired life of vanaprastha.
In the vanaprastha-ashrama, he performed severe austerities, foregoing even proper dress and lodging while carrying on with his spiritual duties of studying, writing, publishing, and distributing books. Finally, when his spiritual master called him to renounce, despite feeling reluctant, he once again surrendered and accepted the renounced order.
As a sannyasi, he made the supreme sacrifice and renounced residence in Vrindavan, the most comfortable atmosphere for a sannyasi. He surrendered again to the order of his spiritual master and, at great personal inconvenience, in his old age traveled and preached to save the world. And he remained steady in the discharge of his higher duties.
As the head of an expansive spiritual institution, he surrendered to doing the needful, taking full responsibility, even in the face of criticism by so-called religious authorities that he was acting in a way unbecoming a sannyasi by initiating fallen Westerners and engaging women in service to the Deities. Srila Prabhupada vividly demonstrated that the goal of life is to develop a surrendered attitude toward guru, sadhu, and sastra. Indeed, he proved that surrender is for everyone as an ongoing affair.
The last point is that only by surrender can we overcome all enigmas. A surrendered soul feels no inconvenience even in trying circumstances; but a defiant person, even if he appears to be in a perfect situation externally, internally experiences the greatest hardship. We actually feel distress until we surrender. The sense of affliction comes not from surrendering to Krsna but from the internal friction caused by the mind’s resistance to the process of surrender, which is natural for the soul.
Since Srila Prabhupada’s departure, our ability to surrender has been damaged by internal politics and the fall of unsurrendered authorities. But we must always remember Srila Prabhupada’s teaching that we are not surrendering to just one particular individual. We are surrendering to the religious principles enunciated by the Supreme Lord Himself and perfectly applied by the previous acharyas. Without being surrendered by nature, we cannot be submissive; and only by submissive aural reception can we wake up to our original position as servants of Krsna. Then we can actually be free from material distress.
As we examine ourselves, the members of our society, and its leaders, we may tend to compare one another with Srila Prabhupada, as we knew him. Am I as humble? Is he or she as tolerant, kind, responsible, competent, and advanced? When we fall into that trap, it would behoove us to remember that we are comparing ourselves to a personage who surrendered at each stage of his life as an example for us to follow. False expectations bring disappointment. No one can live in constant disappointment. Therefore, we must abandon our false expectations and not compare ourselves to Srila Prabhupada at the last stage of his life. Rather we should look to the example he set when he was in the stage of life we are in at present. After all, his whole life was a mission to teach every one of us how to be a surrendered soul at every step along the path back home, back to Godhead.
Hare Krsna.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
From an eternal son,
Kesava Bharati Dasa Goswami