The Hare Krsna Movement, the Positive Alternative.
By Gauragopala dasa ACBSP
This is the story of one young teenager who eventually became a devotee of Srila Prabhupada and Krsna by first going into St Paul's Cathedral in central Melbourne to pray to Jesus in February 1972 for guidance out of this material world.
When this young man entered the Church as a last resort to find some meaning and purpose to life, he went down on his knees in total helplessness and, with tears in his eyes, prayed to Jesus,
“Please use me in your service, in your plan, my life is now useless, it is better you use me in your plan to spread God Consciousness”
He prayed like this for about an hour, then to his surprise, a young Hare Krsna devotee in saffron robes walked in the Church (Shyamananda dasa is a artist who was admiring the various paintings there).
This young man was very moved by the devotee’s simplicity and knew the mumbling he was hearing must be like the rosary, yes, he was chanting the names of God, the Hare Krsna mantra.
This young man took this as a gift and message to his prayers from Jesus, who was showing him the way.
He was amazed and without knowing much about Krsna except for his previous association with Upananda dasa (now Avadhoot Maharaj) some eight months earlier at the Sydney Temple in Paddington where he would read KRSNA Book to Upananda while he cooked for the Radha Gopinath Deities Srila Prabhupada had personally installed on May 10th 1971, a week or so earlier.
He now had tears in his eyes seeing this young artist devotee and remembering his association in Sydney with Upananda.
He never took his eyes off Shyamananda dasa and when he left the Cathedral, the young man followed him out and watched what he thought was one of Gods angles, walk down the street.
The young man then walked no more than ten yards up Swanston st, Melbourne when a bubbling young girl in her mid teens (possibly Krsnapremi dasi but not sure) approached him in a beautiful sari with flowers in her hair "Hari Bol" she said, then continued.
"I’m with the Hare Krsna Movement and here is our magazine Back to Godhead, (number 36 BTG Magazine) we are having a love feast tomorrow, it is a special day, (February 18th 1972) the appearance day of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, come along and experience the ecstasy of Krsna Consciousness!"
In those days dates were followed in Prabhupada's Books and in the "Teachings of Lord Caitanya" the appearance day is given as February 18th 1486.
We were not aware back then ever year is different because of the constellations.
This young man was blown away, he was thrilled and truly believed Jesus had answered his prayers and sent him to be with Prabhupada and Krsna.
Probably the most astonishing thing was when he turned up the next day (February 18th 1972); it was Lord Caitanya’s appearance day at the Temple, one of the most auspicious days in the Krsna calendar.
He then was offered to play the part of Hari dasa Thakur in a play (because he had a scraggly beard) where Lord Nityananda was hit on the head with a clay pot.
Lord Caitanya (played by Kurma) instructed Nityananda Prabhu (played by Ajita) and Haridasa Thakur (played by the young man who only the day before was praying in a Catholic Church Cathedral for direction from Jesus) to go to everyone’s house in Nadia and request them to chant Krsna’s name.
The two great devotees eagerly set forth and began to knock on each and every door with the request,
"Please chant Krsna’s name, worship Krsna and teach others about Krsna."
They were happily received by the pious people, while the envious would blaspheme them.
Completely unconcerned by favourable or unfavourable reactions they proceeded around the town.
In Nadia there lived two very sinful brothers called Jagai (played by Upananda) and Madhai (Played by Sanaka)
Jagai and Madhai were born in pious Brahman families however; due to bad association they had become meat eaters, drunkards, thieves and arsonists.
There was no crime that they had not committed, including the most abominable sin of killing cows and Brahmans.
The entire town was terrified of these two persons who seemed to be the very personification of all sinful activities.
On the day Nityananda Prabhu (played by Ajita) and Haridasa Thakur (played by the young man) were moving in the town, these two brothers, completely intoxicated were alternatively fighting and embracing each other.
After observing them for some time Nityananda Prabhu compassionately decided to deliver them and thus approached them.
Despite the warnings of the town people Lord Nityananda and Haridasa Thakur approached the two drunkards instructing them to chant the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.
Hearing these words the two sinners looked up and seeing the two saintly figures roared in anger.
They leapt up and ran to catch the two sannyasis. The two devotees fled at the sight of the attacking brothers, terrified they shouted,
"Krsna! Save us!! Govinda!" and ran.
The two brothers wandered off in their drunken condition along the banks of the Ganga where Caitanya Mahaprabhu bathed.
Constantly drunk, they started harassing and terrorizing the devotees.
Eventually Nityananda and Haridasa went to the Ganges to see Lord Caitanya (played by Kurma) however the two brothers again accosted them.
On seeing Lord Nityananda, the drunk Madhai (played by Sanaka) became furious and struck Him with a broken earthen pot.
When Jagai (played by Upananda) saw the blood flowing from the wound, he became compassionate and restrained his brother.
While Nityananda Prabhu patiently stood, looking at the brothers with compassion, tolerating the pain and humiliation, Haridasa ran to tell Caitanya Mahaprabhu about the incident.
(Yes, the young kept repeating his lines for this part and kept repeating the name of Lord Caitanya so he would not forget)
Hearing that Nityananda Prabhu had been hurt by the brothers, Caitanya Mahaprabhu ran towards them with the intention to kill them.
He summoned His chakra which looked like death personified to the two terrified brothers.
However, Nityananda Prabhu quickly intervened and begged Caitanya Mahaprabhu to stop. He reminded Him of His mission to kill the sinners by saturating them with love of Godhead.
Thus the appeased Lord took back His chakra at the request of Nityananda.
Nityananda Prabhu told Caitanya Mahaprabhu that it was Jagai who had saved Him from further harm at Madhai’s hand.
Hearing this Caitanya Mahaprabhu said to Jagai,
"By protecting Nityananda you have purchased Me, you may ask any desire you have in your heart. From today on you will have pure love and devotion for Krsna."
Hearing this Jagai fell at the feet of the two Lords and grasping the feet of Caitanya Mahaprabhu wept.
Seeing the wonderful transformation in his brother, a remorseful Madhai begged for the mercy of the Lord. However, since he had committed the worst of all offences, that of attacking a Vaisnava, the Lord did not even consider all his pitiful pleas for mercy.
Only after Madhai grasped the feet of Nityananda Prabhu and received His mercy did Caitanya Mahaprabhu agree to deliver Madhai also.
The young man playing the part of Hari dasa was told Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was the most merciful but even with his little experience, he just experienced that Lord Nityananda is even more merciful than Lord Caitanya.
That night the young man who took directions from Jesus the day before, joined the Temple and was shaved up that night by Sanaka and eventually become initiated by Srila Prabhupada.
To this very day he is thankful to Jesus who directed him to Srila Prabhupada and the devotees who in turn began teaching him about Krsna’s pastimes.
That young man was me, Gauragopala dasa.
HERE HERE HERE.
Those early pioneering years were very remarkable, in April 1972 only 14 of us were able to have close association with Prabhupada for a week because that's how many lived in the Temple.
In early 1972 the Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement was new to Melbourne and at this stage only 14 devotees lived in the Temple.
So kind and merciful is Srila Prabhupada, who gives even the most degraded a chance to become Krsna conscious and associate with him. It was a lot easier to be personally with Prabhupada back then than a few later years because of so many joining ISKCON.
I felt fortunate because every day I be with Prabhupada sometimes in his room to very late at night while he told us about Krsna from pastimes in Krsna Book.
Most of us were just teenage boys and girls back then, sincere seekers of truth.
Upananda dasa was the oldest devotee at 22 and Sanak dasa was Temple President at 20.
When we all went to meet Srila Prabhupada on the 5th April 1972 at Melbourne Airport, the first thing I noticed was he had a distinct golden aurora around him that stood out from all others.
His wonderful skin glowed and caught the attention of everyone in the Airport lounge, he was so happy to see his disciples
I handed him a big red rose, he took the rose off me and with a big smile then taped me on the head with his cane. I had tears in my eyes; it was such a special moment to see my Spiritual Master.
Later devotees gathered around me asking what it felt like to be tapped on the head by Prabhupada with his cane however, the fact was I was tapped on the head with his can because I was in his pathway and he wanted me to move LOL.
Prabhupada's room.
When we returned to the Temple at 14 Burnett Street, St. Kilda from the Airport I was assigned to stay out in the front of Prabhupada's room and even sleep there after the programs we attended.
My job was to bring Prabhupada prasad, clean clothing ready for the next morning and guard his room.
Some amazing conversations went on in Prabhupada's room. Prabhupāda would call devotees in and preach to the early hours of the morning.
Prabhupada would discuss Krsna Consciousness with Syamasundara das, his secretary, Nanda Kumar das, his personal servant and an excellent mridunga player, and Hanuman Swami
There was only five (including Prabhupada) of us in Prabhupada's room. I stayed in the room for about hours listening to Krsna's pastimes.
small Radha Krsna Deities installed on the 6th April tell story.
That night after the installation Srila Prabhupada was scheduled to speak at the Franciscan Seminary on the evening of the 6th April 1972.
As Srila Prabhupada entered the monastery, he and his disciples were greeted with a long table full of different fruit varieties.
This was very artistically arranged and Prabhupada was very pleased.
Many Franciscans monks had come to see Prabhupada to join in with the chanting of Hare Krsna and hear Prabhupada speak.
I immediately went and preached to a middle aged monk, however stopped when I saw all the devotees gathering around Prabhupada and went and sat down in front of Prabhupada.
I then saw Prabhupada call over Vegavan Prabhu, a Swedish devotee who had travelled with Prabhupada to Australia, who then came over and taped me on the shoulder. He whispered in my ear,
"Srila Prabhupada wants you to continue preaching to that monk, such preaching is more important than even associating with the Spiritual Master."
So I got back up and went back to preaching to the monk.
While I was with this monk Prabhupada began to speak (part of lecture here followd by ).
Srila Prabhupāda - "Respectable Fathers, Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your kindly giving me a chance to speak about this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, which is going on all over the world with the, especially with the assistance of my American and European disciples.
Long, long ago, prehistoric age practically... Because the modern history cannot give account of the world more than three thousand years.
But about five thousand years ago a meeting was held at Naimiṣāraṇya. Naimiṣāraṇya is a place in India still existing.
Perhaps some of you who might have visited India... This place is situated near Lucknow in the northern India provinces, a very nice place, sanctified place.
Still people go and find peace for spiritual meditation. In that tract of land, Naimiṣāraṇya, from time immemorial this place was especially recognized for spiritual meeting.
So there was a meeting of great saintly persons, and Sūta Gosvāmī, one of the disciples of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he was selected the president to speak on Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
So the question from the saintly persons... There were many questions. One of the question was that "After departure of Kṛṣṇa, who is in trust of dharma and jnāna?"
Dharma means religion, and jnāna means knowledge. Because Kṛṣṇa, when He appeared on this planet, He said that,
paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya
sambhavāmi yuge yuge
[Bg. 4.8]
"I appear in every millennium."
According to Vedic scripture, Kṛṣṇa appears on this planet in one day of Brahmā. And Brahmā's duration of life is described in the Bhagavad-gītā.
It is a very, very long period. His one day, daytime, twelve hours, from morning to evening, is described sahasra-yuga-paryantam arhad yad brahmaṇo viduḥ [Bg. 8.17]. Sahasra-yuga. Yuga, this age.
Just like this is, according to Vedic culture, this yuga is called Kali-yuga. So there are four yugas:
Satya-yuga,
Tretā-yuga,
Dvāpara-yuga,
Kali-yuga.
So the aggregate of all these yugas is about forty three hundred thousands of years. And if you multiply by one thousand, then that becomes Brahmā's one day only, twelve hours.
Sahasra-yuga-paryantam arhad yad brahmaṇo viduḥ. So similarly, he has got one night also, and similarly, one day and night, then one month, then one year.
In this way he lives for one hundred years. So during this period of daytime, Kṛṣṇa appears once. That we learn from the Vedic literature.
So Kṛṣṇa said that what is His mission to come here? Kṛṣṇa is God. He does not require to come here, but He comes to serve some purpose.
If God wants to come, nobody can check. Sometimes people question that "Why God, why should He come?" So our answer is, "Why God should not come?"
If He is all-powerful, who can check Him to come here? If we say that God cannot come, that means God becomes under our rules and regulation.
So according to Vedic scripture, God comes, and He says personally why He comes: yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati [Bg. 4.7].
Whenever there is discrepancy in the prosecution of religious principles, He comes.
Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati, abhyutthānam adharmasya.
And whenever there is discrepancies in religious procedure, irreligious activities increases. That is natural.
Whenever there is lenient government, the rogues and thieves will increase. It is natural. And if the government is very strict, then rogues and thieves cannot become very prominent.
So when Kṛṣṇa comes, He has got two business: paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām [Bg. 4.8]—for giving protection to the devotees, to the faithful, and for killing the demons.
So Kṛṣṇa, when He was present, He exhibited these two things. Perhaps you have seen our picture of Nārāyaṇa, or Viṣṇu.
Viṣṇu has got four hands. In two hands He has got lotus flower and conchshell, and in the other two hands He has got a club and a disc.
The disc and club is meant for vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām, for killing the demons and the miscreants. And the conchshell and the lotus flower is meant for giving benediction and blessings to the devotees.
So in the Bhagavad-gītā we understand about Kṛṣṇa. Bhagavad-gītā is a well-read book all over the world.
In any country you will find edition of Bhagavad-gītā by the language of the country.
So in this Bhagavad-gītā we find that Kṛṣṇa is giving instruction about what is dharma, religion.
He says... And at the end of His instruction He says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66], that "You give up other types of so-called religious principles. You simply surrender unto Me."
So in another place in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam: [SB 6.3.19] "Religion means the codes of God."
Just like the state gives us some rules and regulation to live, and one who follows the rules and regulation or the laws of the state, he is called good citizen, and those who do not follow, they are called outlaws or rogues or so many things.
Similarly, religion is very simple thing. It is not cumbrous. Simple thing. If you take it simply, religion means, our definition of religion is, to accept the orders of God. That's all. It doesn't matter what religion you are following.
You may be Christian, I may be Hindu, that may be Muhammadan, but the test of religion is how one has developed his God consciousness.
That is the definition given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmaḥ.
There are different types of religion, but the best of them... Sa vai puṁsāṁ para. Para means superior, the best. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje [SB 1.2.6].
Adhokṣaje. Adhokṣaja is another description of God. Adha, "Where material senses cannot reach." Adhokṣaja.
Direct experiment knowledge cannot know God. There are many places... In the Bhagavad-gītā also, it is said,
manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
kaścid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ
kaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ
[Bg. 7.3]
"Out of many millions of persons, one is interested to make his life successful. And out of millions of successful persons, one can very rarely understand what is God."
That is the statement in the Bhagavad-gītā. Actually, we find that people are generally interested with economic development, sense gratification. That's all.
At least, I am traveling all over the world; I see people are very busy for searching out food and shelter. But according to Vedic scripture, it is said that food and shelter is already there, given by God.
Because there are 8,400,000 species of life. Out of that, human beings are very few, 400,000 species of life in different planets. And out of them, civilized men, they are very, very few. But God is giving food to everyone actually.
In the Vedas it is stated that nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān: (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13)
"God is the supreme living being amongst all living beings."
Nityo nityanam: "And He's the supreme eternal amongst all the eternals."
We are also eternal. Because we are part and parcel of God, we have got all the qualities of God, but because we are minute part and particle of God, therefore all the qualities of God are there in minute particle.
The example is just like the ocean. Ocean water is vast, and drop of ocean water, you analyze chemically, you will find all the chemical ingredients in that drop of water as there is in the water.
The difference is of quantity. In the drop of water there is salt, and in the vast mass water in the ocean there is also salt. But the salt containing in the ocean water is very, very big quantity than the salt containing in the drop of water.
And another example can be given. These are Vedic examples. Just like the fire and the sparks of the fire. We have seen, experienced.
When there is fire, sometimes there is some sound, "Phut!" immediately hundreds and thousands of sparks coming out. Now these sparks, they are also fire, but not as big as the original fire. But they are fire.
Therefore our philosophy, we, following the footsteps of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu: acintya bhedābheda-tattva.
The difference is simultaneously we are one with God and different from God. One in quality.
God is spirit; we are also spirit. He is Supersoul; we are individual.
But God is great, and we are minute fragment. That is difference. Therefore, simultaneously we are one and different, one in quality but different in quantity.
You accept also, "God is great." And we say that nobody can be greater than God, neither anyone can be equal to God. That is our philosophy. Asama urdhva. Asama. Sama means equal.
Nobody can be equal to God. That is not possible.
God is one. You may have some understanding that in the Vedic literature there is mention of many demigods.
But the demigods, they are also living entities, a little more powerful than the human beings. That's all.
Just like here, in this world also, we find somebody is more powerful than others. But that does not mean he is God. God is supreme, all-powerful.
Here you may be a little more powerful then me, but another may be found who is more powerful than you, another you can find more powerful than him. In this way go on.
There is no limit. Anyone, you will find somebody lower than him and higher than him. But nobody can say that "I am the supreme."
Nobody can say. That is not possible.
According to our Vedic literature, Brahma, the creator of this universe, he is considered to be the highest creature within this universe, but he is also not God.
That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ.
God instructed him to create. Ādi-kavi. He is the original creature within this material world.
Somebody may question that "If he is original creature, than how he got this knowledge of creating?"
So that is explained. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. Hṛdā:
"From the heart God instructed."
God is situated in everyone's heart. That is called paramātmā. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānām hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg. 18.61]. God has got three features:
Brahman,
Paramātmā,
Bhagavān.
1 - Brahman is impersonal feature,
2 - Paramātmā, the localized feature,
3 - Bhagavān, the personal feature.
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvaṁ yaj jnānam advayam
brahmeti paramātmeti
bhagavān iti śabdyate
[SB 1.2.11]
The Absolute Truth is one, advaya-jnāna, without any duality, but according to our capacity, we realize the Absolute Truth from three different angles of vision.
So one of them is realization of God in His impersonal Brahman feature, and another realization is to realize Him... Generally, the jnānīs, the philosophers, the speculators, by dint of their own knowledge, they realize the Absolute Truth in His impersonal Brahman feature.
And those who are yogis, they realize this God, the Supreme Lord, as Paramātmā within the heart.
And those who are devotees, they realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the Supreme Person.
But the Paramātmā and impersonal Brahman and this person God, they are all the same thing.
The example is given: just like the sunshine, the sun planet, and within the sun planet, the sun-god.
According to Vedic religion, Vedic conception, every planet contains living entities.
That is also very natural to conclude because within this material world, everything is made of five elements, gross: earth, water, fire, air, and sky.
These are gross elements. And the subtle elements are mind, intelligence, and ego.
So in some of the planets earth is prominent, some of the planets water is prominent, some of the planets the fire is prominent. In this way these five elements, gross elements... Every planet in the material world is made of these five gross elements.
So just like here also we can experience that some of the living entities, just like the fishes, they are living in the water very peacefully.
But if you are put into the water, you will not be comfortable. Perhaps you will die.
Similarly, if the fishes are taken—that also we experienced—from the water, they will die on the land.
Here we can see that some of the living entities, they can live comfortably within water.
Some of the living entities, they can live comfortably on land, some of them in the air.
Similarly, why not some of them in fire? Because after all, fire is also one of the material elements.
So according to Vedic scripture there is life in the sun planet also. They have got fiery bodies. That's all.
That is the difference. Just like the fishes here we see they have got watery bodies, similarly, one may have got fiery body. From logic, from argument, we cannot deny that.
So this example, that in the sun planet there is a predominating deity or president or god, whatever you call... He is called sun-god, and his name is also mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā, Vivasvān. His name is also there. And Kṛṣṇa says,
imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ
proktavān aham avyayam
vivasvān manave prāhur
manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt
[Bg. 4.1]
Kṛṣṇa says that "This instruction, bhakti-yoga instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, was first imparted by Me to the sun-god, Vivasvān."
That is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā. Now, it is a question of believe or not believe. That is a different thing. We believe. We take it. Because it is said by Kṛṣṇa, we take it, accept it.
There are many descriptions in the Upaniṣad, that is the fact.
We are completely helpless, simply dependent upon God.
The word that "Not a single blade of grass moves without the sanction of God," that's a fact.
In the Bhagavad-gītā also, it is said, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ:
"I am living in everyone's heart."
Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jnānam apohanaṁ ca: [Bg. 15.15]
"From Me there is remembrance and forgetfulness."
We sometimes forget and sometimes remember.
That is by God's grace." (Lecture April 6th 1972 Franciscan Seminary Melbourne Australia)
After the lecture Prabhupada took questions and answers.
Questions and Answers at the Franciscan Christian Monastery Melbourne, Australia April 6, 1972.
Guest (2) - "What has been written about the future of civilization? Will we have a happy human family ever on the earth, or will there always be conflict between..."
Prabhupāda - "That we are experiencing. This godless civilization is. There is no peace, although we are improving, just like I was talking yesterday. We have discovered this airplane, but we have given another chance of danger. What is that? Skyjack?"
Devotee - "Highjack."
Prabhupāda - "Yes. So this is going on. We are making something for our convenience, but we are creating something else which is inconvenient. So this is due to godless civilization.
But if we become God conscious, then our progress of civilization will be very peaceful and happy. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā mano-rathena asato dhāvato bahiḥ [SB 5.18.12].
That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akincanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ:
"Anyone who has got devotion to the Lord, he is qualified with all the good qualities."
Just like you are God conscious, so you have invited us to hear because you..., the good qualities are there. So without God consciousness there cannot be any good qualities.
We are trying to educate people to be honest, to be gentle, fair-dealing, but actually, the result is people are becoming dishonest, miscreant, rogue, thief, due to (lack of) God consciousness. Just like in the airport, all gentlemen are searched out.
What does it mean?
That every one of us (is) dishonest. That is to be understood. So what the education has produced? Simply dishonest men. Why?
Because godlessness. That's all. And they are trying to become... Every state is trying to become secular: "Don't talk of God. Don't talk of God." Then what you are? That is animal society. The animal society has no talk of God. There is only talk of how to fill up the belly. That's all.
That is the business of hog. Śāstra says, nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye [SB 5.5.1]. Viḍ-bhujām means the hogs, the stool-eaters. The stool-eater is also working very hard day and night and gratifying senses.
So does the human civilization is meant for imitating the hogs and dogs to work very hard day and night and gratify the senses? That's all?
This is the only program at the present moment.
So it doesn't matter whether you are Christian or Hindu. People must be raised to God consciousness scientifically.
Otherwise it is doomed. It is not progress. It is already doom. They are simply inviting war after few years. In America, in New York, there is United Nations.
They are spending millions of dollars every month, but they cannot stop war. Simply the flag is increasing. That's all. Because it is godless.
They may talk all big, big words in the assembly, but at heart they are all dishonest, politicians.
And God consciousness means cleansed heart. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. "I am servant of God."
That is wanted. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akicanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ [SB 5.18.12]. This is the definition given in Vedic literature, that "If anyone develops God consciousness, then all the good qualities will develop automatically. And you give him all kinds of education, but if he is godless, it is all useless."
That is compared with decorating the dead body. Just like dead body. A dead body is decorated. So it may be a satisfaction for the relatives, but what is the use of it, decorating a dead body?
Bhagavad-bhakti-hīnasya jātiḥ japas tapaḥ kriyaḥ:
"Great nationality, great work, great achievement, minus bhagavad-bhakti, God consciousness, is just like decorating the dead body." That's all. What is the use of decorating the dead body? Because actually this body is dead. As soon as the soul is away from this body, it is a lump of matter.
So when the soul is off from the body, if somebody decorates that dead body, what is use? It is simply concoction. That's all.
Therefore according to Vedic system, as soon as a body is dead, there is no question of decorating. Immediately burn it and finish. Make it into ashes. That's all.
The body has no importance. Real, the soul is important, the living force. So we have no education about that living force, and the original living force is Kṛṣṇa, or God. So we have no information.
So therefore this education is very, very essential, at least at the present moment. You may educate in any way—Christian way, Hindu way, Muslim—but educate all the people about God consciousness. Otherwise there is doom."
Śyāmasundara - "Śrīla Prabhupāda? At the beginning you mentioned a question. Śukadeva Gosvāmī was asked, "If, after the disappearance of Kṛṣṇa..."
Prabhupāda - "Yes. Munayo sādhu pṛṣṭo 'haṁ bhavadbhir loka-maṅgalam. When a question about Kṛṣṇa, or God, he congratulated them,
"My dear sages, your question is very welcome because it is the question of God."
So there may be questions, but every sincere man must question what is God and try to learn it. That will bring auspicity all over the world.
Simply in schools, colleges, in business, in assembly, in society there must be some discussion about God. Then it will be very much auspicious for all the world.
There must be some question. The question may be offered in the beginning, but if the question is sincere and if he takes the answer sincerely, then he will understand about God. So therefore he welcomed,
munayo sādhu pṛṣṭo 'haṁ
bhavadbhir loka-maṅgalam
yat kṛtaḥ kṛṣṇa-sampraśno
yenātmā suprasīdati
"My dear sages, you have inquired about Kṛṣṇa. It is very welcome because it is auspicious."
Kṛṣṇa-sampraśno. "And by question and answer in this subject matter, you'll feel satisfaction." Yenātmā samprasīdati.
Simply by question answer, you feel satisfaction. And when you understand, oh, you feel the supreme satisfaction, the bliss.
But simply in the period of question and answer you feel satisfaction. Yenātmā suprasīdati.
Therefore in schools, colleges, assemblies, societies—everywhere—there must be questions of
"What is God? What I am? What is my relation?"
These should be answered scientifically and understood scientifically. Then there will be peace. Otherwise there is no possibility."
Guest (3) - "Your Divine Grace, we can know something about God, either through our sense knowledge or true concept, etc., but how do we know God, if I can make that distinction? You know?
God isn't something that can be sensed and He isn't something that can be grasped by the finite mind. The infinite, as you said... But how do we know God?"
Prabhupāda - "Yes. God is unapproachable by your mental concoction. But there is another process: if you understand God by this the paramparā system.
Just like on this roof there is some sound, and every one of us making some suggestion what is the sound:
"This may be like this. This may be like that. This may be like that."
This is one process of knowledge, to understand the unseen by speculation. This is one. It may be successful or may not be successful. There is no certainty. But if somebody from the roof says,
"The sound is due to this," then our knowledge is perfect. Similarly, if we speculate about God, who is Adhokṣaja, who is beyond the range of our mind and speculation, then it is very... Then we can come to the conclusion of Brahman realization, impersonal God, no more than.
But if we hear from God or His representative, then we get perfect knowledge of God."
Guest (3) - "Well even in revealed religion, where we have the scripture, say, a Vedic scripture or Jewish or Christian scripture, it's still being put into human words and therefore become circumscribed again. And so it seems to me that you've still got the same problem even in revealed religion—that it's not God. It's something short of God."
Prabhupāda - "No. Just like in the Bible it is said, "God said, 'Let there be creation,' and there was creation." Is it not? It is fact. It is fact.
Now you find out who created this universe. If you deny this fact, "No. God does not create," then you explain how it was created.
So there is no difference between Bible and Vedic literature. We accept also, "God created." But in the Vedic literature you will find how God created. That you'll find.
So if you are actually serious to understand how God created, why don't you come to Vedic literature? That is the duty of every student.
If you are after the knowledge, why should you stick to one particular place or...? If the knowledge is available in other places, you must have it. That is inquisitiveness, seriousness.
But if you say, "No. We are Christian. We have studied Bible. That is all. We do not touch," I don't think that is very nice conclusion. You remain Christian, but what is the harm to study other literatures where more informations are there? That is quite reasonable. We are not asking you to become Hindus. We simply want to, everyone, that you become God conscious. That is our mission.
Our mission is not that to convert. What is the use of converting? If my habits are the same... Suppose I am Hindu. I become Christian, but my habits are not changed. Then what is the use of becoming from Hindu or Christian or to Christian or Hindu?
Now, our principle is that if you want to understand God, then you must be sinless, because God is pure. Anyone who is sinful, he cannot understand God.
That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:
yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ
janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām
te dvanda-moha-nirmuktā
bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ
That is the secret. You see? If your eyes covered with something, how you can see things perfectly?
Similarly, we have got many dirty things within our heart due to our so many sinful activities.
That should be cleansed. Then immediately, as the mirror, when it is clean you can see your face nicely... But if the mirror is full, overcast with dust, you cannot.
Therefore there is a process. We must adopt this process.
So anyone who is adopting this process, they are understanding very quickly the science of God.
The sum and substance of this process (is) that we should be freed from sinful activities. That's all.
Then God realization will be very easy. But if you surrender to God fully, then God will help you to become free from all sinful activities.
There are two processes. Either you try to become sinless by your efforts, but if you think that you are unable, then you simply surrender to God, and He will help you. He will help you. He says in the Bhagavad-gītā,
sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
[Bg. 18.66]
One thing is that nobody can understand God if he is sinful. But Kṛṣṇa says, God says, that
"You surrender unto Me. I shall help you how to get rid of the resultant action of your sinful life."
So to approach God, either you become sinless by your own efforts or you simply surrender unto God, and He will help you to become sinless.
Whichever you like. He is giving full freedom. He is asking that you surrender. He is not forcing. God can force you—He is all-powerful—but He doesn't interfere with your independence.
Because we are part and parcel of God—God is fully independent—so we have got also little particle of independence. As soon as we misuse that independence, disobey the words of God, we become sinful."
Guest (4) - "When one becomes sinless, would he then experience the indwelling of God?"
Prabhupāda - "Oh, yes, certainly. That is the platform of understanding God."
Guest (5) - "And this indwelling of God urges one to go out into the world and other people in love, a love which not only seeks to.."
Prabhupāda - "Yes. It is ye yathā māṁ prapadyante [Bg. 4.11]. If you are serious to understand God, then God will help you also. He is within you. He'll help you. Yes."
Guest (6) - "Swami, in the Christian history, one of the people that many of us look up to was a man called Francis of Assisi, and he talks about knowing God, and he rates it up with experiences such as on the occasion on which he embraced the leper. And he says, "If this, we turn to our fellow man with an attitude like this, then we are not reaching God, or God consciousness."
And this is in line with one of the central teachings of the Christian scriptures, which is that if any man says he loves God and does not love his neighbor, then that man is a liar."
Prabhupāda - "No. If actually one loves God, he must love everyone. That is the sign. That is the sign. Just like my heart is now thirsty. I am quenching with drinking water and putting here.
So as soon as put this water here, immediately the energy distributed all over the body.
So a God conscious person cannot be neglectful or envious to anyone. That is the test. This is test. Sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ. All good qualities.
So this is a good quality, love your neighbor, to give them service. So if actually one person is God conscious, he must be sympathetic with the troubles of his neighbor, or anyone, not only human being. Animals also.
They are also living entities. A God conscious person has no discrimination between human being and animal or trees or plants because they are also living entities."
Guest (7) - "Swamijī, an old guest has been wandering around. He's called Fred Robinson. He's been forecasting doom to happen very shortly for the human race and says that it is far too hopeless to try and grab for the spiritual plane until one goes back to the land, back to simple living and where one just makes one's task to supply food for the children, the new children of the new age.
And then yoga and the spiritual disciplines will flow much easier. What would you say to that?"
Prabhupāda - "Yes. We are also distributing food. Yes. In our Māyāpur daily we are distributing food to two thousand, three thousand. So that is one of our program, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and distributing prasādam. We are distributing.
When I started this movement I was cooking myself and distributing prasāda. But we do not discriminate that "He is needy..." Everyone is needy. So actually, everyone is in need of spiritual understanding. So by distributing food, the spiritual food, simply by eating, he will be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even if he does not do anything.
But actually, we are inviting persons to come, sit down, chant with us Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and take prasādam and go home. That's all. This is our program.
So prasādam is already included. And there is the question of needy men. So we invite any needy man to come and join with us, and we shall feed him. That's all. We invite anyone.
But they do not like to come to us to chant. That is the difficulty. "Oh, we'll have to go there and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." So they are afraid. So what can I do? We invite everyone,
"Please come here, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, dance with us, and when you are hungry, take some food. We are prepared to give you."
So our program is very easy. And actually, these boys and girls, they were not advised in the beginning to become my initiated student. I simply invited,
"You please come." I was chanting in the Tompkinson Park in New York, and many of them were coming. So I invited them, "Please come with me. Take some prasādam."
So they used to take that. In this way, gradually, they developed Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and after some time they proposed,
"Swamijī, make me your disciple," initiation. So I said that "You have to follow the rules and regulations."
They agreed, "No illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling. If you are prepared, then I accept you." They are prepared. They given up. I accept them. That's all. Yes."
Guest (8) - "Swamijī, something you said was the connection between the necessity for obedience to the state and necessity for their obedience to God. To take an example that occurs to many young man in this country, and I suppose in America, the question of military service arises where the state demands their absolute obedience, and many young people feels this clashes with their obedience to God. How do you advise people to resolve this sort of conflict?"
Śyāmasundara - "About the draft. If one has to obey the state and go to war, how is that the same as obeying God?"
Prabhupāda - "Well, God consciousness does not prohibit war, but it must be for the right cause. Just like in Bhagavad-gītā we see that the instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā was given to Arjuna in the battlefield. And in the beginning Arjuna did not like to fight. He was a good, good man, religious man, devotee.
Naturally, he was not inclined to fight with his relatives, kinsmen. He said, "Kṛṣṇa, the opposite side, they are all my brothers and nephews and fathers and grandfathers. So there is no use of fighting like this, to kill them and take the... Let... Let them enjoy." That was his conclusion.
But Kṛṣṇa induced them, induced Arjuna, "No. This is the right cause. You must fight." So similarly, war is not always bad. Nothing is bad, nothing is good, unless it is used for God. That's it.
Our philosophy is everything is good. God is all-good. So if He advises to fight, that is also good. But we shall depend on the discretion of God. If God wants us to fight, then we shall fight. If God wants us to stop fight, then we shall not fight.
Because we are surrendered to God, so whatever God orders, we have to do. That's all. We don't say, "This is good; this is bad." Whatever God says, that is good. What God does not say, prohibit, that is bad. This is our conclusion."
Guest (8) - "The question remains of how is one to tell what God says, and many, many people have been brought up to believe that you find what God says by asking what does the state say.
Now, as I understand the Christian tradition, it was quite different to that. The conscience coming from God can often bring you into conflict with the state, as Jesus himself found.
Now, I think I understand what you are saying about the Bhagavad-gītā and Kṛṣṇa can say a certain war is good because it's right.
But in today's circumstances the question still remains of can you find what God thinks or God says by finding out what the state wants and..."
Prabhupāda - "God says... For the time being you are not in direct touch with God, but you can follow the Biblical instruction. God's agent, Lord Jesus Christ, says—you follow that. The ten commandments are there. Lord Jesus Christ said, "Thou shall not kill." So you should not kill. Why should you kill? You follow this instruction, God's representative. Then you gradually develop your God consciousness."
Guest (8) - "But you haven't answered the question about the conflict between the state and God. You haven't taken that at all."
Upendra - "He's giving an analogy that as one must follow... He wasn't saying that necessarily we have to follow all the dictates of the state. Prabhupāda was giving the analogy just as one follows the dictate of the state, one also must follow the dictates of God. I believe that was the analogy. It wasn't that he was supporting the dictates of the state or in accordance with."
Hanumān - "So we thank you very much for your kindness to receive our spiritual master, and we will request you to come and visit us. We have a temple, 14 Burnett Street St. Kilda hear in Melbourne. You're always welcome. We are... There is not many place you go in town, you go in some street, go in a store, they will ask you some money.
They will give you some service but they will ask you some money. But you can come at 14 Burnett St, you can come, eat with us, and pass the day with us, talk with us. We are your servant. So you are most welcome. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa."
Guest - "We would like to thank Swami Prabhupāda for his kindness and extreme gentleness in coming to us. We've listened with respect to the words of life (indistinct) warmed my heart, anyway, and gave me hope for a family of human brothers to which we belong. I think we are closer to one another now, to the devotees of the temple.
It's very beautiful coming here tonight, and I certainly feel that this little meeting, the human brothers under a (indistinct), of particular inspiration or coming in contact with a God whom we're all reaching out for but who has many faces. Thank you very much."
Prabhupāda - "Thank you. Hare Kṛṣṇa." (end)
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I also remember the amazing program at the Melbourne Town Hall meeting o the 7th April 1972 and the wonderful kirtan Srila Prabhupada led, everyone was totally fixed on hearing Srila Prabhupada chant Jaya Radha Madhava, we all danced in total ecstasy.
Never before or since have I heard such a beautiful kirtan.
Back then, Srila Prabhupada did not eat till after coming back from a program. He would then eat a hearty meal of prasadam while listening to a recording of his lecture.
Afterwards again Prabhupada would discuss his lecture at the Town Hall with Syamasundara das, Nanda Kumar das, hand and Hanuman Swami.
I stayed this time for about two hours listening to them discuss the Town Hall program and methods of preaching.
Prabhupada found Hanuman a very humorous character. Hanuman was also very excited about taking sannyasa off Srila Prabhupada on the following Sunday.
The next morning, while I was half awake out at the front of Srila Prabhupada's room, I noticed two small feet gently walk past me without making even the slightest sound, I sat up immediately and paid my obeisances. Prabhupada was a little jolted on his way to the bathroom by my obeisances and said softly to me, ‘Hare Krishna not so loud'. Over the years Prabhupada always acknowledged me. When I drove the Hare Krishna Temple bus, he asked me if it was mechanically sound. The bus could never go faster than 60 mph.</p><p><br></p><p>In April 1972 before the explosion of devotees in Australia, when Prabhupada came to Melbourne, there was only 12 of us living in the Temple, for five days we had very close association with Prabhupada, every day I went to his room with his nicely ironed clothing and stayed sometimes for hours. You see, there were not that many devotees around, there was more in Sydney at this time. Those early days I relish.</p><p><br></p><p>I remember one time when one devotee Dhoumya dasa threw water over me in play and I chased him through the Temple running past Srila Prabhupada's room, he heard us run past and came out to find out what was going on, he said to Symasundara, 'Who was that running past?' Prabhupada walked up the hall and went into a room finding me wrestling with Dhoumya who was trying to hide in a cupboard, on seeing Prabhupada we immediately payed our obeisances. Prabhupada immediately started laughing.</p><p><br></p><p>It was at 83 Hereford Street Glebe Temple near the Sydney Uni in July 1972 we began our preaching mission up North. There were 16 of us, boys and girls on the double Decker Bus. We had written in big letters on the side 'The Hare Krishna Movement, The Positive Alternative' spreading the mission of Lord Caitanya for the first time on Australian soil.</p><p><br></p><p>In July 1972 we left Sydney Temple for the trip of a life time we came to believe that we had probably taken us thousands of life times to achieve such a privilege. We were on the very first preaching mission to every Towns and Villages around Australia.</p><p><br></p><p>The devotees on this first travelling preaching mission were:</p><p>Madhudvisa Swami, Caru (only came part of the way) Balarama, Chittahari, Yasomatinandana, Dvaipayana, the cook, Krsna Caitanya (Ted Spencer who the previous year was the world champion for surf board ridding), Kuntiboja, Kainaram, Srngi (now Muralidhar das) (meet up with in Cairns) Krishna Prema (meet up with in Cairns) And me Gauragopala, we shared Bus driving duties with Chittahari and Balarama.</p><p><br></p><p>The 'boys' (because that's what we were back then) lived in the Brahmacari quarters, which were the bottom deck of the bus (except for the bus drivers who had a private space upstairs), while the second deck (upstairs) was the Brahmatarini or girls quarters, they are:</p><p><br></p><p>Ambika, Arti, Kamarupa (who joined us in Cairns) Sukla devi-dasi's resided.Elayne Mitchell also joined us there in the Commune at karanda near Cairns.</p><p><br></p><p>Most of us where teenagers back then except for Madhudvisa Swami, Balarama, Chittahari and Krsna Caitanya dasa. Krsna Caitanya dasa was the great Ted Spencer, who famously declared - "When I surf, I dance for Krishna", urged on in his heats by a full Hare Krishna cheersquad." (Bells Beach, Australia - the Age Newspaper).</p><p><br></p><p>Other famous surfers like Nat Young also spent time with us when we arrived in Brisbane.</p><p><br></p><p>It was on this bus trip a devotee continued suggesting we came from the impersonal Brahmajyoti that started the 'origin of the jiva' controversy a few months earlier. That idea was quickly rejected in a letter from Prabhupada called ‘Crow-And-Tal-Fruit’ Logic that eventually was sent to all Temple Presidents in Australia. It was a hot topic back then in 1972 but Prabhupada was personally present to guide us.</p><p><br></p><p>We all new this was a very auspicious time and that the teachings of Srila Prabhupada we were hearing, was the revelation of a long kept secret and explanations that told us about the universe and it's creator Lord Krishna.</p><p><br></p><p>On the way we chanted on the streets of Newcastle and all Towns in-between Sydney and Brisbane, such as Kempsey, Coffs Harbour, Grafton, Ballina, Lismore and the hippie centre of Australia, Nimbin. But by far the spookiest place we went to was Byron Bay; Kainaram claimed he had seen the ghost of a dead girl who had been killed by a train many years ago.</p><p><br></p><p>On many occasions people had claimed to pick up this lonely little girl to take her home only to find when they got to there home she had mysteriously disappeared. People would go up to the house to tell the little girls parents only to find she had died many years before. Obviously it was just an urban legend and our simplistic youth was intrigued. Madhadvisa Swami used this to preach to us the difference between the subtle and gross body.</p><p><br></p><p>After Bryon Bay with all the hippies, we went to Murwillumbah where we chanted in the streets for the first time. Soon (1977, 5 years later) we would establish the farm New Govardhana there.</p><p><br></p><p>We then went inland to Lismore, then Armadale where there was a university. We meet an Indian Professor who invited us to the Uni where we chanted and distributed Prasadam. Many Indian families lived there and some of us went to their houses to speak from Bhagavad Gita as it is.</p><p><br></p><p>As the night progressed, the Indian women cooked up some amazing food preparations that we offered to Srila Prabhupada.</p><p><br></p><p>That place was very, very cold. Every morning, even in the middle of winter, we had cold showers behind the bus. To give one an idea, Chittahari was walking to the bus one cold morning with what we thought was a board, it was his underwear (koppings) frozen solid!</p><p><br></p><p>We eventually arrived in Toowoomba in Queensland and chanted to the redneck out back Queenslanders who thought we were some alien invasion from another planet!</p><p><br></p><p>From there we went to the Gold Coast, made up of the major towns of Coolangatta, Burleigh heads, Surfers Paradise and Southport. We chanted in all these places, distributed Back To Godhead Magazine and Prasadam and spoke to the enormous crowds that gathered around us.</p><p><br></p><p>Many of the devotees on the Bus, like Balarama and Krsna Caitanya where surfer board riders, they attracted many young people to learn about Krishna and take prasad. Especially Krsna Caitanya who was a well-known celebrity around the world.</p><p><br></p><p>Then we went to Beenleigh, in-between the Gold Coast and Brisbane. The day we arrived in Brisbane, we chanted on the city streets and were on page two of the Couramail Newspaper the next day. The headline was ' The Hare Krishna's have arrived with the chant of peace" Brisbane was also having their annual 'Festive show' that attracted tens of thousands of people.</p><p><br></p><p>We chanted out the front gates of the 'Show grounds' where so many people saw the Hare Krishna's for the first time, many receiving BTG Magazine. It was there Nat Young, another famous surfer and friend of Krsna Caitanya dasa (Ted Spencer) joined us for a few days and become friends with Madhudvisa Swami who nicely preached to him about Krishna</p><p><br></p><p>We never had the full version of the Gita in those days, only the abridged edition with the forward by Allan Ginsburg.</p><p><br></p><p>Those years were extraordinary. Dwaip and Artri devi dasi cooked up beautiful offerings to Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya and Nityananda while Cittahari, Balarama and myself were the Bus Drivers. Yaso and Kuntiboja were the inquisitive philosopher, well, actually we all were.</p><p><br></p><p>We just new we were very fortunate to be on that bus hearing such wonders of creation. Some of us asked 'what did we deserve to hear the Srimad Bhagavatam. Some of us speculated we were yogis, mystics, devotees and even demons from the Satya-yuga. Madhudvisa laughed and simply said 'It is by the causeless mercy of Lord Caitanya and Srila Prabhupada that the seeds of Bhakti are now sown in our hearts.</p><p><br></p><p>Madhudvisa read from one of Prabhupada's original volumes if Srimad Bhagavatam he brought with him in 1965 to America.</p><p><br></p><p>In those days we would chant on the streets for 8 to 10 hours a day. One night at the show grounds we chanted to 10 pm because there where so many people. We chanted through all the Towns and cities as we proceeded up north to Cairns. We went through Towns like Bundaberg, Mackay, Harvey Bay where we had big feast with hundreds of curious locals attended, (the Americans call them rednecks, we call them yobbo's). Gladstone, Rockhampton, Arles beach, Townsville, where we where on the front page of the main paper, actually all papers in all Towns were doing articles on us that kept us very busy doing interviews and arranging interviews with Madhudvisa.</p><p><br></p><p>At Karanda, just outside of Cains, Madhudvisa lead a blissful kirtan through the hippie community and hundreds of them, some were naked mostly teenagers, joined in chanting Hare Krishna and dancing.</p><p><br></p><p>Elayne Mitchell has said on the experience - 'I was there at Kuranda in 72 and went on the bus to the Millaa Millaa Buddhist colony for the Janmastami. It was very special. I had been going to the temple regularly before going to Cairns and I remember well, the only time people were naked in the commune was when they went swimming.</p><p><br></p><p>Most of us wore beautiful long hippie dresses or sarongs etc. some of the guys used to get around naked as I recall, but my girlfriend and 8 or 9 other friends and I who I all hitchhiked up from Melbourne together were quite chaste and wore nice clothing.</p><p><br></p><p>After a few months in Cairns I lived in the Temple in Melbourne for a few months, then lived in the Adelaide Temple for a few months, then moved back to Melbourne and lived in a flat with Deva Darshana DD after she and Jayadharma Dasa split up. it was while living with her that I met Brian my future husband. We got married in May 1974 and our daughter Narayani was born later that year'</p><p><br></p><p>There was an explosion of devotees around 1972, the communes we went to in Australia were full of hippies at that time, we chanted through the forest areas and were like the piped piper, naked hippies as young as 14 came out of the forest and followed us singing Hare Krishna, there were hundreds of them at a place called Kurandar which is in Northern Queensland, it was truly amazing at that time, I have never seen anything like it since, even today 42 years later, if you stand on the hill where all those hippies once gathered and chanted Hare Krishna, you can still see where the high water mark of transcendental bliss reached in the early 70s.</p><p><br></p><p>So now, 42 years later, you can go up on that steep hill in Kurandar and look down over the beautiful forest, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave of transcendental bliss finally broke and rolled back.</p><p><br></p><p>Devotees before this had never visited anywhere outside of Sydney or Melbourne. We were the pioneers at the very beginning of Lord Caitanya's Golden Age in Kali-yuga.</p><p>We celebrated Janmastami at a Buddhist colony not far from Karanda; we loaded as many hippies as we could in the double decker Hare Krishna bus, all chanting Hare Krishna and dancing 'on the bus' to the excellent blissful kirtans with Madhudvisa leading.</p><p><br></p><p>IT WAS VERY SPECIAL</p><p><br></p><p>The following day was Vyasa-puj and Madhudvisa had lit a candle under Srila Prabhupada's photo, the aura, bliss, love and security from that photo permeated the entire bus with an amazing mood of reverence and Krishna Consciousness.</p><p><br></p><p>They were amazing days and there was a childish innocence about those days; In fact we thought Madhudvisa was old (he was 24, Chittahari was 22 Krsna Caitanya was 23 and Balarama was 29). The rest of us where still teenagers. The present generation I don't think realize how young we were in those beginning years of ISKCON.</p><p><br></p><p>There was also no hanky panky going on, everyone was very sincere, very dedicated and very attached to Prabhupada. We only ate offerings to the Deities and absolutely nothing else, if it was not prepared on the Bus we would not eat except on rare occasions at an Indians home as we did in Armadale (We had a beautiful photo of the Panca-tattva with a wonderful Photo of Prabhupada at their feet), no one even dreamed of eating anything unprepared by devotees or even drink soft drinks in those blissful days.</p><p><br></p><p>Compassion is defined in positive organisational scholarship as a threefold relational process of noticing another's suffering, empathizing with their pain, and responding in some manner. The last point, 'responding in some manner', is an interesting comment.</p><p><br></p><p>How do we, the marginal living entity, respond? We respond always by directing one towards their own dormant Krishna consciousness, knowing that all suffering is the result of rejecting Krishna, meaning our material suffering or pleasure is the reactions (karma) to our own past selfish actions, be it in this life or a past life within the material creation (mahat-tattva).</p><p><br></p><p>It was in the Temple room at 83 Hereford St. Sydney in early February 1973 that Srila Prabhupada and myself where alone as all the devotee had gone on Sankirtan.</p><p><br></p><p>Srila Prabhupada had noticed the paintings of Lord Caitanya and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswat Thakur that I innocently put on the step of his Vysasana to keep them off the wall and floor while I was cleaning. Srila Prabhupada laughed and laughed saying that is not where those Personalities go, the emotion in his eyes and his humility I will never forget, he stayed in the Temple room chanting jappa for about 10 minutes while I continued cleaning the Temple room in bliss!</p><p><br></p><p>At Melbourne’s third Rathayatra in July 1974 Srila Prabhupada attended, during the procession I tried to stay as close to him as I could while playing the mridunga drum, it was a very special time dancing there with Srila Prabhupada and latter on in front of him in a hall where we celebrated Rathayatra lecture by Srila Prabhupada and a wonderful feast.</p><p><br></p><p>In 1976 I was Srila Prabhupada’s Bodyguard at Melbourne Temple and not only stayed out the front of his room, but slept there as well. At the time four well shaven suited men, all in their forties would always come by the Temple harassing us with high tech cameras and listening devices. (Keep in mind that the average age of a devotee back then was twenty-five so these adult men were pretty scary)</p><p><br></p><p>They would also follow us our on street Sankirtan, film us and try to intimate the devotee’s distributing books by taking many, then ripping them up and throwing the books or magazines in a rubbish bin! These guys were real heavy.</p><p><br></p><p>These men where part of a self appointed fundamentalist Christian deprogramming group with the Catholic Church that dealt with what they considered threats to the Catholic Churches youth being converted to other faiths.</p><p><br></p><p>One afternoon Pusta Krishna Swami went down to speak to them and one of them, in a barrage of abuse, threatened to kill Srila Prabhupada. Coming back with a stunned look on his face Maharaj said “These people are demons! Big demons!!</p><p><br></p><p>Pusta Krishna Maharaj was terrified, horrified what these men had said, and was reluctant to even repeat it however; he did tell only a few devotees that Prabhupada’s life had been threatened. Hari Sauri prabhu, Srila Prabhupada’s personal servant at the time, was appalled and disgusted that a pure devotee of Krishna was threatened in this way and was so concerned we bought a shot gun.</p><p><br></p><p>The next day while also guarding the Temple hiding out the front of the Temple in a car out the front of ‘Prabhupada’s House’ these men all walked past trying to provoke the devotees and scare them.</p><p><br></p><p>When I opened the door of the car suddenly, one of them, Tom Erickson, who had been personally blessed by the Pope, pulled out a handgun and pointed it at me. Erickson was the ringleader and high up in the Catholic Church, a private detective known and even respected by many as a deprogrammer and even a rumoured hit man.</p><p><br></p><p>Amoga dasa was at the front gate and out of fear, I ran from the car and crawled the front wall of the Temple, about 7 feet high, so quickly that Amoga was astonished how I went over the fence like lighting.</p><p><br></p><p>We then went and told Prabhupada what had happened and he said “Then our movement is having some success, these men feel threatened because our movement is having so much succuss with today’s young people”</p><p><br></p><p>We called the police as Prabhupada instructed and they came and spoke with them and Ugrashava dasa who never stoped giving lip to them and calling them demons to their faces. Unfortunately the police did nothing, they new who he was, while Ugrashava just called kept calling them dogs of the Catholic Church among other things.</p><p><br></p><p>At night I would stay out on the balcony of Prabhupada’s House with the shot gun that Hari Sauri had bought, staying awake watching Srila Prabhupada through the window translate late into the night.</p><p><br></p><p>Even though the night was freezing cold out on the balcony, watching Srila Prabhupada gave me warmth as he translated and had his late night massage, which was truly amazing. Then after Hari Sauri prabhu left the room, Prabhupada would go around to all the windows and doors to make sure they where locked. For days these men intimidated devotee and guests but we were told to ignore them, except for Ugrashave Prabhu who constantly gave them lip to let them.</p><p><br></p><p>Actually nothing they could do could stop our preaching movement that they and the Catholic Church desperately attempted because we had Krishna and Prabhupada on our side and their arrogant threatening presence only made us more determined to spread the mission of Lord Caitanya Maha Prabhu.</p><p><br></p><p>A week after Srila Prabhupada had left a drive by shooting occurred and gunshots went through one of the windows - Kurma dasa’s room. He was there at the time and was fortunately unhurt as the bullets went into the wall. The next day it made page two of the Melbourne Sun and the Australian public were outraged that such violence could happen over Religion in Melbourne.</p><p><br></p><p>A few months after that someone attacked our Temple again and through a small bomb over the back fence exploding on one of the cars, only a few hours before that I was resting in that same car while doing guard duty. This attach also made the first bulletin on the evening TV news all over Australia.</p><p>The out cry of the public, due to the media reports, seemed to stop any further attacks from these Catholic fundamentalist fanatics.</p><p><br></p><p>During all these attacks we remembered what Srila Prabhupada had said “Then our movement is having some success, these men feel threatened because our movement is having so much succuss with today’s young people”</p><p><br></p><p>Many years later the main offender from the Catholic Church Tom Erickson got very sick due to a blood disorder and had his leg amputated. Then to the surprise of the devotees, he rang Balarama dasa Temple President of Melbourne and with a open heart apologised for what he had done when Srila Prabhupada was here and asked Balarama for forgiveness and yes Balarama did forgive him for harassing all the devotees. Such is the mercy of a devotee</p><br>
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