BY: ROCANA DASA
Oct 4, CANADA (SUN) — Studying Srila Prabhupada's conversations with ISKCON leaders.
Today's Talks is inspired by Srila Prabhupada's Morning Walk of June 19, 1974 in Paris. You can listen to the audio or read the transcript for this conversation here.
While the Vedabase says the location of this morning walk was Paris and the audio introduction is for Paris, the label on the audio is for Germany. We also see that Srila Prabhupada was in Germany on that same day, where he had a room conversation with Professor Durckheim, a German spiritual writer. So, we can't be sure where he was for this morning walk.
This gives you some idea of what you'll find you if start comparing the audio morning walks that are available to the text transcript versions. Aside from the fact that only a fraction of the existing audio content is actually available, if you compare the audio to the transcript you'll find many problems in the transcripts themselves. It is clear that a serious problem exists in terms of presenting Srila Prabhupada's audio legacy intact, in complete unedited form to the Vaisnava community. I'm embarrassed to only now be discovering this for myself, and find the whole thing mind-boggling. Our Sun readers will find a more comprehensive presentation of this topic in the future.
The morning walk audio, linked above, is not a complete copy. This Talks editorial relies on both the edited audio and transcript versions. As usual, there are so many topics covered in this morning walk I can only address a small number of the thoughts that triggered in my brain. Other listeners/readers may identify ideas or instructions they think even more important than the ones covered here, but that's what reading Srila Prabhupada is all about!
Given that Hansadutta was a GBC at the time (1974 in Germany), he is one of the main participants, along with HH Satsvarupa das, who I assume was Srila Prabhupada'a personal secretary at this point. Another main participant is Madhavananda dasa. I have no idea whether he's still around, or what his personal story is. The transcribers of these morning walk audio tapes were only able to include the names of people whose voices they could recognize. Otherwise, you just get 'Devotee 1' or 'Guest'. So if any readers can tell us who Madhavananada prabhu is, we'd be happy to hear.
Srila Prabhupada begins in his typical fashion, stating that Krsna Consciousness isn't difficult as long as you can follow the regulative practices and chant. He then launches into the fact that the Christians have such an easy religion. If you suggest any kind of austerity when it comes to practicing spiritual enlightenment, they don't want to hear it. He points out the fact that they think Christ has taken out a contract and they can do whatever they want because he's got a deal with the Christians that he'll take all the reactions for their sinful activities. Then Srila Prabhupada launches into a very interesting example, which I found very potent. I can't recall hearing any preachers use this example:
"There is a story that a boy went for examination. So when he came back, his father asked, "My dear boy, how you have written your question paper?" "Yes, very nice." "How?" "No, those questions which were very difficult, I could not answer. And the easier questions, what is to write? I know everything."
Then Srila Prabhupada goes into the fact that it's not only Christians, but everywhere in the world people are banishing God. It's only us who are saying "God, God, God". In other words, we're the ones who are really talking all about God.
I find that when listening to Srila Prabhupada preach, particularly in room conversations and to his disciples on morning walks and so on, he gives us the overwhelming impression that he is a representative of God. He is speaking for God, and is not interested in speaking for anybody or anything else. He makes it clear that anyone who speaks against God or denies the existence of God, in a sense they become his enemy (ignorance is the enemy). They are rascals, demons, fools, and in that way, it's sort of a spiritual fanaticism, nothing to do with this material world or any of its designations. When you become a 100% unalloyed representative of God, there's absolutely no compromise. There's no tolerance for those who speak against God. One must immediately go to the defense of God and everything that God represents and everything He said directly, like the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita.
So the devotees should take on that kind of mentality. It's almost kshatriya-like, wherein a kshatriya is always looking for people who are disobeying the laws. If they're saintly kings, then their laws are non-different from the laws found in the Vedas. They're always searching out anyone transgressing those laws. Likewise, those who are preaching Krsna Consciousness should have the mood of going out and detecting any individual or groups speaking against God. Then we have to speak up very strongly for God, with very convincing arguments, in a full-on assault. This was Srila Prabhupada's mood.
Srila Prabhupada illustrates the point in a story he tells about a neighbor he had for many years, an older man. He was very nice in all respects, expect when Srila Prabhupada talked about God, then he became very angry. So Srila Prabhupada called this nice old man a demon. He said this is demon-ism. He goes on to explain about Prahlad Maharaja, whose father was nice to him in every respect, except when he wanted to talk about God.
After a break in the discussion, Srila Prabhupada brings up the movement called the Moral Rearmament Movement. Of course, no one knew about this group, and Srila Prabhupada goes on to explain that when this movement was started (back in the 50's) it was patronized by President Eisenhower. They traveled around the world trying to get as many people as possible involved. It was built along the Christian principle. Srila Prabhupada said if there's no substance, no movement will stay. Then he says a surprising thing: "Now, what about our movement? It will stay or it will also go like that?"
These days we hear many arguments that Srila Prabhupada ordered us all to stay in ISKCON. Here in the Sun we've recently heard representatives of ISKCON give us the argument that Srila Prabhupada ordered us to stay in ISKCON regardless of what was going on. Of course, this means regardless of what kind of asiddhantic philosophy is being promoted, or what programs are going that that are not aligned with Srila Prabhupada's programs, but are claiming to represent him. In fact, throughout Srila Prabhupada's manifest ISKCON lila, there were many times when he indicated that he was not sure this movement would actually be successful.
We have to determine at what point the movement is to be considered unsuccessful, regardless of the fact it's flying the ISKCON flag. It's just like a fallen spiritual person who is hiding his fall down, yet maintaining his profile just so he can continue to enjoy all the positive results without taking responsibility. So those who are worshipping or chose to see such an individual as a spiritual person, even though in reality he's fallen down -- are these people getting any benefit? Do you receive any real spiritual benefit from worshipping a fallen person? In the same way, if you're in a movement that is, in a sense, fallen, then are you really gaining the kind of results you're expecting to get for sticking it out? Personally, I don't agree with the principle that one must stay on the 'inside' at any cost, or be charged with having left ISKCON. This is akin to nationalism on an even more mundane level. What matters is that we always stick to Srila Prabhupada's internal spiritual ISKCON movement.
It's interesting to note that Satsvarupa reassures Srila Prabhupada that not to worry, we're raising up another generation as a result of our gurukula program. At that point in time Satsvarupa was very involved with the gurukula. We now see the results of the gurukula system, yet we don't see any of these past leaders taking an active role in learning from our mistakes and assuming the same responsibility they had back then in an effort to correct it. Srila Prabhupada shouldered the responsibility of going to the West on account of hearing from his spiritual master, but our leaders have not personally shouldered the responsibility of establishing, successfully, all the programs Srila Prabhupada wanted in ISKCON.
Throughout all these morning walks we hear so many direct orders from Srila Prabhupada to his disciples, especially in the realm of education. HH Hridayananda Goswami assumed responsibility for establishing the Varnasrama College. Satsvarupa Goswami assumed responsibility for establishing the gurukula. Satsvarupa also assumed responsibility to see that all Srila Prabhupada's books were found in every library possible throughout the world. We see that program has been totally discarded today, and it's a crying shame.
We've recently seen in the Sun the reports of the precarious position the Berkeley temple is in. Throughout the morning walks at that time, when Berkeley Temple was mentioned it was pointed to as a place we're going to establish Varnasrama College. Yet the very same persons who were GBC at the time and who were on those morning walks, now live within a few minutes drive of Berkeley Temple and never go. Satsvarupa lives in California, and he doesn't spend time at Berkeley. HH Giriraja Swami is there, but he doesn't rise to the occasion to help save the temple, knowing full well that Srila Prabhupada would be very unhappy about what's going on there. So they have all this power and time, and in some cases money, yet they don't step up and address the problems by bringing their many resources to bear in order to straighten things out. Why is this?
Another big nugget of warning came from Satsvarupa when he said, "The big danger, you say, is faction." He's saying this to Srila Prabhupada. We can understand that even back then, people were made aware by Srila Prabhupada that this movement could be fractionalized if certain factions were allowed to gain a foothold. I can't think personally of any arrangement that has caused greater fractionalization than the Zonal Acarya system. It immediately created a "them and us" circumstance. At the top were the elite and all their close associates, and at the bottom were the rest of Srila Prabhupada's disciples, who are inferior by definition compared to the disciples of all these Zonal Acaryas, who were in the middle. Here we have three big factions who are inevitably going to fight. And fight they did. In fact, they're still fighting. So the real message here is don't create any situations that are going to cause such factions.
When Tamal Krishna Goswami took over the Radha Damodar party he turned it into a faction, and a mechanism for fractionalizing the temple communities. Immediately upon learning of this, Srila Prabhupada nipped it completely out, even though it meant sacrificing a well-oiled book distributing machine. He was willing to dismantle it immediately on account of the fact that it was fractionalizing the society. Now that's absolutely small time compared to the Zonal Acarya system. Anyone who thinks that the same fractionalization isn't present today is an ostrich-like fool. There's the sannyasis/guru/GBC crowd and the grand disciples. There are so few direct disciples of Srila Prabhupada remaining in the Society that they hardly even count as a faction anymore. They were obviously the big losers in this war of factions.
In the next little section of the conversation the topic of kshatriyas came up. Their practice was to protect the citizens against wild animals and enemies. Srila Prabhupada makes the very interesting point, "Fighting should be on the equal level, not that "I take all shelter, and you are open to be killed by enemy." So going back to what some might consider my obsession, when the factions were fighting, nobody had a fighting chance against the Zonal Acaryas. They had originally lined up sacrificial lambs to prove that no one could dare fight against them, in the form of throwing out Yasoda nandana dasa, Pradhyumna dasa and Jadurani devi. From just those three people, we had the start of Rtvikism and Narayan-ism, just to give an example of how damaging fractionalization is. When Srila Prabhupada said 'I've spoken everything to you', he didn't just mean in his lectures and books. We find that a great deal of relevant information was presented in these morning walk conversation.
Srila Prabhupada then returns to some basic philosophy and explains about transmigration. One of the most compelling arguments for transmigration can be found right here, wherein Srila Prabhupada points out that you actually experience having another body every time you go to sleep. So sleeping and dreaming in your sleep are proof positive that you're not this body and you can have two bodies at the same time, completely forgetting about the other body when you're sleeping, and forgetting about your dreams when you awaken.
Another big topic that was brought up by Srila Prabhupada, and which I heard on another morning walk recently, was the point that anywhere in the world where's there's not an equal amount of daylight and night, people tend to become crazy. He's referring to the Northern climates where you get this huge variation between summer and winter in terms of the amount of sunlight you get, and in the Winter there's a problem with people becoming so depressed they commit suicide. Srila Prabhupada pointed out that this is one of the big advantages of India, where there's little or no seasonal difference between the time of night and day. He explains that the night and day is Krsna's arrangement, so when you don't have an equal amount of light and day, then you're definitely at a disadvantage. And no matter how advanced your civilization is, you can't do anything about it.
Near the end of the walk, Madhavananda dasa makes the statement, "Srila Prabhupada, once you said that to stop this transmigration, one has to become completely disgusted with this material world." Srila Prabhupada confirmed that as being true, but also makes the point that you can't join Krsna Consciousness as a matter of fashion, you have to be genuinely disgusted, sincerely disgusted. It's true that the devotee, due to his sincerity, doesn't look to Krsna and Krsna Consciousness to save him from his material suffering, but rather he is willing to stay life after life if necessary. Satsvarupa says the best way to do that is to be absorbed in preaching, and of course Srila Prabhupada agrees. Srila Prabhupada brings it back to ISKCON reality, saying that preaching in his mind means primarily book distribution, and that if you make the effort, even though you may not be successful from a material standpoint, you will have made all sorts of spiritual advancement.
The morning walk ends abruptly at this point. I've attempted to highlight some of the main topics on this walk. Of course, there are many points made by Srila Prabhupada which may resonate with other readers more than the ones that sparked my thoughts and comments. I look forward to hearing from the devotees as to the other important points they've gleaned from these morning walk conversations.
