"Of course, there are many Indians who may be delighted to have a Hindu temple there (England), but we are especially interested in something else. Our plan is not to sponsor the Hindus or any other individual group. Our real purpose is to spread Krishna consciousness. "
(Srila Prabhupada Letter to Yamuna, May 27, 1969)
"I am not very interested to establish a Hindu temple. Perhaps you know from the very beginning I never described my movement as Hindu religion."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter to Mukunda, June 10, 1969)
"We should not anymore think in terms of Hindu society. If we limit ourselves to Hindus then there will be many competitors like Christians, Mohammedans, Buddhists and so on. But if we preach the philosophy of Krishna consciousness in right earnest, it will be accepted throughout the whole world."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter to Sriman Bankaji, March 13, 1970)
"Regarding the Hindu centres in the foreign countries, none of them are bona fide. There is similar hodge podge centre in London. Actually, Hindus and non-Hindus, everyone is at the present moment out of touch of the real science of spiritual knowledge."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter to Jayapataka, April 17, 1970)
"The difficulty has become more acute on account of Rama-Krishna Mission's preaching that any opinion about religion is all right."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter to Jayapataka, April 17, 1970)
"We must avoid the risk of a separatist movement, unity is our purpose; just like in London where the Indians are starting their own Radha-Krishna temple. We want to avoid skin disease and the Indian people are like the tannery expert."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter to Sriman Hariprasad Badruka, March 5, 1973)
"There is a misconception that the Krishna consciousness movement represents the Hindu religion. Sometimes Indians both inside and outside of India think that we are preaching the Hindu religion, but actually we are not."
(His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1977 in Science of Self Realization)
"The Krishna consciousness movement has nothing to do with the Hindu religion or any system of religion.... One should clearly understand that the Krishna consciousness movement is not preaching the so-called Hindu religion."
(Chapter three Science of Self Realization)
"Although posing as great scholars, ascetics, householders and swamis, the so-called followers of the Hindu religion are all useless, dried-up branches of the Vedic religion. ISKCON is the only true exponent of the Vedic faith today.
(April 1967, New York lecture)
"India, they have given up the real religious system, Sanatana Dharma. Fictitiously, they have accepted a hodgepodge thing which is called Hinduism. Therefore there is trouble."
(Bhavan's Journal on June 28, 1976)
"We are not preaching Hindu religion. While registering the association, I purposely kept this name, 'Krishna Consciousness,' neither Hindu religion nor Christian nor Buddhist religion."
(1974 Mumbai lecture)
"The Hindu community in the West has got some good feeling for me because superficially they are seeing that I am spreading Hindu religion, but factually this Krishna Consciousness movement is neither Hindu religion nor any other religion."
(1970 letter to a temple administrator in Los Angeles)
"The intelligent person is in Krsna consciousness, and he has no need to worship the paltry demigods for some immediate, temporary benefit. The demigods of this material world, as well as their worshipers, will vanish with the annihilation of this material world".
(Ch 4 text 12 purp Bhagavad Gita As It Is)
"The boons of the demigods are material and temporary. Both the material worlds and their inhabitants, including the demigods, and their worshipers, are bubbles in the cosmic ocean. In this world, however, human society is mad after temporary things such as the material opulence of possessing land, family and enjoyable paraphernalia. To achieve such temporary things, they worship the demigods".
(Ch 4 text 12 purport, Bhagavad Gita As It Is)
"There is a great misconception about the gods or demigods of this material world, and men of less intelligence, although passing as great scholars, take these demigods to be various forms of the Supreme Lord. Actually, the demigods are not different forms of God".
(Ch 4 text 12 purp Bhagavad Gita As It Is)
"Foolish men are not interested in Krsna consciousness for the permanent solution to the hardships of material existence. They are all after sense enjoyment, and to get a little facility for sense enjoyment they are attracted to worship empowered living entities known as demigods".
(Ch 4 text 12 purp Bhagavad Gita As It Is)
"The Supreme God is one--Krsna--and the demigods are delegated with powers to manage this material world. These demigods are all living entities (nityanam) with different grades of material power. They cannot be equal to the Supreme God--Narayana, Visnu, or Krsna. Anyone who thinks that God and the demigods are on the same level is called an atheist, or pasandi".
(Ch 4 text 12 purp Bhagavad Gita As It Is)
"Even the great demigods like Brahma and Siva cannot be compared to the Supreme Lord. In fact, the Lord is worshiped by demigods such as Brahma and Siva (siva-virinci-nutam). Yet curiously enough there are many human leaders who are worshiped by foolish men under the misunderstanding of anthropomorphism or zoomorphism. Iha devatah denotes a powerful man or demigod of this material world. But Narayana, Visnu, or Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, does not belong to this world. He is above, or transcendental to, material creation".
(Ch 4 text 12 purp Bhagavad Gita As It Is)
"Foolish people (hrt-ajnana) worship the demigods because they want immediate results. They get the results, but do not know that results so obtained are temporary and are meant for less intelligent persons".
(Ch 4 text 12 purp Bhagavad Gita As It Is)
Today we find that an Australian devotee in Melbourne, Bhakta Prabhu, has just been elected Vice-chairman of the Hindu Community Council of Victoria Inc. What I have understood from Srila Prabhupada is we should tell other Hindu groups about Krishna yet we must be very, very careful with our dealings with these Hindu groups. ISKCON devotees should NEVER listen to their polluted teachings – It's not me saying this, it is Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya.
We must be very careful not to water down Srila Prabhupada's teachings just to be nice to the impersonalists. We must not forget even when Srila Prabhupada associated with them when he first came to America, he did not like their association.
These days in Temples like Melbourne Australia, Indian Hindu families and students keep the Temple afloat financially as everyone knows – in fact, it is very good preaching. However, the point here is the emphasis should always be on the high standards Srila Prabhupada wanted for his ISKCON Movement, and never let it be called 'Hindu'.
Also we must not loose sight of why Srila Prabhupada came to the western nations, to encourage and nurture ‘westerners' to become devotees - not to be satisfied with the large numbers of Hindus who visit the Temple.
Very little preaching is directed to the white Australians, some will not like that comment however, just ask around the local shopping centres and you will understand my point. The mood of the local Indian temple devotees today, with a few exceptions, is they preach mostly to their own kind or other Indians from around the world.
We must never forget that ISKCON's fame was achieved with massive exposure via street Sankirtan, book distribution and handing out prasadam. Why isn't this being done like we did in the early 1970's??
In our western cities and towns in 2009, everyone who's in their 40s and 50s always asks, "Why aren't the Hare's out on the streets anymore?" Those in their teens, twenties and thirties never ask, because most have never seen the devotees!
So why not bring back six hours a day of kirtans in downtown Melbourne and some suburban shopping centers that have not been visited in most cases for over 25 years!!
The numbers of mostly Indian devotees are there around the temple today, so why not have two Sankirtan parties, one in the suburbs and one in the City for at least six hours a day, EVERY DAY? This is how Hare Krishna became famous in the late 60s and early 70s under the direct guidance of Srila Prabhupada.
Back in those days we would chant in Frankston on a Monday for four hours and hand out books, then move to Mentone for a half hour, then to Elsternwick and Williamstown each for an hour, like this every day in a different place around the suburbs. Some days we would send a Sankirtan party to both the suburbs and Down Town, having two parties out on the same day.
As a result of this saturation of both chanting, books and distributing prasadam, many, many devotees (westerners) came and joined, and the Krishnas were famous. We distributed books in those early years in a dhoti and shaved head. The change to ‘karmi clothes' come in at the end of 1974, followed by selling oil paintings and candles. Back to basics is what I'm talking about!
Some say this change to ‘karmi clothes' and selling paraphernalia other than books, greatly polluted ISKCON's purity of many devotees, loosing sight of those early blissful years of 'ever-freshness' as portrayed by Vishnujana Swami, Buddhimanta prabhu and Mudhudvisa Swami. Many of the leaders of ISKCON Australia today, like Aniruddha Prabhu, Temple President of Melbourne, never experienced the eight hour a day chanting on the street or the massive distribution of books in devotional clothing as we did in the early seventies.
What we lovingly call ‘The Buddhimanta Prabhu Years' should NEVER be forgotten; they were hard working years, but the best years in ISKCON (1972-74). ISKCON back then was all about chanting Hare Krishna on the streets, massive street book distribution and handing out prasadam in devotional clothing, PERIOD!!
With the amount of Indian congregational members, this could be started again. Bring back the true pure spirit of Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON society and bring back massive street kirtan, book distribution and prasadam distribution, not just for show on special occasions or when visiting Swamis comes through, like we're presently doing, but go out EVERY DAY, not for just an hour or so, but rather for SIX TO EIGHT HOURS A DAY!! And again make the Hare Krishnas famous.
Why not get forty Indian congregational members (seeing there are so many of them) to engage in this wonderful service? The only problem I see is who is going to preach to the many new devotees who come? Are the present batch of gurus, sannyasis and temple presidents qualified to guide and instruct society on a large massive scale? They may have heaps of ‘book knowledge' and be knowing 'many Sanskrit quotes', but do they have genuine wisdom and personal realizations to guide and invite thousands to join our Parampara in these pioneering years? These are important sincere questions that need to be answered before a large-scale offensive against the land of Maya is made.
How fortunate we were in Australia to be trained by the great pioneer of Book distribution, Buddhimanta Prabhu in late 1972. I remember traveling with him in 1973 with Hari Sauri, Gopikanta, Kurma, Yasomatinandana, Balarama, Gopinathacarya, and Somendrinath. We would stop in our orange Kombi-Van, distribute hundreds of books, then chant in all the towns we visited. It was very euphoric and I have never experienced that amazing potency since.
My God, those kirtans lead by Buddhimanta prabhu were ecstatically powerful and OUT OF THIS MUNDANE WORLD. On a Saturday night in devotional clothing, we would also chant and distribute books at Kings Cross Sydney till 3'oclock in the morning. One time I was down one end of Kings Cross selling books and could hear Buddhimanta Prabhu yelling out IN HIS American accent, emulating the Aussies at the other end –
"HARE KRSNA!! GGG'DDDDAAYY MATE!! How ar ya! You want happiness? Then the answers are in THIS Krsna book, it will tell you how to find REAL pleasure that lasts forever!" Then you would hear, "You've kindly given 20 bucks mate, beauty, here's two more Krsna Books, read them and then give them to a friend."
Then he would move on to the next person, calling out again,
"Hare Krishna, G'day mate, or G'day anchor or axial", whatever Aussi saying would get their attention. It went on like this since 7 PM the previous night. He led the way in distributing Prabhupada's books. He often acted more Aussi, even with his American accent, than all of us. He was Krishna's General showing all of us how to distribute books.
Without any doubt, Buddhimanta was empowered by Krsna to distribute Books. He was so empowered that I often saw him go up to a person, speak so fast that it was like stuttering and incoherent, give them Krsna book, receive 10 bucks (that was a lot of money in those days), then go to the next person and do the same thing.
A few weeks later, a few of us experienced that same transcendental wave of ecstasy in Pitt Street Sydney as we also distributed books without saying anything.
And here is more nectar to bring the focus back ONLY on Srila Prabhupada's mission:
Srila Prabhupada – "Now I am trying for printing arrangement and this book also can be nicely printed provided you take charge of distribution. I am very much anxious for sale of my books. It has to be organized; please think over this matter. If the books are not properly sold how can I print so many books?"
(Letter to Kirtanananda, 27 April 1967)
"Although I am practically on the path of death, still I cannot forget about my publications. I wish that if I live or die you should take very serious care for my publications".
(Letter to Hayagriva, 10 June 1967)
"When these books arrive to your Montreal Temple, it will be great service if you can help your god-brothers in arranging for widespread sales of these books. We are writing so many literatures and this is very good, but also we must make arrangements for distribution to the public at large".
(Letter to Jayapataka, 1 December 1968)
"You are trying for the new Temple, but our main business is Sankirtana and distribution of literature. If Krishna gives us a better place, that is all right. Otherwise we can remain at any place never mind hell or heaven; but we shall only be very cautious about propagating our Sankirtan movement".
(Letter to Madhudvisa, 26 March 1970)
"And then we take the books and publish them in French and German languages. My Guru Maharaja liked the publication of books very nice. He liked publications of books more than construction of Temples".
(Letter to Tamal Krishna, 15 May 1970)
"I am very glad to know that your sales of our literature and books are very good and improving more. It is natural that such distribution of literatures should increase as the people hear more about Krishna Consciousness Movement, so distribution of our books and literatures is our major propaganda program".
(Letter to Hamsaduta, 29 June 1970)
"Whenever I get report of my book selling I feel strength. Even now in this weakened condition I have got strength from your report. You should know that in this work you have Krishna's blessings".
(Letter to Satsvarupa, 8 September 1974)
"The book sales are very encouraging, increasing, increasing. It is very good news. Thank you, I want this. Record selling is temporary… A book sold becomes a permanent matter for enjoyment. We read the scriptures again and again and it is still fresh; when there is time, I go on reading my own books."
(Letter to Hamsaduta, 1 October 1974)
"Preaching means book distribution".
(Room Conversation, Bombay, 31 December 1976)
"If there is any credit to my activities of translating, it is all due to His Divine Grace [Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura]. Certainly if His Divine Grace were personally present at this time, it would have been a great occasion for jubilation, but even though he is not physically present, I am confident that he is very much pleased by this work of translation. He was very fond of seeing many books published to spread the Krishna Consciousness Movement. Therefore our society, The International Society for Krishna Consciousness [ISKCON], has been formed to execute the order of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura".
(Concluding words to Sri Caitanya caritamrta)
"Print as many books as possible, this is my real pleasure. By printing these books of our Krishna Conscious philosophy in so many languages we can actually inject our movement into the masses of persons all over the world, especially there in the Western countries and we can literally turn whole nations into Krishna Conscious nations".
(Letter to Hrdayananda, 21 December 1974)
"In spite of war Srimad Bhagavatam will be distributed. We don't care about war, our preaching business will go on".
(Letter to Radhavallabha, 21 August 1975)
"Simply read my books and repeat what I have written then your preaching will be perfect".
(Letter to Kshirodakasayi, 4 September 1975)
"The Sankirtana devotees are very dear to Krishna. Because you are doing the field work of book distribution, Krishna has immediately recognized them as true servants. Just like during war time, a farm boy or ordinary clerk who goes to fight for his country on the front immediately becomes a national hero for his sincere effort. So Krishna immediately recognizes a preacher of Krishna Consciousness who takes all risk to deliver His message.
(Letter to Uttamasloka, 11 December 1975)
"Books are the basis of our Movement. Whatever appreciation we are getting on account of our books, it is because we are following the path chalked out by exalted devotees. We are not writing something whimsical".
(Letter to Tusta-Krishna, 9 January 1976)
"The results show that there is no limit to our book distribution. Our books are qualified to be distributed unlimitedly".
(Letter to Ramesvara, 18 January 1976)
"The main thing is to distribute books more and more".
(Letter to Balavanta, 4 October 1976)
"This, our book distribution, is the most important task in our society. Therefore I am giving so much stress and I am working so hard on this. Because this is my life and soul according to the order of my Guru Maharaja. And by his grace it is to some extent successful. And I took it seriously. I take it seriously still now. That is my life and soul. I never tried in India to construct big temples or even in your country we didn't. I never tried. But I was selling personally books. That is the history".
(Room Conversation, Bombay, 31 December 1976)
"I want that every respectable person has a full set of Bhagavatam and Caitanya Caritamrta in his home".
(Letter to Drdhavrata, 24 January 1977)
"Be assured that there is no more direct way to preach than to distribute Krishna conscious books. Whoever gets a book is benefited. If he reads the book he is benefited still more, or if he gives the book to someone else for reading, both he and the other person is benefited. Even if one does not read the book but simply holds it and sees it, he is benefited. If he simply gives small donation towards the work of Krishna consciousness he is benefited. And anyone who distributes these transcendental literatures, he is also benefited. Therefore Sankirtana is the prime benediction for the age".
(Letter to German disciples, 6 May 1977)
"Books are the basis of our Movement. Whatever appreciation we are getting on account of our books, it is because we are following the path chalked out by exalted devotees. We are not writing something whimsical".
(Letter to Tusta-Krishna, 9 January 1976)
"The results show that there is no limit to our book distribution. Our books are qualified to be distributed unlimitedly".
(Letter to Ramesvara, 18 January 1976)
"The main thing is to distribute books more and more".
(Letter to Balavanta, 4 October 1976)
"This, our book distribution, is the most important task in our society. Therefore I am giving so much stress and I am working so hard on this. Because this is my life and soul according to the order of my Guru Maharaja. And by his grace it is to some extent successful. And I took it seriously. I take it seriously still now. That is my life and soul. I never tried in India to construct big temples or even in your country we didn't. I never tried. But I was selling personally books. That is the history".
(Room Conversation, Bombay, 31 December 1976)
"I want that every respectable person has a full set of Bhagavatam and Caitanya Caritamrta in his home".
(Letter to Drdhavrata, 24 January 1977)
"Be assured that there is no more direct way to preach than to distribute Krishna conscious books. Whoever gets a book is benefited. If he reads the book he is benefited still more, or if he gives the book to someone else for reading, both he and the other person is benefited. Even if one does not read the book but simply holds it and sees it, he is benefited. If he simply gives small donation towards the work of Krishna consciousness he is benefited. And anyone who distributes these transcendental literatures, he is also benefited. Therefore Sankirtana is the prime benediction for the age".
(Letter to German disciples, 6 May 1977)
Everyone we meet, lets give them Prabhupada's Books
Srila Prabhupada – "Preaching means book distribution".
(Room Conversation, Bombay, 31 December 1976)
Srila Prabhupada – "If there is any credit to my activities of translating, it is all due to His Divine Grace [Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura]. Certainly if His Divine Grace were personally present at this time, it would have been a great occasion for jubilation, but even though he is not physically present, I am confident that he is very much pleased by this work of translation. He was very fond of seeing many books published to spread the Krishna Consciousness Movement. Therefore our society, The International Society for Krishna Consciousness [ISKCON], has been formed to execute the order of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura".
(Concluding words to Sri Caitanya caritamrta)
Srila Prabhupada – "Print as many books as possible, this is my real pleasure. By printing these books of our Krishna Conscious philosophy in so many languages we can actually inject our movement into the masses of persons all over the world, especially there in the Western countries and we can literally turn whole nations into Krishna Conscious nations".
(Letter to Hrdayananda, 21 December 1974)
Srila Prabhupada – "In spite of war Srimad Bhagavatam will be distributed. We don't care about war, our preaching business will go on".
(Letter to Radhavallabha, 21 August 1975)
Srila Prabhupada – "Simply read my books and repeat what I have written then your preaching will be perfect".
(Letter to Ksirodakasayi, 4 September 1975)
Srila Prabhupada – "The Sankirtana devotees are very dear to Krishna. Because you are doing the field work of book distribution, Krishna has immediately recognized them as true servants. Just like during war time, a farm boy or ordinary clerk who goes to fight for his country on the front immediately becomes a national hero for his sincere effort. So Krishna immediately recognizes a preacher of Krishna Consciousness who takes all risk to deliver His message.
(Letter to Uttamasloka, 11 December 1975)
Hare Bol!! Everyone we meet, lets give them Srila Prabhupada's Books and promote Krishna Consciousness and the teachings of Lord Caitanya.
Your fallen servant,
Gauragopala dasa
