BY: ROCANA DASA
Dec 01, 2021 — CANADA (SUN) — Studying Srila Prabhupada's conversations with ISKCON leaders.
Today's Talks is inspired by Srila Prabhupada's lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.9.39, March 17, 1976 in Mayapur. Those who've been following this series will be aware that I've recently been focusing on room conversations, morning walks and classes that Srila Prabhupada gave during the Mayapur Festival period. As previously stated, I feel that this particular festival is of great significance in the Srila Prabhupada ISKCON lila because many important circumstances transpired around this time.
I find it quite disturbing that so many of Srila Prabhupada's lectures during this festival period in 1976 are not available in audio. Neither all of the morning walks or classes are available to the public through the BBT archives, even though Hari-sauri prabhu obviously got hold of them for his Transcendental Diary. There seems to be no motivation on the part of the leadership to us with this inconceivably valuable content - nor have they provided a good reason why they will not. We've been trying for some time now to get an explanation, but other than the Archives saying there's not enough money, we don't get any definitive response.
The lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam this day was a continuation of the classes on Prahlad Maharaja. In this particular verse, Prahlad is praying to Lord Nrsimhadeva and comparing the material world to the spiritual world. The main factor about the spiritual world is that there's no anxiety. Srila Prabhupada elaborated on that theme, stating that the asuras enjoy anxiety, and they purposely put themselves in anxiety so that they can go solve the problems, and then appear to get great satisfaction in solving the problems they created themselves. On a global political level they create wars, then they win or resolve the wars, and come out looking like heroes.
Srila Prabhupada mentions the fact that Prahlad was the only personality to approach Lord Nrsimhadeva who wasn't fearful. In other words, he wasn't in anxiety because he was a Sampradaya Acarya. Even the demigods and Laksmi devi herself were full of fear on account of Lord Nrsimha appearing as He did. But Prahlad himself said he wasn't afraid, and Srila Prabhupada compared that to preaching Krsna consciousness. We shouldn't be afraid, we should just go out and distribute books, preach Krsna consciousness, and in that way be engaged in Krsna's pastimes. Then you'll always be able to think of Krsna.
Srila Prabhupada states that to do this, you have to reach a state of goodness. Even though devotees are beyond the brahminical stage, still the qualities of a brahman should be manifest in the devotee. That requires that one be free from material desires and not be entangled with lusty desires, which is kama. The word Srila Prabhupada uses, straight from the slokas, is kamaturam, which means 'lusty desires'. That means there's kamaturam and sokaturam, and this refers to 'sex life' -- even though there's illicit and legal sex, in both cases these sex affairs turn into anxiety.
Srila Prabhupada uses the term durlika lugdo, and he had mentioned on a recent morning walk, that anyone who takes a bite out of this lugdo will lament. This is referring to those who are not married and are lamenting that they're not married, and those who are married and lamenting that they got married.
Srila Prabhupada is very heavy when he's speaking with his disciples on this subject, which is ostensibly his aim in coming to the west. His principle aim was to turn 'cats and dogs', namely us, into brahmans. He clarifies that, saying whether he's successful or not successful, it's still a great effort on his part. So he's not saying that we have been transformed and therefore he's successful; he's saying the jury is still out on this one, whether or not he's going to be successful. Although we were all thinking back then that we'd taken brahman initiation and we were all brahmans, living a somewhat brahminical existence, Srila Prabhupada indicates here that we could easily give that up. And if we do give up, that's called kripana, where you give up the opportunity to become a brahmana.
Of course, this was the very time when he found out about Visnujana Swami, and the big buzz around the festival was that Visnujana Swami had admitted to having some kind of sexual relationship. Of course, Visnujana prabhu was not only a swami but also a celebrity, and everyone looked up to him. As the myth stands, he followed in the footsteps of Chota Haridasa and drowned himself in the Ganges. Personally I don't believe that myth, and there's no proof that it happened. In fact, there's a rumour that he just went back to America and dropped out, and is still dropped out. While some report having seen him well after the alleged drowning, the myth still holds its mystique.
Visnujana sets the example that if you take sannyasa prematurely then you do have a falldown, it's very hard to get re-situated. This is especially true if you're very popular and visible. Others have managed to make a sannyasa-falldown comeback in ISKCON, but it appears that perhaps Visnujana Swami couldn't handle the dishonour, which is worth than death.
Srila Prabhupada makes it clear here that you have to be very advanced not to have a disturbed mind, and as long as you have a disturbed mind, then you will have a tendency to fall down. He said that the secret is chanting the Hare Krsna mantra. It's interesting to see that during the class, when Srila Prabhupada started chanting Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, everyone in the room chimed in, and when he started chanting Harer Nama, Harer Nama, the whole audience chimed in again.
Srila Prabhupada stated that the whole purpose of education and advancement in civilization is to cure yourself from the 'dirty mind'. 'Dirty mind' means that you have lusty and greedy desires in the mind, and it requires a great deal of dedication to Krsna consciousness, as Srila Prabhupada himself is presenting it, in order to get free from this. Of course, ISKCON history is replete with all sorts of examples of how true this is. In fact, during these last few days of March 1976, Srila Prabhupada was inquiring into a meeting with Lalita Prasada, who is Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's brother. Lalita Prasasda had a strong disagreement with Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, and instead of preaching Krsna consciousness in the same mood as Srila Prabhupada's Spiritual Master, he took to babaji life. By staying around the Mayapur area, he got possession of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur's house, which is situated just across the river from the Mayapur land. Srila Prabhupada was interested in making an arrangement with him to take care of Srila Bhaktivinoda's house, because obviously Lalita Prasada didn't have the men or money to do so. Little did we know at that time that Lalita Prasada had convinced two of the most prominent, scholarly members in ISKCON at that time, Nitai and Hiranyagarbha, to renounce Srila Prabhupada, and of course BSST, and come over to his way of thinking. They took the fall and did so, and they're still preaching Lalita Prasada's position to this day. Although they both went onto become Sanskrit scholars, they are preaching against both Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati and Srila Prabhupada. In fact, Hiranyagarbha (Jagadananda dasa) has gone so far as to call Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur a fraud.
It's also interesting to note that at the time of this lecture, a letter came from Mahavirya dasa, a 27 year-old disciple who was serving in Nairobi, Kenya. This was a country that I later took charge of, so I'm familiar with the elaborate details of what happened there. Basically, some African dacoits attacked the temple and Mahavirya prabhu protected the Deities, and got cut-up with a machete during the attack. His reaction was to beg Srila Prabhupada to let him become a babaji, just as Lalita Prasada was executing Krsna consciousness. But even under those circumstances Srila Prabhupada did not grant Mahavirya babaji status. Mahavirya was no longer in Africa at the time I arrived, in 1979. After he healed, he left Africa and his post. He didn't become a babaji, maintaining that strict lifestyle while remaining in Africa.
In this lecture, Srila Prabhupada was really emphasizing to his disciples that they had to be very strict, and they had to accept the fact that their mind was very dirty. He said that it requires a great deal of effort to cleanse the mind, which primarily means chanting and following his program in every respect if you want to have any hope of actually being free from the kamaturam mind. And the evidence of that is that every time you think of sex, you 'spite' on it.
