Srila Prabhupada's ecstatic love for Krishna in His Deity form

[Guest guest]

He was so kind to bring the accessible krsna-murti. What did we know? How

could we succeed? But he did it, starting with Lord Jagannatha, then little

Radha-Krsna in New York City. Prabhupada crouched down before Them, ordered

simple service, kept Them in his room and explained to us that They are not

idols. The Deity is Krsna.

He advised us, "If you think of Swamiji and Lord Jagannatha all day, then at

night you will dream of them." Dancing before the forms of the Deity, he

taught us. Otherwise, no one could introduce the Deity to the Westerners.

Now that They are here in so many temples, future religious historians may

think They came by another means or that any devotee could have called Them,

but Prabhupada was the one empowered to call the Deity.

In the beginning he asked Him to please take care of Himself if the mlecchas

turned-devotees made offenses. But it was also Prabhupada who later saw

that the worship was going on nicely, and he approved that Krsna was being

worshipped in grand style. Like the brahmana who called the Deity to

witness, Prabhupada asked the Lord, and He agreed to come. On Prabhupada's

invitation, along with the sound of kirtana, Krsna was received in simple

settings in converted rooms, puja began for the Lord of rented houses

-Boston, ST. Louis, Buffalo, and then grand temples. Great acaryas of the

past installed one Deity, their beloved Radha-Krsna, but Prabhupada

worshipped dozens of Radha-Krsna and he travelled to see Them. He was the

champion of Radha-Krsna, installing and distributing Radha-Krsna on every

continent, again and again, bathing, chanting, dressing, performing the

installation.

Srila Prabhupada crouched before the Lord, and sometimes he cried joyful

tears in the darsana of the glowing Radha-Krsna. He noticed how They were

being served and dressed, and he made a stern point, that we should never

change things whimsically after he had left. It was a transcendental matter

of fact to Srila Prabhupada, that we must worship the Deity of Krsna. Of

course we must do it, or how will we remain purified? And of course He is

Krsna, with flute and three-curved form, with Radha beside Him. And of

course we have to give Them our devotion! It was a matter of devotional

fact: He will come when there are devotees, and they will worship Him. Yet

is it not a great miracle? Prabhupada has brought Krsna - Krsna has agreed

and the ex-mlecchas have agreed to accept Him, and they pray, "O Lord of the

universe, by Prabhupada's grace, kindly be visible unto me."

 

(From Satsvarupa Maharaja's writings; I'm not sure which)