Guest guest Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 My dear Devotees, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. You may know that Shyamasundar Prabhu, one of Srila Prabhupada's earliest disciples, and a team of other devotees have organized a wonderful festival at Cross Maidan in downtown Mumbai to celebrate the 108th year since Srila Prabhupada's appearance. You may see video clips of the festival at www.krishna.com/tv. Although I was unable to attend the program in person, I did write a message for the occasion, which His Holiness Radhanath Swami read on the last night. It is attached and also follows below. Thank you. Hare Krishna. Your servant, Giriraj Swami --- My dear Friends and Devotees, Please accept my best wishes. All glories to Lord Krsna. I thank and congratulate all of you who have joined to make the Hare Krishna Festival at Cross Maidan the great success that it has been. (I am just sorry I could not be with you in person at this time.) In late 1970, when Shyamasundar Prabhu first presented the idea for the pandal at Cross Maidan, Srila Prabhupada was pleased, and he gave the example of shooting the rhinoceros. He said, "Everyone knows that it is impossible to shoot a rhinoceros. So if you try and fail, no one will blame you. And if you try and succeed, everyone will praise you. So if you are going to shoot, shoot for a rhinoceros." In other words, "Try for the pandal program--impossible as it may seem." So Shyamasundar Prabhu organized the small group of devotees present in Bombay. I do not remember what all of the devotees did, but Gurudas Prabhu was in charge of public relations, Yamuna Prabhu was in charge of the Deities, Rishi Kumar Prabhu and I were asked to raise funds, and Shyamasundar himself took charge of the publicity. Later, when it was time for the pandal itself, Tamal Krishna Goswami took charge of the physical construction and management of it, and Madhudvisa Prabhu took responsibility for the stage program. When Shyamasundara Prabhu first got Srila Prabhupada's approval for the program, he tried to organize a group of life members to help. The first meeting was called at the Sea Palace Hotel, near the Radio Club in Colaba. The owner, Sri Ramchand Chabria, was an old friend who knew Srila Prabhupada and the devotees from London. At the appointed time we waited and waited and waited, but other than Mr. Chabria, almost no one else came. We were disappointed, but with Srila Prabhupada's encouragement we persevered, and eventually some other sympathetic friends, such as Sadajiwatlal, Kailash Seksaria, Kartikeya Mahadevia, and Ram Prakash Poddar, came forward to help. Of course, the rest is history: how the pandal program captured the hearts and minds of the people in Bombay. Srila Prabhupada himself wrote, "By the grace of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha and Krishna our recent festival at Cross Maidan Exhibition Ground has been counted a grand success, and quite noticeably the spirit of bhakti has been actively revived in Bombay. My blessings go especially to all of you who have joined with us in service." After the success in Bombay, Srila Prabhupada sent Tamal Krishna Goswami and me to Calcutta to arrange our first pandal program there. In Calcutta, Tamal Krishna spoke very intimately to me about Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON, and he mentioned that Shyamasundar Prabhu was one of the "biggest preachers" in the movement. I was surprised, because I had hardly ever heard Shyamasundar give any classes or lectures. But Tamal Krishna explained, "Preaching does not just mean speaking about Krsna consciousness. Preaching means engaging people in Krsna consciousness, and through the Bombay pandal and other innovative, dynamic programs, Shyamasundar is proving that he is the biggest preacher." Years passed, and in 1977 I invited Srila Prabhupada to Bombay for one more pandal at Cross Maidan. We had already made the arrangements, and many prominent citizens had agreed to attend and address the audience. So I wrote to Srila Prabhupada: "The interest shown by these important personalities suggests a very good opportunity for spreading Krishna consciousness in Bombay, in India, and throughout the world. The people in general have been absorbed in the election campaigns for their political leaders, forgetting the words of Sri Prahlad Maharaj: matir na krsne paratah svato va mitho 'bhipadyeta grha-vratanam adanta-gobhir visatam tamisram punah punas carvita-carvananam [because of their uncontrolled senses, persons too addicted to materialistic life make progress toward hellish conditions and repeatedly chew that which has already been chewed. Their inclinations toward Krsna are never aroused, either by the instructions of others, by their own efforts, or by a combination of both. (SB 7.5.30)] na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnum durasaya ye bahir-artha-maninah andha yathandhair upaniyamanas te 'pisa-tantryam uru-damni baddhah [Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Visnu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries. (SB 7.5.31)] naisam matis tavad urukramanghrim sprsaty anarthapagamo yad-arthah mahiyasam pada-rajo-'bhisekam niskincananam na vrnita yavat [unless they smear upon their bodies the dust of the lotus feet of a Vaisnava completely freed from material contamination, persons very much inclined toward materialistic life cannot be attached to the lotus feet of the Lord, who is glorified for His uncommon activities. Only by becoming Krsna conscious and taking shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord in this way can one be freed from material miseries. (SB 7.5.32)] "These unfortunate people do not know that the goal of life is to get out of this material world and serve Lord Vishnu in the spiritual world, and therefore they are mad after political leaders who are equally absorbed in material life. They do not realize that by following either this leader or that leader, they are simply chewing the chewed, repeating the same problems of life under this 'ism' or that 'ism.' Actually, the only leader who can solve their problems is Krishna, or Krishna's representative. The only hope for these unfortunate persons is to smear upon their bodies the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee such as Your Divine Grace--that is, to submissively hear and follow your instructions." Although Srila Prabhupada had been ill in Mayapur, he kindly agreed to attend. And at that last program, although physically he was so weak he could hardly walk, spiritually he was as powerful as ever, and when he spoke devotees felt as if Lord Nrsimhadeva, the ferocious half-man and half-lion incarnation of Krsna, had entered Srila Prabhupada and was exploding from within him. Of course, we all wondered how ISKCON would continue without Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada himself often warned us, "I am an old man. I can pass away at any time. But you boys and girls are young. You have come forward to help me. At least to some extent you have understood this Krsna consciousness movement. Please take it more seriously. People are suffering for want of this consciousness. I shall go away, but you shall live. I shall request you all to keep pushing on this movement." But how--without Srila Prabhupada? One devotee commented, "ISKCON without Prabhupada? It's hard to imagine." Now so many years have passed, and the "young boys and girls" have aged. But Srila Prabhupada and his legacy--his followers and his ISKCON--continue, by his mercy, to live and grow, as so vividly exhibited at this event. And I know that His Divine Grace would be pleased to see this extraordinary festival at Cross Maidan, so wonderfully organized in the 108th year after his appearance, in the same place where he himself so boldly preached thirty-four years ago. I feel especially enlivened by and grateful to His Grace Shyamasundar Prabhu, whose vision and enthusiasm have acted to manifest this amazing tribute to Srila Prabhupada, the "World Preacher of Bhakti Cult," and his message: "The modern civilization is a failure. The only solution is Krsna consciousness." Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. Your eternal servant, Giriraj Swami _________ ALL-NEW Messenger - all new features - even more fun! http://uk.messenger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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