Remembering Srila Prabhupada - Horseless Carriage Civilization

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Horseless Carriage Civilization

 

 

In his lectures, Prabhupada often derided the

"horseless carriage" civilization where cars go

whoosh-whoosh back and forth on the highways and often

end in fatal accidents. He also personally experienced

the dangers of riding in cars.

 

One time on the way to Mayapur, with Gargamuni

driving, the car hit a man who was repairing the road.

The man was not much hurt, but as Prabhupada's car

slowed down, the villagers barricaded the road and

surrounded the car. Soon a crowd of Bengalis were

shouting angrily around the car. Srila Prabhupada

rolled down his window and spoke out loudly in

Bengali. After a while, Prabhupada turned to Gargamuni

and said, "Give them ten rupees." The ten rupees only

produced more yelling and threatening.

 

"Give them ten more rupees," said Prabhupada. After

Gargamuni did that, Srila Prabhupada instructed, "Now

we can go." The car inched forward, the crowd parted,

and Prabhupada's party continued on after the

horrifying experience. Srila Prabhupada then began

reprimanding Gargamuni for driving too fast.

 

Another time, in America, while on a morning walk,

Prabhupada gave the same instruction. Radha-vallabha

dasa was reminiscing about a time when he had been

speeding ninety-five miles an hour in order to greet

Srila Prabhupada at the airport in New York. An angry

state trooper had stopped him, Radha-vallabha said,

but when the trooper saw that Radha-vallabha was a

Hare Krsna devotee and heard that he was on the way to

see Prabhupada, he let him go.

 

Srila Prabhupada did not seem impressed or interested

in his story. "Don't speed," he replied. "Don't take

advantage."

 

"Well, we were going to pick you up at the airport,"

said Radha-vallabha, smiling.

 

"That's all right," he said, "don't speed."

 

A few years earlier, when a devotee was killed in a

car crash because of negligence during an all-night

drive, Srila Prabhupada lamented at the loss of a

Vaisnava, a disciple named Jaya Gopala. In a letter he

wrote after that tragedy, Srila Prabhupada said

whatever gains had been made by speeding all night

were lost beyond measure by the loss of a devotee.

 

Srutakirti dasa, interview; Radha-vallabha dasa,

interview; Satsvarupa dasa Goswami; Hrdayananda

Goswami, interview; Purnacandra-devi dasi, interview.

 

Devotees have noted on various occasions how

Prabhupada displayed an extrasensory perception of

events. Prabhupada was in Florida with Hrdayananda

Goswami, and they were driving behind a fruit truck.

Prabhupada pointed to it and said, "Oh, watermelons?"

Hrdayananda Goswami explains, "We looked, but all we

could see were Florida oranges. We said, 'No,

Prabhupada. Those are oranges.' A few minutes later,

as we were passing that truck, behind the oranges we

saw watermelons. They were hidden. Prabhupada just

laughed and said, 'Yes, there are the watermelons.'"

 

In Bhaktivedanta Manor one time Srila Prabhupada

complained of a dripping water faucet that disturbed

him. The devotees searched and searched, but found

nothing. Finally, they found the offending faucet. It

was outside his room, down the hall, down a small

block of stairs, down another small hall, and inside a

closet in a place from which water was hardly ever

taken. No one knew how he could possibly have heard it

drip.

 

 

- From the Prabhupada Nectar by HH Satsvarupa dasa

Goswami Maharaj

 

 

 

 

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