Remembering Srila Prabhupada Tells Short Stories

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Prabhupada Tells Short Stories

 

 

On a morning walk in Boston Srila Prabhupada told of a

funny _expression used in India. He said that if you

see a fat man in India, you sometimes say to him,

"Where do you get your merchandise?" The idea is that

to become so fat, the man must be obtaining good

merchandise. As he said this, Srila Prabhupada was

accompanied only by a few disciples, walking down

Allston Street near the old Boston storefront temple.

Suddenly, a beer-bellied cab driver got out of his car

just in front of the devotees. Srila Prabhupada looked

directly at the fat man and said, "Where do you get

your merchandise?" The meaning of Prabhupada's words

went completely over the cabbie's head, and Prabhupada

continued walking and talking.

 

 

 

While speaking at Harvard University one time, Srila

Prabhupada told the students the story of how the

Himalayan mountains once gave birth. When the word

spread that the world-famous, huge Himalayan mountain

range was going to produce offspring, hundreds of

people began to gather in the foothills of the

mountains. In anticipation, crowds waited, and finally

they saw hundreds of rats running out from the

Himalayan mountains! Srila Prabhupada linked this

strange story to the student population of Harvard. He

said that it was expected that from the greatest

university in America something wonderful would come

out, but unless they became Krsna conscious, they

would be like the offspring of the Himalayan

mountains.

 

 

" .. If one has got their own philosophy, then let

them preach their own philosophy. But do not do it in

the name of the Gita. This is our protest to all the

interpreters of the Bhagavad-gita. If they do not

believe in God, Krsna, and they don't want to

surrender to Him, then let them preach atheism.

Everyone has got the right to do this, but why through

the Gita? This is like the man who wants to smoke

ganja, but he does not want to be caught. So he takes

a friend's hand and smokes it in his hand, and then

when the authorities come, he says, "Oh, I have not

smoked ganja. See, my hands are clean!" The idea is

that if one wants to preach the Gita, then he must

preach it as it is, otherwise don't go through the

Gita."

-- Letter of June 6, 1976

 

According to a Bengali story told by Prabhupada, a

deaf man used to call his wife. She would reply, "I am

coming," but the deaf man could not hear her. He used

to think, "This woman is deaf." In actuality he was

deaf, but he accused her of being deaf. Prabhupada

said this was similar to the condition of the mass of

people who are actually "brainwashed" by material

illusion and yet who accuse the Krsna conscious

persons of being brainwashed. In this connection,

Prabhupada stressed that only a Krsna conscious person

knew the science of the soul and of changing bodies,

whereas other religionists had little or no idea of

this. Yet they criticize from their position of blind

faith.

 

Rukmini-devi dasi, interview; letter to Giriraja

Swami, June 6, 1976; Ramesvara Swami, interview.

 

 

- From the Prabhupada Nectar by HH Satsvarupa dasa

Goswami Mharaj

 

 

 

 

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