Remembering Srila Prabhupada - More Little Drops of Nectar

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More Little Drops of Nectar

 

 

Bhurijana dasa, for example, gave Prabhupada a heavy

gold-plated I.D. bracelet when Prabhupada visited Hong

Kong. Not long after, Prabhupada gave the bracelet to

another disciple, Bhagavan Goswami, and Bhurijana was

at first disappointed. Finally he came to see it as

another form of Prabhupada's mercy on all of the

devotees. Therefore, for one who did not understand

Prabhupada's renounced mood and his loving

interactions with his disciples, the sight of

Prabhupada wearing several rings or gold ornaments was

sometimes misunderstood. Although Prabhupada was aware

of the risk of this misunderstanding, for the most

part he nevertheless accepted the various gifts

because of the importance of accepting offerings as

Krsna's representative and then using them in Krsna's

service.

 

In a famous taped discussion in Philadelphia, a lady

reporter challenged Prabhupada about his being picked

up at the airport in a modern, opulent automobile.

Prabhupada reprimanded her, explaining that according

to the scriptures, as Krsna's representative he should

be treated as good as God. Therefore, the car used at

the airport was not sufficient; it should have been a

gold car. In this way, Prabhupada teased the

nondevotees with their own misconceptions.

 

Of course, it is impossible to escape the envious

remarks of people who have no appreciation for the

pure devotee. Prabhupada did his best not to give them

anything to criticize, but still they criticized. When

in Paris, Prabhupada lectured as usual from the

vyasasana and radical students in the audience at La

Salle Playel yelled at him, Prabhupada decided that he

would not sit on such vyasasanas in public, especially

before audiences known to be Communist or radical.

Nevertheless, the Vedic tradition requires that the

guru be worshiped and held in high esteem. Just to

suit the mentality of the rebels, Prabhupada couldn't

always "come down" to appease their envious

satisfaction.

 

The incident where Prabhupada compared left-handed

writing to very unusual phenomena brings to mind the

fact that Prabhupada encountered much behavior in the

West, even in the acts of his disciples, that was

unusual and bizarre by his standards. The unclean

habits of the mlecchas were always a source of

amazement and transcendental disgust for Prabhupada.

He remarked how in India, even the poor man bathes at

least once a day, if only from an open pump, and a

civilized man bathes three times a day. Prabhupada saw

that in America bathing was a difficult job. When he

first moved onto the Lower East Side, he saw that some

of his students who lived in outside apartments had no

bathing facilities of their own and used to visit

friends, or would even visit Prabhupada, just to get

the use of a bath. As for eating, Prabhupada often

commented on the disgusting habit of Westerners, who

eat a piece of meat that is "three hundred years old"

and prepare it by boiling it in hot water and then

throwing some salt on top. And when they eat, they do

not wash their hands either before or after the meal,

but simply wipe their hands on their pants. Prabhupada

attempted to reform all of these unclean habits in the

persons who became his disciples. At least on one

occasion, however, Prabhupada said it was really

hopeless for the Western devotees to fully come up to

the brahminical standards since they were so long

accustomed to their dirty habits. Prabhupada cautioned

his disciples, therefore, not to be proud of their

so-called Western achievements as part of their

upbringing in Western society.

 

The civilization where superhighways are as smooth as

velvet, where instant communications are available

over vast distances, and where there is so much money

that they can throw it away was ultimately not

something to be proud of. Rather, it was something to

become detached from in favor of Vedic society.

Fortunately, we have the perfect example of Srila

Prabhupada, who proved that one can certainly live in

Western climates and in modern situations without

having to abandon the essentials of Krsna conscious

brahminical life. He engaged all -- those with the

harmless oddities like left-handedness or the

inability to perfectly pronounce Sanskrit, as well as

those with heavier "oddities," such as the tendency

toward change and quarrel -- in Krsna's service, and

even celebrated the activities of his "dancing white

elephants" before the native-born Hindus of India.

 

 

- From the Prabhupada Nectar by HH Satsvarupa dasa

Goswami Maharaj

 

 

 

 

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