Prabhupada, the progressive revolutionary

[karthik_v]

How many of you have thought of Srila Prabhupada as a progressive revolutionary? If you haven't, then I am going to present several arguments that would lend credence to this statement of mine. Indeed he was one. Several great scholars and acedemics, who knew the traditions of Hinduism, held Srila Prabhupada in the highest regard. Many scholars thought and openly stated that he was a man of immense courage, who questioned the stereotypes that have taken roots in the society. Most importantly, he brought about his revolution without being disruptive.

 

In my several coming posts, I will highlight on every one of these points and also present the many statements of the scholars verbatim. Just to set the ball rolling, as one scholar said: "The future success of this movement entirely depends on only one factor - the ability of the followers in being able to measure up to the levels of purity that Srila Prabhupada has set as a standard."

[karthik_v]

Paths of rebellion that reject the tradition have rarely been successful. One can start with the example of Buddha himself. He rejected the authority of the Vedas and the concept of God. No doubt he highlighted many wonderful teachings such as compassion and argued against animal sacrifice, yet Buddhism as he taught soon died. Within centuries of his nirvana, Mahayana had already incorporated the concept of God into Buddhism and even had made Buddha a God. In those societies where Hinayana had taken roots, very soon everyone had become a meat eater. Why did this happen?

 

In my opinion, social changes happen not when you reject the existing tradition, how much ever you disagree with some aspects of that. This is because, people draw their identity by taking recourse to their traditions. The key is to transform those aspects of the tradition with which one disagrees, so much yet subtly, that the society imbibes it effortlessly. When the Ajivikas and the Buddhists rejected the very roots of the traditions, the society never really accepted that. As soon as their charismatic founders had left, the tradition itself was lost.

[stonehearted]

Here's an essay I wrote a couple of years ago. It was an attempt to place him in the context of the revolution brought by Mahaprabhu and extended by Bhaktivinoda Thakur and Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati.

 

Considering Srila Prabhupada’s Mercy

by Babhru das

 

About 500 years ago, Lord Krsna personally appeared as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the place of the avatar for the age of Kali. Lord Caitanya had two purposes for coming: to experience first-hand the bliss of serving Krsna and to spread pure love for Krsna, which is very rare. Writing about Lord Caitanya’s plan for making His mercy widely available, Srila Krsna das Kaviraja Gosvami says, “sri-krsna-caitanya-daya karaha vicara, vicara karile citte pabe camatkara: If you are indeed interested in logic and argument, kindly apply it to the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If you do so, you will find it to be strikingly wonderful.”

 

Actually, Lord Caitanya revolutionized vaisnavism. He took Krsna consciousness into the streets when He inaugurated the congregational chanting of Krsna’s holy names and deputed bands of devotees to widely preach the glories of saìkirtana and pure devotional service. He Himself traveled all over India preaching Krsna consciousness. He specifically deputed Lord Nityananda to preach in Bengal. Whereas Lord Caitanya’s direct followers came mostly from the higher social classes, Lord Nityananda made absolutely no distinction. He approached and anyone and everyone, as demonstrated in His pastime with Jagai and Madhai, and implored them to take up devotional service to Krsna accompanied by chanting Hare Krsna.

 

In the mid-nineteenth century, Srila Saccidanana Bhaktivinoda Thakura saw that Lord Caitanya’s teachings had become distorted in several ways and had fallen into disrepute. He conceived a dynamic plan to spread the glories of devotional service to everyone around the world. Part of his program was a modern approach to presenting Krsna consciousness. He presented the philosophy of Srimad-Bhagavatam in a way that even those who were influenced by modern Western philosophies, both in India and abroad, could appreciate it.

Essential to Bhaktivinoda’s revolutionary view was the understanding that Lord Caitanya was not exaggerating when He said that His name would be sung in every town and village around the world. Bhaktivinoda wrote in his monthly journal Sajjana-tosani, “Sriman Mahaprabhu did not descend with His associates to deliver a certain number of human beings in the land of India, but rather His purpose was to deliver and uplift all living beings in all countries of the world by practicing the eternal religion of all souls.” He quoted a verse from Caitanya-bhagavata in which the Lord predicted, “My name will be preached in all the countries and towns that exist throughout the world.” Bhaktivinoda Thakura then expressed his heart’s desire: “There are many kinds of religion in the world, and among all of them the highest development of religion is the congregational chanting of the Supreme Lord’s divine names. Of this there is no doubt. Alas! When will that day come when greatly fortunate souls in countries such as England, France, Russia, Prussia, and America will take up banners, kettle drums, mridangas and karatalas and thus cause the ecstatic waves of Harinama-kirtana and the singing of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s Holy Name to rise in the streets of their towns and cities? O when will that day come, when pure and transcendental Vaisnava-prema will be the only religion of all souls and all tiny sectarian religions will meet in the unlimited and universal religion of Vaisnavism as rivers merge into the great ocean? O when will that day come?”

 

Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s plan for propagating Krsna consciousness also included reviving a scientific daivi-varnasrama system to help make society more conducive to spiritual culture. He passed this vision of preaching Krsna consciousness to his son and siksa disciple, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, who extended Bhaktivinoda’s revolution by taking concrete steps to reinstitute varnasrama-dharma. Asserting that vaisnavas are as good as brahmanas, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati gave his disciples the sacred thread at initiation, regardless of their family lineage. He also reintroduced the asrama of tridandi-sannyasa to Gaudiya vaisnavism. Moreover, he created an organized institution for systematically propagating Krsna consciousness and trained his disciples to aggressively confront all forms of false religion.

 

Throughout his preaching career, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati exhorted everyone he met to help spread Krsna consciousness to the entire world. His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada recounted that when he first met his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta immediately challenged him and his friends, as educated young men familiar with English, to take Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission seriously and teach it to those who spoke English. In his last days, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati told his disciples to, above all, work cooperatively to continue and expand the systematic preaching he had begun, following Bhaktivinoda’s instructions.

 

Among Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati’s many disciples who were working to spread Lord Caitanya’s message as broadly as they could, Srila Prabhupada worked steadily toward further extending this transcendental revolution. We know now how he persisted over the years to satisfy Bhaktivinoda’s and Bhaktisiddhanta’s desire for systematically making Krsna consciousness available to everyone everywhere in the world. He worked with his Godbrothers for decades, published Back to Godhead single-handedly and distributed it himself, wrote Easy Journey to Other Planets, translated Srimad-Bhagavatam, and coaxed Sumati Morarji to give him passage on a freighter to New York, where he arrived practically penniless at the age of 70.

 

After suffering two heart attacks on the ship, Srila Prabhupada struggled in New York to distribute his books and establish the International Society for Krsna Consciousness. He worked tirelessly for twelve years to translate, publish, and distribute many authentic Vedic literatures, establish temples on every continent except Antarctica, and train thousands of disciples to carry on his work.

 

In 1976, while Srila Prabhupada was staying in Honolulu, some friends of mine spent a night in the temple’s front yard. Unable to sleep, they stayed up until mangala-arati chanting japa and watching the window of Srila Prabhupada’s room. He was up all night working on his books, occasionally stopping to chant devotional bhajans with his harmonium. Although he was almost 80 years old, he worked through the night to satisfy the desires of his spiritual master and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

 

Looking back, one of Srila Prabhupada’s prominent Godbrothers concluded that Srila Prabhupada had been personally empowered by Lord Nityananda to give Krsna consciousness to everyone everywhere in the world. After reading the poems Srila Prabhupada had written aboard the Jaladuta and on his arrival at Boston Harbor, he reasoned that Srila Prabhupada had emptied himself of all desires except to spread Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s message. And very much like Lord Nityananda, who gave anyone he encountered the most valuable treasure of the chanting of Hare Krsna in exchange for only a little faith, Srila Prabhupada freely distributed the holy name of Krsna to anyone who showed even enough faith to stop and listen for a moment. Lord Nityananda distributed what amounted to free samples of the highest spiritual realization, confident that those who tried the sample would want to buy his product, possibly becoming steady customers. Srila Prabhupada also gave out free samples of harinama, advertising it with the slogan, “Chant Hare Krsna, and your life will be sublime.” Consequently, millions who tried it became at least lifetime customers, if not distributors.

 

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati had implored his disciples to work vigorously to spread Krsna consciousness everywhere, thus satisfying the desires of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Bhaktivinoda Thakura. “The line of Bhaktivinoda will never be closed,” he wrote. “With even more enthusiasm you should become engaged in preaching the desire of Bhaktivinoda’s heart.” He also figuratively exhorted all his disciples to “be prepared to shed two hundred gallons of blood for the nourishment of the spiritual corpus of every individual of this world.”

 

Considering objectively what Srila Prabhupada did in his lifetime, we can safely conclude that he set the perfect example of sacrificing everything to satisfy Krsna. It’s clear that he understood the revolutionary desires of Lord Caitanya, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and worked to bring about what Srimad-Bhagavatam calls “a revolution in the impious lives of this world’s misdirected civilization.” Whoever applies their powers of logic and argument to considering the mercy of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada will certainly find it strikingly wonderful.

 

[karthik_v]

 

Considering objectively what Srila Prabhupada did in his lifetime, we can safely conclude that he set the perfect example of sacrificing everything to satisfy Krsna.

 

 

Also, his acts demonstrated his firm belief in and commitment to his goal, which was spreading Krishna bhakti. What you have stated here is what many reputed and neutral scholars like A L Basham think of him. More on that to follow.

 

One more thing. In general, the Bhakti tradition has produced several progressive acaryas. These acaryas, transformed the existing norms without rebelling against them. We can see that vaideeha traditions had been sidelined, and rightly so, and spontaneous bhakti given prominence, from the lives of Azhwars, Ramanujacarya etc., on the Vaishnava side and from the examples of Nayanmars from the Saivite side. Everyone has demonstrated a different approach in confronting orthodoxy. In the 20th century, such an approach was long overdue within the Vaishnava bhakti traditions, which Srila Prabhupada provided.

 

I would think that one of the most revolutionary acts of Srila Prabhupada was empowering the women. During the Muslim era and after, the status of women had degraded. For example, the vaideeha traditions had come to accord little respect to women. It was in that context that Srila Prabhupada elevated them to become priests - a revolution very silently carried out, yet phenomenol in its impact.