Journal of a Prabhupada Man, Entry #2

July 3, 2003

By Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Friday, June 27, 2003—Austin, Texas

The sweet nectar of preaching Krishna consciousness is the causeless mercy of Srila Prabhupada upon us. This material world is a place of misery, but for one who is absorbed in preaching Krishna consciousness, it becomes transformed into a playground, a place of transcendental delight.

Out of his causeless mercy Srila Prabhupada has blessed all of us with unlimited preaching opportunities so we can be fully happy, absolutely enlivened even while getting old and dying within this rotten material world. I’ve taken my share of his mercy by opening an ISKCON preaching center along with my wife in Austin, Texas. Srila Prabhupada directly ordered me in my initiation letter in 1971, "Make our Austin center a grand success." Our steady preaching here for many years has yielded a wonderful group of sincere souls seeking escape from the cycle of birth and death.

We’re blessed by the presence of Sri Sri Radha-Damodar, the personal Deities of His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja. Before he departed from this world, in his will, he permanently gave these most special Deities to my wife, who is his disciple. This beautiful little Damodar Deity is famous for having been personally discovered by Goswami Maharaja when he was walking one morning on Bombay’s Juhu Beach in 1978.

Today’s been very busy for me, answering e-mails from jivas I’m cultivating from all over the world. My complete focus on preaching for over thirty years has paid off. I’ve built up an e-mail list of over 1,400 sincere souls seeking spiritual guidance, and it just keeps growing. Every week I e-mail everyone a lesson on Krishna consciousness. I receive regular positive feedback and inquiries regarding the philosophy and practice of Krishna consciousness. Book orders keep coming in also.

Here are some excerpts that are typical:

"Thank you for your sincere effort. Your course has been carried out in a spirit of truly selfless service. Your weekly e-mails have certainly made me happy."

"I am Kathleen and I have just signed up for your free e-course in Self-Realization. I wanted you to know how grateful I am that you offer this information and help from the love and goodness of your heart, rather than for a profit. That has always been a BIG indicator to me of what is real and what is not. You can't possibly know how much this means to me, personally."

"I hope this finds you well and happy. I really enjoyed your latest lesson. I especially liked the way you expressed our free will: ‘Krishna has patiently facilitated your foolishness by giving you millions of ways to try to be happy in this material world.’ And so it is. I routinely ask myself in various situations— am I actually going to let my senses lead me around like a dog on a leash? Or is it possible, right now, to fix my mind on something above crude material concerns?"

I have my challengers out there too. There is a Muslim scholar who has been writing me again and again trying to convince me by quoting Vedic verses out of context that Deity worship is bogus. He has yet to be swayed by my counter-arguments. I have to keep trying.

And of course there are the occasional so-called Christians who try to tell me that I am going to hell if I don’t accept Jesus. I accepted Jesus long ago. It was he who inspired me to give my life to Srila Prabhupada. I am wondering when they will actually accept Jesus, hoping that day comes soon.

In this morning’s Srimad Bhagavatam class we read about Krishna’s pastime with Kalayavana and King Mucukunda. Krishna so expertly arranged for Kalayavana to be killed simply by leading him into the cave where Mucukunda was sleeping. Krishna is so absolutely expert in everything that He does. We see this quality of expertise also manifest in Krishna’s greatest devotees such as Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada was able to accomplish so many wonderful things simultaneously simply by preaching Krishna consciousness.

It’s really amazing when we lay aside all of our conditioning and consider Who Krishna is, how He is emanating everything from Himself at this very minute, and why He is doing so. The entire totality is simply Krishna’s pastime of enjoyment. He is emanating countless numbers of jivas from Himself simply to enjoy having a loving relationship with them. It is therefore quite comprehensible why we cannot be happy unless we give our love to Krishna. This is the entire reason for our existence— to give our love to Krishna.

I feel so happy and sheltered at Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet, feeling ever grateful that he turned my miserable life into an unending blissful celebration.

guru-mukha-padma-vakya, cittete koriya-aikya,

ar na koriho mane asa

"My only wish is to have my consciousness purified by the words emanating from his lotus mouth." —Narottama dasa Thakura