039 Only He Could Lead Them

This man led a worldwide revolution in consciousness in the sixties. Wherever he went, thousands of people were there to greet and honor him. His name was A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, and he brought the Hare Kṛṣṇa religion to American shores. He even influenced the Beatles and they helped spark interest in Kṛṣṇa. Hi, I’m Monya Sergi. And I’m Larry Laurent. Today we’re going to explore the life and character of the man who influenced the lives of millions and made “Hare Kṛṣṇa” a household word. At different times, Swami Prabhupāda was known as a scholar, a philosopher, a cultural ambassador, a prolific author, religious leader, spiritual teacher, social critic, and a holy man. He was not one of those modern entrepreneurial gurus who come to the West with slickly packaged, watered-down versions of eastern spirituality. Swami Prabhupāda was, rather, a true holy man, a person who is called “Ācārya,” which means a master who teaches by his own example. After arriving in the United States in 1965 at the age of sixty-nine, Swami Prabhupāda formed the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. This later developed into a worldwide spiritual community with hundreds of centers, schools, temples, and farms, with thousands of dedicated disciples. To have achieved all this in only twelve years was a remarkable achievement, but in addition, Swami Prabhupāda had also wrote and published over eighty volumes of translation and commentary on the great classics of ancient India. His books were welcomed with great critical acclaim by the academic community and they were soon accepted in many universities and libraries around the world. Before passing away in 1977, Swami Prabhupāda had succeeded in transmitting the profound wisdom of the ancient Vedic culture in a way that was clearly understandable to the modern man. He could explain difficult philosophical concepts to people who were totally unfamiliar with the complex Indian religious tradition. Between 1966 and 1977, Swami Prabhupāda circled the globe eleven times. Whenever he traveled he would emerge daily into the chill and quiet of the early morning, and he would take a lengthy stroll with an entourage of students, disciples, and guests. Swami Prabhupāda also appeared very frequently on American television. Lets take a look at one of those interviews. San Francisco, CA 1974 You founded the Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement some seven years ago in 1967, did you not? Yes. In a capsule, what is the movement? The movement is to awaken God consciousness of the human being. The human being is distinct, distinguished from the animals. The animals cannot understand what is God. And if the human being also does not understand what is God, then he is animal. I see. So your movement is to bring about an understanding of God among human beings. And “Hare Kṛṣṇa” means what? “Hare Kṛṣṇa” means addressing the energy of God. “Hare” means the energy of God, and “Kṛṣṇa” means God. You were here yesterday to attend your annual festival that was held here in Golden Gate park, and we were there too. In fact, here it is. A few thousand people came out to hear it. How many people are now disciples of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement? Dedicated life, about ten thousand. About ten thousand dedicated ones. In the western world. Your grace, is there any significance at all in the shaved head? Why are heads shaved? We keep ourselves very clean. It’s just a cleanliness thing? Yes. Is there any significance in the color of the robes? At least, at the present moment, people think that by keeping long hair, you become very beautiful. So we are against this. Just as simple as that? Is there any significance in the yellow robes? Yellow robe is the dress of those who are dedicated. It could have very well been a blue robe, it’s just something that was arrived at. This saffron. Your grace, why do you feel that so many people are pulling away from the traditional religions in this country such as Christianity and so forth, and going for the, trying to understand the eastern religions? We hear of a lot of Swamis and Gurus and other type of yogi and so forth. Why do you feel that people are pulling away from the traditional Christian standards here? Because we see that the Christian churches, especially I have seen in London, mostly closed. People are not interested or the Christian leaders, they cannot make them interested. Why? Did Christianity fail the people, which is why they’re turning to other things? I think so. You say that Hare Kṛṣṇa consciousness pretty much takes the absolute truths from the Bible, the Koran, the Toraḥ, and the Vedic. Everywhere. Religion means to understand God. I understand, but do you feel that in getting truths from various places like the Bible and the Koran and so forth, don’t you run into conflicts at all, or contradictions in those particular philosophies? No, I don’t find any conflict because the ultimate goal is God. So, we have to understand God and try to love him. So you can go through any religious process. If the goal is attained, that you understand what is God, and you try to love him, then your life is perfect. Why do we see so many of your followers chanting almost all the time? The chanting means to keep association with God, always. So you have to audibly chant “Hare Kṛṣṇa?” Yes. This is transcendental vibration. Just like a radio message, if you keep contact with the radio message, then you know everything that is going on outside. Similarly, this transcendental sound, “Hare Kṛṣṇa,” if you chant, then you keep connection with God directly. Thank you very much, your divine grace, it’s been our privilege to talk with you and to meet you, and hope that we can see you again when you return. We’ll be back with more news in just a moment. We were also able to obtain some candid footage of Swami Prabhupāda going about his daily activities, and we found that there is a remarkable consistency between his private life, and his public life. We are receiving the transcendental knowledge through guru paramparā succession. So we have to simply take instruction from guru, and if we execute that to our heart and soul, that is success. That is practical. I have no personal qualification but I simply try to satisfy my guru. That’s all. My Guru Mahārāja asked me that, “If you get some money, you print books.” Therefore I am stressing this point. So kindly help me. This is my request. Print as many books in as many languages and distribute throughout the whole world. Then Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement will automatically increase. That Supreme Lord, he is omnipotent, omniscient, he knows everything. But the living being does not know actually what is the position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the difference between the Supreme Personality of Godhead and ordinary living beings. My father wanted me to become like this. Know everything, what is going on. He never wanted me to be a worldly man, earning money. He never wanted. That is explained in Narada-pancharatra. When we become free from this artificial designations, American consciousness, Indian consciousness, African consciousness, there is no such thing this is artificial. Even bird and beast, they also feel consciousness, pains and pleasures. When there is scorching heat you feel some pain. Is it American or Indian or African? Scorching heat is everywhere. If you say that I am feeling scorching heat American way, Simply these are artificial. There western world, the younger generation were becoming frustrated, the hippie movement. So, when they saw something tangible, they accepted it. What thing, if everyone in the United States believed in Kṛṣṇa, and to the extent that you do, what would happen to this country? How would it be transformed? They would be very happy and peaceful. There would be no more hippies. What would you describe as a hippie? You know better than me. Something extraordinary. So you may love humanity, but because you do not love Kṛṣṇa, therefore do not love the cows you send them to slaughterhouse. So your love will remain defective. It will never be complete. And if you love Kṛṣṇa, then you love even the small ant. You are not interested to kill even a small ant. That is real love. Gopal Kṛṣṇa, in India, requested that BBT give him a loan of 160,000 dollars. In India, during the Māyāpur festival, he requested a loan from the U.S. BBT for 160,000 dollars, which would be used to construct the second residence building. How will he pay back? His plan was that the American temples would purchase rooms, and over a period of four or five years they would pay that money back. So is that still approved by your Divine Grace? Yes, I have no objection. The only thing is that we will have to delay the loan because for the next three months, all our money will be used to print these 17 books. First of all books, then loan. We cannot hold up printing, that is not possible. This you must always keep in view. We are not going to… The surplus money we are going to pay. Not that at the cost of stopping printing. You must always keep it (in view). When you require money for printing, there is no question of loan or temple building. This should be our principle. Dr. Stillson Judah is a professor of emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. His field is the history of religion. We asked Dr. Judah to tell us about his association with Swami Prabhupāda. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness is a bona fide movement. It is a movement which is actually older than that of Christianity. The worship of Kṛṣṇa is one which is extremely popular in India and is one of the great religions of India at the present time as it has been throughout all of the years of history. One of the questions most asked by people is whether “Hare Kṛṣṇa” is just a passing fad or is it really here to stay. Next week, we’re going to try and get all the answers. Will “Hare Kṛṣṇa” survive through the eighties? What happened to the movement after the passing of their leader Swami Prabhupāda, and what kinds of worship do they have?