If Indian young men join me, I am immediately ready for this traveling touring from village to village, town to town.
Punjabi Premananda, a local student, sent a letter to Prabhupada after attending the walk this morning. He asked a number of questions, seeking clarification from Srila Prabhupada on his comments that knowing Sanskrit and studying are not as important as simply hearing the sastras. He is currently reading a Sanskrit work by Ramanujacarya, the Vedanta-sara, with Sanskrit commentary by two other acaryas. He asked whether he should stop this and simply hear.
He also mentioned that a number of politicians were going village to village on padayatra, traveling by foot, and in this way getting many donations of land. He suggested that Srila Prabhupada might do the same.
Typing sometimes in capitals for emphasis, he said, "IF YOU STARTED PADAYATRA or at least if YOU WENT TO VILLAGES IN CAR FOR THE TIME (FOR A FEW MONTHS) then naturally many people will give land which can be used for KRISHNA's SERVICE. AND SO MANY PEOPLE WILL BE BENEFITTED BY HAVING YOUR DARSHAN (VISION). I am not at all commanding you, just an idea that struck my mind regarding the above said content of the PADAYATRA."
Finally, on the comment Prabhupada had made that Gandhi was simply reading the Gita for five minutes and then discussing politics, he added his agreement that it is very difficult to think of Krishna and work in an office. He is studying for his BA in philosophy and psychology, and he wanted to know how he could keep his mind fixed on Krishna consciousness.
He added a telling comment, a confirmation of Srila Prabhupada's many remarks about the unfortunate condition of the youth of India. "I find so much opposition, when I just mention about Krishna, or try to tell them about Krishna consciousness to my College friends. They simply criticize and say, 'Oh, you are a bore, you always bore us, why do you speak about other-worldly?'"
Srila Prabhupada answered all his points, first of all explaining that reading Bhagavad-gita is all right, but if one does it independently there is a chance of being misled. Therefore one should hear from an authorized source, i.e., a self-realized person, a bona-fide guru.
"Mental speculation will not help. Hearing is the main point. In the Bhagavad-gita it is written, dharmakshetre kurukshetre... when you hear from a realized soul, a person who knows things, he explains that Kurukshetra is a place where religious ritualistic ceremonies are performed from time immemorial... But if you read the books of some cunning politician, he'll mislead you, and you'll learn that Kurukshetra means this body, which is not actually the fact."
Concerning his suggestion for padayatra, Prabhupada welcomed it. With the same enthusiasm he has recently injected into Hamsaduta Maharaja, Prabhupada encouraged the boy to participate. "If Indian young men join me, I am immediately ready for this traveling touring from village to village, town to town. However, my foreign disciples have the language defect, they can't speak the village language, otherwise I would have started this program long ago. If some young men like you would join me then along with some foreign disciples I can immediately take up this program. If you are very eager, please get hold of at least half a dozen young men like you then with another half dozen foreign disciples, I can immediately take up this program and tour village to village and town to town. It will be very, very effective, I know that."
On the boy's last point Prabhupada gave him the simple straightforward method for remembering Krishna: simply chant. "Your associates are harassing you for your interest in spiritual culture; yes, that is due to India's great misfortune. They're impressed with so-called politicians and scholars of the modern age. The example is given in this connection that when a man is ghostly haunted, he speaks all nonsense. At the present moment they're all ghostly haunted and in this delirious condition, the only cure is chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra."
Reference: Transcendental Diary Volume 1 by Hari Sauri Dasa
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