Big, Famous Personalities...
Rupa Vilasa Dasa: During a visit to the Dallas Gurukula, Prabhupada heard from the devotees of a local school teacher who was becoming interested in Krishna consciousness. The man was anxious to see Srila Prabhupada and Prabhupada agreed. As soon as he met Srila Prabhupada, the teacher began to pour out his heart about his personal difficulty. The man explained that in order to make extra money he was also driving a school bus.
A few weeks ago, while driving his bus, he had run over and killed a young schoolchild. Now he was being brought to court in a legal case. As the man went on with his story, a few of the devotees present felt sorry that Prabhupada had to hear all of it, but Prabhupada seemed very interested and he began asking detailed questions. "Had you come to a full stop?" Prabhupada asked. The teacher explained that the accident occurred on Valentine's Day. One of the children had dropped his Valentine and it fell under the bus. The child had climbed under the bus to get it. The teacher told Srila Prabhupada that he had looked both ways in his rearview mirror and didn't see any children. It had looked like all the children had crossed to the other side of the road. But when he started up the bus, the wheel went over the child. Srila Prabhupada asked the man if the company had insurance. After hearing the whole story and asking different questions, Prabhupada said that it seemed the teacher had followed all the safety precautions and that definitely any court of law would hold him blameless. When he heard Srila Prabhupada's decision, the teacher became relieved. Then Srila Prabhupada, who was sitting in a rocking chair, began to preach to the teacher and the few devotees present.
The light blue curtains and clean white walls of the room became effulgent in the last rays of sunlight streaming through the windows. Srila Prabhupada spoke of a recent news article about the scientist Werner von Braun. The famous scientist had recently stated publicly that after all his research, he had concluded that there must be a creator, a Supreme Being, and that all scientists should come together and by different methods establish His existence without a doubt. "Bring that news article," Prabhupada said, and as the article was read about the scientist who accepted God, Prabhupada became enlivened and made further points. He explained that the whole universe is like a big machine and that there is no question of any machine operating without a controller. There had to be a personality operating it. God, therefore, is a scientific fact, and now a world-famous scientist was recognizing this. "Prabhupada, this is really wonderful," one of the devotees exclaimed. Prabhupada agreed and said that they were sending a set of his books to Werner von Braun. "Prabhupada, if he becomes a devotee? he is so famous. He is the one who made the V-2 rocket." Prabhupada corrected the devotees and said that he was not interested in Werner von Braun because he was famous. He said he was interested to preach to anyone who had come to the right point. Because the scientist had come to the right point of inquiry and was interested in God, Prabhupada was interested to preach to him. "We don't care for any big, famous personalities," Prabhupada said. After Prabhupada had spoken for over an hour, one of the devotees again brought his attention to the visiting school teacher. "Prabhupada, this teacher got an award from his school for being the best teacher of that county." "Yes," said Prabhupada. "Krishna will send the best." And turning to the teacher, he said, "You should help us here. You should come here and help us with the teaching."
Reference: Srila Prabhupada Nectar by Rupa Vilasa Dasa
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