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Prabhupada Never Forsakes His Disciples - He Works On Them

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami: As Srila Prabhupada entered the storefront one evening, he was surprised to find Umapati there to greet him. Umapati had left Krishna Consciousness almost an year ago, and Prabhupada had not seen him since. Spontaneously Prabhupada went forward, and embraced Umapati. A few months before, Umapati had written indicating that he was thinking of returning. So his arrival was not a complete surprise to Srila Prabhupada. As Prabhupada took his seat, he asked Umapati about the devotees in New York. Briefly Prabhupada reminisced how he had begun his movement in New York, and how boys like Umapati had helped him.

Later that evening, back at the apartment, Prabhupada expressed sadness that some of his disciples had left Krishna Consciousness. He told Umapati that when the wife of one of the sannyasi disciples of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati had forcibly dragged her husband away, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati had shed tears over his inability to save the disciple. "A disciple, due to maya's influence, may fall away," Prabhupada said, "but the spiritual master will never forsake him".

Umapati had left Krishna Consciousness because of intellectual doubts. Having been an eclectic follower of Buddhism, he had objected to Prabhupada's explanations of Buddhism. On leaving Krishna Consciousness however, he had simply returned to his old job in a radio station, grown back his beard, and reverted to his old habits. "Whenever I saw someone doing something wrong, like eating meat," Umapati explained to Prabhupada, 'I would think, My Spiritual Master, said this is bad.'

"When you think like that," Prabhupada said, "your life at once becomes sublime."

Several other devotees entered Prabhupada's room as Prabhupada talked. "As a person becomes more Krishna conscious," Prabhupada explained, "he becomes concerned not to cause suffering to other living beings. He doesn't want to cause suffering even to a small insect. Don't you feel?" Prabhupada asked imploring them with his eyes, to understand the nonviolence of the devotee.

Seeing that Prabhupada was almost constantly occupied by various disciples, Lilavati, one of the girls visiting from San Francisco, decided not to take up her spiritual master's time unnecessarily.

Prabhupada noticed her frequent absence from the gatherings at his apartment. When she finally visited him, he asked her, "Why are you not coming?" 'Oh, Swamiji,' Lilavati said, 'you must do your translating work. I don't think you're getting your work done.' 

"No, you don't know?" Prabhupada corrected her mistake. "Don't you know my disciples are my work?"



Reference: Prabhupada Lila by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami