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This Happens In Srila Prabhupada's Presence

Chidananda Dasa: Each night after kirtana Prabhupada would lecture. He was discussing the verses in the sixth chapter of Bhagavad-Gita. "I am making here a series of lectures on the Krishna conscious yoga system," Prabhupada wrote to Brahmananda Dasa in mid-December of 1967, "And they are tape-recorded." Prabhupada thought of assembling the lectures into a small book. Indian gurus introducing self-styled techniques were increasingly popular in the U.S. those days. Therefore, Prabhupada wanted his disciples to distinguish the standard form of yoga and meditation, as taught by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita, from the farce taught by gurus who never mention Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but rather say everyone is equal to God, and whose disciples are allowed to indulge their senses in intoxication and illicit sex. They give a mantra for a fee, Prabhupada noted, and claim that by meditating twenty minutes in the morning one can become God in six months. He was surprised by the fact that American people, who were supposedly intelligent, were being so easily carried away by their cheating. "We have actually seen such so-called yogis," Prabhupada said, "Sleeping and snoring while meditating."

"Service begins by the tongue," Prabhupada said in one of his December '67 lectures, "By chanting this Hare Krishna mantra, and by the taste of Krishna-prasadam. The beginning process is very nice. If prasadam is offered to you, accept it. If you become submissive and give service by these two practices, Krishna will reveal Himself to you just like Krishna is revealing Himself to Arjuna. Arjuna is a devotee, he is a friend. I am speaking to you about that old system of yoga, bhakti-yoga. One who has developed the service spirit with love and devotion, only he can understand Krishna."

After the lecture, Prabhupada would continue the theme, Krishna Consciousness, in his room. It was the same theme as on his morning walks, in his letters, or in his intimate talks with individual disciples or visitors; it was the theme of his writing and the very heartbeat of his life. When a devotee asked Prabhupada how the soul is carried from one body to another body, Prabhupada replied, "By desire," and cited himself as an example, "Just like I have come to America. Why? Because I wanted to preach. Therefore, by that desire, I was carried here. Otherwise, I have no business to come here."

There would be three, four, or five devotees in his room and he would just start talking. They would somehow gather in his room, and he would start talking about what he was trying to do. His talk was not directed specifically to anyone, but he was saying what he was doing. He made everything very clear. He wanted to publish his books. He was trying to get a press for this back in New York and had he obtained a letter from Raya Rama Dasa in New York, he would have read the letter right there. In this way, it was allaying any doubts in disciples' minds about what he was really going to try to do. He had his books and the temple in his mind. He was concerned about the temple and the new lunch program, where they would be giving out free prasadam. His concern kept everybody going. Before he came, there was no much activity, but when Prabhupada came things started bustling very fast.

 



Reference: Prabhupada Lila by Chidananda Dasa