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So you have come, taking so much trouble. And take little trouble

At 5:30 a.m. SrilaPrabhupada descended the stairs amid a loud kirtana and excited shouts from the devotees. He stepped into the back seat of the car, and we sped off for Calcutta, accompanied by an escort of six vans and one of Hamsaduta Swami's buses. 

PushtaKrishnaMaharaja drove our car, Tamal Krishna Maharaja sat in front, and I sat in the back next to Prabhupada. It wasn't too long before I began to nod off to sleep. Despite Prabhupada's objecting several times, and my own best effort, I just could not keep alert. Prabhupada became so annoyed that he had PushtaKrishna stop the car and made me change places with Tamal Krishna, so that I sat in the front. After that embarrassment I stayed awake for the rest of the journey. All along the route, as we passed through the small villages, young children came running out to see the convoy. They laughed, danced and waved as we went past, attracted by the loud kirtana being broadcast from atop Gargamuni Swami's vans. We stopped off at the asrama of SrilaLalitaPrasada, the brother of SrilaBhaktisiddhantaSarasvatiThakura. As the last remaining son of SrilaBhaktivinodaThakura, he is very old. His asrama consists of a small temple and a few red-brick dwellings, none of which are well maintained. Prabhupada talked for some time with him and some of his management committee. They discussed the plans he had for development of SrilaBhaktivinoda's birth site. Nothing conclusive was arrived at with regard to their giving some land or even a lease on the property. We all took prasadam before leaving, SrilaPrabhupada with LalitaPrasada and we disciples with the local devotees of the asrama, up on the open roof. 

JayapatakaMaharaja, eager as ever to preach and advertise ISKCON's world-wide missionary efforts, told a group of our hosts about our preaching in the West. They were all eager to hear, and Maharaja tried to impress upon them the great need for Krishna consciousness in all the countries of the world. He told them of a law recently passed in Sweden, which makes it no longer illegal for members of the same family to have sex with each other. He said they are becoming increasingly degraded, and only Lord Caitanya's movement can save them. The simple Bengali Vaishnavas were all shocked to hear such things. They were very appreciative of Prabhupada's preaching and his Western disciples. After an hour or so, we departed, with nothing being positively decided. 

SriSriRadha-GovindaMandir 3A Albert Rd., Calcutta 17 SrilaPrabhupada gave a short, but very pointed, talk upon his arrival at the packed Calcutta temple. He first congratulated the pujaris for looking after the Deities so nicely. Then he went on to explain that these same Personalities, referring to Them by Their names in Mayapur, SriSriRadha-Madhava, are combined in the form of Lord Caitanya. Having just come from the birthplace of Lord Caitanya, SrilaPrabhupada told his attentive, and mainly non-Indian, audience that it was Lord Caitanya's desire that the inhabitants of Bharata-bhumi spread Krishna consciousness all over the globe. Although it is the duty of the Indians, he said, Bharata-bhumi can be understood in a broader sense as well. "In one sense Bharatavarsha means this planet. Formerly there was one flag, Bharatavarsha, and the capital was Hastinapura. Gradually the control of the Pandavas declined. Up to MaharajaParikshit, the whole world was Bharatavarsha. Now it has become a tiny land, peninsula. So in that sense anyone who has taken birth on this planet, it is the duty of him to spread Krishna consciousness. So by the grace of Krishna, you European boys and girls, you have taken very seriously, and Krishna will be very much pleased upon you." Prabhupada expressed his regret that the Indian people are not taking the Krishna consciousness movement seriously. He noted that even our immediate neighbors show no interest. Although they live in the same building, their only interest is making money, and dealings with them have sometimes been acrimonious. He said that even the villages of Bengal are in "pitiable" condition. He condemned the attempt of modern leaders to convince the villagers that their conditions will improve by industrialization, causing them to give up their Krishna conscious culture; the only result is misfortune.

Of course, being from Bengal, SrilaPrabhupada has watched the degradation of their culture over the decades, especially since independence. He ascribes this to their pursuit of Western materialistic ideals, and he made a plea to the room full of young Westerners now before him to help reverse the trend. "Anyway, Calcutta is my birthplace, so you have kindly come here and are conducting this temple. I am very much obliged to you. I cannot remain here. I have to go here and there. Try to raise the standard of Krishna consciousness, even there are so many inconveniences. I know. You are coming from a country where material conveniences are greater. 

But Caitanya Mahaprabhu has advised, trinadapisunicenatarorapisahishnuna/amaninamanadenakirtaniyahsadaharih. "So some of you, you have come with your big, big buses and vans to preach in India. You take CaitanyaMahaprabhu's blessings and try to enlighten these people. The Bharatavarshi, the inhabitants of Bharatavarsha, naturally they are already inclined. Just like in the villages, when we were passing, the boys and children, they were also dancing. That is natural. "Some way or other, this India is in a very precarious condition. So you have come, taking so much trouble. And take little trouble? there is no trouble; by the grace of Krishna and CaitanyaMahaprabhu there will be no trouble. You'll be happy. Try to preach this Krishna consciousness movement in India at least for some time and help them to rise to their standard of Krishna consciousness. Thank you very much."


Reference: Transcendental Diary Volume 1 by Hari Sauri Dasa





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