"The Power Of This Movement "
Aniruddha Dasa: We bought our incense at the Vedanta Society, a nice private ashram at the bottom of the hills on Vine Street in Los Angeles. At that time, they had the best incense. When I mentioned that to Prabhupada, he said, "I want to see that place." I took him there and he walked around the property. He was aloof from the whole thing. Prabhupada said, "I would like to have an appointment with the swami in charge here." His name was Swami Pravhavananda. He and a co-author had written the Penguin edition of the Bhagavadgita, the verses with some interpretation, that many of us had read. Swami Pravhavananda was the head of this chapter of the Vedanta Society of the Ramakrishna Mission founded by Vivekananda in 1918. So, I made the arrangements, and Prabhupada, some other devotees and I went to Swami Pravhavananda's office. This swami wore a Nehru jacket and looked like a businessman. He conversed with Prabhupada and right away there was a strong challenging mood. We didn't understand what was going on, but it wasn't enlivening. Prabhupada was aglow, saying, "Oh, Chaitanya", and this man was saying, "No, no, Swami, Chaitanya, no, no, no, no, no." Due to my immaturity, I thought that they were arguing about placing our books in their stores. But later I understood that they were all impersonalists, that they would never put our books there. In the car on the way back, we were quiet. There wasn't much enthusiasm. We were chanting and then Prabhupada said, "This Vedanta Society was introduced in America by Swami Vivekananda, who preached about Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna was not very popular in India. But Swami Vivekananda was an intellectual type and he told everybody how great Ramakrishna was. He attracted a lot of elderly people, got money, and became famous. Then he went back to India. Since the Indian people follow anything that's famous in America, Vivekananda became famous that way." But before he went to America, Prabhupada said, he wasn't much of anything. Then Prabhupada said, "You know, Swami Vivekananda came here fifty years ago and now they have seven centers." Then he smiled and said, "And we too have seven centers." Everybody said, "Jaya!" Prabhupada always lifted us up and made us understand how much power this movement has and how it is growing. I just read a letter from Prabhupada to Janardan in Montreal where he wrote, "The other day I met Swami Pravhavananda, and I talked with him. To speak plainly how l found him? a great rascal. Pravhavananda said that in Ramakrishna's previous life he was Lord Chaitanya. Similarly it is said that he was formerly Rama and Krishna. If actually he was Rama and Krishna and Lord Chaitanya, why there are so many contradictions between Rama, Krishna and Lord Chaitanya's teachings on one side, and the Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's teachings on the other side? Do you think that Ramakrishna was Lord Chaitanya and after 400 years he changed the whole philosophy? Lord Chaitanya propagated worship of Krishna; Krishna propagated that one should worship Him, Krishna; how is it that this Ramakrishna worships the material goddess Kali? Ask this question. So, such rascaldom is going on all over the world. We have to be very careful in understanding Krishna Consciousness." Because Prabhupada was saying these things to the so-called swami, the swami was getting upset. But at the time, I had no idea what was going on.
Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint - Volume 3 by Siddhanta Dasa
Recently Added
Trending Today