Srila Prabhupada Preaching Spirit

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami: In the evening he wanted to see guests. We suggested he not see people who would waste his time, and he agreed, but then he would become angry with us if we kept people from seeing him because he existed for preaching to them. It was his duty to preach, he felt. Prabhupada was self-satisfied and never restless or bored, yet if the place was really quiet with no preaching there, he seemed to want to go where there was some action. This was also a manifestation of his desire to accomplish as much as possible. Prabhupada was already accomplished in terms of self-realization and love of Krishna; therefore his travel was only for the benefit of others. He felt he had to travel and he kept on the move. When he arrived in a new place, he was immediately ready to see the local people. The room would fill up and he would preach for hours. This feature of Prabhupada's behavior was astounding. Day and night people would come into his room, sometimes a few, sometimes many. Prabhupada would always speak to them about Krishna; he would speak on the basis of Bhagavad-gita, calling for verses to be cited, answering questions, preaching much as in his classes. The informal talks were more unusual. Many of his talks in later years were recorded. He would preach, preach, preach. He kept going, hours on end, preaching the basic philosophy, holding the room full of people, then taking a little prasadam and distributing it. When he would travel to certain places, as in Europe, where he could speak to many people and bring them to devotional service, he would be especially enlivened to preach. Preaching included encouraging the local ISKCON disciples wherever he visited, and preaching also meant his book writing. It also meant his spirit of maintaining and expanding ISKCON in all its activities. We cannot describe the full glories of his preaching spirit. His enthusiasm was unlimited and even today is nourishing all the preachers of ISKCON. When he was ill and feeling inconvenience, when the people he was speaking to were low-class or disinterested, when his body was very old, and when in order to preach he had to interrupt his schedule, when there was difficulty going on within his ISKCON - still his preaching would go on. Sitting at his low desk talking, his eyes sometimes widening, hands sometimes gesturing, taking water to drink, chanting almost soundless japa when not talking, focusing in on special guests to develop a whole argument with them, Prabhupada was intent on his preaching points, although he had made the same points millions of times. Thus he was not just a scholar, but a pure devotee attempting to convince everyone that they had to change - the whole world had to change - or else.