CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

ALTHOUGH ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA had said he would stay in Los Angeles, he soon decided to follow his original travel plans. Feeling compelled to see to the welfare of his disciples around the country, he left on a tour of thirteen ISKCON centers in the U.S. and Canada. About half a dozen of his sannyāsī disciples traveled with him.

Denver
June 27, 1975
  Śrīla Prabhupāda was pleasantly surprised to see the brick church building that was now a Kṛṣṇa temple. The temple hall was spacious, and afternoon sunshine streamed into the room. He beheld the small golden forms of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa on the altar and then walked to the rear of the hall, where he sat on the vyāsāsana, allowing the devotees to bathe his feet. These devotees, unaccustomed to being with their spiritual master, were awkward in performing the standard formalities. But they were enthusiastic and happy.

Sitting on the floor before Śrīla Prabhupāda, Daśaratha began singing Ohe Vaiṣṇava Ṭhākura, accompanying himself on the harmonium. Śrīla Prabhupāda liked his singing and, when the song was finished, asked, “You know the meaning?”

Daśaratha replied, “ ‘O venerable Vaiṣṇava, O ocean of mercy, please be merciful unto your servant.’ ”

Another devotee added, “ ‘I pray for the shade of your lotus feet.’ ”

“Yes,” Prabhupāda acknowledged, and he began to speak about the song’s author, Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura. He then quoted another song by Narottama dāsa, chādiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā nistāra pāyeche kebā. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for nistāra, he said. “Nistāra means to be liberated from the capture of māyā. When we hear songs by the Vaiṣṇavas, that is called liberation.”

Although the devotees had heard before of Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura and of liberation, they listened especially attentively now. Here was the Vaiṣṇava Ṭhākura in person, come to teach them to control their passions, to impart to them the strength to carry out the saṅkīrtana movement, and to bless them, as Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura described, “with one drop of faith with which to attain the great treasure of the holy name.”

“So I am very glad to see this temple,” Śrīla Prabhupāda said to the group of about forty devotees. “You have purchased it? That’s nice. Very good space. And the devotees here are very nice. So, our process is very simple – that we dedicate our life to the service of the Vaiṣṇava, and according to his direction, we engage in śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam, hearing and chanting of Viṣṇu. And refrain from the sinful activities. Then life is successful. We do not require to be very learned or very rich man or to take birth in very high family.”

“So bullet is expected also?” Prabhupāda laughed.

Brahmānanda remarked that the world leaders were always in anxiety. Prabhupāda agreed – in the material world there was danger at every step.

He began talking of Indian politics: Indira Gandhi and Jayaprakash Narayan in bitter disagreement. “Both of them are in distressed position,” Prabhupāda said. “I am thinking of writing them on the basis of our Bhagavad-gītā. Do you think it is advised?” When Śrīla Prabhupāda mentioned that Indira Gandhi occasionally went to see her guru, Ānandamayī, Brahmānanda remarked that her guru had commented favorably about the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa.

“So, what do you think?” Prabhupāda asked his sannyāsīs, Tamāla Kṛṣṇa, Bhavānanda, and Satsvarūpa. “Shall I write? Hmmm? I have made a draft of a letter this night. So you come and see. Let us take a chance. We want good for everyone, and this is the only medicine, Hare Kṛṣṇa, for all wrongs. Para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. People are suffering.”

The devotees agreed the letters would be a good idea, although they doubted whether the politicians would take the advice or even read such letters.

Prabhupāda then asked about the public’s response to Kṛṣṇa consciousness in Denver.

“They get nice attendance on Sundays,” Satsvarūpa answered. “Many people come.”

“There is good hope,” Prabhupāda affirmed.

“Good book distribution here, too.”

Prabhupāda nodded. “That is the most successful. Wherever book distribution is going on nicely, that is successful. Because people are in gross ignorance, they are taking this temporary life as everything. Very horrible condition. We are trying to explain what is the actual life.”

They arrived at the park, which was filled with tall old pines, maples, and oaks. Getting out of the car, Prabhupāda stood facing a pond. In the distance he could see the Denver skyline and the Rocky Mountains. He could hear the quacking of ducks and geese from the pond.

A second carload of devotees arrived, and Prabhupāda and his followers began walking along a paved path beside the lake. “Very nice park,” Prabhupāda remarked, “and not far away.”

They soon came upon a large modern building, the Museum of Natural History. “That means Darwin’s theory, that’s all,” said Prabhupāda. “Their whole civilization is based on this Darwin’s theory. How long you shall keep history? Do you know what is the history of the sun, when it was created, when it came into appearance? Can Darwin give us the history of the sun, or the moon, or the sky? Where is the history? There is history, but where is your history? You simply imagine, ‘There was a chunk, and it became manifested as the sun, moon. And I am also this.’ What do you actually know? How has this cosmic manifestation come into existence?”

The sun rose with dazzling, golden rays and quickly warmed the air. The devotees offered Prabhupāda information about Denver, “the mile-high city.” It was good for health, they said. Prabhupāda said the climate was as in Punjab, the upcountry in India. He also heard how Colorado was known as “cow country” because its main industry was slaughter.

Prabhupāda walked past a zoo and down a hill. He passed a Civil War cannon and saw many colorful flower beds, expansive lawns, and everywhere the tall pines. Although the air seemed chilly for July, the brightness of the rising sun was unusual, and the natural scenery of the park stood out sharply. Śrīla Prabhupāda also appeared bathed in golden light as he walked briskly, wrapped in his gray cādara, talking from time to time with his disciples.

Prabhupāda mentioned Gopal Agarwal, the man at whose home he had first stayed after arriving in America in 1965. Gopal’s father, he said, was a very rich man in Mathurā, and Gopal had come to America to be an electrical engineer. He was not doing as well as he would have by staying in India, Prabhupāda said. Gopal’s wife, Sally, used to say, “My husband is a lost child of his parents.”

“People are working so hard day and night for these temporary years,” Prabhupāda said, “although by laboring less than that, they can go back to Godhead. Just to get a nice car, a nice wife and a few children by working so hard. And by the same labor, if he devotes himself to Kṛṣṇa consciousness then he goes back home, back to Godhead. And what is wrong there? We have got so many Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees. What is wrong there, compared to these ordinary karmīs? Hmm? Are you unhappy? What do you think? All their efforts will be finished, and after death they will become a cat or a dog or a tree.”

Devotee: “Sometimes, Śrīla Prabhupāda, even if we explain this and the people seem to understand, still they won’t do anything about it.”

Prabhupāda: “So you have to constantly poke them. Just like when a man is sleeping, you have to call him constantly, ‘Mr. John! Mr. John! Wake up, you rascal! Why are you sleeping? You have got this opportunity of human form of life. Now get up! Take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and solve all your problems.’ ”

Devotee: “Some people say that if we want to do this it’s all right, but we shouldn’t preach and insist to them. Everyone has his own way.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda: “But you are a human being. You rascal, you are sleeping! And we are just trying to awaken you. Suppose a child was going off to one side where there is danger. We are human beings, so we shall say, ‘No, no, go to the right.’ We shall try to save him. That is our business, to do good to others. That is the mission of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Not that, ‘This man is going to hell, so let him go to hell. But at least I am happy.’ That is not humane.”

Devotee: “A lot of times, Śrīla Prabhupāda, they feel we’re just escaping material life. They say we don’t have jobs and that we should work for a living.”

Prabhupāda (addressing an imaginary challenger): “You rascal! You have no money – you work. But we are rich men. We are Kṛṣṇa’s sons. So why shall I work like you, an ass? An ass will work unnecessarily. We are not asses.”

Bhagavad-gītā, Prabhupāda said, establishes Lord Kṛṣṇa as the proprietor of everything. The servants of Kṛṣṇa, therefore, should not be expected to work hard like asses. Asses work hard, not human beings. This was also the instruction of Ṛṣabhadeva in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons that human life is not meant for working hard simply for food and sex enjoyment. That was the business of hogs.

Prabhupāda: “Tell them they are working like hogs, and we are living like human beings. That is the difference. If somebody does not work hard like a hog, does that mean he is escaping?”

Śrīla Prabhupāda continued to vigorously develop his theme. He argued very seriously and yet in a delightful way, showing the fortune of one who becomes a servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The devotees could not refrain from smiling and laughing as they hurried to keep up with his pace and with his Kṛṣṇa conscious logic.

Prabhupāda: “I was a student of economics. There we learned Marshall’s theory. He says that human nature is such that unless a person has obligation, he will not work. That is the beginning of economics. If one already has something sufficient to eat, then he will not work. So if we have sufficient to eat, why shall we work? What is the answer? This is not escaping, it is coming to the light. To not work and yet get our necessities is comfort. But to work hard just to get the bare necessities of life, that is for the hogs and dogs.”

Devotee: “They have no faith or trust that this can be done.”

Prabhupāda: “See us, you rascal! See! Open your eyes! See that we have no business. We have no food stock. Still we are not worried. We do not know what we shall eat in the evening, but still we are not worried. I came to your country without any subsistence.” Prabhupāda argued that man’s economic necessities could be easily settled by keeping cows and land. He said that men have made an unnecessary, complex arrangement just for maintaining the body, thereby forgetting the purpose of human life. When a devotee contended that not everyone had the opportunity to get land, Prabhupāda said that this was simply mismanagement. There was plenty of land in America.

Devotee: “Śrīla Prabhupāda, they accuse us of being parasites.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda: “No. A parasite means if he takes others’ property and tries to enjoy it. But we are not enjoying others’ property. We are enjoying our father’s property. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam. Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor. Why do you say parasite? We are good children of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Don’t work. I shall give you everything.’ Actually Kṛṣṇa says that: ‘Why are you working so hard? Just surrender to Me and I will give you protection – whatever you want.’ So we are giving everything. Why say parasite?”

The devotees were well aware that Śrīla Prabhupāda did work, traveling constantly, managing his worldwide Kṛṣṇa conscious society, rising in the middle of the night to translate Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And his disciples also worked hard. But they did not work like animals and animal-like persons for things that would be destroyed in time, and they did not work at horrible enterprises that ruined the best part of human nature. They did not work like asses and claim they had no time left in the day to chant the holy name of God.

Prabhupāda: “Now this is a nice park, but nobody is coming here. We Kṛṣṇa conscious people, we are taking advantage. So they are escaping or we are escaping? Just see how foolish they are. They work so hard, but they are not taking advantage. But we are taking. So our policy is that you work hard, and we go and take from you. This is not escaping, this is intelligence.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s example was a delightful revelation to the devotees, and they laughed at the obvious truth. Here they were, walking so pleasantly with their spiritual master, and yet no one else was coming to enjoy the park.

Prabhupāda: “But as soon as we ask, ‘You also come and join,’ they will not. They say, ‘No, we shall work like this.’ We are asking everyone, ‘Come here,’ but they will not come. That is their enviousness. Therefore they say we are escaping and living at the cost of others. They see that we have got so many cars and the devotees’ faces are bright. We are eating nicely and have no problems. But if we ask them to come, then it is very difficult. If we ask them to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and dance, oh, it is a very big, heavy task for them. As soon as they will come, they will know that there is no tea, no liquor, no meat, no cigarette. So you can say that we are escaping these things. But we are not escaping happiness. They are escaping happiness.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda: “Everything must come from something. No one can deny that. Now we give our challenge: Do you know what that Absolute Truth is?”

Brahmānanda: “We know there is an Absolute Truth, but at this time we cannot directly say what it is.”

Prabhupāda immediately replied that if a person admits not knowing the Absolute Truth, then that person has no grounds for rejecting the Vedic explanation of the Absolute. That person cannot deny Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth. “If you don’t know the philosophy,” Prabhupāda said, “then you must agree to hear from an authority who does.”

Satsvarūpa: “Yes, that argument is logical, and we should at least listen to you. But we have heard so many versions of the truth. Why should we accept your version?”

Prabhupāda: “That is like saying, ‘I have come across so many counterfeit coins. Why should I think there are real coins?’ There are counterfeit coins, and there must also be genuine coins. It is our misfortune if we are unable to distinguish the real coins from the counterfeit coins.”

Another sannyāsī challenged that the Kṛṣṇa conscious version was dogmatic, since there were many truths and many gods. But the Absolute Truth is one, Śrīla Prabhupāda replied, because God is one. God has no competitors. If a person does not accept Kṛṣṇa as God, then he has to present someone who is more fully God than Kṛṣṇa. But if someone does not know who is God, then that person cannot deny Kṛṣṇa.

“If you speak that way,” Prabhupāda continued, “then you are being dogmatic. You do not know what God is, yet dogmatically you are saying that Kṛṣṇa is not God.”

Prabhupāda compared those who deny the supremacy of Kṛṣṇa to owls who do not open their eyes to see the sunlight. Such persons demand to see God, but when God comes before them personally or when He sends His pure representative, they will not see.

When one of the devotees told Prabhupāda he got drowsy after eating heavily of grains and therefore preferred fruit, Prabhupāda said that was all right; fruit was offered to the Deity. When Yadubara said that in Los Angeles the families often cooked in their own homes instead of taking the prasādam of the Deity, Bhavānanda Goswami testified how wonderful it was at the Māyāpur festival when hundreds of devotees sat down and took prasādam together.

Prabhupāda: “Yes, what is the difficulty? Capātīs, rice, they are innocent foods. What is the difficulty?”

Harikeśa: “A lot of devotees are quoting you. They say there is no need to eat grains and that you said that grains were for the animals.”

Prabhupāda: “But I am eating grains.”

Harikeśa: “I tell them that.”

Prabhupāda: “They say, ‘Prabhupāda says.’ Then you believe that.”

Prabhupāda said that devotees should not listen to health advice if it resulted in their refusing to honor the Lord’s prasādam.

Prabhupāda: “Therefore, follow taking prasādam. Let whatever may happen.”

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: “Let us die eating prasādam.”

Prabhupāda: “Yes. [Laughter.] That is devotee. But we must prepare very first-class foodstuffs. And then, where is the complaint, if it is first class?”

Returning from the walk, Śrīla Prabhupāda continued to discuss the topic in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class: “I was hearing that we are not taking prasādam – especially the gṛhasthas. No. That is not good. You should take prasādam.” Prabhupāda described how bhakti-yoga begins with controlling the tongue – by chanting and by eating kṛṣṇa-prasādam.

“So in our branches,” he continued, “all the devotees take prasādam together. That is nice. Why we should not be liking to take prasādam in the temple? What is the fault? No, this is not good. Everyone should take prasādam. … It is called prasāda-sevā [service], not prasādam enjoyment. Prasādam means giving service. Prasādam is as good as Kṛṣṇa and should be respected as good as Kṛṣṇa. So one must have faith that it is not material. Those who are attached to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and are attached to the service, they should take prasādam – first-class prasādam. Everyone likes the taste of prasādam.”

July 2, 1975
  On the plane from Denver to Chicago, Prabhupāda scanned a Time magazine essay on crime, a cover story entitled, “Crime: Why and What To Do?” Landing at O’Hare Airport, he was greeted by hundreds of cheering devotees and the press.

“Your Divine Grace,” Śrī Govinda, the Chicago temple president, said, pushing forward, “this is Ms. Jones from NBC television.”

“How do you do?” smiled Ms. Jones, and several other reporters held microphones before Prabhupāda. “I would like to know what the occasion is. Why are you visiting Chicago?”

“Just now I have seen one article in Time magazine,” Śrīla Prabhupāda replied. He raised his right hand in an instructing gesture and leaned against the cane he held in his left hand. “It was four or five pages,” he continued – “ ‘Crime: Why and How to Solve It?’ If you are serious, then you can take our method and suggestions. Then you can stop this crime.”

“You have a way to stop the crime?”

“Oh, yes, I have.”

“Can you explain a little bit more how you do it?”

Śrīla Prabhupāda nodded. “That we have to suggest. The social, political, educational, cultural – everything has to be changed. So if you come, we can give you in details how it can be done.”

Ms. Jones dropped the issue and asked Prabhupāda how he felt about his welcome. She seemed unnerved by the devotees crowding around to see and hear Śrīla Prabhupāda.

“By God’s grace,” Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “wherever I go they welcome me like that.”

Ms. Jones: “Are you used to anything a bit more serene?”

“Serene?” Prabhupāda thoughtfully considered the word as they all stood together in the midst of the noisy, heavily trafficked airport. “Of course, our whole propaganda is serene,” he said. “Yes. We are distributing God consciousness. It is the most serene movement. People have to learn it very nicely.”

“Thank you,” said Ms. Jones. She had gotten enough.

But Prabhupāda added a last word. “My message is to stop the crimes of your country. This is my sum and substance. You have read the article in Time magazine, ‘Crime and How to Stop It’? So if you take my advice, that can be stopped.”

“The world is simply full of criminals,” Prabhupāda continued, seated in the back seat of the car as they pulled away from the airport’s entrance. “Crime means pāpī, sinful.” To Śrīla Prabhupāda it seemed to make no difference that he was sitting in a car with a few disciples and not speaking with the press. “If simply by law you want to suppress them, it will not be successful. Deliver them. Then you also come along with them. Not that these criminals only should be delivered, and you will go on continuing with criminal activities, slaughterhouse and killing the child in the womb. You are criminal yourself. The whole state.”

“So we can solve this,” Prabhupāda said to the few disciples with him. “Why not invite them to hear us, how we can solve? We can arrange big, big meetings on this point. ‘Crime: Why and What To Do?’ A very suitable headline it is.”

Prabhupāda continued to develop a Kṛṣṇa conscious analysis of crime. As long as society violates the laws of nature, he said, there must be crime. He thought it significant that, according to the Time article, the leaders of the country were actually wondering what to do about the increasing crime rate and that they were admitting they didn’t know the solution. “Now,” he said, “our business is to give the solution to these leaders, if they actually want the welfare of the country.”

All the problems could be solved by Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Śrīla Prabhupāda had often said, and now he was eager to tackle the particular problem of crime. America’s leaders were admitting their bewilderment, and if they were actually sincere, then they might accept the Kṛṣṇa conscious solution. Prabhupāda was keen to preach to the government leaders; Kṛṣṇa consciousness was meant especially for them. Bhagavad-gītā stated that the rājarṣis, or saintly kings, should disseminate the teachings of the Gītā to the citizens. But were the leaders actually serious? Śrīla Prabhupāda wondered. He was serious, and he anticipated the special opportunity that might arise here in Chicago to preach to the leaders about ending crime.

While sitting with a group of disciples in his room, Śrīla Prabhupāda asked for a particular Bhāgavatam verse to be read, and he gave the opening Sanskrit, kāmasya nendriya-prītiḥ.

Harikeśa read, “A completely bewildered material civilization is wrongly directed toward the fulfillment of desires in sense gratification. In such civilization, in all spheres of life, the ultimate end is sense gratification. In politics, social service, altruism, philanthropy and, ultimately in religion or even in salvation, the very same tint of sense gratification is ever-increasingly predominant. In the political field leaders of men fight with one another to fulfill their personal sense gratification.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda interrupted, “Now in India this is happening. All these things are foreseen. I have already discussed all this in the purport. Then?”

Harikeśa continued reading: “The voters adore the so-called leaders only when they promise sense gratification. As soon as the voters are dissatisfied in their own sense satisfaction, they dethrone the leaders. The leaders must always dissatisfy the voters by not satisfying their senses.”

Again Prabhupāda interrupted. “There are protest meetings and processions, but nobody will be able to satisfy them, because they do not know how to keep the mass of people satisfied. These rascals, they do not know. I have always said they are rascals. Now they ask, ‘What to do?’ They will face so many problems. ‘What to do?’ – this is the beginning. The whole world will be in chaos if they do not take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So many ‘What to do?’ will come. Just tell them that here is the remedy. Now it is the time for preaching. They are thinking. They are sleeping, but now they are thinking what to do. They are blindly following sense gratification, and now it has come to the stage of what to do.

“This is the opportunity for preaching. We are the only persons who can give solution. There is no other group or any man in the world. We are only. So let them take advantage of our knowledge and apply. Now all the sannyāsīs have got the good opportunity to preach.”

Immediately Prabhupāda referred to the Time news article on crime. “The remedy,” he said, “is to train first-class men.” He told the mayor briefly of the Vedic society’s four natural divisions, pointing out that society had become so degraded that everyone is in the fourth class, the lowest class – and sinking. The only hope was to train some first-class and second-class men.

“We certainly need a new approach,” admitted Mayor Vaneman, “because we’re not being successful now.”

After less than half an hour’s conversation, Śrīla Prabhupāda was ready to make a bold request. Previously Jagadīśa, the G.B.C. secretary for Chicago, had mentioned that a very large municipally-owned building across the street was vacant. Śrīla Prabhupāda decided to ask the mayor to donate it. Already he had explained to the mayor that Kṛṣṇa consciousness could stop crime and drug addiction, and he now asked Harikeśa to read a letter by Dr. Stillson Judah, author of Hare Krishna and the Counterculture. In the letter Dr. Judah appreciated Kṛṣṇa consciousness for “transforming lives from drug-addicted hippies to loving servants of Kṛṣṇa and humanity.”

“So we can stop this, provided we are given the facility to work on,” said Prabhupāda. When the mayor replied yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda made his request.

“So I was thinking,” Prabhupāda said, “just in front of here there is a very nice house, Merrywood, a big house. You have knowledge about this house?”

The mayor replied that this building was to be the new city hall of Evanston. Śrīla Prabhupāda had not been told about this, and he hesitated, while the mayor spoke of how the city’s offices, scattered for so long in nine different locations, could now all be together in this one building.

“But this is more important,” Prabhupāda said. “City service is going on, but criminals are increasing. So why not give us a little opportunity?”

Mayor Vaneman explained politely that he would have to talk with the city manager, tactfully excusing himself from commitment.

“If we get a good place,” Prabhupāda continued, “with the cooperation of the authorities, then our simple program is, as Professor Judah has remarked, to turn drug-addicted hippies into devotees. We shall invite everyone to come and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and take prasādam. I began this movement in New York, alone. And these boys gradually came to me. But my process was this: chanting and giving them prasādam. Everyone will be glad to accept it. They will read these books. These devotees here are practical examples. I am a poor Indian. I did not bribe them, neither have I any money.” Prabhupāda laughed. “So now they have dedicated their lives for this purpose. So I want to do it on a large scale.”

But there were practical alternatives. Perhaps, Prabhupāda suggested, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement could use part of the building for a year. He continued describing the efficacy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But the mayor had little else to say. Prabhupāda had prasādam brought in and asked his guest if he had any further inquiry.

“No, I really don’t think I do,” Mayor Vaneman replied, “but I think I’d like to learn more about your movement. And I have enjoyed talking and listening to you, and I appreciate it.”

After the mayor left, one of Prabhupāda’s disciples questioned why they would want such a big building. The Chicago temple was large and not at all crowded.

“My idea is,” Prabhupāda said, “I want to draw the attention of the authorities. If they cooperate, then we can push on our movement more vigorously.”

“But with our present location here, we cannot?” a devotee asked.

“We are doing it on a small scale,” Prabhupāda explained. “It is going on. But if we get support from the authorities, we can push on in a larger scale.”

“Unless you clean the heart,” Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “you cannot stop criminality simply by laws. The laws are already known by the thief and murderer, but still they commit, because the heart is unclean. And our process is to cleanse the heart.”

“A very difficult task, sir,” said Lieutenant Mozee.

Prabhupāda replied that it wasn’t difficult; he was already doing it on a small scale. “They are faced with the problem ‘Why crime and what to do?’ ” he said, “and we are giving the answer. So you take advantage of it. Why crime? We are saying because they are godless. And what to do? Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and take prasādam. Now if you like you can take. Otherwise we are doing our own business. Just like a poor medical man – he is also giving medicine. But if he is given facility, he can open a big hospital. That is our proposition. We are already doing that business, but if we get facility from the authorities then we can open a big place, a big hospital. And the problem is already big. Otherwise, why are they saying, ‘What to do?’ ”

Illinois state assemblyman John Porter, who came with his wife, also asked about the solution to crime, but he had a more direct, personal interest in spiritual life. Was it possible, he asked, to make spiritual advancement without living in the temple? Śrīla Prabhupāda told him yes, if he chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa, which he could do anywhere. And he should read the standard books of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Mr. Porter also inquired about the Kṛṣṇa conscious understanding of certain Christian theological points, such as original sin and salvation. Śrīla Prabhupāda, however, did not indulge in discussing theoretical or comparative religion but emphasized the necessity of strictly following the instructions given by God or His representative. “The main business,” Prabhupāda said, “is to understand God.”

Mr. Porter seemed unlikely to help the devotees get a large building, but he had inquired humbly about spiritual life. Prabhupāda’s unstinting deliverance of Kṛṣṇa consciousness was not conditional. If anyone sincerely inquired, be he assemblyman or criminal, Śrīla Prabhupāda was always eager to give him the mercy of Lord Caitanya.

Each morning he lectured in the large hall at the Evanston temple before several hundred devotees, speaking about the life of Ajāmila. Each day he would tell more of the history of the sinner Ajāmila, who was saved at the time of death by calling out the name of God, Nārāyaṇa. On the fourth morning Prabhupāda was explaining how Ajāmila had named one of his sons Nārāyaṇa.

“So the idea is that by God’s grace, in the beginning of his life Ajāmila engaged himself to be Kṛṣṇa conscious and was initiated. Then years later Kṛṣṇa gave him the advice, ‘All right, you keep this youngest son’s name Nārāyaṇa. Because you’ll be naturally attached to this body, and you will call him, “Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, please come here. Nārāyaṇa, take your food. Nārāyaṇa, take your drink.” So you will chant Nārāyaṇa.’ ”

Śrīla Prabhupāda suddenly became stunned, unable to speak. Such a thing had happened before, but rarely. He remained in trance, while a pregnant silence held the room. The devotees could see that Prabhupāda was experiencing a powerful spiritual emotion. Many of them felt that when he had called out “Nārāyaṇa,” he had come face to face with Nārāyaṇa; he was seeing Kṛṣṇa, who was showing how very pleased He was with His pure devotee.

Surely Kṛṣṇa was very pleased with Prabhupāda, and although Prabhupāda was fully engaged with the details of his movement within the material world, Kṛṣṇa was with him, giving him assurance from the spiritual world. For the devotees this moment confirmed the existence of the spiritual world and confirmed that Prabhupāda belonged to that world and was only visiting the material world to give Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Most of the devotees were neophytes, still attached to the material and having little vision of the spiritual. But now they could see the spiritual world through Śrīla Prabhupāda’s ecstatic trance.

After about a minute, Śrīla Prabhupāda returned to external consciousness. “All right,” he said. And then, with the same words he used to end all his lectures, he said, “Thank you very much.” Then devotees began a rousing, melodic kīrtana. It had been a special moment, and they kept it in their hearts.

A reporter challenged that the four divisions of society were contrary to everything in American tradition, but Śrīla Prabhupāda replied that only training was required. America was training doctors, engineers, lawyers, and America could train some first-class men.

Woman reporter: “Where do women fit into this social structure? You keep referring to a man.”

Prabhupāda replied that a woman was a man’s (her husband’s) assistant. If a woman was faithful to a first-class man (a brāhmaṇa), then she also became first class. If she was married to a second-class man (a kṣatriya), then she would be considered second class. If she was married to a third-class man (a vaiśya), then she was third class. According to the status of her husband, she became first, second, third, or fourth.

Woman reporter: “You mean she’s not qualified as first, second, or third class until she’s married?”

Śrīla Prabhupāda: “Yes, a woman requires protection. In childhood she should be protected by the father, in youth by the husband, and in old age by the elderly sons.”

The same reporter asked if Prabhupāda thought Indira Gandhi was having political trouble because she was a woman and therefore incapable.

“Why are you trying to put me in the emergency law?” Prabhupāda laughed. He then quoted Cāṇakya Paṇḍita: “Never trust a woman or a politician.”

Prabhupāda had created a sensation, and within a few hours Chicago’s radio and TV stations were talking of the news conference, concentrating almost entirely on his comments about women. A woman alderman, scheduled to visit Prabhupāda, phoned to say that she was cancelling because of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s expressed attitudes toward women. A TV station phoned and requested to come over that evening to do an interview.

While the Chicago news reporters wrote their stories for the evening and morning editions, Prabhupāda’s comments were further picked up by United Press International and Associated Press wire services. Śrīla Prabhupāda had wanted to reach the public with his Kṛṣṇa conscious message, and therefore he had arrived in Chicago with the specific idea of broadcasting his solution to crime, but now he had hit on a topic that was attracting far more attention. He had had the boldness to assert, in the midst of America’s predominant mood of women’s liberation, woman’s real place in society.

The devotees were excited by the controversy and were eager to understand the Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy more deeply and to present it exactly.

They complained that none of the reporters had delved deeply or allowed Prabhupāda to express his ideas of spiritual equality, yet when Prabhupāda heard that evening that he had touched off so much media response, he was amused. He was ready to tell them more.

“Why only the woman should become pregnant?” he said, reiterating his point before the small group of devotees in his room. “The man goes away, and she has to take care of the children and beg from the government. Is that independence?”

Devotee: “Then the independence has become contraception. They say, ‘I do not want to have the child.’ ”

Prabhupāda: “That means you commit another sinful activity. You will be punished.”

Devotee: “Śrīla Prabhupāda, the whole civilization, American Western civilization, is now bewildered by this theory of women’s liberation.”

Prabhupāda: “But how they will be liberated? On this point first of all let me know. Anyway, I am not speaking of my experience. When we speak, we speak from the śāstra. Women’s dependence is described in Manu-saṁhitā. Just like Queen Kuntī – she is not an ordinary woman. She was learned and exalted.”

Brahmānanda Swami: “This is one point. In our devotional line there are spiritual leaders who have been women, such as Kuntī.”

Prabhupāda: “Therefore I say that Kuntī remained dependent on her sons. That is my proposition. Her sons were banished. But when they went to the forest she followed, because she thought, ‘I am a widow. I am dependent on my sons. So wherever they remain, I shall remain.’ Similarly Sītā, the wife of Lord Rāmacandra. Lord Rāmacandra was requested by His father to go to the forest, not Sītā. But she preferred to go with her husband. When her husband said, ‘You are not banished. You stay at home,’ she said, ‘No. I am dependent on You. Wherever You shall go, I must go.’ This is Vedic culture.”

Devotee: “Her chastity was her great virtue. But nowadays that is no longer true.”

Prabhupāda: “Nowadays may be different, but I am speaking the Vedic idea. That’s all. In all circumstances, unless her husband is crazy or something like that – mad – in every case, the wife is faithful and subservient to the husband. Even the husband goes out of home, vānaprastha, the wife also goes with him. When he takes sannyāsa, at that time there is no accompanying of wife. Otherwise, in gṛhastha life and even vānaprastha life, the wife is the constant companion and subservient. Gāndhārī – her husband was blind. So when the marriage settlement was done, she was not blind, but she voluntarily became blind by wrapping cloth over her eyes. There are instances in the Vedic literature. The wife remains always faithful and subservient to the husband. That is her perfection. The Americans may not like this idea, but that is a different thing.”

A five-person TV crew arrived at Prabhupāda’s apartment – four women and a male assistant. Obviously they were making a point. While the crew set up their lights and equipment, Prabhupāda sat serenely behind his low desk, a few of his disciples sitting before him on the floor.

The interviewer first asked Prabhupāda about his solutions to America’s problems. Comparing society to the human body, Prabhupāda replied that while all parts of the body were important, the head was the most important. Without a properly functioning head, the person (or society) was mad. There was need, therefore, for training first-class men.

“Where do women fit into these four classes?” the newswoman asked. Śrīla Prabhupāda duly repeated that woman, being subordinate to man, had her position according to the position of her husband.

And so it went. The questions were challenges – “Do you think I’m inferior to you?” The interviewer was out to make Prabhupāda appear prejudiced, but he spoke only pure philosophy.

“Spiritually they are all one,” Prabhupāda said. Yet he emphasized a distinction, materially, between man and woman. “For example,” he said, “women can bear children, but the man cannot. Is it possible for the man to become pregnant?”

Interviewer: “What happens when women are not subordinate to men?”

Prabhupāda: “Then there is disruption, social disruption. Therefore in the Western countries there are so many divorce cases, because the woman does not agree to become subordinate to man.”

Interviewer: “What advice do you have to women who do not want to become subordinate to men?”

Prabhupāda: “It is not my advice, but it is the advice of the Vedic knowledge that woman should be chaste and faithful to man.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda returned to the point that women bear children but men cannot. “By nature’s way,” he said, “as soon as you get children you require support from the husband. Otherwise you are in difficulty.”

Interviewer: “Many women have children and have no support from their husbands. They have no husband.”

Prabhupāda: “Then they have to take support from others. You cannot deny that. The government is giving you support. But the government is embarrassed. If the husband supports the wife and children, the government is relieved of so much welfare contribution. So that is a problem. Man and woman unite. The woman becomes pregnant, and the husband goes away. Then the poor woman is embarrassed with the child. She has to beg from the government. So do you think it is a very nice thing? The Vedic idea is that woman should be married to a man and the man should take charge of the woman and the children so that they do not become a burden to the government or to the public.”

Interviewer: “What about women who do not have children?”

Prabhupāda: “Well, that is another unnatural thing. Sometimes they use contraceptives. They kill children – abortion. That is also not very good. These are all sinful activities. One has to suffer for them.”

It was a heated interview – the feminist interviewer set on disparaging Prabhupāda for his outrageous remarks. Yet he remained strong and uncompromising, arguing in such a way as to point out many anomalies of materialistic civilization.

Prabhupāda didn’t discriminate against women as a class and in fact gave women in his Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement the same opportunity as men. Although the reporter misunderstood him, labeling him as a male chauvinist, actually he was compassionate. According to the Vedic view, women should be protected from exploitative men. Prabhupāda was aware that his words were not being appreciated, but he continued, hopeful that the truth would prevail and that intelligent people would understand. The important point was liberation, not temporary social or sexist stances.

After the TV crew left, Prabhupāda continued the discussion. He said that their becoming angry showed their defeat. They were unwilling to accept logic.

Prabhupāda: “This women’s liberation is not successful. It has caused disaster. When the women become dependent on the welfare gift of the government, then the government has to raise taxes heavily for this purpose. If they think it is not a problem, then what can be said? By nature’s way, if the husband takes care of the wife and children, this problem is solved immediately. But the man takes advantage and goes away after making the woman pregnant. And the woman is embarrassed, and the government is embarrassed.”

Devotee: “And the child grows up to be a criminal.”

Prabhupāda: “Yes, that is another problem. So they are not far-seeing. Therefore we have to take advice from Kṛṣṇa. We are spreading this knowledge that you take your counsel from Kṛṣṇa, then you will be happy.”

Satsvarūpa: “Śrīla Prabhupāda, if we speak these things on television and the newspapers and people become angry, if all the people become angry like she just did, is it still good propaganda for us?”

Prabhupāda: “No. Then we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. But in the Bhagavad-gītā everything is discussed – varṇa-saṅkara and the first-class man, the second-class man. If you have to push on the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, then we have to discuss. But if they do not like, better to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Don’t discuss anything. If you are not agreeable to hear from Bhagavad-gītā, then let us chant together Hare Kṛṣṇa – that’s all. But these things are discussed in the Bhagavad-gītā. There it is said that when there is unwanted population and it is increased, then it becomes hell. So if you want to increase the hellish persons, then don’t discuss. But if you think it is a problem, then discuss.”

Satsvarūpa: “As brāhmaṇas we have to be truthful. In Hong Kong they asked you what you thought of that guru who says he is God. You said you could not help yourself, and you spoke out.”

Prabhupāda: “Yes, I said he is a great cheat. What can I say? And now it has been proven. As I said in my book Easy Journey to Other Planets, this moon excursion is childish, and that has also been proven now. Now they don’t talk about the moon excursion. Because they are a failure.”

The article continued, implying that Śrīla Prabhupāda was a male chauvinist. “He said women do not figure in his class system except as daughters or wives. An unmarried woman is presumably classless.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda chuckled in the back seat of the car and remarked, “That is a fact. She is prostitute, that’s all. If you classify, then she is prostitute. There is no other way.”

The devotee continued reading.

“So it is not bad,” said Prabhupāda. And he offered his own positive proposal for women in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. “Our policy should be that at Dallas Gurukula we shall create first-class men. And we shall teach the girls two things: how to become chaste and faithful to their husband and how to cook nicely. If they have these two qualifications, then I will take a guarantee to get them a good husband. So try to do that.”

At the park Prabhupāda was joined by several carloads of devotees. Followed closely by a dozen eager disciples, he proceeded down a path that ran among many tall shade trees along the shore of Lake Michigan. Since the walkway was wide enough for only a few devotees to walk abreast, most of the devotees fanned out onto the grass, trying to keep within hearing distance of Śrīla Prabhupāda.

“Ordinary education is sufficient,” Prabhupāda was saying “ – ABCD. This is nonsense – big, big education and then later on become a prostitute. To make them prostitute doesn’t require education. So in Dallas Gurukula there is no problem. Educate the girls how to become faithful, chaste wife, how to cook nicely. Let them learn varieties of cooking. Is it very difficult? These two qualifications. There are many stories such as of Damāyāntī, Pārvatī, Sītā – great women in the history. Our girls should read their lives. And by fifteen and sixteen years they should be married. If they are qualified, it will not be difficult to find out a nice husband. If a woman is chaste, even though she is not very beautiful, she will be liked by her husband. So train them in that way.”

Before starting back, Śrīla Prabhupāda stopped and suggested they all sit together on the grass. A disciple volunteered his wool cādara as a seat for Prabhupāda, and the devotees all sat down, facing their spiritual master. Special, unexpected occasions like this made them blissful, and the opinions of a TV news reporter or the Chicago Tribune seemed remote and unimportant. The devotees often wished such persons could be present at times like these to see that Śrīla Prabhupāda was not at all like they thought.

Śrīla Prabhupāda began discussing the proper relations between men and women. “Women and men should live separately,” he said. “That is also essential. Butter and fire must be kept apart. Otherwise the butter will melt. You cannot stop it.”

Devotee: “Śrīla Prabhupāda, in a purport in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam you say that even fifty years ago in India the householders had separate quarters in the apartment for men and women, and the husband would not see his wife during the day. Is this the standard we should develop in our movement?”

Prabhupāda: “Yes, that is good. The example is that butter and fire should be kept as far apart as possible. Otherwise the butter will melt. The man is butter, and the woman is fire. So this is restricted, even if the man happens to be father, brother, or son. Mātrā svasrā duhitrā vā. One may say that people will not think of sex impulse in the presence of a daughter, mother, or sister. But the śāstra says no, there is possibility. So they should not sit together. People may say this is only advice for the tenth-class rascal. But the next line of the śāstra says no: vidvāṁsam api karṣati. It is not the question of the tenth-class rascal, but even first-class, learned, he may be attracted. Balavān indriya-grāmo vidvāṁsam api karṣati. The senses are so strong that they can mislead even the most learned scholar.

“Lord Brahma was attracted to his daughter. Just see, there is the example. Lord Śiva was attracted by the Mohinī-mūrti. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, ‘Even if I see a wooden woman, I become attracted.’ ” Prabhupāda laughed. “He is giving this information to teach us that it is possible. So, shall we go now?”

Returning in the car, Prabhupāda asked for news of Indira Gandhi and India. Some of her policies had become highly controversial, and political opposition to her was mounting The latest news was of her emergency rule.

“If Indira Gandhi takes my advice,” Prabhupāda said, “then I can keep her on the post, and she can do greater service to India. Immediately the whole public will give her support.”

“What would your advice to her be?” asked Brahmānanda Swami.

“My first step,” said Prabhupāda, “will be to capture all the hoarders and distribute the grains free. Immediately the public will be obliged to her. There are immense amounts of food grains, and they are simply hoarded. They are not selling without good price. This is going on. Immediately she can win the public. Some of the hoarders should be hanged, so that in the future nobody will hoard. People are hungry, and she says she has got some program to drive away the poverty. This is the point. If she can supply all consumer goods free to the poor for the time being, then immediately the whole population will like her. And the hoarders should be exemplarily punished. Then nobody will hoard. But to remain the leader she requires spiritual knowledge, otherwise it will be another disaster. If she wants to remain leader then she must be a spiritual person. She must become a Vaiṣṇavī.”

Philadelphia
July 11, 1975
  Prabhupāda’s receptions were usually large, spontaneous turnouts. The temple population would increase greatly just before his arrival in a city, as devotees from other centers converged. Except for a handful of disciples – the woman preparing Prabhupāda’s meal, the men laying down the last tiles in his room or working on the Ratha-yātrā cart – everyone would go to the airport to greet him.

At the airports Śrīla Prabhupāda was accustomed to much fanfare, the rhythmic crash of hand cymbals, the beating of mṛdaṅgas, and the chanting chorus of a hundred or more happy devotees. Only if they became wild or disruptive would he object. Otherwise, as Kṛṣṇa’s representative, he would be pleased to see an enthusiastic reception, as he collected flowers and obeisances, like a viceroy accepting tribute on behalf of the king. By his grace, the praise and worship was going directly to Kṛṣṇa.

Thus in Philadelphia, as at almost every airport reception, Śrīla Prabhupāda felt satisfied. With loving glances he acknowledged the familiar faces of his spiritual sons and daughters. Devotees stepped forward to place flower garlands around his neck, and the reporters also stepped forward, with cameras, microphones, and notepads. They had not come to offer Prabhupāda devotional praise, and yet they also appeared to be serving him by offering him the opportunity to preach.

A woman reporter asked, “It has been said that the Kṛṣṇa conscious movement is what some people consider sexist or racist, because certain propensities for women and for blacks have been defined either by the devotees or the Vedic scriptures. I wonder if you would comment on that.”

She had spoken rapidly, and Brahmānanda Swami repeated for Śrīla Prabhupāda, “She says you give inferior roles to women and Negroes.” Prabhupāda: “We give equal roles spiritually. Materially, one man is servant, one man is master. How can you avoid this? Do you think everyone will be master, no one will be servant? Materially? Materially one is father, one is son, one is master, one is servant, one is man, one is woman. How can you stop this? But spiritually they are all equal.”

Here was the same news theme that had begun in Chicago, and here came the same challenges.

Reporter: “So what is happening materially is unimportant?”

Prabhupāda: “Materially there is distinction. But when you come to the spiritual platform, then when you discern the spirit soul within everything – that is equal. Like you are differently dressed in a red shirt, and I am differently dressed. This difference must be there. There are so many men and women, and they are differently dressed. You cannot say they are all equal by the dress. But within the dress, the living entities, they are the same. We make this distinction materially, but not spiritually.”

“I would like to ask one question,” said another reporter. “What is it that you are offering that has resulted in such an emotional response from all the people here?”

Prabhupāda: “Because they are being spiritually educated. We are above the material platform. Therefore we have no distinction that one is American, one is Indian, one is black, one is white. There is no such distinction. Everyone is servant of God. Is that all right?”

Another reporter mentioned that there were many gurus and asked why Prabhupāda thought his teaching was the truth.

Prabhupāda: “Because we speak the truth. We don’t give bluff, saying, ‘I am God.’ We know the actual position – that God is great and we are all servants.”

The question had been asked in the typical reporters’ attitude of irreverent interrogation, but Prabhupāda was replying soberly, reflecting on his own position in relation to Kṛṣṇa. “How can I say I am God?” he asked. And he lowered his head. “No, we do not give bluff. We say the real truth. Therefore it appeals. If I say something humbug, it may act for some time, but it will not endure.”

Reporter: “Your celebration is tomorrow. Of what will that celebration consist?”

Prabhupāda: “Celebration? It is remembering Kṛṣṇa, or the Lord. He with His brother and sister visited Kurukṣetra, a place in India. So in memory of that visit, we observe this Ratha-yātrā.”

“So again the same question was raised,” said Prabhupāda. “So reply was all right?”

“Yes,” said Brahmānanda, “it was very nice.”

Prabhupāda: “Materially there is distinction. You are differently dressed, I am differently dressed. But spiritually there is no distinction.”

The chauffeur glanced to the back seat. “If you want any more air in the back, there is a control over there.”

“We can put on the air conditioner, Śrīla Prabhupāda,” said Brahmānanda.

“Oh, all right,” said Prabhupāda. “But sky condition is better.” They opened the windows.

Prabhupāda recalled that he had been to Philadelphia twice before. In 1969 he had come from New York City with some devotees to lecture at Temple University. And back in 1965, after leaving Butler, Pennsylvania, he had come to the University of Pennsylvania for a meeting with Professor Norman Brown. Ravīndra Svarūpa told how he had been a student at Temple University and had enrolled in Swami Nikhilananda’s class a year after Śrīla Prabhupāda had spoken there.

Ravīndra Svarūpa: “The students remembered you. They told me you had asked Swami Nikhilananda, ‘So you are studying Vedānta. But what is Vedānta?’ And no one knew. Then you said that veda means ‘knowledge’ and anta means ‘end,’ so Vedānta means the end of knowledge, and that is Kṛṣṇa. They had never heard that before, even though they had so many hours of courses in Vedānta.”

Prabhupāda: “That is the difficulty. Those who are foolish people are taking the leading part. One who has no knowledge is taking the part of a teacher. Just like this – one does not know what is Vedānta, and he is reading Vedānta. It is a very simple truth. Veda means ‘knowledge’ and anta means ‘end.’ There must be some ultimate goal. But the modern process is that we go on unlimitedly, but we never come to the end. Is it not like that? What do you think?”

Ravīndra Svarūpa: “Yes, it’s a fact. No conclusion.”

They passed a large junkyard filled with scrapped automobiles. “Motorcar,” Prabhupāda said.

Kīrtanānanda: “That is the end of their knowledge – a pile of junk.”

Prabhupāda: “Yes. Their time is spent in breaking and building, that’s all. They do not inquire, ‘Why breaking and building? Why not permanent?’ That question does not arise. And they cannot solve it. They think this breaking and building is the nature. But we are giving information of another nature, where there is no breaking and building – permanent. But they cannot believe that there is such a thing. We are giving that information, how you can keep yourself eternal. This is the greatest gift to the human society. He wants to live eternally, but he doesn’t know how to live eternally. His energy is being spoiled by the skyscraper building construction. But he is not very serious to construct his body eternal. We are speaking this in our meetings everywhere, but they have no brain to understand.”

They rode around the sharply winding curves alongside the Schuylkill River. Passing Fairmont Park, the devotees pointed out to Prabhupāda that it contained a thousand acres of forest land. Prabhupāda asked Kīrtanānanda Swami how far it was to New Vrindaban, and they began talking. When Prabhupāda asked about the gṛhasthas there, Kīrtanānanda replied, “We are developing very nice householder couples at New Vrindaban. Very good families.”

“That is essential,” said Prabhupāda. “The peaceful life of householders, that is required.”

“Thank you very much for your kind reception,” said Śrīla Prabhupāda from his seat in the temple room. “The press reporters were asking me that why do we make distinction between man and woman and black and white? But we make distinction not in that way.” Śrīla Prabhupāda explained that the attempt to make everyone equal materially would be a failure always, just as the United Nations’ attempt at unity was a failure. Bhagavad-gītā states that one with equal vision recognizes the differences between the bodies, but sees all beings as one spiritually.

Śrīla Prabhupāda continued, “If we make unfair distinction between man and woman or black and white, then how in our temple are we all enjoying together? Because we are actually equal on the spiritual platform. We do not say that you are a woman, so you cannot become my disciple. Or you are black, therefore you cannot become my disciple. No, we welcome everyone. So that people may not misunderstand, you can just issue one statement that we say if you want to see everyone equally, treat everyone equally, then you have to come to the spiritual platform, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Materially it is not possible. But the aim should be one. If artificially you do not make distinction, that will not stay.

“Just like in your country, the blacks and whites, they have equal rights. But why they fight sometimes, racial fight? Because it is on a material platform. Our point is that you come to the spiritual platform and then this equality will be possible. Practically you can see. Here while you are chanting, dancing, the boy is dancing, the father is dancing, the black is dancing, the white is dancing, the young is dancing, the old is dancing. You can see practically – everyone dancing. And they are not artificially dancing like dog, but by spiritual ecstasy.”

After his talk, Prabhupāda called for questions.

Ravīndra Svarūpa: “What is the best way to deal with skepticism?”

Prabhupāda: “Skepticism – rascalism. [Devotees laugh] We are not going to deal with rascalism. We are going to deal with sense. Skepticism, they do not believe in anything – everything is false. They are so disappointed, they think everything is false. We are not going to deal with such men. What is the use? Is not that skepticism? What is that skepticism?”

Ravīndra Svarūpa: “Disappointment, that’s all.”

Prabhupāda: “So why should one be disappointed? We say that you should come to the spiritual platform and you will be happy. We want to deliver him from the platform of his disappointment. Sometimes one being very disappointed commits suicide. We say, ‘Why are you disappointed? You come to the spiritual platform and you will be happy.’ So we are not going to accept his philosophy, skepticism, but we want to deliver him from his fallen condition. That is our mission.

“The living entity, the spirit soul, is by nature happy. There is no question of disappointment. You see Kṛṣṇa’s picture anywhere. How happy they are. The gopīs are happy, the cowherd boys are happy, Kṛṣṇa is happy. Simply happiness. Where is disappointment? So you come to that platform, and then you will also be happy. Come to Kṛṣṇa, come and dance with Kṛṣṇa, eat with Kṛṣṇa. That is information we are giving. What is the question of disappointment? Come to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa therefore personally comes to show how happy He is in Vṛndāvana. And He is inviting, ‘Come to Me.’ ”

Prabhupāda continued his ecstatic description of happiness in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and then concluded, “Is that all right?” Many voices together answered, “Yes!” There was no disappointment or skepticism in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s presence.

Ravīndra Svarūpa had become temple president just after Prabhupāda’s letter had arrived, and he had resolved to have a real Ratha-yātrā cart for 1972. So the devotees had done it – a small cart, but a cart, pulled in procession down to Washington Square Park. By 1973 they had made a large cart, and devotees from other cities had come to help with the festival. Again Śrīla Prabhupāda responded.

In the summer of 1974 Ravīndra Svarūpa had written to Prabhupāda about the preaching activities in Philadelphia and had sent photos of their Jagannātha Deities. Śrīla Prabhupāda had been moved by the pictures.

In 1975 Śrīla Prabhupāda had written from Denver, assuring the Philadelphia devotees, “Yes, I am coming to your city on Friday morning, July 11, 1975, from Chicago. I look forward to meeting the professors.” Therefore, when the devotees in Chicago had tried to convince Prabhupāda to stay and attend their festival, scheduled at the same time as Philadelphia’s, he had declined.

Shortly after Śrīla Prabhupāda’s arrival it began to rain, all day Friday and all day Saturday. When time came for Prabhupāda’s morning walk and rain was still pouring, he said, “So today I will take my walk by riding.” Getting into his car along with some of his sannyāsīs and G.B.C. men, he set off in the rain for a ride through Fairmont Park. The rain continued on Saturday right up until the time for the Ratha-yātrā parade.

The parade was to start at Independence Mall, head down Walnut Street to Broad, circle City Hall, and end on the grassy slope behind the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Prabhupāda rode into the city, where he was to meet the Ratha-yātrā cart halfway through the procession. The rain had stopped, but dark clouds still hung ominously overhead.

Majestically the large forty-foot-high cart moved down Walnut Street. By the time it reached Eleventh Street, Śrīla Prabhupāda had gotten out of his car two blocks away and was walking toward Lord Jagannātha. A large group of devotees surrounded Prabhupāda, and the devotees on the cart could see him approaching. The two groups joined, and the kīrtana swelled. Standing before the cart now, Śrīla Prabhupāda got down on his hands and knees and touched his head to the road in obeisance to Lord Jagannātha.

This cart was the best yet, Prabhupāda said. He especially liked the large, strong wheels, ornately decorated with small round and diamond-shaped mirrors. Mounting the cart, he took his seat beneath the Deities, and for the first time in days, the clouds parted and the sun shone through.

Now people started pouring out of offices and stores. They lined the sidewalks and came out into the road to join the procession. As the cart circled City Hall, the sound of the devotees’ singing became magnified, echoing off the tall buildings. The crowd was the largest ever at any Philadelphia Ratha-yātrā.

Hecklers – Christian fundamentalists with big banners reading “Get smart, get saved!” and “Repent or burn!” – were ineffectual amid the large crowd and the uproarious kīrtana. At one point, when Śrīla Prabhupāda appeared particularly satisfied, a devotee on the cart leaned over and asked Śrīla Prabhupāda what he thought of the festival. Prabhupāda replied that he was thinking the American Vaiṣṇavas were now permanently in the West.

The park behind the art museum was crowded with people waiting. Śrīla Prabhupāda took his seat onstage and began lecturing over the public address system: “Ladies and gentlemen, first of all I wish to thank you, the inhabitants of this great city, Philadelphia. You are so kind and enthusiastic in taking part in this movement. So I am very much obliged to you. I am especially obliged to the American boys and girls who are helping me so much in spreading this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in the Western countries.”

Prabhupāda explained how all living entities are eternal but, having taken material bodies, are subject to the tribulations of birth, death, disease, and old age. In the human form, the soul can choose to go back to the spiritual world or to suffer birth after birth in the material world. “But why should we remain in this material body and undergo repetition, change of body?” Prabhupāda asked. “Let us have our original, spiritual body. That is wanted. That is intelligent.”

Prabhupāda explained the science of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and invited everyone to try it. “We don’t charge anything for this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra,” he said. “We are chanting everywhere, as you saw in this Ratha-yātrā. Our only means is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. And these thousands of men are following, simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So you can understand what is the potency of this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. We did not pay you ladies and gentlemen anything to follow us, but we simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. So it is very potent. You will never feel tired chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. You see practically. You can go on chanting twenty-four hours, you will never feel tired. Therefore it is said, golokera prema-dhana. This chanting vibration is coming from the spiritual world.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda talked about the inner meaning of Ratha-yātrā: Rādhārāṇi’s meeting Kṛṣṇa at Kurukṣetra and trying to bring Him back to Vṛndāvana. “It is a very ecstatic feeling,” he said. “Those who are advanced devotees, they can enjoy.” Concluding his address, he invited everyone to look at the Kṛṣṇa conscious literature and try to understand.

The devotees had prepared twelve hundred pounds of halavā and large quantities of vegetables, sweets, and fruit punch, which they very efficiently served to the crowd. Prabhupāda was satisfied with everything and returned to his house, while the devotees continued until sunset, feasting, chanting, and hosting thousands of festival-goers.

Ms. Nixon said she was writing a book on the popular gurus and had about fifteen questions to ask Śrīla Prabhupāda. “I am going to ask you questions,” she said, “and most of the time I might be able to answer them myself.” Śrīla Prabhupāda seemed to like her, if only because she wore the japa beads, but some of the devotees flinched at her remark about already knowing the answers to the questions she was about to ask.

“How did Kṛṣṇa consciousness develop?” Ms. Nixon asked.

“Kṛṣṇa consciousness is already there in everyone’s core of heart,” replied Śrīla Prabhupāda. “You have seen how during the whole procession they were chanting and dancing in ecstasy. So do you think that is artificial? No. Artificially nobody can chant and dance for hours together. That means the awakening of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda patiently and carefully answered each question – about Christ, about gurus, about the daily lives of the devotees. While discussing the evils of a godless society, he mentioned the slaughter of cows. “It is an innocent animal,” he said. “It is simply eating grass given by God and supplying milk. And from milk we can live. And the gratefulness is – cut her throat. Is that civilization? What do you say?”

“I agree a hundred percent,” Ms. Nixon replied. “I want you to say these things instead of me. I am asking the questions for others, of course, who do not understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness.”

Again, the devotees flinched. That Prabhupāda did not always respond to a person’s attitude or nuance did not mean that he was imperceptive. He sometimes chose not to relate to a certain idiom or react to a certain foolishness, like Ms. Nixon’s claims to be an expert on Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And often he simply ignored a person’s trivial conversation or mundane philosophy. But he was always in touch with whomever he talked to, addressing that person’s true self-interest. He knew Ms. Nixon didn’t know the answers to the questions she asked, and he understood that she was, despite her temporarily donned japa beads, not inquiring as a submissive disciple. Nevertheless, he was compassionate, answering to enlighten both her and her readers.

Ms. Nixon plunged onward. “How do you feel about women’s lib?”

Prabhupāda remained silent, and a devotee repeated, “She wants to know about the women’s liberation. What is your feeling about women’s liberation?”

“That I don’t want to discuss,” said Śrīla Prabhupāda, “because …” Śrīla Prabhupāda’s serious expression slowly changed to a smile, and then he laughed. Everyone laughed. His Chicago remarks were famous. On the one hand, he didn’t want to start another controversy, but he did want to clear up the issue.

He continued, “As you have asked, so I may explain how the foolish women are being cheated by the intelligent men. In your country they have given you liberty. Liberty means equal rights. Is it not? Man and woman have equal rights.”

Ms. Nixon: “They are trying in this country.”

Prabhupāda: “All right, trying. But you women, you cannot see that this so-called equal rights means cheating the women. Now I say more clearly that a woman and man meet, now they become lovers, then they have sex, and the woman becomes pregnant, and the man goes away. The simple woman, she has to take charge of the child and beg for government alms, ‘Please give me money.’ This is your independence. So you admit this is independence? Or she tries to kill the child. Do you think it is very good independence? What is your answer?” Śrīla Prabhupāda looked challengingly at both women. They had asked their questions, now he was asking.

Ms. Jones: “What is my answer to whether or not I was going to kill a child? Is that the question?”

Prabhupāda: “Yes, they are killing now, abortion.”

Ms. Jones: “Well, she has made the choice.”

Prabhupāda: “You have made your choice to kill your child. Is that a very good choice?”

Ms. Nixon: “It’s the worst crime you could make.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda (to Ms. Jones): “Do you think it is very good business?”

Ms. Jones: “I think it is a very complicated question.”

Prabhupāda: “Therefore I say they are cheating you in the name of independence. That you do not understand. They are cheating you, and you are thinking you are independent.”

Ms. Nixon: “They forget the responsibility that comes with freedom.”

Prabhupāda: “Yes, they [the men] do not take the responsibility. They go away. They enjoy and go away. And the woman has to take the responsibility. Either kill the child or maintain begging. Do you think begging is very good? In India, although they are poverty-stricken, still they do not become independent. They remain under the care of the husband, and he takes all responsibility. She has neither to kill the child nor to beg for maintaining the child.

“So which is independence? To maintain under a husband is independence, or to become free to be enjoyed by everyone? There is no freedom, but still they think they have freedom. That means under some plea the men are cheating the women, that’s all. So in the name of independence they have agreed to be cheated by another class. That is the situation.”

Prabhupāda explained that the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement had the highest regard for women. “But to protect them from this exploitation by man,” he said, “we teach that you do like this, you do like that. You be married, be settled up. Don’t wander independently. We teach them like that. But so far Kṛṣṇa consciousness is concerned, we equally distribute. There is no such thing that ‘Oh, you are a woman, less intelligent or more intelligent, therefore you cannot come.’ We don’t say that. We welcome woman, man, poor, rich – everyone. Because on that platform there is equality. That is equality.”

Next Ms. Jones began to question. Ever since Śrīla Prabhupāda’s arrival in Chicago, she had been noting what she thought was Prabhupāda’s excessive material opulence.

“You have said that you are very small,” she began, “and that you are not God. Yet it appears to me, as an outsider, that the devotees treat you as if you were God.”

Prabhupāda: “Yes, that is devotees’ duty. Just like a government officer. Personally he is not very important, but so long as he executes the government order, he should be respected as the government. That is the way. Even if an ordinary policeman comes, you have to respect him – because he is government man. But that does not mean he is respected. If that man thinks, ‘I have become government. People are respecting me,’ then he is foolish. But the etiquette is that when the government man comes, you should give him respect as the government.”

Ms. Jones: “I wonder about the many beautiful material things that the devotees bring to you. For instance, when you left the airport you left in a big, beautiful, fancy car. I wonder about this.”

Prabhupāda: “That is teaching them how to respect. If you respect a government man as government, then you must treat him like that. If you respect the spiritual master as God, then you must offer him the facilities of God. Otherwise, how should he treat me as God, simply in his mind? No. In action also.”

Ms. Jones: “I am sorry, what was that you said?”

Prabhupāda: “If the spiritual master is treated as God, so the devotee must practically show how he is treating him as God. God travels by a golden car, so if the spiritual master is offered an ordinary motorcar, still it is not sufficient, because he has to be treated like God. What is this motorcar for God?”

The devotees laughed at Prabhupāda’s bold logic. They had never thought of it quite like that: If the guru is God’s representative, then why quibble if he is offered a mere Cadillac of this material world?

Prabhupāda: “They are still deficient. If God comes to your home, will you bring Him an ordinary motorcar, or would you arrange for a golden car? So your point is that they offer me a nice motorcar, but I say it is not sufficient. They are still lacking to treat him as God. Be practical.”

Ms. Jones didn’t think it was funny. She had another question. Her questions became more challenging. Prabhupāda explained to her how she must have spiritual vision to see things in their proper perspective. “But if you have no eyes – therefore you are envious because they have offered me a nice motorcar. So you have to make your eyes to see. A blind man cannot see. The eyes are to be treated, how to see.”

Ms. Jones had one more question. One of the most difficult things to understand in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, she said, was the Deities. How could someone brought up in the West accept that the Deities represented God?

Śrīla Prabhupāda first explained that the spiritual soul within the body was the real self. “Therefore,” he said, “as you cannot see the spirit, so you cannot see the Supreme Spirit, or God. But to show His kindness upon you He has appeared just like wood and stone, so that you can see.”

The two reporters were finished with their questions, and they thanked Prabhupāda, who then turned his attention to others in the room. When a father of one of the devotees mentioned that he himself professed no religion, Śrīla Prabhupāda replied indirectly that the father was therefore a fool. The man admitted it. The mother, however, was more spiritually inclined, and Prabhupāda praised her, stating that the son takes on the traits of the mother.

Another guest spoke. “I would like to ask, Swami, would you pray for me?”

“I am praying for everyone,” Prabhupāda replied softly. “That is my business. Otherwise, why have I come here?”

A woman addressed Prabhupāda: “As a mother, I too wish to thank you. My daughter Joy has found Kṛṣṇa consciousness. She has been recommended for initiation tomorrow.”

Prabhupāda: “So we recommend everyone. Every American should be initiated. That is our recommendation. The sooner you accept this proposal, it is good for you. To know God and love Him. Is there any difficulty? Some have become interested, why not others?”

Prabhupāda again glanced at the father who claimed to have no religion. “Your son is interested,” he said. “Why the father is not interested? What is the reason?”

Thus the evening darśana continued, until after a few hours Prabhupāda ended it and distributed prasādam.

When the last guest had left, several of the women devotees asked Prabhupāda about the actual position of his women disciples. He smiled. “When a woman becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious,” he said, “her brain is automatically bigger.” The devotees laughed.

As he smiled, his devotees understood him perfectly: whoever became a devotee, man or woman, became more intelligent. Being transcendental to the issue of men’s or women’s rights, Prabhupāda saw beyond the designation of the body. He saw that the criterion for intelligence wasn’t material – one’s sex, race, or nationality – but was one’s desire for spiritual life.

A woman devotee asked Prabhupāda a further question about the position of women, and he replied, “Of course you are not a woman. You are a devotee.”

While in Philadelphia Śrīla Prabhupāda had spoken out against the process of inductive reasoning. On one morning walk Ravīndra Svarūpa had said, “Prabhupāda, the same criticism that you just made of induction was also made by John Stewart Mill and Bertrand Russell, but they became skeptics. They say, therefore, there is no knowledge at all.”

“That is another nonsense,” Śrīla Prabhupāda had replied. “That is also speculation – ‘Because I have failed, therefore there is no knowledge.’ ”

Dr. Yogesh Patel, a Western-educated, Indian-born scholar of Buddhism and Māyāvāda Hinduism, taught in the religion department at Temple University. Accompanied by two graduate students, Dr. Patel dropped by one afternoon while Śrīla Prabhupāda was talking in his room with several of his disciples. Ravīndra Svarūpa made the introductions.

Prabhupāda: “So you are teaching Hinduism?”

Dr. Patel: “Yes.”

Prabhupāda: “What is that Hinduism?”

Dr. Patel: “I don’t know. You tell me what Hinduism is.”

Prabhupāda: “You don’t know? You are teaching Hinduism but you don’t know what it is? This is our Dr. Svarūpa Dāmodara. He is also a Ph.D. Let us get his opinion on this. [Turning to Svarūpa Dāmodara.] What do you think of that? He is teaching, but he does not know.”

Svarūpa Dāmodara: “Cheater, Śrīla Prabhupāda. That is called cheater.”

Prabhupāda: “So you have heard his judgment that you are a cheater?” Dr. Patel became angry and raised his voice at Śrīla Prabhupāda. The professor and Śrīla Prabhupāda were immediately into a battle.

Dr. Patel: “You teach me! If I say I don’t know what is religion, then you teach me.”

Prabhupāda: “A spiritual master is not your servant. First you become shaven-headed like my students, then I will teach you. You have to offer your obeisances and surrender to the spiritual master. Then he will reveal the truth.”

Dr. Patel replied that he did offer his obeisances to Prabhupāda when he first entered the room.

Prabhupāda: “Then my first instruction to you is to stop this cheating.” By now both Śrīla Prabhupāda and Dr. Patel were speaking with raised voices. Most of the devotees were shocked speechless. Some of them, like Brahmānanda Swami, felt compelled to somehow end the meeting.

Prabhupāda: “You ask me what is religion. My reply is, sarva-dharmān parityajya. Kṛṣṇa says religion means śaraṇaṁ vraja – fully surrender.”

Dr. Patel: “What do you mean by surrender?”

Prabhupāda: “You don’t know the meaning of surrender? Give me a dictionary. Let us see.”

Dr. Patel (yelling): “No! I want the Sanskrit etymological meaning of surrender!”

Prabhupāda: “You don’t want a spiritual master. You want a Sanskrit teacher. We cannot waste our time anymore.” Brahmānanda Swami saw this as his cue. He leaned over to Dr. Patel and asked him to leave, “before you get offensive.” Dr. Patel and Brahmānanda Swami then rose and left the room together.

Śrīla Prabhupāda remained shaking with anger. The senior devotees looked over at Ravīndra Svarūpa reproachfully. How could he bring such a man to see Prabhupāda? Ravīndra Svarūpa was appalled and frightened. Never before had anyone seen Prabhupāda explode with such anger.

After staying up all night, Ravīndra Svarūpa approached Prabhupāda the next morning with a prepared apology. “Śrīla Prabhupāda,” he began, “I am really sorry that I brought that professor to see you last night. I had no idea he was such a rascal.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda looked up in surprise. “Oh,” he said, “that is all right.” He paused, and then added with quiet satisfaction, “At least he was chastised.”

Dr. Hopkins: “If someone was going to collect a very small section of your work, say one or two verses, what would you want them to collect?”

“That is stated in two verses,” Prabhupāda replied. “Dharmasya hy āpavargasya…” And he had the translation read: “All occupational engagements, dharmas, are certainly meant for ultimate liberation. They should never be performed for material gain. Furthermore, one who is engaged in the ultimate occupational service, dharma, should never use material gain to cultivate sense gratification.”

Prabhupāda had the purport read, and he expanded on it further, explaining how people are only after material gain, neglecting the real purpose of life.

Dr. Hopkins: “Do you think, then, that this message is the most important message that you have to convey?”

Prabhupāda: “That is the most important message, because you are not this material body. Suppose you have got this shirt. So if you simply try to maintain this shirt, is that a very good intelligence? Without taking care of your person? Similarly, we are spirit soul, and the body is just like dress. So in the whole material world everyone is engaged to take care of the body. Nobody knows what is spirit soul, what is his need.”

Dr. Hopkins seemed pleased to hear such a broad explanation of Vaiṣṇavism. When he asked about Śiva, Prabhupāda explained that although Lord Śiva should not be considered equal to Lord Viṣṇu, he was the best Vaiṣṇava, the chief devotee of Viṣṇu, and he could be worshiped as such.

And Lord Rāma?

Śrīla Prabhupāda explained that Rāma was an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. Professor Hopkins was pleased to hear this. Prabhupāda explained that Madhva, Rāmānuja, and Viṣṇu Svāmī were all “big, big ācāryas.” Dr. Hopkins then asked about Tukarāma, the saint of Mahārāṣṭra.

Prabhupāda: “Yes, Tukarāma accepted Viṣṇu as Supreme. He accepted the process of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, saṅkīrtana. And he accepted Caitanya Mahāprabhu as his guru. So there is no difference between Tukarāma and Caitanya.”

Dr. Hopkins: “So Lord Viṭṭhala and Kṛṣṇa are the same?”

Prabhupāda: “Lord Viṭṭhala is Viṣṇu.”

Dr. Hopkins: “And the Alvars of Tamil Nadu, Ādivāsī – you accept their teachings also? So the real question is between Vaiṣṇava and others.”

Prabhupāda: “Yes, that is the question – Vaiṣṇava and non-Vaiṣṇava. The actual difference is personalist and impersonalist.”

Dr. Hopkins: “You would see the worshipers of Śiva as impersonalists?”

Prabhupāda: “Yes, impersonalists. Śaṅkarācārya said that ultimately the Absolute Truth is impersonal, and one can imagine a personal form for the benefit of the worshiper.”

When Dr. Hopkins pointed out that some of the Śiva worshipers seemed to be personalists, Prabhupāda explained the real mentality of the Śaivites, according to Śaṅkara. “ ‘Now I am a devotee,’ ” said Prabhupāda, “ ‘but as soon as I become perfect, I become One.’ That is their theory. ‘In the preliminary state, when I am not perfect, I am worshiping some imaginary form of God. But when I become perfect, there is no need of worshiping. I become One.’ ”

As a scholar, Dr. Hopkins was visibly pleased to hear the authentic philosophy of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. When Prabhupāda mentioned the smārta-brāhmaṇas as also being impersonalists, Dr. Hopkins was surprised.

“It would be very difficult to pick them out,” said Prabhupāda. “Most of the so-called Vaiṣṇavas are impersonalists.”

Dr. Hopkins: “So the deciding test as to whether one is a serious devotee or not is not only whether one is devoted now, but that he sees the goal as perpetual devotion.”

Prabhupāda: “Yes, he is nitya-yukta. That means perpetually.”

Dr. Hopkins, considering this criterion, inquired about the position of Sri Aurobindo, who seemed to be beyond impersonalism. Prabhupāda agreed.

“He says that above the Māyāvāda philosophy there is something else,” Prabhupāda explained. “That is bhakti. But Aurobindo could not understand, because he did not take education from realized persons. He wanted to realize by himself.”

Dr. Hopkins: “So his problem was the effort to do this on his own?”

Prabhupāda: “Yes. He did not go through the guru-paramparā. Therefore it will take a long time.”

Dr. Hopkins finally had to leave and thanked Prabhupāda for his time and wisdom. “Why don’t you join us also?” asked Prabhupāda. “The whole human society should join us.” Dr. Hopkins replied that he had been a friend of the devotees for many years and suspected that in the end he might end up as a sannyāsī. Prabhupāda pointed out that sannyāsa didn’t mean a change of dress but rather giving everything to Kṛṣṇa.

July 15, I975
  Śrīla Prabhupāda had a direct flight from Philadelphia to San Francisco. He and Upendra sat in the first-class section, while Brahmānanda Swami, Harikeśa, and Pradyumna traveled economy class. Viśākhā-devī dāsī had also come, to photograph Śrīla Prabhupāda.

After the plane had reached cruising altitude, a uniformed gentleman emerged from the cabin. Immediately he caught sight of Śrīla Prabhupāda sitting by the window and walked over. When he leaned over and asked Prabhupāda how he was, Prabhupāda saw that the man wanted to talk, so he asked Upendra to get up and give the gentleman his seat.

“You are the captain?” Prabhupāda surmised.

“No,” the man replied. “I am a flight supervisor, come to overlook the pilot and the crew. Would it be all right if I asked you a philosophical question?”

Prabhupāda nodded, apparently pleased.

“Is everything created by God?”

Śrīla Prabhupāda said yes and quoted the Vedānta-sūtra: janmādy asya yataḥ. Everything in existence, Prabhupāda said, has its origin in God.

“Then what is evil?” the flight supervisor asked. “Is evil also God’s creation?”

“For God there is not good or evil,” Prabhupāda explained. “Everything is good. Goodness is God’s frontage, and evil is God’s back portion. Taking this example, the chest or the back of the body are equal. It is not that when there is some pain in the back side I don’t care for it, I simply take care of it when there is pain in the chest. No. Although it is the back side, it is as important as the front side.

“So evil and good are also of the same importance? No. For God there is nothing evil. Just like for the sun there is no darkness. But for us there is light and darkness. If you keep your back to the sun, you will find darkness. And if you face the sun, then there is no darkness.

“We create darkness as soon as we change our position. If instead of remaining in front of God I keep God on the back, then there is darkness. Otherwise, there is no question of darkness. But in the sun as it is, there is no such darkness. Therefore God is all-good. But for us, when we forget God, that is evil. And when we are in God consciousness always, then everything is good. Is that all right?”

The man seemed to understand and respectfully accepted the answer. He was about to ask another question when a well-dressed but somewhat drunken passenger came up to them and spoke. Śrīla Prabhupāda looked up at the man and asked, “Are you afraid of death?” The intoxicated man stammered, sobered, and walked away.

The flight supervisor inquired again, taking his meeting with Śrīla Prabhupāda as a rare opportunity. “Can you tell me how one can become peaceful?” he asked.

Śrīla Prabhupāda began quoting Bhagavad-gītā, bhoktāraṁ yajña tapasām, and, signaling Viśākhā, asked for a copy of the Gītā. The devotees quickly consulted, but no one had a Bhagavad-gītā.

When Prabhupāda heard this he became angry, although containing his feelings in the presence of his guest. He then explained to the man that one had to have knowledge of God as the supreme controller, the supreme enjoyer, and the best friend of everyone; only then could one have peace. “Out of foolishness,” Prabhupāda said, “we are claiming the land is our property. Therefore there is no peace. But actually, God is the proprietor.”

Both Śrīla Prabhupāda and the flight supervisor enjoyed their talk, and as the fight supervisor excused himself, he heartily shook Prabhupāda’s hand.

Prabhupāda called for Pradyumna. His eyes glowing in transcendental anger, he reprimanded Upendra and Pradyumna for not having a copy of Bhagavad-gītā; they should have one with them at all times. Pradyumna offered that although he didn’t have Prabhupāda’s Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, he just happened to be carrying an edition by another author. This infuriated Prabhupāda even more. He then ordered Upendra never to travel again without carrying three books: Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, and the first volume of Caitanya-caritāmṛta and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Berkeley
July 15, 1975
  Within less than two weeks Prabhupāda had traveled from west coast to east coast and back. This was his first visit to ISKCON Berkeley’s recently acquired headquarters, a large church complex, and as usual, hundreds of devotees from many Western centers had converged to meet him.

His arrival address specifically dealt with the position of the guru. Only unto one with unflinching faith in Kṛṣṇa and guru, he explained, is the essence of Vedic wisdom revealed. “Outsiders may think that the guru is very puffed up,” said Prabhupāda, “and he is sitting and taking respect from the disciple. But the fact is that they are to be taught like that, how to offer respect to the spiritual master.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda repeatedly encountered this misunderstanding. A year ago in Paris he had been heckled by radical students who envied his sitting on an elevated seat. And in America the reporters often portrayed him as enjoying material comforts provided by his disciples. But Prabhupāda maintained that despite a plethora of charlatans bringing disrepute to the word guru, anyone sincerely desiring to learn transcendental science had to go to a bona fide guru, the representative of God.

“A guru’s business,” said Śrīla Prabhupāda, “is to protect the subordinate disciples from falldown. Just like I am traveling all over the world, twice, thrice in a year. My duty is to see that my disciples, who have accepted me as guru, may not fall down. That is my anxiety.

“Now how can one become guru and representative of Kṛṣṇa? Everyone will say, ‘I am representative of Kṛṣṇa. I am guru.’ No. The real thing is enunciated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who says, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra ei deśa: ‘You just become guru on My order.’ So guru means he who is carrying out the order of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu – not self-made guru.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda said that sometimes people gave him much credit for having done a wonderful thing for the whole world. “But,” he confessed, “I do not know that I am a wonderful man. But I know one thing: that I am speaking what Kṛṣṇa has spoken – that’s all. I am not making any addition or alteration. I am presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is. This credit I can take.”

Prabhupāda continued to stress that the guru must repeat the message of Kṛṣṇa. If a so-called guru wanted to be a cheater, that was a different thing. There would always be cheaters and people who wanted to be cheated. Usually such “gurus” cheated by accepting disciples without ordering them to stop sinful acts. “If I say that you can do all nonsense,” Prabhupāda said, “simply take this mantra and give me $125, they will like. So I would have collected millions of dollars if I would have cheated like that. But I do not want that. I want one student who follows my instructions. I don’t want millions. Ekaś candras tamo hanti na ca tārāḥ sahasraśaḥ. If there is one moon in the sky, that is sufficient for illumination. There is no need of millions of stars. My position is that I want to see that at least one disciple has become a pure devotee. Of course, I have got many sincere and pure devotees. That is my good luck. But I would have been satisfied if I could find out only one. There is no need of millions of stars.”

But on the first night, at two A.M., the police came by to check. Śrīla Prabhupāda was already up, working at his Bhāgavatam translation, when the police knocked loudly on the outside door near his room. Young Mike, who was to receive initiation in a few days, had been posted as a guard. He opened the door, and three flashlights shone into his face. The officers entered and showed their credentials. “You’re not supposed to be sleeping in here,” one of them said roughly.

“I wasn’t,” said Mike.

“Come on, we saw you in your sleeping bag.”

“No,” Mike protested. “I was just lying there because I’m guarding my spiritual master.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda could easily hear the disturbance just outside his room. Other devotees who were spending the night in the building with Prabhupāda came out of their rooms and tried reasoning with the officers about the special occasion of the spiritual master’s visit. One of the policemen began roaming around, checking in corners with his flashlight, opening doors. Now all the devotees in the building, about half a dozen, were standing with the policemen in the hall outside Prabhupāda’s room.

“Where’s the old man?” one of the policemen asked.

Bahulāśva, the temple president, requested them not to disturb Śrīla Prabhupāda. But the policemen made no attempt at politeness; they were, in fact, overtly nasty. One policeman banged on the window to Prabhupāda’s room.

“Don’t disturb him,” Bahulāśva requested. “He’s a very elderly man. He’s not sleeping. These are the hours in which he writes, and all these men are his personal entourage. They’re staying here to help him. We are not violating the rules.”

Suddenly one of the policemen opened Prabhupāda’s door and shone his light in on Prabhupāda’s face. All three policemen peered in, while Śrīla Prabhupāda looked up at them, concerned, yet detached. The policeman shone his flashlight into the corners of Prabhupāda’s simple, dimly lit room. No one said anything, and after about ten seconds they shut the door.

The police officers and the devotees continued arguing, the devotees contending that they were not using the building as a residence, the police citing infractions and taking down notes. Warning that they would be back, they finally left.

The incident had constituted about a half-hour interruption of Prabhupāda’s work. But as the building became quiet again, Prabhupāda continued translating the verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and speaking his purports into the dictating machine.

The reporters, however, seemed to have a fascination for the trivial. In 1968, a reporter in Montreal had dwelt on Prabhupāda’s casual shoes – “Hush-Puppied High Priest.” Nevertheless, for Prabhupāda, press interviews and press conferences were a way of preaching.

The press conference was held in the temple and was attended by about a dozen reporters and photographers. Brahmānanda Swami had the reporters write their questions on a piece of paper, so that one of the devotees could read them to Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda asked the photographers not to take pictures during the conference, since it would divert people’s attention.

Devotee: “Śrīla Prabhupāda, would you comment on opposition to the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement in this country?”

Prabhupāda: “Why should they oppose? What is the reason? If they are Christian or Jewish religious men, so we are advocating you chant the holy name of God. So why should there be objection? Is there any reason for such objection? What is the objection?”

Devotee: “Some of the objections are that the followers of the Hare Kṛṣṇa sect are on the streets or in the airports bothering people.”

Prabhupāda: “The airport itself is a botheration. So much sound, so much accident. So why this little botheration they cannot tolerate? That means intolerance. It is full of botheration, and because we are chanting they are very much disturbed. We don’t chant in the airport, but we ask people that, ‘Here is a very good book – you will benefit. If you like, you can take.’ So what is the wrong there? Tell me, what is the wrong? If I give you something very nice, is that wrong? You read any book – we have got fifty books – and you find out any fault in that. If we are distributing some bad literature which is against the social welfare, then you can object. But you see. Bring all our books here and you will see. Any page you open you will find something good. Why are you denying to distribute such literature for the benefit of the people in general? What is the wrong there?”

Devotee: “One of the things that people say is that the devotees are asking for donations, not just distributing books but asking for money. That’s a bother.”

Prabhupāda: “But he pays. If he feels botheration, why does he pay? One who feels botheration does not pay. But one who thinks that here is a nice book, then he says, ‘All right, let me take it.’ Why you take this botheration? If it is botheration, how they are purchasing? They are paying their money, hard-earned money. Do you think they are bothered and at the same time they pay?”

Prabhupāda’s sensible remark made the reporters laugh. Now they began questioning him directly.

Reporter: “What will happen to the movement in the United States when you die?”

Prabhupāda: “I will never die.”

Devotees: “Jaya! Haribol!”

Prabhupāda: “I shall live from my books, and you will utilize.”

Reporter: “Why does the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement not engage in social protest?”

Prabhupāda: “We are the best social workers. People are fools and rascals, and we are teaching them nice idea of God consciousness. We are the best social workers. We will stop all crimes. What is your social work? Producing hippies and criminals – that is not social work. Social work means the population must be very peaceful, wise, intelligent, and God conscious – first-class men. That is social work. If you produce some fourth-class, fifth-class, tenth-class of men, what is social work? We are not producing that. Just see, here is a first-class man. They do not have any bad habit – illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating, and gambling. They are all young men. They are not addicted to all these things. This is social work.”

When a reporter asked about the political effects of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, Prabhupāda said, “If this God consciousness is spread, then everyone will be brilliantly qualified.” Recalling a discussion from his morning walk on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, he added, “The students are studying psychology, but the result is that they are falling down from the tower in disappointment. And they have protected with glass.”

Bahulāśva explained further what Prabhupāda meant: “In the bell tower on the Berkeley campus, students in the sixties would jump from that tower to kill themselves. So they put glass there to stop the students from jumping. So Prabhupāda was explaining that this is their education, that after getting their education they have to commit suicide.”

Brahmānanda: “Śrīla Prabhupāda, one press man wanted to know what is this Ratha-yātrā festival. Why is it going on over here in the Western world?”

Prabhupāda: “If God is the proprietor of everything, He is also the proprietor of the Western world. Is there any dispute? If you say God is the proprietor of the Western world, what is wrong there? So if the Western world has forgotten God, and He comes to remind them, what is the wrong?”

Reporter: “But what is the purpose of the large carts and other things you use?”

Prabhupāda: “Large cart means God is very great. He requires very great car. [The devotees laugh.] Why should He go in a small car?”

Prabhupāda continued speaking until all questions were answered. Now whatever the reporters would write was up to them, but Prabhupāda had used the occasion for glorifying Lord Kṛṣṇa and explaining His movement. Whether press conference, public festival, private conversation, or translating, his purpose was the same.

Prabhupāda: “Everyone now. India also.”

Devotee: “They are all afraid of using them.”

Prabhupāda: “They must use it. That is nature’s arrangement. [Chuckling.] That you all die – that is nature’s arrangement.”

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami: “When someone gets some power, he wants to try it out. Just like there was that demon, Lord Śiva gave him power so that anyone’s head he touched would fall off.”

Prabhupāda: “Yes, just like in your country there are so many cars, so that a poor man like me has car always – not an inch move on leg. But because there are so many cars, naturally they must be used. Similarly, there are so many weapons now that must be used. That is the natural sequence. They must use it.”

Bahulāśva: “That is why they have wars, just to use up the weapons.”

Prabhupāda: “Oh, yes.”

Devotee: “The only difficulty is that for one person to use the atomic weapon, that means it would be the entire waste of mankind. So everyone is afraid of using the ultimate.”

Prabhupāda: “Anyway, they must be used. There’s no doubt about it. Therefore we can say there will be war. This is no astrology. It is a natural conclusion.”

Devotee: “That will be total destruction.”

Prabhupāda: “Well, total or partial, that we shall see. But they must be used.”

Devotee: “Under the threat of nuclear war, wouldn’t Kṛṣṇa consciousness be more easy to spread?”

Prabhupāda: “No. Threat is already there. But they are such fools that they are not afraid of the threat. Threat is already there. Everyone will die – that is the problem. But who is caring for this? They are avoiding this. They cannot take any antimeasures.”

Yadubara: “So it will take a war to bring them to their senses a bit?”

Prabhupāda: “No, war is already going on. But they are so senseless that they will not come to this. They are so rascal. Therefore they are described as mūḍha – all rascals.”

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: “It is very hard to preach to these fools, Prabhupāda.”

Prabhupāda: “No, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That will be sufficient.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda had rarely been so conclusive about nuclear war. Earlier in the year, on a walk in Māyāpur, he had discussed how there would be a World War III, and that talk had become a sensation throughout ISKCON. But before, he had always offered the alternative: if the people of the world could take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then the cumulative karma could be reversed. But now he said it was inevitable.

In Hawaii Yogi Bhajan had also visited Śrīla Prabhupāda to invite him to his Unity of Man Conference, which many sādhus were already scheduled to attend. Śrīla Prabhupāda had spoken sternly, pointing out that simply gathering people at a meeting was not unity. Real unity could be achieved only if the participants of the meeting agreed to accept the authorized science of God in the revealed scriptures. Now they had come to invite him to a second Unity of Man conference.

Swami Sushill and Swami Chidananda were particularly enthusiastic in praising Śrīla Prabhupāda and his ISKCON. “Your movement is something different,” said Swami Chidananda. “It’s all over the world, and you have so many thousands of people all over the world. We can’t describe it. It’s so amazing, and in this age how wonderfully it has been done! Without God’s mercy nothing could have been done. That six lakhs of magazines have come out and been distributed in one month – it’s amazing!”

Swami Sushill added, “You have established the same principles without any change here in a modern way. In Bengal, without your āśrama we couldn’t have done anything. When we know there is an āśrama of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, we don’t need to worry about anything, where to stay. What strikes me is that you don’t compromise anywhere.”

They mentioned the horrible sin of cow slaughter, and Śrīla Prabhupāda told how his movement was protecting cows in New Vrindaban. When Swami Sushill asked how Prabhupāda interested the young people in God, Prabhupāda gave the example that the most popular sweet shop in Delhi was the one where everything was made with pure ghee. “If the thing is good,” Prabhupāda said, “then there won’t be a shortage of customers.” He further pointed out that his teachings were based purely on Bhagavad-gītā, surrender to Kṛṣṇa.

When Swami Sushill asked how Prabhupāda got his followers to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, Prabhupāda replied, “It’s God who did it. God says, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. So that is our duty – just to take shelter of Him. Lord Caitanya says, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa. That is, whoever you meet, just preach the teachings of Kṛṣṇa as in the Bhagavad-gītā. I don’t have any upadeśa [instructions]. It’s just Kṛṣṇa’s upadeśa. We are all foolish. We can’t have any upadeśa. So what are the teachings of Kṛṣṇa? We just keep on saying them. Kṛṣṇa says do like that, and that’s what we do. So this is our secret. I do this, and that’s what I teach to all these people. I am totally against manufactured religion. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam – just as Kṛṣṇa says.”

In reply to Swami Sushill’s question of how people could be brought together, Prabhupāda quoted a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that lists many races of the world and explains that all of them can be purified by taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa’s pure devotee.

Prabhupāda’s guests again invited him to their conference, and Swami Sushill added, “We were very glad to meet you today. We would like to call you sometime in our meeting of yoga-dharma.”

“We’ll come,” said Prabhupāda. “What about your fellowship?”

“It’s called World Fellowship of Religion,” said Swami Chidananda. “Yogiji has made this Unity of Man Conference.”

“But we invited him,” said Yogi Bhajan, referring to the previous invitation.

Swami Chidananda: “But now you are having the second one.”

Yogi Bhajan: “Yes, the second meeting is in Mexico. We will call him then as well.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda smiled and said, “I told you before, there is not going to be any unity.” This candid remark made them laugh.

“You say,” said Swami Chidananda, remembering Prabhupāda’s analysis, “that until everyone is God-minded, until then… ”

“When God will desire,” said Yogi Bhajan, “then everyone will become God-minded. What’s the great deal about it?”

“God Himself says,” said Śrīla Prabhupāda, “duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam – there is suffering. You cannot stay in this world. You have to leave. The main problem is birth, old age, disease, and death. So we are not anxious to adjust these things here, but these are the real problems.”

“What can we do about birth, old age, disease, and death?” asked Swami Chidananda.

Śrīla Prabhupāda continued preaching Bhagavad-gītā. Without overtly disagreeing, Prabhupāda’s guests inquired and listened with respect, considering him a great spiritual leader, potent in spreading Hindu dharma.

“He is great,” said Yogi Bhajan. “That’s what I want to learn – how he can do that.”

The conversation turned, and Prabhupāda mentioned that Yogi Bhajan was from the Sikh community, which is famous for its brave fighters. “When the British people were defeated,” said Śrīla Prabhupāda, “it was by the Sikh people. I have seen it. It is due to the Sikhs only. The Sikhs are kṣatriyas. Some of them are brāhmaṇas, brāhmaṇa-kṣatriyas.”

Swami Sushill: “Yes, I said to some of my students that you go to Prabhupādajī, and he’ll make you brāhmaṇa-kṣatriyas.”

Prabhupāda: “Yes, let us cooperate like that. You take the work of kṣatriyas, and we take the work of brāhmaṇas. For brāhmaṇas we need brain, and for kṣatriyas we need strength.”

As they spoke about nonviolence, Śrīla Prabhupāda argued that if one does not become God conscious, then he will undoubtedly be committing hiṁsā, or violence.

Yogi Bhajan: “Yes, when they come to their senses, then they remember God.”

Prabhupāda (laughing): “Here in the West there is only hiṁsā, nothing else.” Prabhupāda’s guests laughed with him.

Afterward, they took some photographs, and Śrīla Prabhupāda invited them, along with some of his disciples, to sit and take kṛṣṇa-prasādam together. Śrīla Prabhupāda requested his guests to attend the San Francisco Ratha-yātrā, to be held the next day, and they agreed.

July 20, 1975
  This was not only the largest ISKCON Ratha-yātrā ever but also the largest gathering of devotees to date, larger even than the international gathering at Māyāpur earlier that year. Preparations at the festival site had expanded to include prasādam booths, Deity paraphernalia displays, souvenirs, and Prabhupāda’s books. Thousands joined the more than eight hundred devotees in the procession through Golden Gate Park.

Because the builders of the carts had decided to make steel wheels instead of the usual wooden ones, difficulty arose. Śrīla Prabhupāda had warned them, “This is your American disease – always changing. Do not change the old design.” But they had already done it. Riding in Subhadrā’s cart, which had wooden wheels, Śrīla Prabhupāda experienced no personal inconvenience. The other two carts, however, did not fare so well; they began to vibrate so severely that support beams had to be added to the spokes during the procession. Soon the wheels became misshapen, and they creaked and rattled as though about to collapse. But somehow, after much difficulty, all three carts completed the course.

In the midst of the Ratha-yātrā activities, one of the devotees asked Śrīla Prabhupāda if he had ever attended the Ratha-yātrā festival in Jagannātha Purī. “No,” Prabhupāda replied, “I was having my own Ratha-yātrā.”