Pointing Out What America Had Missed

Once in America, Srila Prabhupada indefatigably preached the teachings of Lord Caitanya. This was, of course, the first time that we Americans had ever heard of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. I will always remember the way Srila Prabhupada would look at a picture of Lord Caitanya he had brought with him from Vrndavana. He had it high on the wall opposite his sitting place in his tiny New York apartment, and as he would unfold the glorious teachings of Lord Caitanya, he would regard that picture with an expression of deep transcendental love. It was that sublime feature of Srila Prabhupada's that inspired me to broaden my understanding of Mahaprabhu's teachings.

Coming from the East at the age of 70, Srila Prabhupada had a great deal to say to us space-age Americans. He spoke the truth. For example, here is what he wrote in his introduction to The Nectar of Devotion:

"As far as material necessities are concerned, the human civilization at the present moment is very much advanced in living comfortably, but still we are not happy because we are missing the point. The material comforts of life alone are not sufficient to make us happy. The vivid example is America: the richest nation of the world, having all facilities for material comfort, is producing a class of men completely confused and frustrated in life. I am appealing herewith to such confused men to learn the art of devotional service as directed in The Nectar of Devotion, and I am sure that the fire of material existence burning within their hearts will be immediately extinguished. The root cause of our dissatisfaction is that our dormant loving propensity has not been fulfilled despite our great advancement in the materialistic way of life. The Nectar of Devotion will give us practical hints how we can live in this material world perfectly engaged in devotional service and thus fulfill all our desires in this life and the next. The Nectar of Devotion is not presented to condemn any way of materialistic life, but the attempt is to give information to religionists, philosophers and people in general how to love Krsna. One may live without material discomfiture, but at the same time he should learn the art of loving Krsna. At the present moment we are inventing so many ways to utilize our propensity to love, but factually we are missing the real point, Krsna. We are watering all parts of the tree but missing the tree's root. We are trying to keep our body fit by all means, but we are neglecting to supply foodstuffs to the stomach. Missing Krsna means missing one's self also. Real self-realization and realization of Krsna go together simultaneously. For example, seeing oneself in the morning means seeing the sunrise also; without seeing the sunshine no one can see himself. Similarly, unless one has realized Krsna there is no question of self-realization."

Challenging the Bogi Yogis

Srila Prabhupada was a blunt critic. His targets were all the things sacrosanct to us young American materialists: sense gratification, mental speculation, sex, meat-eating, skyscrapers, fast cars, the United Nations, nationalism, science, space exploration, family and love, impersonal spirituality and other gurus. He was against the entire modern civilization. He even discouraged us from eating in restaurants. One thing difficult for us to accept in the beginning was his unreserved criticism of other gurus. As student-aged youths, we were skeptical of those who claimed to monopolize anything, what to speak of the truth. We were tired of those who said that theirs was the only way. Our idea for eliminating all the hatred in the world was simply to accept everything as good. Let everyone do his own thing, we thought; you can follow or not, but you should not criticize, especially in spiritual matters. Srila Prabhupada swept away all this. He showed us how to discriminate sensibly between true and false spirituality. Like Bhaktivinoda Thakura, who had courageously defeated a yogi imposter who was imitating Krsna, Srila Prabhupada would not let us be misguided by the "bogi yogis," as he called them. To this day Srila Prabhupada has continued to chide so-called gurus who mislead their followers from the path of devotional service to Krsna, or God. Here is a recent article from Time (Feb. 11, 1974):

"Trouble is stirring in Nirvana. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami of the Hare Krishna movement, at a news conference in Hong Kong last week, denounced a rival guru: self-styled divinity Maharaj Ji, 16, now counseling his disciples in California. The ascetic Swami, whose followers constitute a kind of saffron-robed Hindu version of the Salvation Army, began by saying, 'You've got to decide whether he is God, or a dog.' Noting the young leader's luxurious life style, the Swami declared rather ominously, 'He is cheating people, but he will be cheated in a bigger way. When God meets cheats, he can be a better cheat than they.' "

Srila Prabhupada did not come to America as a beggar. "I have come to teach you what you have forgotten," he told reporters. "It is love of God." He chose America of all places in the West because the entire world is following her example of economic development. If he could succeed in making Americans take up spiritual life, then the rest of the world would follow. This was his master plan for fulfilling his spiritual master's order.

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