The Philosophy of Krishna Consciousness in a Nutshell
CC Ādi 1.56
etāvad eva jijñāsyaṁ
tattva-jijñāsunātmanaḥ
anvaya-vyatirekābhyāṁ
yat syāt sarvatra sarvadā
Synonyms
etāvat — up to this; eva — certainty; jijñāsyam — to be inquired about; tattva — of the Absolute Truth; jijñāsunā — by the student; ātmanaḥ — of the Self; anvaya — directly; vyatirekābhyām — and indirectly; yat — whatever; syāt — it may be; sarvatra — everywhere; sarvadā — always.
Translation
“A person interested in transcendental knowledge must therefore always directly and indirectly inquire about it to know the all-pervading truth.”
Purport
Those who are serious about the knowledge of the transcendental world, which is far beyond the material cosmic creation, must approach a bona fide spiritual master to learn the science both directly and indirectly. One must learn both the means to approach the desired destination and the hindrances to such progress. The spiritual master knows how to regulate the habits of a neophyte disciple, and therefore a serious student must learn the science in all its aspects from him.
There are different grades and standards of prosperity. The standard of comfort and happiness conceived by a common man engaged in material labor is the lowest grade of happiness, for it is in relationship with the body. The highest standard of such bodily comfort is achieved by a fruitive worker who by pious activities reaches the plane of heaven, or the kingdom of the creative gods with their delegated powers. But the conception of comfortable life in heaven is insignificant in comparison to the happiness enjoyed in the impersonal Brahman, and this brahmānanda, the spiritual bliss derived from impersonal Brahman, is like the water in the hoofprint of a calf compared to the ocean of love of Godhead. When one develops pure love for the Lord, he derives an ocean of transcendental happiness from the association of the Personality of Godhead. To qualify oneself to reach this stage of life is the highest perfection.
One should try to purchase a ticket to go back home, back to Godhead. The price of such a ticket is one’s intense desire for it, which is not easily awakened, even if one continuously performs pious activities for thousands of lives. All mundane relationships are sure to be broken in the course of time, but once one establishes a relationship with the Personality of Godhead in a particular rasa, it is never to be broken, even after the annihilation of the material world.
One should understand, through the transparent medium of the spiritual master, that the Supreme Lord exists everywhere in His transcendental spiritual nature and that the living entities’ relationships with the Lord are directly and indirectly existing everywhere, even in this material world. In the spiritual world there are five kinds of relationships with the Supreme Lord — śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya and mādhurya. The perverted reflections of these rasas are found in the material world. Land, home, furniture and other inert material objects are related in śānta, or the neutral and silent sense, whereas servants work in the dāsya relationship. The reciprocation between friends is called sakhya, the affection of a parent for a child is known as vātsalya, and the affairs of conjugal love constitute mādhurya. These five relationships in the material world are distorted reflections of the original, pure sentiments, which should be understood and perfected in relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master. In the material world the perverted rasas bring frustration. If these rasas are reestablished with Lord Kṛṣṇa, the result is eternal, blissful life.
From this and the preceding three verses of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, which have been selected from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the missionary activities of Lord Caitanya can be understood. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has eighteen thousand verses, which are summarized in the four verses beginning with aham evāsam evāgre (53) and concluding with yat syāt sarvatra sarvadā (56). In the first of these verses (53) the transcendental nature of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is explained. The second verse (54) further explains that the Lord is detached from the workings of the material energy, māyā. The living entities, although parts and parcels of Lord Kṛṣṇa, are prone to be controlled by the external energy; therefore, although they are spiritual, in the material world they are encased in bodies of material energy. The eternal relationship of the living entities with the Supreme Lord is explained in that verse. The next verse (55) instructs that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His inconceivable energies, is simultaneously one with and different from the living entities and the material energy. This knowledge is called acintya-bhedābheda-tattva. When an individual living entity surrenders to the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, he can then develop natural transcendental love for Him. This surrendering process should be the primary concern of a human being. In the next verse (56) it is said that a conditioned soul must ultimately approach a bona fide spiritual master and try to understand perfectly the material and spiritual worlds and his own existential position. Here the words anvaya-vyatirekābhyām, “directly and indirectly,” suggest that one must learn the process of devotional service in its two aspects: one must directly execute the process of devotional service and indirectly avoid the impediments to progress.
Śrīla Prabhupāda often used to say that religion without philosophy is simply sentiment, and philosophy without religion is just dry speculation. I think that in this country people are very religious, but they really possess no philosophy, and therefore their religion is very sentimental. When they again try to be more philosophical, then it is filled with speculation. Just like yesterday, when the time for questions came, the guests began to speculate.
Kṛṣṇa explains in the Bhagavad-gītā that one of the characteristics of knowledge is the search for the Absolute Truth. This is indicated in this verse. Kṛṣṇa speaks about this. As I already said, there are four verses that form the essence of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. You can find these verses in the Second Canto, in Chapter 9, verses 33–36. Śrīla Prabhupāda also gave a very long purport to these verses. We should study these verses, because they contain the entire philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
We should try, in our career as devotees, to achieve deeper and deeper understanding of the philosophy. By “career” I do not mean that you will be devotees for 10–20 years, and then you will retire, receive a pension, and recall your experiences from saṅkīrtana, telling stories to younger devotees: “In the old days it was like this and like that.” As far as devotional service is concerned, there is no such moment when we retire. There are no holidays. And the devotees do not worry about that. For the devotees every day is a festival. In the spiritual world, too, the festival goes on without interruption. One devotee in Germany was asked: “Why don’t you join the Catholic monks? They, for example, have holidays and always get some pocket money. They can go out and have a little fun. If you want to be a monk that’s all right, but why don’t you take it a bit more lightly? Kṛṣṇa consciousness is too fanatical.” And this devotee just laughed.
In any case, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness we are trying to develop an ever deeper understanding of our philosophy. This philosophy has been summarized by the ācāryas in ten points. These ten theses are called daśa-mūla-tattva. I would like to briefly discuss these ten points, and I think you will recognize each of them. All of you, or at least most of you, have already heard about these points concerning Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but it is good to obtain such a clear summary of how Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be properly understood. These ten tattvas, ten truths, consist of one pramāṇa and nine prameyas. Pramāṇa means “evidence”, that is, the way in which we obtain knowledge. This is a huge topic in Vedic literature—how we obtain knowledge. It is epistemology.
What is our source of knowledge? Our source of knowledge is the Vedas, and smṛti, that is, the scriptures that have their origin in the Vedas. Also during yesterday’s discussion a question was asked: “How do we know that what is contained in the Vedas is true?” We accept that the Vedas are true because they come from Kṛṣṇa. At some point one has to accept an authority. We find many reasons to accept the Vedas, but the fundamental reason is that they come from God.
Thus, from the single principle of knowledge—pramāṇa—come the nine axioms concerning knowledge—prameya.
What is the first of these prameyas? It is simple: Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Person of God. There is one very famous verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (KKS chants it in Sanskrit). Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī said of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: “haribāsa śuddha.” What does that mean? It is the conclusion of the entire Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam—Kṛṣṇa is God, the Supreme Person. With the help of this key one can open Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and immerse oneself in nectar. We do not realize—kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam.
The second point is that Kṛṣṇa is omnipotent. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, and that means that He is all-powerful. This feature is bala, which consists in His being all-powerful; He has many various potencies. By His various energies so many things take place in the material and the spiritual worlds. And what this prameya says indirectly is that Kṛṣṇa is not impersonal, because He is distinct from His potencies. There must exist a person who controls these potencies.
The third thesis says that Kṛṣṇa is an ocean of rasa. Rasa means “taste”. It is not about the taste on the tongue; it is about relationship. Once again it is indicated here that the Lord is not impersonal.
The fourth prameya is that Kṛṣṇa is the basis of the impersonal Brahman. The Māyāvādīs say that we are Brahman and that self-realization consists in merging into Brahman—the impersonal Absolute Truth. But we understand that the living entities are fragmental parts of the Supreme Lord. mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ. This means that we are eternal parts of God.
This brings us to the fifth point, which says that some of the jīvas are conditioned by material nature. In other words, they forget that they are eternal parts of Kṛṣṇa. It does not mean that we are God and have only forgotten this. It means that we are conditioned, that we are completely controlled by material nature. It is remarked here that only some of the jīvas fall, which shows that we can take advantage of the help of those jīvas who are not conditioned. They can help us become free.
This leads further to the point that through the proper attitude those jīvas who are conditioned can become liberated.
Some philosophers say that conditioned life is the ultimate situation of the living entity and that there is no way to become free from it, that there is no such thing as liberation, that we should occupy ourselves only with life in ignorance, rising up and then again falling, which resembles a ferris wheel. The point here is to develop the proper attitude. What is that proper attitude? It is the attitude of service, which leads to the next point, which says that everything, including the jīva, is simultaneously one with and different from Kṛṣṇa. You certainly know the philosophy of acintya-bhedābheda-tattva. Acintya means “inconceivable”. With our mind we cannot understand that we are simultaneously one with and different from Kṛṣṇa. But through the attitude of service we can understand that Kṛṣṇa is the Lord and I am His servant. This material energy, material nature, should be engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa in order to attain realization.
This brings us to the next point, which says that bhakti is the only means to get out of this material world and attain the spiritual world. Bhakti means “devotional service”. In this way we understand that we are servants of Kṛṣṇa. So what can we do? We can engage matter in the service of Kṛṣṇa.
In this way we arrive at the last prameya, which says that prema (pure love of God) is the ultimate goal.
That is our philosophy in a nutshell. We should not, however, think: “All right, this is the whole philosophy. What new can there be for me?” We should constantly keep our focus on this. We should try to understand this philosophy. This does not mean that we become jñānīs. We do not want to become jñāna-miśra-bhaktas.
(Gap in the recording of about 3 minutes. The beginning of the story is missing about Lord Caitanya explaining why He constantly chants Hare Kṛṣṇa. His spiritual master ordered Him to do so, considering that Lord Caitanya was too foolish to study Vedānta.)
… and they were so impressed by the understanding He presented to them, they were astonished to such a degree.
So it is not that devotees are in ignorance and that they only chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Our main occupation is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa—that is a fact, because this is the conclusion of the whole philosophy: chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. But also by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa we achieve a deep understanding of this philosophy. Thus Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the natural commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra. It is called “natural” because it was compiled by Śrīla Vyāsadeva, who is also the author of the Vedānta-sūtra. If you write a book and you want people to understand that book, and you write a commentary to that book, then that will certainly be the most authoritative commentary. This commentary is wonderful also because it describes the pastimes of the Supreme Lord: how Kṛṣṇa appeared and all His various pastimes. Especially the Tenth Canto describes His pastimes in Vṛndāvana, Mathurā and Dvārakā. But the other parts of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also describe the pastimes connected with the creation of the material world, the pastimes connected with His appearance in so many different incarnations, as well as the pastimes in which His devotees take part and the teachings of His devotees. All this is contained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In the First Canto, Chapter 1, verse 2 it is said: kiṁ vā parai—“Is there need of anything else?”
Someone asked yesterday: “What about watching television?” I did not have the heart to tell him that it is complete māyā. We do not need television. We have Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a window to the spiritual world, and in the spiritual world so many different things are going on. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura said that we could publish a newspaper containing news from the spiritual world. We could publish it every minute. There is so much news. The news that is published in Szczecin is not really news. Whatever they say or report has already happened, it has already taken place. In fact, right after reading such a newspaper you can use it to clean a window or line a garbage bin. Devotees consider such literature a place of pilgrimage for crows. Devotees are like swans. Swans like very pleasant places.
Just as Śrīla Prabhupāda three times emphasizes in this purport that understanding spiritual knowledge is achieved by approaching the spiritual master. The main topic of the first chapter of Caitanya-caritāmṛta is that we obtain this knowledge by approaching a spiritual master. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī explains that we have an initiating spiritual master and spiritual masters who give us instructions. In fact, he regarded Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī and also the other Gosvāmīs as his instructing spiritual masters. And who was his initiating spiritual master? Who knows? Nityānanda Prabhu. Nityānanda Prabhu actually appeared to him in a dream, ordered him to go to Vṛndāvana and seek shelter of the Six Gosvāmīs.
In this purport Śrīla Prabhupāda also mentions the five rasas. All of them are present in the material world in a transformed form. We can experience the śānta-rasa relationship in a transformed form in contact with the carpet, furniture, harmonium… this is a certain kind of rasa. Such a nice touch, nice little hairs. We also experience dāsya-rasa when someone takes the role of servant. In this country people do not hire servants to such an extent, but in India someone who has his own house has at least one servant.
Then there is sakhya-rasa. We are familiar with sakhya-rasa, with friendship. We all have parents. The feeling that parents have for their children is called vātsalya-rasa. And matters that are connected with conjugal love, the attraction that a boy and a girl feel for each other, and also husband and wife, that is precisely mādhurya-rasa. All of these five rasas can be experienced in relation with Kṛṣṇa. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura sings a song that speaks about this topic: janaka, jananī, dayita, tanaya, prabhu, guru, pati–tuhu sarva-moya—Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says: “Father, mother, servant, guru, husband, lover—you are all of this for me.” In other words, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is saying that whatever relationship you can have with someone in the material world, Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of all these relationships. Bhīṣma describes love as a feeling limited only to a single person, and that single person is the Supreme Person.
Thus the fundamental task of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is to concentrate our attention on Kṛṣṇa. But as we mentioned earlier, in order to love someone one must also know him. And knowledge about Kṛṣṇa comes from studying these books.
At the beginning of our contact with Kṛṣṇa consciousness we are attracted by so many aspects of this movement. We are attracted by the devotees, by the chanting, by prasādam, and sometimes we are attracted by the philosophy. Sometimes the thing by which people are attracted is the least significant. But in order to maintain our proper attitude toward devotional service throughout our life, we must attain a deep understanding of this knowledge. Therefore we should cultivate our inclination to read and in this way understand this knowledge ever more deeply. Because these books are non-different from Kṛṣṇa, they possess extraordinary power. They have the power to place a person who was previously immersed in complete ignorance into full knowledge.
When I was in South America, one devotee (Sanaka Swami) told me how he became a devotee. Somehow he heard the mahā-mantra Hare Kṛṣṇa and began to chant it. He did not know what it meant. He had no idea who Kṛṣṇa is. (You can hear a passing train making a lot of noise.) It would be wonderful if that train were filled with Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. Maybe one day… And then he met a person who had the magazine Back to Godhead, and after that he began to organize nāma-haṭṭa programs and continued chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. One day he wrote to Los Angeles asking them to send him books, and he received them. He began with the small book Perfection of Yoga. When he started reading it, he did not stop until he finished it, and he finished at two in the morning. At that time he was married, and it seemed to him that his wife was also in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. At two he woke his wife and said: “I’ve just read this book. You know, it says here—Śrīla Prabhupāda says—that we must give up intoxication.” And his wife said: “Really?” And then he began to preach to her. He told her: “Prabhupāda says so. We have to do it.” “You think so? All right.” After some time he told her: “You know, in these books it is written that we should seek the association of devotees.” “Really? And where will we find devotees?” “Here there is some address in France. Let’s go there.” “All right, let’s go.” So they set off, joined the temple and stayed.
Thus these books are very powerful. They can carry us from the starting point, from point A, to the point where we will be able to understand the most confidential topics about Kṛṣṇa. This verse says: “Therefore a person interested in transcendental knowledge must always indirectly and directly inquire about it, in order to know the All-pervading Truth.”
It is said in Sanskrit: yad yat sarvatra sarvadā—everywhere and always. Just as we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa whenever possible, we should develop the attitude of being inquisitive about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. athāto brahma jijñāsā—now we have the opportunity to inquire about the Truth, that is, the Absolute. This is not a message directed to karmīs. It is directed to devotees. So let us continue reading these books and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, seeking the association of devotees and distributing these books.
I am always inspired when I see bhakta Marian, who always rushes around during programs and tries to “push” a book onto someone. This is a very nice example. Yesterday he was telling how he sold a few books in the restaurant in that castle. You can see how Kṛṣṇa reciprocated with his desire to distribute books. He went up to a table and said: “Please take this book; it is very nice.” And the Supersoul situated in the hearts of those people said: “Take this book.” Then they said: “Yes, all right.” They took out money and gave a donation. No questions. It just looked like this. “All right, I have to do this.” Kṛṣṇa sends people who should take a book when we have a strong desire to distribute them. And people read these books. Okay, are there any questions?
Question (Akiñcana-kṛṣṇa d.): I have a question concerning the fact that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra. Usually, when we speak about a commentary, the connections with the original work are very clearly visible, but in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is difficult to perceive them. Could Kṛṣṇa Kṣetra Prabhu show such closer connections between particular parts of the Vedānta-sūtra and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam?
Kṛṣṇa Kṣetra Swami: In Māyāpur one of the devotees is working on a course which has been called bhakti-vaibhava. There are the bhakti-śāstrī, bhakti-vaibhava and bhakti-vedānta courses. The bhakti-śāstrī course has already been completed. It is connected with the Bhagavad-gītā and the first part of Nectar of Devotion. Bhakti-vaibhava deals mainly with the first six Cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. At this point Ātma-tattva Prabhu wants to show the connections between particular verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Vedānta-sūtra. This is a huge work. The boys in the gurukula learn to chant the Vedānta-sūtra. As for us, we have to be patient. One day we will receive the notes which come from this course. Okay?
Question: How is it possible that Lord Caitanya’s spiritual master said: “You fool, you should chant the holy names. You understand nothing of the Vedānta-sūtra”?
Kṛṣṇa Kṣetra Swami: We can understand that this is a pastime of Lord Caitanya. In this way Lord Caitanya wanted to set an example of the humility that a devotee presents. First He set the example by accepting a spiritual master. Although He is God, He accepted one. He wanted to teach the general people that in this age we are not capable of studying the Vedānta-sūtra, which means that we are not able to attain the Absolute Truth solely by our mental or intellectual efforts, in other words, by the acrobatics of our mind. He also showed what the relationship between a spiritual master and a disciple consists in. In fact it is the duty of the guru to chastise his disciple and place him in the proper position. We have (whether we realize it or not) the tendency to approach the spiritual master in a mood of arrogance. We have the tendency to show how much we already know—“Look, I am such a qualified disciple. I know so much already. I already understand so much about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You should be happy that I am your disciple.” Thus Lord Caitanya set the example of a disciple who is chastised by his spiritual master: “Actually, you know nothing!” Just as Kṛṣṇa mildly chastised Arjuna at the beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā: “You are speaking such learned words. I am impressed by them. But actually a truly learned person does not lament for the living or the dead. A paṇḍita does not lament as you do.” Thus the Lord usually accomplishes several things in one pastime. By the fact that Īśvara Purī told Him that He is a fool, He arranged so many things.
Question: Did Īśvara Purī know that Lord Caitanya is God?
Kṛṣṇa Kṣetra Swami: Yes and no. The Lord always acts by His yoga-māyā potency. Just as we are covered by mahā-māyā, in the same way the Lord covers His devotees by yoga-māyā. Just as Jagannātha Miśra (Lord Caitanya’s father) thought in this way: “This is my son, and I must train Him properly.” He was instructed in a dream: “You should not chastise this boy. He is not an ordinary boy; He is the Supreme Person of God!” Jagannātha Miśra woke up: “What nonsense is this! This is my son, and I must train Him! I must chastise Him when He makes mistakes.” And in the case of Nanda Mahārāja there was a similar situation. When the elder gopas, the elder cowherds, met together, they concluded: “Kṛṣṇa is not an ordinary person. We must treat Him with great respect.” Then Nanda Mahārāja arrived and said: “What nonsense is this! This boy is such a rascal. Just imagine: He broke the yogurt pots and gave it all to the monkeys! Just see: we make such great effort to collect that milk, and then we make butter and yogurt from it, and He just breaks the pots and gives everything to the monkeys. He goes to the neighbors and breaks various things there as well.” For a long time he continued to describe everything Kṛṣṇa was doing. The more he described, the more absorbed he became in it. He was in ecstasy, and the other cowherds, for example Upananda, listening to him, also entered ecstasy. And in the end they all just laughed: “All right, let’s forget about the idea that Kṛṣṇa might be Nārāyaṇa, God, or someone like that.” Lord Caitanya also used yoga-māyā.
Question: Kṛṣṇa Kṣetra Prabhu said in Friday’s lecture that the Supreme Person of God is a person and that He is not love. That means—what is God’s position in relation to the jīvas, to the living entities?
Kṛṣṇa Kṣetra Swami: This is a certain principle. God is not love, but God loves us. Do you see the difference? Many people fall into an impersonal conception of God precisely because they say that God is love, or “God is truth.” God is not simply some principle or concept. But of course—He loves us. He is the reservoir of all love. And it is He who manifests love. If any love appears in this world, it actually comes from Kṛṣṇa. We should not make the philosophical mistake of saying that God is love, because the result of such thinking is that whenever we perceive some love in the material world, we will say: “Yes, that is love.” And when I say “I love you”, then that is God. Then my worldly relationships, the relationships between man and woman, are God, and our sexual relationships are entirely spiritual. This is sacred, worthy of worship. “I am very advanced spiritually, because I understand this fact—God is love.” Therefore we must possess some philosophical knowledge in order not to fall into these traps, which are practically everywhere. Just as we mentioned yesterday in the lecture that Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī compares this material world to an ocean full of crocodiles of various false philosophies. These crocodiles, with their big jaws, wherever they may be, try to swallow innocent conditioned souls. “God is love”—snap!
Question: After the death of the gross body, the subtle body carries us to another body. This takes some time. On what does this time depend?
Kṛṣṇa Kṣetra Swami: It depends on our karma in this life. If we have very heavy karma and are forced to undergo many punishments, then it might take us a long time to undergo punishment under the supervision of Yamarāja. These punishments are received on the subtle platform, the platform of the subtle body. This is described in detail at the end of the Fifth Canto. There are many places to which living entities can go in their subtle bodies and be subjected to many astonishing tortures. Sometimes it seems that these tortures last for ages. But sooner or later one enters the womb of the next mother. Before consciousness develops in this new body, the living entity remains in a state that we call deep sleep. Just as when at the end of the cosmic manifestation the whole world is destroyed and all living entities enter the body of Mahā-Viṣṇu. Then all living entities are in a deep state of sleep.
Question: When did Kṛṣṇa Kṣetra Prabhu meet Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Kṛṣṇa Kṣetra Swami: It was very ecstatic. In fact it took some time before it came to my mind that I needed someone such as a spiritual master. At that time I did not even know terms such as “spiritual master” or “guru”. When I first saw devotees (it was in California) with shaved heads, I said: “Never! This is not for me!” That was in the years 1969–71. I was living about four or five streets away from the temple, but I never went there. Every day, however, I saw the devotees. Every day they were chanting in front of the entrance to the university. In those days they used to chant for a very long time—practically from nine–eleven in the morning until five–six in the evening. On Fridays and Saturdays they would do it until nine in the evening. Everyone knew Hare Kṛṣṇa. They distributed Back to Godhead magazines. In fact (I found this out later) Śrīla Hridayānanda Gosvāmī was present there. In Berkeley I always tried to avoid them, because I thought that if I somehow came close to them, then who knows what might happen. “Besides, I’m a student, I have to study.” Rajo-guṇa. In 1972 I met the devotees in Europe. I once saw a picture of Śrīla Prabhupāda. It was very large. It was hanging in the temple in Stuttgart. I looked at this picture and thought to myself: “This must really be an astonishing person.” Just by looking at this picture I came to such a conclusion. The temple president, who had met Śrīla Prabhupāda, told me so many wonderful things about Him.
Four weeks after I joined, the news came that Śrīla Prabhupāda was to arrive in Paris. All the devotees first went to Hamburg, and from Hamburg to Paris. Prabhupāda appeared at the airport. There were about 150 devotees there. In my memory it remains as the impression that there were 1000, but perhaps there were fifty. I was so astonished when I saw Śrīla Prabhupāda for the first time. We all threw ourselves on the ground, offering daṇḍavats. Śrīla Prabhupāda walked past and stepped on my thumb. First blessing. Of course, I managed to get the first service for Śrīla Prabhupāda. Someone told me to take His luggage. Just like Indradyumna Swami. The same big suitcase he had dealt with two–three years earlier—full of books. I did not have to wait at the airport for three hours as Indradyumna Swami did. Anyway, when I met Śrīla Prabhupāda for the first time, everything crystallized in my mind. I began to see everything clearly—“Yes, this is it.”
When Śrīla Prabhupāda was in Paris, he conducted an initiation ceremony, and somehow I was allowed to take part in it. I had been in bhakti for four weeks. I knew nothing about anything. I had only read Śrī Īśopaniṣad and perhaps a bit of the Bhagavad-gītā, but Śrīla Prabhupāda was so merciful anyway. There were many devotees there. I was just a small devotee far in the back. There were five different occasions when Śrīla Prabhupāda came to Paris and London, and together with the devotees we would go there. Each time it was for three–four days. I remember in 1973 Śrīla Prabhupāda came to London for Ratha-yātrā. The only memory I retained was of how he danced. It was astonishing. Throughout the whole procession Śrīla Prabhupāda had his arms raised. He was looking at Lord Jagannātha with tears in his eyes. I was immensely impressed also when Śrīla Prabhupāda had darśana of the Deities. In London there are the Deities Rādhā-London-īśvara. Very beautiful Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deities. Later Rādhā-Gokulānanda came. Whenever Śrīla Prabhupāda stood before the Deities, something astonishing happened. It was obvious to everyone that Kṛṣṇa is here and that His pure devotee is present here, and they are exchanging feelings in a loving relationship. It was clear that Kṛṣṇa is happy seeing Śrīla Prabhupāda. Some devotees said that one could hear him whispering something to the Deities and then listening to the answer. In London they have a very extraordinary temple—a very nice temple room. Besides the Deities of Rādhā-London-īśvara, they also have large Deities of Lord Jagannātha. They arranged the altar in such a way that above Rādhā-London-īśvara there is a large shelf on which they placed the Deities of Lord Jagannātha. Somehow that shelf was not constructed properly. Thus at the time when Lord Jagannātha was to be revealed for the first time, just after the installation, Prabhupāda looked and noticed that that board was falling. Nobody else noticed it. Immediately he jumped from his vyāsāsana and supported that shelf with one hand. The devotees looked at each other: “What is going on?” Prabhupāda called out: “Come here and hold it!” For several minutes he held that shelf until the devotees came to themselves and took the shelf from him.
And there is one more pastime which I did not see directly (I heard about it later), but which I almost saw directly. It took place in Amsterdam. Aṣṭaratha Prabhu can tell you about it. Maybe you will meet him sometime. He is a wonderful devotee. In Amsterdam the installation of the Deities of Lord Jagannātha was taking place. In fact it was then that Śrīla Prabhupāda was going from Paris to Amsterdam in 1972. There was the installation ceremony. We arrived at the temple, which was very crowded, late at night. We simply went to sleep. Then one devotee came and woke us up. In those days I surrendered to the authorities. To this day I wonder why I agreed. I do not know, but what can be done. In any case we should surrender to the authorities. But to this day I lament that I did not stay there. A few of us got up, got into the car and went back to Germany. The next day Śrīla Prabhupāda conducted the installation ceremony of Lord Jagannātha’s Deities. The temple was packed with guests and devotees. Television also came. Everyone waited and waited until finally the curtain was opened to reveal the Deities. Then a dead silence fell. Śrīla Prabhupāda asked: “What is this? No decorations? No flowers? No fruit?” He was very angry. I do not remember it exactly, but there was a very heavy atmosphere. The air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. You could hear a pin drop on the floor. Prabhupāda asked: “Who is responsible for this?” Television was present and filming everything, but Śrīla Prabhupāda did not care at all. The temple president said: “Prabhupāda, I told them to organize everything.” “You told them, you ordered them… What kind of nonsense is this! Management means that you give instructions and then you check whether they have been carried out, and you do not simply go to sleep.” Ultimately, however, the fire sacrifice and the installation took place. In the temple room there were no windows. Everything was full of smoke. Everyone was coughing, but Śrīla Prabhupāda was completely undisturbed. Although he had shown so much holy anger, now he was completely peaceful. Although everyone was coughing and coughing, he simply sat there calmly. Later I had the opportunity to worship these Deities.
Is it time for breakfast, or not? Has something in the way of breakfast been prepared? At some point we will have to go to Gdańsk. At some point we will also have to chant our rounds. So I think we can end here.