What Happened to the Hare Krishnas?

I offer my respectful obeisances to my eternal spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He has saved me from the repeated cycle of birth and death in this material world and enabled me to have a slight glimpse of the beautiful cowherd boy, Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This little glimpse has enabled me to leave behind the mundane aspirations and desires I had previously and in some small way to enjoy the nectar available through serving Krishna and His pure devotee. I have no way to repay my debt to Srila Prabhupada. The only thing I can do is to try and follow his instructions and push on the preaching of the Krishna conscious movement all over the world.

Srila Prabhupada said if you become a devotee of Krishna the whole world will become your enemy, and to some extent I have experienced that. Of course it is to be expected as practically speaking the whole world is engaged in sense gratification and Krishna consciousness is a threat to this.

I wouldn't mind so much if it was the general public who were inimical and causing obstructions to the preaching work, but, although there are some "demons" out there who can be quite annoying, the vast majority of people are not demons, they are innocent souls who have been mislead by the sinful atmosphere of this Kali-yuga, the iron age of quarrel. The problem I am facing is that some so-called devotees of Krishna are making it difficult to preach Krishna consciousness...

Srila Prabhupada had the same problem. Practically speaking the only serious threat to his movement came from his godbrothers, the other disciples of his spiritual master, His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati Maharaja. His godbrothers had their own preaching organizations in India and saw themselves as world-preachers, jagat guru's (guru for the whole world), but they never left India, despite the fact that Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati had asked all his senior men to travel to the Western countries to spread the message of Krishna and Lord Caitanya. But they were not interested. They had their few temples and enough followers to send out begging money on the basis that it was for the service of Krishna but they were simply eating and sleeping. They had no life for the preaching work. When they saw Srila Prabhupada succeed in the West in fulfilling their spiritual master's desire, instead of congratulating and encouraging Srila Prabhupada they criticized him. They were envious of his position, envious of his followers, envious of his large number of opulent temples all over the world. Even up to today Srila Prabhupada's godbrothers are causing great problems within his society.

Now we have seen ISKCON (Srila Prabhupada's preaching movement) develop, since Srila Prabhupada's departure in 1977, into something quit different from the movement he established. There is still lip-service to the instructions of Srila Prabhupada and if you talk to one of todays ISKCON devotees they will still talk about Prabhupada and Krishna, but something has changed. The mood of pure devotional service has gone. Srila Prabhupada wanted his ISKCON to be a society of pure devotees, because it is only through the association of pure devotees that one can advance in Krishna consciousness. It is true that one can be a mixed devotee, the demigod's are all devotees of Krishna, but they still maintain some independent material desires. This means they can't leave the material world, they are simply promoted to a higher status to fulfill their material desires. It is not such a wonderful thing to be a mixed devotee, there are so many mixed devotees. Practically every religious group on the planet is promoting some sort of mixed devotional service. But that is not bhakti, that is not love. It is a business. If I have faith in God and I approach Him to serve Him with some motive in mind this is a business transaction. It's good, in the sense that such a person is pious. When he is in need he turns to God to fulfill his needs, but it's not Krishna consciousness and it's not what Srila Prabhupada established ISKCON for.

So ISKCON has become an institution where the majority of members are practicing Krishna consciousness or devotional service to some extent, but not completely purely. Many members of ISKCON today have some motivation, some personal desire to fulfill through their devotional service. It's understandable enough as there has been a history, since Srila Prabhupada's departure, of leaders who are themselves materially motivated. Many of the former leaders of ISKCON have fallen away and in retrospect it can be seen that they were not pure devotees at all. The leader has a big effect on his followers and a cheating leader tends to attract cheating followers. So the current institution, ISKCON, can be very difficult if one is sincerely trying to practice pure devotional service, as that mood is no longer there.

My personal position is that I have absolute faith in Srila Prabhupada, my spiritual master, and Krishna and I am trying with all my energy and intelligence to engage myself and everyone else in the service of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna, but there's no place for me in ISKCON. They just don't know what to do with me. Because they are preaching some watered-down philosophy to the devotees to encourage them to do business and make lots of money rather than to preach and distribute Srila Prabhupada's books my presence in the Temple makes them feel uncomfortable, because I just want to preach and distribute books, and I want to do it with the other devotees. So it's very difficult. I wouldn't say that the ISKCON devotees are demons or against Srila Prabhupada, generally they are all great souls who have dedicated their lives to preaching Krishna consciousness. It's just because of bad leadership the temples are in the state they currently are and the pure devotional mood has been lost.

For me there is nothing more enjoyable than the association of devotees who are dedicated to pushing on Krishna consciousness by following Srila Prabhupada's instructions and distributing his books. Simple, uncomplicated souls who are not interested in politics and diplomacy and who are actually following strictly the path of saddhana bhakti as presented by Srila Prabhupada.

Disciples of Srila Prabhupada follow four regulative principles: no illicit sex life, no intoxication of any sort including tea and coffee, no gambling and no meat eating. They rise early every morning, before 4:00am and attend the Mangal Aroti ceremony in the temple. They chant at least sixteen rounds of the Maha-Mantra, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare, daily and they engage themselves full-time, 24 hours a day in practical service to Krishna under the direction of the spiritual master.

Quit a difficult task you might say! In fact to do all these things is impossible unless we have developed some real love and real attachment to Krishna and Srila Prabhupada. If the love and attachment is there there will never be enough hours in the day to serve Krishna and Srila Prabhupada and such service will place us in the ever increasing ocean of spiritual bliss. So the more we serve the more our desire to serve increases.

The development of this love and taste requires good association. The reason Srila Prabhupada established ISKCON was to provide a place for people interested in spiritual life to come to and associate with pure devotees so they could develop this love and attachment. Unfortunately in ISKCON today someone who wants to develop this pure service mood is seen as something of a fanatic, they call it the "Pure Devotee Disease" and anyone who exhibits it is encouraged to come back down to earth, be realistic and keep on going out there and collecting money and bringing it back to the temple. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to develop attachment and love under such circumstances. Usually the reverse happens, innocent and sincere young people join the movement and by association with the "devotees" who are not very serious and who have their own personal motivations for performing devotional service, these new devotees become more materialistic and move further away from Krishna and Srila Prabhupada by living in the temples.

This causes a great dilemma in the minds of many sincere devotees. Often their faith in Krishna consciousness is shattered as they are sincerely trying to follow the process of Krishna consciousness, but instead of becoming purified, they become contaminated. Instead of becoming free from material desires they become riddled with them. It's the power of association. Unless the temples are full of pure devotees or at least devotees aspiring for pure devotional service they are useless. There is no difference between a temple full of mixed devotees and a Christian church or some other place where God is worshipped. There is no doubt that God is worshipped in the Churches and there is also no doubt that the people engaged in such worship benefit spiritually, but it's not pure devotional service.

I know Srila Prabhupada most dearly wants his books to be distributed, and I have always tried to distribute as many books as possible, but it is very difficult if you are surrounded by "devotees" who are not interested in distributing Srila Prabhupada's books.

I want to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books, but the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, the publishers of Srila Prabhupada's books, won't sell them to me. I have to preach, it's Srila Prabhupada's desire, so what to do??

Krishna consciousness has nothing to do with politics. It is about developing our natural constitutional loving relationship with Krishna. Its a completely natural, simple and joyful process. So I urge you to read this book and more than that I beg you to read the books of my eternal master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, then your life will be truly sublime.

Even a person with no knowledge can immediately acquire all knowledge simply by the benediction of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Therefore I am praying to the Lord for His causeless mercy upon me.

I offer my respectful obeisances unto Sri Krishna Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, who are like the sun and moon. They have arisen simultaneously on the horizon of Gauda to dissipate the darkness of ignorance and thus wonderfully bestow benediction upon all.

Glory to the all-merciful Radha and Madana-Mohana! I am lame and ill-advised, yet They are my directors, and Their lotus feet are everything to me.

In a temple of jewels in Vrndavana, underneath a desire tree, Sri Sri Radha Govinda, served by Their most confidential associates, sit upon an effulgent throne. I offer my humble obeisances to Them.

May Gopinathaji, who attracts all the gopis with the songs of His flute and who has begun the most melodious rasa dance on the bank of the Yamuna in Vamsivata, be merciful upon us. (Srila Krishnadas Kaviraja CC Mad 1.1-5)

Krishna consciousness is not a new creation. Krishna consciousness has always existed. It is our original pure consciousness. While we are in contaminated consciousness here in the material world we are in material consciousness, but if that material consciousness is purified our original consciousness, Krishna consciousness, is revived. There are different processes for reviving our original Krishna consciousness, basically divided into three: mental speculation, meditation yoga and devotional service. There are different ages, or yugas, which this universe passes through on a cycle lasting for 4,300,000 years. This cycle is similar to the changing seasons we see every year. We know that after winter there will be spring and after spring there will be summer. Similarly, on a larger scale, there are four ages, Satya-yuga, Tretya-yuga, Dvarpa-yuga and Kali-yuga. Satya-yuga is called the golden age because in this age everyone is pure and spiritually advanced. The conditions in the Satya Yuga are particularly suitable for the practice of meditational yoga as people have long lifetimes and are undisturbed. The conditions degrade until Kali Yuga, the present age, which is the most degraded age, people being short-lived, always disturbed, very sinful and not at all intelligent. Because in this age we are very unfortunate there is no chance for us to practice either meditational yoga or mental speculation. The only practical option open to us is devotional service, Krishna consciousness.

The Krishna consciousness movement of congregational chanting of the holy names of God actually began in full force five hundred years ago. At this time Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who was none other than Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, took mercy on us, the fallen souls in Kali-yuga by flooding the subcontinent of India with the chanting of the maha mantra Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Lord Caitanya was delivering pure love of God, the topmost spiritual achievement, freely to everyone without consideration of their qualifications. No other incarnation of God has ever been so merciful. To reveal the secret of what real love is, Krishna came to earth in the guise of His own devotee - as Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. With his chief associates - Nityananda, Advaita, Gadadhara and Srivasa - He taught how to develop love of Godhead simply by chanting Hare Krishna and dancing in ecstasy.

The Hare Krishna's Go West

Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu desired this chanting of Hare Krishna and dancing in ecstasy be spread all over the world, in fact he predicted that one day the whole world will dance in ecstasy to this chanting of Hare Krishna. Until His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada left India for the United States in 1965 no one in India could imagine how the prediction of Lord Caitanya could come true.

At the age of sixty nine, Srila Prabhupada travelled to the United States with nothing but a few dollars and a stock of Srimad Bhagavatam volumes he had translated and printed in India, along with his most valuable asset, unflinching faith in Krishna and the order of his spiritual master.

In the United States Srila Prabhupada established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness(ISKCON) in accordance with instructions of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, his spiritual master. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta instructed Srila Prabhupada to present the philosophy of Krishna consciousness in English and to preach in the Western countries.

Although Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, my beloved eternal spiritual master, guide and friend, according to material vision passed away from this material world on the last day of December, 1936, I still consider His Divine Grace to be present with me by his vani, his words. there are two ways of association - by vani and vapu. Vani means words and vapu means physical presence. Physical presence is sometimes appreciable and sometimes not, but vani continues to exist eternally. Therefore we must take advantage of the vani, not the physical presence. Bhagavad-gita, for example, is the vani of Lord Krishna. Although Krishna was personally present five thousand years ago and is no longer physically present from the materialistic point of view, Bhagavad-gita continues. (CC Ant p319)

Srila Prabhupada, after studying the Americans and their way of life, moved to the Bowery, and later to the Lower East Side in New York. At this time the 'Hippy' movement was emerging and many dissatisfied young people had started moving to the area. These young Americans were unimpressed with the materialistic lifestyles of their parents, they were concerned about America's involvement in the Vietnam war and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. They were looking for an answer. They wanted peace, love and happiness and with this vague notion they converged on the Lower East Side of New York in search of utopia. For many of these 'flower children' Srila Prabhupada provided just what they were looking for. A spiritual lifestyle, peace, happiness and a real purpose in life. Srila Prabhupada's method was simple. He sat underneath a tree in the park and chanted the Hare Krishna mantra, spoke on Bhagavad-gita As It Is and distributed prasadam (food spiritualized by offering to Krishna). He saw no distinction between people, young or old, black or white, man or woman; to Prabhupada they were all spirit souls who were lost in the bewildering network of this material world. His only desire was to help these lost souls find their way back to Krishna, their eternal father. He knew that they were suffering because of forgetfulness of their eternal relationship with Krishna, and as a humble servant of Krishna he was just trying to give them the right direction so they could reestablish that lost relationship with Krishna. This simple program gradually attracted many sincere young boys and girls to Krishna consciousness.

Srila Prabhupada was so merciful that he brought Krishna from Vrndavana to the middle of the worlds largest, and most important cities. He said "Actually I am not happy here, I was happy in Vrndavana, but in pursuance of my spiritual masters order I have come here." And Srila Prabhupada's living conditions in America at that time were certainly very difficult. The Bowery and the Lower East Side were full of drug-crazed hippies and drunks, winter in New York was bitterly cold, very difficult for Srila Prabhupada who was used to the climate of India, and the people who were attending his classes were generally totally addicted to all sorts of intoxication and illicit sex life, and not very respectful or well behaved. On top of this many were full-on impersonalists - more interested in becoming guru's themselves than serving Srila Prabhupada.

Srila Prabhupada had come from Vrndavana, the spiritual world, into the darkest reigns of hell. Still, patiently and with great determination, he presented Krishna consciousness to everyone he met. He went out alone to perform sankirtana in the park. He just sat down and chanted Hare Krishna and preached to anyone who would listen. It is not that Srila Prabhupada had success very quickly or easily. He arrived in the United States towards the end of 1965 and for twelve months he had no fixed place of residence and apparently very little success in his missionary work. But still he was preaching. For some time he stayed in the Misra Yoga Society and there are tapes of his classes preaching to Dr. Misra's students. It's the same Srila Prabhupada, the same hard line uncompromising Krishna consciousness, the same plea to please surrender to Krishna, please give up sense gratification and serve Krishna, work for Krishna's pleasure and you'll be happy. Srila Prabhupada, and his preaching didn't change at all from these first recorded classes when he was alone (apparently) in the United States with no means of support and no disciples to the stage where he had ten thousand disciples and was being worshiped in such a grand way. He was still the same Prabhupada, still pleading that we should surrender to Krishna, that we should work for the pleasure of Krishna's senses and forget our personal sense gratification. There are also tapes of classes Prabhupada gave to a few students who would visit him in the very small narrow room he lived in on the Bowery. There's even classes given in somebody's garage at a time when Prabhupada had no where else to preach! Prabhupada was so determined to preach Krishna consciousness under the most difficult conditions.

So, by the grace of Lord Caitanya, this movement is already introduced in the Western countries beginning from New York. Our first movement, the sankirtana movement was introduced in New York. I came to New York first. I began to chant this Hare Krishna mantra in Tompkins Square park. So I was chanting there for three hours with a small mrdunga and these boys, American boys, they assembled and gradually they joined and it is increasing. First of all it was started in New York in a store front, 26 2nd. Avenue. Then we started our branch in San Fransisco, in Los Angeles, in Santa Fe, in Buffalo, then here. We now have 20 branches including one in London and one in Hamburg. In London the boys, they're all American boys and girls, they're preaching, they're not sannyasis, neither they are Vedantists, neither they're Hindus, neither they're Indian, but they have taken this movement very seriously. Here, at this meeting, one lady has come from London. She was very much praising our movement in London. In London Times there was an article, they said that "Krishna Chanting Startles London." So we have got many followers now. All my disciples till now, at least in this country, they're all Americans and Europeans. They're chanting, dancing and issuing our paper Back To Godhead. Now we have published so many books: Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Teachings of Lord Caitanya. So this movement is not a sentimental movement. We have background. The highest philosophical background.(SPL 69-006 Address to Columbas Indian Association 11/05/69)

Srila Prabhupada had absolute faith in the power of the Hare Krishna mantra and the association of a pure devotee to deliver anyone, no matter how fallen, from their material life and raise them to the platform of pure devotional service. Who else would be prepared to undergo such severe difficulties to spread Krishna consciousness? Prabhupada said that when he was planning to come to America to preach the babajis in Vrndavana had advised that it was not necessary to leave Vrndavana, simply by practicing Krishna consciousness in Vrndavana all benefits were there. Prabhupada had a very nice position in Vrndavana. He was respected as a scholar and great devotee, his residence was the most sacred Radha Damodara temple and he had all facilities to practice Krishna consciousness in a very sanctified atmosphere. But he gave all this up to follow his spiritual masters instructions and preach Krishna consciousness in the West.

In the preaching work of the Krishna conscious movement, we, as the servant of the servant of the servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, fully believe in the words of Krishna and His servants, the disciplic succession. In this way we are presenting the words of Krishna throughout the world. Even though we are neither a rich man nor a very learned scholar, and even though we do not belong to any aristocracy this movement is still being welcomed and is very easily spreading all over the world. Although we are very poor and have no professional source of income, Krishna supplies money whenever we need it. Whenever we need some men Krishna supplies them. This is stated in Bhagavad-gita (6.22): yam labdhva caparam labham manyate nadhikam tatah. Actually, if we can attain the favour of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, we do not need anything else. We certainly do not need those things which a mundane person considers to be material assets.

When Srila Prabhupada incorporated ISKCON in 1966 he stated the following as the aims and objectives of the society:

To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all peoples in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace within the world.
To propagate a consciousness of Krishna, as it is revealed in Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam.
To bring the members of the society together with each other and nearer to Krishna, the prime entity, thus developing the idea within the members, and humanity at large, that each soul is part and parcel of the quality of Godhead(Krishna).
To teach and encourage the sankirtana movement, congregational chanting of the holy names of God, as revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
To erect for the members and for society at large a holy place of transcendental pastimes dedicated to the personality of Krishna.
To bring members together for the purpose of teaching a simpler, more natural way of life.
With a view to achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, books and other writings.

Srila Prabhupada worked tirelessly to establish the Krishna consciousness movement all over the world by encouraging his disciples to open new centres, by translating the major Vaisnava scriptures into English and by traveling and preaching extensively. He showed by example how one can live and work simply for the pleasure of Krishna, he gave his disciples the highest knowledge and enabled them to experience pleasure on the spiritual platform. His serious disciples were easily able to give up illicit sex life, intoxication, meat eating and gambling, and to develop all the qualities of pure devotees of Krishna. Srila Prabhupada said that the process was simple, he was engaging them in chanting Hare Krishna and giving them prasadam(food spiritualized by offering to Krishna) and the result was he was turning 'hippies' into 'happies.'

You begin chanting and hear for a few seconds or a few minutes. You immediately come to the spiritual platform of ecstasy. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu recommended this process not only for India, but for all the people of the world. He said that prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama.... Prthivite means the face of the world, ache and there is, naga means town and grama means village or county. So He said that as many villages, towns or counties there are in human society on the surface of the globe My name, meaning Lord Caitanya's name, because He introduced this simple method of chanting Hare Krishna, will be celebrated. That is His prediction. So we can see practically also that somehow or other in your country this chanting of Hare Krishna was introduced practically only for one year but it is being popularized. People are taking it very seriously. Even some places where I never visited, they're organizing centres. I have received information from Buffalo, from Atlantic City, one little boy, Terry, he's organizing, he has invited some of our brahmacaris to go there. And I've received letters from Germany, from Holland, they have also begun chanting Hare Krishna. In England, the Beetles, they are also chanting, so this is getting popular in the Western countries, and it will get, I am sure. So this chanting process introduced by Lord Caitanya should be seriously taken up so that our aim of human life will be successful. (SPL68-066 Mar, 1968)

Very quickly centres were established in almost every major city in the world, and devotees were seen on the streets every day chanting:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

In the early days of the Hare Krishna movement the devotees took very seriously Prabhupada's desire that sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the names of God, should be performed as much as possible. So the devotees were out on the streets chanting Hare Krishna and distributing Back To Godhead magazines practically all day, every day. In most cases the temples were supported financially primarily by this sankirtana collection, the proceeds of the Back To Godhead sales. If the devotees went out and chanted for 6-8 hours each day they were bound to collect at least $80 - $150 which was quite sufficient for paying for the Back To Godhead magazines, the temple rent and food. And that's the way Prabhupada liked it. He wanted his students to live very simply and advance in Krishna consciousness, simply depending on Krishna for their maintenance.

Just like you are going to sell our magazine [Back To Godhead]. So this magazine selling or taking some contribution is not our business. Our business is that we are spreading Krishna consciousness. People are hearing something about Krishna and because we are helping we are also hearing. We are also benefiting. When we speak to someone about Krishna then I hear also. Sravana kirtana. The first, preliminary step is going on, hearing and chanting. So in this way we shall take all opportunity so that 24 hours, whether awakening or sleeping, we shall always think of Krishna. That is perfection.

This sankirtana [street chanting] and Back To Godhead distribution was unbelievably effective in bringing Krishna consciousness to the notice of practically everyone in the Western world. Even though Prabhupada had very few disciples, in 1968 there were not more than 100 and at the beginning of 1970 there were not more than 300, the effects of their preaching were enormous. It was as if a army of Hare Krishna's had descended from Vaikuntha and were attacking the whole materialistic Western world!

After a rather slow start the spread of the Hare Krishna movement was dramatic. From a small store front in New York and a few hippy followers in 1966 to a world-wide confederation of over 108 temples, farm communities and schools all over the world by the mid '70's.

Srila Prabhupada travelled constantly to nurture the tender devotional lives of his thousands of disciples. Wherever he was Srila Prabhupada would rise very early in the morning and write his books. Between 1966 and 1977 Srila Prabhupada wrote an amazing number of books. He published almost eighty 400 page books. Srila Prabhupada also left thousands of hours of instruction in the form of his morning and evening classes, morning walks, room conversations and letters to his disciples.

Srila Prabhupada constantly stressed that the most important aspect of the Krishna consciousness movement was the distribution of his books. His constant stress on book distribution inspired his disciples to distribute books in unbelievable quantities...the world has never before seen such a huge quantity of religious books distributed so enthusiastically and widely.

There is no doubt about it, to distribute books is our most important activity. The temple is a place not for eating and sleeping, but as a base from which we send out our soldiers to fight with maya. Fight with maya means to drop thousands and millions of books into the lap of the conditioned souls. Just like during war time the bombs are raining from the sky like anything...

The reason Srila Prabhupada was so enthusiastic that his books be distributed in unlimited quantities was his faith in the transcendental sound vibrations they contain. Srila Prabhupada called his translation of the Bhagavad-gita, the principal Indian scripture, Bhagavad-gita As It Is. He explained that there were already dozens of translations of Bhagavad-gita in English, but practically all of them were written with some motive in mind other than simply presenting the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna as it was spoken. Because Krishna is famous, Krishna's book, Bhagavad-gita, is also famous. Many unscrupulous people have taken advantage of the popularity of Bhagavad-gita and have used Krishna's book to present their own concocted philosophy. Srila Prabhupada noted that the conclusion of Bhagavad-gita was to surrender to Krishna, however, until he published his Bhagavad-gita As It Is, although there were dozens of other translations of the Gita in English, not a single person in the Western world had become a devotee of Krishna. Now after reading Bhagavad-gita As It Is thousands and thousands of people were becoming pure devotees of Krishna and rejecting the materialistic way of life.

Prabhupada's books contain the timeless science of Krishna consciousness as it has been handed down through the disciple succession from Krishna Himself. They are not interpretations or one man's idea. They contain absolute, authorized knowledge. Because they contain the words of Krishna and narrations about Krishna's activities and the activities of His devotees they are nondifferent from Krishna. Krishna, Krishna's names, His pastimes, and everything connected with Him are completely spiritual and transcendental to the mundane material world. Therefore, reading Srila Prabhupada's books is direct association with Krishna. Simply by reading one can be transported to the spiritual world. These books are so potent that even if someone touches them his life will be changed. So devotees distributing Srila Prabhupada's books don't just sell religious books. They are giving people Krishna.

Prabhupada's emphasis on book distribution and his great satisfaction on hearing of temples and devotees successfully distributing his books inspired the devotees to increase more and more.

The book distributors discovered many novel and effective ways of selling Srila Prabhupada's books and as they surrendered more and more to book distribution both their results and the spiritual pleasure they were feeling was increasing unlimitedly.

I have read the plans of Ramesvara and Triparari to attend the fair and to distribute books to the thousands of people who will be coming; whatever transcendental tactics you leaders think best for distributing the books you can employ. Please keep me informed as the fair develops. (to Haribasara 20 Apr, 1974)

Wherever devotees took distributing Srila Prabhupada's books as their life and soul everything was auspicious. There where plenty of enthusiastic devotees and the mood was ecstatic. The experience of a book distributor who was prepared to tolerate the difficulties and go out and sell Srila Prabhupada's books to people, who were initially not very interested, and to see them become transformed in front of their eyes, simply by touching the book and hearing the philosophy of Krishna consciousness, is impossible to explain. Every devotee was practically seeing Krishna work every day. The devotees were practically realizing the philosophy of Krishna consciousness. The book distributors had so many realizations to share with each other and so much to talk about, and everything was about Krishna, Prabhupada and book distribution...there was absolutely nothing else to talk about! The book distributors were getting practical realization of Krishna consciousness and they were very happy. Of course there were many difficulties from the material point of view. But the book distributors were experiencing a variety of transcendental bliss that only those who seriously dedicate their life and soul to the orders of a bona fide spiritual master can experience.

Your sankirtana reports are very encouraging, especially that one girl, Gauri dasi, who has set an all ISKCON women's record of 108 big books. This is very wonderful. Formerly this would have been considered impossible, but now, by Krishna's grace everything is becoming possible. Encourage them all to increase more and more. (to Rupanuga)

Occasionally a devotee would complain that the emphasis on book distribution meant it was difficult to have chanting parties (sankirtana) on the streets as much as in the past. In this regard Srila Prabhupada followed his spiritual master. The clay drum which is used in the street sankirtana is called a mrdunga. Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Prabhupada's spiritual master, said that this clay mrdunga can be heard for one or two blocks, however, the printing press can produce books which can go all over the world. So Srila Bhaktisiddhanta coined the term brhat-mrdunga meaning the greater mrdunga, to describe the printing press. So this book distribution is the greater kirtana. Prabhupada stressed that the street chanting (sankirtana), temple worship and book distribution should go on, side by side, although of all activities book distribution is by far the most important.

I blindly follow my Guru Maharaja. I do not know what is the result. So I am stressing on this point of book distribution. He told me this personally. Book distribution is bhagavata-marga and temple worship is pancharatriki-viddhi. Both are important for cultivating Vaishnavism, but comparatively speaking bhagavata-marga is more important than pancharatriki-viddhi. As far as possible, both should go on in parallel lines, but still bhagavata-marga is more important than the other. (to Sri Govinda 12 Dec, 1974)

ISKCON had grown into a large organization and there was always a danger that individual devotees who did not take Krishna consciousness or Srila Prabhupada seriously, who had their own material desires to satisfy, might try to exploit the movement and the devotees. The spiritual master is the manifest representation of Krishna, and, although he is the representative of Krishna, he is worshiped and respected as Krishna. A bona fide spiritual master has no desire except the desire to please Krishna. He acts as Krishna's representative, and he accepts service on Krishna's behalf. The very opulent worship offered to Srila Prabhupada by his thousands of disciples all over the world was often not understood by outsiders and sometimes it was envied by so-called devotees who were more interested in their own fame and reputation than the glorification of Krishna and Krishna's pure devotee. It was these self-interested so-called devotees who would create many problems and difficulties for Srila Prabhupada and the sincere devotees because their goal wasn't the advancement of the Krishna consciousness movement... it was the fulfilment of their own material desires for fame, profit, adoration, followers, etc.

Prabhupada stressed that his students should do everything for Krishna and nothing for their own sense gratification. He clearly instructed that if they sincerely tried to preach Krishna consciousness, Krishna would send everything required including money and men.

The area of our activities is expanding. Under the circumstances, if our management goes on nicely to maintain our prestige and good name, that will be our success. Such status quo can be maintained only on our being freed from any kind of sense gratifying attitude, because pure devotional service means: anyabhilasita-sunyam, or without any other desire than to satisfy Krishna (to Bhagavan Feb 16, 1971)

Perhaps the most amazing thing about Srila Prabhupada was his humility. Although he had ten thousand disciples all over the world in more than one hundred centres who accepted and worshiped him on the same level as Krishna, Srila Prabhupada always remained unaffected.

I think that His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura is always seeing my activities and guiding me within my heart by his words. As it is said in the Srimad Bhagavatam, tene brahma hrda ya adi-kavaye. Spiritual inspiration comes from within the heart, wherein the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His Paramatma feature, is always sitting with all his devotees and associates. It is to be admitted that whatever translation work I have done is through the inspiration of my spiritual master because personally I am most insignificant and incompetent to do this materially impossible work. I do not think myself a very learned scholar, but I have full faith in the service of my spiritual master, His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. If there is any credit to my activities of translating, it is all due to His Divine Grace.(CC Ant p320)

The purpose of this Krishna consciousness movement is to keep our minds constantly on Krishna. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and He is a person... Receiving Krishna consciousness means receiving light. People are exhausted with the materialistic way of life especially in the West. Now the Krishna consciousness movement is giving new life to Western society... The great souls are always chanting about Krishna. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. They are also endeavouring with great determination in their devotional service. For instance in the Krishna conscious temples the devotees rise early in the morning at 4:00 A.M. and they immediately bathe. Then they go to mangal-aroti at 4:30 and after mangal-aroti they study the Vedic literatures. These are the processes by which we can awaken our dormant love for Krishna.

Because we are part and parcel of Krishna - just as the son is part and parcel of his father - there is a natural love between us. However somehow or other the son leaves home and forgets his father. The father of course never forgets his son. He thinks Oh, my son has left. If he would only come back! Krishna thinks in this way. We are all sons of Krishna and Krishna is more anxious to get us back home back to Godhead than we are to go. Therefore Krishna comes and says You rascal! Give up all this nonsensical material enjoyment. You have manufactured so many religions and dharmas. Just give them all up and surrender unto Me." Krishna comes Himself and leaves behind His words. His words are also Himself because His words are absolute.

Presently we do not see Krishna but if we actually advance we will see Him. When we see the Deity in the temple we think Oh, this is an idol. It is not Krishna. If we think in this way we have not seen Krishna. Krishna is also present in His words in Bhagavad-gita. That is krsna-vani the message of Krishna. The stage of awareness of Krishna can be attained when one is advanced in Krishna consciousness. Then one can understand that Krishna is present in the Deity in Bhagavad-gita in the taste of water in the sunshine in the moonshine and in all sound. Krishna is present everywhere but one has to acquire knowledge in order to know how to see Krishna. That is mukti liberation. That is Krishna consciousness. That is also the process of bhakti-yoga - sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam... Deity worship is arcanam chanting is vandanam and dasyam is working for Krishna and spreading this Krishna consciousness movement.

Generally we experience that people are primarily interested in seeing Krishna but why is the emphasis on seeing? Let us hear about Him We must come with a little faith and as we hear that faith will increase. One should come to the temple listen to talks about Krishna and then after some time officially take initiation into the service of the Lord. That is called bhajana-kriya. At that time one has to abandon illicit sex intoxication meat-eating and gambling. If one is still attached to all these habits he should know that he is not making progress. When one is actually advanced in bhajana-kriya all the anarthas (unwanted things) will be finished. Param drstva nivartate. When one appreciates something better he rejects all kinds of nonsense. Once one gets a taste of Krishna consciousness he cannot remain without it. A drunkard cannot remain without a drink but a devotee is drunk with Krishna consciousness. The immunization against all material diseases is this Krishna consciousness. To become immune to the infection of the modes of material nature we have to engage in bhakti-yoga. Once we attain the perfectional stage we attain ecstatic love of Godhead. In that state we cannot remain without Krishna for a moment. That is called bhava and that bhava may increase to maha-bhava. This is not possible for ordinary human beings but it was possible for the gopis and Radharani. Indeed they could not live without Krishna. This is the highest stage of liberation.

Attachment to matter is the greatest entanglement of the spirit soul. But the same attachment when applied to self-realised devotees opens the door of liberation.

Attachment for one thing is the cause of bondage in conditional life and the same attachment when applied to something else opens the door of liberation. Attachment cannot be killed; it simply has to be transferred. Attachment for material things is called material consciousness and attachment for Krishna or His devotee is called Krishna consciousness. Consciousness therefore is the platform of attachment. If we simply purify the consciousness from material consciousness to Krishna consciousness we attain liberation. Despite the statement that one should give up attachment desirelesness is not possible for a living entity. A living entity by constitution has the propensity to be attached to something. We see that if someone has no object of attachment if he has no children he transfers his attachment to cats and dogs. This indicates that the propensity for attachment cannot be stopped; rather it must be utilized for the best purpose. Our attachment for material things perpetuates our conditional state but the same attachment when transferred to the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His devotee is the source of liberation.

It is recommended that attachment should be transferred to the self-realized devotees the sadhus. And who is a sadhu? A sadhu is not just an ordinary man with a saffron robe or a long beard. A sadhu is described in Bhagavad-gita as one who unflinchingly engages in devotional service. Even though one is found not to be following the strict rules and regulations of devotional service if one simply has unflinching faith in Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead he is understood to be a sadhu. sadhur eva sa mantavyah. A sadhu is a strict follower of devotional service. If one at all wants to realize Brahman or spiritual perfection his attachment should be transferred to the sadhu or devotee. Lord Caitanya has also confirmed this. lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-sidhi haya: simply by a moments association with a sadhu one can attain perfection.

The sadhu's business is to be very tolerant. When one becomes a devotee many people become one's enemy because in this age people are asuric demoniac. Even one's father may turn into an enemy like Hiranyakasipu the father of Prahlada Maharaja. Prahlada was only five years old and was chanting Hare Krishna but his father was prepared to kill him because he was a devotee. Hiranyakasipu was saying Why are you chanting Hare Krishna? Why are you speaking of a separate God? I am God. That is the meaning of asuric demoniac. Rascals who claim to be God themselves are simply demons. Although Prahlada's father was insisting that he was God Prahlada Maharaja could not accept this. He simply accepted his father as an asura and consequently there was a quarrel between them. When Hiranyakasipu asked Prahlada Maharaja What is the best thing you have learned from your teachers? Prahlada replied O best of the asuras, as far as I can understand, because we have accepted this material body, we have to accept death, but this is not the object of human life. Human life is meant for moksa, liberation. Unfortunately, foolish people do not understand this. Krishna says. mrtyuh sarva-haras caham: I am death and I will take away everything you possess (Bhagavad-gita 10.34) Hiranyakasipu was such a powerful demon that even the demigods were afraid of him but Krishna took everything away in a second. Hiranyakasipu was looking for security and he was thinking. "I will not die in this way and I will not die in that way." But he did not think that he would be killed by the Lord in the form of Nrsimha. However intelligent we may be and however much we may try to cheat Krishna Krishna is always more intelligent. When mother Yasoda tried to bind Krishna with a rope she found the rope was always two inches too short. Our intelligence is like that. We want to cheat God and surpass Him but that is not possible. People think themselves very advanced in knowledge but actually due to their pride their knowledge is taken away by maya. Krishna actually takes the knowledge away from atheistic demoniac people like Hiranyakasipu. Atheists do not know that Krishna's intelligence is always at least two inches greater than anyone else's.

Those who are mahatmas are always engaged in chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Bhajana is chanting of Hare Krishna. If we serve a mahatma like Haridasa Thakura who was always engaged in chanting Hare Krishna our path of liberation is opened. However if we associate with materialistic people who are simply mad for sense gratification we take the way of darkness.

A sadhu (devotee of Krishna) is tolerant merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies he is peaceful he abides by the scriptures and all his characteristics are sublime. His concern is to enlighten people in devotional service; that is his mercy. He knows that without devotional service life is spoiled. A devotee travels all over the country from door to door preaching Be Krishna conscious. Be a devotee of Lord Krishna. Don't spoil your life in simply fulfilling your animal propensities. Human life is meant for self realization, or Krishna consciousness. These are the preachings of a sadhu. He is not satisfied with his own liberation. He always thinks about others. He is the most compassionate personality toward all fallen souls.

While engaged in preaching work he has to meet with so many opposing elements and therefore the sadhu has to be very tolerant. Someone may ill-treat him because the conditioned souls are not prepared to receive the transcendental knowledge of devotional service. They don't like it; that is their disease. The sadhu has the thankless task of impressing upon them the importance of devotional service. Sometimes devotees are personally attacked with violence. Lord Jesus Christ was crucified Haridasa Thakura was cained in twenty-two market places and Lord Caitanya's principal assistant Nityananda was violently attacked by Jagai and Madhai. But still they were tolerant because their mission was to deliver fallen souls.

At the present moment it is very difficult to avoid the company of asadhus those who are not sadhus. It is very difficult to find a sadhu for association. We have therefore started this Krishna consciousness movement to create an association of sadhus so that people may take advantage and become liberated. There is no other purpose for this society.

A sadhu does not create enemies. If there are enemies they become envious out of their own character not out of any provocation on the part of a sadhu. A sadhu simply teaches My dear human being, my dear friend, just surrender to Krishna. Enemies arise due to man's envious nature. Canakya Pandit says that there are two envious animals - serpents and men. Although you may be faultless either may kill you. Of the two Canakya Pandit says that the envious man is more dangerous because a serpent can be subdued by chanting a mantra or some herbs but an envious man cannot be subdued. In Kali-yuga practically everyone is envious but we have to tolerate this.

Envious people create many impediments to the Krishna consciousness movement but we have to tolerate them. There is no alternative. One must be peaceful and depend on Krishna in all circumstances. These are the ornaments of a sadhu. We should find a sadhu and associate with him. Then our path to liberation will be open.

Krishna consciousness is our original consciousness but somehow or other it has become covered by material attachment. The question is how to give up material attachment and become attached to Krishna. The process is sadhu-sanga association with a sadhu. We have many attachments in this material world but we cannot make these attachments void. We simply have to purify them. Some say that if the eye is diseased it should be plucked out but that is not treatment. Treatment is removing the disease. Somehow or other there is a cataract and if the cataract is removed one's eyesight will be revived.

We have described the symptoms of a sadhu and we have stated that a sadhu should be accepted by his characteristics. It is not that we accept anyone who comes along and says I am a sadhu. The characteristics of a sadhu have to be present. Similarly it is not that anyone is accepted who comes along and says I am an incarnation of God. There are characteristics of God given in the sastras (scriptures). sadhu-sanga association with a sadhu is very essential in Krishna consciousness. People are suffering due to contamination of tamo-guna (darkness ignorance) and rajo-guna (passion). The sadhu teaches one how to remain purely in sattva-guna (goodness) by truthfulness cleanliness mind control sense control simplicity tolerance full faith and knowledge.

Instead of thinking Unless I have a drink, I will go mad, one should think Unless I associate with a sadhu, I will go mad. When we can think in this way we will become liberated. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has stated that He wants every village in the entire world to be a centre for Krishna consciousness so that people can take advantage of sadhus and in turn become sadhus. This is the mission of this Krishna consciousness movement. We simply have to voluntarily undergo some penance in the beginning. It may be a little painful in the beginning to refrain from illicit sex intoxication meat eating and gambling but one has to be tolerant. To cure a disease one may have to agree to undergo a surgical operation. Although the operation may be very painful we have to tolerate it. This is called titiksavah. At the same time we have to be karunikah - that is we have to take compassion on the fallen souls by going from town to town to enlighten others in Krishna consciousness. This is a sadhu's duty. Those who are preachers are superior to those who go to the Himalayas to meditate. It is good to go to the Himalayas to meditate for one's personal benefit but those who undergo many difficulties in order to preach are superior. They are actually fighting for Krishna's sake and they are certainly more compassionate. The sadhus who leave Vrndavana to fight in the world to spread Krishna consciousness are superior sadhus. That is the opinion of Krishna in Bhagavad-gita (18.68-69):

ya idam paramam guhyam - mad bhaktesv abhidhasyati
bhaktim mayi param krtva - mam evaisyaty asamsayah

na ca tasman manusyesu - kascin me priya krttamah
bhavita na ca me tasmad - anyah priyataro bhuvi

If we want to be quickly recognized by Krishna we should become preachers. This is also the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. It is not that one should remain in India; rather one should travel all over the world to preach Krishna consciousness

Not only is a sadhu everyone's well-wisher but he is not an enemy of anyone. He is santa peaceful. These are the primary characteristics of a sadhu. He is also attached to no one but Krishna. mayy ananyena bhavena. These are the external and internal symptoms of a sadhu.

A sadhu simply takes pleasure in hearing about Krishna and talking about Him. There are many pastimes enacted by Krishna. He fights and kills demons and He performs His pastimes with the gopis. He plays as a cowherd boy in Vrndavana and as a King of Dvaraka. There are many books about Krishna krsna-katha and this Krishna consciousness movement has already published many of them. Apart from Bhagavad-gita which is spoken by Krishna we can read these other books. In this way one can learn the art of becoming a sadhu. Simply by hearing about Krishna and speaking about Him we will be immediately relieved from the suffering of this material condition. This symptom will be visible when one no longer has material attachment. A sadhu does not think of himself as Hindu Muslim Christian American Indian or whatever. He simply thinks I am the servant of Krishna. One need only learn this process in order to render the best service to humanity.(from Teachings of Lord Kapila Chapter 11.)

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

Srila Prabhupada - A Transcendental Manager

The success of ISKCON (the International Society for Krishna Consciousness) was a direct result of Srila Prabhupada's devotion, determination, purity and intelligence, however, he was a soul completely surrendered to Krishna. He depended completely on Krishna. So ISKCON succeeded because Srila Prabhupada was totally dedicated to the order of his spiritual master and Krishna. Srila Prabhupada was the force behind ISKCON but the thousands of young boys and girls who surrendered to him and accepted him as their spiritual master were the Krishna conscious soldiers fighting maya (illusion) on her own territory. Srila Prabhupada was always unlimitedly grateful to his disciples for helping him fulfill his spiritual master's orders. He even sometimes said, "My spiritual master has sent you all to teach me how to be Krishna conscious."

Srila Prabhupada didn't want to control everything himself. He wanted to encourage his disciples to take responsibility and use their intelligence in devising ways to spread Krishna consciousness. He wanted his disciples to become competent in all areas of practical work and management as well as being learned in the philosophy and expert preachers. He didn't like centralization or bureaucracy. His management program was always for independent and self-supporting centres not in any way dependant on any other centre. The only exceptions to this independent and self-supporting model were his Indian projects where he made Bombay the head office and he personally managed everything from there. He also centralized the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust as it would have been unworkable to have every temple printing books. There had to be some central body to coordinate book publication.

...I have heard from Jayatirtha you want to make big plans for centralization of management, taxes, monies, corporate status, book-keeping, credit, like that. I do not approve of such a plan. Do not centralize anything. Each temple must remain independent and self-sufficient. That was my plan from the very beginning, why you are thinking otherwise? Once before you wanted to do something centralizing with your GBC meeting, and if I did not interfere the whole thing would have been killed. Do not think in this way of big corporation, big credits, centralization - these are all nonsense proposals. Only thing I wanted was that books printing and distribution should be centralized, therefore I appointed you and Bali Mardana to do it. Otherwise, management, everything, should be done locally by local men. Accounts must be kept, things must be in order and lawfully done, but this should be each temple's concern, not yours. (to Karandhara 22 Dec, 1972)

Srila Prabhupada wanted a confederation of independent ISKCON centres each managed by a Temple President, Secretary and Treasurer. His mood was that each Temple President should develop the preaching in his area at his own creative rate.

The formula for ISKCON organization is very simple and can be understood by everyone. The world is divided into 12 zones. For each zone there is one zonal secretary. His duty is to see that the spiritual principles are being upheld very nicely in all the temples of his zone. Otherwise each temple shall be independent and self-supporting. Let every temple president work according to his own capacity to improve the Krishna consciousness of his centre. So far the practical management is concerned, that is required, but not that we shall become too much absorbed in fancy organization. Our business is spiritual life, so whatever organization needs to be done, the presidents may handle and take advice and assistance from the GBC representative. In this way let the Society's work go on and everyone increase their service at their own creative rate.

Prabhupada wanted to give his disciples all opportunities to preach without being burdened by bureaucracy and mundane organization. Even the Governing Body Commission (GBC) was not meant to be a managing body as such. The GBC members were to travel and preach in their zones and enliven the devotees spiritually. They were also given the responsibility to ensure that every devotee in their zone was strictly following the four regulative principles (no illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat eating and no gambling) and that every devotee was completing at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily without fail. They were also to ensure that all routine work in the temples was being carried out to the proper standard. This included cleanliness, the standard of Deity worship, etc. Their position was to advise and assist the temple presidents but they had no authority over the temple president, nor did they have any power to remove the temple president. The temple president could only be changed by vote of the members of the temple.

Srila Prabhupada wanted all of his temples to be "revolutionary clean", he wanted every disciple in ISKCON to rise before 4:00am and attend the 4:30am temple program. He wanted everyone to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and to strictly follow the for regulative principles (no illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat eating, no gambling) and he wanted his books distributed as widely as possible. Outside these areas Srila Prabhupada gave a great deal of freedom to his disciples. He had faith in his disciples. He accepted that they were intelligent and he wanted them to use their "American brains" in Krishna's service. Srila Prabhupada usually only gave the broad idea of what he wanted and left the details to his disciples. Even his most dear project, his book publishing work, was delegated almost completely to his disciples. Srila Prabhupada dictated his books and gave general ideas about the size of the book, the paintings, etc, but the actual publication work he left to his disciples. In book distribution Srila Prabhupada told his disciples he wanted them to distribute his books. He didn't tell them how or where, he expected them to use their intelligence and work out how to do it.

Right form the early days of ISKCON at 26 2nd. Avenue in New York Srila Prabhupada gave much of the responsibility for the management and preaching to his disciples. Prabhupada worked on his translations, gave morning and evening classes and guided devotees where required. He answered their questions and instructed them in the practical aspects of Krishna consciousness like cooking and cleaning, but left them to manage the temple and to a large extent the preaching. Srila Prabhupada had established the Back to Godhead magazine in India as his own preaching program and now in the United States he had given Back To Godhead to his disciples. The Back To Godhead gave his disciples a forum for their preaching at their level of realization. Many of the early Back To Godhead articles were quite esoteric and often had very little to do with the philosophy of Krishna consciousness, but Srila Prabhupada encouraged his disciples, praised their Back To Godhead articles and knew that, in time, with practice and realization their writing skills and philosophical understanding would improve. And he was right. In a few short years Back To Godhead went from a "esoteric" mimeographed newsletter to a beautiful full-color magazine presenting the philosophy of Krishna consciousness so nicely and clearly that anyone could easily understand and appreciate it.

Srila Prabhupada was always enthusiastic to push his disciples forward and to see them advance in Krishna consciousness. Hearing and chanting are the two most important processes in advancing in Krishna consciousness. He wanted his disciples to hear from him, but then he wanted them to take the responsibility and preach by repeating what they had heard. Even if devotees were not very advanced or philosophically realized he wanted them to give classes and speak their realizations of Krishna consciousness. He would encourage quite new devotees to go off to another city or country to establish a temple there. Prabhupada had great faith in the process of discussing the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam in the association of devotees.

Srila Prabhupada gave much stress to being engaged in Krishna's service 24 hours a day. He was personally always engaged in Krishna's service and he wanted to see his disciples follow his example. From the very first days of ISKCON Srila Prabhupada tried to engage any interested person in Krishna's service 24 hours as day. In the first store-front temple Prabhupada had his disciples preaching, cooking, distributing prasadam (spiritual food), writing articles for Back To Godhead, printing, collating and stapling the Back To Godhead, painting pictures for illustrating his books, sending sankirtana [street chanting] parties out to chant in the city and parks and many other activities. He said that "We are just trying to be engaged in Krishna's service 24 hours a day, even if we have to invent some service to keep us busy."

The idea is that we can only do one of two things. We can serve Krishna or we can serve maya (illusion). If we are not fully engaged in serving Krishna then maya will take the opportunity and engage us in her service causing us to fall from the spiritual platform and again become entangled in material activities. There are many regulative principles in Krishna consciousness but they are all summarized in one: Always remember Krishna and never forget Krishna. If we are engaged serving Krishna 24 hours a day we will automatically always remember Krishna and never forget Krishna and all the regulative principles will automatically be followed.

This chanting means always remembering Krishna. Cooking, I am cooking for Krishna, I am typing for Krishna, I am going to preach for Krishna, I am distributing Back To Godhead for Krishna. In this way always remember Krishna. That will make you perfect... Therefore it is equally good for anyone because we can engage anyone in the business of Krishna. If somebody has no knowledge he can simply sweep the floor of Krishna's temple. That will make him remember Krishna. That I am cleansing the floor of Krishna's temple. He's as good as the editor of Back To Godhead.

The thing which separated Srila Prabhupada and his ISKCON from every other religious or philosophical group was he was asking his disciples to fully surrender to Krishna and spiritualize their whole life. He was interested in pure devotional service and training his disciples to become pure devotees. There is no shortage of people or organizations who are prepared to give some percentage of their time and energy to God. But Prabhupada wanted one hundred percent. Prabhupada could have had millions and millions of disciples if he had relaxed the rules and regulations. But he was not interested in that. He wanted a few pure devotees, not millions of mad sentimental followers who were not serious about surrendering to Krishna or giving one hundred percent of their time and energy to Krishna.

...they say that everyone is God... So we are realizing by meditation that I am God, you are God, my brother is God, my father is God, everyone is God! This is going on. We want to stop all this rascaldom. That is our challenge. We may not have as many followers, we don't care for that. We don't want these nonsense followers, many thousands. What will they do? But if we can turn one man into Krishna consciousness perfectly he can do tremendous work in the world. That is our principle. We don't want nonsense. (SPL 68-030 27 Nov, 1968)

(This is an account of the activities of the Chicago ISKCON temple adapted from Morris Yanoff's book "Where is Joey")

Two American Airlines jets were unloading at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, the world's busiest. I watched eight Krishnas gather eagerly to meet a crowd of passengers.

As the first stream of travellers came through, I observed tall Gadapati hold out his hand toward a sailor, and wondered how far he would get.

"Hi buddy, welcome to Chicago." From Gadapati's manner, one might have thought he had been sent by the Mayor himself. A lonely kid in a strange city, the young sailor seemed pleased to be greeted. He dropped his duffel bag between his feet in order to accept the yellow-jacketed copy of the Gita from Gadapati.

Just then, little Deva dasi, blond and smiling sweetly, deftly pinned a wine-red carnation on the lapel of an old gentleman.

Gadapati, another Gita in his hand, was showing the sailor the picture pages. "You believe in God?" he asked. "Oh, yes.", he replied. "This is all about God."

Day after day the young devotees diligently piled passengers with books or carnations, reaping thousands of dollars in donations.

Having learned that the temple had an open house at five every Sunday, I decided to attend. I drove to the converted YMCA building on Emerson Avenue one September afternoon. Painted yellow and with the Hare Krishna mantra in red letters across the front, the temple stood in sharp contrast to the small store fronts which flanked it and to the large new senior citizens' housing complex facing it from across the street.

A clutter of shoes inside the entrance door induced me to remove mine. Unshod, I went painfully on callused feet into the large, rather bare reception room. Other than two easy chairs, there was a large table covered with the sect's literature - the books and magazines were vividly illustrated with scenes from Hindu mythology.

A young male devotee in a saffron dhoti, called out "Hare Krishna," to which I stiffly replied, "How d'ye do?" When he introduced himself he gave me his Sanskrit name and wished me a happy new-year. Was he Jewish, I wondered? By now, there were several other visitors. We were led down a flight of stairs into a brightly lit, high ceilinged hall which must have been the former basketball court of the YMCA. Its walls were painted cream, the floor covered with black and white tiles. At the north end was a dais on which stood a large framed picture of the aged founder and head of ISKCON, Swami Prabhupada. It was hung with floral wreaths and propped upon colorful cushions. The south end of the hall was screened by drapes. As there were no chairs, everyone sat on the floor. About twenty visitors, mostly young, a few with children, arranged along the east wall facing the centre. Along the west wall were a few women devotees in flowing, gaudy saris. All the devotees moved silently and swiftly on bare feet.

A devotee came to the middle of the floor and sat down cross-legged before a microphone facing the visitors. His dark eyes were sunken; his high cheek bones, large nose, and shaven head gave a skull-like appearance. Introducing himself as Purana, he launched into an explanation of the Krishna consciousness movement. Meanwhile, more and more visitors kept arriving, until there was about fifty, half of whom were East Indians who came in family groups. With the exception of one black, all the devotees were white.

The speaker interlaced his talk with Sanskrit phrases. "We are not our bodies," he began "We are atmas, spirit souls. Suppose I amputate my arm," he proposed, making a motion of cutting at his left elbow. "There is my arm." He looked at the ground to his left. "It is lying there rotting. Is that me? No. I am not my arm. Neither am I my body. That too will die and rot eventually. I must be something else, something indestructible which continues after I shed my body. That something is the atma, a tiny particle of the universal Atma, Krishna. When the body dies the atma leaves to enter another body and begin a new cycle." He paused to let the thought sink in. "The real you is your spirit soul, your atma. It yearns to reunite itself with Krishna from whence it came. But the atma is burdened by karma, by its previous lives, by materialism, which is attractive to the body; by the senses, seeking self-gratification. Thus we find it difficult to get out of the cycle of repeated birth and death, samsara. We are doomed to continue on the wheel of birth, misery, old age, and death.

"This world," he continued, "is maya, illusion. The real world, the one the soul yearns for, is Krishna, with whom there is eternal bliss. How can we become free from the cycle of samsara and reunite with Krishna? Through Krishna consciousness, the way taught by our spiritual master, who comes to us from Krishna Himself through a five-thousand year succession of spiritual masters. That way is not difficult. We have only to chant the holy name of God, Krishna, stop eating the flesh of living things, refrain from illicit sex, smoking, gambling and frivolous sports. In whatever we do we need to have Krishna in our thoughts; do everything for Krishna."

He asked for questions. A young women with two children asked, "May we not be both body and soul?"

"The body," he replied, "is of no importance. It is like a suit of clothes. When it's worn out you take it off and throw it away."

I raised my hand. "Perhaps this life is all there is to enjoy and once dead there is nothing else?"

A young women, who said she was Catholic, asked why all the devotees were young.

"What do you mean 'young'? We have some devotees over thirty; our spiritual master is seventy-nine."

"All sex is illicit, except between husband and wife, and then only for procreation. All our troubles are due to this material body which seeks to gratify itself through sex, animal flesh, empty amusements, drink and dope. If we give in we are bound to the cycle of samsara, to eternal misery, birth after birth without end.

He stopped, turning slowly to look at the Swami's portrait and then back to the audience. "Our spiritual master teaches us to become devotees of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is far more beneficial than any of the material things we are conditioned to like. If a person overcomes this disease of his soul, he attains the Supreme Lord's abode and never has to come back to this miserable, material world. He will have achieved eternal bliss."

He dealt with their dietary rules which prohibit the meat of cows, sheep, fowl, even the eating of eggs. At some length he described the usefulness of the cow. He rhapsodized over a long list of dairy products from cheese to yogurt. "How do we show our gratitude to this wonderful animal?" he asked. "We murder it." He concluded with a reference to the ceremony we were to participate in, after which we would have "prasadam, the remnants of food offered to Krishna."

A devotee with a two-ended hand drum stepped up to the microphone and rehearsed us in the Hare Krishna mantra, the maha mantra. We chanted after him, phrase by phrase: "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare." He interjected, "Our spiritual master teaches us that all we need to do to become blissful is to chant Hare Krishna and take prasadam." He beat the drum slowly with his hand and we chanted after him. He took steps from side to side in rhythm; we followed. He sped up the chant and step. I had no stomach for it and after a few rounds stopped and merely looked on. No one seemed to notice, or to care. Most of the visitors, however, got into the swing; some who seemed to have previous experience raised their voices and stepped with verve.

More devotees appeared, mostly men. As they entered on bare feet they came to their knees before Prabhupada's picture. The men were in the centre of the floor, the women grouped along the west wall chanting dignifiedly, demurely stepping from side to side. They began to jig as the chant speeded up and the sound volume rose.

After fifteen minutes, at a signal from the drummer, the devotees turned to the south wall. The curtains pulled back to reveal a spotlighted scene of portrait paintings, flowers and fruits. The centre picture, standing on brightly colored pillows, was a youthful couple, whom I guessed to be Krishna and his consort(their word), Radharani. On either side were pictures of Prabhupada's predecessors. They were painted in the same style and colors as the book covers on the reception room table.

When the curtains parted, there was a heightening of excitement; the chanting increased in tempo and volume. The drummer at the microphone, from whom the chanters took their cue, varied the chant. The jigging had turned into dancing, becoming wild as the drummer increased speed. Some of the men at the very centre leaped straight up, arms thrust high. A devotee, clanging small cymbals in time to the chant, ran madly around the room, head thrown back, shouting, his throat straining. The women members, graceful in their saris, kept up their side-step on the outskirts of the men's group, adding their voices to the volume of sound. Several of the male visitors, all young, joined in the leaping, but none of the East Indians. They remained in their place, chanting and jigging.

When the leaping and shouting reached an unbearable peak, the drummer sounded a new variation in reduced tempo. It was a relief. But, as the new tune continued, the pace increased and again came to strenuous, ecstatic leaps. Sari billowing, a woman devotee stepped up to the alter, her hands making motions before the portraits. The pungent odour of incense saturated the hall. It was a signal for the sound system to be turned up. The din of chant, drum, cymbals, and at the climax, the wild cry of a conch shell, rose to such a level I had to cover my ears. The dancers faces shone with sweat, their eyes were frenzied. But when the chanting abated, they gradually assumed a normal mien. A half-hour had passed since the drapes had been drawn back. A voice invited us upstairs for prasadam.

A neighbour who worked in a health food store had given me the name of a customer who had recently joined the cult. I asked if Tom was here today.

"I was telling Joan at the health food store that I would like to know more about Krishna consciousness," I said to Tom, when he was brought over to me. "She suggested I talk to you." Barefoot and dressed in a yellow dhoti, he was cordial and invited me to come upstairs for food.

The room above the temple was of the same size but with a low ceiling. Paper plates with food were spread over the floor and alongside each plate was a cup of fruit liquid. My dish consisted of a scoop of saffron rice, an eggplant mixture, cooked fruit, and a fried dough cake. The eggplant was spiced with curry, the rest bland but too sweet for my taste. We ate with our fingers, the devotees licking theirs clean after every mouthful. Many went to the large pots at the front of the room for second, and third helpings.

Tom and I were joined by a big devotee, over six feet, and unlike others, paunchy. His plate was filled to overflowing; he caught the drippings and carried them to his mouth. Tom introduced him by his "Spiritual" name and, at my blank look, said, "Call him Don."

Don did most of the talking. He was filled with proselytizing zeal and had difficulty talking and eating at the same time. Directly behind us was a black woman devotee passionately explaining her beliefs to a husky, young black man. All over the large room there were similar clusters of visitors and devotees. Sunday open house seemed to be the cult's occasion for winning converts.

Don returned with a second plateful. "We are eating prasadam," he said, "food blessed by Lord Krishna. If we eat prasadam and chant Hare Krishna, that's the remedy for all the evils in this material world." Tom listened with the eager look of the novitiate.

"But they eat meat," Don said accusingly. "They don't follow their own commandments: thou shall not kill."

I turned to Tom. "How come there are no Hindus among the devotees?" He smiled wryly; it must have been a sore point. Don answered. "They say they know all about Lord Krishna, so they don't have to join. They come only for the ceremony on Sundays."

I asked if the centre picture was a representation of Krishna and His wife. Tom started to answer when Don interrupted. An exchange followed which I couldn't understand.

"That's not a representation," Don said, "that's Krishna Himself." I looked puzzled. We don't worship a symbol, only the real thing. Those are deities you saw. The Supreme Lord Krishna and His Consort. I couldn't love a symbol, could you?"

He stared at me for an answer. I was at a loss for a reply which would not offend. A thought popped into my head. "I read somewhere about a Greek philosopher who said that if horses had a god, he would look like a horse." "A soul may go into a horse," Don said solemnly.

"That's right. at death it can go into anything, any other form of life, even an insect. You heard Purana earlier. The atma, that's the soul, leaves the body at death and enters another form."

"Unless you're in Krishna consciousness," Tom explained, "then the soul flies directly to Krishna's abode."

"Of course," Don answered. Children are responsible for their own souls. The main thing is to teach them about Krishna, otherwise they don't serve God and waste their lives doing nonsense. They become victims of sense gratification, movies, sports, TV."

"When one has Krishna, he needs nothing else," Don replied. "He may think he has everything, but without Krishna he has nothing. Prabhupada said it is our duty to teach how to love God and worship Him in our daily lives. All other aims in life are useless, temporary." Don's face glowed with conviction.

"Don," I said, "you speak of God and Krishna using the names interchangeably. Other people worship God but not Krishna."

"Such people are to be commended. But the Gita says, 'Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me.' Other ways of worshiping God are wastful. One who is serious should come to us."

"The man who led the chanting said that all one needs to do to reach Krishna consciousness is to chant and eat prasadam."

"That's right. If you do enough chanting you won't be troubled by the material world, by sex and other distractions. Chanting purifies."

"Well they say that Prabhupada chants all the time, even in sleep. But every devotee is required to chant the maha mantra sixteen rounds a day; a round has 108 beads, so your total is 1,728."

"You're repeating the names of God - Rama and Krishna. 'Hare' addresses the energy of God. You are fixing your mind on Him. If, for example, you are chanting His name at the time of death, you will get a spiritual life and never be reincarnated again. If you are thinking of a dog at the time of death then you will become a dog in the next life. If you are thinking of your wife you will become a women."

He did not share my humour. "Prabhupada says that women have half the brains of men."

When I could not restrain a smile, he added, "You may smile, but it is a fact." I wasn't going to argue with him. "You cannot understand what chanting does," he continued, because there's no way to explain it in words. For instance if you're thirsty and say 'water,' will your thirst be satisfied? Of course not. But when you say Krishna, He is actually present. We experience Him. We experience His qualities of eternity, knowledge and bliss in the sound vibrations of His name. He took in my incomprehension.

"You cannot grasp this intellectually; you have to experience its transcendental meaning for yourself."

"It would be self-evident," he said with certainty. "If you eat a meal, you know when you are satisfied. Right? When you chant Hare Krishna, you will know beyond a doubt that it's working for you."

"Let me ask you this, Don. Purana spoke only of birth, old age, misery and death as man's cycle on earth. What about joy? Surely everyone has some happy moments, even some great ones."

Don replied, "The pig lies in the filth of his pen swilling garbage. He thinks to himself,'This garbage is great; I'm happy.' Do you think he's happy? People confuse happiness with sense gratification."

By this time very few were left on the floor. Still wanting to talk to Tom alone, I thanked Don for his explanations and for his patience. "We have a class at the temple in Bhagavad-gita," he said, "visitors are welcome."

"I'll think about it," I said. Tom walked me to the door. Outside the night was warm and I suggested that we sit on the temple steps for a moment. Several devotees were standing around on the upper step; we seated ourselves on the lowest.

"I was on State Street downtown one Saturday afternoon, and I ran into them dancing and chanting. They looked so happy." His face lit up at the recollection. "I hung around and talked to them. They invited me to the temple. I came the next day, a Sunday, to their open house. I came again the next Sunday. I began to look forward to Sunday's; that used to be the worst day for me. Then I took a class. It got so I wanted to stay there all the time." He talked readily like one who is glad to testify for his new-found religion.

"I know their plant," I said. "I was in real estate before I retired. I represented an investor group who bought sixty acres and developed them into an industrial park. Your company was just west of our park, it's a big outfit."

"I was born Catholic, but it didn't mean much to me. I didn't know what religion really meant until I joined the Krishnas."

"Like Don said, it's hard to put into words. Once during aroti - that's the temple ceremony - we were sitting before the alter, a few of us, chanting under our breaths. I felt a strange sensation as if Krishna was present. It gave me goose-pimples." He fell silent, sensing his mood, I too kept still.

A red thunderbolt powered down the street and came to a screeching halt before a red light. Inside was a young man with a girl by his side. The radio was booming disco music.

"At one time," Tom resumed, "I would have given my right arm to be in his place. Now I have nothing and desire nothing. When I joined I turned everything over to the temple. It wasn't much. Now I own nothing, not even these clothes. Everything belongs to Krishna. I eat what's provided; sleep on the floor."

"It wasn't easy. It was rough getting up before dawn, cold showers, the change of diet. And the dancing! My feet are still swollen." He looked down at his bare feet, wiggling his toes. "But they're toughening." "Do you have a temple job?

"For now, I'm setting up the library. It's a mess. People borrowing; no records. I'm cataloguing the books, setting up a loan system." I turned our conversation to what was on my mind. "I saw a few children tonight, the boys with shaven heads."

"They're sent off by themselves, without the parents?" I showed surprise. Tom nodded, "Kind of rough, I guess, at that age."

"I think when they're that age they are sent to our farms. We have one in Mississippi and another in West Virginia."

The devotees who had been lounging above us had gone in. Tom was becoming restive. I liked him for his honesty, his willingness, on the basis of a tenuous relation to a mutual friend, to discuss his intimate thoughts. I wanted to know him better, to deepen our relationship. I desired profoundly to understand, if I could, the nature of his experience.

"I would like very much for my wife to meet you," I said. "She's in a wheelchair. Is there any chance of you visiting us? We live fifteen minutes away by car."

He hesitated. "I would have to get permission." Seeing my disappointment, he added, "I'll tell them I'll be spreading the word. That should do it." I gave him our phone number; we shook hands cordially and parted.

Problems from India

The success of Srila Prabhupada's preaching and his increasing number of temples and disciples all over the world caused many of his godbrothers (other disciples of Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Prabhupada's spiritual master) in India to become envious of him and his society. Generally Prabhupada's godbrothers did not approve of his preaching work. Srila Prabhupada had only a relatively small amount of direct association with his spiritual master and spent very little time living in the Gaudiya Math temples(his spiritual masters preaching mission). He sometimes spoke on the Srimad Bhagavatam in the Gaudiya Math and helped with raising funds, but basically he was considered a householder and businessman. No one within the Gaudiya Math ever imagined Prabhupada would go to America to preach and spread the mission of Krishna consciousness all over the world. However Prabhupada's ISKCON had made their tiny preaching attempts in India look insignificant.

Srila Prabhupada's godbrothers had more personal association with Srila Bhaktsiddhanta than him and some of them had been sannyasis (renounced) for many years. If anyone was to be a world preacher surely it would be one of these advanced, renounced sannyasis who had received so much personal training from Srila Bhaktsiddhanta. In the Gaudiya Math way of things Srila Prabhupada really didn't have much importance and no one would have considered him even a candidate as a world preacher.

The real difficulty for the Gaudiya Math began when they disobeyed the orders of Srila Bhaktsiddhanta. He instructed them that after he left his body they should make a Governing Body and conjointly manage the preaching mission in that way. He didn't want an acarya appointed in his place as he could not see anyone qualified. But after Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's disappearance his disciples decided to reject his instructions and elect an acarya. It was a disaster and the result was the disintegration of the Gaudiya Math and the end of the preaching. Srila Prabhupada saw all this going on and criticized his godbrothers for going against Srila Bhaktsiddhanta's instructions but he kept aloof from it. He preached independently and went about working and planning how to execute the order of his spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada was the only disciple of Srila Bhaktsiddhanta who sincerely took his instructions in regard to preaching in the Western countries to heart and was determined to follow them. He received the blessings and mercy of Srila Bhaktsiddhanta, Lord Caitanya and Krishna and was empowered by them to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world. But his godbrothers were far from happy.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, the devotee who reestablished Krishna consciousness in India after unscrupulous so-called devotees had depreciated the real purpose of Krishna consciousness by performing all sorts of sinful activities in the name of Krishna, had prayed for the day when the English, the Germans, the Americans and all people of the world would come to Mayapur (the birthplace of Lord Caitanya in West Bengal) and dance and chant "Hari Bol." Srila Prabhupada's godbrothers couldn't conceive how this was possible but Srila Prabhupada fulfilled this desire of Bhaktivinoda Thakura by building the Sri Mayapur Chandradoya Mandir and bringing his disciples from all over the world every year to celebrate the appearance of Lord Caitanya. This was a great achievement and a cause of joy and great celebrations for all the sincere devotees, but not all of Prabhupada's godbrothers were happy.

In the material world generally we want to become the greatest person. If we see someone else in a superior position the tendency is to try to do something to reduce his greatness in comparison to our own position. This is called envy.

A pure Vaisnava is very happy to see a person elevated in devotional service. Unfortunately, there are many so-called Vaisnavas who become envious to see someone actually recognized by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. It is a fact that no one can preach Caitanya Mahaprabhu's message without receiving the special mercy of the Lord. This is known to every Viasnava, yet there are some envious people who cannot tolerate the expansion of this Krishna consciousness movement all over the world. They find fault with a pure devotee preacher and do not praise him for the excellent service he renders in fulfilling Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission.

This envy is not the feeling of a devotee. When a devotee sees another devote who has achieved the mercy of Krishna he becomes very pleased, thinking how nice it is that the other devotee is serving Krishna so well. There is transcendental envy which is completely different from the mundane envy of the material world. A devotee may think another devotee has served Krishna so nicely and want to surpass him by serving Krishna even more. The difference is the central point and objective is to serve Krishna, there is no malice or bad feeling involved. Srila Prabhupada was able to inspire his devotees to increase book distribution more and more by encouraging this competitive spirit. Devotees competed to distribute more and more books and Prabhupada made it very clear that the more books they distributed, the more pleased he was.

Unfortunately, many of Srila Prabhupada's godbrothers did not like the idea that he was preaching Krishna consciousness all over the world and was clearly fulfilling the desires of their spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, while they sat comfortably in India with their temples and a few disciples - but no preaching. Srila Bhaktsiddhanta had clearly instructed all his disciples with the ability to preach in English to travel to the Western countries and spread Krishna consciousness, however, most of them didn't even travel outside India and the few that attempted had no success in preaching Krishna consciousness on foreign soil. Srila Prabhupada is the only disciple of Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura who took his spiritual master's orders as his life and soul and left India determined to preach in the West.

There are many disciples of Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, but to judge who is actually his disciple, to divide the useful from the useless, one must measure the activities of such disciples in executing the will of the spiritual master. Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura tried his best to spread the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to countries outside India. When he was present he patronized the disciples to go outside India to preach the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, but they were unsuccessful because within their minds they were not actually serious about preaching His cult in foreign countries; they simply wanted to take credit for having gone to foreign lands and utilize this recognition in India by advertising themselves as repatriated preachers. Many swamis have adopted this hypocritical means of preaching for the last eighty years or more, but no one could preach the real cult of Krishna consciousness all over the world. They merely came back to India falsely advertising that they had converted all the foreigners to the ideas of Vedanta or Krishna consciousness, and then they collected funds in India and lived satisfied lives of material comfort. As one fans paddy to separate the real paddy from useless straw, by accepting the criterion recommended by Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami one can very easily understand who is a genuine world-preacher and who is useless.

From their comfortable position in India Srila Prabhupada's godbrothers criticized his changes in preaching Krishna consciousness according to time and place. They criticized Prabhupada's decision to allow women to live in the temples, his taking part in the marriage of his disciples, the giving of Brahman initiation to non-Hindu's, and many other things. Prabhupada countered them by saying that to preach in America was not the same as preaching in India and without some adjustment it would not be possible to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world. He had the results to prove it. Dozens of temples, schools and farm communities all over the world and thousands of disciples strictly following the four regulative principles (no illicit sex life, no intoxication, no meat eating and no gambling), chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and fully engaged 24 hours a day in serving Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.

These envious godbrothers took every opportunity to cause trouble within ISKCON, both directly and on a more subtle level. Whenever they got an opportunity to preach to Prabhupada's disciples they tried to crack the basic foundation of ISKCON - the devotees absolute faith in Srila Prabhupada as a bonafide representative of Krishna.

Growing Pains

As the Hare Krishna movement grew Srila Prabhupada handed over much of the management to a body of devotees he had formed called the Governing Body Commission (GBC). He wanted the GBC to take over management responsibilities to enable him to spend more time on his most important project, writing his translations and purports on the Srimad Bhagavatam and other literatures.

Unfortunately there were differences of opinion among GBC members leading to arguments and fights. But more importantly, the GBC often made decisions which were not in line with Srila Prabhupada's guidelines and teachings.

Srila Prabhupada concluded that the society was contaminated by a "poisonous effect."

"Regarding the poisonous effect in our society, it is a fact and I know from where this poison tree has sprung up and how it has affected practically the whole society in a very dangerous form. But it does not matter. Prahlada Maharaja was administered poison and it did not act. I think that in the same parampara system that the poison administered to our society will not act if some of our students are as good as Prahlada Maharaja."(to Hansadutta Sep 2, 1970)

The problems became so bad that at a festival at New Vrndavana in West Virginia in 1970 a number of Srila Prabhupada's sannyasis began preaching Mayavada philosophy to the devotees assembled at the festival.

"Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave protection to devotees and killed many demons in the course of His preaching work. He specifically mentioned that the Mayavadi philosophers are the greatest demons. Therefore he warned all others not to hear the Mayavada philosophy. mayavadibhasya sunile haya sarva-nasa: simply by hearing the Mayavada interpretation of the sastras, one is doomed." (CC Adi 17.53)

The sannyasis at New Vrndavana claimed Srila Prabhupada was actually Krishna, that he was displeased with them and had left the movement. It was now up to these sannyasis to lead the movement...

"I do not know what was resolved at New Vrndavana. But I have heard that Brahmananda is preaching about me, that I am Krishna, that I am Supersoul, that I have withdrawn my mercy from the disciples, that I have left the society, and so on. I do not know how far they are correct, but I have written him a letter that he may not do something which may harm the interest of the society. You are also one of the members of the GBC, so you can think over very deeply how to save the situation. It is a fact, however, that a sinister movement is within our society. I have not heard anything from Krishna dasa and Syamasundara, so all of you may try to save the society from this dangerous position." (to Hansadutta 2 Sep, 1970)

The Hare Krishna movement had become a large organization and things were not always going on according to the standards and regulations established by Srila Prabhupada. The GBC's failing to follow Srila Prabhupada's instructions was an indication of very serious problems at all levels of the society. Devotees in ISKCON had lost their enthusiasm to preach and things were becoming very degraded.

"I am a little observing now, especially in your country, that our men are loosing their enthusiasm for spreading our program of Krishna consciousness movement. Otherwise why so many letters of problems are coming, dissatisfied? That is not a very good sign. The whole problem is they're not following the regulative principles, that I can detect. Without this enthusiasm will be lacking. Even mechanically following, and if he gets gradually understanding from the class, he will come to the point of spontaneous enthusiasm. This spontaneous loving devotional service is not so easy matter, but if one simply sticks to the rules and regulations, like rising early, chanting 16 rounds, chanting gayatr

	Preface		Growing Pains
	Introduction		The Zonal Acarya System
	The Hare Krishna's Go West		Born Again Krishnas
	What is a Hare Krishna Anyhow?		The New Guru System
	Srila Prabhupada - A Transcendental Manager		Purity is the Force!
	The Hare Krishna Movement in the 70's		Books are the Basis
	Problems from India		Concluding Words (by Srila Prabhupada)