Srila Prabhupada Offering

namo om vishnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine

nama-srestham manum api saci-putram atra svarupam
rupam tasyagrajam uru-purim mathurim gostavatim
radha-kundam giri-varam aho radhika-madhavasam
prapto yasya prathita-krpaya sri gurum tam nato 'smi

So, we have heard many wonderful things -- the glories of our Srila Prabhupada. And these glorifications are so nice that it is difficult for myself to add to what has already been said, in terms of the significance and the glory of Srila Prabhupada's accomplishments. By virtue of these accomplishments having come about, the person of Srila Prabhupada is glorified. Really his glory is that he was a pure devotee, a pure Vaishnava and within his heart carried only the pure desire to please his Guru Maharaja and our Lords Shri Shri Radha and Krsna.

Earlier Srila Prabhupada's Arrival Prayer was mentioned. In his prayer he is saying how, if You want me to dance, My Lord, then I will dance. If You don't want me to dance, then I won't dance. This is perfectly in consonance with the last verse of the Siksastakam -- aslisya va pada-ratam pinastu mam.  You are my Lord, if You want to embrace me, then embrace me. But if You want to step on me, trample me, then that is fine with me, but I am Yours -- I am Your servant. Srila Sridhara Maharaja particularly mentioned how our Srila Prabhupada so emptied himself of other desires -- anyabhilasita-sunyam -- sunya  means zero, that there were no other desires within Srila Prabhupada, other than that of his Guru Maharaja -- that of Krsna. Krsna had to help him. This expression of the negative was so profound and so much necessity is there that Krsna is bound by that love. In so many places we hear of this, how Krsna ... This is the month of Kartikka, Damodara -- the month where we pay special homage to the pastime where Krsna was bound by the love of Mother Yasoda -- other than for this love there was no way that Krsna could have been tied or caught. But by the love of Mother Yasoda, Krsna is bound. By the love of His pure devotees Krsna is actually captured -- ajita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyam -- the unconquerable is conquered by the love within the heart of the Vaishnavas.

We were hearing on the appearance day of Srila Sridhara Maharaja a story of how one devotee was offering Krsna a banana in great ecstacy, but was peeling it and offering the peel by mistake, but with so much love and affection. It was offered with so much real regard and heartfelt affection that Krsna was very happy to accept and eat that peel. And also when Raghunatha Dasa Goswami was taking the neglected spoiled rice, the maha-prasad of Lord Jagannatha in Puri and washing it carefully and accepting that as his foodstuffs, Mahaprabhu grabbed it from his hand and thought, "what relishable thing you have." What He was seeing was the devotion in the heart of Raghunatha Das, the faith in that maha-prasadam. Srila Prabhupada's faith in the instruction of his Guru Maharaja, his faith in Krsna was so absolute that he had no fear -- there was no question of success or failure. His success was that he endeavored, that he did it and there was no demand. This is the nature of pure devotion, that it is rendered without any desire of compensation. Prahlada Maharaja has stated na sa brtyah sa vai vanik -- vanik means merchant, that if you want something in return, then you are simply a merchant. So, Srila Prabhupada has accomplished all so many grand spiritual things -- spreading Krsna consciousness all over the world. We are his sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, we are his family -- we are his mercy. It has manifest within us and Sripad Paramadwaiti mentioned how we have some duty because of that -- that we have gotten some legacy -- dharmasya tattvam nihatam guhayam -- that in the hearts of the Vaishnavas the real religious principles are hidden. Srila Prabhupada has given us those things and they are within us and it is our duty to give them to others. We have to, especially in this day and age, it has come upon us to set a proper standard. When I was a young devotee in Los Angeles going out for preaching and in those days we used to have sometimes different colored socks, so many things. We had so many different ways of doing things and we looked -- ragtag. I remember very clearly when the sankirtana leader told me, "You are the representative of Srila Prabhupada, you must look proper, you must act properly because it is directly a reflection upon him -- how you act and how you preach and what you say -- that is what the people will think of Srila Prabhupada. We are his representatives and in this day and age there is so much misunderstanding amongst the Vaishnavas. There is so much criticism, most of it is properly due because of improprieties, misunderstanding and appasiddhanta  -- so many things are there. And it is very easy to criticize, so easy, all too easy to find fault.

So, the one message that I would like to give you today is: What service are you doing to please Srila Prabhupada? What will you do to show your love, your gratitude? What service are you doing? You have gotten so much, it is such a great thing that we have, so let us do something. And let us show the right standard. Rather than simply criticize, let us do the right thing. Let us show the proper behavior of the Vaishnava and in that way we are truly glorifying Srila Prabhupada and our guru-parampara. Then we are truly disciples of Srila Prabhupada.

Gaura-Haribol. Srila Prabhupada Ki Jaya