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Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita
\nTue, 2014-05-13 \u2014 Niranjana Swami<\/p>\n
Over the course of the last week, having found myself confined to a lying position much more than standing, walking, and especially sitting, I decided to take up a reading project. I decided to dedicate all of my reading time to readings about Srila Prabhupada.<\/p>\n
I first starting reading \u201cMemories \u2013 Anecdotes of a Modern-Saint\u201d, which is a collection of interviews recorded by Siddhanta Prabhu when he decided to interview devotees for his \u201cRemembrances of Srila Prabhupada\u201d video series. As I was reading and very much relishing these memories, I began thinking how nice it would be to read Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita once again. So I started reading the \u201cMemories\u201d book and \u201cSrila Prabhupada Lilamarita\u201d side by side\u2026 switching back and forth between the two books over the course of the day.<\/p>\n
I must confess that the last time I read the entire \u201cSrila Prabhupada Lilamrita\u201d was when each book of the seven-book series first came out during the 1980\u2019s. I had forgotten many of the details. I have a tendency to read every book about Srila Prabhupada as soon as it\u2019s published. The same thing happened when \u201cMiracle on Second Avenue\u201d came out a few years back by H.H. Mukunda Goswami. I was given an advance copy by the publisher in Mayapura, so I sat and read it in two days, finding myself unable to put it down. I\u2019ve noticed, however, that after I finish reading a biography of Srila Prabhupada, I just think of it as a book \u201calready read.\u201d So I don\u2019t go back and read it again. I\u2019ve now discovered that tendency as a terrible mistake.<\/p>\n
So far I\u2019ve read the first two volumes of Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita along with my other readings about Srila Prabhupada. I can\u2019t begin to express how inspirational it\u2019s been for me reflect on the evolution of Srila Prabhupada\u2019s missionary spirit, beginning from his first meeting with Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur. I\u2019m feeling so fortunate and very grateful for having such a detailed account of Srila Prabhupada\u2019s struggles and constant endeavors to serve the orders given to him by his spiritual master.<\/p>\n
Having served in the same zone as H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami in the early 1980\u2019s leading up to my acceptance of sannyasa from him in 1986, I\u2019m well aware of the extent of the research both he and his assistants had to do in preparation for \u201cSrila Prabhupada Lilamrta.\u201d So much information was unearthed about Srila Prabhupada\u2019s early years as a householder, the people who remembered him during his householder years, the people who remotely assisted him during his years just prior to accepting sannyasa, the efforts he made to work conjointly with his godbrothers for fulfilling Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur\u2019s wishes for spreading Krsna consciousness to the English-speaking world, his preaching in India, and especially his relentless commitment to writing and publishing Back to Godhead, other works, and then his three-volume translation and commentary of the First Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam completed just weeks prior to his month-long journey to the United States.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve found myself overwhelmed with gratitude, both to Satsvarupa Maharaja and especially to Srila Prabhupada, and at the same time, immensely humbled by reflecting upon the tiny and insignificant efforts I\u2019ve made in this life to spread Krsna consciousness in comparison to what Srila Prabhupada has done to expand Krsna consciousness throughout this world. In fact, I\u2019ve realized that it would be an offense on my part to even attempt to make such a comparison.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m reminded of the purport in the Ninth Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam wherein Srila Prabhupada writes:
\n\u201cMother Ganges is worshiped by the water of the Ganges: a devotee takes a little water from the Ganges and offers it back to the Ganges. When the devotee takes the water, mother Ganges does not lose anything, and when the water is offered back, mother Ganges does not increase, but in this way the worshiper of the Ganges is benefited. Similarly, a devotee of the Lord offers the Lord patram puspam phalam toyam [Bg. 9.26] \u2014 a leaf, flower, fruit or water \u2014 in great devotion, but everything, including the leaf, flower, fruit and water, belongs to the Lord, and therefore there is nothing to renounce or to accept. One must simply take advantage of the bhakti process because by following this process one does not lose anything but one gains the favor of the Supreme Person.\u201d (S.B. 9.9.12)<\/p>\n
Any little effort I\u2019ve made to spread Krsna consciousness has come from Srila Prabhupada\u2019s unlimited efforts to give this whole planet Krsna consciousness\u2026 an effort which, somehow, by my incomparable fortune, captured this tiny jiva within Srila Prabhupada\u2019s loving network of Lord Caitanya\u2019s mercy. How can I compare something I\u2019ve done with somebody who is completely responsible for anything good that I\u2019ve done? I should not be so foolish.<\/p>\n
While reading \u201cSrila Prabhupada Lilamrita\u201d, I was also reminded of so many of Srila Prabhupada\u2019s early writings such as his early \u201cBack to Godhead\u201d magazines, which are available, going back as early as 1944, his essays published in the \u201cGaudiya Patrika\u201d in 1948 and 1949 under the title \u201cRenunciation Through Wisdom\u201d, and his \u201cLight of the Bhagavata\u201d which Srila Prabhupada wrote in 1961 in response to an invitation he received to attend a world conference, the Congress for Cultivating the Human Spirit, held in Japan. So many of his early writings are coming to mind that I\u2019m making a list of them for my future readings in order to help me further capture his preaching mood in those earlier days for my own self-reflection.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to take this opportunity to encourage every one of my readers to please, please, please (that\u2019s three times for emphasis) read the whole \u201cSrila Prabhupada Lilamrita\u201d from cover to cover. Please don\u2019t let your life pass by without making the effort to increase your awareness and appreciation of Srila Prabhupada.<\/p>\n
Of course, when I first thought about writing this blog, I checked to see if the full seven volume \u201cSrila Prabhupada Lilamrita\u201d has been translated into Russian yet. To my dismay, I discovered that, to date, only the abridged version of \u201cSrila Prabhupada Lilamrita\u201d has been published in Russian. So today I spoke with Bhakti Vijnana Goswami and inquired when, and if, the full version will be published in Russian. I was relieved to learn that the first volume, \u201cA Lifetime in Preparation\u201d will be available for distribution some time this summer. Subsequent volumes will also be coming, hopefully, soon thereafter. Please be sure to keep abreast of it\u2019s release date so that you can acquire a copy as soon as it becomes available.<\/p>\n
Hare Krsna <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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By Niranjana Swami<\/strong><\/p>\n