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By Giriraj Swami<\/strong><\/p>\n In Sri Caitanya-caritamrta<\/em>, Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami says that the pastimes of Lord Chaitanya are like a lake with many beautiful lotus flowers, which are love for Krishna\u2014Radha and Krishna. As our acharyas tell us, the Caitanya-caritamrta<\/em> is perhaps the most important of all the books of the followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and on this date thirty-seven years ago, Srila Prabhupada completed his translation of the Caitanya-caritamrta<\/em>.<\/p>\n Whenever Srila Prabhupada was in Juhu, he would stay on the top floor of one of the tenement buildings. And every morning just before six o\u2019clock I would walk up the stairs to his room to accompany him on his morning walk. But when another devotee and I went on the day after the Rama-ekadasi, we were surprised to find that the doors were locked. On one side was Srila Prabhupada\u2019s quarters, and on the other side were his staff\u2019s quarters, and both doors were locked. I wasn\u2019t sure what to do, but I gently knocked on both doors. After a minute or two, Srila Prabhupada\u2019s secretary at the time, Harikesa Prabhu, opened the assistants\u2019 door just a little and said that Srila Prabhupada had completed his translation of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta<\/em> the previous night, that Prabhupada had written the most beautiful glorification of his guru maharaja at the end, and that he was in a very ecstatic mood and had said that we should celebrate by having a feast. Here is Srila Prabhupada\u2019s beautiful glorification of his spiritual master:<\/p>\n CONCLUDING WORDS<\/p>\n Today, Sunday, November 10, 1974\u2014corresponding to the 10th of Karttika, Caitanya Era 488, the eleventh day of the dark fortnight, the Rama-ekadasi\u2014we have now finished the English translation of Sri Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami\u2019s Sri Caitanya-caritamrta<\/em> in accordance with the authorized order of His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Gosvami Maharaja, my beloved eternal spiritual master, guide, and friend. Although according to material vision His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada passed away from this material world on the last day of December, 1936, I still consider His Divine Grace to be always present with me by his vani<\/em>, his words. There are two ways of association\u2014by vani<\/em> and by vapuh<\/em>. Vani<\/em> means words, and vapuh<\/em> means physical presence. Physical presence is sometimes appreciable and sometimes not, but vani<\/em> continues to exist eternally. Therefore we must take advantage of the vani<\/em>, not the physical presence. The Bhagavad-gita<\/em>, for example, is the vani<\/em> of Lord Krsna. Although Krsna was personally present five thousand years ago and is no longer physically present from the materialistic point of view, the Bhagavad-gita<\/em> continues.<\/p>\n COMMENT by Giriraj Swami<\/p>\n In the very first sentence Srila Prabhupada explains that he took up the translation of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta<\/em> under the authorized order of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and the theme of the Concluding Words is the service of the order of the spiritual master. Prabhupada describes how he read in a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita<\/em> Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura\u2019s statement that the disciple should take up the order of the spiritual master as his life and soul. Srila Prabhupada did that with the orders he received from his spiritual master, and he showed us all by example how we can associate with the spiritual master eternally through the service of the spiritual master\u2019s instructions. This is a very important point, because, as Srila Prabhupada says, physical presence is sometimes appreciable and sometimes not, but his vani<\/em> exists eternally.<\/p>\n CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)<\/p>\n In this connection we may call to memory the time when I was fortunate enough to meet His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, sometime in the year 1922. Srila Prabhupada had come to Calcutta from Sridhama Mayapur to start the missionary activities of the Gaudiya Matha. He was sitting in a house at Ulta Danga when through the inducement of an intimate friend, the late Sriman Narendranath Mullik, I had the opportunity to meet His Divine Grace for the first time. I do not remember the actual date of the meeting, but at that time I was one of the managers of Dr. Bose\u2019s laboratory in Calcutta. I was a newly married young man, addicted to Gandhi\u2019s movement and dressed in khadi<\/em>. Fortunately, even at our first meeting His Divine Grace advised me to preach the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in English in the Western countries. Because at that time I was a complete nationalist, a follower of Mahatma Gandhi\u2019s, I submitted to His Divine Grace that unless our country were freed from foreign subjugation, no one would hear the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu seriously. Of course, we had some argument on this subject, but at last I was defeated and convinced that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu\u2019s message is the only panacea for suffering humanity. I was also convinced that the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was then in the hands of a very expert devotee and that surely the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu would spread all over the world. I could not, however, immediately take up his instructions to preach, but I took his words very seriously and was always thinking of how to execute his order, although I was quite unfit to do so.<\/p>\n COMMENT<\/p>\n In his youth, Srila Prabhupada was the leader of his friends. So when Narendranath Mullik met Srila Sarasvati Thakura, he also wanted Abhay to meet him and give his verdict. But Prabhupada had not been very impressed with the sadhus he had seen, many of whom had visited his family\u2019s home. So when Narendranath mentioned that he wanted Abhay to meet a sadhu, Abhay thought that this sadhu might be like the others, and he did not really want to meet him. There was a building near where Abhay lived, and in the building a lot of men, single men, would go out in the morning, earn some money, come back in the evening, cook some food and eat, and go to sleep, and then go out again the next morning. Among them was a man who in the morning would put on the saffron dress of a sadhu, go out, collect alms, laksmi<\/em>, and then come back, change out of his saffron clothes, and join the others for their evening meal.<\/p>\n So, Srila Prabhupada was skeptical, and later he said that in Kali-yuga intelligent people will be skeptical because there are so many cheaters. So he resisted going, but in the end Narendranath prevailed and Abhay agreed to go with him to meet Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. When they arrived, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta instructed Abhay to preach the message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the English language to the Western world, and Srila Prabhupada argued that first India should gain political independence. As Prabhupada said, at the time there was one Bengali poet who lamented that \u201ceven uncivilized nations like China and Japan were independent, whereas India was dependent on the British.\u201d So first India should gain independence, and then people would listen to the message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu seriously. But Srila Bhaktisiddhanta convinced him that political independence and dependence are temporary conditions and that because we are concerned with the eternal benefit of humanity, he should take up this challenge of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Prabhupada later remarked that in his whole life he had never been defeated in any argument but that he was defeated by his guru maharaja and that he was \u201cvery much pleased to be defeated, that \u2018This so-called nationalism or any ism<\/em> is all temporary; the real need is self-realization.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n Srila Prabhupada mentions here that he received the instructions and took them to heart and that even though the circumstances were such that he could not immediately execute them, he was always thinking of them and considering how he could. This is another lesson for us\u2014that we may receive an instruction from the spiritual master and due to circumstances not be able to execute it immediately, but we should always keep it in our heart and think how to execute it, wait for an opportune moment to take it up, and pray for that opportunity.<\/p>\n <\/span>I had an experience with Srila Prabhupada that illustrates this principle. We were with His Divine Grace in Gorakhpur as guests of Sri Hanuman Prasadji Poddar of the Gita Press and were staying in the estate that had been his personal residence, Sri Krishna Niketan. Srila Prabhupada had received a new issue of Back to Godhead<\/em> magazine, which happened to contain an article I had written. He called for me and said, \u201cI read your article in Back to Godhead<\/em>. It was very nice. You should write. This is your first business. . . . So you travel with me, and I will guide you.\u201d<\/p>\n We didn\u2019t have computers in those days; in fact, very few people in India even had typewriters. If we needed something typed, we would go to a courthouse and find someone out front with a typewriter and pay him to type whatever we needed. So, I went out and bought lined paper and pens and pencils to begin my writing.<\/p>\n A few days later, my senior godbrother Hamsadutta Prabhu told Srila Prabhupada that he wanted to begin his world traveling sankirtana<\/em> party and wanted me to be on his party.<\/p>\n Srila Prabhupada agreed. At first I was a little disappointed, because I was looking forward to traveling with Srila Prabhupada and receiving his writing instruction. But I had faith that whatever Srila Prabhupada said and did was for the ultimate good of all concerned. If he wanted me to go with Hamsadutta, wanted to fulfill Hamsadutta\u2019s request that I go with him, then that must be what was best. So, we went to Agra and Aligarh, and then Hamsadutta got a telegram from Srila Prabhupada: \u201cORGANIZING BIG PANDAL PROGRAM BOMBAY. COME WITH PARTY IMMEDIATELY.\u201d<\/p>\n In Bombay, Srila Prabhupada\u2019s senior disciple Shyamasundar Prabhu was the temple president and was in charge of the pandal<\/em> program. He held a meeting with all the devotees to divide up the services. He wanted me to collect, to raise funds for the program. I said, \u201cSrila Prabhupada instructed me to write. He said I should take up writing as my main business.\u201d \u201cYou can write anytime,\u201d Shyamasundar Prabhu replied, \u201cbut this is the one time we can walk into any big man\u2019s office in Bombay and ask for an ad for our souvenir. So you should do this now, and then after the pandal you can write.\u201d I thought about what Shyamasundar Prabhu had said, and it made sense. And I thought about Srila Prabhupada\u2019s instruction that we should cooperate with our authorities. So I agreed.<\/p>\n After a few weeks, Srila Prabhupada joined us in Bombay. It was a great occasion of jubilation, and as would usually happen when he arrived, he went into his room, and all the devotees crowded in, and he looked around and glanced affectionately at them and exchanged some words with them. It was a blissful family feeling. When he came to me, he said, \u201cSo, Giriraj, how is your writing going?\u201d I was so flustered I didn\u2019t know what to say. Then he said, \u201cOkay, we\u2019ll speak later.\u201d<\/p>\n Shortly thereafter, alone with me in the room, Srila Prabhupada again asked about my writing, and I explained what Shyamasundar Prabhu had said and how I had thought that it made sense and how I knew that Prabhupada wanted us to cooperate with our authorities, but I was apprehensive, because I wasn\u2019t sure whether or not I had understood and acted correctly. \u201cDid I do the right thing?\u201d I asked. And Srila Prabhupada replied, \u201cOne may temporarily suspend the order of the spiritual master, but one should never neglect it.\u201d And he gave his own example: \u201cMy guru maharaja also ordered me to write, but I am so busy traveling and preaching all over India, I hardly have time to write. So you can suspend the order of the spiritual master, but you can never neglect it.\u201d<\/p>\n I was elated with Srila Prabhupada\u2019s answer. It was so practical. It didn\u2019t compromise the principle, but it accommodated the fact that circumstances may be such that one is unable to take up a particular instruction at a particular time.<\/p>\n CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)<\/p>\n I could not, however, immediately take up his instructions to preach, but I took his words very seriously and was always thinking of how to execute his order, although I was quite unfit to do so.<\/p>\n In this way I passed my life as a householder until 1950, when I retired from family life as a vanaprastha<\/em>. With no companion, I loitered here and there until 1958, when I took sannyasa<\/em>. Then I was completely ready to discharge the order of my spiritual master. Previously, in 1936, just before His Divine Grace passed away at Jagannatha Puri, I wrote him a letter asking what I could do to serve him. In reply, he wrote me a letter, dated 13 December 1936, ordering me, in the same way, to preach in English the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as I had heard it from him.<\/p>\n COMMENT<\/p>\n Srila Prabhupada said that he was having recurring dreams that his spiritual master was calling him to follow him and preach, and that he would wake up horrified\u2014\u201cHow can I take sannyasa and become a mendicant? I cannot accept so much trouble.\u201d He was horrified, but \u201cby his grace I gave up my family life, my so-called business life. And he brought me some way or other in preaching.\u201d Prabhupada said that one of his godbrothers, Sri Srimad Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja, insisted that he take sannyasa. And when Srila Kesava Maharaja left this world in 1968 and Srila Prabhupada got the news in Seattle, Prabhupada gave a beautiful talk in appreciation of his godbrother and composed a Sanskrit verse in his honor. He said that Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja had forced him to take sannyasa, although he was unwilling, and then added, \u201cNot that my godbrother forced me, but practically my guru maharaja forced me through my godbrother.\u201d<\/p>\n So, this is another instruction for us\u2014that we should recognize when our spiritual master is speaking to us through our godbrothers, or in other ways, through many mouths, and that if we are humble and in the mood to get instruction from our spiritual master even in his physical absence, we may find that our guru maharaja is speaking to us through others. Srila Prabhupada often took suggestions from friends very seriously, as if his guru maharaja were sending him instructions.<\/p>\n CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)<\/p>\n After he passed away, I started the fortnightly magazine Back to Godhead<\/em> sometime in 1944 and tried to spread the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu through this magazine. After I took sannyasa<\/em>, a well-wishing friend suggested that I write books instead of magazines. Magazines, he said, might be thrown away, but books remain perpetually. Then I attempted to write Srimad-Bhagavatam<\/em>. Before that, when I was a householder, I had written on Srimad Bhagavad-gita<\/em> and had completed about eleven hundred pages, but somehow or other the manuscript was stolen. In any case, when I had published Srimad-Bhagavatam<\/em>, First Canto, in three volumes in India, I thought of going to the USA. By the mercy of His Divine Grace, I was able to come to New York on September 17, 1965. Since then, I have translated many books, including Srimad-Bhagavatam<\/em>, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu<\/em>, Teachings of Lord Caitanya<\/em> (a summary), and many others.<\/p>\n COMMENT<\/p>\n So, Srila Prabhupada took the advice of his well-wishing friend to write books. He had another well-wishing friend, in Bombay, Mr. Brijratan Mohatta, and Mr. Mohatta suggested to him that he include a section of the Bhagavad-gita<\/em> in each issue of Back to Godhead<\/em> magazine, and Srila Prabhupada took that, too, as a good instruction. Instead of serializing the Bhagavad-gita<\/em>, he decided to serialize Srimad-Bhagavatam<\/em>, but that idea came from Mr. Mohatta.<\/p>\n CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)<\/p>\n In the meantime, I was induced to translate Sri Caitanya-caritamrta<\/em> and publish it in an elaborate version. In his leisure time in later life, His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura would simply read Sri Caitanya-caritamrta<\/em>. It was his favorite book. He used to say that there would be a time when foreigners would learn the Bengali language to read the Caitanya-caritamrta<\/em>. The work on this translation began about eighteen months ago. Now, by the grace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, it is finished. In this connection I have to thank my American disciples, especially Sriman Pradyumna dasa Adhikari, Sriman Nitai dasa Adhikari, Sriman Jayadvaita dasa Brahmacari, and many other boys and girls who are sincerely helping me in writing, editing, and publishing all these literatures.<\/p>\n COMMENT<\/p>\n Srila Prabhupada would usually take rest around ten o\u2019clock and get up around midnight and translate (while we young men and women were fast asleep), working until his morning walk. And if possible, he would translate again later in the day. He did it for us. So, to reciprocate his effort for us, his compassion for us, we should all read his books. He made the superhuman effort to translate the books for us, and it is our duty to read them.<\/p>\n CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)<\/p>\n 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 Srimad-Bhagavatam<\/em>, tene brahma hrdaya adi-kavaye<\/em> [SB <\/em>1.1.1]. 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.<\/p>\n COMMENT<\/p>\n We often hear that Krishna is in the heart\u2014sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto\u2014<\/em>but this is a very confidential explanation of what that means. Krishna is in the heart, but He is not alone; He is sitting in the heart along with His devotees and associates. Here Srila Prabhupada is saying that his guru maharaja is always seeing his activities and guiding him by his words within his heart. We\u2019ve discussed that Srila Prabhupada kept the orders of the spiritual master in his heart, and one can say that he was guided by his spiritual master, who was in his heart, through the instructions he had received during his spiritual master\u2019s manifest presence. But here he hints that the spiritual master is also present in the heart along with Krishna, and that he can also speak from within the heart.<\/p>\n But it is not so easy to hear the spiritual master within the heart. In the fourth canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam<\/em> there is a story about a king and his wife who go to the forest as vanaprasthas<\/em>. Eventually the king passes away, and his grieving wife wants to enter into the funeral pyre with her husband\u2019s body, to give up hers as well. Srila Prabhupada explains that figuratively the king is the spiritual master and the wife is the disciple and that just as the wife is ready to give up her life in the absence of her husband, the disciple should be prepared to lay down his or her life to execute the will of the spiritual master, abandoning all personal considerations.<\/p>\n In other words, a devoted disciple would rather die than fail to execute the spiritual master\u2019s mission. When the queen is ready to give up her life and enter the funeral pyre, a brahman appears and pacifies her. \u201cI am your old friend,\u201d he says, and gives her spiritual instruction. Srila Prabhupada explains that the brahman has appeared in the absence of the king, of the spiritual master, to give instructions to the disciple. The brahman is actually a manifestation of the Supersoul. \u201cThe Supreme Personality of Godhead, Paramatma, appeared before the queen as a brahmana<\/em>, but why didn\u2019t He appear in His original form as Sri Krishna?\u201d Prabhupada asks. And he quotes Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura that unless one is very highly elevated in loving the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one cannot see Him as He is. \u201cNonetheless, if one sticks to the principles enunciated by the spiritual master, somehow or other he is in association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.\u201d The Paramatma manifested Himself in the form of a brahman, or a siksa-guru<\/em>.<\/p>\n So, we have our spiritual master\u2019s instructions and we have our spiritual master\u2019s personal presence, but when we don\u2019t have the spiritual master\u2019s physical presence, we still want to feel his presence, we still want to be connected with him, and we are still connected with him by following his instructions. Sometimes we don\u2019t know exactly how to follow, or how to apply, his instructions; it can become a puzzle. But if we are in that mood of being ready to die, preferring to die rather than not execute the order of the spiritual master, not prosecute the mission of the spiritual master, without ulterior motives or any other desire, then the spiritual master will make sure that we get the guidance we need to serve him. He will do that for us; Krishna will do that for us.<\/p>\n CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n COMMENT<\/p>\n Just imagine: Srila Prabhupada translated seventeen volumes in eighteen months\u2014almost one a month. From a material point of view, it was practically impossible, but he did it with full faith in the order of his spiritual master. And he instructed us in the same spirit in parampara<\/em>, because he was writing the books but the disciples were lagging behind in their publication. He confronted his leaders in Los Angeles at the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust: \u201cI want the remaining volumes . . .\u201d Two volumes had been printed, maybe three, and he wanted the remaining fourteen volumes to be published within four months\u2014a seemingly impossible task. When Srila Prabhupada said that, Ramesvara Prabhu, who was head of the BBT, said that it was impossible. But Srila Prabhupada replied, \u201cImpossible is a word in a fool\u2019s dictionary.\u201d Still, Ramesvara Prabhu was not convinced. So he asked Srila Prabhupada, \u201cWhat if we\u2019re not able to do it?\u201d And Srila Prabhupada replied, \u201cDisqualified.\u201d In other words, \u201cIf you don\u2019t do it, you are disqualified from your service. We\u2019ll look for someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n So, by Srila Prabhupada\u2019s mercy and potency, the devotees accepted the instruction, took it to heart, and did what they had thought was impossible. They practically stopped eating and sleeping. They would sleep maybe two hours a night, like Prabhupada. And the artists, for example, gave up their false egos and made an assembly line\u2014all for the sake of serving Srila Prabhupada. They realized that the fastest way to bring out the paintings was for each artist to do what he or she did best: if one devotee was most expert in conceptualizing, he or she would do the design, and the one who was most expert in drawing people would draw the human forms, and the one who was most expert in painting backgrounds and trees and rivers and flowers would paint those. Each volume had to have many paintings. So, the devotees in every department\u2014<\/em>the Sanskrit department, the editorial department, the typing department\u2014<\/em>worked in a very cooperative mood, without false ego, hardly eating or sleeping, and they did it. And in that process, they became very attached to each other\u2014with Srila Prabhupada in the center, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the center, Krishna in the center. They gave up everything, all thoughts of personal comfort and self-interest, and just served for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada. And they accomplished the impossible.<\/p>\n CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)<\/p>\n If there is any credit to my activities of translating, it is all due to His Divine Grace.<\/p>\n COMMENT<\/p>\n His Holiness Radhanath Swami has made the point that it was not exactly that Prabhupada wrote the books himself but that it was Krishna\u2014Krishna and His associates, including the spiritual master and in a way the whole parampara<\/em>\u2014dictating them to him. Once, in New York, Srila Prabhupada was speaking to a newspaper reporter, and the reporter asked whether Prabhupada received direct communication from Krishna. Ramesvara tried to explain that Krishna gave Prabhupada the intelligence, but Prabhupada countered, \u201cNot necessarily; Krishna tells directly. Not figuratively.\u201d<\/p>\n So, we are definitely getting Krishna and the entire parampara<\/em> through these books. Srila Prabhupada himself would read his books. What mundane author reads his own books? He or she will write it, finish it, and then maybe begin another. But Srila Prabhupada would read his own books, and he would relish them, because they were transcendental.<\/p>\n Prabhupada\u2019s servant Srutakirti Prabhu said that on a number of occasions when he would go into Srila Prabhupada\u2019s room, Prabhupada would be reading one of his books\u2014<\/em>the Bhagavad-gita As It Is<\/em>, The Nectar of Devotion<\/em>, or the Krsna<\/em> book. \u201cThis Krsna<\/em> book is so wonderful,\u201d Prabhupada told him. \u201cEverything is here in this book. You don\u2019t have to read so many books; just by reading this one book you can become Krishna conscious.\u201d After a few seconds he added, \u201cYou don\u2019t even have to read the whole book\u2014just one story. You don\u2019t even have to read the whole chapter\u2014just one page. You don\u2019t even have to read the whole page\u2014just one line. You don\u2019t even have to read a whole line\u2014just one word\u2014because Krishna is in every word!\u201d So, these books are Krishna. Srimad-Bhagavatam <\/em>(12.12.66) says of itself that Bhagavan Krishna is in each and every verse, or line (anu-padam<\/em>). So, in Srila Prabhupada\u2019s books you get Krishna, you get Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, you get the whole parampara<\/em>.<\/p>\n The same could be said of Srila Prabhupada\u2019s spoken words. In India he was giving so many programs, was so enthusiastic, that the devotees couldn\u2019t physically keep up. During one day in Amritsar, he gave seven programs. At the final one, he spoke in Hindi. I didn\u2019t understand everything, but I knew many of the verses he was quoting, and somehow by his mercy I could follow what he was saying. And I could see that he was relishing the association of the people in the audience and that he was relishing the association of Krishna.<\/p>\n After the program, Srila Prabhupada returned to his quarters. When, a bit later, the rest of us got back, I saw that the light was on in his room, and I was curious to know what he was doing. Even though it was late and he had given so many programs, he was still awake. So, I crawled up to the window and peeked through, and there was Srila Prabhupada sitting behind his low table on his asana<\/em>, listening to the recording of the talk he had just given. \u201cOkay,\u201d I thought, \u201cthat wasn\u2019t Prabhupada speaking; that was Krishna.\u201d Of course, Prabhupada is included, but that was Krishna. Prabhupada was relishing Krishna; he was relishing associating with Krishna through the words that Krishna inspired him to speak.<\/p>\n So, these books are not ordinary. They are Krishna and the whole parampara<\/em>, and they have great potency.<\/p>\n Of course, no one can replace one\u2019s personal spiritual master, and the personal presence of the spiritual master is also important; otherwise one might think, \u201cWhy do we even need a spiritual master? We could just read Srila Prabhupada\u2019s books.\u201d But after reading the verse in the second chapter of the first canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam<\/em>\u2014nasta-prayesv abhadresu nityam bhagavata-sevaya<\/em>, that by serving the book Bhagavata<\/em> or the person Bhagavata<\/em> one gets the same result\u2014a disciple asked Srila Prabhupada, \u201cYes, one gets the same result, but still, is there some difference? Is one better than the other?\u201d And Srila Prabhupada replied, \u201cThe person Bhagavata<\/em> is better because he can catch you by the ear.\u201d So, we need that personal guidance, someone who can catch our ear and set us right. Still, we should recognize and value how substantial vani<\/em> is and how real the relationship based on vani<\/em> can be.<\/p>\n CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)<\/p>\n If there is any credit to my activities of translating, it is all due to His Divine Grace. Certainly if His Divine Grace were physically present at this time, it would have been a great occasion for jubilation, but even though he is not physically present, I am confident that he is very much pleased by this work of translation. He was very fond of seeing many books published to spread the Krsna consciousness movement. Therefore our society, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, has been formed to execute the order of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.<\/p>\n COMMENT<\/p>\n Srila Prabhupada again returns to the order of his spiritual master and how Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura had wanted many books on Krishna consciousness to be published and distributed. But he also points out that even though his own service of writing and publishing books was in pursuance of his guru maharaja\u2019s order, ISKCON as a whole is also meant to fulfill the order of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And in particular here Srila Prabhupada emphasizes the writing and publishing and distributing of transcendental literature.<\/p>\n CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)<\/p>\n It is my wish that devotees of Lord Caitanya all over the world enjoy this translation . . .<\/p>\n COMMENT<\/p>\n How will we enjoy this translation? By reading it. If we don\u2019t read it, we won\u2019t relish it. Srila Prabhupada said, \u201cIt is not enough to distribute my books; you should also read them.\u201d Referring to the devotees, he said, \u201cSankirtana<\/em> will keep them happy, and reading my books will keep them.\u201d<\/p>\n CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)<\/p>\n It is my wish that devotees of Lord Caitanya all over the world enjoy this translation, and I am glad to express my gratitude to the learned men in the Western countries who are so pleased with my work that they are ordering in advance all my books that will be published in the future. On this occasion, therefore, I request my disciples who are determined to help me in this work to continue their cooperation fully, so that philosophers, scholars, religionists, and people in general all over the world will benefit by reading our transcendental literatures, such as Srimad-Bhagavatam<\/em> and Sri Caitanya-caritamrta<\/em>.<\/p>\n COMMENT<\/p>\n The same order is passed on to us through parampara<\/em>. Srila Prabhupada gave the example of a locomotive\u2014that his guru maharaja was pushing him like a train and that similarly, he was pushing us and in the future we would push our followers.<\/p>\n CONCLUDING WORDS (concluded)<\/p>\n Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports to <\/em>Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, dated November 10, 1974, at the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, Hare Krishna Land, Juhu, Bombay.<\/em><\/p>\n COMMENT<\/p>\n Hare Krishna.<\/p>\n Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!<\/em><\/p>\n[A talk by Giriraj Swami on Sri Rama-ekadasi, October 24, 2011, Vrindavan]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Srila Prabhupada: It is my wish that devotees of Lord Caitanya all over the world enjoy this translation, and I am glad to express my gratitude to the learned men in the Western countries who are so pleased with my work that they are ordering in advance all my books that will be published in the future. On this occasion, therefore, I request my disciples who are determined to help me in this work to continue their cooperation fully, so that philosophers, scholars, religionists, and people in general all over the world will benefit by reading our transcendental literatures, such as Srimad-Bhagavatam and Sri Caitanya-caritamrta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68175"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91096,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68175\/revisions\/91096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Hare](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-GIl9TGMLDrE\/W90PFWvefKI\/AAAAAAAAnfA\/Mz_Bott8oBkIi9mPV1anwhl0dpSjD58TACHMYCw\/s0\/2018-11-03_03-58-57.jpg\")
By Giriraj Swami<\/strong><\/p>\n