Ambassador of the Spiritual World

By Nandagopal Jivan das
(Narender Nolakha)

In the Brahma-vaivarta Purana, in a conversation with Ganga Devi, Lord Krishna describes that after 5,000 years of Kali-yuga have passed, His mantra upasaka, the great sage and worshiper of Krishna's holy names, will appear and spread the chanting of Krishna's names (in the form of the Hare Krishna mantra) not only in India but throughout the world. Lord Krishna explains that by the chanting of His holy names the world will become spiritualized and everyone will be hari-bhaktas, engaged in the process of devotion to the Supreme. The purified devotees will visit the holy places and holy rivers of India and will purify them. They will also purify those with whom they come in contact.

Lord Caitanya predicted that:

prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama
sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama

“In every town and village, the chanting of my name will be heard.”

Lord Caitanya also foretold in Sri Caitanya Mangala:

"I want to flood the whole world with the chanting of the holy names. I will personally preach and flood India with harinama sankirtana. And My senapati bhakta (great devotee commander) will come, preach in different countries and flood the world with the chanting of Hare Krishna.”

Later, in the 1896, Bhaktivinode Thakura predicted that “A great personality will soon appear to preach the Holy Names of Hari all over the whole world.”

Recently, it is found that a hint of the appearance of such great personality is also given in the Yajur-Veda and the Holy Bible too!!!!!

As an answer to these predictions, on Nandotsava, the annual festival day celebrating Krishna's birth, Srila Prabhupada blessed this planet with his presence on Sept. 1, 1896. His horoscope predicted that, “At seventy this man will go outside India and establish so many temples.” It was Srila Prabhupada who grew up as a pure devotee of Krishna who took the chanting of "Hare Krishna" around the world and made it a household word.

His father was also a pure devotee of Lord Krishna. He would always invite sadhus, to his house for meals and always asked them to bless his son to become a great devotee of Radharani, Lord Krishna's most beloved devotee and consort. He also bought him a small cart to pull the Deity of Lord Jagannatha; So Prabhupada would organize little Rathayatra festivals in his neighborhood. Prabhupada's father also taught him how to play mridunga. But nobody knew that his mridunga playing, that he would use to accompany his public chanting, would become famous around the world!!

Even in 1922 when Srila Prabhupada met Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, his to be Spiritual Master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta told Srila Prabhupada that, "You are a nice young man, you know English; therefore, you should preach this mission of Lord Caitanya specifically to the English-speaking countries in the Western world." Srila Prabhupada always remembered this. In 1933, Srila Prabhupada took formal initiation from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, accepting him as his spiritual master. Then, just two weeks before Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati left this world on December 31, 1936, he sent one letter to Srila Prabhupada, instructing him again to take this message and spread it to the Western countries.

Following the desire of his spiritual master, Prabhupada began publishing his Back to Godhead magazine in 1944. It was difficult in the beginning. He wrote them himself, edited them, had them printed, and even road into town on the bus to distribute these one page sheets. But he never stopped. He had also started his League of Devotees, a small organization of Krishna conscious people. This was a forerunner of what was to be The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which he founded after he came to America.

Prabhupada showed extreme patience and steadfastness, with only one goal to achieve, the mission given to him by his Guru Maharaj. Srila Prabhupada came to America in 1965 on the steamship Jaladuta with only 40 rupees, a pair of hand cymbals, a few books and his invincible bravery and will to carry out his guru's desire to bring the message of Lord Chaitanyadev to these Western countries, without knowing anyone and with complete dependence on Krishna. He faced the severe obstacles of two heart attacks while crossing the ocean on the Jaladuta, but his compassion for the suffering of humanity, and his guru's blessings gave him the courage to reach the American shore.

He maintained himself by selling just enough books to get by, and staying here and there. It was finally in 1966 when Prabhupada officially founded The International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Srila Prabhupada had to fight with many opposing elements and in countries where the culture was not at all favorable for spiritual advancement in Krsna consciousness. Yet he established over one hundred temples, asramas, and Krsna conscious communities throughout the world. He inaugurated the Rathayatra Festival of Lord Jagannatha in major cities around the globe, in effect, bringing the temple to the people.

With our mind we might try to imagine who he was, what power stood behind him, what is his eternal spiritual identity? Prabhupada is also much more than just a great man, he is the shaktyavesa avatar sent to save the whole world from impersonalism and voidism and to revive the world's Krishna consciousness. He is the ambassador of the spiritual world. He is more than just a saint or sadhu; he is Jagat Guru, the one at who's feet all gurus and saints are sitting.
Indeed, Srila Prabhupada was this planets true guardian, the real compassionate refuge and spiritual strength for all of earth's creatures. But due to the modes of passion and ignorance, so many did not recognize him. Those who were fortunate to recognize him could not keep themselves from loving him and wanting to selflessly follow his teachings. The day his lotus feet stepped down upon this planet, everyone became immediately spiritually benefited whether they knew it or not. And that is the shakti (power) of the pure devotee of Radharani. That is the inconceivable achintya shakti of Lord Krishna's beloved emissary, Srila Prabhupada.

Today Srila Prabhupada may not be present between us physically but his blessings are experienced even by people who never met Prabhupada personally (like me). Therefore people need not think they are missing out on his mercy. They should know also that Prabhupada's vani is the transcendental vibration that is meant for them personally, and when they hear it on CD's or tapes, or read his words from his books, that he is directly talking to them. He is still with us and we can feel his presence through his representative, Sri Guru. He came to save everyone, past, present or future, not just a few thousand souls that happened to be here and get initiated while he was here in his physical body. This is the amazing spiritual potency of the pure devotee.

No one can ever take his place as the Founder Acharya of ISKCON and the one and original initiator of the pure chanting of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra around the world! No one had ever before on such a grand scale delivered the mercy of Sri Chaitanya and Sri Krishna to the entire world through books, his harinama sankirtan movement, profuse prasadam distribution, deity worship and the establishment of hundreds of beautiful temples worldwide! He was the first in all these transcendental aspects.

Any one of the feats mentioned above would be a significant feather in anyone's cap, even if it were the only thing a person accomplished in a lifetime. That Srila Prabhupada did all these things in just ten years, and fulfilled so many predictions of sastras, great devotees, acaryas and astrologers, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, is patent validation of his inimitable role in Vaisnava history. By his efforts, uncountable millions have read about Krsna, honored Krsna prasadam, and heard and chanted the maha mantra. Through his teachings, he continues to relieve humanity from the maladies spawned by doctrines of monism and voidism, while holding open the door of Krsna bhakti for many generations to come. Let us recognize and remember his unprecedented contributions and strive to bring him honor throughout the world.

Although he got millions of dollars and many opulent properties but he always kept the spirit of vairagya. Everything belonged to his guru maharaj and to Krishna, including his own self. He saw everything as Krishna’s Property and used everything in Krishna’s Service.

Prabhupada continues to dispel the darkness around us with his torch light of pure bhakti.

“cakhu-dan dilo jei, janme janme prabhu sei, divya jnan hrde prakasito"

Prabhupada, you opened our darkened eyes and fill our hearts with transcendental knowledge. You are our lord and master for all our births to come.

Thank you very much Srila Prabhupada for all your gifts. Your mercy is an unfathomable ocean and we are so fortunate to obtain even a drop of that ocean. Thank you again and again.

All glories to Om Visnu-pada Paramahamsa Parivrajakacarya Astottara-Sata Sri Srimad
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!