Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda's

Disappearance Day, Lecture

—
Los Angeles, December 9, 1968

(Prabhupāda leads kīrtana)

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Come on. I was thinking of "Where is Jayānan-

da?" now immediately he has come. (someone brings some kind of offering
and Śrīla Prabhupāda says to give it to his Guru Mahārāja) Take care it may
not fall down. (pause) All right.

So today is the disappearance day of my Guru Mahārāja. As I told you

that sādhavo jīva vā mara vā. There was a nice story the other day I told you
that a sage is giving different kinds of blessings to different types of per-
sons. So to a king's son, a prince, he blessed, rāja-putraciraṁ jīva: "You are
a king's son, a prince. You live forever." And muni-putra, the son of a
saintly person, he blessed him, mā jīva mā jīva:"You don't live." Rāja-pu-
tra ciraṁ muni-putra mā jīva. And sādhu, devotees, he blessed
him, jīva vā mara vā: "Either you live or you die, as you like." And there was
a butcher, he blessed him, mā jīva mā mara: "You don't die, don't live." So
these words are very significant. That I have already explained, still I am ex-
plaining. A prince, he's enjoying sense, that's all. He has got enough facility
for sense enjoyment. So his next life is hellish. Because if you indulge in sex
life, then Kṛṣṇa will give you facility to have sex life three times in an hour,
just like the pigeons, the monkeys, the sparrows, they are very sexually
strong. You have seen it. So the facility is given. So princely order, they are
after sense enjoyment. So he's blessed that "Better you live forever, because
after your death, you do not know what is going to happen to you. You are
going to get a hellish life. Better you live for some time. Go on with your en-
joyment." And muni-putra mā jīva. Brahmacārī,working under the guidan-
ce under strict disciplinary guidance, of a spiritual master, he is bles-
sed, mā jīva, "You better die. Because you are so trained to enter into the
kingdom of God, so why should you take so much trouble? Better you die
and go back to Godhead." Ma jīva. And a devotee he bles-
sed, jīva va maro va: "My dear devotee, either you live or die, the same
thing." And the butcher, he blessed him, ma jīva mamara: "You don't live,
don't die." What he's to do? His living condition is so abominable. From the
morning, he has to slaughter so many animals, see the bloodstain, the
ghastly scene. That is his livelihood. So what a horrible life this is. So "Don't
live. And don't die also." Because after death, oh, he is going to be in so
much hellish condition, nobody can describe. So both lives, living condition
and death, after death, his condition is very horrible.

Anyway, apart from others, the devotee, for him, appearance and disap-
pearance the same thing. Just like when my spiritual master appeared at Ja-
gannātha Purī... He was the son of a very big government officer, Bhaktivi-
noda Ṭhākura. He was magistrate, government officer. In those days a ma-
gistrate is a big officer in the government, practically next to governor. And
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was in charge of the Jagannātha temple. That is the
system in Jagannātha Purī. The manager in charge of the temple is the dis-
trict magistrate. So there was a Ratha-yātrā festival, and the car was pas-
sing in front of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's house. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's na-
me was Kedaranath Datta. When he was magistrate, he was known as
K.N. Datta. Kedaranath Datta. So the car stopped before his house, and at
that time, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, a child in the lap of his
mother. The mother took the opportunity of rising on the car. He (She) was
magistrate's wife, so he (she) had the facility. Immediately, people gave her
way to go on the top of the car and place the child on the lotus feet of Jagan-
nātha. And there were many garlands. One garland fell upon him, Bhakti-
siddhānta Sarasvatī, blessings. This was one of the... There were so many
other things.

When he was a child two, three years old, he ate one mango fruit which
was kept for offering to the Deity. So his father mildly rebuked him, "Oh,
you have done a very wrong thing. It was meant for Deity, and you have ta-
ken it. You should not have done it." The child was two or three years old.
He took it so seriously that never after that he took mango. Whenever we
offered him mango he said, "No, I am offender. I cannot take mango." He
was thinking like that, you see. Never in his life he took a mango. He was
thinking that "I offended in my childhood by taking the mango of the
Deity." This is the characteristic of ācārya. They teach by their life's action
that one should be so much determined, that one should not be... A child
took the mango, there was no offense. But he took that vow.
 Another instance, in my presence. At that time, we were also young men,
and one of my Godbrothers, his name is Dr. Oul Bihari Kapoor... He's now
retired in Vṛndāvana, last time I saw him. He was also young man, and his
wife was also young. So we were sitting together, talking with Guru Mahārā-
ja, and the girl proposed, "My dear master, I want to speak with you."
So Guru Mahārāja said, "Yes, you can talk whatever you like." So she said,
"I want to talk with you secretly, not in the presence of everyone." Guru Ma-
hārāja said, "No. I cannot talk with you secretly. You can talk in the presen-
ce of my all other disciples." So even that girl was just like his granddaugh-
ter by age calculation, he refused to talk with a young woman in a secret
place. These are the instances.

So in his life he was akhaṇḍa brahmacārī. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura had

many other sons, and he was the fifth son. And some of his other brother al-
so, they did not marry. And my Guru Mahārāja, he also did not marry.
From the childhood he is strict brahmacārī,Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gos-
vāmī Mahārāja. And he underwent very severe penances for starting this
movement, worldwide movement. That was his mission. Bhaktivinoda
Ṭhākura wanted do this. He, 1896, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura wanted to intro-
duce this Kṛṣṇaconsciousness movement by sending this book, Shree Chai-
tanya Mahāprabhu, His Life and Precepts. Fortunately, that year was my
birth year, and by Kṛṣṇa's arrangement, we came in contact. I was born in a
different family, my Guru Mahārāja was born in a different family. Who
knew that I will come to his protection? Who knew that I would come in
America? Who knew that you American boys will come to me? These are all
Kṛṣṇa's arrangement. We cannot understand how things are taking place.
In 1936... Today is ninth December, 1938(68). That means thirty-two years
ago. In Bombay, I was then doing some business. All of a sudden, perhaps
on this date, sometimes between 9 or 10 December. At that time, Guru Ma-
hārāja was indisposed little, and he was staying at Jagannātha Purī, on the
seashore. So I wrote him letter, "My dear master, your other disciples, brah-
macārī, sannyāsī, they are rendering you direct service. And I am a hou-
seholder. I cannot live with you, I cannot serve you nicely. So I do not
know. How can I serve you?" Simply an idea, I was thinking of serving him,
"How can I serve him seriously?" So the reply was dated 13th December,
1936. In that letter he wrote, "My dear such and such, I am very glad to re-
ceive your letter. I think you should try to push our movement in English."
That was his writing. "And that will do good to you and to the people who
will help you." That was his instruction. And then in 1936, on the 31st De-
cember—that means just after writing this letter a fortnight before his de-
parture—he passed away. But I took that order of my spiritual master very
seriously, but I did not think that I'll have to do such and such thing. I was
at that time a householder. But this is the arrangement of Kṛṣṇa. If we
strictly try to serve the spiritual master, his order, then Kṛṣṇa will give us
all facilities. That is the secret. Although there was no possibility, I never
thought, but I took it little seriously by studying a commentary by Viśvanāt-
ha Cakravartī Ṭhākura on the Bhagavad-gītā. In the Bhagavad-gītā the ver-
se vyavasāyātmikā-buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana [Bg. 2.41], in connection
with that verse, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura gives his commentary that
we should take up the words from the spiritual master as our life and soul.
We should try to carry out the instruction, the specific instruction of the spi-
ritual master, very rigidly, without caring for our personal benefit or loss.

So I tried a little bit in that spirit. So he has given me all facilities to serve
him. Things have come to this stage, that in this old age I have come to your
country, and you are also taking this movement seriously, trying to unders-
tand it. We have got some books now. So there is little foothold of this mo-
vement. So on this occasion of my spiritual master's departure, as I am
trying to execute his will, similarly, I shall also request you to execute the
same order through my will. I am an old man, I can also pass away at any
moment. That is nature's law. Nobody can check it. So that is not very asto-
nishing, but my appeal to you on this auspicious day of the departure of
my Guru Mahārāja, that at least to some extent you have understood the es-
sence of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. You should try to push it on. Peo-
ple are suffering for want of this consciousness. As we daily pray about de-
votees,

vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca
kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo
vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

[I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the

Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they
are full of compassion for the fallen souls.]
A Vaiṣṇava, or devotee of Lord, his life is dedicated for the benefit of the
people. You know—most of you belong to Christian community—how Lord
Jesus Christ, he said that for your sinful activities he has sacrificed himself.
That is the determination of devotee of the Lord. They don't care for perso-
nal comforts. Because they love Kṛṣṇa or God, therefore they love all living
entities because all living entities are in relationship with Kṛṣṇa. So simi-
larly you should learn. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to beco-
me Vaiṣṇava and feel for the suffering humanity. So to feel for the suffering
humanity, there are different angles of vision. Somebody is thinking of the
suffering of the humanity from bodily conception of life. Somebody is
trying to open hospital to give relief to the diseased condition. Somebody is
trying to distribute foodstuff in poverty-stricken countries or places. These
things are certainly very nice, but actual suffering of the humanity is due to
lack of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. These bodily sufferings, they are temporary;
neither they can be checked by the laws of nature. Suppose if you give some
distribution of foodstuff in some poverty-stricken country, that does not
mean that this help makes solution of the whole problem. The real benefi-
cial work is to invoke every person to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As soon as he
comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness... The same example, as I have given several
times, that a rich man's son is loitering in the street, forgetting his father's
opulence and property. And somebody, out of sympathy, giving him some
food. But other person comes to him and says, "Oh, my dear boy, I know
you. You are the son of such and such rich man. Why you are loitering in
the street? Come on, I shall take you to your father." So if that gentleman ta-
kes that loitering boy to his father, the father is glad, and the boy inherits
his father's property, and his whole problem of life becomes solved. This is
a crude example. Similarly, all living entities, they are loitering within this
universe in different bodies, in different planets, and from time immemo-
rial, without knowing that he belongs to the kingdom of God, he is the di-
rect son of Kṛṣṇa and God, that Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor of everything, and
he can enjoy his father's property, and these problems of material conditio-
ned life automatically solved. Just like if you become a rich man, if you can
possess millions of dollars, then your poverty is automatically solved. Simi-
larly, if you become Kṛṣṇaconscious and if you act in that way, then all ot-
her problems in the material conditional life—solved.

So this is such a nice movement. Ahaṁ tvaṁ sarva-pāpebh-

yo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ [Bg. 18.66]. The Bhagavad-gītā says, the Lord
says, people's sufferings are due to his sinful activities. Ignorance. Ignoran-
ce is the cause of sinful activity. Just like a man does not know. Suppose a
foreigner like me comes in America and he does not know... Because in In-
dia... Just like in your country, the car is driven from the right side; in In-
dia, I've seen in London also, the car is driven from the left side. So suppose
he does not know, he drives the car on the left side and incurs some acci-
dent, and he is taken by the police custody. And if he says, "Sir, I did not
know that here the car is driven from the right side," that does not make
him excused. The law will punish him. So ignorance is the cause of breaking
the law or sinful activities. And as soon as you commit some sinful activity,
you have to suffer the result. So the whole world is in ignorance, and due to
ignorance he's complicated in so many actions and reactions, either good or
bad. There is nothing good within this material world; everything is bad. So
we have manufactured something good and something bad. Here... Because
in the Bhagavad-gītā we understand this place is duḥkhālayam aśāśva-
tam [Bg. 8.15]. This place is for misery. So how you can say, in miserable
condition, how you can say that "This is good" or "This is bad." Everything
is bad. So those persons who do not know—the material, conditional life—
they manufacture something, "This is good, this is bad," because they do
not know everything here is bad, nothing good. One should be very much
pessimistic of this material world. Then he can make advance in spiritual li-
fe. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam [Bg. 8.15]. This place is full of miseries, and if
you study analytically, you'll find simply miserable condition. Therefore the
whole problem is that we should give up our material conditional life, and
in Kṛṣṇaconsciousness we should try to elevate ourself to the spiritual plat-
form and thereby be promoted to the kingdom of Godhead, yad gatvā nani-
vartante tad dhāmaṁ paramaṁ mama [Bg. 15.6], where going, nobody co-
mes back to this miserable world. And that is the supreme abode of the
Lord.

So there are description in the Bhagavad-gītā. So this Kṛṣṇa conscious-

ness movement is authorized, very important. Now, you American boys and
girls who have taken to this movement, please take it more seriously and...
That is the mission of Lord Caitanya and my GuruMahārāja, and we are al-
so trying to execute the will by disciplic succession. You have come forward
to help me. I shall request you all that I shall go away, but you shall live.
Don't give up pushing on this movement, and you'll be blessed by Lord Cai-
tanya and His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Goswami Prabhupā-
da.

Thank you very much. Any question? (pause) Any question?

Devotee: When your spiritual master was a little boy, did, was he, um, did
he do things like Lord Caitanya did like when He went to the, um, like when
Lord Caitanya went to the water and all girls were asking for...

Prabhupāda: No, he was not so much naughty. (laughs) My Guru Mahārā-

ja was very gentle boy. Yes. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very naughty boy.
Yes. (laughs) And Kṛṣṇa was also very naughty boy. (pause)
Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. (kīrtana-Viṣṇujana leads, Śrīla Prabhupāda chants
along) I have brought prasādam for you. Take. (long pause as prasādam is
served out and devotees chant japa) Can stop it? (end)