The devotees of our ISKCON temple in Tangail were excited to receive our traveling party - I had not visited here for several years.....
I gave two lengthy evening programs speaking on Srila Prabhupada's position as the Founder Acarya of ISKCON. Especially in this part of the world the devotees have not heard so much about the glories of Srila Prabhupada, with not a single disciple of Srila Prabhupada residing here. Thus it is one of my favorite topics - remembering Srila Prabhupada......
Only recently the deeper meaning of Srila Prabhupada being the Founder Acarya dawned upon me. For many years I had simply repeated the words, without deeper understanding. Srila Prabhupada created our ISKCON society with certain standards, visions, moods and principles. Each and every devotee has to deeply imbibe Srila Prabhupada's spirit, bringing it to the very core of their heart by making it their own personal spirit and mood, and pass it down to the next generation - for the next 10.000 years to come. This is what it means to be our Founder Acarya - a system in order to preserve and protect ISKCON and its very essence: Srila Prabhupada's teachings. Prabhupada expressed that ISKCON is his body, and he himself is the very soul of this body. As we all know, if the soul leaves the body, it becomes lifeless. If Srila Prabhupada's mood and spirit leaves ISKCON, it becomes a lifeless and useless entity. Thus it is of the utmost importance that each and every devotee moves Srila Prabhupada in the very center of their own life. In order to become Krishna conscious, we have to become Prabhupada conscious first. One of the main functions of our Diksa Guru is to connect us with Srila Prabhupada. As our connection deepens, we will feel helplessly dependent on his mercy. Once we ourselves are connected with Srila Prabhupada, we can connect others also. And thus, for the next 10.000 years to come, diksha and siksha Gurus have to connect others with Srila Prabhupada. Only then Srila Prabhupada will remain the very soul of his beloved ISKCON, which he so painstakingly established.
In Tangail we also remembered sweet and heart moving pastimes of Srila Prabhupada described in the wonderful book "Our Srila Prabhupada - a Friend to All" - a compilation of memories of various personalities in Delhi, Vrindavan and Mayapur, who knew Srila Prabhupada already before he ventured to the Western world to fulfill this impossible mission to spread Krishna consciousness around the world. It is truly astounding, how Srila Prabhupada started out, in such poverty stricken condition, facing so many struggles and obstacles. And yet, he was so gloriously successful! His poverty was not ordinary, but a special arrangement by the Lord - a loving exchange in order to deepen Srila Prabhupada's mood of being helplessly dependent on Him. A very confidential loving exchange between the Lord and His pure devotee! And it highlights Srila Prabhupada's victory against all odds and makes it clear, that it was only possible by Krishna's divine arrangement and mercy.
After each evening program I distributed lots of books - especially those describing Srila Prabhupada's life and pastimes. Reading these books are just like meeting Srila Prabhupada in person - the most amazing personality the world has seen in these recent days.
After each evening program I distributed lots of books - especially those describing Srila Prabhupada's life and pastimes. Reading these books are just like meeting Srila Prabhupada in person - the most amazing personality the world has seen in these recent days.
From Tangail I traveled back to Dhaka and took a domestic flight to Chittagong to visit Pundarik Dham. I was scheduled to give a weekend seminar on the topic of "The False Ego - Our Constant Companion and Trouble Maker". Every participant received printed materials in Bengali language - everything was so nicely organised!
Around 280 eager devotees had assembled to embark on this internal journey to discover how our false ego is constantly affecting us by demanding a certain satisfaction, which is not at all conducive to spiritual advancement. Since this takes place on a very subtle level, it is so often overlooked and not at all recognized. And thus we can easily miss the target of Krishna consciousness, and instead of dissolving and subduing our false ego, we can feed it and blow it up. And Krishna consciousness offers ample opportunity for this! Therefore Vaisnava culture and etiquette is so important. As long as we are not naturally humble, we need the etiquette and culture to help us transform our ego-driven patterns of behavior. This has to take place parallel to the main processes of devotional service such as sravanam kirtanam, etc. Only by deeply understanding how our false ego affects us almost every day, and resolving to perform internal work in honest introspection can we transform our patterns of behavior - ultimately by the mercy of Krishna freeing us from our Hiranyakasipu's residing within our hearts.
Devotees performed humorous role plays illustrating the effects of our false ego, which deepened our learning experience. And in the final closing session the participants shared heart moving realisations....
I spent one more day at Pundarik Dham to relax after the intense weekend, visiting Mukunda Datta and Vasudev Datta's bhajan kutir and associating with the devotees. Before flying back to Dhaka I spent one day in Chittagong and gave an evening program at our Nandan Kanan temple. On my arrival in Dhaka the devotees drove me to Narasindhi to visit our ISKCON temple for a couple of days. I had not been here for many years, and it was a wonderful surprise to discover how a full-fledged temple had manifested here meanwhile. Some 15 years ago there had only been a nama hatta center!
This yatra is famous for its excellent prasadam, and I was sumptuously fed with around 30 preparations for lunch! Indeed incredible, with all the preparations being so unique in its taste! Luckily I stayed for only two days - otherwise I would be destined to become fat...
I was requested to give a SB class, and over two evenings we were churning the topic of Srila Prabhupada being the Founder Acarya, as we had done in Tangail. Again, I distributed so many books at the end of each evening program. It gives me deep satisfaction at heart to try and bring people closer to Srila Prabhupada.....
On the 8th of December I flew off to Kolkata.........
Your servant, Devaki dd
I was requested to give a SB class, and over two evenings we were churning the topic of Srila Prabhupada being the Founder Acarya, as we had done in Tangail. Again, I distributed so many books at the end of each evening program. It gives me deep satisfaction at heart to try and bring people closer to Srila Prabhupada.....
On the 8th of December I flew off to Kolkata.........
Your servant, Devaki dd
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