To a Great Soul, 2024

Naughty Krishna holding a piece of candy

Here is my yearly tribute to my spiritual master, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, on the anniversary of his appearance in this world in 1896.

The Torch of Knowledge

E

ight o’clock. Evening. I feel tired. My eyes burn.  My body feels heavy. I can hardly keep on chanting Hare Krishna.

I look across the room at Jagannath, Baladeva, and Subhadra.
I sigh. “Let me walk up to the altar,” I tell myself, “and take one last look at Krishna before I retire for the evening.”

I rub my eyes.

“No,” answers my mind.  “I’m too tired. I don’t feel like standing up. And I’ll only commit offenses.”

I dig my elbows into the armrests of my padded chair, trying to push myself up.  “Come on. What have I got eyes for anyway?”

Now I push the heels of my  hands into the armrests, and with a big heave I stand up.  I walk over to the altar to get a good look at Jagannath,  Baladev, and Subhadra.

Jagannath’s big round eyes make my doubts evaporate. His bright black skin reflects the light, and  his red lips have a big smile. His jutting arms taper down to fine hands.

Then my eyes go leftward to Baladev. Skin white as milk, large almost oblong eyes, and another   big red-lipped smile. Fine hands. I take a deep breath.

In the middle stands Subhadra looking every inch a princess, the cloth that covers her  modest head  draping down to her feet. Golden skin and large eyes. Cannot see her arms. And, of course, a lovely smile.

“Why did I hesitate?” I ask myself. “The sight is so beautiful.”

This  happens every time I look at them. Their beauty takes me by surprise. But how can the same sight surprise me again and again?

I have seen beautiful things in this world: the beauty of cities like Paris and San Francisco, the beauty of tropical forests in Brazil and Ivory Coast, the beauty of famous women like Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot.

But has any of this beauty ever surprised me day in and day out, year in and year out like the beauty of Jagannath?

And with every moment of surprise comes the answer: Srila Prabhupada has let me glimpse the beauty of Krishna’s world. The beauty that keeps increasing.

Now I do not dare to say that I see the spiritual world. No. Far from it. My eyes focus firmly on the fleeting, pain-inducing pleasures of this material sphere. But Prabhupada has done something. He has taken a torch and let a shaft of light pierce my material darkness.

He did it the first time I heard him speak, but I never noticed it till now. Worse yet, how many times have I picked up the sprinkling can of pride and poured the water of speculation on the flame?  But it doesn’t go out. No. Prabhupada never gives up on me.

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

I rub my head. I stagger into my bedroom and plop down into my desk chair. I open a desk drawer and see the Bhagavad Gita As It Is.  I look at the picture of Arjuna and Krishna on the cover.

“This is it,” I think. “This is the torch. And Prabhupada’s typewriter on Second Avenue was the match that lit it.”

Like the world that it reveals, the Bhavad Gita As It  Is contains endless surprises. Yes. I can count the pages, I can count the verses, I can even count the words, but I cannot count the times I have found something there that I had never seen before, even after years of reading the book.

Prabhupada writes:

Srila Prabhupada continues:

I had read other English editions of the Bhagavad-Gita, but I never cared enough to read them twice. Prabhupada’s explanations in Bhagavad Gita As It Is alone let the brilliance of Krishna’s words shine out and showed me the eternal surprises within.

Is this not the mark of a true spiritual master? That he not only describes the glories of the spiritual world but also gives the disciple a preview? I had heard from other teachers, yes, but no one ever gave me a  look beyond the material darkness.

Not until I met Prabhupada.

“The Supreme Absolute Truth is a person,” said Prabhupada that evening on Second Avenue.

And the torch flamed for first time.

“It’s Krishna! It’s Krishna!” Prabhupada shouted one morning. His voice resounded through the storefront like a lion roaring  as  he slammed his hand on the table. “It’s no unborn within Krishna! It’s Krishna!”

The second flame flared up.

The third flame?  A handwritten comment on a printed page: “God is standing in front of Arjuna, and the foolish commentator wants Arjuna to turn around and look inside.” (It didn’t look like Prabhupada’s  handwriting, but whoever wrote it surely heard it from him.)

And finally? Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, the roaring flame for everyone to look at and see. Not just for me. For the whole universe.

Still, my stubborn mind keeps trying to put out the flame. But Prabhupada never gives up on  me.

Let me beg him one more time:

Dear Srila Prabhupada,

For many years I have begged you for indulgences. Today I want to beg for something else. I want to beg for intelligence. I am begging you to hand me the torch like an Olympic relay and to give me the intelligence to shine the light for others exactly as you have shone it for me. No more, no less.

Let  me open the eyes of others as you have opened mine. If I have to beg for one thing in this universe, can I beg you for anything better than this?

Dear Srila Prabhupada,

You  just give and give and give. And you only take for yourself as much as you need in order to keep on giving. Please ask Lord Krishna to bless me with intelligence so I can become like this.

Everything about you is perfect. Please grant me that I may live eternally as  your unwavering follower, yes,  and that I may hold the torch in a firm and steady grip.

Your most humble servant,
Umapati Swami

⁓Umapati Swami, August 26, 2024

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ove it? Hate it? Got a question? Write to me: hoswami@yahoo.com

© Umapati Swami 2024

Srila Prabhupada

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is the teacher who brought Krishna Consciousness from India to the West and then to the rest of the world. He is the founder of the worldwide Hare Krishna Movement as well as the author and compiler of many works of Vedic knowledge. He left this world in 1977.

Umapati Swami

One of the first American devotees of the Hare Krishna Movement, he became Srila Prabhupada’s disciple in 1966. Since then, he has preached Krishna Consciousness in many countries and is the author of “My Days with Prabhupada,” available from Amazon. Now 87 years old, he maintains this blog to share what he has learned.