SpiritualPrabhupāda’s visit to Sweden was scheduled for the second week of September 1973. Ajita and Vegavān, along with their wives, Kṛṣṇa-premī and Padmavatī, had been preaching in and around Stockholm for only half a year, but they had already met some important people, among them the Indian ambassador, a Sanskrit professor, and a psychiatrist. Prabhupāda had been invited to speak at the prestigious Uppsala University. The devotees from Germany were to bring their sound system and stage several Hare Kṛṣṇa festivals, each culminating in a lecture by Śrīla Prabhupāda. He arrived on the morning of September 5. As usual, the devotees invited the media and held a press conference. For most reporters, this was their first encounter with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and Prabhupāda tried to impress on them the difference between matter and spirit: Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you very much for your kindly receiving me. This is the first time I am coming to this country, Sweden. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is spreading all over the world gradually. It is a little difficult to understand this movement because it is completely on the spiritual platform. Generally, people do not understand what the spiritual platform is. At present we are a combination of spirit and matter. Matter we can understand, but on account of our long association with matter, we cannot understand what spirit is. But we can imagine that there is something which distinguishes a dead body and living body.
Prabhupāda gave the example of a father who has died: Although he is lying on his bed, his children lament, “Our father has gone away.” This indicates that they can sense the difference between the corpse and the person they knew as their father. “So that is spirit,” Prabhupāda continued. “The one who has gone away from that body, that is spirit soul; otherwise, why are they saying, ‘Our father is gone?’ The body is there. So first of all we have to understand this distinction between the spirit soul and the material body. If we can understand the spirit soul, then we can understand this spiritual movement; otherwise, simply on the basis of material understanding it is very difficult to understand spiritual life or the spiritual platform.”
Prabhupāda then summarized his points: “Spiritual life means eternity, a blissful life of knowledge, and material life means non-permanence, a miserable life of ignorance. This body will not stay and it is always in a miserable condition, but on account of our long association with this material life, we have become so dull-headed that it is very difficult to understand spiritual life, what spiritual activities are, what the spiritual world is, what God is, what our relationship with Him is. Therefore this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a kind of training to understand spiritual life and the spiritual world and God.”
Prabhupāda urged his listeners to understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness by associating with the devotees who had now settled in Sweden and to adopt the simple process of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra: “If we take advantage of this mantra chanting, then gradually our heart will be cleansed, and immediately we shall be able to understand that ‘I am not this body, I am spirit soul.’ Then real awakening will come.”
Prabhupāda gave the example of a man adrift in the ocean, who cannot become happy—no matter how hard he tries—until he is back on land. Similarly, our program is not to become happy by so-called adjustments of our material condition. That is not possible. Better come to the spiritual platform and act in spiritual life. Then there is a possibility of happiness. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti māmeti kaunteya—in the Bhagavadgītā it is said that those who are cultivating spiritual life, spiritual knowledge, for them, after giving up this body there is promotion to the spiritual world. That is eternal, blissful life, and that will make us happy. So if we become serious, if we actually want to be happy, then we must take to spiritual understanding.
Of course, in every country or in different parts of the world, there is some religious system to understand spiritual life. But unfortunately nobody is interested in any spiritual or religious system because they have been more and more induced to become addicted to the material and sensuous activities, and so they are going far, far away from spiritual life, and more and more confusion and disappointment is arising all over the world. To mitigate this sort of disappointment and confusion, one has to take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and attempt to understand the philosophy and act accordingly. Then people will be happy. That is our program. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
In the afternoon, Dr. Suneson, a Sanskrit professor, came to see Prabhupāda at the temple. He was a learned scholar who knew not only Sanskrit but also Hindi, Tamil and Bengali. To everyone’s surprise, he was familiar with the bhakit tradition and expressed a keen interest in kīrtana. Dr. Suneson: Do you sing any hymns, kīrtanas, in Bengali also?
Prabhupāda: O yes.
Dr. Suneson: Or mostly in Sanskrit?
Prabhupāda: No, in Bengali some.
hari hari biphale janama goṅāinu manuṣya-janama pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā, jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu (On Prabhupāda’s request the devotees bring a harmonium and he sings the entire song.) Dr. Suneson: Who has written this?
Prabhupāda: Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura.
narottama-dāsa kaya, nā ṭheliha rāṅgā pāy tomā bine ke āche āmāra Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura is singing, hari hari biphale janama goṅāinu: “My dear Lord, I have simply wasted my time—biphale, without any profit. Because I got this human form of life, but I missed the opportunity for worshiping Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.” Manuṣya-janama pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā. “And by doing this, I have taken poison knowingly.” Jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu.
Then: golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. “This nāmasaṅkīrtana is not any material thing. It is the ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa in Goloka Vṛndāvana.”
golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, rati nā janmila kene tāya “But I have no attachment for this hari-kīrtana.” Saṁsāra-biṣānale, dibāniśi hiyā jvale: “My heart is always burning in material existence.” Jurāite nā kainu upāya: “But I did not make any means by which I can get out of it.”
Vrajendra-nandana yei, śacī-suta haila sei: “Formerly the same Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, who appeared as the son of Nanda Mahārāja, He has again appeared as the son of Śacīdevī.” And balarāma haila nitāi: “And Balarāma has appeared as Nityānanda Prabhu.” So Their business is: dīna-hīna jata chila, hari-nāme uddhārila. All sorts of sinful men, and materially suffering men, all of them have been delivered by these two brothers, Gaura-Nitāi, by preaching the saṅkīrtana movement. Tāra śākṣī jagāi mādhāi: “They have delivered all kinds of sinful men. The evidence is Jagāi and Mādhāi.” Hā hā prabhu nanda-suta, vṛṣabhānu-sutāyuta. “My Lord Kṛṣṇa, son of Nanda Mahārāja, You are now standing with Rādhārāṇī, the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu. So it is my appeal.” Karuṇā karaha ei-bāra: “Kindly be kind upon me.” Narottama dāsa kaya, nā ṭheliho rāṅgā pāya, tomā bine ke āche āmāra. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, ‘Don't kick me away. I have no other shelter. Please take me.’ ” There are many very appealing songs in vaiṣṇava literature”.
Dr. Suneson: How old is this one?
Prabhupāda: It was written about 450 years ago. There are many songs by Narottama Ṭhākura: gaurāṅga bolite habe pulaka-śarīra hari hari bolite nayane ba'be nīra āra kabe nitāi-cānder koruṇā hoibe saṁsāra-bāsanā mora kabe tuccha ha'be viṣaya chāriyā kabe śuddha ha'be mana kabe hāma herabo śrī-bṛndābana rūpa-raghunātha-pade hoibe ākuti kabe hāma bujhabo se jugala-pīriti There are so many songs: gaurāṅgera duṭi pada, jār dhana sampada, se jāne bhakati-rasa-sār Many songs.
Also Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's songs. Then Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's songs. Locana dāsa's songs: parama karuṇa, pahuṅ dui jana, nitāi gauracandra saba avatāra-sāra śiromaṇi, kevala ānanda-kanda bhajo bhajo bhāi, caitanya nitāi, sudṛḍha biśwāsa kori' biṣaya chāriyā, se rase majiyā, mukhe bolo hari hari In this way, there are so many songs. Very simple Bengali. Especially Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's songs, they have been approved by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura as Vedic evidences. Although written in Bengali, they are full of Vedic authority.
There are so many songs. So you have a devotional tendency. Develop it. Make your life successful. That is my humble suggestion. Manuṣyajanama pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā, jāniyā śuniyā... Anyone who has got this human form of life, if he does not engage himself in developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then he's drinking poison knowingly. Jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu. Biṣa means poison. A great opportunity, this human life. That is our mission, that this modern civilization, they have created such entanglement that people are rotting and they are losing the opportunity of this human form of life—only on the basis of this bodily concept of life. […] So by order of our superiors, we are trying to introduce. But we are very unhappy, seeing these people. They are spoiling their life in the bodily concept of life. They do not know what is going to happen next life. But there is a next life. That's a fact. As we had passed life as a child, as a boy, as a young man, similarly, we have a past life also. This simple truth, they cannot understand.
The next day, Śrīla Prabhupāda lectured at Uppsala University. Before his arrival, the devotees set the mood by holding kīrtana and singing bhajanas. HṚMĀTĪ DĀSĪ: Along with Hansadutta, Avināścandra, Vedavyas and Kṛṣṇa-premī, I formed part of a chanting group onstage. When Śrīla Prabhupāda arrived, all of us prostrated ourselves to offer daṇḍavats, and somehow or other I was lying right in front of the vyāsāsana. Prabhupāda unintentionally stepped on my hands, but it was as if they were touched by rose petals—his feet were so soft. Right afterward Pṛthu garlanded Prabhupāda, and he also stepped on my hands, but this time I felt pain. Prabhupāda began the program by chanting verses from the Fifth Chapter of Brahma-saṁhitā, which contains detailed descriptions of Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual world. The devotees were invited to chant the last line of each verse with him: govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi, “I adore Govinda, the primeval Lord.”
He began his lecture by explaining the verse, advaita acyuta anādi ananta-rūpam. Although both God and the jīvas are eternal living entities, the Lord never falls down from His position, whereas we sometimes fall. Prabhupāda briefly explained what the verse describes: that Kṛṣṇa is the beginning of everything; that He has innumerable forms, one of which maintains the world; that He is ever youthful even though He is the oldest of all, and that He is easily available by approaching a devotee. To convey the meaning of ānanda-cinmaya rasa Prabhupāda explained that in the spiritual world everything is Kṛṣṇa’s expansion and is therefore pure spiritual energy.
HṚMĀTĪ DĀSĪ: When Prabhupāda described how everything in the spiritual world is an expansion of Kṛṣṇa—the gopīs, His father and mother, His friends, the trees and flowers, His calves and cows—he lifted his hand, and without turning around he pointed to Vāsudeva’s painting of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa hanging on one side of the vyāsāsana, as if seeing it, to illustrate his words. He was so conscious of everything around him. I was amazed. Śrīla Prabhupāda ended his talk with the verse, cintāmaṇi prakāra sadmasu kalpa vṛkṣa lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam: On Kṛṣṇa’s planet there are many trees, many palaces, but they’re all spiritual. Cintāmaṇi means ‘spiritual.’ The houses are made of touchstone. And Kṛṣṇa is very fond of tending cows. And what are those cows? Surabhi. Surabhi means you can take as much milk as you like and as many times as you like. Here in this material world, you have cows, but you can take milk only in limited quantity. In this way, if you read Brahmasaṁhitā, you’ll get a complete description of the spiritual world, the spiritual entities, the Supreme Lord, His associates, His country, His pastimes—everything—very nicely described. And if we become attached to that place, then we can try—we can prepare ourselves—for going back home, back to Godhead. That is the perfection of life. That is the mission of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
The next afternoon Prabhupāda spoke to an assembly of professors and students at the University of Uppsala. Aware of their inclination for politics he selected text 41 of the eighteenth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā: “Brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, and śūdras are distinguished by the qualities born of their own natures in accordance with the material modes.” He began: Everywhere, even among the plants and beasts, these three guṇas are working. Just like some trees, they’re useless; they produce neither any nice fruit nor flower. That is third-class, in ignorance. Cows are first-class animals, in the mode of goodness, supplying such valuable, nutritious food, milk. But the cats and dogs are third-class animals. This is the calculation of the three modes of material nature. Among human beings, or animals or trees or birds—everywhere, Kṛṣṇa says—in the higher planetary system, everywhere, these three modes of material nature are working. Therefore, in the human society, because there are three modes of material nature, the classifications should be made scientifically according to these three modes of material nature. And that is explained by Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā: catur varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam, four classes of men.
Prabhupāda explained the qualities and duties of the different divisions and denounced the idea of a classless society as utopian. But then he introduced a new angle of vision: that we can transcend the conditioning of material existence by coming to the spiritual platform: In the human form of body, although there are naturally such divisions, one can be raised to a higher position by this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. As far as the material body is concerned, you cannot change the quality. This is already fixed. One has got his particular type of body by nature’s arrangement, according to the quality. Now, if you want to change a person to a better quality, then you have to accept Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because Kṛṣṇa consciousness is on the spiritual platform, it has nothing to do with the material platform. From the material platform, you cannot change anyone’s quality.
Prabhupāda pointed to his disciples as living proof and explained that they had easily given up all sinful habits by taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They had even forgotten their bodily designations as Americans, Englishmen, or Germans, he said. They weren’t thinking of themselves as black or white. They now identified themselves only as spirit souls, eternal parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord.
Then he launched into an analysis of the soul and made the point that even animals and plants are souls, who deserve protection, contrary to the communist idea of caring only for humans. “So this is not an organized society. An organized society means that there are first-class men, brāhmaṇas, who give advice to the second-class men, the administrators. And the administrative class will see that everyone is following the religious principles. And the third-class men, or the mercantile class of men, they should produce food.”
Having come back to the original topic of the divisions of society, Śrīla Prabhupāda next explained what it means to be a brāhmaṇa and stressed the need for an educational department to create first-class men. After he concluded his talk, a lively question-and-answer session ensued, with one student, in particular, taking the initiative. Annoyed by the idea of a society based on what seemed to him to be the detestable caste system, he challenged: “Why do you have these distinctions?”
“Distinction...” Prabhupāda paused for a second thoughtfully, “exists only as long as you are not a devotee. You must have these distinctions. There is already the distinction.”
But the student hadn’t grasped the distinctions that Prabhupāda had explained. Again he challenged, “But why?”
“Why?” Prabhupāda asked with surprise. “Because there are third-class men, fourth-class men, first-class men. There are. How you can say, ‘Why?’”
His opponent avoided answering Prabhupāda’s question and began another argument, but Prabhupāda interrupted him to correct his stubborn attitude: “Do you think everybody is a first-class man? Do you think?” When the student admitted he did not, Śrīla Prabhupāda concluded, “Therefore, a first-class man should be like this, a second-class man should be like this. There is already first-class, second-class, thirdclass, fourth-class.”
Seeing that he was about to lose the debate the student changed tactics by focusing the attention on Śrīla Prabhupāda. “So you are saying that you are a first-class man, yes?” But he was wrong if he thought he had embarrassed or cornered his opponent.
As a humble vaiṣṇava, Prabhupāda didn’t have to juggle words to deflect the attack; he simply had to speak from personal realization: “I am a fifth-class man,” he said matter-of-factly. “I don’t claim anything, because I am the servant of everyone. I am a servant of the fourth-class man also.” “But you are a brāhmaṇa; you are a first-class man,” the student continued to challenge.
Prabhupāda remained unfazed: “Now you may say first-class man, but I think I am a fifth-class man.” Still dissatisfied, the student became unintelligible and Prabhupāda had to interrupt him: “What is your point? I cannot understand.”
Now Hansadutta entered the discussion. Well aware that a pure devotee considers himself lower than the straw in the street and never defends himself against personal attacks, he regarded it as his duty to come to Prabhupāda’s defense. Why should his spiritual master have to deal with an unreasonable troublemaker? “What is your point?” he pressed the challenger. “You have to come to the point. Organize your question.” When the student criticized Śrīla Prabhupāda for sitting on an elevated seat decorated with flowers, Hansadutta turned the challenge around: “So you want to sit there?”
“No,” came the answer.
“Alright. Don’t be envious. If you can sit there and give some knowledge.» “I don’t want to sit there,” the student grumbled.
“Then what is your objection?” Hansadutta asked.
“What about all those flowers that you have killed so that he could be decorated?” the young man demanded. A round of applause from the students indicated he had touched on a common gripe.
Śrīla Prabhupāda turned to Hansadutta: “What is that?”
“His point is that so many flowers have been killed for your garland and to decorate the vyāsāsana,” Hansadutta explained. And he said to the student, “So you compare this to animal killing? Is this the same thing?” The boy was caught off guard. Hansadutta was quick to drive home his point: “Do you think that plucking a flower is the same as killing a cow in a slaughterhouse?”
“Of course not,” the student agreed, and then quickly added, “but who said so?”
Hansadutta pursued his own line of reasoning: “So you are not eating any meat, fish, or eggs?”
“I do,” the student admitted, not seeing any connection between the two issues.
But Hansadutta made the contradiction clear: “OK, you are not practicing yourself what you are saying.”
But the student turned the tables: “But he preaches that you cannot do this, and he does not practice it.”
The time had come for some scriptural evidence, and Hansadutta quoted the Bhagavad-gītā: “About offering flowers Kṛṣṇa says, ‘You offer Me with love a little fruit, a flower, and water, and I will accept it.’ That’s the difference between killing an animal and a flower—Kṛṣṇa accepts fruits, flowers, a little water, but He doesn’t accept any cow or slaughterhouse killing.”
Far from being convinced by Kṛṣṇa as the final authority, the student immediately questioned the validity of the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead: “Why does He make this distinction?”
Prabhupāda had been sitting all the while on the vyāsāsana, watching his disciple’s preaching with pleasure, but now he again took over the discussion and explained the position of Kṛṣṇa’s devotee: “We are practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As Kṛṣṇa is making a distinction, we are making that. We are not manufacturing our own idea. That is the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.”
He explained that the plucking of a flower is not actually killing, but the student interrupted him. “What is it?”
Prabhupāda appealed to his common sense. “Whatever. According to you, it is killing. But do you think that killing this flower and killing you is the same thing? If somebody kills you, that killing and this killing are the same? You think like that?”
The boy avoided the obvious and logical answer by turning the attention back on Prabhupāda: “In your opinion...”
But Prabhupāda didn’t let him get away with it. “Now, we don’t give such opinion,” he said.
The student retorted, “You did!”
Instead of getting involved in a heated argument, Śrīla Prabhupāda tried to appease his opponent by giving him the benefit of the doubt and offering him a way to save face: “No. Then you have misunderstood. You have misunderstood. Our preaching process is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati, ‘Anyone who gives Me a little flower, a little fruit, a little water, like that, I accept that.’ So we offer this flower to Kṛṣṇa. We don’t use it independently. We take the remnants of His foodstuff or anything which is used by Kṛṣṇa. That is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We do not take anything directly. That is our principle. That is our philosophy. So if Kṛṣṇa says that He can accept meat, then we can also accept meat. But He does not say that. He says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. So we have to follow our principle as it is stated in Bhagavad-gītā. We cannot take any dictation from others. That is not possible.”
Realizing that he would get nowhere by arguing against statements that the devotees regard as divine in origin, the student changed his line of attack. He tried to shake the foundation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. “What makes you think Kṛṣṇa is God?” he challenged.
Again Śrīla Prabhupāda would not let himself be drawn in. Rather, he exposed the unreasonableness of the questioner. “Yes. If you know what God is, then you will accept God. If you know, ‘These are the qualifications of God,’ then you will accept God. Do you know what is the qualification of God?” The boy wasn’t sure how to handle the question. “Do you know?” Prabhupāda pressed him. “Just as we find out a physician. If I know what the qualification of a physician is, then I can understand who is a proper physician. Similarly, if you know what the qualification of God is, then you understand that Kṛṣṇa is God. It is not difficult. If you know what gold is, then you can understand what genuine gold is. If you do not know, then you may accept iron as gold..
The student made a last attempt to change the subject again. “Is it by pure logic?” he demanded.
But Prabhupāda didn’t let him off the hook. He asked him clearly and directly: “How do you understand God?”
“I don’t,” the student admitted.
“Then don’t talk of God!” Prabhupāda said emphatically. “If you don’t understand God, then why are you talking of God? If you understand God, then you talk. And if you say ‘I do not understand God,’ then how can you talk of God?”
The speech before the Uppsala students was another demonstration of how difficult it was to convince even apparently educated people through philosophy and argument. Prabhupāda had seen this many times before, and this was one of his main reasons for stressing the importance of congregational chanting and prasādam distribution. That’s why he really liked the festival program. People might object to philosophical ideas, but they rarely objected to chanting, dancing, and eating a delicious feast. By enjoying themselves they unknowingly became purified and made spiritual advancement. If somebody wanted to know about the philosophy, he could purchase a book. Therefore, when Prabhupāda was invited to speak that same evening to a group of academics, including the Indology professor the devotees had met, he told the devotees to accompany him with an array of pots.
PṚTHU DĀSA: He wanted us to give out hot prasādam right after the talk. So there we were, in front of scholars and intellectuals, with our steaming pots, which quickly spread the fragrances of tasty purīs and halavā, while Prabhupāda lectured on the Bhagavad-gītā. It was quite distinct from an academic setting. But prasādam distribution was more important than creating the impression of being academic philosophers.
For his talk that evening Prabhupāda had chosen texts 1 and 2 of the thirteenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā. There Arjuna asks about material nature, its enjoyer, the field of activity, and the knower of the field. Prabhupāda first briefly explained the relationship between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna as spiritual master and disciple and the necessity for a disciple to have a submissive attitude when trying to understand transcendental knowledge. He had in mind the defiant attitudes of that afternoon’s students.
Submission means I must approach somebody who is actually in a better position or higher position; otherwise, what is the use of approaching? Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā. And sevā means service. You cannot challenge. You approach such a person whose instruction you shall receive; you can inquire submissively, but you cannot challenge. That is not allowed in the Vedic system. Samit-paniḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. Therefore, before selecting a teacher, you must decide whether you can submit to him. If you cannot submit, don’t approach him; don’t waste time.
When Śrīla Prabhupāda began to discuss the verses, he explained the meaning of God, defining Him as the supreme controller. A controller must be a person with the capacity to give orders, he said. One of his main objectives was to smash the impersonal conception of God so prevalent in modern Western thinking. The professors were familiar with the Bhagavad-gītā and the Upaniṣads, but they understood the Absolute Truth to be formless and beyond description.
True to his conviction that we begin to understand God by first understanding ourselves as spirit souls, Prabhupāda explained the first lesson of Bhagavad-gītā: we are not the body: The soul changes from one body to another at the time of death, though no one wants to die. Why should we accept one type of body, live there for some time, and again change it? That we have experienced. Anyone of us desires that his youthful body may remain. We try to keep that youthfulness by so many medicines, by so many means. But nature will not allow you to keep yourself always youthful. That is not possible. You must change. Therefore one should be inquisitive: ‘I don’t want this type of body—old body, feeble body—more conditioned, with rheumatic disease and so many other diseases, cough disease. I don’t want it, but I’m forced to accept this body.’ This is our real problem. ‘I don’t want to die, but death is forced upon me.’ So these questions should be raised by really advanced human beings.
Then Prabhupāda commented on the age-old question: Can you show me God? He said that our seeing power depends on certain conditions. We need light, for example. Therefore if we want to see God we have to fulfill a condition: we have to apply the ointment of love to our eyes. “Those who are saintly persons,” Prabhupāda explained, “those who have trained themselves in the affairs of love of Godhead, they can see God constantly within their heart. That is possible. So here, Arjuna is also a saintly person. He’s not an ordinary man, because he’s talking with Kṛṣṇa personally. If Arjuna has the chance of making friendship with God and talking with Him personally, everyone has the same capacity, provided we elevate ourselves to that standard of life: bhakti, bhakti-yoga.”
When Prabhupāda asked for questions, it became obvious that the professors had not been much interested in his thoughts. Rather, they were caught up in their own academic considerations.
“What is the difference between the Bhagavad-gītā and the Vedas,” one asked. This prompted Śrīla Prabhupāda to explain that the Vedas discuss many different topics, but the ultimate goal is to know God. Again he drove home his point that we cannot know God with our present senses. “With these material, blunt, imperfect senses, we cannot understand God. That is not possible. But if we can please God by our service, by our love, He reveals Himself. Revelation—that is the process. So simply by our speculation, research work, we cannot find out God. That is not possible.” Another scholar asked about the differences between Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān. Prabhupāda gave the example of a hill that is seen differently from three different angles of vision: from afar it resembles a cloud; nearer, it is seen to be variegated; and close-up, one can see that it is populated by trees and animals. He concluded that ultimately the Absolute Truth is Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The word “personality” brought up another question: how he understood personality. When Prabhupāda quoted the Kaṭha Upaniṣad that God is the chief person who supplies the necessities of all other persons, the professor interjected that the Upaniṣads declare that “the Unity is inexpressible.” Still, Prabhupāda didn’t budge. He gave more quotes indicating that God is a person, although His transcendental body is different from ours. Seeing that their views were irreconcilable, the professor who hosted the devotees politely brought the discussion to an end.
HARERNĀMĀNANDA DĀSA: Śrīla Prabhupāda was seated behind the teacher’s desk, while the Indology professor and his colleagues and a few devotees took the students’ seats. To me, it seemed that those professors didn’t understand anything. Their questions after the lecture showed that they were overloaded with information from their academic studies and were unable to appreciate straightforward explanations or simple answers. After the talk, Bhārgava, another photographer, and I were alone with Prabhupāda, because the others were accompanying the professors out. Prabhupāda turned to us and asked, “What do you think? Was it all right?” Bhārgava expressed his appreciation for Prabhupāda’s presentation, but I couldn’t bring out a single word. It was as if my mind had gone blank. I thought, “Why does Prabhupāda ask me? He knows perfectly well where these professors are at.”
In his presence, I was always overcome by awe and reverence. Actually, the longer I was with him, the more I learned to respect him. I felt rather insignificant around him. Although I regret today that I was not able to speak freely with Prabhupāda, I think it also had its positive side. It was safer. As he used to say, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” So there was no question of my becoming too familiar with Śrīla Prabhupāda.
To be in his presence was an intense experience, at least for me. I always felt that his eyes were like X-rays. When he looked at me, it was as if he could read my face like an open book, and he made me completely aware of my conditioning».
NIKHILĀNANDA DĀSA: The next morning we were walking with Śrīla Prabhupāda near the temple. He didn’t say much but was chanting softly on his beads. It was September, and the Swedish dawn was kind of chilly and foggy. When the large red sun finally rose over the horizon, Śrīla Prabhupāda remarked thoughtfully: “Kṛṣṇa sūrya sāma. Kṛṣṇa is like the sun.” He thus reminded us that it is not difficult to see Kṛṣṇa in all things. SMITA KṚṢṆA SWAMI: Before the public programs the devotees performed harināma in downtown Stockholm and invited people to come and hear Prabhupāda speak. On one occasion, probably with the idea to give mercy to the most fallen, they invited a group of drunkards to come along. Fortunately, these guys were actually quite nice and didn’t create any disturbance during the program.
As Prabhupāda lectured, he noticed them, and out of his desire to give anyone the chance to elevate himself to Kṛṣṇa consciousness he began to speak about the verse in Bhagavad-gītā where Kṛṣṇa declares that He is the taste of water: Kṛṣṇa says, raso ’ham apsu kaunteya: any liquid thing, the taste which attracts you, that I am. Even you are a drunkard and are fond of tasting wine, I recommend that you simply think: ‘This taste of wine is Kṛṣṇa.’ That will make you a yogi, the greatest yogi. If you simply think this: ‘I am tasting wine—oh, a very nice taste—this is Kṛṣṇa.’ Is there any loss if you think like that? This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.”
MAṆIMAÑJARĪ DĀSĪ: Somehow or other I was fortunate enough to be among the devotees who accompanied Śrīla Prabhupāda to Uppsala that evening. In the classroom where the lecture took place, I was sitting in the second row, maybe three yards from Prabhupāda’s seat. I wasn’t initiated yet, and I was curious to find out why the devotees were always praising Śrīla Prabhupāda and speaking of him with such enthusiasm. So, for quite a while, I simply stared at him, almost in a challenging mood, and I practically didn’t hear what he was saying. I wanted to find out what was so special about him by looking for external symptoms. But all of a sudden Śrīla Prabhupāda looked back at me, and when his eyes met mine, I felt as if I had been struck by a thunderbolt. I felt so uncomfortable that I didn’t dare look at him for the rest of the evening. In fact, for the remaining days of his visit, I looked at him only from a distance.
On the final day, at the airport, Prabhupāda was surrounded by a few disciples. Hansadutta was leading the kīrtana. Suddenly something dawned on me. It was as if Prabhupāda spoke to me from within: “If you want to know me, you have to serve.” I felt great relief. This was the answer. Not that I had read this in a book and was remembering it now. It was more like a revelation, like Prabhupāda’s mercy on me to end my moroseness and confusion: devotional service would reveal everything. The day after Prabhupāda’s meeting with the professors was reserved for a Hare Kṛṣṇa festival. Posters had been put up all over Stockholm. Throughout the morning and early afternoon, a big harināma party led by Hansadutta brought the chanting of the holy name to the streets of Sweden’s capital. The devotees were so absorbed in the chanting that they continued it in the festival hall, where another group of devotees was decorating, setting up the sound system, and preparing prasādam. MṚDĀṆĪ DĀSĪ: I was helping Himavatī roll purīs while Hansadutta led the kīrtana in the hall. Prabhupāda was expected any time. I really loved to chant and dance in kīrtana, especially in Hansadutta’s kīrtanas, so I asked Himavatī if I could go join in. When I was completely absorbed in chanting and dancing, hands in the air almost touching the ceiling, I turned around and there was Prabhupāda. He looked so pleased. He looked right into my eyes, and his look was so deep and endless that it took me a second to realize that I had to offer obeisances. I could see how much he appreciated it when we enjoyed chanting and dancing in kīrtana. VIBHĪṢAṆA DĀSA: When Śrīla Prabhupāda entered the hall, the audience was waiting for him, and the people rose from their seats and bowed their heads to greet him. It was a spontaneous act, not like something in the TV studios where a red light goes on to indicate that people should applaud. The subject of the lecture was “The Guru and Spiritual Life.” Hansadutta had suggested to Prabhupāda that he explain the Gurvāṣṭaka verses. Prabhupāda began by talking about the difference between matter and spirit and the material and spiritual worlds. He told his audience that it was up to them to decide where to go next: “The guru can help you transmigrate from this planet directly to the spiritual sky, where there are innumerable spiritual planets.” Prabhupāda mentioned the verse in the Bhagavad-gītā that says that according to one’s desires one can go to different planets. “That is called saṁsāra,” Prabhupāda said, “rotating within this material world. And that is compared to dāvānala, a forest fire. He was steering toward the first verse—saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka tranāya karuṇa-ghanāghanātvam—but first he made the meaning of saṁsāra-dāvānala clear. After all, without realizing the misery of material life, why would anyone accept a guru to get out of it? Thus Prabhupāda gave several examples of the blazing forest fire of material existence: two World Wars, the Vietnam War, the Pakistan War: You may try your best to live very peacefully, but nature will not allow you. There must be war. Especially in European history, there were so many wars: Carthaginian war, Greek War, Roman War, Seven Years’ War between France and England, and Hundred Years’ War. And the war feeling is going on, not only between nation and nation but also between man and man, neighbor to neighbor, even between husband and wife, father and son. This war is going on. This is called dāvānala, forest fire. In the forest nobody goes to set fire, but automatically by the clash or friction of the dried bamboo, there is electricity, and it catches fire. Similarly, although we do not want unhappiness, still by our dealings we create enemies and friends, and there is a fight, there is war. This will continue. This is called saṁsāra-dāvānala. Just try to understand. So guru means spiritual master, one who can deliver us from this forest fire.
A forest fire requires water to be extinguished. But where is the water coming from? From your bucket or from your fire brigade? No. It must come from the sky. It must come from the sky. When there will be torrents of rain from the sky, this blazing forest fire will be extinguished. These rains from the sky do not depend on your scientific propaganda or manipulation. They depend on the mercy of the Supreme Lord. So the spiritual master is compared to the cloud. From the cloud, there are torrents of rain. Similarly, a spiritual master is considered to be just like the cloud. The cloud takes water from the sea. The cloud hasn’t got its own water. Similarly, a spiritual master brings mercy from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Just see the comparison. He has no mercy of his own, but he carries the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the qualification of a spiritual master. A spiritual master will never say, “I am God. I can give you mercy.” No, that is not a spiritual master. That is a bogus pretender. A spiritual master will say, “I am a servant of God. I have brought His mercy. Please take it and be satisfied.” Prabhupāda then spoke about the symptom of material existence— anxiety—and said that the first test of a genuine spiritual master is whether his disciples are freed from anxiety when they follow his instructions. The second test is his constant engagement in chanting the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead: In this age of Kali, simply by chanting the holy names of the Lord, you can get all perfection. All perfection. And our movement, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is meant for that purpose. In India it is very popular. But in the Western countries we have just introduced it five or six years ago, and people are taking to it, and they are feeling happy. So this is the only process. Therefore the guru is always engaged in chanting. Mahāprabho kīrtana-nṛtya-gīta: chanting and dancing. Unless he himself performs chanting and dancing, how can he teach his disciple?”
Prabhupāda briefly described the third symptom, Deity worship, by mentioning that in Sweden the Deity had not yet been established, and then went on to the next verse and broadened its original meaning, surcharging it by his dynamic preaching spirit: The fourth symptom is that a guru, a spiritual master, encourages prasādam distribution to the public. Ours is not dry philosophy, simply we talk and go home. No. We distribute prasādam, very sumptuous prasādam. If you eat bhāgavata-prasādam, then gradually you become spiritualized. It has the potency. Therefore it is said that realization of God can be done by the tongue: sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. If you engage your tongue in the service of the Lord, then you realize God. So what is the tongue’s engagement? The tongue’s engagements are that you chant the holy name of the Lord and you take the prasādam, remnants of foodstuff given to the Lord. Then you become self-realized, God-realized.” The next two verses of Śrī Gurvāṣṭaka describe the intimate relationship between the guru and the gopīs, but Prabhupāda avoided discussing these confidential topics in public and instead stressed the importance of constantly thinking of Kṛṣṇa. He applied the idea of taking part in Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes to all levels of spiritual existence: So the ultimate goal of the spiritual master is that he wants to be transferred to the planet of Kṛṣṇa, where he wants to associate with the gopīs to help them to serve Kṛṣṇa. Some spiritual masters are thinking of becoming assistants to the gopīs; some of them are thinking to be assistants to the cowherd boys; some are thinking to be assistants to Mother Yaśodā or Nanda, or to be the servants of God, and some of them are thinking how to become a flower, a fruit tree, or a calf or cow in Vṛndāvana.” Prabhupāda explained again the difference between the material world and the spiritual world, but this time focused on the difference in the manifestation of love: Real love is in the spiritual world between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Real love is between Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs. Real love, friendship, is there between Kṛṣṇa and His cowherd boyfriends. Real love between animal and man is there. Kṛṣṇa is loving the cows and calves. Real love between trees, flowers, water. At the end, Prabhupāda reminded his audience again how simple it is to become Kṛṣṇa conscious: The process is that you worship the Deity, you take prasādam, you chant the holy name, you follow the instruction of the spiritual master, in this way you’ll be trained up how to understand Kṛṣṇa, and then your life is successful.
*** The small temple room in Spanga, a village near Stockholm, was the converted living room of a house the devotees had rented, and there was no real need for amplification, but Uthāla still wanted to set up part of the festival sound system to amplify Śrīla Prabhupāda’s morning classes. However, when Prabhupāda began to speak, there was no sound.
He tapped the microphone several times and asked Hansadutta, “It is not working?” Uthāla frantically tried to find the cause. He checked the connections, changed leads, twiddled knobs, but without luck.
Prabhupāda was annoyed yet amused, and ridiculed the Western mentality of depending on technology by quoting the last line of a verse by Cāṇakya Paṇḍita: bahvārambhe laghu kriyā, the arrangement is very big, grand style, but the outcome is insignificant. “What is the use of keeping big, big paraphernalia?” Prabhupāda asked. “What is the use of keeping a useless machine?” He mentioned the four examples given by Cāṇakya: ajāyuddhe, a fight between two goats; muni-śraddhe, a festival by sages in the jungle; dampatya kalahe, a fight between husband and wife; and megha garjane, thundering clouds in the morning: You have seen goats fighting? (The devotees laugh as Prabhupāda makes the sound of fighting goats) Ongh! Ongh! As if two big, big heroes are fighting. But as soon as somebody comes and shouts, ‘Hut!’, they will go away.
Muni shraddhe. In the forest, there are munis. So they are arranging for some festivals to offer oblations to the forefathers, shraddha. So what they have got? They have got some fruits and leaves. That's all. So the arrangement may be that “Tomorrow, we are going to have this festival.” But the festival means some leaves and some water. That's all. No utensils, no gold, no jewels, nothing of the sort. So this is another bahvarambhe laghu kriya. Arrangement is very big, but fact is nothing.
And quarrel between husband and wife. In India, there is no question of divorce. So nobody takes very serious care when there is quarrel between husband and wife. One may say: “I'm going to leave you, I’m going to kill you...” and so many things. But after an hour, everything is finished. No more quarrel.
And when in the morning you see big clouds assemble and hear thundering sounds, rest assured, there will be no rain. So these things are bahvārambhe laghu kriyā. Arambha: the beginning is very gorgeous, but the end is nothing. So that is not good: bahvārambhe laghu kriyā. Prabhupāda then turned his attention to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in front of him. He was lecturing from the Fifth Canto, from the chapter entitled “The Teachings of Lord Åṣabhadeva,” and the verse described the necessity of using the human form of life properly. For most of the lecture, he dwelt on one of his favorite topics: the degraded condition of modern civilization and its polished animal propensities of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending.
Toward the end of the class, Prabhupāda addressed his young followers directly: Don’t waste your time. Finish your business of Kṛṣṇa consciousness perfectly. To waste time is not at all good. Why is it not good? Yato ātmano ’yam asann api kleśada āśa dehaḥ: because we have got this miserable condition of life, this body, because of our past action; now if we again create the same action, then we’ll have to accept another body. This miserable condition of life will continue. Just finish it. Therefore, whatever time we have, whatever opportunity we have got, we have to prepare ourselves. No more taking a material body. And that is possible only if we are transferred to the spiritual world.
*** It had been a busy week in Sweden. Some days, Śrīla Prabhupāda had spoken on two occasions and had met important people, such as the Indian ambassador. He was especially pleased with the festival program, which attracted big crowds of people and gave them a direct experience of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Now, as he continued his world tour by leaving for Los Angeles, the German devotees, with renewed enthusiasm and strengthened conviction, returned to their preaching work in Hamburg, Berlin, Heidelberg, and Munich.
Prabhupāda derived obvious satisfaction from Hansadutta’s preaching, especially the traveling saṅkīrtana parties. In Germany alone each week, more than a dozen VW vans made preaching excursions out from the different temples. The book and record distributors did hugely, and they returned only briefly on weekends for kīrtanas and sumptuous Sunday feasts.
He also liked the regular public festivals. But in his GBC report, Hansadutta indicated that it was becoming too expensive to regularly rent halls, cook food for free distribution, and have groups of devotees chant and dance (who otherwise could be collecting funds). On October 12, 1973, Prabhupāda sent a letter telling him to be shrewd in his planning: Regarding the festival programs, you should not stop because it is not economic. You can earn from book-selling and then spend on the festivals. The festivals are very good for attracting the people; then you can easily inject the Krishna conscious poison into them.
He reminded Hansadutta to continue preaching with enthusiasm; then all success was assured: So your Sankirtana Parties are collecting very nicely, especially Amsterdam. As long as we go on preaching in this way, we will not starve. It is good that the Berlin party is traveling. To be stagnant is not good. Just like I am an old man, but I am always traveling. I am glad that the Hamburg Deity worship is going on nicely. Wherever there is Deities there must be first class care, arati, bhoga, cleanliness, dressing, regular classes. If this is not possible, then better to travel. Your translation process is very good, so do it nicely.
So you are doing excellent preaching, while I am here fighting with Mrs. Nair. I want that when this business is finished to return for Europe or America, perhaps via Africa. You will be pleased to know that the London devotees that you have trained in Sankirtana and book distribution are doing very nicely.
The German devotees I have seen both in Paris and Stockholm have impressed me by their enthusiasm. It is very encouraging, so train them nicely. The Germans are very intelligent, and they will be the future preachers. So give them nice translations of my books and you will have tremendous success in Germany. Our success is our enthusiasm. So everything we do should be done with enthusiasm, the chanting, reading, and following the rules and regulations.
You are experienced, senior member of the society, and Krishna has given you excellent opportunity for organizing Central Europe. I am sure you will be able to do something in Moscow. The young men there, are eager, only the government is a barrier. It is a good field there, you simply have to find the means, but rest assured that you will find many customers there. Your emphasis on book distribution is very good. You have enough centers. Let more devotees come, then consider opening more. The bus program is successful everywhere, so continue it.