Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet.
I heard the most amazing lecture of yours the other day. It was given in Los Angeles on May 3,
1973. I marveled at the wisdom and expertise that was in full view as you wove in and out of the
full spectrum of your presentation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
In one class, primarily given to disciples who, on the average, had been chanting for two or
three years, you told us to be free from the bodily concept, to be detached from everything that
reinforces that false conception, to boldly defeat the rascals ruining the world (materialistic scien-
tists, politicians, Māyāvādīs, sahajiyās – you covered them all!), that Kṛṣṇa’s real home is Vrinda-
van, and that we should beg for the mercy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, who controls Kṛṣṇa by Her love.
There was something for everyone, regardless of where they were at in 1973, or where we are at in
2025.
Here are some brief samples showing the span of your presentation in just one class:
The highest is available to anyone: “If Caitanya Mahāprabhu is pleased, then He can give
kṛṣṇa-prema, love of Kṛṣṇa, to anyone, doesn’t matter what is his qualification. He gives. If a
person who is giving in charity, he can select any man: ‘You take.’ That is power of Śrī Caitanya
Mahāprabhu. Otherwise, kṛṣṇa-prema, to understand Kṛṣṇa, is very, very difficult job.”
We should preach strongly: “Now it is the time for making propaganda amongst the so-called
scientist, philosophers, leaders, politicians. Because they are misleading the whole people of the
world under the bodily concept of life.… These rascals, they’re the greatest enemy of the human
society.”
We should be detached: “To become free from material attachment, that is required. So long I’m
thinking, ‘I’m father of this, mother of this, husband of this, wife of this,’ that is attachment.…
The māyā is causing to dance like this – monkey’s dancing … if we waste our life, misuse this
opportunity of human life just to live like the cats and dogs, āhāra-nidrā, eating, sleeping, mating,
and defending, then we are spoiling. The human life is successful when he understands Kṛṣṇa.
Otherwise he remains an animal. That’s all.… That is freedom, that ‘I do not belong to anything
of this bodily connection.’”
Rascal sahajiyās: “They picture simply Kṛṣṇa as if simply embracing Rādhārāṇī. That’s all. That
is also very, in an obnoxious way. These rascal, they take it, the dealings of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa as
ordinary boys’ and girls’ dealing. They don’t understand anything. Let there be one picture how
Kṛṣṇa is controlling the whole universe.”
Bhakti, Kṛṣṇa, in Vrindavan, and Rādhārāṇī’s shelter: “In His original form, He is Kṛṣṇa, two
hands, playing on the flute. That is His original form. The universal form is causal but that is not
His real form. Kṛṣṇa’s real form is Vrindavan, at home, the dvi-bhuja-muralīdhara. Dvi-bhuja, two
hands, having a flute in the hand.
“Kṛṣṇa becomes a tool in the hands of bhakta. Just like Rādhārāṇī, the symbol of the topmost
bhakti, Rādhārāṇī. So She has purchased Kṛṣṇa. She’s so powerful. Therefore Vaiṣṇavas, they
take shelter of the lotus feet of Rādhārāṇī so that if She recommends, ‘Oh, here is a nice devotee,’
Kṛṣṇa has to accept.”
What an incredibly powerful and diverse class. Over the years we often have heard the phrase
in praise of you: “He built a house in which the whole world can live.” We, your followers, likely
have different ways of understanding that phrase. I’ve often wondered what it tangibly means.
This lecture of yours helps me think of that phrase in real terms, at least as it relates to the devotee
community. In thirty-nine minutes you gave inspiration to every devotee, whether they are strug-
gling to understand that they are not their body, or are more focused on begging for the mercy of
Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, as well as many stages and topics in between. Such expertise!
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for this lecture and all the ways you give us the opportunity to
achieve the Lord’s mercy by endeavoring to serve and please you.
Your servant,
Vraja Vihārī Dāsa