Śrīla Prabhupāda, The Power of Actual Hearing
(He Heard, He Obeyed, and He Transformed the World)
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the crest jewel of all scriptures and vaiṣṇavānāṁ priyam, emphatically proclaims the power of actual hearing. Actual hearing means hearing with a desire to follow at any cost. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.17) states:
naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā
bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī
Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone’s heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.
Once transcendental sound enters the heart, it cleans the heart of all dirty things and makes the Lord appear in the heart. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.8.4–5) states:
śṛṇvataḥ śraddhayā nityaṁ gṛṇataś ca sva-ceṣṭitam
kālena nātidīrgheṇa bhagavān viśate hṛdi
praviṣṭaḥ karṇa-randhreṇa svānāṁ bhāva-saroruham
dhunoti śamalaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ salilasya yathā śarat
Persons who hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam regularly and are always taking the matter very seriously will have the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa manifested in their hearts within a short time. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,] the sound incarnation of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Soul, enters into the heart of a self-realized devotee, sits on the lotus flower of his loving relationship, and thus cleanses the dust of material association, such as lust, anger and hankering. Thus it acts like autumnal rains upon pools of muddy water.
We have many examples of powerful hearing in developing love of Godhead in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: Mother Rukmiṇī heard from Nārada Muni; the brāhmaṇa patnīs heard from the gopīs; Prahlāda Mahārāja heard in the womb from Nārada Muni. And therefore great devotees pray only to hear kṛṣṇa-kathā in the association of devotees. For example, Pṛthu Mahārāja states in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.20.24,
na kāmaye nātha tad apy ahaṁ kvacin
na yatra yuṣmac-caraṇāmbujāsavaḥ
mahattamāntar-hṛdayān mukha-cyuto
vidhatsva karṇāyutam eṣa me varaḥ
My dear Lord, I therefore do not wish to have the benediction of merging into Your existence, a benediction in which there is no existence of the nectarean beverage of Your lotus feet. I want the benediction of at least one million ears, for thus I may be able to hear about the glories of Your lotus feet from the mouths of Your pure devotees.
Among all the transcendental messages, the instructions of the spiritual master are most powerful. As Śrīla Prabhupāda repeats the commentary of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura on Bhagavad-gītā 2.41, one should make the instructions of the spiritual master one’s life and soul.
He heard … Our dear Śrīla Prabhupāda is teaching us to hear in this way by his personal example. It was 1922 when Śrīla Prabhupāda received the seeds of transcendental instruction from his eternal spiritual master, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, that were to grow into the whole tree called ISKCON: “You are educated young men. Why don’t you preach Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s message throughout the whole world?” Many were listening, but he heard.
Again, on the banks of Rādhā-kuṇḍa, his spiritual master told him that if you ever get money, print books. Again, many were listening, but he heard.
On the last day of the parikramā it was announced that devotees could either go for darshan of Śeṣaśāyī Viṣṇu, or they could remain in camp and hear from Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. Although Śrīla Prabhupāda admitted that it was tough to understand his guru’s words, he loved to hear him speak. Later, when Abhay was put forward for initiation, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura said, “Yes, he likes to hear. He does not go away. I have marked him. I will accept him as my disciple.”
In his final letter to his spiritual master, Śrīla Prabhupāda asked him, “Is there any particular service I can do?” Śrīla Prabhupāda received the same instruction he had been meditating on since 1922: “I am fully confident that you can explain in English our thoughts and arguments to the people who are not conversant with the languages of the other members. This will do much good to yourself as well as your audience. I have every hope that you can turn yourself into a very good English preacher if you serve the mission to inculcate the novel impression of Lord Chaitanya’s teachings in the people in general as well as philosophers and religionists.” (Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta, chapter 4). Many were listening, but he heard.
He obeyed … After the departure of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura in 1936, the Gauḍīya Math disintegrated. Śrīla Prabhupāda tried to encourage his godbrothers to keep Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s desire to preach in the center, but it couldn’t happen. Others fought, but he obeyed.
Now it was completely on his shoulder to obey and follow the desire and instructions of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and preach all over the world. Everyone thought they were right, but he obeyed.
Śrīla Prabhupāda began preparing his manuscript for the Bhagavad-gītā, but it was lost. Yet he wasn’t disappointed, wasn’t discouraged. Undeterred, he started Back to Godhead magazine, even though he had no funds for printing it. He sought support from his godbrothers, but received little encouragement. Still, he pressed on. He then went to Jhansi and founded the League of Devotees, striving to establish Lord Caitanya’s mission. However, circumstances forced him to leave, and financial difficulties made printing increasingly challenging. Despite repeated obstacles, his determination to serve his spiritual master never wavered. Others stepped back, but he obeyed his spiritual master and carried on.
Finally, in 1965, he decided to give a final try to wholeheartedly obeying his spiritual master’s instruction to go to the West and preach the cult of Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the English language. After great struggle he got a ticket to America aboard a cargo ship with the help of Sumati Morarji. Despite seasickness and then two heart attacks, he arrived in the United States. Everyone else looked on while he obeyed.
He transformed the world … After arriving in America, his struggle intensified. He had no help, the winter was freezing cold, he had no money, no fixed residence, and was living for some time with a Māyāvādī. Later, someone broke into his room and stole his typewriter. All of this, and he was facing old age. At least in India he knew how to function and people respected sādhus. He had been living in Vrindavan at the Rādhā-Dāmodara temple, but in America he was externally alone. Internally, of course, he had full faith in the instructions of his spiritual master and the power of his words and desires. As he wrote in his famous poem aboard the Jaladuta:
śrī-siddhānta saraswatī śacī-suta priya ati
kṛṣṇa-sebāya jāra tula nāi
sei se mohānta-guru jagater madhe uru
kṛṣṇa-bhakti dey ṭhāi ṭhāi
tāra icchā balavān pāścātyete ṭhān ṭhān
hoy jāte gaurāńger nām
pṛthivīte nagarādi āsamudra nada nadī
sakalei loy kṛṣṇa nām
Miracles began to happen on Second Avenue. There were many other yogis and swamis in America, and they also spoke, but Śrīla Prabhupāda was different. Others spoke to people’s heads, but he transformed the heart.
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s love for and care of the hippies transformed them into “happies.” He gradually began to organize big Ratha-yātrās in all the major cities of the world. He established 108 ISKCON temples around the world. He traveled the globe fourteen times. Wherever he went, his compassion transformed the hearts of millions of people and drew them to love and serve Kṛṣṇa. His Bhaktivedanta purports transformed men and women into gentlemen and gentlewomen. His words are still transforming generations of hearers. While others spoke, he transformed us and made us love Kṛṣṇa and become dear to Him.
O most merciful Śrīla Prabhupāda, our eternal guide and ever well-wisher, today we bow at your lotus feet with a simple prayer born from our hearts. You taught us that real life begins when we learn to follow not our whims or our restless minds but the pure instructions descending from guru and Kṛṣṇa.
In a world that glorifies independence, you showed the beauty of surrender. In an age of confusion, you gave the clarity of obedience. To obey you is not a burden but our greatest fortune, our only shelter, our path back home, back to Godhead.
Yet, O Prabhupāda, we admit with humility that our obedience is often weak and mixed with hesitation, distraction, and pride. We hear but do not always follow. We promise but do not always act. Still, your compassion is causeless. You do not reject us; rather, you patiently guide us again and again.
Please bless us with the strength to accept your words as our very life and soul. Let us not interpret, dilute, or delay, but hear attentively and obey with faith, simplicity, and determination to be transformed. May we remember: perfection is not in great ability but in sincere obedience.
Your insignificant servants, who are trying to follow,
The devotees at ISKCON Kanpur