Well this morning Krishna surprised me again. I was not expecting to take the lead role in singing the Guru Puja song. Of course naturally I was nervous as I am singing for a pure devotee of Krishna. I would have been doubly nervous had my own guru Maharaj had been physically standing there hearing me sing it. The devotees wanted me to lead the song this morning. So I did, but I had to have the words in front of me so as not to fumble on it. I hope Srila Prabhupada will forgive me for any offense I may have committed while trying to pronounce some of the words, because my sanskrit is terrible. But at the same time after the song, I felt a bit closer to Srila Prabhupada. I hope I did not disappoint him in any way, I don't think I did. I did feel some comfort from Srila Prabhupada lately. He must know I am suffering separation from my own dear guru Maharaj Bhaktimarga Swami who is currently in India. I believe it was verification from Srila Prabhupada letting me know he is there when guidance is needed.
So after all this happened I began to read my biography book about Srila Prabhupada. I have a few favorite pasttimes of Srila Prabhupada like I do with Krishna. The one pasttime I read in Prabhupada Nectar Prabhupada asked a devotee "Do you think I am tricky?" And the devotee replies "No I don't." But then Prabhupada said "Yes I am tricky because I have tricked you all into being Krishna Conciousness."
Another favorite past time is when Srila Prabhupada was leaving for India, and his disciples were feeling separation from him. Srila Prabhupada said to his disciples "
I can understand that you are feeling separation, I am feeling for my Guru Maharaja. I think this is what Krishna wants."
And another nice quote from Srila Prabhupada "
I'm going but my Guru Maharaja and Bhaktivinoda are here." He points to his guru's picture. " I have asked them to take care of all of you my spiritual childeren. The grandfather always takes care of the childeren much better than the father. So do not fear. There is no question of separation. The sound vibration fixes us up together, even though the material body may not be there. What do we care for this material body? Just go on chanting Hare Krishna. and we will be packed up together. You will be chanting here and I will be chanting there., and this vibration will circulate the planet."
I wish I could have read those two quotes before my guru left for India but I didn't read it until two days after he left.
Another pasttime I found interesting was when Srila Prabhupada was having trouble in Bombay with the land owned by somebody named Mr. N. Mr. N had threatened Prabhupada and his disciples that he was going to demolish their temple. After he said that he had died two weeks later. That proves right there that Krishna does not tolerate any type of threat to His devotees. All glories to Lord Krishna.
And lastly there is one more past time of Prabhupada that I liked. After Srila Prabhupada arrived in America he wrote a letter to Krishna saying that Lord Krishna can do with him whatever he likes, and showed so much humbleness to Lord Krishna and Krishna had responded to him immediately because Srila Prabhupada really did have so much devotion to Krishna even though Srila Prabhupada said in his letter that he had no devotion at all. I try to follow that example that Srila Prabhupada had. I do my best to be humble to others. Being puffed up about one's pride or think that they are in control, one can fall down again. I am trying to avoid that downfall as much as possible and render service to my guru and devotees as much as I can.
It does take a lot of self realization to become Krishna Conciousness. Krishna will reveal Himself if one takes Krishna Conciousness seriously and just try to chant His holy names, and render service to a guru. I have personally had my own experiences with this so there is no doubt for me at all that Krishna is God, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, lord of all living entities. But I am the most fallen of souls too. I'm still covered in illusion and I'm no where near a pure devotee like Srila Prabhupada was. Far fromt that. All I can do is continue what I am doing chanting and hearing as Srila Prahupada wanted his disciples to do and also to preach but I'm not good at that one but I'm okay with the rest of the service, chanting, hearing, reading, about Krishna, and also helping to distribute his books too.
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