Savior of the World

All glories to the all glorious and most auspicious 30th year celebration of ISKCON's Founder-Acharya's, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami's - Srila Prabhupada's - disappearance day!

30 years, prabhus, a very long time. A whole generation.

I'm sending this email out to the old and tired recent discussion list, but, I have no time or desire to revive the on-going and never ending discussions. Rather, I just wanted to say something about and in glorification of Srila Prabhupada on this most auspicious and sacred day.

Our rtivk discussion ended on a bit of a sour note, Basu Ghosh advising that I become a Christian, and their idea that on-going rtvik would turn SP into a Christian like idea where Jesus, Srila Prabhupada, is the Only Way...

This is not our mood, and at the risk of being again misunderstood by those who do not understand our real mood, I felt inspired to reveal the following.

Years ago, while Srila Prabhupada walked in our material vision, I understood his position to be very unique. The world would someday come to know who he really was/is. The world should follow his teachings, should recognize his teachings and accept the guidance of his teachings. So, back in the summer of 1977, just months or weeks before SP departed, the rascal that I am, I had sent SP a letter giving dakshin and asking his permission for me to take leave of his brahmacari ashram and enter the grhastha ashram. The beginning of the letter, however, I wrote that I wanted to see that his, Srila Prabhupada's, glories are spread all over the world. That he becomes known and respected all over the world for having SAVED us all, individually, and the world. SP thanked me for what he called my Vaishnava sentiments.

I didn't write it to flatter, as some empty words that sounded good, but, I always meant it. I want to see Srila Prabhupada's glories spread all over the world, to the mainstream masses.

I do not see Srila Prabhupada as just one of many gurus. His position is unique. Krishna, Gita, have been available to the West for since ever. A few people in higher educated circles had discovered Gita, Thoreau, Einstein, the transcendentalists, etc. But Gita stayed out of touch of the masses. Krishna, while popular in india, was hardly known at all out side of India. Krishna could have allowed a 100 1000 others to have brought Him to the West, He and Gauranga, but He chose that only one great devotee would have this honor, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He alone did what no other past acharya ever did, and what no future acharya can again claim to have done: he brought Krishna and His teachings and Lord Gauranga and the chanting of Krishna Nam to every town and village. What a glorious and wonderous deed.

Acharya means TEACHER, guru means Teacher, the true and real essence of a Teacher is his Teachings. Not his bodily form. That is not the true essence of a teacher.

An Acharya, a Teacher, Guru, SAVES his disciples via his TEACHINGS. Siksha or Vani. Not via his Vapu form, nor via the process of formal diksha. It is not like the Ram Krishna types who when touched by their guru a light comes out of the body of the guru and into the disciple and at that moment the disciple achieves full self-realization, via some mystic physical touch of the body of the guru and disciple. No, that is not our process. The disciple achieves true self-realization by accepting, understanding and following the TEACHINGS of the Spiritual Teacher. What SAVES us from birth and death, SAVES us from rotting in this material world is the Eternal VANI–TEACHINGS of our SAVIOR, Srila Prabhupada.

I am not trying to make Prabhupada into some Christianized personality, I am simply stating the truth. As the Christians refer to Jesus as their Savior, I have come to like that term in reference to our Srila Prabhupada. He definitely is our eternal and most respected SAVIOR. By his causeless mercy and his teachings he is SAVING us all from this material world.

For years I have wanted to preach, more openly, that Srila Prabhupada is the Savior of the World. Because he is.

Years ago one devotee, can't remember who know, gave a Srimad-Bhagavatam class at the LA temple, and the theme of it was that the Christians have been waiting for the second coming of their Savior, the Lord. His point was that the Lord has already come 500 years ago in His form as Lord Caitanya. He promoted the idea that we should preach this to the Christians, that the Lord had come 500 years ago.

While it is true that God Himself appeared 500 years ago, the Christians are waiting for their Savior, a child of God, a Servant of God, more then actual God Himself. Also, knowing something of Christianity I knew most Christians would reject this idea as there are specific criteria given in the Bible that preclude the second coming of their Savior. Most of that criteria was met, however, only in the more recent times.

Rather then preaching that Caitanya Mahaprabhu was the Savior they were expecting, instead, I always felt that Srila Prabhupada was that personality.

But, I have refrained from preaching this. About 10 years ago I started to write a section on my web site in which I had attempted to promote the idea that Srila Prabhupada was the second coming of Jesus. But, I was not comfortable with this. On one side I did not want to say that Prabhupada was Jesus. There are so many bogi yogis who have claimed, or others claimed, that they were previously Jesus, and obviously they were not the Savior any one was expecting.

So, I never completed those articles, I never promoted that idea.

But, this week, leading up to today's auspicious disappearance day, I reached a conclusion, that to me, was very profound, although in reality it may seem to be a small detail to others. In my heart I know my Guru Maharaja to be the SAVIOR of the whole World, Srila Prabhupada... Ki Jai. Savior of the whole world.

How is he our SAVIOR?, because his Vani, his Teachings have the potency to save us from birth and death, to save us from rotting in this material world. He is no less than the Savior of the whole world by the process of distributing his books, distributing his teachings. His teachings are saving the whole world.

We say — both the rtviks and non-rtviks — that Srila Prabhupada is THE Siksha Guru of ISKCON. We must realize that the basis of our sampradaya is founded in Vani, in the TEACHINGS of the Teacher, the Guru, not in some electric spark that is transfered between guru and disciple when the guru touches his disciple during initiation. Knowledge is transfered to the disciple via the Teachings of the Teacher. This is the foundation of our parampara system. The most important guru is the guru who gives us the knowledge that will SAVE us from birth and death, the knowledge that will take us to the feet of Radha and Krishna.

For thousands of years, far exceeding Jesus's popularity, Srila Prabhupada's teachings will be SAVING the lost souls of this world.

Thus I came to the conclusion that my duty, for the rest of my short few years I have left, will be to preach boldly that Srila Prabhupada is the SAVIOR of the world.

And this was my great realization. That for years I held off preaching that Prabhupada is that person the Christians have been waiting for. I held off because I did not feel right promoting the idea that Srila Prabhupada was the same person as Jesus. The realization that came to me in the past days is that Srila Prabhupada IS, in DEED, the SAVIOR the Christians have been expecting. He IS their second coming of the Savior that was predicted... But he is not necessarily Jesus.

The personality, the souls, may be separate individuals, but, Srila Prabhupada tells us that the bonafide guru is one. Guru is one. How is that? Because all bonafide gurus teach the same conclusion. They are all representing God.

Like an ambassador — say, the US ambassador to India — one year one man may be the Ambassador, and as ambassador he is the representative of the US Government in that land. But in another year another person may become the Ambassador. The Ambassador is one, he represents the US government. But the individuals may be many.

This may seem to be a small thing, but for me it firmed up in my heart how I will now preach about Srila Prabhupada. I felt more than just inspired. I have felt compelled to now go out and tell the world that Srila Prabhupada is the Savior that the Christian world was awaiting. Their Savior has already come and physically departed. But he can still be followed. His teachings can be followed and taken up.

I no longer feel this is wrong to preach in this way. Rather, it is our duty to do so.

We must go out and inform the world that their Savior has already come. One criterion given in the Bible was that Israel would become a nation. That took place nearly 60 years ago. So many had felt in the 60's that Jesus would appear. And the fact is their SAVIOR had come. Maybe not the same individual person, but their SAVIOR had come. He had provided the path to salvation, in the teachings embodied in his books, he has left the map that can be followed to achieve salvation.

I had held off preaching openly that Prabhupada was Jesus, but I no longer need hold off preaching that He IS the SAVIOR whom the Christians had been expecting.

I see now, that this will be the future of our preaching. I now plan to write a book about this, get it published and promote the idea that the SAVIOR the world was expecting has already come.

Savior of the whole world, Srila Prabhupada, Ki Jai.

(I was going to write this several days ago, just see, I had no time until today, what an appropriate day).