Srila Prabhupada at the Bahulaban Temple, June 1976.
Srila Prabhupada Visits New Vrindaban – June 25th, 1976.
Excerpt from Hari Sauri’s Trancendental Diary.
No morning walk today. It seems that mornings are the worst for His Divine Grace’s health. Nevertheless, he attended the program in the temple and gave class.
* * *
At eleven thirty Ganendra prabhu came and massaged Prabhupada’s hands and feet again. Srila Prabhupada decided it would be the last time. He smilingly told him that the treatment was more painful than the disease.
* * *
The advance copies of the July edition of Back to Godhead magazine have just arrived. The BBT has printed a record one million copies and the articles are all excellent. The cover highlights the American Bicentennial celebration and shows a devotee chanting in front of a large, circular festoon colored red, white and blue and bearing in its center an American flag with “1776″ written in red underneath. Srila Prabhupada especially liked the editorial caption, “Declaring Our Dependence on God.” Prabhupada is very pleased with the whole magazine.
The layout of the main article shows finely detailed illustrations of two coins blown up to about six inches diameter on which the words “IN GOD WE TRUST” can clearly be seen. The following pages show some beautiful shots of His Divine Grace taken in his room in Mayapur. The article, in interview format, focuses mainly on good government and the need for a varnasrama society. The interview was taken during the March festival in Mayapur, between Srila Prabhupada, Ravindra-svarupa and Jagannatha-suta, the chief editor of BTG. Ravindra-svarupa prabhu had prepared for the interview by researching the American constitution and the Declaration of Independence at the U.S. Information Services Library in Calcutta. His intelligent questions regarding the current American political system had prepared the ground for some excellent responses from Prabhupada.
At about five thirty in the afternoon Srila Prabhupada asked Pusta Krsna Maharaja to read it out to him. Prabhupada had criticized the United Nations and the nationalistic mentality, suggesting a new philosophy for the whole world. “‘There should be one nation under God,’” Pusta Krsna read out, “‘and one world government under God as well. Everything belongs to God and we are all His sons. That philosophy is wanted.’”
Ravindra-svarupa had suggested that Americans might be wary of a central government because of the danger of tyranny. As well as this, he feared that division of labor would create envy between the classes. Prabhupada’s reply was that by implementation of varnasrama, the division of society into proper social and spiritual sectors, a person could be properly trained who would not be a tyrant, and thus a suitable government be set up. He said the point was to establish a common cause. If everyone saw themselves as servants of God there would be no envy or exploitation. Pusta Krsna read, “‘But if you do not know the common cause, then there will always be fighting. Just like in our Krsna consciousness society. You come to consult me about every activity because I can give you the common cause. Otherwise there will be fighting. The government should be very expert to know the aim of life, the common cause, and they should train the people to work for the common cause. Then they will be happy and peaceful.’”
Modern democracy was a stumbling block to the cause of unity, Prabhupada had indicated. Of course, Srila Prabhupada’s criticisms of what he often calls “demon-cracy” are well known to the devotees, and he outlined them in the interview. “‘If people simply elect rascals like Nixon, they will never find a common cause. Any rascal can secure votes by some arrangement, and then he becomes the head of the government. The candidates are bribing. They are cheating. They are making propaganda to win votes. Somehow or other they get votes and capture the prime posts. This system is bad.’”
Pusta Krsna Maharaja continued to read on.
“BTG: So if we don’t choose our leaders by popular election, how will society be governed?
Srila Prabhupada: You require brahmanas, ksatriyas, vaisyas and sudras. Just as when you want to construct a building you require engineers. You don’t want sweepers. Isn’t that so? What will the sweeper do? No. There must be engineers. If you follow the division of varnasrama, only ksatriyas are allowed to govern. And for the legislative assembly, the senators, only qualified brahmanas. Now the butcher is in the legislative assembly. What does he know about making laws? He is a butcher. But by winning votes he becomes a senator. At the present moment, by the principle of vox populi, a butcher goes to the legislature. So everything depends on training. In our Krsna consciousness society we are actually doing that. But in the case of politics they forget it. There cannot be just one class. That is foolishness.’”
In the article Prabhupada went on to say that the purpose of the government is to know God and to implement God’s laws for the benefit of the people. Ravindra-svarupa had asked, “But suppose the government is atheistic?” and Srila Prabhupada had responded, “Then there cannot be good government. Americans say they trust in God, but without the science of God, that trust is simply fictitious. First take the science of God very seriously, then put your trust in Him. They do not know what God is, but we do. We actually trust in God. They are manufacturing their own way of governing, and that is their defect. They will never be successful. They are imperfect, and if they go on manufacturing their own ways and means they will remain imperfect. There will always be revolutions, one after another. There will be no peace.”
Pusta stopped to show Srila Prabhupada the caption box next to one of his photos. “On this side it says ‘Leaders of government have to consult God, then they will rule perfectly.’” Then he read the last section.
“BTG: Has God also devised the most perfect government?
Srila Prabhupada: Oh, yes. The ksatriyas ruled the government in Vedic times. When there was a war, the king was the first to fight. Just like your George Washington. He fought when there was a war. But what kind of president is ruling now? When there is a war he sits very securely and telephones orders. He’s not fit to be president. When there is war the president should be the first to come forward and lead the battle.
BTG: So good government means first of all to accept the Supreme Being as the real ruler of the government.
Srila Prabhupada: You cannot directly accept the Supreme Being. You must accept the servants of the Supreme Being, the brahmanas or Vaisnavas, devotees of the Lord, as your guides. The government men are the ksatriyas, the second class. The ksatriyas should take advice from the brahmanas or Vaisnavas and make laws accordingly. The vaisyas should carry out the ksatriyas’ orders in practice, and sudras should work under these three orders, then society will be perfect.”
Srila Prabhupada sat back in satisfaction at the conclusion of the article. It was a strong and direct statement on organization in human society and it would be distributed to millions. He asked us, “You like this?”
We all agreed. It was very good and right to the point.
Other articles include the excellent essay Prabhupada saw in Hawaii entitled Simple Living and High Thinking, by Dharmadhyaksa dasa, which details the idea of varnasrama society; a one-page commentary by Jagajivana dasa titled Then and Now — The Right to Distribute the American Dream, which examines the original purpose of the first American settlers, their pursuit of a God conscious way of life and a ruling of the Supreme Court from 1943 affirming the right to sell religious tracts and literature; a one-page editorial under the section ISKCON NEWS on the tenth anniversary of ISKCON, which occurs on July 6th; a pictorial essay entitled Krsna Consciousness: The Spirit of ’76! (Prabhupada liked this heading very much); and an article entitled Curing the Crimes of a Lifetime by Bibhavati devi dasi, some of which Pusta Krsna also read out for Srila Prabhupada’s pleasure.
Just after 6:00 p.m. Prabhupada retired to his bedroom for a short rest, but he came out again at 7:00 to meet the devotees, who had gathered for his darsana.
Bhakti Charu Maharaja tells a nice story. In Srila Prabhupada’s final days, Maharaja was part of a team that looked after Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada’s health was not good at the time and he was quite strict about what he was eating and when he was eating.
This story is really nice because it shows that Prabhupada conquered Bhakti Charu Maharaja to a point where he was his surrendered servant and nothing could change that, not even chastisement. Then we see that the disciple can also conquer the guru, because Prabhupada didn’t want the juice but still he took it.
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