His Risks on Krishna’s Behalf

In the first year in New York before he started ISKCON, Prabhupada’s life was full of risk and adventure.  His coming to America was itself a risk.  We can’t imagine what it was like for Prabhupada to be without money in a foreign country and yet to dare to present Krishna consciousness.  If at any point he had gone back to India, after the robbery in his room on 70^th Street, or on any of those Scindia return voyages, or after he had to leave the Bowery when Mr. Paul went crazy – if at any point he had gone back, then we would never have been born.

Sometimes he had to abandon the strict regulations of sannyasa in order to stay and do the more important work of spreading Krishna consciousness.  When he stayed in Carl Yeargen’s apartment, he had to keep his food in the same refrigerator where Carl kept cat food.  Prabhupada knew this was actually against the rules for sannyasa living, but “if I thought ‘I can’t do this, let me go back to India,’ then I never would have been able to preach.”  In Prabhupada’s case, his risks were completely protected by Krishna.

Prabhupada conducted his activities with faith in the holy names and a desire to carry out his spiritual master’s order.  He improvised and accepted the broken souls who came to him, provided he saw them as sincere.  Everything he did was bona fide according to Vaisnava smrti, but some things had to be done according to time, place and persons.

Later on, Prabhupada’s mood had not changed; he was ready to go to hell for Krishna.  According to the ninth offense against the holy name, the guru must not give the holy name to unqualified persons.  Technically speaking, we lack some of the qualifications for initiation, but Prabhupada accepted us because we showed at least some sparks of spiritual interest.  Prabhupada impressed on us that initiation vows were lifelong and serious and he expected us to follow them.  Nevertheless, he went ahead with tremendous trust, even though we hadn’t done that much to show we were trustworthy.