My Prabhupada

Everyone has their own Prabhupada.  Srila Prabhupada is an objective reality.  And yet, we don’t want to be told by someone, “This is exactly how you must feel about him, and this is what he wants from you.”  No, we want our own understanding of Prabhupada, because we have to surrender our own free will to him.  

Therefore, dear Prabhupada, let me call you, “My Prabhupada.”  I don’t mean “pet Prabhupada” or “illusory Prabhupada.”  You, Srila Prabhupada, are the master, and you will tell me what to do.  And yet I call you “My Prabhupada” because you touched my heart in the beginning and you continue to do so. 

When a devotee says, “My spiritual master, Prabhupada,” that cry has to come from the self.  It cannot be programmed into you by another person.  Others may help by giving us Prabhupada’s books and telling us about him, but ultimately, with our own hands, we have to reach out and hold on to his mercy.  

This is a simple fact, because we are each alone and we must respond with our own senses.  On our own we have to stop sex, intoxication and gambling.  When you dream, does someone else dream for you?  When you chant japa, you must hear your own japa.  When you lecture and repeat something that Prabhupada said, it is you speaking, not someone else.  You either know the Bhagavad-gita verse, or you don’t.  It is up to you, and you get the reward.  Each plane must go by itself into the sky; each bird keeps itself aloft by its own power in the sky – and they may meet at the destination.  So it stands to reason that we each have our own Prabhupada.