Prabhupada, the Essence of Cool

Although Prabhupada was worlds apart from the young people in America, the younger generation accepted him as “cool;” he was hip in his own way.  He was not a middle class conformist, and he had not come to give us Boy Scout lessons.  He was not a churchman giving sermons with a piety that we could not relate to. 

Aside from age and cultural distances, there is always a distance between two persons until they get to know each other.  In the beginning you try to see whether you really will be able to be intimate with another person.  We must never forget that Prabhupada was able to establish intimacy with hundreds of persons.  He did not really give us lessons in perfection delivered from a mountain top.  Rather, his physical association was always near by. 

The Swami was fearless.  He was convinced that his message was relevant and had to be spoken.  It was his show; he was in control, but he had to protect himself, especially in the beginning.  It was not that the devotees were completely ready to be on his side, so he had to control the whole thing and say, “Don’t disturb, don’t disturb.”  He depended on Krishna as he went on speaking the difficult-to-understand philosophy – concepts of Bhagavad-gita and the assertion that Krishna is God.  He just went right ahead without watering it down in the least.  You couldn’t understand it all, but you stayed and listened to him.  You caught a word here and there: “Caitanya, Krishna.”  Missed a word here and there.  We did not understand very much of it.