Sticking to His Point: We are All Servants

Prabhupada insisted on repeating the point that we are all servants.  We may serve our bodies or families or our nation, but it is best to serve the Supreme Lord, and that is our constitutional position.  In the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna asks Arjuna, “O son of Prtha, O conqueror of wealth, have you heard this with an attentive mind, and are your ignorance and illusion dispelled?”  (Bg 18.72).  Arjuna replies, “My dear Krishna, O infallible one, my illusion is now gone.  I have regained my memory by Your mercy, and I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared to act according to Your instructions.”  In the purport, Prabhupada emphasizes that we are all in illusion thinking we are someone other than the servant of Krishna.  We may even think that we do not have to serve anyone.  But we do serve – either the illusory energy or the Lord. 

This morning when I read this, I recalled a criticism I had heard that Prabhupada is a fundamentalist who does not deal with the esoteric interpretations of Vaisnava philosophy.  As I read the purport, I saw that Prabhupada was being very basic and was repeating his theme.  He says for example, “The living entity’s constitutional position is to be a servitor; he has to serve either the illusory maya or the Supreme Lord.  And only when this illusion is overcome, can one understand Krishna.”

The illusion that Arjuna refers to was mentioned by Lord Krishna when He said, “Is your illusion gone?  Is your doubt gone?”  Arjuna replied, “Yes, my illusion is gone; my doubt is gone, thanks to You.”  But in these verses of the Bhagavad-gita, the Lord does not specifically state what the illusion is.  Prabhupada tells us what it is.

Srila Prabhupada says that almost all conditioned souls are in this state of illusion.  If it were not so, then we would be liberated; we would be pure devotees.  Prabhupada is not wrong to insist on this.  Because he is such an essential preacher, he wants to deliver us just as Krishna delivered Arjuna.  He is not speaking as an academic exercise or in a theoretical way.  He wants to save the soul, guide it to the lotus feet of Krishna.

Prabhupada wants us to actually transform ourselves in all our activities and thoughts, into bhaktas of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.  So his proposal is the heaviest, and it is also the most relishable.  He is the most existential preacher, moving us to action.  If we take this action, then all the esoteric truths of Krishna consciousness rasa will be revealed to us.  If we do not do what Prabhupada says, then although we may find another teacher who will freely talk about esoteric topics, how will it move us to actually surrender ourselves to Krishna?  How many of us are so advanced that they have already done what Prabhupada has asked us to do? 

I think, in most cases, if anyone is not satisfied with Prabhupada’s writing, it is because they want to discuss something else, not because they have already complied with what he said.  Rather they sometimes feel disturbed that he is asking them to surrender to Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead.  They want to discuss something else.

Even if one wants to hear discussions of something else about Krishna – to hear about Krishna and the gopis, or hear a symbolic interpretation of the meaning of surrender – this can only be done in a meaningful way when one has already grasped his constitutional identity.  Prabhupada is sticking to his point, which is Krishna’s point and the point of the previous acaryas.  He is offering the reader enlightenment and a plan of action.  Our illusion is that we are thinking we do not have to serve anyone, or we think that we ourselves are the masters.  But Krishna consciousness means to accept Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.