A Lifetime in Preparation 

After a full day’s work the non devotee watches tv or goes to the movies; other non devotees get their entertainment through books, or by doing any of these things in conjunction with intoxication.  Devotees, on the other hand, use their leisure time for Krishna–katha.  Like-minded friends in Krishna consciousness can read Krishna Book together, or spend an hour with the Prabhupada-lilamrta.

A good place to start when we choose to read about Prabhupada is the first volume, A Lifetime in Preparation.  Usually when we think of Prabhupada, we conjure up images of Prabhupada in America, either as a lone preacher struggling alone in New York, or as the grand founder-acarya of ISKCON.  But when we read the first volume of the biography, we glimpse Prabhupada’s life in India, before we met him, before he came to preach. 

Even when Prabhupada was a young businessman travelling around India, he was still our Prabhupada.  He said about himself, “I don’t remember a time when I ever forgot Krishna.”  Krishna was waiting to fulfill the preaching mission through Prabhupada, and Prabhupada was preparing himself …

Sometimes Prabhupada would present himself humbly, saying he wasted most of his life, even after meeting his spiritual master.  “But better late than never,” Prabhupada said, “I wasted so much time, I realize that now.”  These are statements of humility.  But Prabhupada also said, “Actually, I was preparing myself.  I was looking for the opportunity.”  When Prabhupada was in householder life, he had to do business.  He felt duty- bound to provide for his family.  Neither was there any opportunity to preach in the West, as Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur had encouraged him to do.  

As it is relishable to think of all the little things Prabhupada did in the 1960’s and 70’s, so we can relish his activities before we even met him.  In a sense, his earlier life is obscured from our view.  There is a special taste in hearing about the life of a famous person, an artist or writer, when they were still preparing themselves for the greatness that would follow.  We can empathize with his or her struggle as they move in the world, unappreciated.  The years when Prabhupada was travelling around India in the third-class compartments of trains, maintaining his household, faithfully keeping the Vaisnava principles which his father had taught him, thinking about his spiritual master as “such a nice saintly person” – these are precious meditations for us.  Prabhupada was so patient and dutiful.  Our spiritual master was such a nice saintly person.

When Prabhupada came to us in his seventieth year, he already had spent a lifetime preparing himself, not only by preaching, but by practicing self-discipline and the many other qualities of an advanced spiritualist.  Prabhupada encouraged us simply to add the chanting of Hare Krishna to our lives and our anarthas would fall away.  But our anarthas remain.  Even after many years of practice, we are still trying to throw them off.  In Prabhupada’s case, nothing of his earlier life was extraneous or had to be thrown off.  Everything was useful in his preaching – his business sense, his ability to size up a worldly situation, his courage in living in New York City, his fearlessness in the face of crime, noise and dirt.  He was able to maintain his integrity and go about his pure purpose, even while living in Manhattan.  He was trained up by his years in India, and strengthened by all the renunciation and austerity he had to perform just by living there and trying to preach Krishna consciousness.  One may ask, “If Prabhupada’s early years are so important, why don’t you talk about them more in your meditations on Prabhupada?”  One reason is that we don’t have much direct information; we only have what Prabhupada directly told us.  Also, it is improper to investigate the previous life of the spiritual master.  Prabhupada’s earlier life was liberated – he did not become a pure devotee after coming to the West – but still, family and business activities are not the essence of a spiritual master’s mission, and are, therefore, not meditated upon by his disciples.  It is correct for us to emphasize Prabhupada’s role in our lives as Bhaktivedanta Swami, to remember him as we knew him, but his lifetime in preparation has a special sweetness to it that can be found by reading A Lifetime in Preparation and discussing it with friends.