Otherworldly

Prabhupada was definitely otherworldly.  He wrote and taught that this material world is temporary and unhappy, and that real life is in another world, the spiritual world.  Prabhupada taught this because it is Krishna’s message in Bhagavad-gita.  And yet, “otherworldly” is not exactly appropriate when describing Prabhupada.  Some picture otherworldly as someone who is always gazing heavenward while they wander around this world in a trance.  Otherworldly people don’t relate to other people, to earthbound beings, because they are so ethereal.  An otherworldly person is often like an absent-minded professor.  This is not a description of Prabhupada. 

Prabhupada said he was a Calcutta man.  He used his practical intelligence on planning ISKCON.  When he met with non devotees, he was present with them; he was able to examine their mentalities and attack their  mistake in logic or atheism in a very direct way.  Therefore, we can appreciate these two aspects about Prabhupada: That his philosophy and teachings were very much otherworldly, pointing to eternal life and the soul, and stressing the unimportance of this spot life on earth; and that his preaching intelligence made him seem very much part of this world – very much present in it.

Trying to inject any otherworldly philosophy into present Kali-yuga America is a near impossible task.  Prabhupada was successful at establishing Vaisnavism because of his practical preaching message.  For example, he preached to convince materialistic scientists of the otherworldly proposition of Srimad-Bhagavatam:  There is a soul (although the materialists cannot perceive it) and there is God (although materialists cannot perceive Him).  He not only tries to prove these points by quoting sastra, but also attacks the very roots of scientific theory and then shows those theories in the light of Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Prabhupada’s preaching was practical in other ways.  He taught varnasrama, farm development, education and so on.  He was interested in the relief of world suffering, although he knew that the only relief would come from “otherworldly” Krishna consciousness.  Prabhupada was always after the ultimate interest of the soul.  He was compassionate, but he knew there is no possibility of happiness in the material world.  In this, he was very practical.

Another example of Prabhupada’s mix of worldliness and otherworldliness is his emphasis on book distribution.  Prabhupada was not content to write his books on a palm leaf and just let them sit.  He used book printing technology, although he said he was simply “blindly” following the order and example of his spiritual master.  It took both spiritual acumen to write the books and down-to-earth practicality to transfer the spiritual message into type and then bind it.  The book distribution was not a worldly activity, it required practical intelligence and hard work to accomplish.

The difference between Srila Prabhupada and ourselves (there is a huge difference) is that we belong to this world and he was in another world.  He always had Krishna on his mind.  He could withdraw into himself and become so grave that he wouldn’t be present with us any more. 

Prabhupada reserved the right to meditate internally on Krishna.  He wasn’t thinking what we were thinking.  He didn’t always laugh when everyone else laughed, because he didn’t have the same passing sensory attitudes that other people did.  He was not of this world.  We could perceive that by the way he looked and by the way he always thought of Krishna and not of material things. 

Therefore, he would sometimes demand that we be more in touch with the world.  Keep our feet on the ground.  Take our heads out of the clouds.  Do things nicely for Krishna.  But other times we were aware that we were stuck in our bodies while his consciousness was in Goloka, a place we could only imagine, which for us was theoretical but was real to Prabhupada.