Prabhupada Will Claim Us 

Srila Prabhupada may be in Goloka Vrindavana in the form of a gopa directly playing with Krishna, or he may be in the form of a manjari assisting the gopis who are arranging for the conjugal pastimes of Radha-Krishna, or he may be moving in Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana movement.  Just as the eternally liberated Narada Muni travels sometimes in the spiritual world and sometimes in the material world, playing his vina and helping conditioned souls by glorifying and giving relevant instructions, so Srila Prabhupada may be doing like that.  I do not know.  I do know I had a very definite pastime connection with His Divine Grace when he came to us at 26 Second Avenue.  A tiny, conditioned entity cannot expect to know very much about confidential devotional service.  Furthermore, he should be satisfied to carry out the orders of the spiritual master as given in this world.

When all is said and done, I’m confident that Prabhupada will claim his devotees as long as we turn to him.  He has specifically instructed us about the time of death.  He said the same thing that Bhagavad-gita says: Think of Krishna at the end of life and “surely you will come to Me, without doubt.”  This time-of-death concentration will carry us to the spiritual world.  And Krishna will note the brand of our meditation – as the followers of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.  Prabhupada personally meditated on Lord Krishna until the last breath while serving in Krishna-Balarama Mandir, while urging his disciples never to give up preaching.

By Prabhupada’s grace he lives within me.  Our communication in separation depends on the purity of the disciple.  But whether pure or impure, the favorable remembrance of him can bring us immediately to our constitutional position.  I may sometimes think that I have to go on my own, taking help from other spiritual masters, or daring to go directly to Krishna, yet the Vedic scriptures remind me and bring me back to my senses.  Only if I please the spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, will Krishna be pleased with me.  There is no conflict between thinking of Prabhupada and thinking of Krishna. Even when we feel we are most in tune with Krishna directly, by His words in Bhagavad-gita or in His beautiful Form in the arca-vigraha, even then we are gratefully aware, “Srila Prabhupada, I am doing what you told me, and, as always, you were right — Krishna is so nice.”  According to Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy, the spiritual master leads the devotee into his eternal rasa with Sri Sri Radha-Krishna in Vrndavana.  And just in case we have not done so well, it’s Srila Prabhupada who will stand between us and the Yamadutas’ fierce punishments.