Srila Prabhupada was “Right On”

It’s a funny thing how Prabhupada didn’t appear simple, at least externally. He was not a village boy, but raised in civilized Calcutta.  No one could cheat him.  He wasn’t part of the world of ambiguity.  At the same time, he was innocent and pure, deep and strong in his Krishna consciousness.  Prabhupada didn’t flatter people.  He was always polite, but he insisted on speaking the truth.  That’s what we’re really not able to do, at least not to the same degree.  We’re too afraid of our own hypocrisy and we don’t have the same strength.  Neither do we have the same depth of compassion.

No one can know Prabhupada’s mind, but he was as they say, “Right on.”  He stays on, whereas we make tentative approaches—we go forward, retreat, don’t quite like the way we present things, feel the opposite, try to explain that too, all in the name of honesty. 

Turning to the material world of crumpled leaves on winter trees seems to be my song.  When I try to reach a simple level of prayer: “O Lord!  O God!  O Krishna!  I am a sinner, please relieve me.”  I see that I can’t do that unless I drop my sophisticated pose and just cry out, “Help me, Lord!”  I feel the ambiguity and acknowledge it and call it honestly.  But Prabhupada wasn’t like that.  He didn’t know ambiguity.  He was always, honestly, “Right on.”