Being a preacher

Srila Prabhupada wanted his mission spread by devotees who would take responsibility for preaching in various areas. Whether you call the devotee a temple president, a zonal leader, or whatever, the Krsna consciousness movement requires devotees who will dedicate themselves to their prabhu-datta desa. Prabhupada had explained this in a purport to a verse in the Caitanya-caritamrta:

sanatana kahe, -- "bhala kaila upadesa
tahan yaba, sei mora prabhu-datta desa'"

Translation: Sanatana Gosvami replied, "You have given me very good advice. I shall certainly go there, for that is the place the Lord had given me for my residence."
Purport: The words prabhu-datta desa are very significant. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's devotional cult teaches one not to sit down in one place, but to spread the devotional cult all over the world. The Lord dispatched Sanatana Gosvami and Rupa Gosvami to Vrndavana to excavate and renovate the holy places and from there establish the cult of bhakti. Therefore, Vrndavana was given to Sanatana Gosvami and Rupa Gosvami as their place of residence. Similarly, every one in the line of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's devotional cult should accept the words of the spiritual master and thus spread the Krsna consciousness movement. They should go everywhere, to all parts of the world, accepting those places as prabhu-datta desa, the places of residence given by the spiritual master or Lord Krsna. The spiritual master is the representative; therefore, one who has carried out the orders of the spiritual master is understood to have carried out the orders of Krsna or Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu wanted to spread the bhakti cult all over the world (prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama). Therefore, devotees in the line of Krsna consciousness must go to different parts of the world and preach, as ordered by the spiritual master. That will satisfy Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

-- Cc. Antya 4.144

One who takes a prabhu-datta desa has to become responsible in all ways to spread Krsna consciousness in his particular place, and he should be prepared to go to any other place under the order of the spiritual master. Many sincere persons are needed, and only then can Krsna consciousness be spread effectively.

Prabhupada says here that there are four things at a devotee's disposal: one's life, one's money, one's intelligence, and one's words. A devotee-preacher has to give all of these things to Krsna. His is not a part-time occupation. In the early days of ISKCON, dedicating our whole life meant we had to give everything to Prabhupada. Since Prabhupada was personally present, it was not difficult for us to see that he was worth serving with our whole life. Just seeing him completely convinced us of this.

As for dedicating the money at our disposal, large amounts were not required back then. My own paycheck from working in the welfare department paid almost all our expenses, although we soon moved on to bigger things. Whatever money we had we used in Krsna's service; that principle is continuing today, even though the income and overhead has increased many fold and the methods of accounting have become complicated.

As for dedicating intelligence, that meant we had to be willing to preach. We had to be bold. Taking a prabhu-datta desa meant we had to be willing to meet people -- inimical as well as pious. We had to use intelligence to approach people, to respond to them and then lead them in Krsna consciousness, free from maya.

As for dedicating words in the service of Krsna, we simply had to speak whatever Prabhupada said.

After Prabhupada's letter to me on August 29, he wrote a letter to Hamsaduta, who was at that time staying in Boston. In a letter to Prabhupada, Hamsaduta had praised Prabhupada's spiritual master. Prabhupada's reply:

Your appreciation of my spiritual master is very commendable. One who understands and appreciates the disciplic succession is certainly advanced, and we should always be careful to give full respect to those who have so carefully handled this divine fruit of transcendental knowledge before us. Even a slight change will spoil it. That is why I have always been so careful to give you only those things which I have heard from my Guru Maharaja.

When we devotees in Boston read these statements about Prabhupada's faithful transmission of knowledge and how he exclusively repeated only the words of his spiritual master, we were astounded and appreciative. We all resolved to do the same thing -- preach only what Prabhupada had written or spoken. Therefore, it is not small-minded if we persist in being uninterested in other philosophical presentations, even by other Vaisnava scholars, and stick to Srila Prabhupada's presentation. This is the authorized method, and was the method by which Prabhupada achieved great success: "Even a slight change will spoil it. That is why I have been so careful to give you only those things which I have heard from my Guru Maharaja."


- From "With Srila Prabhupada 1966-69" by HH Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

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Please Chant: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare And Be Happy

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[srilaprabhupadanectar] Remembering Srila Prabhupada - Being a preacher