20211108 Śrīla Prabhupāda Tirobhāva Address to ISKCON Māyāpur

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

So, on this sacred day of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s tirobhāva, we are celebrating Śrīla Prabhupāda’s ascent into the spiritual world. He said in Vṛndāvana, if I leave there is nothing to be sad about, because I left my transcendental literatures, and you can all associate with me through my books. We saw Śrīla Prabhupāda in Māyāpur, he was up at midnight, till the wee hours of the morning he was translating his books and writing the purports. Sometimes he called me to speak to me at 1 O’clock or 2 O’clock in the morning. And there I saw he would have been in a mosquito net, and he would be translating. And then he would say whatever was in his mind, and then I would leave. So, like that, Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was writing every night, and this is a great yajña for all of us. Although his disciples, grand disciples, are not able to associate with Śrīla Prabhupāda directly, they are able to do so through Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. We know that a sādhu, we should see through our ears, not through our eyes. So we can hear Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings through our ears. In Māyāpur, he wanted the TOVP, he wanted to spread Lord Caitanya’s movement in every town and village in the whole world. He paid some money to have the temples expand in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. So he was trying to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness. According to the instructions of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. And he wanted to unite the Sārasvata family and invited all his Godbrothers, disciples of his Godbrothers to Māyāpur, and tried to encourage them to work together. Whatever the previous ācāryas wanted, he tried to put that into action. So, we have the great opportunity to try to fulfill his desire. I remember here in Māyāpur, he pulled me over and said, please see that after I leave, at least the temples I have created are not sold off or destroyed. He made himself, 108 temples. He said that if you can expand, that is very nice, but at least don’t lose what I have done. Maintain them. Because he had seen that after the Founder leaves, many other institutions they have sold off the property to live comfortably. So he was concerned. Actually, at one point he said that he would leave either from Vṛndāvana or Māyāpur, and he was ready to go to Māyāpur, we were all ready to receive him. But then some miracle happened and all the cars broke down. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that this is Kṛṣṇa’s sign, I have to stay here. So his heart was definitely in Māyāpur and he said that if I leave in Vṛndāvana, I will have my puṣpa-samādhi in Māyāpur, which we have all gathered in. And he said if he leaves in Māyāpur, his puṣpa-samādhi would be in Vṛndāvana. Anyway, he gave different instructions to different devotees, and I was talking to Jananivāsa Prabhu, he told him how he instructed him to train the different pūjārīs. Every devotee who had lived in Māyāpur at that time may have received some instruction. I received many instructions. Others may also have received. Please share that and try to do whatever we can. I will not speak too long because others are there to speak. Śrīla Prabhupāda was very merciful. He loved his spiritual sons and daughters, and he had a great love for everyone. He was seeing how the people in the West, how they were burning in the flames of passion and ignorance. He wanted that all over the world, the mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya to be showered. I thank the Māyāpur Institute for helping us to study Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings, since Māyāpur is the spiritual headquarters, we should try to live by Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings. Hare Kṛṣṇa!