So He has many names, but He is one without a second. And He expands Himself into various forms. His expansions take place in two different ways. One is ‘svamsha’ expansions and the other is ‘vibhinnamsha’ expansions. He expands, He Himself expands without any difference. There is no difference in those expansions. Those expansions are known as ‘avatara’, or incarnations. And He has His vibhinnamsha expansions, that is His parts and parcels, He expands in minute expansions and those expansions are known as ‘jivas’. Like, we are His expansions, but we are His minute expansions. Therefore, qualitatively we are one with Him, but quantatively we are different.An example, the sun and sun’s rays. The sun is complete. The sun is the source of all the
rays of the sun, but from the sun innumerable rays are coming out. So those rays are his
vibhinnamshas, minute expansions. We are His minute expansions, but qualitatively, just
as the sun ray is qualitatively one with the sun, similarly we are one with Him. But a ray
is not equal to the sun, whereas, like you consider a situation where one sun expands into
two, three, four, five and so forth. Now those suns are qualitatively non-different from
each other. The entire potency just try to imagine, like if the sun expands like that, the
entire potency of the sun is retained in those expansions. Those are the incarnations or
avatars.In Brahma Samhita a very nice analogy has been given in this respect defining His
incarnations as
diparcir eva hi dasantaram abhyupetya
dipayate vivrta-hetu-samana-dharma
yas tadrg eva hi ca Visnutaya vibhati
Govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Brahma Samhita 5.46]
Diparcir eva hi dasantaram abhyupetya dipayate vivrta-hetu-samana-dharma. Just as one
lamp lights many other lamps, but when those lamps are lit they give out the same
amount of light and heat. Qualitatively they’re the same and quantatively also they are
the same. But the first lamp lit the other lamps. That’s the only difference. So Krishna is
that Original Personality. Govindam adi-pur usam, the Original Personality, Who lit or
Who expanded into these different forms.
So this is the basic teachings of the Vedas which Srila Prabhupada has presented and
when we go into the depth of it, and when we go to the depth of every single religion, we
will find that all the religions are speaking about that same personality. In some religion
the informations may be more profound, in some other religion maybe it’s less, but that
doesn’t matter. The subject is the same, but the degree of presentation or degree of
exposition may be different. So, anyway, actually I didn’t want to speak that much today.
I thought of making rather a Power Point presentation, because I notice when we speak,
we take a lot of time, but it doesn’t go very deep. Because, for various reasons our
hearing faculty is not very acute nowadays, but if we have a visual presentation there is
both hearing and our seeing, both the faculties become active and it goes a little more
deeper than that.
And as a result of that, to tell you frankly, like I got involved in making movies
[laughter], because I felt that that is the best way to convey our message. And when I
started to make, actually the first movie that it was not a movie, I first wanted to make it a
movie but then one day I was having a discussion with Hema Malini about that project
and she suggested that we, instead of making a movie we make a TV series, TV serial.
Her point actually was that if the movie doesn’t make it to the box office then the whole
project will be a failure, whereas a TV serial it will continue. So if people will be forced
to see it and get the message, our business is to convey the message so that’s why that’s
the best way to present it. And that’s why in 1995 I got involved in this project of making
a TV serial on Srila Prabhupada’s life, which was telecasted in Indian National TV,
Channel One.
Anyway, I thought of making a presentation of who Srila Prabhupada is, what Srila
Prabhupada did and what Srila Prabhupada gave us and what will be the benefit of
receiving this wonderful gift of Srila Prabhupada.
Srila Prabhupada appeared in Calcutta in 1896 as the son of a cloth merchant and who
was a Vaishnava. His father was a pure devotee of the Lord and he brought up Srila Prabhupada also to become a pure devotee of the Lord. For example, whenever some
saintly personality used to be invited to their house, Srila Prabhupada’s father used to
request them to bless Srila Prabhupada so that he could become a pure devotee of Srimati
Radharani. His only desire was that his son grew up to become a devotee of the Lord.
Srila Prabhupada met his spiritual master in 1922 when he was twenty six years old and
he was the manager of a pharmaceutical company. He was one of the first pharmaceutical
companies in India. The first one was actually Bengal Chemical, started by a very well
known scientist, Prafulchandra Ghosh. And another, the second one, was started by Dr.
Kartika Bose, Dr. Bose Laboratory. At the age of twenty six Srila Prabhupada was the
manager of that company. He was married, he had a little son when he met his spiritual
master, His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. And during the first
meeting his spiritual master instructed Prabhupada to spread the message of Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu all over the world. And Srila Prabhupada took it up as his life’s
mission.
From that time onwards he completely committed himself to that mission and eventually,
after forty four years of struggle, in 1965 Srila Prabhupada set out for the United Stated
of America. So, Srila Prabhupada actually went to America not the way we travel
nowadays, not by plane or other such very sophisticated means of travel. Srila
Prabhupada travelled from Calcutta to New York in a cargo ship called ‘Jaladuta’. Srila
Prabhupada was the only non-crew passenger in that it was a cargo ship so it didn’t carry
any passenger as such. Srila Prabhupada was the only person travelling as a passenger in
that ship.
Actually, at that time Srila Prabhupada was seventy years old. Srila Prabhupada
celebrated his seventieth birthday in a rather unceremonious way in the boat Jaladuta. No
one was there to celebrate his birthday. At that age of seventy Srila Prabhupada set out
from India to go to America to start this mission that his spiritual master assigned to him.
Some months ago one devotee was telling me, he was from Delhi, he was talking to an
elderly gentleman who also was acquainted with Srila Prabhupada. So that person told
this boy, who was a devotee, a fulltime devotee, so he was telling him that, “Do you
know what Srila Prabhupada has done?” So this boy, being a fulltime ISKCON devotee
naturally responded, “Yes, I know what Srila Prabhupada has done.” Then that person
said, “No, you don’t know.” So he felt a little offended and he insisted that, “No, I know
what Prabhupada has done.” He said, “No, you do not know what Srila Prabhupada has
done.” And then finally he told him, “You do not know what it is to be like seventy years
old. You are young. You do not know what it feels like when you are seventy.”
And at the age of seventy Srila Prabhupada went to America singlehandedly to preach
this mission. No money, no support, no patronage. He didn’t even know where he was
going to stay in America. What to speak of where he is going to stay in America, he
didn’t even know where he was going to stay in America. He didn’t even know what he
was going to eat in America. In this total uncertainty, at the age of seventy, Srila
Prabhupada set out for America. And that also in a cargo ship. Sumati Morarji, the chair
person of India Steamship Company, I am sorry, Scindia Steamship Company, Prabhupada begged her to give him a passage to America. Sumati Morarji refused,
“Swamiji, I can’t let you go. You do not know what America is like. You do not know
what you are going to do there. You don’t even know that you won’t even get proper
food there. Then, people do not know what vegetarianism is.” And then she pointed out,
“And why do you think the Americans are going to listen to what you have to say? Their
lifestyles, their ways, they’re completely different.”
And Srila Prabhupada just insisted, “No, please let me go. Just for you it doesn’t take
anything. All you have to do is just write a letter to your company to make me some
arrangement to travel. Please allow me.” Sumati Morarji finally even told Srila
Prabhupada. “Swamiji, you are like my father and that’s why it breaks my heart when
you are requesting me in this way. In one hand I cannot disregard your request and at the
same time it breaks my heart to fulfill that request.”
Anyway, finally Srila Prabhupada convinced Sumati Morarji and he got a passage to
America in this Jaladuta ship, cargo ship, and while travelling Srila Prabhupada had two
heart attacks. There was no medical treatment. Srila Prabhupada didn’t even know that it
was a heart attack. First he had one and then it occurred again. He felt a terrible pain in
his chest, but one wonderful thing happened soon after that. Srila Prabhupada had a
dream, not a dream actually, Prabhupada presented it as a dream but Prabhupada had the
vision that Krishna came and Krishna was massaging his chest.
And Aruna Pandiya, the captain of that boat, admitted that he, in his entire carreer, he’d
never seen Atlantic to be so peaceful. So Krishna actually helped Srila Prabhupada to
come to America. In spite of all these difficulties Srila Prabhupada came to America, but
he didn’t know where to go. Eventually Srila Prabhupada got a place in twenty sixth
Second Avenue, and there, nearby there was a park, Tompkins Square Park. In Tompkins
Square Park Srila Prabhupada used to go with a karatala and he used to chant Hare
Krishna Mahamantra. And some young boys and girls became attracted to Srila
Prabhupada’s chanting.
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