So Kardama Muni left for the forest to live as a renunciant, and Lord Kapila remained with his mother. He wanted to please her, to protect her, and also speak transcendental knowledge.
So Devahūti approached Kapiladeva with sincere questions about how to become free from the material existence. And so Lord Kapiladeva instructed her in Sāṅkhya philosophy and also in bhakti-yoga. So these teachings, as we know, occupy Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto 3. It's chapter 25 to 33, so it's nine chapters.
And Devahūti, she very sincerely practiced his instructions. And she also attained perfection and she became fully self-realized. So only after that did Lord Kapiladeva leave her. He made sure she was successful in her practice. And so he stayed until his mission to instruct and liberate his mother was complete.
So in this material world, it's very, very difficult to become free from attachment, isn't it? Very, it's a great challenge. But Kṛṣṇa also will help. Śrīla Prabhupāda's book, again and again about if we try to just become little serious, sincere and sincere, Kṛṣṇa will help, Kṛṣṇa will reciprocate in so many ways about that. Even a little drop of sincerity can make a big difference in a devotee's life.
And it's interesting to see Śrīla Prabhupāda's example. He really tried to be a good gṛhastha, and to make the family a nice Vaiṣṇava family. And it was, I think it was in 1934, when Prabhupāda was in Jhansi, he received a telegram with very bad news. He had been in Jhansi for six months.
Today is Incorporation Day. It's exactly 50 years ago since Śrīla Prabhupāda founded ISKCON. So it's a very special, historical day. But it's interesting when you study his services in Jhansi, he was setting up this League of Devotees. It was very similar, very similar to ISKCON. Kṛṣṇa just had another plan. He wanted him to go to the West.
But Prabhupāda received a telegram when he was in Jhansi—and it was quite successful, the preaching there—that his business in Allahabad had been burglarized, that his servants, they had stolen all his money, everything. Everything was gone, the medicine, anything else of value had been stolen. So there had been a loss of more than 7,000 rupees, which was quite a lot in those days.
So when Prabhupāda read the news, he became shocked and perturbed, but after some time, he started to laugh. And then he quoted a famous śloka from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Someone knows this śloka or knows what it's about? When I especially favor someone, Kṛṣṇa speaks to Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira.
Yeah, yeah. So Prabhupāda many times quoted that verse, and he took himself as an example. So as we said, Kṛṣṇa speaks to Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira:
yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi hariṣye taddhanaṁ śanaiḥ
tato 'dhanaṁ tyajanty asya svajanā duḥkha-duḥkhitam
So Kṛṣṇa says, "When I especially favor someone, I gradually take away all his wealth, and then the relatives, the dear ones to him and friends of such a poverty-stricken person, they start to lose respect and abandon such a person, and in this way, one suffers one distress after another." duḥkha-duḥkhitam, one distress after another. So this is a special favor, and Prabhupāda could see it like that.
So Prabhākara Miśra, maybe you've heard about him. Prabhākara Miśra, he was Śrīla Prabhupāda's first disciple, only disciple he initiated before he went to the West. So he suggested, he advised Abhay to go back and try to save whatever was possible in Allahabad. But Prabhupāda said, this is a quote, "No, this is good for me. I was sad, but now my great attachment has come to an end, and my life is fully surrendered and dedicated to Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava." So he saw it as a blessing.
There are so many examples that come to my mind now. Parīkṣit Mahārāja, who was cursed and he saw it as a blessing, he welcomed it. So Prabhupāda welcomed it.
So, maybe I should just say something now about 1966. It was on the 11th of July 1966, 50 years ago, incorporation of ISKCON. So Śrīla Prabhupāda, he started this work already when he stayed on the loft on the Bowery, he was planning for the incorporation of ISKCON. And as we said, he had did something very similar in Jhansi. That was 13 years before this. And so there was one person, Karl Yerges, maybe you heard about him. He was coming regularly to hear Śrīla Prabhupāda, and he was very attracted to Prabhupāda, and he came there, and he understood that Prabhupāda wanted to found a religious society.
Prabhupāda had a friend who suggested, when Prabhupāda mentioned ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, why don't you instead name it God Consciousness, the International Society for God Consciousness? And do you know what Prabhupāda answered?
Yeah, yeah. He said it's more vague, Krishna is more scientific. He said it was exact and scientific. "God consciousness", he said, was spiritually weaker, less personal. And he said if Western people didn't know that Krishna was God, then ISKCON would teach them, would tell them that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by spreading His glories in every town and village.
So Krishna Consciousness, it's also interesting with this phrase, which Prabhupāda himself established, and it's actually coming from where, do you know? The origin is from Rūpa Gosvāmī, from Padyāvalī. And the exact phrase there in Sanskrit is kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa-bhāvitā. And that means: be absorbed in the mellow, in the taste of executing devotional service to Lord Krishna. So this Prabhupāda translated as Krishna Consciousness. Be absorbed in the mellow of executing devotional service to Krishna. So, Krishna Consciousness.
To register ISKCON legally, of course, as a non-profit and tax-exempt religion, it requires money, requires a lawyer. So we spoke about Karl Yerges. He had gained some experience in this field. He was forming in New York at this time, religious, political and social welfare groups. So he had some knowledge in that. So when he met Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was happy to try to help, to assist in this. And he had a lawyer, his name was Stephen Goldsmith. He was a young Jewish lawyer with a family, two children, and he was very interested in spiritual movements. So he was immediately attracted to try to help Prabhupāda.
So then he contacted Mr. Goldsmith, and he was immediately fascinated by this idea to set up a religious corporation for an Indian swami. So he started to visit 26 Second Avenue, the temple there, and he came, also he was hearing Prabhupāda, he was very attracted to the kīrtanas and to his lectures. And he was actually the only non-hippie coming at this time. He was like completely straight, successful man, earning a lot of money, but he was very attracted. So they met many times after lectures and kīrtanas, and discussed the incorporation, tax exemption, also Śrīla Prabhupāda's immigration status, it was not so clear at this time, and also Krishna Conscious philosophy, different questions he had. And once, it is described in the Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta, he brought his children and Prabhupāda served them prasādam, the family, and the children really liked both Swamiji and the prasādam, so they really got a lot of mercy there.
So now, on the 11th of July... exactly 50 years ago.
11th of July, that was the date. So Mr. Goldsmith, having completed the legal groundwork, he was ready to complete the procedure for incorporation, so he came to the evening program. And he had come there to get signatures. They needed trustees for ISKCON. So it's recorded in his lecture, and he makes a short announcement. You can hear this recording, a short announcement Prabhupāda invited him to speak. He was standing up, so he was asking for signers on a document for Swamiji's new religious movement. And Prabhupāda, one can hear him speak, and he suggests some names. Mr. Goldsmith said, "I can take the addresses now," he asked Prabhupāda. And Prabhupāda said, "Yes, you can." And then Prabhupāda suggested, "Bill, you can give your address, and Raphal, Don, Roy, Mr. Greene, can you also give your addresses?" So they all came forward and they were ready to sign like that.
So the first trustees, there were three persons. Do you know who they were? It was Michael Grant, Mukunda Gosvāmī, and his girlfriend, later on wife at that time, Janaki, Jan her name was then, and then Mr. James Greene. So they were the three trustees. So they were not ready to undertake any formal duties as trustees, but they were just attracted to Prabhupāda, they just liked him so much. So they were just happy to help in signing. So that was the situation.
So Śrīla Prabhupāda's vision, he was actually planning for 10,000 years. It's very, I think, fascinating if you think of this little group on 26 Second Avenue, hippies, Mr. Goldsmith, the only one not hippie. And there Prabhupāda was planning for 10,000 years to come, founding ISKCON. And this 10,000 years, I was just trying to check this up, where is it coming from? Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he quoted this from Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa. I can read the Sanskrit here:
kaler daśa-sahasrāṇi haris tiṣṭhati medinīm
And translation is, "For 10,000 years of the age of Kali, Lord Hari will remain, or His influence will remain on Earth." End quote.
So those who were present, they couldn't really understand this with tax exemption in case someone gives a big donation. For them, it didn't seem relevant or urgent at all. Who is going to donate something to ISKCON? The only person who had money was Mr. Goldsmith. But Prabhupāda, he was planning for the future. He was just trying to please and serve his spiritual master, to fulfill the spiritual prediction of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And then we know the seven purposes of ISKCON, I thought I can just go through them shortly, very similar as we said to Jhansi.
Number one: To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all people in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world. So the greatest problem actually in this material world is ignorance. Ignorance is the cause of all suffering. And so in this world, everyone is confused. And the only way out to get out of the confusion is knowledge and education.
So that's... Prabhupāda when he was in Jhansi, I can just read something here for you, he made an advertisement. He wanted to educate brāhmaṇas in Jhansi. So this is what he wrote:
"Wanted: Candidates from any nationality to qualify themselves as real brāhmaṇas for preaching the teachings of Bhagavad-gītā for all practical purposes throughout the whole world. The deserving candidates will be provided with free boarding and lodging. Apply to A.C. Bhaktivedanta, Founder and Secretary of the League of Devotees."
So Prabhupāda, he was into education, and he was systematically propagating spiritual knowledge through books, book distribution, and through training devotees.
Number two: To propagate a consciousness of Krishna as it is revealed in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Number three: To bring the members of the Society together with each other and nearer to Krishna, the prime entity, thus to develop the idea within the members and humanity at large that each soul is part and parcel of the quality of Godhead, Krishna.
I heard right now in Radhadesh this year, because it's 50 years since ISKCON was founded, so each month they take one of these seven points, and they go deeply into it, and they discuss it, and they speak about it, how they can apply it in a practical way. So I thought it was very interesting and nice to hear. I just heard it this morning in one lecture from there, Kesava Maharaja was visiting Radhadesh last night. So it's really actually meant to be studied and think in a practical way how we can apply it to our situation here and now, like for instance, in Almvik, in a practical way, how can we apply this? In a practical way.
And number four: To teach and encourage the saṅkīrtana movement, congregational chanting of the holy name of God, as revealed in the teachings of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
To erect for the members and for society at large a holy place of transcendental pastimes dedicated to the personality of Godhead, Krishna.
And six: To bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler and more natural way of life.
And now seven: With a view towards achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books and other writings.
So Prabhupāda, he could see into the future, and we know this Mr. Ruben, the subway conductor in New York, Prabhupāda met on a park bench in Manhattan, and they spoke I think for two, three times, they met there, and Dr. Ruben, this is a quote from him, he said, "He seemed to know that he would have temples filled with devotees. He seems to know there are temples and books," he said, "They are existing. They are there, but the time is separating us from them."
So, when I was reading about Prabhupāda's preaching in Jhansi, he was so very, very active, and so very, very determined, and he was just amazing. He was giving several lectures every day, he was going from place to place, he was visiting people in their homes, and he was writing articles, and he was so enthusiastic, so determined. So that's the spirit of Prabhupāda. He really wanted to propagate Krishna Consciousness, and with great determination and enthusiasm, for the pleasure of his Guru Maharaja. Are there any questions or comments?
[Audience member: "I recall that the League of Devotees was mentioned some time back, and about four, four things that he wanted the League, League of Devotees, like, some principles. Did you see that somewhere?"]
Well, I couldn't, when I read through that chapter I didn't see that. That would be interesting to know. It just said it was very similar.
[Audience member: "Yeah, I think it was four purposes or something there that he wanted to be accomplished there. Interesting."]
Would be very interesting to hear. There are a few more minutes. I could just say something about this preaching when it started there in Jhansi. So this was in, in October 1952, Abhay had visited Jhansi on business. And then, his name was Mr. Dubey, he invited Prabhupāda for a lecture at the, called Gita Mandir. So this Mr. Dubey, he had read BTG, Back to Godhead magazine, and he was very inspired, and very impressed by Prabhupāda's writing. And so he arranged for a program there in Jhansi. And Prabhupāda, he spoke. More than 100 people came, and this was many young medical students, graduates from the local Ayurvedic College, and they were very eager to hear from Prabhupāda. So Prabhupāda, he became very inspired. He was now 56 years old. So his presentation had impressed many young, religious-minded persons there in the audience.
And this first disciple, I can just say something very short about him, Dr. Prabhākara Miśra. So he was the headmaster there in Jhansi of the Vedānta Sanskrit College, and he also head medical officer of the Jhansi Ayurvedic University. So he had a very high position there, a young man. So he saw that Prabhupāda, he was very enthusiastic, and he said forceful in his desire to spread Krishna Consciousness. So he immediately saw him as a guru, although he was at that time wearing white. He saw that he was very, very humble, but at the same time very determined, very forceful at the same time, to spread Krishna Consciousness. So he saw him as a real sādhu.
So several of the students there, and other teachers, they suggested that Prabhupāda should stay in Jhansi, and they said they promised to help if he wanted to establish a League of Devotees. There was another Dr., Dr. Sastri, he invited Prabhupāda even to live with him, and he introduced Prabhupāda to many important citizens in Jhansi, arranged for various lectures, and so on. And during this time, the Gaudiya Math had broken into, we can say, permanent quarrels. And his godbrothers had their own, different private ashrams, shrines, so Prabhupāda's meditation was that Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī had envisioned a league of preachers worldwide. So he was eager to start because of that, the League of Devotees. So Jhansi was not, like, a main major city, but he found people very interested. So at this time, he left his pharmaceutical business, and it was his son, Vrindavan, and his nephew, who were taking care of the business.
I can just read here from this Dr. Sastri about his impression of Prabhupāda's preaching in Jhansi during this time. I think it's fascinating to see that Prabhupāda in 1966 and here now 1953, the same spirit is there. He was just so enthusiastic, so determined. So Dr. Sastri, who got a lot of association with Prabhupāda, at this time they were interviewing him, so this is a quote from the interview, Dr. Sastri said:
"In his heart, always it was burning that the whole world was suffering in a materialistic view. Everyone is busy to eat, drink and be merry. So the whole day, he was touring and preaching. His mission that was prescribed by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and his Guru Maharaja. He was having iron will, iron-willed determination and self-confidence about his mission. He was completely convinced, absolute faith, both in Guru and Krishna. He was not doubtful at all. He was dṛḍha-vrata, staunchly determined. Actually, he was always preaching: harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā. So always discussing, sometimes the whole night he was discussing with me. And sometimes, I was fed up. I was requesting please don't disturb me, please let me sleep. And he, the older man, missionary worker, he was just like a young man. I was a young chap, and he was just like my friend, my elder brother. He was like my guide and teacher because the preacher, the preacher is a friend, philosopher and guide."
It continues, but that was just a little quote.
So, I think when you read about Prabhupāda's spirit there in Jhansi, and how he just, he was sent by Krishna, not from this world. He was meant to establish Krishna Consciousness. And how fortunate we are that we have him sitting here. And now 50 years since we think might be it's a long time, 50 years, but if we think 10,000 years, and how much has happened in 50 years, from 26 Second Avenue, 11th of July 1966, now in we have August, 50 years later, 2016. So what has happened during this year, so many things, and how the book distribution is just increasing. I heard a lecture from, or a Zoom meeting with Basu Ghosh Prabhu lately, so impressive how he has contact with leaders all over the world, and they are distributing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam sets. And from this incorporation 1966, and we have the Mayapur temple and so many preaching activities going on, prasādam distribution, cow protection and so on, and so on. So 50 years, so we can imagine if we go 5,000 years into the future, what will be Prabhupāda's position and ISKCON then. So it's just the beginning. The very beginning. So we are very fortunate. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya. So it's 9:00, any last comment or reflection? So we end here. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya.