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EDITORIAL  Srila Prabhupada Appearance BY MADHAVANANDA DAS  EDITORIAL, Sep 14 (VNN) — He Completely Fulfilled The Mission Of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur By Madhavananda dasa, disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada One day after the year's most Auspicious day, Sri Krishna Janmastami, the Appearance Day of the Supreme Transcendental Person Lord Sri Krishna, Srila Prabhupada's Appearance day was celebrated worldwide.Sincere followers were energized and blessed by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami's transcendental memory and transcendental presence within their hearts.. He was born 108 years ago to pure devotee parents, Srimate Radharani and Sriman Gour Mohan De, who lived on Mahatma Gandhi road in Calcutta, India on that blessed day in the late summer of 1896. Endowed with wonderful pure devotional qualities and blessed with excellent association from birth, Abhaya Charan and his pure devotee sister 'Pishima', learned primarily about Sri Sri Radha Govinda worship and 'tattva'; (scientific, transcendental truths of the absolute divine couple). Predicted at birth by astrologers to be a great teacher and reformer of pure devotion to God, educated in Sanskrit, English and other subjects at Scottish Rite Churches College in Calcutta, Sriman Abhay Charan De graduated at the very top of his class and was the class leader. Abhay refused his diploma at the ceremony due to his strong stance of solidarity with Mahatma Gandhi's Independence Movement. Later in 1933 Abhaya's friends requested him to give them his valued opinion of the powerful preacher of Lord Chaitanya's Movement, who had come from Jaganath Puri; namely Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada. 'Abhay Babu' was a center of influence among his peers and his counsel was sought after by many. Sri Saraswati Thakur was the Ray of Vishnu prayed for by his father; Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur. Sri Sarasvati Goswami was also the dedicated disciple of the great mahabhagavata 'vipralambha' renunciate Srila Gaura Kishore das Babaji Maharaja. At that historic meeting, Abhaya Babu, who was to become Abhaya Charanaravinda by diksa (initiation) from the great Acharya, argued for Ghandian liberation from the illegal occupation by the British Empire. India must be free before any preaching and dedication to Lord Gauranga's mission can be effective, the young man asserted. The Acharya defeated Abhay's strong arguments with logic, erudition, and love. In awe of the perfect points the Thakur had made, our 26 year old hero was then amazed to hear him say: You should spread Lord Chaitanya's message and his gift of spiritual love to the English speaking countries, because you are very qualified to do just that. It will be very auspicious for you and also for all who will hear you. Thirty- two years later, carrying many volumes of Sri Veda-Vyasa's Srimad Bhagawatam translated from Sanskrit, Sri Bhaktivedanta Swami arrived in Boston. It was 20 years after the atom bomb had been dropped on the civilian population of Japan and it was at the height of the cold war nuclear threats of mutual assured destruction between Russia and the USA. America was at war in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The ancient site of one of the largest Vaishnava temples in the world (Angor Wat in Cambodia) was being desicrated. Scores of searching souls were crying for the Lord and His representative. It was 1965. Sixty nine years earlier, during Prabhupada's birth year, Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode had sent his English treatise; The Life and Precepts of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to the McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Our Prabhupada struggled in New York for years. He was alone, he had no money and he had never even seen snowfall. One of the worst blizzards of the century hit New York state at that time with snow drifts reaching up to 14 feet high. Some of Prabhupada's god-brothers in India helped him, and of some of them did not. He never compromised his principles or let slip his determination. He never left us and gave up on his duty to God and Teacher. He waited steadfastly and patiently. It has been said that if you hold a meeting and tell everyone You are God, they will all come and offer praise. If you hold it and tell them; You are the servants of God they will leave . His mission was not an easy one. But his pure devotion was to prevail. His students and his admirers began to come to the all- attractive Sri Krishna Hari-Nam Sankirtan Movement. He cared for them with fatherly affection and taught them everything about the non-dual absolute truth. . With the kingly leadership of the Sun in the 9th house of religion, along with the priestly, beneficent and wise power of Jupiter in the same sign, and the Moon's south node indicating complete victory over his material senses, he completely won the love, the hearts and the minds of hundreds of thousands of seekers. With the beneficent planet of communication and authorship; Mercury, exaltedly situated in his 10th house of career, Srila Prabhupada became the uncontested prolific translator of the Vedic scriptures into English. A plethora of English books of Srila Vyasadeva's works now was available to non- Hindus. He gave the whole world the vast wealth of the planet's oldest and original authentic scriptures, along with the commentaries of history's greatest sages. He knew only of his Guru Maharaj Bhaktisiddhanta and of his Lord Sri Gaura-Hari. He once told his disciples; You've all been sent to me by my Guru Maharaj to help me'. He surrendered all of us, and all that he had to his Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga. He was the real spiritual emissary of the authentic Vedic India. He was the great deliverer of Divine Love to the world. He told America's NASA, the Russian space agency and everyone else in the west how Easy Journeys to Other Planets actually do take place. He boldly and sweetly declared to reporters including Time-Life; who had recently published the God is Dead cover; Why have I come here? Why of course to teach you that God is not dead, that everything belongs to Him only, and that everything should be used in His service. Prabhupada was the beginning of Lord Chaitanya's Movement in the west and the savior of all. We owe him a great debt of gratitude. He told us he wanted us to repay that debt by humbly co-operating with each other to spread Lord Chaitanya's movement all over the world. When he left us in 1977, instead of thinking of himself, he thought of each of his students when he spoke with confidential humor requesting his God brother Sri Bhaktivedanta Narayana help us É(in Bengali); I've caught some monkeys in a net. They like to fight with each other. Please promise me you will help them continue their advancement Back to Home, Back to Godhead. He also generously considered our welfare when he said; For spiritual instruction go to Sridhar Maharaj in Nabadwip and Narayana Maharaj in Mathura. The son of the Krishna Conscious and Aristocratic De family, the disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, the sannyas disciple of Sri Bhaktisiddhanta's key disciple-assistant Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Maharaj, the fast friend of the leader of Bhaktisiddhanta's disciples Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar-Dev Goswami, friend of Srila Bhakti-Vaibhava Puri Goswami, Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaj and others; Our Srila Prabhupada was remembered on September 7th with love and gratitude by thousands and thousands of fortunate souls; family, god-brothers, disciples, friends, and 2nd & 3rd generation disciples Contact VNN about this story  Send this story to a friend
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