By Achyutananda Prabhu
There were many swamis who came through New York in the 1950s and ‘60s.
Some of them were celebrity gurus, some were yogis, but they were all mayavadis.
They were clever but didn’t explain the entire nature of the Indian culture at all.
They’re what’s called “pancha-pasaka”.
They believe bhakti is only an artificial practice that you do until you merge.
At that time there were also some Buddhists.
I remember one Buddhist came through and there were macrobiotic restaurants, and this Buddhist said, “I eat everything.
What do you mean ‘Zen’ food?” So there were a lot of phonies and they had the “squinty” eyes.
A lot of people went for that.
There was Dr. Mishra whose book my father read.
In my house we did yoga.
We had several Bhagavad-gitas but they were all interpreted in the mayavad way.
The best one was from the Theosophical Society that had a picture of an abbreviated Universal form of Krishna.
The verse said, “I hold all these worlds like pearls on a thread with a fraction of Myself”, or something to that nature from the ninth chapter.
At that time we were experimenting with drugs.
Some people were just partying with drugs but many were using them because the symptoms of the drug were similar to the external symptoms of a liberated soul.
You see things as equal. You have universal consciousness, cosmic consciousness.
These were things we were trying to achieve and we all thought that if you meditate long enough, then “Bing”, the light goes on and you walk around with a “high”.
We visited several swamis like the Rama-Krishna mission on 72nd Street.
So people had many crazy ideas.
We had no direction.
None of the yogis gave any sadhana.
They ate meat.
Swami Nickleananda also translated the Gita but he smoked cigarettes.
They all had the attitude, “Yatamat-tatapat”.
In other words, “Do whatever you want.”
Then someone told me there was a swami on 2nd Avenue chanting “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
I said, “I never heard of that”, but I went one night to the 26 2nd Avenue storefront and I peeked in.
I asked a couple standing next to me, “Is this 26 2nd Avenue?”
They said, “Pilgrim, your search has ended.”
It was a sign.
I went in and everyone was chanting.
I sat in my lotus position.
When I saw Prabhupada I thought he looked like the CEO of the universe.
He sat on the floor in his plain saffron robes and gave a lecture about giving up all false designations.
He said that this was the cure for human society.
I kept coming a few more times and I would put forth to Prabhupada all the mayavadi arguments.
He blasted me back one by one.
His teachings are our gift.
The eastern philosophy is generally understood that everything merges into void.
That answers so many problems.
The western religion, like George Carlin the comedian, states that there is an invisible man up in the sky and He has ten rules, and if you don’t obey them, you go to hell and you burn forever.
And He always needs money.
He’s all-powerful and all-knowing.
But He just can’t handle money, so all the preachers are asking their congregations to give more.
So there is one side, which is a personal God, and one impersonal.
We generally sided with the impersonal since there were no rules.
Some of the arguments that we all presented were that if God is unlimited, how can He have a form? Form is limited.
Right away Prabhupada would just cut through that.
He didn’t care about being flattering at all.
He would say, “This is lack of knowledge. This is ignorance.”
Then we’d say, “Well, in your religion you say God is …”
“This is not a religion, this is knowledge.”
He would make many comparisons to the sun.
He would ask us, “The sun has form?” “Yes.”
“And the sunlight is unlimited?” “Yes.”
“The two exist simultaneously. A spark of sun cannot become the sun planet. A light bulb cannot become the powerhouse. Yes?” “Uh, huh.”
“Similarly, if there is a magnifying glass you can make fire. Bring down the sun.”
This is a guru.
Bhaktisiddhanta coined the term ‘blazing sadhus’.
The guru is the transparent via medium.
Krishna is talking through an empowered soul.
—Achyutananda
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