Upananda: It was late Thursday afternoon -- not a very auspicious time -- and somehow or other we had found ourselves stuck in a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam. All the Melbourne commuters were leaving town. Syamasundara was getting very irritated because it had taken us an hour just to get to the outskirts of the city. He said: "I think we should go back, Prabhupada, this is too much trouble." Melbourne was experiencing unseasonably warm weather and it was very humid and uncomfortable in the car. Srila Prabhupada asked, "Everything has been arranged?" Hanuman was sitting next to me and I was nudging him to say something so we could cancel the engagement because it seemed like it was very inconvenient for Srila Prabhupada. But Hanuman said: "Oh, yes, Prabhupada, everything has been arranged. They are all waiting for you." So Prabhupada said: "Yes, you can go on." Finally we got on to the open road and we arrived at the Abbey at seven o'clock -- exactly on time.
Tarrawarra Abbey was set on a hill amidst beautiful pasture lands, surrounded by gardens and vineyards and bordered by the Yarra river. Like many abbeys of its type, it grew its own fruits and vegetables. After negotiating the long driveway, Prabhupada and his entourage climbed the substantial stairways and, passing through the outer balcony and entrance area, came to a rectangular, timber-panelled reception hall. The hall was set up with simple wooden chairs for the audience and a more elaborate seat for Prabhupada.
A couple of devotees had come early and had engaged the most enthusiastic of the monks in picking fragrant roses and sewing them into a garland. As Prabhupada entered the hall, Father Daniel eagerly placed the garland around his neck and respectfully bowed with his head to the ground. Many of the assembled monks, dressed in their black scapulars over white robes, followed his example.
Srila Prabhupada sat down, erect and cross-legged, and led a short kirtana. A monk turned on a large reel-to-reel tape recorder and Prabhupada, in his natural, unrehearsed manner, began to speak, describing the origins of the Krsna consciousness movement as "practically pre-historic".
He told the small assembly of monks that five thousand years before, at a meeting in Naimisaranya, near present-day Lucknow, great saintly persons had assembled to hear Suta Gosvami, one of the disciples of Sukadeva Gosvami, speak on Krsna consciousness. One of the topics discussed at that ancient meeting was dharma, or religion.
Prabhupada defined religion simply: "To accept the orders of God. That's all. It doesn't matter what religion you are following. You may be Christian, I may be Hindu, he may be Mohammedan, but the test of religion is how one has developed his God consciousness."
As the monks listened respectfully, Prabhupada, the modern-day representative of Suta Gosvami, spoke at length, liberally quoting from Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Brahma-samhita and the Upanisads.
Prabhupada concluded: "So we are preaching God consciousness throughout the world. That is our business. Practically throughout the world they are rejecting God. You know very well. In England, there are many, many churches. They are vacant now, redundant.
"There is great necessity of God consciousness at the present moment throughout the whole world. Without God consciousness, all other qualifications are useless. So our simple request is that whatever you may be, you make a cultivation of God consciousness. Scientifically, try to understand what is God. And if you consult Vedic literature, you'll get very accurate, scientific, authentic information.
"So we invite all learned scholars, priests, philosophers to combine together and save the world from this falldown without God consciousness. That is our request; so I think all you respectable priests and fathers will kindly help me in this mission and I shall be very much obliged to you. Thank you very much."
Cont'd
- From "The Great Transcendental Adventure" by HG Kurma Prabhu
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