Blog

We can take them all During questions the seminarians were very respectful. They stood while questioning and addressed Srila Prabhupada as "Your Divine Grace". One priest asked: "How would His Grace see Jesus Christ?" Prabhupada's obvious veneration for Lord Jesus moved the audience. "Jesus Christ, Lord Jesus Christ ..a he is son of God, the best son of God. So we have all respect for Him. Yes. Anyone who is teaching people about God consciousness, he is respectable to us. It does not matter in which country, in which atmosphere, he was preaching. It does not matter." Another priest asked: "St Francis, the founder of this particular order, expounded upon the teachings of Christ and seeing God everywhere. He even spoke of 'Brother Dog' and 'Sister Cat', 'Sister Water' and 'Father Wind'. How would Your Grace respond to this?" The room was tense and quiet. Prabhupada opened his eyes very wide and nodded. "This is real God consciousness. This is real God consciousness, yes. Not that 'I am God conscious, and I kill the animal.' That is not God conscious. To accept the trees, plants, lower animals, even insignificant ants as brothers is real God consciousness. This is explained in Bhagavad-gita, samah sarvesu bhutesu. Samah means equal to all living entities. One must see the spirit soul. Anyone, whether he's a cat, dog, tree, ant, insect, or a big man, is part and parcel of God. Each is simply dressed differently. One has the dress of a tree, one has the dress of a king and one has the dress of an insect. It is also explained in Bhagavad-gita, panditah sama darsinah. 'One who is a pandit, learned, sees with equal vision.' So if St Francis was thinking like that, he had a higher standard of spiritual understanding." It was a touching moment. It appeared that Prabhupada was giving an insight into St Francis that perhaps many had never understood before. It became clear to those present, Christian and devotee alike, that Prabhupada had as much, or even more, appreciation for St Francis than the Franciscans had themselves. During kirtana, many monks and priests stood and participated. Some clapped, others chanted; a few even shed tears. The once sombre atmosphere was transformed into a joyful event. The men offered a large plate of cut fruits to Srila Prabhupada, who accepted a couple of pieces. The rest, he indicated, should be distributed to everyone present. Srila Prabhupada rose to leave, and the successful program was completed. Cittahari: As Srila Prabhupada was leaving the monastery, I introduced him to my mother. He smiled at her and said, "You have a very nice child". My mother replied, "Well, I've got another nine". Prabhupada grinned. "We can take them all," he said. - From "The Great Transcendental Adventure" by HG Kurma Prabhu