7/29/2019 Urgency of Surrender to Krishna

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Urgency of Surrender to KrishnaExcerpt from a lecture by HH Radhanath Swami

"Srila Prabhupada stressed the urgency to surrender toKrishna. Every line of his books, every sentence of his tapes,

you would hear him urgently, just pleading with you and me, totake Krishna Consciousness seriously. Death, tragedy cancome at any moment. And the greatest tragedy is that ourfaith is stolen away by maya and her various representativeswhich can come in many forms. There is no comfortableposition when we are secure in material existence.

We are like a drop of water on a lotus leaf. Our life is comparedto that. Our position in society, our health, our familymembers, our friends, everything in this world that exists islike a drop of water on a lotus leaf. It is going to fall and we

don't know when. It often happens at the least expectedmoment.

Srila Prabhupada used the example of the goats that are onthe way to the slaughter house. The slaughter house person isvery expert at pacifying the goats so that they very happilyand peacefully go to the chopping block by providing nicegrass. The line of goats, they are just eating grass and theyare enjoying and the closer they get, the grass gets nicer andnicer. The goats in front of them are getting their heads cutoff, but they don't see that. They just see the grass. Srila

Prabhupada said, "That is how maya is orchestrating the entirematerial existence. Don't be a foolish goat just trying to behappy and enjoy the comforts of this world, the comforts of family life or a nice little floor in the bramhachari ashram".

We should know that any facility to enjoy in this material worldis maya's trick to somehow or other distract away from theurgent need to be Krishna conscious. Listen carefully to SrilaPrabhupada's voice when you listen to his lectures. There isalways that deep sense of trying to give us the feeling of urgency. It has to be done now! We have to take shelter of 

Krishna! We have to surrender to Krishna! We have to give upour petty disagreements and work together because the worldis being condemned by the direction of modern society. "

"Srila Prabhupada's miracle was, that he gave everybody thechance to become Krishna conscious. And those who heard hisvoice and somehow or other connected to that urgency withinhim, they became empowered. They were lazy hippies sleeping

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on the streets, never worked a day in their life, then bycontact with Srila Prabhupada,they were out distributingbooks 15 hours day! Outside in the blizzard winters of the New York city! And the only reason why they came home is formangala arati and to chant their rounds. They did this for

years! In the American cities and airports where practically noone is favourable, they risked their lives, sometimes gettingbeaten up, blasphemed, but they were so enthusiastic!

How did Srila Prabhupada transform these people ? Because hegave them that sense of the urgency to surrender to Krishna. If we are convinced of the urgency to take Srila Prabhupada'smessage to heart today, Srila Prabhupada will empower us todo incredible things."

"I remember, when I was pujari, I was very happy doing deity

worship day and night, year after year, but I would alwaysread Srila Prabhupada's books, hear his tapes, hear about howSrila Prabhupada is so eager for us to preach. So I was prayingto the deities, "I am very grateful to worship You. But my GuruMaharaj keeps talking about preaching. Ultimately I want toplease him. I don't know what preaching is. But I want toplease him. So whatever You think is best."

And sometimes later I was given an order, "We need moredevotees in the temple. Go out and preach." I never asked. Andwho was I? From New Vrindavan. I smelt like a cow because I

would milk cows. I had one dhoti that had holes in it and an oldblanket from the World war II army that had holes in it. I wastold to preach. Very little education. I went to one semester of a Junior College. And here I was in Universities speaking toPh.D candidates, Professors, and they would be sitting in raptattention, challenging and being defeated. And I was thinking,"What's happening? Who is doing it? I am a fool. I don't knowmuch." But if we somehow or other feel that urgency, SrilaPrabhupada could do everything through any of us