"I CAME HERE TO TAKE THEIR SUFFERING" - SRILA PRABHUPADA

"I CAME HERE TO TAKE THEIR SUFFERING" - SRILA PRABHUPADA

It was the beginning of 1977. Prabhupada was in Bombay temple. He was very sick. He had stopped all food intake – he was taking 1/4 a cup of orange juice per day. His body had only bones left – there was no flesh. And yet, he was insisting that he wanted to go to London. The doctors had given up responsibility. But as always, he was adamant.

At this time, one Pancaratrika Pandit from Bangalore named Sampat Kumar Bhattacarya came to know about Srila Prabhupada’s situation. So, he took a flight from Bangalore to Bombay – which in those days was a huge thing for a Brahmin priest – and met Prabhupada, and asked for a private meeting. 

Generally, nobody was allowed a private meeting, but when he said that he specially came by flight from Bangalore to meet Srila Prabhupada, he was allowed a private meeting. So, everybody was asked to go out, and they talked.

The conversation was like this:

Sampat Kumar: ‘Swamiji, I am feeling very pained that you are suffering like this.’

Prabhupada (laying down, in broken words): ‘The whole world is meant for suffering. Dukhalayam asavatam.’

Sampat Kumar: ‘But still Swamiji, there are so many people depending on you. So when you suffer, they suffer.

Prabhupada: ‘What can I do?’

Bhattacarya: ‘Swamiji, I want to tell you something. In Vrindavan temple, they are having your deity on the altar. And all kinds of people are coming and praying to it, and offering flowers to it, and you are still living. According to Pancaratra, when the Acarya is living, if he puts his deity on the altar, then all the sufferings people are having come to his body through the deity. So you please tell your disciples to worship your deity only after you leave your body.’

[He was speaking as if he was giving some information to Prabhupada, which Prabhupada did not know already.]

Prabhupada: ‘I know. I came here to take their suffering.’

Bhattacarya was shocked. It seemed that to Srila Prabhupada, Bhattacharya was not giving any new information. This was well known to Prabhupada; and he was determined to suffer for others.

Prabhupada: ‘Do you have anything else to say?’

Bhattacarya: ‘Swamiji, if that is your wish, what can I say? I am only a priest.’

Prabhupada: ‘Even when I leave, I will keep continuing taking their suffering, and make them free so they can keep chanting Hare Krishna.’

So, Prabhupada’s deity is going to be sitting in temples around the world, and taking all our sufferings, and making us free so we can chant Hare Krishna.
He is not fibreglass; he is really there, accepting our prayers, obeisances, and suffering. Let us hope this little anecdote reminds us of this, and never lets doubt creep into our minds. Hare Krishna!

Vincent Srutakirti Fiorentino, Siddhanta Das, do you have any idea who told this story? I could not locate the author.

Siddhanta Das: Rajendranandana das: When the deities were installed in the Hyderabad temple, some South Indian brahmins came. Srila Prabhupada had told Yasodanandan and Achyutananda Swamis that these were real brahmins and must be treated nicely and given anything they wanted.

Generally, when the spiritual master is on the planet, his murti is not installed in the temple, and when the South Indian brahmin, Sampat Kumar Bhattacharya, heard that Srila Prabhupada’s murtis were going to be installed in Bombay, in Vrindavan, and in different temples around the world, he traveled from Hyderabad to Bombay at his personal expense to give Srila Prabhupada shastric evidence that this practice was not encouraged. Why?

Because when they see his murti, people will feel that they’re meeting Srila Prabhupada. They will think that he’s sitting on the vyasasana, as he truly is, they will talk to his murti, say prayers, bow down to him, worship his murti, and touch the murti’s lotus feet. And as a result, Srila Prabhupada will suffer from taking on their karma.

Out of affection for Srila Prabhupada, the learned Bhattacharya gave many shastric references. He wanted to serve in this way so he gave his best presentation. Prabhupada listened to him patiently, and finally said,
“Don’t you understand that’s why I’ve come?” When Bhattacharya heard that, he immediately stopped speaking, folded his hands, circumambulated Srila Prabhupada three times, and then left. He finally understood who Srila Prabhupada was.

Siddhanta Das: Reference: "Memories" DVD #47 as well as Volume 4 in the book series.