We can appreciate how unique Prabhupada really is in the entire sampradaya. Lord Caitanya appears only once in a day of Brahma and after Lord Caitanya, who introduced Krsna Consciousness basically in the Indian subcontinent, the mission that remained was to take Krsna Consciousness all over the world. Prabhupada did that. He brought it from East to West! Prabhupada himself stated, ‘Now this Krsna consciousness cannot be stopped anymore.’ Just like a disease, once it has contaminated then it is too late, it cannot be undone, cannot be stopped anymore.
Prabhupada fulfilled that mission of taking Krsna consciousness from East to West which is done only once in an entire day of Lord Brahma. So we can understand that Prabhupada is a special intimate associate of Caitanya Mahaprabhu who was particularly chosen for this mission. Therefore, we can understand that the way Prabhupada introduced Krsna consciousness in the world is particularly the way that Lord Caitanya desired it.
Kadamba Kanana Swami, Vrindavan, India, 2003
When Srila Prabhupada first came to America, he didn’t have anything and somehow or other, this movement took off. Prabhupada said, ‘It’s a miracle!! How could this have happened? I’m coming to America with a message the Americans weren’t waiting for – no illicit sex, no gambling, no meat, no intoxication. It’s a miracle!’ He said, ‘Sometimes I wonder why this miracle happened to me? Why not to others? I have so many godbrothers who are very qualified, learned vaishnavas. So why did this thing happened to me? And the only thing I can think of is that I cent percent followed the order of my spiritual master.’
Prabhupada was real, Prabhupada was genuine, Prabhupada loved Krsna, Prabhupada saw Krsna and because Prabhupada said God is blue, He is blue! It is as simple as that! Therefore Prabhupada is the living proof of Krsna Consciousness, that it all works. Prabhupada is not only our inspiration, not only the source of our faith but Prabhupada is also our anchor. Whenever we have a doubt, Prabhupada is the anchor, our saving grace as we are riding on the waves of our individual nature. He is the safe ground to which we always return. We trust him for the person he was, for his teachings and we know that there we will find our answers – we find the basis of our Krsna Consciousness. That is where we return, to the safe connection with Krsna.
We meet him in everything he left – we meet him in his devotees, we meet him in his books, we meet him in his instructions and so on. We can meet Prabhupada today but the essence of that meeting is that we understand that Prabhupada made Krsna Consciousness possible because Prabhupada was a human being! He was a human being! We are only just beginning to understand that! We never thought of that before! In the past, we thought, ‘You have to be Krsna conscious and you have to prove it by chanting your rounds, chanting extra rounds, by distributing a lot of books or by opening many temples, by sleeping less, by eating less, by performing austerity, by doing dry fasting…’ and in this way, you can show your Krsna consciousness! We never thought that being a human being had anything to do with it! But Prabhupada knew it all along. He was such a human being because his love for Krsna extended to all of us. Prabhupada was so kind, he was strict – not changing the standard – but yet ready to adjust for an individual, to sort of accommodate him, to sort of come along and fit in…
Kadamba Kanana Swami, Goloka Dhama, Abentheur, 2006
When we become a devotee of Krsna, we become the instrument of Krsna and we see that Krsna begins to work through us and through that we become empowered. One day Srila Prabhupada said, ‘My spiritual master made me into a diamond!’ A diamond is completely transparent; light goes through unobstructed in all directions. Thus a devotee becomes empowered to be an instrument of the Lord and then see what they can do. People say, ‘How can you do it?’ But Krsna gives the power, makes it possible; so one who dedicates his life to Krsna becomes empowered by Krsna.
Kadamba Kanana Swami, Durban, South Africa, 2010
