(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 03 November 2013, Vrindavan, India, Lecture: Damodar Lila)
When I came to this Krsna Balaram mandir, initially I noticed how much present Krsna was but then I noticed that Prabhupada was even more present than Krsna. That is a fact; that is actually true because Srila Prabhupada has extended the mercy of Krsna and made it more available to us.
Last year, Brahmananda gave this lecture here. He was talking about Prabhupada and someone had a question and said, “In the early days, those were the very intimate days with Prabhupada and later, there was a bigger movement. Do you feel that something changed in the relationship with Prabhupada?”
Brahmananda said, “Well, you know, when you’re a child, your father is your father. And when you’re a grown-up, your father is still your father. So what has changed… Nothing has changed. Still the same!”
Then the devotee said, “I can see that you are accepting Prabhupada as God.”
Then Brahmananda was getting quite strong and he said, “Oh no, that was a mistake! In 1970, I made that mistake that I thought Prabhupada was God. Prabhupada is not God – he is as good as God! But these days, I think Prabhupada is better than God because he came to the Lower-East Side to save me!” And then, Brahmananda started to cry!
So that was something. That was definitely something that touched my stone-like heart! I thought, “That’s right!” That is the position for all of us. Brahmananda may see it; others may see it; you and I may not see it but the fact of the matter is that we are here because of Srila Prabhupada.
We did not only come to Vrindavan because of Srila Prabhupada; we are able to stay here because of Srila Prabhupada, because of his prayer, because of his directions and are only able to catch a glimpse of the dham through him.