Today is the disappearance day of jagad-guru Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad, the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
At a special program in the old Moscow temple at Avtozavodskaya, Sripad Bharati Maharaj and I sing the glories of Srila Prabhupad. We recall how Srila Prabhupad came to the West in 1965 and changed the consciousness of so many degenerate hippies — rebelling and reveling in their newfound freedom of intoxication and free love — by giving them a higher taste: by elevating their consciousness to Krishna consciousness.
Small wonder, then, that Srila Guru Maharaj said: "Our Swami Maharaj has done a miracle! We are happy, we are glad, we are proud of Swami Maharaj," and "He was so earnest in his prayer to Krishna, that he may discharge the duty that had been given to him by his Guru Maharaj, that Krishna had to come down to help him. So saktyavesa avatara I take him — I cannot but take him to be so."
I recount how my own consciousness underwent a 180° revolution almost twenty-two years ago today, in October of 1981, when I first read the Bhagavad Gita As It Is by Srila Prabhupad, and how, following Srila Prabhupad's instructions to his followers to take spiritual consultation and guidance from Srila Sridhar Maharaj, I got the holy connection of Srila Guru Maharaj in 1983.
Srila Prabhupad ki jaya!
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