(Srila Prabhupada: Letter to Ekendra, January 24, 1970)
Srila Prabhupada has this charming way of making everything seem so simple, so utterly do-able. Just when the goal seems beyond reach; when Vrndavana (the Kingdom of God) seems so distant and unattainable; when we manage to convince ourselves that maintaining a spiritual life is just too complicated... enter Srila Prabhupada. He speaks with absolute conviction -- what math teacher, however open-minded he might be, would entertain the notion that two plus two does not equal four? -- but is neither condescending nor dogmatic.
We can state with certainty that two plus two equals four because we have experienced it. Although we have long since outgrown the need to be conscious of it, somewhere in the reaches of our mind two apples are lined up neatly next to two oranges, and an invisible grocer counts out four fruits. A first-grader, on the other handd, may need to be shown the transaction, she may need to roll each spherical apple in her hands before she can surrender to the concreteness of it.
I believe that Vrndavana is as real as those apples and oranges, as real as Srila Prabhupada says it is. It is patiently awaiting on us to choose to remember Krishna (not just at the temple or while fingering our beads, but all the time and in everything we do). Plug in the right integers, and you arrive at it: poof, you are in Vrndavana.
Prabhupada could state it as a fact, because for him it was a fact. Spiritual first-grader that I am, I may not be able to do the math myself right now. Still, I have faith.
.vbd.
Srila Prabhupada has this charming way of making everything seem so simple, so utterly do-able. Just when the goal seems beyond reach; when Vrndavana (the Kingdom of God) seems so distant and unattainable; when we manage to convince ourselves that maintaining a spiritual life is just too complicated... enter Srila Prabhupada. He speaks with absolute conviction -- what math teacher, however open-minded he might be, would entertain the notion that two plus two does not equal four? -- but is neither condescending nor dogmatic.
We can state with certainty that two plus two equals four because we have experienced it. Although we have long since outgrown the need to be conscious of it, somewhere in the reaches of our mind two apples are lined up neatly next to two oranges, and an invisible grocer counts out four fruits. A first-grader, on the other handd, may need to be shown the transaction, she may need to roll each spherical apple in her hands before she can surrender to the concreteness of it.
I believe that Vrndavana is as real as those apples and oranges, as real as Srila Prabhupada says it is. It is patiently awaiting on us to choose to remember Krishna (not just at the temple or while fingering our beads, but all the time and in everything we do). Plug in the right integers, and you arrive at it: poof, you are in Vrndavana.
Prabhupada could state it as a fact, because for him it was a fact. Spiritual first-grader that I am, I may not be able to do the math myself right now. Still, I have faith.
.vbd.
2 comments:
thats a great quote, keep the Vrindavan topics coming pra-bro! Bolo Vrindavan bihari lal ki jay, Jay jay sri radhe!!!!
hare krsna prabhu.
great post....really prabhupada's quotes esp this one can lift up hopes of people who find their "home" too far, very easily
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