Message for the Youth
Message for the Youth
This text is written by a seventy-year-old man, a beneficiary of Srila Prabhupadas mercy, who is spending the remaining days of his life travelling, visiting those who do the sameand who are still trying to be part of Srila Prabhupadas mission.
When I was young, I thought seventy-year-old men could not be absolutely trusted.
Such men were, for me, monologous relics of the past, senile self-repeating invalids, frozen in the time they were born into.
As a matter of fact, I believed nobody could be trusted. I come from a generation of chronical anarchists, avantgarde dreamers, and anti-mainstream revolutionaries.
But it was a man in his seventies whom I met and who changed my life entirely.
His name was A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, and he showed us that the age of this body is truly just a number; after all, we are not his body.
He was the youngest of us all, and me and others, mostly eighteen or twenty years old, were fascinated by the revolutionary and fresh message he transmitted, his call for a change of consciousness, his call for an entire change of living.
Whatever he said is contained in his books, and those brought up in Krsna Consciousness surely are aware of it. It must be amazing to have parents who chant the Holy Name, who speak about Srila Prabhupada, and who are still practicing Krsna Consciousness. Even those who no longer do so, their children are still naturally affiliated with Krsna Consciousness, which brings to them a duty entrusted to us all by Srila Prabhupada: to give it to others.
Regardless of how many left and how many fell, those who were born to those who chanted the Holy Name have the duty to give it further to others. Regardless of how the institution Srila Prabhupada started became compromised by its compromised leaders, the legacy Srila Prabhupada left behind must be preserved. Who could do it better than those who grew up with it?
I have a hard time relating to men of my age myself. Why? This is a is a question I ask myself daily. I left the association of those of my age by the time I couldn't anymore daily enter my sankirtan van, as I did for fifteen years when embarking on the journey Srila Prabhupada asigned to me. As temple president, I lived thereafter mostly in association with the young ones, disciples of my godbrothers, and I liked it.
Why did it matter that they often committed the same mistakes I did? What mattered was that they were often overconfident and passionate, as many young boys and girls are. I was the same age as them!
They were alive and part of the Srila Prabhupadas mission, and that was most envigorating to see. As Krsna is in the heart of every living entity, ready to supply wisdom from within to those who are eager to serve Him, I could occasionally learn from their amazing actions. Seniority is not derived in Krsna Consciousness from the age of the body but from the level of Krsna Consciousness action an individual devotee performs.
Seeing younger ones be empowered to do things I couldn't, while growing older and finding myself unable to do, only increased my enthusiasm to have their association and become part of the ways they tried to serve Srila Prabhupada.
Growing older doesn't mean to become a master; it means to become a better servant.
Specially helping them to distribute Srila Prabhupadas books made me an ecstatic older man and a firm believer that the Srila Prabhupadas mission will go on.
Yes, I could wonder how I lost the association of most of my godbrothers who became diksa gurus, sannyasis, and various dignitaries in what is called ISKCON today, but this might not be very productive.
Please, my young brothers and sisters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of Srila Prabhupada, do not be discouraged by the state of things around you. Nobody can stop you from becoming more and more Krsna Conscious except yourself. Come together and inspire each other to preach to others. The society as such is in a catastrophic state, and if you have any hope that it will provide for you in the future, that hope will be frustrated. This society is heading for its destruction, and you don't have to be part of it. Please come together in the form of communities; put aside your differences and the anonymity imposed upon you by the gizmos you grew up with. These gizmos can be switched off instantly. Come together, meet in person, and remember what Srila Prabhupada said. Let us strive according to our guna and varna to create strong communities that will provide protection for you and your children as well. Alone, you will share the destiny of your parents, who live mostly in an underground, privatised regime, struggling to maintain whatever Krsna Consciousness they have.
Together, you will automatically attract others to join you. There are those among you who are born leaders, but they may not know it yet. I myself, the shy introverted silent boy I used to be, never thought to be a leader, but I became one in an unexpected, non-insitutional way. Just by speaking about Srila Prabhupada, you have a leading word. Just by chanting the Holy Name and practicing Krsna Consciousness, you will be a leader, one way or another.
Don't wait for the old ones to help you; you have to do it yourself. Maybe you feel unqualified, and maybe you feel weak. So do I. But Srila Prabhupada showed us what one man can do. You are so many! Come together, support each other, get rid of envy and competition, and recognise the one between you who can lead you to lead others locally. There is no use to indulge in megalomaniac visions; see what is in front of you locally and do the best out of it.
Srila Prabhupada wanted us all to become leaders. In the last days he spent with us in Vrndavana, he loved when devotees brought him out in his chair so he could watch the small gurukulis dancing in front of him in kirtan. Why did he do so? He knew the day would come when the old ones would go and the young ones would stay.
Please, please, do not be impressed by society imposing upon you a demonic agenda. Stand up and opose. You got all the means to do so by Srila Prabhupadas mercy; use them. Don't wait for a shining, mysterious man to appear from the sky; you have to do it yourself. Maybe you are not the kind of anarchistic revolutionaries we used to be, youngsters who simply dropped everything and surrendered to Srila Prabhupada unconditionally. Maybe you didn't get kicked by Maya the way we did.
It does not matter; you got something we didn't get—a Krsna conscious upbringing of some sort. Why not use it? You must use it!
Come together in communities based on Srila Prabhupadas teachings! Even without being able to realise them in their entirety, any attempt in this direction is glorious. Varnasrama dharma is obviously the way to go. We don't have to create it; it's already there. You will act upon it instinctively, according to your nature. When you avoid trying to be somebody you are not, your life becomes easy, and you get strength from the freedom not to be a hypocrite. There are so many hypocrites in this world; they can teach you by their example what NOT to be. It's up to you to offer a positive alternative to the illusory ways people are fooled and used by oportunistic rascals.
Stand up and fight them with your example. Don't join the hypocrisy; fight for the Truth.
Become strong by following the strong ones. Avoid the association of those who are loyal to stupidity and weakness. It seems easier to follow the cheap path than to figth the path going up. Going down is “natural” and automatic. Struggling on the way up always has its price. But it's worth it. We should be proud of Srila Prabhupadas legacy and shouldn't hesitate to fight for it. Don't grow old by becoming more passive and phlegmatic. Opose artificial seniority by becoming senior in the knowledge and practice of Krsna Consciousness. Seniority has to be commanded and not demanded. Seniority comes from determination to serve the Srila Prabhupadas mission, not from listening to those who don't. Don't become pious pilgrims of your own mediocrity.
Stand up and fight!
tasmāt tvam uttiṣṭha yaśo labhasva
jitvā śatrūn bhuṅkṣva rājyaṁ samṛddham
mayaivaite nihatāḥ pūrvam eva
nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savya-sācin
Therefore get up. Prepare to fight and win glory. Conquer your enemies and enjoy a flourishing kingdom. They are already put to death by My arrangement, and you, O Savyasācī, can be but an instrument in the fight.
Bhagavad-gītā 11.33