Do Something!

In his presentation of Krsna Consciousness, Srila Prabhupada was unique.
Most of the acharyas in the line of our guru parampara exhibited amazing potency in terms of laying down the rules and regulations defining the actions of a real devotee of the Lord, acting exemplary, teaching, and finally leaving behind an amazing body of literature for the conditoned souls to strive on and develop spiritually.

But it was Srila Prabhupada who not only brought Krsna Consciousness to the most remote parts of the world through intense travels outside of India but also gave Krsna Consciousness practical three-dimensional form for everybody to see, touch, and experience with his subbtle and gross body. As he said, when one is truly preaching, management will follow one like a shadow. Not satisfied with simply teaching by word, Srila Prabhupada got involved with practical management, including monetary issues, dealing with unruly individuals, invading people's lives, risking being rejected and offended, saving the ones operating on a sensual platform from the onslaught of their senses, saving the ones operating on a mental platform from the ghastly ways to be illusioned by their minds, and saving us all by dint of practical management as well. He answered the questions that were never asked; he made lunatics emerge as empowered, worthy representatives of Krsna Consciousness, he made lusty ones be freed of lust; and he eliminated the envy in the hearts of those who didn't even recognise how envious they were.

His pushing spirit was criticised by those who, even practicing Krsna Consciousness saw it as more of a voyage “inside,”  obstaining from any “wordly activites outside“. Srila Prabhupada showed to us that there is no “inside“ or “outside“ in Krsna Consciousness, EVERYTHING is within Krsnas domain and EVERYTHING can be used in his service.

Criticised for “always doing something“ due to the incompetence of his followers being involved as sannyasi with financial issues and issues of family nature, Srila Prabhupada, seeing the helplessness of his disciples, protected his projects from bankruptcies and his disciples from becoming false renounciates. He fiercely attacked the hypocrisy of those who follow the dictates of the mind so easily. 
He challenged our false egos by expecting us to cooperate even with those we were entirely averse to by uniting us within the service of his mission, the mission of Lord Caitanya and His representatives.

Never tired of starting projects based on whatever we got in terms of Krsna Consciousness. Srila Prabhupada made us preachers, booksellers, restaurant managers, and even, unqualifiedly, teachers of others. He declared the word “impossible” to be a word from the “fools dictionary“ and showed us how possible even the impossible can be. From Srila Prabhupada, we can learn how to preach, how to manage, how to guard the finances, and how to maintain what was given to us, all of this being fully included within our Krsna Consciousness.

Srila Prabhupada taught us to turn jnana, theoretical knowledge, into vijnana, realised knowledge. He was teaching us how to turn Krsna Consciousness's thoughts and feelings into practical reality. After a study of Krsna Consciousness, it is relatively easy to sit down and talk about it. But when the lecture is over and the action starts, then truly one will realise who is the Krsna conscious person and who is not.

As Srila Prabhupada humorously comments, “it was not that after Arjuna heard Bhagavad Gita from Krsna, he praised Krsna for being the doer and the controler, and set down in the back of his chariot and smoked ganja.” No, after hearing the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna got into action, and his action was not only the most demanding, but following his varna was deadly for others and could have been deadly for him as well. Following exactly Krsna's order, he did what Krsna expected him to do: “God helps those who help themselves.“

This “hear and do” spirit of Srila Prabhupada was wonderfully demonstrated in one darshan described in Hayagriva dasa's Hare Krishna Explosion (page 183):

There’s a moment’s reflective silence, finally broken by Luke, one of the boys awaiting initiation. Luke seems a big talker, big speculator, but is basically a simple farmboy.

“The Buddha’s teachings are very similar to Bhagavad-gita,” he says.

Prabhupada looks at him squarely, calmly. “Do you follow Buddha?” he asks.

Luke hesitates, surprised to have the subject bounce back.

“Well... no,” he admits.

“You simply talk of him?” he explodes suddenly, as if just talking of Buddha were some terrible outrage.

All eyes turn to Luke, who now seems very startled. Like all of us, he is receiving Prabhupada’s mercy without realizing it.

“If you are serious about Buddha, then meditate,” Prabhupada says sternly. “But you are not serious. You simply talk.”

Luke glances at the floor, his face now red with embarrassment.

“Do something!” Prabhupada shouts so loudly that we all jump. “Whether you follow Christ or Buddha or Krishna, it doesn’t matter! Don’t just sit and talk! Follow someone! Lord Buddha is very nice. If you like, you can become a Buddhist priest and meditate. Go do it. But that is your problem. You don’t do anything. You talk much. Just do something and do it perfectly.”

As always, Prabhupada hits the mark. That is indeed our dilemma: to do, or not to do. Inactivity, the bane of armchair speculators.

As usual, Srila Prabhupada is getting right to the point.
Even though this talk took place in the seventies of the previous century, how even more relevant is it today where, by dint of (a)social networks, an opportunity was given to every fool on this planet to broadcast his or her speculations to a wide audience, simply talking and doing nothing? After grand talk, everybody returns to his or her domestic realms of mediocrity, simply eating, sleeping, and eventually mating and defending their lifestyle in front of others.

It is this spirit of Srila Prabhupada, „You like it, you do it,” which is today under attack by various home-made preachers who point to „within,” discouraging others to perform anything tengible for Krsna and His mission „outside.“ These mayavada teachers of nothingness proved to have a truly devastating effect on the Srila Prabhupadas mission.

Every day and every night, the social platforms are filled with gramya katha, destructive talk of worthless beings talking about worthless issues.
“So much talking, simply creating enemies.“ It was another genious comment from Srila Prabhupada, discouraging us to talk too much and do little or do nothing.

Krsna Consciousness was spread by those who actually did something, not by those who just talked. In the process of sravanam and smaranam, kirtanam is the result, a practical outgoing action in terms of spreading Krsna Consciousness. Our actions, not our words, will ultimately determine how we are perceived and judged. Those who really only rely on the talk of others risk getting cheated by those who “preach water and drink wine.”

Religious institutions are filled with hypocrites who talk exactly about things they don't do. Srila Prabhupada, when spreading Krsna Consciousness, got „down to business." He boldly comments that every movement needs manpower, money, and land to operate. Even though we may not have any land, money, or, above all, manpower, it is an absolute necessity. In the material world, these things are achieved by cheating, exploiting, and manipulating others. In Krsna Consciousness, the same is achieved by PREACHING. If not actually preaching, Krsna Consciousness remains only a concept, a blueprint of something that hasn't actually happened yet.

Many illusioned leaders are satisfied with blueprints while they, in a hypocritical way, live from those who don't just talk but who supply money and physical facilities for them. These hypocrites believe that by consuming others property, they “purify it.“
This hypocrisy was not included in Srila Prabhupadas preaching. His words led to direct actions, and actions being performed under his guidance manifested in the form of immense amounts of printed and distributed literature, temples being established, and thousands of men and women being actively involved in spreading Krsna Consciousness.

The price he had to pay was the price of the most demanding management he had to get involved with, facing ungrateful, ignorant, and incompetent individuals even amongst disciples and collecting envy even from his godbrothers. But he took this risk and kept on preaching, publishing, establishing, and creating projects that he envisioned to be the shelter of those who so badly needed it.

This is how we can achieve true Krsna consciousness. Simply by studying, talking, and speculating, Krsna Consciousness remains a concept without any tangible result. It is not only the study of medicine that makes one a doctor, but its practical application, which ultimately benefits the diseased. 
In the same fashion, Srila Prabhupada taught us to practice Krsna Consciousness in a practical way and not just talk.