The Role of the Disciple — Harvard Divinity School

You’ve been speaking at some length about the notion of the guru. According to your tradition, what is the role of the disciple? How does he deal with the guru?

You’ve been speaking at some length about the notion of the guru. According to your tradition, what is the role of the disciple? How does he deal with the guru?

San Francisco, 1967. Prabhupada’s temple had become an integral part of the youth scene in the Haight-Ashbury district. Now, unexpectedly, the Lord of the universe came to the temple through the agency of a local import store.
Karma is the law of cause and effect: there is a reaction for everything we do. If we throw a coin up, it will come down. If we regularly put money in the bank, our wealth will accumulate. If we drink too much, we’ll get drunk. These are natural laws of cause and effect.

At the end of each day, after trading in his Gucci suit for a simple cotton dhoti, Marco spends the evening hours chanting Hare Krsna on beads, reading Bhagavad-gita, and speaking with visitors about the philosophy of Krsna consciousness.
The Sanskrit language is rich in words to communicate ideas about spiritual life, yoga, and Cod realization. This dictionary, appearing by installments in back to godhead, will focus upon the most important of these words.

Srila Prabhupada had planted the seed of Krsna consciousness in the fertile ground of New York’s Lower East Side and seen it take root and flourish. But when he came to San Francisco, his International Society for Krishna Consciousness truly began to blossom.

Among all the practices of the Hare Krsna movement, the most prominent is the public chanting of God’s names, ecstatic dancing, and playing of musical instruments—a spontaneous street liturgy common in most major cities throughout the world.

The soul transmigrates at every moment as our body changes from childhood, to youth, and then to old age. When the body disintegrates at death, the soul starts another round of transmigration in a new body.
For the successful transcendentalist entering the spiritual world, death is a glorious experience. For the sinful person, however, death is ultimately a painful and horrifying passage into a hellish life of suffering.

A vegetarian cookbook by Yamuna-devi dasi. A disciple of Prabhupada for fifteen years, Yamuna learned many recipes directly from him. In addition, she spent four years in India studying the techniques and ingredients involved in Krsna conscious cooking.

When I met devotees of Lord Krsna for the first time, in 1969, I still believed that art could change the world without recourse to transcendent realities.

An astrologer did a horoscope for the child, and the family was made jubilant by the auspicious reading. The astrologer made a specific prediction: When this child reached the age of seventy, he would cross the ocean, become a great exponent of religion, and open 108 temples.
You should become a devotee of Krsna is that devotion to Krsna is your original nature. You and I—all of us—are eternal servants of God. But you have temporarily forgotten this.
The Sanskrit language is rich in words to communicate ideas about spiritual life, yoga, and God realization. This dictionary, appearing by installments in BACK TO GODHEAD, will focus upon the most important of these words.

Though some of the New York disciples had objected, Srila Prabhupada was still scheduled for the Mantra-Rock Dance at the Avalon Ballroom. It wasn’t proper, they had said, for the devotees out in San Francisco to ask their spiritual master to go to such a place.

During the two months spent at 26 Second Avenue, Srila Prabhupada had achieved what had formerly been only a dream. He now had a temple, a duly registered society, full freedom to preach, and a band of initiated disciples.

Our lines are jammed from midnight to 6 A.M. An important reason for the show’s success is that we touch on real issues and give practical solutions. We go into detail about everything from medicine to meditation, from international policy to the economy, abortion, and natural foods.

On a small press Srila Prabhupada’s disciples printed the first BACK TO GODHEAD magazine, one hundred copies, and then distributed them by bicycle.

Srila Prabhupada’s message to the world was not one of artificial renunciation but of devotion. Whatever you may be—family man, businessman, professional—add Krsna to your life and be happy. Business, after all, is an essential element of society.

The Vedic literature explains the power of chanting God’s name in the story of Ajamila, a great sinner who at the time of his death called out the name of God and was immediately purified of all sinful contamination.