Nityananda Prabhu preached at the risk of life. He was hurt by Jagai-Madhai. Blood came out of His head. Lord Chaitanya became very much angry. He wanted to immediately kill Jagai and Madhai. But Lord Nityananda told Him, "My dear Sir, You promised that in this incarnation You’ll not take any weapon. Please be kind upon them."

So this is Nityananda. Nityananda-vamsa means one who takes the risk of preaching work. He can claim to be Nityananda-vamsa. The preaching work is not easy-going. There are so many difficulties. ... They attempted to kill my Guru Maharaja. Twenty-five thousand rupees were raised for bribing the police officer. He told me personally.

...They will arrest you. You have got good experience. In London, they were arrested. You were in London. How many times were you arrested?

Gurudasa: Three.

Prabhupada: Three times. Our record is that our people were arrested thirty-six times. Now the police have become disgusted. They don’t arrest. This thing is going on in Australia, especially in Melbourne. The devotees have asked me what to do? What to do? Chant Hare Krishna, and you’ll get good opportunity. When you are put into jail, you’ll be free to chant Hare Krishna. So they are doing that. They are not eating. The minister in charge of the jail department, he was perturbed that, "These people are not eating. So they allowed the devotees to cook." But they refused, because in the same kitchen they were cooking flesh. So then after few days, they were let loose. "All right. You go home."

So religious persecution is always there. ...So don’t be afraid. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, "Yare dekha tare kaha krsna-upadesa." [Cc. madhya 7.128] This is the mission of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Anyone you meet, any dumb rascal or gentleman, it doesn’t matter. Try to convince him about Krishna and let him inquire about Krsna. Then his life will be successful. – Bhagavatam Lecture, Oct 16^th 1972, Vrindavan.

Lord Nityananda and the Gang of Thieves
From Sri Caitanya-bhagavata antya 5.528-706
by Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur

In Navadvipa lived a brahmana’s son who had no peer among the thieves. He was a brahmana in name only. His heart was filled with evil. He was the commander of an army of thieves. There was no mercy in his body. He always happily stayed among thieves. Seeing Lord Nityananda’s ornaments and His glistening necklaces of gold, pearls and coral, and seeing the many valuable things that decorated His graceful limbs, the brahmana thief decided to rob them all. Concealing his desire, the thief stayed always in Lord Nityananda’s company.

The omniscient Lord Nityananda knew that this man was very wicked. A good brahmana named Hiranya Pandita lived in Navadvipa. He had no material possessions. Associating with no one else, Lord Nityananda was staying in the home of this fortunate devotee.

 The Plot to Rob Lord Nityananda

 Meanwhile, the evil-minded brahmana-thief met with other thieves and told them his plan: “O my brothers, why should we be unhappy any longer? Mother Durga has brought a great treasure-house of wealth to a place nearby. On the limbs of the avadhuta Nityananda are many ornaments of gold, pearls, and diamonds. There is nothing like these ornaments. What is the monetary value of all these ornaments I do not know! Mother Durga has put them all in one place. Now they are all in Hiranya’s house. In half an hour we will rob them all. Taking our swords and shields, tonight we will go there and attack.” Agreeing on this plan, the thieves met that night.

Armed with various weapons such as swords, daggers, and tridents, the thieves went to the place where Lord Nityananda stayed. Sending a spy ahead, the thieves waited at a certain place. Meanwhile, Lord Nityananda was eating, and in all four directions the devotees chanted the holy names of Lord Hari. Lord Nityananda’s companions were wild with the ecstasy of love for Lord Krishna. One devotee roared like a lion. Another made a sound like thunder. Another, tasting the nectar of love for Lord Krishna, wept. Another clapped his hands and loudly laughed. “Hai! Hai! Hai! Hai!” Filled with the bliss of krsna-prema, no one slept. The spy returned to the thieves. “The avadhuta is eating. Everyone else is awake,” was his report. The thieves said, “Let them eat. When they are asleep, we will attack.” Happy that they would soon plunder great wealth, the thieves sat under a tree. One of them said, “The gold bracelets and armlets are mine.” Another said, “I will take the pearl necklace.” Another said, “I will take the earrings.”  Another said, “I will take the gold necklace.” Another said, “I will take the silver anklets.” Their minds became absorbed in these thoughts.

By Lord Nityananda’s wish, the goddess of sleep came and put a veil around those thieves. At once the thieves fell asleep. They were all unconscious. Bewildered by the Lord’s Maya, the dawn came, but still they were not awake. When the crows cawed, the thieves awakened. They did not even see the night. They were unhappy at heart. They hurriedly hid their swords and shields in the forest. Then the thieves hurried to bathe in the Ganga. When they returned to their own place they violently quarreled. One of them said, “You fell asleep first.” Another said, “You slept very soundly.” The wicked brahmana who was the commander of that army of thieves said, “Why should we quarrel? Whatever happened was all Goddess Durga’s will. One day may pass, does that mean that all the days are gone? I think Goddess Durga bewildered us. We did not offer her worship before we left. That is the reason for all this. Tonight we will all worship Goddess Durga. We will offer her meat and wine. Then we will go to the same place again.” Agreeing to this plan, the thieves, offering meat and wine, worshipped Goddess Durga

Superhuman Guards

 That night, they cleaned their weapons, dressed in black clothing, and left. The night was very dark. Everyone slept. The thieves assembled. Approaching the house, the thieves saw many tall men guarding the four directions. Standing in the four directions, the armed guards again and again chanted the holy names of Lord Hari. They were giants. They were  powerful and ferocious. Their weapons were raised. The thieves saw that each of those giants had the power to kill a hundred thieves. The giants had flower garlands around their necks and sandal paste on their limbs. Again and again, they chanted sankirtana of the holy names. As Lord Nityananda slept, the giants in the four directions sang, “Krishna, Krishna!”

 Seeing this, the thieves became filled with wonder. They left the house and sat down together. The thieves said, “From where did these guards come?” One of them said, “Somehow the avadhuta must have known. He brought the guards here.” Another said, “My brothers, this avadhuta is a great sage and a philosopher. Again and again I heard this from many mouths. This saintly avadhuta has great knowledge. He can protect Himself. We all saw those guards. I don’t think they were human beings. I think this avadhuta has great mystic powers. That is why the people call Him ‘Gosai’ [master].” Another thief said, “My brother, you are a fool. How can anyone who eats as He does and decorates Himself with fancy clothes as He does be a ‘gosai’?” The brahmana who was the commander of that little army of thieves said, “I know the reason. Some big, big important person must have come to see the avadhuta. An emissary from the king must have come. The giants were his personal bodyguards. Those guards were all religious fanatics. That is why they chanted, ‘Hari! Hari!’ While the guards are here, we should not come. After some days they will leave. For now let us go to our homes my brothers. For ten days let us quietly stay at home.” When the leader had spoken these words. The thieves returned to their homes.

(Article is concluded in magazine)

Translated By His Grace Kusakratha Prabhu. For a free catalog of books translated contact: The Krishna institute, PO Box 281, Culver City, CA 90232 USA Tel: (310) 838-3535

"Prabhupada's Ideal Society"

An Interview on the Prabhupada Centennial

With Srila Gour Govinda Swami
Barcelona, Spain, 22 August 1994
Interviewed by Savyasrestha Prabhu

Interviewer: What do you think is the best quality of Srila Prabhupada?

Gour Govinda Swami: Prabhupada is a pukkha vaisnava, pure vaisnava. All vaisnava qualities are in him, as mentioned in sastra: krpalu, akrta-droha, satya-sara, sama, maitra vadanya, kavi (Cc. Mad. 22.77-80) All qualities are there. A pure vaisnava has all these qualities. Srila Prabhupada is a pure vaisnava — cent per cent vaisnava-sadhu. His heart bleeds to see the sufferings of the jiva’s, therefore he came down from the abode of Krsna and traveled all over the world to save the fallen jivas.  One who is a vaisnava, his heart bleeds.

Int: By celebrating the centennial, what benefit do we get?

GGS: Are baba! Benefit for the individual and benefit for the masses. All benefit is there. Sastra says: 

vaisnava guna-gana      karile jivera trana
suniachi sadhu guru mukhe

Sadhu guru says that if you glorify a vaisnava, you will be glorified. Glorify, magnify, spread, inculcate, tell others, print books, spread throughout the world, and the world will benefit.  Individually and collectively such benefit is there. The vaisnava pure devotee should be glorified more than the Lord. The Lord will be very happy when His pure devotee is glorified.

Int: If we want to make a nice centennial we have to become very Prabhupada conscious, how can we become strong and all the time thinking of Prabhupada?

GGS: How can you become strong? How can you do it on your own? If you have love and affection for Prabhupada, if you have love and affection for a sadhu, if you can understand what he has done, then you will be very strong. You will get his mercy, his strength. It’s Baladeva’s krpa, Baladeva’s merciful strength. It’s manifest in sad-guru. You’ll get his strength. If you get his mercy, that is very powerful. Krpa-bala — merciful strength. Then you can do wonders with that strength. It’s not physical or material strength but spiritual strength that comes from such a sadhu, pure Vaisnava. And that is from Krsna.

Int: Many former devotees of ISKCON seem to be forgetting Prabhupada. They have left the association of devotees. We feel that we have to bring all these people back to celebrate Prabhupada’s centennial. How can we accomplish this?

GGS: The first thing we have to ask is why they left? What is the reason? Why did they leave Prabhupada’s movement? If that problem is done away with then they will come back, isn’t it? What is the reason why they left? If I state the reason, it will be an unpalatable truth. In his Bhagavatam purport to 5.13.11, Prabhupada has said:

 “The Krishna consciousness movement aims at creating an atmosphere of non-envy. Of course it is not possible for everyone to become Krishna conscious, but the Krishna consciousness movement can create an exemplary society wherein there is no envy.”

  Prabhupada wanted an exemplary society where there would be no envy at all, a society of vaisnavas and sadhus. They are never envious. This is the purpose of Prabhupada. If those who are the pillars of the society, the pillars of this house, if they will acquire all vaisnava qualities, if they will be pukka vaisnavas, sadhus, if they will be non envious, then they can bring them back. Those persons who left will see, "Yes, this is the ideal society. No envy at all, a vaisnava society." Krishna is all attractive. His dear devotee is all attractive. Krsna-katha is all attractive. How did Prabhupada attract people throughout the world? He just spoke krsna-katha. This krsna-katha is not different from Krsna, so thereby all are attracted. Do like that and all will be attracted. And those who have gone out of the society because of this enviousness, because some wrong was done to them, if you fix that and they see that it is completely gone, if they see that things are now very good — a pukka vaisnava society where there is no enviousness, only love and affection — then all will be attracted. If Krishna and krsna-katha are there, then they’ll definitely come back. Any jiva will be attracted, why wouldn’t they be attracted? Why would they not come back? But if the same thing continues to go on then no one will come back. The same thing is going on now, do you understand me? You should first know the reason. What is the reason why they left? If that is not going on now and you can exhibit it — not just theoretically saying it, but exhibiting it practically — then they’ll come back.

Int: But Maharaja, when Prabhupada was here, some devotees left, because maya is very strong.

(This article is concluded in the magazine)