Sriniketana: Srila Prabhupada is at the airport in the VIP lounge sitting next to Gowtam Teelock, who was our greatest well-wisher in Mauritius at that time, and another gentleman who is a member of Parliament. Mr. Teelock also is a member of Parliament. They were very eager to meet Srila Prabhupada at the airport. Actually Mauritius is a little different from most other countries in the sense that it’s one of the only countries in the world, like Nepal, India, governed by Indian Hindu majorities. So Srila Prabhupada knew about this. So he was specifically keen to come because he had heard some good reports about Mauritius when he was in India. And there was an invitation letter from the Prime Minister, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, who invited Prabhupada to come and visit the island and grace it by his presence. So it was very special.
The interesting thing about the place where we were staying was that it was in an area that was mostly populated by Creole population, means Christians of African descent, and obviously they have never heard of Hare Krishna because it was such a new thing at that time. But when they heard a swami, a saintly person, was coming to reside in their neighborhood and that there were going to be daily lectures in the evening, so many people came – so many ladies, young men and all types of people, not only Hindus came. Actually I would think the majority were non-Hindus, and they were all interested.
So on one morning walk, we’re going along the beach. It was very intimate because very few devotees were there and Prabhupada was very relaxed. In one place, Prabhupada was sitting on the bench, Pusta Krishna Maharaja put his chadar so that Prabhupada would be comfortable, and all the devotees were sitting down on the sand. Next to the bench there was capsules of Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, cigarettes butts and all kind of wrappers. And then he said, “What is all this Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola? We don’t use all this. What is the necessity of this Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola? In our ashram, we don’t have any of this and we are all very happy anyway. In this way,” he said, “they manufacture all kinds of things, and they make advertisement so that people will consume. In this way, they are misleading society into sense gratification. And because the people want sense gratification, they will purchase endlessly until finally they get sick of all this junk food and garbage.”
One of the first things we arranged was a press conference. That’s what we are seeing here. Prominent reporters from the television, the newspapers were invited to come and meet Srila Prabhupada and put their questions. 1975 was a time when the country was not very developed and people were not very enlightened on spiritual subjects. The population of the country consisting in the majority of Hindus, they were used more to Lord Shiva’s worship and Ramayana. So to have Krishna being propagated was rather unusual. I remember when we came we brought the Bhagavad-gita, and most people had just heard about the Bhagavad-gita but very few people had the Bhagavad-gita actually at home. So there was such a big demand for the Bhagavad-gita As It Is that we couldn’t supply because the yatra was not in any way up to the standard to import books from Los Angeles or anything like that. But we did take orders, and after some time we were able to get the books in and distribute them to the people. So you will see the questions are rather simple. People here are generally quite accepting swamis, priests and other saintly persons without having to challenge. Out of their cultural upbringing, they won’t challenge him like a Western reporter would probably challenge him. We have recorded another exchange between the reporter and Prabhupada. The reporter is asking, “Do you think, Swamiji, that man can become perfect?” Prabhupada says that “That is the chance of a human being. Therefore, in the human society there are schools, colleges, education, culture, and not in the animal society. Humans can be made into perfect beings, not the animals. So if mankind is denied proper education, that is the greatest harm. Humans have got the opportunity for spiritual education, but the authorities are not giving them that opportunity. They are imperfect, and they are taking advice from the imperfect. Therefore, it is very difficult for them to understand because they do not take advice from the perfect person, Krishna. Apasyatam atma-tattvam, they cannot see. Without guidance from the Supreme Person, nothing can be properly managed.” Then the reporter puts another question: “Do you mean that perfection is to become God or to become a perfect man?” Prabhupada says, “Man never becomes God.” Then the reporter said, “What does perfection mean?” Prabhupada says, “Perfect means to become godly.” So this was very significant. Being also permeated by the impersonalist aspect of spirituality and by false teachings of swamis and preachers and other type of persons, they also had the idea maybe that if you become perfect you become God. But Prabhupada very clearly put it, “Man cannot become God. The best he can become godly.”
On the Saturday of the week when he stayed with us, we had made a public program. We didn’t know anybody, we had just come to the island a few months before. And Mr. Teelock requested the government list of 500 VIPs that they have when they do their functions, and we just sent out invitations to all of them. They were Muslims, Christians, anybody. And we made the buffet-style prasadam. Srila Prabhupada was sitting under the veranda, and invitees were sitting out under the sky as we can see here on the film. Srila Prabhupada was lecturing from the verse sa vai pumsam paro dharmo because there were Muslims in there, there were Christians in there, there were Tamils, and there were all types of…the whole section of Mauritian population was actually represented by this. There was the High Commissioner of India, there was the High Commissioner of England, there was the Minister of Youth and Sports, there were prominent lawyers, there were swamis, there was one swami there from the Kabir Panth, there were Amadya Muslims there, it was a very cosmopolitan gathering. And Srila Prabhupada chose that verse that what is the purpose of religion. Any religion that is bona fide brings its practitioner to the level of love of God. This is the only test of a bona fide religion. So he was going on with this point, and finally at the end of the lecture he was asking for questions. We were expecting some fiery questions, maybe the Muslims or the Christians would put some challenging questions. No. It was actually one gentleman who received Prabhupada at the airport who was a member of Parliament. He was a proprietor of a newspaper called Mauritius Times, and he challenged Prabhupada. He was saying, “How can a person who has just heard from God speaking about the Absolute Truth, how the next moment he can break down and be completely devastated by some event that had happened?” And we didn’t know what he was going on about. But actually what he was talking about was Arjuna, having just been taught by Krishna the Bhagavad-Gita, and when Abhimanyu was killed Arjuna was devastated because of the death of his son. That was the basic point that he was going on about. “How can he act in such a ridiculous way?” So Prabhupada said, “What are you talking ridiculous? Explain yourself.” Then the man again he was going on with this point that anyone who has heard from God, if He’s actually God, how can he act in such a way as Arjuna did. And he called it…the man called this ridiculous. So Prabhupada was actually smashing him very strongly. Prabhupada said, “Just like theoretically we understand that the body is not killed. Still, when my son dies, I become affected. That is temporary. Everyone becomes disturbed. But that does not mean he stops doing his work. What was the final conclusion? He did not leave the war field because his son Abhimanyu was killed. He didn’t say, ‘No, I don’t want to fight.’ He was affected for the time being, that is only natural. But finally he concluded and said, ‘Karisye vacanam tava, nasto mohah smrtir labdha. My illusion is now over, and I shall fight.’ That is the right conclusion.” So Prabhupada just devastated him, and finally he had no more to say. Then the next question was by another Hindu gentleman who was trying to point out the defects when God comes down like in yada yada hi dharmasya, he was mentioning that verse, that the Hindu community is taking this, “OK, so we can just wait. There is a decline of religion and God will come down and He will protect us,” and that has created a big amount of fatalism in the Hindu society. So Prabhupada said, “What is fatalism?” Then Brahmananda said, “Pessimism, downcast, discouraged.” Prabhupada said, “No, it’s not like this.” And the man kept insisting on Hindu, India. Prabhupada said, “Why do you talk India? Why do you talk Hindu? Bhagavad-gita is not for Hindus, Bhagavad-gita is for everyone. Krishna is God of everyone. Why do you bring Hindu?” And the man said, “It says yada yada hi dharmasya, glanir bhavati bharata. ‘Whenever there is a decline of religion, I will come.’” Then Prabhupada got angry and he said, “It doesn’t say yada yada hi hindu dharmasya, glanir bhavati bharata. It says yada yada hi dharmasya, it doesn’t mention anything about Hindu. So stop with this Hindu.” But the man kept insisting. And finally he said, “Yes, I maintain it has created fatalism,” and then the argument stopped there. Finally the British High Commissioner spoke up. He said, “I have listened to your talk, and everything seems to be beyond any doubt. Everything seems very clear-cut.” So Prabhupada thanked him. He said, “Thank you very much. You are American?” He said, “No, no, no, I am Scottish.” He said, “Yes, in Scotland also we have our centers. Therefore,” Prabhupada said, “it appeals more to the Western countries because it’s very clear-cut.” So then the talk ended and finally prasadam was distributed, and everyone was very, very satisfied.
On one morning walk, one young man came along. His name was Ramoo, and he was a nursing officer in the government. He was animating the conversation with Srila Prabhupada to such an extent that practically he monopolized the whole morning walk, and what happened afterwards is very unusual. We were coming into the house, and normally after morning walk…of course, there was no Deities so we would do Guru Puja, and then we gave the Bhagavatam class. But this morning Srila Prabhupada came right off the morning walk, sat on his vyasasana, and the Guru Puja paraphernalia was already there and someone was waiting; but he kept on talking to this gentleman, and they were going back and forth. This man was proposing that “We will go to the villages and we will do kirtan. We put up a small tent and then, Swamiji,” he said, “you could come, you give the lecture.” Prabhupada would say, “But they don’t understand English.” He said, “No, but we can translate.” “No, no, I will speak in Hindi,” Prabhupada said. So it was going on like this, and Prabhupada became more and more enthusiastic. Finally at the conclusion, it was getting late, Prabhupada made the most outstanding comment. He said, “Yes, if you do organize, I shall stay. Param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam. Sri Krsna Sankirtan is so powerful that it will conquer, it will be victorious. So I am very glad to meet you. You do this program, and if you like I shall come back after one week and do. Utilize me in this way, I shall be very glad.” Can you imagine Prabhupada saying “utilize me in this way”? So this is actually Prabhupada’s greatness. When there was preaching to be done, he was always there. He was always ready to preach. He came to Mauritius for what? Because he was invited by the Prime Minister to come and see if Krishna consciousness could be spread. There was not much facility, there was nothing he could do at the present moment except enliven the devotees to carry on the mission, and that’s what he definitely did. And when he talked to this man, we all became so inspired that we just wanted to go out. So the spirit of preaching has been implanted by Srila Prabhupada in the Mauritian yatra, and up to this day there are so many programs going on every day in the villages that every village has devotees residing there and having satsangs, having Rathayatras, having Harinam processions, and this was Prabhupada’s mercy. He could see the great potential of this Mauritius island, and it was said that Mauritius could be the first Krishna conscious country in the world. After Srila Prabhupada’s visit, there was a very nice article in Back To Godhead magazine, which I would like to read: “Srila Prabhupada proposed that an ideal state based on the instruction of Bhagavad-gita be set up in Mauritius. ‘In a big state, especially in a highly industrialized state, it would not be possible. But in a small state like Mauritius, you can make it happen. In Vedic days, people lived strictly according to the principles of Bhagavad-gita. They made the test and proved that the principles are true. So you just have to follow what is already there. You simply have to accept the Vedic authority.’”
