Dedicated to HDG AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada and HG GaurangaSundar Prabhu.
The Smile From Goloka
"The Smile from Goloka" is an article describing the transcendental smile of our beloved spiritual master, HDG AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada who did not really belong to the material world, but appeared from the Supreme Planet—Goloka Vrindavana to place the fallen souls back to the Lotus Feet of Krishna and engage them in the seva. With his transcendental smile, he won zillions of hearts and converted the meat-eaters and drug addicts into “Hari-Bhaktas”. “Unless one is a resident of Krishna Loka, one cannot be a Spiritual Master." (Srila Prabhupada Letter, June 10th, 1969) Because His Divine Grace did not really belong to this material world, his body was also not material, but spiritual. “The spiritual master, or acarya, is always situated in the spiritual status of life. Birth, death, old age and disease do not affect him [...] therefore, after the disappearance of an acarya, his body is never burnt to ashes, for it is a spiritual body. The spiritual body is always unaffected by material conditions.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.4.20, purport)
Srila Prabhupada says in the Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 19: "The sun is far above the planetary systems, and there is no possibility of its being covered by any kind of cloud; similarly, when a devotee is purified like the sun, from his pure heart there is a diffusion of ecstatic love which is more glorious than the sunshine." And therefore when such a pure devotee of Krishna smiles, it immediately attracts the heart of all. "Pure devotees are so absorbed in thought of Kṛṣṇa that they have no other engagement; although they may seem to think or act otherwise, they are always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. The smile of such a Kṛṣṇa conscious person is so attractive that simply by smiling he wins so many admirers, disciples and followers." (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.22.21, Purport)
When a diamond is set in a golden ring, it looks very nice. The gold is glorified, and at the same time the diamond is glorified. The Lord and the living entity eternally glitter, and when a living entity becomes inclined to the service of the Supreme Lord he looks like gold. (Bhagavad-gita As It Is 9.29, Purport)
There are many pastimes of Srila Prabhupada where the devotees personally experienced and relish the transcendental smile of Srila Prabhupada and realized him from an another dimension (dimension of Goloka Vrindavana):
It was in the middle of the night when His Divine Grace arrived, and we were all lined up to meet him. But the most amazing thing was that when he arrived, he was golden. He was just golden. And you could hear the devotees as Prabhupada was walking by, you could hear one devotee after another, they were gasping in surprise, “He’s golden!” “He’s golden!” “He’s golden!” And he really was. Prabhupada just appeared on this specific occasion…it was different than other times. Prabhupada is always transcendental and effulgent, but this particular time he was looking like a walking Deity or something. He was just looking very golden.
By Draupadi Dasi, Following Srila Prabhupada – Remembrances by Yadubara Dasa
Chaitanya: I was in the Los Angeles temple in the early days when Vishnujana, who wasn’t a swami yet, Srimati and Kaushalya, made beautiful rod puppets. We would all go to Griffith Park early on Sundays with them as they put on improv puppet shows to attract the people in the park to accept our free love feast invitations. On one of these days, Srila Prabhupada came and watched the puppet show on the life of Prahlad Maharaj. It was the first time I was ever seeing Prabhupada in such an informal setting. The puppet show started and Vishnujana, playing the part of Prahlad, started singing, “If you like singing, Krishna says you can sing for Him.” Then he would ask the crowd that had gathered, “Do you like to sing?” Everyone cheerfully said, “Yes.” Vishnujana would continue singing, “If you like dancing, Krishna says you can dance for Him.” Then he would ask everyone, “Do you like dancing?” In unison they all said, “Yes.” As this was going on, I looked over to see how Srila Prabhupada, the Jagat Guru, was reacting to this puppet show.
Prabhupada was smiling with a huge grin and he started laughing. Up to this point I had only seen Prabhupada as the “heavy” guru sitting on the vyasasana dispensing knowledge, but now I saw a new side to his personality. Srila Prabhupada had this childlike innocence of enjoyment and it just touched my heart.
By Chaitanya, Excerpt from “A Bond of Love, Srila Prabhupada and his daughters”
"Prabhupada was speaking emphatically, making such wonderful philisophical points. Then he ended the class so brilliantly that I couldn't restrain myself and I shouted out really loudly, “Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!” Prabhupada looked at me and beamed a very broad and merciful smile, and as we looked at each other I felt this long-standing connection with Prabhupada which I knew to be my eternal connection with Krsna. In Srila Prabhupada's smile I experienced the well-known personality of His Divine Grace, and through that personality, another well-known personality, that of Krsna."
Tribhuvanath : When Prabhupada came through the doors of the lounge, his smile was oceanic. He was beaming. I was supposed to put a garland on him, but I froze. [...] Prabhupada's smile had knocked me out. The other devotees were practically crying, and that made me more amazed [...] that he could walk through a door and cause everyone to cry. It was fascinating.
Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint - Volume 1 by Siddhanta Dasa
Indeed, the Smile from Goloka is making all eyes cry and all hearts dance in the ecstasy of the holy names, building their eternal connections with Krsna. Carrying the Lotus Feet of Kṛṣṇa always in his heart and depending fully on the mercy of our Grand Spiritual Master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Maharaja, he at the age of 70, took all risks and moved to West with 40 INR in his pocket and a few sets of Srimad-Bhagavatam. He converted the mlecchas and shudras into brahmins by making them chant “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare”. Srila Prabhupada verdicted the words of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu: “In every town and village, the chanting of my name will be heard.”(Sri Chaitanya Bhagavata, Antya 4.126 - Srila Vrindavana Dasa Thakura). He introduced the pure devotion to Sri Hari devoid of karma and jnana and made it grew like a banyan tree covering the whole world. He destroyed all the inauspiciousness of the living entities by increasing the number of Lord Krsna's devotees; making them sing His holy names while dancing and playing musical instruments (kirtanam). He propagated the unparalleled path of hari-nama sankirtana all over the world making the fortunate English, French, Russian, German, and American people holding up banners, mridangas, and karatalas and raised kirtana through their streets and towns, fulfilling the desire of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura Maharaj (Initiator of Sankirtana Movement). He moved the religion from east to west by becoming a “Senapati Bhakta” of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the “Military Field Commander” who was predicted by the Lord Himself to lead Lord Chaitanya’s sankirtan army. He made the whole world become eka-varna, having one designation, namely, Hari-Bhaktas, devotees of Lord Hari. And simply by offering our heartful obeisances to such a Nitya Siddha Maha Bhagvat devotee of Krishna, one attains all siddhis and all perfections.
Pranam Mantra of Srila Prabhupada:
nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracharine
nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine
I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is very dear to Lord Krishna on this earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet. Our respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master, servant of Sarasvati Gosvami. You are kindly preaching the message of Lord Chaitanya deva and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism.
By the Servant of Srila Prabhupada
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Reference links :-
https://www.krishnaconsciousnesssociety.com/post/prediction-of-srila-prabhupada-the-yuga-acharya
https://bekrsnaconscious.blogspot.com/2011/06/guru-tattva.html?m=1
https://srilaprabhupadalila.org/read/9203
https://srilaprabhupadalila.org/read/LSO113