*Govinda Dasi*
*June 25 at 8:32 AM*
This morning I was remembering something so very clearly. It was in *1968,* and on this particular day, *Srila Prabhupada* was looking very pensive, thoughtful, as if he were *watching a movie of the future.*
Often he would comment on *events in this world,* though we were never connected by *tv or internet—only an occasional newspaper* that would come our way.
But *Srila Prabhupada* would look around and seem to *know what was going on in the world as mystic seers do,* since those *siddhis were always available to him.*
I was always totally unaware of anything that was going on in the outside world, since I considered his room to be *MY world,* and *HE was all the people.*
I was young, *only twenty,* and nothing in the world of current affairs had ever interested me. In high school and college, only Thoreau’s *“Walden Pond”* sparked my interest.
On this day, I went in and sat down quietly in front of his trunk desk, and waited for his next instruction. Daily he would *dictate answers to devotees’ letters,* so that I could type them, or he would just have me write down things that he wanted to accomplish *(“I want to have a world sankirtan party and a big auditorium to have bhajans and plays on stage”),* or things he wanted to share with me, *(“See this altar design I have drawn, can you complete it?”).*
Sometimes he would just talk for hours about *Vedic civilization* and Krishna *(“Krishna is SO wonderful!”)* and tigers and Indian trains and the British and Vrindaban *(“there are 10,000 temples in Vrindaban—every home is a temple!”)* and all sorts of wonderful things!
Because I just loved to hear him speak. *It was like entering into his world for a while, and his world was truly fascinating.*
Rudyard Kipling would be boring compared to *Srila Prabhupada’s ventures and visions, plans and proposals.* So I would eagerly listen and would scribble as fast as I could into my little steno books that I kept ready.
Remember, there were not thousands of disciples. *Only a handful* and his time was not divided in a million ways on management problems, and constant travel. He was focused on his *early morning translation work,* loosely managing his few *budding temples,* and hardly any public meetings.
In addition to his writing and sadhana, *he would simply answer a few letters and meet with one or two devotees* daily—often none, since he was still recovering from his *heart attack the year before.*
But on this day *he looked particularly pensive,* so I waited quietly, steno book in hand, pen ready to write.
He looked up from his somewhat *pained reverie,* as the expression on his face showed a kind of pained compassion. He shook his head very slightly and said:
*“This varnasankara, they will make the whole world into a hell...”* and then quietly resumed softly chanting on his beads.
I sat quietly, absorbing his *profound comment,* and waited until he was ready to dictate the day’s letters. But *I never forgot his prediction on that day.*
And now *I am seeing it come to pass.* He often said there would be *“no food in your cities—the hungry dogs will attack and eat the people”* or *“your cities will be bloodbaths, with looting and rioting”* or *“there will be no cities remaining”* and other things that no one else was saying in *1967 and 1968.*
Certainly he would have been considered *very controversial* in the rich and comfortable country of *America in the late 1960’s.*
Soon after, however, he *quit speaking about his controversial opinions and predictions* because one of his main disciples lost faith and left him.
This disciple, who replaced me as *Srila Prabhupada’s* servant in early *1969,* just after I left for preaching in Hawaii, left because *Srila Prabhupada* insisted that it is *impossible to go to the moon by spaceship.*
Some of the early *male disciples* were so influenced by the *scientific claims and the NASA* propaganda that they were *unable to digest these truths.*
So it seemed that *Srila Prabhupada* decided we were incapable at that time of *comprehending him and his ability to see the future.*
*Trikalajnana is one of the attributes of a great devotee, of an acharya,* and certainly of the *sena pati bhakta sent by Lord Chaitanya as His Sankirtan Commander in Chief—the Acharya* given the *jurisdiction of the world for preaching in Kali Yuga.*
So instead of so many *warnings and predictions,* in the later years he focused on repeatedly *telling us—get ready, get self sufficient,* this *demoniac civilization* is in its *final phases, be prepared.*
But he didnt go into so many gory details about the collapse of empires and the plight of its people. At least, *he didnt do so publicly.*
Now, as he *predicted, that time is here.* I find it *deeply disturbing* that some of my *godbrothers ignored these predictions and derailed the “farm and cow protection” arm of Srila Prabhupada’s teachings.*
And I have *great concern for those devotees who will be trapped in cities in the near future,* dealing with *food shortages, virulent diseases and deadly radiation, street violence, and the “hell worlds” created by the varnasankara.*
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