Page 31 - Jaya Srila Prabhupada (English)

The Greatness of Çréla Prabhupäda 13

That “little old swami” who landed on Boston Pier, not
knowing whether to turn right or left.
Starting with forty rupees and a trunk of books, Çréla
Prabhupäda founded an international movement
comprising temples, farms, schools, and multiple volumes
of books published in all major languages. Arriving in
8
America at “the fag end of his life,” within twelve years he
made Hare Kåñëa a household phrase, and sowed the
seeds of a cultural and spiritual revolution destined to
change the world. Certainly he was not just another swami

starting another movement. The standard of purity and
dedication he demanded of his followers testifies to his
genuineness and unwillingness to compromise for the sake
of having many admirers.
Such achievements do not just happen automatically.
They are possible only for persons with tremendous
determination, purity, faith, patience, and above all, love.
One cannot spread the gospel of love unless he himself has
love to give. Also, a person of remarkable achievements
could not but have tremendous depth of character.
Just as the people of Bengal became attracted to Lord
Caitanya because of His wonderful transcendental
qualities, nearly five hundred years later the people of the
West became attracted to Çréla Prabhupäda. He came
from India not to beg some insignificant technology, but to
give the most extraordinary theology.
That Çréla Prabhupäda created so much so quickly
from so little is not, as some of his Godbrothers suggested,

a mundane achievement based on a lifetime’s experience
in business. It is not that Abhay Caraëa De was an