Prabhupada's glorious failure at the League of Devotees
In 1953 Srila Prabhupada incorporated the League of Devotees in Jhansi, his first attempt to create a Krsna Conscious Society, following the footsteps of his Guru Maharaja.
In 1953, Srila Prabhupada incorporated the League of Devotees in Jhansi, his first attempt to create a Krsna Conscious Society, following the footsteps of his Guru Maharaja.
Jhansi, at the time a town of around 100,000 inhabitants, much smaller than metropolises like Calcutta and Delhi. It was a poor, semi-rural town, with dirt or unpaved streets, low buildings, limited electricity, and an economy centered around the trade of grain, cottage industries, and small-scale production of ghee and simple utensils, with a small Ayurvedic hospital and a few colleges.
Jhansi was not the first city Prabhupada had in mind to start his idea of a world-wide spiritual movement, but he saw some positives: There were a few eager young Ayurvedic students and other pious, simple people who were eager to hear Gītā-kathā and join the kīrtanas, it was relatively quiet, and the buildings were affordable. There was also the possibility of obtaining a building, the Bharati Bhavan complex, which seemed ideal for an āśrama. A similar property in Calcutta would be prohibitively costly, but in Jhansi, prices were much more affordable, and at the beginning, it seemed it could be possible to obtain it for free. Prabhupada thus chose Jhansi not for its size, but simply because at the time it was the place that offered the best possibilities, with a handful of spiritually inclined residents and the chance to quietly plant the seeds of a worldwide movement.
The first visit of Prabhupada to Jhansi to discourse on Krsna Consciousness is described in the Prabhupada Lilamrta:
"One month before, in October of 1952, when Abhay had visited Jhansi on business, Mr. Dubey, a customer and the owner of a Jhansi hospital, had invited him to lecture at the Gita Mandir. Many Jhansi people appreciated things religious or humanitarian, whether from Vaiṣṇavas, theosophists, Māyāvādīs, politicians, or whatever. They regarded almost any path as “dharma” as long as it showed some edifying piety or tended towards the public welfare. Mr. Dubey had read with interest several issues of Back to Godhead and had therefore requested Abhay to speak. Abhay had been eager. And he had found keen interest amongst the audience of more than a hundred people, many of them young medical students and graduates from the local Ayurvedic college.
Abhay was fifty-six, and his commanding presentation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness had impressed the young, religious-minded people of Jhansi. Twenty-five-year-old Prabhakar Misra, principal of the Vedanta Sanskrit College and head medical officer of the Jhansi Ayurvedic University, saw that Abhay was very forceful in his desire to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Dr. Misra regarded him as a kind of guru, although dressed in white. “Here is a humble person,” he thought, “a real sādhu.”
Why did Prabhupada think of starting a new movement in Jhansi? Why not just cooperate with his Godbrothers in the Gaudiya Matha? Prabhupada had been trying since the beginning, but at that time, there was already no Gaudiya Matha as a unified institution. It had already fragmented into smaller, warring factions, distracted by court battles and infighting. Prabhupada continued trying to cooperate with his Godbrothers even while in the United States, but he was simultaneously pursuing other possibilities. The idea of a spiritual institution in Jhansi seemed promising at the time.
"After staying for ten days, Abhay had returned to Allahabad, but remembering Jhansi he had been unable to concentrate on his business. Something more important was on his mind: the need for an association of devotees propagating the teachings and practices of Kṛṣṇa consciousness worldwide. With the Gaudiya Math now broken into permanent schisms – his Godbrothers conducting their own private āśramas in separate locales, apparently impervious to any reconciliations – something would have to be done if the overwhelming atmosphere of godlessness were to be corrected. There must emerge, as Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī had envisioned, a league of preachers with activities worldwide.
The nations of the world had sought unity through the League of Nations, and recently through the United Nations. The League had failed, and so would the United Nations, unless it recognized the true, spiritual unity and equality of all living beings in terms of their intimate relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Abhay did not expect any good to come of such organizations; though they wanted peace and unity, their attempts were simply another feature of godlessness. No, creating peace and unity was the duty of Vaiṣṇavas.
So Abhay had been thinking that perhaps a likely place to start an organization of devotees would be Jhansi. It wasn’t a major city, but at least he had found concerned people. The students had listened and accepted and had said they would help. Abhay had sensed a certain lack of sincerity and depth in their appreciation and a sentimentality that made him doubt their seriousness – but if he could find a few or even one who was serious, then he would have a beginning. He wanted to preach – that was his mission. Besides, he was already getting older; if something were to begin, it should be now. So he would go to Jhansi again, to stay for an indefinite duration. Without much concern for his Allahabad affairs, Abhay left his pharmaceutical business with his son and nephew, informing them that he was going to Jhansi."
In Jhansi, Prabhupada met a few interested souls, like Dr. Shastri, a young Ayurvedic physician who first hosted Prabhupāda and helped him in different ways, and Dr. Prabhakar Misra, who became the first initiated disciple of Prabhupada, receiving the name Ācārya Prabhākar. They were sincere, but as young men, they were busy with their studies and preparations for establishing families, and were not able to assist Prabhupada full-time or substantially assist him financially. We can see that the situation was different from what Prabhupada found in the United States, where his first disciples were able to abandon all other considerations and assist him full-time. Had Prabhupada found a similar commitment from the young men of Jhansi, maybe he could have started his movement from there, but Krsna had other plans.
Prabhupada himself later noted this:
"That League of Devotees – I was alone. There were some students, but they were not so active. I was doing everything. I wanted to organize with Prabhakar Misra and others, but they were not interested to devote their whole time. If you asked him to do full-time work, that he’d not do. But he was initiated. They were all learned scholars in Sanskrit – medical men."
In a later interview, Prabhakar Misra remembered his association with Srila Prabhupada:
"When I first met Swamiji, he said to me, “You’re a brāhmaṇa and a prabhākar, and you are eating in a restaurant? You come with me – I will feed you myself, and I shall cook.” So we would prepare prasādam, and offering it to the Lord, we would take bhagavat-prasādam together. In this way, by his mercy, I got the chance to take prasādam. He also said to me, “You become keśa-hīn [shaven].” So I went with shaven head to the college where I taught, and everyone laughed at me. When I told Swamiji the situation, he said, “Since you are a medical officer, you can grow out your hair.”
When I took dīkṣā, Swamiji gave me my name, Ācārya Prabhākar. My original name was Prabhakar Misra, so he said, “You don’t write the Misra. You are Ācārya Prabhākar.” He gave me the name and offered me a tulasī-mālā and put tilaka on my forehead and tied a kaṇṭhī-mālā around my neck. He had registered the foundation of the League of Devotees, and he appointed me as its secretary for preaching throughout the world. We used to go to the villages for saṅkīrtana and Bhagavad-gītā kathā continuously."
He followed Srila Prabhupada on a few trips to Mathurā and other places, and he followed the news of Prabhupada establishing his movement in the West, but he never traveled to join Prabhupada there, and was also too busy with family affairs to assist him in India. He remained a well-wisher, but was never able to commit to the cause like Prabhupada’s disciples in the West and later disciples in India.
Prabhupada had the ambition of making the whole city of Jhansi alive with Krsna consciousness. He understood that the whole world was waiting for a spiritual revolution, and at the time, he saw that Jhansi could be the start of it. For a time, it seemed it could indeed be true. As also described in the Lilamrta:
"It was during a morning walk with Radhelal Mullik that Abhay first spotted the Bharati Bhavan, a picturesque temple complex across from the large Antiya pond. The neighborhood, known as Antiya Tal, was quiet and sparsely populated, but it was near Sipri Road, the main thoroughfare between downtown Jhansi and Sipri Bazaar. Abhay inquired from Mr. Mullik about the temple, and together they turned from the main road and walked down a sloping footpath that led through the main gates of the compound.
There they found several secluded acres, nestled within a grove of nīm and mango trees. The main structure was the Radha Memorial"
"When Abhay saw the Sanskrit inscription across the side of the stone temple – Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare – he turned to Radhelal Mullik and said strongly, “The Lord has built this building for my use.” From that moment, Abhay was determined to have the building.
Mr. Mullik explained that the temple had been built in 1939 as a memorial to the wealthy Vaiṣṇava landowner Radha Bhai but at the present was not in use. Dr. Prabhakar Misra, whom Abhay had already met on several occasions, was occupying some of the rooms, but otherwise it was deserted. Mr. Mullik and Abhay sought Dr. Misra in his quarters in the main building, and when Dr. Misra saw Abhay’s enthusiasm, he invited Abhay to stay there with him. Dr. Misra confirmed that except for his Sunday-morning Gītā class the facility was sitting idle, and he welcomed Abhay to carry on his writing and preaching there.
Abhay liked the idea. Immediately he began thinking of uses for the buildings, surveying the land with increasing interest. A second, larger building, also with stone pillars and facades, held a hall and five rooms. Abhay made mental plans for each room: in this room, kīrtanas and lectures with large gatherings; in this room, the Deity of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu; in these rooms, resident brahmacārīs and sannyāsīs; guests here; an office there; the printing press here. There was even land for grazing a cow. It was a self-contained unit. Hundreds of people could come here for kīrtana, prasādam, and discourses. Preachers could go out from here distributing Back to Godhead magazines; some could even go abroad with Lord Caitanya’s message.
As Abhay and his companions walked through the compound, appreciating it as a suitable place to start an āśrama, his companions encouraged him, saying they were sure that Mr. Reva Sankar Bhayal, the agent who handled all the properties of Radha Bhai’s descendants, would have no objection to Abhay’s living there. Why couldn’t the landlord give him the buildings? Abhay asked. They were simply going to waste. If it were actually to be a memorial to Rādhā, it should be used in Kṛṣṇa’s service, since Kṛṣṇa is Rādhā’s worshipable Lord.
Abhay was determined, and his friends agreed to help him. First they met with Ram Mitra, who said that he was such a close friend of Mr. Bhayal’s that Mr. Bhayal would probably give the place simply at his request. Dr. Shastri said that he also wanted to go to impress upon Mr. Bhayal how much the people of Jhansi wanted Abhay to have this place."
Prabhupada was invited to stay at the place, and shortly later, he got permission to use it. In May of 1953, he moved in, painted “LEAGUE OF DEVOTEES” on the outer wall, and held a grand opening with kīrtana, a fire yajña, and prasādam for a few hundred visitors.
At the time, he was able to formally register his league of devotees, just as he would later do with his International Society for Krsna Consciousness in the West. He did so with very broad prospects, not only as a local society, but as the basis for a worldwide movement with the potency to change the world:
"During December and January, Abhay prepared a League of Devotees charter. He wanted to begin vigorous, extensive preaching, following the example of his spiritual master. Once he began to set his goals to paper, the project immediately began to expand – beyond Jhansi, beyond India. Of course, the League of Devotees was for the young people of Jhansi – they were already expressing great interest – but Abhay’s charter described more than merely evening classes and kīrtana. It was a broad scheme, including a description of the four orders of society (brāhmaṇa,kṣatriya,vaiśya, and śūdra) and detailed plans to accommodate a worldwide religious movement. The charter set forth a probationary period for prospective members, it described spiritual initiation, it arranged for economic reciprocation between individual members and the League, it arranged to provide lodgings for preachers, and it defined prohibited activities: “illegitimate connection with women, intoxicating habit, diets [other than] regulated strictly on vegetable kingdom, gambling, [and] unnecessary sporting or recreation enterprises.”
To establish his League with the registrar in Lucknow, Abhay required a “Memorandum of Association” signed by the League members. In this document, which was to list the objectives of the society, Abhay expressed his vision for the continuation of his spiritual master’s mission. Like his Godbrothers who had created new maṭhas after the dissolution of the Gaudiya Math, Abhay was forming a new branch of the Gauḍīya sampradāya, to be called the “League of Devotees.” He was not simply claiming proprietorship of a few buildings; he was establishing a Kṛṣṇa conscious society that would expand into a world movement. His intentions were clearly not insular, but were directed towards creating “centres for spiritual development all over the world… .” Abhay wrote: “… Lord Chaitanya … revealed the transcendental process of approaching the ABSOLUTE GODHEAD, and in [His] teachings nothing appears to be absurd from the point of human reasoning and nothing against any religion as accepted by the human and civilised world.” In enumerating the League’s goals, he included the opening of centers in all parts of the world, thus establishing the League as “an International Organisation for spiritual developments through education, culture as also by recruiting members from all nations, creeds and castes.” The League would publish literature in many languages and print a monthly magazine, Back to Godhead."
There was a possibility of formally buying the building in Jhansi for five thousand rupees. This was a respectable sum at the time (something around 50,000 dollars in adjusted value), but it was just a fraction of what a similar building would cost in a bigger city. However, Prabhupada was never able to collect the money. His pharmaceutical business was already in complete disarray at the time, and his young followers were not able to contribute much. He was able to raise 210 rupees for an initial deposit, but not more.
This was also the time that Prabhupada officially left his family. The story is also described in the Lilamrta:
"He visited his family, and the same, old scene occurred. Local friends came to visit, and Abhay began preaching, giving Bhagavad-gītā classes just as he had been doing in Jhansi. Meanwhile, his wife and the rest of the family would take tea in a separate room.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: I wanted as much as possible to get her to work with me in spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to get her help. But she was very determined. She wouldn’t help me in spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So finally, after many years, I could understand – she would not be any assistance to me.
She was very attached to drinking tea. I was always telling her not to drink tea, because I wanted to have a nice Vaiṣṇava family. So although I was repeatedly telling her, this time I finally said, “You have to choose between me or tea. Either the tea goes or I go.” In this way, I was even criticizing my own family. But because they were thinking I was the husband or father, they couldn’t take my instruction seriously. So she replied, “Give up tea-drinking or give up my husband? Well, I will have to give up my husband, then.” Of course, she thought I was joking.
One day, Radharani made a great mistake. There was a system of barter in which a customer would place on a scale an object a shopkeeper considered valuable and the shopkeeper would then balance it with an equal weight of merchandise. So while Abhay was out, his wife took his worshipable Bhāgavatam to the market and traded it for tea biscuits. When Abhay came home and looked for the book, she told him what had happened. She hadn’t taken the matter as a very serious thing – she was out of tea biscuits – but Abhay was shocked. At first he felt depressed, but then a wave of absolute resolution passed over him: his family life was finished.
When he told them he was leaving, they didn’t understand what he meant. He had been leaving for thirty years. He was always coming and going. When he walked out the door, they thought, “There he goes again. He’s leaving.” It was the usual routine. Everyone could see, even the neighbors – Mr. De was going again. He had been at home; now he was going. He would be back again. But Abhay knew he would never come back.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Before leaving my family, I wanted to get all my sons and daughters married, but some of them disagreed. But then … the time is up. Never mind whether they are married or not. Let them see to their own business. Suppose I die immediately – who will take care of my daughter? At that time we say, “God will take care.” Then why not now? God will take care. My Guru Mahārāja used to say [that renunciation of family life was] “civil suicide.” Ifyou commit suicide, that is criminal. But that [renunciation of family] is voluntarily committing suicide – “Now I am dead. Whatever you like, you do.”
Despite all Prabhupada's efforts, the project in Jhansi also failed. Prabhupada was not able to raise the 5,000 rupees to buy the building, and it ended up being given for the use of the Mahila Samity, a society for uplifting women run by Lilavati Munshi, the wife of the local governor.
"Events and opinions were turning him against conducting a mission in Jhansi. It no longer seemed auspicious.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: I wanted to start from there. It was a nice, big house. It was not given to me rightly, but I was using. So, somehow or other, she got imagination that this house is very nice. She was the governor’s wife. Through collector and through government officials, she made pressure. So, of course, there were many lawyer friends. They advised me, “You do not give up.” But I thought, “Who’s going to litigate?” I thought that “I have left my home, and now should I take up litigation? No, I don’t want this house.”
Abhay remembered how the Gaudiya Math preachers had expended their energy for years in the courts. Having terminated his long entanglement with family and business, he had no taste for a legal fight. He could have fought, but he remembered what Keśava Mahārāja had said about Jhansi’s being out of the way. Of course, the whole thing had just sprung up here; otherwise Abhay would never have chosen to establish his worldwide League in such an obscure place. The educated young men and women wished him well, just as they had good wishes for the ladies’ league, the Theosophy Society, the Arya Samaj, and many other causes. But their good intentions were certainly short of pure surrender and devotion: even his one disciple could offer him only part-time help. But these considerations had not been sufficient to force him out. The real thing was that he was being driven out.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: If I did not leave, nobody could drive me, that was a fact. But I thought, Who is going to litigate these things? It is the governor’s wife, and she is pressing through collector. The manager who is in charge, he had some cinema house. So they had to renew the license. And the collector pressed him that unless you arrange for this house, we are not going to renew your license. I thought, unnecessarily this man will be in trouble. I will have to pay many rupees, and she is the governor’s wife.
He decided to leave. He told his friends to carry on the League of Devotees in his absence. They were sad to see him go, and yet even some of his friends openly praised the work of the ladies’ society and were glad to see it come. They had not been able to help him financially, although they knew he had been unable to purchase the buildings on his own.
His closer followers were more affected, but he assured them that their relationship would continue. He would write letters to them – Ācārya Prabhākar, Radhelal Mullik, Mr. Mitra, Dr. Shastri – and he gave them instructions on what they should do. Especially Ācārya Prabhākar – Abhay told him he would be calling for him and expected him to continue as secretary of the League of Devotees, even if they didn’t make Jhansi their main residence. Yet it was obvious that this chapter of making ambitious plans for a world movement, going from house to house and village to village, performing saṅkīrtana, lecturing on the Gītā, distributing prasādam – this was ended. And it was not likely that he would return or that the residents of Jhansi could expect to see him again.
When Abhay left the Bharati Bhavan, with its six-foot-high lettering – “LEAGUE OF DEVOTEES” – painted across the outside wall, he felt sad. It had been a natural, spontaneous success for him. The young, educated people of Jhansi had looked up to him from the start, and had it not been for the intrigue, he would never have left. But he felt he had no real choice. He had come as a family man on business and was leaving as a homeless vānaprastha, forced to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa. His plans were uncertain, but his desire was strong and his health good. So he moved on to Mathurā, carrying with him the Deity of Lord Caitanya."
Srila Prabhupada worked very hard to make it happen, and he got some success in the beginning, but ultimately, every attempt was unfruitful. This rich lady was determined to use the place for her women's association, and Srila Prabhupada was forced to leave.
After this, Srila Prabhupada spent some very difficult years living in Vṛndāvana, trying to save every penny to print his Srimad Bhagavatam. At one point, he was even hurt, being attacked by a bull. However, Prabhupada persisted, and the rest is history.
Similarly, we may dedicate years of our lives to some service, group, or project, but be forced out by the forces of circumstances. We may feel bitter, or even betrayed. It can be quite a difficult test. However, what is important to understand is that there is a shortage of devotees in the world, and Krsna has to move us from place to place, according to where our service is needed. We may prefer a certain service or a certain place, but often Krsna has a better plan, and we should be able to accept it when the time comes. Krsna does care, and He does what is better for us.
We can see that in the case of Srila Prabhupada, the small project in Jhansi failed, but he was given a much bigger responsibility, creating our Krsna Conscious Society in the West. If it were not for the failure of the League of Devotees, maybe Srila Prabhupada would never have had a chance of coming to the West and fulfilling his mission.
We all have a mission in life, and Krsna is constantly steering us in the direction of excellence. Failures are essential to this process because they teach us the skills we need to be successful in the end.
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