God is a Fact, and He is a Person

What is most important to me about Srila Prabhupada? What attracts and inspires me the most from the very beginning until now? Well, I must admit, in the beginning I was also very attracted to prasadam. (Although in those days at Bhaktivedanta Manor, particularly attractive prasadam was only once a week. We were mostly on sankirtan). But the most important thing for me about Srila Prabhupada is his message. And for Srila Prabhupada, this was also the most important thing. Srila Prabhupada did not come to smile at everyone and demonstrate some magical abilities; nor to establish relationships, paternal relationships. These different things may be attractive, but Srila Prabhupada repeatedly pointed out that the duty of a guru is to carry the message of the Absolute Truth. His message is presented mainly in his books. He always emphasized precisely this – his instructions in his books, as well as in letters, in his recorded words. What is this message? We can talk about it for an entire yuga, but the essence of it is that God is a fact.

When Srila Prabhupada arrived in London, one correspondent from a newspaper... Usually reporters, when interviewing people, tend to be harmful, challenging, whoever they are talking to. And one reporter asked Srila Prabhupada: "Why did you come to London? What are you doing here?" Prabhupada said: "I have come to teach you what you have forgotten. About God." Srila Prabhupada emphasized that God exists.

The "East Village Other" magazine from the Lower East Side in New York wrote about Srila Prabhupada. It said: "Swami Bhaktivedanta teaches that God is still alive. This is the answer to Nietzsche's statement 'God is dead.' That is, his God is alive, but most likely He is not in churches. And most importantly, God is a person."

Srila Prabhupada composed a poem as an offering to his Guru Maharaja on his Vyasa-puja day, he read and showed it to Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. And in particular, one quatrain was very pleasing to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Srila Prabhupada wrote: "The Absolute is conscious, You have proven, the impersonal calamity You have removed."

Srila Prabhupada composed his own pranama-mantra, because his disciples had no idea that there was such a phenomenon as a pranama-mantra. Later they would be able to compose it. And this pranama-mantra spoke of Srila Prabhupada's mission in serving his guru, preaching the message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu – nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine – who liberates the Western countries from impersonalism and the philosophy of emptiness.

This attracted me very much, because I could not stand this pseudo-spirituality, where everything boils down to the fact that everything is one, everything is the same. It's terrible. But God is a person. He is a specific person, not just some vague personality. We can know Him. He is all-attractive. He is not at all the harmful personality that Abrahamic religions talk about (which is very helpful to Richard Dawkins, who claims that the God of the Old Testament is such a vile type). Krishna is actually the most beautiful, sweetest, most loving. The most loving personality.

There is a definition of God. It is not some being that we define ourselves. Neo-mayavadis say that God for you is who you want Him to be. Maybe this is true to some extent, because Krishna reveals Himself differently to different personalities, but this does not mean that you can imagine anything to be God. He has specific qualities. He is full of riches, full of possessions. All power is contained in Him. He is full of glory, beauty. He has full knowledge, and He is the center of detachment. This is God. That is, you do not need to think that God can be invented, imagined. No. He has specific qualities. All-attractive, all-powerful, omnipresent, omniscient, cosmic creator and much more. Srila Prabhupada insisted very much on this point. This is the cornerstone of his message, that there is God. He is the supreme ruler. He is a specific person. That person is Krishna. And we are all His servants. Therefore, we must serve Him. And this is the essence of his message, which is contained in the Hare Krishna mantra. Everything is in the Hare Krishna mantra.

Bhakti Vikasa Swami, excerpt from the lecture "The Attractiveness of Srila Prabhupada. Part 1"