TOUCHING SRILA PRABHUPADA’S FEET
By Isana dasa
One evening, as Srila Prabhupada sat in his chair in the courtyard and I sat on the marble floor next to his glorious lotus feet, I asked him to elaborate on a statement he had made earlier while in his sitting room.
“When the Indians touch my feet,” he said, “they are simply looking for material benediction. Therefore, do not let anyone touch my feet because I will have to take their sinful reaction and then I will get sick and it will cause more weakness.”
“Srila Prabhupada,” I said, “during class, when your disciples touch your lotus feet, they are trying to show respect. They are not interested in material profit.”
“Yes, that may be the case,” he knowingly replied. “But, still, I have to suffer. Even they may not be trying to achieve some goal by touching my feet; still, the spiritual master has to suffer by accepting their sinful reactions.” Srutakirti das What Is The Difficulty? #117
…I’ve already described how he asked that his disciples should not touch his feet saying, “By their touching I have to suffer. They may not be trying to achieve some goal by touching my feet, still, the spiritual master has to suffer by accepting their sinful reactions. “…Srutakirti das What Is The Difficulty? #112
Adi Lila Chapter 17
One day when Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu had finished His dancing, a woman, the wife of a brāhmaṇa, came there and caught hold of His lotus feet.
TEXT 244
caraṇera dhūli sei laya vāra vāra
dekhiyā prabhura duḥkha ha-ila apāra
SYNONYMS
caraṇera—of His lotus feet; dhūli—the dust; sei—that woman; laya—takes; vāra vāra—again and again; dekhiyā—seeing this; prabhura—of the Lord; duḥkha—unhappiness; ha-ila—there was; apāra—unlimited.
TRANSLATION
As she took the dust of His lotus feet again and again, the Lord became unlimitedly unhappy.
PURPORT
This holding of a great personality’s lotus feet is certainly very good for the person who takes the dust, but this example of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s unhappiness indicates that a Vaiṣṇava should not allow anyone to take dust from his feet.
One who takes the dust of a great personality’s lotus feet transfers his sinful activities to that great personality. Unless the person whose dust is taken is very strong, he must suffer the sinful activities of the person who takes the dust. Therefore, ordinarily it should not be allowed. Sometimes in big meetings people come to take the same advantage by touching our feet. On account of this, sometimes we have to suffer from some disease. As far as possible, no outsider should be allowed to touch one’s feet to take dust from them. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally showed this by His example, as explained in the next verse.
TEXT 245
sei-kṣaṇe dhāñā prabhu gaṅgāte paḍila
nityānanda-haridāsa dhari’ uṭhāila
SYNONYMS
sei-kṣaṇe—immediately; dhāñā—running; prabhu—the Lord; gaṅgāte—in the water of the Ganges; paḍila—plunged; nityānanda—Lord Nityānanda; haridāsa—Haridāsa Ṭhākura; dhari‘-catching Him; uṭhāila—raised Him.
TRANSLATION
Immediately He ran to the river Ganges and jumped in to counteract the sinful activities of that woman. Lord Nityānanda and Haridāsa Ṭhākura caught Him and raised Him from the river.
PURPORT
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is God Himself, but He was playing the part of a preacher. Every preacher should know that being allowed to touch a Vaiṣṇava’s feet and take dust may be good for the person who takes it, but it is not good for the person who allows it to be taken. As far as possible, this practice should ordinarily be avoided. Only initiated disciples should be allowed to take this advantage, not others. Those who are full of sinful activities should generally be avoided.
Pamho agtacbsp, is better to offer obeisances to prabhupada Padam pranamami sada,there are not offences to do that,it’s said: if a sadhu see the face of a degraded Sudra must go to take bath in the Ganges river to become free from the contamination, what to say about touching the feet to a sadhu?actually in this darkest age of Kali Yuga is not easy even to find a genuine sadhu,our guru maharaj it’s the last sadhu until now,I mean there are not so many maha bhagavata maha purusa,we need to wait all these calamities are over by splitting the bad from the good,may be we get a good leader in the future ,when all the planet is clean from this ugram karma and guna in saguna form under the three gunas,three klesa,samsara etc…agtacbsp,ys haribol
I was most fortunate in July of 1975 in Chicago to get my first initiation from Srila Prabhupada. in front of Sri Sri Kishore Kishori. While waiting outside the temple room three devotees stood near the door that Srila Prabhupada was going to exit after his lecture. All three of us kept a sharp eye on his lotus slippers sitting near by. I was most fortunate to be the first one to get to his slippers before the other two prabhus. I knelt down and placed them onto Srila Prabhupada;s lotus feet. I made sure to fumble enough so that I could actually guide one of his feet by hand into one of the slippers. The second slipper was managed by Srila Prabhupada as I held it in place for him. During this time for a few moments he put his hand on my head.
The second time I got the same mercy was at Subhal Vilas prabhu’s home later that summer when Srila Prabhupada visited New Remuna in Toronto. That was the second most important year of my life. The most important year was when I informally met Srila Prabhupada at the London England temple at 6 Bury Street while I was traveling Europe as a young man in August of 1971.. I got to ask him a question right after a short lecture. I wrote in my journal that somehow I knew that he was a true man of God and I had to have his association. It was rather difficult to sleep that night as I was filled with so much unusual happiness. ” I felt Super clean”
Dear Readers,
As Srila Prabhupada explains ;
” You can create spiritual platform immediately. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān [Bg. 14.26]. If you fully engage yourself in devotional service, immediately you are above this material conception. ”
One may wonder WHY one requires to touch the Lotus Feet of Srila Prabhupada when He has already given all of US instructions in His VANI which is the benediction itself to all the fallen Jivas to follow through it with the Sincere Intend and Purpose by engaging in Selfless Devotional Service according to ones’ quality and capacity in order to rise above the material conception of life. Is it NOT ?
It is a tradition normally to pay respect to Elderly in the family, Society of the Sages and so on by touching the Feet. That is why these elderly or Sages put ones’ hand on the Head of the person to give back the same energy of the Person’s Intend and Purpose on the Head to avoid any further implication of Karma as we read from the Sastras in the Article. That’s why Sastra prohibits to touch the FEET. Isn’t it ?
That is my understanding which stands to be further corrected, if necessary.
OM TAT SAT.
Hare Krishna. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.