View source for My father was of this Vaisnava line, and he trained me from childhood

<div id="compilation">
<div id="facts">
{{terms|"I was trained up from my childhood"|"My father encouraged. So I was trained up in this line"|"My father trained me from childhood"|"My father was a devotee and he trained me"|"My father was pure Vaisnava and he gave me and my sister the Radha Krishna Deities to worship and in this way we were trained"|"We had the opportunity of being trained up by our parents like this"|"naturally from our childhood we were trained up in this cult"|"similar opportunity was for me when I was a little boy, like your child. My father also trained me"|"we are trained up, because we belong to Krsna family"}}
{{notes|}}
{{compiler|Labangalatika}}
{{complete|ALL}}
{{first|26Nov10}}
{{last|26Nov10}}
{{totals_by_section|BG=0|SB=0|CC=0|OB=0|Lec=2|Con=5|Let=2}}
{{total|9}}
{{toc right}}
[[Category:My Father (Prabhupada)]]
[[Category:Was]]
[[Category:Vaisnava]]
[[Category:Line]]
[[Category:Trained Up]]
[[Category:Me (Prabhupada)]]
[[Category:From]]
[[Category:Childhood]]
</div>
<div id="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="section" sec_index="5" parent="compilation" text="Conversations and Morning Walks"><h2>Conversations and Morning Walks</h2>
</div>
<div id="1968_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1968 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1968 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="PressInterviewDecember301968LosAngeles_0" class="quote" parent="1968_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="26" link="Press Interview -- December 30, 1968, Los Angeles" link_text="Press Interview -- December 30, 1968, Los Angeles">
<div class="heading">My father trained me from childhood, yes. And then I met my spiritual master in 1922, and I was initiated in... On the whole there was a background, because as I told you, 80, 90 percent people are Kṛṣṇa conscious by family-wise. You see? So we were trained up from the beginning of our life.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Press Interview -- December 30, 1968, Los Angeles|Press Interview -- December 30, 1968, Los Angeles]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Journalist: You go for a prescribed course of study?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes, prescribed course of study, these two, three books, that's all. Anyone can read. Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Caitanya-caritāmṛta. You'll learn everything. You haven't got to learn so many huge volumes of books. Because Bhagavad-gītā is such nice book, if you can understand one line, you advance hundred years. You see? So, I mean to say, meaningful and so solid. Therefore we have published this Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Let your people read it, let them question, and try to understand what is this movement.</p>
<p>Journalist: Macmillan is publishing this one.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes, Macmillan is publishing.</p>
<p>Journalist: Now when you... Do you go to this institute for a certain period of time?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: There is no fixed period. No. But, say, for me, I was trained, my father was of this line...</p>
<p>Journalist: Oh, your father...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Oh yes. My father trained me from childhood, yes. And then I met my spiritual master in 1922, and I was initiated in... On the whole there was a background, because as I told you, 80, 90 percent people are Kṛṣṇa conscious by family-wise. You see? So we were trained up from the beginning of our life. Officially, of course, I accepted my spiritual master in 1933. Since then, I had some background, and since I met, I developed this idea.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="1972_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="5" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1972 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1972 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="InterviewJuly201972Paris_0" class="quote" parent="1972_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="35" link="Interview -- July 20, 1972, Paris" link_text="Interview -- July 20, 1972, Paris">
<div class="heading">...my childhood. My father was a devotee and he trained me....
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Interview -- July 20, 1972, Paris|Interview -- July 20, 1972, Paris]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Devotee: He's like to know something about your childhood.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: I was (indistinct) ...a devotee (indistinct) ...my childhood. My father was a devotee and he trained me....</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationwithKennethKeatingUSAmbassadortoIndiaOctober141972NewDelhi_1" class="quote" parent="1972_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="42" link="Room Conversation with Kenneth Keating, U.S. Ambassador to India -- October 14, 1972, New Delhi" link_text="Room Conversation with Kenneth Keating, U.S. Ambassador to India -- October 14, 1972, New Delhi">
<div class="heading">The ideas were impregnated and I was trained up from my childhood.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Kenneth Keating, U.S. Ambassador to India -- October 14, 1972, New Delhi|Room Conversation with Kenneth Keating, U.S. Ambassador to India -- October 14, 1972, New Delhi]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Ambassador: Now, Your Divine Grace, when did you... Did you from boyhood enter this movement, or...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. My father was a great devotee.</p>
<p>Ambassador: I see.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: So from the very childhood I was trained up.</p>
<p>Ambassador: I see.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Then it was very much adjusted after meeting my spiritual master. But the ideas were impregnated and I was trained up from my childhood. That was a great opportunity that I got a very good.... I have dedicated this book to my father.</p>
<p>Ambassador: Oh! Oh, yes.</p>
<p>Guru dāsa: "To my father, Gour Mohan De."</p>
<p>Ambassador: Yeah, it's nice.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="8" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1975 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1975 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationwithJournalistMay191975Melbourne_0" class="quote" parent="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="82" link="Room Conversation with Journalist -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne" link_text="Room Conversation with Journalist -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne">
<div class="heading">From the very childhood we are Kṛṣṇa conscious, our family, the Vaiṣṇava family. My father and my forefathers, they are all belonged to this cult, Kṛṣṇa cult. So naturally from our childhood we were trained up in this cult.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Journalist -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne|Room Conversation with Journalist -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Journalist: And when did you go to the United States?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Oh, very old age. I went there in 1965.</p>
<p>Journalist: Yes. To found the Kṛṣṇa consciousness?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes.</p>
<p>Journalist: And what were you in India before that? Did you have a religious background?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, no, from the very childhood we are Kṛṣṇa conscious, our family, the Vaiṣṇava family. My father and my forefathers, they are all belonged to this cult, Kṛṣṇa cult. So naturally from our childhood we were trained up in this cult.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="9" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1976 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1976 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationwithLifeMemberMrMalhotraDecember221976Poona_1" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="350" link="Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona" link_text="Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona">
<div class="heading">We are trained up, because we belong to Kṛṣṇa family. So this Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa worship is our family tradition. Our forefathers, my father, my maternal uncles, we are Vaiṣṇava family. Belonging to the Caitanya-sampradāya.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona|Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Mr. Malhotra: You have I mean thought of spiritual bending, or spiritual...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, we are trained up, because we belong to Kṛṣṇa family. So this Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa worship is our family tradition. Our forefathers, my father, my maternal uncles, we are Vaiṣṇava family. Belonging to the Caitanya-sampradāya.</p>
<p>Mr. Malhotra: But how you entered in business, I mean.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Because we were trained up from the very beginning of our life by our father, mother.</p>
<p>Mr. Malhotra: Grandfather also?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes, our whole family. We have our family Deity, Dāmodara. In my childhood I was worshiping Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deities. And then, fortunately, I got my Guru Mahārāja, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. So this was a good fortune, from the very beginning we were trained up. So in the beginning of our life, I was worshiping Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and playing with (indistinct). The same thing is being done now. In a larger scale. (laughter) Nitya yukta upāsate. There is no change.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
</div>
<div id="Festival_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="6" parent="Lectures" text="Festival Lectures"><h3>Festival Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div id="HisDivineGraceSrilaBhaktisiddhantaSarasvatiGosvamiPrabhupadasAppearanceDayEveningGorakhpurFebruary151971_0" class="quote" parent="Festival_Lectures" book="Lec" index="44" link="His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Evening -- Gorakhpur, February 15, 1971" link_text="His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Evening -- Gorakhpur, February 15, 1971">
<div class="heading">I was playing with my boyfriends, Ratha-yātrā, Ḍola, like that. My father encouraged. So I was trained up in this line, but in my youthful age, when I was college student, gradually, by their bad association or something, gradually, I lost my activities.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Evening -- Gorakhpur, February 15, 1971|His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Evening -- Gorakhpur, February 15, 1971]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">One of my friends—he's still living, Śrī Narendranath Mullik—he informed me that "One saintly person has come. Let us go and see." At that time I was young man, and I did not care for very much about so-called saintly persons. Because in our house, my father used to receive so many sannyāsīs, but some of them were not very to the standard, and due to my association with college friends, younger days, I lost my faith practically, although I was born in a Vaiṣṇava family. My father was a pure Vaiṣṇava. From my childhood, he gave me Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deity for worshiping. A ratha... I was playing with my boyfriends, Ratha-yātrā, Ḍola, like that. My father encouraged. So I was trained up in this line, but in my youthful age, when I was college student, gradually, by their bad association or something, gradually, I lost my activities. But when this friend, Mr. Mullik, took me to Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja, he immediately asked me that, "You are educated young boys. Why don't you take up Lord Caitanya's message and preach in the Western world?" In the very first sight, he told me. At that time, I argued with him that "We are dependent nation, and who is going to hear about our message?" So he defeated my argument. (aside:) There is no necessity of closing. Yes. He defeated my argument. He was learned scholar. What I was? I was still boy. So I agreed (chuckles) that I was defeated.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Arrival_Addresses_and_Talks" class="sub_section" sec_index="7" parent="Lectures" text="Arrival Addresses and Talks"><h3>Arrival Addresses and Talks</h3>
</div>
<div id="ArrivalLectureDallasMarch31975_0" class="quote" parent="Arrival_Addresses_and_Talks" book="Lec" index="20" link="Arrival Lecture -- Dallas, March 3, 1975" link_text="Arrival Lecture -- Dallas, March 3, 1975">
<div class="heading">If these children are being taught from the very beginning of their life... We had the opportunity of being trained up by our parents like this.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Arrival Lecture -- Dallas, March 3, 1975|Arrival Lecture -- Dallas, March 3, 1975]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">If simply we understand that "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Person. He is great, and we are all subordinate. So our duty is to serve Kṛṣṇa," these two lines, if we understand, then our life is perfect. If we simply learn how to worship Kṛṣṇa, how to please Him, how to dress Him nicely, how to give Him nice foodstuff, how to decorate Him with ornaments and flowers, how to offer our respectful obeisances unto Him, how to chant His name, in this way, if we simply think, without any so-called education we become the perfect person within the universe. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It doesn't require A-B-C-D education. It requires simply change of consciousness. So if these children are being taught from the very beginning of their life... We had the opportunity of being trained up by our parents like this. So some way or other, they have come to... (break) Many saintly persons used to visit my father's house. My father was Vaiṣṇava. He was Vaiṣṇava, and he wanted me to become a Vaiṣṇava. Whenever some saintly person would come, he would ask him, "Please bless my son that he can become a servant of Rādhārāṇī." That was his prayer. He never prayed for anything. And he gave me education how to play mṛdaṅga.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Correspondence" class="section" sec_index="6" parent="compilation" text="Correspondence"><h2>Correspondence</h2>
</div>
<div id="1968_Correspondence" class="sub_section" sec_index="3" parent="Correspondence" text="1968 Correspondence"><h3>1968 Correspondence</h3>
</div>
<div id="LettertoRupanugaMontreal30August1968_0" class="quote" parent="1968_Correspondence" book="Let" index="292" link="Letter to Rupanuga -- Montreal 30 August, 1968" link_text="Letter to Rupanuga -- Montreal 30 August, 1968">
<div class="heading">Similar opportunity was for me when I was a little boy, like your child. My father also trained me and instructed me to his best capacity.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Letter to Rupanuga -- Montreal 30 August, 1968|Letter to Rupanuga -- Montreal 30 August, 1968]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">The best thing that you are doing, that you are training our grandchild, Mr. Eric. I always see that he is always with you and from very childhood, he is getting the Krishna Consciousness ideas, and similar opportunity was for me when I was a little boy, like your child. My father also trained me and instructed me to his best capacity, and he prayed for me that Radharani may be pleased upon me, and I think by my father's blessings and grace, I may have come to this position, and I might have gotten into relationship with His Divine Grace, Om Visnupad Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja. So it is also Krishna's Grace that I got good father, and a good Spiritual Master, and in my old age also, Krishna has favored me with so many good children. So when I feel I see that Krishna is so kind upon me, so I offer my obligations unto Him.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="1973_Correspondence" class="sub_section" sec_index="8" parent="Correspondence" text="1973 Correspondence"><h3>1973 Correspondence</h3>
</div>
<div id="LettertoBhaktinToniSydney18February1973_0" class="quote" parent="1973_Correspondence" book="Let" index="77" link="Letter to Bhaktin Toni -- Sydney 18 February, 1973" link_text="Letter to Bhaktin Toni -- Sydney 18 February, 1973">
<div class="heading">My father was pure Vaisnava and he gave me and my sister the Radha Krishna Deities to worship and in this way we were trained.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Letter to Bhaktin Toni -- Sydney 18 February, 1973|Letter to Bhaktin Toni -- Sydney 18 February, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">I am very much pleased that the Deities are worshiped so nicely and as this continues, the children there will become more and more purified. These children in Gurukula are the most fortunate children in the world, because right from the beginning they are having the association of Radha and Krishna. This was the case in my childhood also. My father was pure Vaisnava and he gave me and my sister the Radha Krishna Deities to worship and in this way we were trained. And still to this very day my sister is worshiping these very same Deities in Calcutta. So like this the children must be trained.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>