Recently, I had the opportunity to visit New York, the place where it all began. The city where Śrīla Prabhupāda arrived with faith, determination, and the order of his spiritual master. The city where he started the entire ISKCON movement from a humble rented storefront at 26 Second Avenue, Manhattan.
As I was walking through the neighborhood, I noticed a strong and unpleasant smell in the air. I asked my friend, Jagannātha Gopāla Prabhu, “Is that cigarette smoke?”
“No,” he replied. “That’s weed.”
Weed is another name for cannabis for those who are not aware.
Interestingly, even after more than fifty years, when one walks through the same streets where Śrīla Prabhupāda walked, the atmosphere still carries the scent of intoxication. Perhaps it is even stronger today than it was then.
On another day, while we were performing harināma, I noticed a table set up beside the sidewalk. A large sign read: “Have Free Weed.”
The title caught my attention.
Not because I wanted any of it, but because I was curious about what inspired people to distribute it freely.
I did something unusual. I approached one of the girls standing at the table and said, “I’m just curious. I don’t take any of this, but could you tell me what people seek from it?”
She explained that people generally use it in three ways.
Some take a small amount simply for entertainment and recreation. Others use it for medicinal purposes, hoping to feel relieved. And some consume larger quantities to get totally HIGH !!
Isn’t it the same we do with the Holy Name?
Some of us may chant the holy names casually and occasionally, appreciating the side benefits. Some may chant with the aspiration of becoming happy in our own life. And in the purified stage, one becomes completely absorbed in the sweetness of the holy name.
One doesn’t remain asleep, but one is spiritually awakened. We do not get disconnected from reality, rather we get connected to the highest reality.
I then asked her, “Wouldn’t it become difficult to give it up?”
She replied, “You can always give it up. But when people become deeply attached to it, they usually don’t want to.”
The same principle exists on the spiritual platform.
When one develops genuine taste for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, giving it up becomes unthinkable. Haridāsa Ṭhākura declared before the Kazi that even if his body were cut into millions of pieces, every piece would continue chanting the holy names of Kṛṣṇa.
Isn’t the material world offering the same invitation “Have Free Weed” every day?
Watering the SEED
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī explains that while watering the seed of devotional service, one must simultaneously guard against the weeds that grow alongside it.
These weeds appear free. But they are extremely costly.
It is said, “if you’re getting something for free, you are the product”
Moreover, not everything that is free is desirable.
Profit, adoration, distinction, envy, offenses, duplicity, and countless material desires may arise on the path of bhakti. Just as physical weed can disturb the body’s natural balance, these weeds disrupt the growth of our spiritual seed: the bhakti-lata-bīja.
The challenge is that the entire environment often encourages these weeds. Everywhere we look, material consciousness is being distributed freely and aggressively. Because of this, maintaining a pure and steady devotional disposition requires vigilance.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī therefore emphasizes that we must continue watering the seed while carefully uprooting the weeds.
Otherwise, the weeds may appear to flourish while the actual creeper of devotion becomes choked.
The Most URGENT NEED
In the very city where free weed is distributed openly, Śrīla Prabhupāda planted the seed of Krishna Consciousness.
He went precisely where the need was greatest.
He entered a society largely disconnected from spiritual life and planted the seed there. He watered it with compassion, sacrifice, purity, and unwavering faith. And that seed grew into a mighty tree. Today its branches extend throughout the world, offering the fruits of love of Godhead to countless souls.
Śrīla Prabhupāda did not simply plant the seed. He understood the most urgent need of human civilization.
That same need had been implanted within his own heart by his spiritual master when they first met – “Krishna Consciousness cannot wait for anything,” his guru had said !!
He understood that without Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and pure devotional service, nothing can truly help the suffering souls of Kali-yuga.
And the result is visible today across the entire world.
Taking a LEAD
Had Srila Prabhupada not stepped forward to lead, we would have remained disconnected from Krishna, deprived of an understanding of bhakti, and deluded about our highest good.
Mahārāja Parīkṣit, acting as a righteous kṣatriya, restricted the influence of Kali by assigning him specific places to reside: places of illicit sex, intoxication, gambling, and animal slaughter. From those places, Kali gradually expanded his influence.
Interestingly, Śrīla Prabhupāda went directly into the hub of Kali and planted the seed of bhakti.
Where Kali spread darkness and confusion, Srila Prabhupada illuminated the world with the light of the holy name. He gave an open challenge to Kali.
As followers of Śrīla Prabhupāda, we are also expected to take a lead.
Just as a gardener tends a tender sapling, we must nourish and safeguard the seed of our own bhakti, and also help sow that seed in the hearts of others.
From Weed to Becoming FREED
When the creeper of devotion becomes strong, no amount of external influence can disturb it.
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s bhakti was so powerful that neither the weed of intoxication nor the weeds of māyā could divert him from his mission. This is the power of becoming an unalloyed devotee of Kṛṣṇa.
If we do our part in his mission, we will be protected not only from the canopy of material illusion around us, but also from the subtle weeds that threaten our own bhakti-latā-bīja.
If we carefully protect the seed, uproot the weeds, understand the urgent need, and take a lead in serving Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission, then even in the midst of weed and weeds, we can become truly freed.
