31/08/2021
Srila Prabhupada saved Calcutta from the plague as toddler with Harinam Sankirtan! \o/ In his own words:
~ Srila Prabhupada's Childhood ~
Srila Prabhupada: "Daily hundreds and hundreds of people were dying. I was one year old or one and a half year old. I have seen what was happening, but there was plague epidemic.... the plague was subsided by sankirtana movement."
"This is the law of nature. If you become disobedient to God, then prakrti or nature will give you trouble in so many ways. And as soon as you become submissive, surrender to Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there will be no more natural disturbances. I have heard in 1900, 1898--I was born in 1896--so I have heard, I have seen also, I remember, in Calcutta there was a very virulent type of plague epidemic in 1898. So Calcutta became devastated. All people practically left Calcutta. Daily hundreds and hundreds of people were dying. I was one year old or one and a half year old. I have seen what was happening, but there was plague epidemic. That I did not know. I, later on, I heard from my parents. So one babaji, he organized sankirtana, Hare Krsna sankirtana. When there was no other way, so he organized sankirtana all over Calcutta. And in the, in sankirtana, all people, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Parsi, everyone joined. And they were coming, they were going road to road, street to street, entering in every house. So that Mahatma Gandhi Road, 151, you have seen. The sankirtana party we received very nicely. There was light, and I was very small, I was also dancing, I can remember. Just like our small children sometimes dances. I remember. I could see only up to the knees of the persons who were joined. So the plague subsided. This is a fact. Everyone who knows history of Calcutta, the plague was subsided by sankirtana movement. Of course, we do not recommend that sankirtana should be used for some material purpose, that is nama-aparadha, nama-aparadha. Shama sa bhakti kriya (?) pramana. Sankirtana, you can utilize sankirtana for some material purpose, but that is not allowed. That is nama-aparadha, because nama, the holy name of Krsna, and Krsna, they are identical. You cannot utilize Krsna for your personal, material benefit. That is aparadha. Krsna is the Lord. You cannot engage the Lord for your service. Similarly you cannot utilize the holy name of the Lord for some material purpose. That is not allowed. So anyway, because ye yatha mam prapadyante. If you wanted some material benefit by chanting Hare Krsna mantra, you'll get it, but that is nama-aparadha. You won't get the ecstasy of loving God. That is the aim of chanting Hare Krsna mantra: how you shall elevate yourself to the platform of loving God. That is required. Sa vai pumsam paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhoksaje. Not for utilizing the holy name for some material purpose. But this happened, we have got experience, I have heard, I have seen."
[Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.10.5, Mayapura, June 20, 1973]
