Introduction to the First Printing of Prabhupāda-līlā
The subtitle of Prabhupāda-līlā, “Additional Pastimes of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda,” explains the nature of this work. Prabhupāda-līlā contains additional biographical descriptions of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda which were not included in the authoritative six-volume work, Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta. In compiling Prabhupāda-līlā, we employed the same methods of research and treatment which we used in compiling Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta. But Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta mostly focuses on the early years of Prabhupāda’s preaching in America, from 1967 to 1969, with some additional chapters on his preaching in Europe and South America.
These Līlā chapters were compiled at the same time Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta was compiled after it became obvious that all the subject matter of Prabhupāda’s life could not be contained within the scope of Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta. So it is an additional work, but very much a companion piece to Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta. We may consider it as a supplementary volume to the biography.
For the sincere devotee, all authentic accounts of the life of the pure devotee are inspiring, instructive, relishable, and eternal. By hearing the transcendental pastimes of Kṛṣṇa’s pure devotee, one receives all the benefits that he would get by hearing the pastimes of the Lord Himself. The devotees thus know the secret of escaping the cycle of birth and death in the material world. As stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.16.8):
Living beings who are under the grip of Yamarāja should take advantage by hearing the deathless nectar in the form of this narration of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord.
Other accounts of the life of Śrīla Prabhupāda may be found in the free verse synopsis, Remembering Śrīla Prabhupāda, and in the Prabhupāda Nectar series of authentic anecdotes about Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Although we have described Prabhupāda in many ways, there is no end to it. Prabhupāda’s life is so important that much more can and should be written about him, and I realize that this is just a little drop in the ocean of the activities of such a pure devotee. It is my hope that these books, as well as those of other disciples and followers of Prabhupāda, will inspire the world to follow this great teacher, to relish his instructions, and to take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Satsvarūpa dāsa Goswami
August 11, 1986