Worship the deity to take birth in America

Speaker: Indradyumna Swami
Source: The Postage – Stamp

One time, one of my god brothers was visiting a temple in Vrindavana in the 1970’s and was praying very sincerely in front of the deity and the pujari, who was a bit of a smartha brahmana at that time, said to my god brother, “You are praying very nicely to the deity. So in your next life you can start to achieve perfection. You can take birth in India, and maybe become a brahmana.” This is their idea that they are superior because they have taken birth in India. Some relevance to that, but that doesn’t mean one can’t change in this life-time and become a devotee. So he went back and told Prabhupada, “This pujari blessed me that, you know, if I am very sincere, in my next lifetime I will take birth in India.” Prabhupada became upset and he said, “You should have told him, that if he (the pujari) worships the deity very nicely”, they are in Vrindavana, “then in his next life-time, he can take birth in America and be a part of Lord Caitanya’s Sankirtana Movement”.