A Very Important Sutra

His Holiness Suhotra Swami speaks about the absolute necessity of Shri Guru parampara in all things…

From Yadubara’s timeless film series Following Shrila Prabhupada: “After the Radha Damodhara party, I went to the BBT library party, and we had the good fortune to have darshan with Srila Prabhupada in Chicago. Mostly, of course, Satswarupa Maharaja, Mahabuddhi and Ghanashyam had many points that they were taking up with Srila Prabhupada and I was kind of sitting on the edge of things. But I had one question in my mind and I waited for my chance. And then when it was a little low, I raised my hand and Shrila Prabhupada called on me. My concern was often that the professors wanted to know if these books will tell us about the ancient technology of Vedic India. Because at that time a book had come out by Eric Von Daniken called Chariot of the Gods, and there was reference in there to the Mahabharata and the Puranas … that there were vimanas, or airplanes or flying saucers—or whatever they were—described in ancient Sanskrit texts.

“So I wanted to hear Prabhupada, what he would say about this. And I said, ‘Shrila Prabhupada, many times the professors I meet they ask me about Vedic technology.’ And Prabhupada hardly let those words get out of my mouth before he rapped the table with his knuckles, and he just said very shortly, ‘Vedic technology means Shri Guru parampara. And that’s all he said.

“But it was such a profound statement for me. It was an immediate instruction for me because I was asking the question impelled by all kinds of speculations going on in my mind. I had actually read that book, the Chariots of the Gods, just to find out more what the professors were talking about. So, you know, my mind had been drifting in orbit, and Prabhupada just brought me right down to earth. ‘Vedic technology means Shri Guru parampara.’ And I meditated on that, it has been a very important sutra in my life since that time. One thing is that you think about technology in the modern sense and it’s the multi-force behind this western civilisation and culture that is associated with that—which has really covered the earth. So technology is the dynamic force of civilisation.

“We know that the Vedic civilisation once covered the earth. India was once in the position that America is in now and has been the leading country that all other countries emulated. And how it got to that position was because of following Shri Guru parampara and that is the key to how again Vedic culture can spread all over the world—and become synonymous with civilisation. See now when people think of civilisation they look to America, or they look to Western Europe, they think that is where civilisation is, but actually real civilisation is Vedic civilisation. And the key to that is Shri Guru parampara.”