Kusakratha dāsa
2005

Kusakratha dasa was a spiritual pioneer. His bold, independent spirit produced a tremendous quantity of books, incredibly, almost 125 titles. His work began at a time when a number of senior institutional devotees looked askance at any work not directly Prabhupada's books.

Kusakratha was pleased when, maybe thirty or forty books down the line, he came across a comment where Prabhupada said that the devotee who was not willing to read the Goswami literature was stone hearted. Even in those early days when there may have been some institutional disdain for anything but Prabhupada's books, there were some enthusiastic young devotees who were inspired by Srila Prabhupada's direct instructions, found in his purports, to hear more.

Their curiosity was aroused by references to the writings of the Goswamis and other great Vaishnavas. However, how many of the devotees in those days could read sanskrit? So how could they access this vast Vaishnava treasure house? There were Prabhupada's references to the greatness of these Vaishnava works but not many had a clue as to what the Goswami literature was about.

But Kusakratha did. He began his translations with encouragement from advanced and insightful devotees. As time went by, those just plain curious encouraged him, too. Kusakratha scrimped and scraped to get his books into print. There was, alas, an “underground Kusakratha” library. Devotees somehow got copies of a forthcoming or already published and they shamelessly photocopied it without permission from or payment to Kusakratha.

There was so much greed to learn. That should not read "they" but rather “we shamelessly copied.” With profound embarrassment, I was among those nearly penniless brahmacaris that did not have the spiritual intelligence to value, to cherish these works enough to pay for them.

Since those early days numerous Vaishnava scholars have sprung up. Some of these may be more learned in the technicalities of sanskrit, some may add a more felicitous phrase of translation here or there, some may have additional profound philosophical insights into the rendering of a particular verse.

But Kusakratha, with his spirit of excitement and compassionate nature was eager to share the nectar; he was never overly a smartha brahmana in his translations, so there may be small lapses. Like Prabhupada he had to overcome some indifference among his Godbrothers, to his translation work.. And his work has turned out triumphant. As Prabhupada set the example of leaving for others to continue his mission, so did Kusakratha.

Srila Bhaktisiddanta Saraswati was very adamant that none of his disciples should alter his work. We are respecting Kusakratha's work in a similar spirit.

Your servants at Krishna Institute, Dina Sharana and Radha Caran das.
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