Srila Prabhupada’s Bombay Pastimes with Yasomatinandana Prabhu and Bhakti Charu Swami—Part 04

Giriraj Swami: [Unintelligible 00:14:18].

The next day, we’ll meet again and hear about some of Srila Prabhupada’s visits to Bombay from His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami and His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

So, just to summarize the history of Srila Prabhupada in Bombay. Srila Prabhupada arrived in October of 1970 and stayed at the house of [Unintelligible 00:15:04] in Marine Drive. He and his disciples performed kirtan, and he spoke briefly at Sadhu Sammelan or Sadhu Samaj at the beach in Bombay. Then, when Srila Prabhupada was in Ardh Khumba-mela in Allahabad, the devotees managed to rent the apartment at Akash Bombay, a very prestigious area of Bombay. And the devotees were the early life members and were holding programs.

After about one year, Mr. A.D. Nair offered Srila Prabhupada some land in Juhu, and Srila Prabhupada accepted the offer. There was some intrigue, and Mr. Nair and his lawyers and our lawyers all conspired to cheat Srila Prabhupada. But in the end, Srila Prabhupada was successful. [Unintelligible 00:16:38] along the way, which I couldn’t mention is itself the death of Mr. Nair.

One day, quite soon after Srila Prabhupada left Bombay for Australia, I was walking in Downtown Bombay near Metro Cinema, and in India, there are beggars who sit on the sidewalks or footpaths with newspapers and magazines. So, I was walking, and I noticed a vendor with newspapers, and I saw on the front page in big, bold letters a headline – “A. D. Nair is dead,” and a big photo of Mr. Nair. So, I was shocked, and immediately, I returned back to the apartment where we were staying in Bombay.

And at that time, [Unintelligible 00:18:00] informed Srila Prabhupada in Australia. Srila Prabhupada’s secretary answered the call and gave Srila Prabhupada the message. And later, the secretary informed us of Srila Prabhupada’s response. Upon receiving the news of Mr. Nair’s death, Srila Prabhupada closed his eyes and folded his hands and said, “Thank you, Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva. Thank you.” And then he said, “I was praying for this. He caused too much pain to the devotees and I could not tolerate anymore.”

Meanwhile in Bombay, when I saw the news, I actually felt very jubilant and I really felt like dancing right at the street. But I thought, We are supposed to be saintly persons. I was having some doubts, but in my heart, I was feeling like this. I wasn’t sure if it was right or not. Then, about a week or two later, one of our life members in Vile Parle near the Hare Krishna Land received one letter from Srila Prabhupada, in which Srila Prabhupada wrote, “It is very good that Mr. Nair died. It is a great occasion for rejoicing.” And then, Srila Prabhupada quoted that even Prahlada Maharaja said that even saintly persons take pleasure when a snake or scorpion is killed.

So, Srila Prabhupada informed the reaction of some of the devotees based on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, because after Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva killed Hiraṇyakaśipu, He was very furious. Nobody could pacify Him; Brahma, Shiva, Lakshmi, nobody. They were all afraid themselves. So, finally, they asked Prahlada to go forward and pacify the Lord, and Prahlada offered so many nice verses that Srila Prabhupada quoted so often.

So, Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva might have thought, I have killed your father. So, you might also be angry with me and so many others may be angry with me. So, how will I give up my anger when you all could be angry at me? Then, in reply to this possible thought in the mind of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, Prahlada Maharaja spoke the verse that even saintly persons take pleasure when a snake or scorpion is killed. In other words, “Nobody will accuse you of killing Hiraṇyakaśipu. In fact, everyone is pleased.”

Then, after the death of Mr. Nair, Mrs. Nair continuously battled. And being an alone woman, she was surrounded by so many greedy people, friends, and relatives. They tried to take advantage of her and encouraged her to try to fight with Prabhupada, trying to cheat him. And actually, they wanted to get the property in the end. Everyone was after that property. So, in the end, she came to Srila Prabhupada and surrendered to Him. Srila Prabhupada treated her very affectionately and very lovingly. And so, [Unintelligible 00:22:47] because they conspired to cheat Mrs. Nair also.

So, another dramatic thing that was mentioned is that the only person who knew that a new agreement had been entered was Mrs. Nair and ourselves and our personal friend, who was a lawyer, [Unintelligible 00:23:23], and her personal friend who was a lawyer. And big lawyers, who were handling the case from the beginning, they didn’t know because they wanted the case to go on. So, there was a very dramatic scene in the courtroom, where Mrs. Nair’s lawyer stood up in the court and said, “The agreement is canceled. There is no agreement. They are simply trespassers on my client’s property. They must be driven out. They have no agreement.”

And then, our lawyer friend, who was just a very insignificant lawyer in the professional world, stood up and he said, “No, your honor. We have the agreement.” And then, he pulled out the new agreement and Mrs. Nair’s lawyer and our lawyer both were completely numb and surprised. Then, the whole thing became [Unintelligible 00:24:30]. So, the land was signed over. We could start building the Hare Krishna temple at Juhu. Mrs. Nair signed, and then Prabhupada gave a big feast to everyone. And in the end, the temple [Unintelligible 00:24:52]. And then began the struggle to get permission to build a [Unintelligible 00:25:01] story, which we haven’t discussed in detail. And then, the construction began.

After Gaura-purnima in 1977, Srila Prabhupada came to Bombay and we were all hoping that [Unintelligible]. Surprised because he had become [Unintelligible 00:25:31]. But we couldn’t really tell how sick he was. But after Gaura-purnima, the devotees didn’t even want to travel. They were already in the stage of taking rest. But in the meantime, we arranged a preaching program, a big pandal program in Downtown Bombay. In the end, Prabhupada decided he will go to Bombay. And actually, that was a grand public preaching program.

So, after the program in Bombay, he came to his quarters in the new building in Juhu [Unintelligible 00:26:14]. And he didn’t come down. Maybe once in a while he came down, but basically, he wouldn’t come, he just stayed in his quarters. And the devotees rarely had a chance to even meet him. They never experienced such a thing before. And it was really just a few devotees that were in Prabhupada’s personal entourage, who were doing personal service to Srila Prabhupada [Unintelligible 00:26:52] in Bombay. So, [Unintelligible 00:27:02] His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami.

So, now we will ask him how he first met Srila Prabhupada, how he came to Bombay, and what memories he had and the realizations he had with his associations with Srila Prabhupada in Bombay.