Remembering Tamal Krishna Goswami—with Indradyumna Swami and Sri Prahlada

Indradyumna Swami: What appears as the consensus amongst the devotees, members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, those who are fortunate enough to have Maharaja’s close association, intimate association which interestingly enough was perpetuated by his good self. We hear how the six loving dealings between the devotees as described in the Upadeśāmṛta that we invite devotees into our homes, we accept such invitations, we exchange gifts and we take prasādam together. These are the six intimate dealings between Vaishnavas, which we cultivate in the mood of love and devotion for each other, for the spiritual master and for Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although Maharaja was senior in every respect, both by years in Krishna consciousness, by service in Krishna consciousness to Prabhupada and to Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Radha and Krishna and also by realization, senior to many of us, most of us, nevertheless he demonstrated these principles of loving exchanges. He would initiate the process. Although he was the senior, he would call the junior to come and associate.

Generally, we think of the junior requesting the senior for that association. But his humility was such and his eagerness, his greed for association was such that he would be the one to extend the invitation. At least I know many instances but I know in my case was particularly true because he was many years my senior. He achieved more service results than I can achieve in this lifetime and many lifetimes together and as far as his realizations were concerned they are like years ahead of me but he would always request me to come and associate. It was a little embarrassing but he was so insistent that on his request and out of his deep love and affection there was nothing I could do but accept. I wanted to accept but it was always quite a little embarrassing how he was extending himself so many times so many ways, even requested one time that I join him through the rest of his life. He very much missed His Holiness Visnujana Maharaja. Their service was, they actually joined the movement together. They were friends before the movement and they served together quite intimately in the beginning years of Krishna consciousness and both of them showed their advancement by achieving so much for Srila Prabhupada, those very pioneer, pioneer days of Krishna consciousness. So when Visnujana Maharaja left, Tamal Krishna Maharaja himself was very disturbed and he asked Prabhupada because he missed Visnujana so much, he asked Srila Prabhupada where he was and Prabhupada’s reply was that he is nicely situated.

So I think we can conclude the same if we are able to ask Prabhupada where His Holiness Tamal Krishna Maharaja was then Prabhupada’s reply would be that he is very nicely situated, being a very confidential servant of Srila Prabhupada then his position is very very nicely situated. So when Visnujana Maharaja left Tamal Krishna Maharaja was very much missing his association because his loving exchanges between godbrothers, between spiritual master and disciple, eventually between Krishna and the devotees, aspiring devotee is the very essence of Krishna consciousness. This is the reason that we are here to develop this love and loving Krishna means loving His representative, loving His devotees. This is how we wish to be, as Prabhupada would say, “Packed up tight, altogether hearing, chanting, and remembering.” 

So Goswami Maharaja asked me on several occasions. In my tribute to him I mentioned one occasion, actually many occasions he asked me to join him and just be with him, be a team together. Although he was a very powerful personality he realized the principle of devotional service specially as it is enunciated by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu: 

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

—that the yuga-dhāma of chanting the holy names of Krishna is meant to be done in a congregation of Vaishnavas. This is demonstrated by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, this is His order actually. So Goswami maharaja is very powerful but he realized, he understood very deeply perhaps more than anyone I know the value of devotee association, 

‘sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’-sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya

Although he was senior in advancement and realizations in so many ways his humility actually was, some people actually misunderstood because he was such a strong personality, that his humility, his realization was there that he very much depended upon the association of devotees. So he asked me on a number of occasions to join him and he said we will just travel. He said he’ll give the lectures and I’ll do the kirtans. Many times he presented that formula and it is obviously my lack of realization, sincerity, neophytness that I didn’t accept that invitation but it was hard because Maharaja was very heavy and he had this expert ability of being able to see your personality and appreciate you as a devotee but he could very easily see the weaknesses and he would speak up. Therefore it was quite uncomfortable for devotees sometimes who were not interested in really making advancement because sadhu means one who cuts and cutting is generally painful. He would very often just point out very directly one’s faults or one’s weakness or one’s mistake and make one feel very uncomfortable. This was his mercy actually. Taking prasādam with him was sometimes almost unbearable because he would just grill the servant to the ground not having enough salt, not cooking it or not serving it properly and it was uncomfortable but actually he was acting as the real sadhu. Sadhu is not sentimental, as time is short. So we have to cut these attachments and awaken our love for Krishna. So he didn’t wait for a particular moment to take one to the side specially with those who were acting as his servants or disciples or even his friends, he would just immediately say this is where you are at and you made this mistake and it should be corrected and it was difficult but he could do it because as the saying goes some people can give it but they can’t take it. They can dish it out but they can’t accept it but he was not like that.

He was actually trained by Prabhupada and he told me one time that how sometimes how heavy Prabhupada was with him, very heavy. Prabhupada was very heavy with him but those intimate servants, Prabhupada would also hold nothing back. It is an expression of love actually, spare the rod, spoil the child. So Prabhupada, just his own Guru Maharaja. He said, “My Guru Maharaja was always chopping. Some disciples were complaining. He was more chastising us,” Prabhupada said of his guru maharaja, “than blessing us but that chastisement was a form of blessing.” So Goswami Maharaja could dish it out because he experienced it himself with Srila Prabhupada who could sometimes be hard like a thunderbolt and soft like a rose. Sometimes devotees perhaps out of their poor fund of knowledge or sentiment they would just think that Prabhupada are always smiling and very sweet and loving with his disciples but his love was demonstrated quite often in his thunderbolt nature. He would not tolerate. Sometimes Prabhupada would become so angry. His lips would tremble. He would be very angry with a devotee because our mistakes they are obstacles to our rendering pure devotional service to Guru and Krishna and if we hang on to that it is a sign of our nonsense. So sometimes these obstacles, these materialistic tendencies, these material desires they have to be dealt with very strongly and if a guru does not become strong with his disciple he is doing a disservice. 

So Goswami Maharaja could dish it out because he took it and Prabhupada, for example, the duty of the spiritual master is to train the disciple in humility, which is a fundamental principle of Krishna consciousness. In fact,

tṛṇād api sunīcena
taror api sahiṣṇunā
amāninā mānadena
kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

. . . this very verse Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura once said we should wear as a garland around our mind that one should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street, more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige and ready to offer all respect unto others, expecting no respect for oneself. This is the essence of our discipleship. We have to approach the spiritual master with a blade of grass in our mouth like Srila Sanatana Gosvami did with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, demonstrating the mood of a disciple with absolutely no tinge of pride. If we have any pride in our heart that we think special we know anything then how our spiritual master can fill our hearts with divya-jñāna, transcendental knowledge. So both in practice and realization we have to be extremely humble. But this is not so much our nature because we have been playing the role of master or trying to play the role of master, the enjoyer birth after birth. So sometimes the Lord, sometimes the spiritual master, sometimes the godbrothers they have to smash the pride of the devotee, the disciple or the friend. They have to smash their pride. Sometimes (argumum adaculun?) is the only way because this conditioning is very very strong. To train Goswami Maharaja sometimes Prabhupada was like that with him so that the disciple does not think that he has done anything on his own accord that he is making spiritual advancement by his own efforts but everything is accomplished by the sole mercy of Guru and Krishna. Prabhupada would demonstrate. Sometimes he was often glorified; he would always bow his head out of humility and give the credit to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura although we know as our spiritual master by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s mercy he achieved so much.

So as to Goswami Maharaja, from the day he joined practically he was a leader and he was extremely intelligent, well organized, and he had brilliant strategies. So naturally Srila Prabhupada entrusted so many important services to him but just to make sure that his new disciple, his young disciple did not become proud or puffed up because until we are pure devotees the risk is there that we could, you know, that is a razor’s edge. He would, for example, Prabhupada said one time he was sitting with Goswami Maharaja in a room and Prabhupada was discussing how Krishna expands into the material world as the Maha-Vishnu avatar and from the pores of His skin are emanating so many universes just as we sweat we get beads of perspiration on our skin from the holes in the skin of Maha-Vishnu whose body is completely transcendental, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha emanating so many universes. In these universes Brahma takes his birth from the navel of the Lord and he is the engineer of the universe and there are so many planets in that universe and in one of those planets is the earth planet and on the earth planet there are vast oceans and vast continents and one of those continents is the United States of America and there are so many great cities in America and one of those cities is Los Angeles. Within Los Angeles are so many neighborhoods and one of those neighborhoods is where we are living. There are so many streets and so many houses on the street and we are sitting in one of those houses and there are so many rooms and this is such a big room and in one of those rooms in a little corner of that room is sitting a person called Tamal Krishna Goswami who thinks he is so important. So if there was a tendency to take credit for what he was doing, Tamal Krishna Maharaja said he felt very low and insignificant at that moment. I just wanted to point out that although Maharaja’s nature was heavy, sometimes devotees may have been put off by that not understanding his real intention actually. He sincerely wanted to spread the movement and help organize the movement and help train devotees. He came across very strong, it was a very very sincere desire and he was able to give out that correcting because he was able to take it himself directly from Srila Prabhupada. So we need leaders like that. We need generals in Lord Chaitanya’s saṅkīrtana movement, soldiers who were very daring and expert at the same time.

In whatever I learnt about preaching I imbibed really from Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja. He gave a lot of association to Bhagavān dasa who I learnt from but I always knew that Tamal Krishna Maharaja was Bhagavān dasa’s older brother. Bhagavān dasa took sannyasa from Tamal Krishna Maharaja and I always knew that whenever Goswami Maharaja came to France or he came to Europe or whatever, Bhagavān dasa was making all the arrangements I always saw him as a big leader. Whenever Goswami Maharaja was coming it was like a little kid preparing for his older brother and he loved him very much as well and so whatever appreciation for saṅkīrtana that I have developed, whatever saṅkīrtana spirit, that small iota may be in my heart and I love saṅkīrtana very much and I love preaching very much. I love going out there but I learnt it from Tamal Krishna Maharaja, both by hearing about his service in America with Radha-Damodara and his going to China, and so forth and so on. 

I would often think of him, not often enough write to him but call him and talk about that but whenever we would go we would talk about two things, we would talk about saṅkīrtana and we would talk about Vrindavan, those two things, at least for myself those were two important things, pushing on the saṅkīrtana movement, just going out there and giving Krishna consciousness to those who had no knowledge or experience of Krishna. That is the greatest happiness and then going deeper into the understanding of Vrindavan in the mood of the vrajavāsīs and developing that love and faith. I was hoping in this lifetime to imbibe those spirits more and more from Goswami Maharaja and now that opportunity have been snatched away from us by Prabhupada’’ s, and then Krishna’s desire, no doubt. Although it appears to be an accident. Whenever Goswami Maharaja Prabhupada would entrust him with a very important service and just when that service was at its height, zenith, success, so many people would be depending on Goswami Maharaja and Prabhupada would say just hand it over to somebody else and come here.

When Tamal Krishna Maharaja was in Los Angeles Prabhupada took him to Europe and from Europe he took him to India and from India took him back to America. Each of those times I met devotees in each of those cases who were just wondering how we are going to go on without Goswami Maharaja. He is the leader and Prabhupada would take him and build up and be so successful and then next service. He would go on like a real pioneer, just so expert, assessing the situation, figure out how to push on the saṅkīrtana movement, stabilizing it and having a vision for the future. How much we need men like that in this movement. And then he is gone. I think, this is my feeling is that Prabhupada just done it again, take him out of our midst and he had called him for a service that requires that same pioneer spirit and expertise in Krishna’s service but that doesn’t mitigate the feelings of pain in separation and I can understand a little bit better Ramananda Raya’s reply to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that what is the most painful thing? The most painful thing is to be separated from the devotees and in that pain is I am appreciating Goswami Maharaja’s advancement, seniority, and realizations even more with the depth of the pain because the more advanced realized and service record is there the more dearly that devotee is missed personally, collectively, and for the world at large, for myself, for the movement and for the world and the world without recognizing it without understanding it, the world is that more less fortunate now because millions of materialistic people cannot come close to comparing to the character and service ability of the Vaishnava devotee. But Krishna had His plans, it is hard to understand and we have to live with the memories and instructions and association that we had.

But to understand Krishna we desperately require the mercy of the spiritual master at least in my case to understand my spiritual master I desperately need the association, instructions, and realizations of my godbrothers and without that there is no way I am going to understand who my spiritual master is, what is required of me, and how to go about with that service. So in my life Tamal Krishna Maharaja played a major role in understanding Srila Prabhupada, appreciating Srila Prabhupada and how to serve Srila Prabhupada. In Maharaja’s association I always felt lazy, I always felt uneducated and insincere but his mercy was that he showed me how to be active, he showed me how to be sincere, how to be intelligent enough to serve Prabhupada and whatever little service I have done I attribute a lot of the success to his association. Now that he is gone and I still have, I don’t know I mean like possibilities are there twenty years of service is going to be very difficult without that inspiration and I lament that I did not take more of his association while he was still living and if anything I have learnt that I won’t make that mistake again in this lifetime and I told Sri Prahlada that this year my plan, because of Goswami Maharaja’s abrupt departure the vacancy it created in my heart to know my spiritual master, do my devotional service to him and I think a lot of devotees’ lives have changed dramatically for the better. I am going to take advantage of the association of my godbrothers this year.

When My active preaching finishes in August or September we have four or five months of active service coming up and to strengthen myself of future service to Prabhupada and Lord Chaitanya, I am just going to go from godbrother to godbrother and try to imbibe their understanding of Krishna consciousness, their realizations, just go from Bhakti Bringa Govinda Maharaja, to Giriraj Maharaja, to Sivarama Maharaja, to Radhanath Maharaja, Niranjana Swami, Madhava Maharaja, Maha Mantra Prabhu, Bhakti Chaitanya Maharaja, Bhakti Charu Maharaja. There is a whole list of numbers of devotees that I feel that that is what I really learnt from Goswami Maharaja that he really so much advancement, he appreciated so much and genuinely appreciated the association of even those who were junior to him. He really appreciated their association, he would just talk for hours with you about saṅkīrtana, about ISKCON, about Vrindavan. So in desperate need to fill that vacuum of association, which he taught me I want to use this year to associate with my godbrothers because, who knows who is going to go next between fifteen and twenty years we will all be gone. So before that happens I need to know how to serve my spiritual master just like we need Prabhupada to know Krishna we need our godbrothers to know Prabhupada. And these painful pangs of separation even after all the memorials are over and the condolences have been given we are back to serving again, it is still very uncomfortable for me like when I wake up in the morning I think actually is he really gone? And I come and see a picture of Goswami Maharaja here. Seeing that picture is extremely difficult. I try not to look at pictures of Goswami Maharaja because it just makes it too real. When I see that picture I hear him saying to me, “Indra come in here I want to talk to you.” When I was staying at his house, ”Indra, when are you going to come and visit me?” Everyone calls me Maharaja but only a few people I know would say this, ”Indra!” That is very painful and the only way to is to do as he demonstrated.

I think that Maharaja purposefully has a way to help ISKCON which he was so much attached to. I think he purposely tried to increase the loving sentiments of godbrothers for each other during his last couple of years of Krishna consciousness. It wasn’t a written or spoken statement that he is doing that but I think he saw that he realized that Prabhupada’s statement that your love for me will be demonstrated by how you cooperate and although we try to have so many big meetings, and make so many resolutions. Unless we are very very personal with each other on those six loving exchange, we are not going to really be able to demonstrate our love for Prabhupada. So Maharaja was very expert like that and I heard even when he went to Mayapur this year even those who didn’t like him he tried to make amends with them. I know Badri had a very difficult relationship with Maharaja but when he went to Mayapur and Badri was letting out his heart, Goswami Maharaja was listening, he offered his obeisances and asked for forgiveness. This is a real sigh of humility. I believe he did that because he wanted to have his godbrothers working together, cooperatively in a loving spirit and he wanted to demonstrate how he can make amends like that. I think this is one of the biggest contributions he made. He fanned that love in my heart, in Kesava Bharati Maharaja’s heart, in Giriraj Maharaja and Sivarama Maharaja, Govinda Maharaja and all these Radhanath Maharaja. So that is why we are feeling so much separation. So I think that we have to continue with that that will contribute to the success of our movement becoming stronger and more capable of preaching if we develop that loving relationship and appreciation for each other and I think that is one of the greatest things that he contributed to this movement.

This is loving exchanges between not only godbrothers but disciples and just people who weren’t devotees. They loved him. He genuinely loved them. Just like Prabhupada said one time. Devotees said to Prabhupada, ”Prabhupada everyone loves you.” Prabhupada said, ”It is because I love everybody and I think Tamal Krishna Maharaja really tried to demonstrate that although he was very often misunderstood by some of his godbrothers and others. I think he really tried to fan that mood of loving reciprocation through exchanging realizations, taking prasāda together and inviting devotees in his house. He was a perfect host. I am so embarrassed when I go to Cambridge. Maharaja has such a perfect, make sure somebody picked me up. When I came to the house he would be there, nicely dressed, prasādam will be ready in ten minutes. He would come outside; open the door of the car, he walked me in, he sit me down, exchanged some words, show me to my room, asking if there was anything required. He would call me ten times a day in the intercom to find out if I need anything. Prasādam was always first class. He would come at night to see me, tugged me in bed practically. He asked my advice. He asked my advice on his own life, what he should be doing, how he should take advantage of his upcoming career in Krishna consciousness, would laugh about old times and I just felt so enlivened. Then when I leave, like a perfect host would walk me outside to the car, open the door, close the door, walk some yards down the street waving goodbye, pay obeisances. So he is senior in every respect. But this is the way he is dealing with his junior godbrothers. So what a loss to our society. 

He knew Prabhupada. He knew the culture of Krishna consciousness, he knew Vedic etiquette, so many of the things that are lacking in our society now, he knew it. He was so frustrated because he couldn’t implement them in the times but so who can fathom the lost to our movement. We can be happy because Prabhupada took him and no doubt he is engaged in Prabhupada’s service in some important project but for those of us who have been left behind. What are we going to do? That is what Prabhupada said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that with the departure of the spiritual master the disciple should cry tears of grief. We should cry tears of grief. So when we lose a godbrother who is senior to us in every respect. Who is like śikṣā-guru then there is no wrong to our cry and shed tears of grief and lamentation although simultaneously we feel happy. It is like bitter sweet and I think of myself and others it is a wound that is not going to heal but perhaps those sentiments will one day allow us to come together again because we go where our hearts take us. I think that Goswami Maharaja was able to fan the fire of Krishna consciousness in the hearts of many of his godbrothers, disciples, and other devotees and that those sentiments would bring us, I mean I pray those sentiments would bring us together because I cannot imagine not performing devotional service in association of devotees like Goswami Maharaja and Giriraj Maharaja, Sivarama Maharaja, Bhaktividyapurna Maharaja, Govinda Maharaja, I don’t know. If I have to take birth again that I would like it to be in the association of devotees who I loved and had trust in and had experience serving my spiritual master. I hope those sentiments will qualify me to have Goswami Maharaja’s association again. When I have that association again I won’t be lazy, foolish, and unintelligent. I would take advantage of every moment of that association.

Srila Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja ki jaya!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Sri Krishna Saṅkīrtana Yajña ki jaya!
Sri Vrindavan dhāma ki jaya!
Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!

Giriraj Maharaja: I Just want to add one little anecdote that Balarama Prabhu told me when he was here. That Tamal Krishna Goswami went to visit Maha-Vishnu Maharaja, the elder Gujarati Sannyasi in the hospital when Maha-Vishnu Maharaja was very ill and Maha-Vishnu Maharaja said it is good you came so that I could see you before I leave. And Goswami Maharaja said, ”No, I will leave before you because I want to be there to receive all the Vaishnavas when they come.” 

Indradyumna Swami: That definitely demonstrates Maharaja. He acts on his words. He likes to receive devotees. That is an advanced quality to want to honor the Vaishnavas, genuinely honor the Vaishnavas, amāninā manadena—There is just one thing that Maharaja did not complete and that was coming to the Polish tour because I asked him many times and he was thinking this year he would probably able to come to the Polish tour. I really wanted him to see that— not in this lifetime.

Giriraj Maharaja: One nice thing about associating with his disciples over the last week is that they have told me so many things he said which I hadn’t heard before. Balarama also told about one elderly couple in Los Angeles, Vidura and his wife Mañjarī. So Vidura was always very regular and devoted to his service to the deities in the temple there and when Goswami Maharaja would pass through LA at the airport he would allow disciples to come and meet him but when Goswami Maharaja came on one Sunday, Vidura didn’t come because of his service but Vidura’s wife came and Goswami Maharaja gave her a lot of attention, a lot of affection, a lot of mercy. So then she said, “Srila Gurudeva you should always come on Sunday because when my husband comes I am always in the background. I don’t get any mercy. Without him I get all the mercy. So you should always come on Sunday. Goswami Maharaja actually felt that he should have come and Balarama told me that afterwards he spoke with Vidura and told him you should have come. You know the reward for all of your services is to get to meet your spiritual master and when you get the chance you shouldn’t miss it and then Vidura agreed, “Yes, I should.” I mean fortunately Goswami Maharaja came one more time. He actually visited their apartment, took prasāda there. But I think that is also an important lesson and one professor yesterday she said that like she had a guru and she was working on some project that she knew would please her guru so she wanted to have her project completed first and then meet him and show him the work she has done and Goswami Maharaja said, ”No, you should meet him as soon as you can. Don’t wait.” And now with what happened to Goswami Maharaja she really has decided, ”No, now I am going. I am not going to wait. If I have something to show, good but if I don’t. I am going to go anyway.” 

Another thing Goswami Maharaja told Balarama was that I will always be with you when you are with my godbrothers because I am always with my godbrothers and that is sort of what Indradyumna Swami said indirectly that by associating with each other we will like to help fill the vacancy we feel in our hearts and the vacancy is filled not just by the presence of the godbrothers per se but by, you know, by feeling the presence of Goswami Maharaja and Srila Prabhupada, when we are together.

Sri Prahlada: Someone told me that he was working on the paper on The Passing of a Vaishnava.

Giriraj Maharaja: Well the title was going to be Dying a Good Death and Tripurari dasa told me that Goswami Maharaja was very regulated as you probably know it very strict in the time he allotted to his dissertation and other things but Goswami Maharaja was so excited about the prospect of going to Mayapur he couldn’t work on his dissertation the last two days before he was scheduled to leave. So he thought he would spend the time with Tripurari and visit bookstores, look for books he can use. And on the day they went, I don’t know if they went both days but on the day they went he found a book in the bookstore called ‘Dying a good death’ and it was about dying in Benares. Obviously the title really caught his eyes because it was the exact same title he planned for his paper, and he bought the book and then before he went for India he laid out all the books on his desk that he was going to use for his paper. So he was going to spend one month on that paper and one month on the last chapter of his dissertation. So actually today probably Tripurari is going to enter his study, have one other responsible devotee, actually see what’s there.

Sri Prahlada: Tamal Krishna Maharaja wrote me in Mayapur before he arrived and he said, ”Can you please get a copy of Sat Kriya Sara Dipika for me by Gopal Bhatta Gosvami, a book on Samskaras. The last section is on passing of a Vaishnava and the last rites. I didn’t know why he wanted the book but we organized to get a copy printed because we didn’t have any for him. And then when I was in New York I heard he was writing a paper. So I figured that is why he wanted that book. There was some arrangement there that he was thinking about the passing of a Vaishnava so deeply, so soon before his own departure.

Giriraj Maharaja: I know whenever I have left the dhāma or been in the process of leaving the dhāma it has always been a time of deep reflection. On the one hand you are thinking of the time you spent in the dhāma and the mercy you got when you were there, experiences you had and you sort of like relishing again the experiences you had and then at the same time you are thinking of your mission why you are leaving the dhāma, going back in the battlefield and fighting for Krishna and Srila Prabhupada. Of course his consciousness was heightened in any case. Whatever we experience is like probably just a dim reflection of whatever he experiences. I just sort of imagine it like both were there as they were so prominent in his personality, relishing Krishna consciousness in the association of devotees, going out to preach and fight for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. 

Sri Prahlada: One thought I had when Indradyumna Swami was speaking about what he learnt about preaching from him. He also learnt a lot about Vrindavan from him. He took those couple of weeks to sit with you for an hour in a scheduled class each day in Vrindavan and Tamal Krishna Maharaja would speak about vraja-bhakti and also that he wanted you to stay in Cambridge for a month so that he could speak with you about vraja-bhakti as well. He gave Indradyumna Swami a list of books to read and he said read these, some chapters of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, some particular books and said when they’ll come back in some month, they will discuss all of these things again.

Indradyumna Swami: He had requested me that we spend some time together and he said he is not ready right now he said because of what happened with the whole thing with Narayana Maharaja and the GBC that he was very pained. He said it can’t come out of me and he said, “It has to come out through you. You will have to ask the questions and it will come out. Right now it is all locked in there. The whole experience is so traumatic—- but I want to. So You will have to come back and spend one month to six weeks and I’ll just put aside time everyday two three hours we will have three or four hours every day and we will talk about it.” That was his offer. That was also in the schedule for the year. He was going to travel to come to the Polish tour and we would spend time there—- 

Sri Prahlada: Thinking of his expertise in bhakti, Some years back on Govardhana-puja Indradyumna Swami and Tamal Krishna Maharaja were in Vrindavan and Tamal Krishna Maharaja invited Indradyumna Swami to go out to Govardhana, to the palace and he said everyone is going around the hill. He said, “We won’t do that.” Why? Govardhana-puja is so auspicious moment to do parikramā. He said, “No we won’t do that.” He said, “We will stay by the side of Govardhana Hill and I have ordered kilos and kilos and kilos of pera and barfi. We will offer that to Giriraj and we will serve it to all the Vaishnavas as they go around the hill and we will get their mercy and we will get their benefits of the parikramā. (laughter) and so they stayed there for some hours at the table and kilos of burfi and pera and they were distributing to all the Vaishnavas. 

Indradyumna Swami: And then we went into the palace. They were still working on the palace in those days. We would sit in the courtyard where that water thing is now. There were lots of govardhana-śilās there like a little shrine that they, as they were cleaning the palace and digging around the little govardhana-śilās they would find they would keep in a pile. So then he would during abhiseka, he took one out and said very simple. This is the type of puja I like to do, very simple. There are no mantras, no mudras.

Sri Prahlada: And another intimate thing he taught Indradyumna Swami when Indradyumna Swami heard about Maharaja’s departure. He remembered one particular thing that Maharaja had told him several times about Prabhupada’s tooth. So he called Yudhisthira and Yudhisthira had said it is alright that they just read his will to the GBC and it is there that he wants to go in samadhi with Prabhupada’s tooth and I am sure Maharaja thought on so many levels. He had so many reasons why he wanted Prabhupada’s tooth to be with him so that he would be with Prabhupada in samadhi. One reason he told Indradyumna Swami once half jokingly and half seriously he said so many people don’t like me and they disrespect me. He said that is also an offense. He said when I go into samadhi I will take Prabhupada’s tooth with me so even my enemies will have to pay their obeisances. 

Giriraj Maharaja: I was thinking about his room. Well just now I was thinking about his room in Mayapur but just now I was thinking of other room I used like to go in the room when he was not there and chant and feel very safe and secure, protected. And the room in Mayapur had the sofas where he would take rest after lunch and of course he was very particular. I remember once there was like nice silk covers and once someone like did or almost like spilled a few drops of something on it. He was really concerned but like Amogha Lila Prabhu mentioned that even though he did not have so much personal association of Goswami Maharaja in the last years but he felt like sort of safe and secure both personally and for the movement just by Goswami’s presence and he compared it to Srila Prabhupada’s presence. Many disciples didn’t really have much personal association with Srila Prabhupada but they all felt safe and secure because Srila Prabhupada was there. There wasn’t any need or any emergency because he was there and now Goswami Maharaja is not there. 

But there is definitely a strong element of being a disciple with him especially in the last years you know externally he was very collegial person so when he came to visit me here that was there but when he actually was here I immediately at least very quickly fell into the mood of the position of a disciple. I felt very comfortable and very happy in that position and just like being in the room there was almost like being in Prabhupada’s room. Immediately like all the objects in the room became so much significant, so much loveliness and I told him and he accepted it like I thought externally he was very much in the mode of acting as friends and equals but I am thinking internally other things were going on. He and when the other person recognized them and appreciated them he is satisfied, in a knowing way even though externally there is nothing of it. It didn’t have to be his room in any permanent sense but it just became his room. Now the other time we were staying in Maharaja’s house in Houston and once it happened like that he was out and I just went into his room to chant and actually the same thing but the last night in Dallas after the program we visited his quarters in the temple there, sort of next to where his quarters were with the room where Srila Prabhupada stayed when he was there and Radha Vinoda said how every morning he would come and say his Gayatri and every evening he would like sit for ten minutes in front of Prabhupada say his Gayatri and sort of say good bye to him and if he ever went out of the building for any reason, I mean, the first time in the day that he would go out of the building he would do parikramā, circumambulate the temple and he would never want the mahā-prasāda from the deities directly. He always wanted it to be offered to the deity of Srila Prabhupada first and here also I mean he really loved the altar and the deities even though we have like little picture with Gandharvikā Giridhari but he said we had to offer the plate to Gandharvikā Giridhari and then to the deity of Srila Prabhupada. 

I think I have some service to Goswami Maharaja. 

Srila Gurudeva ki jaya!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!