Juhu Temple 25th Anniversary

Giriraj Swami: So we are gathered here especially today to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the grand opening of Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihariji’s temple and cultural center in Juhu, Bombay. One could discuss the history of Hare Krishna Land and the future of Hare Krishna Land for days. Right now in Bombay devotees have gathered and they are discussing the history of the Juhu project and its future for days. But because of time constraints and other factors we shall only speak on one aspect of the project in particular tonight. And that is its name—- Hare Krishna Land—- which is especially appropriate because of the most prominent activity here tonight.

When we first got the land in Juhu it was a vacant field overgrown with brush and at the time Juhu was just a small fishing village far from the city of Bombay. But some of the local residents used to distil liquor. They would surreptitiously distil liquor in the bushes or the brush at Hare Krishna Land. So anyway with great difficulty Srila Prabhupada was able to get the land conveyed in the name of ISKCON and then to get the permission to build the temple and ultimately to build the temple and install the Deities in it. But just a few months perhaps after we came to reside at Hare Krishna Land, Srila Prabhupada gave the name of the land or the project as “Hare Krishna Land” and the only other land we knew was Disneyland. Srila Prabhupada was very expert with words and the only other project that he had specifically named was New Vrindavan. He said there are so many new versions of places from the old world in America like New York, New Jersey and so on, so why not New Vrindavan? So here Srila Prabhupada gave the name Hare Krishna Land and just the name gave us the idea that it would be like Disneyland but instead of Disneyland or fantasy land, it would be Hare Krishna Land.

One day some years later I was sitting in Srila Prabhupada’s room at the back of the property and Srila Prabhupada heard the sound of kirtan from the temple. And he commented, “This is Hare Krishna Land. Always the sound of Hare Krishna should be heard here.”

In 1977 just perhaps six months before Srila Prabhupada was to leave, one staunch devotee of Srila Prabhupada named Mr. Sethi, arranged a kirtan at the temple. Mr. Sethi was a staunch devotee of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. Even before he met Srila Prabhupada he was associated with a saṅkīrtana group and even before the devotees had moved to Hare Krishna Land, he would invite then from downtown Bombay to perform nagar saṅkīrtana or hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana on the streets of the suburb where he lived, Gorigama. The devotees came and they did nagar saṅkīrtana and at the end of the saṅkīrtana Mr. Sethi would offer them all a nice feast of Krishna prasādam. So Mr. Sethi was already attached to Krishna and hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana and he became extremely attached to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Prabhupada’s mission and Srila Prabhupada’s devotees.

Anyway the practice of the group that he had been associated with, which was called Radha-Madhava Saṅkīrtana Mandali, or something like that, is that every Sunday they would meet at one of the householder’s homes—- the householder devotees that formed the saṅkīrtana mandali. And they would do a “kand Hare Krishna” kirtan or a continuous Hare Krishna kirtan for twelve hours from six in the morning until six in the evening. And then from six in the evening till eight in the evening, they would sing songs from Vraja. They would end with “Jaya rādhe jaya rādhe rādhe, jaya rādhe jaya Sri Rādhe.” Mr. Sethi had the idea that let them come and perform in the small temple we had in Juhu while the new temple was under construction. So we welcomed them and they came. They and the devotees from the temple performed kirtan in front of the Deities in the small temple.

Now Srila Prabhupada was staying on the fifth floor of one of the two towers at Hare Krishna Land but the building was not really ready at the time and the lift was not working. And Srila Prabhupada was also quite ill. He certainly couldn’t come down and the devotees couldn’t come up. But the devotees really wanted to reciprocate with Srila Prabhupada, the devotees from the Radha-Madhava Satsaṅga Mandali. So they came out of the small temple, many of them, and stood by the tower under one of the windows of Srila Prabhupada’s quarters. Of course he was up on the fifth floor. They were just chanting and chanting in the mood of pleasing Srila Prabhupada and expressing their love for him and reciprocating with him. Their anxiety to have Srila Prabhupada’s darshan was increasing and perhaps Srila Prabhupada’s anxiety to have the devotees’ darshan was increasing. Then finally, although Srila Prabhupada was in a very delicate condition, he came out onto the balcony and looked down upon the devotees who were chanting and dancing below. Of course their ecstasy increased to a crescendo and Srila Prabhupada went back to his quarters and the devotees went back into the temple.

The next day Srila Prabhupada called for me. He said that I should invite the Radha-Madhava householder devotees to live at Hare Krishna Land. And he said that he would maintain them all and all they had to do was to do what they did on Sunday. That is to do continuous Hare Krishna kirtan for twelve hours. Srila Prabhupada often made suggestions that we felt we were not able to execute. Like once Srila Prabhupada was on a morning walk in Calcutta and suggested we ask the government to give us the Victoria Memorial. There was one incident, I forget right now, but I think Srila Prabhupada was on an airplane flight. He asked one of the servants to ask the stewardess for something and the servant really couldn’t bring himself to do it. I remember in Chicago Srila Prabhupada said we should ask the city hall to donate the city hall. They were moving. He said we should approach the local government to give us the city hall that they were going to vacate. Anyway I don’t think I ever suggested to the Radha-Madhava devotees that they should all move onto Hare Krishna Land. Then Srila Prabhupada said that otherwise he would like all of the devotees from the temple to do continuous kirtan in the temple. So then I said, “Well Srila Prabhupada, the devotees have so much service.” Then Srila Prabhupada said, “Well all right, then at least on Sunday they should do continuous kirtan.” So then I immediately agreed.

Later (later means it did not take long) I realized that in the kirtan on Sunday all the questions that I had in my mind became answered. So whenever any problem arose during the week, of course if it was Monday or Tuesday or even Wednesday I might try to deal with it, but if it came up Thursday or later, I would just put it off and wait for the kirtan on Sunday. Because I knew that whatever the problem was it would be solved by the kirtan.

That was a tradition for many years. I don’t know what happened. I guess it is just one of those things. But they sort of do it on a Sunday, a little bit in a filmy mood but they are doing something. Anyway I shouldn’t commit offenses. So as we were chanting here tonight I was thinking, “Well, this is Hare Krishna Land, this is an expansion of Hare Krishna Land. We are hearing the sounds of Hare Krishna.”

One other time Srila Prabhupada and some of us were walking back to the Juhu temple from Juhu beach and some little children, maybe not exactly street urchins, but definitely from very simple families in the neighborhood, saw Srila Prabhupada and exclaimed, “Hare Krishna!” Srila Prabhupada responded, “Hare Krishna!” And then after Srila Prabhupada had walked a few steps further, he stopped and commented, “Our mission is a success. They are chanting Hare Krishna.” In general that was his mission and it was certainly his mission at Hare Krishna Land. So I think that it is a fit tribute to Srila Prabhupada’s monumental efforts to develop Hare Krishna Land that we have gathered here tonight to chant Hare Krishna. And therefore in the fitness of the occasion I suggest we chant more but if anyone would like to add anything or say anything they can.

Sarvatma Prabhu: One devotee just passed away. His name was Kaivalya Svarupa. He was a Prabhupada disciple. He was in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for many years. I cannot remember the year but in was somewhere in the seventies that the government was persecuting the devotees and they had to go underground. Basically Kaivalya’s parents gave him a house and he ran a temple in that house for a dozen years. They sound-proofed the temple room. They distributed prasādam. From just hearing about it a lot of people came—hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people would come and take prasādam and chant Hare Krishna. He was basically the pillar. So recently he passed away under very nice circumstances. He was very ill. He was surrounded by devotees and pictures and the maha-mantra and Srila Prabhupada’s tapes.

Giriraj Swami: Where was he at the time?

Sarvatma Prabhu: He was in Buenos Aires. He was in Spain but when he found out he was sick he came back.

Giriraj Swami: That is nice.

Sarvatma Prabhu: Very nice devotee, very nice—a great kīrtanīyā, one of the best mridanga player the movement ever produced.

Giriraj Swami: Really? What was his name again?

Sarvatma Prabhu: Kaivalya Svarupa.

Giriraj Swami:

Kaivalya Svarupa Prabhu ki jaya!
Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari ki jaya!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!