Srila Prabhupada’s Disappearance Day

Giriraj Swami: I personally felt that I would like to hear from so many of you what your realizations of Srila Prabhupada are. How he has touched your life and improved it, how he is guiding you by his instructions, and inspiring you by his activities. And although it is a week night and people have to work tomorrow, but I thought we would give some devotees the chance to share with us, which really means give ourselves a chance to hear from them what has touched them about Srila Prabhupada. At the end, I could say a few words within probably the same few minutes that everyone will have. But I think Srila Prabhupada would be pleased to hear all of you say whatever you can say about him. Of course, again, we have His Holiness [Unintelligible 00:01:56] dasa Gosvami, who doesn’t have the use of his voice for now. Could you say a couple of words; two words.

Devotee: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: [laughter] That said it all. Okay. Next. Any volunteers or should we call upon? Jana Maharaja, Hare Krishna.

Devotee: nama oḿ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale, śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine. First, I came in New York in 1978. My brother-in-law took me to Hare Krishna temple, and I have seen first time the deity of Srila Prabhupada. Before a year, Prabhupada went away. And as you know, New York is the busiest city, and I am also busy. So, once in a while, I visited the temple on Sunday, but when I moved from New York to Huntsville in Texas in 1982 and [Unintelligible 00:04:02]. The devotees were coming from Dallas and staying at my motel, and they gave me prasāda and some gifts and some books. And I get the time to read, and I know some things about Prabhupada. Then I took the initiation in 1989. And the first call was my guru Maharaja to read Bhagavad-gītā and Bhāgavatam and Prabhupada’s books. And I started to read about Prabhupada, and I got so many realizations from him.

So after 1992, I joined full-time. It was an order from my guru Maharaja, “You should join full-time.” So, when I joined in 1992 and I visited Vrindavan and Mayapur and Jagannatha Puri. But I was more astonished to see Vraja-dhama as well as Mayapur dhāma. And in Mayapur dhāma, I saw real devotion of the people everywhere. So, what is devotion? I learned from the devotees, and then I joined every day the routine work over here in the temple. And then, I studied the books and everything, and I am doing the Bhāgavatam class also. But the attachment with Prabhupada is so much intense, every day we are singing his glories in the ārati and Prabhupada puja and everything. So, we are attached, and this attachment gives me. I am not fortunate to serve Srila Prabhupada, but one day, in a dream, I am in the temple, and Prabhupada, tired of sitting, and Prabhupada shows his leg this way, and I understand that I should massage Prabhupada’s lotus feet, and I massaged it. And Prabhupada gave me another foot. This was a dream and I was so happy to saw in the dream. And before that, one dream came, that was the chastisement of Prabhupada. Prabhupada is chanting, and I am also chanting, but I am moving here and there, here and there while chanting. And Prabhupada calls me, “Sit down over there and chant, don’t move here and there.” So, this is the chastisement I got. And the second mercy I got, to serve him. Hare Krishna. [applause]

Giriraj Swami: I think we should either turn up the volume. There is some sound coming here that is making it hard to hear. I don’t know if we can stop it or turn up the volume of the other microphone, or both. Now, I will have to request the devotees to keep their talks within five minutes. You don’t have to use the whole five minutes, but not beyond five minutes. Just so we can hear from others. Any volunteers? One of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples, Vijay dasa, recently left his body, and he was thinking of Prabhupada up until the end, talking about Prabhupada. And several of the devotees here were serving him. His two daughters are here with us tonight. So, I thought it might be nice for one of the daughters, or one of the other devotees, to tell us how they saw Srila Prabhupada’s mercy on Vijay Prabhu at the end of his life. Guru Bhakti Mataji, were you there? But [Unintelligible 00:09:54] was there.

Devotee: Hare Krishna. I was there only for a short period of time, but we have a Vaishnava care team, and the members of the team who were visiting him regularly were Mother Khalendi, Nita Kishori, Bhagavati. So, they would visit him regularly. But one thing, which I understood, or I realized, from Vijay Prabhu’s life was that he was totally fixed on Srila Prabhupada. His niṣṭhā and his faith in Srila Prabhupada was just absolute, and it was very gratifying to see how this may follow by having that faith in Srila Prabhupada and being grateful for his mercy. He was following the process, and his final test, he passed so easily. And I was very grateful to Srila Prabhupada and we thank Prabhupada for showing us the example, that just by following the process that Srila Prabhupada has given us, anyone can pass the final test, just like he did. It was very, very inspiring to see that.

Devotee: Hare Krishna. It was actually an honor, in the circumstances, to help Vijay Prabhu in the situation he was in. It was actually very amazing to see how he had realized Srila Prabhupada’s teachings by being so detached from his bodily situation. I remember he must have been suffering quite a lot, and he was, but he never complained actually, and he just took it as it was. And like Srila Prabhupada was always saying, “We are not this body,” and that despite all the situations he was in, he realized that. And yes, just to speak in what Srila Prabhupada’s glories, his pastimes with Srila Prabhupada, how he spent time with Srila Prabhupada, walking, how he was serving, how he was making life members, traveling to India and coming to the United States, and doing all kinds of services.

But he always had a very sharp memory as well, and he could just remember so many things, that even devotees said in local classes here, even the classes he had heard once. So, he was just saying that. . .we would never remember something like that, but Prabhu had this memory, amazing, and whatever was going on, he knew it. And how he knew it? We don’t know because he was not the prominent person here at all, but he knew so many things, which were happening with the devotees. I was actually amazed when I visited him one time. I came, and he had been very sick, and then he was asking about [Unintelligible 00:13:17] who just got married. How did he know that? All kinds of things; he knew all these things and somehow, he had still the interest on asking how the devotees were doing. So, it was very amazing actually.

And the last test was very amazing how he was speaking about Prabhupada and telling, still his realizations and his experiences, and then he just left like that. And he was actually telling my husband, just two days before, he was talking about Govinda Maharaja, how Govinda Maharaja left his body, talking about Lord Jagannatha and speaking with some devotees, and he said, “I want to leave like that.” He said that is the glories, and that is what he did actually. Srila Prabhupada’s mercy. Although he was not very prominent but very, very Krishna conscious. Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Amarandra Prabhu is volunteering.

Devotee: Hare Krishna. The day before Vijay Prabhu left his body, I was here in the temple room, and Guru Priya Mataji and Kishori Mataji told me, “You need to go. You know that Vijay is very sick and he does not talk anything else but Prabhupada, and you need to go and see.” So, thanks to them, immediately I was inspired, and I immediately went over there along with friend of mine. And we went there, and as soon as we entered the door, he said, “Gupta Ji, you are doing so much service.” And then he narrated the few instances of his association with Prabhupada when he was in Bombay. And he said, “Prabhupada gave the class, and after giving the class, when he came outside, I put on shoes on his feet, and I touched his lotus feet.”

And then also he said one time he went to [Unintelligible 00:15:51] along with Giriraj Swami Maharaja, and he said how Giriraj Swami Maharaja was serving to him. He narrated in very detailed, I don’t remember too much, but he really mentioned a lot about Giriraj Swami Maharaja’s favor to Prabhupada. And amazingly, he didn’t complain about anything, about his pain, about his other social activities, “What will happen to my family?” Nothing, he was just totally absorbed, and he wanted to say something more about Prabhupada, then other people came and we had to leave the room.

So, that really, really touched my heart. When he was here, we used to say that, “Oh, he is talking of the past, he served Prabhupada in India, and he is saying everything about him and what is he doing nowadays. See how we think about a devotee; we never know; we should be careful. But the way he served, we don’t know. Imagining how every individual serves to his spiritual master, or his acharya; we have to be careful. So, that was really a very big lesson in my life, that we should think before we talk, that how one devotee be close to another, because we never know who is close to Prabhupada and who is close to Krishna. So, I was very much impressed, and thank God that I went there. I wanted to touch his feet, but the other people came, and then we had to leave, so I missed that part. Haribol. [applause]

Giriraj Swami: I am actually thinking one of the officers of the temple, Shyamasundara Prabhu, or the president, someone should be the master of ceremonies. I am just one of the dasas, we are all just sitting at Prabhupada’s feet. So, who is going to be the master of ceremonies?

Devotee: Gopinatha Prabhu

Giriraj Swami: Gopinatha Prabhu

Gopinatha Prabhu: So, who will be the next to talk?

Devotee: nama oḿ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale, śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine, [Unintelligible 00:18:57] The foremost qualities of Srila Prabhupada was his implicit faith in guru and Krishna. We can see the advantage of having the implicit faith in guru and Krishna, and what Prabhupada was able to achieve. Every actions that Prabhupada has done is nothing but the showing what the scripture has to say or the instructions we can learn from Srila Prabhupada. Even how he walks, how he talks, how he sees even. Every activity, every step he takes, we can learn from Srila Prabhupada. He was the living example of how the perfect person can live in this world. I think we are so fortunate to have our grandfather like Srila Prabhupada, not only that we have to speculate anything, Prabhupada has given no room for any speculation if you read his books. And Prabhupada is so merciful that most of his time, at the old age, despite he has so many responsibility, he has done a great favor to the humanity at large, is to give his books, so we can read and associate with Srila Prabhupada. All his activities are transcendental. The other quality that I really feel and touch within my heart was he was very compassionate to his disciple and all of the living being. Whoever come in touch with Srila Prabhupada, he was very compassionate person. There is no limit of glorification of Srila Prabhupada because there is not a change of most of nature was acting at any time in Srila Prabhupada life, and it is very, very hard to see the person in this material world.

I remember in 1970, Srila Prabhupada visited the Surat city. I was studying at the engineering college at the time, but our college was far from the city, and I was not fortunate to meet Srila Prabhupada or show him in any way. But I have full faith, like my guru Maharaja used to say, that you can see how the person who has implicit faith in guru and Krishna show, and what are the benefits they get. We don’t have to worry about anything as long as we show over the instructions that we have received from the guru Maharaja, the perfection will come. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Gaura-bhakta-vṛnda ki jaya! [applause]

Devotee: nama oḿ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale, śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine [Unintelligible 00:22:23] So, a few years ago, I am very young materially speaking, so a few years ago, I am about twenty-one now so I was about seventeen, and I was searching for some alternative lifestyle, some spiritual lifestyle. And I was going to many places, I was going to different churches and meditation centers and different things like that, and, a Seventh-day Adventist Church and, a Buddhist meditation thing, and just different things I was looking for. So eventually, I had a book, and then I ran to the Hare Krishna temple, and then I started coming to the temple. And I was doing a compare and contrast, I was chanting with the devotees, and I was going to the church actually and singing with them and associating, asking lots of questions and examining them as persons.

So, as the prayer says that Prabhupada’s delivering the Western world from impersonalism and voidism, meaning obviously, that God is like a light or there is just nothing, or there is no concept of God. A lot of Christian theology has no deep concept of God, meaning, what he looks like and what he does and where is he and everything. So, I am just very happy that Krishna sent Srila Prabhupada and his devotees to spread the message of Lord Chaitanya, so that there is a concept of. . . that there is Krishna, that he introduced people to Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And I was actually listening to a lecture, I think it was today, His Holiness Giriraj Swami, and he was saying that India was like a box, and Krishna was inside of that box, and everybody knew Krishna, everyone knew who He was and everything. But Srila Prabhupada, he actually opened up the box and introduced the whole world to Krishna. So, I am just very happy that he did that because without him doing that, I would have just been searching around, and I would have no other choice besides to go somewhere else.

So, I am very happy for him extending his mercy, and also for just being a perfect example, perfect devotee, a perfect example of how to be Krishna conscious, how to surrender to Krishna, because that example is needed so people could think, “Oh, okay, I could do it too. If he is showing the example, I could do it as well.” And also, for Srila Prabhupada’s disciples, his devotees shown an example how to surrender to Krishna, how to live a pure life, and how to chant [Unintelligible 00:26:10] material nature. So, I am very happy that Srila Prabhupada trained his devotees so nicely like that. So, Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! [applause]

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:26:29] Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! I guess I was thinking when I was hearing, listening to Jana Maharaja speak. I have had a few dreams also of Srila Prabhupada. And I feel like we all have. . .I feel that the relationship is a direct one, it feels direct. But most of the dreams that I have had, good it was in the dream also. And one dream I had was Prabhupada was coming, he was arriving, and the devotees, they were having this, wildly ecstatic kirtan. And I knew what was going on in the dream because of that kirtan. It was just so ecstatic that I knew what was happening was that Srila Prabhupada was arriving. And then, the next part of the dream, I remember, was in the temple room, and I was sitting next to Srila Prabhupada’s vyāsāsana, and Srila Prabhupada had some kartals, and I think they were in a bag or something and he was trying to open the bag, but then he gave it to me to open it for him.

And another dream I had, it was a farm property or something, but it was undeveloped, and there were hundreds and hundreds of devotees everywhere. And there was some kind of trailer, and Srila Prabhupada was inside the trailer, and there were devotees all around outside. And Srila Gurudeva was grabbing me and taking me to go inside the trailer. And so, I guess I feel that the relationship with Srila Prabhupada is direct, but I think my experience comes through his disciples. I feel like how I understand Srila Prabhupada, how I relate with Srila Prabhupada, how I feel his mercy, is through his disciples. And of all of Srila Prabhupada’s achievements, that we all are benefiting from and living from, there is the temples, especially some of the temples in India, and deity worship, our culture, so many things that Srila Prabhupada has given us.

But to me, one of the greatest things is his disciples, especially now. I just see that there are so many. If you were to sit here and just talk about Srila Prabhupada’s senior disciples and their qualities and their achievements and their preaching, and listening to their lectures, their kirtans, it is just incredible, it is just so tangible. The enlivenment, encouragement, strength that you can get in your spiritual life from hearing from these devotees. Another thing I was thinking about was, another devotee mentioned it also, how Srila Prabhupada has taught us through his example, a great, secret of success in Krishna consciousness. How we are all trying to achieve krishna-bhakti, or more specifically, we are trying to achieve the bhakti that the inhabitants of Vrindavan have for Krishna. And this is such a great thing. If you think about it too much, you might even get discouraged thinking, “How is it possible to achieve this thing?” And we can chant and we can read and we can do our sadhana as sincerely as possible and with this concentration, trying so hard, but it is such a difficult thing to achieve, to get krishna-bhakti.

But there is a secret that Srila Prabhupada really showed by his example, that you can try and please Krishna, but it is not easy, it is difficult because we are going for such a high thing, and it is not easy to get. But if you please your spiritual master, Krishna is automatically pleased. You don’t have to wonder whether Krishna is pleased. If your spiritual master is pleased, Krishna is definitely pleased. So, you achieve that thing, by pleasing you can do it. And to please the spiritual master, well, it is maybe not easy, but it is a lot easier than trying to please Krishna. We can know our spiritual master, we can relate to him in such a direct way, he is very merciful, he is very compassionate, he wants to be pleased by his disciples. He gives them so many opportunities to please him, and he is so forgiving. So, it is a great secret of success in spiritual life that Srila Prabhupada really showed us by his example. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! [applause]

Devotee: Now we will hear from Mohanra, Vijay Prabhu’s son. By the way, today’s program is sponsored by Vijay Prabhu’s family.

Devotees: Haribol! [applause]

Devotee: I take it all of you know my father, Vijay Chandra. I am the son, and those are two of my two sisters, [Unintelligible 00:34:13], and my mom Carolina. And my father, he would consider all devotees, not just us, his family, he loved everybody. My father’s life was just filled with Krishna consciousness. Everything he would do, the temple, the devotees. He had diabetes, he got diabetes a couple years ago, and then his legs started giving out, and his vision started going, but that would not stop him from coming to the temple with his cane. I am pretty sure you remember him, he would come with his cane, he was still coming. He could be missing both legs, but still, he would go to the temple, and still go to the houses where you all would meet, and still talk about Krishna. He loved Krishna. Nothing would stop him from going to Krishna.

I want to thank all the devotees who came to the hospital to see my father. He really enjoyed that because he wanted to hear from Krishna, he wanted to see you, he wanted to see everybody. His life was filled with Krishna, and then you all helped him talk about Krishna. He was sharing Krishna consciousness with everybody here. During his last days, he talked about Prabhupada, and he would tell you all his stories about Prabhupada and his time in India. And he was very happy every time he talked about Prabhupada and Krishna, that made him happy, that made his life, that filled his life with joy. And then, sadly, his life ended in that fifty-seven years. That is what Krishna wanted, and that is what Prabhupada wanted.

I guess you can say he was able to reach Krishna consciousness under fifty-seven years, which is good because when he was lying there in the hospital, I wouldn’t say a word, I was really, really sad. And I went to the hospital, and my dad was taking his last breaths, and I was holding his hand, and then his hand got really cold, and you could see in my father’s face that something was going on. And then, I was feeling his hand, I was looking at his mouth as he took his last breath. And then, when he took his last breath, a feeling of peace came through his face, and all the people who were there, you could see that he was very clean when he passed away. Guru Bhakti and I checked the pulse to see if there was a pulse, but there wasn’t, and he died very clean. He was able to share with you all his knowledge, his life experiences with Krishna consciousness, and all his time in India.

What I know about him is that when he was very young, he is from India, and he would travel the world spreading the word with Prabhupada. And he would just go from El Salvador, Guatemala, all over the world. He liked to travel, and he liked Krishna, that is what my father was mainly about. And he would go with you all to Dallas, he would go wherever you all go to spread the word. He would be there, he could be with his cane, he could have been missing both legs, if he still had a heartbeat, he would travel around the world to spread the word. And that is dedication that he had to his religion. And I miss my father, but now he just left, his body expired, he left his body, but his soul lives on. Thank you. [applause]

Devotee: Now it is getting late; we will ask Maharaja to have some words.

Giriraj Swami: I just thought to share one brief story. Srila Prabhupada was speaking to some group of people, and there was a newspaper reporter. Srila Prabhupada was speaking about the varnashrama system, brahmans, kshatriyas, vaishyas, sudras, brahmacharis, grihasthas, vanaprasthas, and sannyasis. And then, one of the newspaper reporters challenged him saying, “And what are you in this? I suppose you are the highest, right? You have explained the whole system, but you are the highest, right? So, everyone is under you?” That was the implication. So, when the reporter asked, “What are you?" Srila Prabhupada hesitated, and he looked down, and with genuine humility and very sincerely, he said, “I am the lowest. I am the servant of everyone.” And that really was Srila Prabhupada’s mood. It is inconceivable how someone as powerful and successful, could be so humble and actually feel that he was the lowest and that he was the servant of everyone.

When the devotees were planning the Vrindavan temple, they asked Srila Prabhupada about the Guru-Gaurāṅga altar on which there is Gaura-Nitai and then, Srila Prabhupada and his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. And Srila Prabhupada said that they should make the deity in this pose, with him keeping his palms together and offering respects. He said, “This is the pose that my deities should be in because I am the servant of everyone.” So, I don’t know how we can. . . We can’t even fathom the depth of his humility and realization, what to speak of aspire for it. But to get just a fraction, a drop of that realization, we could begin to begin to serve him properly.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Hare Krishna. [applause]