Remembering Srila Prabhupada—Part 03

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

I am going to begin by relating an incident that is relevant to our festival here. On Thursday at the temple I described how Srila Prabhupada, after establishing Krishna consciousness in America and Europe, decided to return to India. One devotee from each temple in North America flew to Bombay along with two couples from London to meet Srila Prabhupada there. 

We began in Bombay staying at the home of Kailash Seksaria. His family owned a whole building named Seksaria Bhavan, five-story building overlooking the Indian Ocean. Every morning we would meet in Srila Prabhupada’s room and sing the Samsara prayers and Srila Prabhupada would speak a little. 

One day, when we were in Srila Prabhupada’s room with him, Guru dasa Prabhu began to glorify another devotee named Dinanatha Prabhu for his nice kirtan. Then Guru dasa stopped speaking because he noticed that Srila Prabhupada’s small Radha-Krishna Deities were in the room. The Nectar of Devotion mentions as one of the principles that one should not glorify someone in front of the Deity. So Guru dasa Prabhu stopped himself and said, “Oh, I am sorry Srila Prabhupada, I was glorifying a devotee in front of the Deities.” Srila Prabhupada replied, “Krishna is already glorified, but He takes more pleasure when His devotees are glorified.” 

I mention this because perhaps, out of regard for the rule, the Deities remained closed during yesterday morning’s program and the deity of Srila Prabhupada also only came later. All that is correct according to the rules, but Srila Prabhupada knew the heart of Krishna and as he said, Krishna is already glorified, but He takes more pleasure when His devotee is glorified.

During that period in Bombay, Srila Prabhupada received many invitations to take prasāda at different people’s homes. Finally Srila Prabhupada said that, “We cannot accept any invitations unless the people become life members.” The life membership was devised by Srila Prabhupada as a way to distribute his books, that people would give Rs 1,111 which was quite a big amount then, and they would get all of Srila Prabhupada’s books that were published at the time and in the future. So, Srila Prabhupada commented that, “We are making life members simply by eating.”

We had one program at a very nice man’s house named Ramachandra Chabria. He prepared a huge feast for Srila Prabhupada and the devotees. The Indian hospitality was such that they would offer Srila Prabhupada and probably the devotees. . . many of our hosts had large homes, large families, and all the family members would vacate their bedrooms, and after lunch the host would invite Srila Prabhupada to take rest in one room and then give the other rooms for the disciples to take rest.

After this huge feast all the disciples went to take rest. Maybe Srila Prabhupada took a little rest, but mainly he was sitting and speaking with the host and the other guests. You could actually hear the snoring of the disciples coming from the bedrooms. Finally Srila Prabhupada said that, “We better wake up the devotees because we don’t know how much longer they will sleep and when they wake up they will probably be hungry and they will want to eat again. So we better wake them up now and we will take your leave.”

Like that we had many nice programs. From Bombay we went to Amritsar for the Vedanta Samelan. There too we had many nice programs. One very memorable program was at the home of Baladeva Indra Singh. He was a king or from a royal family and he was a real kshatriya. He had a huge estate. In addition to his own mansion, there was a large goshala, many guestrooms, and a beautiful garden. So Srila Prabhupada sent some of the disciples ahead and he said that he would follow. Mother Malati was in the group with us who came ahead. She helped them prepare the prasāda and then prepare the offering. Just when the prasāda was ready to be offered, Srila Prabhupada came and the devotees sang the song, bhaja bhakata-vatsala śrī-gaurahari, the Bhoga-ārati song by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. As we were singing in Srila Prabhupada’s presence, it really felt as if we were in Vrindavan with Krishna and His cowherd boyfriends while they were taking prasāda with Krishna.

Then there was some talk between Baladeva Indra Singh and Srila Prabhupada. The king said that according to one astrologer, his forefathers had fought in the Battle of Kurukshetra, but unfortunately his ancestors fought on the side of the Kauravas against Krishna, and he was really worried about it. But Srila Prabhupada said, “Don’t worry, what the astrologer said cannot be true because everyone who fought against Krishna and was killed in the battlefield was liberated. So you couldn’t have descended from someone who was killed on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.”

Then, from Amritsar, Prabhupada returned to Bombay. A few of us stopped in Delhi. Then we met Prabhupada in Indore for the Gita-jayanti conference, and in Indore a palmist came. He could read people’s futures by lines on their palms. So we asked Srila Prabhupada whether we should let him do it and Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes.” He looked at the devotees’ palms. He told one, “This will be your last life,” and he told another, “You’ll have to take birth a few more times.” He made different predictions and then he left.

The devotees asked Srila Prabhupada whether what he said was true and Prabhupada made a face and he said, “Just by clapping your hands in kirtan in front of the Deities, all of the lines are washed off.” 

After Surat Srila Prabhupada stopped in Bombay and from Bombay he went to Allahabad for the Ardha-kumbha-melā. It was very, very cold in January. All the devotees were living in tents. Srila Prabhupada was also living in a tent. It was maybe a little bigger and he had a heater, but he was also living in a tent. It was so cold in the morning that we preferred—I preferred—to stay in my sleeping bag a little longer than to come out into the cold and take a bath with freezing cold water from a pump. There were a few very staunch devotees—Tamal Krishna—they would get up very early and walk to the river and take their bath in the river, but the rest of us just stayed in our sleeping bags as long as we could. So we would be late for maṅgala-ārati.

When Srila Prabhupada heard, he was very concerned. So the next morning at four o’clock Srila Prabhupada himself took bath in that freezing cold water from the pump outdoors. Of course when news reached us in our tents, we got out of our sleeping bags as fast as we could, and went out to take our baths. 

So Srila Prabhupada was very concerned that the disciples get up very early in the morning and as the acharya he set the example. During that period Srila Prabhupada was speaking on the Sixth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the story of Ajamila which glorifies the holy name. At the time Srila Prabhupada’s own translation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam had only reached the Second Canto. So he would read from his big volume of Sanskrit commentaries, he would translate the verses from the Bhāgavatams, and then he would translate the commentaries, especially Srila Śrīdhara Swami’s commentary. They were wonderful lectures and Srila Prabhupada instructed that these lectures should be collected and published as a book. Many years later, the devotees did it, they published the book called Second Chance.

It was so cold that the devotees’ hands were numb. They could hardly move their hands. The head pujari was Nanda-kumara and one morning he just could not light the fire. Not only was it freezing cold and his hands were numb, but it was very windy. As soon as he would light the match or begin to light the ghee wick, the wind would blow it out. Tamal Krishna Goswami even jumped up on the stage and tried to help him but eventually the wind blew out the flame. Finally I heard over the speaker system, Srila Prabhupada speaking in the microphone: harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā. In one sense he was maybe being a little sarcastic that, “These people can’t even light the ghee lamp. All they can do is chant Hare Krishna,” but in another sense he was very serious that in Kali-yuga the only way is the holy name.

Later, about 1976 in Mayapur, I happened to be in Srila Prabhupada’s room when a disciple came in who was compiling a Deity worship manual for ISKCON called Arcana-padati. Srila Prabhupada told him, “Keep it simple. The main process in Kali-yuga is the chanting of the holy names. You should always remember that.”

Now we will come to the conclusion of our little talk tonight. I have to liquidate one of my debts to Abhimanyu Prabhu because he asked a question and I owe him an answer. He asked me to tell about an incident when Srila Prabhupada had a disciple wake me up in the middle of the night. 

It was in Vrindavan in 1977 in Kartika during Srila Prabhupada’s last days with us. I was taking rest on the terrace on the roof of the gurukula building and in the middle of the night, maybe midnight or one in the morning, a disciple woke me up and said Srila Prabhupada wanted to see me. Srila Prabhupada’s health was so delicate we thought he could leave at any time. So I immediately entered Srila Prabhupada’s room which is still there at the Krishna-Balarama temple and he was lying very silently on his bed which is also still there. In a very soft voice because he was very weak—he could hardly speak—he asked, “So, you think this movement will go on after I leave?” And I said, “Yes, as long as the devotees are sincere and chant their sixteen rounds and follow the regulative principles, it will go on.” And then Srila Prabhupada, with great difficult, because he was so weak, said. . . And I really had to strain to hear him. He was so sick, anything he said you were thinking it might be his last words. So I was really straining to hear what he said and what he said is, “Organization.” Then he said, “Intelligence and organization.” 

Those two or three words had a profound effect on me and they are full of meaning. Yes, of course, we have to be sincere and chant our sixteen rounds and follow the regulative principles, but we are meant to do more than just maintain our own spiritual lives. We are meant to preach, to expand the movement, increase the number of devotees, and to do that requires organization, intelligence, and organization. That endeavor to spread Krishna consciousness in an organized way is very much service to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. It is also service just like chanting the holy names and following the regulative principles.

Then Srila Prabhupada said, “Is there anything else?” meaning, “Is there anything else you would like to say?” Within my heart I was screaming out to Srila Prabhupada, “Don’t leave us.” My heart was screaming, but at the time there was a mood in Vrindavan that we shouldn’t impose our will on Srila Prabhupada. So even though within my heart I was screaming, “Please don’t leave,” but when he asked, “Is there anything else?” I said, “No.” Later I really regretted that I didn’t express myself to him then.

This is a very profound series of incidents that took place. Around May, Srila Prabhupada, as it was, he wasn’t eating, he wasn’t able to eat, but he stopped drinking. He mentioned that when his father wanted to leave his body, he just stopped eating and drinking. Prabhupada had a servant, a very nice simple devotee, and when Prabhupada refused to drink, the disciple said, “You have to drink otherwise you will become dehydrated.” Srila Prabhupada said, “Oh, you want me to drink? Call the GBC.” [laughter] In other words, this decision about whether Prabhupada should drink or not was a much deeper question, it was really whether he should try to stay alive in spite of all the physical difficulty he was facing or whether he should go. 

So, all the GBC members and other senior devotees gathered in Srila Prabhupada’s room. Srila Prabhupada asked, “Will the movement go on without me?” Then Brahmananda Prabhu, in a very cheerful mood, said, “Yes, Srila Prabhupada, it will go on.” Prabhupada said, “Then let me die. Why do you want me to stay and suffer?” Brahmananda Prabhu felt terrible. Then someone said. . . this had been the whole mood. This was the way Prabhupada had been speaking that, “Whatever Krishna wants.” In fact we had approached Srila Prabhupada during that period and said that, “You said that your guru maharaja left early because he was disgusted with his disciples. Is that the case now with you and us?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “No, if Krishna allows me, I will be very happy to stay in your association.” But that was the mood, “Whatever Krishna desires.” In the gathering of senior men in Srila Prabhupada’s room in May, one of the disciples said, “Whatever Krishna desires.” Srila Prabhupada’s response stunned everyone. It was very different from everything he had said until then. He said, “Krishna has given me the choice.” And then he said, because remember, the question was should he drink or not, which really meant should he leave his body now or not, so Srila Prabhupada said, “You all go outside and discuss.”

So all the devotees left Prabhupada’s bedroom and met in the anteroom where the book table is now. Kirtan ānanda Swami was very clear and lucid and he said, “If Krishna is giving Srila Prabhupada the choice and if Srila Prabhupada is giving us the choice then we should ask him to stay.” And the devotees became very enlivened. They said, “Yes, we want Srila Prabhupada to finish Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and then so many other books. And we want Srila Prabhupada to lead the movement.” Then someone said, “Not all the GBC members are here.” And Brahmananda Prabhu said, “Get out of here! What GBC member is going to say they don’t want Prabhupada to stay?” So it was concluded, we would ask Srila Prabhupada to stay.

We all went back into Srila Prabhupada’s room and Kirtan ānanda Swami, as the senior man, was asked to speak on behalf of the others. Srila Prabhupada said, “So, you have met and you have decided? What is your decision?” Kirtan ānanda Swami, he couldn’t speak. He just broke down sobbing and Brahmananda Prabhu was just behind him rubbing his back to encourage him and support him. Through his tears and with a choked voice Kirtan ānanda said, “We want you to stay.” Prabhupada said, “This is the decision of all of you?” The devotees said, “Yes.” So Srila Prabhupada was silent. He was deliberating what to do. Everyone was not just silent, but it was as if time stood still while we were waiting to hear Srila Prabhupada’s response. Then he yawned, a really big yawn, and as he exhaled from the yawn, “All right.” [laughter] It was the most nonchalant decision of life and death. And then he asked for pomegranate juice. All the devotees were jubilant. Prabhupada was staying!

In November, just before Govardhana-puja, Srila Prabhupada announced that he wanted to do parikramā on bullock cart, and he asked His Holiness Lokanath Swami to arrange it, which Lokanath Swami did enthusiastically. But some of the senior devotees, especially the ones who were caring for Srila Prabhupada, thought he wouldn’t be able to endure the journey on the bullock cart, because even if the bullock cart was padded with mattresses, still the roads were really bad. Srila Prabhupada’s condition was so delicate. He wasn’t eating, he couldn’t digest, and he was hardly drinking. So he was basically just skin and bones. But Srila Prabhupada seemed determined to go. The intimate disciples who were serving him were in great anxiety.

That evening Srila Prabhupada’s friend, Niṣkiñcana Krishnadasa Babaji Maharaja, was coming to visit Srila Prabhupada. So they decided to ask him to prevail upon Srila Prabhupada not to go. When Babaji Maharaja arrived, Tamal Krishna Goswami and Bhavananda Prabhu were upstairs talking, and Bhakti Charu Swami spoke to Babaji Maharaja about the situation, in Bengali. And then Tamal Krishna Goswami and Bhavananda Prabhu came down and they approached Srila Prabhupada and they said, “Srila Prabhupada, we have been in so much anxiety. The roads between here and Govardhana are so bad, they are so full of potholes, you will be jostled on the way, and it will be very painful for you. We don’t know what might happen.” Srila Prabhupada said, “So, you request me not to go?” He said, “All right. Then I won’t go.” And then Prabhupada turned to Babaji Maharaja and said, “Just see how much they love me.”

Although Srila Prabhupada had been very insistent that he wanted to go, and it was very hard to overcome the barrier of awe and reverence, but in the end the disciples broke through those barriers and expressed their heartfelt desire to him, and Prabhupada said, “Just see how much love they have for me.”

This is in a way a higher level of Krishna consciousness, more spontaneous. Of course we always accept the authority of the spiritual master., we accept the decision of the spiritual master, but we can on occasion express our feelings to him or thoughts to him, and that may please him more.

I began by telling the story of Guru dasa Prabhu glorifying Dinanatha Prabhu for his wonderful kirtan and then stopping himself because he realized he was praising someone in front of the Deity, and Srila Prabhupada replied, “Krishna is already glorified, but He takes more pleasure when his devotee is glorified.” So even though the rule is there—one should not praise someone in front of the Deity—Prabhupada knew the heart of Krishna that Krishna is pleased when His devotee is glorified. So in the end also the rule is there—one must obey the order of the spiritual master, and Srila Prabhupada said, “Prepare the bullock cart. I want to go on parikramā.”—but some of the disciples, they broke through that barrier of awe and reverence and expressed their heartfelt feelings and desires to him. Prabhupada accepted their desire and he agreed not to go on the bullock cart. In other words, you could say he was bound by their love. It seemed very appropriate in the month of Kartika when we remember the pastime of Damodara who was bound by His mother’s ropes, but He was not actually bound by the ropes, He was bound by her love. In the same way it seemed that Srila Prabhupada had been bound by his disciples and so he stayed some days more upon their request.

It is quite apparent to me that there is quite a lot of binding of ropes with love going on in Ukraine [applause]. His Holiness Niranjana Swami is bound by the ropes of Srila Prabhupada’s love and you all are being bound by the ropes of Niranjana Swami’s love [applause]. This is the chain of disciplic succession, beginning with Krishna, everyone is being bound by ropes of love and being pulled back home, back to Godhead. 

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Srila Niranjana Swami Maharaja ki jaya! [applause]
Hare Krishna.