SB 3.25.36

Giriraj Swami: Purport by Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

PURPORT

There are three divisions of devotees: first class, second class and third class. 

COMMENT

You are very intelligent. 

PURPORT [ŚB 3.25.36]

Even the third-class devotees are liberated souls. It is explained in this verse that although they do not have knowledge, simply by seeing the beautiful decoration of the Deity in the temple, the devotee is absorbed in thought of Him and loses all other consciousness. Simply by fixing oneself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, engaging the senses in the service of the Lord, one is imperceptibly liberated. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā. Simply by discharging uncontaminated devotional service as prescribed in the scriptures, one becomes equal to Brahman. In Bhagavad-gītā it is said, brahma-bhūyāya kalpate This means that the living entity in his original state is Brahman because he is part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman. But simply because of his forgetfulness of his real nature as an eternal servitor of the Lord, he is overwhelmed and captured by māyā. His forgetfulness of his real constitutional position is māyā. Otherwise he is eternally Brahman.

When one is trained to become conscious of his position, he understands that he is the servitor of the Lord. “Brahman” refers to a state of self-realization. Even the third-class devotee — who is not advanced in knowledge of the Absolute Truth but simply offers obeisances with great devotion, thinks of the Lord, sees the Lord in the temple and brings forth flowers and fruits to offer to the Deity — becomes imperceptibly liberated. Śraddhayānvitāḥ: with great devotion the devotees offer worshipful respects and paraphernalia to the Deity. The Deities of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, Lakṣmī and Nārāyaṇa, and Rāma and Sītā are very attractive to devotees, so much so that when they see the statue decorated in the temple of the Lord they become fully absorbed in thought of the Lord. That is the state of liberation. In other words, it is confirmed herewith that even a third-class devotee is in the transcendental position, above those who are trying for liberation by speculation or by other methods. Even great impersonalists like Śukadeva Gosvāmī and the four Kumāras were attracted by the beauty of the Deities in the temple, by the decorations and by the aroma of tulasī offered to the Lord, and they became devotees. Even though they were in the liberated state, instead of remaining impersonalists they were attracted by the beauty of the Lord and became devotees.

Here the word vilāsa is very important. Vilāsa refers to the activities or pastimes of the Lord. It is a prescribed duty in temple worship that not only should one visit the temple to see the Deity nicely decorated, but at the same time he should hear the recitation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā or some similar literature, which is regularly recited in the temple. It is the system in Vṛndāvana that in every temple there is recitation of the śāstras. Even third-class devotees who have no literary knowledge or no time to read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhagavad-gītā get the opportunity to hear about the pastimes of the Lord. In this way their minds may remain always absorbed in the thought of the Lord — His form, His activities and His transcendental nature. This state of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a liberated stage. Lord Caitanya therefore recommended five important processes in the discharge of devotional service: (1) to chant the holy names of the Lord, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, (2) to associate with devotees and serve them as far as possible, (3) to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, (4) to see the decorated temple and the Deity and if possible, (5) to live in a place like Vṛndāvana or Mathurā. These five items alone can help a devotee achieve the highest perfectional stage. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā and here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That third-class devotees can also imperceptibly achieve liberation is accepted in all Vedic literatures.

TRANSLATION [ŚB 3.25.36]

Upon seeing the charming forms of the Lord, smiling and attractive, and hearing His very pleasing words, the pure devotee almost loses all other consciousness. His senses are freed from all other engagements, and he becomes absorbed in devotional service. Thus in spite of his unwillingness, he attains liberation without separate endeavor.

COMMENT

I chose this verse because it describes the importance of deity worship and of temples in general. And if we read the history of Srila Prabhupada’s life and activities, we find that he worked very hard to establish temples. And today, in particular, we think of the temple in Juhu, Bombay, which involved a tremendous effort by Srila Prabhupada to overcome many obstacles. The land in Juhu belonged to a gentleman—don’t take the word gentleman literally—it belonged to a man named Mr. Nair. Mr. Nair had an office on, I believe, Dalal street in downtown Bombay. And during the first Bombay pandal, when devotees were meeting various businessmen to get advertisements for the souvenir to finance the pandal program, some of the devotees met him. And eventually, Mr. Nair sent a letter to Srila Prabhupada informing him that he had a large property in Juhu which would be very suitable for use by some good cause. And eventually, Srila Prabhupada saw the land and entered into an agreement to buy it. 

It turned out that Mr. Nair was a very cunning person. He had entered an agreement to sell the land to someone else before us. And he had taken money from that party, but on some pretext, he did not transfer the land to the other party. And he tried to do the same thing with Srila Prabhupada. Mr. Nair owned the Free Press Journal which was one of three English daily newspapers in Bombay. He had been the Sheriff of Bombay. And he was a moneyed and influential person. And he used his influence in the government offices. He would enter an agreement, and every agreement has conditions, and then, he would use his influence in the government offices to make sure that the purchaser would not be able to fulfil the conditions. So, he did that with the first party. There was a condition that the land should be subdivided, but then the person couldn’t get the permission to subdivide it. With us, the condition was that because we were a charitable society, we had to get the permission of the Charity Commissioner. And then, he made sure that the Charity Commissioner didn’t give us permission. And so he took the money, and on the grounds that we didn’t get the permission from the Charity Commissioner, he never transferred the land. 

But, Srila Prabhupada, somehow, had some sense that there could be difficulty with the transaction. So, he made a condition that even before the land was transferred, he could bring the deities of Radha-Rasabihari onto the land. And as it is said, possession is nine-tenths of the law. So, Srila Prabhupada’s possession was very strong, in a way, spiritually, by having Radha-Rasabihari there. So, Mr. Nair, being very intelligent in a crooked sort of way, he understood that the key to his success and his efforts would be to dispossess us of the land. In other words, to drive us off the property. So, he hired a man named Ramu who was a coconut wallah (vendor) that the Juhu land had. It still has, but then it had many palm trees, coconut trees. And so Ramu. . . the people in India, in the old culture, were extraordinarily talented. They would hold on to the trunk of the tree. They just wear a little white cloth and barefoot, and they just climb up, and then he would have his machete whack the coconuts. And I am sure anyone who has been seeing how they sell the fresh coconut water, they just whittle away the top, and then put a cut across, and there is a perfectly formed hole. They are very dexterous. But what Mr. Nair did is, he used Ramu to brandish his machete and terrorize both the devotees on the land and people coming to the temple. It is a really scary character. And he would do other things like turn off the water, turn off the electricity. He was really trying to make it impossible for the devotees to stay, so that they would go. But the devotees, I mean, some individuals did go, but as a group, the devotees stayed. And so it was a very major war, a very major war. Tamal Krishna Goswami used to compare it to Kamsa and Krishna. Anyway, things sort of reached a head, in a way.

Jaya Sri Sri Radha-Gokulananda ki jaya! Sri Sri Sita-Rama Lakshman Hanuman ki jaya! Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jaya! 

Mr. Nair, I mean there are many ups and downs. Well, yes, I will tell. . . there is so many. All right, I will add something just to give a more full-course. So Mr. Nair, somehow he bluffed the devotees and convinced them to cancel the agreement which really made our position weak. And Srila Prabhupada was in Ahmedabad at the time. And somehow he had a feeling that his managers might do something like cancel the agreement. And in those days, we didn’t have telephones, and if we did, they didn’t work very well. So, he couldn’t get through to us. And so he sent a messenger Visakha dasi from Ahmedabad to Bombay to tell us not to cancel the agreement. But by the time she arrived, the agreement was already cancelled. We had already cancelled the agreement. So, somehow I. . . because I wasn’t part of that decision, I am not sure exactly why, but I phoned Prabhupada, which was very unusual, to speak to Srila Prabhupada on the phone. He said, “Bhaktivedanta Swami here.” So, I told him that they cancelled the agreement. He said, “Then everything is finished.” Then, he asked me a question to which I didn’t know the answer. And then he said, “You are also useless.” But then his compassionate side came out. He said, “Don’t be anxious.” He didn’t want me to be in too much anxiety.

So then Nair thought, Okay, they are trespassers; there is no agreement, they have to vacate, but still we were not leaving. And so then, when Srila Prabhupada happened to go to Hyderabad, it also happened that Mr. Nair, with a sort of guru, was also in Hyderabad. And Prabhupada told Shyamasundara, I believe, “Somehow or other get. . . you have to bring Mr. Nair to see me.” So, he brought Mr. Nair and the guru. And Mr. Nair is very much like the big demons we read about in the Bhāgavatam. They thought that Vishnu was an ordinary human being but He had mystic powers. That was the basic idea of the demons like Hiranyakasipu. He (Hiranyakasipu) thought that if he got greater mystic powers, he could defeat Vishnu. So Mr. Nair, he thought that Prabhupada had mystic powers. So, he was afraid that Prabhupada would use his mystic powers to get Mr. Nair to enter into a new agreement that would be unfavorable to Mr. Nair. So Mr. Nair thought that if he had his guru with him, that guru could counteract our guru. So they were talking and then Nair’s guru said, “Swamiji looks tired. We should let Swamiji take rest.” And Prabhupada yawned, and he said, “Yes, actually, I am very tired.” So, they took leave.

Then, Prabhupada told Tamal Krishna Goswami that you go in the next room, and you will find Nair and the guru are asleep. And he said, it is the psychology that if you feel tired, you say the other person—you must be tired, so we will let you take rest—but actually, he wanted to take rest. So he said, “If you go in the next room, you will find Nair and the guru are asleep. So, you have to very carefully wake up Nair and let the guru sleep. And bring Nair to see me.” So, Tamal Krishna Goswami, he went in very careful not to wake up anyone, and then, he shook and said, “Come quickly, Prabhupada wants to see you.” He was still groggy, and he wasn’t so. . . he came in, and then Prabhupada got him to enter a new agreement. 

But even then there were complications. There was a new deadline, December 31. And again, conditions, complications, and in the end, it couldn’t be completed by December 31. So, up until then, things had at least superficially been cordial between Srila Prabhupada and Mr. Nair, but now things were wearing on Nair’s patience. And so, he came to meet Srila Prabhupada at Kartikeya Mahadevia’s house. Prabhupada didn’t have a proper place to stay at Juhu. And they started talking, and the emotions started to run high. Then, Prabhupada told the disciples to leave. And they were then. . . they started shouting. And Mr. Nair said. . . Yes, Prabhupada was basic from the beginning, saying, “Either give us our money back or give us the land. You can’t have both. If you give us the money back, we will leave. But, I don’t think you can give us the money back. I don’t think you have the money. Or, we will give you the balance, and you give us the land.” So, Nair got very agitated, and he said. . . I mean, I shudder to even repeat it, but he basically he said, “I will break your Krishna!” And then, that was it, that was it. And Prabhupada said, “You get out! I don’t want to see your face!” 

And then a little time passed. Prabhupada left Bombay. And I was walking on the sidewalk, near the area called Metro cinema. And I saw, and they have probably. . . they still do but they used to have vendors, they would lay out their magazines and newspapers on the sidewalk. So, I saw these stacks of newspapers, and I saw The Free Press Journal—this huge banner headline and big, bold, black letters: “A.B NAIR IS DEAD” with a big picture of Mr. Nair. So when I saw that, I was very happy, and I actually felt like dancing for joy on the street. But I was thinking, we are supposed to be saintly, trying to be saintly persons. Is this proper for a saintly person? 

So, I went back to our apartment and I informed the devotees. And one of the devotees, more senior, he was just visiting, Bali Mardan, I believe. But, he phoned Srila Prabhupada in Australia. And I believe Srutakirti Prabhu answered the phone. And Bali Mardan told Srutakirti what had happened, and he informed Srila Prabhupada. Later, I heard that when Srutakirti Prabhu gave the news to Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada folded his hands and closed his eyes, and said, “Thank you Krishna! Thank you!” And then he said that Mr. Nair had caused so much pain to the devotees that Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva killed him. But, we didn’t know that. All we knew was Bali Mardan phoned and gave the message to Srutakirti Prabhu, and he said he would inform Srila Prabhupada. So I was still unsure about my reaction, whether it was proper or not.

And rumor had it because. . . yes, rumor had it that in Juhu. . . because we had an apartment in downtown Bombay, that one of our life members was loaning us because we couldn’t do any development at Juhu. But, there was a small group in Juhu, who were also taking care of the deities. And rumor has it that they were distributing sweets. But even that I only heard later. So, Prabhupada had a. . . there was one couple, very nice couple, Dr. and Mrs. Singhal. And so Prabhupada wrote them a letter that, “It is understood that the rascal Nair is dead. This is very good news.” And then, he wrote that Prahlada Maharaja says that even saintly persons take pleasure when a snake or a scorpion is killed. And then he said, “So, it is an occasion of great jubilation.” So then I felt, Okay my initial response was bona fide. But that wasn’t the end of the story. That was just the end of Mr. Nair.

But Mrs. Nair was sort of an innocent person. She could easily be led in the right direction but she could also easily be led in the wrong direction. So after Nair died, all of her husband’s greedy friends gathered around her, “You know, you have to fight this.” And “They killed your husband.” And so in a way it got worse. And then one morning, a Municipal Demolition Squad came with a big police accompaniment, and they wanted to break down the temple. They had their hammers and pickaxes and chisels, and it was really shocking. Now, I had been to the. . . it is true we had a temporary permit, but I had been to the Commissioner. That Commissioner for the whole city of Bombay, he had agreed to extend it. And I even had a letter from him. So, when the people came, I went up to the head guy, and I said, “Stop, stop!” He said, “No, you have no permission, we are breaking the temple.” I said, “No, no! We have permission.” So, when I got the file, showed him all the papers, he wasn’t interested. I tried to approach different people—they were not interested.

So then, I rushed forward, to try to stop them physically, and then, the police, they grabbed us all and just put us in the paddy whack. Finally, the only person left was Maithili. She was pujari lady, big, and she positioned herself in front of the door to the deities, defying them all, challenging them all, like, “You get past me.” But man, these ladies, I guess they got some lady constables because, India—they do have them and they grabbed her by the hair and they dragged her away. And yes devotees have said that, for that courageous act, she will go back to Godhead. Maybe, even Prabhupada said. Yes, and her response is, “Yes, that is true, I am going to go back to Godhead, just like that, kicking and screaming.” But, I guess that—this unwillingly attains liberation. So, there is one devotee who didn’t rush forward. He was actually a Gujarati devotee. We were mainly Americans but he didn’t come rushing forward like us, he was crouching in the bushes, seeing what was happening. And then, he put a call through to the head of the Shiv Sena political party, named Bal Thackeray. And Bal Thackeray, he became furious, “They can’t do this. How can they do this?” So, as we heard later, he phoned the Municipal Commissioner and the Municipal Commissioner said, “No, they don’t. . . they didn’t have permission,” which wasn’t true. And he said, “Don’t forget who owns this city!” That is what about told the Municipal Commissioner, “Okay! Okay!” So then, the Commissioner phoned the Ward Officer and then, the Ward Officer came running personally to stop the demolition. And so, it is so intriguing, the whole story. 

Anyway, so they had broken all the brick walls, and they had broken the asbestos sheet roof over the darshan mandap. And there were some steel pipes that were supporting the roof. And they couldn’t cut through them, so they went and got blow torches. And there is this whole group of people that were against us. And one man, he lived across the street, in a big house. And he was a. . . he dealt in black magic. And he was sort of a demigod there, and all the ignorant people came to him. So, he was laughing, he was laughing. And then one lady, she was also sort of mystical. Gandiva was a Prabhupada’s disciple. Gandiva, her mother, she cursed him that, “You are laughing, seeing Krishna’s temple burn. One day, you will burn!” So, and then Mhatre, he was the Municipal Cooperator. He was across the street and just a little across the kitty corner, he is laughing. 

So, meanwhile, we were in the Police Station under, sort of, in custody. Then, they released us, and we came rushing back to the temple. And we saw they had. . . just before the demolition had stopped, they had just started to remove a few pieces of the roof above the deities. And there was a picture of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva that we had a fixed, in front of the deities above them. That was there, was a little skewed but that picture of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva was there. And anyway, it seemed like the darkest moment but it actually turned out for the better, because it really mobilized us. And that is a long story but eventually the public opinion turned in our favor. And the Municipal Corporation, the Standing Committee, they unanimously voted at condemning the action, and saying that the temple should be rebuilt at the Municipality’s cost. It was a major victory. 

So, one morning, a little after that. . . because it. . . we still didn’t rebuild the temple because there. . . but it was sort of raining, but still we went to maṅgala-ārati. And then we heard these shrieks from across the street. And then we saw an ambulance come and it turned out that that demon who lived across the street had poured kerosene on his body, and set fire to it, and committed suicide. I mean, what happened to all the demons who opposed Srila Prabhupada—that is a story in itself. But, the one person who seemed to escape was the local Municipal Councilor. And I asked him Tamal Krishna Goswami . . . There was another one who also died. So, I said that all these demons who opposed Prabhupada and the deities, they are all being killed. What about Mhatre? He was such a big leader in the whole group. And Tamal Krishna Gosvami quoted the verse from the Bhagavad-gītā that “for one who has been honored, dishonor is worse than death, worse than death.” And then again sometime in the future from then, there was a morcha, means like a march, protest march, on Juhu road in front of the temple, and it turned out to be a demonstration against Mhatre. He was. . . anyway. . . it ended up that he died, a very. . . he was disgraced as he deserved, he was disgraced. 

So, we were trying to get permission to rebuild the temple. And we were systematically going one by one to all the Municipal Councilors so they would vote in our favor. But, it was one of those things, and one day we, sort of, had the insight that we don’t really need permission to rebuild it because they didn’t have permission to break it. And somehow, I don’t know I think Mrs. Nair must have had her spies because it was a very small group, I remember a distinctly, very small group, and inside of G. Whitlow’s office. And we decided, yes, we will just rebuild it, we don’t need permission, we will just rebuild it. And somehow she got word of it, so she went to the court. We had this discussion on Thursday night. Friday, she went to the court to get an injunction preventing us from rebuilding the temple. And the High Court Justice said, “I will not give you the injunction without hearing the other side.” So her lawyer said, “Well, give just a temporary injunction for the weekend, and then on Monday, you can hear the other side, and then make a final decision.” He said, “No, I am not giving even a temporary injunction without hearing the other side.” So, we knew, we had the weekend to rebuild it. 

And so, a very staunch devotee of Srila Prabhupada, Mr. Sethi, P. Sethi. He was in the building line, construction line. And very staunch devotee, Punjabi, and so he brought his people to do the work, and it was raining. . . that it was somehow rainy season. And somehow Satsvarupa Maharaja had just passed through Juhu just for a few days. And I really liked him. He was my first temple president. I really liked how humble he was. So, Tamal Krishna Goswami said that he wanted me to stay up all night and make sure the work went on. And I just said, “I really admire Satsvarupa Maharaja. He is so humble and gentle and so humble.” And Tamal Krishna Goswami said, “Your humility will be shown by your staying up all night and making sure this temple is built.” And I thought, actually it is true. I mean humility means surrender and service, it doesn’t mean a demeanor. I thought, actually what he said is true. 

So that was Saturday. And then Mrs. Nair’s lawyer came with papers, notices, “What you are doing is illegal,” and all sorts of threats. Then, Mhatre came and he said, “Even if you rebuild the temple, I am going to come with fifty guṇḍās (guṇḍās means like hooligans); I am going to come with fifty guṇḍās and break it down.” And Mr. Sethi said, he said to his son Brij Mohan, “Bring my rifle and revolver.” And then, he said to Mr. Mhatre, “Fifty is not enough. I have two hundred and fifty cartridges so you have to bring at least two hundred, more than two hundred and fifty.” So, Mhatre never came back. That was the end, and Sethi, he was serious. He had his gun and his revolver and he was ready. He wasn’t for Krishna, for Prabhupada, he wasn’t going to tolerate any nonsense. So, we rebuilt the temple, then the next morning went to court. And the judge said, “What is done is done; the temple’s already built so there is nothing I can do.” And so the temple was rebuilt but the land was still in dispute. 

So, then it turned out. . . I mean, I was. . . as a matter of speech, I was going to say, I don’t know how Prabhupada knew all these things, but then, maybe, Krishna in the heart, but anyway. . . Prabhupada somehow deduced that our lawyers and Mrs. Nair’s lawyers were in cahoots with each other. That, they actually wanted to prolong the whole case so they could take more and more fees. And he said, ultimately, they will drive their fees so high that the only way Nair will be able to pay them is if she gives them the land. So, Prabhupada said, we can’t work with these lawyers, her lawyers or our lawyers – these big reputed firms. So we had a little lawyer. I mean, he was on retainer for some company. He would deal with their visas, and just a real small type of lawyer. And somehow he. . . and Mrs. Nair had a family friend who was a lawyer, also not a big lawyer like these big firms that were fighting the war. And so he somehow, he convinced Mrs. Nair to come and see Prabhupada. 

At that time, Prabhupada was staying at Bhogilal Patel’s house at Walkeshwar. And I don’t know, she just surrendered. And Prabhupada said, “I love you like a daughter; I will take care of you.” And then, he had his secretaries type up a new agreement right on the spot. And then, there was a new agreement and this one went through; this one went through. And then finally there was a big meeting, Prabhupada, it was a big treaty being signed by these. . . And so yes, Prabhupada signed and she signed and the room was hushed and she started to cry. And then Prabhupada, he was in a very happy mood. He said we should celebrate. Someone brought a few little firecrackers, so they set off set off the firecrackers. And Prabhupada said that there should be a feast, so we didn’t have much money but there was some sort of feast. And Prabhupada said, “We want to start the building fund now.” And Mrs. Sethi, she took off some of her gold bangles, and said, “Okay, this is to begin the building fund.” And at the end, Prabhupada, sort of, went back and reclined against the bolsters of his asana. And he said, “It was a good fight!” And then he said, “Someone should write a book about it.” Of course, there is an account in the Līlāmṛta, but it does require more; it does require a full book. 

So then. . . I think I should introduce Dr. Patel. Are there any Patels in the room? Anyway that is. . . it is all right! My god-brother, Brahma Tirtha Prabhu, he addresses groups; he is a very intelligent person, very skillful speaker. So, sometimes he addresses these big groups of Patels. And so sometimes to sort of break the ice, lighten the atmosphere, he will say, he will pretend like he got a note, “Mr Patel, can you please remove your car? It is blocking the way.” It is like five hundred Patels, he will address Patel motel owners. And he said, what he said, once in Bombay he was driving down the street, and he saw a huge factory, black, after like a huge compound wall, and some sprawling campus, and then a sign: “Patel Manufacturing Company.” And he said for years, he wondered where all these Patels came from. Then when he saw a Patel Manufacturing Company, “Oh! that is where they come from.”

So anyway, Srila Prabhupada had a friend named Dr. Patel, and they had a very, sort of, in a way, an intimate relationship. If you listen to Prabhupada’s morning walks in Juhu, a lot of discussions are with Dr. Patel. So, just a little after this the signing, Prabhupada was. . . just a few of us in the room, Dr. Patel, me, and another devotee named Mahamsa and Srila Prabhupada. And Srila Prabhupada said, “We need to raise money for the construction.” And Dr. Patel said, “Prabhupada, you have to bring the money from America.” And Prabhupada said, “Why should I bring from America? Bombay is such a rich city, if people wanted, they could give the full amount in one day.” And Dr. Patel said, “Yes, but people don’t want.” He said, “I don’t want to discourage you Prabhupada, but. . .” And Prabhupada said, “but you are discouraging me.” So, there was that. And then, there was the issue of which way the deities would face because the way the land was shaped and where the road was, according to shastra or vasthu or something, the deities would be facing the wrong way. So, they were asking Prabhupada what to do. And Prabhupada didn’t take it very seriously. He said, “Our God is everywhere. ito nṛsiḿhaḥ parato nṛsiḿho yato yato yāmi tato nṛsiḿhaḥ.” 

But, I am going to tell another story about Dr. Patel that is very relevant to the verse. When the devotees were living in this, chātāi hut on the land Dr. Patel came and he was very. . . He was impressed that these Americans had come, and they were living in this chātāi hut with a tarpaulin roof, and sleeping on the floor, and the floor was crumbling. And so although, he was, sort of, a proud person because I mean, he was a doctor; he was educated in England but more than that he had maintained his purity, his pure habits. Even though he was educated in England he never ate anything or drank anything. And he knew Sanskrit. He was a little proud but he humbled himself, and he went to the big cloth market in Bombay Moji Jatha Market, and he begged cotton and cloth. And he had mattresses, twelve mattresses made, twelve pillows, twelve mosquito nets and a chaddar, a blanket, a chaddar for each. And he presented them to the devotees. And as time passed, well, that twelve pillows, it became ten pillows, and twelve mattresses became eight mattresses, and so that over a couple of years, his donation disappeared until finally, there was not a single shred left. So, on a morning walk, he brought up to Srila Prabhupada about his donation, and now there is nothing left of it. And he (Prabhupada) said, “Do you know why there is nothing left of it? Because these devotees, they don’t care if they have a mattress to sleep on or a pillow to put their head on or a mosquito net to keep away the mosquitoes. As long as they can chant Hare Krishna and serve their Guru Maharaja, that is all that matters to them.” And Dr. Patel was an impersonalist sort of a person. And Prabhupada said, “That mukti, that mukti which you are so eager to get, they already have it, and that is why they don’t care about these mattresses and pillows and mosquito nets.” So, this is imperceptibly liberated. Of course, there is another principle yukta-vairagya, but Prabhupada was making another point. He was defending his disciples, and trying to make Dr. Patel a little more humble and appreciative. 

There was another incident. They were walking, it was a morning walk. And Dr. Patel, he would quote these different popular religious figures of India. And he quoted one very popular, very respected. And Prabhupada said, “He is a rascal.” And Dr. Patel said, “You can’t call him a rascal!” And Prabhupada said, “I don’t say, Krishna says: na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ, anyone who doesn’t surrender to Krishna comes in one of these categories. And that person never surrendered to Krishna, so he is duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ.” And Dr. Patel really got very agitated, and he said, “You can’t say that about him.” And Prabhupada said, “I am not saying, Krishna’s saying. I am just repeating what Krishna says.” So, that also turned into a major altercation, with each one shouting at the other. And Dr. Patel had his cronies, his circle of friends, who. . . he was the leader definitely. And they were around. Even they were saying, “Swamiji has a heart condition. Don’t make him angry.” And they were trying to pull him away, and we were also an anxiety about Prabhupada. And and even while they were pulling him away, he was shouting and Prabhupada was shouting at him. It was like in boxing. . . a bell rings and the referee separates them, they just keep trying to pound each other.

So then, afterwards, Tamal Krishna Goswami approached Srila Prabhupada in his room about Dr. Patel because Prabhupada would always accuse Dr. Patel of being a Mayavadi. And Dr. Patel would say, “No sir, I am not a Mayavadi, I am a Vaishnava.” So, Tamal Krishna Goswami, he said, “What is he? What is his actual position? It is very confusing.” And then Prabhupada told the story that there was a man who could speak many languages very expertly. And you couldn’t tell what his. . . nobody could tell where he came from, what his mother tongue was, because whatever language you would address him in, he would respond in that language perfectly. No one could figure out where he was from. Then finally, one of the people in the town said, “I will find out. Don’t worry, leave it to me. I will find out.” So, once, when the man wasn’t looking, that other person came up behind him and gave him a big whack in the back from behind. And he began to curse in his mother tongue, so he. . . So, Prabhupada said, “Dr. Patel was like that—he could speak many languages expertly, he could speak like a Vaishnava, he could speak like a jnani, like a bhakta, like a karma yogi, but when we hit him where it hurt, his real language came out.” And then Tamal Krishna Goswami, he said, “Well, Why do you tolerate him?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “It is our duty to engage everyone.” So anyway, after that, Prabhupada said, “Okay, now no more discussion. We will just read Krsna Book.” So, from then, on the morning walk, we read the Kṛṣṇa book, and Dr. Patel didn’t come. 

After years of coming every morning, when Srila Prabhupada was in Juhu, he didn’t come. But then, one morning, it is like. . . Prabhupada was walking on one side and Dr. Patel was on the other side, and the way Dr. Patel describes it, he had no intention to go to Prabhupada, but something in his heart just brought him to Srila Prabhupada, to Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet. He offered respect, and he said, “Prabhupada, I have been taught to respect all the accredited saints of India.” Prabhupada replied, “Yes and my business is to say who was a saint and who is not a saint.” But anyway, they made up. 

So then, so many struggles, but finally on January 14,1978, exactly two months after Srila Prabhupada left, the Juhu temple opened. There was a big article in Time magazine. In those days, they were just introducing color. Up until then, it had been all black and white, they would have maybe one or two color pages. And they had a full page in color with. . . there was like huge hari-nāma on Juhu beach with banners and flags and that was there; and a picture of the temple, and then, we added a diorama of Srila Prabhupada under the tree in Tompkins Square Park, so they had the picture of the diorama. And with this sort of caption: “From rags to riches.” And yes, there was a lot of coverage. So many ministers came—chief minister of Maharashtra, one of the Central Government ministers came, and then as they say, the rest is history. 

But this. . . So Prabhupada’s relationship with the deities was very personal. This is the point I want to make, that he commented that, “Actually, I was not so keen on that land but because I invited Krishna, I could not bear the thought that He would be driven from that land. It would have been too much of an insult.” He said otherwise, I was not so keen on that land. But, he made a promise, he said, “My dear Krishna, You sit here and I will build a temple for you.” And so, it was really his personal commitment to Radha-Rasabihari that impelled him to persevere against all odds. And Tamal Krishna Goswami commented that we often read about devotees doing austerities for the sake of the Lord but in this case, the Lord Radha-Rasabihari did austerities for the sake of the devotee, for the sake of Srila Prabhupada. In other words, they tolerated very. . . I mean, it is Krishna so He is always in Vrindavan, but externally He tolerated a very simple shed. And yes, in the end, Srila Prabhupada was able to fulfil his promise, his commitment to Radha-Rasabihari, and now hundreds of thousands of people come for darshan. And you see them, they really, they get. . . some of them just really get entranced by the beauty of the deities. And they are, so many are becoming imperceptibly liberated. 

Here too, there is a great history of both Radha- Londonisvara, and getting permission for Bury Place, and then Radha-Gokulananda, the manor, Prabhupada personally installing them. So many past times, and so much love, you see, Prabhupada’s love for the deities and for the devotees. I mean, my first thought when I arrived at Heathrow because I read Ranchor Prabhu’s book, When the Sun Shines. It is such a wonderful book, such a. . . It totally destroyed my sadhana because I couldn’t put it down at night. I just kept reading, so I had stay up late, then I get up in the morning, pick it up, start reading again. But, it was such a wonderful book, and it was wonderful to hear the stories of each devotee like so many of you now, we were always so busy. 

Some of the devotees here were in Bombay, Sarva-mangala Mataji was in Bombay but we never talked about our past. We had no time to talk about our past, and then reading the book, oh my gosh, she did that!! And Mother Jagannatha, she was traveling over. I never knew that! I would never have imagined our pristine mother Jagannatha, traveling over land. And so many and Ranchor Prabhu wrote so beautifully. And I remember with Kripamoya because, he, the way he would describe the devotees, and then how Prabhupada gave them their names. And the way, he did it, you could see the connection between their characters and the name Prabhupada gave them, and so Kripamoya, it was very dramatic that Prabhupada initiated Kripamoya—merciful one. So, it really made me see the devotees in a new light. Seeing their history, and their early service to Prabhupada, and so much love—that was what I thought when I landed at Heathrow. 

Like so much love, like once they arranged a big Press conference for Srila Prabhupada at the airport. And I guess he came earlier, the flight was earlier, the conference was called for later. And he just left it. He didn’t care about the Press conference. He just wanted to be with his disciples, and he just left everything, and just rushed; and just so much love between Prabhupada and the disciples. That was really I feel, that was what sustained the movement, and I feel that is what is sustaining the movement now—just devotees’ love for Srila Prabhupada and his love for them. So, that is why I feel it is very important to talk about Srila Prabhupada so, we know, so our love for him can increase. 

My older god-brother Baradraj Prabhu—he was actually the first devotee who ever spoke to me. But, he later told me that. . . because he joined in Montreal, but he never met Srila Prabhupada. And when Srila Prabhupada came to Boston, Baradraj Prabhu came down and met him. And he walked in the room, and he saw Srila Prabhupada with his disciples, and he just was overwhelmed by all the love; this is such a loving family. He says—overwhelmed by all the love, and he had a thought, an insight, that Krishna consciousness is actually love masquerading as a philosophy. And I often think of it, and it is really in a way, it is true because that is ultimately what it is—it is love for Krishna, love for the Vaishnavas, and for us, in the most immediate sense, love for Prabhupada, and his love for us.

Hare Krishna.

So, it is 9:15—that was the limit I was given. There is a lot of very important philosophical points in the purport but we can’t discuss it now.