Yamuna Devi’s Disappearance Anniversary, Saphala-ekadasi

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. Actually I did come to Balaram Hall, I thought it was going to continue until the devotees came here but I came after everyone left. I will just share one incident which I have mentioned before but I find it significant because it was through Yamuna devi’s intervention, you can say, that I came closer to Srila Prabhupada. And I think that her life was dedicated to coming closer to Srila Prabhupada herself and to bringing others closer to Srila Prabhupada. And then through following Srila Prabhupada’s instructions, coming closer to Radha and Krishna.

So it was a very simple incident. We had all come to Calcutta for the first pandal there. And quite often I would consult Yamuna devi if I had questions. And I found that her answers were very appropriate and, of course, Krishna conscious. And I would not approach Srila Prabhupada with my questions unless I was convinced that there was no other way to get an answer. I didn’t want to just take his time with my questions. But the questions I had in mind I could not get any answer to, and so I approached Yamuna devi and told her what my questions were, thinking that as she had done on other occasions she herself might answer. But no, she said that I should ask Srila Prabhupada. She said these are just the types of questions that he would want to answer. So I went to him. And my questions were about my future service, my future course of action. So before meeting the devotees I had an interest in making films, so one of my questions was, yes that I used to have some interest in making films and should I try to do that for Krishna, make films about Krishna? And Srila Prabhupada replied, “There are others who can do that, our main medium is books.” Then I asked that, now you are here so everything is going nicely. But what if in the future when you are not here, ISKCON falls from the standard, what should I do? And Srila Prabhupada replied, I am not even sure why he said it because I was a very new devotee, very new devotee, but he replied, “You are also one of the important members of this society. So you should work for the correction but don’t leave.”

So both of these instructions were very important and they have been guiding me ever since I asked them. And I wouldn’t have asked them had Yamuna devi not convinced me that I should. Yamuna devi is so exemplary in every respect. She was exemplary in everything. She used to clean Srila Prabhupada’s rooms here at the Krishna-Balarama Temple and she told one story. Anyway I can’t tell the stories, I am leading up to why I can’t tell the stories and what the alternative is. But anyway she would take everything apart and clean it thoroughly and put it back together again. So on one occasion Srila Prabhupada opened up a stapler, staple gun, took it apart and pointed out a very thin line where there was some dust. “What is this?” Because she had such a high standard but however high her standard was Srila Prabhupada’s standard was higher.

Another example was cooking chapattis. I mean she was an expert cook and her cookbook, Yamuna devi’s cookbook, won the award for the best cookbook of the year. And it is really a classic. In fact, many years after the cookbook was published. Yamuna devi and Dina Tarini, and some devotees visited an ayurvedic clinic or spa, something in the Himalayas somewhere, Rishikesh, not exactly Rishikesh but somewhere near there. And the spa was run by a very venerable physician and like a sadhu, saintly person; saintly person and physician. So when Yamuna devi and the group was sitting at the table, this venerable teacher and Head of the institution came, inquiring, ‘Who are you? What is your name?’ And he came to Yamuna devi. She said, “I am Yamuna devi from the United States.” And he said, “Are you The Yamuna devi who wrote the cookbook?” She said, “Yes, I am.” And he paid flat daṇḍavat. The venerable Head of the whole institution paid flat daṇḍavat, and he said, he something to the effect, “You are my guru because that book is our main textbook in our institution for cooking.” So we don’t even know how far her influences extended, it was almost by chance that they found out that this institution was based in part on her cookbook.

So coming back to her service to Srila Prabhupada, she had heard that there is a certain kind of flower that is the best for making chapattis, probably someone who knows the details better than I do. And then a certain kind of fire, what was that wood? Neem wood.

Devotee: I don’t know what it is called; Punjabi red wheat berries.

Giriraj Swami: Punjabi red wheat berries cooked on neem wood fire.

Devotee: And ground that morning.

Giriraj Swami: And ground the same morning before cooking. So Yamuna devi got those details and she did it. And she served it to Srila Prabhupada. And Srila Prabhupada immediately responded, “This is Punjabi red wheat berries, ground the same morning and cooked on neem wood fire.” He knew it all and it was perfect, almost perfect. And then he said, “If you cook it, how much—like a tenth of a second? One or two seconds more it would have been absolutely perfect.” So she was on such a high level. But whatever level she was on it is like Prabhupada was just a little higher, just encouraging her to become more perfect. She was already perfect but encouraging her to become more perfect.

And everything, her deity worship. I had heard, she told me, in all humility actually she told me she would worship the deities in London, Radha-Londonisvara, and she would put them to rest at noon, and she would do Gayatri mantra. Somehow when she would do her Gayatri mantra, her tears would stream down her cheeks. I don’t know maybe she mentioned it to Srila Prabhupada. He said these are symptoms of bhava, and it is just inexhaustible. I mean she was very involved with getting the deities made here in the Krishna-Balarama Temple. And then actually part of it goes back to a visit, not a visit but a time when we were in Madras. I had arranged a program for Srila Prabhupada. And just at one man’s house who was hosting us, he had some deities and Prabhupada liked the features on that little deity. And so I guess she sketched it and later that became a model for the sculpture in Jaipur for Radha and Krishna.

But just a little something, in 1972 when Srila Prabhupada sent Yamuna devi here, the summer was extremely hot. I mean the summers in Vrindavan can be extremely hot but that summer was extraordinarily hot. And before he sent her he told her that, “You have to become fireproof.” He said, “In London you had to become waterproof and in Vrindavan you have to become fireproof.” Meaning obviously that you have to be able to tolerate the climatic conditions and be fixed in your service which she was. And so her legacy, The Yamuna devi Legacy Project, is a book, going to be a book. And the team, Dinatarini Mataji and the other devotees who had been working with her are really preserving Yamuna devi’s mood. She had begun writing her memoirs, what was supposed to be her memoirs, but she never really let anyone read them. She was working on them and she never let anyone read them. And at one stage she said to Dinatarini, “If I am not able to complete my memoirs will you do it?” And at the time Yamuna devi’s health seemed all right and Dinatarini said “Yes,” thinking it will never happen because how could anyone else write her memoirs. But after Yamuna devi left, Dinatarini she did have to take up the service. And when she read what Yamuna devi had written, she found that every detail was precise because Yamuna devi was like that. She was very concerned that the historical accounts related to Srila Prabhupada were accurate, and she was very disturbed when she found. . .But Dinatarini discovered one thing about Yamuna devi’s accounts which was that everything was there except Yamuna devi. She was so humble that she wrote herself out of the story. So in retrospect, although it was my ardent desire to be able to read her memoir, I can see now that it was really an arrangement by which she could be put in the story which she was very much part of.

So even now there is a wonderful website, I think it is called Unalloyed—The Yamuna devi Legacy Project. And I really recommend everyone go to that website. It is just so well done. There is so much in their minds how she did everything so nicely and they wanted to do it the same way that she would want. And yes there are photos, there are statements that she made related to different historical periods, there is audio you can actually hear her speaking, hear her singing. And yes she is like an ocean of good qualities and devotional service. And this project will give people a taste of drops from that ocean and give you access to that ocean. I also think of something that His Holiness Radhanath Swami said to me because for some years Yamuna devi attended the Pune yatras and her talks at the Pune yatra, they were amazing. But in one talk she sang different tunes that Srila Prabhupada had taught for the Gurvashtakam Prayers. And just these different nuances and the melodies and when a particular melody or raga should be sung, and it is just amazing. And Radhanath Swami commented to me that she was a super perfectionist. She is a super perfectionist. And he said, generally perfectionists are either proud and they think that they are better than others or they are eccentric. But she was a super perfectionist but she was neither proud or eccentric. She was actually very humble and loving and confident.

So yes, I feel blessed that I got to know her personally. I think many of us here of all different sizes and shapes and ages have probably been blessed by some of her personal association. But even otherwise there is really an ocean of good qualities and an expert, loving service available through the Yamuna devi Legacy Project. And yes, it is moving along. I mean the website is there now, the whole book is moving along and I think it would be a very very major contribution to the spiritual lives of the devotees in ISKCON and people everywhere.

Hare Krishna.