Anniversary of the Juhu Temple Opening—Morning Talk

Giriraj Swami: We welcome you on the most auspicious occasion of the anniversary of the grand opening of the Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari Mandir and Cultural Complex. This temple opened on Makara-Sankranti in 1978, and so every year we celebrate this occasion and recall Srila Prabhupada wonderful service to Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari in establishing this temple.

The story or the history could be discussed for many days and volumes could be written above it and we have only a short time, so I will try to touch on some of the highlights. Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari was one of six pairs of deities that were gifted to ISKCON by Seth Arti Rajeshwar dasa Birla and they were first worshipped at the end of the first Bombay pandal and Cross Maidan. At the end of the pandal program there was a procession that ended up at the Chowpatty beach, in South Bombay. And on that occasion, the worship of Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari was revealed to the people of Bombay. And for some time they were worshipped in our center in the Akasha Kando building on Warden Road. And then when Srila Prabhupada got possession of the Hare Krishna land, the deities were brought here. We had a pandal program and the deities were worshipped in the pandal. Then after the pandal program, we erected a very simple shamiana for the deities would  be worshiped there, but then the rainy season came and at that time, under Srila Prabhupada’s instruction, we had built a very simple hut. The first few feet maybe were brick and then there was chātāi, and then on the top was tarpaulin. So during the rainy season we had to put Radha-Rasabihari into that hut and would worship there. And in the meantime we built a semi-permanent temple at the front of the land and on Janmashtami, pretty much toward the end of the monsoon season, we placed Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari in that shed which was Their temple until January 14, 1978.

There was a whole history of struggle and that Hare Krishna land is really the history of Srila Prabhupada’s struggle to serve Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari. He struggled first to get the land because the owner was a cunning person who had cheated people before and seemed to have the same intention with Srila Prabhupada. Then he had to struggle to get the permission to build the temple because Mr. Nair had a lot of influence, and again, friends who were influential and so they made sure that we didn’t get the permission to build the temple. And then when finally, we got permission, Srila Prabhupada had to struggle to build the temple, to organize the funds and they actually built the temple in which we are now so comfortably seated. I will take each struggle, part by part, say a few words, but in case you don’t know, Srila Prabhupada left India in 1965 and basically from 1965 to 1970, he spread the Krishna consciousness movement in America and Europe and other different places throughout the world. Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master had ordered him to preach the message of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the English language throughout the world. But then in 1970 Srila Prabhupada decided to return to India to revive the Krishna consciousness of the people in India. He said that the Indians are very expert at imitating the Americans. So if they see that the Americans have taken to Krishna consciousness, they may imitate them and return to their own Krishna consciousness culture, and actually the strategy was successful. We arrived in Bombay in October of 1970 and we did hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana in the streets and people, they could not believe their eyes that white sadhus, white Vaishnavas, and many of them wept tears literally. They wept tears seeing how their culture, their original culture had been embraced by American and European men and women.

One day we did hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana in front of Mantralaya, the government building, and it is a big, long building with many stories and we can see that people were coming to the windows; crowding and looking at us through the windows. And some people were actually coming out of the building and surrounding us while we were chanting. And finally some officer came to us and requested us to move the hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana to some other place because nobody was doing any work and the whole government machinery had ground to a halt. He said we have to let the government function, so as long as we were there they would not leave us. So in the course of meeting people to explain to them about Krishna consciousness and engage them concerning Srila Prabhupada’s mission, one devotee met Mr. A.B. Nair. Mr. Nair had been the sheriff of Bombay, and he owned one of three English daily newspapers in Bombay, The Free Press Journal. So he was quite a known person and so he gave an advertisement for our souvenir for our pandal program. And eventually in December of 1970 he wrote Srila Prabhupada a letter saying that he had some land in Juhu that he would like to offer for some good cause and he felt that Srila Prabhupada’s mission was such a good cause.

So they met and entered into an agreement and there is a lot of details, but basically one of the conditions of the agreement was that the sale had to be executed within six months. There was a condition “time is of the essence” and one of the conditions for the sale is that we have to get the permission of the charity commissioner. And as we understand the workings of certain people, Mr. Nair made sure with the charity commissioner, that he would not give us the permission. So the time ran out, six months, and Mr. Nair took the opportunity to cancel the agreement. But Srila Prabhupada, he had some premonition that there could be difficulty, and that is why even at the very early stage he brought the deities onto the land. As it is said, possession is nine tenths of the law. And he doubted if Radha-Rasabihari were on the land, it would be hard to dispossess us of the land. And as I already described, they lived in very primitive conditions. His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami used to say, that we often hear of the devotee performing austerities for the sake of the Lord. But in this case, the Lord performs austerities for the sake of the devotee, Srila Prabhupada. And Srila Prabhupada took the position that if you want the land, okay you should return our money, because we had made a deposit. Otherwise if you cannot return our money, you do not wish to return our money, then give us the land and we will give you the rest of the money. But you cannot keep both the land and the money. But it appears that that was Mr. Nair’s intention.

So there were many incidents. At one stage under some influence, we cancelled the agreement. It seems that there was actually a conspiracy involving our lawyer and Nair’s lawyer, so our lawyer actually advised us to cancel the agreement, which technically made us trespassers. So Srila Prabhupada, somehow he had to revive the agreement, so he arranged to meet Mr. Nair at this large estate in Hyderabad. And Mr. Nair, he had this idea that Srila Prabhupada had some mystic powers so he was afraid to meet Srila Prabhupada alone, so he brought in his own guru to counteract Srila Prabhupada’s mystic powers. So they were meeting with Srila Prabhupada, Mr. Nair and the guru, and at a certain stage the guru said to Prabhupada, Swamiji, you look like you are very tired. And Srila Prabhupada yawned, and said, “Actually I am very tired.” So then the guru said, “We should leave you to take rest.” So they left and Srila Prabhupada called Tamal Krishna Goswami and told him that the guru and Mr. Nair are sleeping. He said that the psychology is he said, “Swamiji, you seemed to be very tired, but actually it meant that he was tired. So if you go in the next room you will find that Nair and the guruji are asleep. So you very carefully wake up Mr. Nair and let the guruji sleep and bring Nair to me.”

So it was exactly as Srila Prabhupada had said. And then Prabhupada met with Mr. Nair and used his mystic powers and made a new sale agreement. So there were many incidents; I imagine that Mr. Nair had also cheated or tried to cheat someone else earlier. It was a very similar case. He had agreed to sell the land just the front portion which was vacant, the rear there were tenant buildings, to one Shantilal Mehta who had a company, S. Chhaganlal & Sons. It was very similar. He took the money, deposit, and the condition of that agreement was that S. Chhaganlal & Sons should get permission from the municipality to subdivide the property. And apparently Mr. Nair made sure that the municipality did not give the permission for the subdivision, so he cancelled the agreement and kept the money. So one day we were actually staying at Mr. Sethi’s new home. Mr. Sethi originally lived in Gurgaon but he built a house right here in Juhu scheme called “Vrindavan.” And we had no place for Srila Prabhupada to stay, no proper place. So Mr. Sethi said that Srila Prabhupada could stay in his new house which was not completed but it was completed enough to be habitable. So one day Mr. Chhaganlal, he came to see Srila Prabhupada because he also had his claim on the land. So he said to Srila Prabhupada, “Who will take the land?” He was a really shrewd businessman, and Prabhupada immediately said, “I will take the land.” And Mr. Chhaganlal, he gave an inflated figure, he said “But my claim is two lakhs. And Srila Prabhupada replied immediately without a moment’s hesitation, “My claim is five lakhs.” It was happening so fast, that in the end Mr. Chhaganlal agreed that Srila Prabhupada would get the land and he would pay Mr. Chhaganlal some amount. And I was there to receive Mr. Chhaganlal and after the meeting I escorted him downstairs in his car. And as we were walking down the stairs after the meeting, he couldn’t believe what happened. And he kept saying to me, “Your guru Maharaja is pukka! Your guru Maharaja is pukka!”

So that is the way things went, and then eventually it was all worked out. And at that time Srila Prabhupada was staying in a check like house of an industrialist in Bombay, Mr. Katal, Chandrakant Katal’s brother Sridasji Katal. And so it was the time now for the signing of the conveyance, and it was like a summit meeting. It was like the head of the free world and the head of the communist block were coming together to sign some treaty, and he needed the registrar of documents to come. He came into the system to go to the (Unintelligible 00:26:13) office. And it was very hushed and silent and so Mrs. Nair signed, Srila Prabhupada signed. Mrs. Nair was weeping, and that was it. Then Srila probably said all right now, we will begin the building fund, and Mrs. Sethi, she had some gold bangles, some gold jewelry, so she took off her gold bangles and gave them to Srila Prabhupada, and said, “This is to begin building fund.” And there were a few, I don’t know where they came from, but a few firecrackers not very impressive but a few little fire crackers were set off and Prabhupada said we should serve a feast to the devotees. So we are only talking about maybe twenty people, we were quite small at that time, especially out here. And then afterwards, Srila Prabhupada went back into his room, he leaned back on the bolsters of his asana. He put his feet up and he said, “It was a good fight.” And then he said, “Someone should write a book about it.”

So that is a very brief summary of Part 1, so we will end and say Hare Krishna and then we will talk about Part 2. Hare Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari ki jaya!

So now, the permission to build. We could not get permission to build a temple because Mr. Nair’s allies or accomplices, they just made sure that we didn’t get permission. And so one day, there is too much to say so I will come right to the point, we were trying to meet people to get support and we just could not get support. And one of the conditions in getting the permission was an NOC—No Objection Certificate from the police. And the police commissioner issued a letter refusing the permission saying that the bhajans that have been a nuisance in the small temple, would likely become an even bigger nuisance in a large temple. So on that basis we were refused permission. So it was during the time of the Mayapur, Vrindavan festival. Srila Prabhupada was in Vrindavan and when he got the news he was furious that they would call kirtan a nuisance. So he said all right, if you wanted to bring the devotees from Vrindavan to Bombay to protest. So they came and Srila Prabhupada eventually wrote a letter to the police commissioner. And in the letter, he quoted the Bhagavad-gītā, satataṁ kīrtayanto mām. It is recommended to do kirtan all the time. And how, na mā duktino mûhāprapadyante narādhamā, the miscreants they are against Krishna and they were to surrender to Krishna. So in this letter, Srila Prabhupada appeal to the police commissioner to protect us from these narādhamās, and give the permission. So I could go down and check, I delivered the letter and then I would go in check and I met the commissioner’s secretary. The secretary said that the commissioner said that, that was the most brilliant letter that he had ever received. But still he did not give the NOC, because there was a whole conspiracy.

So finally, I don’t know if we got some hint that the chief minister would be favorable or whether we just were desperate and didn’t see any other alternative, but one day His Holiness Gopal Krishna Gosvami and I went down to the same government building and we were really just taking a chance. We went to the chief minister’s chambers and there were so many secretaries and security. We said we wanted to meet the chief minister. She asked me (Unintelligible 00:34:13) Somehow he agreed to meet us and we didn’t have to speak much at all. Somehow he was aware of what was going on and he had an idea on his own that actually we were being victims of some conspiracy. So it turned out that Mr. Nair’s main allies with the local cooperator from this area, somehow he had been in the ear of the home secretary, the home secretary is very powerful, the chief secretary and the home secretary are the two main secretaries, and somehow he had convinced him we were CIA; all sorts of things and that it would be a security threat to give permission to build a temple.

So right in our presence the chief minister phoned the home secretary, because the police commissioner comes under the home department. So he phoned the home secretary in our presence and we don’t know exactly what the home secretary was saying. I am sure he was giving all sorts of reasons why the permission should be refused. And we heard the chief minister tell him, “Are these people the culprits or are you the culprit?” And that was it. He made a decision. They got the permission. It was amazing, the words spread in no time at all that the chief minister is supporting the project, and then all these government offices we would go to and everyone was very mean and nasty and rude, they all became very accommodating and very obliging. It was amazing. So we got the permission to build the temple.

But then how to build a temple. We had our own devotee Sonar, who had built the Vrindavan temple but Srila Prabhupada wasn’t really satisfied with the quality of the construction in Vrindavan, and he was encouraging me to find an alternative. It was a very unusual structure. The regular type of builders don’t usually build temples like this and the general, I don’t know about now, the general construction in Bombay was quite poor. Most of the buildings looked very old after thirty years and so this is also Radha-Rasabihari’s mercy or Srila Prabhupada’s mercy that one Sunday a life member came to our small little temple to attend the program and have prasāda. And he turned out, his name was Omprakash Dhir, he turned out to be the chief engineer of ECC which is the construction division of Larson & Toubro. There was construction going on and he looked at it and he said this is very poor quality, you are going to have trouble in the future. So I said, “Well what to do?” He said well by the standards, and they would do huge civil engineering jobs, dams and huge bridges very major projects, and our budget was not much. He said by their standards it is a very small project. They ordinarily wouldn’t take it up, but our requests would be a prestigious project, so they might agree. So they did agree and we had to redo the foundation, a lot of it was typical substandard construction so they used a very sophisticated process to strengthen it and they took it up, and they really did a good job.

But then they were ahead of the work so to speak, we were behind in the payments and so as the construction was nearing the end, they started to get a little heavy with us, “unless you pay we are not going to finish the work.” Srila Prabhupada felt that we couldn’t handle this ourselves so he had a friend who was a very shrewd and intelligent businessman, Brijratan Mohata, he had actually been the wealthiest man in West Pakistan and his home, Mohata Mahal was like a palace. After the partition that was given to Mohamad Ali Jinna. So Srila Prabhupada called Mr. Mohata, he said, “I want you to deal with ECC Engineering & Construction and you keep the check book. Mr. Mohata said, “Well I can do it but your people who are doing it now, they might feel it.” Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes that is a good point.” He said, “Okay we will let them do everything as they are doing but I will tell them they should only make payment if you approve.” So that was the arrangement.

So it went on like that and we maintained that difference. So at the end of the construction we still owed them three lakhs of rupees. Now the rupee, three lakhs isn’t much but in those days it was a lot, like three crore. But we had Mr. Dhir, he was with them. I don’t think he was part of the board but when they discussed us he was in the meeting because he was the chief engineer and the head of the company was Mr. Oswal. It seemed that he was quite a visionary and quite a good man. So the other directors said they owe three lakhs, they are not paying, we should send out legal notice, but Mr. Oswal said, “They are doing good work, why don’t we just forgive it?” I don’t know if they actually officially excused us but we were getting all the inside information from Mr. Dhir. (Unintelligible 00:44:00) I am sure he got credit. There were a lot of people who opposed us along the way and they got their reactions, and there is a lot of people who helped Srila Prabhupada and they would have gotten their blessings and probably still are getting their blessings. So that was the construction. And then the opening; now coming to the opening. Originally, Srila Prabhupada, we were thinking of different dates and at one stage Srila Prabhupada (Unintelligible 00:44:50) Rama-vijaya-dashmi but we weren’t really completely ready by then, but Srila Prabhupada didn’t want to delay the opening so somehow we thought of this Makara-sankranti.

Srila Prabhupada left December 14, 1977. He couldn’t be here physically for the opening, but he gave all the instructions how to do it, and then the opening was on January 14 exactly a month later. From a certain point of view, we wanted him to be here but such was not the case, but we very much felt his spiritual presence. We didn’t have a deity of him then, but we had a nice portrait. I think the same one that is hanging in his quarters and there was a very big news article in Newsweek magazine, either Times or Newsweek. In those days the magazines had all been black and white and they were just starting to add a few pages of color. And that particular issue of Newsweek, I am saying (Unintelligible 00:46:36) they had a two-page color spread for the opening of the temple. There was very festive hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana on Juhu beach with flags and devotees. Prabhupada had devotees come from all over the world and there was a picture of the diorama, Srila Prabhupada under the tree at Tompkins Square Park, and the caption was something like, From Rags to Riches, that was their angle. He began under a tree in New York City, now he had this magnificent temple in Juhu.

I won’t get into the ritualistic aspect but at the opening ceremony there were three quite prominent political leaders, the main one was the union minister of health Raj Narayana. He was quite a character. In his talk he said that just as Krishna was born in the prison house of Kaṁsa, so the Janta party was born in the prisons of Indira Gandhi’s administration. He tried to bring his political message. And then there was a Vasantdada Patil, he was the chief minister of Maharashtra, and Prabhudas Patwari who was the governor of Tamilnadu. So there was a line, they sat there and we also wanted to honor Dharmsinh Desai, he was a member of parliament and he had helped some devotees, he helped His Holiness Jaya Pataka Swami Maharaja become an Indian citizen. And although the deities are as you see, but we did feel it would be nice to have something of Srinathji. And so that painting of Srinathji was unveiled by Dharmsinh Desai, the father of Dr. N D Desai, Srinathji dasa. This was a great occasion. The decorations were great, they had strands of marigolds coming out from the central chandelier going along the sides, this is quite a memorable prasāda. But Srila Prabhupada, he said something very interesting which was that, “Actually I was not so eager about this land but because I had invited Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari, I could not bear the thought that the deity would be driven away.” It would have been a great insult because he had made a promise to them as he said, “My dearest very [Unintelligible 00:51:23] stay here, sit here and I will arrange the temple for you.” So internally, it was really his service to Radha-Rasabihari, his promise to them, his devotion to them, that they should not be driven away from this land but they should get their temple.

One little story maybe not so directly related but I will just mention it, that when the construction was going on, the famous singer George Harrison came to visit and I never met him before. He was really an extraordinary person. So I was taking him around showing him the construction and he was very much appreciating of the work and encouraging us and then 12:30 came and we heard the conch shells for the ārati. So we came to the temple shed and George picked up some instruments, he was just singing, and just recently, like a year ago, I never could remember who the pujari was but the pujari was a very sweet devotee named Kholidasa (Puridas) from Chicago. And I met him in Los Angeles, we were talking and somehow it came up. He was the pujari during that ārati, and he was offering the lamp and then he turned around and he saw George Harrison and he said. . . his hand was trembling so much he was afraid that the ghee  lamp was going to fall off the plate completely. So he joined the ārati, playing his instruments. So they would arrange that he would get mahā-prasādam. And Srila Prabhupada was in Juhu then [Unintelligible 00:54:14], so we took him to Srila Prabhupada’s quarters for prasāda, and then we left them, and I went back to my little office.

So maybe two hours later, can’t say for sure, so this young man, I don’t know how old he was maybe ten or twelve, he was quite punchy, he was from the barrios house, the Hare Krishna house, he came up to my office, a little office in the back, and he said, “I heard George Harrison is here.” So I said, “Yes.” He said, “I want to see him.” So I said, “Well you can’t, he is meeting with Srila Prabhupada now.” And he looked at me just like this, punchy little boy, he looked at me through his glasses, sizing me up and he concluded that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with me. He was standing there looking at me and then he just suddenly turned around and bolted down the stairs. And I thought, Oh my gosh he is determined, he is going to try to find him. So I started following down the stairs, in hot pursuit but I couldn’t make it in time. So as I was getting to the top of the stairs he had already opened the door and George Harrison was sitting there crossed legged with his back very erect, just like a yogi, just like the perfect disciple of the master. At the time I was just so upset that he interrupted them, but maybe it was the time, maybe it was Krishna’s arrangement. So they ended their meeting. George was very gracious, Prabhupada was very affectionate too. So yes, I wonder where that boy is.

So I think our time is up. We will of course be meeting again in the evening, there will be Abhishek and (Unintelligible 00:57:38) but do any of you have any questions or comments? (Unintelligible 00:57:38) Gosvami dasa. Is there microphone?

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. We have blessed to have you here (Unintelligible 00:58:00) My question is that struggling of the conditioned soul is eternal. Can we (Unintelligible 00:58:30) in spite of all the struggles?

Giriraj Swami: Well that is a good question. Can you get a taste for the holy name in spite of all the struggles?

Well really, bhakti means to please Krishna. A pure devotee has no selfish desires. Of course it is good to want to have a taste of the holy name but the ultimate goal is to please Krishna. And at one stage Tamal Krishna Goswami told Srila Prabhupada that he was very disturbed by all these complications. And he said he is so disturbed that he can’t even chant properly. And Srila Prabhupada replied, “I know how you feel because I feel the same way.” So transcendental anxiety, impersonalists, they want peace, shanti. . .shanti, merge, become one. Devotees, they struggle. I remember His Holiness Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Swami Maharaja, he said to Srila Prabhupada, “I have just one big project, the BI. And there are so many problems and so many difficulties, and you have the whole worldwide movement, I can’t even imagine how you deal with all those problems. And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Problems? I don’t see any problems; I just see service to my guru Maharaja.” So we conditioned bhaktas, we want things to be comfortable and pleasant. But a pure devotee, he has no condition. He just wants to serve his spiritual master and Krishna.

So there was one incident, just on that point of transcendental anxiety, Srila Prabhupada had gone to East Africa and he got a report that there was a conspiracy. Our site supervisor and the storekeeper, which is like the father-in-law and son-in-law, so there should have been some checks and balances but they were sort of together and it seems they had also involved that next-door neighbor. So what they were doing is, they were taking construction materials and there is just a little low wall and they throw the construction material over the wall into the neighbor’s property and they were stealing the construction material. So Srila Prabhupada had somehow got this news in Nairobi. We didn’t know what was going on but he was in Nairobi. He knew what was going on and he wasn’t eating and one of his disciples in Nairobi asked Srila Prabhupada, “You are not eating there is something that happened.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “How can I eat when my construction materials are being stolen, when my property is being stolen?” He means Krishna’s property.

So that is transcendental anxiety on the liberated platform. But certainly by taking risks for Krishna, by sacrificing for Krishna, one gets mercy. And he does get taste, nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. By serving book-Bhāgavata or person-bhāgavata, all that is troublesome to the heart becomes destroyed almost to nil, and firm devotional service to Krishna becomes established is irrevocable fact. And yes, syāt sevayā viprāḥ, by serving a mahatma like Srila Prabhupada, one develops ruci. So it comes but in the midst of it you might not experience it because you are fighting the battle. But you will get the result, you will get mercy and that mercy will manifest in taste. Yes.

Devotee: (Unintelligible 01:05:12)

Giriraj Swami: (Unintelligible 01:05:35) We went through extreme difficulty in how the devotees maintain their focus on Srila Prabhupada.

I think it was the other way, that because the devotees were focused on Srila Prabhupada, they could tolerate all difficulties. There is one story, humorous in a way, but Srila Prabhupada had a friend named Dr. Patel, Dr. C.T. Patel. I hope you all listened to Srila Prabhupada’s lectures and conversations. So there are many morning walks on Juhu beach with Srila Prabhupada and Dr. Patel. So Dr. Patel, he was a little proud because he has studied in England at a time when very few people from India could study in England. But not only was he qualified as a doctor, but he had maintained his strict principles like no meat eating, no intoxicants, no. . . and he knew Sanskrit, he was a little proud, but he was very impressed by the devotees. I remember when he came, he couldn’t believe we were living in such primitive conditions coming from America. So he got inspired to take up a collection of cloth and cotton, and then I mentioned we are a very small group, so we used it to make twelve mattresses, twelve blankets, twelve mosquito nets, maybe even twelve little pillows. So he went to MJ Martin (Unintelligible 01:07:52) and he was begging cloth and cotton. So he put together these (Unintelligible 01:08:00) and the devotees use them but as it happened, one by one the items started to disappear.

So after a while, there were maybe nine mattresses, ten mosquito nets, seven blankets, and gradually it was reducing more and more and eventually there was nothing left. There wasn’t even one thread left from Dr. Patel’s donation. So he was upset because it was a big thing for him to go and beg all these materials and this is also a subtle thing about him, it was hard to tell whether he was a Vaishnava or a Mayavadi. Prabhupada would accuse him of being a Mayavadi but he would deny it. “No, sir. I am a Vaishnava!” But he had that, there was some inclination towards it many people have that. So he brought it up on the morning walk that, “I gave this donation and now there is nothing left.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Do you know why there is nothing left? Because that mukti that you are so eager to get, that mukti, all my disciples they already have that mukti. Therefore, they don’t care whether they have a mattress or not. They don’t care whether they have a mosquito nets or not, they don’t care if they have a blanket or not, because they are liberated.”

Prabhupada was glorifying us and at the same time trying to put Dr. Patel in his place. Now we know as devotees there is also yukta-vairāgya, but Prabhupada wasn’t emphasizing that, he said you are so eager for mukti, they already have mukti. But that was what he said that all they are interested in is serving their guru Maharaja, they are not interested in all these other things. So that is why I will say, it is more that because they were focused on Srila Prabhupada, that they could tolerate all these difficulties, those who stayed, more than how did they maintain their focus. But there were a few that couldn’t make it their focus, but the ones who stayed, it was because of that focus on him, on Srila Prabhupada. He said as long as they could chant the holy name, and do some service for the spiritual master, that is all.

I remember one year I spoke about how we had so many mosquitoes, and the Bombay rats. Do you know about the Bombay rats? They are huge. They are not little rats, they are huge and their specialty is when you are asleep, they can bite your heel and you don’t feel it. But in the morning you wake up and there is this pool of blood. So we have Bombay rats, we had mosquitoes, we had everything, but we had Srila Prabhupada. I hadn’t thought of this before but it is like Queen Kunti, she prayed to Krishna that, “Although calamities come again and again because in the midst of those calamities we get to see your lotus feet. And by seeing your lotus feet, we never have to see the reputation of birth and death.” So if I could have those mosquitoes and Bombay rats with Srila Prabhupada, I would take it again, a hundred times. Hare Krishna.

Devotee: Thank you very much Maharaja for remaining the whole day. We eagerly waiting for that book to come. (Unintelligible 01:13:41)

Giriraj Swami: Oh there are so many. For the last one he mentioned this is about the construction, that in this area, in the ocean especially, one would expect the soil to be quite soft and sandy and not strong enough to support the columns for the structure. So generally just to make sure, one does a soil test. And they bring equipment and they drill down and they see how far they have to go to reach solid ground. So Srila Prabhupada said, “We don’t need piles.” Piles are like columns that go deep under the ground to where it is solid and then that supports the foundation. Prabhupada said we don’t need piles; we don’t need to do any soil testing. But faith, even now it is a big question, faith. To what extent do we accept Prabhupada as the authority (Unintelligible 01:15:50) So Prabhupada said it but there was some doubt and Mr. Sethi, he was the king of construction, he thought we have to do a soil test because we can’t take chances. They brought the equipment, they were drilling down and very soon they hit such hard rock that the drill broke. And then Mr. Sethi said it was one of those incidents where he felt like yes, Srila Prabhupada knows everything. So that was one incident, but with the other one,  oh Ramu, the coconut wallah?

So as I mentioned Srila Prabhupada felt possession is nine tenths of the law, so that was why he wanted to bring Radha-Rasabihari even before the land was transferred in his name. But still Mr. Nair was determined to get us to leave the land, so he began a campaign of harassment to get us to leave. And back then we had so many coconut trees about one hundred and forty coconut trees. So Mr. Nair, he engaged this man named Ramu, we called him Ramu, the coconut one, and he was strong, physically strong and he would grab (Unintelligible 01:18:02) like a machete, like a knife, and he would stand at the front of the land, at the temple showing this knife to keep people from coming to the temple and also to intimidate devotees. And then he would do other things. He would have the electricity turned off. He was really trying to force us to leave.

I am skipping some but I am sure you will appreciate this. So one day I was out preaching. At that time there would be vendors with newspapers and magazines on the footpath. So I remember I was at metro cinema, there was some venders and I just happened to look down, and I saw this huge banner headline in the Free Press Journal with Mr. Nair’s picture, bold lettering, A.B. NAIR IS DEAD. So at that time, I should mention it because it is relevant, we were saying that that same Mr. P G Walia, he had an apartment at Colaba that was available and this was a war zone there and most of our work was downtown so it was convenient for us to be there. So I saw this headline and within my heart I felt jubilant. I actually felt like dancing right then and there, but I thought, Is this proper? I think we are supposed to be devotees; is this proper? But that is how I felt. Meanwhile, the news reached Juhu and I heard that this did upset Mrs. Nair, but I heard that the devotees were, well that was her complaint, the devotees were distributing sweets. So now what to do, we have to inform Srila Prabhupada but I didn’t have that relationship, I was president here but I didn’t have that relationship where I would phone him but there was a very senior devotee named Bali Mardan who was visiting Bombay so he phoned and he got Srila Prabhupada’s servant probably was Srutakirti Prabhu then and Srila Prabhupada was taking his massage. Actually, we never phone Srila Prabhupada, we sent telegram or by letter. Anyway, Srutakirti delivered the news to Srila Prabhupada and, this is a little confidential but I think the cameras are off, Srila Prabhupada folded his hands and he said, “Thank you Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, Thank you Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva.” And then he said, “Actually I was praying for this because he was causing too much difficulty to the devotees.” But we heard that later. 

In the meantime, Srila Prabhupada sent a letter to two other really good devotees that left here in the older generation Dr. Singhal and Mrs. Singhal. So he sent them a letter; “This is very good news that the demon Nair is dead.” And then he quoted Prahlada Maharaja. “Prahlada Maharaja says that even saintly persons (sadhus) take pleasure when a snake or a scorpion is killed.” So that was like a confirmation that our feelings were appropriate. And the story of that verse was spoken by Prahlada Maharaja to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva. Because after Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva killed Hiraṇyakaśipu nothing could pacify Him.

I hope you are all reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, this is the Seventh Canto. Nothing could pacify Him and so not Brahma, not Lakshmi, no one. So Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva was concerned that Prahlada might have been upset with Him because He killed his father. So Prahlada, to address that concern, he recited this verse. “And even a saintly person can take pleasure when a snake or a scorpion is killed.” In other words, don’t worry that I am upset because You killed my father, and even a saintly person is pleased when a snake or scorpion is killed.

So these things are very hard for ordinary people to understand because mostly people are impersonalists, so they feel like you should love everyone. Well we do. Vaishnavas do love everyone but they express their love in different way. Of course, Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva is God, He loves everyone; He loves Hiraṇyakaśipu. But they deal with them according to how people deal with them. And Srila Prabhupada instructed one of his managers that, and Prabhupada often said it, (Unintelligible 01:26:38), that if someone is straight forward with you should be most upright and straight forward with him. And if someone is very crooked and cunning with you, you should be even more cunning than he. So he instructed one of the managers that we should be so expert in our dealings that when they are finished with us they go and tell their friends that these Hare Krishna people, they look like fools but actually they are very smart and don’t mess with them.

Devotee: Maharaja, as I always say to you, when I think of this place in my mind having visited here for many years I always think of you. So although you have downplayed your own position in this whole story, actually and you can’t separate Krishna’s devotees from Krishna. You cannot separate Prabhupada’s men in different places from Prabhupada. So if you study Prabhupada’s letters, you see that he is always writing to you about what is happening here and he considered him his man here. So I just want to, on behalf of Prabhupada and the lordships, thank you for your selfless service.

Giriraj Swami: Well, that was very sweet of you. I shouldn’t say it, but anyway I will only. . . Prabhupada said that Juhu is like Kurukshetra and Giriraj is like our Arjuna. But I don’t know if that refers to the heroic Arjuna who was slaying the enemies, or to the coward Arjuna who kept wanting to leave the battle, but he did say that.

All right, well thank you all very much. We look forward to seeing you in the evening and then I am hoping to give class again Sunday morning.

Hare Krishna. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!