Madhudvisa Prabhu’s Memorial Festival

Giriraj Prabhu: Hare Krishna. This is an occasion of mixed feelings. We rejoice because we know that Madhudvisa Prabhu has returned to Srila Prabhupada but we also lament because we will no longer have his personal association in the same way. Before I speak myself, I would like to read some messages from some other devotees. One is from Srila Prabhupada’s disciple Devadatta Prabhu in Badger who is a very close friend of Madhudvisa Prabhu and his whole family. And he just wrote me this, just sharing with me, but I felt it would be so nice to share with everyone who gathered today and I asked his permission and he said I could. There are actually two letters.

“Dear Giriraj Maharaja, I wanted to thank you for your post on Facebook about Madhudvisa. Madhu was my dear friend and neighbor in Badger at Panorama farms until his kids grew up and he moved to L.A. It was through him that I got my land next to his at Panorama farms and have been a friend of the family all these years as his children were born and grew to adults. His former wife just happened to be in Badger yesterday and I was able to visit with her. And one of Madhu’s sons who has taken over the family Badger home and has himself a new baby whose first birthday just happens now to coincide with Madhu’s departure. We all decided that this was an auspicious way to be able to remember him and see how his legacy lives on.”

Is that baby here? Can we see how that legacy is living on? Jaya! Beautiful! Hare Krishna, jaya.

“Despite our knowledge there is still a great sadness now that he is no longer with us. However, his physical condition had so deteriorated and he was by nature a very active person that it was mercy that he did not have to suffer the indignities of a body no longer functioning well for any longer. As we remembered events of Madhu’s life yesterday there was mixed in with the sadness, a deep sense of peace and closure. My heart will ache for a long time but there is a sweetness to it. I am very fortunate to have been one of his close friends. His life made mine and many others better. — Devadatta.”

And then I asked if I could share what he wrote. And he said yes.

“Dear Maharaja, I hope you get an opportunity to share my thoughts with others. On Saturday, that means today, there will be Ratha-yatra here in Badger. Madhu started the tradition in 1982. The attached picture is his youngest son Jaya and Madhu at LA Ratha-yatra last Sunday. I am getting it framed and it will be on the cart in Badger tomorrow. [It is a beautiful picture]. It is so very strange that my heart can be broken and mended at the same time. — Devadatta.”

And I hope you know that picture. It is here, but it is very small. But I do not know if this helps anyone but this is it. Then there is another one, I hope I find it because I did not keep it out. But well, I will just tell it. We had arranged a program for Srila Prabhupada in Madras and Madhudvisa Prabhu was performing, leading the kirtan on the stage. And this story is told to illustrate how absorbed he was in kirtan. So, he was leading kirtan on the stage, his eyes closed, I do not know how he was dancing or how high he was jumping, but in the process his dhoti fell off. And he did not miss a beat, literally he did not stop playing the mridanga for one moment. And the devotees rushed, they gathered up his dhoti, tied it around his waist. And Prabhupada was sitting on his seat, playing his kartals. He did not miss a beat either but he was smiling to see the whole exhibition.

And then the last one from a friend here who he, as a routine, he at a certain time of day he would go and there is outdoors; there is a little altar with Srila Prabhupada’s picture. And every day at a certain time he would go out to walk and chant and he would offer obeisances to that photo, and pray for mercy, to chant the holy name and to engage in service. And three days ago, I mean he knows that Prabhupada is there, we all know that Prabhupada is there. But three days ago, when he offered obeisances to the photo, that photo seemed to be alive and aglow. Srila Prabhupada just seemed to be beaming with happiness. So, the devotee in his way asked Srila Prabhupada, “What happened, why, what, you are beaming with so much pleasure today?” And then he got the message from Srila Prabhupada, “Yes, because my Madhudvisa has come back to me.”

So, I am not sure how much time we have, but anyway I joined in Boston in 1969. And we had a small Ratha-yatra with three palanquins. And we just carried the deities from the temple to the Charles River. And it was sort of sweet. There were probably ten or twelve people. I remember it just seemed so heavy. . . And then we heard this report about the Ratha-yatra in San Francisco was just totally unbelievable. I mean really, I had no idea that we could do anything, that big in ISKCON—it was way beyond anything I had ever heard of. And that was when I heard about Madhudvisa Prabhu, although I never met him. And then we finally did meet in India. He came with Srila Prabhupada on the pacific route, and I came with a group of devotees through the Atlantic route.

And I remember one incident was very vivid. It shows how good he was at dealing with all sorts of people in all different types of situations. So, I was new. So, I was going to start making life members and somehow, I was assigned to go out with him or maybe he just took me with him. And we went to a man’s office just near Flora Fountain in Bombay. And the man had agreed to become a life member but when we went inside his office, he said he was not going to become a life member. And Madhudvisa Prabhu did not say anything, you promised or you cannot, he did not say anything. Just talking in a sort of friendly way. One thing I do remember is, he was wearing silk and I was wearing cotton. So, the man asked how come your dress is different and his dress is different. And Madhudvisa joked, “Well I am rich and he is poor.”

So, they are just talking and it just seemed like he was preaching about the movement and our activities. And then suddenly it seemed to be mystical, suddenly the man said, “Okay, I’ll become your life member.” And he did not say one word about life membership but he could understand what the man’s reservations were and somehow speak in such a way as to remove his reservation, so that voluntarily, without any coaxing or prodding he voluntarily agreed. And he wrote out the check.

So, a lot happened in those early years with Srila Prabhupada in India. But yes, his kirtans of course were memorable. Wherever we went, Khumba-mela, I remember meeting kirtan and the first Bombay pandal, he was in charge of the stage program—that was also amazing. And then we got the Juhu land. Well, Madhudvisa, he felt he needed a change. And then it was sort of. . . the way he tells it, is that Shyamasundara Prabhu actually suggested that Australia would be good and Prabhupada agreed, “Yes, okay, let him go to Australia.”

And then one day I got, I do not know if it was the first one in Melbourne, but anyway I got a letter from Shyamasundara with the news clipping from a newspaper about the Ratha-yatra. And what had happened was that they were constructing the chariot on the street. And just past the sidewalk where they were building the chariot, a building caught fire. And a woman came to the window. And the devotees took the canvas canopy from the dome of the chariot and they held it under the window and told her to jump, because otherwise she would have been burned alive. And she jumped. And the newspaper article was so favorable and they specifically noted that they use the sacred canopy. Madhudvisa Prabhu said that Prabhupada said that the chariot is as sacred as the Lord. But knowing that, they held it out and she jumped to safety. And so, it was written up very nicely how they saved her life and even using the sacred cloth.

And then Prabhupada said to Shyamasundara who mailed it, that tell Giriraj that he should show this to all important people of Bombay and tell them that Krishna consciousness is rendering the best service materially and spiritually. So, then he was in Australia, I was in India. We did not meet for a long time. And then in 1994 he came to Mayapur for the first time in a long time. And I did not remember this but one devotee just wrote me that he put up banners or sign boards saying, ‘Thank God that I’ve been allowed back.’ And she was so moved that such a big leader, such a legendary figure could be so humble, that really touched her heart and she remembered it till today.

And so, then we spent some time, I had organized a series of talks about Srila Prabhupada and Bombay because I thought it would be good to have all those memories. And it went for five days. And one day Madhudvisa Prabhu spoke, it is I am so glad we recorded that and have all those memories, very blissful and some are quite humorous. But yeah, he was really one to tell it as it is. I mean it was disarming, it is like he had no agenda. He just told it as it is. Prabhupada as he is, himself as he was, the others as they were. Of course, the underlying mood was of love and appreciation, but it was just as it is. It was so refreshing, I thought I can trust him whatever he says because he has no agenda. He is just telling it as it is.

So, then some more years passed and we did not meet. And finally, I came to Los Angeles. It turned out I had a health issue; I was only planning to come for two weeks but I ended up staying much longer. And so, the devotees were just beginning the Prabhupada Festival here. And so, I was really eager to attend and I hadn’t seen Madhudvisa Prabhu for so long and I really didn’t know what was going on with him or what to expect. And he led a kirtan in front of Srila Prabhupada’s vyāsāsana and I mean it was an amazing kirtan. Everyone was dancing. But what I got from that was that he loves Srila Prabhupada beyond anything, more than anything or like anything, unlike anything. And that was it, that was the essence, nothing else mattered.

And then I think for me these were some of my deepest experiences with him, when we would meet and speak about Srila Prabhupada. It was so deep, I felt I got to know him on a much deeper level than I ever did in all these years, when we were all so busy with our service. And to me that will, well I do not want to say it will be hard to replace, but it seems I am feeling that lack that I will not be able to go to his room and just discuss Srila Prabhupada with such, he had such deep love and realizations. He was so brilliant. He analyzed things in the history of ISKCON. I actually had a vague idea about but when he actually explained them, that ‘oh that’s what was going on.’ It all made sense, all the pieces of the puzzle fit into place and he showed what the whole picture was. And that combination of someone having that deep love for Prabhupada and Prabhupada had such deep love for him and that intimate relationship between them and to some extent my also having lived through that period, it was just amazing.

But I am encouraged by these talks, that they served that function, they help to fill that gap. And this is really how we should spend our time. And just one last thought about his kirtans. I came to Juhu in Bombay in 1970, maybe late February or early March of 1972. And Srila Prabhupada had entered into this agreement with Mr. Nair to buy the Juhu property and that is a whole story in itself. But when Prabhupada left somehow, we got a VIP room at the airport. So, we were in this big room and Prabhupada was sitting there. And Mrs. Nair was also there. And Prabhupada said, “Oh Mrs. Nair, you are becoming one of us.” But the thing that really struck me is Madhudvisa Prabhu led kirtan. And the devotees were just singing and dancing wildly. And when the kirtan ended, Srila Prabhupada said, “If you go on having kirtans like this our Juhu project will be a success.” And that really stayed in my mind. I did not even know what it meant, but it stayed in my mind. And I think that is true. And it has been a success to some extent but it could be more of a success.

And I think that is what I am getting from Madhudvisa Prabhu’s association here and through all of you, is that we are doing almost everything that he did. But he did it with more feeling, more heart, more soul, more surrender, more determination. And so that is what I am getting, not to change anything externally, I mean yeah, I do want to change some things but more that; just the same things that we are doing, just do it more personally like he did, that Jagannatha is a person. Everyone, every devotee is a person to be valued and cherished and served. And the holy name is Krishna and on and on. . . So, thank you for your association and your service to him.

Hare Krishna.