Reading from Giriraj Swami’s Forthcoming Book *I’ll Build You a Temple*

Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada’s departure from Bombay on October 1st, 1977, that was when he left Bombay to go to Vrindavan, and then that was the last time he was in Bombay, and the last time he traveled anywhere.

So, there is a devotee who passed away a year ago named Sri Nathji dasa in Bombay. But at the time of this event described here, he wasn’t initiated, and he is just referred to as Dr. Desai. And His Holiness Radhanath Swami is having a program at Dr. Desai’s home on December 25th, and he will be reading this, but it’s actually an excerpt from my book about Srila Prabhupada in Juhu.

READING from I’ll Build You a Temple

Around 9:30, Prabhupada’s assistants. . .

COMMENT

How many have been to the Juhu temple? Okay.

READING (continued)

Around 9:30, Prabhupada’s assistants escorted him downstairs. Hundreds of devotees were waiting on the ground floor, and they wept when they saw Srila Prabhupada, many for the last time. Dr. Desai, who had arrived with his big Dodge, was shocked and pained to see Prabhupada’s emaciated state. “Here is the person with whom I fought and argued,” Dr. Desai reflected. “Here is the person who was such a fine debater that he was like a lion who could defeat anyone philosophically.”

COMMENT

The background to that actually comes earlier in the book, I’ll probably find it. It’s just a little background.

READING (continued)

Dr. N. D. Desai, who was married to the industrialist, Arvinda Mafatlal’s daughter, also lived in Sea Face Park.

COMMENT

At this time, Prabhupada was staying at Sea Face Park on Warden Road.

READING (continued)

Dr. N. D. Desai, who was married to the industrialist, Arvinda Mafatlal’s daughter, also lived in Sea Face Park, and often came to meet Prabhupada and argue with him. Dr. Desai was highly intelligent and educated, but he was a follower of Swami Chinmayananda, a Mayavadi impersonalist, and would present all sorts of impersonal arguments, which Prabhupada would promptly and thoroughly defeat. He would approach Swami Chinmayananda and tell him, “Bhaktivedanta Swami said such and such.” And Swami Chinmayananda would tell him what to say in reply, which Dr. Desai would do, only to have his argument smashed again. So, Dr. Desai would go back and forth between Prabhupada and Swami Chinmayananda, but gradually, he realized that Prabhupada’s arguments could not be refuted, and further, that Prabhupada was of impeccable character, and his heart softened.

COMMENT

That’s a little background about their arguing.

READING (continued)

Dr. Desai, who had arrived in his big Dodge, was shocked and pained to see Prabhupada’s emaciated state. “Here is the person with whom I fought and argued,” Dr. Desai reflected. “Here is the person who was such a fine debater that he was like a lion who could defeat anyone philosophically.” He was reminded of Krishna’s description in the Bhagavad-gītā of a person who withdraws within like a tortoise, pulling his limbs into his shell. Dr. Desai had personally cleaned his car, a first for him, and his wife had arranged silk bedding, flowers, and incense. When Prabhupada came down, devotees were crying, devastated by feelings of imminent separation. Dr. Desai felt like the cruel Akrura.

COMMENT

The word Akrura means not cruel. [laughter] But when Akrura came to take Krishna away from Vrindavan, they felt he was actually cruel.

READING (continued)

Dr. Desai felt like the cruel Akrura who took Krishna from Vrindavan and the gopīs, but it was his duty, and he knew he had to do it. Ramananda sat next to Dr. Desai, then me, and then Tamal Krishna by the window. Prabhupada was lying on the back seat, with Upendra sitting on the floor next to him. “Drive very slowly,” Tamal Krishna told Dr. Desai. “The Bombay roads have potholes, and Prabhupada will be uncomfortable if you drive fast. His nerves are pressing on his bones, there is hardly any flesh or fat, it’s mainly skin, nerves, and bone, with very little muscle.” When Dr. Desai slowed down, however, Upendra told him, “Prabhupada wants you to drive faster,” and he picked up speed. But the moment Dr. Desai hit the accelerator, Tamal Krishna objected, “I told you to drive slowly,” he said. “What are you doing? Slow down, immediately.” “Upendra just told me that Prabhupada wants me to drive fast.” “No, no, no. Go slowly.” So, Dr. Desai slowed down. But then, Upendra said, “Prabhupada says go faster. Why aren’t you going faster?” So, Dr. Desai was in a predicament. But he considered that Prabhupada was the person he had to serve, so he sped up and told Tamal Krishna, “You sort this out with Upendra and allow me just to drive.” Because of our speed and early start, we reached Bombay Central Station thirty-five minutes ahead of the scheduled departure, and thought we had arrived with too much time to spare. I had my assistant Rama Tulsi go with Dr. Desai to the station master to get a wheelchair to take Prabhupada from the car to his special cabin on the train. “Is the deluxe leaving at eleven?” Dr. Desai checked with the station master. “Didn’t you read today’s newspaper?” The man replied. “It’s leaving at 10:30.” The timing had changed that very day. Dr. Desai looked at his watch and exclaimed, “There are five minutes left! The train is leaving in five minutes!” “I will pay you anything,” he told the station master. “But hold that train. Don’t let it start until I tell you.” “What? I’ve never heard such a request.” “There is a big team coming. A very holy person is going to leave his body in Vrindavan, and he has to be on that train.” “Leave his body? What do you mean?” Dr. Desai and Rama Tulsi ran back to the car. “The train is leaving a half hour early today,” Dr. Desai told me. “No,” I said. “According to the timetable, it leaves at eleven.” “Whatever it says there, doesn’t matter. The station master is going to blow his whistle, and the train is going to go.” So, we ran to the platform. Some devotees had come ahead, and gotten Prabhupada’s special cabin ready. Unfortunately, it was not an air-conditioned car. We knew that Prabhupada didn’t prefer AC, but in this case, he really needed it and wanted it. We got Prabhupada into his compartment just minutes before the train was to pull out. Dr. Desai had not had any food or water since 4:30 that morning, and he was extremely thirsty. He bought a Limca soda from a stand on the platform, and was just about to drink it, when Upendra rushed up to him and said, “Prabhupada wants to see you.” Dr. Desai left the drink and hurried into the cabin, wondering why Prabhupada was calling him.

COMMENT

And Prabhupada was very sick at this time, like we read, emaciated and weak.

READING (continued)

“Come closer,” Prabhupada said when Dr. Desai entered. When Dr. Desai came right up to him, Prabhupada said, “Thank you for driving me.” Dr. Desai was touched. Prabhupada was about to give up his body, and except for this small service, he felt that he hadn’t done much of anything. He felt an upsurge of feeling that he must surrender to Prabhupada at that very moment. In front of everyone, he paid full obeisances on the floor, caught hold of Prabhupada’s feet, and put his head on them. “Don’t touch his feet,” Tamal Krishna told him. [laughter] “No,” he said. “This is it. This is the last chance I’ll ever get.” And looking up at Prabhupada, he said, “Prabhupada, I surrender to you. You are my spiritual master.” Prabhupada put his hand on Dr. Desai’s head and blessed him. With what meager strength he had, he raised himself up a little on one elbow, and smiled sweetly. The train started moving, and one of the devotees alerted Dr. Desai that he had better get off, the next station was quite far. So, he reluctantly jumped off, and then he watched the train until the last car disappeared in the distance. With tears in his eyes, he returned to his car, and got in. “And lo and behold,” he later recalled. “There was Prabhupada’s garland on the steering wheel. He had not forgotten me. He was so kind and considerate that he left the flower garland he was wearing on the steering wheel. I kept that garland for a long, long time. That was the last time I saw Prabhupada. From 1971-1977, I was fighting with him, debating with him, arguing with him. Finally, at the end, I surrendered.”

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Nathji dasa ki jaya!

So, a principal figure in this is Mr. Sethi. He is a very staunch devotee of Srila Prabhupada. There is a whole history about him, but anyway. So, this is just a little before Prabhupada left for the second to the last time. This was May 1st, 1977.

READING (continued)

Mr. Sethi, who was so staunch and had so much faith in Prabhupada that his devotion for him reminded me of Hanuman’s for Lord Rama, loved to chant the holy names. And for years before he met Prabhupada, he had been associated with a group called Radha-Madhava Prem Sudha saṅkīrtana Mandala. Their guru was based in Vrindavan, and they chanted the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. In Bombay, they were all householders, and very devoted. Every Sunday, they would have twelve-hour Akhand hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. Unbroken, continuous Hare Krishna kirtan from six in the morning to six in the evening, followed by two hours of songs from Vraja. Mr. Sethi had the idea that instead of having the kirtan in one of their devotee’s homes, the group could have it at Hare Krishna Land, along with our temple devotees. So, we arranged it in front of the Deities in the small temple, beside the new complex, that was nearing completion, just beneath Prabhupada’s new quarters where Prabhupada was staying despite the construction not being completely finished, and the lift not working. Ill as he was, he would recline or lie down and relish the kirtan, which he could hear coming from downstairs. Many of the temple devotees left in the heat of the afternoon, but the mandala people stayed and continued chanting. When Mr. Sethi went up to see Prabhupada and told him that there were no devotees in the temple, Prabhupada, displeased, called for me, and told me, “Our devotees cannot do like they do. Our devotees can only eat and sleep.” [laughter] Upendra, who had joined Prabhupada’s team of personal servants, reported that Prabhupada continually praised the group, and repeatedly condemned us, or lamented, “Why our men cannot do the same thing? They are just eating and sleeping.” The Mandala devotees wanted to see Prabhupada, to have his audience, but there were too many to come up, and Prabhupada was too ill to walk down the stairs to meet them all. And anyway, they had to be in the kirtan. At one stage, they were so eager that they came out of the temple and just stood beneath Prabhupada’s balcony doing kirtan, chanting for him. Eventually, Tamal Krishna and Mr. Sethi helped Prabhupada walk to the balcony, and when Prabhupada glanced down and smiled upon the Mandala devotees, they welled up with ecstasy and love for him. He stayed for a little while, and then went back in, and the group continued their kirtan in the temple. One highlight came at the end, when a female devotee sang. . .

COMMENT

From their group.

READING (continued)

“Jaya Radhe jaya Radhe Radhe jaya Radhe jaya Sri Radhe / Jaya Krishna jaya Krishna Krishna. . .”

Later, Mr. Sethi told us that when Prabhupada was listening to that song, tears of ecstatic love were streaming down his cheeks. “That kirtan was wonderful,” Prabhupada told me the next day. “We should invite the whole group to stay at Hare Krishna Land. Tell them that we will maintain them, they won’t have to work. All they have to do is continuous kirtan.” The group comprised of fifty families, but he said that he would build them accommodations and provide all their necessities. He wanted only one thing from them, they should chant Hare Krishna, day and night. I wasn’t sure how to respond, but it seemed that Prabhupada knew that this might take some time. Then he said, “At least our devotees, they should do a twelve-hour kirtan every day, from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.” I hesitated. Prabhupada had always emphasized that we had to serve and spread the mission. And in Juhu, we were especially busy finishing the temple and getting it ready to open. I didn’t see how all the devotees could spend twelve hours a day chanting in the temple. “Srila Prabhupada,” I said. “We have so much service to do. How will we be able to do it all?” “All right,” he said. “Then one day a week, on Sunday.” I immediately agreed, relieved. Only one day, twelve hours. Tamal Krishna later commented to me that Prabhupada had done some transcendental bargaining. If he had begun twelve hours every Sunday, I might have said, “Oh, that’s too much, maybe four hours.” But because he began with twelve hours a day, seven days a week, when he finally said twelve hours, one day a week, I was relieved, “Oh, yes, we can do that.” So, every Sunday, we did twelve hours of continuous kirtan. And it was just as Prabhupada had said when I was in Boston, that by saṅkīrtana, all problems would be solved materially and spiritually. Prabhupada had so much faith in the holy name. He knew that the holy name was Krishna Himself, that if we chanted the holy name, we would be in Krishna’s association, and that Krishna would preserve what we had and provide what we lacked. As the temple president, I had to deal with many problems. We had to construct the complex, deal with the civic authorities, organize the temple programs, deal with the devotees, and just survive in India with all the disease and other hardships. So, devotees would come to me, and on Monday, Tuesday, and sometimes Wednesday, I’d deal with the problems. But by Thursday, we were getting close to the twelve-hour hari-nāma, and I knew, it happened every time without fail, that all the problems would be solved. Either the problem would solve itself, or the devotee would realize that it wasn’t really a problem, after all. Or we would get some insight or inspiration about how to deal with it. So, beginning Thursday, I would say, “Just give me a few days to think about it,” but I knew that by the time the Sunday kirtan was over, the problem would be solved. The day after Prabhupada left Bombay, I was pleased to write him, “Today, we instituted the Sunday continuous kirtan, as you instructed before you left. And all the devotees who are participating, are experiencing transcendental ecstasy. In addition, the kirtan is attracting many nice devotees to attend the program.”

COMMENT

Now, this is something I learned when I went to Bombay, that we would call the disciples, say devotees, but we had a friend in Bombay, Sarji Gopal, a very good friend. But he said, “In India, anyone who comes to the temple is called a devotee. And you people are called sadhus.” So, when I wrote to Srila Prabhupada, “Today, we instituted the Sunday continuous kirtan, as you instructed before you left. And all the devotees who are participating, are experiencing transcendental ecstasy. In addition, the kirtan is attracting many nice devotees to attend the program,” that reference is to visitors.

READING (continued)

“At noon, we served prasāda to all the guests and gave them a tour of the new building. We hope to improve the program week by week.” “Thank you for organizing the all-day Sunday program,” Prabhupada replied. “This should be developed very nicely, stressing kirtan and prasāda.”

COMMENT

So, what is your name?

Devotee: George.

Giriraj Swami: George. And how long have you been coming here?

Devotee: A little over a year.

Giriraj Swami: What has attracted you, or inspired you?

Devotee: I learned in the beginning that Krishna takes things away from you for you to come closer to Him, and I feel that is what brought me here to Dallas. Before I came to Dallas, I lived in Galveston, and pretty much back-to-back, my dad died, I lost my job, I was homeless, and my best friend died.

Giriraj Swami: What was the last one?

Devotee: My best friend died.

Giriraj Swami: Your best friend died?

Devotee: Yeah. And sometime in that period, I don’t know exactly how, but I learned the maha-mantra, and I would say it without realizing the benefits I was getting from it. And continuously, I would apply for jobs, apply for jobs, all over the United States for what I do, and nobody would call me back. And Dallas is the only place that would call me back. So, I moved here to Dallas, and I googled Hare Krishna Dallas and found the temple. And I felt Krishna brought me here to Dallas to actually be near the temple, meet the devotees.

Giriraj Swami: Good. I see you have a Jagannatha T-shirt and a Jagannatha bead bag. Do you have a special affinity to Lord Jagannatha, or you just like the way He looks?

Devotee: Yeah. After I started coming to the temple here in Dallas, one day after work, I went to the library to drop off books, and I walked up to the desk, and sitting there on the counter was a photograph, an actual photograph of Lord Jagannatha. So, I got excited and asked the librarians, “Whose is this?” Nobody knew who it belonged to and where it came from. But then they said, “You can have it if you want.” [laughter] So, since then, yeah. This is an actual photograph.

Giriraj Swami: So, where do you live now?

Devotee: Across the street. [laughter]

Giriraj Swami: And have you taken up any of the practices of bhakti-yoga?

Devotee: Yes.

Giriraj Swami: Can you tell us what? [laughter]

Devotee: I will be honest and say I’m struggling to follow all of the four regs, but I’m doing most of them. I don’t have a set schedule on how many rounds of japa I chant a day, but I have service I do here in the temple.

Giriraj Swami: Good. Do you have a minimum number that you chant? Because our authorities on sacred texts recommend on having a minimum. It doesn’t even matter, to begin, how low of a figure it is, even if it’s one a day, two a day, four a day. But then you should do that every day. And if by chance you happen to miss, then whatever number you miss, you make up the next day. So, how many do you think you can do every day?

Devotee: Three.

Giriraj Swami: Three. Okay, that’s good. So, three will be your minimum.

Devotee: Okay.

Giriraj Swami: And if by chance. . . I mean, three, you shouldn’t miss, but if you do, you can make up. Say one day you do two, then the next day do four. Okay, good, nice.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:32:22]

Giriraj Swami: Sorry?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:32:25]

Giriraj Swami: [Unintelligible 00:32:28]. [laughter] But what’s happening at the yoga center?

Devotee: We still have our Thursday nights of Bhagavad-gītā class. We have a couple of yoga classes every week, and a lot of special workshops by people that rent the space to do different kinds of healing and workshops. So, kind of holistic nature. Not much. I mean, well, Mahatma came.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah.

Devotee: Yeah, yeah. So, Mahatma came, and he did a japa workshop there, he did a kirtan there, and he did another workshop there. He was here for ten days, two weeks, something like that.

Giriraj Swami: That’s good.

Devotee: He kept us very busy during that time, yeah.

Devotee: We had a yoga convention also.

Devotee: Oh yeah, no. I mean, not at the yoga center, but then there is a big holistic festival that happens twice a year. And so, we go there, the organizers of the event gave us a very good rate for the amount of time and space, and we organized about. . . How many hours? About eight hours of kirtan. We had room, it’s a big convention center. And then they have all kinds of booths in June. So, we called it the bhakti room. And so, they gave us one of the little conference rooms, and we just set up shop and we do eight hours of kirtan all day long. And it’s positioned at the end of the entrance hall, so even if the people don’t come inside and join us, they have to walk by us, and then hear us. You can’t help but hear us because there is an open door and speakers. And the organizer, Vijay, likes it loud. So, people complain. . .

Giriraj Swami: Vijay?

Devotee: Vijay is the organizer of the. . .

Giriraj Swami: The same Vijay that. . .?

Devotee: Yeah, Vijay the bhakti radio Vijay, yeah.

Giriraj Swami: He has his fingers in many pies.

Devotee: [laughter] He is like, “I don’t care what anyone says, I like it loud. You can be as loud as you want.” And I have a show on the bhakti radio network too. We read the Bhagavad-gītā and discuss it.

Giriraj Swami: And who teaches the Bhagavad-gītā at the yoga center?

Devotee: It’s a group discussion. We read it, and then everyone just discusses what comes up for them. And then we have special speakers come once in a while. Guru Maharaja came actually this past Thursday and gave his insight too. And he came to wholistic festival too.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, he mentioned that to me.

Devotee: And he had been a speaker, there was a whole lineup of speakers, and he was one of the special speakers. But, for a while, he just sat there with us at the entrance of the bhakti room and talked to people and passed out books. Yeah, we just had a warming presence. And George got to drive him there.

So, we had the Prabhupada movie screening. So, our little group over there, we are trying to do whatever we can think of. Not just at the bhakti-yoga center, we like to do stuff elsewhere. The movie was very good. The screening itself, [Unintelligible 00:37:12].

Giriraj Swami: It was actually not a film. It actually felt like we met Srila Prabhupada. He had come for some time.

READING (continued)

Generally, two or three minutes before ordinary karmi movies end, the audience gets up from their seats and start walking towards the exit to save time. But today, after the screen went blank, all eyes were still wide open, watching the screen as if hoping that more would come, nobody was getting up until someone from the back called out, “Jaya! Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!” After the movie, some of our cousins’ children, who had come for the movie, came back home with us, as they were so entranced, that they wanted to speak more and hear more about Srila Prabhupada. Can you believe? From 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., they sat at home, just wanting to hear more and more about Srila Prabhupada, appreciating his efforts and teachings and books. Thereafter, they all went to attend a mantra launch program for the youth.

COMMENT

Maybe it should be “mantra lounge.”

READING (continued)

“We are also happy seeing the movie. We can imagine how you all must have felt in Srila Prabhupada’s actual presence. You all were so fortunate. And so are we, to have the association of all of you. And we understand that you are all very special souls. Please let us stay connected with Srila Prabhupada’s devotees as we feel Srila Prabhupada’s presence in their hearts.”