Srila Prabhupada’s Disappearance Day

Rama Tirtha dasa: Hare Krishna devotees, thank you all for joining us, today is a very auspicious day. It is Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day. The schedule for tonight from now until seven o’clock, we will have devotees express their gratitude to Srila Prabhupada, with their offering to Srila Prabhupada. We will start with Srila Prabhupada’s disciples where they will speak about their memories of Srila Prabhupada. We have a very special guest HH Srila Giriraj Swami Maharaja who will speak from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. And we will end the program with Nṛsiṁha prayers, so this is the schedule for tonight.

Giriraj Swami: Thank you, and before we begin, I would like to request all the devotees who are on the Zoom call, as far as possible, if you could put on your cameras so we can see your moonlight faces. Okay, that’s nice, that’s better. Okay, I will begin by singing the maṅgalācaraṇa prayers and leading a short kirtan and then I will speak about Srila Prabhupada.

[Kirtan]

Hare Krishna. I’m very grateful to Srila Prabhupada for having brought me into your association. As Prem Vilas Prabhu mentioned once on his Guru Maharaja’s Disappearance Day in Surat, Srila Prabhupada said, “On the absolute platform, there is no difference between the appearance and the disappearance of the spiritual master. Both are beautiful, just like the sunrise and the sunset.” So, although we feel separation, within that separation our remembrance of Srila Prabhupada is heightened, and thus we experience the beauty of his presence, in separation.

A few weeks before Srila Prabhupada was to leave us, he expressed a desire to travel by bullock cart to different holy places in India. HH Lokanath Swami had been traveling by bullock cart to different places of pilgrimage, and Srila Prabhupada was very enlivened when Lokanath Swami reported to him in Vrindavan; and Prabhupada said that he too would like to go on a pilgrimage, on a bullock cart. He asked Lokanath Swami to arrange it, and Lokanath Swami was enthusiastic, especially having been encouraged by Prabhupada directly. He immediately went to organize the cart and make all the arrangements. Govardhana-puja was to take place in a couple of days, and Prabhupada said that he would begin his pilgrimage by traveling on a bullock cart to Govardhana hill to celebrate Govardhana-puja with the vrajavāsīs.

At that time, Srila Prabhupada was bedridden and one could say, emaciated. He was unable to eat, and he was able only to sip a little liquid. He was gaunt and weak with almost no energy. He would just lie on his bed and sometimes with great difficulty, he would speak softly, often so faintly that only those very near him could hear his words.

There were many devotees in the room, when Srila Prabhupada had his exchange with Lokanath Swami, and immediately after the discussion ended and devotees went outside, they began to express two strong heartfelt opinions about what Srila Prabhupada should do, and more than that, how we as disciples should relate to him and serve him.

One group, which included Lokanath Swami and other esteemed senior disciples, such as Hamsaduta Prabhu and Baradraja Prabhu, felt that we should do just what the spiritual master orders. We shouldn’t question his order; we should just execute it. And some of the other disciples, many of whom had been attending to Prabhupada’s personal care, felt that Prabhupada’s health would not sustain his travel on a bullock cart and that, because he was so emaciated, he had practically no flesh on his bones, it would be very painful for him to go. Even if they padded the cart with a mattress, it would still be a basic bullock cart and the roads in Vraja were very rough, so the movement of the cart would jostle him and he would feel pain. Some devotees feared that he might even give up his body on the way. They did not want him to be subjected to what they foresaw as certain pain and perhaps, the direct consequence of his death.

But under the circumstances, this second position was difficult to maintain because Srila Prabhupada was so emphatic. He had said, “Let me travel to all the tīrtha-sthānas, all the holy places.” And whatever objections devotees had raised against the proposal, he had countered. “One-day experiment,” he had pleaded. “Rest assured. I will not die in one day.”

Now, Srila Prabhupada had a very good kavirāja. He had had a dream, Prabhupada had a dream that he was being treated by a Ramanuja kavirāja and Adridharan Prabhu, who was the temple president in Calcutta, found a Ramanuja kavirāja and brought him to Vrindavan. And the kavirāja, whose name was Damodara Prasad Sastri, was a Vaishnava, he had great appreciation for Srila Prabhupada and cared deeply about him. And he was an expert ayurvedic physician, but when even Prabhupada’s kavirāja had predicted that with all the jostling on the bullock cart, Prabhupada would not survive more than two hours, Prabhupada had replied, “But I think, I shall be cured.” Still, Tamal Krishna Goswami, Bhakti Charu Swami, Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaja, Bhavananda Maharaja, and others felt strongly that this “experiment” would have dire consequences. But how to convince Prabhupada?

So the controversy continued, when Srila Prabhupada said, “I think, I shall be cured,” Hamsaduta and others took it that he was supporting their position. But the other side took it differently: “What does it mean that he is going to be cured? It means that he is going to leave his body and get a spiritual body? That’s how he is going to get cured.” Each party was saying things in a particular way that supported its particular point of view.

Finally, things came to the stage where the bullock cart was waiting outside the gates of the Krishna-Balaram mandir. Everything was being readied. And for the devotees who were in the mood that Srila Prabhupada should stay, and I felt this way also, it was like when the residents of Vrindavan saw Akrura getting the chariot ready to take Krishna away.

The evening before his planned departure, Srila Prabhupada was lying on his bed. Bhakti Charu Swami was in the room, and Srila Prabhupada’s godbrother Akincana Krishna dasa Babaji Maharaja came to visit. Babaji Maharaja was a very advanced devotee, Srila Prabhupada had said that he was a paramahamsa. He was always engaged in chanting the holy name, always absorbed in hari-nāma, and he was always blissful. And he and Prabhupada had an extraordinarily affectionate relationship. So Bhakti Charu Swami thought, Let me appeal to Babaji Maharaja, if he asks Prabhupada not to go, then Prabhupada may listen. So he brought Babaji Maharaja into another room and spoke with him there, having heard what had happened, Babaji Maharaja returned to Srila Prabhupada’s bedside and told him, “I don’t think you should go on this parikramā,” and when he heard this, Srila Prabhupada replied, “If you feel that way, then I won’t go.”

Just then, Tamal Krishna Goswami and Bhavananda Maharaja, who had been upstairs in what previously had been Prabhupada’s bedroom, came back down in a very emotional state. Prabhupada knew what they were thinking and he asked, “So, you request me not to go?” Tamal Krishna Goswami responded, “Srila Prabhupada, we were getting so upset. Two devotees told me that this road is so bad, that if you go on this road you are going to be jolted back and forth. The road is terrible. I just can’t understand Srila Prabhupada, why it has to be tomorrow that we have to go? If anybody wants you to travel, I do. But why do we have to go when you are in this condition? I can’t understand it.”

“Alright,” Srila Prabhupada said. “I will not go.”

“Thank you, Srila Prabhupada,” said Bhavananda. “I was in too much anxiety.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “No, no, I cannot put you in anxiety. I shall do what you like. My left hand and my right hand, I cannot refuse.”

“Actually, Srila Prabhupada,” Tamal Krishna said, “We’re so attached to you that you practically drive us to madness sometimes. Tonight, we were becoming mad.” “No, I shall not do that,” Prabhupada assured them. “Alright,” he said, agreeing that he would not go. Then Srila Prabhupada turned to Babaji Maharaja and said, “Just see how much they love me.” And Tamal Krishna said, “Srila Prabhupada, the way you deal with us simply deepens our attachment for you at every moment.” And Prabhupada replied, “It is my duty.”

So, this last statement of Srila Prabhupada’s, “It is my duty to deepen our attachment to him,” was played out in an extraordinary way, in these last few days of Srila Prabhupada’s manifest presence with us.

So, for the devotees in the room, it was a jubilant occasion that Prabhupada had agreed to wait. As Tamal Krishna had said, “We will take you on a tirtha-yatra, to all the places. Just get a little stronger.” But when the news reached the other group, they were upset: “This is not our duty as disciples, to try to prevail upon our spiritual master. Our duty is to execute his will. He said that he wants to go by bullock cart to Govardhana, and our duty is to arrange for what he wants. Our duty is not to advise him or prevail upon him according to our perception.” The controversy continued until the end, the anniversary of which is today.

Srila Prabhupada spent his last three days with his disciples at Krishna-Balaram mandir, and the last day he did not speak. His only words were in the morning, when the kavirāja asked him to drink some juice and he replied, “Meri kuch iccha nahin”: “I have no desire.” After that, Prabhupada did not speak. He was in a completely internal state of consciousness, and the devotees surrounded him with kirtan. And for the last few hours, in the afternoon, the leaders opened up the doors to everyone. Young, old, children, men, women, all were allowed to be in the room with Srila Prabhupada and reciprocate love with him. Then at about 7:26 p.m., his tongue and mouth moved, “Hare Krishna,” and he left.

As for the controversy, it continued; the feelings still ran strong on both sides, even after Prabhupada left. And I couldn’t determine who was right. There were devotees senior to me on both sides, devotees whom I respected and had served. Personally, I was closer to some of the ones engaged in Prabhupada’s personal service, such as Tamal Krishna Goswami and Bhakti Charu Swami and Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaja, but still I wasn’t sure who was right, and it was on my mind.

It was my habit or practice, to chant japa in Srila Prabhupada’s rooms when he wasn’t there and after he departed, I did that. I was in his room chanting japa, and behind his bed was an area with his bookshelves. Somehow, I found a little corner there and was chanting japa, when my eyes fell upon the new volume of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that had just arrived, the Tenth Canto, Volume Two. It had been delivered into Srila Prabhupada’s hands in his last days. When the devotees had presented the book to Srila Prabhupada, he was looking at the pictures and everyone could see the love in his eyes. Tamal Krishna Goswami had remarked, “How much love for Krishna, Prabhupada has,” as evident from the way Prabhupada was looking at the pictures of Krishna. So, I saw that book. It had gold embossing, especially made for Srila Prabhupada. I opened it up, and it happened to open to Chapter Nine: “Mother Yasoda Binds Lord Krishna.” I read a few verses and purports, and then I came to a verse that, to me, answered the question. It’s Text nineteen and I will read it:

TEXT 19

evaṁ sandarśitā hy aṅga
hariṇā bhṛtya-vaśyatā
sva-vaśenāpi kṛṣṇena
yasyedaṁ seśvaraṁ vaśe

TRANSLATION

O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, this entire universe, with its great, exalted demigods like Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā and Lord Indra, is under the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yet the Supreme Lord has one transcendental attribute: He comes under the control of His devotees. This was now exhibited by Krishna in this pastime.

And the pastime was encapsulated in the previous verse,

TEXT 18

sva-mātuḥ svinna-gātrāyā
visrasta-kabara-srajaḥ
dṛṣṭvā pariśramaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ
kṛpayāsīt sva-bandhane

TRANSLATION

Because of mother Yaśodā’s hard labor, her whole body became covered with perspiration, and the flowers and comb were falling from her hair. When child Kṛṣṇa saw His mother thus fatigued, He became merciful to her and agreed to be bound.

So, when I read these verses I thought, This is what happened. The spiritual master is the transparent medium through which Krishna manifests Himself. Of course, in vraja-bhakti the relationship with Krishna is different. In Vraja, Krishna exhibits nara-līlā, humanlike pastimes, in which there is complete intimacy and freedom between the devotees and the Lord. But in the relationship between the disciples and the spiritual master, there is always an element of awe and reverence and duty. Still, duty is meant to lead to love. And Srila Prabhupada did say to Babaji Maharaja, “Just see how much they love me.”

So, when I read this verse from the Tenth Canto, I thought of this and another incident that had taken place earlier, and put them together. In both cases, when the disciples had expressed themselves, “We want you to stay, we want you to get healthy.” Prabhupada had said, “This is real love, just see how much they love me.” All the disciples in the controversy about the parikramā were acting on the basis of their realization of their devotion for Srila Prabhupada, but I believe that what Srila Prabhupada really was doing was drawing out our loving sentiments, beyond than just following the order. Following the order is a given. There is no question. We have to follow the order of the spiritual master. To disobey the order of the spiritual master is an offense. To follow the order is a basic principle of spiritual life. So we are not talking about disobeying the order of the spiritual master. We are talking about developing loving feelings for the spiritual master and expressing them to him. When Srila Prabhupada brought us to that stage in these two incidents, he commented, “This is real love, just see how much they love me.”

Relating the verse from the Tenth Canto to what Srila Prabhupada did with us, there is also a parallel between the dāmodara-līlā and that principle of spontaneous love. Every night during the month of Damodara, we recite the Dāmodarāṣṭakam including verse three:

itīdṛk sva-līlābhir ānanda-kuṇḍe
sva-ghoṣam nimajjantam ākhyāpayantam
tadīyeṣita-jñeṣu bhaktair jitatvam
punaḥ prematas tam śatāvṛtti vande

“By such pastimes Lord Krishna was drowning the inhabitants of Gokula in pools of ecstasy and revealing to those devotees who are absorbed in knowledge of His supreme majesty and opulence, that He is only conquered by devotees whose pure love is imbued with intimacy and is freed from all conceptions of awe and reverence. To this Supreme Lord, Sri Damodara, whose belly is bound not with ropes but with His devotee’s pure love, I offer my humble obeisances.”

So, the dāmodara-līlā shows pure spontaneous love, special power to conquer the Lord. The Lord comes under the control of such pure love. In the same way, Srila Prabhupada, not exactly that he came under the control of our love, but I would say that he brought that love out from deep within the recesses of our hearts, and then he reciprocated with us by coming under our control or agreeing to our requests.

So, this is a very deep pastime of Srila Prabhupada’s. Among the disciples who were around him at the end, it was understood that he was the perfect acharya, had taught us by his own example how to live in Krishna consciousness, and now he was teaching us how to die in Krishna consciousness. That was our general idea in those months and weeks, that he was showing us how to retire to a holy place, and how to be absorbed in hearing the holy names of the Lord, and how up until the end, even in his delicate condition, he was trying to push forward the mission and was translating and dictating purports to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, up until the very end. In that way, he was showing us how to die in Krishna consciousness. But within that final lesson, he also brought us to this more intimate level of exchange, where we could express to him our heart’s deepest desires even in spite of the barriers, that I would say he deliberately put up. He deliberately put up the barriers to teach us respect and awe and reverence, but then he inspired us to break through them, to reach out to him and express our love for him and ask him to stay with us.

Even though Srila Prabhupada has now left that body, we still have that choice. We always have that choice: Do we want him to stay with us or not? And I remember at that time, although we had been going along in the mood that whatever Krishna wanted was all right, when we understood what really should have been in our hearts, that we wanted him to stay, we considered, Maybe we wanted to be the controllers, we wanted to be the enjoyers. So there is always that question: Do we want the Kingdom of God without God, without God’s representative? Or do we want the Kingdom of God with God, with His representative as their humble servants. And so I pray to Srila Prabhupada that I will always remember this lesson and always pray and act in such a way that he will be pleased to stay with each and everyone of us, individually, and all of us, collectively, and bind us to his lotus feet eternally.

So, this is my humble submission of my recollections of and reflections on Srila Prabhupada’s final pastimes on this occasion of his divine Disappearance Day. Maybe I’ll add one more story, one more anecdote.

Three days before Srila Prabhupada left, I was taking rest on the rooftop of the gurukula building and in the middle of the night a devotee woke me up, and said that Srila Prabhupada was calling for me. At that time Srila Prabhupada’s condition was such that we thought any moment could be his last moment and any words he spoke could be his last words, so I rushed down to Srila Prabhupada’s room, it was dimly lit, he was lying on his bed, and I sat near his head so that I could hear what he was going to say, and he asks: “So, Giriraj, do you think this movement will go on after I leave?” I replied, “Yes Srila Prabhupada, as long as the devotees are sincere and chant their rounds and follow the regulative principles, the movement will go on.” And then, Srila Prabhupada had said very softly and with great difficulty, “Organization, intelligence and organization.” Then he said, “Is there anything else?” meaning, do I want to say anything else? And within my heart I was screaming out, Srila Prabhupada, don’t leave, please stay. But I couldn’t, I couldn’t articulate it. So, when Srila Prabhupada said, “Is there anything else?” I said, “No Srila Prabhupada,” and I offered my obeisances and left.

But I considered the significance of what Srila Prabhupada had said, of what I had said and then what Srila Prabhupada had said, and I concluded that yes, the devotees must be sincere and chant their rounds and follow the regulative principles. That’s necessary for their own purification and spiritual advancement, but if we want to really spread Krishna consciousness as Srila Prabhupada wanted, in a big way, then we need organization, intelligence and organization. So, yeah that was a profound exchange which I’ve shared on occasion, and some devotees like Gopal Bhatta Prabhu have really taken that to be very significant. And it was significant, organization, intelligence and organization.

So, again thank you for inviting me, and if you wish we can have some time for questions and answers. Yes, so if any devotees want to say anything they can raise their hands or maybe put something. Oh I see something in the chats from Rukmini devi. She has a question. So, yes Rukmini devi please speak, unmute yourself and speak.

Rama Tirtha: Alex Prabhu or whoever is the host could you please unmute Rukmini Mataji, she is not able to unmute herself.

Rukmini devi: Yes, thank you Maharaja. So Maharaja, we have heard that in his last days Srila Prabhupada was speaking a lot about varnashrama, and perhaps this is related to what you just related about intelligence and organization. So, I was wondering if you personally heard something? And if you could share that what Srila Prabhupada said in that time?

Giriraj Swami: Well, Srila Prabhupada did speak about varnashrama-dharma in Vrindavan, but not at the very end, not at that period. But on some of his morning walks in Vrindavan, he did speak about varnashrama-dharma. And one thing he said that really struck me, when one disciple said, “As Vaishnavas, aren’t we all beyond varnashrama-dharma?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Not all are Vaishnavas, otherwise, how they are falling down?” So, Srila Prabhupada’s definition of a Vaishnava was something quite transcendental, and so. . . but he did feel that varnashrama-dharma helped devotees who are not so transcendental to have, I don’t know how to say it, a safety net, a position where they can be sort of safe and secure and from there, they can make gradual progress. So yes, that was one of his concerns.

Rukmini devi: Thank you Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Thank you.

Darpan Verma: Hare Krishna Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Darpan Verma : Thank you so much Maharaja for giving us your association and a wonderful and inspiring līlā of Srila Prabhupada. So Maharaja, just as we could reflect from today’s lecture, that after the departure of Srila Prabhupada. How you had a question of who was actually right? And just, how you got the reciprocation of Srila Prabhupada through reading the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Ten, Chapter Two? Similar to that, for practicing devotees who have many general questions in day-to-day life, like, should I take this job? Should I marry this girl? Should I marry this devotee? And then if they get a mixed opinion from sadhus or devotees and then while reading shastras they get a mixed reflections, Okay so this is what Prabhupada says this could be right, this is right. And sometimes they reach something else, and then they think, Oh, this could not be a right decision. So, how can we finally decide after hearing so many mixed opinions and after having so many mixed reflections by reading? How can we decide that this decision is right or wrong? Thank you, Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, well, we have to be very sincere to serve Krishna and pray for guidance. If we sincerely pray for guidance, without any conditions Krishna will give you the answer in the heart perhaps.

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ

bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam

dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ

yena mām upayānti te

“To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.”

But I found in my own case that, when I’m praying for an answer and no answer is coming, I have to ask myself, am I really prepared for any answer? Or do I have some conditions? Am I really surrendered and ready to accept whatever answer comes? Or do I have some conditions, I really want this, and I don’t want that? Because if that’s the case then Krishna won’t give us the answer, because we are not ready to accept whatever answer He gives, and when I say He gives the intelligence, He may give the intelligence directly, you should do this or you should not do that, or He may give you the intelligence where to find the answer, whom to consult.

I mean there are devotees, I don’t say that it works every time, that just like to open up one of Prabhupada’s books and random whatever comes, they look for the answer there. But as far as your questions about your job, no, don't take the job. And as far as getting married, no, don’t get married, just surrender to Krishna.

Darpan Verma: Thank you so much Maharaja, thank you.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Darpan Verma: Hare Krishna Maharaja.

Naveen Krishna: Hare Krishna. Hello, this is Naveen Krishna. I’m so happy to see you again. Thank you very much for your wonderful association, and I would like to go for next. I read your offering—it was in daṇḍavats—about your association with Srila Prabhupada, it was amazing. I was just thinking I had the same question but fortunately now I am able to ask you the same question. Maharaja, when one devotees group said follow literally, what was that? You should take proper instructions as the life and soul—follow his instruction? Other group also said, no we should not do that, that’s not good for Prabhupada and of course Srila Prabhupada had said that both they have love for me. So, even if that’s a Guru’s word, and also quoted Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and sometimes devotees take exactly they read for verbatim, how do we know what to take literally? And what to ask somebody else to understand? So otherwise, they both have two extremes, one that’s maybe sometimes you have to take literally and follow, and other times, like for example just to give a context when Prabhupada mentioned that women are less intelligent, but it’s there Bhāgavatam and Mahābhārata. But he never exhibited that in his own life with the devotees, so it doesn’t match. So now, what to take literally, what to take not literally? It’s really confusing. I know of course Prabhupada said proper disciples are still there we can ask, but down the line, let’s go one generation, two generations, three generations. What’s going to happen? What’s the leading stick for us to as a reference point?

Giriraj Swami: Well, once Satsvarupa Maharaja asked Srila Prabhupada, “Now you are with us so, if we have any questions, we can ask you but what about when you are not with us?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “The holy name of Krishna and Krishna are the same. Do you realize this fact?” And on other occasions also when Srila Prabhupada was asked the same or similar question, he gave the same answer. So, that was the answer he gave, offenseless chanting of the holy names.

But still, consulting is important. In Srila Prabhupada’s last year, we were hoping to open the Juhu temple, but then Prabhupada was sick so we couldn’t really see him opening the temple in Juhu when he was in Vrindavan. And at the same time, it wasn’t really ready, so we decided to postpone the offering. But I had invited my parents to come from Chicago for the opening, and then I sent them another telegram telling them not to come. But I don’t think they got that second telegram, or whatever that telegram, so they came and I had to do something with them. So yeah, I went back to Bombay, received them and we spent a little time in Bombay but they didn’t like it that much. So then I thought, Alright, or maybe they suggested, “We’ll go to Nepal.” So, we went to Nepal and they were happy in Nepal, and then we came back to India, dropped them off at the airport in Delhi and then, I came back to Srila Prabhupada in Vrindavan. So, he asked for a report about our activities in Nepal. And I gave him quite an extensive report and every now and then he would say, “Yes, do it, do it,” and like that again, he will say “Yes, do it, do it.” So, afterwards I asked Tamal Krishna Goswami, when he was saying, “Do it, do it,” was he saying that I should do it? Or was he just saying, in general, we should do it? Because I understood that Prabhupada wanted me in Juhu. And Tamal Krishna Goswami said, “No, when he was saying “Do it,” he didn’t mean you personally do it but that we collectively do it, amongst ourselves we do it. And that made sense to me.

If you are really taking it in a very strict literal sense, he was speaking to me and he said, “Do it,” but he didn’t actually mean for me to do it and that was clarified or confirmed when I consulted Tamal Krishna Goswami. Then sometimes there might be conflicting instructions and then, how do you know which is more important? Once Srutakirti Prabhu, who was Srila Prabhupada’s personal servant for some time, he was seeing that sometimes there’s a difficulty to understand what to do because we don’t know what is a principle and what is a detail. So he asked Srila Prabhupada, “How do we distinguish what is a principle that we can’t alter, and what is a detail that we can adjust?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Hmmm, that requires a little intelligence.”

Now that’s not so easy, but again, Krishna gives the intelligence. But I think that the main thing is our sincerity, our purpose, and our surrender, and we will get answers one way or the other. We’ll get the answers.

Naveen Krishna: Thank you Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Prema Sindhu: Hare Krishna Maharaja. This is Prema Sindhu.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna Prema Sindhu.

Prema Sindhu: Thank you for the very nice class. I was remembering some place you mentioned that you had asked Srila Prabhupada about the TOVP, building this place, and building a temple, can you please share that? And distributing books, something about Prabhupada this?

Giriraj Swami: That’s right, this was relatively early in 1971 in Calcutta, Srila Prabhupada was at the balcony taking his massage, and I approached him and said, “Srila Prabhupada, I’ve been thinking what pleases you the most,” and then I said, “Distributing your books and building the big temple in Mayapur.” And Srila Prabhupada was very happy, he smiled broadly and he said, “Yes, you have understood.”

Chandra Bhanu: Hare Krishna Maharaja. This is Chandra Bhanu dasa. Maharaja, thank you for such a wonderful pastime. My question is, so how to progress from this duty-bound consciousness to developing loving feelings and expressing that towards our spiritual master?

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. When you follow the instructions and you get the good result of following the instructions, you naturally feel grateful. But as far as expressing our affection for our spiritual master, there should be some context to that. Like, there was this one incident, towards the end, the last few months, Srila Prabhupada said that we should take care to maintain what he had given us and Tamal Krishna Goswami had replied, “Srila Prabhupada, we love you too much, we would never let that happen,” and then, Srila Prabhupada said, “Your love for me will be shown by how you cooperate together after I leave, to keep this institution together.” So, that’s how he wanted us to show our love, not just saying, “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

In that regard Prabhupada was reserved. Once, Srila Prabhupada had a very pious friend in Bombay named Bhogilal Patel, who was three years senior to Srila Prabhupada, and he was so pious, so soft-hearted that when the first devotee met Bhogilal and told him about Srila Prabhupada’s work, Srila Prabhupada, I mean Bhogilal Patel, he just wept, he had tears streaming down his face. So, I became quite close to Bhogilal Patel, for some days actually Srila Prabhupada had stayed at his home which is more like a mansion or a palace, but later Bhogilal Patel came to meet Srila Prabhupada in Juhu, and I was close to Bhogilal Patel so I brought him up to Prabhupada’s quarters in the back, and I was sitting there with the two of them. Prabhupada was in front of me behind his table, and Bhogilal Patel was also in front of me, to the right, Prabhupada to the left. And its sort of natural when two people are having a conversation you look at the one who’s speaking. So, when Prabhupada was speaking, I was looking at him and when Bhogilal Patel was speaking, I was looking at him, but at one stage while Bhogilal Patel was speaking, I happened to look at Srila Prabhupada and Srila Prabhupada was looking at me with such love and affection. I never saw anything like that. It really took me by surprise and I was very encouraged to see that love, like an affectionate father or grandfather. I mean by age Prabhupada was more like a grandfather. But when Prabhupada saw me looking at him, he became very reserved, he withdrew that affectionate look and became very grave. So, I took that as some special mercy from Krishna that I got to see in such a vivid and graphic way—Srila Prabhupada’s love.

Otherwise, Srila Prabhupada showed his love for us, by teaching us about Krishna consciousness and engaging us in Krishna’s service. So there wasn’t, so yeah, He didn’t say, “I love you, I love my disciples,” but he showed it by his actions. And we didn’t say to him, “We love you,” but we also tried to show it in our actions. That was generally how it worked. But at the end, that was a special case. That was a special case.

Chandra Bhanu: Thank you Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: I would say that at the end, that was the time, not just with our spiritual master but with anyone obviously, the time we can express our love and appreciation and gratitude. Hare Krishna.

Sadbhuja Caitanya: Hare Krishna Maharaja. Thank you so much Maharaja. I have one question, in terms of Prabhupada’s words and vision. Like how he wants his future leaders to be taking over and running up ISKCON centers and how they want to inspire him? And what is thing expected out of a leader in a community in terms of Prabhupada, what is his expectation? How did he think the leaders should behave and how to inspire the other congregation members and those kinds of things? Could you share something, Maharaja?

Giriraj Swami: The best way to lead is by example, and so our general mission is to taste Krishna consciousness and distribute Krishna consciousness. So, we should taste Krishna consciousness by the process: rising early in the morning, either attending the temple program or as far as possible, replicating the temple program at home, and then preaching, distributing books, inviting people to programs, speaking to them about Krishna. And cooperating, your love for him will be shown by how you cooperate together. That’s really important because in the material world we can find individuals who excel in certain areas, but they don’t know how to work cooperatively with others because of their false egos, so we can show the example of working cooperatively and lovingly with each other. That will inspire people to want to be like us, to become one of us.

So, there is a beautiful verse and purport in the Seventh Canto, Twelfth Chapter, and in the purport, Srila Prabhupada writes: “Everyone should be friendly for the service of the Lord, everyone should appreciate the service of others and not be proud of his own service, this is the way of Vaikuntha thinking.” So, I highly recommend that verse and purport because it explains how we should relate to one another, and that will make our relationships amongst ourselves very congenial and harmonious, and it will attract people to want to become part of our society.

Sadbhuja Caitanya: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: So, I actually have another program in a few minutes, so much as I do not want to take leave of you, I feel obliged to because of my commitment. You have bound me with the ropes of your love, but my sense of duty is obliging me to move on to my next program, but yes thank you for joining.

I see we have one of Prabhupada’s disciples, Piari Mohan Prabhu, with us. He actually also invited me to give a talk. He is in charge of our community in Hartford, Connecticut. He also invited me to give a talk at this exact same time, and I said, “I’m sorry, I already have another commitment.” So, he asked if he could join, I said, “Yes, he could join,” and I sent him the details. So we are honored to have another disciple of Srila Prabhupada with us.

Thank you very much, if we are ending now, I would like to conclude with Vaishnava praṇāma.

It’s nice to see the children, too.

Rama Tirtha: Thank you very much for accepting our request and for giving us a wonderful association. Thank you so much Maharaja, we are very very grateful for your association.

Giriraj Swami: I’m also grateful for the opportunity.

Naveen Krishna: And also the devotees coming from Cincinnati and Connecticut, thank you.

Giriraj Swami: Okay. I’ll take your leave. Hare Krishna.

Rama Tirtha: Hare Krishna devotees, thank you all so much devotees for joining from Cincinnati, Connecticut, and other parts of the world, we are very grateful for your association today. Thank you so much and we have a couple of quick announcements. We would like to thank Nitai Prabhu for cooking the feast today, we served about 130 plates of prasādam today so it was a really really opulent prasādam served. And many devotees helped in the kitchen and also for serving out, without their help it would have been extremely difficult to do all the services. So, thank you all so much again for helping us in the kitchen, helping us packing the prasādam.

So thank you once again for joining us, Hare Krishna. Wish you all a blissful Karthik, we have another ten days of Karthik left. So we can end the call now.