SPL – Srila Prabhupada’s Extraordinary Departure

Giriraj Swami: I will begin by singing the maṅgala-ācaraṇa prayers and leading a short kirtan, and then I will speak about Srila Prabhupada’s extraordinary departure.

[Prayers and kirtan]

So, today’s topic is Srila Prabhupada’s extraordinary departure, and we will begin this narration on Srila Prabhupada’s last day with us, which was November 14, 1977 in Vrindavan.

[READING from The Juhu Book]

So now, if there is time, we can take questions and reflections.

Krishnacandra dasa: Hare Krishna, Maharaja, and again, thank you so much. You took us into the room of Srila Prabhupada in the final time, when he left his body, with your beautiful description.

Maharaja, I have one question. When you said that you took Srila Prabhupada to Radha-kunda and Shyama-kunda, and then when you saw the Deity, you felt that it’s Srila Prabhupada; maybe because you had that personal connection with Srila Prabhupada.

But today, now it’s the second generation, and when we enter the temple and we go and pay our obeisances to Srila Prabhupada—how should we see that? We didn’t have that interaction personally. So, how to develop the notion that Srila Prabhupada is there?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, I might mention that these life-sized Deities of Srila Prabhupada were made by his disciple, Lochan dasa. And the Deities are so lifelike, that in Juhu, I saw people gather around his vyāsāsana, looking at the Deity and discussing amongst themselves, or asking us, “When is he going to speak?” They thought it was really him, that he was there, and they were wondering when he would speak.

So, in a way, it’s easier for us who knew Srila Prabhupada personally to see the Deity as him, because we saw him personally. But you could say, even grand disciples, they can also appreciate that the Deity is Srila Prabhupada. And that’s the principle of Deity worship. We have Deities of Gaura-Nitai and we accept Them as being Gaura-Nitai. We have Deities of Radha-Krishna and we accept Them as being Radha-Krishna. And as Srila Prabhupada said, if you see the Deity as Krishna, He can speak to you; and if you see the Deity as stone or metal, He will remain stone or metal for you forever.

So, we can pray for that mercy, to be able to appreciate the Deity as the Lord Himself or as the acharya himself. And we can get guidance from the Deities. But mainly, we get guidance from the holy name.

Once, Satsvarupa (he was a grihastha at the time) asked Srila Prabhupada, “Now you are here so you can answer all of our questions, but what about in the future when you are not here? How will we get answers to our questions?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “The holy name of Krishna is identical to Krishna, do you realize this fact?”

And on other occasions also, Srila Prabhupada indicated that we could get answers to our questions by offenseless chanting of the holy names. And of course, Srila Prabhupada’s books. That was what I discovered after he left, when I found that section in the Fourth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam about the disappearance of the spiritual master. Everything was there.

Krishnacandra dasa: Thank you, Maharaja. Would anyone else like to ask or comment?

Bhava Sandhi devi dasi: Thank you for the wonderful class. I was just wondering. When you were talking about the tension between the devotees, the ones that wanted to take Srila Prabhupada and fulfill his desire to go to Govardhana, and the ones that wanted to serve him by maintaining his body as best they could. Especially in the age of Kali-yuga, there are so many disagreements all the time, even between devotees that are both sides, are trying to serve Krishna and Srila Prabhupada. So, how can we not get disturbed by disagreements between devotees or tension?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I think I would respond by reading a purport in which Srila Prabhupada gives a very good instruction about how devotees should relate with one another; and it’s such an important purport that I quite frequently speak on it, because it really guides us how to interact with one another. So, I’ll just read the last paragraph. The whole thing is very instructive, but I’ll just come to the last paragraph.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada (ŚB 7.5.12)

Everyone should be friendly for the service of the Lord. Everyone should praise another’s service to the Lord and not be proud of his own service. This is the way of Vaiṣṇava thinking, Vaikuṇṭha thinking. There may be rivalries and apparent competition between servants in performing service, but in the Vaikuṇṭha planets the service of another servant is appreciated, not condemned. This is Vaikuṇṭha competition. There is no question of enmity between servants. Everyone should be allowed to render service to the Lord to the best of his ability, and everyone should appreciate the service of others. Such are the activities of Vaikuṇṭha. Since everyone is a servant, everyone is on the same platform and is allowed to serve the Lord according to his ability. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (15.15), sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca: the Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, giving dictation according to the attitude of the servant. When a devotee very sincerely wants to render service to the Lord, the Lord dictates in a different way. As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (10.10):

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.” Everyone is actually a servant, not an enemy or friend, and everyone is working under different directions from the Lord, who directs each living entity according to his mentality.

COMMENT

So, this should be our motto—everyone should be friendly for the service of the Lord. And during Srila Prabhupada’s time, of course, we had differences amongst ourselves, but we knew that Prabhupada wanted us to cooperate, and as he said towards the end, “Your love for me will be shown by how you cooperate.” So, we should cooperate for the sake of Srila Prabhupada. I might not have answered your question directly, but I hope I’ve addressed your concern. But if you want to inquire further, you may.

Bhava Sandhi: No, that’s wonderful, thank you so much.

Sudharma devi dasi: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. Thank you so much for giving the detailed description of Srila Prabhupada’s departure. It helps me to prepare for my older mother Ashraya devi dasi. She is eighty-six years old now. Another thing I wanted to ask is about the placement of Tulasi-devi. Can you please explain the significance of using Tulasi-devi in the final rights of devotees?

Giriraj Swami: Are you referring to the way tulasi was placed over Prabhupada’s body?

Sudharma devi dasi: Yes.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that is our Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. After nāmācārya Haridasa Thakura disappeared—as you know, Lord Chaitanya danced with his body and then took him to the ocean and bathed him in the ocean. He said, “Now the ocean will be a holy place because it has bathed the body of Haridasa Thakura.” And then He made a place where Haridasa Thakura was placed in samadhi, and He put tulasi there. The Supreme Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself, He placed tulasi there. So, that is an example for us, that we place tulasi at the samadhi site of a departed Vaishnava.

Sudharma devi dasi: And in the cremation of the body, we can also put tulasi wood?

Giriraj Swami: Yes. Of course, obviously, we don’t kill tulasi, but if there is some dry tulasi wood, we can use that.

Devamrita Swami: I have a question. Hearing your presentation of the departure of Srila Prabhupada, I was moved to ask if you could kindly reveal what was, or is, the foremost point or theme that comes to your head and heart, either during your presence at the disappearance or looking back upon it now?

Giriraj Swami: Well, since you asked what pops into my mind, I’ll tell you what popped into my mind. Towards the end, quite close to the end, devotees were massaging Srila Prabhupada. And Tamal Krishna Goswami said to Srila Prabhupada, “The sons are cooperating for the sake of the father.”

And this was an allusion to a story that Srila Prabhupada would tell, about a father whose sons were massaging him, but they were fighting amongst themselves, “You are massaging the right arm, I want to massage the right arm, you get out of my way!” So, like that, they were fighting amongst themselves.

And of course, Srila Prabhupada told that story to illustrate what we should not do. So, when we were massaging Srila Prabhupada at the end, Tamal Krishna Goswami said, with reference to that story that Srila Prabhupada sometimes told, that the sons are cooperating for the sake of the father.

And for a while, I was massaging Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet, and I felt dust. We often hear the phrase—"The dust of the lotus feet of the pure devotee.” But I literally felt dust; that was probably some very small particles, but they were very much magnified in my consciousness. And I thought, This is the dust of the lotus feet of the pure devotee. So, Srila Prabhupada wanted us to cooperate and be the servants of the servants.

Sometimes, a disciple asked Srila Prabhupada, “How do we deal with conflicts amongst the devotees?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “If each devotee considers himself to be the servant of the servant of the servant, there won’t be conflict.” So, that’s a very important principle. I’m not saying this to you. Obviously, you know everything I’m saying and more. But since you asked me to share, I'm sharing with the devotees.

Abhay Charan Prabhu: About the spiritual master, what’s the significance of the feet of the spiritual master, more than the hands of the spiritual master, the head of the spiritual master? Is there something intrinsically more in the feet of the spiritual master? Or is it just that we are approaching the spiritual master very humbly? Is it because of the humility aspect, that it’s the lowest part of the body? Or is there something more special about the feet?

Giriraj Swami: In the case of a pure devotee like Srila Prabhupada—his body is spiritualized. Every part of his body is spiritualized. And I think, as you say, in the mood of humility, the devotees approach the feet.

But I had one amazing experience, serving Srila Prabhupada in his last days, and that is that for some reason, many of the personal servants left the room when Srila Prabhupada was lying on his bed, and the only two who were left were Upendra Prabhu and me. And Prabhupada motioned to his genitals—he had to pass water—and we had a plastic container that we would fit on that area and he’d pass water into that container. And then we would remove it.

So, Upendra Prabhu motioned to me to do it, to put that plastic bottle where Prabhupada passes urine. And I found that act to be so purifying. I felt more purified by placing that paraphernalia in that part of Srila Prabhupada’s body than if I had chanted sixty-four rounds or offered a hundred āratis. It was amazing. So, that was just my own experience, but otherwise, yes, we approached the lotus feet.

Devotee: You said that Prabhupada said, “If you love me, you cooperate.” And we often hear this statement as well, but what exactly does this cooperation mean? Is it just the management part only, or within the devotees? Can you elaborate more about it?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I would say first and foremost—you should not fight. Again, in Srila Prabhupada’s last days, Srila Narayana Maharaja said to Prabhupada that he should advise his disciples, his followers, not to work with personal interest. Something like that. And in turn, Srila Prabhupada said to the devotees, “Don’t fight. I’ve given direction in my will.”

So, we shouldn’t fight. Of course, it depends, because having said that, I recall something else, but it’s not exactly fighting, but it’s sort of like fighting—and that is the Hyderabad farm. There were three very strong-willed devotees who were in charge; and they had different opinions. And Srila Prabhupada instructed them, “When you meet together, you fight like cats and dogs, and then when you all agree, you go ahead!”

So, that kind of fighting is sanctioned; meaning discussing threadbare. But then ultimately, a consensus should prevail. So, that was a specific use of the word fight, but otherwise in general, we shouldn’t fight. We can disagree, of course, we can disagree. And there is an authority structure in ISKCON. So, we may disagree, but then eventually, we accept what the authority decides. We still can disagree with the conclusion, but we still follow.

Srila Prabhupada gave another nice example, that you are driving in a car and the driver has one idea of how to get to the destination, and you have a different idea of how best to get to the destination. So, you tell the driver, “I think that we’ll do better if we go this way.” And the driver may not accept your advice, and because the driver is in the driver’s seat, you just have to go along with what the driver decides.

But still, Srila Prabhupada said, “You can harbor within yourself the idea that your way would have been better.” It’s not wrong to think that your idea was better than what the authority finally decided on, but you have to go along with what the authority finally decided on, because he is the authority, he is in the driver’s seat.

Devotee: But at times, the disagreement leads to spoiling the relationship amongst us, so how to improve or overcome that?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I’m assuming that everyone is working to serve the mission for Srila Prabhupada’s pleasure. So, we should see that and not get carried away by the differences, but we should see what is common—and that is our desire to serve Srila Prabhupada and please him.

I think of one exchange I had with His Holiness Radhanath Swami. We were at the beach near my ashram in Carpinteria, California. And for some reason, at that moment, my mind got preoccupied with something that a very esteemed godbrother of ours had done to me, which hurt me. And I didn’t want to have that thought or that feeling, but I couldn’t help it, and it became very prominent at that moment. Maybe it was Krishna’s arrangement to get me to bring it up to His Holiness Radhanath Swami.

And Radhanath Swami gave the example of the ocean—that the ocean has waves. And when you are in the ocean, a wave can hit you. It can even knock you over. But underneath the waves, the ocean is still and deep. So, he was saying about that godbrother, that because of the wind and the circumstances, there may be a wave; and I might get hit by that wave; and I might get temporarily knocked over by that wave; but under the wave is the ocean, and so underneath it all is that devotee’s love for Srila Prabhupada, and that’s what I should see as much more significant than the wave that might rise up at a certain point and hit me.

Devotee: Thank you, Maharaja. On behalf of all the devotees participating, I’d like to thank you very much for giving your valuable time, your association, and wonderful class on Srila Prabhupada’s final pastimes. Your description was a very graphic journey of Srila Prabhupada’s pastimes. I felt it was better than watching a video, the way you described it. So, I really thank you from the bottom of my heart. Hare Krishna!

Giriraj Swami: If we are going to end now, I suggest we conclude with Vaishnava praṇām.