Srila Prabhupada’s Disappearance Day

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna, my dear devotees.

nama om viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhūtale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe

So, I thought to read a short segment from my new book, Dancing White Elephants: Traveling with Srila Prabhupada in India, August 1970 to March 1972, because it describes a very significant exchange that I had with Srila Prabhupada, in which he basically gave me the blueprint for my whole life in Krishna consciousness.

[READING from Dancing White Elephants]

So, in my experience, Srila Prabhupada was very reserved about touching disciples. But also in Gorakhpur, there was one time, one of the few times, or maybe the only time, when he touched me. He wanted to make an altar for the traveling Radha-Krishna deities and he wanted some foliage to decorate the altar. So I went out into the woods and I was collecting more and more foliage. I kept going deeper into the woods and collecting more and more, and I didn’t really know when to stop. But finally, I was carrying as much as I possibly could, and then I came back and I climbed up the stairs and then at the top, I dropped all the foliage on the floor. Srila Prabhupada smiled very broadly and he patted me on the back. Like I said, maybe the only time that he touched me in that way. And I don’t even know if he needed the foliage at that stage, but he was pleased with the effort.

And then, one other incident that comes to mind, Srila Prabhupada expressed his love for us by giving us the knowledge of Krishna consciousness and engaging us in devotional service. But once, I got a glimpse of his love in a different way. Srila Prabhupada had a friend in Bombay named Bhogilal Patel who was three years senior to Srila Prabhupada and was extremely pious. When the first devotee met Bhogilal Patel in his office and told him about Srila Prabhupada’s work, Bhogilal Patel just wept profuse tears of happiness and appreciation. So once, Bhogilal Patel came to meet Srila Prabhupada in Juhu, and because I was cultivating him, I was there for the discussion. And as is natural in a conversation, when Bhogilal Patel was speaking, I looked at him, and when Srila Prabhupada was speaking, I looked at him. So I go back and forth. When Seth Bhogilal was speaking, I would look at him, and when Srila Prabhupada was speaking, I would look at him. But once, when Bhogilal was speaking, I looked at Srila Prabhupada, and Srila Prabhupada was looking at me with such love and affection, like a doting father or by age, like a grandfather. But as soon as he saw that I was looking at him, he became very grave. And for some reason, he didn’t want me to see that loving expression. Krishna made that special arrangement that I could see it.

And we want to reciprocate Srila Prabhupada’s love. I think of his instruction, “Your love for me will be shown by how you cooperate to keep this movement together after I depart.” And I am pleased to say that I think that in general, the devotees in ISKCON are working cooperatively for the sake of Srila Prabhupada’s pleasure, and I think he is pleased. Which reminds me of one other little incident in Gorakhpur. I will conclude with this. So one day, it was the disappearance day of his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. And we had a small observance at midday, as is proper procedure. But he wanted us to have a larger program in the evening, so members of the Gītā Press and others could attend. So in the evening, we were sitting outdoors on the veranda, honoring prasāda, and Srila Prabhupada’s servant, Nanda Kumar Prabhu came down with some of Srila Prabhupada’s remnants. And he said that Srila Prabhupada had made two comments: One, “My guru Maharaja is very pleased with you all,” and two, “The feast was so good, I could not control my senses.”

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!