Ranadhir das Remembers Srila Prabhupada

Prabhupada Memories

Interview 01

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Ranadhir: The first intimate exchange I had with Srila Prabhupada was when my mom, who lived in England, sent me a nice wool sweater. At that time New Vrindavan was a mud hole and it was hard to keep anything clean. I looked at this beautiful saffron sweater and I thought, “I can’t wear this, it’s going to be trash in no time. I’ll give it to Srila Prabhupada.” For a couple of months I kept that sweater in a plastic bag in the brahmachari ashram and I always thought, “I can’t wait to give this to Srila Prabhupada.” When they first opened the printing press in Boston, Prabhupada went there and devotees from a lot of different cities joined him, including everybody from New Vrindavan. I was clutching my sweater and trying to figure out, “How do I give this to him? I’m not one of the leaders.” Then one evening after arati everybody gathered for darshan in a separate room behind the temple. I said, “Okay, it’s now or never,” and burst into the middle of this darshan. Everybody looked at me as if to say, “Who’s this? What’s he doing here?” I stammered, “Prabhupada, I have this sweater my mother gave me and I want you to have it.” Prabhupada said, “Oh, no, I can’t take it. Your mother gave this to you. You take it. I can’t take this.” From the look on my face Prabhupada saw that I was devastated. I said, “But Prabhupada, please,” I was begging for my life. He was very kind. He said, “All right. We’ll exchange.” He took off his beautiful cardigan sweater with big oak buttons. I was crying, and the devotees in the room were crying. It was a loving exchange. I’ll never forget it. It bonded me so closely to Srila Prabhupada and kept me going for years. Once Prabhupada called all of the temple presidents to Los Angeles to see how a good temple was run. At the time, Kirtanananda was the temple president in New Vrindavan, but somehow I was elected to go. One of the things that I was supposed to do in Los Angeles was to tell Srila Prabhupada about how everybody in New Vrindavan was frustrated with having to deal with Hayagriva. We wanted an official sanction against Hayagriva so that he wouldn’t continue to make our lives miserable. I hitchhiked to Los Angeles and rehearsed the litany of grievances that we had against Hayagriva. When it was time for my darshan with Srila Prabhupada, I was introduced, “Prabhupada, this is Ranadhir from New Vrindavan.” I paid my obeisances. With a look of love and affection on his face Prabhupada said, “And how is Hayagriva?” And there went my whole thing. I definitely could not say a bad word about Hayagriva. That’s an example of the spiritual master not only knowing your mind but also knowing how to change your heart.

To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 47 - Twenty Disciples Remembering SP

The full Prabhupada Memories Series can be viewed here and also at www.prabhupadamemories.com

Following Srila Prabhupada

Interview DVD 01

Ranadhir: I was in New Vrindavan. Things were pretty basic there, lot of dirt and mud. My mom sent me this sweater. It was saffron and of course we had trouble keeping stuff clean there so I didn’t want to get it dirty. I thought this would be nice for Prabhupada. It’s not going to be much use here. So I put it in a plastic bag and I was living in the brahmachari ashram and somehow I was able to protect the sweater from getting dirty for a couple of months. Then Prabhupada came to Boston to see the press and we drove up from New Vrindavan. I was all excited. I had the sweater that my mom had given me and I was going to give it to Prabhupada. So we got to Boston. I think there was an arotik and then Prabhupada went in the back of the temple. They had curtain to close off to make like a sitting room and all the big devotees were back there with Prabhupada. Now was my chance, so I barged in and stood there sort of stammering, “Prabhupada, my mom gave me this sweater. She sent it from England. It’s really nice and I wanted you to have it.” Prabhupada said, “Oh, no, no, no. I can’t take this. Your mother gave this to you. You should keep it.” So I was crushed and Prabhupada saw that and he said, “Well, all right. We’ll exchange.” And he had this saffron sweater on with little brown buttons on it. He unbuttoned the sweater and took it off and gave it to me and I gave him the sweater and it was just like a really wonderful exchange. All the devotees in the room were very moved. Everybody was crying. It was very nice. I was touching the sweater and I felt blessed to have it. I really held onto it for days; it didn’t leave my hands. I think it’s on the altar at New Vrindavan. I gave it to the temple as Prabhupada prasad.