Suresvara das Remembers Srila Prabhupada
Prabhupada Memories
Interview 01
Sureshvar: I was initiated in Detroit in 1971. Being initiated by Srila Prabhupada was such an awesome experience that I was completely stunned at the initiation. The system was that strands of beads were draped on the microphone. Prabhupada chanted one round on each of those beads, and then the initiate would be called to come forward. So, Prabhupada chanted on the beads that were to become mine, and my name was called, “Richard Hall.” I staggered up and knelt in front of him. Now, when you looked at Srila Prabhupada you were looking at a person who was unfathomable. It was like looking at the ocean, the ocean of truth. At the same time he was looking right through you. It was an incredible experience. He asked me the four rules. I answered. He said, “Your name is Sureshvar das. It is a name for Lord Brahma. It means controller of the demigods. You are a servant of the controller.” As he said this, I got more and more stupefied, and he saw that I was stunned. He had the beads in his hand, so he just held out the beads and said, “Come on, take your beads,” and started rattling them in front of my nose.
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To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 10 - 1995 Prabhupada Festival
Interview 02
Sureshvar: Before the lecture and initiation, Srila Prabhupada sent Silavati’s sons, Girish and Virabhadra, out of the room because they didn’t have tilak on. The boys were living in New Vrindavan with us and were eight and ten years old. Even though they were just boys, Prabhupada motioned them out of the room saying, “Go put on tilak.” While they were out of the room, anointing their bodies with tilak, Prabhupada started talking about tilak and how it was our trademark. Srila Prabhupada said, “We are selling Krishna for free, and still no one will take,” and he started laughing. Then Srila Prabhupada started giving an intricate lecture, or maybe I was tired, but I couldn’t follow what he was talking about. When I finally started to catch on, Bhagavan das’ baby son interrupted his lecture by clanging kartals. When the child did that, Prabhupada expertly used it in his lecture. He said, “Just like this child, he has had practice.” Prabhupada had been talking about transmigration of the soul, and when Prabhupada said, “He has had practice,” he started beaming at this little boy, and the boy started beaming at Srila Prabhupada. We were looking at the boy looking at Prabhupada. There was a dramatic pause, as if there was something going on between Prabhupada and this little boy.
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To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 14 - Prahladananda Swami, Balavanta, Suresvara, Dayananda
The full Prabhupada Memories Series can be viewed here and also at www.prabhupadamemories.com
Following Srila Prabhupada
Interview DVD 02
Suresvara: This is August 1970, New Vrindavan. I was a brand new devotee, and Satsvarupa das Adhikari and Uddhava prabhu drove some of us new guys down from Boston to New Vrindavan for Janmastami Festival, which was thefestival in ISKCON at the time, it was pre-India gatherings.
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Interview DVD 04
Suresvara: The next day was Vyasa-puja and Srila Prabhupada, being very sensitive to the time, place and circumstance, gave this wonderful Vyasa-puja address to describe the spiritual master and why the spiritual master is being offered so much honor and homage on this day because, after all, there were many people there, scholars and journalists, etc., who were not familiar with this etiquette. So Srila Prabhupada said, “Krishna is very big, He’s a very big person.” And Prabhupada said, “Just like in this material world, if you want to please or even see a big man, it is very difficult to do.” He often used Ford and Rockefeller. So he said, “Just like Mr. Ford, if you want to please Mr. Ford, it’s very hard or even to see him is very hard. But if you happen to see Mr. Ford walking his dog and you give Mr. Ford’s dog a two-cent lozenge,” Prabhupada used the word lozenge, “then Mr. Ford is very easily pleased.” So Prabhupada said, “I am the dog of God. It is very difficult to approach Krishna. But if you simply please His dog, Krishna will be pleased.”
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Interview DVD 07
Suresvara: So during the Guru Puja, I remember some brahmacaris, they had developed a kind of boogying, doing rock dancing. This was going on during Guru Puja, and all of a sudden Prabhupada, like a conductor, like a maestro, he stopped the Guru Puja cold in an instant and we were all frozen in place. Then Prabhupada gestures to the picture of the Panca Tattva in the distance and how their arms are upraised and he says, “Dance, dance like Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.” So we were all corrected because we were all getting into disco dancing, twisting and boogaloo and shingaling and whatever.
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Interview DVD 09
Suresvara: Srila Prabhupada is ushered into the temple room, small temple room, and he is surrounded by GBCs, and then the rest of the men came in. It was so small that the ladies couldn’t even come inside. There was one window on the side of the room and their noses are pressed against the window trying to at least see Srila Prabhupada, and Prabhupada is about to speak. Then Prabhupada notices them in the window and Prabhupada says, “You have to make room for them. They want to hear.” I remember that, “They want to hear.” So he insists that all the leaders and then the rest of the men squeeze in closer to him so that all the ladies can come in and hear. And it just struck me how he did that because Prabhupada was always very attentive to everything that was going on; and he saw them, how eager they were, and he just immediately, “You have to make room for them. They want to hear.” Prabhupada gave a short address on this grassy slope in back of this museum. Just as an example of what Prabhupada had to tolerate sometimes, I remember it was very popular at this time in America for young people to streak – just run with no clothes on. So all of a sudden during Prabhupada’s talk there were some streakers, just streaked right across the place. But it didn’t phase His Divine Grace. Sometimes he would work these things into his talk, he’d make some comment that would perfectly crystallize a point. But Prabhupada had to endure the streakers and carry on. |