Jagat Guru Swami Remembers Srila Prabhupada

Following Srila Prabhupada

Interview DVD 10

Jagat Guru Swami: There were a lot of plans being made for world preaching, and at that time the first contingency of devotees was assigned to go to China, first attempt at China. So it was really a big year, and Srila Prabhupada was in very exceptional spirits. And when you came around him, you were brought towards that plane of Krishna consciousness where nothing could be better, the days couldn’t be better, your life couldn’t be better. And at this particular festival, that experience was at its optimum. Of course, there is the footage of Srila Prabhupada ringing that bell on the side of the Deities and circumambulating with the devotees and raising his hand up for the devotees to jump. And when he would do that, it was such an ecstatic, emotional moment and everyone seemed to become filled with that…what sometimes is described as that indescribable joy of Krishna consciousness just due to his association. So for everybody who came to the festival, it was a most wonderful experience. Then gradually the day of Gaura Purnima did arrive, and there was that initiation. One by one, Srila Prabhupada would call the devotees. When it finally came to the sannyasis, he would call them and he would give them their danda and he would announce where they would be preaching. So there were seven of us and everyone, one by one, when they received their beads or their thread or their danda, Srila Prabhupada had this exceptional smile on his face of satisfaction, and particularly when it came to the sannyasis because the sannyasis are the symbol of the preaching endeavor of the sankirtan movement – the dress, their lifestyle, everything symbolizes that endeavor to take Krishna consciousness throughout the world to every town and village. Although every man, woman and child in the Krishna consciousness movement is engaged in that, the sannyasis are at the forefront and they are the symbol of that endeavor. They are there on call 24 hours a day for that purpose, and Srila Prabhupada expected of them leadership in that role, particularly of preaching and spreading the sankirtan movement. Some years earlier he had expressed a desire that “I would like an army, I want an army of sannyasis.” So it was a couple of years before I heard that, and I thought, “Oh, I would like to join that army.” So that was seven new sannyasis on that day. That was a big step forward in building that preaching army. So he was very, very happy, very pleased about that.