Kesidamana das Remembers Srila Prabhupada

Following Srila Prabhupada

Interview DVD 11

Kesidamana: After college I went to India for about a year, then I came back to England. I was very interested in the Indian philosophy. So I read many, many books, and I sent away one time for Prabhupada’s Gita. I got it by mail order. So I read that in a few days, and I was thrilled by the book because it was so clear and sensible and correct. There wasn’t anything that I could find fault with and I thought, “This book is perfect.” So then I hitchhiked down to the address within it, which was the Manor. I arrived at the Manor, and that was the weekend that Prabhupada was there. Actually when I walked in the Manor, Prabhupada was just giving a darshan. So Rohininandan invited me to the darshan. It was a darshan particularly for new people. So I sat down and, as chance would have it, I was sitting immediately in front of Prabhupada. So Prabhupada was sitting there perfectly relaxed, and I felt very thrilled to see Prabhupada. I felt an immediate rapport. Prabhupada was sitting there, and every now and again he’d glance at me and smile at me. So I felt enlivened, and I had this feeling that Prabhupada was looking at me and he was saying, “Where have you been?” So anyway, the next day or so Prabhupada went off to Soho Street, and he came back to a great reception. The car, it was a black Rolls Royce, pulled around to the back of the Manor. As he drove by, I looked in the window and I saw Prabhupada’s expression, and it was just startlingly full of love. Prabhupada got out of the car, and a huge uproarious kirtan was going on. The devotees were leaping in the air and chanting. So Prabhupada glanced over at me, and then he pointed with his chin to this about 11-, 10-year-old boy that was dancing next to me with his arms upraised. And as he pointed with his chin, he smiled at me and I immediately understood, “This is what you do.” Prabhupada had seen that I was confused, and so I immediately understood, “This is what Krishna consciousness is – simply to dance and chant like a child without any mental reservations.”