Brahmananda das Remembers Srila Prabhupada

Prabhupada Memories

Interview 01

Brahmananda: I went up to the Swami’s apartment and knocked on the door. The Swami opened the door. "Yes?" he said. I said, "I would like to speak with you." "Oh, yes. Come in." We went together into the sitting room. Prabhupada sat down behind a little metal box, and we started talking. It was very quaint. He asked me my name. I told him, "Bruce." Then Prabhupada told me that in India during the Raj period there was a "Lord Bruce." I started telling the Swami about myself, and I found myself saying, "I want to become your full time student." I had just finished taking a special training course for teaching, and I was employed by The New York City Board Of Education to teach remedial reading, a special program for culturally deprived children in the ghettos. I told the Swami, "I have just finished my training." My assignment was beginning the next day. I said, "I have a job beginning tomorrow, but I just want to be your student." Prabhupada said, "That’s fine, but you have a job." I said, "Yes." He said, "What is the salary?" Prabhupada explained Bhagavad-gita to me in a nutshell. He explained how Krishna told Arjuna to do his duty, to do devotional service, to work for Him, but not to partake in the fruits of the activity. He explained how one should give all the fruits of one’s activity to Krishna. Then Prabhupada gave me a practical instruction. It was my first instruction. He said, "You can be my student, and you can also do your job. You can give the fruits of your job to Krishna." So my first service was to work and give my salary to Prabhupada.

I had been home to visit my mother, and she knew we were strict vegetarians. We wouldn’t eat the food that she cooked because the pots were contaminated, and she was contaminated. The whole house was contaminated. She said, "Hey, what’s happening here?" One evening just before the kirtan she went to visit Prabhupada to see what we were getting into. Prabhupada had a folding metal chair in his room, which was meant for VIPs who couldn’t sit on the floor. My mother sat on this chair. Everyone else, including Prabhupada, sat on the floor. She asked Prabhupada, "What are you doing with my boys?" After explaining and preaching, Prabhupada told her, "I am taking care of your sons," because by that time Gargamuni and I had moved into the storefront. "I am feeding them, looking after them, and providing. Actually, we have no income here. Maybe you would like to give some donation?" My mother looked at us, looked at Prabhupada, and said, "Donation? I have already given a donation. I have donated my sons." Prabhupada said, "Oh, yes, very good." By her saying that, it was as if she gave us to Prabhupada.

When the Swami walked into the storefront to give class, everyone bowed down, and I started bowing down too. Gargamuni was the only one who wouldn’t. He would just sit there. This went on for some time, and Gargamuni felt a little self-conscious about it. After class, Prabhupada would always ask for questions, and on one occasion Gargamuni said, "When you come into the room, everyone bows down, but I don’t feel like bowing down, so I am not going to do it because it would be artificial. I am asking if this is all right." Prabhupada said, "You should bow down. By bowing down the feeling will come." This was a very nice instruction, and when Gargamuni started doing that, it worked.

Prabhupada told me to invite my parents to the initiation. My father wouldn’t come, but my mother came. Again she sat on the folding chair. We had the fire sacrifice, and at the end Prabhupada gave me my beads and I bowed down to him. Then Prabhupada said, "Now bow down to your mother." So I turned and bowed down. Of course, I said the mantra of obeisances to Prabhupada. My mother felt quite uncomfortable having her son bowing at her feet. Prabhupada instructed me, "Whenever you see your mother, offer your obeisances," and I did that. My family lived in Connecticut, and once I went there to distribute books to them and to friends. I rang the doorbell, my mother opened the door, and there was nobody there because I was on the ground offering obeisances. She didn’t like it, but it was Prabhupada’s instruction, and by doing it we felt closer to Prabhupada, and our family attachment dissipated. It made the relationship more formal. It was a nice instruction.

On Memorial Day weekend in 1967 Prabhupada had a stroke. After that he couldn’t type. He was partially paralyzed on one side. Gargamuni had seen office dictaphones in a store window, and when he told Prabhupada, Prabhupada said, "Yes. Bring that." Gargamuni bought one, a German Grundig, and had the salesman show him how to operate it. It took Gargamuni an hour to learn. He brought the dictaphone to Prabhupada and offered to show Prabhupada how to use it. Prabhupada said, "No, no. That’s all right. You just leave it here. I will see to it." Prabhupada was able to operate it without anyone showing him how to do it. Then Prabhupada dictated tapes, and we transcribed them. Everyone took a try at transcribing. We all found it tedious, and we weren’t making much progress on it. Prabhupada was doing more and more tapes, and this became a problem. Hayagriva was the best typist, but he was going to teach in the University. Then one day Neil from Antioch College walked in the storefront. At Antioch College, you can work at a job and get college credit for that job if it has something to do with your study. Neil came to New York wanting to work for the Hare Krishna organization for a semester. He didn’t know what we were doing. I asked him, "What do you do?" He said, "I am a typist and a transcriber." I said, "Okay." It was like the answer to a prayer. There were many little miracles. Everything with Prabhupada was always accompanied by little miracles one after the other. Neil raced through those tapes transcribing. He finished Bhagavad-gita, The Nectar of Devotion, Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, and the Sri Isopanisad. When his semester ended, he left and we never saw him again. But he had done so much, and it was just what was required.

Prabhupada was determined to publish Bhagavad-gita As It Is, but we didn’t have enough money to print it ourselves. Allen Ginsberg, who wasn’t a devotee but who was very sympathetic and enthusiastic tried to help. Allen had been to India and liked chanting. Prabhupada had instructed him to chant Hare Krishna before he read poetry, and Allen used to do that. He gave Prabhupada a harmonium, which he had brought from India. He also gave donations, and he was helping with Prabhupada’s immigration papers. Allen sent Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita manuscript to his publishers, but they rejected it. He sent it to some other publishers, and they also rejected it. After about six months of trying, he lost interest. Prabhupada gave the manuscript to Rayrama, who was the editor of Back to Godhead magazine. Rayrama sent it to academic publishers, and again everyone rejected it. He gave up. Then Prabhupada gave the manuscript to me. By that time I could see that this book had no commercial value. Every page was Krishna consciousness. I thought, "If you are not Krishna conscious and you are not interested in Krishna consciousness, you are not going to be interested in this commentary." There was no fancy poetry, no scholarly footnotes, no academics, and no esoteric things. I had no faith, and I didn’t know what to do. I went to bookstores and the library to learn how to get a book published. In the meantime, Prabhupada had recorded the Hare Krishna record, which the Beatles eventually got interested in, and the record was doing well. One alternative radio station, WBAI, played it over and over again for ten hours. I used to get the mail, bring it to Prabhupada, and he and I would go over it together. He would dictate the answer, and I would take notes. One day an order came for the record from the worldwide publishing company, MacMillan. The order was on MacMillan letterhead, and a check was included. I rushed to Prabhupada and said, "Prabhupada, someone’s written from MacMillan!" I didn’t know what to do. I was helpless. Prabhupada had to tell us everything. Prabhupada thought for a while and then said, "You personally bring the record tomorrow. Tell the person that you have a Bhagavad-gita that you want to publish." I said, "Okay. Should I bring the manuscript with me?" He said, "Just tell them." I said, "Okay. But I have to say something about you as the author. Maybe I should bring some of the books you published in India." He said, "No. Just tell them that you have a Bhagavad-gita to publish." I said, "Okay." The next day I dressed in a suit and tie and went uptown to the MacMillan Company skyscraper. The person who bought the record was an accountant. He added numbers and had nothing to do with publishing. I was thinking, "How am I going to tell him? What am I going to tell him?" We were talking about the record and the mantra and I was bewildered. Then the door opened and all of a sudden the accountant said, "This is James Wade. He is our senior editor." I shook hands with Mr. Wade, looked him right in the face, and said, "I have a Bhagavad-gita to publish." He said, "A Bhagavad-gita? By a swami? An Indian swami? Here in New York? He did this himself?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Complete? The entire Bhagavad-gita?" I said, "Yes. Yes." He said, "That’s exactly what I am looking for to fill out our religion section. I’ve got Buddhism, the Koran . . . We have everything, but we don’t have a Bhagavad-gita. We will publish it." I couldn’t believe what had happened. He agreed to publish it without seeing the manuscript. Everyone else had rejected it for whatever reason, and here he accepted it without even seeing it. I flew back to Prabhupada and told him the news. I was so excited. Prabhupada nodded as if he had expected it.

Prabhupada had a serious stroke on Memorial Day weekend when everyone had left New York City. Prabhupada couldn’t function. We didn’t want to bring him to a hospital, so I called my family doctor, but he was out of town. I started making random calls, but everyone was out of town for the weekend. Ultimately an old Jewish doctor came to see Prabhupada. The devotees were walking around barefooted, wearing jeans and T-shirts, chanting. We had no furniture, just a carpet. The doctor couldn’t figure out what was going on. Meanwhile Prabhupada was very sick. It took the doctor a long time to understand what was going on, what to speak of examining Prabhupada with the stethoscope and this and that. Afterwards we asked, "What’s wrong?" He said, "I think the old man prays too much." We said, "Oh. Yeah. Okay." The doctor said, "He’s got to get out. He’s got to get some exercise." Prabhupada could hear him from the other room. "In the mornings he should go to the park for a walk." Then the doctor left. Eventually Prabhupada went to the hospital. When he came out we took him to a rented house by the seashore in New Jersey, where he recovered. One day he announced, "Now I will take a morning walk. That doctor said something valuable." We thought the guy was nuts. Prabhupada said, "No, no. He has given a good instruction. I will take that up." Prabhupada proceeded to take a morning walk, and Prabhupada always took that morning walk, no matter what his condition, what his health. When Prabhupada was in a hotel in Switzerland it was snowing. Prabhupada couldn’t go outside for his morning walk, so he took it in the hotel corridors, walking and chanting just as if he were outside. When Prabhupada and all of us were injured in an automobile accident in Mauritius, we had aches and pains, but the next morning he went on his morning walk. Prabhupada followed that doctor’s instruction.

Prabhupada didn’t specifically order the different aspects of the movement. He guided us, but we had to find them out for ourselves, from our enthusiasm and realizations. He never made any demands, even with initiations. He didn’t say "All right. Now I am going initiate you." No. We had to come to Prabhupada and ask, "Would you initiate us?" He never said, "Now you wash my clothes." We had to come to Prabhupada, "Can I wash your clothes?" That was the way it was done. "Can I learn how to cook?" And even with harinam. . . when Prabhupada was there, he led every kirtan. He would play the drum. He would say the prayers. No one even dreamed of leading a kirtan. The Swami did it. When Prabhupada left to go to Vrindavan after his stroke, then we had to do it ourselves. As a matter of fact, when Prabhupada left to go to San Francisco and do the Mantra Rock Dance that Mukunda had arranged, all of a sudden those of us in New York thought, "Who is going to give the lecture?" Prabhupada had given every lecture. "Who is going to play the drum?" We were standing around not knowing what to do. "All, right. Why don’t you try?" "Okay. I will give the lecture." We just started doing it. I wrote a letter to Prabhupada, "We miss you." Prabhupada wrote back. "It’s very nice that you are missing me, and if you like you can put my photograph on my sitting place." That meant in Prabhupada’s apartment where he would sit. We didn’t even have a photograph. No one had a camera. We didn’t even wear watches. That is where we were coming from. We didn’t want things. I asked the devotees in San Francisco to take a photograph of Prabhupada and send it to us. We had it blown up and framed, and we put it on Prabhupada’s desk. On Sundays Prabhupada used to take us to the park. We would carry the rug, and Prabhupada would sit under a tree and have a kirtan. But it was Prabhupada having a kirtan. Nobody ever thought, "Well, we will go ourselves," because everything was done by Prabhupada. It’s hard to believe, but we were shy and reluctant. Just to do what we were doing at that time was far out, and people didn’t know what to think of us. We felt self-conscious. One summer night in New York we were having kirtan in the storefront, and it was too hot to be in there. Someone said, "Let’s go outside." We went outside and started having kirtan. When we had kirtan in the storefront, some people would stop and look in, scratch their heads, and walk by. They thought that it was nuts. Mostly, the people who came in were drunks, Bowery bums. They would lurch in, and then I would lurch them back out. Only young hippie kids would actually walk in and stay. I will never forget that first outdoor kirtan. We went to the street corner. I thought, "If we chant loudly enough, maybe Prabhupada will hear it in India. Somehow we will call out and connect." Someone played the tom-tom drum, and everyone chanted enthusiastically. A huge crowd formed, hundreds of people, some of them chanting along with us. We had flyers but no books. In the temple at the end of kirtan we used to pass around a collection bowl. Someone put that bowl on the sidewalk, and people started pitching money in. We realized, "Hey, this is a way to spread Krishna consciousness and to also get support." I wrote Prabhupada in India relating what happened. Prabhupada said, "Oh, very good. You continue this. Expand it." Prabhupada always guided us, but from behind.

In the final days we were with Prabhupada in Vrindavan taking turns to softly chant with little cymbals in a vigil kirtan. At a certain point I got sick. I collapsed in my room with a fever, and it took me about a week to recover. Then I was able to again go and see Prabhupada. When I came into his room Prabhupada was lying on his bed conversing with his servants. Sometimes he would ask who was leading the kirtan. That particular day he mentioned my name. Prabhupada said, "Oh, Brahmananda?" I came forward. He said, "You were ill? You were not feeling well?" Here is Prabhupada completely shriveled up from fasting, but he was concerned that I was not feeling well. I just had a little fever, and here is Prabhupada on his departure bed saying, "Oh, you are not feeling well?" with such concern and love. I was totally affected by that, how Prabhupada could be thinking that I wasn’t feeling well. The thing that affected me most was how much Prabhupada loved us although we are not very lovable as we all had defects. Why did Prabhupada love us? He loved us because he saw us as servants of Krishna. He said that we were sent by his Guru Maharaj to help him in his mission. Prabhupada saw us as Krishna’s servants, and Prabhupada’s mission was to spread Krishna consciousness. Whatever we could do to assist in this cause of Krishna consciousness, Prabhupada very much appreciated. I think that is the essence of Srila Prabhupada. He can see us as servants of Krishna. So let us just try to be that. That’s all.

To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 03 - Brahmananda, Guru das, Nara Narayana

Interview 02

Brahmananda: Here at 26 2nd Avenue there used to be a sink. That sink was important. After the kirtan, while Prabhupada was sitting on the platform, he would slice an apple without coring or skinning it, and then pass it around. He would also take one slice. He would chew it, somehow separate the core and the skin, and then lean back and spit the core and skin into the sink. Everyone would say, “Wow.” No one else did that. But now that sink is missing. That sink should be there with a sign: “Prabhupada used this sink like a spittoon.”

Every day I would go to New York City to work at the Board of Education. One day I saw a New York Times newspaper lying in the subway with a picture of Dr. Radhakrishnan, the President of India. I ran back to the temple with it to show Prabhupada, because he had been telling us about Dr. Radhakrishnan. Prabhupada had asked him to join in this movement, but Dr. Radhakrishnan was a Mayavadi, a deluded scholar, who said that one should not think of Krishna but one should think of the unborn within Krishna. Prabhupada had invited Dr. Radhakrishnan to preach Krishna consciousness, and Dr. Radhakrishnan told Prabhupada, “When I retire, then I will do it.” The newspaper article stated, “Dr. Radhakrishnan Retires.” After Prabhupada saw it, he wrote Dr. Radhakrishnan a letter inviting him to take up Krishna consciousness. Nothing came of that. Later, when Prabhupada toured South India, he visited Dr. Radhakrishnan. By that time he had gotten a stroke and couldn’t speak. He was paralyzed. Prabhupada said, “He spoke so much nonsense, and now he cannot speak at all.”

I was living on 6th Street, and my college roommate came and said to me, “I just went to an unusual Swami. They were into singing and dancing.” We were into meditation and yoga, so singing and dancing seemed odd. My roommate said that this Swami had a big tape recorder. We refused to wear a wristwatch because we didn’t want to know what time it was. Time was mundane, what to speak of a tape recorder. My roommate said, “Allen Ginsberg was there.” Allen Ginsberg was our hero, so I said, “Oh, we have to go.” I went to 26 2nd Avenue and sat at the door. Prabhupada came in. He was to get up on the platform, but instead he stopped, turned, and looked at me. I’ll never forget that. It’s burnt into my memory. Many years later Prabhupada asked me, “How did you join?” I said, “My friend told me about you, and I came, but my friend didn’t join.” Prabhupada said, “Oh, the same with me.” He said that his friend, Narendranath Mullik, brought him to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, but Narendranath did not join.

To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 15 - The 1996 NYC and LA Reunions

Interview 03

Brahmananda: In Montreal, there was a devotee, Dayal Nitai, who was a yogi and was also into health. He strongly criticized our diet—white rice, white sugar, butter—and said that we should eat brown rice, natural sugar, and no butter. At that time, Prabhupada was in Montreal and his apartment was a few blocks from the temple. Since the devotees didn’t have a car, Prabhupada had to walk from his apartment to the temple. So, one day after class, I was walking next to Prabhupada back to his apartment while Dayal Nitai was complaining to Prabhupada about how our food was not healthy and how we were all going to get sick. Prabhupada stopped walking and said, “You see Brahmananda here? He’s been eating this food for so long. Does he look sick?” But Dayal Nitai didn’t get the message. Again he went on about the health thing and the way foods are processed and how we should change our diet. We walked some more and Prabhupada finally stopped and said, “You know, our Brahmananda here is so healthy that he can kill you. If I just say, he can kill you.” I was shocked. What’s Prabhupada doing? But I got ready. Then Dayal Nitai understood that prasadam was okay.

To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 34 - 25th Anniversary of SP Disappearance

Interview 04

Brahmananda: In Boston, Hamsadutta had just gotten a school bus, the first bus in the movement. One morning Prabhupada called Hamsadutta and said, “Let us go for a ride in your bus.” Hamsadutta excitedly said, “Oh yes.” But then he realized that they had taken all the seats out of the bus. There was just the floor. Prabhupada couldn’t sit like that so I got a chair from the temple and held it down while Prabhupada sat in it. All the devotees piled into the bus. Everyone was very excited. “Where are we going?” I said, “For a ride with Prabhupada.” Vamanadeva was driving, and Prabhupada was giving directions, “Turn here. Go on this road.” Nobody knew where we were going, and no one was bold enough to ask Prabhupada, but Prabhupada knew where he was going. While the devotees chanted on their beads, we got to the downtown area and finally came to the waterfront, the dock area. And then we arrived at Commonwealth Pier. Actually, no devotees had ever even seen it. Prabhupada was always talking about Krishna and didn’t tell us so many details about his arrival in America. Even when we got there, we didn’t realize where we were, but this was the place where Prabhupada had first entered America. Prabhupada started walking, and we clustered around him on this big pier with big roads, warehouses, and factories surrounding us. Prabhupada preached as he always did on his morning walk. He talked about pure devotional service to Krishna, and he used the word “unalloyed.” It’s exotic, this “unalloyed” devotional service, because an “alloy” is a metal made of many different kinds of metal. Prabhupada was always saying “unalloyed.” That meant just one metal, not many. At a certain point he said, “Yes. Unalloyed devotional service” and he pointed with his cane. We all followed the cane, and there was a hundred-foot long sign on the entire side of the warehouse that said, UNALLOYED STEEL COMPANY. We all said, “Yes, unalloyed.” That sign was one of the first things Prabhupada had seen when he entered America, and he showed it to us to explain unalloyed devotional service; a very simple instruction that he made so graphic. We were like Prabhupada’s young students, and Prabhupada was our teacher. As a teacher writes a word on a blackboard and then takes a pointer to show the class, so Prabhupada was showing us.

Prabhupada went to Mauritius, where some devotees were preaching, primarily to see the Prime Minister, Ra Gulam. But when Prabhupada arrived, the Prime Minister was busy with some other affair so he gave Prabhupada one of his personal limousines, a Citroen, with an army officer as the driver. Citroens are very special cars made of aluminum instead of steel, with a suspension system like an ambulance. You feel as if you are floating. At that time I went to someone’s house to make an international phone call, and while I was there I saw the Prime Minister on TV inaugurating a big chicken processing plant. The TV show showed how the chickens are hung and then come out ready for cooking. It was shocking. When I mentioned to Prabhupada what the Prime Minister was doing, he said, “The Prime Minister is a Hindu? I cannot meet him.” Prabhupada decided not to meet him because he had no principles. There were some days when no programs were scheduled, so on one such day Prabhupada said, “Let us go for a ride.” Mauritius is a very scenic, pristine island. Prabhupada was riding in the back seat, I was sitting next to him, and Pusta Krishna was in the front seat. The driver was whizzing along the coastline. It was very pleasant. The sea breezes, the beautiful ocean, the sky, and the sugar cane growing were very nice. Prabhupada had his window down and was sitting crossed-legged on the back seat with his cane beside him. He was enjoying it very much. Then Prabhupada took the cane, put it on the floor, and held it with two hands. Just after that we turned around a bend and immediately. . . bang! There was not a second to react. It happened so fast; a head-on collision. A tourist from South Africa was driving on the wrong side of the road. Everyone was in shock. The driver was full of blood. I didn’t know what his condition was. Pusta Krishna was wounded and bloody, as I was. My arm was gashed. Prabhupada had blood on his dhoti near his knee. My first reaction, which was a little bit inappropriate, was to put my arms around Prabhupada and hold him. Prabhupada didn’t say anything. Pusta Krishna was unconscious. I was the only one who could function. Somehow, I got out of the car. The other car was a Volkswagen with a man and a woman in it. The woman was unconscious, and the man was getting out of the car. I realized that I had to get Prabhupada out of there. I didn’t know where we were or where our house was. After a while, a car came by. Now, Mauritius is an Indian place, and there are very few white people. But the car that we had hit had white people, and the car that came also had white people. I tried to stop it, but it went right by. Then another car came. This time I stood in the middle of the road. The car stopped. I went up to the people in the car and said, “Please, we need some help. My grandfather is injured, an old man. Please take us to the nearest hospital.” They said, “Okay. Okay.” The only reason they were taking us was because I forced them. I took Prabhupada out of the car and put him in the other car, and the people started driving. Prabhupada was absolutely silent. Then these people started saying, “We don’t know where the hospital is. We are going to our hotel and you can go to the hotel and . . .” I said, “No, no. We want to go to a hospital right now.” Prabhupada didn’t say anything, so I knew that he was agreeing with what I was doing. But these people didn’t even want to find the hospital. They just wanted to go to their hotel. I told them, “All right. Stop the car.” They stopped the car, Prabhupada and I got out, and they left. There we were standing in the middle of nowhere, lost. Then another car came along. I stopped that car. This car had three Indian people. They saw Prabhupada and offered respects. I said, “Take us to the nearest hospital.” Then Prabhupada said, “No. Take us home. No hospital.” They were very happy to take us home immediately. We were on the other side of the island, and it was quite a drive. The car pulled in to our place. Harikesh Maharaj hadn’t come with us as he was doing the transcription, so he was there. He didn’t know what was going on, because we left in a limousine and we came back in a junky old car with three Indian boys. Prabhupada got out of the car, and there was blood on his dhoti. Harikesh was shocked. Prabhupada did not speak. He went into the house, sat down, and we cleaned and dressed his wound. Then Prabhupada said that he wanted to go back to Bombay. Prabhupada never wanted to leave Bombay anyway. Prabhupada was very concerned with the Bombay project, with getting the land, fighting the government, the municipality, the local politicians, the residents, and the seller. There was a battle there which required his constant supervision. Prabhupada said, “Let us immediately go back to Bombay,” and he never spoke about the accident.

In 1971 Prabhupada was having big public programs in India, and one evening an Arya Samajist challenged Prabhupada. He said, “Oh, Swamiji, you have come to India with your western chelas, but we know all these things. This is our culture. Better you go to the other places and do your work there. All right, you have been to the West, but what about the Muslim countries? What about Pakistan? You should go to Pakistan and preach there. Make them devotees.” This was in a public pandal with thousands of people. Prabhupada said, “You are challenging us to go?” The man said, “Yes. I challenge you. You must go to Pakistan.” Prabhupada said, “All right. We will go.” Prabhupada wrote a letter to me, “Immediately go to West Pakistan.” He also wrote to Gargamuni, “Immediately go to East Pakistan.” We got these letters and we left the next day. I didn’t have any money. Somebody paid for the bus from Florida to New York. Gargamuni had money so he flew. I had to go by overland to India— hitchhiking, buses, trains, whatever way I could go. At that time a war was starting. Prabhupada found out about the war and the hostilities between Pakistan and India afterwards and then wrote a second letter saying, “I don’t advise you to go at this time.” But we never got that letter. We had already left. We walked right into a war situation. It was difficult, but we were preaching and trying to do something. I was in Karachi. North of Karachi is the Singh Desert, the hottest place in the world, averaging 125 degrees. It was May, the hottest month, and I was sick with dysentery. I had no books, people were spitting on me on the street, threatening to put a knife in my back. When we had kirtan, people would rub off our tilak and spit. What a situation! Then a report appeared in the Pakistani and Indian newspapers saying, “Four Hare Krishna Missionaries Shot.” In Bombay, Karandhar showed Prabhupada the newspaper report. It didn’t give any names. Gargamuni was with Pusta in the east, and I was with Jagannivas in the west. There were four of us. Prabhupada was very disturbed. He thought that we had been shot. I sent a telegram to Prabhupada saying, “Can I get out of here?” Prabhupada sent a telegram back, “Come immediately, Bhaktivedanta Swami.” Four words. Those were the best four words. To get out of the country was a big thing. Somehow we were able to get out. I came to Bombay and went to the Akash Ganga Building where Prabhupada was staying. When I walked into his room, Prabhupada immediately got up, came over, put his arms around me and hugged me to his chest. He was putting his hands all over me just like a mother would touch her child if she thinks that he has been hurt. The mother wants to see that the child is still intact.

To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 05 - Brahmananda, Yasodanandana, Sudama, Gopavrindapala

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

Following Srila Prabhupada

Interview DVD 01

Brahmananda: The first dancing was in Tompkins Square Park, myself and Achyutananda. Prabhupada introduced this style of kirtan, which is very meditative. When Prabhupada sang in the park, that first time I danced and Achyutananda got up and we danced. As I was dancing, I felt I should dance with the kirtan and I should dance as long as Prabhupada has the kirtan, not that I should stop dancing and sit down – that would somehow be disrespectful to the Swamiji. So I danced for as long as Prabhupada had the kirtan, and Prabhupada had the kirtan for three hours, nonstop, he was singing. That’s the way Prabhupada had it, very long kirtans and very meditative. I once asked Srila Prabhupada, “What is the best way to sing kirtan?” He replied that “You sing in such a way that you never get tired.” So the kirtan should be able to go on endlessly. The New York Times, they came to that kirtan and they took a photograph of Achyutananda and myself and Prabhupada sitting there. You see the back of Prabhupada’s head, and he’s holding the bongo drum that he played. The caption was “Swami’s flock finds ecstasy in the park.” Prabhupada said the Times of New Yorkwas the most important newspaper in the world. “This article,” he said, “marked the beginning of my movement.”

Prabhupada is sitting, there’s a cushion from a sofa. I picked that up off the street. Someone had thrown out his old sofa. I picked up the cushion and brought it, and Prabhupada used it. There was no money, no books, there was no income. Prabhupada would pass the basket at the end of the kirtan and collect maybe three dollars. People would put coins in, quarters. Prabhupada’s first instruction to me was to do my job, I was a teacher for New York City Board of Education, and to give…he said, “Give your salary to Krishna.” I thought I would give up my job. Prabhupada said, “No, you do your job.” I asked Prabhupada, “How do I give my salary to Krishna?” Prabhupada said, “Well, you give it to me, and I’ll give it to Krishna.” I said, “OK,” and that’s how we were running on. But we had no money. Actually we were using as a subji in the summertime… Prabhupada started in the summer, it was May ’66, at 26 2nd Avenue. We would get watermelon because watermelon was so cheap, 10 cents a pound, and then we’d eat the watermelon and then take the rind and cook that as a subji. That was one of the big subjis, the watermelon rinds.

This painting, which was done by Jadurani, is a painting of Vrindavan. It’s the Madan-Mohan Temple. This is one of the first paintings that Jadurani did and it’s Madan-Mohan, Madan-Mohan Temple that Sanatan Goswami erected for the first deity in Lord Chaitanya’s movement. Prabhupada would give her a picture, and she would copy that into a painting. Prabhupada…he hung it right above his head, he sat underneath this. So it’s the first Western connection, you might say, with Vrindavan, and here’s the personification of Vrindavan sitting there.

Here’s the Jagannatha deities that Shyamasundara made. He made four sets. When Prabhupada came to the airport, we had to collect the baggage. We walked over to the baggage place where the baggage came out. These big wooden crates came and Prabhupada pointed…there was his suitcase and then he said, “Also these wooden crates.” Of course, we had no idea what was in them, neither did we ask, and we brought the crates back. So these crates were in the next room, and Prabhupada told us to go and open the crates. So we went and opened the crates and there were these Jagannatha deities, but we had never seen Jagannatha in New York because Jagannatha came from San Francisco, Puri. Just as Prabhupada made Vrindavan in New York, he made San Francisco Puri. So we look at these Jagannatha deities. We can’t figure out. It’s not Krishna. What is it? Then somebody was making jokes that these look like North American Indian…it’s a totem pole, and there’s three parts to the totem pole. So we were trying to figure out which one is on top, which one is in the middle, which one is on the bottom to make the totem pole. That’s what we were thinking. There’s the ladder that I was painting the apartment with, I didn’t quite finish. And then Prabhupada walked in and he saw us, and we were joking, “Wow, this is really far out—an Indian totem pole.” Then Prabhupada said, “This is Lord Jagannatha, the Lord of the Universe! Bow down!” And everybody, boom, hit the floor. That’s how Prabhupada introduced Jagannatha worship. So those deities were worshipped. But we had drunks coming into the storefront and so on. It wasn’t proper to have Them available or vulnerable, so we kept Them in the apartment and worshipped there.

That’s Damodar offering obeisances with the camera. See, that’s devotional filmmaking.

When Prabhupada saw how disappointed we were, he saved the situation by saying, “I can understand by this impulse that you want to know about the spiritual world and Radha and Krishna, Goloka. I will explain it to you.” And then he just sat down and he started reciting the Brahma-samhita prayers and gave a very elaborate explanation of those prayers, the cintamani-dhama and Radha and Krishna, how They look, how They appear, what They do. He transported us to Goloka by his consciousness. When he finished, we were leaving Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Prabhupada ordered me, “This place is very nice and this will make a very nice location for a temple, and we want to build a temple. So you arrange to get this land donated. We’ll make a very nice temple.” Prabhupada had such a high vision that he would try for…so I had to do it. This park is a municipal park by the City of New York.

Interview DVD 02

Brahmananda: I got the Krsna Bookpublished in Japan by Dai Nippon. I had to go there to supervise. This was the first book with color photos. This was very special. The windows to the spiritual world. I went there in I think it was May, and I told Dai Nippon…I met with all the executives…that there was a festival in July and I wanted to bring the finished book to the festival in San Francisco. So it meant they had two months to produce the book and they said, “Impossible.” I said, “Well, there is no impossible. You have to do it because I want to present the book to the spiritual master at the festival.” They said, “Well, it’s impossible, but anyway we’ll try.” So they worked so hard, and I would go every day and push them. Every day I would ask them, “Are you going to have it ready? Are you going to have it ready?” They’d say, “It’s impossible, it’s impossible.” Then I booked my return flight to arrive in San Francisco the day of Rathayatra, and actually they didn’t have it ready. I said, “This is going to have serious repercussions for our future business with you” and so on, and then I went to the airport. So as I was walking up the stairs to get on the plane, this big black limousine drove out onto the tarmac, it had flags on it. Dai Nippon was one of the largest companies in Japan, they printed Timemagazine and everything. This long black limousine and it comes right to the airplane, and out come all the Dai Nippon executives in their blue suits. There were about five of them. So I went down and they were all bowing from the waist, and they gave me this carton. The stewardess is saying, “Come on, you’ve got to get on the plane, we’ve got to take off.” So I just took the carton, I thanked them and got on the plane. I couldn’t wait for the plane to take off. I tore open the carton, and there is this silver shining KrsnaBook. It was so ecstatic. Then I start going through the book and looking at everything, the pictures and how it all turned out, and there was this man next to me. He was a business executive, American, and he saw me. He said, “What do you got there?” I said, “Oh, this is my spiritual master, I printed the book in Japan, it’s the first book.” He said, “How much is it?” And I said…whatever I said, “Ten dollars” or something, which was a good amount in those days. He said, “OK, I’ll take it.” So then I came to San Francisco, went right away to Prabhupada’s apartment. I brought in the carton, presented the book to Prabhupada. Prabhupada was so pleased and he said, “How many copies do you have?” I said, “Well, there were 20 but now there’s only 19.” He said, “Oh, only 19? What happened to the other one?” I said, “Well, I sold it on the plane to the person next to me.” Prabhupada said, “Oh, very good, this is very auspicious that the first copy was distributed.” Then he ordered, he said, “All these books,” there were only 19 of them. He said, “These should all be distributed at the Rathayatra.” And then the one that he had in his hand, he said, “And this one also.”

Myself and Gargamuni and others there, we did not want Prabhupada to go to the Rathayatra Festival. What happened is that we got threats. The Black Panthers sent word that “We’re going to attack your guru if you hold this festival,” and they were very credible threats. So we were afraid. So we told Prabhupada that “You shouldn’t go to the festival,” but Prabhupada couldn’t accept it. First of all, he didn’t care so much about threats. But second, it was just inconceivable that Prabhupada would not go to the Rathayatra and Prabhupada insisted on going, and I was insisting Prabhupada not go. So Prabhupada insisted, “You must take me.” So Gargamuni was driving the car. He drove very slowly and he took a very roundabout route in order to arrive late at the festival.

At this time, there was what Prabhupada considered to be the minimization of the spiritual master by the leaders, mostly from myself. I was the most infected with this I’d say jealousy of the spiritual master. At this visit to Los Angeles, things were going wrong – from ISKCON Press, which I was in charge of. The books were printed, Prabhupada’s title was not properly put. It was just A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, “His Divine Grace” had been left out. Even one book, one of the Bhagavatam chapters, just had A.C. Bhaktivedanta – even the “Swami” was removed. I presented Prabhupada a book from ISKCON Press from Boston that we printed, and he opened the book and the binding just snapped right off. And this was in the temple when the formal presentation was made. When he went in the temple and he took the caranamrita, and then he stopped and said, “It is salt.” Then on the altar, they had placed the acharya photos…I think it was Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s photo was placed upside down. To cure me of my disobedience and jealousy, Prabhupada ordered me to take sannyasa and that sannyasa would be a cure because I had give up all my position. I was in charge of the Press and New York temple, that had to all be given up. Sannyasa is a purification. I had no choice in the matter. Prabhupada just came down the stairs and just stood over me as I was bowing down and said, “Tridandi Goswami Brahmananda Swami,” and then walked out.

Part of Prabhupada’s leaving America, going back to India, is that there were the circumstances of myself and some others that were so offensive that Prabhupada wanted to leave, but another aspect is that he did not want to leave. There is a conversation, it’s in the Conversations, Prabhupada talks about how Lord Dwarakadisa wanted Prabhupada to go back to India, and Prabhupada didn’t want to go. Prabhupada didn’t want to go because his spiritual master had given him the Western world to preach in, and Prabhupada considered that his godbrothers, they were given India to preach in. So there was no need for him to be in India. And furthermore, that he had just gotten the Watseka Avenue facility and he wanted to develop that as the World Headquarters for the Hare Krishna Movement. But in this conversation, Prabhupada says that “Lord Dwarakadisa ordered me to go.” He said, “I was talking with the Deity and I was arguing with Lord Dwarakadisa that ‘I don’t want to go,’ and Lord Dwarakadisa was commanding me to go, that ‘I want you to go.’” And Prabhupada was saying, “But I have this very nice temple and I want to develop it.” And Lord Dwarakadisa said, “All right. I want you to go to India, that if you go to India I will give you a temple that is better than this Watseka.” Prabhupada couldn’t refuse that and Prabhupada said, “All right.” Then, of course, Prabhupada came to India, and Prabhupada got the Krishna-Balarama Mandir.

Prabhupada confronted us, myself specifically, with the minimization in Los Angeles before taking sannyasa. It was the most shocking experience of my life. Prabhupada’s chastisement was so severe. Spiritually I could feel Prabhupada withdrawing his mercy. And then Prabhupada gave us the sannyasa, so I felt and the others that we have to compensate for the minimization. And the way to compensate for that was to emphasize. Instead of underemphasizing Srila Prabhupada, we should now overemphasize him.

Prabhupada was in Japan at the time. We had to…by letters and so on, so it took time. But basically we were arrested and put into a van, and Bhagavan drove the van to Detroit.

We went out into the street. I had a quarter, that’s all I had was a quarter, and the four of us went walking down the street. We didn’t know where to go, we didn’t know what to do. I felt very disturbed. To be asked to leave devotees was the most terrible thing. What could be worse? But at the same time, we were forced to take shelter of Prabhupada and Krishna. We felt, “Well, this is what sannyasa is, you have nothing,” and we just walked down the street. We walked as far as we could until it became night, then we had to sleep somewhere. So along the roadside there were these big fir trees, and fir trees…very thick. So they offered some protection, and the needles make a very soft…so we slept under the fir trees on the needles. It’s interesting, in the morning we woke up and we were right outside the front gates of the Ford Motor Company of Detroit. And then interesting things happened. We had no food, we had no money, we were just starving. Then we sat under a tree and we had kirtan and read to each other, what else are we going to do? And as we were doing this the first day…I’m telling you, you’re not going to believe this…but a little boy came up and he had with him a loaf of bread and a bottle of milk. Where did this little boy come from? And he said, “Here, my mommy told me to give this to you,” and he put the bread down and then ran away.

Interview DVD 05

Brahmananda: Prabhupada would walk on the Chatikara Road, it was all agricultural land. One morning this one sadhu, he was wearing saffron, he greeted Prabhupada. And then the next morning again he was there. He would do this every day, and then he started following us. Then each day he would come closer and closer to Prabhupada so that he could hear. Then one day he said something to Prabhupada, and Prabhupada replied him. Then each day he would come and they would talk more and more. Then at the end of the walk when Prabhupada would go in the temple, he would go on his way. But then one morning he came in, did the morning program. And then one morning…Prabhupada would go into his house before coming to the temple and then he came in, Prabhupada had invited him. Then Prabhupada told me, “All right, he is joining. Prepare him. Give him a room, whatever facilities,” and he was Gour Govinda. That’s how he joined, Gour Govinda Swami. Prabhupada initiated him, gave him sannyas, everything. But he was living in Vrindavan as a sadhu, as a renunciate; and just by seeing Prabhupada on the morning walk each day, more and more he became drawn in and then he surrendered. So Prabhupada was making devotees just by going on a morning walk.

Interview DVD 06

Brahmananda: So one evening Prabhupada was giving out prasadam to all these kids. I said, “Oh, Prabhupada, let me do it,” and I went to take the plate from Prabhupada. And, oh, Prabhupada looked at me. He said, “I will do it.” He was actually giving mercy. That was his mission. This is the program – to worship Krishna and take Krishna prasadam. In New York in 1966, it was an apple, a cut apple, and here it is just some fruit. But this was Prabhupada’s program, very simple but very deep. And Prabhupada gave his full attention to it. He wasn’t doing it in some offhand quick way, but very deliberate.

So this is Jayanta, the only African at this time that Prabhupada initiated. We brought him to meet Prabhupada. Prabhupada came to Kenya four times. When he asked me to go, I had just come from Pakistan. This is in Bombay. Prabhupada said, “What will you do? What is your program?” He said, “I think I will send you to Africa. If you go there, then we will be on all the continents.” And he said it in such a way that, oh, it was so inspiring.

Prabhupada had installed Bankibehari in Nairobi and I was getting offering plates and so on in Calcutta, and I had this idea to get a pair of padams, sadhu shoes, but made of silver and very nicely engraved and with Prabhupada’s name and Founder Acharya. My idea was to take these and touch them to Prabhupada’s feet and then bring them back to Nairobi and worship, have on the altar. So one morning at the guru-puja, very ceremoniously I placed them on the cushion for Prabhupada’s feet where the flowers were put and Prabhupada saw them, bright shiny silver, and he was approving very nicely. Then he put his feet into them and Prabhupada was wearing them. After the morning program, then Prabhupada went to leave wearing the shoes. I just wanted Prabhupada to touch his feet and I was going to take them, and Prabhupada took them and I was surprised. Prabhupada could see my surprise, and then he understood that I wanted them. So then he stopped and took them off, I could have them. But he was wearing them very nicely.

Interview DVD 08

Brahmananda: Prabhupada designed the Krishna and Balarama Deities, the mudra. He made a drawing and gave it to Baradraj to have it made in Jaipur. There is no Krishna Balarama Deity like this with Balarama resting His arm on Krishna’s shoulders. There is no Deity like that, Prabhupada made that design. And then he would joke about it, “Who is stronger, Krishna or Balarama?” Bala means strength, He is the strong one. And everyone would say “Balarama.” Then Prabhupada said, “Then why Balarama is resting on Krishna? This means Krishna is stronger.”

Prabhupada was invited to this convention of sadhus, so we all went. Of course, the whole thing was in Hindi. The first order of business, out of respect for Prabhupada, they voted Prabhupada to be the president of the convention. Of course, everyone had a chance to speak, but that also meant that the president would speak last. So Prabhupada had to sit…there were the Mauna people who don’t speak, they use chalkboards to write, and the Jains with their mouths covered, and then all the Mayavadis and the yogis and paramahamsas and everyone, they were talking, and then Prabhupada. I don’t know how he sat through all of this stuff. Then finally at the end, they asked Prabhupada to speak. And Prabhupada, he spoke in Hindi but, oh, he was so animated and he was quoting slokas, and you could tell he was giving them the sauce. From the slokas we could understand, “Bhagavatam kicks out cheating religion.” They were all quiet, they couldn’t say anything. Of course, in the end then Prabhupada said, “What is the use of these conventions? They talk about unity and peace, but they’ll never achieve it. They all have their own idea. Unless they surrender to Krishna, how can there be any unity?”

Interview DVD 09

Brahmananda: The first time that Prabhupada came to the new Los Angeles temple, it was done so nicely with all the marble, all the decorations, flowers being showered down and playing Yamuna’s Govindam, and then Prabhupada went up to his apartment. Bhavananda had done the painting – blue walls, the white ceiling and the orange curtains. That was the standard. It was so nice with the incense and I said, “Prabhupada, this is heaven.” And Prabhupada looked at me and he grimaced. He said, “Heaven? This is Vaikuntha.” There was a big difference between heaven and Vaikuntha.

All across America wherever Prabhupada went, he would be taken to the park for the morning walk at six o’clock. And wherever he went, we’d see the parks were empty, not a single person. This is before the jogging craze, the health craze. So everywhere we went, the very nicely manicured parks taken care of, nobody was there. So Prabhupada is telling the story of the snake and the mouse. The mouse digs the hole and makes the little house, the hole in the ground. Then the snake comes along, goes into the hole, eats the mouse, and then lives comfortably in the hole. The snake can’t make the hole. The mouse had to work very hard, but the snake is enjoying it. So Prabhupada was saying that we get up early in the morning, that’s our religion, and we have these very nice parks just for our use. They are maintaining it at their expense, labor, and we are enjoying it.

Interview DVD 10

Brahmananda: Prabhupada was always traveling economy class. So I got the bright idea that Prabhupada should travel first class. So we were going to Mauritius from Bombay. So I arranged for them to get first class seating for Prabhupada and his servant, and the rest of the party they would fly economy. As it was, Prabhupada had me sit with him in first class. So we were sitting there, and there is this huge seat. And then they come around to serve the meals, they have this trolley. And on the trolley is a big side of beef, and they’re carving it to order. This is the luxury. Then they come around with the bar with champagne and wine and liquor, and everybody is drinking. So then Prabhupada asked for prasadam they had packed, so we made a plate for Prabhupada. And the flight attendants, they saw all the nice prasadam, they were curious as to what these things were. And Prabhupada just ate a very little bit. Then he said, “Give to the flight attendants,” because they were expressing interest. So we started giving them things and they loved it, they thought this was great. They admitted that this food was much better. After we landed, Prabhupada called me in and said, “What is the value of flying first class? I don’t require a big seat, we don’t eat their food, we don’t drink their drinks, and you’re paying twice the amount. What is the use?”

This house for Prabhupada to stay was given by Mr. Madhvani, who actually was the sugar king of Uganda, Madhvani Sugar Mills. We found out that Mauritius doesn’t have a sugar refinery, that actually the sugarcane is crushed into juice and then that’s shipped to England and it’s refined in England. Then Mauritius has to buy sugar from England, although it’s growing all the sugarcane. So Prabhupada was telling them, “Why are you providing sugar for the British for their tea cups? Just so that you get money, and then with the money you buy electronic goods. You have to import everything because you’re not making anything.” And even food was imported. So Prabhupada said, “Instead of growing sugarcane you should be growing your own food, be self-sufficient in food. But you’re just being exploited.” It goes back to the colonial times and the British Empire. Prabhupada didn’t approve of cash crop. He approved of food crop. So this was something revolutionary, nobody ever told them this, and he told it also to the government officials that he met. This was part of the Krishna Consciousness Movement, to be self-sufficient, be self-sufficient in food. So Prabhupada had been invited by the Prime Minister, Mr. Ramgoolam. So Prabhupada came. But then after arriving, the Prime Minister had some sudden engagements and he had to postpone his meeting with Prabhupada.

If someone should offer something with meat, we will reject it immediately.

Coming here on Air India, the stewardess was very surprised why we weren’t… They had so much nice elaborate meals prepared, but we don’t take these things.

Oh, yes. You can go in America, any country, any city, and everyone will know Hare Krishna. We are getting…

Well, not unless they follow our movement. But those who have followed our movement… Recently there was one study that was published by a very eminent sociologist in America from the University of California, the Union Theological Center, and he stated in that book that the members of this movement, formerly they were drug-addicted hippies and now they have become servants of Krishna and humanity, loving servants. So he has given proof through intensive interviews that one who follows…joins this movement, dramatically his life becomes changed.

The Prime Minister sent his personal limousine with an army officer as a driver for Prabhupada’s personal use and Prabhupada, in the afternoon, he would go for rides. We were driving. I was sitting next to Srila Prabhupada, Pusta Krishna was in the front, and the roads were very narrow. And the sugarcane is very thick, and when you’re making turns you can’t see. We made one turn and head-on collision, just like that. There was no warning, nothing. It was a Volkswagen Beetle, a couple, a man and a woman. They were driving on the wrong side of the road. They were actually tourists from South Africa, they didn’t know which side to drive on, and it was bad. The driver was unconscious. Pusta, his head went through the windscreen. Prabhupada was bleeding on his leg, his dhoti was torn.

In Kenya, the Indians, they donated everything. I actually didn’t have to spend any money. Food and flowers and car, gasoline, because the Indians, they did all the commercial activity. I literally could just go to any store and whatever I wanted I could take. Prabhupada, when he came once he asked me am I keeping accounts. I said, “No, Prabhupada.” He said, “Oh, why you are not keeping?” I said, “Because I’m not spending anything.” He said, “Oh, that’s perfect accounting.” When I first came to Africa, I was afraid to preach to the Africans. I had been arrested in Turkey previously for having Harinam on the street. I had a bad experience in these other countries, these other cultures. So when Prabhupada came, he saw I was preaching only to the Indians. He didn’t like it at all and he said, “If you do not preach to the Africans, then I will do it.” And then he arranged with some Indian leaders to get a hall in an African area, and he told the devotees to just throw open the doors and have kirtan. They did that, and immediately the hall filled up with hundreds and hundreds of people. Prabhupada was just insistent on preaching to the Africans. He didn’t want any discrimination. Preaching should be done to the indigenous people, not just the Indians. “Indians, Europeans and Africans dancing together,” that was his final instruction to me.

Prabhupada was naming the temples at this time: New Nabadwip and New Dwaraka, New Hastinapur. So I asked Prabhupada to name Nairobi temple. I thought I would get some nice…New Vrindavan, whatever. Prabhupada named the temple Kirata-suddhi. Kirata comes from the Bhagavatam, that verse of Pulinda, Pulkasa, the Khasa, all the you might say non-Vedic races. Kirata is the aborigine. But they can also be purified by the pure devotee, prabhavishnu. And Kirata-suddhi means “the place for purifying the aborigines.” I really couldn’t put that on the sign on the front gate. But this is what Prabhupada wanted for Africa was preaching to the Africans.