Dayanidhi das Remembers Srila Prabhupada

Following Srila Prabhupada

Interview DVD 06

Dayanidhi: I was a very young student. I was 17 years old, and I was very much interested in looking for some serious answer, real answer. Because I was born in Assisi, I was willing to join the monks there. I started to become a monk. But then I became discouraged because everything was very mysterious, no answer to my questions about death, about life after death, no answer. I discovered the temple was very close to my house, a hundred meters. So they invited me for the Sunday Feast. Because they just arrived there I never saw them before. I went to the Sunday Feast, and practically I joined almost immediately. I stayed there up to midnight. Somaka prabhu was the devotee who was preaching to me, and immediately we became very close friends. After a month, Prabhupada arrived in the beginning of May. The first impression I had was that the devotees, they were working so hard for Prabhupada’s arrival, working day and night, especially Somaka prabhu. So much love the devotees had for Prabhupada, I never saw anything similar before, and that love impressed me even more when Prabhupada arrived because I remember there were many devotees coming from all over Europe. When he arrived, everybody crying. All the devotees, maybe 150 devotees, everybody crying, chanting and crying. Such a deep affection, such a deep love, and I saw a very, very deep relationship. What impressed me another thing that Prabhupada arrived in Rome coming from Delhi, from India. Immediately he went to the temple, and I was so impressed how very slowly he paid his obeisances with such deep devotion. We had Gaura-Nitai just installed a few days before. Immediately after he sat on the vyasasan, he gave a class, he gave a speech to the devotees. I thought he is coming from a long, long distance, he must be very tired and he was traveling in the night, but he was very fresh. Everybody was so enthusiastic, and it was such an unbelievable atmosphere. I was becoming convinced very quickly that he was in touch with God. So I got such clear information from Prabhupada’s philosophy. I became immediately convinced by the philosophy. When I saw Prabhupada, I saw a very, very powerful person and my eyes, my heart, my consciousness became completely attracted. That week changed completely my life, completely, and I can see after more than 30 years that Prabhupada has become the main thing in my life. The day I became initiated I felt not part anymore of this world. I had the fortune to distribute Prabhupada’s books for many years. I always faced many difficulties. They put me in jail. As soon as I joined, I served a month in jail because I was doing sankirtan on the street. I was one year in Greece doing sankirtan on the street, a couple of times somebody tried to kill me with a knife. But I don’t feel difficulties thanks to Prabhupada’s mercy. He completely changed my life forever.