Harivilas: Harivilas das:When Prabhupada arrived at the airport in Paris, of course there were a lot of devotees there with flower garlands and so many things; and at the same time, the Indian ambassador to France arrived. It so happens that the French government did not send a proper welcome party for the ambassador, and one of the ladies that was supposed to do something ad hoc for the French government saw the devotees and she thought very quickly, “Well, we didn’t prepare anything, but they look like they’re prepared.” So she came up and begged the devotees if they would help out receive the ambassador and the devotees said yes because we already had garlands, we were dressed, we were doing kirtan. So a group of devotees accompanied the few French officials that came and welcomed the Indian ambassador to France and garlanded him and said Hare Krishna. The French officials that were there, especially the one lady, so appreciated that the devotees came at the last minute and really gave a welcome by which the ambassador felt very pleased and honored that she offered to help us out. The devotees very astutely said, “Well, our spiritual master has just come. Is there any way you could honor him?” She said, “I will do what I can,” and she arranged that Prabhupada be honored officially by the city of Paris and by one of the French city officials.
I remember going on a morning walk around the Bois de Boulogne in which there are some lakes, and I remember asking Prabhupada a question. I asked several questions, but one specific question was, “Srila Prabhupada, what does it mean to be humble?” And his answer was really incredible. He said, “Humility means that you are convinced beyond any doubt that there is nothing in this world, absolutely nothing in this world, not your money, not your family, not your fame, not your gun, not your education, nothing that will save you except the mercy of Krishna. When you are convinced like this, then you are humble.” And that explanation really impressed me. In other words, he was saying when you depend completely on Krishna and no longer rely on any material thing or formula as a backup, you have no longer any backup, just the mercy of Krishna, then you will actually be humble. So that was a wonderful explanation that he gave, and that stayed with me all these years because that is actually the foundation of humility in Krishna consciousness. And obviously Prabhupada was an example of that.
I had made friends several years before with a lady who had a circle of friends that met regularly. She had a center for esoterical and inter-religious dialogue. I had spoken at her center several times so she and I had become very good friends, and it turns out that she was a personal friend of Cardinal Danielou, the chief cardinal of the Catholic church of all of France. At that time, she was actually dying. I went to see her, and I begged her if she would do a favor for me. I told her that Srila Prabhupada was visiting and that he had been received by the city of Paris officially, and I begged her if she would please help us arrange a meeting with Cardinal Danielou and she agreed.
The devotees were amazed by the discussion because it showed that here is the top man in the Catholic Church, and he’s an intellectual. He’s not only a performer of ritual, but he’s a top intellectual. And in the presence of Prabhupada, he was not able to discuss significantly the topic of compassion and nonviolence. He was unable to comprehend the subject, and it made me realize why Srila Prabhupada agreed to meet such people. It was more for the devotees than any other reason because we were able to see that although these were big people in French society or in society, they actually were very small in comparison with a pure devotee of Krishna and that was important for the devotees to see.
The previous year Srila Prabhupada had come, we had organized a big festival for him. He had wanted us to install Deities. We we had a very small temple at that time. So when we finally secured this building in a very prestigious neighborhood and arranged for the Deities to come and then Srila Prabhupada to come for the installation, it was really a moment of great happiness and auspiciousness and a wonderful culmination of years of work doing sankirtan and so forth in Paris. So I remember walking to the temple that day, and I noticed outside peering in the windows was one gentleman. This was a gentleman that had been following our movement for years. When we were in the small apartment, he would come and ask us questions. He was a Christian and he would always try and discourage us by telling us, “Your movement has no hope. The French people won’t accept it at all.” So very clearly he was peering in the window trying to see what was happening. There was a large crowd milling around outside and inside. I said, “Oh, you’re here,” and he was surprised when I said that. I caught him looking in the window. He said, “Oh, how are you?” I said, “I’m fine. What are you doing here?” He said, “I just came to see what you’re doing.” I said, “Well, what do you think now?” And now Prabhupada is present and large numbers of devotees and a temple in a prestigious area of Paris, and he was livid. I said, “Well, you see, Krishna has a big plan for the French people and now you’re seeing it unfold, and it’s thanks to you also because you were always encouraging us,” and he almost choked when I said that. I said, “Yes, you were also encouraging because you kept coming and telling us there’s no hope and every time you said that, that gave us more hope to do something for our spiritual master.” So I just left it at that. So it was really wonderful walking into the temple and seeing all the fantastic preparations, and I remember just the sheer ecstasy of chanting Hare Krishna during the whole installation ceremony. All the devotees were very enthusiastic, inspired and in a great state of bliss with the presence of Prabhupada and the installation of Sri Sri Radha Paris-isvara. And the Deities were so beautiful, it was electrifying just seeing Them. They were just brilliantly shining and glowing, and every one of the devotees was also glowing.
During that fire yajna and the bathing of the Deities, I was a little bit obsessed with burning frankincense in the yajna. So I kept putting frankincense on cinders, and it caused a lot of smoke. Of course, it was very fragrant smoke and obviously auspicious. But Prabhupada kept looking at me, what am I doing with the fire. I kept continually putting more and more grains of frankincense so it kept filling the room with fragrant frankincense. I guess this was my way of sneaking in a yajna of incense as a precursor of my developing the business of Spiritual Sky, but it certainly led to a very successful business as well as, of course, the successful installation of the Deities.
After the installation, when Prabhupada did the arati…he performed arati for the Deities, and that really amazed all of us. I remember playing the mridanga and standing very close to Prabhupada. All the devotees were so happy—it was just incredible—and Prabhupada was meditating on Radha and Krishna while he was performing the arati. I had never seen Prabhupada perform arati before that, and it was quite an experience. He took his time and he meditated deeply on the Deities, and it infused everyone with deep spiritual ecstasy.
