Jagajivan das Remembers Srila Prabhupada

Prabhupada Memories

Interview 01

Jagajivan: In Mayapur and other places I started making 16 mm films of Srila Prabhupada. Sometimes I wouldn’t have film in the camera, but I would use it as a trick to go on the morning walks: “I’m filming.” The devotee in charge would say, “The camera crew is okay.” On one morning walk there was a pole sticking up with a bull’s path around it and Prabhupada said, “That pole is a griha.” The bull was connected to the pole and couldn’t leave the area. All our macho grihasthas out there are the bulls connected to the pole.

Some man said, “Buenos dias” to Prabhupada. Prabhupada asked Hridayananda Maharaj, “What is he saying?” Maharaj said, “That means ‘good day’ in Spanish.” Prabhupada said, “Ah, buenos dias.” Prabhupada began his Spanish speaking at that point. I was surprised and impressed because his pronunciation was perfect. Prabhupada was a great linguist.

We stopped near a concrete tank that had two crocodiles in it. I don’t know how but Prabhupada was able to distinguish which was the male and which was the female. Just as Prabhupada said, “This is the male,” that crocodile opened his huge mouth. Prabhupada said, “Ohhh, no food.” The timing was just right. Then Prabhupada said, “He is inviting us.” That was Srila Prabhupada’s humor.

In Caracas an Indian man was babbling on a lot of nonsense to Prabhupada. Prabhupada said, “One thing I want to tell you is that while you are speaking I am chanting Hare Krishna.” And you could see that Prabhupada was in fact chanting—his Adam’s apple was moving. Kirtaniyah sada hari, Prabhupada was constantly chanting Hare Krishna. Someone may say, “Did Prabhupada chant a fixed number of rounds?” But at that time I understood that Prabhupada was always chanting Krishna’s glories. He also may have been indirectly telling the man, “You are speaking nonsense and therefore I am chanting Hare Krishna.” Anyway, I understood that Prabhupada always chanted Hare Krishna.

Prabhupada stopped walking in front of some stool and said, “They think that dry stool is better than wet stool. Similarly, they say that dying a violent death is not good, but dying a quiet death is very good.”

I filmed Prabhupada speaking with two lawyers in Caracas. He preached to them about responsibility, about the differences between state law and the laws of nature, and about how in the state law sometimes you will not be convicted after you’ve done something wrong. But in the natural law, the law of nature, “If you kill an ant you will be prosecuted.”

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

Following Srila Prabhupada

Interview DVD 07

Jagajivan: Prabhupada actually cried when he looked at the Deities of Gaura-Nitai. This was during a lecture. He was saying how he was very touched that Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai had come so far away from the Holy Dham. Latin devotees are generally very emotional. So when Prabhupada started crying, it was very touching for all of us. Then some girl got up at one point and she said, “You know, there’s maya here in this temple.” So Prabhupada told her, “If you know there’s someplace where maya is not, let us go there immediately.