Jayadvaita Swami Remembers Srila Prabhupada
Prabhupada Memories
Interview 01
Jayadvaita Swami: A standard Sunday feast menu included a few different kinds of rice—pushpanna, white rice, and maybe one other. There would be a wet subji like Prabhupada’s cauliflower and potatoes and a dry subji and sometimes some other subji also. There were always spicy cauliflower and pea samosas, cooked dry, and a couple different kinds of pakoras. There were white puris, different kinds of noodles, a few different chutneys—plum, apple, raisin, pineapple; and a variety of sweets like simply wonderfuls, halava, sweet rice, and gulabjamans. People were jolly. No wonder people joined; you’d have to be nuts not to join. The Sunday feast was not a small thing.
Many years later, book distribution was a big thing, and Prabhupada said one person could remain at the temple. Everyone else could go distribute his books. In some places the managers got the idea that the feast should be cut down, and they started having four or five preparations so that one person could cook everything and everybody else could distribute books. Prabhupada wrote a letter about that and said, “No, it should be opulent. The feast program should go on full strength.” |
To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 15 - The 1996 NYC and LA Reunions
Interview 02
Jayadvaita Swami: I didn’t go on many morning walks with Srila Prabhupada because I was a rank-and-filer. Mostly I used to watch the sannyasis and GBC men pile into the cars to go off for the walk, but sometimes I went. Once, as Srila Prabhupada was walking on Venice Beach, I said, “Srila Prabhupada, everyone says that since you’ve come the Deities look even more beautiful.” Prabhupada said, “That is my anxiety.” I didn’t know how to process that. I stayed silent. Then Prabhupada said, “That is my anxiety, that after I leave you will neglect the Deity worship and everything will be spoiled.”
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To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 32 - Jagadatri dd, Giriraj Swami and 6 others
Interview 03
Jayadvaita Swami: When I first joined, all day I drove the devotees mad with questions, “Here it says this but there it says that, and what about this and what about that?” I was loaded with questions. When Srila Prabhupada came, some of my questions had been addressed, but I still had questions for Prabhupada. One was “How does the spiritual master know what the disciple is doing?” The intention of my question was essentially, “If you do something and the spiritual master is not physically there, how does the spiritual master know what you’re doing so that he’ll be pleased and give you credit for it?” Srila Prabhupada answered in a different way. He said, “The face is the index of mind. So, when you are making spiritual progress, everyone can see.” Sometimes Prabhupada would say many things on his walks, but on the first walk I went on he mostly chanted japa on his beads. On that walk I asked him, “Since Vyasadeva was present when Bhagavad-gita was spoken, why does Krishna say to Arjuna that over the course of time the knowledge of Bhagavadgita was lost?” Srila Prabhupada answered, “That meant that the knowledge was not generally known.” When Srila Prabhupada came from Hawaii, he began his lecture by mentioning that a local paper, the Honolulu Advertiser, had run an article saying, “The swami is a small man, but he has got a big message.” Prabhupada was quite happy with that. On one engagement, a knowledgeable student, perhaps a grad student, asked a question in the context of advaita philosophy. He asked about the soul merging into the Supreme the way the drop of water merges into ocean water, and from the way he asked, it seemed that this idea seemed right to him. Prabhupada answered that the drop merges with the ocean but when the sun comes the drop evaporates and is no longer in the ocean. To merge is a temporary situation. But if you become an aquatic, then you can dive in the ocean and remain there always. Srila Prabhupada said that our philosophy is to merge deep into the ocean and at the same time maintain our individuality. Hardly anyone had come to this engagement except this one intelligent person who asked a question that Prabhupada brilliantly answered. At an evening program in New York, Rukmini asked, “If Lord Chaitanya is Krishna, how did He show the six opulences?” Srila Prabhupada briefly answered, but the next morning he called an istagosthi, which meant a discussion of Krishna-katha. Later istagosthi came to mean a gripe session or a management meeting, but Prabhupada’s idea of istagosthi was a discussion about Krishna consciousness. For Prabhupada to call an istagosthi was unusual. I don’t recall any other time when Prabhupada had a meeting in the morning. But we all came. Prabhupada led kirtan, and then he said, “About Rukmini’s question,” and he answered it in detail. He mentioned how Lord Chaitanya was beautiful. He said, “People were attracted to fair skin, and Lord Chaitanya was very fair-skinned. He was called Gaurasundar.” And “He was learned also, so He was known as Nimai Pandit.” In that way Prabhupada described the Lord’s different opulences. Then he said, “Lord Chaitanya’s main opulence was His renunciation,” and he explained how Lord Chaitanya left His wife, Vishnupriya, and His elderly mother. Prabhupada emphasized that opulence of Lord Chaitanya. One time Srila Prabhupada asked me, “Why are you so skinny?” I said, “I don’t know, Srila Prabhupada.” Satsvarupa Maharaj, the temple president, gave me some little booklets about Krishna that were published by a well-known spiritual press in India, and said, “Could you ask Srila Prabhupada whether it’s all right to read these booklets?” I went into Srila Prabhupada’s room with the booklets and I asked Srila Prabhupada, “Is it all right to read these?” Srila Prabhupada said, “It is not required.” Prabhupada’s meaning was “no,” but I didn’t understand that because in my experience elective subjects were optional and required subjects were obligatory. So I said to Srila Prabhupada, “All right, they’re not required, but is it all right to read them?” We went back and forth that way a couple of times before I understood that “not required” means if it’s not required, why do it? Forget it. The answer was no. Prabhupada spoke in a Harvard classroom, and the professor, who was Indian, raised a question about Krishna and the gopis. Prabhupada became stern and strong with him, and the thrust of Prabhupada’s response was “Krishna and the gopis are above your head. What is your qualification to understand these things? You are misunderstanding—you are taking it as mundane. Try to understand from Bhagavad-gita—Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” Prabhupada’s eyes were flashing and he became animated. “This person is talking about Krishna and the gopis in some academic context. What does he know? What right does he have to talk about Krishna and the gopis?” A young hairdresser named Eddie, who was a follower of some yogi, became attracted to Srila Prabhupada. Eddie was from New York, but he came to Boston to be with Srila Prabhupada, and he brought some friends with him. Eddie would help Prabhupada put his shoes on and off, and Prabhupada said to him, “You are nice.” On one morning walk, Eddie asked Srila Prabhupada if he could be initiated. Prabhupada said, “First you should know the philosophy. If today you come on sentiment, tomorrow you will leave on sentiment,” which is what happened. Eddie didn’t stay. Once, an elderly gentleman came to the temple with a letter from Srila Prabhupada that he’d received in Prabhupada’s absence, and the letter said, “When I come to New York, then you can see me and we will discuss.” Brahmananda had me take the gentleman over to Srila Prabhupada’s apartment at 26 Second Avenue, a block or two away from the temple. The gentleman was respectful. He said to Srila Prabhupada, “Swamiji, I like your teachings, but one of your disciples said that you said such-and-such person is a rascal,” and he mentioned a big spiritual person from India. The man said, “It seems to me that he’s a holy person. I don’t understand why you’d say he’s a rascal.” Prabhupada said, “Who has said this?” The man said, “You didn’t say that?” Prabhupada said, “If he says that I have said that and I have not said it, then he is a rascal.” The man became settled—he was relieved that Prabhupada hadn’t said that. Then Prabhupada took a little blue hardbound volume from his shelf and opened it. He showed the book to the man and said, “Do you know this book?” The man said, “Dr. Thus-and-so. Vedanta Society! Oh, yes!” He was pleased. Prabhupada opened the book and said, “Read this verse.” The verse was man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru. The man read, “Always think of Me, become My devotee, offer your homage to Me, worship Me.” Prabhupada said, “Yes, he is a very good scholar, he has translated the verse nicely. Now what does the commentary say? Read.” The man began reading, “It is not to Krishna that we have to surrender but to the all-pervading unborn within Krishna.” Prabhupada said, “Just see! Therefore, I say they are all rascals.” Then Prabhupada quoted, na mam duskrtino mudhah prapadyante naradhamah, mayayapahrta-jnana asuram bhavam asritah: “Anyone who doesn’t surrender to Me is a miscreant, the lowest of men, his knowledge is stolen by illusion, he is demonic in nature.” Prabhupada explained all of these words at length and said, “I am not saying they are rascals, Krishna is saying it. What can I do?” After Srila Prabhupada initiated a large group of devotees at 61 Second Avenue, he walked back to his apartment gravely, with his head held characteristically high, while ecstatic barefoot devotees blissfully danced behind him. At first Srila Prabhupada didn’t say anything. Then he said, “We have increased the disciplic succession from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.” Prabhupada once quoted and explained a verse from Caitanya Bhagavat about muchi and suchi. He said that muchi is a cobbler, the lowest class of man, who skins animals and uses the skins to make shoes, and suchi is the most pure, the brahman. But the person who is suchi becomes muchi—yadi krsna tyaje, if he gives up Krishna consciousness; and the person who is muchi becomes suchi, yadi krsna bhaje, if he takes up Krishna consciousness. Prabhupada liked that verse. He also said if a person claims “I am brahman because I was born in a brahman family,” that means, “I have brahman skin.” Srila Prabhupada said, “He is a skin dealer, that’s all. That means he is muchi. He is thinking, ‘I am brahman,’ but he is a skin dealer: ‘Oh, I have got brahman skin.’_” At one point a German disciple named Uttama-sloka came to 61 Second Avenue and related some of his experiences with Srila Prabhupada. He said that Srila Prabhupada had told him, “Just try to hear yourself chant sincerely.” While in New Vrindavan, Prabhupada said that Krishna is light and maya is darkness, and he gave an example. He said that if you hold your palm up it’s in the light. And when you turn your palm down it’s in darkness. It’s up to us whether we turn toward Krishna or away from Krishna. Therefore, we’re called marginal energy—we can turn either way. At that time the devotees had purchased a cow, but they hadn’t purchased the calf the cow had just had, and the cow was crying. In the pasture the cow ran the length of her body through the electric fence, searching, “Where is my calf?” After that, Prabhupada told them to get the calf also, but it was not possible. On some later occasions Prabhupada mentioned, “They say that the animal has no soul, but just see how the cow is crying for her calf.” When Srila Prabhupada came to Boston in December of 1969, he stayed in a little house in a suburb a long distance from the temple. The winter was not agreeing with Prabhupada. He had a serious cold, but he called the devotees who were involved with Back to Godhead magazine—Hayagriva and Satsvarupa Maharaj (they were co-editors), Pradyumna, Kirtanananda Maharaj, and me—to his house for a meeting. Before this meeting we just “did things,” but at this time Prabhupada wanted to train us in how to have a meeting. We went through snowcovered, winding roads to Prabhupada’s house, and he started the meeting by having a kirtan, and after that there was some discussion. Several times in different venues Prabhupada repeated that pattern, that in a meeting you first have kirtan and then you discuss. At this meeting Prabhupada explained the BTG editorial policy. He said that there are four levels of Krishna consciousness. The first level is how to awaken someone to Krishna consciousness. People are sleeping in illusion, in maya, so we have to awaken them. Then the second stage is how to train them to be Krishna conscious. Someone comes forward: “Swamiji, please accept me, please initiate me.” So the second stage is training. Then the third stage is to understand Krishna’s different energies, as in the Radha-Krishna lila. And the fourth stage, Prabhupada said, is the paramahamsa stage, to be always absorbed in thinking of Krishna. Prabhupada said that Back to Godhead should be on the first two stages—how to awaken and how to train someone. Subjects like Radha-Krishna are not meant for the general public. Either Pradyumna or Kirtanananda Maharaj asked if we could publish Brahma-samhita in Back to Godhead, and Prabhupada was not very much in favor of this idea, because Brahma-samhita is very dense. Then Prabhupada said we could publish it “in small installments.” He said, “It will puzzle their brains,” and he said, “My spiritual master used to speak from the highest elevated platform.” As Prabhupada was speaking, somehow it seemed to me that the room filled with effulgence. From the way Prabhupada spoke with such regard for his spiritual master, I pictured his spiritual master speaking from a high throne. Then Prabhupada began telling the story of how he had been dragged by his friend, Narendranath Mullik, and had met his spiritual master, how one thing led to another and Prabhupada came to the West. Prabhupada said, “Even when my spiritual master spoke in Bengali I could not understand. But I would go on hearing. That was my policy. And my spiritual master noticed that ‘This boy likes to hear.’ I would understand or not understand, but I would go on hearing. And because I was enthusiastic about hearing, sravanam, now I am enthusiastic about preaching, kirtanam.” When Ratha-yatra was coming up in 1969, Srila Prabhupada was in San Francisco, and we were at ISKCON Press in Boston, working on the Second Canto and other things. Some devotees thought that all the Press workers could pile in a van, drive across the country in two days, be with Srila Prabhupada for the Ratha-yatra, and then turn around, come back to Boston and keep going. Somehow this idea came to Srila Prabhupada’s attention and Prabhupada said, “What do they want to come here for? They should go on with their work, their prescribed duties.” From that we understood that association with the spiritual master is not just by physical proximity but also by our devotional service. We can be with the spiritual master by serving him. It was around 1969 that it became important to identify Srila Prabhupada as the Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. At first Srila Prabhupada was known as A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, then he was A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and then A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. The Founder-Archarya part began while we were publishing the Second Canto in chapter-by-chapter booklets. From the West Coast we heard that we were supposed to write Founder-Archarya. But the message was garbled, so we only printed “Founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.” Prabhupada was upset with us. Then another message came and we reprinted. We ran a black line through “Founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness” and put “Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.” Again it was wrong. Finally we got it right—“Founder- Acharya”— and since then that’s been there. Prabhupada foresaw that his position as Founder-Acharya should be well established. Later, when the Press was in Los Angeles, Srila Prabhupada passed by our newly occupied BBT building and saw the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust sign without “Founder-Acharya” underneath it. Even though Radha-vallabha, who was in charge, had the letters in a box, ready to go (they just hadn’t been put up yet), he got blasted by Srila Prabhupada: “Why is this missing?” Prabhupada considered it crucial. In fact, at one point he issued a letter to all the centers that on all the letterhead, on all the cards, on all the publications of the Society, this line had to be there, “Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.” Prabhupada foresaw how significant and important it would be for us and for others to understand the Society properly with its Founder-Acharya. ISKCON Press was in Brooklyn in 1974, and one day when Srila Prabhupada was there he called me into his quarters. His head was freshly shaved, and he was sitting on a platform looking regal and aristocratic. He asked me about the Press manager, Advaita das: “I have heard that Advaita is not attending the programs. Is that fact?” I didn’t want to be a tattletale, but I admitted that it was probably so. Prabhupada said, “Go over there and tell them to close the Press. We do not need this Press. If they cannot come to the programs, better to close the Press.” Up to that time, Prabhupada had been putting tremendous emphasis on the importance of our Press activities. He had given money for it, and the Press devotees were working hard. It was very important to Prabhupada that we keep up our sadhana, our standard devotional activities. Another time Srila Prabhupada was having his massage in his Henry Street quarters in Brooklyn. Someone had gotten him a little vibrator, and Prabhupada’s assistant was massaging Prabhupada with it. Then Baradraj Prabhu came in to ask questions about the paintings. But Prabhupada had an issue to take up with Baradraj. Prabhupada said, “What are these bust pictures?” Prabhupada was referring to paintings of the acharyas that portrayed only their head and shoulders. Prabhupada didn’t consider those paintings appropriate, and he instructed Baradraj that their full forms should be shown. He said, “The paintings are not for decoration, they are for worship.” He said, “Vande guroh sri” (I offer obeisances to the spiritual master), and he pointed to his foot, “…caranaravindam” (beginning with the lotus feet). Sai was a young American yogi and guru who had his own Krishna consciousness movement and who, in July of 1971, surrendered to Srila Prabhupada and later became Siddhasvarupananda. Many of his followers came to New York, and Srila Prabhupada held initiations for them. They already had devotee names—the girls had poetic names like Lalita and Radharani—but Prabhupada gave them completely different names like Chaya (which means “shadow”), names of Durga, and names of Maya, the illusory energy. Prabhupada named one girl Maha-maya, and some of the devotees laughed. Prabhupada said, “Don’t laugh. It is serious.” Prabhupada said that several times at initiations. Devotees would say, “Ohhh!” and they’d laugh, but Prabhupada would say, “You should be grave, it is serious.” To this devotee, Maha-maya, Prabhupada said, “Maha-maya is another face of Radharani.” In the summer, when Prabhupada came to New York City, devotees from many different centers also came there, and Prabhupada performed many mass initiations. Once there was a large initiation, many first initiates, many second initiates, and Srila Prabhupada asked the temple presidents and GBC men, “Have you scrutinized these lists? For first initiation we can be lenient, but for the second initiation we should be a little strict.” So the presidents cut names from the second-initiation list. When one New York devotee’s name was cut he became completely passionate and threw a tantrum. “What do you mean I’m not qualified to be a brahman?” Prabhupada knew what he was doing. One of the earliest devotees was named Rayarama. He joined before Satsvarupa Maharaj and many of the others, and he was impressive and dedicated to helping Srila Prabhupada. He and Hayagriva were the first editors of Back to Godhead, and he was the original editor for Teachings of Lord Chaitanya. Rayarama knew the philosophy better than anyone, at least in New York, because he was practically the only devotee who’d read all the books, and he used to be terrifyingly good in answering questions. Hippies and others would come and he would speak with them expertly. I was typing in Rayarama’s office, but in 1968 or early 1969, after I’d been around for a few months, Rayarama left the Society. Then in 1971, when we were at Henry Street and ISKCON Press was on Tiffany Place, he showed up at the Press. He said that he wanted to come back, and he wrote a letter to Srila Prabhupada that “I want to do some service, I want to join again.” I thought Srila Prabhupada would be happy if such a long-lost devotee returned to the Society. However, from Rayarama’s letter to him, Prabhupada detected that his materialistic mentality was still there. Srila Prabhupada wrote, “I welcome you for your coming back to our Society and you are feeling very nicely for the association of devotees,” and then Prabhupada explained, “Devotee means who are following the regulative principles. One cannot be independent and at the same time become a devotee, because all devotional activities are based on surrender. So in the association of devotees we learn this important item—how to surrender, but if we keep our independence and try to become devotees, that is not possible . . . If you want to live with us you must accept temple life, namely cleanly shaven head, observing the regulative principles, decorating the body with tilak, etc. You know all these things. As far as your editorial work is concerned, I welcome your good service but if you do not follow temple life and Deity worship, it will set a bad example.” Prabhupada ended his letter with, “To associate with me you are always welcome but not with your independence. That will not help me or you.” I think Srila Prabhupada knew that his letter meant Rayarama would say, “Well, then I can’t join.” But Prabhupada laid it on the line, “If you want to join and surrender, then you are welcome back full-heartedly. But if you want to join but not really join, if you want to join but keep a separate mentality, to have your own agenda, then why do it? Why cheat?” Rayarama left, and we never saw him again. We had been sending Srila Prabhupada photocopies of the layouts of the Fourth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, the pastimes of Dhruva Maharaj, and when he was on Henry Street Srila Prabhupada called me into his office. He was looking at a photocopy and said, “Why is it ‘Lord Manu?’” I said, “I don’t know, Srila Prabhupada. It shouldn’t be Lord Manu?” Prabhupada said, “Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva. But Lord Manu? No, it shouldn’t be.” Later I went back to the original tape, and the reason it was Lord Manu is that Prabhupada had said Lord Manu. So, trying to extract the purport, I took it as an instruction that Prabhupada wanted the editors to be scrutinizing. That was the word Prabhupada used most often for editors. Perhaps there was nothing wrong in those pages, but Prabhupada picked that point—“Why Lord Manu?”—to emphasize that the editors should be careful, that nothing should be passed over quickly. When the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam was published in 1972, Satsvarupa Maharaj and I noticed that there were things in that edition that didn’t match what was in Prabhupada’s original Bhagavatams. We mentioned this to Srila Prabhupada, and Prabhupada said, “Just print it.” Prabhupada did not want the book production slowed down, especially since the books were ready to print. So we printed. Prabhupada said nothing further about it, and we said nothing further about it. But in 1975 or ’76 I did a review of the First Canto of the Bhagavatam, and I saw that there were many places, especially in the translations to the first two chapters, where there were major discrepancies—the translations for Sanskrit words were missing or wrongly stated. Although the editor had done a wonderful service to Srila Prabhupada and to the readers, we thought the first two chapters, in particular, had been edited to less of a standard than they deserved. After all, they had been edited before Prabhupada instituted daily chanting of the Sanskrit verses and the word-for-word synonyms in Bhagavatam classes—that came a little later—and all of us, including the editor, were not very familiar with the books. So, I went through the First Canto with special attention to the first two chapters, and I did a revision especially on the translations for those two chapters. I typed them up, put them in an envelope, and when Srila Prabhupada visited the 55th Street temple in New York, I went to his room to leave it for him to approve or disapprove. I had written a cover letter saying what I’d done, and I thought, “I’ll just leave this here and come back or wait for a reply.” But Srila Prabhupada was sitting there. I offered my obeisances, said what I was there for, and Prabhupada had me start reading the revised translations. Prabhupada listened attentively as I read the first two, three, four verses. Then he stopped me and said, “So what have you done?” I said, “Srila Prabhupada, I went through the verses and revised them, mainly to make them closer to what you originally said.” Prabhupada said, “What I have said?” I said, “Yes, Srila Prabhupada.” Prabhupada said, “Then it is all right.” Sometimes we think that everything Prabhupada said was about Krishna, but Prabhupada sometimes talked about other things. He’d talk about British history and there would be no apparent connection to Krishna consciousness. Once Prabhupada went on a walk in Central Park in New York City, and when the devotees came back I asked them, “What did Prabhupada talk about?” The first devotee I asked said, “He told the story of The Merchant of Venice.” I said, “What was the point?” He said, “He just told the story.” I thought there must have been some point. I went to another devotee who had been on the walk: “What did Prabhupada talk about?” “He talked about The Merchant of Venice and told the story.” “What was the point?” “He just told the story.” What happened was that in Central Park Prabhupada had seen a statue of Daniel Webster, the famous American statesman, and had said, “Oh, Daniel has come,” and there’s a line in The Merchant of Venice, “A veritable Daniel,” and then Prabhupada started telling the story of The Merchant of Venice. There was no purport, he just told the story, and that was it. Srila Prabhupada was conversant with English literature and English history, and sometimes he talked about those things. A pure devotee has the prerogative of talking about whatever he wants to talk about. Another time I was in the car with Srila Prabhupada when we were driving back to Henry Street after a walk near the East River in Brooklyn. As we pulled up to the temple, on the corner of the street we saw a man lift a little boy so the boy could put a letter in the mailbox. The whole vignette just lasted for five or ten seconds, but Prabhupada, seeing this from the car, became absorbed in the scene. His eyes got large and brilliant, and nothing else was on his attention. I thought, “Maybe Prabhupada is remembering something from his childhood in Calcutta . . .” Then the man put his boy down, and Prabhupada said, “On his own the little boy cannot do, but when the affectionate father helps, then it is possible.” So on our own, what power do we, the living entities, have? But when the Lord or the spiritual master gives affectionate help, then it becomes possible. When Srila Prabhupada went to San Francisco for Ratha-yatra in July of 1975, Krishna das was there. As a young man, Krishna das had gone to Germany, done a lot of nice service, and then had drifted away. Now he had come to be with Prabhupada and perhaps revive his service spirit. On a morning walk at that time, Srila Prabhupada talked about many subjects, and one of them was the feeling of separation from the spiritual master. Krishna das said, “Srila Prabhupada, you must always be feeling separation from your Guru Maharaj.” His statement was a prompt—it was a way of saying, “Srila Prabhupada, could you speak about your feelings of separation from your Guru Maharaj?” Prabhupada responded, “That you do not require,” which was Prabhupada’s idiomatic way of saying, “None of your business,” but he didn’t say it in a mean or abrasive way. Then Prabhupada got in his car and left. Sometimes I used to take a break from my stationary position as an editor to travel, especially to visit colleges with Satsvarupa Maharaj and his Library Party. In the course of this traveling, in the summer of 1976 we went to Detroit to be with Srila Prabhupada. We talked to Srila Prabhupada about what we were doing, and I said, “Srila Prabhupada, it’s so difficult to convince the students to give up sense gratification.” Prabhupada said, “We do not say give up—but regulate.” In that way he corrected my understanding and also indicated how we should present the philosophy. Other times Prabhupada gave the example that sense gratification is like salt: too much salt and you can’t eat; too little salt and you also can’t eat. It has to be regulated. The Detroit temple had been purchased with funds given by Ambarish Prabhu and Lekhasravanti dasi. Since her father had been a leading labor leader in Detroit, Lekhasravanti was well connected, and once she brought a very respectful black gentleman, Jackie Vaughn, a member of Michigan’s House of Representatives, to meet Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada received him very cordially. Detroit is an opulent temple with beautiful Gaura-Nitai Deities, Jagannatha Deities, and Sri Sri Radha-Kunjabihari, tall marble Deities. Kunjabihari is black marble, and Radharani is white marble. Srila Prabhupada said to this gentleman, “Krishna is black and we worship Him. You have seen our Deity? The gentleman had been brought to the temple so he said, “Yes.” Prabhupada said, “Yes. Krishna is also coming from your community. One year in Mayapur we lived in the Lotus Building while it was still under construction—the roof was unfinished cement and rebar. That year a devotee named Gayatri dasi from Gainesville came to Mayapur with a cake she’d baked, and the sannyasis, as the senior guys, commandeered and consumed this cake. But Gayatri had traveled from Miami to London to Delhi to Calcutta and then she’d driven to Mayapur—so many days of traveling and so much hot sun—and this cake had become poison. The sannyasis were laid out on the roof of the Lotus Building writhing in pain, retching and wretched. I was glad I was just a brahmachari. But what should we do? These men could die. Should we take them to the hospital? Prabhupada said they should regularly take some Deity charanamrita and they would be all right. And they were. Once, Radha-vallabha and I were standing with Srila Prabhupada on the veranda in Mayapur. It was warm weather, and Prabhupada, standing in the sunlight, had a freshly shaved head and was wearing only an uttariya to cover his chest. Prabhupada rubbed his head in a characteristic way and said, “Anything good you want to do, you’ll have to go through so much trouble.” On one walk we suddenly came to a kind of a mandap, a raised concrete platform with a tin roof over it, where music was playing. Prabhupada got on the mandap, and when he saw a deity of Durga there he offered his full dandavats before her and then sat on his knees, looked at the deity, and quoted srsti-sthitipralaya- sadhana-saktir eka, chayeva yasya bhuvanani bibharti durga, that Durga is conducting her affairs in obedience to the order of Govinda. Prabhupada said, “We are also offering respect to Durga, but not like materialists who ask her, ‘Give me this, give me this, give me this.’ The gopis were worshiping Katyayani, which means Durga, that ‘My dear goddess, you always carry out Krishna’s orders. You are Krishna’s devotee and are very dear to Him. Please benedict us to be engaged in Krishna’s service.’ In that way,” Prabhupada said this feelingly; practically he had tears in his eyes, offering respect to Durga in relationship to Krishna. Although his health was quite poor, Srila Prabhupada regularly attended guru-puja in Bombay. Once he said, “You should attend guru-puja; it’s very important.” He explained the song sri-guru-carana-padma, and at one point he came to a line and said, “What is that line? Every day you are singing these verses, but you do not know what they mean.” He was cross with us. He considered guru-puja very significant. The last Bombay pandal program that Srila Prabhupada attended was March 23 and 24 in 1977. Srila Prabhupada’s health was extremely bad. He was so weak that he couldn’t get onto the stage on his own strength. Bhavananda and Tamal Krishna Maharaj would carry Prabhupada onto the stage and deposit him on the asana. The first day Prabhupada seemed to have no energy. He had Bhavananda read from the Second Canto of Bhagavatam, sva-vid-varahostra-kharaih samstutah purusah pasuh, and then Prabhupada spoke. His opening words were “I have come to encourage you and be encouraged by you.” Prabhupada didn’t say much, just a little, and then he had Bhavananda read more, and Prabhupada sat, exhausted. Bhavananda read, Prabhupada said a few words, Bhavananda read, Prabhupada said a little more, Bhavananda read more, and then Prabhupada said more. Soon Prabhupada was speaking and speaking, and soon he was roaring. Prabhupada got so inspired that he began preaching with triple strength, and by the end of the lecture he was full of power and energy and strong preaching. He finished his talk—and then called for questions. One person said, “When chanting, you chant the name of Rama as well as Krishna. I see a picture of Krishna, but I do not see any picture of Rama.” Prabhupada said, “The name is there.” And again the man was saying, “But there’s no picture.” And Prabhupada said, “But the name is there!” Prabhupada just strongly preached that there’s no difference between the name and the person whose name it is, and he just drove that point home. Another time at this pandal program, a person with a sophisticated, intellectual demeanor said, “Sir, can you prove by logic that there is God?” Prabhupada said, “You do not know what is logic.” Again the man said, “Sir, can you prove by logic that there is God?” Prabhupada said, “You do not know what is logic!” And a third time, “Sir, by logic can you prove. . . ?” “You do not know what is logic. There is a mother, material nature, and there are children, the living entities. Therefore, there must be a father. That’s logic. Now take it.” The crowd cheered. It was great how Prabhupada finished: “That’s logic. Now take it.” Prabhupada talked about how one could become an animal in the next life, and a man stood up and said, “If I become an animal, I’ll have the consciousness of an animal, and I’ll be happy living as an animal—it will not be bad.” Prabhupada said, “If it is not bad, then that is all right.” Then he paused and said, “But we do not think that kind of life is very nice.” The man sat down. Once Prabhupada was sitting in an airport with the devotees, and someone brought prasadam. They offered it to Srila Prabhupada, Prabhupada took a little, and then he said, “Now distribute.” Many devotees were in the airport, and many other people were there also. A devotee asked, “Should we distribute the prasadam to the general public?” Prabhupada said, “No, charity begins at home.” At one of Prabhupada’s airport departures a devotee toddler walked a few steps away to explore the airport. Prabhupada said, “Oh, he is very brave.” After a few more steps the child looked around, and when he didn’t see his mother his face withered, and he began to cry. Prabhupada said, “That’s like our position—we want to become independent, but when we become independent we are in so much difficulty.” Once, in ISKCON’s early years, when Achyutananda Maharaj and two others were the only ISKCON devotees in India, Achyutananda Maharaj sent us an article of some discussions that he’d had with His Holiness Sridhar Maharaj. He included a cover letter to explain the article, and he said that Sridhar Maharaj was Prabhupada’s siksa guru. Satsvarupa Maharaj wrote to Srila Prabhupada to ask if we should print these discussions with Sridhar Swami and if we should mention that “he is your siksa guru.” Prabhupada said that yes, the article could be printed, that the conclusions were in agreement, that it’s understood that if we publish something in our magazine we endorse the conclusions. He said, “But it should be B. R. Sridhar Maharaj. Sridhar Swami was another man.” (Sridhar Swami was the original commentator on Srimad-Bhagavatam.) And Srila Prabhupada said tersely, “There is no need of mentioning siksa guru in this connection.” In India, someone had improperly canvassed Achyutananda Maharaj to convince him that he needed a siksa guru, and Prabhupada understood that this was an attempt to alienate Achyutananda from Prabhupada and to bring him into some other society. Prabhupada had written to Achyutananda to leave that place and go to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, and he had instructed Achyutananda, “If you are actually serious to take instructions from a siksa guru, I can refer you to one who is most highly competent of all my God-brothers. This is B.R. Sridhar Maharaj, whom I consider to be even my siksa guru, so what to speak of the benefit that you can have from his association.” So that was the basis of the statement that Achyutananda Maharaj had written to us. But when it came to publishing in Back to Godhead that Srila Sridhar Maharaj is Prabhupada’s siksa guru, Prabhupada said, “There is no need of mentioning siksa guru in this connection.” There are various things that Prabhupada didn’t do that have somehow become ISKCON convention, and we can mention some of them. One is that it has become a fashion for devotees to place their brahman thread under their dhoti when they chant their gayatri mantra. It seems that someone read a statement saying that the thread should be covered with your cloth so it is not visible. But Srila Prabhupada never did that. Prabhupada sometimes chanted with his hand extended so you could see his fingers and his thread. Prabhupada didn’t put his hand under his dhoti to hide his thread. In my experience, Prabhupada always did kirtan in the same way. In the morning he would chant Gurvastakam, then the Panca Tattva mantra (srikrishna- caitanya prabhu nityananda sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaurabhakta- vrnda), then the Hare Krishna mantra, and then he would stop. He would begin very, very slowly, he would gradually, gradually, gradually build up speed, reach a crescendo, and then he would stop and chant the prema-dvani mantras. And in the evening in the old days, when there was kirtan Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Prabhupada would very slowly chant all of the verses of the Mangalacarana. Then he would chant the Panca Tattva mantra, then the Hare Krishna mantra, again gradually building up the tempo and then stopping. There was nothing else in Prabhupada’s kirtan. There were no nitai-gaura haribols; there were no Deity names. Prabhupada loved the Deities more than anyone, but he didn’t chant any names of particular Deities. These things were added later. Prabhupada never referred to Subhadra-devi as “Lady Subhadra.” Devotees seem to have picked that up from the British: If it’s Lord Randolph, then it must be Lady Such-and-such. But for Prabhupada it was always Subhadra-devi, never “Lady Subhadra,” any more than it was “Lady Radharani.” It’s not that because we refer to “Lord Jagannatha” it then becomes “Lady Subhadra,” and “Lord Krishna and Lady Radharani,” unless we’re going to enter into British titles of nobility with countesses and duchesses and so on. Someone asked Srila Prabhupada if the Universal Form was just for this universe or whether it encompassed many universes. Prabhupada said, “One universe is enough for you.” Prabhupada showed an exceedingly deep sense of duty. Many times he expressed that he was carrying out his duty to his spiritual master. I related that story of when Prabhupada conducted a big initiation and everyone was in ecstasy and Prabhupada said, “We have increased the parampara from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.” It was a matter of duty. Prabhupada was so balanced. He wasn’t carried away by giddy enthusiasm, he wasn’t depressed by setbacks, he wasn’t stopped by anything. He had a duty to perform, and he carried out that duty. As a matter of duty he accepted the personal praise and gifts that were offered to him and offered them to his spiritual master and, through the parampara, to Krishna. The translating and publishing that he did, his priorities, the way he trained his disciples, was all in line with the duty that he’d been given by his spiritual master. And Prabhupada performed that duty with such commitment. Prabhupada was very serious about the duties that he performed, and at the same time he was joyful, he was jolly. Prabhupada said that the first symptom of a selfrealized person is that he’s jolly. Prabhupada could tell jokes. He could make plays on words. He could relax and have a good time with the devotees. And he could be cutting. He could be withering when he wanted to criticize. He could be sarcastic. He could be insistent. He could be many things. But it was all in line with his duty as a servant of his spiritual master and a servant of Krishna. That quality of Srila Prabhupada’s stands out in my mind. |
To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 40 - Jayadvaita Swami
The full Prabhupada Memories Series can be viewed here and also at www.prabhupadamemories.com
Following Srila Prabhupada
Interview DVD 01
Jaiadvaita Swami: I remember one lecture Prabhupada gave there, he began saying om ajnana-timirandhasya... And then he just said, “Timirandhasya,” and he just lectured on that. He had his Bhagavatamopen to lecture on the Bhagavatamverse, but he didn’t lecture on that verse. He lectured on om ajnana-timirandhasya, he didn’t go beyond that, the importance of the spiritual master. There was one gentleman, an elderly gentleman, who walked one day into the temple and he had a letter from Prabhupada, and the letter said that “Dear Mr. such-and-such, so when I come to New York you can come see me.” OK. Brahmananda had me take him over to Prabhupada’s apartment a block or so away, and the man was very respectful. He was connected with a yoga society in New York. He said to Srila Prabhupada, “Swamiji, I like your movement very much, but one thing is that one of your disciples said that Swami such-and-such is a rascal. And it always seemed to me that he was a very holy man, and I don’t understand why your disciple would say that you said that he’s a rascal.” And Prabhupada said, “Who has said this?” And the man said, “You didn’t say?” Prabhupada said, “If they say that I have said and I have not said, then they are rascal.” So then the man was pacified. Then Prabhupada said a few things and Prabhupada pulled a book out of his bookshelf—a small hardbound blue book—and opened it up and gave it to the man. He said, “You know this book?” The man looked at it, “Oh, Swami such-and-such, Dr. such-and-such. Oh, Vedanta Society. Oh, yes,” and he was quite pleased at seeing something that he was familiar with. And Prabhupada opened it up and he said, “Read the translation.” The man read the translation, “Always think of Me, devote yourself to Me, worship Me, offer your homage to Me.” Prabhupada said, “Yes, he has done it nicely. He is very good scholar. Then the commentary, what does he say?” So the man began reading, “It is not to Krishna that we have to surrender but to the unborn impersonal…” something something. Prabhupada said, “Just see! Therefore, I say they are all rascals!” And then Prabhupada began explaining why such persons were rascals. He quoted, of course, “Na mam duskrtino mudhah prapadyante naradhamah, mayayapahrta-jnana asuram bhavam asritah, that they are the miscreants, lowest of mankind, their knowledge is stolen by illusion, they are demonic. Because just see, Krishna is saying Me and they are saying not Krishna. Therefore, I say.” Then Prabhupada said that “Sometimes strong words are needed to arouse a sleeping man.” Then Prabhupada said, “Anyway it is not my saying, it is Krishna saying.” Then Prabhupada gave a dismissive sort of shrug and he said, “What can I do?” Prabhupada did one initiation at 61 2nd Avenue, so Prabhupada was walking to his apartment. There’s still a photo of Srila Prabhupada walking surrounded by devotees chanting and dancing, and they’re having a really ecstatic kirtan. The fire yajna is completed, everybody’s initiated, people have their names, and Prabhupada is walking back to his apartment with his usual aristocratic gait with his head slightly raised and everyone’s chanting. Prabhupada didn’t say anything. Then Prabhupada just said, “We have increased the disciplic succession from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.” |