Jivananda: In 1975 before I met Srila Prabhupada, I was a businessman living in Tennessee while reading Prabhupada’s books, chanting and following the principles. In May of that year I decided to see Prabhupada in Chicago while I was there on a business trip. Prabhupada arrived and when he entered the temple room I really didn’t know what to expect. I was all ready to pay my obeisances because that’s what you do when you see Prabhupada. As Prabhupada walked in the front door and people were throwing flower petals in his wake, and as he walked past me, I was so amazed seeing Prabhupada that I was stunned and I didn’t pay my obeisances. Everyone else was on the floor but I was just engrossed in watching Prabhupada walk by. After he walked by, however, I paid my obeisances and followed him on into the temple room. I thought to myself, “So this is you! You’re the one that’s been talking to me in the Bhagavad-gita. Immediately it all worked. Sometimes if you see somebody, like an author, you think, “You don’t look like the guy that would write the mystery or whatever. But for me Prabhupada looked the part of the voice that was speaking to me in the Gita. I was amazed and thrilled to finally see Srila Prabhupada face to face.
In Chicago in 1975, Prabhupada was going to give a lecture at the Hindu center, one of the few Hindu centers in America. He started to give his lecture in Hindi, but in the back of the room there was a lot of talk and noise. Children were occasionally shrieking and being chastised by their parents. You could hear ladies talking amongst themselves and the men were talking over in another area. In other words, the Hindu community assumed the occasion was merely a social event. After a couple of minutes of this, Prabhupada stopped as he looked around at everyone in the back of the room. He then looked at his disciples who were sitting up front and he started his lecture again but this time in English. He felt as though he had come for the Hindu community’s benefit, but since they didn’t seem so interested, Srila Prabhupada shifted his attention to us, his children.
I remember one class when I was very sick in which Prabhupada was saying that if one chanted the maha mantra sincerely just one time, then he is not long for this world. I understood that to mean that probably our next birth, if not very soon, we’re out of here, we’re finished. He went on to explain that just one time is all it takes. I’ve realized Prabhupada, what you’ve done is you’ve just thrown us in this ocean of Krishna consciousness when really just a drop is all it really takes. Prabhupada was inundating us with so much Krishna consciousness. It was concentrated Krishna consciousness. He wanted us to have an ISKCON sandwich—the morning program, full day of service, and an evening program. It was constant. I’m sure a lot of it was because we were extremely contaminated that we needed to be purified. But what struck me was that’s all it really takes, and yet you’re giving us so much of yourself. He would go all through the day, sleep hardly at all at night, and here I’m sick—I was at the time in my twenties—and yet I knew Prabhupada wasn’t feeling very well either because he was sneezing and there was mucus. I’m sure he felt worse than I did, but he’s there giving class, and I’m there trying to stay awake. I realized that out of your kindness and your love, Srila Prabhupada, you’re giving us everything. You’re not holding back anything. You’re giving us this ocean of Krishna consciousness, when, as he said, only a few drops are what it would take.
