Nalini-kanta das Remembers Srila Prabhupada

Prabhupada Memories

Interview 01

Nalini Kanta: My wife and I hitchhiked from the East Coast to Berkeley, because the devotees in Philadelphia had told us about the great Ratha-yatra Festival in San Francisco and that if we went we could meet His Divine Grace. At the time I was a guitar-carrying folk musician who wore a fringe leather jacket. I wrote to Prabhupada regularly, telling him who I was and sending him the lyrics to the songs I was writing. Every few months in Berkeley a letter would come with “His Divine Grace Tridandi Goswami A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami” letterhead. One day such a letter came and all the devotees gathered around. Jayananda, the temple president, opened it while the devotees eagerly asked, “Who’s it for, who’s it for?” Jayananda read it and said, “Oh, it’s for that guy Tom who lives up the block.” I learned from this experience that His Divine Grace did not discriminate. He reciprocated with whoever came to him.

When Srila Prabhupada was staying in his quarters in Los Angeles he was working very hard on his books. Every morning after mangal arati, announcements would be made, “Please don’t bother Srila Prabhupada. Everyone wants to talk to him, but he is very busy. Only GBCs and sannyasis should have Srila Prabhupada’s darshan.” I didn’t accept that philosophy. I made an agreement with Raksana, Prabhupada’s bodyguard, to let me upstairs one night at about 9:30, after all the big guns had met with Prabhupada and left. It was very late, and I was afraid. I was a small temple president with a $50 donation to give Prabhupada. Raksana made sure that everybody was gone. He talked to Srutakirti, and Srutakirti walked me upstairs and into Prabhupada’s room. At that time Prabhupada was standing, looking out the window with his back to the door, chanting japa softly. Srutakirti said, “Prabhupada, your disciple from Phoenix, Arizona, has come here to see you.” Srila Prabhupada turned around slowly. I was shaking in my boots because I was thinking, “Why are you bothering Prabhupada? He is busy, and you’re a nobody in this Society.” But Srila Prabhupada had a radiant smile on his face. The emanation of love from his heart was such that he made me feel like I was his long-lost son who had come back to see him. It was a personal, loving exchange that had nothing to do with fear or “What have you done for me?” or “You’re a big devotee,” or “You’re a small devotee.” It was the spiritual master showing his loving feeling for his disciple. I will never forget that.

To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 10 - 1995 Prabhupada Festival

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

Following Srila Prabhupada

Interview DVD 01

Nalinikantha: So Locan was the temple president, and Jayananda was helping him. We were living in Berkeley, and we wrote Srila Prabhupada a letter about having a festival in Berkeley for Lord Chaitanya. We told him that we were going to make eight banners of the Siksastaka prayers and put them up across the street for everybody. Prabhupada wrote back, he was very enthusiastic and he said, “I want that all the educated people in your country seriously understand these prayers of Lord Chaitanya, and I approve of your plan for the festival. Unfortunately, I will not be able to come. But we have 24 such festivals in a calendar year. If you can observe all of them in such a grand way, then the whole Bay area will become Krishna conscious.” So we did put up the banners and Jayananda, of course, was the moving force for all of these wonderful festivals. We had a good turnout, and we distributed about a thousand plates of prasadam at the park afterwards.

Interview DVD 09

Nalinikanta: Announcements were being made that Srila Prabhupada was concentrating on his translating work and he wanted to get a lot done and devotees should not bother Prabhupada. Only GBCs or sannyasis could go to see Prabhupada, and the usual requests for guests and such would be minimized. So I was a small temple president of Phoenix at the time, and I had a $50 donation to give Prabhupada, which was nothing. So Rakshana was guarding Prabhupada, and I made a little pact with him to let me up the back stairs. We talked to Srutakirti, who was Prabhupada’s servant, and he also agreed to let me in just for a minute. So it was 9:20 at night. I was a little afraid of breaking the laws, but I just wanted to see Srila Prabhupada so much. So Srutakirti opened the door and I came in behind him, and Srila Prabhupada had his hand in his bead bag and was facing away from us looking out the back window down the alley past the temple. Srutakirti said, “Srila Prabhupada, this devotee from Phoenix has come to see you.” Srila Prabhupada turned around; and as he slowly turned around, the fear of interrupting him and being insignificant was fairly strong. But when he turned around, he had the biggest smile on his face and he was just radiating warmth and love from his heart and giving me a greeting like, “Oh, my dear son has come to see me. How kind.” I really learned from that experience that all of us are equal in Prabhupada’s eyes and whenever we have anything to offer to him or if we have any love to give him at all, we should just do it without any rules or regulations in regards to status or standing in ISKCON or anything. We are all equal in his eyes, and he was just happy to see his lost son coming to him for shelter. It was a memorable exchange. Just with one look Prabhupada could pierce your heart and change your whole life in one glance. I gave him the check as I was leaving and he said, “Thank you very much.” Then what happened later was about three months later I got a letter from India from Prabhupada, which was surprising because I hadn’t written him, and it was a thank you note for the fifty-dollar check and the donation. He made a personal note and said something, preaching to me that pleasing the spiritual master is the way to please Krishna, and I thought it was wonderful that he would acknowledge not only me but also the small donation that we had given him.