Bhakti Caitanya Swami: I first saw Srila Prabhupada sometime in April, 1972, at the Auckland University in New Zealand where I was studying philosophy. One morning I was walking through the grounds of the University, and I heard coming from my right-hand side a sound like little bells ringing—intriguing sounds. I looked to my right, maybe fifteen to twenty meters away from me, and there was Srila Prabhupada. He was walking in my direction in a very regal way with bright effulgent saffron silk clothes. On either side there were young ladies in saris. They were dancing very rhythmically and beautifully on either side of Prabhupada, and as they were dancing, they were throwing rose petals under his feet. When I saw this sight, the thought popped into my head that this must be like heaven. As Prabhupada walked towards me, I saw behind him a small group of maybe six or seven men and women devotees. At the time I had long hair, and when I saw these young men with shaved heads, I thought, “Oh, that’s not so good.” [laughs] Anyway, Prabhupada walked right past me with the group of his devotees onto a small stage in the main quadrangle area of the University. Prabhupada sat down and led a kirtan. It was at the point when Prabhupada was singing that I recognized, “Oh, this is Hare Krishna,” because I had heard of Hare Krishna. I didn’t really know what it meant other than it was from India. It was cool because the Beatles were into it. When Prabhupada was singing, I actually thought, “Maybe he’s Krishna?” [laughs]. After the singing Prabhupada gave a talk, which was recorded, and it has been published in Back to Godhead and in the Folio. Quite a large group of students had gathered there to hear him, and Prabhupada said, “You are the flower of your country. Don’t waste your lives. Do something useful with your lives. Become Krishna conscious.”
There were many incidents where I was present with Srila Prabhupada. The first one that comes to mind was at the Bhaktivedanta Manor when Prabhupada called for all the candidates for initiation to come and meet him. There were perhaps a dozen of us, and when Prabhupada came out into the darshan room, he asked, “Is everyone chanting your rounds?” We all said, “Yes,” but there were two young ladies, perhaps in their late teens, who giggled, “No, we are not chanting our rounds.” Prabhupada really didn’t appreciate that. Prabhupada cancelled the initiation—for everyone. You can imagine those young ladies were not popular. A few days later when things had settled down, Revatinandana Swami performed the fire yajna for the initiation, and the next morning after mangala-arati, those of us who were receiving second initiation had to go in one by one to be given Gayatri directly by Srila Prabhupada. When I went in, I was already wearing my brahman thread, which Revatinandana had put on the day before. Prabhupada said strongly, “Why have you got your brahman thread on?” It caught me by surprise. [laughs] I became speechless. Prabhupada said, “Who put it on?” I said, “Revatinandana Swami.” Prabhupada said, “Why did he put it on? I wanted to put it on you.” Then Prabhupada called for the temple president who was Mukunda prabhu, at the time. Mukunda was nearby, so he came into the room in just a matter of seconds. Prabhupada asked him, “Why has this boy got his brahman thread on?” Mukunda was speechless. Prabhupada told him, “You are the temple president. You’re meant to know about these things. Why do you not know?” Mukunda couldn’t answer and then Prabhupada sent him out. The whole experience was very striking because I had never been with Prabhupada before. His mood was strong, but I didn’t feel that he was angry with me. I felt that he cared about me. He was concerned about me and our relationship as guru and disciple. I really felt that he had accepted me and that relationship really meant something to him. I realized I was not just another name on a list, but I am a person that he has a relationship with. So, after that time, when I was rendering any type of service, I would always think of how this service is for Prabhupada and that my service is part of my connection and relationship with Srila Prabhupada.
I remember one very striking experience that I had with Srila Prabhupada at Bhaktivedanta Manor. In the spring of 1974, Prabhupada had a darshan with about ten of us. Prabhupada was speaking about different things, and then one boy, Achintyarupa, asked Prabhupada a question. He had a copy of Nectar of Devotion with him and he read a few sentences from the chapter that speaks about offenses to be avoided. Prabhupada explains in the Purport that if you commit offenses called seva-aparadhas, as you continue your service, the effects of these offenses may be cleansed away. But then Prabhupada says if you commit any of the ten offenses, nama-aparadhas against the Holy Names, then you cannot overcome the reactions. Then Achintyarupa asked, “Isn’t there some way to overcome those reactions against the ten offenses?” Prabhupada looked at him with one of those piercing looks and said, “You are asking this question because you want to offend. You want to offend and then you want to do something to get free from the reactions. But no, you must not do like that.” Prabhupada continued, “You must stop offending—no more offenses.” That was quite an experience for all of us. I think the lesson is quite obvious. [chuckles] Then during that same darshan, different devotees were asking different questions. One devotee asked Prabhupada, “If you are going out and preaching and distributing books and you do something wrong, does the reaction get cleansed away more quickly than if you’re living in a temple and you engage in the similar type of wrongdoing?” Srila Prabhupada immediately answered, “Yes. If you’re going out preaching, then the reaction will be immediately cleansed away. Whereas, if you’re doing service in the temple, you may have to take that reaction.” Then one devotee asked Prabhupada, “What should we say when we distribute your books? How should we get people to take the books?” Srila Prabhupada stood up, picked up a book, and went over to a devotee. He gave the devotee the book and Prabhupada then spoke as if he were distributing the book. Prabhupada said, “My dear sir, I can see you are very intelligent. In fact, I think you are the most intelligent person I’ve met all day. And my dear sir, I have just one request of you. Please forget all your nonsense and read this book.” That was Prabhupada’s demonstration on how to do book distribution. [chuckles]
The German sankirtan party came to be with Prabhupada at the Manor and they had a strong energy. [chuckles] They were a powerful team and they sat right in front of Prabhupada. Prabhupada looked at them and said, “So, what is the main thing?” Many of them put up their hands. “Book distribution, Srila Prabhupada.” Prabhupada said, “No. What is the main thing?” They became a little taken aback and some suggested, “Preaching, Srila Prabhupada” or “Chanting.” [laughs] But they were a bit taken aback that book distribution was not the main thing. Then Prabhupada said, “The main thing is you must read these books. I have written these books for you.” And then Prabhupada concluded by saying, “It will not be very good if you go out distributing the books, and the people ask you, ‘What is this book about?’ and you say, ‘I do not know, but it is a very good book. And you should take it.’” [laughs]
When I was in Srila Prabhupada’s company, which was quite a number of times particularly at Bhaktivedanta Manor, the main thing that really struck me was his mood of mercy and concern and interest in his disciples. I recall when it may have been his last visit to the Manor, either late 1976 or ‘77, and Jayatirtha was the GBC. When Prabhupada first arrived, he went into his rooms with a number of us, including Jayatirtha who sat right next to Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada put his hand on his head and ruffled his hair. He said, “Your name is Jayatirtha. Tirtha means ‘holy place.’ People take shelter of the tirthas and I have come to take shelter of you.” Prabhupada said that comment, not in a patronizing manner or just to encourage him, but with such humility and genuineness that it was obvious he was sincere.
Prabhupada was coming from Vrindavan through Delhi and we met him at the London Heathrow airport. Physically he was severely indisposed. His body was practically emaciated. I’d never seen him look like that before. He was very frail, and when he came out of the airport terminal, he was in a wheelchair. Once he got to the Manor, the devotees had to carry him around on a palanquin. Once inside the temple room, his palanquin was placed in front of the vyasasan. The GBC told us, “When Prabhupada comes, we are going to have a guru-puja, but keep the kirtan very gentle. We don’t want to affect Prabhupada emotionally.” Then every morning the guru-puja would start and the kirtan would just take off. [chuckles] Prabhupada would sit there motionless and look at the devotees as this kirtan was going on. Tears would run down Prabhupada’s cheeks and drip off his chin—constantly. I’d never seen that before. Sometimes he’d raise his hands to encourage us to dance, but otherwise he was still. It was just so clear, however, that he loved and appreciated the devotees. They meant the world to him.
