Tribhangananda: I was initiated at Ratha-yatra time in 1972, and when we acquired the Bhaktivedanta Manor in 1973, somebody informed us that we were supposed to offer guru-daksina. Gradually I tried to figure out what they meant. What was guru-daksina? It became clear that for guru-daksina one should go around and beg for some money or a gift for the spiritual master. I became concerned because I thought in Letchmore Heath if the devotees go around begging from door to door, it is not going to look very good. It may not establish this movement in a very nice light. I asked Srutakirti, who was Prabhupada’s servant, what to do. He said, “Why don’t you write a letter to Srila Prabhupada?” After a lot of soul-searching I finally worked out the words. I wrote my letter to Srila Prabhupada as best I could, expressing my anxiety and my gratefulness to him for accepting me as his disciple. I gave the letter to Srutakirti to pass on in due course of his service to Srila Prabhupada. I heard nothing more of it, but then I asked Srutakirti later, “Did Prabhupada say anything when he read my letter?” Srutakirti told me that Prabhupada said, “His humility is his good qualification.” From that I could
understand that Prabhupada could recognize that even though I was a completely useless person because I couldn’t even give him a gift of guru-daksina, somehow Prabhupada could take some teeny insignificant quality and make it into something as an offering to him and Krishna. His response demonstrated to me Prabhupada’s wonderful quality of compassion.
As we were walking through the village of Letchmore Heath, Prabhupada was talking about how there are so many luminaries in this world. He said, “But they can’t give any real light, just like glowworms.” He said, “Even the Maharishi knows that if anyone is serious, he has to send his students to us.” Then Prabhupada looked me right in the eye and said, “What is the use of so many stars when with one moon you can light up the whole night?” Later I realized more and more not only the fact that Prabhupada was actually that moon who was lighting up the night, but Prabhupada wanted all of us to become moons and not just stars. That was a very special realization.
I first came to the temple with a friend of mine who was very eager about Krishna consciousness. He seemed even more enthusiastic than me, but I wound up moving in and he didn’t. So, on a morning walk in London I asked Prabhupada, “Why is it that when two people come to Krishna consciousness, one person takes it up and the other one doesn’t?” Prabhupada’s reply was very interesting. He said, “When someone is materially fatigued, he can take up Krishna consciousness.” And then he said, “By the association of devotees we become materially fatigued.” [laughs] That was a very good experience that cleared all my doubts about that question. Prabhupada’s answer was perfect.
In Nairobi in 1976 Prabhupada had gone on a morning walk to a beautiful park. The birds were singing. The sun was shining. It was an incredibly transcendental atmosphere with the birds in the trees. We walked up to a bandstand in the middle of the park with no one else around. Usually we would expect that Prabhupada would say something to us, but this time he said, “Discuss among yourselves.” We all wondered, “What on earth do we say? Whom do we say anything to?” I remember Chayavana Swami came up with the idea, “Aham sarvasya prabhavah” [Bg. 10.8], meaning Krishna is the source of all the material and spiritual worlds. Prabhupada stopped him and said, “Forget scripture. What is the argument?” We were trying to understand what he meant. Of course it was always very interesting on morning walks because we would always learn so much.
Then Prabhupada explained something that stuck with me for all these years. Prabhupada explained that when someone is asleep, automatically one or two ounces of salty water comes from the body. But then from Krishna’s body, His body is so great that He can produce a whole ocean of salty water. This was quite a revelation. I remember
Harikesa was with us, and he would usually take the devil’s advocate role and argue with Prabhupada, which we found quite shocking. He said, “But first you have to drink water before you can perspire.” Prabhupada then looked to one Dr. Shah who was there and asked, “Is that right?” Doctor Shah said, “No.” [laughs] Prabhupada said, “Just see.” Then Prabhupada went on to explain, “Just like water is coming from the body, similarly from our bodies we also produce some gases and some solids. In the same way, the gases, liquids and solids they are all coming from Krishna’s body.” It became very clear Prabhupada wanted us to have very practical, reasonable arguments that we could use to convince everyone that not only the living beings come from living beings, but also that matter comes from a living being. It was such a fantastic argument that I still use that analysis when I teach in schools today.
One time in a Srimad-Bhagavatam class at the Bhaktivedanta Manor, I was sitting near the front of the vyasasan while Prabhupada lectured. During the class one of those wonderful ISKCON microphone stands started doing its thing by gradually slipping down and away from Prabhupada’s mouth. I looked around and nobody else was getting up to do anything about it, so I thought, “Okay, let me get up and do something.” I went up and tried to adjust the stand and tighten it up. Prabhupada carried on lecturing while I was doing that, and after being satisfied that I had tightened the stand sufficiently, I went and sat back down. After a few moments, however, it started slipping down again. I looked at Prabhupada and thought, “Okay, I have got to try and really sort this out this time. I’ll really tighten it.” I got up again and tried to adjust it as much as I could without breaking it and then quietly sat down again. After a few more moments it started slipping down again! This time Prabhupada looked at me and shouted, “Fix it! TODAY!” [laughs] Unfortunately the crack in the tiles in the temple room were not big enough for me to crawl in between. I was shocked and disturbed by the experience to say the least. I was trying to decide how I could fix it properly because I had no resources and no facility. Somehow or other another devotee eventually did fix it. Upon reflection, that experience made me realize that getting things done was not just somebody else’s responsibility; it was all of our responsibility. We can’t wait for somebody else to take care of preaching or anything else.
I’d been reading from Prabhupada’s books and noticed how he had quoted Canakya Pandit many times. On the morning walks in the park in London, Prabhupada would also sometimes quote Canakya. I asked Prabhupada, “Are these instructions from Canakya Pandit spiritual instructions?” Prabhupada looked at me and said, “No, they are moral instructions.” It was a big eye-opener for me because on reflection it became very clear that Prabhupada had to teach us a whole lot about morality as well as spiritual life. [laughs] Always with Srila Prabhupada there was such a nice learning curve.
One time at the Bhaktivedanta Manor Prabhupada had called all the devotees to come into his room. I remember very clearly that it was a Sunday mid-morning because on a Sunday in those days we didn’t serve prasadam until mid-afternoon, and I was really hungry. We sat down in Prabhupada’s room and Prabhupada was talking about going to India. He said we should all go to India because apparently the American devotees had been having some difficulties. Prabhupada wanted some British devotees to go. As I sat there I remember feeling hungry, and Prabhupada called
his servant to bring over a bowl of fruit. It was a small bowl of fruit with some grapes and one or two other things on it. While Prabhupada was talking to us, he was just running his left hand over the fruit. Then he motioned to his servant to give everyone a plate and give everyone a little fruit. I remember they had this little plate with about three or four grapes on it, and I remember thinking, “This isn’t going to do it.” [laughs] Anyway, I gratefully ate the grapes and we concluded our meeting with Srila Prabhupada. But then afterwards when we went out of his room, I realized that I wasn’t the least bit hungry any more. It was a very extraordinary experience because even when it came time for the Sunday feast, I realized I still wasn’t hungry. But I took prasadam anyway because I thought I ought to eat. But it was such an extraordinary experience how Prabhupada had almost nonchalantly, while we were talking, run his fingers over the plate of fruit and then distributed it to us. I was reminded of Prabhupada’s purity and potency.
In 1977 early in the year around Gaura Purnima time, the devotees came to Bombay to be with Prabhupada. It was a difficult time as Prabhupada was not well at all. I remember he wanted to stay in his rooms, but the devotees said that his rooms were not ready. Prabhupada replied, “If they are not ready now, they will never be ready.” So, they pulled out all the stops. They put out carpets and covered up all the bits of concrete and metal sticking out of the walls. For guru-puja they carried Prabhupada down on his palanquin. After the guru-puja Prabhupada asked, “What is the gift of the spiritual master?” I remember I tried to answer something, but what Prabhupada said was very interesting. He said, “It is divya-jnana.” He said, “It is transcendental knowledge. Don’t think that what the spiritual master is giving you is material knowledge. He is giving you transcendental knowledge.” Then he said, “If you always remember this, you will always be able to feel obliged to your spiritual master.” And that’s something that has stayed with me all these years, how to feel obliged to Prabhupada and try to discharge that obligation to him.
There is one thing that really struck me about Srila Prabhupada and this happened after Prabhupada had left. I was sitting in Visnumurti’s Bhaktivedanta Archives office near Watford, England, listening to a recorded conversation with Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada was having a discussion clearly with one devotee who was talking about Shyamasundar prabhu, who was our former GBC and had been Prabhupada’s secretary for a long time. The devotee said to Prabhupada, “Oh, Shyamasundar is doing this and doing that and doing the other.” It was a bit disappointing to hear what had happened to him. But then Prabhupada said, “Actually, he was the best servant I ever had.” That genuine appreciation from Srila Prabhupada really struck me. Prabhupada really had so much love and affection for his devotees and real compassion that he only saw the good in everyone. To imbibe that same quality of compassion within ourselves, hopefully will be our ticket back home, back to Godhead.
