Vaiyasaki: I’d gone to London to try to become a famous rock musician, and after I met the devotees on the streets there, I started visiting the temple. In the temple, the devotees told me about Srila Prabhupada. I heard a tape of him chanting and saw pictures of him. But it wasn’t until 1973, when Prabhupada came for Ratha-yatra, that I saw him in person. The Ratha-yatra procession started at noon at Marble Arch, but I arrived a little late. I went to the front of the procession, and there was Prabhupada dancing and surrounded by a circle of devotees. He was 77 years old, yet he danced along the whole four or five-mile Ratha-yatra route. Sometimes Prabhupada got a little ahead of the procession, and then he would turn around, look at Lord Jagannath on the cart, and raise his arms. At some point, the police became anxious that the procession was moving too slowly, and one of them said, “Please ask the Swami to move on.” A devotee would tell them, “Oh, yes, officer,” but no devotee ever asked Prabhupada to move on. It was quite awe-inspiring to see a 77 year-old man filled with the ecstasy of krishna-prema, dancing for the whole Ratha-yatra route. When the procession arrived at Trafalgar Square, there was a big fire sacrifice for a wedding and initiation ceremony. So my first experience with Prabhupada was really grandiose and fantastic.
Once in London a lot of guests packed into Prabhupada’s room for darshan. Some of them were challenging Prabhupada, but he was tolerating it. He was completely transcendental. However, their challenging tone was agitating and upsetting me. Since I had some feeling for Prabhupada, I couldn’t control myself, and I made some nasty comment to shut them up. Prabhupada looked at me gravely. He didn’t do anything. I was still a longhaired hippie who wanted to make it as a musician, so I don’t know what he thought. That was one of my first experiences with my spiritual master. I was still going to the Bury Place temple regularly. Once Peter Sellers, who was very famous at that time, came for tulasi puja, offered his pranams, and bowed down on his knees to the Deities. A lot happened in London in those days.
My most intimate association with Srila Prabhupada was in Vrindavan in November 1976. I was traveling with Satyanarayan on the Southeast Asia Library Party, and we had gone to Kashmir, which is ninety percent Muslim. We were distributing books in the colleges and libraries there. I was showing an old gentleman in an Oriental library, Prabhupada’s books, and he said, “Oh, I think I have these books.” I said, “Naw, it is not possible. It is the first time we’ve been here.” He said, “Let me see,” and he brought out Prabhupada’s three original Bhagavatams. I said, “That’s fantastic. Now you should take all the rest of them,” and he did. He took the complete set of Srimad-Bhagavatams, Caitanya Caritamritas, Bhagavad-gita, Krishna book, everything. He said that the author had personally gone there. Nobody knew that Prabhupada had gone to Kashmir. On our way back driving through the Himalayas, we passed an apiary with beehives, and, knowing that Prabhupada was in Vrindavan, we thought, “Wow, wouldn’t that be great to get Prabhupada some real Himalayan honey?” We got a big bottle. Jagadish was Prabhupada’s secretary at that time, and he knew Satyanarayan and me, so he arranged for Prabhupada to see us. We went into Prabhupada’s room when Prabhupada was sitting with Gopal Krishna and speaking to an Indian gentleman. When we came in he turned around and said, “Here are two very nice boys.” We sat down, and Jagadish introduced us. Satyanarayan explained that we were in the Library Party and had been preaching in Kashmir. Prabhupada was very pleased that we were distributing his books. When he heard we were in Kashmir, he opened his eyes really wide and said, “Ah, Kashmir. I went to Kashmir. Do you remember when you come over the crest of the hill and you see the Kashmir valley?” We said, “Yes, Prabhupada, we saw it.” He said, “Yes, I distributed my books there.” Then I said, “Srila Prabhupada, I met that gentleman. He bought your first three volumes from you, and now he has taken the whole set, a standing order.” Srila Prabhupada was reminiscing about that and spoke about the importance of preaching. After five or ten minutes, just before we left, he looked me right in the eye and said, “So, wherever you go and whoever you meet, just tell them about Krishna, and in that way, by Lord Chaitanya’s order, become a guru.” That left a big impression on me, because he was looking right at me. When I left I thought, “Wow, if I don’t tell people about Krishna, I’m in total maya. This is my mission.” We gave Prabhupada the bottle of honey, which he graciously accepted. Later Palika, who was Prabhupada’s cook, told us that every morning Prabhupada had a little bit of that honey with his breakfast.
It was wonderful to travel with Srila Prabhupada in an airplane. The first time Srila Prabhupada went to Australia to bring the Deities there, Vegavan prabhu was with him, carrying one of the Deities. They brought their lunch with them, and after the plane took off they unpacked it, Srila Prabhupada served it, and everyone took prasadam. When they had finished, Prabhupada rinsed his mouth and washed his hands. Then he started cleaning his front teeth with a toothpick. Vegavan thought, “Oh, you have to clean your mouth after you eat,” and he pulled out a toothbrush and toothpaste from his bag. Prabhupada said, “What you are doing?” Vegavan said, “I’m going to brush my teeth, Srila Prabhupada.” Prabhupada said, “That you do before you take prasad. After prasad, you use a toothpick, because the little pieces in your mouth are also prasadam.” Ever since then, I’ve always picked my teeth with a toothpick after prasadam.
Gargamuni told Srila Prabhupada that two men on the Library Party were distributing Prabhupada’s books to the universities in Indonesia, a Muslim country. At that time, other devotees, like Padmapani and Tribhuvanath, were also in Muslim countries. Prabhupada was pleased that devotees were going to preach in the Muslim countries, and he told Gargamuni, “I put on my head the dust from the feet of whoever preaches in the Muslim countries.” When we heard that, we were in ecstasy. That was wonderful. After Indonesia, we went on to the libraries in Java and then Bali. It was in Bali that I found out that Prabhupada had left the planet. That morning I was ready to go to a college for distribution, when I thought I would call our secretary, Aravindaksi devi in Jakarta, to find out how things were going and if books were being sent out and so on. She said, “Have you heard the news?” I said, “No, what?” She said, “You didn’t know?” I said, “I didn’t know.” She said, “I just heard from the devotees in Singapore that Prabhupada left the planet.” I was shocked. I hung up the phone. I didn’t know what to do, but I thought Prabhupada would want me to go and preach in this college, so I drove there. It was at the other end of Bali. I arrived at the college, met the librarian, and got two standing orders. As I came out, I met the Minister of Culture in Jakarta, who we had met about a month earlier trying to distribute the books to the library in the Cultural Ministry. He said to me, “Have you heard about your Guru Maharaj?” I said, “Yes, I did. Thank you.” I was amazed that even in a little town in Bali, everybody knew that Prabhupada had left the planet. After that I met Satyanarayan, who hadn’t heard. I had to break the news to him. Immediately he broke down and sobbed uncontrollably, crying and crying. I realized that I was stonehearted. I hadn’t broken down and sobbed. I was sad, and tears came to my eyes, but I saw that Satyanarayan had so much love for Prabhupada, and I respected him for that. I felt, “If only I could have such a relationship with Prabhupada; if only I could have felt that.”
After Prabhupada had left, devotees were collecting memories of Srila Prabhupada. No one had gone to see his God-brother, Dr. O.B.L. Kapoor, so when I was in Vrindavan, I decided to see him and ask him about his memories of Srila Prabhupada. Dr. Kapoor told me that he had known Srila Prabhupada before Prabhupada was initiated, when he was Abhay Babu, the owner of Prayag Pharmacy in Allahabad. At that time Dr. Kapoor was a graduate student at the university in Allahabad, and he had taken initiation from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Dr. Kapoor, whose initiated name is Adi Keshava das, was Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s first non-Bengali disciple. One day a sannyasi, Bhaktipradipa Tirtha Maharaj, walked into the Prayag Pharmacy and said to Abhay Babu, “Oh, we have heard your name. We want to establish a Math here. Will you help us?” Prabhupada had met this sannyasi in Calcutta, and he was thrilled to help. Gradually the Math started, and Prabhupada used to go to the Math, play the mridanga, and chant bhajans. Everyone liked him, and he enjoyed the association of the devotees. Prabhupada was especially warm to Dr. Kapoor because, as Dr. Kapoor said, “I was the only non-Bengali there.” The acquaintance turned into friendship, and the friendship turned into brotherhood. Dr. Kapoor was thirteen years younger than Prabhupada, but he used to come to the pharmacy to ask questions and discuss Krishna-katha. One day when he came, Prabhupada handed him a vial and said, “Here take this tonic. This will be good for your health.” Dr. Kapoor said, “Yes, I will take this. Thank you very much. But why you don’t give me the tonic that you are taking?” Prabhupada said, “What tonic is that?” Dr. Kapoor said, “You know, the tonic of Krishnaprema.” Prabhupada laughed and said, “I don’t have that tonic, but I do know the formula.” Dr. Kapoor said, “If it is not a secret, perhaps you can share it with me.” Prabhupada said, “Yes, I can share it with you. It’s not a secret. The formula is ‘trinad api sunicena, taror iva sahisnuna, amanina mana-dena, kirtaniya sada harih,’ and I shall spread it the whole world over.” Trinad api sunicena: More humble than the grass. Taror iva sahisnuna: More tolerant than a tree. Amanina mana-dena: Not desiring any respect for oneself but desiring to give all respect to others. Kirtaniya sada harih: In such a state of mind one can chant the Holy Name of the Lord constantly. At the time, Dr. Kapoor thought that Prabhupada was making a casual pronouncement. But he told me, “Now that I look back over the years, I realize that even then he had a plan. He was thinking, ‘I shall spread it the whole world over.’” Srila Prabhupada himself is the embodiment of that verse. For example, take trinad api sunicena, more humble than the grass. On the July 4th holiday weekend in 1972 in New York, devotees had come from all over the East Coast, from as far south as Miami, as far north as Montreal and Toronto, and as far west as Chicago and St. Louis, to the New York temple. There were thousands of devotees in the New York temple. When Prabhupada was to leave, many devotees drove to the airport and waited with him in the departure lounge, which became filled with devotees. They wanted to see him to the last second. This was a problem for the airport officials because there was no room for passengers in the departure lounge. One of the officials spotted Ravinda Svarup, explained the situation to him, and asked if “your people would kindly leave, so that the persons who are on the plane can come in the departure lounge to board their flight.” Ravindra Svarup said, “Okay,” and spoke to a couple of devotees. But no one would leave. Then, Rupanuga, who was newly a sannyasi and a GBC, immediately got on a chair and said, “Attention all devotees. We have to leave the departure lounge now to make room for the incoming passengers.” No one moved. Everyone sat there and looked at him; except for one person. Srila Prabhupada got up and started to walk out. Rupanuga said, “No, no, not you, Srila Prabhupada!” Prabhupada was so humble. When he heard that devotees should leave, he got up to leave even though no one else did. This is a symptom of humility. More humble than the grass. Taror iva sahisnuna: more tolerant than a tree. In 1975 Prabhupada was flying from Kenya to South Africa for the first time, and as it happens, the South African football team that had just played in Kenya was also on the plane. They had won the match and were in a rowdy mood. After the plane took off, the stewardesses started serving drinks, and these guys started getting high and lighting up cigarettes, although they were in a nonsmoking cabin. Pusta Krishna Maharaj, Prabhupada’s secretary, was sitting next to Prabhupada, and he got disturbed. He thought, “Why should Prabhupada be subjected to this?” He called the stewardess and said, “This is the nonsmoking area, so please ask them to extinguish their cigarettes.” The stewardess asked the football players to extinguish their cigarettes, which they did, and then she left. But, since they were drunk, after a few minutes they lit up again. This time Pusta Krishna Maharaj got up to get heavy with these guys. Srila Prabhupada said, “Where you are going?” Pusta Krishna said, “Well, they are smoking, Srila Prabhupada.” In a deep voice Prabhupada said, “Sit down.” Then Srila Prabhupada looked him in the eye and said, “What is the difference between us and them if we cannot tolerate?” Prabhupada could tolerate the cigarette smoke and the rowdiness. He was undisturbed. The pure devotee, the Vaishnava, exemplifies this taror iva sahisnuna—being more tolerant than the tree. And then: amanina mana-dena—not desiring any respect or honor for oneself, but desiring to give all respect and honor to others. In January, 1976, Srila Prabhupada was in Bombay. At the time, the Bombay temple was a hole in the ground with a foundation. Prabhupada’s rooms were at the back of the property, where the BBT building is now. Prabhupada wanted to get the project moving, so after breakfast prasadam the next morning, he held an important meeting in his room with sannyasis, the GBC, the temple president and everyone else who was involved in that project. Then the cleaning lady came up the stairs with a wooden bucket and a straw broom, as she did every day. She came to the landing and looked through the door, which was slightly ajar, and saw Prabhupada speaking to the devotees, architects, and contractors. She couldn’t go in, but she had to do her service because her one rupee salary fed her children. She needed it. Uncertain, she stood there. Meanwhile, Prabhupada saw her and immediately said, “Now we have to stop. The cleaning lady has come. Everyone has his or her area of authority, and when it is the cleaning lady’s time to clean, she is the authority. We have to leave.” They all got up and left. So the jagat-guru recognized the authority of that cleaning lady. Amanina mana-dena. He gave all respect to others and did not desire any for himself. In this way: Kirtaniya sada harih—one is able to chant the Holy Name of the Lord constantly. Srila Prabhupada was able to chant the Holy Name of the Lord constantly. Prabhupada is the embodiment, the personification of the verse that, many years before, he had said was the formula for Krishna-prema and which he would spread the whole world over.
