Yamuna devi dasi Remembers Srila Prabhupada
(Redirected from Yamuna dasi Remembers Srila Prabhupada)
Prabhupada Memories
Interview 01
Yamuna: The first time I met Srila Prabhupada was in his room at a lunch that he had cooked for his first twelve initiated disciples, minus one. Kirtanananda was not present at that time. My sister, Janaki, was the first female disciple. Mukunda warned me, “When you meet Swamiji, you can say ‘Hare Krishna’ and fold your hands.” I walked into Srila Prabhupada’s quarters. He didn’t have his shirt on and was sitting in a corner in a shaft of light underneath the window, dishing out prasadam. I said, “Hare Krishna, Swamiji.” He said, “What is your name?” I said, “Joan.” He said, “When will the other family members come?” I said, “I am the only one. No one else is coming.” He said, “Oh. Generally in India the bride side of the family makes a big celebration. Never mind. We will celebrate.” That day I respected prasadam for the first time, and it was a very memorable lunch for a number of reasons. I was a macrobiotic afficionado at that time, and Srila Prabhupada’s prasadam was power-packed not only due to its taste, but also because his hand had touched it. The way he served the prasadam was like no meal I’d ever been served. There was so much affection manifested through Srila Prabhupada’s distribution. Each one of the men ate up to twelve chapatis at that lunch, which means that Srila Prabhupada made and served a minimum of a hundred and twenty chapatis and also served them whatever else they wanted. That was my first meeting with Srila Prabhupada.
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To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 07 - Pusta Krsna, Yamuna dd, Keshava, Gauridasa Pandit
The full Prabhupada Memories Series can be viewed here and also at www.prabhupadamemories.com
Prabhupada Memories
Interview DVD 01
Yamuna: This historic footage gives us a glimpse into the first Rathayatra celebrated in the Western world in 1967. On another track there's a kirtan that goes with this Rathayatra. And it was the melody that goes something like this: (Hare Krishna mantra) And that went for hours and hours as we sang it on the cart. A few wonderful things about this Rathayatra were that the crowd that gathered alongside of the cart of partly hippies that knew nothing about Lord Jagannath, and partly some hippies who had tasted Krishna prasad in our Temple and sampled the nectar of the Holy Name in our kirtans, were very genuinely enthusiastic to celebrate this Rathayatra. Lord Jagannath, Subhadra and Balaram faced different directions on the cart. So no matter what side you were on, you were able to get face-to-face darshan of Their Lordships. There was a pastime with this cart where the engine of the flatbed truck that the Deities were seated on stalled. And when we told that to Srila Prabhupada, he said that this was not uncommon that the cart would stall, even if it was pulled by hand, and stop at various places along the route. So he was happy to see that somehow in San Francisco without even knowing about this pastime, our cart stalled on the hill. The route was full length from the Haight-Ashbury all the way to the sea. And when the cart arrived at the sea, there was a very wonderful kirtan on the beach.
gauranga bolite habe pulaka-sarira, this bhajan. This bhajan was the theme practically. When there wasn’t a kirtan going on by one of the disciples, this bhajan was played over a little megaphone system of Prabhupada singing it. It sometimes played on the cart if somebody wasn’t leading, in between kirtans. At the end of the procession when the cart was at the beach, this bhajan of Prabhupada played for hours and hours the devotees said. I remember just the short time that I was at the beach that when the wind would move back and forth, it would catch the sound of this magnificent prayer; and in my mind, it’s always been the theme of our 1968 Rathayatra Festival of Lord Chaitanya’s longing for Krishna. I remember that when we were at an ocean kirtan one night, at the very end of the prayers after he said “Jaya Tulasi devi,” he said, “All glories to the Pacific Ocean,” and we said, “Hare Krishna.” He said, “All glories to the Pacific Ocean,” “Hare Krishna,” “All glories to the Pacific Ocean.” And he had his hands raised when he was facing the ocean, and it was the most…I think it was the only time that I can remember Prabhupada adding something other than our classic prayers to the end of a kirtan, but it moved us all. We were thinking how liberal Swamiji was that he was appreciating the place that we were at and the majesty of it.
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Interview DVD 02
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Interview DVD 03
Yamuna: What an appropriate event for Srila Prabhupada to be received as a very important person at the Delhi Palam Airport when he arrives for the first Delhi pandal in Connaught Circus, and many members of the government were invited to greet Srila Prabhupada. Gurudas is the official host. Srila Prabhupada is always so much untouched by praise. He humbly receives whatever level of consciousness that his disciples have been awarded with and receives it with such humility. You can watch him observing people and their progress in their spiritual life, so perceptive. He was able to see externally and internally the progress of his disciples. I find that so thrilling to watch the behavior, and he seems oblivious to anything other than the bhakti, the advancement in Krishna consciousness. He gives the same message country after country, encourages each disciple. But it was very appropriate for someone who had lived and served in Delhi in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, singlehandedly, alone, with no help, and just within 10 years such a tremendous change of appreciation. Prabhupada was big news. When these pandals happened in India, in Bombay and Delhi and Calcutta, they were very widely covered and the society of leaders were very aware of Prabhupada’s presence, all the way from the Prime Minister on down through the Cabinet. The Prime Minister herself was very appreciative of our Krishna consciousness movement. And through some of the honorary members of Parliament who spoke on our behalf to her, she was helpful in the early years of our Krishna consciousness movement, met with the devotees and gave a good word. That was Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. This is literally the first day of the Delhi pandal. There is the wonderful asana, and behind those curtains are the incredibly beautiful Deities of Radha-Gokulananda, Who were officially installed by Srila Prabhupada at this time on the occasion of the Delhi pandal. There was an instance for both the pandal in Delhi, the first Bombay pandal, those Deities went to Australia and New Zealand, these went to the Manor, and in Jaipur the Radha-Govinda Deities which ultimately went to New York, Prabhupada considered that these festival programs were an installation of the Deity. In other words, They were worshipped in his presence. So for a pure devotee to be introducing Them to worship is naturally a form of installation. So these Deities, They were different pastimes in these three places of London and New York and Dallas, where devotees actually made some adjustment on the arca-vigraha in some small way. When Prabhupada heard that he said, “No, these Deities have already been worshipped, this should not take place.” It so happened that I was the person that was arranging for Their worship and installation and that aspect of the pandal, and shortly after the end of that program I literally fell unconscious into a coma for three days.
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Interview DVD 08
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Interview DVD 11
Yamuna: There was one conversation that took place with Srila Prabhupada in the fall of 1969 en route to a lecture at Conway Hall from where we resided at John Lennon’s estate called Tittenhurst. I was present in the van that brought him there. Generally speaking, only the driver and Srila Prabhupada sat in the front of the van, and they were bucket seats. And then the back of the van was left empty, just the metal floor. So I was sitting with my back leaning against the back of his seat on the floor chanting japa. We had been en route some time. It was very dark by then, and Srila Prabhupada said just loud enough for me to hear, “When I leave this body, see that it is taken around Vrindavan on a palanquin on parikrama.” It was so short, it was just a sentence out of the dark in the night, and very stunning to me because I was absorbed in japa, something Srila Prabhupada had never mentioned and I had never thought of. So I rose to my knees and leaned over so my head was just even with his shoulder and I said, “Srila Prabhupada, why are you telling me this? Better you tell this to Tamal Krishna because he has more capacity to see that it is done than I do.” And Srila Prabhupada paused briefly and then said, “No, you can tell him,” and fell silent. And I too fell silent. So that this came to pass is very salient and so important because while I did mention that to Tamal Krishna sometime after the conversation, it wasn’t something that we spoke about in subsequent years. So that it happened through whatever arrangement of the devotees there means that Srila Prabhupada’s wish was fulfilled, and so many Brijbasis were able to pay their respect to Srila Prabhupada in this traditional way. |