20141102 Śrīla Prabhupāda Kathā Day 7

Śrīla Prabhupāda Kathā Day 7

Date:

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Collection:

Inspiration series - 2014

Audio player:

20141102 SRILA PRABHUPAD KATHA DAY 7 AT NEW DELHI: Mukham karoti vaachalam… Jai Shri Krishna Caitanya… So I had been ordered to go to Calcutta to join Acyutananda and he was staying in the Gaudiya Matth at that time. Bhakti Daita Madhava Maharaj’s Gaudiya Matth. At that time maharaj was not there, he was travelling. He was one of the stalwart preachers in the Gaudiya mission. And so I sat down and they had lunch and dinner, they had no breakfast. If they want breakfast, buy it! Ha! So Bhakti Pramod Puri Maharaj, he wanted chira and dahi. He was staying on the third floor and we were on the fourth floor. So I learnt some short cuts to speak Bengali. They had just changed the number system of coins in India. The old system was using 1/16th of a rupee based on the English system. So if you learn 4, 8 and 12 then you can make 25 cents, 50 cents and 75 cents was easy to say for instance, chaar anna, aath anna and baraah anna. Even today people still know that system. So I could buy something using the numbers up to 12. Ek rupee theen baraah anna means 1 rupee 75 cents. Or paanch rupee aath anna means 5 rupees 50 cents. So with this simple number system I could purchase more or less anything I needed. So I got Bhakti Pramod Puri maharaj his chira dahi and I got my breakfast. So like this days were going on and with Acyutananda we went to downtown Calcutta and did kirtan. It was pretty wild as there were some crazy people and they took off their clothes. Crazy! Ha! All kinds of things! And later Prabhupad heard that we were collecting money and he didn’t like that because in India some beggars they chant and collect money. So he did not want us to be mistaken for these beggars. So we should give out books or prasadam or something. We should not just take from people. Any way meanwhile I was staying in the Gaudiya Matth and there was one devotee who came to Acyutananda and said, oh, can you be my guru? I have so much faith in you. I want you to be my guru! I want to be with you and I will hear your instructions. I will go with you! Acyutananda said, well, come in. So then he took him along to the fourth floor and at that time I wasn’t there. He told Acyutananda, Gurudev, can I get a flower from the deities? Just a flower! A flower! Okay, I will get you a flower! Then Acyutananda went down. Meanwhile as he was coming up the devotee said, oh, being with you I have lost track of time, your association is so wonderful! And he made half way up the stairway. He asked, you have the flower for me? And he said, with this I will always remember you. And then he ran down the stairs. So Acyutananda went up, what a devotee! He looked and his room was all turned up, all the mattresses were turned upside down and he had stolen whatever he could get his hands on! That is why the saying comes, athi Bhakti choorer lakhan. A lot of devotion sign of a thief. You have that saying in Hindi? Adhik Bhakti chor ka lakshan hai! So I was told to be careful. So like that we learnt some important things in the Gaudiya Matth. On Saturday and Sunday there was a special public program and various Justices of the High Court came and spoke. At this time Bhakti Daita Madhava Maharaj was there. When he spoke I felt like he had a little shakti as my hairs were twitching but nothing like Prabhupad. But some shakti was there. Next day he called for me and looked at me. He did not have much to say. He asked me a few questions and he told the devotees of his ashram to please care for me. So then I went back to where I was staying in the ashram. Prabhupad during that time was sending us regularly some letters. Do we have copies of those letters – 1970s? HG Shyamarasika Prabhu: Guru maharaj, we have a letter of November 10th from Prabhupad where he asked Hamsadutha and Himavati to come and stay with Prabhupad and Prabhupad asked you guru maharaj to send three sets of deities to Boston, USA. To nicely pack and send it to Boston. First letter in the 70s from Bombay. Guru maharaj: So we got an empty medical clinic for six months. They would not take a rent because in Calcutta the rent is very hard to clear. And if you rent a place you are like there forever! Ha! So they said, oh, it would be auspicious if sadhus stay in our clinic first. And then Prabhupad said, okay, if we have our place, I will come. So Acyutananda was a very good singer and he sang in the VIP lounge, O he Vaishnava Thakura, Doyara saagara.. like that. Before that he went out and invited different god brothers of Prabhupad to come and meet him. So he invited Bhakti Pramod Puri Maharaj and he said, sure, I will go. After all he has done a wonderful service! Then some grihastha pandit came up and said, maharaj, you took sanyas before him, you are his senior. You should not go, you should wait here. He was very humble and did not like to fight. But his first feeling was to go and meet Prabhupad. So like that none of the god brothers of Prabhupad came to meet Prabhupad in the airport. Only some brahmacharis came and some junior sanyasis. So Srila Prabhupad looked around and said, none of my god brothers have come? No, they said, they are waiting for you at the ashram with a feast. Prabhupad said where is the car? We had a black limousine. Kirtanananda was driving, I think it was Kirtanananda. There was Acyutananda, Tamalkrishna maharaj, and they were taking off. I came running up and jumped in otherwise they would have gone! And there was an open truck with the ashram brahmacharis. Prabhupad obviously knew what he was doing and he said, they want me to go to the ashram as if I was sent by them and they will take all the credit! But they never helped me at all! This went all over my head – this god brother god brother politics! Prabhupad said, take us to our place and somebody can go take prasadam and bring it there. Prabhupad ki jai! So when we arrived there we heard how they have observed the Vyasa puja of Srila Prabhupad and they forgot to do the pushpanjali. So Prabhupad said this Vyasa puja is cancelled, it is invalid, because you have not done pushpanjali. Pushpanjali is the most important ceremony. So he had them do the whole Vyasa puja all over again the next day and offer pushpanjali, and then they could take prasadam. When we heard he had given nine sanyasis initiation in Los Angeles. So he called in Acyutananda and I thought that oh, maybe Acyutananda is taking sanyas, ha! I did not have any idea what sanyas was or what the ceremony was! But then I heard Prabhupad raise his voice. I thought, hmm, I don’t think he became a sanyasi! Prabhupad was asking him questions like how Brahmananda and Garga Muni, total four sanyasis they got that information that somehow someone from the Gaudiya Matth had told Acyutananda that Prabhupad was empowered by Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. And that actually it was Prabhupad who was actually Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur who did everything. So then they speculated, well, if he is Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur and Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur is Bhakti Vinod Thakur and doesn’t mean he is Rupa Goswami. And somebody said no, he is Lord Caitanya and Lord Caitanya is Krishna, so Prabhupad is Krishna! So like this they started a whole mayawadi speculation. And so Prabhupad left from LA because of this situation and he sent those four sanyasis to some different countries. HG Shyamarasika Prabhu: There is a big letter from Srila Prabhupad on July 10th I am just reading one portion: “I am very glad to learn from your letter dated 2nd July that both yourself and Acyutananda went to Babu Ghat for chanting Hare Krishna. I am very glad to learn it. The same process I adopted in your country when I started my sankirtana in Tompkins Square in New York. Krishna was so kind to send me all these boys and girls who are helping me now. Babu Ghat is a very nice place. Similarly in front of Babu Ghat there is the Eden Gardens that is also a very nice place. After all it is not the question of the place but it is the person who chants which is important. A sincere soul like you so much devoted to spiritual master and Krishna is sure to be successful anywhere. So you adopt the same principle as we are doing here.” Guru maharaj: We heard how Prabhupad had regularly visited Babu Ghat and how he took bath there. Eden Gardens is a very aristocratic place. In the British Raaj many Britishers used to go there. So we also went and chanted in Eden Gardens – E-d-e-n. So we were going all around this area, the Eden Gardens, the indoor stadium, the Chowringee, the public parkways, the back of the governor’s palace and Babu Ghat. This was before Prabhupad, what date? July 10th? I think this is before he came. HG Shyamarasika Prabhu: He sent next letter also on July 26th. Prabhupad is sending this letter to you. “My dear Jayapataka, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 20th July 1970 and noted the contents. But it is the old story. Any way I am hoping against hope that very soon we shall have a place either at Calcutta or at Mayapur. Kindly keep me informed of your activities at least twice in a week otherwise I become very much anxious and due to my blood pressure sometimes do not eat and do not sleep. I am just trying to organize a worldwide movement not for any personal ambition but to execute superior orders and by the grace of Krishna we are getting good encouragement. So I request my students to cooperate fully. As soon as I hear from you that we have got some place immediately I shall go to India for a change with two sanyasis. Recently I have given sanyas order of life to six brahmacharis. They have been sent to different parts of the country for preaching work and two of them might go with me to join you. So immediately we require a place of our own. I am very glad that Acyutananda is doing nice preaching work. Offer my blessings to him and I wish to hear from also along with your next letter.” Guru maharaj: So Prabhupad was very anxious to see that we had our own place. You saw that he was expecting something like what happened and he wanted us to have our own place. Then he called me in the room. At that time we were staying in Hindustan Park Avenue at this new clinic, just behind Rasbehari Avenue. He asked me some questions, and I didn’t know anything. So he turned to his secretary and said, he doesn’t know. He said okay. They he asked me if I would like to take sanyas. He said the devotees in Los Angeles he had also Acyutananda and my name as possible sanyasis. So I thought, oh, wow, this is a great thing! So I said, sure! So he said on Radhashtami we will give you sanyas. That is all for now. Any questions? Question: Guru maharaj, you came to western India in 1970 and it was very difficult for western devotees to adjust to the culture and environment in India. How did you cope with that? Guru maharaj: A good question! Somehow I didn’t find it so difficult. But I was trained up when Prabhupad reached Calcutta, he gave me a letter. He said I want you to mail this with acknowledgement due from the GPO of Calcutta. The General Post Office. Sounds like an easy job right?! Like in the West you would go to a post office and give the letter that’s it. But in India there are so many signs, acknowledgement due. So I wait in the queue, I want to send this letter acknowledgement due. Well you have to weigh the letter first. So then I went in the queue for weighing the letter. Then after weighing the letter then they said you have to buy some stamps. Then I waited in the stamps queue. And then I waited and waited and waited and bought some stamps. Then I went back to the acknowledgement due line. I finally got up to the counter and he said where is your acknowledgement due card? You have to have a card. You can get one outside. By this time it was like three hours and I was going crazy! Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare! Ha! Prabhupad was training me up. India is very systematic. If you don’t know the system you go crazy! So then I went outside, bought a card then I had the guy sew the card to the letter. In between I also had to stand in a few lines as well, to stick the stamps and so on. So finally I got to the acknowledgement due and then he gave me a stamp and a receipt. So I could go! Prabhupad said, I want you to send this mail but how much I went thru! Ha! Ha!

Jayaraseshwari devi dasi 30 July 2015