20180508 Evening Darśana Question and Answer Session

Prabhupad, he was very innovative when it came to raising funds. He arranged that the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust would give something for building the buildings and also reprint the books. So the books were one of the sources of income. He also established the Iskcon Life Membership system. At first he established a Life Membership at Rs. 1111. He kept it low because he wanted to cultivate the members. For the patrons he would go out and take prasadam at illustrious houses. So he said that they are giving donations for me to eat. So he went to a number of life patrons. Gradually the patron membership was increased. I do not know ow much in his presence it was increased. It went from Rs. 1111 to 2222 and so on. That became his source of friends and income in India. A set of books and some privileges were given.

He was having a big pandal in Calcutta. It had a capacity of 30 thousand people and he had invited the Canadian High Commissioner and various VIPs. He got a letter that was cut out and painted on a postal card. It said, “fly or die”. Nice message! So he called the police and asked them what he should do. So they said they would give him extra security. He was preparing to provide sumptuous prasadam – four preparations – khichri, puri, chutney and halva. So people never saw such opulent free prasadam. I was assigned the duty of arranging the pandal and Tamal Krishna maharaj went out to Mayapur for the land. Prabhupad was in great anxiety to get the land. So Tamal Krishna maharaj arranged for the land. He wrote down every note number, which is unheard of. Every serial number of every rupee was written down. And the farmers who sold the land, they rode on a pickup truck and had their sticks. This is when the land was Rs. 1100 a bhiga. Now it is Rs. 14 lacs, Rs. 10 lacs per kaatha. Then it was much cheaper. I bought some land at the gurukul which was Rs. 500 a bhiga. That is 20 kaathas in one bhiga. Prabhupad was very relieved when the land was purchased and Tamal Krishna maharaj showed the land registration, which was the registration papers with all the serial numbers. I do not think anyone had every done such a thing. You could not do too much with Prabhupad. This proved without doubt that the land was paid for. So I think we bought two holdings. 2 bhigas or 4 bhigas. Prabhupad was always with ashes marking out where would be the guest house, where would be the temple. With the land that was the gurukul land there were about a 100 students and Prabhupad said we should have 500 students. Now the gurukul is in another part, at that time it was at the goshala gurukul part. 

So we stayed in the grass hut and there was a flood. The devotee who was in the hut, the water raised up, and it looked like he was going to drown. So he swam under the verandah and went to the next Gaudiya matth. His name was Viprasudama. So that was our first flood. 

When we moved to Mayapur there was another flood and we gave out flat rice and soaked chickpeas and then when we got some fire wood we had some khichri. The villagers, some were Hindus and some were Muslims. We distributed prasadam to them and I asked the Muslims, do you have any problem taking our food? They said food is food. So they were happy. 

I was returning from giving out prasadam and there was a banana tree and there was a snake on the tree. It was a cobra. So how to proceed? I was able to knock the cobra with my oar. And in the Long building one devotee found 50 snakes. And at the front gate there were also many snakes. When I went out to distribute prasadam there was a small tree and I inadvertently put my hand on the tree and I did not notice that the tree was filled with ants and my arm got covered by stinging ants. So in those times we did not really know how to distribute prasadam. So people were wading up with water to their waists or chests and their aluminum pots to get khichdi. Later we made a deal with the village leaders and they made a list of all the hungry people and so we called up each family and depending on how many members were there, for each family we would give them that quantity of prasadam. So this was very systematic. In the Long building we had may be a 1000 people who we were feeding. The government sent a helicopter and they dropped about five loaves of bread and all the people were fighting over the bread. But any way it was hardly enough to feed anyone. They were saying in the newspaper that the government distributes prasadam. It was a joke!! So when there is a flood our whole ashram gets prepared for the flood relief.

When we had the gurukul students to come and chant prayers in Sanskrit for Srila Prabhupad, there was a group of Nepali brahmanas and they chanted mantras. Now in any ceremony in Mayapur there are gurukul students who chant invocations.

In Mayapur in the months of April and May there are the kaal vaishakis – they are gale force winds, like 60 kilometers. Sometimes Srila Prabhupad would keep his window open and let wind flow into his room. Each window had a latch, so you could latch it close or latch it open. Sometimes Prabhupad like the wind. 

He also solicited some models of the TOVP. He had various models on display. Trying to decide which model to use. Usually his models were made by Surabhi das, sometimes by others. So Prabhupad, he wanted to see the Vedic Temple of Planetarium made. So he laid two foundation stones, one at the front and one at the back. In the back he was a bit weak, so he asked me and a few other devotees to put the plaque in the ground for him. We found out what was due east and we put the plaque there. You know what due east is right? Normally a compass is magnetic east but due east is calculated by the sun. You put a long rod in the ground, draw a circle around the rod and you see where the morning sun crosses it and where the evening sun crosses it and then you draw a line between the two, that is due east. So it took us a few days to find the due east. And then we went and placed the Anantasesha. There was a small Gopal deity and that was worshipped by Pishi Ma. But someone stole that. And they stole the Anantasesha but the other things they left alone. So Prabhupad said that he wanted to personally do the foundation. That is why he asked me and others to do it on his behalf. 

Since he said wherever he left his body, we would have Pushpa Samadhi in Vrndavan or Mayapur, so I was very afraid that something would be stolen. So we put the gold box with Prabhupad’s pushpas and other things in about a ton of cement. We wanted to be sure that it was not taken. Since it was a golden box you could never say. But we put so much cement that nobody could take it. 

These are some of the things which happened in Mayapur with Srila Prabhupad.

Any questions?

Question: PAMHO. Please tell about the time when there were snakes in the pipes in Srila Prabhupad’s room and he called asked you to find and take care of it. Phaniswari Lakshmi dd

Guru maharaj: You see I think I told the story. The snake was trying to bite Srila Prabhupad. So I was called and I had to destroy the snake. But snakes always go in pairs. They say that one snake looks in the eyes of  the other and he says here is the one, here is the one thatw that killed my mate. And they will look until they find the person. So we were trying to find a snake but he or she was on the pipe and we could not retrieve her. But we were able to save Srila Prabhupad. Normally when you kill one snake you have to burn it before the sun sets. That is what the villagers say. In this case we could not find. 

Question: Do you want to tell the cobra story about when workers would see giant cobras and would not work. Haridwani dd

Guru maharaj: I told that story also. It is in the book that we are about to publish. It was a black cobra and he went into a brick pile. So none of the workers would go near the pile. And I went with a shot gun to find the snake. And I was in the field with long grass and someone on the roof said, watch out, watch out, he is right there! He is right there! I could not see where he was. It was all grass. So I was in a precarious situation. Some devotee came and threw a rod. Snakes are very fast. So then the snake came up and I could see the snake and I shot it. We burnt that one. And the workers went back to work.

Question: Dear guru maharaj, can you share with us anything special which Srila Prabhupad really liked when it came to Mayapur dham?

Gur maharaj: I remember once he said that we wanted hot milk. So the cook asked, how hot? He said as hot as possible. So the cook went out and came back with hot milk, so hot that it burnt Prabhupad’s hand. He said, it is too hot.  He said, Prabhupad you said as hot as possible. Prabhupad said, yes, but not impossible! Ha!

Hare Krishna! Thank you!

9 May 2018