20200901 52nd Anniversary of Prabhupāda's Sannyāsa with Kolkata Devotees

The following is a Zoom meeting with His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on September 1st,2020 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. Zoom meeting was held on the occation of Srila Prabhupada's 52nd Year Anniversary with the Kolkata Devotees.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: I went to see Śrīla Prabhupāda in Los Angeles and he said he would send me to Calcutta. But he wanted to hear from Acyutānanda who was in Calcutta that he had his own place. But in the meantime I went to Chicago to help open the temple. Then Garga Muni called me up and said now, Śrīla Prabhupāda wants you to go to Calcutta. Then I went to Calcutta. But Acyutānanda did not really have a place. So for some months I was staying in the Gauḍīya Maṭha. They had you sit exactly what date you took initiation, I was put in that place. So, exactly where I fit in the line I would be there. Then we heard that Śrīla Prabhupāda is coming to Calcutta and we found a place in South Calcutta. It was a place that was going to be a kind of clinic. And we could stay there for six months without rent. So then, we went to invite Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Godbrothers. We invited Bhakti Pramod Puri Mahārāja, he was staying at the Gauḍīya Maṭha. He said he would be very happy to go. But some gṛhastha-panḍitas said, Mahārāja, you took sannyāsa before he did. So you should not go, you are a senior! He was a peace loving person. The day Śrīla Prabhupāda finally arrived we had a special VIP reception for Śrīla Prabhupāda. And we drove him to the VIP lounge. There, Acyutānanda was leading the kīrtana and Śrīla Prabhupāda was looking around. He asked, none of my Godbrothers have come? And only some brahmacārīs from the Maṭha had come. They said they would greet Śrīla Prabhupāda in the Gauḍīya Maṭha. They had a sent a truck filled with brahmacārīs doing kīrtana. So there was one car which was loaned to us by some life member. It was a very old car like a Dodge, big size. Śrīla Prabhupāda got in the car and said, drive off. Somehow or another I ran and got into the car. Śrīla Prabhupāda said take me directly to your house. Of course, we will send the car to bring some prasāda from the Maṭha. He said that if they really wanted to greet me, they would have come to the airport. They wanted me to go directly to their Gauḍīya Maṭha so that they will take the credit that they sent me to the West. I was a very simple brahmacārī at that time and these high-level tactics were beyond me.

So anyway we did what Śrīla Prabhupāda said. We took him to the clinic. At that time, it was empty. Śrīla Prabhupāda was in one room and me and Acyutānanda were in another room. So Śrīla Prabhupāda was disturbed that four of the people he had given sannyāsa to recently, that they had started to say that Śrīla Prabhupāda was Kṛṣṇa. And Śrīla Prabhupāda, he did not like this at all. He said if you say you are God then you are DOG not GOD. Then he asked Acyutānanda about this matter. Then he realized that someone had told Acyutananda that Śrīla Prabhupāda was simply a ṛtvik on behalf of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. So these sannyāsīs thought that well if Śrīla Prabhupāda is Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura then he is also Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Maybe he is Rūpa Gosvāmī. Maybe He is Lord Caitanya. Maybe he is Kṛṣṇa. So somehow in their frugal imagination they took this letter that Acyutānanda had written that Śrīla Prabhupāda was a ṛtvik of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and they mentioned that he was Kṛṣṇa. So we have seen that many movements, after the founder leaves, they declare the founder is an avatāra. Swami Narayan in his book never said he is Bhagavan. But now his followers say he is Bhagavan. Śrīla Prabhupāda first was involved in this preoccupation. He called me into the room and started grilling me. Then he turned to his secretary and said, he is innocent, he doesn’t know anything. After all these things were settled then he started to concentrate how the preaching would go in Calcutta and India.

Then he mentioned how he wanted to have the Calcutta Ratha Yātrā, he wanted to have his own place. And he asked me whether I wanted to take sannyāsa. He asked Acyutānanda. So I thought it was a great thing! At that time by Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy I was in India, it was easier here to be a sannyāsī. I think in the West it is more difficult. Anyway, on Rādhāṣṭamī he gave me sannyāsa, I was the 11th sannyāsī. Also at that time there was the Left Front or United Front or something. The Maoists were killing people. Naxalites they were called. Śrīla Prabhupāda thought that I can help these people from being misguided. He wanted to see that Kṛṣṇa consciousness be spread all over Calcutta. It is hard for me to say what exactly Śrīla Prabhupāda said when he was Hindustan Park and what he said when he was in Albert Road. I remember that on Vivekananda Road we were doing kīrtana, Śrīla Prabhupāda told us we should chant Jīva Jāgo early in the morning. 5 to 6 in the morning just after sunrise we were chanting Jīva Jāgo, Jīva Jāgo. People were opening their windows and looking out, who are these crazy guys chanting early in the morning! They saw kīrtana, ok! So we went by one house opposite the Nepalcandra Sweet Shop. Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that this sweet shop is famous for pure ghee sweets. If you give pure things people will line up to take. So, we should always give pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness then people will line up! Then he went with us and saw one house, Poddar. He said I know this person. He went into the waiting room. The servant came and he asked to tell the owner that Bhaktivedanta Swami had come. The servant came and said in Hindi, babu is doing pūjā. Then he left. Śrīla Prabhupāda said this is a sign of a kaniṣṭha-adhikārī. A pure devotee comes to his house, the devotee is more important than doing ritualistic pūjā. He can leave his pūjāand meet the devotee and then go back to his pūjā. But then the gentleman came after sometime. Śrīla Prabhupāda was talking to him in Hindi. At that time I just knew a little Bengali. So like that I was learning things from Śrīla Prabhupāda at every moment.

Śrīla Prabhupāda mentioned how when he was a child he did the Ratha Yātrā in Harrison Road. Later Harrison Road name was changed to Mahatma Gandhi Road. So he mentioned that his parents, De family was a very aristocratic Bengali family. They were suvarṇa-vaṇikas – gold merchants. We saw also his Rādhā Govinda Deities, his Revati Balarāma Deities of his forefathers. Like that Śrīla Prabhupāda was showing us around. Then he started the Life Membership program. At that time it was Rs. 1111/- . Many people used to invite Śrīla Prabhupāda home for prasāda. Mr. Bijoria, Mr. Jhunhjunwala, they were aristocratic businessmen of India from Calcutta. So he would only go if they became life members. This way he made many life members. I remember we went to Birla House. And they had all silver bowls and spoons and the spoon was so heavy it fell from my hand! Śrīla Prabhupāda he was invited by different members and he was instructing them on Kṛṣṇa-bhakti.

I remember that in Albert Road he was sitting, at that time some life member came to visit and asked him do you show any magic? Śrīla Prabhupāda said I went with 40 rupees to America and now I have 40 crores of rupees,is that not magic? Oh, that is magic! So like this Śrīla Prabhupāda was preaching that he wanted to establish a Ratha Yātrā, he said in Calcutta we could have ten temples. So Śrīla Prabhupāda’s vision was he could not even stay in Calcutta. He went out. But I should stay in Calcutta. Because it was his birthplace city so we should have a center here. At that time Śrīla Prabhupāda would carry with him the Rādhā Gopinatha Deities. That Deity is now in the Rādhā Govinda temple. One day he was going to Māyāpur to see the land and I had a chance to worship his Deities.

When Śrīla Prabhupāda was in South Calcutta, he made me the temple president. Then he said that when you do kīrtana you give out some books or prasāda or something. Because he said that some people just do kīrtana and beg. So like that they were thought of as beggars. So he did not want to appear like that. We are giving people. Then he was saying how he liked to walk in the side of the Ganges. At first, for some time, he went to walk in the Victoria Memorial. But he took to a crowded business place. But the side of the Ganges was very quiet and he used to chant there. Every day he would go and chant by the side of the Ganges. One day he took us to the Eden Gardens. He said how during the British time, this was used by the British. Like that Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that people in Calcutta basically liked kīrtana, and liked prasāda. So he thought we should expand the preaching nicely. Then he sent us out to enroll life members. Then I went to one life member candidate on Elgin Road, that is in the downtown area. There I went into the office of a rich business man. He started by saying I know you are all cheaters, I don’t believe any of this, it is all false! I let him finish talking. I told him you are not correct. We are distributing prasāda, we are distributing all these books and doing all these services. And I showed him pictures. He was amazed! I was just testing you! And you have passed the test! How much donation do I give you? Ha! Like that we had different experiences. Rs.1111 was the donation amount. Now it is much more!

Anyway Śrīla Prabhupāda sent me to the Calcutta GPO and said, send this letter by Registered Acknowledgement Due. And in the GPO in Calcutta there were thousands of people. I went to one place where there was a sign, Registered Mail and there was a huge line. I waited in the line and when my turn came I said I wanted to send the letter by Registered Mail. They said you have to go to the other line and weigh your letter. So there I went to another line, long line and finally I came at the front to weigh the letter. I went back to the Registered Mail line and came up to the front, I gave and said my letter weighs this much. They said, you have to go to the other line and get the stamp! By this time, two hours had passed and I was going crazy! Then I went to the other line to buy the stamp, I got my stamp, went back to the Registered Mail and waited in the line, came up to the front, you want Acknowledgement Due, you go outside and get a slip stitched to your letter. By that time, I was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa, chanting away!I was going crazy! If you don’t know the system, if you know the system it is alright, then I went outside and they put another card on my mail. Then finally the fourth time in the Registered Mail, I waited. With the stamps, the acknowledgement due sewed on and everything, finally they accepted it! Then I got the receipt. I came back to Śrīla Prabhupāda and said I sent the letter by Acknowledgement Due Registered Mail and here is the receipt. He said thank you! He did not know what I went through! One time he had a letter from some devotee in the West and that devotee said I am trying to be your disciple, me and my wife, but due to bad association we can fall down. It was quite a detailed letter and told all the difficulties they were facing. Some aristocratic businessman came to see Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda read the letter to them. See how hard it is to be a devotee in the West! Then the businessman said actually, I was born in a vegetarian family. I never tried to do anything more. Even I did not give up tea. I did not try anything more. He was appreciative how hard it was to try to be a devotee in the West. Like that Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted us to enroll life members. And he said chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and go to different places and do programs. And at that time the Home Minister of West Bengal came to see Śrīla Prabhupāda. The Home Minister said I have been seeing these devotees, I think they were born in India before! Śrīla Prabhupāda said, I thought the same thing. Śrīla Prabhupāda told me that I was born in India before. I started giving reasons how I was so fallen and things. Śrīla Prabhupāda raised his voice and said DON’T DISBELIEVE THE WORD OF THE GURU! DON’T DISBELIEVE! There was nothing more I could say.

Śrīla Prabhupāda had a vision that we should have many centers in Kolkata, have big Ratha-yātrā, big festivals. At that time one of the devotees from America said they could get ten thousand tons of ghee free! Śrīla Prabhupāda said alright, we will give a kilo of ghee to every family in Calcutta! Śrīla Prabhupāda had tremendous vision! We did a festival opposite the Indian Museum in Calcutta Maidan. There were 30,000 people attending. Śrīla Prabhupāda said make four preparations – puri, sabzi, khichdi and sweet rice or something. People had never had such an opulent prasāda for free! And so he was having the devotees chanting on the stage. At that time, we had mainly foreign devotees. Śrīla Prabhupāda called the foreign devotees his ‘dancing white elephants’. So he had various VIPs speaking and the Canadian High Commissioner speaking. At that time there was a letter sent to him with just words cut out and pasted tell Śrīla Prabhupāda to fly, to go away. Fly or Die, something like that. So then he called the police and asked what should I do? The police said we will give you extra protection, don’t worry. Also at that time, next to the East Orient Hotel, Dalhousie Square, there was a Hamilton House. We were bidding for that and he told a life member how much we were bidding. And he cheated us and he was a member of the Bharat Commercial Union and at that time we had bid for 6 lakhs and they bid 25 thousand more. Now land in Dalhousie Square is crores and crores. At that time, they got for 6 lakhs and 25 thousand!

Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was interested in getting a place in Dalhousie Square. It was a very prominent place. He had a great vision for Calcutta. From Calcutta of course, he sent me to Māyāpur. Now are there any questions?

Question: When were the present Rādhā Govinda Deities were installed?

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda had installed them I don’t which year because it was unusual to have Rādhā Govinda and Mahāprabhu. Usually, we had Nitāi Gaura, Rādhā Kṛṣṇa separate. But here we had Rādhā Govinda and Lord Caitanya. At that time He was called Gaura Naṭarāja. There was a life member Mr. Goenka he was offering the bhoga for the Deities. At some point we were staying in his house, in Jyotindra Avenue, Chowringhee Road, to the north of Vivekananda Road. At that time this side of the road was used by youths to fight with youths on the other side. We would see them how they were fighting and throwing bombs. So the police had different check posts which were sand bags. We had to walk by them with our hands up. In 1971 it was the Bangladesh war. At that time all the headlights, the top portion was painted black. There was a strict rule that foreigners should not leave Calcutta. But I had gone to Māyāpur to deliver their weekly allowance. I remember at the time petrol was 60 paise per liter. When they raised it to 1 Re all the taxis went on strike! Nobody can imagine 60 paise per liter! That is how long I have been in India! Many people, actually there are many devotees of the Rādhā Govinda Deities. And they come and see the Deities. Who would know the exact year? I remember it was during Śrīla Prabhupāda’s time. I don’t remember exactly but Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted us to have a Ratha Yatra in Calcutta and we had a Jagannātha Deity. Must have been about the same time. 

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Question: How did you get the 3C Albert Road place?

Jayapatākā Swami: First to rent a place it is very difficult to get the tenant out from there. Therefore, one businessman Mahapatra from Odisha, he wanted to make a hotel in the next building. He wanted to put a kind of walkway from that building to 3C Albert Road. He was a nice man and he wanted us to stay there for six months or a year without rent. So then the government did not give him permission to make a hotel there because there was insufficient parking place. So then after that, we went to a place where we started renting it from a Singh Roy family. Eventually we bought it from them. In Śrīla Prabhupāda’s time we had rented it. First we go free, then we took it on rent. I just remember that the person who gave it for free was Mahapatra. Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was at the Ardha Kumbha Mela in Allahabad and he said he would not return to Calcutta unless we had our own place. So, I went back to Calcutta and was searching for a place. Then we got the 3C Albert Road. Then I sent him a message and Śrīla Prabhupāda agreed to come. At that time, I was chanting 32 rounds and I thought Śrīla Prabhupāda would be very happy. But then he told me, why are you staying indoors so long? I said I am chanting 32 rounds. He told me chant 16 rounds and go out and preach. If you stay here and chant all day, who will go out and preach? Ha! Ha!

Haribol!