20240324 A Talk Show: Deepening Your Relationship With Śrīla Prabhupāda

The following is a talk given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on March 24th, 2024 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur,India. The talk was given at the Connecting to Srila Prabhupada Bengali Programme.

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 was the president in Canada, in Montreal and Toronto and other places. Then Śrīla Prabhupāda sent me to India. I took the Brothers Airlines to travel to India. They were three brothers, the airlines was named after them. That plane was a World War 2 propeller aircraft. That aircraft cannot fly far for long. We flew from Brussels to Rome, Rome to Cairo, Cairo to Yemen, Yemen to Karachi and Karachi to Bombay. When I reached Bombay there were not much security restrictions. One lady was begging and had a child. Asked me ‘Baksish! Baksish!’ There I had a phone number and called that number. But there was no response. Then one person came and said, if you want to change currency then I can give you a good rate. I saw the situation was not very good and I wanted to go away. Then I went to Calcutta. I took a taxi to the Caitanya Gauḍīya Maṭha. For a few months before coming to Māyāpur I was in that Caitanya Gauḍīya Maṭha. Then Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to come there from Japan but he wanted us to have our own place in Kolkata by then. There was a doctor in Calcutta, he gave his new clinic to us for staying for some months and we stayed there and Śrīla Prabhupāda came.

When Śrīla Prabhupāda arrived in Calcutta I had invited the Gauḍīya Maṭhas to come to receive Śrīla Prabhupāda but no one came. None of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s godbrothers came, only some brahmacārīs. They said they would take him to the Gauḍīya Maṭha. But Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “No, I will go to our own place.” He would send some devotees to take prasāda from the maṭha. I did not understand all this kind of interaction between godbrothers. Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “If they had come to me then it would have been nice, but they wanted me to go to their Gauḍīya Maṭha.” Śrīla Prabhupāda said that, “I would go there and whatever preaching I had done in the West, they would take the credit for that.” This I did not understand but Śrīla Prabhupāda had understood. We were there for two years in Calcutta. Then Śrīla Prabhupāda sent me to Māyāpur. Then on I was in Māyāpur.

We had acquired some land in Māyāpur from a person, Amana Sheikh. Then the price of land was Rs.1100 for a bighā. There was a place, Baser Bāḍi where the price was Rs. 500 per bighā we acquired land from someone there also. I heard that Śrīla Prabhupāda in America had the name Founder-Ācārya instituted and Śrīla Prabhupāda gave himself the name Founder-Ācārya because he got to hear that one of his secretaries had converted some land to his own name and sold it. This way, some of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s godbrothers wanted to take the credit for Śrīla Prabhupāda’s preaching activities in the West. Śrīla Prabhupāda instituted did this Founder-Ācārya so that there will be his right. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted that there should be a special relationship or connect of all the ISKCON devotees with him. That way, in every temple of ISKCON there was a deity of Śrīla Prabhupāda. And every day there would be guru-pūjā of Śrīla Prabhupāda performed.

Every night a dog used to come to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s vyāsāsana in Māyāpur. And we used to get puffed rice prasāda every night. We used to have puffed rice and milk for dinner prasāda and the devotees would rest. I hid behind the jāli door and saw if the dog came or not. I saw the dog. He came up in front of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s vyāsāsana and did complete obeisances. Haribol!

Atula Kṛṣṇa dāsa: When Śrīla Prabhupāda came you were always there when Śrīla Prabhupāda used to come to Māyāpur. Could you share with us any special pastimes or instructions of Śrīla Prabhupāda which you heard from him then.

Jayapatākā Swami: Some days Śrīla Prabhupāda used to come to Māyāpur and talk nicely. Then four or five days later he would gradually see and point all the defects. He would ask why is this pot dirty. Śrīla Prabhupāda said Māyāpur is the spiritual Headquarters and so everything should be perfect. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to stay in the Lotus Building. In the morning, he would go for a walk. If he saw any dirt, he would let us know. On the third floor of the Lotus Building Śrīla Prabhupāda used to stay and the brahmacārīs stayed on the fourth floor. The brahmacārīs were a bit unclean and there was dirt where they stayed. The brahmacārīs used to dry their clothes on a wall there. Śrīla Prabhupāda one day went to the brahmacārīs’ floor. And there was a clothes line there and he said that the brahmacārīs are spoiling our building. Because the clothes line was damaging the building. Then our Cakra building was ready. He sent the brahmacārīs to the Cakra building. This way, Śrīla Prabhupāda used to give advice of how Māyāpur should be kept nice and clean.

Atula Kṛṣṇa dāsa: In the future how will the grand disciples and other devotees get the association of Śrīla Prabhupāda? 

Jayapatākā Swami: We had the privilege of associating with Śrīla Prabhupāda. I used to understand Bengali a bit then. There was a person, Mahārāja, who came from the Gauḍīya Maṭha to invite Śrīla Prabhupāda to attend their guru’s appearance day program. Śrīla Prabhupāda would speak in Bengali and I could understand. He said, if I go I will only say one thing. I will say why we do not preach unitedly? You want to hear this again and again. Why are you not wanting to preach together with us? The Mahārāja said that we are small fish in a small pond. You are big-fish and we cannot manage with you. Śrīla Prabhupāda was very disappointed. Then that Mahārāja went away. This way there are many books, lectures, letters of Śrīla Prabhupāda. If all of you read them you can understand the thoughts and mood of Śrīla Prabhupāda. And Śrīla Prabhupāda followed the orders of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. He said that if there was any defect it was only that he followed his spiritual master’s instructions word to word.

When I came there were not very many books of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Then Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, gradually were published. Now if all of you study those it will be good for all. Then, I got a lot of association of Śrīla Prabhupāda and he gave me about 40 instructions. I am not sure if I will be able to fulfill all of them, I don’t know. Now if there are any left over, you will complete them. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to translate for two to three hours he took so much pain to do this. So I thought that I should also study Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books because he took great pain to write these books. I have got my Bhaktivedanta degree now. I had studied Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam a lot. I hope that all the disciples, and other devotees will study the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda. That way they will be able to fulfill the desire of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Hari Śauri Prabhu and other devotees have written the history. Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lectures, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Translations, many have been published. This way, all these are very invaluable texts Śrīla Prabhupāda has left for us. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to push us. I used to send Śrīla Prabhupāda pictures of stones, steel, iron, etc. And Śrīla Prabhupāda used to write back saying you are showing me pictures of these things, I want to see the building! Then came the Lotus, Cakra, Gada, Śaṅkha buildings So we used to get the association of Śrīla Prabhupāda as he used to come twice every year to Māyāpur.