Śrīla Prabhupāda Kathā Day 5

Śrīla Prabhupāda Kathā Day 5

Date:

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Collection:

Inspiration series - 2014

Audio player:

20141030 SRILA PRABHUPAD KATHA DAY 5 AT NEW DELHI: Mukham karoti vaachaalam … So the last job I had was in a printing house, I was the manager of an offset printing press. And gradually in St. Catherine’s Street. St. Catherine Street is one of the main streets in Montreal. So I went and did kirtan there. I knew the police chief but somehow some policeman arrested us and put us all in the lock-up. They took off our beads and they kept us in a lock-up. But since I knew the police chief I phoned him up and he let us free. So after that we got a permit to chant in the public park. Sometime in the early winter Prabhupad received his US visa. He was not able to go to the USA because he did not have a visa. So he had the minister’s visa and he also had a green card. So then there was an initiation ceremony and it says in the book, July 1968. But that is not possible – it was much later, I mean about five or six months later. Because we looked in the internet and found out that the Golden Gate Park Ratha Yatra was on 20 July 1968. I had barely reached Montreal at that time. So many things happened and it was more or less about six months before we had initiation. Somehow at that time my material mother, she came to see me and she tried to convince me that I should go home. She said we are Christians, why don’t you become a Christian priest? I said I am following my master, Bhakti Vedanta Swami and I am happy to have him as my master. She said well, you can do this later when you get old. I asked her, how long do I have to live? She started crying. She said no mother or father would like to say how long their child would live. How can you say now that I wait until I get old? It is not guaranteed that I will live long I said. Like this she tried all the things to try and get me home. But I was staying with Prabhupad. So my father had written me off, he said I was no longer his son. But my mother was more compassionate. I don’t know if she met Prabhupad then. Later she came to India and she met Prabhupad and Prabhupad talked to her. I will speak about that later. So then I was initiated and I was given the name Jayapataka. Something like in December 1968. So Jayapataka das brahmachari. Srila Prabhupad said that this name means the Victory Flag of Lord Krishna. I was very happy to receive the initiation and soon after that Prabhupad left. Hamsaduta said we should start a temple and go on and manage ourselves out of the service. So after about two weeks he took most of the devotees – he left me with five, one high school student – he was known as Yashodananda – he would go to class and after class would come and take a plate of prasadam. So Hamsaduta said you will be the next president and he left one month’s rent, five devotees, and Haribol! Ha! So I wrote to Prabhupad I am a very young devotee, I am just 19 years old. Prabhupad said don’t be body conscious. Ha! You have to take this up as your service. But I was only initiated two weeks ago. Prabhupad said, doesn't matter, you take this as your service. So I was the president of Montreal, Canada temple and Prabhupad, he would regularly write to me. Maybe when I get the letters I can comment. First letter from Srila Prabhupad being read by a devotee: This is dated 6 October 1968 from Seattle: My dear Jayapataka, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter of September 25, 1968 and I have noted the contents carefully. I am very much concerned about your self that you have been injured by working. I do not know what sort of ugra karma you were doing but whatever you do you must be careful. Your body is dedicated to Krishna therefore you should not be neglectful about your body. You should always think that your body is no more your body but it is Krishna’s body. Therefore you should take care of it. So far as studying Bengali, of course you can do it at spare time, I have no objection. But I don’t think there is any importance in studying Bengali. It is too late now to study Bengali and become a scholar. Neither Bengali is very useful in your country in this part of the world. But there are many literatures in Bengali. If you can study conveniently then spare your time otherwise do not waste your time. If you have got some time the best thing would be to chant Hare Krishna more and more because our life is very short and we have to finish our Krishna consciousness in this life very quickly. We do not know when we shall meet our next death or next exit from this platform. But before going out of this platform we may try to finish Krishna consciousness. That is our main business. I have not heard anything about publication of our Back to Godhead in French language. What about the printing in the mimeograph machine? I am very much anxious to hear about it. Please issue the mimeograph copies of Back to Godhead as soon as possible. And Hamsaduta wrote me about starting some press but I have not heard anything about the press starting. I am interested in starting the press so if you can manage it, it will be very nice. Another thing. You ask Janardhan why he does not write me since I have come back to New York from Montreal. I have not heard anything from him. So I am also interested to know whether he is doing translation work or not. Please ask him to write me. And also I have written one letter to Hamsaduta that please ask him to reply me as soon as possible. Here in Seattle things are going nicely and it may be from here I may go to Florida. There is some friend in Florida who wants to help us to open a centre there. All of you please chant Hare Krishna and hear the sound vibration and serve Krishna and spiritual master to your best capacity and everything will be alright. Please offer my blessings to all the devotees and I am expecting letters especially from Hamsaduta and Janardhan. Hope this will find you in good health. Your ever well wisher, AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Guru Maharaj: Srila Prabhupad was so kind he wrote me a letter when I stepped on a nail. He told me that I should take care of the body as Krishna’s body, Krishna’s property. Hamsaduta went to Vancouver and Seattle. So to put things together, to place things together one of the things I did was go to the wholesale fruit market and there I would ask for fruits and vegetables from the wholesalers. I would approach the wholesalers and get them to donate fruits and vegetables. We had a small car and we would fill it up with vegetables and fruits. And then, another thing is that Iskcon was not registered in Canada. So I made the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Canada). Somehow I spoke with the lawyers and we took the American corporation and copied it to Canada. At that time I was chanting and leading a kirtan party in Montreal. And John Lennon, he was doing his demonstration – ‘Give Peace a Chance’. And his method was love and peace. He and his wife were in a bed in a hotel and he would talk to the media but somehow he called me up and he said he wanted to chant in the suite. So I would be chanting with a group of devotees while he was giving a press release. Stop the war in Vietnam, Give Peace a Chance. So we have a famous demonstration with me leading the kirtan in the background. And at that time I met John Lennon of the Beatles, in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. (That was in the summer of 1969). So around that time I went to New York to get my second initiation and Prabhupad was giving the initiations in the temple room while kirtan was going on. So he covered his hand and showed how to chant the mudras. So for the first time I did not get it right and Prabhupad said if you don’t get it right, I won’t give you! Oosshh.. ha! Ha! It was heavy tension. So the second time I got it right! Ekanath Gaura das prabhu: So Prabhupad when giving initiation everyone was chanting Hare Krishna? Guru Maharaj: Yes. And I can’t remember whether it was before the yagna or after the yagna or during the yagna, it was at the same time. I think someone said the address was Henry Street but I don’t know specifically. Behind Prabhupad there were some secret windows and two devotees were looking and spying what was going on. Mahavaraha Das Prabhu: 1969 temple moved to Henry Street, Brooklyn. Number was 49. 1969 to 1975. Ekanath Gaura Das Prabhu: Did Prabhupad say anything to you guru maharaj during that initiation? Guru maharaj: When the yagna went on and one boy was taking first initiation and his girl friend was waiting at the door. So the girl friend at the end of the yagna she called the boy friend with her finger, come! He got up and left. Prabhupad said, he is not initiated. Ha! Ha! Shyamarasika das Prabhu: Prabhupad’s second initiation talk in Henry Street is in the folio. Devotee reading: This is just the first paragraph. When the initiation is just over. “Prabhupad: You begin from this big bead, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare and then after finishing begin second, in this way there are 108, 1,2,3 come to this point, then begin from this point. You are following? Then come to this. In this way, 1,2,3,4, 16 rounds at least. If you can increase more that’s alright otherwise 16 rounds. Your spiritual name is Jayapataka. Bow down. You know the mantra? Om Vishnu paadaaya Krishna preshthaaya bhutale, Srimate Bhakti Vedanta Swamin iti naamine, And then, Your Divine Grace, you said Om Vishnu paadaaya Krishna preshthaaya bhutale, Srimate Bhakti Vedanta Swamin iti naamine. Prabhupad: That’s all. Take this. You have got the copy of these ten kinds of offences? Where is that? Bring it. Now in order to chant, what is that, you read? “ Then he starts to explain the offences and so on. Srila Prabhupad ki jai! Guru maharaj: So I just went down from Montreal to New York and back because I was a legal immigrant in Canada but if I went to America for a long time they could catch me and send me to Vietnam. Instead I wanted to fight in Krishna’s army against maya. Sometime in 1969, maybe early 1970, at that time the pro French movement was gaining strength in Montreal. Therefore since I did not know French much, it was better for a French Canadian to take over the temple. And my secretary was Sripati das. Prabhupad had originally had temple president, secretary and treasurer. So I started grooming him as the next president. In the meantime although I had dropped out of academics I did two credit courses in Bhagavad Gita in Lehigh University and also a course in McGill University with no credit. So I would go there just to read the Bhagavad Gita ten times so I could give lectures on Bhagavad Gita. So like that I would give regular class of Bhagavad Gita. Then things happened very quick. So then I decided to go to Toronto and open a temple there and Raktha Prabhu also came with me. And then from Buffalo, Jagadish and Lakshmimoni devi dasi met us. So I was president for just a short time. Raktha said you were the president in Montreal; I want to be the president in Toronto. I didn't think Raktha was qualified to be the president. So I said, well, let Jagadish be the president and you will be the secretary and I will be the treasurer. Since I was taking a humble position he couldn’t say anything. I still have the picture of the big open space in Toronto. And we heard that Prabhupad, he was coming back from India to Boston. So we all went to Boston to receive him. Probably late 69 – I think maybe early 70. There were like 150 devotees. There was a big kirtan going on and the newspapers had many photographs. One of the newspapers saw a devotee had smashed his head with the kartals. But he was so ecstatic that he didn't know that he was bleeding. He was chanting and the blood was pouring from his head. So the newspaper wrote this. Yes, a Boston newspaper – Boston Globe I think. Then Prabhupad, he raised his hands over the partition and the devotees went wild. Haribol! Srila Prabhupad ki jai! They were jumping up and down. That’s when that devotee hit himself. And Prabhupad came out and everybody paid their obeisances. Prabhupad was standing and all the devotees were doing dandavat! Then Prabhupad sat down. (This was 21 December, 1969). Then everybody came and offered garlands to Prabhupad. He had garlands up to his eyes. He took a bunch off and then they came up and offered more. Then he took another bunch out. He kept doing this and more people came and offered garlands to Prabhupad. Then Prabhupad asked everybody to sit down and he spoke. And then he said, the spiritual master is honoured just like you honour God but he is not God. He is not G O D. If he thinks he is God then he is D O G dog. Ha! So there was some TV some media, newspapers. There was a press conference and that time there was snow. So December fits. And they took Prabhupad to the Boston temple. The temple was previously a funeral parlour, for dead bodies. Ha! They had a lift and a basement where they had a printing press. So Prabhupad was taking a tour. So as president I got to go with him. I don’t know if I came from Montreal or Toronto that time. But he went down and saw – I think they published Nectar of Devotion. Prabhupad was very happy to see all the books. Then he went up and he addressed the devotees. He went into his room, took some prasadam. He then went into the car and then he drove off. I heard later that that car met with an accident. When the car drove off. I remembered there was maha prasadam upstairs so I ran upstairs. There was Kirtanananda, shsh… he was eating all the maha prasadam. Ha! I went in and also took some prasadam. I was eating. Meanwhile the head pujari came and said, hey, these are Prabhupad dishes! He started scolding us so we ran away with our goodies! So that was one of the ecstatic pastimes of Srila Prabhupad in Boston. Any questions? Question: Guru maharaj, during yesterday’s class you mentioned that when you were not paid for the second week when you worked in the offset printing and then you went and told the next employer that you have worked for six months, you have work experience. So when you did not get paid for your work, how did you feel at that time? Were you upset or you just forgot and moved on? How did you tackle it? Guru maharaj: There wasn't much that I could do. So I moved on with it.

Jayaraseshwari devi dasi 21 August 2015