11 There were many inconveniences Prabhupada had to face due to old
age and disease, but he was never affected in his pure Krsna consciousness.
Even externally, he often refused to bow to the dictates of his maladies,
variously diagnosed as diabetes, poor digestion, and many others.
He or his followers would call for doctors periodically, but Srila Prabhupada
rarely took their prescriptions or followed their diet regimens.
He was not what you would call a good patient.
When in New York an Indian allopathic doctor visited and gave
Prabhupada medicine and antibiotics, Prabhupada was polite and agreeable.
But his servant Hari Sauri was doubtful.
"Will you take your medicine?" he asked.
Prabhupada patted the little pills on his desk and said, noncommittally,
"We shall see." And he never took them. Some of the devotees
thought that Srila Prabhupada was seeing doctors just to engage them in
devotional service.
He rebelled against strictures on his diet, even when he was
quite ill. A kaviraja in India ordered that Prabhupada couldn't eat
rice, potatoes, sugar and certain fruits. When he called in his cook
Daivisakti in Vrndavana and asked her to make panjab boli, a hot potato
sabji, she dutifully reminded him, "But Prabhupada, you can't eat potatoes."
He endured it for a few days and then overthrew the order. He called
for his old lunch of rice, dal, capatis and sabji. At that time another
well-meaning servant, Upendra, intervened and tried to restrain him.
"But Prabhupada the doctor told you not to take all these things.
You're going to get sick." Prabhupada replied, "We are not doctor
dasa, we are Krsna dasa." So from then on he resumed his normal diet.
In Mayapur, his cook Palika dasi attempted an even stricter discipline,
based on the instructions of a famous kaviraja from Calcutta. In
this case, Prabhupada was to follow an intricate schedule by which he would
take pills and eat and drink only at certain hours. This was in 1977,
when Prabhupada was so sick that he was rarely coming to the temple to
give classes or go on morning walks. One afternoon, a devotee named
Anakadundubhi, unaware of the tight schedule of Prabhupada's drinking and
eating, brought Prabhupada a fresh coconut dob to drink, as usual.
Although Prabhupada knew very well that he was not supposed to take
anything at this time, he quietly accepted the dob and poured it into his
cup. But just as he started to drink it, Palika came by and admonished
him, "Srila Prabhupada, you're not supposed to take anything..."
Prabhupada became defiant. "Who said?" he challenged, and
immediately drank down the whole cup of juice, although it was usually
his custom to sip it slowly. "All my life," he said, "I have done
whatever I wanted!"
12 A disciple Satya-narayana dasa, had been advised by other devotees
that a serious study of Ayur-veda would be important. Satya-narayana
was living in Florida, but he planned to go to India to take up the medical
study. He had written to a kaviraja in Calcutta, one whom Prabhupada
also sometimes saw, and the kaviraja had written back agreeing to accept
Satya-narayana as his student.
Arriving in Mayapur, Satya-narayana went to see Srila Prabhupada,
who at that moment was receiving a massage on the roof of the building.
At his disciple's first attempts to explain the Ayur-veda project, Srila
Prabhupada put up his hand and said, "Oh I am very tired now." It
seemed that he was not only tired but not particularly inclined to hear.
Within a day or two, Satya-narayana managed to get another interview.
This time he entered Srila Prabhupada's room, offered his dandavats, and
explained things a little further. "I can stay as a pujari here in
Calcutta. It's only a mile away to the doctor, and I can study under
him. I have permission from my G.B.C. man."
Prabhupada interrupted him. "No, this is not very important."
Then he just looked away. Satya-narayana couldn't believe that he
was just supposed to accept it with no further comment. He wanted
an answer and reason, so he sat silently looking at Prabhupada. Prabhupada
kindly turned to him. "We are not interested in studying these different
sciences. Whatever medicines work, you use it. Actually Western
medicine is very advanced. So there is no reason to study this.
We want to become brahmanas." Prabhupada pointed to the Krsna book
on his desk and said, "You simply read my books. This is what you
should do!"
Satya-narayana felt satisfied and said, "Thank you, Prabhupada."
Prabhupada replied strongly, "Hare Krsna!" And that was
the end of Satya-narayana's career in Ayur-veda.
13 Prabhupada said
On raising children
"I discussed the contents of your letter with His Divine Grace
Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada stated that our grhasthas should simply
chant fifty rounds before conceiving a child. Prabhupada said, "We
do not want all these rituals. Chanting Hare Krsna is our only business.
According to the Manu-samhita you are all mlecchas and yavanas. You
cannot touch the Manu-samhita, what to speak of translating it. So
if you try to follow the Manu-samhita then you will become a mleccha and
yavana and your career is finished."
Letter of May 19, 1977
"I understand you are now expecting a nice child for raising
in Krsna consciousness. In this connection you should avoid any spicy
foods, so long as the child is within the womb. So far natural childbirth
is concerned, natural delivery is possible if we keep ourselves naturally.
And so far I know, a pregnant woman should not even eat pungent foodstuffs,
she should not move in cars, she should not sit idly. She should
move and do some physical work. These are the general rules and regulations
I have seen in India. They have natural delivery. But so far
your country is concerned, especially the situation of the woman concerned
there, that is a different thing. I cannot say definitely what is
to be done. And under the circumstances, the best thing is to consult
a doctor as they usually do. And after all, Krsna is the ultimate
Master, so if you keep the natural habits and depend on Krsna, then everything
will be done nicely without any difficulty.
Letter of May 24, 1969
"You ask if the children should be taken to ordinary medical
doctors. Why no? Of course, we can't always trust that these
doctors may be doing the right thing, but what can be done? The governing
principle for our activity should be to do what is favourable for pleasing
Krsna. So if your child requires medical attention to be fit for
serving Krsna, then it is only practical she should get it. The same
thing - the government is giving you money, why not use it for Krsna?
The only thing you must avoid cheating them while falsely claiming something
to get money. Then we are risking over very high reputation as pious
people. But if they are willing to give us money and food, then of
course we should accept."
Letter of November 22, 1971
"Regarding the child problem, in call, I may inform you that
our children born of Krsna conscious parents are all welcome, and I want
hundreds of children like that, because in the future we expect to change
the face of the whole world, because the child is the father of the man.
Anyway, I have seen M. is nursing her child so nicely that she attended
my meeting every day and the child was playing not crying. Similarly
L." child also never cries or disturbs the meeting. L. was always
present with her child, so it depends on the mother. How to keep
the child comfortable, so he will not cry. The child cries only when
it feels uncomfortable. The child's comfort and discomfort depends
on the mother's attention. So the best solution is we train all our
small babies in such a way that they are always satisfied, and there will
be no disturbance in the meeting. Then there will be no complaint.
But there cannot be any hard and fast rules that only children who are
grown up, seven or eight years old, can be admitted and no other children
can be admitted. That is not possible, and I am not going to sanction
any such rule. Rather, I shall welcome the baby from the very beginning,
so that the transcendental vibration may enter into its ear, and from the
very beginning of life, it becomes purified. But the mother's responsibility
to keep them comfortable and not disturb the meeting.
"Why should the parents not feel attachment for their children,
that is natural. But our affection is not simply sentimental, we
offer our children the highest opportunity to become trained up in Krsna
consciousness very early so as to assure their success in this life to
go back to Godhead for sure. That is real affection, to make sure
my child gets back to Godhead, that is my real responsibility as a parent.
And I have seen that Gurukula offers this opportunity more than any other
place anywhere. So I think that you are an intelligent girl, and
you can explain it to the others in this way."
Letter of March 23, 1973
14 PRABHUPADA TELLS A STORY
When Syamasundara dasa was in charge of ISKCON England, he bought
very expansive crystal chandeliers. They cost three thousand pounds
and the devotees had to take them back because they couldn't afford them.
On this occasion, Prabhupada was talking about the crystal chandeliers.
He said, "This reminds me of a story of a nawab. Nawab means 'rich
one'. He has so much money he doesn't know what to do with it all.
One nawab had one servant cleaning a big, big crystal chandelier.
So as the servant was cleaning the chandelier, a crystal fell, and as it
crashed onto the marble floor it made an unusual tinkling sound, which
the nawab heard from his room. The nawab came running out and asked,
"What was that sound?"
"The servant was petrified and asked forgiveness.
"I'm sorry", he said. "When I was cleaning the chandelier, one of
the precious crystals fell and shattered on the floor. I am very
sorry."
"The nawab said, "Oh, this is a very nice sound. Throw
one more down."
"So the servant smashed another onto the floor. 'Very nice
sound", said the nawab. "Throw another one down. And so in
this way, every single crystal of the chandelier was thrown and smashed
on the ground. Because the nawab had so much money at his disposal,
he could do anything he liked.
"Similarly" said Srila Prabhupada, "Syamasundara thinks he's
got so much money he can just throw it..."
15 PERSONAL
His Preaching Spirit
In the evening he wanted to see guests. We suggested he
not see people who would waste his time and he agreed. But then he
would become angry with us if we kept people from seeing him, because he
existed for preaching to them. It was his duty to preach, he felt.
Prabhupada was self-satisfied, and never restless or bored, yet if the
place was really quiet with no preaching there, he seemed to want to go
where some action was. This was also a manifestation of his desire
to accomplish as much as possible. Prabhupada was already accomplished
in terms of self realisation and love of Krsna; therefore his travel was
only for the benefit of others.
He felt he had to travel, and he kept on the move. When
he arrived in a new place, he immediately was ready to see the local people.
The room would fill up, and he would preach for hours. This feature
of Prabhupada's behaviour was very astounding. Day and night, people
would come into his room - sometimes a few, sometimes many. Prabhupada
would always speak to them about Krsna; he would speak on the basis of
Bhagavad-gita, calling for verses to be cited, answering questions, preaching
much as in his classes. The informal talks were more unusual.
Many of his talks in later years were recorded. He would preach,
preach, preach. He kept going, hours on end, preaching the basic
philosophy, holding the room full of people, then taking a little prasadam
and distributing it.
When he would travel to certain places, as in Europe, where he
could speak to many people and bring them to devotional service, he would
be especially enlivened to preach. Preaching also meant encouraging
the local ISKCON disciples wherever he visited, and preaching also meant
his book writing. It also meant his spirit of maintaining and expanding
ISKCON in all its activities. We cannot describe the full glories
of his preaching spirit. His enthusiasm was unlimited and even today
is nourishing all the preachers of ISKCON. When he was ill and feeling
inconvenienced, when the people he was speaking to were low-class or disinterested,
when his body was very old, and when in order to preach he had to interrupt
his schedule, when there was difficulty going on within his ISKCON - still
his preaching would go on. Sitting at his low desk talking, his eyes
sometimes widening, hands sometimes gesturing, taking water to drink, chanting
almost soundless japa when not talking, focusing in on special guests to
develop a whole argument with them, Prabhupada was intent on his preaching
points, although he had made the same points millions of times. Thus
he was not just a scholar, but a pure devotee attempting to convince everyone
that they had to change, the whole world had to change, or else.
16 It didn't happen often, but sometimes Srila Prabhupada was overcome
by ecstatic emotions while lecturing. It had happened for example,
in the San Francisco storefront when Prabhupada was describing Lord Caitanya's
mood of separation from Krsna. It also happened in Gorakhpur, India,
while Prabhupada was seated before the Deities of Radha-Madhava, discussing
Krsna's pastimes. Again it had happened in Los Angeles during a lecture.
He had said that his disciples were young and had much opportunity to preach,
whereas his life had no value because, "I am an old man who may die at
any moment." As soon as he had uttered these words, Prabhupada was
suddenly unable to talk and a very perceivable change in his consciousness
took place. It seemed to some of the devotees who witnessed these
stares that the spiritual world had suddenly opened up directly before
Prabhupada's vision and Krsna was communicating with him in a way that
made him unable to speak.
One time after the same thing happened before a large gathering
of devotees in Mayapur, the devotees inquired from Srila Prabhupada about
their own behaviour on such occasions. In Mayapur, when Prabhupada
became stunned, the whole congregation became breathlessly silent, waiting
for a cue from their spiritual master. But suddenly one of the sannyasis
broke the mood and began singing, "nama om visnu padaya...:
At first no one followed his singing, but when he persisted,
others gradually joined, and then Prabhupada broke out of his meditative
trance. Afterwards, there was a strong disagreement among the devotees
over the sannyasis's behaviour. Some said it was offensive.
Finally the issue came to Prabhupada's secretary, Brahmananda Swami, who
was asked to settle the matter by asking Prabhupada.
Brahmananda Swami asked Prabhupada if he remembered how during
the lecture that morning he had gone into a deep silence. Srila Prabhupada
replied shyly, almost embarassedly, and said, "I do not do that very often."
"But when it does happened", Brahmananda Swami asked, "what should
we do? Should we be silent, or should we chant japa?"
Prabhupada said, "Yes just chant. Just chant Hare Krsna.
That's all right."
Brahmananda then asked if what the sannyasis disciple had done
that morning was all right, by chanting.
"Yes", said Prabhupada, "that was all right." Prabhupada
treated the whole occasion as rather insignificant, and thus gave his devotees
a hint that they should not get involved with speculation. Of course,
they could not forget what they had seen, but they should not make a big
thing about Prabhupada's going into ecstasies. It had occurred, but
it was not his main method of precept or example. And to chant
Hare Krsna at such a time was all right.
17 Mahabuddhi dasa tells of the first time he met Srila Prabhupada.
His name at that time was Randy, and he had long blond hair. He was
a football player at San Diego State University, a leader in student government,
and a son of wealthy parents. He had been taking part in the congregational
kirtana in the Los Angeles temple when Srila Prabhupada's secretary invited
him to come upstairs to Prabhupada's room. Randy liked the idea,
but when he entered Prabhupada's quarters, he found himself the only guest
in the small room.
Srila Prabhupada was seated at his desk surrounded by sannyasis
and G.B.C. disciples, none of whom knew Randy. While Randy was trying
to gather his wits about the situation, Prabhupada began to preach, looking
straight at him, saying, "Why be a krpana?" What's a krpana? thought
Randy, and Srila Prabhupada replied, "Krpana means miser." Randy
thought of his own family's wealth and he and his parents had their own
plans for using it. Prabhupada continued speaking about the krpana
mentality,, and by now Randy had the direct impression that Prabhupada
was speaking to his mind and defeating each of his defiant thoughts.
It was like a conversation between Randy's rebellious thoughts and Prabhupada's
smashing, spoken replies.
"Because you have been given some ability, wealth and opulence
by Krsna," said Prabhupada, looking to Randy, who sat against the wall,
"therefore you should use it in Krsna's service. If you use it only
for your personal sense gratification, that's simply miserly. If
you do not take to Krsna consciousness, you will ruin your human form of
life."
Srila Prabhupada continued explaining the process of devotional
service, and Randy managed to resume some of his pride and defensiveness.
He began to feel insulted and Prabhupada had called him a miser.
Randy admitted to himself that Prabhupada seemed to have read his mind.
But if Prabhupada was actually perfect, that he should know the future.
In this way, Randy began to feel the return of his usual pride. But
as if in response to these thoughts, Prabhupada suddenly called for a copy
of the Twelfth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam and began reading aloud the
predictions for degraded humanity in the coming age, the age of Kali.
"Men will consider that to have long hair means they are beautiful,"
said Srila Prabhupada. When Randy heard that, he began shaking.
He felt stunned. He thought to himself, "He has completely defeated
me."
18 LITTLE DROPS OF NECTAR
When Srila Prabhupada flew on planes, his servants carried his
silver plates and served him full meals. His disciples usually cooked
much more for his travels than he would eat. One time Srila Prabhupada
asked to eat just before the plane was to take off. The stewardesses
were making preparations for departure, but Srila Prabhupada's servant
brought him his prasadam, which had been recently cooked at the temple.
Prabhupada sat alone, undisturbed, as the other passengers looked at him
as they buckled their seat belts and put their trays and seats in the upright
position. Somehow the stewardesses didn't insist on Prabhupada's
conforming, and so he continued calmly eating as the jet sped down the
runway. His servant anxiously held on to the drinking cups while
Prabhupada ate his meal with no notice or care for his surroundings.
Only when the plane was high in the air did Prabhupada finish. Turning
to his servant, he said, "All right, you can take these away now."
At one of the ISKCON international festivals in Vrndavana, Srila
Prabhupada rejected the singing of one of his disciples. The devotee
had previously been a singer in a band, and his kirtanas were much appreciated
by some devotees, especially those from his home temple. But when,
with showy professionalism, he began leading the guru-puja in Prabhupada's
presence, making the tune sound like a rock and roll ballad, Prabhupada
didn't like it. He shook his head and indicated that someone else
lead. The "great" kirtana singer was devastated by the rejection,
another form of Prabhupada's mercy.
For a time in Mayapur, two Bengali ladies were cooking a large
feast of about twenty five preparations and sending it over to Srila Prabhupada
at his mealtime. But he was eating very little of it. "I'm
eating with my eyes," he laughed. He then described how in the old
days in Bengal aristocratic people would invite one another for meals.
One would prepare a huge, sumptuous feast, and another would come and appreciate
how it was cooked and arranged so nicely. The guest would merely
look at the feast and say, "Oh, very nicely done." Then all the servants
would actually eat it.
19 Srila Prabhupada was very good at imitating the sounds of men, animals
and machines. He did not do it by any gross oral manipulations, like
some modern comedians do, but by the use of onomatopoeic sounds and even
Sanskrit derivations. And it was always done to prove a Krsna conscious
point.
One time in Beverly Hills, Srila Prabhupada gave a whole tour
de force of imitative sounds. Prabhupada had been alone, writing,
when his servant went into his room. Prabhupada began speaking, "There
are so many material sounds. Just now I was listening, and I could
hear the freeway." Prabhupada then imitated the cars. The sound
he made for the cars might be written down as "whooo-whooo," but it is
not possible to capture the actual sound in print, or exact impression
of what cars sound like on the freeway. Prabhupada's car sound even
included a criticism of the foolish endeavours of the highway-rushing karmis.
"And in the alley," said Prabhupada, "the garbage truck is coming."
He then made another perfect imitation. "I also heard these birds,"
said Prabhupada. "Someone nearby has roosters." Prabhupada
then gave a Sanskrit version of cockadoodledoo, which was also perfect.
"But some day ..." said Prabhupada, and the he became completely
quiet. This whole conversation had been taking place in the early
morning in Prabhupada's room, and therefore when he became silent, it seemed
like the whole world was silent. He repeated, "And then some day..."
Suddenly Prabhupada imitated an exploding bomb. "The atom bomb will
go off and it will all be finished."
20 Once in Vrndavana, Prabhupada noticed that some of his men disciples
were letting their hair grow. Different men had their reasons for
growing hair, so Prabhupada had not said anything, but one day in the presence
of his servant, Hari-sauri, and Bhagavata dasa, Prabhupada expressed his
displeasure.
Turning to Bhagavata dasa he said, "You look very beautiful by
keeping hairs. What is your explanation?"
"Oh, I was advised," said Bhagavata, "that because I was going
to the European countries it would be required to keep this hair."
"But they have won victory in the court by keeping a shaven head,"
said Prabhupada referring to a recent New York court case.
"I asked their advice," said Bhagavata, "whether I should shave
or keep the hair." Bhagavata was about to say more, but Prabhupada
interrupted him.
"What is that nonsense advice? Who is that rascal advice?
By keeping hair, you become beautiful. This is without advice, this
mentality of growing thick hair. We are known as shaven-headed, the
whole society."
Hari-sauri attempted to explain his own case, saying, "It is
about three weeks since I -" but Prabhupada interrupted him.
"Every fortnight at least," said Srila Prabhupada, and then again
he turned to Bhagavata. "Before going to Europe six years ago, you
were keeping hairs like that. "Oh, I have to go to Europe."
That I have seen. You like to keep hairs. That hippie mentality
is going on.
21. Srila Prabhupada regularly gave out cookies from the vyasasana,
but on a visit to New Vrindaban he once gave out an entire meal of prasadam
right off the Deities' plate. Radhanatha dasa had a strong desire
to approach Srila Prabhupada with the Deities' plate, immediately after
offering it to Radha-Vrndavanacandra, so he rather boldly approached Srila
Prabhupada's secretary, Pusta Krsna, who asked, "Where are the cookies?"
Radhanatha said they had none, only this full Deity plate.
"Forget it," said Pusta Krsna. "You can't give out that
kind of stuff." But Radhanatha managed to approach Prabhupada from a different
direction. When Srila Prabhupada saw the plate, he smiled, took it
up,, and began sampling each preparation with a spoon. He took a
spoonful of sweet rice, tasted it, and then began handing out spoonfuls.
Over a hundred devotees were present, and they rushed forward, unlike their
usual, formal lines for receiving a cookie. Prabhupada went from
preparation to preparation, eating a few spoonfuls of sabji and then distributing
it to the urgent, outstretched hands of the surrounding devotees.
After finishing each preparation, he also gave away the silver bowl.
Finally all that was left were two large gulabjamuns.
Children began to cry out, "Prabhupada, give it to me!"
And the adults, "Prabhupada, give it to me!" Srila Prabhupada took
his time, and at last he shook his head no. He took the gulabjamun
up himself and bit into it. At the first bite, the gulabjamun juice
squirted out, wetting several nearby devotees, who began dancing and shouting.
After two bites, Srila Prabhupada gave out the remnants of the gulabjamun.
Hs first bite of the second gulabjamun also produced a stream of juice,
and by now the whole temple room was turned into a state of happy pandemonium.
The whole episode lasted about fifteen minutes, and Srila Prabhupada was
obviously in great enjoyment, laughing and watching everyone trying to
get the maha-prasadam from his hand.
22. PRABHUPADA SAID
On Kirtana and Music
"The harmonium may be played during bhajana if there is someone who
an play melodiously. But it is not for kirtana and arati.
Letter of 1976
Prabhupada was present during a kirtana performed by his disciples
in the Brooklyn temple. For the devotees, it was the perfection of
their singing and playing, to do it for Prabhupada's personal pleasure.
The mrdanga player had been practicing to learn complicated beats, and
he was demonstrating his rapid and intricate abilities in the kirtana.
But Prabhupada stopped the music and said to the drummer, a devotee named
Dhira Krsna, that he should follow the leader. Then he started the
kirtana again, but it happened again, and again Prabhupada stopped the
kirtana and asked the drummer to follow the leader. On another occasion
Prabhupada said, "The drum should not be louder than the voice."
In 1966 in New York City, a boy came by with a record of a famous Indian
musician playing a sitar. As soon as the music began, Srila Prabhupada
started to smile. The boy asked, "Do you like this music?"
Srila Prabhupada said, "This is sense gratification music." The boy
was hurt and said, "What do you mean? They play this in the temples
in India." So Prabhupada insisted, "No, this is sense gratification
music and this musician is just a businessman." The boy then replied,
"Well, you used to be a businessman." Prabhupada, laughed and said,
"Because I went naked then, I should go naked now?"
"Well, what if this musician wanted to become a devotee?" asked
the boy.
"Oh, that would be very nice," said Prabhupada, "if he can come.
But this is sense gratification music."
23 PRABHUPADA TELLS A STORY
In India Srila Prabhupada once gave Tejas dasa advice on how to elicit
help of big men. He told him to use the rabbit and lion philosophy.
Once a group of rabbits were being eaten by a lion. so they made
an agreement and met with the lion, pleading with him to limit his killing.
The said, "we are all terrified, and you also are not getting to eat everyday.
so why don't we make this agreement that every day one of us will come
to you, and you can eat us. In that way, we will not be so terrified,
and you will at least get one rabbit a day." The lion agreed to the proposal.
But one day, one of the more intelligent rabbits thought, What is this?
Why am I rushing into death? Today is my last day. Let me enjoy
on the way." So in a very leisurely way, stopping sometimes beside
a river and then a well, the rabbit finally arrived late before the lion.
The lion was very angry and roared, "Why have you come late?" The
rabbit replied, "It is not my fault, because on the way another lion said
he was going to eat me. It was all that I could do to get away from
him."
The lion said, "Who is challenging my authority? Let me find
him." So the rabbit led him to the edge of the well and said, "He's
in there." The lion looked inside and saw the shadow of a lion.
When he roared, the reflection lion roared back, and so the lion jumped
into the well to attack. In this way, the rabbit finished the lion.
Prabhupada told Tejas that he could also do like that. If a high-level
man says something favourable, then you can go back to him and complain
on his behalf. Tell him that you have told one of his clerks or ministers
that the top-level man says they must give permission but the clerks are
not caring for his word. Then the top minister will say, "oh? Then
I will go and finish him." In this way, Prabhupada advised how to
get a top minister to help obtain permission.
24 PERSONAL
His silence
He could take a morning walk in silence, and then break it.
Even more striking was his silent response to something you said.
A disciple could ask a question and receive a long silence. A strange-minded
woman from Cleveland once went into Prabhupada's room with some of her
relatives and sat in his presence for a long time while no one spoke at
all. Later she said that they all thought Prabhupada was doing something
mystical, that they weren't supposed to talk, and that he was reciprocating
by sitting there and not speaking, although considerable time went by.
With his servants he could travel long distances without talking.
Once on a long flight from Germany to Australia he was silent and said
only a few things (When the plane landed in Australia, Prabhupada said
that here in Australia it was green and there in Germany it was green,
so how can they say there is no life on the moon and other planes?)
Some of his comments were surrounded by long silences. Sometimes
he would chastise or question us by his silences, which became so intense
that we could not bear them. And you could not penetrate his silence.
The quality of gravity is defined as follows in The Nectar of Devotion:
"A person who doesn't express his mind to everyone or whose mental activity
and plan of action are very difficult to understand is call grave."
And he like quiet in his room. He wouldn't tolerate noises.
He would wake his servants to chase dogs when they were howling outside,
especially when he was trying to translate in the early morning.
And he would send his servants out to track out any odd noises in the building
or thereabouts. During his lectures and classes he would detect the
slightest noise and ask that it be stopped. A slamming door broke
his heart, he said - and sires in New York, garbage trucks, dogs, in India
the tap-tapping of the building construction - but he could tolerate it
all.
But for Prabhupada real silence was the fact that he never said any
nonsense. He could talk unendingly about Krsna. Sometimes a
foolish guest would speak some mundane nonsense, and Prabhupada would tolerantly
be silent. But it was unnatural to see Prabhupada silent in the presence
of another person because Prabhupada was the one who should be speaking.
He had absolute knowledge and all others should have been silent to let
him speak, if Prabhupada so desired to speak. He complied with Krsna's
wishes and with out wishes that he talk. He spoke from duty, from
love, from the preaching spirit
25 When Srila Prabhupada first went back to India with his American
disciples, he sometimes took them on tours of holy places in Vrndavana
and Mayapur. One day Prabhupada was to go with a few devotees in
an old American Dodge automobile, to visit Devnargar, the birthplace of
Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Prabhupada rode in the front seat with
the driver, Syamasundara dasa, and about four other devotees squeezed into
the back seat. They soon discovered, unfortunately, that the old
dodge didn't have a horn. Driving in India without a horn is almost impossible,
and the journey was an anticipated two hours. Srila Prabhupada was therefore
concerned how they would make it. But soon after they had started,
Prabhupada devised a "horn" of his own making. He found a metal plate in
the car, and then he had the car stop and the boys got him a stick off
the ground. Then as they rode along, Srila Prabhupada would hold
the plate outside of the car window and bang on it with a stick whenever
there was a need of a horn for passing cars and for shooing people and
animals off the road. The devotees were amazed and overjoyed at the
simple display of Prabhupada's horn, which he continued to operate from
the front seat during the whole journey. "This will be copied by
the Indians," said Srila Prabhupada. "They will think that it is
a new American invention they will also get plates and sticks and use them
instead of the horn."
26 When his Godbrothers saw the that Tejas das and his wife were sometimes
quarrelling, they suggested that he should ask Prabhupada to take sannyasa.
They said that it would better enable him to preach. Tejas admittedly
thought that his marriage was difficult, and so he resolved to ask Srila
Prabhupada at the next opportunity. In those days, in India, it was
not at all difficult to approach Srila Prabhupada in the privacy of his
room and ask him such personal questions.
Finding Prabhupada alone one evening, Tejas approached him.
"So, what do you want?" asked Prabhupada in his typically manner.
I want to take sannyasa, Prabhupada," said Tejas.
Just at that moment, before Prabhupada gave an answer, his servant
brought him his prasadam, some vegetables and fruits.
"Take some prasadam, said Prabhupada, and he put a piece into Tejas's
hand. Then Prabhupada gave him more and more, until it was falling
out of the disciples hand. Tejas put out his other hand Prabhupada
filled that one up also. While Tejas became preoccuppied in balancing
all the prasadam in his two hands, Prabhupada asked, "Why do you want to
take sannyasa?"
"For preaching, Prabhupada."
"But that you are all ready doing ,"he said.
Prabhupada," Tejas said "having family life is full of hindrances."
"But your wife is a very nice wife," Prabhupada objected . She
is co-operative. She is expert at Deity worship, she plays mrdanga nicely,
and harmonium. She is a nice girl. Why do you want to take sannyasa?
"
Tejas replied, "Prabhupada, married life is very dangerous."
Prabhupada replied, Married life dangerous? I don't see any danger.
You tell me what is the danger."
Tejas could see the drift of Prabhupada's instruction. He thought
, If the spiritual master says there is no danger....." Tejas no
longer felt up to arguing, and Prabhupada changed the subject to the practical
preaching matters in India.
27 Starting the 1970s India became more and more Srila Prabhupada's
home base and his travels to the West became like tours away from home.
While travelling to America in the winter of 1973, Srila Prabhupada caught
a cold and tried to get rid of it by moving from Los Angeles to Dallas,
which he had heard was sunny and warm. But Dallas was also overcast.
Prabhupada began talking of returning to Mayapur as the only place where
he could be at ease and get well. It would be a long trip back, and
so he made no definite decision. But one night about 1 a.m., he walked
into the room adjoining his and woke his servant and his secretary.
"Let's go back home, back to Godhead," Prabhupada said to them,
while standing in the darkness of the unlit room. His disciples awoke
and offered their obeisances at Prabhupada's feet, wondering what he meant.
"Prabhupada?" they asked.
"Yes," he repeated. "I want to go back to Godhead.
I want to go to Mayapur."
So they returned there as soon as possible. Once in Mayapur,
Srila Prabhupada's health recovered. There he was most informal and
pleased. In those early years, there was not much building
development, and the devotees were undergoing austerities just to live
there. Srila Prabhupada mixed with them freely and in a friendly
way. They would walk into his room, and sometimes he would walk into
theirs. Sometimes even his own servants didn't know exactly where
he was at different times of the day. He might be on the roof alone,
or sometimes he would walk unaccompanied out to the front road. The
devotees at Mayapur couldn't help but appreciate that Prabhupada was special
when was living in the dhama. They felt it was like the informality
of Krsna in Goloka, as contrasted to Krsna's opulence in Dvaraka.
Srila Prabhupada in Mayapur was special and informal in that way.
28 LITTLE DROPS OF NECTAR
Madhudvisa dasa had been the president in Bombay ISKCON, but to Prabhupada
he expressed his dissatisfaction, particularly in working with the Indians.
He wanted another preaching field. He said that he considered the
Indians to be very sneaky and tricky, and he didn't like dealing with them.
Prabhupada said, "I am an Indian. Do you think I am very tricky?"
"No, not you, Srila Prabhupada," said Madhudvisa.
"Actually, I am tricky," said Srila Prabhupada, "because I have tricked
all of you into surrendering to Krsna, and now you are caught and you cannot
get away."
Pancadravida Swami endured a serious bout with boils in India.
The doctor said that he had come close to dying, and he had to perform
surgery on his back. When Pancadravida described his diseased condition
to Srila Prabhupada, Prabhupada looked at him and said, "These diseases
are simply imaginary."
"No, Srila Prabhupada, I really have them," said Pancadravida.
He thought that Prabhupada was saying that the boils were all in his mind.
He therefore showed Prabhupada a big scar that he had on his back from
the surgery. Prabhupada touched the scar with his finger and said
nothing further.
Soon after that, in Bhagavatam class, Srila Prabhupada was describing
how the sufferings of all living entities are imaginary, created by identification
with the material body. Hearing this Pancadravida realised the import
of Srila Prabhupada's previous words. Yes, in the absolute sense,
even the attack of boils was imaginary.
Srila Prabhupada sometimes travelled throughout India, accompanied
by his disciples. On one occasion, the train stopped in a field full
of purple flowers. One of the devotees climbed down, ran into
the field, picked some flowers, and ran back to Prabhupada's car just as
the train started to leave. Then the devotees brought Prabhupada
a bouquet of purple flowers as an offering of devotion. Prabhupada calmly
accepted them but said, "Lord Siva wears these flowers." The devotees
were worried that they had made some guru-aparadha, but Prabhupada smiled
and stuck one flower behind each of his ears. He widened his eyes
and made a large grin, "See?" playing as if he were Lord Siva with
the purple flowers in his hair.
29 PRABHUPADA SAID
On Book Production and Distribution
Some of Prabhupada's well-known maxims stress the value of his
books and the necessity to print them with the greatest care.
1. "If there are any mistakes in my books, then the books will not
be taken seriously."
2. "Every word in these books in like a document." (And therefore the
editors shouldn't be careless or speculate)
3. ""These purports are my devotional ecstasies."
Prabhupada's first books were printed by devotees at ISKCON Press,
but they weren't expertly done. When Prabhupada received the first
copy of one paperback edition of a Bhagavatam chapter, he opened it and
the binding fell apart in his hands. To the devotees who saw this
he asked, "What will it take for my disciples to learn how to print these
books so that they will not fall apart?"
Brahmananda replied, "Sincerity, Prabhupada. If we were more
sincere, then we could do it."
"Srila Prabhupada looked down at the broken book in his hand and said,
"No".
The assembled devotees were surprised.
One of them asked, "Not sincerity?"
"Sincerity, yes," said Prabhupada, "plus intelligence."
Here are Mayapur my Guru Maharaja was printing one paper.
It was selling for only a few paise. Sometimes whenever one brahmacari
would go to Navadvipa and sell even a few copies, I would see my Guru Maharaja
become very much pleased.... So I am always emphasising book distribution.
It is better than kirtana. It is better than chanting. Of course
chanting should not stop, but book distribution is the best kirtana."
Letter of November 24, 1974
Once, on speaking to a gathering of book distributors, Srila
Prabhupada explained to them how Bhaktivinoda Thakur had wanted a temple
built in Mayapur. "You will be the cornerstones," said Prabhupada
to his book distributors. He said that by their distributing books,
the temple would be built.
30 PRABHUPADA TELLS A STORY
When Prabhupada's edition of Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila
Volume 1, was first published, devotees were surprised and pleased to read
about the humorous joking between Lord Nityananda and Advaita Acarya during
the taking of prasadam at Advaita Acarya's house. One morning, during
a car ride with Srila Prabhupada, one of the devotees expressed his appreciation
for the new volume.
"There is such nice humour in the Caitanya-caritamrta, Srila Prabhupada."
"Yes", said Srila Prabhupada, "spiritual life is humour also.
Then he began to tell a story. "Krsna said to one old lady, 'You
are so ugly, you should marry a monkey.'
"'No', said the old lady, 'I have given up all material desires.
I will marry you, Krsna!'
"'Yes! Yes! Yes!' All the gopis and boys clapped and laughed."
While Prabhupada said this, his eyes lit up and he became very animated,
laughing at the humorous pastimes of Krsna. "So Krsna was defeated,"
said Srila Prabhupada, "by that laughing of the gopis."
31 PRABHUPADA TELLS ANOTHER STORY
In a lecture, Srila Prabhupada remarked that foolish people often
criticise devotees as do-nothings and weaklings, but such people do not
understand the intelligence of a devotee. Therefore, a devotee does
not have to heed such people. To illustrate the point, Srila Prabhupada
told a story.
Some labourers were criticising the minister of the king, claiming
he only sat around and did no work. The king reminded them that it
took intelligence to become a minister. He said that he would give
a test for everyone including the minister. Whoever could pass the
test could become the next minister. The king said, "Take this big
elephant, weigh him, and let me know the exact weight."
The ordinary men were baffled. Where was there a scale
for weighing an elephant? They could not do anything. They
came back to the king with no information. Then the king turned to
his minister and asked, "Will you kindly weigh this elephant?" So
in six minutes he came back and reported, "It is twenty mounds (1.920lbs)."
The other men were standing open-mouthed in surprise. "How is that?"
they asked. "Within six minutes he came back and he gave the exact
weight!"
The king asked, "How did you weigh him? Did you get some very
big scale?'
"No sir," replied the minister. "It is not possible to
weigh the elephant on a scale. It is very difficult."
"Then how did you weigh it?"
"I took it on a boat. When I got him on the boat then I
saw the watermark and I marked it. Then, after getting the elephant
off the boat, I added weight onto the boat, and when it came to the same
watermark, then I understood."
So the king addressed the labourers and cautioned them.
"Now you see the difference?" They agreed, "Yes".
After telling this story, Prabhupada quoted from scripture.
"Buddhir yasya balim tasya-nirbuddhes tu kuto balam: one who has got intelligence,
he has strength, and one who has no intelligence, a rascal, has no strength."
Prabhupada concluded, "Scientists, atheists, and different critics
of devotees are like that - rascal - fools. We don't take advice
from them," said Prabhupada. "We take advice from Krsna or His representative.
32 PERSONAL
Evening Massage
Evening massage was not as thorough as the pre-noon one - just
massage his legs, squeeze them, up and down from the knee down to the feet,
then the feet and toes also. He taught the technique. He said
it gave some relief. At these times he was prone to sweet reflections.
Was he sleeping? Sometimes. Or he would speak something.
The servant might have to stay up a considerable while. Usually it
was in a darkened room. In Australia, at the end of the day after
he and the devotees had marched a great distance in the Ratha-yatra parade,
Prabhupada complimented his servant on his dancing so nicely in the parade.
It was also during the night massage that he told another servant the story
of how he got a special pair of shoes as a child, from England, a gift
from his father. Also he would bring up the philosophy and the inability
of mudhas to take to it.
To us Prabhupada was a mystical ocean. His utterances were
not coming by our dictation. Yet we were also as close as possible,
right by his side, touching his body, connected by speech, so he was tangibly
with us. And yet he was like a mystical ocean, and his purity created
an aloofness for those who were still impure. One didn't even dare
to think, "What is Prabhupada thinking?'
In the dark room, during the evening massage, his servant used
to want to take rest. Now, he may consider what a fool he was.
If he had another chance, would he be the same fool? No one likes
to be the servant; we want to be the master. But Prabhupada kept
us in check. He made us devotees.
33 One morning in Berkeley, Srila Prabhupada was walking on the university
campus. Sannyasi disciples and others were there, and also Krsna
dasa adhikari. Krsna dasa had left the movement and had grown long
hair, but he had recently shown a revival of interest and was now walking
with Prabhupada. His questions were full of his various doubts.
At the very end of the walk, somehow the topic of feeling separation from
the spiritual master came up. Krsna dasa asked, "You must always
be feeling separation from your spiritual master."
The idea was that he was hoping to prompt Srila Prabhupada to
talk about his feelings of separation from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati
Thakura. Prabhupada was silent. So Krsna dasa asked the question
again: "I suppose you must always be feeling separation from your spiritual
master." Srila Prabhupada then answered, "That you do not require."
(In other words, "That's none of your business to ask.") Then he
got in his car and left.
34 When Srila Prabhupada visited Hawaii, he had to deal with controversial
persons who claimed to be his followers and yet who denounced the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness. Prabhupada wanted to encourage
everyone to go on chanting Hare Krsna, yet at the same time he wanted to
clearly establish that his sincere follower works within ISKCON.
The questions and answers after his lectures in Hawaii often dealt with
these matters.
"What is ISKCON?" asked a long-haired beach boy wearing a japa
bead bag.
"ISKCON?" Srila Prabhupada replied. "It is a simple thing.
You do not know?" Then he described what each lettering the
acronym ISKCON stood for. "We have a worldwide society, so we say
international."
"Well, are you ISKCON?" the boy asked. This was a loaded
question. The devotees had been preaching that Srila Prabhupada was
ISKCON, because one cannot refuse service to ISKCON and yet claim to serve
Srila Prabhupada. But the anti-ISKCON party had argued that Srila
Prabhupada and ISKCON were different. Prabhupada was pure and transcendental;
ISKCON was corrupt, a mere organisation.
Srila Prabhupada started to laugh. "I am not ISKCON," he
said. "I am a member of ISKCON." Then he looked at his disciple
who was the G.B.C. secretary for Hawaii. Prabhupada pointed at him
and said, "Ah he is a member of ISKCON." Then he pointed to the ISKCON
Hawaii temple president. "And he is a member of ISKCON. We
are all members of ISKCON, the International Society for Krsna Consciousness."
Almost everyone present cried out, "Jaya!" Then Prabhupada looked
back, smiling. There was no further challenge to his perfect humble
reply.
35 In Bombay, devotees were able to freely see Srila Prabhupada and
ask their questions. But Pancadravida Swami sensed that as the movement
grew he might not be able to maintain such an intimate relationship with
his spiritual master. One day he entered Srila Prabhupada's apartment
and revealed his doubt.
"I don't understand," Pancadravida said. "ISKCON is such
a big society. How can I understand that I have a personal relationship
with you? If I am somewhere halfway around the world and I am, for
instance, sweeping or washing a floor in a temple, how can I know that
I am serving you personally?"
"Yes, ISKCON is so big," Prabhupada answered simply, "but I am
so small." Pancadravida immediately felt satisfied, but Srila Prabhupada
explained it further.
"You speak of serving in the temple somewhere," said Prabhupada,
"but actually you don't have to do anything. I am responsible directly.
I have to maintain all the temples, see that the floors are swept, the
pots washed, and that everything is clean in all the ISKCON temples all
over the world. But I cannot do it all by myself. It is like
an arati ceremony. I may be offering the arati, but I ask you, "Please
hand me the fan. In this same way, I am asking you to help me in
the temple by preaching, or sweeping the floor. Do you understand?"
36 LITTLE DROPS OF NECTAR
In Hyderabad, after a pandal lecture program, a teenage Indian
boy spent the night with the devotees. The next morning he entered
Srila Prabhupada's room along with the initiated devotees and sat down
close to Prabhupada. As soon as Prabhupada saw the boy, he pointed
to the door without saying a word. The boy also said nothing but
got up and left. Srila Prabhupada then turned to one of the sannyasis
and said, "First he must wash all the pots." He explained that Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati Thakura had always first tested the sincerity of someone who
wanted to join by asking him to wash pots.
In Japan, Srila Prabhupada rode the monorail. At first
the seat in front of him was empty, and Bhurijana dasa invited Prabhupada
to put his feet up there, since the seats were uncomfortably cramped.
The empty seat was actually reserved for one of Prabhupada's disciples,
Bhanu dasa, and the monorail authorities finally insisted that everyone
must sit in his own seat. Bhurijana then again turned to Srila Prabhupada
this time with trepidation.
"Srila Prabhupada, one of the devotees has to sit down.
Will you remove your lotus feet?"
"Yes", Srila Prabhupada replied, "I will move my feet so that
the lotuslike devotee can sit down."
Satadhanya Maharaja was talking with Srila Prabhupada in his
room in Mayapur when he discovered that ants were crawling over Prabhupada's
desk. Satadhanya stood and began pushing away the ants with light,
brushing motions of his cloth. Peacefully sitting back against the
bolster pillows, Prabhupada watched and commented, "Before you would have
killed them, but now you are purified."
37 PRABHUPADA SAID
On Money
One time on a walk, Prabhupada was explaining how the paper currency
is a cheating process. He said that the government encourages people
to work hard in the factories to develop the economy of the nation, and
yet they pay them only pieces of paper. When the government doesn't
have enough pieces of paper, they print up more, and thus the whole economy
is based on cheating. Prabhupada said that the Vedic economy is based
on the bartering system. If the bartering system is not possible,
then at least the gold standard should be used, because the gold has some
value and the quantity of gold is limited. After hearing Prabhupada
describe the ideal economy based on the Vedic civilisation, one devotee
asked, "But if all transactions are done in gold, it would be very difficult
to make large deals, because to carry the gold and exchange it would be
very cumbersome."
"That's very good", replied Srila Prabhupada. "Why should
there be big transactions? Big transactions means that people are
accumulating more than they require. We don't want big transactions.
We want each person to have what they require."
Prabhupada told a proverb about money. One man asked another,
"Are you intelligent?" The second man started to look in his pockets.
The first man asked, "Why are you looking in your pocket?" The second
man said, "Well, if there is any money there, that means I'm intelligent."
Prabhupada explained, "Actually, in our movement everything is going on
by my intelligence and your co-operation. So you are preaching very
intelligently, but if there is no money, then where is the intelligence?'
Prabhupada instructed that fifty percent of income should go
to the Book Fund and fifty percent should go to construction or other projects.
He said that the Krsna Consciousness Movement was, in one sense, just like
a business, and so it should be run in that way. In other words,
it was on the basis of his books that the movement was getting its collections,
whether by life membership or book sales. Therefore, just as in any
business, the capital assets had to be invested in. "You must therefore
give fifty percent of your money to the Book Fund."
"We should live on a paltry income, whatever we receive by selling
our magazines, but in dire necessity when there is no other way, we may
accept some service temporarily. But on principle, we should go on
sankirtana, not work. So whatever Krsna gives us, we should accept
on that principle. You are a senior member of the society; you should
have known all these things. Anyway, send them back on sankirtana.
All the Amsterdam devotees should be engaged in sankirtana, not in a cigarette
factory."
Letter of January 9, 1971
Prabhupada approved of his disciples making ambitious plans for
spreading Krsna Consciousness. "But Prabhupada", one devotee asked,
"how are we going to get the money to do all this?" Prabhupada said,
"You make the plans, Krsna will provide the money."
"Concerning Ganesa worship, it is not actually necessary for
us. But, if someone has the sentiment for getting the blessings of
Ganesa to get large amounts of money for Krsna's service, then it is all
right. But anyone who takes up this kind of worship must send me
at least one hundred thousand dollars monthly - not less. If he cannot
send this amount, he cannot do Ganesa worship."
Letter of February 1, 1975
Srila Prabhupada was not keen on banking money. "As soon
as there will be money in the bank," he said, "there will be headache.
This tax, that tax."
Prabhupada said, "We have no problems, although we have so much
money. If we were to lose that money, still we would not be hampered
in our mission. Ahaituky apratihata - without being checked .
Krsna consciousness is prosecuted in pure devotion."
"Yes", one of the devotees agreed, "even if we had to write the
books out by hand and distribute them."
38 PRABHUPADA TELLS SHORT STORIES
In Australia, Srila Prabhupada was waiting in an airport terminal
for a delayed flight. he asked Amogha dasa to go to the desk to find
out the departure time. The desk clerk answered that the new boarding
time would be in fifteen minutes. Srila Prabhupada heard this, but
after twenty minutes, when there was no call, he asked the devotees to
check again. Again, the report was fifteen minutes. Srila Prabhupada
kept looking at his watch every fifteen minutes and asking the devotees
to find out more information.
After some time, Prabhupada told a story. He said that
a man once testified in a court case that he had been fifty years old for
the last fifteen years, and he claimed that due to honesty he had not wished
to change his statement. "So", Srila Prabhupada said, "still they
say fifteen minutes to boarding time." That is honesty. It
is one hour and fifteen minutes, and still they do not change their word
- 'fifteen minutes'".
One of Prabhupada's Bengali stories was about a doctor visiting
a house to diagnose two patients, a rich housewife and her maidservant.
The doctor said, "The maidservant's fever is 105 degrees, so there is some
anxiety. I will give her some medicine. But the landlady of
the house has practically no fever, 99 degrees, so there is no anxiety
for her." But when she heard this, the landlady became angry and
said, "This doctor is useless. I'm the landlady. I've only
got 99 and my maidservant has 105. The maidservant should have 98,
I should have 110!"
Prabhupada compared this to the modern civilisation, which is
inclined to increase the degree of its fever up to 110 degrees. As
in the human body there is death as soon as the death as soon as the temperature
reaches 107 degrees, so Prabhupada said that by the nuclear weapons, modern
civilisation will come to the point of 107 degrees and over. But
the devotees want to decrease the fever, by living the highest, ideal life
and decreasing the demands of the body.
39 MORE SHORT STORIES
Srila Prabhupada said that many of his Godbrothers were envious
of his success in preaching. He did not like to point it out, but
he wanted his disciples to be aware of the nature of the criticisms his
Godbrothers would make to belittle the work of ISKCON. "They cannot
do anything themselves", said Srila Prabhupada, "and if somebody does something,
they will be envious. That is the nature of a third class man."
To illustrate, Prabhupada told a story he had heard from his
spiritual master. One man informed another that a man known to them
had become the high court judge.
"Oh no", said the first man. "No - that cannot be right."
"Yes, he is now a judge," said the first friend. "I have
seen him sitting on the bench."
The second man replied, "Maybe. But I don't think he is
getting any salary."
Prabhupada said such envious men will find fault anywhere.
Even if there is no fault actually, they will manufacture some fault.
That is their business. Prabhupada said that many persons were envious
of his Guru Maharaja, but Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati did not care for them.
For year in India, Srila Prabhupada had travelled in dilapidated
autos, and he often had to borrow cars. But as his movement grew,
he felt it was not right. "We are spending crores of rupees to finish
this Bombay construction," he said, "but whenever I arrive at the airport,
I am picked up in a borrowed car. What kind of impression is it to
life members that we always have to approach them to borrow their car?"
For years, the car was discussed and contemplated, but it never
appeared. Later, Prabhupada received a letter from a disciple in
Europe who said that he would purchase a Mercedes for Prabhupada in Germany
and drive it to India. Prabhupada sent him a telegram, "Yes, purchases
Mercedes." At that time,, the devotees with Prabhupada in India said
that they had heard the devotee was going to purchase the car with
money from Prabhupada's Book Fund. Prabhupada said this was like
a famous story. A guru went to his disciple's home and was greet
very elaborately. When he inquired how it was possible for his disciple
to afford such nice arrangements, the disciple told him, "Gurudeva, everything
belongs to you." Later the guru saw that he had no money left in
his own bank account, and he could understand the disciple had spent all
of his guru's money.
Prabhupada ordered that his disciples should not purchase a car
for him with money from the Book Fund and then claim, "Prabhupada, everything
belongs to you."
40 MORE SHORT STORIES
In Bengali there is a saying, "If you can walk on your hands,
do it but whatever you do, change." Prabhupada told this to illustrate
his dislikes for whimsical changes. He was especially anxious that
after his departure his followers might take a free hand with his book
or the Deity worship and make unnecessary, unauthorised changes.
There was the story about the expert craftsmanship of a plasterer
who worked on the construction of the Taj Mahal. One of the top directors
of the construction was inspecting the building in progress and noticed
for three days in a row a certain plasterer who was sitting in the same
place mixing plaster. On the third day the inspector became angry
and said, "Why are you still simply sitting and mixing this plaster?
You are so lazy!" The man who was mixing the plaster also became
very angry and he threw a handful of his plaster at the inspector.
The plaster missed the inspector but landed on a wall. The plaster
was so well mixed, that no one could get it off the wall, and it is still
there today.
Prabhupada told this story to stress the importance of good craftsmanship
and of doing everything nicely in Krsna's service.
One of Prabhupada's disciple secretaries knew some Hindi and
wrote out a letter that Prabhupada had dictated. But the devotee
apologised, "My handwriting is not very good."
"It doesn't matter," said Srila Prabhupada. "No one can
write Hindi nicely." The Prabhupada told a joke.
Someone wrote a letter to a friend in Hindi, and the man replied.
"Next time you write a letter in Hindi, please send train fair to
go to your place."
The friend wrote back, "Why is that?"
The other friend replied, "Because I have to go to you to decipher
your letters."
41 PERSONAL
Drinking Water
Once after silently demonstrating his technique of drinking water,
Prabhupada said to a boy who was present. "You cannot do that."
One reason for drinking in that manner was cleanliness; one's lips or mouth
doesn't touch the edge of the drinking vessel. Prabhupada would pour
the water down, swallowing, and then tilting the chalice upright, stopping
the flow of water without spilling a drop.
In India, the water would be kept cool in big clay jugs.
In the West, water was served with ice sometimes. Once when Prabhupada
asked for water, his servant asked, "Do you want cold water?" Prabhupada
replied, "Water means cold water."
And water must be covered. In India, to leave a clay jug
of water uncovered is, he said, "signing your death warrant." In
the West, the pitcher also should be covered,
He could appreciate different tastes of water. We would
make efforts to get him the best water from special sources, like Bhakatji's
well in Vrndavana.
He would drink quite a bit of water for health and digestion.
He would make comments about it, as we sat with him in his room watching
him drink water. But don't draw his water from a bathroom!
Pradyumna dasa asked how it is actually different if the water comes from
the bathroom, provided one doesn't know where the water comes from.
Prabhupada replied that it would affect the mind, even if you didn't know
where the water came from, because the bathroom is a contaminated place.
Only a disciple could know how sweet it was to talk about these
apparently mundane things. To confer with Prabhupada about his needs
to to talk about water was relief from greater problems. One thought,
Let me stay here and supply Prabhupada water so he can preach and write
books; nothing else is as important as his water, his health, his daily
Bhagavatam work, his being pleased. Nothing is as nice to see as
his drinking, as the water falls from the cup to his mouth.
42 When Srila Prabhupada was about to leave Los Angeles for a world
tour in 1976, he called some of the devotees to his room, "Open my almire,"
he said to Ramesvara Swami, who opened the metal locker containing Srila
Prabhupada's clothes.
"Do you see those kurtas?" said Prabhupada. "Pick one."
Ramesvara Swami picked out a bright orange one.
"You like that one?" Prabhupada asked.
"Yes."
"All right. That is for you." Ramesvara was overwhelmed
to receive the treasure of a remnant of Prabhupada's clothes. Other
devotees also received clothes and gifts from Prabhupada's hand.
Then it was almost time for him to go to the airport. With graceful
artistry, Prabhupada sat at his desk and applied Vaisnava tilaka to his
forehead. Ramesvara Swami thought to himself that everything about
Prabhupada, the way he sat or walked, the way he dressed, and the way he
put on his tilaka, it was all majestic and opulent. As Prabhupada
stood to leave the room, Ramesvara voiced his appreciation.
"Prabhupada, you appear to us to be just like a king."
"I am much more than any king," said Prabhupada, and then he
walked downstairs. There he was met by a hundred devotees who accompanied
him to the airport as he began another world tour.
43 A few months before Srila Prabhupada's first visit to ISKCON Dallas,
a strong windstorm hit the area, felling trees. A tall, valuable
shade tree in the courtyard of the temple also fell over and remained leaning
against an adjoining building, the children's prasadam hall. The
tree still had its roots in the ground, but its heavy weight, with dangling
branches, now lay in a sharp angle right across the walkway under it.
Satsvarupa, the temple president, took no immediate action, but different
devotees approached him and said that the tree had to be removed right
away or it might cause collapse of the building it was leaning against.
Satsvarupa agreed, and one of the devotees climbed the tall tree with a
power saw and gradually dismantled the upper branches and trunk, until
nothing remained but the lower ten feet of tilted trunk.
And thus the tree appeared when Srila Prabhupada came there in
September 1972. As soon as he walked into the courtyard, accompanied
by temple leaders and trailed by the whole assembly of gurukula children
and teachers, Prabhupada saw the remains of the big tree, and his face
expressed trouble. He walked off the cement path and went up to the
tree, and so did everyone else behind him.
"Who has done this?" he demanded. Satsvarupa admitted
responsibility and explained the reason the tree had been destroyed.
Prabhupada shook his head angrily. That was no reason to kill it,
he said. Satsvarupa tried to explain the dangerous condition and
pointed to the dent in the roof of the building. He also said that
the fallen tree would probably have soon died.
"No, it is not dead," Prabhupada challenged. "Look.
There is a green twig growing out of it. Prabhupada walked away,
disgusted, and the devotees remained shocked as what they now saw as a
brutal unnecessary act. In his room, Prabhupada continued to criticise
the killing of the tree. He said this was the typical American attitude
- when something is wrong, immediately cut it down and destroy it, with
no understanding or compassion for the presence of the soul.
Later, feeling repentant, Satsvarupa asked if he had committed
an offense.
"Not offense," said Srila Prabhupada. "You are ignorant."
44 In an attempt to make Srila Prabhupada's quarters in Los Angeles
attractive and pleasing for him, the women used to change his vases daily,
putting in abundant fresh flowers. One day Srila Prabhupada entered
from his morning walk and noticed that the flower vases were missing.
"Where are the vases?" he asked.
The servant replied that the women had probably taken them to
put in fresh flowers.
"The flowers in it were fine," he said. The he began complaining.
"Why do they change these flowers every day? Why are they so wasteful?
Who is doing this? Tell them to change them only when they go bad.
Where is the vase? Go find it immediately.
Prabhupada's servant went down to the kitchen and found the girls
changing the flowers. "You'd better stop changing these flowers everyday,"
he said. "Prabhupada doesn't want it. Make sure the vase is
never out of his room." When his servant returned to the room with
the vases of flowers, Prabhupada continued on the same theme. "Just
do it when it is necessary," he said. "You shouldn't waste
so much on flowers. This is your custom in America, simply wasting.
If you have some extra cloth, you cannot fold it, you cut it off and throw
it away. Whatever goes wrong, you solve it with money, and it appears
good. You make some accident, and you cover it quickly with money.
It is not that you are very capable, but with money, you can cover your
deficiencies."
45 Giriraja dasa had been serving Srila Prabhupada in Bombay for quite
a few years when he finally returned for a visit to the United States to
recover his health and to see his parents in Chicago. When he returned
again to Bombay, Prabhupada inquired about his health and his visit to
his parent's home.
Giriraja described how during the two-day visit with his family,
his father had invited a friend who was a psychologist to have a talk with
Giriraja. The psychologist, a woman, had begun asking Giriraja whether
he felt that in his childhood there was any lack in his relationship with
his parents. Giriraja had replied on the basis of Bhagavad-gita,
that actually each of us had passed through many bodies in many different
lifetimes, and in each lifetime, we had different parents, but our real
father is Krsna. The psychologist had kept trying to speak to him
on the psychological level, but Giriraja had kept replying to her on the
spiritual platform, so it was very difficult for her to make progress in
her analysis. After she left the room, Giriraja had overheard her
speaking to his parents in the hallway, saying that as far as she could
see, there was nothing more she could do.
"Yes", Prabhupada replied, "they called her so that she could
try to cure you, but actually your disease is incurable. You can
never go back." Hearing these words from his spiritual master, Giriraja
became engladdened.
46 An elderly Indian gentlemen who visited Prabhupada in his room became
gradually critical of Prabhupada's preaching. "Swamiji,: the man
said, "you should not criticise so many persons. You should see everyone
equally. The Bhagavad gita says, panditah sama-darsinah: you should
see everybody equally."
Prabhupada replied, "That is a higher stage. I am not on
that stage. I distinguish. On the higher stage you don't distinguish
between pious activity and sinful activity. But I distinguish.
I say, 'You are sinning and you should stop'.
As the discussion continued, Prabhupada kept referring to the
previous acaryas in order to support his viewpoint. "I have my Bhagavad
gita," said Prabhupada. "I have my acaryas. I stand on their
authority."
Pursuing the argument, Prabhupada's visitor said. "What have
you done beyond that? You are just repeating what they've done.
What have you done?"
Prabhupada replied, "I've not done anything. I' m simply
repeating. So my contribution is that I have made this knowledge
available to people all over the world. Without discrimination, I
have given Krsna consciousness to everyone. That is my contribution
and that is my version of panditah sama-darsinah." Prabhupada concluded
the interview with those words, and the man expressed gratefulness.
Later in the hall, while leaving, the man was remarking out loud
to himself. "Very interesting... He sees everyone equally... |