One of the things I remember the most about Swami Srila Prabhupada is what a great and gracious host he was. He always had guests that wanted to see him and Srila Prabhupada’s darshan’s were part of his daily routine. There were usually times set up for this. Everyone was allowed to see His Divine Grace and ask any questions they had. Some were common and some were crazy. But no matter what all the guests from Professor’s to poppers and philosophical challengers; all left Srila Prabhupada’s presence with a feeling of respect and admiration for His Divine Grace.
Srila Prabhupada would be very charming and use his sharp Vaisnava Wit to win over even the bitterest of the bunch. He would use practical example’s to prove the scientific basis of Krishna Conciousness. He liked to meet with the Professor’s especially and said that his garden where he met so many of them in LA was one of his favorite places on earth. Srila Prabhupada was born to preach and spread Krishna Consciousness all over the world, and he transcended bodily limitations going beyond expectations to preach because he loved doing it and got so much strength from it.
When I was serving Srila Prabhupada in Sri Vrindavan Dham in 1977, Swarupa Damodar Maharaja came to see Srila Prabhupada and reported to him about a recent Scientific Preaching Program he just attended in Bombay. Srila Prabhupada sat up straight as if a surge of energy had overtaken him and pointing his finger to the sky he said, “Actually, I appeared in this world for two reasons; to establish Krishna as the Supreme Personality if Godhead and to defeat the rascal scientists.”
Srila Prabhupada had come to Sri Vrindavan Dhama in May of 1977 to ‘Leave his body’ and was fasting at this time. The skin was hanging on his arms but when he started preaching he had the energy of a lion in pursuit of it’s prey! Srila Prabhupada gave the absolute Truth that Krishna is the Supreme Godhead, from Whom all other incarnations expand.
Before him and still now, millions of Hindu’s and westerners think that Visnu is the origin of Krishna. In the material world Krishna does first appear as a Visnu form to convince Devaki and Vasudeva of His Divinity, but in the Spiritual world, in Goloka Vrindavan, Krishna has always existed and expanded Himself as Balarama then expanded again as Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Annirudha, then the three Visnu expansions of Karanadaksayi, Garbadaksayi and Ksiradaksayi Visnu to maintain the material creation and all living entities.
Srila Prabhupada always used wit and logic to ‘defeat the rascal scientists.’ He did this alot on his morning walks and also in the darshan’s. We are fortunate to have so many recorded conversations of Srila Prabhupada to benefit from, the philosophy is timeless. Srila Prabhupada was very caring and concerned about the guests. He always made sure they were all given Prasadam. He even wrote a couple of letter’s in those last days to all the temples saying that they should always have Prasadam available to all guests. He even said it should be prepared fresh and always available.
I learned a good lesson about this in Rishikesh in May of 77. I had just arrived from Bombay to continue serving Srila Prabhupada. He had flown up from Bombay and I took a train so I arrived a couple of days later. Srila Prabhupada was having a public darshan in the house on the Ganges, when I arrived, donated for use by a nice life member. I was told to stand by the door with a box of Prasadam sweets and give all the guests some as they left. Srila Prabhupada was sitting behind a coffee table and noticed a man waiting outside the screendoor and he told me to let him in. The room was already packed and I didn’t think there was anymore room, but Indians are used to crowds and always can make room for more. When I opened the door to let the guest in another guest went out. Srila Prabhupada asked me if I gave the guest that left some Prasadam. I replied that I did not because they crossed paths and I couldn’t. Srila Prabhupada turned to his secretary and said, “This boy is incompetent.” I was crushed. The secretary, Tamal Krishna Maharaja, told me to go downstairs and he would talk to me later. I felt miserable. I had given my life to Krishna Consciousness and wanted to personally serve Srila Prabhupada so much and when I got my big chance, I was rejected due to my incompetence. I went to the Ganges and entered the water thinking I was finished spiritually and since I was rejected by Srila Prabhupada my life was now useless and the best thing I could do was to drown myself to attone. I was crying and trying to get up the courage to take the ultimate plunge to the other side. Then Tamal came to the shore and told me to come back in and not to take it so seriously. He told me to go up and clean Srila Prabhupada’s room. I was surprised I was going to get another chance to serve Srila Prabhupada.
I entered the front darshan room and started to sweep the floor. I felt ashamed and kept my head down, but I felt that Srila Prabhupada was looking at me, so I looked over at him and to my pleasant surprise he smiled at me very nicely. All of my anxiety immediately disappeared. I started cleaning very enthusiastically. Lesson learned!
Always treat the guests well, with respect and serve them some Prasadam.
Srila Prabhupada was a very considerate host and won everyone over with his charm and humility. Even though he was/is so exalted he always remained humble and lived simply even though he had all the opulence. He was always getting a higher taste of spiritual bliss, and didn’t engage in mundane sense gratification. He saw Krishna in all things and always related everything to Him. Again, we are very fortunate to have tapes and videos of Srila Prabhupada to benefit from. He will remain our guru and inspiration and fortunate souls will benefit from his books for at least the rest of this Golden Age of Lord Chaitanya that we are now in, and will last over 9,000 more years. When Srila Prabhupada went to Vrindavan to leave his body he said that he would live on in his books. He said by reading and applying his books we could attain perfection of human life and ultimately go home, back to Godhead. When I first met Srila Prabhupada the day after the 1974 SF Rathayatra he said, “You are very bright faced and fortunate to come to Lord Chaitanya’s Movement. Now that you are fortunate, make others fortunate! Preach this message of Lord Chaitanya’s all over the world.”
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Srila Prabhupada for being the topmost Host and loving well-wisher to all of us! May more and more souls become fortunate by your divine grace!
Hoping this meets you well,
Your servant,
Gauridasa Pandita Dasa
Chant Hare Krishna
And your life will be sublime!
(originally posted September 29 2009)
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