Parts of the Mridanga | Jan Kraus

Prabhupada, Dallas, March 3, 1975: […] My father was Vaishnava. He was Vaishnava, and he wanted me to become a Vaishnava. Whenever some saintly person would come, he would ask him, “Please bless my son that he can become a servant of Radharani.”

That was his prayer. He never prayed for anything. And he gave me education how to play mridanga. My mother was against. There was two teachers—one for teaching me A-B-C-D, and one for teaching me mridanga. So the one teacher was waiting and the other teacher was teaching me how to play on mridanga.

So my mother would be angry that “What is this nonsense? You are teaching mridanga? What he will do with this mridanga?” But perhaps my father wanted that I should be a great mridanga player in the future.

Therefore I am very much indebted to my father, and I have dedicated my book, Krsna book, to him. He wanted this. He wanted me to be preacher of Bhagavata, Srimad-Bhagavatam, and player of mridanga and to become servant of Radharani.
Full Arrival Lecture