festivals in the evening

[Guest guest]

sevatula dasa <sevatula wrote:

 

Can any devotee knows about Srila Prabhupada telling

about conducting festivals like appearance &

dis-appearance of our Acharyas,in the evening.

 

Please see the below excerpt from Tamal Krishna Maharaja's Servant of the

Servant.

 

Once, on the disappearance celebration of his Guru Maharaja, Srila

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Prabhupada had come to the temple to

celebrate the occasion with all the devotees. As the festival fell on a

Friday, I had given instructions that the feast be prepared in the evening,

so that we could invite many guests. Out of my foolishness, I had forgotten

that the real purpose was to serve Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura

and not the palates of our guests. By eleven o'clock in the morning Srila

Prabhupada asked me how the feast preparation was coming. When I informed

him that we were planning to hold the feast in the evening, to accommodate

the guests, he became as angry as Lord Nrsimhadeva. With great contempt for

my total ignorance, he immediately got up and walked swiftly into the

kitchen, his angry look making all the devotees very fearful. Only one

mataji was in the kitchen, cooking the normal midday offering. When Srila

Prabhupada asked her why she was not preparing a huge feast for his

spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, she replied, "Tamal Krishna has

told us that we will cook for Bhaktisiddhanta in the evening." This only

infuriated Srila Prabhupada more, and without further delay he personally

began to cook the entire feast himself. Assisted by only a few devotees, he

cooked a ten-course feast for sixty persons within one hour. After the

kirtana and lecture, we all sat down in long lines and began to relish the

feast, while Srila Prabhupada went to his room to respect the prasadam of

his Guru Maharaja. To our great surprise the servant came out of Srila

Prabhupada's room within minutes, carrying Prabhupada's silver plate. The

prasadam was untouched. Prabhupada had not eaten anything, being very

disturbed by our negligence in not properly serving his Guru Maharaja. Our

carefree festive mood became broken as we realized the sober lesson that

without pleasing guru and Krsna, there is no possibility of our own

satisfaction.