Remembering Srila Prabhupada - More Realizations

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More Realizations

 

 

One time in Hyderabad Srila Prabhupada revealed the

essence of our relationship with him. We were walking

east about a mile from the main road as the sun rose

in our faces. Suddenly, a car came forward driven by

some young ruffians. I was next to Srila Prabhupada on

his right side and Mahamsa was walking on his left

side -- like bodyguards. The car didn't slow down, but

kept approaching us. I became so angry that I ran out

in front of Prabhupada, right in front of the car, and

I put up my hands and yelled "Stop!" My mood was as if

to say, "You better run over me first if you come any

closer!" I was shaking all over because the car almost

did run me over. It was driven by two Indian

teenagers. They stopped just in front of me.

Prabhupada then came up beside me. He looked happy and

was smiling. He said, "Very good, Murti. You laid down

your life for me." Then he walked around the car and

kept walking down the road. I took it that this was a

sign of our relationship.

 

Prabhupada's opinion of me and other devotees like me

who were not his intimate sannyasi disciples, was like

the relationship of a general to his soldiers. He

always related to us in a military mood -- very strict

and cordial. We never felt that we could be on

familiar terms with Srila Prabhupada in terms of

conversation or in activities, as did some of the

other devotees, like Gurudasa and others that we knew.

For some reason, many in our generation of devotees

related to Prabhupada in that way, that he was the

master, the great general, and we were the privates.

He lived that relationship and so did we.

-- Murti dasa

 

 

My first personal encounter with Srila Prabhupada was

in Switzerland. Prabhupada was meeting a very famous

person, and he was in his room along with Guru

Gauranga and Bhagavan and Yogesvara. I was cooking for

Prabhupada, so when he came out we rushed to the door

to see him. As Srila Prabhupada and the others went

by, they were almost facing the kitchen door. When

they saw us there, Yogesvara stopped the party and

said, "Srila Prabhupada, this is a very famous --

world famous -- fashion model, blah, blah, blah ..f "

As he went on talking it was so embarrassing for me to

have to listen. I wanted to tell Srila Prabhupada,

"It's not true, I'm a devotee now. Don't listen to

him." I was looking at Prabhupada like I was saying,

"Help!" Prabhupada looked at me straight in the eyes,

and then Yogesvara stopped. Then Yogesvara rephrased

the whole thing again. I felt like I was sinking into

the ground. I had the feeling that I had disappeared

from the surface of the globe, and when I came back to

my consciousness, Prabhupada was still there looking

at me. Yogesvara was finishing off his little speech.

Prabhupada then gave me a beautiful smile, like a

little five-year-old, a mischievous, brilliant smile.

It was just unbelievable, like the whole sun is in

your room. He looked at me with a glint in his eyes

and said, "Chant Hare Krsna." I said, "Yes,

Prabhupada," and I fell flat on the ground. Prabhupada

continued walking.

 

When he told me to chant Hare Krsna then, I felt that

this was the instruction I had been waiting for all my

life. I was very satisfied, and I knew for sure that

Krsna consciousness was for me. He confirmed the

importance of chanting Hare Krsna, but it was also for

me specifically. I became convinced that this was my

way to please Srila Prabhupada."

-- Satarupa-devi dasi

 

Murti dasa, interview; Satarupa-devi dasi, interview.

Sometimes devotees tend to be envious of other

devotees' relationships with Srila Prabhupada. Reading

this memoir by Murti, however, makes us aware that any

relationship with Prabhupada sincerely felt with

dedication is the topmost. As Murti describes his

distant, formal relationship with Prabhupada, it

actually appears to be superior to one with more

physical intimacy where sometimes reverence is

abandoned. Yet when we read an intimate memoir by a

servant like Srutakirti, we will feel that we are

certainly getting wonderfully close to Srila

Prabhupada. Therefore, all the varieties of

relationships, as long as they are founded on service

to Srila Prabhupada, are equally important and pure,

and hearing about them can increase our devotion to

guru and Krsna.

 

We see in the case of Satarupa, the world-famous

fashion model who became a disciple of Prabhupada,

that Prabhupada gave her the same Krsna conscious

program he gave everyone else: "Chant Hare Krsna." In

her case, it was what she was waiting for, and she

required no special treatment. Srila Prabhupada was

always sensitive, however, and could accommodate

guests with exaggerated conceptions of themselves due

to some fame or high standing in the world. If one

actually wanted to become a devotee, Prabhupada's

advice was to become humble, to serve like the other

devotees according to one's capacity, and to "chant

Hare Krsna."

 

 

- From the Prabhupada Nectar by HH Satsvarupa dasa

Goswami Maharaj

 

 

 

 

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