Little Drops of Nectar in Mayapur

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Every year in Mayapur, the devotees cut sugarcane,

press it and cook down the juice and press it into

gur. One year, the sugarcane was stacked outside the

kitchen near the grhastha-asrama. Many of the boys and

girls from the gurukula would come and take pieces of

sugarcane, chew them, and spit the pulp here and

there. On one occasion, these spittings had been swept

into a pile and left near the stack of unoffered

sugarcane. Prabhupada saw the pile of spittings and he

began chastising the devotees, most of whom were

Bengalis. He told them that although they called

themselves Hindus, they had come to the temple just to

go to hell. He asked them what had become of their

culture that they would leave spittings near Krsna's

bhoga.

 

As Prabhupada chastised the devotees, a two-year-old

toddler came walking by eating a piece of sugarcane.

Seeing this, a sixty-year-old Bengali devotee grabbed

the sugarcane from the child's hand and chastised the

child, who immediately began to cry. Prabhupada said,

"Ustadi boca: although your eyes were blind, you are

now the coach."

 

 

 

In Mayapur, dacoits would attack the temple. They

would take some explosive, roll it into a ball along

with scraps of iron, and wrap it up with jute twine.

The completed bomb was the size of a baseball and

could remove a limb or kill someone.

 

One night while Prabhupada was staying in the Mayapur

temple, the dacoits attacked, throwing many homemade

bombs. No one was hurt, but the next day Prabhupada

wanted a report. Jayapataka Swami told Prabhupada that

some shrapnel had been left by the bombs, and he

explained the situation. Prabhupada told him to get

some guns and he told a story about Narada Muni.

 

Narada Muni once had a cobra as his disciple. After

the snake became Narada's disciple, he gave up his

dangerous habits. Knowing this, the village children

would harass him with sticks. The snake became

distraught. Narada asked the snake what was wrong and

the cobra explained his difficulty. Narada then told

the snake that whenever the children came to harass

him, he should expand his hood and raise his head up

as if prepared to strike. He said the sight of this

would scare the children away. Prabhupada then

instructed Jayapataka Swami to take guns and

frequently fire them into the air to scare off the

dacoits.

 

The devotees acquired two guns and they divided

themselves up into crews to stand guard at night.

Sometimes Prabhupada would be up late at night

translating, and he would go out with a flashlight to

inspect the guards. One time Prabhupada shined his

flashlight into Satadhanya Swami's face. Satadhanya

Swami had been eating capatis with gur. Prabhupada

asked him what he was doing and Satadhanya Swami

explained that he had gone out all day and that the

devotees had saved him something to eat. Prabhupada

told him to be alert.

 

Later that night, Satadhanya Swami was patrolling with

his flashlight. He somehow sensed that there was

someone hiding under a stairway. He crouched down and

shined his flashlight under the steps and there was

Prabhupada. "Prabhupada!" Satadhanya Swami exclaimed,

and offered his obeisances. "I was just checking on

you," Prabhupada said.

 

Jayapataka Swami, interview.

 

 

- From the Prabhupada Nectar by HH Satsvarupa dasa

Goswami Maharaj

 

 

 

 

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