two stories about Akincana Krsnadas Babaji

[Guest guest]

(told during the bhajan class in Tashkent on September 19, 1995)

 

His Holiness Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Swami:

 

-1-

 

"One time I was with that Godbrother of Srila Prabhupada, Krishnadas

Baba. And it was in Mayapur, before Gaura Purnima. I was sitting with

him, it was an Ekadasi night. And on Ekadasi night he would sing

bhajan all night long or do japa all night long. So I went to join him

on that night. One of his Godbrothers had just died. So he said,

"Tonight we will sing for that Godbrother". So we went and we sat down

in front of that Godbrothers' samadhi, and then the first thing that

he did is he sat with his beads on his hand, he started going,

"Krsnotkirtana-gana-nartana-parau premamrtambho-nidhi." He started

reciting the Sri Sri Sad Goswamy-astaka. And we were sitting right

next to one another. He was about 75 or 80 years old. But he was just

like a boy. So then he sang all the song until he came to this (6th)

verse. And then he turned and he looked at me straight in the eyes. He

said, "Sankhya-purvaka-nama-gana-natibhih kalavasani-krtau," - he sang

the whole verse all the way thru. And then he stopped and looked at

me. Then he took his beads out of his beadbag and he put them right in

my face and (said), "Sankhya-purvaka-nama-gana-natibhih

kalavasani-krtau." He was saying, "Chant your rounds in a regulated

way, fixed number every day, do it nicely. And then you will become

absorbed in thoughts of Krsna." So he was looking at me and saying,

"You are so stupid. Don't forget that, I am putting my beads right in

your face." We should remember that. Don't think we are gonna find

some other process. There will be some shortcuts along the way. But!

Regulated amount of rounds daily."

 

-2-

 

"Remember, this is the real medicine, and this is how we will learn to

meditate in Krishna consciousness. This is called japa meditation. We

should remember that it's not that this is just one part of the day we

have to do some strange work. This is like the most important part of

the day.

 

One time in Vrndavan I went to join that godbroher of Srila

Prabhupada. Actually it was on the Ekadasi day, in the middle of

winter. It was a brilliant blue clear day, it was little cold. And

some of my Godbrothers from Canada, they had come to Vrndavan, so I

was taking them on parikrama. So we were going around Vrindavan and

then we came to one very famous temple which is called Imli-tal.

Because there was a famous tamarind tree there that had been there

ever since the time of Lord Krsna. So I wanted to take the devotees

into that temple to show them that tamarind tree, and when we went

inside, Prabhupada's Godbrother was there. So he looked at me and

said, "Ayodhyapati, what are you doing here?" Actually whenever he

would see me, he would cover his mouth and he would start laughing and

he would point at me. Cause he knew I was such a ridiculous person.

And he'd go, "Ha ha ha. What are you doing here?" And I said, "Well,

I'm just doing parikrama." And then he said, "What are you doing

tonight?" I mean, I've had a lot of people look at me in my life and

say "what are you doing tonight?" But I never had a pure devotee

asking me that question. I said, "Well, I don't know. What do you want

to do?" He said, "I am going to stay in this temple tonight and I am

going to chant Hare Krishna all night long. Why don't you come and

join me?" I went, "Wow!" I could not believe what I had heard. I said,

"What time?" He said, "Come about 9 o'clock tonight."

 

So that night. That must have been back in 1978. And Srila Lokanath

Swami and his travelling party had just returned to Krishna Balaram

Mandir. And we had the wildest kirtan. I was just… I was drenched wet

from top to bottom. And the kirtan, it went from like 6:30 until 8:30.

So then I said, "O, it's 8:30, it's time to go." Then I grabbed two

of my Godbrothers, I said, "Poyekhali (Let's go)." So we walked down

to that temple. And we went inside the temple, and Prabhupada's

gobrother was there. He was a little tiny person, very small and very

athletic, 75 or 80 years old. He looked at me and said, "Did you take

prasad?" And I said, "Yes, I already took prasad, ekadashi prasad."

And I was thinking that all these big souls, I was thinking they are

all fasting on ekadasi. I said, "You take prasadam on ekadasi??" He

looked at me and said, "I fill my belly up to three times on ekadasi."

So he said, "OK, you wait here." Cause he was going to take a little

fruite, and a little sweet. So then he gave us some sweets to eat

also. So that room was a little tiny room. And just at the end of the

room there was one like one wooden bed, with no pillows, nothing like

that, just like a piece of wood. So he came in and he sat down on that

bed. He put his japa beads on. Sitting like this. And then I was

thinking, "When is he gonna start singing? I mean I came down here to

do bhajan, when is he gonna start to sing?" And then my Godbrother, he

had his tape player, he turned the tape player on. And then Krishnadas

looked at him and said, "Turn it off. This thing is a disturbanse.

Tonight there will be no disturbances. Tonight we will take our beads.

And we will chant 64 rounds." I went, "O-o-oh, Ho-ho-ho-ho, O-o-oh,

ho-ho!" My mind started going crazy. My God, I'm gonna sit in this

cold room all night long and chant japa. I came down here to have some

fun, and I am gonna work now. So then he looked at me and said, "And

tonight," he said, "no shneek shneek, ram ram ram ram ram, kshee

kshee, ram ram ram ram. Krsna, Krsna, Krsna! Ram ram ram. None of

that." He said, "Tonight we are going to chant

 

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna,

Krsna Krsna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare."

 

And then he started. And he sat down just like this. He took his leg,

crossed it like that, took his beads in his hand, started chanting. He

did not move. And I was sitting on the floor. And I had one of this

little watches that would light it up. So one hour passed, and then

one of the devotees of that temple was living in that room. And after

one hour he said, "Maharaj," and Krsnadas said, "Yes." He said, "I

have to get up tomorrow morning and I have to do the puja in the

temple. I can't sit up all night long and chant japa." Krsnadas said,

"Take rest. What's the problem?" He said, "The problem is I can't

sleep because light's on." Krishnadas said, "Turn off the light." So

he turned off the light. So we were sitting in that completely black

room. And Krishnadas:

 

"Hare-e-e Krsna Hare-e-e-e Krsna,

Krns Krsna Hare Hare

Hare Ra-a-a-ma Hare Ra-a-ma

Rama Rama Hare Hare."

 

One hour passed, two hours passed, three hours passed, four hours

passed, not moving at all.

"Hare-e-e Krsna Hare-e-e-e Krsna KrEEsna Krsna Hare Hare

Hare R-A-A-a-a-ma Hare Ra-a-a-ma Rama Rama Hare Hare."

And I was sitting on the floor and I was going, "This is the most

amazing thing I have ever experienced." I said, "I feel like I am

sitting with Haridas Thakur. It's just like singing." It got to the

point when he would say the mantra, each mantra was like a whole

bhajan he was singing. And I realized that he had gone to the

spiritual world. He was not there, he was like in the spiritual world

thru chanting the Maha-mantra. I said, "O, this is amazing." And then

I looked at my clock, and 3 o'clock it come. And I was a pujari at

Srila Prabhupada's samadhi. And I had to go back, and I had to like

take shower, then I had to wake up Prabhupada in the samadhi, do the

mangala aroti, do all the services there. But I did not want to

disturb him. So I became very mental, because I had to get up and go,

but I did not want to make any disturbance. So I went, "Maharaj…"

"Hare-eee Krsna-a-a-a"

"Maharaj"

"Krsna-a-a-a-a Krsna Hare-e Hare-e-e-e Hare Ra-a-a-ma"

"Maharaj!"

"Hare Rama Rama Rama..."

 

Finally I went, "Maharaj!" He went, "Hare Krsna! Hare Krsna!! Hare

Krsna!!!" He said, "What's the problem?" I said, "I have to go". He

said, "What's the problem, go!" I got up to go, and then he stopped,

he had a very serious look on his face. He said, "Come here." He said,

"Prabhu! Promise me one thing." I said "What?" He said, "Kirtaniyah

sada harih. Always chant the Holy Name."

 

So - very clear chanting of maha-mantra. Very clear chanting of

maha-mantra!"

 

------------

 

(I have to apologize to the dear reader: if you notice some mistakes

or colloquialisms that are normally edited out, please do not judge me

severely. English is not my native language and I did transcription

according to my limited abilities leaving everything "as it is". -

Your servant, Gopijanavallabha das)

 

Coming soon: most complete variant of the famous story about Srila

Prabhupada, Akincana Krsnadas Babaji and Srila Prabhupada's sister

from 1977.