Prabhupada's disappearance Day in Vrndavana

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Letter COM:2777360 (107 lines)

Lokanath Swami (SPC Minister)

14-Nov-99 04:36

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Prabhupada's disappearance Day in Vrndavana

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Dear Maharaja's and prabhus,

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

The following is an offering by HG Shyamasundar Prabhu to Srila Prabhupada

on his disappearance day in Vrndavana. I appreciated it very much and

thought to share it with you all.

 

PRABHUPADA'S DISAPPEARANCE DAY 12th Novemeber,1999

 

Oh Srila Prabhupada, I miss you so much I think some days I can't endure

this imagining, imagining you like this:

 

Wishing you, across the room, would turn, slide the silk cloth from your

shoulders, drape it on a chair--and pull your sleeve and say,

"So Shyamsundar, who has come this year?"

 

[sound effects: MEOW! MEOW! Temple bells, occasional shouts]

 

Or slouched at ease on some embroidered bolster, both legs stretched out

straight, laughing out loud at my "keen" remark, you slap your thigh and

say, "So Shyamsundar, and many devotees came?"

 

Oh Yes, Prabhupada (my report goes on), So many devotees came!

 

[Move to crowd-shot from atop the Samadhi, camera left to right]

 

But mostly they are younger now, such beautiful boys and girls, they pack

your temple precincts with exuberance and color--and they speak so many

languages you wonder: How your simple words have spread and flowered out so

variously,

 

[Cut to scene in local forest: Mango trees and peacocks, parrots and mynah

birds flitting to and fro:]

 

How so many more devotee-birds have flocked from far-off lands, to fill the

Dham with rainbow plummage and krishna-krishna chatter!

 

Oh beloved Prabhupada, I suffer so, to be with you only by imagining!:

 

[interior shot, Ambassador car, ACBSP in front seat, devotees packed

behind:]

 

Like: Sweet bald fuzzy dome bobbing with the potholes, back across your

shoulder you may turn and say, "So Shyamsundar, many Indians are coming?"

 

Yes, Srila Prabhupada, more than ever before! (pause) Remember, about 30

years back when we first came here, how only a handful of local folks set

foot into the place? Now, you should see! So many--thousands!--of

nicely-dressed and pious Indian Vaishnavas: families, couples, sadhus,

schoolkids...

 

[Cut to: ACBSP wrapped in grey woolen chader, leading me with his determined

gait down some mica-sandy path through the morning mist; stops, turns and

says:]

 

"So Shyamsundar, did many come--our old-time ISKCON devotees?"

 

That's the thing, Srila Prabhupada, I scarcely know anyone here this year!

So many new and wonderful devotee faces. (pause.) Not many of us left, I

guess, of the gang who used to cluster at your feet and drink your every

word.

 

[reluctantly:]

 

And I've heard there's been some problems, some fighting in the ranks,

factions, silly squabbles, divisions of the spoil--just like you predicted,

Prabhupada, and tried so hard to avoid. I just don't understand these

things, you made everything so clear, but then, it strikes me that perhaps

the schismatics and the squabblers never really gazed upon your eyes--and

saw them sparkling and dancing with divine joy! Probably they never felt in

their master's glance the blossoming of an indescribable peace. Never did

they sense your fragrance, fresh from the lotus of infinity. How could

brothers bicker, if once, by your smile, both had been transformed to the

very core of their beings?

 

Anyway...

 

[Cut to: A Punch and Judy Show, puppets running back and forth, whacking

each other with tiny sticks, in high child-like voices screaming, "It's

mine, not yours!" "I'm right, you're wrong!" Huge hammer appears above the

stage, slams down KER-THUMPP!!! flattening the lot]

 

Oh dearest Prabhupada, for shadow-pleasure I imagine this:

 

Sitting on the edge of your bed, removing your saffron socks, you chuckle a

couple of times and say, "So Shyamsundar, the thing, it goes on?"

 

Yes, Prabhupada, I'm delighted to see in some devotees advancing spiritual

bliss. Though I have by no means seen the many, even these few will do you

proud! Some glow, though faintly yet if compared to you, but with the same

effulgence you show in full. You've spawned some saints, I'm happy to

report!

 

[Fade to darkened Interior, Temple Room, a hundred voices raised in

melodious, spine-chilling Sanskrit chorus:]

 

And when you see them at damodarastakam, Prabhupada, offering their little

lights, each face suffused with peace...

 

And yes, Prabhupada, this thing goes on...

 

Oh our only beloved Prabhupada, how much longer must I keep imagining??

 

This one last question still wags my mind--I know deep-down I need not ask

it, nor do you have to tell me again: "Yes, be patient, we will be together

once again."

(Text COM:2777360) --------