Memories of Om Visnupada Paramahansa, Parivrajakacarya 108 Srila Prabhupada

krsna · January 27, 2007

Many times I have dreamt of telling the whole world how very much Srila Prabhupada means to me—how he’s done so much for me. Not only for me, but for the whole world! Something like—go tell it from the mountaintop type of thing that now Srila Prabhupada has sent a Lord Chaitanya’s moon all over the world, Kali Yuga hasn’t got a chance for the next 10,000 years!

By hearing about this Grand Opening of the Krishna-Balaram Temple, we’ll get a glimpse of some of the glories of His Divine Grace—Om Visnupada Paramahansa, Parivrajakacarya astottara sata Sri Srimad A.C. Bhaktivedana Swami—Srila Prabhupada. He was obviously not from this world. He was from the other world—sent by Lord Krishna for us. Srila Prabhupada is totally transcendentally awesome, ingenious, dynamic, magnanimous and amazing! He is everything that is wonderful— “simply wonderful”—being free from the three modes of material nature. How he single-handedly master-minded this Krishna-Balaram Mandir is also “simply wonderful.”

If you can visualize it—it is 1975—the Krishna-Balaram Temple is just being completed, the ‘75 Mayapur Gaura Purnima Festival is just ending and hundreds of devotees from all over the`world are pouring in.They are all totally ecstatic to see their Vrindavan Dham for the first time! The whole atmosphere is filled to the brim with transcendental excitement! Ramnavmi! Lord Ram’s Appearance Day! and now—the appearance day of Sri Sri Krishna-Balaram, Sri Sri Radha-Shyamsundar, Lalita, Visakha, and Sri Sri Gaur-Nitai! The biggest grand opening, so long awaited, is about to happen! Zealous and young devotees running here and there trying their best to get it together on time—some bringing fire wood, some carrying the Deities’ new clothes, some taking the milk, water, yogurt, ghee, honey, etc., for the huge abhiseka, some arranging for the fire sacrifice, others hauling big bags of vegetables, rice, dahl, four, etc., for the huge annakut and prasad distri bution. I remember standing in the middle of it all and thinking, “This is the spiritual sky : without exception, everyone is simply serving Krishna, thinking of Krishna and loving Krishna! Thank you, Srila Prabhupada, for letting me be a particle of it.”

We arrived early in the morning and went to see Srila Prabhupada. He was chanting japa, so sublimely, with his eyes closed deeply—it was as if he was chanting with five mouths but desiring hundreds of mouths. He was chanting so fast! He was mad after the Holy Name like one could see that the Holy Name was the “very life of his life.”

We gave Srila Prabhupada a “Swami cap” that I had sewn for him. He instantly tried it on, and though it actually didn’t fit, still he was so happy with it. Like the loving father that he was, he asked, “Did you get a place to stay? Did you get prasad? How is your health now? How is your daughter?” Such a huge heart! How does he expand his love and concern to the whole world! I was agape.

All the local Babas were also astounded! How did Srila Pabhupada spread Krishna Bhakti ALL OVER THE WORLD in only a FEW years? It wasn’t possible. There are devotes here from EVERY country of the world!! “This big preaching is only possible for Srimati Radharani or Sri Chaitanya Mahaprahu Himself” the babas surmised. But for us, Srila Prabhupada was even more!

My husband told Srila Prabhupada that what these babas were saying was about him. Then he said, “But you, Srila Prabhupada, are even more magnanimous than Lord Chaitanya because Lord Chaitanya only preached in India, whereas you have preached all over the world!” On and on he was praising Srila Prabhupada’s glorious service, when Srila Prabhupada interrupted. Chuckling he said, “You talk too much! Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has so kindly sent me so many nice boys and girls to help me fulfill the order of my Guru Maharaj.” He was so humble.

Srila Prabhupada invited many local brahmanas to chant pranpratistha mantras, even though he said our Hari Nam Sankirtana was sufficient. For days it seemed, they were chanting the monotone mantras. Simultaneously, the devotees held the most unbelievable, tumultuous kirtans, rejoicing and dancing in utmost ecstasy. The annakut was being prepared so the most amazing smell of ghee permeated the whole atmosphere, along with these kirtans.

Pandal arrangements—seating of chief guests and other guests, abhisheka tables for all the Deities, flower decorations, lights, festoons, garlands, prasad distribution—how many millions of things were happening! How Srila Prabhupada has arranged it all and on time! And at the same time drowning everyone in an ocean of happiness! It was as if he was going around sprinkling everyone’s heart with devotion. I was told to put a book table in front and sell Srila Prabhupada’s books. At one point Srila Prabhupada was observing us distributing. He didn’t say anything, but we knew he was so pleased. It was awesome!

Finally, the day arrived! Everyone very quickly running, finishing up. The temple looked beautiful and exuberant with excitement. The devotees’ kirtans started getting louder and louder till the ecstasy started bubbling over—flooding out the front gates of the temple and the whole of Braja came running! As the programme began, the fire sacrifice, abhisheka, etc., the chanting continued throughout.

When the Deities were brought out, They immediately stole everyone’s hearts! Some devotees said, “This is the most beautiful Radharani I’ve ever seen!” Others marvelled at Krishna-Balaram’s strong arms! And still others were mad after Gaur-Nitai! Hundreds of liters of milk, ghee, etc., flowed over Their lotus bodies. We were outside distributing during most of the programme, but we could hear all the conches, bells, gongs, wompers, mrdangas, and kartals. It was getting more and more ecstatic and tumultuous inside. We couldn’t resist, we put the book table away and ran in the temple. It was a sea of devotees, hanging from the pillars, windows, grills, railings, and pouring out all the doors! There was total ecstasy everywhere up, down, north, south, east, west, everywhere! It was a kirtan we never experienced before! In some kirtans some devotees sing and dance and some don’t. But in this kirtan no one was left behind, everyone was flying, crying, singing like no other singing of this world! Definitely, all the demigods—Lord Siva, Narada Muni, Sukadeva Goswami, the Gandharvas -everyone was there!

Offering the first arati to Their Lordships, Srila Prabhupada became overwhelmed with ecstatic love. His eyes and mind were totally fixed on Krishna-Balaram, tears were pouring down his cheeks, and his hands were shaking as he offered each article. The arati finished, he came out and, raising his arms high, began jumping in great jubilation! The devotees, seeing Him dance, became totally mad in ecstasy, crying, laughing, leaping, perspiring, singing and dancing like they never did in their lives! It was as if an ocean of transcendental bliss had expanded from Srila Prabhupada’s heart and, like a cyclone, spread all over the temple or even penetrated the whole universe!!’The kirtan went on and on—Jaya Krishna-Balaram! Jaya Radhe-Shyam! Jaya Gaur-Nitai! Jaya Prabhupada! Everyone agreed they never saw such a kirtan before.

Then the guests spoke. One, I remember, spoke very fondly of Srila Prabhupada. He said Srila Prabhupada’s heart would bleed to hear of the people’s suffering all over the world. Srila Prabhupada would wonder how they would be saved from the hells awaiting them after death. “It is his unbounding compassionate heart that took Bhaktivedanta Swami to the West and thus brought you all here today. Here in Vrindavan we have no foreigners—only today we are seeing first time and so many also from all nations. We are indebted to His Grace for showing the world the glories of India. Seeing this very beautiful Krishna-Balaram Mandir and all these happy devotees is the happiest day of my life! We pray to the Lord that He may not take Bhaktivedanta Swami back to Krishnaloka but that He will stay on the planet for the benefit of the whole world!” There were many speakers.

Srila Prabhupada spoke, saying very simply that it was the Supreme Lord’s causeless mercy that They have so kindly appeared before us today. He could have given a juicy discourse dripping with Radha bhava as he was definitely a maha-bhagavata experiencing the highest levels of prema. But he didn’t. He did not give such public lectures because his Guru Maharaj and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not give such lectures. When Lord Chaitanya met with scholars He discussed the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita; when there were highly advanced devotees like Ramananda Raya, He discussed Krishna’s lila; and when He was preaching to the masses He organized ecstatic sankirtan in Jagannath Puri every evening for four hours. Lord Chaitanya was playing the part of the devotee acarya—one who sets the example to be followed by all. He showed the methods for preaching which Srila Prabhupada strictly followed and everyone should follow.

Srila Prabhupada has given the world so much and is still giving the world unlimitedly through his books. In his books, he gives everyone the bhakti-lata bija which contains everything—sambandha, abhideya, and prayojana, just as a seed contains the whole tree, its flowers and fruits. It is up to each of us to water this seed by hearing and chanting. Srila Prabhupada is definitely still alive. “He reasons ill who say Vaisnavas die, while they are still living in sound. Vaisnavas die to live and living spread the Holy Name.” Srila Prabhupada is always appearing in people’s dreams, telling them to chant, etc. Srila Prabhupada is there not only for his direct disciples but for everyone. He said the grandfather is more kind upon the grandchildren. So the granddisciples can expect more mercy from Srila Prabhupada than the disciples! Let us all show our gratitude to Srila Prabhupada by cooperating together to push on this ISKCON. He kindly shed his blood to start it for us all.

How can we ever repay him? He has given us sooo much—his books, Sri Vrindavan Dham, the Holy Name, Krishna prasad, Jamuna, Gaura-Nitai, Radhe-Shyam, Krishna-Balaram, and on and on. I would have never heard of Vrindavan had Srila Prabhupada not come to the U.S. and told us. I had gone to India searching for God or something—I didn’t even know what I was searching for but returned to New York very sadly disappointed. It is solely due to Srila Prabhupada and his books that I am here in Vrindavan Dham and chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.

Once Srila Prabhupada was telling us about all the pains he suffered trying to preach: the time he was gored by a bull, the heart attacks on the boat over to the U.S.A., no money, no help, etc. He said, “I didn’t look to the right, I didn’t look to the left—I walked straight through hell fires to come and get you.” It was only Srila Prabhupada who cared enough about us to go through such suffering to come and get us all. Let us pray that we may somehow “repay” him by following his instructions to preach and thus please him. It is not possible to repay him, but if we please Him, surely He will one day be pleased to reveal to us his pure Krishna prema.

There is no material description or calculation of what he has done for the world, still we want to try to tell the whole universe of his glorious miracles. In days of yore, there were no books, photos, audio tapes, video tapes, etc., of the guru. Now that Srila Prabhupada is made readily available in all these forms—let us all take advantage of this huge ocean of nectar!