Vṛndāvana
Vrndavana
Dear Srila Prabhupada,
I am sitting in the very rooms you resided in and started our movement in, hearing the same bells you heard, writing this in the same spot in which you wrote and translated the immortal Srimad-Bhagavatam (bringing the higher world of Krsna to the lower world of matter), and seeing the formidable jewellike form of Rūpa Gosvami's samadhi, steady and encouraging. Your old stove stands in the corner, and I retaste the prasada you cooked for us back in 1966. What a trick! Who would have thought that you could bring order and responsibility to those Kali-yugites, dedicated to chaos and irresponsibility.
I sit and stare, and the blank page stares back at me. It is again the time to write a Vyasa-pūja homage, though it should be done at every moment. How do I glorify you, who are so unlimitedly glorious? It is hardly expressed in a few thousand words, and I cannot aptly put my overwhelming feelings for you down on paper (just as I must desist from adding a humble, self-effacing statement to all others herein, since I cannot begin to deface what is already so low that it is uncriticizable). It is you who give us the taste for the spiritual. I am not so serious, but love for you keeps me plodding along, and I pray that all of us may continue to back you with fuller conviction as you still show us the way back home.
In these rooms I see advertisements for your first three volumes of Srimad-Bhagavatam; I see "League of Devotees" pamphlets; I see "De's Pain Liniment." I see old membership books, chemistry beakers, bookstore distribution lists, etc. I see all the services we are presently engaged in, and you have already done them. I think I should just recount some of the examples of your preaching in Vrndavana, since this is being written on behalf of the Vrndavana devotees. This will be my glorification to your limitless, wonderful qualities.
Once I awaited your arrival in New Delhi airport. You requested me to arrange a car to go to Vrndavana. "Vrndavana doesn't mean buying a ticket. It is an attitude, a way of accepting the special mercy of the dhama." You were not only arranging the ticket but taking me through the gate yourself.
I thought that if I could choose the highest pleasure-spiritual or mundane-of all the unending pleasures available, that pleasure would be to be with you in Vrndavana. The purest devotee and the purest place combined. Now the desire is being fulfilled.
Vestiges of sentiment and romanticism still needing to be dispelled from our brains and cut by your sword of correctness lay waiting to be smote down like untrained soldiers.
Before having come into your direct contact, we read books of so-called spirituality, ideas with no applicable basis. The books spoke of a neophyte disciple waiting before the door of his guru with quiet determination, while excessive heat and cold attacked the beatific devotee. After three days of patient austerity, the gate opens, the guru stands there, and the neophyte becomes a disciple. But you saw that we cannot even stand in one place for five minutes. So you engaged us in Krsna's service. Another of these books told of a disciple's not eating for many days. But you saw how we grow restless if we don't eat, so you fed us Krsna-prasada. You in fact teach us the perfect balance of sanctity and acuity, of work and play, of bhajana and preaching, of action and inaction, of devotion and preaching, of pancaratrika and bhagavad-viddhi. And so with the idea of the highest pleasure of you and Vrndavana together, I anticipate your arrival in Delhi's Palam airport.
There are only two of us to greet you, but you accept our garlands and sandalwood and rosewater with a grace that makes us bashful, as if the whole of the world were there greeting you. The Ambassador car pulls up, and we await some words. You hand me your (at the time) small white satchel, which you carry our movement around in; but still you say nothing. You glide into the front seat, and we get into the back with your traveling secretary.
Exchanging whispered news of devotees and activities around the world, we talk in low, subdued voices, so as not to disturb you. Minutes pass like hours as we await your transcendental words, some instruction, some acknowledgement. But transcendental as you are, you remain silent. I have another realization: there is no need for you to acknowledge or appease us. By now our society has begun to establish itself as it should be-catering to your mood, not ours. If you want to be silent, that is correct, and we should not expect or push anything else. And so from that time on, whenever meeting with you I let you establish the mood, not me. If you want to joke, I joke; if you want to chastise, I bow my head remorsefully; if you want to talk business, I talk business; if you want to talk philosophy, I talk philosophy.
I remember in Calcutta once when being sent on a special mission I came in and stated with importance, wanting glorification, "I am going now," and you simply turned and walked into the bathroom.
Yet in the car we still anticipate some divine instruction, some words of wisdom-anything-as you in all your natural beauty sit relaxed in the front seat. At a red stoplight, the Indian version of the Hell's Angels roll up next to your open window. You turn your head slightly and say "Hare Krsna," and the young grease-ball says "Hare Krsna" back. He jabbers to his friends, and they jabber back, and they turn into Gandharvas and young innocents by your grace. We still await, murmering the maha-mantra silently.
We glide to the outskirts of New Delhi on the way to Vrndavana. Your voice of authority and patience finally breaks the vacuous silence. You say, "Cement."
Another realization-here again all those romantic books about perfumed saints and do-nothing sadhus vanish like bubbles popping in the air. The practical application of devotion instead.
You point to a large water tower and say, "We should build one like that in Vrndavana." We are on the way to finalize all the arrangements of a piece of land given to us by the grace of Srimati Radharani, after the promises of court jesters, kings, mice and men all failed. You had sent me to Vrndavana to scout land and for already-built temples. We narrowed down our choice to this piece of land in holy Ramana Reti ("enjoyable sands").
When we arrived in holy Vrndavana, your ever-bright eyes became even brighter. We are staying at Saraf Bhavan, and you set up camp on the top floor, like a field general. The floor consists of six small side rooms around a long hall, and we are preparing for the next few days of amazing events.
Somehow or other, without any advertising or announcements, your old friends, Godbrothers, officials, etc., start showing up. Summoned by some silent nonunderstandable means, they begin to appear-like silent natures out of jungle thickets, an enigma to the common covered man.
We first arrange for a ground-breaking ceremony with the ex-owner of the land in Ramana Reti, the present site of our Krsna-Balarama Mandira, while in the next room another dissatisfied person, who wanted the same piece of property, waits. Police and retired members of parliament appear, and you talk to them, and they convince the agitator that any thoughts of getting the piece of land are in vain. One Gosvami, hardly able to see, led by his son, comes from Radha Damodara, while his archrivals-two other Gosvamis-arrive simultaneously. You spring up from your seat faster than a speeding bullet and put the enemies in different rooms to avoid their fighting (although they live in the same temple compound, they haven't spoken to one another for years). You satisfy each one of them separately; they each take you as an ally, and you discuss and draw up papers which arrange our stay at some rooms at the top of Radha Damodara Temple. Your secretary is simultaneously drawing up the contract for accepting the Ramana Reti property and the contract for the rooms at Damodara.
Some babajis (in their off-white cloth) and your slightly bearded Godbrothers arrive, and you at once host them and then feed them amidst all the other agreements and arrangements. You are like the great ringmaster we used to see as children, running the whole show, the central attraction, training all-a dancing bear in one ring, a tightrope-walker in another ring, and the lions in another ring-you continue to control from your seat this great transcendental circus in this most transcendental arena, Vrndavana.
I remember one time a dog charged at you, snarling, looking like Salva or the Kesi demon charging Lord Krsna. You raised your stick and said, "Come on." The dog stopped short, you gestured slightly with your stick, and the dog sat down, still growling. Then you threatened again, and he lay down and whimpered. When we rounded the block for the second time, the whole performance was repeated, but the third time we saw that the dog was your servant and friend; he was tamed. I thought of him as my companion or Godbrother, remembering how you similarly trained us all.
You then explained how "Beware of the dog" was a symptom of modern false civilization, where one may walk down the street peacefully and from behind a large closed gate the dog barks at you, "Don't come here"; each gate separating one man's property from the other man's property, no one sharing, no spiritual center.
I was beginning to learn by your example the balance between practical hard work for Krsna and temple devotions which sanctify that hard work. In Krsna consciousness there is no room for dry rituals. "Necessity is the mother of invention," you told, and I could see that "devotee" means whatever Krsna wants, that's all. We are His toys. The sincerity of the offering is the essence, not the wealth. "Anyone in any part of the world may offer a fruit, a flower, some water, to Lord Krsna, and He will accept," you taught. And so you engage us to work hard, day and night, for Lord Krsna. "We should not waste a moment," you recently wrote me in a letter. "Take my example, not a moment is wasted. The karmis sit in the park and say, 'My son-in-law said this, etc.' "
The next day I came to see you, and some more transcendental instructions were taking place between you and Subala dasa:
Srila Prabhupada: You do not like to live with the devotees?
Subala: No.
Srila Prabhupada: Why is that?
Subala: They gossip and talk nonsense.
Srila Prabhupada: Then you must change the gossip into transcendental talks. So many people come to me with nonsensical talks, and I transform them into transcendental talks.
Subala: We are always fighting.
Srila Prabhupada: You must consider it to be your fault. If each thinks that way, there cannot be fighting. If someone calls me "Prabhu," and I think I am master, that is wrong.
Subala: I just want to stay in Vrndavana.
Srila Prabhupada: It is better that you give Vrndavana to others. If I did not leave Vrndavana, you would not know Vrndavana. Rather you should go out and preach and come back and build a skyscraper (pronounced "scrapper").
The next day on the morning walk, we saw many devotees, sadhus, etc., as regular as aratrika, who came to you to pay respects (they are so regular you can set your watch by them). We started to walk towards Ramana Reti. You tell how the nimba tree is medicinal. We see women picking up cow dung, and you say, "Everything is used in India. That is proper."
I say, "Cow dung is purer than other dungs; it does not attract as many flies." You smile mischievously and say, "Oh, you have done research?" Then you say, "Therefore this is proof that cow dung is antiseptic." I say, "Yes," and you order me to study nature, for that will reveal many truths of the Bhagavatam. Especially this is true in Vrndavana.
"Living in Vrndavana is like lying on the lap of Krsna," you say, but later you qualify that "Krsna is not loitering in Loi Bazaar." And over the years you come and go, you come to speed up the construction of the temple, you taste the water, you stand and count the bags of cement used. You question in much detail. "How much is the price of ata (flour)?" I say Rs. 1.60 a kilo, and you split up all the prices to how much an average devotee can eat. For instance, "a devotee eats one quarter of a kilo of rice. The rice costs Rs. 1.80, so a devotee eats one quarter of that. Therefore Rs. .45 is spent per man on rice." And you break up all the items, including spices, wood for cooking, and still you cut down on the amount we are spending to feed the devotees. One of the items, a vegetable, you ask what is the cost per kilo. I say, "60 paisa." You tell the story of "damn cheap babu."
The foreign babu comes and gets the local prices and says, "damn cheap, damn cheap" while he is being charged twice the amount as the local residents. "Sixty paisa," you say. "It should cost 30 paisa." I quip that those are the prices in 1953. (I remember seeing your account book in your rooms at Radha Damodara and how much you would spend, and you would account for everything.) You then say, "Do it that cheaply anyway," and we do it by your empowered potency. You ask not only the price of vegetables, but the cost of cement, steel, as well as the timings of the Frontier Mail, the Toofan Express and the Punjab Mail Trains. You expect me to know all the local residents, and you introduce me to them as they come to see you.
You initiated me into the vast etiquette and intrigues of Vrndavana society, and sometimes send me on seemingly impossible missions, like the time you sent me to borrow three crores of rupees (Rs. 30,000,000) from the home minister of India, to be paid back in foreign exchange, or the time you sent me to ask the American ambassador to India to allow us to live in one of his houses free, or when a king wanted Rs. 50,000,000 for his palace and you told me to say that since we are brahmanas and you are king, you must give to brahmanas. If we see all these things in the transcendental light, they are not outrageous; rather, it is the mundane darkness that is outrageous.
I remember the time we were walking on the banks of the Yamuna, the full moon still in the morning sky. You point with your cane to the moon and say, "They say the moon is dust. Why are those sands [pointing to the Yamuna] not shining and those sands [pointing to the moon] shining? If it is reflection of the sun as they (the scientists] claim, then the sun is there-why are those [the moon's] sands shining and those [the Yamuna's sands] not?" The moon-talks intrigue us all as we press close to one another to hear you.
Sometimes we walk through the back alleys of this vast wonderland. Your cane rings on the red stones. You decided to reside one night again in your old rooms, and four of us are fortunate enough to accompany you, sleep in a heap in your kitchen to keep warm, in the post-Kartika night chill.
Slowly the Krsna-Balarama construction begins, a well is dug, but the water is salt. But then another, producing sweet water blessed by Balarama, awes the neighbors, who all have salt water. The construction rolls on slowly, a string of endless obstacles, no money, no materials. You push us harder; you come yourself and solve everything. You come and live at Sethji's house nearby, a pandal cover is erected to fuel your preaching fire, and you speak how the true bhakta is the only unmotivated yogi, whereas jnanis, yogis and karma-yogis all are tarnished by motivated liberation-wishes.
During another mass pilgrimage the devotees stay at Laksmi Rani Kunja, and you deliver the famous Nectar of Devotion series of lectures at Radha Damodara Temple. After the lectures, devotees and guests all squeeze into your small rooms.
You talk to me many times about vairagya, how we should give up material attachments. You also teach tolerance. I asked you whether it is sometimes very hot or cold in Vrndavana to test how much one loves Krsna by staying here, and you answered, "Yes, sometimes Krsna tests that way." Titiksa must be developed.
Your house is finally being completed. I remember the frantic rush to put everything in order for your first viewing; the floor and your newly varnished desk dried literally thirty seconds before you walked in. Of course this is not unique, as probably every temple in the movement has experienced this same rush before your arrival and how miraculously everything comes together almost the same instant as you step your lotus feet inside.
Your old Godbrothers come, and you host them in your new rooms, along with the late afternoon stream of guests from every part of India. You sit back relaxed and talk to them, enlighten them, until night comes and the bright stars appear in the Vrndavana sky. Again your magnanimity is all-embracing. I remember one night you say to me, "Let's go to some temples. Can you arrange? What time is their darsana?" Later you tell me, "Darsana does not mean for you to see the Deity, but rather for the Deity to see you." I arrange a car; by that time the news has leaked out, in the unexplainable way of our Krsna conscious grapevine-communications, more speedy than any modern telecommunication system, and suddenly I am being petitioned, lobbied, cajoled, begged and ordered that I take everyone along. You get in the front seat along with the driver and then you motion to one devotee "Come on," and as the front seat is filled, you say, "There is room in back, come on," and the back seat is filled by the pillars and big guns of our Krsna consciousness movement. A stack of GBC's and sannyasis squash in the back seat. After it is filled, Gargamuni Maharaja shows up, and you say, "Come on, come on," and so he squeezes in the already saturated back seat. As the car is ready to limp off, Panca Draviḍa Maharaja comes ambling along with his danḍa, eager to join, and we can't refuse him. He lays across all of us, with his hands and legs hanging out the window. You ask, "Where to first? Where to next?" and my muffled reply comes from under the Vaisnava bodies. When we reach Govinda temple, you walk out majestically, and we pile out, like the clowns in a circus, all getting out of the small car. During the morning walks, we sit down by the side of the road, and you teach the whole varna and asrama system.
Your personal friendliness knows no bounds. Like a kind father, you instructed me to invite all the gosvamis and special people of Vrndavana to our first Vyasa-pūja ceremony at Krsna-Balarama Mandira. It was gloriously decorated, and many special guests came. We had just finished washing your lotus feet. I was drying your lotus toes one by one by one, and you looked at me and asked, "Have you invited such and such?" As I worked very hard to make everything nice for you, I readily said, "Yes, he told me he would be a little late," and you looked pleased. After we bathed and dried your feet, the senior devotees began to offer flowers and offer danḍavats (prostrating themselves) three times. As I was offering danḍavats for the second time, you called me again. I thought, "Uh oh, who did I forget to invite?" Srila Prabhupada always catches all of our mistakes, and I leaned close to you. Instead of asking anything, you simply took your fingers and so kindly ruffled my sikha and the top of my head. All the devotees crowding around cried, "Ahhh!" in one well-wisher's voice. I felt my years of service again rewarded. You are so Krsna conscious that every time your finger extends, your lips open, your eyes look, or your eyebrows twitch, it is great preaching. I begin to become astounded at how much of your precious time you have given to us. Recently going in to see you in your new rooms in Bombay, I say, "I don't want to take too much of your precious time." You reply, "No, no, you can come any time, and also bring some honey." You then ask, "How do you like these rooms?" I say, "They are wonderful because you are in them now, but if you were in another place, they too would be wonderful. Because of Your Divine Grace they are a tirtha.'" Tirthikurvanti tirthani, you corrected my pronunciation and said, "Yes, one who keeps Krsna always, one who remembers Krsna-
-that place becomes Krsna conscious." Then we both at the same time, as if by magic, said: man-mana bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. [Bg 9.34]
Each minute with you is the fulfillment of a dream, a special event, and you have given the treasure-house of many hours. (You have changed our vocabulary, so we talk like you.) We gesture like you and give the same answers to questions as you do, and we try to preach like you. We embrace the parampara not out of duty but because we are attracted to your way of doing things. Your defense of Krsna is boundless, and we watch in awe at your untiring strength as everyone except simple devotees are exposed to be fools and rascals. A simple proof of your changing us is that the word 'duty' was unknown and unused in our upbringing. No one taught us a sense of duty because no one knows what or whom to serve. The whole system of dharma and duty has become a practical engraved truth to many now, as you have brought duty to us, and even though the things from the ancient Vedas at first seemed unattractive, they are now a way of life.
These truths shown by your example that have changed so many lives are wonderfully unique and obviously graced by Lord Krsna. The general society may not understand us, but they have to recognize us. A judge recently in court stated that we are bona fide, which in itself is a great step for what was an unknown teaching just eleven years ago. It took Moses, Muhammad and Jesus Christ much longer to establish their teachings as bona fide in the courts of law. Now it is our duty to change the scientists, who are the modern smarta-brahmanas and high priests of today. You tell me, "Our movement is sublime, the books are sublime, and Krsna is supplying everything. Now go out in Poland and Russia and arrange for meetings with the scientists." I say, "Communist scientists?" You say, "Why not? Two plus two equals four both for the communists and capitalists. It is not that because I am communist I can say two plus two equals five."
"You must convince them of this Krsna consciousness. I predict that Russians will become first-class theists." I said, "Yes, because there are less sense objects to distract them." "They will view my books carefully. They have respect for Indian culture and the Sanskrit texts. The Jagais and Madhais will change. Even Valmiki was dacoit and changed, so you go and arrange everything."
One of your greatest gifts is your great understanding of every situation in perfect perspective. They (the lawyers in New York) wanted to end the "brainwashing" litigations, but instead you wanted to extend them for fourteen years, using your books as evidence. "Exhibit A- Bhagavad-gita" Only you can come up with the most remarkable ideas, using each situation in its best capacity to give Krsna consciousness to everyone. Where we are short-sighted you see all sides of each situation and apply it. So many times I have watched as we, your disciples, have wanted to condemn, but you see and explain the other point of view. This fairness, according to time and circumstance, must be learned. You have said about someone we were criticizing, "He is not to be blamed; he was taught what he knows, as you have been taught what you know, so rather than blame him, rectify his teachings."
For example, one day as we were shooing away ducks in our path, we said, "You rascals," but you calmly replied, "As you are thinking they are rascals, they are thinking you are rascals." So you always teach that preaching means seeing from the perspective of Lord Krsna's viewpoint and attracting others also to Krsna's Vedic version. We owe our gratitude to you only. What I feel when in your association-that strength, that determination, that enthusiasm, that ecstasy-is an unequalled feeling, for only you are the great touchstone of deliverance. I pray that we all can remember these feelings and remain steady in our devotional service.
Vrndavana devotees
Aksayananda Svami / Raghavendra dasa / Sri Padambuja dasa / Lakahita-devi dasi / Gurudasa Svami / Yasodalala dasa / Bhaktivardhana dasa / Radha Kunḍa-devi dasi / Vrajendra Kumara dasa / Tirtharaja dasa / Goloka Vasini-devi dasi / Kama Gayatri-devi dasi / Kuticaka dasa / Tamala Karttika dasa / Mohini Sakti-devi dasi / Lalitahgi-devi dasi / Mr. Bhartarya / Kailasa Candra dasa / Antaradhyana-devi dasi / Srimati-devi dasi / Dhiranayaka dasa / Dasaratha Suta dasa / Manisa-devi dasi / Yugala Piriti-devi dasi / Raghupati Prana dasa / Asraya dasa / Krsna-devi dasi / Nitai-devi dasi / Aniha dasa / Kamala Narayana dasa / Rahgavati-devi dasi / Sacimata-devi dasi / Turiya dasa / Brahmanandaji / Saradi-devi dasi / Nilamaya dasa / Anila dasa / Visalini-devi dasi / Sruti Sagara dasa brahmacari / Prabhasa dasa / Rajmal Janwasiya / Saktimati-devi dasi / Dhanvantari dasa brahmacari / Jivadaya dasa / Rksaraja dasa / Saradiya-devi dasi / Kailasa Candra dasa brahmacari / Jaya Govinda dasa / Purusottama dasa / Bhavatarini-devi dasi / Paradheya dasa brahmacari / Sac-cid-ananda dasa / Radha Govinda dasa / Neelam / Asita dasa brahmacari / Taruna Krsna dasa / Bhakta Nityananda / Vrndavana Īsvari / Jaya Gaurahga dasa / Bhakta Jaya Rama / Gokulananda / Visala dasa / Bhakta Jaya Narayana / Vrajarani / Umapati dasa adhikari / Bhūmipati dasa / Bhakta Sudarsana / Nipuna / Sri Garbha dasa adhikari / Vibhu Caitanya dasa / Bhakta Vrajendra Kumara / Amrta / Kirtiraja dasa adhikari / Mathuradina dasa / Bhakta Siva Mūrti / Sundararūpa dasa adhikari / Īlavati dasa adhikari Sita / Punḍarikanatha dasa / Visnudasa / Rajendranandana / Sita / Sundaramūrti dasa / Ramadasa Abhirama dasa / Laksmimani-devi dasi
|
Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/svp/vyasa-puja-homages/vrndavana/vrndavana-1
|