20141029 Śrīla Prabhupāda Kathā Day 4

Śrīla Prabhupāda Kathā Day 4

Date:

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Collection:

Inspiration series - 2014

Audio player:

20141029 SRILA PRABHUPAD KATHA DAY 4 AT NEW DELHI:

Because they heard that the Beatles are seeking some spiritual direction. So they went in and saw Srila Prabhupad and took his blessings and they went off to London. So Srila Prabhupad was very pleased when they got the news report “Hare Krishna Rocks London” and the Label they have published some Krishna conscious songs. Both the sides. So like that when Srila Prabhupad was in Montreal many devotees would come to see him and go. So I was getting some blessings and some association and around that time I think Bharadwaj and Rukmini, they came to see Srila Prabhupad in Montreal. Bharadwaj was an artist and also a musician. I had written a song, something like Hare Krishna Train or Hare Krishna Express and Bharadwaj put that into music and Prabhupad was listening and he was clapping his hand against his leg. So he liked the song. I don’t know where that song is now. Around that time when the classes had continued in the evening and the japa in the morning Gopalkrishna maharaj who later became a grihastha but his wife left him, he would chant in the temple and I would go to the park because I disturbed the devotees. So I would walk up the hill chanting Hare Krishna and I would be the only one there except the small animals. So I was feeling very blissful chanting and dancing up the hill. Then I would come down and do the morning services. So I would take things very literally. It says we should offer obeisances like dandavat, falling like a stick. So I tried that hmm falling like a stick but I hurt my head, so that didn't work out! So I went down gradually. We were told that Srila Prabhupad’s rent was due and that we had to give his rent. At that time there were no books except the Macmillan Bhagavad Gita and Back to Godhead magazine. I am not sure if Back to Godhead was even available then. So what we did is we dressed up in the morning in karmi clothes and we went to work at the Manpower work office. This was the place where we could get a job for the day. If they liked you they keep you for more days. So we had one devotee to make us lunch, all the rest going down for work. So we were about half way there and somebody asked what did you make for lunch? And he said, Simply Wonderful! That is powdered milk and powdered sugar ha! So we all laughed, what kind of a lunch is that? And everyone started taking sugar and powdered milk. You mix it up and it turns out to be a kind of paste. By taking up so much of sugar they got sugar rush and they started laughing. So we showed up at the Manpower office with the strange clothes that we bought from the Salvation Army and laughing. They looked at us, what, are they crazies? That day nobody got job! Ha! My grandfather as I said earlier was a factory owner and my father had also inherited some millions of dollars and here I was wearing clothes from the Salvation Army and going to work at the Manpower office. So the next day we went separately, not as a group, and I got many jobs. One day I was working at the plastic factory, one day at some other factory. One day I was welding bed frames. So I was welding the frame and threw over to the next group who would put the coil springs on them. So that group was all young girls, so they were very flirtatious. At that time I was a new brahmachari so I wouldn't talk to anybody and they would get angry. They would throw coils at me because they thought I was anti social. I had that job for some time. Then I went to the A&W Root beer stand. I was cleaning the floor and cleaning the tables. Somebody asked Prabhupad that he works at A&W where they serve meat. So Prabhupad asked what does he exactly do? And they said he cleans up after they eat. Prabhupad said well, there is selling the cow, transporting the cow, killing the cow, cooking the cow, buying or selling the meat and eating it. But cleaning up is not one of the karmas. Ha! So I was there working and during the coffee break I would chant Hare Krishna. So the manager came and asked, what are you doing? It is coffee break! I said, well, people take coffee to get stimulation and this stimulates me! I chant mantras. The manager said, no, no, you drink coffee we don’t want any mantras here. I think now it is not allowed but at that time we got away with it. So I had to chant secretly. One day their cook, he suddenly fainted and all the people they gathered around and tried to fan him and bring him back to consciousness. I went up to his ear and I chanted – Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. Then suddenly he shook and woke up and looked at me and said I am alright now and he asked me what did you say? I was astro projector in Belgium and you said something that was a reverse echo. The echo goes louder and the sound soft. Your chanting went louder and louder and louder and louder till it filled my whole consciousness! So I told him of the Hare Krishna mantra and as long as I was working there he was chanting and he didn't astro project. One evening a rich man came for a cup of coffee and I had been listening to Prabhupad’s lectures. So I was very blissful and I was smiling and humming the Hare Krishna chant and he looked at me. Look at me, he said. I have a Rolex watch, I have a Mercedes-Benz outside, I have a $5000 suit, I have a big home, I have a lot of money and you are the scum on earth. You are just a cleaner, a sweeper, you are happy! I am miserable! I wished I could preach to him but I knew my boss would fire me right away. Prabhupad needed the income for rent. Like that in the working world so many things happen. Then Janamashtami came up. So I asked the manager for two days’ vacation or off work. He said, no! Not at all! You don’t have to pay me, I said. I just want two days off. No, he said. Not at all. So then I didn't miss Janamashtami and Prabhupad Vyasa Puja. But I lost my job. One day when I had the job I was listening to Srila Prabhupad’s lecture. At the end of the class Prabhupad asked whether there were any questions. And nobody had a question. Where is that Bhakta Jay? He has good questions. That made me feel so good! Thousand times I bow down to that devotee who told me to ask questions. So then there were two other jobs, no three that I remember. In one job a man said ok, I will teach you how to print but for ten days or one week you have to work without pay and then I will pay you. So then I learnt how to print in the offset printing press. And I worked for free for one week. Then I worked for another week and then I asked for my pay. He simply laughed. He didn’t pay me. Ok, I had two weeks. I went to another printing press. I told them I knew printing since six months and he said, ok, show me. So somehow I could turn on the machine and run it. He said, ok, we will try it out. Minimum wage was $1.25 but the printing minimum wage was like $3.00. So I was making more than anyone else. The other workers were very kind and I didn’t know much but they taught me how to do the things I didn’t know. There was a job I had before that and I was working with Chitsukhananda who started our mission in Mexico. So we were working in this wholesale records shop. That means get orders, fill them up with records. At that time we did not know about clickers. So I wanted to chant my rounds. So me and Chitsukhananda would go to the fire escape and chant our rounds and the boss said, where did they go? Then he walked out looking for us. And then we ran down to be in our place to get the orders. He came and said, where did you guys go? Oh, we said, bathroom. Since that time I had quite nice relation with Chitsukhananda. Are there any questions for now? Any questions on line? Question: What happened? Did you manage to pay the rent for Prabhupad for that particular month? Guru Maharaj: Somehow we paid the rent. Question: How much was the rent guru maharaj? Guru Maharaj: Not much. 200 or 250 dollars maybe. Question: How long you worked with Chitsukhananda and chanted at the fire escape? Guru Maharaj: All this time you can say is in the transcendental realm. And all this happened in 1968. And all this happened when I was a Bhakta. Question: Do you remember how long Srila Prabhupad stayed in Montreal during that period of time? Guru Maharaj: Well I became temple president two weeks after my initiation. I remember that Prabhupad when he went to the World Fair. He said, what is this man and his world? It is Krishna and His world! Man, what does he do? He throws some snow over and he thinks he controls nature. But actually Krishna produces the snow and the cold, so He is the real controller, not man! So like that everything that Prabhupad would see around, he would give his transcendental comments. Any other questions? Question: What happened during Janamashtami and Srila Prabhupad Vyasa Puja time, in brief? Guru Maharaj: Now that you have mentioned it I wonder if it was Janamashtami or some other day. When was Janamashtami that year? Shyamarasika Prabhu: Guru Maharaj, your initiation day was mentioned as July 24th. Lecture was given that day by Srila Prabhupad. We see that in the Veda base. Guru Maharaj: I don’t think it was so early. When was the Ratha Yatra in San Francisco? Mahavaraha Prabhu: On April 2nd, 1968, Srila Prabhupad gave a lecture in San Francisco. 5th of May to 30th of May, Prabhupad gave lecture in Boston. Guru Maharaj: I think all the dates are off. Is there some dates of 1969 – 70 of Srila Prabhupad in LA? Mahavaraha Prabhu: How long did you stay in Montreal before going back to the USA to see Srila Prabhupad in LA? Guru Maharaj: I was in Montreal for about a year and a half. Then I went to Toronto and I started the Toronto temple. And then I was the Treasurer. Before that when I was still in Montreal I went to Henry Street and took second initiation exactly 13 months after the first because those days you have to take second initiation after 12 months and I was counting, oh, one month longer! Each month by month. Mahavaraha Prabhu: You said you took that initiation at Henry Street? Guru Maharaj: Yes Henry Street in New York. Shyamarasika Prabhu: … mentioned here that the second annual parade of the holy Ratha yatra festival at noon Sunday, June 30th , 1968. It is just a small message that we got from the poster. So they published in the internet – The sacred celebration of Ratha Yatra in Jagannath Puri will commence in this country for the second time from the corner of Haight and Lyon at 12 noon, Sunday, June 30th and proceed down the John F. Kennedy drive in Golden Gate Park to the sea. On this day the Jagannath deity are kept in a sacred cart and pulled in a gigantic procession to the sea. Festivities include feasting, chanting, dancing and fireworks. Come one and all for a day of joy and ecstasy. San Francisco, June 30th, 1968. Guru Maharaj: The first time it was on a truck. The second time it was on a custom built rath. The third time Prabhupad came. I was there the second time. Shyamarasika Prabhu: 30th June, 1968. Second initiation on July 24th, after 24 days. Guru Maharaj: Prabhupad said I have to read Bhagavad Gita ten times. I had Bhagavad Gita, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 cross. Gauranga! Second initiation which took place at the Henry Street in New York. Srila Prabhupad was sitting on a Vyasa aasan and in the temple there was kirtan going on. Prabhupad showed me how to count. The first time I did not get it right. Prabhupad said, if you don’t get it right, I don’t give you. Ooossshh.. heavy pressure! Ha! And then second time I got it right! Ha! Then he gave the mantras in the ear in the temple while kirtan was going on. Mahavaraha Prabhu: You said Henry Street; the temple was on Henry Street at that time? Guru Maharaj: I don’t remember exactly which street it was. I heard Henry Street but I am not a 100% sure. Behind Prabhupad there was like a secret window. Garga Muni and others, they would look and see what’s going on. So there were some things which did not happen directly with me but at that time I heard about it. At the fire yagna while the yagna was going on… (recording stopped abruptly)

Jayaraseshwari devi dasi 13 August 2015