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1008 Ways to Remember Srila Prabhupada
<< 24 Montreal 1968, summer time >>
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| During our summer stay in Montreal, Srila Prabhupada would often sit out in front of his Prince Arthur Street apartment in the afternoon, after his lunch and nap, and visits with (of?) devotees and guests. In the evenings he would also have guests in his room; three evenings a week we would go to the temple that was walking distance from our apartment. Srila Prabhupada and I would walk three blocks to the temple and Gaurasundara would also join us sometimes at a leisurely pace, Srila Prabhupada chanting japa along the way. Often the neighborhood children would taunt us: "Hari Krsna Hari Krsna Krsna Krsna…" and although they were obviously teasing and making fun, Srila Prabhupada would beam at them with his million Dollar smile and say to me: "Yes, they are saying Krsna. Never mind they are joking. They are chanting Krsna's names somehow or other". In this way we would chant japa and continue our short journey to the temple with the taunting kids in the distance. Srila Prabhupada was always teaching every step of the way. During his afternoon and evening visits there were several devotees who came regularly. One was a young Indian boy named Gopal Krsna who had a great fondness for Srila Prabhupada over and above the usual Indian communities' interest. Gopal Krsna would often visit Prabhupada and when he made his obeisances at the entryway of Prabhupada's room he would bow down, then hatch his head to the floor again and again, repeatedly. Obviously it was with the great feeling of conviction and not a mere formality of bowing down. Then he would have many detailed talks with Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada was training him for preaching work, so they would discuss philosophy and all points of Vedic culture. Another regular visitor was Janardana das, a scholarly disciple who had some affiliation with McGill University. Janardana and Gaurasundara, my husband, both being scholarly by nature spent much time together and often went to the McGill University library. In the course of their research and study they somehow discovered a small booklet sent by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur to McGill University in 1896, the year of Srila Prabhupada's birth. Srila Prabhupada was delighted to see the copy of the book and always talked of it thereafter. The fact that Srila Bhaktivinoda, the father of his beloved guru-maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta had paved the way in the West by sending literature so many years before was a great inspiration to Srila Prabhupada. He cherished this book and often mentioned it in his lectures. He exclaimed that this was all part of Lord Krsna's plan: to spread Lord Caitanya's movement all over the world. Of course, I could not fully understand the significance of all this at the time. Yet, Srila Prabhupada felt the book was a most important discovery and he often marveled that in the very year of his birth Srila Bhaktivinoda was already laying the foundation work for Lord Caitanya's mission in North America. On a regular basis, Janardana was reading Srila Prabhupada's Gita manuscript and going over the details with Srila Prabhupada when he visited. Srila Prabhupada had asked him to edit the English translation and purport so that it was correct and understandable in a scholarly fashion. He also wanted him to translate the Gita into French as Janardana was French Canadian and knew French well. He wanted that a French edition of Bhagavad Gita should be available to those whose native tongue was French. Almost daily there were many long discussions and Janardana had many intriguing questions about Vedic philosophy, astronomy and culture. Often the philosophical discussions were too detailed for me though I would sit in on some of them; however I had much work to do; my life was busy from morning to night with the running of the household, meal preparation, dictation and typing letters as well as my own japa and reading, most of which I only had time to do during Srila Prabhupada's afternoon nap, so I did not listen in to all of the talks. Srila Prabhupada always had me serving prasadam to the visiting devotees so that also meant my going in and out of the room as they arrived. However, I can understand that Janardana was very important to Srila Prabhupada and he saw him as one of the principle whips in his preaching movement. Srila Prabhupada was extremely fond of Janardana and he encouraged him to translate his Bhagavad Gita into his native French language. Sometimes Janardana would bring his wife Muna with him to visit Srila Prabhupada. She obviously had a different relationship with Prabhupada. Rather than offering obeisances and sit on the floor as did Janardana and all other guests and devotees, she would sit on the sofa across from his desk. Her attitude was a challenging one, somewhat disrespectful and this was a bit unnerving to me as I felt it my duty to protect Srila Prabhupada from anyone who may be insulting or disrespectful to him. I tried to befriend Muna and talked to her about Krsna but she sat down on my altar, which was a small table and told me flatly: "All I want is that Krsna gives me plenty of money eternally". I was somewhat taken aback and certainly unable to relate to her as a potential godsister. Nevertheless I remained polite but was always somewhat disturbed by her visits and especially by her attitude toward my beloved spiritual master. However, Srila Prabhupada was tolerant. He smiled and charmed, joked and encouraged and tried to inspire her to work for Krsna along with her husband Janardana. That was his ongoing mood. Several months later, however, when Srila Prabhupada was with Gaurasundara and I in Hawaii, he one day mentioned to me somewhat sadly that Janardana was a very nice boy but the problem is his wife Muna. He said: "Now she making him ask for editing my books - how much money for me, how much money for Muna. She is demanding and she is controlling him". His voice trailed off and he shook his head from side to side, obviously saddened by the plight of his disciple Janardana being under the control of his materialistic wife. Srila Prabhupada loved him so much that he felt deep concern for his situation. He never condemned or criticized Janardana. He only thought of how to help him in serving the Lord. Thank you, Srila Prabhupada for loving us so much that you see beyond our flaws, our attachments, our inebriates and think only of how to deliver us to Krsna. You never slammed the door in our face because of our foolish attachments, our silly pride or our childish speculations. You saw us all as Krsna's servants and you tried to polish away the dirt of forgetfulness from the jewels of our hearts. With your divine love, your mood was one of encouragement, inspiration, even cajoling, somehow or other you wanted us to do some service for Krsna. You used to often say: "Even a little bit of service to Krsna can save one from the greatest danger". You said this so frequently that one day I asked you point blank: "Srila Prabhupada, what is the greatest danger?"
| | (Incident is told twice!) Srila Prabhupada looked deeply into my eyes and became very serious and replied: "The greatest danger is to fall back into the animal species of life and to continue birth after birth in forgetfulness of krsna. Srila Prabhupada you tried to give everyone the opportunity for even a little service to Krsna. You so clearly saw our tiny short lives as brief excursions in the human form and to assure our future human birth you wanted to distribute your mercy as much as possible to everyone in the world. Srila Prabhupada, you changed the course of this planet's history. Some may see that now but in the future many will glorify your greatness. Thank you again and again for guiding me eternally and for always being there in my heart, and when I call out to you, you always answer me with the greatest kindness.
Thank you, Srila Prabhupada.
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