GUIDELINES FOR INITIATED DISCIPLES
“Notice” the list of regulations written down in Prabhupada’s handwriting.
Prabhupada’s English handwriting is clearly legible. Why did he wait so late in the year; November 25, to post the rules for initiated disciples? Maybe he saw they were getting slack. He just wanted to make it official. At the first initiation in the summer the commitments were largely unknown and not committed to by the initiates. They didn’t all know that they were pledging to follow for a lifetime. Some of the restrictions seemed hard to follow at first. Years of smoking cigarettes and of taking drugs and being habituated to sex had to be given up. They were deeply ingrained. But the taste of chanting the
maha-mantra and the taking wholeheartedly to hearing from the Swami and honoring
prasadam with him were enough to give up the old sins.
Prabhupada was one of the very few yogis or gurus in the west who made these demands. “Swami, you are very conservative,” Allen Ginsberg had said to Prabhupada, but Prabhupada had no intentions of giving up the regulative principles.
“The Notice” was a historical document, taped to the wall in the storefront without fanfare or announcement. We read it and gasped and said, “This is serious,” and “I accept it.”
(Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami)
SRILA PRABHUPADA & MRS SUMATI MORARJI
Prabhupada and Sumati Morarji of
Scindia Company sit together giving speeches acknowledging the favors she did for him when he was a poor
sannyasi trying to publish his
Srimad-Bhagavatam and trying to get passage to America. Acting as a pious lady within the Hindu culture, she received him as a
sannyasi beggar and agreed to pay for publishing one of the volumes of his first canto,
Srimad-Bhagavatam. (He had to wait many hours before she would give him an audience) After she paid for his book, Prabhupada remembered her and approached her again when he had the urgent opportunity to go to America. Without a great sacrifice she gave him free passage aboard a cargo ship, the
Jaladuta, headed for New York. At first she did not agree, her secretaries warned her that Prabhupada, being so old and in fragile health, might die enroute. From a worldly point of view this was not such a wild speculation. But Bhaktivedanta Swami had his way with Sumati Morarji. He impressed her with his saintliness and his determination. Although she received some conservative advice not to let the old man ride on their steamship, she asserted her authority and gave him permission.
For this act of kindness she will always be remembered by Prabhupada’s followers and she will go down in history as a great benefactor to the world. During the first year in New York, when Srila Prabhupada did not have his own place, and when he did not make any progress in preaching, he thought of using his return ticket and going back to India. He wrote to Mrs. Morarji and she encouraged him to stay in America until he had completed his mission. This word of support helped his spirit to remain in New York and renew his visa to stay in America.
(Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami)
MY BOOKS ARE BETTER THAN MY SPEECHESIn discussing with His Divine Grace I summarized your desire to have access to all of the many tapes which Golden Avatar has for the purpose of transcribing them into rough manuscript form to be published later on as cross references or in some other form. His Divine Grace was not very enthusiastic at all about this idea. Srila Prabhupada commented, "This is not necessary. My books are sufficient. Let all of my disciples read my books. This idea is over-burden. It will mean too many readings. Let them read whatever is there and digest it. Everything I have wanted to say I have said in my books. This will only be superfluous. Tell him to concentrate on reading my books, not on studying such transcriptions. Does he think he will find something else in these transcriptions that are not in my books?"
...Actually you should know that Prabhupada's books are better than his speeches. This is because He concentrates tremendously and chooses each word when he writes these books. This is not my opinion but he himself has said this to me.
Letter from TKG, 770720
PRABHUPADA SMARANAM This is a famous picture, a wonderful moment. It is the 1974 San Francisco Ratha-yatra at Golden Gate Park. The cart in which Prabhupada has been sitting and riding has come to a halt. He rises to his feet, raises his hands like Lord Caitanya and makes little leaps with his feet. All the devotees go wild and start leaping in the air, raising their arms, playing
karatalas and
mrdangas and all sing Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. They are amazed that Prabhupada can dance like this. He is causing a mass ecstasy. All they know is that he is jumping, and they are jumping and that it is a state of exalted delight, joy and rapture. These are overpowering emotions involving temporary loss of consciousness. This is the highest mysticism of Krishna consciousness — caused by Prabhupada’s dancing.
(Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami)
SRILA PRABHUPADA WITH KIDS 
Srila Prabhupada was always kind and attentive to little children. He liked to hold their hands. They were usually awed and in good behavior in his presence. He would often give them cookies. They brought a smile to his face as he saw their innocence. The children’s parents would be thrilled when Prabhupada blessed the little ones. There is a nice series of pictures with the child of Gopal and Sally Agarwal, the first people he stopped with in Butler, Pennsylvania. He was present when their child first stood, and he beamed. He was a natural, loving grandfather. There are many children who grew up not remembering their contact with Prabhupada because they were too young, but some remember it, and all were blessed. It was not an ordinary thing to be touched by him. He was amused at the toddlers. Sometimes he would catch their hand and not let it go. They would pull to free themselves, but he would hold on for awhile. Everyone loved to see Prabhupada playing with the children. It demonstrated his natural warmth and humanity.
Once Prabhupada took little Sarasvati’s Krishna deity and hid it behind his back. The little girl was flustered and confused. Her mother, Malati, meaningfully asked her daughter, “Sarasvati, who has Krishna?” It clicked with Sarasvati, and she turned to Prabhupada and searched him until she found her Krishna deity. Prabhupada had Krishna in his hand, and he freely liked to give his hand to the submissive, uncorrupted children.
(Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami)
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