Srila Prabhupada Katha

"I have just now received your presentation of slippers as an offering for Vyasa pujaday. They are certainly very attractive. Thank you very much for them and offer my thanks and blessings to all the nice boys and girls there in Boston.

There is a story about one man, a cook, who bought a nice new pair of shoes. But all morning long he was in the kitchen cooking and so he couldn't wear his shoes.Similarly, all afternoon he was cooking. So what did he do? At night,when he went to sleep he wore the shoes.

So these shoes are so nice,but I don't know when I shall be able to wear them. So when taking rest at night I shall wear them.

Srila Prabhupada

"Letter to Satsvarupa, August 14, 1971

There once was a King who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The King looked at all the pictures, but there were only two he really liked and he had to choose between them.

The first picture was of a calm lake, the lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering mountains were all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had mountains too, but these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky from which rain fell and in which lightening played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all. But when the King looked, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush, a mother bird had built its nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on the nest in a perfect peace.

"Bravo" said the king putting his hand on the second picture "peace doesn't mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your.

A devotee of Krishna is like this bird. He lives in a very turbulent society but remains calm and peaceful and always finds ways and means to serve Krishna. His whole aim is to satisfy Lord Krishna. That brings him all the peace that takes care of all the material problems.

What time is it?

One of the great benefits of living in New Dwarka (Los Angeles ISKCON community) in the early 70’s was that Srila Prabhupada came so often and usually stayed for a few months. For his morning walks we would sometimes take him to the beach and other times to Cheviot Hills Park. One morning he commented “of the two I like the seashore the best” after which we began going to the beach every morning. At one point in time Karandhara Prabhu purchased a used burgundy color Rolls Royce and had the words “His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Founder-Acharya ISKCON" stenciled onto one of the doors. I usually went along on the walks and some of the mornings I accompanied His Divine Grace in the car.

One morning in the car on the way to the beach I noticed that Srila Prabhupada twice asked what the time was. On the way home (back to the temple) again Prabhupada began asking about the time. I asked Srila Prabhupada what happened to his watch since he seemed to always have one in his possession. He told me that before coming to L.A. he was in London and while there Shyamasundara had bought him a new and expensive watch; however after a short time it had stopped running. In order to fix it Shyamasundara had to send it to the original manufacturers in Switzerland and wait a few weeks for its return. Srila Prabhupada was waiting for his watch to be fixed and forwarded by Shyamasundara from London to Los Angeles. I immediately took the opportunity to offer Srila Prabhupada the watch I was wearing. I quickly removed it from my wrist and handed to him saying “here, Srila Prabhupada you can have my watch while you’re waiting for yours.” Prabhupada examined it approvingly, fastened it onto his wrist and said “thank you very much.”

Around two weeks later I was standing in front of the L.A. temple when Brahmananda Swami walked over to me. He told me that Srila Prabhupada’s expensive Swiss watch finally arrived fixed and Prabhupada asked him to return my watch to me. My one-time mundane Timex had been transformed into Guru Prasad and smelled strongly of sandalwood and mustard seed oil from the transcendental body of Srila Prabhupada. From then on I got to wear “watch prasadam” on my wrist.

Addendum: At one point when Prabupada asked the time one disciple answered by saying “I’ve got 7:40.” Another replied, “according to my watch it’s a quarter to eight” and a third said “and I’ve got ten to eight.” Prabhupada laughed and commented, “Just see -- in every aspect of life -- even in the telling of time -- there is individuality."

(Swarup Hebel)

Prabhupada Smaranam

Srila Prabhupada looks so lonely and all by himself as he walks towards the Red Square in Moscow in 1971. He visited during the time of political oppression, when the Soviet Union was engaged in Cold War with United States and the West. His visa allowed him only a several-day visit, staying in an old fashioned hotel. He was not allowed any speaking engagements, and even his personal copy of the Bhagavad-gita was examined at customs before they allowed him to keep it. He had one appointment, a state-supervised interview with a professor of Indology, Prof. Kotovsky. The professor was a Marxist teaching at the university. Prabhupada could not convince him of the tenets of Krishna consciousness, and he always remembered (and repeated in lectures) that the professor had said, “Swami, after death there is no life.”

Living for even a few days in Moscow was inconvenient, and Shyamasundara had to stand in long lines to get milk, and few vegetables were available. Syamasundara dressed in his devotee clothes when he went outside, and once he was stopped and was detained by some hooligans. But a young man approached him and was attracted to his dress and made some inquiries. Shyamasundara invited him to see Prabhupada in his hotel. The young man was submissive, and Prabhupada filled him with the basics of Krishna consciousness. The boy came back for a repeated visit and soaked up Prabhupada’s words like a dry sponge. Prabhupada did not formally initiate him, but after Prabhupada’s departure the young man told his friends about Krishna consciousness, and an underground movement began. The persons who became interested were very enthusiastic, but the secret police found out about their activities and began to persecute them. This story is told in the book Salted Bread, which relates how devotees were imprisoned, tortured, put into an insane asylum, and one boy lost his life in there. Despite the opposition, the movement flourished.

With Glastnost, the thawing of relations with Soviet Union in the West, the movement grew, and devotees even printed books in Russian translations and chanted on the streets. It was a long struggle, but Russia (in the demised Soviet Union) is now one of the most successful countries in the world for recruiting Krishna conscious devotees. All this came from Prabhupada’s seemingly innocuous but truly revolutionary visit for a few days. Such is the potency of the pure devotee.

(Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami)

Snana Yatra in Puri

Their Lordships Jagannatha, Balabhadra and Subhadra
Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra, the presiding sibling Deities of Jagannath Temple remained out of bounds for devotees from today for a fortnight, as the Deities fell ‘sick' after taking grand bath on the traditional occasion of Snana Purnima (bathing ritual) festival today.

The Deities, whose daily rituals include activities akin to the lifestyle of humans, will undergo treatment by the shrine vaidyas (Ayurveda doctors) till July 10th. People cannot have interaction with the ‘ailing' Deities during these days. Their Lordships will fully recuperate on July 11th and will appear before pilgrims looking rejuvenated on the occasion of navajauvan darshan (rejuvenation) on that day.

Puri was packed with pilgrims jostling for space to have a glimpse of the bathing ceremony of the Deities at Jagannath Temple today. Snana Purnima is a major festival observed prior to the Rath Yatra, to be held this year on July 13th.

Earlier in the morning, the three Deities were escorted out of the temple's sanctum sanctorum by the priests (daita servitors) in a boisterous procession, called Pahandi. The Deities were ferried to the bathing altar located at the outer temple complex, facing the Grand Road. They were given ceremonial bath after the completion of a set of rituals.

"A total 108 pitchers of aromatic and herbal water was fetched from a particular well (suna kua) in the temple for the Lords' bathing. That well remains unused till the next year's bathing ceremony. Thereafter the Deities were decorated in elephant attire symbolizing the incarnation of Lord Ganesha," said Laxmidhar Pujapanda, the Public Relations Officer of the temple.

"In late night today, the Deities would be taken to the anasara ghar (known as sick room) of the temple where they would undergo treatment for a fortnight," Pujapanda said.

Since Their Lordships remain inaccessible for fifteen days, pilgrims can have the darshan of the representatives of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra during these days.