A Transcendental Diary: Travels with His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: Volume Three: June 1976 - August 1976

By Hari Sauri Dasa

This is the third of five volumes, covering the time between June 1976 - August 1976. It covers the second half of Srila Prabhupada's last world tour. Momorable in many ways, he visited new properties in Washington, New York, and spend time in three rural communities - New Vrindavan (West Virginia, USA), New Mayapur (France) and Gita-Nagari (Por

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lotus Imprints
• Release date: Nov 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9788196561512

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Acknowledgments

These few words are insufficient to express the deep sense of gratitude and debt that I feel to the devotees listed on these pages. In writing and producing this book I have discovered anew that the greatest gift Śrīla Prabhupāda gave is the association of many wonderful and selfless devotees.

Kānti dāsī and Jack Baldwin, and Mathureśa dāsa and Gaṅgāgatī dāsī, deserve special mention for their generous financial support.

Dr. Shaligram Shukla,whose meeting with Prabhupāda in Washington, D. C. is recorded herein, was kind enough to write the Foreword.

Thanks also to Balavanta dāsa, ISKCON Perth, Pauruṣa dāsa, Viṣṇu-mūrti dāsa and Yadavendra dāsa, who all gave valuable financial help.

The editing for this volume was once again the credit of Riktānanda dāsa and Sītā dāsī.

Prāṇadā dāsī and Keśihānta dāsa did the proofreading, Grahila dāsa made the index, and Gopīparāṇadhana dāsa did the Sanskrit editing.

Śakṣī Gopāla dāsa (UK) designed the cover and Yamarāja dāsa the color inserts. Locana dāsa did the drawing for the end covers and Jāhnava dāsī did the maps.

Bhadra dāsa provided English translations of Hindi tapes. The Bhaktivedanta Institute in Alachua donated the use of their printer for the final output.

Essential materials and good wishes came from Parama-rūpa dāsa, Ekanātha dāsa, Raṇajit dāsa, Dulāl Candra dāsa and Kṣamā dāsī at the Bhaktivedanta Archives.

I can honestly say that I wouldn't have made it without the help and consistent support of my wife Śītala dāsī.

I humbly apologize to anyone whose name should have appeared here but hasn't. I pray that they may receive the blessings of Śrīla Prabhupāda to join his eternal entourage.

Foreword

Years ago in Washington, I met Swami Prabhupāda, a spirited pious man as interesting for his perceptive discourse on the Bhagavad-gītā as he was on the subject of Vivekānanda and Ramakrishna. Swami Prabhupāda was fascinating to be with, for he had experienced life both as a householder and as an ascetic. To meet him was to be given instant access to everything he was thinking at the moment. He not only shared his meditations with you; he made you feel like a Kṛṣṇa devotee. He was so appealing that you couldn't help wondering why you hadn't had the fortune of meeting him before. His assessment of our madness, greed, and dash toward absurd aims was so clear that it made even a skeptic pause and contemplate. Many, overwhelmed by his selfless and compassionate intellect, became lifelong devotees, eager to shove back their own madness, greed, and aimlessness into some pit, and strive toward becoming virtuous men and women.

The writer of the present volume, Śrī Hari-Śauri dāsa is one of those illustrious devotees. Bathing in the gracious luster of Swami Prabhupāda, he became his shadow and stayed with him till the very end. He has written thoughtful and earnest narratives of his earlier travels with Swami Prabhupāda. They have been published in two volumes, and applauded by readers and scholars everywhere. Written with graceful simplicity, the present volume is the continuation of the earlier ones. The narration casts light on the history of the worldwide expansion of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

On the pages of this volume one finds Swami Prabhupāda teaching, conversing, and arguing with gentle but forceful persuasions. Thanks to Śrī Hari-Śauri dāsa, Swami Prabhupāda's magic never seems to wear off. Every encounter, every answer, and every gesture brings out the inner conviction of the great Swami. Like the earlier volumes, the present volume renders the essential events surrounding Prabhupāda's many encounters with people of various religious and cultural backgrounds, it also goes into topics more complex such as mahā-mantra, māyā, and sadhana. Here we find Swami Prabhupāda explaining these subtle concepts with admirable ease and patience.

This is not only an interesting book; it is also a full and rich one, and from the very opening it conveys a sense of spiritual quest, inspiring one's ethical imagination. The style of the narration is remarkably easy, natural and spirited, yet always reminding of the holy presence of his divine grace Swami Prabhupāda, as when he says that, matter is utilized for the purpose of spirit ... otherwise matter has no independent existence. It is this constant interplay between narration and spirited discourse that constitutes the book's appeal to us, that explains its hold on our attention.

The book is written with a style of personal force, a humble learning, a steady insight into the thought processes of the great Swami. The power behind Swami Prabhupāda's thoughts is infused with moral visions, in the sense that everything comes to us through a constant intervention of an unselfish, profoundly compassionate, and unusually ethical mind. On these pages Śrī Hari-Śauri dāsa reminds us that the great Swami does not wish, as so many fake gurus and holy men do, one to transform the life of senses into some sensuous but in fact senseless enhanced living. For the Swami, matter is inferior to the spirit soul.... The spirit soul is more complex and sophisticated. Thus the need for the spirited stream of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, where the life and the love for Kṛṣṇa become one with the desire for meaningful living, and where worldly success and joy become meaningless.

Śrī Hari-Śauri dāsa often combines dialogues with descriptions, which turn his narration into an animated discourse, keeping the reader alert and attentive. Indeed on theses pages Swami Prabhupāda appears not only as a master thinker, but also as a master talker, perhaps one of the great rhetors of religious literature. Those readers who have never had the opportunity of reading Prabhupāda's original works will be tempted to read them after they have read a few chapters of Śrī Hari-Śauri dāsa's present work, since here a quotation or a critical remark attributed to this great Swami has the power to set one in that direction. Through his teachings, writings, and life as he lived, Swami Prabhupāda made us see that man ought not to be merely a blank slate passively open to events, but a mind that constantly seeks the spiritual meaning in everything it encounters. In Swami Prabhupāda the bhakta's tendency of transcending ordinary passion into a higher devotion for the divine was prominent. It brought an inner glow and significance to his personality. This book makes us see that personality in verbal action, it creates an atmosphere in which we see Swami Prabhupāda meditating, pulling things apart, drawing out many significant points with humor, wit, compassion, knowledge, and a spirituality almost divine. We owe a debt to Śrī Hari-Śauri dāsa for the enormous task of recording the time, life, and discourses of Swami Prabhupāda and making it all available to readers, both here and in the beloved country of Swami Prabhupāda.

Dr. Shaligram Shukla

Professor of Linguistics

Georgetown University

Washington, D. C.

Preface

This third volume of A Transcendental Diary covers the second half of Śrīla Prabhupāda's last world tour.

It was memorable in many ways. He visited new properties in Washington, D. C. and New York, and spent time in three rural communities—New Vrindaban, West Virginia; Port Royal, Pennsylvania (since named Gītā-nāgari); and New Māyāpur, France; as well as visiting his centers in London and Paris.

In Washington he met repeatedly with the members of the newly formed Bhaktivedanta Institute, establishing a firm base for their attempts at scientific preaching, and he also participated in two celebrations—the bicentennial of America, and the tenth anniversary of ISKCON.

His last visit to New York, the place where he first began his Movement, was brought to a grand climax with a Ratha-yātrā festival organized on a scale not seen to that date in the West.

His extended stays in New Vrindaban and New Māyāpur, and an overnight visit to Port Royal, brought his keen interest in the development of rural, self-sufficient communities clearly into focus.

At the same time, warning signs of His Divine Grace's deteriorating health grew stronger. He suffered attacks of toothache, high blood pressure, heart palpitations, kidney disease and flu all with stoic indifference, and relentlessly pushed himself on despite his weakening bodily condition. It was both distressing and impressive for his servants-distressing because there was very little we could do to relieve him, and impressive because we saw his great and selfless determination to use his body to the last breath in the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa and humanity at large.

As Dr. Shaligram Shukla points out in his Foreword, Śrīla Prabhupāda was one of the great rhetors of his time, perhaps of any time. We have included a good deal of conversational material in this book with the hope the reader will get some grasp of the global scope and scale which the preaching vision of Śrīla Prabhupāda encompassed. He was a revolutionary in the best sense of the term and we are confident his ideas and words will have a major impact on the lives of the people of the world for many generations to come.

By the special mercy of the Lord, we were fortunate enough to have been there to record it, and this presentation is a humble attempt to preserve that record.

Chapter One

New Vrindaban, West Virginia

June 21st, 1976

Śrīla Prabhupāda's arrival caused quite a stir in the small Pittsburgh airport. Our fellow passengers looked on with obvious bemusement as Kīrtanānanda Swami and a group of forty or fifty devotees gathered around the boarding gate, offering him beautiful flower garlands and fanning him with peacock feathers. Happily oblivious to anything but Śrīla Prabhupāda's presence, the devotees chanted and danced all the way out to the waiting car. Their attire offered a hint of things to come with their dhotīs, kurtās and sārīs matched in some cases with large rubber farm work boots.

Although it was a ninety minute drive to New Vrindaban, the ride was comfortable and as we progressed smoothly along the highway Prabhupāda kept up a running conversation. He reflected on the fallen condition of modern man, telling Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja his comparison of the dog's running on four legs and man's running on four wheels. He said that the only way to save them was to start with the basics and then after some time, when they become a little purified, give some philosophy. He reminded Kīrtanānanda that this had been his program right from the beginning. "You have all got this experience. This is the only way. I started this movement on this determination: I'll give them prasādam, nice chanting, and they will not come? They must come. This was my determination. And I began with this. So this is the only way. Give them chance 'No talk, please come. Chant and dance with us and take Kṛṣṇa prasādam and go home.'"

Kīrtanānanda reflected that it was just ten years ago since he had first met Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda gave one of his endearing little sideways nods of assent. "Yes. I never said that 'You have to give up this, you have to do this.' Never said. Then gradually ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. When the heart becomes cleansed, then little. There is no hopelessness. So many people have come, and they are coming. Both black, white, everyone is coming. But you cannot expect that cent per cent people will come; that is not possible. But even one-fourth percent people come to this, then it will be successful. Compared to the American population, what percentage we have got? Still they have made some impression, the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. Literatures are selling, and they are appreciating, the learned circle. It takes some time, but if we stick to our principles and do not make any compromise and push on-in this way, I have given you instruction, it will never stop; it will go on. It will never stop. At least for ten thousand years it will go on.

"And this movement is meant for these fourth-class, fifth-class, tenth-class men. Not this movement is fourth-class, fifth-class. They are so fallen that they cannot be counted even third-class, fourth-class. Tenth-class of men. Deliver them. Patita-pāvana-hetu tava avatāra. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's incarnation is for delivering these classes of men. Caitanya Mahāprabhu never meant to start this movement for high-class brāhmaṇas, sages, saintly persons. No. This class of men—for the all fallen. Don't be disappointed. Go on, go on. Stick to the principles. When there was no response, I did not know where to live, where to eat. Sometimes at Dr. Misra's, some time with some friend somewhere. And I was going to inquire the shipping company when the next ship returning to India. Still I was renewing my visa: 'Let us hope. Let us hope.' In this way, we started Second Avenue in month of July, I think?"

He recalled the names of the first few young men to join him: Mukunda had been the first, then Hayagrīva and Kīrtanānanda. And there were others who have now left—Jagannātha, Ravīndra-svarūpa, Carl.

As the car plied along the highway (America seems to me to be one continuous highway) Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja told Śrīla Prabhupāda that some devotee women selling books at the airport today, said that it had been the most demoniac day they had ever had. They were harassed as they sold books. As soon as a traveler stopped to talk to a devotee, some persons were causing problems by telling them not to buy. Mahārāja said we get confused with the followers of a Korean so-called spiritual master, Reverend Moon. It is causing a big stir, these 'Moon' people. He has just bought a hotel in New York for five million dollars. But the public is sometimes equating us with him and these other rascals. He claims that Jesus Christ never lived to fulfill his mission, which was to establish the perfect family. They killed him before he got married. So he [Moon] has come, and he has all these wives. At least he used to, whenever any of his disciples would get married, first he would have their wife.

Prabhupāda shook his head in mild disgust.

He settled back in his seat to chant on his beads, occasionally interspersing his soft murmur with conversation. He told Kīrtanānanda that he is now on the twelth chapter of the Eight Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, exactly half way through. There is no comparison of this literature, he told him.

Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja expressed his appreciation. "I think before you came, Bhāgavatam was unknown."

Prabhupāda agreed. "Unknown, yes. The Ramakrishna Mission published one Bhāgavatam commentary. You know that? Farce. These Ramakrishna Mission people have done the greatest harm to the Vedic culture. Of course it is not taken very seriously, Ramakrishna Mission."

I agreed that in the West they were practically unheard of. You made a good point about why although now thousands of American boys and girls are coming to India, no one is going to the Ramakrishna Mission, so what kind of impact has he had?

Prabhupāda said, But they publicized in India that they have made all, everyone [followers]. In India they were doing like that. 'Vivekananda Road,' 'Vivekananda Square,' and rascals, they do not inquire even what is Vivekananda's contribution. In Vṛndāvana they have got hospital and Ramakrishna temple. Who is going there? This is practical example. In our temple, thousands and thousands of foreign boys and girls are coming, and who is going there? It is because actually, if they did something, they should at least gone there out of inquisitiveness: 'Oh, where is Vivekananda?' Then he made us laugh. Nobody going, he grinned. Not even to pass urine there.

After a short while Kīrtanānanda produced some cartons of prasādam from the New Vrindaban kitchens—purīs, sabjīs, samosās and various milk sweets. I thought Prabhupāda would just try a morsel to oblige the devotees, but to our delight he had me spread out the preparations and he took a little of each. He enjoyed them and encouraged us to take some. He praised Kīrtanānanda as a good cook and told us, So this was my dream, that a place should be there where we can get all nice foods, best foods, of milk. Kṛṣṇa is fulfilling our desire. Everything's there. These rascals they do not know how to live or to eat. Intelligence is there, everything is there. Simply for want of training they have become rogues. Make them human beings, your countrymen.

As we drove the last few miles into the New Vrindaban countryside Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja mentioned that the local authorities, including the sheriff, were becoming very favorable. A judge who had seen Śrīla Prabhupāda on his last visit still keeps a picture of him on his desk. He said the local television had agreed to show Yadubara prabhu's movie, Spiritual Frontier.

Śrīla Prabhupāda was happy to hear it but told him, One thing you have missed: how we are preparing all these foodstuffs.

In the movie? Kīrtanānanda asked. It was too short how to prepare it?

"Yes. How from milk in different stages you get this foodstuff, kachaurīs,singhara,sandeśa,rabrī. He gave a little chuckle. And this channā [dāl], if fried, if you prepare nicely with little hing and ginger, then it will exactly taste like meat. They'll forget. If you give them without telling them, they will think that they're eating meat. They prepare the semiliquid meat like that. You give them little piece and they will not understand that it is not meat."

I told him that when we were in Los Angeles Pālikā had made some baḍa and it tasted so much like fish that Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja wouldn't eat it.

Prabhupāda smiled. "With uraḍ dāl, you can prepare fishy taste."

Someone told me that your Guru Mahārāja said that? I asked.

Śrīla Prabhupāda laughed. "Yes. 'Anyone who is not taking uraḍ dāl, he must be taking fish silently, secretly.'"

As the car came into New Vrindaban's precincts Kīrtanānanda pointed out some new buildings, including one under construction next to the existing temple which will house workshops and a large hall for festivals, big enough to hold seven or eight hundred people. Prabhupāda was happy to see it. Oh, much improvement, he said.

ISKCON New Vrindaban, Moundsville, West Virginia

At least a hundred adults and children welcomed him at the small, beautiful, temple of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Vṛndāvanacandra at Bahulavana. A marble floor, cut, polished and installed by the devotees, hand-crafted stained glass windows, and exquisitely carved wooden siṁhāsanas, all form a perfect setting for the full moon of Vṛndāvana, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and His eternal consort, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, and in the spiritually vibrant atmosphere Prabhupāda took darśana of Their Lordships, Who were resplendently decorated with local wildflowers.

Śrīla Prabhupāda then gracefully mounted his vyāsāsana, the centerpiece of some exquisitely carved wooden furniture that Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja has had specially made for Prabhupāda by artisans in Bombay. It has lions on either side, a lotus-flower shaped base, and a tiered wooden canopy. The back has small peacocks along its rim, and it is luxuriously upholstered in fine, multi-hued silk. Single strands of flowers tipped with red roses hung from the front edge of the canopy, enhancing its beauty.

After a lively kīrtana during which Prabhupāda played a gong, he gave a short talk. With obvious affection he glanced out at his disciples. So after two years I think, I have got the opportunity of seeing you and your Rādhā-Vṛndāvanacandra Who is so kind upon you. So real happiness is here. Rādhā-Vṛndāvanacandra is staying here, and He's pleased with your service. This is the perfection of life. Keep Kṛṣṇa always with you and serve Him sincerely, then all happiness will come, without any endeavor.

He emphasized that economic development does not increase life's pleasures. Dogs run and we run, but the pleasure is the same; sex on the street and sex in a luxurious apartment give the same level of enjoyment, so what is the need to make an extra endeavor to advance economically he asked. If a rich man gets typhoid it doesn't mean that his suffering will be any less. So trying to improve one's standard of living is not the way to happiness.

Actually there is no improvement, he told us, "but we think that we have improved. Rather, we have taken so much risk. That requires knowledge, but anyone can understand. Suppose I can eat some quantity of food. Even if I am millionaire, I shall eat the same quantity. Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja gave me so much nice foodstuff but I could take only according to my appetite. One purī, two samosās, that's all. Everyone laughed as he went on. It is not that Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja has given so nice food I shall eat the whole plate; no, that is not possible. I'll have to eat so much as I can eat. So by improving the so-called standard, I shall eat the same proportion as I am able to eat, not more, not less—and that is destined. When I came to your country I had no shelter, I had no food, no arrangement, but I was eating. And now I have got so many nice sons and daughters, but I am eating the same. So when there was nobody to help me, I was eating, and now you are so many to give me satisfaction, I am also eating. So eating is not stopped, in any condition. That is arranged by God."

He told us that the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant to give a new life to civilization—how to become a servant of Kṛṣṇa. If this is done then everything will come automatically. He thus encouraged the New Vrindaban devotees to continue serving Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Vṛndāvanacandra, saying that would make their lives successful.

Amid the joyful tones of kīrtana Śrīla Prabhupāda departed the temple and was driven to a house that has been vacated especially for his use. It has a few basic amenities, like hot and cold running water and electricity, which are seemingly lacking in other residential buildings of the New Vrindaban community.

June 22nd, 1976

New Vrindaban is spread out over a large area, and each section is called by a different name corresponding to the twelve different forests or vanas, of the original Vṛndāvana. Prabhupāda took his morning walk along a dirt road in Tālavana. The vale we walked in was a little dank and dark due to dense vegetation. A heavy mist hung low all across the valleys, but our immediate area was clear. Kīrtanānanda Swami pointed out various parcels of land which are becoming available. Glorifying the simple country life, Śrīla Prabhupāda encouraged him to buy as much as possible.

The devotees are growing hay on land rented from neighbors and this is stored in silos for the cows' winter feed. Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja explained that they give only a third, or sometimes even just a quarter, of the produce in exchange for using the land. The neighbors would rather have this arrangement than leave the land untended because regular usage prevents trees from growing, which would ruin it. He told Prabhupāda that they are also now cutting their own lumber.

Prabhupāda liked that. That is the nature's way. You cut the lumber and make cottage, and the land is clear, then cultivate, get your food, and cows, give them grass.

As we walked past some dogs on the roadside they began to bark. Immigration department! Prabhupāda joked. We have got passport! That's all right. He chuckled. Dog's business. Without any fault, they'll chastize. We have no fault, still they are chastizing.

Kīrtanānanda said that although there is so much unused land, the government still says there is overpopulation.

Śrīla Prabhupāda said that he has never accepted this assertion. "There is no overpopulation. If the Americans allow the Chinese and the Indians to come, they can develop all these. 'No, this is our land, you cannot come.' Immigration—gow gow! In Bhāgavatam we see that when Nanda Mahārāja felt some disturbances from the demons, they decided to change the place. And they immediately, from Gokula, they immediately went to Vṛndāvana. But we don't find anything that they had to take permission. So that means formerly this was the system. If there is any vacant land, one can go and live there. There's no question of permission. When you live there and you make your professional activities, then the king will come, take little tax."

Kīrtanānanda said that was formerly the system in America. They called it 'homesteaders.' If you would go and make your home there, you could have the land.

That is not for the foreigners, Prabhupāda said. If some Chinese men or Indian want to come ...

Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja replied that foreigners used to be allowed, but now they don't allow anyone.

Just see, Prabhupāda said. Why?

Because it has become very profitable for people to keep it. Because people are making money on it now.

Money they must make, Prabhupāda granted, otherwise, why they should come? But what is the objection? Just like in the marketplace, still, in India, the system is, the marketplace, anyone can go and sell his goods, and when he's selling, the proprietor takes some contribution. Not that he has to take permission. He's selling there, that's all right, 'Give me some, a little contribution.' The king has the right to tax for maintenance.

As we drove back to the temple for darśana of the Deities and class, Kīrtanānanda Swami pointed out different patches of land where the devotees are growing a big variety of vegetables—cauliflower, peas, beets, carrots, lettuce, spinach, potato, broccoli, cabbage and peppers. But he said that most of them are not yet fructified because this is early in the season.

Prabhupāda was well satisfied that the devotees are working the land. He has said many times he wants us to learn how to be self-sufficient, gaining all our needs from the land. Vegetables, ghee, milk, wheat, then what do you want more? he asked. We can grow all these things and eat very nicely. Where is economic problem?

* * *

After greeting Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Vṛndāvanacandra, Who were bedecked with the natural opulence of fresh wild flowers from the patures, Śrīla Prabhupāda received guru-pūjā. The temple room was packed, with a large contingent of young, saffron-clad gurukula boys all crowded around the front of the vyāsāsana. The sun was just coming up and its strengthening rays shone through the window behind Śrīla Prabhupāda, highlighting His Divine Grace in a splendorous orange-gold effulgence. Prabhupāda played the gong and the devotees jumped and shouted excitedly when he threw flowers high into the air and over their heads.

After singing Jaya rādhā-mādhava, Prabhupāda spoke on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.6.6. Prahlāda Mahārāja makes the calculation in this verse that out of one hundred years duration of his human form, a person who cannot control his senses only has fifty years. This is because he sleeps twelve hours per day due to ignorance, and he thereby loses this time for the real business of spiritual development.

Noting the good fortune of the young brahmacārīs at his feet in beginning their devotional service at the start of their lives, Prabhupāda explained that bhāgavata-dharma means to keep always engaged in the service of the Lord, without a second's loss. He listed the nine different items by which one can serve the Lord.

He especially focused on arcana, Deity worship. As he explained the value of it, he coupled it with a warning. "If you can contact Viṣṇu or His devotee, Vaiṣṇava, that is all right. Otherwise, you are simply wasting time. The Lord is called arcā-vigraha. He is also incarnation. Another incarnation, arcā-avatāra. He's giving facility to the devotees to handle Him. If you do not get the opportunity to serve the Lord, how you can be perfect? So this arcā-vigraha is the Lord's incarnation to give facilities to people like us who cannot see God everywhere. For the neophyte devotees, it is essential to worship the Deity. But if we simply worship the Deity without hearing about the Lord, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ—these things are essential—then the Deity worship will be a burden. At a certain point, it will be a burden, and gradually it will be neglected, and the whole thing will be spoiled.

"So both things should continue: bhāgavata-mārga and pāñcarātrikī-mārga. Deity worship is pāñcarātrikī-viddhi, and bhāgavata-mārga is hearing, chanting, like that. Both of them should be accepted, parallel line. Otherwise, one without the other will be later on troublesome. So you must continue. This temple means not only we shall decorate the Deity very nicely, cleanse the temple; at the same time, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ of Viṣṇu must go on. Two things, parallel. Then it will be done very nicely. So actually this life is meant for this purpose."

Our experience in Kali-yuga shows that we do not even have one hundred years. Even then, he said, people are not serious about utilizing their time properly. "In our temple in New York, in the beginning when I was having classes in the morning at seven o'clock, still people from here and there they would come and protest and go to the police because we were disturbing their sleep. Yes. They want to sleep as much possible hours. I think that is very great gain in the Western country, to sleep.

So to sleep means simply waste of time. You must know it. The valuable life which you have got, immediately so many hours minus. Sleep is not good. Sleep, if we can do without sleep, that is perfection. Not that let me enjoy sleep twelve hours, fourteen hours, whole life. No. That is waste of time.

He cited the Six Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana as examples of perfection in the use of time. "So we should be very, very careful not to waste the duration of life even by a second. We shall eat less, then we shall sleep also less. Nidrāhāra-vihārakādi: then our sex appetite also will be less. Unnecessarily eating, unnecessarily sleeping is not required at all. That is the practice by the Gosvāmīs. They conquered over eating, sleeping. Mating, there was no question, they were sannyāsīs, renounced order of life, and defense also, there was no question because they depended on Kṛṣṇa, the most powerful defender. Simply two things, eating and sleeping. And that they also conquered. So spiritual life means you have to control, that is called gosvāmī."

He told us that this level of control is not possible to achieve by artificially supressing our senses, but can be had by attaining a higher spiritual taste. There is another happiness. That is transcendental bliss. That we perceive a little bit while we are chanting. By chanting, chanting, chanting, when you'll be purified, then you will have the opportunity of tasting that transcendental bliss. Otherwise, the so-called happiness derived from the senses, that is not happiness. That is crude, that is for the fools and rascals. That is not happiness. So we should utilize our time very carefully. You have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, take it a little more seriously and practice, follow the rules and regulations, chant regularly, then your life will be successful. Thank you very much.

* * *

The day was quiet, and Prabhupāda settled comfortably into the simple, but pleasant, house amid the fields and hills of West Virginia. It is a prefabricated structure, one of the better ones in the area, and is owned by Vana dāsa and Hlādinī dāsī who have vacated it to allow Śrīla Prabhupāda its use. There are three bedrooms, a lounge and a kitchen. Prabhupāda is using the largest of the bedrooms for his work and darśana area, and sleeps on a modest bed in another. The third is occupied by Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa and myself, and Pradyumna and Rakṣaṇa sleep downstairs in the large basement.

The house is furnished with more of the furniture from Bombay, which will eventually be placed in Prabhupāda's future home at Guruvana—a marble-topped desk and matching āsana, a large wardrobe with the figures of the ten principal incarnations of Lord Viṣṇu carved in relief on the door panels, and a second large, raised vyāsāsana with a lion on either side and yellow satin upholstery. This seat has been placed on a large marble slab out in the garden for Prabhupāda to sit on during the afternoon.

The one bathroom is reserved exclusively for Śrīla Prabhupāda, although Pradyumna prabhu, who still has a gaping wound in his side, is also allowed its use. The rest of us bathe in the back yard from four feet high plastic barrels of water brought on the back of a truck by the devotees. We pass stool in the fields. It is like being back in India, except West Virginia is not as warm.

There is a small lawn sheltered from the road by a row of trees and bushes, the foliage being just thick enough to afford complete privacy. Today Śrīla Prabhupāda chose to have his noon massage outside, sitting in a shaded area of the garden.

Pālikā and Viśākhā prabhus are staying across the road in the Madhuban temple, a house which shelters what seems to be, at five-feet high, the biggest Jagannātha Deities in ISKCON. They will be taken to Cleveland tomorrow, one hundred and seventy miles away, to benedict the American public with their Ratha-yātrā festival.

* * *

In mid-morning Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa Swami presented Śrīla Prabhupāda the mail. He was happy to get a long, detailed report from Harikeśa Swami on the preaching in eastern Europe. At the time of writing, June 10th, he was in Koln, waiting to get a visa for Poland.

His letter commenced with a full page of glorification of Śrīla Prabhupāda, comparing him to a famous Biblical figure. You have become like Noah, who filled his ark with all kinds of living entities and saved them from the flood which engulfed the whole world, and then, as the story goes, when the deep seas subsided a little bit, created civilization again—so you have taken command of the modern day ark and are saving the most fortunate souls from this huge flood of material nescience and in your various centers you are recreating real civilization, although it seems to be an impossible task. You are the most worshipable personality amongst men, although you are not an ordinary man, but the leader of all men, the most perfect and supreme servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Harikeśa, accompanied by Sumahat dāsa, has been traveling extensively through England, Germany, France, Sweden and other European countries. They have formed a preaching team with two other devotees, Akṣara dāsa and Avināśacandra dāsa. Rāvaṇāri dāsa, an Arab devotee who speaks fluent German, is collecting to support their activities. He is also actively preaching behind the Iron Curtain.

Harikeśa expects their team to be in Poland until June 24th, and then in Hungary from June 25th until July 5th. After that, they plan to attend the London Ratha-yātrā, visit Greece for two weeks to meet up with the members of the Hungarian yoga club who will be on vacation there, and then come to visit Śrīla Prabhupāda in France. After that, they have plans to visit Bulgaria.

He described some of their experiences preaching in the communist countries. In Yugoslavia, although it is not as hard-line as other eastern bloc states, the authorities warned them to leave Belgrade almost as soon as they arrived. They had several complications: a new bhakta they had taken along cracked under the pressure of their austere living (for two days they only ate roasted farina with salt) and went off on his own. When he returned they discovered he had been eating meat which made him stink horribly, and it became quite troublesome keeping him in order. Another problem was bad publicity generated the previous year by Laguḍi dāsa. A native Yugoslavian who joined our Movement in Australia, Laguḍi had returned to his home land in an attempt to preach. He held a press conference but because he is only semi-literate and cannot speak correctly, the press reported that followers of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement engage in human sacrifices and take drugs. Harikeśa heard this from some people in Zagreb. Also, while in Zagreb Sumahat lost his passport, obliging them to remain for six extra days because everything was closed for the May Day parade and celebrations.

Despite these problems they took the offensive. So we thought that what is there to lose, let's go out on the street and distribute. So we did and after the first two people we were being watched by about 10 different authorities so we had to stop fast, but not before we had a few addresses to visit. At this point we were a little bold so we went to the center of town at the huge fountain and set up a book shop and started to sell books and records like anything. The police came but I started talking about how we were with the Sanskrit department at the University Indology department and how all the teachers were reading these books on Indian culture, etc. Somehow they were not so disturbed.

After returning to the West, they traveled with the president of the Munich center, Pṛthu dāsa, to East Berlin in the DDR. Although East Berlin is relatively easy to enter, no devotees had previously been there. The rest of the country is off limits to visitors. They stayed in an obligatory hotel, which was expensive, but they met with many interested people. People are starving for Krsna. They have lists underground where one of our books will circulate all over the country, three days with each person, or sometimes over night, and the list is endless. One of our books is read thousands of times. So we smuggled in a whole large suitcase filled with Gitas, Bhagavatams, and records, and a few small books. These books are going like wildfire. We have devised a system for getting huge quantities into the country. To transit to W. Berlin is very easy and they do not check the auto. So one van went in by the entry with nothing in it. One van went in transit full. They met on a rest stop at night and changed suitcases, or if two identical vans are going one could change license plates and get a huge amount in at once. But we just changed the cases this time. We did home programs almost every night and many people are now very interested in Krsna consciousness. They love our records and play them constantly.

He said that in the DDR, things are run in such a way that people are deliberately isolated and cannot meet together in groups. Fruits and vegetables are very scarce.

Harikeśa mentioned that his health is still quite bad. He has not recovered since he left our party in February in Māyāpur. A doctor told him he has a stone or blockage in the tube that makes bile go to the stomach. Yet somehow, while preaching, he said he forgets all this. I can actually feel Krsna holding me up when I am out preaching.

The biggest problem they face though, is lack of funds. Only Rāvaṇāri is collecting money, but he is due to go to Egypt and try to establish something there. Bhagavān dāsa has promised help, but only in September, and most other centers are small and struggling with debts. Therefore I am wondering what to do. I will have to stop this program after the Poland and Hungary trips for there will be no more money. Still, he said he was confident that if Kṛṣṇa wants the program to go on the necessary support will come.

He requested advice on several points. He had an idea that, along with slide shows, a party of devotee actors and musicians could travel as an Indian Vedic Cultural Exhibition. He felt it would enable them to visit practically any country. It would be accepted as nice wholesome and cultural entertainment and they would legally be able to chant and distribute Indian snacks. He wanted to know if Prabhupāda thought it worth the endeavor for them to organize it.

Rāvaṇāri has an idea to write bhakti commentaries verse for verse on the Koran—what he called The Vedic Koran. He said the book in its pure form is rather Krsna conscious. He also proposed to translate into Arabic the paper on communism that Harikeśa wrote while he was still with Prabhupāda early this year. Rāvaṇāri felt it would be well received in Egypt, where the president of the country is said to be looking for such material.

Finally Harikeśa wanted to know if he should involve himself in smuggling books into the communist countries. He asked if Prabhupāda felt this was foolish or necessary.

He then concluded with a prayer. I am trying hard not to be a hypocritical sannyasi but I realize that I am a fool and I pray to your lotus feet for protection from the onslaughts of maya. I hope that you are well and your cook is good. I always have the feeling to come back with you at any moment, but I also want to be a good servant and do whatever is required. Simply always engage me in your service, I cannot remain sanatha jivitah but when will I simply be always satisfied to have such a good master? Please bless me with your causeless and boundless mercy.

Although he kept his reply short and to the point, Śrīla Prabhupāda was deeply satisfied to hear about their preaching efforts and the risks they have to undergo for both his and Kṛṣṇa's sake. He answered Harikeśa's questions point by point. "There is no need to give commentary on the Koran. There is no other religion in the world in truth than this Bhagavat-dharma. However, something is better than nothing. The communism book that you have written, they say that there are some words that may be irritating to the communists. We have just finished a book which Hayagriva is editing at present. It is called Dialectic Spiritualism and within that book, your comments can be added if need be for preaching in the Eastern European countries.

Don't try for Vaikuntha players, etc. in Eastern Europe at this time. It will make too much encumbrance and you may not be able to manage it.

He also added a footnote about the publicity problems in Yugoslavia. n.b. when there is such language difficulty as was found in Yugoslavia in that press interview, then we should not give interview. Stop all this bad practice. No interpretation. Otherwise what is the use?

* * *

In the evening Prabhupāda was taken on a tour of Guruvana, where the devotees are constructing a small palace for him. It is situated atop one of the highest hills for many miles around, affording a glorious, panoramic view of the surrounding West Virginian countryside.

Śrīla Prabhupāda was impressed with their devotional efforts. With the transcendental vibration of the Krishna Consciousness Happening Album resonating in the background Prabhupāda followed Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja's lead, carefully inspecting the entire work site. Most of the concrete work is done, and the finishing work started. There is a central hall, big enough to hold lectures in, with a small Deity room at the end. Down each side are rooms for Śrīla Prabhupāda and his servants. A dome at one end will be capped with a lotus flower shaped peak and reach twelve feet above the roof. Plastering work is about to begin and already some beautiful marble inlay has been fitted in what will be Prabhupāda's sitting room. The rooms are completely surrounded by a veranda and decorative arches run all around the veranda's outer edges. Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja said they were planning to fill the arches in with stain glass windows. Śrīla Prabhupāda was pleased to hear that all the work has been done by our own men—Bhāgavatānanda dāsa did the design and Ātmabhū dāsa directed the construction. Devotees have also made many of the fittings, furnishings, and other paraphernalia.

Prabhupāda was deeply appreciative of their dedication and he expressed this with a quote from the Bhagavad-gītā, "Sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. Little service in this connection, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, can protect one from the greatest danger."

You are so kind to let us do it, Kīrtanānanda Swami submitted.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's desire, Śrīla Prabhupāda said, humbly accepting their offering.

Kīrtanānanda invited him to visit another building further down the road where many of the fittings are being made. As he got into the car Prabhupāda turned to the devotees and said, Thank you very much.

The men all broke out in big smiles and cheered. "Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya!"

Further down the road we parked in front of a large grey house. Inside Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja showed samples of the accoutrements that will be installed for Prabhupāda's exclusive use in the palace—a large marble latrine, a marble wash basin with twenty-four carat gold fittings and rose quartz handles, carved wooden doors with colored glass set in lead, and many other items created and crafted by the New Vrindaban devotees.

Their efforts were very satisfying to Śrīla Prabhupāda because, as he said, they are trying to please their spiritual master. When Kīrtanānanda remarked that they actually did not have any idea how to do any of it, Prabhupāda replied that they were working with the special inspiration of God. " 'Do like this.' Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi taṁ yena mām upayānti te. If one is sincere to serve the Lord, the Lord is situated in everyone's heart, He'll give him, 'Do like this.' It is special favor of God. Even if he's less aware of everything to be arranged, He'll give instruction, 'Do like this.' So there is no scarcity of instruction if one is sincere. Thank you very much."

As he left the house he delighted the devotees by using himself as an example of one who has received similar help. I came to your country for preaching this, I had no idea how to do it. He laughed. But people are surprised how within so many short years this world movement has sprung. I had no idea how to do it.

As we drove back to our residence Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja pointed out some land they are gradually clearing. He said it was slow work, because they want to utilize the wood as they cut it and not waste any. Prabhupāda approved. Yes. Unnecessarily you should not cut. When it is necessary for Kṛṣṇa, then you cut. This is also living entity. We cannot kill them without any sufficient reason.

On his return to the house, Prabhupāda decided to sit in the garden for a while. He doesn't miss anything. Just behind and to the side of the vyāsāsana, tulasī plants are being kept in a plastic-sheeted greenhouse. He had seen one of the ladies tending tulasī-devī in the morning. Now, as he entered the garden he commented that she was looking after tulasī-devī very nicely. He is always appreciative of service rendered, whether big or small, and is always ready to give recognition to those who render it.

He was reluctant to take his own seat until he saw that all the devotees also had mats to sit on. As he relaxed against the padded back of his vyāsāsana, hand in bead bag, fifteen or twenty devotees gathered in a semicircle on the grass in front of him. He told Kīrtanānanda that many visitors would come to see the palace and that New Vrindaban should simply advertise, Come and see palaces in New Vrindaban. He noted that it will be a combination of Eastern and Western culture for the profit of the whole human society.

By this time it was about six o'clock in the evening. The sun's effulgent rays formed speckled patterns as they filtered through the leaves and branches of the trees, alighting on the golden fabric of the vyāsāsana and complimenting the transcendental radiance of His Divine Grace. Varieties of birds sang and chirped, adding to the comfortable ambiance of a warm summer evening. It was an idyllic setting for the ideal way to spend one's valuable time-sitting at the lotus feet of the Lord's pure devotee, receiving nectar from his lotus lips.

Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja told Śrīla Prabhupāda, "We would like to install your mūrti in that temple."

Prabhupāda humbly responded. "Yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau. The Vedic secret is that—unto the Lord, similarly, to the guru—to them [who surrender to these two], the whole thing becomes revealed automatically. Vedic knowledge is grasped not by erudite scholarship; mundane scholarship has nothing to do. The secret is yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau. My Guru Mahārāja wanted that some books should be published. So I tried my best, and he's giving success more than expectation. In the history nobody has sold religion, philosophical books in such large quantity."

Or quality, Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa added.

Yes, Prabhupāda acknowledged. "These are all Guru Mahārāja's blessings. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura is stressing on this point, guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete koriyā aikya, ār nā koriho mane āśā [My only wish is to have my consciousness purified by the words emanating from his lotus mouth.] Simply execute that. You'll get Kṛṣṇa."

Prabhupāda remained in the garden for a couple of hours. He instigated debate, repeatedly prompting the small gathering of devotees to discuss challenging issues. Heavily criticizing the United Nations as barking dogs, he opened the discussion up with a strong declaration that anyone who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious is either sinful, grossly foolish, lowest of mankind, in illusion or demonic. "This our definition, that anyone who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, he's either in these four groups, bas, final. You just try to prove it. Hmm? Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja? You have any doubt about it?"

Kīrtanānanda Swami said he had none and Prabhupāda asked if any of the others objected. No one did and he then challenged the devotees to defend this strong stance. Do it very nicely. Push Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement vigorously. If you keep the people in ignorance like dogs and hogs, what is the value of advancement of knowledge? So many universities? But discuss this point. We don't find any wrong. Because Kṛṣṇa said it, then it's all right. They will say it is too sectarian, that anyone who is not Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he's the most miscreant, sinful and ass and lowest of the mankind; he has lost his all knowledge. This is our accusation. Now defend. Any gentleman will protest that 'I am such a respectable gentleman, and because I do not take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then I'll fall amidst these groups? What is this?' They will say. Now you'll have to prove, that 'You are not a gentleman.'

The devotees raised various objections but as always, Śrīla Prabhupāda had irrefutable logic to defeat them. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja questioned the idea of In God We Trust. If a man clears the land, plants crops, and harvests them by his hard work, how does faith in God have any practical value, he said.

Prabhupāda refuted this immediately, saying that if God did not supply the ingredients, it would not be possible for the so-called practical man to work. You are very practical, but where you get the land? Can you manufacture this land? Can you? Then God comes, immediately. Where you get this water? Can you manufacture water? Where you get this air? Can you manufacture? Where you get this fire? Everything, there is God.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa suggested that there was no real difference in the practical living of the atheist and that of the religious.

Prabhupāda immediately disagreed. Anyone who does not recognize his dependence on God, he said, will have to suffer, just as a criminal is punished for violating the government laws.

Puṣta Kṛṣṇa said that the Christians say that God is very merciful, which implies that even if one doesn't follow His laws, God will not punish him.

Prabhupāda replied with an elaborate explanation of what God's mercy actually means, showing that it has nothing to do with our estimations. "That mercy depends on Him; you cannot dictate Him. Simply on the basis of 'God is merciful' I can do all unlawful things, this is not practical proposal. Merciful means it depends on me. Whether I shall show mercy or I shall be very strong and strict, that is my will, freedom. I may show you mercy, I may not show. You cannot force me, that 'You must become merciful.' That is not right.

When there is sunshine you see the sinful man and the pious man—both enjoy. That is His mercy. When He bestows His mercy, it is for all of them, either you are sinner or you are pious. That is God's mercy. Just like the cloud when it pours water, it does not make any discrimination. On the sea, there is also rainfall; on the rocks also, there is rainfall. Where is necessity of rainfall on rock? What is the use? There is no use, it is simply waste. So God also wastes: 'All right, you take. You don't require; you also take.' In the ocean there is no need of water, but cloud pours water on the ocean also. Only on the land we can utilize. But God is so merciful, exactly like the rain cloud. He is so merciful, where there is no necessity they are also getting rain, 'Take rain.' That is merciful. Without any discrimination, whether you want or not want, 'Take it.' That is mercy.

He said we have to come to appreciate the greatness of God, and he gave a number of practical examples. "God is so powerful, so great, that within a twinkling