07 Jan 2015
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Giriraja Swami, Guru & Disciple, guru-tattva, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada vani, Vyasasan das
Tags: devotional service, disciple, giriraj swami, Godbrothers, guru, guru and disciple, guru tattva, Krishna, prabhupada, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, service to guru, spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, Vyasasan das, Watering the Seed
Recently I was staying at a friends house, and in the room where I was spending the night there was one book by Giriraj Swami entitled “Watering the Seed”. I happened to open it and began reading from the Preface:
…from that first meeting with Srila Prabhupada, my whole life’s purpose became to bring people to meet Srila Prabhupada. And I was able to do that for many years. But when he passed away, I wondered ‘what will be my service now?’. My whole service had been to bring people to Srila Prabhupada.
Now I understand that Srila Prabhupada is always present, and that by speaking of him, hearing about him, remembering him, and, most significantly, by studying his books and following his instructions, we can experience his presence. So I can continue doing what I was doing when he was personally present-introducing soul’s to Srila Prabhupada-and that is what I feel most natural doing. Because I know that somehow or other, if someone comes in touch with Srila Prabhupada, his life will become successful. (Watering the Seed, Preface)
Now, I am always encouraged when I hear my Godbrothers speaking in this way, because this is how I have always felt, and continue to feel. That my main purpose, as a disciple, is to bring people to Srila Prabhupada, and there-by bringing them to Krishna.
01 Nov 2013
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Back to Godhead, Jayadvaita Swami, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada
Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Back to Godhead Magazine, BTG Vol. 13, disappearance of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Jayadvaita Swami, ocean of mercy, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada's gifts
The following is an older Back to Godhead article that that I fondly remember, which was published in 1978, shortly after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance. We reprint it here to honor the memory of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.
The Gifts of His Divine Grace
by Jayadvaita dasa [Swami]
Excerpted from Back to Godhead Magazine 1978 Vol. 13, No. 1-2
In just a dozen years, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada gave the world a legacy that will last forever.
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16 Nov 2012
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada, Vyasasan das
Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, appearance and disappearance, feeling of separation, Lord Krishna, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, spiritual, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Srila Prabhupada, transcendental, Vyasasan das
Today we honor the disappearance day of Srila Prabhupada.
om ajñāna-timirāndhasya
jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena
tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ
I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful obeisances unto him.
Dear Srila Prabhupada
On this most auspicious day, we are celebrating your disappearance, with remembrances and prayers.
There are so many days on the Vaisnava Calendar where we are celebrating some auspicious holiday or festival, but none of them are as important to me personally, as the two days when we honor your appearance and disappearance. There is no day more important to this insignificant disciple, then your appearance into my life.
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15 Nov 2012
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Back to Godhead, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada
Tags: Back to Godhead Magazine, bhagavad-gita, BTG 13.1-2, eternal, Krsna conscious person, krsna consciousness, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada, The Great Soul Who Walked Among Us
…Someone asked, “What is the Krsna conscious person’s attitude towards others?” Srila Prabhupada replied, “He sees everyone as part and parcel of Krsna. The Krsna conscious person thinks, ‘They are suffering from not knowing Krsna, so let me bring them to Krsna.’ This is the highest service. Everyone is suffering, so to act in Krsna consciousness is the highest service. After all, they are suffering on account of detachment from Krsna.”
The Great Soul Who Walked Among Us
Excerpted from Back to Godhead Magazine
Vol. 13, 1-2, 1978
“Consider this example: when the sun is in the sky, there is no question of darkness. Similarly, when the Hare Krsna mantra is vibrating on your tongue and you are hearing attentively, then your consciousness becomes Krsna consciousness, or clear consciousness, and there is no question of maya, or hazy consciousness. Just as when light and darkness come together the darkness cannot stand before the light, maya cannot remain in the presence of Krsna.
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25 Oct 2012
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Srimati Radharani, Tungabhadra devi
Tags: Back to Godhead Magazine, deities of Radha and Krishna, Krishna, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Srimati Radharani, Tungabhadra devi, worship the deity forms of Krishna
Remembering Srila Prabhupada
Excerpted from Back to Godhead Magazine
by Tungabhadra Devi Dasi
Among many other things, Srila Prabhupada taught his disciples how to worship the Deity forms of Lord Krsna and His eternal consort Srimati Radharani. For instance, he told us that we should dress the Deities very opulently, which meant that we had to make special garments for Them. I was in Bombay in 1972 when I made my first attempt at sewing outfits.
When Srila Prabhupada walked into the temple one day to see the Deities, he smiled broadly. Even as he was prostrating himself before Radha and Krsna, he looked up at Them repeatedly and smiled. Then he arose, and he said to me, “Thank you very much. Make thousands of outfits like this. And always make Radharani more beautiful than Krsna, then Krsna will never leave.”
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17 Sep 2012
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Back to Godhead, Dr. O.B.L Kapoor, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada
Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Back to Godhead Magazine, dr. kapoor, Dr. O.B.L. Kapoor, hari sauri das, prabhupada, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada
A godbrother of Srila Prabhupada’s remembers their early friendship and their meeting again after many years.
Dr. O.B.L. Kapoor: I didn’t know much about his household affairs, because we met mostly at the matha in the evening. He had a shop. He sold medicines, and he also manufactured them. Once he manufactured a tonic, and he gave it to me.
I said, “That’s nice, this gift of yours. I must accept it. But I wish you would give me the tonic which you yourself take the tonic of Krsna-prema [love of Krsna].”
He said, “I don’t have that tonic. But I have the formula.”
I said, “Oh, wonderful! If it is not a secret, tell me what the formula is.”
He said, “No, it is not a secret at all:
trnad api sunicena
taror iva sahisnuna
amanina manadena
kirtaniyah sada harih*
This is the formula, and I am going to preach it all over the world.”
*”One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind. One should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and ready to offer all respects to others. In that way one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.” (Siksastaka 3)
At that time I couldn’t recognize the significance of his words, but he was going to preach it all over the world. I thought it was just a casual statement. But now I look back, and I can see that he was even then thinking and planning to preach all over the world, which he did.
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23 Aug 2012
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Quotes by Srila Prabhupada, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam
Tags: disciples, Krishna consciousness, pure devotees, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, SB 3.22.21, smile of Krishna conscious person, Spiritual world, Srila Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam, thoughts of Krsna
“That is the way of Krishna consciousness. Pure devotees are so absorbed in thought of Krishna that they have no other engagement; although they may seem to think or act otherwise, they are always thinking of Krishna. The smile of such a Krishna conscious person is so attractive that simply by smiling he wins so many admirers, disciples and followers.” (from purport to Srimad Bhagavatam, 3.22.21)
Full text and purport More
26 Feb 2012
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Spiritual Life, Srila Prabhupada
Tags: Bahushiras das, Krishna, Memories-Anecedotes of a Modern-day Saint, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Siddhanta das, Srila Prabhupada, When Lord Krishna Garlanded Prabhupada
When Lord Krishna Garlanded Prabhupada
Bahushiras Das Adhikary
The following narration is from the visionary Memories series of Shriman Siddhanta das Adhikary. It is the remembrance of Shriman Bahushiras das Adhikary given in DVD 44 and in vol. 3, p. 334 of the book Memories-Anecdotes of a Modern-Day Saint.
After Shrila Prabhupada’s disappearance, [Patita Pavana das] asked if I’d like to assist Satswarupa’s Lilamrita project by interviewing people in India who had known Shrila Prabhupada. One of them was Acharya Prabhakar Misra, Prabhupada’s first disciple. Acharya Prabhakar Misra was clean-cut, well-behaved and articulate. His demeanor impressed me. He held a MA and PhD and was a very cultured Sanskrit scholar and teacher. In Jhansi, Prabhupada had told Acharya Prabhakar. “I met you because I saw you in a dream and I knew that I was supposed to come here.” Prabhupada and he would do bhajan together. They’d hold Rathayatra festivals and they’d have programme in villages in the area.
Acharya Prabhakar said that on Shri Krishna Janmashtami in 1954, he had to go to Delhi. When he returned to Jhansi, he took a little rest, woke up at 1:00 am and heard Shrila Prabhupada ecstatically playing mridanga in the temple room. Prabhupada was chanting in total bliss. Acharya Prabhakar went upstairs and saw Shrila Prabhupada bouncing around the temple room performing kirtan. Prabhupada was wearing a kadamba flower garland that went all the way down to his feet. Kadamba flowers are very rare in Jhansi and when they are available they are usually the size of a golf ball. But the ones Prabhupada was wearing were big, the size of tennis balls. And he said that the atmosphere right down to the atoms in the room was not material, aprakrita. The place was surcharged with the fragrance of the heavenly planets. Acharya Prabhakar wanted to ask Shrila Prabhupada, “Where did this garland come from? It is not available from the market.” But Shrila Prabhupada would not answer. His Divine Grace just kept on performing kirtan, bouncing round the room and chanting. The next morning Acharya Prabhakar asked Shrila Prabhupada, “Where did you get the garland, why did it have such a rich fragrance, and why were you feeling so blissful?”
Shrila Prabhupada told him, “I was chanting to Krishna and feeling some love for Him. And He appeared and gave me this garland. I went to touch His feet and He disappeared. Because of that I was dancing around the temple room.” Shrila Prabhupada was crying.
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23 Dec 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Back to Godhead, Damodara dasa, Hayagriva das, Remembering Srila Prabhupada
Tags: Back to Godhead Magazine, Bhagavad-gita on the Bowery, Damodara das, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Krishna, Nandimukhi devi dasi, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, swami
Spiritual Bongos And Neighborhood Beats
By Damodara Dasa
Adapted by Nandimukhi Devi Dasi from Remembering Srila Prabhupada (copyright 1998 Daniel Clark)
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, my spiritual master, enacted his life’s activities from his birth in 1896 to his passing in 1977. I knew him for the last eleven years of his exemplary pastimes. But to say I knew him is going too far. I watched him. I listened to him. I talked with him and corresponded with him. I followed him and obeyed him—and disobeyed him. I learned from him. I bowed down before him and prayed to him. I loved him, and still do. Through those eleven years, that person I first knew as the Swami, then as Swamiji, and then as Srila Prabhupada guided my life.
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09 Nov 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Devotee's, Gaura Gopala das, Remembering Srila Prabhupada
Tags: devotees, disciples of Srila Prabhupada, Gaura Gopala dasa, Gauragopala dasa, prabhupada, Remembering Srila Prabhupada
Our Ever Well Wisher Srila Prabhupada
Remembering Srila Prabhupada
By Gaura Gopala Dasa
Nov 08, 2011 — AUSTRALIA (SUN)
When we all went to meet Srila Prabhupada in April 1972 at Melbourne Airport, the first thing I noticed was he had a distinct golden aurora around him that stood out from all others; his wonderful skin glowed and caught the attention of everyone in the Airport lounge, he was so happy to see his disciples.
I handed him a big red rose, he took the rose off me and with a big smile, taped me on the head with his cane. I had tears in my eyes; it was such a special moment to see my Spiritual Master. Later many devotees gathered around me asking what it felt like to be tapped on the head by Prabhupada with his cane.
Those days were very remarkable. So kind and merciful is Srila Prabhupada, who gives even the most degraded a chance to become Krishna Conscious. Most of us were just teenager boys and girls back then, sincere seekers of truth.
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03 Nov 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Book Distribution, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Sankirtan, The Hare Krishna Movement
Tags: Book Distribution, disciple, guru, Krsna Book, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, sankirtan, spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, Vyasasan das
Remembering Srila Prabhupada
By Vyasasana das
I think we all remember very clearly where we were and what we were doing the day Srila Prabhupada first entered our lives. Many of the older devotees remember where they were when President John F. Kennedy was shot, or where they were when “The Beatles” appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. But our remembrance of Srila Prabhupada will outlive any mundane event in our lives, as our relationship with our Srila Prabhupada is an eternal relationship.
I meet my spiritual master in an unlikely place, in the Chicago O’Hare airport. I was walking through the airport just wandering aimlessly, when I was approached by a sankirtan devotee. He said “hey, you into George Harrison?” I replied “sure I just saw him in concert last night”. So he said, ”take this book and give it a read, its really far-out!” To make a long story short I took the book, the Krishna Book, and found a place to sit down and read. I couldn’t even make out some of the words it was like a foreign language. I couldn’t even pronounce some of the words like Srila Vyasadeva or Srimati Radharani. I didn’t have a clue what the book was about. But I fell in love with the picture on the cover instantly, and when I turned the book over in my hands I saw the most beautiful sight in this material world, a picture of my spiritual master Srila Prabhupada.
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