Here’s the last of my unpublished pics. (unless I find some more!) from Melbourne 1975. Srila Prabhupada came in mid-May and installed what were then the largest brass Deities in ISKCON and in fact, the largest brass Deities ever cast in Bengal–Sri Sri Nitai Gaura. It was a brilliant event because along with Their Lordships’ appearance, ISKCON Australia also revealed to the world its new headquarters at 197 Danks St. Albert Park. A beautiful 2 acre property that started off as a stately home, became a Christian Brother’s college and then a Heritage-listed monument, and finally a Hare Krishna temple.
Here’s Srila Prabhupada arriving at the Melbourne airport with his servant Sruta Kirti prabhu and his secretary Paramahamsa Swami. They had just flown in after spending ten days in Perth, a city with no official ISKCON temple.
Kurma prabhu writes about it in his book “The Great Transcendental Adventure [TGTA]“:
Saturday May 17, 1975
After the long delay at Perth airport, and four hours in the air, Prabhupada’s TAA flight finally touched down at Melbourne a little before 7.45pm. Srila Prabhupada and his party of five disembarked and proceeded towards the arrivals lounge. All appeared quiet; but suddenly, they heard the distinct roar of an approaching kirtana, like a giant locomotive engine. Within seconds the lounge was filled with a huge band of chanting devotees rhythmically beating on drums and gongs, and blowing on conch shells with an exuberant Madhudvisa Swami at their head, chanting “Jaya Prabhupada, Jaya Prabhupada!” Prabhupada smiled as he was engulfed in a sea of loving disciples, who garlanded him, threw flower petals, and sprinkled rosewater in his path. He entered their midst as a beloved father enters and reciprocates the embrace of his loving children. After a short press conference, Prabhupada, now covered in garlands, was escorted to his waiting Ford LTD limousine.
left to right: Madhudvisa Swami; Hari-sauri dasa; Sruta Kirti dasa; Srila Prabhupada; Paramahamsa Swami; Rama dasa (with dark glasses); Gopikanta dasa; Bhutanatha dasa
This was the first time Sruta Kirti and I appeared in a photo together. At that time I had not even in my wildest dreams imagined that I would occupy his service, one of the most privileged services in ISKCON, that of His Divine Grace’s personal servant. Sruta Kirti was one of the most well known and envied devotees in the Society.
left to rt: Gopikanta dasa; Paramahamsa Swami; Srila Prabhupada; Sruta Kirti dasa; Mandapa dasa (half hidden with glasses; ?; ?; Kurma dasa (in back with glasses); Hari-sauri dasa
Airport greetings and departures in those days were great events. There was hardly any airport security and you could go right up to the plane door to receive or send someone off. My remembrance of this particular arrival was of Srila Prabhupada suddenly appearing off the plane and Madhudvisa Swami going up and draping an opulent garland around his neck and then bowing down in front of Prabhupada and touching his head to his feet.
I had been handed a garland to give to my spiritual master and when I saw Madhudvisa Maharaja do that, I thought, “Great! That’s exactly what I will do too!” And I did. It was the first time I think I had touched Srila Prabhupada’s feet.
In 1973 Srila Prabhupada had promised to attend the Melbourne Rathayatra. We had built two new rathas, but the main factor in attracting him to come was the prominence of the small Australian yatra in the book distribution listings. Inspired by Buddhimanta prabhu, (seen in this photo from NY July 1976 on the right holding the mrdunga)
the Australians were leading the world in their attempts to spread Krsna consciousness and Srila Prabhupada therefore promised to attend the 1973 Rathayatra. Unfortunately he got sick in India and had to cancel:
Letter to: Madhudvisa – Mayapur 12 June, 1973
My Dear Madhudvisa,
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 29, 1973 and have noted the contents carefully.
So, everything is going on so nicely there. So many books are being distributed. There are good prospects for a new temple. You are going to introduce three rathas this year for Rathayatra. This is all very pleasing and inspiring to me. I would very much like to come there for Rathayatra, but now I am not in very good health, and it is the opinion of Tamal Krsna Maharaja, Bhavananda Maharaja, Jayapataka Maharaja and Jagadisa that it is best for me if I stay here for now so that I may get my health back. However, you may again invite me next year and, if Krsna wants, I will surely come there. Thank you very much.”
Srila Prabhupada kept his promise the following year:
Letter to: Madhudvisa – Bombay 6 April, 1974
“I am presently fixing a traveling schedule for visiting Paris, France in the second week of May. Then I will visit, Geneva, Rome, Stockholm, and three or four cities in Germany, each place for no more than four or five days. So since I will not have to return to India until August, after Europe I can go to Australia for your Rathayatra if you can purchase our tickets. You can reply to me here in Bombay until the second week of May, when we shall go to Paris.”
Letter to: Jayatirtha – Bombay 5 May, 1974
“Regarding your invitation that I attend the Rathayatra festival in San Francisco, on July 7th, it is possible that I may attend depending on when I finish my European tour. I am due to arrive in Rome on May 23, then after a week Geneva, the Paris and possible Stockholm, Germany and England. If there is time I can fly directly from Europe to Los Angeles and go to the festival, then as you suggest, go to Australia Rathayatra via Hawaii. This is known as jet-age parivrajakacarya.”
He flew into Melbourne on June 25 1974 for his fourth trip to Australia with his secretary Satsvarupa Das Goswami. This time he only visited Melbourne whereas for his first three trips he had visited Sydney as well.
The Rathayatra on June 29 was glorious and Srila Prabhupada, after joining up with the rathas in the main city square, walked the whole route, terminating at the Royal Exhibition Gardens.
above: Srila Prabhupada dances before the 15′ high murti of Lord Caitanya; Gopinatha Acarya plays kartalas
on the parade: Buddhimanta’s forehead; Bhakta “Greek” George; Srila Prabhupada with secretary Satsvarupa das Goswami behind; my first wife Mohini-sakti dasi
The full glorious account of the parade, and Srila Prabhupada’s visit, is narrated by Kurma prabhu in his excellent book “The Great Transcendental Adventure.”
The rathas were taken right inside the main hall and Srila Prabhupada delivered his address from his vyasasana on the ratha.
Satsvarupa Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada and Madhudvisa Swami
Here’s a final pic. from 1973. It was taken in the garden of an opulent house we were renting in Double Bay, one of the more exclusive suburbs in Sydney. The name of the house was “Hare Hatch” so we all thought it was just suitable for the Hare Krishnas. It lasted a few months till eventually the landlord came under so much pressure from the neighbours that he forced us to leave.
It was one of many homes Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha had in the early days of Sydney yatra.
Their Lordships had to change abodes at least nine times before finally settling at their current temple in N. Sydney in the early 1990s.
Amogha prabhu was our resident photographer and he got me to pose on the lawn in the early morning around September 1973. I don’t remember exactly what for, he was doing some kind of photo essay:
Srila Prabhupada entered Australia for his third visit on February 8, 1973.
- 1973 Australian visa and entry stamp
This time he made his entry intoMelbourne first and then went up to Sydney. He travelled out from India with a special entourage:
Wednesday, 7 February 1973
Prabhupada departed out of Calcutta for his flight to Melbourne via Bangkok. Two devotees accompanied him. Srutakirti, a bright young brahmacari, acted as his servant. Bali-mardana, now returning to Australia as a sannyasi, was his secretary.
Prabhupada had planned to install 60cm marble Radha-Krsna Deities in Melbourne. The Deities had been acquired in India and now Bali-mardana and Srutakirti carried one Deity each on the flight out to Australia. It was certainly a difficult task to carry the heavy marble Deities on and off planes, while simultaneously looking after Srila Prabhupada’s luggage and seeing to his comfort on the journey. Prabhupada was encouraging. He stressed to Srutakirti that this difficult austerity was very pleasing to Krsna. “To make spiritual advancement,” he assured, “one has to simply satisfy Krsna. There are so many ways of satisfying Krsna and this is one of them. Krsna is very pleased with your endeavours.” — [The Great Transcendental Adventure by Kurma dasa]
Madhudvisa Swami had requested Srila Prabhupada to install the new marble Radha Krsna Deities and the devotees had worked hard for at least a month to build a new altar similar to the one at Bury Place in London where Radha and Krsna were on ground level and Lord Jagannatha was on a floor above Them. But when Bali Mardan saw the kitchen he complained to Prabhupada that it wasn’t upto the proper standard and he opposed the installation. Consequently the devotees spent all night cleaning and scrubbing and painting, and then Srila Prabhupada agreed to go ahead:
Sruta Kirti dasa, Srila Prabhupada, Smt. Radharani, Madhudvisa Swami
Srila Prabhupada gave the Deities the name Sri Sri Radha Vallabha. On a later visit in 1976 he praised the worship in Melbourne temple as being on par with Los Angeles and New York.
Here’s a neat picture taken by a newspaper photographer of one of our Ratha carts. He cleverly caught it parked in front of an aptly named Universal Rent-a-car sign, and made it look like a Rent-a-Ratha for the Lord of the Universe:
Universal Rent-a-Ratha
This next one was taken a couple of days before the festival when we were on the last stages of constructing two new, bigger size Rathas, one for Lord Balarama and one for Lord Jagannatha. The existing small Ratha became Lady Subhadra’s:
In the above shot, on the Ratha from left to right:
Bhakta Robert?, Krsna Prema dasa (right arm in air), Hari-sauri dasa (leaning on wheel brake), Martin, Praceta dasa (chief carpenter and surfer who legally changed his name to Charles Ofthe Sea. That’s why Srila Prabhupada gave him the name Praceta)
on the ropes, l to rt:
Sahadeva dasa, Bhakta Adrian, Gunavati dasi (in the background), Dusta Mohan dasa.
The Rathayatra was a success, and we ended up in the Botanical Gardens instead of a hall as in the previous year. Vaibhavi dasi, our resident artist (wife of Charu dasa in Utah and the first devotee I ever met) designed these wonderful suits of armour to dress their Lordships in:
Jayadharma dasa with white hat, Dipak dasa and Vidyaranya dasa carrying Lord Balarama, Ambika dasi carrying chamara
Dvaipayana dasa and Hari-sauri dasa carrying Lord Jagannatha, Sukhla dasi in background
The Deities were locally made in 1972 by Dipak and Dvaipayana prabhus. Srila Prabhupada was very pleased with Them (and them).
Here’s Srila Prabhupada’s entry stamp for his second visit to Australia on April 1 1972
It was an amazing time. I moved into the temple on February 15. There were 10-12 full time devotees. By the time of Srila Prabhupada’s arrival six weeks later there were 44. We would go out on sankirtan and chant the Hare Krishna mantra on the street corners for 4-6 hours a day. Almost every day when we arrived back at the temple another new devotee was waiting to be shaved up or put on a sari.
I mentioned in my entry below that when I joined, I donated my life savings, about $1,500.00 (in those days the Australian $ was worth about US$1.50) Most of that went to paying for a revolutionary new piece of preaching equipment:
The bus was converted into a travelling temple, with an altar and wooden floor upstairs and an open carpeted area down below. It was launched on Lord Caitanya’s appearance day, which that year was February 29.
It caused a sensation wherever it went. Australians had never seen a bright orange double decker packed out with two dozen chanting dancing bald kids dressed in bright saffron robes and women wearing exotic saris. We got instant news coverage on all the TV channels and in the major newspapers. Raghunatha das, who was the oldest member of the temple at approximately 28 years, took his test and got the necessary licence and he used to drive us into the city every day for our sankirtan activities
On our first day out we were hanging out of the top windows armed with hundreds of carnations which we flung enthusiastically over the heads of the bewildered passersby whenever we stopped at the red lights.
When Srila Prabhupada visited a month later the bus was parked on the street outside the temple and he was taken on a tour of the facilities, which included a look-see of the bus. When he went up the back staircase to see the upper floor his eyes lit up and he exclaimed, “Oh, I could live in this!” He gave it his enthusiastic endorsement and even rode on it one night from the house he was staying in to the temple.
That was a wonderful visit, my first chance to see my spiritual master and I was initiated along with about 15 others onn April 9. It was the first time I experienced what senior devotees told me was a state even higher than Krishna consciousness — Prabhupada consciousness.
I was fortunate to have my first photo taken with His Divine Grace during that visit also:
April 1 1972–Bhakta Harry, Ajita das, Mohanananda das, Srila Prabhupada
There are many stories to tell from those days but I will save them for another time. Readers interested in the development of the Australian yatra can do no better than read Kurma prabhu’s book “The Great Transcendental Adventure” in which he details year by year the growth of the Hare Krishna movement downunder, under the inspiration of Srila Prabhupada. Although seemingly so far away from the rest of the world, Australia was blessed by his presence every year from 1971 through 1976, and that no doubt had a major impact on our successful growth.
1971 continued: This is a special entry:
top right: Srila Prabhupada's entry and exit stamps from his one and only historic visit to Moscow
The entry is 20/06/71 and the exit is 25/06/71
Here some interesting entries into Srila Prabhupada’s passport. It was issued in 1971 and expired in 1974.
Srila Prabhupada's 1971-1974 passport
Note that on the page on the right Srila Prabhupada lists his father as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura
Prabhupada's first visit to Australia is stamped May 9 1971
As a new immigrant to Australia I arrived in Sydney on May 16, the week after Srila Prabhupada’s first visit there. I just missed him by a couple of days. I met the devotees standing on a street corner, chanting and dancing, the first day we got off the boat. I bought my first BTG from Vaibhavi dasi, the wife of Charu dasa who for the last couple of decades have been staying at Spanish Fork in Utah.
It was volume 37 and it had a picture of the Rasa dance on the front cover:
I remember paying 20 cents for it and receiving an invitation to attend the ‘Sunday Love Feast’. I had no idea what a love feast was, and come Sunday it was raining so I didn’t go.
When I bought it we had just moved into an immigrants hostel provided by the Australian govt. for one week free. When we got back from our city excursion I pulled out the BTG and we all stared in complete uncomprehension at the multi-colored picture. Noone had a clue what it was. The nearest we came to understanding it was when one of our party, a tall thin fellow from Scotland called Bill whom we had met on the boat coming over, exclaimed, “I think those blue fellas are spirits!”
When I checked out the contents I couldn’t understand a word. The Sanskrit names and the topics were all completely foreign to me and I couldn’t make head nor tail of it. Yet instead of throwing it away, I kept it very carefully in my suitcase, thinking that at some point in the future I would have another read. I knew it was important and it felt like the magazine was somehow vibrant and alive. Â I knew I had to keep it with me and that it would help me in my search for some meaning to my directionless life.
I did read it over the next few months and its contents were revealed to me more and more, till eventually, nine months later, I joined the Sydney temple–but that’s another story.
Here’s a few from ‘72:
This is April 1st 1972, Srila Prabhupada’s second visit to Australia.
He is seen here on his Vyasasana on his arrival at the temple on April 1 1972. On the left in the photo is his servant Nanda Kumara das. Others members of the party were Shyamasundara dasa, secretary, and Sanskrit editor Pradyumna prabhu.
When he arrived, the vyasasana was on the right wall of the temple so that Prabhupada had his right hand side towards the Deities. He immediately had us switch it to the other wall so that his left side was to the altar.
Note the reel-to-reel recorder on the right. One of the bhaktas, Wally, who was a university professor and who was initiated the following week as Vyasadeva das, lent his expensive recording equipment for recording Prabhupada’s lectures etc. Unfortunately in the week afterwards, he accidentally erased all the recordings!
Srila Prabhupada leaving Glebe temple after the first night’s lecture April 1 1972.
On Prabhupada’s right is Radha Raman, the son of Raghunatha and Gaurangi prabhus. Above him is 17 years old Bhakta Ray, who became Rajendra dasa on April 9 1972 when about 15 of us were initiated. He ’blooped’ (left, fell back into the ocean of material existence) within three days. When this was reported to Srila Prabhupada, who by that time had travelled on to New Zealand, he is said to have commented, “He did not accept me, and I do not accept him.”
On the right of the photo is Sydney temple president Mohanananda dasa, who was only 19 years old!
This next one was taken a few days later in Melbourne when Srila Prabhupada installed small Radha Krishna Deities and also awarded sannyasa to French-Canadian Hanuman dasa:
On the left is Jagatarini dasi and behind Srila Prabhupada is Shyamasundara prabhu.
This next one was taken on the first Rathayatra ever held in Australia in late June 1972. We built one chariot, carved new Deities of Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra and marched in procession through the streets of Melbourne, ending up in a small hall. We put on a feast and a drama which concluded with Srila Prabhupada’s image being projected onto the wall while the devotees danced ecstatically in kirtana.
My wife Sitala (here she is last month in Byron Bay on Harinama sankirtana)
just got back from Australia the other week and brought with her some photo albums we had left there in 2004. My last posting was a result of rummaging thro’ them, and here’s some more curiosities from my early days in ISKCON downunder. Almost all of these photos have never been published before, at least to my knowledge.
Here’s a black and white of Srila Prabhupada installing Radha Gopinath in Sydney at the old Paddington temple on his first visit to Australia in 1971
Next to Prabhupada, dressing the Deity of Gopinatha is Bali Mardan prabhu, the first person to bring the Hare Krishna Movement to Australia. On the far right is Dipak das, a Texan and one of the early recruits.
February 14 – a day to remember, at least for me. Not because it is celebrated as St. Valentine’s
day, although it would be wonderful if I could truly say
February 14 1972 was a special day for me because it was the day I changed from this:
Denis "Harry" Harrison, January 1972 Perth Australia
to this:
Bhakta Harry, February 14 1972 - Sydney Australia
This was the day I first had my head shaved and made the final commitment to join the Sydney Hare Krishna temple, which in those days was located at 84 Hereford St. Glebe. Long story, and even longer since then. But looking back, it was the day my life changed and I never looked back. I was 21 yrs. and 2 months old.
I had been attending the temple everyday for a week. I would leave my rented house in Chippendale at 6.00AM, walk the several miles to the temple bare feet, do a day’s service and then walk back again at 8.00PM. Before leaving I would smoke one cigarette, and when I got back, I would smoke one more. Â I had been a 15-a-day man for some years but by this time I managed to reduce it to two a day. Pretty hard habit to give up.
I was waiting for my friends to arrive from north Western Australia where we had all spent the second half of 1971 working on a mining camp in a place called Paraburdoo. After Christmas 1971 I was finished–finished with a mindless existence and finished with material life. I left at the beginning of 1972 to travel several thousand miles to Sydney to find the devotees. My friends stayed behind to earn a bit more money while I went off to meet my destiny. On the way I stopped off in Perth at a friend’s house for 10 days, which is where the above ‘before’ photo was taken.
Once in Sydney I tracked down the devotees and in early February I started regularly attending the temple. There was an unusual character called Hanuman das, a French Canadian, who would grab me by the hair every day and with great gusto ask, “When are we going to take this off!?”. I would reply “When my friends come from WA to take over the house I am renting, then you can shave it off.”
This went on for a week. I hadn’t heard from my friends so I decided not to pay the house rent any more and move into the temple. The same day, they suddenly turned up without warning and I sat down with them and preached to them the glories of Krsna to whatever limited extent I knew. We stayed up the entire night.
Two of the guys, Bob and Chris, were childhood friends who I grew up with from 5 years old and went all the way through infants, junior and high school with. We had emigrated from England to Australia together in April 1971 and now I was leaving their company for an entirely new life.
Chris Hall Feb. 1972
Bob Hornsby and Trevor Feb. 1972
Another guy, Trevor, whom we had met  on the boat over, was astonished. He told me “You hear about people looking for the meaning of life, but you never hear of anyone who actually found it. But you have found what you were looking for!”
The next day, February 14, I went to the temple as usual and as usual Hanuman grabbed me by my shoulder-length locks and guffawed, “When are we going to have this off!?”
“You can do it now if you like,” I told him to great surprise. “My friends have come and I have turned the house over to them. I am ready to move in.”
Hanuman wasted no time. He had me shaved up within minutes, along with another young man who had been attending the temple on a regular basis, Bhakta Phil. (The two of us were initiated by Srila Prabhupada on April 9th 1972 as Hari-sauri dasa and Partha dasa.)
Hanuman was surprised when I told him I was going back to my house to collect my belongings and that I would move into the temple the next morning. But not as surprised as my friends when I walked in the door that night bald and blissful with a long sikha flowing down the back of my neck, the only remnant of a once-proud curling mane. Trevor’s jaw nearly hit the floor in shock. “I know you said you were going to join them, but somehow I didn’t quite believe it. But you’ve done it!” And that was when the above photo of me with my newly shorn head was taken.
That was it, I distributed my extensive record collection to my friends, along with most of my clothes and other possessions. A few things I kept for myself and my new stereo I gave to the temple along with all my life-savings.
I remember as I walked through the front door of the temple the following morning with my suitcase, I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. I had a very distinct impression that I was now catching up to somewhere that I had left a long time before, and that my real life was just recommencing again. And as I walked through the door my desire to smoke another cigarette simply evaporated and I never had the urge again.
Of course there’s a lot more to this little biography, but the events on the day prompted me to put this down. Happy Valentine’s day, may your love for Radha and Krsna always increase.
January 26 2010 — note the date, its one of the most important in the history of ISKCON.
No, its not because it was Sarasvati-puja, which is observed in West Bengal with great pomp.
Its because a contract was signed with Gammon India Ltd., one of the biggest construction firms in India for the building of the Mayapur Temple of the Vedic Planetarium!
ISKCON has contracted Gammon over the next 2-3 years (it varies depending on whether we have any floods) to build the foundations and superstructure of the TOVP
The estimate is that within 5-6 years the building will be ready to receive its eternal occupants, Sri Sri Panca-tattva, Radha Madhava and the Gopis, and Prahlada Nrisimhadeva.
Gammon wasted no time in getting their rigs on site to begin soil tests prior to the sinking of the approx. 2,500 piles which will support the massive structure. Within two days they had their men on site, and this last week has seen two 90 feet high rigs arise, competing with the air space formerly reserved for Srila Prabhupada’s Puspa Samadhi.
These are some of the most welcome sights I have ever seen:
X marks the dead center of the building
Some of our senior-most devotees can barely contain their excitement seeing the construction preparations going on. Badrinarayan prabhu, our GBC for California, came up to me the other morning grinning from ear to ear. “This is it!” he exclaimed, “We are actually going to build Prabhupada’s biggest temple. After nearly forty years of talk, we are actually doing it. Unbelievable!”
On February 14 at 11.30AM the inauguration ceremony will commence, attended by chief donor Ambarish prabhu and all the GBC and devotees from all over the world.
Stay tuned, this is the prelude to something so great it will have ramifications all around the world for centuries to come!
On January 22 we had a brief but I hope ultimately fruitful visit at the library from three family members of a now deceased prominent member of the West Bengal government Sri Tarun Kanti Ghosh.
In the 1970s, as ISKCON was gaining a footing in India, Sri Tarun Kanti Ghosh, a Congress party minister, gave a lot of support to Srila Prabhupada and his disciples. Tarun Babu, as Prabhupada used to refer to him, came in a distinguished line of Gaudiya Vaisnavas. His grand father was Mahatma Sisir Kumar Ghosh a contemporary and friend of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. The two knew each other well and co-edited certain publications and articles. Â The Ghose family owned a prominent line of newspapers including Amrita Bazar Patrika which was established in 1868 and Jugantar, one of the biggest newspapers and presses in Calcutta.
Tarun Kanti would visit our ISKCON center very often and on March 14 1974 Srila Prabhupada sent him the following letter:
“My Dear Tarun Kanti Babu,
“Please accept my blessings. Since I attended the meeting last night I am feeling a new enthusiasm, over how potential the Krishna Consciousness movement is, based on the teaching of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Your good family has very great interest in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and especially your grandfather Mahatma Sisir Kumar Ghose was a great friend of Bhaktivinode Thakura. So we are coming down in disciplic succession from Bhaktivinode Thakura and you are coming in family succession from Mahatma Sisir Kumar Ghose, so if we combine together in preaching the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, it will be a great benediction to human society for mitigation of all kinds of problems of material existence.
“This morning you were quoting from Sri Siksastaka, “Ceto darpana marjanam bhava maha davagni nirvapanam [Cc. Antya 20.12].” This is the first installment of the benediction of Sri Krishna Sankirtana. “Param vijayate Sri Krsna Sankirtana.” First of all, people are suffering on account of misunderstanding of self realization. The whole world is moving under the conception of the body in different names are caste, creed, nation, culture, like that. By chanting Hare Krishna Maha Mantra offenselessly, one immediately realizes himself as spirit soul which is described in the Vedas as aham brahmasmi. The Mayavadi philosophers cease to think further than this, but Bhagavad gita teaches us how to realize further advancement in spiritual life in devotional service. This is described in Bhagavad gita as follows:
brahma bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati
samah sarvesu bhutesu mad bhaktim labhate param
[Bg. 18.54]
“So bhakti is such a nice thing. Bhakti is transcendental. When one is situated in bhakti life his mission of life is successful. That is called ”ceto darpana marjanam bhava maha davagni nirvapanam [Cc. Antya 20.12].”
Everyone of us is suffering from the three fold miseries of material existence. Coming to the platform of bhakti, pure devotional service, one immediately ceases the blazing fire of material existence. That is the effect of Sri Krishna Sankirtana. The whole world is in chaotic condition without understanding this philosophy.
“In the material life there must be division of activities. That is accepted in the Bhagavad gita as catur varnyam maya srstam guna karma vibhagasah tasya kartaram api mam viddhy akartaram avyayam [Bg. 4.13]
“So in the beginning if we start a varnasrama college to teach internationally students from all over the world to learn to be educated as brahmanas, as Ksatriyas, as vaisyas, as sudras, by quality and work, that will be the basic principle of Krishna Consciousness. It is the duty of the government to see that everyone is employed. This is only possible when varnasrama is established. At the present moment everyone is sudra. This is not very good for the human society. Everyone has a right to approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead but there must be a process for keeping the society in order. The intelligent class of men or the brahmanas, the martial class of men, the ksatriyas, the productive class of men, the vaisyas, and the working class of men, the sudras, all have the right to chant the Hare Krishna Mantra and by such devotional service everyone will be elevated to the transcendental platform. But there must be a division according to quality and work. At the present moment, so many so-called educated persons are unemployed because the division of work is neglected. If this division of society is maintained no one will be unemployed and there will be no unrest in society. It is a very scientific way of keeping peace in the world.
“The brahmana class should be highly cultured in spiritual understanding; by their Vedic knowledge they will be able to educate the ksatriya and the vaisya in the value of life. It is the government’s duty that according the division of human society everyone should be engaged in responsible duties.
On the whole, at the present moment, there is not guidance from the authorized intellectual class. Therefore everyone is in darkness. The Krishna Consciousness movement is supposed to create actual intellectuals to guide society. The process if very simple.
“If you kindly consider on this point and the varnasrama college is started, I am sure the chaotic condition of human society will be completely settled up. You think over this matter and we shall talk more when we meet again. Or if you like to discuss seriously by correspondence with me I shall be very glad to reply to you point by point on the basis of sastra.
Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg
Tarun Babu has a personal darshan
I just had the now rare treat of staying the whole week in Mayapur. My service at the BRC (Bhaktivedanta Research Centre) demands that most of my time be spent in Kolkata. I have been teaching a small segment of the Mayapur Institute’s Bhakti Vaibhava course and here are the fifteen students taking the module I was teaching:
The course was most enjoyable and is a great way for any ISKCON devotee to spend 3-4 months over the winter season.
I also took a bit of time out to snap a few photos of the progressive work preparing for the building of the new temple:
Here’s the TOVP site on the stretch of land that used to be the park:
Looking towards the present temple from the old Govinda's site
Old Govinda's is completely gone...
And the new Govinda’s is well on the way to completion
new Govinda's should be open within three weeks
The old park area and a large portion of the land south of it has been fenced off as the construction site:
Looking south from the Long Building the perimeter fence is just visible
A new road around the outside of the fenced in construction site will provide access to the temple
new south side road access (still under construction)
the new road begins from the side of the Samadhi
The new road will also give access to a new park, which is bigger than the old one, that runs down the eastern side of the Panca-tattva temple:
new park south side access (runs from nearby the new restaurant directly east)
a new but smaller fountain
looking north towards Sankirtan Bhavan (Panca-tattva temple is on the left)
eastern side of the park
park fencing is almost complete
new public toilets at the southern end of the park
looking west from the new park towards the Samadhi
some people have to work ...
and some have it easy...
... when they aren't being disturbed by nosey photographers that is!
Here’s a few photos from the Bhaktivedanta Archives of Mayapur circa 1972-1980. It serves to remind us that Mayapur has been a continuous development and will continue to be so. Just as rice paddies were turned in to parks and fountains, now the parks and fountains are making way for something new–the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
Here’s how it all began:
International Headquarters 1971
During a flood 1979
Circa 1980
Eternal Residents of Mayapur, Sri Sri Radha Madhava and Sri Caitanya-1971
and Their eternal servants
the transcendental twins about whom Srila Prabhupada said "These twins, everyone should know it, there is no comparison."
Their Lordships and Their intimate servants--1979
Sri Sri Radha Madhava 1979
from the Lotus building to the main gate 1976
1980
1980 - Lotus building
Gurukula boys 1980
So what are you waiting for? Come and visit Mayapur...
Great news from Mayapur. Here’s a few photos I took today. As you can see, some major changes are taking place. The park is being cleared in preparation for the ground work to begin on the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (TOVP).
There is a good deal of nostalgia for the park, the famous Lotus Fountain, the lawns and trees and flowers. Literally tens of millions of visitors (four million just during last year) have enjoyed the peaceful environs of the ISKCON Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir gardens and they have served us well. Still I can’t help but be elated in seeing the acceleration of the demolition as preparations gear up.
By January we hope to see the pile drivers in place and work on the foundations begin in earnest. In early February the entire GBC body will attend an inaugural ceremony to create an auspicious beginning for the works. If you are coming for Gaura Purnima, be prepared for some major changes!
The park area circa 1976
Lotus Fountain -- the beginning (circa 1980)
Lotus Fountain -- the beginning
And the end... November 2009
After nearly 30 years of service, the Lotus Fountain goes under the hammers
30 years and millions of visitors later, the Lotus Fountain bids adieu
All things must pass
Here’s the new perimeter demarking the boundary of the TOVP. These poles will be adorned with tin sheets and the whole area will be off limits to visitors while the construction goes on.
TOVP perimeter fence poles go in
Take a last look, by Gaura Purnima this will be a solid fence
One place I was particularly glad to see dismantled was this:
Govinda's dhaba bites the dust
Going, going, ...
A new first class restaurant is under construction and will be operational within two months. It will comprise of three areas-Bengali cuisine, Indian cuisine, and an air conditioned full service Italian restaurant. Another area will be for snacks and take-aways so that sit down diners will not be disturbed. There will be three kitchens with different crews cooking for each one.
Here’s the second part of the question regarding Srila Prabhupada’s alleged projection of personal sexual frustration into his presentation of Krsna consciousness:
Question:
Here is the phrase in question, corresponding to SB 10.58.17-19. The troublesome words are two, “raised breasts” [which are not in the original Sanskrit]. We would be very much pleased to hear your expert opinion in regard to this matter.
Quote from Krsna book, chapter 58: “Five Queens Married by Krsna”
“While resting and drinking water, they saw a beautiful girl of marriageable age walking alone on the bank of the Yamuna. Krsna asked His friend Arjuna to go forward and ask the girl who she was. By the order of Krsna, Arjuna immediately approached the girl, who was very beautiful. She had an attractive body, nice, glittering teeth and a smiling face. Arjuna inquired, ”My dear girl, you are so beautiful with your raised breasts. May I ask you who you are? We are surprised to see you loitering here alone. What is your purpose in coming here? We can guess only that you are searching after a suitable husband. If you don’t mind, you can disclose your purpose. I shall try to satisfy you.”
Answer:
This reply is a little lengthy but it is necessary in order to establish the proper perspective on this question. This is a serious issue and I humbly request you to please give this a serious read.
In giving this description in his summary study ‘Krsna’ Srila Prabhupada is simply following the lead of Srila Vyasadeva, the author of the Srimad Bhagavatam.
In the SB there are many places where the beauty of a woman includes a description of her breasts. They are mentioned specifically as being “raised” “projecting upwards” etc. I will give some examples of this later in this text.
What to speak of material women, there are specific descriptions of Krsna’s queens, or the Gopis intimately playing with Krsna, which also mention that a component of their spiritual beauty is their attractive breasts, which are sometimes compared to cakravaka birds.
Consequently, when Srila Prabhupada includes the phrase “raised breasts” in his summary study of the 10th Canto description of the meeting between Krishna, Arjuna and Kalindi, Srila Prabhupada’s addition of this phrase is not at all material, nor is it a product of his lust, frustration, attraction to the forms of material women etc. It is a factual parampara expression of the transcendental beauty of one of Lord Krsna’s eternal and most intimate devotees, His wife Kalindi. Even though it is not directly in the text, it is still a fact and Srila Prabhupada’s addition of it is perfectly spiritual.
Kalindi is part of the internal energy of the Lord. She is a direct expansion of Radharani.
She is the Yamuna personified and one of the eight principle queens of Lord Krishna. As such there is no material aspect to her beauty. As Srila Prabhupada writes in the SB 1st Canto:
SB 1.11.31
“Unbelievers become astonished to learn that Lord Krsna married more than 16,000 queens because they think of Lord Krsna as one of them and measure the potency of the Lord by their own limited potency. One should know, therefore, that the Lord is never on the level of the living beings, who are but expansions of His marginal potency, and one should never equalize the potent and the potency, although there is very little difference of quality between the potent and the potency. The queens were also expansions of His internal potency, and thus the potent and potencies are perpetually exchanging transcendental pleasures, known as pastimes of the Lord.”
And again, according to Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura,
as quoted by Hridayananda Maharaja in his purport of SB 10.83.40:
“In the opinion of Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti, Srimati Laksmana became embarrassed when she realized that she had been talking about herself, and so she spoke this verse praising her co-wives. In her humility Laksmana claimed that Krsna’s queens, unlike ordinary wives, could not bring their husband under control, and thus they could relate to Him only as servile housekeepers. In fact, however, since the Lord’s queens are direct expansions of His internal pleasure potency (hladini-sakti), they fully controlled Him with their love.”
Srila Jiva Goswami in his Krsna-sandarbha, describes the queens of Krsna as expansions of His internal potency, and Srila Sukadeva Goswami, at the end of his narration of Narada Muni’s visits to the palaces of the queens of Dvaraka, says,
“Lord Hari is the ultimate cause of universal creation, maintenance and destruction. My dear King, anyone who chants about, hears about or simply appreciates the extraordinary activities He performed in this world, which are impossible to imitate, will surely develop devotion for the Supreme Lord, the bestower of liberation.”
Srila Prabhupada summarizes this verse in the Krsna book by saying:
“In narrating the activities of Lord Krsna in Dvaraka, Sukadeva Gosvami explained to King Pariksit how Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, descends to this material universe by the agency of His internal potency and personally exhibits the principles which, if followed, can lead one to achieve the ultimate goal of life. All the queens in Dvaraka, more than sixteen thousand in number, engaged their feminine attractive features in the transcendental service of the Lord by smiling and serving, and the Lord was pleased to behave with them exactly like a perfect husband enjoying household life. One should know definitely that such pastimes cannot be performed by anyone but Lord Sri Krsna, who is the original cause of the creation, maintenance and dissolution of the whole cosmic manifestation. Anyone who attentively hears the narrations of the Lord’s pastimes in Dvaraka or supports a preacher of the Krsna consciousness movement will certainly find it very easy to traverse the path of liberation and taste the nectar of the lotus feet of Lord Krsna. And thus he will be engaged in Lord Krsna’s devotional service.”
Therefore if Srila Prabhupada, as a pure devotee, includes an additional description of Kalindi’s beauty, there is no wrong in that, it is rather an aspect of his service and glorification of the Lord and His internal devotees. It is meant to show us that the great devotees of the Lord please Him by their personal beauty and service attitude which is all offered for His pleasure.
Now I shall give some examples where Srila Vyasadeva has included in the SB some descriptions of the breasts of women. In reading this you can just reflect on whether Vyasadeva was doing this because of his own frustrated sex life, or because there is some transcendental purpose.
From time to time I hear comments or get asked questions which imply that Srila Prabhupada was affected by his apparently material circumstances that existed before his becoming the Founder Acarya of ISKCON.
As it goes, the accusation states that Srila Prabhupada’s presentation of Krsna consciousness, its practice, was tainted by his personal failures or by his upbringing in early 20th century Bengal. One such critique centers on his explanations of the intelligence of women; another on his insistence of the four regulative principles; another on his comments about the moon. And the list goes on.
It is to be expected because this is Kali Yuga and people cannot easily escape their conditioning and see things from the transcendental perspective. The tendency is to modify transcendental teachings to fit within their own conditioned frameworks.
ISKCON is going the same way all pure spiritual movements go in Kali-yuga. It is being materialized by people who don’t have the ability or desire to transform themselves or be transformed, and instead transform Krsna consciousness to their mundane convenience.
As George Bernard Shaw once wrote:
“The great danger of conversion in all ages has been that when the religion of the high mind is offered to the lower mind, the lower mind, feeling its fascination without understanding it, and being incapable of rising to it, drags it down to its level by degrading it.”
Even though this trend is to be expected, I was still surprised to hear this latest criticism of His Divine Grace, sent to me for comment by one of our Mayapur devotees:
I just saw a blog by Vineet Chander called ‘OmSweetOm’. It was all about a new Halloween costume based on the Hare Krishna look: http://blog.beliefnet.com/omsweetom/2009/11/a-hare-krishna-halloween.html#preview
Hallowing the Holy Name
Inevitably there are calls to protest this ‘insult’ to Krishna consciousness and Hinduism. Vineet gives a reasonable perspective on why he thinks we should not, but he misses the real point.
According to the Caitanya Caritamrta if a person somehow chants the holy names, even in joking, they get transcendental benefit:
Adi 17.200
sei haite jihva mora bale ‘hari’ ‘hari’
iccha nahi, tabu bale, — ki upaya kari
TRANSLATION
“‘Since that time, my tongue also always vibrates the sound “Hari, Hari.” I have no desire to say it, but still my tongue says it. I do not know what to do.’
PURPORT
Sometimes demoniac nonbelievers, not understanding the potency of the holy name, make fun of the Vaisnavas when the Vaisnavas chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. This joking is also beneficial for such persons. Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sixth Canto, Second Chapter, verse 14, indicates that the chanting of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, even in joking, in the course of ordinary discussion, in indicating something extraneous, or in negligence, is called namabhasa, which is chanting that is almost on the transcendental stage. This namabhasa stage is better than namaparadha. Namabhasa awakens the supreme remembrance of Lord Visnu. When one remembers Lord Visnu, he becomes free from material enjoyment. Thus he gradually comes forward toward the transcendental service of the Lord and becomes eligible to chant the holy name of the Lord in the transcendental position.”
Vineet’s article got it right, although he didn’t fully explain why the ‘halloween Haris” is Ok. Srila Prabhupada gives the explanation above. To chant Hare Krishna is better than to not chant Hare Krishna, even if it is done in jest, which the Halloweeners most certainly do. They are chanting Hare Krishna throughout the Halloween festival which they may never have done otherwise.
Think about it–they spend at least a few hours imitating a Hare Krishna devotee. Now think about another great imitator and the result she got…
Srila Prabhupada was always pleased to see Krishna’s names chanted, even in apparently adverse circumstances. It reminds me of when I was with him in Calcutta on February 5th 1977. An article had come out in a Boston newspaper asking whether the Hare Krishna devotees were good or bad:
[Note: excerpted directly from my original diary. This has not yet edited or been published]
On Thursday 22 October 2009 we celebrated Srila Prabhupada’s 32nd Disappearance anniversary
Samadhi arati
here in Mayapur. It was a transcendentally enlivening event, attended by approx. 4,000 yatris from Mumbai and other places, who are all here with HH Radhanath Swami for their Kartika Navadvipa-mandala-parikrama.
We listened to profound recollections, realizations and lilas from Srila Prabhupada’s disciples including Their Holinesses Ramai Swami, Kavicandra Swami, Umapati Swami and Radhanatha Swami, as well as HG Sitala dasi, Ragatmika dasi, Kulingana dasi, Rajendranandan dasa, Pancaratna dasa, Suresvara dasa, Sauri dasa, Bhavananda dasa and many others. We were also glad to welcome and hear from HH Bodhayan Maharaja,
Kavicandra Swami, Radhanatha Swami, Bodhayana Swami
the Acarya of the Gopinatha Gaudiya Matha founded by His Divine Grace Bhakti Pramoda Puri Maharaja.
Afterwards we observed puspanjali and maha-arati in the Puspa Samadhi and this was followed by a wonderful feast,
cooked in the best traditions of ISKCON Mayapur. In the evening we gathered again to hear from Mayapur’s transcendental twins Jananivas and Pankajanghri prabhus and others, before observing the actual time of Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance by singing “Ye anilo prema-dhana….” followed by arati and prasadam distribution.
I can say that personally I thought it was one of the best disappearance festivals I have attended. Many of the talks, especially those of Rajendranandan prabhu and Sitala dasi, were deeply appreciated, and you can download those from the Mayapur website www.mayapur.com
But that’s not what this blog is about. I want to mention another smaller, more personal anniversary.
The Disappearance day this year marked the 20th anniversary of my personal worship to my Deity of Srila Prabhupada.
I guess its a milestone, a marker of devotion. Of course, our worship of Srila Prabhupada is eternal and unending. In that perspective, 20 yrs. isn’t much. But from the view point of a limited life in this Kali-yuga body, it represents one third of my current life’s duration. So I am happy to have achieved it. I want my personal service to His Divine Grace to go on and on, and my little bit of one hour puja everyday helps keep me connected in a way that performing other services don’t.
In late 1988 I was feeling a little adrift. In 1984 I had given up my sannyasa, and with it all my services as GBC of the South Seas. It took me several years to get over the turbulence and by 1988 I was feeling more positive but also feeling a real need to connect with Srila Prabhupada through some personal service. I started to think about worshipping his Deity but in Australia none was to be found. So I decided I would look in Mayapur and Vrindavana at the1989 Gaura Purnima festival.
In February 1989 then, I came to India. I had a cursory look around Navadvip but I knew there would not be much on offer and that Vrndavana would be the best place. In early March I went out to Loi Bazaar and spent the best part of a day seeking a nice Deity but to no avail. I returned to Krsna Balaram Mandir disappointed.
Next morning I had an appointment to see Bhurijan prabhu
on the top floor of the Gurukula. As I approached his room, I ran into Aindra prabhu.
We are old friends and it was during my tenure as GBC of New York in 1982 that, with my encouragement, Aindra made the decision to come and live in Vrndavan. So here he was, standing outside his room, effulgent and smiling and happy to see me. We talked, and he invited me to see his Deities that he was keeping for his personal puja.
Stepping into his room was an event. The whole place was plastered in cow dung, from top to bottom. In the center, taking up most of the space, was a large wooden simhasana with a host of Deities residing there. I was impressed. As we talked, I suddenly thought, “I wonder if Aindra knows where I can get a nice Deity of Srila Prabhupada.”
As soon as I gave voice to my thought, he dipped his hand behind a curtain covering a set of concrete shelves and instantly produced a beautiful murti of His Divine Grace. “Here, you can have him prabhu. He was given to me six months ago but I haven’t worshipped him because I already have another Deity of Prabhupada on my altar.”
I immediately took it as a confirmation from Srila Prabhupada that he wanted me to begin personally worshipping him again. The Deity was exactly what I was looking for. The right size for traveling, and nicely formed. It looked like Srila Prabhupada. I was very happy.
But I didn’t begin worshipping him immediately. I needed to get myself properly situated before I undertook a task I knew that I could not stop once I started. Being “properly situated” meant getting my asrama status in order. i.e. I needed a good devotee wife to stabilize my life so that I could make steady progress in devotional service. Together we could take up the worship. If for some reason I could not do it one day, she could do it instead.
I thought about an incident in Hyderabad in August of 1976. At the opening of the temple Srila Prabhupada had been given a shaligram-shila by Sri Sampath Kumar Bhattacarya, the leader of the S. Indian pandits who had done all the rituals for the installation and opening. Later he called Pradyumna prabhu into his room:
Pradyumna is on the far right
August 21 1976- Hyderabad
[TD4]
Prabhupada turned to Pradyumna prabhu. He asked him if would like to personally worship the salagrama-sila given by Sampath Kumar, which was still sitting on his desk. He obviously had changed his mind about sending the Lord to the Bombay temple.
Prabhupada turned to Pradyumna prabhu. He asked him if would like to personally worship the salagrama-sila given by Sampath Kumar, which was still sitting on his desk. He obviously had changed his mind about sending the Lord to the Bombay temple.
Pradyumna was readily agreeable and so Prabhupada gave him some simple instructions. “So we can carry, and every morning just put in a simhasana and tulasi and water and flower and little fruit. That’s all.” Then turning to the rest of us he said, “He has got tendency to worship.”
“He is brahmana, pandita,” Gargamuni added.
“Panditji,” Prabhupada smiled, calling Pradyumna by his popular sobriquet.
Gargamuni mentioned that Pradyumna was also training his son, Aniruddha, and Prabhupada smilingly added, “Yes, his son will be great pandita. Both of them are devotees — husband and wife; therefore nice son is born. Yatha bijam yatha yoni. Yoni is the mother, bijam is the father.”
Then Prabhupada digressed a little, fondly recalling how his own father, following the advice of his spiritual master, always traveled with salagrama-sila hanging around his neck wrapped in a linen handkerchief. “Yes. So it is safe always, kantha. My father used to carry. Wherever he would stay, ganga-jala, tulasi, decoration; say, half an hour business. My father was a great devotee, yes.”
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