Another example Prabhupada gave to me was that it is a sign of advancing when one wants to go out and preach. In the course of that conversation, I also asked Prabhupada, because Harikesa swami had told me that it was not good to chant hari bol, hari bol, hari bol, etc. only in the kirtan; but rather one should mainly chant Hare Krishna. So I asked Prabhupada, if this was correct? He said that it is all right to chant Hari bol, since Hari is also a name of Krishna. But mostly it should be Hare Krishna. I also asked him about this chant they were chanting in the temple next to our temple, and he speaks about it also in the Caitanya-caritamrta. “Nitai-gaura, Radhe Syama”. He said it was bogus because when you say Radhe, it is a form of addressing Radharani. So what you are really saying is “My dear Radha and Syamasundara, please worship Nitai and Gauranga”. And this is a great offenses.
That night, I took rest, but Hayahaya prabhu was still up, and amazingly, some devotees arrived from Spain and said that the dictator Franco, had just been kicked out of office, and that it was now safe for devotees to go there. So Hayahaya prabhu was to go there, but since Prabhupada gave me permission to go to Turkey, I had to go. I was left all alone. I had no money, no association. So then Harikesa persuaded Kundali to go with me to Turkey, and also, Hansadutta swami told us that Sarvasavara was on his way from Europe, and that he would go with us to Turkey. In this way the trip was made. We were not so successful, as we had hoped.
Actually we were thrown in jail. And Sarvasavara went on his own later on to Turkey. Of course, he fell down, then came back. Anyway, that is my own failing. I had wired my mother for some money to get to Turkey, from the states, and she said she would send it by wire. So we were waiting. Anyway, it did not come right away, and we ended up waiting over a week and a half. And while we were waiting, one day Srila Prabhupada came out of his house to go on his morning walk. I was standing outside Srila Prabhupada’s house with about 20 or 30 other devotees. And Srila Prabhupada came out to circumambulate the temple. He had his cane in his hand and stepped down the two steps. And when I got up after paying my obeisances, there was Srila Prabhupada looking at me. He was looking very displeased with me, and he said,
“Why aren’t you in Turkey? You said you wanted to go to Turkey. What you are doing here?”
Actually he did not say anything, he just conveyed the message by looking at me. He stood there for about 10 or 15 seconds, just giving me the eye. He actually stopped, and just looked at me. I felt sizzled. Then he turned and walked on, and Hayahaya came to me and said, “Did you see that? You got to get out of here right away! You’ve got to go to Turkey right “Wow!” So within a day or so we left for Delhi, and in another day or so, the money arrived from America and we were off to Turkey. So that was our great fortune, t a little association with Srila Prabhupada.
There was another story, we were on top of the guest house in Vrndavana chanting our rounds, it was about 10 o’clock in the morning or so. And there were about 2 or 3 other devotees there. There is a place in the guest house roof where you can look down right into Srila Prabhupada garden. So Srila Prabhupada was sitting in the garden in a chair, and Harikesa swami was coming in and out of Srila Prabhupada’s house, and
speaking to him, and then going away, doing this and that.
So we were up on top of the guest house, looking down. And Srila Prabhupada was turned in such a way, that he could not see us. And he was not looking up anyway.
Gradually, several other devotees arrived, and there were about 5 of us peering out down into Srila Prabhupada’s garden. He could not possible have seen us, his back was towards us. So Harikesa swami was serving him, and Srila Prabhupada turned to him suddenly and said to him,
“Did not make me a showcase!”
Harikeça swami then replied,
“Did not make me a showcase?”
Harikesa swami looked around, and then he finally looked up, he started moving both hands trying to tell us to get away, back and forth in opposite directions, waving very quickly as if to say, “No no!”. Therefore, we immediately disappeared.
So later on Harikeça swami came to us, and we asked him why he told us to get away. He told us that Prabhupada told him not to make him a showcase. So this was an example of Prabhupada mystic powers, that although he never looked at us, he knew we were there.
One other incident, in Vrndavana, I remember, I was taking care of the Deities. I used to be able to hear Srila Prabhupada’s voice during the very peaceful, quite Vrndavana nigh; from my room, in the pujari room. I heard him through the little window, in the upper part of my room. About 10 o’clock at night. His light would turn out about 10 or 10:30 or 11:00 each night.
I remember this one night, I saw the light go out. Then at 5 minutes till 12 midnight, I woke up, and I went downstairs, and when I came back from passing water, the light was on, and I could hear Srila Prabhupada’s voice very softly. I could not make out any of the words, but I could make out the particular deep quality of his voice. He did not sleep very much. He would sleep outside on a cot, under a mosquito net, on the roof of his house. So those are the principle memories I have Srila Prabhupada.
One other morning, I was the pujari in Vrndavana, and I was sitting on the altar by Gaura-Nitai, and I noticed out of the side of my vision, you can look through the holes in the wall of the courtyard of Vrndavana temple, I thought I saw this woman, or someone coming up the walk toward the temple room. And then this person stopped, and turned around and went back, and then came back in. And finally this person poked their head into the temple room, and lo and behold, it was Srila Prabhupada himself.
He just came into the temple all alone. There was no one else there. His forehead, and eyebrows were raised. He peered in and just sort of looked around. And then he disappeared, and walked towards his house. Apparently, he was just looking around, and everybody had missed him. He was all on his own, just sort of looking around. Of course,
Srila Prabhupada used to go under the tree in the courtyard in the evenings. He would have Aksayananda give a lecture in Hindi or something, to all the Indians who were there. And then he would answer questions. He would not usually speak, but would have his devotees speak. He would just sit there.
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