As Prabhupāda walked along the road, many persons greeted him and his disciples, calling, “Jaya Rādhe!” “Hare Kṛṣṇa!” Some even stepped out of their shoes and prostrated themselves before Prabhupāda, who returned their respects with folded palms, nodding his head, and saying, “Hare Kṛṣṇa.”

The tightly gathered group walking in the cold morning air passed fields, āśramas, and groves. They heard the singing of many varieties of birds: sparrows, parrots, cuckoos, pigeons, and peacocks. Sugarcane stood high and ready for harvest. As Prabhupāda walked farther, the large nīm trees gave way to small thorny acacia trees, and herds of cows and buffalo grazed in the fields. For half an hour Prabhupāda continued. Then, turning, he retraced his route.

On the roadside he passed a man dressed in the simple white cloth of a bābājī, warming himself before a fire of twigs. Prabhupāda said that the Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭakam, by Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, defines the actual qualities of a person in the renounced order. The song glorifies the six Gosvāmīs, who gave up their posts as government ministers and became mendicants, accepting only one cloth and thinking always of Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs.

“Vṛndāvana is the gift of Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmī,” Prabhupāda said. “They wrote many books so poor people could take advantage and become Kṛṣṇa conscious. We see many imitations of Rūpa Gosvāmī in Vṛndāvana today. But they should never take the dress of Rūpa Gosvāmī, especially if they cannot give up this cigarette-smoking habit. It was the gift of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī that we should not jump and try to change our garb all of a sudden. We should try to hear of the Absolute Truth from realized souls.” Prabhupāda said that especially his disciples living in Vṛndāvana should become gosvāmīs. Whether gṛhasthas or sannyāsīs, they should live simply and austerely and engage twenty-four hours in the service of Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda sat in his room talking with Guṇārṇava about finances. “Where are the bills?” Prabhupāda asked.

“I am keeping duplicates, Prabhupāda,” Guṇārṇava explained, showing him how he had attached the bills to the vouchers. “Tejās is keeping the originals in Delhi.”

“This is just an explanation,” Prabhupāda replied. “I am an auditor. I am not A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. Don’t you understand? The auditor wants to see the bills, not just your excuses.”

Throughout the day, Prabhupāda would call in Gurudāsa, Surabhi, Mr. Lahadi (the engineer), even the contractor, Mr. Alibuchs. Although the contractor was Muhammadan, Prabhupāda requested him, “Please do a nice job, because this is Kṛṣṇa’s temple. If you work very nicely, Kṛṣṇa will bless you.” Prabhupāda assured him that money would not be a problem. He would arrange that ten thousand dollars a month would come from his temples in America until the construction was finished.

“It will be finished by Janmāṣṭamī?” Prabhupāda asked.

“Yes,” Gurudāsa said firmly. “It will be done.”

Māyāpur
March 1974
While traveling from Calcutta to Māyāpur, Prabhupāda stopped as usual at the pleasant, secluded mango grove and, sitting on a straw mat, took a breakfast of fresh fruits. A group of his disciples and his sister, Bhavatāriṇī, were also present, and Prabhupāda saw that everyone received prasādam. He then returned to his car, and the caravan continued to Māyāpur.

As Prabhupāda’s car approached the Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir, he was met by a “roadblock” of ISKCON devotees waiting at the spot known as Śrīvāsāṅgana, over two miles from the ISKCON property. Four hundred devotees from America, England, Europe, South America, Australia, India, and other parts of the world sang Hare Kṛṣṇa, following Prabhupāda as he rode slowly toward the Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir.

Prabhupāda smiled. Looking out from the back seat of the car, he recognized many faithful disciples, all hankering for his merciful glance of recognition. The car, surrounded tightly by devotees, inched its way through the gates and up the long drive to the temple. Along the roadside and around the temple buildings, colorful marigolds and tagar were abloom, enhancing Śrīla Prabhupāda’s joyous reception.

The temple room was completed, its sparkling marble floor, freshly painted walls, and crystal chandeliers all having been readied just a few days before. After offering obeisances before the resplendent golden forms of Rādhā-Mādhava on the altar, Prabhupāda turned and walked the long temple hall to sit on his vyāsāsana and address this first truly international gathering of disciples. He welcomed them to Māyāpur, acknowledging that on this day, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s prediction had come true. The devotees shouted triumphantly, “Jaya! Jaya, Śrīla Prabhupāda!”

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura had written,

Oh, for that day when the fortunate English, French, Russian, German and American people will take up banners, mṛdaṅgas and karatālas and raise kīrtana through their streets and towns. When will that day come?

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s prophecy had come to pass. He had also predicted, “Soon a great saint will come and establish Lord Caitanya’s movement throughout the world.” That great personality – empowered to create devotees of all races and backgrounds and to rally them together in Māyāpur, thousands of miles from their homes – was Śrīla Prabhupāda. And although he saw himself as an instrument of the ācāryas, his disciples saw him as the personification of Lord Caitanya’s and Lord Nityānanda’s mercy. As stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, yadyapi āmāra guru – caitanyera dāsa/ tathāpi jāniye āmi tāṅhāra prakāśa: “Although I know that my spiritual master is a servitor of Śrī Caitanya, I know him also as a plenary manifestation of the Lord.”

Leaving the temple room, Prabhupāda went upstairs and retired to his room, satisfied that the building was now fulfilling its purpose by giving shelter to hundreds of his spiritual children. He began greeting leading disciples from various parts of the world, hearing the encouraging news of book distribution and dealing with problems. He asked that everyone take advantage of the holy dhāma by maintaining kīrtana in the temple room around the clock, stopping only for scheduled classes on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

The devotees were very happy to be together in the dhāma. Those with experience of India, like Jayapatāka Swami and Acyutānanda Swami, led groups of devotees on parikrama (pilgrimage) to local holy places. This visit to Māyāpur would constitute the first half of the devotees’ Indian pilgrimage; after ten days they were scheduled to go to Vṛndāvana.

Almost all of the devotees assembled in Māyāpur preached in areas of the world where the modes of ignorance and passion predominated. Daily they had to mix with materialistic people, and it was inevitable that they would become worn down. This pilgrimage, therefore, was a chance for purification. Although they were not advanced in birth or in knowledge of the Sanskrit Vedas, Prabhupāda had accepted them, and that was their certification as devotees. They were bona fide candidates for understanding the meaning of the dhāma. They would become refreshed by bathing in the Ganges in Māyāpur and the Yamunā in Vṛndāvana, and they would return to their respective centers throughout the world, purified and renewed for more active preaching.

One song by Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura described the pilgrims’ eligibility to realize the dhāma:

gaurāṅgera saṅgi-gaṇe, nitya-siddha kari’ māne,
se yāya vrajendra-suta-pāśa
śrī gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi, yebā jāne cintāmaṇi,
tāra haya vraja-bhūme vāsa

“Those whose intelligence has come to understand that the eternal associates of Vṛndāvana-dhāma are nondifferent from those in Navadvīpa can attain the service of the son of Nanda Mahārāja [Kṛṣṇa]. Such fortunate persons perceive the holy dhāma as an object of service because their transcendental eyes have been opened by the mercy of the eternal perfect associates of Navadvīpa-dhāma. Therefore, those who are enthusiastic realize the touchstone of the holy dhāma of Navadvīpa through their transcendental eyes. Thereafter, they reside in the holy dhāma of Navadvīpa which they know to be nondifferent than Vṛndāvana and serve in their eternally perfected spiritual bodies.”

The devotees’ main reason for coming to Māyāpur, however, was to associate with Śrīla Prabhupāda. He was always traveling, and his disciples could only expect to see him briefly from time to time as he passed through their area. To see him in Māyāpur and Vṛndāvana, where they could be with him daily on walks and in the temple, was the most ecstatic part of the festival.

Prabhupāda’s happiness to be in Māyāpur was increased many times by the large gathering of his international family. He wanted this. Māyāpur was for the devotees. Prabhupāda even thought that, if possible, all the devotees should stay here permanently and simply go on chanting, although he admitted that it was not practical in terms of world preaching. He derived great satisfaction from sitting in his room above the temple hall and hearing the constant rousing kīrtanas. “Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has said,” he remarked, “there is nothing of value in all the fourteen worlds except the chanting of the holy names.”

At Prabhupāda’s request, his Governing Body Commission members had gathered in Māyāpur. Their purpose was to discuss ISKCON’s preaching activities around the world and then to pass resolutions to direct that preaching. This was the first time they had met as a body in Prabhupāda’s presence, and he instructed them how to conduct their meeting. They should not simply talk, he said. Rather, someone should present a proposal, which should then be discussed and voted on. All resolutions should be listed in the minutes.

“Chalk out your plans for the year,” Prabhupāda said. “And then whatever you decide, do not change it, but carry it out. Then next year you can meet and discuss again.” He was not in favor of prolonged meetings, but he was satisfied to see his G.B.C. secretaries seriously confronting all items on the agenda for the sake of a growing Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

One of the main features of the Māyāpur festival was the arrival of advance copies of the recently published volume of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. The volume contained chapters Seven through Eleven of the Ādi-līlā and included color illustrations by Prabhupāda’s disciples. Chapter Nine especially glorified the saṅkīrtana movement begun by Lord Caitanya, and verse after verse ecstatically confirmed the authenticity of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s movement.

Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja describes Navadvīpa-dhāma as the place where Lord Caitanya had planted the seed of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness “tree.” In one verse he states, “Thus the branches of the Caitanya tree formed a cluster of society, with great branches covering all the universe.” And Śrīla Prabhupāda had written a conclusive one-sentence purport to this verse: “Our International Society for Krishna Consciousness is one of the branches of the Caitanya tree.”

Prabhupāda’s Caitanya-caritāmṛta translation and commentary was the fruit of the Caitanya tree. It was fully authoritative and paramparā, but never merely academic or technical. Its teachings stressed that Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s desire to widely distribute devotional service should be the desire of everyone. It left no doubt about what Prabhupāda expected from the members of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

The only purpose of the preachers of the saṅkīrtana movement must be to go on preaching without restriction. That is the way in which Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu introduced the saṅkīrtana movement to the world.

This volume also contained one of the most important verses of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta: bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra / janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upākara, “One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all people.” In his purport to this verse, Prabhupāda explained the special piety of the Indians, who were always ready to take part in a saṅkīrtana festival. Unfortunately, the present leaders of India were leading the people away from God, away from distinguishing pious and sinful acts, and away from belief in a next life. The Indians had the special duty of educating the world in Vedic principles.

“If all Indians had taken to this path as advised by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu,” Prabhupāda wrote, “India would have given a unique gift to the world, and thus India would have been glorified.” Moreover, it was not only the duty of the Indians but the duty of everyone to help the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement: “One should know definitely that the best welfare activity for all of human society is to awaken man’s God consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness.”

Prabhupāda stayed with his disciples in Māyāpur for a full week, lecturing daily and meeting with smaller groups for many hours. On the day of Gaura-pūrṇimā he went down to the Ganges and took the sacred water on his head, while his men dove off the high bank and swam. The next day he left for Vṛndāvana, where he would again meet his disciples and introduce them to the dhāma.

Although many of the Western devotees, inexperienced in living and traveling in India, were afflicted with indigestion, dysentery, and even, in some cases, culture shock and homesickness, they nevertheless traveled, a somewhat bedraggled group, from Māyāpur to Calcutta to Delhi, and finally to Vṛndāvana.

Since the Vṛndāvana temple and guesthouse was still mostly a construction site, the devotees had to stay at the nearby Fogel Ashram, while Prabhupāda again took up residence in his newly constructed rooms near the site of the Krishna-Balaram Mandir. The devotees would see him regularly on morning walks and during the morning Bhāgavatam class, and he would also come in the evening sometimes to speak under an outdoor pavilion at Fogel Ashram.

Noticing that not many devotees attended his first evening meeting in his room, Prabhupāda inquired and learned that many of them were out visiting Vṛndāvana’s famous old temples and other pilgrimage sites, while others were shopping in the bazaar, and still others were sleeping. “Bring them all back,” Prabhupāda said, annoyed. “Coming to pilgrimage means to come where the sādhus are. I am here, so why is everyone going elsewhere?” On hearing this, so many devotees came to Prabhupāda’s room that they could not all fit.

Prabhupāda began talking about tapasya, austerity. “The tapasvīs in Vṛndāvana go naked,” he said, “even in the cold. They are determined not to take birth again for material life.” He described how the living entity before birth remains cramped within the womb, a condition much like being tied by the hands and feet and thrown in the ocean. Worms within the mother’s body bite the skin of the embryo, and the living entity suffers. Because māyā deludes us into thinking we are happy, Prabhupāda explained, we have to again enter the womb of a mother. And although in one lifetime we may be a wealthy human being, in the next life we may be a bug or hog or dog.

“So this life is for tapasya,” Prabhupāda said. “But we cannot execute severe penances in this age. So our penance is to try to reform poor crazy persons. One should take voluntary pains for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa comes to save the fallen souls, so if you help a little, He will be pleased. Kṛṣṇa comes Himself and He sends His devotee and He leaves books, and still we are mad for sense enjoyment. Our penance, therefore, is to try to reform the fallen souls.”

Prabhupāda’s preaching uplifted his disciples, whose duty was to preach to the citizens of many lands. They had come, at Prabhupāda’s bidding, to visit Māyāpur and Vṛndāvana, but their real work was to save the fallen souls of their native countries, and Prabhupāda’s preaching filled them with determination.

Later, one of the devotees told Prabhupāda that dealing with the devotees was sometimes more difficult than dealing with the materialists, and he mentioned a well-known problem case, a devotee named Makhana-cora. “That is your penance,” Prabhupāda said. “Your penance is to work with Makhana-cora. We should take anxiety. For a sane man to work with a crazy man is not pleasurable, but the service to Kṛṣṇa is pleasurable.” Prabhupāda described how he had left his peaceful life in Vṛndāvana to take on so much burden and anxiety for Kṛṣṇa. Just as he had taken a risk by going to America in old age, so his disciples should accept whatever difficulties were required in preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. “The work is not pleasurable,” Prabhupāda said, “but making so many devotees is pleasurable.”

Although the devotees had been visiting the various temples of Vṛndāvana, eager to imbibe the Vṛndāvana spirit, the real nectar came when Prabhupāda, sitting in his room, spoke about Vṛndāvana. “Vṛndāvana is for paramahaṁsas,” he said. “You cannot see Vṛndāvana with viṣaya, or material spirit. The test is how much you have conquered over eating, sleeping, and mating. Don’t think you can just come to Vṛndāvana and become a gosvāmī. One who comes to Vṛndāvana with a material spirit will take birth as a dog or a monkey in Vṛndāvana. That is his punishment. But the dogs here are also Vaiṣṇavas.

“People come to Vṛndāvana to give up all material anxieties and family life. So one should not be afraid. He should never mind what is going to happen. There are many devotees in Vṛndāvana who are not disturbed by heat or cold. But another risk in Vṛndāvana is to meet those who talk of the gopīs but are not free from smoking biḍis. They are sahajiyās. We have to see who is a devotee by his personal behavior. If one is seeking money and biḍis and women and talking of the gopīs, then what is his position? Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu never talked of the gopīs publicly. The real Vṛndāvana is not to eat prasādam and sleep but to follow the advice of Vṛndāvana-candra [Kṛṣṇa] and broadcast His message. That is His message. That is Vṛndāvana. Vṛndāvana-dhāma is worshipable. Don’t commit an offense here. Take it as cintāmaṇi-dhāma, Kṛṣṇa. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says to see Vṛndāvana is not possible with viṣaya. So we should take the shelter of Gaura-Nitāi, become cleansed of eating, sleeping, and mating. Then you will see Vṛndāvana. Don’t commit offenses here. There is a special influence in Vṛndāvana.”

Prabhupāda said that Vṛndāvana’s spiritual quality was such that devotional service performed here had one hundred times the effect of service performed elsewhere. But an offense in Vṛndāvana also had one hundred times the effect. Ordinary persons, therefore, were advised to visit a holy place like Vṛndāvana for no more than three days; otherwise they would become slack and return to their sinful activities. “Better to come,” Prabhupāda said, “become purified, and leave on the fourth day. And the worst offense to Vṛndāvana is to commit illicit sex here. So do not come and play hide-and-seek with Kṛṣṇa. He sees with His eyes, the sun, and He is also in your heart. Kṛṣṇa knows everything. Those who want to be devotees have to be sincere. They shouldn’t play tricks, because Kṛṣṇa knows everything. Be sincere with Kṛṣṇa and His representative. Preach the gospel of Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Become a spiritual master.”

After his evening lecture, Prabhupāda mentioned how some of the sahajiyās had walked out during his lecture. “They are so advanced,” he said, “that they want to hear only of the embracing and kissing of Rādhārāṇī and Kṛṣṇa. They take my talks as ordinary.” Prabhupāda explained that his process of lecturing was to speak on only one verse per lecture, but that that speaking was the same as Kṛṣṇa’s speaking. He said that his own Guru Mahārāja had lectured for three months on the first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and for that he had gained great respect.

Prabhupāda learned one day that one of his disciples had left the company of the ISKCON devotees to live among the bābājīs at Rādhā-kuṇḍa. Prabhupāda became angry and sent for the boy to come immediately. When the boy arrived, Prabhupāda went out to see him. Dressed in only a dhotī, Prabhupāda spoke sternly to his disciple, saying that the monkeys of Vṛndāvana also live simply but are interested only in eating and sex. “Don’t become a monkey!” Prabhupāda said, trembling as he spoke. “Why don’t you come and live with me?”

The boy replied, “The bābājīs have given me some facility to chant.”

“You come with me!” Prabhupāda exclaimed. “I will give you facility. But don’t become a monkey.” The boy surrendered before Prabhupāda’s compassionate concern.

Prabhupāda heard from his disciples living in Vṛndāvana that some of the local gosvāmīs had a complaint about him. They had read an article published in Back to Godhead and considered it insulting. The article, written by Prabhupāda’s disciple Hayagrīva, contained a statement that gosvāmīs in Vṛndāvana who misbehaved would become hogs and monkeys in Vṛndāvana in their next life. Prabhupāda replied that the statement was accurate. The article, he said, had not specifically referred to the present gosvāmīs but to any gosvāmī who lived sinfully in Vṛndāvana. This was not merely an opinion but was the authoritative conclusion of the original gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana.

Although Yamunā dāsī lived in Vṛndāvana with her husband, Guru-dāsa, Prabhupāda rarely saw her. So one day he sent for her and inquired why she was not coming to hear him and serve him. Yamunā admitted that she was afraid because Prabhupāda seemed to be in a chastising mood of late. (She was referring to Prabhupāda’s insistence and pushing to get the Vṛndāvana temple built.) Prabhupāda said that only by his pushing was the temple being built. But Yamunā again confessed her fear of Prabhupāda’s anger.

“You may be afraid of your spiritual master,” Prabhupāda said, “but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t come and see him.” He then narrated the story of how Lord Balarāma had once forced the River Yamunā to come before Him. As he spoke, all the devotees present became aware that Prabhupāda was not only telling the līlā of Lord Balarāma’s frightening the River Yamunā, but he was also speaking indirectly about his disciple Yamunā. Absorbed in the pastimes of Lord Balarāma, Prabhupāda described how the Lord, intoxicated from drinking honey, had threatened the River Yamunā, forcing her to come. But when the Yamunā did not come, Lord Balarāma had cut into the earth with His plow, forcing her to flow to Him. “In this way,” Prabhupāda said, “I will drag you to come and see me.” Yamunā dāsī agreed to stop her foolish reluctance and come and cook for her spiritual master.

Although the afternoons were warm in Vṛndāvana, the early mornings were chilly. Dressed in a sweater, a wool cādara, and a fuzzy wool cap that buttoned under his chin, Prabhupāda led his disciples on a pre-dawn walk along Chhatikara Road. With the ISKCON leaders and sannyāsīs staying close to catch his words, he walked and talked in Vṛndāvana. His walks were so long that most of the devotees became tired, and some joked that Prabhupāda was going to walk all the way back to Delhi. When the sun rose, gradually the air would begin to warm.

Some of the devotees had expected that in Vṛndāvana Prabhupāda would talk more about the places of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes and about Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs and that Prabhupāda himself would want to see the places of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes. But Prabhupāda seemed far more concerned to hear of the preaching of his disciples or to discuss the construction of the Krishna-Balaram Mandir. Often when devotees raised the topic of Vṛndāvana, Prabhupāda would criticize the cheating of certain Vṛndāvana bābājīs and the corruption within Vṛndāvana. Or he would speak of the special vision required before one could properly see Vṛndāvana. He said Vṛndāvana was wherever a pure devotee lived. And he stressed that the devotees’ main business was to go out of Vṛndāvana and preach.

As they walked along the road, the main traffic was pedestrians, workers carrying milk on bicycles, or men riding on bullock carts; only occasionally an automobile would speed by, its horn honking. Almost every person who approached would respectfully greet Prabhupāda with “Jaya Rādhe!” or “Hare Kṛṣṇa!” Or they would hold up their hands or bow their heads and say namas te. One young man driving a bicycle ricksha approached from the opposite direction and, just before reaching Prabhupāda, stopped his ricksha, got down, stepped out of his shoes, and prostrated himself on the road. Prabhupāda smiled and said, “Very good boy.”

Prabhupāda paused. “This is Vṛndāvana,” he said. The simple habit of the ordinary people in Vṛndāvana to offer respect to a saintly person was, to Prabhupāda, an expression of Vṛndāvana’s essence. Vṛndāvana was one of the few remaining places in India where even a common man would chant the name of Rādhārāṇī and Kṛṣṇa as he passed by on the road. To fully understand this extraordinary phenomenon was to understand Vṛndāvana.