12 июня 2016 г. ·
Do we have faith that Gurudeva has given us what we need to achieve the highest goal, or not? if so, then everything we need is to be found in our Mantra's, and spiritual practices which should be practiced daily without fail - the fruit is there - the Kingdom is within. IF Siddha Pranali (the giving of one's eternal spiritual identity) is so important, then why did Gurudeva not give it? I have faith that IF it was SO important for my success, then he would definitely have given it to me. He told me after giving me Hari Nam and Diksha - "I have given you everything you need, no go away and realize it". I have full faith in his words.
Bhadra Dasi
Bhadra Dasi добавила 2 новых фото.
30 августа 2015 г. ·
Gurudeva's arms became covered with rakhis.
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21Latika Dasi и еще 20
Комментарии
Vrinda Taylor Raksa bandan with Gurudeva was so sweet and special! Yes, his arms were covered in rakhis almost up to his elbows, and they'd all get removed frequently throughout the day, only to be replaced by more and more rakhis. I think I was there only once to experience this, and to put a rakhi on Gurudeva.... or was it twice? I'll never forget tying a rakhi on his wrist in Rupa-Sanatan matha, and what happened at the time 
:-)
8 · 30 августа 2015 г. в 0:01
Anjali Dasi Yay! that you have a photo. I want to see more.
My photos of it got blurred.
I still have one of Srila Gurudeva's rakhis. It's a pink heart which I often keep with me in my bead bag pocket :)
His arm was as soft as butter when we tied them on.
Last night I took rakhis to Srila Bhakti Ballbh Tirtha Maharaja and Srila Bhakti Vijnana Bharati Maharaja.
I was told by the sevak he did tie it on Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaja
5 · 30 августа 2015 г. в 5:12
Haripriya Dasi I have a maha one that was under his pillow at Gopinatha bhavan
1 · 30 августа 2015 г. в 22:13
Bhadra Dasi
24 мая 2015 г. ·
Dear Friends,
In commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of my harinama initiation from Srila Prabhupada which took place in Melbourne, Australia, on 20th May, 1975, I have written this article about that event, and the times leading up to it, covering a section of my life as a brahmacarini in the Melbourne temple.
I’ve written this for the record, and for anyone who might be interested in what life was like for young Westerners who jumped on board with our Srila Prabhupada’s glorious preaching mission, during his manifest presence.
It is written very simply, for the purpose of conveying my mindset and experience at the time.
I have no ability to even begin to glorify a maha-bhagavat like Srila Prabhupada; and yet I hope that my words will give the reader some sort of an impression of his magnanimity and his love.
Hare Krsna,
Vaisnava dasanudasa,
Bhadra dasi (New Zealand)
========================================================
When did Western boys and girls, products of the age of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, voluntarily opt to live a monastery-like life, complete with pre-dawn rising, cold showers, regular prayer meetings, active service from morning to night with no remuneration, regulated eating, abstinence from all intoxicants, and celibacy?
When A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja Srila Prabhupada brought the sankirtan movement of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to the West, and spread it all over the world, with its profound Vedic cultural background, superlative theology, sublime philosophy of bhakti-yoga, blissful melodious chanting meditation, and delectable lacto-vegetarian diet of Krishna prasadam.
Pointing out that the world we knew was leading us in the opposite direction to happiness and fulfilment of the soul’s deepest needs, Srila Prabhupada inspired us to abandon everything that was normal to us. We left our families, social lives, educations, inheritances, comfortable homes and sensual freedoms. We left behind movies, discos, parties and all kinds of recreation. We turned our back on careers, incomes, personal possessions, and consorting with the opposite gender. In comparison to what Srila Prabhupada was introducing, all this seemed stale. We left it all behind to adopt a life of simplicity and devotion, a life which absorbed us from 4am until 10pm seven days a week.
Srila Prabhuapada presented a positive alternative to the life we’d known. He pointed out how, over life-times, we’d become lost in this material world, and though we sought pleasure, we did not know how to seek pleasure perfectly. This world was a false world, set up for miscreant souls who wanted to be little lords themselves by lording it over material nature, and trying to enjoy through their senses. By following the regulative principles of freedom, we could set ourselves free from this material bondage and go home to the real world, the transcendental world of Vrndavana, the land of Krishna’s love.
The philosophy was scientific; the lifestyle made one feel pure and strong; the spiritual process was structured and lucid; God was awesome; His pastimes were enchanting; the goal was inspiring; and the prasadam was delicious.
Temple life was rigorous. The Melbourne temple in 1974-5 was a little old terrace house in the suburb of St Kilda, 14 Burnett St. The day began around 4am. We’d rise from the floor where we slept in a spartan room among many others, in a sleeping bag without a mattress or pillow; and line up for our cold shower. Then we’d don our saris and dhotis and tilak, and congregate in the temple room (the former front room or sitting room of the house) as the conch sounded for the auspicious mangala-arati.
Brahma-muhurta, the pre-dawn time, is the most auspicious time of the day, when meditation, prayer and devotions are most effectively practiced. Most religious traditions over the ages have advocated ‘rising while it is yet still night’ as a powerful spiritual practice. This of course came from the Vedas, and as a Gaudiya Vaisnava, Srila Prabhupada presented rising for mangala-arati as one of the essential practices. No one living in the temple ever missed it.
Baibhavi dasi was usually the first lady to rise in the morning. She was the wife of temple president Caru dasa, and was committed and responsible. She would turn on the light. It hung from a cord in the middle of the high ceiling, fully illuminating the rows of sleeping bags each with a girl in it. The light meant that sleep time was finished; it was time to move into obeisance position, recite Srila Prabhupada’s pranama mantra, and scramble out of one’s bag.
I’d been living in the temple for around six months and was quite adapted to the life-style. My first three months of temple life was in the Adelaide temple in South Australia. Then I was transferred to 14 Burnett St in Melbourne.
The house was built in the era before indoor latrines. There was a little out-house at the back of the small rear yard of the property. We called it the stool-house. With the thirty or so of us all rising within the same half hour, there was a queue to use it in the mornings. Brahmacaris and brahmacarinis (young celibate men and women) would line up out there in the dark, no matter what the weather, the boys in their gumshas, the girls in our ‘stool-house dresses’ with our towels over our heads like a shawl. In an unknowing attempt to emulate the modest Vedic lady, we understood we weren’t suppose to have our heads uncovered, especially around the brahmacaris.
After the stool-house, one by one we’d make our way to the shower. The brahmacaris had a shower-room at the back of the house not far from the stool-house. The ladies used the house bathroom proper, which was on the upstairs floor where the two large bedrooms were. Once again there would be a queue for its use. Only the first three or four bathers would get warm water, since the supply was a regular domestic one. A warm shower was not generally expected. And because the water pressure was being drawn by the lower outlet with the men’s showering, we ladies bathed under a cold trickle coming from the shower rose, just enough to soap up and rinse off.
With clean robes, fresh tilak and enthusiastic hearts, we’d assemble in the temple room at 4.30am.
I loved mangala-arati. As the conch sounded and the altar doors folded open, the dim temple room in which we stood was aglow with the brilliance from the lights above the simple and beautiful altar.
On the altar stood Sri Sri Radha-Ballabha in the centre, flanked by framed pictures of Srila Prabhupada and our param-guru, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. On a mezzanine above were Sri Jagannatha, Srimati Subhadra and Sri Balarama.
As far as I know, neither I nor anyone around me had any real idea what mangala-arati was, with its ever-unfurling beauty and significance in Radha-Krishna-lila. That it was auspicious to rise early and pray during brahma-muhurta; that Srila Prabhupada instructed this; that Krishna rises at that time and likes His devotees to come and greet Him, dance, sing and glorify Him; that the first arati of the day was performed with a number of articles being offered for Krishna’s pleasure; this much we knew.
My awareness was not to expand beyond these concepts for another twenty-seven years, until I met my beloved siksa-guru, Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja.
As the mangala-arati was offered we sang what to this day is still one of my very favourite prayers, Sri Gurvastakam. By this time I knew the words of the eight Sanskrit stanzas off by heart, and had an elementary understanding of their meanings.
Receiving benediction from the ocean of mercy, our spiritual master Srila Prabhupada was extinguishing the forest fire of our material existence, just as a raincloud pours water and extinguishes a forest fire. Inspired by Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan, he was always chanting, dancing, experiencing ecstasy, and tears fell from his eyes like rain. He was always doing temple worship and service for the Deities, and he was showing us how to do all this, cleaning Their temple and offering Them four kinds of foodstuffs; and he was satisfied when he saw that we were satisfied by taking the delicious prasadam. Our spiritual master Srila Prabhupada was constantly eager to hear and chant about the unlimited conjugal pastimes of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna and Their qualities, names and forms. He was in the groves of Vrndavana with Sri Sri Radha and Krishna, expertly making tasteful arrangements to assist Them in Their conjugal loving affairs. As I sang and prayed, I’d picture him there in the groves of Vrndavana, saffron-clad in his sadhaka form as I knew him. My Srila Prabhupada was to be honoured as much as the Supreme Lord because he was the most confidential servitor of the Lord. Of this we could be sure, because it was acknowledged in all revealed scriptures and followed by all authorities. I wasn’t sure who the authorities were, but the statement increased my faith. I offered my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a glorious and magnanimous spiritual master, who was a bona fide representative of Sri Hari, Krishna.
Even in those days of my early sadhika life, that early morning ceremony brought a kind of exultation. It seemed to touch the soul and speak to the inner self, calling me to awaken to spiritual reality. With the freshness of the morning there was ever-fresh experience; that the process I was following was alive and living, and that Krishna consciousness was real.
I never thought to question why, at mangala-arati we sang to and meditated on Srila Prabhupada, while we viewed and offered arati to Sri Sri Radha and Krishna. Perhaps there was no need to have such a question at the time. Although I wasn’t present to the rasabhasa of it, the mangala-arati experience was a sense of togetherness in a sublime threesome: Prabhupada as I knew him, Radha-Krishna, and me.
In time I came to know that in other temples and devotional communities descended from Srila Prabhupada’s guru Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Sri Gurvastakam is sung prior to mangala-arati, along with worship of guru, his murti or his picture.
And during mangala-arati, there are specific bhajanas for glorification of the mangala-arati pastime.
But I didn’t have the adhikara for this at the time. Srila Prabhupada knew this, and with his loving expertise he crafted a program exactly suitable.
At Srila Prabhupada’s samadhi-mandir at Sri Krishna Balarama Mandir in Vrndavana, India, Sri Gurvastakam is sung personally to him every morning. After that, at mangala-arati in the temple, another bhajana is sung to Sri Sri Radha Syamasundara. This was introduced by my siksa-guru, Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja, after he put our Prabhupada into samadhi, and it is still practiced to this day.
After mangala-arati most devotees chanted their japa. Those whose duty it was to dress the Deities in Their new outfit for the day went straight into the Deity room. They’d chant later.
Prabhupada taught us that our japa-beads were like a life-line to Krishna, that the Lord and His name were that same, chanting Hare Krishna was the process of God-realization prescribed for this age of Kali, and sixteen rounds on our beads was the minimum number to chant for making spiritual progress. These were our understandings.
Everyone living in the temple chanted sixteen rounds daily, whether they were initiated or not. While some stayed in the small temple room to chant, most would go outside and do the traditional circumambulation of the temple. In this case it was a matter of walking around the block in which the terrace house was situated, and we’d walk around a minimum of three times. The residents of quiet little Burnett St became familiar with the early morning street-walking of robe-clad Hare Krishnas, with their hands in little bags, muttering.
After an hour or so of chanting, with still no sign of dawn, I’d go back into the temple to start my morning duties. I was to polish all the brass used for the Deities’ worship: the arati tray and all its paraphernalia, several vases, incense holders, etc.
All the brass gleaming, I’d set up the arati tray with ghee wicks, incense, clean cloth and flowers ready for the next arati coming up. I’d arrange the vases with fresh cut flowers which had been purchased from a market. These would be hurriedly fetched by the pujaris, the devotees engaged in re-outfitting and decorating the Deities, cleaning and redecorating the altar for the day. Ghee wicks had to be made. I’d learned how to make the little cone-shaped wicks by twisting them out of pieces of cotton-wool, dipping them in warm ghee, squeezing out the excess and standing them together on a platter, ready to be burnt on the lamps and offered at arati. Around thirty ghee wicks were used each day.
Hand washing the Deities’ little bathing towels was included in my morning services. The pujaris would bring them from the altar room after having given the Lords Their morning bath. The towels would be smudged and fragrant with candana. After carefully hand-washing them in an exclusive bowl, I’d take them upstairs and climb out a little window onto a section of roof at the back of the house, where there was a little strung line. There I’d peg the wet towels, returning later to fold and put them away, for the pujaris’ service the next day.
That was my early morning procedure.
By this time the morning program was starting: guru-puja to Srila Prabhupada with the tuneful prayer Sri Guru Vandana; and reciting of other prayers like Sri Siksastakam and Sri Sad-Gosvamyastakam. I don’t think I am the only one for whom these prayers became etched in the mind for life, as Twinkle twinkle little star, learned in infancy, can never be forgotten.
During this time the Deities’ breakfast offering was being prepared, which, as prasadam, became the devotees’ breakfast.
Srimad Bhagavatam class was usually given by Madhudvisa, then Maharaja; and occasionally another senior man such as Hari-sauri dasa or Caru dasa, would convey his learning to us. Again, no one ever missed class, unless they had service which coincided with it. No one wanted to miss it. There was so much fascinating information to learn. We’d pack into the little temple room, sing Jaya Radha Madhava, and tune in to the latest things the speaker had learned in the Srimad Bhagavatam. The first few volumes of that post-graduate scripture had been published, and they were an unlimited source of information for class givers to speak on, morning after morning.
Srila Prabhupada wanted his followers to be learned. To be learned is not the goal; and if one wants to develop in the yoga of devotion to Krishna, a strong siddhantic foundation is required. Prabhupada presented a wonderful and exacting procedure to facilitate our Bhagavatam and general scriptural awareness and education. He selected several salient slokas, fascinating and delightful, to be recited before class.
nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya
naraṁ caiva narottamam
devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ
tato jayam udīrayet
Before reciting this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is our very means of conquest, one should offer respectful obeisances unto the Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, unto Nara-nārāyaṇaṚṣi, the supermost human being, unto mother Sarasvatī, the goddess of learning, and unto Śrīla Vyāsadeva, the author. (SB 1.2.4)
naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu
nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā
bhagavaty uttama-śloke
bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī
By regular attendance in classes on the Bhāgavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.(SB 1.2.18)
nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ
śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam
pibata bhāgavataṁ rasam ālayaṁ
muhur aho rasikā bhuvi bhāvukāḥ
O expert and thoughtful men, relish Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Therefore this fruit has become even more tasteful, although its nectarean juice was already relishable for all, including liberated souls.(SB 1.1.3)
These and others were recited every morning before class, and, so rich with significance and meaning, these also became etched in our brain. Prabhupada also taught us to each recite the Sanskrit to the verse we were discussing. He wanted his followers to be aware of the significance and depth of the Sanskrit language, and its superiority to English for conveying spiritual essence. To this end he trained us to examine each and every word of the verse we were studying in Bhagavatam class each day.
When I think about how much Srila Prabhupada wanted us to learn and understand this science, with the goal of developing pure love for Krishna, and how out of his pure love he meticulously set up this structured life of bhakti-sadhana for us to follow, I am overwhelmed. I’m writing this on the fortieth anniversary of my harinama initiation, and to this day I still have not begun to fathom the oceanic depth of his love, and the wealth that he gave us.
No room in the terrace house temple was large enough to accommodate all thirty odd of us for prasadam, so, singing the Prasad-Seva prayer with gusto, we’d position ourselves with our plates on the floor either in the temple room or in the hallway. Devotees brought around pots of hot prasadam and served large spoonsful onto our plates. We ate with the fingers of our right hand, Indian style. There were no spoons or forks. Sabji, dhal, rice, capatis or puris and hallava was the everyday menu, and it was always delicious. Srila Prabhupada had blessed those young chefs with the ability to cook; some of them had had cooking lessons from him personally.
Then there was the maha! Oh, the maha-prasad! Delicacies that had been prepared in small quantities especially for the Deities were the most luscious. Each devotee received a morsel on their plate.
Prasadam was always enjoyable … and so it was supposed to be! Krishna’s mercy in the form of His remnants was non-different from Krishna Himself. If Hrsikesa, the master of the senses, was pleased, we were pleased. If He enjoyed, we enjoyed.
Prasadam was the only sensual indulgence of our life, and it was taken to our full satisfaction. In this way we were conquering the most voracious and uncontrollable of all the senses.
In this way Srila Prabhupada introduced us to the subduing of jihva-vegam.
After prasadam, everyone had different services. Prabhupada had provided a full schedule with something for everyone. Either one stayed at the temple with many different services there; taking care of the Deities, and program or temple maintenance; or one went out into the streets to distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books, Back to Godhead magazines or fliers inviting people to the Sunday feast.
I organically found my place in the domestics of the temple, and assisting the cooks and pujaris in Deity worship, and kitchen services.
My first service was to do everyone’s laundry, that of thirty-plus devotees, saris, dhotis, etc.
The temple had no washing machine, so the daily laundry was done at the laundromat three blocks away. Dirty laundry was heaped on a spread sari or dhoti (for brahmacarinis’ or brahmacaris’ respectively), and wrapped in two big bundles. I lugged these bundles on my back to the laundromat, engaged the washing machines and driers, then lugged them back to the temple. I’d leave the brahmacaris’ bundle outside their door and take the girls’ bundle into our room and open it; all the laundry was in a crumpled pile, and each claimed her items.
Now it was time for kirtan in downtown Melbourne. We didn’t call it ‘harinama’ in those days; it was just ‘going on kirtan.’ One had to be quick to get into the vans because there was the daily schedule to keep to and the van drivers were fired up and did not want to wait for anyone. Those not quick enough to jump into the vans before they accelerated off, would miss kirtan in the streets, which was one of the daily highlights.
Madhudvisa was the natural leader. The Australasian GBC representative, he was an adept organizer, was down to earth with a congenial nature and a contagious ready smile. Prabhupada called him the ‘king of kirtan’, and he was popular with everyone. Every day the party of thirty or so energetic young devotees rocked the streets of Melbourne. With the king of kirtan in the lead and Dwaipayana on the guitar, we danced and danced to the holy name, giving it our all.
Those were the days, my friend,
We thought they’d never end;
We’d sing and dance forever and a day.
We’d live the life we choose,
We’d fight and NEVER lose,
For we were young … and sure to have our way!!
Some devotees did full-time book distribution, the very valuable service that Srila Prabhupada stressed so much. Others went out regularly or now and then, to distribute Back To Godhead magazines. Often this was done in conjunction with a kirtan party in the streets, when we’d alternate kirtan with magazine distribution.
After the daily week-day hour dancing in the streets, it would be back to the temple for lunch prasadam from the Lords’ noon offering.
In the afternoons there was plenty more service for me in and around the kitchen, assisting the cooks and pujaris.
One had to be completely clean, or suci, to do these services. Anything used for one’s bodily functions or in the bathroom, or to do with bedding, was unclean as far as standards for Deity worship went. Despite our congested and austere living conditions, these standards were upheld strictly. No one was ever to go into the Deities’ kitchen unless they were freshly showered, in freshly laundered clothes, and not having visited the stool-house since showering. This was the condition of being suci, completely clean. If one had to answer a call of nature when servicing in the suci departments, it was necessary to shower before returning to the service. And as clothes worn in the latrine became contaminated, we’d remove them and don a gumsha (for men, a cotton sarong-type wrap around the lower half) or a ‘stool-house dress’ (for women, a long loose fully covering garment). Upon showering after visiting the stool-house, uncontaminated clothes were again donned, and service resumed. In this way, devotees serving the Deities or in the kitchen would—apart from the early morning and evening shower—sometimes have two or three more showers throughout the day.
All these standards were taught to us by Srila Prabhupada from the scripture on Deity worship, the Arcana Padati. Prabhupada wanted the strictest standards followed, and we did our utmost to comply, understanding that anything less than the strictest standards in Deity worship was totally unacceptable.
Only second initiated devotees (or brahmans as they were called) were allowed to cook offerings. This follows an injunction in one scripture which says that only brahmans can use the flame for cooking offerings for the Deity.
I’m not sure to what degree peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, honesty, tolerance, wisdom, knowledge and religiousness (the qualities of a brahmana listed in Bhagavad gita, 18.42) were developed in those young second initiates’ hearts; but while an offering was being prepared, non-brahman initiates, clean or otherwise, were not allowed to even look into the kitchen.
The idea was that beginner devotees who had not learned to control their mind and senses, be prevented from witnessing the bhoga (unoffered food) being prepared, since—the Lord, being adi-purusa, the first enjoyer—the offering was for Krishna’s enjoyment; and there was every chance that the mind of the neophyte would—even subconsciously—consider how delicious it was or desire to enjoy it before it was offered to Him, which was an offence. To prevent this, no non-brahman initiates were allowed in the kitchen, or even near the kitchen door, while an offering was being cooked.
A ‘brahman’ would cook the offering, to be ready precisely at the right moment. In the temples, bhoga is offered at 4am, 8am, noon, 4pm, 6.30pm and 8.30pm, and we understood that it was an offence for the offering to be even a minute late. Sometimes completing the offering with hardly a moment to spare, s/he would set it up for serving to the Deities, with each preparation in a separate little dish placed on a large platter. Then the pujari would come and take the offering platter onto the altar and perform the offering to the Deities at the proper moment, right on the hour or half-hour. Then the cook would usually vacate the kitchen, and the non-brahman (harinama initiate or non-initiate) whose service it was to clean, being suci as required, would enter to perform their task.
Prabhupada taught that cooking means cleaning … and the enthusiastic brahmans, often having a tight timeframe in which to prepare the offering, would leave the kitchen like a whorl-wind had hit it. Flour, sugar, spices, vegie scraps and puddles would be on every bench and on the floor, and there would be plenty of dirty pots and utensils, and various open containers of bhoga. All had to be cleaned, wiped and put away, and the floor swept and mopped by the kitchen cleaner, a service for which I was rostered often more than once per day. The kitchen cleaners were expected to leave the Lord’s cooking area completely spic ‘n’ span, ready for another brahman to soon come to prepare the next offering. And so we did.
I never had any feeling of imposition or hardship come in my mind from this lifestyle and service. It was an honour to be living such a propitious life, under the guidance and protection of the pure devotee Srila Prabhupada. Sense gratification was being thwarted and denied. It gave one a sense of victory. Life was auspicious, with the early rising, the austerity, and engagement in beautiful ceremonies like mangala-arati, and kirtans in the city streets, and the learning of ancient scriptures like Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad gita. Life was rigorous, but to me it was not hardship. For the most part it was highly pleasing. Prabhupada had turned the hippies into happies … that applied to me.
After a while, with many duties after mangala-arati, I began rising a little earlier; this because I wanted to create more time to chant my rounds. Rising and bathing earlier meant I could complete some rounds before mangala-arati. I became one of the first in the temple to rise. As I made my way quietly out the door of the brahmacarini room, down stairs and out the back to the stool-house, and then upstairs again to the ladies’ bathroom in the dark, I carefully stepped around the odd brahmacari sleeping in his bag in the middle of the hallway.
One night someone threw a Molotov cocktail through the front window into the temple room. The brahmacarinis were awoken by the thunderous sound of all the brahmacaris running from their room down the stairs, after having been alerted by the devotee sleeping in the temple room. The small fire was quickly extinguished with not too much damage being done. The front window was broken and some paint had to be replaced here and there. Baibhavi dasi said with gravity, “It’s Kali-yuga and someone’s trying to kill us.”
Mare Krsna rakhe ke, rakhe Krsna mare Ke—if Krishna wants someone to die, nothing can save them; and if Krishna wants someone to live, nothing can kill them.
Krishna obviously didn’t want us to die.
He seemed to want to give the brahmacarinis a bit of excitement, though. A Huntsman spider, black and large, with a span bigger than a man’s hand, took up residence in the ladies’ room. He moved with lightning agility up and across walls. I can’t remember how we got rid of him, but the brahmacarini room was the place of suspense-filled nights and the odd scream during the time of that arachnid squatter.
I felt a little intimidated by some of the boys. Most were my peers in age, and all were celibate and in saffron and didn’t want to talk to the girls much. We generally communicated with the opposite gender only as much as was required for service. Some men, like Hari-sauri and Sabapati, were outright fearsome. I experienced others like Caru the temple president, and Buddhimanta the famous book distributor who came to stay for a while when I was there, to have an air of high-rank and authority, such that they were not to be approached or spoken to by someone like me.
One day I was sitting at the top of the staircase with Baibhavi. Due to lack of places in the house to sit and talk with someone, we sometimes sat there, being quick to move for someone going up or down.
Baibhavi asked me if I’d like to be initiated. I had thought that to be initiated one had to be far more knowledgeable and long-serving than I was. So I felt a glow of inspiration that she should ask me this.
“I’d like to be … but am I qualified?” I asked her.
“Why should you not be qualified? You’re following everything properly,” Baibhavi replied.
So we agreed that I should aspire for initiation for when Srila Prabhupada returned to Australia as he was due to next May, 1975, eleven months after his previous visit (of June, 1974) after which I had joined the temple.
A number of us were aspiring for initiation from Srila Prabhupada, and we were told to each write a letter to him, and in our own words, express why we wanted to receive initiation from him, and ask if we could become his disciples. This is the procedure. The disciple approaches the spiritual master and requests initiation. The guru then examines the disciple and decides whether s/he is qualified as a disciple. Of course, Srila Prabhupada being the emissary of the most magnanimous avatara of Krishna, never rejected anyone; and yet, it was Vedic etiquette to submit before him humbly and beg to be accepted as his disciple.
An interesting thing happened, the explanation of which I do not know if we will ever get.
As was usual, some of the Australian devotees went to Mayapur that year for Gaura Purnima. A list of names of Australian devotees aspiring for initiation from Prabhupada, had been presented to him, or to his secretary, Paramahamsa Swami. Prabhupada’s secretary was now assigned to choose names for initiation candidates, names which were then ordained by Srila Prabhupada. The new names were thus chosen. Somehow, the list of new names fell into the hands of the Australian rank and file, who returned from India informing us disciple-aspirants of our new names. We began addressing each other by our new names, even although Srila Prabhupada had not yet come and given them to us.
I was to be Bhadra-kali dasi.
I didn’t know what my name meant, just that it was the name of some demigoddess; was not sure if I liked the name, nor if it suited me. But those sorts of things were not to be borne in mind. Srila Prabhupada had chosen that name for me, so it must be perfect.
It was the southern hemisphere’s summer, and ISKCON Melbourne had purchased a large property in nearby Albert Park, to be the new Melbourne Hare Krishna temple and centre. The two large main buildings of the site, which had been a Catholic boys’ school set in a large walled courtyard, were to be completely refurbished in the next few months before Srila Prabhupada came. Some of the male devotees were living on site and renovating the new temple buildings as their full time service. And it became the service of some of us others also, to go to the new temple site every day and do whatever we could to help in this mammoth operation, like pulling out bits of rotten wood, lifting old broken lino, sanding, plastering, painting, cleaning, on the inside and outside of the buildings. I remember mostly working on the building that became Prabhupada House. This was the building that was soon to house the Deity kitchen and Parampara Hall downstairs; and Srila Prabhupada’s rooms and the brahmacarinis’ quarters upstairs.
We would do our duties in the morning after mangala-arati, chant our rounds, take breakfast prasadam, and, chanting japa, walk the half hour or so from St Kilda’s Burnett St to Albert Park’s 94 Dank St, to continue service there.
In those next few months those buildings became transformed. Here is what is written about it in Kurma Dasa’s book The Great Transcendental Adventure.
“Devotees spent months perched on ladders and scaffolds, sand-blasting the entire building, relocating external plumbing fixtures, replacing old mortar and rotten wood, and repairing all the ropes and weights in every counterweighted sash window. Finally, the whole building was repainted.
Internally, over 25 rooms in both buildings required major work. Almost every inch of wall space was filled, sanded and repainted. New panes of glass were fitted, a fully-functioning kitchen was installed, and bathrooms were built from scratch.
An old double classroom was totally transformed into a kirtan hall and Deity room. Madhudvisa Swami had spared no expense. Three huge carved marble thrones, originally from Jaipur, India, were assembled to house the Deities. Holes were cut in the wooden floors, supporting brick piers built underneath, and concrete poured. Italian workers then laid a gorgeous marble floor, white and pink marble from Greece and Italy, with lotus-shaped inlay of green Pakistani onyx.
Rajasthani-style columns divided the temple from the Deity room. Pink-tipped carved lotuses adorned their bases, and each was topped with a roaring lion’s head bas-relief. Graceful arches spanned each set of columns and large decorative cornices bordered the ceiling. Three sets of ornate, custom-made gates were established as a formal boundary between the kirtan hall and the Deity room. Caste-iron filigree and stout, coffered-wood doors completed the demarcation. As a finishing touch, sparkling chandeliers were hung from the ceiling.”
In those few months, with a lot of endeavour and hard work, the old, dull and decrepit atmosphere was transformed into a Vaikuntha-like world.
The time for Srila Prabhupada’s visit was getting closer. We knew he was in Perth, and some fortunate devotees, senior men, were accompanying him there. Devotees began to arrive in Melbourne from other parts of the zone, Adelaide, Sydney, New Zealand, as they had for Prabhupada’s visit the year before, 1974.
Excitement mounted.
The week before Prabhupada arrived in Melbourne was an action-packed one involving the transition from one temple to another. Caru, Baibhavi, Hari-sauri and others were over-seeing. I, and many others, went with the flow, receiving and carrying out one instruction after another. Hours even longer than usual were kept by all, and some devotees went nights without any sleep. Mangala-arati and the full Deity worship program continued of course; and when, the very night before Srila Prabhupada’s arrival, the Deities were moved to Their new residence on Their opulent new altar, it was farewell to little old 14 Burnett St.
Nobody even missed her. We moved into our spacious new quarters; the boys into a large hall above the temple which was the new brahmacari room; and the girls into the new brahmacarini quarters which were the former dormitories of the old Catholic school. Consequently we now had an ablutions room with a number of showers, etc. Despite continuing to sleep on the floor without mattress or pillow, it was definitely upgraded living facility.
Srila Prabhupada arrived in Melbourne from Perth on Saturday 17th May. His arrival at Melbourne’s airport was similar to the previous year; the whole zone’s devotees, blissful and exuberant, gathered in kirtan at the arrival doors. Perhaps because he was a VIP, Srila Prabhupada did not come through the same door as all other passengers, but suddenly emerged through another door into the midst of the devotee ladies!
It was an exultation to have him suddenly there so near, smiling and blessing us with his magnificent presence. Again I experienced his wonder and effulgence, and his very real love and connection with each one of us. The benevolence in his aura was so tangible it could be felt in the air, and his distinguished being was such that one’s eyes were glued to him. And yet he was so down-to-earth, humble, child-like, a real person. He was realer than real.
It was after dark before Srila Prabhupada arrived at the new temple. We felt delighted and satisfied to be able to bring him into this beautiful new temple and centre. The courtyard was lit brightly, and the large kirtan party surrounded Prabhupada jumping and dancing as he walked towards his quarters. As he ascended the stairs to the entrance-way, with all of us around him, Narayana das, who was positioned above on an ornate balcony over-hanging the entrance, in a well-timed move, decanted a whole basketful of flower petals which came fluttering down in a multi-coloured cloud alighting on and around Prabhupada. The kirtan resounded into a cheer.
There was no let-up in the action, with Prabhupada here. There was the festivity of the installation of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai to arrange; daily garlands for Srila Prabhupada to be made; the daily sourcing of eucalyptus twigs which were what he used as a tooth brush; Prabhupada’s morning classes and his morning walks in the Botanical Gardens (of which I was blessed to go on two, that visit); the freshening and cleaning of his quarters each day, our initiation ceremony to prepare for, as well as the maintenance of all the usual service.
Whenever Srila Prabhupada walked from his quarters to the temple, or vice versa, as many of us who possibly could, would accompany him in kirtan, “Jaya Prabhupada! Jaya Prabhupada!”
In previous weeks we had seen the two large boxes containing Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai arrive by truck, having come from Bengal where They’d been cast. Apart from a few pujaris, no one had yet seen Them. Their installation was held with huge pomp, with hundreds of guests, as well as Melbourne dignitaries attending. The large new opulent and tastefully decorated temple was filled to capacity and reverberating with kirtan.
Sectioned off in an area of the temple was a beautiful Vedic fire arena which had been constructed by the devotees. Surrounded by bricks, fruits, palm leaves and clay pots filled with coconuts; with a centre of sand for the sacrificial fire to be lit, covered with patterns of coloured dyes, this arena was to hold the fire sacrifice for the installation of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, which was also to be the yajna for the initiations taking place in a couple of days.
As we buzzed around assisting with all manner of preparations, taking every opportunity possible to join the crowds in the temple for a chant and dance, it was exciting knowing that Srila Prabhupada was behind the curtains in the altar room with several senior devotees, guiding the initial stages of the procedure of installing Sri Sri Gaura Nitai.
Then the curtains opened, and there They were! Large and lovely, golden and gorgeous, bare-chested with graceful upraised arms. Sri Sri Radha-Ballabha were on the middle altar, and Jagannath, Subhadra and Balarama on the right. Sri Sri Gaura Nitai were on the left hand altar, and since Prabhupada in his shimmering saffron silk was there with Them, bathing Them with ladles of pancamrta (five auspicious liquids), everyone wanted to move to the left of the temple to get a good view. I had a good view. If only I had been more present at the time, to what a blessed experience that was; that special moment in time when I got to witness Srila Prabhupada rendering person service to Sri Sri Gaura Nitai.
The senior devotees told us who were getting initiated, of the necessity to collect daksina for our guru. In Vedic times one would bring fruits and flowers for their guru on their initiation day, and firewood for the sacrificial fire. None of us had means to buy fruits or flowers; and since money was the medium of exchange of the day, it was an appropriate form of daksina. We were to beg some for Srila Prabhupada, as the disciple traditionally does.
The day before the initiation ceremony, I spent some hours going from door to door in Albert Park, in sari and tilak, telling people that I was taking initiation from my spiritual master, and could they kindly give me a donation to offer him. I collected twenty dollars in coins. (Twenty dollars in those days would have been the equivalent of around fifty dollars in today’s economy).
On the 20th of May, I gathered with my fellow initiates in the temple for our initiation ceremony. For the twenty-four of us, it was our special day. We had all bathed and were in brand new robes, because it was necessary to be completely suci to receive initiation. Indeed, it’s proper to be completely clean whenever in the presence of a maha-bhagavat. I had an orange harinama-chada around my shoulders, and applied neat, clear tilak. I plaited my hair in two plaits, one at either side, making sure that the part in the middle was completely straight; and put blue ribbons at the ends of each plait. Receiving initiation from Srila Prabhupada was the most important event of my life and I felt it was necessary to dress up for it. I had made sure that my bead bag was freshly washed and spotless.
(Interesting to note that on my initiation day I was using a clean white bead bag. My siksa-gurudeva whom I was to encounter more than a quarter of a century later, said that the japa bag represents the heart of the sadhaka, which is ideally achromatic and without taint as represented by spotless white. It is my understanding that, metaphysically, the external can affect and reflect the internal and vice versa; thus bead bags are ideally white).
Srila Prabhupada was before us on the rich red, pink and gold vyasasana. He spoke for some time about the glories of the holy name, and the offences against it which we were to carefully avoid. Listening intently, we sat on the cool, newly laid marble floor at his feet.
Here I’ll mention the initiation of Srila Prabhupada’s about which I was blessed to hear from my beloved siksa-guru Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja. He told this anecdote about Srila Prabhupada’s sannyasa initiation: “After the ceremony in which Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja took sannyasa from my guru-maharaja (Srila Bhakti-prajnana Kesava Maharaja), my Gurudeva asked him to speak. He spoke in English, though almost everyone present there could not understand that language. He explained that he was remembering his own Gurudeva’s specific orders to preach in the English language. He said, ‘I feel fortunate to accept sannyasa from my Godbrother, Srila Bhakti-prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja. I have known him for a long time and he is my close friend. He is a very bona-find disciple of our jagad-guru Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and he has now kindly given me sannyasa. Both Narayana Maharaja and Muni Maharaja have also given me inspiration to do this. The order of sannyasa means to preach the mission of Sri Guru and Gauranga everywhere. My Gurudeva instructed me to preach in English in the Western countries and that is why I am writing English articles and books. I am praying to Gurudeva, Krishna and all the Vaisnavas that they should give me the power to preach this mission all over the world.’”
Such was a small portion of the humbleness and greatness of our beloved guru, Srila Prabhupada. His disciples represented the culmination of his life-long ambition; and here we were sitting at his lotus feet receiving the holy name from him in the formal, bona fide, Gaudiya way.
The four Godsisters initiated with me were Jnanamurti, Satyarupa, Mahadevi and Srilekha. There were nineteen men initiated, most of whose names I don’t remember.
Prabhupada was flanked by Madhudvisa on his left and Paramahamsa on his right. The nineteen boys were called up first, one after the other. From my memory, Madhudvisa would call the civilian name of the devotee, who would then stand and approach Srila Prabhupada, and pay his dandavat pranama.
Srila Prabhupada, emanating love and bliss and characterized by gravity, would inspect each initiate as he stood before him. He asked each, “What are the four rules?”
“No meat eating, no intoxication, no gambling and no illicit sex.”
“And how many rounds do you chant?”
“Sixteen rounds a day.”
Then, Paramahamsa who held a list of the new names that he (presumably) had selected on Prabhupada’s behalf, would softly convey to Prabhupada the new name of this particular devotee. Still looking intently at the new disciple before him, in the way of a loving father at his child, Prabhupada held out the new japa mala—on which he himself had chanted—for his disciple to receive. A couple of times a devotee extended his left hand and Prabhupada instructed him to accept his beads with his right hand.
“Your name is … das”.
That was the way by which our Prabhupada gave harinama to his fledging followers. With some of the initiates, Prabhupada would make a little comment of a grave or humorous nature, such as the comment he made about Setukrt dasa’s thin body with ribs showing, “Are you feeding him?”
And after giving Narayana dasa his name and beads he said, “He will go to heaven or to hell in the service of the Lord. That is Narayana dasa.”
After all the nineteen men had received their initiation, the five women followed. I was not first, and from memory, I was the third or fourth girl to be called.
I paid my obeisance in front of Srila Prabhupada and stood to face him. He was smiling gently and his brown eyes were looking into mine. They were deep oceans of compassion and love. I was fixed there, looking into his eyes. I cannot even begin to describe the love I felt conveyed to me from them. It was certainly not the mere love of this world. In that quarter of a minute or so, I got a little glimpse of the trans-physical, transcendental love that guru has for disciple. At the same time I was experiencing my illusion of being a shy, awkward young woman, and the urge was there to remove my gaze, but I thought, I can’t look away from Srila Prabhupada.
I was waiting for him to ask me what the four rules are. But he did not. He handed me my beads. I thought he must have forgotten to ask me the four rules, so I started to stutter them out, “N-no mea…”
Smiling, and moving the hand that held out the beads in a gesture for me to take them, Prabhupada said, “No, it is alright.”
I received my beads from him, remembering to use my right hand, and Paramahamsa softly told Prabhupada the name Bhadra-kali. Still looking at me, Prabhupada declared authoritatively, “This name should be changed”.
I caught a look of surprised acceptance on Paramahamsa’s face, which is why I surmise that it was he who had chosen our names.
Prabhupada continued to look lovingly at me for another few seconds and then said, “Bhadra dasi.”
As I paid my obeisances and sat down, I felt that I could sense the astonishment in the room, that Prabhupada had treated me differently from all the other initiates, in that he had not asked me to say the four rules, nor declare the number of daily rounds I was to chant.
Over the decades I occasionally meditated on why Srila Prabhupada did this with me. Was it to convey to all present that merely declaring the four rules in a formal setting was not really what it’s about, and rather that one has to declare the four rules to ones self and make them one’s own ground rules? Or was it because Srila Prabhupada trusted that I would always follow, so therefore he did not have me recite them?
No, it would not have been that, because over the decades of my life I did not always live by them all. Perhaps it was because Srila Prabhupada knew I was not always going to follow the four rules, so he didn’t make me vow to something I was not always going to do.
Or maybe there was some reason which no one can fathom.
Whatever the case, that was my initiation, and I felt without a doubt that Srila Prabhupada had accepted me, and that he loved me.
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Jnanamurti Dasi This is really amazing writing Bhadra. So much detail, and I've only just skimmed through it, licked the outside of the honey jar, so to speak. I'll read and relish it thoroughly tomorrow. Well done!!! Such an accomplishment. Lots of love xx
3 · 24 мая 2015 г. в 13:14
Bhadra Dasi Thanks, Jnanamurti. I wrote this for you.
1 · 26 мая 2015 г. в 11:17
Bhadra Dasi добавила 7 новых фото — с Vasanti Dasi и еще 9.
20 мая 2015 г. ·
Jnanamurti Dasi and I go back a long way. We joined the temple within five months of each other, lead the rigorous brahmacarini life together, and were initiated by Srila Prabhupada at the same yajna, in Melbourne on 20th May 1975. We went on to share many life experiences. She's one of my oldest and closest friends.
My initiation day, 20th May 1975, Melbourne
Madhavi