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Transcriptions of the Sridhar Swami: Now we've been hearing all the pastimes that are visible, up front and very nicely described in Prabhuapda-lilamrta and other books. Once Hari-sauri, his second volume of his diary, he wrote to a Professor Tom Hopkins, who is a very good friend of ISKCON, been following ISKCON since the mid-'60s and has very good feelings. So he asked him to write a foreword to his second volume, and this was over the phone. I think Hari-sauri was in Alachua, and Tom Hopkins was…he's a professor of the Sanskrit Department somewhere, I can't remember the university. Anyway, Tom Hopkins just laughed and laughed over the phone. He said, "You know, the Christians have a few books about Jesus, and the Muslims have some books about Mohammad. But you Hare Krishnas, you have a book for every day in the life of Srila Prabhupada." So that's good, that's good. Behind the scenes, there was a lot happening here. After Tamal Krsna Goswami took sannyasa in 1974, I believe. No, '72? When was it? '73, '74, somewhere in there. '72 in Jaipur. India was left without a general, without a Governing Body Commissioner. So Prabhupada immediately remembered one of his favorite disciples, who was at that time working in America, an Indian boy who had gone to McGill University and got his Master's degree. I think he was at Sorbonne also in Paris, but very qualified and working for some multinational companies and Prabhupada said, "No, you come to India. I want you to be the Governing Body Commissioner for India," so he came. During this period, he was very much there behind the scenes and working with Srila Prabhupada for Hare Krishna Land and all over India, as he is doing still today. I'd ask His Holiness Gopal Krishna Maharaja to come to the stage. So anybody who would like to come up and fan Prabhupada, you're welcome, it's a wonderful service. Also, all of Prabhupada's disciples have been invited, as I told you yesterday, to Mr. Sethi's house for lunch. So that lunch will be at 1:00. So we'll be finishing up here by 12:00 or so. He's expecting 60 or 70 devotees for wonderful kirtan and wonderful prasada and only the unique pastimes that Mr. Sethi can tell about his relationship with Prabhupada. So we want to leave here by about 12:30, 12:45 to go to Vrindavan, which is in Juhu Scheme. So that's for all the visiting Prabhupada disciples from India and from abroad, etc. OK, thank you. Gopal Krishna Maharaja: Hare Krishna. Om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya, caksur umilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah. My talk is going to be brief. Sridhar Swami and I were talking yesterday, and he mentioned how so many devotees have come from the whole world. So I said we'll be very brief so the devotees who have come from the whole world have a chance to reveal their wonderful pastimes with Prabhupada. Also, I wasn't here in the early days of the Hare Krishna Land struggle in Bombay. I was in America at that time. I started working in India as GBC from March 1975 onwards. So a lot of the wonderful struggle that took place and the austerities that the devotees had to undergo, I didn't really have the fortune to go through this to the same degree. I remember after the first big Hare Krishna pandal in Bombay, the Hare Krishna Movement had created quite a stir in India because Prabhupada came to India with his Western disciples, he did pandals. So after Prabhupada had these huge pandals in Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, they were a hit everywhere. So there was a movie made in India by a famous movie star called Devanand. I believe the movie was released in 1972, and the movie was called "Hare Rama, Hare Krishna." Devotee: "Hare Krishna, Hare Rama." Gopal Krishna Maharaja: No, the movie was called "Hare Rama, Hare Krishna," it's the other way around. I was in America at that time but I had just come to India, and the devotees and others were telling me that "This movie is giving us a bad name." Devotees were concerned because the movie showed that devotees took drugs and then went to chanting Hare Krishna. So I got to meet Prabhupada in Akash Ganga. At that time our temple was in Akash Ganga, and we didn't have the Hare Krishna Land. I told Prabhupada about this movie, that the movie is going to give our movement a bad name, everyone's very concerned. Prabhupada said, "Nothing will be lost. People will hear Hare Krishna and be benefited." Prabhupada was so happy. He said, "As long as people are hearing the Hare Krishna mantra, they will be happy." At that time, I didn't hear anyone mention this earlier, but our Bombay temple was in Akash Ganga and the Pakistani Consulate was also in the same building, isn't that right? One floor below us. And when Prabhupada first came to India, a lot of the Indian media and the Indian government were suspecting that we were CIA agents. So when the war broke out…coincidentally, right after Prabhupada came to India with his Western disciples, there was an India-Pakistan war and our temple was right next to their Consulate. So a lot of people were concerned. They were suspecting that "Oh, maybe the Hare Krishna Movement has some connection to the American CIA." But Prabhupada was not so concerned. Of course, Prabhupada did want us to get cleared from the government agencies. One of the things that we should notice, we've heard a lot of things about Prabhupada's struggle to get the Hare Krishna Land and Prabhupada's commitment to the Radha-Rasabehari Deity, Prabhupada invited the Radha-Rasabehari Deity here and how he promised the Deity that he would build a temple. But another story which is based upon something that Prabhupada told us, that at that time Prabhupada was going to Sumati Morarji's house, which is only two blocks from here, he would pass by the Hare Krishna Land, which was at that time, as you heard yesterday, a big jungle. And at that time, Prabhupada had prayed to Krishna that "If You ever give me this land, I will build a wonderful structure for You." Is that right, Haridasa? So Prabhupada told us later, around '75, that even before he went to America, even before he had the Radha-Rasabehari Deities, he had expressed this prayer internally to the Lord; and because of Prabhupada's purity, as you heard Naranarayana describe so nicely in the earlier session, Krishna eventually fulfilled that desire of Prabhupada. So I came to India in March '75, and at that time the land was fully registered in ISKCON's name, the struggle with Nair and his family was over; but there was another struggle which had started, and that struggle was getting the permission to build. We had the land, but the Police Commissioner would not give us the permission to build because there were several vested interests and there was a local politician who at one time wanted to make a hotel over here. That was the plan to build there because, as you may have noticed, there are a lot of five-star hotels in the neighborhood. Prabhupada tried his best, he met the Chief Registrar, he met a lot of people, but we didn't get the permission. So the first thing that Prabhupada told me when I came to India was that he wanted the Bombay temple to be built in six months, but at that time we didn't have any permission to build. So Giriraja Swami, he was the temple president at that time, and I, we started meeting a lot of important personalities in the Maharastra government, and we met two very pious Maharastrian politicians who took us then to the then Chief Minister of Maharastra. That was a time that they had declared a state of emergency in India in '75 so things were really a little bit more disciplined, but at the same time people were very much more fearful at that time. So we brought these two politicians here to meet Prabhupada also. As we had started the excavation work for the temple area, while digging we had found a plaque; and on that plaque there was an inscription in Marathi, and it established that there was a Hanuman temple exactly at the location, almost exactly at the location where the Sita-Rama altar is today located. So we had preserved that plaque in Prabhupada's apartment, and we had brought two politicians. One was, I remember his name, Mr. Pagay, he was a Sanskrit scholar. He read that Marathi and he concluded that this Marathi script is 500 years old, and he told Prabhupada that this script was 500 years old. Prabhupada was extremely happy to discover that right at the location... Sridhar Swami: It was a Ganesha temple, not Hanuman. Gopal Krishna Maharaja: Ganesha, sorry, Ganesha. OK, Maharaja corrected, it was Ganesha. There was a Ganesha temple right at the same location but there was a temple right at the same location 500 years ago, and Prabhupada was very, very happy to discover that. Also then with the help of the Chief Registrar, he was a somewhat pious man, he overruled the Police Commissioner and we got the permission to start building. We got the permission to start construction around August of 1975, and Prabhupada had given us a target to get the whole building ready in six months. So when Prabhupada came back…he was in Hawaii when we got the permission, and he wrote back saying he was very happy that we finally got the permission to start construction of the land. So then Surabha was the architect. Surabha had just done a wonderful job in Vrindavan, and he had already submitted the plans for the Hare Krishna Land. Actually, Prabhupada wanted a very tall structure here. He wanted a 15-story building, very tall. These two guesthouse towers that you see, the real reason they are five stories tall is because at the time we built this building, the government had a very strict law. Because this temple comes on the same route that the planes take off, so the government permission was we could only build up to five stories. Now they've relaxed it a little bit. But Prabhupada's original idea was to have a real tall skyscraper here. So Surabha drew the designs…I'm just sharing with you all how the final design of this temple evolved…and then he would show it to Prabhupada, and then Prabhupada would make the corrections. So we've heard about many wonderful qualities of Prabhupada, but Prabhupada was also a very gifted architect. Then Prabhupada would give a lot of input, and then Surabha would go back and do his corrections. Now, when he was submitting these plans to the government for approval…because in India you have to get what they call an NOC, No Objection Clearance, before you start any construction. It's really amazing how we got the plans passed because we had so much opposition from so many areas. They went up to the Chief and they took a strong stand to give us the permission, we got the permission officially, still there were some quarters that were opposed to it. So we hired a local consultant, Premnath, as the architect. Actually our architectural work was all done in-house, but we just used him to get the plans approved. In order to get the plans approved, we had to show that the whole structure there was going to be an ashram. So we got the restaurant approved as the prasadam hall for devotees, and it is being used as a prasadam hall today. We got a guesthouse approved as the ashram for the brahmacaris, and the auditorium was a last-minute addition. We got that approved as the venue for our Bhagavatam classes. We had to tell Prabhupada that we were doing all this because that's the only way we could get the plans approved at that time, we had so much opposition from so many sources. Then we started the construction. The construction started, and at first Surabha brought in somebody who had helped him in Vrindavan. But the work wasn't going that fast and, to be honest, Prabhupada really wanted very fast work. He initially had a target of six months, and Prabhupada was… Actually in India, now there were several GBCs before me also. But at least till early '77, Prabhupada was the actual hands-on GBC and the others were his assistants or executors of his decisions. But he made most of the important decisions, especially for the major projects like Bombay, Vrindavan and Mayapur. So we started the construction and every day when Prabhupada was here, Sridhar Swami correct me, he would go every day on site and see the progress of the construction; and after a few months, Prabhupada wasn't really satisfied, we were going very slow. So we had a life member who was the head…no, he was the number two man. He was the number two man in a construction company called ECC, it's a division of another big corporation called Larsen and Toubro. So Giriraja and I went to see that man, his named was Mr. Dheer in Bandra. And Mr. Dheer came on site, he thought his company could do a speedy job, and then we presented the idea to Prabhupada. Prabhupada wasn't really happy at the speed we were going so he said we can go ahead, we can hire this contractor. But then the question was, after we agreed in principle to lining up this contractor, they gave us the cash flow requirement, I think it was seven lakhs a month at that time. It was seven lakhs a month! Seven lakhs! By today's standard, seven lakhs may not be a lot; but in 1975, seven lakhs is today's how much? At least about 70 lakhs a month. So our local collections…and we had the best collectors at that time. Sridhar Swami was in full form, Giriraja Swami was a collector, Chitrakara, Jagat Purusa, many. But still our collections were nowhere near the 7 lakh requirement to get this project completed. So I was with Prabhupada in Madras. We had gone over to Madras, and then we were proceeding to Nellore for a program. I had just spoken to Giriraja and I said that "The contactor is only ready to take on the job if you are ready to guarantee him 7 lakhs a month." And Prabhupada, this Hare Krishna Land was so dear to Prabhupada that he wanted to see this project realized at any cost. So then Prabhupada came up with a brilliant idea. Prabhupada had a solution to every problem. He wrote a letter to Ramesvara and he told the BBT to start sending the money every month. So then, based on Prabhupada's instructions, Ramesvara started helping out and Guru Kripa also did help out, and then this project was built. So a lot of the key decisions were made with Prabhupada's approval. Then when the project was going on, it was Prabhupada's great desire that we open the temple during his lifetime. We had gone to a program in Pune from…actually we had gone to Mahabaleswar. One of our life members, Mr. Malhotra, was offering us…Mahabaleswar is a hill station about three hours away from Pune, and we went to Pune, from Pune we drove down to Mahabaleswar. But there they stuffed Prabhupada with a lot of parathas, they are heavy chapatis, and Prabhupada really felt sick. But Prabhupada was really pressing us to get his quarters completed in time; and then when he was brought back from Pune, from Mahabaleswar, he went to stay over there. He did spend some time in his quarters. So this whole project was built just due to Prabhupada's struggle and dedication. Now, Prabhupada was very concerned about preaching, and Prabhupada used to…before he moved to the new facility, this Building D on the right was his quarters, right on the second floor on the right-hand side. So around December '75 or maybe early '76, Prabhupada's health wasn't so good, he wasn't feeling so well. So we called in an Ayurvedic doctor, and every evening Prabhupada would give darshan to the public at large. So we called a doctor in and the doctor advised Prabhupada complete rest, he said he should not see anyone at all. So Prabhupada's bedroom was behind, and next to that was the sitting room, and in front of that was the secretary's room. So we put signs up everywhere, "Swamiji will not be giving darshan, and you can see his secretary." But Prabhupada was in his room chanting, and even he heard that some people had come up to have darshan. So Prabhupada, he wasn't well, but he heard his secretary tell them, "Today Swamiji is not well so he will not give darshan for a few days." And when Prabhupada heard that these people were being turned back, he called me and said…they were supposed to see me at that time…he said, "No, send everyone in," and he gave them darshan as usual till very late in the night. Then one night at about 1:00 Prabhupada sent for me. Prabhupada was in this building, and in those days Giriraja and I and all used to live in the other building right next door. So Prabhupada sent for me about 1:30 in the night, and he had written a beautiful advertisement that he wanted us to place in all the papers the next day. Prabhupada said, "Everyone says that India is a poor country, so this is my advertisement." The advertisement said, "Come and live with us like us," and the catch word was "like us." "Like us" would imply that you had to conform to a certain spiritual standard. And Prabhupada said, "I invite all the Indians to come here and to stay with me." So Prabhupada wanted us to go to all the newspapers and get them to publicize this thing and put billboards all over the city inviting people to come and live with us like us. Now, at the time I came, Prabhupada's top priority was getting the Bombay temple built and also he wanted to see book production started. As we all know, Prabhupada gave a lot of emphasis to book production and distribution. Before '75 most of our books were being imported, but then we started our own book production around June of '75. So we had arranged…we had a member called Mr. Gupta, I believe, he had a very big bookstore in downtown at Floral(?) Fountain. So we had arranged a very big book display for Srila Prabhupada's books. We had Prabhupada's books in the shop in the window, we had a rack with Prabhupada's books, we had posters designed advertising Prabhupada's books, it was a real big promotion. So we ran this promotion for one month. Now, even after one month it was discovered that not many books were sold, not as many as we had hoped would be sold. So I went to Prabhupada and gave the report. So Prabhupada said, "My books are sold because of the enthusiasm of my disciples, and in these bookstores naturally the salesman are not enthusiastic." Prabhupada was not discouraged, but he made it clear that his books get sold because of the enthusiasm of his disciples. In January of 1976, the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust…the BBT still has its offices on the second floor…the BBT in Bombay had received a letter from [unclear], this is the international agency of the Russian government that imports books into Russia. So the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust-Bombay had received a letter from them saying, "Please give us a catalog, send us a catalog on your books." So I took this letter to Prabhupada and showed Prabhupada the letter; and we had not done any solicitation or any endeavor, it just came out of its own. So Prabhupada was so happy. I think Madhudvisa was talking about Prabhupada going to Russia in those days. So Prabhupada was so happy that we got this letter of inquiry from this agency in Russia asking for our books and he said, "Reply to it immediately," and that's when he told certain people to go to Russia and some people to go to China. But he was extremely happy that the Russian government was appreciating his books, they were inquiring. Then later on, we had participated in a book fair in Russia and the Russian government had given the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust a certificate saying that these Bhaktivedanta Book Trust books…appreciating the books for contributing to world peace. Prabhupada was so happy when he got that certificate that even in his last days on the planet in Vrindavan, he was showing it to everyone because Prabhupada's books were very dear to him. So whenever he would get some appreciation from scholars or government agencies, he would be very, very happy at that. So Srila Prabhupada was very keen that we establish a very high standard here. One of the other problems that we had in India at that time was the taxation thing. In India there's a crazy law and the law of the country is that if you are running any religious activity, then your society cannot be eligible for tax exemption. As I said, Prabhupada was very involved in the decision making on various issues. So at one time we were thinking of setting up a Vedic Research Institute so that we could inspire donors to give donation and get tax exemption benefits. So when we presented this idea to Prabhupada, Prabhupada said, "No, why should we create a Vedic Research Institute? Vyasadeva has done all the research for us. We don't need to do any research," and he completely shot down the idea because he didn't want us to get into anything speculative. So there are so many wonderful pastimes and I must say that it's really a great privilege to be here with so many godbrothers who were here in the early days of the movement and the struggle that they had to go through, not only in Bombay but in all the other cities of India also, to establish the Krishna conscious foundation. It's really wonderful that they've all come here, and I'm sure all of us are enjoying hearing the wonderful pastimes that they had with Srila Prabhupada over here. Hare Krishna. Sridhar Swami: Actually Gopal Krishna Maharaja and I have been working together for the last almost 30 years, since '75. It's wonderful. If you actually want to see a spark of his splendor, then you should while you're here visiting devotees, please visit Delhi. Radha-Parthasarathi Mandir is really spectacular. It's just wonderful. Maharaja will take you on a full tour and multi-media and museum. Also the work of Krsna Prema and Nityatrpta. |