By HG Srutakirti das
I was fortunate to be with Srila Prabhupada in 1975 when Prabhupada was here in Mayapur for Gaura-purnima in March. And what I wanted to try to do, although it’s not so possible to do, but I am going to try anyway to give just a little bit of an idea of being with Prabhupada and some of the things that Srila Prabhupada was seeing. Not that I know how he was seeing them, but what he was seeing. Because what he did was he traveled around the world in two months at the time. He left Juhu, Bombay, which was a very pet project of Srila Prabhupada’s, that he worked so hard to develop, it is a very wonderful project in Bombay. And he left there June 24th and he was back in Mayapur in less than two months.
In two months Prabhupada traveled around the world and he went to approximately 14 temples in that time. Now, what for me was significant was seeing Srila Prabhupada go from one temple to the next knowing that he was going to be in Mayapur for Gauara-purnima, and seeing so many things. Because what has happened is he had left Bombay and he flew into Japan where he stayed a few days, and then he went to the Hawaii temple, New Navadwip. Hawaii temple was the very first temple in the West Prabhupada named New Navadwip. They were the first temple to have Panca-tattva deities outside of India. So this place is still there, Panca-tattva is still there, Prabhupada’s quarters are there. So he spent time there. Prabhupada said it was one of his favourite places. He described two favourite palces. Sometimes he described other favourite places but he said he liked Juhu and Hawaii very much because they had coconut trees, just like here. So Prabhupada was very fond of dab (coconut drink). He would say, ‘Dab, give me dab.’
So after going to Hawaii and then Los Angeles, he started a very amazing tour and this tour began to take him through Mexico and South America and then through North America. But what I say that was very significant, and I hadn’t seen it so much before, was Prabhupada’s mood when he was in the temple room. Now you can try to imagine. This is not 2008, this was 1975. Prabhupada had spent ten years spreading Krsna consciousness around the world. Previous to that, there was no chanting of Hare Krishna anywhere outside of India. There was no understanding about Lord Caitanya, Panca-tattva, Krishna, all these things didn’t exist. He spent ten years planting this seed of Krishna consciousness everywhere in the world. And now we maybe take these things for granted its so easy, it so nice. Everywhere you go you can see Krishna devotees, you can see the form of the Lord.
But in 1975, by this time there were over 100 temples all around the world and Prabhupada was visiting these temples, some of them for the first time. And when he went to Mexico City there were hundreds of devotees chanting. When Prabhupada was giving class the crowd was like this. There were hundreds of people chanting Hare Krsna in Mexico. And I felt very strongly that Prabhupada was becoming overwhelmed every time he saw Lord Caitanya’s mercy prevalent…he could see it in the numbers of people chanting. And in each temple he would sit down on the vyasasana and he would look onto the altar and there on the altar was Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda standing there smiling and just distributing love of Godhead everywhere. This was Prabhupada’s success.
And Prabhupada would sometimes become overwhelmed in ecstatic feelings seeing devotees in the western world, the land of so many mlecchas. And there I remember one day one lady, and elderly lady she asked, in Spanish, so she asked, at the end there were questions and answers, so she spoke and Hrdayananda Maharaja translated, and she said…because Prabhupada was speaking how important it is at the time of death to remember Krishna…so she said, “Srila Prabhupada, what if at the time of death we remember you?” So Maharaja he translated and Prabhupada he just smiled a little and said,
(soft, humble tone) “That’s alright.” So when I heard that I was very, very happy. To this day it makes me very, very happy to know we just remember Srila Prabhupada even. If we could be so lucky to be serving Srila Prabhupada to the time of our last breath that we can remember him. That would be alright. We have Prabhupada’s guarantee.
So then he went from Mexico city and he went to Caracas, Venezuela. He had never been in Caracas, Venezuela but his disciple were there. There were hundreds of them, chanting Hare Krsna, in 1975. So many wonderful devotees were there. I had lived there for six months the year previous to that so I knew many of the devotees and I was very happy to go back. But as soon as Prabhupada sat down, he looked onto the altar and who was there? Gauranga, Nityananda standing on the altar just showering Their blessings to everyone. Prabhupada just looked at Them and already there were tears in his eyes. Because Prabhupada didn’t think, ‘I am spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world,’ that was not how he thought. He thought, ‘Lord Caitanya He is so merciful,’ so he spoke like that. Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, They are so merciful that They’ve come here to distribute love of God.’
So as he went from place to place and he is approaching Mayapur, he was just so overwhelmed to see that Krishna consciousness was going all around the world. Of course he was giving credit to his disciples, he was giving credit to his spiritual master, to Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur and he was just a humble servant. But we knew, we could understand it was Prabhupada that planted the seed, he watered the seed, and he cultivated all of these seeds, all around the world. With his books he continues to do that.
So he was going to each place. When he was in Caracas he was in the room one day with the devotees giving darshan. It was in the evening and there were mosquitoes. Like in Mayapur we have a few mosquitoes here. So there they also had some mosquitoes. And one of the devotees was looking and he was seeing the mosquitoes were bothering him, but Prabhupada didn’t seem to have any mosquitoes. And he said, “Prabhupada, do mosquitoes…they know you are a pure devotee and they have…they’re not biting you.” And Prabhupada laughed. He said, “Yes. Here the mosquitoes have respect for me. But in Vrindavan they have no such respect.”
Once in Vrindavan he rang the bell. It was 2 o’clock in the morning, he was trying to translate. And he would never ever ring the bell while I was taking rest. He would let me rest. But he rang the bell and when I went into his room, he was sitting in centre of the room just sitting there chanting. He was never sitting just on the floor, he was always behind his desk, translating, speaking, reading. And I came in and offered obeisances, I was asleep and I just looked up and he said, “The mosquito, it has dethroned me.”
But what he was bothered by was, he said, “It is preventing me from doing my translating work.” So it was not that he was just sitting and the mosquito was bothering, but was preventing him from doing his service. So that’s when we got the mosquito net, first time. Just like here behind this seat, we had a big mosquito net around Prabhupada every night, we would put around him. So when he would come in to translate there was no disturbance.
So, from Caracas Prabhupada continued on and then he went to Miami temple. And in Miami he stayed for just one day and one night. And when he arrived, again hundreds of American boys and girls jumping up and down, chanting Hare Krishna. We were jumping up and down because Prabhupada was right in front of us, chanting, playing karatalas and chanting, encouraging us. Sometimes Prabhupada would look and he would go like this (nodding) and then that way he would make you bounce up and down just by his head going like this and then you would just jump up and down. And he would encourage that dancing, ‘Dance for Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityananda.’
Again he looked on the altar and Lord Caitanya was there. And Lord Nityananda was there, and immediately Prabhupada started speaking about how merciful he said, it was Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda. He could see. How merciful was Srila Prabhupada to come to the west and give us this, this Hare Krishna mantra, Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda. And as he was talking to the devotees, so personal, and he said, “Maybe in the future you will worship Radha-Krsna” He said, “But then you have to be very careful because with Radha-Krsna worship you cannot make any offenses.” He said, “Lord Caitanya He is very merciful, He will not even accept offenses.” Imagine how merciful the Lord is, how merciful the Supreme Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu He doesn’t even accept your offenses, but he said, “Radha-Krsna you must be very careful. But if you get Radha-Krsna or not, that’s okay because Radha-Krsna is there within Lord Caitanya.” So then he went on and spoke some more. (See Folio: Arrival Address, Miami February 25th, 1975)
So then, it got sweeter. Each place he was going to it just got more and more sweet. So then he went to Atlanta in the state of Georgia. In Atlanta when Prabhupada arrived, it was a small temple room, and again hundreds of devotees. And Prabhupada went and he sat down on the Vyasasana and the devotees are just crying, laughing, dancing, jumping. And then Prabhupada began to speak. It was not a big temple room so Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityananda were not so far away.
And when Prabhupada began to speak he said, “So we have just come…” and he described, “…we were just Los Angeles and then Mexico City, and then Caracas,” then he looked at me and I said “Miami,” and he said “Yes, Miami, and now we are here.” So he was tracing it everywhere he had been seeing the devotees, the Vaisnavas he had created everywhere in the world. Then he said, “So your temple is the best,” and all the devotees just went into ecstasy. And then he said, I’m going to read this, this was his lecture that day. It won’t take long. So Prabhupada was looking at the deities Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, and he said:
“So, Caitanya Mahaprabhu is very kind. Parama karuna, paha dui jana. Two Lords, Nitai-Gauracandra, Nityananda Prabhu and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.” Now as he was speaking, he was becoming choked up. He wasn’t just speaking. Prabhupada was expressing his emotions about Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda. He was completely overwhelmed and his eyes were filled with tears. And then he said, “They have appeared just to reclaim the fallen souls of this age. So They are more kind than Krsna. Krsna, He is also very kind. He comes to deliver. But Krsna demands that first of all surrender. Caitanya Mahaprabhu even does not demand surrender. He is so kind.”
And he couldn’t speak, but he continued, “So take shelter of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and be happy. Thank you very much.” And at that time he just closed his eyes and as he closed his eyes, tears just shot out of his eyes. I was sitting right here [indicates to the front] and devotees were everywhere. It was the most amazing of all the times I was with Prabhupada, it was the most amazing thing. So he just shut his eyes and the room was completely quiet. Prabhupada didn’t move, no-one moved. I don’t even think anyone was breathing because we didn’t want to make one sound because we could understand Prabhupada was in complete ecstasy. And some minutes went by and then finally Prabhupada lifted his head and said, “Chant Hare Krsna.”
(See Folio: Arrival Address, Atlanta February 28th, 1975) So then the devotees they began chanting. And then Prabhupada gradually began playing the karatalas. So many wonderful things happened there, we don’t have time, we just have a short time to speak.
But one thing I have to tell you that happened there. As I said, Prabhupada was… something I had not experienced so much before… he just had this ecstasy that…it just began escaping from him. He was always in control of that, but it was just happening. So every night I would massage Prabhupada in his room there. For three days he stayed there, his quarters are still there just as when he stayed there. So as Prabhupada was laying down in bed, and he had his head up a little bit on the pillow and I was rubbing his legs and rubbing his feet, so the massage was going on for 10 or 15 minutes.
Prabhupada’s massage in the evening was the most personal intimate tie to be with Prabhupada. The lights were out, the room was dark. There would be some light from wherever, and no-one ever entered Prabhupada’s room while he received his evening massage, no-one ever came into Prahupada’s quarters. So it was just him and his servant. So as I was massaging, Prabhupada all of a sudden said, “I like the cowherd boys very much.” When he would speak in the evening it was nothing but nectar, always nectar. So just continued, never stopped massaging. And he was looking at the picture, big painting on the wall at the foot of his bed and he was just looking into it. So I looked and I realized he was looking and this picture was Krsna and Balarama and They were just young boys, 8 years old, and with Them there were thousands of cowherd boys and calves and they were just in the forest of Vrindavan. So Prabhupada was looking at that. So I am massaging.
Then he said, “Every day Krsna and Balarama They would go into the forest in Vrindavan. Before they would go, Their mothers would make lunches, prepare tiffins for Them.” I’m just shaking my head. Prabhupada is speaking very softly. Prabhupada is just there, right there inside that scene and he is speaking about it. When Prabhupada talked, he would just bring you, he would transport you right there. So he said, “Krsna’s mother Yashoda, she would make very nice tiffin and in it there would be puri, halava, kachori, laddhu. And the other cowherd boys, their mothers were not so opulent so their tiffins would have chapatti, rice, subji, like that.”
And then he said, “Then they would go and they would play all day, and they didn’t have the cows. They are just little boys so they would have the calves. The calves were with them. Then finally they would stop for lunch. Sometimes one of the cowherd boys would steal Krsna’s lunch and begin throwing it around, they would play keep-away with Krsna.” I’m just massaging the whole time. He said, “Finally the cowherd boys they would throw their lunch to Krsna and they would sit down with His lunch and they would eat puri, halava, kachori and laddhu. And Krsna would sit with them and He would eat the rice, chapatia and subji.”
He was smiling so brightly. And then he stopped, and I’m still massaging. Then he said, “I just want to go back to the spiritual world and eat kachori and laddhu with Krsna.” Then he closed his eyes and didn’t say anything more and I just kept massaging. So it was something, very rare experience that I could see Prabhupada was just so much ecstasy seeing everyone becoming Krsna conscious all over the world.
I’ll continue on, he went to Dallas, New York, England, Tehran and then he came here Calcutta and Mayapur in time for Gaura-purnima. So it was a very interesting arrival. He went into his room which was just finished in his quarters here in the Lotus Building. Jayapataka Maharaja was there, Bhavananda, Aitryea Rshi from Iran, myself, a few other devotees. So Prabhupada came in and he was very happy. He saw his quarters, the breeze going through and immediately Prabhupada said, “So the devotees all are situated very nicely? They’re all getting milk?”
Prabhupada always cared so much that we were taken care of, everyone of us. And then Bhavananda said, “Yes Srila Prabhupada, everyone has nice facility nice place to stay. Prabhupada it is your mercy.” Prabhupada said, “No, it is not my mercy, it is the mercy of Bhaktivinode Thakur.” And then Bhavananada said, “Prabhupada, you’ve made such a nice place, there is nice breezes, nice verandahs…” Prabhupada said, “I had some idea, but Krsna He provided all the intelligence.” So again he deflected these compliments as they were coming.
So then Prabhupada said, “It is the mercy of Srila Prabhupada,” meaning his spiritual master Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. And then again the devotees said, ‘Prabhupada it is all your mercy that we are here.’ And Prabhupada said, “Bhaktivindode Thakur predicted that someone would come who would spread Krsna consciousness all around the world. Perhaps I am that person.” The only time Prabhupada ever said ‘perhaps’ or ‘maybe’ is when he would give us a little hint of who he was. Then he would say ‘maybe.’ Like he said, “Perhaps my father knew,” because his father would do anything he wanted, his father would give him. So he said, “Perhaps my father knew,” but that’s all he would say. He wouldn’t go into any detail, he wouldn’t glorify himself, you just had to understand.
So in that way he said, “Perhaps I’m that person.” And as soon as he said it as said, “So have you planted banana trees here in Mayapur?” He completely changed the subject, he wouldn’t even allow us to discuss it. He started talking about planting banana trees and mating a jersey cow with a surabhi cow, he just went off into all these practical details that he wanted done here in Mayapur. So he wouldn’t let us go. But we know, everyone knows, and we should tell everyone around world that Srila Prabhupada is that person that Bhaktivinode Thakur predicted would bring people from all over the world.
In five minutes if you walk from one building to the next, you will gear 20 different languages in the course of five minutes. So Prabhupada is that person who bought everyone here. And he is seeing Lord Caitanya doing this. So Lord Caitanya, He sent Srila Prabhupada here. We all know this, this is not difficult to understand.
So the next day Prabhupada goes into the temple room and again he sees Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityananda on the altar and again he began speaking about how merciful They are. And in the course of the lecture again Prabhupada went into ecstasy on the vyasasana and just couldn’t say another word, he just stopped. And there was complete silence. Hundreds of devotees, everyone from the west, 500 devotees, and 3 or 4 Bengali devotees, 3 or 4 devotees from Bombay, but everyone was from America, South America, Europe. He had bought them all here.
So then behind Prabhupada there was a sannyasi and Prabhupada was completely quiet. You could hear as they say, a pin drop. No one was even chanting on their beads because their bead would make noise. This is how appreciative we were to be in that atmosphere of ecstasy. We all felt various degrees of ecstasy because it was flowing from Srila Prabhupada. But all of a sudden this devotee, ‘Nama om vishnupadaya…” and he started a kirtan. And Prabhupada opened his eyes. So the kirtan went on, so then we had kirtan. So then after the kirtan, I am going up to the room, up the stairs into Prabhupada’s quarters, Brahmananda was his secretary, and Prabhupada went inside, Brahmananda Maharaja and myself, there was this big discussion outside with different sannyasis, GBCs, temple presidents, about what had happened at the kirtan.
So some devotees were saying, ‘We should have just been quiet, what are we doing? Why did he start chanting? Prabhupada was in ecstasy we should just be quiet.’ And there was another group that said, ‘No, chanting Hare Krishna is always correct. We should chant Hare Krishna, that’s ok.’ So that diversity was there, different opinions coming from different devotees.
So Brahmananda as the secretary, what else could we do, he said, ‘Well I’ll ask Prabhupada.’ So Brahmananda Maharaja and myself we go into Prabhupada’s room and we offer obeisances. And here is Prabhupada he is sitting on a cushion on the floor in his room in Mayapur as he did everywhere in the world. He just sat on a cushion on the floor with a little desk in front of him. So he is just sitting there and he is chanting japa. We come in and offer obeisances and Prabhupada looks up. He hasn’t called us so he is looking with an inquisitive face. I just sat beside him because I thought it was all rather funny.
Brahmananda is trying to think of what to say and he says, ‘Prabhupada, do you know this morning in the temple room, you went into ecstasy,’ and Prabhupada is just looking at him. So he said, ‘We’re having a discussion and we are trying to understand when you go into ecstasy on the vyasasana, what should we do?’ Prabhupada is looking at him and he said so humbly, ‘I don’t do that very often.’ I’m just sitting there and I’m thinking ‘This is really just bizarre.’ Then Brahmananda said, ‘Yes, Srila Prabhupada but like this morning when it happened and that devotee was chanting Hare Krishna, started kirtan and chanting, so…’ and before he could say anything Prabhupada said, ‘It’s not such an important thing.’
‘Yes, but if it happens, what should we do? Should we just sit there or should we chant?’ Prabhupada said ‘Chant Hare Krsna.’
‘Thank you Prabhupada.’
So that was the conclusion. Of course, I was very much in favour of just sitting there, even if it meant we had to sit there for hours. It was just so wonderful seeing Prabhupada do that in our presence, expose himself in that way. It’s something so rare, such rare moments in being with Prabhupada.
So as I said, this discussion was there, so many other discussions but I’m going to have to stop so Maharaja can speak. What I wanted to offer was……that these differences, so much diversity…we spoke here about unity in diversity. So as many disciples as there are, as many GBC as there are, so many different ideas how to spread Krsna consciousness, how to relate to one another, how to do so many other things, how to care for each other. The one thing I see that gives us unity, still to this day is Srila Prabhupada. We cannot be unified………(aside: Thank you) Maharaja said I can speak until
10.30.… it is Prabhupada that unifies us. It’s always Prabhupada that unifies us. As soon as you go into the temple room we offer our obeisances to Srila Prabhupada on the vyasasana. Then we greet the deities and we offer our obeisances again to Srila Prahbupada on the altar. So he is there for all of us. He is not exclusive. This is his society, he is the Founder-acarya and he has so many disciples he has empowered to give initiation, to increase the generations. But we all have the ability to taste the nectar that comes from Srila Prabhupada’s lotus mouth.
When I become his servant everyday I would go into Prabhupada’s room so many times, every day, and from the beginning sometimes I would go into Prabhupada’s room and he would be reading his books. And he would read his books and you would get the same sensation as if we were reading his books. He didn’t have a pen or paper, he wasn’t editing them to see if this is right, that was right, he was relishing these books.
So one day I went in, I been his servant for just a month, 1972 I was 21 years old. He was reading Bhagavad-gita. At this time there was only half a dozen books. First Canto Srimad Bhagavatam was there, Nectar of Devotion, Krsna Book, Bhagavad-gita As It Is….and Prabhupada was reading Bhagavad-gita and he rang his bell so I went in. And I offered obeisances and sat up, and he is holding his book, he has his reading glasses on and he just looks at me. I said, ‘Yes Prabhupada.’
And he said, ‘If you just read this one book, you can become Krsna conscious.’
‘Yes Prabhupada.’
‘You don’t have to read so many books, hundreds of books, this book is so nice, this Bhagavad-gita As It Is, is so nice, if you just read this one book and understand, you can become Krsna conscious.’
‘Yes Prabhupada.’
‘You don’t have to read so many books.’ And then he put his head down and just continued reading. Bhagavad-gita. That was it, he was finished, that’s why he called me in.
When I was with Prabhupada, most of the time he would talk to me I never felt like he was talking to me, I just thought he was speaking. I don’t know why because he was always talking to me because I was right there and he was talking to me very personally. But because I was very foolish and didn’t get that but I felt like he was on the vyasasana giving class, that’s how I felt many times, that he was giving a lecture and he was just talking about Krsna consciousness, not that he was directing it to me. But of course he was. So anyway, I offered obeisances and left.
So several months go by and one afternoon Prabhupada’s in Los Angeles and he rings the bell. So I run into the room and offer obeisances and sit up. He is sitting behind his desk and he is reading Nectar of Devotion, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, translated and commentary by Srila Prabhupada. And he is reading it, his book! Prabhupada is reading his books. Everything he told us to do, that’s what he was doing. He was reading his own books. So I came in and he just looked at me and he said, ‘This Nectar of Devotion is so nice. If you just read this one book you can become Krsna conscious.’ I am speechless, I’m just nodding my head, not even saying anything. ‘This book is so nice.’
Prabhupada is reading it, he is relishing his book like I don’t understand at all to this day. Then he said ‘You don’t have to read any other books, just read this book.’ He knew I wasn’t reading so he kept trying to get me to read something. He said, ‘Just this book, if you read it you can become Krsna conscious. It is so wonderful. Everything is in here. Just read this one book.’ He kept saying, ‘You don’t have to read anything else, just this book.’
‘Yes Prabhupada.’
And then he put his head down and then I could understand now I should go. So I offered obeisances and I left.
Another year goes by. Prabhupada is reading every day, every other day. He is translating every day, every morning, he is reading every day, doing bhajans in his room, playing harmonium, he is a devotee, Krsna’s very dear devotee and friend. So another year goes by, I’ve been with Prabhupada for over two years. He rings his bell and I go in and offer obeisances. He has his reading classes on and he is reading Krsna book. And he looked up at me and everyone knows what he said:
‘This book is so nice. If you just read this book you can become Krsna conscious, just by reading this one book. You don’t have to read so many books, dozens and dozens of books, hundreds of books, just this book, Krsna book. It’s so wonderful. If you just read it and try to understand, you will become Krsna conscious.’
‘Yes Prabhupada.’
‘You don’t have to read so many books. Just this book.’ He is showing me the book. Just me. I’m sitting three feet in front of him and he is just giving me this opportunity. He said, ‘You don’t have to read any other book. Just read this one book.’ And he kept looking at me. He didn’t put his eyes down, he just kept looking at me and I’m going, ‘Yes Prabhupada.’
And he said, ‘You don’t even have to read the whole book. Just one chapter. If you just read one chapter of this book you can become Krsna conscious.’
‘Yes Prabhupada.’ I didn’t know what to do. But he kept looking at me. He didn’t put his head down like the two other times in the past two years, he kept looking at me. And he looked up and said, ‘You don’t even have to read the whole chapter. Just one page,’ and he put his hand, his finger, up and down, ‘Just one page. If you just read one page you can become Krsna conscious.’
‘Yes Prabhupada.’
And he is looking at me, he didn’t take his eyes off me. He kept looking, and he said ‘You don’t even have to read the whole page. Just one line. Just one line of this book, if you read it you can be Krsna conscious. You don’t even have to read the whole line. Just one word. If you pick up this book and read just one word, you can be Krsna conscious. Because Krsna is in every word.’ Haribol. (applause) So then he put his eyes down and he continued reading.
So this is what Srila Prabhupada has given us. Imagine. He has us this book, Krsna book, Bhagavad-gita, all of Srimad Bhagavatam, all of Caitanya Caritamrta, so many books he has given us to read. This is Srila Prabhupada’s legacy. This is where Srila Prabhupada lives for all of us. We all have this ability. Just like I was sitting there. This is what Prabhupada wants from every one of us – sit down, read these books very carefully and you can become Krsna conscious. And if you can’t read all of them, just pick one book and sit down with it and become Krsna conscious.
In an airplane he was reading his Bhagavad-gita As It Is and he turned to Pradyumna and I and said, ‘Who reads their own books? Who do you know who reads their own books? No-one reads their own books. When an author makes a book he puts it down. He reads other people’s books. He doesn’t read his own book once its finished. But here I am reading this Bhagavad-gita As It Is. Why?’
He was on the airplane going to the next temple, and we looked…he said, ‘Because these are not my words. They’re Krsna’s words.’ So this is Srila Prabhupada. Everything he gave us is just coming from Krsna, directly in his books.
I want to thank everyone for giving me the opportunity to speak. I want to thank Jayapataka Maharaja, Bhakti Purusottama Maharaja, all of my Godbrothers, Godsisters, all of the assembled devotees to be able to come here in Mayapur. This is the first class I’ve ever given in Sridham Mayapur so I was so happy that it could happen today. Thank you very, very much. Srila Prabhupada ki jai! Hare Krsna.
Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=5595
