His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami:[invocatory prayers]I remember very vividly the first time I met Maharaja. It was in 1977, very beginning of ‘77, early January in Prayaga, Kumbha Mela. Prabhupada was there and we, from Mayapur, drove in a bus about 35-40 devotees traveled to Prayaga, Allahabad, for the Kumbha Mela there.The next morning after the prasad, Sridhar Maharaja announced that he was going to take the devotees who are interested in book distribution. Kumbha Mela is very, very wonderful place for book distribution because there are not only thousands of people that come, actually literally millions of people come. And most of them are very pious, so it is a wonderful opportunity for distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books.I was just a new devotee, just a few months in the movement. So I raised my hand and expressed my hand to go for book distribution. Sridhar Maharaja was very pleased. He was as we all know, Sridhar Maharaja was very friendly. One of the most friendly persons I have ever met. When he saw I was just a new bhakta, a few months in the movement, who is not very expert in book distribution, he just took me to distribute books.He was pushing me, like, go, you speak Hindi, speak to them in Hindi. Most of the people there were Hindi-speaking, simple villagers. So that is the first time I met Maharaja. From the very first meeting, we became very close to each other. Those days of course, Maharaja was a sannyasi. In those days the sannyasis in ISKCON were something like very special individuals. They were naturally leaders of ISKCON. ISKCON movement those days was very strong, very powerful. Prabhupada was present and the movement was expanding.Maharaja was in a very exalted position as a sannyasi and I was just a new bhakta, but still Maharaja treated me with so much care and affection. That was Sridhar Maharaja. He has always been caring, very friendly, very loving, very welcoming. He never desired any respect for himself. He was very humble. He didn’t have any pretension. That was one thing that was very striking about Maharaja’s characteristics. Although he was a very big leader, very senior devotee, but he always carried himself in a very humble way and never really demanded any respect.And his compassion was very outstanding. I noticed after Prabhupada’s disappearance many Prabhupada disciples left the movement. Not immediately after Prabhupada’s disappearance, but gradually devotees were, for various reasons, they left the movement and gradually drifted away from their practices. Maharaja always whenever he used to go abroad he used to find those individuals and meet with them and try to bring them back. And if they couldn’t come back, he would at least maintain an ongoing relationship with them so that they could at least establish a link to come back when they wanted to. In this way Maharaja brought many individuals, many Godbrothers of ours, back to their active service in the ISKCON movement.He was always very, very concerned about the spiritual life of everyone. Not only devotees, many people, many outsiders and congregation members remember him fondly how Maharaja actually brought them close to Krsna consciousness. In the early days Maharaja was very actively involved in making Life Members. Many such Life Members, due to Maharaja’s influence, became close to ISKCON.One such person actually became my disciple. I always felt that Maharaja should actually initiate them, should have initiated him and his wife. Very nice couple came in contact with Maharaja, Maharaja actually made them Life Members. Then one day Maharaja took me to their house. When the time came for their initiation and they expressed their desire to take initiation, I was insisting that, “Maharaja, you should give them initiation because you have cultivated them.” But Maharaja insisted I give them initiation mainly for some practical reasons. Because Maharaja said that, “Look I’m hardly in Calcutta; I’m mostly in Bombay and you are spending most of your time there.” In this way Maharaja was very concerned about individuals’ spiritual lives, not anything else, especially not his self-aggrandizement.As I mentioned, initially, I had a very reverential attitude towards Maharaja because he was such an exalted sannyasi and I was just a new bhakta. I joined much later. I joined the movement in 1976 and Maharaja was already a sannyasi. But in 1977 Srila Prabhupada gave me sannyasa. So when I became a sannyasi and I tried to maintain that reverential attitude, Maharaja just wouldn’t allow me to do that. He just took me as a friend.He was always pushing, he used to push me that we should do this. All for the spreading of Prabhupada’s mission and the expanding of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtana movement.Bombay and New York were two places where I had a lot of Maharaja’s association. More in New York than in Bombay. I was involved in New York, Maharaja was spending a lot of time in New York. There we had a lot of time together. I used to see how concerned he was about the welfare of our movement, about the expansion of Krsna consciousness movement. He always considered how to bring more people in and engage them. And in his very friendly and jovial and boisterous way Maharaja used to enliven everybody. Especially the newcomers used to become very enchanted by Maharaja’s nature. He was so humorous, so jovial.I remember one incidence in New York. I took one of my acquaintances from Washington and Maharaja used to have one contraption like that would make you hang upside down. [chuckles] So Maharaja put Henry in that. And when you put him upside down, like you lie down in that thing and that contraption swivels and then you hang upside down. Maharaja used to use that for his physical exercise. He used to tell me that it is a very good thing for your body. So when he did that, all of the money in Henry’s pockets fell out. [laughs] He said, “Don’t worry, this is how we collect money from people.” [laughter]We miss him, we miss him a lot, especially when I go to Bombay, each time I go to Bombay. One very important part in Bombay that is missing now is Sridhar Maharaja. Bombay was like his home. Bombay temple was his place of activities. He used to take care of everyone - from devotees to congregation members to guests, young and old. He used to take care of everyone. Our movement is missing out on his input that was so valuable, that was so important.But what to do? This is the reality. One by one we will be leaving. But this movement will go on, the movement must go on and the void that has been created by the disappearance of individuals, very important individuals like Sridhar Maharaja. We have to make the endeavour to fill up that void by acquiring the qualities, the wonderful exemplary qualities that they used to have. That is how we enrich our souls and that is how we will enrich the society. We pray to Maharaja that he blesses us that we can develop a fraction of his wonderful qualities and become a valuable part of this movement as he so wonderfully displayed.Srila Prabhupada has a lot of affection for him because of the wonderful service he continuously rendered. There is no doubt that Srila Prabhupada has blessed him in a most wonderful way. That is why Prabhupada arranged to bring him to this holy Dham of Mayapur. When one leaves his body in these holy Dhams like Mayapur and Vrindavan, he gets his spiritual position in the spiritual sky. And obviously a personality like Srila Sridhar Maharaja has now achieved his position in the spiritual sky at Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet. And it is not ordinary the way he left his body, in a very special place like holy Dham, Mayapur; on a very special occasion, a very special day of Srila Srivasa Thakura’s appearance day; in a very special year when Panca Tattva were established in Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir; at a very special time like bahma-muhurta, the most auspicious time of day. These are all such wonderful indications that he has achieved his spiritual perfection.Srila Sridhar Swami Maharaja ki jai! Jagat-guru Srila Prabhupada ki jai! Gaura-premanande!
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