Blog

July 17, 2010, Carpinteria, California

Hearing the news of Aindra Prabhu’s sudden departure was a great shock, and I could feel what a great loss it was for us all. He was a dear friend and well-wisher of all, and through his kirtana he gave shelter to devotees throughout the world. Ultimately, he gave protection and life to the whole planet.

I think of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, who preached vigorously in Bengal and fought against many deviant sects. Later, he became discouraged because the deviant groups he had fought to expose, who had taken a step back due to his bold preaching and clear explanations, were coming back again. He had a dream in which Caitanya Mahaprabhu told him to proceed to Jagannatha Puri and establish a bhajana-kutira near Haridasa Thakura’s samadhi and just chant the holy names. His chanting there, Mahaprabhu told him, would purify the whole world.

So, I was thinking how Aindra Prabhu, just by residing in Vrndavana and doing kirtana with the consciousness he had, was actually accomplishing just that: purifying the whole world. He was giving shelter to people everywhere, whether they were aware of it or not. Many devotees themselves did not realize until Aindra left how much he meant to them or to the movement or to the planet. He was such a fixture in Vrndavana that one could take him for granted, assume that he would always be there. And he was always there, in the same place, doing the same thing, even looking the same. He never seemed to age. He was such a constant presence in Vrndavana, in the Krsna-Balarama temple, in the twenty-four hour kirtana, that I for one never imagined what the kirtana or the temple or Vrndavana would be without him, what life would be without him. He was like the oxygen we breathe. It is always there, so we don’t think about it. But it gives us life.

After his departure I began to realize the magnitude of the loss. Through his kirtana he was able to engage so many young men and transform their lives. The first one I noticed was Madhava from Mauritius. Madhava really found himself when he went to Vrndavana and joined Aindra in the twenty-four hour kirtana. He really found himself as a devotee, as a human being, and as a kirtaneer, and now he goes all over the world singing kirtana based on the inspiration and training he got from Aindra. And there are many others. Akincana Krsnadasa also sat and learned from Aindra in Vrndavana, and now he, too, travels and performs kirtana all over the world.

Varun Gogna is another young devotee whose life was transformed by his experience in the twenty-four hour kirtana with Aindra in Vrndavana. Varun is amazing, and hearing about Aindra Prabhu I get a sense of how much Varun got from him. Varun lives in a regular home in London, but he brought in wood and cow dung and various mementos from Vraja and made his room like a bhajana-kutira. And he can be absorbed in Krsna—in kirtana and Deity worship and katha—for the whole day. He can just sit in his room and do nothing but chant, listen to tapes, worship his Deities, and talk about Krsna consciousness. He was extremely attached to Aindra Prabhu and had a very special relationship with him.

For years Varun wanted to be initiated by Aindra, but Aindra would always refuse to initiate him (or anyone else). A few months ago, Varun asked Aindra to chant on his beads. “I can do that,” Aindra said, and he chanted on his beads for the whole day—at least sixty-four rounds. After Aindra returned the beads, Varun said, “Can you give me a spiritual name?” But Aindra replied, “Don’t try to trick me!”

Varun’s father, Ramanuja Prabhu, has taken up the service of producing and broadcasting Krsna conscious programs on the television, and Aindra Prabhu had the desire that his kirtana should go on a prominent station in India, called Astana. So Ramanuja approached them, and they were interested. They agreed to air his kirtanas, but they just needed to find a slot. Aindra was eager that his kirtana be broadcast throughout India every day. Although he was very deep in his internal meditation on service to Radha and Krsna in Vrndavana, he was also very merciful to the conditioned souls, wanting them to get the great treasure of the holy name. He was a simple sadhu in Vrndavana, but he was also aware of what was happening in the world and of the possibilities that technology offered for propagating the holy name, and he wanted to use every resource available to deliver Krsna consciousness.

Aindra Prabhu’s departure is a great loss. No one will be able to replace him. But we also remember Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s inscription for Srila Haridasa Thakura’s samadhi:

He reasons ill who says that Vaisnavas die,

When thou art living still in sound!

The Vaisnavas die to live, and living try

To spread the holy name around.

Still, as Braja Sevaki has so beautifully written, there is a hole now in the kirtana cloud, and that hole will never be filled in exactly the same way. We’ll have to try somehow—devotees will have to try somehow to fill that gap.

One devotee in Mumbai, Narottama dasa Thakura dasa, has made the point that devotees express their bhakti, their love for Krsna, for guru, for humanity, in different ways in different services. Aindra Prabhu expressed his through kirtana. Others may express theirs through cooking, through book distribution, through writing, through serving others, through preaching, through Deity worship, through farming, or whatever. Not everyone can exhibit the same kind of staunch personal austerity and discipline that Aindra did. Very few can. But if we can imbibe his mood of complete dedication and absorption in whatever we do in Krsna consciousness, in whatever way we can express our desire to serve and longing for service, that will be our success. As Narottama wrote, “Any of us, seemingly ordinary, can become extraordinary by becoming deeply absorbed in prayer, in devotion, in service, in surrender, in kirtana, in moving more in step with our teacher, preceptor, guru.”

I think of what may have been His Holiness Sridhar Swami’s last instruction to me: “Just be yourself and make your own contribution.” Aindra Prabhu had the potency to stay in one place and affect the world. But there are others who travel and in that way—or in so many other ways—affect the world. The real point is the intensity of purpose—letting go of everything else, letting go of petty, mundane attachments, and focusing on our goal.

Another beautiful thing in Aindra Prabhu’s message is that this particular mantra, the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, is Radha-Krsna. It is Radha-Krsna yugala, and just by chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra—Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare—one is associating with Radha and Krsna in Their pastimes. That is the special feature of the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya, the followers of Caitanya Mahaprabhu—to serve Radha and Krsna in Vrndavana—and that is realized by chanting the sixteen words of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra with attention, with devotion, with intensity.

In his internal meditation Aindra Prabhu was in the mood of Vraja, madhurya—the sweet pastimes of Radha and Krsna and Their associates. And his external activities were an expression of the mood of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, audarya—the generous distribution of Krsna consciousness—especially through nama-sankirtana and transcendental literature. And feeling separation from him enhances our appreciation of both him and the practices of devotional service—hari-puja, hari-katha, and hari-nama-sankirtana.

We are only beginning to appreciate Aindra Prabhu’s contribution on so many different levels, and as we do so, we will more and more appreciate the magnitude of the loss. But we have his legacy—his example, his kirtana, his message.

We have a lot to learn from Aindra Prabhu. I pray that the feelings his departure has awakened in us, or elicited from us, will continue, that his concern and care for us will be realized in our continued efforts to fulfill that ideal of internally relishing the holy name in meditation on Krsna and externally extending the mercy of the holy name to others.

Hare Krsna.