My Memories of Srila Prabhupada
The last darsana I had of Srila Prabhupada was in October, 1977, just one month before he left. I had been with the BBT Library Party, which was just winding up its activities in India. We were in Allahabad, when Yagna Prabhu, the party leader, suddenly said, "Let's go and take darsana of Srila Prabhupada." So we drove the whole day and arrived in the early evening in Vrndavana. I was surprised how easy it was to go into Srila Prabhupada's room. There were quite a few devotees there and sweet kirtana was going on. But I was saddened to see Srila Prabhupada's condition. I never expected him to look so weak and thin. If it had been anyone else, it would have been understood that this is a person who is about to leave his body.
Although all his disciples knew that Srila Prabhupada was very ill, most of us never imagined that he was going to leave us. We thought his sickness was some kind of lila and that he would soon recover to lead the movement again. It never even entered our thoughts that Srila Prabhupada would not always be personally there to lead us and guide us.
That evening, Srila Prabhupada asked the devotees to lift him up so he could sit and take something to eat. Before eating he said the whole sarira avidya-jal prayer. Then instead of eating he started lecturing about how the senses are very dangerous. Even though Srila Prabhupada had been preaching all over the world for several years, he was still expounding the most basic point: that we have to control the senses. He spoke slowly but with spiritual power. Years later I came to know that this was the first time he had eaten anything in weeks.
The next morning I left Vrndavana to distribute books in Bengal. We knew that book distribution was very dear to Srila Prabhupada, and we wanted to please him. I never physically saw Srila Prabhupada again.
- From the "My Memories of Srila Prabhupada" by HH Bhakti Vikas Swami
Your Servant In Service Of Srila Prabhupada and Gurudev,
Saci Gaursunder Das (Sachin Kumar Gupta)
Chant:Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.& be Happy
sachin.kguptaa@gmail.com
Comments