Blog

Monday, 1 July 1974

Srila Prabhupada took another walk at Melbourne's Botanic Gardens. Prabhupada, his head wrapped in a long orange scarf, alighted from the car and paused briefly on the perimeter road near the entrance to the Gardens. Satsvarupa held a microphone forward to record his words.

Rama Prasad: It was early morning -- dawn actually -- and there was only the barest glimmer of light. Yet so many cars were zooming past on the arterial road nearby. Prabhupada looked towards the city. I recall that his eyes were moist, and that he spoke with great compassion. "They are so unfortunate," he said. "They are working so hard."

We could clearly see that he felt keenly for the suffering souls.

Prabhupada spoke only occasionally during the walk.

Satsvarupa Goswami: I recalled how the Krsna book compared the spiritual master to a waterfall that sometimes flows in the rainy season and sometimes is still. I had once asked Prabhupada what this meant, and he said it means that the spiritual master is not obliged to speak. When he feels inspired, he will speak to his disciple in a relevant way. He would not give the disciple information he is not ready to receive. But he never handles his disciples roughly. He is interested in the disciple's welfare, and therefore he is willing to teach Krsna consciousness according to the disciple's needs.

Prabhupada was like this. He was not obliged. He spoke what we could understand and withheld what we couldn't. He kept us in check by engaging us in service to the Krsna consciousness movement. That service made us happy. We knew we had expert guidance.

Towards the end of the walk, the topic of ghosts came up. Prabhupada recalled his stay as a guest on John Lennon's estate, Tittenhurst, in 1969.

"In London there are so many ghosts," he said with a grin, as the devotees crowded around. "They complained, 'Sir, here in this house, a ghost comes every night', so I advised them to chant Hare Krsna, and the ghost went away."

Wherever there is Hare Krsna chanting, Prabhupada said, the ghostly demonic living entities will not be able to stay but rather will be forced to leave.

"Everywhere there are ghostly living beings. In fact," he said, "non-devotees who show no respect for the pure devotees or the Deity in the temple, are also considered to be ghosts -- although breathing. They are considered dead bodies."

Satsvarupa Goswami: Sometimes people would walk so close behind Prabhupada that, when he stopped suddenly, they caught the back of his shoe or his heel with their foot. He would stop and say, "Do not walk so close". But we always walked packed tightly together around Prabhupada, our faces turned towards him, straining to hear every word.

He would stop suddenly, and everyone else would instantly stop, gathering closer. Prabhupada stopped like that to focus our attention on what he was going to say. It seemed like he was focusing his whole attention too, becoming more intent on his point. We all leaned forward over other people's shoulders, all eyes and ears focused on Srila Prabhupada. It was almost like a huddle, with Prabhupada as the football captain giving instructions and encouragement, and everyone feeling a boost to their team morale. He would say what he wanted to say and again start walking with all of us in tow.

Gaura Mandala Bhumi: I was walking right behind Prabhupada, trying to hear what he was saying. Prabhupada would say something, but being out in the open, it was sometimes difficult to catch. As I was walking along, I stepped on the back of Prabhupada's slipper. Prabhupada turned around to me and said in a matter-of-fact way, "Don't come too close". I thought at the time Prabhupada meant that I should not physically come too close. Of course, he meant that. But at the same time, it also struck me on a more philosophical note that Prabhupada was also telling me: "Don't try to come too close to the spiritual master, or you'll commit offences."


- From "The Great Transcendental Adventure" by HG Kurma Prabhu