Blog

One day, Madhudvisa, now married and living in Hawaii, arrived in Vrndavana. He entered Prabhupada's cool, dark quarters and bowed his freshly-shaven head to the ground. Srila Prabhupada was lying on his bed surrounded by a few disciples. The air was filled with frankincense smoke billowing from a clay pot. Syamananda was sitting on the floor near Prabhupada's feet, gently fanned the glowing coals, simultaneously driving away the insects and freshening the room with an earthy, but sweet fragrance.

Prabhupada was deeply moved to see Madhudvisa. "Don't leave us," he said, feelingly. "You can stay as grhastha, but don't leave us." He spoke to Madhudvisa as his "lost child". Seeing him again gave Prabhupada great hope.

"Mistake there may be," he said, referring to Madhudvisa's fall from sannyasa, "but it can be rectified. Krsna never forgets a person who does a little service."

"You also never forget, Prabhupada," Tamal Krsna said.

Prabhupada's voice, at first tiny and weak, grew in strength. "How can I forget? You have all helped me to execute the mission of Lord Caitanya and my guru maharaja. I always pray to Krsna to give you strength. I am insignificant. I cannot do anything. But I pray to Krsna to give you strength."

Prabhupada recalled his prayers to Radha-Gopinatha in 1971, after he had installed them in the fledgling Sydney centre. "These mlecchas and yavanas, what will they do with the Deity?" he had thought. But on his next visit he saw how nicely they were being worshipped. "Try to do everything nicely," said Prabhupada, "and Krsna will help you. Whatever I have done has been done on this principle. Whatever my guru maharaja taught me, I tried to the best of my capacity to carry out."


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