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Srila Prabhupada had a godbrother named Akincana Krsnadasa Babaji, whomPrabhupada said was a paramahamsa, a liberated soul. Babaji Maharajaapproached another godbrother of Prabhupada's, who had been sent by SrilaBhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura to England to preach but who didn't reallyhave much effect and then came back to India, and said to him, “You went tothe West, and Swami Maharaja [Bhaktivedanta Swami--because SrilaBhaktisiddhanta's disciples also refer to their guru maharaja as “SrilaPrabhupada”] went to the West. You presented the teachings of Lord Caitanya,and Swami Maharaja presented the teachings of Lord Caitanya. You introducedthe Hare Krsna maha-mantra, and Swami Maharaja introduced the maha-mantra.But Swami Maharaja was tremendously successful, and you hardly achievedanything. What is the reason?” Then Babaji Maharaja himself gave the answer:“Because Swami Maharaja had full faith in the holy name of Krsna, and youdidn't.”

This is a very powerful statement, a most significant point. Prabhupada hadfull faith in the holy name, and with that conviction he came to the West,gave us the holy name, and encouraged us to chant.
Earlier, another godbrother, Dr. Oudh Bihari Lal (O. B. L.) Kapoor,initiated as Adi Kesava dasa, had met Prabhupada in Mathura. Ingrhastha-asrama Srila Prabhupada had been a chemist, or pharmacist. Dr.Kapoor asked him, “You are a chemist; you know many formulas. Do you knowthe formula for developing love of God?” Srila Prabhupada answered, “Yes, Ido.” Dr. Kapoor replied, “Can you tell me what it is?” And Prabhupada said,“Yes. Trnad api su-nicena, taror iva sahisnuna/ amanina mana-dena,kirtaniyah sada harih.” Srila Prabhupada's faith in the holy name was therefrom the beginning. It formed the basis of his journey to the West and hisservice to his spiritual master and to all of us.

At Srila Prabhupada's sannyasa initiation ceremony in Mathura, while thepriest was conducting the fire sacrifice and reciting various mantras,Akincana Krsnadasa Babaji was chanting the holy name. He really relished theholy name. (One night, on Ekadasi, His Holiness Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Swamitook me to meet him. He was sitting in the courtyard of some ashram. It wasvery dark--maybe there was a bare light bulb in a corner--and he was justchanting japa and relishing. Clearly, he was tasting, savoring. He was trulydrinking the nectar of the holy name.) So, during an interlude in theceremony, Krsnadasa Babaji led kirtana, and when the time came to resume theceremony with the recitation of mantras, the priest gestured to him, “Youmay end the kirtana now.” But when the priest returned to the ceremony,Prabhupada discreetly gestured to Babaji Maharaja, “Keep chanting. Keepchanting.” And Babaji Maharaja, while telling the story, commented, “Then Iknew he would be the world leader of the Hare Krsna movement.” SrilaPrabhupada had that deep faith in the holy name.
Soon after I joined the Boston temple, the devotees there faced a financialcrisis. At that time the devotees didn't regularly performhari-nama-sankirtana or distribute books in the streets. They just hadevening programs in the temple on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and thelove feast on Sunday afternoons. Prabhupada had said that if the devoteesneeded to, they could get jobs. Satsvarupa dasa, the temple president, was asocial worker, and his paycheck from the welfare department was the onlyincome the temple had. But as the art department grew and more devoteesjoined, that income became insufficient.

The devotees, who were very surrendered, had a meeting. One devotee,Patita-pavana, said that he had worked for the post office before he joinedand so he could get a job with the post office. Another said that he knewthe grocer down the street and might be able to get a job in the grocerystore. Devotees volunteered to help in whatever ways they could. Then onedevotee, Nanda-kisora, raised his hand. He was very humble--all the devoteeswere, but he was really very humble. He recalled a letter from SrilaPrabhupada. All of Prabhupada's letters were taken as important documents,instructive for everyone. Whenever a letter came, all the devotees wouldgather round, the addressee would open and read it, and everyone wouldlisten. So, Nanda-kisora quoted a letter from Srila Prabhupada: “If you justgo on sankirtana, all of your problems will be solved--spiritually andmaterially.” And everyone agreed: “Yes, this is what we should do.”

The next day we went out on the streets. We chanted--we didn't even havecopies of Back to Godhead to distribute--and asked people for donations.Then we came back, counted up the laksmi, and found that we had collectedseven dollars. In those days, seven dollars was something. The prospectslooked promising, and we decided to try the same process the next day. So,we went out, perhaps with even more enthusiasm and conviction, came back,and counted up: twelve dollars. I thought, “This is getting good. WhatPrabhupada said is true.” We went out the third day, came back and countedup nineteen dollars. Then we had no doubt, and we would go out every day.What Prabhupada had said was true: “If you chant Hare Krsna, all yourproblems will be solved--materially and spiritually.” He had that faith.

Eventually we moved from the small storefront at 95 Glenville Avenue to abig mansion, 40 North Beacon Street. It was the first property that ISKCONowned, that the devotees purchased. Srila Prabhupada was very enthusiasticand said that the press should move from New York to Boston. The devoteesbegan to print Prabhupada's books, and one of the first was Easy Journey toOther Planets. He guided every aspect of publication, including thepresentation of the books. He gave the titles and at least in this case toldus what he wanted on the cover: One part was to be the materialuniverse--outer space with different stars and planets--and the other partwas to be the spiritual sky, with some Vaikuntha planets, mainly GolokaVrndavana with Radha and Krsna. And he wanted a devotee flying through spacefrom the material universe into the spiritual sky, with dhoti, kurta, sikha,and japa-mala. The cover was meant to depict the theme of the book, that bybhakti-yoga, by chanting japa, one can travel beyond the material universeto the spiritual sky, to Goloka Vrndavana. The chanting is our ticket backto Godhead. Later, when the devotees showed Prabhupada the cover, he waspleased and said, “Yes, by the beads.” Chanting the holy name has suchpotency. Srila Prabhupada had that faith.
Then Srila Prabhupada and some disciples went to India, and there hesurprised us. We began doing hari-nama-sankirtana, as we did in the West,but eventually Srila Prabhupada stopped us. He said that we should not dostreet sankirtana too much because in India beggars take to the streets andchant to solicit money, and he didn't want people to think we were beggars.He introduced the life membership program, which he said was designed todistribute his books. And he encouraged big pandal programs, which he called“Hare Krishna Festivals.” The first was held in Bombay, and the second wasto be in Calcutta. Calcutta then was under the sway of the Communist Partyand a group of communist youth called Naxalites, whose program was toterrorize rich people. They would kidnap the sons of rich families anddemand large ransoms. Sometimes they would just shoot rich people dead inthe street. It was a terrible situation, and at that time many of thewealthier people actually left Calcutta and moved to Delhi and other places.

In this climate Srila Prabhupada wanted us to organize a big pandal, and hesent Tamal Krishna Goswami and me from Bombay. Before the pandal began,Prabhupada received a letter, “Fly or die.” It sounds overdramatic, butwhoever sent the note cut the letters out of the newspaper so no one couldtrace the typewriter, pasted them on paper, and sent it. The day before thepandal there was a press conference. The mood of many of the reporters wasaggressive. One reporter challenged Prabhupada, “What is this pandal programgoing to accomplish? You could spend the money to help poor people.”Prabhupada replied, “What will it accomplish? It will accomplish hearing.People will get a chance to hear.” Then he said, “This whole hugearrangement has come from hearing. I went to the West and spoke, and someyoung people heard me, and because they heard me, now they have come andarranged this big program.” Srila Prabhupada, always fearless, persisted inhis mission.

It was the tradition in pandals that most of the ground was covered withdaris (Indian carpets), with chairs for special guests on the side. In ourpandal the chairs were reserved for invited VIPs, life members, and anyonewho paid a rupee. So, on the first night, just as the program was beginning,a group of Naxalites raised a big ruckus: “Why do some people get to sit onchairs and other people have to sit on the ground? Everyone should sit onthe ground.” They were looking for an excuse to pick a fight. WhilePrabhupada was on the stage with the Deities and disciples, these Naxalitesbegan shouting and hollering, deliberately making a disturbance. Then theytook some of the folding chairs we had set up and began to clap themtogether, to make noise and disrupt the program. The situation was reallytense, because these Naxalites could do anything; they could become violent.We didn't want to provoke them further, but at the same time, unless theystopped, Srila Prabhupada wouldn't be able to speak, because they weremaking such a commotion.

We all were looking to Prabhupada--What would he do? Suddenly he bentforward toward the microphone, and . . . he began to sing: “Govindamadi-purusam tam aham bhajami.” He sang the Govindam prayers, and somehow thewhole disturbance subsided. The young men put down the chairs and quietlyleft. It seemed miraculous.
The next pandal program was in Delhi, and there Srila Prabhupada got aninvitation to go to Madras. But he was planning to go to Vrndavana, takinghis disciples there for the first time. Still, he wanted someone to go toMadras. No one wanted to go; everyone wanted to go with Prabhupada toVrndavana. Somehow I had the idea that the secret of success in Krsnaconsciousness was to follow the order of the spiritual master and pleasehim, so I volunteered.

In Madras I was alone for much of the time. I kept asking for help, but itwas hard to get devotees. In any case, while I was there a song came out. InSrila Prabhupada's purports he sometimes mentions cinema songs, which arethe most popular in India. The refrain of this song (I don't know all thewords) was “Dam maro dam . . . Hare Krsna Hare Rama. Hare Krsna Hare Rama.Hare Krsna Hare Rama.” We didn't have a center in Madras then; I was juststaying with different people. Because I kept hearing the song, I finallyasked my host what the translation was. I don't know if he misunderstood theactual meaning or was just being polite, but what he said was, “With everybreath that I take, Hare Krsna Hare Rama”--which sounded very nice. So for awhile we were in the illusion that that was what the song meant. Eventuallywe found out what it really meant: “With every puff that I take, Hare KrsnaHare Rama.”

From Madras we went to Calcutta, and there the movie that featured this songwas playing. We didn't really know what the movie was, but in those days inAmerica whenever the musical or the movie Hair would show, devotees would dohari-nama-sankirtana in front of the theater and distribute books, becauseHair featured a song with the full Hare Krsna maha-mantra. So we thought,“Oh, the movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna will be a great opportunity.” So wehad hari-nama and distributed books outside the theater. But when most ofthe customers had entered the theater, I thought, “Let me steal a peek. Letme see what this movie is.” So I went inside, just as it was about to begin.It was very impressive on a big screen, with loud amplifiers. The film beganwith shots of the ocean, the waves of the ocean on the shore. The narrator,with a deep, resonant voice, intoned, “For centuries India's spiritualculture remained within the shores of India, but one man . . .” --then itshowed a picture of Srila Prabhupada--“took India's spiritual culture acrossthe ocean.” Then it showed the London Ratha-yatra, so dramatic on the bigscreen, and I thought, “Wow! This is amazing!” And then it showed a bunch ofhippies smoking ganja and hashish and chanting Hare Krsna Hare Rama. Theywere dressed just like hippies, with boys and girls mixing. It was reallybad--the theme of the movie was that Srila Prabhupada was degrading thesacred Indian culture by giving it to hippies who were just misusing it,chanting Hare Krsna Hare Rama and smoking dope and indulging in free sex andeverything else.

That was a blow. Later, Srila Prabhupada said the government was behind thefilm, because they were afraid that our movement would become too popularand they wanted to turn people away from it. Communists in the governmentalso started rumors that we were CIA. It was the same type of thing. Theyknew we weren't CIA, but they spread rumors about us because they didn'twant people to take to Krsna consciousness. They thought that spiritual lifewould keep the people down. Actually, they wanted to keep the people down.
Anyway, now we come to the point--Srila Prabhupada's faith in the holy name.Prabhupada said, “In the long run the film will actually help us, becauseeventually people will forget the dam maro dam and just remember the HareKrsna Hare Rama.” And it came true. From Calcutta I went to Bombay, andespecially the street urchins there--so many street urchins stand at cornersand beg or sell magazines--whenever they saw us they would gather around usand put their hands to their mouths, as if they were smoking chillums withcharas (hashish), and sing, in a mocking way, “Dam maro dam, dam maro dama .. .” Most of the time they wouldn't even get to the “Hare Krsna HareRama”--just “Dam maro dam.” It was like a plague. Wherever we went theselittle kids would surround us and taunt us: “Dam maro dam.”

It went on like that for some time, and it was difficult. Then after maybe ayear of the song playing--it was extraordinarily popular--the emphasisshifted. The two parts--the “Dam maro dam” and the “Hare Krsna Hare Rama”--became equal. And eventually, just as Prabhupada had predicted, the “Dammaro dam” dropped out altogether. It was a mundane sound vibration and hadno real attraction. But the Hare Krsna Hare Rama was transcendental andever-fresh. After the “Dam maro dam” dropped out, when people saw us theywould simply smile and say, “Hare Krsna, Hare Rama.” That came to pass.

Soon, Srila Prabhupada took up the Juhu project. That's a whole history, butafter Srila Prabhupada's first stay and public program there, while he andthe devotees waited in the exclusive VIP lounge at the airport beforePrabhupada's departure, there was an uproarious kirtana, ecstatic chantingand dancing. And Prabhupada said, “If you go on having kirtanas like this,our project will be successful.”

Srila Prabhupada named the project Hare Krishna Land. Once, he was in hisroom at the back of the property, and he was hearing the kirtana from thesmall temple at the front, and he said, “This is Hare Krishna Land. Weshould always hear the sounds of Hare Krsna.”

Later, some devotees printed postage-style stamps (without postal value)with a picture of Radha-Krsna and “Hare Krsna,” to be pasted on envelopes,and Srila Prabhupada wrote me, “These two words, 'Hare Krsna,' must appeareverywhere.”

Another time, Srila Prabhupada was on the terrace of one of the old tenementbuildings that came with the land, and a devotee named Haridasa was fanninghim. At seven o'clock Prabhupada looked at his watch and said, “Haridasa, doyou hear the sound of kirtana in the temple?” Haridasa strained to hear butcouldn't. “No, Srila Prabhupada.” “You don't hear kirtana coming from thetemple?” “No.” “That is the point,” Srila Prabhupada said. “There is nokirtana in the temple, and there should be.” Then he asked Haridasa, “Whereare all the devotees?” Haridasa ventured that they must have gone to thecity to collect and had not yet returned. Prabhupada said, “That was not myidea, that the devotees should go and collect all day and night. They may goat nine and return at five, and then chant and dance before the Deities.Otherwise they will become like karmis.”
Then he asked Haridasa, “Do you know why we were successful and Mr. Nairwasn't? Nair was well established in Bombay, whereas we were completely new.He was very wealthy, whereas we had no money or regular income. As the ownerof the Free Press Journal, one of three English dailies in Bombay, and theformer sheriff, he knew many people and was very influential, whereas wehardly knew anyone and had practically no influence. But we were successfuland he was not. Why?” Then Srila Prabhupada gave the answer: “We were actingto please Krsna, and he was acting for his personal gain. And because wetried to please Krsna, Krsna mercifully reciprocated and we weresuccessful--by His grace.

“So the devotees should come and sing and dance before the Deities, forTheir pleasure. By pleasing the Deities, by Their mercy, by Krsna's mercy,we will be successful--not by our independent strength and endeavor.” SrilaPrabhupada really had that faith in Krsna, in the holy name, in theDeities--that if we sincerely chant to please Krsna, Krsna will be satisfiedand we will be successful.

The last incident I shall relate came toward the end, when Srila Prabhupadawas already quite ill, in 1977. Srila Prabhupada had a staunch devotee, SriP. L. Sethi--as Hanuman was to Rama, he was to Prabhupada. He was so staunchand had so much faith. From before he met Prabhupada he was associated witha group called the Radha Madhava Prema Sudha Sankirtana Mandala. Their guruwas based in Vrndavana, and they chanted the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. InBombay, they were all householders. Every Sunday they would have atwelve-hour akhanda-hari-nama-sankirtana, unbroken, continuous kirtana, fromsix in the morning to six in the evening, followed by two hours of Vrajasongs.

So, Mr. Sethi had the idea that instead of having the kirtana in one oftheir devotees' homes, as they usually did, they could have it at HareKrishna Land. So we arranged it, before the Deities in the small temple,beside the new complex that was nearing completion, just beneath SrilaPrabhupada's new quarters. Although the construction wasn't finished and thelift wasn't working, Srila Prabhupada insisted on staying there. And ill ashe was, he was listening to the kirtana, reclining or lying down. Thesedevotees in the temple really wanted to see him, but they were too many tocome up, Prabhupada was not able to come down, and anyway it would have beentoo taxing for him to meet them all.

At one stage they were so eager that they came out of the temple and weredoing kirtana beneath Srila Prabhupada's balcony. Eventually Mr. Sethihelped Prabhupada walk to the balcony. Prabhupada glanced down upon them.They were in ecstasy. He stayed for a little while and then went back in.One highlight came at the end when a lady devotee sang, “Jaya radhe jayaradhe radhe, jaya radhe jaya sri radhe. Jaya krsna . . .” Later, Mr. Sethitold us that when Prabhupada was listening to that song, tears werestreaming down his cheeks.
The next day, I went up to see Srila Prabhupada. “That kirtana waswonderful,” he said. “We should invite the whole group to stay at HareKrishna Land. Tell them that we will maintain them. They won't have to work.All they have to do is continuous kirtana.” I wasn't sure what to do aboutthat--I just heard it. But I think Prabhupada knew that that might take sometime. [laughter] Then he said, “At least our devotees, they should do thetwelve-hour kirtana every day, from six a.m. to six p.m.” Now, we had beentaught by Prabhupada that we have to serve and spread the mission, and inJuhu we were especially busy, finishing the temple and getting it ready toopen. I didn't see how all the devotees could spend twelve hours a day inthe temple chanting. So I said, “Srila Prabhupada, we have so much serviceto do. How will we be able to do it all?” Then Prabhupada said, “All right,then one day a week, on Sunday.” And when Prabhupada said that, I said,“Yes,” because I felt relieved--only one day, twelve hours. Later, TamalKrishna Goswami commented that Prabhupada had done some transcendentalbargaining. If he had begun, “Twelve hours every Sunday,” we might havesaid, “Oh, that's too much. Maybe four hours.” But because he began withtwelve hours a day seven days a week, when he finally said twelve hours, oneday a week, we were relieved. “Oh yes, we can do that.” [laughter]
So every Sunday we did twelve hours' continuous kirtana. And it was just asPrabhupada had said--that all problems would be solved, materially andspiritually. I was the temple president and had to deal with many problems.We had to construct the temple complex, deal with the civic authorities,organize the temple programs, deal with the devotees, and just survive inIndia, with all the disease and other hardships. So, devotees would come tome, and on Monday, Tuesday, maybe Wednesday, I would deal with the problems.But by Thursday we were getting close to the twelve-hour hari-nama, and Iknew--it happened every time, without fail--all the problems would besolved. Either the problem would solve itself or the devotee would realizethat the problem wasn't really a problem after all or we would get someinsight into and inspiration about how to deal with it. So from Thursday Iwould say, “Well, just give me a few days to think about it,” but I knew,“Let Sunday come--let us do the twelve-hour kirtana--and it will be solved.”And it happened every time. It was really wonderful.
So, by sincerely chanting Hare Krsna, Krsna is satisfied, and by Krsna'spleasure and mercy, we are successful in all respects. This was SrilaPrabhupada's mood, his conviction. So we should give ourselves fully to thatprocess, to pleasing Krsna by our chanting. In fact, whatever we do shouldbe in the mood of pleasing guru and Krsna. From the beginning, I wouldthink, “Prabhupada is hearing my chanting, so I should chant nicely, toplease him.” On the Radha-Damodara party, Visnujana had a large photo ofSrila Prabhupada's ear, and he would chant with that idea, that Prabhupadawas hearing his japa; he would chant to please Srila Prabhupada. So it allgoes together: service to guru, service to the holy name, chanting the holyname, pleasing Krsna, pleasing Srila Prabhupada, and beingsuccessful--materially and spiritually.