Guru Maharaja was speaking about a certain devotee with whom I and a
few other devotees in Guru Maharaja's entourage had slight conflicts
with. Guru Maharaja said, “She’s very respectful to the senior
devotees.” I waited a moment and then asked him, “Guru Maharaja,
please bless me that I can be respectful not only to senior devotees,
but to godbrothers and junior devotees also — that I can be the
insignificant servant of all the devotees.” As I started saying this,
Guru Maharaja smiled and said, “You have all my blessings.” He added, “That is the perfectional stage of life, actually.”
**
As
I came back from the local barber, Guru Maharaja, who was sitting in
his office finishing a slice of papaya, told me, “You know that one peg
of your wodden shoes is broken?” I answered, “Yes; someone broke it.
I’ll get it repaired in Mayapur.’ He asked me, “Do you wear these shoes
in the West?” I replied ‘yes’ and told him, “Sometimes people walk up to
me in disbelief, staring at my feet, and tell me, “Dude; those are the
most far out shoes I have ever seen in my life!!”
Guru Maharaja laughed heartily. He then recalled, “A long time ago, I
used to wear wooden shoes, even in the West. They make a lot of noise.
Even with the rubber, they make noise. People would hear it and look at
such a strange looking person as myself.” He added, “Once, I was walking
down 5th Avenue with Bhavananda Maharaja. I was wearing my wooden
shoes. He gave me twenty dollars and told me, ‘Go buy some shoes.’ Since
then I don’t wear them anymore. I only wear them in the house.” He
finished, “You just went to get shaved up? You look smart.”
***
Guru Maharaja recalled how once he and Tamal Krishna
Maharaja got into a disagreement. Tamal Krishna Maharaja apparently had
told Guru Maharaja, “I curse you that you’ll get married!” “In those
days,” Guru Maharaja recalled, “it really was like a curse to get
married. So I got really worried, and I went and told Srila Prabhupada
what Tamal Krishna Maharaja had said to me. Srila Prabhupada stated,
“You are already married; you’re married to Krsna.” Guru Maharaja
added, “Two months later he gave me sannyasa.” Guru Maharaja continued,
“I then went and told Tamal Krishna Maharaja what Srila Prabhupada had
said to me. Tamal Krishna Maharaja told me, “I was just joking.” Guru
Maharaja recalled how special a relationship Tamal Krishna Maharaja had
with Srila Prabhupada. “For example,” Guru Maharaja recalled, “Whenever
Srila Prabhupada woke up, the first thing he would say was, ‘where is
Tamala?’ He also remembered how, during those last days in Vrindavan,
Srila Prabhupada used to call Guru Maharaja "the famous cook." Since I
had never heard Guru Maharaja say this before, I told him, "You've never
told us this before, Guru Maharaja.” I added, “Once in a while you let
out some information which we never heard before." Guru Maharaja smiled
and replied, "I told you that I am not the type to blow my own
trumpet."
***
Guru Maharaja flew into Washington DC the next day, May
29th. Bhakta Henry greeted him at the Dulles airport and drove him to
his beautiful ancestral home on Massachusetts avenue. Guru Maharaja is
attended a three-day meeting at the Iskcon Potomac temple, with
godbrothers including Prahladananda Swami, Radhanatha Swami, Jayapataka
Swami, Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu, Garuda Prabhu and Anuttama prabhu. The
three-day meeting consisted of discussions on how to establish a
standard, or a course, for future gurus in Iskcon. Guru Maharaja
appeared very happy to be in their association. During the occasional
session intermissions, Guru Maharaja and Radhanatha Maharaja would take a
stroll together in the parking lot of the property, hand on the other's
shoulder.
In the evening of June 30th, Guru Maharaja gave a talk in
the temple. As often, he sang 'tavakathamritam' and explained how this
verse, spoken five thousand years ago by the gopis, actually predicts
the appearance of Srila Prabhupada, who was later confirmed by Lord
Caitanya (to King Prataparudra) as being "bhuri-da, bhuri-da," or "most
munificent, most munificent." After this talk, as Guru Maharaja was
putting on his shoes in the temple hallway, a six year-old girl,
standing with a plate of prasadam in her left hand and a spoon in her
right hand, looked up to Guru Maharaja and asked him, "Are you are real
Maharaja?"Smiling, Guru Maharaja bent down and patted her head, saying,
"No, no; I am just a servant of the servant of the servant."
