Los Angeles, December 2014
Guru Maharaja arrived at LAX on Sunday morning with Satya Maharani mataji, Radhavinodini dasi and Shyamasundara Krishna prabhu. Dwarkadish prabhu drove them to the ISKCON New Dwarka community in a beautiful white limousine. Guru Maharaja took a little rest after which, with his right arm around the shoulder of Giriraja Swami, walked down the isle in the elegant white pandal just at the moment when Rupal (Dwarkadish prabhu and Lilavati mataji’s daughter) and her to-be husband, Shri Goloka prabhu, were exchanging garlands on the stage in front of the several hundred guests who had come for their wedding. Guru Maharaja and Giriraja Swami’s timing was perfect.
Later, in the temple room in front of Shri Shri Rukmini Dwarkadish, Guru Maharaja, Giriraja Swami and Svavas prabhu (the New Dwarka temple president) sat next to each other on white bamboo chairs and spoke to the assembled devotees, with Shri Goloka and Rupal sitting across from them on the other side of the temple room. Guru Maharaja succinctly recounted the genealogy of mankind, starting from Lord Brahma, the Manus down onwards, stressing that the union between a man and woman - especially among Vaishnavas - is meant to create an opportunity for deserving souls to obtain a human body and thus further their spiritual progress under the expert and loving care of the father and mother. Everyone laughed with Dwarkadish prabhu when Guru Maharaja reminded him that, according to the Vedic understanding, the daughter is never the property of the father; from her birth she is the property of her husband, and the parents are custodians only. After a wonderful feast served by a Los-Angeles based, professional wedding catering company on ornately decorated round tables with red candles and dry foliage decorations, Guru Maharaja took leave of the reception to go stay at Dwarkadish’s home an hour away in Yorba Linda.
The next morning, as Dwarkadish prabhu was placing the table mats on the dining table for Guru Maharaja’s breakfast, he told me, “Usually, it is Rupal who does this.”
He added, chocked up and with tears in his eyes, “Last night was the first night in 31 years that Rupal did not stay at home.”
At that moment Guru Maharaja entered the living room. We sat down, and he consoled Dwarkadish, “I miss her! I can only imagine how you must be missing her!” He added with a smile, “But what to do? This is how it is.”
After lunch, Guru Maharaja spoke extensively about spreading Krishna Consciousness in America. “If I was to preach in America,” he said, “I would go to a place, rent a property, and create a set-up combining yoga classes, an Ayurvedic clinic and a beautiful library with Srila Prabhupada’s books with reading groups and seminars.”
“Look at our temples today,” he added. “Most of the week they are empty. Only on Sunday afternoon some hundreds of people come for three hours. Why not utilize that space during the week with yoga classes and Ayurvedic treatments?”
He added, “People are bodily conscious. Why not attract them through yoga and Ayurveda, and then give them the real thing as well?”
At the end of the discussion, he said, “Lord Chaitanya’s movement will spread all over the world.”
I said, “Your faith is rubbing off on us, Guru Maharaja.”
He replied, “Thank you.”
He added with a smile, “But I want you to be drowned in it.”
We drove Guru Maharaja to a nearby shopping mall where there is a Bose store. The ear-cushions on Guru Maharaja’s Bose noise-cancellation headphones were worn-out; he wanted to replace them. As we were driving, I told Guru Maharaja how pleasant my experience had been in Durban two months earlier for his Vyasa Puja celebration. Guru Maharaja said, “Yes; the South African devotees are very special.”
As we were walking back to the parking lot after purchasing the new replacement headphones, Dwarkadish asked Guru Maharaja, “Do you drive, Guru Maharaja?”
Guru Maharaja replied, “I drive. But I haven’t driven in thirty years.”
I said, “You are so dear to Krishna that He has arranged a personal driver for you for the last thirty years.”
Guru Maharaja walked a few steps silently and remarked, “Yes. Krishna has been very kind to me.”
Back in his room, while Guru Maharaja was opening the box of his new headphones, he asked me, “Was it a good decision to trade-in my old headphones for the same, new model?”
I said, “Yes; you had those for three years, and Bose’s trade-in program is worthwhile.”
As he placed the headphones on his ears, he said, “I like these headphones. When I put them on, I can’t hear anything at all.”
He switched the “on” button and instructed me, “Say something.”
I moved my lips silently, pretending that I was talking, while not uttering a sound. For a second, Guru Maharaja opened his eyes wide in astonishment. Realizing that I was joking, he laughed and patted me on the head.
When Shri Goloka and Rupal came to visit Guru Maharaja that evening, Rupal asked Guru Maharaja, “Guru Maharaja, you cooked today?!”
Guru Maharaja replied, “Not only did I cook, but I taught your mother how to cook!”
The following evening, after lunch prasadam at the home of Vikasananda prabhu and Radha Rangini mataji in Orange County, Guru Maharaja spoke on the Mahabharata and on the advent of the Bhagavad-Gita at the Laguna Beach Iskcon temple.
The next morning, Guru Maharaja was driven to LAX to go onward to Dubai and India.
Your respectful servant,
Chandrashekhara acharya dasa
