Guru Maharaja is now, june 2013, in Locarno, Switzerland, after having spent three days in Villagio Hare Krishna (near Milano). Five days ago, Guru Maharaja was driven all the way to Villa Vrindavan, near Florence - four hours away. There, Guru Maharaja met with several of his godbrothers such as Madhusevita prabhu and Trai dasa prabhu. After lunch prasadam in the Govindas’ restaurant, Madhusevita prabhu accompanied Guru Maharaja to the Ratha Yatra procession, during which Guru Maharaja led the kirtan for fifteen minutes. Early through the parade, Guru Maharaja took his leave from Lord Jagannatha and drove back in Madhusevita prabhu’s car to Villagio Hare Krishna. The next day, he went to a program that his disciple Raghunatha prabhu had arranged in Piacenza. Today he goes to Zurich.
Below are a few personal anecdotes that I forgot to post while Guru Maharaja was in New York and Gītā Nagari several weeks ago.
One day, I asked Guru Maharaja how can it be that one individual associate of the Lord - namely Vrinda devi - can be present simultaneously in a countless number of physical bodies (i.e., each and everyTulasi plant). Guru Maharaja answered, “Actually, the Tulasi plants are her hair.”
I said, “This makes the answer even more esoteric.” Guru Maharaja smiled.
He added, “It is similar to Krishna being present in the deity. Krishna is present in the deity - He expands Himself unlimitedly in each deity.”
I said, “But one may ask how it is possible for an individual jiva soul, or at best one of Krishna’s shaktis (and not Krishna Himself or any Vishnu-tattva) to expand unlimitedly...”
Guru Maharaja replied, “Tulasi cursed Lord Vishnu to become a stone. So he became the shaligram shila. And Lord Vishnu cursed Tulasi to become a plant and said that the worship of Himself as a stone would not be complete until she was there.”
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Another time, Guru Maharaja recalled with a smile how, in Vrindavan in late 1977, Tamal Krishna Goswami “cursed” Guru Maharaja to get married. Guru Maharaja said, “I became worried, and so I brought it up to Srila Prabhupada and told him, “Srila Prabhupada, Tamal Krishna Maharaja cursed me to get married.”
Srila Prabhupada replied, “You are already married to Krishna.”
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On another occasion, Guru Maharaja recalled how Tamal Krishna Maharaja had chastised Guru Maharaja rather heavily in the adjacent room in Srila Prabhupada’s personal quarters in Vrindavan. The walls were quite thin, and thus Srila Prabhupada must have heard Tamal Krishna Maharaja’s loud voice. Indeed, when Guru Maharaja entered into Srila Prabhupada’s room, Srila Prabhupada reassured him, “The real sign of advancement is not the high position that one has attained; the real sign of advancement is how much one has learned to tolerate.”
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On our way to Gītā Nagari, we stopped at a "Rest Area" on the freeway, and Guru Maharaja, Sumon, Prema-Sindhu dasa and I had a picnic on the grass - stir-fried Chinese noodles that Guru Maharaja had cooked earlier before leaving. At one point, I served myself with my left hand. Guru Maharaja told me, “You know the standard, Chandrashekhara.”
He added, “Don’t serve or accept anything with your left hand.”
He continued, “Sumon is doing the right thing; he is serving while we take prasad, and he takes afterwards.”
Sumon said, “It is all by your mercy, Guru Maharaja.”
Guru Maharaja smiled.
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In Gītā Nagari, at Bhakti Tirtha Swami’s home, Guru Maharaja was humbled by the fact that Bhakti Tirtha Swami had given precise instructions to his disciples Ekavirya and Vrajalila to the effect that Guru Maharaja should stay in Bhakti Tirtha Swami’s personal room when Guru Maharaja would visit. Vraja līlā confirmed to Guru Maharaja, “Maharaja, Gurudeva especially wanted you to stay here in his room, most probably because of all the times he stayed in your residence in Mayapur.”
Guru Maharaja looked down in embarrassment, softly shaking his head.
During our stay there, Guru Maharaja repeatedly reminded Sumon and I to keep the place clean. He said, “Keep the kitchen spic and span.” He added, “For Bhakti Tirtha Swami’s disciples, this house is a place of pilgrimage.”
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Guru Maharaja once spoke to us about the state of affairs in Iskcon today. He cheered us up, “Everything goes in waves: light goes in waves, water goes in waves, sound goes in waves. So this movement also goes in waves.”
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Sitting down at the table another time, Guru Maharaja asked an open question, “Why is it that today’s American youth are not coming forward?”
I said, “If I dare to answer to this question, Guru Maharaja, I would say that it is in large part because we stress too much the traditional Indian attire for our Western members, pressuring them to wear the dhoti, kurta, shaved head, shikha, and so on.”
Guru Maharaja did not think this was important, and he added, “Besides, there must be a temple standard.”
I then pointed to my pants and shirt, and said strongly, “Guru Maharaja, if one day - by your grace - I start a temple or a center in North America and I run it, I want to manage it just like this: on Western cultural terms - in Western clothes.”
To my surprise, Guru Maharaja smiled and emphatically said, “Do it.”
He repeated, “Do it.”
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One day, as the car was making its way from Bhakti Tirtha Swami’s house to the temple on the dusty dirt road, Guru Maharaja observed the cows on the green field to the right. He mentioned in passing, “Cows are such beautiful animals.”
In fact, Guru Maharaja often glorified the efforts of Dhruva Maharaja prabhu - the Gītā Nagari temple president - and his team, to revive cow protection and the sustainable production and sale of non-violent mil. He urged everyone who lives in the Philadelphia/New York area to cooperate with this project by paying the extra dollars and purchasing their milk from the Gītā Nagari co-op.
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On another occasion, Guru Maharaja spoke about the Ritviks. He said, “The ritviks, what they are saying - indirectly - is that Srila Prabhupada was a failure. He was not able to make one pure devotee.”
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One day, when I returned from getting a haircut - a small haircut, still keeping most of my hair, Guru Maharaja looked at me and said, “You got a hair-cut? I could have done better than that!”
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At the end of a lecture, Guru Maharaja said to all of us, “Always remember that this human form of life is meant for spiritual advancement. Offer this life to Krishna.”
He added, “This is what Srila Prabhupada told me. He said, “For so many lifetimes you have been trying to enjoy. But you can see that you are still not satisfied. So just offer this life to Krishna, and see what happens. After all, it’s just one life among so many.” So, surrender. Become very good devotees. Thank you.”
