Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja and Shyamlal Prabhu

Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja and Shyamlal Prabhu memories

Bhakti Swami Guru Maharaja chanting at beach, Durban 9 January 2014

Bhakti Swami Guru Maharaja chanting at beach,  Durban on 9th January 2014

Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja in Zurich (23 June 2013)

In Zurich yesterday, a devotee told Bhakti Charu Swami, "You seem to be always the same age."
He replied with a smart smile, "Yes, but my material body is getting older."

Anecdotes with Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja by Chandrashekhara acharya dasa

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.”

Loving Exchanges with my Dear Godbrothers

Dear Devotees, 

Please accept my best wishes. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

A few days ago when I got to know that H.H. Giriraj Swami Maharaja was in Santa Barbara I decided to cut short my visit to Sacramento by one day and visit him. My initial plan was to spend two days with my very dear godbrother Udayananda Prabhu in Sacramento. When I informed him of my change of plan, he was not at all happy but when I explained the reason he understood my need to visit Giriraj Maharaja. Fortunately H.H. Indradyumna Swami Maharaja was also present with Giriraj Maharaja. He spends one month every year in Santa Barbara to prepare himself for his Polish tour. It was indeed a spiritual retreat to meet these two very exalted devotees and very dear disciples of Srila Prabhupada.

Giriraj Maharaja has a place in Santa Barbara which is about one and a half hours drive from Los Angeles. It is a very serene and beautiful place famous for avocado and various fruit orchards. As soon as I reached, practically straight away, Giriraj Maharaja and I began discussing various spiritual topics. Indradyumna Maharaja had a severe migraine so he was taking rest in his room but when he got to know that I had arrived he immediately came. He mentioned, “I jumped out of my bed totally disregarding my headache, took my bath, and came running to meet you.” For about three hours we had very stimulating discussions about various spiritual topics on how to spread this Krishna consciousness movement all over the world, overcoming various difficulties and hurdles, and thus fulfilling the prediction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Then we took lunch while Indradyumna Maharaja excused himself due to his inability to eat because of his painful migraine. It was a delicious Iranian cuisine cooked by Kandarpa Manjari and served by a host of Giriraj Maharaja’s disciples. We relished so much prasadam together that both of us felt the need to lie down for some time. We met again at 7:30 in the evening in Indradyumna Maharaja's room.

Indradyumna Swami Maharaja has a deep inclination to visit various pastime places of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, especially in Vrindavan and Gaura Mandala Bhumi. He was expressing some disappointment about the difficulties in visiting the places of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes, whereas in Vrindavan it is quite easy. I pointed out that Krishna's pastime places are spread over a rather small area while Mahaprabhu and His associates' pastime places are spread over the entire Bengal. In course of his travel to these places, Maharaja collects various articles. He is an ardent worshiper of Lord Nrsimhadev and he narrated how he received a beautiful Ugra Nrsimha murti killing Hiranyakasipu which is more than 600 years old. Then he told us about how he befriended the main pujari of a temple in Vrindavan, who still has the japa beads of Jiva Goswami. Maharaja received one of the beads from that mala from the pujari. He showed us that bead that he very carefully preserves within a silver casing and often wears around his neck. In this way he started to show us different articles that he has and he also told us that many of them are in Vrindavan. He only travels with a few of them. 

One of the articles came from one of Maharaja's acquaintances, a mahant of a temple in Vrindavan. Maharaja was helping him renovate the temple and assisting him in various ways. The mahant brought out many articles of Mahaprabhu and His associates which he had in his possession. He also brought out two armlets of Nityananda Prabhu made of nine jewels called nava ratna. While he was showing them, one of the gems fell and Maharaja immediately pounced on it and when picking it up asked, “This is a clear indication. Can I please have it?” The mahant replied, "You have done so much for us, how can I say no to you." The mahant gave that gem to Maharaja. Both Giriraj Maharaj and I held all these incredibly rare spiritual articles on our heads, meditating upon Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, Jiva Goswami and other associates.

After showing us the articles, Indradyumna Maharaja asked me to translate a very beautiful verse from Prabhodananda Saraswati Thakur's "Sri Caitanya Candramrta."  (verse 88)

yatha yatha gaura-padaravinde 

vindeta bhaktim krta punya-rasih 

tatha tathot-sarpati hrdya-kasmad 

radha-padambhoja-sudhambu rasih

I wrote the translation on a piece of paper as follows: "As one develops his attachment to the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, due to heaps of pious activities, accordingly, all of a sudden his heart becomes inundated with the nectar emanating from the lotus feet of Srimati Radharani." 

Indradyumna Maharaja, out of his humility, took a photo of me writing the translation and said with a bright smile that he would stick the photograph on that sheet and preserve it. He also said, "And then eventually, I will auction it to my disciples." He mentioned how he once took the hand-written notes that Radhanatha Swami had used in his lecture. Later on the occasion of one of Radhanatha Swami's disciple's birthday, he presented it to him and the disciple was very happy. The disciple naturally considered that this was one of the best gifts he had ever received. Indradyumna Swami really knows how to collect nectar and distribute it. 

It was already about quarter to eleven at night. Giriraj Maharaja reminded me that I had to start early the next morning to catch my flight to Sacremento. When he expressed his desire to meet me before I left around 5am, I requested him not to do so because of his delicate health condition. However, he responded by saying, “Let us see what happens. If I get up then I will come to see you off.” I reluctantly parted with a desire to meet them again in Vrindavan during kartika. 

At about 4:30am, as I was preparing my things, Sumon whispered to me, "Giriraj Maharaja is here." I saw him standing by the door with his usual bright smile. We embraced each other and I told him that he should not have taken the trouble. Bu he said, "I woke up with thoughts of you and I am so sad that you have to leave now." Then with a smile, he jokingly said, "I was telling Svarup Damodar that if I throw myself in front of Maharaja's car, then he should restrain me from doing that." 

I took leave of a very wonderful godbrother of mine with a heavy heart and an intense desire to be with him again. Giriraj Maharaja, who after his heart condition fifteen years ago, has not been traveling much. However, he is planning to come to India in September and spend a few months there and I am looking forward to his very wonderful association with a lot of expectation and joy.

There was a time when we used to spend a lot of time together in South Africa and Mauritius. Due to his request, I became the co-GBC with him in these countries and had the good fortunate of serving Srila Prabhupada together. Maharaja is a very special devotee who at a very young age surrendered himself to Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet. He totally disregarded his very wealthy family environment and his millions of dollars' worth of inheritance. Srila Prabhupada recognized his sacrifice and sincerity and made him one his most intimate and reliable assistants. During those days, when preaching in India was just developing, Srila Prabhupada brought Giriraj Maharaja to India and engaged him in the very difficult service of establishing Krishna consciousness there. After spending a short time in Calcutta and Mayapur, Giriraj Maharaja went to Bombay where there was nothing but an empty piece of land and devotees had to live in very austere conditions of temporary structures made of bamboos and tins. He was such an effective preacher that many important people of Bombay became ardent admirers of this young American. Srila Prabhupada commented that everyone in Bombay knew Giriraj Maharaja. In spite of being such an exalted devotee, Maharaja maintains such a genuine humble disposition. I use the word 'genuine' because one cannot fail to see how real his humility is. Even though he is so exalted he remains so simple and sincere.

When I arrived in Sacramento, I was telling Udayananada Prabhu about the wonderful time I had in Santa Barbara and he commented, "You are always giving yourself to your disciples and others. You need such association from senior godbrothers." Then he added, "Although I was disappointed that you cut short your visit to Sacramento in order to meet me, now I can see by your demeanor that the three of you should spend a month together every year." And I am indeed looking forward to that opportunity.

Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,

Bhakti Charu Swami