SpiritualA great task lay ahead: reviving book production. For more than two years, no new titles had been published. Although under Jayatīrtha, arrangements were made to improve the appearance and quality of the books, the plans for new books never fructified.
BHAKTI GAURAVANI GOSWAMI: As soon as I became involved in temple management, my translation work ground to a halt. I was not too much concerned, because we had enough material to publish more than a dozen books. So there seemed to be no rush. But now, with the court case only a year away and Prabhupāda’s health deteriorating, printing as many new books as possible became top priority.
I informed Harikeśa Mahārāja about our attempt to work in Los Angeles. Working in Germany was impractical. We had no production facilities, and depending on outsiders, as we had done before, was cumbersome. Nobody had the special fonts to meet our needs, and the Sanskrit diacritics had to be put in by hand with a ruler. To set up our own operation would take time, and time was short. So we contacted the BBT in Los Angeles and learned that the fonts we’d ordered were ready. At the beginning of 1977 Harernāmānanda Dāsa, Taponidhi Dāsa, Śilpakāriṇī Devī Dāsī, Revatī Devī Dāsī, and I went to Los Angeles. We were determined to focus on producing as many titles as possible. Revatī transcribed, Śilpakāriṇī and Taponidhi took turns working shifts on the Redactron composing machine, Harernāmānanda translated the general index and alphabetized it, and I coordinated everything while also learning layout from Yamarāja Dāsa and designing the covers in consultation with Navadvīpa Dāsa and devotees in the art department. The devotees at the North American BBT were going out of their way to help us, except for Rādhāvallabha, the production manager. He wasn’t happy to have us intrude on his domain and upset the routine. We mostly depended on him to authorize someone’s helping us. When Harikeśa Swami made a short visit to L.A. in April, I explained the situation to him, and he informed Śrīla Prabhupāda. Soon afterward Rādhāvallabha received a letter: As you probably know, our society is facing a very serious court case in Germany. It is understood that if we have difficulty in this court case, we may not get a further chance to print our German books. Whatever German books you have lying with you ready for printing should be immediately printed. This work should be given priority as our society’s well-being there depends upon it.”
From that point on it was as if the floodgates had opened. Rādhāvallabha gave us all facility, and thus we managed to send a set of films to Germany every three or four weeks. As soon as the first new title came off the press— the German edition of The Nectar of Devotion—we sent a copy to Vṛndāvana. Ten days later we received a letter from Prabhupāda’s secretary, Tamāla Krishna Mahārāja: I have been instructed by His Divine Grace Śrīla Prabhupāda to reply your letter dated July 14, 1977, sent along with the German translation of The Nectar of Devotion.
When His Divine Grace was handed “Der Nektar der Hingabe”, he immediately held it to his head and offered obeisances. Then Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lotus eyes moved over the cover and throughout the book just like a bee attracted to honey.
After looking through the book, Śrīla Prabhupāda declared, “This is a very important translation, and it is very nicely made. I am very, very glad to see this. People will immediately purchase it. Such a nice presentation. It is more than first-class. It is undoubtedly better than the English publications. The pictures in the middle are more attractive than putting them at the front. Jaya Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati—it is his blessings. Oh, he was so anxious to print books. It is his life and soul. He would say, ‘I have the desire to print some books. I wish to sell the marble. If you get some money, use it to print books.’ Everything is very nicely done. My heartfelt thanks to all the devotees of German BBT. And just see, they have given such a nice picture of me, just like a submissive Vaisnava.” To please the Supreme Lord is certainly the perfection of life, but higher than that is to please the Supreme Lord’s pure devotee. This you have all done by this first, most important translation of The Nectar of Devotion. My obeisances at all of your feet for such outstanding work. Hoping this meets you all well, floating in the ocean of transcendental book printing and distribution.
As soon as Harikeśa Mahārāja began acting as the GBC and BBT trustee for Northern and Eastern Europe, he organized the translation of Prabhupāda’s books into the major East European languages. This fulfilled a desire Prabhupāda had expressed to Hansadutta as early as 1973. During the Māyāpur festival in February 1977, Harikeśa Swami gave Prabhupāda a detailed zonal report, focused mainly on book production and distribution. Books were the basis, and if the basis was sound, everything else would come automatically, in due course of time. Harikeśa Swami informed Prabhupāda that he had just printed ten thousand books in Hungarian: The Perfection of Yoga and Beyond Birth and Death in one volume. Recently, the Russian edition of Easy Journey to Other Planets, combined with Prabhupāda’s talk with Professor Kotovsky, had come off the press. The Polish Easy Journey was at the printer, and Śrī Īśopaniṣad was being translated into Yugoslavian.
Śrīla Prabhupāda was all smiles. “If there is a scarcity of money, you ask me,” he told Harikeśa Mahārāja. “I shall pay you. You can repay me later. For printing, there should not be any delay for money. Whatever money you require, I shall arrange.”
Harikeśa Mahārāja assured him that there was actually no scarcity, and added modestly, “By just always printing more books, I’m trying to follow your principle of not keeping a bank account.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda laughed and said, “Yes, yes. That is very nice. I simply ask them, ‘Print books.’ Whatever money I have in the bank, let me spend.’ I am always asking. Instead of keeping in the bank, keep books in stock. That principle let us follow. As soon as there is money, convert it into books.”
When Harikeśa Swami mentioned the court case scheduled for November, Prabhupāda told him, “In the meantime, you overflood with books.”
Harikeśa laughed in agreement and said, “Yes, an amazing thing is happening now when we distribute books. It used to be that people would say, ‘Oh, this is Hare Kṛṣṇa? I want nothing to do with it.’ Now they say, ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa? Hmm. Let me see what is in this book.’”
Prabhupāda smiled and said, “If there is substance, they will take it. They’re intelligent persons. Yes. Simply by propaganda, you cannot fool them. I know the German nation. They’re intelligent».
Harikeśa Swami then told Prabhupāda about an amazing experience the devotees were having in Austria. Until recently, whenever they had attempted to distribute books they would be arrested, fined, and asked to leave the country. Now Cakravartī and his wife were going to the bookstores, and the response was overwhelming. A week before, they’d sold 1,200 DM worth of books in only six hours.
“It is all Kṛṣṇa’s grace,” Prabhupāda said. “Let us try our best sincerely, and Kṛṣṇa will help us. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam; otherwise, how is it happening? In foreign countries—a system of philosophy which is foreign to them—how are they purchasing? In India, if they purchase one Bhāgavatam, it has got meaning. But in Germany— purchasing Bhāgavatam—it is only Kṛṣṇa’s grace.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda had expressed his desire to award a certificate each year at Māyāpur to those devotees who had excelled in a specific category of devotional service during the year. When Brahmānanda Swami presented Prabhupāda a draft of the certificate’s text, Harikeśa Swami remarked, “Rohiṇī-sūta Prabhu, who’s probably going to win in the category of book distribution, never wants to come to this festival, because he never wants to stop distributing your books, not even for a day.”
Prabhupāda looked pleasantly surprised and said, “Oh, then his certificate should be sent, at least. It should be so attractive that he will want to keep it. The devotees should be encouraged. Utsāhā, enthusiasm, is the first item in bhakti. This boy did not come here because he is so utsāhā. So he should be encouraged.
“The whole basis of the devotional service is utsāhā. Just like unless there was utsāhā, how could a man of seventy years old, without any hope, go from Vṛndāvana to such a distant place as New York? The only platform was utsāhā. So utsāhā is so important. Therefore, the devotees should be encouraged.”
* * * Soon after the German BBT devotees left for Los Angeles, Harikeśa Swami began making plans to bring them back as soon as possible. He wanted to set up a multilingual book production unit at Schloss Rettershof. He was working on producing books not only in German but also in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Russian, and Arabic. The most practical arrangement was to get equipment and train a dedicated crew to handle the different languages efficiently.
When Śrīla Prabhupāda received Harikeśa Swami’s BBT report, with a detailed description of the progress being made translating, producing, printing, and distributing his books, he felt as though a long-cherished dream were coming true. Tamāla Krishna Mahārāja informed Harikeśa Swami about Prabhupāda’s animated response: His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada has received your ecstatic BBT trustee report dated July 13th, 1977, and has instructed me to reply to you. I could not get very far, only the first two paragraphs, before Srila Prabhupada stopped me by saying, “All the blessings of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Maharaja upon you. You are the most important grandson of Bhaktisiddhanta. Go on doing like this.”
When His Divine Grace began to hear the huge quantity of books which you are in the midst of printing, covering thirteen languages, he said, “This is tremendous. Do it very nicely. And scholarly. That will attract more attention. Now the preaching in Germany will be complete. When the court case comes up, present all of these books and say to the judge: “First read all these books and then present your judgment.”
Srila Prabhupada wanted to know which Gita is being translated into all of the East European languages, the abridged or the detailed one? His Divine Grace completely agreed with you that the printing is super first-class in Germany. Bending the book Der Nektar der Hingabe backwards, Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes, it is a fact. This is the special advantage of this binding, it is so nice. Dai Nippon and America cannot do this.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda was pleased to know that you were soon moving the German BBT back to Germany to handle thirteen different languages. He said, “Very good. And the devotees are very enthusiastic. They are firstclass devotees in Germany. So sincere. The German nation is wonderful. I have seen it. I have got very much appreciation for the German ability. In my business days, the German chemical firms were all first-class. All of the best drugs in the medical market came from Germany. And now they are excelling in book distribution. Just see this financial report. There is no scarcity of money.”
His Divine Grace concluded his ecstatic appreciation of your efforts by saying, “He is surpassing all BBTs. I want to go to Germany immediately, but I am physically unfit. I like that place, the Schloss. It is a very nice place. Thank you very much.
HARIKEŚA DĀSA: The summer of 1977 was probably one of the busiest periods of my life. I moved constantly from one thing to the next: going to East Europe, working on the court case, giving classes, holding programs, dealing with the printer, and getting the saṅkīrtana together. I spent every weekend in the Schloss with the saṅkīrtana devotees and reorganized the groups. There were so many conflicts between individuals that most of them couldn’t stay together for more than a week. But the books were going out like hotcakes».
On August 26, Prabhupāda left Vṛndāvana for his final preaching tour. Despite his serious illness, he wanted to see his disciples in the West one last time. After a short stay in London, he planned to fly on to New York and then show the devotees at the Gītā-nāgari Farm in Pennsylvania how to live from agriculture and cow protection. As he had told Tamal Krishna Mahārāja two weeks earlier: “If I am able to travel again, then I shall visit the farms and make them perfect. On these farms we can demonstrate the full varnasrama system. If these farms become successful then the whole world will be enveloped by Krishna consciousness.”
As soon as Prabhupāda arrived in England, the news spread like wildfire, and devotees from all over Europe made their way to Bhaktivedanta Manor, where Prabhupāda rested for a few days before continuing his journey.
In a letter dated September 10, 1977, his secretary informed Hansadutta Swami who was preaching in Ceylon: Srila Prabhupada arrived here in London on the 27th of August. The ride was very difficult taking 18 hours due to a six hour delay caused by that strike in the London airport. However His Divine Grace tolerated the ride and arrived alright. Srila Prabhupada was so much pleased to be in the West with his Western disciples and He felt very much enlivened to see them and the wonderful way they are conducting Krishna consciousness here. He also very much enjoys staying at the Manor which He says is His best house in the world. The atmosphere is very peaceful and restive, and Srila Prabhupada is not at all bothered by any anxiety, as is always the case when he is in India. BHAKTIVAIBHAVA SWAMI: In June, Sucandra and I had driven through East Germany to Poland. For our preaching work in the East, we always used Ladas manufactured in the Soviet Union, which were among the most common cars in the Eastern Bloc at the time. That’s why a Lada didn’t attract curious glances or police checks, unlike a Volkswagen or Mercedes, which would immediately have stood out as “capitalist.” At the beginning of July, we sent a report to Śrīla Prabhupāda, which Tamal Krishna Mahārāja answered: Vrndavana, July 12, 1977 From: Tamal Krishna Goswami c/o ISKCON Schloss Rettershof (Frankfurt) My dear Suchandra and Avinas Candra Prabhus, Please accept my humble obeisances. I have been instructed by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupāda to thank you for your letter dated 6th July, 1977 reporting your activities in Communist Poland.
Srila Prabhupāda was very engladdened to receive such a encouraging report. When His Divine Grace heard how you were able to get the books into Poland, He said, “Everything is being done by the special mercy of Krishna. The border guards have become enchanted. Krishna-kirtana ganana.” Prabhupāda was very pleased to hear how the local people in Poland are actually becoming affected by Krishna consciousness, so much so that they are chanting, taking prasadam and studying our books. Prabhupāda said, “Then our preaching there is successful. It will not go in vain. Gradually they will be purified. They will be devotees. They will form our party.” When His Divine Grace heard how difficult it is to get sugar and fruits and vegetables, He said, “That I have personally experienced when I was in Moscow. It is a punishment to the atheist class of men.” This preaching which you are doing is the greatest service to Srila Prabhupāda. Many years ago Prabhupāda used to speak of how He wanted to see a belt of Krishna consciousness wrapped around the world. The only missing link at that time were the Communist countries. But now by the sincere efforts of such wonderful devotees like yourselves, this link has been fitted into place and the belt is complete. Prabhupāda is always eager to gain reports from the preaching there, so you can write again when you have some more success. His Divine Grace said that if Harikesa Maharaja thinks fit he can initiate the most sincere of the people who are joining us in Poland.
Hoping this meets you well.
Your servant, Tamal Krishna Goswami Secretary to Srila Prabhupāda BHAKTI-BHŪṢAṆA SWAMI: After Poland, I traveled with Ghanashyama on a preaching tour through various communist countries in the Balkans, including Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Ghanashyama, an AfricanAmerican who specialized in distributing Prabhupāda’s books to libraries and universities, had received a letter from Tamal Krishna Mahārāja in June, in which he wrote: His Divine Grace was extremely enthused to receive your glorious report. He also appreciated the humorous style of your writing and commented about it. Srila Prabhupāda stated, “My books are the real Communism. I am working for the whole human society. My philosophy is to unite the human society on the basis of Krsna Consciousness, and that is actually happening all over the world. Why a black man is working for me and a white man? How much potency our Ghanasyama has! Practically he is preaching in the jungle. They do not even know his language and still persons are giving standard orders. He is so empowered. I never expected Standing orders from these Communist countries. Now I can understand that they have lost all sense. But still there is hope—this Krsna consciousness.”
We were in Budapest when I called Harikeśa Swami to report on our preaching activities. He simply said: “Prabhupāda has just arrived in London. It may be the last opportunity to see him. Come immediately.” And so we drove straight from Budapest to London by car, a very long journey, because in those days devotees usually didn’t fly.
We had been given watermelons in Budapest for the trip. When we arrived in London, we hadn’t eaten any of them, as we had been too stressed during the drive. So I gave the watermelons to Prabhupāda’s cook. Although Prabhupāda was hardly eating anything anymore, they still regularly brought him a plate with various easily digestible foods. When the watermelons were taken into Prabhupāda’s room, I sat by the door. When the plate came back out, I saw that Prabhupāda had eaten only a little bit— of the watermelon.
When we saw him for the first time there, devotees were carrying him down the stairs on an armchair that had been converted into a palanquin. We were all shocked to see Prabhupāda so emaciated. Because bright light disturbed him, he always wore sunglasses, and his hands and feet were swollen, as can also be seen in the picture. Many of us cried upon seeing him in this condition.
At the temple door, they took off his shoes. I took them and hid them under my kurta so I could put them back on him when he left the temple. In the temple room, Prabhupāda no longer sat on the vyāsāsana but remained seated on the palanquin. Tamal Krishna sat at his side and watched him the entire time. Every now and then he held a loṭa to Prabhupāda’s mouth when he needed to spit.
GAṄGĀDHARA DĀSA: Somehow I was fortunate enough, probably thanks to my physical stature, to be selected as one of the carriers to take Prabhupāda from his quarters to the temple room. He looked frail. He had put himself under our care, and we were responsible for his well-being. While carrying Prabhupāda down the stairs it was so intense that I constantly prayed to Kṛṣṇa to prevent any mishap.
Every morning we put the palanquin down before the altar, so Prabhupāda could see Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Gokulānanda. As the sun rays shone through the stained-glass roof and bathed the altar in multicolored light, Prabhupāda sat there in complete silence, his eyes fixed on the beautiful forms of the Deities.
Although the temple room was packed with devotees, the only sound to be heard was the chirping of birds outside. Śrīla Prabhupāda’s presence created a spiritual mood that affected all of us and imbued us with similar feelings of devotion. It was Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy that he allowed us to witness him at such intimate moments and have a glimpse of what it is like to be fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
KṚṢṆA-KṢETRA SWAMI: The atmosphere was, as it always was, whenever Prabhupāda was present, incredibly intense, but now it had a special intensity because it was more than clear that Prabhupāda was making his last appearance for us in the West. And what struck me was his having darshan of Rādhā-Gokulānanda—no words spoken but simply his presence before the Deities. One had a clear sense that he is now simply reciprocating with the Deities, and They are telling him, “Yes, it’s that time.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda wore dark glasses to protect his eyes from glaring light, and his body was shockingly emaciated. On seeing his physical condition, I thought, “He is leaving us.” It was only out of his infinite kindness and love that Prabhupāda sacrificed all comfort to come and see his disciples and followers once more, to give us his last darśana and shower his blessings on us before departing.
After being brought before the Deities and imbibing Their presence with intent looks, Prabhupāda was carried to the opposite end of the room. There he remained on the palanquin chair to receive guru-pūjā. While the kīrtana went on, Prabhupāda looked around the room, very slightly nodding his head to the rhythm, tears gliding down his cheeks. His mood now was entirely different from what it was before. He no longer acted as the fighting warrior—teaching and training his foot soldiers by being stern and corrective. Rather, he allowed waves of ecstasy to overflow and drown everyone in his presence. Now there seemed to be no need for words. Prabhupāda had already given us complete instructions. Now he would simply secure those instructions in our hearts with his pure, uncritical love for us as Kṛṣṇa’s parts and parcels. Prabhupāda gave us the feeling that he was already situated in Goloka Vṛndāvana. And seeing our potential ability to gain that same perfection, he was overlooking our countless faults and inviting us to join him soon in the spiritual world. Those days were filled with the pain of knowing that Śrīla Prabhupāda was leaving us even though we still needed him as much as ever.
MAṆIDHARA DĀSA: When I arrived at Bhaktivedanta Manor, what struck me was the absolute silence. I knew that something was different from the usual visits of Śrīla Prabhupāda. When Harikeśa Mahārāja saw me, he immediately took me to Prabhupāda’s room.
After we entered and offered obeisances, Harikeśa Swami said, “This is Maṇidhara, one of the best book distributors in Germany.” But Prabhupāda didn’t respond. He sat in a chair, his hands folded, absorbed in deep thought. When I saw him I knew he was already far beyond this world.
Tamāla Krishna Mahārāja, his secretary, brought in the mail. There was a large envelope from Los Angeles that contained photos of the recent Ratha-yātrā festival. As Prabhupāda looked at the pictures, he said, “I always wanted to have a cart like this.”
The package also contained the latest BBT publication, a softbound Spanish translation of The Nectar of Devotion. As soon as Prabhupāda saw the book, his eyes lit up. He touched it to his forehead to offer obeisances, and after inspecting the book, he took it on his lap and looked around the room with deep satisfaction. It reminded me of Nanda Mahārāja proudly holding Kṛṣṇa on his lap.
BHAKTI-BHŪṢAṆA SWAMI: Tamal Krishna Mahārāja had arranged it so that the German Saṅkīrtana devotees, who had all driven to London in their white VW buses, were allowed to enter Prabhupāda’s room. The room was kept darkened because Prabhupāda could not tolerate bright light.
MAṆIDHARA DĀSA: The next day Prabhupāda asked to see all the German devotees. When we went to his room, we all offered daṇḍavats, and the mood was a bit like, “Here we are, Śrīla Prabhupāda, the elite of all the saṅkīrtana devotees in the world!” Then Prabhupāda asked us, “What is the most important philosophical understanding?” We didn’t expect that. We had expected him to ask about the book distribution results or to hear saṅkīrtana stories.
PṚTHU DĀSA: After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Hāraka and I said, yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa. Prabhupāda asked us, “What does it mean, ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa?” I ventured, “Deśa means ‘land,’ so it means ‘the land of Kṛṣṇa.’” He corrected me. “No, it means instruction. It is the instruction of Kṛṣṇa. And what is that instruction?” Again Hāraka and I replied as if we shared one mouth: sarva dharmān paritjaya. “Yes,” Prabhupāda said, “that is our business”.
GAṄGĀDHARA DĀSA: Prabhupāda acknowledged the answer to his original question as all right, but it wasn’t really what he wanted to hear. When he saw after a while that no one had a clue, he said, “Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. We should understand that we are not this body. This should be fully realized.” We all sat there dumbfounded. That was all? We had heard that hundreds of times. We expected Prabhupāda to speak about saṅkīrtana, but he simply made this point.”
MAṆIDHARA DĀSA: Outside Śrīla Prabhupāda’s quarters we all wondered what had just happened. In those days, we book distributors didn’t spend much time reading or studying the philosophy. Our main concern was to do big, to get results. By this little incident, Prabhupāda gave us a final, important lesson, something he had said repeatedly: “These books are not only for selling but also for reading.”
KṚṢṆA-KṢETRA SWAMI: Ghanaśyāma, who later became Bhakti-tīrtha Swami, was invited to Prabhupāda’s room to give a report on the BBT Library Party. As his assistant, I was allowed to accompany him. Ghanaśyāma had already been recognized and appreciated by Śrīla Prabhupāda for his outstanding success in placing standing orders of Prabhupāda’s books in American libraries. Now Prabhupāda wanted to hear how his books were selling in Europe, and particularly Eastern Europe, where we had just come from.
Prabhupāda had taken his dark glasses off. He was sitting in a chair, and Upendra, his servant, was gently massaging his legs. Ghanaśyāma spoke about the social conditions in East Germany—people could be seen standing in long lines to get the necessities of life. When Prabhupāda heard this he was overwhelmed by compassion. Tears came to his eyes. He said that because of the officially atheistic position of the government, material nature would withhold the necessities more and more. “They will not get even milk, butter, and sugar,” he told us sadly. I was moved by his deep concern not only for the spiritual welfare of the conditioned souls but their material well-being as well.
BHAKTI-BHŪṢAṆA SWAMI: On September 7, it was Prabhupāda’s Vyāsapūjā celebration. He was again seated on the palanquin in front of the vyāsāsana, and Tamal Krishna Mahārāja recounted Prabhupāda’s entire life story, from his childhood in Calcutta to his journey to America. From time to time Prabhupāda interrupted him to correct or add something. Then Prabhupāda wanted to see the Deities in London. A car was arranged to take him, and all the Saṅkīrtana buses from Germany followed behind Prabhupāda’s car. Prabhupāda’s vehicle had its headlights on high beam, so we set ours the same way. We drove in a convoy, and sometimes Prabhupāda would cross on green, then the light would suddenly turn red, but we continued driving behind him anyway.
In this way we arrived at the temple in Bury Place. We entered right behind Prabhupāda, and after we had offered obeisances, Yamunā opened the curtains, and “Govindam” was played.
As Prabhupāda sat silently before Rādhā-Londonīśvara, I sat next to him and saw how tears filled his eyes. Some of us felt that we had never seen the Deities so beautiful, as the last exchange between Them and Śrīla Prabhupāda took place.
KṚṢṆA-KṢETRA SWAMI: One morning, Prabhupāda went to London to have darśana of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Londonīśvara. This would be a special event to witness because many devotees felt these Deities were his favorites and he would probably be seeing Them for the last time. So we piled into cars and went ahead of Śrīla Prabhupāda, to be at the Bury Place temple when he arrived. He was brought before Their Lordships on his palanquin. He sat there silently. After a few moments, he took off his dark glasses. Streams of tears were flowing from his eyes.
Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Londonīśvara looked particularly pleased to see Their pure devotee. They were smiling at him and revealing increased effulgence and beauty. It was only a few silent minutes that Śrīla Prabhupāda sat there, while a few of us stood toward the back of the room and witnessed a transcendental exchange we could not begin to fathom.
*** After some days Prabhupāda’s health worsened and he expressed the desire to return to India. He had planned to visit the Gītā-nāgarī farm in Pennsylvania, and show the devotees how to live off the land. “I want to introduce varṇāśrama,” he said, but now he felt that the time of his departure was drawing near. “If I survive this time,” he said, “We shall do Vṛndāvana parikrama. You can carry me on a palanquin.”
At Heathrow Airport, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s plane to Bombay was delayed. Sitting in a wheelchair, he listened through earphones to kīrtanas until he was finally was allowed to board the aircraft.
HARIKEŚA DĀSA: The Yugoslavian Īśopaniṣad had been translated by a theosophist in Zagreb. It was finally finished at the end of September. So I had Kṛṣṇa-kṣetra sit down in front of the guy with the English edition, and he translated his Yugoslavian version back into English. Kṛṣṇa-kṣetra listened to it all and corrected the whole book so that it would be a proper presentation of the philosophy.
We had only one week to get this book out in time to take it to India along with all the German books. We drove the manuscript and the translator directly from Zagreb to the Schloss, and then I immediately took it to Mrs. Becker, a woman in Frankfurt who had an IBM composing machine and who used to typeset our pocketbooks.
I told her, “I don’t care what it costs, I don’t care what you have to do, you have to finish this book and do nothing else because I have to give it to Śrīla Prabhupāda, who is going to leave his body.” So she started to type, and in a matter of days, I had the typeset material.
Next came the layout. I stayed up all night, for almost twenty-four hours, and then, in a completely groggy state, took the waxing machine and some razor blades and went with the translator to Mrs. Becker. The translator read the book and told me the corrections, and I had her typeset them. Then I waxed them and put them in. By ten o’clock the next morning we were finally finished. I gave all the material to Gaura-kiśora, and he drove off like a madman and gave it to the printer in Bielefeld. Earlier, I had met with the printer’s big cheeses, and I’d told them, “The author of all these books that you print for ISKCON is about to pass away. I want to bring him this book before he leaves his body. Therefore, you have to print it in one day. I am going to give you the layout at two o’clock in the afternoon, and by four-thirty in the morning, I want that book.” They agreed and they did it. They used a huge machine that printed 128 pages at once, 64 on each side. At five o’clock in the morning, they gave Gaura-kiśora two hand-bound copies, and he drove them back to the Schloss just as I was about to finish packing my bags.
The German Second Canto was also ready, except for the covers. I had only proofs of the jackets, which I cut to size on our own cutter and put on the books. I also made a dummy of the first part of the Third Canto, because it wasn’t printed yet. Then I took all these books and left for India. It was perfect timing. Everything worked out fine».
BHAKTI-CHĀRU SWAMI: During his final days, Prabhupāda stayed in his living room. His bedroom was actually further inside the house, but because he was sick and that room was colder and had less light, he stayed in the front room. He didn’t go out anymore, because he was very, very weak. He was bedridden all the time and hardly eating anything. Once in a while, I would request him to take some juice. That’s about all he was taking—a little fruit juice, milk diluted with water, or some lemonade with melted rock candy.
It was early October when Harikeśa Swami arrived in Vṛndāvana. He brought thirteen or fourteen books to give to Śrīla Prabhupāda, and in those days that was really a lot. Prabhupāda’s English books were coming out one at a time, and everybody would get all excited whenever a new book came off the press. Prabhupāda himself would immediately open the book and appreciate everything about it—the paintings, the binding, the paper—and for days he would show the new volume to guests.
When Harikeśa Swami entered Prabhupāda’s room, Prabhupāda was propped up a little with some pillows. He could not sit up. Actually, he could not even turn from one side to the other without assistance. Harikeśa Mahārāja began to show him the books. Initially, he showed him the paintings and explained something about each book, but eventually, because there were so many, he just presented one after another, saying what title it was and in which language. Śrīla Prabhupāda was so pleased.
He turned to us and said, “He was rotting here, typewriting. I said, ‘You go.’ He thought that I was degrading him. No.” He looked at Harikeśa Mahārāja and said, “Now you understand?”
“Yes, I understand, Śrīla Prabhupāda,” Harikeśa said in a choked voice. Prabhupāda stated that his own spiritual master, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, and all the previous ācāryas would be so pleased with Harikeśa Swami, and when Śrīla Prabhupāda spoke on that note, Harikeśa Mahārāja began to cry. But Śrīla Prabhupāda kept on speaking, and as he spoke, Harikeśa cried even more.
It was such a heart-rending sight. Prabhupāda placed his hand on Harikeśa Swami’s head and affectionately rubbed his head as Harikeśa Mahārāja sobbed. This moving scene is very vivid in my mind because at that time I recognized how dear Harikeśa Swami was to Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda is not only a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he is a very intimate associate of Kṛṣṇa and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And he can give Kṛṣṇa. When I saw the wonderful loving exchange between Śrīla Prabhupāda and Harikeśa Mahārāja, I could understand that all we have to do is serve Śrīla Prabhupāda with all sincerity. When we do that, we will surely advance, and Kṛṣṇa will use us to do wonderful things.
This book would not exist had it not been for the dedicated efforts of my dear godbrother Vaidyanātha. The force behind Project Unity in Germany, he assumed the task of collecting the reminiscences of most of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples who contributed to this volume. For more than a year, he visited them, met them at reunions or festivals, contacted them by letter, phone, or e-mail, and thus gathered interviews, memoirs, photographs, and answers to my questions that came up in the course of writing.
He also lined up an editor, Tattvavit, to whom go my heartfelt thanks for making the text easy to read. (Tattvavit, who is an American, traveled in Europe during the summer of 1972 and visited the Heidelberg Hare Kṛṣṇa center then, shortly after it opened. That was the first time he chanted with devotees and heard a talk on Kṛṣṇa consciousness—a talk Śivānanda gave.) Śivānanda, the pioneer of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in Germany, laid the foundation for the second and third chapters with his extensive memories of the early days, and he visited the Bhaktivedanta Archives to select photographs of Prabhupāda’s visits in 1969 and 1974.
Govinda Mādhava, who is with the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust in Northern Europe, provided valuable archive material on ISKCON’s history in Germany from 1969 to 1977.
Govindamohinī Devī Dāsī, who has her art studio in Jalón (Spain), made the beautiful pencil drawing of Śrīla Prabhupāda for the dedication page.
I am especially grateful to my wife, Rasāmṛta Dāsī, and our children, who for many months patiently tolerated my absences from home; I spent the hours reserved for them at the computer. Without their support, I would not have completed this book within the given time frame.
I also want to thank His Holiness Lokanātha Swami, his disciple Saṅkīrtana Dāsa, and the other devotees at the Centennial House for giving me all facilities during my stay in Delhi to get the book ready for the printer.
contributed their memories and photographs and who encouraged me along the way. What would I have accomplished without you?
Vedavyas Das Jalón, Spain October 1995