The following is a transcript of some memories and realisations about Srila Prabhupada that Vishva devi dasi gave in an interview to Back To Prabhupada recently.

One of the realisations I've had and things I've learned while being in Vrindavan while Prabhupada was there, was about how to channel our energies for Krishna; like, for example, at some point we had some difficulties running the temple. We were Westerners. First of all, to do things in India were completely different from doing it from where we came in the Western world, and we were new to spiritual life still. So Prabhupada, seeing that, at some point became like our temple commander, our temple president really.

Every morning after mangal-arotik, we used to go for walks with him on the Jatikara (?) Road, when you come out of Krishna Balaram temple and you turn right. We used to go for these long walks, every morning. It was like 6 different people, I think, were managing the temple - Dhananjaya was one of them, Akshayananda, Gurnarnava I think. I can't remember everyone. But Prabhupada was, like, above, in the sense that he used to check on us and ask us different questions, like a temple commander would, to make sure we were doing the right thing, because the Vrindavan temple had just opened and we needed all the guidance and the help and the advice about how to run this temple.

So in the morning he would ask us, for example, what service we did, and if somebody said that they did the mangal-arotik sweets, so he used to ask us how much we spent on the milk. Everything really was for the purpose of making sure that everything we spent and did energy-wise, activity-wise, absolutely everything was with Krishna at the centre. And I hope I don't sound offensive by saying so, but Prabhupada was, I felt, like a miser for Krishna, in the sense that nothing would be left to hazard or be wasted, and everything was completely calculating for Krishna consciousness. For example, the mangal-arotik sweets, he asked us during the walk how much was spent on the milk, on the sugar, all the different ingredients, and asked how much of the maha we sold, and whether there'd be enough money to not only maintain the buying the next time of the milk and other ingredients to make more mangal-arotik sweets, but we should have made a profit in order to maintain the Deity programme, like Deity clothes, incense and everything; and so the Deity department will be completely self-maintained. He was teaching us about how to organise.

So this example was just to illustrate what Prabhupada was trying to establish, how to cultivate our consciousness by not neglecting any detail or any aspect of even a little thing that might not seem very important. They added up to make sure that every activity is going to be completely consumed for Krishna. Prabhupada's purpose was obviously to train us so we would be able to manage little by little on our own, without his direct supervision as with small details, so he could spend more time in translating the books and doing things in a bigger scheme in Krishna consciousness, like spread the movement, open more temples, install Deities. And every time we open a temple, we will be trained by the people he had directly instructed how to do things precisely, so he could move on in doing the different work he wanted to do; especially, he was always emphasising about translating as many books as he could, and every spare moment that he could have outside of training us in different services in different ways how to serve God, Krishna, was so he could spend more time - all the time he emphasised spending more time in translating his books. That was the thing he was to do the most, so that the books could be immediately printed and distributed. As any devotee who had been around Prabhupada can tell you, that was always his main desire.

So, Srila Prabhupada trained us in so many areas of living in temples, like Deity worship, book distribution, how to cook for Krishna, he trained us how to be clean, he trained us to be everything so we could train other new devotees that would come and so that they could train in the future, and now I can see probably knowing that he was not going to be physically present with us always, but this is something I'm sure never crossed any of our minds, certainly not mine. I never even thought of a time when Prabhupada wouldn't be with us, I mean I just didn't think about it. But Prabhupada emphasised, for example, self-sufficiency, farming our own land and growing our own vegetables, and now the way the world's going we can see why. In other words, Prabhupada was foreseeing the whole future which obviously would come, and we were just trying to grasp what Krishna consciousness is. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada was taking us step-by-step, so skilfully when you think of it, so perfectly well - knowing past, present and future - and us just trying to grasp our little present which we couldn't even handle because he had to be, like, our temple president. Obviously, we couldn't do a proper job, so he was incredible. He actually personally asked us all questions in detail and guided us step-by-step how to go about doing everything; especially in India where he knew we would encounter a lot of difficulties being Westerners, and coming with our bad habits, and in order for us to be accepted by those other temples and the Indians.

There was so much to teach us, not only spiritually but also how to live in India. It was just a completely different way of life. We came from the Western world which is a society where everything is wasted, based on consuming more and spending more, and therefore wasting everything. Above all, Prabhupada wanted us to be accepted in India so that we could preach effectively, in the sense that people would come and accept us as a bona fide movement and that we're doing things properly - Deity worship-wise, way of life-wise. And so when Prabhupada moved on, we could be left on our own and do everything the way we'd been taught, and people would respect us. Representing Prabhupada, we do him credit in the sense that they come by respecting us, and therefore will come to the temple and serve the purpose that Prabhupada had built the temples for, and spreading Krishna consciousness for.

Actually, 20 years later, when I see how things have progressed in every way in the movement, in the structure of the Society, only now do I grasp a little bit about what Prabhupada had set himself for, which was so incredible. At the time, we were just new devotees and we did not fully grasp what we were surrendering for. But Prabhupada had set himself to come and preach and cultivate souls in the Western world that had no inkling at all of having a soul really - what is the soul, what is the position of the soul? Understanding any spiritual reality - that's one thing; and the other, even on a practical level to have Westerners change, adapt themselves to the Vedic culture where Krishna is the centre, being mlecchas having all bad habits, having engaged in so many sinful, fallen and degraded activities, totally in the mode of ignorance - not only to train us, like I said earlier to worship God, to cook for God, to install Deities where God can manifest Himself and be served directly; and then to cultivate the spiritual work of reading the philosophy, chanting the rounds, purifying our minds, cultivating our souls - I mean it's such an inconceivable task.

And then Prabhupada opened temples and spoke on the practical details about the building side of things, like with the Bombay temple, where to get all the material, how to get planning permission. And then translating books of the highest spiritual level, of the Absolute Truth; and then taking time to initiate disciples, getting to know them personally in order to work with them and encourage them. Then, constantly travelling around the world, teaching us how to cook, how to be accepted, how to be a good example - it sounds such an inconceivable task, when I think back.

All that he encourage us to do, like this self-sufficiency, especially to acquire land - he was always, always bringing up the subject of encouraging us to buy land. In Germany, I remember, I was personally present when he said to buy the land around the castle, the Schloss, which we never did and lost the castle. Seeing the future, having our own land, being self-sufficient, having Deities at the farm, for example in the country, and teaching us how to take care of the Deities, and have the land and cultivate the land, and offer the fruit of the land to the Deities, and maintaining the community, and expanding in that way, and therefore whatever Kali-yuga will progress, we will be protected and sheltered, and we won't be affected by the external ramifications of what Kali-yuga is. Now that is happening, and we're coming closer to the end of the millennium where things are going from bad to worse literally. We have lost so many properties, temples. Obviously, something went wrong somewhere, somehow things must have been misused, and the people in the position of authority at some point must have gone wrong, because instead of having more and more, in the way when Prabhupada was here - we acquired more and more properties, we acquired more and more facilities, because Krishna gave them to us - I guess because of the way we went about preaching, directly going out into the streets and distributing books to spread Lord Caitanyas movement, so Krishna gave us in return so much.

Purity is the force - Prabhupada always emphasised that - and things have got to the point where 'how is it possible we have so much less, rather than the opposite, the way it should be?' It makes one realise to go back to the basics and try to hear again what Prabhupada preaches at the beginning, and how to really do everything step-by-step and follow the way he exactly told us to do everything without speculating, because that's the only chance that we're going to be able to still spread the movement in the way Prabhupada expected us to. And Prabhupada, of course, at that time knew that he was not going to be with us all the time, and that's why he never wasted a minute of all these years being with us. There were devotees, like his servant, 24 hours a day with him. He never let up, never let up. People were with him all the time and you had to keep up constantly. He was always talking about Krishna, preaching, printing books, telling us what to do, guiding us spiritually, practically in our personal lives how to go about it - all the time, all the time; travelling as much as he could, and we not knowing that he had such little time.

Basically, the only thing we can be sure about, and I say it with certainty, without speculating and being safe, it's safe to say that Prabhupada, and only Prabhupada , should be the centre of all our activities, of everything in our life, and everything we endeavour to do or start. The thing I used to do when I was a newer devotee, when I used to do something, I used to think 'Would Prabhupada approve of this?' Try to see if Prabhupada will give his blessing, it will be the right thing to do. So I think it's something we should constantly be thinking. I'm afraid that I might not be doing it as much as I would want to, but I push myself sometimes more than often and try to remember that. And Krishna being in our heart, seeing that sincere desire to try to do the thing that Prabhupada would approve of, will definitely give us the intelligence to go about it. Anything we want to do and try to start.

So the best way, and that's the way Prabhupada advised us to go about our life, every aspect of our life, is to read as much as we can, chant our rounds, because Krishna will give us the intelligence to see if we are doing the right thing or not, and the only way to see things spiritually, objectively. For example, the first time when Prabhupada got really, really sick and he was in Hrsikesh and they had to bring him back to Vrindavan, and that's really the first time, for me anyway, that I ever thought, it ever crossed my mind, Prabhupada not being with us all the time. He himself brought it up by saying that being very, very sick, he might not always be physically present.

He actually personally said that the disappearance of the body was not important: 'I have said it over and over and over in my books.' And he said it a few times that day in his room. We all went, we gathered to see him after we had come back from Hrsikesh, and he several times repeated that the disappearance of the body is not important. 'I've said it all in my books.' So it's all in his books. So there is no doubt whatever that Prabhupada is with us, that whether we can see him physically or not, he's with us, as long as we follow his instructions, and accept him as our spiritual master, the only spiritual guide to our soul. As long as we have that connection, he is always our only lead to Krishna. And therefore to keep that connection alive if possible every minute of our life, be conscious of it, is to follow his instructions to chant. If we try to perfect the quality of our rounds (which is a very difficult thing for me to do personally, but I do try), and read the philosophy, there is no doubt that things are very, very clear. Like Prabhupada said it in his books. Everything we need to do is in his books. There's no room for speculation whatsoever.

One can go back to Krishna in this life - Prabhupada's given us everything to enable us to go back to Krishna in this life - everything. So there's no need to waste time or energy, and speculating right or left, it's all set, it's all in his books, and he said it, and I happened to be present when he actually said it personally. So all you need to do is to analyse your motive, your motivation in life, and make sure that in whatever you do, pray to Krishna for guidance and to help you do the right thing. There's no doubt that if you're sincere, Krishna will be in your heart. He sees the honesty and sincerity of your desire. He will give you the intelligence to do so, and because it's not sentimental , because we are following the principles, reading and chanting our rounds, therefore it will make whatever we try to do correct. It has to be. And it can't be motivated, because the chanting purifies and the philosophy helps us understand how things should be done. Prabhupada explains this all in his books. In every way he explains it - philosophically, practically, how to go about our daily life. And whatever obstacle we face, if we follow these instructions, Krishna will give us the intelligence how to overcome it.

I feel that in order to never forget that Prabhupada is the eternal spiritual guide of all our souls, I feel that every energy and effort we can muster should be cultivated in remembering him more and more, talking about him more and more, and more and more; and channelling it so that he is all the time present and alive with us - all the time. To the extent that we will be able to see that he's always present. Of course, for anyone that follows his instructions, he's always present.

Personally, whatever little energy I have, I just want to direct it and channel it into making that memory not a memory, but a constant living presence, Prabhupada being with us. Anyone and everyone that joins this movement knows and understands with certitude that if we follow the process that Prabhupada has established and is giving us, can without fail go back to Krishna. It's completely guaranteed. So it's important to keep Prabhupada at the centre of everything constantly, and spend more energy and efforts in talking about him, remembering everything about him, reading his books, to ensure that we strictly follow the process. And also by respecting and honouring and serving the devotees that follow the same process. Always seek the association of any Vaisnava that can help you further your efforts in Krishna consciousness and remind you of your eternal relationship with Srila Prabhupada and Prabhupada's exalted position.

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irg@zetnet.co.uk
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