Protecting the Protector (Raksana das)

I would like to share some of the personal and instructive experiences I had while travelling with Srila Prabhupada.

After two years of going to the Sunday feasts, I finally moved into the Los Angeles temple in 1972. I had been a protection manager and professional bodyguard before joining the temple. I became the temple guard. Besides guarding the temple and devotees, this position put me in charge of the six arati offerings. Because of the small amount of devotees in the temple and my voracious appetite, I would sometimes eat all the maha prasadam offerings. Chandan Acarya das had been previously guarding Srila Prabhupada in Los Angeles. He was a householder working at Spiritual Sky incense factory. When Srila Prabhupada next arrived back at the temple, Chandan Acarya asked if I could guard Srila Prabhupada. Naturally I said yes. This would give me the chance as a new devotee, to intimately associate with Srila Prabhupada. I also knew this would give me assess to Srila Prabhupada's prasadam remnants. Srila Prabhupada was told I was the new full-time bodyguard. He told me, "So you are here to protect me?" I said, "No, Srila Prabhupada, you are protecting me." He then said, "You are my raksana." (raksana means one who protects. I later became initiated as Raksana dasa - servant of "Krsna as the protector"). I was fortunate to continue as temple guard and Srila Prabhupada's bodyguard in Los Angeles until 1976.

In 1976, Ramesvara decided that due to the deprogrammers and other possible risks to Srila Prabhupada, I should travel with Srila Prabhupada as his bodyguard on the world tour. This tour included Los Angeles, Detroit, Toronto, New Vrndavana, Washington DC, New York City (for the first New York City Ratha Yatra), London, Paris, Tehran and India. On the aeroplane from Los Angeles to Detroit, it was Ekadasi, and I drank a 7-Up after checking to see that it had only sugar in it. Later I drank another 7-Up without first checking the ingredients. I later discovered this second 7-Up had corn syrup in it. When I told Srila Prabhupada I had drunk a 7 Up with corn syrup in it, he said, "You must fast from grains and beans tomorrow (the day after Ekadasi)". Some devotees had been saying that if you break Ekadasi you fast from grains and beans two days later, so that you can break the fast the next day. These statements never seemed logical to me because when one has already eaten grains on Ekadasi you have already broken the fast and there is no need to eat grains again to break Ekadasi. So it was nice to definitively know that if one broke Ekadasi, it was to be followed the next day.

Upon arriving in Detroit we were met by the devotees, including Ambarisa das and Lekhasravanti dasi. These two devotees had just purchased the famous Fisher Mansion for the new temple. The temple and grounds were fabulous. Unfortunately, a violent, drug-infested ghetto was less than two blocks away. Prabhupada enjoyed the fact that the wealthy estate owners could dock their 100 foot yachts in the mansion's dock when coming to get prasadam and Krsna consciousness, while the ghetto residents could walk through the front door to get their prasadam and Krsna consciousness. This facility allowed the devotees to preach to the wealthiest people and at the same time to the most unfortunate. During one conversation in Detroit, Srila Prabhupada pointed to a male devotee's head which had five or six weeks growth of hair and said, "Why have you not shaved your head?" The devotee responded, "I haven't had time." Srila Prabhupada said, "If you have a sikha, you must shave your head every fortnight (15 days). If you don't shave your head every fortnight, you cannot have a sikha, and you must have hair like a perfect gentleman, like Ambarisa das." (Srila Prabhupada then said, "If you have a sikha, shaving your head every fortnight is necessary so people will not think we are hippies with our long hair and ponytail".

In Los Angeles I wore yoga pants rather than a dhoti to help facilitate my fighting ability if needed to protect Srila Prabhupada and the devotees. The closeness of the Detroit temple to the violent ghetto caused me to expect the possibility of having to fight gang members. I thought the yogi pants would tear too easily in fighting multiple opponents. I went to the local martial arts store and bought two jujitsu gi's (martial arts uniforms) and dyed them saffron. Every time I look at photos of myself with Srila Prabhupada, I cannot believe I had the audacity to wear a martial arts uniform while travelling with him on his last world tour. In spite of my unusual appearance, Srila Prabhupada exhibited his amazing tolerance by never even commenting on my martial arts uniform. While travelling with Srila Prabhupada there were many wonderful incidents, some of them very humorous. The instructive incidents such as the ones in this article are easy to relate in writing. The humorous incidents require much more time and expertise to properly describe. I plan on taking the time to write about these funny pastimes of Srila Prabhupada, if the editors of Back to Prabhupada want to print them.

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irg@zetnet.co.uk
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!