June 28, 2005HG Krishna-ksetra dasa
OxfordDear devotees
Please accept my greetings and blessings. All glories to His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.
As many of you may already know, our dear Vaisnava, HH Bhaktitirtha Swami Maharaja, breathed his last at 3:35 pm local time yesterday at Gita Nagari farm in Pennsylvania. There is a detailed description of his last moments, and the events and funeral procedures following, at www.btswami.com.
I just wanted to offer a short tribute to Maharaja, an expression of my appreciation and feeling for him. I had the good fortune of meeting Maharaja (at that time Ghanasyama Prabhu) in the late summer of 1977. He and a few other devotees, members of the BBT 'Library Party', were in Europe distributing complete sets of Bhagavatam and Caitanya-caritamrta to libraries, especially university libraries and professors. When they came to Germany, I was invited to accompany Maharaja and assist him with translation and whatever else he needed (driving, cooking, etc) in Austria and East Germany (DDR). In a small car, I think it was a Renault, we set off to Austria, visiting universities in Vienna, Salzburg, and I don't remember, maybe other places. Maharaja would wear a dark three-piece suit and tie, and carry a black salesman's 'sample case' full of Prabhupada's books, of which by that time we had a few published in German language. As we met professors (making no appointments, just knocking on office doors and walking in) Maharaja would boldly yet humbly present the books, encouraging the person either to sign himself up for a 'standing order' or at least write a note of recommendation for the university library. Maharaja was so charming, with such a big innocent smile, that many agreed, often to my complete surprise.
From the very start of our tour, Maharaja became my mentor, with all intention of training me up to do the same service. Always encouraging, explaining his 'method', always wanting to give confidence, 'you can do it!'. Within days he had me 'go it alone' a few times. He explained his 'secret', that I have always cherished: "Whatever situation I'm in, I always feel that Krsna has put me here for some reason. I don't know what Krsna wants, but He wants *something* to happen, and he wants me to be His instrument. So I pray to Krsna, 'Please make me Your instrument'. And then, sure enough, *something* happens, and I understand, 'That was Krsna!'"
During those two or three weeks we were together, Maharaja maintained a very intense and strict sadhana: He would get up in the morning at 2:30; he would eat only once in a day; and he would chant 42 rounds of mahamantra every day. I don't know how he arrived at the number 42, but that was his standard. He would say, chuckling, "I am so fallen, I have to make up for it by chanting so much."
The most intense days were in the DDR. I reminded Maharaja again and again that the country is very restrictive, that actually we are not allowed to take our books into the country, and certainly we are not allowed to enter the university to sell them. He would simply smile and say humbly, "OK, but anyway let's see what we can do." And I would be amazed at how Krsna would open the doors, make customs officials too lazy to look carefully in our vehicle, and make university policemen forgiving when we were caught.
This last refers to our visit to the University of Leipzig. Walking straight past the reception desk of the main building (where as foreigners we certainly were expected to register and explain our purpose), we went up the elevator to the first floor, got out, knocked on the first office door we came to, were invited in, sat down, and Maharaja began his 'pitch' to the friendly sociology professor. After a few minutes the man said, "Oh, these are surely wonderful books, and although they are not for me, I know one professor who will definitely be interested," and he proceeded to give us directions where to find this other professor.
Very excited, we thanked him and made our way out of the main building (quickly rushing by reception) to an adjacent building, found the room, knocked, were invited in, sat down, and again Maharaja began his presentation. After one or two minutes I began to understand where we were. This was not a professor's office, this was the university police, and we had happily and foolishly entered a trap. When they started to explain the actual situation, I gulped hard, imagining what it must be like in a DDR prison in Leipzig, and wondering how many years we would have to 'serve' sentence there. Maharaja, however, didn't skip a beat or change expression in the least. He simply began apologizing profusely (while they scrutinized our American passports), explaining that "we travel to so many different countries, all with different laws, all very confusing, you see, and really the LAST thing we want to do is go against the rules of your great country and great university..." etc. etc.
In the end, of course, they simply let us go, with a rather polite manner and a smile. I now worried that Maharaja would say, "OK, anyway, let's go try again in that big building, some other office!" He was like that -- enthusiastic and fearless to serve Srila Prabhupada. To my relief, he didn't suggest that, so we moved on to the next city (where we met an aging, well-known Sanskrit professor at his home. While tolerating his cigar-smoking, we (I mean Maharaja!) successfully took an order of books from him...
At the end of each week Maharaja would write a detailed report of the weeks activities, which he would send it to Satsvarupa Das Goswami, who managed the 'Library Party' from America. Maharaja felt these reports were important, as they showed the program's success to the BBT, who were supporting (and funding) it.
After two weeks (one in Austria, one in the DDR) we returned to Schloss Rettershof, the main German temple at the time, outside Frankfurt. This was in September 1977. As soon as we walked in the door of the Schloss, someone exclaimed to us, "Srila Prabhupada is in London!!" We were astonished. Prabhupada in London, how is it possible? We had been hearing how ill he was in Vrindavan, it was clear to everyone that he was preparing to depart from this world, and now he is in London!
Within minutes we were back in the car, driving to London. When we finally arrived, and when Prabhupada was told of Ghanasyama's presence, he immediately called for him. Satsvarupa Maharaja had been reporting to Prabhupada about Ghanasyama's great success in distributing sets of his books, and now he was informed that he had just been in one of the communist countries of east Europe, so Prabhupada was eager to meet him. Somehow I was allowed to accompany him, since I had been his assistant during the tour. Suddenly I found myself at Prabhupada's feet in his room, together with Ghanasyama Prabhu (Maharaja), Upendra (Prabhupada's servant), Tamal Krishna Goswami, and Dvarakesh Prabhu (another pioneer of East Europe preaching).
Ghanasyama had just finished writing his report for the DDR tour, so he sat cross-legged before Prabhupada and read it to him. Prabhupada, sitting in a chair (maybe a rocking chair, don't remember) upright, was by this time extremely thin. Upendra was lightly stroking (one can't really call it massaging) Prabhupada's legs. As Ghanasyama read his report, occasionally Prabhupada would make a short comment, and he told Tamal Krishna Maharaja to write down his comments.
At one point, as Ghanasyama read from his report how we had observed people in the DDR standing in long lines before food stores, and how little was available in the markets in the way of vegetables and fruits, suddenly Srila Prabhupada's face was filled with tears. He interrupted, and spoke about the resulting suffering of people due to atheistic governments. He was crying out of compassion for these people's material situations.
I was thoroughly surprised and amazed. Here was my spiritual master, himself about to leave his body, travelling thousands of miles to bid us, his Western disciples, farewell, and he is concerned about the material well-being of strangers in another part of the world!
It was at this point I understood something about the depth of Prabhupada's compassion, and the good fortune of Ghanasyama Prabhu, Bhaktitirtha Maharaja, for catching the spirit of Prabhupada's desire and therefore receiving the shower of his blessings, and my own good fortune to witness all of this.
Since that time I have met Maharaja only occasionally and briefly over the years, as our duties have taken us in different directions. But each time it was a strong reminder of those weeks together with him, a time which, I know, he also did not forget, even near the end of his days.
Maharaja wanted to give everything to Prabhupada and Krsna, and he has done so, and he has shown us, reminded us, what is the standard of spiritual life, of being a 'spiritual warrior'. He said many times toward the end that after his departure we can expect to experience his positive influence in our Society, and it was clear that he was looking forward to return to the lotus feet of Krsna. Our loss is his gain, but if it is so as he assures us, then our loss will not be a loss but a cause for rejoicing that we can follow in his footsteps, joining him in experiencing and carrying the message of love of Krsna and all His jivas, and doing our bit happily in service to the Lord.
Srila Bhakti-tirtha Swami Maharaja ki jay!
wishing well
Krsna-ksetra dasaback