Shilavati Mataji
I was the Pujari in the Watseka Avenue (LA) temple when I joined in January 1970. She was totally dedicated to the Deities. Most of us went out on hari nam sankirtan with Vishnujan Prabhu dancing and chanting in streets like Hollywood Boulevard. She stayed with the Deities, chanting japa most of the day. She told us “The real nectar begins after you chant 64 rounds.”
This was before mangal arotike was attended by all the devotees. She was offering mangal arotike by herself.
We got to bed very late, sometimes even midnight. We went out two times on Hari nam, chanting outside the musical HAIR as people left.(The musical included chanting Hare Krishna.)
We would sleep til 7:30 am,
but there was one brahmacari who listened for Shilavati blowing the conch at the end of arotike.
He would run down the stairs to get milk sweets she had offered to Rukmini Dwarkadish. He was so eager. Then he went back to sleep.
She was older than most of us. She might have been 40. I often wondered about her. Hopefully she went Back Home, back to Prabhupada’s eternal family!
ys Amogha das