By Chintamani dasi
Everyone always wanted Srila Prabhupada to come to their temple, especially if it was Janmashtami and Vyasa puja. We often didn’t know where Srila Prabhupada would go next, sometimes there wasn’t much warning. It was either by a letter or phone call to our Japanese temple that we found out the good news, there had been a change of plans and His Divine Grace would be coming to Japan, along with his newly initiated sannyasis!
Our “temple” was a very small house, as many Japanese houses are. Now we have some elaborate temples in Iskcon, but back then a temple was usually a house in which we put an altar with Deities or some framed pictures.
Last minute preparations were made. We got beautiful golden silk cloth with a golden thread pattern that Japanese women traditionally use as an obi (a sash that goes around the waist of a Kimono and ties in the back) to make a covering for the cushion on Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasasana. We didn’t have altars or Vyasasanas from India, everything was made by hand and simple. We already had an altar with Lord Jagannatha Deities, Who now also had a simple but nice outfit. We also found an apartment to rent for the time Srila Prabhupada would be in Tokyo for him to stay in.
In 1969, Srila Prabhupada had sent Sudama, Bali Mardan and myself to open the first temple in Japan. At first we were in Kyoto and then Tokyo. We had no contacts there and we didn’t speak Japanese, but we had faith in Srila Prabhupada. He wanted a temple in Japan very much. By going on Hare Nama Sankirtana almost daily, and having the Sunday Love Feast, we now had some interested students coming, and a few older people. It had been over a year since I had last seen Srila Prabhupada and I was very excited to see him again. I was the only female devotee for all that time, so it was not always easy.
By this time Bali Mardan had gone to help open a temple in Australia. Now Bhurijana Prabhu was here for a while before he went to start a temple in Hong Kong. A couple of brahmacharis came for a while to help us, Amoga and Satyabrata. Amoga then went to help out in Australia. Bruce, an ethnic Japanese from Canada, was regularly coming, who is now Bhanu Swami and lives in India. We had a few steady Japanese people coming and a few people from other countries also, as Tokyo has a wide variety of people.
When Srila Prabhupada came, he brought with him Tamal Krishna (who was not yet a sannyasi), Kirtanananda, and the newly initiated swamis Madhuvisa, Devananda and Kartikeya. They had to be crammed into a couple of small rooms, and I had to sleep outside in our small car. But so what? Now we could personally have the association of Srila Prabhupada!
On Janmasthami, I helped Kirtanananda and Kartikeya cook a feast for Srila Prabhupada and Lord Jagannatha, as well as the next day for Vyasa Puja. You would not believe how tiny the kitchen was. Then the feast was sent over to Srila Prabhupada’s apartment and I would anxiously await the news if he liked it, and by Krishna’s mercy he did.
On Vyasa Puja day we had each prepared our own offerings to be read to Srila Prabhupada. He came and seemed pleased with our simple, small temple room, and sat on the new cushion. I was nervous to read my short offering, but somehow got through it.
Now it was time for us to offer “pushpa” or flowers to our guru. But it did not quite go that way. Looking back at this fiasco, I can laugh about it now, but at the time it was not funny at all. Most of us were new to celebrating Vyasa Puja. Somehow or other someone thought “pushpa” was a rice dish we used to make. I think it was called pushpanna rice. So, when it was time to individually offer flowers to Srila Prabhupada, we did not have them, and instead we had rice! Whose idea this was, I don’t know, but Srila Prabhupada got very upset and left, going back to his apartment!
The sannyasis looked very downcast. What to do? Later some of them went to Srila Prabhupada to try and rectify the situation. I only heard of what happened second hand, so I will have to paraphrase what Srila Prabhupada said. The main point was that he had just initiated new sannyasis and no one had come to ask him the proper way to celebrate Vyasa Puja, and if the leaders in the movement did not get it right, there was no hope for the rest of our society.
The good news was that he was going to come again the next day to give us a chance to celebrate Vyasa Puja correctly. So, we got flowers, lots of flowers. I got to help cook again and when Srila Prabhupada showed up, he was smiling as if nothing bad had happened. What a relief. He knew how to get a point across so we would remember it.
Srila Prabhupada at this time was also meeting with the Dai Nippon printers, where our magazines and books were printed before it was switched over to the U.S. The “Krsna” book was to be printed soon.
All glories to the merciful Srila Prabhupada who is still looking after all of us. Never give up on this bhakti-yoga path even though challenges may come. Hare Krishna.
Submitted by Sri Nandanandana Dasa