By Gurudas
“At first, upon returning, I was a little skeptical of the Swami and his message. I was leery of organized anything those days. ‘Chant Hare Krishna and be happy.’ I tried it, and it did feel nice, but so did getting high, loving exchanges, good food, or music. And I didn’t understand why we couldn’t let our beads touch the ground. Didn’t God create the ground? Later, I learned that the rules had as much to do with time, place, circumstances, and self-realizations rather than simply imposed restrictions.
I didn’t agree with prohibiting Que Tal (Gurudas’ dog at the time) and other animals into the temple. Didn’t Saint Francis invite all the animals in? Later, I learned that it was a matter of cleanliness, not disdain for animals or any living entity.
What I did like was the family growing and striving side by side with me to understand through realization all these new ways. My life became simpler still, revolving around serving the Temple and going to farmers’ markets with Jayananda. ‘Hi Jim,’ many of the vendors would call out when they saw him.
Eventually, we decided to give our Willard Street apartment to the Swami, as his apartment on Frederick Street was smaller and the multi-unit apartment building was noisy. The Willard Street building had only two units, so it was much quieter.
The Swami sat between us. He was unassuming, comfortable in all situations, and smiled a lot. His jolly manner was infectious, so I smiled a lot from being around him. If someone gave the Swami any money he would immediately use it for printing, either books or magazines, never for his own self. He lived simply, but he would accept gifts as tools if it helped him to serve Lord Krishna.
He awoke at 2:00 a.m., bathed, chanted 250,000 Holy Names, or sixteen rounds on a rosary of 108 beads. He encouraged us to also take up this practice, which we did. The mantra (‘mind-deliverer’) was a way of cleansing the mind of unwanted things; a purification process. Anyway, it felt good to chant: “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.” The chanting was also a prayer to Lord Krishna to please allow us to serve. This was the culmination of all my protests, deeds, experiments, and studies.
The Swami did not ask anything for himself. he always deferred to Krishna. We wanted to give him gifts and things, and he would always politely decline unless the gift would help him to serve Lord Krishna, such as a dictaphone to help him write. After he chanted his morning rounds, he would write while most of the population was still sleeping. He brought with him from India the three volumes of Srimad-Bhagavatam he had translated, and now he was finishing his translation of, and purports to, the Bhagavad-gita. After many hours of writing, he would go for a walk.
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings and evenings at 7 a.m. and p.m., the Swami would come to the temple and lead us in chanting (kirtan). He melodious voice comforted me, and soon we would dive into the shelter of his paeans. He showed us how to play the karatalas, as a few eventually came from India. He wrapped the handmade cloth through the 3-inch metal discs, and clang clang, he would play and begin the chanting. Call and response; listening and then singing was the process. His honey-gravel voice flooded the small storefront temple, and then we joined in. There were about six initiated devotees and many regular students attending now.
Sometimes at the night kirtans, Swamiji would lead us on a bongo drum. As the congregation increased, kettledrums, trumpets, violins, guitars, and even kelp horns added supporting musical notes. Soon, our chanting became faster and louder, and we could not help dancing. All the while the Swami would chant with closed eyes, and then open them while we were chanting and dancing, beaming his smile of benediction upon us. Whirling, exciting feelings of transcendeing time, the earth, myself, and all the good trips culminated into a feeling of bliss. I was looking for the ultimate high, from within and without. The less I needed outside substances, influences, affirmations from others, keys, clothes, and desires, the happier I could be. I was searching for the most natural and eternal high. I was looking for the ultimate groove, the nth degree, the zenith, with all people sharing love, medicine, clothes, and food. When my love for krishna is felt, then my love for all spilled over, and when I love everyone and everything, then my love for Krishna is increased.
After we chanted, the Swami would say some Sanskrit prayers honoring past saintly persons in his spiritual line (sampradaya). He would then speak very simply and very sweetly to us so we could understand. He said, ‘Chanting is sublime, and by doing so, we become purified and happy.’ He was an example of this.
We did not get to see the Swami very much. He was writing and kept to himself, except when he came to the temple room three to six times a week. He was our spiritual father and I wanted to possibly have some individual moments with him. I wanted to know him more.
(From Love Medicine and Music, Chapter 7)
Love Medicine and Music (The flipside of the Sixties) by Roger James Siegel a.k.a. Gurudas. Book description: (462 pages/ 24 Illustrations) The journey of a young man who follows his heart, to fight injustice and find positive alternatives to hate and violence. Lessons in survival and community are also part of the book, as the reader is lead through a tenement life, and the colorful community of the Lower East Side of New York. Seeking meaning of life, the author becomes a staff member of the Northern Student Movement’s Harlem, New York office. The activism starts with education in a tutorial and becomes direct action, as the author is beaten and arrested many times for his protests. In August 28, 1963, the planning and experience of the March on Washington is described. Many of the authors’ interactions with dignitaries and leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., Stokely Carmichael; Julian Bond; Sonny Liston; John Lilly Jr., Tim Leary, Ken Kesey, Swami Bhaktivedanta, Indira Gandhi, John Lennon, and George Harrison are interspersed throughout the book. A change of pace takes the readers into life in Mexico, for some reflection and fun. And after a short revisit to New York City, the author experiences a period of depression and decay, so he goes on the road and lands smack in the middle of the San Francisco’s swinging 60’s. The experiences of psychedelia and community are described. The search for truth continues and the author embraces eclectically many cultural and spiritual traditions. Meeting many mentors and teachers along the way, he encounters, A.C. Bhakivedanta Swami who becomes his Guru. Further adventures include meeting, living and recording with the Beatles, including travels to over 40 countries. This unique adventure includes philosophies, history, humor and wisdom. The dynamics of the individual and group consciousness are examined, as is spiritual communities. Some solutions for todays problems are included. A world of hope, healing and survival punctuates the story, which was described as “Vivid and a page turner”, and “This book is both enjoyable and profound.”
I have had the pleasure and good fortune of knowing Gurudas Prabhu since 1971. Through thick and thin, he has expressed his feelings of love for Srila Prabhupad and Krishna. Hardly a conventional devotee, he was and is a vital ingredient of Lord Chaitanya’s expanding Sankirtan Movement. Everyone who visited the Vrindaban Temple during its construction met with the warmth and kindness of his sweet personality. They, like he, came to feel that Vrindaban is truly our home. Never self-righteous, he freely and honestly tells of his introduction to the Krishna consciousness movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The movement was the “new home” of disenchanted seekers of the times. Ready to reject the values of conventional materialistic society of the times, the positive alternative came from Srila Prabhupad. What a relief it was for the young people of the times. And, what an interesting and diverse group of young people came and joined the Sankirtan Movement. Not all stayed and they will become the members of the future Sankirtan Movement, so auspicious was the association, the prasadam, and the Holy Names. Srila Prabhupad was a father, grandfather, and spiritual guide of this young generation of Westerners. Literally, ready to give the best years of their lives to Srila Prabhupad and Krishna, the Krishna consciousness movement was spread throughout the world in a very short time.
From my own perspective, I remember how I received a letter from Srila Prabhupad in 1973 to go to South Africa and make preparations for him to visit there. Apartheid was like a Berlin wall to penetrate, but the Holy Names and Srila Prabhupad’s will was in force. Finally, after 2 years, a great deal of prayer, and the help of a small band of bhaktas and their South African well-wishers, the visa for Srila Prabhupad’s visit was obtained and it all came together. The first of his glorious lectures was in the Durban City Hall. The topic of Srila Prabhupad’s lecture that evening was the first verse of the Bhagavad Gita. It was both peculiar and prophetic. In fact, I had the sense that Srila Prabhupad was creating a dharma-ksetra or holy field in South Africa for the Sankirtan Movement to flourish…and it has. The mere presence of Srila Prabhupad in Russia for a brief visit similarly set the stage for the future explosive growth of Krishna consciousness there that can be seen today. In looking back at the history, we can say that the wishes of one person, connected as a transparent medium to Krishna, is inconceivably powerful. It was never mundane and not the product of a material faith. So many times Srila Prabhupad would say, “now lets see what Krishna wants”. When he expressed this, he did so as Krishna is indeed the principal Person in the Sankirtan Movement.
Gurudas like each of us, as Srila Prabhupad would say, has accumulated a ‘transcendental bank account of devotional service’. It can never be diminished. Awakened or reawakened, it nourishes one and invites further deposits in that account. Sri Krishna is ever mindful of this. Gurudas always says that the devotees should not find fault. Fault-finding is the human obstacle to encouragement of the flow of Krishna consciousness. It may not only try to disrupt the flow of Krishna’s love in the other person, it must also disrupt the flow of such love in the heart of one finding fault. Therefore, give honor and don’t expect honor for one’s self…advice of Lord Chaitanya.
Gurudas’ books are his attempt to give others a feeling for the innocent days when association with Srila Prabhupad was very personal, intimate, and nurturing. These were not the ‘lazy days of summer’ but rather the ‘flowering days of spring’, when new life was awakened in Krishna consciousness, and the beauty of God as the Supreme Person was imprinted over the entire planet. And, as Srila Prabhupad also would sometimes say…”Just see!” Pusta Krishna das