{"id":11368,"date":"2013-03-14T06:13:17","date_gmt":"2013-03-14T05:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=11368"},"modified":"2013-03-14T06:13:17","modified_gmt":"2013-03-14T05:13:17","slug":"siddha-vidya-prabhu-transcendental-warrior-for-lord-caitanya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=11368","title":{"rendered":"Siddha Vidya prabhu: Transcendental Warrior for Lord Caitanya"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bhusaya dasa<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Reflections of appreciation on the passing of a glorious vaisnava)<\/p>\n

After spending three days in jail with Siddha Vidya prabhu, he shaved me up and I moved into the small Houston Temple of 6 devotees with him. We had been thrown in jail when Guru Maharaji (boy Mayavadi guru) pressed “disturbing the peace” charges against the devotees. It was the summer of 1973 and the boy guru was holding a huge “Rasa Lila” program at the Houston Astrodome, and about 30 devotees were outside distributing Krishna books and having Harinam. With Siddha Vidya’s encouragement I was chanting with the Harinam Party and refused to leave when police told me to, so was arrested with them. (I had been chanting and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books for a few months prior and almost joined in LA , but wanted to check out the Houston Astrodome program). <\/p>\n

From day one living in the Temple, Siddha Vidya prabhu began taking me on sankirtan. Everyday we would either go on Harinam in downtown Houston, or on book distribution. He was an ecstatic chanter and dancer for Lord Caitanya. Ecstasy seemed to eminate from his being. We would have kirtan, then he would briefly preach about the glories of Krishna’s Holy Name, distribute BTG’s and then return to the Temple for the full evening program.<\/p>\n

We would often go on travelling sankirtan, just us two brahmacaris and a van full of books. We would usually sleep in the van, have a bucket style cold shower, the whole morning program, book distribution all day, evening program, milk prasadam, Krishna Book, then rest. In the morning Siddha Vidya would usually find a bush or tree to face, then rock back and forth chanting japa in trance-like absorbtion, until his 16 rounds were complete. I knew not to disturb him during this time as he ventured deeply, immersing himself in chanting and heariing the Holy Name. He taught me reverence for the Holy Name just by watching him chant. He read Krishna Book with such relish in the evening, it felt like Krishna was dancing off the pages. <\/p>\n

One day Siddha Vidya taught me how to distribute big books, the hardcover Krishna Book. After a little success I was feeling a “higher taste” than experienced from distributing BTG’s and he told me how the transcendental ecstasy in service to Krishna is variagated, fresh and always increasing. Once when the Temple rent was due and we were $80 short, Siddha Vidya solved the problem when he found exactly $80 in an envelope behind a Krishna painting in the Temple Room. Everything about him seemed transcendental.<\/p>\n

After a few months, Siddha Vidya began requesting me to ask for first initiation and I would always refuse, knowing there were still many material desires in my heart and having the naive misconception that I should’nt ask for initiation until they were gone. Then one day Siddha Vidya surprised me with a letter in his hand and a big smile on his face: “Bhakta Bruce the most fortunate thing just happened. Srila Prabhupada accepted you as his disciple and your name is now Bhusaya dasa.” He cleverly transcendentally tricked me and I am eternally indebted!<\/p>\n

Siddha Vidya prabhu took me on travelling sankirtan to the San Francisco Rathayatra in 1974, where I first gazed upon the transcendental form of Srila Prabhupada. It had been raining all morning and I was concerned Srila Prabhupada might get wet and people would stay away.<\/p>\n

Then Sila Prabhupada’s car arrived. As the back door opened and Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet touched the street, the sun simultaenously broke through the clouds and within minutes it became a beautiful sunny day. Later, after the parade, when I reached for prasad from Prabhupada’s plate, a flower smeared with a little chutney was placed in my hand. Glancing at Siddha Vidya with the look of “what to do”, he motioned “eat it” and I did. We followed Srila Prabhupada down the California coast, my faith in his spiritual purity and teachings growing day by day. Much of my faith in Srila Prabhupada came from Siddha Vidya’s faith and devotion to him.
\nSiddha Vidya taught me how to “cry for Krishna” during japa, how to” pray to Krishna in everyone’s heart” for them to take a book, and how to be fearless in preaching. I remember distributing books in front of a Houston Mall when an enraged barber rushed us with his razor knife. Siddha Vidya instantly leapt into the air, dancing like a madman and loudly chanting the Nrsinghadeva prayers…stopping the barber’s assault in his tracks, as he became petrified and bewildered…only to turn and slither back into the mall, never to be seen again.<\/p>\n

The only time Siddha Vidya asked me to stay back from sankirtan was when we rented a new house at the end of a small road in a more wooded, natural setting. The house needed cleaning, Visnujana Swami was visiting and Siddha Vidya knew how badly I needed to be preached to. So the entire day as the cleaning took place, Visnujana Swami preached how Srila Prabhupada was no ordinary guru, the unlimited potency of the Holy Name and his preaching trip down the Ganga, performing kirtans in the villages along the way. (I still remember him detailing how his boat came around a bend and seeing the large form of Hanuman carved in the side of a hill). The preaching medicine had worked and the next day I was back with Siddha Vidya on book distribution.<\/p>\n

Shortly after this merciful encounter the new Temple was raided in the middle of the night by about 20 men, who I initially took as angry rednecks and thought were going to kill us. We had been sleeping on the floor in our sleeping bags in the brahmacari ashram. They broke down the front door, stormed the Temple and lined us up against the wall, standing in only our kaupins, their guns trained on us. As they mocked us and rifled through the Temple belongings, Siddha Vidya prabhu saw them as unfortunate conditioned souls and began preaching to them. I thought “Oh boy, now they’re really going to kill us. Maybe torture us first.” After listening to Siddha Vidya calmly preach to them for about an hour and not finding what they were looking for, they left. Turns out they were undercover cops who had thought they were busting the heroin dealers who had lived there prior to us.<\/p>\n

Although I didn’t know the word for it at the time, I began to view Siddha Vidya as an “avadhuta,” uninterested in social norms. Sometimes when we would distribute BTG’s at the street lights, he would nonchalantly walk out onto the sidewalk in the middle of the intersection, reach down into his box of BTG’s, pull out his wig and put it onto his shaved head, right in front of amazed motorists! He was naturally renounced and never showed any interest in material things, although he once told me his father was a millionaire. He didn’t care about anything other than Krishna. He was always foremost interested in saving the fallen souls and was most generous with his transcendental association. <\/p>\n

Siddha Vidya prabhu gave his merciful and most valuable association during the tender time of my coming to Krishna Consciousness. Although he had only been in the movement for two years at the time, you would think he’d been a devotee for many lifetimes, he was so fixed up in his Krishna Conscious lifestyle. Although he was my older godbrother and siksa guru, he always treated me with kindness as a friend, like we were old pals.<\/p>\n

I remain eternally indebted to Siddha Vidya prabhu for his merciful guidance and transcendental association. After close to a year with him, I left to do sankirtan at the Gainesville Temple and only saw Siddha Vidya a few more times. I’ve heard over the years how he continued to daily go out to do Harinam and preach the glories of the Lord in Miami, for the benefit of the conditioned souls. I was not surprised to hear when because of politics he was once banned from the Miami Temple, but could be found peeking through the Temple window every morning during mangala arati.<\/p>\n

Other than Srila Prabhupada, Siddha Vidya was the bravest and most Krishna conscious devotee I’ve ever met. It was clearly evident he had no interest for profit, adoration or distinction. He was naturally humble, renounced, kind, insightful and attached to preaching Lord Caitanya’s message. By his example he taught what bhakti\/selfless service is all about. He was devoted to Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya and now they have called him back. The world will sorely miss Siddha Vidya Prabhu. May Lord Caitanya be kind upon us and send another like him soon.<\/p>\n

From Bhusaya Das<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"HareBy Bhusaya dasa<\/strong><\/p>\n

After spending three days in jail with Siddha Vidya prabhu, he shaved me up and I moved into the small Houston Temple of 6 devotees with him. We had been thrown in jail when Guru Maharaji (boy Mayavadi guru) pressed “disturbing the peace” charges against the devotees<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-memoriam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}