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<\/p>\n1. Robin\u2019s Devotee Qualities<\/b><\/p>\n
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Patita Pavana das Adhikary<\/b><\/p>\n
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When Robins Williams died of apparent suicide on 11 August 2014, many of the devotee community were shaken. It was as though a fellow member of the Vaishnava community had passed away. Usually the death of a celebrity or politician or other famous person is greeted with a crescendo of indifference from the devotees, since as philosophers we understand that ultimate death is merely a natural consequence of living here in this martya<\/i>–loka<\/i>. I was able to empathize with the feelings of the devotees because I knew Robin back in San Francisco where occasionally ran into him. I often passed by his house at Sea Cliff which was recognizable by the Greek theater masks portraying both comedy and tragedy that adorned the outside wall. I would learn through my brief acquaintances with Robin that those masks held the secrets to both his inner and outer psyche. They spoke of his life as a comic to the world as well as a deeply troubled and silently disillusioned searcher looking for something better. To me it appeared that Robin was two separate personalities. One side of the comic\u2019s face showed a message of wit while a sense of heartbreak seemed to emerge from the other. He was crying out for help but his pleas were obscured by the laughter of his audience.<\/p>\n
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The first time I saw Robin was on Columbus Ave. at Fisherman\u2019s Wharf where I lived at the time. When a homeless man asked him for spare change, Robin immediately handed him a twenty dollar bill displaying his charitable and compassionate nature. However, the first time we spoke was at his son\u2019s school up on Pacific Heights. Dutiful dad that he was, he had come to pick the lad up. I happened to have an issue of Back to Godhead<\/i> with me, an issue for which I had written an article about my \u201cdiscovery\u201d of Parashurama Kunda in Madhya Pradesh.* Though ours was a brief exchange that day, I gave him a copy of the BTG which he was very thankful to receive. He struck me as a humble and kind person at heart; unlike most of Hollywood\u2019s other mega-celebrities.<\/p>\n
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*Read the article \u201cJourney to Unknown India\u201d here: http:\/\/backtogodhead.in\/parasurama-kunda-a-journey-into-unknown-india-by-patita-pavana-dasa-adhikari\/.<\/i> <\/p>\n
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The second time I met Robin was at City Lights Book Store in North Beach where he was browsing for something to read. I asked him if he had found time to look through the BTG magazine I had given him. Then I told him that City Lights sold my book Motorcycle Yoga.*<\/i> I offered to buy him a copy from the store, but he declared, \u201cNo I want your book. Let me pay.\u201d So he did, and he even let me sign it. \u201cOh yes, your autograph,\u201d he declared, chuckling, since undoubtedly not many people had given Robin their autograph. Then he invited me to join him at the famous Tosca Cafe across the street. In the cafe he charmed every person at every table. It was interesting that he was so willing to entertain even perfect strangers, which made him widely loved by everyone. This was his devotee quality; he was a friend to everybody. It was strange that he did not try to charm or entertain me, but rather looked at me respectfully and with a sense of reaching out for something. Every time we met he would look at me silently as though I was supposed to give him something \u2026 which I tried to do.<\/p>\n
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The third and last time I met Robin he was sauntering down Columbus Ave where I had a small business. I asked him if he had gotten around to reading Motorcycle Yoga*<\/b> <\/i>yet, and he replied that the book was sitting on his night lamp table and he was just now finding the time to get to it. I had a small altar to Lord Krishna inside my shop, so I invited him in for darshan<\/i>. He immediately followed me inside with no sign of self-importance whatsoever. Then after offering prayers at the altar, I took a small Shiva-linga<\/i> that I had found in the Narmada River some years earlier. Handing it to him, I asked Robin if he knew what it was, and he replied matter-of-factly, \u201cOf course, it\u2019s a Shiva-linga.\u201d I told him to take Lord Shiva home with him and gave him some incense for the offering and \u201cinstallation.\u201d He gladly accepted it, taking the deity silently and reverently like a pilgrim receiving a blessing at a holy shrine. <\/p>\n
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Given that on different occasions Robin had taken from me a BTG, my book and a Narmadeshwara, I always felt a certain devotional kinship with him. I had observed that he was dissatisfied behind the Hollywood mask of laughter. It could be read it on his face. He was desperately in need of something higher than merely being the funniest person in the world. His dual persona caused me to reflect back to the Greek theater masks that adorned his Sea Cliff mansion. The funny side of Robin Williams was apparent to his hundreds of millions of fans and to his fellow celebrities who laughed at his antics; but to me (and apparently to other devotees, too) the other Robin was visible. He was a tragic seeker somehow cast by fate into a funny, high life of opulence and fame, but always crying within for knowledge of something higher, which as we know is the Supreme Absolute Truth Who is personified as Lord Krishna. To me this appeared to be the essence of this great yet humble man\u2019s frustration. (And recognizing this makes us realize all the more the value of our position as recipients of Prabhupada\u2019s blessings.)<\/p>\n
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On the Ekadashi following the tragic death of Robin Williams, Mother Abhaya Mudra and I offered the benefits our fasts to him. When the vrata<\/i> was over, I turned to the computer news and saw that he had been cremated with his ashes spread over the San Francisco Bay. The waters of that bay\u2014like the great Narmada and other holy rivers\u2014join Sagar, the husband of all sacred streams. We devotees know that death by suicide can produce terrible suffering in the next life, perhaps even in a ghostly body. And neither is Yamaraja impressed with wealth, fame or talents. But did not Shrila Prabhupada encourage his sankirtana<\/i> army of book distributors, saying that anyone who received a BTG would become elevated, and that Krishna would never forget their service. We join our Godbrothers and Godsisters in praying that Robin Williams has moved towards taking a better birth in a devotional family wherein his vast talent and wit can be meaningfully engaged in the service of Lord Krishna\u2019s lotus feet.<\/p>\n
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*Motorcycle Yoga by Miles Davis (Patita Pavana dasa) is in print and available from the publishers here <\/b><\/i>http:\/\/www.royalenfieldbooks.com\/motorcycle_yoga.html<\/b><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n \n<\/p>\n In the second part of this article on Robin Williams, Abhaya Mudra Dasi offers some astrological insight into this rare talent. <\/i> <\/p>\n \n<\/p>\n 2. Life and Death of Robin Williams<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n![\"Hare](\"http:\/\/dandavats.com\/wp-content\/uploads4\/2014-09-25_08-26-12.jpg\")
By Patita Pavana das<\/strong><\/p>\n