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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Prabhupada: \u201cPrasadam is the most important thing to bring people out of darkness.\u201d
\nSravanananda: In Vrindavan, we would go every morning in the early days when it was just huts and a little bit of cement and steel going up.
\nWe would take a mat and Prabhupada would sit on the side of the road, call over mayavadis and then get into a heated debate with them.
\nThey were always respectful, however, but Prabhupada was showing us the fierceness of challenging mayavadi philosophy.
\nI once asked, \u201cSrila Prabhupada, people are so stuck in darkness.
\nHow do you tell a person who\u2019s blind, that there\u2019s vision, that there\u2019s light even though they\u2019ve never experienced it.\u201d
\nPrabhupada said, \u201cPrasadam.\u201d
\nHe said, \u201cPrasadam is the most important thing to bring people out of darkness.\u201d
\nThat hit home for me because that pretty much was the straw that broke the camel\u2019s back for me joining the temple because the prasadam broke my attachment to anything.
\nIt was Govardhan Puja.
\nPrabhupada\u2019s program of prasadam cannot be found in any other yoga group.
\nIn those early days in the temples, the prasadam was just amazing.
\nThe devotees had so much love and devotion, and it was opulent.
\nWe were violently sick at the Mayapur festival in either 1974 or 1975.
\nIn those days, they were using very bad oils to cook with.
\nLiterally everyone was so ill that we could barely pay obeisances to Prabhupada.
\nPrabhupada walked around where we were sprawled out and he was very disturbed that everyone was so sick.
\nHe immediately ordered that the homeopathic doctor be called.
\nWhen the doctor arrived, he put a pill in everyone\u2019s mouth as Prabhupada walked with him and watched over the process.
\nLiterally within minutes after the pill went in our mouth, we woke up out of a slumber of unconsciousness and a horrific disease to being almost fully conscious.
\nWe were bewildered and thought to ourselves, \u201cWhat just happened?\u201d
\nI never thought about it too much until decades later when I really felt that Prabhupada was performing a miracle.
\nTo this day I don\u2019t believe that one little white pill could have made us go from such a state of diseased consciousness and dysentery to be standing up and ready to do service again.
\nIt was such a short time frame from being so bad to so good that it had to have been a miracle by Prabhupada\u2019s grace.
\nThere was a time in Mayapur that I remember with Srila Prabhupada that I can only describe as transcendental.
\nPrabhupada sat on the vyasasana and became very grave.
\nIt was very bright outside but in a short period of time, the light in the temple seemed to be disappearing and dissipating, almost like a cloud covering the sun.
\nEverybody became very sober.
\nInstead of singing \u201cJaya Radha Madhava\u201d, Prabhupada started talking and as the light changed within the temple, Prabhupada\u2019s color also seemed to change.
\nPrabhupada said, \u201cIn your previous life, you were all associates of Lord Chaitanya.
\nHe said, \u201cSomehow or other, I have been designated or assigned as the captain of this ship.
\nBut you have actually done everything to spread this Krishna consciousness.\u201d
\nThen Prabhupada went into ecstasy.
\nHe just sat there, went into ecstasy, and the whole room was frozen in time.
\nEverybody was feeling it because everyone was looking at one another and whispering, \u201cAre you feeling this?\u201d
\nPrabhupada didn\u2019t speak for a long time.
\nI don\u2019t think anybody wanted this experience to stop.
\nAll of a sudden off to the right side of the temple, I remember Hamsadutta picked up a mridanga and he started to chant Hare Krishna.
\nHis chanting seemed to break the almost samadhi like ecstatic mood.
\nI felt some anger towards Hamsadutta for breaking the ecstatic wave that we were all feeling together in this boat with our captain.
\nLater the devotees went to Prabhupada and asked, \u201cPrabhupada, when this happens to you, is this what we should do?\u201d
\nPrabhupada said, \u201cYes, that\u2019s okay, but it doesn\u2019t happen so often, does it?\u201d
\nI can\u2019t grade every experience but I would say this was one of the most directly ecstatic, powerful experiences that I have ever felt.
\n\u2014Sravanananda<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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<\/p>\n
Prabhupada: “Prasadam is the most important thing to bring people out of darkness.”
\nSravanananda: In Vrindavan, we would go every morning in the early days when it was just huts and a little bit of cement and steel going up.
\nWe would take a mat and Prabhupada would sit on the side of the road, call over mayavadis and then get into a heated debate with them.
\nThey were always respectful, however, but Prabhupada was showing us the fierceness of challenging mayavadi philosophy.
\nI once asked, “Srila Prabhupada, people are so stuck in darkness.
\nHow do you tell a person who’s blind, that there’s vision, that there’s light even though they’ve never experienced it.”
\nPrabhupada said, “Prasadam.”
\nHe said, “Prasadam is the most important thing to bring people out of darkness.”
\nThat hit home for me because that pretty much was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me joining the temple because the prasadam broke my attachment to anything.
\nIt was Govardhan Puja.
\nPrabhupada’s program of prasadam cannot be found in any other yoga group.
\nIn those early days in the temples, the prasadam was just amazing.
\nThe devotees had so much love and devotion, and it was opulent.
\nWe were violently sick at the Mayapur festival in either 1974 or 1975.
\nIn those days, they were using very bad oils to cook with.
\nLiterally everyone was so ill that we could barely pay obeisances to Prabhupada.
\nPrabhupada walked around where we were sprawled out and he was very disturbed that everyone was so sick.
\nHe immediately ordered that the homeopathic doctor be called.
\nWhen the doctor arrived, he put a pill in everyone’s mouth as Prabhupada walked with him and watched over the process.
\nLiterally within minutes after the pill went in our mouth, we woke up out of a slumber of unconsciousness and a horrific disease to being almost fully conscious.
\nWe were bewildered and thought to ourselves, “What just happened?”
\nI never thought about it too much until decades later when I really felt that Prabhupada was performing a miracle.
\nTo this day I don’t believe that one little white pill could have made us go from such a state of diseased consciousness and dysentery to be standing up and ready to do service again.
\nIt was such a short time frame from being so bad to so good that it had to have been a miracle by Prabhupada’s grace.
\nThere was a time in Mayapur that I remember with Srila Prabhupada that I can only describe as transcendental.
\nPrabhupada sat on the vyasasana and became very grave.
\nIt was very bright outside but in a short period of time, the light in the temple seemed to be disappearing and dissipating, almost like a cloud covering the sun.
\nEverybody became very sober.
\nInstead of singing “Jaya Radha Madhava”, Prabhupada started talking and as the light changed within the temple, Prabhupada’s color also seemed to change.
\nPrabhupada said, “In your previous life, you were all associates of Lord Chaitanya.
\nHe said, “Somehow or other, I have been designated or assigned as the captain of this ship.
\nBut you have actually done everything to spread this Krishna consciousness.”
\nThen Prabhupada went into ecstasy.
\nHe just sat there, went into ecstasy, and the whole room was frozen in time.
\nEverybody was feeling it because everyone was looking at one another and whispering, “Are you feeling this?”
\nPrabhupada didn’t speak for a long time.
\nI don’t think anybody wanted this experience to stop.
\nAll of a sudden off to the right side of the temple, I remember Hamsadutta picked up a mridanga and he started to chant Hare Krishna.
\nHis chanting seemed to break the almost samadhi like ecstatic mood.
\nI felt some anger towards Hamsadutta for breaking the ecstatic wave that we were all feeling together in this boat with our captain.
\nLater the devotees went to Prabhupada and asked, “Prabhupada, when this happens to you, is this what we should do?”
\nPrabhupada said, “Yes, that’s okay, but it doesn’t happen so often, does it?”
\nI can’t grade every experience but I would say this was one of the most directly ecstatic, powerful experiences that I have ever felt.
\n—Sravanananda<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10650,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53943","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\/10650"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53943"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53944,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53943\/revisions\/53944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}