{"id":84989,"date":"2023-03-15T10:48:23","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T09:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=12569"},"modified":"2023-03-15T10:48:47","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T09:48:47","slug":"sridhar-swami-and-mayapur-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=84989","title":{"rendered":"Sridhar Swami and Mayapur"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/MhqcBSL.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What HH Sridhar Maharaj asked Giriraj Swami to do for TOVP\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/geClKg8PIh8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong>By Giriraj Swami<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>The Mayapur Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP), under construction, recently opened an office in the ISKCON Juhu temple, at Hare Krishna Land in Mumbai. In honor of the occasion, and to further the cause, I thought to share an excerpt adapted from my article \u201cMemories of Sridhar Swami\u201d in my book<\/em> Many Moons. <\/p>\n<p>In November 2003 Srila Prabhupada\u2019s staunch disciple Sridhar Swami phoned me from Bombay and told me that he was planning to go to Vancouver in April for four to six months. Soon thereafter, however, he sent an e-mail saying that he had been diagnosed with liver cancer and was going to Vancouver immediately to see if he could get a liver transplant, which was his \u201conly hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Vancouver the tests revealed that his cancer had spread beyond the limit allowed for transplants, and so his \u201conly hope\u201d was dashed, and it seemed like he was soon to leave his body.<\/p>\n<p>I phoned Maharaja from Santa Barbara and eventually got him on his cell phone. \u201cWhere are you?\u201d I asked. \u201cI\u2019m shopping,\u201d he answered. He seemed so jolly\u2014like always. But then he confirmed my worst fears: \u201cThe doctor says that I could go at any time. Phone me back later. We have to talk.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>After that, we would speak every day, usually twice a day. And we had wonderful talks. Then the question arose whether he should go to Mayapur\u2014and when. He decided he <em>would<\/em> go to Mayapur and concluded that he should go as soon as possible. <\/p>\n<p>He had three desires, he said: \u201cI just want to survive until I reach Mayapur. Then, if possible, I want to live to see the Pancha-tattva installed. And then, if possible, I want to live until Gaura-purnima. And then\u2014whatever.\u201d (He meant, of course, \u201cAnd then\u2014whatever Krishna wants.\u201d) No one knew how much travel Maharaja\u2019s weakened body could bear, but with these three desires in his heart, he flew to London and then to Kolkata, and eventually he arrived in Mayapur. <\/p>\n<p>I wanted to phone Maharaja every day, but the way it worked out with the time difference and all the difficulties in just getting through to Mayapur, we managed to speak only every third day or so. The last time, two days before he left, he was having a good day. The previous day had been a bad one, but the night before, they had given him some additional medication. So when I spoke with him that last time, he was having a good day, and we had one of the best talks I have ever had with anyone in my entire life. We spoke mainly about the Mayapur project and Srila Prabhupada\u2019s mission. I\u2019ll cherish that talk\u2014the experience of it and the lessons it contained\u2014for the rest of my life.<\/p>\n<p>That was Thursday, March 11. The next day, Friday, we installed beautiful brass Deities of Gaura-Nitai in our Carpinteria ashram. They had come from Vrindavan, originally commissioned by Mother Kirtida for Tamal Krishna Goswami. I felt that Their coming was also part of Sridhar Swami\u2019s mercy, because he so fervently desired that the glories of the Pancha-tattva be spread and that we build the great temple for Them in Mayapur. So, two representatives of the Pancha-tattva had come, and I felt that Their arrival was his desire. <\/p>\n<p>On Thursday I had told Maharaja, \u201cI don\u2019t know if I will be able to phone you again before then, but the Deities have come and we will install Them Friday evening, and by your mercy we\u2019ll try to serve Them and Their <em>dhama<\/em>.\u201d And now, whenever I look at Their beautiful forms and appealing faces, I feel that we have to do something for Them\u2014we have to build Their wonderful temple, as Sridhar Swami always reminded me.<\/p>\n<p>This may have been Maharaja\u2019s main contribution in recent years, at least to me in my service: He impressed upon me\u2014and upon our entire movement\u2014the importance of the Mayapur project, of the \u201cwonderful temple\u201d (<em>adbhuta mandira<\/em>) that Nityananda Prabhu had desired for the service of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and that Bhaktivinoda Thakura had envisioned. Maharaja\u2019s whole life was dedicated to Srila Prabhupada, and I think he felt that this was one of Srila Prabhupada\u2019s main desires left to be fulfilled. And he felt that <em>we<\/em> had to do it\u2014and that we <em>had<\/em> to do it; it would benefit the whole society, and the whole world. He would quote Ambarisa Prabhu: \u201cThis will be the tide that will make all the boats rise.\u201dSo, although Sridhar Maharaja left so many wonderful legacies for us in terms of his personal qualities and activities, I think one legacy that may serve to unite the movement and fulfill one of Srila Prabhupada\u2019s main desires is his inspiration to push on the construction of the great temple in Mayapur. <\/p>\n<p>When I was a new devotee, in my first couple of years in the movement, I approached Srila Prabhupada one day while he was getting his massage on the veranda of the Calcutta temple. \u201cSrila Prabhupada,\u201d I said, \u201cI have been thinking about what pleases you most.\u201d Srila Prabhupada was so pure, he took every word into his heart. He replied, \u201cYes.\u201d I said, \u201cThe two things that seem to please you the most are distributing your books and building the big temple in Mayapur.\u201d Srila Prabhupada smiled with great appreciation and said, \u201cThank you very much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So, those were Srila Prabhupada\u2019s two main strategies for spreading Krishna consciousness, and Sridhar Swami helped him in both. In his early days, Sridhar Swami was instrumental in developing book distribution in North America. And in his later years, he was involved with the Mayapur project, planning and raising funds for the great temple. And by Maharaja\u2019s mercy, on Gaura-purnima, standing in front of the Pancha-tattva Deities in Laguna Beach, I got the inspiration: \u201cNow it\u2019s time for Mayapur. Sridhar Swami understood that long ago. Now it\u2019s time for you [me] to join the effort, too.\u201d And that was important for me in other ways as well\u2014to let go of the past: \u201cForgive and forget. Now let\u2019s all work together for Mayapur, for Sridhar Swami, for Srila Prabhupada, to build the wonderful temple.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>When I asked Sridhar Swami how I could help, he requested me to speak about my experiences of Srila Prabhupada related to Mayapur. In 1973, when Srila Prabhupada came to Calcutta from England, he was very excited and enthusiastic about Mayapur. Tamal Krishna Goswami had gotten the first land, we had observed the first Gaura-purnima festival there, and now Srila Prabhupada had come with the plans for the first building. There was a detailed discussion, and at the end Srila Prabhupada said, \u201cIf you build this temple, then Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura will personally come and take you all back to Godhead.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Now I think, \u201cThat might be my only hope, so I\u2019d better get to work. We\u2019d better build the Mayapur project, because I don\u2019t know how else I will ever get back to Godhead.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>His Holiness Sridhar Swami has given me a lifetime of work in service to Srila Prabhupada. Although <em>jiva va mara va<\/em>, to live or die is the same for a devotee\u2014and certainly that was true of Maharaja\u2014my own feelings are mixed. I think, \u201cHe left so much service for me, given me so many instructions. So I must stay and execute his mission.\u201d I think the same about Tamal Krishna Goswami. Even though part of me misses them terribly and wants to be with them, mainly I think, \u201cThey left me so many instructions. I have so much service to do for them here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course, how long we have to do what they have asked\u2014what they would want\u2014all depends on Krishna. Therefore, whatever time we do have left we should use in the best possible way\u2014in Krishna consciousness.<a id=\"aGoBack\"><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/2yMTq7g.jpg\" \/><strong>By Giriraj Swami<\/strong><\/p>\n<p> His Holiness Sridhar Swami has given me a lifetime of work in service to Srila Prabhupada. Although jivo va maro va, to live or die is the same for a devotee\u2014and certainly that was true of Maharaja\u2014my own feelings are mixed. I think, \u201cHe has left so much service for me, given me so many instructions. So I must stay and execute his mission.\u201d I think the same about Tamal Krishna Goswami. Even though part of me misses them terribly and wants to be with them, mainly I think, \u201cThey left me so many instructions. I have so much service to do for them here.\u201d  Of course, how long we have to do what they have asked\u2014what they would want\u2014all depends on Krishna. Therefore, whatever time we do have left we should use in the best possible way\u2014in Krishna consciousness.<!--more--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84989","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\/84989","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=84989"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96838,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84989\/revisions\/96838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}