‘Fanning Around The World’<\/p>\n
By Gauridasa Pandita Dasa <\/strong> <\/p>\n I used to take care of Srila Prabhupada’s garden in Sri Vrindavan Dhama in the summer of 1977. Srila Prabhupada used to come into the garden every morning and chant japa or listen to some devotees chant Bhajans or read his books outloud. Srila Prabhupada liked the chanting of the Gurukula children and Sacitananda Prabhu a lot. Sometimes the secretary would read letters and Srila Prabhupada would dictate a response. Srila Prabhupada liked his Lord Brahma fountain a lot. It always had to be running when he was in the garden. It created a soothing sound in harmony with the chirping birds and temple bells in the distance. <\/p>\n Before Srila Prabhupada’s arrival in the garden early in the mornings, I would change the cloth on his vyasasana and light his favorite incense. I would stick about 10 sticks in the ground on both sides of the vyasasana and the smoke would billow up and around the vyasasana nicely. One day I lit ‘Sai Flora’, a very strong incense, and Srila Prabhupada told me to take it away. He said it was too strong. (especially when you light so many sticks!) I brought back a mellower scent, Kesar-Chandan, (saffron-sandlewood), and Srila Prabhupada said it was very nice; so that’s the kind I lit from then on. <\/p>\n One of my favorite duties was fanning Srila Prabhupada all morning in the garden, then in the Temple Room under the Tamal tree. I used to be a pujari there in Vrindavan and I thought I was the best chamera fanner around. I was puffed up thinking I got that service because I was so qualified, doing the fancy motions. <\/p>\n One day as I was tending to His Divine Grace in his garden a fly landed above his lip. He was chanting with his eyes closed and I was trying to shew the fly away with my finger without touching his face. Just then Srila Prabhupada opened his eyes and looked at me as I jumped back and said, “You are fanning around the world; but you can’t get the fly off my face!” He then told me to give the chamara to him and he demonstrated how to fan him by whisking it right across his face, saying, “Do like this”. Moments later the fly reappeared determined to get some more mercy from the lotus mouth of the pure devotee. I reluctantly brushed the chamara across the face of His Divine Grace and he smiled and nodded his head and said, “Very nice!”. That made my day, after a near disaster. <\/p>\n I learned from that experience that devotional service was not just for show but is supposed to be practical, the way to please the spiritual master and the Lord Sri Krishna. After fanning Srila Prabhupada in his garden we would escort him to the Temple where he would sit under the Tamal tree and listen to Bhajans from about 9am until about 11am. I shared my fanning service then, it was always ecstatic to be in the presence of His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada.<\/p>\n One day a guest brought a big bag of mangoes and offered them to Srila Prabhupada under the Tamal tree. I cut them all into juicy cubes and loaded up a big plate with them. Srila Prabhupada took one cube and nonchalantly tossed in into his mouth and then told me to distribute it to all the devotees and guests there. He always made sure all the guests received attention and Prasadam.<\/p>\n In Hawaii, the devotees asked Srila Prabhupada what type of mangoes they should bring to him and he replied, “Bring the ones from the eastern side of the tree.” He explained that the eastern side receives the morning sunlight that gives the Prana, the life force. He did everything with intelligence, not for simple sense gratification. He also said a yogi could live on just two young coconuts a day. They are the highest food, because they grow so high.<\/p>\n I received a letter many years ago from the secretary of Srila Prabhupada, Tamal Krsna Maharaja, saying that he was having ‘visions’ of me fanning Srila Prabhupada. I hope those visions come true again in the future! All glories to our jagat guru Srila Prabhupada and all those fortunate souls now and in the future who will serve him.<\/p>\n Hoping this meets you well and Happy in Krsna Consciousness By Gauridasa Pandita Dasa<\/strong><\/p>\n I used to take care of Srila Prabhupada’s garden in Sri Vrindavan Dhama in the summer of 1977. Srila Prabhupada used to come into the garden every morning and chant japa or listen to some devotees chant Bhajans or read his books outloud<\/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-8890","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\/8890","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=8890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8890\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nYour eternal friend and servant
\nGauridasa Pandita Dasa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"