"Bhagavata-gita As It Is"
My dear Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to your Divine Grace on this auspicious Vyasa-Puja day.
Recently, while reading one of your purports to the fifth canto, I was reminded of your limitless compassion for the conditioned souls:
"väïchä-kalpa-tarubhaç ca
kåpä-sindhubhya eva ca
patitänäà pävanebhyo
vaiñëavebhyo namo namaù
"Just like a desire tree, a Vaiñëava can fulfill all the desires of anyone who takes shelter of his lotus feet. Prahläda Mahäräja is a typical Vaiñëava. He prays not for himself, but for all living entities-the gentle, the envious and the mischievous. He always thought of the welfare of mischievous persons like his father, Hiraëyakaçipu. Prahläda Mahäräja did not ask for anything for himself; rather, he prayed for the Lord to excuse his demoniac father. This is the attitude of a Vaiñëava, who always thinks of the welfare of the entire universe."
(SB 5.18.9)
Like Prahlada Maharaja, you thought of the welfare of others and never your own. Driven by the order of your guru maharaja, you traveled constantly and liberally gave your association to the most fallen. Sometimes your association came in the form of vapu and more often in the form of vani. That powerful association uplifted thousands, if not millions-and by some inconceivable mercy, I had the great fortune of being one amongst them.
I still remember that cold and snowy morning, when m y friend John and I visited a second-hand book store. We had come to a conclusion the previous evening, that our lives were shallow and unhappy because we had neglected to seriously follow a path of spirituality. Both of us had read about many of the great religions of the world, and had even dabbled with several forms of spiritual practice, but we remained dissatisfied. Here we were trying to find something "new"-a philosophy or religion that would give us that spiritual experience we were looking for.
"I found it, I found it!", exclaimed John. "Found what?", I asked. "Found the I Ching."As I thumbed through the many hexagrams, describing nature and human endeavor in terms of the interaction of yin and yang, I was intrigued. Minutes later, my interest waned and much to the dismay of my friend, I handed the book back to him, saying "not for me" and continued my search. As I turned the corner, from one aisle to another, a rack of very worn and cover faded books with a sign "75% Off" caught my eye. I quickly scanned the rack and was about to move on, when suddenly one book stood out, almost beckoning me to pick it up. I carefully lifted the book off the rack and studied the painting on it's cover. From my cursory study of Hinduism, I recognized the god Krishna. With reigns and whip in hand, driving horses that pulled a chariot, his passenger, a warrior, held a bow with his left hand and was reaching with his right hand to pull an arrow from his quiver. The painting was exotic and struck me as being very beautiful. But what was it's meaning? My eyes then fell upon the title, Bhagavad-gita As It Is. Oh, I had heard of Bhagavad-gita, but never read it. I thumbed through the pages and understood it to be a dialog between Krishna and someone named Arjuna. These were many of the same questions I wanted answers for. "This is it!" "What?", John asked. I presented him the Bhagavad-gita, but still clutching the I Ching, he said "Hinduism?" not for me, thanks. John purchased the I Ching and I bought the Bhagavad-gita.
We raced back to the apartment and both began to read our respective books. I got so absorbed that I lost all track of time and ended up reading the whole night. John fell asleep on the couch trying to understand the I Ching and was snoring like anything.
As the sun rose, ushering in a new day, the soothing rays of your Bhagavad-gita were ushering in a new life for me. Following your advice, I soon began to chant, follow the principles, and read all of your books I could get my hands on. Later, I had the good fortune of meeting your disciples. By their mercy, you accepted me as your disciple.
Your Bhagavad-gita As It Is transformed my life, and the lives of thousands. There is no way to repay you for this great gift. But you taught us that the disciple attempts to repay his spiritual master by giving the gift he has received to others. On this holy day, I beg three boons from you: The first is to realize the purport of your Bhagavad-gita As It Is; second, to distribute your Bhagavad-gita to as many people as possible during my lifetime, and third, to inspire and train others to do the same.
I beg to remain
Your humble servant,
Giridhari Swami
Bhakta-sane väsa
My dear Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my most humble obeisances in the dust of your divine lotus feet. All glories to you on this auspicious day of your appearance.
Reading your purport to SB 9.6.51, I am reminded of how very fortunate I was to have come in contact with your followers:
"Çréla Narottama däsa Öhäkura also recommends that one engage in the service of the äcäryas, and if one wants to live in association, he must live in the association of devotees (täìdera caraëa sevi bhakta-sane väsa). The Kåñëa consciousness movement is creating many centers just to create
devotees so that by associating with the members of such a center people will automatically become uninterested in material affairs. Although this is an ambitious proposal this association is proving effective by the mercy of Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu. By gradually associating with the members of the Kåñëa consciousness movement, simply by taking prasäda and taking part in chanting of the Hare Kåñëa mantra, ordinary persons are being considerably elevated." (SB 9.6.51)
After receiving your Bhagavad-gita As It Is and tasting the pleasure of chanting the holy name and following the principles, I began corresponding with Svarupa Dasa in Los Angeles. He patiently answered all my questions and assisted me in getting more of your books and lecture tapes. At the time I was living in the Midwest, hundreds of miles away from the nearest temple and I remember looking forward in great anticipation to receiving those letters from him. He helped me in numerous ways during that first year to come in contact with you and your devotees. I owe a great debt to him.
With time, I relocated to Florida. I continued chanting my sixteen rounds, following the principles, reading your books and listening to your taped lectures. I had not yet visited one of your temples, nor met one of your devotees. Svarupa Prabhu then sent me a BTG, with the complete temple listing. I noticed that ISKCON Gainesville was only about 60 miles from where I was living. I was elated and immediately made plans to visit.
Early one Sunday afternoon I made the drive to Gainesville. That was easy enough. But finding the temple was another matter. I drove and drove for hours and couldn't find the temple at the address given. I stopped again and again, asking different people if they knew where the Hare Krishna Temple was. "Hare what?", they answered. I was having a tough time of it and was just about ready to give up and drive home. Then out of utter frustration and disappointment, I prayed to Lord Krishna for guidance. It appears that those prayers were answered, as the very next person I met knew exactly where the temple was and gave me detailed directions. As it turned out, I had passed the temple many times in my search. Problem was that the temple building was set back far from the road and there was no sign. Looking back, I think this was all Krishna's test to see how determined I was to visit the temple for the first time.
Driving up the long driveway, I was filled with anticipation and uncertainty. Getting out of my car, I heard the celestial sound of kartals ringing and mrdangas beating, with the voices of many devotees sweetly chanting the holy name. Simultaneously, the fragrance of incense entered my nostrils. It was an overwhelming experience-something definitely not of this world. I approached the entrance to the temple and just as I reached the door out came a monk, with a freshly shaven head. He was effulgent and smiling broadly he welcomed me and introduced himself as Bhakta Ron. Treating me as a close brother, he offered to escort me to the temple room where the kirtan was just finishing. He taught me how to offer my obeisance to Your Divine Grace and Their Lordships Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai. Gazing at the beautiful forms of the deities and seeing all the devotees chanting and dancing blissfully, I felt like a long lost family member who had finally come home. Although I was experiencing these activities for the first time in this lifetime, nothing seemed foreign or strange. The whole experience felt very natural, as if I had done these things many times in the past.
With the end of the kirtana, Bhakta Ron invited me to honor prasadam with the other guests. The devotees fed me plate after plate of delicious prasadam. I especially relished the halava and samosas. Now I had first hand experience of what it meant to be full up to the neck!
During prasadam, one devotee after another took turns preaching to me. When one guest sitting close to me made a blasphemous statement about you, Armarendra Dasa, the huge bodied and bare-chested temple president, told him that if he said another word he would knock his teeth down his throat! For some strange reason, that guest became very humble and submissive after hearing this.
Prasadam finished and the devotees then took me to the asrama for further talks. No less than ten devotees continued to preach to me up until midnight. Every so often a devotee would come in with the maha from an offering and offer it to me. It was clear that they wanted me to surrender right there and then. They boxed me into a cornor and it was hard to resist their logic, reason and love. At last they tried to convince me to spend the night, since it was already so late. Having a somewhat conservative nature and not being one to rush into things too quickly, I deftly explained that my worldly responsibilities first needed to be wound down before I could move into the temple. I promised to return soon and they finally allowed me to leave.
Getting into my car to depart, I took a deep breath and sighed in relief. "Whew" I thought, "that was a close call." Thinking more deeply about it on the drive back, I concluded that I would become a fulltime devotee some day, but not just yet.
Some weeks passed, and with further correspondance with Svarupa Prabhu, I learned of another center in Tampa. I phoned and the devotee who answered enthusiastically invited me to visit the next Sunday. I took him up on the offer and had almost identical experiences with the deities, the devotees, kirtana and prasadam. This time around however, I met a very special devotee who charmed me in every way with his mastery in presenting the philosophy, strong conviction and brotherly love. My time to become serious about Krsna consciousness had finally come and your servant Kesava Bharati Prabhu was sent to bring me back to your spiritual family.
Kesava Bharati Prabhu, like the devotees in Gainesville, wanted me to surrender on the spot and move into the temple. When I explained that I was running a small business and needed time to sell the business and equipment, Kesava Bharati Prabhu graciously gave me 'one week' to tie up all the loose ends. I thought to myself, "this is impossible", but out of my respect and love for this devotee, I just couldn't say no.
The pressure was on. My family and friends thought I was crazy, but respected my decision enough not to try to dissuade me. I worked like a madman calling everyone I knew, offering them the business for a song. Finally, on the fifth day, a person completely unknown to me called and said he was interested. We met and closed the deal the next morning. On the seventh day, exactly one week later, I gathered together a few clothes and an old, broken-down volkwagon beetle was sent from the temple to pick me up. That Sunday, I surrendered $10,000 and my life to you and Lord Krishna. I owe a great debt to Kesava Bharati Prabhu, who acted as your emissary to convince me to join as a fulltime devotee of your wonderful ISKCON Movement, a decision that I have never regretted.
Çréla Narottama däsa Öhäkura's instructions to engage in the service of the äcäryas and live in the association of vaisnavas is perfect and complete. Your devotees mercifully picked me up from the depths of illusion and kindly delivered me at the dust of your lotus feet. I can only attempt to repay this great debt by using my body, mind and words birth after birth to assist them in bringing more and more souls to surrender at your divine lotus feet.
Your eternal servant,
Giridhari Swami
