Jayananda Thakura



There are 9 pages of Jayananda Katha, see the menu at bottom of this page.

Introduction-

When I first came to the San Fransisco temple, I started off my service with association with Jayananda, and I learned what Krishna Consciousness was. After he left, sometimes I found myself saying to myself, "this is not what Jayananda taught me." I’ve realized since then, that the remembrance of Jayananda Thakura, once a year, remembered as an advanced Vaisnava, (and this is only in some temples, as he is not well known everywhere), is not good enough. He should be held up as the ideal example of a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, so that all devotees can benefit.

It is important for us to follow the example of the pure devotee, and we have Srila Prabhupada. It is also important that we have the example of an Iskcon devotee who has shown us how to follow Srila Prabhupada properly, and who has actually attained Krishna Consciousness and true advancement.

At the beginning, I kept thinking that Jayananda was the next acarya, and now, even though he has "left the planet," still I feel that he is the next acarya, in a sense. He did not leave us volumes of books or a tape ministry. Still he was supremely intelligent in everything he did and said. He taught us by his actions, which is the essence of acarya. He is the acarya by example.

So these stories should be more well known, so that devotees will know the actual position of an advanced Vaisnava, especially one who is contemporary. I feel the need to describe the life of Jayananda more, so that all devotees, new and old, can benefit.

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There are 2 entries on this page:

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Jayananda serves Sri Nama Prabhu so nicely…

What is the powerful proof that Krishna is God? Its Hari-Nama. Who of us have not experienced the divine presence during a great kirtan? Think of some really great kirtans, and how we all come into direct contact with the divine internal energy. God’s song is the only song that has given divine bliss to millions of people, for hundreds of years. No other song can claim this. Not the Beatles or anyone else, not one of their songs can enthrall millions time after time for hundreds of years. Their song will get hackneyed. Hari Nama alone do that, and the Name does it at any given time. One simply has to go to a Hare Krishna temple and see for himself, its happening every Sunday feast. We certainly saw this time after time at the old temple on Valentia street in San Fransisco, with Jayananda Prabhu. In this entry, I will attempt to recount the many divine kirtans that we had with Jayananda, and how he was always absorbed in service of Sri Nama Prabhu.

Jayananda was always saying "somehow, you just have to have faith in the Name." He said this to everybody, at all times, it was his panacea cure for all pains and sorrow. Jayananda had explicit faith in three holy entities, Sri Nama and the words of Srila Prabhupada and prasadam. This was his means of success in all his activities of giving Krishna Consciousness to others. First of all, he would be always serving prasad to others, giving the mercy. Sometimes it was to bums on Market Street or the patrons of some bar. He was missing at a certain time, everyday, and devotees wondered where he was, and someone found him cooking prasad for the poor souls at some bar. They were trying to drown their sorrow in some kind of rotten ale, but somehow they got the mercy. Whenever he was at the temple, he jumped at every chance to serve out Maha-prasada to the guests. And he would cook breakfast prasad for the sankirtan devotees. The times that I went on incense runs with him, on 2 occasions, to Salt Lake city, and to Redding CA, he would always cook our meals, and it was always nectar prasad. Or we would stay at devotee’s houses here and there, it seemed he always knew somebody at every city, and he would cook for everybody, and we’d have a program. In the same way, he was always giving the holy name, or chanting the holy name, starting a kirtan whenever he could. His impromptu kirtans were real famous, I’ll talk about that later.

The following is a real memorial kirtan occasion for me, when I was real new at the temple. I did not know the importance of chanting and thought that jnana was more important. I wanted to be Sastra-vid and know scripture well. I thought that reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at every chance was the thing. Of course, it is still the thing, but then I did not know the importance of kirtan. So, one Sunday, after the feast, I thought that I was going to go upstairs to the Brahmacari ashram and read. I got up there and was reading when the kirtan started, down below. I was sitting there, trying to concentrate on the book. But the floor started vibrating, and I heard the beginnings of the kirtan, and soon the floor was shaking. The vibration was so powerful, I was looking at the words on the page, but nothing registered. The floor was soon bouncing up and down. The kirtan beckoned me like the sirens in The Homer epic, anyhow, the Name was like a huge magnet and I was iron filings. However important I thought the book was, I had to stop reading and just go, as I was sucked into the whirlpool of the sound of the kirtan and was forced to come running downstairs. When I got to the scene, it was a wonder. San Fransisco was real famous for its Sunday feast kirtans. After the feast, there was always a huge kirtan in the hallway. Why the hallway? I suppose no time to clear out the temple. But these hallway kirtans were wonders. When I got there, I saw Jayananda was in the center, surrounded by 40-50 devotees, just going wild. The kartals and drums were like staccato transcendental machine guns annihilating every inch of maya for miles around. Jayananda was doing this dance, legs back and forth, twirling, going nuts, playing kartals like a madman, and everybody was equally mad, it was really powerful. I never saw such powerful energy, it was Krishna’s internal energy. Maybe the sweetrice had a little something to do with it. Yeah, mix ecstatic prasad with ecstatic dancing and chanting, and you’ll get a crowd of madmen/women there at the Frisco mandir, every Sunday. It’ll happen every time.

Frisco was a transcendental cakra. My godbrothers/sisters who served there, know what I mean. This country is actually a vast wasteland. If you’ve traveled here at all, you’ll see a wasteland. Full of meat eaters killing their mother, its a sorrowful place. But this country has one redeeming quality, the soil of America received the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada and the many deities he installed here. And also from America’s soil came a great saint named Jayananda Thakur. Without such, it would be one condemned hellhole. But the land is made useful by supporting the devotees and deities and Srila Prabhupada. And one very holy city is Frisco (Berkeley), because there is the transcendental abode of New Jagannatha Puri, the temple of Lord Jagannatha. (Here is a nice picture of the Lord, and Hanumat Prasak Swami and Misra Bhagavan.) And, Frisco is the site of many of the transcendental pastimes and activities of Jayananda. There are holy spots such as the swan lake in Golden Gate park, where Srila Prabhupada took his walk so many times. And there is hippy hill in the park, where Srila Prabhupada had the big kirtan with all the hippies. There was the Fillmore, where Srila Prabhupada chanted at the rock concert to the hippies. And, there is the Golden gate park, and the meadows where many transcendental Ratha Yatras took place. And there was the wharf, the site of many Hari-namas.

Next is Hari-Nama at the wharf. We had this wonderful place in Frisco, called Fisherman’s wharf, and Jayananda would take us at times down there to give out the mercy. We would go double file down the sidewalks, and I remember how Jayananda would be in the front, and he’d turn around, facing us, and dance backwards, beating the mrdanga, doing this nice dance. It was neat to see him do this backward dance. The people were usually grumpy, trying to digest their putrid fish dinners (they got really nasty right after dinner time), but somehow the chanting made it so transcendental, that at least they would laugh and mimic and repeat in derision thus getting Namabhasa, and liberation from their sordid lives and stinky fish dinners. The nasty venders at the lobster-murder stand would throw stinky fish water at the devotee’s feet as we went by. Later, Jayananda brought them some cookie prasad and told them how nice it was, how they were doing this nice service for us, cleaning the sidewalk for us!!! They were melted.

Anyhow, they saw this big man dancing backwards towards them, with the devotees trailing, and didn’t know what to make of it. It was really cool though, whatever they thought, it certainly was the best day in their miserable sojourn in the long cycle of Samsara. Anyhow, we would chant around, up and down the sidewalk, and at certain points, we’d huddle in a circle and chant, and people would gather around and stare. Jayananda would stop the kirtan and give a speech. He would be talking with his eyes closed, telling people the glories of the holy name. I can still see his face, intense, with eyes closed, preaching to the fallen souls. Then he would request them to repeat the mantra and chant along. He said, "just try saying this mantra with us, you’ve got nothing to lose. Now, just try to repeat these words,"and he’d say - Hare Krishna, Hare Rama - and wait for them to say it in return. But they just looked at us like we were from Mars. It was really hard to get them to chant, but Jayananda tried anyway. Regardless what they thought, it was still the best day in their existence.

Next is some episodes of Japa and Jayananda. Jayananda’s japa was powerful. He would sit upright and chant real intensely. I vividly remember one occasion, we were in the temple one morning, chanting japa. It was one of those rare occasions when Jayananda was not busy doing something else, but he somehow took time out for japa, even though it was in the daytime, not the early morning hours. The sun was real bright, streaming down in the temple room. The temple room was really transcendentally beautiful in the daytime, with sunlight effulgence enveloping the whole temple room, coming in from the sky light dome window in the roof, right over the middle of the temple. The walls were a nice yellow with many transcendental pictures on the walls. Jayananda was sitting like a yogi, on a mat, back straight, his eyes closed in deep concentration, and the mantra shot out from his lips in a very strong and forceful stacatto rapid-fire stream of nectar. It seemed that all of us stopped our minds for a few moments, stopped our wandering thoughts, our breath stopped for a few moments, and we all took real serious notice of his powerful japa. We all stopped what we were doing and looked at Jayananda and looked at each other in a kind of wonder. Then, there were some new bhaktas who were sitting near the door, and they too stopped with blank looks on their faces, and then both of them started to laugh. I think this was because his japa was so strong and unusual and startling, so vividly real, that they reacted with a confusion of humor, because they didn’t know what to think of it. But, I immediately gave them a glance and a frown, sort of saying not to make fun of his japa, and their faces immediately turned somber also. His loud japa went on for a quite a long time too. He didn’t know that we were all taking notice, because his eyes were closed the whole time.

There was another incident, in Sacramento. One morning, Jayananda and I took a japa walk outside. We walked down the road, but it was early morning and so dark that I couldn’t see Jayananda walking in front of me. I just walked blindly in the dark following his loud japa. Usually dark elicits fear, but I remember how secure and unafraid I was, how I walked with a feeling of shelter and protection in the association of Jayananda and his loud japa.

There was another time, in deep summer, the whole temple decided to go to some swimming hole out of town. It was a nice hot day and we were swimming in this natural swimming hole, having really good Vaisnava fun. After having a good deal of fun, and time was running out, Jayananda decided that we would do a little chanting before we left. There was an RV park just nearby with a lot of people there, lounging in their chairs next to their RV’s and so. And so we all had this little Hari-nama Sankirtan on the road, in their full view. I can imagine the surprise and wonder in their minds, to see the devotees chanting in such an unlikely place. Just a peaceful day, and here they were, the shaved heads, dancing and chanting. Jayananda always took a transcendental opportunity in this way.

There was another time in Salt Lake City, we were staying at some devotee’s house, that Jayananda knew. They had a nice Tulasi. I was still the Jnani that I was, and there happened to be some guests there with a christian leaning. They struck up some questions with me, and I got sucked into the trap. Meanwhile Jayananda started a kirtan in the living room, and they were chanting and dancing, and I was entrapped in this false argument with the christians, caught in the trap. Jayananda was glancing at me, giving disapproving looks, saying, "stop the nonsense and chant with us!" But to my great misfortune, I was so entangled in the argument, that I could not get away from it, due to false ego, etc. Afterwards, there was a  guest who commented, "I really don’t know about the philosophy so much, but I really do like that chanting that we did, that, I really like!" All my arguing was worthless, and Jayananda’s kirtan was everything.

Jayananda was always starting impromptu kirtans at festivals, like the Lord Chaitanya festival in Berkeley and festivals in San Diego and Santa Cruz. When everybody thought it was kind of over, and Jayananda was getting help to clean up, he would start a kirtan all of a sudden and we all joined in. I remember this really sweet kirtan in Berkeley, the sun was going down, and we were all dancing around the big red truck, a big circle around the truck, and it was really sweet and from the heart, spontaneous devotion.

Once at the Ratha site in Frisco, we all took a break and were sitting around a circle and Jayananda distributed some bananas and buttermilk, (his favorite) and we were taking. He was asking this person and that person about relating some Krishna katha, and he asked me. I said something for a while, and then I said how I thought it was too late for me, that I joined the Krishna Consciousness movement too late in life, too old, and felt some hopelessness. Jayananda took this as a sentiment of Vaisnava lamentation of hoping against hope, and he went into an ecstasy and smiled big and his face lit up. Then he got up and got some kartals and started dancing and chanting around the lot and we all followed in single file, around in a big circle.

I seemed to miss Jayananda’s lectures for some reason, or do not have any specific memories of one. I had a tape of his lecture, but somehow lost it. Jayananda did not come across as a big erudite scholar, he spoke in simple thought patterns, but very intelligent and thought provoking and convincing. but my godbrother SriKanta told me of one of his lectures one time. It was not a lot of book knowledge or verses, but he told me of how Nalinikanta and he were practically fainting in ecstasy when they were hearing Jayananda. Jayananda was just simply speaking about the boundless mercy of the holy name and how we must put our full faith in the name. This sums up this entry, the important quality of Jayananda was his great faith and service to Sri Nama, how we should always, "just somehow, just have faith in the Name and all success will follow."

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"I won’t care for the comforts of my body…."

Srila Bhaktivinode writes in his song, "I won’t care for the comforts of my body … let me preach the Name divine … when, oh when?, will that day be mine?" These words set the mood for how Jayananda was always oblivious to the comforts of his body. He only cared to preach the Name, and serve Srila Prabhupada and others. Sometimes he tolerated excruciating pain and braved the wild elements of nature with no regard. We shall see this mood in the following pastimes which I’ll attempt to recount.

Jayananda told me one time, of how one summer he was working so hard on the Ratha carts. He was always working hard on the carts every year, with sparse help sometimes, sometimes lots of help. Many times he would see a wandering vagrant, who happened to walk by the carts, some hippie, and Jayananda would entice him with some prasad. The hippie would eat, and then Jayananda would persuade them to help on the carts. He got lots of help this way.

Anyway, he was working real hard this particular Ratha Yatra. And what happened, he somehow stepped on a nail, which went through his shoe, into his foot. Deep. It was real painful, but he did not let it stop him. He told me of how he limped around for 3 days, until the day of Ratha Yatra. Not only was his foot in pain for 3 days, he did not sleep for those three days. Working, day and night, 24 a day for Lord Jagannatha. This I also saw in the summer of 75. I would sleep a while, at the Ratha site, and wake up any time of the night, and see Jayananda working on Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasana seat on the cart. It took him all night to get it the way he wanted it. After all, it was the day before the parade, and Srila Prabhupada would be riding on this cart, and Jayananda could not sleep until it was perfect. His devotion to Prabhupada was boundless.

Now, gentle and loving Bhaktas, this next story will break your heart, it makes me cry when I think about it, I never hear this before, before coming here, please hear the nectar of Jayananda’s devotion- Somehow, Jayananda was put in a special place in Mexico, for his cancer condition. A nice devotee, Muktakesa, told how he came to Jayananda’s room to bring something to him. Muktakesa was there in the room and casually began to sit on the bed, and before he did, Jayananda stopped him, asking him to please not sit on the bed. Muktakesa was wondering, why not?, and all, and then he turned and noticed a picture of Srila Prabhupada at the head of the bed, propped up by a pillow. Jayananda then explained how he had never had such a nice bed like this, (as a devotee) and how he thought it was more appropriate, that his spiritual master Srila Prabhupada should enjoy the bed. I tremble as I write this. Jayananda gave his nice bed to his beloved Gurudeva, in great love and devotion, and laid his cancer-ridden body on the floor in the small space in front of the bed.

We had some really cold summers in San Francisco. It sounds strange, but true. I think Mark Twain said something about that. The wind would blow in the cold ocean breeze, and it got real cold sometimes. I remember this one day, it was so cold! I had on a couple of shirts, sweat shirts and a coat or two. Then Jayananda came to the Ratha site, and he really blew my mind, I mean, my mind was really blown. I was standing there, freezing to death, shivering with all my coats, and here he came- He was only in a T-shirt, and just shaved his head. The wind was just blowing away all the heat off his body, and off his head, I was standing, staring, awe-struck, wondering how he was surviving hypo-thermia. He just worked away, like nothing was unusual. Then we got in the car, and he read some Gita, as we always read some of Srila Prabhupada’s books to each other at times. He spoke of the verse of how Supersoul is reached, when one is equal to heat and cold, honor and dishonor, etc.

Here is another story I heard. It was in New York city. The temple had a gift shop on the first floor, but it seemed that nobody was into it, there wasn’t much enthusiasm to shop there. And, Jayananda was getting weaker and weaker. He had to get a wheel chair and get around that way. Somehow, they gave the service of the gift shop to Jayananda, but moved it up to the 4th floor (I think it was 4th). Before long, it was all due to Jayananda’s enthusiasm and ingenuity, somehow he had customers thronging the gift shop, coming up the elevator and stairs, whereas previously, the shop was neglected. There was no impediment to his devotional service.

The same thing in LA. He single-handedly organized the Ratha Yatra, making many phone calls from his bed. Sometimes he was so weak, confined to a wheelchair, but some mornings, he would come to Mangal arotik and get up and dance. He was real weak in bed and told one Prabhu, "someday, you’re going to come in, and find this bag of stool in the bed." The Ratha festival in LA proved to be the biggest ever, and it all came about due to the desire of Jayananda.

I came to see him in LA. It was about 2 weeks before he departed. Somehow I found a good reason to come to LA from Frisco, having no idea how long he still had. I came to his room, and saw him in bed, being real weak. This was the last time I saw him. It was very sweet. Normally, I am very uneloquent, being quiet and tongue-tied usually. Somehow the spirit entered into my heart and mouth, like I got a little help from goddess Mother Sarasvati, it seemed like. I had a great desire to say something very praiseworthy to Jayananda there, person to person. Some others were around too. Besides, I sort of had him in a bind, he could not walk away, and so I took advantage of the situation. All of a sudden, I got some eloquence in my tongue and glorified Jayananda, using examples from CC and the Bhagavatam, how Lord Chaitanya started the sankirtan movement all over the universe, and similarly Jayananda started Ratha Yatra all over the world, just from his personal desire to serve Srila Prabhupada and Lord Jagannatha. I also spoke of how Maharaja Parikit waited for the 7th day and the snakebird with no fear, because he was plunged in the nectar of Krishna Katha, and similarly Jayananda was not afraid of this snakebird cancer thing, because he was plunged in the nectar of Ratha service to his Guru Maharaja and his dear lord, and so I went on like this, and he sat there and took the whole thing without blinking an eye, no waving of the hand for me to stop, no look of disgust in the face, in fact, he looked a little pleased with me right then. And all the other devotees liked it too.

And now, dear Bhaktas, this was the time of his final gesture of love and sweetness, and disregard for his body. It came the time, as it always does, when one is forced to leave, and I had to leave. I had no idea at that time, it was the last time. I said my goodbyes, and turned to leave, walked away a little, and turned, and to my horror, to see Jayananda getting out of his bed. I knew what he was going to do. I protested, I told him to stop that nonsense, and get back in the bed, where he belonged. He would not listen to me. He got up, out of bed, and came to me, and bowed his weak body, down to the floor, his head touching the floor, asking me to accept his obeisances. Such sweetness and love! Such tears now, when I remember it! Such disregard for his body! We paid obeisances to each other, and hugged. I left and that was the last time I saw him in his earthly form. I kept that image, along with the many other sacred images of him, all inside, all locked up, deep inside, not to forget or fade away.

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more stories are being written....

A kindly friend to all
Only for the benefit of others
Jnana Dipena
Just have faith in the Name
Equal to friend and foe

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Previous stories on Jayananda:
A transcendental fraud - Jayananda 2

and -

Real love lasts - for eternity -
Jayananda 3

also-
The good ole days
The first time I saw him
Confessions of a nitya-badha
Grief and Separation
if you missed them, click here- Jayananda files

and other stories by other devotees- More Jayananda Katha

and more stories on page 2 - More Jayananda Katha 2

Mukunda Goswami & Jivadhara das rememberances of Jayananda - Jayananda Katha 3

Jayananda rememberances by Adi Keshava- Jayananda Katha 4

Kala-kanta das and Svavas das and Indrannatha das remembers Jayananda - Jayananda Katha 5

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Jayananda was Rathayatra Acarya, and here is an excellent link on Rathayatra that you will want to check out - Rathayatra

Home page-  there are over 30 pages of stories, lilas, biographies, poems, Vyasa puja offerings, fictional stories, essays, and more- Gunga Express

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