JAYANANDA REMEMBRANCES GIVEN BY ADI KESHAVA
So today we are observing the disappearance day of Jayananda das Brahmachari.
By the order of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, we are observing this
day as a disappearance day of a great Vaishnava. Its interesting that when
we get to thinking of the passing of the Vaishnava acaryas of the past and
the great devotees of the past in a certain light, but we do not think so
much of the qualifications of persons who are
even among us who are also elevated personalities obviously possessed of
some special potency. In the case of Jayananda, to anyone who knows him or
knew him, it is a good one in point, in that he was never recognized as a
great manager or a quote "big gun" in ISKCON. But rather he was one of the
most renowned devotees simply on behalf of these Vaishnava qualities that
endeared him to practically everyone he ever met and it was on the basis
of those qualities he became known. So, when after Jayanandas passing,
Srila Prabhupada sent a letter in which he said;
"Jayananda's death is glorious. It is very good that he had stated, what
is the use of such a useless body, better to give it up. He has left his
body very wonderfully, and he has been transferred to Vaikuntha. I have already
sent a condolence letter for publication in Back To Godhead. Everyone should
follow the example of Jayananda. I am very proud that I had such a nice disciple.
If possible Jayananda's picture should be hung in the Ratha of Lord Jagannatha,
and in all of our temples a day may be set aside for holding a festival in
his honor, just as we do on the disappearance day of the other great
Vaishnavas."
( excerpt from Letter to: Ramesvara in New Delhi 11 May, 1977 from
Hrsikesa)
So such a festival is called Utsa just like we talk about utsaha, or enthusiasm.
So Utsa means a celebration or day of celebration . Just like when we talk
about Krishna kirtan or we talk about the book kirtan performed by these
Goswamis that mean that their kirtan were very enthusiastically jumping up
and down. So similarly we perform Utsa by having kirtan and traditionally
the senior Vaishnavas speak on the qualities of the departed Vaishnava and
then theres a feast, an offering of prasadam in honor of that personality.
Just like youll see in Vrndavan when theres a passing of a Vaishnava
and in all of the temples the have the offering and then the Maha prasad
is sent to the asrama of that great personality. It is traditional for the
worship of a great Vaishnava and certainly those who know Jayananda or knew
him would recognize that he was such a personality and for those who dont
know him perhaps we can give some introduction. Let suffice it on the authority
of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada that he has said that such observations
should be held. The answer why is given in the letter that Srila Prabhupada
wrote to Jayananda after his passing. He sent it when Prabhupada was staying
at Bombay and he was on his way to Hrisikesa. He wrote this letter.
My Dear Jayananda,
Please accept my blessings.
I am feeling very intensely your separation. In 1967 you joined me in San
Francisco. You were driving my car and chanting Hare Krsna. You were the
first man to give me some contribution ($5000) for printing my Bhagavad-gita.
After that, you have rendered very favorable service to Krsna in different
ways. I so hope at the time of your death you were remembering Krsna and
as such, you have been promoted to the eternal association of Krsna. If not,
if you had any tinge of material desire, you have gone to the celestial kingdom
to live with the demigods for many thousands of years and enjoy the most
opulent life of material existence. From there you can promote yourself to
the spiritual world. But even if one fails to promote himself to the spiritual
world, at that time he comes down again on the surface of this globe and
takes birth in a big family like a yogi's or a brahmana's or an aristocratic
family, where there is again chance of reviving Krsna Consciousness. But
as you were hearing Krsna-kirtana, I am sure that you were directly promoted
to Krsna-loka.
janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti man eti so' rjuna
Krsna has done a great favor to you, not to continue your diseased body,
and has given you a suitable place for your service. Thank you very much.
Your ever well-wisher,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
(Letter to: Jayananda, from Bombay 5 May, 1977)
So in remembering the passing of Jayananda, Kalakanta saw in Los Angeles
community quite a few devotees who knew Jayananda well and he assembled some
remembrances of Jayananda enumerating his qualities as a Vaishnava. So although
I personally, ...anyway it is very nice. I find it a little wanting of those
who knew him wel, in capturing his character anyway it gives an understanding
of what kind of person Jayananda was.
For us as Vaishnavas we can see very clearly by example how to aspire
to the platform of pure devotional service. There are some devotees here
who worked along the side of Jayananda especially during the Ratha Yatra
in nineteen seventy-six. That Ratha Yatra probably gave him the fondest memories
of Jayananda that anyone could possibly know but this also will give us some
remembrances even of his early days Some devotees, I saw Atreya earlier,
came to the movement under the influence of Jayananda and can directly experience
the kind of shelter that he was able to give to even the newest devotee coming
to the process of devotional service.
And so I think it would become(?) of us there would be special remembrance,
hearing of poems and essays
Jayananda told me many times that actually in that beginning time he had
practically nothing left to do. He said, "I was simply sitting in my room
and had even giving up getting drunk, no thoughts of anything. He said, "when
he saw this newspaper article he said immediately I felt immediately felt
this person could help. He was a little afraid because I wasnt a hippie
and I knew that this place was a place where hippies would be hanging out.
He said, "So I didnt know if I could do it, "
reflecting the simplicity that was his very nature, he said "I went anyway
just seeking whatever could relieve my anxiety. I was in so much anxiety
that I couldn't stand it anymore."
When Jayananda was in the hospital here at Mount Sinai when he first actually
understood he was going to die even before Ratha Yatra, he and I made a deal
that he wouldnt have to go to the hospital to get treated or doing
anything about the disease until after the Ratha Yatra. He would have to
tend to it. So when he was in the hospital, he wrote a letter to Srila Prabhupada
where he talked about the initial experience and even after so many years
later, practically speaking ten years later, there was nothing in his mood
but total gratitude to Srila Prabhupada for having given him, not only this
causeless devotional service, but also having placed him in the association
of devotees. Due to his very mature nature he was still reflecting on that
experience and remembered with the utmost relish and therefore because of
it Jayananda told me, "I never lost my feeling of gratitude for Srila
Prabhupada." That is perhaps the greatest example of a Vaishnava, to understand
that he is always fool and rascal before his spiritual master and be completely
dedicated to him.
In that regard, Jayananda told me that he said he felt guilty in the beginning
because he was going over there mostly to eat, but that Prabhupada just kept
encouraging him. He said he would cook all of the preparations and then put
them on a big metal plate and then he would just serve Jayananda from this
plate . He would simply serve him till until he couldnt take any more
And so Jayananda said that simply from that service automatically a little
reciprocation he began to give a little donation to Prabhupada from his earnings
as a cab driver and he said that he knew it was his special advantage because
he would come in the morning and no one would be there so therefore he would
be sure to be fed.
But also especially in the evening he would come back and everyone was there
chanting and relishing so many Krishna conscious activities and hed
be out driving a cab all day. He said but Srila Prabhupada would personally
either hold the prasadam for him or personally cook the prasadam for him
when he came back in the evening and would exclude all of the other devotees
just so he could give him prasadam.
In fact, when Jayananda was here he was distributing prasadam off of the
festival truck and he instituted the program of rather than giving it off
the truck, throwing it off of the truck. The funny thing was that when ever
anyone else tried throwing it off the truck so much prasadam was wasted but
when Jayananda did it everyone was eager to take it because his enthusiasm
was automatically communicated.
When I came back from India and told him that Srila Prabhupada had ordered
us to take up prasadam distribution as our mission here in New York and as
our means of, as our very means of conquest, Jayananda became tremendously
enthusiastic and immediately took it up with the greatest fervor. Everyone
he met hed always had some prasadam to distribute. In fact , even years
ago I remember when we were in Boston, it was on the basis of a tape that
I heard of Jayananda giving a class where he talked about distributing prasadam
to everyone. At that time, Sreyas(? ) Prabhu had instituted a program of
distributing prasadam bags of peanuts and raisins with little cards in it.
But on the basis of hearing Jayananda we decided that, even though at the
time I was doing business selling flowers in the street and we took the process
of throwing prasadam, these bags of prasadam out of the windows of the van
at every stop light So everywhere he went Jayananda inspired that prasadam
distribution. It is a fact that he relished prasadam as the most. To him
it was the
final achievement of any process of devotional service.
Even the night after the Ratha Yatra festival we brought back the cart in
the middle night and we had the equivalent of a nocturnal Ratha Yatra with
everyone coming out of the bars and coming out of their apartments hearing
and chanting Hare Krsna. The devotees were chanting the whole time and police
were escorting us. I dont know, someone of the devotees here participated
and it was an absolutely wonderful experience. And we sent all of the devotees
back. We radioed back to the temple on the walkie talkies..... [inaudible
phrase] devotees and Jayananda and I and a few devotees stayed right where
we were. In fact we were so exhausted he and I fell asleep on Lady
Subhadras cart . Actually it was Lord Balaramas cart.
But then even though we were completely asleep someone came down with a car
loaded with burfi and watermelon. Immediately, as soon as the car even pulled
in, Jayananda immediately woke up and said, " It is prasadam" and so we had
a late night feast at two o clock, three oclock in the morning.
Were you there? Jivadhara was there. We had a feast at two o clock,
three oclock in the morning with the greatest relish and exuberance
of any feast I ever had with nothing but burfi and watermelon but there was
so much ecstasy because of Jayanandas feelings of relish and we all
went to sleep completely satisfied. Fell sleep at about four oclock,
four thirty, just in time to miss mangala arati. In fact, we were so ecstatic
and blissful I completely forgot about the fact that I had to organize an
initiation that very morning in one hour. Finally someone came down to get
me and they drove me up to the temple just in time for Srila Prabhupada to
walk out of the temple and tell me that why I hadnt arranged for the
initiation. But he could see the look on Jayanandas face and all of
the other devotees faces that he just walked on. So this is a special relish
that was always there. Again something we read about in the Caitanya Caritamrta
that few of us as devotees actually can communicate and that is the genuine
relish of the transcendental process of taking prasadam.
(?) first told me stories out of from San Francisco came probably greatest
relishing of prasadam. It was later carried beyond perfection by Kesava.
Actually at the time it was a definitely a fact I can personally remember
even in recent times so many nights when Jayananda would come in with the
nine o clock Maha, right into my room where I was sleeping , put it
down by my head, turn on the light and say, "Time for a feast" It was not
at all uncommon then. No one ever said (???)
In fact, sometimes Jayananda would just have kirtans with clapping of hands
with one or devotees and become completely ecstatic jumping around the room
like a madman. Again example of Krsna kirtan jumping up and down with enthusiasm,
enthusiastic kirtan. I think anyone can appreciate that. I remember one day
down at the Ratha cart, remember the day it was raining? I came down and
it start pouring.
Its when they were having this event called the Tall ships here, where
all of the ships were sailing out on the river. All of a sudden the rain
came pouring down just in one part of the city. We were stuck down there
in the Pennsylvania Railroad yards so Jayananda said, "Why dont we
have a kirtan?" So everyone was beating on coffee cans and we were using
monkey wrenches and beating sticks on the walls. There wasnt a pair
of kartals I think in the whole place. And there was one real dead can. It
had a whole in one end and the other end was dead. Jayananda gave it to me
and ask me to have kirtan. Immediately as we started kirtan, Jayananda became
ecstatic even with sitting out there in this miserable rain, pouring like
anything. So for the entire duration of the rain every time I would be about
to stop the kirtan Jayananda was say, "go on, keep on with the kirtan" Finally
when the rain, only then when the rain stopped, was he be willing to stop
the kirtan so we could get immediately back to work.
It is very interesting. When he was over at Mount Sinai hospital we used
to go over and see him regularly. We used bring him prasadam. Hed call
me up and say, " Adi Kesava, youve got to get me alot of prasadam.
Get lots of it. You get me luggulus. You guys get me lots of luggulus. They
love them over here."
One day, I was real upset and I said, "Jayananda youve gotta eat. "
He said, "Well, I cant really, you know. Anyway there's this guy down
the hallway I was preaching to. Hes really into it and he loves pakoras.
Youve gotta get me pakoras."
So we used to bring him all kinds of stuff. We used to bring him tons of burfi. Tons of pakoras and hed distribute every bit of it. Then he started demanding books and magazines. Then hed take me around and introduce me to all of these people. Being the way he was, Jayananda would always make you feel like you were the big shot and he was the small fry. I always felt, you know, he was old enough to be my father. He was, you know, my senior godbrother. He was so advanced and he made everybody, even a new man feel like the big shot, your the big man.
He would take me to preach to the doctors, to the nurses and soon as hed leave the room theyd say, " This guy is phenomenal. Weve never seen anybody like it. Hes not even scared of dying."
The first time we went to a meeting with his doctors, and the doctors were kind of pushing him around, so I went with him. And so the doctor gave us a whole long medical explanation.
So finally I said to the doctor, "OK Look Doc, when is he going to croak?"
The doctor flipped out. He said, "You cant say this in front of a patient.
Im really upset."
I said, " Dont worry about it." I said, " Hes not worried." I
said," Youre not scared of death are you Jayananda?"
He said, "Nah. I guess I am a little but you know, Im getting over
it."
The doctor was just amazed.
So I said, "We just want to know the straight goods. When is he going to
croak?"
The doctor said, "I dont particularly appreciate the terminology but
if we give him the chemotherapy and the x-ray treatments" and this and
that.
I said, "No, without the drugs, when is he going to croak?"
So the doctor said, "I can tell if he takes advice from people like you
hes gonna die in a short time
So Jayananda said, "Well thats what I wanted to know."
Immediately he turned around, hes so transcendental, immediately he
turned around, and said, "Adi Kesava Ive got this plan. "
Cause you know, Jayananda had these checks he got every month from his trust
fund.
"So Ive got this plan how to get all of the money out of my trust
fund."
Immediately that was the first thought he got.
"The last thing I want to do is get all of this money and then Ill
send it to Prabhupada.
Then theres nothing my mother and father can do. Nothing my parents
can do. Therell be nothing my sister can do. So then all they can do
is pay all of the bills anyway.
He had this idea immediately as soon as the doctor told him he was going
to leave.
"And," he said, "the other thing is weve got to draw plans for the
Ratha Yatra cart. Go get my ( ? )."
He was always preaching, always preaching, even when he couldn't walk. Hed
take me in the hospital from room to room to room to room to room.
"This is Mrs. So and So. Shes got a son."
Hed know the whole run down on the whole family. Shed be there
and hed say. "Well, how far did you get in the book."
And so shed say, "Well I got halfway through the magazine and I got
about half way through the Krishna book, and Ive got a question.
Whos Balarama?"
I ran into one man who worked in that furniture factory down by the Tiffany
Place garage and when I ran into him, I remember him talking about Jayananda,
he said This man incidentally hated us, absolutely, absolutely hated us.
All of the rest of the guys..
[ break in lecture]{ inaudible sentence]
I also participated and what changed my mind more than anything else was
that Jayananda sent some guy out, another hippie with scruffy hair and gave
me some prasadam, so I was greatly impressed by the fact this guy who was
actually attacking me in so many ways was willing to give prasadam which
was very valuable to me. I had about twenty cents in my pocket and I was
scared to death the first time I had ever been to San Francisco. I was thinking
how much I wanted to get back to the East Coast. How I was living with a
bunch of people.
All of a sudden people who we attacked gave me prasadam.
I didnt understand it that later the same devotee one of the devotees
that was there at the same time informed that they clearly remember that
specifically remember me and remember getting the bottle thrown at them and
specifically remember remembered Jayananda sending prasadam.
[inaudible]
Jayananda practically so many devotees came to Krishna consciousness.
In this regard, I can practically say that we can remember everyone we
couldnt handle we immediately sent to Jayananda Prabhu. People like
Crazy Louie. We couldnt keep Crazy Louie in the temple anymore but
we sent him to Jayananda Prabhu and he would work like anything. He worked
like anything. People always had that experience. We may think someone an
unengagable rascal but they were engaged by Jayananda and because he engaged
them in that service then one has the benediction and like Jivadhara a practical
example. We asked him to do the Ratha Yatra and Jayananda engaged him in
such a way that ellicited Jivadhara Goswami to work a little bit on the weekend.
He was attached to his job but practically by Jayanandas influence
he gave up his job and everything else and just surrendered to exclusively
working on the Ratha cart. Due to that surrender, it just so happened that
a few days before the Ratha Yatra, Srila Prabhupada was coming around one
side of the cart and Jivadhara came around the other with hammer in his hand.
It was just one of those eternal moments.
Jivadhara with his big drooping mustache and long hair looking like some
jazzy ksatriya of New York and Srila Prabhupada the swanlike pure devotee
and Srila Prabhupada looked at him and Jivadhara looked him and Prabhupada
asked him,what is his name? And I said, "His name is John. He is from Trinidad."
Srila Prabhupada said, "oh." Srila Prabhupada turned around and as soon as
he turned around Srila Prabhupada said, " So he should be initiated."
So by the grace of Jayananda Prabhu who engaged him in service and
by the grace of Prabhupada this incident took place. Of course he was initiated
as a disciple of Srila Prabhupada.
One time he came up to my office and said, He said "Adi Kesava, can I borrow
two bucks?"
I said, "What for?"
He said, "Ive gotta buy a couple of packs of camels."
I said, " What a minute, we just dont do that. The next thing youll
be asking for a six pack for some of the boys on the Ratha cart"
He said, " No, Ive got this one guy." He said, "He comes from work
everyday. He said, "But Ive gotta give him a couple of bucks." He said,
"I know what its going for," he said, " but Ive got to help him
somehow or other."
I refused to give him the money. I explained to him we cant do that.
He said, "Oh okay."
So what he did was he ran it through his head (?) he got more prasadam.
He tried feeding this boy prasadam and he managed to keep him for about a
month working on the Ratha cart. He was a devotee, an initiated devotee,
but he was a real ( ?)and he blooped due to his attraction to Camels. You
know who I am talking about? ( ?) But it was just an example that he was
willing to engage anyone.
Jayananda used to tell me about his household days. "You know," he said,
"I just couldnt get into it. Shes just flipped out because I
just didnt... I wouldnt do anything she wanted, because I, well
you know, I couldnt get into it, you know. She wanted me to fix up
the place and I got a house and you know, its just too much. You know.
If you want me to go and get you some saris. I didnt know why she
complained you know, So Id go and Bhakta das is going to buy a couple
of saris and he would give them to her. Shed say, "no, youre
my husband. You supposed to give me the saris." You know I couldnt
do it
I would ask the temple if they would take care of these things for me, you
know. Anyway I wasnt too successful at it. In the end I guess it was
better." Krsna sent her away or something like that. So anyway he gave up
in disgust. "So I dont whether I was a bad devotee or maybe she was
just a karmi."
Anyway [Inaudible phrase] He was incredibly renounced. [inaudible] In fact
Jayananda did so much to spend [save] money that one day, I got on his case
about the fact that his pants were ripped. Many devotees remember the story.
I just said, " Jayananda, you cant look like a bum anymore."
Cause his pants were, I mean, they were ripped to the point of being indecent.
So what he had done was taken another pair of pants and cut the the legs
off and put them on over the pants.
So I said, "Jayananda, you got [ inaudible] So Jayananda was up in, what was that town? I forget, anyways and he lifted a pair of pants and he got caught by the cops. So the policeman called me up and I had to bail him out. The cops said, you know, "We didnt want to arrest the guy. We just didnt want to arrest this guy. He was just, we couldnt, hes like a saint. But we had to and I mean what could we do? The guy complained. He stole the pants and not only that he told us that he meant to do it. He just said he need a pair of pants and he didnt want to charge the temple and he didnt want to take it from the temple because that money belonged to God and he didnt want to use Gods money for his own set of pants and you know, oh shucks."
So I asked Jayananda about it. He said he took a pair of pants but they were
[ ? }not only that but it seems that Jayananda got five bucks off the cop
for a new pair of pants. He came down he was super apologetic He came in
and said I wonder what Tamal is going to say here. I think I am going to
get it. I said He said I know I shouldnt have done it but it wasnt
in the Ratha Yatra budget.
Actually he was always like this. [inaudible]
In that regard, I just wanted to bring up a few little points . The history
here I think is a little bit brief. It began when Srila Prabhupada told me
in Vrindavan that he wanted to have the Ratha Yatra prepared. The devotees
here who were planning still hadnt applied for permits. I was just
a new sannyasi and I was being sent here by Prabhupada as a GBC to take over
New York and Radha Damodara, and Gita Nagari, and Boston and I was scared
to death. So I came back here and Jayananda had said that he wasnt
going to work on Ratha Yatra because his back was bad so he couldnt
do Ratha Yatra that year .So I wrote back to Prabhupada and said once we
get the permits, as soon as we got the permit I wrote back to Prabhupada
and Prabhupada immediately fired back a telegram and a letter saying, "yes
your plan is approved. I just read the letter now. Yes, your plan is approved
and Ratha Yatra on July 16, and July 18 down Fifth Avenue and I would be
happy to attend." And then Srila Prabhupada said, "you must be careful to
make the wheels strong enough." So the story was that Jayananda made steel
wheels the year before that in LA and in San Francisco And the wheels had
been made with flat iron and the wheels were too thin. So what happened they
rolled so that in between each bump they went flat. So the carts were bumping
down the road, bump bump, bump, bump, bump , bump. And the year before that
the wheels had almost fallen off the cart. So Prabhupada was very insistent
about the wheels. So I went to Jayananda and said, "Jayananda, what am I
going to do?
Jayananda said, " Adi Kesh Ill build the Ratha Yatra cart."
So I said, " Okay, and Prabhupada wants three."
"Yes,You have any money."
I said " No, I am broke."
"Well,give me some money."
So I just gave a couple of thousand dollars.
So I called up Srila Prabhupada on the phone I said to Srila Prabhupada,
I said, "Jayananda said hes going do the Ratha Yatra."
Prabhupada replied through his secretary, " If he builds the cart it will
not hold up."
[ inaudible remark] Its a fact. So, but then at the same time, it was obvious Prabhupada wanted it done. Prabhupadas, his, next question was, are there Jagannatha Deities carved yet? Have you carved the Deities ? So I replied, " No." .Prabhupada said "You call back in one week and youd better have all of the answers to me." So I went down to Jayananda and I told him, "Look Prabhupada doesnt trust us at all."
Both Jayananda and I had previously been recommended for sannyasa together, although I ended up taking sannyasa that year. Prabhupada had said at that time he said, "So here are the youngest and the oldest taking sannyasa." So Prabhupada, he made a joke again about that, how young or old, we were both unqualified. So we were very anxious but we went down to Philadelphia, got the boys to come up here from Philadelphia, got them to tell us all about the carts.
Jayananda said, "oh they are real nice carts." He was enthusiastic and Mahesvara said they were junk, not good. But Jayananda said still I want to build them in the traditional style. So we started on that and we got Jivadhara and Mahesvara started carving Lord Jagannatha. This is a another wonderful experience.. We sent some devotees all the way up to Maine to get a tree that was lying in somebodys backyard and we carved it and formed the Deities.
And I was pushing Tosan at that time, "youve got to get me a letter
that guarantees we have the Ratha Yatra permit. We have to let then know
especially it is not just a parade." And I was pushing because Prabhupada
was pressing me, " Do you have the permit?" Prabhupada wanted a copy of the
permit in his hand. He said, " I will not guarantee I am coming until you
give me a copy of the permit in my hand."
So we were becoming frustrated as anything but in the end, Prabhupada, I
called Prabhupada and he came to the phone said "Have you carved the
Deities?"
"Yes They are carved now. They are being painted."
He said, "Alright." He said, "Do you have the permit?"
I said , "Yes. I have it in my hand."
This was after we lost the permit and then he said, "Alright, Jayananda may
make the cart."
So Jayananda continued making the cart with the help of MurliKrsna and his
brother, who at that time, werent even devotees. We had recruited them
from Buffalo. ( ? ) I had preached there just before we went to Mayapur and
they came down started working. So Jayananda immediately attracted a crew
of devotees, Jivadhara, Mahesvara and the factory got under way. He started
molding the wheels down in the
garage down on Tiffany Place. Jayananda was working harder than anything.
In fact, he was very anxious to not to have the... very anxious to have
everything work properly. So we would go down regularly and check on the
wheels. Finally, it was presented to us the first completed wheel and we
celebrated giving with Jayananda flowers, a half gallon of ice cream and
a bag full of candy. Then from there we began to work on the Ratha Yatra.
In fact, there were so many men who had been working so hard and they began
to[?}get some wood from here and there.[inaudible] The big thing with that
they got caught but then the guy gave it up. Some urethane foam. The wood
from the building site down there.
Anyway piece after piece after piece, Jayananda assembled the Ratha Yatra
cart. And every time Id have to tell him, "Jayananda I, dont
have any money."
He said, "Dont worry about it. Ill come up with the goods."
So finally in the end, the carts were done, by Krsnas grace even to
the point we had to water down the paint. And there was everything going
over the sides, busted this and busted that. We decided the only thing we
want to down here is the canvas. So I bought colored canvas instead of painting
old plain canvas.
So even at the last moment everyone was working on the Ratha Yatra carts
and I took a group of GBC men and sannyasis down to the carts. And everyone
was saying, "Are the carts going to be done?"
I said, " Don't worry about it."
Prabhupada had come down and inspected the carts personally the day before. He was super pleased. He was extremely pleased with all of the devotees especially with Jayananda. And then afterwards I came with this group of men at about five o lock in the evening They were running up the dome on Balaramas cart just to make sure it ran right and at that moment the wind came, caught the dome and blew it right over. It just snapped and this was this kind of groaning sound of the metal. Everyone freaked out. Everyone just cried. All of the GBC men and sannyasis got back in the car and said immediately I had to go to the temple and tell Prabhupada we werent going to have the carts for the Ratha Yatra and I turned around and told them I said, "Ive got Jayananda."
I said, "Jayananda will we be able to fix it?"
Jayananda at that time, turned around and said, "Yeah, well get it
done." So we got ? and Jivadhara and Nandaji got to work. And sure enough
by the next morning they got it together. We all stayed down at the Ratha
site that night and also someone ran into the palettes with the truck and
bunch of other things went wrong and so we were all working down there and
in the end, I said, to Jayananda, "Jayananda what should we do?" at about
11 o clock at night.
Jayananda gave me a paint brush and said, "Start painting." That was always his attitude. So then we took ... the next morning I came back to the temple, just in time to take Srila Prabhupada for his walk. So I was driving his car. We pulled down to the Ratha site and now all of the devotees worked a transcendental scene, in the early morning mist, of all of the devotees coming to the Ratha Yatra festival coming up the hill.
There was one cart that they couldnt quite get up the hill and when all of the devotees saw Prabhupada coming, they were pulling like anything and the cart went straight up the hill like a motor in it just took off.
I saw Jayananda. Jayananda a few, about a week before that, two weeks before
that, Jayananda showed me these things on his legs. "
I said, "Hey Jayananda, my grandfather died of the same thing." I said, "You
have cancer."
And he said,"Yea, it hurts like anything."
So he made a deal. I made a deal with him that I wouldnt tell anyone.
"Especially," he said, "dont tell Prabhupada."
So I promised him I wouldnt tell Prabhupada until after Ratha Yatra
was over.
So I saw Jayananda at that moment. He was just... the look on his face was so ecstatic, you know it was like, his crowning triumph. I couldnt help but [?] Srila Prabhupada was also smiling at Jayananda. He said, "I am so pleased with him because he is so sincere. "
And so we came back and that then day we held the Ratha Yatra parade and before I went out of Prabhupadas room, Prabhupada called me up to give me his blessing before we went out to start the parade and Prabhupada said, "You go tell Jayananda," he said, "that I have given you my blessing."
So then we went and the parade began and of course [?]Krsna {?] So Jayananda, at about Twenty-Third street, steering Lord Jagannathas cart and just being in total ecstasy. I remember I was standing on Jagannathas cart just as we were entering into Washington Square Park and Jayananda shouted up to me and said, "Hey, Adi Kesh," he said, "Find out what Prabhupada thinks."
So I radioed back to Radhaballavah. And Radhaballavah asked Srila Prabhupada.
And Prabhupada just answered, "Its a grand success."
So the answer came back and I told Jayananda and at that point we were trying
to, if anyone remembers we were having trouble pulling the carts over the
curb and at that moment Jayananda just shouted to all the devotees. The cart
moved. Again drove right over the curb, no problem.
Afterwards, that next morning Prabhupada called us all up, called Jayananda and I up. I dont .... I think Tosan wasnt available and he offered his thanks to Jayananda. Specifically, he cited Jayananda. Told me, he said, "that Tosan and I were assisting." He thanked Jayananda actually for it ... actually for doing the Ratha Yatra.
When Jayananda and I had come in that morning we were covered with grease from head to foot from the night before and we walked in just as Srila Prabhupada was coming out of the door and Srila Prabhupada walked out of the door and it was my duty to give Srila Prabhupada his garland every morning on the way accompanying Prabhupada out to his car. So this morning, someone came over and handed me the garland and I sat there I looked at myself. I was just filthy. I had been loading stuff and I was covered with grease from one of the wheels from the night before when we had to move the cart into the railroad yard.
Jayananda, I looked at him and I said, "Jayananda, you can give the garland."
And I looked at him and he was worse. So Prabhupada came out and we were
both standing there looking at each other, who would give the garland. So
in the end, I handed the garland off to Jayananda. Jayananda offered it to
Srila Prabhupada.
I said to Srila Prabhupada, " I am very sorry were so offensive and
so dirty."
Srila Prabhupada looked at us and he said, " There is absolutely no
offense."
He said, "You may be dirty but your hearts are pure." And he went for his
morning walk.
But Prabhupada always directed Jayananda but it was because of Jayananda
that we had Ratha Yatra here. That was really his moment of glory. Jayananda
always thought that . Thats was why the Ratha Yatra here in New York
became so special. Because Prabhupada wanted it. Prabhupada said that ,
"Ive always wanted a Ratha Yatra there." And because Jayananda fulfilled
that desire, he saw it as the perfection of his life. He saw it as the perfection
of his life. There are so many incidences we could tell of all of these different
devotees who were involved. Some devotees who became strong devotees. Some
devotees who really joined this movement at that time under his influence.
But practically speaking anyone who was here then, cant forget that
glorious occasion of that Ratha Yatra festival.
So I want to read one last section.
( reading of Kalakantas collection of remembrances)
It is interesting even in his, those last days, Jayananda did conspire, he
did actually trick his family into giving him five thousand dollars for medical
bills which we did send to Srila Prabhupada along with his last letter to
him. I remember he called me up and I went over to the hospital there. And
it was after visiting hours, so Jayananda particularly relished it when would
sneak into the hospital rather then come in at the usual time. So when we
came in wed then get a chance to see all of demoniac treatments they
were giving the patients. So Jayananda was sitting there talking to me and
there was some guy with tubes and pipes in every single arm, sticking down
his throat, sticking in his nose And Jayananda said, "Adi Kesa, you really
think I should become like that?" I said, " No its better that you
give it up." I said, " The bodys not really not worth anything. "
He said, "Yea, thats what I was thinking. I dont want to become
like that." He said, "Look at that old creep. Hes dying terribly."
So, he said, "therefore I am going to do this, send him the money. I am not
going to pay the hospital. Im just going to send it to Prabhupada."
That was always his sentiment . He was always meditating on Srila Prabhupada,
Srila Prabhupadas mission.
So Im simply hoping that every one of us can take this as not a sentimental remembrance but rather take it as an example for how we should engage in transcendental devotional service. Particularly, here it seems that somehow or other, Jayananda gave us the unique and interesting inspiration to all of us. I can say that from personal experience. I saw in him, personally, the characteristics of what I would want to become as a devotee, what I would want to aspire to in devotional life and I think practically everyone else who had contact with him would agree. We talk about when getting the association of a devotee for even a second so what to speak of those of us who got more than a few moments but some extensive association. So I think that everyone, if they can take it in that light and understand that this is the purpose for remembering the activities the Lords devotee, how they are transcendental and how they are the means, by remembering those activities, of attaining again the spiritual world. That if you take such an example we can become [?] in our hearts That will be an indication of us , as to what is the course for going back to godhead. Jai!! All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
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