Srila Prabhupada and Srila Sridhara Maharaj nectar

A large kirtana party of brahmacaris, mostly members of Keshava Maharaja’s Devananda Gaudiya Math, met Srila Prabhupäda at the Navadvipa train station. The brahmacaris were meticulously neat, with their robes all dyed the same shade of saffron, their Vaisnava tilaka markings bold and distinct, their heads smoothly shaved, their sikhas precise. They offered Prabhupada and his party aromatic garlands made from flowers resembling lotuses and gathered around Srila Prabhupäda with worshipful enthusiasm. Also present were a few of Sridhara Maharaja’s disciples, waiting with rickshas to take Prabhupäda and his disciples to their guru's Asrama. Although between the two groups there was an unspoken competition for Prabhupada presence, he had previously agreed to go to Sridhara Maharaja’s place. He promised the members of Devananda Math that he would visit them next.
Soon after leaving the station the rickshas turned onto a road lined with lush tropical vegetation: banana trees, tall bamboos, exotic blossoming flowers. Prabhupäda saw simple villagers working near their straw-and-mud huts and, in the distance, the spire of Sridhara Maharaja’s temple.
A kirtana party greeted Prabhupäda at the outer gates of Sridhara Maharaja’s asrama, chanting Hare Ka and playing karatalas and clay madangas. Prabhupada entered the temple, offered obeisances before the Deities of Radha and Krsna, and then went to see his Godbrother.
Sridhara Mahäräja was very old, his sight failing, his joints stiff with arthritis. He stayed mostly in his room or sometimes on his veranda and moved only with slow, rickety motions. He was an austere and kindly Vaiñëava and smiled heartily on seeing Prabhupäda and his disciples. In fluent English he began praising Prabhupada preaching in America, repeatedly using Prabhupada phrase "Krsna consciousness." Swamiji's work, he said, was the fulfilment of Lord Chaitanya's prophecy that Krsna consciousness would one day spread all over the world. He laughed and smiled and praised the Kåñëa consciousness movement with no trace of jealousy.
"So you appreciate this phrase, "krsna consciousness.'" Prabhupada smiled.
"Yes," Sridhara Mahäräja replied, "and the disciples of Swami Maharaja also." And he turned towards Acyutananda and Ramanuja. "With very little effort your preaching will go far."
The boys were astonished. This was really something to write home about: sitting on the roof of a temple in this jungle paradise with old Sridhara Maharaja appreciating Swamiji's work as the greatest work on behalf of Lord Caitanya, and Swamiji sitting relaxed, grinning, and making humble replies! It was the high point of the trip.
My dear Satsvarupa, Please accept my blessings. I have already duly received the invitation from Harvard University. It is understood that they are scheduling me for 20 Nov. between 6 and 10 p.m. I can start immediately on the strength of my visitor's visa, but I am awaiting for Mukunda's reply for his trying for my permanent visa. Yesterday we have all come to Navadvipa. This place is another establishment of one of my Godbrothers. It is very nice and extensive place and my Godbrother, B. R. Sridhar Maharaj, has spared one entire nice house for our stay. He has also agreed to cooperate with our society. We shall observe his birthday ceremony tomorrow and the brahmacaris shall learn how to celebrate the spiritual master's birthday.
Vyasa-puja day, the observance of B. R. Sridhara Maharaja's birthday, was October 27. His disciples had erected a pandal on the temple road, and about a hundred people attended. Sridhara Maharaja sat on his vyasasana, and Prabhupäda and other sannyasi, all wearing flower garlands, sat in chairs next to Sridhara Maharaja. Prabhupäda spoke in Bengali. Some of Sridhara Maharaja's disciples, inspired by Prabhupada's preaching about the glories of spreading Krsna consciousness in the West, delivered speeches in English as Vyasa-puja homage’s to their spiritual master. Sridhara Maharaja, also speaking in English, gave a very scientific lecture on Krsna consciousness and the senses. Afterwards Prabhupäda told his disciples, "He has very high realizations, but he is keeping them to himself."
Every morning before dawn Sridhara Maharaja sent out a party of brahmacaris to perform kirtana in the villages. On Prabhupada's request, Acyutananda and Ramanuja joined them, leaving before sunrise and returning at dusk. Although Prabhupäda and Sridhara Mahäräja usually remained at the temple, one day they got into a rickshaw and accompanied the chanting party through the streets of Navadvipa.
The festival at the Devananda Math was a big affair. In contrast to Bhakti Saranga Goswami's asrama in Calcutta, where only widows had attended, B. P. Keshava Maharaja's Devananda Math had about two hundred brahmacaris and twenty sannyasi. Some of the brahmacaris, however, were not full-time but were attending school outside; so the asrama's atmosphere was a little like that of a social club. But when the kirtana and the circumambulation of the temple began, seven hundred people took part. The impeccably dressed sannyasi whose every piece of saffron cloth, including their cloth-wrapped dandas, was dyed exactly the same shade-danced back and forth before the Deities. A dozen sannyasi danced in a group, their dandas moving together, dipping and rising, forward and back, to the delight of the brahmacaris.
Prabhupäda sat on a dais with other dignitaries and spoke to the festival audience. Acyutananda, on Prabhupada’s request, spoke a few words in Bengali, bringing laughs and applause. Sridhara Maharaja spoke gravely in Bengali. A sannyasi from the Devananda Math, speaking for their absent leader, B. P. Keshava Maharaja, proclaimed in impassioned tones that although Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's movement had been predicted to spread throughout the world, no one had known how it could be possible. Now, thanks to the work of Bhaktivedanta Swami, it was happening.
After a large feast in the evening, Prabhupada's party returned to Sridhara Maharaja’s Asrama. Sridhara Maharaja intimated to Prabhupäda that the Devananda Math emphasized quantity whereas his own Asrama emphasized quality. Curious as to what this meant, Acyutananda wanted to ask Prabhupäda. But the time didn't seem appropriate.
After nine days in Navadvipa Prabhupada was ready to return to Calcutta and prepare for his trip back to the United States. He and his two disciples took rickshas to Navadvipa and caught a morning train to Calcutta.
On the train, Acyutananda timidly put forward the question that had been on his mind: "Swamiji, what did you and Sridhara Mahäräja discuss?"
"Oh, many, many things," Prabhupada replied. "But if I were to tell you now, you would faint." After a silence Prabhupada added, "Still, I offered him to be president of our Society. I knew he would not accept. He is keeping things within him. Anyway, this is all beyond you. Do not have any ill feelings towards any of my Godbrothers. They are all great souls. There are just some differences on preaching and spreading. Even in your mind do not feel any ill will towards them. At the same time, do not mix very thickly with them."
Acyutananda suggested, "Maybe if these two sannyasi had each other's qualities combined..."
"Ah, yes," Prabhupäda said, "now you have understood me."
*         *         *
Srila Prabhupada’s intention in coming to Calcutta was simply to prepare to leave for America. He had his visitor's visa already, but he thought that if he stayed in India a little longer, in San Francisco Mukunda might be able to secure permanent American residency for him. He went to his sister's house to spend his last days in Calcutta there, but after only a few days he felt that the Radha-Govinda Deity-the Deity he had worshiped in his childhood-was calling him.
When Prabhupada had been no more than an infant, his servant used to take him and his cousin Subuddhi Mullik on a perambulator, wheel them into the temple courtyard, and take them before the altar of Radha-Govinda. And as soon as Prabhupäda could walk, his father would hold his hand and take him before the Deity every day. Sometimes Prabhupäda would go alone and stand for hours gazing upon Radha and Krsna, who appeared very beautiful to him with Their slanted eyes and fine dress and ornaments. It had been for the pleasure of Radha-Govinda that as a child, beginning at the age of five, he had performed his miniature Ratha-yatra festival.
Just two weeks ago, when Prabhupada had been staying at his sister's house, his health had prevented him from going to north Calcutta to see the Deity; so he had gone to Navadvipa without taking Their blessings. But now, although still weak and although preoccupied with travelling to the U.S., he felt that the Deity was calling him.
For the past 150 years, the Radha-Govinda temple had been maintained by the aristocratic Mulliks, a branch of Prabhupada own family. The Mulliks had owned the entire block on Harrison Road (now Mahatma Gandhi Road), and rents from the block-long building opposite the temple had financed the opulent worship of Radha-Govinda. In those days the Deities had been worshiped on a gorgeous altar in the large kirtana hall, and they had been dressed in silks and ornamented with gilded and bejewelled crowns and necklaces. All the pious Vaiñëava families of the neighbourhood would visit; and on Janmastami, Krsna's birthday, even British gentlemen and ladies would come.
But today the Mullik family possessed only remnants of the European art and furnishings that had once filled their homes and temple-relics from an age of former grandeur. And the worship of Radha-Govinda had pitifully deteriorated.
Srila Prabhupäda was pained to see the neglect. No longer were Radha and Govinda the centre of the Mulliks' lives. The Deity worship still continued-conducted by paid brahmanas but few people came to see. The main attraction now was the golden deity of the goddess Kali on the large altar in the kirtana hall. Radha and Govinda, "in the family" for many generations, had been relegated to a small upstairs room in the Mullik compound. Their dress was no longer elegant, Their valuable crowns and ornaments had disappeared, and there were no large kirtanas as before. Only a paid brahmana came in the morning to rub sandalwood pulp on Their shining bodies, dress Them carefully in whatever simple clothes remained, and place jasmine garlands around Their necks while a widow or two watched the silent proceedings.
Krsna consciousness was dying in India, dying from neglect. At least it was dying here in Calcutta. And in many other places in India, even in Vrndavana, the impersonal philosophy prevailed, and grand old temples had become residences for pigeons, monkeys, and dogs. Sad as it was, it only reinforced Prabhupada's conviction of the need to return to the fertile ground in the West. Although here in India the spirit of devotion was dying, in the West it was just beginning to grow-in New York, San Francisco, Montreal, Boston.
If pure Krsna consciousness were dying in India, then why shouldn't it be transplanted in the fertile West? There it would flourish. It would spread worldwide and even back to India again. When India, bent on following the West, saw the materially advanced Americans taking to Krsna consciousness, she would revaluate her own culture.
Prabhupäda saw a Krsna conscious revolution beginning in the United States. He didn't consider himself its creator; he was the servant of Krsna consciousness. Lord Caitanya's desire was that every Indian help to spread Kåñëa consciousness worldwide. Unfortunately, the very verses in the scriptures that prophesied a worldwide Kåñëa consciousness movement were a puzzle even to most of Srila Prabhupada’s Godbrothers. They admitted it.
But soon they would see. There was great potential in the West. Prabhupäda had shown many of his Godbrothers the newspaper articles-"Swami's Flock" chanting in Tompkins Square Park, "Ancient Trance Dance" at Stanford University-and he had brought some disciples with him. These were only beginnings. Much more had to be done.
And who would help? B. P. Keshava Mahäräja was dying. Sridhara Maharaja couldn't come out. Who else? Most Indians were impersonalises, no devotional yogis, or demigod worshipers. As Srila Prabhupäda stood before the Radha-Govinda Deity, explaining to Acyutananda and Ramanuja how he had worshiped Them in his childhood and how They had been his first inspiration in Kåñëa consciousness, he understood deeply that he must take Krsna consciousness all over the world, even if singlehandedly. Of course, he was not alone; he had disciples. And they were opening new centres even in his absence. He would have to return to them very soon and supervise his growing movement.
The Mulliks regarded Prabhupada more as a relative than as a spiritual leader. To them he was a hometown cousin who had done something successful in America. Narendranath Mullik, a childhood friend of Prabhupada’s, called Prabhupada Dada, "brother," and regularly joked with him.
 

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