ONCE UPON A TIME SRILA PRABHUPADA IN PURI

I was walking on Grand Road in Puri which is the main road that the Chariots travel on during Rathayatra. It was 1976 and I was there trying to arrange for the devotees to enter the temple. Srila Prabhupada had written me a letter and instructed me to discuss the matter with two of his God Brothers about enlisting their assistance in arranging for His western disciples to enter the Temple of Lord Jagannath in Puri. However, when I was walking down Grand Road this particular day, on my way to see a local politician that I knew who was sympathetic to our cause and was willing to help us enter the temple, I perchance met one elderly Vaishnava. He was dressed in a dhoti and Kurta with a dark jacket and a hat on. He walked with a cane and also had a bead bag around his neck.

When he saw me he stopped suddenly and looked at me with astonishment. I paused for a moment to see what he wanted. Eying me up and down he seemed amazed to be looking at a western man walking in Puri in the dress of a gaudiya vaishnava brahmachary. He was a real gentleman and asked me very politely "excuse me may I ask you which country you are from?" "I am from America" I said politely in response. Bobbing his head he looked at me with an expression satisfaction and astonishment. "May I ask what is your name?" He said sweetly. I was smiling slightly appreciating the great lengths at which the gentleman was questioning me with the utmost respect and politeness. "My name is Bhagavat Das Brahmachary" I replied. Still bobbing his head he looked at me with an even greater sense of satisfaction and inquired. "So are you a gaudiya vaishnava?" "Yes sir I am" trying to answer his question directly without the false sense of humility of responding that I am not a vaishnava. He smiled now with great satisfaction. "May I know who is your Guru? By whom have you received initiation and been given this name Bhagavat Das?"

By now I could understand that this was most likely one of Srila Prabhupada's God Brothers. So with a great sense of pride in my voice and demeanor I stood a little more erect and announced the name of my Guru Maharaja to this very polite gentleman. "His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada." The little gentleman's eyes now assumed enormous proportions as they opened broadly enough to appear to cover his entire face. He stepped back a bit and his hands and arms were raised slightly as he tried to make the connection between what I said and what he was thinking. He then inquired sincerely "You mean Abhaya Babu?" Having been around Srila Prabhupada's God Brothers often enough and having heard Srila Prabhupada tell us that this was how he was addressed by his god brothers in his grihastha ashram I responded by saying "Yes that is what he was called when he was in his grihastha ashram." The smile he made now replaced his eyes as the covering for his face. What happened next now astonished me.

This diminutive gentleman raised his hands over his head while still holding the cane in one hand. He then began to ever so slightly jump off the ground maybe a quarter of an inch. While jumping up and down with his hands raised over his head in the middle of Grand Road in Puri he began to shout "ABHAYA BABU DID IT! ABHAYA BABU DID IT! ABHAYA BABU DID IT!" Repeating this phrase several times he was clearly in a state of Joy. Now resuming his original demeanor he began to tell me about himself and why he was celebrating so joyfully. "Let me tell you my name is Dol Govinda Shastri and I am the God Brother of your Guru Maharaja. We are both disciples of Srila Prabhupada Saraswati Thakura. Abhaya Babu stayed in Puri for a brief time before he went to America. During that time he spoke with me about how he was going to America to fulfill the order of his Guru Maharaja. He said that he was leaving on a ship from Calcutta shortly and would try to preach the mission of Mahaprabhu in America. I never heard from him again and I always wondered what happened to him. Now, I see you before me, the fruit of his preaching in America and I am astonished and joyful that Abhaya babu was successful in fulfilling the prophecy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and the order of his Guru Maharaja to bring the holy name of Krishna to every town and village of the world. I am so happy today to meet you and to see his success."

I was also happy to meet this God Brother of my Srila Prabhupada who was clearly appreciating my Srila Prabhupada's success. This event stuck with me and I never forgot it. But like so many memories it remained in the back of my mind and when I was requested by one of my God Brothers to recount the story I explained it in brief and then decided to recount it here on Facebook for all of you to hear. This is the 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada's arrival in America and this is one of the stories connected to it that in my mind makes it so much sweeter. How there were people in India who saw Srila Prabhupada before he left and were hoping for his success, and who were now celebrating it when they saw that he had achieved it.

ALL GLORIES TO HIS DIVINE GRACE A.C. BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI SRILA PRABHUPADA and His heroic journey to the west to fulfill the prophecy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and the order of his Guru Maharaja.