Page 17 - MMOSP (English)
P. 17
My Memories of
Çréla Prabhupäda
I first met Çréla Prabhupäda in Ireland, early in 1975, in the
form of one of his books—a paperback edition of Kåñëa, the
Supreme Personality of Godhead (Volume Two). The sky-blue
cover featured a beautiful silver-framed picture of Kåñëa and
Balaräma, and the back cover displayed an equally attractive
photograph of Çréla Prabhupäda. I read from the beginning
of the book (it started at Chapter Thirty-six), the first three
sentences of which remain in my mind even now:
Våndävana was always absorbed in the thought of Kåñëa.
Everyone remembered His pastimes and was constantly merged
in the ocean of transcendental bliss. But the material world is
so contaminated that even in Våndävana the asuras or demons
tried to disturb the peaceful situation.
Although eager to read the book, I progressed through it
slowly, as I found the content to be weighty and recondite, and
the linguistic style and the many Indian words unusual. Yet I
recognized that the message was from a platform beyond the
triviality of this world, and I began to follow, at least in a small
way, one instruction that Çréla Prabhupäda has given therein—
to chant the Hare Kåñëa mantra. I continued to read, with no
idea about the significance of what I was doing. Little did I
know that soon my frustration, emptiness, and misery would
be finished forever, and that—with shaved head, Vaiñëava
tilaka, orange robes, a beadbag, and a big smile—I myself would
distribute thousands of such books.
About two years earlier, my best friend at school had bought
some books from devotees on Oxford Street, London. He
wanted to show them to me, but I didn’t even want to see them,
and scoffed, “All these Indian swamis are cheaters.” But by this
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