Page 28 - MMOSP (English)
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My Memories of Çréla Prabhupäda
for ISkcoN in England that marked the administration of our
new gBc man, Jayatértha Prabhu, who in less than four months
had given new direction and dynamism to the movement in
England while himself remaining the model of a soft-spoken,
unassuming Vaiñëava. This London acquisition was but one of
several outstanding properties worldwide that Çréla Prabhupäda
and his disciples had secured in the previous two to three years.
So my excitation upon hearing of it was tempered by a sense
of matter-of-factness in knowing that for Çréla Prabhupäda the
extraordinary was commonplace.
My subsequent memories of Çréla Prabhupäda are of him in
India, during the Mäyäpur-Våndävana festival of 1976.
While on the plane to Delhi, I started to feel drowsy and
nauseous. When after my arrival the symptoms persisted, I
consulted a doctor. To my dismay, it was not a simple case of
travel sickness—I had hepatitis! Shortly before, a devotee had
arrived at Bhaktivedanta Manor from Africa with hepatitis, so
I must have contracted it from him. Especially during the first
portion of the festival, in Mäyäpur, I was very drowsy and weak.
I was inconceivably fortunate to be in Mäyäpur with so
many devotees from all over the world who were exuberantly
performing immense kértanas and daily seeing and hearing from
Çréla Prabhupäda. (Just one year before, I had no knowledge
about any of this.) Yet I was so sick that I could barely stand,
and thus I could not properly avail of the opportunity. Still, I
did manage to attend all of Çréla Prabhupäda’s lectures, even
though I struggled to remain awake during them.
Çréla Prabhupäda was lecturing on the prayers of Prahläda
Mahäräja to Nåsiàhadeva, in Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Seventh
Canto, which Çréla Prabhupäda was translating at that time.
That this section had not yet been published and thus was
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