A Glimpse into Devotional Life at 340 West 55th Street, Part 3 Conclusion
BY: BHAKTA JOHN JAGANNATHA
Small Deity of Lord Jagannatha, 340 West 55th Street, 1979
Jun 04, 2016 — NEW YORK (SUN) —
THE BHAKTA PROGRAM AND ASHRAMA LIFE
Sankirtana
I was home again. I wanted to jump up and down and then offer obeisances again and again to every devotee in the temple. I felt ashamed that I was unable to succeed in the field of transcendental book distribution, but that shame was mitigated by the bliss I felt in the association of the multitude of Vaisnavas who welcomed me back. I was just so happy to be back where I felt in my heart I belonged – the Hare Krishna Center at 340 West 55th Street in Manhattan.
JAYA RADHA GOVINDA RADHA GOVINDA RADHE!
I was no longer part of the bhakta program. I guess I graduated when I was sent to Hartford. I was given a room on the fifth floor – room 512. I still have my laundry bag with the number 512 stenciled on it. I brought my dhotis and kurtas and the rest of my belongings and made myself at home. I had no roommate so I had the space all to my lonesome.
As previously mentioned, I volunteered for sankirtana support service. My good friend and former bhakta program associate, Bhakta Al, was already serving full-time in the temple restaurant. I was previously advised by my bhakta leaders to avoid the restaurant. I wasn’t given any precise reasons but it was intimated that associating with some of the devotees and guests that frequented the spiritual eatery would not be good for my Krsna consciousness. I followed their advice with the exception of visiting on occasion with bhakta Al in the early morning, while he was setting up the restaurant paraphernalia. I didn’t see how associating with the very same friend and future god-brother, that I had shared so many happy Krsna conscious pastimes with for so many weeks, could be bad for my sadhana. I never visited the restaurant while it was open for business.
My main service was in the book room. The book room was located on the second floor on the southeast side of the temple. Here is how the second floor was set up. When you stepped off of the elevator and went south, or to the right, you would arrive at the office of the sankirtana leader, Muralivadaka dasa. Rupa Sanatana dasa and bhakta Tony (later Abhimanyu dasa) were his assistants and performed a wide-ranging assortment of devotional services. There the sankirtana devotees would hold meetings and on special occasions they would honor prasadam feasts. If you went north from the elevator, or to the left, you would arrive at the office of the GBC, Adi Kesava Swami, and his secretary, Tattvavit dasa. Tattvavita dasa was very kind and merciful to me and gave me many audio tapes of Vaisnava bhajans and kirtans and lectures from different ISKCON temples.
Then you head west from the GBC office and down the long hallway. First was the office of the temple president, Laxmi-Nrsimha dasa, who had recently replaced Romapada dasa in that service. Next was the office of Tosana Krsna dasa who had the title of communications director or something similar. Then there was the comptroller and accounting office of Gadadhara Pandita dasa and Karnipura dasa. We have reached the end of that hallway and now turn left, or south, where Sri Rama dasa had his luxurious office. At the end of the hall was the office of Romapada dasa. Turn left again, or east, and we finally arrive at the book room. Next in line was the office of Vakresvara Pandita dasa, the temple vice president. A little bit further, in a small nook in a corner, Catur-vyuha dasa toiled all day long with a sewing machine, producing the beautiful outfits of the Deities. There was a short hallway behind the elevators and stairway, linking the north and south sides, where the counting room was located. There the sankirtana devotees would deposit the laxmi collected daily and Lila-Purusottama dasa performed the service of tallying the proceeds.
The book room was just that – a room full of books. There were boxes and boxes of Srila Prabhupada’s original, unchanged Bhagavad-gita As It Is, hard cover and soft cover, with Sanskrit and without. There were all of his original, unchanged small and medium books, some but not all of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, mostly first and second canto, also original and unchanged, and the latest editions of the Back to Godhead magazine. There was a small desk where I sat and served the sankirtana devotees as they arrived. I would distribute the floats (small bills) and whatever books were requested. On occasion I would go to the Port Authority Bus Terminal or to Grand Central Station to deliver a box of books to the devotees to restock their exhausted supply. There would be a regular delivery every month from the BBT and I would unload the many boxes and bring Srila Prabhupada’s books upstairs. When the traveling sankirtana parties returned they would drop off whatever books they had that were damaged in the field, those would go the surrender box, and I would assist them in replenishing their stock of books and BTG’s.
I would also do service in the kitchen. I always enjoyed washing the pots and pans and cutting up the fruits and vegetables. I was even trained to do some cooking. After I received my spiritual name I cooked some carob halava, which was part of a feast for the sankirtana devotees. Visnu Gada dasa prabhu oversaw the preparation every step of the way.
I was happy again. I had the association of a hundred or more devotees. I was back on a regulated schedule of resting early and rising early and chanting japa and chanting and dancing in front of Sri Sri Radha Govinda, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Their Lordships Jagannatha, Baladeva and Lady Subhadra. Did I mention that I was chanting HARE KRSNA HARE KRSNA KRSNA KRSNA HARE HARE / HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE? Sorry. It must have slipped my mind.
I was happy. Even writing about it so many years later, the memory, the still alive in my consciousness memory of that time, makes me happy. Alas, I should have known better, I read the verse in the Gita so many times, don’t get too happy. Always try to maintain your equilibrium in all circumstances.
matra-sparsas tu kaunteya
sitosna-sukha-dukha-dah
agamapayino ‘nityas
tams titiksasva bharata
O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed. (Srimad Bhagavad-gita, As It Is, Chapter 2, Text 14)
Maybe I was too happy and I let it show. Once again, someone in authority had their own plan, and I was just a pawn on their chessboard. Pawns are always the first to be sacrificed. My advancement and my happiness in Krsna consciousness didn’t seem to make a difference. Let me get this out of the way here. Then I will return to relate some of the experiences I had while serving in the book room.
One day, seemingly out of the blue, not the blackish blue of the rain cloud, Romapada dasa approached me. He requested that I give up my service and let his god-brother, Darpaha dasa, take my place. Just like that. No preliminaries. No warning sign. No advance notice. No reason or explanation except the devotee used to do my service in the past.
I knew the devotee that wanted my service. I knew he was ill. He was suffering with jaundice. He was just getting over it. He lived in the room across from mine and I had some association with him. I knew that he was not maintaining his sadhana due to his illness. Why would Romapada want him to replace me?
I was crestfallen. I should have spoken up for myself. I should have said that I am happy in this service and I don’t want to give it up. I wish I could go back and tell my younger self to stand up like a man and say what was on my mind and in my heart. There is no going back. I have to learn from the past or be condemned to repeat it.
I acquiesced like a sheep to the request of Romapada dasa and so began a quick downward spiral until, during my second non-voluntary stay in Hartford; I sat on a bench in a shopping mall parking lot for an entire day and read the current Back to Godhead magazine from cover to cover instead of distributing books. I walked the 20 or so miles back to the preaching center, on the side of a highway in the dark of night, and took rest in the backseat of one of the temple cars. I was sent back to NYC after that incident and shortly thereafter, due to loss of faith and depression, I blooped and returned to my old neighborhood for two weeks. That was a disaster. Once you experience a higher taste, there is no going back to the mundane. I will speak more about those days later on.
I believe in my heart that Romapada owes me some sort of spiritual compensation for adversely affecting my spiritual life due to his deficient managerial skills and questionable motives in removing me from such an appropriate service for my psychological, emotional and spiritual makeup. He could have asked me to serve with his god-brother. We could have assisted each other and both of us could have been happy and made progress in our spiritual lives. He didn’t have to completely remove me from what was a fitting service for me.
Let’s move on. I remember two significant BBT truck deliveries.
One time I was standing in the front doorway after the BBT truck had pulled up in front of the temple. There were no books to unload. The trailer was vacant except for an elderly devotee. He was short with a protruding belly and he was using a cane as he walked around inside of the trailer. At first I thought that he had traveled in the trailer but that couldn’t be. Why would anyone ride in the back of a trailer truck? He began to climb down from the rear of the empty trailer. I took my eyes off him until I heard a sound like someone had dropped a big heavy bag of garbage out of a window and it went “whap!” as it hit the sidewalk. I looked back and the elderly devotee was laying flat on his face in the street. He gradually picked himself up with the help of his cane, dusted himself off, and slowly limped to the temple doors. I did not know him and he did not know me. I said “Hari bol, are you ok?” and he said “Hare Krsna” and he went inside and got on the elevator.
The next morning he was giving the Srimad-Bhagavatam class. I learned then that it was Kirtanananda Swami, one of the “zonal acaryas.”
Another day the BBT truck arrived with a delivery of Srila Prabhupada’s books. This time the driver brought a helper with him. This person had to be one of the most raggedy persons I had ever seen. I have spent most of my life in New York City and I have seen every type of vagrant. This prabhu had long greasy stringy hair hanging halfway down his back. He was dirty and smelled a little past ripe. His clothes could not be described as clothes. There were more holes in his t-shirt and jeans than there were t-shirt and jeans. That was all just a disguise to hide his already advanced Krsna consciousness from envious fools like me. He brought all the books up to the second floor by himself, for which I was grateful.
He stayed. He moved into the temple. He made very quick advancement in the practice of sadhana bhakti. In recent years, among many other spiritual activities, he has been one of the leaders of a group of devotees that chant bhajans and distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books in Union Square Park and also in the Union Square Subway Station. His name is Rama Raya dasa.
Here are two very short stories from the annual Christmas marathon. As everyone knows, the weeks leading up to December 25th are spent in a marathon of book distribution. Devotees also dress up as Santa Claus and hit the streets and subways in NYC to collect funds.
The Santa Claus participants would go to one room to be fitted with a proper size costume and to have their faces painted with rosy cheeks and to have bushy white eyebrows and beard applied. Then they would come to the book room to acquire some small books and BTG’s and a small float to put in their collection bucket or basket for seed money.
During the winter of 1978 Sadaputa dasa prabhu, the devotee scientist, was visiting the Hare Krishna Center in Manhattan. He gave a scientifically based Srimad-Bhagavatam class which went right over my head. I did not expect him to dress up as Santa but there I was, sitting at my desk on Christmas Eve morning, and in comes Sadaputa Claus. He was very humble and soft spoken. He was preaching by example. If he could dress up and go out to collect, even though he was just visiting, then what excuse was there for a full-time resident to not do the same?
On Christmas morning there was the usual ecstatic mangala-arati kirtana. In the midst of the chanting and dancing, in walks Bindu Madhava dasa prabhu still dressed in his Santa suit. He had spent the evening and night and early morning at Studio 54, the former popular party destination frequented by the faux-celebrities of those times. I don’t know what he did there. You will have to ask him yourself. He sometimes visits the Brooklyn temple. It was just a comical situation to have Santa Claus at mangala-arati. Santa Claus worshipped Srila Prabhupada, Sri Sri Radha Govinda and chanted the Holy Names of Hare, Krishna and Rama, not to mention Nitai Gauranga.
And finally here are three tales of time spent in the association of the big time book distributors of 340 West 55th Street in 1978 and 1979. I am referring to the following: Sanjaya dasa, Kavidatta dasa, Yaduganguli dasa, and Jada Bharata dasa to mention a few. They were the devotees that dressed up in suit, tie and wig and distributed Srila Prabhupada’s books in the airports and bus and train terminals of NYC. They all lived in one room on the northeast end of the fifth floor, except for Sanjaya dasa, who shared a room with Visnu Gada dasa right next door. Then there were the second tier book distributors who sometimes traveled and sometimes worked the airports and bus and train terminals. They were Nama-sankirtana dasa, Mahaprabhu dasa, Vyasapada dasa, Kesiha dasa and many others.
New York was part of the “zone” of Satsvarupa dasa Goswami. When he visited he would sometimes go for a japa walk, weather permitting, with the sankirtana devotees. On this particular morning, most of those devotees went on a japa walk with SDG in Riverside Park. I was allowed to tag along. I was walking directly behind SDG and Raganuga-bhakti dasa was beside me to my left. SDG was wearing sandals. Raganuga-bhakti intentionally stepped on the back of one of SDG’s sandals and it came off his foot. I say intentionally because I was getting concerned when I saw him purposely looking at and moving his footsteps closer and closer to the back of SDG’s feet until he accomplished the deed.
SDG and the group of devotees stopped and turned as Raganuga-bhakti picked up his sandal and returned it to him. That was what he really wanted – to touch the dust of the “lotus feet” of his spiritual master. It didn’t matter the offensive manner, by hook or by crook, by which he accomplished his self-centered goal. Raganuga-bhakti had this half-smile half-smirk on his face as SDG chastised him and told him not to walk so close.
I was thinking “What a rascal!” At the time I worshipped SDG. He was supposed to be a pure devotee. He was taking me back home, back to Godhead. Raganuga-bhakti dasa was his disciple too. How could you do that to your guru? What about the offense to a pure devotee? What if he tripped and fell and injured himself or someone else? I thought it was reckless, selfish and disrespectful and also possibly indicative of an immature understanding or, even worse, a mundane conception of the guru disciple relationship in Krsna consciousness.
Then there was the trip to Jones Beach with a visiting sannyasi from South America, Pancadravida Swami. Once again I was allowed to tag along with a group of sankirtana devotees. We all piled into a temple van on a hot summer morning and headed out of the city.
We stopped at a gas station on the way to refuel the vehicle. We sat there with the rear doors open to let in some fresh air. While we sat there a young lady approached us carrying an injured little dog in her arms. She said that her dog was just hit by a car and could we please drive her to a nearby hospital. Everyone sat there for a moment in uncomfortable silence.
I was thinking “Oh well, there goes the trip to the beach. We have to help this poor little dog.” One of the senior sankirtana devotees spoke up. “We are religious monks. It’s against our religion to have a dog in our vehicle. We are sorry but we cannot help you.” And the door was unceremoniously shut in her face.
Wait a minute. What about that Bhagavad-gita verse about the humble sage?
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
vidya-vinaya-sampanne
bhahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva svapake ca
panditah sama-darsinah
TRANSLATION
The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].
PURPORT excerpt
A Krsna conscious person does not make any distinction between species or castes…
(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, As It Is, Chapter 5, Text 18)
Nowhere in the full purport does it say “Unless it may interfere with the humble sage taking a trip to the beach on a hot summer day. Then the humble sage may make a distinction.”
Then there is the pastime of the stray dog that followed Sivananda Sena and took darshan of Lord Gauranga and gained liberation.
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
sri-caitanya-padambhoja-
madhupebhyo namo namah
kathancid asrayad yesam
svapi tad-gandha-bhag bhavet
TRANSLATION
Let me repeatedly offer my respectful obeisances unto the beelike devotees who always taste the honey of the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If even a doggish nondevotee somehow takes shelter of such devotees, he enjoys the aroma of the lotus flower.
PURPORT
The example of a dog is very significant in this connection. A dog naturally does not become a devotee at any time, but still it is sometimes found that a dog of a devotee gradually becomes a devotee also. We have actually seen that a dog has no respect even for the tulasi plant. Indeed, a dog is especially inclined to pass urine on the tulasi plant. Therefore the dog is the number one nondevotee. But Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtana movement is so strong that even a doglike nondevotee can gradually become a devotee by the association of a devotee of Lord Caitanya. Srila Sivananda Sena, a great householder devotee of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, attracted a dog on the street while going to Jagannatha Puri. The dog began to follow him and ultimately went to see Caitanya Mahaprabhu and was liberated. Similarly, cats and dogs in the household of Srivasa Thakura were also liberated. Cats and dogs and other animals are not expected to become devotees, but in the association of a pure devotee they are also delivered.
(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila, Chapter 10)
So there is a history of merciful behavior toward dogs and other animals in our Sampradaya.
There was another point to be considered. It was a young woman making the request for assistance from a van full of celibate brahmacaries. That would have required her to also be transported with the injured animal in close quarters with us, which a strict brahmachari might object to.
The van pulled out of the gas station and we made it to the beach. We chanted some bhajans, led by Pancadravida Swami, on the sand at the ocean shore. Some of us went for a dip in the cool waters. We did not associate with any bikini clad women or girls. We were a group of brahmacaries and one sannyasi. In Vedic culture, association with women is restricted for the brahmacaries and sannyasa ashramas in particular.
pumsah striya mithuni-bhavam etam
tayor mitho hrdaya-granthim athuh
ato grha-ksetra-sutapta-vittair
janasya moho ‘yam aham mameti
TRANSLATION
The attraction between male and female is the basic principle of material existence. On the basis of this misconception, which ties together the hearts of the male and female, one becomes attracted to his body, home, property, children, relatives and wealth. In this way one increases life’s illusions and thinks in terms of ‘I and mine.'”
(Srimad-Bhagavatam, 5.5.8)
A brahmachari is trained to refrain from sex life. That is brahmachari. Celibacy. But if he’s still not able then he’s allowed to accept grhastha life. There is no cheating, hypocrisy, that I proclaim myself brahmachari or sannyasi and I secretly do all nonsense. This is hypocrisy. The hypocritic life will not make one advanced in spiritual life. There is the example given by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
(Then Srila Prabhupada related how Lord Caitanya rejected Chota Haridasa, a renunciate who looked lustfully at a young woman, but when He saw that Sivananda Sena’s wife was pregnant He gave a name to the unborn child.)
One man, simply he saw with lusty desires a young woman, he was rejected. And one man had his wife pregnant He approved it, “That’s alright.”
So sex life is not forbidden in this movement, but hypocrisy is forbidden. If you become a hypocrite then there is no way. That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s teaching. Chota Haridasa presented himself as a brahmacari and he was looking at a young woman, then He understood, he was a hypocrite, reject him. And Sivananda Sen, he was a grhastha, grhastha must have children, what is wrong with that? He said yes, My remnants of foodstuffs should be given.
This is Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement. So our request is, don’t be a hypocrite. There are four asramas: brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasa. Whichever asrama is suitable for you, you accept, but sincerely, don’t be a hypocrite. This is Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement. He didn’t like hypocrisy. Nobody likes hypocrisy. Nobody likes.
But for a person who is seriously engaged in Krsna consciousness, sex life and material opulence are not very good (niskincarasya bhajanam…). Therefore voluntarily Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted sannyasa. He was very nicely situated in His family life. When He was a family man He married twice. One wife died. He married again. But when he took sannyasa He was very, very strict. No woman could come very near to Him. This is Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s teaching, so we have to follow strictly the rule and regulations, if we are serious. (5/23/76, Hawaii, Bhag. class) Excerpted from Brahmacarya in Krsna Consciousness and A Brahmacari Reader by Bhakti Vikasa Swami, Copyright 1990
So we swam a little and we chanted the Holy Names together. We associated with Pancadravida Swami and we generally kept to ourselves. That was our practical application of Lord Caitanya’s teachings on brahmachari and sannyasa life. Then we left and returned back to home, back to 340 West 55th Street.
Still, the memory of the door closing in the face of the lady and the injured dog bothered me. Any enjoyment I experienced was diminished by my feelings of guilt. It could be said that we weren’t perfect in our practical application of all aspects of the philosophy. Still, in our own faulty way, we were making the endeavor.
nehabhikrama-naso ‘sti
pratyavayo na vidyate
svalpam apy asya dharmasya
trayate mahato bhayat
TRANSLATION
In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.
PURPORT excerpt
Activity in Krsna consciousness, or acting for the benefit of Krsna without expectation of sense gratification, is the highest transcendental quality of work. Even a small beginning of such activity finds no impediment, nor can that small beginning be lost at any stage. Any work begun on the material plane has to be completed, otherwise the whole attempt becomes a failure. But any work begun in Krsna consciousness has a permanent effect, even though not finished. The performer of such work is therefore not at a loss even if his work in Krsna consciousness is incomplete. One percent done in Krsna consciousness bears permanent results, so that the next beginning is from the point of two percent; whereas, in material activity, without a hundred percent success, there is no profit…
Srimad Bhagavad-gita, As It Is, Chapter 2, Text 40)
Finally, there was the time I tried to help the book distributors with their physical health. Some of the devotees were experiencing back and leg pains and bodily exhaustion after long hours carrying a heavy book bag around all day long while on sankirtana. I had some years of experience in maintaining good physical health and stamina. I was a member of the varsity basketball team and the track and field team in high school. After high school I took up weight training and hatha yoga. I possessed realized knowledge in the methods required to alleviate their pains and rejuvenate their bodily health.
I mentioned my experience to the senior sankirtana devotee, Sanjaya dasa prabhu, and he was enthusiastic to engage me in that service if it helped in any way to increase book distribution while at the same time improving the overall strength and vigor of the devotees. I knew of no similar program within ISKCON. Although it was approved by Sanjaya I still felt I had to get permission from a higher authority before I began such a program. I wrote to SDG to ask his opinion and possible permission. Here is the reply I received along with instructions on my question about still being on the bodily platform:
Once I had permission we began a very brief program, in terms of time consumed, on the day back from sankirtana. Sunday mornings we would perform a few hatha yoga asanas and also a few simple calisthenics. That was all. It took only a half hour. The results were positive. The hatha yoga stretched the legs and backs and made them more supple and pain free. The calisthenics increased the intake of oxygen and increased the heart rate resulting in increased lung capacity, increased blood flow and more energy. It was quick, simple, required no equipment and everyone benefited.
One morning, after a few weeks of our little exercise program, I was standing across the aisle from Sanjaya prabhu during mangala-arati. When he saw that I was looking in his direction he did a few jumping-jacks in the kirtana and smiled and laughed. That was my transcendental reward and thanks for assisting, in a small insignificant way, Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON and the sankirtana movement of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
That is all I have to offer regarding my personal experiences on the subject of sankirtana at 340 West 55th Street. I hope all the Vaisnavas will forgive me for my offenses.
Next Installment – The Parade of the Zonal Acaryas and the Pada Phenomenon
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