Srila Prabhupada's Effulgence
Candramauli Swami: We'd come from Dallas to Los Angeles to get initiated and the first time we saw Prabhupada he was getting out of a car to go into his quarters. His effulgence seemed to fill the whole street. Everybody couldn't help but have tears in their eyes. Prabhupada was not only effulgent, but also his love of Krishna was contagious, we all got a glimpse of his ecstasy just by being with him.
The next morning was the day I was supposed to get initiated and after mangala-arati. I was stringing my neck beads. In those days, we didn't have neck beads with clasps. When you got initiated, your neckbeads were fastened together with a knot so they were tied on for life. One devotee came over to me and said, "Prabhupada wants you on the morning walk." I said, "What do I do?" He said, "Meet at the foot of Prabhupada's stairs." I went there and a devotee said, "Where's your flower?" I said, "What do you mean, flower?" He said, "If you're going to greet Prabhupada, you have to have a flower." I said, "Where do I get it?" "You have to find one." I looked but I could only find one insignificant little rosebud, so I held it in my hand and waited for Prabhupada. He came down the stairs, we offered our obeisances, and then they introduced me. I again offered my obeisances to Prabhupada, and when I got up they had all walked out to get in their little Ford compact two-door car that said "Hare Krishna" on the side. Prabhupada was sitting in front, Karandhar was driving, and there were four or five of us in the back seat, somehow I got in on the bottom and devotees piled in on top of me, all wanting to go on the walk with Prabhupada. Just as we pulled out onto Venice Boulevard, a bearded, older drunk guy, who had been thrown out of the temple earlier, was sitting on the curb dejected. When he saw Prabhupada in the car, he looked up and said, "Hare Krishna" in a gruff voice. Prabhupada laughed in such a musical, contagious way that all of us in the car also laughed hysterically, not knowing exactly why we were laughing except that Prabhupada had laughed. On the ride to the beach Prabhupada asked me, "What is God?" Now, Mohanananda had primed me, "This is one of the questions Prabhupada might ask you." So I'd learned, "The Supreme Person complete in six opulences, all wealth, all beauty" I was nervous but I said, "Prabhupada, God is the person" and I started telling him what I thought was the correct answer. He said, "That's what we say. What do they say?" Prabhupada wanted to know what I had learned as a theologian. I said, "Prabhupada, they can't make up their mind. They have no idea who God is." He said, "You must defeat them. These people don't know who God is. Therefore, by claiming they know God when they don't, they are cheating."
Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint - Volume 3 by Siddhanta Dasa
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