Great sudden fortune

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami: With a small group of men, all brahmachari disciples of Srila Prabhupada, I had come to San Antonio, Texas, planning to stay there for the month of December. We went out chanting daily, standing in a park across the street from the Alamo, playing a mridanga and karatalas and singing the Hare Krishna mantra. Curious people came and went, and we would offer them Back to Godhead magazines. One day, less than a week after we had arrived in town, we returned to our rented, phoneless apartment to discover a telegram: "Call Los Angeles. Karandhara" Karandhara Dasa was the ISKCON zonal secretary for the Western United States, and as Srila Prabhupada was staying in Los Angeles at the time, I regarded the telegram as highly important. Walking to a nearby pay telephone booth, I reached Karandhara long distance and received one of the most extraordinary phone messages I ever heard in my life. "Prabhupada wants you to come here and be his permanent traveling secretary and servant," said Karandhara. "What? How come?" I could hardly believe or understand my good fortune. But it wasn't clear. Why would he call me? Karandhara explained briefly that Srila Prabhupada's present servant, Srutakirti, was going to get married and could no longer travel throughout the world accompanying Srila Prabhupada. They had been thinking for the past few days who would become Srila Prabhupada's new servant, and Srila Prabhupada himself had suggested that I would be good for the job since I could type and work on editing as Srila Prabhupada produced his Srimad-Bhagavatam translations and purports. Karandhara and I exchanged sincere exclamations that this was a great mercy on me by Srila Prabhupada. Then he asked me how soon I could come. "I can come right away," I replied, although I hadn't yet figured out what to do about the men and location in San Antonio. "Well, you don't have to break your neck to get here in one day or anything," Karandhara said soberly. If within a few days I could wind up my present program, tend to any other affairs I had in the management of the Midwest G.B.C. zone, and then come to Los Angeles, that would be good enough. Very rarely had things happened to me with such unexpected, great sudden fortune.

I left that phone booth in San Antonio feeling as if the greatest benediction had just descended upon me - the most wonderful thing imaginable for a young sannyasi disciple of Srila Prabhupada - our spiritual master, the world acharya, had been thinking of me to become his servant - a wonderful dream come true! I returned to the men, who were expectant. "What did Karandhara want?" asked Mahabuddhi. I couldn't hide my excitement and blurted it out. Their first response was spontaneous congratulations and appreciation. To them it also seemed like a topmost blessing on their Godbrother. But then they questioned what would happen to them. We discussed it, and I asked them to stay in San Antonio for the time being. Hridayananda Goswami, who was a great favorite of mine and theirs was in Los Angeles and maybe he would agree to come to Texas and take leadership of the party. For myself, I felt I had to leave at once. As I left, Ghanasyama dasa said, "To get this call from Srila Prabhupada you must be a very special advanced devotee" But I felt that what he said wasn't true and that he was exaggerating and over-estimating. Everyone of us was serving Srila Prabhupada, wherever we were, and the duty of going to be with Srila Prabhupada was also service in the same way. I had misgivings in leaving my small party of dedicated men and my life of traveling and preaching with them - but I also felt a growing excitement and attachment to the new call to duty as personal servant. It seemed to me a fulfillment of all my hopes for a personal relationship with Srila Prabhupada. I had been with Srila Prabhupada in the first days of my spiritual life, when Srila Prabhupada had come to begin his mission in New York City in 1966. But since then, ISKCON had grown into a worldwide institution, and Srila Prabhupada had been constantly traveling and dealing with hundreds of disciples. He had become less available for personal association, and one had to follow his order in separation. I had always relished the memory of my days with him in 1966 as my greatest fortune, but now he was giving me another opportunity to revive the contact with his personal, physical presence. It was nothing less than the most desirable, most coveted award - and it was being handed to me with no direct effort on my part. "I must be in maya Srutakirti laughed, "to give up being Srila Prabhupada's servant in order to get married."

Prabhupada had assured him, he said, that he could rejoin him as servant in the future: he could stay with his wife for six months, and then go and travel with Srila Prabhupada for six months, and in this way divide his time. Srutakirti was very friendly in showing me the servant's tasks, and I wrote down details, such as when to enter Srila Prabhupada's room in the morning to bring his medicine and toothbrush twig, when to be ready to accompany him on his morning walk, what to prepare for his breakfast, when and how to prepare for the morning massage, and how to cook his lunch. I didn't know how to cook. Srutakirti was expert in preparing half a dozen dishes in less than an hour in Srila Prabhupada's multilevel brass cooker. He said I could try to learn by watching him. But he admitted it was tricky; it would take time. Srutakirti advised me, "Whenever you go into Srila Prabhupada's room, try to do as many things as possible. Don't be constantly going in and out for little things. I always think, ?Why should Prabhupada have to see a horrible creature like me?' So I try not to go before him unnecessarily." This advice revealed his humble, reverent attitude toward Srila Prabhupada, which I also hoped to maintain. I was being brought close to Srila Prabhupada not for my spiritual sense gratification but to perform service. Most of the duties were menial - valet and secretarial tasks - but as I sat on the floor in the tiny servant's quarters, down the hall from Srila Prabhupada's suite of rooms in the L.A. temple, I was excited, ready, and anxious to learn how to be a good servant. It wasn't to be my first time with Srila Prabhupada. In fact, less than a month previously, I had come with my group of brahmacharis to see Srila Prabhupada in Los Angeles. But now I was coming to be his constant companion. I began imagining what it would be like.

Srila Prabhupada would greet me in his room, briefly welcoming me to my new service. Sitting at his low desk, resting against the cushions, he would smile majestically, yet kindly - my true father. I would hear him dictating Bhagavatam very early in the morning; I would accompany him on his morning walk, keeping beside and slightly behind him as he discoursed spontaneously. And in the car and at the temple, I would be close by his side, ready to tend to his every need. Some things I couldn't even imagine: how I would massage him while he sat in the late morning sunlight, how I would manage to cook his lunch and bring it before him. But I knew I would worship him in every circumstance, because he was already established in my heart as lord and master of all my activities, as my eternal spiritual master. I would live just to await the ringing of his hand-bell, so that I could rush into his presence, touch my head to the floor in obeisances, and look up to see him. Srila Prabhupada sat on a straw mat in his garden - a small patch of green lawn with a profusion of flowers and surrounded by a high cinder-block wall. Srutakirti was massaging him, and I sat nearby watching. Srila Prabhupada was relaxed, wearing only a gamcha wrapped around his waist. He sometimes glanced at different flowers. I had watched this pleasant, transcendental scene before, but this time I was nervous because I was supposed to learn how to do it. Srila Prabhupada's smooth skin moved under Srutakirti's strong, expert hands.

Prabhupada looked my way and said, "Are you going to give the massage?" "Yes," I replied, "but Srutakirti advised that today I was to watch and learn" Srila Prabhupada smiled mildly and said, "That is like learning to swim from the land." All three of us laughed, but I suddenly realized, I am going to have to get into all of this service right away.