Srila Prabhupada visit to Kashmir

Vaiyasaki : My most intimate association with Srila Prabhupada was in Vrindavan in November 1976. I was traveling with Satyanarayan on the Southeast Asia Library Party, and we had gone to Kashmir, which is ninety percent Muslim. We were distributing books in the colleges and libraries there. I was showing an old gentleman in an Oriental library, Prabhupada's books, and he said, "Oh, I think I have these books." I said, "No, it is not possible. It is the first time we've been here." He said, "Let me see," and he brought out Prabhupada's three original Bhagavatams. I said, "That's fantastic. Now you should take all the rest of them," and he did. He took the complete set of Srimad-Bhagavatams, Caitanya Caritamritas, Bhagavad-gita, Krishna book, everything. He said that the author had personally gone there.

Nobody knew that Prabhupada had gone to Kashmir. On our way back driving through the Himalayas, we passed an apiary with beehives, and, knowing that Prabhupada was in Vrindavan, we thought, "Wow, wouldn't that be great to get Prabhupada some real Himalayan honey?" We got a big bottle. Jagadish was Prabhupada's secretary at that time, and he knew Satyanarayan and me, so he arranged for Prabhupada to see us. We went into Prabhupada's room when Prabhupada was sitting with Gopal Krishna and speaking to an Indian gentleman. When we came in he turned around and said, "Here are two very nice boys."

We sat down, and Jagadish introduced us. Satyanarayan explained that we were in the Library Party and had been preaching in Kashmir. Prabhupada was very pleased that we were distributing his books. When he heard we were in Kashmir, he opened his eyes really wide and said, "Ah, Kashmir. I went to Kashmir. Do you remember when you come over the crest of the hill and you see the Kashmir valley?" We said, "Yes, Prabhupada, we saw it." He said, "Yes, I distributed my books there." Then I said, "Srila Prabhupada, I met that gentleman. He bought your first three volumes from you, and now he has taken the whole set, a standing order."

Srila Prabhupada was reminiscing about that and spoke about the importance of preaching. After five or ten minutes, just before we left, he looked me right in the eye and said, "So, wherever you go and whoever you meet, just tell them about Krishna, and in that way, by Lord Chaitanya's order, become a guru." That left a big impression on me, because he was looking right at me. When I left I thought, "Wow, if I don't tell people about Krishna, I'm in total maya. This is my mission." We gave Prabhupada the bottle of honey, which he graciously accepted. Later Palika, who was Prabhupada's cook, told us that every morning Prabhupada had a little bit of that honey with his breakfast.