SP Teaches Vaishnava Bhajans

The devotees of ISKCON Los Angeles begin the year on a high note. With a gorgeous temple, and many new devotees joining, they celebrate their first fire yajna in La Cienega. Eight devotees get initiated, and a triple marriage ceremony is also performed. Tamal Krishna gives away the bride in all three marriages. One of the new devotees in the temple is Palika. She had been involved with a commune called the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, located in Woodland Canyon, an hour's drive south of Los Angeles in the resort town of Laguna Beach. After joining the movement she contacts her friends in the Brotherhood, who also become interested in Krishna consciousness.

Timothy Leary is now out on the West Coast after his Millbrook scene was shut down by the police. He has teamed up with Alan Cohen, the editor and publisher of The San Francisco Oracle, who manages a commune in Albion called Tablerock Mountain Ranch. The whole idea behind the League for Spiritual Discovery back in Millbrook was to find the twelve right individuals under whose direction their combined consciousness would form the new Messiah. In teaming up with Alan Cohen, Leary is still pursuing this idea.

Mohanananda: About this time I met Jayatirtha, and we were all on the spiritual path at that point. So we all set up teepees and lived in Albion for a couple of months during the summer of '68. Jayatirtha and I had our own separate teepees and lived on cattail bread and blackberry bannock, fasting and studying Vedic literature, I Ching, and the Bible. One day up in Albion, Tim announced that he had merged the League with a group called the Brotherhood of Eternal Love. The Brotherhood was founded by Russell Harrigan and John Greggs. They were blue collar kids, Santa Ana low-riders, who raced cars and lived the "American Graffiti" type of lifestyle. When LSD came along, it transformed their lives. The self-styled guru and psychologist Richard Alpert was the first one to come in and begin validating the experiences they were having. He talked to them about consciousness and expanding consciousness, and gave them different rituals and guidance so they could develop spiritually. They were one of the first psychedelic churches founded in America and incorporated with non-profit status. They had a little temple going in Modjeska Canyon, from where they became the largest drug smuggling organization in America. They were making 200 million dollars a year in the drug trade, mostly marijuana from Mexico and hashish from the Middle East. For a while they were kings of the earth in California. When the League from the East Coast merges with the Brotherhood from the West Coast, they begin funding continuous research and development of a pure quality of LSD. They are convinced they have seen God, felt God, experienced God, and loved God. LSD is the way to 'turn on the world' to expand the consciousness of the entire world whether the world likes it or not.

Overnight the Brotherhood becomes the largest psychedelic distribution network in the world. They buy seven houses in Woodland Canyon and open Mystic Arts World in Laguna Beach. The bookstore and health food bar is used for laundering money but also for propaganda. Many young people are attracted by the mysticism of the East, which becomes the beacon for spiritual awakening on the West Coast. Allan Watts has written that the closest experience we have for interpreting the psychedelic experience is Hindu philosophy. Gradually a whole group of people, who have tried all the native American hallucinogens like mescaline and peyote, are discovering that Native American philosophy doesn't really explain what they are experiencing. Their life is a constant mish-mash of spiritual concepts; a smattering of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and everything else, including Native American traditions, but basically it is all just mayavada philosophy. They are looking to merge into the light and become God. Through their visions in psychedelia they begin making the transition to Hinduism, which becomes more and more important at this point. Personalism begins to enter the picture through the Bhagavad-gita and other Hindu texts, replacing the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Egyptian Book of the Dead, Buddhism, and Zen.

But although people are becoming intensely interested in the cult of the personality of various Hindu Deities, still it is with the idea of becoming God. But now, Srila Prabhupada is on the scene preaching pure Krishna consciousness. He is having a profound effect on the new spiritual awakening taking place in America and the world, because he reaches out to touch the soul that is longing to reunite with Sri Krishna in pure devotional service.

Mohanananda: On Christmas day '68 we were chanting Hare Krishna along with Prabhupada's first album, which was playing constantly throughout the house. It was magnificent. I had a profound connection with Prabhupada through the picture of him on the back. There was a whole linkage coming in for me that day, going back to Paramananda in Millbrook, and I looked at Prabhupada on the back of that record album and thought "This guy is not from this planet." That was my first inkling of his transcendental nature. I had no way of really placing how incredible or how powerful he was, but it was a real deep connection for me at that moment.  

Street sankirtana continues to attract more and more people to attend the Sunday Love Feast. Among them is a former interior designer, who has come to Hollywood seeking success in the film industry. Impressed by Vishnujana's personality and spiritual rapture out on the street, he shows up at the temple one Sunday afternoon. Tamal notices this charismatic personality and sits with him during prasadam, preaching a little and establishing a friendly relationship. After the feast they continue in Tamal's little office, sitting until midnight discussing philosophy. On the wall is Muralidhara's painting of the Bhagavatam cover. The picture captures the imagination of the newcomer. After hearing Tamal's explanation of the different planetary levels and where the spiritual sky is, he becomes convinced and decides to join. It's a very rainy day when his friends drop him off in front of the temple. They are a different type of people, a bit older, in their early 30s. They are people with money. He is like the mentor to his group of people, and they're not happy to see him join the Hare Krishnas. Within a few days they return and persuade him to leave. Tamal and Jayananda decide to rescue him and drive off one evening in the van. When they knock at his door, he's surprised to see them but welcomes them in. They follow him down to the basement of the large well-kept house, where he lives in a redecorated private suite.

Tamal Krishna: Bhavananda was part of a group of film people. Andy Warhol had some film people who were on the East Coast, and then Bhavananda had a group of friends and film people on the West Coast. Jayananda and I went after Bhavananda to get him back. He left because he was attracted to the material energy. So I saw him downstairs and we sat there for a few hours and preached to him. After a few hours of talking, we convinced him to come back with us. As soon as he got in the van we knew we had caught a big fish. He was a leader in his own way. He was a very outstanding person. Back at the temple, Vishnujana keeps Bhavananda dancing and chanting. Soon he becomes an attractive addition to the sankirtana party because he is a good dancer with a good voice as well. He is even happy back in the kitchen washing pots with Vishnujana after the Sunday feast. Now he understands that his constitutional position is servant, not master. Feeling that the temple is a little too plain, Bhavananda decides to make it look "absolutely beautiful." First he undertakes an ambitious program re-painting the entire complex in lovely pastel shades. He has a lot of talent with fabrics too, so he decorates the temple room next, hanging long bolts of silk from the ceiling. He creates a silk canopy extending past the front doorway so that people walk through it to enter the temple. Next he covers all the cushions with a gorgeous brocade silk. Finally he hangs draperies throughout and lays down large Indian carpets. Suddenly the ordinary old Baptist Church is transformed into Aladdin's Palace, something out of the exotic East. Everybody loves it. Prabhupada especially appreciates the endeavor of this young American disciple.

For the last month, Prabhupada has been regularly teaching the devotees all the standard songs of the Vaishnava Acharyas. Vishnujana is particularly interested in these songs, and they enter deep into his heart. They will become the life and soul of his preaching before long. Srila Prabhupada encourages him and offers to teach him the proper way to play harmonium. The arrangement is that for every new bhajan that Vishnujana learns, Prabhupada will give another harmonium lesson. Understanding Vishnujana's musical talents, Prabhupada gives him the words to a song by Narottama dasa Thakur, Vrindavana ramya sthana, and asks him to compose a melody that his countrymen will like. Vishnujana is excited by this service, and the next day he informs His Divine Grace that he already has a melody for the song. Prabhupada asks Vishnujana to come by his room and sing the new melody. After hearing Vishnujana sing the bhajan, Prabhupada is greatly pleased. He thanks him for the beautiful melody and authorizes him to compose other melodies for the devotees to chant. No other devotee has this authority. Although an outstanding musician in his own right, Vishnujana is particularly impressed with Prabhupada's musical abilities. Not only is he an accomplished mridanga player, but Prabhupada's harmonium playing reminds him of the top jazz musicians. And never has Vishnujana heard such deep and profound singing. Yet all of Prabhupada's music is simply to glorify the Supreme Lord, Krishna. Today, January 16, Prabhupada finishes the last song that he will teach: Parama Karuna by Lochan dasa Thakur. Dinesh carefully records his spiritual master singing all these bhajans. He has flown out to LA from the East Coast especially to do this service. Prabhupada also has Dinesh record Vishnujana singing Vande 'ham and Hare Krishna while Prabhupada plays the mridanga. Singing the ancient Sanskrit prayers, Vishnujana deeply meditates on his spiritual master sitting before him accompanying him on mridanga. It is at this point, some say, that Prabhupada transfers the kirtan to the first generation of Westerners. Meanwhile in London the devotees are making a name for themselves with photographs and articles in the major newspapers. Syamasundara writes that Prabhupada's visit to London will be "the biggest event since the time of the Roman Invasion." Prabhupada agrees, adding that this time England will get something sublime. He is so pleased with the success of the London Yatra that he can't contain his admiration for the attempt of these three young couples. He knows that Krishna has blessed them with His mercy. "My Guru Maharaja sent one sannyasi, Swami Bon Maharaja, to preach Krishna consciousness in London, sometime in 1933. Although he tried for three years, and at the expense of my Guru Maharaja, he could not do any appreciable work. So Guru Maharaja, being disgusted, called him back. In comparison to that situation, our 6 young boys and girls are neither very much advanced in their study of Vedanta nor any other Vedic literature, neither are they sannyasis. But still they are doing more tangible work than what Bon Maharaja could do there 35 years ago. This very fact confirms the statement of Lord Caitanya that a preacher or teacher may be a householder, a sannyasi, a brahmana, a sudra, or anyone, provided he knows the science of Krishna. And to know the science of Krishna means to serve Krishna under the directions of a bona fide Spiritual Master. When we serve Krishna in this way, Krishna is pleased to reveal Himself. So we should follow strictly the Vedic principle that anyone who has unflinching faith in Krishna and the Spiritual Master, to him only the science of Krishna consciousness becomes revealed. Then, when we are fully conversant in revelation of Krishna consciousness, we can meet any opposing elements and come out victorious." (Letter to Hayagriva, January 31, 1969)

The enthusiastic reception of Lord Caitanya's mission in the West gladdens the heart of Srila Prabhupada. Like a General in the field, he now sees that victory over maya is imminent, and he wants to impart this conviction into the hearts of his young followers. "So we should now organize in such a way that there shall be nice kirtan and attempt for selling our publications. My Guru Maharaja indicated that the mridanga and the press are the mediums of our missionary propaganda activities, and we shall follow His path in the same way. We must have large quantities of mrdangas for vibrating in different parts of the world, and we must distribute our literature also. Every other organization has demand for money for their bogus classes, but we don't demand any money. People should know this difference." (Letter to Brahmananda, January 30, 1969)

Prabhupada instructs the Los Angeles devotees to have democratic elections to choose their temple officers. Dayananda is elected president, Jayananda is the vice-president, Tamal Krishna is the secretary, Madhudvisha, the treasurer, and Vishnujana the temple commander. They comprise the board who oversee the temple management. Often, Silavati sits in for the Deity department.