Can I be a sannyasi, too?
On July 28, Srila Prabhupada drafts a statement officially setting up a Governing Body Commission. With this document he effectively prevents any one person, or any outsiders, from trying to take control of ISKCON. The twelve grhasthas Srila Prabhupada selects are: Bali Mardan, Bhagavan, Hansadutta, Hayagriva, Jagadisa, Karandhara, Krishna dasa, Rupanuga, Satsvarupa, Sudama, Syamasundara, and Tamal Krishna. The following day he issues another formal document establishing the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust to publish and manage everything that he writes. Whatever funds are received, fifty percent will be spent to publish books and the other fifty percent to build temples.
With six new sannyasis made within one week, the news spreads like wildfire. When Madhudvisha hears about it in San Francisco, he recognizes that these are the senior men in the movement. He wants to be a part of this upward progression and calls up the Los Angeles temple to speak with Prabhupada. "Can I be a sannyasi, too?" he asks Devananda Swami, secretary to His Divine Grace. After checking with Srila Prabhupada, Devananda confirms that his proposal is accepted. "All right, come on down. You can take sannyasa, too, if you want." Madhudvisha hands over his temple presidency to Chitsukhananda and flies down to Los Angeles the next day. He accepts sannyasa in a separate ceremony. First Prabhupada asks him if he really wants to do it. Out of seven new sannyasis only he and Gargamuni have volunteered to accept the renounced order for the rest of their lives.
Madhudvisha: Acyutananda was sending pictures of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati as a young man that nobody had seen before to different temples in America. I also got a picture. When I came down to Los Angeles before I took sannyasa, Prabhupada had that picture on his desk. I saw the picture and said, "That picture of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta is so great. When I look at that picture, I get great strength." Prabhupada said, "Oh? You don't feel strength when you see my picture?" I felt like I had put my foot in my mouth.
In Paris, Tamal Krishna is astonished to hear that new sannyasis have just been made, realizing that they must have been chosen from amongst his senior godbrothers. He had wanted association, and in the company of the other grihasthas in Europe, marriage seemed to be the next step. Although Prabhupada had mentioned sannyasa to him a year ago, he had decided to wait at that time. But after hearing about the new sannyasis, he begins to doubt his decision to marry.
Tamal Krishna: I was dumbfounded. What had I done? I could have been one of them, but instead I had gotten married. Feeling lonely and needing a traveling companion, I had thought the only solution was marriage. But here was the alternative I should have considered. Now my godbrothers would come, but how would we associate closely? Remembering the camaraderie we had once enjoyed made me hanker for it all the more. But I was married now. Would my old friendships still remain close? For days my mood became listless, as I silently reflected on my present condition.
Within a few days, however, Tamal receives a telegram from Srila Prabhupada requesting him to come to Los Angeles immediately. His spirits are instantly revived, going from depression to euphoria, as he runs to show the other devotees the good news. Association with His Divine Grace is even better than sannyasa! Meanwhile, Prabhupada receives a letter from Brahmananda Maharaja and Gargamuni Maharaja in New York. Enclosed is a check for $4,000. After thanking them for the donation, Prabhupada takes the opportunity to preach about cooperation within ISKCON.
"I have asked Tamal to come here and Hayagriva to come here. Rupanuga, Bhagavan das and Kirtanananda Maharaja are already here, so I am fervently appealing to you all not to create fracture in the solid body of the Society. Please work conjointly, without any personal ambition. That will help the cause. It is the injunction of the Vedas that the Spiritual Master should not be treated as ordinary man even if sometimes the Spiritual Master behaves like ordinary man. It is the duty of the disciple to accept Him as superhuman man. In the beginning of your letter your comparison of the soldier and commander is very appropriate. We are on the battlefield of Kuruksetra, one side Maya, the other side Krishna. So the regulative principles of a battlefield, namely to abide by the order of the commander, must be followed. Otherwise it is impossible to direct the fighting capacity of the soldiers and thus defeat the opposing elements. Kindly therefore take courage. You are capable in so many ways. Let things be rightly done so that our mission may be correctly pushed forward to come out victorious." Letter to Brahmananda Maharaja and Gargamuni Maharaja, July 31, 1970
After finishing the letter, Prabhupada's mind again becomes troubled with the issue. Concerned about the future of his preaching mission, he confides in Satsvarupa, giving further instructions how to maintain everything he has given. "Our life is very short. The Krishna consciousness movement is not meant for fulfilling one's personal ambition, but it is a serious movement for the whole world. I am therefore going to the Eastern hemisphere, beginning from Japan. We are going four in a party and all of us are sannyasis. In this old age I am going with this party just to set an example to my disciples who have taken recently the sannyasa order. I think Brahmananda Swami, Gargamuni Swami, Vishnujana Swami, Kirtanananda Swami and Subala Swami, all of them, two in a party assisted by other brahmacaris should form separate sankirtana parties and travel all over Europe, America and Canada. Now we want very many Swamis to take up this job. The grhasthas are to take care of the temples as well as the general management. I have already formed the Governing Body Commission and your good name is also in the Board. There is no time for creating a crack in our solid formation of Krishna Consciousness Society. Take it now with great responsibility and everyone of you may serve jointly for Krishna's satisfaction." Letter to Satsvarupa, July 31. 1970
Not all the news is bad, however. Most disciples are still giving Prabhupada great pleasure and satisfaction. He receives a parcel from Himavati who is in hospital after a car accident in Germany. For the past two years she has been making outfits for Prabhupada's personal traveling Deities, and he is very pleased by her sincere service mood. "I beg to acknowledge receipt of a package yesterday which contained one set of Deity clothes. I have immediately got them on my Deities and They are wearing them and looking so beautiful. You have made the colors and clothes so nicely... You are lying for some time in the hospital bed and still you are not wasting a moment of your time. This attitude is very good. This is Krishna consciousness, not to waste even a single moment without serving the Lord in some way or other. So you have made these very, very nice dresses for Krishna and Radharani although you are so much inconvenienced by your injury. I am very, very glad that you have got this feeling to not waste even a single moment in the service of the body and mind but to utilize very carefully every moment of life in the loving service of the Lord. I beg to thank you once more for the beautiful clothes for Radha-Krishna." Letter to Himavati, July 30, 1970
New Dwaraka is overcome by anxiety over Vishnujana Swami's pending departure. To many it is a shock. But there is such a wealth of qualified people, that even when Vishnujana leaves, nothing really diminishes. On the day before his departure, all the devotees gather for a picture in front of the New Dwaraka temple with Srila Prabhupada. Tamal Krishna has just arrived, but is so preoccupied in Prabhupada's service that he barely has time to get together with his best friend before Vishnujana has to leave for the East Coast.
Bhakta dasa: All of us residing in Los Angeles Yatra thought the world was coming to an end. We had no idea how we would go on without his association and great inspiration. When he was gone, there was an emptiness in the core of my heart that still remains today. After only four months with him I had become more attached than to my mother!
Stoka Krishna: Personally I had a lot of trepidation about how we were going to continue in his absence, because Vishnujana's energy on sankirtana was what kept us going. Vishnujana's energy, through his singing, was always exuberant and everyone could feel it. After he left we didn't see him for a long time. It felt like a separation from a great person. It was almost like what you would read about, the way devotees felt separation from Krishna when He left and was no longer engaging in pastimes with them in Vrindavana. The time with Vishnujana was so special that when he left you really felt separation from him.
Sacidevi: I remember being very sad that he took sannyasa, because he was leaving. It meant he couldn't stay at the temple. It was a very sad day for all of us. Somehow, everything kept on going. It was just a little different. We all used to eat together in a big circle around Vishnujana, brahmacaris and brahmacarinis. He orchestrated cleaning the kitchen together, doing the laundry together. We rode in the van together, we were on the street together. We did everything together from morning until night; kirtan, classes, polishing the brass. Vishnujana was very playful and had a great sense of humor. He used to play a lot with Yudhishthira and Hanuman. He had a lot of little rasas with these devotees, like who could touch whose feet first. He was just so playful. So when he left, something died in all of us.