Four new sannyasis arrive instead.
Vishnujana Swami flies into Logan International late in the afternoon where a van is waiting to pick him up. When the van pulls up at the temple, the other three sannyasis are already there to greet him. The temple on Beacon Street is a huge facility, also housing ISKCON Press in a long hall directly beneath the temple room. It smells exactly like a print shop, with its large old press, tubs of ink, and pallets of paper stock, almost filling the room. Brahmananda and Gargamuni have already met with the ISKCON Press devotees and presented Prabhupada's desire to publish and distribute books as his main business. After passing a few resolutions, they have sent off their report to Srila Prabhupada in Los Angeles. The Boston devotees are very excited to have so many senior devotees at their temple. These are the first sannyasis in the movement except for Kirtanananda Swami down on the farm in New Vrindavana. Nobody has even seen a sannyasi before. The only concept of sannyasa is that Prabhupada is a sannyasi.
Pradyumna: We were all in the temple room waiting when they came in. Vishnujana started singing "samsara-davanala-lidha-loka..." That was the most electric thing I'd ever experienced. The whole room went electric. It was just unbelievable. I was in ecstasy. So we had a beautiful kirtan and they all spoke briefly. Then we went out chanting in the street. It was very blissful associating with them.
Madhavananda, Bharadraja, and Giriraja have been doing the sankirtana party in Boston. By going out every day, they have gradually built it up. Bharadraja is almost always the kirtan leader. He is to Boston what Vishnujana was to Los Angeles. The party attracts many new bhaktas, and by the summer of 1970 there are over thirty devotees going out to chant on a regular basis in the Commons. The Boston devotees had originally expected Srila Prabhupada to come, so the whole temple was abuzz with, "Prabhupada is coming, Prabhupada is coming!" But in place of their spiritual master, the four new sannyasis arrive instead. Vishnujana is already well known in the movement for his kirtan, so the Boston devotees are excited to go out with him on sankirtana.
Madhavananda: We had heard about Vishnujana before he arrived, about the sankirtana parties he led out in LA. They were already famous. In Boston, we had the ISKCON Press, so when Advaita, who was running the press with Uddhava, went out to LA, he came back and said, "Madhavananda, you've got to hear this devotee. You won't believe it. People just come by and watch for hours, and they swoon and some are even crying." So when he came here and led the sankirtana party out everybody loved him. We were all very impressed with Vishnujana Maharaja, by his sincerity and genuineness.
Ananga-manjari devi dasi: All the devotees in the temple were so excited that Vishnujana was coming. Everyone was running around, "He's coming. There's going to be ecstatic kirtans." So I got a little excited, and I was thinking, "Who is this person that's so special?" Then when he came, we all went on sankirtana. He was leading kirtan, and it was super ecstatic. We were dancing in ecstasy, totally. At the end of the kirtan, all of a sudden an old lady came running up and embraced him. She was old, but she forcibly embraced him and said, "You're so beautiful. I love this. I love it." She was actually feeling symptoms of ecstasy from the Holy Name. He was very gentlemanly with her. I was very impressed how he handled it. He didn't push her away, but he was very kind and nice. He started preaching to her about the Holy Name and made sure she got a book and some prasadam.
Narayani devi dasi: Prabhupada had said that he was going to come to Boston, so about ten interested prospective devotees decided to stay at the temple to meet him. Instead, four new sannyasis came. We were having street sankirtana everyday. Vishnujana Maharaja was out there leading the sankirtana, and although we were having problems with the police, he was very poised and very in charge of the situation. He led us fearlessly, and I didn't worry about the police because he was so self-assured. Since I was a professional musician, I was always attracted to devotees who could sing properly. He was so lively and such a great musician also, that I really enjoyed that sankirtana. When he would speak between chanting, you would feel so inspired because he really cared about the people he was speaking to, and he really wanted in his heart to make them devotees. He wanted to see them advance in spiritual life. When I heard him speak, I just felt like I really wanted to be a devotee. I was very inspired by him personally to become a devotee. Not only me, but about ten others became devotees and never left. He exuded a lot of warmth and a lot of love. He was a very humble person. Even though Prabhupada didn't come, we all became devotees because of the association of Vishnujana Swami.
Suresvara: I remember Patit Uddharan knelt on the porch in front of Vishnujana Swami and was offering prayers to him. Patit was a very ethereal guy, and he was reading these far-out prayers and swooning at his feet. Vishnujana Maharaja was smiling and just patted him on the head, saying, "Hare Krishna. Glories to Prabhupada." I remember that unabashed worship and adulation from Patit Uddharan. I thought it was all part of the far-out experience of coming to Krishna consciousness, seeing this behavior. Just like seeing grown men with shaved heads dancing around a plant. What do you make of that? It was all part of the new world I had just stepped into.
On Sunday, the sannyasis take the kirtan party to Cambridge Commons, where the students like to hang out. The first Earth day had passed that April, and the whole '60s mood is very prominent. Many people are out on the Commons all summer. A stage is always set up because somebody is always doing something for the public. Vishnujana Maharaja takes advantage of the opportunity to lead the kirtan party on stage.
Suresvara: They led us on sankirtana at the height of the anti-war movement in Cambridge Commons. The kirtans there were just overwhelming. I remember being up on a stage with the sannyasis and bowing down during the kirtan, because I was thinking, "My God, this is the spiritual world." It was just incredible. The crowd was coming up on the stage, and it was totally huge. Then we ended up in the theater district, because "Hair" was playing. When people came out of the theater, they walked into us and they didn't know what was going on. Before we even got to "Hair," we snake-danced our way through the streets, and there was so much tumult, and foment, and demonstrations, yet we would sweep up all the other demonstrations in our wake because we were just more powerful. In those days, of course, the whole temple went out. We're talking about fifty devotees, plus the sannyasis. I remember especially Vishnujana Swami was leading the pack, and my impression of him was that he was like a golden palomino, because his long, thick sikha was flying, and he would leap up in the air. As he would leap, he would play the mridanga in such an amazing way. Sometimes the other sannyasis would leap with him, going face to face chanting Hare Krishna! They just completely overwhelmed me with their effulgence and their spirit. It was like I had left my body and gone back to Godhead.
Jadurani devi dasi: He told me two things. One is that Prabhupada would give him harmonium lessons. For every new tune he could sing, Prabhupada would give another harmonium lesson. Another thing he said was that he was telling Prabhupada how merciful he was. So Prabhupada said, "Actually the mercy is available for everyone, just as the sun is for everyone, but some people hide in the closet, and other people come out into the sunshine to get the mercy," indicating that he was coming out. After the Sunday Feast program, the sannyasis leave Boston early Monday morning to spend a week in New York. Brahmananda Swami and Gargamuni Swami are managing the party. Vishnujana Swami is the kirtan man, and Subala Swami is the quiet academic.