What is the mood of the Deities? How are they feeling?

During his 1975 tour, Prabhupada travels quickly through the western world. This year, he just spends a few days, or at most a week, visiting each temple. He only blesses two places with his divine association for more than a week: Honolulu and Mexico City. After spending three days in Atlanta, Prabhupada and his entourage proceed to the Dallas yatra for a brief visit. Most Dallas devotees drive to the airport to greet His Divine Grace. For the new devotees who are seeing Srila Prabhupada for the first time he appears much smaller in stature than they would have expected.

Gopal Acharya: At the airport Prabhupada was sort of gliding along and he looked light and petite. Compared to the picture I painted in my mind of a giant authoritarian, I thought he had a humble look to him. Everyone was making a big deal and there was a lot of fanfare. All the attention was on him and he seemed shy. He wasn't elated and he wasn't grave, but he seemed to be quite modest and that really impressed me. These thoughts occurred to me while watching him at the airport; he's humble, he's modest, he doesn't really like all this attention, but at the same time he knows how to handle it.

The Dallas temple is packed with devotees anxious to meet their spiritual master, but Prabhupada is first taken to his room. The altar curtains remain closed and will open to the sound of the Govindam prayers upon Srila Prabhupada's entrance. Vishnujana Swami kneels in front of the vyasasana, waiting for his divine master. After what seems like 12 years or more, Prabhupada enters the temple room and Yamuna's voice rings out 'govindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami'. During the Deity greeting Prabhupada remains standing with folded palms for a long time, admiring the beauty of Sri-Sri Radha-Kalachandji. Then he turns to the pujari and asks, "What is the mood of the Deities? How are they feeling?" Chaturatma has positioned himself beside His Divine Grace and is very intrigued by this question. But the Dallas pujari is completely flabbergasted and looks at Prabhupada as if to say, how am I supposed to know that? After a pregnant pause, the pujari exclaims, "Well, I don't know Srila Prabhupada." Prabhupada is not pleased with this reply. "You are the pujari. You are the intimate servant of the Deities. Therefore, who else but you would know the mood of the Deities? You should know this."

Chaturatma: Vishnujana Swami knew the mood of Sri-Sri Radha-Damodara. He was Their intimate servant. If Prabhupada expected a pujari in one temple to know, why wouldn't a pujari in another temple be expected to know? Especially, a pujari like Vishnujana Swami who was known for his intense devotion to his Deities.

When Prabhupada takes his seat on the vyasasana, the conch blows for guru-puja. The children are the first to offer obeisances to Srila Prabhupada. Vishnujana Maharaja begins singing. As the kirtan builds, he dances back and forth from the front to the rear of the large room. Paramahamsa Swami joins him playing drums together and dancing with the kids. One gurukula boy, Markendeya, is an expert musician, although only six years old, and he plays mridanga with the sannyasis. It's a hot, sweaty, ecstatic kirtan that Prabhupada is thoroughly enjoying as he plays along on his gong. At one point he becomes so joyful that he pulls flowers off his garland to throw at the devotees. At the end of the prema dhvani prayers Srila Prabhupada adds, "All glories to the dancing devotees!" Very sweet! Sitting on a burgundy vyasasana, Srila Prabhupada invites the women and children to come and sit in front of him for his talk.

Since Dallas is the site of ISKCON's International Gurukula, it's mainly a children's place and the men sit behind the women and children at the rear of the temple. Every devotee is overjoyed by the association of the pure devotee. Gopal Acharya had anticipated seeing Prabhupada in a year or more, but within two weeks Krishna has fulfilled his desire! He has even shaved up for the occasion. Unfortunately, he can hardly understand a word Prabhupada speaks because of the Bengali accent. Therefore, he focuses his attention on Prabhupada's eyes, which are always moving. He remembers reading in Nectar of Devotion that Radharani's eyes are always moving. So he concludes that Prabhupada's eyes must be just like Radharani's eyes.

Gopal Acharya: A couple of times Prabhupada made pretty strong eye contact with me and it just sent shivers down my spine. I was so impressed with him from that class although I had no idea what he was talking about. But at that point I was convinced he was Krishna's representative.

Later that day, Prabhupada has a talk with the teachers. Then he meets with several GBCs and sannyasis who have come to Dallas. The Radha-Damodara brahmacaris chant japa in the courtyard below the window where Prabhupada is staying, thinking it would be nice for Prabhupada to hear devotees chanting Hare Krishna if he opens the window. As they look up at the lights in Prabhupada's room, all of a sudden a side window opens. Vishnujana Maharaja sticks his head out and sees Marino. "Bhakta Marino, just the one I wanted to see. Go into the freezer and get me the blueberry ice cream we just offered Radha-Damodara and bring it up here." There's a small refrigerator on the bus with a freezer compartment. Marino is about to leave when he overhears Vishnujana say, "Yeah, there's a real nice boy I'd like you to meet. His name is Bhakta Marino. I think he's doing really good. I'd like you to meet him."

Marino: I was thinking, Oh my God, Maharaja wants to introduce me to Prabhupada. Jumping Jehosaphat, this is great! So I was running to the bus. I polished up the best silverware, took the ice cream and scooped it out super nice to make a beautiful soda-parlor mound in a fancy glass. I covered it and ran out of the bus. There were devotees lined from the front door up to Prabhupada's quarters as I came up the steps. I was constantly saying, "Excuse me. Excuse me, Maha for Srila Prabhupada. Mahaprasada for Srila Prabhupada." Devotees were very obliging. It was like the parting of the Red Sea. I felt like Moses for a second.

When Marino gets to Srila Prabhupada's room a devotee is standing guard at his door wearing a gun on his hip. "What's that?" he demands. "It's Maha blueberry ice cream for Srila Prabhupada, Prabhu." Seeing the gun, Marino figures he better call him Prabhu right away. "I have to ask. Can you please uncover it?" "It's for Srila Prabhupada." Marino is offended that the guard wants to see it first. Observing Marino's expression, the guard explains himself. "Look, there are crazy people out there. And sometimes they make threats against Prabhupada. We received one such threat, so I have to check." Marino shows him the ice cream and is allowed to pass. "Okay, you can go." Opening the door, Marino sees Prabhupada sitting with Jayatirtha, Ramesvara, and Jagadish; the so-called big guns of ISKCON. Prabhupada looks up at Marino. "Oh? What is this?" After offering obeisances, Marino explains, "It's Maha blueberry ice cream from Radha-Damodara, Srila Prabhupada. Would you like some?" "Accha!" Prabhupada pats his desk, "You can put that right here." "Thank you, Srila Prabhupada." Marino places the fancy glass on the desk and lifts up the cover. He presents the spoon to Prabhupada and offers obeisances. After leaving the room Marino returns to the bus and starts chanting japa. He is completely stunned by his meeting with Prabhupada. Suddenly, Vishnujana Swami walks in. "Marino, what happened to you?" "What??" Marino is now in a complete fog. "I asked for the blueberry ice cream. Paramhamsa Maharaja was in the room with me and I wanted to introduce you. He's Prabhupada's traveling secretary, and you never showed up. That's embarrassing for me, you know. He's a very dear godbrother and friend of mine." "Maharaja, weren't you in the room with Prabhupada?" "You brought the ice cream to Prabhupada?" A look of indignation comes over Maharaja's face. "Bhakta Bozo, I wanted that ice cream for Paramahamsa Maharaja. Now you made me look like a fool. Just for that, tomorrow morning when Prabhupada goes out for his morning walk, you are not going on it." Marino is in tears by this time. "Maharaja, what are you doing? You can't do this to me? It was a mistake. It was an accident." Vishnujana bursts out in laughter. "A firm lesson you should learn with the Lord's pure devotee, there are no accidents." Maharaja can feign anger really well. "You met Prabhupada because you were supposed to meet Prabhupada. Somehow or other, things were arranged that way. I don't feel bad that you gave it to Prabhupada, actually that's parampara. And no uninitiated devotees go on the morning walks anyway." Maharaja smoothes things over after play-acting the anger. He's actually happy it happened the way it did and that Prabhupada got Radha-Damodara's ice-cream prasadam. By that misunderstanding, Marino got the mercy to personally serve prasadam to Srila Prabhupada.

Overnight there is an ice storm. It never snows in Dallas, but during the winter if it rains at night then it freezes by morning. Ice is everywhere and tree limbs begin snapping, because of the weight of the ice. Even whole trees can be uprooted by the heavy weight of ice. Water pipes also freeze and it can paralyze the city. Nevertheless, Srila Prabhupada goes out for his morning walk. It was also very cold when Prabhupada went for his walks in Atlanta a few days back. Vishnujana loves dressing Radha-Damodara, but if it comes to a morning walk, he will take the walk with Prabhupada over dressing the Deities. So, after mangala-arati Maharaja says, "Sridhara, you dress Radha-Damodara today." "Well, then, who's going to cook?" Normally Vishnujana Swami dresses Radha-Damodara and Sridhara cooks for Them. But since Vishnujana is going on the morning walk with Prabhupada some adjustments will have to be made. "Vrikasanga can cook today."

Sridhara: Prabhupada loved a clean kitchen and I was so proud that I kept the kitchen immaculate. I was thinking, Oh, God. Vrikasanga is going to mess that kitchen up, and then Prabhupada will ask who's in charge of this kitchen, and I'll be in charge of the kitchen and I'm going to cop it. So that was my dilemma.

In spite of his fears, Sridhara accepts Maharaja's decision and dresses the Deities. Ramacharya brings flowers from wherever he manages to locate flowers, and Vrikasanga goes into the kitchen to cook. A car is waiting to take Prabhupada to a nearby golf course for his walk. As Prabhupada and his group of devotees walk through the temple parking lot, Vishnujana notices Yogesh Chandra's orange and white van. The fuel cap was recently lost and Yogesh has temporarily stuffed a rag in the opening. Prabhupada detects the rag and comments, "Oh, a Molotov cocktail?" He can sense danger with a vehicle minus the fuel cap. Vishnujana realizes that they must buy a new one immediately.

At the golf course the grass is too icy to walk on, so Prabhupada decides to take his walk around the parking lot. He explains how the trees have to suffer so much because they can't move. They can't go inside when it's cold, or protect themselves from ice storms. He comments that the living entities who have to stand as trees were nudies in their last life. Prabhupada also condemns the useless waste of time playing golf. Out of ignorance modern man doesn't know there is another life, spiritual life, so he spends his time pointlessly trying to put a ball in a hole.

Instead of a Bhagavatam class, today Prabhupada speaks on Chaitanya-charitamrita. Then the brahmacaris get ready for breakfast. But Vishnujana says that nobody should eat anything, because Prabhupada will come for darshan of Radha-Damodara. "It's not proper for us to eat until after we offer prasadam to Prabhupada, so just wait." There is no vyasasana on the bus, so Maharaja instructs them to make one for Prabhupada. They take several BTG boxes, stack them up against the wall, and cover them with a colorful cloth. Finally, they put some pillows down and wait for Prabhupada's arrival.

The brahmacaris keep looking up at Prabhupada's window as time slowly passes. They wait and wait and wait, becoming more and more hungry. When it's time for Radha-Damodara's raja-bhoga arati, Prabhupada still hasn't come. Vrikasanga blows the conch and begins offering the incense. Vishnujana Maharaja has made a garland of light green tulasi leaves that are strung out to Damodara's flute. When Vrikasanga turns around to offer the incense back to the audience, Prabhupada is standing there. He has just walked onto the bus. Immediately, the arati is stopped to acknowledge the presence of the spiritual master with obeisances.

When arati resumes, Srila Prabhupada stands in front of Radha-Damodara and talks to Them. Some devotees can see his mouth moving and can hear his voice. It appears that Prabhupada is praying to Sri-Sri Radha-Damodara. After arati he turns around and comments, "This is super excellent." Hearing this, Sridhara is quite pleased with himself because he has dressed the Deities. Then Prabhupada asks, "So what is in the back?" Srutakirti quickly speaks up. "The kitchen is in the back, Srila Prabhupada. Do you want to see it?" As Prabhupada turns towards the back, Sridhara's heart drops. He knows that Vrikasanga has been cooking and the kitchen is probably no longer neat and clean. But Prabhupada turns around and says, "I have seen before."

Instead, he takes his seat on the makeshift vyasasana. Vishnujana introduces the men one by one. A discussion ensues about having a Radha-Damodara party in India. Prabhupada advises Vishnujana Maharaja that bullock carts would work better there than buses, because fuel and parts are expensive and sometimes hard to get. His idea is an exchange program between the bullock carts in India and the buses in America. In this way, if someone gets a little 'burned-out' he can go to India to get recharged and then come back. Prabhupada speaks about this for quite some time.

Gadadhar: I was sitting on one side and Srila Prabhupada sat right across from me. He was so happy and so proud. Prabhupada looked into my eyes, and I kind of fell into the depth of his black pupils. I went right in and I was swimming in there. Prabhupada looked at me with great concern and with great love.

During that little exchange, he was talking about the bullock carts. He said, "In India all you need is the bullock. You travel from village to village. Here we have your bus." Prabhupada wants the Radha-Damodara party paradigm in India traveling by bullock cart instead of by bus. This did come to pass and became known as Padayatra. Suddenly, a temple pujari enters the bus with a silver platter of Radha-Kalachandji's maha-prasadam for Srila Prabhupada. The hungry Radha-Damodara brahmacaris, who are now completely famished, can't take their eyes off the tray filled with assorted Indian delicacies: savories, fried vegetables, milk sweets, and tropical fruits. They are certain that if Prabhupada is as hungry as they are, he'll probably eat the whole thing. Srila Prabhupada looks at the prasadam as if studying it. Then he picks up one small slice of papaya and pops it into his mouth. He waves the plate away with his hand, "A yogi doesn't need to eat too much." The brahmacaris are impressed by Prabhupada's detachment and take it as an instruction on sense control.

The bus is now also packed with Gurukula kids. Bhadrasena is only two years young but he has come with the older kids, because it's the most fun thing being on Radha-Damodara's bus with Srila Prabhupada. In anxiety, Bhadrasena's mother, Shasti, has come looking for him and she now stands in the driver's area at the front of the bus gazing at her spiritual master. Suddenly, the boy calls out, "Prabhupada." "Oh, who is that?" Prabhupada asks. Srutakirti answers. "That is Mohanananda's son, Srila Prabhupada." "Mohanananda? Oh, Mohanananda! Where is that rascal?" The words seem to come from the core of his heart. It obviously means a lot to Prabhupada that his disciple has left Krishna consciousness. When he sees Shasti mataji, he motions her to come forward. The brahmacaris consider this unusual, because it has become taboo for women to be on the bus. But Prabhupada has called her, so Shasti comes forward holding Bhadrasena in her arms. "Have you gone out to find him? Tell him he should come back. He's an intelligent boy." As Prabhupada asks about her husband, everyone is affected by his mood. They can see tears in his eyes as he speaks. "It is like when I cut my finger, the pain is felt in the mind as well. Similarly, when my disciple has some difficulty, I feel the pain also." Then Prabhupada looks lovingly at the baby in mother Shasti's arms. "Now you become a pure devotee and rescue your father." He motions for the maha plate to be brought to the child, who stares at the platter for a long time as Prabhupada watches him. Finally, he reaches over his mother's arms and takes a strawberry from out of all the creamy milk sweets. Prabhupada smiles and comments, "Yes, children like red." The rest of the maha is distributed to the assembled devotees.

The Radha-Damodara pujaris have prepared a foot bathing ceremony and are ready to proceed. Prabhupada sits beside Radha-Damodara with his lotus feet on a little doily. One foot at a time is carefully washed. After this ritual, he leaves the bus. There is chaos inside as everyone tries to get the remnants? the doily and the caranamrita water.

Janardan: The first time I saw Srila Prabhupada was in Brooklyn where there were so many people. Here it seemed a lot more accessible and intimate. Prabhupada spoke nicely of the party and I was feeling that this is my link. Srila Prabhupada was sitting by the Deities and I was there beside him. He pushed the importance of the party and praised us. Even though there was a lot of hardship, the connection was there between this party and Srila Prabhupada and me. Any of the inequities, or difficulties, or fears, or doubts that I may have had, were washed away. This was Prabhupada's baby and I felt very connected with the whole mood of a Vaishnava preacher in the line of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

When Prabhupada is ready to leave Dallas, the question of a servant comes up again. He is of the opinion that Nanda Kumar, although qualified, is a little whimsical. He prefers Srutakirti to continue his duties. Hearing that His Divine Grace prefers him to remain as his personal servant, Srutakirti is overjoyed in his heart and agrees to continue traveling with his spiritual master.

Meanwhile back in Atlanta, Tamal Krishna is in anxiety waiting for news of the stolen truck. But a phone call from Ramesvara at the Los Angeles BBT puts a smile on Goswami's face. For selling ninety thousand Back to Godhead magazines, the Radha-Damodara party has captured first place in the Small Books category of the February BBT Newsletter. Tripurari's party is in first place in the coveted Big Books category. Tamal Krishna is so elated by this news that the disaster of the missing truck is momentarily forgotten. In ecstasy, he telephones Vishnujana in Dallas. He wants him to inform Prabhupada of the astonishing report. Radha-Damodara's small group of festival entertainers has now been transformed into the leading BTG distribution force in the world by Goswami's management expertise. Needless to say, it was Yogesh Chandra's commitment to Prabhupada's order to distribute books that was the original guiding principle. Vishnujana Swami always had several book distribution parties under Suhotra as the Radha-Damodara party sankirtan leader, but never at the present level of intensity. When Goswami returns to his room he finds another source of joy, a note stating that the missing truck has been found and Ray is in police custody. Immediately, he sends Dhristadyumna out to collect the truck and return with the books and BTGs. Tamal quickly books a flight to Dallas. As Shakespeare put it, "All's well that ends well." But on the same day that Goswami takes his flight into Dallas, Prabhupada takes a flight out of Dallas to New York.