I will do Arati
On Rama-Navami day, the appearance of Lord Ramachandra, many government officials are present for the Grand Opening ceremony. Prabhupada has personally invited the governor of the state of Uttar Pradesh to be Guest of Honor. It's important to establish the credibility of his ISKCON mission and the Krishna-Balarama Mandir. He also arranges for local Brahmins to perform the Deity installation ceremony. He explains privately that otherwise the local people won't consider the Deities to be installed. "If these Brahmins don't do the installation ceremony then the locals won't accept us as a bona fide temple. Actually we can just chant Hare Krishna and Krishna will come. The Deities will be installed. But, so that everybody here in Vrindavan will come to this temple, this is what we want to do." He wants 24-hour kirtan to carry on continuously acknowledging that kirtan is the actual installation of the Deities. "The real installation is the kirtan that's going on. That's the real installation. But we will perform this installation function so the local people won't make offense and say that the Deities are not really installed." To follow the formal convention, Prabhupada has local Brahmins perform the yajnas. The temple is completely packed with people who are always jostling one another trying to get a better view.
Vishnujana Swami is among the selected devotees to lead kirtan during the ceremonies prior to the fire yajna. Prabhupada sits with the Brahmins throughout the yajna and participates in some of the elaborate rituals. During the abhisheka he pours various exotic substances upon the Deities. After the Deities are taken to the altar, the kirtan continues on even more blisssfully. At last, the conch blows three times to signal that the first arati in the temple is about to begin. Everybody jockeys for a better viewing position. This causes a commotion and even some trepidation for the western devotees.
When the curtains finally open, Srila Prabhupada stands before Krishna-Balarama ready to offer the arati. It's a complete surprise, because nobody has been informed that Prabhupada would be offering arati. The devotees are filled with ananda seeing His Divine Grace offering the sacraments to Sri-Sri Krishna-Balarama. This is his great moment of triumph and glory. Some devotees have tears in their eyes realizing that this is the fulfillment of Prabhupada's dream to serve his Guru Maharaja when he lived as a lone sadhu in Vrindavan ten years earlier. Now he has returned and built this magnificent temple. As the arati comes to an end, Prabhupada turns to face the crowd with an oceanic smile full of joy. He has conquered the earth planet and taken Krishna consciousness around the world and back! He has accomplished the impossible mission, the fulfillment of Lord Chaitanya's prophecy. In his ensuing address, Prabhupada exhibits extreme humility. The speech is in Hindi, so his focus is on the local guests. He begs their forgiveness for any offenses he may have committed either knowingly or unknowingly. He explains that this is an international temple, so people from all over the world can come to worship and take shelter of Sri-Sri Krishna-Balarama. Everyone applauds vigorously indicating their recognition of his great achievement.
There is always sumptuous prasadam during the festival and especially after the installation ceremony. Unknown to the local residents, most of the cooks are Prabhupada's western followers. There are many peacocks in the Raman-reti area and some of the American devotees who are making chapatis like to throw them little pieces of chapati dough.
Apurva: I was one of the head cooks for the Vrindavan opening. Prabhupada wanted us to cook an incredible menu and do seven offerings a day. The lunch offering was 25 preparations. We did a lot of cooking so it was intense. Because of a narrow-minded smarta-brahmana mentality, some of the local people would not have honored the prasadam if they knew it was cooked by westerners. There are even a few grumbles that Swamiji should not have worn a kurta while performing arati on the altar. But Srila Prabhupada does not care for this kanistha mentality. It's his day and he is making his own statement.
With the sun setting on the western horizon, sandhya-arati is fast approaching. This will be the first arati performed by Prabhupada's western disciples in the Krishna- Balarama Mandir. Tripurari Swami has just accepted sannyasa from Prabhupada and is determined that he and his men will do the first sandhya-arati. He has already made the arrangements to this service first. Pradyumna is also on the altar to set up everything, because he knows all the Vedic procedures and mantras. Tripurari and his men, Sura and Vaiseshika, are lined up in the pujari room ready to perform their service.
Suddenly a GBC man, Bhagavan Das, comes in with two other senior men and announces, "Okay, I'm going to do the arati." Tripurari stands his ground. He replies politely but firmly, "Sorry, but we were here first." Although Tripurari Maharaja is a brand new sannyasi, he is already a celebrity. Prabhupada had written previously that Tripurari was "the incarnation of book distribution" and thus "he was better than any sannyasi." As a result, Tripurari is already beyond celebrity. Moreover, whenever he makes up his mind about something he is totally dedicated and will never back down. Vaiseshika, however, takes a humble position. "Well, I'll go. He can do it if he wants." Vaiseshika hasn't done many aratis in the past and he's actually petrified to do this arati in Sri Vrindavan dhama. The standard he's familiar with in Chicago is definitely not arcana-padati. There is just a list of ten things to be done and the pujaris simply wave the articles in front of the Deities. But Tripurari is firm. "No. You guys are here. We were here first. We have already arranged it. We're doing the first arati." Pradyumna is ready to take rest, because he has been without sleep for 48 hours, but he offers this sage advice before leaving. "Listen you guys. You better do a good job, because there are pandits from all over Vrindavan here to watch you do the first arati. And not only that, Prabhupada will be here too with the sannyasis and GBCs." Hearing this Vaiseshika begins to tremble. He begs Tripurari Maharaja to let him leave. But Tripurari won't back down, "Just get out there and do it."
Within minutes the American Vaishnavas, with conches in hand, come in front of the curtains. Three long blasts signal the beginning of sandhya-arati. Immediately thereafter, the sound of Yamuna singing, "Govindam adi purusam" fills the temple room and the curtains open. The deity room has just been finished and there is a ceiling fan over Gaura-Nitai's altar where Sura is standing. That fan has been going full blast, but nobody could find a switch to turn it off. So now it will be permanently on for the arati. This makes lighting the ghee lamps a tremendous challenge for Sura, who stands before Sri-Sri Gaura-Nitai. Every time he lights the ghee wicks the fan just goes 'whoosh' and extinguishes the flame in a big puff of smoke.
On Radha-Shyamsundara's altar, seeing the variety of different ghee lamps with the long wicks, Vaiseshika is bewildered. He is used to the small junior set in Chicago and has never seen such an opulent array of paraphernalia. This does not feel familiar to him. He's not even sure where to stand, because in Chicago the pujari stands behind a pillar and is not even seen. Following the lead of Tripurari, however, he lights his lamp and gets ready to begin his offering. Sura is still trying to figure out how to light his ghee lamp, as the other pujaris begin their offering. He finally uses his body as a shield from the fan and gets everything lit. In the meantime the entire audience is following the lead of Srila Prabhupada as he offers his obeisances in front of Gaura-Nitai's altar, then Krishna-Balarama's altar, and then Radha-Shyamasundar's altar where Vaiseshika is standing.
Vaiseshika: There was Srila Prabhupada, all the GBCs and sannyasis, and the devotees, all standing behind me and I was just totally blowing it. Somebody actually had to come and push me out further, "Stand out here." I always thought you were supposed to stand back further. When I threw the water, I hit Tamal Krishna Goswami right in the face and I could see him wiping his glasses off. It went from bad to worse. I was fumbling through and by the time the others were finishing one thing, I was just getting it together. All I could think was, Prabhupada is going to take my brahmana initiation away. Sura was messing up too, but nobody was watching him, because Prabhupada was down at my altar. It was like a comedy of errors, and I was mortified.
Afterwards, back in the pujari room, Vaiseshika is as white as a sheet. "Tripurari Maharaja, I blew it." "Well, don't worry, we all did." "Yeah, but they were watching me!" Later that evening in his room, Prabhupada asks Jayatirtha, "Who were the devotees doing arati?" "Those were Tripurari Maharaja's men, Srila Prabhupada. They don't know very much about puja, they just distribute your books." Prabhupada simply tips his head and comments, "Oh. That is all right."
Now that Sri-Sri Krishna-Balarama have manifested Their eternal forms on the altar of the newly completed ISKCON Krishna-Balarama Mandir, there will be an elaborate procession and parade through the streets of Vrindavan. The parade begins at 4:30 the next afternoon. To celebrate the occasion, hundreds of devotees from all corners of the earth assemble to perform ecstatic kirtan along with a shenai band, a circle of drummers, and a special ratha with vijaya murtis of Radha and Krishna. Paramahamsa Swami leads the kirtan from the temple to the center of Vrindavan.
Beautifully decorated elephants with 3 devotees riding on the back of each one, gives the parade a feeling of ancient India. Well-decorated horses, brass bands, various rathas, attractively dressed vrajavasis, and people of all descriptions proceed together creating a festival for the spiritual senses. The supreme commander is our beloved Guru Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada, who rides a victory chariot, mercifully bestowing his transcendental glance upon all who are fortunate enough to be present. A gorgeous parasol is help high over Prabhupada's head shielding him from the hot sun.
As the parade moves along Chatikara Road [Later re-named Bhaktivedanta Marg] from Raman Reti to Vrindavan town center, Prabhupada appears like the full moon surrounded by a thousand stars. Suddenly, Prabhupada decides to walk in the company of his many admirers and gracefully floats to the ground. Immediately, surging crowds threaten to crush him in their eagerness to touch his lotus feet. The devotees quickly link arms together to form long human barricades, one on either side of their spiritual master. The energy created by the surging crowd is tumultuous, like a hurricane, but at the center of the commotion, Prabhupada is completely peaceful. Such a serene atmosphere emanates from Prabhupada that the chaos of Kali-yuga vanishes. Many vrajavasis accompany His Divine Grace on the parade route along with dozens of cows. As he walks at the head of the procession along with his disciples who carry flags and festoons, Prabhupada is obviously very pleased. He is beaming along the entire walk through the town of Vrindavan and everyone relishes basking in the warm, effulgent rays of his personal presence.
Murti Das: We walked from Raman Reti all the way into Loi Bazar, and then down to the Rangaji Temple, the big Vishnu temple on the eastern side of town. It was an amazing parade with several elephants and bands, the shenai band in the front of the parade and the drum band at the rear. They were really amazing drummers, with sticks. There was constant kirtan going on with mridanga drums and all the devotees singing. There were special kerosene lamps carried by locals that were lit as soon as the sun vanished beyond the horizon. The entire celebration is a huge success. The Krishna-Balarama Mandir is the first temple built by ISKCON and establishes Prabhupada as a genuine acharya in the eyes of Vrindavan's brahminical class.
The next morning, after returning from a walk, Prabhupada notices a pile of broken pots in a corner of the temple property. Pointing with his cane he challenges, "What is that?" Someone answers, "These are extra ingredients that were not needed for the Grand Opening." Various leaders point to one another to avoid taking the guilt. Suddenly, Prabhupada interrupts them with a thunderous voice, "You are all just like parrots! Every morning you sing, srngara-tan-mandira-marjanadau: 'the spiritual master is always engaged along with his disciples in cleansing the temple.' And yet you can't even see that this is also the temple." Prabhupada's firm instruction always has a profound effect on everyone's consciousness. He expects his resident disciples to live exemplary lives, so he carefully supervises everyone's devotional practice. His opinion is that devotees who can't come to the highest standard of Krishna conscious behavior have no business living in the holy dhama. After a long silence Akshayananda Swami tries to break the ice. "Srila Prabhupada?" "Yes." "We all seem to be so foolish and incompetent. How can we help you push on when you are the only one who can always see everything?" Raising his cane, Prabhupada points to his disciples. "Yes. Therefore you must follow your Guru Maharaja."
As everyone prepares to return home, the news comes that everyone should gather for a group photo. Prabhupada gathers with his disciples for the historic photo to commemorate the grand event. Before everyone leaves Vrindavan for their home temples, Prabhupada requests every temple to donate at least one man to help maintain the new Krishna-Balarama Mandir and to assist him with his other projects in India.
Apurva: After the temple opening in Vrindavan, every temple had to leave a devotee in India, so Tripurari left me with some money and had me purchase deities for him, Chota Gaura- Nitai. I stayed there for three months. Before I joined Tripurari, I was having some difficulty with my rounds, being a cook. But he was so strict with his sadhana. After joining his program, he impressed upon me that before you do anything else, get your 16 rounds done and attend the whole morning program. He got me into that mood of being good with the sadhana. If someone is having trouble, you can usually track it back to a problem in sadhana.
In New Delhi, Vishnujana and Tamal Krishna purchase canopies and siding cloth made from colorful shamiana tent material for Radha-Damodara's pandal set up. They also buy tambouras and harmoniums, so each festival party will be fully equipped. By the time everyone is ready to leave India, Keshava Bharati is still really drained. But Tamal Krishna Maharaja convinces Vishnujana Swami that in spite of everything, it's okay to bring him on the party. Therefore, with great resolve Keshava Bharati arranges for numerous returning devotees to help him carry 5 tambouras, 6 mridangas, 25 sets of kartals, 10 large whompers, 100 japa malas, 150 dhotis and vests, 50 kilos of tilak, huge rolls of tent material, and 5 sets of 18-inch solid brass Gaura-Nitai Deities, all as "carry-on" luggage aboard the 747 returning to America.
Keshava Bharati: We had 5 sets of everything to equip 5 traveling festival buses. It was a huge amount of stuff and as usual, Tamal Krishna didn't want to spend any money. I went to all the devotees who were first-timers in India, and a lot of them were sick or weak. I asked Govardhan to make a list and get everybody to take all those things along with all the other things they were taking. Finally, I got all the gear on the plane and by then I was ready to leave my body. I crawled underneath a row of seats, and spent the whole flight on the floor. When we got to New York, I had to gather the paraphernalia to make sure we weren't missing a single thing. But I was so sick at that point that I went to LA with Tamal Krishna and spent a couple of weeks recuperating my health.