First overwhelming experience with Prabhupada

Hridayananda Goswami: Srila Prabhupada brought me to Krishna consciousness in 1969. I had seen the devotees on the street in Berkeley, and I'd seen the Hare Krishna festival in the Berkeley Hills. I'd given donations, bought magazines, taken prasadam, and so on, but it was when I heard Prabhupada give a lecture in the International House at the University of California at Berkeley that I really became fixed on Krishna consciousness.

For a Sociology/Religion class I had to go and observe different religious performances and ceremonies. I had gone to see a so-called swami who seemed like he wasn't saying anything practical or substantial but only telling people how to relax. Just as Prabhupada said that he was reluctant to see his Spiritual Master because he had seen so many so-called sadhus, so in a little way there is some similarity.

As soon as Prabhupada entered the auditorium, I could see that this person was very different - His gravity, His power, His demeanor. He came in practically like a military commander, not in the sense of a violent person but in the sense of His authority. I could see that here was a person who was filled with authority and yet serene at the same time. The program started, the devotees began to chant, and Prabhupada got off the vyasasana and began dancing and jumping in ecstasy. To see this holy person, so filled with authority, over 70 years old, dancing in ecstasy, was overwhelming.