Another day ended after unproductive meetings with foundation officers, who could not see any value in helping the Swami to teach Bhagavad Gita in America. He sat on a park bench and chanted on his beads. A man sat down next to him – “I’m a subway conductor,” the man said. “What is your situation,” he asked. Sensing the man’s concern, the Swami replied, “I am not a poor man. There are temples and books—they are existing.” “Do you know anyone here in New York?” the conductor asked. The Swami lifted his bead bag slightly and said, “I am never alone.” (Swami in the strange land. Joshua M. Greene)
Srila Prabhupada is teaching us in his books to always have faith in Krishna and the spiritual Master. Krishna is sitting in our heart and from within is directing the sincere soul to come closer to Him, and He sends the spiritual master to guide and teach the disciple how to realise Him. Although a foreign concept to most people, this is the authorised process followed for thousands of years, going back to the time when Krishna was personally present on the planet earth.
This week I had an amazing experience that gave me a glimpse of what it means to depend on Krishna and experience His ever-loving affection for us.
Being a person in charge of the deity service schedule, I’m in constant anxiety about the service to the presiding Deities, Radha Gokulananda.
Will the cooks turn up for service? Pujari is late for the arati! The devotee carrying out the transfer service didn’t turn up for service! Keys for the pujari room are missing. This is just a sample of the many situations that I face each day.
This week’s challenge was that two cooks who make milk sweets for the Deities became ill, and were not available for service. Both got sick on the same day, and on top of that the third cook had to go to hospital and was also not available. This is the worst possible scenario for a person trying to organise the service schedule.
I didn’t know what to do and how to approach this situation. There was nobody to replace these cooks who knew how to make those milk sweets. Whilst doing morning service my mind was screaming in anxiety. After completing service on the altar, I went to the kitchen to check if the breakfast cooks had come for their service. Two ladies who attended the class I gave a few weeks ago were in the kitchen and had already started their service. One of them asked me if I can give more classes on the topic of Krishna magic, the same topic I spoke about last time. I explained my situation – that I was looking for a person who could make sweets for Radha Gokulananda.
“I prefer not to give classes, but I’m in desperate need of Krishna magic at this moment,” I said.
After saying this, I opened the door of the deity kitchen to return to the altar, and in front of the door was a tall devotee lady who overheard our discussion in the deity kitchen and said, “I can make milk sweets with my closed eyes, do you need help?” I pinched myself to ensure I wasn’t dreaming. I turned to the two ladies in the kitchen and said, “you asked me to speak about Krishna magic, but I think you just got something even better than that, Krishna magic live!” Their jaws dropped and we could not believe what had just happened.
The tall lady stayed in the temple some 5-6 years ago and learned how to make sweets. After she left the temple, I didn’t see her all these years, and now she appeared from nowhere and agreed to make the sweets.
A few hours later she was in the kitchen happily cooking. It so happened that she could only make sweets for that one day, the same day that I could not find anybody else to cover the service.
The next day in the morning when I took a piece of the prasadam sweets that she had cooked, I remembered Srila Prabhupada’s words: “I am never alone.”
Srila Prabhupada was able to open so many temples and make so many devotees because he had faith that Krishna would help; he knew that he was not alone. Krishna and the spiritual master are always there to help a sincere devotee.
If we always try to sincerely serve Krishna without any motive, then we are eligible to experience Krishna magic.
Ananta Gopal das
13.3.2022
Bhakti Wisdom 