I offer my humble obeisances to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
I remember seeing Śrīla Prabhupāda for the first time at the Paris temple in 1973. I had already
been second initiated. He was sitting on the vyāsāsana, chanting the Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava
prayer, and I was sitting right in front of him. The temple room was packed with devotees and
guests. The chanting became so intense that I felt a spontaneous urge to stand up and raise my
arms. There was a picture of Lord Kṛṣṇa on the wall, and it seemed to come alive. When I turned
around, I noticed groups of devotees staring at different pictures on the walls, and it appeared
they were having a similar experience. We strongly felt that Śrīla Prabhupāda was not alone; he
was accompanied by Lord Kṛṣṇa. He brought the spiritual world into our temporary world of
material reality.
We accompanied Śrīla Prabhupāda every day on his morning walks. I brought my notebook
and pen with me to capture every word he spoke. I wanted to write the words down exactly as he
said them, as I did not trust my memory. The way he articulated the philosophy was so perfect
that I wanted to preserve it for later study and memorization, without any alteration. The practi-
cal examples he gave, along with his anecdotes and humor, strengthened our faith in Kṛṣṇa con-
sciousness. He was the perfect example of a spiritual master who opens the eyes of his disciples
with the torchlight of transcendental knowledge.
These morning walks, which I later experienced in Germany, Sweden, and other countries,
were a great source of inspiration. The close association with Śrīla Prabhupāda – hearing from
him, seeing him, asking him questions – was priceless. On one of those morning walks he pointed
with his cane to a rain cloud and mentioned that it contained tons of water. Somehow, the water
was preserved in the cloud. A small bird, which weighs almost nothing compared to the water in
the cloud, will fall to the ground instantly when it stops flying. And when the water falls from the
cloud, it does so as small drops of rain or, in the wintertime, as snowflakes. “This is Kṛṣṇa,” Śrīla
Prabhupāda said, his eyes wide open. He filled our hearts with joy and hope, making us feel that
one day, we might be able to be with His Divine Grace in the spiritual world, assisting him in his
eternal service to Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s servant,
Bhaktivaibhava Swami