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 A few days ago Janmastami prabhu, the principle of our Mayapur Institute for Higher Education and Training (MIHET) sent me this painting:
along with this question:
“Do you know the pastime that is represented by the attached plate? Any references? I would like to use it in my NOI course.”
My reply:
 Yes, this is the occasion in the early 1960s when Srila Prabhupada was personally instructed not only by Srila Rupa Goswami but also by Srila Sanatana and Jiva Goswamis about his writing and his desire to preach Krsna consciousness in the west. This painting is not strictly accurate as you will see.
I include this incident in my own seminar series “Srila Prabhupada The Living Bhagavatam” about Writing [SPLB–see the audio section] The incidence is mentioned in TD Vol 3, quoted portions of which appear in italics here:
On July 26, 1976 Srila Prabhupada was in England, staying for a few days at Bhaktivedanta Manor, the beautiful estate donated to ISKCON by George Harrison. George had just visited Srila Prabhupada that afternoon and in the evening Bhagavan prabhu, the GBC for Southern Europe and Prthu Putra Swami arrived. They presented Srila Prabhupada with the first French edition of Srimad Bhagavatam Canto One, Part One.
September 5 2008Â
 Prabhupada almost always traveled with a secretary and a personal servant.  Devotees are naturally fascinated by what went on in the privacy of Srila Prabhupada’s rooms and how these devotees carried out their services.
 On 17-May-08 I got this question from Ilya Zaharov in Russia:
“I would like to ask about Shrila Prabhupada’s personal servants and secretaries: what exactly was their service and functions? How did they serve Shrila Prabhupada?
Answer:Â Here are five of us in this photo taken on June 11, 1976 on Prabhupada’s arrival at the airport in Detroit:
             
On the left is former servant/secretary Satsvarupa Das Goswami; with dark hair wearing white is longest-serving servant, Sruta Kirti prabhu; immediately behind Prabhupada and partly obscurred is personal security man Raksana prabhu; carrying danda is secretary Pusta Krsna Swami; and that’s me on the far right. Its a big topic and here’s a very brief overview:
The servant looked after all Srila Prabhupada’s personal needs, such as giving his massages, preparing his bathing, cooking, shaving his head, making sure everything was cleaned everyday, such as rooms and clothing, packing his suitcase, carrying his personal paraphernalia and being on hand whenever he rang his bell. The servant was always the one who was expected to answer the bell, not the secretary. The servant would also help Srila Prabhupada put his shoes and coat on and off (doesn’t sound much but it was one of the more blissful items!).Â
 When Srila Prabhupada traveled by airplane it was generally the servant who sat next to him. On international trips temples would supply first class tickets for Prabhupada and servant, and the rest of the party would travel ecomony.
Because I couldn’t cook, there was a host of devotees who did that service during the 16 months I traveled with Prabhupada. Harikesa prabhu was the cook when I first joined the party in November 1975, and again briefly when he came back on as secretary in July of 1976. In America and again in India in late 1976 it was mainly Palika dasi, but also Srutirupa dasi and sometimes Arundhati dasi. Nandarani dasi, Yamuna dasi, Parijata dasi, Kaushalya dasi, Kishori dasi all cooked, as did Bhanu das brahmacari and Sukadeva dasa. Â
Prabhupada described the function of the secretary in a nutshell to Hansaduta Swami in Hyderabad in December 1976 as ‘one who keeps the secrets’.
The secretary took care of all correspondence, travel arrangements, appointments for visitors and liasons with local temple presidents and GBCs. Secretaries were, by Prabhupada’s preference, nearly always GBC men and he had a system that any GBC could join him for a month on his travels, as a visiting GBC secretary.
 Although it was generally the secretary who took charge of recording the daily classes, walks and conversations, due to pressure of work Pusta Krsna Swami handed that service over to me in May 1976, a service I did till I left the party in March 1977. I loved doing that service because it kept me constantly hearing Srila Prabhupada throughout the day and gave me the perfect reason to always be in his company as we traveled:
Apart from servant and secretary there were occasions when additional members traveled. Sanskrit editor Pradyumna prabhu re-joined the party in May of 1976 and stayed on until Prabhupada’s disappearance in November 1977. Pradyumna was probably the longest serving personal assistant to travel with Prabhupada. Pradyumna’s wife Arundhati also joined the party in June 1976 to transcribe Srila Prabhupada’s nightly SB dictations. Their six-years-old son Aniruddha was our traveling mascot.
Other members included Raksana dasa, personal body guard while Prabhupada was in America, and Aksaya dasa, Prabhupada’s door guard in India from August 1976 – March 1977.
For a typical day in Srila Prabhupada’s schedule please read the entry from December 5 1975 in the first volume of Transcendental Diary.
Your humble servant,
Hari-sauri dasa
September 3 2008
Ever see the movie ‘The Return of the Fly’? Its about a scientist who invents a machine that disassembles the atomic structure of a body and reassembles it elsewhere. The problem comes when the inventor puts himself into the machine and fails to notice a fly entering the chamber with him. Out the other end comes a human body with a fly’s head
and a fly’s body with a human head
Whoops! Sorry Dubya, this is meant to be a non-political column….
Anyway, nowadays scientists are admitting that flies do actually have intelligence (no offence again to George Bush)Â
AÂ recent article on BBC news reported that scientists in America have discovered why flies are so difficult to swat:Â Read the rest of this entry »
PS I forgot to add how the scientists managed to discover the magnetic cows phenomena:
 From the original article:
“The scientists used Google Earth software to study the alignment of 8510 cows in 308 pastures around the world and 2974 red and roe deer in 241 locations in the Czech Republic.”
There’s just no privacy any more:
September 1 2008
Magnetic bovines
We all know that Mother Earth, Bhumi-devi, takes the form of a cow.
 
Here’s an interesting angle on the relationship of the cow with the earth.
In an article on bbc.co.uk on August 26 it was reported that cows align themselves with the earth’s north-south magnetic fields while grazing and resting:
“While birds, turtles and salmon are known to use magnetic guidance to migrate,” the article says, “cattle were not previously known to possess an inner compass.”
“Farmers had found that cattle stood perpendicular to the sun to heat up their bodies on cold, sunny days, or parallel to the wind during winter days with particularly strong winds, scientists said in a study,But the farmers’ wisdom and scientific studies had not provided answers to the common alignment of cattle during days with optimal weather, they said.“
Amazingly, this ubiquitous phenomenon does not seem to have been noticed by herdsmen, ranchers, or hunters,” said the study, co-written by Sabine Begall of Germany’s University of Duisburg-Essen. “Because wind and light conditions could be excluded as a common denominator determining the body axis orientation, magnetic alignment is the most parsimonious explanation,” said the study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.”
If we take it that the so-called ‘magnetic’ fields are actually the energy fields of mother Bhumi, its seems quite logical that cows would have this kind of natural alliance to their nurturer.
September 1 2008
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Your humble servant, Hari-sauri dasa
Beards and turbans
A question from Vamsi Vadana das:
August 29 2008
How come Prabhupada never wore a turban or kept a weeks face stubble, this was practiced by his Guru, on occasions? He tells on tape (5th Canto Dec 1976) the particular day of the month that devotee’s should shave when warning that “we are no longer being known as shaven headed.” In fact I remember Mukunda Maharaj at the manor (74) and he shaved his head every day. He must of got this from Prabhupada. In retrospect, recently in the world, the Shikh’s have been lumped in with the Pathan terrorists, both turbaned/bearded, and have been complaining. When you see Gaudiya Math they sometimes appear turbaned/bearded, and could easily be taken for muslims from society’s secular vision.
Answer:
Srila Prabhupada didn’t like beards. He liked his disciples to be clean and neat and to Srila Prabhupada, beards were scruffy and too much identified with the hippie generation and their attachments to long hair.
 
   
He also felt beards, or his disciples’ attachement to them, were another feature of maya. Hayagriva was our most famous bearded devotee but by Srila Prabhupada’s encouragement he gradually gave up his hairs and Srila Prabhupada was very pleased:
Letter to: Hayagriva — Vrindaban 29 August, 1967
“I am so glad to learn that you have sacrificed your long beard and hair. I have forgotten your mother’s address, or I would have informed her of your action, and I think she would have liked it very much. Anyway, you must have reduced your age considerably by sacrificing this “maya,” and now you must look like a very nice young gentleman.” Â
 
Science was one of Srila Prabhupada’s favorite topics. I can hardly recall a single day without His Divine Grace making some comment about the cheating of material scientists and their headlong rush into ignorance.
 
From Chanakya Pandit das, Russia:
April 12 2008 Q1:Almost every day I see in Prabhupada’s books not simply a critics, but a machine gun burst directed at the so-called “scientists”.
Answer:
Yes, Srila Prabhupada held the material scientists responsible for misleading the whole world by propagating false theories of evolution etc. as ‘truth.’ He wasn’t against science per se, he was against the atheistic use of it to attack religion and spirituality.
Q2:
I would like to understand where from Shrila Prabhupada received this information about people engaged in science. I get an impression that this information came from his disciples, and they in their turn received it from mass media and had no direct contact with the sources of information. Is that a correct statement? Can you please confirm or disagree?
Ans:
He got a lot of his information from his scientist disciples like Svarupa Damodar, Sadaputa, Madhava etc. These men were all holding Ph.D degrees in biology, maths etc. so they knew very well from the inside what the theories were and how they were being used.
Q3:
Is the basis of critics of science the fact that they have sex, eat meat, drink wine and gamble? Why is there so little critics of businessmen, enterpreneurs and shudras – they are as well engaged in the same activities, if not more (drugs, prostitutes, casinos, murders of competitors etc.).
Ans:
The scientists especially mislead the world in education about matter being supreme. Sudras, vaisyas etc. are simply using the world but the so-called scientists are taking the position of brahmanas, setting themselves up as the most knowledgable persons, when their habits are of low class persons and do not reflect the culture of real thinkers and purified, realized men. Therefore Srila Prabhupada singled them out above others. Otherwise, Srila Prabhupada was also very critical of the fallen condition of society in general.
I can give many quotes, but here’s one I particularly like because it sums up the role the scientists play in arresting the natural evelvation of the soul:
[TD 3] July 3, 1976 – Washington, D.C. – conversation with BI scientists:Â
Then he described how the soul qualifies itself for a particular type of body by its association with the modes of nature. If it comes to the human form it then has the chance, by association with goodness, to become a brahmana, and then a Vaisnava. “When you become Vaisnava, tad visnoh paramam padam sada pasyanti, you are hankering after Visnu. Then your life is success. And to keep them dull-brained, that is the greatest disservice. They have got the capacity to become a brahmana, and they are keeping him just like a dull-brained mountain and tree. That we want to stop this. It is suicidal, suicidal to the human society.
“The modern civilization, most harmful civilization. Denying the facility. One has got the capacity to become a brahmana, and they are denying the facility, to keep him to remain like hogs and dogs. Vedic civilization forbids: nayam deho deha-bhajam nrloke/ kastan kaman arhate vid-bhujam ye. If you have created a civilization like the hogs who are working day and night hard to find out some stool, and as soon as he eats some stool, his sex power is agitated, and he doesn’t care whether mother, sister or daughter. That is hog’s life, hog civilization, work day and night, and have sex. And next life become a dull-headed tree, a dull-headed stone, mountain, or dull-headed elephant. Who knows the laws of creation? How one becomes elephant? How one becomes hog? How one becomes a demigod? Do the scientists know it? Then? Where is the knowledge? The knowledge is, ‘Wait for million years, then you’ll see life.’ Just see.”
Â
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August 28 2008 – Mayapur
Sitala had to rush off to Vrndavana yesterday for an unspecified period to try and ensure that the Radhastami outfits get completed and sent off on time. Tough for her because her health isn’t that great and she just got back from two months on the road in Poland. Still I am sure the temples will appreciate her sacrifice if she gets the outfits to them on time.
My day was rather slow. I still feel a bit of exhaustion from the tour and settling into a routine hasn’t happened yet. I have to start serious writing to complete Vol. 6 of Transcendental Diary by Gaura Purnima so that’s an anxiety looming.
I cut my finger nails today. I can’t stand them long because they get in the way when I am typing.
   
Srila Prabhupada also didn’t like long nails. For one thing, they get dirty easily and thus become an entryway for disease into the body; he used to trim his with a steel implement with a single angled cutting edge. Seeing His Divine Grace cut his nails short, I also learned to follow suit. And for another good reason: Read the rest of this entry »
August 27 2008
Here’s question from Bhakti Vikash Swami: Did Srila Prabhupada ever encourage, discourage, or comment upon devotees taking internal grievances to the police or otherwise taking legal action?
Here’s one incidence that comes to mind:
[TD 4] — September 5, 1976 – Vrindavana The second letter came from Australia. It was a report suggesting that Madhudvisa may have misappropriated a large amount of money — $250,000 — when he left there. However, this has not been proven, nor is it even confirmed that the money is actually missing because the Australian temples are not in the habit of keeping accurate accounts. There has been no word from the GBC, Gurukrpa Swami, and, according to Harikesa Swami, no one knows where he is at the present moment.
Prabhupada is obviously concerned and disturbed by these different reports, but he is not saying very much. His comment after the letter from Australia was simply, “Money and women.”
When I asked if any prosecution should be filed against Madhudvisa if the suggestions prove correct, he said that the GBC should decide.
A little later Srila Prabhupada discussed the allegations against Madhudvisa with Harikesa Maharaja. Prabhupada told him that even if the reports are true, he should not be prosecuted. “After all,” he told him, “he is our own man.”
PS I should add here that it was definitely established that Madhudvisa prabhu did not take a cent from the Australian yatra when he left. They simply didn’t keep proper accounts in those days.
August 26 2008
A wierd day. I think my house staged a protest for being left unoccupied for several months. The phone was cut off, the water mysteriously stopped flowing in the bathroom, our eleven-year-old fridge which has performed flawlessly since the day we bought it suddenly gave up the ghost causing the fuse box to shut off the whole house’s power, and my wife’s computer, which is riddled with viruses, finally refused to boot up any more. I was informed that the Foreigners Registration Office in Krsnanagar had suddenly changed the period of registering from 15 days to 7 days and so I had to rush off to register or face a fine (turned out to be incorrect info.) And my wife Sitala got news from the jariwala she works with in Vrndavan is having some kind of crisis and can’t finish some outfits that are due for delivery in the west before Radhastami.
I just realized that although touring is strenuous, it is relatively free of anxiety at least as far as maintenance is concerned. Everywhere you go, there are devotees who are only too happy to facilitate your travel, accommodations, laundry and prasadam etc. But at home, its all your own, and these things take up a fair bit of time.
Anyway, I got registered and because the FRO is in Krsnanagar I also bought a new fridge (not cheap at Rs. 15,000). Unfortunately it wasn’t quite what Sitala wanted. In fact, it was just the kind she told me not to buy. But when I got in the small store, I got bewildered by all the choices and though I was getting something she would like. Anyway, I have a great wife who is not too attached to material goods and we will live with it.
Ladies beware! Never let your husband go out and buy household goods. You won’t be satisfied because their brains work differently from yours.
Â
Janmastami evening we had one of those Mayapur abhisekas of chota Radha Madhava. I doubt any temple in the world does them as well.
 Here’s a few photos taken by my daughter Rasarani-priya from the middle of the audience in the temple room:
Chota Radha Madhava awaiting Their bath:
Waiting in line for the privilege:
Sannyasis first- Umapati Swami and Gauranga Prem Maharaja:
Finally its my turn:
Transcendental twins Jananivasa and Pankajanghri:
The best part of the abhisheka:
The other best part of the abhisheka. Radha Madhava upto Their necks in flower petals:
For the nectar hunters there are many more photos on Mayapur.com.
August 25 2008 – Mayapur – Sri Vyasapuja of Srila Prabhupada
[Pls note: most of the photos in this blog entry have been nicked from the Mayapur.com site; pls. go there to see more] Â
My offering to His Divine Grace this year is the launch of this website. I hope that he is pleased with this humble attempt to glorify him, and I hope the readers are pleased with it also. Every year I think about the irony of how hard it is to execute Srila Prabhupada’s most essential instruction to us on his appearance day. Read the rest of this entry »
August 24 2008
Sri Krsna Janmastami
I was up at 12.45 AM, for some reason I couldn’t sleep. So I chanted a few rounds, read about Lord Krsna’s appearance from 10th Canto Part 1, and then went to Mangala arati. The place was totally packed with villagers lining up at 4.00 AM to get in. Mayapur is catching up with Vrndavana now at Janmastami with the scale of their attendence. Inside, it was like a sauna, you got dripping wet just standing still.
I was asked to give the English Bhagavatam class at 6.30 AM until the main darsana of the Deities of Sri Sri Radha Madhava at 8.30 AM. I was wondering how I would keep talking for so long without boring everyone. But as it turned out, it went quite well. I read particularly from the 10 canto, purport to chapter 2, verse 20:
“As clearly stated in Bhagavad-gita (dehino ‘smin yatha dehe [Bg. 2.13]), within the body is the body’s proprietor, the living force, which is more important. But human society has become so fallen that instead of understanding the living force within the body, people have become busy with external things. This is a discrepancy in human duties. Therefore Krsna has taken birth or taken shelter within the womb of the Krsna consciousness movement. Men of Kamsa’s class, therefore, are very much afraid and are busy trying to stop this movement, especially in the Western countries. One politician has remarked that the Krsna consciousness movement is spreading like an epidemic and that if not checked immediately, within ten years it may capture governmental power. There is, of course, such potency in the Krsna consciousness movement.
As stated by authorities (Cc. Adi 17.22), kali-kale nama-rupe krsna-avatara: in this age, Krsna has appeared in the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. The Krsna consciousness movement is spreading like wildfire all over the world, and it will go on doing so. Men who are like Kamsa are very much afraid of the movement’s progress and acceptance by the younger generation, but as Krsna could not be killed by Kamsa, this movement cannot be checked by men of Kamsa’s class. The movement will go on increasing more and more, provided the leaders of the movement remain firmly Krsna conscious by following the regulative principles and the primary activities of chanting the Hare Krsna mantra regularly.”
The reference to the politician who compared the spread of the Movement to an epidemic caught my eye. I was with Srila Prabhupada when this report came in:
[TD 4] October 4, 1976 – Vrndavana
“Prabhupada received a double report from Balavanta prabhu, which he answered during his massage. Balavanta said that a Houston newspaper recently reported a debate on “cults” and what to do about them, and quoted a member of the State legislature who made the statement that “The Hare Krishnas are spreading like an epidemic. They are a great danger. They are spreading like wildfire and if they are not stopped, they will take over the government eventually.”
Srila Prabhupada replied very positively to this report:
“Our ultimate aim is to take part in politics, because Krishna took part in politics, we have to follow—but if people do not become Krishna conscious it won’t be possible. Actually if we can take up the government, our movement will be very easily spread and beneficial to the people. We can make happy, peaceful men, God conscious—this is our aim. The main thing is to distribute books more and more. That remark by the man in Houston is to your credit, that this movement is becoming an epidemic. Actually, everywhere envious people are against this movement, especially communists, because this movement is a threat to them. The main thing is to distribute books—the communist idea is spread practically all over the world on account of distributing huge amounts of literature, but they have no substance. Introduce Rathayatra very nicely and distribute books.”
And he used this quote a lot in his preaching in late 1976: Read the rest of this entry »
August 21 2008
An easy morning, did the puja, went to the bookstore, had a decent meal at Little Italy, a modern restaurant just near our Albert Road temple with a fully sattvik menu (no meat, fish or eggs, except for a little onion in one or two of the minor dishes). And then it was back to home, back to Mayapur. The traffic in Kolkata is horrendous; I only realized how bad it was when I compared it to the many American and European cities I have visited recently. It took nearly 11/2 hours to get out to the airport from the city center-a half hour without traffic. And the road out to Mayapur is really disgraceful. Potholed, crumbling, rutted. I am surprised how the communist govt. gets away with it and still gets voted in. Finally, around 6.30 PM we pulled up outside our apartment in the Hati building. Its great to be back after 14 weeks on the road. We need a couple of days to settle in, and then its going to be Janmastami and Vyasapuja.
All credit to Rasarani-priya. She’s been away for two months. Most of her friends were just upstairs but instead of going straight up to see them, she shot out the door and went over to the temple for darshan of Sri Sri Radha Madhava, even as they spotted her through their windows and tried to call her back. After that it was an evening of unpacking.
I gained 8 kilos on the trip; extra luggage that is (although judging from the size of my expanding waistline, I could have easily done the same–I really must exercise. Yeah, right, I hear you say again. ‘We’ve heard that one before.’ No, seriously, I am going to do it…)
August 19 2008
Travel, travel, travel! Four and half hours from Skopje to Sophia. I had to smile going over the Macedonia border into Bulgaria. Surya prabhu dropped me off at the check point and Varada Hari prabhu was there to walk with me through the immigration posts. No problems on the Macedonia side but on the Bulgarian side we had to stop at customs. The officer, a tall imposing young man, asked me where I was going. “Sophia tonight and India tomorrow,” I replied.“Ah! India. That’s a long way. It will take you a long time,” he said sympathetically.
Then he asked me about my three bags. “So, these are your bags. And you have nothing to declare. And they are all your personal possessions.” He didn’t really ask, but stated it, and without waiting for a reply he smiled, “OK, no problem, you can go through.” It would be nice if all Customs were the same.
Actually, in EU countries now there are no customs or immigration. Driving over the border from Germany to Poland was the same as driving from one city to another within a single country. As Srila Prabhupada said many times, nationalism and immigration visas etc. are simply politics that’s all.
With no program in the evening, I had a chance to relax
 do a little reading and hit the sack early.
August 20 2008
I was up at 1.30 AM, thanks to a bunch of barking stray dogs outside the building.
 
It reminded me of when I was giving Srila Prabhupada his evening massage on the roof of his Vrndavana rooms. Some dogs were fighting in the back alley:
August 18 – 10:30 PM
That’s it, the last program here Skopje. Actually, not just the last program here, but the last program of my summer tour.
“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”Â
 (Romeo and Juliet- Will Shakespeare)
August 18
Last day in Skopje. Tomorrow I leave for Sophia and the day after, Kolkata India, via Frankfurt.
One of our devotees here is a dentist. On advice from Bhakti Vaibhava Maharaja who had his teeth fixed here a few weeks ago, I went to visit Vraja Kishore this morning and spent an hour and half under the drill, laser, air gun and suction pump.
Not a pleasant experience. Not that he’s a bad dentist. I just find it a bit difficult keeping my mouth open for so long (yeah right! I can hear you say). I can’t breath well through my nose (more surprises, it’s certainly big enough) and my jaw almost locks at the joints. On top of that, this time I didn’t have any anaesthetic because Vraja promised me that the new laser techniques were much less painful.
Actually it wasn’t that bad, although I did nearly jump out of my seat a few times. One of my teeth has been sensitive for months and when he checked it, cavities were forming around the old filling, and there was a small crack in the wall. He fixed it up by replacing the filling and cleaning out the crack. There were also cavities forming around some of the other teeth, so he removed them also. I guess it pays to get your teeth checked on a regular basis.
Everytime I have to get dental work done, it makes me appreciate all the more the amazing tolerance to pain that Srila Prabhupada had. He lost a couple of teeth when I was with him in 1976, but refused any dental treatment. He just sucked on a couple of cloves, took some extra rest, and when the tooth got too bad, he just pulled it out himself: Read the rest of this entry »
 
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 I was expecting to have a peaceful night. Skopje is a small place. But no such luck. I took rest at about 11.30 PM. At 3.00 AM I am woken by some drunken woman yelling and screaming at her mother down on the road outside our three storey apartment. It went on for two hours. I couldn’t shut the window because it was so hot, and I don’t have a fan. So I gave up and got up at 3.30 AM. At least I could get my rounds done early.
After the morning session, one of the devotees Yadavendra Gopa das, who is also a sometime-resident of Mayapur, asked an unusual question. He cited the story in Hayagriva prabhu’s book “Vrindavana Days” where Yamuna dasi hears Srila Prabhupada speaking to a monkey in the monkey’s own language. Yamuna comes in afterwards and Prabhupada advises her not to tell anyone what she had just heard.
Yadavendra Gopa wanted to know what I thought Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual position was and why would he tell Yamuna not to tell anyone else?
My immediate answer was, ‘no comment.’ Unless I could check the story back with Yamuna, I wouldn’t want to say anything about it. It was such an unusual story, who knows if Hayagriva got it right? And it didn’t really jell with my own experience with Prabhupada and monkeys:
[From TD 4] September 7, 1976 – Vrindavana
Prabhupada sat quietly, leaning against the soft cotton bolsters as he relaxed and listened to the rain gently drip off the thatched roof He surveyed the garden — the fragrant chameli jasmin, the malati creepers, the croutons, the gardenia, and the tall and flourishing banana trees. He said that in Bengal, the village people eat off the broad flat leaves of the banana trees. “Very good. Common man in Bengal, Orissa, they’ll take on banana leaves all vegetable preparations. Caitanya Mahaprabhu, when he was invited by Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, he was taking on banana leaves.”
Then he requested me to serve him his lunch on banana leaves from his garden. “Because there are so many banana leaves, you can utilize it. One leaf is sufficient for four plates at least.”
Caranaravindam said that the monkeys also like the banana leaves, to eat, and especially they like to eat the new shoots in the center of the tree.
Prabhupada shook his head with disapproval. “That is destructive; they do not know. Because they do not get anything, they make mischief. They’re very mischievous. If they do not get any eatables, they will cause mischief.”
Thinking of the groups of monkeys that have become a nuisance in taking up residence on the open verandas of the guest house rooms and inside the domes of the temple until we sealed them up, I laughed and asked, “Do monkeys have any use?”
Prabhupada’s reply surprised me a little. “They have only use — their fat is very good medicine for burns. Some portion is burned, monkey fat is very good medicine.” Then even more surprisingly, “The Chinese eat their brains.”
 
    
