GURU KRIPA PART 3 --- Watching Prabhupada: Guru Kripa on Faith, Service, and Preaching

In Part 3 of this series with Guru Kripa Prabhu, the conversation centers on his extensive personal association with Srila Prabhupada and the early preaching years in India and Japan. Guru Kripa recalls serving and traveling in Bombay, Vrindavan, Mayapur, Jaipur, Bihar, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, and other places. He remembers many moments of close service, reporting, collecting, and watching Prabhupada deal with people. He remembers Prabhupada in Bombay during the Pakistan war, staying in the Akash Ganga building on Warden Road, where Guru Kripa attended morning walks and sat in the back during meetings with visitors. He describes Prabhupada as the "champion of the world," always able to defeat opposing arguments. From there, he recalls the early India preaching mood: few people knew the Hare Krishna movement, the devotees were poor, and simply coming to India felt like a great sacrifice. Guru Kripa recounts the first Mayapur festival in February 1972, when Prabhupada laid the Ananta Sesha foundation stone. He remembers Jaipur, where Prabhupada installed the Radha-Govinda deities now worshiped in New York, and where the devotees were guests of the queen near Govindaji's temple. He also recalls traveling with Tamal Krishna after Tamal received sannyasa, going by cold train through Allahabad and later Bihar, doing programs and staying with wealthy Marwari hosts. Some of the most vivid memories are from Mayapur and Navadvipa. Guru Kripa describes living in a small straw hut, rising around 1 a.m., chanting 64 rounds, and walking to Bhaktivinoda Thakur's house and Gaura Kishora Das Babaji's bhajan kutir. He tells a colorful story of taking one of Bhaktivinoda Thakur's canes, keeping it in his hut while chanting, then feeling guilty and secretly returning it. He also recalls guarding Prabhupada's room at night and listening while Prabhupada dictated. Another striking story comes when Prabhupada tells him to go to Navadvipa to defeat a man claiming to be Lord Chaitanya. Guru Kripa speaks before the crowd and challenges the man by asking why, if he is Lord Chaitanya, he is not tall and golden-complexioned. The crowd laughs, and the claim is deflated. A major section concerns how Guru Kripa studied Srila Prabhupada's character. He says that watching everything Prabhupada did increased his faith. One example is a dinner at the home of a wealthy Bombay industrialist, where a preparation contained onions. When a devotee objected, Prabhupada told him to eat it because they were not fanatics and should not insult the host. Guru Kripa also remembers a quiet kirtan in Vrindavan on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's appearance or disappearance day, when George Harrison and Ravi Shankar entered the room. Prabhupada gave George his kartals, then sang "Samsara-dava" in a tune Guru Kripa says he has never heard again and wishes had been recorded. Prabhupada then addressed George and Ravi Shankar directly, saying they were famous, especially George, and asking what guarantee they had for the next life. Guru Kripa says his faith doubled because Prabhupada did not flatter George or compromise for fame. The final major theme is Japan and the Namahatta party. Guru Kripa explains that he chose Japan because he had been there before after being wounded in Vietnam and later on a stopover from India. When he told Prabhupada he was going to Japan, Prabhupada said, "Japan, all they want is money in Japan." Guru Kripa answered, "Me too." After the first successful collections, Prabhupada wrote back approvingly: "Your guess was right." Guru Kripa says the money went directly to Prabhupada for Vrindavan, then Mayapur, Bombay, and what would have been Kurukshetra. He explains the roots of the name Namahatta through Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Godrumadvipa, and the song "Surabhi Kunja." In Japan, the core party included devotees such as Yashodanandan, Bhanuswami, Satyadeva, Sanatananda, Kundarik, Lokasaranga Maharaj, and others, though many men came and went because the life was too demanding. Guru Kripa describes the Japan routine: rise early, class, then go out. At first they collected in Tokyo at major train stops such as Ginza, Shinjuku, and Shibuya, then branched out to Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, and other cities. They distributed millions of small Japanese publications and collected large sums for Prabhupada's projects. The biggest difficulty was immigration, and Guru Kripa recalls twice suddenly moving the whole party just before immigration raids arrived. Asked whether he felt he was doing something historic, Guru Kripa says no. He was serving Prabhupada, seeking his own spiritual realization, and doing what his spiritual master ordered. His conclusion is simple: when the spiritual master orders, one goes; when Krishna empowers, the work gets done.