Srila Prabhupada Lila
“Because I felt great affection for him, I asked if I might do any service for him. Sometimes he let me sweep the room and the veranda, remove trash, wash clothes or other small things. One day, I clearly remember I was cleaning his room and I saw some cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. With the broom I swept them down. Then I saw the spiders crawling on the floor. I was just noticing this when Srila Prabhupada came inside. Immediately he looked to the floor and saw the spiders, then he looked up to the ceiling. “Why have you disturbed?’ he asked. I apologized, feeling ashamed, saying that I had made a mistake, but that the spiders were not killed and would be all right. Then he told me that we should never cause disturbance to residents like these of the holy dhama. He said that we ourselves are actually newcomers and that they have been residing here for countless generations and must be respected. When he gave me this instruction he was very grave. Since that day I have not disrupted any spiders or other creatures anywhere in Sri Vrindavana.
Reference: Our Srila Prabhupada – a Friend to All by Sripada Hridyananda Babaji Maharaj
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: A few months before Srila Prabhupada’s first visit to ISKCON Dallas, a strong windstorm hit the area, felling trees. A tall, valuable shade tree in the courtyard of the temple also fell over and remained leaning against an adjoining building, the children’s prasadam hall. The tree still had its roots in the ground, but its heavy weight, with dangling branches, now lay in a sharp angle right across the walkway, leaving barely enough room to walk under it. Satsvarupa dasa, the temple president, took no immediate action, but different devotees approached him and said that the tree had to be removed right away or it might cause collapse of the building it was leaning against. Satsvarupa agreed, and one of the devotees climbed the tall tree with a power saw and gradually dismantled the upper branches and trunk, until nothing remained but the lower ten feet of tilted trunk. And thus the tree appeared when Srila Prabhupada came there in September 1972. As soon as he walked into the courtyard, accompanied by temple leaders and trailed by the whole assembly of gurukula children and teachers, Prabhupada saw the remains of the big tree, and his face expressed trouble. He walked off the cement path and went up to the tree, and so did everyone else behind him. “Who has done this?” he demanded. Satsvarupa admitted responsibility and explained the reason the tree had been destroyed. Prabhupada shook his head angrily. “That was no reason to kill it,” he said. Satsvarupa tried to explain the dangerous condition and pointed to the dent in the roof of the building. He also said that the fallen tree would probably have soon died. “No, it is not dead,” Prabhupada challenged. “Look. There is a green twig growing out of it.” Prabhupada walked away, disgusted, and the devotees remained shocked at what they now saw as a brutal, unnecessary act. In his room, Prabhupada continued to criticize the killing of the tree. He said this was the typical American attitude – when something is wrong, immediately cut it down and destroy it, with no understanding or compassion for the presence of the soul. Later, feeling repentant, Satsvarupa asked if he had committed an offense. “Not offense,” said Srila Prabhupada. “You are ignorant.”
Reference: Srila Prabhupada Nectar by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami
Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada had to struggle very hard to build the Juhu temple. The first struggle was to get the land, the next struggle was to get permission to build the temple, and the last struggle was to actually build the temple and install the Deities. We had worked hard to get permission to build, which, in India, has many conditions. They give you permission, but you must fulfill certain conditions. One of the conditions was that we had to have an access road of a certain width, and it happened that there were some palm trees where the access road was to go. Once, when Srila Prabhupada came to juhu after being away for some time, he noticed that one or two of the palm trees had been cut down and he was upset. He asked, “Why did you cut down the trees?” We thought we had the best answer, we had to get permission to build the temple. But Srila Prabhupada said, “No. You go to the municipality and tell them it is against our religion to cut down trees.” We had no choice. We did it and, of course, they argued. It struck me how concerned Srila Prabhupada was for the trees. The next time Prabhupada went on a world tour, he stopped in Tehran just before he returned to Juhu, and one of the first things he said was, “I was in Tehran and I have seen they have trees in the middle of the streets there. So we can also have trees in the middle of our street, it’s not so strange.” In the end, on Srila Prabhupada’s order, we held our ground and they gave us permission. The tree that Srila Prabhupada protected is still standing there with asphalt all around it. Srila Prabhupada has so much care, concern, and even love for a tree, then what to speak of us. It’s just because of Srila Prabhupada’s care, mercy and protection that we are able to stand in Krishna consciousness no matter what else is around us.
Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint – Volume 3 by Siddhanta Dasa
Prabhupāda: Huh? Why you are trying for? Simply make a show? You are thinking already, but you do not know. Your world is your father, mother and two sisters, that’s all. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tridhātuke svā-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu (SB 10.84.13). That is your world. A little family, a little community, that is your world. We do not think in that way. We include even the animals, trees, plants—brothers. That is our philosophy. We feel. When you cut a tree unnecessarily, we feel. This is our feeling. Unless there is absolute necessity, we do not wish to kill even a tree, what to speak of animals. When in our Bombay the coconut trees were being cut, I was feeling actually: “Why unnecessarily the coconut trees . . .?” You cannot give anyone life, so how, what is living, you can kill? It may be tree or animal or plant. You cannot give him life. So you have to suffer for this. (pause)
(770124 – Morning Walk – Bhuvanesvara)
Yamuna dasi : This tree was a place of pilgrimage for Gaudiya Vaisnavas long before the Krishna Balarama Mandir was constructed in Vrindavan. In the early 1970’s, there were purported to be very few tamal trees in Vrindavan , one at Rasatali and one at the samadhi of Rupa Goswami in Radha-Damodar. So when Srila Prabhupada noted that the land had a tamal tree on it, he was very, very pleased. There is an interesting pastime about this tree. Long before Srila Prabhupada sat under this tree as we are witnessing in this footage, he envisioned himself sitting under this tree and looking at the Deities of Krishna Balarama. He said, “We will have kirtan under this tree.” And he said, “This tree should be worshiped. And the soil under the tree, a teaspoon of it should be taken and mixed with sand and water from the Yamuna River, and then with a coconut husk you should clean the aratik paraphernalia in our temple with his holy substance.” This is a very sacred place for us, and let us pray that not only now but in the future Srila Prabhupada’s wish will be fulfilled and Gaudiya Vaisnavas will be able to worship this sacred tree in this sacred location for many, many more years to come.
Yogesvara: I often find it fascinating how principles of memory migrate over into the things that challenge us in Krishna consciousness. In a sense, those of us in the first generation who knew Srila Prabhupada are inheritors of memory. We are compelled by that privilege to recount these memories and these stories.
Once in London, we were on a morning walk with Srila Prabhupada in New Hyde Park when he asked for one of his disciples to go get some twigs. In India, when the Neem twigs were available, Prabhupada would use them as toothbrushes since they have medicinal qualities. In London, there weren’t too many Neem trees around so his disciple went over and broke a twig off from a Willow tree. Then he reached up and broke a second twig off and was about to reach up and break a third twig when Prabhupada stopped him and said, “Don’t disturb more than necessary.” He didn’t want to disturb that tree. That got me thinking. “What is he seeing that I’m not seeing there?” Later I went to him and asked, “Prabhupada, what do you see when you look at a tree? ”He was always very patient. I would ask him the most outrageous things and he was always very patient. Then I generalized my question, because I thought my first question was making him uncomfortable. So I rephrased my question to ask, “What does a pure devotee see when he looks at a tree? ”
Prabhupada said, “What you see is the body of the tree, and there’s a soul that is residing in the body of that tree.“ Then he thought for a minute and then said, “But then again the soul is never alone, ‘Isvara sarva bhutanam’. Within the heart of the soul there’s Krishna.” So looking at that tree, he would see not just the soul but also Krishna within the heart of that soul. So in a sense you actually see Krishna. That’s my Prabhupada. He didn’t want to disturb that tree more than necessary.
Bhavananda das: Prabhupada was walking down the road from the Lotus Building to the front gate, and we had planted some banana trees and one of the banana trees was turning yellow. Prabhupada stopped and looked at it, and he looked at me and he said, “When you are head of the ashram, you are responsible for feeding all the residents of the ashram. This tree needs water.” He said, “Plants live on water, that’s their food. So you are responsible not just for the human residents but all the residents.” He said, “You make sure that this tree receives water.”
Reference: Following Srila Prabhupada-A Chronological Series by Bhavanada Dasa
The Radha-Damodara party spends time traveling in the Bay area, sometimes at the temple, at times on a farm of a favorable couple, and also at the homes of friends in Silicon Valley.
One day while driving back from a program in a rustic area north of the Bay, Vishnujana reminisces about the “old days.” He has a lot of nectar stories about devotional service that he shares in an intimate way. “One time Prabhupada sent us to do kirtan up a mountain where there were no people. When we got back he asked, ‘So, how was the kirtan?’ We answered, ‘Where you sent us there was nobody there.’ Prabhupada said, ‘What about the trees and the animals and birds, and the flowers and the insects. Don’t you realize that they also benefit by the chanting of Hare Krishna?’“
Inscription on Plaque:
“One of Tompkins Square Park’s most prominent features is its collection of venerable American elm (Ulmus americana) trees. One elm in particular, located next to the semi-circular arrangement of benches in the park’s center, is important to adherents of the Hare Krishna religion. After coming to the United States in September, 1965, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977), the Indian spiritual leader, founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in New York. He worked from a storefront on nearby Second Avenue that he used as the Society’s American headquarters. Prabhupada and his disciples gathered in Tompkins Square Park in the fall of 1966 to introduce the East Village to the group’s distinctive 16-word mantra:
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
On October 9, 1966, Prabhupada and his followers sat beneath this tree and held the first outdoor chanting session outside of India. Participants chanted for two hours as they danced and played cymbals, tambourines, and other percussive instruments; the event is recognized as the founding of the Hare Krishna religion in the United States. Prabhupada’s diverse group that day included Beat poet Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997). Krishna adherents continue to return to the tree to acknowledge its significance.
American elm trees are known for their towering canopies, which provide abundant shade through spring, summer, and fall. It is rare today to find such a collection of American elms, since many of the mature elms planted across the country have been killed by Dutch Elm Disease. This incurable disease, a fungus carried by bark beetles ( Coleoptera Scolytidae) which colonize on the branches of the elm tree, swept across the United States in the 1930s and remains a threat to the park’s collection of elms. Despite having lost at least 34 of the trees, Tompkins Square Park still hosts a large assemblage of elms, which continue to this day to enchant park patrons. The East Village Parks Conservancy, a volunteer group, raises significant private funds for the ongoing care and maintenance of the American elms and other historic trees in Tompkins Square Park.
City Of New York
Parks and Recreation
Rudolph Giuliani, Mayor
Henry J. Stern, Commissioner
October 2001
A sādhu’s business is for the benefit of all living entities. A sādhu does not like to cut even a tree, because he knows, “Here is a living entity. He is standing here for many years by his karma, and he has to continue this for many years more. So he cannot avoid this, because it is nature’s law.” Just like if you are put into prison for six months, nobody can save you, nobody can make you less . . . one day less than six months.
So we get our particular type of body, we have to remain in that body for a certain period by the laws of nature.