New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

By Srila Jiva Goswami dasa

Back when I had a hard wood floored classy room up on the third tier of the Prasadama Hall / Office / Ashram Building, Varshana Maharaja was one of a few Devotees I’d have to call “Best Friend.”

All the Devotees seemed wonderful, even the ones whose interaction generated a transcendental grating in me. A few however, integrated with my personality with the unavoidable precision and power of gear teeth. Like Revelations, they rang with a certainty which rocked me, whether I happened to understand it or not.

The lyrical interaction God granted me with Varshana Maharaja was one such mystic attachment. Sometimes, I was able to figure out parts of what Glorious thing had happened within a few weeks.

In the matter of this writing, one instance has taken about twenty-five years to begin to uncoil, and it is this I offer You now.

He was very devoted to Srila Prabhupada’s Caitanya Caritamrta. Varsana Maharaja often invited a few Brijabasis to discuss the pastimes of Lord Caitanya. With permission, there were times when I inserted myself among that number. When it came to matters of Lord Caitanya, I felt the Real Power, but did not understand it.

For example, from the Town Run, I’d deliver an order to Him, on a job site, and Varsana would most graciously accept what I’d delivered in a manner and spirit that said “This is more than money.” He’d take the gasket or part and cradle it as if He was going to use it in Dressing the Deities. With wide eyes, He’d accept the box and say something like “This is JUST what we needed.”

He’d thank me not profusely, but with a deep sincerity that made me want to chant Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. He’d look at me and say something about Lord Caitanaya. Or, I’d ask Him something about Lord Caitanya, because His Recollections were marvelous and inspiring. Almost no matter what Varsana Maharaja was doing, or moving, or causing, He was endlessly ready to talk about Lord Caitanya.

Every so often, Varsana Maharaja asked me for a massage. I knew of course that He was giving The Community all He had. I understand that many people like or even need massages.

However, I am no more knowledgeable about proper massage technique than I am about hypnosis. Still, Varshana Maharaja regularly requested massages, and the reading and hearing of Caitanya Caritamrta. To say I was glad to do this understates the matter. In the same vein, to pretend I understood at all would be an over statement.

These are the types of interactions God allowed me with His Devotee, Varsana Maharaja.

I once ran Dodge Rama Dasa into a snow covered ditch, behind the Temple, and when I approached Varsana during the Morning Program, and told Him of my quandary, He left immediately, and secured Dodge Rama dasa with Tractor and Chain.

It was amazing to me how quickly He shifted then from Angelic Pujari Garb to, well, Angelic Brown Coveralls. He had the perfect tools for the job and Dodge Rama dasa fairly popped from the ditch and seemed to prance in place on the dirt road as Varsana Maharaja unhooked his chains. Even Dodge Rama dasa appreciated His Grace, Varsana Maharaja.

In logistics and in construction, I understood Varsana, though I’d never attempt to try to do what He was doing. At Heavy Equipment, I most certainly witnessed appreciated and even assisted His actions. In the matter of that which was deeply personal and spiritual, I did not have even one iota of am inkling, but His Association was a joy and honor to me.

Varsana Maharaja came to me one day and asked if He could ask a favor. This Great Soul asked me for permission to ask. I don’t have to tell you, Dear Reader, that of course I agreed in advance, to Him and to myself, that whatever He asked, I would do my absolute best to comply and fulfill.

In that breathless way of His, Varsana Maharaja then asked me to take care of His Lord Jagannath Deities. This was a stunning request. I was not even one of those Devotees who kept his or her own Deities. “My” Deities were on the Altar. They were officially cared for.

Varsana took me to the shell of an abandoned bus where He lived in neat austerity and cared for Lord Jagannath. He had a sort of portable altar, a wooden one, painted white, with gold filigree. There were nice doors, to close at night. I would not have to do much; just open the doors in the morning. Water, I think … though not just any water, of course. And clothing too. I was a Pujari wasn’t I?

I hesitated. Lord Jagannath? I was semi aware of the instance in which Lord Jagannath is said to have physically clobbered a Pujari, who in turn awoke with a bruised face. And of course, there is how He was first fashioned, or nearly so, the point of it all here being that Lord Jagannath carries a certain, direct and personal mischief, which is Nectar, of course, and the Greatest Mercy, Prabhu.

I was daunted and frightened. I asked for time to think about it. I hoped Varsana Maharaja would forget this lofty request. What was He going to do? Drag me up through the clouds? Up into the Spiritual Sky?

It wasn’t long before I agreed to this Great Honor. I was troubled by the Transcendental Responsibility but by the force of our relationship, I took it on. Many Devotees informed me that they were impressed by my Great Good Fortune. I too was very impressed. Here for sure was a pastime at the hands of Varsana, which I most certainly did not begin to understand. I was in good hands, but I felt like some kind of fortunate pet, or puppet. Varsana whispered confidently to me, “There is no one else I could ask.”

I did not then understand what He saw that brought Him to hand me this Precious and Loaded Honor.

Neither did Mother Hladini. When that great Vaisnava, that Top Most Devotee, who once gave me Srila Prabhupada’s actual pillow to sleep on, when I was a guest at Her home in Columbus, heard what Varsana had done, whom He had consigned to care for His Deities, She, who cared more for Lord Jagannath then anyone, confronted Varsana and advised Him, (correctly, in my opinion) that I was not qualified to care for Lord Jagannath.

But Varsana stuck by His guns. I heard about this action via chatting Pujaris. I was unperturbed however; as I already fully knew I was unqualified. I was doing a favor for about one of the best friends I ever had. I loved to do it, but I did not really understand it. Whatever agitation Mother Hladini was expressing was in reality a symptom and manifestation of Her Advanced State of Consciousness. That advanced state is what this is all about.

When Mother Hladini saw that Varsana was not going to change His Mind, She backed off and even wrote me a letter of apology. That letter and another, on another occasion, from Mother Visvadika, are ostensibly apologies, but in fact, statements of extreme advancement, and more than priceless to me today.

Today, I think one of the side-effects of taking care of Lord Jagannath was to make it more difficult for me to undertake my regular and off-the-wall jaunts to Columbus.

It wasn’t long before indeed, Mother Hladini did take care of Lord Jagannath. I was relieved to bequeath Varsana’s Deities to Her, with His permission.

And in turn, it wasn’t long before I was spending more and more time in Columbus. I was trying to assemble a family, with Krsna’s Help. It took more than a year, but I did, in the mid eighties have a family again, just where I’d left off when I’d first approached Krsna Consciousness, and I was ready to try to return.

Using one of The Community’s larger vans, Sudhanu Prabhu came out and got me… The various and sundry paraphernalia I’d accumulated in just that time filled the van in two trips. That was about 500 miles of driving, back and forth, loading and unloading. In the middle of all this Sudhanu Prabhu even saw cauliflower in our refrigerator and turned it into most sumptuous Prasadama.

Once I was back, living first in Bethlehem, and then at 614 Main Street, in Wheeling, I had occasion to talk to Varsana Maharaja, accidentally on the phone one evening.

“Is that you?” I asked.

“Jiva, are you back?” Varsana returned.

If not back, I was flickering. I reported as much to Varsana Maharaja.

And that is when He uttered that which I am now only beginning to understand; so totally unexpected, so beyond humility, so fraught with soul and deep meaning: He said to me, “My spiritual life is saved.”

I thought He’d mistaken me for someone else. Isn’t that what I should have been saying? No, but He knew me and He knows me, and He meant what He said.

Maybe He was being ironic. Certainly He is humble. Varsana Maharaja has never been coy about anything that I know of. For example, after one of His special classes one morning, when the floor was opened to questions, I asked, “What should I tell a Christian when he or she tells me that I can only achieve salvation through Jesus?”

Varsana seemed to relish the question. He did not pause before leaning into the microphone and replying, “Tell them … we have the real thing.” His shot was certain and secure, reminiscent to me of the knowledged throw from short stop to first baseman.

So direct, real and straight forward, so totally committed and without guile or ulterior motive Varsana meant it when He said that my return saved His Spiritual Life, but how? Is this to be another of those “feel the power but don’t try to understand electricity” happenings?

I think now that these expressions by Varsana Maharaja, Sudhanu Prabhu, Mothers Hladini and Visvadika while humble, are indeed much more. These are the genuine but lofty, detached and realized utterances and actions of those who see even people like me as worth our weight in Bhagavada Gitas.