On the other hand, when we examine the caliber of saints like Jim Kohr, we find a unique universal affection or love for all of humankind, for all creatures of God. More important than love for the bodily welfare of men, such saints work selflessly for the benefit of the immortal souls of all men. Acting on this exalted stage of love is only possible through God's grace. The common man can only theoretically imagine such a state of consciousness, and many of us cannot conceive of it, and even if we tried to imitate it, we cannot. Jim's life goes beyond all imagination, for as we see in these narrations, he lived this kind of divine love practically every minute of his life. Sometimes a person may argue that such altruistic love may have some vestiges of self-aggrandizement, being a desire for recognition and fame. But the reader will readily find that Jim had no such desire for fame in any way. His life was proof of the great mercy of God upon His dear servitor. And so by hearing and reading of the activities of Jayananda the Saint, we get more and more faith in God.

Out of all kinds of love, there are so many temporary conditions of love such as love of self, love of man and woman, love of money and power, love of cats and dogs. And then there is the everlasting love of the Supreme – love of God and His representatives, or saints. Out of all types of love, the most intense is the love of saints, who are the dearmost servitors of God. This is because they bring the reality of the great mercy of God right into our tangible lives, and they give us direct experience of what divine love actually is. This is the great gift of Jayananda's life to everyone who hears of his deeds and qualities.

Saints are almost invariably touchstones of mercy to people, seemingly in a mystical or magical way. They seem to spiritually change the hearts of others on a regular basis. Jayananda was such a mystical touchstone. He touched the hearts of so many common workaday people on a daily basis. Jayananda expressed no flowery beatitudes, no hackneyed religious catch-phrases, no rote sermon or scripture citing. He gave no soapbox pontifications or long-winded lectures or high-falutin theological excursions. No. There was only his pure heart and character and his simple sharing of the wonders and glories of God. And most importantly, Jayananda was real. Not contrived or forced or rote. His association and his loving conversations were real, from the heart. And since his heart was pure and unmotivated, everybody was moved and affected by his touchstone of love of God. He spoke in their language, on their level, telling simple stories or a reflective joke, and those few words laden with pure intent penetrated their hearts with lasting effect. His spirit stayed with them, remaining in their hearts, and took residence in their fond memories of him.

There are many great saints in history, both in the Eastern and Western traditions. The unique distinction of Saint Jayananda is that he was born in the Western world, yet he is virtually the first Western-born servant of God to have attained sainthood status within an Eastern spiritual discipline, namely the ancient tradition of bhakti or devotion to Lord Sri Krishna. And Jayananda's sainthood has been clearly established by Krishna Conscious authorities.

After their death, most men fade from our memory like a waning moon. But the fame of saints like Jayananda Thakur increases like a swelling crescent moon, increasing more and more after their disappearance from the mortal world. The fame of saints only increase as days go on, yielding compounded daily spiritual interest, expanding exponentially like the waxing moon. Indeed, saints like Jayananda Thakur manifest wonders while living, and their spiritual potency and memory become even more powerful in their apparent absence. As their spiritual legend grows daily in power, they thus continue capturing the minds and hearts of generations far into the future.

When Jayananda passed away in 1977, we responded with great sadness. And yet the news brought no great surprise, as he was ill for some time, and we were thus expecting that phone call to come any day. At the time, I met the reality of his disappearance with somewhat stifled emotions. Being well-trained in the brahmachari ashram, I simply accepted the fact in the philosophical light of the Bhagavad-Gita – “Not to lament for the living or the dead.” But still, I went through the normal amount of lamentation due to separation from a great Vaishnava and a great friend. I stuffed a lot of emotion down inside and bottled it up, sealing it with a cork.

I adopted this same approach two years earlier when Jayananda had left us in Berkeley in 1975 to travel on the Radha-Damodara Traveling Sankirtan Party. I greatly missed his association then, but just accepted the fact in a philosophical mood. Almost 20 years later, in 1994 I had a profound experience with Jayananda appearing wonderfully in my dream. This was the night in which I was convinced I was about to die from a series of heart attacks. Jayananda came to me with such good timing – it seemed to be at my darkest hour – as a dearmost friend. It was like a loving reunion after 20 years, with us embracing and crying on each others' shoulders. The emotional effect on me was extraordinary. After the dream, all the bottled-up emotions of my grief came pouring out. The cork popped, and separation flooded my days. Out of this catharsis of grief came the series of essays posted on my website that were dedicated to the life and sacred memory of our great friend and godbrother, Sriman Jayananda Thakur.

After speaking with Dhanistha Dasi and reading her book, I felt much wonder and ecstasy to hear her beautiful memoirs and love for Jayananda Prabhu. I wanted to share with her my love for Jayananda also. But she had no computer or e-mail or Internet access, and I realized that many other Vaishnavas also had no computer. Furthermore, I could suddenly die and not pay the server bill, and the website would then be lost. And so for these reasons I wanted to print the contents of the Jayananda website into a small book for the pleasure of the Vaishnavas. I asked for blessings from my godbrothers for this small project and was encouraged.

May the readers be blessed by these descriptions of Jayananda's wonderful life. May these narrations enliven the innate blissful nature of the soul, and thus give spiritual joy to Jayananda's readers. May his saintliness inspire us all to be more saintly in our lives. May I fervently attempt to recount his amazing deeds on earth, and how Jayananda's devotion to Srila Prabhupada and Lord Sri Krishna is the quintessence of all things beautiful in Krishna's creation. All opulence on earth appears to be like a twig or pebble in comparison to Jayananda's brief but great life of devotion. As time goes on, I pray to always hear from others who received Jayananda's blessed association. It seems that Jayananda stories are totally unlimited, for I keep hearing new ones all the time. May the spirit of Jayananda come back to conquer the great arrogance of this world. May we take up the essence of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's lower-than-straw third stanza of His Siksastakam, of which Jayananda is the personification. May I always hanker for the association of lower-than-straw Jayanandanugas.

His servant and friend, Vishoka Dasa

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I offer respectful obeisances unto all the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord, who can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.

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Heartfelt gratitude

Deepest gratitude goes out to many wonderful devotees and Jayanandanugas, such as Dasaratha-suta Dasa, Mahaksha Dasa, Vaiyasaki Dasa, Govardhana Dasa, Kurma-rupa Dasa, Apurva Dasa, and many others for the inspiration they gave me to compile this book. I was wondering for many years when someone would write a biographical work on Jayananda Prabhu. I didn't think I knew enough to say much. Then the dream happened and I sort of came out of my shell and gave a spirited talk on Jayananda in Denver, Colorado. It seemed that the spirit of Jayananda produced an animated energy in my talk; Kurma-rupa Dasa was there, and he also caught up the spirit of Jayananda. Later he spoke to me and inspired me to endeav­or to say more on Jayananda, stressing how important it was to tell the story of Jayananda so that other devotees could know more about our saint. Apurva Dasa was also encouraging me at that time as well. And later I got connected on the Internet and started to talk a lot about Jayananda, and my good cyber friend Mahaksha Dasa was there for me with much encouragement. Dasaratha-suta Dasa has helped me in every step of the way, and Govardhana Dasa was there and gave that creative boost that I needed. We all look forward to the Second Volume of Vaiyasaki Dasa's book on Vishnujana Swami and Jayananda (Radha-Damodara Vilasa), as well as Dasaratha-suta's large biography on Jayananda (The Triumph of Bliss). May God speed their work.

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