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The
Beautiful Life of
Jayananda
Thakur
Remembering an American Saint
by Vishoka Dasa
Edited
by Dasaratha-suta Dasa
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This
book has 18 chapters and 3 appendixes, 12 inside photos, and an introduction of
which Satyaraja dasa gave some final editing touches. We thank millions
of times the devotional labor of Dasarathasuta dasa in his editing work.
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[for those who love to ruin their eyes with a monitor, we may
someday have an online version (which would take time to do, to do it
right), meanwhile everyone is preferring the book
to reading online, nothing compares to a book in one's hands, reading
oneself to sleep, plus the fantastic cover and transcendental pictures inside.]
Jayananda's
incessant devotion
Jayananda practiced the yoga
of hands and legs, doing lots of things nobody else wanted to, doing
the needful, doing the practical. He dumped the trash, he made the bhoga
runs, and he cooked breakfast prasad for the sankirtan
devotees and served it out to them. He stayed up late into the night
cleaning the kitchen. He was sort of like our mother, always doing the
things we were too lazy to do. He was always in the garage welding Ratha
cart wheels, fixing automobiles, building prasadam carts. He was
always serving out the maha-prasadam to the guests. He worked
tirelessly, and simultaneously always glorified the other devotees for
their service. In this way he endlessly inspired us with his enthusiasm
and service attitude.
A moment expands into
eternity
Actually,
I did not get his association. What I mean is that it wasn't enough. It
was only a year, and that year went by like a moment.That is the cruel
handiwork of fate, that somehow by some causeless mercy you may come in
contact with a pure soul like Srila Prabhupada or Jayananda, and fate just
takes them away before the full realization hits you of how sacred those
moments are. One year, or two, or ten years are not enough to satisfy the
hankering for pure association with the servants of Krishna. Yet, lava-matra,
sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya-
The
verdict of all revealed scriptures
is
that by even a moment's association
with
a pure devotee,
one
can obtain all success.
(Chaitanya-Charitamrita,
Madhya-lila 22.54)
Just a moment's association
with Krishna's dear servant gives all perfection. That moment expands into
eternity, by divine grace.
Young,
old, made no difference
Jayananda
was there for so many people. Young, old, made no difference. He was there
for the seven-year-old boy that Jivadhara spoke about, how Jayananda
told him of Krishna and they chanted and danced, and then Jayananda gave
initiation to the boy and gave him the name of Parameshvara. The boy was
ecstatic and painted one of Lord Jagannatha's wheels. There were also the
cops Jivadhara Prabhu spoke about, how they respected Jayananda so much.
They would come to the Ratha site and talk to him, and they took a day off
to come to the parade, brought their families and cameras. Then there were
the tool business people who always gave rental tools to Jayananda free of
charge. This was happening all the time, every day, so many ordinary
people were charmed by Jayananda's big and golden heart, and their lives
were changed.
One
of Jayananda's servants in the final months was Indranatha Prabhu, who
always praised his golden heart so nicely, saying how Jayananda always
made everybody feel good and happy in Krishna Consciousness, always there
with nice prasad and Krishna-katha and good vibes. Jayananda
was always saying how “Krishna Consciousness is so sweet,” and always
saying how “Whatever you do, just get a taste for the Holy Name, and
that will save you.”
Moon
in the sky
The
fame of an ordinary man is like a burning meteorite speeding through the
night sky and burning to a crisp. Fame is like a shooting star. The great
devotee is like a bright moon in the sky. Only the pure devotee of God
achieves lasting fame. Lord Chaitanya said a man is famous when he is
known as a great devotee. This is real fame, as Srila Prabhupada says in
his purport to Bhagavad-Gita 10.4-5:
“Yashah,
fame, should be according to Lord Chaitanya, who said that a man is
famous when he is known as a great devotee. That is real fame. If one has
become a great man in Krishna Consciousness and it is known, then he is
truly famous. One who does not have such fame is infamous.”
Jayananda
was a moon in the sky of Srila Prabhupada's disciples. We can see this in
a picture of the Vyasa Puja book of '97. Srila Prabhupada is at the
airport and there is an umbrella above him, held by the same hands that
hold a bouquet of flowers for Srila Prabhupada. The picture only shows the
hands, but it is Jayananda. I remember the shirt he wore that day, and how
he held the umbrella. You can see Srila Prabhupada's loving look on
Jayananda. You can see how pleased Srila Prabhupada was with Jayananda in
this picture. Srila Prabhupada's face is radiating. I remember that
scene at the airport that day. Srila Prabhupada said he was always
thinking of Jayananda.
Too
busy for staff and clean cloth
No,
Jayananda did not want people to bow down when he entered a room. He did
not want to carry a stick around, because he was too busy building carts
and stuff. He did not want a maha plate every day, because he
always wanted to serve out the maha himself to the guests. He did
not want the praise of a sannyasi, or have to give the class all
the time. He gave great classes, but he did not want to all the time.
Jayananda was too busy being our father and mother and doing all the
needful things. He deserved our worship, but would have none of it.
Now
I can see, after all those years, how Jayananda made this plan. He was
determined to wear white, and this was for a reason. Just like how he was
always doing such mundane things (seemingly mundane, although it was all
transcendental), like carrying out the trash and going on bhoga runs,
working in the garage, welding cart wheels. He was always wearing dirty
clothes. His hands were clean in the morning, but you could see the
ground-in dirt and oil from the previous day. He would sit in class and
look tired. This is because he was up late at night finishing his rounds
(he never missed his rounds), and that was because he worked hard all day,
and usually cleaned the kitchen at night when we were going to bed. Nobody
really knew how much he slept. He had his own room in the garage. Nobody
saw him go to bed. Someone said that at the old Fredrick Street temple in
San Francisco Jayananda would sleep standing up in Prabhupada's class, and
Prabhupada would tell the devotees not to disturb him because he knew how
hard Jayananda was working. He looked really tired in class some mornings,
and he would nod off and catch a little nap sometimes. But the funny thing
was, when somebody asked a question at the end of class,
Jayananda would suddenly wake up, as if he had not heard a word of
class, and would give a perfect answer.
This
cannot be imitated
A
higher Vaishnava once said that it is easy to imitate some of the symptoms
of bhava, or love of God. But, there is one symptom of bhava
that we can never imitate, and that is “ahuituky apratihata” or
nonstop, unceasing devotional service to Krishna and His pure devotee.
THAT we cannot imitate. The advanced devotee remembers Krishna 24 hours a
day, even in his sleep, and serves Him constantly.
That
is what we saw in Jayananda. Those who knew him said he was the most
advanced devotee in the Movement. This is what we saw in his service
attitude and attraction for the Name and service of the Name. It is said
that a pure devotee is not recognized by his social position, number of
followers, or ashram or so forth, but by his attraction to the Holy
Name. Jayananda showed an unswerving and selfless dedication to
propagation of the Holy Name and serving Krishna and Srila Prabhupada and
others with prasadam, philosophy, and hari-nama.
We
have come to surmise that his advancement, which came so quickly, was not
possible for the usual sadhana-bhakta devotee, who normally goes
through a long process of sadhana before he is able to reach
perfection. It is by either the kripa-siddha or sadhana-siddha
process that a nitya-baddha soul comes to perfection. How did
Jayananda do this so quickly?
This
is my confession. A nitya-baddha-jiva is one with millions of years
of conditioning. He does not become suddenly advanced. But by the mercy of
higher Vaishnavas he makes gradual advancement. He's a fool, but when he
hears from the perfect, then repeats the perfect, then he is in perfect
knowledge and is on the perfect path, even though it may seem that his
advancement is slow. In other words, I may repeat the perfect as I've
heard it, and thus I speak perfect knowledge. If I follow the perfect,
then I'm situated in the perfect platform. That does not mean that I am in
an advanced siddha position, or that I am without anarthas. I
confess that I am one of those foolish nitya-baddha-jivas who just
follows the perfect, and I saw that Sriman Jayananda Thakur was not one of
us. He advanced in a very short period of time. He showed us steady,
unwavering service, without hidden anarthas. We can say that it was
either due to receiving kripa-siddha from Srila Prabhupada, or it
was from sadhana-siddha, probably continuing from his past life. At
any rate, neophytes usually do not advance in sadhana that fast.
Krishna
will never let you down
Krishna
proves that He never stops loving us. He accompanies us as our friend, as
Paramatma, in all our countless bodies, waiting for us to turn our face to
Him. There is no friend like Krishna, nor will there ever be such a
friend. Srila Prabhupada once told Pushta-krishna Prabhu, “Don't depend
on me, I will let you down; depend on Krishna, He will never let
you down.” Of course, this was Prabhupada's humility, he will never let
his disciple down. He was conveying the never-ending love of Krishna.
And
Krishna's devotees, like their master, have that same quality of endless
love. This is what I found in Jayananda. There is a nice verse by Srila
Rupa Goswami in his Sri Lalita-Madhava which shows the endless love
of Krishna:
Great
souls are always saved from sufferings.
Even
if, somehow or other, a devotee
takes
birth as an animal in the jungle,
as
a human being in one of the directions of this world,
as
a demigod in the three celestial planets,
or
even as a resident of hell,
the
Supreme Personality of Godhead always brings him
to
His lotus feet. The Lord never wishes to abandon him.
Jayananda
so good and saintly
There
were a few times like this. One time was when Jayananda and I drove the
large murti of Lord Chaitanya from San Francisco to Berkeley. The
San Francisco temple has very nice mobile murtis of Gaura-Nitai. We
were moving Them separately to the temple in Berkeley. Jayananda wanted me
to ride in the back of the truck and hold Lord Chaitanya, so that He would
not tip and fall. I was holding the chest of the Lord as we were crossing
the Bay Bridge and the sun was rising. At that moment, it got really heavy
for me. A rare moment. I was gazing at the Lord's face, seeing the sun
coming up, and seeing all the iron of Kali-yuga all around, the bridge and
cars and everything. I also saw the back of Jayananda's head and how he
was chanting japa on his beads. It overwhelmed me how Lord
Chaitanya was like the rising sun, as described in Chaitanya-Charitamrita,
and how He was saving us from this iron age of Kali, how His face was so
beautiful, and how Jayananda was so good and saintly in His service. How
fortunate I was to have this daily association with Jayananda! I had a
daily life with Jayananda, and those were the best years of my life,
although I barely realized it at the time. I could not stop the tears of
appreciation at the rare moment.
for more information, how to get book- email
more
excerpts here- intro and index
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