Prabhupada, the Life of Our Spiritual Archives

In 1965, about a year before I met Srila Prabhupada, I was confined to bed for six weeks with my legs in casts.  During that time I used to daydream that I was a caretaker in a transcendental archives.  I imagined a place where living scriptures were kept.  Saints and scholars used to go there and meditate on the available wisdom.  I wore the robes of a monk.  It had an Eastern flair.  Now things are much clearer, and I’m no longer seeking impersonal or vague forms of wisdom.  I am fixed as a Bhagavad-gita follower, a follower of Prabhupada, a worshiper of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.  I’m looking for memories of Srila Prabhupada.  My own memory bank has stored versions of things Prabhupada did, and I’m grateful for these.  But I’m looking for new threads, which may lead to new memories.  And so I make requests in the spiritual archives.

I am not the only person seeking in these transcendental archives.  Nor am I the only one who is praising Prabhupada.  There are many devotees, many of them poets and writers.  Service by writing praises has been done over the centuries by devotees who have praised their spiritual masters, the previous acaryas and the Supreme Lord.  Even his many initiated disciples are not the only ones who are praising him.  There are many Vaisnavas who praise Prabhupada.  Some of them know him in his eternal rasa with Krishna.  Therefore, much Prabhupada-katha is beyond me, but I’m satisfied in knowing my own relationship.  There are many other things about Prabhupada I would like to know, but I don’t even know what to ask.  At least I feel it is proper to ask for my own memories, which have somehow eluded me over the years.

In the transcendental archives, memories of Prabhupada are preserved; his lila is here as eternal music, literature, and eternal pastimes.  The portion of Prabhupada’s pastimes that we took part in is only a very small part, but I request to see it again.  Although I don’t know what is best for me, I want to hear of his first pastimes in New York in 1966.  And I want to know the pastimes with His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada with his disciples in the world.

It is also possible that by association with other devotees and writers in the transcendental archives, I can gain access to their resources and words of praise for the previous acaryas.  Even though one can be praising Madhavacarya or some other spiritual master, because they are Vaisnava poets and scholars, they may share with me their methods of inspiration and their specific usage of words.  I can certainly use help.  On my own, all I have is a 20th Century American sensibility, meagre schooling in the English language, and a struggle with my sadhana.  I want to come often to the transcendental library and become more accepted here.  At present, I feel a bit lost, like a displaced person looking for his family roots, searching to see where his own name appears with Srila Prabhupada.  I know everything is retained there and one just has to locate it.

As I sit in my allotted place in the archives, waiting to see if my requests will be answered, I do some writing on my own.  My spiritual friends like to hear what I am doing.  So even before I receive any new information, I’m writing home to my friends, sharing what comes to mind.  I hope that my requests will be heard, and that the influence of this place will bring more memories of Prabhupada.  In the meantime, by practice, I may improve.