Worship the Moments Spent with Swamiji

I worship the moments spent with Swamiji in his apartment.  On one particularly quiet night, I was the only one with him.  The front doorbell rang and I went down to see who it was.  It was Donald, a pudgy, bespectacled young man from uptown.  He was probably the only non-hippie coming to the storefront at that time.  He was a junior executive with the Pepsi-Cola company and he usually dressed in shirt and tie.  When I met him at the door, he asked if he could come up to see the Swami.  I replied, “He’s alone tonight, so let me see if it is all right.”  I went back upstairs and said, “It is someone who wants to see you.”

Prabhupada asked, “What is he like?”  I told Prabhupada that Donald appeared very respectable; he was not a crazy person.  When Prabhupada heard that, he gladly gave his permission and I went down to let Donald in.  He came upstairs, took off his stylish raincoat, and went in to sit down with Swamiji in his room.  I stayed in the other room where I had some typing to do.  But I overheard Donald asking academic questions about the position of Lord Siva in relationship with Krishna.  Donald later got initiated and was given the name Dvarakadhisa, but within a few years he had stopped coming to the temple.

Remembering and worshiping the minutes may be done by offerings of flowers, just as we do in arati.  But I also have the feeling of shooting into the past like a sportsman hitting targets with a bow and arrow.  The targets are waiting, all the minutes and hours of the past.

Inevitably, we turn toward memories that we’ve enjoyed many times.  But that doesn’t make them less important or less worshipable.  If we remember a favorite moment once again, it may bring out new lights.