New DVD Spends Time with Prabhupada’s Sons and Daughters

By Madhava Smullen | Nov 24, 2012

“Prabhupada, Sons and Daughters,” a new collection of short films from ISKCON film-maker Vasudeva Das, is just the kind of soothing ointment our society needs today, as we lose more and more beloved devotees who have personally spent time with Srila Prabhupada.

Three shorts—Yamuna in Mayapur, Kuladri Das Recalls Prabhupada-lila, and Jayananda’s Eternal Home—comprise a 60-minute DVD of interviews with disciples close to the ISKCON founder. The films are also available to view separately for free at BhakTV.com.

French-born Vasudeva, whose documentary Timeless Village of the Himalayas won first prize at Hollywood’s 1989 American Video Conference (AVC) awards, generally focuses on full-length films.

Lately, however, he’s been churning out a succession of Krishna consciousness shorts featured at BhakTV.com and on the BhakTV channel at Mayapur.tv. And the chance to cherry-pick bite-size pieces of spiritual content is a welcome opportunity for today’s short-attention-spanned generation.

Yamuna in Mayapur

The first of the short films in “Prabhupada, Sons and Daughters” features a talk by Prabhupada’s famous early disciple Yamuna Devi in January 2010, during her last visit to Mayapur before passing away on December 20th 2011.

When Vasudeva heard that Yamuna was giving the only public meeting of her visit to the community, he rushed to the gathering immediately, forgetting his video camera.

Then he realized he simply had to film the talk. After all, Yamuna was one of the original pioneering team who established Krishna consciousness in England. She

was the beautiful voice on the Govindam recording that plays at ISKCON temples every morning, and the author of the award-winning cookbook Lord Krishna’s Cuisine. She was Srila Prabhupada’s beloved daughter.

“I rushed back home to get my camera and got the last twenty minutes of her talk,” Vasudeva says. “Everyone was hanging on to her every word.”

Yamuna in Mayapur isn’t the slickest production, and features only part of a much longer talk. But it makes up for that by urgently capturing the essence of a beautiful soul in one of her last ever public meetings.

One of the most powerful elements that comes across is how much Yamuna’s life was transformed by the Holy Name—especially in the early days with Prabhupada.

Yamuna (left) and her sister cook prasadam

“We would walk around chanting,” she says. “We chanted when we cooked. There was never talk in the kitchen. Only chanting.”

In response to a question from Vasudeva—clearly eager to gather as much insight from her as possible for future viewers—Yamuna also tells the story of how she joined ISKCON.

Another story which will stick with viewers is that of an early devotee who one day approached Srila Prabhupada, laid his head in his lap, and said he had to leave ISKCON. Stroking his spiritual son’s head gently, Prabhupada responded, “Please don’t go. This Krishna consciousness is such a nice thing.”

Yamuna also talks about Prabhupada being ‘the supreme nice,’ and in so doing gives some of the most simple and powerful advice to ISKCON as a society: “It’s very important that we’re nice to each other,” she says. “Sometimes a new person, all they want is for you to be nice to them. Just that will make somebody attracted.”

Yamuna herself is the epitome of this “niceness.” And in the video, her love and caring for devotees, Srila Prabhupada and the Holy Name comes across in a powerful and moving way that truly touches the heart.

The film also includes eight minutes of kirtan with Yamuna, and is followed by a slideshow of never-before-seen photos of Yamuna in the early days, recently released by her former husband Gurudas.

Kuladri Das Recalls Prabhupada-lila

Next on “Prabhupada, Sons and Daughters” is an interview in three parts with Kuladri Das, legal liason for the North American GBC.

Vasudeva, a member of the GBC’s Srila Prabhupada’s Position Committee, met and interviewed Kuladri at the organization’s strategic planning meetings in Mumbai in October 2011.

As Kuladri was one of the few devotees who had extensive association with Srila Prabhupada but had not yet been interviewed, the fresh stories he tells in Vasudeva’s short films will be “nectar” for devotees.

Kuladri recalls personally getting imprints of Srila Prabhupada’s feet, which are now kept in temples all over the world. He remembers the compassion with which Prabhupada dealt even with mosquitos. And he tells stories about how New Vrindaban “cowherd boys” Radhanath Swami and himself would milk the cows and serve Srila Prabhupada sweet rice and ice cream made from their milk.

Kuladri Das remembers Srila Prabhupada

One of Kuladri’s most moving stories is about how when Prabhupada visited New Vrindaban again after a several-year absence, he called the oldest cow there “My dear friend Kaliya.” Kaliya clearly recognized Prabhupada as an old friend too—when he walked by her pasture, she separated from her herd and ran to meet him.

Kuladri’s interview builds in intensity as he talks about his relationship with Srila Prabhupada and the ISKCON Founder’s last days in Vrindavana, India. “You want me to put my faith in the doctors, but I will put my faith in the protection of Krishna and Balarama,” he recalls Prabhupada saying.

While the video might have benefitted from Vasudeva—asking the questions from offscreen—being mic’d up too, it’s absorbing stuff, decorated with beautiful title cards and music separating each anecdote.

Jayananda’s Eternal Home

The last film on “Prabhupada, Sons and Daughters” is about Jayananda Prabhu, an early disciple of Prabhupada who passed away from leukemia in 1977 and is recognized as a saint in ISKCON.

Jayananda joined ISKCON in 1967 in San Francisco, where he was working as a taxi driver. He was a driving force behind the first Rathayatra festivals in the early 1970s, and was nicknamed “Mr. Rathayatra.” He was, and to this day continues to be, an inspiration to devotees everywhere because of his humility, his dedication to Prabhupada’s mission, and his love and care for all.

As one famous story goes, a newcomer to the San Francisco temple met Jayananda as he took out the trash, and was so impressed that he immediately joined ISKCON. “If the garbage men at this temple can be so blissful, just imagine what the rest of the devotees are like!” he thought.

Vasudeva’s eight-minute short about Jayananda is more of a documentary piece than the other films on “Prabhupada, Sons and Daughters.” It uses photographs of Jayananda, as well as Vasudeva’s now familiar warm and friendly narration, to boost footage of devotees in Mayapur installing a Samadhi memorial in honor of Jayananda.

The Samadhi—a small temple-like structure—was inaugurated on the grounds of the Jagannath Mandir in Rajapur, near Mayapur on June 3rd, 2012.

Devotees shower Jayananda’s memorial with flower petals

The film shows students of Mayapur’s Bhaktivedanta Academy chanting Vedic mantras to create auspiciousness, as the Samadhi is revealed with a framed photo of Jayananda and a plaque reading, “Jayananda Thakur: April 27, 1939 – May 1, 1977. The First Saint in ISKCON.”

Devotees are seen garlanding Jayananda’s shrine, which also contains a yellow jacket he wore while steering the cart at New York Rathayatra in 1976. They then present him with maha-prasadam from his beloved Lord Jagannath, before showering him with flowers in a ceremony known as “Pushpanjali.”

These loving expressions are interspersed in the film with footage of Bhaskara Das, an old friend of Jayananda’s, recalling how Jagannath’s cart fell apart the night before New York Rathayatra in 1976. Jayananda thought that they would have to make do with only two instead of three carts that year, but when the other devotees rallied together to help him rebuild it throughout the night, he beamed with happiness.

Armed with all these short films, Vasudeva decided to put them all together on one DVD. This, he felt, would be an excellent way to further the work of the GBC’s Srila Prabhupada’s Position Committee.

“No glorification of Srila Prabhupada can be as eloquent as showing his capacity to produce saints among his disciples,” says Vasudeva.

He hopes to continue capturing the valuable words of many more seniormost Prabhupada disciples before it’s too late—he has already filmed an interview with Argentian preacher Krishna Kishora Das just weeks before he passed away in October 2012. The short is expected to be released by Gaura Purnima (March 27th) 2013.

Vasudeva, who recently retired from his career running a successful guest house in England to live in Mayapur and make Krishna conscious films, says people are free to copy his DVDs or download them from the Internet and share them with friends.

“I sold my guest house, which means I can now live in India for the rest of my life without having to worry about income,” he says. “I’m not in it for the money. My wish is simply that these videos be seen by the greatest amount of people possible.”

The DVD “Prabhupada, Sons and Daughters” is available for purchase at the Prabhupada Samadhi in Mayapur, and can be ordered online at http://bhaktv.com/en/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.34.

All the films mentioned in this article can be viewed online for free at BhakTV.com.

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