Srila Prabhupada's rooms at the Radha-Damodara temple

I eternally reside in my rooms at the Radha-Damodara temple

“I eternally reside in my rooms at the Radha-Damodara temple,” is a statement Srila Prabhupada made many times. This means that both the rooms in which Prabhupada lived for over ten percent of his life, and the Radha-Damodara temple are extremely important for all followers of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Sincere souls can perceive Prabhupada’s presence here. The nondevotee, however, cannot see; just as he cannot smell the sweet aroma of tulasi manjaris relished by transcendentalists in the serenity at sunrise.

Srila Prabhupada comes in Radha-Damodara

1959 was a momentous year for Srila Prabhupada. He moved into the eternal association of Sri Rupa Goswami and Sri Jiva Goswami at the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha-Damodara. He formally renounced material life by accepting sannyasa. And in Delhi, be commenced his life’s main work and masterpiece, translating and commenting upon the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Satsvarupa das Goswami: “One day Gourachand Goswami, proprietor of the Radha-Damodara temple, approached Stila Prabhupada inviting him to come live at the Radha-Damodara temple; being the eternal home of Jiva Goswami and Rupa Goswami, it would be more suitable for his writing and translating. Srila Prabhupada was interested. He never stopped his regular visits there, and he always felt inspired in the presence of the samadhi tombs of the great leaders of Lord Chaitanya’s movement, Jiva Goswami and Rupa Goswami.” (SPL I p. 234)

Prabhupada preferred to live in Vrindavan for translating but he was frequently detained in Delhi for printing and distributing his books. One day while staying a few days upstairs in his rooms at Radha-Damodara, Prabhupada was offered two rooms downstairs.

Srila Prabhupada: “I was staying in two rooms upstairs, then one of the Goswamis asked me if I would like to stay in the two rooms below where one Babaji who was taking care of the tombs, stayed. The rooms were dilapidated, so he proposed that I fix the rooms and whatever I pay as rent would be all right. I invested about one thousand rupees and paid five rupees monthly.” (SP Letters 73-9-4)

About Radha-Damodara temple

In 1972, when Srila Prabhupada told his disciples that this corner at the Radha-Damodara temple was just like the hub of the spiritual world - it was the center; he could have been referring to the fact that the Radha-Damodara temple is situated right in the middle of Seva Kunj. Seva Kunj is the transcendental place where Lord Krishna humbly served Srimati Radharani in order to mollify Her maan (anger) aroused during a conjugal conflict. To further understand Srila Prabhupada’s profound statement about the significant location of the Radha-Darnodara temple, let us hear from some leading Gaudiya Vaisnavas.

“There was no Radha-Damodara temple when Rupa Goswami went there, just a thin forest, Seva Kunj. So here is the place of the Rasa dance. And more than the Rasa dance, it is the place where Krishna is doing the seva (service) of Srimati Radhika there. That is Seva Kunj. He is doing different services like brushing and decorating Srimati Radhika’s hair with flowers and other things like painting designs on Her lotus feet with alta mixture. So this is the most important place for the Gaudiya Vaisnavas, more important than Rasa Sthali (the place of the rasa dance).

“Krishna left the Rasa dance but He didn’t leave Srimati Radhika. Srimati Radhika was so much near and dear to Krishna that He used to do seva for Radhika, but none of the other gopis. That place where Krishna served Radhika is the present location of the Radha-Damodara temple.”

Ksirodakasayi: “Because after Srila Prabhupada took vanaprastha life and then sannyasa, he remained in Vrindavan for so many years. His realization was through the Radha-Damodara temple. There, other great acaryas like Rupa Goswami, Jiva, Kaviraj Goswami and others have their samadhis. They also live there. So Prabhupada realized that he got the mercy of these great acaryas.”

Gopal Ghosh: “Prabhupada said many times that late at night, around midnight or one A.M., he felt that Vrindavan, the Cinmoya Vrindavan, yoga pitha Vrindavan where Radha and Krishna and the gopis are all playing in Seva Kunj. And the Goswamis are chanting Hare Nam Sankirtan even now. But we are seeing with our external eyes, mithya jagat. There is land, and property and big houses, etc. But with the inner eye, one can see that this is also the playground of Krishna, cinmoya dhama. You can also feel it in a lonely place by the grace of Goswamipad, Guru and the holy name. These things Prabhupada told me.”

Gopal Ghosh: “Once I met with Prabhupada and he was sitting on a small mat and he would often lean back against the wall. He told me, ‘Gopal, listen to me. At night many times I sit in front of Rupa’s samadhi and chant Hari Nam Sankirtan and burn an incense stick. I pray to Rupa Goswami everyday that, “If you are truth, and this place is truth, then please show me your face and your grace, so that I can feel your grace.” I feel that Rupa Goswami’s immortal grace is flowing. But the general mass of people cannot receive it. They just bow their heads there every day. But I am feeling that Rupa Goswami is here and is hearing everything. And Rupa Goswami told me in a dream that great work will be done by you. He also said you should always chant Chaitanya Caritamrta and Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu, and that I will be right behind you.’”

My Eternal Residence

“Srila Prabhupada referred to these rooms at Radha-Damodara temple as his ‘eternal residence’, the place where he actually began his plans for the Krishna consciousness movement.” (SPL V p. 122)

In 1972, from Los Angeles, Srila Prabhupada sent a letter to a disciple briefly stating the same profound point: “In 1961 I moved into the Radha-Damodara temple and I am still living there.” (72/8/31)

O.B.L. Kapoor: “Prabhupada used to practice sadhana there. Even after their disappearance, the siddha (perfected) souls have a double personality, so to say. In one form they live in Golok Vrindavan, celestial Vrindavan. In another form they live in this world, in the form they used to live before as a sadhaka.
Sometimes they also give darsan to their disciples. Gauranga das Babaji, my siksa guru and former siddha mahatma of Vrindavan, used to tell me that, ‘Nobody has gone anywhere else. Everybody is here. All the great souls are still here. If your heart is pure, you can have their darsan. Nobody has gone anywhere, everybody is here.’ It has been recorded that Jiva and Rupa Goswamis have given darsan to several devotees.”

Ksirodakasayi: “I realize that all these great saintly persons eternally live in the dham, not just in Vrindavan, but on this planet. And my personal experience is this. When Prabhupada physically left in 1977, he came in a dream just like he was standing before me. He said, ‘Ksirodakasayi, I have told you many times, why don’t you go to Vrindavan and stay there.’ So, like this, Prabhupada and other saintly people are still alive. Anybody, who has full faith in his spiritual master can immediately see him face to face. Not that he only resides in Radha-Damodara temple, also you can see him through his books. You can see him through his teachings, and you can see him through the tremendous work he has done all over the world.”

Srila Prabhupada’s rooms

Srila Prabhupada cherished his rooms at the Radha-Damodara temple, and he often stressed their importance. From the beginning of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada allowed his disciples to live in his rooms at Radha-Damodara for two reasons: to maintain possession of the rooms and to give his disciples a chance to receive the transcendental blessings of Sri Rupa Goswami, Sri Jiva Goswami, Sri Vrindavan dham, and Sri Sri Radha-Damodara.

What are the benefits of living and serving in Srila Prabhupada’s bhajan kutir? Ksirodakasayi, who lived there for nine months in 1972, answers.

Ksirodakasayi: “Those who stay there will realize that those acaryas are still living there. And if one is actually advancing in the spiritual field, they can still take instruction from the acaryas living there. It is up to the individual, how he realizes this by his devotional service. By staying there you must realize how pure the environment is. The environment itself gives a high taste of consciousness. Radha-Damodara is there and the great acaryas samadhis are there. There cannot be any other better place to live, than at Radha-Damodara!”

Although now Srila Prabhupada’s bhajan kutir is an obscure place, unknown to the thousands of Vaisnava pilgrims flowing through the Radha-Damodara temple, in the future millions of grateful Gaudiya Vaisnavas from China, Russia, India, Europe, Asia, and North and South America will prostrate themselves before the door of Prabhupada’s bhajan kutir and beg for his divine mercy. Prabhupada said that the First Canto of his Srimad Bhagavatam contained all the necessary instructions to guide humanity for the next ten thousand years. In his purport to Srimad Bhagavatam, 10.2.20, Srila Prabhupada states: “Therefore, Krishna has taken birth or taken shelter within the womb of the Krishna consciousness movement.”

As Lord Krishna has taken birth within the womb of ISKCON, similarly the Srimad Bhagavatam has taken birth within the womb of Prabhupada’s bhajan kutir at the Radha-Damodara temple. It is here that Prabhupada translated the First Canto of Bhagavatam and projected his purports, designed to penetrate Kali’s darkness for the next one hundred centuries. Prabhupada’s bhajan kutir is the maha-grantha janmasthan, the birthplace of the best of scriptures, the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Ksirodakasayi: “It is not only important for members of ISKCON and Prabhupada’s disciples, but it is important for every Vaisnava. A saintly person purifies the atmosphere wherever he goes. When a saintly person stays so long in one place, that place becomes sanctified by purity. And anyone who bows down his head at such a place will get the mercy of the acarya.
“Srila Prabhupada’s disciples and others who realize this by his teachings, will understand that Srila Prabhupada started his spiritual movement from there, his rooms at the Radha-Damodara temple.
“If one wants to get the mercy of Prabhupada, he should go there to his bhajan kutir and ask for the mercy. Actually, Prabhupada stayed at many different places, but this place (his bhajan kutir) was the original candle and that light goes throughout the world.”

Gopal Ghosh: “That is where Prabhupada got the idea for ISKCON. It is where Prabhupada did his own personal bhajan. and there many times he told me that Rupa and Jiva Goswamis appeared to him in dreams.
“He took power from that place. The power to preach and spread Krishna consciousness. Because one day he told me one poem in Bengali from Chaitanya Bhagavat. ‘Until now, Lord Chaitanya is doing His lila. He is also chanting and dancing. He is distributing this. It is cinmoya lila, and satya - truth. Some rare person is getting this grace, but the general masses are entrapped in visaya, sense gratification, and cannot follow.”

Interview Contributors
O.B.L. Kapoor - Disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Professor of Religion and Philosophy, Gaudiya Vaisnava scholar and prolific author.
Gopal Ghosh - Gaudiya Vaisnava, Sevait Radha-Madhava temple, Librarian - Vrindavan Research Institute.
Ksirodaksayi - Disciple Srila Prabhupada, Vaisnava scholar, editor and publisher of Gaudiya Vaisnava literatures.

from the book "Prabhupada at Radha-Damodara" of H.H. Mahanidhi Swami
©2003 by Mahanidhi Swami, All Rights Reserved