Hridayananda dasa, Please Come Home
BY: HASTI GOPALA DASA
Nov 02, TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA (SUN) — Very nice article by Rocana dasa, "Apologist for the Avant-Garde -- too bad it falls on a lot of deaf ears.
I remember Hridayananda dasa in the early years. He was a fire brand, dynamite and able to preach with the best of them. I sat with him and a few other devotees in New Vrnadavna, in a new chalet just above Bahulabhan, in August of 1973 when Srila Prabhupada was visiting the farm. Devotees gathered in small groups nearby at night under the soft light of Chinese lanterns and moonlight. On the south wall of the temple house, Visnujana Swami was showing a slide show of Deity pictures and devotees on Hari Nam. Each slide brought cheers that overwhelmed the ongoing kirtan.
In every small group of devotees that I dropped by to visit the only topic was Krsna Krsna Krsna. I was amazed, this was my first few months as a fledgling devotee. Hridayananda in the chalet talked about how he wished he could just be a humble brahmacari, he talked about humility and told us stories about Srila Prabhupada.
Hrydayananda visited Toronto for one week later that fall. He was invited to be on a local TV show called The Dini Petty show to preach about Krsna consciousness. Laksmi Moni and Nirmal Candra were there, as well as Dharmaraja prabhu and a few other devotees. I took a number of black and white photos. I still have the negatives. It was a glorious show, and he put the fear of God into Charles Templeton, a local retired preacher who had become an agnostic. Charles would not accept a Gita from Hridayananda and did not even want to hold it.
Every night at the temple he would have us all read Krsna Book in the small prasadam room and from time to time he would stop us and add some more nectar about Krsna or Srila Prabhupada. On the first night of his visit he asked for the kitchen to make popcorn for everyone. We couldn't believe our ears... POPCORN? We were delighted to have the chance to snack officially on this western movie delicacy. The kitchen made enough popcorn to fill one large garbage bag, and it was salted and buttered to perfection. Damn it was good! He gave the evening class every night and went out on Hari Nam with us, and even to the local Rochdale College where some householders lived, to give an outdoor class.
So you see at one time, in my opinion, he was a very effective devotee but compared to now he has become totally sidelined, washed up. It is a lesson for all of us, to keep our devotional creepers healthy.
Perhaps one day before it is too late he may realize how he not only let down thousands and thousands of devotees, but millions and millions of the world's people who could have benefited from his Krsna Book classes and some popcorn, salted and buttered to perfection.
Hrydayananda dasa, please come home.
your servant,
Hasti Gopala dasa
