"He Has Such a Kind Heart"

I had the mercy of Śrīla A.C. Bhaktiedānta Prabhupāda to connect with a civic group here in Hilo called the Japanese Cultural Association. Every year they put on a big parade through the streets of Hilo. So I thought, “Hey, we should do a ratha-yātrā!  The devotees made a miniature version of the raths in Puri. The carts were about fifteen feet long, ten feet wide, and twenty feet high including the canopy. By Kṛṣṇa's arrangement, Mahārāja just happened to be in Hawaii and when I found out I invited him to take part. 

He stayed at my house for two or three nights. He had his servant with him who prepared his meals, and my overriding memory is of him sitting on the floor in the living room, looking up at a beautiful painting that my artist friend Khandita didi had painted of the Ṣaḍbhuja form of the Lord. He was looking so intently at it and I could feel he was there with Ṣaḍbhuja.  

He has such a kind heart. When he first arrived, I brought him into my simple temple room which is my side porch. I had carefully cleaned the altar before he arrived, and he came in and paid his obeisances. Then he studied the deities and altar. 

I had rather hastily placed the guru-paraṃpara disciplic succession photos back in place after I had taken the makeshift altar apart to clean. I had inadvertently switched them out of order. He looked gravely at them and turned to me with twinkling eyes and said, “Very nice, but the disciplic succession is not in the proper order.” What a loving soul he is. He wanted to encourage me, but at the same time had to instruct.  

When the day of Ratha-yātrā arrived, we joined up with the devotees at the cart. Lord Jagannātha, Subhadrā and Balarāma looked splendid! Mahārāja asked if these deities had been installed.

The devotees answered in the affirmative. He proceeded to chant kirtan non-stop with bare feet through the hot streets of Hilo town for over an hour!  Simply amazing!

My Mata was visiting me at that time from the mainland, and there she was in her late seventies, marching along with his irresistible śakti as he glorified the Supreme Lord. (She is a staunch Catholic, by the way!)

After the Ratha-yātrā parade, I secured a County Park facility to serve prasādam to the devotees. I asked Mahārāja if he would give my Mata a devotee name. He knew her name was Mary because she was also at my house while he stayed there. As he was sitting and taking prasādam he looked up at her and smilingly said, “Mamatā. Mamatā means motherly affection.”

This wonderful pure devotee is so incredible; he melts my heart and gives me the strength to go on in my quest to please my Śrīla Prabhupāda, A C Bhaktiedānta Svāmi. 


—Jagaddhātrī Dasi, Hawaii






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