Qualities of Jayananda Prabhu

1. Karandhara remembers how Jayananda preached to him on his first day in

the temple. As they worked together preparing a little garden for Srila
Prabhupada at the old Los Angeles temple, Jayananda said, “You know,
things don't always go just right in Krishna Consciousness. You have to
keep chanting.” At the time, Karandhara couldn't imagine how anything
could go wrong in Krishna's service. Years later, however, as he found
himself still remembering those words, Karandhara could appreciate the
real potency of what Jayananda had said. “So many things may come and
go. Just have faith in the Name.”

2. Vishoka Dasa: And now, dear bhaktas, this was Jayananda's final gesture
of love and sweetness, and total disregard for his body. It came the time,
as it always does, when one is forced to leave, and finally I had to go. I
had no idea then that it was the last time I'd see him. I said my good-
byes and turned to leave, walked away a little and turned back, to my
horror, to see Jayananda getting out of his bed. I knew what he was
going to do. I protested, I told him to stop that nonsense and get back in
the bed where he belonged. He would not listen to me. He sat up, got out
of bed, came over to me, and bowed his weak body down to the floor, his
head touching the floor, asking me to accept his obeisances. Such
sweetness and love! Such tears now, when I remember it! Such disregard
for his body! We paid obeisances to each other, and hugged.

3. Try not to be happy.

“What?” they say, “How can I be happy without a constant pursuit of

bodily and mental gratification?” They may hear Mahaprabhu's mandate,
na dhanam, na janam, na sundarim, from Sri Siksastakam, stanza four “O
almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire
beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want
Your causeless devotional service birth after birth.”
And they will say, “What is this madness? You people are crazy! What?
No woman, no money, no circle of admirers – are you nuts?” What is day
for the materialist is night for the transcendentalist, and vice-versa. But ...
the Hare Krishnas have a secret formula for happiness, which is – just quit
trying to be happy!! The more you try to be happy in this world ... just
means more misery. Happiness comes on its own accord, as does misery,
without separate endeavor. And real happiness comes when you stop trying
to be happy, and chant Krishna's Names. Just glorify God and chant His
Holy Names and forget yourself for a while, try to see our tiny lives in
perspective of the vastness of the cosmos and the greatness of God.
We ask everyone to try this formula and feel the results. There is a bumper
sticker that says it all, “I feel so much better ... now that I've given up all
hope.” This is our formula, that our hope has been misplaced in ordinary
things, but it is a stickler to really understand and apply. A lot of us
understand this concept, but so many of us still linger on with petty selfish
desires. That is why we are here in the material world. We are here because
we harbor selfish desires, apart from Krishna. Now we know the
philosophy and we try to become pure. If we were pure, really pure, then
we would be what Srila Prabhupada describes as a pure devotee, or one
who desires only Krishna's happiness, even if it means great inconvenience
to the self.
Come on ... let's 'fess up. Speaking for myself, at least, there are so many
desires that linger back there in the cobwebs of the mind. What to speak of
the back of the mind, more like ALL OVER the mind! Working for Krishna
and His jivas should be the ticket, but somehow I still reserve concern for
the self, thinking that the material ego and body have their needs, and so
forth. Attachments are there, be it home and hearth, or it may just be a nice
wristwatch, or it may be your favorite dhoti. Or else it's fame and a little
recognition now and then. It's all material ego attachment and does not fit
into the penultimate equation of “Krishna's happiness is my desire,” or
“Srila Prabhupada's order is my only goal.”
The realization of this may be there in the theoretical realm, but
practical application ... well, that is another thing. That is where
Jayananda was light years ahead of the pack. He was not on the
theoretical platform, rather he was doing it every waking (and perhaps
sleeping as well) moment of his day – kirtaniya sada hari. This was his
marvel of a life, one that is nearly impossible to imitate, and one that
is very hard to understand, even for the seasoned bhaktas.
Jayananda did this so spontaneously and effortlessly. He was quite an
amazing man. He always worked and served for the sake of others because
he knew that all other souls were parts of Krishna, Krishna was always
there in their hearts, and that is how we serve our Gurudeva and Krishna –
by serving His parts and parcels. I will tell some stories now which will
illustrate the compassion of Jayananda and how he always worked for the
benefit of others.
4. It was the summer of '75, and we were hustling like anything, getting ready
for Ratha-yatra and the coming of Srila Prabhupada. We all greeted Srila
Prabhupada at the Frisco airport, and Jayananda was there with an umbrella
and bouquet for him. There is a very nice photo of this in the Vyasa Puja
book for '97. You can look at the photo and see the person holding the
umbrella over Prabhupada, with flowers in his hands
for Prabhupada, but can't see the person's face.
One could notice that this person wore a cuffed
white shirt, like a business shirt. Jayananda
didn't even have a decent kurta to wear to the
airport, and he wore this dress-type shirt along
with his dhoti. But he looked good in it; it was
totally him, Jayananda. And Prabhupada was smiling
so wonderfully. You could see the relationship,
the master and the servant, and how Prabhupada was
happy to be with his dear servant, Jayananda.
Then we took Srila Prabhupada back to his room at
the Berkeley temple. It was like a beehive,
hundreds of devotees madly buzzing around, running
here and there, back and forth.
So many devotees had come from all over the country
for Srila Prabhupada and Frisco Ratha-yatra,
including Vishnujana Swami and Tamal Krishna
Goswami and the bus of Their Lordships Sri Sri
Radha-Damodara, along with many other servitors.
Everybody was ready to do anything just to get into
Srila Prabhupada's room, to bask in his glory, to
get a ray of special mercy, to catch a glance, to
see a facial expression, to behold the slightest
sublime gesture of His Divine Grace.
Everyone was a nectar hound, as far as they could
push it. Mostly the senior devotees could remain
in Prabhupada's room for a long time, and a few
other lucky ones. But ... there was a blatant non-
presence, someone was very conspicuous by his
absence – Jayananda was not there, hardly at all.
Finally Srila Prabhupada articulated his concern,
“Where is Jayananda?”
I was sent from Berkeley to Frisco carrying this
question respectfully on my head. Arriving at the
Ratha site, there was Jayananda working hard. I
relayed the message to him that Prabhupada was
missing him, and why did he not come around to the
 room where Prabhupada stayed. Jayananda's face
winced, and he looked down and said with very deep
conviction, “No ... I'm too fallen ... my
relationship with my spiritual master ... is
through my service!” He went back to work. He knew
that pulling off this Ratha-yatra in grand style
was his service, and this was more important then
personally being in the room with the master whom
he served and loved so much. Jayananda was willing
to forego any kind of “spiritual happiness” in
order to serve his master, solely for the benefit
of his master. Actually, later he did dutifully
report to Srila Prabhupada's room.

5. Right on up to the festival day in New York,

Jayananda was becoming increasingly crippled with
the swollen lymph glands on his legs. He could
hardly walk. Especially during the last few days
before the parade, nobody got any sleep at all;
that kind of schedule was very rough for us young,
strapping youths, so certainly it must have been
devastating for Jayananda with his failing health.
But the amazing thing was that this crippled and
hobbling Jayananda miraculously danced and danced
and danced like an energetic teenager throughout
the entire Ratha-yatra parade! All the way down
Fifth Avenue from Central Park to Tompkin's Square
Park – fifty-two blocks – Jayananda was dancing
and chanting Hare Krishna while steering Lord
Jagannatha's cart in the lead. He sometimes turned
around and walked backwards in order to
enthusiastically look up at Lord Jagannatha's
smiling face, then he would turn around again and
skip forward, shouting “Jaya Jagannatha!” as he
raised one hand in the air. There is a movie taken
of that parade, and you can see Jayananda cavorting
about like a wild young stallion. So this was
incredible to witness such a level of
transcendental devotion being manifest in his
person, especially if you were aware that his body
 was actually very ill and unable to walk very well.
–Dasaratha-suta Dasa

So I saw Jayananda at that moment. He was just ... the

look on his face was so ecstatic, you know it was like
his crowning triumph. I couldn't help just bursting
into tears, and I turned around and Srila Prabhupada
also was crying, looking at Jayananda. And he said, “I
am so pleased with him because he is so sincere.”
Adi-keshava Dasa

6. He never stopped his love and bhakti for Krishna

and His jivas. He always talked of Srila
Prabhupada, whenever we had a break in our work he
would tell us some story about Prabhupada.
Jayananda really loved his spiritual master, and
his love for Prabhupada and Krishna means that he
loved everyone.
7.