Remembering Kusakratha Prabhu By Vishoka Dasa

[krsna]

 

 

 

By Vishoka Dasa

 

Kusakratha Prabhu’s life is an inspiration to the devotees of Lord Krishna. I first saw him in the San Francisco temple, where he was staying for a short time, just coming from the NY temple.

 

He was sensitive to the cold weather, and so he wore pants or jeans under his dhoti. He chanted japa very, very slowly, carefully pronouncing each syllable of the maha-mantra, taking several hours to chant his rounds. This is a great example for us all, to remember to slow down and carefully enunciate the holy names during our japa.

 

I believe that he went to San Diego after that, where he told me that he would sometimes eat 20 japatis in a single sitting. Eventually he settled down in LA, and it was there at New Dwarka that I got to know him. I went to his room occasionally and we would talk for some time. He taught Sanskrit to the kids in gurukula and served with the BBT.

 

Kusa was a transcendental genius, and a bit of an avadhuta. He was always in high spirits. Often we would see each other at a distance, on Watseka, and he would immediately raise both arms above his head, in the Lord Caitanya mudra, walking briskly with a gleeful look on his face. I would raise my arms too as we both shouted out “Nitai-Gour!” He had a cowherd boy sense of humor and his speech was always full of Vaikuntha happiness.

 

Kusakratha was resolute in purpose, reminding me of the Gita verse, ekaha kuru nanadana, “Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one.”BG2.41. He utilized every moment for his service, being requested by devotees to produce the Krishna Library Corporation editions, the translations of some of the Gosvami’s books. He was a transcendental genius, being precocious as a boy, in music and literature. Along with being a genius, he was eccentric like an avadhuta, always inattentive to the exterior world, because of his constant internal absorption in Krishna and His service. A typical genius, like Einstein, is usually eccentric and absent minded, being absorbed in material lofty subjects like physics, trying to figure out the Lord’s material energy, with quantum theories and so on, but such genius is inconsequential to the real goal of life. Fortunately for us, Kusakratha’s genius was not wasted on material calculations, but was properly used for glorification of Lord Sri Krsna, by rendering transcendental literatures of the Gosvamis into English, only for the glorification of Sri Uttamasloka, meaning “one who is worshipped by the best of selected Sanskrit verses.”

 

Srila Prabhupada writes in Cc that he recommends for some devotees to read Lalita-madhava and other works of the Gosvamis, [and I may add this recommendation, after one has read Srila Prabhupada’s books 2-3 times], and these are his exact words- “Actually going to Vrndavana involves taking shelter of the six Gosvamis by reading the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Vidagdha-madhava, Lalita-madhava and the other books that they have given. In this way one can understand the transcendental loving affairs between Radha and Krsna.”Adi 8.31P. Srila Prabhupada made several other statements like this, and I believe there was a morning walk comment that he aspired that his disciples would finish the translations of the works of the Gosvamis. Kusa took up this service, requested by devotees, so that we could take advantage of Srila Prabhupada’s recommendations above.

 

After 1977 some devotees formed the Vaisnava Institute, which was later changed to the Krishna Library Corporation. The purpose was to fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s desire that the works of the six Gosvamis be printed. The Krishna Library was mainly Kusakratha dasa as the translator, with several members of the board to oversee his productions. The board members were comprised of several devotees like Rabindranatha and Srikanta, mature disciples of Srila Prabhupada, who all encouraged Kusa to do this service. In this way, the edict of Srila Krishna dasa Kaviraja was fulfilled, that being that no one should attempt to write or translate transcendental literatures without being sanctioned and blessed by other Vaisnavas.

 

So, Kusa was single-minded in unalloyed devotion to his work. For this reason, when I came over for a visit, I had to think of many philosophical points and questions to pose to him about one of his books, or some passage and it’s meaning. I had to keep the philosophic topics flowing, because if the conversation got a hole in it and started to sink, then he would say, “time to get back to work.” I never wanted to leave because such discussions were so nectarine and rare. He never wasted a moment.

 

When he first went to India and arrived in Vrndavan, he told me it only took him 5 minutes to know that he belonged in Vrindavan, and he decided to move his whole operation to Vrndavan. He said that he would sneak into the prasadam hall at odd times, when nobody was around. Because, if there was a crowd, then inevitably someone would say, “hey kush, how’s it going?” and then he’d be captured for about 20 minutes of prajalpa and distraction. He didn’t care for that, he just liked doing his work for Krishna. Kusa also told me that only a few people on the planet were able to make conversation in Sanskrit, and he would sometimes converse with them in that way.

 

I remember one night, I accosted Kusa on Watseka, and we stopped on the sidewalk, leaning against the fence, telling a few jokes, with Kusa laughing hard. [Humor of a transcendental nature, of course.] I was thinking, “here I am, hanging out with Kusa on Watseka, cracking jokes, what an oddity.” After a few minutes, he was back to work. It didn’t matter if it was day or night, he was always going full throttle at his work.

 

He told me about the most amazing book order I’ve ever heard of. It must have been a Guinness world record for a book sale in a single day, for a solitary self-publisher. Here was just one man writing, translating, producing and printing and selling hundreds of titles, all by himself. One day he got a call from a German devotee, who asked him how much it would cost to get two copies of every book Kusa had in stock, plus the shipping to Germany. Kusa calculated for a while and then told the German devotee it was, [if memory serves], about 5,000 dollars. The German devotee told Kusa that he was writing out the check, as they spoke. What a sale. What a flood of nectar for the German devotees.

 

He had a funny way of getting prasadam sometimes. Cooking was not his proclivity, as it took too much of his time. Living in the green apartments there in New Dwarka, he said there were always an occasional Vaisnava gathering, or some birthday party, in one of the green apartments. Kusa had this uncanny sixth sense of knowing exactly when the prasadam was about to be served, and at the opportune time he would crash the party with his big steel plate, and the servers would load him up to the top. In that way he would get prasadam that lasted another day. At feasts in the temple he would come with a huge bowl and tell the server in his ever-jovial voice, “don’t be shy,” and they would fill up his bowl, and that would hold him over to the next day.

 

His rooms were always full of books, and in my mind it was compared to a pastime of the sixteenth century, when Srila Jiva Gosvami formed the first traveling sankirtan party, which consisting of Shrinivas, Narottam, and Shyamananda. They left Vrindavan with the manuscripts of the original works by Rupa, Sanatan, Gopal Bhatta, Raghunath Das, and Jiva, in a large wooden chest. These manuscripts were the only existing copies of these works, and so this wooden chest was said to be a treasure of “the most precious gems.” During their journey, one night the chest was stolen by some dacoits, and afterwards there ensued the very nice pastime of how Srinivas recovered the stolen manuscripts and how King Birhambir became his disciple.

 

In that way, Kusa’s room was a treasure chest of the “most precious gems” of thousands of books of the Gosvamis and Vedic literatures. These books were stacked up all over the living room and other rooms, and it was difficult to walk around his apartment. Kusa lived and breathed books as his life and soul. He produced thousands of books, and was always producing new titles. In fact, he also wrote several books of his own poetry, in Sanskrit and English, several of which I have, very amazing books. He explained to me the business end of it all, how there was a mystical hand in the printing and selling of books. He said how he would send new titles to the printers, get hundreds printed, and then get a printing bill of several thousand dollars, with no plan of how to pay it. Then shortly after he would sell a whole bunch of books, which would cover the printing bill. Then the same thing would happen all over again, he would print a whole bunch of books, get a huge bill, and then sell enough books to pay off the bill, and then be broke again. He was going on, with faith that Krsna would provide, and the books expanded unlimitedly.

 

Kusa employed a few devotees to do the typing of the manuscripts into text form, but he did a lot of this typing himself. I asked if he was a good typist, and how fast he was. He told me that he only used his two forefingers, never learning the keyboard like most people do. He taught himself a method of memorizing keys only for his two fingers, and said he was “the fastest two finger picker west of the Mississippi.” He gave me a little demonstration and he was right, his fingers were blazing fast.

 

Kusa was totally resolute and fixed in a single purpose of doing this book service, which was his service to Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna. For this reason, Kusa was completely oblivious to the world around him, because he was always thinking of what to do next. You might call him an avadhuta, because he wasn’t so much aware as to the degree of neglect of his personal appearance and so on. He just didn’t see the external world around him.

 

He had this bundi where one section of the coat was completely disintegrated, should have been thrown away long ago, but he wore it like nothing was strange. His apartment was very untidy, and the books were stacked up with little organization. He told me that a certain devotee would sometimes come and clean the apartment and arrange the books in order. But, in a few weeks it would all be back to normal, chaotic and untidy. This is totally excusable though, because Kusa just didn’t have time to think about anything but his service. He showed me his astrological chart, done by Srikara dasa, and I noticed that Venus was in the 12th house, which always means untidy appearance and unkempt house, and so on. Of course, Mercury was very strong in the chart, indicating “a man of letters,” an author, or dealer of books.

 

His apartment at one time got infested with roaches, and I could see highways of roaches commuting on the wall, more congested than the Santa Monica freeway. But, being a roach in Kusa’s house wasn’t so bad for the roach, I guess, as Srila Bhaktivinode wrote that he prayed to be born in a devotee’s house, even as an insect. Kusa was completely oblivious to the roaches, didn’t see them at all, when some other person would be freaking out. Kusa handed me one of his new books, and it had a baby roach crawling on it. It surprised me that Kusa didn’t see the roach, maybe he did see it, I wasn’t sure. I said, “even the cockroaches are liberated.” Kusa laughed inaudibly so hard, that his whole body shook while rocking back and forth. Those were great times in my life.

 

One day, by great fortune, he treated me to a narration of Vidagdha-madhava in the local Laundromat. I was walking around the temple at night and saw Kusa carrying his laundry, so I walked with him to the Laundromat behind the temple. The subject of Vidagdha-madhava came up, and Kusa decided to narrate to me a synopsis of the pastime of Vidagdha-madhava, written by Srila Rupa Gosvami, which are very intricate pastimes of Lord Krsna and His devotees. While he did laundry, he recounted the whole story off the top of his head. Ordinarily, if I were to read such a book, I would have to read it over and over again, just to slightly understand just a fraction of one such amazing pastimes of Krsna. But Kusa knew it all by heart, and recited it like he perfectly understood it. And hearing it, my heart understood it at the moment, but I’ve forgotten it all since then. I was thinking of how only a very few devotees on the whole planet even knew these pastimes, even read the book, and even fewer understood them, and I was lucky to hear the straight narration of pastimes, in synopsis, from Kusa, and it was a river of nectar.

 

Here are a few of some of the many verses composed by Kusakratha, and these particular verses are personal aspirations of the highest order, his fervent petitions to Lord Krishna for service-

 

From “Sri Vedanta-rahasya” by Kusakratha dasa, English only-

 

Some day will I, acutely aware of how Lord Krsna is concerned for the welfare of the conditioned souls, earnestly preach the glories of Lord Krsna’s holy name to the people of this world?

 

Some day, simply by speaking the word ‘Krsna’ will I place lotus-limbed Lord Krsna in the hearts of all who hear me?

 

When, as I walk in Vrndavana and see the holy places of Lord Krsna’s pastimes, will tears flow from my eyes, and my heart become stunned, overcome with bliss and love?

 

When, chanting japa of Lord Krsna’s names, will I suddenly see Radha and Krsna, splendid like a lightning flash and a dark monsoon cloud?

 

When, walking in charming Vrndavana forest, suddenly seeing lotus-eyed Lord Krsna, and falling down to offer dandavat obeisances, will I recite many sweet and poetic prayers?

 

Yes, my dear godbrother, Kusakratha prabhu, I’m sure you’ve attained the treasured goals of these pure desires expressed in hundreds of your original verses. I’m sure you are walking in Vrndavana right now, with tears flowing from your eyes. You were always thinking, speaking, chanting and hearing the holy names of our Lordships, Sri Sri Radha-Krsna, every minute of your life. You have placed lotus-limbed Lord Krsna in many devotees’ hearts, and even my hard heart as well. Thank you so much for your life of dedication, all glories to your service, I will always think of you, and Krishna willing, may we all be reunited some day, in the green pastures of Goloka.

 

Begging to remain your servant, and a friend feeling your separation, Vishoka dasa.

 

[krsna]

From HG Ganesha dasa (ACBSP) written and posted on free forum of the PAMHO NET Feb 23 2003

 

 

 

[ Expressing my gratitude to Kusakratha prabhu for his selfless service for so many years.]

 

Kusakratha prabhu was formally initiated by Srila Prabhupada in New York on July 21, 1971. Srila Prabhupada was in a humorous mood on that day and was joking with some of his disciples. When Srila Prabhupada asked Kusakratha prabhu to recite the four regulative principles he did so, but stumbled on the last one saying, “um, no intoxication”. Srila Prabhupada then said, “Which you like best? Which of them? ” and there was laughter from the crowd of devotees. Kusakratha prabhu then said, “You are reading my mind, Srila Prabhupäda,” to which Srila Prabhupäda replied laughingly, “All right. Don’t do that again.”

 

I first met His Grace Kusakratha prabhu during my first visit to the USA in summer (July/August) of 1978. It was the time for LA rathayatra. There were many sannyasis present at that time such as Acyutananda, Ramesvara, etc. There were literally hundreds & hundreds of devotees who had come from all over the continental US, as well as from many other countries such as Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, Australia, etc., who all enthusiastically participated in Srila Prabhupada’s Krsna conscious society, ISKCON. Having come from a relatively isolated continent which was very rarely visited by outside devotees at the time, this was the biggest event I had ever attended and I was completely overwhelmed to experience the greatness, and the spiritual enormity of Srila Prabhupada’s movement and his preaching efforts around the world. As far as I am aware, the LA rathayatra was at the time, the largest Krsna conscious festival in the world outside of the Jagannatha rathayatra in Sri Puri dhama.

 

As I had been a book distributor for some years, one day I decided to visit the BBT offices, just to see what went on there. When I entered there were only a couple of devotees there, since everybody else was busy with the rathayatra preparations. The devotee who greeted me was a very meek and mild-mannered person who was dressed in typical brahmacari fashion for that time. The dhoti and kurta were completely wrinkled and seemed not to fit properly. I think some kurta buttons were also put into the wrong holes. His head was shaved and the few hairs which constituted his sikha seemed to stand to attention at the back of his head. He had a smile on his face but he seemed rather awkward or embarrassed at having to deal with me. This was Kusakratha prabhu.

 

We only spoke for a short while but during that time he gave me what was then, a copy of a completely unknown manuscript which he had recently translated. It was called the Sri Nityanandastakam. I could hardly believe my good fortune! Having access to such a wonderful stotra as this, was hardly comprehensible to my limited intelligence. I still have that same copy which we use to sing with and glorify Sri Nityananda prabhu every year on His avirbhava.

 

Over the proceeding years, because of our different places of serving Srila Prabhupada, Kuskratha prabhu and I didn’t come into contact again until around 1986, again at LA rathayatra time. I would always try and acknowledge him whenever I saw him. But it wasn’t until around 1990 or so that our paths converged in a more serious fashion. It was around this time that I found out about his efforts to translate and publish himself, the hundreds of voluminous, esoteric literatures of the Vaisnava acaryas of our Gaudiya parampara. Kusakratha prabhu was living alone (which I suspect he had already been doing for some years) and having to pay rent, utilities, buy computer equipment (the days of 5.25″ floppy discs!) and whatever other expenses living alone incurs…all as a penniless brahmacari, trying to do this service for the vaisnava community.

 

It had been my habit for many years to try and acquire whatever Bhakti sastras (besides Srila Prabhupada’s translations) were available. So when I learned of Kusakratha prabhu’s endeavor to undertake such a weighty, time-consuming and valuable service, I was filled with great joy. I immediately bought whatever few books he had published (Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana prabhu’s Aisvarya Kadambini), and asked him to please keep me informed about everything he produced. Over the next ten years Kusakratha prabhu began to personally translate, edit, type and publish hundreds of these incomparably valuable literatures, all at his own expense and trouble and with no help from anyone. However, not having any help was not his only problem. There were persons within the vaisnava book-publishing world actively trying to prevent his translation work because they thought his efforts were in competition with theirs and that they should somehow or other reap the profits from such work.

 

Whenever I had the opportunity to come to LA it would always be my priority to visit Kusakratha prabhu’s apartment to find out what new valuable nectar was available there. The only difficulty with that was actually entering his apartment. Because as soon as he opened his door (which was also sometimes difficult) one would see dozens of boxes, hundreds of books and thousands of pages strewn over the apartment floors from one end to the other. In fact it was not possible to actually see the floor.

 

We would converse for some time and discuss what the new ‘nectar’ was and occasionally I would inquire about what seemed to be spelling errors in the books. He would explain that as he had to do all the work personally, there would no doubt be some mistakes here and there, which he was sorry for.

 

A few years ago when we were speaking on the phone, Kusakratha prabhu told me of his plan to relocate to Sri Brndabana dhama. I already had a residence in the dhama and I was very happy to hear of his decision, because this is the goal of all followers of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Rupa Gosvami.

 

During the years between 1990 and 2000 I was always complaining to him that his books were too expensive, especially considering their size. But he would explain that because there was such a dearth of interest in such literatures even within ISKCON worldwide, it was not possible for him to print more than a hundred at one time. This fact obviously drove the price up enormously.

 

I was also always trying to convince him to put all his books on a CD so one could have easy access and portability to these sastric jewels, since traveling is such an intrinsic activity for western Vaisnavas. Around the year 2000, we met again in Brndabana and while trying to persuade him once again about the viability of a CD, he happily informed me that someone had bootlegged quite a few of his books and had transferred them to CD. He even gave me the names of a few devotees whom he thought had copies of the CD, so that I may acquire my own.

 

However the most amazing thing was not the fact that he was happy that his books were being illegally copied onto CD, bootlegged and sold by others for personal profit, despite his years of sole personal struggle; neither was it the fact that he was willing to give me the names of the bootleggers from whom I could obtain such a copy; the truly amazing thing was that Kusakratha prabhu had no such CD copy himself! Therefore it was no surprise to read of Kusakratha prabhu’s ‘pennilessness’ today. He is a person who has strived his utmost to serve Srila Prabhupada’s mission for the major part of his glorious life, despite attempts by others to curtail that service. Glorious too, is his attitude that others are obtaining his translations, though he does not profit from that financially.

 

Since our first meeting in 1978, I was of the opinion that Kusakratha prabhu was rather idiosyncratic in his lifestyle and methodology. But all of us are that, to one degree or another. The universality of Krsna consciousness is such that when one can find a like-minded soul who is serious about sravanam-kirtanam and devoid of false-ego, a person who has no desire for position, name or fame within the (ISKCON) society, who is happy simply to try and render service to Srila Prabhupada, who will not be dissuaded from such service attitude even though the prevailing ‘powers that be’ may harangue and criticize him from all sides, one should eagerly try for that person’s sanga. Because it is that universality alone which binds us eternally at Srimati Radhika’s lotus feet. Kusakratha prabhu is such a person whose sanga should be sought.

 

Srila Prabhupada often stated how uniquely important Krsna conscious book distribution is. But someone had to write and/or translate those books for the western world. We know from history that some great personalities like the Gosvamis write those books, while Srila Prabhupada both wrote AND distributed his books. Kusakratha prabhu’s great service to Srila Prabhupada & the world is that he has given us all access to the unlimited mine of jewels that is the books of the great Vaisnava acaryas. By his unflinching efforts we all have the opportunity to enter into the intimate realizations of Sri Krsna’s confidential servitors. Everybody is indebted to Kusakratha prabhu.

 

The last time I saw Kusakratha prabhu was in Brndaban dhama in 2001. He still has the awkward looking sikha and his dhoti still looks like it isn’t wrapped properly. He still eats out of whatever singular utensil he ca find. Ever since I met him I have told others that he is an avadhuta. He is a real brahmacari’s brahmacari, with no concern for foppery or attracting the opposite sex.

 

I will personally pray that the Lord keeps Kusakratha prabhu within our presence for many years to come, despite the prognosis of the doctors. I would also humbly urge the vaisnava community to give generously to aid his medical & other needs so that we may all get the chance to serve one more pure-hearted vaisnava.

 

TRANSLATION While so traversing the earth, he simply performed duties to please the Supreme Lord Hari. His occupation was pure and independent. He was constantly sanctified by taking his bath in holy places, although he was in the dress of a mendicant and had no hair dressing nor a bed on which to lie. Thus he was always unseen by his various relatives. SB. 3.1.19 PURPORT The first and foremost duty of a pilgrim is to satisfy the Supreme Lord Hari. While traveling as a pilgrim, one should not be worried about pleasing society. There is no need to depend on social formalities or occupation or dress. One should remain always absorbed in the function of pleasing the Lord. Thus sanctified by thought and action, one is able to realize the Supreme Lord by the process of a pilgrim’s journey.

 

Hoping this meets Kusakratha prabhu in good health I remain, your servant, Ganesha dasa [ACBSP]

 

[krsna]

More Reflections On Kushakrata Prabhu

by Nava Jauvana das (ACBSP)

 

Posted November 16, 2005

 

We first met as brahmacaries, at New York’s Henry St. temple in 1971. Kushakrata remained a brahmacari for the rest of his life, while I’ve already been in three ashrams. After NY, we met again in Los Angeles in the mid to late ‘70s where he began his “career” as a Sanskrit scholar. I don’t know the details of how he started to translate, but one of Kushakrata’s most amazing qualities was how prolific he was. When I asked him much later, how many books he had translated he replied: “about 500 vaisnava texts.” He published several hundred books, under the aegis of The Krsna Institute. Many important texts are still in manuscript form. He told me he had been cheated by the person distributing his books, and was no longer getting any royalties so it was impossible to continue publishing. His latest work, started when he was living (and dying) in Vrindavan dham, was original English poetry, in sonnet form, of the pastimes of Radha and Krishna in Vrindavan. The last time we met, just a month before he died, he told me he had written something like 30,000 poems. These are all hand written and unpublished. He would often stay up throughout the night writing.

 

We were never close friends, but when we both turned up in Vrindavan, in late 2000, I made it a point to greet him whenever I saw him. It was clear to me that he was not experienced in living in India, so I offered him any help I could. Once, he needed to return to the US to get a new visa. He didn’t know any travel agents and was in anxiety about planning his trip. He wanted to return to Vrindavan as soon as possible. I introduced him to the best travel agent I knew in Mathura, who organized his ticket. Kusha also somehow arranged to stay at the Iskcon temple in Brooklyn while in NY. Everything was set for the trip and he left. The next week I saw him back in Vrindavan. I wondered if there had been a problem. No, he said, everything went perfectly. He landed in NY, got his visa at the consulate, spent a few nights at the Brooklyn temple and returned to India. The whole trip took 4 or 5 days, including his flights.

 

After renting an apartment at the MVT, Kusha moved, due to his finances, to a cheaper room downtown, across from the Radha Raman mandir. He would daily take a ricksaw from town to Raman Reti to have darshan of Sri Sri Krishna Balaram and Radha Shyamasundar. He would also purchase maha prasad. A large plate of the lunch offering would last him for 2 days.

 

Once in March, when it was already 32 degrees centigrade outside (90 F), I saw him walking around in a winter coat. I asked him why he was wearing such a heavy coat in the heat. “Oh, it’s time for Holi,” he said. “It’s my protective suit.” In Vrindavan, Holi lasts for a week, and the chemical dyes that people throw at you are intense. I usually stayed indoors for the week, but Kusha had his own strategy: a winter coat with a hood.

 

Kusha was usually cheerful, not in a showy way, but with a quirky kind of detached lightness. After he was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his throat, he decided not to treat it. If it goes away by itself, fine, he told me. Otherwise, he would die in Vridnavan. No loss either way. He smiled. The only attachment that I could see in him was his desire to remain in the dham. He was determined to stay in Vrindavan regardless of circumstances. As the cancer progressed, his throat became enlarged to 3 times its normal size and his voice became thin and high pitched. Still, he continued to write his poetry and live on his own until the very last days. I was no longer staying in Vrindavan then, but during a visit to the dham this summer, just after Janmastami, we met at the MVT for the last time. He was bedridden, practically a skin and bones skeleton, with a beard and unshaved head. What impressed me was his clarity and his beautiful eyes which reflected a peaceful and fearless consciousness. He told me that he asked the doctor how long he had to live, and the doctor said three to six months. Kusha relayed this information in a clinical way, smiling. We talked more about his poetry which, he said, was getting more difficult to write because of his condition. When it was time to say goodbye, I held his hands in mine. I told him if he needed anything we could arrange it through the devotees at MVT. He thanked me. I asked him to give me his blessings. He did.

 

A month later I was in Holland and I read on the internet that Kushakrata had left his body on 7th October in Vrindavan, surrounded by devotees. I was happy for him. He was liberated from the disease and if any of us are going to be liberated from the material world in this life, Kushakrata was the most qualified among us. Learned, modest, detached and eccentric, without any hype or duplicity, with a prolific ability to serve Krishna in his own unique way and a firm determination to reside in Vrindavan dham, he was an inspiration and an exemplary vaisnava. He didn’t carve a big profile or make a show of his bhakti and his jnana. He didn’t attract followers. He remained simple, absorbed in Krishna consciousness. I am grateful for knowing him, and for the small interactions that we had. For him I would like to make a nice samadhi in my mind, so I can remember him and offer him the dandavats he is due.