FOREWARD
– by Giriraj Swami
According to Vedic tradition, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, advents himself in the current age in the guise of a devotee to teach people, by his own example, how to serve and love God. Thus Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, the “Golden Avatāra,” descended in Bengal five centuries ago to demonstrate the chanting of the divine names of God. Caitanya himself traveled and taught extensively throughout India, but he predicted, pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grām/ sarvatra pracār haibe mor nāma: “In every town and village of every country in the world, my [Kṛṣṇa’s] name will be sung.”
Although for centuries Vedic scholars and devotees were aware of Caitanya’s prediction, they could not imagine how it could be fulfilled. Even one of Caitanya’s contemporaries asked him how such an event could take place, and Caitanya replied, “I will send the commander-in-chief of My devotees (sena-pati bhakta).”
In 1896, the person destined to fulfill the prediction of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya took birth in Calcutta and, in 1965, sailed from India to the United States in pursuance of his spiritual master’s order to fulfill the desire and prediction of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Thus His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda arrived in New York City in 1965, without friends or possessions- just the $7 travel allowance the Indian Government permitted-yet with firm faith in his guru’s order and deep love for all souls.
In twelve years, Śrīla Prabhupāda was to circle the globe fourteen times and establish a worldwide mission to fulfill the desire and prediction of Śrī Caitanya and his own spiritual mentor, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thākura. He assembled a large “army” of devotees, and one of the prominent generals in that army was His Holiness Indradyumna Swami. Although Śrīla Prabhupāda personally visited every continent and many of the major cities of the world, he entrusted the work of bringing the holy name and the culture of Kṛṣṇa consciousness to innumerable other cities, towns and villages to stalwart disciples like Indradyumna Swami Mahārāja. Prabhupāda personally instructed him to “Preach boldly and have faith in the holy names!”-an instruction Mahārāja has kept within his heart and made every effort to fulfill, even till today.
Through Diary of a Traveling Preacher we will accompany His Holiness Indradyumna Swami Mahārāja as he travels throughout the world to spread the divine name of Kṛṣṇa and the merciful message of Śrī Caitanya and his own spiritual master, Śrīla Prabhupāda. We will accompany Mahārāja as he ventures into the snows of Siberia at ten degrees below zero, as he prostrates himself in the sacred dust of India at above forty degrees Celsius, as he introduces people young and old, rich and poor, learned and simple, to Kṛṣṇa consciousness on four continents, and most of all, as he brings the holy name to almost every town and village in Poland through his beloved Festival of India Tour-often against fierce opposition. In the course of Mahārāja’s adventures, we will meet his worthy assistant, Śrī Prahlāda; Micky and Sherry, business people from America who met Mahārāja in India; the Festival of India’s ox, Raju; and innumerable other colorful characters, including Mahārāja’s mother, who made a dRāmatic phone call to him in her last days on Earth. Mahārāja is also introspective, and he balances his intense service with periods of deep study and absorption in the holy land of Vṛndāvana, India. His Diary beckons us into his spiritual contemplations. Mahārāja tells his story eloquently, with sincerity. clarity, dRāma and humor.
I was privileged to spend almost two weeks with Mahārāja on his Festival of India Tours in 1997 and 1998, and I can honestly say that my times with him and his devotees there were among the happiest in my love. I felt as if I had fallen into a vast vat of love-love for Mahārāja, love for people in general, love for devotees-love for God. Literally, I could not leave his party, so bound was I love. Even now I remember how I put my head out of the window of the car as it left Mahārāja’s camp to carry me to the airport and saw two hundred devotees, led by Mahārāja, jubilantly dancing and chasing behind the car, as Śrī Prahlāda led them ever so sweetly in singing Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare to my favorite tune, Śrī Prahlāda’s “Happy Melody.” Finally the car accelerated and left the devotees behind-yet their memory and their love lingered in my mind and heart. I felt such sublime separation from them that I cried all the way from their camp in Gryfice, in the extreme northwest of Poland, to the airport in Warsaw in the East. And my only solace and greatest joy was hearing- continuously-Śrī Prahlada and his group chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa on the tape that the devotees had given me before I left. I listened to the tape almost non-stop until I emerged from London Heathrow Airport, six hours later, to meet the devotees who awaited me there.
Through the Diary we can all participate in a most wonderful festival, a festival of association and love. One great devotee of Lord Caitanya prayed:
so ‘py āścaryamayaḥ prabhur nayanayor yan nabhavād gocaro
yan nasvadi hareḥ padāmbuja-rasas tad yad gataṁ tad gatam
etāvan mama tāvad astu jagatiṁ ye ‘nye ‘py alaṅkurvate
śrī-caitanya-pade nikhata-manasas tair yat prasaṅgotsavaḥ
“Because the wonderful Lord never came before my eyes, and because I never tasted the transcendental nectar of service to His lotus feet, I simply pray to attain the jubilant festival of the association of those great souls now decorating this world, whose hearts are fixed at Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet.” (Śrī Caitanya-candrāmṛta 50)
I hope the readers of Diary of a Traveling Preacher will enjoy the jubilant festival of association offered by His Holiness Indradyumna Mahārāja and his devotees through the pages of this wonderful book.
Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Giriraj Swami