Sripada Vaishnava Maharaja left this world around 7 PM on Monday, January 9 in the company of devotees and listening to a recording of Srila Govinda Maharaja.
He showed a life of generous service to the devotees of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga and could easily be recognized as one dedicated to preaching and serving the precepts of his exalted gurus, Srila A.C. Bhakti Vedanta Swami, Srila Sridhara Maharaja and Srila Govinda Maharaja.
Sripada Vaishnava Maharaja (Prabhu Sruta Srava) showed extraordinary affection to Srila Govinda Maharaja and almost completely neglected his own life to continuously serve Srila Govinda Maharaja during his last few years.
Srila Gurudeva not only happily accepted this service but was very eager to have the company of Prabhu Sruta Srava.
A Vaishnava lives in sound and Sripada Vaishnava Maharaja left us many of his sounds to guide us.
I was always highly appreciative of Prabhu Sruta Srava's "Sri Vaishnava Toshani" newsletter, especially the later versions that he posted on the internet (beginning around 1998).
Srila Gurudeva was exceedingly happy to see this book published for distribution. But could scarcely believe Sruta Srava prabhu could do it with his limited working knowledge of Bengali. He credited this feat to Sruta's shear determination to see it done.
Prabhu Sruta Srava was one of my dearest friends. During Srila Gurudeva's last visit to Soquel, he told me confidentially that he was "dying." He passed it off as a casual remark but I took it seriously and understood it was his way of telling me what was coming.
Srila Gurudeva described him variously as "The poorest man in America.", "a resident of the government guest house", "He has no ego.", and I'm sure many others that do not presently come to mind.
During the time of Srila Swami Maharaja, Prabhu Sruta Srava loved any connection he had with supporting book distribution. He loved to talk about his days woking in the BBT warehouse, and, as I remember, showing Srila Prabhupada how the forklift operated during one of Prabhupada's visits to LA.
During book distribution marathons Prabhu Sruta Srava would drive devotees to their distribution points. He would take them to LAX airport and keep their lockers filled with books by making trips back and forth from the warehouse to the airport.
Although seemingly shy to personally distribute books to the public, he was very enlivened to lead teams of book distributors and collectors, and they were enlivened by his leadership.
He was never far from book printing, publishing and distribution. He married Srimati Sanatani devi, also a famous book distributor, collector and sankirtan party leader.
From driving a forklift at the BBT warehouse, Prabhu Sruta Srava went to driving bobtail trucks.
When new loads of books were delivered by the printers, he would pick them up from the docks and airport in Los Angeles and carry them to the warehouse. Then again, he would take them from the warehouse back to the airport for shipping all over North America and perhaps other parts of the world.
To increase the efficiency of distribution, Prabhu Karandhara decided the BBT should start its own trucking operation to deliver books to the US and Canada. He bought and leased the BBT's own large tractor trailers (18 wheelers) and made Prabhu Sruta Srava the principle driver.
Sruta Srava loved this service. He had gone from delivering locker loads of books to the devotees at the LAX airport to 40,000 lb plus loads of books to temples all over most of North America. When he was driving, and unloading books, he was clearly a "man with a mission." He took it very seriously and wasted no time getting the job done.
I don't recall when I first met him, but it was probably during the LA Ratha Yatra of 1978 or 1980. He had already married Srimati Sanatani devi who I knew some years before as my principle competitor in book distribution in the Dallas temple. He was now a Gurukula teacher and obviously a learned scholar, well versed in Srila Prabhupada's books.
I know for certain we struck up an acquaintance
during my 1981 visit to LA when the topic of Srila Sridhara Maharaja was
"hot and heavy." He was not yet a full convert to the Sridhara Maharaja
movement, but he had pretty much had enough of the administration of the
LA temple, if not the greater ISKCON. Soon after this I went to India seeking sannyas
from Srila Sridhara Maharaja, and I believe he moved with his family to
Vaisalia, California. A large enclave of devotees, mostly from Los
Angeles, had moved into the area of Vaisalia and Badger, California. Sometime in the early 80"s, maybe as early as 1982,
I went with Sripada Goswami Maharaja, and I think Prabhu Yudhamanyu, to
visit some of the devotees in Badger (the families of Rshabhadeva, Sri
Govinda, and Brishakapi/Sureshwari). On the way we stopped to visit
Prabhu Sruta Srava and Srimati Sanatani devi. I remember thinking they
didn't seem to have much money but they very generously offered us all a
beautiful welcome and very nice prasadam. I thought, "Oh, these are
really devotees." That thought would later be followed by countless
confirmations of that fact. On the return trip from Badger to San Jose, I
believe we stopped at the house of Prabhu Hasyapriya and Srimati
Swarnangi devi. There was also a small baby, Vidura Krishna. He also moved to San Jose to be closer to the preaching of
Sripada Goswami Maharaja, the San Jose Temple and the
publication of Srila Sridhara Maharaja's books.
Prabhu Sruta Srava and his family always showed themselves to be
ready to serve the devotees in any way necessary.
I asked many times, but never got the actual recipe, for Sruta
Srava's burnt eggplant subji. I'm not sure it really matters. I
could never have made it equal the taste of his, when he cooked
for the Sunday feast in San Jose, or on some other occasion.
Sruta Srava lent invaluable help in so many ways. He became a
co-signer to the loan when it was necessary to refinance the San
Jose Temple. I believe he gave a substantial donation to help
purchase one of Goswami Maharaja's first Mac computers in 1984.
He transcribed many of the recordings of Srila Sridhara Maharaja
(some of which are now, or soon will be, available on our
website).
Prabhu Sruta Srava bought his own truck and started his own
trucking business. At one time he had two trucks, one driven by
himself and the other by another devotee. Sruta (as we called
him) had so much interest in the Vaishnava shastras that he used
to make cards he had printed verses on and kept them taped to
the sun visor of his truck and in other places so he could learn
the verses while he was driving. In this way he learned every
verse of Sri Bhagavad-gita, about 700 verses altogether.
When the San Jose Temple was sold, Sruta Srava's house became
one of the principle gathering places for the devotees in the
San Jose area. He accommodated everyone, and made everyone feel
as if they were part of his family.
Sripada Janardana Maharaja was one such person who was
incorporated into the "Srava family", as I called it. He began
to visit and stay with Prabhu Sruta Srava and Srimati Sanatani
devi more and more until the time came for Srila Gurudeva's
first "World Tour."
It took the energy of many devotees and their families to
establish the first temple of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math in San
jose. However, I think it's fair to say Sruta Srava's house was
the labor room for the birth of this new temple that would first
manifest in a rented house now owned by Prabhu Jayanta Krishna.
This brings us up to the year 1992. Prabhu Sruta Srava has
already accepted Srila Govinda Maharaja as the only true
successor to Srila Sridhara Maharaja, and it's time for Srila
Govinda Maharaja's first visit to California.
Sruta Srava was quick to establish himself as Govinda Maharaja's
driver. I never brought the subject up with him, but it has
occurred to me that this would also guarantee, that wherever
Srila Govinda Maharaja was, Sruta Srava would be there with him.
It seems more than coincidence that this is exactly the way
things turned out.
Thus Sruta Srava earned another commendation from His Divine
Grace, he had now become his driver.
Sruta Srava loved it, and Srila Gurudeva was extremely pleased
with this arrangement.
Wherever Gurudeva travelled, if Sruta Srava was there, and could
manage it, he was Gurudeva's driver.
Prabhu Sruta Srava was a very humble devotee. He was
strongly opinionated and he sometimes voiced those opinions
very strongly. Why shouldn't he? He was usually right. We
rarely disagreed on any important matter. We did on a few.
He saw things one way, I another, and we were both
comfortable with agreeing to disagree.
His strongest opinions were born out of an intense desire to
serve Srila Govinda Maharaja.
I recall during one of Srila Govinda Maharaja's visits to
the Soquel Ashram he had returned a little late, maybe
eight o'clock or so in the evening, and he was very hungry.
The devotees had already taken whatever prasadam had been
cooked earlier so there was nothing immediately available.
Prabhu Rsabdhi was asking Gurudeva what he wanted. Gurudeva
kept saying "Smashed potato." Rsabdhi kept making other
suggestions saying he could prepare them quickly. But,
Gurudeva kept objecting, "No", he just wanted "Smashed
potato" and he wanted it immediately.
So, Prabhu Rsabdhi went off to the kitchen and stated
cooking something, a full meal. Gurudeva, in the meantime,
was getting more and more anxious, he was very hungry and
wanted smashed potato. I was just about to slip out and make
some for him myself because it was pretty obvious Rsabdhi
would cook, but it wasn't going to be smashed potato, and it
may take too much time.
Just then Sruta said he would get Gurudeva smashed potatoes.
He ran down to the kitchen and came back, in what seemed
like an impossibly short time to make mashed potatoes, about
ten minutes, with a big bowl of mashed potatoes. Srila
Govinda Maharaja was very relieved and happy to have just
what he wanted and had asked for many times.
Rsabdhi prabhu arrived quite a while later with full
prasadam, but it was too late. Gurudeva had already been
satisfied with the smashed potatoes brought by Prabhu Sruta
Srava.
Sruta Srava understood clearly what Srila Govinda Maharaja's
initiated disciple and dedicated servant could not. He
wanted mashed potatoes. And, he wanted them now! Sruta
supplied that urgent necessity. There are numerous examples
of similar events where Prabhu Sruta Srava understood what
would be the best service for His Divine Grace.
Sruta Srava was one of Gurudeva's most stalwart protectors.
He made countless arrangements for his treatment and care
for any health problem whether it was dental or surgical. He
made sure visitors would clear the room when Gurudeva needed
some rest, or just some time to himself. Is it any wonder
that Srila Govinda Maharaja wanted him by his side? No. It
could be no other way.
Sruta Srava prabhu was so much eager to serve Srila Govinda
Maharaja that it became very stressful for his family,
especially Srimati Sanatani devi. It was painful to see. I
came to accept Srimati Sanatani devi as my sister. We are
both disciples of Srila Swami Maharaja and some years after
his disappearance I received a very nice letter from her
reminding me that we both experienced that painful departure
of His Divine Grace while serving in the Dallas Temple.
For some reason this caused me to think, she is really my
sister and, later, it is not easy to see your sister suffer.
But that is not the proper angle of vision. Srimati Sanatani
devi is also extremely devoted to serving the lotus feet of
Sri Sri Guru Gauranga. Therefore her suffering cannot be
compared to the suffering of an ordinary wife or servant.
For many years, seeing Prabhu Sruta Srava's love for
studying and explaining the scriptures, his compassionate
mood towards everyone and his interest in developing
preaching programs and facilities, I encouraged him to take
sannyasa. I wrote this to him in 2002:
I suggested this to him many times over the years and was very happy to see when that day finally came:
Srimati Sanatani Devi, a wife to Sruta Srava prabhu for some 30 years was naturally shaken and disturbed by the news that her husband had accepted the renounced order of life. She confided in me that she was greatly distressed. I wrote
this to her:
and, shortly thereafter, this:
In December of last year (2010), I got some news that Prabhu Sruta Srava's health had taken another serious turn for the worse and sent him this email:
He served the servants of his gurus with even more élan.
He served the shastras by carefully studying and
understanding their meaning and explaining it to others,
by distributing them, by overseeing their distribution,
by assisting with their production and publication, by
miraculously publishing a Bengali edition of Sri
Chaitanya Charitamrta to the utter delight of Srila
Govinda Maharaja and, by producing his own shastra in
the from of "Sri Vaishnava Toshani".
Through these various seva functions Sripada
Vaishnava Maharaja served the sadhus, and gave
satisfaction to the devotees, all our predecessor gurus
and acharyas and the Supreme Lord Himself, Sri Krishna
Chaitanya.
He showed by his personal example how to serve all those who
are important to serve, Sri Guru, shastra, sadhu, Vaishnava
and the Supreme Lord.
His Holiness Sripada Bhakti Sharan Vaishnava Maharaja, "Ki
jaya!"
Humbly offered by one who is proud to have been called his
friend,
Swami B.K. Giri |
