Today we will be sharing a drop from the ocean of miraculous pastimes of Śrī Gurudev, Prabhupāda Śrīla Premgopāl Gosvāmī, the 14th descendent of Lord Nityānanda. Some of these līlās were shared by devotees who personally witnessed them; others we learned from devotees who had heard Prabhupāda describe them and we were fortunate enough to have them confirmed by Prabhupāda himself. All disciples, well-wishers, and followers of Prabhupāda will certainly relish them.
For Prabhupāda to share such experiences is very rare, a gift which we can receive only through his causeless mercy. From hearing them, we can understand that Śrī Guru is not an ordinary mortal human being. Although he may act like an ordinary person and rarely display his opulence, a disciple should know their Gurudev to be non-different from Nitāi and from Kṛṣṇa. However, our Prabhupāda’s humility is such that he will never refer to himself this way, but always insists that he is only a fallen soul trying to be a servant of Nityānanda Prabhu.
For all of Prabhupāda’s followers, learning about such pastimes is very nourishing and helpful to develop strong faith, love, and attachment towards him.
◆Once in Agartalā, Tripura, a man was suffering from the last stage of cancer and his physical condition was rapidly deteriorating. When the doctors said that he had very few days left to live, that man got a sudden realization and decided to get initiated. He wanted his last actions to include some spiritual deeds like donations and distributions, as he had been a rich and influential person in the city.
Just at that time, he heard about the arrival of our Prabhupāda in Agartala and decided to take initiation from him.
He came to visit Prabhupāda the very next morning. He arrived with a vehicle loaded with valuable possessions, as well as fruits, sweets, and other items as dakṣiṇā. Prabhupāda was in a room upstairs. When this dying man arrived, his body was already so weak that he couldn’t climb the stairs to reach Prabhupāda’s room, so he waited in the room downstairs.
As soon as Prabhupāda was informed of the man’s arrival and his condition, he came downstairs. The man wanted to offer himself and the things he brought at Prabhupāda’s lotus feet, and he requested him to give initiation. Prabhupāda agreed and gave him dīkṣā but refused to accept the dakṣiṇā which he had brought in large quantity. Instead, Prabhupāda asked only for an apple.
He told the man to think that all his illness and negativities were in this apple and that now he was giving it to Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda accepted that one apple as dakṣiṇā and later ate it.
A few days after getting dīkṣā, the man miraculously started recovering and getting healthier. A month later, he came to visit Prabhupāda, climbing the stairs which he couldn’t go up on the day of initiation. He told Prabhupāda that all his doctors were completely surprised, as they had been certain he had only a few days left to live. This incident happened more than 10 years ago and he is still alive today!
He surrendered himself to Prabhupāda, and Prabhupāda not only accepted him as a disciple but also took away all his distress.
There have been so many such incidents in Prabhupāda’s life: people around him healed in ways that medical science can’t explain, even brought back from their deathbed. However, to include them all would make this article far too long.
◆ In the past, Tripura, West Bengal, and Bangladesh were completely dark, filled with Apa-sampradāyas, sahajiyās, and other challenges. People attacked Prabhupāda many times and even attempted to kill him during his preaching missions, and his father had faced similar situations in his time.
In Narsingdi, Bangladesh, there was a person who conducted a Gītā Yajña every year, or rather he claimed to do so. In fact, under the name of Gītā Yajña, he was doing something entirely unrelated to scriptures. He had a large following and his programs were grand.
Once, when Prabhupāda arrived there for his own program and got to know what was going on, he started explaining during his lecture how a Gītā Yajña should be performed according to the scriptures. He provided scriptural references and clarified what constituted a proper Gītā Yajña. People began to realize that the person conducting that yajña was not following the correct procedures.
One day, after Prabhupāda finished his katha, devotees were coming one by one on stage to offer obeisances to him. One person who appeared to be a devotee approached Prabhupāda. As he came close, Prabhupāda saw the man taking out a large knife. Before anyone could react, the man stabbed him multiple times.
Prabhupāda clearly saw the man’s arm moving back and forth towards him. But he felt nothing, and simply watched the man’s shocked expression as he realized his attempts were futile. The man ran away.
A few days later, the same man came to Prabhupāda at the place he was staying. After humbly offering his obeisances, he asked, “Who are you?”
Prabhupāda said, “What do you mean?”
The man, who was a notorious criminal, confessed that he had killed many people in the past but had never failed in his attempts until that day. He shared that he once singlehandedly murdered 35 people at the same time. But when he tried to drive the knife into Prabhupāda’s body, it was like stabbing into thin air. Then he again asked, “Who are you?”
Prabhupāda replied, “I am no one. Whoever I am, I am in front of you.”
The man fell at Prabhupāda’s lotus feet. He confessed that he had been a follower of the person who was conducting the improper Gītā Yajña. Now he prayed, saying, “I always wanted a Guru like you. I took this man as my guru and followed him blindly, thinking he was a great sadhu, but by his orders I committed so many terrible sins. Please forgive me and give me initiation.”
Prabhupāda initiated him and he remains a disciple in Bangladesh to this day. By the causeless mercy of Prabhupāda, he left all his sinful activities and is now sincerely engaged in the practice of bhakti.
◆Other attempts on Prabhupāda’s life were made over the years by various people driven by envy or enraged by his preaching against inauthentic practices. Once someone tried to attack him with black magic, using a voodoo doll. Another time, venomous snakes were released in his room. His food was poisoned several times.
Prabhupāda not only survived but remains completely unshaken by all these incidents. Whenever we asked him about the poisoning, he would only joke, “The poison must have passed its expiration date, since nothing happened to me except an upset stomach for some time.”
◆ He also miraculously survived several car accidents and other situations that by all normal logic should have ended in disaster. Prabhupāda was never harmed.
Once, while driving on the Yamunā Expressway with two young devotees, a speeding truck crashed into his car from behind. The car was completely destroyed, but Prabhupāda and his disciples walked away without a scratch. Not only uninjured, Prabhupāda was so unshaken that he even took a smiling selfie with the wreckage.
There were a few such close calls in Prabhupāda’s life at that time. When one disciple who was a famous astrologer checked his chart, he found signs that Prabhupāda was passing through a very difficult time and even had a mark that indicated imminent death. This astrologer recommended some stones for Prabhupāda to wear to counteract the inauspicious effects of certain stars. However, Prabhupāda declined this advice.
After this accident with the truck, Prabhupāda’s older brother, Prabhupāda Śrīla Nityagopāl Gosvāmi, bought the stones, which were quite expensive. In his full authority as elder sibling, he called to say that he was sending him the stones and demanded that he wear them.
Still Prabhupāda refused, and for a reason that shows the depth of his faith. He said that if he trusted some stones to protect him, it would mean he didn’t fully trust Śrī Gurudev and Nitāi to protect him.
A true ācārya, he does not only speak the teachings but lives them, with the kind of unflinching courage that can only come from complete surrender.
◆ Every year during Niyam Sevā, from around Bahulāṣṭamī until Govardhan Pūjā, our Prabhupāda comes to Rādhākuṇḍa and gives discourses in English on confidential topics such as Vilāpa Kusumāñjali, Ananga Mañjarī Sampuṭikā, etc.
Before leaving Rādhākuṇḍa in 2018, Prabhupāda went to visit Śrī Śrī 108 Ananta Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja. However, when he arrived, he learned that the siddha mahatma had stopped talking to anyone and appeared to be in his final days.
Prabhupāda did not wish to disturb him but some of Bābājī Mahārāja’s disciples hoped that his presence would please Śrī Ananta Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja and maybe entice him to speak again, so they requested him to come in anyway. One of those disciples was Śrī Vaiṣṇava Pāda (Viśvanātha Paṇḍita) Dāsa Bābājī, who was also present for the following exchange between the two great souls.
After entering the room, Prabhupāda could see that Śrī Ananta Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja was sitting completely absorbed in līlā smaraṇa, already withdrawn from the material world. One of Bābājī Mahārāja’s disciples informed him that Prabhupāda had come to meet him. After hearing this, Bābājī Mahārāja opened his eyes but Prabhupāda could see that he was still not conscious of the external environment. However, after some time his consciousness returned to his body and he began to speak.
Looking at Prabhupāda, he said that Nitāi had come to shower him with blessings at the end of his life, that he had been waiting for Nitāi and now finally He was here.
Bābājī Mahārāja wished to offer daṇḍavat praṇāma to Prabhupāda but as his physical condition did not allow, he requested Prabhupāda to raise his feet so he could touch them to his head. At first Prabhupāda refused, since Śrī Ananta Das Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja was his senior, but he asked again until finally Prabhupāda agreed.
Then in turn Prabhupāda asked Śrī Ananta Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja to put his hand on his head and give him blessings for his bhajana and practice of līlā smaraṇa. Out of humility, Bābājī Mahārāja also refused, but our Prabhupāda took his hand and put it on his own head.
Prabhupāda left Rādhākuṇḍa and had just arrived at the airport in Delhi when he got a call saying that Śrīla Ananta Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja had been taken to the hospital. It seemed like he had indeed been waiting for Nitāi, since he left his body shortly after that.
◆ While in Germany for his 2015 European tour, Prabhupāda received news that one of his disciples had given premature birth and the baby was in critical condition.
This disciple and her husband had hosted him at their home in Austria at the beginning of his tour, at which time she was six months pregnant. But only two days after Prabhupāda’s arrival in Germany, the disciple was suddenly admitted to the hospital. The baby was delivered by emergency Caesarean section, weighing only one kilogram.
The baby was placed in an incubator immediately. His condition became very severe after two weeks. He went through a very difficult night, needed significantly more oxygen, and was struggling. The parents were deeply worried and called Prabhupāda in tears to tell him of their son’s condition.
Calmly reassuring them by phone, he told them, “Don’t worry, I’m coming now.” Prabhupāda canceled the rest of his program and got on the next flight from Germany back to Austria, taking a car directly from the airport to meet the family at the hospital. The doctors allowed him to enter, as he was officially registered as a priest. With wide, astonished eyes, they watched as Prabhupāda entered the room wearing tilaka, dhotī, a beautiful kurtā, and chādar.
The mother was lying on a recliner with the baby at her chest. Prabhupāda sat down next to them. Gently holding the baby’s head to give blessings, he softly whispered the initiation mantras—including the Nṛsiṁha Mantra—into the baby’s ear.
Immediately, the baby’s heart rate rose sharply. The doctors rushed in at once. The mother and father were terrified, fearing their child might be going into cardiac arrest. The doctors told Prabhupāda to stop and give them the baby for treatment, but with a calm gesture he indicated that everything would be alright and continued whispering the dīkṣā mantras.
The moment Prabhupāda completed the initiation, the baby’s body relaxed. His heart rate normalized and a deep sense of relief filled the room. After that his condition was more stable.
When the baby was two days old, the mother had had a special dream: a lion appeared to her—calm, powerful, and protective—and she was allowed to lean against him in complete trust. Deeply touched by this dream, the parents had bought a stuffed lion toy. Now Prabhupāda took this toy, installed a Nṛsiṁha kavaca, and tied it along with a tulasī mālā around the lion’s neck. It appeared as if he did prāṇa pratiṣṭhā of Lord Nṛsiṁhadev into that soft toy. He then instructed the parents to keep the toy with the baby at all times, even in the incubator.
From that moment on, the lion remained by the baby’s side. Even today, ten years later, the boy sleeps every night with this lion, which he calls Śrī Nṛsiṁhadeva.
Shortly after, Prabhupāda had his birthday, while still at the house of the family. The mother was very sad that she had no gift for him, and mentioned this hesitantly to him. Prabhupāda looked at her with great tenderness and said: “You have given me the most beautiful gift—a brother.” He then added that the baby had come into this world early so that he could meet him during that year’s European tour.
To this day, Prabhupāda and the child share a special and profound bond. Prabhupāda lovingly calls him “my brother” and often tells devotees that this child is his youngest disciple.
Conclusion
The līlās we have presented in brief here are just a tiny drop from the nectarean ocean of Prabhupāda’s transcendental pastimes, and very small when compared to the wonder of his true nature and capabilities. For those elevated devotees who live with heart and soul dedicated to Prabhupāda’s lotus feet, such līlās are not at all surprising.
To a surrendered devotee, even hearing of Prabhupāda’s exceptional spiritual experiences, such as his direct darshans of Krishna and of Mahāprabhu, will cause no astonishment, because they see him already as Nitāi Himself.
However, for those of us who are not yet at that stage of surrender, it is very helpful to read such pastimes. They are like a peek behind the curtain, revealing something so much greater and more mysterious beyond Prabhupāda’s appearance as an ordinary human being.
By meeting Prabhupāda, one can indeed get the sense of being in Nitāi’s presence, not only by his appearance, his sweet smile and graceful speech, but by his compassionate nature. Overlooking any faults in those around him, his only concern is spreading love to all.
We know from scriptures that Śrī Gurudev is both bhakta and Bhagavān combined in a single form, as was discussed in the previous article. In our Prabhupāda indeed we can see both glimpses of his aiśvarya, as in these pastimes, and the heart-touching humility of a pure Vaiṣṇava. Never claiming to be special, he will say rather that he is a very ordinary person born in Śrī Nityānanda’s bloodline by some good fortune from past lives, and all these miraculous events around him were only Nitāi’s mercy.
Although he himself is a renowned ācārya with hundreds of thousands of disciples, he always shows complete devotion and surrender to his own Gurudev and paramparā. He frequently speaks of his deep gratitude to his Gurudev, how he was unworthy but still accepted, and how he received everything through her mercy.
This article is a small offering for the pleasure of all his followers, disciples, and well-wishers. It is the natural desire of disciples that the fame of Śrī Gurudev and paramparā be spread across the three worlds. So, like offering a palmful of Gaṅgā water back to Mother Gaṅgā, this is only an insignificant attempt to share the glories of our Prabhupāda. All mistakes in the text are ours; please forgive us for them.
May reading these pastimes increase your attachment to our Prabhupāda! For all his disciples, we hope that the next time you see his smiling face, you will remember what miracles come through his mercy, and that he is your Prabhu and true protector in this and every lifetime.
