
“I eternally reside in my rooms at the Radha Damodara
Temple” [Srila Prabhupada]

His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the foremost
preacher of Krsna Consciousness in the world, first came to live in
Radha Damodar Temple in 1959 after accepting the sannyasa order of life.
The sevaite of the temple, Sri Gaurachanda Goswami, approached Srila
Prabhupada and invited him to come and live there since it was the
eternal home of Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Jiva Goswami.
Srila Prabhupada took two rooms, one that acted as a kitchen, the other
as a study where he would write.
In the early morning at Radha Damodar Temple, Srila Prabhupada would
write and chant japa. He would then circumambulate the samadhis of Jiva
Goswami and Rupa Goswami. At 10:00 he would go and take darsana of the
other temples of Vrndavana, purchase vegetables and return by 11:00 to
cook. Using a kerosene burner and a three-tiered cooker, he would
prepare rice, dahl, potatoes, chapattis and subji. He would eat once a
day and take some hot milk at night. In the afternoon he would rest for
15 minutes and resume his writing after honoring Radha Damodar Raj bhoga
prasadam.
From his kitchen he would gaze out of the small window into the
courtyard where Rupa Goswami's samadhi mandir is situated. He later said
that he received great inspiration from Rupa Goswami and that his plans
for spreading Krsna Consciouness were formulated during his years at the
Radha Damodar Temple.
In the six years that Prabhupad stayed at the Radha Damodar Temple he
wrote his first two books Easy Journey to Other Planets, In search of
the Ultimate Goal of Life, the first two volumes of Srimad Bhagavatam,
wrote various articles for Back to Godhead and Bhagavat-darsan and
organized a successful Janmastami mahotsava at Radha Damodar Temple
which was attended by the U.P. Governor Biswanath Das.
After returning to Vrndavana with his first foreign disciples in 1967,
he again took up residence in his old rooms at the Radha Damodar Temple
and from that time on, his disciples maintained his rooms there.
In 1972 during the holy month of Karttika, he delivered a series of
lectures on Rupa Goswami's Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu at the Radha-Damodar
Temple. He spoke in the courtyard near to Rupa Goswami's samadhi and
bhajan-kutir.
Sripada B.G. Narasingha Maharaja: I remember Prabhupad called a meeting
in 1977 with a few of his sannyasis. Then he told us, ‘Generally the
worship in the spiritual master's bhajan-kutir doesn't start until after
his departure. But I want to initiate the system of worship now, so I
know that it is going on.' So after that meeting from that time on,
these rooms at Radha Damodar became known as ‘Prabhupadas' bhajan-kutir'.
He instructed his disciples that they should keep a photograph of him in
his room and offer it the prasadam of Sri Sri Radha Damodar. The sannyasis would stay in the rooms for one to three months and
then rotate. Just like during his presence — he was always calling his
top preachers to come and serve him and them sending them out. But it
never happened.
The sannyasis were supposed to go shopping, buy everything, cook the
offering for him, and basically live there just like he did, the
position is more than just being a caretaker, but that person is like
his personal cook.“
He would often have long philosophical discussion with Sri Gauracand
Goswami on the writings of Sri Rupa and Sri Jiva Goswamis. He stressed
the importance of his rooms at Radha Damodar temple, not simply because
they were his rooms. In one letter he wrote:
”This corner at the Radha Damodar temple is just like the hub of the
wheel of the spiritual world — it is the center.“
Sripada B.G. Narasingha Maharaja explains this statement:
”He said that the Radha Damodar temple is in the center of the spiritual
world because of the activities that went on there among the followers
of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and because of the intimacy of the
association and what was revealed there to the devotees and what they
experienced there. The intensity of the divine rapture would make it the
center no matter where it was. But it also happened to be Vrndavana.“
Thus, he referred to his rooms at Radha Damodar Temple as his ‘eternal
residence,' the place where he began his plans to spread the Krsna
Consciousness movement.
Srila Prabhupada's Letterhead at Radha Damodar
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