In Vrindaban, India, on the evening of December 22, my godbrother Vibhu Chaitanya Dasa, a pure devotee of Krishna, passed away from this world, surrounded by devotees singing the Hare Krishna mantra. He was 84 years old.
Vibhu Chaitanya joined the followers of our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, in 1975. Some time earlier in Kolkata, Vibhu Chaitanya had renounced family life, and now he showed up at the Krishna-Balarama Temple in Vrindaban and asked to join. Srila Prabhupada’s followers at that time, mostly Westerners in their twenties, quickly warmed to this humble, joyful Bengali devotee thirty or forty years older.
He soon received initiation from Srila Prabhupada, who then gave him the service of cooking for the temple Deities. This entailed preparing six offerings of food every day, on simple coal stoves, starting well before sunrise and ending after 8 o’clock at night. This was a service he performed every day for the next fifteen years.
While cooking he would sweetly sing the Hare Krishna mantra. Once in 1976 while passing by the kitchen, Srila Prabhupada heard him singing and asked, “Who is that?”
A devotee replied, “It’s Vibhu Chaitanya, Srila Prabhupada. He sings all day long as he’s cooking the offerings.”
“Ah, this is Krishna consciousness,” Srila Prabhupada said, a bright smile on his face. “Very nice.”
Some devotee had mentioned to Srila Prabhupada that Vibhu Chaitanya was not chanting the full sixteen “rounds” initiated devotees pledge to chant every day on their beads, a personal meditation of two hours or so. But Srila Prabhupada, who was always strict and particular about devotees chanting their rounds, said, “He doesn’t need to chant them. He is singing all day and doing his service.”
Srila Prabhupada had told his followers in Vrindaban there was no need to go anywhere outside the temple grounds. The whole spiritual world, Srila Prabhupada said, was there within the temple compound. This was an instruction Vibhu Chaitanya took to heart. While devotees from around the world came to tour Vrindaban and visit its thousands of temples and holy places, Vibhu Chaitanya stayed happily at the temple of Krishna-Balarama, never going anywhere else. (Once in all those years—some say twice—devotees obliged him to go out to visit a doctor. But he quickly returned, dismissing the visit as a waste of time.)
When old age and arthritis finally obliged him to give up cooking, taking over the service he had been doing alone now took five men. He then took up the simple service of sitting in the temple and spooning out caranamrita, the flavored and scented water devotees drink as a blessing when they visit a temple. For me, his radiant smile and his strong and affectionate grasp on my wrist as he pulled my hand forward to receive the caranamrita was a still greater blessing. The caranamrita was sweeter when he was the one who gave it.
During those ten years, his back gradually lost its straightness and bowed forward, till it was nearly parallel to the ground. But he was always joyful, chanting Hare Krishna. I would see him looking at Krishna in the temple or attending the early-morning chanting at Srila Prabhupada’s samadhi, or burial place, on the temple grounds. He never asked for any special honor or attention, but his face always showed his pleasure to be there. As my godbrother Hari Sauri Dasa said of him, “Clear eyes, clear heart, clear consciousness. Happy in Krishna consciousness, with no shadows.”
After ten years, when Vibhu Caitanya could no longer serve caranamrita, he retired to a small room, eventually on the ground floor of the temple guesthouse. There he chanted on his beads, listened to chanting piped in from the temple or recorded on cassettes, and worshiped pictures of the same Krishna who in the temple he had served. This is where I visited him this past November.
He was so keen to receive me nicely, making sure I had a comfortable place to sit. And he loaded me up with gifts.
In that month, known in Sanskrit as Kartika, a festival time when many devotees visit Vrindaban, he had arranged to distribute gifts to his godbrothers and godsisters and other devotees: metal cups and spoons (very useful!) and some other small things. A devotee who had assisted him in this recalls asking him, “What is your plan? Are you not going to be with us for the next Kartika?” He just smiled, the devotee recalls, and spoke about the sacred land of Vrindaban and of Krishna’s spiritual consort, Srimati Radharani. “Srimati Radharani is very merciful upon me,” he said. “She took a lot of service from me, a humble servant.”
Now that humble servant insisted on serving me. He gave me another cup and spoon, and some sweets, and some mishri (rock candy) sprinkled with sacred tulasi leaves.
“Back broken,” he told me. “Mind happy.”
The entire spiritual world lay within the grounds of the Krishna-Balarama temple and the happy mind of that pure and humble devotee.
I was always very happy to see Vibhu Chaitanya when I visited Vrindavana. For me it was very special to receive charanamrita from him. I remember one time, shortly before I went back to my temple base in Germany. I used to go to him and pour my leftover change on his donation plate. I somewhat did it in a dull way, just to get rid of my change. It made some jingling sounds, and I used to make sure that I donated all my leftover rupees on his plate. I even shook my wallet to make sure it was empty.
I was very eager to see how he would react. Vibhu Chaitanya used to smile very brightly and say: “Ooohhhh!”, like saying: “Oh, you give everything you have. Very nice!” He did it in a very fatherly way, like a father does when he sees his little son doing something nice. Then he smiled at me, took a little cup, poured some charanamrita in, and told me to open my mouth. I really felt like a little kid and was so happy to get the nectar from him.
One day I remember clearly. I somehow sat before Srila Prabhupada in the compound of the Krishna Balarama Mandir and was chanting Hare Krishna. That must have been shorty before guru puja. I think they had just brought Srila Prabhupada’s small murti in. I was just sitting in the way of the parikrama group, and they could not pass. All of a sudden, I felt a very strong grip on my arm, indicating that I was in the way and I had to move. I turned around and saw it was Vibhu Chaitanya.
I remember clearly that grip. I was feeling his strong and simultanously loving grip, which is hard to describe. It did not hurt, but it was also very strong. I remember clearly how I was in ecstasy. I thought: “Wow, what a special grip.” I was really thinking like that and wondering why I was all of a sudden full of bliss! This grip was so Krishna conscious because it clearly showed me to stand up yet also not to worry. It was just the dose I needed to be ecstatic.
I think it was in 2006 when I went to Vrndavana and was not seeing my prabhu Vibhu Chaitanya anymore. I went to Janardana Prabhu, who told me that Vibhu Prabhu was very sick but I could go and see him. Somhow I did not go, which I still regret.
Although I did not have so much association with Vibhu Chaitanya Prabhu, he somehow entered my heart, and I hope he will always stay there and enlighten me from within.
Vibhu Chaitanya Prabhu ki jaya!
Dandadhrk Dasa
Dear Maharaja,
Thank you for this post. I was not aware of his passing. Vibhu Chaitanya was very special in my heart because of his dedication to serving Radharani in the kitchen. I came to know of him in 1988 when I attended the VIHE and kept hearing all the senior devotees talking about him.
At that time I was on a mission to get mercy. I took a Rantideva vow and just filled every minute of my day up with study, kirtan, japa and taking any chance I could to get maha prasadam or association with senior devotees. I was really eager, so when I heard about Vibhu Chaitanya Prabhu, I knew I just had to get his mercy as well.
The devotees told me he worked in the deity kitchen, so one day I waited outside until he came out. As soon as I saw this frail little old man emerge from the kitchen I knew it was he and I immediately fell to the ground. With a big smile he waved me off and said “no,no,no.” I introduced myself and told him how I also cooked for the deities in Sydney. We quickly became good friends, and every chance I got I tried to somehow serve him. One time I even got the chance to help him in the kitchen! Right then I felt my life was perfect.
I remember one day Dhanurdhara Swami, seeing me with Vibhu Chaitanya, made a comment to Bhurijana: “Just see, we have been trying to get the mercy of Vibhu Chaitanya for years, and Priyavrata Dasa gets it in a few days!” 🙂
I distinctly remember watching Vibhu Chaitanya chanting his gayatri in the temple room, gazing intently at Radha Shyamasundara with tears flowing down his cheeks. I watched from a distance in awe and prayed that one day I too would have such love for Radha and Krishna.
Just being in his presence you knew you were entering into a whole new space and time. When you looked into his eyes, it was really like looking through a window of the spiritual world. There was absolutely no trace of false ego, passion, lust or envy in his presence. His entire body was Krishna Prema, and yes it was so special, and also humbling, to accept charanamrita from his hands.
Every year I visited I made a special effort to see him and bring him some gifts. One year I gave him a Vyasa Puja book and some long thermal underwear for the cold winter months. He didn’t know what to make of the thermal underwear, but he loved looking through the brand-new Vyasa Puja book. It felt so right to do these little things for him. Looking back now, I am so happy and so grateful to all the devotees that I was given a chance to associate with a pure devotee of the Lord. Thank God I took that opportunity!
Unfortunately for me, from 1996 to 2005 I did not visit Vrindavan, and so I missed seeing Vibhu Chaitanya Prabhu. But I have fond memories of the short time I did spend with him, and it is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
Back in 1988 I took a photo of Vibhu Chaitanya in the kitchen. Even back then it was a photo worth worshiping. That photo is still with me. It has deteriorated, but is still very special and transcendental nonetheless.
Thank you, Vibhu Chaitanya Prabhu, for being so kind to this fallen soul.
Thank you, Maharaja, for sharing.
All glories to Vibhu Chaitanya Prabhu!
Priyavrata Dasa
Hare Krishna. I didn’t know Vibhu Chaitanya Prabhu, but I feel privileged just to have read about him. Your post brought tears to my eyes. I posted this on Facebook for the students to read.