“Dr. Judah was one of the first American scholars to take a serious interest in the Krishna consciousness movement and visited with Srila Prabhupada several times.”

Obituary: J. Stillson Judah
By Jagadananda dasa

Stillson Judah was a distinguished emeriti professor at the Pacific School of Religion. He served as Librarian and lecturer in the History of Religions for PSR. He was the first full time trained librarian at PSR and also served as the GTU Librarian.

During World War II, Dr. Judah helped organize the library centers at the Japanese Relocation Centers. He attended the Japanese Language School and learned how to speak and write Japanese and served in Navy Intelligence as a Lieutenant while working for PSR. In 1955, the World Council of Churches sent Dr. Judah to Europe to organize the International Association of Theological Libraries. In his book on the history of PSR, Christian Seed in Western Soil, Dr. Harland Hogue says of Judah, he "made available in one place the total listing of all the theological libraries of the Bay Area.... From 1963 to 1965, Dr. Judah was the major resource technician in the establishment of the Bibliographical Center for the Graduate Theological Union."

More significantly for devotees of Srila Prabhupada, Dr. Judah was one of the first American scholars to take a serious interest in the Krishna consciousness movement and visited with Srila Prabhupada several times. His book, "Hare Krishna and the Counterculture" (1974) was the first academic study of the Hare Krishnas. 

The book was favorable overall, as Dr. Judah recognized the genuine spiritual yearnings of counter culture youth in the 60's and 70's and considered the Krishna consciousness movement to be a legitimate expression of these yearnings. He thus has the honor of being mentioned in one of Srila Prabhupada's purports (SB 6.2.19). 

In a letter dated June 1975, Prabhupada wrote to Dr. Judah: "Since I have come to Honolulu from Melbourne, I got the opportunity to read your nice book 'Hare Krishna and the Counterculture' with profound interest. I am also very much obliged to you as you have shown to me so much mercy, even by illustrating my photograph instead of your goodness. The presentation has been done just fit for ready by all scholars and educationists. If you so permit I can ask my assistants to publish some important extracts from your work in our magazine BTG for benefit of all our readers. Besides that we can sell your book also along with our other books by arrangement. I don't know what is exactly your address and therefore I am dispatching this letter through my disciple Sriman Jayananda Adhikari. I shall be very glad to meet you again when I go to the mainland. You have taken so much pain for writing this book and I thank you very much again and again. May Lord Krishna bless you more and more."

Satyaraj Prabhu, the editor of the Journal of Vaishnava Studies, writes, "It is with a heavy heart that I receive the news of Stillson Judah's death. He was a wonderful person. When I began JVS in 1992 he was delighted, giving me the necessary encouragement to continue. Visiting him at his home, he took me into his basement where he confidentially showed me his altar. There were pictures of Prabhupada, Lord Chaitanya, and Radha-Krishna on this altar. He told me that he frequently prayed at this place and had done so for many years. I asked him why he did so, knowing that, by practice and belief, he was a Christian and not a Vaishnava. He answered that Prabhupada had personally told him to set up a home altar, and he did it out of love and faith-- for he knew that Prabhupada was the genuine article."

Brahmatirtha Prabhu writes. "I visited with Stillson in 1997 and showed him videos of him and Srila Prabhupada. Though he could not communicate due to a stroke he smiled broadly and seemed quite satisfied. He was the first academic to write a book on the movement and quite favorable. He invited Srila Prabhupada to set up an institution at the Graduate Theological Union, which Srila Prabhupada endorsed."

Amogha-lila Prabhu, who attended the funeral reports. I was able to speak and it was much appreciated by his relatives (several told me everyone was crying when I spoke, and one nephew said he had managed to hold out until I spoke). By the way, his children then invited me to get some things, including the altar Satyaraj Prabhu mentioned (the furniture that held his copies of BBT books which went to GTU as well as the altar pictures of Lord Caitanya, Srila Prabhupada, Rathayatra, Harinam Party only the picture of Krishna is missing).

© CHAKRA 15-October-2000

Go to the “Other News Page”