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In Memory of Tribhuvanath Prabhu
by Nikhilananda Dasa

All glories to His Grace Sriman Tribhuvanath Prabhu !

He reasons ill who think that Vaishnavas die......The memories of Tribhuvanath Prabhu will stay with us, they will purify us and shine in our hearts, for the rest of our lives. I know that Tribhuvanath would not like us to be sad on this occasion of his being reunited with Srila Prabhupada. He was always joyful, humorous, and unconcerned about life or death. Still, I am crying. Dear Tribhuvanath Prabhu, please accept my humble obeisances in the dust of your feet. Now you have made it. And we are still left here...

Tribhuvanath Prabhu is one of the most extraordinary devotees I have ever known. I met him first in April of 1978. Like Padmapani Prabhu, I was seeking an opportunity to feel closer to Srila Prabhupada, so we decided to join Tribhuvanath and distribute the new Arabic Bhagavad-gita in the Middle East countries. Tribhuvanath always reminded me a little of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer (even on a picture which I took of him in 1996 ). He looked very innocent and pure, and he was very humorous and always enthusiastic. I never met anyone as fearless as him. He always worked hard for his plans of bold preaching, of making a special endeavor to please Srila Prabhupada. As Tribhuvanath wrote in his last public letter, his real concern was how he could somehow try to repay our great debt to our spiritual master. He never wasted time. He seems to be one of those who only came here for a mission, having been sent by Srila Prabhupada. He was always in a hurry because he was doing so many things. He did so much preaching. He was really one of Krishna's dedicated soldiers. He died a glorious death on the battlefield. The disease caught him when he was preaching in Africa. And Krishna called him back very fast.

We— that was Avinascandra ( now Bhaktivaibhava Swami ), Padmapani, Mahakratu, and I — went to Lebanon with Tribhuvanath in 1978, to help an Arabic devotee named Ravanari to establish a center in Beirut. We used Beirut as a base for preaching in various Middle East countries, like Jordan, Syria, and Egypt. Our main business was to distribute the first printing of the new Arabic Bhagavad-gita (abridged version). We made a vow not to leave before the 5,000 books were sold.

A heavy war broke out there just after our arrival and the earth was shaking every day. We got kidnapped and arrested all the time for the next few months. But somehow the books got distributed and we had some nice programs. I remember that we had one program with the minister of tourism for Lebanon, but there were no tourists. It was Tribhuvanath's principle to spend all the money he had immediately on preaching, to make sure that it is used for Krishna, printing books etc. So we never had money. In the beginning we lived in the poorest part of town, with rats in our shower room and a central undergound base of Arab guerilla fighters next to us. There was bombing, tanks, and machine gun fighting all the time. In one week the Syrians fired 1,400 rockets on a part of town where we had just sold our books, so were glad for those souls who received the Gita and gave a donation just before their bodies were turned into rubble. There was a picture of Krishna and Srila Prabhupada in each book.

Every evening, some Arab soldiers of various groups raided our flat to see what we were doing. After our attempts at preaching they would usually put aside their machine guns and sit down with us to sing the maha mantra. They really liked doing kirtan with us and went wild about it. The only problem was how to stop the kirtan after a few hours, without making them angry. We tried to always smile. And we depended on Srila Prabhupada. When one is with devotees like Tribhuvanath Prabhu, life is very intense and one feels Srila Prabhupada's presence always.

When the 5,000 Gitas were sold a few months later and we returned to Germany, Tribhuvanath stayed in the Middle East, to help with the printing of the full version Bhagavad-gita in Arabic (weight 5 kilos). A new, fresh group of preachers arrived and Tribhuvanath did traveling sankirtan with them in Egypt, as Padmapani mentioned in his tribute, which expresses Tribhuvanath Prabhu's joyful and humorous spirit much more adequately.

(Please excuse my poor English. ) There are so many stories to tell. Being with Tribhuvanath was always a most intense and spiritual exprience.

So many years later, when I met him in Mayapur in 1996, I discovered that Tribhuvanath was again out there, organising many big festivals in various parts of Africa, collecting funds, preaching, distributing prasadam and books, and taking many risks on behalf of our spiritual master, on adventurous missions. He was working so hard and he was so enthusiastic he made every one chant and dance.

I remember, it was in 1978, how Tribhuvanath greeted Padmapani and me when we came back to the house where we were staying —after a week of imprisonment by one of the guerilla groups in Beirut. It was a sunny day in June. Tribhuvanath stepped out of the house and saw us approaching, alive and well. He was so relieved and happy. He smiled all over his face, saying, "Nikhilananda! Padmapani! You are alive ! We thought that you had gone back home, back to Godhead!" He was so happy to see us, and so were the other devotees.

Dear Tribhuvanath, now you have gone back home before us, to join Srila Prabhupada, wherever it may be. I hope to see you again, soon. Please tell Srila Prabhupada that I don't like it here. I want to be with you. I owe everything to Srila Prabhupada, although I don't deserve him. Please tell him that I do feel very sorry for all of my offenses. And thank you for your association and example. Hare Krishna !

Your lost and lonely servant,
Nikhilananda Dasa

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