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A Tribute to Tribhuvanatha Prabhu
by Bhakta Sanjay Dadlani

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked, "Of all kinds of distress, what is the most painful?" Sri Ramananda Raya replied, "Apart from separation from the devotee of Krishna, I know of no unbearable unhappiness." – Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya 8.248

"When Lord Chaitanya asked Ramananda Raya what is considered to be the most painful existence, Ramananda Raya replied that separation from a pure devotee constitutes the most painful existence. In other words, when there is no devotee of the Lord present, there is great suffering in society, and association with other people becomes painful. In Srimad Bhagavatam (3.30.7) it is stated that if one who is bereft of the association of a pure devotee tries to become happy through society, friendship and love devoid of Krishna Consciousness, he is to be considered in the most distressed condition. In the Fifth Canto of Brhad-Bhagavatamrta (5.44) it is stated that the association of a pure devotee is more desirable than life itself and that in separation from him one cannot even pass a second happily." – Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, Conclusion, p341)

The news that Tribhuvanatha Prabhu, a stalwart disciple of Srila Prabhupada for over 30 years, has departed from this world is indeed a shock to the Vaishnava world and also to those who were blessed to have close association with him. I personally do not have any qualification to glorify him as I hardly knew him intimately on the material plane, but I always used to admire him greatly from afar and so I hope that my small offering can be placed in his tribute.

I first heard of the "great Tribhuvanatha Prabhu" through a Janmashtami souvenir book in which a short article was written about how Tribhuvanatha Prabhu had been organising Hare Krishna Festivals for the last 30 years on Srila Prabhupada’s order. What is most astounding about this is that he was always very successful in his organisation of such festivals and that a great number of people all over the world knew and loved him. He touched many thousands, and possibly millions, of people through his service to Srila Prabhupada.

One of his many qualities that never failed to impress me was his utter humility. I truly admired him just for that, and I have been very enriched by reading the other articles on CHAKRA by fellow devotees that outlined just some of his many achievements. It is plain obvious that such a soul as Tribhuvanatha Prabhu was a very great pioneer in Krishna Consciousness. His achievements in preaching and fulfilling the mission of Srila Prabhupada surely require that his name go down in the history of ISKCON.

Just as Sriman Jayananda Prabhu is revered for pioneering the Ratha-Yatra festivals, so Tribhuvanatha Prabhu deserves to be remembered for pioneering the famous "Hare Krishna Festivals" that brought the holy name and prasadam to millions of hungry mouths. And after all this, he was just so humble. Just by seeing him, you would have wanted to embrace him tightly. Just by seeing him, you would have wanted to offer your obeisances and touch his feet. Just by seeing him, you would have wanted to hear some Krishna-katha from him.

Also, one of the greatest things that I liked about Tribhuvanatha Prabhu was his wild kirtans and I fully enjoyed singing wildly with him. He sometimes seemed to sing in a trance-like state and I am sure that he could see his Guru Maharaja with spiritual vision. I will always remember Gaura Purnima 2000 because that was the first time that I heard him sing the Guru-Puja to Srila Prabhupada and ever since then the memory of that kirtan has stayed with me.

Any devotee who has witnessed a Gaura Purnima celebration is well aware of the extra amounts of kirtan and celebration that take place and that much singing and dancing is participated in. So also, whenever Tribhuvanatha Prabhu led the kirtan the whole temple room would join him in singing and dancing loudly.

One little anecdote I would like to tell you about the Gaura Purnima 2000 celebration is that after about an hour of nonstop singing and dancing, the devotees were obviously quite tired, singing a little quieter than before and dancing more slowly, even moving away in an attempt to sit down somewhere to take a break. And yet Tribhuvanatha Prabhu, there he was, singing and dancing and leading the kirtan like there was no tomorrow. Considering the fact that we were fairly young as compared to Tribhuvanatha Prabhu and we were dancing tiredly, it is amazing how he could keep going without stopping. It was so joyful to see.

One other anecdote about his humility: This happened during the Gaura Purnima 2001 street Harinam. We were halfway through and I think that Tribhuvanatha Prabhu joined us late. It was much too loud to speak to him and so I conveyed to him by means of hand gestures that he should go forward and lead the kirtan. He looked at me and grinned one of his huge grins and attempted to move forward. It is absolutely impossible to describe the look that was in his eyes at that very moment. It was softness, childlike innocence, humility, and spontaneousness all rolled into one. Coupled with his huge grin to me it endeared him very warmly to me and I took that memory of him and placed it eternally in my heart. It is impossible to describe the sheer humility that he displayed on being asked to deliver the kirtan. He honestly acted as if I were doing him some sort of favour and that he did not "deserve" to lead the kirtan, even though he is famous for his singing.

With external eyes, I could see that he was very devoted to Srila Prabhupada. The last time I saw him was on Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa-Puja of this year. As modern technology sometimes turns unreliable, we were having microphone problems. It was a hugely irritating situation to experience as the equipment kept shutting down in mid-offerings. I was silently infuriated at how such things can happen on such a momentous occasion. And yet when it was Tribhuvanatha Prabhu’s turn to speak, he made us all smile with his very first sentence which was something to the effect of: "I do not need the equipment to speak because I speak from the heart." I laughed inside at his capacity to remain jolly even in an obtuse situation.

Ultimately, he was a great preacher of Krishna Consciousness. A friend recently passed on one of his instructions: "Chanting is your umbilical cord to Krishna." We have it on the word of one of Tribhuvanatha Prabhu’s associates that he passed on with the sacred name of Krishna adorning his lips, and therefore we can sincerely affirm that he has gone back home to Goloka Vrindavan and is probably driving the residents of the spiritual sky wild with his ecstatic kirtans just as he did with us.

Just as with a sunset when the sun disappears out of our sight behind some clouds, it leaves behind its rays to illuminate the world for a little longer. So also, the sun-like Srila Prabhupada who is now out of our sight was merciful enough to leave some his ray-like devotees behind to illuminate the community of devotees for a little longer. Therefore I bow down and pay repeated obeisances to Srila Prabhupada for being so merciful enough to allow us little rascals to have the association of such a wonderful devotee like Tribhuvanatha Prabhu.

We hope that one day we may join him in his eternal service to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Sri Radha-Krishna in Goloka Vrindavan.

Tribhuvanatha Prabhu Ki Jai !!!

"O son of Kunti, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes."–BG 9.31

Bhakta Sanjay Dadlani,
London, UK

© CHAKRA 10 November 2001