Anecdotes from His Holiness Romapada Swami Maharaja’s visit to Penn State: Mar/April 2010
1. A pure devotee is not influenced by happiness and distress: Maharaja arrived at Penn State after a 13hr train journey (delayed) with heavy suitcases and with his ‘crashed’ computer. He had written 28 emails and in a flash he had lost all that! Despite this additional stress, he smiled and got ready for the evening program. Because of this problem with his computer, he was late for the evening program. Showing by example, what humility is, he apologized several times to all the assembled guests for his delay. Unperturbed by the loss of data and the enormous amount of time lost, he gave an absolutely enlivening lecture on Bhagavad-Gita 9.22, and his valuable time to several guests, students on a one-on one basis after the lecture. Again while leaving, Maharaja apologized for his unexpected delay. The guests who were earlier a little restless due to the delay, had their hearts filled with happiness as they sat through Maharaja’s lecture and got their doubts cleared. Just as smoothly as he gave this beautiful lecture, he got back to fixing his computer after the lecture.
2. A pure devotee takes everyone seriously: During the evening program on the same night, Maharaja interacted with some Chinese students and promised to give one of them some of Srila Prabhupada’s books with Chinese translation. Just as he had promised, the very moment he got access to internet, he sent an email to a devotee in NY requesting for the books to be arranged. He means it when he says something! Immediately, after he reached NY, he made sure that the books were posted to the Chinese student on time! By this simple act, Maharaja smoothly demonstrated how a pure devotee never takes anyone for granted and considers every one as a precious part and parcel of Sri Krishna. And needless to say, the magic worked. As soon as the student received the books, he began reading and all his other friends gathered around Him to learn more about the same.
3. Mercy of a pure devotee: In the middle of the evening program, the room we were in became pretty hot. Maharaja was wearing a garland that was offered to him by one devotee. Now, all of us know that a garland can cause a lot of discomfort, especially when you are feeling very hot. The devotee felt that Maharaja, despite the discomfort, wore the garland all throughout the talk, just to show his appreciation for her service. How merciful he is!
4. Compassion of a pure devotee: While Maharaja was on his way to give an early morning Srimad Bhagavatam lecture the next day, he saw at a distance a devotee carrying a vessel that had prasadam for the morning program. While the devotee who was driving Maharaja to the program venue missed seeing this, Maharaja, requested that the car be taken near the devotee carrying the prasadam and offered help. The devotee was moved and surprised to see Maharaja’s kind gesture. Soon, the devotee transferred the containers into the car and offered obeisances, with a heart filled with deep gratitude. Maharaja is most merciful!
5. A pure devotee does not judge: During the college event at Penn State, Maharaja was asked a question by a young college student. As Maharaja was replying to his question, a devotee noticed that the student who asked the question was literally yawning several times with disinterest as he was listening. Despite such a disrespectful act by the student, Maharaja continued answering his question with utmost dedication, giving His 100% as usual, and not taking off his eye-contact with the student. Here is an example of a pure devotee who showed by example what ‘being non-judgmental’ means.