Soon after Srila Prabhupada left, our Kaaawa landlord visited us during a Sunday feast program. There were a number of guests in attendance, some of them scraggly-looking hippie types, so our landlord asked us to find another place to live. Srila Prabhupada had actually wanted us to try to purchase the place, but the landlord was not interested in selling. (We had no money anyway, but Srila Prabhupada never seemed to take that into account. He often looked at property to purchase in various cities, and would even ask owners to donate it to him! He was more than amazing in that regard.)
The landlords, a Mr. and Mrs. Lau, had other plans for the Kaaawa property. That seven acre strip of land now has a small subdivision on it, and the name of the street, which was formerly our driveway, is now “Lau Street.” It is just a short distance from the beautiful Swanzy Beach Park.
So we began searching and soon found a small house at Sunset Beach, a little “Hick’s Home,” with tiny rooms. Our big altar was placed in a small closet, with the doors removed, and Kartamashayi, my Child Krishna Deity, now lived on a closet-altar in a tiny bedroom that was our new temple room. This location was not as spacious, but it gave us the opportunity to mix with the local surfer/hippie/youth culture that still thrives at Sunset Beach.
Soon after our move to Sunset Beach, we were invited to chant Hare Krishna at a local vegetarian luau/cum/meditation meeting on the nearby Sunset Beach. Goursundar and I climbed into our old orange pickup truck, and went to the luau. Unknown to us at the time, this meeting would have long range ramifications.
When we got to the beach, the sun was setting into a golden bed of clouds over a sparkling blue horizon, with gentle waves lapping quietly onto the sandy beach. I was coming to appreciate the incredible natural beauty of Hawaii, and how it affects the long term residents here. One saintly Godbrother, who visited here many years later, commented that he had never experienced the modes of nature that exist in Hawaii at any other place on the planet. He tagged it “a mysterious mix of goodness and ignorance.” And indeed, Srila Prabhupada often made comments like “Hawaii is left over from a previous yuga,” and “Hawaii is like a heavenly planet,” and “there’s no happiness anywhere, but if there is any, it’s in Hawaii.”
As we sat singing Hare Krishna on the beach, the other youths began to timidly join in. A dozen or more youths sat in cross-legged yoga postures, in a wide oblong-circle. Ti leaves, used for luau plates, were placed in front of each one. All were yoga students and disciples of the young man named “Sai.” Though only twenty-something years old, Sai was a well-known yoga meditation teacher in the Islands. He had many admirers, and followers, and an ashram at Sunset Beach, as well as a three-acre farm ashram on Maui. We had heard much about him, and first met him when he came to our tent at the Sunshine Pleasure Fair/Crater Festival.
We chanted Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare; Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, for at least a half hour. The sun had set, and dusk was a purplish blue haze decorated with pink and golden clouds. As we brought our kirtan to a close, we chanted the prayers to the Spiritual Master, as was the custom in those days. About the same time, the whole group erupted in loud bellowing “OM’s.”
This was confusing to me. Goursundar quickly left and went back to the truck, leaving me alone and somewhat bewildered. So I completed the prayers alone, and then went over to the bright young man named Sai. I gave him my copy of the newly published “Bhagavad Gita As It Is,” just received from Los Angeles. It was the lavender-colored abridged edition, from MacMillan, with my drawing of Mahavishnu on the cover. Receiving the gift, Sai smiled broadly in acceptance. Little did I know at the time that it was the beginning of a long time friendship, as this pious young man was greatly influenced by Srila Prabhupada’s teachings.
We chanted Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare; Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, for at least a half hour. The sun had set, and dusk was a purplish blue haze decorated with pink and golden clouds. As we brought our kirtan to a close, we chanted the prayers to the Spiritual Master, as was the custom in those days. About the same time, the whole group erupted in loud bellowing “OM’s.”
This was confusing to me. Goursundar quickly left and went back to the truck, leaving me alone and somewhat bewildered. So I completed the prayers alone, and then went over to the bright young man named Sai. I gave him my copy of the newly published “Bhagavad Gita As It Is,” just received from Los Angeles. It was the lavender-colored abridged edition, from MacMillan, with my drawing of Mahavishnu on the cover. Receiving the gift, Sai smiled broadly in acceptance. Little did I know at the time that it was the beginning of a long time friendship, as this pious young man was greatly influenced by Srila Prabhupada’s teachings.
Soon thereafter, Sai came to visit our tiny “Hick’s home” temple, and took darshan of Kartamashayi. Krishna, the Enchanter of Cupid, the Lord in the heart, is in the hearts of everyone, and certainly in the heart of the yogis. Over a year later, Sai came to our temple and was initiated by Srila Prabhupada. He received diksha and sannyas at the same time that the Pancha Tattva Deities were installed. And he has done glorious preaching work in Hawaii as well as other places all over the globe since that time. Srila Prabhupada gave him the name Siddhaswarup Ananda Maharaj, saying that he was a Siddha, from the Siddha-loka, and now was a great preacher in the mission of Lord Chaitanya.
