Jayananda Prabhu, or formally Jayananada Das Brahmachari is a legendary Vaishnava for anyone familiar with the Hare Krishna movement.
A disciple of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Jayananda Prabhu became dear to everyone he met.
I once met an old hippie in Puerto Rico who had met Jayananda, and this old gentleman couldn’t stop talking about him, well over 50 years after he’d last met him!
Often referred to as “Johnny Ananda” Or “Joy Ananda”, even “Jolly Ananda”, Jayananda’s infectious enthusiasm brought many lost souls to the spiritual path. His deep humility continues to inspire millions around the world even today, over 50 years after his departure.
Jayananda Prabhu was not a “big leader” or a “Guru”, and didn’t hold any official position. But anyone who served with him revers him to this day.
Jayananda Prabhu, or formally Jayananada Dasa Brahmachari or Sri Srimad Jayananda Prabhu, is a legendary Vaishnava for anyone familiar with the Hare Krishna movement.
A disciple of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Jayananda Prabhu became dear to everyone he met, even to those who were initially antagonistic towards him!
I once met an old hippie in Puerto Rico who had met Jayananda, and this old gentleman couldn’t stop talking about him, “the saint in your movement” well over 50 years after he’d last met him! A hard-nosed city official famous for browbeating the devotees, refusing permission, hassling them, when she learned that Jayananda had departed, broke down and cried!
Often referred to as “Johnny Ananda” Or “Joy Ananda”, even “Jolly Ananda”, Jayananda’s infectious enthusiasm brought many lost souls to the spiritual path, starting with lines like “hey, can you hold this nail for me?” while under a cart with only feet visible. His deep humility and pioneering service continues to inspire millions around the world even today, over 50 years after his departure.
Jayananda Prabhu was not a “big leader” or a “Guru”, and didn’t hold any official position. But anyone who served with him reveres him to this day.
These are some of Jayananda Prabhu’s divine qualities:
Attraction for Sri Krishna
Ever Enthusiastic
Deep Humility
Service Attitude
Freedom from Fault-finding
Loved – Dear to Everyone
Inclusive – Expert at Engaging Everyone
Frugality
Driven to Organize Ratha Yatra
Solid Relationship with Guru
Fearlessness
Ever Surrendered to Guru and Krishna
In this ISKCON Oakville Sunday Feast Class, we will learn more about this divine personality who departed young, before his spiritual master, starting with a prayer for his mercy.
Jayananda Prabhu earned a degree as a Mechanical Engineer, but preferred to drive a cab instead!
He gave everything he had to his spiritual master, because “I knew he didn’t want to cheat me so I wanted to work for him.”. And work he did!
This is what Srila Prabhupada wrote in his Preface to the Nectar of Devotion:
The Nectar of Devotion is specifically presented for persons who are now engaged in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. I beg to offer my sincere thanks to all my friends and disciples who are helping me to push forward the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in the Western countries, and I beg to acknowledge, with thanks, the contribution made by my beloved disciple Śrīman Jayānanda Brahmacārī. My thanks are due as well to the directors of ISKCON Press, who have taken so much care in publishing this great literature. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
In fact, Jayananda Prabhu is a great saint born in America, and we should aspire to follow in his footsteps, so we pray that he may be merciful unto us all.
Once upon a time there was a bull. Then there was a warrior. And then there was a great saint. The bull became the warrior who became the saint when reminded of his legacy… how come? How does a bull become a saint?
Picture this…
A wealthy, handsome young man in full armour on horseback. A hot day in South Central India, where temperatures routinely exceed 40 Celsius or 104 Fahrenheit. They’re thirsty, parched, both the warrior and the horse.
Dhondo Pant Raghunath, our dashing warrior, suddenly chances upon a river. It’s cool waters were irresistible on the searing hot day. So, the young man rides his horse straight into the cool refreshing waters of the river, and both horse and man eagerly quench their thirst.
A sage sitting on the bank remarks “kim pashuh purva dehe? / किं पशुः पूर्व देहे?” or “why, were you an animal in your previous body?”.
Hearing this question instantly brought back a flood of past life memories in our young Dhondo Pant.
tatra taṁ buddhi-saṁyogaṁ labhate paurva-dehikam yatate ca tato bhūyaḥ saṁsiddhau kuru-nandana
On taking such a birth, he revives the divine consciousness of his previous life, and he again tries to make further progress in order to achieve complete success, O son of Kuru.
In his former lifetime, Dhondo Pant had been a bull.
Yes, four-legged bovine with horns, used as a beast of burden. He was in the service of the great Ananda Tirtha, or Sripad Madhvacharya. The bull was engaged in carrying the manuscripts of various scriptural texts and commentaries.
Madhvacharya is famous for having written commentaries, “bhashya / भाष्य” on the various fundamental texts of Vedic literature. If you have come across the commentaries of Sripad Madhvacharya, you may have noticed that they are not very easy to understand, even for a well-educated reader. Many of his disciples therefore requested permission to write commentaries on the commentaries “teeka / टीका”… but Madhvacharya refused them all.
He said “This bull here shall write the commentaries on my works“.
And the great sage on the riverbank recognized the soul, he saw the soul who wore the body of a bull, now wearing the body of this rich young man. The sage was the great Akshobhya Tirtha, a spiritual descendent of Sripad Madhvacharya. Such is the mercy of the spiritual master, who appears at the right time, at the right place, to claim a soul on behalf of God.
I am fortunate to be initiated in the same line of discplic succession.
By the mercy of my eternal spiritual master His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari and his divine spiritual master His Divine Grace A. C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. In a similar way, my spiritual master approached me through the Internet, and answered my questions patiently, writing over 600 replies, before I recognized him as my spiritual master. I offer my respectful obeisances to my spiritual master for helping me recognize who I am and be myself. However, I am still unworthy, to be honest.
In any case, our bull-turned-young man immediately decided…
To renounce his materialistic life in a rich family, and take Sannyasa, the monastic order of pure devotion to Sri Krishna. He was now known as Jayatirtha. His father, Raghunath Deshpande, like any rich father, tried his best to stop his son, but in the end had to acquiesce to the divine destiny that was unfolding before his eyes.
Sri Jayateertha is famous as “Teekacharyaru / ಟೀಕಾಚಾರ್ಯರು”, or “The Master of the Commentaries. The word Acharya means one who teaches purely the instructions of God and personally lives those teachings. “Teeka” means commentary upon a commentary.
So, by the grace of Sri Jayatirtha…
the complex instructions of the Vedic literature of Madhvacharya was revealed to us, to study, understand, discuss, teach, and follow ourselves. His Samadhi still exists in Southern India, in Malkhed, Kalaburgi District, Karnataka. A saint who has entered Samadhi is not “dead”, one can go and receive their blessings just as one can receive blessings from a saint who still walks the earth amongst us. Near the Samadhi of Jayatirtha is the Samadhi of his spiritual master, Sri Akshobhya Tirtha.
What can we learn from this incident…
Of the warrior turned sage who was a bull in his former lifetime? That no matter how we engage in the service of God, it is always beneficial. What is more, no matter how small a thing someone does for God, that soul benefits beyond our comprehension.
नेहाभिक्रमनाशोऽस्ति प्रत्यवायो न विद्यते । स्वल्पमप्यस्य धर्मस्य त्रायते महतो भयात् ॥ ४० ॥
nehābhikrama-nāśo ’sti pratyavāyo na vidyate sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt
In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.
The great Jayananda Prabhu is a perfect example… he would often call out to a passerby, “Hey can you just hold this nail for me?”, and before you know it, by service to Krishna, the dull, unclean passerby has transformed into a bright-faced Vaishnava devotee!
In a similar way, we request donations from everyone we speak to. The donations are not for us, we don’t need anyone’s money. Krishna has given us enough. But anyone who gives, they benefit.
दातव्यमिति यद्दानं दीयतेऽनुपकारिणे । देशे काले च पात्रे च तद्दानं सात्त्विकं स्मृतम् ॥ २० ॥
dātavyam iti yad dānaṁ dīyate ’nupakāriṇe deśe kāle ca pātre ca tad dānaṁ sāttvikaṁ smṛtam
Charity given out of duty, without expectation of return, at the proper time and place, and to a worthy person is considered to be in the mode of goodness.
Sometimes we get a ride from someone, sometimes, we ask someone to help move some boxes or hold open a door… sometimes, we give an animal Krishna Prasada, or chant the Holy Name of Krishna loudly so they hear it.
prasāde sarva-duḥkhānāṁ hānir asyopajāyate prasanna-cetaso hy āśu buddhiḥ paryavatiṣṭhate
For one thus satisfied [in Kṛṣṇa consciousness], the threefold miseries of material existence exist no longer; in such satisfied consciousness, one’s intelligence is soon well established.
Anyone who comes in contact with someone engaged in devotional service is benefited. Whether it is the ant who comes in contact with the dust from the altar, or the bee who was intoxicated on some leftover nectar offered to Krishna, or the cockroach who lives in Radharani’s kitchen and feeds on leftover Prasadam.
When I got out on Harinam, pigeons and seagulls sometimes surround me. I am 100% certain that all those souls will come back as devotees, and Krishna will help me serve them again. I can’t wait to see them again, as bright-faced Vaishnavas!
There is also eyewitness evidence to the power of Prasada… food offered to the Lord, but more on that another day.
It doesn’t matter what your present condition is. Just engage somehow or other in Bhakti, pure devotional service. You will benefit beyond your wildest imagination! As one of my teachers, Vaisesika Prabhu, likes to say “do what you can, with what you have”
P.P.S: This is the disciplic succession with which I have received my spiritual knowledge and impetus to share this knowledge. Many branches and sub-branches of this disciplic succession have helped me, not to mention souls from so many other traditions from around the world. I am grateful to them all, too numerous to mention.
Freedom through Genuine Spiritual Progress 