Haridasa Varya Prabhu is not a well known devotee. He is not a Guru. He is not a big leader. He does not give classes. He does not write books. He did not take any tremendous vows. He did not commit to or achieve some ambitious project. He is a simple devotee. But his simple devotion earned him a place in the spiritual realm. Read more about the simplicity of this sweet devotee that made him dear to Guru and Krishna.
Born in 1941, Haridasa Varya Prabhu left for the spiritual world in 2025 at the age of 84. He was initiated quite recently, in 2023. How did he achieve this amazing feat, and that too “so quickly”?
Our hero was born in a pious Marathi-speaking family. It was in a little village in the Washim District of Maharashtra. He led a very quiet and simple life. Married, early, he had two sons and a daughter. I learned about this great soul through his daughter. She is a devotee named Shyama Gauri Devi Dasi. She is a disciple of His Holiness Radhanath Swami. When she spoke about her father, I was inspired and struck by the simple devotion of her father. I had to write about it.
A map of India highlighting the Washim District of the State of Maharashtra
Once, not long ago, a visiting preacher, Ram Narayan Prabhu asked this elderly gentlemen “How many rounds are you chanting?”. The answer came back “Five”. The preacher asked “How will you reach spiritual perfection by chanting only five rounds?”. He added “If you chant a sixteen rounds, I will arrange for your initiation”. Our elderly hero was incredulous “What, even I can get initiated?” – thinking himself so unqualified for spiritual initiation, nevertheless started chanting sixteen rounds of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Every single day our octogenarian hero would chant Hare Krishna. Minimum of 16 rounds. Every single day.
Baladev Prabhu is our hero’s spiritual guide. He served as “Atma Pradarshak Guru” and “Shiksha Guru”, the instructing spiritual master. He took great pains to craft a plan of spiritual practice suitable for an octogenarian. Another spiritual guide was Vednath Prabhu, the Bhakti Vriksha leader or the local community.
Simple things get harder in old age. That’s one reason to start as early as possible. But, our hero never skipped his rounds. Even in ill health. Even in pain. No matter how hard it got, there was no stopping until he got to the magic number 16 rounds.
When it came time to getting initiated, though, there was a problem. He couldn’t travel far. In fact, he barely traveled to a nearby village. So how would he get initiated?
His Grace Samika Rishi Prabhu is a disciple of Srila Prabhupada. When he heard about this sincere soul, he agreed to initiate him. Not only is Samika Rishi Prabhu an accomplished physician of the body, he also is a doctor for the soul. The spiritual master has over 50 years of dedicated service under his belt. He agreed to visit the little village in Washim, Maharashtra. He came just to initiate this sincere soul.
On the initiation day, everyone was moved by the sincerity of the octogenarian initiate! His simplicity and dedication were clearly seen by all. New initiates are required to take the following vows:
- To chant a minimum of 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra (1728 utterances of the mantra) every day.
- To follow these four regulative principles
- No illicit sex
- No gambling
- No meat eating
- No intoxication
When taking the vows to follow the regulative, our hero was embarrassed. He didn’t want anyone thinking he used to do these things before and would now abstain from them! So he took the vows somewhat like this:
“I don’t partake of illicit sex, gambling, meat eating, or intoxication” – deliberately using the present tense!
That simple innocence definitely brought a chuckle to everyone present!
His Grace Samika Rishi Prabhu initiated our hero with the name “Haridasa Varya Das.” This name means “The foremost among the servants of Sri Hari.” He took his spiritual life very seriously.
This was the daily schedule of Haridasa Varya Prabhu:
7:00 AM – rise, cleanse teeth, have breakfast, take a bath, apply Tilaka, recite his mantras at the altar. The mantras starting with the Ganapati Stotra and other mantras he was used to reciting since childhood.
8:00 AM – Chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra on meditation beads
11 AM – Lunch
12 Noon – Nap
2 PM – Read the Srimad Bhagavatam, at least 40 pages daily – make a daily record of his reading
4PM – Watch TV, speak with other villagers
6PM – dinner
7PM – Chant Hare Krishna some more
9PM – Rest
Handwritten notes example, containing the reading progress of His Grace Haridasa Varya Prabhu around the date of his departure
When he became sick closer to departure from his body, he chanted constantly, with or without beads. Even without beads, or while “asleep”, he would “move the beads”on a piece of cloth in bed.
Just before he departed, he did this:
- Asked for his beads
- Asked for a picture of Krishna to be brought before him. Not just any picture of Krishna from some magazine, but a picture of Sri Radha Pandharinath from ISKCON Pandharpur.
- He told his daughter-in-law “There are four personalities here. They have come to take me home”
- He asked to go outside in the sun, and spoke to passersby as if saying goodbye to everyone
- Took Krishna Prasadam
- A neighbor who had gone to Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbha Mela gave him some Ganga Jal (water from the Ganga)
- Refused to go into his bedroom to sleep
- Sat down on a couch gazing at a picture of Sri Radha Vrindavan Chandra from ISKCON NVCC Pune.
- Told his daughter-in-law, “Yes, there are four of them who have come for me”
- Took his “bath”, a sponge bath from one of his daughters-in-law
- He departed just when his arms were raised to put on his shirt
Haridasa Varya Prabhu used to love to lead Harinam Kirtan in his own special way. Someone would hold a microphone close to his mouth and he would sing a simple song or two. His sincere Kirtan was appreciated by all.
This was one of his favourite songs:
तू माझा यजमान रामा, तू माझा यजमान ||धृ||
जननी जठरी रक्षियले मज,पोसुनी पंचहि प्राण ||१||
बाहेर निघता मातेचे स्तनी,पय केले निर्माण ||२||
ऐसे असता या पोटाची,का करू चिंता जाण ||३||
मध्व मुनीश्वर स्वामी रमापती,धरी माझा अभिमान ||४||
You are my Lord Rama, You are my Lord
In the womb of my mother, you protected me, you preserved my five life airs
When I came out, you caused milk to flow from my mother’s breast
When this is so, why shall I worry for my own sustenance
He read the entire Srimad Bhagavatam and the entire Chaitanya Charitamrita. He was on his second round of reading the Srimad Bhagavatam around the date of his departure.
He leaves behind his wife, Mother Damodar Priya Devi Dasi, also initiated by Samika Rishi Prabhu.
At the end, he pulled out an ace… attained perfection… whatever he did or not, at the end, he did. – Her Grace Rukmini Devi Dasi (JPS)
Haridasa Varya Prabhu, I pray at your lotus feet the next prayer taught to me by my spiritual master. I fall down in the dust of your lotus feet while praying this prayer to you. You have shown us by your personal example of humility, eagerness, consistency, and presence of mind. You have attained pure devotional service at the lotus feet of Sri Radha Vrindavan Chandra. You are very kind and merciful Vaishnava. Please grant this poor soul shelter at your lotus feet.
From Haridasa Varya Prabhu’s life, we get the following lessons:
- It is never too late to start – of course, start as early as possible, but start, and GO!
- When the disciple is ready, the spiritual master is sent by Krishna. In this case, Haridasa Varya Prabhu’s spiritual master came all the way from New Jersey, USA.
- Humility is a great asset – Haridasa Varya Prabhu considered himself unfit for initiation!
- Take spiritual practice seriously. It is potent. Chanting Hare Krishna. Reading Srimad Bhagavatam. Every bit counts!
- Focus consciousness on what is most important, and do it every day.
- Simplicity in spiritual life is a prized asset, we should cultivate this simplicity that allows us to chant always.
- Krishna is very kind and merciful, and His devotee is even more so. We see this from the example of all the devotees who encouraged Haridasa Varya Prabhu.
- The process of devotional service as given to us by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada works.
ये तु सर्वाणि कर्माणि मयि सन्न्यस्य मत्परा: ।
अनन्येनैव योगेन मां ध्यायन्त उपासते ॥ ६ ॥
तेषामहं समुद्धर्ता मृत्युसंसारसागरात् ।
भवामि न चिरात्पार्थ मय्यावेशितचेतसाम् ॥ ७ ॥ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi mayi sannyasya mat-parāḥ
ananyenaiva yogena māṁ dhyāyanta upāsateteṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt
bhavāmi na cirāt pārtha mayy āveśita-cetasāmBut those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Pṛthā – for them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.
And this beautiful verse…
अहो बकी यं स्तनकालकूटं
जिघांसयापाययदप्यसाध्वी ।
लेभे गतिं धात्र्युचितां ततोऽन्यं
कं वा दयालुं शरणं व्रजेम ॥ २३ ॥aho bakī yaṁ stana-kāla-kūṭaṁ
jighāṁsayāpāyayad apy asādhvī
lebhe gatiṁ dhātry-ucitāṁ tato ’nyaṁ
kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajemaAlas, how shall I take shelter of one more merciful than He who granted the position of mother to a she-demon [Pūtanā] although she was unfaithful and she prepared deadly poison to be sucked from her breast?
Freedom through Genuine Spiritual Progress 