Father Pierre - HH Indradyumna Maharaj

In my experience, how Prasadam was very effective in delivering somebody who I could now call a friend. In the very least, a friend. We, in the early 70s, we would travel in an old Volkswagen van. The color was like an orange color. And, you know, those vans, we put the books, we'd build a little box inside or from the back to the front, we would have just a floor. And under the floor, we would have all our books and a few. We only allowed to have a bag this big of our personal items. Traveling, we were all young men. I was still a grihastha, but the other boys were all brahmachari. We would all sleep in the vans at night. We'd travel and stop and, you know, seven sleeping bags. So like sardines in a can, you know, one boy would turn and all the other six boys would be obliged to turn. Like Prabhupada said, packed up tight in Krishna consciousness. We love the austerities. We were so happy traveling and preaching in our 20s, doing books. In the snow and the rain and the heat of this, we didn't care. We were just happy. But we'd sleep sometimes outside at night when it was really hot. The difficult part was the winter because it would snow. And we tried our best to be like really tough, you know, brahmacharis. They were like, OK, you know, but it got really cold. And it, you know, instead of like being you find all the boys on top of each other at night, the sleeping bags are so cold, they get them piled up in one corner. So cold. So we started like we got an idea that we would go to the monasteries. Because France is a Catholic country and they have a lot of monasteries where celibate monks would live. So we got this idea that instead of sleeping in the cold, then it was affecting our book distribution because we were just getting sick and so forth. We had an idea that. So we started in our travels. We would sometimes go to a monastery and they were using isolated, always in isolated places. And, you know, we inquire, is it possible that we could stay with you for a night? And they'd always look at us like because in those days the movement wasn't known. Well, who are you? We're monks. We've just come back from India. And do you believe in Jesus? Oh, yeah, we believe in Jesus Christ. He's our savior. All right. Come on in. And we'd stay for a night or two like that. Different there were Benedictine monks and this monks and but my favorite monks were the Trappist monks. Because the Trappist monks, their lifestyle was more akin to the way we would live as as devotees. They were strictly celibate. You know, they were strictly vegetarian, which is unusual in the Christian church. Strictly vegetarian, simple living, high thinking. They would just spend their time. Most of the time they would just sit and think of God and pray, basically. You know, they'd go off to a certain part of the monastery and they would just, you know, think, reflect on God and Jesus. So we tended to prefer those those type of monasteries. So one winter, I think was the winter of. Seventy nineteen seventy five, we were distributing books in the Alsace Lorraine, which is just before Germany, the eastern part of France, we were distributing books in that area. And we were out for a month or two and the winter started settling in. And actually it wasn't winter, it was towards the end of summer, but it was a cool autumn that was coming very quickly. And we were getting cold. So boys said, Mara, I wasn't a mirage at the time, but they were saying, can we stay in the monastery? So I drove around and I found a monastery way up in the mountains in the Alsace Lorraine. It was like an hour and a half drive into the closest town, which was called Metz. I saw that and I saw it from a distance and I said, OK, I'll bring the boys up here tonight, because if we came up in late at night, it was hard for them to say no. To like, refuse us. After St. Caton, our day of book distribution, we drove, we arrived around 1030 at night. And these monks would generally take rest around 830 or so. Not in the big, big, huge, like monastery, like a castle. And because the autumn was coming early and it was getting cool, all the leaves had fallen down and the bare trees there and, you know, it was dark and the wind was howling. It was a full moon. It was a little scary. I think it's just really a monastery. It's just like a haunted house. So I'm knocking. Boom, boom, boom. Nothing was happening. The boys, knock louder, knock louder. It's getting cold. Boom. And finally, through the stained glass, I could see like a lantern coming from a long distance and down the hallway. It's coming. Double got a come. With the same. Do I believe in ghosts? I don't know. It was a big wooden door. And there was a monk and his monks. They dress in the old, you know, medieval robes. Brown. They had brown robes and they had a tie and they wear these like pointed like wayward. Woo. Like where was head like that? Yes. Father, I'm a monk. I just came back from India. I'm really cold and tired. Can I spend the night here? Who are you? Well, I I'm a monk. I practice the tradition from the east, very similar to what you're done. Vegetarian, celibate. And you read the Bible. Yeah. Every single day. Read the Bible. Every single day. What do you want? How long do you want to stay? Like one or two nights, please. Are you alone? Not exactly. I have got. Seven friends in the van, seven friends. So to close the door. Father, father, please, in the name of Jesus, please don't leave me out in the cold. All right. You can stay three nights no longer. You can sleep in the basement. Oh, thanks. And you can come for breakfast. But no speaking at breakfast. Meditate on Jesus. Yes, father. Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. The kingdom come, the will be on earth as it is in heaven. All right. Bring your friends in. Thank you, father. We address as devotees. And we were very respectful because these priests were always giving us shelter. And sometimes when we were allowed to talk to them, very interesting conversations would develop. We would appreciate the similarities in our tradition. But this was like kind of a special introduction. So the boys came in and then, you know, we bought our sleeping bags and our little possession. We went in the basement. It was like a hard stone floor. There were no windows. Just this door. No lights. Flashlight. So we went to sleep. And in the morning, a knock on our door. Time for breakfast. We got up and ran to the near place where it was like a bucket shower type thing. We took her and we came upstairs and there were like 25 monks at this long wooden table like this. Couldn't see the face was just as long as big. So, you know, we sat down and looking at each other and took my charter over my head. Sarva dharma paricchato mamikamsa nama. I went through about 20 verses, everything I knew. I'm still praying. One of the boys, his stomach started to churn. One of the monks said. So I went to my verses about four times and then at the same time, they all raised their heads. Hi, guys. No one would look at me. And then they brought in the soup. And then they brought in the grand course, which was an apple. That was the main meal of the day. We need again tonight and we came back at night. It was soup. And Apple, a little piece of toast, no butter, no cheese, no nothing. So then in the morning, we said the prayer like that and we were eating, eating very slowly. And you can't the soup. No, no, no. When you bite the apple, don't cry. And don't dare make a noise when you swallow it. So we were appreciative. They were very renounced. So I was thinking yogis, they had their techniques. So we were respectful. We took forever to eat that apple. Finally, you know, we were all finished. Took about 40 minutes to eat. And then everyone stood up at the same time and they went to their chambers to meditate all day long. I was thinking, wow, these guys, these monks are very serious. So that day I said the boys, it's OK, no second is going to study all day. We'll learn from these monks. The boys like studying. I said, OK, forget it. Just go on. So we came out and we drove, you know, hour and a half into medicine. We did our sankatana. We came back at night and, you know, we had dinner of sorts. So it went on like this for three days and we were given permission to stay longer. And the boys are saying, Indra can't go on with just an apple and a soup. Got to eat something. So I didn't know what to do because, you know, we could on the day, you know, they're very busy and I wouldn't let anybody stop because we had a quota. So many books, so much Lakshmi, we're like taskmasters. When they come on, they were getting like weak. OK, I agree. One boy said, remember your lecture that an army runs on a stomach? That's what Napoleon said. Yeah, I did quote Napoleon, didn't I? But he didn't just eat soup and apples with his men to conquer, you know, Europe. Right, boys. Yeah, that's a good that's a good quote. And you quoted it. Yeah, right. I remember that lecture. We had a big feast afterwards. Yeah, we had a big feast. OK, so what we'll do is we'll bring because we had the cookers and we were keeping him in the van. We had our big cookers and our pots and pans, everything. So one night we came back really late and we had put blankets around them and we brought all our cooking paraphernalia into the basement. This is little cheating, but I call it white lie, not dark light. This is maybe a little. And the next day we bought in a bag of rice. Next day we bought some doll. Next week we bought some stuff. And after five or six days, the boys are like, and we got up early and we started cooking and cooking and. And we you know, the door was there and we put like tape there so the smell wouldn't go out. You know how the chance sometimes goes anywhere and everywhere in the temple and your three floors up and you're coughing. So we sealed the door, completely sealed the door and we began cooking nice facade. Because, you know, that's an important part of our. Again, army does run on his stomach. So, you know, we were eating nice, tasty facade and we had good cooks and we'd have a morning program down there. We'd have a morning program and I'd give class and we have guru Pooja singing and dance. We kept it very quiet. One morning, the big knock. I went to hide all the pots and cover them with sleeping bags. And the head of the monastery, the man who originally the monk originally came to me, he said, you're making too much noise. So after that, just a little more done, get ticked, ticked, ticked, ticked, ticked, ticked, ticked. We knew the level that we could wouldn't disturb the monks in the morning. And even though we ate breakfast, we had to sit there for the monks breakfast. Otherwise, we'd look full. It wouldn't look good if we came in full. And I remember one monk was like looking one of the boys and he said, you are making. He said after we were going walking, he said, you are making advancement. You are satisfied with the apple in the soup. But that boy had something like eleven samosas that morning before we. So this went on for about 10 days, actually. You know, and we had this air freshener that after we cook, we'd spray it everywhere. So, you know, and then we'd open the door and have breakfast, you know, eat our apple and go and sing a time. But one thing that kept stressing was no interaction with the monks. The head monk, he was very insistent. I think he was feeling we would contaminate them because, you know, we were wearing shaved heads and young boy long seekers and saffron robes. And, you know, you could see some of the monks. Sometimes they'd steal a little glance at us during the apple in the soup, you know, and they'd be walking away and their head would turn. You see this eye come out from this hood. So you could tell there was some curiosity, but we we were very strict. I told the boys, look, OK, with the cooking, but don't interact with the monks because this is their lifestyle and this is their meditation. This is their path. And we should respect that. It's a bona fide path and don't interact. And also, you know, it's getting colder, although it was, you know, like late August or something. It's very early autumn coming in. It was so we don't want to sleep in our van. Right. Yeah. OK. So. So we were very careful, although we would cause each other in the past. And we would turn around sometimes outside and the monks would be there meditating. You know, but it was it was a little odd because there was no interaction, but that's OK. So one morning, I think on the 10th or 11th day, just as I was starting to give class. There was a night I cover all the pots, you know, put the air freshener out, you know, sit down like nothing's happening. I opened the door and there's a monk there. Older, he's like. He must have been 80s, early 80s. He said this is all in French, but I won't say it in French because you understand. He said, may I come in? I don't think it's a good idea. I said, because, you know, the head monk here, he said, no interactions. I know. I know. He said, but I just I'm so curious. You people look so happy. So I've been here for 45 years. This is what I want. I said, I could close it. I said, father, please go back. And I closed the door because I didn't want to get in trouble. And then. You know, knock, knock, knock on heaven's door, that long as you knock, somebody is going to open after 10 knocks. I said, what's your name? He said, you see, Father Pierre, I am Father Peter, Father Pierre. I said, OK, Father, come in. But you can't. I know. I know. I'm not supposed to tell anybody. I know. I just want to like see what you do. What we do. You're like chanting, dancing and feasting as opposed to apple soup and solitary meditation every day. I said, I don't think it's going to work. He said, just please. He said, she will play. She will play. OK. One time. It's very confidential. We said, oh, we. So I, I, you know, I sat down and the boy went under the blanket. He started cooking under the blanket. You know, brahmacharis, they can sleep anywhere and eat any time. Of course, I don't know if that goes for PhD brahmacharis and chowpah. So for a while, you know, the chanche was coming out and the priest. What is that? It's nothing. It's just the dust. The dust. There's no dust here. I said, OK, Father, look, I'm going to let you know something, but you have to promise me. You're going to say we're cooking down here. You know. The soup you're cooking, the soup. Well, yeah, it's got a few other things that you guys have, like you have salt. We have like, you know, cumin seed, aspartame, turmeric. And, you know, we put it with on some rice and he said, oh, I said, but, you know, this is what we do. These are young boys. They're they're not just meditating. They're sharing the message of Jesus. Oh, yes, I understand. OK, so I took the blankets off and the cooking in the pots. He looked back. He went, whoa, three pots, you know. Japati's, this is everything's going on. So I said, is this. So then I gave a class because he was there. I give an introductory class like from Bhagavad Gita. And I explained how, you know, God is a person. We share the same conviction. But the beauty of India, the beauty of Vedic culture, is that the personality of Godhead is revealed. I said this is an essential ingredient in our tradition because it's very difficult to love someone you don't know. So and as I was saying this, he was like nodding. I said, you know, how can you fall in love with someone you've never known? The goal of religion is to love God. But how can you love God if you don't know anything about him other than he's just benevolent? He was like, hmm. We we we. This is true, he said. And I said, you know, what attracts us to God is his is his beauty. And his personality, his pastimes, his abode, his associates. We we we. A kiss could say said, you say, what is this God? So I open the Bible to him. I said, this is God. It means that he's beautiful. I said, we. Yes. He said, I am coming back tomorrow. Father Pierre, we had an arrangement. No, no, she will play. She will play. She will play. She will. I said, play. Yeah, I got it. I got it. OK, you can come back tomorrow, but just don't make sure no one sees you. Oh, no, no, no, no, no one will see me. No, no, no, no. I know this. I know this monastery backwards and forwards. I have been here. So it's a young man. I know everything. I can sneak, you know. OK. Have a good day, Father. And he left. I was just kind of hoping he wouldn't come back, because, you know, I mean, I do like to preach and like to share, but I thought this is going to jeopardize our whole mission here. But what can I do? Somebody is interested to hear the message of Christian consciousness. You have to go to whatever risk requires. So sure enough, one minute before the Bible come class. But I wasn't sure it was Father Pierre, so I covered all the pots with the brahmacharya into the blanket. The whole ritual. Open the door. It's Father Pierre. I said to the boy, it's Father Pierre. He came out of the blanket. Started cooking. This went on for four days. And I got deeper and deeper and deeper into the philosophy, super soul, you know, Garba Dakshay Vishnu, Shiro Dakshay Vishnu, all the you know, everything, the creation, Goloka Vrindavan, Gopis. He accepted everything. We weasel. Like he didn't disagree with anything, nothing. He was an intellectual. A devoted intellectual. He must have been a very intelligent boy. And he joined the church and he applied his intelligence in a devotional way. But the knowledge, even Jesus said, with all due respect to our Christian brothers and sisters, Jesus said, I have more to teach you, but you are not ready to bear it. These are his words in those ancient times. I have more to teach you, but you are not ready to bear it. Which means that he had given them the message as much. He knew everything. He sat at the right hand of his father. This means Jesus. Theoretically, had full realization of God, full realization of Krishna. We hear that he spent time in Dhargonath Puri. There's historical records to that effect. Therefore, Prabhupada said, Jesus Christ is one of our spiritual masters. He was a Vaishnava, teaching devotion to God. But under the circumstances where he, the time, place, even what he taught them, for the most part, they rejected. Excepted the apostles and some followers, unfortunately, tragically. And they crucified him. So he was not able to reveal more than the people of that time. Like a professor. He knows complicated mathematics, algebra, trigonometry. But what can he speak to first or second graders? He leads them on the gradual path to full understanding. So that is our understanding of Lord Jesus. And what's more, he's a pure devotee of God. So in essence, he is our spiritual master. So but there are people to to solidify their faith. They need intelligent answers to their questions. And therefore, we have Vedic literature and Vedic literature is not just for the people of Bharat, but it's for the whole world. And now by Mahabharata's mercy, it's present. And many people are coming forward, not necessarily changing their religion, but becoming better Christians and better Muslims and better Jews by reading our books. I have practical experience with that. People's faith in God is increasing. We don't ask them to change religion, just become better devotees of God. So that was our relationship with Father Pierre. I let him come in here and he was saying yes. And we're going deep and he because intelligent man, he was catching it. It was so nice. I was looking forward to Bagatam class every day. In fact, a couple of time I had to run upstairs without eating our prasada because it was time for breakfast because the Bagatam class went so long like this class. So one day I took a chance. I said, Father Pierre, can you stay for breakfast? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I said, Father Pierre, this is God's food. This food is blessed. We are offering it to God with authorized prayers. God is accepting. And by his mercy, he's leaving the remnants. I said, yes, this is the meaning of saying the prayer to God when we offer food. It just made sense to him. But, s'il vous plaît, no. No, no, no. Come on, Father, just take a bite. No, no, no. He left. For a couple of days, I just kept and then the class is all about prasada. Like recipes and how it tastes and the effect. You know, I told that so many prasada stories, you know, how Ramanujacharya did show the potency of prasada. He took some of the remnants from his plate, some rice. He threw it into the river and some fish ate it. And the fish assumed their forearm farms as residents of Vaikuntha and rose out of the water in front of the eyes of everyone, entered into a flower airplane and went back to Vaikuntha. And Ramanujacharya was demonstrating to his followers the power of prasada. And you know, in India, when you go to the temple, like I just came from Govindaji in Jaipur, how the people take a small portion of prasada and with such great reverence, they pray and they eat that prasada. So I was giving, I was telling stories like that. Father Pierre was like, he started to kind of drool. And the Brahmacharis, they were like, stop, you know, we're hungry. What do you keep talking like that for? I was talking about, you know, sweet rice and cheese filled samosas and halva with raspberries and nice, you know. And they were just like drooling about. They were saying, I have a purpose here, boys. Just hold on. So after we'd been there, I think it was almost two weeks, I said, Father Pierre, please, it's God's food. You're a devotee of God. You can't refuse. So he becomes so purified. He said, I cannot argue anything you say to me. I said, yes, because my spiritual master has taught me this perfect philosophy. He was just like so intrigued. So he sat down and he said, so that day he just took a little pinch of rice. That rice had ghee in it, you know, and bear in mind for 45 years, he'd only eaten that simple diet of soup and apple and a little toast. He just like swooned when he took that rice. He said, Merci, Au revoir. And he left very quickly. I thought, well, at least something right. And the boys said, yeah, let's finish it off. So the next day, that day was Balaram's appearance day late in August or early September. So I drove back to Paris, which was a good 10 hour drive to get more books. From the from our go down, as you call it, you know, from our factory there, we kept the books. I drove back. And while I was there, you know, it's just some quirk of faith that I happened to drive on Balaram's appearance day and arrive in time for the feast. I didn't plan it like that. That's not true. Can't tell too many white lies. Anyway, I got there just in time for the feast. Boy, it was so good. We had the best cooks in the movement at that time. Believe me, Conti and Kishore, these girls, I just remember them as being so talented. And it was a Balaram, you know, Balaram's appearance day. There's so many sweets and there's Varuni beverage. So I told the devotees, I have these seven brahmacharis back in the mountains of the Alsace Lorraine. And, you know, I would really appreciate if you would stock up some prasad. Those girls were so kind. They made these like big buckets of Rasgulla's and Gulab jamuns and sweet rice and burfi and para and, you know, sweet and sour subji with curd and pineapple and tomatoes and four subji. I mean, it was practically I had to leave half the books behind. But I had a selfish interest. We left them and I wanted the boys to be happy. So I left most a lot of the books there and piled that van full of Balaram's feast. And the biggest part of all was Varuni beverage. You know, Balaram drank the Varuni beverage and got intoxicated. Varuni beverage is half water, half yogurt and a ton of honey. That's how this that's how we made it in those days. It was like almost drinking liquid honey. I drove back to that. And I told the boys I was coming, but so that I wouldn't be discovered by the by the monks. I came in at two o'clock in the morning. But all the boys were up. I said, what are you boys doing up? Oh, you know, Marazi, the Balaram, the Varuni beverage. We I said, you boys go to sleep right now. You're going on Sankirtan tomorrow. We will have this feast after Bhagavatam class. They became so upset. I said, I'm the Sankirtan leader. You do what I say. Go to bed. I thought it was going to be a revolution, mutiny on the bounty or something. So they went to sleep and we woke up in the morning. They were up right on time. No problem getting him up. Everyone was there for Bhagavatam class because there was no cooking that morning. And they're all lined up. And I started the class and. Father Pierre. I think today's not a good day for Father Pierre to come here because there may be some temptation. And we have that prayer. Father, lead us not into temptation. So I said, Father Pierre, you know, today's kind of exceptional day. And we were just thinking maybe you could just like come in today and. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Let let philosophy, the philosophy, let philosophy say. It's perfect. And I have this desire to hear from you. See who play close the door because it only says see who play my heart would melt. Then I could hear him behind the window. See who play? And I walked away. He became louder. She showed a gopi not. Gopi not wants to hear the end of the story. It's his story. And he began to play. She will play. She will play. Oh, my God. He's going to he's going to attract all the attention from the head monk and everybody else. I don't know. OK, come in. Come in. Come in. See who play the philosophy. Yeah, I know. I know it is a perfect philosophy. I know that. And he took me the arm, he said, sit down and see who you begin to speak. I was so hungry. I had planned to give like a 10 minute class. And all the pots were in the back and the boys were heating up the subject. I mean, these subjects. Oh, my God. They were so rich and floating. One of those they call it a curd subject. You ever hear of that? There's no there's no vegetables. It's just, you know, a sauce with floating pieces of curd. They call this a curd subject. I said, but it doesn't have subject. But still, we call it curd subject. It was like that. And so Moses and Pekoras and and you name it. It took up like one quarter of the room. And the boys just to kind of make an impression on me, they'd come to class with their plates on their laps. Like, you know, hint, hint. So I started giving class and, you know, they tolerated it for 30 minutes. Father Pierre was an ecstasy. We just we have a kiss. I have a kiss. He had a cushion and one of the boys like, oh, no question. Don't ask any don't answer any questions. So I took the question. It was a good question. The boys started banging their spoons on the plates like they do in a prison or something. And Father Pierre was so absorbed in the answer, he didn't even pay attention to that. He was just so involved in Krishna consciousness that it didn't even affect him. I was thinking, I wish I had that ardent desire to hear. That I would very quickly, he was such a special soul and you just couldn't help but love him, you know. He was you know, he was faithful to his path. He just fell in love with the philosophy, the Bhagavatam. And I was like diving and surfing, you know, the philosophy, everything he had nice, not a challenging question just to learn more. So after 40 minutes, the boys all stood up. Oh, oh, oh, boy, we got to get out of Sankirtan and distribute the books. Right. So to do that, we have to eat a little, please. I had to stop the class. What's going on? What's happening? I said, well, the boys, you know, they got to distribute books. And he said, there's always tomorrow. I kept thinking, what's going to happen when we leave? What's going to happen to Father Pierre when we leave? He's become addicted to the philosophy and the boys. You know, a couple of times he would bring presents for the boys. One time he bought some Christian chanibis for one boy as a present. You know, he'd bring things that he got attached to the Brahmacharis. So he said, I have to leave. I said, Father Pierre, today is a special day. He said, you said that in class, that every day is a special day in your tradition. You said every day is a festival. That's what you said. Every day is a festival. Vous avez un festival tous les jours. Every day you have a festival. I said, yes, but some festivals are more festive than the other festival days. He said, you're always explaining everything perfectly. So I said, just please, just this one time, one more time again, just sit down and take a little something. He said, yesterday, yesterday, I took the rice. I said, how was it? He said, ah, c'est bon. He said, that was very nice. So I said, then it couldn't be wrong. You know, a little logic, right? It couldn't be wrong. Could it, Father? No. I said, if you take a little more, it might even be more right. Ah oui, c'est vrai. I took him by the hand and said, s'il vous plaît, s'il vous plaît. You know, I was using his technique. S'il vous plaît, Fr. Pierre, s'il vous plaît. Assyez-vous, prenez un peu les brichades. You please sit down. He was smiling because I was using his same technique. He knew how to get in the room. S'il vous plaît, la philosophie, s'il vous plaît. I said, s'il vous plaît, la brichade. That clicked. When I said, s'il vous plaît, la brichade, he just like, boing, he sat down. He said, mais, juste un petit peu, just a little bit. He said, less than yesterday. I said, okay. So, we got him one of the brahmachari plates, one of those big, you know, stainless steel plates. I put it in front of him. He said, this big a plate for that much food? I said, yes, it's our tradition. You know, in India, I'm thinking how the madhusis come and keep putting prasadam on your plate. When you go to someone's house, you know, you have that experience. You go to a house program and the plate's there and you're halfway through the meal and they come and put on a whole other thing like this. You ever experience that, brahmacharis? So, I had this kind of idea in mind. Now, bear in mind, Father Pierre, again, he'd never taken any significant food above and beyond what he'd been eating for 45 years. I was a little cautious as I was thinking it might have some effect on him. Like, if you ate rich food in such amounts, if I told the brahmacharis, OK, just a little bit for Father Pierre. But a little bit in the mind of a brahmachari is something different than... You know what I mean? Like a brahmachari, a little portion of halwa is like that big. So, the boys came around first with the subjis and they came with the sweet and sour subji, had curd, pineapple, cauliflower. You know, like, talking about it, I'm getting hungry. Cauliflower, this, like, yogurt sauce and peas and so many things. You know, ladies, you know better than me. And they came in front and I said, Antipere, Antipere, I told the boys, just a little bit. They put a little bit on Father Pierre's. And they came around with the second. There was four subjis and he just had a little bit on each plate. A little rice, we cut the pakora in one quarter, he had one quarter. And he said, stop, stop. He said, that's... I won't eat even half of that. I said, OK. So, those boys, they sang with such feeling. And it got really fast. I said, did I hear all the words? Yes, Indra, you heard all the words. Yeah, you heard all the words. I said, OK, start. So, we had a tradition that the boys wouldn't take until I started. So, I was kind of playing a game with them. Lord Balaram K'ijai, one time Lord Balaram was walking around the... We don't want to hear any philosophy. Chanting, dancing and feasting. So, I said, Father Pierre is a respected monk in our Christian brothers' tradition. So, we will ask Father Pierre to start. So, Father Pierre, he was getting a little like, kind of like going back on his thing. I said, I don't know. And the boys, you know, the boys said, Father Pierre, it's prashadam, it's offered to God. And one boy said, it's no different than the saliva of God. You know, you know, because God ate it. It's like, Father Pierre is like, what? I said, don't preach to Father Pierre. He said, I... I said, Father Pierre, it's the mercy of Jesus. Because Jesus is God's representative and he wants us to all come closer to him. And he distributed, you know, bread to... He said, okay, okay, okay. So, he took the spoon and he just took a little like that. Ah, that's a bowl. And I'll buy this at the department store. Like a vacuum cleaner. And Father Pierre is like, he does not notice it. He's just like, he's not noticing anything. He's just focused on the prashadam. Like he was so focused on the philosophy. Now he's like, the food, you know, he's like looking at it like, oh, mon Dieu, my God, he's saying. I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I said, have some more. I will just take a little. A little more. Ah, now I will take one big bite. He's watching the brahmacharis. Ah, c'est comme ça. He said, it's like that. I said, no, no, no. I said, no, I said, Father, it's not like that. These are young men, they eat like this every day. He said, no, no, it's like, comme ça. I said, it's not like that. Slow but steady wins the race, Father. Because, you know, that was the first curd he'd had in 45 years. And I don't know if you remember when the first time you took prashadam. Do you remember? Oh, of course, you were all born devotees where you came from this culture. But in the West, the first time we took prashadam was like a revolution, a revelation. We started laughing and we felt so light and happy. I remember prashadam was like addictive. We were laughing. And the same thing happened to Father Pierre. He started getting like kind of lightheaded. I will take some more from that pot. Father, just finish what you have. Finished. One, two, three, four. What one, two, three, four? I want from all four pots. This time a little bigger, please. I said, Father, there's other things. Oh, like what? I said, well, not soup and apples. Give Father Pierre a pakora. So one boy brought a pakora, nice crispy with curd in it and cauliflower. And all the boys got it. So Father Pierre looked and he looked and he looked at it and he turned it around like that. And then, oh, ça c'est très bon! That's very good. I mean, oh my God. Shit, I second that. I said to one boy, do we have a first aid kit here just in case? So Father Pierre, he said, je peux en quatre more. I'll take four more of those. Not four. You can take one more. Then you can try a samosa. Et quoi? Ce moumou, quoi? Ce moumou, quoi? I said, not ce moumou, samosa. Qu'est-ce que c'est un ce moumou? It's kind of like toast with, you know, like vegetables. You remember what vegetables were? Like that and some spices. And he said, oh, like salt? I said, no, like the turmeric, la svetita. He said, bumble, come on, come quickly. And the boys, you know, this was so uncharacteristic of him because he was always very, you know, very dignified. You know, we are like that most of the time. We also become a little relaxed during kirtan and prasadam. You know, we have our moments. So, Fr. Pierre, he was always like. And now he's going. And the boys are like, they stopped eating. They're like. Like, you can hear what, what happened to Fr. Pierre? Like, is he OK? So, he brought a samosa. And the boy brought a big one. I said, no, no, Fr. Pierre said, yeah, that's OK. He said, sasa, I mean. So, the boys, the boys, like they weren't used to eating that fast. They ate fast, but now Fr. Pierre was eating faster than them. So, he went through three samosas in 45 seconds. I'm not exaggerating. As we say in English, he wolfed it down. And as a result, like they have this kind of like portion to their, to their, their robes. It's like this, like kind of like a bib or something. You know, it's like getting all like geese spots here, little flakes of here. A couple of peas were down here. There was some yogurt over here. And they had this big beard, this big gray beard. And the beard was turning all different colors. And the turmeric and the, and there were, you know, the anise seeds here, little poppy seeds there. And I started, oh my God, what's happening here? I did, this is getting out of control. And Fr. Pierre, he started directing the whole feast. He said, and those little, those little flat things over there, what's that? That's a paratha. I said, it's a little heavy for you. He said, no, no, c'est pas heavy. C'est pas heavy. C'est pour moi. It's for me. So, he took the paratha and like inspired by the super soul, he started ripping it apart and getting back into the original subjis. And he like, he just mystified the Brahmacharis because he took that paratha and he cupped the food. He wasn't using a spoon. He started eating with his hands. Oh my God. And he finished all the subjis on his plate and that whole paratha. And then he said, c'est pas le soup, huh? He said, it's not the soup. I said, no, Fr. It's not the soup. It's a little more than you've probably eaten in six months. He said, oui, c'est bon. He said, yes, that's very nice. Yeah, I know it's nice, but you know, like slow down. He said, no. Fr. Pierre, slow down. No, I will not slow down. What's next? So I had the boys hide a few of the preps, you know, just like a few of like the subjis. One subji we hadn't had yet. And there was like a different kinds of pakoras and there was something, I don't know the names of. Hide them, hide them. Put them under the blanket, quickly. He said, what's next? I said, well, the sweets. He said, oh, the sweets. I have been looking forward to the sweets. Okay, Fr. Pierre, we're going to go really slow here. He said, no. Fr. Pierre, who's in charge? Moi, me. He said, you are my guest in this monastery. You will do what I say. Yes, Fr. Pierre. What should we do next? He said, the sweets. So, I said, okay, bring, what did we start with? Bring a little burfi. So the boys were in the back cutting the burfi into little small pieces. We were like getting scared. We're like, what's going to go on here? So they brought a little burfi. He just like, like that. He said, that's the best yet. And he said, you told us it's always getting better in your lives, right? So what's next? You know, he started taking the philosophy and like preaching to me. It always gets better. So I said, all right, bring it on, you know. He brought, we brought out the halva. Oh my God, did he like the halva. We brought him a small bowl and I had a big bowl. He took my bowl. He took my bowl. He still had a little bit of subji and he ate the subji and he sat with that big bowl and he gave me the small bowl. He went, hmm. So they came and they were filling my bowl up and they started filling his bowl and they gave him two scoops and he grabbed the hand of the server. He said, which means up to the top. It was a big bowl of halva with swimming and ghee and there are all kinds of, you know, fruits and everything. He just took that bowl like that, you know, very slow. He slowed down now because he was getting full. But these were tastes that he'd never experienced even before Krishna Consciousness, before coming in contact with devotees. He was just like. And the boys had finished their halva and they were like looking at me like, what about the sweet rice? What about the gulabs and the padapirs? Like, hmm. And he started like, you know, getting all kind of like red in the cheeks and the halva was definitely spilled all over him, you know. It's just, there was halva and there was like ghee and it was like around him and his beard. I think, how are we going to clean him up? And then I said, all right, bring on the sweet rice. And boy, did he like the sweet rice. He didn't even take it with a spoon. He drank it. You know, like a thirsty man who hasn't drank drunken water in like two days, how he drinks that Bisleri water. Padapir, and all the brahmacharis are like, oh no, oh no. They got their little bowls and they're eating like this. He's like, he's like, he puts it in this kind of container we have. He's like, I don't know how you swallow it. And he's like, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look. And by that time his eyes were so glassy. He was just glassy, he was intoxicated and he started laughing uncontrollably. You ever go to a feast, we eat a lot of sugar and you laugh a lot. Raise your hand if you've ever had that experience. You eat a lot of sweets at the Sunday feast, you start laughing. He was laughing uncontrollably. He hadn't had sugar in 45 years. And he goes, wahoo, yee-haw. I don't want to, like, I have to keep my composure on the respected asana. But he was like, woohoo. He was almost like a drunken person. And then he went on his side. And he hadn't finished, he started drinking the sweet rice on his side. And all the boys are like, and they're going, you know, what are we going to do with Padapir? And then he said, what's next? And this is like, you know, I don't know. And the boys, you know, they started, yeah, okay, Padapir, woo. And they got down like that also, on their knee, on their, you know, on the ground lying like that. And they came closer to Padapir. And he started telling jokes in French, which I didn't speak that good of French. He had the boys laughing. And they were rolling, holding their stomachs. Oh, no, no, no, no more jokes. You know, he's a priest. He's a serious scholar. He's been self-controlled for 45 years. And he's rolling on the ground. I don't know what the jokes were about, but they were pretty, they were really funny because those brahmacharis were rolling on the ground. I stood up like, what do I got on my hands here? I've got a, I've got a, you know, a Trappist monk priest. And I've got, you know, seven brahmacharis rolling on the ground in ecstasy. And the place, you know, they knocked over this, they knocked over that. They knocked over their rice, and the sweet rice was spilled. It became a little puddle over there. And it just, the room looked like, you know, Irojima after the bomb. And I'm thinking, how am I going to get these guys out on Sanctaton today? And what's more, what am I going to do with Fr. Pierre? You know, we have to all go upstairs and eat our apple in 20 minutes. I was praying to Krishna, what am I going to do? Like what am I going to do with Fr. Pierre? Just like push him out the door? He's going to like climb up the steps. Woohoo! Hee-haw! With prashadam all over his beard and ghee stains. What am I going to do? I didn't know what to do. So we ate the gulabs. And that was a real experience. I also got on the floor. What the heck, you know? All right, guys. We had this tradition in those days. We would take the gulabs and we would like throw them. And the boy would put his hand behind his back so he didn't have to catch it with his mouth. And a few of us are really good at it. I'm not recommending this. In fact, I'll probably get in trouble for saying this. I'll probably get a letter from the GBC. But in our youth, in America, in the old days, okay? That covers me. We were young. We didn't know, you know. We would throw. We would have these contests. And even I remember one time at the Chateau in France, it got to the point where the last two competitors were on the other side of the Chateau. And the person throwing the gulabs was throwing them over the Chateau, over the castle. They would sail over the castle. And boom, boom, boom. After 15 gulabs, one boy missed. And the other boy became a hero of the community. Every day, except whenever we were serving gulabs, he wasn't interested. He had so many gulabs that day in the contest. So I just, you know, just tossing like that. And the boys, and Father Pierce said, eh, moi. And me. And even though everyone was intoxicated, I said, Father Pierce, that might be a little too much. C'est pas too much. It's not too much. I said, Father Pierce. So the boys, they got sober again. They didn't expect Father Pierce, so I, from here to there, I just, and Father Pierce, oh. Oh, ça c'est le très, très, très, très, très, très bon. He said, that's the best of everything. And there was a whole bucket of them there, floating. He just went. He didn't bounce one off anywhere. And the last one, boing. He couldn't see straight. He was like cross-eyed. And he laid down on the ground, mon Dieu, my dear Jesus, merci beaucoup. Thank you so much. He's going on. Then he started telling more jokes and getting wild. And he said, oh, hey, philosophy, philosophy. I said, Father Pierce, this is not the time for philosophy. He said, you have said chanting and philosophy and food. He said, and dancing. I went, oh, no. He said, I have heard the philosophy. I have heard the song. I have said that, but I have not yet danced. He said, Father Pierce, you have to do the whole thing in one day. He said, s'il vous plaît, s'il vous plaît. And the boys, like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I go, oh, my God, no. And Father Pierce started dancing. And he was imitating the Brahmacharis get, you know, like, wahoo. I don't know about the PhD Brahmacharis, but Western Brahmacharis, you know, they dance and they do the helicopter. You know, and also I'm looking at Father Pierce, he's holding some Brahmacharis. They're twirling around. And his beard's flying like this. His hood comes off, you know, and the prashadam on his coat's flying here and there. He's like, woohoo, woohoo. I'm thinking, God, I wish I had a camera. And you know how sometimes when you're trying to land and you let somebody go? Do they do that here? You're not allowed to do that here. They're doing that and you let someone go and they fly off. So the Brahmachari let Father Pierce fly off. And he could have flown anywhere in the room, but he flew into the pots. I could not recognize Father Pierce. He looked like he was part of the sub-G. He didn't care. He got up, woo! And the Brahmachari's like, yeah, Father Pierce, woo! And Father Pierce was going, Jesus Krishna, Jesus Krishna, Jesus Krishna. I think, God, I finally made a devotee here. And then he flew back against the wall again and he landed next to one pot that was not overturned. The Varuni beverage. A little bit of water, a little bit of yogurt, and a heck of a lot of honey. And Father Pierce, he got angry. He said, you are keeping one from me. I said, Father Pierce, you know, le coup de grâce? This is expression in warfare. This is the bullet that'll kill you. I said, Father Pierce, say le coup de grâce. He said, ah, sassy, sassy, sassy, sassy. He took a cup, two times this large, and without even distributing it to the rest of us, he dipped inside it and he took this Varuni beverage and just, gloop, gloop, gloop, gloop, gloop, and then another one, gloop, gloop, gloop. And even the Brahmachari's are like, whoa, hold on. And so I said to the Brahmachari's, come on, let's take some Varuni. So we all started taking Varuni. I don't even remember what happened after that. It was transcendental pandemonium for about a half an hour. We were dancing, Gornitjananda bo, huri bo, and Father Pierre, huri bo, huri bo. Gornitjananda bo, Father Pierre, huri bo, huri bo. Just shaking, you know, and shagging around, I'm thinking, well, I was thinking for a moment, this is, I was thinking, actually, this is good. This is what we need to break the ropes of conditioning, a good dose of Gurunga Mahaprabhu's Sankirtana movement. Outsiders may think, what is this? This is not civilized. But, you know, in our association with devotees, these are how we experience the deep inner mind. This is what Mahaprabhu did, chanting. Of course, it was a little unusual. But, you know, we'd stop and eat and then dance again, and, you know, but obviously the kirtan was very loud, and we weren't aware of it. And we're going, and Father Pierre, he's just dancing around the room, huri bo, huri bo. Varuni beverage is like, just, he's like soaked in Balaram's mercy. And he's like, whoo, ah, whoo, ah, whoo, suddenly, I can't do it loud enough. Sorry for the sound technician there. The door, there was this loud, hard knock on the door. And everyone froze but Father Pierre. I mean, those brahmacharis went white. You know, they just went white like they'd seen a ghost. And they're standing there with the cartolls, the drums hanging halfway down. They've also got prasadam, you know. In the ecstasy of chanting and dancing, you know, a little prasadam. Father Pierre, he kept going, yahoo, whoo, hey, Jesus, Krishna, whoo. You know, and we're like, and he just keeps going, dancing around the room, and everyone was like a frozen statue. And again, you hear that. And I said, I had no choice. I had to answer the door. And I was just praying that it might just be some other monk who wanted to hear some philosophy. Krishna, just send number two. I promise I'll give a good class, even though I'm like, I opened the door. It was the head monk, the same monk that had greeted me two and a half weeks ago at the door and given me the rules of the house. And he was with three or four other senior monks. And he pushed the door open for me, and he walked in. He said, kis kis sa, what is this? And the boys were like, Father Pierre, he's still dancing. No, really, he's dancing around the room. We're all, like, I'm up against the wall, like, embarrassed. And the boys are like in shock. And Father Pierre, woo, ha, woo, he, more of that, I want more of that one. And he's like, he doesn't know what's going on. I want more of that, the liquid with the miel, with the honey, that one I want. And I had to stop him. I said, Father Pierre, hold on. I said, look over there. And Father, he looked over his head. Oh, hello. Woo, woo, woo, woo. I have to keep my composure. I can't really do what he did. He lost it. He was in samadhi. And he said, oh, he said to the monk, you have to try this one, the baroonee beverage. And he started going to get some baroonee beverage to give to the head monk. And one of the other monks stopped him. And they said, take Father Pierre upstairs. And the whole way up, they led him up. Oh, you could hear him laughing all the way up the stairs. Krishna, Jesus, woosh. And then the head monk. I mean, we had not done anything wrong in the eyes of God. We engaged someone in the Sankhya time mission of Lord Chaitanya. We couldn't be faulted for that. Father was a bit rowdy, but we were young men. And we were respectful to the prasadam and the philosophy and the holy name. And we were just, come on, we were young men. You got it? I was only 21. But I was a little embarrassed. But we hadn't done anything wrong. So I stood before the monk. He said, out. I said, Father, I'm very sorry that we disobeyed your instructions. But this is part of our tradition, chanting, dancing, and feasting. And we didn't ask Father Pierre to come out. I actually tried to tell him not out. And it just so happened today was Balaram out. OK. So we, well, he said we had 45 minutes. So it took about four hours to clean up everything, the room, and the pots, and the books, and get it all up in the car. And then there was something wrong with the car. They couldn't start it. So we had to wait four hours. And then we were in the basement, guarded. The whole day went by. And it came to evening, dark, started getting dark. And the monk came down. He said, now you have to leave. I said, OK, the car is fixed. He said, you have to leave now. And don't you ever come back. I said, I'm not a Krishna father. And so we are going upstairs. And then we got into the van. And we just started to pull away. And one of the boys said, look up. He said to me, Indra, look up in the monastery. There's a window open there with a light on. And I could see Father Pierre. He was hanging out the window. Kind of waved like this. And he said, yes. So I kind of waved back. And he was just, you could see he was just, he probably recovered from the effects, his first effect of taking versadam. And then one of the monks on his nightly walk walked past me in the car. And he threw a little note into the car. He just walked by, landed in my lap. I have that note. And I could sense it was something really special. And I sensed it was probably from Father Pierre. I didn't want to say anything to the boys, because the boys were devastated. For them, he was like one of the boys. But it was like he was initiated into Krishna consciousness. There was no formal initiation. But initiation is really a question of the heart, where you surrender your full heart to Guru and Krishna, and you agree to follow the process. He'd so much given himself to the process in such a short time, philosophy, Vaishnava Sangha, prasadam, everything, that they considered him part of the group. So some of the boys were actually crying. We were driving away. And they're looking back. They all got back to the little window in the back. They're all seven. They're looking through the window, Father Pierre. And we're going down the road like that. And we get to the bottom of the road. And I parked the car. We went to some kind of camping. It was really cold. And I opened the page. It was a full page like this. And he said, my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus, I want to thank all of you so much for coming and giving me your wonderful association. He said, in my 45 years of being a priest here, I have not learned as much as I have learned from you in the last week, nor have I enjoyed so much, nor have I come closer to my God as I have with all of you. He said, I will be missing you dearly. I must sign off now before I'm discovered. Your brother in Jesus, Father Pierre. So that note, for me, was like sacred. It was like sacred scripture. It was just so, you know, we had touched the heart of a gentleman, a holy man like that, in such a way. I mean, it was very gradual, the philosophy, the sangha, and then just the wonderful pastime. I was imagining Lord Caitanya taking Shatana with his devotees and the great kirtans they would have afterward. I said it was something like that, just a transformation of someone's heart. And I kept that letter for years and years and years. It was eventually someone stole some of my belongings. That was, for me, one of the dearest things I lost. And I would write letters to Father Pierre on a regular basis and never replied. I would write him. Every four or five months, I'd say, my dear brother in Krishna, we so much enjoyed your association, because you've been practicing your faith staunchly for so many years. And we are happy to help you evolve in coming closer to God through the wonderful process given by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And like I was speaking to this evening, a special incarnation with a special message and a special process, a special bhava. He understood all that. I spoke at length about Lord Caitanya. I quoted the same verse I quoted tonight from the mouth of Rupa Goswami. He accepted all that. So I was using some of the terminology freely. After four or five years, I kind of gave up, because he just wasn't replying. And I thought, well, maybe, I don't know, maybe he became covered by the material energy or just became disinterested. So six years, almost to the day that we were kicked out of the monastery, we were doing sankhata in the same area. Not all the same boys. I think I only had two of the same boys. There were four other new boys. You know, boys had moved on. Some got married. And I was driving around Metz, and I was thinking, hey, wait a minute. The monastery of Father Pierre is near here, I told the boys. And it was also around the same time. A little later, actually, it was October. So it was the same temperature. It was getting cold. So I said to the boys, I said, I know a monastery. Maybe we can stay. And the two boys had been with me. No, no, we're not supposed to stay there. I think I was a Maharaj by sannyasi by that time. Maharaj, we can't stay there. I said, that's true. But I have to go see someone. I have to go and see someone who's very dear to my heart. But you're not going to get in. I said, I'm just going to depend on Krishna. I won't go necessarily to ask if we can stay there. But maybe there's a chance I can meet a very dear friend. So the two boys understood. The other boys didn't know. So I dropped everybody off in Sankhatan. And it was, again, late afternoon, just like dusk. I drove an hour and a half up to the monastery. Again, the same scene. It was just starting to get dark. And it was autumn. So the boys were driving. And it was autumn, so there weren't so many trees. But I knew what it was this time. So it was like deja vu, we say in French. It was like being there present again. And my heart was beating. Boom, boom. I want to meet this bhakta. I was thinking like that. I want to meet this man of God who I so much enjoyed sharing Krishna consciousness with and who Mahaprabhu reciprocated with him so amazingly. It was a strong desire. So I stood in front of that door for five minutes before I knocked, because I knew I could get in big trouble. They may come out and become violent. That monk said, you never, ever come back to this altar. But I was thinking that even with that, I still have to try. Maybe I'll see Father Pierre up in the window. And he'll wave to me. And I'll shout, Father Pierre, I've been writing you six years. And he'll say, oh, thank you. That would be enough. So I knocked. And again, I knocked. Three, four, five times I knocked. And then suddenly, the lantern. And my hair started standing on end, not because of ecstasy. I was thinking, uh-oh. I want to get the sauce here. And the lantern, I could see it swinging. I came to the door. I said, Hare Krishna. For Father Pierre, I'm going to do this. I want to meet him again. I want to see Father Pierre again, just to enjoy a moment with him. Eh. That door opens. And I just almost closed my eyes. And I opened my eyes. And it was a different monk. It wasn't the head monk that had come the years before. I sighed. He said to me, we kind of looked at each other. And he said to me, I remember you. I said, you do? He said, yeah. You came with your friends, the other monks, about six years ago. And you stayed with us for two or three weeks. I said, yeah, that was us. That was us. He said, and you had a big influence on Father Pierre, didn't you? Yeah, I guess we did. I guess we did. He said, oh, so you've come back. I said, do you want to stay? I said, no, no, Father. We don't want to stay. I just wanted to know if I could just, I mean, I know this is really outrageous of me to ask. But I just wanted to know if I could just see Father Pierre for a moment. And he got all emotional. He said, I'm so sorry. He said, I am so, so sorry. He said, Father Pierre died two days ago. And I just like, you know, I just like kind of fell apart. I said, two days ago? I think in my mind, I had six years to come here. He said, his grave is just over there in the cemetery. I can take you. I said, you can? I won't get in trouble? He said, no, you won't get in trouble. I said, I won't get in trouble. He said, because I'm the new head priest. The other head priest, he died two weeks ago. I said, oh, he did? I said, he did? He said, yes. I said, oh, I'm sorry to hear that. And we started walking towards the cemetery. It was on a little rise, a little hill, and we're walking in silent. And I said, Father, thank you so much for greeting me as you did and being kind enough to speak to me and taking me to the grave of Father Pierre. I could hardly speak, because I was just like so moved. And I said, you know, did Father Pierre ever maintain like an interest? And he said, yes. He just broke in. He knew what I was going to say. He said, yes. He was always talking about you. Always talking about you. How that day transformed his life. How much he learned. How much joy he experienced in his life. And how close he came to God. He was speaking about you all the time. I said, really? I said, that's odd. He said, because I was sending so many letters. I must have sent 40 or 50 letters over the years. He said, yes, I know. But the head priest would always stop them and burn them. Father Pierre never knew that he was sending him any letters. I went, no, you're kidding me. He said, no, he never knew. But he never lost interest. He never lost faith in you and your people. To the very end, he was always inquiring about his little brothers in Jesus who had come and increased his knowledge, his joy, and his faith in God. So we walked to the cemetery. And it was a fresh grave, I could see. The dirt had just been turned over. And we stood there for a while. Then I said to the father, I said, can I be alone for a while? He said, you won't be alone. He said, you'll be with Father Pierre. I said, yes. So he walked back. And it was practically dark by that time. There was a lantern standing somewhere nearby. So there was a little light there. And I just, I mean, I'll just tell you what I did. I just, I kneeled down. And then I paid obeisances. And I just kind of revealed my heart to Father Pierre and told him how I missed him and how happy I was to be able to come with the boys and introduce him to Christian consciousness and what a great soul he was and how he, you know, I hadn't seen anybody take to the process like that so enthusiastically. And boy, didn't we have a good time, Father Pierre? And you really liked the sweet rice and the halavon. I was just going on. I must have spent 45 minutes there just recounting all that. And then I just prayed to Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya to please take Father Pierre to their lotus feet because I feel that he deserved that. He was a serious monk in his tradition. And I felt that coming to Christian consciousness, which he had, he made great steps forward, was only natural that he could be born in the family of devotees and make further progress in Christian consciousness. And then I paid my respects again. And I walked back and went back to the monastery. And the priest was so courteous that he was waiting for me there near my car. And he came up and he said, well, thank you for coming. And sorry about that. I said, well, if the Lord has his plan, I said, I feel that Father Pierre must have gone to heaven. He said, we are sure that Father Pierre has gone to heaven. And I said, Father? I agree with you. I think he made it. I got back in my car and I drove back down. And the boy said, how was it? What happened? Did they kick you out? Did you? I said, no. I'll tell you in class tomorrow. The next day, I gave a class like this. And I told him the full story about how Father Pierre waited and didn't get the letters, but was always thinking about it. So I told the story to illustrate the potency of prasadam, because I think that's when Father Pierre made his quantum leap in Krishna consciousness. He was the philosophy he believed in. He liked the devotees. But he just atma nivedanam, he fully surrendered when he took prasadam. So along with all your valuable preaching here, if someone doesn't receive the message so well, give them a gulab. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu ki. Jai. Sri Raghav Bhava ki. Jai. Hare Krishna mahamantra ki. Jai. Srinama Prabhu ki. Jai. Transcendental prasadam distribution ki. Jai. Father Pierre ki. Jai. Go Viminanday. Go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hail. Thank you. It's been one of the most fascinating classes that I've ever heard in my life. And I'm sure everybody here in this room shares this. Haribo. Haribo. Haribo. have game of the Wee! Wee! Wee! Wee!