At Śrī Rādhā-Dāmodara Mandīra

Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja and I are godbrothers in regards to sannyāsa. I had taken sannyāsa before him, in 1954, and he took sannyāsa in 1959. However, I always considered him my superior and behaved towards him as my śikṣā-guru, but Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja never treated me as a disciple. Rather, he always accepted me as a bosom friend. He had me sit on the same seat with him while we were chanting japa, performing kīrtana, and also sometimes making capātīs together. He would roll the capātīs and I would put them on the fire, and then we would offer them.

We would also sit on the same bed together. One time I came to visit and gave him my cādara, because he had no cādara to put on his bed. He had only one torn quilt there. The walls were crumbling, but he was too absorbed in his bhajana and sevā to care for that. He performed intense tāpasya and sādhana in that kuṭīra, in that most sacred tīrtha. I feel fortunate to have received his association there.

During those years at Rādhā-Dāmodara, he was consumed in the writing of his translations and purports of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Whenever I visited him, I would try to offer him assistance. In those days I was editing the Patrikā, which left me very little time. Still, we would often associate together there in his small bhajana-kuṭīra. Sometimes we took prasādam with the Rādhā-Dāmodara Gosvāmīs. He and I also performed parikramā of Rādhā-Dāmodara, walking together and paying respects at the śamādhis of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, and especially Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.