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One more time, a big embrace from my heart to all of you. I prostrate before the feet of my spiritual brother Srila B. B. Harijan Swami Maharaj. In his existence he showed clearly that it is possible to become a pure devotee even if one do not have the qualifications by birth or education. The mercy of our spiritual master does not depend on anything, I repeat - not of anything!! Otherwise, how could Srila Harijan Maharaja have been such an excellent vaisnava if he hadn't even met Srila Prabhupada, his holy guru personally? I was many times with Srila Prabhupada, but it never happened in my association with Srila Harijan Maharaja that he could have been in some disadvantage for never having met Srila Prabhupada. Because we both knew that the benediction was the surrender. The service to the guru, the surrendered attitude, this is what connect us to the divine plan. At the same time, of course, we appreciate very much if we attain the mercy of the association and the personal service.

For Srila Harijan Maharaja, to practice Krishna consciousness to the excellence was not a very difficult thing - it rather seemed to be something natural. Well, for Srila Harijan Maharaja to feel responsibility for the yatra in Colombia, it was exactly the natural thing, the same as it is for a mother to feel responsibility for her recently born baby. So we shared some tender years in this fatherly spirit. As Srila Sridhar Maharaj said: if a person take spiritual responsibility for the life of other devotees, he has to accept without complaining to be involved with the problems of the neophytes for the rest of his life.

So our company circulated always around the wellbeing of the others and revising the stories in out fight against maya. You know, I still remember the warmth of that company as if it were yesterday. His sweet laughs that could not compete with the ones of Gurudeva Atulananda, his compliments or his crowning in Baranquilla… We crowned him as the king of the devotees in Colombia, but he refused.

Once we gave him a giant box on his birthday. Inside was another box and inside another box, and in that one, another one, and inside a little box there was a syringe that had a little piece of paper saying: To inject Krishna consciousness in Colombia. So far, everything was good, but as soon as he had the syringe in his hand... he chose me as the first to be blessed!!! And I had to run, because the pricks frighten me! Well, today to be close to him, I would even let him pick me. Srila Harijan Maharaja came from the town Pacho, and in Colombia there is a popular exclamation, saying: Santa Pacha Bendita!!! I, to take him in the hair in tense moments, said: El santo de Pancho Bendito (the saint of the town Pacho)!!! Imagine... He made me jests for this karma to have been born in Germany!

His company was funny, and like that we passed the years in this nice land and wilderness, between Tiro Fijo and Pablo Escobar. And then came Gurudeva Atulananda, and with his company, everything became even more ecstatic. Well, he came as a "refugee", almost expulsed to unite with the VRINDA family. He was always a devotee whom we longed much for to have close with us. So Srila Harijan Maharaja also could enjoy his company. And the song that he composed to Srila Harijan Maharaj, proves completely that he was very touched by his company. We hardly wanted to let him leave Colombia, but you know, Krishna is cruel sometimes. For the preaching, he takes away the devotees and gives everyone the directions to discover new souls who are searching the company of the vaisnavas. Otherwise, Srila Prabhupada would never have come. Nobody would have gone anywhere; they would rather have stayed beside the ecstatic devotee, enjoying the bhajan and kirtan.

And the initiations were something very intimate. The devotees could see that there had not been the minimum divergence of interest between him and me, and this year after year after year. Ordeal for friendship, because only something that lasts for long time can be accepted as something true.

I take the opportunity the day of today, to tell you something: We strive for being sincere and aspire to associate with sincere people, but only if our relation and our ideals defend against the attacks of maya, we will qualify as sincere and deserve a sincere company. Among many spiritual brothers I was always looking for the very sincere ones, and I often have been disappointed by the time. But some of them, like Srila Harijan Maharaja, made such a counter-balance that the deceptions are nothing for me.

So like in the temples, how many derailed persons, even with bad intentions, are not coming and make the monastic devotees suffering a good portion, but if we consider only one single pure soul, one single ecstatic devotee, one single moment away from the world of maya in company of a class, kirtan, prasadam, sadhu sanga, Varsana, Vrindavanita, Ekacakra, vaisnava literature, makes it perfectly worth all those problems. With other words, without talking, to have met my spiritual master, my life is already justified. And I say the same for having met Srila Harijan Maharaja. Translation: A friendship like the one with him, one cannot obtain even with millions of dollars, neither with fame of the fame, but only with the mercy of Krishna.

You know that here we are for only a short while, and then we have to go on. And there is nothing, or rather nothing in this world, that we can take with us, but the affection of a pure devotee, an influence in the spiritual world and a longing for to serve God - this yes, we can take with us. So, each moment in Krishna consciousness is a treasure. Translation: And when I hear the saying that nobody knows what he has, until he loses it, I think with so much pity about those who do not correctly practice he process of bhakti and are losing valuable time. Srila Harijan Maharaja never lost any time. He is an example because he loved Krishna, his spiritual master, and what to say about his disciples. He cared for them with all his heart and with a lot of humility.

He also knew how to squabble much better than I do. He disliked if someone wanted to go astray, or if someone made others to suffer gravely. Like an electric shock that they give at the hospital when the heart stops, he wanted to awake a devotee who was wrong. I try to do the same when I beg you, trying to knock your door of reconsideration, but it is not the system that is not important, important is the intention.

Srila Harijan Maharaja, let me know everything about him, and neither I had any secrets for him. And when we together decided to take the spiritual responsibility in Colombia, for that yatra that Krishna had given us to care for, we felt the benediction in a united form that we here put our head on the body. Die to live. Preach or fail. That our ego and our control would be abandoned here and become an instrument of Srila Prabhupada's will with the benedictions of Srila Sridhar Maharaja. We felt like that. We felt that Krishna had come in that special moment, to demand from us discipline and surrender, since this was what we were preaching.

When one does not respond completely for the spiritual life of the others, one can relax. One can even think: "Ah, if I fail a little, it does not matter to anyone, if I break my progress a little, surely Krishna will forgive me", etc. Obviously some people feel like that, but how can they leave the nice company and the practising for a single moment? But once with a spiritual family, these stories are not good anymore. It is now to respond for each detail, and if my acting discourages someone, if my acting becomes a reason for another person to get lost on the way, how would I look before the eyes of my spiritual master? What good hope do I have? How can I ask for mercy, having been the responsible for another person to lose the faith in the mercy from Guru and Gauranga? Hey, that's a heavy thing! And that is what from my point of view is called lucky. Therefore our parama Gurudeva said to his disciples: you are my saviours. You keep me occupied. You remind me of the will of my spiritual master. You, by your love, obligate me to accomplish with what I promised to my spiritual master.

That was the spirit of Srila Harijan Maharaja. So we were in ecstasies in the company of all of you, and we didn't want to lose time. We wouldn't like to go to the university to get a title. We didn't want to make negotiations to achieve convenience. We didn't want to marry to enjoy the tender company of a sincere woman. We didn't want to play football, if it was not for joke. We only wanted to expand Krishna consciousness. We only wanted to see all devotees happy, and for this we knew very well, that we had to work, brother! It is not a thing of a hippie life. One must leave all craziness. One has to follow the pure devotees, brother! It is not about the bolos (cakes), but the hari bolos!

Perhaps not all of you understand these jokes between us with Srila Harijan Maharaja in the preaching. Here is a classic: It is about the topic of the practical and the miracles. Well, nowadays we do not believe in miracles in Colombia. We are practical people. Therefore we go to a witch, or buy a magnetic cross, or the orthodox we go to the virgin of Chiquinquira. This is practical, there we see the results. On the other hand, miracles do exist, but they are very few. Well, there are moments when a person becomes miraculously disposed to work. Well, those miracles, all the same, made that so many people received Srila Prabhupada's books, eat plates with prasadam, saw harinamas in the streets, and found temples for their refuge. This was the miracle of the souls directed by Srila Harijan Maharaja. They are so strong that they capture an amount of lazy, sorry, of practical people.

And Srila Prabhupada was like that. Not everyone, who came to him, supported him or did another marvellous thing; many people even tried to exploit Srila Prabhupada, or at least his devotees and his temples. And there is another phenomena, which is also dangerous. Sometimes there are good devotees, but by bad understanding the humility, they feel useless, they feel like extortioners, while the real extortioners are fresh, looking for opportunities to progress with sweat in the forehead. Srila Harijan Maharaja was humble, but he never had any misunderstanding in his humbleness. He knew perfectly well what is and what is not, who is and who is not. Therefore, if someone of you feel useless or see another devotee who is in a depressed stage by misunderstood humility, then you have to convince him that the only who can give a correct criterion regarding your situation, is your spiritual master himself or his intimate representative of confidence. And if they have not complained, the surest is that you go fine, at least if you are not hiding anything illicit.

And here is another parenthesis; it does not have much to do with this theme. But it is a message from me: The persons who are not married before the fire sacrifice, they should not live together without benedictions. Something that has a bad start, how can you expect it to go well? One should take each step in life always eager to receive benedictions. If you do not think that the benedictions from your spiritual master are of greatest importance, what kind of relation do you have with him? What has happened to your mind, to think that you can do the things better than what your spiritual master advices you to do?

In the end, perhaps these details are not the most important thing, because the persons who want to marry will end up living together, but the maturity of the vision of the well-wisher in the matrimonial relations, is of maximum importance in the Vedic culture, and I want to introduce this with all power in the places where we are preaching.

In this era, who for God protects the girls when it is to choose a partner? Many times the persons do not have even stable families to give them a simple advise. Then the spiritual master, in case that he can have the attention on these things like I have, or otherwise, the guardian/-s of a potential couple, should involve with much responsibility so they can take the firm and correct steps and so that everybody can be benefited.

There are plenty of people who promise things to women and then do not keep the promises. And when the women already have a partner and already have children, there are many rascals who think they have the right to do what they want with them. I, in my family, am fighting against this with tooth and nail, and I hope that all sense members in my family identify with that spirit and defend it the same. None of us is perfect, but one who is sincere, is guided by Krishna and by his spiritual master and that is the benediction we want to have. This was just a small parenthesis, for whomever it may concern.

Finishing the memory of our divine brother, I feel very glad to have been talking about him and very happy only thinking of how many people who will discover the great importance of the life of Srila Bhakti Bimala Harijan Maharaja. What if all countries had at least 500 Srila Harijan Maharajas; then nobody would recognize the material world. And if there was only one, yet they would be very fortunate, and if we continue this mission, it is exactly for that, to look for more Srila Harijan Maharajas, more golden souls, more friends of the heart, more bhaktas of Gauranga Mahaprabhu and Radha Govinda.

His samadhi is here in Vrinda Kunja, in front of the Lords Sri Sri Guru Gouranga Radha-Vraja Mohan. His soul is always in Vrindavan, but he is also with all the Colombians who are pilots to continue the work that he started. Forgive me, you who are not from Colombia, Gauranga Radha-Vrajesvara has never seen the borders of Colombia. They have not even had the limited vision of Simon Bolivar, of the great Colombia, because Gauranga Radha-Vrajesvara were to be adored in the whole world and this was also the vision of Srila Bhakti Bimala Harijan Maharaj.