Srila Prabhupada's Jaladuta Dream
"In the port of Calcutta on August 13, 1965, carrying only a small suitcase, an umbrella, and a bag of dry cereal, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, as he was known at the time, climbed up the steep gangway onto a cargo ship named the Jaladuta. The ensuing journey presented considerable hardship. Srila Prabhupada wrote of some sea-sickness, and on the thirteenth day of the voyage, during the passage through the Arabian Sea, he suffered a massive heart attack. He was concerned that he might pass away, but in his uneasy sleep that night he had a dream, a vision. Lord Krishna appeared. The Lord was in an open boat, along with His other incarnations. Krishna was rowing the boat, and the boat was pulling Srila Prabhupada's ship with a rope. Krishna was smiling at Srila Prabhupada and was pulling the ship all the way to America! Srila Prabhupada did not write about this occurrence in his diary but simply drew a line through those troubled days, declaring that he had passed over a great crisis in the struggle between life and death. Years later he related these events to his followers."
(The Jaladuta Diary, Introduction)
Devotee: Then you had a dream?
Prabhupada: Hmm.
Devotee: What was that, Srila Prabhupada?
Prabhupada: That is...(laughs) The dream was I must come here.
Devotee: It was some instruction that you got?
Prabhupada: The dream was that Krishna in His many forms was bowing the row. What is called?
Devotee: Rowing the boat.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Devotee: Jaya.
Prabhupada: And when I arrived in Boston I wrote that poetry.
(Srila Prabhupada Room Conversation, June 8, 1976, Los Angeles)
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