Aksobhya dasa

A Tribute to
Aksobhya dasa Prabhu

Aksobhya Prabhu performing an initiation for new devotees of Srila Prabhupada in the Honolulu, Hawaii temple, Circa 1977.

If anyone remembers Aksobhya Prabhu from many years ago and would like to share your fond memories, please send them for posting on his "Tribute Page," to: jusaniya@vaisnavascare.com.

Posted July 9, 2009

Written by Kirtan rasa dasa (Kurt Mausert, Esq.) , Aksobhya Prabhu's brother on July 8, 2009.

I first met God when I was 13. My eldest brother (older by 7 years), Eric, introduced me to Him. Eric had left college after his first year and gone to California. He and his friends were in LA and got invited to the Sunday feast. After the feast, they decided to drive to SF. They chanted Hare Krishna during the drive north and parked outside Keasar Stadium. They again met devotees (Jayananda prabhu included) and were smitten.
When Eric came back to Schenectady, NY, he had a shaved head and was wearing what passed for a dhoti back in 1970. He brought me Bhagavad-gita and Krsna Book. It was Krsna Book, and Eric's passionate telling of those stories and whole-hearted conviction that caught me. I found myself chanting the Hare Krishna mantra while reading it from the back of a package of incense.
Eric soon left, but he had planted a seed. He had convinced me that God wasn't a mean, old man waiting to send me to hell forever if I messed up. He was instead, a sweet cowherd boy that played a flute. It was a kind of magic that he worked--turning my distaste for religion (I had been raised a Catholic with fear and had rejected that upbringing) to a sense of awe and wonder.
Eric became Aksobhya, and his magic grew stronger. Anyone he met could feel the strength of his conviction. Krishna was God and he could prove it. He was so loving about it that you found yourself wanting him to be right even if you weren't a believer. And than many who heard him became believer.
When Aksobhya was initiated, he offered full dandavats to Srila Prabhupada. Apparently, the other initiates weren't doing that. So Srila Prabhupada said in response, "Thank you very much."
Aksobhya was the strongest, most intellectually powerful and intense person I knew. I realized that I might be seeing things thru the eyes of a little brother, but his friends confirmed my perceptions. His peers saw it to. He was larger than life. His feelings for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna were, too. It was with this intense dedication that he set out to design a system of writing subject matter indexes for Prabhupada's books.
I remember when he was indexing the Krsna Book. He came home for medical treatment and stayed for some weeks to work. He would sit at a typewriter for up to 16 hours a day surrounded by mountains of index cards. Pouring over the Krsna Book one line at a time, he wrote an index that could be used to find anything in the book. He ended up memorizing Krsna Book. You could read just a part of a line and he could tell you where it was, what pastime it was from, and maybe the page number.
After he left this world in 1979, I began to study his indexes. With the help of his indexing partner, Srikanta dasa, and his student, Suresvara dasa, I learned this hybrid of art and science. I had the easy job--I followed in the footsteps of a giant. Making the footsteps, inventing a system of indexing that I still view as unsurpassed, that was the hard part. That was Aksobhya's doing. He saw a need that no one was filling for Srila Prabhupada and he filled it. He invested his passion, his intellect and his strength of character into this feat. He is an unsung hero of the BBT, Prabhupada's heart.

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Dear Readers,

In 1979, Aksobhya dasa Prabhu was serving at the ISKCON temple in Honolulu, Hawaii. At that time, there was a young woman who was becoming increasingly involved with Krsna Consciousness. She and a friend were going to her father's home to say goodbye as they were leaving for the airport to move to another temple area. However, her father and brother, who disapproved of her spiritual beliefs, attempted to detain them. Aksobhya Prabhu, along with a friend were waiting in the car outside. They saw the friend running out of the house and Aksobhya jumped out of the car to assist. He put his arms up to stop the brother from harming the devotee. As he put his arms up he called for Lord Nrsinghadeva and at that time he was mercilessly stabbed in the heart. At that point Aksobhya lowered his arms, decked the brother with one punch and turned to face the father. Aksobhya's friend, CB, seeing that he had been stabbed got him into the car and drove him to a nearby gas station to call an ambulance. Noticing the rapid blood loss CB told Aksobhya this may be it and to fix his mind upon Krsna. Unfortunately the ambulance took too long to arrive and Aksobhya Prabhu left his body before arriving at the hospital.

Very few devotees in our movement remember Aksobhya dasa and that is very sad because he gave his life trying to save the spiritual life of another devotee. Such valiant acts are rarely heard of in this present age of Kali (quarrel and disturbance). For those who knew Aksobya Prabhu, he will forever be remembered, not only for his last act of courage, but for his preaching work, his kindness and sincerity, and for creating the indexing system for Srila Prabhupada's Nectar of Devotion and other writings. Most of all, we will always remember his deep love for Srila Prabhupada and his devotees.

It has often been said that Aksobya Prabhu was taken from us much too soon because devotees like him are so rare. However, we are certain that his leaving this world was a special design of Lord Krsna and that wherever he is he will eternally reside at the lotus feet of his beloved Guru, Srila Prabhupada.

The following are a few poems written by Aksobhya Prabhu

All of these writings are copyrighted. If anyone wishes to use a part of Aksobya dasa's writings or in full, please contact Aksobhya's brother, Kurt Mausert, Attorney at Law at: mausert@mac.com.