Title: Radha-Damodara Vilasa
Author: Vaiyasaki Dāsa Adhikari
Publisher : Rasbihari Lal and Sons (also published by Sravanam-Kirtanam Press in some editions)
Publication date: 1999
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
Pages : 620
Śrīla Prabhupāda lived in a humble setting at the historic medieval temple of Rādhā-Dāmodara. Here, in the holy city of Vṛṇdāvan, he accepted the renounced order of life in 1959. At the lotus feet of Rādhā-Dāmodara, Śrīla Prabhupāda began work on his life's the multi-volume, annotated translation of the eighteen-thousand-verse Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.By leaving the Rādhā-Dāmodara temple, he brought Lord Chaitanya's sankīrtan mission to the world and sparked a spiritual revolution through the chanting of Hare Krishna.When Prabhupāda suffered a heart attack on his maiden voyage to America, he wrote the following in his "I feel better today, but I am feeling separation from Śrī Vṛṇdāvan and my Lords, Śrī Govinda, Gopinatha, Rādhā-Dāmodara." ~"When Vishnujana Mahārāja would come to a temple, the whole temple became full of light, enthusiasm, and ecstasy. I have never seen anyone within our movement who could transform people's hearts like he did. He was full of that spirit of bhakti.Vishnujana Mahārāja loved Rādhā-Dāmodara so much. The way he would talk about Them, the way he would chant before Them, and the way he would serve Them just made everyone want to bow down and serve Rādhā-Dāmodara. He would reveal Their beauty. He would reveal Their glories and Their mercy to anyone who came in contact with Them. His whole life was simply Rādhā-Dāmodara, and he loved to glorify all the devotees, spontaneously." - Radhanath Swami
Radha-Damodar Vilasa Vol. I & II by Vaiyasaki Das – Story of the fulfillment of the ancient prophesy that Kirtan would be spread world wide from India to the West and then back to the East. The story is revealed through the eyes of Vishnujana Swami and Jayananda Prabhu, two American devotees who embraced the culture of Kirtan and helped to spread Mantra Meditation throughout the United States.
Radha-Damodara Vilasa is a sankirtan adventure saga tracing the history of the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy–to bring the Holy Names of God to every town, village and city street throughout the world.
In the early days of the Hare Krishna Movement in America, Sri Sri Radha-Damodara were the first Deities that most people ever saw. This was because Radha-Damodara did not remain confined to a temple building. Instead, since Their temple happened to be a bus, They were constantly on the move.
The ups and downs of life on the road were not only experienced by the devotees, but Sri Sri Radha-Damodara compassionately encountered these hardships as well, just as the Lord in the heart witnesses the trials and tribulations of every living being. It is stated that Lord Chaitanya is the combined form of Radha and Krishna. In this way, Lord Chaitanya, by His inconceivable potency, came to fulfill His own prophecy.
The main theme of the story portrays the advent and unparalleled pastimes of Sri Sri Radha-Damodara with Their devotees as They gradually reveal a plan to fulfill the mission of Lord Chaitanya. The supporting theme of our story describes how the surrendered souls disburse the Lord’s mercy and inspire others to participate, thus facilitating the conditioned souls’ exit from the material world.
The readers of Radha-Damodara Vilasa relive this sankirtan mood through the lives of three of Prabhupada’s most influential disciples. Jayananda Prabhu, Vishnujana Swami and Tamal Krishna Goswami had joined the San Francisco Radha Krishna temple within the first year of its opening in the mid ’60s. Together they helped establish Lord Chaitanya’s mission in California while inaugurating the first traveling sankirtan party in the Western world.
Attracted by Srila Prabhupada’s purity and love for Krishna, young people from all walks of life embraced his teachings and took to the path of self-realization. As he gradually introduced deeper truths of bhakti-yoga, Prabhupada imbued his disciples with greater spiritual fervor, empowering them to travel the globe to spread the glories of the Holy Name, and to establish temples along the way.
