Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami - Personal Servant of Prabhupada

Personal Servant of Prabhupada

In addition to periods of being a GBC personal assistant, the brief period between January and July 1974 during which he had the opportunity to act as a personal servant and secretary to the founder of ISKCON, Prabhupada, is noted. During this time his duties included bringing Prabhupada his medicine and toothbrush in the morning, accompanying him on his morning walk, preparing his breakfast and lunch and providing his daily massage. In other words, the tasks were those of a menial servant, while Satsvarupa das Goswami was excited about it. Some note that the first time Satsvarupa gave Prabhupada a massage it was "an intense spiritual experience" for him:

Massaging Prabhupada was like new initiation. From my side, it was completely spiritual, ecstatic exchange, the essence of the personal servant's worship of the spiritual master. —Life With the Perfect Master

One may understand how the service given to one's guru can be of such a value by seeing it in the ritual religious context. The theme of status difference, enriched with the idea of intimacy, coalesce in this simple pattern of devotee massaging the spiritual master's legs and feet in the cultural models expressed in puja and innumerable other Vaishnava contexts. Satsvarupa took the posture of a menial servant with evident relish. It is also taken as an example of ideal typical model of the guru-disciple relationship as a disciple should always consider him- or herself a menial servant of the spiritual master.