Ananda Vrndavana devi dasi
- A True Story of Lord Nrsingadeva Mercy -
 

A sincere attempt has been made here to record for history the contents of a telephone conversation between Ananda Vrndavana and Ronald E. Boutelle (Rohini-suta dasa), about three episodes that happened to her.  I am sure that Ananda Vrndavana would also want me to mention her spiritual master, H. H. Tamal Krishna Goswami.

Ananda was born and raised in the Philippines, part of a large Catholic family. By the will of Providence, a short distance from their bamboo house, a small temple of Lord Krishna had been established. As a young girl Ananda was very much attracted to it, slipping away from home to visit it whenever she could. She loved everything about the temple; making flower garlands, cleaning the altar, singing and dancing before the Lord, the nice prasadam and the kind devotees who made friends with her. She was blessed from the start with a desire to serve God and she naturally turned to Him whenever she needed help.

However, it was also true that her mother and father refused to allow her to visit the Hare Krishna temple, due to their Catholic faith. They wanted their daughter to be a good Christian girl and would punish her severely whenever they caught her going there.  Ananda remembers how at night her parents would close all the doors and windows in their little bamboo house to keep her from going to the temple. Her large family would all be asleep, scattered about here and there and it would be pitch black. How, Ananda pondered, would she ever be able to wake up and go to the early-morning service without waking her parents. Added to her worries was the fact that the bamboo floors creaked whenever someone walked on them. The same for the door whenever it was opened. Plus it was always pitch black inside their home and surely, if she tried to get up in the dark she would accidentally trip over or step on someone. Telling this story, she used the words, pitch black, several times.

Never one to give up, as all great devotees, Ananda, age 9, would pray to Lord Krishna for help: Oh Lord Krishna, please let me come to Mangala Arati (4:30 AM service) without my parents knowing about it. And sure enough, over and over again, whenever she would ask for help, Krishna would wake her up. But even more wonderful was the moon-like glow that would mysteriously fill the inside of her little home and light her way out. Added to this miracle was the fact that the floor and door never squeaked. Having her prayers answered, off she would go to the temple, coming back a few hours later without ever being discovered or getting into trouble.

A number of years later, after Ananda became a devotee of Lord Krishna, she was out and about distributing books in one of the more wealthy areas of her country. She had a very large book-bag full of Shrila Prabhupada’s books, determined to sell them all. Ringing the bell at a large estate, nobody answered. Undeterred, Ananda then went thru the front gate, making her way around the house where she hoped to find the owner. Knocking on a different door, instead of someone answering, Ananda became aware of two vicious German Shepherds quickly approaching her. These were special guard dogs who had never hesitated in the past to attack, biting without mercy many unfortunate intruders.

Realizing her mistake of entering a closed gate without permission, Ananda could only turn to Lord Nrisimhadeva for help. Frozen with fear but always praying to the Lord, suddenly the large German Shepherds seemed to change their demeanor as if they had unexpectedly seen something. Instead of attacking her, the dogs simply dropped their tails and sniffed her. Then the owner opened the door she had knocked on, very much shocked to see Ananda standing there. He quickly explained to her the extreme danger she had been in since his dogs were trained to attack strangers. He told her that they had bitten strangers before. The man ended up buying all of her books, plus he gave her an additional donation for the temple.

Many years later, in 2006, Ananda was in New Deli, India with about a dozen of her friends. Explaining what happened, she said that before leaving for India she had made a vow that she would attend Mangala Arati at each temple she visited. Actually, she wanted everyone to stay in one of the temple’s guest houses and in that way easily attend the early-morning service. But instead, all her friends insisted on staying at a hotel 4 or 5 blocks away so that they could all sleep undisturbed and go shopping the next morning.

Determined as ever, before Ananda Vrndavana went to bed she asked the hotel clerk if it would be safe if she walked to the temple by herself, early the next morning. After being told, yes, it is safe, the next morning Ananda woke up and quietly slipped out of the hotel room, just like she had as a young girl back at home in the Philippines. Chanting the Holy Names of Lord Krishna, she said that looking about, the streets were completely empty. Remembering which way to go, Ananda began to walk toward the temple. However, she soon discovered to her horror that she was not alone. Not even half way to her destination she suddenly stopped on the street, surrounded everywhere she looked by a snarling pack of wild-street dogs. It is not that uncommon for humans to be killed by packs of street dogs in India.

Just as Ananda has mentioned, because the street was completely deserted, there was nobody to call out to for help. Also, when the dogs had forced her to stop, she was too far from either the hotel or the temple to take shelter. Adding to her horror was the rough and unkempt appearance of the dogs. Many were growling and some were even drooling at the mouth. The degree of Ananda’s terror was unfathomable as the pack inched closer and closer.

Understanding her helplessness and beginning to cry, again Ananda turned to Lord Krishna for help, struggling thru her enormous fear to remember the Lord Nrsingadeva paryers.

Then the most amazing thing happened. In the distance and moving directly for her, Ananda described how a very large dog with a shinny, black coat of fur suddenly appeared out of nowhere.  She could tell that the other dogs were afraid of him.  And even she was.  Consumed with fear, at first Ananda thought that this was the leader of the pack and that it was this big dog who was going to move in and kill her. But instead, the large black dog, who looked very beautiful and well kept, made the other dogs back away.  Reaching her side, the big black dog looked up at her with loving eyes that said to her, “You don’t have to worry, now. I’m here for you.  Don't worry.”

Again, Ananda could tell that all the street dogs were afraid of this big, black, shinny dog and slowly her fear began to reside. She even started talking to the black dog, thanking him over and over and over again for saving her life. The other dogs, instead of attacking, moved aside and allowed Ananda and the black dog to walk toward the temple. Unable to hardly fathom all that was happening, Ananda kept thanking the large black dog as they walked and walked and walked toward the temple. 

The black dog escorted her right to the temple’s lower set of stairs. But he didn’t stop there; leading her up those and even up the last flight of stairs, right to the temple door. Ananda thanked the large black dog and said to it, “Whoever you are, thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.” She thanked the dog from the bottom of her heart.

Not a day goes by that Ananda fails to think about what happened to her and the large black dog that appeared out of nowhere and saved her life. As she was telling me this story over the phone, Ananda told me that in her mind’s eye she could see it all happen over again.

Note: Unfortunately, the recording I made of our conversation picked up some static and instead of a word-for-word transcription, I have stayed up well-past midnight and have written down everything she told me, least I forget something. I am confident that I have not left anything out, even listening the next morning with great difficulty to the spoiled recording to carefully pick out any forgotten details. 
 

From an interview with Ronald E. Boutelle: 3.17.2008