By Danavir Goswami

Lord Siva drank an ocean of poison to save all the souls in the universe. One name for Lord Siva is Candrasekhara, “He who holds the moon on his head as a crown.” The churning of the milk ocean also produced Bälacandra, the crescent moon. Because of its cooling effect, Bälacandra was offered to Lord Siva to wear on his head, since he was feeling dizzy from having drunk the poison.
Everyone knows that Lord Siva takes compassion on the forlorn souls. Lord Siva is a great Vaisnava and devotee of Lord Krishna. Lord Siva is asutosa, He is easily pleased. Lord Siva is very powerful, a great fighter for the right cause. Lord Siva is always in meditation on Lord Sankarshana. Lord Siva has his own sampradaya.

There is a disciple of Srila Prabhupada in Iskcon named Candrasekhara dasa who also displays many qualities of Lord Siva. Candrasekhara dasa started preaching to inmates of American prisons decades ago and he continues to do so. He writes letters to the devotee inmates by hand with pen and paper and then addresses the envelopes by hand and sticks stamps on the envelopes and then posts them by US postal service. He begs to get books and magazines donated for sending to the devotee inmates. He sends pictures of Krishna, he cuts out articles about Krishna, makes photocopies of them and sends them to the inmate devotees. How many hundreds and thousands of inmate devotees are depending on the lifeline of Candrasekhara dasa? He has inherited Prabhupada’s quality of special mercy in preaching like no one else, he is one of a kind. Jayananda Prabhu was like Candrasekhara dasa, he liked to go to the prisons and bring them prasadam and the maha mantra and association with devotees. In this regards Jayananda prabhu has blessed Candrasekhara dasa with the same mood.

Candrasekhara dasa has a family of his own but his family has expanded tremendously by the compassion of his heart to include souls dying to get Krishna’s mercy. If we didn’t have Candrasekhara dasa in Iskcon we would be missing a vital part of the sankirtana mission. Candrasekhara dasa sends books and magazines to inmates, he visits them in prison, he holds programs of chanting kirtana, Bhagavad gita discourses and personally cooks and distributes prasadam to them. He goes to speak with prison pastors, he liaises with prison authorities on behalf of devotee inmates. He is the hope when all other hopefuls fall through. He never gives up on a devotee inmate even when he gets out. When an inmate gets out Candrasekhara dasa helps him to get residence, jobs, devotional services, education, companionship, association and continued support. He is like their father or their big brother who never gives up on them. He is the only person I know whose eyes light up when he sees the mailman bringing dozens of hand written letters from devotee inmates.

He is like a transcendental Johnny Cash who puts on free concerts for the inmates. The inmates love him; he is a true friend under all circumstances, he doesn’t refuse anybody. He will sell his own jacket to get facilities to help the devotee inmates. He won’t stop his work until all those devotee inmates are home back to Godhead. He loves to chant the maha mantra and loves to help others to chant the maha mantra. Candrasekhara Dasa takes compassion upon the forlorn souls of this planet’s penitentiaries. He never stops traveling and visiting the inmates and he always has time to speak with them on the phone when they need it. “The buck stops here” applies to Candrasekhara dasa.

https://danavirgoswami.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/img_3649-500x250.pnghttps://danavirgoswami.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/img_3649-150x150.pngDG ServantArticlesGlorifying DevoteesBy Danavir Goswami Lord Siva drank an ocean of poison to save all the souls in the universe. One name for Lord Siva is Candrasekhara, “He who holds the moon on his head as a crown.” The churning of the milk ocean also produced Bälacandra, the crescent moon. Because of...Disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada