1.

Association (Good and bad)

Racitambara dasi: The first time I saw Srila Prabhupada was in the
L.A. airport. I think it must have been about 200 devotees went to greet him.
We were a huge crowd and the loud kirtan and everyone was pushing
forward, and there was a space above the partition where the passengers
were coming out and you were able to see if it was a tall person. I remember
a Stetson hat came by and something else came by, and then we could
understandIs that? No, thats not Prabhupada. We kept pushing
forward more and more and the kirtan was bigger and bigger; and then I felt
someone pushing behind me and I thought thats odd because Im at the
back of the crowd, I was a very new devotee. So then I turned to look and
there were two businessmen behind me, mid-20s, suits and briefcases and
everything else, but they were looking and looking to see who we were
waiting for. Then suddenly we saw a danda raised above the partition and we
knew, Oh, Prabhupada must be coming. So then Prabhupada came out and
we all paid our obeisances and there was the most amazing feeling like a
tidal wave rushing through me from the very depths of my being and pouring
out, and I cried and cried and cried. Then finally when I stood up to go and
follow the devotees who were following Srila Prabhupada, I turned and these
two businessmen were standing there with tears pouring down their faces.
That was such an amazing experience to see how they were touched just by
a moments association with Srila Prabhupada.

2. Attachment
Bahulasva das: Different people are coming to visit Prabhupada, so
everybody is bringing Prabhupada something. So the first person comes in
and gives Prabhupada a nice gold Omega watch, a real gold watch.
Prabhupada says, Thank you very much, puts it on, takes the watch he had
on and gives it to whoever was there. Then another person comes in, gives
Prabhupada a gold Rolex watch that must have been at least thirty-five
hundred bucks. So he takes off the gold Omega, gives that away to
somebody, puts the gold Rolex watch on, Thank you very much. Then
another person comes in and gives Prabhupada a Seiko, the cheapest of all
three of them, maybe it was a hundred dollar watch. Prabhupada says, Oh,
takes the gold Rolex, gives that away, puts the Seiko on, Thank you very
much. You could see Prabhupada was simply accepting on behalf of Krishna.
Nothing like, Oh, wow, save this one for me, put it in my drawer, nothing

like this. Just Whatever you are giving, I am taking on Krishnas behalf. You
would see that in Prabhupada all the time. No mundane attachment.

3. Back to Godhead
Narada Muni: I remember Srila Prabhupada once was asked the
process for the disciple going back to Godhead. Srila Prabhupada said that
the spiritual master had purchased your ticket. It's like if you want to get on
a train you have to show your ticket. Srila Prabhupada said, "I have
purchased your ticket. You simply have to get on board and you have to stay
on the train till we get to the destination." So this is the meaning of jagat
guru. Srila Prabhupada actually has the ability to purchase the ticket for
everyone because he's the full manifestation of Krishna in the form of the
spiritual master, speaking only what Krishna says.

4. Bogus Religionists
Rupa Vilasa das: There was a discussion. Prabhupada was talking
about Vedanta, and he was saying that the Mayavadis couldnt understand
Vedanta. Then he began to question us: why couldnt they understand? He
was specifically mentioning Ramakrishna and other famous Mayavadis. He
said, Why couldnt he understand? So then Brahmananda replied, Naham
prakasah sarvasya yoga-maya, that verse from Bhagavad-gita, and
Prabhupada wasnt satisfied with that answer. Then someone else gave
another answer, but he wasnt satisfied with that either. Then finally
Dayananda sat bolt upright and he said, They cannot understand because
they havent got Bhaktivedanta. So Prabhupada smiled and said, Here is
the answer. And it was such a nice answer on two levels: one, that they
didnt have Prabhupada; and on the other level, they didnt have any bhakti.
So how could they understand the end of truth? So Prabhupada was really
happy with that answer, and I remember I felt like all of us were slightly
envious that Dayananda had come up with this fabulous answer.

5. Book Distribution
Ramesvara das: Prabhupada had become very disturbed. He had
learned that his manuscripts that he had written through amazing sacrifice of
sleep, he stayed up at night and dictated his books, they had been sent in to
our New York BBT office and they had not done the production. He had
written so many books with commentaries, and they were just lying there. So
Prabhupada had flown into Los Angeles, and it was a very tense beach walk.

He was discussing how important it was to publish these books and how
upset he was that they were lying there, and he was demanding that they be
published right away. He then asked, How long will it take? So Radhavallabha from New York was there because he had been the production
manager. So we pulled ourselves back and we discussed, How long will it
take you to get me the books so I can send them to the printer? And he told
me that he thought we could do one book every two months. At this point,
we were doing one book every four to six months. So we went back into the
walk, we caught up again and we told Prabhupada, We think we can do one
book every two months. So Prabhupada turned around and said, I want all
17 books done in two months. I just blurted out, Srila Prabhupada, thats
impossible. At that point, Prabhupada stopped walking and he had a cane
and he planted it in the sand, and he turned around and looked at me very
gravely and said, Impossible is a word in a fools dictionary. And there was
complete silence. We were all stunned. We were just completely stunned.
Here is Prabhupada, perfectly in touch with Krishna, telling us that this can
be done. It seemed to defy the physical laws as we knew it. So after some
very long moments of silence, Prabhupada started walking immediately and
the senior devotees, they just turned and started staring at me like, So what
are you going to do? So this was a matter of just absolute blind faith. Either
you believed or you did not believe. It was that type of moment where you
commit, never mind what your intelligence is telling you is possible. So
Radha-vallabha and I fell back again and we started talking, We have to do
this, this can be done, and all of a sudden we started coming up with ideas
that we hadnt thought of. And we started getting ideas of different parallel
production lines and turning the production lines into 24-hour production
lines with two or three shifts and recruiting devotees from all over to help us
with this and on and on and on. And this was all happening in the span of
just a few minutes that we were being flooded with these ideas, and we both
realized that in order to do this we all had to be together in one central
place. And it seemed more logical to do it in Los Angeles we have the
housing for everybody and we can expand easily. So then we caught up to
the walk and we said to Srila Prabhupada, If we are going to do this, we
have to move the entire BBT division from New York to Los Angeles the art
department, the production, everything. And Srila Prabhupada approved
that. He said, Fine. Do it immediately. And we started.

6. Brahmacharya

Udayananda: I was on the Radha-Damodar party for a little over two

years, and occasionally we met Prabhupada in different placesChicago,
Atlanta, Ratha-yatra in San Franciscoand he would speak to us. In a
personal darshan in Atlanta, Prabhupada stressed the importance of
brahmacharya in spiritual life. He encouraged us to remain brahmacharis
and he said, "If you stay brahmachari then you have a 75 percent chance of
going back to Godhead in this very life, but if you take up the grihastha
ashram, 25 percent. Therefore, try to see all women as mataji, as mother,
and address them as, 'my dear mataji.' Mataji is a respectful term that
means you love and respect that person just as you love and respect your
own mother. A mataji is one of the gurusthe Bhagavatam says you should
not become father or mother unless you can save your dependents from
repeated birth and death. So if you address all women as matajis, you will
not look at them as objects of sense gratification."

7. Chanting , Chanting Offenselessly, Holy Name

Harivilas: Another time we were in a car going to the temple from the
airport when I told Prabhupada that we were thinking about renting a store
and calling it "Krishna Shop." Prabhupada said, "No. Call it 'Hare Krishna
Shop.' Let them say'Hare Krishna' once in their life." Then he told a story
from the Puranas about a man who was charged by a wild boar. When the
boar injured him he screamed "Haram, haram," which means "untouchable
dirty thing," and then he died. Prabhupada said, "He went back to Godhead
because he said, 'ha-ram.'" Now, haram means "untouchable" in Urdu. But
because it approximates the name of God, the man went back to Godhead.
Prabhupada said, "This is the power of the holy name. Therefore call it 'Hare
Krishna Shop.' Let them at least walk by and see the names of 'Hare' and
'Krishna.'" I was very pleased to hear that, and when we did open something,
we called it "Hare Krishna Shop."

8. Cleanliness
Mahakratu: Prabhupada was about to climb onto the concrete
platform when he noticed that some dahl prasadam had spilled and been left
there. Prabhupada looked at it and then sat on his vyasasana. He said, "Who
is responsible for not cleaning this?" Everybody looked at each other. Nobody
took responsibility. Then Patita pulled out a little penknife, opened the blade,
and was on his hands and knees about to start scraping up the dahl.
Prabhupada bent over the vyasasana and looked down at Patita with the

knife in his hand. Patita looked up at Prabhupada, and Prabhupada said,

"What is this for?" Patita said, "Cleaning." Prabhupada shook his head and
said, "Use it for cutting. This is mleccha attitude. Brahmans use water to
clean. Is there no brahman here?" Someone got a bucket of water and
mopped up the dahl. Then Prabhupada gave a heavy lecture about
cleanliness, uncleanliness, and brahminical standards.

9. Deity or Deity worship

Gurudas: Prabhupada liked how Saraswati, Malati and
Shyamasundar's four-year-old daughter, helped encourage everyone to
chant during kirtan. Later on he gave her a small Deity of Krishna. Saraswati
became quite attached to her Deity, and one day Prabhupada hid her Deity
behind his back. Saraswati was looking, "Where is Krishna?" Prabhupada also
encouraged her, "Where is Krishna?" Saraswati became anxious, "Where is
Krishna? Where is He?" When Prabhupada returned the Deity to her he
pointed out how separation from Krishna can increase our awareness of Him
and love for Him.

10. Destiny or will of providence

Prabhavishnu Swami: In the beginning of 1973, Prabhupada said,
"I'm very pleased to hear the good news of the traveling party in England. I
am pleased to hear that the people of that country are interested in Krishna
consciousness and are taking our books. Go on in this way, traveling to every
town and village. Don't worry about your destination. Go on preaching
Krishna's message and distributing these books. Sometimes it must be very
cold there, and you must not be getting proper sleep or proper food, but
because you have properly understood the philosophy of Krishna
consciousness, therefore you have surpassed the feats of millions of yogis
and transcendentalists and have come to the topmost platform of
surrendering to Krishna. My challenge is let anyone see how hard our
devotees are working for Krishna and how they have surpassed the feats of
all yogis and transcendentalists."

11. Desire
Prahladananda Swami: Once I asked, "Srila Prabhupada, should I
control my desire to eat prasadam?" Prabhupada chuckled and said, "No, you
can eat as much as you want, but don't fill yourself up to here." (points to his
neck). Everyone laughed.

12. Determination
Candramauli Swami: In New Vrindavan a devotee asked,
"Prabhupada, what happens if we have no determination?" Prabhupada said,
"Then you are an animal. An animal cannot be determined. As soon as they
hear a little sound, they run in fear. So no determination means animal life.
You must have determination otherwise you can't execute Krishna
consciousness." He made a strong and clear statement: "You are an animal if
you can't become determined."

13. Devotee or Vaishnava

Jayapataka Swami: We were on a morning walk with Srila
Prabhupada in north Calcutta. Srila Prabhupada said, "Oh, here is a Life
Member's home." For some reason Prabhupada wanted to stop in at the
house of a wealthy Life Member. He went in and told the servant, "Tell your
master that Bhaktivedanta Swami is here." After a while the servant came
out and said, "The master is worshiping his Deity. He will be here after some
time." Prabhupada commented, "Krishna is more pleased when the devotee
is served than when He is served. If this person was more advanced he
would have appreciated, 'A spiritual master has come,' and left his Deity
worship to receive the devotee of Krishna. But because he thinks that his
Deity worship is more important than receiving the devotee of Krishna, that
shows that he is a neophyte, or kanistha adhikari."

14. Devotional Service

Yogeshvara: At Bhaktivedanta Manor Prabhupada would sometimes
sit with us in a circle on the lawn and chant japa. Sometimes we'd ask a
question, and sometimes he'd ask us something. Once I said, "Srila
Prabhupada, say that there are two people equally unqualified for devotional
service. One becomes a devotee, and the other doesn't. What makes the
difference?" He shot me a look and said, "Don't try to find some formula for
causeless mercy. It's causeless. Ultimately it's up to the mercy-giver."

15. Donating money for temple or KC activities

Brahmananda: I had been home to visit my mother, and she knew we
were strict vegetarians. We wouldn't eat the food that she cooked because
the pots were contaminated, and she was contaminated. The whole house
was contaminated. She said, "Hey, what's happening here?" One evening

just before the kirtan she went to visit Prabhupada to see what we were
getting into.
Prabhupada had a folding metal chair in his room, which was meant for VIPs
who couldn't sit on the floor. My mother sat on this chair. Everyone else,
including Prabhupada, sat on the floor. She asked Prabhupada, "What are you
doing with my boys?" After explaining and preaching, Prabhupada told her, "I
am taking care of your sons," because by that time Gargamuni and I had
moved into the storefront. "I am feeding them, looking after them, and
providing. Actually, we have no income here. Maybe you would like to give
some donation?" My mother looked at us, looked at Prabhupada, and said,
"Donation? I have already given a donation. I have donated my sons."
Prabhupada said, "Oh, yes, very good." By her saying that, it was as if she
gave us to Prabhupada.

16. Ekadashi
Prabhavishnu Swami: After we had toured the east coast of India, we
came to see Srila Prabhupada in Hyderabad. Prabhupada called us into his
room and asked us how many sets of books we distributed and what the
professors thought about the books. He told us, "You should keep very good
health on traveling sankirtan. It's best if you don't eat any grains. Just eat
vegetables, fruits, milk products, and nuts, cashew nuts; every day like
ekadasi. In this way you can keep your health very strong."

17. Enthusiasm
Jayadvaita Swami: Prabhupadas health had deteriorated
considerably. He had no muscular strength at that time. In Mayapur earlier,
he extended his arm and flapped where his arm muscles were with his hand
and said, Flat tire. So Prabhupadas health had really gone down. He was
practically deposited on his asana and just was there. One night the verse
was Hogs, dogs, camels and asses glorify a person who has no interest in
hearing about the Personality of Godhead. So the disciple was reading and
Prabhupada hardly said anything, the reading was going on. But as it was
going on, Prabhupada was getting more enlivened. So he would go from
giving one sentence to giving two sentences and four sentences, and soon
Prabhupada was speaking with full enthusiasm. He had so much energy. By
the end of the lecture, practically Prabhupada was roaring.

18. Fixing mind on Krishna

Yogesvara das: The temple was not very big, hugely crowded. There
were people from the area at the windows outside wondering what on earth
is going on, and the Deities were very, very beautiful. It was a very exciting
time. We had not had Krishna Deities in Paris before, so this was very
meaningful to everyone. While the Deities were being dressed, that is to say
after the bathing ceremony and while the Deities were being prepared for
the first unveiling, Srila Prabhupada went out for a walk. When we came back
from that walk, the curtains opened and Srila Prabhupada stood looking at
the Deities for a long, long time. Kirtan was going on. Then he turned and
walked down the marble temple room to his vyasasan, and we all noticed
that there were tears streaming down his face. He sat on the vyasasan and
used the edge of his dhoti to dry his eyes and started his lecture by saying
that The meditation on the Lord begins from the lotus feet. Therefore, I am
inquiring why are there no ankle bells? In our haste to dress the Deities in
time for Prabhupadas return from his walk, we had neglected to put
Krishnas ankle bells on. Prabhupada, of course, noticed. But it was a very
touching moment because God must be real. Look at how much love this
person has for Him. It was very obvious to everyone there that we have not
been led into some kind of cultish practice or something. Here is
Prabhupada, there is Krishna. Here is Prabhupada weeping out of love of
seeing the Lord of his life. This is real.

19. Forgive
Yogeshvara: In the early days in Bombay a young man was
discovered stealing checks out of the mail. When the devotees finally
captured him, they brought him to Srila Prabhupada. "We found out why the
bank is not getting the checks, Srila Prabhupada. We caught the culprit.
What should we do with him?" Srila Prabhupada said, "There's only one thing
to do. Forgive him." But if someone was a repeat offender, then Srila
Prabhupada asked him to leave the temple because then he was just
compounding his offenses.

20. Habits
Giriraj Swami: One of Srila Prabhupada's first disciples was in
Calcutta and had started to smoke ganja again. When Srila Prabhupada was
told about this, he said, "Tell him that if he does not give up this bad habit of
smoking, I will reject him." One of the devotees asked Srila Prabhupada, "Is
that true, that if he doesn't give up smoking ganja you will reject him?" Srila

Prabhupada said, "No. I cannot reject any disciple. I only said that to
encourage him to stop smoking."

21. Happiness and Distress

An occasion in which I saw an involuntary smile was in Prabhupdas
garden in Los Angeles. His disciple Nara-Nryaa dsa was relating how the
devotees had been on harinma on Venice Beach and been attacked by a
motorcycle gang. It was a very frightening and violent scene, and he
vigorously narrated it. A large group of devotees were walking along the
beach chanting, including women and children. Suddenly a big group of
Hells Angels had rushed upon the devotees and started beating them.
Some of the devotees ran away, but some of them fought back.
Nara-Nryaa Prabhu has a very deep voice and, with all due respects, has
a somewhat eccentric manner. In his heavy, amusing voice he went on
telling Prabhupda of the horrible fight. Nara-Nryaa said that most of the
devotees were not physically fit because they sat all day in their offices. He
said maybe it would be better if devotees kept themselves in better shape in
order to respond to such emergencies. He said that the motorcycle thugs
were big and strong. Nara-Nryaa said that he himself was carrying a pole
and he used it to knock down the attackers. He said, But one of them was
so big and powerful I would knock him down and he just kept coming!
Prabhupda had been listening with a quiet look on his face. It was not a
pleasant tale to hear, and perhaps it was one that should not have been told
to the spiritual master, but Prabhupda was hearing it. When Nara-Nryaa
came to the part in his story of how he had knocked this guy down again and
again but he kept coming, Prabhupda gave an involuntary smile. One
explanation of this smile is that everyone smiled at Nara-Nryaa
because he sometimes behaved as a comedian.
A good comedian makes you smile. And to some degree, a comedian is
usually a bit of a clown also, and so you laugh at something he is doing. It
seemed that Prabhupda did not want to smile while hearing this
unfortunate story, but it was being told so humorouslycomic relief along
with frightening descriptionsPrabhupda had to smile.
This incident also showed me that although Prabhupda was transcendental
to happiness and distress, he was affected by the account that was being
told. Prabhupda is fearless, and yet he fears for the devotees and for the
Ka consciousness movement. Therefore, although Prabhupda was not

showing his emotions, he was no doubt feeling hurt by the story of innocent
devotees being beaten. These emotions were being manifested by
Prabhupda, but then suddenly, he smiled in response to the grotesque and
humorous details of the narrator.

22. Holy Dhams

Praghosa das: I went into Prabhupadas room, and I wanted to
personally say to Srila Prabhupada, Thank you for bringing us to Mayapur.
So in the darshan, were all sitting there listening; and when it was over,
everybody offered their obeisances. So I stayed down on the floor longer and
offered my obeisances very, very slowly so that when I stood up, pretty
much everybody was out of the room. So I walk forward to Prabhupada
sitting at his desk and he was going to drink some water, and I stepped
forward and I said, Srila Prabhupada, and he was just about to drink and he
said, Yes? I said, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you for
bringing us all here to Mayapur. Prabhupada slipped a little water and he
said, Oh, I have not brought you. Caitanya Mahaprabhu and my Guru
Maharaj, they have brought you. He said, Mayapur, Vrindavan, this is your
home. The West, that is for preaching. Then he drank some water. When he
stopped drinking the water, he looked back at me and he smiled and he said,
Or for sense gratification. He said, So you come every year, take
inspiration here in the holy dham, and then go back to the West and preach
vigorously. And then come back again and take inspiration.

23. Human Life

Amogha: Once I was trying to understand the four hundred thousand
species of human life. I asked Prabhupada, "Those four hundred thousand
types of humans, are they on this planet? Are they divided by countries?
Does it mean the Chinese, the Japanese, the Americans?" Prabhupada said,
"No, you are thinking of this planet, but the Srimad-Bhagavatam is speaking
of the entire universe."

24. Humility
Bhakti Caru Swami: In spite of being the world acharya, Srila
Prabhupada was humble. Once in Amsterdam, when Prabhupada was about
to give initiation, the devotees hadn't organized things properly and were
making mistakes at every step. Prabhupada was getting increasingly
annoyed and when he saw that the sacrificial altar had no fruits on it, he was

further disappointed. One devotee ran to the kitchen, cut some fruits and
gave the fruit to Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada got still more upset because
such fruits are supposed to be uncut.
A hippie who used to come to the temple regularly was present, and he had
noticed that whenever someone became upset, the devotees would tell that
person, "Why don't you chant Hare Krishna?" When this hippie saw that
Prabhupada was agitated, he told Prabhupada, "Why don't you chant Hare
Krishna?" Prabhupada quietly took his bead bag and started to chant.

25. Initiation
After some time, letters started arriving on a regular basis from my
mother to Srila Prabhupada, asking about my welfare and holding him
responsible for the fact that I had become so sick, even though it was my
own undoing. Karandar became concerned as he was the temple president
and he approached me and said that he felt it was better if I left and went
home instead of serving. I said, "But Prabhupada's instructions are that the
association of devotees should never be given up. Otherwise you will
definitely fall into maya and it would be very difficult to return." But he was
insistent that I leave and told me that Srila Prabhupada wanted to see me. I
was very fearful because I thought "Oh, my God. What have I done wrong?" I
entered his room and he was taking prasadam. I offered my obeisances and
he looked up at me with big compassionate eyes. He said, "So there's some
difficulty with your mother?" I said, "Yes, Srila Prabhupada." "She wants you
to come home for some time." I said, "Yes, she does Prabhupada." He said,
"You can go home for some time?" I said, "Yes." Then he said, "I'm going to
initiate you with the name Nrsimhananda das and that way you'll always be
protected from your parents. And then you can go home for sometime and
come back." I was stunned. Then he gave me some prasadam and said, "So
then, you can eat vegetarian at home?" I said, "Yes, Prabhupada." He said,
"Then what is the difficulty?" And with that I paid my obeisances, went out,
and made arrangements to go back to Chicago.

26. Joining the movement

Jayapataka Swami: I was on a morning walk with Srila Prabhupada
when he stopped near a church. He looked at it and said that in the future
our ISKCON temples were going to be something like the churches in that
there would be some devotees living in the temples and many devotees
living around the temples who would come on the weekends and for

festivals. At that time, 1970, there weren't many temples, and the whole
mood was making temples, joining the temple, and becoming a temple
devotee. But Prabhupada was saying that in the future the temples would be
a center with big communities of devotees around them. Now I am
coordinating congregation programs, and that instruction has a lot of
importance to me, although at the time I really didn't know what to think of
it. It was a prediction.

27. Karma
Sudama: When we were in Hawaii, Prabhupada told me how Hawaii
was conducive for spiritual advancement. Outside of India, Hawaii was the
prime place for spiritual advancement. It was always a comfortable 80 to 85
degrees, with trade winds blowing. You could live with no shoes and just a
pair of shorts, picking pineapples, bananas, and fresh coconuts. Of course, I
never did that but he said that it was a perfect place for that. We talked
about the Samoans and different races. He said, "Unfortunately these people
must have the worst karma on earth. They eat pigs and look like pigs." We
were walking, and a Samoan family walked by us when he said this. I
thought, "No, no!" But then I thought, "Wait a minute, I am with a pure
devotee. I have God on my side in case they should get offended." But they
weren't. Srila Prabhupada talked about what they looked like and how ugly
they were and, literally using those terms, preached to them.

28. Krishna's protection

Nanda Kumar: There was a time when Prabhupada was having some
physical challenges. I had come from a health-food background, and there
was a doctor in India that also said, "Prabhupada should eat raw food." I
thought, "Yes, yes, this is good. I can do that. I can make raw-food
preparations." I told Prabhupada, "This person has suggested eating a very
light diet without ghee." Prabhupada said, "I will do this." I thought, "This is
going to be really good. Prabhupada's health will become strong." I prepared
one meal like that, and Prabhupada said, "This is very good." The next
morninghis morning prasad was almost always simple things like fruits and
milkI said, "What would you like for lunch?" Prabhupada said, "Dahl, rice,
chapatis, halava." I asked him about the raw diet. He said, "Since I was a
child, I have always loved prasadam, and I'm not going to give it up now. I
will eat prasadam, and Krishna will protect me."

29. Lust
Uttamasloka: One time I asked, "Prabhupada, if somebody's having
trouble with sex desire, what should he do?" He said, "Chant Hare Krishna
more, that's all."

30. Mangala-arati
Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada never asked us to do anything that
he wasn't ready to do himself. Whatever austerities he asked us to accept,
he accepted more. When we went to Kumbha Mela in 1971, we were living in
tents, and it was freezing cold. Srila Prabhupada was right there with us in
the next tent. His tent was a little bigger, because he would receive people
and preach. It was so cold we could see our breath in the air, and in the
mornings I wouldn't want to get out of my sleeping bag. When devotees
started to miss attending mangal arati, Srila Prabhupada got concerned.
Generally a devotee used to heat water for him, and he would take bath later
in the day, but just to set an example for us, one morning he took a freezing
cold bucket of water from the pump and bathed in the cold. He may have
gotten a little sick from that, but he did it. When we saw Prabhupada taking a
cold bath, how could we stay in our sleeping bags? He was compassionate
and sympathetic, but at the same time he wanted to elevate us. And he
would push us.

31. Material Enjoyment

Bhavananda: When I was in Mayapur, in the mornings Prabhupada
would walk on the little raised banks between the rice fields. One morning
when we were leaving the back of the building Prabhupada said,
"Bhavananda [accent on the second syllable]. Do you know what
Bhavananda [accent on second syllable] means?" Gargamuni Maharaj said,
"Yes, it means one who's absorbed in the ecstasy of bhava [accent on first
syllable]." Prabhupada said, "No, that's Bhavananda [accent on first syllable],
but his name is Bhavananda [accent on second syllable]." Prabhupada said,
"It means one who takes endless enjoyment in this material world." I should
have taken that as a warning. I said, "Prabhupada!" He said, "Yes, but that is
because 'bhava' [accent on second syllable] means 'birth in this world.' That
is a devotee. A devotee takes endless enjoyment in this material world
because it offers endless opportunities for preaching."

32. Maya
Sudama: Srila Prabhupada saw me come in. I paid my obeisances, and
he jumped all over me. "What is this? Why you have left? Why you are
dressed like that?" He asked me all these questions for twenty minutes. I was
sweating, crying, very upset, very confused, very on edge, very on trial in
front of my God-brothers, who were really strangers. I had gotten a temple
that was too big, and my men had been stolen. It was the old politics game.
Srila Prabhupada said, "I want to know one thing before I send you out of
here. Do you still love Krishna? Do you believe in Krishna?" I said, "Yes." He
said, "All right. You will be okay." Then he turned to everybody in the room
and said, "This is disgusting. This is not how Vaishnavas behave. You knew
that Sudama needed help. You knew that Sudama was crying out in maya,
and you ignored him. This is not Vaishnava behavior. A true Vaishnava," he
said, "would have taken him by the hand earlier on so that this would never
have taken place."

33. Misery & Hardships

Nara-Narayana: Prabhupada was lecturing at the Brahma Samaj in
Nairobi and crushed demigod worship. He said, "Durga is riding on a tiger
and she has got eight arms. In each of these arms there is a weapon. One of
these weapons is a trident. The trident has got three prongs and what are
these three prongs? It is the threefold miseries; adidaivik, adibotik,
adiatmik." Staring at the audience he said, "And what is she doing with that
trident?" He said, "She is stabbing demons" and as he said that Prabhupada
made a stabbing motion with his arms. "And who are those demons?", he
cried out. He looked around the group of fifteen hundred or so people and
said, "We are those demons." He said, "Whoever is suffering from the
threefold miseries, adidaivik, adibotik, adiatmik is being stabbed by the
trident of Durga." He looked at the audience with a curled lip of utter disdain
and as he waved his hand across and pointing to the crowd he said, "And
they are worshiping." So that is how he crushed Durga worship in Africa and
also created a big base for real Vaishnav preaching without compromise.
Prabhupada saved everyone even though the people in the room were
absolutely stricken because of Prabhupada's intense words. But like the
doctor may sometimes, even without an anesthetic with the person
screaming, cut away something in the body that is terribly injurious for the
health of the patient, so Prabhupada was strong to cut out the desire to

worship demigods. From Prabhupada's example I learned not to mince words

even if there was some risk of antagonizing someone.

34. Modern civilization

Lokanath Swami: The theme that Prabhupada had chosen was that
the material civilization, modern civilization is total failure, only solution is
Krishna consciousness. And he was speaking on this theme every night.
Bhavananda, a lot of times some others would read a text from Bhagavatam,
purport, and then Prabhupada would comment. The memory I have is how
strongly he was preaching, like a roaring, scaring these fellow citizens, trying
to wake them up, shake them up. I dont remember any other time
Prabhupada was as strongly, forcefully, emphatically making his points,
reminding them bharata-bhumite manusya-janma haila yara, janma sarthaka
kari kara para-upakara. You are born in India. If you want to make your life
perfect, dont lead the life of cats and dogs. Do para-upakara, take to Krishna
consciousness.

35. Money or material opulence

Dhananjaya: He said, "Do you know what the four principles are?" I
said, "Yes." "And you are chanting a minimum of sixteen rounds?" I said,
"Yes." On that premise he accepted me, and then he said, "Your name is
Dhananjaya das, a name for Arjuna which means 'conqueror of wealth.' You
will have no difficulty in acquiring wealth. Actually there is so much wealth
everywhere, money is flying in all directions," and he put his hands up in the
air, "you simply have to learn the art of catching it."

36. Patience
Pusta Krishna: In New Zealand, after Prabhupada had given a lecture,
he asked if there were any questions. One after another, fathers and mothers
came forward and said, "Srila Prabhupada, please give my child a name."
Prabhupada gave one name, then another, and it went on and on until finally
when someone said, "Please name my daughter," Prabhupada said, "Rose."
His patience had been tested at that point.

37. Pleasing Krishna

Every afternoon Srila Prabhupada would take a leisurely hour-long
massage. He had so many things to do, but he was leisurely about

everything he did. I went and sat there for a while. Then I told Srila
Prabhupada, "I'm worried that I'm not progressing correctly in spiritual life. In
Bhagavad-gita it says, brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati,
that when one attains the brahma-bhutah platform or is Krishna conscious,
anxiety and lamentation are gone. But I'm always in anxiety and I'm
concerned that I'm making an error in my spiritual life. Srila Prabhupada,
please correct me."
Prabhupada's reply was amazing. Prabhupada looked at me softly and kindly
and said, "No. Your anxiety is all about pleasing Krishna. Mother Yasoda is
always in anxiety, that this demon Trinavarta might steal Krishna or that
Krishna might be hungry. So, all your anxieties are simply in relation to
pleasing Krishna and are transcendental." He was so kind.

38. Prajalpa
rla Prabhupda sat in his quarters, he overheard Upendra gossiping
in the adjoining room. Prabhupda called for Upendra, who entered,
shamefaced.
You were laughing?
Yes.
Gossiping?
Upendra responded coyly, Is talking about other devotees gossiping, rla
Prabhupda?
Yes.
Yes, I was gossiping.
Prabhupda was concerned for his disciples well-being. Again he chastised
Upendra. This devotee, that devotee! Life is short. Do not waste your time
uselessly!

39. Prasadam
Badrinarayana: A devotee was telling Srila Prabhupada that he was
selling prasadam, Bengali sweets, at a stand in front of UC Berkeley. He was
going on and on about this. Prabhupada stopped him and asked Tripurari,

"How many books did you sell?" Tripurari told him some amazing figure.
Prabhupada said, "This is the real Bengali sweet, Caitanya-caritamrta."

40. Preaching
Caru: The whole temple room in the Lotus Building in Mayapur was
packed with devotees. Prabhupada was lecturing and for a moment he
looked at us20-year-old kidsand said, "I am an old man, I may go at any
time. But there are hundreds of you young men and women, and all of you
have at least 50 years left." I got a sense of how exciting every day was for
him, preaching Krishna consciousness, captaining a world movement, as it
was exciting for all of us who participated in it. At that moment, Prabhupada
was transcendentally envious of us, that he was going to have to go and we
had 50 yearsso he started crying out of sheer enthusiasm to preach.

41. Pride
Mahatma: In 1972 the devotees on book distribution started wearing
karmi clothes, mainly because they were getting kicked out of malls. They
thought that if they wore Western dress they won't be noticed, and then they
found that they did better wearing Western dress. A controversy arose about
whether or not we should do this. A lot of devotees, like me, who had been
doing straight preaching, resented wearing karmi clothes, although we did it.
During the 1973 marathon, a group of us in San Diego decided we would go
out in dhotis and kurtas, and the women would go in saris. We felt that if we
had faith and purity, we would be successful, and we started getting very
good results. We were ecstatic, and we thought, "Just see, you don't need to
wear Western dress. That's a compromise. It's watered down preaching for
weaker devotees who don't have faith." We felt proud and self-righteous to
be the pure ones, and we were very excited to write a letter to Prabhupada
telling him of our success. We thought Prabhupada would appreciate it and
tell all the other devotees not to wear Western dress. But Prabhupada,
knowing everything, being expert, replied, "Yes, if you do not feel
comfortable in Western dress, then you can wear a dhoti." He shattered our
false pride. You would think it would be the other way, that "If you don't feel
comfortable in a dhoti, you can wear Western dress," but Prabhupada said,
"If you don't feel comfortable in Western dress, I've no objection; you can
wear a dhoti." We were flattened. Our egos were popped. Prabhupada knew
the mentality of the devotees. He was so expert that he would say just the
right thing to the right person.

42. Purification
Rupa-Vilasa: Venkata Bhatta Prabhu told me that at the Kumbha-mela a
devotee asked Prabhupada about bathing at auspicious moments. The
devotee said, "Is this something we Vaishnavas should do?" Prabhupada said,
"Vaishnava? You are trying to become Vaishnava. Vaishnava is not an
ordinary thing." In other words, we are at the stage of Vaishnava praya,
which means almost a Vaishnava. We're thinking we're Vaishnavas but we
are only approaching the precincts of becoming a Vaishnava. Prabhupada
indicated, "You're thinking this is not for you, but you need all the help you
can get, so go ahead and bathe at auspicious moments."

43. Reading Books

Vrndavanesvari: Many people have heard about the famous festival
in New Vrindavan in 1972 for Janmastami and Vyasa Puja. But the ending
was actually quite different than anyone else has ever told the story. I think
people were half asleep. I was a little trained up in New Dwarka how to run
up ahead so I could get myself situated so I could be very close to
Prabhupada. I ran down the mountain about fifteen minutes early knowing
the temple would be very crowded and planted myself very close to the
vyasasana. After the midnight arati as everybody knows, Prabhupada said,
"Let's read Krsna Book." This went on for about two hours. I remember I was
sitting about four feet away from Prabhupada, right dead center, and I was
watching him the whole time. He was just so blissfully absorbed and looking
around the temple as devotees were falling asleep, and he was just saying,
"More, more, keep passing the book." Then suddenly the lights went out, and
it was pitch black. I couldn't see my hands in front of my face. All you could
hear was the scrambling of the New Vrindavan devotees, and it seemed like
a very long time. It could have been five minutes. It could have been ten
minutes. I kept thinking that "I want to see Prabhupada's expression when
the lights come on." I had my head facing Prabhupada's direction because I
couldn't see a thing. I was wondering if he would be angry or what. After
some very long period of time the lights finally came on and Prabhupada had
this beautiful ear-to-ear grin. He said, "So Krishna is now sitting on the lap of
Mother Yasoda. I think you are all tired and we can stop here." Everyone
roared, but my hair stood on end because I was listening and just before the
lights went out there was a battle going on in the Krsna Book. Krishna wasn't
sitting on the lap of Mother Yasoda. I was wondering, "What happened during
the time when the lights were off?" I pictured a little blue boy sitting on his

shoulders and it was so ecstatic because Prabhupada said Krishna is now

sitting on the lap of Mother Yasoda and we weren't talking about that. I
wanted to share that because no one has seemed to mention that in any of
the other "Memories" stories and to me it was the most significant thing; that
here Prabhupada is seeing Krishna sitting on the lap of Mother Yasoda. It was
ecstatic and he was so happy. Prabhupada was so blissful and compassionate
just telling the devotees, "Now you can go. Go now. It is okay. Krishna is
sitting on the lap of Mother Yasoda."

44. Regulative principles

Tribhuvanath: At the initiation Prabhupada was very grave when he
chanted on the beads. I was sitting just below the vyasasana when a boy
came up and Prabhupada said to him, "What are the four regulative
principles?" The boy said, "No intoxication, no gambling, no meat eating, no
illicit sex." Prabhupada shot back, "So, which one do you like the best?" The
boy went bright red. I thought it was funny, because Prabhupada had been
so grave. It was a serious occasion, yet he talked like that.

45. Reversals
Prabhanu: There was a darshan in Prabhupada's room I remember in
Mayapur along with Sudama Swami and Siddhaswarup Maharaj.
Siddhaswarup was effulgent as far as I was concerned. He was a very
interesting person. But there were some politics going on between him and
some other sannyasis and GBCs. When he came in the room, Prabhupada
turned to Siddhaswarup and said, "So Siddhaswarup Maharaj, I understand
that you have a different philosophy than we do?" Siddhaswarup said, "Well,
Prabhupada" Prabhupada interrupted him and said, "Isn't it Sudama?"
Sudama kind of hung his head as he didn't want to get involved. Then
Siddhaswarup said, "Well Prabhupada, sometimes I preach to the
householders that they should live outside the temple and have their own
independence." Prabhupada said, "Yes, that's a very good idea." And then
Siddhaswarup said, "Prabhupada, you know, sometimes I just don't feel
qualified" Prabhupada cut him off and said, "Qualified or unqualified, I love
you." I was stunned at the way he said that with such compassion. I thought
that was the most liberal and affectionate statement that could come out of
anybody's mouth, especially such an elevated personality as Srila
Prabhupada. "Qualified or unqualified, I love you."

46. Sankirtan
Atma Tattva: The next day Prabhupada walked around the yard and
saw the bullock cart. It had a semi-circular banner saying BHAKTIVEDANTA
BULLOCK CART TRAVELING SANKIRTAN PARTY. Prabhupada read the sign and
said, "Jaya." Then he fed the bulls some grass, patted them on the cheeks,
and said, "These bulls are carrying Gaura-Nitai for preaching. They will go
back home, back to Godhead. They won't have another life."

47. Secret of success

Jayapataka Swami: Once, at a disappearance festival for Srila
Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Prabhupada was explaining how the
disciple tries to carry out the order of his guru and the previous guru, the
grandfather guru, as well as the order of the previous acharyas. He gave us
the example of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur, how he had begged door-to-door
to build the first temple at Mayapur Dham, and he explained how the
different acharyas had contributed to the development of Mayapur Dham.
Prabhupada said, "To please my spiritual master and the previous acharyas, I
am also trying to do something in Mayapur Dham. I am very grateful to
everyone who is helping me." Then he couldn't speak any further. He choked
up and started crying. There was a long silence. We didn't know what to do.
Prabhupada finally said, "The secret of success is to satisfy the desires of the
previous acharyas."

48. Sense Gratification

Tamal Krishna Goswami: Prabhupada wrote me in a letter, "Throughout
my life I had so many opportunities for sense gratification, but Krishna
always saved me. I never knew what is meat-eating, gambling, intoxication
or illicit sex." He wrote, "There was never a moment when I was ever
forgetful of Krishna." He actually wrote that in a letter to me. He said, "There
was never a moment when I was ever forgetful of Krishna."

49. Service Attitude

Bhagavat: One of the things that struck me about Srila Prabhupada
was how concerned he was about the welfare of his disciples. That especially
struck me in Bombay. I had cut my foot, and Prabhupada noticed it during
guru-puja. At that time he was receiving worship from a hundred devotees,
and arati was going on. He called me to the vyasasana, completely ignoring

everyone in the room for that moment, and said, "What happened to your
foot?" I said, "I cut myself." He said, "Are you all right? Is it very bad? Have
you gone to the doctor? Do you need medicine?" I assured him that I had
taken care of it. Then he said, "Remember, if you need anything, come and
see me, and I will help."

50. Service to spiritual master

Balai: In the Boston temple it was nearing either the appearance or
disappearance of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati. Satsvarupa Maharaj, who
was the temple president, asked all the devotees to write a poem or a little
essay about Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati. We all did that and he sent it to
Srila Prabhupada who was in Los Angeles at the time and he asked that all
these poems and everything be read in the temple room. Srila Prabhupada
said, "I have nothing to offer my Guru Maharaj except these prayers from my
disciples." Later he asked that the prayers be published in the Back to
Godhead magazine.

51. Surrender
Giriraj Swami: On the first night of the Calcutta pandal, there were
many Naxalites (communists in Bengal) in the audience ready to disturb the
program. On two sides of the pandal there were folding wooden chairs for
VIPs to sit on, and in the middle and at the rear there was a carpet for
everyone else to sit on. The Naxalites began making agitation, "Why do
some people have chairs and not others?" They started to smash chairs
together while Prabhupada was trying to speak. It was a big disturbance, and
some devotees, went to talk to them, but the Naxalites starting shouting at
the devotees and the devotees starting shouting at the Naxalites. The
disturbance became worse, and we didn't know what to do.
Prabhupada stopped speaking, closed his eyes, and with intense absorption
and love for Krishna, began to sing the Govindam prayers, Govindam adipurusamtam aham bhajami, over the microphone. Prabhupada was not
thinking of anything else. Gradually the Naxalites were overcome by the
influence of Srila Prabhupada's devotion. They quieted down, put the chairs
back in order, and left. Srila Prabhupada had complete faith in Krishna and in
His holy name, more than he had faith in his personal strength or ability.
When we act in the same way, depending on Krishna and Krishna's mercy,
Krishna always reciprocates.

52. Tapasya
Jahnava dasi: The next year I took this walk with Purusottam and
Jadurani and Srila Prabhupada, and it was snowing. There were a couple of
young teenage girls standing across the street and they had on mini skirts
and, like I said, it was snowing. So Jadurani and I naturally were glancing
across the street, thinking it was very odd for these two young teenage girls
to have mini skirts on in the snow, and the teenage girls were looking across
the street at Jadurani and I having these saris on. So Srila Prabhupada noted
the humor and he said, You are looking at them, and they are looking at
you. He said, Their austerity is for sex life, and your austerity is for
Krishna.

53. Temple
Soma: In Boston in 1971 Prabhupada came to the temple and he gave
a short address speech. Then we brought him into his room that we had fixed
up. It was just a small room, maybe 10 foot by 12 foot. Because it was late,
Satsvarupa Maharaj said, "Oh, Srila Prabhupada, it's late and we've rented a
hotel room for you." Srila Prabhupada's eyes got really big and said, "Hotel?
I'm not going." He quoted a verse and said, "The country is in the mode of
goodness, the city is in the mode of passion, but a hotel is simply a brothel.
I'm not going." He said, "But the temple is Vaikuntha. I'll stay here." And he
did. The two and a half days that he was in Boston he just stayed in this one
simple room. He was so happy to stay there instead of going some place
else. We of course, as devotees, loved it that he was there staying with us for
that time. One older gentleman had convinced Satsvarupa that the temple
wasn't good enough for Srila Prabhupada to stay in. He rented and paid for
the penthouse suite at the best hotel in Boston, the Four Seasons, but
Prabhupada wouldn't go there.

54. Tolerance
Prabhupada das: There was one encounter that showed Srila
Prabhupada's tolerance and also his skillful means on how to deal with an
unusual situation. Once I came in and whimsically started remodeling
Prabhupada's apartment. I started moving a lamp and putting it on the floor
and changing things around without any rhyme or reason. There were a
couple of hippies there and they didn't do anything to protect Prabhupada.
They were just watching as if they were watching a movie. Srila Prabhupada

had to deal with me personally. He stood up and very politely came over to
me, extended his hand to shake hands. I got more or less of a handshake
from Prabhupada. Then he said, "I am so glad you came. Thank you very
much for coming. This is nice, very good, and by the way, the door is right
over there". He gracefully ushered me out. That little incident showed his
genius on how to deal with a crazy person. He could have been a lot rougher.
If it was anyone else I don't think he would have been as graceful as that.

55. Vaishnava aparadha

Mahatma: Prabhupada was giving a lecture, and the verse was about
how brahmans, women, children, and elderly people are never offenders,
that they should always be protected and forgiven. During the class, children
started crying right after Prabhupada was making the point that children are
never offenders, brahmans are never offenders, saintly persons are never
offenders, and women are never offenders. As soon as Prabhupada paused,
Bahulasva, one of the leaders in the Berkeley temple, made an
announcement. Bahulasva was sometimes heavy and assertive, and he
strongly said, "All the children should be taken out of class immediately.
They're disturbing." It was as if he said, "Get out of here. You're disturbing
Prabhupada." Immediately Prabhupada stopped him. Prabhupada said, "Here
in this assembly we have only women, children, saintly persons, and
brahmans, so there is no offense. No one here can make any offense."
Prabhupada mellowed the atmosphere. Bahulasva had told the mothers to
take out their crying children, but Prabhupada said, "No, there's no offense.
Only women, children, sadhus, brahmans are present here, so there's no
offense."

56. Yukta Vairagya

Pusta Krishna: During Prabhupada's lecture, he stressed studying the
philosophy. He was concerned that we thoroughly understand the philosophy
of Krishna consciousness. He said to me, "Do as I am doing. Sometimes I am
managing, sometimes I am preaching, sometimes I am cooking, and
sometimes I am cleaning. In that way, whatever needs to be done you do.
That's sannyas." In this way he was teaching yukta vairagya, that real
renunciation is to do whatever is required for the service of Krishna. It is not
remaining aloof and maintaining some false posture of being only a preacher.

57. Anger

Romapada Swami: Prabhupada rang the bell on his desk, and his
servant came in and offered obeisances. The servant was supposed to have
done something but he had neglected to do it. Prabhupada's mood shifted
from one of happily appreciating the devotees' artwork to being strong and
firm with his servant. Everybody in the room became silent. As soon as the
servant left, Prabhupada withdrew that anger and was again as before. Anger
did not control him, but he used that mood to instruct a disciple and help
that disciple stay properly situated in devotional service.

58. Greed
Pushkar: Prabhupada met Mr. Sethi just after Mr. Sethi had had a car accident.
He was wearing a big brace on his neck, and the doctor had told him that he had to
wear it for six months. Prabhupada said, "Why do you have this on your neck?" Mr.
Sethi said, "The doctor said I need it for six months." Prabhupada said, "Take it off;
you don't need it." Mr. Sethi thought, "What is this? Prabhupada tells me to take it
off, but the doctor tells me to wear it for six months?" He took the brace off and
didn't need it. He was perfectly all right. He also told me that once his father was
sick in Chandigram. Mr. Sethi was in Bombay when he got a telegram, "You must
come immediately. It is very serious." Mr. Sethi told Prabhupada, "Prabhupada, I'm
going to Chandigram. My father is very sick. It's serious." Prabhupada said, "He's
not serious." Mr. Sethi said, "I just got a telegram." Prabhupada said, "Your father
will meet you at the bus station." Mr. Sethi took a train and then a bus to
Chandigram, and when he got to the bus station, his father was there, perfectly all
right. Another time Mrs. Nair, the wife of the infamous rascal who tried to cheat
Prabhupada, came with an attorney to Mr. Sethi's house. Prabhupada asked her,
"Why is your husband so greedy? He only has a few days to live." Three days later
Mr. Nair was dead. You don't want to offend Prabhupada.