When three of our young men from Bhakti Academy came into Prabhupad’s quarters to do an interview with me, they were quite impressed. Not having been in this sitting quarters before when I was present, one of those men asked, “Is this your room?”
“No, this is our guru Prabhupad’s room. Then I showed the next room, the bedroom where His Divine Grace had his rest for three nights in June of ’76. “Is this your room?” came the question again.
“No, this is Prahupad’s bedroom, but I use it and I take care of it. On his visit he vocalized in this sitting room when Professor Joesph T. O’Connell asked if there are any women gurus in the culture and the response was, Yes, not many, few and he have the example of Jahanvi, the wife of Nityananda a close associate of Chaitanya. Since the topic of female guruship has been controversial in the movement I expressed to the curious young men that this room is rather historical.
I gave the men their choice as to which room they preferred for the video interview, and they vied for the sitting room. The three took a few moments to browse through the pictoral books of “Rama” and “Krishna” before the interview. They loved the artwork.
With the interview done successfully, I now had the freedom to go for my work before my Monday night kirtan. Off to Bloor Street, I wandered with Uddhava, my regular walking companion. Few things that are mundane capture my attention, however Uddhava pointed out, on our return, a sign that is in line with our philosophy of Ahimsa, non -violence. It is a good statement, radical and true.
Source: https://www.thewalkingmonk.net/post/in-those-rooms-at-243
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