Just before he took rest at 11:15 p.m. it began to pour with rain. Watching from his window as the heavens opened up, Prabhupada smiled contentedly and said it was an auspicious sign that everything had been a success.
It was difficult for him to rest, however, because of the noise coming from the huge crowd that had gathered for the midnight arati. As it turned out, arati wasn't actually held until 12:40 a.m., but everyone waited patiently and stayed on for the feast afterwards.
August 19th, 1976
Today is Sri Vyasa-puja day, the 80th birth anniversary of Srila Prabhupada. We are all fasting for half a day but unfortunately Srila Prabhupada is also practically having to fast. He has bad digestion and is coughing up a lot of mucus. He had only a very small amount of fruit for breakfast and simply khichari and yogurt for lunch.
As soon as I got up this morning I thought about what to offer him. Pusta Krsna Swami had written a Vyasapuja offering as Prabhupada's secretary that is included in the Vyasapuja book. But I was not aware that I could have also done the same, so there is nothing from me in it. I thought that perhaps I should try to do something special for His Divine Grace, but then I thought it might interfere with my regular service. And anyway, I am already serving Srila Prabhupada twenty-four hours a day so it doesn't seem that I can do much more than that. After some internal debate I have decided to just press on with my normal service in a spirit of full surrender and hope he will be pleased with that and accept it as my offering.
- From "A Transcendental Diary Vol 4" by HG Hari Sauri Prabhu
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