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Srutakirti was not a fancy cook, but his preparation of Prabhupada's daily lunch -- split mung dal, rice and chapatis and a couple of simply spiced subjis -- was always predictably punctual, hot and palatable. Srutakirti used the same three-tiered cooker that had accompanied Prabhupada for several years. Having had a lot of practice, he was able to efficiently cook everything in a very short time. Srila Prabhupada sometimes took pleasure in telling people: "Srutakirti cooks my whole meal in fifteen minutes -- not three or four hours."

During Prabhupada's stay in Melbourne, Srutakirti followed the same tried and tested procedure. As the dal, rice and subjis all steamed simultaneously in the cooker, Srutakirti gave Srila Prabhupada his massage. The massage done, Prabhupada entered his bathroom. Although the clean, white ceramic-tiled room was equipped with a shower, Prabhupada preferred to take his bath simply, using buckets. Before the massage, Srutakirti had set up one stainless steel bucket of hot water and one of cold water. Now, Prabhupada combined the water to the preferred temperature, and crouching down, bathed in the traditional way that he had done his whole life.

As Prabhupada bathed, Srutakirti went downstairs, spiced the dal and vegetables and rolled and cooked hot chapatis. The day being particularly chilly, Srutakirti had decided to prepare the substantial and nourishing "winter" chapatis that Prabhupada had once shown him how to make. Heating some milk in a small saucepan, Srutakirti added sufficient lemon juice to curdle it. Then he added the atta flour to the hot curds and whey, mixing and kneading it like regular chapati dough.

As Srutakirti busily completed his cooking duties in the kitchen below, Prabhupada dressed, and sat behind his low marble desk.

William Kerr had been given carte blanche to film Srila Prabhupada. Wanting some footage of Prabhupada alone in his room, William had decided to set up his equipment while Prabhupada bathed. Now, as the camera rolled silently, Prabhupada placed several tiny spoonfuls of water in his left palm. Rubbing a ball of Vrndavana clay into the water, he made a moist, paste-like mixture. He then applied the clay markings of Vaisnava tilaka, dipping into the yellowish paste in his left hand with the ring finger of his right. He scraped wet clay from his palm, and while looking into a small ivory compact mirror that he held between the thumb and little finger of his left hand, Prabhupada marked a vertical clay strip up his forehead. He then trimmed the clay into two parallel lines by placing the little finger of his right hand between the eyebrows and running it upward past the hairline, clearing a path in the still-moist clay. Then, reaching quickly under his shirt, he marked eleven other places on his body as directed by the Vaisnava smrti.

William, peering into his viewfinder, panned quickly across Prabhupada's desk, past his japa beads, silver drinking goblet, spectacle case, gold Cross pen, and dictaphone. He zoomed in close just as Prabhupada, facing the picture of his spiritual master, began silently reciting the Gayatri mantra. William captured on film Prabhupada's methodical, aristocratic, yet delicate movements. Holding his brahmana's sacred thread and looping it around his right thumb, he sat erect, looking slightly downwards, moving his lips a little.

As Prabhupada finished, right on cue, Srutakirti returned with his lunch. William turned off the camera and quickly left the room. Srila Prabhupada silently rose and sat on a rug behind a small marble table in the corner of the room. Prabhupada preferred to take his dal and vegetables with chapatis first. Tearing off a piece of chapati with his right hand, he wrapped it around a morsel of vegetable, or dipped it into the dal. Srutakirti had the hot rice in one tier of the cooker, sitting tightly lidded on Prabhupada's table. After eating about three or four chapatis, Prabhupada finished off the meal with hot basmati rice, which he mixed with the remainder of his dal and vegetables according to his taste and appetite. Finally Prabhupada rose, washed his hands and mouth, and prepared to rest a while on his couch.


- From "The Great Transcendental Adventure" by HG Kurma Prabhu