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A number of devotees had been assigned the task of standing guard outside Srila Prabhupada's room. For them, the special highlight would be the chance to see Prabhupada as he occasionally walked between rooms at various times of the day and night.

At 10 or 11pm, after a full day of preaching, Srila Prabhupada would stand, step into his slippers that he kept inside the door to his main room, and walk out to the small adjoining bedroom, simply furnished with a bed, rocking chair and almirah, for his massage and rest. At about 1.30am, Prabhupada would rise without the aid of an alarm clock. Then he would turn on the lights and walk back to the large darsana room to work on his on-going translation and purports to the concluding chapters of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Five. As Srila Prabhupada walked out his door, the devotees on guard would bow down and recite Prabhupada's pranama mantra. Prabhupada would acknowledge this with a nod and sometimes a smile, and respond with a soft, low "jaya", or "Hare Krsna".

Rama dasa: One time I was standing outside his door reading Caitanya-caritamrta. Prabhupada, wearing his fuzzy-piled amber slippers, came out and stopped beside me. "What are you reading?" he asked. I held the book up and said, "Caitanya-caritamrta, Prabhupada." He said, "Oh, bring it here".

I came closer. "Show me," he said. So I held the book in my hand and opened it up. Prabhupada put his hand under mine, touching me gently, and helped hold the book up as he read it to himself for a few moments. Then he turned to me and with a very special, innocent expression on his face, said: "These are beautiful books. You should read them all the time."

The devotees on guard were sometimes struck with the realisation of what an amazing feat Srila Prabhupada was performing. At the advanced age of eighty years, Prabhupada was able to write such profuse literature and at the same time travel widely, tend to the needs of thousands of disciples, work all day, and yet still rest so little at night. His young disciples could perhaps only begin to understand and appreciate the great endeavour that Prabhupada exerted for the sake of executing the desires of the previous acaryas -- to establish Krsna consciousness on the solid basis of his books. Yet one thing was sure: because Srila Prabhupada was so surrendered to the task, Krsna was directly collaborating with him.


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