THE FOLLOWING IS A SPECIAL PRABHUPADA KATHA GIVEN BY HIS HOLINESS BHAKTI CHARU SWAMI ON JULY 2010, AT ISKCON NEW YORK MANHATTEN

Transcribers : Sacikumar Dasa, Shyama Mohini Dasi, Bhaktin Ramola, Ranga Radhika Dasi, Ramananda Raya Dasa

Editing : Hemavati Radhika Dasi

Welcome to the Sri Sri Radha-Murlidhara here at the Bhakti-centre.Thank you very much for coming. This evening we have a very greatspeaker, we are very fortunate, one of the intimate and dear disciplesof Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, the Founder of theInternational Society for Krishna Consciousness, His Holiness BhaktiCaru Swami Maharaja.

HARIBOL, HARIBOL!!!! (Applause)

We requested, actually it was Radha-Vallabha Prabhu’s suggestionthat Maharaja will speak on Srila Prabhupada. It was Maharaja’s goodfortune to spend the last year and a half, pretty many twenty fourhours a day, when Prabhupada was still present on this planet.  So, hehad a lot of personal experience, which is a very rare treasure for us.All of us, we never had personal association and it has always been ourexperience that when one of this rare souls, you know, invited SrilaPrabhupada into their heart and dedicates their life to his mission,whenever they speak about their spiritual teacher, then that teachermanifests. Then we have the good fortune of directly associating withSrila Prabhupada. This association with Srila Prabhupada is alwaysaccessible and comes from his dedicated followers. We have the goodfortune of having a very dedicated follower among us.  Thank you,Maharaja.

Bhakti Charu Swami:

Om Ajnana Timirandasya Jnanajaya Salakaya Caksur Unmilitam Yena Tasmai Sri Gurave Namah

Sri Chaitanya Mano Bhistam Stapitham Yena Bhutale Svayam Rupa Kada Mahyam Dadati Sva Padantikam

Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu Nityananda Sri Advaita Gadadhara Srivasadi Gaura Bhakta Vrinda

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

I first met Srila Prabhupada in a dream. I got a book written bySrila Prabhupada, Nectar of Devotion, and as I started to read it, fromthe very first page it occurred to me that this is what I was actuallylooking for. And the next night I had a dream of Srila Prabhupada. AndI saw Srila Prahupada was sitting on a majestic throne and those days Idid not know what a vyasasana was, because in India the saintly peoplethey sit on a rather simple seat, they don’t sit on such a gorgeousthrone, it looks rather like a throne. So I saw Srila Prabhupadasitting on a throne. And there was a brilliant light around SrilaPrabhupada, as if the light was coming out of his body.  And just thesight of Srila Prabhupada made me feel that finally I found myspiritual master. I was in India, I was searching for a spiritualmaster, and prior to that I was in Europe. And when I went back toIndia, I went back with an idea, as soon as I go back to India, I willfind a guru. Because there are so many gurus in India, so to find aguru is not difficult at all but when I went to India and started tomeet these saintly people, sadhus, I had a real difficulty in findingsomebody to whom I could surrender myself. Because some of them, if notmany, looked like some of my hippy friends in the west and then at somepoint I gave up my search, totally frustrated, thinking that, if at allI have a guru, then let him come and pick me up. I had been searchingfor him for so long and I could not find him. And when I gave up mysearch, it was around that time that I got the Nectar of Devotion bySrila Prabhupada. And as I started to read it, it seemed thateverything became clear, that this is the path, this is the way. Whatactually impressed me very much about the Nectar of Devotion, actuallyfrom the very first page, was that all this while I was thinking thatliberation was the goal of life. But when I started to read Nectar ofDevotion, I came to know that there are five kinds of liberation andout of them, one is a negative liberation and four others are positive.I mean, that it just impressed me so much. I felt that here is the realinformation. Then Prabhupada made it so clear that God is a person. Myunderstanding prior to that was more of an impersonal understanding ofGod. Some energy some light, no clear understanding whatsoever and thenPrabhupada made it so clear that God is a person and Krishna is God. Soall my doubts, all my misconceptions were removed in just first twopages of that book and I just kept on reading, I could not stop readingthat book. It was so engrossing, it was so fascinating. All theinformation was so clear and the next night of that dream of SrilaPrabhupada, I made up my mind that “This is the path that I am going totake and I am going to surrender to Srila Prabhupada!”.

So I went to the Calcutta temple and I found out that SrilaPrabhupada was in America at that time. So I thought that I would waittill Srila Prabhupada came back to India and then I will surrender untohim. And in the mean time I will just travel around to the places whereChaitanya Mahaprabhu performed His pastimes or where Krishna performedHis pastimes. Thinking that, the first place I went to, was Mayapur,Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s birthplace. Those days Mayapur’s setup was quitesmall, compared to what Mayapur is today. There were quite a fewdevotees and those days, all the devotees, even in India, most of thedevotees were Western devotees, American or European. Like a littlewhile ago, Jagat Purusa Prabhu told me that he was watching a video ofSrila Prabhupada giving a lecture and when the camera turned towardsthe audience, he was saying  they all were Americans. And I was tellinghim, Indians were a rare commodity in ISKCON those days. And very fewIndians were actually involved, even in India. So, most of the devoteeswere Westerners and Mayapur was very remote, very few people used to gothere those days. And everybody whom I spoke to in the temple, theyjust kept asking me “Why don’t you stay, why don’t you stay with us?”And I also started to think, that I already made up my mind that I wantto join.

So, the next morning, I got shaved up… and took dhoti and kurta… andI went to Ganga..  I threw away my old clothes…. and put on dhoti andkurta and became a devotee.  Maybe there was a little doubt at the backof my mind, just what if I do not want to become a devotee, what if Ido not want to be a part of Iskcon. And then I thought that : “Well, intwo months time my hair will grow.  And if I want, I can go back.  AndI was waiting for Srila Prabhupada to come back.  And when I joint, Ibecame involved in so many activities, because at that time there werevery few Indians in the movement.  And there was so much to do and Igot hips of services.  But the main service that I had, was to do thepurchase of the building materials. In Mayapur those days, we arebuilding the longest building in Bengal.  a seven hundred and fiftyfeet long building.  And they asked me to do the purchasing, so fromthe very beginning of my involvement in Iskcon, I got in volved in somany activities like that.  But at the same time, whenever I used toget some time, I used to go to some libraries and there I found theearly, early writings of Srila Prabhupada.  Prabhupada’s writings fromnineteen fourty eight onwards.  Fourty eight till fifty two.  And Icompiled them together in a book and I was printing that book also.  Soin the mean time Srila Prabhupada came to India.  Finally we travelledto Kumba Mela, Allahabad.  That was seventy seven, January.  AndPrabhupada was in Kumba Mela and we met him.  Those days it was verydifficult to have any access to Srila Prabhupada.  Prabhupada had aboutten thousand followers and everybody was dying to have a few minuteswith him;  And Prabhupada’s health also was not very good.  Sodevotees, who were his secretaries and personal servants, they werereally guarding Srila Prabhupada.  So, when I saw that it was sodifficult to have access to Srila Prabhupada, or to approach SrilaPrabhupada, I did not make any effort to approach him. But fortunately,one day I got to know that Srila Prabhupada decided to leave Kumba Melaand go to Calcutta.  And then I was informed that a small group ofdevotees will be travelling with Srila Prabhupada and I had beenincluded in that team.  And I literally jumped with joy with theprospect.  And it was actually due to one of my senior Godbrothers, whoincluded me in the team, his name is, he was the leader of Mayapura atthat time, Bhavananda Maharaja.  And he actually came and told me thatPrabhupada was leaving Kumba Mela, he was going to go to Calcutta and Ihave also been included in the team that would travel with him;  And inthe evening the train started.  So, soon after the train started tomove, we took rest.

The next morning, Bhavananda came to me and told me that he wantedto take me to Srila Prabhupada.  I was kind of hesitating, I did nottell him anything, but there was something that was holding me sort ofback.. There was all kinds of thinking.  Like, am I really qualified togo to Srila Prabhupada.  And if I go to Srila Prabhupada, he will seehow sinful and fallen I am.  And if Srila Prabhupada rejects me, seeingmy fallen condition, then what will happen ? So I was just… BhavanandaPrabhu probably could understand what was going on in my mind.  So hecaught me by my hand and dragged me to the corridor.  And he opened thedoor of the compartment and pushed me in.  And I fell flat, offeringobeisances.  When I got up I saw Prabhupada was looking at me.  Andthen Prabhupada asked me to sit next to him.  The first classcompartments in Indian trains have two seats facing each other. In theother seat three very senior devotees were sitting and the templepresident of Calcutta was sitting on the floor and Prabhupada wassitting in one seat. So, Prabhupada asked me to sit next to him.  So, Itold Prabhupada, I would rather sit on the floor.  So Prabhupada said:’No, sit here.”  So, when Prabhupada insisted, I just sat in onecorner of the seat.  And after some initial exchanges Srila Prabhupadatold me to translate his books into Bengali.  And I told him :“Prabhupada, I don’t have any experience in translating.  Will I beable to translate your books ? And Prabhupada   said :”Practice makesthe man perfect”.  So, just do it.  And although I said that, althoughI had that initial hesitation, but at the same time, I was very excitedthat Prabhupada is giving me such an important service.  Because I knewto Prabhupada the books were the most important thing.  And I alsoheard that Prabhupada was very particular about the Bengalitranslation.  Because many of the books that Srila Prabhupada presentedwere originally in Bengali.  So, Prabhupada’s translations ofPrabhupada’s works from english back to bengali, Prabhupada was very,very careful about it.  So when I heard Prabhupada’d words, I felt veryexcited.  And another thing that happened is that that service providedme an access to Srila Prabhupada any time I wanted.  Nobody actuallyquestioned me whenever I wanted to see Srila Prabhupada.  And I hadaccess to Prabhupada’s room.  And then, soon after that, one afternoon,Prabhupada called me and he gave me a stack of letters in Bengali.  Andhe asked me to reply those letters.  The way I used to do it, is,Prabhupada wanted me to first read those letters out loud to him.  Iused to read out those letters and then, Prabhupada used to give me thepoints what to write.  And then I used to make a draft, a rough draftof the reply and bring them to Srila Prabhupada and read them out toSrila Prabhupada.  And then Prabhupada would suggest some correctionsand then I would make a final draft, handwrite it on Prabhupada’sletterhead. And then Prabhupada used to sign those letters.  So thisway Prabhupada gave me first a stack of bengali letters that hereceived, And then he gave me a stack of Hindi letters.  And then, oneday, Prabhupada told me that he was appointing me as his secretary forIndian affairs.  So, that actually provided me the opportunity to moveinto the room, next to Srila Prabhupada, Prabhupada’s secretary’sroom.  Those days, Prabhupada’s secretary was Tamal Krishna Maharaja. And Prabhupada called him and told him that he was appointing me as hissecretary for Indian affairs. And Tamal Krishna Maharaja invited me tohis room. So, we started to share the room.  And that also gave meanother wonderful stroke of good fortune, to have such closeassociation with Tamal Krishna Maharaja  who was a very, very wonderfuldevotee, an extremely exalted devotee.  And we developed a very deeprelationship.  Tamal Krishna Maharaja was known for his aggressivenature so to say. Like he was a very powerful individual. Many peoplethought that he was, well aggressive is I think the right word, but Ihave seen the softer side of him.  He had such a tender heart.  He wasso absorbed, he was so concerned.  And this was how I had theoportunity to serve Srila Prabhupada under his leadership, under hisguidance.  So, this is another oportunity how I could come very closeto Srila Prabhupada.
Then Srila Prabhupada, from Mayapur, he went to Bombay.  There was aprogram in Cross Maidan, arranged for Srila Prabhupada.  Cross Maidanis a very large parc, in the heart of Bombay, in the centre of Bombay. There was a big pandal, a big marquis was constructed there, whereevery evening about five, six thousand people used to come to listen toSrila Prabhupada and Prabhupada was giving lectures.  And Prabhupada’shealth was quite frail at that time, he was quite sick.  But SrilaPrabhupada was so transcendental, that although he was physical soweak, but when he would come to give the lecture, we could visibly seethat he was so weak. But then as he started to speak his body wouldbecome more and more straight and erect. Prabhupada would be preachinglike a lion. One incident that displays Srila Prabhupadas broadoutlook. One day Srila Prabhupada noticed thousands of people, likeevery day they used to be five six thousands of people attending thatprogram in the middle of the park, and most of the people were sittingand at the age all around people would be standing. Prabhupada noticedone day an Arab gentleman in the crowd. He was dressed in typicalArabian attire, long with dress with the head covered with a whitepiece of cloth and a ring around his head. So Prabhupada saw thisgentleman and he sent one of his leading disciples to bring that manonto the stage. So he went and brought that man to the stage andPrabhupada made him sit on a chair next to him. Prabhupada was sittingin the middle of the stage and there were rose of chairs on both sidesand Prabhupada made him sit on a chair next to his. And that was such awonderful sight – here is a prominent spiritual leader flanked by hissenior devotees and important people of the city those who had beeninvited as guests and then next to Srila Prabhupada is a Muslimgentleman dressed up in a Muslim dress. But not only Srila Prabhupadainvited him onto the stage Prabhupada was talking to him in a verypersonal way and I had the good fortune of hearing what was going onbecause I was fanning Srila Prabhupada. Just standing behind him. Prabhupada asked that man who he was, what he was doing here and thatgentleman happen to be the chief of the police of Kuwait and he came toIndia for a medical treatment. He was in a hospital, I think he had aoperation or something, and that was the first day he was allowed to goout of the hospital. He just came out and he was walking and then hesaw that big gathering and out of curiosity he just walked in. he wasstanding there watching what was happened there and then Prabhupadainvited him onto the stage (laughter). Prabhupada even asked him to saysomething but the man declined saying that, like it won’t be good forhim, as a government official to come and speak like that. Anyway,Prabhupada was having such sweet exchanges with him. So that man had, Idon’t know whether you had noticed, many Arabs often carried a kind ofa bead in their hands, there are smaller beads made of semipreasurestones, so he had one in his hands. So Prabhupada asked him, what wouldyou do with that? He said, I just fiddle around with it. (laughter)Prabhupada said, no this is actually meant for chanting the name of theLord. Then Prabhupada pulled out his japa-mala and showed it to him andsaid, I also had one and this should be kept in a bag. Because it’s asacred thing and it should be kept in a proper way. So in this wayPrabhupada had such a loving affectionate dealing with that person.

So these are some of my experiences of Srila Prabhupadas greatness. And in the same program another incident happened. A person kept onchallenging Srila Prabhupada. In India sometimes it used to happen thatsome people sometimes becomes very challenging. Thinking that they knowbetter than anyone else. This man eventually became so unpleasant thatthe people there became extremely upset with him. They practicallycarried him out of this place. Prabhupada was very patiently answeringhis questions but the people becoming disturbed. And they threw himout. This is how Srila Prabhupada attending the program in CrossMaidan. I used to come with Srila Prabhupada and after the program Iused to go back with Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada there was staying inthe house of one of our life-members. Because it was felt that fromJuhu to come to the city everyday was very far. It would be a longdrive for Srila Prabhupada; therefore the arrangement was made in thehouse of a very wonderful life-member. His name was Kartika Mahadevia.He was so nice; he had a very nice apartment in a very luxurious area.Luxurious apartment in a very posh area right on the beachfront. Heactually moved out of this apartment, the whole family moved out and hekept this available for Srila Prabhupada. And we three of us with SrilaPrabhupada, Tamal Krishna Maharaja, Bhavananda Maharaja and myself. Hemoved into another apartment in the same complex. Prabhupada used tocome back at night after the program. While the program used to go on.Tamal Krishna Maharaja and Bhavananda Maharaja used to be in theprogram and I used to come back with Srila Prabhupada. And SrilaPrabhupada used to come back and lie down and I used to give him amassage. So one day while I was massaging his lotus feet SrilaPrabhupada asked me, “So, how do you like the program tonight?” No,Prabhupada said, “How did you like my lecture?”So I said, “Prabhupada,it was wonderful.” So he said, “So, what was so wonderful about it?”Then I mentioned the points that Srila Prabhupada made and theincidents that took place. And Prabhupada was very pleased and he likedit when he saw when we listen to him very carefully. Then after thatSrila Prabhupada went back to Juhu temple and there Prabhupada’s newquarters just got ready. One the 6th floor of one of the two towers. SoPrabhupada was staying there. My service used to be, of course, totranslate Prabhupada’s books, I was translating Bhagavad gita at thattime that was the first book I translated. At the same time I used tobe with Srila Prabhupada as often as possible. And Prabhupada also gaveme quite a lot of service. One of the services was, at seven o’clock Iused to collect all the local newspapers and go to Srila Prabhupada andread out the headlines. And if Prabhupada likes some news he wanted meto read it. So this was one service. And sometimes Prabhupada givepurport to the news also. At that time a lot of turmoil was going on inIndia, like Indira Ghandi called a national emergency. And SanjayGhandi, her eldest son, was causing a lot of distress to the sadhus inVrindavana. All over and especially in Vrindavana. One day I wasreading some incidents with Indira Ghandi and Sanjay Ghandi andPrabhupada told me how corrupt that family was. Prabhupada used to knowthat family very well because that family is from Allahabad andPrabhupada spent many years in Allahabad and he had a close contact tothat family. He was talking about Nehru and his sister Vijaya LaksmiPandit, then Indira Ghandi – all kind of things he kept on saying. Thenhe started to tell what Sanjay Ghandi was doing. The causing distressto the sadhus in Vrindavana. And he said that the consequence of thatis going to be very, very severe. And true Srila Prabhupada statement,soon after that, Sanjay Ghandi died in a plane crash.

Another service I used to have those days was Prabhupada’s…  Prasadwas cooked by one of our Godsisters Palika. Palika used to cook and Iused to serve Srila Prabhupada. When she was ready, I used to make – noactually she used to make the plate and I used to bring the plate toSrila Prabhupada. And one day Palika was sick so she could not cook forSrila Prabhupada so some other Godsister was asked to cook for SrilaPrabhupada and when I served I could see that Srila Prabhupada was notable to eat, he took a bite and he just could not eat it. Seeing that Iasked Srila Prabhupada whether the cooking was not alright. Prabhupadasaid “No, she does not know how to cook!” Then I asked SrilaPrabhupada, “Should I cook for you tomorrow?” Prabhupada said, “Yes youcan try”. Next morning Srila Prabhupada called me and he asked me tobring some vegetables and things and then he asked me to cook certainpreparations in a certain way and I cooked and I served. AfterPrabhupada took the Prasad, I took the plates and I went to clean themin the kitchen. In the mean time Prabhupada’s personal servant UpendraPrabhu used to come and take Srila Prabhupada to his bed and Prabhupadaused to lie down for a while. So after putting Prabhupada to bed,Upendra actually came running to me and said “Hey what did you cook forSrila Prabhupada today, Srila Prabhupada wanted me to taste it” andthat day. At 3′o clock Tamal Krishna Maharaj used to go to SrilaPrabhupada with the letters and Prabhupada used to give dictation tothe replies. So after Tamal Krishna Maharaj came to me and said “Youknow Prabhupada was very pleased with your cooking today” and the nextday I cooked and I served and Srila Prabhupada took one bite and toldme “You don’t have any standard. One day you cook nicely and I praiseyou and then you are gone.” So I felt completely devastated andespecially I was thinking that now I got this most coveted service toSrila Prabhupada, cooking for Srila Prabhupada and I got this goldenopportunity to cook for Srila Prabhupada and now I blew it. The nextday I cooked as carefully as possible. I was so nervous, I couldpractically hear my heartbeat- the sound of my heartbeat while cooking.Then I served Prabhupada, my heart was pounding even faster and louder.Then when I saw that Prabhupada did not say anything and he was eatingthen I got some courage and confidence so I asked Prabhupada.“Prabhupada was it alright today?” Prabhupada said “Yes, today isalright”. Then I told Prabhupada “Prabhupada I was so nervous and I wasso afraid while cooking today”. Prabhupada said “Yes, when you areserving your spiritual master you should be afraid and you should be inanxiety”.

So this is how I got this service of serving Srila Prabhupada andthen Prabhupada’s health condition was not really so good and one daytwo very important people came to see Srila Prabhupada – Sriman Narayan– he was the ex-governor of Madras and Ram Krishna Bajaj- the chairmanof Bajaj industry. They were brothers in law and they came to see SrilaPrabhupada. When they saw that Srila Prabhupada’s health condition wasnot good so they suggested that Prabhupada went to some place for achange – change of weather and scene. They suggested that Prabhupadawent to Rsishikesh. Prabhupada liked the idea and he said that he’dnever been to Rsishikesh before. That place which is a holy place atthe foothills of the Himalayas on the bank of the Ganges. So SrilaPrabhupada liked the proposal, so Prabhupada agreed to go and SrimanNarayan actually made the arrangement in Rsishikesh for Prabhupada’saccommodation and a small team travelled with Srila Prabhupada – TamalKrishna Maharaj, Upendra Prabhu and I. We travelled from Bombay, weflew from Bombay to Delhi and from Delhi we travelled by car toRsishikesh. It was a beautiful house on the bank of the Ganges. Themost beautiful house in that area actually, and just three of us. Ohno, few others were also there already before. Trivikrama Swami, one ofour Godbrother Sanyasi and two south American Sanyasis – Viraha Prakashand Pramana Swami. They were already there; they went beforePrabhupada’s arrival to make arrangements for Prabhupada’saccommodation there. Then Pradyumna Prabhu also was there. PradyumnaPrabhu also, he came afterwards. Pradyumna Prabhu used to travel with afew trunks of books with him. Wherever he went he had this metaltrunks, metal boxes carrying his books. So just few of us with SrilaPrabhupada and so I was cooking for Srila Prabhupada and also I wasserving Prabhupada in other ways like every night one of us had to bewith Srila Prabhupada. Our shift was something like. I used to be withPrabhupada from 12 to 2. Upendra used to be from 10 to 12. PramanaSwami used to come at 2′o clock. Then Tamal Krishna Maharaj used tocome at 4′o clock. So for 2 hours we used to be with Prabhupada atnight. We had some very sweet exchanges there, like Prabhupada used togive darshan every evening. Rsishikesh is a very holy place in India somany pious people go there for pilgrimage so when they got to know thatPrabhupada was there, many people actually used to come to meet SrilaPrabhupada, and Prabhupada used to give darshan in the evenings. Thesedarshans used to go on for quite late at night Because Prabhupada wasalways so eager to speak to people and preach to them. So… TamalKrishna Maharaj told Trivikram Maharaja that we have to do somethingabout that. We must have a fixed time and the time was something like 5to 6 or 5 to 7 for two hours. No, I think it was 5 to 6, one hourPrabhupada used to give darshan. And so after darshan people used tomove out. We actually… we used to take them out of Prabhupada’s roomand if we found that somebody was interested we used to preach to them.We mean others used to preach to them, like; I was a very new devoteeat that time. But I was also very excited to preach. And so one daythere was a very nice young sannyasi, from some other school, he cameand he was an impersonalist, so anyway after everyone was ushered outof Srila Prabhupada’s room, I started to preach to that person. And Iwas… in course of our discussions I was just pointing out about thepersonal aspect being superior to the impersonal aspect. I was takingthe cue from that verse from Srimad Bhagavatam:

vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam

brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate

Like initial realisation is Brahman realisation, the more advancedis Paramatma realisation and the highest is Bhagavan realisation thatcomes from devotional exchange. And so after that person left I wentdownstairs and Upendra came to me and told me that Prabhupada wascalling me. So Prabhupada, whenever we made some mistake, Prabhupadaused to be very heavy. Prabhupada… I mean I got a lot of chastisementfrom Srila Prabhupada. Like I’ll tell you, what kind of chastisement. (laughter) So when Upendra called…  told me that Prabhupada wanted tospeak to me. Why Prabhupada was calling me. I just went upstairs, notreally expecting anything special (laughter). So when I went there,Srila Prabhupada asked me, ‘So? What were you doing?’  And then Irealised, that where I was talking, it was just outside of Prabhupada’sroom. And there was a window also, so I could… And I told Prabhupada,‘I was preaching, Srila Prabhupada.’ Prabhupada asked me, ‘What wereyou doing?’  I said, ‘Prabhupada, I was preaching.’ And Prabhupada… AndI knew now probably Prabhupada would blast me, because you know, I musthave done something wrong. And then Prabhupada asked me, ‘So what wereyou preaching?’ So I tried to briefly repeat what I told that person,that the external endeavour for finding the Absolute leads to the deadend of Brahman realisation. But then one, coming to the dead end whenhe has no other recourse, he has to turn internally. And that is theprocess of yoga and through the yoga when one achieves the perfection,he sees the Paramatma. And when he sees the Paramatma, thenautomatically, seeing the greatness and glory of the Supersoul, andfinding himself as so minute and insignificant, he surrenders himself.And that surrender leads to devotion. And through devotion only one cansee the personal feature of the Lord, Bhagavan. Anyway, I mean, thatwas the sum and substance of what I as telling that person. And when Isaid that, Prabhupada was very quiet. And I didn’t know what to expect.So finally I asked Prabhupada, “Prabhupada, did I say anything wrong?”Prabhupada said, “No, you preached very nicely.” And I really felt asif my life has been successful.

But as I was saying, getting chastised by Srila Prabhupada. One dayPrabhupada asked me to cook one preparation that is made with a lot ofchilli, red chilli and lot of ghee. So at that time Prabhupada… sincePrabhupada’s stomach was not very good I did not put so much chilli init. So Prabhupada took a bite and he was very upset with me. And hesaid, “I personally taught you how to cook this preparation, and youalready forgot?” So I didn’t know what to say, so I was just quietabout it. And in this way, Prabhupada was so upset, whenever I wentnear him, he blasted me. (laughter) “I personally taught you and youforgot?” In this way it went on for two days! (laughter) On the thirdday when Prabhupada’s voice sounded a little more mellow (laughter), soI told Prabhupada, “Prabhupada, actually I didn’t forget, I didn’t putthe chilli because your stomach was not very good that’s why I thoughtI shouldn’t put so much chilli.” Then Prabhupada said, ‘Then why didn’tyou tell me?’ (laughter) And then Prabhupada told me that when you puta lot of ghee, you must put a lot of chilli because they counteracteach other. Chilli is heavy, ghee is heavy. But when you put ghee andchilli together they counteract each other. So this is one thing thatPrabhupada taught me. You also can try it out. (laughter).

Another time when Prabhupada, I mean I am talking about gettingblasted by Srila Prabhupada. Once in Bombay, Srila Prabhupada wanted meto get… one morning actually Srila Prabhupada wanted me to get someorange juice. So in the kitchen, Prabhupada’s kitchen, there was noorange. Then I went to the devotee kitchen, there was no orange. I wentto the Deity department, there was no orange. So I had to go out to buysome oranges. And those days there was nothing around our temple inBombay. You had to go quite a distance to get anything actually. So bythe time I came back, it took me quite some time, and then I was makingthe orange juice. Prabhupada used to call us by ringing a bell. Therewas an electric bell that was connected to Prabhupada’s table. So thebell rang. So I just ran to Srila Prabhupada. And Prabhupada asked me,“What happened to the orange juice?” So I said, “Prabhupada, I am justnow bringing it.” So then I went and tried to quickly make it. But tookme some time. So this time the bell rang again.  But the bell just kepton ringing. (laughter). Just from the sound of it, I could understandhow angry Prabhupada must have been. And so then Prabhupada… I justquickly took the orange juice in a silver cup, put it on a silver trayand just ran to Srila Prabhupada’s room. As I opened the door, itsounded like a thunderbolt. Prabhupada just shouted I didn’t have tobring it to him, I can take it back! Now I didn’t know what to do.Like, I couldn’t take it back. And so I thought I’ll just take it toSrila Prabhupada and just see what Prabhupada, you know, like, since Ibrought it I just took the thing and just kept on holding it in frontof Srila Prabhupada, without saying anything. I just took it, lookingdown. (laughter) just held it in front of him. For some time Prabhupadadidn’t take that, actually. Prabhupada…  Then finally Prabhupada pickedit up. So when Prabhupada started to drink it, then I realised that Iforgot to bring the water for Prabhupada to wash his mouth. So I justran to the kitchen and got a bowl of water for Prabhupada to rinse hismouth after drinking the orange juice. And when Prabhupada was rinsinghis mouth with water, I realised I forgot to bring the napkin.(laughter) So I just ran to… I didn’t go to the kitchen, I just ran toSrila Prabhupada’s cupboard and got a small towel and brought it toSrila Prabhupada. And actually I used to wipe Prabhupada’s mouth. Andso while I was wiping Prabhupada’s mouth with the towel Prabhupadasaid, “See, you are trying to serve me so nicely, but I always chastiseyou. Please don’t mind. You see when one becomes old, he becomesshort-tempered.” When Prabhupada was blasting me I didn’t mind but whenPrabhupada started to speak like that I felt that my heart would break.I tried to speak but I couldn’t speak because my throat was choked. Andfinally I told Prabhupada, “Please don’t speak like that. I makemistakes and you have to correct me. If you don’t, then what willhappen to me?” And Prabhupada just placed his hand on my head. And…

So in one hand Prabhupada sometimes would chastise but then again hewould shower his affection coming out from his body. And just the sightof Srila Prabhupada made me feel that finally I found my spiritualmaster.

Another time I was serving Srila Prabhupada in Vrindavana Prabhupadawas hardly eating anything. He couldn’t actually eat anything. Hishealth condition was so bad. But still I used to cook every day,thinking that if Prabhupada has some appetite and Prabhupada eatssomething. So one day Prabhupada, while sitting on his table, when Iserved him, Prabhupada told me that, “You have so much to do, why areyou wasting your time cooking when you can see that I don’t have anyappetite?” So I told Prabhupada, “Prabhupada, I cook hoping thatsomeday you will develop some appetite. Someday you’ll get someappetite to eat.” Prabhupada said, actually yeah, I said, “Prabhupada,I hope someday you get well and you will develop some appetite to eat.”Prabhupada said, “I will get well only when I die.” It came in such apainful way that I could not control myself. I broke down. And thenPrabhupada said, “Is this what you learned from me? Didn’t I teach youthat the spirit soul never dies? The spirit soul simply changes fromone body to another. Spirit soul doesn’t die at all.” In this wayPrabhupada reminded us that he would always be there with us. Althoughwe may not be able to see him, but he will always be with us. Althoughwe won’t be able to see him, he’ll be watching us and he’ll be seeinghow sincerely we are following his instructions.

When we start to speak about Srila Prabhupada we can go on for hourstogether, but I think its nine o’clock so I’ll stop now. Yeah, okay,next time. Oh yeah, right, I forgot. They requested me to tell aboutthat pastime one day. I’ll just it’s a brief pastime. Hare Krishna. Thedevotee told me, the person to whom it happened, he actually told meabout this incidence. Prabhupada was very particular about his chapattibeing fully fluffing up. When, if you serve the chapatti, if it is notfully fluffed up, then Prabhupada used to get very upset. So thisdevotee was Srila Prabhupada’s secretary at that time and he was alsocooking for Srila Prabhupada. He served the chapatti to SrilaPrabhupada and the chapatti was not properly swollen up. So Prabhupadatold him, “Why can’t you make it properly!” And he started to giveexcuse: “Prabhupada, the flame was not right and this…” Prabhupadasaid, “Okay, come, I will show you how to make it.” Prabhupada said,“Now the flame gets the blame for your inefficiency.” So Prabhupadawalked to the kitchen and said, “Come, I’ll show you.” So Prabhupadarolled the chapatti. He baked it on the pan, on the ‘tava.’ Then he putit on the fire. It didn’t fluff up properly. So he was standing behindSrila Prabhupada, was finding it difficult to control his laughter.Prabhupada didn’t say anything. He took another dough. He rolled it. Hebaked it, put it on the flame and it fluffed up perfectly like afootball. Then Prabhupada picked it up, slapped it on his head andwalked out of the kitchen! [laughter]

SRILA PRABHUPADA KI JAYA!

You see whenever I used to go to Prabhupada I used to offerobeisances. So one day Prabhupada told me, “Why do you always offerobeisances?” Just once is good enough.” But still I couldn’t Ispontaneously I would just do that. So one day Prabhupada was upsetwith me and he told me that, “You are useless. All you can do is offerdandavats.” [laughter]