Mukunda was also present with Prabhupada in his room, along with a small group of devotees, when an earthquake took place. The telephone poles and wires began moving outside the window. The building trembled. No one said anything until Srila Prabhupada said, "What is this?" A devotee replied, "It's an earthquake, Swamiji." Srila Prabhupada said, "Oh." And then the earthquake suddenly stopped. Everyone present was very intent on Prabhupada's reaction. He said, "We can just sit down and chant Hare Krsna."
He recounted the bombing of Calcutta during the war. "I was in the bomb shelter, and the bombs were falling; and I was thinking as I was chanting Hare Krsna that if I had to die now, it would be wonderful to die while chanting Hare Krsna." Mukunda and the other devotees felt secure being in Prabhupada's presence, even during the earthquake. They felt that no matter what catastrophe might happen, they could simply sit with him and chant Hare Krsna and be happy.
When Prabhupada had first returned from India, he had criticized Mukunda for failing to obtain the permanent residency status for him. Mukunda had only been able to obtain a temporary visitor's visa. "Why did you do this?" Prabhupada had asked him sharply. Mukunda made a few excuses, and Prabhupada replied, "You do not understand." Later Prabhupada and Mukunda visited a local immigration office to seek the permanent residency status. The official who met with them was a woman. In the course of the routine conversation, Prabhupada briefly mentioned the philosophy of Krsna consciousness. The woman remarked, "It must be very difficult to follow such a discipline in your life."
Prabhupada replied, "No, it is not. It's just a question of remembering God." Then he gave her an example. Just as a woman goes to work and has to think of many different things, yet she never forgets to dress properly, so one has to think of God despite worldly duties. The woman immigration official could understand.
During the conversation, the recent earthquake was mentioned, and the woman said that the building they were in was "earthquake-proof." After the meeting, when Prabhupada was leaving, Srila Prabhupada said to Mukunda, "There is no such thing as "earthquake-proof,'" and he laughed.
Lilavati: He called me into his room. He was sitting on his bed talking to Mukunda. When I arrived, he stopped speaking with him and turned to me and said, "So how are you liking this Krsna consciousness?" And I said, "Oh, Swamiji, my life has changed completely." He bowed his head and Srila Prabhupada said, "Thank you very much." He was very pleased. Then he continued his conversation with Mukunda. He was asking him, "So, Mukunda, you have cast so many pairs of karatalas from the ones I have brought, but I do not see any of the devotees with them." I chimed in and said, "Oh, Swamiji, that is because he is charging money." This was my conception of spiritual life-no eating, no money, nothing, everything neti neti neti. So Srila Prabhupada said, "Oh, charging money is bad?" I was surprised. Srila Prabhupada said, "You must understand that anything that is used in the service of Krsna is not bad. It is good. Money is not bad if it is used in the proper way." This was my first lesson in real renunciation, real spiritual life. He then asked me to edit the first volume of Srimad-Bhagavatam, correcting punctuation and grammar. I was so thrilled and enthusiastic. After leaving his room very shortly after we spoke, I immediately began work. I was extremely excited about doing it.
Lilavati's main occupation was taking care of her baby daughter, Subhadra. She would treasure different incidents in which Prabhupada showed attention to her daughter. The first time he saw Subhadra on returning from India, Srila Prabhupada said, "She is very fortunate." And he quoted a verse from the Bhagavad-g Gta to the effect that the yogi who does not complete his practice has a chance to be born in a family of pious brahmanas. Another time, noticing that Subhadra was sleepy in his presence, Prabhupada remarked laughingly, "Yes, young children and old men must take a lot of rest." He also held the child several times and played with her. One time, when speaking to a roomful of people, Prabhupada suddenly told Lilavati, that her daughter was very warm and that she should take off her sweater. He had been speaking on a philosophical topic and had interrupted himself. Others in the room were taken aback to see that Prabhupada was concerned about such a small child. When Prabhupada was leaving in a car to go to a speaking engagement, Lilavati handed him a garland of narcissus flowers through the window of the car. He lowered his head in a humble way and Srila Prabhupada said, "Thank you very much." She then handed him three narcissus flowers that had not been used in the garland. He took them and Srila Prabhupada said, "Oh? And this is from your daughter?" Lilavati laughed and said, "Yes, Swamiji," and Srila Prabhupada said, "Oh, very nice." Such thoughtful and clever remarks from Prabhupada about her daughter totally encouraged Lilavati's Krsna consciousness.
Krsnadasa: He was continually working on the Bhagavatam and would make dictaphone tapes that he would send to Satsvarupa every other day in Boston. I remember one morning as I was going to work, Govinda dasi gave me this little package that was a tape with Satsvarupa's address in Boston, and she asked me to mail it on my way to work. The address was on one side, and the stamps were on the other. Every day when I went to work, Prabhupada left his door open. So whenever I would go to work, I would pay my obeisances, or sometimes as I was walking by he would see me and ask me to come in, and he would give me a little prasadam. He would say, "Oh, you are off to work now? Good. I am glad you are steady." Then in the evening I would get off the train, which would stop right at Willard Street. Prabhupada's room overlooked the streetcar stop. Sometimes I would get off the streetcar, and Prabhupada would be looking down at me from his room, so I would pay my obeisances right there in the street, and he would nod. I would come in, and he would ask how the day was. So our relationship was very personal. I was never afraid of asking him if I had any difficulties. So when I was asked by Govinda dasi to mail this tape, I stopped in Prabhupada's room and told him that I noticed that the stamps were on one side and the address was on the other. "Are you sure there won't be any difficulty in the mailing?" I asked. Srila Prabhupada said, "No, no, there won't be any difficulty. I've done it before." So I went out and I was getting ready when I noticed that the thing was stapled. I had been mailing jewelry all my life, and I never sent anything with staples-always a string or something in case the staples fell off. So again I knocked on the door and said, "Swamiji, I've got to apologize, I don't mean to disturb you, but it's stapled. Are you sure it doesn't have to be tied?" I was trying to be helpful, not critical. Maybe I was a little overly confident. So Swamiji said, "No, no, it's all right." So I left. As I was putting my jacket on I saw that about two inches of the envelope was unstapled and the tape was open to view. You could actually squeeze the thing, and although it couldn't fall out, it was visible. So I walked back in the room and paid my obeisances and said, "Swamiji, you can see the tape inside." Prabhupada immediately hit his hand on the table loudly and yelled, "The spiritual master is never at fault! And even if he is, it's your duty as his disciple to do whatever he asks." He went on for at least half an hour about how one should be very observant of what the spiritual master says and not criticize. It was like he was saying, "I will be your spiritual master, and I will instruct you, but what can I do if you won't take my advice?"
Biographies and Glorifications of Srila Prabhupada Gita-nagari Press- Prabhupada-lila-Satsvarupa dasa Goswami-Return to America, 1967
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