Srila Prabhupada: you cannot sleep in my closet!
Rucira Devi Dasi: Himavati told me a story from the first trip with Srila Prabhupada to India. The devotees were living in tents and Hansadutta refused to sleep with her in their tent. All the other couples were sleeping together in their own tents. So she snuck into Srila Prabhupada’s room and slept in his closet.
The next morning she got up and snuck out. She said that day Prabhupada called her into his quarters. He said, “Himavati, you cannot sleep in my closet. This will cause rumors. People will think I am having young girls in my room.” He said, “This is not right. Why are you doing this? Don’t you have a tent to stay in?”
She said, “Yes, but everyone is sleeping with their husbands in their tents and Hansadutta won’t stay with me.” Srila Prabhupada said, “Okay, I am going to have a meeting with everyone.”
He called everybody together and announced, “Now you are all going to take sannyas.” She said the look on all of their faces was, “What?!”
Then he said, “Sannyasis, you sleep separately from your wives. The wives sleep in one tent and the men sleep in the other.”
Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint – Volume 3
Author: Siddhanta Dasa
