Srila Prabhupada: “I just want to go back to the spiritual world and eat kachoris and laddus with Krishna.”
Srutakirti Prabhu: Srila Prabhupada was not just performing wonderful activities, but he teaching us by his activities how to be a pure devotee of the Lord.
Srila Prabhupada took two and a half hours of massages and an hour-long walk. That is three and a half hours a day to take care of his body so he could engage in service to Krishna. That is a lesson to us that it is important to take care of the body to engage it in Krishna’s service.
Srila Prabhupada never approved of a “no program” program. If we had no program, he would tell us that we had to have a program. He would say, “Get a book. Read from it.” “Which book?” we would ask.
“Any book,” he would reply.
“Where?” we inquired.
“Anywhere!” he would answer.
Srila Prabhupada was a very forgiving personality who just wanted you to serve Krishna no matter what was going on.
If we think that Srila Prabhupada cannot make us into pure devotees, that is an insult.
Devotees tell me, “It is difficult because Aindra Prabhu left” or “It is difficult because this swami left.” When I hear that, I think, Srila Prabhupada left, and we somehow had to figure out how to keep going.
Srila Prabhupada had standards. You could not sleep in. You could not waste money.
Question: Tell about Srila Prabhupada and frugality.
You could never make phone calls. Telegrams were rare.
Srila Prabhupada would say, “You think you can solve anything with money.”
He would say, “If your pants are too long, you cut them. You are so wasteful. Just roll them up.”
“Who has left prasadam crying?” he would say.
“Who has left his bead bag crying?” Srila Prabhupada felt you should be chanting on your beads, or they should be kept in a safe place.
Srila Prabhupada once said, “Do not cut the grass when I am around because I can hear it crying.”
He said that deity outfits should last for thirty years.
Srila Prabhupada wanted us to care for each other as he tried to take care of the devotees.
We take care of people who are prominent and do big things. I see people in kitchens and on altars all day. They are not to be ignored. That was Srila Prabhupada’s mood.
One German swami left the association of devotees and got involved in intoxication. He died prematurely. His female partner who knew nothing of Krishna consciousness said at the end of his life, he sat up straight and said, “Srila Prabhupada you are here.” Then he left his body. That is what Srila Prabhupada does. You just have to do some service for him.
Question: Speak of Srila Prabhupada as the ideal sannyasi.
He would not sit alone with his own sister. He would say, “They will say things.” Especially in the holy dhama, he wanted us to be very strict.
We have all been struggling through different species of life in many births. Who is better than another? Our only good fortune is we have taken shelter of Srila Prabhupada.
When I left his service and Hari Sauri took over, Srila Prabhupada told me, “Chant Hare Krishna and be happy.”
I feel closer now than when I was rubbing his body. Separation is necessary to increase our feelings.
Krishna does everything. That is how Srila Prabhupada would see things. Krishna did it. We have to learn how to see Krishna in everything.
If we take care of Krishna, Krishna will take care of us.
Whenever you were in the association of Srila Prabhupada, it was always exciting.
When Srila Prabhupada heard about my son’s birth, he gave him the name Mayapur Candra and had a brahmacari go to Navadvipa and get bangles and ankle bracelets, my son’s first gift.
Srila Prabhupada told me I could massage him as hard as I liked. I massaged him harder and harder, but I could never reach a point where he said it was too much. In that way he defeated me.
If I brought Prabhupada five chapatis, one at a time, I would bow down each time. He never said it was too much, because he knew I was becoming purified, and it was good for me.
I never heard him chanting japa. He chanted very softly. You would hear his beads moving. When he was in anxiety about Juhu, he chanted loudly, and he told me you can chant loudly when you are in anxiety.
From 1967 to 1971 he would just have plain hot milk for dinner. When I joined him in 1972 he would have three or four puris and a potato eggplant sabji, a sweet, and sweetened milk.
You never brought him a puri or chapati that did not puff up.
For breakfast, he would have yogurt and fruit and practically no grains.
Srila Prabhupada once said, “If it was not for the chanting of Hare Krishna, my disciples could not accomplish anything, they had done so much intoxication and illicit sex.”
Srila Prabhupada wanted us to do something practical. Srila Prabhupada wanted to see proof of love.
Srila Prabhupada once mentioned that one woman ahead of him on the plane was very pretty. She overheard that and thanked him for the compliment. He replied that it was not a compliment, but he was just stating a fact.
He told me he wanted one wet vegetable sabji seven days in a row. It was cauliflower, potato, peas, and curd. The cauliflower, potato, and curd were fried but not the peas.
He liked a banana and a sweet at the end of lunch.
Silavati was the model pujari. Others would come to learn from her. Once I told Silavati how I served Srila Prabhupada lunch because she asked. She started bringing the deities hot puris in the middle of their lunch like I did for Srila Prabhupada. I told Srila Prabhupada, and he was upset with her concoction saying it was a disturbance to their meal.
For Ekadasi Srila Prabhupada would have potato sabji. Peanuts and raisins were always there. Carrot halava was always there. We avoided powered sugar because it had cornstarch in it, but that was the only restriction besides no beans and no grains.
Srila Prabhupada taught by his example: You eat what is good for you. You eat variety.
Srila Prabhupada was walking around the German castle. He turned to go down a path. Hamsaduta told him not to. Srila Prabhupada asked why. Hamsaduta explained there was wheat down there, and if we walk there the dust from the wheat will be stirred up, and we will breathe it and break Ekadasi. Srila Prabhupada told him not to be a fanatic.
I found Whole Foods canned organic tomatoes are very good.
Srila Prabhupada was very meditative, whether he was putting on tilaka or eating his meals.
Satsvarupa was the only person who received instructions on being his servant. I taught him, and he took elaborate notes. Srila Prabhupada asked him what he was doing during the massage. He said he was taking notes on the massage. Srila Prabhupada said that was like learning to swim on the land!
This is a preaching mission, and you have to see how you can contribute.
Srila Prabhupada was asked about whether Gandhi chanted “Rama” at the end of his life. He replied, “I do not know. I was not there.”
The most fun for me was traveling, to see how Srila Prabhupada dealt with every situation.
During Srila Prabhupada’s time, airport security was them putting you on a stool and patting you down. Srila Prabhupada was annoyed and remarked, “They do not even trust a sadhu.”
Srila Prabhupada did not like flying first class. He felt it was a waste of money, and mostly it was just better food that we do not eat anyway.
Srila Prabhupada was always Krishna conscious, and when you are always Krishna conscious, you are everything conscious.
When the sannyasis began growing beards during Caturmasya, Srila Prabhupada had them shave them off. He said, “My disciples want to have so many rules and regulations, but they cannot even chant sixteen rounds and follow the four rules.”
Our big thing was sankirtana. There was no other big thing.
Anyone who engaged in giving Krishna consciousness knows you feel good.
I was the only person in maya for going to mangala-arati. Srila Prabhupada wanted me nearby in case he needed something, and the one time I went to mangala-arati he called for me, although he rarely called for me at that time of day, and I was not there, and he was upset about it.
Srila Prabhupada liked to unhinge you and make you think.
He wants us to know how this process works, how our godbrothers are advancing.
At the initiation where Paramahamsa Swami took sannyasa Srila Prabhupada said Narada Muni was present. That was not the only time he said that.
Srila Prabhupada’s quality of loyalty was there eternally. Once Srila Prabhupada accepted you, he would never reject you.
It has always astounded me that some of my godbrothers or godsisters have felt that they had to go elsewhere.
All you have to do is remain in Srila Prabhupada’s society. There is nothing else you need.
I am happy to visit his temples all over the world and see all the dedicated devotees there.
Srila Prabhupada had a way he could glance at everyone. All you needed was that glance.
When I felt despondent that I did not feel the ecstasy of those eager to greet him at his arrival, Srila Prabhupada said, “Service is love. Just do your service, and everything will be alright.”
You never start a conversation with your spiritual master. When he talks, everything begins.
One brahmacari asked Srila Prabhupada, just as his morning walk ended and he was about ready to drive off, “How do I become Krishna conscious?” He answered in one word, “Desire.”
I knew even before I became his servant never to say anything to defend myself. That was because I saw the previous servant get yelled at.
Srila Prabhupada wanted you do take full advantage of his association, by attending his classes, because he knew by his association you would improve.
He knew the only thing that could damage the society was changing things. Thus he was so much upset about changes.
We show our loyalty by understanding that Srila Prabhupada knew what he was doing.
Even in some case if a small change would be beneficial it is better not to change, because when we start making changes we do not know when to stop, and by deviating we will lose all potency and lose everything. Srila Prabhupada did not want that to happen.
In the course of feeding George Harrison more and more prasadam, Srila Prabhupada said, “Prasadam can never hurt you.”
Srila Prabhupada answered promptly every letter. If there were twenty questions in the letter, he would answer them in the order they appeared.
Srila Prabhupada said he learned by watching. Cooking in particularly he said he learned by watching his mother.
Srila Prabhupada said he allowed women in the temples because he looked at our society and he realized that he would not be successful otherwise. Though he was successful, his godbrothers criticized him for this.
Srila Prabhupada made very infrequent demands because he wanted people to follow voluntarily.
When I foolishly knocked over the mustard oil during his massage, he said, “You will be intelligent when you are eighty.” Later I thanked him for his blessing that I would become intelligent when I was eighty, saying that I thought it might take longer, and he laughed and laughed.
Hawaii is not trying to make things grow but trying to cut things back.
From the first time I saw Srila Prabhupada his eyes were sparkling with tears of ecstasy, happy tears.
I left ISKCON in 1983, and I missed a lot of things that went on in ISKCON, and I think that was good in that it made it easier to do this service now.
Srila Prabhupada considered: We all have the same goal, and we have to respect each other for that. We are all working to our capacity.
When Srila Prabhupada wanted to go, he wanted to go. There was no waiting around.
Srila Prabhupada said the sky is blue because of Krishna’s effulgence.
I would give him a night blooming jasmine, and he would smell it, and tell me, “This smell is Krishna.”
Question: What was Srila Prabhupada’s favorite prasadam?
Everything. He liked variety. Of course, he was kachori-mukhi.
In Caracas he said, of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, “They have traveled very far to come to you.” Then he went to Miami, and then Atlanta. Those three days in Atlanta were famous. His arrival address is just two minutes, but it is so full of Krishna consciousness.
It was so cold in Atlanta Srila Prabhupada offered that I could use his socks. I declined, but he said, “If I say it is OK, then it is OK.” So I accepted them.
On two occasions Srila Prabhupada said, “I like the cowherd boys very much.” In Atlanta he told a pastime of Krishna and the cowherd boys where the boys try to keep Krishna from his lunch tiffin. Then he said, “I just want to go back to the spiritual world and eat kachoris and laddus with Krishna.”
The only time Srila Prabhupada would speak to me was when I was doing some service, like massaging him.
When I saw his godbrothers with Srila Prabhupada, there was no getting down on the ground. They would hug and embrace.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura told Srila Prabhupada in 1935, “Sridhara Maharaja is very shy, so you should encourage him to preach.” So whenever Srila Prabhupada saw Sridhara Maharaja, he would encourage him to assist him in preaching in the west, just as he followed the other instructions of his guru.
Srila Prabhupada said it was his guru’s mercy that Krishna consciousness was spreading. Then he said that Bhaktivinoda Thakura predicted someone would preach Krishna consciousness all over the world and bring people to Mayapur and that person may be me. Then he changed the subject, asking Jayapataka Swami what types of bananas they were growing in Mayapur.