![](\"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/wp-content\/uploads6\/tumblr_onfcfcqthC1sbj0vuo1_500.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Checkmate!
\nSmara Hari: My first personal contact with Srila Prabhupada was when I went on a morning walk with him. I was just a young boy about seventeen or eighteen.
\nI hadn\u2019t even joined the temple but I had heard that Srila Prabhupada was coming and the devotees had encouraged me to stay overnight to see Prabhupada.
\nHe came and he went on a morning walk before class as he does and we went to a small park, Russell Square.
\nThere were about ten devotees with Srila Prabhupada and I was the new boy. I was the bhakta.
\nAs such I was behind the others and I had difficulty understanding Srila Prabhupada.
\nHe had an unusual Bengali accent and as I never had a lot of exposure to Indian people, I was straining to hear what he said.
\nI moved closer to Prabhupada to catch his words and in so doing I clipped Prabhupada\u2019s heel.
\nSrila Prabhupada walked about two or three paces without one shoe on and then he stopped. Everyone stopped.
\nPrabhupada turned and he looked at me since he knew I had clipped his heel.
\nHe said, \u201cYou must always walk three feet behind the spiritual master.\u201d
\nI was completely mortified.
\nThere was one devotee who said to me, \u201cThis is a grave offense. You should immediately kill yourself.\u201d (laughs)
\nHe said, \u201cYou should jump in the Thames River immediately for purification.\u201d
\nI thought, \u201cOh no, what have I done? I haven\u2019t even started and I\u2019ve set off on a bad foot.\u201d No pun intended.
\nIt was much later when I was recounting this to one of my sannyasi God-brothers and he said, \u201cThat is the moment when Srila Prabhupada accepted you as his disciple.\u201d
\nHe said, \u201cThat was his first instruction to you, that you must always walk three paces behind the spiritual master.\u201d
\nSrila Prabhupada would give the most wonderful, practical examples to explain the most difficult philosophical concepts for his aspiring disciples.
\nOne time in Vrindavan Srila Prabhupada was struggling to present to us in terms that we could understand the fact that everything is absolutely conscious and sentient in the spiritual world.
\nHe paused for a short time and then he said, \u201cJust like when Radharani is cooking for Krishna, she will ask the rice in the pot, \u2018Are you ready yet?\u2019 and the rice will say, ‘No, not yet. Give me a few more minutes.\u2019\u201d
\nSrila Prabhupada was very tricky. He knew the mentality of different people and how exactly to deal with them.
\nIn Vrindavan Prabhupada was exasperated because none of his disciples were willing to stay in Vrindavan and were unqualified to deal with the goings on in India.
\nOne time he thought that the solution was to get some local trusted people involved so that they would be our trustees to take care of things nicely.
\nThere was one brahmachari gentleman, Bhagaji, who lived right around the corner and the devotees brought him to Prabhupada.
\nHe had retired early and he just wanted to be involved in his bhajan.
\nHe knew the entire Bhagavad-gita by heart and he would take a rickshaw from Raman Reti into town in which he would recite half of the Bhagavad-gita and then on the way back he would recite the other half.
\nSrila Prabhupada definitely wanted him to get involved in helping with the temple.
\nPrabhupada would ask him and Bhagaji would find ways to avoid doing anything.
\nThere was a chess match going on between them and each was resistant.
\nHe was very respectful to Srila Prabhupada and he recognized Srila Prabhupada\u2019s superior position.
\nSrila Prabhupada would explain to him that preaching was a higher calling and was more important than bhajan.
\nOne day Prabhupada called for him and Bhagaji came in and sat down.
\nPrabhupada was sitting at his desk at the Krishna-Balaram temple and he said to him,
\n\u201cIt is the duty of every Indian gentleman to teach the teaching of Lord Krishna. Do you agree?\u201d
\nBhagaji said, \u201cYes\u201d. Prabhupada said, \u201cIt is also the duty of every Indian gentleman to set aside some time in his life to prorogate these teachings. Do you agree?\u201d
\nBhagaji said. \u201cYes. Yes, I agree.\u201d
\nPrabhupada said, \u201cIf there was a need where western people were eager for Krishna and would come to a person, this gentleman he would help.\u201d
\nBhagaji said, \u201cYes.\u201d So Bhagaji was agreeing to every point Srila Prabhupada presented.
\nThen Prabhupada said, \u201cBrahmananda, bring the paper.\u201d Brahmananada brought a document and he gave it to Prabhupada.
\nPrabhupada handed it to Bhagaji and Bhagaji looked alarmed.
\nLater I learned it was a legal document in which Bhagaji had to sign to say that he was the new trustee of the Krishna-Balaram temple.
\nHe was shocked that as he was just trying to do his bhajan, now he was the manager of the temple, the trustee in charge of everything.
\nHe was looking at the document and Prabhupada went over all the points again and Bhagaji just started laughing.
\nHe realized he\u2019d been outplayed. It was checkmate.
\nBhagaji just laughed, took the pen, signed the document and thus surrendered to Prabhupada.
\n\u2014Smara Hari
\n.
\n.
\nExcerpt from \u201cMemories-Anecdotes of a Modern-Day Saint\u201d
\nby Siddhanta das<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
![](\"http:\/\/68.media.tumblr.com\/d08fa1b4085e487180d66af75f69695a\/tumblr_onfcfcqthC1sbj0vuo1_500.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Checkmate!
\nSmara Hari: My first personal contact with Srila Prabhupada was when I went on a morning walk with him. I was just a young boy about seventeen or eighteen.
\nI hadn’t even joined the temple but I had heard that Srila Prabhupada was coming and the devotees had encouraged me to stay overnight to see Prabhupada.
\nHe came and he went on a morning walk before class as he does and we went to a small park, Russell Square.
\nThere were about ten devotees with Srila Prabhupada and I was the new boy. I was the bhakta.
\nAs such I was behind the others and I had difficulty understanding Srila Prabhupada.
\nHe had an unusual Bengali accent and as I never had a lot of exposure to Indian people, I was straining to hear what he said.
\nI moved closer to Prabhupada to catch his words and in so doing I clipped Prabhupada’s heel.
\nSrila Prabhupada walked about two or three paces without one shoe on and then he stopped. Everyone stopped.
\nPrabhupada turned and he looked at me since he knew I had clipped his heel.
\nHe said, “You must always walk three feet behind the spiritual master.”
\nI was completely mortified.
\nThere was one devotee who said to me, “This is a grave offense. You should immediately kill yourself.” (laughs)
\nHe said, “You should jump in the Thames River immediately for purification.”
\nI thought, “Oh no, what have I done? I haven’t even started and I’ve set off on a bad foot.” No pun intended.
\nIt was much later when I was recounting this to one of my sannyasi God-brothers and he said, “That is the moment when Srila Prabhupada accepted you as his disciple.”
\nHe said, “That was his first instruction to you, that you must always walk three paces behind the spiritual master.”
\nSrila Prabhupada would give the most wonderful, practical examples to explain the most difficult philosophical concepts for his aspiring disciples.
\nOne time in Vrindavan Srila Prabhupada was struggling to present to us in terms that we could understand the fact that everything is absolutely conscious and sentient in the spiritual world.
\nHe paused for a short time and then he said, “Just like when Radharani is cooking for Krishna, she will ask the rice in the pot, ‘Are you ready yet?’ and the rice will say, ‘No, not yet. Give me a few more minutes.’”
\nSrila Prabhupada was very tricky. He knew the mentality of different people and how exactly to deal with them.
\nIn Vrindavan Prabhupada was exasperated because none of his disciples were willing to stay in Vrindavan and were unqualified to deal with the goings on in India.
\nOne time he thought that the solution was to get some local trusted people involved so that they would be our trustees to take care of things nicely.
\nThere was one brahmachari gentleman, Bhagaji, who lived right around the corner and the devotees brought him to Prabhupada.
\nHe had retired early and he just wanted to be involved in his bhajan.
\nHe knew the entire Bhagavad-gita by heart and he would take a rickshaw from Raman Reti into town in which he would recite half of the Bhagavad-gita and then on the way back he would recite the other half.
\nSrila Prabhupada definitely wanted him to get involved in helping with the temple.
\nPrabhupada would ask him and Bhagaji would find ways to avoid doing anything.
\nThere was a chess match going on between them and each was resistant.
\nHe was very respectful to Srila Prabhupada and he recognized Srila Prabhupada’s superior position.
\nSrila Prabhupada would explain to him that preaching was a higher calling and was more important than bhajan.
\nOne day Prabhupada called for him and Bhagaji came in and sat down.
\nPrabhupada was sitting at his desk at the Krishna-Balaram temple and he said to him,
\n“It is the duty of every Indian gentleman to teach the teaching of Lord Krishna. Do you agree?”
\nBhagaji said, “Yes”. Prabhupada said, “It is also the duty of every Indian gentleman to set aside some time in his life to prorogate these teachings. Do you agree?”
\nBhagaji said. “Yes. Yes, I agree.”
\nPrabhupada said, “If there was a need where western people were eager for Krishna and would come to a person, this gentleman he would help.”
\nBhagaji said, “Yes.” So Bhagaji was agreeing to every point Srila Prabhupada presented.
\nThen Prabhupada said, “Brahmananda, bring the paper.” Brahmananada brought a document and he gave it to Prabhupada.
\nPrabhupada handed it to Bhagaji and Bhagaji looked alarmed.
\nLater I learned it was a legal document in which Bhagaji had to sign to say that he was the new trustee of the Krishna-Balaram temple.
\nHe was shocked that as he was just trying to do his bhajan, now he was the manager of the temple, the trustee in charge of everything.
\nHe was looking at the document and Prabhupada went over all the points again and Bhagaji just started laughing.
\nHe realized he’d been outplayed. It was checkmate.
\nBhagaji just laughed, took the pen, signed the document and thus surrendered to Prabhupada.
\n—Smara Hari
\n.
\n.
\nExcerpt from “Memories-Anecdotes of a Modern-Day Saint”
\nby Siddhanta das<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10650,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10650"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44410,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44409\/revisions\/44410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}