![](\"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/wp-content\/uploads6\/tumblr_oxv82mgyiy1sbj0vuo1_500.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the philosophy that kept me\u201d
\nAnanga Manjari: We were in Los Angeles and somehow I got myself right behind Prabhupada while he was paying his obeisances to the deities.
\nWhen I went to pay my obeisances, his lotus feet were right in front of my face and I thought,
\n\u201cWhat an opportunity. This is the opportunity of many life times. What can I do? I don\u2019t want to touch him and disturb him at all, because he is in meditation praying to his Lord.\u201d
\nBut there was a carnation petal stuck to the bottom of his foot.
\nIt was very invitingly sticking out, so I thought maybe I could take this petal and get his mercy without disturbing him.
\nVery carefully I plucked that little carnation petal off his foot and then I got very frightened thinking that someone might see me and they\u2019re going to think that I am disturbing him.
\nI could just imagine some sannyasi booming, \u201cWhat did you just do?\u201d
\nI got so scared that I popped it in my mouth, like I was eating the evidence.
\nAs I swallowed the petal, I thought,
\n\u201cThis is the holiest communion I have ever had in my life. This petal is going to keep me here forever.\u201d
\nAnd it did.
\nSrila Prabhupada arrived at the New York airport, and like many devotees have described, Prabhupada seemed to float through the airport as if he was on an escalator, and we would all be running to keep up.
\nThey sat him down and he gave a little talk in the airport.
\nThere were some policemen watching our crowd from a distance and a reporter asked Prabhupada,
\n\u201cWhy do you wear these clothes and this mark on your forehead?\u201d
\nPrabhupada said, \u201cIt is just like a policeman. A policeman wears a uniform to show that he is an authority of the government. He represents the government, so if anyone needs help in that way, they can go to the policeman.\u201d
\nThe policemen in the back started nudging each other and feeling very proud and happy that Prabhupada had noticed them.
\nI thought that he was doing a few things at once.
\nHe was instructing us and winning their hearts.
\nHe wasn\u2019t just satisfying the reporter and of course he was preaching to all of us, but he noticed the policemen specifically.
\nI thought that significant in that he wanted to say, \u201cThank you\u201d for their service.
\nPrabhupada was a grateful person, even for anyone who did the least little thing.
\nI think that the gratitude that Prabhupada showed us is something we all can imbibe.
\nSometimes as devotees we see another devotee doing their service quietly and we think,
\n\u201cThey are just an ordinary devotee and that my service is more important.\u201d
\nBut if we can show gratitude and appreciation, then everyone can feel uplifted.
\nPrabhupada saw everyone equally and saw only the good in everyone.
\nThat is one of the main qualities of a devotee.
\nThen someone asked Prabhupada something about why he was chanting and he said,
\n\u201cWe are chanting, but we also have many books.\u201d
\nHe always wanted people to understand that there was knowledge behind this philosophy.
\nThen he said, \u201cBut for those who can\u2019t read, just chant. It doesn\u2019t matter but otherwise we have many books on philosophy.\u201d
\nI thought that was very significant and important for me because I was into the philosophy.
\nThat is what kept me going as well.
\nThe mantra caught me whereby I could not stop chanting Hare Krishna, even as a hippie.
\nBut it was the philosophy that kept me.
\n\u2014Ananga Manjari<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
![](\"http:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/cac841b2ad06f16eaa40749ff854efda\/tumblr_oxv82mgyiy1sbj0vuo1_500.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
“It was the philosophy that kept me”
\nAnanga Manjari: We were in Los Angeles and somehow I got myself right behind Prabhupada while he was paying his obeisances to the deities.
\nWhen I went to pay my obeisances, his lotus feet were right in front of my face and I thought,
\n“What an opportunity. This is the opportunity of many life times. What can I do? I don’t want to touch him and disturb him at all, because he is in meditation praying to his Lord.”
\nBut there was a carnation petal stuck to the bottom of his foot.
\nIt was very invitingly sticking out, so I thought maybe I could take this petal and get his mercy without disturbing him.
\nVery carefully I plucked that little carnation petal off his foot and then I got very frightened thinking that someone might see me and they’re going to think that I am disturbing him.
\nI could just imagine some sannyasi booming, “What did you just do?”
\nI got so scared that I popped it in my mouth, like I was eating the evidence.
\nAs I swallowed the petal, I thought,
\n“This is the holiest communion I have ever had in my life. This petal is going to keep me here forever.”
\nAnd it did.
\nSrila Prabhupada arrived at the New York airport, and like many devotees have described, Prabhupada seemed to float through the airport as if he was on an escalator, and we would all be running to keep up.
\nThey sat him down and he gave a little talk in the airport.
\nThere were some policemen watching our crowd from a distance and a reporter asked Prabhupada,
\n“Why do you wear these clothes and this mark on your forehead?”
\nPrabhupada said, “It is just like a policeman. A policeman wears a uniform to show that he is an authority of the government. He represents the government, so if anyone needs help in that way, they can go to the policeman.”
\nThe policemen in the back started nudging each other and feeling very proud and happy that Prabhupada had noticed them.
\nI thought that he was doing a few things at once.
\nHe was instructing us and winning their hearts.
\nHe wasn’t just satisfying the reporter and of course he was preaching to all of us, but he noticed the policemen specifically.
\nI thought that significant in that he wanted to say, “Thank you” for their service.
\nPrabhupada was a grateful person, even for anyone who did the least little thing.
\nI think that the gratitude that Prabhupada showed us is something we all can imbibe.
\nSometimes as devotees we see another devotee doing their service quietly and we think,
\n“They are just an ordinary devotee and that my service is more important.”
\nBut if we can show gratitude and appreciation, then everyone can feel uplifted.
\nPrabhupada saw everyone equally and saw only the good in everyone.
\nThat is one of the main qualities of a devotee.
\nThen someone asked Prabhupada something about why he was chanting and he said,
\n“We are chanting, but we also have many books.”
\nHe always wanted people to understand that there was knowledge behind this philosophy.
\nThen he said, “But for those who can’t read, just chant. It doesn’t matter but otherwise we have many books on philosophy.”
\nI thought that was very significant and important for me because I was into the philosophy.
\nThat is what kept me going as well.
\nThe mantra caught me whereby I could not stop chanting Hare Krishna, even as a hippie.
\nBut it was the philosophy that kept me.
\n—Ananga Manjari<\/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-52107","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\/52107","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=52107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52108,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52107\/revisions\/52108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}