48 PRABHUPADA SAID
 On the origin of the living entity
 "The next question about the living entity falling down in this material world and not from the impersonal Brahma.  Existence in the impersonal Brahma is also within the category of non Krsna consciousness.  Those who are in the Brahma effulgence are also in a fallen condition, so there is no question of falling down from a fallen condition.  When fall takes place, it means falling down from the non fallen condition.
 "The non fallen condition is Krsna consciousness.  So long as one can maintain pure Krsna consciousness, he is not fallen.  As soon as he is out of Krsna consciousness, he is fallen down.  It does not matter where a living entity stays.  In the material world also there are different stages of living conditions, and to remain in the Brahma effulgence is also another phase of that fallen condition.  Just like in the Bhagavad gita it is stated that conditioned souls by their pious activities are elevated to the higher planetary systems, but as soon as their stock of pious activities is finished they again come down on the earthly planet. Similarly those who are elevated beyond the planetary systems to the Brahma effulgence, they are also prone to fall down as much as the living entity from a higher planetary system."
  Letter of June 13, 1970

49 PERSONAL
 His wearing a hat and other striking, causal poses and attitudes.
 Sometimes Srila Prabhupada would wear a "swami" hat at a comical angle with the flaps sticking out on either side of his head.  Sometimes he would lie with his body draped across his sitting place, feet and legs hanging over the bolster pillows, completely relaxed.  Sometimes he would transcendentally doze in a sitting position in his room.  Of course, he did not behave so casually when guests were around.
 His walk with his cane was aristocratic, as was the tilt of his head.  Everyone received him as a refined gentleman.  He was usually seen in public with a large entourage.  Often when he was alone or at least in smaller groups, the casual and graceful poses of his body, sitting or walking, his movements in holding a chalice of water, the pinky extended (a mudra signifying perfection), the silk cuff of his sleeve showing under his sweater, and then the soft, smooth lined palms of his hands displayed while talking - all these charmed and pacified the heart.
 Sometimes Prabhupada would be preaching at length and then suddenly stand up and walk out of the room, while everyone waited for his return.  On his exit and on his re-entry, everyone would bow down.  These small, pleasurable aspects of his presence were a background to the serious business of life with Srila Prabhupada.  Prabhupada was stern and grave, always talking  about immediate plans, heavy surrenders that he asked of his disciples.  And yet the steady joy of being with Prabhupada was always there.  Both were there - the joys of being near his person and the heaviness of his orders.  And in his presence, Krsna's protection was always there.

50 SERVICE IN SEPARATION
 "Our meeting and separation in the material world is like the flowing tide of the river.  During the flowing tide of the river, so  many different floating articles meet together, and with the flowing, they again become separated by the movement of the waves.  That is exactly the way of material life.  But our separation, although it resembles exactly the material way, is completely different.  In the spiritual world, separation is more relishable than meeting.  In other words, in spiritual life there is no separation.  Separation is eternal, and meeting is also eternal.  Separation is simply another feature of meeting."
  Letter of April 3, 1969
 "The fact that Prabhupada had the potency to empower young boys and girls to go all over the world and establish this  movement is a transcendental reality.  That was his glory.  And the people who were not physically with Prabhupada, they were having just as intense, and sometimes more intense, experiences.  Prabhupada was sometimes more intensely present in those places.
 "The reality of Prabhupada's appearance on the earth is even today expanding.  It's not that he is a material person - that's the whole point.  Prabhupada was not a human being confined only to wherever he was personally present.  His personal presence was special; and those were special pastimes.  But practically Prabhupada was like the sun - he expanded his potency everywhere.  And he is still doing so.  Prabhupada is the jagat guru who expands himself all over the world and is continuing to expand himself into the hearts of everyone.
 "That is stated in the Bhagavatam in the case of Suta Gosvami: tam sarva-bhuta-hrdayam manim anato 'smi.  Suta said about his guru, Suka, "I offer my obeisances to my spiritual maser, who enters into the heart of everyone."  And similarly, Vyasadeva glorified his guru, Narada, by saying: tvam paryatann arka iva tri-lokim antas-caro vayur ivatam-saksi.  "you are just like the sun.  You go everywhere, exactly like the sun, all over the universe."  So Vyasadeva said antas-cara: you actually enter within everything.  And you actually enter within everything.  And vayur iva: you are just like the wind.  "Just as the air goes inside your body," so he said, "my spiritual maser can go inside and outside of everything."  So it should be understood that Prabhupada actually was and is expanding himself all over the whole universe."
  Hridayananda dasa Gosvami Acaryadeva
 "Someone who takes the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust very seriously, they consider that to be their relationship with Prabhupada.  I consider that I was his personal servant for helping to manifest his books as quickly as possible.  My relationship with Prabhupada has always been in that way, by reading his books, and distributing his books on sankirtana, and I've never felt lack of association.  When I was editing his books I felt completely fulfilled just handing in those chapters every week.  It was all I wanted in life.
  Devamrta Swami
 "I know that as long as we try to please Prabhupada by preaching within ISKCON, then we cannot go wrong.  So my shelter, when Prabhupada left the planet, was to stay in his society with the devotees and the preaching that is going on.  I know that Prabhupada will bless anyone who stays in this society, especially his disciples.
  Jaya Madhava dasa
 "I know how Prabhupada felt about different aspects of the Mayapur project.  One day I was walking up the road when all of a sudden it just flashed in my mind that this road is so sacred because Prabhupada used to take his morning walk here.  Feelings like that give you stronger affection and motivation in devotional service, in your project.  You see a spigot and it's dripping water, and you know how Prabhupada reacted to that - that Prabhupada consciousness is there,"
  Anakadundubhi dasa
 "Devotees come here to Prabhupada's house in Vrndavana, and they become completely absorbed in the mode of service here.  Many of them just come and sit here alone and remember Prabhupada while chanting.  There were so many intimate experiences here for many of Prabhupada's devotee, just in these few rooms.  So I realise that Prabhupada's house is a special place for so many of Prabhupada's loving disciples who had many personal exchanges with Prabhupada here.  If the place is not being taken care of nicely, that's an offense to them as well, because it means that Prabhupada's memory isn't being maintained nicely."
  Daivisakti-devi dasi
 "I have probably read the books about four or five times since Prabhupada left the planet, and one thing I can say is that I have begun to feel that I am actually with Prabhupada when I read his books.  I think, "Now is the time to sit down with Prabhupada."  Just as if Prabhupada were coming to your temple, if you could get away and listen to him speaking, you certainly should.  When the guru is speaking, the disciple should come as soon as possible.  So in that way, I try to give time every day to reading Prabhupada's books."
  Rohini-nandana dasa
 "I think my relationship with Prabhupada to a large extent revolves around duty.  He gave me my service, and I think that a devotee should not ask for any different service.  He should have his service given him by his spiritual master until he is asked to do something else, even if that means he does it all his life.  It took me about ten years to come to this point.  Before this, there would always be doubts coming in that 'Maybe something else... Maybe I'm not so suited to this and should do something else.'  But I think that in most cases it is maya.  A devotee is given a certain service and just like in an army, you have to do your duty even if you are going to be killed.  This is for me a very strong principle in  my consciousness of Prabhupada, that I cannot give up the duty of pushing on Krsna consciousness in my area.
  Bahudak dasa
 "Thank you very much and all the devotees for offering me a garland daily as you were doing when I was physically present.  If a disciple is constantly engaged in carrying out the instructions of his spiritual master, he is supposed to be constantly in company with his spiritual master.  This is called vani-seva.  So there are two kinds of service to the spiritual master.  One is called Vani seva means 'executing the instruction,' and vapuh seva means 'physically personally rendering service.'  so in the absence of physical presentation of the spiritual master, the vani seva is more important."
  Letter of August 22, 1970
 

Prabhupada Nectar
Anecdotes from the Life of His Divine Grace 
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krsna Consciousness

1 Although Srila Prabhupada taught by constantly giving encouragement to his disciples, he could also teach by humiliating them and thus very quickly bringing them to a better self-awareness.  Many devotees give testimonies of these sometimes brief but powerful moments with Srila Prabhupada. 
 Once on a walk along Juhu Beach with Srila Prabhupada, Giriraja was describing the preaching he had done to newspaper men.
 "Yes, you are a very good public relations man," said Srila Prabhupada, which made Giriraja feel highly elated.  But a little later the discussion turned to humility.  Giriraja said that sometimes he felt he wasn't really doing anything for Krsna and the Krsna consciousness movement. 
 "That is good," said Prabhupada, "that feeling is humbleness."
 "But sometimes", said Giriraja, "that feeling is turned into maya."
 Srila Prabhupada stopped walking and looked abruptly at his disciple.   "Being turned into maya?'  said Prabhupada.  "You are always in maya!"  These words hit Giriraja so strongly that he immediately offered obeisances before Srila Prabhupada.  He had suddenly realised his actual  position and had gained a glimpse of Srila Prabhupada's position as his spiritual master.
 Another time, Nava-yogendra got a dose of the same medicine.  He was chanting in a room with Srila Prabhupada, who pointed out that Nava-yogendra's bead bag was on the floor.  "No, Prabhupada, it's on my chadar," said Nava-yogendra.
 "But you walk on that chadar", Prabhupada said.  "You have no respect for your bead bag?"  Nava-yogendra accepted the criticism, but took heart and began chanting loudly.  Then Prabhupada remarked, "Don't chant so loudly."  So Nava-yogendra began to chant quietly.   But Prabhupada said, "If you are chanting, you should not disturb the spiritual master."
 On a morning walk into the fields near Bhaktivedanta Manor in England, Rohini-nandana dasa - in his first face-to-face exchange with Srila Prabhupada - got a similar treatment.  Prabhupada and the devotees were walking down the narrow, winding country road when they came upon a sign that said "Horticultural Show."  Prabhupada pointed to the sign with his cane and asked, :What is horticultural?"  The devotees stopped walking, but no one said anything until Rohininandana spoke from the back of the group.
 "Srila Prabhupada" he said, "I think it means fruits and flowers and vegetables growing."  Prabhupada turned quickly and looked back at Rohininandana.  "You think! You do not know?  You think?"  Rohininandana bashfully hung his head and became speechless, while everyone else gathered around, looking from Rohininandana to Srila Prabhupada.  Prabhupada banged his cane on the ground and repeated, "You think?  You do not know?"  Rohininandana did not take the reprimand lightly; he felt that a whole lifetime's pride of "I think" had been smashed to pieces by Prabhupada.

2 Many devotees saw Srila Prabhupada drive away small and large dogs by raising his cane and crying out, "Hut!"  When Nanda Kumara was travelling with Prabhupada, he saw Prabhupada do this in a dangerous situation and later he had the opportunity to try the technique himself.
 While Prabhupada and the devotees were walking on the beach in California, a large Doberman pinscher dog approached them, snarling and baring his teeth.  Prabhupada continued walking peacefully, but Nanda Kumara stopped and tensely faced the dog.  This challenge only provoked the dog into more threatening and growling, until Nanda Kumara turned and ran to catch up to Prabhupada.  But as soon as he ran, the Doberman Pinscher pursued him, barking and threatening to attack.  Before the dog reached them, however, Prabhupada suddenly turned.  He crouched with his feet somewhat apart, raised his cane high over his head and gave a loud "Hut!" - and made a growling sound at the dog.  At this display from Prabhupada the dog turned and retreated quickly back to his home.
 Months later Nanda Kumara recalled Prabhupada's method and tried it one a large monkey Jaipur.  While Srila Prabhupada was staying at the Radha-Govinda temple in Jaipur, he and his party were being harassed by the monkeys there, who stole food and clothes.  While the monkeys were cooking, these monkeys would drop from the trees and steal capatis off the stove.  Prabhupada had advised the devotees to take a neutral attitude toward the monkeys' mischief.  But one time, while with the devotees in Prabhupada's room, Nanda Kumara heard a monkey rattling the kitchen door.  He suddenly remembered the technique Prabhupada had used on the beach with the large Doberman pinscher, and he decided to try it with the thieving monkey.  Quietly excusing himself from the room, he picked up a club outside Prabhupada's door and walked toward a large monkey, who had noticeably big biceps, growled back, bared its teeth, and advanced toward him.  Nanda Kumara turned and ran back into Prabhupada's room, slamming the door behind him.  Prabhupada had seen the whole incident through the window and burst out laughing.  "You  do not know the process!" 
 Nanda Kumara sat down in embarrassment.  His imitation had failed.
 "Prabhupada," said Nanda Kumara,, "you have a special potency."
3 In 1971, when the ISKCON Mayapur project was in its beginning stages, Prabhupada met with a group of devotee-planners to conceive designs for the first buildings.  Included in the plans was a residential building for Srila Prabhupada, which the devotees took a special pleasure in discussing; it would be a wonderful home for their spiritual master.  Srila Prabhupada had also agreed that the spiritual master's residence should be built even before the construction of the magnificent temple for Radha-Krsna. But one time when the devotees went before Prabhupada to discuss his residence, they were surprised to find what he was not interested.
 "I don't require a house," said Prabhupada."
 The devotees were baffled.  "But this has been part of the planning all along."
 He repeated, "I do not want a house."
 "But you will have to live somewhere."
 "I will live in a simple hut."
 The planners went away from this conversation confused about how to construct the Mayapur city without a place for Srila Prabhupada.  But after conferring among themselves, they realised the defect was in their presenting the idea to Prabhupada.  So they went back and tried again.
 "Srila Prabhupada, Mayapur is the central place for our movement, and people must learn to worship the guru there.  So we would like to show you the plans for your residential building.  In this way, by making a nice place, the whole Vaisnava sampradaya will be honoured."
 "Yes, that's true."  Prabhupada now agreed, and discussions about his residence continued in a positive way.  As long as the discussions had been whether Prabhupada would like to have a big house, he had shown no enthusiasm.  But when the plan was presented as service to Krsna, Prabhupada's interest was strong.

4 Srila Prabhupada noted symptoms of prakrta-sahajiya - the tendency to take devotional service cheaply and to imitate the realisations of highly advanced devotees - in one his artist-disciples, and he gave him early warnings of danger.
 One time in Vrndavana, the artist brought a sketch before Srila Prabhupada for his approval before beginning a serious painting.
 Srila Prabhupada's first remark was, "Is this Siva and Parvati?"
 "No, Srila Prabhupada, it is Radha-Krsna."
 "They look  too old," said Srila Prabhupada."  They should look no more than sixteen years old - very fresh youth."
 The artist went back to work and redid the sketch.  But when Prabhupada saw it the second time, he again said the couple looked to old.  He then showed his disciple a picture on his deck of the ISKCON Calcutta Deities, Radha-Govinda, and he said, "They should be painted like this.  Krsna is a young sweet boy."
 For the third time the artist did the sketch and showed it again to Srila Prabhupada.  Srila Prabhupada was still unenthusiastic.  But since he did not specifically forbid the work, the artist took this as his permission and began to work on a large canvas.  After weeks of work, he brought his opus before Srila Prabhupada.  The painting showed Radha and Krsna on a swing.  Krsna was lifting Radharani's veil and looking into Her face in a very intimate, conjugal way.  The more traditional elements of Radha and Krsna standing together, appearing in the artist's preliminary sketches, had evolved into a scene more imagined  by the artist.
 "It is a concoction," said Srila Prabhupada.  Despite all the effort put into it by the artist, Srila Prabhupada couldn't spare feelings on such an important, responsible matter as the depiction of Radha and Krsna.  In a mood of hurt pride, the artist took back the painting and did not inquire further about what was wrong or what he should do to rectify.
 On another occasion in Mayapur, Prabhupada alerted the same artist that his spontaneous expression was unauthorised.  While painting large portraits from the Caitanya-caritamrta on the boundary wall to ISKCON Mayapur, the artist had created his own original Bengali verse and painted it in large script.  When Srila Prabhupada first noticed it, while on a morning walk, he became disturbed.
 "You should not have dared," he said.  The verse employed a metaphor praising Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda.  Prabhupada said the sentiment wasn't bad, although the Bengali wasn't perfect - but the main objection was that his disciple had dared to put his own verse on the wall rather than one provided by the previous acaryas, such as Narottama dasa Thakura.  Srila Prabhupada even mentioned the incident in that morning's Bhagavatam class.  "Don't concoct," he said,  "The sahajiya tendency is to take everything cheaply.  Don't do this," said Prabhupada, "or you will become a sahajiya and everything will be ruined."

5 While Prabhupada was living in Los Angeles in 1969, he got a letter from one of his relatives stating that one of his brothers had died.  Prabhupada received this information in the presence of some of the devotees and he informed them, "I have just received this letter saying that my brother died.  Previously my other brother died.  These two brothers were very  nice.  They wanted, to live long, healthy lives, but they didn't care so much for Krsna consciousness.  But my sister and I," Prabhupada laughed softly, "we didn't want to live long, healthy lives.  We only wanted to do some service, and when Krsna wanted to, He would take us.  But now I see that my two brothers are both dead, and my sister and I are living long, happy lives."
 Srila Prabhupada was very fond of Mr Panilal Pithi, a friend from Hyderabad.  One time Mr Pithi came to Bombay and dropped in unexpectedly to visit Prabhupada.  Prabhupada had just begun his lunch.  He was glad to see his friend, however, and asked him to sit down and have lunch with him.  Prabhupada told his cook, Palika to make up a plate for Mr Pithi.  She stared back silently at Prabhupada because she had hardly an extra food for serving another person.  But Prabhupada looked back steadily at her and again asked her to make the extra plate.  Palika came in with a plate, as best as she could arrange, for Mr Pithi.  Mr Pithi then got up to go to another room to wash his hands.  But as soon as Mr Pithi left the room, Srila Prabhupada, with the demeanour of a surreptitious child, took his bowl of yoghurt from his plate and quickly put it onto Mr Pithi's plate before he could come back and see.
 Prabhupada's disciple Subhaga tells of his first meeting with Prabhupada.  Prabhupada noticed him in the temple room and asked him his name.  Subhaga answered with a few words in Bengali.
 "Oh, you are a Bengali?" said Prabhupada.  "Come to my room."
 Subhaga followed as Srila Prabhupada entered his room.  There Prabhupada began changing his clothes.  Keeping his body always covered with cloth, he removed the dhoti while putting on his gamcha in preparation for his massage.  Prabhupada continued talking affectionately, asking Subhaga about his life.  Subhaga began to feel that he was talking with a near and dear family relative, an affectionate, respected grandfather.  It was as if he had known Srila Prabhupada a long time, although he had been in Prabhupada's association for only a moment.  While Prabhupada's servant knelt beside Prabhupada and began massaging his head, Prabhupada began to explain Krsna consciousness to the newcomer.

6 SRILA PRABHUPADA SAID
 On Management
 Prabhupada advised that those who are leaders in ISKCON have to know how to bend men without breaking them or making them angry.  After all, he said, it is all voluntary service.
 George Harrison once said, "In the future, ISKCON will be so large, it will require executive management."
 Prabhupada replied, "I have divided the world into zones and representatives.  As long as they keep to the spiritual principles, Krsna will help them."
 A disciple with managerial responsibility approached Prabhupada and expressed a desire to leave India.  Prabhupada asked him to stay on, but the devotee was determined to leave, and ultimately Prabhupada conceded.  But at one point Prabhupada said, "You can renounce management, but I cannot.  I have to stay and manage."
 Once, on a visit to Boston, Srila Prabhupada had a meeting with his ISKCON Press workers.  Satsvarupa complained to Prabhupada that he had so many duties in  the temple that he was distracted in trying to do all of them at the same time do press work too.  Prabhupada said, "Real management means to delegate it to others.  You have so many responsible devotees there, so you can delegate it to them."
 While walking up the stairs in Mayapur one morning, Prabhupada began complimenting Bhavananda.
 "You are a good manager because you keep things clean.  If you can keep everything clean, then you are a good manager.  That's all there is to it."  As they walked up the stairs, Prabhupada could see that everything was shiny and clean; the walls, the pictures on the walls, the marble floors, everything was clean.  But when they went to the roof, Srila Prabhupada found a scrap of paper and dust in a corner, and he began to criticise everyone for neglect.
 Once in India, Prabhupada was joined in his room by his senior disciples Bhagavan,, Brahmananda and Giriraja.
 "You are the future hope of the world," said Srila Prabhupada, and he began to instruct them about the importance of attentive management.
 "Just like your American Express corporation," he said.  "What have they done?  They have simply taken pieces of paper and for those pieces of paper you pay good money.  But what have they done?  Actually they have done  nothing.  It is simply management.  You pay them some money and they give you a piece of paper, and if you lose that piece of paper, they say, 'All right, we will give you another piece of paper.'  It is organisation.  Simply from that management they have made millions of dollars."
 In Calcutta, when Abhirama dasa was the temple president, he went one day to tell Srila Prabhupada that he was having difficult with his marriage.  Prabhupada asked him what was the difficult.
 "She wants that I should be engaged in more pujari work and chanting rather than management."
 Srila Prabhupada replied, "She is less intelligent.  Management is spiritual activity.  Just like Arjuna fighting."
 "There is no difference between chanting Hare Krsna or sankirtana and doing one's assigned work in Krsna consciousness.  Sometimes we have to do so much managerial or office work, but Lord Caitanya promises us that because in Kali-yuga this is required for carrying out the preaching mission.  He gives assurance that we will not become entangled by such work..  When the work has to be done, do it first, then chant.  But you must fulfil at least 16 rounds daily.  So, if necessary, sleep less, but you have to finish your minimum number of rounds."
  Letter of January 2, 1972

7 SRILA PRABHUPADA TELLS A STORY
 Srila Prabhupada would speak from a large repertoire of traditional stories and apply them in different ways.  His use of the story  about the brahmana who lost his caste illustrates this nicely.
 In India, there is a custom that Hindus never take their meals in the house of a Muhammadan or Christian or anyone other than a Hindu brahmana.  But one brahmana was very hungry, and he went to a little known acquaintance and asked for some food.  The man supplied the brahmana with a little foodstuff, but still hunger was not satisfied.  When the brahmana asked the man for more food, the man said that he was sorry but he had no more.
 "Oh," said the brahmana, disappointed.  Then he asked, "Sir, which caste do you belong to?"
 "I am Muhammadan," the man replied.  Then the hungry man lamented, "Oh, I have lost my caste, and still I am hungry!"
 Srila Prabhupada told this story on one occasion to a devotee-artist.  she had suggested to Prabhupada that should improve her artistic craftsmanship by painting and selling non devotional pictures, and then after becoming talented and famous, she could better paint for Krsna.  Srila Prabhupada replied that to come to the point of being a reputed artist would take a long time, but a devotee's time is short - and is only for serving Krsna.  As for fame, Prabhupada said, according to Caitanya-caritamrta a man is famous who is known as a great devotee of Krsna.  So, if she insisted on becoming a great artist, she would be like the brahmana who lost his caste but his belly remain unfilled.
 Another time Prabhupada applied the same story when a devotee at Prabhupada's suggestion, tried to get Prabhupada a teaching position on a college faculty.  The salary they offered him was very low and so Prabhupada rejected it.  The devotee then thought that he had insulted Prabhupada by even asking such a thing.  Prabhupada wrote back assuring the disciple that there was no offence but the offer was useless.  He related the story about the caste brahmana, then commented, "The idea is that if we have to ask some service, there must be proper remuneration.  So I thought that since I required some money for my book fund, I might gather some money in this way, but this does not satisfy my hunger.  So forget this incident."

8 PERSONAL
 His Personal remnants
 Once, after a servant shaved his hair, Prabhupada noticed that he was saving little bits of grey hair.  "What are you doing with that?"  The servant replied that he was saving it as remnants.  Prabhupada said, "It is muci.  Hair is muci."  When the servant insisted that the disciples worship it, Prabhupada laughed and said, "All right."
 When he received extra sweaters as gifts, he would carry them for a while in the suitcase and then personally give them away.  He gave away gold rings, once giving one each to his servant and his wife on the occasion of their marriage.  He carried watches and bead bags and gave them all away.  He gave everything away bit by bit, and always he received more.  What we gave him transformed into his charity to others, while the personal effects he kept were very few.
 His remnants of food
 He liked to give prasadam from his hand and everyone liked to receive it.  It was not just food,, but the blessings of bhakti, the essence of devotional service.  Srila Prabhupada gave out prasadam happily, calmly and without discrimination.  When he gave to children, they liked the sweet taste of it, in the form of a cookie or sweetmeat, yet also they liked it as a special treat from Prabhupada, who sat on the vyasasana leaning forward to them.  Women liked it because they got a rare chance to come forward and extend their hand before Prabhupada.  They felt satisfied and chaste.  And stalwart men came forward like expectant children, sometimes pushing one another just to get the mercy from Prabhupada.  To Prabhupada it was serious and important, and he would personally supervise to make sure that a big late was always ready for him to distribute.  He wrote in Srimad Bhagavatam, "No Vedic sacrifice is complete without distribution of prasadam."  Although now prasadam distribution in the Krsna consciousness movement is done on a huge scale, as Prabhupada desire, it all started from his own hand, as he gave it out one-to-one.
 "Come", he would say, "take prasada".  The fortunate receiver would extend his arm, right hand, palm up, and Prabhupada touched him or her with a small amount of foodstuffs.  It fully satisfied the mind, body and soul.  With his deft hands and shapely fingers, selecting pieces from the plate, he gave it out.  He knew that the urchins in Bombay and Bhubaneswara were coming mainly because their bellies were hungry. and he also arranged to give out thousands of full plates of kicchri in Mayapur.  In the U.S.A he introduced the delicious vegetarian "Love Feasts", teaching Westerners the art of cooking and eating.  And so all prasadam distribution goes back to the simple act initiated by Prabhupada - his offering his remnants.  No guest could leave his room without it, even a hostile onlooker.  "Come, please take."

9  One time while travelling on a train in India, Prabhupada asked for somosas, and the devotees purchased a bagful.  Then one of the women began arranging to offer the food as prasadam for Prabhupada and the devotees.  In the presence of Prabhupada, she stood up and began to make a place for an offering.  She put down a cloth and placed Krsna's picture there, got a plate and proceeded to prepare an offering.  Prabhupada was watching, but before she had placed the plate down on the improvised altar, he stopped her.
 "This is not the way to offer," he said, "in front of all these people."
 Prabhupada quoted a Sanskrit verse, beginning dravya-mulena sudhyati: when a thing is purchased, even if its source is not pure, it can be offered to Krsna.  He also stated that sometimes in awkward circumstances a devotee may have to offer food to Krsna mentally, as long as it is not forbidden food.
 One time, in Tehran, Iran, Prabhupada showed a similar flexibility to time and place.  Prabhupada's secretary had noticed that the devotees were keeping frozen vegetables in the freezer.  The secretary told the devotees that they should immediately throw them all out.  He said that it was offensive to the guru to offer him vegetables that were not fresh and that they did not understand Prabhupada's instructions.
 "You don't know how angry he would get," said the secretary, "if he saw these frozen vegetables.  And you are feeding them to him!"
 Nandarani, who was living in Tehran with her husband, Dayananda, became distressed, since she was using the frozen vegetables in her cooking for guests in their preaching dinners three nights a week.  She went to Prabhupada to ask what to do.  By this time, Prabhupada had already been informed by his secretary about the frozen vegetables.
 "Why are you using frozen vegetables?" he asked.
 "Because we have dinner parties," she replied.  "We have to feed them something.  These dinner parties are our only preaching here.  If we can't feed them prasadam, then practically we are finished."
 "That's all right," said Srila Prabhupada.  "You cannot get other vegetables?"
 "No, Srila Prabhupada, nothing is available here.  Maybe we can feed them some potatoes."
 "That's all right," Prabhupada said, "Use frozen vegetables.  It is part of our sankirtana."

10 According to the Bhagavatam verse, even the briefest association with a pure devotee can bring one to the perfection of human life.  Srila Prabhupada, delivered many conditioned souls from illusion, sometimes just by his merciful glance.  For the person receiving his benediction, such moments were experienced in a very personal, individual way; yet Srila Prabhupada was able to give his blessings even while tending to many persons at once.
 Jaya Madhava dasa was standing in a crowd of devotees while Prabhupada was getting into a car.  As Prabhupada looked from the back seat at the devotees, Jaya Madhava felt Prabhupada's glance fall on him.  It was as if Prabhupada was saying, "What are you doing here?  Why are you wasting your time in the material world?"  This reciprocation was a deeply sobering experience.
 Another devotee, Ranacora dasa had been practicing Krsna consciousness for a number of years under Srila Prabhupada's direction, but on one particular visit by Srila Prabhupada to London, Ranacora received an unforgettable boost through a brief but deep, personal exchange with his spiritual master.  It was in the crowded temple room.  At the end of the lecture, Ranacora asked a question of Prabhupada.  "when you become initiated by the spiritual master, does he take all of your karma, even if you might perform sinful activities - does he take the suffering you might have received?"
 Prabhupada replied heavily, "You must simply become ruled by your spiritual master."  Those words by Srila Prabhupada entered the heart of his disciple, and his glance cut through all impersonalism.
 Many devotees experienced the same thing - a moment or occasion with Srila Prabhupada in which they realised their eternal relationship with him in which they rejoiced to know it.
 Once on a morning walk in the fields near Bhaktivedanta Manor, Prabhupada was talking to a group of his disciples.  Saksi Gopala dasa was also there and received a special realisation.  Prabhupada was explaining how each humble creature in the universe is empowered by Krsna with a small degree of His own mystical power, acintya-sakti.  Prabhupada explained that the frogs can breathe underground, the trees can eat through their feet, and the grass can tolerate trampling that humans could not endure.  Then Prabhupada started criticising and laughing at the material scientists and their limited vision.  By his infectious laughing, the devotees also began laughing.  For a moment Prabhupada looked directly at Saksi Gopala to whom it seemed the whole universe was laughing with Prabhupada at the foolishness of the puffed up materialists.  In this way, another disciple suddenly met Prabhupada as if for the first time and felt unforgettably grateful and convinced.  This happened not only to one or two, but almost every disciple knew it and realised it in different ways.
 Through his instruction, his books, his mission, and through other devotees, Prabhupada constantly brought awareness of a disciple's eternal relationship with guru and Krsna.  After Prabhupada's disappearance, his association is obtainable in the same way, provided the follower is submissive.  As Prabhupada replied, to one devotee when asked whether the spiritual master was in the heart of the disciple, "Yes, if you let me enter."
11 While Srila Prabhupada lived in Mayapur, his routine was punctuated by visits and news from the various fronts in his world-wide campaign against maya.  Particularly welcome moments occurred when Prabhupada received advance copies of his books.  However, when he received a copy of Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 6, Volume 3, with its cover portrait of Lord Sankarsana receiving worship from Citraketu and the four Kumaras, Prabhupada looked at it only briefly and then went on with his routine.  He went to the roof, where he sat on a straw mat in the sunshine.  There his servant massaged him with mustard oil, and then Prabhupada bathed, took prasadam, and rested for an hour in his upstairs room.  According to his regular habit, he came down from his room on the roof at about four o' clock in the afternoon and then received guests in his main sitting room on the second floor.
 Anakadundubhi dasa had a small part to play in Srila Prabhupada's daily routine, as each afternoon he brought Prabhupada a fresh garland of flowers and applied candana paste to Prabhupada's forehead.  On the day that the Sixth Canto of the Bhagavatam arrived, Prabhupada took it up again when he came down to his room.  While his disciple stood by waiting with the garland and candana paste, Prabhupada began to peruse the book in his usual manner, looking first at the illustrations.  Prabhupada suddenly noticed Anakadundubhi and signified with a glance that he could go ahead and put on the garland and the paste.  The Prabhupada continued to look through the book.
 "Who has painted this?" asked Prabhupada as he looked at the painting of Lord Sankarsana.
 "That was done by Pariksit", said Anakadundubhi, who stood looking over Prabhupada's shoulder at the open book in Prabhupada's hands.  Prabhupada then turned the page to a plate reproduction of Maha-Visnu lying in the Causal Ocean, manifesting all the universes from His gigantic form.
 "Who has painted this one?" asked Prabhupada.
 "That's by Rancora dasa," began Anakadundubhi.  Prabhupada then began quoting from the Brahma-samita.
 yasyaika-nisvasita kalam athavalambya
  jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah
 visnur mahan sa iha yasya kala-viseso
  govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
 Prabhupada was just about to turn to the next page, when suddenly a drop of wet candana paste fell from Prabhupada's forehead onto the page.  Anakadundubhi became frightened, expecting Prabhupada to reprimand him for making the paste so runny that it had dripped onto the book.  But Prabhupada only touched it with his thumbnail and asked, "What is this?"  Anakadundubhi explained what it was, but Prabhupada said nothing.  Ordinarily the runny paste might have been enough to draw a word of disapproval from Srila Prabhupada, but he was drawn so much into the Bhagavatam that he continued his study of the book, overlooking the spot of sandalwood paste that now adorned the page.

12 While Hridayananda Gosvami was Prabhupada's secretary in Mayapur, he was pleased to see how Prabhupada like to hear his own singing of bhajans on the tape recorder.  Even while working, Prabhupada played a tape and when the recording stopped, he asked that the other side be played again.  One day, in a very jolly mood while listening to his own singing of haraye namah krsna, which had full harmonium, drum and karatala accompaniment and a strong rhythm, Prabhupada began to speak.
 "Just go everywhere, and play this tape and dance."  He motioned with his hands to show how the devotees should dance.  "Go all around the world performing like this, and people will be so much attracted that you will make a million dollars!"
 As the G.B.C. secretary responsible for all of South America, Hridayananda Gosvami usually served Srila Prabhupada in a mood of separation as he worked and travelled constantly on Prabhupada's behalf.  But he often enhanced his remembrance of Srila Prabhupada by playing his tapes wherever he went.  Serving in separation, he felt intensely close to Srila Prabhupada, as much as when he was personally with him, if not more so.  Yet late at night after the demands of travelling, preaching, and managing, Hridayananda Gosvami would put on a tape of Srila Prabhupada singing and playing harmonium and as the transcendental sound of Prabhupada entered his ears, Hridayananda felt even more increased feelings of loving reciprocation for Srila Prabhupada.  Thus vani (service to the order of Srila Prabhupada) enhanced vapuh (service to the personal form of the spiritual master).  And conversely, vapuh enhanced vani).

13 When Srila Prabhupada was planning the layout of the temple room in Mayapur, his disciples were also taking part.
 "Where can we build a vyasasana?" one devotee asked.  "Should we put it at the other end of the temple facing the Deities?"
 But another devotee objected, "Isn't that too far for you, Srila Prabhupada?  Will you be able to see the Deities from such a distance?"
 Prabhupada replied strongly, There's no question of separation of distance between me and Krsna." So the vyasasana was placed at the opposite end of Sri Sri Radha-Madhava and Prabhupada could see Them very nicely.
 One a departure from Australia, Srila Prabhupada was waiting for his plane.  Devotees had brought him a simple chair and he sat in an outdoor garden, just outside the entrance to the airport.  Watching while hundreds of people walked in and out of the terminal, Prabhupada sometimes inquired about their appearance and their clothing styles.  When he asked about the elevated shoes he saw men wearing, devotees explained that they were called "stacks."
 "Some of them are elevated five or six inches high," said Amogha dasa.  "People even twist their ankles trying to walk in them."
 Prabhupada laughed lightly.  "There is a Bengali proverb," he said.  "Do something new."  That is Western civilisation.  And they think that God is very old.  Not new."
 The devotees were feeling awkward and apologetic that Prabhupada had to sit in such a crowded public place.  One of them remarked, "Some day, Prabhupada, we shall have our own airport."
 "It is our airport," he said.  "Everything belongs to Krsna.  So it is already ours."

14 PRABHUPADA SAID
 On preaching
 One day in Vrndavana, Prabhupada allowed a morning darsana in his room, but some of the important devotees were absent.  When he asked where they were, he was told that some of the devotees were cleaning the temple.
 Prabhupada was surprised.  "Cleaning the temple?  We can employ people to clean the temple.  But one thing you cannot employ people to do is preach.  So they should hear from me when I am preaching, or how will they preach?"
 "If you feel at all indebted to me, then you should preach vigorously like me.  That is the proper way to repay me.  Of course, no one can repay the debt to the spiritual master, but the spiritual master is very much pleased by such an attitude by the disciple."
  Letter of August 14, 1976
 "Yes, preaching is more important than management.  Just because you are preaching nicely and distributing so much prasadam, management will follow like a shadow and Krsna will send you unlimited help."
  Letter of November 21, 1971
 One time in Hawaii Prabhupada was discussing how he was able to defeat the non-devotees' arguments.  "I know the art, like karate," he said, "of pushing on a person's weak spot until he dies.  I find their weak point and push until they die."

15 SRILA PRABHUPADA TELLS STORIES
 About lazy men
 Prabhupada was annoyed when devotees in Vrndavana repeatedly walked in and out of his room and left the door open behind them, letting in flies.
 "Why are you leaving the door open?" he yelled.  "It is a contagious disease." And then he told a story.
 An employer advertised for an opening in his firm and received many applications.  Based on these, he selected two men and asked them to come for an interview.  The employer then observed each man carefully during the interview.  When the first man entered the room, he left the door open behind him.  The employer spoke with him for about fifteen minutes and then asked him to wait outside.  When the second applicant entered, he shut the door behind him.  After speaking with him, the employer  asked him to also wait outside and then he called in his secretary.
 "That first man I spoke to," he said, "has all the qualifications, but I have decided to give the job to the second man."
 "Why is that?"
 "Because the first man left the door open.  It appears he is a lazy fellow.  The other man shut the door, so while he may not be so qualified, he will learn 'quickly.'
 In Hrsikesha, in 1977, Srila Prabhupada was staying with about eight of his disciples in a house on the bank of the Ganges.  One day Prabhupada entered the kitchen and was astonished to see that the devotees had cut up a huge amount of vegetables in preparation for lunch.  Prabhupada said they had cut enough vegetables to feed fifty people.  Commenting that his disciples had no common sense, Prabhupada then sat in a chair and began directing them in all the details of the cooking.  He watched the rice boiling and tested it for softness.  Then he personally cooked the capatis.  At this time, Prabhupada commented that only a lazy man cannot cook, and he told the story of the lazy man.
 There was a king who announced that all lazy men in his kingdom could come to the charity house and be fed.  Hundreds of people came and they all said, "I am a lazy man."  The king then told his minister to set fire to the charity  house.  Everyone inside, except two men, immediately ran out of the burning building.  Of the two remaining, one man said to the other, "My back is become very hot from the fire."  The other man advised, "just turn over to the other side."  Seeing these two, the king said, "They are actually lazy men.  Feed them.

16 PERSONAL GLIMPSES
 Prabhupada and His Photo
 He liked the photo of himself on the back of the first Hare Krsna "Happening" album.  In that photo his hair seems to be standing on end, and his visage is grave, penetrating, mystical.  He said of that photo, "A swami should look philosophical."
 A disciple named Dhanesa told Prabhupada that he wanted a picture of him with his mrdanga for a second record album, "Vande 'ham."  Prabhupada said, "I am not a professional musician that I should pose with a mrdanga." He suggested instead more formal pictures, like those of his own Guru Maharaja.
 The guru is in his picture.  "There is no difference between me and my picture," he wrote in a letter.  "Therefore we should honour and keep pictures in that spirit.  If we throw pictures this way and that way, that is an offense.  The name and the picture are as good as the picture in the spiritual world.  In the material world, either picture or person, everything is illusion."
 His Sense of Personal Worth
 Once he explained the importance of the philosopher in human society by a story.  "In England," he said, "a philosopher was once invited to meet with a famous theatre actor.  The philosopher replied, "I cannot meet with a dancing dog!"  Prabhupada thought of himself very humbly, as a servant of the servant, delivering the message of Krsna consciousness.  But because the gift of Krsna consciousness was very important, therefore he was important, and he was empowered by his spiritual master to deliver it.  He taught the same to us; the importance of the devotees who are serving the Lord.
 Dancing
 You can see his motion on films.  Don't expect to see much athletic jumping up and down.  He would mostly start from the waist and shoulders moving up and down in rhythm with kirtana, and then jump.  Dancing for Prabhupada always meant upraised arms and extended fingers, like the depictions of Gaura and Nitai.  That was how he introduced dancing in his room at 26 Second Avenue, leading us around in a circle, showing how you put your left foot to the right side and then your right foot to the left side, and how you sway back and forth, with the arms always upraised - Kirtanananda called it "The Swami step".  Once in Chicago, he admonished boys who were twisting disco style.  Emphatically from the vyasasana he upraised his arms.  He did it once, and when the dancers did not heed, he did it again: "Like this!"
 It would come upon him at different memorable times, walking-dancing with ecstatic kirtana at Ratha-yatras in London and Australia., or in temple rooms packed with devotees, or before thousands at outdoor pandals in India.  Suddenly, creating waves of excitement - all devotees rising with him - he would dance, and we would dance.  He danced, and we are dancing.

17 Srila Prabhupada managed to encourage every one of his disciples.  He made them feel they had worth, that he loved them, and he showed that he knew their particular problems.
 Some were problem cases who could not work well with others and some were always unsteady.  One devotee with problems once came before Srila Prabhupada and pleaded for some relief.
 "Srila Prabhupada, I would like to apologise for being so fallen and wretched.  I never seem to be able to do anything right.  I try to give some advice to people, but it's no use.  Because even if I think I'm right, they tell me I'm wrong, so I just want your forgiveness because I'm so confused."
 Srila Prabhupada replied, "They criticised Lord Caitanya and Krsna."
 The dejected devotee was astounded to hear this.  But he thought maybe Prabhupada did not understand what he had meant.
 "Srila Prabhupada, I am not trying to criticise Lord Caitanya and Krsna.  I'm just trying to apologise.  I'm sorry that I'm so fallen, that I'm not better than I am."
 But Srila Prabhupada repeated, "They criticised Lord Caitanya and Krsna.  Even when Lord Krsna was here, they did not accept.  Only a few hundred people accepted that He was God.  Everyone else was criticising.  And when Lord Caitanya was here they even threw a pot at Lord Nityananda.  They did not like to accept Him.  So what to speak of you and I?"
 The dejected disciple then became overwhelmed to understand that Srila Prabhupada had indeed understood him, understood him better than he knew himself.
 "Then what is to be done?" asked the disciple.  "Just go on trying?"
 "Yes", said Srila Prabhupada.
 There was a similar incident with a devotee photographer. He had trouble rising early and in controlling his tongue from overeating.  He was not very regulated or prone to philosophy.  But he liked taking pictures for Srila Prabhupada's books, at which he was very good.  One day after following Srila Prabhupada to different places in his travels, the photographer asked Prabhupada's permission so that he could return to his home temple.  Aware of his precarious weak situation in spiritual life, he submitted himself before Srila Prabhupada saying, "Prabhupada, I'm such a rascal."
 "That is good," said Prabhupada.  "You remain a rascal your whole life."  This statement confused the disciple.  What to make of it?  Was Prabhupada delivering a curse to "remain a rascal?"  Then Srila Prabhupada explained.  "Lord Caitanya was also called a rascal.  Do you know the story of Lord Caitanya and His spiritual master?"  Prabhupada's photographer suddenly felt that his mind and his tongue were being controlled, for without event thinking he began to tell the story of how Lord Caitanya was instructed by His spiritual master that He was too foolish to understand Vedanta and that He should just chant Hare Krsna.  Prabhupada smiled and said no more.  In this way, another dejected disciple became pacified, realising his lack of intelligence and the fact that his only hope was the holy name of Krsna.
 Srila Prabhupada's ability in these and many other cases prove him to be a great psychologist.  Even when no one else could Srila Prabhupada knew the ways and means to give a fallen servant some renewed hope and strength.  Neither did he do it by resorting to the mundane techniques of personnel managers, who are often cynical and manipulative.  Yet, on behalf of Krsna, Srila Prabhupada was expert with people.

18 One day in Vrndavana, Prabhupada's servant Sruti Kirti heard him yelling from his room on the roof.  Running into the room, Sruta-kirti was greeted by a shout from Prabhupada: "Rascals!" Prabhupada picked up a block of clay on his desk and threw it at the doorway.
 "What's the matter?"
 "The monkey has stolen my shoes!" said Srila Prabhupada, and he got up and went out the door. 
 "Get some pera and get my cane," said Prabhupada.  Sruta-kirti went off and returned with the cane and a piece of sweet, while Srila Prabhupada found the monkey, who was keeping just out of reach on the small concrete roof above Prabhupada's room.  With his cane in hand, Prabhupada jumped and tried striking the monkey, but it kept out of reach, scampering back and forth and waving the slipper in provocation.
 "These monkeys are such rascals." said Prabhupada, appearing serious and intent.  Knowing well the monkey's game, Prabhupada asked his servant to extend the sweet as a trade for the slipper.  As soon as the sweet was offered, the monkey came forward and extended the slipper.  He came closed and closer but then snatched the sweet and kept the slipper.  Three times they tried the same thing, and the monkey cheated and won each time.  Triumphantly the monkey sat back out of reach, growling and making grinning faces.  Finally, he placed the slipper in his mouth and began chewing.  Prabhupada had been keenly involved in trying to get the slipper back, but now said, "He's ruined the shoe."  The monkey had ripped out the heel and the inner sole stuffing.  Prabhupada went back to his room and after trying a few  more moves, his servant also walked away.  The monkey then dropped the shoe and ran off.
 Later, a devotee climbed on the roof and brought Srila Prabhupada the chewed slipper.  Prabhupada decided to keep it and use it, even though it was ripped and teeth marks were visible.  He continued to wear if for a year after the incident.
 The devotees asked Prabhupada if it were true that the present-day monkeys of Vrndavana were very special - were sages from past lives who had fallen down from spiritual life and who would be liberated in their next life.  Prabhupada said "Yes".  Although the monkeys are mischievous and steal food, he said still, in Goloka Vrndavana Krsna allows them to take butter and He Himself distributes it.  Exactly who this monkey was or what his relationship with Prabhupada was, no one could say for sure.  The only thing certain was that Prabhupada considered him a mischievous rascal,, and that it all took place in the inconceivable Vrndavana-dhama.

19 During a wintertime visit to Japan, Prabhupada stayed in a cottage where the walls were made of paper.  The landlord supplied a kerosene heater, but it only warmed a small area.  Prabhupada wrapped himself in his gray wool chadar and went on translating the Bhagavatam through the cold early-morning hours, but he remarked that it was very uncomfortable.  When devotees went to the landlord and asked for a second heater, the landlord's wife objected.  The landlord finally found a spare second heater, but the kerosene fumes made the room too stuffy.  In addition, the house was filled with a bad odour.  In that neighbourhood there was an open sewage system: a truck was supposed to come by with a vacuum cleaner and suck out the contents of the stool pits.  But the truck hadn't been there in over a week.  In anxiety that their spiritual master was suffering much inconvenience, the devotees went to the landlord and pleaded with him to do something about the stench.  The man was humble and accommodating, and he respected Prabhupada as a spiritual leader.  He agreed to clean out the pits himself, using hand buckets.  But the landlord's wife again objected that her husband should make such an extraordinary humiliating effort to accommodate Srila Prabhupada.  The man did it anyway, and the bad odour disappeared.
 On Prabhupada's last evening in the paper cottage, he gave a public lecture. The house had one floor plus a stagelike mezzanine.  The speaker's dais was set on this stage, along with a microphone.  The little dwelling was filled with guests, and Srila Prabhupada led kirtana and then began lecturing in English, which at least some of his audience could understand.  But in the middle of his talk, the landlord's wife, a small, middle-aged Japanese lady, entered the house and began screaming in anger.  A few devotees moved forward to stop her, but she evaded them.  She walked up onto the stage beside Srila Prabhupada, making angry gestures and completely disrupting the meeting.  Prabhupada asked a guest who she was and what was the matter with her, and he heard that the lady was the landlady and that she was angry that Prabhupada made her husband clean out the stool pits.  When he understood, Prabhupada broke into a grin.  He leaned forward and spoke into the microphone, as if making an announcement.  "Japanese landlady," he said, and the audience and devotees relaxed and laughed.  It was as if, by two words, Prabhupada had made a philosophical statement, explaining the universal phenomenon of landladies and how they had to be tolerated.  After a pause, Prabhupada continued his lecture, and the landlady who had become disarmed by Prabhupada's smiling words, went down the stairs and left the cottage.

20 Prabhupada was very strong in his denunciation of materialists.  He would denounce even big industrialists as thieves.  Everything belongs to Krsna, he said, and the capitalists (or communists) have take far more than their God-given quota.  Sometimes when disciples heard Prabhupada's criticisms they wondered how they could repeat such things to the non devotees.  Prabhupada himself spoke with businessmen, and on those occasions, devotees would see his successful method of explaining to self-centred men the concept of isavasya, a God centred society.
 One a morning walk around White Rock Lake, devotees pointed out to Srila Prabhupada the mansion of one of the world's richest oil men.  The white building on the spacious property was barely visible in the distance beyond the lake.  Prabhupada didn't take note of it as he walked along the shore, which was bordered on the waterside with tall palm grass, while the road before them was littered with paper and beer cans.  A devotee described how he had tried to approach the oil billionaire to give him a Bhagavad-gita, but he had been successful only in giving a copy to one of the friendly entrance guards.
 "What would you have said," asked Prabhupada, "if you were actually able to see him?"  About ten devotees walked with him and one spoke out.  "I would tell him that we have a school here in Dallas and that actually we are model citizens."
 "What else would you say?" Prabhupada asked.  One devotee replied that she would invite him to visit the temple, and another said he would bring him prasadam.
 "No", said Prabhupada, "you should say to him, 'You are a big thief.  You have taken for yourself so much oil which all belongs to God.  So now you will have to be punished.'"  Prabhupada's followed felt embarrassed that they had not given Prabhupada such a strong answer, and they were also surprised.  As the quiet morning walk continued, Prabhupada went on to say one day the lord of death would come for the oil billionaire and no entrance guards could stop him.  At that time, no matter what the richest man in the world might say, death would take him away to face his karma.
 Not long after Prabhupada's visit to Dallas, the Texas billionaire died.  Some of the devotees remembered Prabhupada's words and how they never were able to approach the man.  One of the devotees present on the walk was Dayananda dasa, who vividly recalled this whole incident years later, when he witnessed Prabhupada in the presence of a wealthy industrialist.
 The scene was Mayapur and Prabhupada was taking his morning walk on the roof of the residential building.  Jayapataka Swami introduced Prabhupada to a prominent businessman who had come to visit from Calcutta.
 "I am pleased to see you," said Prabhupada.  "Thank you for coming to Mayapur.  So, where is your factory?"
 The businessman from Calcutta, a heavy-set man in an immaculate white dhoti, kurta and vest spoke in a loud voice.
 "I manufacture glass," he said.
 "Hmm," Prabhupada reflected.  "So where does the glass come from?"
 The man was now walking beside Prabhupada, along with the other devotes and friends, as they circumambulated the roof, talking and viewing the surrounding flatlands of Mayapur.
 "It is from silicon," the man replied.  "It is from sand."
 "Yes," said Prabhupada, "but who owns the sand?"
 The Calcutta man was not only an intelligent businessman, but he was also pious and could understand what Bhaktivedanta Swami, as guru was driving at.  He said, "Oh, the sand come from Bhagavan."
 Prabhupada replied quickly, "Oh, you are stealing from Bhagavan?"
 Prabhupada's retort made everyone laugh - even the industrialist could not help but join in the laughter.  After the quick exchange, the Calcutta businessman dropped toward the back of the group and others came forward to ask Prabhupada their philosophical questions.  Prabhupada's morning walks were often this way, fragmented conversations with different guests and devotees, who would come forward and ask Prabhupada some query.  He would answer one after another, sometimes developing different themes, or going from one theme to another.  After walking for about a half hour, the industrialist again moved to front for another round of questions with Prabhupada.  He had been considering what Prabhupada had said, and he felt a little guilty.
 "Swamiji," the man offered, "although I may be taking from Bhagavan, but I am giving in charity also."
 Prabhupada smiled and replied, "Oh, you are just a little thief."  Again everyone on the walk laughed at Prabhupada's last word on the subject.  Thus Srila Prabhupada showed practical application of the theoretical advice he had given in Dallas.

21 A young California man, David Shapiro, became attracted to Srila Prabhupada through his books and through the devotees' association.  He then moved to the Los Angeles temple at a time when Prabhupada was visiting, but unfortunately, David's mother was outraged that her grown-up son had chosen to become a Krsna conscious devotee.  A journalist, she went on a letter writing campaign against the Krsna consciousness movement.  She wrote letters to the newspapers and also to the government departments, complaining that her son was practicing too much renunciation in Krsna consciousness and she felt this was a mistreatment.  David tried to pacify her, but he was not very good at it.  Most of the time he was washing pots in the temple kitchen or going out on chanting parties downtown, and he didn't remember or bother to phone his mother.  The devotees in the temple didn't help much, when they sometimes would forget to pass on messages from his mother.  In David's mother's letter-writing campaign she also wrote letters to Prabhupada.  Prabhupada replied to one of her letters, but she was not interested in any dialogue or consideration of her son's spiritual benefit as described by Prabhupada.  She just wanted her son to return.
 Sensing that the Los Angeles temple could come into trouble from this woman, the temple president asked David to leave the temple.  Although David was a submissive devotees, he refused to leave and began to cry.  He said, "I'm not initiated.  I've been in this movement for a year, but I'm not initiated, so I don't have a link to my spiritual master.  How can I leave the temple without a link?  I may never come back!"  Both the temple president and David were bewildered.  Prabhupada was then informed how the boy had refused to leave, and so he called him to his room.
 David came into Prabhupada's quarters and bowed down before him, while Prabhupada was taking prasadam.
 Prabhupada spoke mildly: "So you have been having some difficulty with your mother?'
 "Yes, Srila Prabhupada."
 "That's all right", said Prabhupada.  "I've decided to initiate you."  Then right on the spot, without any of the usual, formal ceremony, Prabhupada gave David his new spiritual name.
 "Your name is now Nrsimhananda dasa.  Is that all right?"
 "Yeah, that -" David could hardly speak.
 Prabhupada continued, "I'm giving you this name, Nrsimhananda, because through this name you will always be protected from your parents."  Prabhupada then offered some prasadam from his plate to Nrsimhananda and said, "Now you can go home and stay there from some time.  That will be all right.  I think you can make vegetarian prasadam there?"
 "Yes," said Nrsimhananda.
 "So you can go for some time and also come back," said Prabhupada.
 Nrsimhananda understood Prabhupada's desire and he had faith that it would work.  "Thank you, Srila Prabhupada," he said and left.
 So David Shapiro, now Nrsimhananda dasa brahmacari, returned to his mother's home.  Ten months later, when both son and mother had gained a more mature outlook about Krsna consciousness, Nrsimhananda rejoined Prabhupada's movement, this time to stay.

22 Srila Prabhupada wanted devotees and guests to be attentive while he spoke on the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam.  One time when Prabhupada objected to a baby's crying, a person in the audience challenged, "If you are a guru, why are you disturbed?"  Prabhupada replied that it was the audience who was disturbed from attentive hearing and that was why he had asked that the baby's noises be stopped.  Even when Prabhupada spoke Hindi, which most of his disciples could not understand, he expected them to stay and be quiet.  He said that even if they couldn't understand the language, the sound vibration would purify them.
 One time in New Delhi, while Prabhupada was speaking to a government minister and other guests in his room, two of his disciples created a disturbance.  Brahmananda Swami was ill and needed the address of a doctor, so he entered the room to catch Teja's attention.  At first Teja didn't want to speak at all, but Brahmananda insisted and poked him in the side.  Tejas turned and gave the address of the doctor, but Brahmananda requested more information, and the two of them began to argue.  In response to the disturbance,, Prabhupada stopped speaking.  When the devotees looked at him, he was staring at the spot on the ceiling just above where they were sitting.  Prabhupada then lowered his vision from the ceiling and looked straight at steady at the two offending disciples.  "It is very annoying to me," said Prabhupada.  He shook his head with displeasure and added, "It is very disconcerting."  These last words were spoken in a soft tome, but with anger.  The atmosphere of the room became very tense.  The distinguished guests were looking at the boys and Prabhupada, and the boys were devastated.  Prabhupada's displeasure continued unrelieved until suddenly another devotee entered the room and announced "Prabhupada, the car is ready."  Only by Prabhupada's rising to exit for another engagement did he release his disciples from his instructive displeasure.
 In 1960 when Prabhupada stayed at John Lennon's estate, he liked to walk in the  misty morning through the gardens and groves.  It was there that Prabhupada met the head gardener, an old English gentleman who used to wear a tweed suit jacket even when digging in the earth.  The gardener had shown no interest in the philosophy or the devotees, but when Prabhupada came he was interested to meet him.  On Prabhupada's first  morning walk the head gardener presented himself in a gentlemanly way, wearing a long black coat, black hat, and wellington boots.
 "I am the head gardener here." said the man.  Prabhupada said he was glad to meet him and asked him, "What are you growing?"  The gardener eagerly showed Prabhupada some of the plants and fruits he was raising in the greenhouse, including watermelons and varieties of flowers.  He also pulled out trays from underneath a greenhouse table and showed Prabhupada his mushrooms.
 "O, we do not eat this," said Prabhupada.  "This is fungus."  The man admitted that it was a fungus.  Prabhupada explained that mushrooms do not have a good taste, and because they grow in a dark, damp place, they are considered food in the mode of ignorance.  Srila Prabhupada then suggested that the gardener should try to grow ladyfingers, but the man didn't know what Prabhupada meant.  Prabhupada pointed to his own fingers.  "You should grow these ladyfingers."  He gave the Hindi word, bhindi, which the man also couldn't understand.  Finally the gardener understood that Prabhupada was talking about okra. Prabhupada asked if the man could grow mangoes, but he said he couldn't, not even in the greenhouse.
 "What is your age?" asked Prabhupada.
 The gardener replied that he was sixty-six.
 Prabhupada said, "DO you still have all your teeth?"
 The gardener seemed to be a little embarrassed, but replied, "No, I don't.  I have all false teeth."
 "My age is seventy-two," said Prabhupada, "but I have all my teeth."  Prabhupada opened his mouth and showed.
 The gardener replied, I've lost all my teeth because I like sweet things too much."
 "I also like sweets", said Prabhupada.  "I eat many sweets myself - rasagulla, gulabjamuns.  But I am eating the right kind of sweets.  You should also eat these sweets."
 After that, when taking his morning walk, Prabhupada regularly greeted the gardener with a few words, or at least, whenever the gardener was working at a distance, they exchanged a wave of hands.