24 SRILA PRABHUPADA SAID
 On Deity Worship 
 "There is no question of using paper or plastic fruits and flowers for worshipping the Deities.  If no fresh fruits or flowers are available, then you can decorate with some fresh leaves.  You have seen our temples, nowhere do we use such things.  You are experienced devotee.  Why you propose like that?  We are not after decoration; we are after devotional service for pleasing Krsna's senses.  Decoration must be there, of course, to make the temple as opulent as possible for pleasing Krsna.  Outside the temple, you can use the plastic ornaments.  But not for worship.  For daily worship there must be fresh fruits, flowers and leaves.
  Letter of December 26, 1971
 "Who is in charge of the Deity room?  It must be secured at night, every window and door must be locked, and you must personally see to this.  You have had sufficient experience at Bury Place that the Deity was attacked.  You have already experienced that, so you should not be negligent in this matter.  Please see that adequate security is given to the temple, especially to the Deities, so that They will not be exposed to any attack."
  Letter of January 1, 1974
 "Regarding your questions, it is not very good to put 'statues' of Radha and Krsna on a shelf.  If They are not worshipped as Deities, what is the use of such display?  Visitors will get the wrong idea that They are merely decorative figures or idols, that we do not take Them very seriously.  why you do not worship Them on the altar?"
  Letter of December 8, 1971
 "The proper method of dressing Jagannatha is as a ksatriya king, and there is no limit to the opulence you can give Him."
  Letter of February 19, 1973
 For a few years Prabhupada travelled with small Deities of Radha-Krsna.  His personal servant and secretary were responsible for making arrangements for the Radha-Krsna Deities as Prabhupada moved from one location to another.  On occasion in India when Prabhupada made a temporary stop, his servant did not unpack the Deities.  Prabhupada became and angry and asked why the devotee had not unpacked.
 "I didn't think it would be very rational," replied his servant, "to unpack the Deities in these conditions."  Prabhupada replied with a shout, "You are unpacked and you are very comfortable!"

25 PRABHUPADA TELLS SHORT STORIES
 Prabhupada wanted his devotee-scientists to form the Bhaktivedanta Institute.  By writing books and giving lectures, they should destroy the theories that life comes from matter and that there is no supreme being.  The atheistic scientists will be very stubborn, he warned them.  To illustrate the stubbornness of the materialists, Prabhupada told the story of "scissors philosophy."
 Two men were arguing about which cutting instrument should be used, a knife of scissors.  "Knife", said one.  "No, scissors!" said the other.  Their talk became a heated fight.
 "IF you don't agree," said the man who advocated the knife, "I will throw you in the river."
 "No, I'll never change my mind.  It's scissors!"  So the knife advocate threw the other into the swift river.  He swam for a while but became exhausted and began to sink.  But he was so stubborn about holding his point of view, that even after he was sinking under the water to his death, he held up his arm and crossed his fingers back and forth like a pair of scissors cutting.
 "The scientists will be like that,"  said Prabhupada.  "Even after defeating them with all logic, still they will say, Life comes from matter."  But more sane and innocent people would be convinced by Vedic presentation that life comes from life.
 Srila Prabhupada did  not like his disciples to perform artificial austerities.  When one devotee appeared bare-chested in the cold at a Kumbha-mela, Prabhupada reprimanded him.  On another occasion, in America, he teased his disciple Nara-Narayana, who came into the cold temple room wearing only a light T-shirt.
 "Nara-Narayana," said Prabhupada from the vyasasana, "you must be eating chickens."  The other devotees turned and stared.
 "Yes", said Prabhupada, "this is how the Muhammadans keep warm.  Are you eating chickens Nara-Narayana?"
 "No, Srila Prabhupada."
 Prabhupada then began telling a story, how the Muhammadans keep warm.  The system is that a man tries to eat one hundred chickens by eating a single chicken.  A farmer will take a hundred chickens and then feed one of them to the ninety-nine.  He then feeds another one to the remaining ninety-eight, and another one to the remaining ninety-seven.  Finally, when there are only two chickens left, he feeds one chicken to the other.  Then that chicken is fed to the emperor.  In that way, it is considered that he is eating one hundred chickens.

26 MORE SHORT STORIES
 In order to push his disciples to work harder, Prabhupada sometimes used sarcasm.  He was tired with delays by the workers in constructing a Mayapur residential building, and he blamed it on his devotees.  When one of the leading managers among his disciples made an excuse, Prabhupada retorted by quoting a humorous verse:
"Big, big monkey,
Big, big belly
Ceylon jumping,
Melancholy."
Everyone laughed with Prabhupada without at first catching the meaning.  He explained that his managers were like the monkeys who, unlike Hanuman, could not jump to Ceylon.  Despite having big muscles and big bellies when asked to do something heroic, they could not.
 One of Prabhupada's disciples had a chronic disease that the doctors couldn't diagnose.  But the doctors said she was incurable.  Prabhupada said these doctors were like a group of men who formed a conspiracy against a man named Bhagavat.
 Bhagavat's friends wanted to play a trick on him, so about ten of them conspired.  Then, when Bhagavat went to visit one of his friends, the man gasped and cried, "Oh you have become a ghost!"  Bhagavat, in amused disbelief replied, "No, I haven't become a ghost.  What's the matter with you?" But the friend repeated in a horrified voice: "You've become a ghost!"  Bhagavat didn't take it seriously, but when he saw his next friend, the man acted in the same frightened way.  After this happened ten times Bhagavat himself became horrified: "Yes I've become a ghost!  I've become a ghost!"  Prabhupada indicated that sometimes by conspiracy and maya we think that we are sicker than we really are.
 One time, while Prabhupada was eating jackfruit, he joked about the taste of jackfruit.  A man in a foreign land tried to describe to a friend about jackfruit.  But he confessed that there was no way to describe it unless you tasted it.  When the friend insisted on some verbal description, the man replied that if you were to drink sugarcane juice through a Muslim's beard, then you might understand the taste of a jackfruit.  Prabhupada said that attempts to understand the rasa dance of Krsna by unrealised persons are like that.

27 PERSONAL
 Prabhupada and the Deity
 He was so kind to bring the accessible krsna-murti.  What did we know?  How could we succeed?  But he did it, starting with Lord Jagannatha, then little Radha-Krsna in New York city.  Prabhupada crouched down before Them, ordered simple service, kept Them in his room and explained to us that They are not idols.  The Deity is Krsna.
 He advised us, "If you think of Swamiji and Lord Jagannatha all day, then at night you will dream of them."  Dancing before the forms of the Deity, he taught us.  Otherwise,, no one could introduce the Deity to the Westerners.  Now that They are here in so many temples, future religious historians may think They came by another means or that any devotee could have called Them, but Prabhupada was the one empowered to call the Deity.
 In the beginning he asked Him to please take care of Himself if the mlecchas turned-devotees made offenses.  But it was also Prabhupada who later saw that the worship was going on nicely, and he approved that Krsna was being worshipped in grand style.  Like the brahmana who called the Deity to witness, Prabhupada asked the Lord, and He agreed to come.  On Prabhupada's invitation, along with the sound of kirtana, Krsna was received in simple settings in converted rooms, puja began for the Lord of rented houses -Boston, ST. Louis, Buffalo, and then grand temples.  Great acaryas of the past installed one Deity, their beloved Radha-Krsna, but Prabhupada worshipped dozens of Radha-Krsna and he travelled to see Them.  He was the champion of Radha-Krsna, installing and distributing Radha-Krsna on every continent, again and again, bathing, chanting, dressing, performing the installation.
 Srila Prabhupada crouched before the Lord, and sometimes he cried joyful tears in the darsana of the glowing Radha-Krsna.  He noticed how They were being served and dressed, and he made a stern point, that we should never change things whimsically after he had left.  It was a transcendental matter of fact to Srila Prabhupada, that we must worship the Deity of Krsna.  Of course we must do it, or how will we remain purified?  And of course He is Krsna, with flute and three-curved form, with Radha beside Him.  And of course we have to give Them our devotion!  It was a matter of devotional fact: He will come when there are devotees, and they will worship Him.  Yet is it not a great miracle?  Prabhupada has brought Krsna - Krsna has agreed and the ex-mlecchas have agreed to accept Him,, and they pray, "O Lord of the universe, by Prabhupada's grace, kindly be visible unto me."

28 Prabhupada was sitting on a straw mat on the sunny balcony of the Calcutta temple, about to receive a massage from his servant, when a new disciple Pancadravida dasa, approached to ask a few questions.
 "Prabhupada, I used to be a musician," said Pancadravida, "so could I be a musician again and just play music for Krsna?"
 "Yes" said Prabhupada, "you can do that."  Prabhupada spoke calmly, relaxing under the hands of his massaging servant. "But then there will still be some karma you will have to accept."
 "Well, maybe that's not what I should do then', said Pancadravida.  "But it's just that brahmacari life is a little difficult for me.  In the life of a brahmacari you have to live under very institutional conditions."  A few other devotees had gathered around, watching Prabhupada and listening to his words.  The sounds of birds and street noises filled the air.
 You can be a brahmacari and live outside the temple," said Prabhupada.
 "Really?" Pancadravida was surprised to hear such liberal concession, but again Srila Prabhupada qualified it.
 "Yes, you can live outside, follow the four principles, and be a brahmacari, but of course if you did that, you wouldn't be part of our movement."
 "Oh," Pancadravida sounded disappointed.  "Well, maybe, Prabhupada," he continued, "maybe I can get married."
 "Yes", said Prabhupada in a leisurely, tolerant manner, "you could do that if you like."  Pancadravida decided to ask no more questions, and he excused himself from Prabhupada's presence.
 Later, some of the senior devotees told Pancadravida that they had never heard Srila Prabhupada speak quite like that, sanctioning whatever his disciple had asked for.  But Pancadravida wasn't satisfied.
 The following day he happened to be outside of Prabhupada's room just as Srila Prabhupada was looping his brahmanical thread around his ear in preparation for entering the bathroom.  Seeing his spiritual master, Pancadravida spoke his mind again.  
 "Srila Prabhupada, you know yesterday I asked you all those questions and you said I could do so many things, play music, live as a brahmacari outside the temple, or get married?  So I'm a little confused.  I was wondering, if I do those things, will I have your blessings?"
 Prabhupada cast a penetrating glance into his disciple's eyes and replied, "Why are you asking so many stupid questions?  If you do not know what the spiritual master wants, how do you expect to have his blessings?"  Srila Prabhupada then walked away and entered his bathroom.  Pancadravida was left with his first lesson of spiritual life: do what the spiritual master wants.  And he also better appreciated, by the way Srila Prabhupada was dealing with him, that Prabhupada was transcendental, not an ordinary beings of this world.

29 A few months after his questions to Prabhupada in Calcutta, Pancadravida approached him in Bombay and handed him a piece of paper, saying, I wrote this song."
 "All right," said Prabhupada, "just leave it here, and I'll look at it later."  Pancadravida thanked Srila Prabhupada and started to leave the room, when suddenly Prabhupada spoke again.  "Here, let me see that."
 Prabhupada then looked at the words to Pancadravida's song and said, "So, can you sing this?"
 "Yes, Srila Prabhupada," said Pancadravida.  "I have a guitar."
 Prabhupada, then asked Pancadravida to get the guitar and sing along with Prabhupada and his servant.  Prabhupada took up the mrdanga on his lap, his servant played karatalas, and Pancadravida began strumming chords to accompany his own singing of his original devotional song.
  "Five thousand years on this very day
  a small blue boy made His way i
  into this dark and troubled land
  into this dark and troubled world
  "The men rushed by on their charging steeds
  looking for the child who will one day kill the king
  looking for the child who will one day kill the king.
  "Nanda Maharaja, I can find thirty-two auspicious symptoms
  on the body of your son.  I am wondering how this child could
  have taken His birth in the family of cowherd men 
  how this child could have taken His birth in the family of cowherd men.
 Prabhupada smiled and enjoyed the song along with his disciples.  Outside Prabhupada's room, one of the devotees told Pancadravida that he should consider this the perfection of his guitar-playing career, and that he could now forget about the guitar.  But Pancadravida held on to his guitar for another month or so, although it wasn't much appreciated by the other brahmacaris.  Then one day he decided to give it up.  Although it was a two hundred dollar guitar, he accepted five dollars for the guitar and case and sold it to another musician-devotee.  The same guitar then became part of further interaction with Srila Prabhupada in Mayapur.
 The new owner of the guitar, an American disciple, had been causing considerable trouble for the devotee community because of his violent temper, and almost all the devotees were apprehensive of his presence.  Prabhupada heard different complaints and one day called the devotee before him.
 "You sing so nicely," said Srila Prabhupada.  "Why don't you and your wife just travel all over the world, singing to attract people to Krsna consciousness?"
 Greatly encouraged, the devotee soon left Mayapur.  On the authority of Srila Prabhupada, he walked off singing with his guitar. Although the sastras say that no one can know the mind of the acarya and although Srila Prabhupada never said that he had sent away a troublesome devotee by suggesting that he travel and sing, nevertheless most the devotees in Mayapur could not help but appreciated how Prabhupada was masterfully solving problems.

30 It was Prabhupada's custom, while visiting the ISKCON Temple on Henry Street in Brooklyn, to receive the ISKCON artists and review their latest paintings for his books.  But when one of the veteran painters, Jadurani devi dasi, showed Prabhupada a recent picture of Krsna in Vrndavana, she got an unusual response.  The picture showed youthful Krsna, sitting in the bushes of Vrndavana.  His head was tilted, and with His hand to His forehead He was in a dejected mood.  Beyond the bushes some of the gopis were searching for Krsna.
 "What is this?" asked Prabhupada.  It was as he did not know what to make of it.
 "Is something wrong?" asked Jadurani.  "This is Krsna lamenting because Radharani has left Him."
 "No," said Prabhupada.
 "Yes," said Jadurani.  "It is right there in The Teachings of Lord Caitanya.  Krsna is lamenting because Radharani went off and so He went into the bushes and lamenting."
 "No," said Prabhupada, "Krsna's not like that."
 Jadurani insisted that it was in the book, but Prabhupada objected.  "Krsna does not lament like that", he said.  Prabhupada did not say exactly what was wrong, but the devotees became distressed, especially the artist.  Everyone felt uncomfortable, until Srila Prabhupada found a solution.
 "You can use this painting for another picture idea," he said.  This can be the picture where Krsna has a headache."  Prabhupada leaned back satisfied and repeated, "Yes, Krsna has a headache."
 Everyone sighed in relief, as Prabhupada found another way to appreciate a devotee's service.

31 On another visit to the Brooklyn temple, while Srila Prabhupada was seeing the latest paintings of his artist disciples, he suddenly asked that a tape be brought of his singing the bhajana Jiva jago.
 Within a few minutes the tape was found and Prabhupada sat back silently listening, along with the roomful of devotees.  He became so absorbed in listening to the singing that to the devotees it appeared he had entered a spiritual trance.  Even when he looked up and glanced around the room, they felt that Prabhupada's spiritual mood was deep and unapproachable.  When the tape was over.  The devotees began to reluctantly rise and leave.  But one of them came forward with another painting.
 "Prabhupada, we forgot to show you.  Here's one more painting."
 "Yes," said Prabhupada, still in a very thoughtful mood.  "yes, it is good."  He then looked around at the assembled devotees in the room and began shaking his head appreciatively.
 "Actually all of you are good," he said.  "You are all good and in your association, even I am good.  Otherwise, I am very bad."  Now the meeting was over, as no one was able to reply to Prabhupada's humble statement.

32 Some of Prabhupada's disciples were in the midst of famous or infamous careers just before they joined him to take up full time spiritual life.  Jagattarini-devi dasi had been a leading movie actress in Australia and had just made a film with Mick Jagger before deciding to surrender to Srila Prabhupada.  One time while Prabhupada was visiting in Australia, a reporter picked up on the story that the former actress had now become a renounced devotee.  They ran two pictures in the newspaper showing Jagattarini first as a movie actress, with make-up and fashionable attire, and another photo of her wearing a sari and washing a pot.  When the newspaper came out, the devotees were amused and wanted to bring it to Prabhupada, although Jagattarini was frightened that he would be displeased.  When Prabhupada saw the photos, he laughed.
 "In this picture as a movie actress, she looks morose and she is not very beautiful," said Prabhupada.  Then he pointed to the picture of his disciple in a sari.  "But in this picture she looks very lively and beautiful.  But to the materialist, he will see it the other way.
 That evening in the temple, when Jagattarini approached Prabhupada's vyasasana to receive a piece of prasadam, he said to her, "You are very fortunate, because Krsna saved you from all that nonsense."
 A newly-wed husband disciple, once approached Srila Prabhupada for advice about marriage and got a puzzling reply.
 Srila Prabhupada had himself performed a fire yajna ceremony for the young man and woman in his London temple, and the next morning the newlyweds managed to accompany Srila Prabhupada alone of his morning walk.  The husband walked next to Prabhupada and the wife walked three paces behind.
 "Prabhupada, what does it mean to be married in Krsna consciousness?"
 Prabhupada was silent for a moment and then said, "To be married in Krsna consciousness means that before you eat your prasadam, you go out in the street and you call three times loudly.  'Does anyone want to take prasadam?  Does anyone want to take prasadam?  Does anyone want to take prasadam?  And if no one comes, then you take your prasadam."
 The husband felt somewhat bewildered, because he was hoping to hear directions about the position of a married couple and how they should deal intimately in relating to each other.  The young man thought that perhaps Prabhupada had not understood him, and so near the end of the walk he again asked the same question.
 "Prabhupada, what does it mean to be married in Krsna Consciousness?"
 Prabhupada steadily repeated his answer, "To be married in Krsna consciousness means that before you take prasadam, you go out into the street and you loudly call three times, 'Does anyone want to take prasadam?' and if no one comes, then you take prasadam."

33 In Australia Prabhupada was talking to a roomful of guests.  He spoke of misused intelligence.  He said that people in the human form of life have the opportunity for spiritual realisation, and yet they are simply misusing their intelligence.  Srila Prabhupada's talk was being recorded by several tape recorders and microphones were popped up on the desk before him.  The mood was serious, just like in a formal lecture, and Prabhupada was intent in his deliverance of Krsna consciousness to the people.
 In the midst of the talk, a newly-initiated brahmacari disciple was sent forward to give Prabhupada a goblet of water.  The goblet was a fancy one with a small base and a large opening.  It had been placed upside down on the silver tray along with a pitcher of ice water.  The brahmacari nervously placed the tray of Prabhupada's table, while everyone watched him and waited.  Not perceiving that the glass was turned upside down, the boy somehow thought that the base was actually a funnel in which he should pour the water.  But as he started pouring, the water splashed off the base of the goblet and onto the desk.
 "What is that?" said Prabhupada.
 "It is water, Prabhupada", said the brahmacari disciple.
 By now several people in the audience rose to help the situation.  No one was laughing.  Rather, there was pained embarrassment that such a strange thing had happened in Prabhupada's presence.  Finally the boy sat down again, and Prabhupada commenced his lecture.
 "Misused intelligence", said Prabhupada, and the audience laughed with him, appreciating his wit and his ability to relieve the awkward moment.

34 One time while Prabhupada was in Mayapur, a disciple came from Africa with the intention of performing extreme austerities in the holy dhama.  Instead of living in the residential building, the devotee stayed in a small hut near a field of banana trees.  Reportedly, he was chanting 120 rounds of japa a day, sleeping two hours a day, and only taking a small bit of prasadam.
 Srila Prabhupada knew of the boy's presence in the dhama, but at first he said nothing publicly.  Then one morning while Prabhupada was walking around the pond, one of the devotees mentioned the latest austere practices of the devotee from Africa.  Some of the devotees had been impressed, since they knew how difficult it was to chant so many rounds and to sleep and eat so little.
 "Srila Prabhupada," said one of the devotees, "he is now increasing his chanting, and he's not associating with anyone, so that he won't engage in any idle talk."
 "Yes," said Prabhupada noncommittally, "he wanted to live on the river."
 "Srila Prabhupada, now he wants to live in a tree."
 Then Prabhupada revealed his mind.  "All nonsense," he said.  And he waved his hand, dismissing the whole endeavour.  "As soon as you say, 'I want', it is all sense gratification, all nonsense."

35 In Mayapur, especially at the time of the international festivals, different disciples would take the service of guard at Srila Prabhupada's door.  Their function was mostly to screen potential visitors so that Srila Prabhupada was not constantly interrupted.  The guard also would go and fetch anything that Srila Prabhupada wanted.
 One time, while Mahabhuti dasa was guarding Srila Prabhupada's door, Srila Prabhupada called him in and asked for the juice of a fresh dob.  But even while Prabhupada was talking, his sister Bhavatarini, suddenly entered his room.  Prabhupada's sister, known as Pisima (or aunt) to Prabhupada's disciples, had free entrance to see Prabhupada whenever she wanted.  Besides, no one could really restrain her if she wanted to see Prabhupada, to talk with him, or to cook for him.
 As Pisima sat down in the room, Mahabhuti got up to carry out Prabhupada's desire for the fresh dob.  But Prabhupada spoke sternly, "Sit down."  And so Mahabhuti sat down again.
 Srila Prabhupada began speaking with his sister in Bengali, while Mahabhuti waited for about twenty minutes, silently chanting on his beads.  The talk between Prabhupada and his sister was enthusiastic, until towards the end when Prabhupada became somewhat reprimanding.  Finally Bhavatarini offered her respects to her exalted brother and left the room.  Prabhupada stood up and Mahabhuti started to leave to carry our his interrupted errand.
 As if to explain his action, Prabhupada quoted a verse:
  matra svasra duhitra va
   naviviktasano bhavet
  balavan indriya gramo
   vidvamsam api karsati
 "Never stay alone with a woman," said Prabhupada.
 Spreading Krsna consciousness in India often meant that Prabhupada went with his disciples to honour prasadam at people's homes.  Thus, eating became a form of service to Krsna.
 When Giriraja dasa first arrived in India, he was used to strict training as a brahmacari, and his personal habit was to be particularly reserved about accepting any sweets.  But on one occasion Prabhupada saw that his disciple's austerity was causing discomfort to their host.
 The father of the man who had invited Prabhupada to eat had repeatedly tried to give Giriraja a second rasagulla, but Giriraja kept refusing.  Since Giriraja was sitting quite close to Prabhupada, de did not Prabhupada to think that he was a sense enjoyer, and so for that reason also he staunchly refused to accept the rasagulla from the elderly father of the host.  Finally, when the man came round again, to coax Giriraja, Srila Prabhupada glanced lovingly at Giriraja and said, "You can take a sweet to make an old man happy."  And so Giriraja accepted another sweet.

26 SRILA PRABHUPADA SAID
 On Health and Sickness
 "Regarding your physical malady, you should do whatever is required to treat it properly - whatever is most practical."
  Letter of May 7, 1975
 "First of all there is no question of a devotee becoming ostracised because he has become ill, nor do I think this is being widely practiced.  Who has been ostracised?  One of the symptoms of a devotee is that he is kind, so if our Godbrother becomes ill, it is our duty to help him get the proper medicine and treatment so that he can recover."
  Letter of April, 1974
 "Regarding Bumata devi dasi's affliction, she should simply take the proper treatment.  Make the best out of a bad bargain.  This material body is a bad bargain because it is always miserable.  So to make the best out of this bad bargain means to render devotional service in any circumstance.  The dust from the lotus feet of the spiritual master is never to be used for material benefit.  That is a great misconception.  The best thing is that the girl tries her best to chant sixteen rounds daily and to follow all the rules and regulations, even is she is afflicted with something, and in this way she will fully understand the mercy of Krsna and the spiritual master."
  Letter of April 8, 1975
 "Doctors give medicine and they speak surety, but there is no surety, and where there is no surety why should we break our four basic principles?  I don't think there is guarantee  of surety by taking this medicine with animal products.  But if there is surety, you can take.  But it is very doubtful."
  Letter of February 12, 1972
 "There are many examples in history of persons who have been very much disabled physically but who still have executed Krsna consciousness.  Still, up-to-date in places like Vrndavana, India, there are many persons who are blind, crippled, lame, deformed, etc. but they are determined to practice Krsna consciousness to their best ability.  Simply be determined to practice the process of bhakti-yoga with whatever abilities you have.  If you are really sincere, then Krsna will give you help.  If you require any medical help, you take as much as is needed.
  Letter of June 3, 1975
 "So you have done your duty at the last moments of your wife's life so that she could hear the chanting.  As to where she has gone, that depends on what she was thinking of at the time of her passing away.  That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita:
  anta-kale ca mam eva
   smaran muktva kalevaram
  yah prayati smad-bhavam
   yati nasty atra samsayah
 "And whoever at the time of death quits his body remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature.  Of this there is no doubt."  To remember Krsna requires practice, and this is mostly to be done by chanting Hare Krsna mantra."
  Letter of June 11, 1974
 "Regarding the auto accident, just hold a condolence meeting for Raghava dasa brahmacari and pray for his soul to Krsna for giving him a good chance for advancement in Krsna consciousness.  Certainly Krsna will give him a good place to take birth where he can again begin Krsna conscious activities.  That is sure.  But we offer our condolences to a departed soul separated from the Vaisnavas.  Do you know that there must be prasadam distributed?  Three days after the demise of a Vaisnava a function should be held for offering the departed soul and all others prasadam.  This is the system."
  Letter of April 11, 1973

37 Prabhupada introduced his disciples to the stories of the jester Gopala Bhan, who was famous in Bengal for his intelligence, wit, and quick thinking in the court of Krsnacandra.  Prabhupada said that no one, not even an emperor can always be serious without any relief.  But since everyone had to treat the king very respectfully, there would be one person allowed to spoof the king.  The king would also be able to joke with him, because if the king were to do that with his prime minister, the prime minister's prestige would be reduced.  So King Krsnacandra was always engaged in a battle of wits with his joker, Gopala.
 One time Gopala walking into the king's court and the king said, "Gopala, you are an ass."
 "My lord," said Gopala, "I am  not an ass.  There is a difference between me and an ass."
 Then Gopala measured out the difference between himself and the king said, "six feet."
 When Prabhupada laughingly told this story, his devotees were not amused but amazed that Prabhupada was inviting them to hear and laugh at the wit of Gopala.
 Then Prabhupada told another story.  Gopala was building a new house, and according to Vedic custom, before you open a house you have to have a sacrifice called a Grha-pravesana.  This means there is a yajna so that the house is pure and offered to God.  No one is allowed to pass any stool in the house or it will be considered contaminated.  Nothing is used by anyone until the brahmanas enter with sankirtana yajna, reciting mantras and sprinkling Ganges water.  Thus in the Vedic culture everything, including building a house and conceiving a child, is regulated so that at every point one is conscious of Krsna.  But Prabhupada, explained, the king wanted to defeat Gopala, and so he offered a large reward of gold coins if anyone could outsmart Gopala and pass stool in his newly constructed house.
 One day Gopala was inspecting his house when a man sent by the king came up and pretended to be suffering from an urgent call of nature.
 "Gopala," he said, "I have to immediately pass stool,  Please show me your bathroom.  I cannot myself.
 "All right," said Gopala.  "Come on."  He took him over to the bathroom of the newly constructed house and allowed the man to squat down inside.  But when he tried to close the door for privacy, Gopala stood there by the open door.
 "Gopala, why are you standing there and not allowing me to close the door?  Why are you holding that big stick in your hand?"
 Gopala said, "no, you can pass stool in my bathroom, but if you pass one drop of urine, then I'm going to smash your head."  Then the man laughed and confessed, "you are very clever" and he ran off, defeated.
 Prabhupada laughed after this story, also although the devotees were a little puzzled.  Prabhupada admitted that the Vedic humour was somewhat subtle.  He said that the humour was connected inseparably with the culture, and if one did know the culture, he might not understand the humour.  But in Vedic culture, religion, humour, art, music - everything was connected.

38 One day the king's wife gave birth to a male child, and so the king was rejoicing.  At that moment, Gopala came into the room, and the king said, "Gopala, on this very, very happy occasion, please tell me what do you have to say?  Tell me exactly how you feel at this moment."
 Gopala replied, "Frankly, at this moment, I feel very happy after passing stool."
 "Gopala! How could you say such a thing?"  The king was mortified.  "On this auspicious moment, that's all you have to say?  I am completely disgusted.  It's not funny and I don't appreciate your humour at all."
 After that, the relations between the king and Gopala were strained for some time.  But one day Gopala was rowing the king down the river, when the king suddenly had an urgent call of nature.  Gopala said, "On this side there is a very heavy jungle area.  It's not very suitable.  let us go a little further down and we'll  find a better place."
 The king said, "Not here.  There is danger.  Some thieves and dacoits.  Your life may be endangered.  There's a place ahead."
 The king said, "Gopala, I cannot wait any longer.  Immediately go over!"  Gopala had to go over and the king jumped out.  He could hardly contain himself.  When the king returned Gopala asked him.  "How are you feeling?"
 The king replied, "I am feeling very happy after passing stool."
 Then Gopala said, "Don't you remember?  This was exactly the situation I was in after your child was born.  When you asked me at that moment what exactly I was feeling, I was in the same situation as you are now.  I told you how I was feeling, but you thought I was insulting to your son and you never appreciate it.  Now do you understand?"

39 PERSONAL
 His Regular Schedule
 Prabhupada followed his own schedule and only occasionally departed from it.  He was supposed to take massage at about eleven or eleven thirty in the morning, but if he had guests and was preaching, he would not stop for the schedule.  Or at night, he would keep talking, especially with some life member or solicitor in Bombay.  But he was never whimsical about time, or about where to be for Krsna's service.  Once, after walking along Juhu beach for half an hour, Dr Patel, one of his friends who joined us to walk, suggested that we turn back.  Prabhupada looked at his watch and said that it was too early, the Deity of Radha-Rasabihari would not give darsana for another hour.  Dr Patel said, "If you come back early, since you are a pure devotee, Krsna can give darsana question; we cannot change the Deities' schedule to suit ours.
 He never went off alone without devotees accompanying him.  It was unheard of that he would say, "I am leaving for a few days," or "I am going on some private business," or "I am going on vacation."
 Everything was done at the right Krsna consciousness moment.  Even his solitude (one could overhear it) as he produced the Bhagavatam or when he was chanting Hare Krsna mantra on beads.  The silence of his pure consciousness we could not try to understand, but there were glimpses of it, when he would sometimes tell us of a dream he had, or he would reveal something he had been thinking of alone.
 In New York City, in 1968, after staying up very late at night, Prabhupada rose and travelled early in the morning to Boston.  He then wrote back to his temple president in New York city, who had not been able to rise on the morning of Prabhupada's departure to Boston.  "Don't just praise me," Prabhupada wrote, "but do as I do."  Prabhupada followed his schedule with considerable strictness.  Events would crash down on him, news of a demon's attack might make him very grave, and yet he would go off gravely to his bath, or take prasadam, unless it became too much, then out of anxiety he would not attend his eating or once he stayed up all night worrying when a leading disciple showed signs of serious deviancy.  One time when shown colour photos of the first Ratha-yatra in Los Angeles, he stared in transcendental pleasure for hours and did not take his massage.  Promptness was the steady factor, punctuated by these departures showed us something beyond the schedule, but usually everything was taken care of, absorbed within his routine.
 He did not fit the stereotype of an Indian who was always two hours late for every meeting.  Prabhupada regularly glanced at his watch, and sometimes when his servants were not ready to leave, he would walk out his room and head for a waiting car, prepared to leave them behind.  Yet he did not appear like a karmi, bound hand and foot to follow an imposed schedule that gave him no freedom.
 The Bhagavad-gita describes the "regulated principles of freedom," and Prabhupada was liberated, but to show us, and to live in the most effective way for accomplishing his service, he organised the day and night of twenty four hours.  There was a best time - when the air was cool and the neighbourhood quiet - for taking a morning walk.  There was a best time to greet the Deities - according to Their time. There was a best time for devotees to gather, a suitable time to eat for health, and a reasonable time to answer letters.  To regulate his men so they would rise early, he rose early.  He preached to his guests at times convenient to their schedules.  Thus he schedules his transcendental acts, not for the rule's own sake but for performing constant, optimum service to Krsna, for spreading and solidifying his ISKCON movement in this world.

40 One of Prabhupada's artist disciples, Bharadvaja dasa had his own ideas of how he should preach, until Prabhupada impressed him with his own desire and definition for how to preach.
 At one time of receiving his Gayatri mantra, Bharadvaja asked, "Prabhupada, may I ask you a question." Prabhupada nodded and Bharadvaja perused it: "I would like to go and preach."  He was about to speak further, but Prabhupada cut him off.
 "What do you know about preaching?" challenged Prabhupada, and his disciple became speechless.
 "Preaching means to describe Krsna," said Prabhupada.  "So you are doing it by your painting."  Prabhupada leaned forward across the table and looked into Bharadvaja's eyes.  "Please try to understand," said Prabhupada.  "If you don't do this important service, who will do it?  Go on painting."
 Bharadvaja left the room, contemplating what Prabhupada had said.  He thought how he had wanted to say to Prabhupada, "I want to go to Russia,"  Maybe if he had said that, it would have made a difference.  But then Prabhupada's own words reverberated in his mind, and finally he began to understand them.  He began to realise that just knowing another language was no great qualification for preaching.  But by painting a picture of Krsna's name, fame, and pastimes he could preach anywhere and very straightforwardly, in the universal language that requires no translation.  The more he thought about it, the more he became happy to follow Prabhuapda's order.
 The next day Prabhupada met again with the ISKCON artists, and Bharadvaja was eager to show Prabhupada that he had understood his teachings.  Prabhupada was explaining the meaning of sannyasa, which he said was to preach, by serving Krsna with body, mind and words.  Service with the mind, said Prabhupada, means the intelligence, the artists' special task was to serve Krsna with their intelligence.  They should serve with their intelligence and not become diverted by many things.  Thinking that he had finally understood the point clearly, Bharadvaja spoke up.
 "Prabhupada," he said, "the other day you said preaching is to describe Krsna."
 "Yes," said Prabhupada, "one should offer the words to Krsna through speaking."  Bharadvaja became bewildered again, and his former desire to preach by travelling and speaking words and not painting came to his mind.  He thought he had understood Prabhupada, but now as Prabhupada enlarged his explanation, Bharadvaja wondered.
 "The artist can also preach," said Prabhupada, "in the temple to the devotees."  But mostly he continued to stress that the artists sit and paint as their best preaching.  Seeing Bharadvaja's confusion, Prabhupada turned to him.  
 "So, Bharadvaja.  Where do you want to go?"
 Bharadvaja felt himself falling into a trap, but he could not resist it.  "Russia," he said.
 Prabhupada moved his head back in surprise.  "Russia!" he said, and he laughed.  On that note Prabhupada ended his conversation with the artists.
 "I have been a fool now twice in front of Prabhupada," thought Bharadvaja, and he resolved never to again bring up his restlessness in front of Prabhupada.  "when will I learn?" he thought.  "Prabhupada wants me to paint."

41 Srila Prabhupada said that one had to first become acquainted with Krsna in order to live him.  As the representative of Krsna, Prabhupada attached his devotees to himself and then he attached them to Krsna's service.  So it is stated in the Vedic sastras that the infinite Personality of Godhead reveals Himself to the tiny spirit soul through the agency of the spiritual master.  Srila Prabhupada attracted devotees through his books, through his lectures, through the maha-mantra, and by many other direct methods of bhakti yoga.  He also developed individual relationships with his disciples, sometimes based on seemingly ordinary matters.  Of course, the main relationship he had with each disciple was through their regular service, but sometimes he would exchange with them over little things.  If he had met a devotee's parents, he might regularly asked the devotee about the wellbeing of his mother and father, or he would accept a gift of a daily mango or a twig for brushing his teeth, or he would call on a particular devotee to become an antagonist in mock debates.  With Prabhupada's disciple Candanacarya dasa, Srila Prabhupada developed an ongoing acquaintanceship based on their mutual dealings over an Omega watch.
 When Candanacarya was given hari-nama initiation by Srila Prabhupada in Boston, he gave Srila Prabhupada an Omega watch as a gesture of guru-daksina. 
"You do not need this watch?" asked Srila Prabhupada.
 "Well, you have given something very dear to you to me - so I am giving the most dear thing I have."  The watch had been given to Candana by his father and Candana considered it his most treasured possession.  Prabhupada was pleased by the gift and explained to Candana that giving and accepting gifts was one of the six kinds of love exchanges in Krsna consciousness.  The watch then became the basis of a series of conversations that took place over a year between Srila Prabhupada and  his new disciple.
 Since the watch was running a little slow, Candana asked Prabhupada if he could first have it adjusted and cleaned before giving it to Prabhupada.  Prabhupada agreed but was disturbed to hear later that Candanacarya had left the watch at the jewellers without asking for a receipt.
 Months later when Srila Prabhupada was in New Vrndavana, Candana travelled along with hundreds of others to see his spiritual master and Srila Prabhupada received him affectionately.
 Prabhupada was wearing the Omega watch and on seeing Candana, he said "this is a very nice watch.  Do you have a watch?"  Prabhupada instructed his servant to give his old watch to Candanacarya.  Prabhupada said that he had replaced the original Omega wrist band with a spring type metal wrist band, "because it us much easier to take on and off."  Candana was pleased to receive the old wrist band from Prabhupada which now smelled sweetly of sandalwood oil from being worn on Prabhupada's body.  He put his old band onto a new, inexpensive watch that Prabhupada gave him.  As they sat together in Prabhupada's small room above the New Vrndavana temple room, Prabhupada admired his Omega watch.  "The only difference with this watch," said Prabhupada, "is that it does not tell me the day or the date.  That old watch did."
 "Prabhupada, I can get you a little calendar", said Candana, "which will fit on the wrist band and that can be changed every month." Prabhupada said that would be good, and in the following weeks there were further exchanges as Candana mailed Prabhupada the wrist calendars, and Prabhupada wrote back thanking him.
 Months later they met again in New York and talked more about watches.  "How is your watch?" asked Prabhupada.
 "It's good, Srila Prabhupada.  How's yours?"
 "Its slow," said Prabhupada.  "Why are they cheating like this?  This is such an expensive watch and you took it to be fixed, and it is slow a minute or two every day."
 "This watch," said Candana raising his wrist and showing the watch he had been given by Prabhupada, "is fast about five minutes every day."
 "Well, at least it has a good qualification," said Prabhupada, "that it's fast."
 Candana and the other devotees present laughed with Prabhupada about the cheating defects of the watches.  Kirtanananda Maharaja was also present and brought Prabhupada a plate of prasadam.  Prabhupada took a single bite and then distributed the rest to everyone.
 "Srila Prabhupada," said Kirtanananda Maharaja, "I just tried to make the sandesa the way you told me, but it never comes out the way you make it.  I did everything you showed me."
 Prabhupada turned his head to the side and said, "Craftsmanship."
 Thus in as many different ways there were different disciples, Srila Prabhupada exchanged with them and brought them into a loving bondage with Krsna even while talking of watches and cooking.

42 When in January 1974 devotees saw Kahoutek's Comet and told Srila Prabhupada, he called the comet a bad omen.  "In our childhood," he said, "we saw a comet and the first world war was declared."  The witnesses of the Kohoutek Comet told Prabhupada that it had filled up the sky near their airplane with flashes of light.
 "And they say the tail is three million miles long.  It's going very fast, so it is emitting a tail of gasses."
 "So who is supplying the gasses?" asked Prabhupada.  "The Arabians?"
 He said the comet was like a policeman who all of a sudden comes before us.  By his presence, we can understand that some criminal is present and the policeman is searching.  He said disasters would follow.
 The anticult crusade in America was only beginning its campaign during Srila Prabhupada's very last years.  But Prabhupada gave good advice how the devotees could combat it and how they could realise they were protected by Krsna.
 Ramesvara Swami was once explaining to Srila Prabhupada about these activities during a visit with Prabhupada in India.
 "we're actually getting much more free exposure on the radio and television," said Ramesvara Swami, "and each time we come off sounding very intelligent, religious and nice, and the deprogrammers come off sounding like lunatics and bigots.  So people are getting a good impression of us because of the publicity on radio and television."
 "Yes," said Prabhupada.  "Just like Sita was put into the fire and she came out unburned.  Sita was blasphemed.  They said, 'This woman was kidnapped by Ravana, and Ramacandra is so henpecked that He has again picked her up and is living with her.'  So Ramacandra put her in the fire, and she came out unharmed."

43 Prabhupada was talking with an Indian guest and well wisher and the topic turned to the publication Of Back to Godhead magazine in various languages.  Prabhupada was saying that the Indians would gladly read an English magazine.  But Prabhupada's guest that it would be much more popular if they could publish in Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Bengali.
 "That is not possible," said Prabhupada.  "That's for you Indians to do.  But you have not time.  You are busy with your daughter's marriage and you simply advise."
 "I am busy?" replied the man with surprise.
 "Yes, everyone," said Prabhupada.  "Every Indian is busy with his own affairs.  He'll come and advise, that's all.  Advice gratis.  But he will not do himself."
 The man protested, "no, but-"
 But Prabhupada knew better.  "No, this is going on," he said.  "I have got full experience that Indians, they will come and give some advice and go away for daughter's marriage.  That's all."
 "Well," the man tried to hold his ground, "there are various types of Indians, you know."
 "That type," said Prabhupada, "is ninety nine percent.  You'll advise, but you'll never do it.  This is going on."
 On different occasions, Prabhupada explained how the British empire had done great damage to India's culture.  Once he explained the Home Bill, which had ordered India's gold to London.  Even the Muhammadans made their expenditures within India, but the British took away India's wealth.  Then he described how the British sent Indian labourers all over the world.
 "First of all it was conquered by Indian soldiers," said Prabhupada, "then when it was to be organised, Indian coolies, India labourers.  Because they have got Indian men and money, so they expanded the empire.  So I am doing the same business - American money and American men."  Prabhupada laughed to think of it.  "I am already a great politician."
 "Home Bill," quipped one of the devotees.
 "Yes," said Prabhupada, "but I am not for home.  I am for the whole world."

44 PRABHUPADA SAID
 On a Balanced Temple Program
 In a letter of June 12, 1974, to Sri Govinda dasa in Chicago, Srila Prabhupada stressed book distribution and stated that other programs should be minimised.  After this letter had been distributed to various temples, several devotees wrote to Prabhupada asking whether they should actually cut back on other existing programs like Deity worship and other outside kinds of preaching.  Prabhupada replies stressed the absolute nature of any Krsna consciousness service.
 "The thing is we should have a little common sense in all activities.  The example can be given that women by nature do not forget to dress very nicely although always engaged in household affairs.  Deity worship or lecturing in the colleges is just as important as book distribution.  So these things must be done very nicely, and at the same time, book distribution should be done.  Not that we should do one thing at the sacrifice of another.  That requires a little common sense.  Factually, we should be engaged twenty-four hours in Krsna's service and everything should be done very nicely and perfectly."
  Letter of January 2, 1975
 "Regarding your question about the controversial talks going on, this kind of talk is not befitting my advanced students.  This is childish.  In Krsna's service, there is no inferior and superior.  Deity worship is just as important as book distribution. It is not material...You should understand the importance of each and every item of devotional service.  Do not make any misunderstanding by devaluating any of the spiritual activities...One who distinguishes a particular type of service as inferior or superior, he does not know the value of devotional service.  It is all transcendental.  Whatever item is suitable, that is accepted as very elevated.  Just like Maharaja Pariksit.  He simply listened to Sukadeva Gosvami.  That is sravanam...So nay devotee executing any one of the nine items is transcendentally glorious.  One devotee may be proud that his process of service is best.  That is not inglorious.  This is called transcendental competition.  Every one should feel proud of his particular type of devotional service. But that does not mean that other types of service are inferior.  Everyone should feel proud of becoming a sincere servant of Krsna, but the pure devotee never minimises the importance of other devotees.  Krsna is the enjoyer of varieties of service.  It is not tuck up with any particular type of service."
  Letter of January 19, 1975
 On Instructions from Outside Institutions
 "Regarding the books from other Maths being circulated there, who is distributing?  Who is sending these books?  These Maths do not sell our books; why should we sell their books?  Who has introduced these books?  Let me know.  These books should not at all be circulated in our society.  You say that you would read only one book if that was all that I had written, so you teach others to do like that.  You have very good determination."
  Letter of April 11, 1973
 "I understand that in the past you were visiting L. and that you may also be planning to continue to visit him when you return to India.  This is not approved by me, and I request you not to go see him anymore.  He holds a grudge against my Guru Maharaja, and even if it is transcendental, it will gradually appear mundane in your eyes.  Whatever is to be learned of the teachings of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura can be learned from our books.  There is no need whatsoever for any outside instruction.
  Letter of December 25, 1973

45 PRABHUPADA SAID
 Preaching methods
 "If our men are trained, one man can run a place.  One experienced man can sit down in a hut and simply talk about Krsna and organise the local people.  That is how I started in the beginning at 26 Second Avenue in New York City.  If there is genuine preaching, they will be attracted, so long as the preacher has no self-motivation but simply chants and preaches.
  Letter of April 8, 1974
 "There is no question of bigness or smallness of the centre as far as pleasing me is concerned.  It is sincerity of the attempt that is the important thing.  Of course, as Krsna sees the sincerity of our hearts He supplies the facility.  Just like I came to your country with only 40 rupees and now we have this big institution.  So you can be sure that Krsna will supply you according to your capacity.  I think that if you continue working sincerely, you will get all facilities that you require for your purposes."
  Letter of September 12, 1974
 "Brahmananda Swami seemed to think that you need more men there.  His telegram reads, Trivikrama alone, more men required urgently.  I do not understand what he means by alone.  When I first came to the United States, I was seemingly alone for one year.  But I never felt alone.  I always felt the presence of my Guru Maharaja.  Myself, I was cooking, I was printing books, I was selling books, everything seemingly alone.  But I did not lose my determination.  Actually you should know this, you are never alone.  so local men are coming daily.  By good association, good preaching, nice prasadam, etc, they can become devotees."
  Letter of December 17, 1974
 "Regarding sending men to Bangkok, let us see who is a spare man or who is having visa problems.  But our policy as you know is not to import devotees but to make devotees out of the local men there.  That is better."
  Letter of April 19, 1975
 "One copy of our book Lord Caitanya in Five Features should be handed over to Swami Chinmayananda as our humble presentation.  If somebody, or yourself sees him personally, give him thanks for his letter recommending our admission in the temples and present this book to him.  That will be nice.  As far as possible, all big mayavadi sannyasis should be presented with this book.
  Letter of February 4, 1975

46 One of Prabhupada's sannyasa disciples had gradually drifted away, stopped strictly following the principles, allowed his hair to grow back, and stopped wearing a dhoti.  Despite these changes, the devotee still fancied that he could be a spiritual leader.  But when he came to visit Srila Prabhupada in Melbourne, Australia, Prabhupada told him he would never succeed unless he followed the standard practice.  To illustrate this, Prabhupada told a story.
 A servant of a very rich man came before his master one day and told him of an interesting yogi he had seen in the river.  The servant said that this yogi claimed he could stay in the cold water of the river all  night in the middle of winter without any outside heat.  The yogi was willing to take a wager with anyone to prove that he could do it.  When the rich man heard this, he decided to wager against the yogi.  So the bet was made to see whether the yogi could stay in the water all night.
 The yogi went into the water and the rich man and his servant went home.  The next day the word came that the yogi had successfully stayed in the water all night.  The rich man went out to see the yogi and indeed he was still standing in the water.  Therefore, by all rights the rich man had lost the wager.  But then a friend of the rich man said, "Wait! See that light?"  He pointed to a small flame far away in the tower of a temple.
 The rich man's friend said, "By his mystic power, this yogi had been using the heat of that light to keep warm in the water.  So he shouldn't be paid, because the bet was that he would stay in the water without taking any heat.
 Taking advantage of this word jugglery, the rich man said, "Yes, I'm not going to pay you.  You've tricked me."
 Then the rich man and his servant went back to their house.  The rich man asked his servant to quickly cook him a nice breakfast, but after waiting for some time, the servant had not produced anything.  The rich man expressed his impatience, but the cook replied, Please wait, I'm cooking.  The rich man waited, but it got later and later and no food was brought.  When he demanded from the servant, the servant only replied, "I'm cooking.  It's going to be ready soon."  Finally the rich man became angry and walked into the kitchen.  "What is this cooking?" he demanded.  And there he saw that the servant had a very strange arrangement for cooking.  He had a very small fire on the ground and a tall bamboo tripod to hold the pot he was supposed to heat high by the ceiling.  Obviously the small flame would never be able to reach the pot to heat it.
 "What do you thin you're doing?" demanded the rich man.
 "Well," said the servant, "if you claim that the yogi was keeping warm in the water by that light, then I am also cooking."  The man could understand that his servant was dissatisfied with the outcome of his wager with the yogi.  And so he went and paid the yogi the wager.
 When Prabhupada told this story, the devotees kept waiting for a punch line or a further conclusion.  It didn't seem very obvious.  Then Prabhupada explained it.
 "If you want to cook, then you have to cook according to the method.  You may have a pot and you may have a flame, but if you don't cook anything to the method, then you'll never get food.  It will never work.  So he may be chanting Hare Krsna", and now Prabhupada looked to his fallen sannyasi disciple, "but if you're not following the process, then what good is your chanting?  If you want to get the result, you have to follow the method."

47 Prabhupada said that when his spiritual master was in Burma opening a Krsna conscious centre, he used to cook very nice puris in ghee, but all the tenants in the building would come out covering their noses with their cloths.  They complained, "What are you cooking?  What an obnoxious smell!"  Yet these same inhabitants had a favourite preparation called Nakil.  At every door they would keep a big covered pot, and whatever animals died in that vacinity - cats, dogs, rats, whatever - they would put them in the big pot.  After two or three years, the bodies would decompose, leaving a liquid substance.  This liquid would then be strained, kept in a bottle, and a little bit of it would be used on foodstuffs during festive occasions.  Whenever anyone opened one of these pots, the whole neighbourhood would be filled with the most obnoxious smell for days.  And yet they preferred this to the smell of pure ghee.
 "Just see," said Prabhupada, "how the nature is working.  Nature grabs them by the ear and punishes them.  They are not allowed to eat nice foods.   Nature's dictating, 'You eat all nasty things like hog.'  Such persons cannot eat palatable foods like rasagulla and sandesa.  They prefer stool."
 Srila Prabhupada said that a woman's only protection is shyness.  In the modern age, women are giving up that shyness and therefore, they are creating devastation in society.  Srila Prabhupada remembered a personal experience in which a chaste girl defended her modesty against the mocking of another girl.
 In the year 1945 Prabhupada witnessed this scene while travelling on the train.  A young girl riding on the train was travelling for the first time to her husband's house.  Her face was covered with a veil, as she was observing the ceremony that after puberty and after engagement the girl goes to her husband's house, carrying presentations from her mother and father.  But another modernised girl was mocking the village girl and reached over and pulled at her veil.  The city girl did this once and then did it again.  But when she tried a third time, the village girl slapped her in the face.  "Yes, you have done right," said Srila Prabhupada, who was seated nearby in the same train car.
 Years later while telling the story, Prabhupada explained, "That city girl was thinking, 'What is this nonsense?' and she wanted to criticise.  But when the other girl gave her a good slap, the whole train laughed.  Shyness is the only protection for them.  But now there is no modesty left.  That is a woman's beauty, but we are breaking that, and so there is not beauty, no attraction."

48 In Washington, D.C., devotees showed Srila Prabhupada news photos of the planet Mars taken recently by a space craft that had supposedly gone near the planet.  The news article described how the Martian landscape was similar to the Grand Canyon in Arizona.  Prabhupada laughed to hear this and related a story from Bengal.
 A man was in his room at night, when he suddenly heard a noise.  Starting up in bed, he called out, "Who is there?"
 "Oh!" came a voice in reply.  "I am not stealing."
 Prabhupada said, "This is the psychology.  No one asked if he was stealing, but because that was his business, he revealed himself without being asked.  Similarly, no one has asked the scientist to compare Mars with Arizona, but they have done so because actually that is where their business is.  They have never been near Mars with their spaceship; their real business is in Arizona."
 When one of Prabhupada's disciples left Hong Kong, his area of preaching, without authorisation, Srila Prabhupada was displeased.  Meeting up with him in another country, Prabhupada reprimanded him.  "But why did you leave, rascal?" said Prabhupada.  And then he told a story, as given by the poet Kalidasa.
 A man was sitting on the end of a tree branch sawing on the portion of the limb between himself and the tree trunk.  Seeing the danger, a passerby called out, "If you keep on sawing you are going to fall."
 Go away, said the man on the limb, "I don't want anything to do with you.  I don't want to listen."  The man continued sawing until the branch broke and he fell to the ground.  He then hurried after the man who had warned him.  "You must be an astrologer - you can predict the future."
 Prabhupada said, "That's the definition of a rascal.  Someone who is going, but he doesn't know where he is going.  So that is like you," he said to the disciple.  "You left Hong Kong, but you didn't know what you were going to do next."
 To illustrate the foolishness of becoming a blind follower, Prabhupada told a story about the death of Sargal Singh.
 Sargal Singh was very much loved by a merchant, and so when Sargal Singh died, the man shaved his head and wore darken clothes.  When another man came into the merchant's shop, he asked who had died.
 "Sargal Singh has died," said the merchant.  The visitor did not want to seem ignorant and so did not ask who Sargal Singh was, but he also shaved his head and wore dark clothes.  Other people in town began to follow, not wanting to appear ignorant.  When anyone asked who had died, they replied, "Sargal Singh has died."
 When a minister of the king saw so many citizens in mourning he also wore dark clothes and shaved his head.  But when the king saw this, he inquired, "Why are you mourning and for whom?"
 "Sargal Singh", the minister replied.  The king asked, "Who is that?"  When the minister couldn't answer the king told him to find out.  The minister then inquired and inquired and finally reached the merchant.
 "Who is Sargal Sing?"
 The merchant replied, "Sargal Singh was my donkey, whom I loved very much."

49 PERSONAL
 Srila Prabhupada demanded loyalty 
 Srila Prabhupada himself was loyal.  He always wore the sannyasi saffron dhoti, shaved head, and behaved as a perfect Vaisnava wherever he went.  He was the most loyal son of his Guru Maharaja; therefore he carried out the instructions of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati to go to the West.  When Srila Prabhupada first came to New York City, he was advised by Indian swamis there to give up his strict vegetarianism and sannyasi observances, but Srila Prabhupada was loyal.  And in his Bhaktivedanta purports he is always loyal to the previous acaryas' conclusion.
 At least when one became his disciple then Prabhupada asked for complete loyalty.  Krsna consciousness knowledge is very exclusive; one has to understand that Krsna in Goloka Vrndavana is the Supreme Truth.  Loyalty to Srila Prabhupada means not to follow other version of the Absolute.  If other versions are to be read at all, he said, it is only to know their philosophy.  Even Vaisnava heritage should be received through him.  Once a disciple said to Prabhupada that Bhaktivinoda Thakura was his favourite writer.  Srila Prabhupada corrected his disciple and sad, "your second favourite writer."
 Prabhupada also asked for loyalty for our own benefit, because his Godbrothers were antagonistic.  They did not appreciate what Srila Prabhupada had done in going to the West to preach.
 Not being loyal to Prabhupada means to create a very serious erosion in the most crucial place - dedication to the guru.  Prabhupada once said that if you lose faith in the guru, it is like a crack at the very foundation of your Krsna consciousness.
 His demand for loyalty was not something that he regularly asked for; it was love between him and his disciples, and it was expected He would refer to "our men" and "the Hare Krsna People," meaning all his followers, yet although he asked for their attachment, it was without any false prestige.
 Srila Prabhupada humbly accepted that he was the authorised person to prosecute the worldwide Krsna consciousness movement.  In the purports to his books he expresses that it is not right when so-called Vaisnavas do not respect an empowered Vaisnava who is spreading Krsna Consciousness all over the world.  Therefore, for the followers of Srila Prabhupada, a person's real spiritual advancement can be tested to the degree that he accepts Srila Prabhupada.  Ecumenical good manners and sincere participation in dialogue with other religious sects is part of spreading Krsna Consciousness, but ultimately a Prabhupada follower has to appreciate that Prabhupada is topmost.  And the reason he is topmost are within the very conclusions of the Bhagavad-gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam.  Srila Prabhupada always said that we should not disparage other religions or other God conscious teachers, yet to recognise and to be loyal to the topmost truth in its fullest manifestations, as Radha and Krsna worship, was the precious gift of Srila Prabhupada to his followers.  And we cannot follow Radha-Krsna without following Srila Prabhupada.
 Exclusive affection and loyalty to Srila Prabhupada is expressed in different ways.  It is expresses when a follower stays in the place where Prabhupada sent him and to do the service that Prabhupada gave him.  Out of personal loyalty to Srila Prabhupada, one refuses to break the regulative principles, because a disciple promises Prabhupada that he will always follow them.
 When a devotee complained how hard it was to work with a troublesome devotee, Prabhupada said, "That is your austerity."  So determination to continue working with Godbrothers is another expression of loyalty to Srila Prabhupada.
 Being loyal to the International Society for Krsna Consciousness is another expression.  Loyalty to Srila Prabhupada without loyalty to ISKCON is impossible.  Loyalty is not theoretical only, it is practically expressed to one's degree of surrender: I will "do the needful" as a faithful son.
 Loyalty is expressed in living, personal qualities.  Because of our attachment, we do not forget Srila Prabhupada, and we take to practices that help us remember him.  Loyalty also means that we feel a great distaste and guilt, if in any context, we find ourselves accepting someone else as our guru.  During Srila Prabhupada's presence, when his gurukula teachers began to seriously follow the teachings of Mary Montessori, Kirtanananda Swami remarked, "They have taken a new guru."  That was the worst pronouncement, and a sign that the gurukula teachers had to immediately adjust their priorities and decide who was their guru.
 The more we can retain habits we have learned from him, the style of eating, a way of dressing, then the more we can keep remembrance of him a loyal reality, provided we do these things in an intelligent way.
 A Srila Prabhupada disciple is loyal to his philosophy, even in the face of opposition.  Srila Prabhupada said that life comes from life, the scientists cannot create life. He also said that they have not gone to the moon, and they cannot.  The demigods and God Himself are all real persons.  One has to read the  books of Srila Prabhupada regularly (this itself is another item of being loyal), without modifying or changing his conclusions.  Maintaining what he has given us, living in a society of devotees, always chanting the maha-mantra - these are loyal responses.  And this very concept of being loyal to Srila Prabhupada is itself another of Prabhupada's matchless gifts.  He gave us ample reasons and inspiration to be loyal.

50 One morning we were walking with Srila Prabhupada in Battery Park in New York City.  On this particular morning Srila Prabhupada wasn't talking, and he just told us, "Chant Hare Krsna."  He wanted us to chant japa, and he was also chanting japa.  By a stroke of good fortune my japa was coming out nicely that day.  So I was chanting my japa very enthusiastically, and Prabhupada appreciated it.  He was encouraging me by his glances.  It was an intimate, confidential thing.  I was feeling ecstatic, and Prabhupada was glancing at me, acknowledging my ecstasy.  As my spiritual master he was encouraging me, and I was also looking to him with great gratitude and reverence in understanding that all of my ecstasy was actually coming from his lotus feet.
 Then as we were walking in the park, I suddenly realised that we were in Vrndavana. By Prabhupada's mercy, the whole park had been transformed into the spiritual world.  I felt I was in Vrndavana, and as I was walking and chanting more enthusiastically, I realised that Prabhupada by his causeless mercy upon me had manifested the spiritual world within that park in Brooklyn.  I became more in ecstasy realising that somehow or other Radha and Krsna and Lord Balarama and the cowherd boys and everyone was somehow in that park.  As I was realising this, Prabhupada glanced at me, and I realised that he was giving me his special mercy.  I was somehow getting this wonderful insight, looking at him with gratitude as he glanced his approval because I was chanting enthusiastically.  Of course, my realisation was completely insignificant compared to Prabhupada's understanding, but still I was like his child, and he was encouraging me in my ecstasy."
  Hridayananda dasa Gosvami
 "Prabhupada is here!  Prabhupada is here!  Everyone was running outside the temple, so I joined.  The car had just pulled up and the door opened and out came Prabhupada.  As soon as I saw him for the first time, then and there I said, 'I want to surrender.'  I saw the person who was everything that I had been looking for.  He had perfect taste, perfect bearing - everything about him was perfect.  I'd always been seeking that perfection.  I thought I would find it in the Duke of Windsor.  When I met him, he didn't have it.  I thought I would find it in John Kennedy.  He was killed .  And then it turned out that he was not so perfect.  I thought I would find it in Martin Luther King.  I was getting involved in that movement, and then he was killed.  I thought I would  find it in Bobby Kennedy.  He was killed.  All these people I though had the answer kept getting killed.  It was very discouraging.  I always thought either this movie star or actor or writer or social leader, one of these heroes, would measure up.  But none of them did.  Yet as soon as I saw Prabhupada, as he came out of that car, the way he was dressed, the way he walked on down the sidewalk and into the temple holding his hand out in a special way, it was completely aristocratic.  And I knew that he was the person I could surrender to."
  Bhavananda dasa Gosvami
 "I was talking with Srila Prabhupada when another devotee brought in a tall glass of tea.  I accepted it, but Prabhupada said, "Why are you drinking this tea?"  He used a semi reprimanding tone.  I replied that I was taking it because a devotee had offered it to me.  Prabhupada said that tea is for taking if you have a cold; it is not to be taken otherwise.  I was holding the glass of tea in my hand and instead of just putting it down I looked at Prabhupada and said, 'Then I shouldn't take it?'  I was thinking it wasn't so serious, and that unless Prabhupada really insisted I could go ahead and take it anyway.  When Prabhupada understood my mood, that I wasn't really taking the whole thing very seriously, he chose to be lenient and said that I could take it this time but not again.  I didn't want to sit there and drink it slowly in front of Prabhupada, so I drank the whole glass down very quickly.  But then I began to feel guilty.
 "Then after drinking the tea, while  I was talking to Prabhupada, I began to perspire on my face profusely, and I felt embarrassed for that also.  But Prabhupada appeared to flow along with everything, and I had a strong sense that he was just tolerating me.  I knew that he was never compromising in his principles, and yet I feel that it was very wonderful that he was willing to experience new, different things in different people and that he was a very lenient and flexible person.  I considered this part of his greatness, and I think it's mainly because I knew that he actually, inwardly, was not making any compromises at all.  But we all felt very grateful and enlivened with the way Prabhupada was interacting with us and relating with us."
  Mukunda dasa Gosvami
 "My strongest observation was that Prabhupada's whole life was preaching.  Every inch of his body and every bit of his thought was dedicated to preaching Krsna consciousness.  Before going to bed he would be preaching, and then would rest thinking about preaching.  As soon as he woke in the early morning, he would have some transcendental idea about  preaching.  His whole life was preaching.  And by his burning desire for spreading Krsna consciousness, Prabhupada had manifested a perfect personality, because a preacher has to be very careful."
  Yasomatinandana dasa
 I don't know how I ever cooked under such austere conditions for Prabhupada.  In Bhubanesvar and different places I would cook in a little shack in the fields.  I was covered with black, from the wood smoke , and I was full of smoke, and my eyes would be bloodshot red, constantly tearing, and I couldn't open the door because all sorts of Indians were coming constantly.  If I opened the door, they would just stand there and watch me cook, and I couldn't do that.  It was Prabhupada's offering.  So every once in a while, all of a sudden I'd get up, I wouldn't be able to breathe  hardly, and all of a sudden you'd hear me because I just crash out of the door.  The door would fly open, and I'd just stand out there and pant, pant.  I would try to get air, just enough to go back in and cook.  Krsna empowered me to do that at that time because I could never do such a thing again and I don't know how I ever did it.
 "I would just go to any place where Prabhupada was, even if there were no facilities, and I would set up and cook for him.  It is Prabhupada's association.  It does something that is completely beyond this material world.  And I didn't mind it, I loved it the whole time.  I would go on like this cooking for him all morning long.  When it came time for me to serve him, my white sari would be black.  My face would have soot over it, my eyes bloodshot, puffy and swollen from crying.  But when I went into Prabhupada's room with his plate, he wouldn't even blink an eyelash.  It didn't phase him.  It was just as though I was there in the best of silk saris or something.  It didn't matter what things would go on, Prabhupada would be in his transcendental position, equipoised.
  Palika devi dasi