Remembering Srila Prabhupada -

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Remembering Srila Prabhupada - Little Drops of Nectar

 

Little Drops of Nectar

 

 

"Prabhupada, when there is a choice to make in the

service of Krsna and you don't know whether to do this

or that, how do you choose?"

"There is no choice," Prabhupada replied. "You simply

do what Krsna gives you." Ranacora dasa was trying to

understand whether he should go back to Manchester,

England. He had been there twice to open a preaching

center, but for different reasons he had had to come

back. Now he was asking Prabhupada for his permission

and blessing to make another attempt.

"I was wondering whether I should go to Manchester to

preach," Ranacora asked directly. "Perhaps you can

tell me what to do."

Prabhupada answered while walking toward the window.

"How many times has a center been opened in

Manchester?"

Ranacora replied that it had been tried twice.

"This time if you go," said Srila Prabhupada, "it must

not close."

Prabhupada looked away, and Ranacora took this to mean

the meeting should end. He made his obeisances at the

door, but just before leaving, he asked another

question.

"Prabhupada, is there any special instruction, special

service, you can give me?"

Prabhupada looked at him and said, "Simply preach,

that is all. Simply preach."

 

 

When the tape recorder at 26 Second Avenue broke, it

was Umapati dasa's responsibility to fix it. One time

a fuse had blown and Umapati needed thirty-five cents

to get a new one. Meeting Srila Prabhupada in the

courtyard of the building he asked for the money.

"The student shouldn't ask the spiritual master for

money," said Prabhupada.

Umapati didn't know what to do or say. He didn't have

any money, and he wanted to fix the tape recorder.

Despite Prabhupada's instructions, Umapati repeated

that he didn't have the money.

Prabhupada also repeated that the student should not

ask the spiritual master for money. Finally,

Prabhupada gave him the thirty-five cents, but only

after making sure that he understood very well that a

disciple should not ask the spiritual master for

money.

 

 

While Jagaddhatri-devi dasi was receiving her

gayatri-mantra instructions from Prabhupada, she asked

him when the mantra should be chanted. Prabhupada

replied, "morning, noon, and night." Then she asked,

"Srila Prabhupada, how am I going to remember you and

surrender to you for the rest of my life?" Prabhupada

smiled and replied that if she chanted sixteen rounds

a day and followed the four principles she would

remember him and surrender to him. Prabhupada was then

quiet for a few seconds and added, "Don't forget to

feed me."

 

Umapati dasa, interview; Ranacora dasa, interview;

Jagaddhatri-devi dasi, interview. The incident over

thirty-five cents gives us another indication of how

Prabhupada's movement started from ground zero. In

this connection, Professor Diana Eck made an

interesting remark at a meeting at Harvard University.

After seeing the movie Your Ever Well-Wisher and

talking with some of the devotees, she asked how the

Krsna consciousness movement was able to rise from

such a state of material poverty to considerable

worldwide wealth. She said that in the beginning, from

what she had heard, it seemed Prabhupada's disciples

didn't have more than the forty rupees Prabhupada

brought to America when he first came from India. Here

we see that a sincere disciple like Umapati, although

willing to give what he had, lacked even thirty-five

cents. This picture of the early devotees, who were

materially impoverished and spiritually ignorant, yet

so willing and submissive, gives us an indication of

what Prabhupada meant when he said, "Those were happy

days."

 

 

- From the Prabhupada Nectar by HH Satsvarupa dasa

Goswami Maharaj

 

 

 

 

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