Remembering Srila Prabhupada - Little Drops of Nectar

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Remembering Srila Prabhupada - Little Drops of Nectar

 

Little Drops of Nectar

 

 

During one visit in Los Angeles, Srila Prabhupada

became quite ill. The devotees suggested that he

should not come down for the class and that someone

else could give it.

 

"I have to go," said Srila Prabhupada, "because if I

do not go, then they will all use it as an excuse not

to go when they are sick."

 

The devotees then volunteered to carry Prabhupada down

the stairs, but he insisted on walking, saying that if

they carried him it would be an embarrassment.

 

However, Prabhupada's throat was so congested that he

did not give the class that morning. He sat on the

vyasasana and attended, just for the sake of his

disciples.

 

 

 

When Prabhupada was very ill in Vrndavana, his servant

Srutakirti used to lie down directly under

Prabhupada's cot, just to be ready if Prabhupada

needed him during the night. Prabhupada would spread

his sleeping net over his bed and Srutakirti would

extend it to the floor, where he lay "like a dog." One

night, however, Srila Prabhupada got up and tried

walking without calling for his servant. Because he

had so little strength, Prabhupada fell after a few

steps.

 

"Prabhupada, what are you doing?" Srutakirti jumped

up. "Why didn't you call me?"

 

Prabhupada replied that he thought he could make it on

his own. "I didn't want to disturb you because you are

resting."

 

Srutakirti protested that he was there just for that

reason -- to help Prabhupada.

 

Prabhupada replied that he thought he had the

strength, but now he saw that he did not.

 

 

 

When Silavati-devi dasi introduced a new improvement

in the Deity worship, she wanted to make sure that

Prabhupada noticed it, and she hoped he would praise

her. While bringing in the Deities' plates onto the

altar, she started thinking how it wasn't very nice

that everyone should see the plates before they were

offered to the Deities. She decided to make a cover

for the plates. She prepared a silk cover and planned

to use it for the first time on a Sunday afternoon

when Prabhupada was present. According to the

schedule, the offering was made just before

Prabhupada's lecture.

 

When Silavati went onto the altar with the plate and

its new cover, however, she noticed that Prabhupada

was not looking. He was looking straight ahead into

the room that was crowded with people. Prabhupada's

vyasasana was adjacent to the platform on which the

Jagannatha deities stood. The deities were covered by

a curtain that was pulled by hand and went around them

like a shower curtain. Silavati was sorry that

Prabhupada was not noticing her new cover, but she

went ahead anyway, picked up the cloth from the plate,

and began to walk with the curtain, closing it before

the deities.

 

Before she could close the curtain, Prabhupada leaned

towards the microphone and said loudly, "You have gone

to all the trouble to make that cover so that no one

will see the offering, and yet you have taken the

cover off before you have closed the curtain. This is

the action of a fool."

 

Ramesvara Swami, interview; Srutakirti dasa,

interview; Silavati-devi dasi, interview.

 

 

 

- From the Prabhupada Nectar by HH Satsvarupa dasa

Goswami Maharaj

 

 

 

 

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