Remembering Srila Prabhupada - His Personal remnants

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[Text 493615 from CIS]

 

 

 

 

Srila Prabhupada NectarPersonal 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."

- From the Nectar by HH Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami

 

Please Chant: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna

Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare

Hare And Be Happy

 

 

 

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