Mulaprakriti devi dasi Remembers Srila Prabhupada

Mulaprakriti: I was in Honolulu on my way to Japan to distribute books. Srila Prabhupada was also in Honolulu at that time, and he asked me to come to his quarters to talk about book distribution. I had the wonderful experience of being alone with Srila Prabhupada. He was sitting on his chair asking all sorts of questions about how people liked the books, what kind of people were taking the books, and what I told the people. He was so joyful that it seemed as if it were Srila Prabhupada’s favorite topic. When he asked, “What kind of people take the books?” I strained my mind to answer and said, “Doctors, young people, and diplomats.” Prabhupada said, “Diplomats? From what countries?” So I gave a list of the nationalities of anyone who had ever taken a book. Then I said, “Someone from Albania took a book.” Prabhupada said, “Albania. That’s behind the iron curtain.” I said, “Yes Prabhupada, they take them in their suitcase and because they have diplomatic immunity, no one can open the suitcase.” He laughed, leaned back, and said, “Ahh! We cannot go, but Lord Chaitanya can go.”

Srila Prabhupada gave me instructions about distributing books. First he asked, “What do you say?” I explained, “We tell the person, ‘Oh you look like a spiritual person. This is a book from ancient India. It has so much knowledge.’” Srila Prabhupada pulled out the Srimad-Bhagavatam and slowly and carefully read the verse, “This Bhagavat Purana is as brilliant as the sun . . .” He said, “This verse is so wonderful, if you just tell people this verse how can they resist? You don’t need to say anything. The Srimad Bhagavatam will sell itself.” He also talked about women. He said that in this age it was actually a benefit to be a woman. He said that, “In Kali-yuga, things are so degraded that people don’t trust men. Hardly anybody will allow a man to come up to them or will open their door if a man knocks.” He said that when he was a young man, a company was selling Brahmi Hair Oil and sent respectable young women door to door. Everybody opened their door and bought Brahmi Hair Oil. Prabhupada said, “It was never even proven that Brahmi Hair Oil had any medicinal properties.” He explained that “Lord Chaitanya is sending nice young women to help the poor conditioned souls go back to Godhead. This is His plan.”

To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 10 - 1995 Prabhupada Festival

The full Prabhupada Memories Series can be viewed here and also at www.prabhupadamemories.com