Ananga Manjari: I was already a devotee for about a year and I had just gotten my first initiation by letter. At this time in Gainesville, Hridayananda was the temple president and I was like everything else. It was a small preaching center and we invited Prabhupada to visit. Amarendra was a big driving force for that to happen. For historical purposes, in the picture in Bhagavad-gita where Prabhupada is sitting with a painting of Gopal-Krishna behind him, he is wearing an asymmetrical garland of leaves and flowers that we had made for him in Gainesville. It was a very special time for us. When Prabhupada arrived, I stayed back while the other devotees went to the airport to pick him up so I could prepare his room with magnolias to give it a nice scent. I knew when Prabhupada arrived at the temple because the kirtan outside had stopped and everyone was paying their obeisances. I ran down the steps and as I was running through the screen door, Prabhupada was already standing there, so I backed off and offered my obeisances. I was thinking, “I want to see him, so I am going to offer my obeisances fast.” Even though I got up very fast, he already had his cane leaned against the vyasasana and he was looking at the picture of Panchatattva that Gayatri had painted. He looked so relaxed as if he had been there forever. It was quite amazing. I actually saw light emanating from his body and I saw this incredible aura of incense all around, and I thought, “Am I seeing things? I didn’t light that much incense!” I just wanted to always keep that vision in my mind. Many years later, Bhagavat das was speaking about Prabhupada’s arrival here and he mentioned that he saw the same thing. That confirmed to me that it really happened. It was a mystical experience that Prabhupada allowed some of us to see.
Toward the end of his arrival lecture he said, “I have one devotee named Kartikeya and his mother was on her death bed.” He was expressing the point that anyone who remembers Krishna at the time of death will go to Krishna. He said, “She was on her death bed and she challenged, ‘Where is Krishna? Is He here now? Where is your Krishna?’ And then she died and she went to Krishna.” Prabhupada leaned forward with eyes wide open and said, “This is stated in Bhagavad-gita. She went to Krishna.” I just remember these little tidbits because they were very important for me, the mercy and grace that he exhibited.
Bhagavat asked, “Prabhupada, how can we not fall into maya?” Prabhupada said, “It is like a boat. You stay on the boat and maya may rock the boat, but you don’t jump off the boat. You hold onto the boat and stay on it.” Basically stay in the association of devotees and keep trying. You may get wet but you still stay on the boat.
Prabhupada noticed that we didn’t have neck beads on. He said to Hridayananda, who was the temple president at the time, “Why are there no neck beads?” I guess in those days neck beads only came from India and they were very scarce. The next day, Hridayananda told me, “We have to have neck beads!” Gainesville was not a big city then so I ran to a little bead shop that is still there today. All I could find were neon colored plastic beads. There were no wooden beads at all. I bought an arrangement of different colored plastic beads; bright yellow, lime green, and bright orange. We strung them, put them on, and Prabhupada just looked at us. I was supposed to have brahmin initiation at that time and when I walked into Prabhupada’s room he very gravely said, “Sit down”. I felt like a little dog. I remember thinking, “I’m like a puppy. I’m his puppy dog with my new neon dog collar.” When I sat down at his feet he said, “Repeat after me”. He was saying, “Om bhur bhuva sva…” “Om” I got but the rest of it I did not get. So he just stopped and he said, “Repeat.” I said, “Repeat.” He said, “Om bhur bhuva sva…”. I said, “Ommmmm…” and that was about it. Then he said, “They did not give you a paper?” I said, “No, Srila Prabhupada. No one gave me a paper.” Then he said, “Never mind, Hridayananda will give the mantra to you tomorrow.” He dismissed me with a wave of his hand. I just thought, “Okay, the dog is being kicked out.” I stood up and was walking backwards, because I didn’t want to turn my back to Prabhupada, and said, “Thank you Prabhupada, thank you, thank you.” Then he just looked around the room and picked up a big garland off his desk, looked at me with a big smile and threw it at me. I exclaimed again, “Thank you Prabhupada, thank you!” That was my brahmin initiation. Later on when we did have the fire yajna after Prabhupada had left, we didn’t have enough bananas to go around. I had given my banana to someone else, so I didn’t even have a banana for myself. That is when I realized that I am a “kripa siddhi”. I think Prabhupada knew this and didn’t take these things seriously for me and that is where my relationship with him is just because of his mercy.
Hridayananda and I went to Los Angeles to ask Prabhupada about Hridayananda taking sannyas. While we were there, we got to go into his room quite often and walk around with him as he toured the temple property. One time they took him to the telex office with the machine that could send messages in seconds and you could receive messages back. It predated the fax machine. Prabhupada wanted to see how it worked, so they sent a message to the New York temple. They typed, “Prabhupada is sitting right next to the telex. Please respond!” They answered back right away, “Please accept our obeisances.” Prabhupada was very impressed saying, “Yes! Utilize these things. Everything in this material world is already Krishna’s so use it for Him.” Prabhupada was big on utility. I think that is one of his legacies. Then we went into another office where devotees were recording music. They had one recording of devotees singing with guitars and regular drums and western music and they were singing “Namaste Narasringaya”. It was really rocking as Prabhupada was standing there listening and knocking his cane to the beat with a big smile. At the end he said, “This is better than George Harrison!” I know that many devotees dismiss this kind of music, but that’s what Prabhupada said.
Another time in Los Angeles a lady reporter asked Prabhupada, “You say that sometimes women are less intelligent. What do you mean by that?” Prabhupada said, “We can say sometimes that women are less intelligent, but when they come to Krishna consciousness, they become most intelligent. When people come to Krishna consciousness, they become the most intelligent.” There was another lady there from England and she was introduced to Prabhupada by one brahmacharini who said, “Prabhupada, this lady wrote to you once in England and you wrote back to her. She is here to see you.” Prabhupada said, “Oh, very nice. What can I do for you?” She stood up all decked out wearing lots of make-up, a tight dress and her hair was up in a blonde beehive. She said, “Oh, Srila Prabhupada, I just want to get initiated by you.” Prabhupada said, “Do you know the regulated principles?” She said, “I’ve never drank or smoked in my whole life.” Prabhupada said, “Alright, you will get initiated.” He then told Srutakirti to arrange for another set of beads. Just like that, his mercy was there. He could see her sincerity through her simplicity. The next day when the initiations were going on, her name was called and he gave her the name Meru devi dasi. She had the big blonde Meru Mountain of hair on her head and we all laughed. It was quite amazing as Prabhupada had a sense of humor even in the serious times of initiation.
One time Hridayananda and I got to be alone with Prabhupada in his room. This was the time we were going to ask him if we could take sannyas. That is how we felt about it. We felt that we were going to take sannyas. We saw it as an adventure and sacrifice we would make for Prabhupada. We were married for one year at that time and in those days it wasn’t like we were married, because we were mostly living separately in the brahmachari and brahmacharini ashrams managing the Gainesville temple. We were in a good committed partnership for preaching and good friends. So we thought that this would be a great sacrifice for Prabhupada and he knew we had come for this reason. As we sat there, Prabhupada looked at us very gravely and asked, “So, what do you want?” Hridayananda responded very philosophically, “Srila Prabhupada, it’s explained in the Vedas that one studies under the guru in brahmachari life and then he gets married and experiences grihastha life, and then he takes sannyas. So I’m asking if I can take sannyas.” Srila Prabhupada hesitated. Then said very gravely, “Sometimes it is difficult.” I remember thinking as I was sitting there, “Maybe difficult but Prabhupada will carry us through. Krishna will carry what we lack. We want to do this for Prabhupada.” Then Prabhupada asked, “Does your wife agree?” I nodded my head and Hridayananda said, “Yes, Prabhupada, she agrees.” Prabhupada didn’t say anything. We were so young and eager as I was only eighteen at the time. Then there was a distraction in the room as another devotee had come in. Hridayananda turned to me and said, “Does that mean ‘yes’?” I said, “I’m not sure. I think you need to ask Prabhupada to clarify.” Once the other devotee left, Hridayananda blurted out very eagerly, “So Prabhupada, is it okay then? Can I take sannyas?” It was like, “Can I go lead a kirtan?” He was very eager. Prabhupada asked again, “Does your wife agree?” Again, I nodded my head and Hridayananda said, “Yes, she agrees.” He didn’t say anything. Then another distraction came and we all went into the other room. When we came back, Prabhupada asked, “Does your wife agree?” I was standing right there next to him and for the third time I nodded and Hridayananda said, “Yes, Prabhupada, she agrees.” All of a sudden Prabhupada slapped him on the back and said, “You have a very good wife because she agrees!” Then he came up to me with the most compassionate, melting look in his eyes. He came very close to me and said to me very lovingly, “What do you want to do?” I was thinking, “This is the Jagat Guru. This is the spiritual master of the whole universe and he is asking me what I want.” At this moment I could have had anything I wanted because whatever he says, Krishna will back him up. All these thoughts went through my head. I thought this is the moment of my life because whatever I will say will be the most important thing. I remember it was like a film of a million desires running through my head, like on a television show when they depict someone’s life flashing by. Finally I said, “Oh, Srila Prabhupada, I just… I just… I just want to be Krishna conscious!” It came out so vividly that I almost saw the words coming out of my mouth. I was astounded that those were the words that came out because it wasn’t what I had been thinking. It hadn’t been a clear desire. Prabhupada stepped back and looked at me like an artist that had just created something and seeing how his creation had worked out. I thought, “He made those words come out. He pulled those out of me, out of his love. Out of that compassionate look, he pulled those words out of my heart. Then he waved his hand and said, “You’re already Krishna consciousness.” I remember thinking, “This is what he is doing for all of us.” He pulls this desire for love of Krishna and determination to try and be Krishna conscious, and then he just whams us with grace and love and mercy. It was a very significant part of my life and it kept me going for many years. It’s for all of us. It’s for everyone. “You’re already Krishna conscious”, because of just trying to do something for him.
We were in Los Angeles and somehow I got myself right behind Prabhupada while he was paying his obeisances to the deities. When I went to pay my obeisances, his lotus feet were right in front of my face and I thought, “What an opportunity. This is the opportunity of many life times. What can I do? I don’t want to touch him and disturb him at all, because he is in meditation praying to his Lord.” But there was a carnation petal stuck to the bottom of his foot. It was very invitingly sticking out, so I thought maybe I could take this petal and get his mercy without disturbing him. Very carefully I plucked that little carnation petal off his foot and then I got very frightened thinking that someone might see me and they’re going to think that I am disturbing him. I could just imagine some sannyasi booming, “What did you just do?” I got so scared that I popped it in my mouth, like I was eating the evidence. As I swallowed the petal, I thought, “This is the holiest communion I have ever had in my life. This petal is going to keep me here forever.” And it did.
Srila Prabhupada arrived at the New York airport, and like many devotees have described, Prabhupada seemed to float through the airport as if he was on an escalator, and we would all be running to keep up. They sat him down and he gave a little talk in the airport. There were some policemen watching our crowd from a distance and a reporter asked Prabhupada, “Why do you wear these clothes and this mark on your forehead?” Prabhupada said, “It is just like a policeman. A policeman wears a uniform to show that he is an authority of the government. He represents the government, so if anyone needs help in that way, they can go to the policeman.” The policemen in the back started nudging each other and feeling very proud and happy that Prabhupada had noticed them. I thought that he was doing a few things at once. He was instructing us and winning their hearts. He wasn’t just satisfying the reporter and of course he was preaching to all of us, but he noticed the policemen specifically. I thought that significant in that he wanted to say, “Thank you” for their service. Prabhupada was a grateful person, even for anyone who did the least little thing. I think that the gratitude that Prabhupada showed us is something we all can imbibe. Sometimes as devotees we see another devotee doing their service quietly and we think, “They are just an ordinary devotee and that my service is more important.” But if we can show gratitude and appreciation, then everyone can feel uplifted. Prabhupada saw everyone equally and saw only the good in everyone. That is one of the main qualities of a devotee. Then someone asked Prabhupada something about why he was chanting and he said, “We are chanting, but we also have many books.” He always wanted people to understand that there was knowledge behind this philosophy. Then he said, “But for those who can’t read, just chant. It doesn’t matter but otherwise we have many books on philosophy.” I thought that was very significant and important for me because I was into the philosophy. That is what kept me going as well. The mantra caught me whereby I could not stop chanting Hare Krishna, even as a hippie. But it was the philosophy that kept me.
In Philadelphia in 1975 during the Ratha-yatra festival week, Srila Prabhupada gave lectures about Ajamil. At one point he explained how Ajamil may have or may not have been chanting “Narayana” consciously. He may have been thinking of his child or he may have been thinking of Lord Narayana. He was not clear on that and then he said, “Ajamil was an accidental fall down.” Later on in his room one devotee asked, “Prabhupada, what did you mean, ‘accidental fall down’?” Prabhupada said, “It’s when Maya has you at gun point. If someone has you at gun-point, you have no choice.” So the pushing of Maya will sometimes have us at gun-point and we fall down. Prabhupada did not always fault a person for their weakness, as Krishna will still give you the mercy if you keep trying. Someone else asked about if Ajamil was talking about Krishna when he cried for Narayana. Prabhupada said, “It doesn’t matter. He chanted the Name without offense, with innocence.” Those are the mercy aspects of our philosophy that I think are so basic. If we don’t have mercy with our philosophical understanding, we get a hard edge of preaching and we miss out on our own lives by not giving compassion or love to others.
In Delhi I was in charge of getting Prabhupada some lychees. I didn’t even know what they were, but one English speaking Indian gentleman saw that I couldn’t relate to the fruit vender so he asked, “Madam, can I help you?” I said, “Yes, I’m trying to get lychees for my spiritual master.” He said, “Oh, let me get them for you.” He bought a big bag of lychees and I told him to please come to the temple and meet Prabhupada. At the evening darshan Prabhupada was talking about karma. He said, “No matter how you try to enjoy, you can only enjoy this much, and you suffer that much based on your karma.” He kept repeating this concept and right at that time the Indian man from the market walked in. Prabhupada saw that this was an intelligent, educated man, and Prabhupada immediately asked the gentleman to sit next to him. I felt so happy that happened. Prabhupada turned to him and said the same thing, “No matter how much you try to enjoy, but if you become a devotee of Krishna, then no more material happiness, no more suffering. No more duality.” But I was thinking, “I feel I am trying to be a devotee but yet I am suffering in my mind and so many things.” I raised my hand and asked, “Srila Prabhupada, is it to the extent that we are Krishna conscious that it is Krishna and not karma?” Prabhupada said, “It is all Krishna. It’s all Krishna. Anytime you chant Hare Krishna, you will be happy and that is coming from Krishna.” He paused and I thought, “Yes, I understand that.” But I couldn’t help but blurt out, “But the distress too, Srila Prabhupada?” He said, “It is just like the Chatak bird. The Chatak bird only takes water from the clouds. The Chatak bird will not drink from the rivers and ponds. Therefore, the bird is always praying to the clouds, ‘Where is rain? Where is rain?’ But sometimes he gets thunderbolt!” We all laughed and Prabhupada said, “Yes, sometimes he gets thunderbolt!” Now whenever I am in distress or a devotee is in distress, I call it “thunderbolt mercy” because it’s coming from Krishna and somehow it is always for our benefit. In that same darshan one young bramachari said, “Prabhupada, I was in Vrindavan and they were doing some Krishna-lila or Ram-lila and all the guests at the end came up and actually touched the actors feet and put garlands on them. I was telling them that this was wrong. They’re not Krishna and Radha. This isn’t right.” Prabhupada said, “No, they are. When they are acting that part, they are Krishna and Radha. They are empowered by Krishna and Ram. It is alright because the audience is not worshiping the actor, they’re worshiping Krishna. Just like Krishna can be an oil painting or sand or made out of any material element, so those material bodies are not Krishna, but they are worshiping the spirit of Krishna.” I thought that was very significant for all actors and dramatists to understand. I think that some actors have actually felt that feeling of being empowered and of losing themselves in the performance and the character.
In Bombay a famous Indian actor named Dara Singh came to visit. He played Bhima in the old Mahabharata film and Hanuman in the newer series as well. He was a person who played many spiritual parts and he was physically a huge guy. I mean colossal. He was very tall standing next to Prabhupada who was much shorter but this man bowed down very humbly to Srila Prabhupada. He was very humble because he kept going way down to be under Prabhupada’s height. That was a vision I remember that even the great will bow down to the power of purity.
I was in Bombay one year during Janmastami and a devotee asked if I would play Devaki in the Appearance of Lord Krishna drama. Srila Prabhupada was going to leave Bombay before the day of Janmastami, but he heard that we were practicing the play and he wanted to see it before he left. As Devaki, I remember driving with Vasudev and the voice came to tell Kamsa that he would be killed by my first-born. So the devotee playing Kamsa grabbed my hair and my prayers were, “Oh, Krishna, save the child.” At that moment I looked at Prabhupada as I tried to say these prayers as heart felt as possible. At the end of the drama we were all chanting Hare Krishna on the stage and I looked out again to see Prabhupada but he wasn’t there anymore. I saw a group of people leaving so I thought, “He’s leaving for the airport and this might be the last time I see him.” I jumped off the stage in full make-up and costume, which was an ornate wedding sari, and ran after Prabhupada. I had no concern for how I looked. When I got outside, the car had already taken off. I was just standing there in the dust of the car. I thought, “I have to get to the airport.” I was a very passionate person so I grabbed my friend, Aditya, who is a very somber and humble lady, and said, “We have to go to the airport to see Srila Prabhupada!” She said, “How are we going to get there?” There was one car with the door still open as they were waiting to take the sannyasis to the airport. I jumped in the backseat and pushed Aditya in with me. When the sannyasis got to the car, they looked at us as if to say, “Who are these women in the car?” I was in a state of ecstasy with my eyes closed muttering, “Prabhupada, Prabhupada, Prabhupada.” Then one of the sannyasis mercifully said, “Let them stay”. When we got to the airport Prabhupada and the devotees had not yet arrived. Just when Aditya and I thought maybe they were inside the airport, a car pulled up right in front of us and Prabhupada opened the door himself and stepped out. At that point it had been drizzling making me damp and I was crying. I’m sure my make-up was smeared on my face. Prabhupada leaned on his cane and looked right at me with a huge smile on his face. I paid my obeisances and said, “Prabhupada, thank you, thank you.” When I got up he still had this huge smile and he was just waiting. It was the longest moment that I could ever remember. He just stood there laughing at me in a way, smiling and then he walked on. I was so excited I didn’t know what to do so I started jumping up and down chanting, “Prabhupada! Prabhupada!” Aditya said, “Did you see how he was smiling at you? He was laughing at you!” She was in ecstasy as well. At that moment, I remembered several months before when I was in Vrindavan, Prabhupada came to the courtyard to watch a drama of the “Age of Kali” performed by Lokamangala and Rasajna, who were amazing actors. Prabhupada was sitting on a rocking chair under the desire tree with all the devotees sitting around him. My eyes were mostly on Prabhupada the whole time during the play and I saw him smiling from ear to ear. I would look from the actors and back to Prabhupada thinking, “They are making him smile and laugh. They are entertaining him. I wish I could entertain him like that. I wish I could make him smile like that.” I looked up and realized I was also under the desire tree and wondered if this could work. So in Bombay months later, when Aditya grabbed my arm and asked, “Did you see how you made him smile and laugh at you?” I realized that the desire tree worked. I got to entertain him and made him laugh at me.
My relationship with Prabhupada seemed like it was always one of compassion and I realized he always cared for everyone. Even though the philosophy was profound for me, it wasn’t just sentiment. His philosophy kept me safe and at the same time his demeanor and actions were very kind and loving like a grandfather. For example, one time in Los Angeles he was sitting on the vyasasana saying the “Jai Om” prayers very gravely as he was surrounded by all the children. While the adults paid their obeisances during the prayers, I looked up. As Prabhupada gravely said the prayers, he was simultaneously making faces at the children. He was smiling and raising his eyebrows like a monkey with big eyes and they were in front of him with awe. I remember thinking, “How is he doing this?” His voice was remaining very grave sounding while smiling at the same time. I was so happy to see how he loved the children.
At the last stages of Pishima’s (Prabhupada’s sister) life, I took it upon myself to care for her. She had deteriorated so much so that when I woke up one morning, I went around Prabhupada’s samadhi and I prayed, “What can I do for her? Take her because she only wants to be with you. I can’t stop her suffering anymore. I can’t make her comfortable anymore. I can’t even make her laugh anymore. Please take her. Even if this is offensive I just want relief for her.” Afterwards I went to her room and she was unconscious. She wasn’t responding at all. There were a couple of Bengalis in there testing her heart and trying to give her some Horlicks and milk but she wasn’t responding. When I came in the room they just shook their heads, crying and they left, leaving me all alone with her. She was sitting on the edge of the bed slumped over and I was rubbing her back a little bit and chanting japa with the other hand trying to figure out what to do. As I started chanting I noticed her fingers move as if she was chanting japa. Then I knew she could hear me. I asked her in my broken Bengali, “Pishima, do you need to go to the bathroom? Do you need water or milk? Can I do anything for you?” No answer. But I knew she could hear me, so I put on Prabhupada’s recording of “Nitaipada- kamala” because that was our relationship. I went up to her and asked, “Pishima, you hear Prabhupada?” Pishima grunted, “Ha”. Then I knew that’s all she wanted. I propped her up with lots of pillows trying to make her as comfortable as I could. I put the mosquito net around and I kept playing Prabhupada’s music. Every once in a while I’d go up to her and ask if she needed anything and got no answer. Then again I asked if she wanted to hear Prabhupada and again I got the same response, “Ha”, every time. In the evening, the Bengali devotees had called her relatives since they knew this was going to be her last days. They all came in the room and someone brought all the gurukulis into the room. They were singing a loud kirtan jumping up and down and others were howling and crying. It was such an extreme from Prabhupada’s singing all day to this raucous carnival.
I got the feeling this wasn’t what she wanted. I felt she needed peace and calm. I ran outside trying to look for someone to help and ran into Nitai Chand who was a big sannyasi everyone was afraid of. In my passion I just blurted out to him, “You have to go to Prabhupada’s room and you have to tell everyone to sit down and be quiet. They can play kirtan but it has to be subdued.” With a surprised look he said, “Okay”, and he ran to the room. I thought, “Woah, I didn’t expect that.” He went into the room and commanded everyone to sit and be quiet which they did. The kirtan then went on nicely as I held her hand on one side and her youngest son held her hand on the other side quietly sobbing. Then Pishima’s eyes started fluttering and her mouth started moving. I thought maybe she was going to say something or that she needed something. I went very close to her face and she whispered, “Hare, Hare, Hare, Ha”, and that was it. I just stood there in stillness and thought, “Oh, my God. That was her last breath.” Right away in my mind’s eye, I saw this vision of her actually moving up, her subtle body, just like you see in films where you see the ethereal see-through body. The physical body is still lying there, but the ethereal body rises up. Then her eyes started to open. She was looking up at the ceiling of the room and she started raising her hand. I had to actually move out of her way. I was still holding the other hand as she was looking up at the corner of the room with her hand reaching out and Prabhupada came down with a big smile on his face. His hand was held out in the same way as her hand was reaching out and they held hands. Prabhupada was also ethereal but it was Prabhupada as we know him. He came down with a smile on his face, she looked at him, and I could see their backs as they started floating up to the corner of the room. I remember my eyes were moving and they both turned around smiling and gave me a nod and a look as if to say, “Everyone’s coming. Come on. We’re all going to go.” And then they disappeared. The first thing I thought was, “They left me here. They left me here.” I wanted to go with them. I looked down and I realized that I was still holding her hand but she wasn’t there anymore. I could feel the difference of energy because while she was still in her body, I was praying, “Whatever youthful energy I have, whatever strength I have, whatever goodness or piety or anything I have, let her have it now. Give it to her. Give her this strength and comfort.” I was giving her everything I had in my heart and when it stopped, I realized that energy was coming back to me. She was giving me so much and she was now with Prabhupada where she wanted to be. A little later on, after putting a fresh sari and tilak on Pishima, everyone came back to have another darshan with her by putting flower petals around her and offering prayers.
I was standing there looking at her body thinking, “She looks effulgent.” Earlier she was looking like a dried-up prune just withering away. But now there was light coming from her body and I said to myself, “She’s glowing!” Normally as devotees we don’t use the word “glowing”. We’d say “effulgent” or “bright faced”. I thought I was hallucinating because there were so many emotional things going on. As soon as I thought that, two pujaris walked into the room and one said to the other pujari, “She’s glowing”. Immediately I thought Krishna had let me hear that for a reason because I doubted what I saw. I thought it was my imagination. But when they used the same word, “glowing”, I knew it was true. It was all true. Krishna, Prabhupada and Pishima allowed me to see that and that is another experience that has kept me going as a devotee. I have great enthusiasm that at the time of our death, for everyone who tries to do something for Prabhupada, he’ll come and take us by the hand; anyone who’s been touched by him. Later on I had experiences with my father and mother who weren’t too fond of the devotees. My father deep in his heart was a devotee but my mother was against the devotees. But when my mother was about to pass, she said, “Is Krishna going to help me?” Then she said, “Krishna is here now. I am going to go and have a picnic with him.” She left with the devotees chanting. This is the amazing mercy and it’s all coming from Srila Prabhupada. We’re all taking part in his movement and these stories that devotees have of him, glorifying him, their emotions with him, their instructions from him, are going down in history through these tapes, videos and books and I am very grateful for that. I believe this is the Caitanya-caritamrita and Bhagavatam being expanded. And thank you.
