Bhakti Caitanya Swami Remembers Srila Prabhupada
Prabhupada Memories
Interview 01
Following Srila Prabhupada
Interview DVD 04
Bhakti Caitanya Swami: During the Rathayatra, when we turned from Picadilly to go down Haymarket towards Trafalgar Square, then the Rathayatra cart began to go out of control and the braking system was not working properly so it was starting to accelerate down the hill. The devotees were blissfully unaware of what was going on, but the police could see that this was happening and the police started to get into anxiety. So I remember one policeman approached one of the devotees in a mood of great concern, asking, “Who’s in charge here? Who’s in control?” And the devotee turned around and said, “Krishna is in control,” and went back to the kirtan. |
Interview DVD 11
Bhakti Caitanya Swami: When we arrived in Rishikesh, one of the first things Prabhupada wanted was to drink some water. So somebody gave him some water from the tap and Prabhupada said, “Did I come to Rishikesh to drink tap water?” So I just ran down to the river and got some water from the Ganges, and Prabhupada was very pleased to drink that straight from the river. Those days I was a brahmacari, I just got initiated a couple of months ago, and Prabhupada was very restful there. We were just a handful of devotees. One day I was cooking, and Prabhupada decided to teach us how to cook. He first asked me to cut the vegetables, and then he showed also how to cook basmati rice. The rice was just mixed with ghee, and Prabhupada told me not to even wash the rice, and then put it on the fire. And when the rice was cooked, every single grain was separate. And Prabhupada showed how to make the chapatis. One day was Ekadasi, and somehow we were not careful and we broke the Ekadasi. We took some grain for breakfast, and then we realized that it was Ekadasi. So I went and told Prabhupada. Prabhupada’s immediate reaction was “So, what can be done? You broke it, you took the grain.” But then he got very annoyed. He said, “Then what’s the point in having a pandit with us if he can’t even tell us when is the Ekadasi?” And Prabhupada said then observe the Ekadasi the next day. Although he didn’t break the fast, but Prabhupada that day also took grains with us. That shows his compassion for his disciples. |
To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 73 - Bhakti Caitanya Swami, and the UK Yatra.
The full Prabhupada Memories Series can be viewed here and also at www.prabhupadamemories.com