Ganga Narayana das Remembers Srila Prabhupada

Prabhupada Memories

Interview 01

Ganga Narayana: It was my habit to time when Prabhupada would come out for his morning walk. I would grab a fresh rose, break it off, run around and when Prabhupada came out, give him the flower and he would give me a flower back. One particular morning I was late bringing the rose around and as such Prabhupada’s car was already pulling out. Prabhupada’s car was just about to approach Watseka Avenue from the alley. I was standing there looking towards the car with a wistful look, “Oh, I missed Srila Prabhupada this morning. My day is now going to be ruined.” All of a sudden his car backed up right to me. Srila Prabhupada opened the car window and he held his hand out to accept the rose from me. I certainly was not a big shot in the movement but Srila Prabhupada in his kindness accepted my offering. That definitely made my life, not just my day, my life.

Prabhupada was giving a lecture from the Srimad Bhagavatam in the morning about King Indra. King Indra had impersonated himself as one of the great sages and had sex with the sage’s wife. The sage cursed King Indra to have vaginas on his body, but these vaginas were later turned into eyes. It was a little embarrassing to hear Srila Prabhupada mention the word “vagina” but at a certain point in the story he just looked up and said, “So you can either love Krishna or love vagina.” Just like that. I remember I turned completely red, but as I’ve been meditating on that more and more throughout my life, I realize that at least within the material nature, you can either love Krishna or love vagina. It may be a little hard to take to hear this story but that was Prabhupada’s absolute instruction.

To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 53 - The Alachua Clan 2

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