Prabhupada das: One impression I had was when I saw him opening up the Caitanya-caritamrita. He put on his reading glasses, and he said, “As it is stated in Caitanya-caritamrita…,” and that impressed me. I grew up with a lot of books around me. I just saw a difference between Srila Prabhupada and so many of the other gurus that were coming at that time, avatars and what have you. He was actually speaking from scripture.
It was a well-known ceremony when Prabhhupada cut an apple and distribute each slice to everyone. At a certain point I was really down and out, living on the street, or even if I was still in my apartment at that time, I had no money. That one slice of apple was both materially and spiritually very gratifying. It was unusually tasty for just an apple slice. You could see the Swami cut the apple and take one in his own special way. Immediately after we all took our little taste of apple, a basket came around and everyone would throw in a dime or a quarter. I didn’t have any money but they let me take the apple. So the principle there, of course, is the principle of prasadam. Srila Prabhupada would humbly, even at the very beginning, fulfill his duty of giving us Krishna’s mercy in the form of prasadam. Little did we know that in this case it was maha-mahaprasadam.
One time Prabhupada said, “I cannot speak to you now. I have to do my translating. I am very busy.” That was not the typical reception by Srila Prabhupada because when the door was open, you could just walk in without even knocking and speak with him. But in this case, there was a young girl who I had put on the back of my motorcycle because I wanted to show off my guru to her. So I guess the principle here is tasmad gurun prapadyeta jijnasur sreya uttamam. In other words, there has to be at least some bit of sincerity in your approach. If you are trying to impress someone else by showing off your guru to them, then the guru is not going to become your plaything. We politely left.
After wandering around all night I happened to bop into the temple just in time for the Srimad Bhagavatam class. Srila Prabhupada already knew me and that I had certain problems, besides birth, death, disease, and old age. When I showed up at the door he stared at me or almost glared at me, and as he knew me by my first name, which was L-O-N he said, “Lon, did you take LSD?” He really put it to me. I said “No, Swamiji.” I wasn’t exactly lying because I hadn’t taken it for a while, but the effect of the last overdose was still being manifest. Then he looked at me as I made my way right to his asana. I was so intoxicated that every time I put my foot on the floor, the floor was moving away from me so I was walking in a very unusual way. He was seriously studying my every move and held his peace until I landed, so to speak, right in front of him. During the class I kept my silence and behaved myself. What I realized from this experience was how skillful Srila Prabhupada was in dealing with so many types of people as devotional service is a razor’s edge. From the point of view of Prabhupada, “What should I do with this boy? He may disturb the whole class. At the same time, he is a spirit soul and part of Krishna. This is Srimad Bhagavatam, he needs to hear it.” So giving the benefit of the doubt, step by step, he tolerated and let me come to him and then went on with the class. This kind of appreciation wasn’t something I was able to have on site, but as the years went by I was able to understand. At least I hope I understand it correctly.
There was one encounter that showed Srila Prabhupada’s tolerance and also his skillful means on how to deal with an unusual situation. Once I came in and whimsically started remodeling Prabhupada’s apartment. I started moving a lamp and putting it on the floor and changing things around without any rhyme or reason. There were a couple of hippies there and they didn’t do anything to protect Prabhupada. They were just watching as if they were watching a movie. Srila Prabhupada had to deal with me personally. He stood up and very politely came over to me, extended his hand to shake hands. I got more or less of a handshake from Prabhupada. Then he said, “I am so glad you came. Thank you very much for coming. This is nice, very good, and by the way, the door is right over there”. He gracefully ushered me out. That little incident showed his genius on how to deal with a crazy person. He could have been a lot rougher. If it was anyone else I don’t think they would have been as graceful as that.
The most intense of all my encounters with Prabhupada was when I was really desperate. I had no money and was on the street. I came and I said, “Swamiji,” still puffed up, “I am like you. I am spreading the word. I’m telling people about Krishna and Om and all these things. But I work all day and nobody gives me any money.” Prabhupada looked at me and he went, “Tsk tsk tsk,” pathetic case. Then he became very serious and he said, “Simply join us and we will solve all your problems.” Again, at the time when he said, “All your problems,” I didn’t know it was birth, death, disease, and old age. Later on I realized what he meant.
I had one final darshan with Srila Prabhupada in 1972. At this time it wasn’t so easy to sit down with Prabhupada because Prabhupada was now known as Srila Prabhupada and the Hare Krishna movement of course had spread all around the world. This was in Boston and the devotees kindly set up this darshan. When they introduced me to Srila Prabhupada they made a mistake. They said, “This is Bhakta Lon. He used to speak with you at 61 Second Avenue in the early days.” I had not become completely cured of my craziness, but I was sober enough that I knew I was dealing with someone that was extremely important. I was chanting Hare Krishna and beginning the process. But I was too nervous to explain, “No, it wasn’t 61, it was 26 Second Avenue.” But at the same time, I wanted him to remember me. To try to help Srila Prabhupada remember our earlier conversations I said, “Srila Prabhupada, when I used to speak with you in 1966 I was very crazy.” When Srila Prabhupada heard this, he raised his eyebrows, looked me right in the eye and said, “Oh, are you still crazy?” He was teasing me. It was like to make a crazy person become even crazier in a sense. Anyway, we sat down and he asked me, “What are you doing? What is your situation?” I explained it in such a way as to try to convince Srila Prabhupada that I was no longer crazy. In order to convince him I was no longer crazy, I said, “I have two trucks. I have a business. I have a wife. I have an apartment.” I was thinking if anyone had all these things then they couldn’t be crazy and that Prabhupada would be impressed by all of this. He said, “That’s okay, you don’t have to move in the temple. Stay with your wife, do your business. I only ask one thing of you. Simply try to understand Krishna.” And that was a personal instruction. I definitely offered my obeisances as I had advanced up to that level. As I was walking out there was one other somewhat cryptic instruction when Srila Prabhupada said, “And we are not asking for any money.” That was the last thing I heard personally from Srila Prabhupada.
