Rucira devi dasi Remembers Srila Prabhupada

Prabhupada Memories

Interview 01

Rucira: Himavati told me a story from the first trip with Srila Prabhupada to India. The devotees were living in tents and Hansadutta refused to sleep with her in their tent. All the other couples were sleeping together in their own tents. So she snuck into Srila Prabhupada’s room and slept in his closet. The next morning she got up and snuck out. She said that day Prabhupada called her into his quarters. He said, “Himavati, you cannot sleep in my closet. This will cause rumors. People will think I am having young girls in my room.” He said, “This is not right. Why are you doing this? Don’t you have a tent to stay in?” She said, “Yes, but everyone is sleeping with their husbands in their tents and Hansadutta won’t stay with me.” Srila Prabhupada said, “Okay, I am going to have a meeting with everyone.” He called everybody together and announced, “Now you are all going to take sannyas.” She said the look on all of their faces was, “What?” Then he said, “Sannyasis, you sleep separate from your wives. The wives sleep in one tent and the men sleep in the other.” Himavati also told me that she had a cat when she first met Srila Prabhupada. She said one day Srila Prabhupada came and he told her maybe she shouldn’t have animals. She said he was so gentle about it but she was very attached to this cat. One day she said Srila Prabhupada came to their apartment and just touched the cat with his foot. She said about two days later the cat died. She said it wasn’t like he kicked it or anything but just touched it, nudged it, and the cat left it’s body. She said it rid her of all that attachment. She was a wealth of stories. He was so kind to her when he came to the Manor. He was always very kind to her, and said she is a great wife because she can cook and sew. She was a great cook and seamstress.

The devotees from London were going to Allahabad to see Prabhupada at the Kumbhamela, and they were trying to find someone to make rasagullas for him. I said, “Okay, I’ll make them for him.” I made the rasagullas and Bhajahari Prabhu took them to India to give to Srila Prabhupada. I found out that Srila Prabhupada ate one of the rasagullas and he passed them around saying, “Even the Queen of England could not eat rasagullas made in London and brought here to India.”

Himavati was living at the Manor and as Srila Prabhupada was leaving one day, he said, “Himavati, are you coming?” There were so many sannyasis there, but he immediately asked, “Himavati, are you coming?” She said, “Yes, Srila Prabhupada,” and she ran back to the shoe room to get her shoes before joining Srila Prabhupada. He was always so kind to Himavati.

I went on one morning walk with Srila Prabhupada going up the road from Bhaktivedanta Manor, and somebody said to Prabhupada, “We hear that in Vrindavan they were all dressed in so many stones and jewels. How did they get those jewels without mining?” Prabhupada said, “Because Krishna was present.” He said that mother earth wanted to give. Krishna and Balaram were there, so he said the pearls and jewels would just appear in the streams. They could just pick up the gems and make their jewelry.

One time we were cooking for Srila Prabhupada, and Mandakini was in charge of the cooking and I was helping her. She sent up prasadam and Prabhupada sent his servant back down and said, “Taste it before you send it up.” It was funny yet very instructive.

To view the entire unedited video go to Memories 52 - Prabhupada Memories DVD 52 The Alachua Clan 1

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

Following Srila Prabhupada

Interview DVD 11

Rucira: And then he would be carried out and he would go up to the top landing, and they would turn him around and he would smile at everyone. And then he would go on up to his rooms. Everyone would bring news. When they would go in, they would come back out and tell you what was happening. But it was so different from any other time that Prabhupada had come in that you knew he was on a different platform. He stopped pretending to be on the madhyama-adhikari platform because he would just glorify…anyone who went inside, he would glorify everything that they’d done, “You were such a great help in Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s movement.” And it was pretty incredible. That time was just so different.