Prabhupads pastime : All right. Well exchange Ranadhir: The first intimate exchange I had with Srila Prabhupada was when my mom, who lived in England, sent me a nice wool sweater. At that time New Vrindavan was a mud hole and it was hard to keep anything clean. I looked at this beautiful saffron sweater and I thought, I cant wear this, its going to be trash in no time. Ill give it to Srila Prabhupada. For a couple of months I kept that sweater in a plastic bag in the brahmachari ashram and I always thought, I cant wait to give this to Srila Prabhupada. When they first opened the printing press in Boston, Prabhupada went there and devotees from a lot of different cities joined him, including everybody from New Vrindavan. I was clutching my sweater and trying to figure out, How do I give this to him? Im not one of the leaders. Then one evening after arati everybody gathered fordarshan in a separate room behind the temple. I said, Okay, its now or never, and burst into the middle of thisdarshan. Everybody looked at me as if to say, Whos this? Whats he doing here? I stammered, Prabhupada, I have this sweater my mother gave me and I want you to have it. Prabhupada said, Oh, no, I cant take it. Your mother gave this to you. You take it. I cant take this. From the look on my face Prabhupada saw that I was devastated. I said, But Prabhupada, please, I was begging for my life. He was very kind. He said, All right. Well exchange. He took off his beautiful cardigan sweater with big oak buttons. I was crying, and the devotees in the room were crying. It was a loving exchange. Ill never forget it. It bonded me so closely to Srila Prabhupada and kept me going for years.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 06:22:13 +0000
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