I never got very much personal association with Prabhupāda, and one of my realizations came the day that Prabhupāda departed. I was in New York City. The day Prabhupāda left, we—my saṅkīrtana partner, Praghośa (it's another Praghośa, not the GBC), and I—had come back to the temple. We practically stayed up all night chanting, and the next morning, with very little rest, he came to my room and he said this: "Of all days, we have to go out and do our service." And I said, "Yeah, you're right."
We packed up and went to the airport where we were distributing books. I just remember the experience of thinking, "Well, Prabhupāda is gone." But when I stepped onto the floor of the segment where I would do my book distribution every day, when my foot touched the floor, I had this visceral experience that "Now I'll never be separated, because I have my service."
So that visceral experience must be there at some point in order to relish service in separation—that, "Okay, I'm connected." By the same token, you can, of course, have the vapu, and your mind can be somewhere else. There are some experiences where people came to serve, and they were very close, but then they were distracted. They wanted to be somewhere else. Either way, the main point is to be absorbed in service.
Fan The Spark
I never got very much personal association with Prabhupāda, and one of my realizations came the day that Prabhupāda departed. I was in New York City. The day Prabhupāda left, we—my saṅkīrtana partner, Praghośa (it's another Praghośa, not the GBC), and I—had come back to the temple. We practically stayed up all night chanting, and the next morning, with very little rest, he came to my room and he said this: "Of all days, we have to go out and do our service." And I said, "Yeah, you're right."
We packed up and went to the airport where we were distributing books. I just remember the experience of thinking, "Well, Prabhupāda is gone." But when I stepped onto the floor of the segment where I would do my book distribution every day, when my foot touched the floor, I had this visceral experience that "Now I'll never be separated, because I have my service."
So that visceral experience must be there at some point in order to relish service in separation—that, "Okay, I'm connected." By the same token, you can, of course, have the vapu, and your mind can be somewhere else. There are some experiences where people came to serve, and they were very close, but then they were distracted. They wanted to be somewhere else. Either way, the main point is to be absorbed in service.
#50 | The Lord’s Attempt to Go to Vṛindavana-2 | Govardhana Readings | 10 Oct 2025https://youtu.be/GzxDR2fpZFo
1 month ago | [YT] | 92