Serving Swamiji in His Presence

If you could actually be in the same place with Prabhupada, then your reward was to see his actual lila.  On the other hand, if you served him, you had the advantage of actually attracting the pure devotee. By that attraction he would come to you.  Prabhupada said that we should not try to see Krishna, but act in such a way that Krishna sees us.  He gave the example of an office worker in a big company who does his job very nicely.  One day the president of the company examines his file and is impressed at the man’s work.  Then the president comes to that man’s desk and congratulates him.  We attract Prabhupada by carrying out his orders.

Sometimes the happy combination occurred when we could please Prabhupada by rendering him service while in his personal presence.  This happened the day that I was walking to work up Second Avenue in New York.  I met Swamiji walking south toward the storefront.  In those days, he didn’t usually take morning walks, but he had started this habit after his stroke.

I saw him coming around the corner and walking my way.  It was a great relief to see him because I was feeling anxious.  I was anticipating the difficulty of going to work that day.  The caseworkers were on strike, and in order to enter the building, I would have to go through their picket line.  I had not joined their strike because I was working for Swamiji.  I was not interested in losing weeks of pay in the name of trying to get a higher salary.  I knew they would all hoot and holler and threaten to hit me when I walked through their double file.

Swamiji knew about the welfare strike, and he had already passed the picket lines from the other side of the street that morning.  The workers had yelled at him because they knew he was sending me to work.  Swamiji was accompanied by Kirtanananda, and just before I reached them, I bowed down to Prabhupada, touching my forehead on the sidewalk.  As I rose, I saw Swamiji smiling very beautifully.  He reached out and touched me slightly.  We exchanged only a few words at that time, and I went off to my task filled with his blessings.  That was certainly a moment to treasure: service in Prabhupada’s shelter, approved by him.

Let us make our hearts pure and enthusiastic to receive him.  Then when he comes to see us, we will have something to say to him.  His coming will not occur just by our hanging out as a guest, with no particular service, in the temple where Prabhupada is visiting.