One elderly American lady and two younger ladies wandered into the lobby of Sri Sri Radha Vrindabanchandra temple the afternoon of Thurs. March 13, 2014.

Parampara prabhu inquired: “Good afternoon, ladies. May I help you?”

One of the younger women replied, smiling, referring to the elderly American lady, “You know, this lady is very special to your Hare Krsna movement!”

Parampara didn’t understand what she was referring to.

“Yes, this is my mother, Sally Aggarwal! She sponsored Srila Prabhupada on the Jaladuta from India in 1965!” she proudly declared.

Parampara was very happy to  accompany Sally, her daughter and her daughter’s friend on an adventure to the goshala, where they had fun seeing the three new little bull calves and some of New Vrindaban’s milking cows.

Sally spoke of how humble Srila Prabhupada was when he stayed with them in their small apt. in Butler, PA, where he had to sleep on the couch.

She recalls, “At first, we would, of course, cook meals for the Swami and ourselves. But our apt. was so small that after a short time, we had to get the Swami a room at the local YMCA. Even so, he used to come to our apt. every day and cook delicious meals for the whole family! What a treat!  It was a very special time. But I did feel bad taking service from him.”

Sally spoke about how Srila Prabhupada expressed a strong desire to go to New York. She told Parampara that Srila Prabhupada’s main goal at the time was to distribute many books to the American people.

“He told my husband, Gopal, and myself that his original idea was to come to America, distribute his books and then return to India.  As a matter of fact, he had left a trunk of books with us for 10 years, so we finally asked some devotees here from New Vrindaban to come and pick them up. I realized much later that I should have kept those books. If I had, I’d be a millionaire by now!” Sally laughed at this thought.

Jaya Krsna, community president, greets Sally

Caitanya Bhagavat das took the opportunity of Sally’s visit to give her a copy of the DVD “Your Ever Well-Wisher”, in which she appeared, since she had heard about this movie, but had never seen it. He gave her a Bhagavad Gita as well, for which she was very thankful.

Soon after the Swami had arrived in Butler, PA, Sally was concerned that people in the small town would think he was weird. So, in a motherly and protective mood, she went straight to the local newspaper, Butler Eagle,и arranged for an article, so people would know more about him.

Sally described another very amazing time in their lives.  “When Srila Prabhupada was leaving his body in Vrindavan, India, both my husband, Gopal, and I had the unbelievable fortune to be at his side.”

New Vrindaban was very fortunate to have a special and very fortunate lady, Mrs. Sally Aggarwal, drop in for a visit.