(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Prabhupada's Appearance Day 2010, Croatia)
One female disciple never met Prabhupada very intimately, she got initiated by letter in 1974 and she was staying in the Edingburgh temple in Scotland
Then she became initiated on Tribhuvanatha’s recommendation by letter. She was happy with that because she was afraid to even meet Prabhupada in person.
She thought: “It was just as well that I got initiated by letter.”
Then later on, she once made a little bag, she sewed a bag and made it very nicely for Prabhupada’s kartalas and she sent that bag with some devotee
After some time, one day in temple in Edinburgh came a blue letter - Prabhupada had used these aerogrammes, these kind of blue things you fold, there’s no envelope and you just use that “an aerogramme.” So this blue letter was in the mail, from Prabhupada to her. She couldn’t believe it:
’For me?!!’
Yes a letter to her and all the devotees came in holding up the letter and said:
‘yeah it’s for you’
‘no not for me’
“Yes Yes for you yes”
So they all stood around and said:
’Well are you going to open it up?!;
In those days if a devotee got a letter from Prabhupada, there was no such thing as saying:
‘This is a private letter – I got this letter’
No No, they would just allow the one who received the letter to open it and they were already saying:
‘What does he say, what does he say, what’s in there!’ everyone wanted to know!
So they wanted to know what parabhuapada wrote – and prabhupada wrote:
“Thank you so much for this bag you made for these karatalas. It very nice, you are every expert. It is very nice that you are engaging you’re expertise in the service of Krishna, and of course I am only receiving this bag as a a servant of Krishna and I am only using it on his behalf, for his service – so I can receive it.’
Then he said about chanting sixteen rounds, following four regulative principles and like that.
Then this devotee, she was explaining that “If my house was to catch on fire, besides first saving all the living beings in the house, the letter would be the first thing to go for in the house to save, it’s my greatest treasure.”
It showed how Prabhupada the great Acharya, the Jagat Guru the spiritual master of the three worlds, that spiritual master that can deliver the three worlds, that spiritual master took the time and trouble to find out the place where an insignificant devotee stayed and took the trouble to write a letter - and that purchased her.
That is the one thing that she kept…so many things happenend, she got divorced and this and that , her children left and living alone and trying to survive, not easy and her life moved along…but that letter always stayed there :
‘I got that mercy from Prabhupada, how can I ever forget him or ever neglect his kindness upon me and therefore I must somehow or other try to repay him.’
In that way that letter sealed the connection with Srila Prabhupada. In this way Srila Prabhupada connected with so many and just gave himself.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami,
Prabhupada's Appearance Day 2010, Croatia)
