Open in App
Open in App

How old is that calf?

Soma : When I was a new devotee in Boston and the Iskcon press was there, Satsvarupa and all these old devotees would tell stories. He spoke of the time when Prabhupada was first opening up Iskcon in New York and how Prabhupada was very inquisitive about things. I thought that would be nice to be able to offer Srila Prabhupada some information that he wanted. So on one morning walk in New Vrindavan a calf walked down in front of Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada put his cane in the ground, stopped and asked, "How old is that calf?" I used to work in the barn but not long enough to know the answer so I looked around to see if any of the other cowherd boys were there who would know. But nobody was around. So I looked at the calf really hard to see if I could figure out how old it was. I could see that the milk bag hadn't dropped down yet, so I said, "Well it's very young, Srila Prabhupada, because the milk bag hasn't dropped down." Srila Prabhupada looked at me and said, "I know that!" When he said that I thought, "Oh my God, I'm such a fool. Why did I ever have the desire to offer Srila Prabhupada some information? He already knew that." I felt bad and slipped to the back of the walk as the other people were walking forward. The very next day after the morning program he walked out to his car to go back to his quarters, but he didn't get into the car. He just looked over the top of the car to the road across the field that was there. I was standing right next to him and he turned around and had this little smile on his face and he looked at me and asked, "What's growing over there?" This time I did know that they had planted mung beans there. I replied, "Oh, those are mung beans, Srila Prabhupada." He said, "Oh, thank you very much," and then got in the car. I couldn't believe it. I was ecstatic. I couldn't believe how he read my mind and he knew that I wanted to answer one of his questions. He gave me another chance and this time I knew the answer. It was a little thing but to me it made my life.


Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint - Volume 4 by Siddhanta Dasa