There was never any question jet lag
Srutakirti das : When we arrived in Fiji, I remember it was practically one o'clock in the morning after our flight from Australia and it was Ekadasi. Of course, there was no temple then. We were staying at one Indian family's house, and they had prepared prasadam for all of us; and, of course, it wasn't Ekadasi prasadam. But Prabhupada said, "It's OK," and that was it.
So we took prasadam. Then we went to bed around two-thirty or three o'clock. Then as Prabhupada did everywhere, when the sun was ready to come up Prabhupada was ready for his morning walk, and that was always the case. It didn't matter how much Prabhupada was traveling, if he stayed in a place for two days or two weeks. As soon as Prabhupada got to the next place, he set his watch and he set his body and he just continued on. There was never any question jet lag, the word didn't exist with Prabhupada. It wasn't something anyone talked about. Prabhupada never exhibited it.
We went out on a morning walk, and he would walk as quickly as he did everywhere for about an hour to an hour-and-a-half. Then we had a program. Prabhupada always had a morning program and he spoke, and then we had prasadam. Then Paramahamsa and I, we were just waiting for the opportunity to sleep again because we had only had three hours of sleep and for us that was really difficult, and we were hoping after breakfast Prabhupada would take a nap.
So I brought Prabhupada his breakfast, and then when he was finished I came and took everything out and Prabhupada laid down. So I went back, I said, "Prabhupada's resting." So Paramahamsa and I, we laid down. Of course, we fell asleep, we were out, and Prabhupada maybe took 15 minutes or something and he was up. So finally I heard a bell ring. So I went into Prabhupada's room, and it happened a few times where I would literally try to wake up as I was offering obeisances and exercise my eyes so Prabhupada couldn't tell that I was sleeping. I sat up, and as soon as I sat up he said, "Why are you sleeping? You're like dead men. Everyone is awake. The karmis are all at work but not the devotees. No, they're sleeping." He said, "They're sleeping very soundly. Why are you sleeping?" And, of course, when Prabhupada asked why were you doing something wrong, I never had a response because whatever you said, he would just take that apart. So I just said, "Prabhupada, I'm sorry." "What about Paramahamsa? Why is he sleeping?" He said, "Call him in here." He goes in and immediately Prabhupada says, "You are a sannyasi. Your business is to minimize bodily demands, minimize sleeping, minimize eating. Why are you sleeping?" Paramahamsa said, "Prabhupada, I have jet lag," and I thought, "Oh, no!" And Prabhupada said, "Jet lag?" He said, "Well, we just flew from here and done this," and Prabhupada said, "So I am also flying, I am doing the same thing. I am awake." Then he said, "All right, go on. Go sleep if you want."
So we would go back to the room and, of course, we wouldn't sleep. Sometimes five minutes would go by or sometimes a half hour and he'd ring the bell again. And you'd go in and then he'd tell you to start reading and he'd tell you some stories or something, and you would know that he wasn't angry with you. He was always trying to save us from our own bad habits and trying to show us that becoming Krishna conscious is serious business and one has to follow the process, otherwise gradually one can fall away. But that was one of the things he would do after chastising- he would always have a way of being extra special nice a little later on, and then we knew that he loved us so much.
Reference: Following Srila Prabhupada-A Chronological Series by Srtuakirti Dasa
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