Srila Prabhupada's Will
Yamuna Dasi: There was one conversation that took place with Srila Prabhupada in the fall of 1969 en route to a lecture at Conway Hall from where we resided at John Lennon's estate called Tittenhurst. I was present in the van that brought him there. Generally speaking, only the driver and Srila Prabhupada sat in the front of the van, and they were bucket seats. And then the back of the van was left empty, just the metal floor. So I was sitting with my back leaning against the back of his seat on the floor chanting japa. We had been en route some time, it was very dark by then, and Srila Prabhupada said just loud enough for me to hear, "When I leave this body, see that it is taken around Vrindavan on a palanquin on parikrama."
It was so short, it was just a sentence out of the dark in the night and very stunning to me because I was absorbed in japa, something Srila Prabhupada had never mentioned and I had never thought of. So I rose to my knees and leaned over so my head was just even with his shoulder and I said, "Srila Prabhupada, why are you telling me this? Better you tell this to Tamal Krishna because he has more capacity to see that it is done than I do." And Srila Prabhupada paused briefly and then said, "No, you can tell him," and fell silent. And I too fell silent. So that this came to pass is very salient and so important because while I did mention that to Tamal Krishna sometime after the conversation, it wasn't something that we spoke about in subsequent years. So that it happened through whatever arrangement of the devotees there means that Srila Prabhupada's wish was fulfilled, and so many Brijbasis were able to pay their respect to Srila Prabhupada in this traditional way.
Reference: Following Srila Prabhupada-A Chronological Series by Yamuna Dasi
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