I never expected it
Atreya Rishi das: In the same house, Prabhupada gave me a conch, left-handed conch, and he said, "Karttikeya has been such a great host to us and is a well-wisher and so generous to us, and he has given me this conch, which is supposed to bring a lot of wealth, and I want to give it to you." So he gave me the conch and he said, "I never expected to be able to do all this. I thought maybe we could just have some chanting, we could have a few devotees, but I never," and he referred to all the temples, all that.
Because Prabhupada, when he was saying that "I never expected it," he was kind of laughing at himself. He was saying, "Hey, I went after a little fish and I caught such a huge fish, I don't know what happened." So I said, "Do you remember, Prabhupada, the story of Mullah Nasiruddin where Mullah Nasiruddin is sitting by a lake and putting some yogurt in the lake. And people say, What are you doing?' He says, 'I am trying to see if the whole lake will catch to become yogurt.' They say, 'How could that be possible?' He said, 'Yes, it's not possible, but what if?'" And we both laughed and laughed, "What if? What if?" I said, "Yours was the same thing. You just 'what if' and it caught on," and he says, "Yeah," and we just laughed around that. It was a very joyous time.
Because Prabhupada, when he was saying that "I never expected it," he was kind of laughing at himself. He was saying, "Hey, I went after a little fish and I caught such a huge fish, I don't know what happened." So I said, "Do you remember, Prabhupada, the story of Mullah Nasiruddin where Mullah Nasiruddin is sitting by a lake and putting some yogurt in the lake. And people say, What are you doing?' He says, 'I am trying to see if the whole lake will catch to become yogurt.' They say, 'How could that be possible?' He said, 'Yes, it's not possible, but what if?'" And we both laughed and laughed, "What if? What if?" I said, "Yours was the same thing. You just 'what if' and it caught on," and he says, "Yeah," and we just laughed around that. It was a very joyous time.
Reference: Following Srila Prabhupada-A Chronological Series by Atreya Rishi Dasa
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