Beads of choice...

Madhudvisa : I had strung my own beads, but I didn't have tulasi beads. Gargamuni, who ran the store, ran out of tulasi beads because so many people were getting initiated. I had other beads, dark, blackish-red wood beads, which I had very proudly strung on an orange cord. They were very nice beads, I thought. On my initiation night, the moment of truth came when I gave Prabhupada my beads. In those days it was a very personal thing. Prabhupada would be sitting before the fire as you gave him the beads, and he would chant a whole round in front of you. So I came up and I gave Prabhupada my beads. He looked at the beads and said, "Oh. Rudraksha. We don't chant on Rudraksha. Rudraksha is like the Shiva bead. Shaivaites chant on such beads." I had the sudden feeling of being rejected, "Oh no, I am right on the brink of becoming his disciple, but my beads are being rejected." I said, "No, no, Prabhupada. They are not Rudraksha." He looked at them more closely and saw that they weren't Rudraksha, and they also weren't tulasi beads. He said, "How come you don't have tulasi beads?" I said, "Oh, Gargamuni ran out of tulasi beads." He said, "Oh, this is all right," and he chanted on them.