Whatever my sister cooks, we have to eat. This is her display of love for me
Visakha dasi: The short devotee who is wearing a white sari is Bhavatarini-devi-dasi. She was known to all of Prabhupada's disciples as Pisima, which means "the father's sister" in Bengali, because she was Prabhupada's sister.
Pisima would come very often to the temple in Calcutta, that's me with my back to the camera, we were staying there too at that time and she would bring prasadam for Prabhupada and for the devotees as well. She was a very gentle, kind, loving person. But there was a problem because Pisima cooked, as is traditional in Bengal, in mustard oil and sometimes it would be hard for Prabhupada to digest her dishes, although they were very delicious. When Pisima heard about this problem, she said, "My brother can digest nails if he wants to."
And on his side, Prabhupada once said, "Whatever my sister cooks, we have to eat. This is her display of love for me." And she had great devotion for her brother, not just because he was her brother but also because he is such an exalted devotee of Radha-Krishna. Srila Prabhupada said that his sister was a devotee of Radha and Krishna from her very birth. Whenever we offered Pisima the respect that she so much deserved, she was very humble. She would say, "I am a mere lady. I cannot give you anything. I cannot do anything for you." Quite often under her sari she would carry a bottle of Ganga water or Jamuna water and she would liberally sprinkle the devotees around her with this water, which was great fun except for me because I usually had a camera with me.
I would have to hide my camera under my sari when she pulled out her Ganga jal.
Reference: Following Srila Prabhupada-A Chronological Series by Visakha Dasi
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