Very special instruction

Satarupa Dasi: They said, "Fine, Prabhupada is coming in. Why don’t you go to Geneva and wash his clothes? This is your first service." I had produced a garland before. I said, "Wonderful." So, I had joined the next day, I went to the airport flying to Geneva.  So, I went to Geneva and there I was helping Parijata and I was in the kitchen. As Prabhupada came back from this huge meeting, big meeting everybody was talking about it. All the sannyasis were there, Yogeshwara was there. He was in charge of the communication in France Geneva all that stuff. I had white flour all over my arms. I was helping to roll puris with Parijata who was cooking for Srila Prabhupada. 

As Prabhupada went into the building, I was in the hallway like the door was open. So, I went to the hallway to have a look at Srila Prabhupada because this is the first time I met him as a devotee. I had just joined the day before and joined meaning giving up my work and living in the temple. So Prabhupada came straight towards me. I forgot to pay my obeisances. I was just standing there. Yogeshwara saw that so he came around and he said, "Oh Srila Prabhupada, this is a big famous model, she is the biggest." 

I don't know what he's talked for, I would say about two minutes, which is very, very long glorifying me in front of Srila Prabhupada, "She’s doing lots of services, she's giving money, she's making publicity," and I was like, "Oh no." I was looking at Prabhupada straight in the eyes and trying to tell him that, "Don't listen to him, it's finished. I am a devotee now, I'm not a model. Don't listen to him." I was panicky looking at Prabhupada trying to transmit new information. He just looked at me, just standing there looking. We were standing looking into each other's eyes for about two minutes. Then Yogeshwara finally stopped.

I thought, "Oh goodness." So, nobody talked, and how long 20 seconds 25 seconds of silence he's like, "Ah," nobody talked. So Yogeshwara started again. He was repeating in his shorter version what he said earlier. I was in agony, another minute went by and then finally stopped. Prabhupada lit up into a huge beautiful, incredible, naughty little boy's smile, brimming from ear to ear with a glimpse in his eyes. He looked at me and he gave me an instruction that I will never forget.

I will go back in time because when I came to the temple, and I was trying to do some service, I thought, "Well Prabhupada, when he gives instructions, you have to chant Hare Krishna, you have to follow the four regulative principles. But I'm a very famous model. Maybe he has a very famous instruction to me, only to me. Maybe he has something very special to say to me." So, standing in front of him myself I thought, "This is it, he's gonna give me this instruction that I've always waited before that it's only for me, for no one else because I'm so important, I was so famous." Yes, he did he said, “Chant Hare Krishna.” I said, "Yes Srila Prabhupada." I fell down paid my obeisances. Of course, he gave me this very special instruction, “Chant Hare Krishna.”