Ya nisa sarva-bhutanam....

Harivilas: After the press conference, I ordered a taxi for Prabhupada, Aravinda, Shyamasundar, and myself. I was sitting on the left side in the back seat, Prabhupada was sitting in the middle, and Aravinda was sitting on the right. We started driving through the center of Paris. We went to crossroads called the Concord, which is a very prestigious place in Paris. I was always reading Bhagavad-gita, and I was always writing down questions, thinking that if ever I met Prabhupada, I would ask him. We were stuck in the traffic, and I asked Prabhupada, 'What does this verse mean?' The verse was, 'Ya nisa sarva-bhutanam, what is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage' (Bhagavad-gita 2.69). There was noise so he said, "What is that?" Aravinda said, 'What does this verse mean?' And Prabhupada said, "Oh, yes." He heard, 'time of awakening. What does this verse mean?' Prabhupada said, "Yes, 4:00 a.m. All of our devotees wake up at 4:00 a.m. and take shower and go to mangal arati." Aravinda smiled and said, 'No, Prabhupada. What does this verse mean? Ya nisa sarva-bhutanam?' Prabhupada started smiling and said, "Yes. This means that when we see the karmis, we laugh. And when the karmis see us, they laugh. But our laugh is better. We know that they are wrong. They see us, and they think that we are wasting our time chanting Hare Krishna. We see them, and we know that they are wasting their time in material life. Our laugh is best."