Prabhupada and the Ants...
"When Srila Prabhupada took his lunch it immediately became known by the resident ant population. They always had scouts running along the walls and within minutes of putting his plate on the table, they would call in the battalions. Once, in Los Angeles Srila Prabhupada told me to put some turmeric down at the spots they were entering. It worked in Los Angeles. I suppose those ants were more materialistic. The ants in Mayapur could not be stopped. Obviously, they were spiritual entities and they could not be discouraged from taking maha prasadam remnants from the plate of the pure devotee.
I watched as hundreds of ants ascended up the leg of the choki, circling his plate to finally descend upon his prasadam. They seemed to know exactly when they were allowed on a certain preparation. Srila Prabhupada would eat in stages. First there were the vegetables and chapatis, the rice was mixed in later on and then finally the sweets were eaten. Initially they would congregate around the plate. Gradually they would work their way onto the preparations that Srila Prabhupada had finished with. It seemed like the ants had a little courtesy. Finally, Srila Prabhupada would finish his meal with a few sweets and get up to wash. For the ants the moment they had been waiting for had arrived. They knew now was the time to dive into the sweets. Incredibly, Srila Prabhupada never said one word about them during this daily attack on his lunch.
This was not an isolated incident. It happened with great regularity. There seemed to be an arrangement between the pure devotee and these tiny insects. He was free to take as much time as he wanted and they were allowed to eat whatever he was finished with. I tried to get to the plates as quickly as possible after he finished so that there was something left to distribute to his disciples. As Srila Prabhupada said in Calcutta, “It’s all right, they don’t eat very much.”
-Srutakirti das
Comments
This is so nice to read, funny,and puts me in the mentality very nicely.
I wonder if the children of the special ants are also included as lucky ants,or perhaps they are somehow in a position of being unqualified to speak on such matters,after all,did they personally take from his plate or were they only given the remnants of Prashad from his plate from other ants..
Perhaps there was a big fight after,and the ants who were not personally at the plate,,,well,you know,where does it all end.
All I can see is that there are ants and Srila Prabhupadas mercy, let the ants fight amongst themselves.
This story you have told has really opened my eyes in a way that is very easy to focus on.
I wonder if Srila Prabhupada was thinking,this ant is getting the mercy,and the ones who were only given the remnants via other ants ,well,they are not really able to be included in the original group who were personally at the plate?
Probably not,its ants and prasadam,and there is not a lot else to consider.
I will be happy to take the dust from the feet of any of the the ants who even remember the situation at the time.
I think some ants may have been selected,maybe 11 ,to take the position of Srila Prabhu pada,and the other ants now take their remnants,without question,on goes the story
What a great play this would be,thank you again
I think maybe the point is the disregard of so-called qualifications by the all-merciful Srila Prabhupada. For example, we are told Srila Prabhupada did not like even to see a mosquito killed, whereas I swat them with utter abandon. I have some prejudices against mosquitoes due to bodily consciousness, ideas of being more qualified than they somehow, and with the power, naturally, to defend myself, of life and death over them, but of course they attacked me and not vise versa, at least in theory. Srila Prabhupada is aloof from all fears and selfishness, and so he shows maximum compassion, realizing there is an equal soulfrom Krsna in the machines.
The above is not analogous. MM's reply is, and yes, even in the seventies, the "big big" devotees kept the rest of us from even personally sitting with our spiritual master. We were not allowed into the isagothis or to attend morning walks. We were even advised not to send correspondence. It became all about their own aggrandizement and power in the name of a cult / religion. We accepted this abuse in the name of humblness, but in reality it was almost a type of spiritual cowardice.
So, even then, we were abused and cheated by a hierarchy of rascals, who later apologized, far too little too late.
But some of us saw this and after a while rejected their authority. In my case, every contact I had with Srila Prabhupada personally was due to me ignoring orders from the Godbrothers.
And yes, every time there is an organization of men, there will be cheaters and cheateds. Everything down here is tainted with the muck of false ego and stupidity.