This woman here is the official reception director for VIP's coming to Paris. In fact, she was the woman who arranged for Srila Prabhupada's reception at the Paris City Hall. The protocol was made very clear to us - that when we go into the reception room, everyone should stand and the mayor will give his opening remarks and then Srila Prabhupada can reply. The way it worked out was somewhat different.
The mayor waited and Prabhupada sat, and the mayor started getting nervous and Prabhupada sat. Then everyone was looking at Srila Prabhupada and I leaned over and said, "Srila Prabhupada, they're waiting for you to stand." Srila Prabhupada looked at me and said, "I'm supposed to stand for who?" and refused to stand. So the mayor started his remarks and gave his greeting to Srila Prabhupada seated, probably the first time in the history of the country that anyone had been received in City Hall without standing up. Then when the mayor was finished saying how Paris has always been such a spiritual city, Srila Prabhupada stood at that moment and said, "Mr. Mayor, you have spoken very nicely about how France is such a spiritual country, etc.
Let us examine what is spiritual," and went right for the jugular, that there is a soul within the body and any government that is unaware of the difference between the soul and the body is a demonic government. "Just like your Napoleon Bonaparte," (he pronounced the name "Napoleon Bona-partee"), "he said, 'I am France.' France is there. Where is Napoleon? The soul is gone. Where has it gone? This is the importance of proper spiritual training is to understand the difference between the body and the soul
- Following Srila Prabhupada - Rememberances by Yogeswara das
Srila Prabhupada ki jay!
Hare Krishna
No comments:
Post a Comment