This story still amazes me. It happened in England in 1969, when we were just opening the London temple (in Bloomsbury, near the British Museum). Srila Prabhupada had come, and he was talking with the more experienced devotees and confirming their projects. "Yes," he would say, "Do it very nicely," and, "Very good, make it first class." For instance, Mukunda was to continue his efforts in public relations and another devotee was to carry on his work in renovating the building.
So I said, "Srila Prabhupada, everyone seems to have something to do, can you give me something to do?"
"No," he said, gently but firmly. "What would you like to do for Krishna?"
"I don't know, Srila Prabhupada," I said. "I've never thought about it. But can't you give me something to do anyway?"
"No," he told me again. "Just try to understand our Krishna conscious philosophy. You should decide what you want to do for Krishna."
I felt really thickheaded. All my life I'd been taught not to think about God at all, or to think about what I wanted Him to do for me. But somehow, a long while later, I got an idea.
"Srila Prabhupada, I was thinking that I'd like to make a synthetic version of the clay drums we play when we're chanting Hare Krishna. We could even mass-produce them."
He smiled at me warmly and chuckled, "Yes. That is a good idea. But you must make them unbreakable. Otherwise these Western devotees will simply throw them down like clay pots."
Srila Prabhupada advised that I go to West Bengal, India, and learn the traditional drum-making art firsthand. Then I could return to the West and develop my manufacturing plan.
Several years later, after I had made several hundred of these drums, I realized, "Srila Prabhupada has helped me discover what I always wanted to do for Krishna."
– Isana Dasa
I had the good fortune to be in Srila Prabhupada's room when he was visiting the Mexico City temple in 1974. At that time a disciple who had strayed away had returned and was asking Srila Prabhupada to forgive him. He said he was afraid that Srila Prabhupada might have rejected him forever. The entire room fell silent. Srila Prabhupada lowered his head thoughtfully for a moment. Then he looked up and said, "Krishna is God, and if He likes He can spread Krishna consciousness all over the world in a second, without the help of anyone. But I am not God. I am simply a servant of God, so I require assistance. If someone helps me even a little, I am eternally indebted to him. You have helped me very much, so how can I reject you?" We were all moved by Srila Prabhupada's humility and forgiveness.
– Sita Devi Dasi