Curiosity
I was in the first-class train compartment with Srila Prabhupada. He was switching the light switch on and off, and then the fan. He raised and lowered the small table by the window. I wanted to serve him, so I said, "Prabhupada, can I do something for you? Do you want me to switch on the fan?"
"No, I am just seeing all the mechanics," he said, switching the lights and fan on and off again.
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"I Love My Disciples"
From the train compartment window I was gazing out over Kurukshetra, on the same fields where Lord Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna.
"Krishna gives mercy to everyone equally," Prabhupada said, shortly after we left Kurukshetra Station. "Krishna pours rain on the stones and ocean even though they don't need it, Krishna is so merciful. He continued, "I also distribute my mercy equally. I love all my disciples.
"If some devotee thinks he is favored over another by me it is because he or she has done something, some good service, so I encourage them. However, I love all my disciples equally, even if they don't know it. I give credit where credit is due, so again if some disciple does a wonderful service to Krishna, I reciprocate by pointing that out."
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Prabhu
As we rode along on a train, Prabhupada showed me the proper perspective in regarding other devotees as "prabhu" or master. "The idea is to be humble and to serve others as if they are your prabhus. If someone calls you prabhu and you think, 'Yes, I am master.' that is not the idea." He imitated a puffed-up person with a puffed-up chest and a mock silly look on his face. "When I call you prabhu, it is in the spirit of service, in that way, you are my master."
"If you make a dog king and he is sitting on a throne
and you throw him a shoe, he will run off the throne and bite the shoe"
--A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
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Gurudas
(By His Example, Chapter 4)
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