At John Lennon’s Estate

After staying for about three months with the devotees at Tittenhurst Manor, estate of John Lennon, Srila Prabhupada happened to come upon a picture of John and Yoko Ono in a fully nude, sexually explicit pose, hanging in open view somewhere in the manor.

Prabhupada stopped and, pointing his cane, said, “This is a sign of insanity. We must leave this place immediately.” He said nothing more and went to his room to prepare for leaving. At the time there were maybe 20-30 devotees staying at the manor. Previously John had generously offered Prabhupada to stay there permanently by offering him five acres of land free and clear.

The next morning Prabhupada took his usual walk, but this time he did something mysterious. This estate had belonged to a gentleman who was fond of trees, and he had imported all kind of trees from various parts of the world. Along one such lane on the estate there was a row of maybe 15 or 20 of such trees. That morning as Prabhupada passed them on his walk, he gently tapped each one with his cane. No one really thought anything of it till some days later, after having left, when we heard that in the night a big wind storm came over the estate and each one of the trees tapped by Prabhupada was uprooted and blown down.

Very interesting. I heard this story from Trivikrama Swami, who was there during the duration.

Sometimes Prabhupada would make comments about the most ordinary things, and thereafter, whenever I would see that same thing, it would immediately cause me to think of Prabhupada.

One occasion was seeing a heap of dog stool on the grass in some park. He pointed with his cane, saying, “Just see, dog stool. This is your civilization and advancement of science. Dog stool is highly infectious with diptheria. The sign says no littering, but dog stool is all right, that is not prohibited.

Walking in a park in Boston, Prabhupada observed one man doing jumping jacks. He pointed to the man and said, “This is exercise for the body,” then holding up his bead bag and shaking it, he said, “and this is exercise for the soul.”

When New York City had a long-standing garbage strike, and tons of garbage were piling high on city sidewalks, emanating strong, obnoxious odor in the heat of summer season, one devotee on a morning walk suddenly quipped, “City life, especially New York City, is so hellish.” Prabhupada stoppend and looked at the devotee, then said, “No, it is delightful. When one is Krishna conscious, then everything is delightful—even New York city with garbage.”