One day Upendra and I were giving massage, the way I described before.  Each of us taking one arm.  There was one part of the massage where you would press.

Prabhupada said,

 “Do not be afraid, push harder.”

Prabhupada was so thin.  He was like a skeleton, because he had not eaten much for such a long time.

So he said, 

“You push harder.”

I was thinking that Prabhupada so frail, and that I am so big, that if  I pushed harder, I might hurt him.

Prabhupada turned to me specifically and said, 

“Push.  I can take it.”

“Yes, Prabhupada.”

And I pushed a little bit harder, but again very reserved, Prabhupada said, 

“Do not be afraid.  Use all your strength.”

So I pushed harder on Prabhupada’s arm which his hands gripped the bed tightly and strongly.  I proceeded cautiously to push a little bit harder.

Then Prabhupada said, 

“As hard as you can press, I do not mind. So use all your strength.”

Upendra was looking at me and I was looking at him, and we went on pressing, but we were a little afraid.  We were pressing quite hare at that point ,and observing that Prabhupada liked it.

Prabhupada said, 

“Today I was reading Srimad-bhagavatam, and I was reading that this body does not belong to us.  This body does not belong to me.  Anyway, Bhagavat said this body at least belongs to the parents who conceived it, or to nature, or to the fire who claims the body at the time of death.  In any case, this body does not belong to me, so push as hard as you like.  Go on, go on.”

I could see that Prabhupada was not an ordinarily ill man.  One day one of his Godbrothers came to see him.  And in the first minute, Prabhupada looked at him, smiled and said,

“Now I am an invalid.  Already it is a fact that I am invalid.”

Of course Prabhupada was not an invalid.  At every moment we could understand that he was surcharged with the spiritual energy. Just like when we carried Prabhupada on his palanquin chair from the first floor to roof for taking rest. 

So one day, he was in his chair.  I had the back handles, and another boy had the front handles, and we were taking him up to the roof.  We were led by Tamal Krishna.  Bring up the rear, Upendra is bringing Prabhupada’s lota, and cloth for sleeping.  Prabhupada then began to laugh hysterically.  And we were all amazed to see that in his condition, how was it possible for him to hysterically be laughing. 

Prabhupada was laughing and laughing, and then he turned to all of us and he said,

“Do you want to hear a funny story?”

“Yes!  Prabhupada.”

“Then let’s go upstairs. There I will tell.”

So upstairs we went and Upendra rushed to bring the tape recorder. I do not remember if he returned back in time.  We went up and Prabhupada told us first the Bengali proverb: Garib manus ca cinga kai hakta gelo gaura jaya.   And then he laughed and laughed and laughed.  Of course, we could not understand.

Prabhupada was laughing hysterically as he told the story.  He found this very funny.

Garib manus ca cinga kai hakta gelo gaura jaya.

He said,  

“Garib manus, poor man.  Ca chinga kai.  Ca chinga means grasshopper. Kai, eats.  So a poor man, he is so poor this poor man. He has nothing to eat, so he is finding the grasshoppers and he is eating. Garib manus ca chinga kai hakta gelo.  But when he goes to pass stool, gaura jaya, he rides a big white horse.”

Telling this story, Prabhupada again laughed and laughed and laughed and all of us stood in amazement.

Prabhupada turned to Upendra and said, 

“Do you understand?”

Upendra’s face became completely red with a expression of not understanding.  I also was thinking that I hope Prabhupada does not ask me.

Then at that point I turned to Tamal Krishna, and I whispered to him. 

“Tamal, do you understand?”

And Tamal, with a very unsure nod, said, “Yes.”

But I sensed, since he was not revealing it, that he did not know either.

Prabhupada then said,

 “Just see.  Garib manus, he is a poor man, he is just eating grasshopper.  So he has nothing to eat just grasshoppers.  But when he goes to pass stool, he rides a big white horse.”

And again Prabhupäda laughed and laughed.  Then when he saw that it was utterly hopeless for us to understand, Prabhupäda explained.

He said,

  “Similarly, I am a sanyasi.  So a sanyasi is a beggar, a poor man.  So I am a poor man, and yet I have to go to sleep.  So in order to take rest, then I must be carried in this palanquin by four men”

And in this way we all laughed and enjoyed Prabhupada story, but not quite as much as Prabhupada.  In this way Prabhupada was satisfied to be surrounded by devotees, and in this way, we took care of him all through the night.