In Paris, they put us out in the snow in the fields without any coats on, spread out in a big field, chanting without a microphone under a rock, with Mandakini behind me. It was completely again surreal, but all part of the tour. There is a series of photos of Srila Prabhupada and me sitting on the same bench together at the airport. Janaki had been sitting there. Srila Prabhupada was leaning on his cane observing everything. We were all feeling a little unhappy that we had put him through such difficulty for so little result, but he was equipoised and encouraging as usual.
Dinatarini devi: Yamuna was always alert to try to get any morsel of mercy from Srila Prabhupada. Dhananjaya remembered their waiting in the airport for their KLM flight, and a piece of Srila Prabhupada’s cane came loose. Srila Prabhupada broke it off and had his servant put it in the dustbin. Yamuna, watching this, immediately went over to the dustbin, removed the piece of Prabhupada’s walking stick, and stuck it in her diary. This was a beautiful remembrance which was so indicative of Yamuna’s nature. Anything that came from Srila Prabhupada—his words, instructions, chastisements, remnants of his clothing, his writing, even his tooth—she kept and cherished as living reminders of him to be worshipped always. Fortunately, the wonderful photos of this episode capture Yamuna’s one-pointed attention to what Srila Prabhupada was doing with the cane—just waiting for the opportunity to get this little piece of ‘Prabhupada mercy.’