November 16, 1976 : Vrindavan

Hari Sauri: Srila Prabhupada relaxed on his asana and digressed a bit. He smiled broadly as he told us that his mother and father-in-law were married when they were seven and eleven years old respectively and that his own wife was eleven when they married. His mother married at nine, and when her daughter, Prabhupada’s sister, was still not married at twelve, she threatened his father, “If this girl is not married then I shall commit suicide.” Of course, she would never have done that, he said, but she made the threat because it was considered such a serious social obligation.

Prabhupada said he wasn’t even born when his older sister was married, and he remembers very clearly lying on her lap at the age of six months while she was knitting. His own daughter was married at sixteen, and by that point, he had been feeling some anxiety that she was already getting past marriageable age. It was wonderful to hear Prabhupada share stories from his young life. We know little of his past except whatever he happens to reveal in these informal moments.

He related that once in Calcutta when he was very young, there was a big epidemic; thousands were dying every day. So a prominent devotee there organized a huge harinama sankirtana party, and all the citizens of Calcutta – including Muslims and Christians – joined in. In this way, the epidemic was checked. Prabhupada said that he remembered joining in although he was so small he could only see their knees. But still, he wanted to engage in the kirtana.