Ranchor das: One morning in Russell Square Prabhupada told the story of the yogi and the mouse, and he really got into it and he started acting out the parts. We all stopped, and he was entertaining us with the story. Finally when he got to the punch line, when the mouse has been transformed into a cat and then a dog and finally the mouse is a tiger and turns towards the yogi, and Prabhupada acted the part of the tiger and his eyes became very big and he said, “Oh, now I will eat you!” Then the yogi said, “Again become mouse.” The way he acted out the part where his eyes became so big and wide, Prabhupada was such a wonderful entertainer. One morning there was a couple of big swans, they were on the bank, and when the group came around they retreated into the water. Prabhupada said, “See, they feel safe when they take shelter of the water. Similarly, a devotee takes shelter of Krishna and feels safe.” Another morning Prabhupada’s servant had broken off some twigs for him to use as a toothbrush, and this was in Regent’s Park. His servant returned to the group pursued by a park attendant, who was very upset that he’d broken the twigs off. Somehow the incident was diffused, but Prabhupada was disgusted. He said either directly to the attendant or to us, “You came to India for 200 years, you exploited and stole so many things from our country, and you wouldn’t even let us take a twig from your park.”
Reference: Remembrances by Yadubara Das- Folio Vedabase
