Nischintya: Paramahamsa Swami let me put the garland on Prabhupada and knowing that no one was assigned to do it, I made sure that I regularly garlanded Prabhupada. Nobody said anything to stop me. Then a devotee told me an ecstatic story about how he ground sandalwood paste and added camphor to make it cooling and saffron to make it a nice orange color, and how he dabbed it on Srila Prabhupada’s forehead. So I proudly thought, “I’m going to put the sandalwood paste on Prabhupada too.” I diligently ground it up, made it the right consistency so it wouldn’t drip and put in the right amount of camphor, but when I put it on Prabhupada, Prabhupada got a cross look on his face. I understood that it was supposed to be put on his temples more than his forehead. I was shaking, but somehow or other I got it on Prabhupada’s temples. I paid my obeisances, and I was thinking again, “My pride has been squished, I am on the hellish planets,” but as I got up I was in ecstasy because I had been chastised by my spiritual master. That was mercy too. Praise was mercy, and chastisement was mercy also. My pride had been curbed and I was in ecstasy that I had been chastised, although ordinarily I never become ecstatic if I’m chastised. So, it was instructive, and it was sweet.
Source: Remembrances by Sidhanta Das – Folio Vedabase
