Tulsi: Jayatirtha was so tired that he was falling asleep and Prabhupada wouldn’t let him drive from Laguna Beach to San Diego. So Jayatirtha approached me to drive Prabhupada. I felt that this was a great and rare opportunity. But in those days, we hardly slept. The only way I stayed awake in Bhagavatam class was to exercise my temple president privilege and stand up to fan Prabhupada for the whole class. I was just as tired as everybody else. While I was driving the hour-long drive from Laguna Beach to San Diego, I looked in the mirror and saw that Prabhupada was asleep. A bit later I looked in the mirror and Brahmananda was asleep. Then a bit later I looked over to Jayatirtha, who was riding in the shotgun seat, and he was asleep. I was the only one awake and I was dying to fall asleep. I couldn’t roll down the window, I couldn’t turn on the radio, I couldn’t chant japa loud or anything. I was struggling and struggling with this— and I’d have probably fallen asleep and killed us all—but at the darkest moment when my eyes just wouldn’t stay open, from the back seat of the car I heard Prabhupada softly clapping his hands to start a kirtan. Then everybody in the car gradually woke up and the four of us had a wonderful kirtan on the way to San Diego.
Reference: Remembrances by Sidhanta Das- Folio Vedabase
