Rose is the best of flowers

Radhanatha Swami : I was the pujari at the old Vrindavan farm, which was on the other side of the mountain. To see Srila Prabhupada each evening, I had to climb down one mountain, cross a small river, and then climb up another mountain. Every day I passed a rose bush that had one beautiful, fully blossomed rose. It was a miracle. I would pick that rose and offer that rose at Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet when he was sitting on his vyasasana. Often when he was lecturing he would pick up that rose and hold it in his hand. One day he had a garland of marigolds, and he was holding and smelling the rose I had offered him. As he looked at the rose he said, “Just like this rose is a flower and these marigolds are also flowers. Although they are both flowers, still the rose is the best of flowers. Similarly, we are all simultaneously one with and different from Krishna. Although we are one with Krishna, still Krishna is Krishna. Krishna is the rose.” He used the different flowers as an example of achintya bheda bheda tattva, simultaneously one and different.