Once, on his birthday in the temple in Los Angeles, he came in from his morning walk, paid his obeisances to the Deities, and sat on the vyasasana. Then one by one, devotees spoke about Prabhupada’s glories, about how Prabhupada had saved their lives and how he was saving the world by delivering Krishna consciousness.
Prabhupada listened with his eyes closed. When the last person had spoken and Prabhupada was going to speak, there was a long silence. You could have heard a pin drop. There were some tears in Prabhupada’s eyes, and he was shivering. He had other ecstatic symptoms, but he was not allowing them to fully manifest. Then, when he finally spoke, he said, “I thank all of you so much for your praise and for your love for me. I am the servant of my beloved Guru Maharaj, and all this is happening by his grace. I am trying to do what he asked me to do, and it is his grace that he is allowing this to happen.“
Prabhupada stopped speaking, and more tears came. He said, “Actually, all of you are my gurus. My Guru Maharaj has given me this service to do, and I came here with very little. It is because of you that this is going on. So I offer you my respects as my gurus.“
Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint – Volume 2 by Siddhanta Dasa
