Yesterday, I invited Rajani-priya (Rose Forkash), almost ninety-eight years old now, to accompany us to the Los Angeles Ratha-yatra.
In the car on the way back to Carpinteria after the festival, she said, “Giriraj—I want to thank you, thank you, thank you so many times for including me in today’s program. I needed it, I wanted it, and you gave it to me, so I must thank you again and again.
“I’m almost a hundred. It hasn’t been easy, but I have had wonderful people in my life—especially Prabhupada, a wonderful man. If I hadn’t lived so long, I wouldn’t have met so many wonderful people.
“I cannot tell you how much I enjoy being in the company of devotees chanting Hare Krishna.
“I am a very fortunate lady. It was an enjoyable, wonderful day, and I will remember it forever.”
At intervals along the way back, Rajani-priya broke into spontaneous singing of Hare Krishna, in Srila Prabhupada’s original melody. In the eleven hours since we had picked her up from her home, her energy and enthusiasm had not waned at all; rather, in her ecstatic mood, they had increased.
Hare Krishna.
Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami