Pariprashnena — Q&A Archive

Prabhupada Nectar 1-8

8. Personal: His Height
In height he was maybe 5'925'94. A nondevotee would say, '93a small man.'94 Most of his disciples stood taller than he. But we didn'92t think like that, that he was a little man. If we saw reporters describe him as a little man, it didn'92t make sense. That was obviously the defective vision of the nondevotee. (His servant once said, '93For someone who is supposed to be small, it takes all your energy to cover his back to massage it. I can'92t understand it!) His shoe size was 8, his sweater size around 36'94. The palms of his hands were soft and boldly lined, with long, firm life lines.
There was something protective that came out of his disciples in the fact that Prabhup'e4da'92s height was shorter. We wanted to be sure to protect him because he was so great, so valuable, our spiritual master. In the company of karm'e9s or in the company of devotees, he was regal as he walked with his cane, not at all like a '93small'94 or '93old'94 man. Any person, regardless of his physical stature, would approach Prabhup'e4da respectfully, deferring to him. Prabhup'e4da was elderly and a gentleman and was almost always treated in that way, very respectfully. Because when he spoke he was very refined and proper, he himself proclaimed his spiritual mission by his every action, and people could see that for themselves.
Usually accompanying him were his Western disciples, who were very worshipful of Prabhup'e4da; that was also impressive. He was not alone, but with his servants; if he looked small, still he controlled others who were tall; therefore he was taller than they. He had strength; he would say his mind was strong. His face was not small, nor was his aristocratic nose and full mouth; his eyes were large. Again, these contradicted the '93small man'94 idea. He was saint, s'e4dhu, not small. He didn'92t sit small. His voice was deep, could be gruff, loud, commanding'97not small. His control of big men like Brahm'e4nanda, Jayapat'e4ka, Bhav'e4nanda was complete. His word, the raising of his eyebrows, or the turn of his mouth could humiliate them utterly or drive them running into action. And he wrote so many books. He was not small. But if he chose, he could be like a child and you had to care for him completely; that was his love.
Satsvar'fcpa d'e4sa Goswami