Speaker: Srila Prabhupada
Source: Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and Fight
As Prabhupāda sat in his hotel room that evening with a few disciples at his feet, he reminisced about how he had come to America in 1965 and had suffered two heart attacks at sea. “They say that anyone who gets a third heart attack,” said Prabhupāda, “they must expire. I had two attacks on the ship, and then in New York a third one-paralyzed. Left side was paralyzed. I do not know how I was saved. And one girl, that captain’s wife, she studied astrology. She said, “Swami, if you can survive your seventieth year, then you will live for one hundred years.’ ”
Śrīla Prabhupāda and his disciples laughed.
“So,” Prabhupāda continued, “somehow or other I have survived my seventieth year. I do not know whether… They say I will live for a hundred years. But seventieth year was severe. Three heart attacks and paralysis. And I was without any family. At that time none of you were with me. I was alone. I wasn’t dependent on anyone. But on the ship I saw that Kṛṣṇa was going to save me. I was going for His mission.”