(Told by ISKCON’s Sridhara Swami)

Finally, he called me and said, “So you want to take sannyasa?” “Yes, Prabhupada.” “So would you like to wait till Mayapur next year and . . .” I had learned a phrase for preaching to businessmen. Lord Rama, when he shot an arrow and Ravana was dying . . . Ravana was a brahmana, interestingly, a big demon but a brahmana. So to get advice from a dying man is usually a good thing, but to get advice from a dying brahmana is very auspicious. So Lord Rama sent his brother Laksmana to take advice from Ravana. Ravana was lying down, dying. And Ravana explained to him: “In my life I had an opportunity to build a staircase to heaven, but I didn’t complete that work. I thought, ‘maybe sometime later; let me see some auspicious date, not now.’ ” And he said, “That was a good work, but I avoided it.” And he said, “When it came to stealing mother Sita, that I didn’t put off; I did it very quickly without thinking.” So he said, “My advice is that when it is a good thing, do it immediately, and if it is a bad work, then put it off, or think about it.” So the expression is subhasya sighram. If someone said, “Well, let me think; I’ll give a donation later maybe,” I would tell that story, subhasya sighram. So when Prabhupada asked me about putting off sannyasa, I just said, “Srila Prabhupada, subhasya sighram.” (laughter)

From “The Jolly Swami” by Adbhuta Hari Dasa