Srila Prabhupada would be ultra positive – very positive; “Just chant and be happy!” Just chant and be happy – yeah. But he was like that ‘ Just chant and be happy’ – that’s spiritual life. Ignoring the friction of the mode of ignorance and thus in that way activating us. Prabhupada would not tolerate ignorance. In Mayapur Prabhupada was doing his daily rounds of inspections during the festival. When he saw that some of the temporary bathrooms were overflowing with inappropriate substances, then he was calling the men who were responsible, and said;
“So what are we doing about this?”...
This is the mode of ignorance, and one who is not doing anything about the mode of ignorance is in the mode of ignorance as well! So Prabhupada was sometimes, cutting…cutting through ignorance. Prabhupada was not just only sweet and inspiring, he was also sharp and cutting.
When again in Mayapur some of the plants were turning yellow – again he held the management responsible;
“These living beings are under your protection. Why are these leaves going yellow?”
Everyone was flabbergasted, “Well what do you say, why are the leaves going yellow?”
Prabhupada said;
“It means they are not getting water. So why are they not provided?”
Prabhupada really took it like that. It was very difficult for young men to understand the weight of responsibility. They were not used to it – they just came from their parent’s home and everything was arranged and suddenly they felt the weight of responsibility. It is not a simple matter.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Melbourne, October 2010)
