More Prabhupada Uvaca..

[livingentity]

Srutakirti dasa:

 

It was very chilly there in the evening but Srila Prabhupada didn't complain about it. He did complain about the unnecessary talk that would go on amongst his disciples. Since we were all staying in the same room any talking that was going on could be heard by him. He

said, "Tell them to be quiet. All this talk is not good. Simply they are gossiping. Tell them to stop."

 

This was not easy for me to do because these devotees were usually my senior godbrothers. I would tell them that Prabhupada asked for quiet. This same scenario occurred here months later when he stayed at the guest house. Mayapura was such a quiet place in '72-73 that

any talking could be heard by Srila Prabhupada quite well. Whenever Srila Prabhupada was at a temple many of his disciples would come together. This was a perfect situation for devotees to exchange stories about this person and that person, etc. etc. Srila Prabhupada said, "Why must everything deteriorate into this idle talk, idle

discussion. This is wasting time, destroying Krishna Consciousness."

 

I always watered it down before telling it to my godbrothers. I just didn't have the nerve to tell it as he told me. I never heard him mention it to anyone when they were in his room but he sure did let me know about it.

 

This was a quality of Srila Prabhupada's. He was very careful not to discourage anyone through criticism. If they were capable of dealing with it he would chastise. Otherwise he was the greatest transcendental diplomat there ever was. His only goal was to infect as many people as possible with love of Krishna and if you had the chance of associating with him personally then there was a strong

possibility of becoming deeply attached to him no matter how hard you fight it.