Page 31 - OSSISPS - Eng
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3 preaching Means fighting
that all else is nonsense. He was not always belligerent, but his
“occasional aggressive tactics showed us that holy men sometimes
have to be hell-fire men.” As Çréla Prabhupäda said, “Sometimes
1
when we preach we have to act like kñatriyas.” But it was not only
2
“sometimes” that Çréla Prabhupäda would provoke and antagonize
people. For instance, once in Japan, where few people were
interested to assist the devotees, he blasted the Mäyäväda concepts
of an Indian man who until then had been helping his disciples—
thus alienating him. Later, Çréla Prabhupäda commented, “Never
mind. One day he will appreciate how we have chastised him for
his rascaldom.” Another time, speaking to a man in Kolkata:
3
Prabhupäda said, “Kåñëa is the Supreme Lord, and all others are
demigods.” The man became a little nervous and quoted a popular
Bengali impersonalist who taught that all gods and all methods of
worship are the same.
“He’s an upstart,” Prabhupäda said. “That is not the teaching of the
Gétä. What is this other teaching? It is all utter confusion.”
“If you go on speaking like this,” the man said angrily, “I’ll have to
leave this place. Please don’t criticize this paramahaàsa.”
“Why not?” Prabhupäda said. “He is a concocter.” The man got up
and left, calling out, “You don’t know Kåñëa!” as he left the room. 4
Similar to this, on several occasions Çréla Prabhupäda got into
shouting matches, mostly with Indians. He described his preaching
5
technique:
I am a little temperamental. I used to use words like rascal and so on.
I never compromised. They used to call it “preaching with a pickax in
one hand and a Bhägavatam in the other.” That is how I preached. 6
1 Mukunda Goswami, Vyäsa-püjä 5 Examples are in conversations on 18
(2010). Jan 1971, Allahabad; 22 Dec 1976, Pune;
2 Told by Hådayänanda Däsa Goswami. and several times with Dr. Chaturbhai
3 See My Glorious Master, pp. 137–56. P. Patel in Mumbai.
4 SPl ch. 28, “India Revisited: Part 2.” 6 TKG’s Diary, 13 Oct.