Page 13 - Patropadesa (English)

1990

1 January 1990

*** Prabhu told me that since my visit to H and the unfortunate
exchange with your uncle there, that your previous warm
welcome to our devotees has cooled off and that you no longer
want them to stay in your house. Which surprised me to some
extent because of what I perceived to be our continued good
relationship after the incident, and because you never wrote me
a letter after I left expressing appreciation of my visit.

Anyway, I’m very sorry if you became discouraged in Krsna
consciousness because of a disagreement between your uncle and
myself. Of course, at that time I could have kept the atmosphere
more congenial by simply agreeing with your uncle. I think that
you were not there for much of the conversation. But, (at least as
I perceived it) as your uncle was aggressively and unreasonably
critical of our society, my response was thus.

Sometimes people think that a sadhu or a sannyasi should never
become angry. That is generally true—for his own sake a sadhu
or a sannyasi should not become angry. But when Krsna or His
devotees are becoming the subject of criticism, the devotees
should become angry (cf. Nectar of Instruction, Text 1, purport).
Srila Prabhupada himself sometimes became angry at his disciples
or at the nonsensical protestations of nondevotees. Such anger is
pure and transcendental and is meant for rectification and uplift
of others. This is an absolute fact which may not appeal to the
sentiments of the less informed.

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