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On Speaking Strongly in Srila Prabhupada's Service

In front of our residence our neighbor's daughter-in-law was beating her child. So I inquired through my servant, Why is this young woman beating her child? The servant brought me the news that this boy gave parata to his elder brother who is suffering from typhoid. In typhoid fever, solid food is strictly forbidden, but the boy did not know. He asked his younger brother that "If you steal one parata and if you give me, I am very much hungry." So he became very sympathetic to his brother, and he gave the parata. And the boy was ill; he aggravated the illness. So as soon as the mother heard that he gave a parata to him, she began to beat: "Why did you give?" It was charity, it was affection and sympathetic, but the result was beating with shoes. 741027SB.MAY

Like that of the angry mother, a Vaisnava's aggression is motivated by concern. The Vaisnava knows that the demoniac need to be chastised for their own good. A devotee who uses pungent language does not hate those he berates.

All these leaders, all these rascals, they are all rascals. At least you must know. You may behave gentlemanly. That is your duty. But you should know that he is a rascal number one. We don't hate anyone. Otherwise there will be no preaching. And Lord Jesus Christ said that you hate the disease, not the man who is suffering from disease. That is very nice. So we shall hate this influence of maya but not the man who is now under the influence. Then how we can preach? That is our business. 720404SB.MEL

Satsvarupa Dasa Gosvami analyzes the internal mood of a steadfast preacher:

There are enemies to our movement. Scholars may disregard ISKCON as sentimental. Anti-cult groups may pursue us with charges of brainwashing or coercion. There are others. A devotee sees things philosophically. He sees the enemies as agents of karma and not really as enemies in their own right. After all, they are spirit souls whose eternal nature is as servants of Krsna. This is the maha-bhagavata vision. Devotees cultivate this vision internally, but externally, they have to meet the demands of preaching and act on the platform of distinguishing between friends and enemies and protecting Krsna from all attacks. Devotees are like knights at a jousting match. The scholar says, "Actually there is no person Krsna. Krsna has been mythologized from a conglomeration of tribal chieftains." Like ksatriyas, we strike back: "Nothing personal, professor, but actually, your intelligence has been stolen by illusion." The professor might respond with an accusation of sentimentality. The devotee may call him a rascal or a dog. The argument can become heated, but the devotee maintains his internal vision that the scholar is a spirit soul in ignorance. [Niti-sastras, p. 25]

But is it really necessary to speak so belligerently? Can't we preach without being so forthright? The answer is that the need for Krsna consciousness is so urgent and the antipathy of the conditioned souls so formidable that intense techniques are required.

- From the "My Memories of Srila Prabhupada" by HH Bhakti Vikas Swami

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