I asked Prabhupada and he replied, "Yes, tulasi can be offered in any condition. Tulasi is never bad."
August 25th, 1976
This morning Prabhupada accepted an invitation to visit the house of a leading Madwari business man. Formerly the Madwari community has not paid very much attention to us. But after Mahamsa showed a leading member of their community films on Srila Prabhupada's work and ISKCON, he became so impressed that he encouraged many others to contribute to the temple construction.
I was surprised to see that this wealthy man's house was quite dilapidated, and practically unfurnished, save for a few old unvarnished wooden chairs and tables. Srila Prabhupada explained that this is the reason they are so successful at making money -- they never spend it.
We entered a large, almost empty, room where they had a Deity. Prabhupada sat down and gave a short speech. Then a local brahmana, along with a young boy, loudly chanted Sri Isopanisad slokas. They accompanied each intonation with various hand movements, and Prabhupada liked it very much.
When we arrived back at the temple Mahamsa told Prabhupada that the leader of the Madwaris had been in attendance at the program. He would most likely now give a substantial donation, one which every other businessman would have to match.
Mahamsa also commented on the run-down state of the house and surrounding neighborhood. He said they were crore-patis [millionaires], yet they were living in slums.
Prabhupada said though that "to live very gorgeously is not good," and he also pointed out that the place was very clean. Their cooking pots were spotless, whereas in the house of a Parsee man he had once visited in Bombay, he saw that all the pots were black underneath. "Nothing is cleansed. For eating they use this china, so clean or unclean cannot be understood, simply washed." Then talking about our own temples he observed, "When it is handled by this European, American devotees, the black, down, it is black. That should not be black. It must be cleansed. Not even you cannot see any black spots, then it is clean. If there's a single black spot, it is not clean."
He said in his school days, even the house of a sweeper was kept so clean that you liked to go and sit there. The lowest class person, the toilet cleaners, would bathe two or three times a day, and all their utensils and living quarters were clean. This was Hindu culture. He said cleanliness is "very essential," especially in the temple. "If you are lazy, then you cannot keep clean, 'Ah, let me sleep for the time being.' That is mode of ignorance, tamo guna. So we have to conquer over rajo-guna, tamo-guna. Then there is question of coming to the platform of suddha, sattvika."
I had the chanting of the brahmanas on tape, and so a little later Prabhupada told Pradyumna to listen to it and learn the pronunciation and correct intonations. He even suggested Pradyumna visit them to learn the hand movements as well. Although Prabhupada has not specifically stressed that we chant Sanskrit expertly nor the use of any hand movements, it seems that he would like to see these finer points of devotional practice introduced, so long as they do not divert our attention away from the main focus of preaching. He is always pleased when any of his disciples learn some of the finer points of sadhana.
- From "A Transcendental Diary Vol 4" by HG Hari Sauri Prabhu
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