Prabhupada chuckled, hypothetically paraphrasing our parents: "'When you are older, you become a debauch -- but don't become now!' If it is a good thing, why older and younger?"
He said that such a reaction was natural. "These things are not good. They know it, but they are habituated. But they do not like that son should be habituated."
He turned to Gargamuni and said, "Your father predicted about Brahmananda that 'This boy will be a saintly man.' Yes. He'll not be a karmi. From the beginning he could understand. How did he understand?"
Gargamuni explained that Brahmananda never had business tendencies. "He was an intellectual. He used to read a lot and he was interested in religion. In college he took courses in religion."
Prabhupada reminisced, "And when he first came to me, he expressed that 'I was searching this institution. Now I'll join.' And he was getting at that time 400 dollars?"
"Yes. A school teacher," Gargamuni added.
"Yes. So he was paying everything almost, keeping little money." Turning to us and indicating Gargamuni with a tip of his head and a smile, Prabhupada added, "And then he brought him."
They shared some remembrances about ISKCON's early days in New York, about how Gargamuni sold the first Back to Godheads on the street from a pushcart.
Prabhupada laughed as he recalled how he boldly accepted Brahmananda's idea to print the magazine in Japan, even though the minimum order had to be 20,000. "So I said yes. 500, 1,000 we were selling, and he proposed 20,000. 'Yes, you order.' Now, two million."
Prabhupada said that Tamal Krishna on the west coast gave the impetus for distribution. "Then we got encouragement. ... Anyway, Krsna is giving us encouragement." He said that people in general have a natural tendency to avoid religious and philosophical books.
- From "A Transcendental Diary Vol 4" by HG Hari Sauri Prabhu
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