At least he was chastised.
Ravindra Swarupa das : It was the first time Prabhupada had been to Philadelphia when there was a temple there. Before he stopped off at Butler. On the way back from Butler to New York, he stopped off at the University of Pennsylvania, October of '65. Then he came to Temple University once, spoke in Swami Nikhilananda's course, made some devotees too from another program. Prabhupada also met with scholars while he was in Philadelphia ?
Tom Hopkins, who he was really, really quite favorable to. And this professor from the Temple University, my Religion Department, Vibhuti Yadav, who Prabhupada raked over the coals, he was so heavy with him. Prabhupada said to him, "What do you teach?" He said, "Hinduism." Prabhupada said, "And what is that Hinduism?" Professor Yadav made the mistake of saying, "I don't know. You tell me what is that Hinduism." Prabhupada said, "Oh, you are teaching, you do not know?" He said, "This is our Swarupa Damodar. He is also Ph.D. Let us ask his opinion. He says he is teaching, but he says he does not know. What is your judgment?" On cue, Swarupa Damodar says, "Cheater, Srila Prabhupada. That is called cheater." This is how it starts. Prabhupada said, "So he has called you a cheater." It got heavier and heavier. Finally Yadav admitted he was a cheater and he said to Prabhupada, "Yes, I am a cheater, but I am an honest cheater." Prabhupada didn't give him a break. He said, "You say you are honest, but the judgment of a cheater cannot be accepted." So he was demanding that Prabhupada tell him what Hinduism is, and Prabhupada said, "First you become shaven-headed like these. Then I will teach you. Tad vidhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya." Vibhuti Yadav says, "I did. When I came in, I offered my pranams." He folded his hands together. Then Prabhupada said, "Then my first instruction to you is stop this cheating business."
Oh, the GBC and everybody were just shooting daggers at me because Prabhupada was quite visibly angry. And I didn't know what to do, I had brought him and everything. There were some graduate students there who were friends of mine who couldn't believe it, what Prabhupada was doing to him. Another point, Prabhupada had quoted the verse mam ekam saranam vraja, "Just surrender to Me." "What is the meaning of surrender?" Yadav said. Prabhupada turns to his secretary, "Hand me a dictionary," and Yadav bristled. He said, "No, I want the Sanskrit etymological meaning of saranam vraja." Prabhupada leaned back, looked at him and said, "We cannot waste our time." He said, "You don't want a guru. You want a Sanskrit teacher." So finally Yadav left, and the GBC were gathering around Prabhupada showing him favorable newspaper articles about Gita Nagari and trying to calm him down. I felt so horrible. But the next morning I was driving Prabhupada for his morning walk. I'd stayed up all night long thinking of an apology. He got in the car and we started driving and I said, "Srila Prabhupada, I'm very sorry I brought that professor to see you. I didn't know he was such a demon." Prabhupada looked at me. He said, "No, it's all right." He said, "At least he was chastised."
Reference: Following Srila Prabhupada-A Chronological Series by Rabindra Swarup Dasa
Recently Added
Trending Today