One should be a fool before the spiritual master

Satsvarupa Dasa: One time when I was with Prabhupada in Calcutta, I made a series of mistakes. Then when we were about to travel out of Calcutta, I purchased the plane tickets and brought them to Prabhupada to show him that everything was in order. Prabhupada asked, "So will there be any delay at the airport, at the ticket counter, or with immigration?" "No, Prabhupada," I said. "Everything is in order and there won't be any difficulty." Prabhupada said, "That's what you say." He then began to comment in a general way about the importance of intelligence. He said that "If a person has intelligence, he's actually a strong man. If one has a good brain then he is strong." I thought that was a good description of Prabhupada himself. He seemed to imply that a person could get on well in the world, even if he wasn't physically strong, or if he lacked money, provided that he had intelligence. And because Prabhupada wanted to see that strength in his own disciples, he reprimanded them when they acted like fools. Although one should be a fool before the spiritual master, the spiritual master doesn't want his disciples to be fools when they act as representatives of Lord Krishna.