This is the action of a fool

Silavati Devi Dasi: When Silavati Devi Dasi introduced a new improvement in the Deity worship, she wanted to make sure that Prabhupada noticed it, and she hoped he would praise her. While bringing in the Deities' plates onto the altar, she started thinking how it wasn't very nice that everyone should see the plates before they were offered to the Deities. She decided to make a cover for the plates. She prepared a silk cover and planned to use it for the first time on a Sunday afternoon when Prabhupada was present.

According to the schedule, the offering was made just before Prabhupada's lecture. When Silavati went onto the altar with the plate and its new cover, however, she noticed that Prabhupada was not looking. He was looking straight ahead into the room that was crowded with people. Prabhupada's vyasasana was adjacent to the platform on which the Jagannatha deities stood. The deities were covered by a curtain that was pulled by hand and went around them like a shower curtain. Silavati was sorry that Prabhupada was not noticing her new cover, but she went ahead anyway, picked up the cloth from the plate, and began to walk with the curtain, closing it before the deities. Before she could close the curtain, Prabhupada leaned towards the microphone and said loudly, "You have gone to all the trouble to make that cover so that no one will see the offering, and yet you have taken the cover off before you have closed the curtain. This is the action of a fool."