Cleanliness and Mode of Consciousness
Vaiyasaki Dasa: One morning in Mayapur in 1976, Prabhupada was walking around the ISKCON grounds with senior devotees. Bhavananda and Jayapataka and as we approached the prasadam hall, we came to backlogged toilets that the Bengali devotees used, there was stool everywhere. When Prabhupada saw this he said, "What is this? It is filthy!" Bhavananda said, "These are not our toilets, Srila Prabhupada. The bengalis use these toilets." Prabhupada said, "Why aren't you arranging for it to be cleaned? You are not cleaning it because it does not disturb you. If you were in the mode of goodness, you could not tolerate this and immediately you would have it cleaned. But you are in the mode of ignorance and this, which is in the mode of ignorance, harmonizes with you. That's why you don't do anything about it." Prabhupada immediately ordered it cleaned up and he explained that, according to the quality of your own consciousness, you feel harmony with your surroundings. If you're in the mode of ignorance and you come across something in the mode of ignorance, it doesn't disturb you and you don't change it. But if you're in the mode of goodness, then the mode of ignorance disturbs you, you can't tolerate it, and you want to bring it to a higher level. He told the devotees that they were in the mode of ignorance because the stool didn't disturb them, and that's why they didn't clean it.
Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint - Volume 3 by Siddhanta Dasa
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