Amazing contrast of Prabhupada's mood

Jagat Purusha Dasa: The memory that has been etched into my mind took place on that same temple, on the same platform. That was after Srila Prabhupada had finished; we had guru-puja. Srila Prabhupada had given Srimad-Bhagavatam class. Prabhupada got off his vyasasana and he had walked towards the edge of the temple, and was looking out over the field.

The coconut trees were still there. There was a building that had remained outside of ISKCON's possession after the rest of the property had been acquired. And it was a house that was owned by Mr Ratnaparki. So we called it the Ratnaparki House. Since Srila Prabhupada's previous visit, that house had finally been acquired, and we were making use of the house. So I was living in the first floor, not the ground floor, but the first floor up. I recall sometimes you would see Srila Prabhupada, just have a glimpse of Prabhupada, see his particular expression, and it would be so profound and so deep. So this is what I felt watching Srila Prabhupada look towards that house, but he seemed to be looking to me. He was looking at the whole world. He was surveying the world. Prabhupada had such a thoughtful look on his face.

Srila Prabhupada adjusted his lungi, and then he said, "I want to see the house." So devotees immediately gathered behind him, and Srila Prabhupada started walking towards this house. This was very typical. Whenever anything new was constructed, Srila Prabhupada wanted to inspect it. Prabhupada walked into the house. He looked in the rooms. He walked upstairs. Then he pointed toward a door that was locked and he said, "Whose room is this?"

One of the devotees mentioned, "Jagat Purusha lives there." So Prabhupada said, "Open the door." So I immediately unlocked the lock and opened the door, and Srila Prabhupada walked in. By Krishna's mercy, everything was neat and tidy in the room. Srila Prabhupada was pleased, and then he came out of the room. He wanted to walk up some very old rickety stairs that went upto a little loft area. No one was staying there. It was very small, just like a little attic area. Prabhupada wanted to go up there. Tamala Krishna Maharaja immediately said, "No Prabhupada, its too risky, too dangerous. The boards on the steps are old and I don’t think it's a good idea for you to go up there." Srila Prabhupada just completely ignored those words, went right to the stairway, and walked right up.

And what he saw at the top of the stair disturbed him very much. In that little small area between the top of the stairs and a window, was an area may be six feet by four feet, something like that. There was a pile of damaged Srimad-Bhagavatam books. Srila Prabhupada looked at that. He didn’t like that one bit.

These were books that were damaged with mould, because they had been stored in a place that had too much moisture. The worms had eaten away parts of the books. These books which were destroyed, and perhaps I don’t know. Perhaps the devotee who needed to clear that area, didn’t know what to do with the books. So he just put them in the space which was out of the way. Nobody ever would imagine Srila Prabhupada would walk up and see these books. Prabhupada was very, very, very angry. This is the first and only time that I personally had witnessed Srila Prabhupada's anger to this extent.

Prabhupada immediately wanted to know who is responsible for this? How this happened? Some explanation was given to him. Then Prabhupada turned around and started walking down the steps, and he walked past all of us. I noticed that Srila Prabhupada's lip was quivering. Prabhupada was so upset. It was a very, very, very awkward time. Nobody knew what to say. It reminded me of the pastime of Lord Narasimha Deva, who was exhibiting so much anger at that time that the demigods were afraid to approach him. They didn’t know what to say, what to do, because the anger was too much for anybody to grasp or relate to. So Prabhupada walked out of the house, and he walked towards the back of the property and towards the hut where we were all living. Some few months before we had had the ground breaking ceremony, and a corner stone established. A stone has been created saying International Society for Krishna Consciousness - Founder-Acharya A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. This is a corner stone.

That stone somehow or other since Prabhupada's previous visit, had broken into half, and was lying on the ground outside the hut. So after seeing this pile of books Prabhupada came to the hut, and saw the corner stone broken. Prabhupada was very, very upset also about that. He was seeing our negligence and our incompetence, and so Prabhupada went up to his quarters. We all went about various services.

Several hours later, I came up to the roof top where Srila Prabhupada would generally go at four or five in the afternoon, and greet guests. I noticed that Srila Prabhupada was smiling. He was so relaxed. It was an amazing contrast from what I had seen just two-three hours before. I knew that the pure devotee, that the devotee's anger is not because of the modes of the material nature. Prabhupada was seeing in his book Krishna, and seeing the neglect of his disciples to deal with Krishna in this form. So he is very disappointed. He had to be angry for our rectification. Nobody who was present at that time, will ever forget this concern of Srila Prabhupada. And nobody, I can't imagine anyone in that group, ever disrespecting any of Srila Prabhupada's books, having that experience.

So there were many other times. I, on numerous occasions, would walk with Srila Prabhupada, and we would have opportunities to ask Prabhupada questions.