In January 1977, on a 24-hour train ride from Bombay to Allahabad,
Prabhupada responded further to the anti-cult furore. As Ramesvara, in mock-debate style, put forward various arguments, Srila Prabhupada
enthusiastically dismantled them one by one. They claim, Ramesvara said, 'that our lifestyle tends to take the devotee and
isolate him from the world.
Prabhupada was disarmingly frank. "Yes, we hate to mix with you. No
gentleman tries to mix with loafers. Crows will not like to live with the ducks
and white swans, and white swans will not like to live with the crows. That is
natural division; birds of the same feather flock together".
Ramesvara continued. 'They have a list of five or six conditions, and they say if
all these conditions are present, then it is a suitable atmosphere for
brainwashing. They say we are imposing those conditions on our members'.
Prabhupada agreed. "Yes. We are brainwashing from bad to good. That is our
business. We are washing the brain from all rascaldom. Your brain is filled up
with rubbish things meat-eating, illicit sex, gambling. So we are washing
them. Ce to-darpana-marjanam. Srinvatam sva-kathah krishnah
punya-sravana-kirtanah hridy antah-stho hy abhadrani. Abhadrani means bad
things. So the bad things should be washed. Don't you cleanse your home?
Don't you cleanse your room? Is that brainwashing? So if you wash your room
very clean, who blames you? But you are so rascal that you charge us, Why are
you washing away this garbage? We are washing out the garbage and you are
protesting. This is your intelligence?. But intelligent men wash away the
garbage. That is the law of civilization, to cleanse. That we are doing. According
to Vedic civilization, you are actually untouchable. Now we have come to touch
you. Therefore wash first you must wash. According to Indian civilization, the
dog is untouchable, but he is your best friend. So you are untouchable.
Therefore we have to wash your brain. Unless your brain is washed, you cannot
understand Krishna. Man is known by his company. You sleep with dog, you eat
with dog, your best friend is dog, so what are you? You must be washed.
Scrubbed".
Prabhupada asked Ramesvara what was the opponent's definition of
brainwashing. They say, Ramesvara began, 'that brainwashing means that
when you deprive a person of sleep, of food, you isolate him from the rest of the
world, you have him chant something over and over again many times, in this
way you get control of his mind, and then whatever you want, he will do, just
like a robot. They say that we only let them eat twice a day, and even then, not
only is there no meat, but there is very little protein'. "That depends on him", Prabhupada rejoined. "If he likes to eat that kind of
food, you have no right to enforce upon him. There are different persons; they like different types of food, and food must be according to his own taste".
Ramesvara stuck to his argument. 'But only twice a day? "If he likes twice a day", Prabhupada said, why you give him thrice? That is his
choice"
Ramesvara brought up the argument of sleep deprivation. 'And sleeping only
four, five hours, Very little. "Yes", Prabhupada retorted. "Because it is a waste of time".
Ramesvara dutifully pressed on. "This makes his mind very weak You rascal!" Prabhupada was enjoying the mock debate. "You have nothing to
do. You sleep. Napoleon used to sleep for one hour, two hours. He was such a
busy man. So they are so busy in Krishna consciousness, they have no time to
sleep. Every great man does not sleep very much. Sleeping is simply waste of
time . If he does not sleep more it is a sign of greatness".
The conversation went on for a considerable time, all the while Prabhupada
supplying the devotees with the necessary ammunition to fight the on-going
battles with the opponents of the Krishna consciousness movement.