“He was a big demon wasn’t he Prabhupada?”

Yogesvara Dasa remembers:

In Geneva another ‘big famous’ person came to see Srila Prabhupada, a Sanskrit scholar. His name was Herbert and he had written a book about Krishna. Srila Prabhupada told him, “I have been looking at your book!”

The scholar proudly replied, “It took me 12 years to write this book!”

Srila Prabhupada responded, “Yes, and there’s still mistakes in it!”

Srila Prabhupada went on to talk about the 4 regulative principles to which Herbert commented,
“I drink… I smoke… but… I can give these things up if I want to, but… I don’t want to!”

Srila Prabhupada’s reply was, “Therefore you have many many births to go on the spiritual path!”

After the scholar had left all the devotees assembled were rubbing their hands expecting Srila Prabhupada to heavily criticise Herbert’s malpractices.

So Guru Gauranga Dasa started it off, “He was a big demon wasn’t he Prabhupada?”

Their jaws dropped in surprise when Srila Prabhupada responded,
“Well he has been influenced by association with mayavadis, but I’ve noticed in his book he has mentioned the name of Krishna many times; this will greatly benefit him!”