You judge them by when you meet them, and you see them—how do they do their work, how do they deal with you, how do they deal with everybody else.
That is what they are. Not by how much money and power they have accumulated; this is very temporary and certainly not the basis for spiritual potency. And I just do not see these people as taking care of themselves.
Prabhupada wrote this one letter to Risi-Kumar; I saw this letter with my own eyes.
This was when he was president?
Yeah, he wrote to Risi Kumar that saving the entire world is our business. And it is very important. But more important than saving the entire world is saving yourself.
Saving yourself is the most important thing you can do. I remember that letter; only by Prabhupada’s mercy can I remember anything about Krishna consciousness.
And I have such a good memory, I mean you even said I have a good memory. I do not know if these other devotees have memories like that. However, I really remember things that are important. But in reality, Krishna gives you remembrance and forgetfulness.
So I must be doing something right if I remember these things and Krishna and Prabhupada they are working together for the same thing. I do not see these big devotees protecting themselves. Satsvarupa Maharaja, we can say he is smart because when things get too much for him; he says oh, somebody else take my zone.
And then he gets into something like else which is very safe. He is smart. Because it is very hard to protect your Krishna consciousness. I hear now Ramesvara Maharaja and Tamal Krishna Maharaja, they do not like Hamsadutta who is having much trouble in his Krishna consciousness, and they are really going to try and straighten him out.
I do not think Satsvarupa Maharaja would get involved in these things. These are very dangerous; this is the most dangerous thing you could do. Scriptures say that fighting amongst the devotees should never be taken seriously because no one can forgive except the devotee that was offended by the offense that the other devotee commits. Even Krishna will not forgive. The devotee has to forgive the other devotee. So as soon as we do something wrong, we must forgive in order for the offense to be gone. Otherwise, no one can forgive that. That is how touchy it is working with devotees. So we really should not offend devotees. Very dangerous situation to offend devotees. Now if the devotee offends you, you can forgive, but if it becomes a campaign of offenses to stop your service and everything, you must take some steps. Like when Bali Mardan and Madhavesa, who were just put in charge of New York; they tried to stop me too from doing this project in Harlem.
I said to Madhavesa,
“Prabhupada wants me to work with black people in Harlem. I do not want any money from you, I do not want any men, I just want your approval that I can do it and you would not give me any trouble.”
He replied,
“Bhaktijana, you have a bad track record and I do not want you in New York, in fact, I do not want you in the temple. I do not even want you in New York City.”
So just because he said that, I went right back to New York immediately. I thought who the hell is this person to tell me he does not want me in New York; he talks like he thinks that he owns the whole world. Nevertheless, he tried to stop me and then he fell down. And when he fell down, the person he hated the most is Siddha Svarupa a fallen sannyasa. He when all the way to this little island in Hawaii, where Siddha Svarupa lives and he fell down.