Prabhupāda: Yes. Gāñjā smoking is not taken as bad in India, by the sādhus, not ordinary men.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Right. He told me, Mr. Das, that it increased his meditation and ecstasy.
Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, gāñjā smoking by the sādhus, sannyāsīs, is not taken very bad serious. The hippies learned from them. Allen Ginsberg introduced... "Yes. Gāñjā smoking is very good by the saintly person."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think your Guru Mahārāja spoke strongly against such persons.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. And from him we learned that intoxication, any kind of intoxication, is bad.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura also was...
Prabhupāda: He was also not very serious, but Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was very serious, and we learned from him. No, it is śāstrīya. No intoxication is good.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How is it that Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was not so strict in that regard, yet his son, who learned from him, became very strict, like a rod?
Prabhupāda: (chuckles) Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was so strict (laughs) that because he married twice, he used to say, "strī-saṅgī, attached to woman," even his father. (laughter) He was very strict. Sometimes when he would be angry, he'd, "You strī-saṅgī." And don't discuss this thing. (laughs) He was very strict. No excuse, no compromise.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's where you got all of that from.
Prabhupāda: My is imitation, but his was real. (laughs) All these Navadvīpa people were afraid of him.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Afraid.
Prabhupāda: Strong-hearted. They made a, what is called, conspiracy to kill him.
Hṛdayānanda: Who did this?
Prabhupāda: Oh, the Navadvīpa gosvāmīs. They raised 25,000 rupees and wanted to bribe this police officer that "You take this money. We shall finish him. Don't take any action."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But the policeman said?
Prabhupāda: Refused. "Yes, we take bribe, but not in such cases."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Why?
Prabhupāda: "He's a saintly person. We cannot agree to that." Everyone knows police takes bribe. They admit, "Yes, we take bribe, but not in such cases." This was told by Guru Mahārāja, Bhaktisi..., to me. He was talking many things confidential.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda, what is that story that one time Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī was invited to... He wanted to get invitation or he was invited to speak and they put so many conditions on his speaking. It was some place.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They said, "Now you cannot speak on such and such subject." He agreed, "All right."
Prabhupāda: I think there was a Vaiṣṇava meeting inaugurated by Mahārāja Maṇīndrānandī. You are referring to that. (break) When I was visiting, I used to sit on his couch. Yes, like... Guru Mahārāja was sitting on the couch, so I took him as ordinary gentleman. So then nobody asked me that, that "You are sitting? Get down." No. Nobody asked me. Then I was seeing that all other big, big disciples, they are sitting down. So then I began to sit down. Neither Guru Mahārāja told me, neither anybody told me.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What kind of a... It was a regular couch...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...or a cauki?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Not cauki, couch. That padded couch, bench.
Hṛdayānanda: Sofa.
Prabhupāda: Sofa, sofa, yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, boy. You were a young man at that time.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But no one said anything.
Prabhupāda: Not very young. It was in 19... Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: 1923?
Prabhupāda: No. '23, of course, when I first met him, he was sitting ground. I was also. At Mathurā there was party, parikrama party, in 1933. So I went to see that party, what they are doing, Gauḍīya Maṭha, out of inquisitiveness.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It was at that time.
Prabhupāda: Hm hm.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You mentioned once that most of the parikrama devotees, they wanted to go on parikrama but he was speaking?
Prabhupāda: Yes. So I did not go to parikrama, so he very much appreciated. There was announcement that "Now parikrama will start in the evening at five, and Prabhupāda also will speak. So anyone who wants to hear Prabhupāda, he can stay. Otherwise be ready for going." So about a dozen men remained, and all went to parikrama. So I was at that time new man—not exactly new man, but not recognized disciple. I did not go. So he saw that I am sitting, I did not go to parikrama. He very much appreciated. I preferred to hear him than go to parikrama. That he appreciated.
Hari-śauri: That was the same time that you took initiation?
Prabhupāda: Yes. After that, I took initiation.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Where was the initiation ceremony?
Prabhupāda: That Allahabad.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In Allahabad.
Prabhupāda: 1933.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So from Mathurā everyone went to Allahabad?
Prabhupāda: Yes, or they went to somewhere. But I came back. From Allahabad I went to Mathurā, and I came back to Allahabad at my own place.