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.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: 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 śāstriya. 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.