Srila Prabhupada further recollects his father’s dealings with sadhus: “Saintly persons must be treated as good as denizens from heaven. Formerly, this was the system if any saintly person came to the home. I saw this in my childhood. Many saintly persons used to come, and my father used to receive them very nicely. Some of them. Still, the system is, if you go to any Indian village, those who are sannyasis (saintly persons) are received very well. Just like many brahmanas were approaching Caitanya Mahaprabhu with invitations when He was touring in South India. That is the system. He hasn’t got to bother for his food or shelter in any place. So, similarly, my father was inviting so many saintly persons. I was not so much impressed by the saintly persons that were coming. Not all of them were real Vaisnavas. That was my discrimination from the beginning of my life. I never liked these bogus svamis and yogis. Never. But my father had no discrimination: ‘Nevermind whatever he is. He is a saintly person. Receive him.’ He was giving charity to them every fortnight.
There was one Mayavadi sannyasi in Kalighata. First of all, the father was a sannyasi, then his son became a sannyasi. We had very a good relationship with him, and because my father was going, I also used to go. My father would carry ganja for him—in those days ganja was very cheap—so much ganja and so much butter my father would give him. Whenever the sannyasi would visit, my father would give him some red cloth, ganja, and butter. He did not think that this was bad.’ He smoked, and my father had some regard for him. So my father thought, ‘All right, take ganja.’ He thought he should have offered him something, so he thought, ‘Let me offer whatever he likes.’ That was his theory. Yes. ‘It doesn’t matter.’ He did not know the ganja smoking was bad for a sadhu. That is the impression people have in India. We criticize, but in India, they smoke ganja in every sadhu samaj. These are not high class sadhus. It is these bogus svamis and yogis who smoke. When sadhus and sannyasis, not ordinary men, smoke ganja, it is not taken as bad or very serious in India. The hippies learned this habit from them, and Allen Ginsberg introduced it in the West. He advertised, ‘Yes. ganja smoking is very good for a saintly person. In India, there are so many ganja-smokers, baba-sadhus.’ And since then, this ganja-smoking has spread all over the world in the form of the hippie movement. The hippie movement was started from India. Then the rest of the world learned it from America. That’s a fact. The hippie movement started from America. But originally, they learned it from India. I have got many students. They came to India for spiritual enlightenment, but they learned ganja smoking and how to keep a big, long beard.
Anyway, many saintly persons used to visit my father’s house. My father was a Vaisnava, and since he was a Vaisnava, he wanted me to also become a Vaisnava. Whenever some saintly person would come, he would ask him, ‘Please bless my son that he can become a servant of Radharani.’ That was his prayer. He never prayed for anything. His only ambition was that I become a great devotee, Bhagavata. That was his desire. He used to invite so many saintly persons, and he would pray, ‘Please bless my son’—I was a very pet son—’that he may become a devotee of Radharani. May Radharanibless him.’ That was his only prayer. Yes.
From Bhaktivedanta, Chapter "Srila Prabhupada's Vaisnava Father" TO BE RELEASED EARLY 2025!
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