Don Drifting Away

Don was a test of Swamiji’s tolerance.  He had lived in the storefront for months, working little and not trying to change his habits.  He had a remarkable speech affectation: instead of talking, he enunciated his words, as if he were reciting from a book.  And he never used contractions.  It wasn’t that he was intellectual, just that he had somehow developed a plan to abolish his natural dialect.  Don’s speech struck people as bizarre, like it might be the result of too many drugs.  It gave him the air of not being an ordinary being.  And he continually took marijuana, even after Swamiji had asked those who lived with him not to.  Sometimes during the day his girlfriend would join him in the storefront, and they would sit together talking intimately and sometimes kissing.  But he liked the Swami.  He even gave him money once.  He liked living in the storefront, and Swamiji didn’t complain.

But others did.  One day an interested newcomer dropped by the storefront and found Don alone, surrounded by the sharp aroma of marijuana.  “You been smoking pot?  But the Swami doesn’t want anyone smoking here.”  Don denied it: “I have not been smoking.  You are not speaking the truth.”  The boy then reached in Don’s shirt pocket and pulled out a joint, and Don hit him in the face.  Several of the boys found out.  They weren’t sure what was right: What would the Swami do?  What do you do if someone smokes pot?  Even though a devotee was not supposed to, could it be allowed sometimes?  They put the matter before Swamiji.

Prabhupada took it very seriously, and he was upset, especially about the violence.  “He hit you?” he asked the boy.  “I will go down myself and kick him in the head.”  But then Prabhupada thought about it and said that Don should be asked to leave.  But Don had already left.

The next morning during Swamiji’s class, Don appeared at the front door.  From his dais, Swamiji looked out at Don with great concern.  But his first concern was for ISKCON: “Ask him,” Prabhupada requested Roy, who sat nearby.  “If he has marijuana – then he cannot come in.  Our society …” Prabhupada was like an anxious father, afraid for the life of his infant ISKCON.  Roy went to the door and told Don he would have to give up his drugs if he entered.  And Don walked away.