By Niranjana Swami
One of the qualities of a devotee is that he is kind. So he would speak in a cutting way that was also kind, so that when people received Prabhupada’s cutting messages, they would still appreciate how Prabhupada was kind to them. And Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura preached also in a very strong, very cutting way and it would certainly polarize people - who could surrender and who could not surrender. Or who wants to surrender, but still sees that they have a long way to go. And who’s disturbed by hearing the necessity of surrender, who may have become a little complacent at their level of advancement in Krsna consciousness, and doesn’t want to really be pushed. There is expression in English, “Don’t rock the boat.” I am comfortable where I am in right now. "When I hear this it rocks the boat and I start feeling a little uncomfortable. And I don’t want to be disturbed by having to think about having to surrender more at this particular point in my life, because it’s taken me a lot to get to just be able to stabilize myself at this point. And the concept of more surrender is just too much for me to swallow right now."