Bhakti Vikasa Swami: During the festival in Vrindavan in 1976 there was a big sacrifice. Big means many devotees received initiation. I was sitting there for brahminical initiation or what we call second initiation. Akshayananda Swami was doing the sacrifice sitting in the hot sun pouring ghee and sitting close to the blazing fire. As the ceremony and chanting of “svaha, svaha, svaha”, was going on, Prabhupada leaned into the microphone and said, “Stop.” Usually you don’t stop in the middle of a sacrifice. Traditional brahmins wouldn’t even dream of doing such a thing. Prabhupada indicated to the back of the courtyard of the Krishna-Balaram temple where there was one young woman with a child on her lap. The child was not more than one and a half or two years old. Prabhupada said, “This child has his hand in his mouth. He is contaminating the whole sacrifice. Take him out and wash his hand. Teach him not to put his hand in his mouth. Continue.” Some may think that these are just some rituals you do, but Prabhupada was concerned about ritual contamination where the offering to Vishnu might be impeded. What I got from that instruction was that Krishna is not pleased if we don’t follow the rules and regulations properly. Sacrifice means certain rules and regulations should be followed. We may think he is just a young innocent child, but young child or whoever is contaminating should not be permitted to do so. Prabhupada said, “Train the child. Don’t put your hand in your mouth.”
Reference: Remembrances by Sidhanta Das- Folio Vedabase
