Rajendranandana: When the deities were installed in the Hyderabad temple, some South Indian brahmins came. Srila Prabhupada had told Yasodanandan and Achyutananda Swamis that these were real brahmins and must be treated nicely and given anything they wanted. Generally, when the spiritual master is on the planet, his murti is not installed in the temple, and when the South Indian brahmin, Sampat Kumar Bhattacharya, heard that Srila Prabhupada’s murtis were going to be installed in Bombay, in Vrindavan, and in different temples around the world, he traveled from Hyderabad to Bombay at his personal expense to give Srila Prabhupada shastric evidence that this practice was not encouraged. Why? Because when they see his murti, people will feel that they’re meeting Srila Prabhupada. They will think that he’s sitting on the vyasasana, as he truly is, they will talk to his murti, say prayers, bow down to him, worship his murti, and touch the murti’s lotus feet. And as a result, Srila Prabhupada will suffer from taking on their karma. Out of affection for Srila Prabhupada, the learned Bhattacharya gave many shastric references. He wanted to serve in this way so he gave his best presentation. Prabhupada listened to him patiently, and finally said, “Don’t you understand that’s why I’ve come?” When Bhattacharya heard that, he immediately stopped speaking, folded his hands, circumambulated Srila Prabhupada three times, and then left. He finally understood who Srila Prabhupada was.
Reference: Remembrances by Sidhanta Das- Folio Vedabase
