Room Conversation with reporter Sandy Nixon, Philadelphia, 1975

Sandy Nixon: How do you deal with negativity? In the outside world do… The devotees encounter negativity every day, people that are not interested. How…, not just on the outside world, but how does one deal with that within? How does one relieve oneself of that negativism?

Prabhupāda: Negativity means… Just like we say, “No illicit sex.” We say…, we teach our students, “No illicit sex.” Do you think it is negative? [aside:] What does she mean by…?

Jayatīrtha: The situation is that other people think that it’s negative, and therefore they feel negatively towards us. So how should we react to that, she’s saying.

Sandy Nixon: Well, how do you…, how do you deal with it within yourself, you know?

Ravīndra-svarūpa: What do you mean, negativity within yourself?

Sandy Nixon: No, no, not just criticism, but if you get a lot of people that are working against you all the time… Here you’re surrounded by people that are positive and that are reinforcing. But when you get yourself in the outside world in a position where there are people that are draining you and taking your energy, how do you replenish that energy? How do you…

Ravīndra-svarūpa: How do we stay fixed when there are so many people against us?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Ravīndra-svarūpa: She wants to know how we stay fixed when there are so many people against us.

Prabhupāda: So nobody is against you? Do you think nobody is against you? I am asking you.

Sandy Nixon: Do I think nobody is against me? Oh, sure, there are people for me, against me, that don’t care about me.

Prabhupāda: So there are against and for. Why do you bother about the against? As there are some people against us, there are many people for us. So that is the position in every field of activity. So if somebody is against us, why should we bother about it? Let us go on with our positive work. 

Sandy Nixon: For instance, if the day goes by and the devotee meets only with people that are against him, he makes bad contacts, and he feels drained. How does he…?

Prabhupāda: Our devotee is not so fickle. They go to the person who is against us and induces him to purchase a book. We are selling books daily, a huge amount. So there is no question of against us. Anyone who is even against us, he is persuaded to purchase one book. So how he is against us? He is purchasing our book. [aside:] What is the daily amount of sales, our books?

Jayatīrtha: We sell about twenty-five thousand books and magazines a day.

Prabhupāda: What is the price?

Jayatīrtha: The collection would probably be around thirty-five to forty thousand dollars a day.

Prabhupāda: We are collecting forty thousand dollars a day by selling books. How I can say they are against us?

Sandy Nixon: You’re very positive. I like that.

Prabhupāda: Where is the any other institution who can sell forty thousand dollars a day? So how do you say that they are against us?