(Click to enlarge photo of Srila Prabhupada and disciples)
Devotee: Śrīla Prabhupāda, is it possible for one person to be part demon and part devotee in the same person?
Prabhupāda: If he's a devotee, he's not demon at all, if he's devotee.
Devotee: But he may have some demoniac qualities?
Prabhupāda: Yes. That, if he is seriously devotee, that demonic qualities will disappear very soon. Kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā. Api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). Kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā. Just like electric fan is moving, and you make the switch off. Still you will find it is moving. But that movement will stop very soon, because switch is off. Similarly, a devotee, if it is sometimes found that he is demonic, that demonic, if he is sincerely a devotee, that demonic qualities will go very soon.
kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā
śaśvac-chāntiṁ nigacchati
kaunteya pratijānīhi
na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati
(BG 9.31)
So if one is strongly a devotee, then, gradually—it may take little time—all good qualities will be manifest in his body.
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Johannesburg, October 18, 1975)
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