Rupa-vilasa: The gurukula building in Vrindavan was under construction and Prabhupada liked to go there every couple of days to see the progress. Once Prabhupada went in the early morning with a contingent of sannyasis and senior devotees and from back of the windows of the building they looked at the workers. Some of the workers were bathing with water that gushed out of a pipe. Some of them were making chapattis over fires and some of them were brushing their teeth with neem twigs. A lot of these workers were Brajabasis and were chanting songs about Krishna. Prabhupada watched this whole scene turned around and said, 'Just see. They will rise early in the morning. They will work whole day in the hot sun and for what?' somebody said, "Three rupees." "For a few rupees", Prabhupada said, "They will take bath, they will chant some mantra and they will live in the simple way." He appreciated the simplicity of their life and how sincere and innocent they were. Hansaduta maharaja said, "Prabhupada we should learn to live like this". Prabhupada laughed and said, "You will never learn. You will never learn."
Rupa-vilasa: Another time Srila Prabhupada circumambulating the temple when he came to a strange-looking pattern of stone in the path. Originally the parikrama path around the Krishna-Balarama mandir was made from red stone that was laid out in a particular pattern. But this area, where there was a curve, was different. Prabhupada pointed to it with his cane and said, "What is this?" this is not a proper pattern. They have cheated you. They have given you the rejected stone and have charged you the rate for the good stone."
Harikesha would regularly either try to correct or to argue with Prabhupada, and this time he began to argue, "No Prabhupada, actually it is a pattern," and he explained why. Prabhupada said, "It’s obviously not a pattern," and they went back and forth. Finally Prabhupada yelled at him, "yes! It is pattern! It is a clown’s pattern and you are the fool!" Harikesha began to laugh hysterically and everybody was in awe that he had the nerve to argue with Prabhupada about this but that was the nature of his relationship.