Gurukṛpā: (break) We saw from the plane.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Gurukṛpā: Forty-five minutes on the plane from Miami we saw the comet.
Yaśodānandana: It was there for forty-five minutes.
Prabhupāda: Yes, a bad sign...
Yaśodānandana: As big as the sky.
Prabhupāda: How big?
Yaśodānandana: Big as the sky. It was flashing for forty-five minutes, this big...
Gurukṛpā: Flashing in horizontal directions.
Devotee: The four or five first flashes were very, very big and regularly every thirty seconds it was big flash, bigger than lightning, brighter, very bright.
Gurukṛpā: Very brilliant.
Prabhupāda: One part like this?
Gurukṛpā: Yes, very fast.
Devotee: Across the sky, shooot, shooot, shooot. Very fast.
Gurukṛpā: About forty-five min..., we..., it was still going but the plane passed it and it stayed behind.
Prabhupāda: Uh, so, this is a bad sign. Constellation. According to astronomical calculations. Therefore we, we follow the astrology according to the constellation. The child born, everything has connection, the constellation of the star has influence on the child. So therefore the horoscope-maker takes the calculation of the constellation and then calculate what is his future. This dhūmaketu is described in Daśāvatāra-stotra, dhūmaketum iva kim api karālam. Dhūmaketum iva. Dhūmaketum iva kim api karālam. As soon as there is comet, there will be some disaster. Very great disaster. In our childhood we saw the comet, not this like. That was small comet. Still, the first world war was there declared. That we have seen in 1914.
Nara-nārāyaṇa: Halley's comet.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Nara-nārāyaṇa: I think they called it Halley's comet. Halley's comet.
Prabhupāda: Now the... You can expect at any moment disaster in this material world, but the comet is the sign that there will be some great disaster. It is... This material world, in every step there is disaster. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām SB 10.14.58 . But those who have taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa, the disaster is not meant for them. Samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavam. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām. So how big it is?
Gurukṛpā: Very big.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Gurukṛpā: It was very spectacular. Something like twenty miles.
Prabhupāda: Twenty miles?
Yaśodānandana: Maybe at least fifty, sixty miles the four, five first flashes, very big. Let's see. From this tree all the way to the end of this tennis court, all over the sky. Big white flashings. Like big huge incredible lightning. Then afterwards it decreased, and then regularly, every thirty, forty-five seconds, there was big lightning. Not lightning, big flashes. Very uncommon.
Jayatīrtha: The scientists say that it's eighty-three million miles long...
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Jayatīrtha: The scientists, they say that it's 83 million miles long, the comet.
Prabhupāda: 83 miles?
Jayatīrtha: 83 million miles.
Karandhara: The tail.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Karandhara: The tail is 83 million miles. It's going fast, very forward, so it's emitting a tail of gases.
Prabhupāda: So who is supplying the gas? (laughter) The Arabians?
Jayatīrtha: There's no shortage.
Gurukṛpā: When it comes to doing the kīrtana, there's no energy shortage for us. We have unlimited stock.
Prabhupāda: By presence of the comet, the atmosphere is also polluted. Last time, what I saw, it was like this. Round and then tail. It is like that?
Gurukṛpā: No.
Prabhupāda: No.
Gurukṛpā: A long streak. It was behind the clouds. There were many clouds, and you could see it through the clouds.
Prabhupāda: What is the speed? If it is 83 million miles, very heavy thing, then the speed must be also.
Karandhara: Well, the speed is very great. I don't know exactly what it is, but it's millions of miles per hour. Perhaps not millions of miles. Hundreds of thousands of miles per hour.
Prajāpati: There must be living entities then on the comet. Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Oh yes. Everywhere there are living entities.
Jayatīrtha: Scientists are very excited about the comet because they think that it's made of the primordial substance of the universe and they think they'll be able to find out some clue how the solar system was created by examining the comet with their telescopes. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: Let them talk all nonsense. We say in Bengali, pāgale ki nā bole, chāgale ki nā khāya. The goat can eat everything, and a madman can speak anything. (laughter) Pāgale ki nā khāya..., pāgale ki nā bole, chāgale ki nā khāya.
Prajāpati: Are the living entities on the comet, are they very demoniac or intelligent or...?
Prabhupāda: Not necessarily demoniac. Two classes of men are always there: intelligent and demon. (break)
Karandhara: ...comet. They just discovered it one or two years ago. They said that if it ever passed by the earth before, it was the time of the dinosaurs.
Prabhupāda: Dinosaur?
Karandhara: Yes. Over fifty thousand years ago.
Prabhupāda: (chuckles) He cannot say what happened yesterday, and he's speaking fifty thousand years. Is there a statement in any śāstra or his own statement?
Karandhara: No, that's by mathematical calculation of the trajectory and speed.
Prabhupāda: Oh, mathematics...
Karandhara: It's going at a certain speed in a certain orbit. So they calculate that it would complete that orbit once every fifty to two hundred thousand years.
Prabhupāda: That is there in astrology, astronomy. That is not discovery.
Karandhara: No, actually, one scientist just looked at a telescope and saw it coming. And that's what they call discovery. And of course, he got the comet named after him.
Prabhupāda: Who?
Karandhara: The scientist. His name was Kahotek. So he discovered it. So the comet is named after him.
Prabhupāda: And if it is mentioned elsewhere?
Karandhara: I'm sure he'll want to keep his claim.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Karandhara: I'm sure he'll want to keep his claim.
Prabhupāda: No, if... In some astrological book, if it is mentioned there?
Karandhara: Scientists probably won't accept it. They think if they don't discover it, then it's not bona fide.
Prajāpati: Unless one of them discovers it in the book.
Karandhara: Ah. Yes.
Prabhupāda: Ah?
Prajāpati: If one of them discovers it in the śāstras, then, oh, they'll...
Karandhara: They say they've looked through all the old books and the old records and they haven't found any mention of it.
Prabhupāda: I think in the Indian astronomical calendar there must be mention.
Nara-nārāyaṇa: (break) ...effect of comet?
Prabhupāda: No, generally we know when there is comet, there is very bad effect.
Prajāpati: The comet doesn't really bring the bad effect. It simply is a symptom. Is that it?
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Prajāpati: The comet doesn't bring the bad effect, it is a symptom.
Prabhupāda: No, yes, bring, bring.
Prajāpati: It does bring it.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prajāpati: Does such a comet affect consciousness as well as matter?
Prabhupāda: Eh? Comet is just like a planet. It is a vehicle carrying so many conscious beings. It is just like if some policeman all of a sudden comes before us, it is to be supposed that someone is criminal, he's searching. Like that. (end)