Affairs (Conversations 1976 - 1977)

Expressions researched:
"affair" |"affairs"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: affair or affairs not "lov* affair*"

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 3, 1976, Nellore:

Prabhupāda: You'll be put into further sufferings as soon as you violate the rules and regulation of the jail. You'll be put to a further term of suffering. Just like they are independently trying to avoid pregnancy, and the same man who has killed his own child, or same mother, he is being killed within the womb. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27). Nature will not tolerate this. In India still these things are not happening because they are not so advanced to use all these contraceptive method. But in Europe, America, it has become a common affair to kill the child within the womb.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It is starting here also.

Prabhupāda: Yes, gradually. As soon as you kill, then you must be killed. This law is there: life for life. So where is your independence? Independence means you are inviting more sufferings, that's all. You go on, declare your independence. We are the only sane man. We have accepted that "We have no independence." Here Kṛṣṇa is asking. "Let me surrender unto..." That's all. So we have to convince the people, "Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very scientific. You are foolishly rascal. You are trying to be independent. That is not possible. Kṛṣṇa is asking to surrender. You do that." That will make him happy.

Morning Walks -- January 22-23, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Huh? Yes. Therefore ṛṇa-kartā pitā śatruḥ. A father dies insolvent, debtor; he is enemy because the son has to pay according to Manu-saṁhitā law. Because he inherits father's money, why he shall not pay if the father is debtor?

Jayapatākā: He also inherits the debt.

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is India's law. You cannot simply inherit father's property and no debt. You inherit father's debt also. So a father dies debted, indebtor—he is supposed to be enemy because the son has to pay. Ṛṇa-kartā pitā śatrur mātā śatrur dvicaraṇi.(?)And mother, if she marries for the second time in spite of presence of children, she is enemy. And in Western countries it is very common affair.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Divorce and remarry.

Prabhupāda: All enemies. Mother enemy, father enemy. And then? Ṛṇa-kartā pitā śatrur mātā śatrur dvicaraṇi, rūpavatī bhāryā śatruḥ. And if the wife is very beautiful, she is also enemy. And putraḥ śatrur apaṇḍitaḥ. And the son, if he's a rascal, he is enemy. That's all. This is family enemies. In the family nobody expects enemy, but Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that these are enemies in the family. Ṛṇa-kartā pitā śatrur mātā śatrur dvicaraṇi, rūpavatī bhāryā śatruḥ. Now everyone is hankering after very beautiful wife, and Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said, "Then you are bringing one enemy." Just see what is the type of civilization. Because if you become too much attached to wife, then you'll never be able to go out of home and take sannyāsa.

Morning Walk -- February 5, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Without varṇāśrama-dharma there is no civilization. Yes. They are trying to abolish this under the name of "caste system." It is not caste system. Caste system, or whatever you call, there must be these four division. Not four, eight. This is general, that brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. Then, according to the brahminical culture, the spiritual, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. And after sannyāsa, then spiritual life, complete, śuddha-sattva. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So you have to establish varṇāśrama. Varṇāśramācāra. Ācāra. Ācāra. Varṇāśrama ācāra. Yes. Because the aim is... Again we come to the... Just like state affairs going on, but ultimate aim is to keep the government satisfied. Then you'll get everything nicely. Similarly, the supreme government or supreme governor is God. That is your duty, to keep Him satisfied. Then you get all direction, all facilities and life. That is the aim. But these rascals, they do not know what is government or who is the governor. They are doing anything whimsically, and they're punished. Prakṛti is there. Prakṛti is there. Government does not want that you suffer, but you violate the government's law. Therefore you suffer. That these rascals do not understand. They declare, "There is no government." So this is foolishness, ignorance, mūḍha. There is government, he sees, and still he is rascal. He says, "No, no, I don't care for anyone. There is no government." That is atheism; that is hooliganism.

Morning Walk -- February 6, 1976, Mayapura:

Hṛdayānanda: In the outer space there is no consciousness.

Prabhupāda: Who says? The fools say. There are consciousness. There are so many birds flying from one planet...

Hṛdayānanda: Higher up.

Prabhupāda: Higher means it is higher for you because you are so dwarf. You are so dwarfed, you'll find that this tree is very big tree. You see? A small dwarf man, a pigmy, he'll say, "Oh, it is a big tree." So it is all relative. What is called? Relative world? Higher and lower, this is all relativity. You are so low that you see a tiny thing very high. It is due to your lowerness. Where there is no tree, these trees will be considered: "Oh, very high tree." So your scientists and your appreciator, all, they are like tiny dwarfs. What do they know about the universal affair? That is their fault. They are so small... That, the same example, Dr. Frog, calculating Atlantic Ocean. This is the fault. They do not consider their position. Just like there are thousands of ants. We can immediately kill them. And they are thinking they are very big, the ants, that "We are very busy. We are very big." So these rascals' position is like that. If the devatās in higher planets like, all the population of this material, this earth, they can kill like this-finish. Just like we can kill the ants.

Room Conversation -- April 30, 1976, Fiji:

Prabhupāda: Read it carefully. As the small soul has entered.... Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). This is also a small universe. The same elements are working, but the soul is the prime factor. Similarly, this gigantic body. Athavā bahunaitena kiṁ jñātena.... Viṣṭabhya aham idaṁ kṛtsnam. "The kṛtsnam, the total material energy, millions of universes like that, that is being maintained by Me because I have entered in it in My fragmental portion." Same principle. As I, the individual soul, I am.... because I have entered this body, the body is working so nicely. It looks beautiful; it looks fresh. It is machine. The machine is working very nicely so long the pilot or the driver is there. Similarly, where is the difficulty to understand this universal affair? If we accept the same principle, that "I am a small fragmental portion of Kṛṣṇa. I have entered this body. This body is working so nicely.... Similarly, because Kṛṣṇa has entered as Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, therefore it is working."

Interview with Jackie Vaughn (Black Congressman) -- July 12, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Sure. So what we are proposing, that is sure success. And all other things, they are very busy but no success. This is the difference. So what is the use of that business if you are going to be failure? So we see from the history these attempts have always been failure. Now this man who constructed this house, he never thought that I shall come here to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So his attempt is failure.

Jackie Vaughn: Neither did he envision I would come here to hear you.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) So these small affairs, they'll be failure. Whatever they are busy now in the material world, everything will be failure. And Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, if you execute a little bit of it, it can save you from the greatest danger. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. (to devotee:) Find out this verse.

Hari-śauri:

nehābhikrama-nāśo 'sti

pratyavāyo na vidyate

svalpam apy asya dharmasya

trāyate mahato bhayāt

(BG 2.40)

"In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear."

Room Conversation After Film -- June 28, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Mr. Punjasai? He wrote a letter recently. He mentioned the business about the books, that Guru-kṛpā said he was supposed to some give books from Australia, and he wasn't getting them.

Prabhupāda: So you can write him—note down—that "We are managing our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement by GBC. We have got about twenty GBC's for looking after the whole world affair, and above the GBC, I am there, and under the GBC's there are presidents, treasurers, secretaries in each and every center. So the president is responsible to the GBC. GBC is responsible to me. In this way we are managing. But why you are proposing a separate trustee for Fiji? We have no separate trustee till now, but if for security, if it is required, you can adopt it. So this is our management going on. Now, if you have got some new idea, so please explain to me how you want to manage. But I think Fiji temple cannot be managed in a separate idea. But still, I shall entertain if you have got some idea to manage. The deed should be given to the founder-ācārya, in the name of founder-ācārya like 'A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Founder-Ācārya International Society.' "

Room Conversation -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Solar? There is no solar system. The ninth, I mean planets.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Solar system, what they mean, the science, the sun, and these planets that we know, consists of, comprises our Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam universe, concept of the universe.

Prabhupāda: Yes, the (indistinct) is a big affair, the sun is one of the important planets. Not only the sun, moon, Mars, Jupiter, everyone.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Actually as astronomy and (indistinct) are especially astronomy is one of the most unscientific branch of study, knowledge is concerned. It's very, very little known. The way that... The techniques that they use, are very difficult to rely on.

Prabhupāda: So their Astronomical calculation, the sun is fixed up, that is also wrong. The sun is not fixed up.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yeah, Your Divine Grace, you wrote me a letter saying about the universe is just like an inverted tree.

Prabhupāda: Yes, ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākham (BG 15.1), Bhagavad-gītā.

Room Conversation -- July 7, 1976, Baltimore:

Prabhupāda: Woman should be expert in cooking. That is their natural tendency. They should be educated how to cook nicely, how to please the husband, how to take care of the children. This is Vedic civilization. In the beginning a woman, childhood, she's trained up by the mother. Then as soon as she is married, formerly, child-marriage, so she's transferred to the care of mother-in-law. There she is trained up. Then she becomes very good housewife, takes care of household affairs, husband, children, and home becomes happy. What is this nonsense, divorce? There is no such thing in the Vedic civilization, divorce. You must accept whatever God has given you as husband or wife, you must. They had no thinking even, idea of divorce. One may not agree with the husband. That is natural. Sometimes we do not agree. But there is no question of divorce. When this divorce system was introduced?

Rūpānuga: Comparatively recent. Because for many years the Catholic Church forbade it. When did it begin?

Pradyumna: Henry the Eighth, the King of England.

Prabhupāda: Oh, he's the rascal.

Room Conversation -- July 7, 1976, Baltimore:

Prabhupāda: I know that. Sometimes they are advised to do business. I know that. When, in our society, in the beginning, I started marriage, the father, mother, did not like it. Nowadays it has become custom, in India also, let the girl have many friends, but don't marry unless you find out a suitable man. Society degrades. Actually the Indian system is that when the girl is utmost twelve years, not more than that, ten to twelve years, she must be married. And the father would see, not necessarily in every case the boy is rich man or educated. If he's healthy and if he can work, he'll "Take charge." Then fortune, faith.

Rūpānuga: That is responsible.

Vṛṣākapi: How should we do this in our ISKCON society with these young girls?

Prabhupāda: Of course, we are not very much concerned with the social affairs, but still, if we can organize society, that will be very good. That will be peaceful.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Might be possible on the farms.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Evening Darsana -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Vipina: His question is that now the government is corrupt, so what can be immediately done?

Prabhupāda: How there can be, because the democracy? You are corrupt, therefore your government is corrupt. You correct yourself, the government will be automatically corrected. If you are rascals, the government will be rascals. The government means elected. So if you are not rascal, you'll not elect another rascal to take charge of the government affairs. But because you are rascal, you'll send another rascal. So how can you expect good government? You do not know whom to select. And besides that, the whole population is rascal, śūdra. So anyone you elect, if he's by qualification he's a śūdra, worker, he's not intelligent person, he's not brāhmaṇa, he's not kṣatriya. Actually, the legislative assembly, or in your country, Senate? They should be all brāhmaṇas. They give advice. Formerly this was the system. Although it was monarchy, even Lord Rāmacandra or similar kings, they were not ruling independently—they were taking advice from learned brāhmaṇas, sages. So the legislative assembly should be composition of intellectual brāhmaṇas. Then the other administrators, the President or the minister, they should be kṣatriyas. In this way, if social organization is made, then there will be perfect peace. If śūdras are allowed to rule over, what they know? Their only aim is that so long he is in the office, "Let me collect some money," that's all. And that will be the latest atmosphere, dasyu-dharmabhiḥ. Rājanyair dasyu-dharmabhiḥ. All the government men will become thieves and rogues. Dasyu, dasyu means thieves and rogues.

Evening Darsana -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Therefore you should give up your philosophy and science. That "Because my scripture does not allow me to become educated, I shall remain a fool." (laughter) What is this?

Guest (2): A beautiful example is where a caterpillar will be, a cocoon will form over a caterpillar, and when the cocoon breaks, it's a butterfly.

Prabhupāda: That's all right, transmigration.

Guest (2): The living entity changed bodies.

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is common sense. If they cannot understand this commonsense affair, then how they are educated?

Dr. Sharma: Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22).

Prabhupāda: Yes. Common sense. And we are practically experiencing. When the child has grown to become a young man, the mother does not cry, "Oh, my child is gone." She knows, she knows that "Here is my child. Simply he has changed his body." So this is a fact, that we are changing bodies but we are eternal. This is the conclusion. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). So unless one is properly educated, where is the talk of advancing? So this is the beginning of spiritual education, to understand that the living entity is eternal and the body is changing. And then next question will be that if the body is changing, then this body will be changed, so after my death what kind of body I am going to accept? That is education. That is education. And if I remain blind, I do not care, and next life I become a dog, then what is the value of my present education? In spite of all education, next life I am going to become a dog or tree, then what is the value of my education? That education is not. Throughout the whole world perhaps we are giving this education. Throughout the whole world, find out any institution or university where this education is given.

Interview and Conversation -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Interviewer: What is your opinion of what this movement should be doing in terms of world activities and world affairs that it isn't doing now? Are there some new areas that you may try to influence?

Prabhupāda: No, we are pushing on this movement all over the world. It is not that this particular place is important, but our interest is that Western people... They are so intelligent. They are very systematically making improvement in material condition of life. They should know also that spiritual life is more important than material life. Because, for example, we are combination of matter and spirit. So long the spirit soul is there, our body is very important. Otherwise, without spirit, the body has no importance. Everyone can understand. Similarly, all this material advancement of civilization is very good, provided there is spiritual understanding also. Otherwise it is decoration of the dead body. A dead body decorated has no value, but when there is life, then the body is valuable. So material advancement of material civilization means decoration of the dead body. But when there is spiritual understanding, then there is importance of everything.

Evening Darsana -- July 13, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: There is an example. In a water tank you throw one stone. It becomes a circle. And the circle expands, expands, expands unless the circle comes to the shore. Similarly our loving affair begins from personal self to family, from family to society, community, nation, international. But still, it is imperfect unless the circle reaches to the lotus feet of God. Then it is satisfied. Svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce (CC Madhya 22.42). Here, any loving affairs, that is more or less lusty. A man or woman love each other with some desire, not without desire. That desire is sense gratification. But actually that is lust not love. Pure love can be exchanged in relationship with God. Here there are temporary... A boy, a girl or a man, a woman in relationship of love but it breaks as soon as the lusty desire is not fulfilled. So here there is no question of love. It is all lusty desire. Real love can be achieved when it is exchanged with Kṛṣṇa or God. Premā pum-artho mahān, that is the recommendation given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. That is the highest (indistinct) when we come on the loving platform with God, then we are satisfied.

Interview with Newsday Newspaper -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Previously? I was family man. I retired in 1954. My Guru Mahārāja asked me to take this task seriously when I was twenty-five years old.

Interviewer: Who asked you?

Prabhupāda: Twenty-five years old.

Rāmeśvara: His spiritual master.

Prabhupāda: So I was at that time family man, so I thought, "Let me adjust my family affairs. Then I shall take it." So by doing the adjustment it took me long years. So I retired at the age of fifty-eight. Then I took up seriously. And when I was seventy years old, then I came here.

Interviewer: Were you a businessman?

Prabhupāda: Yes, I was connected with some chemical industry. I was manager in a big chemical industry. Then I started my own business. In this way I was family man.

Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: Good. No, now we are book selling nicely. I think our settlement.... (?) Kṛṣṇa has arranged everything cautiously and not extravagantly. You go on. Everything will be all right. There will be no scarcity. Yāvad-artha-prayojanam. Our parents taught us, mother, if there was a grain of rice on the ground and it is touched with feet, "Oh, you take it." We were taught like that.

Jayatīrtha: Nothing should be wasted.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa has sent you His grain. You cannot waste it. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Live that way. And Kṛṣṇa is providing so much facilities for becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, and why should we deviate and spoil this life, take the risk of again going into the cycle of birth and death? Commonsense affair. We have got the good, greatest opportunity to solve this problem of repetition of birth. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). And only for little sense gratification we are going to sacrifice so great opportunity of life? This much education is wanted. Na sadhu manye yata ātmano 'yam. Eh? Find out the verse, Fifth Canto. Fifth Canto, Fifth Chapter. Na sadhu manye yata atmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti (SB 5.5.4). Very bad civilization. Mad civilization, pramattaḥ. Simply for little sense gratification they are prepared to take so much risk. Next life you may become cat, dog or a small grass or a tree by laws of nature. So nūnaṁ pramattaḥ. Is it Fifth Canto?

Bhagavān: Ṛṣabhadeva.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Yes, you have to take sanction. You have to take sanction because Kṛṣṇa is the supreme controller. If you request repeatedly, "Kṛṣṇa, I want to steal something," so Kṛṣṇa will say, "No, no, don't do it, it is not good." But...

Mrs. Sahani: But bhakti...

Prabhupāda: It is not bhakti, it is a common affair. You want to do some... Just like a thief. A thief steals very privately, why? Because Kṛṣṇa says, "Don't do it." But he does still. So Kṛṣṇa says always good things, but you don't care for it.

Room Conversation -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: They are associates. They are associating with Lord as calf, as cow. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). Nija-rūpa. (Guest speaks in Bengali, Prabhupāda English) In Vṛndāvana, the trees, the land, the water—everyone, ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ. That is expansion of Kṛṣṇa's spiritual energy. Cit-śakti. There are three energies: spiritual, material, and marginal. So Vṛndāvana affairs means expansion of Kṛṣṇa's spiritual energy. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. Sac-cid-ānanda. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. Rasa, mellow. Everyone is trying to relish some mellow. Here in this material world we get family to taste some mellows. One kind of mellow is wife, one kind of mellow are children, one kind of mellow is the servants, one kind of mellow is the friends, one kind of mellow is the properties. They are all mellows, rasa. Unless there is some taste, why one should be hankering after all these things? Why one is hankering after some woman or some man or some friends or for children? One who has got no children, he's hankering after some child. He's expecting, "When I shall get a child?" The rasa. There is husband-wife rasa, but there is no rasa of the child. Therefore they are praying, "When we shall get a child?" So there is another rasa. So raso vai saḥ. He is the reservoir of rasas. So if we derive all the rasas from the Supreme, because He is the reservoir of rasas.

Room Conversation About Mayapura Construction -- August 19, 1976, Hyderabad:

Gargamuni: It's near Beekanair. It's with agricultural land and a big house. They said they spent about fifteen lacks on it, marble house. The family is not using it. They have no use. We're getting a lot of offers.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gargamuni: But because of Māyāpura, I have not taken them very seriously, because we already have huge affair in Māyāpura. But if you like, we can see.

Prabhupāda: No, kāca dhun kāca kaphe (?): "If some property is offered, we should take it." That is the... And washed cloth. Kācā dhun kācā kapha (?). If somebody offers you very nicely washed cloth, you should use it. And some property, you must use it. They are... You can utilize this property by inhabiting the persons, if they are inclined to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are rotting outside Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They may come to live. We are for everyone. So he... Where does he reside, this gentleman?

Gargamuni: In Calcutta. His businesses are there. He's a wealthy man, very nice man.

Prabhupāda: Where does he live?

Gargamuni: He's lives in Bara Bazaar. His name is Mr. Buwalka.

Prabhupāda: Bara Bazara Marwaris are all businessmen.

Room Conversation -- September 4, 1976, Vrndavana:

Indian man: Happiness should be combined with mental peace.

Prabhupāda: What is that mental peace?

Indian man: To rest in yourself only. Don't run after worldly things.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But that is not possible for the animal. Therefore to remain happy within yourself, that is a prerogative of the human being. But we are not trying for that purpose. We are trying to be happy by eating, by sleeping, by sex or by defense. This is our platform of happiness. A dog cannot go to the restaurant, but a human being, if he goes to a restaurant and he can eat palatable dishes, he thinks he's happy. But what is that eating? In your standard you feel happiness, whereas on the street you'll find a pig, he's happy by eating stool. One man's food another man's poison. So eating happiness is there but the standard different. Therefore this eating is common affair, and happiness derived from eating is as good by the dog as by the pig and human being.

Room Conversation -- September 16, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: All the Vaiṣṇavas, they are expert. Just like Rūpa, Sanātana, expert manager. Even in worldly affairs. Not that "I am so much big devotee that I cannot manage worldly affairs." Expert, must be expert. Dakṣa. (pause) So she can give me the fruits now. So... (break) ...intelligent policy to kill India's spiritual status.

Haṁsadūta: To kill India's spiritual status?

Prabhupāda: That was their policy. Because there was one Britisher politician, Lord McCauley. His report was, he studied the whole Indian situation. They were very expert politicians. He reported that "If you keep Indians as Indians, you'll never be able to rule over them. They must be trained up in such a way that they would think their own culture as useless; this Western culture is very good. That impression must be there. Otherwise, you cannot rule over them." So the education and everything was going on very silently on this principle.

Room Conversation -- November 14, 1976, Vrndavana:

Room Conversation:Devotee: M. Channa Reddy.

Prabhupāda: Why?

Devotee: About getting letters, this letter for the court case in America.

Prabhupāda: Court case? Oh.

Devotee: He had given us nice questioning, and some from our... Members, who are members of Parliament and other persons like M. Channa Reddy himself, he said that he would approach the External Affairs Minister and ask him that the External Affairs Minister, he can make some sort of protest, either official or unofficial, about this type of dealings that are going on.

Prabhupāda: So he has not given anything, writing.

Devotee: No, but what he said... He said that he is the head of the state of U.P... So he said if he gives a protest to the American government directly that "This is not..."

Prabhupāda: There is no question of protest that... This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is genuine movement.

Press Conference -- December 16, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: It is no reason. (Hindi) As if they have no money to go to the hotel.

Dr. Ramachandra: In India everything is after CIA now.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Dr. Ramachandra: Everything is after CIA.

Prabhupāda: And in Parliament it has been denied. Rather, Home Member said that "We have no information that they are CIA." Parliament challenged, "What steps you are going to take?" And "No step. There is no information." They are afraid of the American government because of this Bangladesh affair. And otherwise government appreciates this movement. But because the Americans are there they think, "Some may do something," in this way. Yes. But there is no such chance. They are all devotees. They have nothing to do...

Dr. Ramachandra: This is a purely religious movement.

Prabhupāda: That is right. They have nothing to do with politics. And if they found any politics, they can hang me. I shall go.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, in India will purchase English magazine, he knows English.

Guest (1): Yes he knows, but the popularity will be much more in the Hindi and Gujarati and Marathi speaking people, Bengali speaking.

Prabhupāda: That is not possible. That is for you, Indians. But you have no time. You are busy with your daughter's marriage, and you simply advise.

Guest (1): I am busy?

Prabhupāda: Yes, everyone. Every Indian is busy with his own affair, he'll come and advise. That's all. Advise gratis. But he will not do himself.

Guest (1): No, but...

Prabhupāda: No, this is going... I have got full experience, that Indians, they will come and give some advice, and go away for daughter's marriage. That's all.

Guest (1): Well there are various types of Indians, you know.

Prabhupāda: That type of, 99%.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: There is no question why. We'll understand it.

Prabhupāda: No, no, that's all right. So the visa problem is a great problem for us because in India for conducting our movement, we have to import the white men. Our Indians, they are not joining. So that is a great problem for me. They have to come, and they have to go again. And each time, coming and going, ten thousand rupees. And that is happening at least for hundred cases every year. Ten thousand, hundred times. Just imagine. This is my economic problem. Therefore I'm asking, "If you are Englishman, please stay." Because here, in India, they will see that "The white man dancing, let us see." They will never join. They are busy with their own affairs. They will advise, "Do this, do that," but they will never come. This is my position. Practical. Therefore I'm begging the Englishmen, the Canadians, the Australians, "Please come and stay." Because huge establishment, who will manage? I am managing with them, but there is economic question. For each person I have to spend ten thousand rupees at least and such hundred case... This is the position. The Indians are not interested. They are not interested.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 7, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. What he will do, more payment? (?) Then he will kill. This sex life in this material world is so strong, even in the heavenly planets. Big, big ṛṣis. Sex life with animals also there is... Sex life is so strong. Man cohabiting with animal. It makes blind. Vyāsadeva made one of her (his) students pregnant, what to speak of ourselves. Vyāsadeva was born, Satyavatī. She was low class. Although she was born by a king, but her mother was a low-class fisherwoman. And the fisherman raised her as daughter. And Parāśara Muni became attracted. And Vyāsadeva was born. Sex affairs, just see, in the highest circle. Bṛhaspati, the spiritual master of the devatās, he became so much mad for his brother's wife who was pregnant, and forcibly they had sex. Just see. These are examples. Brahmā became attracted with his daughter. Lord Śiva became attracted with the beauty of Mohinī-mūrti, even in the presence of his wife. So this sex life can be controlled only by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. Otherwise there is no... The Bhāgavata has discussed all this because in this material world there is no escape unless we become Kṛṣṇa conscious, from the sex impulse. It is not possible. Yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa... When one is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, then he'll reject all this nonsense: "What is this?" Bhavati mukha-vikāraḥ suṣṭhu. He'll spite (spit): "Eh! Get out. Is that enjoyment?" It is possible for a Kṛṣṇa conscious... No other can do it. And that is the bondage. He'll have to work hard for maintaining sex issues. And so long you are bound up by the karmas, you have to accept another body and then continue.

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Mr. Asnani: I told him that should I see Prabhupāda... I told him I'll come today.

Prabhupāda: So call him.

Mr. Asnani: Should I bring him?

Prabhupāda: No, he's going. Gopāla Kṛṣṇa.

Mr. Asnani: Yes, I met him.

Prabhupāda: The point is that some income tax affair.

Mr. Asnani: No problem. Is it at (indistinct). Have you seen notice?

Girirāja: Which is? About the constitution, exemption? Ah, no. No, it's not a notice as such, but they're questioning whether we deserve the tax exemption as a charitable trust. They're saying that we are not charitable; we are religious. And religious is not exempt from income tax. So the question is whether we have to change our constitution to fit their idea or whether to establish a separate trust or whether to defend that our present...

Prabhupāda: First thing is that we have not received any official notice.

Girirāja: No.

Prabhupāda: So why you are bothering about that?

Girirāja: That's what I say. We have stood...

Prabhupāda: Gopāla is bothering too much about...

Room Conversation -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Now, cool headed, you can study the situation. If you recommend, I'll give.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Thing is, I only wanted you to give...

Prabhupāda: No, you convince him. If he recommends, I'll give you. He is businesslike. I know him. So if he recommends, I'll give. He's very correct to his word. Businessman is correct to his word. That is the... No speculation. Now our Hyderabad affair is not in very order.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, I know.

Prabhupāda: So what to do? Rāmeśvara, you are here. You can see. They are not cooperating. And besides that, Mahāṁsa takes loan. He never returns. He has taken about five lakhs for the temple. So I have already told to the auditor and the... They are (indistinct). This is going on.

Conversation and Instruction On New Movie -- January 13, 1977, Allahabad:

Rāmeśvara: If they think just poor people...

Prabhupāda: No.

Rāmeśvara: ...they'll not respect it as much.

Prabhupāda: Just like... The temples are maintained by all the people. All the big, big kings... So you show how kings of Cuttack, they constructed a temple of... A temple construction is costly affair. How Mahārāja Mansingha constructed the Vṛndāvana costly temples. That is everywhere.

Rāmeśvara: If this movie is made properly...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Rāmeśvara: ...I think we can even get it on television in America.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everything done properly will be accepted. There is no problem.

Room Conversation -- January 16, 1977, Calcutta:

Prabhupāda: No, no. Management is also spiritual activity. Why do you take like that? It is Kṛṣṇa's establishment.

Abhirāma: But my wife never sees that, unless I am just chanting japa and offering Deity worship. Otherwise it's all nonsense.

Prabhupāda: Well, she is also an woman. She has no much intelligence. But here, to manage Kṛṣṇa's affairs, is also Kṛṣṇa's work. Don't take it otherwise. We must be engaged in Kṛṣṇa's business. That's all. That is our duty. Fighting is very good business? Killing? But why Arjuna...? "Yes." Kariṣye vacanam. That is Kṛṣṇa conscious. And Kṛṣṇa said, bhakto 'si priyo 'si me: (BG 4.3) "You are My devotee, very dear friend." What he was doing? Fighting. The fighting is good business, to kill others? But for Kṛṣṇa's sake... He personally denied, "No, no, no. I don't want this kingdom." Personally he had no desire. But when he saw that Kṛṣṇa wants it, "All right. I shall do it." And this is Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Abhirāma: I always thought that you appreciate it when we try to manage, so therefore I have tried to stay on here.

Prabhupāda: No, you are managing very well. I am very satisfied. Do it. There was no water. Sometimes the tap becomes...

Abhirāma: Because so many guests are here today.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- January 24, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Satsvarūpa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, there is one man here. We knew he was supposed to come from something, "Cultural Affairs of Bhuvaneśvara." He was here earlier today and then later today.

Prabhupāda: All right, let him come.

Hari-śauri: When he came this evening you were taking prasāda, and then immediately after was the lecture. (break)

Guest (1) (Indian man): ...cultural affairs, Orissa government. Here there is a large stack of palm leaf manuscripts. Palm leaf manuscripts. We are editing the Sanskrit manuscripts, correcting them and publishing them.

Prabhupāda: Sanskrit?

Guest (1): Sanskrit.

Prabhupāda: It is published in Sanskrit?

Guest (1): Yes.

Prabhupāda: Palm beach?

Guest (2) (Indian man): Palm leaves.

Hari-śauri: Some manuscripts on palm leaf.

Prabhupāda: Oh, palm leaf.

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Puri:

Gurukṛpā: We're looking. You can ask everybody, every man on the street.

Prabhupāda: That is imperfect. It will never be perfect.

Satsvarūpa: They say that method is very good—sometimes—but it's not to be used all the time, authority.

Prabhupāda: All the time. If the authority is perfect, it is all the time.

Satsvarūpa: But if it's in complete contradiction to what we experience with the senses, then it's difficult.

Prabhupāda: No, how you...? Here is a fact, daily affair. So how you experience? What is your method of experience?

Gurukṛpā: To know the father?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Satsvarūpa: There's no way.

Prabhupāda: Then? Therefore, acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet. Things which are unperceivable by you, don't argue. Take the statement of the authority. So everything imperceptible, even this material world... You do not know what are these planets. Many hundred thousand millions are glittering. You do not know anything. Neither you can know it. Similarly, you cannot know. You have not done it, to manufacture life. How do you rascals say that "It is like this. It is like this. It is chemical combination"? You cannot manufacture even egg, little chemical. But the chemical is coming from within the body of the chicken. It is being perfectly done, but you cannot do it. So what is your knowledge? Why you are so much proud of this knowledge? It is so imperfect.

Room Conversation Varnasrama System Must Be Introduced -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:

Satsvarūpa: But don't we do that also?

Prabhupāda: No. Our position is different. We are trying to implement Kṛṣṇa consciousness in everything. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally took sannyāsa. He rejected completely material. Niṣkiñcana. But we are not going to be niṣkiñcana. We are trying to cement the troubled position of the... That is also in the prescription of Bhagavad-gītā. We are not rejecting the whole society. Caitanya Mahāprabhu rejected everything, ihā bāhya. Rejected meaning, "I do not take much interest in this." Bāhya. "It is external." He was simply interested in the internal, the spiritual. But our duty is that we shall arrange the external affairs also so nicely that one day they will come to the spiritual platform very easily, paving the way. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu, personality like that, they have nothing to do with this material world. But we are preaching. We are preaching. Therefore we must pave the situation in such a way that gradually they will be promoted to the spiritual plane, which is not required.

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: "Now you can go to tīrtha by nice railway."

Brahmānanda: British Railway.

Satsvarūpa: Company.

Prabhupāda: And they thought, "Oh, how beneficial the English, British Company. They're giving us so much facility." And English education, they wanted to conduct their office affairs. They required some clerk. They did not want any highly educated. "Work here—ABCD—that's all. 'Yes, no, very good.' Bas." (laughs) So... And as soon as you learn "Yes, no, very good," you get fifty rupees' salary. So they gave up living in... That time fifty rupees is now five thousand. Yes. So they all entered school, English education—"ABCD, yes, no, very good. Bas." And this is British policy. Otherwise India was very happy.

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: I am unfit for anywhere. With great struggle we secured this place.

Guru dāsa: Actually, we have all struggled together for many years for so many things. And it is only by your grace that we were able to do it.

Prabhupāda: (break) ...Vṛndāvana affairs going?

Guru dāsa: Yes. I would just like to submit that I don't know what has been said, but my opinion about Akṣayānanda Swami is that he is a first-class devotee.

Prabhupāda: That I know. Therefore I am keeping him. He is not qualified manager, but he is first-class devotee, and he has no visa problem.

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:

Girirāja: Mr. Rajda also mentioned that he wanted to visit the Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma temple.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Give him good reception.

Girirāja: Actually, I was thinking, after he comes on the 8th, he is going back again on the 14th.

Prabhupāda: Immediately inform Vṛndāvana, our Akṣayānanda, that this man should be very well received.

Girirāja: I was thinking that unless I go and bring him, he might be too busy with the political affairs.

Prabhupāda: So what you are to go? Where you want to go?

Girirāja: So what I was thinking, if you agree, is to go to Delhi for a few days, and he could introduce me to the pious members of Parliament, and then we could organize a whole group, and I could bring them there.

Prabhupāda: Do the needful. Go. At least, in India, there must be this spiritual institution. The whole world may take advantage of it. What is this cats' and dogs' race civilization? Is that civilization? Here is civilization, Bhagavad-gītā. Basic principles of civilization. So India should maintain this. People may... There are so many big universities. A student may go or may not go, but the university must be maintained. Because there is no student, therefore university closed. No. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness institution must be maintained for the benefit of the whole world. Mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3). They do not know how nature's law is working.

Morning Conversation -- April 23, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Otherwise they'll disclose.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. And thereafter no one else died. After that, others did not die, probably because they were told that "Don't you do the same thing or you'll meet with the same fate. Unless you toe the line and... Then you will also be dealt with very severely." Because they're such big cheaters, they will not stop at anything. Killing to them is nothing.

Prabhupāda: Killing affair should not be regarded, criminal affair.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No.

Prabhupāda: They can kill even the president. Because they are meat-eaters, there is no mercy. What is mercy, they do not know. Vinā paśu-ghnāt. Paśu-ghna. Mercilessly they kill animals, and they become accustomed to merciless...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: That is Muhammadans' theory. They can do merciless thing.

Discussions with Devotees and Conversation with Dr. Ghosh -- June 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: I also found that in Boston, the Indian communities, they are very interested.

Prabhupāda: Must be. Everyone should be. This is the genuine program. So (Bengali), talk and make program. (Bengali)

Dr. Sharma: That is disease. It has become now plague.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So both of you are very intelligent boys. I want to see that you are always busy in these affairs. (Bengali) Bhaktivedanta Institute and Gurukula for Higher Studies. (Bengali) I want to see that you are always busy. Busy-ness. That will give me pleasure. Laziness I don't want. Personally I was never lazy. I did not like laziness.

Dr. Sharma: (indistinct) We create in our mind problems.

Prabhupāda: Because sometimes I become morose that I became lazy, so therefore, if I see you busy, this moroseness will reduce. When I see that you are working and the whole thing is busy, oh, that gives me pleasure. Yes

Talk with Svarupa Damodara -- June 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That is very natural. Just like in a child there is life. But it is not... Consciousness is not developed. That does not mean there is no life. That you can see, daily affair. The same child, when he's grown up or changed body, his activities will change. So where is the difference? Difference—when he was a childish body, the consciousness was not developed, and when he's transferred in another body, his consciousness will develop. This is the point. The ant, there is life.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: There's life in any material...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But we wanted to avoid that...

Prabhupāda: In the physical combination of atoms is combination of life also.

Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- June 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He has to run out of the universities because finally, after a while, the officials get notified. They figure out who he is, and then they start chasing him. Then he had to run out.

Prabhupāda: Dangerous affair.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But after all, it is literary. They know we're not... It's not like a political spy.

Prabhupāda: All open secret.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: "Here is the book."

Morning Conversation -- June 23, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Degraded, most. There is no principles. Formerly there was a standard principle. Then they fall down.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But what did the British think of that principle?

Prabhupāda: British gave liberty about our culture and religion. They never interfered. That was their credit. They knew it. If they interfered with their internal affairs, then they will be lost. That was Queen. She guided them.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They were expert like that.

Prabhupāda: No, they were very good politician. (pause) I can say, in the British period there was no scarcity, and leniency. I recall the way. Didn't require... And when they like... With three hundred rupees they were so happy. Now you calculate that three hundred rupees means ten thousand. So where is that ten thousand rupees?

Talk About Varnasrama, S.B. 2.1.1-5 -- June 28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Most of them, they eat, but there are... They do not eat... Not meat. Fish. Meat-eating was introduced by the...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: British.

Prabhupāda: ...Britishers. Otherwise, nonvegetarian in India means up to fish. (pause) In Gujarat still you'll find. One young girl... You see here that all young girls are carrying water, collecting. In the morning collecting water, cleansing the house, utensils, clothes, taking bath, then cooking, those girls. Their first business. Man's business is to earn money, go to the market, the necessities. Woman's business is take care of household affairs, children, and they have got engagement. And in the presence of father or elder brother or husband, a woman has to earn livelihood—that's a great insult.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Disgrace. That's disgraceful.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That means the husband is irresponsible. That means the man is irresponsible, to let his wife do that. And they let their unmarried daughters do.

Prabhupāda: And woman left alone means prostitution.

Room Conversation -- July 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: You can write that "Our permanent visa is being considered by the Central Government."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Our application we turned in.

Prabhupāda: "If required, you can inquire from the Minister of..."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Home.

Prabhupāda: No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, Foreign Affairs.

Prabhupāda: Foreign Affairs, that "My position, it is in his hand now."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, by the time I write my letter, my name will be one of the people on the list, so it's a fact.

Prabhupāda: When he's going to submit?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He said in two weeks he'd be returning to his committee, so I'm thinking about four or five days, around five.

Prabhupāda: Mention this.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, that'll be a good...

Prabhupāda: In the meantime, your notice to you can be submitted by him, that "This is..."

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: One man is kneading flour, five sers, and he's getting two hundred rupees' salary, and paratha and halavā. This is management, going on. Now today it has been checked. They are eating paratha and our men are starving. He is getting two hundred rupees, three hundred rupees. This is management. What can be done? And he has... Three dozen manager, four dozen cook. This is... That's all. I am giving you report which he has given to me. Money is squandered like anything, and live blindly, and "Still, I want everything for myself." Everything is in my notice. I can feel now actually (indistinct) is coming. Anyway, we want... In India, the affairs are most mismanaged. That we see. In foreign countries they are doing very nice. In New York, in Los Angeles, in Chicago. Now there is Toronto report. This Toronto report... I do not know how things are managed there very nicely, and here..., three dozen cook. "Too many cooks spoil the broth."

Room Conversation -- July 27-28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: We don't want any profit. We don't want any profit. You produce. You eat. You chant. Organize. Don't go outside.

Yaśomatīnandana: Don't go to the cities.

Prabhupāda: No. Be man of character. No illicit sex, no intoxication. Vaiṣṇava. Eat sufficiently, dress sufficiently. Live very comfortably. Whatever profit is there, it should be invested again for books. That's... Because we are investing money, our land... Therefore we are not profited. Beneficiary, you. It is a cooperative society. You produce your needs, live comfortably, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Our only interest is that you are taking interest in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, working. Otherwise we don't want to exploit you. That is not... If there is no sufficient, you can... We help you manage it. You manage your own affair. We give you direction. Live happily, chant. This should be... Will not they agree?

Yaśomatīnandana: Yes, they will very much agree.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Yaśomatīnandana: They already like our program of chanting and dancing.

Prabhupāda: That's all.

Room Conversation -- July 27-28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No, no. Don't go to him. This Māyāpura incident is a handling of the Communists.

Yaśomatīnandana: Now there is Communist government there.

Prabhupāda: Please try to... Just try to understand. There is a story that a thief entered in a room, and the proprietor, he was in the other room. As soon as there was some sound, he inquired, "Who is there in that room?" The man said, "No, no, I am not stealing." You see? That means he is thief. So this voting board raised the question, "How they are getting visa?" In the Parliament also they are raising the same question. That means it is Communist manipulation, the Māyāpura affair. They put forward some Muhammadans because there are many Muhammadan Communist also. They wanted to give a communal color. But the whole thing is Communist plan. And their aim is to wipe out any religious movement. That is their open declaration in other Communist...

Yaśomatīnandana: This prabhu, Rāma-Krishna Prabhu, is very respectable gentleman. So if I take him to see the Home Minister...

Prabhupāda: Nice.

Yaśomatīnandana: That will be very nice.

Prabhupāda: Why not? Let him.

Meeting With Governor of Tamil Nadu -- July 31, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: After all, the thing is that so long we have got this body, the janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9), you have to accept. This is the statement in the Bhagavad-gītā. So the human endeavor should be diverted how to stop this repetition of birth and death. That is the prime instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). Kṛṣṇa says that,

janma karma ca me divyaṁ

yo jānāti tattvataḥ

tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma

naiti mām eti...

(BG 4.9)

So our movement is on that platform, how to stop. Our whole Vedic culture is based on that process. When Viśvāmitra Mahārāja went to see Daśaratha about..., Daśaratha Mahārāja inquired from Viśvāmitra, aihistaṁ(?) yat punar-janma-jayāya: "You are great saintly person. You are trying to conquer over birth and death. Is your process going on nicely?" Viśvāmitra inquired Daśaratha Mahārāja about royal activities, government, prosperity, because he was kṣatriya and he was brāhmaṇa. So my request... This, our Gītā philosophy, that cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ... (BG 4.13). There must be a class of men, ideal brāhmaṇas; a class of men, ideal kṣatriyas; class of men, ideal vaiśyas; and balance, śūdras, to help. That will make the human society happy. Cooperate. Just like body. There are different departments: head department, then arms department, then the belly department and the leg department. If they are all in good condition, the health is all right. And now, at the present moment, I am suffering because my belly department is not working nicely. So we cannot neglect any department. There must be all the departments, and they must be cooperative and healthy. So this movement is meant for that purpose. It is the duty of government to give us protection. The counter movement is this Communistic movement. They want to drive away God conscious and we want to give God con..., completely opposite. Therefore they do not like it. This Māyāpura affair has been completely...

Governor: Distorted. I know it.

Prabhupāda: Distorted. Manufactured by the Communists.

Room Conversation -- October 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Haṁsadūta: Yes, that would be very good there because it's also a very ideal climate. Everything grows there very easily because there's plenty of rain, fertile soil, and there's only one city—that's Colombo. And it's a very small city. People are all agriculturalists. The government is also giving land free to encourage agriculture. Simply that it has to be cleared. It's jungle land; it has to be cleared. Shall we try for something like that?

Prabhupāda: What you can do it easily...

Haṁsadūta: Do.

Prabhupāda: Yes. This Dr. Kovoor affair has given you some position.

Haṁsadūta: Yes.

Prabhupāda: As an atheist... He's an atheist.

Haṁsadūta: Yes.

Prabhupāda: His position is lost.

Room Conversation -- October 17, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhavānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda, Acyutānanda Mahārāja has come.

Prabhupāda: Here?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Acyutānanda.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Where you are preaching now?

Acyutānanda: I was in Calcutta during the Māyāpura affair. Then I went to South India. Now I'm going to America. My stay in India may be terminated. And I received American passport. I'm able to travel now. Rāmeśvara Prabhu is sending me a ticket.

Prabhupāda: Huh? Rāmeśvara?

Bhavānanda: Rāmeśvara Mahārāja is sending a ticket for him to go.

Prabhupāda: Oh. So you can go now, America, eh?

Bhavānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: That's good. You attended the conference?