Ahead (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"ahead"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: ahead not "go ahead" not "going ahead" not "goes ahead"

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview with LA Times Reporter About Moon Trip -- December 26, 1968, Los Angeles:

Hayagrīva: I don't think Swami Bhaktivedanta's students would be swayed one way or the other because their faith is in Kṛṣṇa and in the spiritual master and it wouldn't be swayed by man going to the moon or not going to the moon. These are very incidental.

Reporter: No, but ...only if say a spiritual master of a faith made very definite statements about what man could or could not achieve, if a spiritual master were to say man cannot achieve this-period. And then man went ahead and achieved it, there would be a crisis.

Prabhupāda: The spiritual master does not say such nonsense things. Man can achieve in a suitable body. Why don't you say that? But that suitable body is not...

Reporter: Yeah, well that's... When I talk to you, I find that the way you say it, if after the events are achieved, there could be explanations for it and there would be no crisis in faith.

Hayagrīva: He never came out and said that it's absolutely impossible.

Reporter: Right. Okay. Well thank you very much. I appreciate your tolerance of all my questions and everything.

Prabhupāda: You take this orange.

Hayagrīva: Do you want to take this, read these booklets? This one's just a running history of the Society and this is the magazine. So if you'd like, you can take it.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversations with Sannyasis -- March 15, 1974, Vrndavana:

Pañcadraviḍa: Sometimes though it's hard to maintain this routine. You yourself told the devotees not to go out and purchase excessive amounts of sweets but that didn't check them. They're still in the sweet shops continually. This morning I woke a,...

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Pañcadraviḍa: I went to wake a devotee up, I woke him up at a quarter to four. I said "Prabhu, you want to get up now, it's four o'clock, time to wake." So he didn't wake but I, I went ahead and bathed because I wanted to do that, and then I come back and it was almost time for ārati. So I said, "If you are not going to bathe at least get out of bed and come to āratik. But he wouldn't even do that much. So what can you do under these conditions when you tell somebody, you can't physically twist their arm.

Śyāmasundara: But the whole idea is that if you create a spiritual atmosphere that's so enlivening that everyone will want to participate in it, that's the solution. You can't individually treat each person. You have to get the whole thing generated by, by pouring water on the root.

Prabhupāda: That if you sit down for chanting, they should automatically sit down. If one is left, then you can maybe say, "Why you did not come?" But if there is no chanting, no sitting, simply wake up, wake up, wake up, all right, I'm waking up (indistinct). But one may wake up or not, you begin your work immediately.

Pañcadraviḍa: We go to the āratik.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 13, 1974, Vrndavana:

Guru dāsa: I came back a little ahead because they wanted to make sure Pālikā was all right.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Guru dāsa: I came back a little ahead because they wanted to make sure Pālikā was all right.

Prabhupāda: How many of you went?

Guru dāsa: Most everyone, about twenty-five.

Prabhupāda: (indistinct)

Guru dāsa: At first they went, (indistinct) Kāliya, that Kāliya tree, and then Madana-mohana, new and old, and then to the samādhi, (indistinct) samādhi, and then I left (indistinct). Dr. Kapoor came this morning?

Devotee: No.

Guru dāsa: No?

Devotee: I wasn't here. I went to sleep for a few minutes.

Prabhupāda: Thank you. You have come from where?

Morning Walk -- May 29, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: No facility. Nobody is...

Dhanañjaya: Only the cats go there.

Prabhupāda: That's all.

Dhanañjaya: So many cats are living there.

Satsvarūpa: But just like this building up ahead, they say, "But now we have it, we can enjoy. There are so many facilities there we are enjoying every day."

Prabhupāda: No, that's all right. What you are enjoying?

Satsvarūpa: In this building, working there.

Prabhupāda: So that enjoyment, eating, sleeping, mating, the animals are doing that. What other enjoyment you have got? The same thing, eating, sleeping, that's all. That can be done without this building. Even the animals, they very nicely sleep on the ground. They haven't got skyscraper building, but they have no disturbance in their sleeping. The birds are sleeping on the top of the tree very nicely. So what advancement you have made than the birds and the beasts? The business is the same.

Devotee: The Communists say that first we must feed the people, give the people the same rights, and after, we will give them a life of spiritual life, a life of...

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with three Trappist Monks, Psychologists from the University of Georgia, and Atlanta Lawyer, Michael Green -- March 1, 1975, Atlanta:

Guest (1) (Indian gentleman): You are very right in saying this because we cannot solve any problem. The problems keep on multiplying. When we solve one problem, there are twenty ahead of us.

Prabhupāda: Our first problem is, because we have got this material body, eating. Everyone must eat. So Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, annād bhavanti bhūtāni: (BG 3.14) "If there is sufficient food grains, then both man and animal, they become happy." Therefore our first religion is to produce food grain sufficiently to feed everyone. Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva (BG 18.44). This matter has been entrusted to the vaiśyas. They should produce sufficient food and give protection to the cows for sufficient milk. Then the whole human society, animal society, will be happy. But we are disobeying the orders or the rules given by God. Instead of producing food, we are producing motorcars. And motor tires, motor parts. And so many other things. And therefore people are starving. The manual labor is being misused. We are disobeying the orders of God. Therefore we are unhappy. I have seen all over the world. There are enough space for producing food grains. And if we actually produce food grain, we can maintain ten times of the present population of the whole world. There is no question of scarcity because God has created everything complete. Pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate (Īśopaniṣad, Invocation). There cannot be any defect in the creation of God. We have created these defects on account of our disobeying the orders of God. God never said that "motorcar-ād bhavanti bhūtāni." He never says. But instead of producing food grains, we are producing so many unwanted things. People's energy is engaged for... Just like in America or in every country, so much energy and resources are engaged for preparing war materials. And that means there must be war. And you must be killed; I must be killed. You will kill me; I will kill you. That's all. Therefore God says, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13).

Morning Walk -- May 10, 1975, Perth:

Gaṇeśa: Straight ahead, Śrīla Prabhupāda, there is another path.

Prabhupāda: There is another path?

Paramahaṁsa: Another footpath, yes.

Prabhupāda: This road is nice.

Amogha: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Which way? This way or that way?

Amogha: This way is all right.

Prabhupāda: All right.

Amogha: The sun is this way.

Prabhupāda: Bhagavad-gītā is not that, five thousand years ago, not like that. Just like you cannot say the sun is now coming. It is there. It is there always. You are seeing now. They used to think like that—at night the sun is dead. These rascals. And they are advanced. They used to think that this earth is square. (laughing) And they are advanced. They are changing their opinion daily. That is their scientific knowledge. Why should they change?

Amogha: They say this means they are discovering the truth, step by step.

Room Conversation with Ganesa dasa's Mother and Sister -- May 14, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Any way, if he comes in contact with us, he is gainer. We are giving opportunity, canvassing, "Come in contact with us." Just now, before you, one big man came. So I talked about first-class men, and he admitted. So he said at the last moment, "Now let me go and engage myself in fourth-class activities." So everyone is engaged in fourth-class activities, and we are trying to make first-class men. That is the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Mother: You've got a hard job ahead of you, then.

Prabhupāda: Ah, yes, very hard job. But everyone can become first class if he likes.

Mother: If they want to.

Sister: This is similar to many views of psychologists who believe in self-actualization.

Prabhupāda: Belief is different thing and fact is one thing.

Sister: Philosophi..., or, say, hypothesize that you can reach self-actualization.

Prabhupāda: Belief is no good. I believe. You may believe something wrong. That is not... You must know the fact. That is wanted.

Mother: But a person knows if they're doing wrong always.

Prabhupāda: If you are educated in a wrong way, then you will do wrong.

Mother: But I mean a person knows when they're doing wrong. They know when they're doing evil.

Morning Walk -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Well, dried up, but they must agree to follow. Otherwise, it is dead. (break) ...kārād bhaved dvijaḥ. Saṁskāra, reformation, that makes a twice-born. (break) ...na jāyate śūdraḥ saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ, vedo-pathad bhaved vipro brahmā jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. Everyone is born śūdra, and by undergoing the reformation process, he becomes twice-born. The father is the spiritual master, and the mother is Vedic knowledge. First birth is ordinary father and mother. That even cats and dogs gets. Everyone gets father and mother. Without father and mother, there is no question of birth. That janma is śūdra janma. Then, when he gets second birth by the spiritual father, then he becomes a dvija, twice-born. Again birth. Then he is allowed to study the Vedic literatures. Vedo-pathad bhaved vipraḥ. And when, by studying, he understand the Brahman, then he becomes brāhmaṇa. This is the process. Brahmā jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. And then, after becoming a brāhmaṇa, when he understands Kṛṣṇa, then he becomes Vaiṣṇava. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). Siddha means to understand Brahman, and yatatām api siddhānām, and after becoming siddha, one who drives further ahead, out of many of them, one can understand Kṛṣṇa. So we are aiming to that destination, to understand Kṛṣṇa. And then it will be perfect. And as soon as you understand Kṛṣṇa, you are fit for going back to home, back to Godhead. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). (break) ...headquarter (Hindi)?

Indian guest: San Jose, San Francisco (Hindi), southern peninsula. (Hindi)

Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Or less than that. In the material, whole material world all the living entities they are... Just like in the prison house, there are some population, but they are not majority. The majority of the population, they are outside the prison house. Similarly, majority of living being, part and parcel of God, they are in the spiritual world. Only a few falls down.

Dr. John Mize: Does Kṛṣṇa know ahead of time that a soul is going to be foolish and fall?

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa? Yes, Kṛṣṇa may know because He is omniscient.

Dr. John Mize: Are more souls falling all the time?

Prabhupāda: Not all the time. But there is the tendency of fall down, not for all, but because there is independence... Everyone is not liking to misuse the independence. The same example: Just like a government constructing a city and constructs also prison house because the government knows that somebody will be criminal. So their shelter must be also constructed. It is very easy to understand. Not that cent percent population will be criminal, but government knows that some of them will be. Otherwise why they construct prison house also? One may say, "Where is the criminal? You are constructing..." Government knows, there will be criminal. So if the ordinary government can know, why God cannot know? Because there is tendency.

Dr. John Mize: The origin of that tendency is...?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. John Mize: From where does that tendency come?

Morning Walk -- July 31, 1975, Dallas:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everyone was doing that. So we shall go or wait?

Satsvarūpa: After New Orleans, all your stops are in northern. Detroit and Canada. It won't be so hot.

Prabhupāda: No, now what is the time?

Devotees: Twenty to seven.

Prabhupāda: So we shall wait or shall go?

Jagadīśa: Well, I've sent the others on ahead to let them know that we'll be early. So it should be all right.

Prabhupāda: What is the scheduled time?

Jagadīśa: The Deities usually are opened at 7:10.

Prabhupāda: Oh. So we shall wait or go?

Jagadīśa: Either way.

Brahmānanda: What about we go and have the āratik first?

Jagadīśa: Yes.

Brahmānanda: And then after the āratik, the curtains can be opened. Then Prabhupāda could speak. And after speaking, give out the beads. Because we have to... (break)

Satsvarūpa: Can we go now?

Morning Walk -- August 25, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: ...this is?

Dhanañjaya: This is Akaṇḍhānanda Swami. Akaṇḍhānanda Mahārāja. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...just straight or return back?

Brahmānanda: Where is that path, Harikeśa?

Gurṇārṇava: The path is just ahead.

Prabhupāda: (Here?) We are Bon Mahārāja's land? No.

Woman: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: Jaya. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Dhanañjaya: That we must find out.

Jayapatāka: You go to the settlement office and you ask for information sheet. Then you can find all this. Get a map and then for each plot ask for information sheet. One rupee for five names. (kīrtana in background) (break)

Prabhupāda: Oh, Sītā-Rāma.

Dhanañjaya: They've been chanting for sixty years.

Prabhupāda: Sixty years? Continually?

Dhanañjaya: Yes. (break)

Morning Walk -- October 4, 1975, Mauritius:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Cyavana: They call it Sargasso. The call it the Sargasso Sea. It floats in the center of the ocean, seaweed. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...the fort?

Cyavana: Just straight ahead, where the ship is there. There are two ships there.

Prabhupāda: There.

Cyavana: Yes. That's where they come in.

Prabhupāda: This is not.

Cyavana: No, the next, where the white ship is.

Devotee 1: Very small.

Cyavana: Not so small. They've had as many as thirty-five or forty, not all in the berths but in the harbor. They bring everything in from overseas, and then they take out the sugar cane.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Generally they come from Europe?

Cyavana: Everywhere, all over the world. They trade with the whole world—America, Hong Kong, Japan. (break)

Prabhupāda: They are collecting fish?

Cyavana: These little clams they eat. Inside the shell there's a slug they eat, meat. (break)

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 12, 1976, Bombay:

Indian man: So, all right. I will be your śiṣya.

Dr. Patel: And then you become his śiṣya, that's all, indirect śiṣya. For the last two year I have been only reading all the great writings of Vaiṣṇava saints and Vaiṣṇava ācāryas because I read a lot of Śaṅkarācārya and others, and even, even post—what do you call—Buddhist philosophy, different lines, half a dozen of them. When I read the Vaiṣṇavas' teaching I think that.... Personally, you see, there are so many children, but your own son, you say, "This is my son." The personal relationship, when established, takes you far ahead psychologically. Am I right, sir? That is how personal God...

Prabhupāda: And if you take care of your own son, nobody will criticize you that "Why are you taking care of your own son, not others? Nobody will.... That is natural. That is explained in the Bhagavad.... Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu

(BG 9.29). He is equal to everyone. But one who is a devotee, "I take special care."

Dr. Patel: "He is in Me, and I am in him."

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: That is why all the great bhaktas, all the great, I mean, say, Narsi Meta(?) or Mirabai, they have worshiped personal God and merged in personal God in toto. Their, that what we call that ego is washed away by the sacred, I mean, this thing of God. Our impersonal philosophers are there, but they are not so well known. That is why he said that personal God and, I mean, worshiping personal God, you are immediately raised to that status from where you will be able to get jñāna.

Prabhupāda: (break) There was one teacher in my school, he used to say that "One who is slow to understand, he is slow to forget also."

Dr. Patel: Yes, that's a fact. It's really a fact.

Morning Walk -- June 13, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: (indistinct)

Ambarīṣa: Yes, Detroit River, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Big, big ships, they pass under this bridge?

Ambarīṣa: No, on the other side of this island, there's a channel, a freighter channel. That's Canada over there, and this is a small island, Belle Isle.

Hari-śauri: What is that project up ahead?

Ambarīṣa: I guess.... It's got problems.

Prabhupāda: What is that problem?

Ambarīṣa: No, he was asking if they are..., big project, Renaissance Center. They are having some problems building it. (short conversation about where to stop)

Devotee (1): Yes, this is where we are going to walk.

Ambarīṣa: You should signal for him to stop then.

Devotee (1): (break) ...attract people back to the cities. It's called the Renaissance Project.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Devotee (1): It's, Ambarīṣa's uncle, Henry Ford II, he is building, along with many different companies, a million dollar project.

Prabhupāda: Why not at Māyāpura? Huh?

Interview with Professors O'Connell, Motilal and Shivaram -- June 18, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, come on. Hare Kṛṣṇa, take this. I saw you last in London, I think.

Prof. O'Connell: We did, at your suburban place.

Prabhupāda: Bhaktivedanta Manor, yes.

Prof. O'Connell: We were out for a morning walk. But you got out ahead of us, so Pradyumna and I did not quite catch you, but we followed your trail.

Prabhupāda: Pradyumna was there?

Prof. O'Connell: My wife was with me—you probably remember Kathleen O'Connell—and Professor and Mrs. Fendrick. Mr. Fendrick teaches at Riason University in Toronto. Mary Jane Fendrick.

Prabhupāda: So, if we keep the human society in darkness about the aim of life, that is not civilization. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). I think you understand Sanskrit. Svārtha-gatim, the real self-interest, is to go back to home, back to Godhead. For that purpose, the human life is given by nature as an opportunity in the cycle of birth and death. So if we don't take advantage of this human form of life, when we can realize God and go back to home, back to Godhead, then it is misused. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (SB 7.5.31). They're enamored by the external energy of God, this material energy, and they are thinking that utilizing the material energy, the dog is running on his legs, and if he can run on motorcar, that is advancement. But the business is the running, without any purpose.

Indian man: Is it not better to run than to stand still and sleep?

Evening Darsana -- July 7, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Bill Sauer: All right.

Dr. Sharma: Okay?

Bill Sauer: Yes, sir.

Dr. Sharma: And you'll be surprised what happens. I'm a hard-core scientist, and to me, it's a transformation, absolutely. I'll read your book and you read the transformation. I'm sure you'll get ahead much quicker than me.

Bill Sauer: I've talked to your people, and I think there's pretty much agreement on the fundamental philosophical concept.

Dr. Sharma: There's something magnetic about it, something creative which comes from inside.

Prabhupāda: Where is our scientist?

Vipina: Svarūpa Dāmodara-could you get him?

Hari-śauri: I already sent somebody for him, Śrīla Prabhupāda. I don't think he's here.

Prabhupāda: He's not here.

Vṛṣākapi: They went to the Library of Congress today, Prabhupāda. They aren't here right now.

Bill Sauer: I think you put it better than I did. We do not destroy matter, we transmute it to energy, that's exactly correct. And it is the..., and in fire you are again transmuting material chemical energy into light. And when our light source goes out...

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Not proper leader. What is this building?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is the, ah...

Rāmeśvara: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Very famous art museum.

Prabhupāda: Saw fireworks in Washington.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's the Empire State Building, Prabhupāda, straight ahead.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Rāmeśvara: I think one day our art paintings will also be in these museums. Because our artists are becoming as expert as anyone.

Prabhupāda: Must be.

Rāmeśvara: Already people are coming and offering minimum one thousand dollars to buy a painting. In Los Angeles, I have sold some paintings for a thousand dollars each. Originals and some copies (laughter) also.

Prabhupāda: Copy, how do you make copy?

Rāmeśvara: We have some artists practicing. So he makes a copy of the original, and I sell it for five hundred dollars. Half the price of the original.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Good business.

Rāmeśvara: But that will increase. You can get ten thousand, twenty thousand dollars for one painting in the future, because they are paying that much now for inferior work.

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: So we are between Sixth Avenue and?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, we're between Eighth Avenue and Ninth. Actually our building can be seen from here. Hare Kṛṣṇa is on the outside of it.

Hari-śauri: I can see it just on the left.

Rāmeśvara: Straight ahead.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's on the left straight ahead. It's a brown building on the left side.

Hari-śauri: There's a tree on the top.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It has gold letters going down the side of it saying Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Hari-śauri: It's the brownish one with the white, little white cabin-type thing on the top of it.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We're very lucky, we rented a garage one block away which can house four buses and twenty vans. Only one block away from it, its very unusual. Otherwise...

Prabhupāda: You have taken the whole garage?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, otherwise it's not possible to get parking space in New York. See the "Hare Kṛṣṇa" now, Prabhupāda, on the side of the building?

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.

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

Prabhupāda: I work at night.

Rāmeśvara: It is hard to keep up with Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Hari-śauri: Very difficult.

Prabhupāda: We are not idle creatures.

Rāmeśvara: We are publishing his books and sometimes he is ahead of us by seventeen volumes.

Interviewer: How do you spend your days? You do an awful lot of traveling I understand.

Prabhupāda: Traveling is going on throughout the whole world and wherever I go, at night I write books.

Bali-mardana: Translates.

Prabhupāda: Translate. And daytime I meet devotees.

Bali-mardana: Manage.

Prabhupāda: Manage.

Interviewer: You arrange the marriages?

Bali-mardana: Manage.

Prabhupāda: They have to ask me, final decision is taken from me. From all over the world, from all over the world letters are coming some problem, some problem, some problem. Although I have got about twenty secretaries, still they have to consult, I have to give them advice.

Arrival at Farm -- July 29, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: From?

Bhagavān: There is a source, a natural spring not far from here, and people take there water.

Prabhupāda: You all bring all drinking water from there?

Bhagavān: No, yours. (pause) Here, we are an hour ahead.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Bhagavān: One hour ahead, 12:20. We have bitter melon and all fruits and vegetables, everything.

Prabhupāda: Who will cook?

Bhagavān: We have Mandakini?

Prabhupāda: Mandakini has not cooked very nice last...

Bhagavān: There is Aditi, there is... The wife of Hari-vilāsa, she cooked for you before.

Prabhupāda: All right, she can cook.

Bhagavān: What is bitter melon?

Prabhupāda: Bitter melon, you teach them how to do it.

Bhagavān: Samosa?

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Discussion on Deprogrammers -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: They're chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. (laughter) They're chanting Kṛṣṇa. Yes.

Rāmeśvara: They say, "As of this date, Hare Kṛṣṇa has been able to flood both the media and the District Attorney's offices with support for their side..."

Prabhupāda: They're admitting. That's good.

Rāmeśvara: "...and they are way ahead of those on our side who believe that it is not a religious issue. Sun Yung Moon"—this is that Reverend Moon—"has been largely exposed in the Press. But not the Kṛṣṇas."

Trivikrama: Haribol.

Prabhupāda: So the more they expose, the more implicated. (laughter)

Rāmeśvara: "Most people think of them, if at all, as loving, peaceful, prayerful children with strange customs and dress but low-key action and behavior."

Prabhupāda: What is that behavior, low...? Lowky?

Trivikrama: Low key.

Rāmeśvara: Means not violent.

Hari-śauri: Nice people.

Prabhupāda: That's a fact.

Rāmeśvara: "But they do not know about their forceful, harassing solicitation..."

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Rāmeśvara: He doesn't know what to call this state, so he considers it similar to a spiritual body. But anyway, it appears to be a subtle body. He says that "People find themselves when they're out of their physical bodies, that although they may try to communicate to others, no one seems to hear them, that they are also invisible to others, and that they lack solidity. People were walking..." Here's a description of one man who was in a car accident. "People were walking up from all directions to get to the car accident. As they came by, they wouldn't seem to notice me. They would just keep walking with their eyes straight ahead. As they came very close, I would try to get out of their way, but they would walk right through me."

Prabhupāda: Car accident? He is lying down?

Rāmeśvara: His body is lying down, and somehow he experiences that he has left his body.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is...

Hari-śauri: He's observing the whole scene.

Prabhupāda: Who?

Rāmeśvara: The man. The living being.

Prabhupāda: The man who suffered from the car accident?

Devotees: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So that is natural.

Hari-śauri: He described how he could see his body was trapped in the car and they were trying to pull his body from the car.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- January 29, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: So you... We have to organize like that. And actually this is greater valuable for their life, changing life.

Hari-śauri: Yes. These book clubs are very big.

Prabhupāda: So now you all GBC make a plan how to introduce the books in every home. The same policy in other languages also. America is English language. Similarly, we can do here also in Hindi language, in Oriya language, or in Europe. So we have got much work ahead. Don't think our business is finished. No. Simply very intelligent we have to do it.

Hari-śauri: Practically speaking, we've hardly got any books translated into any other languages except for English.

Prabhupāda: No. We shall gradually do. When the English language there, from English you can do any language.

Hari-śauri: Yes. There's unlimited field.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Sanskrit is very difficult. But when I have given in English language, you can convert into any other. English is known everywhere. This is international. So far I have seen—I've traveled all over the world—English language is understood. Sometimes they purposefully avoid. Otherwise, they understand. I have seen in Germany. They understand English, but they hate talking.

Satsvarūpa: In France, too. In France they don't speak English.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Satsvarūpa: They don't want to.

Prabhupāda: Yes. There is agitation in Canada.

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- January 30, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: So we first of all protested that matter comes from life, not life comes from matter. So when you concluded, they were silent.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yeah, they were almost pindrop silent, all of them. Normally they ask many questions, this type of lecture. But not this time. There were some at the beginning.

Prabhupāda: So our triumph is ahead.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So Sadāpūta told me that he's going to give lectures in these coming few weeks in Boston.

Prabhupāda: Who?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They are together, the two scientists. Our two scientists.

Hari-śauri: Sadāpūta.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Organize...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They'll do the same thing, same lecture as I gave, similar style. He had all the copies. We made very many colorful slides and transparencies. So that we speak just like any other professional speakers in science.

Prabhupāda: No, you can..., every right to speak. You are qualified scientist. All doctor, they must agree to hear you, cannot deny.

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- February 28, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: That is very encouraging. So pursue this method with your assistants. That is our challenge. That will enhance the importance of our movement.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They even suggested that in the future, if we had any plan like that, we should just let them know about two or three weeks ahead so they can arrange others also in the other departments.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Do immediately. Your business is that. You take these scientists and other intelligent... Everyone is intelligent, but especially to convince them... "Birds of the same feather..." Otherwise they'll not mix. We are already haṁsas, but to mix with the crow, we shall dress ourself like a crow. (laughter)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Just like I went with pant...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. Otherwise the crows will make a noise, "Kaw, kaw, kaw, kaw, kaw." (laughter) Because this whole society is full of crows. They are not even nice birds. So what can be done?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: It's very encouraging.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Especially in India...

Prabhupāda: Therefore...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: It's my first experience. The man whom I met in Bombay is the head of the chemistry section of the Balai(?) Atomic Research Center where they made this atomic bomb.

Morning Conversation -- April 23, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: It is very insignificant thing, personal. And it is said, personal, if you keep long hair, it will look... But it has been made here, it is said that "People will think like that, that he has become more beautiful." The psychology. Lāvaṇyaṁ keśa-dharaṇam. They rejected all other things. Simply they'll think that "If I keep long hair, I'll be very beautiful." This psychological study is there. And five thousand years before, prediction. How much authoritative the book is, just imagine. Is it not fact? Vyāsadeva's authority, try to... How perfectly authorized he is. They're stating psychological effect of people five thousand years ahead. Not only that, there are many descriptions what will be the name two thousand, three thousand years... Generally said, "This name will be like this. This name will be like this. Your son, grandson, great-grandson, what will be their names, this is..." So why shall we not believe just that statement of planetary system? If they are so correct... Planetary system is already there, but they are foretelling what in future, it will happen. That is my conviction. Therefore I do not believe anyone except Bhāgavata, Bhagavad-gītā. That is my science. They speculate. I don't believe it. Why shall I...? And in the beginning Vyāsadeva said, kim anyaiḥ śāstraiḥ: "Take only Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as the book of knowledge. Bas. You need not read any other." Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam: (SB 1.1.3) "This is essence of all Vedic knowledge." (pause) There are so many gentlemen here. They want to give their property, house, outside Bombay, to this institution.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Unless we can properly manage them though, there's no use taking them.

Prabhupāda: Land, house, they are free. But there is no arrangement we can make.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think the real key is this book distribution.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: If we increase our book distribution, we'll automatically get...

Room Conversation-Recent Mail -- July 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: They're all superexcellent.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "I hope that they meet with your approval. We are now in the process of completing a reproduction of the saṁsāra display for the twofold purpose of museum publicity, a special photograph to be taken by a famous photographer..." It's funny. You told him not to do this, but they went ahead and did it. "...and an exhibit to be displayed at the Los Angeles First Annual Ratha-yātrā festival grounds. This saṁsāra diorama has an outstanding response from the general public, and we hope to make it available to many centers for the preaching work in the near future. In connection with this I had an idea of constructing traveling trailers housing one such exhibit, complete with lights and sound, explaining the process..."

Prabhupāda: Oh, it will be very nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says he wants to make a trailer. Trailer means like a big...

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "...and sound, explaining the process of transmigration of the soul and other philosophical displays from the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā."

Prabhupāda: It will be so attractive.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "These trailers could be used to distribute Your Divine Grace's books in many new, inaccessible places. I would like to know if this meets with your kind approval."

Room Conversation about Grhasthas -- July 17, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: In New York. (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Paramānanda's the president of the farm, and he's the sannyāsī there. And he's also in charge of the Rādhā-Dāmodara office. While Tripurāri Mahārāja travels in the field, he heads up the office. And the office is in a city right near the farm. So he goes half the week to the farm, half the week to the office to manage. Remember I mentioned, Dhṛṣṭadyumna's brother is an architect. So they're planning the farm for building it. It's called a model community. They're going to make it New Varṣāṇā Model Community. Everything will be planned out ahead of time—where the cows will be living—from the point of Vedic conception. It won't be hodgepodge. And they feel that it will gain tremendous interest amongst the prominent persons of America who want to visit a model community. Many universities and schools will send groups of students to visit and see. That's their idea.

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Another thing, the big thing that Tripurāri Mahārāja is working on... Dhṛṣṭadyumna is heading up the office. It's called contract sales. They have written to you once and you said... It's not standing order, it's cash on delivery. But now they call it contract sales. Very impressive results.

Prabhupāda: Bookstore. No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. It's selling of full sets of Bhāgavatam or Caitanya-caritāmṛta, but cash at once. Or cash fifty percent down, fifty percent in one month. Or, you know, different schemes, payment schemes. It's called contract sales. So far, I have the figures if you'd like to hear how many they sold, the books. It looks like it may become a huge thing for book distribution. Would you like me to get the...?

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: H. G. Wells, he was good writer, but he was a scientist also.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, not really a scientist. Science fiction writer. So he wrote this book called The Time Machine.

Prabhupāda: From imagination.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He goes back into history, and then he... Did you read it? Ahead in the future. What happens there?

Devotee (2): He sees that the world is getting transformed by water, and...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, I think that having the devotees like Jayatīrtha prabhu and Bhagavān prabhu around you will be very enthusing. I mean their... When you're around so many devotees who are giving their lives so much for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness, assisting you, it's really enthusing. The main thing is that you don't have to speak so much. It's your presence, your seeing the devotees and them seeing you. It doesn't require so much to speak. So in that sense it won't be exhausting in any way. You won't be called upon like that. It's a good climate now too, August, in London, a very good time. It's not too hot, and it's not too cool.

Prabhupāda: Los Angeles is hot.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Los Angeles will be hot. That's why when I made that itinerary that's the last place practically. You'd reach Los Angeles by, say, the middle of September. By then it's cooler. New York is quite good towards the end of August, one of the nicest times of the year, the beginning of fall.

Room Conversations Bangladesh Preaching/Prabhavisnu Articles by Hamsaduta -- August 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: You can get on light.

Abhirāma: So basically he explained when the difficult times will come, according to the planets. Then he made it very clear that beyond the planetary influence, it would be very difficult for calculations for a person in your position. For an ordinary man he can say very clearly. And he can say for you which planets will disturb, but he cannot say for sure how much they will affect, because being a saintly person, there is naturally some resistance to these influences. So he made that very clear, that you should not think that these are final. So he said, according to your birth, the longevity shows very clearly. And then he gave a date. The longevity is eighty-one years, five months and twenty-nine days, which means February 28, 1978, six months from now. This is according to birth and stars arrangement. But on this point he made it very clear that this was from your birth, this was set, but it can change. Due to pious activities, due to the hand of Kṛṣṇa, this can change. So... And then he described that during the next six months, the first week of September, Saturn will pass over Ketu, and it will agitate the influence of Ketu even more. So the first week of September the resistance will go down, will become weaker. Then he mentioned that there may be some trouble from..., maybe financial or maybe from juniors, from subordinates. Then this period, if you can pass, through 1978, then there is four or five more years clear ahead, if you can pass through '78. This was what he said, that after '78 there would be four or five years which would be more or less clear of difficulties. He said that if you can pass through 1978, there after that there would be four or five years clear, without much difficulty. And he said according to birth arrangement, the fatal date is February 28, 1978, in six months. At that time there's what's called the completion of a Ketu mahā-daśā, which began at your birth.

Room Conversations Bangladesh Preaching/Prabhavisnu Articles by Hamsaduta -- August 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Abhirāma: Yes. On Sunday we have arranged. They will come for a visit of Vṛndāvana, and they will come to see you, to see if they can relieve you of some difficulty. As far as we could find in Delhi, these are the most reputed men, and they are actively practicing and teaching. They are recognized.

Prabhupāda: Make that arrangement. Yes. On Sunday?

Abhirāma: Yes, on Sunday, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Today is Thursday. So these were the major points, Śrīla Prabhupāda. For six months there's trouble, especially in first week of September. And if you can pass through '78, then he sees four or five years ahead clear.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That means divine intervention, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: The chart is given. The calculation there is finished. That doesn't matter. Rather, if I am finished now, it will be glorious.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It will be what, Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Glorious.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Living will also be glorious.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Let us see.... As Kṛṣṇa desires. All right. Thank you. Would you like to send to that Navadvīpa astrologer?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, I'm going to write to Jayapatākā this evening. I'll give him the information.

Prabhupāda: You have got the janma?

Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: In this way it can be done, and it will require a very good editing. Then it will be all right. And at the same time discussion of Bhāgavata will go on. Is that correct? What the editor said?

Pradyumna: What does the editor say? Is this all right?

Jayādvaita: Sure it's all right. This is good. This plan is good.

Prabhupāda: So let us do that. So each word you read very distinctly. It doesn't matter it takes time.

Jayādvaita: And Pradyumna, you can work ahead on this translation, so that it can be read...

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Jayādvaita: Can you work ahead on translating, Pradyumna? So that can be done also, that as it's being read to you, the translation can already be done in advance by Pradyumna.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's good.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Jayādvaita: The translation of the verses can be done in advance, so that as the Sanskrit is being read to you, the meanings can also be done immediately.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Is that all right, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- October 26, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Then you have to arrange for campment previously.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Arrange for?

Bhavānanda: Campment beforehand.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Previously, ahead of time, yes. Or we could come back every day. The only thing I don't like about doing that, if we stay with someone else, then it is too much botheration for Your Divine Grace. I know that, because everyone will want darśana. My idea was to camp... Not to camp where there was any place, but to camp on our own, in the field or wherever. Bring some tents, set up the tent.

Prabhupāda: Not to advertise.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. I don't want to advertise. And I was thinking not to stay at anybody else's temple. To stay on our own. Then no one will disturb.

Prabhupāda: Yes. All right.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Or we can go and bring your car and come back every day.

Prabhupāda: No. This camping is very...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very nice. So shall we arrange for it?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You can sing now. (break) The kavirāja will be coming back to take us there. Better that we follow his advice and let this medicine work a little while, see if you get some strength, and let him come and take us there as he promised he would do. There is no reason why we should jump ahead. As we have placed ourself under a competent kavirāja, better we take his advice as long as we don't find it to be harmful.

Prabhupāda: When we expect?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We expect him to come the day after Diwali.

Prabhupāda: When there is Diwali?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Diwali is the 10th or 11th. I think the Marwari community, they celebrate on the 10th. So we expect him on the 11th or by the latest the 12th, which means one week from today. Do you mind waiting that long?

Prabhupāda: I was thinking if we have to go, why...?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, because he's also said that he will give you some medicine for helping you to take the trip easily. No reason to rush, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Our original reason for delaying was to give you time to get a little more strength. That kavirāja felt pretty confident that if we wait this long, you will get some more strength. I think we should wait. Everyone is feeling that way. You're not unhappy here, are you?

Prabhupāda: No.

Room Conversation -- November 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Pañca-draviḍa: We can sleep around the van. Prabhupāda is like a desire tree. He satisfies everybody.

Lokanātha: That cart could be turned into house. Have bamboo sticks, cover it with...

Prabhupāda: So begin to plan.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: I think Lokanātha Swami should make the route, completely planned out, and the place also where we're going to picnic so that everything has to be arranged well ahead of time.

Prabhupāda: So do it.

Pañca-draviḍa: Yes, we'll prepare the cart tonight, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Lokanātha: When we started the bullock cart you said, "Go to the heart of the village," and we said, "What is this heart?" You said, "Wherever there is well, water, we should camp. We should stay." That is where we could remain clean.

Prabhupāda: That you have experience. I have no experience.

Lokanātha: Maybe you sent me to experience this bullock cart program so that you could...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Lokanātha: ...in future go on bullock cart.

Prabhupāda: For me it is experiment.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We should also request kavirāja to come along?

Prabhupāda: Invite him.