Block (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"block" |"blockade" |"blockage" |"blocked" |"blockhouse" |"blocking" |"blocks"

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview -- February 1, 1968, Los Angeles:

Interviewer: Have they encountered any problems in, like out on the Hollywood Boulevard? Police action or telling them to move or...?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Only that depends on the whims of the police. Sometimes they say, "You are blocking our roads." Sometimes, "Oh, you are doing nice." So that depends on their temperament.

Interviewer: How about from the crowd?

Prabhupāda: Crowd, of course, whenever there is crowd, it is natural—police do not like it. So we don't create crowd. But generally, people, out of inquisitiveness they gather together and see how they are chanting. They are sympathetic. They contribute.

Talk After Lecture -- May 30, 1968, Boston:

Prabhupāda: Wednesday there will be no meeting here?

Satsvarūpa: Yes, there'll be no kīrtana. That's the next engagement, May 8th. Also, does anyone have a car? Swamiji lives nine blocks away.

Prabhupāda: You have got a car? Thank you.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: So he thought, "How shall I go the other side?" So one dead body was floating. So he thought, "It is a log," and he took the help of the log and went the other side. And it was heavy raining. And then, when he reached that Cintāmaṇi's home, he saw the door is locked already. Blocked. So he jumped over the wall, taking the tail of a serpent, and when he reached inside, he knocked the door, and Cintāmaṇi was astonished. "How did you come? So heavy rain. You had to cross the river." He said everything, that "Oh, I cannot stay without you." So she was much inquisitive: "How did you come? How did you jump over this wall?" And so he showed everything, that there was a big snake, and so he thought it as rope and jumped it. And then, when he went to the riverside, he saw that was a dead body. So at that time Cintāmaṇi thought, "Oh, this man is so much addicted to me."

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 21, 1970, Surat:

Prabhupāda: Just like we just take example from your country. You are constructing so many highways, freeways. Still, there is problem. Still, even in the highways, sometimes blocked. Aiye. (Hindi) Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido (SB 1.5.18). (Hindi) We do not dissuade persons to stop work. No. That is not our... You do your work, but be Kṛṣṇa conscious. That's it. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was a fighter. Kṛṣṇa never stopped him from his occupation, but he was taught Kṛṣṇa conscious even in the battlefield. (Hindi—break) You want to see? Yes. Where is that book?

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- August 14, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: They can find out anything.

Devotee: An excuse. It's an excuse.

Revatīnandana: "Blocking the traffic, disturbing the peace..."

Haṁsadūta: Anyway, the original purpose of America was to have religious freedom. Therefore they left England.

Revatīnandana: There is constitutional guarantee...

Haṁsadūta: So they still have some respect for people who are trying to glorify God.

Prabhupāda: In American in every court case, we win.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 1, 1972, Sydney:

Prabhupāda: Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, jaḍa-vidyā jato māyāra vaibhava tomāra bhajane bādhā, anitya soṁsāre moha janamiyā jībake karaye gādhā. Jaḍa-vidyā, this material advancement, jaḍa vidyā, they are simply stumbling blocks for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The more one is enamored by this so-called material advancement, the more he is disqualified to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because time we have got limited. If we waste our time for so-called material advantages, then we spoil our time. We cannot utilize the time for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which is the necessity of human life. Therefore, in the history of India there is opulence, but that opulence is of different kind. By nature they used to enjoy life—enough jewels, enough gold, enough silk, enough food, enough metals. You see? By natural product. They could find where there is a big hill of gold only.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 19, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: They have got personality, all the living entities coming out, the microbes. They have got their personality. If they're moving in this way, you stop. They'll move in this way.

"There is some block. Let me go this side." So there is personality.

Karandhara: But in the dead body, there's no personality.

Prabhupāda: That means that individual person has left. That is the proof, that is the proof of individual soul. Just like there are so many plants of the same species. One is dead. That individual plant is dead, but other species are living. It is not extinct. How can you say the species is extinct? How you can say? Darwin's forefather might be extinct. But the monkeys are there. What is the time?

Morning Walk -- May 14, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Then you're chang... As soon as the blood corpuscle changes, you change your body. You do not know the science. So how many millions of birth you are changing even this experience?

Karandhara: That is their stumbling block. They say they want to be able to observe everything with their imperfect senses.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is their folly, foolishness.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: In the scientific terminology the eternality of the soul can be compared with the conservation of energy?

Prabhupāda: There is no question of conservation. It is energy. It is always existing. If you say that is conservation of energy then.

Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 15, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They will explain that by..., it blocks some of the metabolic paths...

Prabhupāda: That's all right, but it is acting. That is my point. You can explain in your nonsense way, this, so many things. But I see that because that very little portion of poison is there, immediately he dies. Why don't you see the action?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Just like taking cyanide. Cyanide, they say cyanide blocks the...

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, but the thing, we have to see by the effect. Similarly, if the small particle of... Therefore our knowledge is perfect. We take it from Vedas. The small particle of soul, because it is present there, you will see the whole thing is going on nicely.

Conversation with Sridhara Maharaja -- June 27, 1973, Navadvipa:

Devotee: Engineer was saying that if we have a big tree around the building, then it blocks the view of the building. We will make such beautiful building and no one will see it through the trees.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Prabhupāda: If we cover with gardens, big, big trees, then the beautiful building will be covered. So therefore he wants to keep it barren. (laughter)

Devotee: That is how the engineer always sees his engineering.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You see, Vṛndāvanam, Gauravanam, the vegetable class is not eliminated. They have got their part to play, and that is not to be neglected. At night... At night...

Prabhupāda: I think, Mahārāja, after your coming here, all these trees have grown.

Morning Walk -- December 21, 1973, Los Angeles:

Jagajjīvana: Yeah, there is a chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, Second chapter is done. It hasn't been distributed yet until February. We are two blocks away from a college. It has 32,000 students, and we go there every day and chant and the Communists come and we start preaching to them.

Prabhupāda: Communists? Students are under Communistic? What the Communists preaches? There is no God?

Jagajjīvana: Yes. And that in this life you can become perfect. There can be a perfect man without Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Ah, so who has become that perfect man? Amongst your Communists? The Stalin is considered the greatest criminal in the world, in the history, Stalin. So how he is perfect man? If he is the greatest criminal?

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 10, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, one after another, problem will come.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Coming to the brain again, the, some people are working. Why some people are insane? For example, the mechanism of working the brain, some of the chemical pathways, they say, change, block. So some people become insane.

Prabhupāda: Insane? Then he cannot work. That's all. Even if I give you good machine... Just like I do not know how to work on it, so similarly, if one does not know how to work, then it is useless machine.

Karandhara: They are thinking that by certain types of chemicals they can correct things like depression and unhappiness. They say it's all just a chemical situation in the brain.

Prabhupāda: But that they propose so many nonsense things, but they cannot do anything.

Room Conversation -- March 20, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: There is an example about this near here, this bandstand at Chowpatti. One of my relations, he wanted to have a theater there. The position was not granted by the traffic department. But in that way the traffic department had, before deciding the issue, had to call those people who had purchased the plot for a theater purpose and convince them that this traffic will be a block and will be a bottleneck and it will be difficult for the police to control it. And theater, at every time, every three hours, you have particular four thousand or five thousand or two thousand people entering in the theater and going out also. Here the same problem is not there. Therefore the police or the traffic department has been biased and deliberately, for their own ulterior motive, they have taken this type of position, without involving us. If I am guilty, I must be told that I am a guilty man. They should prove in my presence. So no chance was given to me. Nothing was, I was not invited at the spot where the traffic was a bottleneck problem for the future. Without any justification, merely one sentence that "It could be."

Morning Walk -- June 2, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: All future programs.

Nitāi: They have never done that, have they?

Yogeśvara: Well, there are people in the refrigerator now. There are people who have voluntarily put themselves in a big block of ice. They were told before they went inside that they would be defrosted in about fifty years.

Prabhupāda: Then what he will do? (laughing)

Bhagavān: They should take a few out now and see if it worked.

Prabhupāda: No, that can be done. The yogic process. It is called kumbhaka. Samādhi. You stop your breathing, and you can keep yourself for thousands of years. That is the kumbhaka. But this art is known by the frogs also.

Room Conversation with Robert Gouiran, Nuclear Physicist from European Center for Nuclear Research -- June 5, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: So where is the difficulty...? What is the difficulty in the position you are now, at present?

Robert Gouiran: Good question. The difficulty is that I lost the thought of this transparency by a lot of criss-crossed swords which make a sort of block, and I have very, very strong difficulties now here to feel intuitively the occult plane. And I am back in the reality...

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Guru-gaurāṅga: Coming back now into the West, he feels so much difficulty to still be sensitive, to have this intuition of the spiritual plane.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: He says that there are like criss-crosses, like swords blocking...

Prabhupāda: So one thing is that he's feeling difficulty in the material atmosphere of the West. Is it the fact?

Room Conversation with Robert Gouiran, Nuclear Physicist from European Center for Nuclear Research -- June 5, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: No, no, that is the meaning. You renounce to get something else. Otherwise, what is the meaning of this renunciation.

Robert Gouiran: Just in order to get rid of the barriers which blocks the access of the spiritual plane.

Yogeśvara: (French)

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is devotion. To work on the spiritual plane means devotion, devotional service. That is spiritual. Otherwise what is the meaning of renunciation? Suppose you are working as scientist. You renounce. What do you gain? Unless you gain something better, then there is meaning of renouncing.

Robert Gouiran: I was taught... Well, if you are speaking about...

Prabhupāda: Otherwise, it has no meaning.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor, other Guests and Disciples -- February 12, 1975, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: So it is not blocked for anyone. Anyone can get Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Anyone can go back to home, back to Godhead, provided you follow the regulative principle. Then it is possible for everyone. It doesn't matter whether he's woman, whether he's working class, whether he's a śūdra or a brāhmaṇa. It doesn't matter. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, that "Even they can go. And what to speak of the brāhmaṇas?" Kiṁ punar brāhmaṇāḥ puṇyā bhaktā rājarṣayaḥ... (BG 9.33). If the brāhmaṇas, they cultivate spiritual knowledge, it becomes very easy for them. Even they can go, śūdras, stri, vaiśya. These are all the statement.

Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: Every individual being has knowledge. Even a small ant, it has got knowledge. Knowledge... Of course, development of knowledge according to the body, but a living entity, even the trees, they have got knowledge. They grow... When there is some block, they do not grow that side; they grow this side. Is it not?

Professor: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So every living being has got knowledge. The basic knowledge, how to maintain, every one has got.

Professor: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: No, knowledge... Living entity, by constitutional position, has got knowledge, but in connection with this material world, when this living entity comes to this material world, so according to the body, the development of knowledge differs.

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- February 28, 1975, Atlanta:

Vīra-lakṣmaṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, the scientists, they've reported in one journal of theirs that by taking some chemicals of methane, ammonia and carbon and injecting it with electricity, that equation or that formula equates them to an energy that is called amino acid in due course of time. That is, they say, the building blocks of life, of protein.

Prabhupāda: So why do they not do that?

Vīra-lakṣmaṇa: They've made an experiment...

Prabhupāda: That means they are not in knowledge. That I am speaking, the barking dog. First of all make experiment, produce life. Then come and say. Otherwise don't bark like a dog, imitation. Simply big, big words. Produce. Our theory is that... In the śāstra it is said harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam, kalau nāsty eva nās... (CC Adi 17.21). That practical proof we are giving, that these Europeans, Americans, they are simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and how they are coming out, this practical proof. They did not know five or six years ago what is Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa's name. But we are taking the conclusion of the śāstra: in this age, if one chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, he becomes spiritualized.

Morning Walk -- May 29, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: We were children at that time. Not children, we were young men. The first voyage, it was finished. And all big men were there. It was assured that "It will never drown."

Bali-mardana: They said, "This is the ship that can never sink."

Prabhupāda: Big chunk, ice block.

Room Conversation with Yogi Bhajan -- June 7, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Where is your headquarter?

Yogi Bhajan: Los Angeles. We are neighbors.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Los Angeles.

Yogi Bhajan: We are almost neighbors. We are few blocks from each other.

Prabhupāda: Now, when you have started?

Yogi Bhajan: About five years ago. Six years.

Prabhupāda: Six years. We started there in the...

Śrutakīrti: About the same time.

Yogi Bhajan: About you when it came in Illustrated Weekly, I was in India.

Prabhupāda: Oh, oh.

Room Conversation with Yogi Bhajan -- June 7, 1975, Honolulu:

Paramahaṁsa: They have, in Phoenix, Arizona, they have a very nice place, very large building.

Prabhupāda: Where?

Paramahaṁsa: Phoenix, Arizona. It's similar to our Los Angeles branch. I think they tried to make... They have buildings, block buildings nearby, apartments for householders. In many ways they are imitating our movement.

Prabhupāda: But there is no Deity?

Morning Walk -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Jagadīśa: ...the wealthiest neighborhood. It's about six blocks away.

Brahmānanda: Is it a crime place?

Jagadīśa: No.

Jayatīrtha: In Detroit... (break)

Prabhupāda: ...also, there is threatening of life. Some brāhmaṇa boys who were living with us, so they were threatened, "You are living with these mlecchas. If you don't give up, then your life is in danger." So they have gone to Māyāpur.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Who?

Jayatīrtha: The Sastris.

Prabhupāda: Some brāhmaṇa boys, they came and joined.

Morning Walk -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: Yes, I went to see the ambassador.

Ghanaśyāma: Yes, he is very favorable. The biggest book store in the world. They're so big, they have three blocks. They take up sort of like three blocks. And they have three levels, three floors. So we went to see the manager, the man who owns the whole book store. And he says, "Well, I only deal with rare books." We says, "Well, this is why we've come to see you." And he says, "I want three copies of every book."

Prabhupāda: Very good. So they have ordered?

Ghanaśyāma: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Room Conversation with Lt. Mozee, Policeman -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Lt. Mozee: Sir, do you think that the wealth of the United States and some certain other countries would be a block to spiritual faith? In Christianity there is a parable that "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to come before the throne of God." Would wealth in itself be a block toward spiritual awareness?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Too much wealthy condition is a block. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānāṁ tayāpahṛta-cetasām. If one is very materially opulent, he forgets God. Therefore, to be too much materially rich is a disqualification for understanding God. Although there is no more impediment, that "Only the poor man will understand God and rich man will not understand," it is not that. But generally, if one is extraordinarily rich or his one aim is only to acquire money, it is difficult for him to understand God. Bhogaiśvarya.

Morning Walk -- August 6, 1975, Detroit:

Ādi-keśava: In Boston when we bought the big temple there, they said... They asked us, "We saw you dancing and chanting in the street right in front of there the other day, and now we see you going into a house on the richest block in the whole city."

Prabhupāda: So why don't you say, "We have pleased Kṛṣṇa, He has sent money"? That is our business. Why should we work like an ass and dog? We simply please Kṛṣṇa, and He sends money. That's all. You see practically. Yesterday I went to see the house. I had no money, but I purchased. Twenty-four lakhs. Wherefrom the money comes? That is intelligence, that you please one person and you get everything. And you rascal, you please so many others; still, you are not happy. That is intelligence. You are going to water the trees and leaves and the twigs and..., but we put water in the root. It reaches everywhere. Yathā taror mūla-niṣecaṇena tṛpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopasakhaḥ (SB 4.31.14). If I pour water on the root, all the branches will be pleased and they will give me fruits, flowers, everything. They do not know this science.

Morning Walk -- November 12, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So unfortunately nobody is interested. This is the only remedy, and nobody is interested. Rather, they will put blocks in the progress. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Dr. Patel: If the modern politicians of the world follow the teaching of even Mahābhārata and śanti-parva, there will be śanti all over. What is your opinion, sir? That is sufficient if they don't go ahead further.

Prabhupāda: Śānti means to become devotee. Otherwise there is no question of. Jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati. That is wanted. If one does not know Kṛṣṇa, where is śanti? Kuto śanty ayuktasya. Even Dhruva Mahārāja, he was... He became too much restless, being insulted by stepmother. He went to the forest, but there was no śanti. He was always restless. Nārada Muni came, advised him that "You are a child. Why you are so much agitated by so-called insult, family talks?" And "No, I don't want your advice." He refused. Then Nārada Muni gave him initiation, that "This boy is very strong." But actually, when he realized God, then he became svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yace: (CC Madhya 22.42) "My dear Lord, now I am fully satisfied.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Nellore:

Prabhupāda: Sugar? Salt.

Harikeśa: That's the way their salt is here.

Acyutānanda: In blocks?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Rock salt.

Prabhupāda: Not rock salt. Sea salt.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They get it from here?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Sea. Not here, where there is sea.

Yaśodānandana: The sea is just fourteen miles away.

Prabhupāda: Shallow water, when it is dried by the sunshine they get salt. Evaporation is done by sunshine, and they get the salt. Practically they get the salt without any cost, and whatever they get, money, they are satisfied.

Morning Walk -- January 18, 1976, Mayapur:

Acyutānanda: Yes. They also do that. They try and... Mainly they try and reconvert the Christians. They get some results. And they pander to the tribal castes so that they don't convert to Christianity. The Mohammedans and Christians have refused to use birth control, so they think that their population will soon outnumber the Hindus. So they are afraid that the Mohammedan and Christian block will sway elections in the future. (break)

Jayapatākā: Brahmacārīs don't like to take the instructions from the elder devotees, and then they want to take sannyāsa, so they think they can be independent and give orders themself and not listen.

Prabhupāda: Therefore not to be given all of a sudden. (break)...to become sevaka. Everyone wants to become sevya.

Morning Walk -- January 19, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: So I said, "Let's go." So I took him in the bus, and I took the bus to his house, and there was the people in his band, and they were about to come out of the house. They were already packed up. So I pulled the bus in front of the driveway and blocked them. Then I told him, "You bring all your members of your band into the bus." So then I preached to them. It turned out he owned all the equipment of the band, the microphones, everything. So they became very angry when they heard that he was going to become a Hare Kṛṣṇa. They were very, very angry, but somehow I made them agree, and they took all this equipment out. It was worth many thousands of dollars. They had to.... Their whole band was broken apart. So many times this has happened with these bands, that one member joins us and then they give all the instruments, microphone systems, everything. So when this happens, then we put everything in a garage and we hold a sale and sell everything. Usually they donate television sets.

Morning Walk -- February 25, 1976, Mayapura:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: East European countries like Poland, and these are all in the Communist block.

Prabhupāda: Anyway, if Moscow buys, purchases, that is...

Jayapatākā: If we translate into Russian then they'll probably take.

Prabhupāda: Yes, we shall consult. First of all, let them take. Then we shall propose them.

Jagadīśa: Actually, Bhagavad-gītā has already been translated into Russian. I have seen one copy.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They have translated a lot of books like Rāmāyaṇa also in Russian.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- February 25, 1976, Mayapura:

Indian devotee: We have got a Polish devotee in London, a woman, and she's trying to translate.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: I think Harikeśa is trying to go to Hungary.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Harikeśa Swami.

Prabhupāda: That is also Communist?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. The Russian block. It's in Eastern Europe.

Room Conversation with Reporter -- June 3, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. God, service to God means, just like you put foodstuff in the stomach. Then the service, supplying energy, is distributed automatically. The eyes get service, the ears get service, the hands get service, legs get service, everything. But if you put foodstuff in the eyes, instead of giving service, you make it blind. If you put foodstuff in the ear, instead of hearing, it is blocked. Then that is ignorance. You do not know where to give service. The knowledge, God consciousness, means to know where to give service, so that the service will be automatically distributed. You pour water on the root of the tree and the energy will be distributed to the trunk, to the branches, to the twigs, to the leaves, to the flowers, everyone. We are missing their point.

Morning Walk -- June 5, 1976, Los Angeles:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...sobered up. These books are a real slap. They make you awake very quickly. We always.... I used to lecture from that to the new men to bring them out of their māyā quickly. People don't like to think of death. They try to forget it. It's so fearful to them. And that brings all of the horrors of death very graphically in front of them. You describe how the soul is kept.... The body is burning like a big fire, and the soul is trying to get out, but all of the holes are blocked. Just like a man in a house that's burning and he can't get out. Fearful condition.

Rāmeśvara: (break) ...numbers of men, big temples, it is all due to our books, to your books. So I was thinking that if one day this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement becomes so powerful that even it is giving instruction to governments, that will also be because of...

Prabhupāda: That is very easy. If you increase the number of your devotees, government hears you(?). That is not very difficult thing. Simply you have to increase our supporters; then the government is there.

Morning Walk -- June 11, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. They are opulent with dogs also. As soon as you walk on the street, so many dogs will bark. (japa) (break) ...park.

Rāmeśvara: (break) People who live here, whole two blocks...

Prabhupāda: Private house.

Rāmeśvara: This is a richer district.

Hari-śauri: There's a big sign on the gate. It says, "No Trespassing." (break)

Prabhupāda: ...patrolling here always to stop trespassing.

Rāmeśvara: Always living in fear.

Prabhupāda: Sadā samudvijña-dhiyam asad-grahāt. As soon as you accept material things as everything, immediately bhaya. Āhāra nidrā maithuna bhaya. (japa) (break) ...country, they'll not allow any individual person to live so comfortably. No, illegal. If you have got money, then give it to the government. The ministers will enjoy it. This is democracy. Democracy means "Somehow or other, I capture the government, and whatever money you have got, I snatch it from you, and then I enjoy." This is democracy. Dasyu-dharma. In Bhāgavata it is said dasyu-dharma, the business of the rogues. How is that?

Morning Walk -- June 11, 1976, Los Angeles:

Rāmeśvara: We have the whole block.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) There is law, income tax, supertax, welfare to the..., so many taxes? No, only income tax.

Kīrtanānanda: No, there are many taxes. Sales tax...

Prabhupāda: Sales tax is there. But in India that..., at a stage, the whole amount is taxed.

Kīrtanānanda: There's an estate tax, an inheritance tax...

Prabhupāda: No, no, mean at a stage.... This much, this much, this much.... And at a.... There is a stage-ninety-five percent government's. You keep only five percent.

Rāmeśvara: In India?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with Ambarisa and Catholic Priest -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Ambarīṣa: The kitchen is inside the big building.

Śrutikīrti: But it's very choice space. It's just two blocks from what's called the Ritz Hotel, which is most famous hotel in the country, they have in every large city. These pictures, that glassed-in area, that would all be just the serving area. Then the kitchen is behind the wall. There would be a large kitchen facility, where all the devotees would be cooking.

Prabhupāda: Kitchen is within the building?

Śrutikīrti and Ambarīṣa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So one-story building also included?

Ambarīṣa: Yes, there's a kitchen and dish-washing room and office, storage...

Śrutikīrti: All inside.

Prabhupāda: Nice.

Room Conversation with Ambarisa and Catholic Priest -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Devotee: So we couldn't call the restaurant the "Hare Kṛṣṇa Restaurant" because there were some restrictions in the block, so we were thinking we'd call it "Saṅkīrtana." That's okay?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. They are Hare Kṛṣṇa phobia; they are afraid.

Śrutikīrti and Ambarīṣa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: You have suggested "Saṅkīrtana"?

Ambarīṣa: Yes, they think that is nice. They do not know what that means.

Prabhupāda: Just like our Haridāsa. You know Haridāsa? Bombay?

Ambarīṣa: Yes, uh-huh.

Prabhupāda: He, Moscow, he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa on the street, and when people asked "What is this?" "This is cinema song."

Room Conversation with Ambarisa and Catholic Priest -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Oh, then it's nice.

Ambarīṣa: Very sound.

Śrutikīrti: It's in a very nice area in Boston. Commonwealth Avenue was the most aristocratic street in Boston. The temple is right there, just one block from downtown.

Prabhupāda: Near Commonwealth Pier?

Śrutikīrti: Near Boston Commons. Boston Commons? The big park.

Prabhupāda: Not park, there is a pier, pier (pronounces "pire") what do you call?

Ambarīṣa: Oh, pier, pier. Oh, yes, it is near there, Prabhupāda, that's where you landed.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: No, why this arrangement? There must be some arrangement in planetary system. Just like first, second, third, fourth, fifth, like that. Therefore, Sunday's first. Not whimsically. Suppose there is a system, first, second, third, fourth. So according to that, the dates are there. Not whimsically you first of all bring Saturn or first of all bring Jupiter. Not like that. You cannot do that. Why shall you do that? Therefore we are sitting, now, she's first, he's second, you are, like that. Not that although she is sitting there, he can be blocked here. No, everybody.... It is of course a very simple question, but it has got some intelligence. We must get some intelligent answer. Ordinary answer will not do. And so far, you know I have questioned so many persons, and they have not replied. Svarūpa Dāmodara has not replied.

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Now these statements are quite scientifically valid and sound. Now this will be verified in our next slide that is called the axioms. This is called structure of a theory. In scientific disciplines, specifically in mathematics, now scientists work with a beginning called axioms. There are two types of axioms. First one is logical axiom, and second one is theoretical axioms. Now from these axioms, by inference, actually one deduces these theorems. That's in the second block. From there, by observation, we have this object of study. Now the basic question is wherefrom these axioms coming from? The starting point, axioms, they take it for granted, and actually there is no proof. It is beyond proof, beyond any scientific proof.

Prabhupāda: Vedānta-sūtra means all axiom. Vedānta-sūtra, that is all axiom. Axiomatic truth.

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

Prabhupāda: You can understand, just the one grain of poison, potassium cyanide. You touch on your tongue, immediately whole body becomes poisoned. How the molecules spread immediately?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: How does it react? Potassium cyanide? It blocks the oxygen path? That's what science says?

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, the poison action immediately spreads all over the body.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Otherwise, why is it happening like that?

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is also material. Now how much powerful is spirit soul, you can just imagine. If one grain of matter has got so much potency, how much potency has got the spirit.

Room Conversation -- July 7, 1976, Baltimore:

Prabhupāda: So make a magazine to expose this. Idaṁ hi puṁsas tapasaḥ śrutasya vā sviṣṭasya sūktasya ca (SB 1.5.22), you, by your knowledge, you describe the glories of the Lord, then you are my guru. This is our... If they say "Why do you bother about God?" that is the business of human being. A human being, he is given the chance to understand God, and you people are stopping, putting stumbling block in his understanding of God. You're the greatest miscreant. I have got a chance to get one million dollars, and if you check it, I cannot get it, how much mischievous you are for me. Is it not? What do you think?

Rūpānuga: Yes, they are stopping it.

Prabhupāda: Yes, I have got chance to get from a friend one million dollars, and he's ready, and if somebody checks it, that I may not get that one million dollars, then he's the greatest enemy.

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Downtown. This is First Avenue here, at about ll6th Street, where we are now.

Prabhupāda: Our building is on the Fifty-fourth?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fifty-fifth Street. Just near Broadway, one block from Broadway.

Prabhupāda: Broadway is important place.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very important. Our building is right in the midst of the theater, restaurant and entertainment section of the city.

Prabhupāda: In New York I feel little homely because first I came here, I was loitering on the street here and there. From 1965 September, to '67 July, continually I stayed in New York.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes, Central Park. I was coming to Central Park from the other side, Seventy-second Street.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Our temple is four blocks from Central Park. Just walking distance. The mothers and children go there.

Prabhupāda: Central Park? Very nice. So you have advantage of the park.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes. And on Sundays we put on saṅkīrtana in the park, and then people are invited to come to the temple for the feast. Now because of the good weather, many people leave the city on the weekend, so the numbers of people who are coming on the Love Feast days is not as much as before the summer and after the summer. Now they like to go to the beaches and resort areas, where it's cool and there's water.

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

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.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jayānanda, maybe you should park on the right side. We can walk across the street rather than getting out.

Rāmeśvara: Yes, good idea.

Morning Walk -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Same height, huh.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The rent, this is the middle of Manhattan, only one block from the temple, so we got it for about $3.75 a square foot, very cheap, and on a three year lease, which is also very good.

Prabhupāda: What is this road?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Tenth Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Our temple is between Eighth and Ninth?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Jayānanda has been working very faithfully.

Prabhupāda: They've come to see what they are doing here?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Blow the horn. You want to get out, Prabhupāda? (walking)

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Morning Walk -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This library is the biggest library in the country. Forty-second street. You can go back up on Madison and Park. (break)

Rāmeśvara: ...carts all the way down.

Ādi-keśava: It's fifty-two blocks, so it's going to take us at least two hours.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Rāmeśvara: About two to three hours.

Hari-śauri: The parade, Ratha-yātrā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Two hours. (break)

Prabhupāda: Lord Rāma's, what is this?

Morning Walk -- July 12, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: In Pittsburgh... I was living in Butler, and a girl took me to Pittsburgh. So I saw at that time that she had to pay two dollars for parking.

Hari-śauri: This is why we get so much noise. Every time there's a call, when they come from here, and we're only just on the next block.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But it's good for us also. If there's any trouble in the temple, they come right away, and they are friendly.

Prabhupāda: Give them prasādam?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Jayānanda brings them.

Prabhupāda: Prasādam will conquer everyone.

Rāmeśvara: That is how we get all our men to join.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- July 12, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: What is this street?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Eighth Avenue. There's a restaurant called Asia Restaurant.

Prabhupāda: Asia? It's behind you. It's hard for you to see.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And there's another one, an Indian restaurant two blocks up, but they all serve meat.

Devotee (1): And liquor.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Meat samosās, like that.

Devotee (1): Like the Muslims.

Room Conversation -- July 17, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Ah, it'll be... It should be at about 3:15, like that.

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then it will be nice. Because the whole parade is about fifty-four blocks, and you'll be riding for about nineteen blocks. It means your ride will take about forty-five minutes.

Prabhupāda: So what time I'll going to start?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: From here?

Prabhupāda: Somebody will come?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, I think I will probably come. Kīrtanānanda will also...

Prabhupāda: At what time?

Room Conversation -- July 18, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In our garage. No problem. That's one of the advantages of our garage. It's one block away and it has ten thousand square foot of area, so we can store all the carts easily.

Hari-śauri: Good storage is very important.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And one block away in Manhattan is very unusual.

Prabhupāda: Be careful that termite may not attack.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm. I'll make a note.

Bali-mardana: There are not many termites in New York. We are fortunate. In Hawaii there are many termites. But here you don't usually have to protect wood against termites. Here the wintertime kills them. It gets so cold.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, very cold.

Evening Conversation -- August 8, 1976, Tehran:

Jñānagamya: Yes, I was working for USIS, U.S. Information Service and I had a commission to paint a large picture of this Mars landing ship, and they had information coming back that they were finding a long blockhouse with a big crater in the center, like a building that had been bombed. Fourteen kilometer crater. They had a picture like that. It appeared to be a building. So they are all cheaters. I used to live in Florida where they send up these, they are all drunkards. They drink alcohol, very unserious.

Prabhupāda: Oh, then they can manufacture. All drunkards, they are in charge of this fighting.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. We have got business. Why shall I keep in the bank? This is the policy. If your money is idle, we can spend it in our books, in our purchasing land in temple, constructing temple, developing... So where you got that water? Water's there? Don't touch that water.

Hari-śauri: No, there's one bucket of mixed with half a bucket of hot water. Yesterday what happened, the tank, some blockage.

Room Conversation -- August 22, 1976, Hyderabad:

Maṇihāra: Big, big blocks.

Prabhupāda: And many Indians, they have come from Africa.

Maṇihāra: Kenya.

Prabhā Viṣṇu: Uganda, especially.

Prabhupāda: Uganda. They got English citizenship. Now they cannot refuse them legally.

Maṇihāra: There's one group, the National Front group, they are trying to stop the citizenship. Because the government they are saying, "Yes, we will make you citizens if you come here, get business." And they are fighting against this.

Prabhupāda: They are refusing citizenship to the children. Children born of Indians in England, naturally they should be citizens. But now they're refused.

Meeting With Member of Parliament, Mr. Krishna Modi -- August 31, 1976, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: So this is the real platform of United Nation. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati samaḥ sarveṣu (BG 18.54). At that time samaḥ sarveṣu. Na śocati na kāṅkṣati. They have no demand. These boys they are working so hard. They never ask a single paisa from me. It is not possible for me to pay these foreigners as salaried man. That is not possible. They get minimum four thousand rupees minimum. Minimum salary America is $400 dollars. That means four thousand rupees. So and they are getting $800, $1200, $2000. And poverty is unknown in America. They do not know what is poverty. I see here the milk they are standing in block. You can get as much milk as you want anywhere you go, any shop you go you take immediately. Anything. Building materials. You simply order to the suppliers, immediately everything is there.

Letter to Sai Baba -- September 13, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: But He never claimed that "I am avatāra." But we understand from the śāstric evidence. He never claimed. Rather when He was addressed as Kṛṣṇa He blocked His ears, "You don't say like that." He never claimed. He fully displayed Himself as a devotee. Not Bhagavān. Therefore Gaurāṅgavāda is illegal. Gaurāṅga-nāgarī. That is illegal. Moha-vāda or something like that.

Pradyumna: Gaurāṅga-nāgarī, mentioning Lord Caitanya in the role of Kṛṣṇa dancing with the...

Prabhupāda: In this way, find out the faulty statement and give him proof. He can claim... Hm.

Pradyumna: Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Evening Darsana -- December 3, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Eh? Oh, you have taken so much trouble. Prasādam, some give it to... Jaya. A very big block of farms. What is the name of that...? Eh?

Indian men: Bechel (?).

Prabhupāda: Bechel (?). So we want so many men to live there nicely, to eat sumptuously, and preach this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I have seen while coming from Vṛndāvana to Delhi, hundreds and thousands of young men. They are going to the factories on cycle, coming from distant place, at least twenty miles, twenty-five miles, and it takes two hours to reach the factory or more than that. And there he works hard eight hours and then again goes back, two hours, three hours, on cycle. I do not know what kind of rest he takes. This is life. And if we request these young men that "You come here. You live here comfortably. You eat here sumptuously and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa," they will not. Just see how unfortunate they are. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10). This is Kali-yuga.

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: That is our aim.

Jagadīśa: That's our aim.

Prabhupāda: That is our aim. So you can engage some men to cut the hill for blocks and gradually develop house.

Tejas: These Badapur (?), they are good men.

Prabhupāda: Like this room, yes. And as far as possible, induce them to come and live here.

Mahāṁśa: Yes. Yes, that can be done. But family attachment... You see, these people, they have also family attachment, just like karmīs. So they are not so willing to... Because their whole family... The whole village is like one family. It's like one family. They are all related to each other. And they can stay. They stay.

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: This house, the blocks are prepared, you make huts and engage some men to make that tile.

Mahāṁśa: Tiles. Round tiles.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jagadīśa: The roof tiles.

Mahāṁśa: Yes, just like the ones which are...

Prabhupāda: Then locally you get everything. You haven't have to got to get from outside. Eh?

Jagadīśa: Clay roof tiles.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is very nice, very strong and very comfortable and simple. So the villagers have come?

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 4, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That means another condition. From frying pan to the fire. (laughter) Dharmena hīna paśubhiḥ samaḥ. As soon as you give up religious principles, you are no better than animal. That means he will manufacture. The same disease. "I'll not follow the traditional." This is their death block. That they always think that "I am independent. I can manufacture my way. I can become happy in that way." They're always thinking like that. And in a meeting with hundreds of men claps, that he is his liberated. "Now it is approved." Who is approving? That is criticized by Bhāgavata. Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ (SB 2.3.19). This. They are animals and they are applauding another animal. That's all. Big animal. Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ. These ordinary persons, they are paśu and they are applauding. The man who is applauded, he's another big paśu. That's all.

Roof Conversation -- January 5, 1977, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: There will be huge, I mean, traffic blocking and all those things. No? (break)

Prabhupāda: Fifty years before, when I was in Allahabad, 1920's, there was Kumbhamela. Then forty lakhs people came, fifty years ago.

Dr. Patel: With poor transport then. That transport was not so efficient as it is today, no? More trains and more...

Prabhupāda: No, the Bombay Mail was there, and I think this Kashi Express was not there.

Dr. Patel: Kashi Express is a new.

Prabhupāda: Not very new.

Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: If there is ceiling, then we can divide the land amongst ourselves.

Girirāja: But that also they have blocked in the sense that in order to sell now that the ceiling is there, in order to sell your land you have to get another N.O.C. to sell it.

Prabhupāda: Then, I cannot sell, I cannot use it.

Girirāja: That's what I'm saying. They make it impossible. They say they want the country to develop quickly but they make it impossible to develop.

Prabhupāda: Today I think fasting.

Indian Lady: Fasting.

Prabhupāda: I have no appetite, I could not eat even breakfast.

Indian Lady: So I will be here if you want something, you can call for me.

Prabhupāda: Mm. For the time being, no appetite. You can soak some little chipped rice in water.

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

Prabhupāda: So both of them got salvation. Lakṣmī, she is simply pāda-sevanam, giving massage to the lotus feet of the Lord. Arjuna simply made friendship with Kṛṣṇa. Hanuman simply worked as a hard servant. He doesn't know what He is... "Lord Rāmacandra wants it." Then it is done. Jump over. He does not know any philosophy. He has got bodily strength, so whatever Rāmacandra says, he'll do. He was asked to bring that medicine for Lakṣmaṇa. He did not know where to find it. "Take this whole mountain." (laughter) He was not intelligent. "Fight! We have to fight with Rāvaṇa. Then block his whole city by throwing stones and trees and dirt." Everything became blocked. They could not move. So in one side he is born of animal life, he had no higher intelligence, but his staunch desire, that "I shall serve Lord Rāmacandra..." By that... Only this desire made him perfect. Dāsyam. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23), so smaraṇam. Prahlāda Mahārāja, five years old boy, how he could protest against such a powerful demon father? He was simply thinking of Kṛṣṇa, "All right, my father is punishing me. What can I do?"

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: "No, we don't feel any... We do not feel any stress. You feel because you are unable to do it. But we don't feel it. We have given up... Since our spiritual master has said, we have given up, immediately. But you cannot do it," say.

Rāmeśvara: That's it. And they're envious, so therefore he's trying to find fault. He says, "You are creating so much stress that you are actually blocking your mind from the higher realms of meditation."

Prabhupāda: No, that is... "You are saying. Our mind is not blocked. We are making progress. You are saying that because you cannot do it. That is your deficiency. We can do it immediately."

Hari-śauri: They can only do it twenty minutes a day.

Prabhupāda: If that is the goal, that you have to give up, so we give up immediately, without any difficulty.

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Rāmeśvara: That was the period when all the Europeans became very interested in traveling all over the world, and they discovered America, and they were very interested in coming to India for the spices. There was a great interest in India. Actually they say this man Columbus, he landed in America because he was looking for India, trying to cross the ocean, and he found this land America blocking his way.

Hari-śauri: That's how those islands became the West Indies, because he was looking for India, and he went West, and he hit some islands, and they call them the West Indies. Then later they went to America.

Prabhupāda: West Indies are South America.

Rāmeśvara: The Caribbean. Cuba, Nassau, Puerto Rico.

Prabhupāda: The southern part.

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Rāmeśvara: You may remember the property in Los Angeles. Right next to the temple there are these groups of stores. There's a Mason Temple. There's the karate place. Then there's a laundromat, then a meat restaurant, barber shop. So we have just bought half of the block.

Prabhupāda: Acchā? Which side?

Rāmeśvara: Furthest away from us. We purchased the laundromat...

Prabhupāda: Mason? Mason?

Rāmeśvara: No. That they will not sell yet. The other side. But including that meat restaurant.

Prabhupāda: Then they have to go?

Room Conversation -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: No, the Indians, they do not like to sit down...

Gargamuni: No. Indians don't like to mix, and Africans also, they like to be with their own. The instruments we use... They make their own instruments out of different materials. They have these pieces of metal and wooden blocks. They love it. They can make much noise. Actually the Asians like it very much when they see the Africans doing that. So both are very happy.

Prabhupāda: That's nice. All right.

Rāmeśvara: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...calling brāhmaṇa. We are feeding so many Vaiṣṇavas daily. All right, make that arrangement.

Rāmeśvara: Jaya Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: One day we shall stay, and if it is very nice, we can stay one or two days. But as Gargamuni described, it is very nice.

Morning Walk -- January 24, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: White aborigines. That's all. (break) Mahāprabhu says, janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra. In other countries there is no civilization. In India there is civilization. Just you become civilized and distribute this knowledge.

bhārata bhūmite haile manuṣya janma jāra

janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra

(CC Adi 9.41)

This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is that para upakara. They do not know what is civilization. Such broader idea of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He never said that "Sit down in Vṛndāvana and become a bābājī." Kara para upakara. That is saṅkīrtana.

abaddha-karuṇā-sindhu katiha mohan

brahmāra durlabha prema nitāi kare dāna

This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's preaching. Karuṇā-sindhu, the ocean of mercy, it was blocked. Let it be opened, and distribute throughout the whole world. So if you work vigorously, this is an epoch-making history, how real culture is being distributed for the benefit of the whole human society. They'll realize. What do you think? Eh?

Evening Conversation -- January 25, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: Hm. Through Atlantic.

Hari-śauri: Yes. We had to go Atlantic and right 'round the tip of Africa and across the Indian Ocean, because the Suez Canal was finished then. It was blocked by the war.

Prabhupāda: Suez Canal still not open?

Hari-śauri: No.

Prabhupāda: What they have done, these...? They were getting, minimum, fifty thousand rupees daily.

Hari-śauri: Oh, at least.

Prabhupāda: So what, these nonsense politicians? They lost the money and inconvenience to others. These rascal politicians, they can do anything whimsical.

Room Conversation about BTG the Moon -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: The neighborhood men, they don't like it?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Some of them mind it. There's no objection from the neighbors. It's such a big building, the biggest building on the whole block.

Hari-śauri: There's so many things happening in New York.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. In New York you don't get any kind of... It's called a "melting pot." No one minds. Hare Kṛṣṇa is accepted there. First place that you...

Prabhupāda: I remember. We have started from New York.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Dhṛṣṭadyumna Mahārāja is taking up also working with the Indian communities around the country. He's finding great receptivity. In many of the cities the Indian community is willing to purchase buildings.

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Whole Vṛndāvana is compact of sahajiyās. They'll... Our temple is there now. Here, this certification may be printed in a block letter, and you can, kept in our entrance of Vṛndāvana temple. People will read it. Is it not good?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Gargamuni: Can I get a block tomorrow and hang it up?

Girirāja: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Similarly, the judgment of high-court, that should be also printed.

Gargamuni: The chief justice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, the judgment from New York.

Prabhupāda: And respectable gentlemen will understand what is this temple. It is not this ordinary.

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: And respectable gentlemen will understand what is this temple. It is not this ordinary.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In Hyderabad they can do the same. So you are going to get copies made and make a block?

Gargamuni: Oh, yeah, I am going to send a man down today.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Make a block.

Gargamuni: Yeah, for printing. You mean... What kind of a block?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: A printing block.

Gargamuni: A printing block, because I am going to send these to all our colleges.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Will you give me a few copies? Send it to the temple to me.

Prabhupāda: So how many copies you have printed?

Morning Talk -- April 18, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: I have given this example, our court case, that the case would have been continued for years, but one day... Even though there was some difficulty, it is finished. So our enemies, they tried to block our march, but we shall kick on their head and progress our end—if we stick to our principles. These things... I have discussed this nicely. How do you think?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: Practically...? Eh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very practical. Current. People like that, to read current...

Prabhupāda: This is fact. So always remain very, very faithful to Kṛṣṇa and guru. Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). Remain... So don't care for anything, any, the deprogrammer, and what are others? Eh? What are others?

Morning Conversation -- April 19, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's already a road. So what more do they want? We're not blocking anything.

Prabhupāda: So...

Girirāja: Now the only thing is that they may ask for some type of compensation.

Prabhupāda: We shall give something to them, but we shall give.

Girirāja: Because technically, although there's no reason to it, but technically it is in their name right now.

Prabhupāda: We shall give whatever Rajda will settle with them.

Girirāja: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Second Meeting with Mr. Dwivedi -- April 24, 1977, Bombay:

Mr. Dwivedi: And then I also desire, as Your Holiness is going, that press should be briefed right from Bombay. Why should I wait from Gwalior... Because I expect some people a few hundred miles off from Gwalior will also be traveling up to meet Your Holiness. So if they know beforehand in papers of Bombay it is better. Therefore I have requested my friend, Mr. Goswami, to give me two or three blocks. If it comes out that way, for our purposes also, he'll need it, and here also I shall try to make correspondence to one or two papers there, that they should ready to send their representatives over there, that way.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Supposing that Mr. Jetthi is not available, do you have some second choice?

Mr. Dwivedi: Then my second choice will be on Mr. Nanda. Mr. Nanda also knows me.

Prabhupāda: Nanda knows me very well.

Discussions -- May 20-22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: I think this cooler keeps the whole block...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, it does. It does. I keep the wooden doors separating your room and my office open, and my room is quite cool. Only a curtain is there. Air blows through.

Prabhupāda: So let it go on like that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually—of course you don't want it—but if that other one is also turned on the whole bottom floor will be very cool. And the kus(?), when they put that in—all these windows will have kus—then you will not know that you are in summer season. In fact, you won't even want to go upstairs at night. It'll be so cool down here. Of course, upstairs is good because open air.

Prabhupāda: The nail cutter, can you...? You know how to cut?

Conversation Pieces -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: You do not know. Trustee without designation—where is the trustee? I have already made one block of trustees, that Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: In that style you make.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. So we'll make up a draft of that style and then, after the draft is approved, you can tell us which trustees you want.

Prabhupāda: That you select amongst yourselves. Why you are taxing me?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All right. I didn't know if you wanted us to do that.

Prabhupāda: You do not know? I have repeatedly said. You do that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, for Bombay and Māyāpur and Vṛndāvana, I mean.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Hyderabad.

Srila Prabhupada Vigil -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Guest (3): We had been there for three or four days in temple block.

Guest (2): (Hindi)

Guest (3): He's M.A. from Oxford.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Guest (3): Or he was the chief editor of Sarasvatī and Bhārata Daily paper.

Prabhupāda: Sarasvatī... (Hindi)

Guest (3): In Allahabad. He's from Allahabad.

Prabhupāda: (aside:) So you just take his address and go and see him. He'll help you.

Girirāja: Yes.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) Take his address immediately.

Discussion about Bhu-mandala -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's... We're trying to impose some preconceived idea onto this. As soon as that happens, this knowledge is blocked. Because the whole attitude shouldn't be like that. One should come out of service and devotion, not with some mental, materialistic speculations.

Prabhupāda: Did you know that story, the Nārada was going to Vaikuṇṭha? Nārada came back and replied to a cobbler... Cobbler asked him what Nārāyaṇa is doing. "He has taken one elephant and He's drawing through the hole of a needle like this and again taking." The learned brāhmaṇa, he began to laugh. "These are all stories." And the cobbler began to cry, "Oh, Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, can..." Nārada inquired, "How do you believe that elephant is being drawn through the hole of needle?" "No, why not? I'm daily seeing by sitting under this banyan tree, and within a fruit there are thousands of seeds. And each seed contains the big tree." Can the scientists make such small seed contain a big banyan tree? So it is acintya. That's a fact.

Room Conversation about Mayapura Attack Talk with Vrindavan De -- July 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Double. Double motion.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. So they say, therefore, when you're on this side and the sun is here, you won't see, but when it turns around, then you'll see the sun. But the Bhāgavatam does not agree with that description. The Bhāgavatam says that you don't see the sun because it's blocked by the Meru. The sun is moving, and Meru is blocking. And they never even heard of Meru. What is their knowledge? Such a big mountain and they don't even know about it. That means they never left the earth's sphere. They never went more than a few hundred miles in the air, Śrīla Prabhupāda. It's all lies.

Prabhupāda: All. That I am speaking from the very beginning. Now it is proved. They are also saying.

Room Conversation about Mayapura Attack Talk with Vrindavan De -- July 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: They kept me up for ten hours at a time for so-called deprogramming, just blaspheming Śrīla Prabhupāda and Kṛṣṇa and telling lie after lie. Finally they let me go to sleep, and in the morning it was time for more blaspheming and lies. But by Kṛṣṇa's mercy I was able to escape out the front door of the house," he says, "which was unguarded. I ran down my block barefoot and was able to get to my friend's house. I told him the story. He gave me enough money to get to a nearby temple. There I served Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and had the association of my Godbrothers, who are most dear to me. There I spent the happiest time of my life as a devotee with the association of the Brajabāsīs. Being a devotee of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, there's nothing like it-singing, dancing, taking prasādam, being happy and free from anxiety all the time. It is just a blissful life.

Room Conversation Varnasrama -- July 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: First thing is... Māṁsa. "I'll kill you. I'll eat you." That time is coming. It has already... Russia, there is no food. They are very much proud of the so-called solutions of the world—but there is no food. Pita mata pech. (?) Therefore they are coming again to religion. They are realizing. There is a line even for flesh.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Around the block, they say.

Prabhupāda: I have seen. We wasted so much time.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda, I was thinking of giving you that tablet. Maybe you could take it with this drink? Because the feet are swelling again. I wanted to give you that tablet.

Prabhupāda: No, let me see.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All right.

Prabhupāda: Today I passed stool again before going to the temple. (pause) So many... Actually we enjoyed life in our childhood. Although we were not very nicely dressed and not very comfortable, the so-called comfortable. We could sleep anywhere. We did not require any nice dress or nice food. My mother used to prepare very nice food. We were glad in that way.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: The corner.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just off the corner, in the middle of the block.

Prabhupāda: They said that report following will come.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Report is coming. In the telegram that we received? Yeah, it said, "Report follows." I think some activity is good. Somehow I get the idea that you need to be more active. I know that you don't have any strength, but still, it seems to me unless you are active, you won't get your strength.

Prabhupāda: Hm. That's a fact.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You're not... By nature you've never been inactive. We can begin the activity by airplane travel and then a little car journey to the temple, and then we can carry you around in certain places. Like at the New York farm. Oh, we can give you wonderful ride in the palanquin. That's very appealing. If you go on the palanquin in the fresh air. No?

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

Prabhupāda: All right. Whatever manuscript you have ready, print.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Because it blocks up too much money otherwise, because we don't have much money, and we're going to print five books in Gujarati now, so we just invest the minimum.

Prabhupāda: I want to see, whatever manuscript is ready, they should be printed.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Also, Śrīla Prabhupāda, we've come out with Diwali cards this year. These are going to be very, very big. Inside is a message. We are selling hundreds of these. On this BBT will make a very big profit plus the temples will make a profit. We are selling these exclusively to our life members. And on the back is the mahā-mantra. I brought you a package with me. This is another sample.

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

Prabhupāda: Incidentally, this Mr. Nobel was the inventor of dynamite, and he is giving Peace Prizes. Absurd to say the least. He's famous for inventing dynamite and he's giving the Peace Prize. As you said, drunkards. He says, "Those Nobel Prize-winners have synthesized the building blocks of living protoplasm. So if this is a fact, then why Dr. Kovoor has not met the challenge and created life with the said building blocks of amino acids? My challenge still stands: Create life from chemicals. As for incubating a baby in a test tube..." (break) "...required to produce that baby in the test tube cannot be created by the so-called scientists. So what is their credit if they produce a baby in a test tube? God is already producing millions of babies daily in nature's test tube, the womb of a woman. Kovoor's statement that scientists are objective thinkers and base their thoughts on empirical knowledge only, goes to prove my point that the soul lies beyond the jurisdiction of the limited senses of the scientists, and therefore a completely different process of approach has to be adopted."

Room Conversation -- October 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhagatji: Because it was blocked.

Hari-śauri: It was blocked. Yesterday they got through, but only just. The day before it was blocked. Now today again it's raining.

Prabhupāda: The buses stopped?

Bhagatji: Buses stopped, Prabhupāda, taxis stopped. Only they are allowing some cars to go. Yesterday only car could go.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But the planes were on strike. The planes were not going either. In Bombay no planes were leaving. We were lucky to get the first-class train.

Hari-śauri: The road is very bad though, anyway. It wouldn't have been passable, not for Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Room Conversation -- October 15, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So actually the kavirāja says that the actual cure is simply to drink liquids. In Bombay you were drinking about 600 cc's of liquid a day. It wasn't very difficult. Say, at about four or five times in a day you'd drink about a half a cup of liquid. That's all it took. It wasn't difficult, and it all came out very easily as urine. Because you had that operation performed, there's no blockage. Simply we have to sit you up four or five times, which you're doing anyway in a day, drink a little liquid, and then you can lay down. And automatically it will come out as urine. And because you have liquid, it will clean out the poisons. If you take no liquid, then it's very dangerous. You don't have to eat anything.

Prabhupāda: I can.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You can just drink.

Prabhupāda: Yes, I can.

Room Conversation With Bharadvaja -- October 16, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No, Washington, it is also... London, there are many hundreds of tourists daily come.

Jayatīrtha: Right now there's a place available, a lot one block from Madame Tusseaud's in London. We thought that to be in the same area might be a good thing, because so many people are coming to that place.

Prabhupāda: Yes, in the center of the city.

Jayatīrtha: There's a big lot available just one block away. I think you lived on that corner at one time, just across from Madame Tusseaud's.

Prabhupāda: I lived there?

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Pañca-draviḍa: These paṇḍitas, Śrīla Prabhupāda... Five years ago I got permission to go into the temple and they let me in the gates, only the paṇḍitas blocked the door. They would not let us in. But we were allowed inside the temple gates and everything. It was only the one paṇḍita came and stopped us. (break)

Prabhupāda: Management is in the hands of government?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Is the management in the hand of the government?

Gaura-govinda: Yes, government. One administrator is there. He's governmental power.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That means the government is being paid off by the pāṇḍās.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: This is Orissa government.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Anantadeva said the government administrator also wants money. They're all in it together.

Room Conversation -- November 13-14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) Los Angeles is godown... (Bengali) Howrah Station. (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I have a picture of it, Śrīla Prabhupāda. I have a picture of that BBT godown.

Prabhupāda: Show him.

Devotee: It's about two blocks long and about one block high.

Bon Mahārāja: Everything is done in a very big way.

Devotee: 'Cause Prabhupāda's a big (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) (Bengali conversation with Bon Mahārāja)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Here's a picture of that book godown in Los Angeles.

Bon Mahārāja: What's the length of the building?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What is the length of that building, Jayādvaita? Twenty thousand square feet in area.