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District (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1967 Conversations and Morning Walks

Discourse on Lord Caitanya Play Between Srila Prabhupada and Hayagriva -- April 5-6, 1967, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: No, no. He did not oppose. He did not oppose. He simply, after Caitanya's acceptance of sannyāsa, He wanted simply that He should come to Advaita's place so that His mother may see Him for the last time. That was His plan.

Hayagrīva: I see. (break)

Hayagrīva: All right, this is third act, first scene.

Prabhupāda: So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, after taking leave from His mother, left Bengal towards Orissa, and on the entrance of the district of Balasore there is a nice temple called Kṣīra-corā-gopīnātha temple. And He saw the temple. Here the scene is to be arranged that there is nice temple and within the temple there is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deity, Kṣīra-corā-gopīnātha. The pūjārīs are there, ārati is being taken place, and at that time Caitanya Mahāprabhu entered with His followers chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa, and He saw the Deity and danced before Him. And when the ārati was finished, prayer was finished, then He sat down, talked with His associates, Nityānanda and Gadādhara and Murāri. So Nityānanda Prabhu described about the Kṣīra-corā-gopīnātha, the story of Kṣīra-corā-gopīnātha.

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- October 27, 1968, Montreal, With First Devotees Going to London On Evening of Their Departure:

Prabhupāda: (break) Because in the winter season they don't get tenants?

Janārdana: Well, a few will get easily tenants, but he wants to get a tenant for the whole winter. And September is a month when there is the best chance for getting a tenant because that's when all the student population comes back into town and this is a student district. And so in the month of September he would like to either get a tenant for the whole year or leave the place open. But maybe I can persuade him because it is not very easy to find a suitable apartment for only one month in Montreal.

Prabhupāda: (break) ...pare dhana parke diye nija labha cora: "I borrowed something from you, and I lend him. He does not pay me, and I become thief."

Janārdana: Yes.

Prabhupāda: (laughing) So... "I borrow from you and I lend him. He does not pay me and I become thief." Pare dhana parke diya nija labha cora. So that means this is warning: "One should not do like that. One should not take responsibility for a person where there is no connection." (break) Everywhere the principle of self-interest is there. (break) That is there. But real self-interest is Kṛṣṇa. For Kṛṣṇa we can do anything. Because He is supreme Self. Bījo 'ham sarva-bhūtānāṁ (Bg 7.10). He is the Self of selves. (break) Where is Haṁsadūta? What he's doing there?

Devotee (1): I think he's cooking.

Prabhupāda: Cooking? (laughs) He's very expert cooking. (laughs) And Himavati also, assisting her husband?

Devotee (1): I don't think so.

Talk Before Class -- November 29, 1968, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: So we have to take care. What can be done? Now you should be very careful, and somebody must remain there always.

Govinda: We live in a very good quarter though. They live by Watts and that's the... They live by Watts district, and Watts district is very notorious. There were seven-day riots of shooting and Negro revolts there about two years ago, three years ago. We live in a very nice quarter, but where they're living is in a very bad place.

Prabhupāda: So you will continue to live there?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, it's in La Palma. It's not directly in the worst area. It's not in Watts county. It's in a different area, but still... Where you live is very good though. I don't think there would be any theft. More safe.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It appears very respectable quarter. All right. Read. (end)

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: Have we got bael nuts also, with our garden?

Devotee: Separate.

Prabhupāda: Oh, separate. Yes, bael nut is separate. That police officer, Ashe(?), district magistrate...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Was re-elected. (Bengali) ...on the real basis of this downpour of the civilized people here. (Bengali conversation for some time)

Prabhupāda: If you manufacture one palanquin... Palanquin. You know palanquin? Then sometimes you can carry Śrīdhara Mahārāja there. Yes. It will be great service and benefit for you. Because he's, he's very now...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Feeble.

Prabhupāda: Feeble now. So palanquin is all right. He can be carried in palanquin.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Now, this is the palanquin.

Room Conversation with French Journalist and UNESCO Worker -- August 10, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Punjab.

Dr. Inger: Before it was divided into two.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, yes.

Dr. Inger: Before the...

Prabhupāda: Which district.

Dr. Inger: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Which district?

Dr. Inger: Lahore.

Prabhupāda: Lahore.

Dr. Inger: Lahore.

Prabhupāda: Lahore City proper.

Dr. Inger: Yes. I taught there. And then, of course, it was divided, and, before that, I came here and joined.

Prabhupāda: I went to Lahore sometimes.

Dr. Inger: I see.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 14, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: They are trained like that, very good. (break) It is compulsory that every man should become a mendicant for some time.

Indian Man (1): They must have experience of that. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...there is a temple, Tarakeśvara, in Hoogli district. So Lord Śiva... So people, I mean to say, pray that "If my this disease is cured or if I get this victory, I shall become a sannyāsī for a month." (laughs) So that system is going on. They become sannyāsīs for one month. There are hundreds and thousands.

Dr. Patel: They... (break)

Prabhupāda: This is called "one month sannyāsī." That is not mentioned in the śāstra, but it has come into custom. (break) ...and if he returns, he is called vāntāśī, yes, "eating the vomit."

Indian Man (1): Before giving sannyāsa the teacher will take proper care that his mind is already peaceful and all... (break)

Prabhupāda: ...obeisances, we take out our shoes. That is a system.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- August 21, 1975, Bombay:

Lalitā: What you say, you act according to that.

Prabhupāda: No, what I learn from Kṛṣṇa I say. I don't say independently. That is not my business. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's instruction. (break) How? Āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' ei deśa (CC Madhya 7.128). You deliver your village people and become a guru. Everyone is not going to be so big that he can go all over the world. But everyone can teach within his limit, within his family, within his community, within his village, within his town, within his district. As he is capable, he can increase. But everyone can become a guru and deliver the local people. How? Yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Then you are guru. As soon as you manufacture anything nonsense, then it is spoiled. That is going on. So many gurus are there; they are manufacturing. They are becoming Kṛṣṇa. That is nonsense. That is nonsense. You cannot become Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Bhagavān sakala hṛdaya... (break) Can you stay in everyone's heart? You are claiming God. This one instance. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛdeśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati. He is aṇḍāntara-sthaṁ-paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ. He is within this universe, and He is within the atom. You are claiming to be Īśvara, God. Are you within the atom? Are you within everyone's heart? Then how do you claim that you are Īśvara? Practical. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ (BG 18.61). Īśvara, God, God is everyone's heart. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭhaḥ (BG 15.15). (Bengali) ...on the basis of Bhagavad-gītā... (Bengali) And as soon as you manufacture something, then it is spoiled. (Bengali) That is going on. The so-called gurus, they get some mystic power, yoga-siddhi, and they show it and they mislead people that he is God. That is the difficulty. We never said... Where is that book? (Bengali) ...gurus. Again he has to go? (Bengali) So far as I am concerned, these things are not there. About me, I am... In Dallas I am taking one child's hand and I am teaching them how to write "a," "a." (Bengali) Where is that professors?

Brahmānanda: Professor...

Prabhupāda: No, all these professors. Those who are purchasing our books.

Morning Walk -- November 8, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: They are thinking happy. They do not come out.

Bhāgavata: Eskimos.

Prabhupāda: I have got practical experience. In my childhood I used to go with my father for some purchasing some bhauma(?) flour in the interior districts. So there was one servant engaged. One day he did not come. So my father asked me, "He is living in there, in that cottage. You can go and ask him." So I went to his cottage. Practically there was no roof, and rain was dropping. So I saw him in a very bad condition. Then I asked him, "Why don't you come to Calcutta with us?" So he replied, "No sir, we cannot go, leaving home. (laughter) This is home." I have got practical experience. "Home sweet home." Janani janma-bhumiś ca svargād api gariyasi: Everyone is thinking that his birthplace and his mother is better than the heaven. That is the psychology. So everyone, however abominable... Everyone is living in abominable condition. That's a fact. But everyone is thinking that "Who is happier than me?" Everyone. This is called māyā. Unless he thinks, he cannot live.

Morning Walk -- November 18, 1975, Bombay:

Jayapataka: In your prayer we say, pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe. But now don't you think we could say "viśva"? (Prabhupāda chuckles) I think that there's no place... You've not only covered Western world but practically whole world.

Prabhupāda: I say that because my Guru Mahārāja appointed me for that purpose. (break)

Jayapataka: There was a group of reporters who went to see the district magistrate, and they were asking him, taking interview about so many different things. So finally they kept asking about ISKCON because of our Māyāpur center. So he said, "Well, I can't say anything about that. I can't say..." Finally one reporter asked another very direct question about their staying here, this, that. And he said, "I have order from Indira Gandhi that the officers, that maṭha gaṁrami na.(?) No one, officer, should worry about ISKCON. You just do your own thing. So I can say nothing about them. I have got no authority to say anything about them. We've got this order from Indira Gandhi." Then the reporter said, "Oh, we can print that?" He said, "Please don't print that. Otherwise I will lose my job." So when the local Congress people heard that, they were very happy, our friends. So I think your visit did a great benefit.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.

Jayapataka: I brought the letter that the district magistrate gave, recommending...

Prabhupāda: I think, therefore, they are giving this concession, two years.

Jayapataka: Oh, yes.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1976, Mayapur:

Jayapatākā: He wanted to be our..., to work for us. To work for Your Divine Grace, maybe.

Prabhupāda: How did you find him by dealing with him?

Jayapatākā: I didn't find him. He found me.

Prabhupāda: No, no, how you have...? How do you...?

Jayapatākā: Oh, how did I find... How did...? Well, I know that influentially he is, in the district level, he is very influential. I mean to say that he has got very good relations with all the government people and all the local people. Whenever I go somewhere to invite them for any festival, any function, they would always speak highly of Surendra dāsa and that he had just about a week ago before, he had already invited them for the Caitanya Maṭha. So he is very active in that way, something which we don't have time or understanding to do, so many of us. He knows how to receive people and make them feel very nice and show them around. He has a nice personality like that, and he is very active.

Prabhupāda: So if you engage, him do you think we shall get some good service?

Jayapatākā: I don't know the... I know that he is able to perform good service. As far as whether he'll... Other people tell me that since he's been working for the Caitanya Maṭha... (end)

Morning Walk -- January 20, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: No, therefore everyone should grow seasonal grains. Everyone should take wheat. I think the number of men is more than the number of bricks. (break) ...rooms will be finished. They are not being finished. This? (break) ...Calcutta. So landlords became very perplexed. So one landlord asking, "You don't go. I shall reduce the rent." "Yes, that's all right, but your house is also not very good. There are so many rats." "All right, you can remain without rent." "And still, there are rats." "All right, I shall give you one cat so there will be no dis..." "Ah, who is going to keep a cat? I will require milk also to feed." "All right, I shall give you half kilo or one kilo milk also." "All right." So then he says, "Now no rent and one kilo milk, that's all right." This was in 1942.

Jayapatākā: (break) ...minister is coming to the district and...

Prabhupāda: Which minister?

Jayapatākā: The Ajit Panja. He's the health minister. So we didn't see him...

Bhavānanda: (break) ...that we must take drastic steps for curbing the population.

Prabhupāda: Why don't you become brahmacārī?

Hari-śauri: Too drastic.

Jayapatākā: We want to present that we are, by moral training, achieving that.

Prabhupāda: Yes. We are making them celibate. What is called? Celibacy.

Jayapatākā: Even our gṛhasthas, they are only having one or two children. (end)

Morning Walk -- April 13, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: We have already constructed for our residential quarters. That is already there, very big. Such a big building is not there in that district.

Indian man (1): (Hindi)

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Actually, Prabhupāda is doing everything. We are simply like puppets. He tells us what to do. Transcendental management.

Indian man (2): Śrīla Prabhupāda? Just in Bombay, what you are constructing, the gate, are they going to be like another Indian temples, only gates? Will they look like a big temple?

Dr. Patel: You mean those.... (Hindi) In south we have got those temples, gates. That is only common in southern India but not anywhere else. Gopurams.

Prabhupāda: Gopurams.

Dr. Patel: Gopurams are not found anywhere else.

Indian man (2): (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: (Hindi)

Dr. Patel: Raṅganātha temple is in Vṛndāvana or in south?

Prabhupāda: No, original, south. Here in Vṛndāvana also there is...

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

Hari-śauri: It's certainly a very opulent area.

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? If I can earn some money and keep it for myself, I have no right? This is communistic idea: "Make everyone poor." Here is police, two cars. Police we saw.

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

Prabhupāda: That is another. Otherwise, if you want to kill, you kill less important animal.

Hari-śauri: Chickens.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Give protection to the cow, the source of milk.

Hari-śauri: In most rural districts formerly, even just sixty or seventy years ago, they used to do that. The used to keep a hog or some animals for killing. They would fatten them up and kill them.

Prabhupāda: Still in India, the low class, they keep hogs for killing. And they publicly kill the hog by burning outside the village skirt.

Hari-śauri: I can remember when I was a child that my grandfather, he had one pigsty. And the house we were living in, that also had a pigsty at the back. There were no pigs by the time I came, but only just a few years before they were doing that.

Prabhupāda: Why the government should keep slaughterhouse?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: You asked them that in Mauritius, I remember. The government started a chicken slaughterhouse. You said, "Why the government should have slaughterhouse?" And they replied, "They will kill them anyway. There are so many Muslims." Prabhupāda said, "Let them kill, but why the government should support this slaughter?"

Prabhupāda: Let them kill at their house. Especially chicken, anyone can kill.

Interview with Trans-India Magazine -- July 17, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda:

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma
sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma
(CB Antya-khaṇḍa 4.126)
bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra
janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra
(CC Adi 9.41)

So Indian life means para-upakāra. They are in the darkness, others, in the darkness. They have no such culture, spiritual culture. India has got that culture, this Bhagavad-gītā. So one should make his life a practically Bhagavad-gītā life. That is Kṛṣṇa conscious movement. And preach it to the world. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's order. And this order was not only... Because Caitanya Mahāprabhu happened to be a Bengali... He appeared in Nadia district, a district in Bengal. But He does not say the Bengalis; He said the bhāratīs. Bharata-varṣa janma haila yāra. So it is India's mission to become exactly on the line of Bhagavad-gītā. That is also spoken by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that perfection of life means to understand Bhagavad-gītā. He said āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' ei deśa: (CC Madhya 7.128) "You just become a guru and deliver this country." "This country" means wherever you are living—it doesn't matter whether in India or America or anywhere else—you just deliver them. So to become guru means to save a person from the conditional life of matter. So long you become a materialistic person, that means you are under condition of material nature. So you have to get your freedom from the laws of material nature. That is your perfect life. But people in the Western countries, they do not know much of this freedom. India knew it, or some of Indians, they know it. But at the present moment they, being conquered or influenced by the Western culture, they are also losing their identity. Therefore my Guru Mahārāja ordered me to do something about the spiritual life in the Western countries. On account of this I came here.

Room Conversation -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Harikeśa: It took two weeks to make.

Prabhupāda: Two weeks? Why? Because the ingredients were not...?

Harikeśa: No, because your mustard oil, no one liked to taste it, and then you changed it to mustard seeds.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Mustard seed also can be exported from India. In the Mathurā district there is sufficient mustard seed.

Hari-śauri: Yellow mustard seeds.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Mustard seeds and instead of chalk powder we mix nim powder. Mustard seed, nim powder.

Harikeśa: Calcium carbonate.

Prabhupāda: And salt. Calcium carbonate means...? Oh, calcium, instead of calcium carbonate, let it be nim. It will be very effective.

Harikeśa: I think the taste will be horrible.

Prabhupāda: Yes, taste will be... (laughter)

Harikeśa: No one will use it.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is...

Harikeśa: I saw they make this other toothpaste with sucrose. The second biggest ingredient is sucrose on the karmī toothpaste.

Prabhupāda: Sucrose? What is that sucrose?

Harikeśa: Sucrose, you know, sucrose and glucose and lactose, those sugars. They use sugar powder, sucrose.

Prabhupāda: Oh, sucrose, yes. Saccharin and sucrose. Saccharin is sugar product.

Evening Darsana (on night of arrival) -- August 16, 1976, Hyderabad:

Mahāṁśa: "New Delhi, August 13th. Mr. Om Mehta, Minister of State for Home, informed the Rājya-sabhā yesterday that government will order an inquiry into the activities of Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Society in Nadia District of West Bengal to find out whether there was something fishy about it."

Hari-śauri: This is the same report Gopāla Kṛṣṇa read you.

Mahāṁśa: You have read this, Prabhupāda?

Indian man (3): It must have come in earlier.

Prabhupāda: But the name is "Kṛṣṇa Caitanya." (laughs)

Mahāṁśa: Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Society.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.

Hari-śauri: Śrīla Prabhupāda, it's ten-thirty. Would you like anything to eat or drink before we take rest?

Devotee: Śrīla Prabhupāda, there's puffies and peanuts and hot milk. Puffies.

Prabhupāda: Puffies?

Hari-śauri: Puffed rice.

Prabhupāda: Puffed rice.

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

Prabhupāda: Now, what is the position of our big project?

Jayapatākā: That's what I was going to tell you first. So what happened was that the application we had given to the Chief Secretary and the Board of Revenue, that has gone from them to Mr. Choudhuri, who in turn had sent it on to the Commissioner. The Commissioner sent to District Magistrate. The Commissioner sent to the District Magistrate. So District Magistrate, he gave a favorable reply.

Prabhupāda: He has given?

Jayapatākā: Favorable reply. He said, "This is a good project. It will help the district." He only said that they should maybe get three hundred acres instead of 350 or like that. He reduced something. Then that went back again to the Commissioner, who was a Christian. He's the one I mentioned. He wrote bad report. Then when Choudhuri got it, he wrote a very good report. He wrote a very good report. He said that there's no question of Hindu or Muslim. Just like in Bangkok they have that one big Viṣṇu Temple. Or the Taj Mahal. This is no longer any type of religious. This is for all mankind. Similarly this Māyāpur will be a monument for the whole mankind.

Prabhupāda: For the whole world.

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

Prabhupāda: Tomorrow I shall lecture.

Gargamuni: Go ahead.

Jayapatākā: Now, just a few days ago, when I invited him for Janmāṣṭamī, then I asked him what the... He told me at that time... He said, "Now..." He had recently received a phone call from the Chief Secretary." You see? Now your favorite project is going to be spoiled." Then he went over to see the Chief Secretary. He showed him an article from the Rāja-Sabhā, how the member of Parliament had given this challenge that "Are these people CIA or this or that?" Then Mr. Choudhuri said, "Sir, I am not afraid." He said, "Why not?" "Because I have you, don't I?" Then the Chief said, "Yes. You have won me over. I believe in this project." Then he said that now the Chief Minister has agreed that the project be sanctioned. But he said that "I don't want to take the full brunt of the decision. Let the Nadia District Planning Committee take the decision."

Prabhupāda: Nadia?

Jayapatākā: District Planning Committee. So the head of the Nadia District Planning Committee is that minister, Anandamoy Visvas. So I went to him and I gave him an invitation for the Janmāṣṭamī. When I saw him, then... You gave me that letter. So I showed him that letter where you have said that "every day we're selling sixty thousand dollars of books, and I think you for helping me." I said, "Sir, we are simply doing Prabhupāda's order. This is not our work. It is not a foreign work. It is his work; we are simply doing it. He is selling so many books that he wants to invest some of the money to develop Mahāprabhu's birthsite. That is all. He has got the money. Why he should not invest it?" He said, "I am going to have a meeting of the committee next week, and I'm going to push your project through. We're going to pass it." That is the last word I heard. So it looks that everything is very good right now... But we have to keep our society very pure because their investigating us very strong. All the time they're having people watching us.

Room Conversation About Blitz News Clipping -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: This is going to get us...

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Pradyumna: "They reportedly met also our deputy defense minister, J. B. Patnayak, who hails from Orissa. It is understood that Patnayak has asked the district magistrate of Purī to find land for ISKCON's Sanskrit university there. ISKCON is pursuing not only Kṛṣṇa, it has started taking interest in politics also. It has founded a political party in the United States called "In God We Trust" Party. It has already contested civic elections in Los Angeles and intends to put up candidates for the U.S. Congress." We didn't do anything in Los Angeles. Only in Georgia. All wrong, complete...

Prabhupāda: What is wrong there? In God We Trust, this party. Yes.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They are making it sound as if it is a political party.

Hari-śauri: They say political with God's name.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They're not saying God at all. They're saying God..., we're using God as a front.

Prabhupāda: They may say. But we want to put forward a God's party also. Why not? Everyone is godless party. We must push forward a God's party. What is the wrong there?

Hari-śauri: It's not political.

Room Conversation -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: It is in West Bengal?

Jayapatākā: West Bengal. That's in Nadia district. Just before Pulasi, south of Pulasi. And when we came there and I saw the police in the afternoon, we told them we were going to have a function. So they said that they would send a few policemen. They said that "We will send some policemen for keeping the order." But that night so many people came the space could only hold four thousand. But another two, three thousand people came, and they were turned away because of insufficient space. So they were standing on the wall and on the rooftops all around, and all you could see were people's heads, just like an ocean. The policemen, after it was over... When I chanted, I chanted, "Everyone please chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." And I chanted the full mantra three times. They chanted so loud that even two, three blocks away people thought that the heavens were shouting. It was like a thunder...

Prabhupāda: Thunderbolt.

Jayapatākā: Thunderbolt. And the policemen said that never—even the chief minister came here once—not even half so many people came, and that was announced for one week. This was announced for one day and more people came than ever before. He said, "This really shows me that the people are hungry for spiritual answer. They have no one to lead them."

Gargamuni: And these leaders are simply envious, that's all. The only reason why they're not helping us is because they're envious. Because so many people are interested and no one is interested in them.

Prabhupāda: Anyway, our Gītār Gān is selling.

Garden Conversation -- September 7, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No no, that is understood.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. "He complimented ISKCON, for disseminating the Vedic culture. West Bengal government officials have praised our agricultural efforts. The principle officer of agriculture of Nadia District in West Bengal said that our Māyāpur farm is receiving attention of nearby farmers, and this farm is acting as a demonstration for them. So the statement that foreign devotees are running ISKCON in India is misleading. Point five, Blitz: Big business in Spiritual Sky. Boss of West Bengal is Gregory M. Scharf. ISKCON: In Māyāpur our devotees make handloom saris, dhotīs, and gāmchās. All over the world our devotees wear the traditional Indian dress of dhotīs, kurtās, and saris. It is our spiritual master's desire that all our devotees overseas only wear clothes made by our devotees in Māyāpur. Spiritual Sky sales and services was formed just to send our Māyāpur handloom and other necessities only to our centers overseas. In return our overseas centers send Māyāpur donations. Even Gandhiji wanted every Indian to be self-sufficient. This is what we are trying to do. We produce our own food and clothing. Instead of criticizing, Blitz should publicize these activities so that others can follow. Gregory M. Scharf's spiritual name is Gargamuni Swami, and he is an initiated disciple of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. Blitz has tried to portray him as a businessman who's wearing saffron clothes to deceive people. He is a sannyāsī since 1966. Point six, Blitz: Substantial amounts of foreign money is being received by ISKCON India Limited. ISKCON: First of all, our society is registered and called ISKCON, not ISKCON India Limited." They are purposefully being sarcastic. "It is not a business house. Yes, we do receive remittances from abroad. Every paisa that has been remitted from abroad has come through the reserve bank of India. Bhaktivedanta Swami has written over eighty books which are being sold in every country in the world. These books are selling twelve doubled(?) sixty thousand dollars daily which is about five lakhs. We have over a hundred centers all over the world and all these centers are being run by book sales. In the last three years, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust has published over two million hardbound big books. About three and a half million softbound medium size books and about fifteen million magazines on Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So you can see the wide acceptance of these books. Out of the 2,800 major universities in America, about ninety percent have purchased one or more of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda's books. Occasionally we receive contributions. This is not in cash but in kind. For example, Alfred Ford donated two buildings to our Society, one in Honolulu Hawaii, and the other in Detroit, America. In London..."

Prabhupāda: Thank you. You can go and play. You cannot understand.

Press Interview -- October 16, 1976, Chandigarh:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: If you all don't mind, just for five minutes, we would like to read the selected extracts from some leading scholars about this movement. We're not reading the views of Western scholars. These books are being used in five thousand universities, including Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, but some of the leading Indian scholars. So you also get an understanding of the Indian appreciation of Prabhupāda's activities. This for example, is a letter from Mr. Ghosh, District and Summon Judge in West Bengal: "I'm highly impressed at the sincerity and devotion of the disciples of the International Society of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. A visit to the Māyāpur Chandrodaya Mandir, West Bengal, sublimes the mind from all harsh talk and disturbing influences." Then...

Prabhupāda: (aside:) Stop now. Don't divert attention.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: This is a letter from Śrī Ambarish Sarkar, General Secretary of the Nadia District Congress Committee. "I had an opportunity to visit the Śrī Māyāpur Chandrodaya Mandir on the 12th August, 1975. It is absolutely a religious institution. Jayapātāka Swami has devoted all of his efforts and endeavors to organize and propound the sacred name of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. I'm impressed by his charming manner and strength. Although it is a religious institution, this organization has performed many social services. Many poor and destitute families have had an opportunity to work and at the same time they have become worshipers of Lord Śrī Caitanya. To engage these workers, so many industrial centers have already been started, such as handloom cloth, printing, etc. I wish this organization, with its help of the local people, all success."

Prabhupāda: We're not only chanting, we are giving them work. We are trying to become self-sufficient, the same idea of Gandhi's village organization, so they may not come out from the village. They'll be satisfied, village economics. That we are doing.

Room Conversation -- October 31, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: If you say that, I am feeling some pain in this brain or in there, who is going to see?

Haṁsadūta: Yeah, who can prove it?

Prabhupāda: Yes, you have to believe me, that's all.

Haṁsadūta: I noticed in several of the articles though, they mentioned that this District Attorney is now going to expand his investigation to see where the money goes. This is what they're really interested in. And when they see... What will happen is, when they see that some of the devotees collecting three, four hundred dollars on the street, then they will print this in the newspaper and in this way...

Prabhupāda: But they collect money by selling book.

Haṁsadūta: I know but people don't understand this. They simply see that, "Oh, these are astronomical sums of money being collected. So what is being done with this money by people who are just chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa? What do they do with it?" Then, "Oh, they have bought this big building in New York, they are doing spending money like this, like that." Ultimately this is what it always come to, money. They want to see what is happening with the money.

Prabhupāda: And similarly here also, "Where they are getting money?"

Haṁsadūta: Yeah, because wherever there is money transaction, the government wants to take some. They feel, "Well, we should have some of this money for ourselves, also."

Prabhupāda: Yes.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with C.I.D. Chief -- January 3, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, we have got judgment. You read those judgment, judges? We have got counterjudgements also.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Now, this is from Philadelphia, Judge Alfred Longo, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia decree was typical and included the following points: "Kṛṣṇa consciousness is recognized as an authentic religion. To broadcast the glories of God to all people, members of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness society can perform saṅkīrtana, a missionary activity including chanting, dancing, and playing cymbals and drums, the dissemination of the word of God through preaching and reading aloud from religious literature, the distribution of religious literature, sanctified food and flowers to the public, and the solicitation and acceptance of contribution. In performing saṅkīrtana devotees can go wherever people gather: streets, libraries and other public places." So we also had decisions... Eventually we win almost all cases.

Prabhupāda: And we have got good support from the scholarly section by big, big professors. Even one priest, Mr. Cox, he is forming an association to support this movement in Harvard University. So we have got supporters also.

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So this is documentary. And the Europeans and..., they are not fools and rascals that they are interested in purchasing other religious book, not their Bible. You see? So it has got very great potency. So under the circumstances, we should now make combined effort that it can be pushed on more organizedly. I am doing now alone with the help of these... But no Indians are coming. This is the difficulty.

Guest (2): I think, with all due respect, many Indians are trying to do things in their own religious sect or in their own districts.

Prabhupāda: Nobody is doing.

Guest (2): Well, I mean, if you had been to Bharatpur recently, about 5,200 beds were there for netra-yajña, for the eyes operation.

Prabhupāda: I know that. That I know. But I am speaking of this culture.

Guest (2): Culture, yes.

Guest (1): That is a difficulty one is giving.(?)

Guest (2): Because in observing karma-phela, somebody's taking care of. In bhakti...

Prabhupāda: But one thing is that we are preaching Bhagavad-gītā as it is. In Bhagavad-gītā there is no such statement that you take care of the eyes of the people. There is no such statement. That is your manufactured idea. But we are preaching Bhagavad-gītā as it is. That is the difference. Our preaching is that instead of giving relief to the eyes, give him relief in such a way he hasn't got to accept any more this body with eyes. You cannot make a solution of the problem. Somebody is taking care of the eyes, somebody's taking of the finger, somebody of the hair, somebody of another, genital, and so on, so on. This will not solve the problem. The problem is, as it is said in the Bhagavad..., janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). This is intelligence.

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

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa's already become media.

Rāmeśvara: "We must therefore tell our story to them in great number, and in this way the world will hear of it. As of this date, HK," short for Hare Kṛṣṇa...

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.

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

Prabhupāda: This is false.

Rāmeśvara: This is false, completely false. "One of the things we can do is give moral support to these families. How better to do it than to show your support by writing to the..."

Prabhupāda: This we can bring a charge against them: "Prove that we wanted money."

Rāmeśvara: Yes, we are counter... We are fighting them. "...by writing to the District Attorney's"—those are the Justice Department Offices—"or contacting your local media." Then they give the addresses of people in New York and two addresses in Los Angeles who you should write to telling them about all the knowledge you have about all the abuses of Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then it says, "You should commence action for a legal deprogramming. If other families of Hare Kṛṣṇa victims would go to court to get a legal conservatorship or guardianship with an intended writ of habeas corpus..." Now, what this means is you go to the court, and you say "My dear judge, my son is in Hare Kṛṣṇa. He has been brainwashed." And you have a paper from a psychiatrist that says, "Yes, he is definitely acting in a robotlike way." Then the court will say, "All right, you're the parent. So we give you legal guardianship over the son."

Prabhupāda: No, we can place a counter psychiatrist and counter... Just like Cox's statement.

Conversation During Massage -- January 23, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Gargamuni: ...against the village people, and they harass the workers after working hours. So Jayapatāka said he was going to get the police there to watch.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Bring police and in the presence of police go on working, and if he disturbs, kill him. That's all. Sate sarthaṁ samācaret.

Gargamuni: He's a big demon.

Prabhupāda: So you become bigger demon. (laughter) (break) Place an application to the district magistrate and take police help. (break) ...ism.

Brahmānanda: So then they made these sacks.

Gargamuni: Actually there was...

Brahmānanda: They put cloth there. Then he tore it all down.

Gargamuni: There was no harm. Nothing was falling on his land. He was just saying that. (break)

Satsvarūpa: People don't see any other program from us nowadays except that.

Prabhupāda: So you decide amongst yourselves. Majority should be taken.

Satsvarūpa: I know. We'll be doing that at Māyāpur, but we all want to follow what your direction is.

Prabhupāda: So give me detailed statement. I shall... (break) All right.

Hari-śauri: Their ideas run similar, that they wanted to... Their so-called philosophy was that all the working people should be supplied sufficient foodstuffs and there shouldn't be any capitalism and..., like this.

Prabhupāda: The Gandhi's philosophy is to wipe out the capitalist, Britishers, and his philosophy also, the same.

Morning Walk -- January 25, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: Ha. Dhīrādhīra-jana-priyau. The sober and the restless, both of them will take it. Krsnotkīrtana-gana-nartana.

Hari-śauri: ...want to go this way, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Very nice beach. So acquire this, yes.

Gargamuni: I'll see the D. M. (District Magistrate) this morning. There's still those other two plots...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gargamuni: ...on the main road. I will show you.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gargamuni: And on the other side of Purī there's a big beach area I will show you.

Prabhupāda: Dhīrādhīra-jana-priyau priya-karau. (break)

Gurukṛpa: This is much cleaner than down there where the tourist hotels are.

Prabhupāda: The first plot is very pleasing. It is all right. And you'll have very grand. Make road to sea, down to sea. (break) Now mostly people are adhīra. Therefore they cannot understand. Where is that Flagstaff? There is a house called Flagstaff. One can walk miles.

Room Conversation -- January 29, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Japan also, same thing like Bengal and Orissa. They take rice and fish. That is their staple.

Hari-śauri: In the West they regard rice as the poor man's food.

Prabhupāda: But Japanese are very intelligent, Bengalis are intelligent, by taking fish and rice. In Bengal ninety percent people, they take fish. Here also, Orissa, cent percent, even the Jagannātha pūjārīs. In Bihar also, fifty percent. The more you go towards Western part of India, you get more wealthy province, just like Uttar Pradesh, very wealthy province, enlightened. All the big cities are there: Allahabad, Kanpur, Agra, Lucknow. Every hundred miles you get a very nice city in UP, the best province in India. All the holy places-Vṛndāvana, Prayāga, Hardwar, Ayodhyā, many celebrated holy places. Ganges and Yamunā flowing, two sacred rivers. Both of them through in Uttar Pradesh. And all the cities are either on the bank of the Yamunā or Ganges. And that is the best province, state, in India. It has got fifty districts. And fifty districts means fifty towns. Little more or less important. But the Kanpur is the third important city in India. First Calcutta, Bombay, and next, Kanpur.

Satsvarūpa: Not Delhi?

Prabhupāda: No. Delhi has become important on account of capital.

Room Conversation -- February 4, 1977, Calcutta:

Satsvarūpa: You're right.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Describe in letter. You have got fourth-class, tenth-class culture. How you'll understand the culture of becoming meek and humble?

Satsvarūpa: The District Attorney who was trying to prosecute us, Ādi-keśava, he reveals his strategy here because many lawyers say that we have a right to practice our religion. This is freedom of religion. He says...

Prabhupāda: Free... It is bona fide religion.

Satsvarūpa: He said "But it's not a question of religion." He said, "What we're..." He said, "Mind control has nothing to do with religion. It's a question of individual free will. I don't think an individual in his right state of mind would allow someone else to control his mind. Just think of it in terms of hypnosis."

Prabhupāda: Mind control is everything.

Conversation on Roof -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So this Manasvī came one day to see Ādi-keśa and myself. You may recall in New York he had asked for a letter exonerating him. So you had told me to investigate. So I sent out a letter to three persons. Gurukṛpā Mahārāja and Śrutakīrti and Śukadeva. But none of them could find anything wrong with the accounts. Anyway, after a while I issued him one letter that at least to our... From our accounts we have not found anything wrong. Anyway, so I thought that would satisfy him. So recently he came, and now he says, "I am finding so much difficulty from my father-in-law. Because he lent me some money, now I have to pay back this money, and I'm having great difficulty, and I'm suffering on account of ISKCON has given me so much harassment against getting my citizenship here. So now the DA, the District Attorney has approached me, offering me money to speak things about this movement. Of course, I do not want to speak these things, but I am so much needing money." Blackmail. This man has become the blackest snake I have ever seen. So "I do not want to tell them anything." He told them everything he knows already. It's clear by the way he was talking that he's already spoken to them everything. So we told him that "We have nothing to hide. You may speak as much as you like. We have absolutely nothing to hide. So we cannot give you any money." Then again he called me on the telephone: "Now you have given me one letter which says that I was not doing anything wrong, but it is a fact that I have suffered so much. So my lawyer has advised me that I can sue the Society." So I pointed out to him that the letter I gave him was on ISKCON Inc. of New York letterhead, but the charges are against ISKCON Hawaii, which is a separate organization. So practically the letter has no value because I have no qualification for commenting on ISKCON Hawaii. I'm not an officer, nor do I have anything to do with them, so the letter is useless. I told him he can use it for... Well, anyway, I won't say... (laughter) Anyway. He's so black snake.

Prabhupāda: Black snake, yes.

Evening Darsana -- February 24, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: They oppose our Ratha-yātrā.

Jayatīrtha: Our Ratha-yātrā, yes. I don't think they'll ever stop opposing. This year when I went to the Ratha-yātrā, when we had the Ratha-yātrā, I saw that their feeling is so strong about it I don't think they'll ever let us have a good cart on that route. I wish they would, but I don't think they will. They told us that they only way they'll let us have a big car is if we change the route. So actually that's one thing I wanted to discuss with you while I was here, whether... If we had the Ratha-yātrā in the Indian district, like Wembley...

Prabhupāda: No.

Jayatīrtha: Then we could have a big cart.

Prabhupāda: No.

Jayatīrtha: Otherwise not.

Prabhupāda: That is not...

Jayatīrtha: The trouble is, with a small cart, people are not very attracted to the Ratha-yātrā.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Jayatīrtha: With a small cart there's nothing so exciting about the Ratha-yātrā that people will come for miles, at least English people. They won't come just to see this small cart. In San Francisco these three huge carts makes it so exciting and colorful that people come just to see the carts.

Prabhupāda: They will not allow.

Room Conversation with Ratan Singh Rajda (Member of Parliament) -- March 27, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What is his exact position?

Girirāja: He is a member of parliament from Bombay South, which is the most prestigious district, from Kalabha up to (indistinct), something like that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He formerly helped us?

Girirāja: Yes. When Mattrey was, did that demolition attempt, so he was one of the leaders in the corporation. So he fought for us. In fact today also he asked if there was any trouble, because he still is also maintaining his position in the municipal corporation. So I think when he gets back from Delhi in a week, I might bring up some of our little problems.

Prabhupāda: That plan sentence.(?)

Girirāja: Yeah. And that road, that ten feet.

Prabhupāda: What benefit they will get?

Girirāja: No, only harassment, they have... They have nothing to gain actually. And everyone knows it. But they are just so weak and political minded that they don't want to stand up against Mattrey, the officers. Anyway, I think I should go now then.

Prabhupāda: He is coming?

Girirāja: Yes. I'll bring him here so there will be no unnecessary waiting. And...

Prabhupāda: What time?

Girirāja: By eight at the latest. We'll try for earlier also. (break)

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya.

Morning Conversation -- April 11, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: All over the world. Bombay apus.(?)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They are called langar?

Prabhupāda: Apus. Here in the Ratnagiri District, especially in that place, this mango grows. In India it is known as Bombay ām. In India, in Northern India, there is, there are so many mangoes, very nice. One is langara, another is a small. I forget the name. That is also very nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What about Alphonso?

Prabhupāda: Alphonso and apus, the same. Indians, they cannot say Alphonso. They say apus. (laughs) The big name Alphonso they have made short-cut, apus. So you can work together with your friend here. He will make fair copy and make translation.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: While we are here, he can sit here with Gopīnātha?

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So while we are still here, he can come here in the daytime for working with me. Prabhupāda said. And even when we're traveling, after you get your copy corrected, you can send it to him, and he'll write out a fair copy and then send it for printing. Plus he can do his own translating work also. That'll be good. Otherwise Gopīnātha would be slowed down if he had to write everything once again.

Prabhupāda: He is doing nicely. He has got control over language.

Conversations -- April 19, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: What is this? Not from our letter given?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It says, "The birthplace of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the district Nadia, prepared under the direction of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda and by his disciples, His Holiness Surabhīr Abhipālayantam Swami, ISKCON Māyāpur Project architect and director of construction; His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami, ISKCON Māyāpur project president and Governing Body Commissioner; Śrī Patita Pāvana dāsa Brahmacārī, Bhakti Śāstrī, ISKCON Māyāpur; and the editors of Back to Godhead magazine, ISKCON Press, Los Angeles, California."

Prabhupāda: Perfect article.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Patita Pāvana..." And it says also, "...the editors of Back to Godhead magazine, ISKCON Press, Los Angeles, California."

Surabhīr Abhipālayantam: (indistinct)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: These are four articles. "Part One: A Description of the Holiness of Śrīdhāma Māyāpur."

Surabhīr Abhipālayantam: It was taken from Back to Godhead.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Taken from Back to Godhead. This is an article from Back to Godhead. Who wrote it? Nitāi?

Surabhīr Abhipālayantam: Nitāi did.

Prabhupāda: Who wrote?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Nitāi. This is an article previously published in Back to Godhead, written by Nitāi a couple years ago. "Part Two: A General Description of ISKCON's Spiritual City in Māyāpur. A Short History of ISKCON Māyāpur." It gives a description of their history. "When one of the first American devotees of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, ISKCON, heard in 1970 from the Society's Founder-Ācārya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda..."

Prabhupāda: Everywhere there is founder-ācārya's name, but not a single line...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Right.

Room Conversation -- April 19, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: They should severe punishment. Then... We shall see.

Bhakti-caru: (Bengali?) "Ninety murders in one district."

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Bhakti-caru: Charan Singh (Hindi) "Ninety murders in one district. 'There was a constitutional breakdown in the states,' he said. The chief minister of Maratha states had admitted to him that his government's reach was no longer running the way it had done earlier. He was receiving many complaints from the U.P., Rajasthan, and Haryana. Fifty murders have been committed in one district in Bihar in one week. Mr. Charan Singh's statement, which was preceded by the (indistinct) meeting earlier in the morning, led to a spate of questions. He was asked whether he was going counter to the spirit of the federal structure which permitted different ruling parties and centers and states, whether the ruling party M.P. would be asked to resign if a state..., if the states they came from turned down his party government and whether the central government would not invoke the power of an article which stated by the Constitution despite capitalism in the Janata party election manifesto."

Prabhupāda: So what is this yoga? (laughs) Sanjay Gandhi's yoga, just see. A rogue, devil, he is practicing yoga. His mother was practicing also yoga, the same.

Conversation with Patita-pavana -- April 20, 1977, Bombay:

Patita-pāvana: Even this Arkasomayaji, his iṣṭa-devatā is Kanaka Durgā from the Kabur district of the Godāvarī in Andhra, and he's a Māyāvādī. I told him, "We have some difference, but please shelve your differences and simply follow our point of view." He said, "That's all right, but I think your guru is the Divine walking the earth, and I must serve him." (laughs) So I said, "Very good. Please come and help."

Prabhupāda: So arrange to receive them. Give them very kindly... If Acarya agrees, that will be great success.

Girirāja: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So both you and Mahadevia together supply... This friend of Mahadevia...

Girirāja: Yes.

Prabhupāda: This facility, the space is the same. Mutual arrangement. And he gets the advantage of the roof.

Girirāja: Mrs. Warrior wants to move up.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Girirāja: Mrs. Warrior wants to shift to a higher...

Prabhupāda: So he is in the downstairs?

Girirāja: She is on the ground floor.

Prabhupāda: Then it is... If she moves, that is also good. But that space is bigger.

Girirāja: Yes, Acarya's is much nicer place.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

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

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Saturday afternoon.

Prabhupāda: Then we get rest the whole night.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, we get rest for, say, twelve hours' rest. But then you have to travel again to go to Pauri district, which may be exhausting.

Kārttikeya: Seventy-five miles.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I can't say what... I mean, we don't know. It's a winding road. It may get you tired for traveling.

Prabhupāda: Winding?

Mr. Dwivedi: Not very winding. There are two roads. There are two roads. There is is one road which is little winding. There is another road, but we have to travel eighteen miles more. Not winding, Agra-Bombay road. So there is a straight Agra-Bombay road also. But we have to take an extra eighteen miles more drive.

Kārttikeya: Eighty?

Mr. Dwivedi: Eighteen. One-eight.

Prabhupāda: So that is not...

Mr. Dwivedi: So we can take either. And even this is not so very zig-zaggy and we are... No, not much. Not much.

Prabhupāda: But anyway, we are going to hold session on Sunday.

Morning Conversation -- April 30, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Mr. Mohatta, he also passed through Shivapuri. So he... When I told him there were some woods, some forests, he said, "Oh, then it must be Shivapuri." I said, "How did you know that?" He said, "Because of all the pla... That is the only place where there's even a little bit of forests." He said, "It is not much forest, but there is something." He said, "Otherwise, Madhya Pradesh is generally very dry, but the Shivapuri district..."

Prabhupāda: Hm, Shivapuri.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "...is best in Madhya Pradesh." He knew of it.

Prabhupāda: Forest and open place combined together becomes healthy. Besides that, in particular place the water is good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They say best in district.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They said it was the best well in the district.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, we are taking part in the World Book Fair in Russia. The space is already booked.

Prabhupāda: That you have already told.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. I wanted to ask you, should BBT America pay for our expenses in that Book Fair? It will cost about three thousand dollars. It's a very good preaching opportunity. They can pay?

Prabhupāda: No, half and half. You pay.

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

Prabhupāda: But everyone can be utilized if you organize it rightly. Three hundred dacoits there means government is very weak.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's just in one little area, Nadia District. Imagine how many dacoits are in all of Bengal now. It will get even worse than it was in 1971. I'm sure, as the Kali-yuga progresses, it will only get worse. And it was very bad. I remember when we were living in Bali Ganj. Every day there was march. People were marching, Communist slogans.

Prabhupāda: (indistinct)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Bhakti-caru was saying that one of the reasons Bengali people are by nature... They're intelligent. They're always intelligent people, not so much physically hard working. So without so much physical work to do and without proper employment, this intelligence now has become misdirected. 'Cause nowhere else in India do the Communists have such a foothold as in Bengal.

Prabhupāda: Intelligent and lazy.

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

Prabhupāda: Oh. Wonderful.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Here in Maharastra the new Chief Minister and Education Minister have approved of our movement, and on the basis of these letters I sent our devotees to five district towns, on the basis of these letters." On the strength of the letters from the Chief Minister and Education Minister, he sent his devotees to five district towns, and they secured thirty-two standing orders in three weeks.

Bhāgavatāśraya: From five towns!

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Now we are going to all the district towns." That means not very big cities. "Now we are going to all the district towns in Maharastra, and almost one thousand standing orders have been taken all over India so far. Since we have started the encyclopedia program many persons have ordered every single book you have published. Nearly twenty encyclopedia orders have been taken so far." This means every book. Not just one standing order. Complete.

Prabhupāda: May Kṛṣṇa bless him. You are doing very tremendous job.

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. But he stressed several times that we should not take these calculations to be final on account of your position. He said these are for ordinary men. He said it is always the case that a man of spiritual advancement will have the ability to overcome his fate. He quoted the case of his father, who was in the Śrī Sampradāya, and he was apparently very pious and he lived so many years beyond his fatal date. And even so many astrologers had given the calculation, but still, he went on because of... He said he would fast on ekādaśī and so many days and so much japa, like that. So he said for a man of your position he could not even say for sure. He said that definitely the hand of Kṛṣṇa would be involved. So like this, he seemed to have a very sober idea. And he was hopeful that the blue sapphire would have some beneficial effect, at least to relieve you to some degree. He thought that by now you should have noticed a little bit at least. (break) ...besides the gem, there is a good Ayurvedic physician. He can also relieve the effects. That they know the art if you can find the proper man. I inquired if there is a proper man in this district. He said he didn't know anyone in this area. He knows of a man in Delhi. I took his address, and I tried to contact him, but I have not yet contacted him. He was not available. However, we have contacted a man... We read the report to you the other night. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa read you when we were upstairs? He was suggesting the pearl and the oxidized gold and bark of Arjuna tree. That man is the chief physician of this big Ayurvedic hospital in Delhi. He's the chief resident physician there. He lives there at the hospital and he's in charge. He has expressed a serious interest in you, and he's a very, very pious man. He wants to come to visit Vṛndāvana. His wife is an Ayurvedic physician, he is the chief physician of the hospital, and there is another professor of Āyurveda. They all want to see if they can offer some suggestion. So on Sunday...

Prabhupāda: Why not bring them?

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?

Room Conversation -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Give me little detail.

Bhavānanda: The Show Cause, our Show Cause, has been submitted, and the hearing was set on the seventh, last Friday, but the ADM cancelled it until next month on the 18th. And all of us who were involved in this shooting case, we also appeared in court on Friday, and the judge magistrate released us for traveling in India and preaching. Before that we had been restricted to Nadia district. We hadn't been allowed to leave Nadia. The magistrate said that we are free to travel within India for preaching work, which was good. And the next date has been set for the 29th of December, and on that date we'll most likely be discharged from the case.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm. Discharged. The case will be dropped.

Bhavānanda: The case against us will be dropped and case will be brought against the Muhammadans for attacking the temple.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In other words, it seems that it's reversed.

Bhavānanda: It's reversing.

Prabhupāda: Rākhe kṛṣṇa māre ke.

Room Conversation -- October 12, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So, what is the report, Jayapatākā?

Jayapatākā: Since I left you in Bombay, then I returned and presented the Show Cause to the additional district magistrate. And he just looked at it and postponed it till November 18th. He postponed, so as far as that goes, there's nothing until November 18th. Then, I think, Bhavānanda Mahārāja gave the report about the court. They released... They reduced the bail restriction on the devotees. I went on a tour of Orissa to the two temples there, Bhuvaneśvara and Bhadrak. In Bhuvaneśvara they have nice garden (Prabhupāda coughing up mucus) and about six or seven devotees. They had a nice Vyāsa-pūjā and Janmāṣṭamī festival.

Prabhupāda: Magistrate wants my presence?

Jayapatākā: No. It is not required that you talk to him. There's no... Everyone says that there's no case for that. The previous ADM said that actually the person that was doing it is this woman district magistrate. That woman is quite inimical to us. So there's very strong talk that after Durgā Pūjā she'll be transferred. If she's transferred, then our situation would become much better, I hope, by Kṛṣṇa's mercy. She's just trying to harass us, but actually she has no legal scope. Indian Overseas Bank came out, the additional general manager, to Māyāpur, and he's very eager to open up the branch at Māyāpur also, because they have already in Bombay. I think... They have here also? I don't know. But he was eager to open a branch there. They have made us an application. The Central Bank sent a letter, withdrew their application for opening the bank. Right now the Gurukula, they have just finished their examinations. Their examinations were writing an English sentence in Sanskrit and writing Sanskrit in English and similar type tests. They, most of the students got seventy percent on the examination. Then the bigger children went out on saṅkīrtana with the two traveling parties, one to Darjeeling. In Darjeeling they sold seven thousand books in less than ten days. They had very good reception in Darjeeling. And one party is still in Bihar. They did four thousand books.

Prabhupāda: Bengal book.

Room Conversation -- October 12, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Where is that place?

Jayapatākā: That's in Balasore district. It's about thirty miles south of Balasore. It's a three-hour bus ride from Bhuvaneśvara north. There's a Gaura-Gopāla Mandir there that was being managed by a disciple of Parvat Mahārāja, a disciple of Parvat Mahārāja. Lokanātha Swami had written to you that they wanted to donate the temple plus twenty-four bighās of land, and you had replied back that he should accept it. So he left three men there from his party and they registered the land in your name, including the mandira. At that place Lord Caitanya had visited on occasion, going back and forth between Bengal...

Prabhupāda: Baribhada? That place is called Baribhada?

Jayapatākā: Now it's called Bhadrak. They're... Just a few hundred yards from the place of the mandira is the place where Lord Caitanya sat where He was staying for five days when He was there. Then about two miles away on another occasion He stayed at a Rādhā-Madana-mohana or some mandira. Lord Caitanya's been going there on occasion. It's in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. It mentions the place. And the people who have given us the temple, they are the descendants of the devotee with whom Lord Caitanya stayed with. They're the same family. And so they're very enthusiastic and they want to give all help. Although it's a small place, they've already made a couple of members, life patron members, and they're trying to collect donation. There's a college there, and some of the professors of the college come regularly to the temple, and they are chanting japa and they're bringing their students and other colleagues.

Prabhupāda: Good field.

Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Who is the doctor?

Kīrtanānanda: Bhagatji? Where's Bhagatji?

Hari-śauri: Who was that doctor?

Bhagatji: Dr. Gopal in Rama-Krishna Seva Ashram. Physician. He's an M.D. He is the best doctor in Mathurā district.

Kīrtanānanda: He said it is not... It's just one or two times you'd have to take.

Bhagatji: To check the blood. And I can call him to see you, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Let me taste this.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: First let him take the tablets.

Bhagatji: One is syrup, and one tablet to be grinded in honey.

Kīrtanānanda: What is this for?

Bhagatji: This is blood urea to be tested. The other doctor, one of the best doctors, he said that blood urea should be tested because there is pus, and this blood will be defect. And the aluminium also, Prabhupāda... Charvery(?) is also passing.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Charvey?(?)

Bhagatji: Two, three.

Kīrtanānanda: What does he need to do this test? More urine?

Bhagatji: He will take some blood.

Prabhupāda: But that is the difficulty.

Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm. Bhavānanda Mahārāja?

Bhavānanda: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: So, things are being arranged very nice?

Bhavānanda: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Everything is being arranged now. The district magistrate and local officials have all been invited personally this morning, and the guesthouse is being completely cleaned up and made nice. Prasādam is being arranged. Conference room is being decorated. The dining hall for their prasādam is all being arranged also.

Prabhupāda: At the present moment our ordinary prasādam is very much liked by...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: No, he approved. He was saying, "It is very nice." And our members also say. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: You also said.

Room Conversation -- October 15, 1977, Vrndavana:

Jayapatākā: He has to match that first before he can get it. (laughs softly) Just yesterday night, the SP of Cuttack District, Orissa, he came here, and he said that he was very impressed by the mandira. He told Bhāgavata... I happened to meet him also. He was very pleased. His wife and family were here. He gave his name and address and said, "When you come back to Orissa, you kindly see me and what I can do... I'm not so big a man, but whatever I can do to help you, I'll do." He's very pious man.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You told him we will have Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma there?

Jayapatākā: Details Bhāgavata was discussing.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We're installing Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma there, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Orissa.

Prabhupāda: That construction is not so important as printing of books.

Jayapatākā: The president of the Bhadrak temple that Lokanātha Swami got donated from the Gauḍīya Maṭha to ISKCON, he has been collecting life members, hoping that he can build and improve a little bit on it. He was hoping to get the same facility of Bhuvaneśvara, of matching fifty-fifty. He's collecting everything locally in Orissa.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? We got a telegram from Nṛsiṁha-Caitanya. You know, he's the boy who does library distribution? Should I read it to you?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- October 17, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bhagatji says that this Dr. Gopal is the best doctor in Mathurā district. Very, very expert doctor, he said. He seemed pretty competent.

Bhavānanda: Competent and confident.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He disagreed with Dr. Ghosh on a number of points. He did not advise Lassix tablet, this Dr. Gopal. Just like the surgeon in London also did not advise. Then he explained why, and Dr. Ghosh agreed.

Bhavānanda: Also he said that you shouldn't take... What is it? Hydrogen peroxide rinse in the mouth. He said that could be very dangerous.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He said because of the fact that your mouth is not normal. It doesn't salivate as much as someone else's. So some of the hydrogen peroxide might remain there and then it might be swallowed. He advised a much milder mouthwash.

Bhavānanda: And he gave one tablet... He said that you should only take one half tablet in the morning in place of the Lassix. It's a very, very mild dialysis for the swelling. He said it's not... He doesn't want to give any sort of... Very, very mild. He also said that your feet should be raised on two pillows or the bed, at the foot of the bed, should be raised on one brick on each side. That will reduce the swelling a great deal, he said. Most important though, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is that we increase the liquid intake for flushing the kidneys, and it will give you some strength. Now your condition is so weak.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually, Prabhupāda, your condition has become much weaker since you stopped eating more and more. In Bombay, when you had more strength, you were eating..., at least drinking three times what you are drinking now. So if you gradually increase your drinking, your strength will come back. As long as you're passing urine, it means it's being digested all right.

Bhavānanda: Everyone... All the doctors agree that your liver and digestion, spleen, is all in good working order.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And also the blood pressure is normal. It's 130. It's very reduced, Śrīla Prabhupāda. It's normal blood pressure now.

Bhavānanda: But he said that your pulse is so weak that every 18 beats it skips a beat, misses, because you're in such weakened state.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But he was hopeful in general.

Prabhupāda: Dr. Gopal.

Doctor Visit and Conversation -- October 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm!

Hari-śauri: That's very good. Since you've been here in Vṛndāvana, I sent them a telegram that now they have to distribute more books so that Lord Kṛṣṇa will be pleased and allow you to stay with us. So they've doubled up since then. Now they're almost run out, they've distributed so many. (break) He said that up on the farm also things are going very nicely. Many, many people are coming now to see how we are living. And for Govardhana Pūjā they are planning a two-day festival. They're expecting to get many hundreds of people coming. Your farm is already very well known now up in that area, and people are becoming very interested to see what we have to offer. In the immediate district where our farm is, many people have tried to start communes—these hippies and people like this. But they've never been successful because they've never had any central point to agree on. Everybody's simply gone their..., lived their own way. But within a few months now, some of the more serious people have seen that within just three or four months we have achieved more on our farm than any of these communes have done in the last six years. So they're becoming very attracted to come and stay with us, and they appreciate the kīrtana and prasādam very much. (end)

Room Conversation -- October 22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Dr. Gopal: Mostly belongs to district Mathurā itself, in Bles(?) near Mathurā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: For many centuries? Do you know?

Dr. Gopal: No, my father migrated from this place to district Agra, Siroabad(?), in 1945.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Before that time?

Dr. Gopal: Before that, I was hardly two years old.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Your forefathers were from any part of India besides this?

Dr. Gopal: No. They're always from this UP.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Ācchā. (break)

Bhavānanda: ...in Vṛndāvana. That perhaps he could stop there and just inquire whether they had any kavirāja there, because that's Rāmānuja-sampradāya. Shall he do that? (break)

Prabhupāda: Eh? What is that? No. This doctor's treatment is failure.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, he's starting to guess.

Prabhupāda: Now... Where is Bhakti?

Bhavānanda: Bhakti-caru is just waiting to go and get the kavirāja in the front. Do you want me to bring him?

Prabhupāda: Call him.

Bhavānanda: He's up in the aradesko.(?)

Prabhupāda: They will simply guess.

Room Conversation -- November 7, 1977, Vrndavana:

Jayapatākā: Sometime in the future we can, if they are ever agreeable, if we can take the sevā of that birthplace, then we should do so.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayapatākā: In Malda district at Rāmakeli, where Lord Caitanya first met with Rūpa and Sanātana, there is a temple of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa that... Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmī used to worship those Deities. Bhaktisiddhānta Ṭhākura Prabhupāda has put a lotus feet of Mahāprabhu there. So we have gone there on two occasions for preaching, and they..., some local people came and said they would like us to take some..., to either take over management or somehow be connected with that because they felt that it required preaching there. They're very favorable at that place.

Prabhupāda: Purchase it.

Jayapatākā: When you say Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi, that means any of the līlā places of Lord Caitanya.

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not just Navadvīpa.

Prabhupāda: No. No, in Bengal.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What about in Jagannātha Purī?

Prabhupāda: That is another. That is Orissa.

Page Title:District (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Mayapur
Created:15 of Feb, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=54, Let=0
No. of Quotes:54