Doll (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"doll" |"doll's" |"dolls"

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 11, 1969, New York:

Prabhupāda: Actually, because Kṛṣṇa has got two hands and we have got an imitation body of Kṛṣṇa, therefore we have got two hands. Because this is imitation. That we know everything, everyone. This body will not stay. Therefore it has got janma. Janma means birth or creation at a certain period, and it stays, say, for fifty years or hundred years. Then dissolved, dissolution. Therefore it is imitation. Just like if you create a doll, clay doll, very nice beautiful girl. But it will... It is imitation. It is shadow of the real beautiful girl. It is created at some time and... So reality is there in the spiritual world. Therefore it is called janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1).

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

Guest (1): Vaiṣṇava. She was, Mīrā, Kṛṣṇa devotee. Oh, her songs has called me.

Allen Ginsberg: Have you used her songs here at all?

Prabhupāda: Yes, in India it is very popular, Mīrā's song. Mostly they are written in Hindi, and some of them have been interpolated. But Mīrā was a devotee. She saw Rūpa Gosvāmī, a contemporary. She has written many poetry about Lord Caitanya.

Allen Ginsberg: Oh, she was a contemporary of Caitanya?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Allen Ginsberg: Did they meet?

Prabhupāda: No. She appreciated that Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa, and she has written one poetry, song, that "Now You have left aside Your flute, and You have taken the sannyāsī rod." In that way she has written nice poetry. "And where is Your hair and peacock feather? Now You are bald-headed." In this way. So Mīrā appreciated. Her life is also very excellent. Her father gave her a small Kṛṣṇa doll to play, and she developed love for Kṛṣṇa as husband. So when she was married... She was princess, daughter of king, and she was married with another prince.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with German and Hamsaduta dasa -- August 9, 1973, Paris:

Haṁsadūta: He says, it looks to him, it appears to him like a doll.

Prabhupāda: Doll?

Haṁsadūta: Doll, the Deities.

Guest: (German)

Haṁsadūta: He says the Deities always have such big eyes. The Deities, have, They are always looking with such big eyes. He cannot understand.

Prabhupāda: Big eyes? Big eyes is very fearful to him?

Haṁsadūta: (German conversation)

Prabhupāda: These are different mentalities. It is not very scientific.

Haṁsadūta: Shall I explain to him about Deity worship?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

David Lawrence: I mean, one or two of the stories there's a reference to Kṛṣṇa and the unmarried gopīs, saying that He treated them like dolls yet they were well pleased with Him. Now, would it be right to say that the main point of that story, rather than...

Prabhupāda: Dolls?

David Lawrence: Yes, it says He treated them rather like dolls. It's your own translation on that one. But they were well pleased with Him. Is the point of the story...

Prabhupāda: Dolls, dolls means just like doll-player, they make the dolls dance. It is like that.

David Lawrence: Yes, as He wishes.

Prabhupāda: Puppets, yes, puppets.

Room Conversation -- September 1, 1973, London:

Guest: And inside these people doing this work, is it Kṛṣṇa? Or what is it makes them do the work?

Prabhupāda: No. The soul is a living being. So nature is supplying material and he's molding in different forms. Just like earth is not man's creation. Earth is God's creation, or it is product of God's energy. But we are using this earth and molding in different forms, different pots, different dolls. So ingredients are supplied by God. Nature means God's energy. We simply handle them. We cannot produce anything, we transform only.

Room Conversation -- September 18, 1973, Bombay:

Guest (1): There are counterparts of senses also?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like your coat and shirt. The coat has got hand. But that is not hand. Real hand is within the coat. So actually the coat has no hands. So where is the question of coat having senses? Similarly, this material body is a lump of matter. Just like the dolls. The dolls are prepared with grass, hands and legs, and then it is plastered, and it becomes a nice doll. Similarly, we have got hands and legs, and this material is plaster. Therefore when the real hands and legs go away, they are no more hands and legs. They are simply lump of matter. Therefore, anyone thinks that this body, "I am," he's a fool. If you think that you are the coat, you are the shirt, then you are a fool.

Morning Walk -- December 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: ...illusion. Accepting this illusion, wherefrom the idea came? Just like in the tailor's window, there are nice beautiful women or men standing. That is illusion. Actually, that is neither man or woman. It is doll. But wherefrom the idea came of this illusion?

Hṛdayānanda: Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: No, no. Unless there is a real man, a real woman, how the illusory man and woman is there, doll? Illusion means which is not fact. So the fact must be there; otherwise how the illusion, reflection, comes? Illusion is exemplified by the mirage, water in the desert. So the man is or the animal is running after water, but that is not water. This is illusion. But that does not mean there is no water. This is the conclusion. Unless there is real water, how... (aside) You can give around here. How this illusion of water is there?

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Tripurari -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Tripurāri: Sometimes the devotees question, "What is the best book to distribute, Caitanya-caritāmṛta or Bhagavad-gītā?" We're thinking all of them are absolute. It does not matter.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is just like sugar doll. Anywhere touch—it is sweet. That's all. When I read books, I open anywhere. Any book I take, and anywhere I open, and I read.

Room Conversation after Press Conference -- July 9, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: I think there was some objection, woman taking this objection, why woman's idol should be displayed in the shopkeeper's show windows.

Brahmānanda: The mannequins.

Prabhupāda: Yes. There was some protest. Generally, they keep the dolls of woman, beautiful woman. So there was some protest.

Morning Walk -- September 15, 1975, Vrndavana:

Devotee (3): Śrīla Prabhupāda, if this is spiritual, spiritual means eternal. But this microphone will fall to pieces.

Prabhupāda: Yes, but scientifically it will keep the energy, conservation of energy. Even it is destroyed, it will remain. The material manifestation means bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). It is sometimes destroyed and sometimes manifest. But the energy is there.

Indian man (2): And also remain in different form.

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be. Just like this is earth. Now you prepare hundreds or thousands of earthen pots and dolls. When it is destroyed, again it is earth. So when it is manifested, it is earth. When it is not manifested, it is earth. So from the spiritual energy of Kṛṣṇa everything becomes manifested, and therefore originally it is spiritual.

Morning Walk -- November 7, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Now this doll should be displayed, that laboratory, they are testing urine, stool, and somebody is asking, "Here is a dead man. Why don't you test the urine and stool of this dead man and give him some injection?" This kind of doll should be displayed. The people will be interested. So I will give you suggestion. Not that stereotyped: "If one is doing something, I have to follow that." You should do something...

Bhāgavata: Unique.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is wanted. It is already there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Bhāgavata: Things show... Dolls displaying practical examples of the philosophy.

Prabhupāda: Yes. There are so many things in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata. Just like a dog is swimming, and somebody captures the tail of the dog, and he thinks that "The dog will help me to cross the ocean," this kind of. So everyone is trying for liberation, but they are catching the tail of a dog for liberation.

Morning Walk -- November 7, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Come to the ship of Kṛṣṇa. That is what we are deciding.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: (laughing) That you are not coming to the point of the..., quickly.

Prabhupāda: Yes. In this kind of-Bhagavad-gītā śloka, Bhāgavata śloka, and doll exhibition—so you prepare. I will give you the suggestion.

Morning Walk -- November 7, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: "Those people who are worshiping other devas, they go to the other devas' house, and those who worship Me, they come to Me." Hm?

Prabhupāda: So that is explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavata. So if Tīrtha Mahārāja is displaying...

Bhāgavata: Yes, Jayapataka Mahārāja told me he was there. He saw the construction, and it's going to be two stories high, 75 feet long by 30 feet wide, and they're going to have dolls on both floors, Caitanya-līlā.

Prabhupāda: Hm. That's all right. You can do.

Bhāgavata: But we should make different līlās, different dolls.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Modern men will understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by display of dolls.

Dr. Patel: What are the dolls you are talking about all this time? We don't know, sir. What it means?

Prabhupāda: Dolls means the Bhāgavata śloka explained by doll display. Just like in your medical science there are sometimes...

Dr. Patel: Models.

Prabhupāda: Models, yes.

Morning Walk -- November 7, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: ...many things to be displayed by these models, and we can utilize that.

Bhāgavata: Like the pictures we have in the Bhāgavatam and the Gītā, then we can make them into doll displays, some of those pictures.

Prabhupāda: But the idea was that in our big temple I wanted to display.

Bhāgavata: Oh. You didn't want a separate building.

Prabhupāda: No. We wanted to display where is...

Passerby: Oh, haribol!

Prabhupāda: The Vaikuṇṭha planet, where is the Goloka planet, where is this material world—in this way.

Bhāgavata: So if that's what you want, then we should not make a permanent structure? We should make some temporary structure like last year.

Prabhupāda: That you decide yourself.

Bhāgavata: So we should engage the local dollmakers in doing this.

Prabhupāda: First of all you have your place; then make dolls. But dolls should not be exactly like this, in the same way. But when you make actually, then I will give you how the models should be made. Now, how to do, where to do, that, it is your business. You decide, some of yourself, and do the needful.

Morning Walk -- November 7, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Tīrtha Mahārāja, for the last fifty years, he did not do anything. Now he is afraid. You know Kṛṣṇa dāsa Bābājī?

Bhāgavata: In Vṛndāvana.

Prabhupāda: Yes. He approached me that "You just have a big hall in the Yogapīṭha." I immediately accepted, that "Yes, if you give us the charge we can spend immediately ten lakhs." So Śrīdhara Mahārāja has said that "If it is gone to Swami Mahārāja, then there will be no trace of Tīrtha Mahārāja." Therefore he is trying for that. So I think we shall have, according to our original plan, the temple, and in that temple we shall display all these dolls: "Here is Vaikuṇṭhaloka, here is this loka, this loka, this loka."

Morning Walk -- November 12, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: More important: "I am a human being and others are lower animals." That is the greatest abhimana.

Prabhupāda: No, that is also.

Dr. Patel: Abhimana.

Prabhupāda: That is also, what is called, false ego. Human being or animal, they are not different, because the body is made of the same ingredient. If you manufacture a dog like a dog, like a man, what is the difference? The ingredient is the same, earth.

Dr. Patel: Five bhūtas, pañca-bhūta.

Prabhupāda: Pañca-bhūta So where is the difference? A man who knows, he will see so many dolls made of earth. He knows they are all earth. Ekatvam anupaśyataḥ (Iso 7).

Morning Walk -- November 13, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Sarvaṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu (BG 13.28), that I have explained so many times. If you see materially either dog or a big brāhmaṇa, the body is the same material. Body, when you dissect the body you find the same blood, same muscle, same bone. That's all. That is material. And spiritually they are atmān. Therefore sama-darśinaḥ. From that point of view, from basic point of view. Not that he is seeing a brāhmaṇa and dog equal. No. Not that. He is seeing the outward and inward. Inward is spirit. That is one. And outward, matter, that is one.

Dr. Patel: Another is śuni caiva śva-pāke ca paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18).

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the same thing, because he does not see the form; he sees the ingredients. Just like there are so many earthen pots, dolls. So any sane man knows that these are all made of earth. That's all. That vision is wanted, but these rascals, they are thinking, "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya," "I am fat," "I am this," "I am that." Therefore they are imperfect.

Morning Walk -- December 17, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He says that "My mind is disturbed even by seeing a wooden doll of a woman." So that is also there.

Dr. Patel: I mean the Vaiṣṇavas, sir, sādhus, they are not expected to look at the pictures of women.

Prabhupāda: No, no. That is not... Then how Caitanya Mahāprabhu allowed the woman to stand on His shoulder?

Dr. Patel: He is, was a mahaprabhu. Not for us...

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. That is the criterion, that if one is perfect devotee, then it is all right. And so long he is not or she is not perfect devotee, then there is restriction.

Morning Walk -- December 17, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Sarve sameṣu bhūteṣu. We are not sarve sama as yet.

Prabhupāda: So it depends on the condition.

Dr. Patel: It is said that they are not only look at the female dolls, or even...

Prabhupāda: But that is moral instruction. That is moral instruction. Even if you are not a devotee, you should not think of these things. That is the moral instruction. The brahmacārī, if he thinks of woman, that is also retricted.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 16, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: ...dolls?

Jayapatāka: No.

Prabhupāda: Why?

Jayapatāka: All the dollmakers have gone to Los Angeles.

Prabhupāda: Oh. All right.

Morning Walk -- January 16, 1976, Mayapur:

Bhavānanda: These are the remnants of old dioramas that we had.

Prabhupāda: That means you have broken them?

Bhavānanda: They were broken.

Prabhupāda: Huh? Broken by?

Jayapatāka: Time. They were clay. They started just falling.... No doll maker is here. After one year they started to fall apart.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Is this last years' exhibit?

Bhavānanda: From three years ago.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Three years ago. Last years' are still good?

Prabhupāda: No, they break.

Bhavānanda: Some. The Pañca-tattva and...

Jayapatāka: They should have been put in the Ganges.

Prabhupāda: No, how it breaks? They keep it for years, and you broke them? How you...? How you broke? Automatically?

Jayapatāka: No, because there was no place to store them, by moving them and moving them from different rooms then they gradually broke.

Prabhupāda: So there are so many rooms. You could not make any store?

Jayapatāka: First they were in the building to here. When they moved it then many became damaged. And somebody came in and vandaled them.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Jayapatāka: Somebody came in and destroyed them.

Prabhupāda: Somebody came in?

Jayapatāka: Vandalized.

Prabhupāda: You are so careful. That is the defect. Yes. Somebody broke it.

Morning Walk -- January 16, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: ...foolish person in the whole world. You allow vandals to come and break your dolls. (break) ...give them protection, even to the dolls. (break) ...made with so much labor and you allowed the vandals to come in?

Jayapatāka: Actually, I think it was our own children.

Prabhupāda: Huh? Anyway, why did you not keep it properly?

Morning Walk -- February 27, 1976, Mayapura:

Devotee (4): "World's largest planetarium and Temple of Understanding."

Prabhupāda: No "Understanding" simply Vedic "Temple of Vedic Planetarium," That's all. We shall show the Vedic conception of planetary system within this material world and above the material world. (break) We are going to exhibit the Vedic culture throughout the whole world, and they'll come here.

Jayapatākā: The whole world will be coming here to...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayapatākā: ...visit.

Prabhupāda: Just like they come to see the Taj Mahal...

Hṛdayānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: ...the architectural culture, they'll come to see the civilization culture, the philosophical culture, the religious culture by practical demonstration with dolls and other things.

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: New exhibit.

Haṁsadūta: Otherwise it will become stale.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Haṁsadūta: 'Cause we have so much material.

Gurudāsa: It should be done very easily.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gurudāsa: By conveyor belts and...

Prabhupāda: No, here, the doll-makers, they can make dolls within fifteen days. Finished. They can do, so expert.

Gurudāsa: That should be life-size.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Gurudāsa: It should be life-size, like walking into the forest of Naimiṣāraṇya.

Prabhupāda: Life-size or not life-size. Three feet, four feet, that will be...

Haṁsadūta: The old exhibits can be sold to the visiting temples. They can take them back to their...

Prabhupāda: No, that is not possible.

Jayapatākā: BBT.... BBT did such nice packing with this modern styrofoam that they could easily move even fragile dolls.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- April 24, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: ..so that you will work hard. And he used to do that. You bring money and he'll spend. And if you say, "Sir, we collected this money for this purpose." "Yes, he spent. You again collect." Somebody has paid that constructing temple, and he has spent for other purpose. Then, when the devotee will say, "Oh, what this man will say?" "That's all right. You collect again." (break) ...he'll get some money, he'll make some arrangement for doll exhibition and spend the all money.

Guru-kṛpā: Are they going to start on Māyāpura building this year?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guru-kṛpā: That is beginning?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Collect and spend. Collect and spend for Kṛṣṇa, that is nice. I am therefore asking them to print books. I have got so much in the Book Fund. Print books. Let there be books stocked and no money stocked.

Room Conversation with Siddha-svarupa -- May 3, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: This same man, he's guru, so long he gives the real knowledge of Kṛṣṇa. And the same man, he's ordinary man, as soon as he cannot give. Same thing, just like a stone doll, when it is worshiped according to the regulative principles—Kṛṣṇa. And the same doll, kept in the sculptor's showroom, it is stone. So if we keep our movement pure, then you are as strong as Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as you deviate from it, immediately, ordinary. This is the secret.

Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Give them one big room.

Mādhavānanda: I was thinking to ask Bharadvāja to come, because he...

Prabhupāda: He's busy there, but somebody may go there and learn from Bharadvāja how to make dolls and prepare it here. One room. There are so many big, big rooms.

Mādhavānanda: Yes, I was thinking.

Prabhupāda: Make diorama. People will come to see.

Mādhavānanda: They like those things very much.

Prabhupāda: Instead of so-called library, reception, you make doll room. These big, big rooms. All big glass case...

Mādhavānanda: Yes. They would like that very much.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: One girl saw me in Los Angeles. No? Hawaii.

Hari-śauri: Candranibha?

Prabhupāda: So she's not getting facility in Hawaii. She can come here with two, three assistants. There is so much place here. So correspond with...

Mādhavānanda: Hawaii.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Or ask our Govinda dāsī. Write one letter to Govinda dāsī, I'll sign, that "You can come with your assistants. Here is a very good scope for doll making and exhibit. And the place is very nice. You'll like." So many other girls they can also learn. Doll making is very easy. It is not difficult.

Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Mādhavānanda: We could have tables and chairs on the grounds.

Prabhupāda: No, we are not going to do that. Better make it a doll exhibition. And give them prasāda free. Restaurant in the city, that is all right. Not here. Nobody will come to the restaurant from the city. That is not possible. But we give them free prasāda.

Garden Conversation -- June 23, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Pradyumna: Just as the glove has a certain form because the hand is shaped like that, the material body of a human has that form because the spirit is in that form? And the tree has that form because the spirit is in that form?

Prabhupāda: Here difficulty is that the form is fixed up. That is not.... Just like Kṛṣṇa appears in so many forms, everything is spiritual. So what do you think?

Devotee (2): So the form in the spiritual sky is not absolute either? We can take different forms in the spiritual sky?

Prabhupāda: Yes, there are also many forms, but all of them are spiritual. The Vṛndāvana. There is tree, there is Yamunā water, there is land, there is cow, there is calf, there is gopas, gopīs, they are all spiritual. Just like from earth you make many forms, but they are earth. You make pots, you make dolls, but they are all earth. Similarly, spiritual world, there are many forms, they are all spiritual. What is the difficulty?

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: The conclusion is religion means to love God, and to love God means you must know who is God. There cannot be any other alternative. You must know the person who is God. Then you exchange. That we are teaching. We are asking our disciples to rise early in the morning, offer maṅgala ārati, then bhoga ārati. Are we so fools, rascals, that we are wasting time in worshiping a doll like that? Sometimes they think like that. But that is not the fact. You know definitely, "Here is Kṛṣṇa. He is God, and we must love Him like this." That is the superexcellence of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We do everything definitely on positive platform.

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

Woman guest (2): Could you... Do you think you could explain to me about the Deities and how it's different from idol worship? Because no one has been able to explain that to my understanding.

Prabhupāda: Idol means your imagination. And Deity is not imaginary. Deity is installed by the authorized person and it is worshiped according to authorized methods. So it is not idol. Idol worship, you imagine something and, some doll or idol, and do in your own way, that is idol worship.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: She's saying but it's manufactured, it's made, graven.

Prabhupāda: That doesn't matter. But it is made according to the Vedic principles.

Room Conversation -- September 11, 1976, Vrndavana:

Dhanañjaya: And for design of Gaura-Nitāi and Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, we should just use the same design or we should make better?

Prabhupāda: Make a hand design like that and have your people make like that. Make a nice...

Dhanañjaya: Make, yes. I mean, better design.

Prabhupāda: Yes, make a better design. And the hand will be like this.

Dhanañjaya: Not like this. I like this myself. It's Navadvīpa style.

Prabhupāda: This is Navadvīpa style.

Dhanañjaya: Yes, I like this much better. Otherwise the arms are too long and thin.

Prabhupāda: In this way make a nice design Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. And Rādhārāṇī should be like this. This is Vṛndāvana style. Not this. This is Lakṣmī style. This. Make these arrangements. I am hopeful of this business. Very good business we'll have. I want to introduce in every family. They'll do it. If they do not worship, let them keep as dolls. That will also give them inspiration.

Dhanañjaya: Actually so many Indians in their house they're keeping just like dolls. They are not worshiping regularly. They're keeping on the mantlepiece or on the side.

Prabhupāda: In this way be encouraged and in full capacity do business and get others.

Room Conversation with Dr. Theodore Kneupper -- November 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Dr. Kneupper: There are no changes in the higher nature?

Prabhupāda: Changes when he gets into this material, inferior nature. He has to change the body, one circumstance to another, another, another, according to his desire. Just like you get a lump of dirt. You can mold it. You can make a pot. You can make a doll. So we are doing that. Child. The father has given birth to the child and father has given the child a lump of earth and he's playing. That's all. For both of them, the father is the proprietor. If the child wants to play, father says, "All right, play." So he's sometimes breaking, sometimes crying, sometimes laughing. This is going on.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Pradyumna: "And having been joined by Jara in this way..." "In this way, having been joined by Jara, the son Jarāsandha was born. And by joining the parts playfully, saying, 'Get into life.' "

Prabhupāda: She found two parts. Generally just like play in our childhood some doll is broken. So we used to put the head again.

Pradyumna: Ah.

Prabhupāda: So similarly, the head is there: "Join, join! You live! You live!" Like that. You had no opportunity to play like that? Every...

Girirāja: Every child.

Prabhupāda: If some dish is broken we used to try to join it. That is child's play.

Room Conversation -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Rāmeśvara: These two pictures show dolls being painted.

Prabhupāda: Why not engage Govinda dāsī?

Rāmeśvara: If she will come, she can be engaged in many ways.

Prabhupāda: She is also very expert.

Rāmeśvara: She doesn't like the weather in Los Angeles.

Prabhupāda: Doesn't like? Why? What is wrong there? Los Angeles is very nice. I like Los Angeles.

Rāmeśvara: Only the spring and summer. I think it's in her mind.

Room Conversation -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: What is this?

Rāmeśvara: This is going to be one of the demigods in one of the exhibits. The painting is very, very expert. I've seen some of the dolls that are painted. They look alive.

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Rāmeśvara: Even in the eyes there is a little moisture as if the eye is...

Prabhupāda: Very natural. So I see the dolls... Intelligent boys, they can do it, educated, intelligent. Very good, nice. So many students are engaged...

Rāmeśvara: This is like pottery. Spinning on the wheel, he is designing the ornaments for the crown. Each doll of the demigods has a different crown. That's how they make them, on a spinning wheel just like a potter.

Prabhupāda: They are devising their own way. Eh?

Rāmeśvara: Sometimes.

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Room Conversation -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Rāmeśvara: These are the heads for the Śeṣa-naga of this Mahā-Viṣṇu exhibit. They are made from rubber and they have all the details.

Prabhupāda: Acchā. How rubber you make mold?

Rāmeśvara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: You do yourself?

Rāmeśvara: They do, yes.

Prabhupāda: So what is the benefit of rubber?

Rāmeśvara: It has something to do with the curves.

Prabhupāda: Oh. In clay, it cannot.

Rāmeśvara: They started manufacturing it, at a time. That's what they used. This is a doll of Kṛṣṇa speaking to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra.

Prabhupāda: Very good. Nobody can think it is doll. How many men are engaged?

Rāmeśvara: I think thirty devotees. That includes all the carpenters and...

Prabhupāda: And they are becoming expert so that in future many other also.

Room Conversation -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Rāmeśvara: This is a doll of Lord Caitanya. That devotee is Ādideva. He was here, in India studying with Bharadrāja.

Prabhupāda: I simply see how the devotees are engaged in so nice occupation. This painting, this taking, thinking of Caitanya, thinking of Kṛṣṇa—this is Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is... Nobody can deny. When he's working in this way he cannot think of other way. That will elevate him, simply by thinking. Man-manā. He'll derive greatest benefit. He'll become devotee. He'll get liberation from this material world simply by doing that. It is so nice. So in all our centers have this doll exhibit.

Room Conversation -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Rāmeśvara: This is Lord Nityānanda. Very blissful.

Prabhupāda: Nitāi guṇa mani āmāra nitāi-guṇa mani, āmiya premera bandha vasala ayantu.

Rāmeśvara: These little dolls are Gandharvas. There will be over two hundred of them in the Universal Form exhibit.

Prabhupāda: Who is the girl?

Rāmeśvara: That is one of the doll makers' wives.

Prabhupāda: What are the small?

Rāmeśvara: Those are the Gandharvas. Each Gandharva... There are hundreds of them. They have their own outfit, different colored dresses and different ornaments, all made by hand.

Prabhupāda: So small?

Rāmeśvara: Yes. Because there are hundreds of them. But in the mirrors there will be millions of them.

Prabhupāda: Acchā. (laughs)

Rāmeśvara: Filling the whole sky and all directions.

Prabhupāda: Very good. So encourage them.

Room Conversation -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Rāmeśvara: This is a devotee making part of the armor for Arjuna. Each time they make an outfit, they do a very careful drawing. Then from the drawing, they make the actual equipment or armor.

Prabhupāda: And how devotedly he is working. That is the..., that "I am..." How devotedly he is working. That will elevate him. He's very attentively serving Kṛṣṇa. This is advancement.

Rāmeśvara: They are working, minimum, twelve hours daily just on the dolls.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They do not become tired. Kṛṣṇa conscious work is so nice, nobody becomes tired. He wants to do more. Duralage hurahuri. (?) Competition. This is spiritual.

Rāmeśvara: This is one devotee who is painting dolls of the demigods.

Prabhupāda: Aiye, aiye.

Arrival of BBT Manager -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Rāmeśvara: And the former warehouse... We now need more space for the dioramas. We're going to start manufacturing them for all the temples. So we're going to use the former warehouse, that you once visited, for Bharadrāja. He needs that much space because he's going to be making the dolls, then making a mold. Then once you have the mold, you can mass produce.

Prabhupāda: So that we can show in every center.

Rāmeśvara: Yes. They'll make them out of a different substance so that they can be shipped, without breaking, all over the world.

Prabhupāda: What is the material?

Rāmeśvara: The original doll will be straw and clay. But then for mass production it will be fiberglass.

Prabhupāda: Fiberglass.

Rāmeśvara: Very hard and light. Not so heavy.

Prabhupāda: It is not... What is called? Burn? Fire? Inflammable?

Rāmeśvara: No, it is fireproof.

Prabhupāda: Oh. That's all right. Then it is all right.

Rāmeśvara: It will be permanent. Even if you brush into it, it will not break. Very durable.

Prabhupāda: All right. You take rest. We shall go a little... (everyone leaves room)

Morning Conversation -- May 29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Rāmeśvara: Govardhana wants to have dolls on the outside grounds.

Prabhupāda: Do. Yes, very good. You do.

Rāmeśvara: 'Cause they have so much lands, so right outside the temple there'll be doll exhibits for all the tourists.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, we saw something like that in Hrishikesh. Just recently we went to Hrishikesh, and in one āśrama they have doll exhibits of all the avatāras. Oh, it was very... Of all kṛṣṇa-līlā. And each doll exhibit is within a little temple, dome-shaped temple. People go and look, and there's a plaque that describes what it is. Very nice.

Rāmeśvara: We'll have more than a plaque.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, that whole thing costs a thousand dollars, not a quarter of a million.

Prabhupāda: Doll exhibition you can have in this temple also. People will come to see.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Along the side?

Prabhupāda: Where is suitable.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually there's room up front where the water, the water fountain carrier, when you enter. There's a lot of open space there.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Now you can go and take rest. Again you can come at one.

Room Conversation -- June 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So how you'll show actually?

Bhakti-prema: This is according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Prabhupāda: No, that's all right. Now, that doll, that you have to make.

Yaśodānandana: We are calling one artist from Māyāpura. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja has arranged to bring one artist, so we're going to draw perspectives. We're going to draw this and all... (break)

Prabhupāda: We have some artist. We have... That's all. That is perfect.

Room Conversation with Alice Coltrane -- July 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam, dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ tam (BG 10.10). That is... If you want to speak with a very big man, you must be qualified, not that he is your order-supplier: "Please come and give me instruction." No, can't do that. That is servant. You can ask your servant, "Please come here. Do it." You cannot ask God like that. You must please Him. Then He'll give.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And the method of pleasing Him...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānām (BG 10.10). One who is twenty-four hours engaged in pleasing the Lord, He gives intelligence to him, not ordinary... You cannot expect. But you don't take God as your play doll. Then it will be futile. God is God. God is great.

Room Conversation with Mr. Myer -- July 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: In Bengal there is called śiva gotri bango(?). He was ordered to make a doll of Lord Śiva, and he made a monkey. You see? They are doing like that. They were to make Lord Śiva's doll, but they have a monkey because he does not know. Lokasya ajānataḥ vidvān cakre sātvata-saṁhitām. Anartha upaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje, lokasya ajānataḥ. The rascals do not know how to make things right. Therefore Vyāsadeva has written so nice literature. But they'll not consult. They'll not take Kṛṣṇa's advice, Vyāsadeva's advice, or our advice. They'll manufacture. And instead of preparing doll of Śiva, they are making a doll of monkey. This is going on. And when the monkey is made, "Oh, we did not like this for..." Russia said that occasional revolution is required. Because the things which have been made, that is imperfect, therefore you require revolution. The things are being given, but if we take the perfect thing, it will be nice. These rascals will not take. This is the difficulty.

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "...which in this project will inevitably increase constantly as we take on more and more ambitious undertakings."

Prabhupāda: From Bhāgavatam you can make hundreds and thousands of doll exhibits. Each stanza of Bhāgavata will give you ideas of dolls. The karmīs can be exhibited... Dharmasya hy āpavargyasya (SB 1.2.9). This śloka can be explained, what is the meaning of religion, by doll exhibition. When you do it I shall give you ideas how to...

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "By your mercy, now there is a very concentrated effort on behalf of Rāmeśvara Swami, Ambarīṣa dāsa and myself to plan and build an impressive theistic exhibition in Washington, D.C...."

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "...which would attract the attention of some of the world's greatest leaders and dignitaries. The scope and implications of this task are breathtaking, and I am feeling very small and insignificant in confrontation with it, just like a dwarf trying to touch the moon. However, if you want me to perform this task, then kindly give me your mercy and bless me..."

Prabhupāda: Yes. You train up assistants and this will be recognized by government and everyone. You'll do more than Columbus. (laughter) In the Washington, in different compartments, a different explanation of Bhāgavata śloka by dolls will attract millions of people to see. Will it not?

Bhāgavatāśraya: Oh! It will become more than Disneyland.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. And you can charge some fees, entrance fee. People will gladly pay. All around, this doll exhibition, and in the medium, a planetarium, small.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Small?

Prabhupāda: Yes. If they're going to have it in Māyāpura, they can have a little... Not very small. Proportionate.

Room Conversation Gaurasundara, Dr. Kapoor -- July 26, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So he offered everything he has to Prabhupāda. So Śrīla Prabhupāda has requested him to build a large building and put in a Vedic planetarium in Washington, D.C., capital of the United States, right near the White House, with the Vedic planetary system according to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Fifth Canto. So he has agreed to do this, and now they are choosing the property where they will develop this program right in the heart of Washington, D.C. So it will be very good. And also the dolls will be... Doll exhibit.

Prabhupāda: How they are making dolls, show him. How nice dolls.

Dr. Kapoor: Oh.

Prabhupāda: I brought them here and kept them in Māyāpura.

Dr. Kapoor: Ācchā, and they got the training there.

Prabhupāda: And they have learned now. Now they are making better dolls than the Krishnanagar potters. They are very intelligent. The intelligence was not properly used. Now they have got chance. In Bhāgavata it is said, sarasvatī jñāna-khale yathā satī. This knowledge, why it should be locked up amongst the jñāna-khala? In India this knowledge is available, and they should be packed up amongst themselves? Now it is the time to distribute.

Room Conversation -- August 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So Gaurasundara, if he joins there, it will be still more brilliant for both of them. Because you have got the talent. You are not to be taught. You can teach others how to make dolls. And profusely make this doll exhibition from Bhāgavata. Yes. There's no need of reading book. They will see and understand Bhāgavata. Everywhere, in every branch, you see how many tourists you attract. Do all these things. Kṛṣṇa has given all assistance: money, men, endeavor. Now utilize it properly. Just see how nicely they have made. Nobody will understand this is doll. As if actual photograph.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually, when I showed someone that photograph of Your Divine Grace in the Rādhā-Dāmodara room, you know, that doll exhibit, he said, "Who took this photo so many years ago?" I said, "No, this is not a photo. This is doll exhibit." This was a devotee of yours. They thought it was a photograph taken ten years ago or twelve years ago. They couldn't understand that it was a doll.

Prabhupāda: At least in London, in Hawaii, then... What is called?

Devotee (2): Washington?

Prabhupāda: No, the palace.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: France. Germany.

Prabhupāda: No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You have so many palaces we don't know which one you mean. Oh, Detroit.

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's a good place for it, Detroit. They're planning a big one in Washington, D.C.

Prabhupāda: Do it first. In Hawaii the Deities are made of paper combination?

Gurukṛpā: Now Bharadvāja is making like this.

Prabhupāda: Oh, very good.

Gurukṛpā: He's already... He will be finished in two or three weeks.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: These are very hard, aren't they? It seems very...

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is as good as marble.