Elsewhere (Lect., Conv., & Letters)

Expressions researched:
"elsewhere"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.31 -- London, September 1, 1973:

Just like in India they have become very much afraid that I am making Europeans and Americans brāhmaṇas, so they are very much against me. They come to fight with me. In Hyderabad they came to fight. "Sir, you are making brāhmaṇas, these Europeans and Americans? This is not good." "And why not?" So we had some discussion. So actually it is not that brāhmaṇa is made by birth. Brāhmaṇa means, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). By quality and work. Similarly, everything, by quality and work. This is confirmed by Nārada Muni.

yasya yal lakṣaṇaṁ proktaṁ

puṁso varṇābhivyañjakam

yad anyatrāpi dṛśyeta

tat tenaiva vinirdiśet

(SB 7.11.35)

Yad anyatra. If the brahminical qualities are visible, manifest, elsewhere. Elsewhere, may be he's śūdra, may be caṇḍāla. Tat tenaiva vinirdiśet. So you, one should accept him as brāhmaṇa. Similarly, if one is born in brāhmaṇa family but his qualities are like śūdra, tat tenaiva vinirdiśet (SB 7.11.35). He should be accepted as śūdra. This is the injunction given by Nārada Muni. Not ordinary person. Tat tenaiva vinirdiśet. And upon this the greatest authority of comment on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrīdhara Svāmī, he has commented that janma, birth, is not the chief requisition to become...śama-damādi. One must be qualified with śamo damas titikṣāḥ śuci. Then he should be accepted.

Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966:

One who understands the lawbooks very nicely. He's a lawyer, a representative of law. Similarly, here in the Bhagavad-gītā, there are instructions of Kṛṣṇa, and a person who understands these instructions rightly... How to understand that instruction rightly, that is also in this book. You haven't got to seek elsewhere how to understand Bhagavad-gītā. The how to understand Bhagavad-gītā is already prescribed here. That I shall explain to you, when you go to the Fourth Chapter. Now we are on the Second Chapter. When you go to the Fourth Chapter, how to understand Bhagavad-gītā, that is also mentioned there. So according to that process, if somebody understands Bhagavad-gītā and in his life he practices in that way, just like a lawyer who has passed the law examination... Similarly, one who understands Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without any wishful interpretation for his own purpose... No. Bhagavad-gītā as it is, as it is instructed to Arjuna. If there is somebody who understands Bhagavad-gītā in that way, he is the representative of God. He is the representative of Kṛṣṇa, and one should accept such representative of Kṛṣṇa for his guide. Then, actually, as much as Arjuna was guided by Kṛṣṇa, then similarly, that person who takes the shelter of the guidance of a person who is fully, I mean to say, aware, fully conversant with the science of Kṛṣṇa, he can guide you nicely and for your spiritual life as Lord Kṛṣṇa has guided Arjuna for his spiritual life.

Lecture on BG 4.17 -- Bombay, April 6, 1974:

Bhagavān says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara (BG 2.13). Dehāntara-prāptiḥ is there. As we are getting dehāntara. We have got experience every day. Just like in daytime we have got this body. At night, when we dream, we have got a different body. We go elsewhere; we're working differently, forgetting this body, and again, daytime, we forget our body which was seen in the dream. That is also dream; this is also dream. This is daydream, and that is night dream. But the seer, the soul, is permanent. He is in the daytime and he is also nighttime. So this is our position. We are changing our body.

Just like I was a child, you were a child, but that we have forgotten. But that does not mean I did not have. Similarly, in the past I had a body, in the present I have got a body, so why not in the future? This is common sense. In future you must have a body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Kṛṣṇa says, authority. I may say, "There is no body," but Kṛṣṇa says, "There is body." And how this body is manufactured? Karmaṇā, by your work. If you work foolishly in the tamo-guṇa, then you get the body of ignorance, ugly body, abominable body, poor body, without any education, without any knowledge. These things are there. And if you work sattva-guṇa, then you get better body. And rajo-guṇa, then in the middle-class body. These are stated in the śāstra. You have to accept it.

Lecture on BG 1322 -- Hyderabad, August 17, 1976:

Now we are speaking of Kṛṣṇa and the Supreme Person. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). So there is no need of Vivekananda. When the Supreme Person is speaking, accepted by all. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that "You are accepted by authorities." Vyāsa, Devala, Asita, Nārada. We have to accept authority who is accepted by authorities. Vyāsadeva, Nārada, Devala, Asita, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Caitanya, even Śaṅkarācārya—they have accepted Kṛṣṇa as the supreme authority. You take the authorities statement. Don't go elsewhere. Then you'll be misled. When the supreme authority is speaking, take it and apply it in life. You'll be happy. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 18.67-69 -- Ahmedabad, December 9, 1972:

So the..., this is śāstras. This is the injunction of the Vedic literature. And Nārada Muni says, yasya yal lakṣaṇaṁ proktam. The symptoms, the characteristics, varṇābhivyañjakam, to indicate, or to decide, in which varṇa, whether this person belongs to brāhmaṇa-varṇa, or kṣatriya-varṇa or śūdra-varṇa, like that. So there are symptoms. So Nārada Muni says if these symptoms are found elsewhere... Yad anyatrāpi dṛśyeta. Suppose a śūdra, or a vaiśya, but he has got the qualification, symptoms, of a brāhmaṇa. So he should be accepted as brāhmaṇa, not as śūdra, as vaiśya. Similarly, a person born in brāhmaṇa family, if he has got the symptoms of a śūdra, he should be accepted as śūdra. This is the injunction in the śāstras. And Śrīdhara Svāmī, he says that simply taking birth in some particular family, brāhmaṇa family or kṣatriya family, one does not become so. It is the qualification. That is required.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 18, 1971:

As soon as Kṛṣṇa will say, "I am Viṣṇu, I am all," then "Everything is one. Everything is one." That's all. Therefore He says particularly, mām ekam, "Only unto Me alone." Because if one understands Kṛṣṇa, then gradually he understands other things. But in the beginning if it is said... Similarly, in Bible also, I have seen that "Through me." Because they were so fool, if they are allowed to go elsewhere, they will commit mistake. Therefore that was nice. To the foolish person such stress required to be given. Mām ekam. But still, the foolish person misunderstood Kṛṣṇa, misinterpreted Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore Māyāvādīs. Therefore same Kṛṣṇa came as Lord Caitanya, as devotee. This time not as the Supreme Personality of Godhead but as devotee, to teach us how to approach Kṛṣṇa. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Lecture on SB 1.2.3 -- London, August 24, 1971:

So in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we are putting the candidate into practice. Without practice, simply knowledge is no good. That is... Simply foolishly to become puffed up that "I am now liberated," no. That is not liberation. That is explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam elsewhere. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. Vimukta-māninaḥ. They're thinking that they have become liberated. Just like the Māyāvāda sannyāsīs, they address amongst themselves as "Nārāyaṇa." That means everyone has become Nārāyaṇa. The modern increase of incarnation of God means this Māyāvāda philosophy. Because in the Māyāvāda philosophy everyone thinks that he is God, Nārāyaṇa. "I have become Nārāyaṇa." Brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20). "Now I have become Nārāyaṇa." No. You cannot become Nārāyaṇa. You can become Nārāyaṇa's dāsa, servant. That is your healthy state.

Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- Hyderabad, April 21, 1974:

Every house, it was being worshiped. But we have lost our culture. Vāsudeve bhakti-yogaḥ..., bhakti-prayojitaḥ. We have lost this culture. Revive it. Don't lose this opportunity of human life. Practice bhakti-yoga and be Kṛṣṇa conscious, and make your life successful. That is our mission. We are teaching. It is not a business, that "Give me some money; I will teach you." It is open. We are asking everyone, "Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra." What is the difficulty? There is no loss. You haven't got to pay anything. Simply as these boys have learned to chant and dance, kṛṣṇotkīrtana-gāna-nartana-parau. This is the Gosvāmīs' teachings,"Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra." And why should you go to see dancing elsewhere? Dance at home. Make family organization in that way. You will be happy. Then you will understand what is your position.

Lecture on SB 1.3.11-12 -- Los Angeles, September 17, 1972:

So there are many conception of God. But there is a conception of God: to accept God as son. That is only in Vaiṣṇava philosophy, because we are eternal servants of God. That is our philosophy. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). The living entity, his real constitutional position is to serve God. We have several times explained this fact, that the part and parcel of God must be engaged in the service of the Lord. Just like this finger is part and parcel of my body. Its duty is to serve the body. It has no other duty. The finger cannot go elsewhere and serve something else; it must serve my body. Therefore, it is part and parcel. Similarly, if I am part and parcel of God, then my only duty is to serve God. This is Vaiṣṇava philosophy. So therefore, in Vaiṣṇava philosophy, everything in relationship with God is service.

Lecture on SB 1.7.15 -- Vrndavana, September 13, 1976:

So Kṛṣṇa's pastimes is going on. Somewhere, or elsewhere it is going on. Therefore His pastimes are called nitya-līlā, nitya-līlā-prakāśa. This vṛndāvana-līlā is nitya-līlā: it is going on continuously somewhere or other within this material world. And the spiritual world, it is permanently there. So the Pāṇḍavas, they are associates of the nitya-līlā. They are not ordinary human beings. Wherever there is kṛṣṇa-līlā, they go. Therefore Arjuna asked Kṛṣṇa that "How can I believe that You, first of all, many millions of years ago You spoke this philosophy to the sun-god?" Kṛṣṇa replied, bahūni me janmāni... What is that verse? Ah, bahūni me vyatītāni janmāni tava cārjuna. "Arjuna, both you and Me were together, and we have passed through many different līlās. But you have forgotten; I remember." That is the difference between God and the living entities. They cannot be equal. We forget... The Māyāvādī's philosopher, they put this argument that "Because we have forgotten. Now in māyā we have forgotten that we are God." So what kind of God he is if he forgets? God never says "I have forgotten." Kṛṣṇa says, vedāhaṁ samatītāni: (BG 7.26) "I know past, present, future." So where is the question of forgetting? So if somebody forgets, that God is different from the God who does not forget. Therefore we have to accept two. Immediately you have to accept dvaita-vāda: one forgetting-God and one not-forgetting-God. You cannot accept one. That is not possible.

Lecture on SB 3.25.25 -- Bombay, November 25, 1974:

Just like here it is said, śraddhā ratir bhaktir anukramiṣyati. Anukrama means gradually, not that all of a sudden you can expect to see God, but you become qualified to see God. This is the way. Śraddhā ratir bhaktir anukramiṣyati. Ādau śraddhā. Just like with śraddhā. Somebody is thinking, "This hari-kīrtana is nuisance." They are amongst those, duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ. Those (who) are thinking that this hari-kīrtana, hari-kathā, which we are trying to spread all over the world, and they are accepting all over the world... And in India, especially here in Bombay, they are sending complaints to the police that we are creating nuisance. Just see the fun. Where Kṛṣṇa is born and kṛṣṇa-kathā is there, Bhagavad-gītā—we have not imported this book from elsewhere—now we are so fallen that we are thinking that "This kṛṣṇa-kathā, this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, is creating nuisance." Just see how much we have advanced after getting independence. They are complaining that we are creating nuisance. Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14). Kīrtana is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā satatam, always, twenty-four hours. Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14). And worshiping the Deity with attention, with care. These things are going on here, and people are complaining we are creating nuisance. Just see. Asat is so dangerous. Therefore we have to create a society of sat. Then the world will be saved. Otherwise they are going to the hellish condition of life.

Lecture on SB 6.1.11 -- New York, July 25, 1971:

So Arjuna said frankly that he was unable to practice this yoga system. And what we are, in comparison to Arjuna? So this aṣṭāṅga-yoga system is not possible at all in this age. If you are satisfied by learning some sitting posture, artificially, that may give you some chance of good exercise of the body. You can keep good health. But there is no chance of spiritual realization by aṣṭāṅga-yoga practice in this age. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī says śamena. Śama means manasa-niyamam, controlling the mind. The mind's business is acception, acceptance and rejection. This is mind's business. Even one is very elevated, the mind's business is mind's business. Mind will accept something: "It is very good," and next moment it will reject. That is mind's business. But you have to fix up your mind in something which you cannot reject. That is only the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. If you fix up your mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, then your mind cannot go elsewhere. You practice it and you'll see it. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18).

Lecture on SB 7.9.10 -- Mayapur, February 17, 1976:

Nārada Muni said, the greatest authority. He said that these are the qualities of brāhmaṇa, as described. If these qualities are found elsewhere, anyatra... Suppose a man is born in the śūdra family, but he had developed these qualities. Then he should be called a brāhmaṇa. And suppose a person is born in the brāhmaṇa family but he has acquired the qualities of śūdra or caṇḍāla. Then he should be called caṇḍāla. This is Nārada Muni's statement. And Śrīdhāra Swami gives his comment upon this śloka, that birth is not primary; the qualities are primary.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1972:

It has no actual fact. Here nobody's friend, nobody's servant, nobody's parent, nobody's lover. It is simply a bondage of some self-interest. The servant is not actually serving the master; it is serving the money which the master gives him. As soon as the payment will be stopped, there will be no more service. Therefore it is a perverted reflection of that service attitude in the Vaikuṇṭha planet. And similarly we have seen there is..., there was high-court cases between mother and the sons, and they spent lots of money. Still they could not come into conclusion. The motherly affection, the paternal affection, just simply a shadow. It appears to be true because the truth is elsewhere. Just like in the desert it appears there is a great, vast mass of water, but actually there is no water. But that does not mean there is no water. The impression of water is there because there is actually water somewhere. Similarly, we are trying to taste the five rasas in this material world. Because actually these rasas are there in the spiritual world. This is only reflection. Ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākha. And because in the spiritual world it is a fact, we are taking these false things as fact, these temporary things as fact. Actually it is not fact.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.254 -- Los Angeles, January 8, 1968:

Chanting. You simply hear. When you say "Hare Kṛṣṇa," you try to hear the very sound, "Hare Kṛṣṇa." That's all. Nothing more. This is meditation. Your tongue and your ear should be engaged in sounding this transcendental vibration, "Hare Kṛṣṇa." Best meditation. This is also accepted in Bhagavad-gītā: the best meditation. You don't keep your mind elsewhere. You keep your mind on the chanting. "Hare Kṛṣṇa," and hear. So this is responsive. When I was chanting, you were hearing; when you were chanting, I was hearing. So it is exchange. I hear your chanting, you hear my chanting. This is the process. So there is no possibility of thinking anything else. Best and the easiest type of meditation. Fully.(?) Factual. You at once become on the transcendental plane. Therefore we feel dancing. You see? So practice it and you'll see how spiritually you are making advancement. And it is very simple. When you are walking on the street, you can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. There is not tax. There is no expenditure. There is no loss. But the gain is very great. Why don't you try it? If without any loss, without any expenditure, you gain something, the supermost sublime thing, spiritual realization, why don't you try for it? We are not asking any money. We are not asking $250 for paying for hearing. No. It is freely distributed. Please take it and try it. Make an experiment. There is no business here.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.118-119 -- New York, November 23, 1966:

We are all fearful because, as we have got these bodily necessities, we want to eat something, we want to sleep, similarly, we have fear, and we have demand for mating. These four principles are animal life. We are always fearful. And why we are fearful? Because we have taken it that there is no God. There is no God; therefore we are fearful. Just like a forlorn child, when he thinks that "My... I am... My father and my mother, lost." You might have experienced. A child lost, he cries. He thinks himself, "I am helpless. Where is my mother? Where is my...?" Similarly, when we are helpless, we are fearful. And those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious, they are not helpless. They know, "Above me, there is Kṛṣṇa." And śaraṇāgati, surrender, means to have firm conviction that "Kṛṣṇa will protect me. I am engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, so Kṛṣṇa will give me protection." If I work in some ordinary man's service, he gives me protection. Don't you think if you work for Kṛṣṇa, He'll not give you protection? Because we have no faith, therefore we are seeking protection from elsewhere. Kṛṣṇa is able. He says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi: (BG 18.66) "I shall give you protection from all sinful reactions."

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.118-119 -- New York, November 23, 1966:

If you want to know Kṛṣṇa, if you want to know God, then you have to take this process. That is a... Bhaktyaikayeśam, ābhajet tam bhaktyaikayeśaṁ guru-devatātmā: "He is the Supreme Lord, He is the Supersoul, and He is the supreme spiritual master." In this way. He's the supreme spiritual master within you. As soon as you will take to devotional service, He'll give you dictation, "You do this." What dictation? To go to hell? No. Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam. In the Bhagavad-gītā: "I give him intelligence." Why? What for? Yena mām upayānti te: "By which he can come back to Me." That buddhi-yogam. He'll help you. If you think something... If He takes seriously about your case, if you are fully surrendered, then He'll direct you in such a way that you cannot go elsewhere except to Him, even sometimes you may find that "He is doing something against my will." I have got my personal experience. I never tried, never accepted that I shall become a sannyāsī. And I tried my best to keep myself in this material world. And He has, several times He has frustrated me and has brought me by force (to) this life. And now I am happy. I can understand that how much favor has Kṛṣṇa showed me. Yes. I did not understand in the beginning.

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 7 -- Los Angeles, May 9, 1970:

So real identity is in the Vedic literature we find that just like the fire, big fire, and the sparks of the fire, they are of the same quality, but the small spark, when he goes out of the fire and falls elsewhere, then, at that time, its fiery quality becomes covered. So this covering becomes manifest according to different qualities. Just like the fire. If a fire spark, if it drops on the water, then it is, it assumes completely extinguished. Similarly, the living entity, although qualitatively the fire, with God, when it contacts the modes of ignorance, his spiritual quality becomes almost extinct. When he is on the land, not on the water, then there is something, heat. Similarly, when the living entity is in the rajo-guṇa, the quality of passion, there is some hope. And when the living entity is in goodness... Just like the same spark, if it drops on the grass, dry grass, then the same spark of fire ignites another fire, another blazing fire. Similarly, if one is in goodness, then he can create a spiritual association. Just like the same example, that the small spark of fire, if it falls in favorable circumstances, or in dry grass, then it can ignite fire.

Festival Lectures

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Evening -- Gorakhpur, February 15, 1971:

Then, when I wrote book, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam First Canto was finished. So I approached the Bhāijī of... Perhaps Mātājī knows this. (chuckles) In 1962. So I asked him that "You take this publication." So I am very much obliged to Bhāijī. He said that "Our English printing is not very efficient. You can get this book published from elsewhere. I shall partly help you." So he helped me with some money from the Dalmia Trust, and I first of all published my first part of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Then I published second part also. There was sale. Then there was no necessity of money. I was getting money by selling Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Everyone appreciated. Even the, your American Embassy here, they purchased eighteen copies, and they gave me open order that "Whenever this Bhāgavata will be published next part, subsequent parts, this is open order, eighteen copies, each part." That order is still there.

Initiation Lectures

Brahmana Initiation Lecture with Professor O'Connell -- Boston, May 6, 1968, (Glenville Ave. Temple):

So that division is everywhere. Not only in the India or Hindu society or... No. Everywhere. Guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ, by classification of quality and work. Here also the same thing is there. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavata also confirms this by Nārada Muni, when he describes about these four principles of social division, he says, yasya hi yal lakṣaṇaṁ syād varṇābhivyañjakam. Now there is classification who is a brāhmaṇa, who is a kṣatriya, who is a vaiśya, the qualities. Because according to quality, the divisions shall be there. Now in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find the brāhmaṇa's quality, the vaiśya's quality, the śūdra's quality. So Bhāgavata also confirms that yasya hi yal lakṣaṇaṁ syāt. The symptoms of a person qualifying himself to become a brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya or vaiśya or śūdra, that is the main principle. If that symptom is found elsewhere, he should be accepted in that classification. Suppose a man is born in a śūdra family or less than a śūdra family, but if his qualities are just like brāhmaṇa, then he should be accepted as brāhmaṇa.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Laguna Beach, September 30, 1972:

In this way, when he becomes too much fatigued, he dies. This is the exact example of this material world. We are hankering after water, we are thirsty, and we are being misled by so-called water, mirage, Just like while I was coming here, both sides, the manifestation of material civilization, electrical wire pumping station of oil, big, big motorcars light, motel, hotel and so many things... So we are thinking that these things will give us relief; our thirst will be quenched, our hankering for water will be satisfied. But it has failed. In your country especially—not in your country, in all countries—so many young flowers of your country, they are frustrated. That's a fact. (aside:) What is that sound? They are frustrated. That is a fact. You know; I know. So this kind of mirage, showing of water—actually there is no water—a shadow of water will not help us. That is a fact. But because there is shadow of water, we can understand that there is real water. It is not that the shadow of water is all in all, finished. There is water. But we have to seek out that water elsewhere, not in the desert. In the desert the shadow of water will not quench your thirst.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Plato:

Prabhupāda: In the spiritual world that is not the case. Just like material world this body, and spiritual world the soul. The body is created, maintained and annihilated; the soul is not. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). After the destruction of the body, the spirit soul is not destroyed. What happens to him? He takes another body. And one who is perfect, he goes directly to Kṛṣṇa, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). So we can make this life... Because we are preparing for the next life, so why not take advantage of going back to home, back to Godhead? This is our mission. You have to prepare yourself either for going to the higher planetary system, yānti devān deva-vratāḥ... You can go to the higher planetary system, you can go lower, and you can go to Godhead. So they, therefore, if I have to change this body and go elsewhere, why not go to God? That is intelligence. Now what is the advantage? If you go to God, then you will have..., haven't got to change any more this body. That is eternal, blissful. Therefore our intelligence should be utilized how to go to back to home, back to Godhead. That is intelligence.

Philosophy Discussion on George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel:

Hayagrīva: He thinks... He says in many Oriental states this assignment... He says, Hegel, in tle Platonic state, in Plato's Republic, the government assigns each individual his occupation. In Oriental states, in..., for instance in India, he says this assignment results from birth. The subjective choice, which ought to be respected, requires free choice by individuals, and he considers this the basic right.

Prabhupāda: No. The thing is just like Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). This is going on all over the world. The occupation is that just like engineering occupation. So who can become engineer? Guṇa-karma, one who has acquired the qualification of engineering profession and is actually acting as engineer. That is wanted. Guṇa-karma. Kṛṣṇa never says, "Birth" But later on, because an engineer trains his boy as engineer, so naturally he becomes also engineer. Formerly, as we understand from the history of Ajāmila... He was a son of a brāhmaṇa, and he was being trained up as a brāhmaṇa. That was the system. Not that because he has born in the brāhmaṇa family he becomes brāhmaṇa. No. He has got the chance of being trained up as brāhmaṇa by the brāhmaṇa father. So it became later on as caste, by birth, because naturally a brāhmaṇa father trains his son to become brāhmaṇa. But when the brāhmaṇa's son becomes a cobbler, that does not mean he is still brāhmaṇa. That we find from the... Tadīya lakṣaṇaṁ dṛśyeta tat tenaiva vinirdiśet (SB 7.11.35). If a brāhmaṇa's son has become a cobbler, he should be called a cobbler, or a cobbler's son has become a brāhmaṇa, he should be called a brāhmaṇa. Not by the birth. But it became a qualification of birth because formerly it was easy, because he is dealing with his father and father is brāhmaṇa, so automatically, fifty percent he becomes brāhmaṇa, and fifty percent by training, then he becomes complete brāhmaṇa—by association, by family. So it is not that a cobbler cannot become brāhmaṇa if he also acquires the qualification of a brāhmaṇa. Nārada said, tat tenaiva vinirdiśet (SB 7.11.35). If he has already acquired the qualification of brāhmaṇa then he should be called a brāhmaṇa. Not that a brāhmaṇa's sons becomes qualified as a cobbler, tannery expert, and he remains brāhmaṇa. That is not. He has no knowledge. That means if you have studied all the Vedic literature, he could not say like that. The injunction is tadīya lakṣaṇaṁ dṛśyeta. The qualification, if you find elsewhere, then he should be designated by the qualification. A doctor's son, instead of taking up the life of medical life, if he becomes engineer, so he should be called engineer, not doctor.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Lord Caitanya Play Told to Tamala Krsna -- August 4, 1969, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Can you spare hundred dollars?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Right now...

Prabhupāda: You get hundred dollars; then we shall get.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. Wakim and Son?(?)

Prabhupāda: No, from elsewhere.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: More mṛdaṅgas.

Prabhupāda: These boys, Acyutānanda, they do not write what they are doing, what they are not doing. I do not know whether they have made a plan to go away from the society and live independently.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It seems like it is very difficult to go to India without you and still come back. It seems...

Prabhupāda: No. When we go to India I shall go with you. Yes. We must go.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. We can go to Jagannātha Purī?

Prabhupāda: Everywhere we shall go.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation With David Lawrence -- July 12, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Yes, go on.

David Lawrence: "2.) to give the teacher all the information," uh, where were we, "he or she may need to find out more than the booklet can include, for example, to satisfy the really interested inquirer, 3.) by a total sense experience, the cultural gap, which may unnecessarily alienate the students and therefore hamper a worthwhile consideration of the movement, 4.) by offering a wide variety of approaches, the student will not feel that he is simply studying another textbook, 5.) a booklet on Kṛṣṇa consciousness without the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra in a living form would be an absurdity, so the contents of the teacher's pack: A.) the forty-five r.p.m. record of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, B.) a glossy poster of Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa, C.) a map of the devotional centers of Kṛṣṇa, D.) a list of additional films, filmstrips and records likely to help the student, both from the center and from elsewhere, E.) sample literature from the organization, e.g. Back to Godhead, F.) a pack of Spiritual Sky incense, G.) a filmstrip,"—the enclosure of the filmstrip depends on the costing; R.E. departments are always very poor in this country—"H.) recipes and notes on the meaning of ārati, I.) several sheets of objections to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and the rebuttals of these objections, J.) suggestions for the teaching of the subject." Then I've gone on to say a little bit about the structure of the booklet. "Hopefully, the first section would establish the claims of the relevance of the spiritual life in 1973, and then the claims of Kṛṣṇa consciousness to be the true pathway to the eternal. This we would like to do by means of holding up a respected example of somebody who is already walking the path, e.g. an ideal way would be by the examination of the beliefs of George Harrison, and more especially of those expounded on living in the material world." Then go on to the history of the movement: "Lord Caitanya, Śrī Sarasvatī,..." apologies for the way I pronounce the names, "Śrī Prabhupāda's commission to the western world, the growth of ISKCON, the establishment of the London center," you know, to bring it locally, if you like, then on to "a typical devotee, his day..." This, I've said, will help to personalize the whole idea, you know. They can relate to the person concerned with this. Then "a section on the sacred scriptures of the Vedas, a background, and then quotations of frequently used texts. Then onto the beliefs of the devotees, based mainly upon the eight principles of ISKCON, and the Introduction of the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is." Our hopes are to, you know, work very hard from that section because it's, that introduction has got everything. I've been working on it a week, and I think, uh, I've gone back over...

Prabhupāda: The Bhagavad-gītā?

David Lawrence: Oh, yes. I've gone back over it about forty times now already. So I think I'm beginning to get hold of it. And then there would be lastly a reference section which would include all addresses that they would find useful, a glossary of the terms used, and an index, etc.

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1973, London:

Pradyumna: Typing.

Prabhupāda: Now this house will facilitate our business. Just opposite the temple. So round about. Therefore I asked him, "Purchase these houses, purchase." Never mind. So that is not lost. They were paying rent elsewhere. They can pay here. We get our permanent tenants.

Pradyumna: Yes. All children live there too. It is very nice.

Prabhupāda: So these houses. Now we have got four or five houses. Two houses of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust and three houses of M.V. Trust.

Pradyumna: It will be a city. It's so nice, all the children live there together. Next door there is Baladeva, that little boy with red hair. Aniruddha, he is blond hair and another boy with red hair, he is next door. He is best friend. They always play, all boys.

Prabhupāda: Hm. And in the front house, there is ample space back there for children's play. This will facilitate... Very nice. And then one house after, there is another house.

Room Conversation -- September 21, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, he is doing nice there. Now he's gṛhastha. He has got a job in Spiritual Sky. So he is now steady. The Spiritual Sky is doing one thing, that providing so many gṛhastha devotees.

Gargamuni: Some activity for them to do.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Karandhara is managing very nicely, giving them some pocket expense. And instead of renting elsewhere, they are tenant of our house. So we have got tenants, but no trouble from the tenants.

Devotee: Very nice.

Prabhupāda: Ah. When it was suggested that I purchase house, I said that "I am not going to have this tenants' trouble. That is very botheration." So Karandhara suggested that "We have got our own tenants. Why they should stay in other apartment house? If we have got our house, they will stay, and there will be no trouble." "Then it is all right." They require house. So all gṛhasthas, they have got separate apartment, living very peacefully. So anyway, every one of us should observe strictly the regulative principles and serve sincerely. Kṛṣṇa will help us.

Gargamuni: In Calcutta we're approaching all of the libraries. At least twenty-five libraries have ordered your books, complete sets.

Prabhupāda: So you see, anywhere we can approach. I sold in Bombay all libraries, my previous Bhāgavatam.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 3, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Who?

Karandhara: The scientist. His name was Kahotek. So he discovered it. So the comet is named after him.

Prabhupāda: And if it is mentioned elsewhere?

Karandhara: I'm sure he'll want to keep his claim.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Karandhara: I'm sure he'll want to keep his claim.

Prabhupāda: No, if... In some astrological book, if it is mentioned there?

Karandhara: Scientists probably won't accept it. They think if they don't discover it, then it's not bona fide.

Prajāpati: Unless one of them discovers it in the book.

Karandhara: Ah. Yes.

Prabhupāda: Ah?

Prajāpati: If one of them discovers it in the śāstras, then, oh, they'll...

Karandhara: They say they've looked through all the old books and the old records and they haven't found any mention of it.

Prabhupāda: I think in the Indian astronomical calendar there must be mention.

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: It is for spiritual culture.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Spiritual culture. Right. So for that purpose it makes no difference the center of the city or elsewhere.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...dependent any condition. We are independent. And you are criticizing. Permit has not been obtained. And if you think that there is no possibility of temple being sanctioned, then we start hotel. (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: All right, that is already there. But if the sanction is not there, what we will do? Keep the land vacant? (break) That I am trying to get sanction, "Is it all right." If you don't, then hotel.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Otherwise build a hotel in the front and a temple in the rear.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- March 31, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: But that does not work in deep sleep.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Dr. Patel: In deep sleep it does not work, no?

Prabhupāda: This sleep means temporary. Again the subtle mind, intelligence, come back. So death means no more coming back. It goes elsewhere. That is death. Is it clear? Eh?

Lilavati: How is it possible to forget?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Lilavati: The subtle body...

Prabhupāda: Yes, you forget. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jayo. You forget. When you dream, you forget that you have got this gross body and you are the father of such and such or mother of such and such.

Dr. Patel: Because this is all due to mind only.

Prabhupāda: Yes. The mind, mind forgets. The subtle body works. Similarly, we are dying daily. That is also death.

Morning Walk -- March 31, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. The mind, mind forgets. The subtle body works. Similarly, we are dying daily. That is also death.

Dr. Patel: Nitya pralaya.

Prabhupāda: Nitya pralaya. But... When... Now, because the body is fit, therefore we come again to enjoy with the body, kṣetra. We come to the kṣetra. Just like you are tilling some land, but when it becomes useless, you cannot till. You have to go elsewhere. Suppose it is overflooded. You cannot work there. Similarly, death means when the mind, intelligence, along with the soul, cannot work in this body, he has to go to some other body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Dehāntara-prāptiḥ.

Dr. Patel: That is when the prarabdhaḥ...

Prabhupāda: Yes, that will be decided by the prarabdhaḥ and everything. So in this way, death means this gross body, no more working. That's all.

Dr. Patel: Subtle body lives always.

Prabhupāda: No.

Morning Walk -- April 8, 1974, Bombay:

Mahāṁsa: This is also a siddhi, that they can invent a plane...?

Prabhupāda: Yes. To some extent. By material arrangement... The yogis can do still more. Without any material machine, they can float. They can walk on the water, becomes light. (break) ...man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). This is the process. (break) ...colleges, the students are being educated that there is no God. And they expect good behavior from them. And when they set fire in the bus, that is... "The students are so dangerous now." But you have made them dangerous. The educational system. They are protesting against the existence of God. (break) ...so-called swamis. And they are also accelerating, "yes, no more. There is no God. Why you are searching God anywhere? There are so many gods loitering in the street. They are God." That is the statement of Vivekananda. "Why you are finding out, trying to find out God elsewhere. These are Gods." (break) ...if required, one may come, very easily, one may take some time. But we should go on preaching.

Morning Walk -- April 29, 1974, Hyderabad:

Mahāṁsa: Yes. And he will send when we want.

Prabhupāda: He will pay. You can tell them that "Not a single farthing here. He can spend elsewhere. If you don't pay for the temple, then we shall go on like this. But as he has promised one lakh of rupees, that he will pay. That's all." Others, you have to collect here. That one lakh is promised. That will be paid.

Mahāṁsa: Otherwise we can go on like this. This is very nice. So many people are coming...

Prabhupāda: That's all right. In Bombay also, we can go without Deity or... Things are going on. There is no hindrance. Our members are coming. They are becoming members. You see? There is no difficulty. (break) You know the parliamentary question?

Gargamuni: Yes.

Room Conversation with devotees about Twelfth Canto Kali-yuga, and Conversation with Guest -- June 15, 1974, Paris:

Yogeśvara: They call them "Flophouses".

Prabhupāda: Anyway. So vāsaḥ anna. Food. Vāsaḥ anna. Vāsa means residence. Anna means food. Pāna means drinking, milk or water or whatever. You require something drinking. And śayana, sleeping or lying down on bed. Vāsa, anna, pāna, śayana, and vyavāya, sex. Sex also required. Vyavāya, snāna. I have seen in New York. They have no... In a humbug, they have no place for taking bath. They have to go elsewhere. Sometimes some friends come to take bath. The, our students, they were coming to take bath in my bathroom. So snāna. So these things, nil. "When these things will be nil," vāsa, anna, pāna, śayana, vyavāya, snāna, bhūṣaṇaiḥ, "and dress," hīnāḥ, "being devoid of all these things," piśāca-sandarśā bhaviṣyanti, "they will be just like, what is called, urchins."

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- May 9, 1975, Perth:

books.

Prabhupāda: Free?

Amogha: Yes. First they collected the money elsewhere, then they gave it away to the hospitals and prisons. One boy he collected in one day, he won the contest, he collected seven hundred and fifty dollars in one day. Australian dollars. That's almost one thousand U.S. dollars. I don't remember how many books, very, very many books he gave away also. Big books, hardbound books, Kṛṣṇa books, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Prabhupāda: So, you are trying to serve Kṛṣṇa very nicely. That is very good. These rascals are in ignorance and you are trying to enlighten them. Very good service. (break) After reading a book does anybody come and ask questions? Do they receive regularly letters and enquiries?

Amogha: Yes. Here they do. I answer many of the letters when they come. Last week, just before we came over to Perth, one boy wrote a letter, he said, "I cannot come to your temple, but I am a student in Geelong"—that's one city near Melbourne—"And when I come to Melbourne I always get your Back to Godhead magazine." So he said, "How can I become a member of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement?" So I wrote him a letter telling him about getting more books and chanting. And one man wrote us a letter from New Zealand. He said, "I have Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam parts one, two and three. Can you please tell me how many other parts I can get, because I want to have them all."

Prabhupāda: That is very good.

Room Conversation with Dr. Copeland, Professor of Modern Indian History -- May 20, 1975, Melbourne:

Dr. Copeland: Ah, that's why. Ah! Pretty! Are you a brāhmaṇa? By birth you're a brāhmaṇa, right?

Prabhupāda: No. I am brāhmaṇa yes. Yes. But we are not... We do not recognize brāhmaṇa by birth. Brāhmaṇa by these qualities. Anyone who has got... This is the shastric injunction, that if the qualities are found somewhere else—that means one who is not born in a brāhmaṇa family but he has the qualities of the brāhmaṇa—then he should be accepted as a brāhmaṇa. That is shastric injunction. Yasya hi yal lakṣaṇaṁ proktaṁ varṇābhivyañjakam, yad anyatrāpi. Anyatra means elsewhere. Tat tenaiva vinirdiśet (SB 7.11.35). "He should be accepted as such." Similarly, if a man, born in brāhmaṇa family but he has the qualities of the śūdras... Paricaryātmakaṁ kāryaṁ śūdra-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). Paricarya means service. To accept... (break) So therefore, according to Bhagavad-gītā, nobody is brāhmaṇa. A brāhmaṇa should remain independent. He should live by his qualities. People will honor him. Just like we are training. We do not serve anyone, but we are maintaining big establishment.

Garden Conversation with Professors -- June 24, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: First of all, there is God; you have to accept. Then you study what is God.

Peter: That we have a nature too, and if we go against our own nature...

Prabhupāda: That we have already explained, that you are nothing but a small fragment of God. So you can study God by studying yourself. Because you are small sample of God. There is no need of searching elsewhere. You study yourself, and you find God because you are the sample of God. So you study yourself, and you find God. God is nothing... He is exactly like you but very big. "God is great." You are small. So from small sample, you can understand what is the great.

Dr. Crossley: I think one of the things that Peter is saying, though, that I haven't really heard you address is that... He's not saying that he doesn't believe. He's saying that he has the same experiences as all the young people here, but he doesn't dress this way. He doesn't chant. He doesn't choose to call this praise to Kṛṣṇa. He chooses to call it something else. How is it essentially different? He's saying it's essentially the same.

Prabhupāda: That he can say also that he does not dress like him, that's all. Not different. Difference is that... We are all differently dressed. It is not that every one of us who is sitting down not differently dressed. But we are not talking of the dress. We are talking ourselves. When I talk with you, you talk with me, you are not concerning about my dress or I am concerning your dress; I am talking with you as gentleman, that's all. What is the impediment of the dress? Anyone can dress as he likes. But he is a gentleman; you are a gentleman. Talk like a gentleman, that's all.

Room Conversation with writer, Sandy Nixon -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: Religion means primarily to know God and love Him. That is religion. And nobody knows God, and what to speak of loving Him? Nobody is trained up how to know God and how to love Him. They are satisfied by going to the church: "O God, give us our daily bread." That also not everyone goes. So the Communist says that "You don't go to the church. Bread we shall supply." So poor innocent persons, they get bread elsewhere, so they do not go to church. But nobody is serious to understand what is God and how to love Him. Nobody is serious. Therefore in Bhāgavatam, it is said, it is cheating religion. I profess some religion, but I do not know what is God and how to love Him. That's all. So that type of religion is cheating religion. Religion means to know God and love Him. But generally, a man does not know what is God and what to speak of loving Him? So therefore that is cheating religion. That is not religion. But so far Christian religion is concerned, there is ample chance of understanding God. But they do not care for it. Take for example, the commandment is "Thou shall not kill." But in the Christian world, best slaughterhouses are maintained. So how they can become God conscious? They disobey the commandments, do not care for Lord Jesus Christ's order. So this is not only in Christian religion. Every religion, it is going on. It is simply rubber stamp. "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian." And none of them do know what is God and how to love Him.

Morning Walk -- November 2, 1975, Nairobi:

Prabhupāda: Brāhmaṇa's qualification is there—śama, dama, titikṣa, ārjavam and jñānam, vijñānam, āstikyam, brahma-karma... (BG 18.42). Everything is there, the symptoms. So you are doing business, the occupation of the vaiśyas or śūdras, and how you are claiming to become brāhmaṇa? The... Who is a brāhmaṇa, that symptoms is there in the śāstra. And not only the symptoms, Nārada Muni has said, "If these symptoms are found elsewhere, then he should be accepted according to the symptom." There is no question of birth. Yasya hi yaḻ lakṣanām proktaṁ varṇābhivyanjakaṁ yady anyātrāpi dṛṣyeta tat tenaiva viniriset. This is Nārada's vision. So it is the symptom. Just like a doctor, medical man. He diagnoses according to the symptom. He finds out the cause. So symptom is required, not that a man has become diseased or healthy by birth. No. By birth he is born. Then again, when he develops certain types of symptom, so one has to take him in that way. That is śāstra. We are accepting, or giving them sacred thread, brāhmaṇa, after seeing that they are actually acting as a brāhmaṇa, not superficially. Therefore we take some time to see whether he can develop brahminical symptom. That is our process, not that anyone comes, and we give him a sacred thread and he becomes immediately brāhmaṇa. We don't do this. First of all give him chance. Let him chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, follows the rules and regulations. Then let us see.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 27, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because...

Jayapatākā: And already they picked up one devotee, I think. Devotees come also quicker.

Hṛdayānanda: Lord Caitanya...

Jayapatākā: I think if we concentrated first in Bengal and Orissa, we get some, enough devotees, and then they could help us in the other villages elsewhere.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayapatākā: All over India. Like Madana already got three devotees when I was there in one week. By now he may also have more. Bengalis like kīrtana very much. (break) ...devotees are Bengalis.

Prabhupāda: ...ago Bengali culture was very much adored all over India. Even one big politician, Gandhi's guru, Goke, Gokule, he remarked, "What Bengal thinks today, other provinces will think tomorrow." He said like that. And actually all big, big movements started from Bengal. The national movement also was started from Bengal. Whatever we may criticize Vivekananda, when... He's a Bengali. He went first for preaching Indian religion. Rabindranath Tagore, he's a Bengali. All big, big...

Jayapatākā: Aurobindo.

Room Conversation -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Our Māyāpur temple is known as sāheb mandira. In Vṛndāvana, English, iṁrejī.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Gopāla told me that the guesthouse is doing better. He said that only that eleven rooms right now are occupied by nonpaying guests, and out of the overall forty-four rooms, only four rooms are occupied by devotees. The devotees have been shifted elsewhere. And Guṇārṇava has been managing.

Prabhupāda: That Toṣaṇa Kṛṣṇa boy was in Vṛndāvana?

Hari-śauri: Stoka Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Stoka, he has left.

Hari-śauri: He's back in Los Angeles now.

Prabhupāda: He does not stick anywhere.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. Whew! This picture of Ratha-yātrā in London is very impressive.

Prabhupāda: With smaller rathas.

Evening Darsana -- July 11, 1976, New York:

Indian man (3): I said that, as an Indian, suppose I try to speak about Gītā or philosophy of Hinduism to people in the neighborhood, either in the office or elsewhere, especially with the Europeans, it becomes a point for discussion where it becomes difficult to convince as to why a person should take action without knowing the consequences or even with knowing that the consequences are going to be bad. For instance, Arjuna had to kill his relatives. If he knows that if he's going to do it, or if somebody, for instance, in a war, he knows that his friends are on the other side, he may find it hard to shoot at them...

Prabhupāda: So why Arjuna did later on?

Indian man (3): Because I think he took God's...

Prabhupāda: Because he was fool in the beginning, and after understanding Bhagavad-gītā he became intelligent. Why don't you take in that way? In the beginning, he was rascal. Therefore he needed instruction of Bhagavad-gītā. And when he understood Bhagavad-gītā, what did he say? Naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā. Find out this verse. Naṣṭo mohaḥ, "Now my illusion is over." Smṛtir labdhā tvat prasādān madhusūdana.

Morning Walk -- August 11, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Twenty?

Hari-śauri: When we were here the other morning at least a dozen or so walked past, and there were others working elsewhere, and they were all sweeping.

Prabhupāda: So there are many servants. What is their general payment?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: About eight hundred rupees per month.

Prabhupāda: Hundred dollars. What is the average expenditure here?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Depends on how one lives; it is quite expensive. Eight thousand, ten thousand rupees per month.

Prabhupāda: For rent?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: No. Just for food, it is per head, simple devotee food, per person, about five hundred rupees per month.

Prabhupāda: Oh. In India... India, two hundred rupees per month. And it has increased very recently. In 1930, we were paying servant twelve to fourteen rupees per month, and they were satisfied. With food, six rupees. And without food, twelve rupees, fourteen.

Evening Darsana -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That is being done through books.

Indian man (3): But sir, books are for such people who can read, who can understand.

Prabhupāda: Yes, something can be done by showing the picture, but taking consideration of the labor and money invested in that way, the response will be not satisfactory. It is not possible.

Indian man (3): What I was thinking was that we have a limited...

Prabhupāda: Simply by seeing that Kṛṣṇa is lifting the Govardhana Hill, they'll, many of them will laugh, that "This is all mythology. A boy is lifting Govardhana Hill." Many of them will laugh instead of taking seriously. Because unless one is devotee, he cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as he sees the boy Kṛṣṇa is lifting Govardhana Hill—he does not understand what is Kṛṣṇa-he'll laugh.

Indian man (3): That is elsewhere.

Prabhupāda: Everywhere. Here also.

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

Prabhupāda: So whatever... Now you can make Indian style. You keep great stock?

Jayapatākā: Well, we are hearing that they are buying the cloth elsewhere.

Gargamuni: All right. Come on.

Prabhupāda: Eh? They are buying elsewhere?

Gargamuni: Yes. They are buying sometimes from other. (to JP) All right. Let's go and chant, come back tomorrow.

Jayapatākā: Other thing we can discuss tomorrow. (break)

Gargamuni: ...Birla

Prabhupāda: It is difficult to go there. It is difficult to go there.

Gargamuni: And here there is more devotion.

Prabhupāda: Here are devotees.

Jayapatākā: We made this for distributing, and the public, the take and worship in their home, purchase it.

Gargamuni: (to Jayapatākā) Let's go.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Indian printing? Purchase?

Gargamuni: Yes. This is Indian printing.

Prabhupāda: Calcutta?

Gargamuni: Yes. (Break)

Prabhupāda: So, so far the building is concerned, that is already settled up.

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

Prabhupāda: So "You are not genuine. Therefore we are not appreciating." Genuine they appreciate. "But you are not genuine. Therefore we are criticizing you."

Pradyumna: "As far back as 1971 the Maharastra government had taken action against the foreign devotees who had chosen to overstay in Bombay and elsewhere."

Gargamuni: That isn't true. Their action was to allow us to build our Bombay center.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, that's not true.

Pradyumna: "In mid 1975 the Union Home Ministry took, however, a lenient view and allowed the immigrants to stay for long periods on the specious plea that the mastering of Vaiṣṇava literature, the spiritual diet of the cultists, was not like learning shorthand." Then heading: "Contrary Pulls in Government." "Lately, of course, the center has become wise, though contrary pulls in the thinking process still persist. This was quite evident at the Raj..."

Prabhupāda: This article no sane man will take notice of it. No sane man will like. It is not very important article.

Garden Conversation -- September 7, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So that land was donated by a prominent man. Nityananda Kananda (?) was central government minister and later on governor of Gujarat. And he often comes to see me in Calcutta.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: "Point ten. Blitz: It has started taking interest in politics. It has started a political party in U.S.A. called "In God We Trust" party. ISKCON: ISKCON is not involved in politics at all anywhere in the world. Two American devotees did contest some civic elections for which a party called 'In God We Trust' was formed. The purpose of that campaign was to remind everyone to remember the Lord at all times, as everything belongs to God. Our spiritual master dissolved In God We Trust party in U.S.A. four years ago. Furthermore, there were never any plans to set up In God We Trust in India. We challenge Blitz to show us any evidence to support their claim. Point eleven. Blitz: As far back as 1971, the Maharastra government has taken action against the foreign devotees who have chosen to overstay in Bombay and elsewhere. ISKCON: This statement is also incorrect. The Maharastra government has never taken any action against our devotees. Point twelve. Blitz: The government has decided to stop specialized facilities rendered to foreign devotees seeking to popularize Kṛṣṇa in India. ISKCON: We are very grateful to the government of India for giving us facilities for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The government has not withdrawn any special facilities that have been given to us earlier. So I'm sure you can see by now the extent to which Blitz has misreported ISKCON activities in India. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that one day in every town and village of the world this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement would be spread. The Vedic culture is India's real heritage and we want to popularize it in every corner of the world. Even in black Africa we have locals that have joined."

Prabhupāda: Every corner of the world for world peace.

Room Conversation on New York court case -- November 2, 1976, Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: No, Vis... (indistinct).

Hari-śauri: We have the motor-cycle.

Aksayananda: We can arrange elsewhere.

Prabhupāda: Ha. So (Hindi). He will go with you, immediately. Meeting arrange (Hindi). Thank you very much. (pause) Combine together in Vṛndāvana. Fight! Without fight where is life? If there is no fighting then what is that life? That is dead stone. Fight must be there. Kṛṣṇa's whole life is fighting from the very birth. His father carried Him to Gokula where He (indistinct) and He fell down from the Yamunā and... Just born, fighting began. Just born. And at Yaśodāmayī's house, Nanda Mahārāja's house, so many demons daily coming, Śakaṭāsura, Aghāsura, Bakāsura, Pūtanā, so on, so on, so on. Ultimately Kaṁsa, when He was young boy. Vṛndāvana, so many asuras came. You have seen the pictures? Kṛṣṇa is fighting with the horse demon, with the bull, Dyutiman (?), fighting. If Kṛṣṇa is fighting, why not Kṛṣṇa consciousness the same thing. You cannot expect peaceful life. No, there must be fighting, then think "That is Kṛṣṇa's presence, His fight." So this fighting means they're feeling the presence of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Otherwise why they're (indistinct) fight? Had it been an insignificant thing, there was no question of fighting. (Hindi) The gun, howitzer gun, what is that? German, some gun they will go from this part of, this side of English Channel to other. Calais, the other side Calais?

Devotees: Calais.

Prabhupāda: Calais in France. So from France to other side English Channel, London, that's all right.

Room Conversation -- November 15, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Hari-śauri: "Purport: The cloud of dust covered the entire horizon, but when drops of blood sprayed up as far as the sun, the dust cloud could no longer float in the sky. A point to be observed here is that although the blood is stated to have reached the sun, it is not said to have reached the moon. Apparently, therefore, as stated elsewhere in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the sun, not the moon, is the planet nearest the earth. We have already discussed this point in many places. The sun is first, then the moon, then Mars, Jupiter and so on. The sun is supposed to be 93,000,000 miles above the surface of the earth, and from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we understand that the moon is 1,600,000 miles above the sun. Therefore the distance between the earth and the moon would be about 95,000,000 miles. So if a space capsule were traveling at the speed of 18,000 miles per hour, how could it reach the moon in four days? At that speed, going to the moon would take at least seven months. That a space capsule on a moon excursion has reached the moon in four days is therefore impossible."

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) So my reason is alright?

Hari-śauri: Oh yeah.

Prabhupāda: Modern scientists (Hindi—about challenge)

Guest: (Hindi conversation)

Prabhupāda: Whatever Mars going? Finished.

Hari-śauri: Yes. They don't put anything about it now.

Guest: (Hindi conversation)

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) Grapes are sour. Full of sand.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Hm. Which book?

Rāmeśvara: He first of all refers to Plato, the old Greek philosopher. In one of his books, Book Ten of the Republic, he describes a soldier. No, he gives a story which supports the idea of transmigration of soul.

Prabhupāda: Plato.

Rāmeśvara: Plato.

Prabhupāda: Hm. That's a fact.

Rāmeśvara: Then he mentions that in the Bible there is no information, so you have to look elsewhere.

Prabhupāda: Read Bhagavad-gītā.

Rāmeśvara: Unfortunately he has not come across the Vedas. I have already written a letter to some devotees in Los Angeles to meet this man and give him your Third Canto, Volume Four, which describes the movements of the living entity, development in the womb... I think he'll be shocked to read these things.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gargamuni: He's also read this book called the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Prabhupāda: No, why not this also, Bhāgavata also, Bhagavad-gītā?

Rāmeśvara: Apparently he's not familiar with the Vedic writings. So...

Prabhupāda: So inform him.

Room Conversation Meeting with Dr. Sharma (from Russia) -- April 17, 1977, Bombay:

Dr. Sharma: So one has to take the words of the guru.

Prabhupāda: Therefore in our Hindu society there is garbhādhāna-saṁskāra, so that everyone knows that "This man is this man's father." That is garbhādhāna-saṁskāra. And especially in brāhmaṇa family, if there is no garbhādhāna-saṁskāra, immediately he becomes a śūdra, because cannot give real identity of the father.

Dr. Sharma: It is most unfortunate that in the West and elsewhere, I have found the people with a great interest and enthusiasm maintain a pedigree chart of the Pomeranian and Alsation dog in their house.

Prabhupāda: This is gotra.

Dr. Sharma: Yes. They maintain a pedigree chart of Alsation dogs and Pomeranian dogs in their houses.

Prabhupāda: Our this gotra...

Guest (2): Not the human being they don't keep it. It is only the dogs they keep in Western countries.

Prabhupāda: Dogs?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He is saying that just like with breeding of dogs or any animals, they keep a pedigree chart: "Here is the father, here is the father," pedigree. But with human beings they don't bother to do this. With the animals they are doing. Just like with our cows...

Prabhupāda: Therefore I say animal civilization. It is animal civilization. They are interested with animals.

Room Conversation With Son (Vrindavan De) -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: It is very thoughtful article.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That... This?

Prabhupāda: No. That you were reading.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, yeah. I don't want to have to make you hear the whole thing because there's not enough about us. But I can read a little bit of it to give an idea. "There are signs here and elsewhere across the country that the youth-oriented religious sects that sprang into existence a few years ago are gaining a foothold for an enduring future. The emergence of a wide assortment of spiritual movements, from Eastern religions to Jesus people..."

Prabhupāda: If we introduce this Ratha-yātrā in every city, all other religions will be finished. (laughs) Eh?

Upendra: Yes, Prabhupāda. In San Francisco there's nothing. The only thing in San Francisco is the Chinese Parade people come for. And the next thing is Ratha-yātrā. It is bigger than the Chinese parade, the Ratha-yātrā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It says here...

Prabhupāda: Ratha-yātrā is highly demonstrative. And what Chinese parade?

Upendra: One dragon only.

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

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Here's one from the Mayor of Bombay, Murali S. Deora. He's the new mayor. " 'The good work of the members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness is well known to me. It is especially commendable that the founder-ācārya of the society, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, has been able to convince so many foreigners all about the simple purity of India's exalted philosophy-plain living and high thinking. Swamiji is a very highly respected Vedic scholar, and he has seen to it that his numerous disciples from all over India and the world stick to the actual disciplines required of students of our ancient philosophy. The growing cultural and educational center now under construction at Juhu...' " He refers it as the growing cultural and educational center. He's understood your purpose, Śrīla Prabhupāda. " '...is an object of deep interest and pride to myself and all fellow Bombay citizens. The members of Kṛṣṇa consciousness are always well mannered and cheerful due to the blessings of their benign Swamiji. Anyone who reads Śrīla Prabhupāda's clear translations and commentaries of well-known Sanskrit and Bengali literature can understand his secret of success. I do not think such accurate scholarly and clear expositions of Vedic culture can be found in English elsewhere. His Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publishing house has made sure that the immortal words of our classics have been presented in first-class style. Among the BBT publications, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta, comprising an encyclopedia of Vedic knowledge, are especially notable. I have examined volumes of these sets and recommend these sets not only for our municipal corporation libraries and municipal-funded libraries, but for all libraries of the world...' "

Prabhupāda: They are approaching municipal libraries?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. " 'But for all libraries of the world, wherever people have a sincere interest to go into the depths of Vedic philosophy.' Signed Murali S. Deora, Mayor of Bombay."

Prabhupāda: Very good.

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Hamsaduta -- Vrindaban 15 August, 1967:

Now as to what you should do: there are a number of courses of action open to you. First of all, you are a family man, and usually at this point a man must think about providing for his wife and child. So if you like you can take a job in N.Y. or elsewhere and settle as an ordinary householder, like Rupanuga and others; or, if you prefer, you can continue to work within the Temple, either at Montreal or wherever there is sufficient space to accommodate you. But you must think of your health. I had already noticed a deterioration when I was in N.Y., and now you say it has gotten worse. That is not good, and you must correct it. So do the needful. Above all don't be worried. Krishna will help you. If it is necessary to go to work in order to maintain you wife and family nicely, Krishna will give you all support necessary.

Letter to Rupanuga -- Vrindaban 9 September, 1967:

So far Eric is concerned, he is developing K.C. from very childhood, and it is a great opportunity on a human being. I think his father has got a special duty to protect this child in his K.C.; The mother has also similar responsibility, so either your wife or yourself must take care of the good child. If you wife takes charge of him, then you become completely free personally, and you can live in the temple with other brahmacharies, either in N.Y. or elsewhere as you think best. If however, your wife leaves the child with you, then you can take care of him; that will be nice. But I think it is very difficult, because he is not sufficiently grown up. Anyway, both your wife and yourself cannot think of marrying again; that is not my advice. Even if your wife decides to marry again, for your part you should forget it; and if by the Grace of Krishna you can live peacefully without any wife, completely devoted to K.C., that will be the best part of your life. You can love and put all your affection to the child, and try to make him fully K.C.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Brahmananda -- San Francisco 23 March, 1969:

Anyway, please think over what is to be done with Pradyumna. I have written also to Hamsaduta about the Sankirtana party, and I think our books, paintings, and the Sankirtana party can give us enormous help if we can organize it very nicely. I want therefore a permanent residential quarter at New York, so that my personal supervision of these things may go on. For the present, I would like to stay in my apartment at 26 Second Avenue, if cooking for the Temple can be arranged elsewhere. If it is silent and solitary, I feel pleasure to live there, better than elsewhere. I shall prepare to start for N.Y. sometimes by the 10th-15th of April. I think by that time the atmosphere in N.Y. will be warm, and I will feel comfortable.

Letter to Nandarani, Dayananda -- San Francisco 29 March, 1968:

I am very glad that you have invited me to Florida prior to my going to Bahamas. So far we have not received any letter from Bahamas, so my Florida program for the time being, is suspended. If I go however, to the Bahamas, in the meantime certainly I shall go to your place, and I shall inform you beforehand. But shortly I am visiting New York, and from there I shall go to Boston, then I may go to Montreal; this is the present program. But at the same time, I am seeking a place which will be both conducive to my health and comfortable. I understand that Florida is just prototype of Indian climate, like Bombay or elsewhere there. And I shall go, once, just to see how does it suit me. And from New York, it is nearer than San Francisco.

Letter to Sivananda -- New York 7 September, 1968:

I also had a letter from the Finnish boy sent by you and it appears that he is enthusiastic. So you can also get some cooperation. On the whole, it is my desire that you establish one center immediately in Berlin. Don't go elsewhere for the present. Later one we can try to open centers in Zurich or Amsterdam or Stockholm as Krishna will desire. You will be pleased to know that Syamasundara with wife and child has already entered London with 6 month visa, and is to be followed by Mukunda and others, very soon.

Letter to Brahmananda -- Los Angeles 16 November, 1968:

Regarding Dai Nippon publication, I think if we disregard them and print Teachings of Lord Caitanya at this mature moment, it will not be very much to our own good credit. They have advanced so much already and they have invested money to some extent, and if we stop at this moment, this will not be very good for us. They have got good regard for us and we must maintain this position. The best thing is therefore that you send them an urgent telegram that we must get the books by the end of this month, and otherwise we will arrange for printing elsewhere. So we must give them a notice to warn them before we take up the work for printing ourselves.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Tamala Krsna, Visnujana -- Hawaii 15 March, 1969:

Regarding the mangos: Govinda dasi misled me—the mangos are not yet ripened. There are many mango trees, but the fruit will not be ripened until late May or June. So for now there is no abundant supply of nice mangos. So I shall soon be returning to the mainland for my engagements in New York, in Boston, and elsewhere.

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Los Angeles 19 August, 1969:

P.S. Tell Brahmananda that press __ at New Vrindaban is most impractical at the present moment, because there is transport difficulty. For the time being first of all organize the Boston center very nicely & then we shall divert our attention elsewhere. We cannot diffuse our attention in many things all at a time.

Letter to Brahmananda -- Hamburg 9 September, 1969:

We shall fully utilize the press facilities in various ways. My suggestion to meet the business men is to convince responsible men of your country to understand the importance of this Krishna Consciousness Movement and how we are molding the character of younger generation by giving them peaceful home, philosophy of life, artistic sense, musical entertainment, nutritious foods: and above all these, we are giving them spiritual enlightenment, which is never to be found elsewhere throughout the whole world. Every gentleman in your country is anxious about their children, and gradually if the richer section of the people or the government cooperates with us, we can expand this movement for total welfare of the younger generation. This calculation is only one side of the picture: The other side of the picture means the solution of the eternal problem. Even though people in general may not be able to understand it, the fact is there. So in winter season this propaganda may be done. Some very responsible man may be selected to preside over a meeting, either in the temple or in some rented private hall, if the meeting is to be very big. In this way we can try to invite the so-called important people of the society and try to convince them about the importance of this movement.

Letter to Jayapataka -- Tittenhurst Park, Tittenhurst House Ascot, Berkshire, England October 13, 1969:

If there is difficulty keeping the Vyas Asana as it is in the picture, then keep it where it is, and use the entire back wall for Lord Jagannath and Radha-Krishna , as per design in the picture. Regarding my meeting with Allen Ginsberg, don’t bother with this now. I wont be there while he is there, so there is no need of arranging for such engagement. Regarding Dyal Nitai, he was not fixed up from the very beginning, so let him try his luck elsewhere if he wishes. But if he has little bit of Krishna Consciousness he cannot cope with any one else. That is a fact. But if he is not pure from the very beginning, then he may slip away. But from the very beginning he had tendencies like that, so even if he came back don’t rely on him, neither give him any responsible work. The tests you have sent to me are nice, and the Hare Krishna Mantra leaflet is also nice. The only thing is that on the leaflet the type is very small, so people may have trouble to read it. I thing you may send one copy to Woomapati, because he may like to have some for his Paris center. I have received one letter from Janardan a few days ago, and he is coming to see me here.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Himavati, Hamsaduta -- Los Angeles 13 June, 1970:

Regarding Lord Jagannatha, it is alright to install Him as you propose with fire ceremony. Bath Him with water and milk mixed and scented, accompanied by chanting Hare Krsna Mantra. Regarding the picture of Radha Krsna in Vrndavana, if it is a nice picture, then it can be hung elsewhere on the wall, and the backdrop to the Deities' Throne may be painted simply Vrndavana woods—that will be nice.

I hope Vasudeva is painting very nicely. So he should be encouraged to paint the Pancatattva pictures and Acarya pictures; they will be required in our different centers. In Australia they have requested such pictures, so ask Vasudeva to paint and send them there—this is his first assignment. It does not matter if they are a little crude, but he will improve with practice.

Letter to Krsna dasa -- Los Angeles 25 July, 1970:

I am so glad that you are at last happily married. Now utilize this nice opportunity of working combinedly in the service of the Lord. You both have all my blessings for working on in spreading Krsna consciousness movement to the German people and elsewhere in European countries. I think your wife will be of great assistance because she is a fluent linguist. I have given her the spiritual name of Indrani devi Dasi.

Letter to MacMillan Company -- Los Angeles 5 August, 1970:

I should very much appreciate knowing what your intentions are regarding this matter. If MacMillan does not desire to publish this expanded version, then I will have it published elsewhere immediately.

Letter to Damodara -- Calcutta, India 28 September, 1970:

Your program seems very nice. Your are now six strong devotees, so work together very diligently for the spreading of Krsna Consciousness Movement. Your report of present improvements in the temple and Sankirtana Party and preaching trips to the university campuses is very nice. You are a very intelligent devotee of Lord Krsna and if you turn over your intelligence to Him, He will bestow upon you more and more intelligence how to serve the Spiritual Master and Krsna in full Krsna Consciousness. That is the perfection of your life. So please use your good intelligence for serving Krsna only and do not be misled to divert your attention elsewhere.

Letter to Kulasekhara -- Bombay 16 November, 1970:

Regarding the recent upheavals in our Society, that business is finished, now we must all concentrate very carefully on the simple execution of our duty following the principles of regulation very strictly in our daily life. If you remain pure by following the instructions of your Spiritual Master there is no chance for maya to enter into the program. So I do not think you will find any more these politics at our Boston center or elsewhere. So please go there and help print our Society's literature, this is a great opportunity for rendering service to Krsna and the humanity at large.

Letter to Rsabhadeva -- Bombay 16 November, 1970:

Now you are placed in a responsible post, so I may request you to very carefully execute the regular program as you have learned it in Los Angeles. If the regulative principles are strictly followed there is no chance of maya's dangerous influence to come in and cause some havoc. Maya is always peeping, ready to take advantage of our any lapse from devotional standard, so everyone should be continuously engaged in either chanting, studying or working and preaching. This full schedule will save you from engagement elsewhere. Maya and Krsna are always side by side. Either one is serving Krsna or he is serving Maya. Please manage the affairs of your temple in close cooperation with Karandhara and your Godbrothers and Krsna will give you the good intelligence to progress nicely.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Bali-mardana -- Bombay April 16, 1971:

If you like, you can send the Chinese boy here for being trained up. I have no objection. So far as Upendra coming to India, when there is a possibility of staying there, he should not come. I never advised Tamala Krsna to tell him to come. Yes, Indonesia will be a very nice center for propagating Krsna Consciousness in that part of the world. And don't mind about Singapore. If we can get firmly established in Kuala Lumpur, that will be best. Yes, by all means try to get registered there, as we have done elsewhere.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Gurudasa -- Los Angeles 26 May, 1972:

So far your question regarding women, I have always accepted the service of women without any discrimination, so I have no objection if Yamuna devi contributes her ideas on this construction project. Nothing should be done without group consultation. Our work in Vrindaban and elsewhere should be encouraged by good consultation. One thing is, kindly arrange for the tube well as quickly as possible, there must be sufficient water supply installed immediately. This is very important item.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Sri Govinda -- Los Angeles 25 April, 1973:

Your paper also I like very much. It is very nicely done. But, as we have the Back to Godhead paper,* if the men can be used elsewhere in pushing on this movement there is no harm. I want that all you boys use your American intelligence cooperatively in spreading this Sankirtana movement. You are doing solid work in Chicago area and I thank you very much for assisting me in this way.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Saurabha -- Bombay 6 April, 1974:

As for the shortage of coolies, our men can do this job. Any man can work as a cooly, so our men should join. We shall also send men from here and elsewhere so you may have 10 or 20 men. Cooly means non expert, and so many of our men are non expert so they may join and work as coolies.

If you are collecting money from Mr. Bajoria or any life members take it and send it to the construction fund at New Delhi, in the Punjab National Bank. As far as Mr. Somani, let him come here and I will be very glad to receive him. If he can supply us paper we can start a Back to Godhead magazine in Hindi and Gujarati.

Letter to Trista Hubbarth -- Bombay 3 May, 1975:

They all confirm that Krsna is the supreme truth, the Personality of Godhead. Although this is plainly described throughout the Vedas, you will not find it in the teachings of the so called swamis and yogis who are teaching nowadays. Therefore you have intelligently discovered that in my Bhagavad-gita the approach is very different from what you have found elsewhere. That is because I am not trying to avoid Krsna or give some misinterpretation, but I have accepted the actual Bhagavad-gita, wherein Krsna says, Mattah parataram nanyat (BG 7.7), there is no higher than Me. Nowadays so called gurus are promising us that we ourselves can become equal to God or that God is impersonal, or that everyone is God, but nowhere is this stated in the Bhagavad-gita or any other Vedic literature, nor is it taught by any of the great spiritual masters above mentioned.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Sri Ram Kumar:

I am in due receipt of your nice letter and am very pleased to read the contents. It is rare that an important man like yourself understands the prime importance of the Krishna consciousness movement. In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Sri Krishna says that it is the specific duty of the leaders of society to give an example of Krishna consciousness so that the common people will follow, yad yad arcarati srethas (BG 3.21). Elsewhere in Bhagavad-gita the Lord says that it is the leaders of the society who can understand rightly this transcendental knowledge; imam rajaso vidhuh.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Vasudeva:

In case you do not like this arrangement then you may keep the temple as your private property and as my disciple I will give you guidance. But you may not use the ISKCON name to collect funds or to take loans. In this connection until this matter is resolved no loan may be taken from the bank or elsewhere and all collections in the name of ISKCON, must stop. If you desire to keep the temple as private property then Upendra das may return to Hawaii and ISKCON Fiji may be dissolved. If you want to consider this project as an ISKCON project then you must abide by the orders and direction of the GBC, which you do not like to do. Now whatever you like let me know.