French (Conversations 1974 - 1975)

Expressions researched:
"french" |"frenchman" |"frenchmen" |"frenchwoman"

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 20, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, no. When they... I know that Allen Ginsberg. He learned this...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, in India.

Prabhupāda: But he's a great poet. He learned this gañjā smoking from India.

Dr. Patel: The English boys, the French boys, the Germans, all of them have started in the... They don't come here as hippies. This is an international disease.

Prabhupāda: They learned from America. That's a fact. The hippie movement started from America.

Dr. Patel: Now, hippie movement started from America. That means they started first. Not after coming to India...

Prabhupāda: But they learned it from India.

Room Conversation with Richard Webster, chairman, Societa Filosofica Italiana -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: Yes, naturally. If this man is fed up with this industry, he can go back to village and produce his own food. But he is attached to this industrial activity because he is thinking that "We are getting more money for wine and woman and meat. Let me enjoy." That is the perfect, imp... But if he chants Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, his consciousness will be purified and he will be made not interested this kind of work. He will go back to village and produce food. This is French?

Atreya Ṛṣi: No. It is new, 62 the new American. (BTG?)

Yogeśvara: This was your idea, to put the temple buildings on the magazine. Jayādvaita wrote me about that.

Prabhupāda: Very good picture, encouraging, that so many devotees in one center. It is very much pleasing to me. I started single-handed.

Yogeśvara: 1944.

Prabhupāda: No, no, no, not '44, '66. '44, of course, that was idea, plans, Back to Godhead started, '44.

Yogeśvara: Looks like it will be heavy competition for the next French issue. Looks like strong competition for the next French issue.

Room Conversation with Richard Webster, chairman, Societa Filosofica Italiana -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: Yes. (chuckles) Very good. The pictures are very nice.

Yogeśvara: That was in Watford.

Prabhupāda: It is... Every time it is improving. That is Kṛṣṇa's grace.

Yogeśvara: I think they are getting some ideas from our French magazine. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: You are now born. You are not mature to take ideas from you. (laughter) (end)

Room Conversation with Catholic Cardinal and Secretary to the Pope -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: Yes, kindly pray to God.

Cardinal Pignedoli: Thank you for your kindness, for coming, and if sometimes you come to Rome, don't forget this. This is a very difficult place to find out. Now you know it. You have been here. With Monsignor Verrozano. That's nice. I will leave now for Africa, Bamako, Mali, for a meeting with Moslems. Bamako, be there for a few days, Bamako, Freetown, Bathurst, Conakry these cities of West Africa, French-speaking Africa.

Dhanañjaya: Some of our devotees are going to Lagos.

Cardinal Pignedoli: Ah, Lagos. Ah yeah. You are going, also you?

Dhanañjaya: No, not me. My godbrothers...

Cardinal Pignedoli: I have been there for three years, in Lagos, a big city. The majority are Moslems, sixty percent. And others are Christians or local religions. They are deeply religious people in Nigeria. Deeply religious. All believers, they say. Thank you. I am so happy. (end)

Morning Walk -- May 29, 1974, Rome:

Satsvarūpa: Prabhupāda, there was a French philosopher, Voltaire. He said you should not simply criticize negatively, because this is the best of all the possible worlds there is. This is all we have. So they would criticize that our hope in the spiritual world is utopian. Better turn to cultivate the material world as best you can.

Prabhupāda: No, material world we can see that it is useless. Everyone sees. That I am giving, this example. Before, the Romans, they constructed this big, big building. Now what is the value of that? It has no value. Simply it is kept as sentiment, relics. That's all. So this will be also the same thing. So where is the utility? Spiritual, apart from spiritual, what is the value of your material activity? It is practical. Everyone can see. If one comes to Rome, they can see that these big, big buildings, they were very nice building at that time, very wonderful building, but what is the value of it now? Anyone can see. Any sane man can see. So why should we waste our energy in that way? If there is any valuable work, let us see. That is intelligence. To make another heaps of relics, is that very good sense? Nobody will go there even to urine or pass stool.

Morning Walk -- June 2, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: ...vayasa-tīrtham. And the swan is considered to be the highest of the birds. Therefore it is called paramahaṁsa. Example is given to the haṁsa. Haṁsa means swan. Supreme haṁsa... French artists are famous all over the world. What is that famous artist's name?

Yogeśvara: Claude Monet?

Bhagavān: Picasso.

Yogeśvara: No, he's Spanish.

Devotee: Leonardo da Vinci.

Yogeśvara: He's Italian.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is said that he was very poor man. So he painted in a fruitshop grapes.

Devotees: Cezanne.

Prabhupāda: Ah. So the crows came to pick up the grapes, and the king was passing, he picked up, "Oh, who is that artist?" He became rich man in association. No, I have seen in that hall. So first-class picture. I have never seen such nice picture. Exactly life.

Morning Walk -- June 2, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: (laughing) First of all, they were importing European masters, and now they are importing dogs. Now they will have to import European brāhmaṇas. Yes. Because in India all the brāhmaṇas are now finished. So for their ritualistic ceremony they will have to import from Europe, America. Long ago... Long ago, not long ago, about four, five years ago, I wrote this fact. (break) ...the communists, as they making, that the state is the proprietor of everything, so what is the harm of accepting God as the proprietor of everything? What is the harm? He is giving up his own right. The state is the proprietor. So why not make "God is the proprietor"? What is the harm? And actually, God is the proprietor. Now, this lake, it is not made by the state. It is made by God. They are claiming this is Swiss lake. What is that?

Yogeśvara: Geneva lake.

Prabhupāda: Geneva lake. And a few steps forward, a French lake. So either to the French or Geneva, it does not belong. It belongs to God. He's a fool. Why don't you say, "God's lake"?

Yogeśvara: We could propose them that they change the name, but I think they might be afraid it would drive away the tourists.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam... (CC Adi 17.21). (end)

Room Conversation with Prof. Regamay, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Lausanne -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: Nirguṇa-brahman... Just like... Here we have got this example. This is, what is called, New Zealand lake, and a few step after...,

Guru-gaurāṅga: Geneva Lake.

Prabhupāda: Geneva Lake. And few step after French lake.

Yogeśvara: Because French is a border of Geneva lake also. Therefore sometimes it's considered French.

Prabhupāda: So the sky is one. Sky is one. So in the sky, in the atmosphere, where God is forgotten, that is called material sky. And the sky where God is not forgotten, that is spiritual sky. Just like the sky is one, and the sun is one. But when your eyes are covered by cloud, you say the cloudy sky. The sky is not cloudy. The sky is one, it is always clear. But some portion of the sky there is cloud, and you say, "This is cloudy." (break) Similarly, materialism means when you forget Kṛṣṇa, that is material. And when you know Kṛṣṇa and act for Kṛṣṇa, that is spiritual.

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

Robert Gouiran: May I... I agree completely because I felt that when I could get a contact with the spiritual plane, I felt the protection. I felt that nothing could happen to me, not happen. As long as I was in touch...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Robert Gouiran: ...with this plane, nothing could happen because I felt I was in harmony. And when I went back, I took the plane, exactly as you say, at Colombo, I went by Colombo, and there was a storm, terrible storm when the plane took off, and the lady beside me was very frightened, and I was so enlightened at the time that I told her, "We are protected. I am protected. So if you are beside me you are also protected. So nothing could happen." And it was an extraordinary feeling. In French we call that providence. You know that?

Prabhupāda: Providence? Yes. That... When we are in danger, we remember the providence, but when we are happy we forget providence. (laughter)

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Priest: Yes. This is why I am coming,

Bhagavān: And no one is from India.

Priest: I could see, because in India you don't find that.

Jyotirmayī: Mr. Chenique(?) wanted to ask you some questions. (indistinct) French and I can translate.

Mr. Chenique: (French)

Jyotirmayī: He is asking what do you think about Herbert, Mr. Herbert that you met in Geneva, because he has been following his teaching in the last three days, and he would like to know what you think about what he is teaching.

Bhagavān: Do you remember this gentleman?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Bhagavān: He was the one who wrote that book.

Prabhupāda: Herbert?

Bhagavān: Yes, that's right.

Prabhupāda: Mr. Herbert?

Bhagavān: Yes. He's asking your opinion of him.

Prabhupāda: Yes, he is a scholar, but he is impersonalist.

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: But we are not concerned with the dress, we are concerned with the advancement of spiritual understanding, that's all.

Yogeśvara: Jyotirmayī, is this the guest that was scheduled to come at seven o'clock?

Jyotirmayī: No, he's not here yet (indistinct).

Priest: Have you got any French literature of conception (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.

Bhagavān: French literature. He's asking for French literature.

Jyotirmayī: He translated the Tukārāma in French.

Prabhupāda: Tukārāma. Tukārāma is great Vaiṣṇava devotee of Maharastra. His movement was saṅkīrtana movement.

Devotee: He was the one who was initiated by Lord Caitanya?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Paramahaṁsa: So we should be able to see the quality of man we are preaching to.

Prabhupāda: Yes, you have to make him intelligent. Everyone is fool, mūḍha. Everyone within this material world is supposed to be a fool. Because everyone is thinking, "I am this body." So he's fool. "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am German," "I am Frenchman," "I am this," "I am that." What is the difference? A cat is thinking, "I'm cat." A dog is thinking, "I am dog." So if somebody thinks that, in relationship with the body, "I am Frenchman," "I am Englishman," "I am...", then where is the difference between the cat and the dog? He's thinking himself as this body. Therefore everyone is thinking, at least in this modern world, the so-called nationalism, everyone is thinking, "I am Englishman," "I am Frenchman," "I am Indian," "I am this," "black," "white." So everyone is fool. Is it not? Yes. He's thinking in a way what he is not. Therefore he's a fool. All these big, big political leaders, Napoleon, Hitler, Churchill, and in Europe , they fought with this consciousness, "I am Englishman," "I am German," "I am Frenchman." That's all. Even the big, big leaders, they are fools. And what to speak of common men?

Yogeśvara: Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: So use this. This is one of the business. Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). We don't stop trade. We don't stop food, producing food grains. But we want to stop these killing houses. It is very, very sinful. Therefore in Europe, so many wars. Every ten years, fifteen years, there is a big war and wholesale slaughter of the whole human kind. And these rascals, they do not see it. The reaction must be there. You are killing innocent cows and animals. Nature will take revenge. Wait for that. As soon as the time is ripe, the nature will gather all these rascals, and club, slaughter them. Finished. They will fight amongst themselves, Protestant and Catholic, Russian and France, and France and Germany. This is going on. Why? This is the nature's law. Tit for tat. You have killed. Now you become killed. Amongst yourselves. They are being sent to the slaughterhouse. And here, you'll create slaughterhouse, "Dum! dum!" and killed, be killed. You know. You showed me?

Bhagavān: Yeah, French guillotine.

Prabhupāda: You see. As soon as there is bell, the Roman Catholics began to kill the Protestants. So this is nature's law. You don't require to be sent to the slaughterhouse. You'll make your slaughterhouse at home. You'll kill your own child. Abortion. This is nature's law. What are these children being killed? They are these meat-eaters. They enjoyed. Now they are being killed by the mother. They do not know how nature is working. You must be killed. If you kill, you must be killed. That I've discussed in this now Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

Room Conversation with Monsieur Mesman, Chief of Law House of Paris -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Yogeśvara: He says, unfortunately, he doesn't read English.

Prabhupāda: Here is French. French language. (French)

Bhagavān: We have practical political philosophy.

Yogeśvara: He asks what are our political principles in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Do we have a program?

Prabhupāda: Our... We have not only political program, but we have got political, and economical, intellectual, and ordinary. We think... Just like in your body, there are four divisions: the head, the arms, the belly and the leg. So this is complete. Head is the most important division. If you cut your head, then everything finished. Therefore head must be there. Head means first-class intelligent men. And their qualification is stated... Find out, śamo damas titikṣā.

Room Conversation with Monsieur Mesman, Chief of Law House of Paris -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Yogeśvara: Have we interested any of the leading French citizens in our movement?

Prabhupāda: That I do not know, but many French men came to see me, and...

Yogeśvara: Last year, at Hotel De Ville.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Yogeśvara: Last year, you were received by the Mayor at Hotel De Ville.

Prabhupāda: No, but in America we have reception from highly scholarly people, university heads, like that. Our books are being read in universities, colleges, and they're accepted in big, big libraries. Not only accepted what is published, but they have forward order for all the publications that will come. Yes? Hmmm. (someone comes in with a plate of prasādam)

Pṛthu-putra: (explains about prasādam)

Prabhupāda: They have learned this preparation, these girls. We have taught them. We are strictly vegetarian. From grains, from milk and sugar, and just two three, things, we require, and we can prepare thousands of preparations out of that. From milk and grains and sugar... And? What else?

Pṛthu-putra: Fruit, vegetables.

Bhagavān: Fruits.

Room Conversation with Monsieur Mesman, Chief of Law House of Paris -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Pṛthu-putra: He says there is a French...

Yogeśvara: Saying.

Pṛthu-putra: A French saying that says, "We don't have to kill the cow's milk."

Yogeśvara: The cow who gives milk.

Pṛthu-putra: The cow who gives milk.

Yogeśvara: One should not kill... That's a French saying.

Prabhupāda: Ah!

Yogeśvara: That one should not kill the cow that gives milk.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. Very good philosophy. Why don't you follow?

Yogeśvara: It's a proverb.

Pṛthu-putra: Proverb.

Prabhupāda: Problem?

Yogeśvara: Proverb.

Morning Walk -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: That is called bhūtejya. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā as worshiping the material elements. That's all. Here in western countries, that is the prominent thing, bhūtejya. (pause) What is the other side? Lion? (pause, break) They cover with some cloth, some loose cloth. Is it not?

Bhagavān: Yes.

Prabhupāda: This is French art, to make naked?

Devotee: Yes.

Bhagavān: Little more advanced.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes. Therefore nowadays students are walking naked in America. Advanced, more advanced.

Bhagavān: There was one picture in the paper of one student running to receive his diploma without any clothes on. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Just see how much rascal they are becoming. (to devotee:) Take care of your son. It is... Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa...

Paramahaṁsa: If the material creation is created by Kṛṣṇa, then man cannot destroy it although they are thinking that if they have a nuclear war, then they will destroy the earth.

Prabhupāda: What they will destroy?

Paramahaṁsa: They're thinking the earth will just blow up with all the atomic bombs.

Room Conversation with M. Lallier, noted French Poet -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Yogeśvara: You tell Prabhupāda how he's (M. Lallier) helping with the translation work.

Pṛthu Putra: After we translate your books in French, he reads the copies over, and he arranges the style to make it flow and he corrects the errors, grammatical errors.

Prabhupāda: Hm. Grammatical errors is different, but philosophical...

Bhagavān: No, not philosophy.

Pṛthu Putra: Not philosophy. (pause) He's reading your books.

Prabhupāda: So you're understanding.

M. Lallier: Not always, and I simply... It's difficult to understand.

Bhagavān: It's logical.

M. Lallier: Yes, I think it's difficult because I am not pure, not difficult because...

Bhagavān: The philosophy. The philosophy is not difficult.

Yogeśvara: He's suggesting that, perhaps, the difficulty he is having in understanding your books is that he is not yet pure.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that may be. Bhakti line is for the purest. I was explaining this morning. Purification. Tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). Nirmalam means pure. The more you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, you become pure.

Room Conversation with Roger Maria leading writer of communist literature -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Pṛthu Putra: He says we can't say... His point is we can't say something. There is so many aspects of religion. There is the bhakti-yoga, by love and by heart. There is the karma-yoga, by action. There's jñāna-yoga, by knowledge. He says if in western countries, we propagate bhakti-yoga, we take the risk of using bhakti-yoga like a drug or something like this, if you are dreaming or something like that.

Prabhupāda: (laughing) Bhakti-yoga by drugs?

Pṛthu Putra: He says, he made the statement...

Prabhupāda: That is...

Pṛthu Putra: ...according to the state of the French people, in right now, in this time.

Morning Walk -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Paramahaṁsa: Today, the French people collect millions of dollars every year from the Americans to keep Versailles beautiful.

Prabhupāda: American tourists pay.

Paramahaṁsa: Yes, many hundreds and thousands of American tourists come there every year just to see this opulence.

Yogeśvara: The Americans appreciate opulence. That's why we joined your movement.

Prabhupāda: (Chuckles) Yes. Catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna. So because in your previous life, you had been pious, you have got your life in America, and now utilize it. Certainly, I, several times I have told that your previous life, you were pious. There is no doubt about it. And now utilize that opportunity. You have got opulence. You have got money. You have got intelligence. Utilize it for Kṛṣṇa. Then it is successful. And Kṛṣṇa has also come. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has come to your country. So utilize it properly.

Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Professor La Combe: Yes. Although, of course, I try... I have written another book on Śaṅkara and Rāmānuja compared, you see.

Prabhupāda: I see.

Professor La Combe: The notions of Brahman and ātman both in Śaṅkara and Rāmānuja. That one is not of out of print. It is called in French L'Absolute selons les Vedānta.

Prabhupāda: But Śaṅkarācārya has accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ devakī-putraḥ. He has written like that in his comment on Bhagavad-gītā.

Professor La Combe: Bhagavad-gītā, yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So... And all the ācāryas, Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, they accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So practically, amongst the authorities, Indian ācāryas, everyone accepts Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Rāmānujācārya has written his bhāṣya on Bhagavad-gītā.

Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Professor La Combe: Thank you very much.

Prabhupāda: Jaya Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break)

Yogeśvara: ...on a book. It is accepted as being authentic. All the universities use his texts. And he has a big office in the Sorbonne. The Sorbonne is the most famous French University.

Prabhupāda: He is a big man.

Bhagavān: Actually, it's not famous. It's infamous.

Prabhupāda: No, why infamous. They are famous. Why do you say infamous?

Bhagavān: Well, I thought fame is to be referred to for devotee.

Prabhupāda: That is your sentiment, but practical world, he is a scholar, he is a head man of a department, a university. He must be famous.

Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Yes, he took with him three women. One of them was Sister Nivedita.

Devotee: Also you told us in India about Aurobindo and Ramakrishna. Aurobindo went also. Aurobindo, when that French woman came, he also fell to her, but just to cover it up he has called her "Mother" because in India, when you call someone "Mother..."

Prabhupāda: No, everyone knows he is mother and he is father.

Devotee: Yeah, right. And they don't think... There is no question of sex. When they think of mother and father, they don't think of these things. Also with Ramakrishna. He also had his divine mother. You told us a story in Calcutta that he was very debauched. In a village he used to chase the young women. And his brother actually made him famous.

Prabhupāda: It is very difficult to, not to be victimized by woman. It is very difficult.

Yogeśvara: Unless you are victimized by Kṛṣṇa first.

Prabhupāda: Yes. One who is, I means, what is called, captivated by the beauty of Kṛṣṇa, then he is not victimized.

Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Yes. One who is, I means, what is called, captivated by the beauty of Kṛṣṇa, then he is not victimized.

yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravinde

nava-nava-rasa-dhāmany udyataṁ rantum āsīt

tad-avadhi bata nārī-saṅgame smaryamāne

bhavati mukha-vikāraḥ suṣṭhu niṣṭhīvanaṁ ca

Madana-mohana. Madana-dāhana and Madana-mohana. Unless one is captivated by the beauty of Kṛṣṇa he will be troubled by the arrows of the Cupid. Madana-dāhana. The Cupid is known. He has got arrow. If it pierces, then he becomes victim.

Yogeśvara: You didn't find it necessary to enter into any kind of discussion with this French Professor just now. There was no real discussion of philosophy. I was wondering why that didn't happen.

Prabhupāda: He did not raise any question. And he is simply translator. He has no philosophy. I asked him "Which philosophy you are...?" "So I make comparative study." I think he did not like to enter into philosophical... Is it not?

Devotee: Most of these gentlemen who come here, when they see you and begin talking with you, like you said, they show their ignorance when they begin to speak. So they prefer not to speak. They always make some excuse that they have an appointment because they know that if they speak, they will be in real trouble.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Tāvac ca śobhate mūrkhaḥ yāvat kiñcin na bhāṣate (?): "A foolish man is very nice as long as he does not speak. As soon as he will speak, his foolishness will be captured." So therefore, sometimes they do not like to talk. Remain as a nice man, (laughs) without being discovered.

Room Conversation with Mr. Tran-van-Kha, and President & Members of the Society of Buddhists in France -- June 15, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Yoga, this yoga system means controlling the mind. But 5,000 years ago a person like Arjuna, who had his friend Kṛṣṇa, he is saying that it is not possible for him. And at the present moment people are so degraded—not in the position of Arjuna—how they can get success? He is not ordinary man. Such a great warrior belonged to the royal family, and so qualified that he could talk with Kṛṣṇa personally, he says that it is not possible. So, do you think that you are..., become more than Arjuna that you can get success?

Pṛthu Putra: Translating into French.

Prabhupāda: Read this second verse, cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi balavad dṛḍham.

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

Prabhupāda: Oh, you live in India?

Madame Siaude: Yeah, in the French part of, far eastern state, in Pondicherry.

Prabhupāda: Pondicherry?

Madame Siaude: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Oh, Aurobindo's place.

Madame Siaude: Yes, I have been there a long time.

Jyotirmayī: And she was studying with M. Laconde, this gentleman who came yesterday. She's very much studying Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya...

Prabhupāda: Hm. Vaiṣṇava philosophy.

Jyotirmayī: Vaiṣṇava philosophy. And we'd like to invite also M. Misraki. He's a compositor of music, but he also wrote book on life after death and many different things. So he was interested to come also. So they all came together.

Prabhupāda: So they are all nice gentlemen and ladies.

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

Prabhupāda: Hm. Vaiṣṇava philosophy.

Jyotirmayī: Vaiṣṇava philosophy. And we'd like to invite also M. Misraki. He's a compositor of music, but he also wrote book on life after death and many different things. So he was interested to come also. So they all came together.

Prabhupāda: So they are all nice gentlemen and ladies. It is...

Jyotirmayī: And very interesting too, that the first question, one of the first questions that Pere Fransad asked me, was: "Do you believe in love of God, and that God is a person? Some people say that God is not a person, and we say God is a person."

Bhagavān: So you can translate in French so that they can understand.

Prabhupāda: At least Christians cannot believe in impersonal God.

Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Prof. Pater Porsch: (indistinct) Chinese.

Prabhupāda: Japanese also. And Hindi.

Devotee: Italian, French. Hindi also we have. Bengali, Gujarati.

Prof. Pater Porsch: But I also noticed on the faces of the devotees downstairs that many or several faces were, we would say in the West, sublimated, that the facial features showed that a certain form of sublimation had taken place. (German)

Prabhupāda: Even children are learning how to dance, how to offer obeisances, how to chant, how to clap. They are also learning, small children.

Prof. Pater Porsch: And I think that it comes at the right time so that people may not be misled into juvenile delinquency, all of those "easy riders" and motorcycles and adolescent criminality. They find creative outlets for their energies also as a by-product.

Prabhupāda: No. We are teaching... Of course, we do not defy this modern advance of material civil... We don't say that. But this is our main business, that is, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā, to inquire about the Absolute Truth.

Room Conversation with Pater Emmanuel (A Benedictine Monk) -- June 22, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: Let him... German translation will help you?

Pater Emmanuel: Yes. French, in Hindi also and English I speak, but... (German)

Prabhupāda: You read the purport. (Devotee reads in German)

Pater Emmanuel: Brahman is not Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Brahman. Yes, He is Para-brahman. Para-brahman. Brahman is realized in three angles of vision: impersonal Brahman and localized Brahman, Paramātmā in the heart, and personal Brahman. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Brahman because ultimately God is person. Yes. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. The exact Sanskrit word is vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam (SB 1.2.11). The Absolute Truth is described by the person who knows the Absolute Truth in three ways: brahmeti, the impersonal Brahman, paramātmeti, the localized Paramātmā, and Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the ultimate feature of God, full with all six opulences, the richest, the strongest, the most famous, the most wise, the most renounced and most beautiful. These are the six features of the Personality of Godhead.

Room Conversation -- August 12, 1975, Paris (with French translator):

Prabhupāda: Oh, you are forty-five percent advanced. Let them come forward. Oh, they are chanting. Very good.

Bhagavān: Many young people. You speak Italian. You speak French? English? Habla espanol?

Prabhupāda: Which language?

Devotee (1): Italian.

Prabhupāda: Italian. Ah.

Bhagavān: The Hare Kṛṣṇa, that is universal language everyone understands. You are from Rome?

Guest: Yes.

Bhagavān: We have a temple there.

Guest: Yes, I know. Very good.

Prabhupāda: (aside:) Come on.

Room Conversation -- August 12, 1975, Paris (with French translator):

Bhagavān: Oh, (indistinct) sister. It is Haihaya's wife's sister.

Prabhupāda: Oh. She is French? No.

Bhagavān: No, American.

Prabhupāda: And this boy?

Devotee (1): He's from Morocco.

Prabhupāda: Morocco.

Bhagavān: They speak French?

Devotee (1): Yeah, they all speak French. (break)

Bhagavān: ...that all over the world there are actually devotees of Kṛṣṇa and that they are just waiting for the saṅkīrtana parties to pick them up.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti is there in everywhere.

Room Conversation -- August 12, 1975, Paris (with French translator):

Devotee (1): Many people are very anxious for the French Bhagavad-gītā. We've already received many letters in the mail asking for copies of it.

Devotee (2): One advanced order for Bhagavad-gītā, eighty copies from a book shop.

Prabhupāda: Here?

Devotee (2): In Africa.

Prabhupāda: You can advertise in paper. You will get good orders.

Bhagavān: They have said that this Aurobindo copy, this is almost out of print now.

Devotee (1): There is no edition of Bhagavad-gītā like your edition ever in France. This is the first time.

Prabhupāda: Aurobindo is hodgepodge. It is simply vocabulary. No concrete contribution. Simply words. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). In order to learn the science, one must go to the bona fide guru. Otherwise it is not possible. In the Bhagavad-gītā, find this verse.

tad viddhi praṇipātena

paripraśnena sevayā

upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ

jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

(BG 4.34)

Room Conversation -- August 12, 1975, Paris (with French translator):

Yogeśvara (translating): He said he would be happy if the spiritual master was speaking French because Kṛṣṇa is only speaking French now.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa speaks in all languages, and He speaks so perfectly that everyone thinks that He speaks only in his language. He could speak with the birds even. There is a Sanskrit word, babhudak. This means one who can speak all languages. So it is stated there in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Nectar of Devotion, that on the bank of Yamunā He was one day talking with a bird. Every living being has got a different language.

Yogeśvara (translating): He says but they are a little bit jealous of the Americans who speak English, which is the language that you speak.

Prabhupāda: The America is my fatherland. My motherland is in India, and America is my fatherland.

Bhagavān: We are trying to make one country.

Devotee (3): Śrīla Prabhupāda, when scientists and astrologers are looking into the heavens, sometimes they see what they say to be flying saucers, different flying objects, lights in the sky. Do we have any explanation for this?

Prabhupāda: Everything is flying, all these planets, they are flying.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Yoga Student -- March 14, 1975, Iran:

Atreya Ṛṣi: God, God has many, many names like it says in Koran.

Guest: Yes, but one name in Turkish when you say Tamgri, Tari (?) in Arabic when you say Allah, in French, in English, in Sanskrit. So these are different words.

Prabhupāda: But...

Atreya Ṛṣi: Those are names.

Guest: These different things are created by human beings.

Atreya Ṛṣi: We are talking about one name which is to describe the concept of God. When we are also talking about the name of God. When we are talking about the name of God... In other words, if I don't know who you are, I have to ask somebody, "What is his name?" That is your name.

Guest: But my name is my name in Turkey, in English, in Arabic, in anywhere you go.

Prabhupāda: That's all right, then let the Turkish chant the name of Turkish name.

Morning Walk -- April 19, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Very poor.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All of Europe is poor.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Especially Holland and England. Holland and England and France, there was competition for colonization. The same colonization is there in America, Canada. The Frenchmen and—what is that?

Brahmānanda: The Dutchmen, they went to New York first. The Dutch, they first went to New York.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dhanañjaya: Peter Stuyvesant.

Guru-kṛpa: The Scandinavian countries are not so poor. Denmark, Sweden...

Prabhupāda: They are industrious, and they have got resources.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And they have developed more recently, I think. They were not colonizing.

Prabhupāda: No, the colonizing propaganda was amongst these three nation. France, English...

Dhanañjaya: Spanish and Portuguese. Spanish also.

Prabhupāda: Ah, that side, is, means Western side.

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

Prabhupāda: Prostitute's house.

Brahmānanda: Prostitutes, yes. And in Germany the newspapers gave this very big publicity, that "Just see how France is..." They took the opportunity of criticizing that "Here is the French church." Another big official, he was found naked.

Prabhupāda: And we say, "No prostitution." (break) ...the problems will come, one after another. This is a bad civilization. It is already a dangerous place, material world, and this bad civilization is creating more dangerous problems.

Jayatīrtha: Now everyone is terrified. In New York they published... The police and the fire department published a pamphlet saying that New York is now called "fear city." And they pass them out to the passengers that come in on the airplanes and the buses, saying that "You should be very careful. You should not walk the streets at night and..."

Brahmānanda: Because the New York City is financially bankrupt they are firing so many policemen, firemen,...

Prabhupāda: Ācchā.

Brahmānanda: Yes. So the policemen, in retaliation, they are making propaganda—and actually it's a fact—that "Now New York is very unsafe, and no one should go out on the street after six o'clock."

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Car Conversation -- August 3, 1975, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: And he has come to America. So there was no war between Canadian and American? In the history?

Jagadīśa: Before the countries actually took their present names and boundaries there were some wars between the French and English. The French and the English settled in this area of North America. Sometimes they fought.

Brahmānanda: What percentage of the popu...

Prabhupāda: Formerly Canada was also American?

Jagadīśa: No.

Brahmānanda: What percentage is French in Canada?

Jagadīśa: About 15 to 20%. In the province of Quebec it is 100% French.

Satsvarūpa: There's a fawn, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Satsvarūpa: A baby deer.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Morning Walk -- October 3, 1975, Mauritius:

Cyavana: Now they are also suffering.

Prabhupāda: Eh? That... That must be. They will be suffering more and more. They will be beggars. They have done so much sinful activities for expanding their empire. Now they will have to become beggars. And within two hundred years, everything finished. They started their exploitation from seventeenth, eighteenth century. And in the twentieth century, everything finished. The French people and the English people... This is also one of the examples. Both the nations came here to exploit. That was the competition in... The French people and the English people, they would go for colonization, fight, and establi... America was also that, Canada, everywhere. But because they were their own men, they were given dominion status. Almost free.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Greedy. Very greedy.

Brahmānanda: At one time all of Africa was controlled by the European nations. Completely.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Mainly these French and...

Brahmānanda: French, British, Germans, Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: In South Africa, the British also tried to take over South Africa. There was a war called the Boer War.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- October 5, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: Hindi. (Hindi) You read it thoroughly and you explain it either in English or Hindi, as you think befitting to your friends. So we have got so many literatures in French language. We are also asking some men from Europe. That will create some impression. Yes. White elephant. (laughter) Dancing. Everyone will purchase ticket. Yes. (Hindi) Bring some white elephant. So literature is there. But one thing is that you must be placed in sadācāra, well behaved. So you have to sacrifice, especially your long hair. And if you sacrifice your hair, we can export it and get some money. (laughter) Because in Western countries they want these hairs to make wigs. Yes. So just... (Hindi) As they have been trained up to rise early in the morning, this will give you spiritual strength. If you simply becomes a gramophone speaker, then it will not be effective. Gramophone or tape record speaker, that will not be. You must be live speaker. Your living condition should be spiritually, what is called, surcharged. So that means you must be trained up how to rise early in the morning, take your bath, cleanse yourself, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Then you will be spiritually strong. When you are spiritually strong, if you speak something on spiritual subject matter, then it will be effective. Otherwise it will be just like tape record playing. So this is required. And you should... You are asking something?

Room Conversation -- October 5, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: They can understand?

Guest (1): Yes.

Prabhupāda: Then, English edition we have got. French edition... You can speak in French and explain. He can speak in English.

Guest (1): Yes. We can stay in a village for about seven days or eight days, so that every night, for example, as we do it here, we can do it in a village.

Prabhupāda: So if you can organize like that, then I will come personally. I will go and encourage you.

Guest (1): I can organize it, Swamijī. There are many people who would like to see you, to talk to you, and to... Not especially to you but to all the swamijis.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So if you think so, then I can come back again. I'll come back.

Guest (1): Yes, Swamijī. Do you want me to... I know there is one... Not only one, but if you want me to organize when you come and you would be...

Prabhupāda: Yes. My point is: if necessary, I can also come. I can go into the village. There is no...

Guest (1): If you spent at least one month in these countries, Swamijī, I could...

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Whenever you will say. If you say, I can stay just now one month.

Morning Walk -- November 29, 1975, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Why not Russia?

Harikeśa: Well, China has more facility to grow.

Prabhupāda: Then what is the use of Russian philosophy if he has no facility?

Harikeśa: Well, actually it's not Russian philosophy. Chinese philosophy. I just read a report from French reporters that went into China. They say China is growing...

Prabhupāda: Then it is not accident. There must be some cause. Why do you say accident? Can you say "Accidentally Chinese are better situated"? Why don't you accidentally you become better situated? Then there must be controller.

Harikeśa: Mao Tse Tung.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Harikeśa: Mao Tse Tung.

Prabhupāda: No, whatever it may be, if one is better situated and another is not, there must be some management above that.