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Greatly (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview -- March 9, 1968, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: You can fight against death very nicely, but you cannot stop death. These are the problems. But there is no education in the modern civilization how to stop death, how to stop disease, how to stop old age, how to stop birth, how to attain eternal life, how to attain blissful life. They have no education. But this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, although it appears a new movement in your country, but it is known to the world. But nobody had previously attempted to put these ideas and movement in practical shape. So that I am doing. That I am attempting. And with this mission, I have come to your country with the hope that if the American people take it very seriously, then it will be the greatest contribution to the world. So I have already published this, my magazines and my books, in this connection. So if people take advantage of this movement, try to understand these books, they will be benefited greatly. So that is the basic principle of my teaching. It is the most perfect humanitarian work. Try to understand. We invite anyone. And take it diligently, put your arguments, logic, understanding, and you will find it is sublime. That is the basic principle of my movement.

Morning Walk at Stow Lake -- March 27, 1968, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: Why should you manufacture liquor? Why should you manufacture slaughterhouse? We don't eat meat. Are we dying ninety percent of Indian population, they don't eat meat. They're simply vegetarian. Yes. And you can see how they are healthy. They cannot get sufficient food, that is different thing. That is maladministration. Kṛṣṇa has given sufficient food for all the people of the world. Somewhere the foodstuff is being thrown in the sea, and somewhere people are starving. This is want of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If a man becomes, if the president becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious president, then he'll think "This foodstuff is Kṛṣṇa's. It is not our result. So Kṛṣṇa claims all living entities as His sons. So we are sons of God, and the Indians or other poverty-stricken countries, they are also sons of God. So if we have got enough, why not send there?" Why you are putting the foodstuff, which no human being can produce, you are throwing it in the water. This is lack of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness education is greatly needed for human society. Do you follow, Guru dāsa?

Interview -- September 24, 1968, Seattle:

Prabhupāda: We have many books already published. One, first, is Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. This is published by Macmillan and Company. You can have any number of these books from our temple. And the next book is Teachings of Lord Caitanya. That is also available from our temple. And the next book, in three parts, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So if somebody... These are the, I mean to say, covering of the books. So if somebody carefully reads these books, Kṛṣṇa consciousness science will be understood very easily by him. Besides these books, we have got our monthly magazine, Back to Godhead. So if the students... It is not very costly. The monthly magazine is only 35 cents per copy and the subscription four dollars yearly. And this Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, it is only $2.95. Of course, this Teachings of Lord Caitanya, it is hardbound, it is $5.95. So they will be greatly profited.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk Excerpts -- May 2, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is to be understood. If we understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Absolute Truth, then this is understanding, that either suffering or enjoying, it is all Kṛṣṇa's mercy. There must be some purpose. When Kṛṣṇa puts me into suffering, there must be some purpose. So we should welcome because it is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Tat te 'nukampāṁ susumīkṣamāṇo bhuñjāna evātmā-kṛtaṁ vipākam (SB 10.14.8). (Hindi) (break) "...misdeeds. It is Kṛṣṇa's mercy that He is reforming me, slightly suffering. I would have suffered very greatly on account of my past deeds, but He is kindly accommodating me by giving little suffering. That's all." (break) ...by the wife of Kāliya.

Girirāja: (break) "...that this creature, appearing in the body of a serpent, must have been overburdened with all kinds of sins. Otherwise how could he have the body of a serpent? Your dancing on his hoods reduces all the sinful results of actions caused by his having this body of a serpent."

Room Conversation with Scientists -- July 2, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: But I think there is a book, "Miracles of Milk," written by one American gentleman. He has greatly valued the milk and milk products. Similarly, we Indians, we give very, very importance to milk and milk products.

Dr. Harrap: Yes, I think this is so, has always been so here, but in recent years there has been shown to be a relationship between the cholestrol level in the blood and the ratio between the saturated and polyunsaturated fat in the diet. The lower the level of polyunsaturated fat, the higher the level of cholestrol in the blood. And this has been associated with heart disease. So there is quite a move to, among many in the medical profession to prescribe diets which are low in saturated fats.

Prabhupāda: (aside:) Have you got our picture, Kṛṣṇa stealing butter?

Dr. Harrap: And we are doing some quite interesting work at the dairy research laboratory aimed at making ruminants' milk, cow's milk, much more like human milk in this way by a special feeding techniques to the cows.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk Through the BBT Warehouse -- February 10, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: So they are going or simply stock?

Rāmeśvara: No. It is greatly reduced since they have arrived.

Prabhupāda: So Haṁsadūta, he has to make a go-down like this.

Haṁsadūta: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: Then he'll defeat these charges. Eh? When the nation, German nation, will accept these books, then that will be proper reply, charges.

Rāmeśvara: This forklift lifts these pallets high up to the ceiling.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Morning Walk -- May 9, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Your seeing has no power. This is no argument, "I cannot see." I cannot see the other side. That does not mean there is nothing. This is all rascaldom. He has become authority "I want to see." What you can see? Now this is Indian Ocean. On the other side there is India, and other islands, but you cannot see it. Does it mean there is nothing? So, these are foolish questions. Because they are rascals they put such questions and nonsense. That is the proof that they are rascals. They are simply taking authority his little vision. That's all. What is your vision? Why don't you see what is the other side? But does it mean there is nothing because you cannot see? WHen one says "I cannot see," that means he is a rascal number one. He's believing so much upon his seeing. He does not know that he is a most insignificant person, so there is no value of his seeing. That he does not know. Therefore he is a rascal. Is it not? He's believing his eyes so greatly that "I cannot see." And what is the value of your seeing? What you can see?

Morning Walk -- May 23, 1975, Melbourne:

Śrutakīrti: He's saying people that are suffering very greatly in this life—they have so many mental disorders or physical disorders—they put them in institutions so that no one can see them.

Prabhupāda: No one can see them. That means they are not suffering? (laughter) Just see how foolish persons.

Hari-śauri: Śrīla Prabhupāda, this morning we have seen already a reaction is coming about against the killing of unborn children. There is one big poster that is being put up by a protest group which says, "The Queen Victoria Hospital kills unborn babies. Protest now," like this. So there is, I think, it's the Right to Life Movement in Victoria here that is fighting against this abortion activity.

Prabhupāda: But they are so sinful that they are unable to carry out. Upadeśo hi mūrkhāṇāṁ prakopāya na śāntaye. If there is a serpent, if you advise him, "Please do not kill; be gentleman," will be become? Snake. Snake will kill, unnecessarily bite and kill. Sarpaḥ krūraḥ khalaḥ krūraḥ sarpāt krūrataraḥ khalaḥ:

Morning Walk -- July 6, 1975, Chicago:

Jagadīśa: Because it would greatly facilitate my preaching.

Prabhupāda: You are already preaching.

Jagadīśa: But many of the devotees are not so inclined to listen to a householder, as to a sannyāsī.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Neither to the sannyāsīs. (break) ...this building?

Brahmānanda: It's the univers... It's a theo... (break)

Prabhupāda: Not for the students?

Jagadīśa: That's what they originally were for.

Prabhupāda: Now? (break) Eucalyptus? No.

Morning Walk -- November 13, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: All unfortunate, now they are. They have been so much trained badly. They say frankly, "Oh, this Hare Kṛṣṇa we have seen." In America when they chant... The Americans are chanting on the street, and the Indian students, "Oh, this we have done much. We have nothing to..." Here also they are thinking like that: "What is this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement? Eh? A beggars' movement." śāstra says, harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21), and these rascals are thinking, "Oh, Hare Kṛṣṇa we have seen." You see? They have become so greatly intelligent, these rascals. They do not believe in śāstra, in sādhu, in God. All these "incarnations" and big, big men, they say, "Oh, what is the use of śāstra?" Even this Ānandamāyā says that "In higher advancement there is no need of śāstra." He is above śāstra. He, she says like that. And Kṛṣṇa said, yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ, na sa siddhim avāpnoti (BG 16.23), immediately condemned: "If you don't believe in śāstra, you are rascal." Kṛṣṇa said. And they say, "Oh, there is no need of..." And he's an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. This Bal-yogi rascal is doing that: "There is no need of śāstra." This is going on. Now he's finished, of course. His activity is finished. (break)...strength of śāstra we are challenging that "You have never gone to the moon planet." Who can do so?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 3, 1976, Mayapura:

Bhavānanda: Just like Yogi Bhajan came, remember Śrīla Prabhupāda, in Berkeley, and he said, "I am simply here to try and understand how you are doing so greatly, how you are opening so many temples." He said, "I have simply come to try and understand that point, to learn your secret."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But his idea is that he will then sit and enjoy all of those things.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Nowadays all these yogis and swamis are going. Even that blind saintly person...

Hari-śauri: Gange...

Prabhupāda: Gangesvarananda. He also went. But coming back, he is disappointed. Nobody took care of him. Although in India he is known as a great saintly person. They have no asset. They have no Kṛṣṇa; therefore they are beggars. Yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ. If one gets Kṛṣṇa, then he gets everything.

Sudāmā: Therefore we pray, "viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhūtale, śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine."

Room Conversation -- May 4, 1976, Honolulu:

Dhṛṣṭadyumna: China has achieved great material strides in the last twenty years. There is no prostitution. They have wiped out flies, no more flies causing disease. There is.... And they look to a very bitter past of exploitation at the hand of foreigners and internal civil war and great suffering and starvation. So when they look back over twenty years they see, "Oh, we have advanced greatly." So they are very satisfied.

Prabhupāda: No, if they actually progressing, they will have to come to that point—that is natural—where, placing your service, you can serve everyone. That is the right conclusion. But we have got that right conclusion. If you take from us you can make immediately. But if you want to wait by your research work, then you can waste your time. But you have to come to this point. That is a fact. Just like you have to give food to the mouth. If you do not know, out of rascaldom you experiment here, you experiment here, you experiment here, you experiment.... There are so many holes. You go on experimenting, and waste your time. But unless you come to this point, that "Food has to be supplied here," your all attempt will be failure. That you have to tell them.

Room Conversation with Reporter -- June 4, 1976, Los Angeles:

Reporter: Are there any other Vedic scriptures that you believe speak to a situation that is greatly misunderstood today besides this?

Prabhupāda: No. Vedic understanding means there is no different Vedic version.

Reporter: But do people, say another example where what you hold is very different from what the rest of society holds, is there something else that would be...

Prabhupāda: No. Why...

Rāmeśvara: No, he means, Prabhupāda, that just like modern man is thinking that they went to the moon, and our Vedic scripture says they didn't, so he's asking are there any other controversies, just like reincarnation, transmigration...

Prabhupāda: No, so far Vedic students are concerned, there are no controversies.

Morning Walk -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Rāmeśvara: (break).... ability that they have studied, they call it ESP, or extrasensory perception, and by this the ability to see through the eyes is greatly increased, and you can, like sometimes they have a playing card and they turn it face down, and the man can guess what is the actual card, and they have all these games, and, in this way they say certain people have special powers.

Prabhupāda: As soon as they say "certain people," that is not fact.

Candanācārya: Actually, they say that potentially everyone has these powers, but some are more developed than others. Also the powers to understand each other's thoughts. (someone passes with a portable radio hearing a news broadcast)

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Interview with Newsday Newspaper -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Bali-mardana: But that applies to a very greatly elevated soul, that is not an ordinary person.

Prabhupāda: That is, therefore the minor devotees, they consult the spiritual master. That is our process. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **.

Rāmeśvara: I see, I was trying to explain the minor devotees.

Interviewer: No, I was talking about...

Rāmeśvara: You're talking about the topmost level.

Interviewer: Yes.

Bali-mardana: He's getting right to the source.(laughter) Right to the top.

Interviewer: That will do it for me, I thank you, kindly.

Bali-mardana: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: Give him prasādam.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 5, 1977, Bombay:

Hari-śauri: Even in the West, the Roman Catholic Church wouldn't allow divorce. The Church of England was started on that because Henry VIII didn't like his wife, and he wanted to divorce, and the Roman Catholic Church wouldn't let him. So then he did do, so they excommunicated him. So then he started his own church and made up his own laws. Otherwise, now there's a big push in Italy for divorce and everything, but even in the last ten years there's been no divorce. They don't allow it. And chastity of the woman was still very greatly appreciated too.

Prabhupāda: Woman infidel, they are stoned among the Muhammadans. Christian also. "You have done..." Woman proved unchaste, she was punished. Is it not? The public would stone and kill. You know that punishment? Stoning?

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

Rāmeśvara: "There are two legal cases in progress at this time that we must support—one in New York and one in Los Angeles. In New York the two ISKCON leaders have been indicted by the Queens County Grand Jury for unlawful imprisonment and attempted grand larceny. In Los Angeles, ISKCON and Madonna Slavin have accused her family of kidnapping, and charges of unlawful imprisonment have been entered against the mother and several other members of the Slavin family and two friends." These two friends are the professional deprogrammers. Then it says, "As in nearly all of these cases, the media will greatly influence the outcome. Do not underestimate the power of the media. We therefore must tell our story..."

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa's already become media.

Evening Conversation -- January 25, 1977, Puri:

Gargamuni: And if anybody helps us, then he is also greatly benefited.

Prabhupāda: He is also... He becomes recognized by the master. "Oh, he is trying for this, what I want." Naturally he becomes immediately recognized, although he has no qualification. If he tries. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu... Yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa: (CC Madhya 7.128) "You become guru. No qualification required. Simply you repeat what Kṛṣṇa has said." Just see how simplified. Don't talk anything nonsense. Yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-bas. So who cannot do it? Anyone can do it, even a child. (laughs) Our Śyāmasundara's daughter. She was preaching, "Do you know Kṛṣṇa?" They said, "No I have got no..." "The Supreme Personality." This is preaching, simply if you say that "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality, supreme controller. Just be obedient to Him." Where is the difficulty? Anyone can preach. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Bas. Three words: Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead; surrender unto Him; and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Your life will be successful. What is the difficulty in preaching these three words? Hm? Is there any difficulty?

Room Conversation with Two Indian Guests -- January 27, 1977, Jagannatha Puri:

Guest (1): But still, in America Martin Luther King saw nonviolence so greatly.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) That is also failure.

Pradyumna: I think they were more scared of the violence.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Pradyumna: The blacks started groups in terrorism.

Prabhupāda: And then, then... (Bengali) It may be taken as a... Who cares.

Guest (1): This nonviolence is just put in the head of the others.

Prabhupāda: No, nobody cares for this non... (break) That is not, that India has no kṣatriya spirit. Very good kṣatriya spirit. But it was not organized. That is the difference of opinion between Gandhi and Subash. He wanted to organize it.

Room Conversation -- October 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. He wrote to the secretary, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Haridāsa. There's a letter written. He says, "Dear Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja, please accept my most humble obeisances at your feet. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Prabhu has shown me the voucher where ISKCON Bombay owed to BBT India Rs. 70,000. When Śrīla Prabhupāda said he wanted to stay with us, I got greatly encouraged and had a desire in my heart to pay back this money to the BBT for Śrīla Prabhupāda."

Prabhupāda: Hm? I could not follow.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: I could not follow what he said.

Page Title:Greatly (Conversations)
Compiler:Mayapur, RupaManjari
Created:02 of Oct, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=20, Let=0
No. of Quotes:20