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Gujarat (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1970, Indore:

Prabhupāda: So if they invite, I can go. Why don't you ask them to invite us? Then we can go immediately.

Guest (6): Whole temple there is a pracāra(?) Gītā.

Prabhupāda: But how many preachers they have produced?

Guest (6): You must be knowing that Vidyananda, Swami Vidyananda.

Prabhupāda: Oh, he's a great nonsense.

Guest (6): Oh, no.

Prabhupāda: I know.

Guest (6): He has constructed that from Gujarat. He's a Gujārati.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest (6): He constructed a temple there.

Prabhupāda: I have seen in Ahmedabad his temple. He established one deity, a woman shape, and there is no Kṛṣṇa. "Gītā." "Gītā" means a woman. So I don't think he has full understanding of Gītā. He has money; he has spent. That's all. But he does not understand Gītā. Gītā means unless one takes Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead he does not understand anything of Gītā. That is the test. He may advertise himself as scholar or this or that, but our only test is whether he accepts Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Prof. Kotovsky -- June 22, 1971, Moscow:

Prof. Kotovsky: Oh, I was run away in many places, about, in Delhi, in Delhi, in Rajastan, in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bengal, Bihar...

Prabhupāda: In Bengal where you stayed ?

Prof. Kotovsky: In Bengal?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Prof. Kotovsky: I was in Calcutta, Shantiniketan...

Prabhupāda: Shantiniketan.

Prof. Kotovsky: ...Shantiniketan and in some town in 24 Parganas, in different small townships and villages also.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 20, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: No, no, no.

Mr. Sar: No, on ours... Not on Gujarat side.

Dr. Patel: Nowhere, nowhere. It is all hearsay. I don't think it would be possible.

Mr. Sar: You see it is a...

Dr. Patel: Maybe a lower community...

Mr. Sar: No, no. Ignorant folk may be decepted like that when they say, "Well, I am Kṛṣṇa, you are gopīs. So let us enjoy."

Prabhupāda: Ah! Ah!

Morning Walk -- February 23, 1974, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Satya Sai.

Dr. Patel: (Hindi) A magician in Gujarat, some Muslim magician. He would ask, not ask for a (indistinct)

Guest (3): He would not...? He would not...?

Dr. Patel: (Hindi)

Indian (3): Mama Chel.

Dr. Patel: Mama Chel. There was one man called Mama Chel. And when the ticket taker comes and asks for a ticket he would say, "All right, take this," and there would be a heap of tickets, railway tickets.

Prabhupāda: Oh. So a magician can do...

Room Conversation -- March 20, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest: Not by begging or mercy. Even the Gujarat, the people people which they have done, how they have got this liberty or whatever it is, is all by fighting, by firing back to government. Otherwise the government has the majority of the assembly. Congress Party (indistinct). How they will resolve it? It is the first time there is a majority of the members of assembly could be resolved because people do not want it. It's unconstitutional, but yet, (indistinct) constitutional method has been adopted because they...

Prabhupāda: And they have smashed the speaking.

Morning Walk -- March 24, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: ...kingdom, the Maharastrian brāhmaṇas, they were more staunch.

Dr. Patel: They did not serve Muslims, like brāhmaṇas who are from Bengal and Gujarat. Gujarati brāhmaṇas and Bengali brāhmaṇas served the Muslims...

Prabhupāda: Brahminical culture. Sanātana Gosvāmī, he was also brāhmaṇa, but because he served the Mohammedans, he was rejected from the brāhmaṇa society. Then Kṛṣṇa, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu, raised them to the position of gosvāmīs. Their name was also changed. Dabir Khas.

Dr. Patel: Muslim name.

Prabhupāda: Yes, Muslim name.

Morning Walk -- March 24, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, Muslim name.

Dr. Patel: But here in Gujarat we have got so many brāhmaṇas and... (break)

Prabhupāda: ...magistrates.

Dr. Patel: Ah, but then these are Muslim brāhmaṇas.

Prabhupāda: So it is Muslim name. Their forefathers were magistrates. That's all. Kāzi, there is no harm... Munshi, Kāzi. They're common... (break) If you go to anyone, "Hare Kṛṣṇa," they'll understand: "Here is Hare Kṛṣṇa people." That's all. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Anywhere, Africa, Australia, Japan, they know, "These are Hare Kṛṣṇa people." We are known as "Hare Kṛṣṇa people." So there are so many apartments... (end)

Morning Walk -- March 25, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, in Gujarat...

Dr. Patel: All dark color.

Prabhupāda: That's right. And here, there are white also.

Dr. Patel: Senaji, dark.

Prabhupāda: In the...

Guest (1): Tirupati.

Prabhupāda: Tirupati?

Morning Walk -- April 17, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...being done in America because it is not to be done here. Here religion has become fanaticism and political degradation. It is not possible. Now see in our political paper how they are seriously doing and people taking seriously. Whatever program I give them, they are systematically doing. Here there is no assistance. (break) ...cry, "Oh, we are in, put in this condition, put in this..." Complain. But what is the remedy, we do not take. That is India's position. Mr. Kanunda(?), he's the son of late governor of Gujarat(?). He came to offer me a land in Bhuvaneśvara. So he said... He's the manager of the coal organization.

Morning Walk -- April 24, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: ... that these rascal leaders, they cannot give us any comfort. All over the world. Here in the Gujarat, the students have insulted the leader, you know? So horribly, they have dragged the prime minister, chief minister, dragged him and set up and seated on an ass's back. In this way he was insulted.

Mahāṁśa: Prime Minister.

Prabhupāda: The chief minister.

Mahāṁśa: The chief minister.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- April 24, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee: This was in Jerusalem?

Prabhupāda: Ah? No, no, is Gujarat, here.

Devotee: Gujarat.

Prabhupāda: The next province. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...speaking all the words that he has learned from him. Very good. Very nicely he's presenting.

Mahāṁśa: He's an elderly gentleman?

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 23, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes, everywhere. The only difficulty is there is no water, no supply of water. In the rainy season this will be all green immediately, immediately, without any delay. So, the only difficulty—there is no water.

Guest: In Gujarat now the same problem is there and they are digging well, five-acre well, just we have dug at Māyāpur, and collecting water. Rainwater is collected that way. So here also it can be done for a small farm. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...saṅkīrtana, then water will come. You haven't got to do anything. Otherwise the words of Gītā will be false. Yajñaiḥ... Yajñād bhavanti parjanyaḥ. The formula is there. You perform yajña and the water will be supplied. They are not performing yajña.

Morning Walk -- June 2, 1975, Honolulu:

Indian man: Oh, the big one. Yeah, that is.

Prabhupāda: It is well known, chiku. In Gujarat there is ample chiku. This stone is artificially brought here, I think.

Devotee (1): It looks natural. It looks like it was here all the time.

Prabhupāda: Maybe.

Devotee (1): (break) ...small trees in here or grass, we can walk in there.

Prabhupāda: Yes, which way?

Morning Walk -- June 28, 1975, Denver:

Harikeśa: There was a big scandal in Gujarat.

Prabhupāda: That boy who was with me... What is his name? In the beginning he went with me, San Francisco?

Satsvarūpa: Mukunda?

Prabhupāda: No, no. Rancor.

Brahmānanda: Oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: He told the history of his mother. Yes.

Brahmānanda: (break) ...is also a rogue.

Morning Walk -- September 25, 1975, Ahmedabad:

Prabhupāda: ...There is scarcity of water in Gujarat.

Kartikeya: Yes. Except Surat. Surat has no problem. Narmad is there.

Prabhupāda: No, here is also the river, Savarmati. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya.

Kartikeya: Here is Mr. Bhagwati. He's...

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, he is our old friend.

Mr. Bhagwati: (Hindi)

Kartikeya: He has come yesterday. Today also program is there. (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. He has got his house, Nara...

Morning Walk -- September 26, 1975, Ahmedabad:

Indian man (2): He is my friend. He is my friend Mr. Urbana, and he is an architect, prominent architect in Gujarat, eh?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Indian man (2): He's a first-class..., but he is, his brain is influenced by Ārya-samāj, Ārya-samāj. (laughter) So I say Ārya-samājīs are muscular body. Bodies are muscular, so their brain is also muscular. They are not going to accept any idea except that thing which they have already there in the brain. (laughter)

Indian man (3): No, no, no. It is not that way. We want to accept everything that... (Hindi)

Morning Walk -- October 7, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: They are Indians or, these, white?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Muslims. Most of these Muslims originally from Gujarat side. Their forefathers came here.

Prabhupāda: They are called Boris. (pronounces "Boreez") Boris Muslim.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Boris Muslim.

Prabhupāda: They were formerly Hindus. All Muslims were Hindus formerly.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They have an Islamic propagation center here, and I went there. I was walking by one day. They invited me in. So they began to blaspheme this and that. So I asked them, "What is your conception of God?" He said, "God is beyond conception." So I told him that "Therefore you cannot say that Kṛṣṇa is God and you cannot say that Kṛṣṇa is not God, because you don't know what God is."

Morning Walk -- November 8, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Mama means mother's brother.

Dr. Patel: No, but here in Gujarat... (Gujarati) Mama means he is a fool. (break)

Devotee (2): Now is not nice. The fruit is not nice.

Dr. Patel: (Hindi)

Devotee (2): You speak in Italian.

Indian man (6): I speak little only.

Devotee (2): Speak in Italian.

Dr. Patel: Don't worry. (break)

Morning Walk -- November 24, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: No, no. Now rice will be very much down. In Gujarat it is two rupees. I bought some land here and sown the rice. We are going to get about eight hundred or a thousand mounds of rice. And when we sown the field it was sixty rupees, rice. Today it is thirty-two rupees. It is coming down. The crop is very good everywhere, all over India this year.

Prabhupāda: Because there was sufficient rain.

Dr. Patel: Very good rain, yes. Gujarat will be more than self-sufficient. It is already the richest part of this country.

Prabhupāda: Parjanyāt.

Morning Walk -- December 10, 1975, Vrndavana:

Akṣayānanda: They're rotting in the bookshelves and the insects are eating.

Indian man: But in Somanath... I went last year there when I was in Gujarat. The people, they don't believe, the people of Somanath, that he was killed by... like that. So these philosophers, simply for their name, they put some kind of theories so that people can, "Oh!" They can understand all this nonsense. (break)

Prabhupāda: These pastimes of Kṛṣṇa is to make the fools more fool. One who is thinking of Kṛṣṇa as ordinary man, Kṛṣṇa is playing this part to show them, "Yes, see. I am dying, this. You see."

Morning Walk -- December 17, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa! (Hindi conversation with passerby)

Dr. Patel: One of the renowned poet of Gujarat. His house is right next to the main temple in Dvārakā.

Prabhupāda: There was one devotee, he, some Queen or somebody, she was approached by somebody, that two poets are come... Ah, Kalidāsa, yes. "Kalidāsa poet has come to see you." So she immediately said, "I know only two poets, Vyāsadeva and Valmikī, and all other poets I kick out!"

Dr. Patel: This is Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata.

Prabhupāda: "I know only two poets." So she refused to see Kalidāsa.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 10, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Bāri means house. In Gujarat they say wādi. Wādi.

Bhāgavata: Wādi, bhajan wādi.

Prabhupāda: It is the same thing, bāri. In Maharashtra also, they say.

Bhāgavata: About attraction and aversion... There's...

Prabhupāda: Hm? Attraction?

Morning Walk -- April 15, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: These two parts of India... (Hindi) Bengal and Kerala, they're highly educated communities. They are the, I mean, advanced Communists also, both the countries. In Gujarat there is no communism, though we are educated. (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: (Hindi)

Dr. Patel: Just like assassin is aside.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And otherwise you will find Caitanya and other, so many big, big men. Rabindranath Tagore, Surendranath Bannerjee, Vivekananda, and so on, so on. (Hindi) Aurobindo was condemned to death.

Conversation After Interview with Religious Editor, Associated Press -- July 16, 1976, New York:

Hari-śauri: This is Dr. Bhagat.

Prabhupāda: Bhagat. You are from Gujarat?

Dr. Bhagat: Gujarat, yes.

Hari-śauri: He's one of our life members also, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: She's your wife? Child? How many children you have got? How many children you have got?

Dr. Bhagat: One.

Prabhupāda: Only one?

Morning Walk -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Yaśomatīnandana: But they don't go too long, because in Ahmedabad they have started one Gujarat, one Bhāgavata-hṛdaya-pīṭha.(?) Just outside Ahmedabad. And he had a plan to build a whole huge temple and dharmaśālās and schools, gurukulas. That Krishna Shankara Shastri, that poor fellow, he started something, and now he has scarcity, he cannot find funds to finish his project. So the project is lying idle for almost two years. They collected sixty, seventy lakhs initially, but then...

Prabhupāda: Sixty seventy lakhs? And he squandered it?

Morning Walk -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Is that Donghari Maharaja?

Yaśomatīnandana: That Donghari is very famous in Gujarat, so now he has mostly become famous all over India.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But they are booking thirty rooms in our guesthouse for ten days for the program.

Acyutānanda: You've got new japa beads, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Yes. From tulasī. It was made in Honolulu. In Honolulu tulasī plants are very luxurious. Hyderabad local people, they are not sympathetic with our temple? Huh? Not sympathetic?

Room Conversation -- August 20, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: No, he is Indian. India, there is Parsee community. Indian Parsee means that originally they come from Iran. They are Iranian. But on account of Muhammadans forcibly standing within way... Aurangzeb came. Muhammadans they came, they fled from Iran and took shelter in the western part of India. They took shelter in Gujarat. Persia... I think Iran was known as Persia.

Hari-śauri: Yes. At least that area, anyway.

Prabhupāda: Therefore they are known as Parsee. In their ritualistic ceremonies some (indistinct) do with women... (?)

Hari-śauri: Yes. I saw all the women, they keep themselves covered and everything.

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.

Garden Conversation -- September 7, 1976, Vrndavana:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: During when? Approximately?

Prabhupāda: During Jawaharlal Nehru's time. And later on governor of Gujarat.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Governor of?

Prabhupāda: Gujarat. Now he's retired.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay, this is very good. This will get them to shut up their mouth completely. Okay.

Prabhupāda: So? Why you are unnecessarily...

Room Conversation (Bullock Cart SKP) -- September 12, 1976, Vrndavana:

Lokanātha: When you went to some place in Gujarat, Sanand? It was reported that thousands of people will come. It was a small village...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Village, if you go out they will come like anything. Even in the city we have got experience. In Calcutta we did Maidan. Thirty thousand they were coming. They could not understand English, still they are coming, simply by kīrtana. This Haṁsadūta was performing kīrtana, and all the Bengali ladies coming from outside Calcutta by train, and they're praying, "take this." (indistinct) Still India is alive. And I was speaking in English mostly. Also in Delhi. Still ladies are sitting. (laughs) What they'll understand English? But that kīrtana was so attractive, they sat down only for kīrtana.

Room Conversation -- September 30, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. '68 I got immigration and '69. It is a long history, checkered history. So preaching is independent. If you have got desire, you can preach in any circumstances and Kṛṣṇa will help you. I have practically experienced. I went to your country without any help, without any money. Alone. And gradually things developed. (end side one) ...all foreigners. I did not approach any Indian. I did not approach anyone, but Kṛṣṇa sent friends, gradually developed.

Akṣayānanda: There's a man from Gujarat that wants to see you, Prabhupāda. He saw our center in Chicago.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Get this light. Light.

Morning Walk Excerpt -- December 4, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: They are dangerous road.

Devotee (1): The roads are not very good.

Haṁsadūta: Tribhuvanath is in Gujarat, is that right?

Devotee (1): Gujarat, right.

Haṁsadūta: He's collecting to get the bus fixed. (break) Another one, a small one. (break) The day Your Divine Grace... (break) ...so much danger with these machines. Not a... (break)

Devotee (1): It's very old. Many Arabs are here.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Prabhupāda: This is called musical science, Jala-taraṅga. Jala, taraṅga means vibration, different vibrations. Still there are, among the musicians, there are artists, they'll put vials and make the different tunes by filling it with water. (SP makes sound dn dn dn dn dn) (break)

Mr. Malhotra: This place is full of tourists from Bombay, from all of Gujarat. (break) Pancagani is one place, and 12 miles difference Mahabalesvara. Also it is twin city like Secunderabad, Hyderabad. (break) In the morning when you go for walk you will find local ladies getting load of food collected from the forests and taking. Very old, old type of life (break) ...this place. I visited Switzerland and I visited almost every hill station of the country, and almost practically entire world. But I find this place of a different solace, (break) ...and second, it is very neat and clean.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That, one saintly person, what is his name?

Guest (5): He was a Punjabi body. And mostly he resided in Gujarat. Developed five of his institutions. One in Ooty and two on Nagada and Tapti and one is near Deoghar in Bihar.

Prabhupāda: Bihar. Deoghar.

Guest (5): Yes. One we have got in Hardwar itself. We have got a nice āśrama at Sapta Sarovara. I'll just show you one of his... Because Juhu, whenever he was in Bombay he was at Juhu always. (break) He was residing at M.C. Satwar, you know our Attorney General.

Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That's what they're eating, that lamb's flesh.

Indian man: Now Prabhupāda, even Jains eat meat.

Prabhupāda: Who cares for them? In Gujarat they are eating fish?

Indian man: No. Eggs. They have started eating two lakhs of eggs in Ahmedabad.

Indian man: Ahmedabad is a very big meat-eating center.

Prabhupāda: In Surat I was guest of that Jariwala. So on the morning walk I went to the riverside. So I saw so many fisherwoman carrying the big basket. So I asked the driver, he was Mohammedan, "Why these fisherwomen here?" He said, "Nowadays, all Gujaratis, they're eating fish."

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Because he was first in Gujarat.

Dr. Patel: Baroda Maharaj, when he, when he did not appear in horse riding test, (indistinct) but he did not want to start the qualification (indistinct) So he came. So Baroda (indistinct) Maharaj knew he has came. Baroda Maharaj was in England then. He called him (indistinct). The same thing as the Britishers did at Baroda. That is, Baroda Maharaj was appreciated.

Prabhupāda: No, he was a person to be appreciated. There is no doubt. He had so many qualifications. But he was also doing yoga practice. When he was put into... No, after getting released from jail, twelve years. He was to be hanged.

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No. Then he'll bring the (indistinct) and eat it. It was never brought within the precincts of the house.

Dr. Patel: (indistinct) Gujarat and Maharastra (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: No, no... These people who were eating meat, they knew that "I am doing wrong." But Vivekananda approved, "No, it is not wrong. It is wrong. Whatever you like you can do." Then they began to eat meat. Fish they were already eating. Meat and chicken and eggs and everything.

Dr. Patel: All the sons of Vallabhācārya's followers are eating.

Prabhupāda: No, everyone is eating. I know that. Therefore our first regulation is you must give it up. Then we talk of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 2, 1977, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Bengal tigers are very ferocious. They are all man-eaters. Here in Gujarat, lions are only in Gujarat in India. Those lions walk about like dogs in the jungle. They don't attack any human being. Whole of India only that is the place where lions are found.

Prabhupāda: Big lions?

Dr. Patel: Big lion. They have counted, there are not more than 300 lions now in the jungle.

Prabhupāda: Why? They were killed?

Dr. Patel: That is in, just near (indistinct), that big jungle.

Morning Walk -- January 2, 1977, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: There are no lions anywhere, sir. Lions only in Africa and India in this place. Not even South America, anywhere. This Gujarat, this particular jungle, and Africa.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Dr. Patel: Africa they have hunted down all the lions on safari.

Prabhupāda: Killing business.

Dr. Patel: They have killed them at random. There is a disease called sleeping sickness. This sleeping sickness is common in the wild game and wild animals and antelopes in Africa. That we found out. And from there a type of fly called tsetse fly, he bites them. Just like the flies bite those animals, then when you go in the jungle they bite you.

Roof Conversation -- January 5, 1977, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Yes, it is mythological. It is all subterranean water. Here's Sarasvatī. You got Sarasvatī in Gujarat also.

Prabhupāda: No, there is Sarasvatī

Dr. Patel: You get Sarasvatī in Maharastra also, everywhere. (laughs)

Trivikrama: This is Dr. Patel. I heard him speaking two years ago because a tape came. At the time you were, you and Dr. Patel, you were having very heated conversations. But now I see he is subdued. (chuckles)

Dr. Patel: In these two years I have made an extensive study of the Vaiṣṇava cult, all the three branches of main Vaiṣṇavas, and I think, I think, sir, that... I have studied Śaṅkara also extensively, and I think Śaṅkara is misunderstood very much. That is our opinion.

Prabhupāda: No, no, not misunderstood. He made himself misunderstood.

Room Conversation -- January 5, 1977, Bombay:

Hari-śauri: I remember my auntie's mother. She was Italian, and she used to wear black all the time. Just like the widows here, they wear white, so she was wearing black. She was a widow. So all the widows, even I saw some young women...

Prabhupāda: Here also, in Gujarat, they wear black, black sari.

Hari-śauri: Yes, right. And they wear black, and they don't dress attractively at all, and there's no question of marrying again.

Prabhupāda: And Russia also, respectable widows, they used to live in widow's home. They would never marry.

Morning Discussion about Kumbhamela -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Dr. Patel: Camels are used for plowing even in Gujarat.

Trivikrama: And they eat the thorny twigs.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is their food. Karmis, they are compared with the camels. Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ samstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ (SB 2.3.19).

Dr. Patel: I don't think, sir, there will be camels in Bengal because in Bengal is so many rivers.

Prabhupāda: No. No, there is no camel. And unless there is that thorny twig, they cannot live. That is their food.

Morning Discussion about Kumbhamela -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: In Gujarat you find these camels right at the Surat, south of the Gujarat. In north Gujarat they are very common. On the desert. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...Darjeeling we were hiring these ho.... (break)

Gurudāsa: (whispers) Tape always runs out on places like that. (Hari-śauri laughs)

Prabhupāda: Mules, I have seen, if they stop, you can beat like anything; still, it will not move.

Gurudāsa: Yes. "Stubborn as a mule" is a proverb in the West.

Prabhupāda: I have seen. The soldiers are beating with the butts of the gun—still (laughter) not going. So many varieties of life we had to pass through, and with great fortune we get this human form of body.

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Rāmeśvara: And like if it says Sardar Patel University, where is that?

Gargamuni: In Gujarat.

Rāmeśvara: I just have to add a few things.

Hari-śauri: Will you be going for a walk this morning, Śrīla Prabhupāda? It's quarter to seven. If you want to go now, we could go.

Prabhupāda: Hm. So let us go.

Hari-śauri: Prabhupāda wants to go for a walk.

Gargamuni: Oh. I don't know the area, so I don't know where to go, but Gaura-Govinda probably knows the parks. That place where we get the water? There's a little park there.

Hari-śauri: He said there's a couple of parks up near the lake too. That's where he wanted to go yesterday morning.

Room Conversation -- March 24, 1977, Bombay:

Karttikeya Mahadevia: In one week sixty-four lakhs of people came all over Gujarat to Ahmedabad.

Prabhupāda: Kumbha...

Guest (1): People are so much religious.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Guest (1): That she is wrong, that is a different matter. If they can organize this way, we'll get more than one crore.

Prabhupāda: What is the position of Jagajīvana now?

Conversation Pieces -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Rāmeśvara: Yes. Actually even in Los Angeles, where there is a small settlement, the entire Indian population is supporting us. They have their own societies, Gujarat, Maharastran, but all of them have voted to endorse our Ratha-yātrā and to support it with all their facilities.

Prabhupāda: Yes, they'll do. Indians and Americans, they are well-to-do. In foreign countries, everywhere, I see, Indians, their position is better than in India. In your country also. Indians in foreign countries, they get more facilities. Personally also, I could not do here in India in spite of twenty-three years. And as soon as I went to America, all facilities came to me.

Talk About Varnasrama, S.B. 2.1.1-5 -- June 28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: ...Britishers. Otherwise, nonvegetarian in India means up to fish. (pause) In Gujarat still you'll find. One young girl... You see here that all young girls are carrying water, collecting. In the morning collecting water, cleansing the house, utensils, clothes, taking bath, then cooking, those girls. Their first business. Man's business is to earn money, go to the market, the necessities. Woman's business is take care of household affairs, children, and they have got engagement. And in the presence of father or elder brother or husband, a woman has to earn livelihood—that's a great insult.

Conversation with Bhakti-caitanya Swami-New GBC -- June 30, 1977, Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Gujarati.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The Gujarati, yeah, Gujarat. In Bombay there is a big Bombay Tri(?). Pañcadraviḍa Swami, that was his special area. He would go down there, huge spice area.

Prabhupāda: There is a special name of that place. Everyone, every poor man or rich man, must use quantity of spice.

Room Conversation -- July 27-28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Make them... In Gujarat it is very good. So you show an example that other camp will...

Yaśomatīnandana: This year we are taking some cash crops just to develop the farm.

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Yaśomatīnandana: But then, once we have developed, then we can have rice and wheat and then distribute free prasāda to everyone. Because every inch of the land is cultivatable.

Room Conversation -- July 27-28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Yaśomatīnandana: Yes. So there is one member of Parliament in Gujarat who belongs to the party of the Home Minister. He was the chairman of party Lok Dal. It was Charan Singh's party. And he... I met him, and I explained to him that we wanted some citizenship for some devotees or something like that, and he mentioned it to Charan Singh when he came back from Delhi. And Charan Singh said that if it was... There's discussion, then definitely... I mean if there's no legal hitch, he will certainly help. Then I said but they want to come and meet you also. So he said, "Yes, you can bring them." So tomorrow... I came this week, and tomorrow the member says that we can meet him. Now I just heard that there was some news yesterday? So that... We will have to make two applications, one to clear up that incident...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So the member will come here to Vṛndāvana to see Prabhupāda?

Yaśomatīnandana: Yes, if I bring him he'll come.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Is that nice, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Not bad.

Room Conversation -- July 27-28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Eighty percent, they're from Gujarat.

Yaśomatīnandana: One boy just came from Toronto, and he said that now they have a team of Indian people. They get on the phone. They have one festival every month. And these five or six Indian people call up all the Indian people, and one thousand people gather every festival. And it is just one little town.

Prabhupāda: They have got life now. The Indians, on account of this movement, they have got life. They were forlorn, completely cut off from Indian culture. Now they have got it.

Room Conversation -- July 27-28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Government will help you.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Gujarat is very pious.

Prabhupāda: No. It is complete government.(?) Where is that book? Very nicely done.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Very nice.

Prabhupāda: Nobody can say it is Indian.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: You can't say it's printed in India. Actually even our export quality now is very good. Actually there's a plastic coating on the top.

Prabhupāda: You cannot imagine that India has published.

Meeting With Governor of Tamil Nadu -- July 31, 1977, Vrndavana:

Governor: No, they won't give you injections. They also... There doctors give yogic treatment also, and nature cure treatment. But... See I have taken that Ravi Shankar Maharaj. You've heard the name in Gujarat, he was one of the very great saintly person, Ravi Shankar Maharaj from Gujarat. I have taken him there. He's stays in my Raj Bhavan, and best doctors attending him, he is improving the health. And we have very good Raj Bhavan, big Raj Bhavan.

Prabhupāda: After all, the thing is that so long we have got this body, the janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9), you have to accept. This is the statement in the Bhagavad-gītā. So the human endeavor should be diverted how to stop this repetition of birth and death. That is the prime instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9).

Prabhupada Vigil -- November 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Brahmānanda: Yes. Of the three, Mr. Nārāyaṇa is very favorable to us. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami was noticing it. He preached to him about two or three years ago. At that time he was chief minister for Gujarat, governor.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? I want to suggest that you should not talk too much, because the doctor said conserve yourself. (indistinct) Because tomorrow we're going to be leaving at about two o'clock, two or two-thirty, so you won't get a full night's rest.

Prabhupāda: (indistinct)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You are the most important (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: Bon Mahārāja you did not see?

Page Title:Gujarat (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:19 of Dec, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=54, Let=0
No. of Quotes:54