It is practically experienced. I know that the ghost, if you go in a house ghostly haunted, if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, they'll go away. They cannot tolerate. In my life there was several incidences like that. In my household life, I was doing business in Lucknow. So there was one house, very big house, worth thousands of rupees' rent, but it was ghostly haunted. So nobody would take that house. I took it at two hundred rupees, (laughter) and very big house. And I was... All the servants, they complained, "Sir, there is ghost." So I was chanting. He was living in several spots, especially on the gate side. So I could understand, but I would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and I was saved. Everyone was saved. There was... And, say, in 1969 I was guest in the house of John Lennon in London. So there was a ghost in... It was a big plot. There was a guest house. So they complained, "Sir, here is ghost." So I advised them to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and the ghost went away. Yes. This is fact. When there is Hare Kṛṣṇa chanting, these ghostly, demonic living entities, they'll not be able to stay there. They'll go away.
I took it (Prabhupada)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
A spiritual master has the right to chastise. Father, spiritual master, they are advised to chastise. Putraṁ ca śiṣyaṁ ca tāḍayen na tu lālayet. So father and teacher is advised by Cāṇakya Paṇḍita that "You should always chastise your son and disciple. Chastise." Tāḍayet. Tāḍayet means "Simply chastise. Always find out mistake." Don't be angry, but it is the business of the teacher and the father simply to find out your mistakes, not to find out your good things. Tāḍayen na tu lālayet. Lālayet means patting: "Oh, my dear son, my dear boy, you are so nice. You have done..." Sometimes it is done, but it is the business of the teacher and the father to chastise. Never recognize the disciple's business or son's business as very good. Then they will spoil. That is the injunction of Cāṇakya Muni. Lālane bahavo doṣāḥ: "If you simply pat, then there will be so many faults." Lālane bahavo doṣāḥ. Doṣāḥ means faults. Tāḍane bahavo guṇāḥ: "And if you chastise, oh, they will be very much qualified." Tāḍane bahavo guṇāḥ, tasmāt: therefore, putraṁ ca śiṣyaṁ ca tāḍayen na tu lālayet, "simply chastise. Don't pat." This is the injunction, moral injunction. So, so far we are concerned, when our spiritual master used to chastise, we took it as blessing. That was very nice. And he would chastise like anything. "Damn rascal, foolish, stupid," anything, all good words. (laughter)
Devotee: "My only wish is that my mind be purified by the words coming from the mouth of my spiritual master. I have no other desire but this."
Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the order. Guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete koriyā aikya **. Now citta means consciousness or heart. "I shall do this only, bas. My Guru Mahārāja told me; I shall do this." Cittete koriyā aikya, ār nā koriho mane āśā. So it is not my pride, but I can say, for your instruction, I did it. Therefore whatever little success you see than my all my Godbrothers, it is due to this. I have no capacity, but I took it, the words of my guru, as life and soul. So this is fact. Guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete koriyā aikya **. Everyone should do that. But if he makes addition, alteration, then he is finished. No addition, alteration. You have to approach guru—guru means the faithful servant of God, Kṛṣṇa—and take his word how to serve Him. Then you are successful. If you concoct, "I am very intelligent than my guru, and I can make addition or alteration," then you are finished. So that is the only. And now, sing further.
Festival Lectures
All of a sudden, perhaps on this date, sometimes between 9 or 10 December. At that time, Guru Mahārāja was indisposed little, and he was staying at Jagannātha Purī, on the seashore. So I wrote him letter, "My dear master, your other disciples, brahmacārī, sannyāsī, they are rendering you direct service. And I am a householder. I cannot live with you, I cannot serve you nicely. So I do not know. How can I serve you?" Simply an idea, I was thinking of serving him, "How can I serve him seriously?" So the reply was dated 13th December, 1936. In that letter he wrote, "My dear such and such, I am very glad to receive your letter. I think you should try to push our movement in English." That was his writing. "And that will do good to you and to the people who will help you." That was his instruction. And then in 1936, on the 31st December—that means just after writing this letter a fortnight before his departure—he passed away. But I took that order of my spiritual master very seriously, but I did not think that I'll have to do such and such thing. I was at that time a householder. But this is the arrangement of Kṛṣṇa. If we strictly try to serve the spiritual master, his order, then Kṛṣṇa will give us all facilities. That is the secret. Although there was no possibility, I never thought, but I took it little seriously by studying a commentary by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura on the Bhagavad-gītā. In the Bhagavad-gītā the verse vyavasāyātmikā-buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana (BG 2.41), in connection with that verse, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura gives his commentary that we should take up the words from the spiritual master as our life and soul. We should try to carry out the instruction, the specific instruction of the spiritual master, very rigidly, without caring for our personal benefit or loss.
Prabhupāda: So recently... I am very pleased to say that our Harikeśa, I ordered him to go immediately to Poland, and he thought that he was being punished. That was... No. I was thinking that "Here is a very intelligent boy. If he is given chance to preach he'll come out very successful." So I see the glimpses that he has got now post. He's a very good organizer. That's a chance. At that time he might have thought that I was separating him. No. My good will was there that he should be given chance for better opportunity. So I am very much happy that he is doing there very nice. So this should be the attitude. My Guru Mahārāja wanted me to preach in the Western countries, although I was at that time a ordinary manager in a chemical firm. I never thought, but I took it seriously. So from that 1922, in 1965 it was fruitful. How many years?
Devotees: Forty-three.
Prabhupāda: Forty-three years. So it is better late than never. Yes. So he desired me. I thought, "Now I am a family man. Let me adjust things." I would have accepted immediately, but I was not so intelligent at that time. I thought, "My responsibility to family is there. Let me wait." But still, Guru Mahārāja was so kind to me that when I was gṛhastha, I was seeing him in dream and I was... He asked me, "You come with me." So I was going, and after that, I was thinking, "Oh, I will have to take sannyāsa and go with him?" So it appeared to me very horrible. I was not very much inclined to take sannyāsa, but Guru Mahārāja is so kind that he ultimately forced me to take sannyāsa and do this work. So it is all his kindness. So this is the memory of his kindness.
Cornerstone Ceremonies
So this Kali-yuga, as described by our Gaura-Govinda Mahārāja, a bhankara (?) yuga. But there is one opportunity, kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet. This is the message of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and a little attempt was made at the age of seventy years. Of course, my Guru Mahārāja asked me... When I was twenty-five years old, I first met him. He asked me to do this task. But I thought that "Let me adjust my family life, and then I shall do this." But I took it very seriously. But family life, never it was adjusted, so he forced me at the ripe old age to take up this work. So I tried to make an experiment that nobody had done: "Let me try." But I tried sincerely, so by the grace of my Guru... Guru-Kṛṣṇa, they favored me. When I was on the Commonwealth Jetty, Pier, yes, I was thinking that "Who will hear me? As soon as I shall say to these people that 'No illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication and no gambling,' immediately they will say, 'Please go home. Don't talk here.' " Because I know that. This is their daily life. But by the grace of Kṛṣṇa they agreed. All these students, all these disciples... I do not accept anyone as my disciple that "You can do whatever you like." No. My first condition is that "You must be sinless." At least you must try to become sinless, because in the Bhagavad-gītā we understand,
- yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ
- janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām
- te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā
- bhajante mām...
- (BG 7.28)
Without being sinless, one cannot make any advance.
So Caitanya Mahāprabhu introduced this movement. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). That is the first installment. Actually, if we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, the first installment is that we cleanse our heart. It is simply misunderstanding. Kṛṣṇa also wanted to start this movement.
General Lectures
Rules and regulations are subordinate, subordinate thing. Just like you enter into an office. You are appointed in some office to work. So on the very day, you do not know all the rules and regulations. But because you do not know all the rules and regulation, that does not mean that you cannot be appointed. First of all let yourself be appointed. Now, working, working, yourself you will know that rules and regulations: "This is the rules, and this is the regulation." Just like in my life, I will say one instance. When I met my spiritual master, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja, so as a gentleman meets as a gentleman, so he was sitting in a couch like that. So, and I also sat down on that very couch. So I did not know that what are the rules and regulations. Now, when I saw that his other disciples are coming, and they are sitting down, (laughs) so I thought myself, "Oh, I have done this wrong. I should not have sat with His Divine Grace." So of course, I did not get down immediately, but I took it, and from next day I did not sit. So rules and regulations automatically was taught. So that rules and regulations is not very important. The important is... The thing is that we must take up. The first rules and regulation is that we must have some attachment for this. Attachment for this. Then, automatically, rules and regulation we shall learn. There will be no difficulty.
Prabhupāda: So, of course, those days also not costly, 1945. I was paying only 200 rupees. Now you cannot get one room. So because it was famous, that ghost-hauntly house, nobody was taking it. So I took it. (laughs) I don’t care for ghost. Actually there was ghost. And all the servants, they said, "Bābājī, therefore retire." They met. But I was chanting. (break) (man heard in another room ringing bell and chanting mantras) He is going to chant?
Conversations and Morning Walks
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: ...no woman can... (break) So I took it very a cheap price. There was no question of woman. I kept my office there. And the address was Multani temple. It is a temple. Multani temple, Grant Road. And in my retired life my office was there, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa temple and Delhi, Chippiwada. And my residence was Rādhā-Dāmodara temple. And before that, that Keśī Ghāṭa. Who has seen that? You have...?
Devotee: Oh yes.
Prabhupāda: That was also temple. Yes.
Indian devotee: Kṛṣṇa has arranged.
Indian devotee: Very nice side, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: I lived in that house for seven years. And then I came to Rādhā-Dāmodara temple.
Devotee: (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: Which way? (break) ...stayed in that Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa temple, Malliks. And still I am living in temple. So Kṛṣṇa has arranged nicely, from the beginning of my life, temple. Which way? This way? (break) Medhi, this is called medhi, this rod, center. So the, the bull is bound up with it and he goes round, goes around. All day. So gṛhamedhī means center is home, and he goes round. Throughout the whole life. They are called gṛhamedhīs.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Sannyāsa-yoga means sa sannyāsī, the one who acts for Kṛṣṇa, sa sannyāsī.
Dr. Patel: Sannyāsa-yoga-yuktātmā. Means you have actually, I mean, sannyāsa means nyāsa of all attachment for the...
Prabhupāda: Nyāsa means giving up, giving up. Sat nyāsa, sannyāsa. Oṁ tat sat. Sat is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore when you sacrifice everything for Kṛṣṇa, that is real sannyāsa, not this dress. This dress is symbolical. That's all. Real thing is kāryaṁ karma karoti ya. Kāryam. "Oh, it is my... Kṛṣṇa wants, everyone should surrender unto Him. Then I shall teach everyone to surrender to Kṛṣṇa." Kāryam. "This is my business." Kāryaṁ karma karoti, sa sannyāsī. What is that kāryam? Kāryam means this is kāryam.
Chandobhai: Yajñā dana tapa.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). You'll take a practical... My Guru Mahārāja gave me hint that book publication is more pleasing to me than Maṭha-mandira. So I took it and I began to publish books and that has come successful. Kāryaṁ karma. I took it, "Oh, Guru Mahārāja wants that books should be published. So let me concentrate on this instead of..." My creating so many centers, big, big temples, that is not my primary duty. My primary duty is to write books. Therefore I am going on still. These are coming automatically. Maybe this is the secret of my success.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Bhagavān: So now you have books and temples. (laughs)
Prabhupāda: Yes, temple is automatically.
Jayatīrtha: Without fighting, you've got so many temples.
Prabhupāda: No, I never stressed on temple. I was engaged in publishing the Back to Godhead. Whatever I could do, I did it, because I took it very seriously that he is very sorry that these things were not done. He said that "There will be fire in this Gauḍīya Math." Āgun jvālbe, he said. Amari taci loka kichui boi kakrayebo(?): "If I can, I shall sell these marbles of this temple and convert them into books." That was his ambition. He started a very nice press, and this Tīrtha Mahārāja sold it.
Jayatīrtha: Sold it?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Bhagavān: The press.
Prabhupāda: He's not representing Guru... "Better let's have money for fight in the court."
Jayatīrtha: Sometimes I'm sorry that my name also has this word in it. (laughs)
Prabhupāda: You are Jaya-tīrtha. You are victorious. Now whatever is being done, it is by his blessing. Let us work sincerely. Things will be all... Otherwise it is humanly impossible. It is by his grace.
Prabhupāda: No, I have got experience. I am Calcutta-born. What Calcutta was in our childhood days and what is now, I know everything. How we were happy during British days and what is now position, I can speak from my personal experience. We do not belong to the richest class nor to the poor class—middle class. So we have got practical experience. My father's income was not more than 250 rupees. How opulent we were. At least, there was no question of need. We were receiving daily four, five guests, and my father was functioning so many festivals, and he was asking... My father gave in marriage four daughters. There was no difficulty. The income was not more than 250 rupees. Of course, that 250 rupees at least ten times now. But still, there was no needy. Not very opulent, but there was no need. The first necessity is to feed and to clothe. So there was no such scarcity. May not be very luxurious life, but there was no scarcity for food and shelter or cloth. There was no scarcity. Happy. That is wanted. Happiness in whatever circumstance. Not that because we did not possess a motorcar, therefore unhappy. I purchased one motorcar in 1925, Buick car. Not for personal use, but for using it as a taxi. My one nephew, he was a good driver, so my father, "Why don't you give him? He can do that, we can use it our own car, also taxi." So I took it, Buick car. I think I paid eight thousand rupees.
Hari-śauri: Buick?
Prabhupāda: Buick, yes, very strong car. At that time, Ford, Chevrolet and Buick, these cars were very popular in India. Ford for the poorer class and Buick for the first class.
Prabhupāda: Yes. If he's serious to become free from this material world and go back to home, back to..., you welcome him. We don't make any discrimination. Ābāla-vṛddha-vanitā. Bāla means children, vṛddha means old man, and vanitā means woman. They are most helpless. Ābāla-vṛddha-vanitā. Vanitā. Beginning from the child up to the old man, and... But coming here, if they plan for sense gratification, that is very dangerous. Come here, stay with us. We shall somehow or other provide him with prasādam and place. But be advanced. And the simple method is recommended,
- yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyāṁ
- kṛṣṇe parama-pūruṣe
- bhaktir utpadyate puṁsaḥ
- śoka-moha-bhayāpahā
- (SB 1.7.7)
Very simple thing. Yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyām. Simply hear Bhāgavatam. And actually if anyone seriously reads Bhāgavatam, he'll become saintly, no doubt about it.
Akṣayānanda: Your Bhāgavata. There are no others actually.
Prabhupāda: Vyāsadeva, the words of Vyāsadeva, I am simply trying to explain, that's all.
Akṣayānanda: No one else is trying. No one else has done it.
Prabhupāda: It is due to the blessing of my Guru Mahārāja. He directly told me that "If you get some money, publish some books." I took it seriously, so he's helping me. All our Godbrothers, they didn't take it. Did not know it, neither..., even they... They know it. Because from the very beginning, Guru Mahārāja was serious about publication. He started press and published these books. This Bhāgavata was published by him. And the journal, six journals, he was very much fond of publishing, publication. Very, very. He told me directly that "If it was possible to get the marbles from this Gauḍīya Maṭha and sell it and convert it into books, I would have done it. Because I know there will be blazing fire in this place." (break) ...books.
Hari-śauri: And then they suggested that he be your sponsor.
Prabhupāda: It was all by chance. I was for a few days guest at his father's place in Agra. I did not know that his son is in America. So he was talking about his family. He was little sorry that his eldest son went to America to study electric engineering, and he was entrapped by an English girl there, and he married and settled there and did not come back. In this way... So I took the opportunity, that "Why don't you ask your son to sponsor me?" I wanted to go to America. So I did not know how seriously he took it. But I simply told him that "Why don't you ask your son to sponsor me at least for one month? So I am thinking of going to America." Then that was talking, beginning and end, that's all. I did not know that he took it very seriously. Then after two, three months, some documents came. I was receiving my letters in a postbox. So when I left Delhi I used to keep my key of postbox with some nice bookseller, Atmaram, he was manager. So he opened that, he got that documents. That is No-Objection Certificate, sponsor, and everything. I was out of Delhi. Then when I came back I took it. So everything was there, that sheet (indistinct) taken from the Indian Consulate, No-Objection Certificate and everything. Then I applied for a passport. In this way I had to go there. So Gopal was unknown to me, but his father was..., his father was known to me, mother was known to me. Then his agent got me on the bus. So on the bus went to Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania?
Prabhupāda: (laughs) So similarly, if one is giving very important service, then even there is some faulty thing, excuse. Service is so important. So in the Western countries the woman can give very good service. Api cet sudarācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). This book distribution is the most important task in our Society. Therefore I am giving so much stress and I am working so hard on this. Because this is my life and soul according to the order of my Guru Mahārāja. And by his grace it is to some extent successful. And I took it seriously.
I take it seriously still now. That is my life and soul. I never tried in India to construct big temples, or even in your country we didn't. I never tried. But I was selling personally books. That is the history. Sometimes they are criticizing, "What kind of sannyāsī? He is doing book business." (laughs) The other day that..., what is his name? Bachu Hai came. Bachu Hai Dresswalla. You know him?
Girirāja: I know one Madanlal Dresswalla.
Prabhupāda: I think this is... There are two, three Dresswalla in Bhubaneswar.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So there is no civilization except in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That's a fact. All madmen.
Rāmeśvara: I remember about a year ago you told me that the biggest problem facing America in the future is unemployment.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That's a fact. That's a fact.
Rāmeśvara: I think you even said that "This unemployment will destroy your country." You once said that.
Prabhupāda: Yes. At least, the black men will spoil everything if they are unemployed.
Rāmeśvara: He'll simply become a thief.
Prabhupāda: Thieves, rogues and plunderers. That's all.
Hari-śauri: Detroit has the highest murder rate in the world, 'cause all the city population is black.
Prabhupāda: Therefore we could purchase that palace which has cost six million dollars fifty years ago.
Rāmeśvara: Giving it away.
Prabhupāda: And we have got for three hundred thousand. Why? Nobody was purchasing. Who will go to purchase there? I took it: "Yes, it is..." I offered him... He was asking 350,000. So I told him, "I'll pay you cash, all three hundred." He immediately agreed. (laughs) I should have offered him less. He would have agreed. Nobody was purchasing.
Hari-śauri: Yes, we could have got it for about 250,000 probably.
Prabhupāda: So he immediately agreed. Anyway, that's a very nice place. You have seen?
Rāmeśvara: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Very nice place, unique palace.
Hari-śauri: Yes, it's very good center.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Very nice building. We haven't got such building anywhere. On the waterside, big, big rooms, very nicely decorated, aristocratic, really aristocratic. Really aristocratic. How many devotees are living there?
Rāmeśvara: In Detroit? I think between forty and sixty devotees.
Prabhupāda: I think more. There are many devotees. And we can accommodate one hundred very easily.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You were also traveling.
Prabhupāda: No, I was not traveling. The wife was traveling.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: His wife?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore doctor became fortunate. He got very good wife.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But you were most fortunate.
Prabhupāda: Huh? (break) I think so.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Your wife wasn't so good.
Prabhupāda: Because she was always against Kṛṣṇa... My father said like that, that "You are so fortunate that you don't like your wife. Don't try to marry again."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You were thinking like that.
Prabhupāda: "You are fortunate." I took it seriously. "People try to give up the company of wife with great difficulty. You have natural tendency."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It doesn't seem like your sons are very..., except for Vrindavan. None of the others come.
Prabhupāda: They are like mother.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I met that Madan-Mohan.
Prabhupāda: Mathura.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Mathura-Mohan. Whew! Smoking.
Prabhupāda: All spoiled. Mother has spoiled. Everyone.
Prabhupāda: That is my mission. I am doing that. I am bringing money from America. Nobody's paying me. It is not joke. Ten lakhs of rupees, who brings?
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Even big export companies don't bring so much.
Prabhupāda: And they'll be glad. They have got money and they are getting culture. I am trying for United Nation. That is real attempt of United Nation, not this United Nation—all rogues and thieves and cheaters, barking dogs. I am trying for the United Nation. Help me. This is real United Nation. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). It is United Nation. So I began this movement very humbly, loitering on the street of New York. Now it has come to this stage. Let us cooperate together nicely.
Hṛdayānanda: Your Bombay project is very impressive. We've just taken a tour.
Prabhupāda: Therefore I persistently took that place. Nobody encouraged me. He is all. (laughter) Nobody helped me. I hesitated little, that "If I am persistent to take it, they will not cooperate. It may be failure." So still I took it. And only fifty thousand and one lakh of rupees I gave this thief Nair: "All right, take it. Come on. Whatever I have got, you take it." Still he thought, "Oh. I'll get money."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He had already played the trick with one man.
Prabhupāda: Still, I took the risk, that "I have no money. If he cheats me, that's all right, but let me attempt."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then you installed the Deity as soon as possible.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Immediately Akash Ganga left. All Kṛṣṇa's desire.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Everyone is appreciating how wonderful this project is, all of Bombay.
Prabhupāda: So much obstacles, one after another, one after another, one after another.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Kṛṣṇa would not leave.
Prabhupāda: No. That was my request: "Please sit down here tight. Then I shall do everything."
Pañcadraviḍa: Practically Girirāja has not left either.
Prabhupāda: Yes. He was not trembled in any circumstance. That is his qualification. That nasty, hot, mosquitoes. You also lived there. No gentleman can live.
Pañcadraviḍa: I lived there also, Śrīla Prabhupāda. So many rats.
Prabhupāda: Rats, mosquitoes and so much inconvenience. Had no place. Sometimes here, sometimes there, sometimes there.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You were also so inconvenienced. You had to move. One time you were living in that...
Prabhupāda: But you... For me you make good arrangement wherever I live, that's all. But I know how you were living in that nasty hut, full of dirty things, mosquito, rats, dropping of water. And Nair is attacking, Municipality is attacking.
Prabhupāda: They have made it complicated. Insufficient knowledge.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: They have been misguided, that's all
Prabhupāda: Misguided, yes. This rascal leader. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31).
Svarūpa Dāmodara: We would also have been misguided if we didn't meet Śrīla Prabhupāda, in the same area.
Prabhupāda: I never agreed to be misguided by these rascals. Perhaps I am the first man who protested against these authorized scientists.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Oh, yes. Very strongly. Everybody is afraid except Śrīla Prabhupāda. (Prabhupāda chuckles) Frankly speaking, I never knew that the problem is this serious before I met Śrīla Prabhupāda. I never thought about this.
Prabhupāda: Therefore I took it so seriously. Every morning walk, I was "Where is the scientist?" I thought, "Here I have got an opportunity to impress that will fructify in fruition." That was my aim. Therefore I was bothering you in so many ways.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: It is your wonderful mercy, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Because I cannot use the technological words, and he can do that. So he should be trained up. What is the news of Dr. Rao?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Dr. Rao died.
Prabhupāda: (surprised) Died?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. That I informed in the...
Prabhupāda: Yes, you informed, but it is confirmed?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. He died of heart attack.
Prabhupāda: I thought of him to become good assistant.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: I thought he would be very..., we would get together very well, and we had plans together to do, to start work, and come back in India. But about...
Prabhupāda: Finished.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.
Prabhupāda: He was a good soul, but he wanted little material profit. That doesn't matter. So his father is there.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yeah, his father is actually still alive. Some day, if I get an opportunity, I will pay a visit.
Prabhupāda: Yes. He is very intelligent.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You remember in that book you were reading, The Aquarian Gospel. It mentioned how he learned yoga when he came to India.
Prabhupāda: We admit. Guru Mahārāja said śaktyāveśa-avatāra, powerful incarnation. Therefore whenever there was question of Jesus, I never disrespected Jesus, never criticized him, because I know that he is powerful representative of God. We took it from Guru Mahārāja.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Your Guru Mahārāja would sometimes...
Prabhupāda: He said that Christ is śaktyāveśa-avatāra, as Buddha. How he can be otherwise? He sacrificed everything for God. He cannot be ordinary man.
Prabhupāda: He said that Christ is śaktyāveśa-avatāra, as Buddha. How he can be otherwise? He sacrificed everything for God. He cannot be ordinary man.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You want (indistinct)?
Prabhupāda: Hmm. That Melbourne meeting, it was... You were present?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, I heard about it. With the monks, I think.
Prabhupāda: They very much appreciated. Because they saw that I have got full respect for Christ and his real disciples. And actually we have. Why not? He said, "Thou shalt not kill," and they are interpreting killing. This is going on. And they are Christian. Just see how much cheating. It is clearly written, "Thou shalt not kill." And their only business is killing, and still, they are Christian. How much cheating it is. Whatever little success is in our movement, the cause is I have not tried to cheat. Honestly, what I knew, I heard it from Guru Mahārāja and scripture, I took it. There was no cheating.
Correspondence
1968 Correspondence
So far I am concerned I always take risk for Krishna. I came here in your country risking my life. And still although I am physically unfit, I am trying to execute the orders of my Guru Maharaja as far as possible. So to take risk for Krishna is very good. You know the history of my starting the society in 1966, it was all risky, and I was alone, but I took it depending on Krishna. So I think if you take the risk of $150, for Krishna's sake, Krishna will supply you the required money undoubtedly. It depends however on your personal discretion, but I am hopeful that if you take the risk it will not be bad. In the meantime, Upendra is also released earlier from his internment, and I think if he takes some job he can also help. So try to open this branch and let us depend on Krishna's Good Will.
1969 Correspondence
I am experiencing so much inconvenience in this matter of exporting from India, although the price is already transferred from the States. So if you kindly give me your direction what to do in this connection, then I shall do it. I am always in tour, and I took it simply that the goods were dispatched against the money transferred already. That is sufficient documentary evidence in my opinion. I hope to hear from you soon.
1976 Correspondence
The report of the book printing is both encouraging and surprising. Every time I see this I remember the words of my Guru Maharaja when he told me that wherever there was money it should be used to print books, not that we shall have big big temples and then fight in the court. He asked me to do this and I am trying my little bit, that's all. It is all by his blessings for without his blessings this wonderful thing would not have happened. He said personally to me, "If I could sell this Gaudiya Matha building, that would have been better." He predicted that there would be fire within these walls. So I took it, "O, His Divine Grace wants some books." So I accepted it, "Yes, I shall do it." It is all by his blessings. Mukam karoti vacalam pangum langhayate girim, by his mercy a dumb man can speak and a lame man can cross a mountain.
You have given me the credit of being the best disciple of Prabhupada. That is very kind of you, but I am just trying to serve him. Whatever success there is is due to his mercy. In my last meeting with him in Radha Kunda he advised me to print some books if I get money. I took it very seriously and by His grace we have now published my translations of Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Caitanya Caritamrta, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Upadesamrta, etc. to the extent of 84 books. You'll be surprised to know that these books and my magazine Back To Godhead are selling daily 5-6 lakhs of rupees in the foreign countries. Out of such proceeds I am bringing foreign exchange of not less than 10 lakhs per month for construction work in Bombay, Mayapur, Vrndavana, etc. So, this is all due to the blessings of Srila Prabhupada. I have no credit in this connection. These American boys are helping me in this endeavor, therefore, until they are admitted to the Jagannatha Puri temple I'm not inclined to go there.
| Page Title: | I took it (Prabhupada) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti |
| Created: | 25 of Nov, 2013 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=8, Con=13, Let=4 |
| No. of Quotes: | 25 |