Expressions researched:
"inspiration"
|"inspirational"
|"inspirations"
|"inspire"
|"inspired"
|"inspirer"
|"inspires"
|"inspiring"
|"inspiringly"
Prabhupāda: What about these Hindu communities?
Śyāmasundara: Well, that we can do during this time you're here. We can organize it. We can at least inspire them to help us.
Prabhupāda: Are they willing to cooperate with us or not? Because they have already opened some Hindu temple.
Śyāmasundara: Yeah.
Dhanañjaya: There's not so much cooperation from them.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Śyāmasundara: They want their own local temple.
Revatīnandana: Beethoven's symphony. He means classical Western music. They make some music.
Prabhupāda: But if it is glorification of God, we can hear. There is no objection.
Revatīnandana: But there may be no reference to God in it.
Prabhupāda: No, then we don't hear. We reject.
Sister Mary: Inspired by God, given by God.
Prabhupāda: Given by God is everything. That is another thing. Just like everything is government property. But do you like to go to the prisonhouse? We say everything belongs to government. We are not so liberal, that "Because everything belongs to government, therefore I shall go to the prisonhouse."
Guest: They were all very good to me. They looked upon me as a, an impartial man, which is a very great compliment in our country. Now you have undertaken a very great task. I am not competent to discuss or comment upon it.
Prabhupāda: No. I think you are the best man to comment upon it.
Guest: True. Still, I am not presumptuous enough to comment on one who has actually taken up the work. That is the difference between thinking and doing. Thinking is easy. Doing requires inspiration, and you have taken it up.
Prabhupāda: I was thinking of taking up this task long, long ago. I wrote one letter to Mahatma Gandhi that "You have got influence all over the world, and you are acknowledged a man of spiritual understanding. Now you have got svarāṭ, you better retire and take up this preaching of Bhagavad-gītā all over the world."
Prabhupāda: Sometimes I requested Dr. Radhakrishnan also...
Guest: Huh?
Prabhupāda: ...when he was vice-president.
Guest: Radhakrishnan? Nowhere in comparison with Gandhi.
Prabhupāda: No.
Guest: Radhakrishnan, highly intellectual, good man, but he was more of a... There was no inspiration he gave.
Prabhupāda: No, no.
Guest: God seems to have decided to spare him from that, from hard work.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: The physician, one physician doctor friend, long..., forty years ago, he prescribed one of my patent medicines. And the patient little protested because it is Indian-made. He was Eurasian. So as soon as he questioned, "What is this medicine, Indian-made?" "Yes, it is Indian-made. If you have no such faith, don't come to me." He flatly said, "Don't come to me." That should be the position of the physician or ācārya. If you go there, you should accept whatever he says. If you are in doubt, then don't go there. That is the position. It is freedom. It is not that you have to accept some ācārya particular by canvassing. No, you should be inspired that "Yes, here I can surrender, here I can gain something." Then surrender. In the spiritual science, there is no bluffing. Everything must be very clear-cut. Otherwise it will be not very satisfactory. (break) Hear this sound, ca-caw caw. (laughter) Because nobody takes this rooster.
John Nordheimer: (laughing) It's already been suggested that we (the New York Times) are not divinely inspired. At any rate, this book-
Prabhupāda: If one gets a diamond, he possesses something valuable. But in this civilization you are simply making plastic plates and plastic cups. Indeed, in Japan I have seen pasteboard homes. And everyone is thinking that he is advanced. Formerly people used to have golden and silver utensils, but now they have plastic ones, and still they are very proud to be so materially advanced. What is your position? You have a bunch of paper and think, "I am a millionaire." What is the value of that paper? Is that not cheating? However, if we possess gold or diamonds worth a million dollars, that is actual wealth.
Dr. Kapoor:...here at Rādhā-Dāmodara. After his long tour of the world in which he got passed the message of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the different karmas, to the different nationalities of the world. This return back to homeland of Śrīla Prabhupāda, is particularly significant, because this time he comes back with a host of his western disciples. This signifies to me the meeting of the East and the West, or at least the beginning of such a meeting. This signifies the victory of spiritualism over materialism, of good over evil. This is really a rare moment in history, for for the first time in the history of the world, for the first time at least living memory, Vaiṣṇavism, the message of Vaiṣṇavism, the message of Mahāprabhu, the message of devotion and of pure devotion has been carried to the west and carried so successfully. I am sure that historians of the future will have a lot to say about Prabhupāda and his movement, and they will be even envious of us for living in a time when this movement was begun and for participating in it. I have a secret realization that at this moment, while we are welcoming Prabhupāda, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, Śrī Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, whose samādhis signify their eternal presence in the sacred precincts of this temple, are also joining us in welcoming Prabhupāda, and they are showering their choicest blessings upon him. I can hear them saying, "Long live Prabhupāda, long live Prabhupāda." I am sure as a result of their presence, Prabhupāda will live long for many, many more years, to broadcast the message of Caitanya Mahāprabhu all the world over and inspire us to inspire us with a special zeal in our hearts. And I am sure as a result of their blessings he will rise always, from glory(?). I have also a secret realization that Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī and Jīva Gosvāmī are not only showering their blessings upon Prabhupāda but also upon the western disciples of Prabhupāda that have come along with him and saying that in the process will be realized (?) the message of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and surely and steadily advance on the path of peace, happiness, and divine grace.
Prabhupāda: So blessings of Dr. O.B.L. Kapoor. He is a Vaiṣṇava. Although by age he is my younger brother, we are Godbrothers, and for the last forty years perhaps, since he was a student at Allahabad and I was doing some business there, we are known to each other. So his association is a great blessing for us. But this reception is actually not my reception. It is the reception of my foreign students.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So one must be qualified to preach. If he is a cheater, how he can preach?
Gurudāsa: If he's preaching, the qualification will come.
Prabhupāda: Yes. If he is sincere, then his capacity will increase. Otherwise, if he wants to cheat, then it will decrease.
Gurudāsa: So what is the purpose for very large temples in India? Just for the...
Prabhupāda: Just to attract people to give them spiritual inspiration. That is the purpose of temple. Not that you think that "People will come and give me money and I shall eat and sleep very nicely." Then it will gradually become Rādhā-Dāmodara temple or any other temple. Bharatpur Mahārāja's house.
Prabhupāda: Prabhupāda gave me some money, that he is afraid, "You keep this money. When they need you can..." So, by guru Vaiṣṇava, and whatever position I have got it is by guru's mercy and the Vaiṣṇavas' blessings, otherwise I am insignificant. So I wish that Śrīdhara Mahārāja may bestow his blessings as he was doing always, and my Guru Mahārāja may help me. I can give some service (?).
Śrīdhara Mahārāja: (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: Yes, I thought that (indistinct) Guru Mahārāja wanted and these Gauḍīya Math people did not do anything, so let me try in this old age. The inspiration came, and I went. By his grace it has become little successful, that's all. I have no credit. It is all the blessings of guru and Vaiṣṇava, that's all. I have no credit. I do not know how things are happening, because I am not at all bona fide position. But it is truly chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā nistāra pāyeche kebā.
Prabhupāda: Finished. Everyone in the United Nations pressed on them: "Why you are colonizing? Why you are occupying so much land? You give up." They were obliged. And there was great national movement of Gandhi. So all United Nations pressed that: "They're wanting to avoid you. Why you are, by force, staying there?" Still, they would not go. But when the soldiers began to join the national movement, they gave it up. "Now we cannot rule it." How very nasty! For their political power, they did so many heinous activities in India. That's a great history. For selling their cotton goods, India's weavers were cut this finger so that they cannot weave. This is there in the history.
Brahmānanda: The, the independence movement of Africa, they took great inspiration from Gandhi's movement.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.
Brahmānanda: If Gandhi did it, then, they say: "Oh, now we can do it."
Prabhupāda: Gandhi started the movement from Africa. South Africa.
Brahmānanda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Gandhi was attempted to be killed in South Africa.
Prabhupāda: Because at the present moment, as I told you, we are acting according to our whims. So if there is mistake, I am responsible.
Śyāmasundara: In, in,... Sometimes they call inspiration... They say, "Oh, I've been inspired," and they create something beautiful by, automatically almost. What is that inspiration?
Prabhupāda: That inspiration means you created an idea, that "I want to do like that," and because you are persistent to act, so God helps you, "All right, you act." That is inspiration. But you are responsible. God gives you... You are persistent, that "I must have it." "All right, do it." That is inspiration. We should not do that. Unless it is desired by God, we should not act anything. That is bhakti. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam, ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam... Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). You should not have any (indistinct) for your satisfaction. Then it is all God's responsibility. Jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167).
Guest (8): That inspired the devotees, really, like anything, and...
Prabhupāda: And that was written for strī-śūdra-dvija-bandhūnām (SB 1.4.25). Mahābhārata was written by... This is history, but it was written by Vyāsadeva for woman, strī, śūdra and dvija-bandhu. Dvija-bandhu means those who are born in high family, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, but they are not cultured as their forefathers. They are called dvija-bandhu. And they are compared with śūdras. So strī-śūdra-dvija-bandhūnām. For these women, śūdra and dvija-bandhu, Mahābhārata is Vedic literature. But for their understanding... They could not understand the Vedic language directly. Therefore Mahābhārata was written. And in Mahābhārata he gave the topics, Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā is the essence of all Vedic literatures.
Lord Brockway: And I know little about your religion and your philosophy. I do not belong to any religious denomination, though I believe in the spiritual basis of the universe.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Lord Brockway: And the great moments of inspiration are those rare moments when you feel you belong to all of life, from the beginning of time, now, everywhere.
Prabhupāda: No, our preaching is also on that point, that God is one, and we are all sons of God. Call our paṇḍita. In the... I think you have read Bhagavad-gītā.
Prabhupāda: Not only men, all living entities.
Lord Brockway: Oh, yes, I mean men in the human aspect. Men and women are the sons and daughters, the children of God. I would say two things about that, that I think that those who sincerely have that conviction can be inspired to serve the coming of the brotherhood of mankind, but in experience I would not limit it to those who have that experience. And I find in life that many people who do not have religious convictions at all have a humanist conception which leads them to be very active for peace in the world, a human brotherhood, compassion, and all those characteristics which you have described as the capacities of those who share your religion. And in life they will express that even if they have the deeper recognition which you have described. I think the third thing that I would say about what you have said is this: it may be, I do not know, that there is a form of life after death. I don't know. I think if there is, the best preparation for it is service to one's fellow human beings in our present life.
Prabhupāda: Yes, but one thing is...
Lord Brockway: Yes?
Prabhupāda: ...that whatever service you render, because this world is of three qualities, the service will be, of course, of three qualities: goodness, passion, and ignorance. These are described there.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Reporter: And a right action is inherently inspired with love and devotion to Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Reporter: And therefore it is no more hiṁsā. But when the devilish...
Prabhupāda: And actually it is not hiṁsā.
Reporter: Actually it is not hiṁsā, exactly, but...
Prabhupāda: Just like father gives a slap.
Reporter: Yeah, it is not hiṁsā.
Prabhupāda: It is not hiṁsā.
Reporter: Yeah.
Prabhupāda: Similarly, the hiṁsā, so-called hiṁsā, when it is directed by Kṛṣṇa, that is not hiṁsā. That is love.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that's nice. We say also.
Karandhara: Except Paul Tillich was the ultimate rascal. He was a debaucher. He debauched women all over Europe.
Hṛdayānanda: He recently died.
Karandhara: There is a book about him, a very inflammatory book about how he would debauch all of his friends. He said he got all of his inspirations after having sex with other women. He said after having sex he would get his inspirations on theology.
Prabhupāda: Sometimes the drunkards say also like that. They get inspiration by drinking.
Karandhara: There is one very famous philosopher named Dubrown(?). He said that he had a saying that "Some men say that you become intoxicated by wine, but I become sobered by wine."
Prabhupāda: That can be accepted. "One man's food, another man's poison." That is going on everywhere. But for that reason one cannot accept poison as food. Is it not? Just like stool is food for the pigs. But that does not mean stool is food. It may be food for a certain class of animals. (break) No.
Prabhupāda: Not employment. They'll not work. That means mismanagement. Why they should remain down? Why they should remain without any employment? But the government is not doing that.
Devotee: They do not feel inspired.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Devotee: They do not feel inspired. No one has desire.
Prabhupāda: That, that means mismanagement. You had no desire to take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but you have been taken to it by some, some way or other. That is management.
Prabhupāda: Yes, I came yesterday at about eleven.
Indian man: We saw you in the evening going to the temple.
Prabhupāda: Yes. It is very nice place.
Indian man: Very nice, beautiful place. Very inspiring. Where's (indistinct) American? (?)
Prabhupāda: I am, of course, Indian, but I have got my headquarters in America. (chuckles) Yes.
Indian man: America. (chuckles) I think I have seen you at Bombay once.
Prabhupāda: Yes, Bombay I have got my headquarters.
Prabhupāda: Brahmaloka. No highest Brahmaloka, where Lord Brahmā lives.
Yaduvara: "There was beating of drums, and being inspired by godly feelings, the residents of Gandharvaloka began to play on their tamburās to please the Lord. Once when he was..." (break)
Prabhupāda: ...what is God. Such innocent. You see? They thought, "Might be some demigod." That's all.
Yaduvara;: "O Nanda Mahārāja, we are now in great doubt. Your son Kṛṣṇa must be one of the demigods." (break)
Prabhupāda: ...the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Yaduvara: "And he saved all honest men from the hands of the dishonest." (break)
Prabhupāda: ...Vṛndāvana inhabitants, they are always anxious how to save the cows, always. They are connected with cows.
Prabhupāda: So that is our philosophy. We... Arjuna acted as soldier, and still, he was recognized as devotee. (French)
Bhagavān: What is the use of practice, if you practice or you don't practice you still get the same result?
Prabhupāda: No, practice must be there. You cannot avoid practice. We also practice.
Karandhara: What he says is the form of the practice doesn't really matter, but the inspiration or the motivation to practice, to try and become desireless, that is the dynamic thing. It doesn't matter what form it takes.
Bhagavān: The problem is still death, though.
Prabhupāda: No, practice without any aim...
Karandhara: They say the aim is the practice itself. Just like we say the aim of devotional service...
Prabhupāda: No, no, the aim is there. Aim is there. He says that to become desireless. That is the aim. So why does he say that there is no aim?
Prabhupāda: No. That is... That is another nonsense. We are trying to please the Supreme by the Supreme music. Golokera prema-dhana hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. These sounds are not (indistinct) These are Vaikuṇṭha songs. Nārada muni bājaya vīṇā rādhikā-ramaṇa nāme. It is words by Nārada Muni. It is not manufactured here.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Don't you think that the great musicians like Bach, they were inspired by God to make this music.
Prabhupāda: But they (indistinct) do not believe in God. So that is another thing. But this music is like you are hearing music ten thousand miles away. Similarly, this music is being imported from Vaikuṇṭha many millions and many millions of miles away. So this is not just music of this mundane sound. Otherwise why you are not tired repeating it for many, many days? Any mundane sound, we repeat it, you cannot prolong it. You cannot prolong it. But we are (indistinct) only Hare Kṛṣṇa and you can chant this. And you also hear it. You (are) attracted.
Prabhupāda: So we should take full advantage of the human life. That is civilization. And in sense gratification it is not civilization; it is animal life. (break) ...for sense gratification. This is the modern civilization. (break) ...nice place is made for sense gratification. And as soon as you perform kīrtana, the police will harass you. This is civilization. (break) ...nice place, there should be so many temples. People will come early in the morning, take bath in the sea, go to the temple, have some spiritual inspiration. That program is there. And running. The dog is running and the man is running. (break) This sense does not come that "The dog is running; I am also running. Where is the difference between him and me? She has got a female mate; I have got a female mate. Where is the difference? How I am civilized?" That, this sense, does not come. (break) ...thinking, "I have chained the dog, but I am not chained." But you are chained by māyā, invisible chain. That he does not know. He is also chained. (break) ...māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān (SB 7.9.43). Māyā-sukhāya. (break) ...peacock? No, cranes, sarasa. (break) ...football? Football ground.
Prabhupāda: Only at the time of massage. (break)
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: ...Vedic statement or is it just preference?
Prabhupāda: No, that is my personal. During winter it is pleasing, of course, sunshine.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: ...walk this way. There's a ravine here. (break) Śrīla Prabhupāda, it always seems that there is some kind of inspiration for spiritual life there. Is that simply mental concoction, or is it actually a fact, the land itself?
Prabhupāda: Land. It is the influence of the land. Just like Vṛndāvana. Whatever you may be, you stay here, you become spiritualized. Simply you stay there. (break)
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Is it possible to reform a person against their will?
Prabhupāda: No, not possible. (break)
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: ...sign, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that someone is actually having change in heart?
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: What is the sign that someone is actually having change in heart?
Prabhupāda: By his action. (break) ...kasipu tried to make Prahlāda atheist. He failed. And Prahlāda tried to make his father theist. He failed. Don't you see?
Brahmānanda: The Indians had the experience of the independence in India to draw on for inspiration and also for their strategies and so on, to guide the Africans.
Prabhupāda: And now they are trying to drive away Indians.
Indian: Now they have brought a income tax official all from India here. So the Indian people, they were giving their money to the African and taking money to London and U.K., here and there. So now they have brought out from India. They are very strict. People still take money, but they have more to take than the African. The African people are very poor, and they were giving them so much money and taking money out of it. It is difficult for them.
Prabhupāda: Yes. These people can be brought under control by bribing. There is no problem. They have no moral strength, and poor. They will accept bribe. I think by bribing it is still going on. Otherwise how they can stop this bribing? That is not possible.
Madhudviṣa: (break) ...New York now named Jaya Nimāi Nitai. When you were first in New York, he was a musician. He used to write music, and he used to get inspired by looking down from his apartment down to the street. And every day he said he used to see this little Indian man walking by, and it was you, Śrīla Prabhupāda. And he couldn't figure out what was going on, this man walking by on the street every day.
Prabhupāda: Yes, I was having morning walk regularly, alone.
Madhudviṣa: He said you used to walk very fast. (break) (Indian band playing)
Madhudviṣa: Entrance? (break)
Rādhāvallabha: ...ISKCON temples, ISKCON activities, ISKCON temples, ISKCON Deities... (break)
Prabhupāda: ...people will know there is exhibition? There is no signboard. Who will know that here is...?
Rādhāvallabha: We'll have to put up signs today showing the entrance. There will also be a BBT and the scholars' quotes.
Prabhupāda: Where is this?
Prabhupāda: But he is.... That is another foolish question. He said that "You do it." He is not desiring? How foolish that is.
Gurukṛpā: "But He is not inspiring me to do it."
Prabhupāda: What is inspiring? He is directly saying, "You do that." Is not instruction?
Gurukṛpā: "But He's not inspiring me."
Prabhupāda: Just see how fool. He is saying directly, "Do this," and still He is not inspiring. Just see.
Mahāṁśa: He says that "Only by His mercy I will be able to do it."
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Mahāṁśa: "He says, 'Only by Kṛṣṇa's mercy I will be able to surrender to Him.' So His mercy is on you, but His mercy has not come to me."
Prabhupāda: And if you don't accept the mercy, then whose fault it is? I am giving you mercy: "You take it." And if you do not take it, then it is my fault?
Prabhupāda: Citra Das. No. No, Kashinath Mullik's father? So gradually this whole quarters belonged to this Mullik family. Still in front of this temple there is Gangara(?) building. That is also the property of Rādhā-Govinda. And as I have shown in coming, our house was just behind the present Govinda Bhavana. And we had the opportunity of seeing this Rādhā-Govinda from very childhood. When I was three or four years old I used to visit this Rādhā-Govinda daily.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Jaya Rādhā-Govinda! Jaya Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: And that is the inspiration of my devotional life. Then I asked my father that "Give me Rādhā-Govinda Deity; I shall worship." So my father was also Vaiṣṇava. He gave me small Rādhā-Govinda Deity. I was worshiping in my house. Whatever I was eating, I was offering, and I was following the ceremonies of this Rādhā-Govinda with my small Deity. That Deity is still existing. I have given to my sister. So then I introduced Ratha-yātrā.
Prabhupāda: Rādhārāṇī is the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa, and when Kṛṣṇa wants to enjoy, He expands His pleasure potency in the form of Rādhārāṇī. And when He wants to spread the loving affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, He takes the form of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and very kindly He gives the love of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī has offered Him obeisances, namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te (CC Madhya 19.53). To understand Kṛṣṇa, it takes long, long duration of life. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). And to understand the love of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī, it is not so easy thing. But by the grace of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu we are understanding. Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te (CC Madhya 19.53). So it is now spreading all over the world. So this is.... About this movement it may be this Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā-Govinda Deity is the, what is called?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Inspiration?
Prabhupāda: Inspiration. So you are all fortunate that you have come here. So let us offer our obeisances.
Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda! (break—to car ride)
Hari-śauri: Those Deities are very nicely looked after, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Hari-śauri: The Deities.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Hari-śauri: They are very nicely cared for.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. This is my inspiration, this Deity.
Abhirāma: Should we have some program with these Mulliks sometimes, visit?
Prabhupāda: No, no. Our house was here. I am coming almost daily, on every moment. I was playing here. They were all my playmates. The whole this, from that street to this street, that was our house, home. Here is the pharmacy, that Kailash Pharmacy. That was very old. Our limit was coming up to this road and up to that (indistinct) road.
Guest (3): No. Could I just share one experience, and I'd like your feeling on this. This is one thing that, the reason that we come throughout the world, and that is that we believe that in the year 1820 that there was a young man, Joseph Smith, who was confused about religion. And in this confused state he sought the Bible, and he read James 1:5, and the inspiration was to go seek God and ask Him in prayer. And in his prayer he had an experience where God the father and His son Jesus Christ appeared to him. Now, see this is what we base our religion about, is that a young man saw God and was visited by Him and His son Jesus Christ, and through him They used him as an instrument in restoring His true church. Now that's our testimony, and we believe this with all of our heart. We feel that it's built upon the spirit and that it's through prayer and study that we've found this. Now, what's your feeling about that?
Prabhupāda: No, if he has seen God, then God has given him some message.
Devotee (3): These people, they think that if someone is inspired by God, then their word is the word of God. Therefore they can write all kinds of things, and they put the label on it that "This was spoken by God through me."
Prabhupāda: Hearing directly from Him. Which one is better? Directly hearing from Him, or by some inspiration?
Devotee (2): Hearing directly, naturally.
Prabhupāda: Yes. It is true. By sentiment you can say "I'm inspired." But hear directly then there is no question.
Devotee (3): People sometimes ask, "If Bhagavad-gītā was spoken by Kṛṣṇa and it was recorded by Vyāsadeva in the Mahābhārata, was Vyāsadeva actually present there on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, or did he see it by revelation?"
Prabhupāda: No. Here, just like something's happening ten thousand miles away. You can record it by modern machine.
Devotee (3): (break) ...mercy he was able to...
Prabhupāda: Three millions miles, sun is, eh?
Hṛdayānanda: No one could imagine that.
Prabhupāda: You have seen all my room in the Rādhā-Dāmodara temple?
Rādhā-vallabha: We looked through the cracks. They're usually not open. Very inspiring.
Hṛdayānanda: Rādhā-vallabha has one newspaper article when you had just arrived in, I think, Butler.
Rādhā-vallabha: Trivikrama brought it up last..., two nights ago.
Hṛdayānanda: When you had just arrived, I think before going to New York, and when you were being interviewed, and it said the Swami is welcoming lectures, and it was very inspiring for us.
Prabhupāda: The Butler picture?
Rādhā-vallabha: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Another paper was there: "Ambassador of India's culture."
Jackie Vaughn: Yes. I am very fortunate. Twice I've been before you.
Prabhupāda: Thank you. Oh, that's nice.
Jackie Vaughn: I'm very grateful.
Prabhupāda: Whenever you find time, please come.
Jackie Vaughn: I will.
Prabhupāda: Yes. You'll get so many inspirations. (pause) The pathways in the garden, if they are occasionally washed, as far as possible, grow.... (break)
Mādhavānanda: Today is celebration of snāna-yātrā, So.... (break)
Hari-śauri: July 18.
Mādhavānanda: Today is snāna-yātrā, disappearance of Mukunda Datta and Śrīdhara Paṇḍita and full moon. Tomorrow is disappearance of Śyāmānanda Gosvāmī. (end)
George Gullen: Very good, very good, I believe all that. Every word. The people need leadership, inspiration that they can follow with their whole heart.
Prabhupāda: There must be practice, that we are teaching. That simply not theoretical, but practical. Here in our institute, we teach all the students practically how to become God conscious. Theoretical knowledge will not help us. There must be practical behavior. They are rising early in the morning, attending maṅgala-ārati, then having class, Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, chanting, in this way, twenty-four hours engaged. It is not fifteen minutes recreation. No. Twenty-four hours program.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Now later on, when Sadāpūta speaks, there will be similar concepts, but that is applied to the human platform called inspiration-inspiration and proving the existence of Paramātmā, Supersoul. Actually, it ties together very well. Even from the molecular level we can see this, and in the human platform actually it is very vividly,...
Prabhupāda: Manifested.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: We can feel it.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So in all branches of study, either it is physical or chemical or mathematical, in all branches of science, we want to show the existence of Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: His hand is working.
Indian woman: Śrīla Prabhupāda, I read Ramakrishna when I was fifteen years old, and I became so restless and anxious for guru, and I began to concentrate so much, and I become so God conscious. But I don't know what happened to me by reading Ramakrishna, and I gave up my (indistinct). I don't know what's wrong with me.
Prabhupāda: Eh? (devotees laugh) What is the question?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The question is that she was so much inspired when she was very young, she read some words by Ramakrishna.
Prabhupāda: What was the particular thing?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Then she started looking for guru. She became very aware of the need for guru.
Indian woman: That's why I found you. (laughter)
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Many of us who have similar experiences like that. Naturally, we weren't always so fortunate that we first came in contact with Prabhupāda's books or his disciples. But somehow or another we weren't satisfied by anything, because there was some gap, some void, some missing information that didn't satisfy us.
Prabhupāda: Which portion appealed to you in Ramakrishna's life? Which portion?
Indian woman: (indistinct) When he used to be married he wrote some songs, he used to practice to sing, he used to chant and he used to cry.
Dr. Sukla: Of course, first we were talking about Vivekananda, not Ramakrishna. They are two different personalities and two different paths.
Indian woman: Yes, but I thought Ramakrishna... Many times I get devotees who say to me, "Oh, he's a rascal." I say, "I don't know, I can't say rascal." I don't read him, but he inspired me so much. And I don't know what's wrong. Am I wrong or...?
Prabhupāda: Now what is the philosophy of Ramakrishna?
Indian woman: He does not say that Kṛṣṇa is God. (indistinct) and I was very young at that time.
Prabhupāda: If you want to discuss, there is points of discussion. (laughs) Yes. He worshiped Kali, is it not? Everyone knows it. Do you know that? And by worshiping he became God. Do you agree to that?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, once that very concept that they will be able to do all these things, if that is removed, then they come on the platform as...
Prabhupāda: Of sane man. They are talking like insane man.
Ravīndra-svarūpa(?): But that inspiration is that we can always do something bigger and better than we've done before.
Prabhupāda: But still you cannot do in the final. That is not possible. Because you are finite. You are not infinite. Your knowledge is limited. You can do something up to some extent.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rāmeśvara: They became very enlivened, inspired.
Prabhupāda: In India the sannyāsīs beg, but I did not beg. I sold my Back to Godhead, books. I got income tax free...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You always gave literature.
Prabhupāda: I think this church.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, Universalist church. You always gave literature in return for donations you received.
Prabhupāda: That is going on still.
Prabhupāda: Any time, it does not depend on financial help.
Interviewer: Why would you say you were doing so well?
Rāmeśvara: We don't tithe our members. In other words, our congregations do not pay dues. We are depending on Kṛṣṇa. We're simply trying to print books, and we show them to people, and then Kṛṣṇa inspires them to purchase or give a contribution. It's not that we have people making large contributions or a congregation that pays dues.
Interviewer: So where does most of your money come from?
Rāmeśvara: She wants to know where most of our money comes from.
Prabhupāda: Money comes from Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: You read the books, Then you'll understand. Instead of asking me, you better read the books. That is real understanding.
Interviewer: I was just wondering how he personally got interested or involved, and what his route to his consciousness was.
Rāmeśvara: I see. She's asking about your relationship with your Guru Mahārāja, how you became inspired to start the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and write so many books.
Prabhupāda: These things you can answer. It is not very important things for public.
Rāmeśvara: I think the public always likes to know about the person behind the movement.
Lady Guest: Yes, it helps. People are interested. People are interested in development of a man like you because they relate. And that way they decide to read what you write.
Prabhupāda: First thing is that if you are interested in our book, so, you read our books. You'll understand.
Prabhupāda: So what do you mean by...? We shall live in the sky?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Flower in the sky.
Prabhupāda: You shall live in the building and we shall live in the sky, in the air? You mean to say like that?
Rāmeśvara: We told him that this building is actually for rascals like you. To try to inspire you a little bit.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They were calling him directly rascal and fool. He was calling him a rascal directly.
Rāmeśvara: We also showed him that our movement is being accepted, in different ways.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yesterday we spoke to Gurukṛpā and he's having, some of his men were deported.
Devotee: From where?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Japan.
Prabhupāda: Again.
Rāmeśvara: That reporter yesterday, he was surprised you had written so many books.
Kīrtanānanda: Any intelligent man would be surprised. It is unbelievable, so many books.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Where is there an author who has written so many books?
Kīrtanānanda: In so short time.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They don't know how to control their senses. This is inspirational...
Rāmeśvara: Prabhupāda told us yesterday that one Sanskritist was appreciating the Harvard classics very much as being very important in educating people about Indian culture, but Prabhupāda's books are even better.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: He said "insurpassable." "Prabhupāda's books are insurpassable."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That man was the chief of the Benares school?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Sanskrit department.
Prabhupāda: Very learned scholar in Sanskrit. Titles in Sanskrit.
Bhūgarbha: He said one nice thing. He said that without Jīva Gosvāmī's Ṣaṭ-sandarbhas there's no question of understanding Bhāgavatam.
Prabhupāda: Hmm?
Bhūgarbha: He made that statement.
Prabhupāda: I met him when he was in Delhi once.
Bhūgarbha: We were very inspired in Delhi, that almost every college we went to, they already had your three books, and the librarians, they would remember. We would ask them "When did you get these books?" They'd think, "Well, about ten, twelve years ago, some sannyāsī came. We purchased."
Prabhupāda: So they remembered.
Bhūgarbha: They were (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: So now they took others?
Bhūgarbha: Now... We said that "You've begun; this is only the beginning. You cannot have incomplete set." They said "Yes, we cannot have incomplete," so they took the rest. And also that man, that Sastri, the Ministry of Education? That man Mr. Sastri, in the Ministry of Education, the Rātrī of Sanskrit-samsad, he bought fifty copies?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Prabhupāda: That is all right, but if God has given you so many basic things, then you can use your intelligence. Otherwise, your intelligence... There is a story that one man was asked by his friend, "Have you got intelligence?" He began to search out here. So, "What is this?" He said, "Intelligence means when there is money here. Otherwise, I am even though I have got intelligence, useless." You can utilize your intelligence provided you have got the means. Intelligence also you cannot utilize properly if there is no supply.
Hari-śauri: Actually, Svarūpa Dāmodara pointed out when we were in Washington that most of these big, big men, they admit that they don't know where their inspiration comes from; it just comes. Just like that Mozart or one of those composers. He just used to write the music, but he had no idea where it was coming from. He did not think it out.
Prabhupāda: And that is answered in the Bhagavad-gītā: mattaḥ, mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). So intelligence comes from God. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca.
Jayapatākā: I went to Writer's Building, I had four or five copies with me. I didn't go for selling. I went to see ministers. But all the peons, they were buying the Gītār Gāns from me. I sold out. People were coming up with rupees saying, "Gītār Gān." I didn't have any more.
Prabhupāda: Out of their own accord they...
Gargamuni: No, they've heard of it. It's becoming famous.
Jayapatākā: That's our inspiration, that if we can make Gītār Gān and Your Divine Grace famous all over Bengal, then we will feel that our mission...
Prabhupāda: Yes, I could not write any... I wrote some Bengali book, that is now... It can be collected from Devānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha. I continually wrote one book, Bhagavāner Kathā.
Jayapatākā: People are begging us for books in Bengali written by Your Divine Grace. We tell them that... There's no time.
Prabhupāda: That Subhaga translated. But his translations are not so...
Gargamuni: No. There's always trouble with translation in local languages, Hindi or Gujarati.
Prabhupāda: They do not know the philosophy.
Jayapatākā: Many people ask that if the Gītār Gān could be put in Hindi.
Gargamuni: This Gītā Press, they have these little books selling for one rupee, and they've sold lakhs. If we can put Gītār Gān into many languages, it will be bigger than this Gītā Press.
Prabhupāda: So you can... It is poetry.
Jayapatākā: That's the difference, that Prabhupāda put it in poetry. Who has got that inspiration?
Prabhupāda: It is gān, gītā, song. One can chant it singing.
Jayapatākā: Some people say, "We want the Gītā. This is only gān." But then we have to say, "No, this has got the full Gītā. Everything is there. Every śloka is in here. Only put in gān form. But it is actual Gītā." Other people say, "I have so many Gītās." We say, "No, no, you can chant this with your harmonium or by khol and karatāla you can sing." So many ways the people are taking it.
Prabhupāda: Yes, they can sing very nicely.
Minister: Mostly it is utilized for that. Almost completely. Only one or two is mere what is called charity. The industry, there's been a wrong impression that we are working directly with industry.
Prabhupāda: No, no. That is... It should be utilized simply for the purpose of awakening the devotional, what is called-inspiration. For no other purpose. Just like in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti, nitya-siddha. This is our natural... Just like these Europeans and Americans, they have become Kṛṣṇa bhaktas. So what business they had to do with Kṛṣṇa? They're coming from Christian family, Jewish families, or some of them Mohammedan family. So what they have got to do with Kṛṣṇa? They haven't got to do anything with Kṛṣṇa. So how they have become a Kṛṣṇa bhakta? Even the... Just like he is coming from Parsee family, he is coming from Jewish family, he is coming from Christian family, he is coming from Europe, he is coming from America. So what they have got to do with Kṛṣṇa?
Dhanañjaya: Yes, I like this much better. Otherwise the arms are too long and thin.
Prabhupāda: In this way make a nice design Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. And Rādhārāṇī should be like this. This is Vṛndāvana style. Not this. This is Lakṣmī style. This. Make these arrangements. I am hopeful of this business. Very good business we'll have. I want to introduce in every family. They'll do it. If they do not worship, let them keep as dolls. That will also give them inspiration.
Dhanañjaya: Actually so many Indians in their house they're keeping just like dolls. They are not worshiping regularly. They're keeping on the mantlepiece or on the side.
Prabhupāda: In this way be encouraged and in full capacity do business and get others.
Dhanañjaya: There was one boy who just came from Italy and he's expert in wood carving.
Prabhupāda: That's all right.
Guest: Mind control, brainwashing.
Prabhupāda: You should go to see Visvambhara Gosvāmī also. (Hindi) This is fortunate that you have come in this moment. So I'll give you this inspiration, now combine together all Vṛndāvana gosvāmīs. Kṛṣṇa cult is for everyone, either Gauḍīya or Rāmānuja or everyone. Now all of you should come forward. That you do. Admitting (Hindi conversation). They are concerned with the Kṛṣṇa cult. Kṛṣṇa cult means all the ācāryas, all the ācāryas, either Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Nimbārka or anyone, they should combine together. (Hindi) (aside:) Why you are talking? It is not very important. It is for him. It is a very bad habit. (aside ends) So we should be very alert in this point. All the Vaiṣṇavas of different sampradāyas, especially Gauḍīya sampradāya, you should come forward to fight this.
Prabhupāda: Show him. Now it is already there in the book. This is Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.
Mr. Saxena: Now he prepares to go out.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Mr. Saxena: He prepares to give us some inspirational power so that we may go out and teach all these things to those persons. First we should be able enough.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Jagadīśa: (showing book) Sanskrit, English transliteration, word for word.
Mr. Saxena: I see.
Jagadīśa: Translation and purport so anyone who doesn't know Bhagavad-gītā can read, "Bhagavad-gītā is the widely read theistic science..."
Mr. Saxena: Thank you, thank you, thank you. You must have also this missionary spirit. (Hindi conversation) So I am at your disposal now.
Prabhupāda: Yes. You give him one single room. So we have given word to word meaning, translation, purport. This book also we are selling, millions.
Prabhupāda: After all, it is Kṛṣṇa's body.
Guest (1): Yes. But what I said we pray for not for your sake but for our sake.
Prabhupāda: The body is dedicated to Kṛṣṇa.
Guest (1): Yes. And through you we get inspirations. If we go to wrong path we remember you.
Prabhupāda: The similar question was Sanātana Gosvāmī. Sanātana Gosvāmī, after leaving his..., resigning his post, he was living as a mendicant, and there was no bodily comfort. Naturally there was eczema, and it is wet eczema. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as soon as will meet him, immediately embrace him. So he would say, "Don't touch me! This is not for Your..., touch me. This is the disease..." So Caitanya Mahāprabhu... "I'm touching just to purify Myself." Then he consulted some friends, that "Caitanya Mahāprabhu will not hear me and He'll touch forcibly. Better I give up this body." He desired to commit suicide. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that "Do you think it is your body? You already dedicated to Me for My service. How you are thinking in that way? It is not your body." Then his body became release from all this eczema. He was thinking like that, that "Caitanya Mahāprabhu forcibly embraces me and my body is so unclean. Better I shall give up." So He said, "It is no longer your body. You have dedicated the body to Me. You have no right to think like that."
Gurudāsa: In other words, that letter would say, "I would oversee this." On the other hand, there's a man from CARE who went to our camp and was very impressed with the food program. I thought we could get a letter from him, because Germany knows CARE and they don't know Tarun Kanti Gosh from the dobi.
Prabhupāda: No.
Gurudāsa: So I thought CARE would be good, so Abhirama Prabhu is trying for that. Also I saw C. L. Bijaya yesterday when I was waiting to come here, and he was very happy to see me. And he said by your inspiration, "I want to give you that room downstairs."
Prabhupāda: Which room?
Gurudāsa: That room at the bottom.
Prabhupāda: Oh, that will solve our great problem.
Girirāja: About fifteen more minutes.
Prabhupāda: Hm? So I can go and take my massage now. (Hindi)
Girirāja: Actually we could show the book movie. I don't think anyone here has seen it.
Prabhupāda: Ah. Yes.
Girirāja: (aside:) You didn't see that. Okay I'll get that. It's a very short movie, fifteen minutes. Very inspiring.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) The real purport of Bhagavad-gītā is to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Then it is successful. (Hindi) If you take Bhagavad-gītā, the speaker of Bhagavad-gītā says this is the purpose: man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66). Duṣkṛtino narādhamāḥ. That... Na māṁ prapadyante mūḍhā duṣkṛtino narādhamāḥ. "One who does not do that, he is sinful, duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ. And fool, rascal, narādhamāḥ, lowest of the mankind." He is chastising like that. So if you have got other purpose, that means you come to this group. Duṣkṛtino mūḍhā narādhamāḥ.
Prabhupāda: So that you have to explain, what is that transcendental knowledge. So what is to be done now if they're taking our boys by force?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, there's two things. One thing is that from our side we have to explain that they have no brains. That we have to preach. And from the other side, all of these other professional groups who are helping us, they have to counteract what these deprogrammers are doing by lobbying in Congress and all the other legal means. We cannot do that, but they have position; they can do that. So we should inspire them to do that.
Ādi-keśava: For every letter that the deprogrammers write to some Congressmen, they have to write a letter. For every speech that the deprogrammers give, they must give a speech. That is the only way it will work. Just like they applied to the Catholic Church to speak in the classes of the Catholic Church about cults and deprogramming. So now we have also had our people apply to the Catholic Church that we can also speak in their classes in favor of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Prabhupāda: So then you have to go?
Ādi-keśava: But they have to do it because they will listen to the professionals. They won't listen to us. They say, "You just want to talk your religion." But if a professional man, a big professor, comes in and says, "I can tell you..."
Prabhupāda: We have got so many professor friends. There is Dr. Stillson Judah, Dr. Sukla. There are so many.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The thing is, though, that when we get these donations, it's because we suggest that they be invested in a particular way. The people often state that. It's not that they're so dedicated to the particular way we invest the money. I've seen that very often. It's due to our suggestion.
Rādhā-vallabha: In some cases, but in other cases it's not possible to get money unless you... Like with the Laguna Beach people. Unless they know exactly what it's going for, they won't give something. And this is the type of thing that can inspire them to give a little money, especially the ones that don't give anything. Anyway, even if a donation comes, I won't do anything with it until I speak to you.
Prabhupāda: No, donation may come for causes good, many, but investment must be conscientious.
Rādhā-vallabha: So I'll save it until I speak to you.
Prabhupāda: Not that because you are getting donation very easily and you spend it, squander it, like that, anything. No. That should not be.
Prabhupāda: No, no, that is rubbish. They do not what is Bhāgavata. How they will translate? Professional translation is not. Bhāgavata-pado giya bhāgavata sthāne.(?) "Whose life is Bhāgavata, go there and read Bhāgavata." That is the recommendation. That is the order of Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī. Ordinary men, what they will understand, Bhāgavata? Bhāgavata is not for ordinary men. Paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ vāstavam vastu vedyam atra (SB 1.1.2). In the beginning it is said unless one is paramahaṁsa, he cannot understand. Paramo nirmatsarāṇām.
Guru dāsa: Yes. Tapomaya has taken the boat out. The boat in Bengal, the boat program.
Prabhupāda: Oh, that's nice.
Gargamuni: But Jayapatākā is asking for Bhavānanda to come and give extra inspiration.
Prabhupāda: So Bhavānanda can go. For my bodily comforts, preaching should not suffer. This can be done somebody else. Preaching is our first program.
Mr. Myer: In Madras we have got very particular people. This is ho-kalam(?). One and a half hour every day, nobody does any work. Monday, 7:30 to nine. It's some time every day they say very bad. People don't start anything new, not going... In the afternoon there is rama-dandana.(?) So it always means a way of postponing things, so, as Guru was saying the other day, somebody said, "It's not auspicious to sleep on the north side." So then he said, "I don't have a head, so it doesn't matter which way the..." Quite true, that is.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So if tomorrow we could have this... Or day after tomorrow, perhaps. It will take a day to get the ingredients. Day after tomorrow is all right with you?
Mr. Myer: No, that's very good, yeah.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, today's Friday, so day after tomorrow will be Sunday. Sunday morning. Is that all right? Actually Mr. Myer came here to get initiated. He had no idea to come here to become a manager here. Originally, before he went back to Madras to get his wife, he just came here for this thing, because he heard that you were very ill, and he didn't know what your position would be, so he wanted... So he rushed here, stopping all his work, simply to take initiation.
Prabhupāda: That is Kṛṣṇa's inspiration.
Prabhupāda: So why attacked?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, the only thing we could guess is that now the government is Communist. So it may be that these were Communist-inspired dacoits. I mean, three hundred, if there was actually... It must have been quite a huge number. That means they were organized. It's not some ordinary village dacoits to have such a huge number of them. So the Communists, maybe they did this. It's hard to understand until we get the report from Jayapatākā. He said he's sending it.
Prabhupāda: And police did not help?
Prabhupāda: Yes. That's a fact. We are trying for that.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Here's another one from the Head of the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences in Madras. His name is Usair Mohammed Kasim. " 'Swami Prabhupāda's Bhagavad-gītā As It Is is a remarkable exposition of Vedānta philosophy. What impressed me most is its nonsectarian analysis and acceptability.' " He says its nonsectarian. Everyone would say... Most Hindus would say, "The Bhagavad-gītā is our book." But here is a Muslim saying it's nonsectarian. " 'Furthermore, this book I'm sure will inspire men of all faiths. The rendering is authentic and lucid. I am confident that this admirable classic will contribute to a greater understanding of Indian philosophical heritage.' " This book should be shown to these government men in Delhi, Śrīla Prabhupāda. This review. Usair Mohammed Kasim.
Bhāgavatāśraya: We can make copies?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. Write Gargamuni. He'll send more. This is an important Encyclopedia of Vedic Knowledge reviews. Actually he got all of these reviews recently. That's amazing. It's amazing how many reviews they got. These are all from the months of May and June I think. Yeah. You want to hear some of them? "Minister of Education: 'Message: The ancient roots of traditional Indian life reach farther into the distant past than any other country on earth. What thousands of years ago culminated in education included the development in the student of all good qualities. In other words the pupil was ignited with a desire to learn and develop himself rather than strive for material rewards. From out of the great ages the ancients, headed by Śrī Vyāsadeva, have left us the timeless treatise of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the basis of all education.' " This is the Minister of Education, the Government of Maharastra. She's admitting...
Prabhupāda: Vedavyāsa.
Prabhupāda: How they learned so much?
Kīrtanānanda: (laughs) Kṛṣṇa's in the heart. Nobody's ever done this before. This is the bracket that goes under the sun shade. This is a view of Bahulaban farm. This is the big guesthouse that is just completed, and this is another new building that has gone up since you've been there. This will be a utility building for all different kinds of shops where they can make jewelry and cast concrete and carpenter shops and all different shops. So we all thank you very much, because it is only by your grace we have gotten this inspiration.
Prabhupāda: Besides that, whenever you require money, you can ask. He'll give.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām (Bs. 5.54).
Prabhupāda: That's all.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Anyway, do things very carefully. I am already dead. But still, I am giving you instruction as far as I can. And this is not life, a bundle of bones.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: You are still the inspiration for everything we do.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That I shall go on till the last breathing.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: (loud) Hare Kṛṣṇa. (laughter) (end)
Prabhupāda: Hm? I could not follow.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: I could not follow what he said.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says... He found out that the Bombay temple owed the BBT seventy thousand rupees. So he says when he heard that you had decided that you wanted to live and not leave us, he got very encouraged and inspired. So he decided on his own that he wanted to pay back this money to the BBT for you. He says, "I have been encouraging all the preachers here at ISKCON Bombay to go out and collect the money to pay off this debt to the BBT. Śrīla Prabhupāda has made all this arrangement very easily because of his encouragement to us. Even devotees who have engagements where they are not likely to make a life member are making life members very easily and are collecting money. And even persons not expected to become members are now becoming members. This is all due to the desire in the hearts of the preachers here in Bombay to serve Śrīla Prabhupāda. And by the grace of Śrīla Prabhupāda, everything is coming very smoothly. This is confirmed in our hearts that without Śrīla Prabhupāda, we cannot do any single work in this movement. Śrīla Prabhupāda gives us encouragement just to kindly agree to stay with us. So yesterday, on Daśarātrī, we collected over 21,000 rupees and made ten members." (Prabhupāda laughs) He says, "We cannot express in English what we are feeling in our hearts, but we are all very encouraged to go out and collect for Śrīla Prabhupāda and expand his life membership program, and we are all very thankful that Śrīla Prabhupāda has been merciful and..." (break)
Trivikrama: By your mercy.
Prabhupāda: No. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavat... Any devotee can become. That letter, mayor's letter also, it carries weight. What is his name?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I have to give the key to the door. I keep the door locked when I'm not in the room.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: (whispering) I made two members today for the Institute.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: If you stay longer on this planet, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that will make this movement stronger. That is the real reason for living longer. 'Cause you are a pure devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, you have no personal desire. This is Kṛṣṇa's movement. If you stay longer, then this movement will become stronger and stronger. Simply by your presence the devotees become inspired and they work much better. We can understand that there's nothing to lament if you were to depart, because you're always going to be with Kṛṣṇa. But we would have to lament from our own point of view that we would lose you, at least in the way that we have you now. And the whole world would lament because this movement might not be as strong if you were not present.
Prabhupāda: Then make this arrangement, one week or ten days.
Jayapatākā: Dollars. Every time he thinks about it, he adds fifty feet, and it goes up twenty million. So now all the distributors in the world, they were very eager to see the temple built, but at the present time it requires so much money at seventy million dollars and 450 feet that no one can think of even starting it for five years. But if the temple was 300 or 350 feet and twenty-five or thirty million dollars, which I don't think anyone—it would be the biggest building even in India and the biggest temple in the world—then it could be started immediately, feasibly. Four temples in America said that if they just get five women each, that means twenty women from the Society, then they could each pledge 25,000 rupees a month for..., in collection. That means $125,000. Plus BBT's $100,000 a month and Gurukṛpā, that would be enough immediately even in the coming year to start the construction of the temple, simply if Saurabha was asked to just make the temple on a thirty million dollar budget, which would be 350 feet or 300 feet. And this is really inspiring the book distributors to have this temple begun, and to complete it within your lifetime, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: My lifetime... (laughs) It is now very brief. At any moment I can...
Jayapatākā: We're all praying that Kṛṣṇa will give your strength back. (break) ...neophyte devotees. Without your inspiration, association, it'll be very difficult.
Prabhupāda: That Muhammadan, what is his name?
Jayapatākā: Which one?
Prabhupāda: Back side our...
Jayapatākā: Badusheik.
Prabhupāda: He is selling the land also?
Jayapatākā: And the architect at Māyāpur, he said that the temple that's inside the big temple, that could be opened up to the public within three years by having just some type of false ceiling, and then the upper stories, work can go on. That means within three years people could start visiting the temple and using it, which will also be a big inspiration to the public. And then the upstairs and complete outside would be completed.
Prabhupāda: Do like that. That is very good idea. And different name, you can purchase.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust?
Jayapatākā: Each of the..., like gośāla, handloom, these can be separately formed into societies, which would be easier for bookkeeping and management anyway, and each of those societies can purchase the land on which their handloom or gośāla, whatever is, they can purchase that land in that name.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
| Page Title: | Inspiration (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti |
| Created: | 25 of May, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=65, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 65 |