Nearby (Lect., Conv. & Letters)

Expressions researched:
"nearby"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. He is volunteering. He's a businessman who has started to chant.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's very nice.

Prabhupāda: So let him give us and we shall make our temple there in the garage. Where it is?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says it's nearby here. He said fifty people can come in.

Prabhupāda: Oh, that's all right.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He said we should hold kīrtana there now.

Prabhupāda: And immediately.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, he's suggested it.

Prabhupāda: So do it immediately. It is Kṛṣṇa's grace. Never mind garage. We shall turn hell into heaven. (laughter)

Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, he says it's nearby here.

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's a very nice man. He started to chant when he came to our other temple, and every day he chants while he goes to work...

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...when he's walking the street.

Prabhupāda: So he is devotee.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He said he was smoking two and a half packs of cigarettes. Now he only smokes three or four. Soon he will stop.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) You see? How practical. Yes. This is practical. One of my Godbrothers, he narrated his life history, that he was distilling wine for drinking. And he said that all kinds of intoxicants he has passed. He is graduate of all kinds of intoxication. (laughs) But when he came to Guru Mahārāja, he left everything. He has not even smoking a biḍi, cigarette. Pāpī tāpī yata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo, tāra sākṣī jagāi mādhāi. The witness is Jagāi and Mādhāi. So you accept it.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 15, 1971:

So sāyujya-mukti... Sārūpya-mukti, to have the... For Vaiṣṇavas, they don't accept this sāyujya-mukti, to merge into the existence of the Lord. They accept sārūpya-mukti. Sārūpya-mukti means to have the same features of the body like Viṣṇu. In Vaikuṇṭhalokas all the living entities, devotees, they have got four hands. And only in Kṛṣṇaloka, Kṛṣṇa has got two hands and His devotees also have two hands. In other lokas, Vaikuṇṭhalokas... There are innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets, Nārāyaṇa is the predominating Deity, Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. And those who enter such planets, they get the same bodily feature, exactly looking like Nārāyaṇa. You have seen the picture of the Viṣṇudūtas who came to deliver Ajāmila. They were exactly looking like Nārāyaṇa. The same helmets, the same ornaments, exactly. You can understand. Just like your president or queen, if you are also dressed, you'll also look like queen. Or if you are dressed, you'll look like the president. But that does not mean you are president or you are queen, simply by dressing. Similarly, although the devotees and the living entities, they get the same feature of the body just like Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu, they're not viṣṇu-tattva. That is called sāyujya, sārūpya. Similarly, sālokya, to live in the same planet. Sāmīpya, to live nearby, near exactly with Nārāyaṇa. Just like we are living together, similarly, you can live with Nārāyaṇa, sāmīpya, side by side. These are the different kinds of liberation.

Lecture on SB 6.1.49 -- New Orleans Farm, August 1, 1975:

Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission is that paropakāra, benefit of the human society. All living entities within this material world, they are in ignorance, all 8,400,000 different forms of life. (aside:) This nearby come, the... Come near. Yes. This is specially meant for driving away the flies. (laughter) Yes. This cāmara is meant for that. Even it is touching body, there is no harm. So all living entities, they are ajñaḥ; they have forgotten what is the value of life. So in the human form of life, where there is chance of getting the real light, if they spoil in this way like cats and dogs, the whole world, what is the position of the world? Very precarious condition. So paropakāra. Therefore those who have got enlightenment, they should try to raise these rascals who are in ignorance. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore says, bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya janma haila jāra: "Anyone who has taken birth in Bhārata-varṣa, India, as human being, not cats and dogs," janma sārthaka kari, "first of all make your life successful," then paropakāra, "then distribute the knowledge." This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission.

Lecture on SB 7.9.3 -- Mayapur, February 10, 1976:

Hṛdayānanda: Oh. "Thereafter Lord Brahmā requested Prahlāda Mahārāja, who was standing very nearby, and asked Prahlāda Mahārāja to go forward and said, 'My dear son, Lord Nṛsiṁha-deva is very, very angry upon your demonic father, and you can go forward and appease Him, the Lord.' "

Prabhupāda:

prahrādaṁ preṣayām āsa

brahmāvasthitam antike

tāta praśamayopehi

sva-pitre kupitaṁ prabhum

(SB 7.9.3)

So all of them, all the demigods, they wanted to pacify. The Lord was very angry, but they failed. Then, at last, they requested Lakṣmījī to pacify the Lord. She could not dare to approach Him; what is the speaking of pacifying? Then, at last, they decided that "This five-years-old boy, the Lord may be compassionate upon him. And for him He has appeared, so let him be engaged in pacifying the Lord." So Brahmā, the head of all the demigods presented there, he decided, prahlādaṁ preṣayām āsa. He pushed him forward: "My dear Prahlāda, my dear son, better you go forward and pacify." It is something like to push a little child in the cage of the lion. It is something like that. Nobody dared. So Prahlāda Mahārāja, he knew very well that "However ferocious He may be, I am not afraid. He is my Lord. I am not afraid." He was jolly, innocent, pure devotee. He had no fear. So he was sent: "My dear Prahlāda, you try."

General Lectures

Speech -- New Vrindaban, August 31, 1972:

But the birds, although they are animals, lower animals, they can easily fly. In this way, if you make analytical study, every particular body has got a particular type of facility, while others haven't got. But we want all facilities of life. That is our inclination. Just like modern scientists, they're trying to go to other planets but they're conditioned, they cannot go. We can see. There are millions and trillions of planets before us—the sun planet, the moon planet, the Venus, the Mars. Sometimes we wish, "How I could go there." But because I am conditioned, I'm not independent, I cannot go. But originally, because you are spirit soul, originally you were free to move any way. Just like Nārada Muni. Nārada Muni moves everywhere; any planet he likes he can go. Still, there is one planet within this universe which is called Siddhaloka. That Siddhaloka, the inhabitants of Siddhaloka, they can fly from one planet to another without any airplane. Even yogis, yogis, haṭha-yogīs, those who have practiced, they can also go from anywhere to anyplace. The yogis, they sit down in one place and immediately transferred in another place. They take a dip in some river nearby here and they can get up in some river in India. They dip here and they rise there. These are yogic powers.

Purports to Songs

Spelling of Arati Song -- Los Angeles, December 31, 1968:

Prabhupāda: Cand, Nitāicand. His name, Nityānanda's, means Nitāicand. Yes.

Pradyumna: Bāme.

Prabhupāda: Bāme, on the left side. This is Nityānanda on the right side, and that is Gadādhara on the left side.

Pradyumna: Nikaṭe.

Prabhupāda: Nikaṭe, nearby.

Pradyumna: Advaita Prabhu.

Prabhupāda: Here is Advaita Prabhu.

Pradyumna: Śrīvāsa.

Prabhupāda: Śrīvāsa, there, another Lord's devotee. Śrīvāsa.

Pradyumna: Chaterjra.

Prabhupāda: Chatra-dhara. Chatra-dhara means he is bearing the umbrella.

Pradyumna: Śrīvāsa is?

Prabhupāda: Śrīvāsa, you know? Śrīvāsadi-gaura-bhakta. He is the chief devotee of Lord Caitanya. Śrīvāsa. He is Śrīvāsa.

Spelling of Arati Song -- Los Angeles, December 31, 1968:

Prabhupāda: Chatra-dhara. Chatra-dhara means he is bearing the umbrella.

Pradyumna: Śrīvāsa is?

Prabhupāda: Śrīvāsa, you know? Śrīvāsadi-gaura-bhakta. He is the chief devotee of Lord Caitanya. Śrīvāsa. He is Śrīvāsa.

Pradyumna: So it says, "Nearby, Advaita Prabhu and Śrīvāsa are bearing an umbrella."

Prabhupāda: That means Advaita Prabhu is nearby, and Śrīvāsa is also nearby, and Śrīvāsa is bearing the umbrella on the head of Lord Caitanya.

Pradyumna: Śaṅkha. Kibā śaṅkha.

Prabhupāda: Śaṅkha. Śaṅkha means the conchshell.

Pradyumna: Conchshell?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Pradyumna: Bāje.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Lord Caitanya Play Told to Tamala Krsna -- August 4, 1969, Los Angeles:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not real food.

Prabhupāda: No. Or... Real food is not required. Simply that explain it. Or you can do one thing. You can offer real food. And since she will be in devotion, one may take the foodstuff and distribute to the audience and keep it. That will be also nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Maybe we can distribute prasāda twice in the play.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Even just to... Maybe that plate we'll just give to a few people nearby.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...first speak in detail about Ṭhākura Haridāsa's disappearance. So tell me maybe how you want it to be performed.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Ṭhākura Haridāsa was living in a cottage which was... Just like I am living here, and the garage site a little far off, Haridāsa was living a little distance. So when Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to go to the sea for taking bath, He every day, every morning He used to go to Haridāsa Ṭhākura and taking his informa..., "Haridāsa, what you are doing?" Because Haridāsa was Mohammedan by birth, so out of his meekness he did not go to the temple. But in those... Especially in those days they were very strict. They do not allow anyone except Hindus to enter the temple. Nowadays, of course, there is law. If somebody is, actually has come to the Hindu way of life, he's allowed.

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1970, Indore:

Prabhupāda: Yes, why not?

Guest (6): Swamiji, you are here still.

Prabhupāda: But if somebody gives me land I may go on staying here.

Guest (6): No, no, father and mother, they are forcing me to leave you all in my home.

Prabhupāda: Where it is?

Guest (6): It is nearby.

Prabhupāda: Your father, mother, cannot come here?

Guest (6): They want you to come.

Revatīnandana: They've come here before.

Prabhupāda: Oh. (end)

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: He's Indian?

Bob: Indian, Indian, lives nearby. He speaks English fairly well. When he was young, said he worshiped Kālī every day very vigorously. But then the floods all came, and the floods came, and the people saw hardship. But now he has no religion, and he says he finds his happiness in trying to develop love among people. And I couldn't think of what to say to him to add religion to his life, to add God to his life. He says, "After the hereafter," he says, after he dies, "so maybe I'll become part of God, maybe not," he says, but he can't worry about it now. He says he's tried this religious experience; it didn't work. And one reason I ask this is when I go back to America a lot of people I come across are like this. They see that religion, like his worship of Kālī or other kinds of religion that they've experienced doesn't work. And I don't know what to say to them to convince them that it's worth trying.

Prabhupāda: Hm. You do not try to convince him at the present moment. You try to be convinced yourself.

Bob: (laughs) Yes, yes. I did... I asked him to see devotees, but then on the way out as he was leaving down the road I met him again and talked, "Come back," but... Oh, I see.

Prabhupāda: You first of all be convinced and then try to convince others. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's instruction is that you can do welfare for others when your life is success.

Room Conversation -- October 25, 1972, Vrndavana:

rabhupāda: That Palace we see in passing.

Gurudāsa: Yes, large palace.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gurudāsa: Windsor.

Prabhupāda: Berkshire Palace is also nearby.

Gurudāsa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: It is nearer to John's Tittenhurst. What is that?

Gurudāsa: Tittenhurst Park.

Prabhupāda: Tittenhurst Park. (To Sarasvatī:) Come on, come on. Come on. So Sarasvatī-devī, we have got good news: your father is coming tomorrow. It is all right? Śyāmasundara is coming tomorrow. You like?

Gurudāsa: She says she has four fathers and mothers.

Prabhupāda: Four fathers?

Gurudāsa: And mothers.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 15, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: A neophyte or anyone who is not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he does not enjoy. He simply suffers. There is no question of enjoyment. Anyone who is not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he does not enjoy. He simply suffers. But he takes the suffering as enjoyment. That is māyā. That is māyā. Just like in your country, they are working day and night. Just like from the morning, gugugugugugugugugu (makes noise of machine that is on nearby) They are suffering, but the people are coming, enjoying golf. That is suffering only. From the morning, going here, is it not suffering? (laughter) But he's thinking, "I am enjoying." This is māyā.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- June 20, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: Just see. Their sensation is very covered. Just like you cut the nails. There is no sensation. And does it mean there is no sensation-therefore there is no life? Unless there is life, how it is growing? It is growing; therefore you cut. But when you cut, there is no sensation. But there is life. Otherwise, how it is growing? The same nail, when you cut, you throw it on the ground. It will not grow. These are practical example. Just like little child. Their sensation is less. I know. My eldest daughter, when she was six months old, there was some boil. So the doctor operated. She simply, "Uh, uh," no cried. I have seen it. She was not crying. But the same boil, when a fully developed man, he will feel more sensation. So according to the body, the sensations are different. The same things, means mind, intelligence and ego, according to the body, they act differently. But the mind, intelligence and ego are there. The dog is coming, and if I say, "Hut!", unless it has got intelligence, how it goes away the other way? There is intelligence. There is no language, but because he has got intelligence, he can immediately understand I don't want him to come here. So how you can say there is no intelligence? The rascals say "The animals have no intelligence; therefore they have no soul." If one has no intelligence, there is no soul. That is admitted. But here is intelligence. How can you deny, "There is no soul"? The animals, the cows, when they are taken to the slaughterhouse, why they cry? Because he has intelligence that "Now I am going to be killed." And these rascals say there is no soul. And still, they are religious priests. Such fools and rascals are made religious fools, priests. No common sense. And they also get degree, Doctor of Divinity, DD. (break) ...Greek scholar, here in this Germany or in nearby?

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Gurudāsa: Yogapīṭha.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's family. "Book Digest." They publish our books?

Kirtirāja: We are trying to arrange that now. All of these different... There are so many magazines we are trying to get our books listed in them. Śrīla Prabhupāda, here's a magazine which one Christian press nearby has printed, very fancy magazine, and they were distributing it for free. They just recently printed a letter and then sent this. They have gone from this to this because they cannot afford to do it any more. No one is giving them donations any more, so they've gone from big fancy magazine to a small, plain paper. This people would like to see, but now this just looks like garbage. They won't even read it.

Prabhupāda: So it has degraded.

Kirtirāja: Yes. We have gone from this to fancy.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. This is our catalog.

Kirtirāja: Yes, we are printing a new one now.

Prabhupāda: What are these?

Kirtirāja: Unfortunately those are returns. When people don't want the books, then they return them.

Rāmeśvara: Very few returns.

Kirtirāja: Very few, though.

Prabhupāda: Never mind. That is not as strong.

Room Conversation with Yogi Bhajan -- June 7, 1975, Honolulu:

Paramahaṁsa: At most eight years, seven or eight years.

Prabhupāda: So less than we are.

Paramahaṁsa: Oh, yeah. You were here long before he was here. I think he came... 1968 he came. So you came three years before him. I have seen his āśramas in America. I saw one in Arizona. He has quite a large āśrama there. And I saw some of his smaller ones in New Guinea.(?)

Bali-mardana: I've seen them in Brooklyn, but it was just an apartment. It was not really an āśrama.

Paramahaṁsa: They have, in Phoenix, Arizona, they have a very nice place, very large building.

Prabhupāda: Where?

Paramahaṁsa: Phoenix, Arizona. It's similar to our Los Angeles branch. I think they tried to make... They have buildings, block buildings nearby, apartments for householders. In many ways they are imitating our movement.

Prabhupāda: But there is no Deity?

Bali-mardana: No, they worship the... (end)

Morning Walk -- June 28, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: The real doctor is he who can cure material disease. What do you think?

Satsvarūpa: You said Murāri Gupta was a doctor in both ways.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Satsvarūpa: (break) Prabhupāda, yesterday one of the library parties visited this Maharishi University which is an estate nearby. And it's very impressive they said. It's a big university, many buildings. But in the library they had no books of Vedic literature, so they took our books. And they said they are very glad to get them. They had nothing. Buildings, but no books.

Prabhupāda: University without books. (laughter) Very good university. Anyway, if they are taking our books, that is good. What he will have? He is also another bogus man. But you people want to be cheated by this yoga, meditation. Therefore he has been able to get some facility. Only a selected group has come to me. Otherwise, they do not understand this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Kuruśreṣṭha: Those people won't listen to any philosophy.

Prabhupāda: Therefore they have been cheated by this man.

Morning Walk -- September 25, 1975, Ahmedabad:

Prabhupāda: Simply it is prize post. Nobody does anything. Simply they draw salary. All these ministers, they do nothing. Just like Indira Gandhi is supposed to be very big plan-maker. So what she has done for the people? Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. (Hindi)

Harikeśa: Whenever we have to go to a government office, there are six men sitting, and only one is doing work, and all are getting salaries.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Last time we stayed where? Nearby?

Kartikeya: Mehtabhai Patel's. It is a little bit away from this place, only one mile from here. That Dr. Patel and another Dr. Patel is there.

Prabhupāda: His father-in-law?

Kartikeya: Father-in-law. P.M. Patel. (break) They were trying to arrange if you'll come. (break)

Girirāja: One boy said he wants to join.

Prabhupāda: Yes, they should join. All will go to hell. That is not good. At least one or two may be saved. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Morning Walk -- December 19, 1975, Bombay:

Śravaṇānanda: When we went to try to arrange a lecture at their football field for a pandal program, they said all the people coming would ruin the turf for cricket season. So they didn't have time for spiritual training, they said, only for the physical training. It caused too much damage on the field.

Dr. Patel: In my school, sir, where I was educated, in the entrance there is a statue of Sarasvatī, and nearby there is a photograph of Kṛṣṇa. I don't know how it came, that one.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Dr. Patel: All are not like that. In my school where I was educated, secondary school, in the entrance there was a statue of Sarasvatī, and near that was Kṛṣṇa's photo. (pause) (someone shouts Hare Kṛṣṇa)

Prabhupāda: In good health.

Dr. Patel: He always runs like this. All the time. He is so much frightened of his wife in the house that he cannot speak a word. Still he is in the house. That is why he makes good of the things when he comes out. (laughs) He behaves so naughtily like that. (Hindi with one man) Sir, shall we go this way, if you don't mind?

Prabhupāda: That Mr. Punja is staying? From Fiji? He has not come?

Devotee: Oh, no, he hasn't come back yet. He had two days' business, he said. He said he would come after that. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...doing there, these slums?

Dr. Patel: This was, they wanted to, er, have a officer of customs. The public, I mean, objected to, because they are imposing upon them, the way of the public walking. So they stopped it, but they are not taking away all these walls. Otherwise where the poor fellows will make the hutments?

Prabhupāda: That is what they are doing.

Morning Walk -- December 20, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, this rascal was speaking like that.

Devotee: He has thousands of disciples.

Prabhupāda: Such kind of.... as he is.

Dr. Patel: Nehi, kṛṣṇaṁ vande jagat-gurum. He is a jagat-guru, if you approach Him also, there is no, I mean physical guru nearby, kṛṣṇaṁ jagat-gurum, kṛṣṇaṁ vande jagat-gurum.

Prabhupāda: Yes...

Dr. Patel: He is jagat-guru...

Prabhupāda: ...you have to go to Kṛṣṇa not directly: yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. You have to go through the devotee of Kṛṣṇa.

Dr. Patel: (Sanskrit)

Prabhupāda: That is ādau śraddhā. If you have got faith in Kṛṣṇa, then next stage is tato sādhu-saṇgaḥ. And who is sādhu? Bhajate mām ananya-bhāk sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). So if you want to see Kṛṣṇa, you have to see first of all His devotee. Māṁ bhaktyā pūjā bhudhikaḥ. This is also.... "If you worship My devotee, that is better worship than worshiping Me directly." Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). He doesn't say by Kṛṣṇa-kṛpā, he says guru-krpā, first. Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- June 11, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: This rascal is.... And foolish persons are accepting him. How.... No, they are doing that. They are sanctioning homosex, sanctioning abortion. They've lost, Christianity and all.... (japa) This is Beverly Hills? No. Rancho Park.

Rāmeśvara: This is nearby. (break) Today, Śrīla Prabhupāda, the biggest magazine in the West United States is coming to try to get your interview at 10 o'clock, 10:30 this morning, something like that. It's called Los Angeles Magazine. It's for the West United States.

Prabhupāda: (break) And if we don't believe that they have gone to moon planet, they will reject us. They will immediately take as "Oh, these people are crazy." Even if you give sufficient reason or argument, they will not take it. That is their obstinacy.

Rāmeśvara: They're convinced by the photographs.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Rāmeśvara: They have some photographs of the men in the spacesuits walking around on that other planet.

Kīrtanānanda: But they are convinced because the scientists have told them. They believe the scientists. They have faith, and the scientists can tell them anything, and they'll believe it.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is.... That is the disease.

Room Conversation -- August 4, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: So what happened to the tickets?

Harikeśa: The tickets are being locked up in the safe right now. They're going to..., they're going to bring the tickets tomorrow to this city called Tours, which is very nearby. They have an Air France office, and we can have it converted(?) there. So everything's all right for Saturday.

Prabhupāda: So we shall go by the same plane?

Harikeśa: Yes, everybody goes in the same plane.

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Jayatīrtha: Jaya (break)

Hari-śauri: This is the first pamphlet that you ever printed?

Prabhupāda: No.

Hari-śauri: I mean in the West?

Prabhupāda: No, before coming here.

Evening Darsana -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Yes, Kṛṣṇa's mercy.

Atreya Ṛṣi: You will see it.

Prabhupāda: So make arrangement on Thursday. At any time, we shall go.

Atreya Ṛṣi: It is both nice location and a nice small house. We can also get a bigger one nearby, and a bigger one, we can take the whole city.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Later on. Later on. No, we can member anyone, because we are proposing very pure thing, "You chant the holy name of God." Who will object?

Atreya Ṛṣi: You should let Dayānanda Prabhu and I live a thousand years. We will buy the whole city.

Prabhupāda: I shall go there. I am going. (devotees offer obeisances) So thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Give this one garland to this boy and another to Atreya Ṛṣi. (end)

Evening Darsana -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: The authorities will not allow. School authorities, if you say that you want whole Gītā, (?) they will not. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10). This is Kali-yuga. All bad. And even one is interested, he is interested in something bogus. Sumanda-matayaḥ. They have manufactured a style of religious principle. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyāḥ. And all unfortunate.

Indian man: Yesterday I met one life member who belongs to a very reputed family in Bombay who has donated about fifteen acres of land to Swami Cinmayananda on the Vehar Lake side. Now he has become our patron member yesterday.

Prabhupāda: Behar Lake?

Indian man: Vehar Lake. I think we have gone to see that big temple nearby. So this family has got about thirty, forty acres of land on (indistinct) the side. Very beautiful site.

Prabhupāda: (break) ...that to know God there is no necessity of education.

Room Conversation About Mayapura Construction -- August 19, 1976, Hyderabad:

Jayapatākā: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Vena? Venapur is nearby. Two miles.

Jayapatākā: Two or three miles.

Prabhupāda: That's it, the same facility, two or three miles.

Jayapatākā: No, that's been, Haridaspur, since time of Lord Caitanya, for many, many years, four hundred... Right from the time of Lord Caitanya they are calling that. They say there's no doubt that Haridāsa Ṭhākura came that way.

Prabhupāda: That must be. It is 2-two-three miles. If he was a person belonging to Venapur, so two-three miles surrounding he must have gone. There is no doubt. And if you can establish good relationship with Pakistan, Bangladesh, then our whole question is solved. Go there, seek some preaching and come here, and all these motor care problems...

Gargamuni: I don't want to sell them, you know...

Prabhupāda: No, it is a very...

Gargamuni: Because we took great hardship to bring them.

Meeting With Member of Parliament, Mr. Krishna Modi -- August 31, 1976, Delhi:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: And to start out they can come to Vṛndāvana which is right nearby. We can take them in a bus. We have a beautiful center in Vṛndāvana.

Prabhupāda: Vṛndāvana and Navadvīpa.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: And Māyāpur, Vṛndāvana.

Krishna Modi: Yes, that because this is in India. Whenever they like, they will see it.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: So when can they organize this tour? How soon can it be organized?

Krishna Modi: I'll ask them. I have an idea about that only. Because yesterday Mr. Brahmānanda already told me that "Why not you people also stand up and say something about that." Why not you strengthen my hands. Because they press and press and they want something that I should say something. So if you people stand and then you say that "No no no no, this is not the thing and we have seen it and this and this and that and that." And they will be... That is his idea.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But the only people who are pressing charges are the Communists.

Krishna Modi: But they will do. That is their duty.

Prabhupāda: They are atheists.

Krishna Modi: Yes. So that why we should mind for that? That is there. You may say they're rākṣasa, or whatever you... (laughs) They will, always they will...

Prabhupāda: Rākṣasas are always ready to kill God. That was the business of Rāvaṇa, that was the business of Kaṁsa, that was the business of Hiraṇyakaśipu.

Meeting With Member of Parliament, Mr. Krishna Modi -- August 31, 1976, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: You have got that picture New York temple?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: The Ratha-yātrā picture? Ratha-yātrā, the New York paper. New York Times, Newsweek, all the Indians came. They said, "East Meets West."

Prabhupāda: Now who has converted so many of... This is one party. (refers to kīrtana going on nearby) Hundreds of parties like this, they are engaged in kīrtana. India government is sending so many professional dancers by paying them from the cultural department and what I am getting? Not a single farthing. And still I am bringing.

Krishna Modi: Ah, Indian culture is... You... Nobody has done these things.

Prabhupāda: The Ratha-yātrā festival, where is?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, the news of Ratha-yātrā. "New York Celebrates Festival of Chariots." Even at the U.N. conference we were there. They welcomed Vedic... We presented a Vedic reply to the U.N. conference.

Prabhupāda: Wherever possible we are presenting Vedic culture, Indian culture. And I have no support from the government.

Garden Conversation -- September 7, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No no, that is understood.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. "He complimented ISKCON, for disseminating the Vedic culture. West Bengal government officials have praised our agricultural efforts. The principle officer of agriculture of Nadia District in West Bengal said that our Māyāpur farm is receiving attention of nearby farmers, and this farm is acting as a demonstration for them. So the statement that foreign devotees are running ISKCON in India is misleading. Point five, Blitz: Big business in Spiritual Sky. Boss of West Bengal is Gregory M. Scharf. ISKCON: In Māyāpur our devotees make handloom saris, dhotīs, and gāmchās. All over the world our devotees wear the traditional Indian dress of dhotīs, kurtās, and saris. It is our spiritual master's desire that all our devotees overseas only wear clothes made by our devotees in Māyāpur. Spiritual Sky sales and services was formed just to send our Māyāpur handloom and other necessities only to our centers overseas. In return our overseas centers send Māyāpur donations. Even Gandhiji wanted every Indian to be self-sufficient. This is what we are trying to do. We produce our own food and clothing. Instead of criticizing, Blitz should publicize these activities so that others can follow. Gregory M. Scharf's spiritual name is Gargamuni Swami, and he is an initiated disciple of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. Blitz has tried to portray him as a businessman who's wearing saffron clothes to deceive people. He is a sannyāsī since 1966. Point six, Blitz: Substantial amounts of foreign money is being received by ISKCON India Limited. ISKCON: First of all, our society is registered and called ISKCON, not ISKCON India Limited." They are purposefully being sarcastic. "It is not a business house. Yes, we do receive remittances from abroad. Every paisa that has been remitted from abroad has come through the reserve bank of India. Bhaktivedanta Swami has written over eighty books which are being sold in every country in the world. These books are selling twelve doubled(?) sixty thousand dollars daily which is about five lakhs. We have over a hundred centers all over the world and all these centers are being run by book sales. In the last three years, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust has published over two million hardbound big books. About three and a half million softbound medium size books and about fifteen million magazines on Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So you can see the wide acceptance of these books. Out of the 2,800 major universities in America, about ninety percent have purchased one or more of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda's books. Occasionally we receive contributions. This is not in cash but in kind. For example, Alfred Ford donated two buildings to our Society, one in Honolulu Hawaii, and the other in Detroit, America. In London..."

Prabhupāda: Thank you. You can go and play. You cannot understand.

Room Conversation -- September 9, 1976, Vrndavana:

Harikeśa: Stationwagon.

Prabhupāda: Stationwagon. So he took my luggage, and from there thirty miles off, the Butler County. So I went there. Then at night he took my (indistinct). The next day, he had no many rooms in his apartment, he arranged for my stay in the YMCA nearby them.

Hari-śauri: You never actually stayed with him then.

Prabhupāda: I was going. I was taking my meals there.

Hari-śauri: Oh. And just keeping a room at the YMCA.

Prabhupāda: Because he had no room, so I was staying there.

Hari-śauri: And then he arranged programs, speaking programs?

Prabhupāda: His wife, Sally. His wife, Sally she was arranging. A very intelligent girl. They were of the same age, about thirty. Gopal was more than thirty and she was (indistinct). I saw that she was feeding her child, one boy, meat powder.

Room Conversation with U.N. Doctor -- September 29, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes, Upaniṣad is giving lesson, counter part of this material world. Because... Just like you are stressing on oṁkāra because you do not give much importance to Kṛṣṇa. In the material world, Kṛṣṇa, they think Kṛṣṇa is one of the historical persons. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). So Upaniṣad is teaching us in an indirect way about the importance of Kṛṣṇa. Upa-niṣat. To bring you nearby. Because you have got so many material conceptions, if we say that "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead," you may not like it. Therefore... Oṁkāra is Kṛṣṇa. So you are giving lesson on oṁkāra. Although Kṛṣṇa and oṁkāra is not different, but you'll not like Kṛṣṇa. In your present position you'll not like Kṛṣṇa's name.

Doctor: Why?

Prabhupāda: No. Therefore you are stressing...

Doctor: No, I have read all this and I am trying to reconcile.

Prabhupāda: So that is for the neophytes.

Doctor: The reconciliation is there. Om is Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is om.

Prabhupāda: So if Kṛṣṇa is... If you are convinced, then where is the objection of Hare Kṛṣṇa?

Doctor: No, no.

Prabhupāda: Why should you bring so many objections?

Doctor: Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam.

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Agra is very good.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Agra is even bigger than Mathurā and our book distribution would be good. I'm going to write and see what the possibilities are.

Prabhupāda: Nearby cities we can...

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, that is what I'm thinking of. Near Vṛndāvana.

Prabhupāda: Away from Vṛndāvana.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Girirāja: There's that one man, he was very enthusiastic there, Mr. Bansalji.

Prabhupāda: Bansalji.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: From Agra?

Girirāja: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Tire merchant?

Girirāja: I don't remember. But Haṁsadūta and I went way in the beginning and later on he came during the Delhi pandal. He met you and he wanted us to open a center there.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Agra is a very good place. Very nice place. There are devotees. (indistinct) goes there.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 15, 1977, Allahabad:

Gurudāsa: Twenty years in...?

Prabhupāda: In Durban. South Africa. Fighting with General Smuts to give Indians equal rights. They are very conservative. At heart they want "Indians may go away." They don't want Indians. And if they want, it is for their own benefit. The Indians have given some place to develop as marketplace, and as soon as they develop, they ask, "Go there. Leave this place. Go away, other place." This is going on. And they know very well, politicians. The Indians have been given a place where nearby there is a slaughterhouse. They know Indians are sentimental, at least for cow slaughtering. Whole night slaughtering is going on, and there are screaming of the animals. Whole night. Even those who are meat-eaters, they will be disturbed. So the purpose is that "Let them live near the slaughterhouse, so by sentiment they are disgusted, leave this country." They don't want the Asians, especially Indians, and especially due to Gandhi, because they know, due to Gandhi... At least Gandhi organized the public opinion against the Britishers by this noncooperation movement. They were not affected by the... Affected in this way, that public opinion was against them. That is also organization. Otherwise Gandhi's method was not harmful to the..., this noncooperation, nonviolent. That did not help. But he influenced the public opinion against them.

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Brahmānanda: Excellent.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very tasty.

Brahmānanda: Nearby there's a mill, and they grind the wheat fresh.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Brahmānanda: Near to our farm is a mill where they grind the wheat fresh.

Prabhupāda: Our mill?

Brahmānanda: No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We are going to get one now. It is not difficult to have a mill. "Hay-45 tons."

Prabhupāda: In India the practice was hand grind daily. The women will do that. That's exercise for them, and they keep their body fit and beautiful.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oxen can also grind, I think. Can oxen also?

Prabhupāda: No, there is no need oxen. Individually, small grinding-chapki(?). And in the morning they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and grind. (sings) Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare... This is very nice process. Whatever they require for the day, they grind fresh. Very nice system. And actually, by this exercise, they keep their body beautiful.

Short Dissertations -- May 24-25, 1977, Vrndavana:

Jayapatākā: Oh, yeah, there is no difficulty.

Prabhupāda: Hm, just start something. Start something.

Jayapatākā: They said that by the middle of June, that definitely we'll find out.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayapatākā: So... But we've been offered in Narayanganj and many places nearby. Even Dacca we can get some place. People are...

Prabhupāda: One gentleman, he has now become my disciple.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Mr. Sindh. That jeweler from Calcutta?

Jayapatākā: He's given (indistinct) me.

Prabhupāda: They are very rich man, that Singh jeweler. They can give. He is very nice man, very nice man and very well-to-do. You have seen them?

Jayapatākā: Yes, before I went I saw him, and he gave me three or four names of very wealthy people in Bangladesh to see, and those people are also... One person already became a member, and they'll give us much support.

Prabhupāda: No, you'll get.

Room Conversation -- June 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Andaman, Nicobar, like that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh. But we're not... Bhakti-prema Mahārāja said that yesterday he was going to look through the commentaries to try and understand which these referred to in present-day geography. He wasn't certain about. He only knew that one was...

Prabhupāda: There are nearby islands. I don't know whether it is... Andaman, Nicobar Islands. So those islands similarly from India were sent. Now it is inhabited. (break) ...work is stopped on account of your (indistinct)?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. (break) No, I mean in terms of our drawings and things, will we be... Will you be staying here for a little while still, in Vṛndāvana?

Prabhupāda: Why not?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I mean, you have no... I'm just trying to think in terms of pacing ourselves, what the schedule...

Prabhupāda: No, we can stay here unless business is finished. There is no other engagement.

Room Conversations -- July 7, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: You can do. Kīrtanānanda can do. And our Satsvarūpa can do. So these three, you can give, begin.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So supposing someone is in America, should they simply write directly to Kīrtanānanda or Satsvarūpa?

Prabhupāda: Nearby. Jayatīrtha can give.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jayatīrtha.

Prabhupāda: Bhavānan..., er, Bhagavān. And he can do also. Harikeśa.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Harikeśa Mahārāja.

Prabhupāda: And... Five, six men, you divide who is nearest.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Who is nearest. So persons wouldn't have to write to Your Divine Grace. They could write directly to that person?

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Room Conversation about Mayapura Attack Talk with Vrindavan De -- July 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Restrict, that instead of myself, he has to restrict: "Do this way."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Including go to the court. This boy writes further. He says, "They claimed I was brainwashed by Śrīla Prabhupāda and the devotees, and they were here to get me to think for myself again. They kept me up for ten hours at a time for so-called deprogramming, just blaspheming Śrīla Prabhupāda and Kṛṣṇa and telling lie after lie. Finally they let me go to sleep, and in the morning it was time for more blaspheming and lies. But by Kṛṣṇa's mercy I was able to escape out the front door of the house," he says, "which was unguarded. I ran down my block barefoot and was able to get to my friend's house. I told him the story. He gave me enough money to get to a nearby temple. There I served Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and had the association of my Godbrothers, who are most dear to me. There I spent the happiest time of my life as a devotee with the association of the Brajabāsīs. Being a devotee of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, there's nothing like it-singing, dancing, taking prasādam, being happy and free from anxiety all the time. It is just a blissful life. All Kṛṣṇa wants is for us to be happy with Him. I called my parents and told them that I was doing fine and that I had even gained seven pounds in weight. They had the police looking for me all over the place in only a minute, and they finally showed up. Mahārāja felt it was best that I go back and clear things up with my parents and with their consent come back. But they refused to let me go, and instead put me through a one-month deprogramming session. This time I was unable to escape. But now Kṛṣṇa has pulled me through, even though I'm forced to live with my parents. They are nice people, but they just don't understand about transcendental life. But they will come around sooner or later. I cannot keep any Vedic literature at home, so a friend lets me keep it at his house, and I read it during my school lunchtime. I am not able to keep japa beads to chant on, so I chant Hare Kṛṣṇa on rosary beads. I'm sixteen years old now and going to school, where I am taught little of any value. It is sometimes difficult to remain Kṛṣṇa conscious out in the material world, but I pray to Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda to help me become strong and desire to serve Kṛṣṇa more and more every day. I will be able to join the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement in person in two years, which isn't very long considering that I have waited to serve Kṛṣṇa for millions of lifetimes. If you have the opportunity to serve Kṛṣṇa, don't waste it, because you may wind up in my shoes in your next life. Hare Kṛṣṇa." This is...

Prabhupāda: If one man is turned by this, the movement is successful. So there is good prospect, good hope. And you all combine together, try. Push this movement more and more.

Room Conversation during lunchtime -- July 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Delhi.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Ah. The heading is "Eleven Krishna Devotees Held for Firing." "Five Indian and six foreign Vaiṣṇava devotees were arrested from Māyāpur maṭha of ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, in Nabadwip last night when shots fired from inside the celebrated temple injured fifteen persons, most of them milkmen. A double-barreled gun was seized from the maṭha, it is reported. Police pickets have been posted since there is considerable tension in the nearby villages. Among those arrested is Swami Bhavānanda, an American in charge of the maṭha. Some time ago he was forced to leave the country after the expiry of his visa, but he returned later. The incident occurred at about 5 p.m. on Friday. Some boys were grazing their cattle on the fields outside the maṭha when some cows strayed into its compound. The cattle were beaten up by the inmates and driven out." It doesn't sound like our devotees. Beat up cows? "Angry milkmen from a nearby village crowded outside the maṭha. Shots were then fired from inside the maṭha, it is reported, injuring fifteen persons, two of them seriously. The police arrived on the scene within an hour. Among the six foreigners arrested are a Romanian, an Italian, and some Americans. The founder of the maṭha, Prabhupāda A.C. Bhaktivedanta, was not present." This is called slanted reporting. I mean, first of all, our devotees don't beat up the cows. We worship the cow. We don't beat cows. I can't take this as very factual account. So many statements here say, "It was reported," "It was reported." This is from a... It was published in Delhi, but it's datelined Calcutta, and the event happened in Māyāpur. So by the time it got to Delhi it seems to have taken a strange shape. I thought you'd want to...

Prabhupāda: These goyālas are very aggressive.

Śatadhanya: Milkmen means goyālas.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bālāi goyālas.

Prabhupāda: It is not the Muhammadans.

Śatadhanya: Not according to this.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is still not conclusive.

Prabhupāda: No. Police inquiry must be there.

Room Conversation about Grhasthas -- July 17, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It has to be a community of devotees.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa conscious ideal gṛhasthas. That we want. Just like Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. There are many. I was gṛhastha. There was Deity worship, everything nice. I was publishing Back to Godhead from gṛhastha. So aim was there. But I could not leave family life for some circumstances. That is a different thing. Must be in touch with the devotional service as in the temple. If live nearby temple, it is easier, or in the temple. But aloof, that is dangerous.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: If they live in the temple, then there's the problem of... You know.

Prabhupāda: No. Temple, he can take one room, pay for it. He wants to pay. That is also payment. And further, if he can pay, that's all right.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In America, supposing a householder family pays for a room in our temple building. So they can have their sex life and family life?

Prabhupāda: If they can pay for prasādam also, it is nice. Sex... Husband-wife living, there must be sex, so who can...?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So how can that be in the same building as the brahmacārī ashram?

Prabhupāda: No, no, no, so many other gṛhastha tenants.

Room Conversation Arrival of Jayatirtha and Harikesa -- October 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Thank you.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We have nothing new to find out. We have no research to make. You've given us everything. We only have to carry out exactly how you've trained us up and taught us.

Prabhupāda: Do it nicely. Hm. So you can go with your business.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All right. We'll continue chanting here. (kīrtana) Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. If you want me I'm right nearby, Śrīla Prabhupāda, just in another room. (break) Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: (speaking with great difficulty) It is... If I want to survive, of course I'll have to take something. It is not possible to survive without taking any food. But my survival means so many, one after another, as you say... It requires... Therefore I have decided to die peacefully in...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Shall we chant kīrtana? (Haṁsadūta leads kīrtana) (break) Those postal receipts. When they become due, then I'll give them to each of the individual members? Okay. Don't worry. I'll see that each of them is satisfied. They won't feel sorry in any way. You've provided for everyone, Śrīla Prabhupāda. (break) They want you to survive.

Prabhupāda: If I want to die, this is the way of peaceful death.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Room Conversation -- October 9, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: They are all Muslim. That quarter is very busy where the house, restaurant.

Rāmeśvara: Yes. It's only about five minutes from the Senate and the main Parliament buildings. Also the biggest museums are very nearby. Very good location. And one man has also joined, a local man who is very intelligent. And he has begun translating Bhagavad-gītā into Parsi. And in three months' time his translation of the entire Bhagavad-gītā will be completed.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Did he come recently to India with Ātreya Ṛṣi?

Rāmeśvara: That's a different man.

Prabhupāda: It will be locally published.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Locally published.

Rāmeśvara: Yes.

Room Conversation -- October 12, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Good field.

Jayapatākā: Yes, although it's a village-type area, it seems to be good field. The people are not at all envious but quite cooperative. Also just about a quarter mile from the mandira there's a gośālā which has got 33 acres, about 100 bighās of land and about 100 cows. Cows are not so good cows, but there's nice, pākā buildings and good facilities. It's managed by some Marwaris. So they're willing to give that over to us in the future if we want. It's very nearby the temple. When I was there I gave a lecture at one temple, and about two, three hundred people came without any advertisement. In Haridaspur, at their Janmāṣṭamī festival they had... Two thousand people came. They had a huge crowd. And every one of the villagers, they organized the whole thing there, the leaders, gathered firewood, helped with distribution. We sent some devotees from Māyāpur. Bhakti-prabhāva Swami sends his obeisances to Your Divine Grace.

Hari-śauri: What about Maheśa Paṇḍita's place? (break)

Jayapatākā: They want that the case be dropped and that they be given jobs, like before. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Jayapatākā: They're sending messenger requesting that there should be some type of agreement whereby the charges against them are dropped, the case is dropped, and that they're given the old jobs back.

Prabhupāda: The charges are made by the government. We cannot drop. Do you follow?

Jayapatākā: Yes. The charges can't be dropped by us, but if the two parties make a type of compromise agreement and file a petition to the court...

Prabhupāda: But now the fight is not between them and us. The fight is between government and them.

Room Conversation -- October 12, 1977, Vrndavana:

Jayapatākā: He said that he is praying that Kṛṣṇa will keep you here, 'cause without a pure devotee in the world then everything becomes dark. West Bengal Council for Child Welfare and the West Bengal Government Health Department Inspector came out and inspected our distribution. We have five centers where we distribute five days a week, Monday through Friday, the foodstuff. We eat another thing given by the government. We prepare that and offer it to the Deity and distribute that from our temple as well as from a nearby village. The local villagers help to distribute. Right now twelve hundred people are taking every day. So they were very satisfied with the arrangement. And one of the centers is Māyāpur village. They had been refusing to take, and he said, "You just change and put into another village. They're not the only poor people in the world. Any other village can take." They are very favorable to our program. They given us a full quota that daily 1,846 people can get food and they'll bear the costs of the grain and oil, etc.

Prabhupāda: What is this preparation?

Jayapatākā: It's wheat that's chipped. It's called bulgar wheat. It's wheat that's chipped into small pieces so that's it's... It's like oversized suji, about three times the size of suji, and that's just boiled and cooked with oil and some gur and spices. Or it can also be cooked with vegetables and spices. It's supposed to be nutritious, healthy, strength-giving food. Māyāpur Muslims tried to get the other Muslims in other villages not to take it because it was being given by us, but they said, "Why we shouldn't take? Just because you're giving them trouble doesn't mean we shouldn't take." So now they've all rebelled, and they're all taking now prasādam. He gave us address where we can get powdered milk possibly also.

Prabhupāda: It is mixed with powder milk?

Jayapatākā: What we have right now isn't mixed with powdered milk.

Room Conversation -- November 4, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That is good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Did Prabhupāda have barley and milk tonight?

Bhakti-caru: No, I got it ready. I just came to ask. Śrīla Prabhupāda? (Bengali)

Prabhupāda: Hm. Now you can go.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. I'm always nearby. I'm in the house all the time. (break) One thing I feel, that while there hasn't been any great improvement, on the other hand, I do not find that there has been any negative reaction or any regression since the time the kavirāja's treatment began. Of course, Your Divine Grace says that you feel weaker now than you did a week ago. If that's a fact, then...

Prabhupāda: Not so very weak.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Gargamuni -- Montreal 3 August, 1968:

I am in due receipt of your letter via New York, dated July 23, 1968. The bicycle accident may be ignored, because even if there is a case against you, you can plead that the man was going, and all of a sudden he turned imbalance, and dashed with my car. So it was his fault, he could not keep balance with the cycle. And as soon as I saw him dashed, I stopped immediately and what could I do more? In India such accidents are never taken seriously by the police, because in busy streets, cycling is prohibited. So your decision not to pay him any money is right. Besides that, if he was to institute a case against you, he should have at once reported the matter to the policy nearby.

Letter to Jayananda -- Montreal 22 August, 1968:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your note, along with the forms. And I thank you very much for this. The forms are already fingerprinted because on inquiry it was found in the American Consulate here, so I have done the necessary fingerprints and submitted to them. And let us see what happens. But I understand that you can get a personal certificate from the police officer or the police station nearby, if it is possible, get it. That will help us very much. And you may know that London party has already left Montreal and they are in New York, and from there sometimes within this week they will go to London.

Letter to Kirtanananda, Hayagriva -- Montreal 23 August, 1968:

Our next attempt should be to establish a New Vrindaban post office at our door, and if you can arrange for this. I think to establish a post office nearby it will be required that you get some letters from all centers. So this will not be difficult if that is the rule. First of all you know from authorities what is the paraphernalia, rules, to get a post office, then we shall advise all our centers to send you letters, at least 6 or one dozen from each center, and this will be sufficient to give proof that we are getting letters plenty.

Letter to Purusottama -- Seattle 6 October, 1968:

United Nations people, the leaders of all nations, and the representatives of all nations, about our missionary activities, analyzing the present society's position, and how they can be elevated to the right position. So we have to make vigorous propaganda work from these centers to people of the whole world. So let us see how Krishna helps us, but I think by getting this office, we have opened a new door to our Krishna Consciousness movement. So you should learn in the meantime typewriting very nicely because you have to write so many letters till we get some other assistant. Another proposal is if it is possible to get a nice apartment nearby, then it will be great facility, because if I live there, with you, we can attend the office and live in the apartment. I do not insist this proposal immediately, but I am thinking in that way. Anyway, we have to utilize this office very nicely for pushing forward the cause of Krishna Consciousness. I am enclosing herewith also one letter for Brahmananda, which please deliver to him.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Candanacarya -- New Vrindaban 5 June, 1969:

I thank you very much for your letter of June 2, 1969, and I have noted the contents carefully. Regarding your proposal of working in Columbus with the chance of earning $100 per day, why don't you take it? This will be a great help to this center because there is such great potential for spreading our movement amongst the students there, and if we can either purchase the large church on 16th Avenue, or if they can purchase their present house, along with the nearby lot and gas station, that will be a tremendous asset to the activities there. I have seen in the gas station that there are two rooms, so if one room could be used for kitchen, then the other could be utilized as temple room, and the house would serve as an asrama for devotees. The first choice would be the big church, but if you can finance for purchasing either the church or the present site, that will be very nice service. So if you can actually earn $100 daily, I think you should take this opportunity. Please inform me what you have decided by return of post.

Letter to Madhusudana -- London 23 November, 1969:

Krishna has genitals certainly. It is said that He has eternal, blissful Body, full of knowledge. So when He has got a body, He must have all the parts of a body. But we should not consider that His parts of the body are the same as ours. In the Brahma Samhita it is said that His parts of the body, or limbs, each of them has got potency of the others. For example, with our eyes we can see only, but we cannot eat. But Krishna's eyes can not only see, but also eat and beget children also. In the Vedas it is said that He put His glance over Maya and impregnated her with all the living entities. Therefore, although He has got genitals, necessarily He does not require to use it for the same purpose as we do. There is another instance that Garbhodakasayi Visnu begot Lord Brahma from His abdomen, navel, and the Goddess of Fortune, Laksmi, was nearby. She was just massaging the Lord's Lotus Feet, but He did not require the help of the Goddess of Fortune to beget Lord Brahma. That is His omnipotence. He is self sufficient. He has got all the limbs for all the purposes, but He can use all of them for any purpose. This is inconceivable by us.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Jananivasa -- Los Angeles 7 July, 1970:

You write to say that your preaching work has not been very successful at the Ohio State University, but your visits to several other nearby have been well received. This is good news that in several university campuses Krsna Consciousness movement is well liked and you are giving a credit course next winter. So do not be discouraged that some of the young students are too much involved with some other business to listen, but go on with the work undaunted. Actually the younger generation, especially the hippies are our best clients, so they are feeling very keenly the frustration of material life and it is our duty as Vaisnavas to be very sympathetic with them and give this Krsna consciousness to them some way or other.

Letter to Sudama -- Bombay 4 November, 1970:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 22nd October, 1970 and I have noted the contents carefully. I'm glad that you and Bali Mardan Prabhu have had a chance to be together and have planned jointly one center in Hong Kong. That is what I wish to see from the GBC members; that they work combinedly to open as many centers as possible all over the world. I am very hopeful for this GBC that you will work in such a way that I may be completely relieved from all management of this society. Now I want to simply begin translating. Here I am situated in a temple of Sita-Ram in a nearby suburb of Bombay. The atmosphere is very relaxing, such as I have not found anywhere else in India thus far. So in every way it is very conducive to my translating work and beginning today I will spend all my time translating. Tamala Krsna and Syamasundara are here with me as my liaison officers and the rest of the GBC members are spread all over the world. So please work closely together and do everything in cooperation.

Letter to Bansidhari -- Bombay 16 November, 1970:

I beg to thank you for your nice report from Santa Barbara dated October 22nd, 1970. I am always so glad to know that you are keeping to the standard practices as I have instructed you to do and all the devotees are feeling the sublime result of their work in Krsna's loving service. Your program for extending Sankirtana Party activities to the nearby towns and cities and universities is very welcome. I have received similar good report of such extended Sankirtana Party tours or trips from many other centers in Europe as well as America. Lord Caitanya's desire was that this chanting of the Holy Names be spread to every town and village on the face of the globe, and now His desire is being fulfilled. That is to your credit as sincere servants of the Lord.

Letter to Bali-mardana -- Bombay 24 November, 1970:

Regarding staying in the various Temples of demigods that is quite alright, but you should not take prasadam from the demigods if you are offered. Our method is to follow the system as it is done in Jagannatha Puri. There, the bhoga is first offered to Lord Jagannatha and then His Prasadam is distributed and offered to various demigods who reside in some nearby Temples. Then the remnants of such Prasadam may be taken by us.

So far a Temple place is concerned, even there is no place, we can sit down underneath a tree and chant as I did in New York. Krsna will give a nice place. You have been anxious to stick to fulfilling the desires of Krsna and Spiritual Master without deviation. Our technique is that we work sincerely and the dictation will come from within; Krsna is seated there.

Letter to Karandhara -- Bombay 30 November, 1970:

Your program to visit nearby cities and towns with a travelling party is nice. Krishna Das has also started this program in Germany and the success has been good.

Regarding worship of Tulasi, it is not very much important. Simply all the devotees may offer a little water every morning and in the evening offer obeisances and ghee lamp (one wick) and circumambulating three times repeating the mantras that I have given you. The plant may remain in the garden.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Jayapataka -- Bombay 24 March, 1971:

Whether there has been any negotiation with Jabed Ali and some other man for purchasing the Mayapur land or whether you have selected any other land nearby? Mr. Mohta wanted to send me a letter regarding negotiations for purchasing his brother's house. So these things are pending. Another thing, I wrote a letter to Mr. K. K. Birla, the copy of which is enclosed herewith. If you have received any reply from him? I am awaiting your reply to the above points immediately by return of post with a report of your activities there.

Acyutananda Maharaja wanted to come to Bombay during the ceremony and I think you also thought like that. I have no objection if you come here to join this ceremony, only thing is whether in your absence Calcutta work will suffer? If you come here, you can bring our dandas and umbrella which are left there with the books in storage.

Letter to Cyavana -- Bombay 26 December, 1971:

Your trial balance is very nice. I am pleased to see that you are making many Life Members also. I think that if you send a list of our Africa members to Tamala Krishna in Bombay, that will be impressive for making more Life Members here also. We are now trying to get one very suitable house here for our India headquarters. The cost is rupees 10 lakhs, and it is located in a very rich quarter of the city, with many aristocratic houses nearby. I have told my students here that if they simply make two Life Members in India daily, then I shall do all the rest so far other arrangements and plans. Similarly, if you go on like this making members regularly, as many as possible, then all good results are guaranteed in Africa also.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Von Paul Reed -- Bombay 2 January, 1972:

We can have a great many such communities all over the world so that people everywhere can see how by leading a pure and simple life of Krishna consciousness, all one's needs in life can be satisfied. Actually, the so-called civilization of the Kali yuga with its over industrialization, has not been able to give to man the happiness he is seeking. So as you say that your land is very suitable for cow protection and for Tulsi to grow, then Krishna is giving you the opportunity to develop this program. Protect some cows, grow crops, and if possible provide fresh milk and butter for the Temples nearby. And the rest of the time chant Hare Krishna and read my books. In this way you can live very peacefully without any disturbances from anyone.

Letter to Mangalamaya, Madhupuri -- Calcutta 20 February, 1972:

Regarding your question whether grhastha couples can live together in the temple, no, they may not, that is a strict regulation. They can live in the temple, that's all right, but they must live separately men and women. So I am encouraging the grhastha devotees who want to live together to start householder asrama outside the temple in a nearby house, just like in Los Angeles there is one such householder asrama. There, the grhasthas, men and women, work sometimes in the incense factory and get paid $1 per hour, and in this way they pay the rent and meet other expenditures. So if you can arrange a similar house in Philadelphia center, that will be nice. The householders may sell my books and incense and make some small salary to pay rent, take prasada at the temple, and live very happily. So far the GBC is concerned, they are my chosen experts and they are supposed to know everything, so there is rule of separate living, that should be followed. If GBC man requests in this way, you should try to oblige, what is the difficulty?

Letter to Tribhuvanatha -- Los Angeles 16 June, 1972:

Now organize the temple very nicely and request tourists to come in, and with many flowers you can decorate the whole hall with flowers and it will be very much attractive. You can make a sign-board that says "Guests are requested to offer a flower to the Deity". The flower market is nearby and any gentleman will bring flowers, and give them prasadam. A gorgeous temple means many flowers, beautiful decorations, and prasadam distribution. Some sort of kirtana must go on continuously. Further, chanting 16 rounds must be completed, that is our spiritual strength. And I am very much stressing nowadays that my students shall increase their reading of my books and try to understand them from different angles of vision. Each sloka can be seen from many, many angles of vision, so become practiced in seeing things like this. If we are selling the books but we do not know what is inside the book, that will be a farce, especially if you are preaching and selling books to the students of Edinburgh.

Letter to Giriraja -- Los Angeles 21 June, 1972:

Actually make it a Hare Krishna land or a pilgrimage for Vaisnavas and the Indian people in general. I am very much especially pleased that you have had such a nice meeting with Sumati Morarji. She is our old friend and benefactor from long years back, and always she has desired for us to live as her close neighbors. She used to tell me in Bombay two years back that she wanted we should build our temple somewhere nearby to her place. She also assisted Tamala Krishna and Syamasundara to try to find one house in Juhu for our headquarters several times. So you can mention this fact to her that now we have fulfilled her desire and we are living in close proximity to her, so she should take advantage of Krishna's blessing her with such an opportunity for serving the Lord by herself building our Juhu temple. Encourage her to attend the meetings every day, and if you make the Deity worship very, very opulent and gorgeous, she will automatically be attracted to them.

Letter to Giriraja -- Paris 22 July, 1972:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated July 14, 1972, and I have noted the contents carefully. I am especially pleased to hear that everything is going on nicely in Bombay, and that you are sending a party of men to live in Bombay city for collecting there. That is a nice plan. Yes, the men may be rotated from time to time. And if all the others also go sometimes to nearby neighborhoods for preaching and distributing books, that is also good proposal. I am also glad to hear the deities will soon have a first-class house, and you will keep their nice jewels, etc., in a heavy iron safe.

Letter to Jayadeva -- Paris 23 July, 1972:

Regarding householder life, I have no objection, this is not my responsibility. Henceforth my students must take the responsibility for their own householder life, get married outside the temple, take all risk for supporting wife and home, live outside the temple, like that. But they should live nearby and take part as much as possible in temple activities, such as mangala aratrik, sankirtana, etc. Living separately does not mean that we have nothing more to do with the devotees, no. You should associate with them as much as possible, and donate something regularly, 50% is the standard set by Sanatana Goswami. Keep your position, that's all right, but utilize it to make spiritual progress, that is the real think, not for satisfying my hankerings and desires.

Letter to Sukadeva -- Los Angeles 16 August, 1972:

I have received your letter dated August 7, 1972 and I am very happy to note that things are improving more and more there in our Seattle Center. Yes, the program of increasing book distribution is very much appreciated by me, and especially if you can preach very widely to the university students nearby to your place, that is the best program. Try to get a course of instruction in the college and preach daily in a scholastic way. If we can attract this student class of men by our preaching work, that will enhance everything and we are very much in need of intelligent preachers for expanding this movement all over the world. I want that you all my advanced disciples become very bold preachers and take up this task of saving the fallen humanity from its worst condition of sinfulness. If you simply convert the leaders of your country to our philosophy, then the whole world will follow and be saved from ruin. Otherwise, they are all doomed to become animals like hogs and dogs. So you preach like that, very strongly, to especially the hippie class of men and the student class of men and convince them to give up their sinful activities and find out their real perfection of life in this Krishna Consciousness movement.

Letter to Amogha -- Los Angeles 29 September, 1972:

Thank you very much for your letter dated Sept. 21, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great encouragement. I am especially happy to hear that you have got one Chinese boy there who is doing some translating work. Yes, the Chinese-speaking portion of the world is very huge and it requires to infiltrate gradually, especially by distributing our literatures widely in Chinese language. So his service is the greatest to Krsna. Try to recruit any such local men there for helping you spread this movement in Indonesia and other places nearby, because it will not be possible to always import our men. Better is that you convert the local people and train them nicely in our philosophy and send them off for preaching party.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Lilavati -- Bombay 13 May, 1974:

You have asked if the Yadu dynasty has continued beyond Satasena. Yes, there are ksatriyas who claim to belong to the Yadu dynasty today especially in Mathura and nearby places.

How to acquire the quality of patience. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has already given us that answer: One can chant the Holy Name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking himself lower than the straw in the street, more tolerant than the tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and ready to offer all respects to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the Holy Name of the Lord constantly. So there will be, that in our preaching we will meet with many tribulations, that is patience.

Letter to Hamsaduta -- Mayapur 15 October, 1974:

Yes, under the circumstances we cannot trust George; therefore the temple construction must be considered in the next GBC meeting. Is this at Syamasundara's instigation; but you haven't mentioned anything like that. Or is it at the instigation of the neighbors of Letchmore Heath?

So for the time being you go on as we are. For the temple construction find out some place nearby. There are many houses. Let us go on with the Deity worship without any correspondence with them. You can find out there was some old newspaper that said George has given us the house. My picture was published. Where can I write George personally?

Letter to Hamsaduta -- Mayapur 15 October, 1974:

N.B. Do not instigate anything with them from our side. It is not necessary to contact them regarding the house. Go on with your business. For building the temple you can purchase some nearby land and construct. There are so many lands there I have seen. We are going to spend so much for the temple, so what is it to purchase some land?

If for some reason you have to vacate, then you can say we are constructing our another place. Anyway, you depend on Krishna. We do not depend upon anyone other than Krishna.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Deoji Punja -- Dallas 29 July, 1975:

N.B. There should also be one pujari room for keeping the Deity paraphernalia nearby the Deity.

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Johannesburg 21 October, 1975:

Analogy is not proof; sastra is proof. Foolish people cannot understand or accept, so we use analogy. The conclusion is not drawn from the analogy but from the sastra. We don't use a combination of logic and authority, we use authority. Logic we use to convince someone who doesn't accept the authority. The basic principle is authority. Vedas say that cowdung is pure and we accept it. There is no logic, but when we practically use it we see that it is correct. The logic of using analogy is called in the sastra "sakha candra nyaya." It is easier to focus on the moon through the branches of a tree. The moon is great distance away, and you say that it is just through the branches. So you can focus more easily on the moon because 2 points joined make a straight line. So focusing on the nearby object helps us to focus on the far-away object. This is the use of analogy.

Letter to Tusta Krsna -- Bombay 9 November, 1975:

Your idea for the scholastic institution as discussed with you and Siddha Svarupa Maharaja is a very good idea. Now we have got so many books—almost 50 books of 400 pages—so this institution can be affiliated with some nearby university. Then the students will get their degrees of Bachelors and Post Graduates Pd.D. We have enough matter to qualify a person in academic career. At least we can offer the degree of DD—Doctor of Divinity by affiliating ourselves with some neighboring recognized university.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Vakresvara -- Mayapur 9 February, 1976:

Thank you for the sentiments you have expressed. As far as serving me is concerned, you should chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and obey the four restrictions—no meat eating, no gambling, no intoxication, and no illicit sex life. Also as much as possible go to our temple in Mexico City, nearby you, and associate with the devotees there.