Poetry (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"poem" |"poems" |"poetries" |"poetry" |"poetry's"

1967 Conversations and Morning Walks

Discourse on Lord Caitanya Play Between Srila Prabhupada and Hayagriva -- April 5-6, 1967, San Francisco:

Hayagrīva: I think from a dramatic point of view, that in your third act, you can't have too many narrations. It becomes very tedious. If you have a narration. Someone telling the history of various temples. Like in the first scene, now there's a story being told Lord Caitanya by Nityānanda. Now in the second scene He visits another temple. And is there going to be another narration about how the temple was founded? I don't think that's... I don't know. (laughs) Do you think that will be all right?

Prabhupāda: No. That will be all right in this way, that the narration should be shortly described in poetry and that will be chanted with kīrtana. In that way, you see.

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk at Stow Lake -- March 23, 1968, San Francisco:

Mālatī: So these... If you do not take to Kṛṣṇa conscious, you are a dog.

Prabhupāda: Yes, equal to dog. Because he has no other conception except those four principles, eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That is there in the animals. Don't you see the swans? They are enjoying sex life. So what is the difference between man... A man also does like that. So long one is not above these four principles of animal demands, he's as good as animal. To meet animal demands in a polished way is not civilization. One must be above the animal demands. That is civilization. You have read that poetry, "Alexander and the Robber"? Have you read?

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 12, 1969, New York:

Gargamuni: He mentioned to me that he's married and that he has a child in India. And he asked, "Oh, were you married?" And I said, "No. My wife was taken away." And he came over and he hugged me. "Oh," he said, "you are so lucky." (laughter) He hugged me. He said, "Oh, you are so lucky."

Prabhupāda: (chuckling) There is a Tulasī das poetry, din ka ḍākinī rat ka bhāginī gargara bhāginī cuṣe. Bhāginī. Tulasī das had very good, beautiful wife, and he was very much attached to her. So the system is that after the girl is staying with her husband... Because young girls, very minor age, they were married, say, ten years, nine years, twelve years. But they're allowed to live with husband, say, after thirteen years or fourteen years, when she has attained puberty. So the system is six months father house and six months husband. In this way, going and coming. But when she is elderly she can remain continually with her ...but in the beginning... Because after all, she is girl, so she cannot tolerate the separation from father and mother. So six months here, six months... So Tulasī das, as soon as the, his father-in-law will come to take his daughter, he won't allow. He won't allow.

Room Conversation -- April 12, 1969, New York:

Prabhupāda: Witch. And at night she is tigress. So that is the nature of woman. But the world is so made that everyone is keeping such tigress. (laughs heartily) Din ka ḍākinī rat ka bhāginī. (Hindi) Every moment she is sucking blood. She is such a dangerous tigress. Every moment sucking blood. But (Hindi) the people, the world, people of the world has gone so crazy that each one is keeping one tigress. (laughs)

Brahmānanda: Right in the home.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is Tulasī dāsa's remark. So in many passages of his poetry he has not done very justice to woman. And another poetry, he writes, dhol guṇār śūdra narī. Dhol guṇār śūdra narī ihe sab śaśan ke adhikārī.(?) Dhol guṇār paśu śūdra narī, ihe sab śaśan ke adhikārī. Dhol, dhol means drum, mṛdaṅga. Gunar, guṇār means... What is called English? A fool, fool. Illiterate fool, what is one word?

Brahmānanda: Buffoon?

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 11, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Hayagrīva: Enlight... I think in one of the Kṛṣṇa Consciousness poetry, I mentioned Blake.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Allen Ginsberg: Yes, he apparently fits into, in the West what is called the Gnostic tradition, which has similar ideas and similar bhakti attitudes to the Buddhist and Hindu traditions. Similar cosmography, cosmology. He was my teacher.

Prabhupāda: He did not give much stress on this material body.

Allen Ginsberg: No! At the end of his life, he didn't count on the material body.

Prabhupāda: So, there is a spiritual concept of life in his poetry.

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Allen Ginsberg: Bilvamaṅgala. Bilvamaṅgala. No, I didn't know the name.

Prabhupāda: Yes. There are many poets. He was great poet. If you read this Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta poetry, ah, you'll find...

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: Poet. He must be poet. All the Vaiṣṇavas, they are poet.

Guest (1): Because they are so deep in love with God.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Poetry comes out in deep love with something.

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Guest (1): Mīrā was a devotee. She was a Vaiṣṇava.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Devotee means...

Guest (1): Vaiṣṇava. She was, Mīrā, Kṛṣṇa devotee. Oh, her songs has called me.

Allen Ginsberg: Have you used her songs here at all?

Prabhupāda: Yes, in India it is very popular, Mīrā's song. Mostly they are written in Hindi, and some of them have been interpolated. But Mīrā was a devotee. She saw Rūpa Gosvāmī, a contemporary. She has written many poetry about Lord Caitanya.

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Allen Ginsberg: Oh, she was a contemporary of Caitanya?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Allen Ginsberg: Did they meet?

Prabhupāda: No. She appreciated that Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa, and she has written one poetry, song, that "Now You have left aside Your flute, and You have taken the sannyāsī rod." In that way she has written nice poetry. "And where is Your hair and peacock feather? Now You are bald-headed." In this way. So Mīrā appreciated. Her life is also very excellent. Her father gave her a small Kṛṣṇa doll to play, and she developed love for Kṛṣṇa as husband. So when she was married... She was princess, daughter of king, and she was married with another prince.

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 14, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like... I will read some portion. (chants a few verses, "tasmai tubhyāṁ bhagavate vāsudevāya vedasi" to "vāsudevāya śantāya yadunām pataye namaḥ") Like this.

Allen Ginsberg: It's certainly beautiful prosody.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Oh, the Sanskrit poetry writing is very difficult. They have got rhetoric system. So many words should be first, so many words, second. You cannot deviate.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1972, Sydney:

Prabhupāda: "You want this property, take property. All right." He's kind, "All right, this man gave me some service, he wants this property. All right, take this property." But what he has gained?

Śyāmasundara: Nothing.

Prabhupāda: Yes. I never wanted his property. I simply desired that such a sublime message, like my poetry, that...

Śyāmasundara: First poem upon arriving.

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1972, Sydney:

Śyāmasundara: They don't know that life can be so joyful and endlessly...

Prabhupāda: That I wrote in my poetry. "The Absolute is sentient thou hast proved." That was striking to me. Not impersonal, "sentient thou hast proved, impersonal calamity thou hast moved." "Absolute is sentient thou hast proved." That was my acceptance. So even the many judges came in Allahabad, do you remember?

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- May 3, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: So you protest, write in book. You are scientist. Write in book. Prove scientifically. That will be your laurel of taking the doctorate degree. If you also become one of these rascal doctors, then what is the use of your Kṛṣṇa consciousness that whatever they say you silently accept? No. Just become Babhruvāhana, Manipur Babhruvāhana, that the fighting is faced. Take assistance, you have got. Ask Dr. Rao to come, join. Make plan. Go from town to town, all over the world. This has to be done. There was a poetry by Rabindranath Tagore. The purport of the poetry is that one who is mischievous, he is culprit. But one who tolerates mischievous activity, he is also culprit. If you are mischievous, you are criminal. But if you tolerate mischievous activities that is also criminal. Challenge these rascals. Stop their rascal theories. They have been described in the Bhāgavata as śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ (SB 2.3.19). Saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ. The so-called modern leader, he is a paśu, animal. And who exalts them? Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ: other lower animals like dogs, the hogs, śva-viḍ-varāha, camel and ass. So one big animal is being praised by these kinds of animals. So all the population without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they have been described as dogs, hogs, camel and ass.

Conversation with Sridhara Maharaja -- June 27, 1973, Navadvipa:

Prabhupāda: Yes, there is a picture like that.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Picture. So it is abhorrent. I refused that I won't, however she may be... She was not so great as she is now famous but I refused. What I need for him, for her? Hare Kṛṣṇa. Tīrtha Mahārāja is of this type, this type. I had one Sanskrit śloka devoted to Prabhupāda: Gaurī-gaṅga-taṭe nava-braja navadvīpe tu māyāpure śrī caitanyam atha prakāśa-kamaru jīvaika-kalanaudhi, śrī-siddhānta-sarasvatīti milito gaurī gurvanyaiḥ bhartur amriba prabhāta gagane rūpānuga-pūjitau.(?) Siddhanthi, (Bengali) He told the composer of this poem, "He has got not a place in the maṭha of Prabhupāda." Who can praise him in such a poem, "He cannot, he has no place...,"

Prabhupāda: Place.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: "...of accommodation in his own, in the maṭha of Prabhupāda." (Bengali) Adṛṣṭi-parihāsa. What will be the English expression? Adṛṣṭi-parihāsa. Kasno...

Prabhupāda: Desire.

Room Conversation with David Wynne, Sculptor -- July 9, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Yes. To glorify God means the glorify the nature also. Just like here is a poem in Brahma-saṁ...

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-

koṭisv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam

tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.40)

Now, the whole creation is there. Yasya prabhā prabhavataḥ (Bs. 5.40). On account of the bodily rays of Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, which is called brahmajyoti... Just like on account of the sunshine, the whole universe is existing.

Room Conversation with Anna Conan Doyle, daughter-in-law of famous author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- August 10, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Well, because at the present age we are in crazy or mad condition... What is called? Deformed brain. Therefore we cannot become. There is a poetry. Piśācī paile jana moti chana haya (?). As one becomes crazy when it is ghostly haunted, similarly a person under the clutches of māyā, he becomes also crazy like that. He talks all nonsense. How he can understand about God? Big, big hospitals in America for curing this craziness. Not only of the common being. Even for the priests. In America, they have got hospital for curing alcoholic habit of the priest. Five thousand patients. So he's alcoholic and he's in the priestly dress. This is going on. Because he's getting his salary, so he's maintaining his priestly dress. But internally, what he is, he knows only. Or when he comes into the open eyes, then one can know: "Oh, here is a priest, admitted in the alcoholic hospital."

Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor, Dr. Suneson -- September 5, 1973, Stockholm:

Prabhupāda: (break) No. (On) purpose we have not translated because they are not meant for ordinary reading. They are meant for Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Because there is dealings of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, people will misunderstand.

Professor: Yes, but it's very great poems. It's very beautiful, musical.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Professor: But...

Prabhupāda: And we, we have translated pralaya-payodhi-jale **. That is Daśāvatāra-stotra of Jayadeva Gosvāmī. We have translated Upadeśāmṛta of Rūpa Gosvāmī which is useful for general public.

Room Conversation with Dr. Christian Hauser, Psychiatrist -- September 10, 1973, Stockholm:

Dr. Hauser: Or he has the germ within himself.

Prabhupāda: Yes. We say in a Bengali poetry:

piśācī pāile yena mati-cchanna haya

māyā-grasta jīvera haya se bhāva udaya

Anyone who is infected with this material energy, he is just like a man, ghostly haunted. You have any experience of ghostly haunted men? A ghost captures him.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 22, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Sometimes I don't, I mean, they don't like me. Because I am a man who talks non..., sometimes like a Patel. But still I love them because they are sādhus, and you know we must love some...

Prabhupāda: Yes. There is a poetry, Cowper: "England, with all thy faults, I love you."

Morning Walk -- March 25, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: So if you study grammar properly, and then you can, you can just compose poetry. (break)

Prabhupāda: Therefore Lord Brahmā is called Ādi-kavi. Ādi-kavi. Yes.

Dr. Patel: Sanskrit is poetic. You can just compose poetry.

Prabhupāda: Whole Sanskrit language in poetry. Bhagavad-gītā is in poetry. Bhāgavata in poetry. Mahābhārata in poetry.

Morning Walk -- March 25, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Ninety percent of the Sanskrit literature is in poetry.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Why ninety? It may be ninety-nine.

Dr. Patel: No, but some of the... Kālidāsa, and, you know... They're also composing the ślokas in the... But...

Prabhupāda: Kālidāsa also in poetry.

Dr. Patel: No, that is certain... Not all. Abhijñāna-śakuntalā is not in poetry.

Prabhupāda: Asti himālaya-nāma nakhadi-rāja... Asti uttana-sana-desi (?) himālaya-nāma na-gadi-raja (?).

Morning Walk -- March 25, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Raghu-vaṁśa and Kumāra-sambhava. We studied some portion.

Dr. Patel: I studied in my college days... (break)

Prabhupāda: Motikama (?) is grammar. Poetry for grammar.

Dr. Patel: Meghadūta I studied. (Sanskrit) (break)

Prabhupāda: ...for materialistic persons.

Room Conversations -- September 10, 1974, Vrndavana:

Devotee (1): This poet, in her poetry, her business was to try to create that sentiment.

Prabhupāda: (Sanskrit) He is not poet. Poet means he must have full knowledge. Then if he writes poetry, that will be beneficial. The rascal's poetry, just like in your country, one line, three lines, one line. This is rascaldom; it is not poetry. (aside:) You should not show your feet before the Deity. That is possible only in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We teach our men to address his fellow man as prabhu: "You are master, I am servant." In the material world, everyone is trying to become master; nobody is trying to become servant. And we are teaching that you try to become servant. Just the opposite. Nobody will agree. Therefore, they say the Vaiṣṇava religion is slave mentality. They say. They do not know that it is success of life to become slave of Kṛṣṇa. They do not know.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Jayatīrtha: New Dvārakā is leading the society in child production.

Prabhupāda: Oh, that's nice. But make them devotees. That is the real father and mother, who begets children and make him devotee. That is real father and mother. Otherwise cats and dogs. A Tulasī dāsa, he has written one poetry that "A son and the urine comes from the same way." Son... Son means it is born out of the semina. That also comes through the genital, and the urine also comes through the genital. So he is giving this example that "Putra and Mutra..." Mutra, means urine, and putra means son, comes from the same passage. So if the son is a devotee, then he's putra; otherwise he's mutra. (laughter) Otherwise he's urine. Very nice. Yes. Putra and mutra come from the same channel. If he's a devotee, then he's putra, otherwise he's mutra. (break) ...miseries are compared with the heat and cold. Mātrā sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (BG 2.14). Śīta and uṣṇa. Uṣṇa means hot, and śīta means cold. They are pleasing and miserable in circumstances.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walks -- January 22-23, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) Don't manufacture knowledge. Take knowledge from Bhagavān. And that is our business. (Bengali) Don't order Bhagavān. Just follow Bhagavān. That is wanted. (Bengali) Don't write concocted poetries. That is not beneficial. Simply follow. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). That is your business, not to give upadeśa to Kṛṣṇa, "Kṛṣṇa, do this." Nāciye nāciye āile gopāla: "My dear Gopāla, please come to me, nāciye, dancing." And the Gopāla is father's servant. Ordering, "Gopāla, come," nāciye nāciye, "my sense gratification." It is all nonsense. Why should you ask Gopāla to come to you? (Bengali) You cannot order. You must follow. (Bengali) ...to carry out the order of God, not to order God to carry out my order. That is mistake.

Morning Walk -- March 13, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: What is the...? (reading) "No work in all Indian literature is more quoted. Because none is better loved in the West than the Bhagavad-gītā. Translation of such work demands not only knowledge of Sanskrit but an inward sympathy with the theme and a verbal..." What is called?

Devotees: Artistry.

Prabhupāda: "Artistry. But the poem is a symphony in which God is seen in all things. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda is, of course, profoundly sympathetic to the theme. He brings to it a special interpretative insight. Here we have a powerful and persuasive presentation in the bhakti tradition of this dearly beloved poem. The Swami's introduction makes clear at once where he stands as a leading exponent of Kṛṣṇa consciousness." That is my actual...

Morning Walk -- April 8, 1976, Mayapur:

Pañcadraviḍa: ...went to America, what was your idea of what would be your program when you got there?

Prabhupāda: This idea: I shall speak to don't eat meat, and they'll immediately kick me out. (laughter) That was my program. And I was going to say that "Don't eat meat. No illicit sex," and immediately they will kick me out. "All right." I never thought that you would accept it. That is the idea of my poetry. That is sung, no? You have got that?

Morning Walk -- April 12, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: No, no, modern advancement is required, even hospitals. So modern medicine is always preventative.

Prabhupāda: Stop disease; otherwise where is improvement? (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...poetry, kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā kare, nikaṭa-stha māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare (Prema-vivarta). As soon as the living entity desires sense gratification, immediately māyā captures.

Garden Conversation -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Ah, thank you. This is the disease. Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate (BG 3.27). The rascal, he is bewildered, vimūḍhātmā, on account of false egotism. Just like we are inviting everyone: Please come and learn Bhagavad-gītā. "Huh! Bhagavad-gītā, let us go the sea and swim." Surfer, surfer? They are taking so much trouble. I have not see here; in Hawaii. For hours together, struggling with waves. I've seen it South Africa also. Very fond of this surf sporting. So they are wasting so much time and laboring so hard just to become fish. Yes, they are going to be fish. Because at the time of death they'll think of "How I am jumping in the water, surfing." That is natural. Sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ (BG 8.6). Because he has constantly thought over his sporting, naturally he'll think of sporting in the water. So this gross body when finished, his mental, intellectual and false ego will carry him to become a fish, and he'll have full freedom how fish is jumping within the water, going against the waves. A small fish can go against the waves. There is a Hindi poetry that a small fish can go against the big waves, whereas a big elephant is washed away. This is practical. Bahiya jāya(?) gajarāja. Gajarāja means, gaja means elephant.

Room Conversation -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: The dream was that Kṛṣṇa in His many forms was bowing the row. What is called?

Hari-śauri: Rowing the boat.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Trivikrama: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: And when I arrived in Boston I wrote that poetry.

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

Prabhupāda: Viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param.... (japa) (break) ...philosophy is very, very difficult, undoubtedly. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). Therefore I wrote that poetry, that "How they'll understand?"

Kīrtanānanda: Does that mean difficult to understand or difficult to practice?

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

Prabhupāda: It is very difficult to.... Sarva-dharmān—everything to give up, except Kṛṣṇa. It is very difficult. Sarva-dharmān. They are proud if they are little rich. And America is very proud. They are trying to accumulate money, and we are trying.... We say, "Give up this nonsense." Is it very easy thing, that "For Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we shall give up everything, our attempt to earn money"? Nobody will accept it. "Our industry, our trade, our opulence—everything we shall leave?" But the meaning is that. Yes. Who will take it? Jñānīs, yogis, the same thing—"Oh, I am so.... I am great yogi. So many people considers me that I am God, and I shall give up this profession?" Is it possible? Who will do it? Caitanya-caritāmṛta there is a verse, eta saba chāḍi' āra varṇāśrama-dharma, akiñcana hañā...(?) That's it. Varṇāśrama, even varṇāśrama-dharma one has to give up. (japa—break) ...department asked me, "Swamiji, how long you want to stay here?" (laughs) I said.... I thought that "I have got this sponsoring one month, maybe another month. So two months." I thought, "Two months is a very long duration, because I'll not be able to do anything. As soon as I will put my program, they will be: 'Go away, please.' " I was under this impression. "Let me try." That is the subject matter of the poetry, that "I have no hope. Who will accept this, especially in this country, so much engrossed in materialistic way of life? And I shall say, 'Give up everything.' Who will take it?"

Interview with Professors O'Connell, Motilal and Shivaram -- June 18, 1976, Toronto:

Guest (1): Swamiji, you came to New York, I believe, in 1965. Can you remember some of your first impressions of North American society when you came here? Did you feel it was ripe for Kṛṣṇa consciousness at that time?

Prabhupāda: No. I was not very much hopeful. That I wrote one poetry, that "Kṛṣṇa, why You have brought me in this country? What can I do? How I shall convince them how they will understand the philosophy? So, but because You have brought me here, must be there is some purpose. So all right. You make me dance as You like." That poetry, I (wrote) in Boston, Commonwealth Pier, on the sea. I came by ship. So I wrote that poetry, that I do not know what for I have come here, why Kṛṣṇa has brought me here. As soon as I shall say that there is no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no drinking, and no gambling, they'll say, "You go home. Don't talk." I knew this. Still I attempted. But these boys kindly accepted. I never made any compromise. I said, "These are the first conditions to become Kṛṣṇa conscious: no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling. Are you agreed?" They say yes, then come.

Garden Discussion on Bhagavad-gita Sixteenth Chapter -- June 26, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: They'll understand. I'm just pointing out the difficulties of your preaching. You'll have to face all these difficulties. They're like cats and dogs. They are not even human beings. Therefore the business is little hard job. You have to deal with cats and dogs. But still there is hope, because they have got this human form of life. There is hope. It is not hopeless. Don't be disappointed, but this is the job. You have to meet with cats and dogs. That is my point. When you go to preach you must know that "I've come to preach among cats and dogs, and I have to deal with them carefully; otherwise, they will bark." (laughter) Therefore I wrote that poetry in disappointment before entering in your country, that "What they will understand, this philosophy?"

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very nicely written. "With everybody pulling together and everybody puffing together, a huge float is tugged down Fifth Avenue yesterday during the first Ratha-yātrā Parade of International Society for Krishna Consciousness. The parade moved south from Central Park to Washington Square Park, where a free feast, music, art, dance and theater festival was held. According to a spokesperson, Ratha-yātrā is a time when people come to dance, sing and feast amidst a sublime atmosphere of bright flags, festoons, banners, garlands, flowers and incense, simply to feel the poetry and blissful nature of life.' "

Prabhupāda: Very good, this is blissful nature.

Conversation with George Harrison -- July 26, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: That is real rest.

kṛṣṇa tvādīya-pada-paṅkaja-pañjarāntam

adyaiva viśatu me mānasa-rāja-haṁsaḥ

prāṇa-prayāṇa-samaye kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ

kaṇṭhāvarodhana-vidhau smaranaṁ kutas te

(MM 33)

The Mukunda-māla-stotra... There was a big emperor, Samrat(?), Kulaśekhara, emperor Kulaśekhara, he was a great devotee. So he wrote some poetry. Formerly, kings were so advanced, rajarṣi. They are king, at the same time, saintly persons. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2)—this science of Bhagavad-gītā was learned by the rājarṣis. People were happy therefore. The head, or the executive, they were all saintly persons. So this Kulasekhara, he writes in the beginning of his poetry, "Kṛṣṇa, O Kṛṣṇa..." Kṛṣṇa tvādīya-pada-paṅkaja-pañjarāntam. The paṅkaja means lotus flower. So Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet is just like lotus flower. The lotus flower has stem down, and the swans, they take pleasure to go down the water and entangled by the stem. Have you seen their pleasure? Yes. That is their great sporting, to be entangled by the stem and come out, in this way, go deep, this is their sporting. So this Kulasekhara is praying, "My Lord Kṛṣṇa, let my swan of mind be entangled with the stem of Your lotus feet."

Conversation with George Harrison -- July 26, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: So I may not be able to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Better I am now in good health, so let my mind be entangled in the stem of Your lotus feet." Very nice poetry.

kṛṣṇa tvādīya-pada-paṅkaja-panjarāntam

adyaiva viśatu me mānasa-rāja-haṁsaḥ

prāna-prayāṇa-samaye kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ

kaṇṭhāvarodhana-vidhau smaraṇaṁ kutas te

(MM 33)

"At that time I may be not able to utter 'Kṛṣṇa' or think of You, and now I am healthy, let me finish this business." That means "Let me die immediately. Now I'm healthy, I'm quite fit." This is the ideal. Ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6). At the time of death, if one remembers Kṛṣṇa, then his life is successful. Immediately he goes to Kṛṣṇa. Just like Ajamila. He chanted "Narayana," and immediately his path to Vaikuntha become clear. So this practice means, whatever we practice all through life, there is chance of coming that remembrance at the time of death, and then it is successful, life is success. If at the time of death one can remember Kṛṣṇa, then his whole life is successful.

Conversation with George Harrison -- July 26, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: And you have got many thousands followers.

George Harrison: It's nice, but I think we all...

Prabhupāda: Anyway, you go on chanting. That will influence. There is a poetry written by, I think in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Rupa Gosvāmī is wondering, "I do not know what sweetness there is in these two words, Kṛṣ-ṇa."

Conversation with George Harrison -- July 26, 1976, London:

Jayatīrtha: And the translation is "I do not know how much nectar the two syllables 'kṛṣ-ṇa' have produced. When the holy name of Kṛṣṇa is chanted, it appears to dance within the mouth. We then desire many, many mouths. When that name enters the holes of the ears, we desire many millions of years. And when the holy name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and therefore all the senses become inert." That was Rupa Gosvāmī.

Prabhupāda: That is very nice poetry. Read it gain. Tuṇḍe tāṇḍavinī...

Room Conversation -- July 31, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Jyotirmāyī: I also thought of a way to help the children remember the Kṛṣṇa book stories easier. It was... You started that long time ago with Madhupuri, you asked her to make the Kṛṣṇa book into a poem. That was a long time ago in New York, then she didn't do it...

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa book is not difficult to be understood by...

Jyotirmāyī: I was thinking if we make into poem and put music and they sing it, then they can remember...

Prabhupāda: That you can do, to make it understandable easily. It is already easy. If you want to make more easy, then do that.

Room Conversation -- August 8, 1976, Tehran:

Dayānanda: There is an old poem, an old epic poem that we were told about that states that many thousands of years ago the Iranians were all vegetarian.

Prabhupāda: It is Āryan culture. Iranian means Āryan. It is a apabhraṁśa of Ārya, Iraya.(?) And they are called Parsis. Parsis still, those who fled away from this place, they are just like Hindus. They have got sacred thread. In India.

Room Conversation -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: You cannot expect favorable situation. It is not possible. When I came in America, I never expected any favorable situation. I wrote that poetry in disappointment, that "Who will accept this?" That is the position. By Kṛṣṇa's grace, gradually it will become a favorable situation, but don't expect any favorable situation. You have to handle unfavorable situation and make favorable situation to preach. That is preaching. Any business. (to devotee fanning:) Just on the head. Just see, there is flies. So Nityānanda Prabhu, He went to preach to Jagāi-Mādhāi. There was no favorable situation. They were drunkards. They caused injury on the body of Nityānanda Prabhu. So this is preaching with only unfavorable situation. You cannot expect favorable situation. And still you have to preach.

Room Conversation -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad:

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.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 3, 1977, Bombay:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: We're not paying tax. We are fighting it in the court.

Prabhupāda: So in this way we have to fight. We should not be afraid for these rascals. Why you should be afraid? If they take to guṇḍā-ism, we shall engage fifty guṇḍās. "Come on. Let us see." We have to maintain that spirit. Anaye yei kare prabhu anaye yei sahe.(?) The Rabindranath Tagore's one poetry: "One who does wrong and suffers wrong, he is wrong." One should not do anything wrong; one should not suffer anything wrong. That is human. If somebody does harm to me, wrong to me, I cannot suffer it. I shall not do any harm to anyone. That's all right. But if you want to give me suffering, I must fight you. Why shall I suffer it? That is kṣatriya spirit. Yuddhe cāpy apalayanam. "If you are challenging, 'All right, come on,' I accept this challenge." We have to do like that. Now, this bāniyā spirit... Our Bhagatji, he purchased that land, and he's afraid of him. What is this? Bāniyā spirit. But you are kṣatriya.

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Girirāja: Actually, it seems that in your system of management, the basic principle is to depend on Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Why not? He says ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo (BG 18.66). Distress will be if I am disobedient. This is nature's law. And if I surrender to Kṛṣṇa, where is the question of distress? Sukha se saba hari bhaje duḥkha se haje. This is one Hindi poetry, that "When one is in distressed condition, he goes to God: 'Please save me. Give me this mercy.' " So duḥka se means: "In distressed condition he becomes a devotee." But if he becomes a devotee when he's happy, then where is the question of duḥkha, or distress? Sukha se saba hari bhaje. When you are happy, at that time if you worship Hari, then there is no question of duḥkha. That Vivekananda's policy, daridra-nārāyaṇa-seva. Why not seva-nārāyaṇa? Why He should become daridra? Why not engage in? That he does not know. "He becomes a daridra-nārāyaṇa, and I become his servant." Foolish rascal. A discovered philosophy.

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Gargamuni: Because along the road, say about ten kilometers, they have a sign, "Look to your right, and you will see Purī in your sight." They have a sign, like a poem.

Prabhupāda: Where?

Gargamuni: Along the road. They say, "Look to your right, and you will see Lord Jagannātha temple in your sight." And sure enough, you see, coming up, about ten miles out of the city, that temple. So similarly if we have a very high temple it can be seen.

Room Conversation with Film Producer about Krsna Lila -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Jayadeva's, that poetry, that Kṛṣṇa is begging pardon from Rādhārāṇī, that is also very confidential. Dehi pada-pallava...

Guest (1) (Indian man): We have recorded songs, thirty-four songs, written by the ancient poets and Jayadeva.

Guest (2) (Indian man): Vaiṣṇavas.

Guest (1): All Vaiṣṇavas.

Prabhupāda: People misunderstand this Kṛṣṇa's behavior with Rādhārāṇī and the gopīs as ordinary woman-hunters.

Room Conversation Meeting with Dr. Sharma (from Russia) -- April 17, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: As soon as you deny the existence of God, means you are insane. You require treatment. There is no doubt. This is common sense. So many lives are coming from the earth. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). Either earth, water, air, there is life. They are coming. And the children are there, mother is there. Should we not inquire who is the father? If you say without father they have come, that is foolishness, madness. Immediately, he's mad. So you cannot deny the existence. If you deny, then you are mad. That is the sign of insanity. They require treatment. That is explained in one Bengali poetry.

piśācī pāile yena mati-cchanna haya

māyā-grasta jīvera haya se bhāva udaya

As a person ghostly haunted, as he speaks all nonsense, similarly, when a living entity becomes bewildered by māyā, he speaks all nonsense.

Conversation with Surendra Kumar and O.B.L. Kapoor -- June 26, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Don't keep it lock up. Sarasvatī jñāna-khale yada sati. These words are there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata. (Hindi)

Surendra Kumar: Prabhupāda, this man, this literature he understands. He himself composes poetry in Urdu as well as in Hindi. And he likes that our Indian culture and our heritage must be spread all over.

Prabhupāda: So here is the opportunity. Come and join together.