Restaurant (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"restaurant" |"restaurants"

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- October 27, 1968, Montreal, With First Devotees Going to London On Evening of Their Departure:

Prabhupāda: Haṁsadūta likes to cook.

Yamunā: Oh, he loves it.

Prabhupāda: So he wants to open a restaurant.

Janārdana: Here?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Our, I mean to say, ISKCON restaurant. So you wanted to open that restaurant in our temple.

Janārdana: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So why don't you do it? He is a very nice cooker.

Janārdana: If he stays here to cook, that's a very good idea.

Prabhupāda: Yes, he'll stay. And I have told him already. And I have asked all the students in America chased by this draft board may come here.

Yamunā: You're going to have to get a bigger building.

Devotee (2): There won't be anybody left in America.

Prabhupāda: No. In our connection, our students, let him come here. So these two boys, Jayapatāka and Vaikuṇṭha, in the same process receive. And therefore I was thinking that let us start press and restaurant and engage all these boys.

Room Conversation -- October 27, 1968, Montreal, With First Devotees Going to London On Evening of Their Departure:

Janārdana: Very expensive. They want a dollar sixty a square foot per year, which is very expensive. We are paying 49 cents a square foot per year.

Prabhupāda: Oh. I thought that because it is a downstairs floor, the restaurant can be started there.

Janārdana: Oh, you mean there's another place? You mean that storefront downstairs?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Janārdana: Oh, that place... It's a green color and the windows are covered with soap? The windows are painted white?

Prabhupāda: No. It's a big building, big store. And big signboard.

Room Conversation -- October 27, 1968, Montreal, With First Devotees Going to London On Evening of Their Departure:

Prabhupāda: (break) ...prescription, doctors never says in plain terms. Just like at the end of the prescription, "add water." This is real purpose. They will write "aqua pureata(?)". Nobody will understand. They will understand. This is also some of the medicine. Aqua means water. Similarly, you can say, "prasādam distribution," and they will have to consult dictionary, what it is. And you can say, "Oh, it is not restaurant; it is prasādam." So at least...

Janārdana: No. "Nobody is allowed to smoke in here, and they have to take off their shoes, so how can you say it's a restaurant?"

Prabhupāda: Yes. These are technical. (break) ...description, what is called restaurant, that "Wherever foodstuff is prepared and sold, that is called restaurant," then it will come to that category. Whenever they make some law, they give definition of each word, what do you mean by restaurant.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- June 14, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Māyā-sukhāya, for flickering happiness arranging huge paraphernalia, just like for sporting, restaurants(?), so many things. Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān (SB 7.9.43). No use. There is no use, but sporting, for frivolous sporting as we saw yesterday. Beginning from the morning working, so many people are engaged, but they do not know the value of arranging maṅgala-ārati. They do not know. (laughter) Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān (SB 7.9.43). Making huge arrangement. What for? Only flickering happiness, that's all.

Morning Walks -- October 1-3, 1972, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: One day he came to me and he said he took a hamburger in the restaurant. He said that hamburger is not made out of beef. He said it is made out of ham. So he said he had hamburger. He came to me and he said. I said, "So you have taken beef?" So he said "No, it is not. It is ham."

Prabhupāda: Now many Indians are taking beef. Most. In London, all Indians they take beef. The school children, they take beef.

Jayatīrtha: They don't remember their culture.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 6, 1974, Mayapura:

Siddha-svarūpānanda: But the, this one is the choking on meat at dinner table and dying, suffocating. It's very wide-spread. And in restaurants, while they're eating meat, they get so into eating, they want to swallow to eat the next piece. So they, before chewing enough, they have a big lump of meat in the mouth, and they swallow and they choke. They get caught. So in many big restaurants, they have these fancy forks like this that if somebody's choking, they go to the table, a very nice waiter, and he sticks the thing down the throat and pulls out the meat. Then the person can continue eating. But it is a very high cause of death in the world. They choke on meat.

Prabhupāda: Just like dog. Dog, if you give...

Siddha-svarūpānanda: Because the teeth are not made...

Prabhupāda: ...meat. (makes sound) Like dog. Yes.

Morning Walk -- April 1, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Sarva-dvārāṇi saṁyamya. Just like these boys, they do not go to see cinema, they do not go to restaurant. This is sarva-dvārāṇi saṁyamya. You see? They do not go to anywhere except in the temple. They do not talk anything nonsense, except Kṛṣṇa. This is sarva-dvārāṇi saṁyamya.

Room Conversation with Richard Webster, chairman, Societa Filosofica Italiana -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: These boys, although they are young men, they will never go to cinema. They are young men. They have got all propensities. But they are so elevated, they have given up all these low propensities, going to the club, restaurant, and cinema or naked dance and this and that, no. Because they are first-class men, they cannot indulge in the third-class, fourth-class proclivities. We are training them in that way. That is required.

Richard Webster: Well, yes, you said restaurants.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Richard Webster: Is it that it depends on the restaurant or is that necessarily bad?

Prabhupāda: Yes, our principle is that we can eat only what is offered to God. So we cannot eat things in the restaurant because it is not offered to God. We may prepare nice things for Kṛṣṇa and offer to Him. Then we take. This is our principle.

Morning Walk -- May 29, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: What is this? Aerodrome? No.

Dhanañjaya: No, this is a restaurant.

Prabhupāda: They can eat down. (laughter) These rascals are thinking eating on this top, this is their advancement of civilization. And waste energy. The human energy is so valuable that one can understand his real life, self-realization—that they forget. They wasting the energy for making a restaurant on the sky. They think it is advancement.

Room Conversation -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: With ghee, you can start so many restaurants. That I have already... I have discussed on this point. We can make good money. We'll not be loser. Kṛṣṇa conscious men, they'll be never loser by following the instruction of Kṛṣṇa. They'll live comfortably without any material want, and tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), and after leaving this body, go to, directly to God. This is also...

Yogeśvara: We can produce food and ghee on the farm, and then bring it and make prasādam and sell it in the restaurant.

Prabhupāda: Yes. No, we can open our own restaurant. Our own restaurant, that I have already suggested.

Room Conversation -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Yes. We, suppose we make ghee there. We can make sandeśa there. We can make rasagullā. We can make so many things, especially ghee. So open restaurant in any part of the city, and make nice kachoris, puri, halavā and so many other things, juri,(?) and people will purchase it. They'll come and sit down. I've given all the... That every foodstuff is ready. You sit down. Whatever you like, you take. And this is our charge for one plate. Don't waste.

Room Conversation -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Same charge. Same charge. You sit down, eat to your heart's content, be satisfied, and let him also eat. Don't waste. We supply. This is our program. Not that each time... Just like in hotel, each time a plate is brought, immediately a bill. Is it not? No. You sit down, eat to your satisfaction. Charge is the same.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: I think they will leave the restaurant with their pockets full of samosās. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: That we shall not allow. That we shall not allow.

Room Conversation -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: You said, Prabhupāda, about these restaurants, have people come, and invite them and give them everything. They can have wife, they can have family, they can have place to stay, nice food. Simply they have to be civilized.

Prabhupāda: That's all.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Everything is there.

Prabhupāda: We do not deny anything. We simply request, "Be civilized, Kṛṣṇa conscious." And this is practical; everyone is seeing this. We have got gṛhasthas, vānaprasthas, brahmacārī, sannyāsī. We have no such objection.

Morning Walk -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Similarly, if you do not give the ingredients for sense enjoyment, the mind will be controlled. That is the beginning. You simply... Don't give... The mind wants, "Now let me go to the restaurant." "No, sir." Beat him with shoes. Instead of going to the restaurant, he beats the mind with shoes. Then mind will not again say, "Go to the restaurant." That is called swami, gosvāmī. One who can control his mind, that is gosvāmī. We giving the title "Gosvāmī" But if you cannot control your mind, then you are unfit.

Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: Unless it is something sublime, how they're accepting it? And they're all young boys. Not that they have become old, therefore they're seeking after God. (everyone laughs) And young men have got so many aspirations, they go to the restaurant to smoke, to enjoy girlfriend, boyfriend, these... They have given up everything.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Now the material nature has gone, three modes goodness, passion and ignorance, and mixture. So we are association with the modes of material nature and according to that nature we are manufacturing our next body. This is the... So in the material world we are infecting several types of quality of the nature. Not everyone is on the same quality. Just like these boys, they are being trained up under certain quality, they're not going to the restaurant, they are not going to the liquor shop, they're not smoking, they're not eating meat, they are no illicit sex, they are being trained up, this is a quality. And another man is going to the liquor shop, to the brothel, so many other things. They're not of the same quality.

Morning Walk -- May 23, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Just see. This is nice place to walk. Why on the ups and downs?

Śrutakīrti: We have a bad tour guide.

Hari-śauri: You were speaking before about controlling the tongue is very important. And in your lectures you have said simply by eating prasādam this is controlling the tongue. But still, we have tendency when there is a big feast to eat very much prasādam. Is this a good thing, or...?

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) It is not very good, but it is still good. Instead of going to the restaurant and eat like the hogs and dogs, better take more prasādam. There is no harm. Kṛṣṇa baṛo doyāmoy, koribāre jihwā jay. Kṛṣṇa is so kind. Just to conquer over our tongue He has given us nice variety of prasāda. Take it and control your tongue. Yes. Hmm. Don't come very near.

Australian devotee 5: Śrīla Prabhupāda, you were telling this government man the other day not to kill the cows but to wait till they die. But they have a law that if the cow dies naturally, then it cannot be eaten.

Prabhupāda: That means we must commit sin. The government...

Room Conversation with Lt. Mozee, Policeman -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: And I have known many instances. In Calcutta one very rich man's son in the evening he would take his bath and dress nicely, and he would go to the Howrah station and beg, cheat men: "I have lost my purse. Will you kindly help me?" And any gentleman: "He has lost..." And he will go to the restaurant and eat and go home. That was his habit. He was a very rich man, but his habit was this. So we have to change the habit by changing the heart. You know very well. Many thieves, they have committed many times theft and put into the jail. So he knows that "If I commit theft, I will go to the jail." He has practically seen it, and he knows it. Still, he steals. Why? Because heart is unclean. So this process will cleanse the heart. Unless he cleans the heart, you cannot stop criminality simply by laws. Laws are already known. The professional thief, he knows the law. The professional murderer, he knows the law.

Room Conversation with Devotees -- August 1, 1975, New Orleans:

Prabhupāda: Milk you are collecting. So put in the pan. I have already explained. From milk stage to yogurt, yogurt to old yogurt, from old yogurt to butter, and then water, that whey. Then butter convert into ghee and whey, you can use, instead of drinking water, drink whey. Not a single drop of milk will be wasted, if you know how to do it. And you can take as much milk as possible, because ultimately it is going to be ghee. So if you start in the cities, nice restaurant, so ghee can be sold there. They'll pay for that. And they can prepare nice preparations, kachoris, samosa, sweetballs. Or milk, if you don't convert into yogurt, then naturally it will become... What is called?

Room Conversation with Devotees -- August 1, 1975, New Orleans:

Prabhupāda: Curd. So curd you can send to the city. They will convert into sandeśa, rasagullā and other preparations, and ghee. That is being done. In India the villagers, they do that. They are, keep cows. Convert them into curd or ghee, and ghee and curd sent to the city, they have got regular price for that. There is no question of waste of milk at any stage. One must know how to do it. So you can keep as many cows as possible and collect as much milk from them. You can utilize. And if some of the villagers trained up, they can open nice restaurant in the city. Utilize the ghee, curd, for making nice confectionary. People will purchase like anything. Just like in our Rathayātrā festival, whatever sweets they prepared, all sold at good profit. Your countrymen, they did not see such nice things. And when they taste it—"Very nice."

Morning Walk -- September 29, 1975, Ahmedabad:

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...one gentleman, young man, he was very rich man's son. He would come in the evening in the Howrah station nicely dressed and would approach any gentleman, "Sir, I am very sorry. I have lost my purse. Can you give me? Otherwise I cannot return." So he will collect five, ten rupees and go to a restaurant and eat and go home. (break) It is the second nature. Now the door is open? We can go?

Room Conversation with Bill Faill (reporter) -- October 8, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: So our Kṛṣṇa conscious movement recommends... Not the movement recommends. It is recommended in the śāstra that to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, you eat the remnants of foodstuff left by Kṛṣṇa. Just like opposite way: if a tuberculosis patient eats something and if you eat the remnants, then you will be infected with the tuberculosis bacillus. Is it not? So similarly, if you eat kṛṣṇa-prasādam, then you infect Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is our process. We don't take anything directly. We offer to Kṛṣṇa. Then we take kṛṣṇa-prasādam. That helps us. We do not take anything... We cannot take anything from the restaurant or from the shop. No. We prepare everything, offer to Kṛṣṇa. Then we take.

Morning Walk -- November 3, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathā kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya śravaṇa... Because by hearing Kṛṣṇa, you'll be purified. Puṇya-śravaṇa. Simply by hearing, you'll be pious. And as soon as you become pious, then you can understand Kṛṣṇa. Yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ jananaṁ puṇya... (BG 7.28). But nobody will come here. They'll go to the restaurant, club, the playing cards. Nobody will come. We are opening so many centers that the rascals may come and hear and become pious. That will also not do. Caitanya Mahāprabhu regretted that. Etādṛśi tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānu... "You have done so much favor to us, but I am so unfortunate that I have no desire to hear You."

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 21, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes. Tā'ra madhye jīhwā ati, lobhamoy sudurmati, tā'ke jetā kaṭhina saṁsāre, kṛṣṇa baṛo doyāmoy, koribāre jihwā jay, swa-prasād. So prasādam should be so nice that he'll (be) conquered. He'll not go to the restaurant; they will come to Māyāpura. I have seen in Japan. Who is? You were... Where you were staying, that place?

Sudāmā: Which place, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: No, no, far away from the city.

Sudāmā: Oh, yes, yes. Takal, outside of Tokyo, we had our temple.

Prabhupāda: So there were hotels?

Sudāmā: Yes. Yes. One bird restaurant.

Prabhupāda: Yes, bird. They are coming from fifty miles to eat there. So eating is so strong. If you prepare nice foodstuff and the flavor goes to hundred miles away, then they will automatically come. This is practical. Only for satisfaction of the tongue, there were special buses bringing them, and they were coming, full load of bus, to eat that jungle birds.

Room Conversation -- May 4, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: It will be automatically advertised. When people will say, "Oh, there is a nice ISKCON restaurant, and it is so cheap and so nice," people will come. Just like in our Vṛndāvana temple, we don't advertise. Of course, that's.... People are coming by thousands. I thought that so long distance from the city, nobody will come. But Balarāma is so powerful, He's bringing: "Come out here." (laughter) Otherwise, I was.... What is that? Plowing? Yamunā was threatened.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, Balarāma.

Prabhupāda: And the whole Kuru dynasty was threatened.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very good class of people are coming to the restaurant, businessmen, like that.

Room Conversation -- May 4, 1976, Honolulu:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Well, we had almost finished two. They'll be added in June, so that will make eight, a total of eight. And they're having a normal program going on nicely. And Madhudviṣa Mahārāja also went to visit the other temples. He said in Boston they've gotten.... I think they've already gotten it, right? That restaurant? Ambarīṣa Prabhu has gotten the most wonderful restaurant there, just around the corner from the temple. So it will be very, very high class restaurant with waiters, and...

Prabhupāda: Now, this New York restaurant being organized, other restaurant will follow.

Guru-kṛpā: This restaurant down here, I just was there. Gaura-govinda, he's the one who decorated it. First class. People really like it.

Prabhupāda: From the very beginning I was asking to open restaurant and farm. Produce ghee in the farm and send to the restaurant, and make nice samosā, kachori preparation, and there will be no scarcity of money. And if you organize in this way, your whole country will be transferred into Kṛṣṇa conscious country. Whole country. So, what about your China program?

Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Mādhavānanda: Actually the previous owner of this house, he wanted to make this a restaurant, a very posh restaurant on the waterfront, and he applied for many, many months to get permission from the city. And finally he got it. So actually we have restaurant status here. It would be very easy for us to start a restaurant. People would come.... When people see the house, they are so amazed.

Hari-śauri: That would be a big attraction—a waterside restaurant.

Prabhupāda: Hmm, yes.

Mādhavānanda: We could have tables and chairs on the grounds.

Prabhupāda: No, we are not going to do that. Better make it a doll exhibition. And give them prasāda free. Restaurant in the city, that is all right. Not here. Nobody will come to the restaurant from the city. That is not possible. But we give them free prasāda.

Room Conversation with Ambarisa and Catholic Priest -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Ambarīṣa: The temple is only one block away. We were wondering, should we offer the food to the Deities in the temple or should we offer it in the restaurant?

Prabhupāda: Better in the restaurant.

Ambarīṣa: Better in the restaurant. Yes, that is a little easier also.

Prabhupāda: They must know that they're eating prasādam.

Garden Conversation -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Just like to eat anything and everything. It is different association. You go to the restaurant, you eat the intestine of pig. I've seen it. Is that anything eatable? But you have learned it on account of association. Karaṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgos 'sya. And if he remains with the Kṛṣṇa conscious, he eats kachorīs, samosā, prepared by Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja. (laughter) It is due to association. By bad association he'll have to eat up to the stool.

Room Conversation -- June 24, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Any milk preparation. And if you have got enough milk, then keep it as ghee and open restaurant in the city. Give them nice samosā, kachorī. So in exchange you get money, you require little money, so that money will help you. Actually, in India, before these British, the poorer class of men, they were simply keeping, say, a dozen of cows, and that was their means of livelihood, that's all. From the milk they'll eat the, that, little milk, then yogurt, then..., what is called? It is another milk?

Conversation with Prof. Saligram and Dr. Sukla -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: So when it will be spiritualised, that is perfect. But instead of working uselessly, if we use our legs for going to the temple then it is spiritualized work. And instead of going to the cinema, if we go and see Deity then it is spiritual eyes. Instead of going to the restaurant, hotel, if we take prasādam, so then you spiritualize your tongue. Instead of talking nonsense, if you talk about Kṛṣṇa, then it is properly utilizing the tongue. In this way we have to practice. Nirbandhe kṛṣṇa sambandhe yukta-vairāgyam ucyate. Somebody is trying to stop sense activity. That is not possible. The sense activity should be cleansed.

Interview with Newsday Newspaper -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Physical life, so you must keep yourself fit to execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is not our desire that you become sick and you cannot chant. But our purpose is to chant and we require the physical necessities just to keep ourselves fit, not more than that. Eating is necessary. Without eating, I will die. So we take Kṛṣṇa prasādam, not in the restaurant or hotel anything, no. We take nice vegetables, nice food grains, rice, wheat, sugar, milk, all vitaminous, full of vitamins. So there is no deficiency of food. Even from food value it is very nice. We do not unnecessarily kill animals.

Room Conversation -- July 18, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's a first-class place for a center, the West Village. We can make many devotees there. We'll keep a small preaching center, maybe a restaurant, prasādam distribution.

Bali-mardana: We'll call it the Guṇḍicā center.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Guṇḍicā. We will call it Guṇḍicā.

Prabhupāda: Yes, Guṇḍicā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think we should have a restaurant there, because a restaurant brings in a lot of people. No Deities. We won't install any Deities, just a preaching center, book distribution...

Prabhupāda: Yes, book distribution, restaurant, pictures...

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

Prabhupāda: Prasada, we can eat up to the neck. (laughter) There is no harm. You'll never get indigestion. You have got some fruits?

George Harrison: Yes.

Mukunda: There's a very nice mango preparation there, did you taste?

George Harrison: Which one?

Mukunda: Mango.

George Harrison: Oh, this one.

Prabhupāda: One German girl has prepared. We are introducing restaurants like this, and people are liking very much. We have got one restaurant in Hawaii, another restaurant we are organizing in Boston. That is being directly done by Alfred. You have met Alfred?

Radio Interview -- July 27, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: And then you become more faithful and you, then you get a taste. Why these boys are not going to see the cinema? They can go-other boys are going. They never ask me. Neither they would like to see even. They hate. Their taste is different. Why they do not eat meat, go to the restaurant? Their taste has changed. In this way you make progress. Firm faith, taste is changed, then God-realization, then love of Godhead, the perfection. That is wanted, love of Godhead. That is first-class religion. Not that ritualistic ceremony, "I believe," "This belief." That is not religion; that is cheating. Really when you develop your love for God, that is perfection of religion.

Morning Walk -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Variety, there are qualities of varieties. Just like we enjoy varieties prasādam, and there is variety in the brothel also. Two qualities of variety. Variety is good, that's all right.

Hari-śauri: Well, sometimes we want to sit in a garden like this and sometimes we like to be inside, and other times we like to go out to the movies.

Prabhupāda: I don't go out. We do not go to the movies or to the restaurant. It is different taste. Therefore it is calculated three kinds of men-sāttvika, rājasika, tāmasika-their tendencies are different.

Morning Walk, House Visit, Evening Darsana -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Oh, this is only for restaurant.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Which the company is buying. There is...

Prabhupāda: Oh, then it is all right.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: And the restaurant will be just downstairs.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Brahmacārī will be upstairs. Householders live in the other place, and the Deity will be there.

Prabhupāda: Then it is all right. Very good explanation(?). But people in this land, they will come for a restaurant, customer?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes, this is very good neighborhood.

Prabhupāda: As soon as they understand, they will come.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes.

Prabhupāda: For restaurant, very nice.

Room Conversation -- August 22, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa baḍo doyāmoy. Because we want eating, so He is giving His mercy through eating. Eating nobody will refuse. So by eating he is being favored by Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. You understand Bengali? Kṛṣṇa baḍo doyāmoy, He's very merciful. Koribāre jihvā jay. We are accustomed to eat, go to the restaurant, go to the hotel, go to here and there, at home and so on. Simply eating, eating. So this is jihvā lampaṭa. Prostitution of the tongue. Just like a woman prostitute is not satisfied with one man. Similarly, our tongue is like a prostitute. It is not satisfied with simple foods. Sometimes here, sometimes there, sometimes on the street, sometimes on the restaurant, sometimes a hotel. Regular prostitution. It is called tongue prostitution.

Room Conversation -- August 22, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa baḍo doyāmoy koribāre jihvā jay.. Jaya means you conquer over the tongue. If you do not give tongue Kṛṣṇa prasāda then the tongue will dictate, "Why not go to the restaurant?" So this is the process. Give everyone nice prasāda. His tongue will be conquered and he'll be conquered. He'll be able to conquer over the prostitution of the senses, and then he'll become a devotee. Hyderabad papers have given us good publicity. Very nice.

Room Conversation -- September 4, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. But that is not possible for the animal. Therefore to remain happy within yourself, that is a prerogative of the human being. But we are not trying for that purpose. We are trying to be happy by eating, by sleeping, by sex or by defense. This is our platform of happiness. A dog cannot go to the restaurant, but a human being, if he goes to a restaurant and he can eat palatable dishes, he thinks he's happy. But what is that eating? In your standard you feel happiness, whereas on the street you'll find a pig, he's happy by eating stool. One man's food another man's poison. So eating happiness is there but the standard different. Therefore this eating is common affair, and happiness derived from eating is as good by the dog as by the pig and human being.

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. And they, you spend money for cigarette, for cinema, for restaurant, unnecessarily. We don't spend a farthing even, for all this purpose. Simply we take little rice, cāpāṭi, that's all. And still, you are culprit?

Hari-śauri: They, in the papers report that, that we spend very lavishly for the Deities, but for ourselves we eat only very simply.

Prabhupāda: So is it not credit? We spend for God. We are servant of God. We want to see God gorgeously situated, and for us we have no comforts, we don't care for any comfort. We simply spend minimum just to keep the body and soul together, that's all. This is our principle. We don't spend a farthing for our sense gratification. This should be noted down if some case is there, this should be presented. We don't go to restaurant, we don't go to cinema, we don't spend lavishly for dress or something else, no. Neither for furniture (laughter). Eh? If you sit down in a, a pad is that faulty?

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Scientific means after discussing for some time you propose that "Let us enjoy sex." That's all. It is common thing in your country, unknown girl, unknown boy, and talk for some time, "Let us go to some restaurant," and then talk more intimately, and then sex.

Hari-śauri: That's the whole social system.

Prabhupāda: "Would you like to sex?" And who is the young man, young... They'll deny it. I know this. During ball dance they embrace one another, another's wife, another husband, and in ball dance... Or there are side rooms. Naturally they'll feel sex and they go to the side room and discuss. Is it not?

Room Conversation on Farm Management -- December 10, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Yes? This is our mission. If you give them very nice palatable prasādam... They go to hotel from miles together to take some palatable foodstuff, restaurant, hotel. And we cannot give nice Kṛṣṇa prasādam? Why? Why you cannot give? Arrange like that, first class. Simply for eating they will come. Immediately do it.

Jagadīśa: I have a question, whether we should always give them khicuṛi or whether we should...

Prabhupāda: Give them nice prasādam by which they are attracted. It doesn't matter khicuṛi, puri, kacuri, lāḍu. Whatever they are attracted, we must give. Whatever that will attract them. That I want. Kṛṣṇa-prasādam. Don't waste, give them nice palatable foodstuff. Give them one finest kacuri, one nice samosā, two puris, they will be very glad. Make very, very, nice prasādam. What is this rubbish, the dog cannot eat even? They have done a great mistake, all rascals. I am very angry.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Haṁsas. They live in a very nice clean water, garden. Uśanti mānasā. They do not go there. Now they are making so much propaganda against our men, but these boys will never go to cinema. Uśanti mānasā. They are boys. They have no attraction, restaurant and cinema. You'll never find. Uśanti mānasā. They have rejected. And we see others—they are making line, queue. Yes. Why? Vāyasaṁ tīrtham. They like that. Crows like... They have been educated like crows.

Morning Darsana and Room Conversation Ramkrishna Bajaj and friends -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: The sādhus are rising early in the morning; they are attending maṅgala ārati, they are reading Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then dressing the Deity and having ārati and so on, so on, so on. This is called bhajana-kriyā. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo 'tha bhajana (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). Then anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt: then all these material activities will stop. Because if you are engaged in spiritual act..., where is your time for material activities, for drinking wine and eating meat and going to the restaurant and...? No time. These boys, although they are trained up from childhood how to eat meat, how to drink, but now they have no time.

Conversation on Train to Allahabad -- January 11, 1977, India:

Prabhupāda: No. If you educate people, if you give them better enjoyment, they'll give up.

Rāmeśvara: Very gradual.

Prabhupāda: Just like our men. They are not after cinema or brothel house or restaurants. It requires education.

Hari-śauri: We have to make them devotees.

Rāmeśvara: But can all the masses of people become devotees?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, cent percent devotees, by this process: ask them to chant and take prasāda.

Morning Walk -- January 24, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Not only that, modern educated youths, they are not inclined to come to the farm. So they're giving up their own father's property, farm. They do not come back from city. The farmers' children go to cities for education, and after so-called education the rascals do not come. Here also and in your country also, America and... They want city life and enjoy restaurant and prostitute.

Room Conversation -- January 26, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: All debauch. Because they're getting fat salary. What they'll do? They do not know how to use it. Wine, woman, restaurant, dance-finish. So we have got very pessimistic view of this modern world. You may like or not. Simply spoiling time. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). Simply work without any profit of the human form of life. And nobody is interested to correct the procedure. If we try to correct them, they will accuse us that "These people are brainwashed. They deviating these young men from the general procedure of human civilization." Hm? What is this? Illicit sex stopped? Then where is life? This is life, if young boys and young girls mix freely and have sex, and as soon as she is pregnant, you go away, let her suffer, no responsibility.

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: That must be done.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In New York, because we have the restaurant there, we always have prasāda ready and available for guests throughout the day and evening, full prasādam, because the restaurant facility is there.

Prabhupāda: That is a good facility.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And very respectable gentlemen are coming. You saw, Brahmānanda.

Prabhupāda: Who will not accept such nice prasāda? They cannot get in ordinary restaurant such nice prasāda.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And we give them as much as they can eat. There is no limitation on quantity.

Prabhupāda: They are very glad.

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Some devotees, I've noticed... Sometimes some weak devotees, they leave our movement but still, in New York, even after leaving, they have to come every evening for their regular meals in the restaurant, because they are addicted to prasādam. They cannot do without it.

Prabhupāda: What do we supply in the restaurant?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Restaurant supplies two or three sabjis...

Prabhupāda: Two, three.

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: And their loaf, that is three hundred years old, (laughter) with little butter like...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually they are eating just like prisoners.

Prabhupāda: So from restaurant you have got good income there?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Approximately, I would say, between $7,500 and $10,000 a month. That is not all profit, but that is the gross income. Profit? At least more than half profit. And much milk products are used. We supply the temple and the restaurant from the farm four hundred gallons of milk per week.

Prabhupāda: You get from the farm.

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That is a respectable business for the Americans.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Restaurant and prasādam carts, and we're getting good profit from it.

Prabhupāda: We can do everywhere the same.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Here we're doing.

Prabhupāda: Yes. No, here also, in India. That is very good, honest.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. And it's very spiritual. There is no contamination there.

Prabhupāda: Now in Hyderabad we have got the farm. We can produce ghee and grains and make restaurant.

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: You can have very nice center for restaurant. And in these cities they like nice restaurant.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We can compete with G. Polareddy.

Prabhupāda: No, he's a sweet man. He has no restaurant.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There are many hotels in Hyderabad.

Prabhupāda: Hm. Vṛndāvana hotel in our quar...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. That's a good... That will be very popular, restaurants, especially prasādam restaurant. If they know it is... If it is pure... Because I know. I was eating in many restaurants in different cities before you told us that we shouldn't do that, and people go there because there's nowhere else to go. But it's never that clean, nor is it very good. But the office people, they have to eat somewhere.

Prabhupāda: Formerly they used to be, because that was not restaurant. Restaurant in Indian style, they were selling paraṭā. In Delhi there are many. So those who were interested with paraṭā, they'll sit down and they will supply first-class paraṭā and vegetables.

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm. That's not there anymore. In Bombay the only good restaurant... There is a Marwari restaurant where they have this dower(?) system. But there's only one, and it's in Kalpadevi, so hardly anyone will go there anyway. No office people go there. Only the Marwaris go there.

Prabhupāda: No, Bombay there are so many restaurants.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But they're very...

Prabhupāda: Dirty.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: That restaurant, mostly for drinking tea and pakorā.

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: That you should not be.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. That's why it is that the Back to Godhead magazine is being compromised a little. They are fearful. But actually that magazine is our platform for speaking strongly. In your Back to Godhead that you were publishing, you were very, very strong. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...Mr. McPherson. He became my friend in Allahabad. He was coming and talking with me. He spoke of one restaurant in London that "It was so nice, and full of chili. I was crying; still, I could not leave it." (Prabhupāda's chewing)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Wow.

Prabhupāda: Chili in mild quality, it is digestive.

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Everything hot. The people who come to our restaurant would ordinarily not come, because they are very... They're just business people from the offices. They come in suits, and they eat in our restaurant, and they have a very good opinion of our movement.

Prabhupāda: Indian.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. All Americans. The Indians don't come to our restaurant because the food is not properly spiced.

Prabhupāda: Made.

Evening Darsana -- February 19, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: No more preaching." And it is Kṛṣṇa's desire, they accepted so many 'no's.' I was not hopeful that these American young boys or gentlemen will accept these 'no's,' because I heard, "Lord Zetland said, 'It is impossible.' " If they go to a, one goes to a restaurant, he must find out one illicit woman. Is it not? It is not the practice, that they should go to a restaurant with one girl? Otherwise he's vagabond. (Bengali) He was ten years in London. He has good experience in villages. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. (Bengali) Sit down. (Bengali) "...that you cannot become happy without Me. Therefore I advise you, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66), aham tvāṁ sarva-pā-I'll give you..." (break) Kṛṣṇa yei bhaje sei baḍa catura. Therefore only intelligent person is he who is Kṛṣṇa conscious. All fools. Mūḍhaḥ nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. (Bengali) (break) One dayānika,(?) what is that? If he, that time, one paisa, if he could collect two annas, oh, he would encourage him like anything.

Evening Darsana -- February 24, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: So there we shall have restaurant?

Jayatīrtha: Yes. It should be very successful. Restaurants in that area... Vegetarian restaurants... There's one that sells about ten thousand pounds (sterling) a week of food. So ours may not be quite that big.

Prabhupāda: So we have already started restaurant? No.

Jayatīrtha: Not yet. It takes some time. We just got permission finally from the planning commission from the city. That was a technicality. But we just got that. There was no problem. Now we're starting to do the refurbishing. We have to do a lot of painting and...

Prabhupāda: So we shall move from Bury Place there? No.

Conversations -- May 17, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) (Hindi conversation) And what about that Hindi translation?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That judge is making?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That has to be sent.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) (Hindi conversation) (break) "It is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss." So restaurant is going on in Jalni(?) building? No.

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The restaurant was filled again today. So opulent.

Prabhupāda: What is the special feature of restaurant?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I haven't figured that out. I know what it is though. The special feature is this, Śrīla Prabhupāda. There's a number of things. One thing, there's no other place in Vṛndāvana where you can sit in such a good atmosphere. That room is very large. The tables are first class, marble. There are very nice decorations, and the service is very good. And they serve ice water. And the prasādam is also better than at the Jaipuria guesthouse or most of the other guesthouses.

Room Conversation-Recent Mail -- July 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhāgavatāśraya: ...ground floor restaurant. So it would take eighteen months to build the building. And then the idea is that we can have the ground floor for our restaurant.

Prabhupāda: Very good. Make Govinda Restaurant.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: New Delhi will like it. New Delhi people will appreciate a vegetarian restaurant. So I think there's some pleasing news, Śrīla Prabhupāda. This is sent by Bharadvāja Prabhu. It's a letter.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Śrī Kṛṣṇa caitanya rādhā kṛṣṇa nahe anya. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya wants that pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma. And for Kṛṣṇa's grace. This new building, it may not divert attention from Deity worship.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In London, yes.

Prabhupāda: Library, restaurant, lecture. How many rooms are there?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, first of all there's a basement, which is the restaurant area. That restaurant area is, say, four times the size of this room.

Room Conversation -- October 9, 1977, Vrndavana:

Rāmeśvara: During the day he has a job with computer work, and in the evening he manages the restaurant. He is the general manager of the restaurant.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What does his wife do?

Rāmeśvara: His wife also helps in the kitchen. She spends the whole day working in the kitchen at the restaurant. And the two girls, they help as waitresses, serving the food and taking the plates.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Muslims come to eat there?

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

Room Conversation -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No, no. They have got restaurant.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The restaurant. What do they serve in the restaurant.

Rāmeśvara: Oh. In the restaurant there is cāpāṭis, nice ḍāl, two sabjis. Rice is a very favorite food of Persians, so rice is there, and some sweet, usually some pudding, some sweet rice, and some fruit juice and fruit. These things all come as part of the meal.

Prabhupāda: They like it.

Room Conversation -- October 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: The low class, they purchase that big ruṭi. (laughs) That's all.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Big cāpāṭi.

Prabhupāda: They cannot come to the restaurant.

Parivrājakācārya: No.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Some people even come, higher class people, and work. They give their service in the restaurant. They wash dishes. They serve tables. We engage them in bhakti-yoga.

Brahmānanda: What's the name of the restaurant?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Govinda.

Prabhupāda: So you make good profit.

Room Conversation -- October 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Oh, you are all so kind. How is your family?

Dayānanda: Very nice, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: So...

Dayānanda: It's very encouraging to hear that you're...

Prabhupāda: Restaurant.

Dayānanda: Yes, it's doing very nicely, Śrīla Prabhupāda. We're getting a lot of nice...

Prabhupāda: You are all happy?

Dayānanda: Yes. We are also happy to hear that you're translating, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Trying. So at night there is no need of giving juice. Tomorrow.