A conditioned soul, fallen conditioned soul, is struggling for existence. He is trying to be enjoyer, he is trying to be proprietor. That is his artificial way of life. Just like if a woman wants to become a man, that is her artificial position. She may dress herself as a man, just like in the western countries sometimes we see woman is artificially dressing like man, with hat, coat, man, riding on horse. That is artificial. So similarly, our position here in this material world is artificial. We are trying to imitate a man.
Ride (Lect, Conv. & Letters)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Calcutta, September 23, 1974:
We are not dying. So far we are, living entities are concerned, we are not dying. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). We do not die. This is a disease, that we accept a foreign body, material body. And the foreign body is a machine. Just like you have got a car. You can ride on, drive on the car so long the machine is working. But as soon as the machine does not work, you have to change your car. It is like that.
Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Paris, August 10, 1973:
Similarly all these varieties of bodies are there according to my desire. Kṛṣṇa... That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, you know: yantrārūḍhāni māyayā. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati, The Lord is situated in everyone's heart. Arjuna tiṣṭhati. Bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61). Bhrāmayan. He is causing to wander all over the universe all living entities, riding on a car or machine. This machine is this body. Now I am walking, I am going here, preaching. What is the machine? The machine, first machine is my body. So who has given me this body? Māyayā. Māyā, the illusory energy, has given me this body. My real body's spiritual body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). These are ver, Vedic versions. We are not speaking unauthorized. Karmaṇā. As you are working, or as you desire to work, then similar type of body will be given to you. By nature. You are, you have got this body by nature. Māyayā, yantrārūḍhāni māyayā.
Lecture on BG 16.6 -- Hawaii, February 2, 1975:
Although we are experiencing every moment birth and death... Birth and death every moment, it is going on so finely. It is Kṛṣṇa's arrangement. Just like this world, this earthly planet, is moving at the rate of one thousand miles per hour. Such a gigantic body, it is also moving. Every, all planets are moving. Even the sun is moving. But we cannot perceive. You ride on a best airplane—there are so many disturbances, sound, moving, sometimes table is (trembling?) moving. But this planet also moving more speedily than the airplane, but you do not perceive. This is Kṛṣṇa's manufacture, perfectly. Pūrṇam idam. This is called pūrṇam idam, everything perfect. Pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate, pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). Because He is so perfect, we do not perceive. But it is moving.
Lecture on BG 16.8 -- Hawaii, February 4, 1975:
He is controlling this; therefore he is superior. Both of them are energies. The superior energy, living entity, is managing how to collect this iron, copper, this, that, and make nice car. And he is riding on. And this material supply is given by the material energy. The intelligence is given by Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa says, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ: "I am sitting in everyone's heart." Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca: (BG 15.15) "From Me he's getting the intelligence." So if you analyze the whole thing, the manufacturer of the car and the car itself and the, ingredients of the car, the platform on which the car is running—everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. That is the ultimate analysis. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī says that in everything there is relationship with Kṛṣṇa.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Lecture on SB 1.1.9 -- Auckland, February 20, 1973:
He is the first time that he allowed the sannyāsīs to drive in a motorcar. A sannyāsī never drives in a motorcar, you see? But not for sense gratification. Suppose we are going by aeroplane. A sannyāsī should walk. The Jain sannyāsīs they never ride on a car, you know that. You know that. They will never ride on a car. But now they are also riding. But suppose we are preaching now. I came from India. If I were to say, "I am a sannyāsī, I will not ride in a car or aeroplane, I must walk." Then what kind of preaching there would have been? You see? So therefore it depends on the ācārya how to adjust things. So, my Guru Mahārāja, "Alright go on preaching on a motorcar, it doesn't matter." These Gosvāmīs, they went to Vṛndāvana, severest type of austerities. They used to life underneath a tree. Now if in this age I advise you that you also live underneath a tree, then it will be difficult to preach. You see?
Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Edinburgh, July 17, 1972:
In dream, some way or other, we create an atmosphere. But actually, there is no different atmosphere. But by our brain, hallucination, we create something. So created in dream, we have got experience, everyone, "I am the worker. I am doing this. I am flying. I am going there. I am riding the path(?). I am working. I..." "I" is there. This "I" false ego is there. Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). So forgetting Kṛṣṇa, when we concentrate only "I" and "mine," that is material world. That is material world. Material means separated. When I create, when we forget Kṛṣṇa, when I create "I" and "mine," that is material. Make it clear.(?) Otherwise, īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1).
Everything is Kṛṣṇa's energy. Kṛṣṇa is spiritual, so His energy is also spiritual. But in the spiritual energy there is the possibility of forgetting Kṛṣṇa. That is called material energy. So if we remember Kṛṣṇa, that is not material energy.
Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- New Vrindaban, September 5, 1972:
Anyway this is a long story. So this body is a bag of the three elements, yasyātmā-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). (baby cries) That baby. So Bhāgavata says yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke, I am not this body. This is a vehicle. Just like we ride on a car, drive car, so I am not this car. Similarly, this is a yantra, car, mechanical car. Kṛṣṇa or God has given me this car, I wanted it. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). "My dear Arjuna, the Lord as Paramātmā is sitting in everyone's heart," bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61), "and He is giving chance to the living entity to travel, to wander," sarva-bhūtāni, "all over the universe." Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā, riding on a car, driving a car given by the material nature.
Lecture on SB 1.2.9 -- Hyderabad, April 23, 1974:
As soon as we forget or defy to enjoy with Kṛṣṇa... Just like a big man, a rich man... So the rich man is enjoying along with the servants are also enjoying. The servants are not poor in a rich man's house. He is eating of the same thing. He is also riding on the same car with the master. Rather, the driver is in the front, and the master is in the back. So in this way we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Just like in a family, why you take the risk of family? For enjoyment. I am alone. I can remain happy. Now, why you take the wife? I know if I marry then there will be children, there will be so many responsibilities. But why you accept? For happiness. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is the supreme happy person. So we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. To remain with Kṛṣṇa always... And He becomes happy, we are happy. This is our position.
Lecture on SB 1.3.9 -- Los Angeles, September 15, 1972:
So in this incarnation, Nara-nārāyaṇa, They undertook severe penances to teach us. So what was the purpose of such severe penance? For sense controlling. The modern civilization is to give freedom to sense satisfaction, because they cannot control. Just like you are riding on a horse, but the horse is not under your control, then you say, "Let it go to hell, never mind." This is the position. Because they cannot control the senses, they have taken this philosophy that liberating sense gratification is the ultimate goal of life. And the result is that they are going to hell.
Adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). The problem is they cannot control the senses. Therefore their philosophical idea is that sense gratification is the ultimate goal of life. They are thinking, which will never be successful, that by advancement of material comforts they will be happy.
Lecture on SB 1.7.5-6 -- Johannesburg, October 15, 1975:
This is very significant. Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā. We are riding on a machine. This body is a machine, but we are accepting machine as myself. This is called sammohita, bewildered. If you are running on a car, if you think, "I am the car," as it is foolishness, similarly, I have got this yantra, machine, body, and it is running on on account of my presence, or I am driving, or Kṛṣṇa is giving me intelligence how to drive, but if I identify myself with this body, exactly like a foolish man—he is driving the car, and if he identifies himself with the car, he is a foolish man—so this is called sammohita. Yayā sammohito jīva. Therefore the example, as I was citing last night, that we do not see the driver, and when the driver goes away, then we see that the car is not moving, and then I can understand, "Oh, the driver, my father, or my son, has gone away."
Lecture on SB 1.7.6 -- Vrndavana, April 18, 1975:
That is our business. So it requires time. But at least things unnecessarily encumbered... We are encumbered with so many unnecessary thing. So our so-called necessities of life will decrease. Anartha upaśamam . Although we are riding on motor car, we don't think it is essential. But those who are captured by the civilization, they think it is essential. That is the difference. Anāsaktasya viṣayān.
Our process is that if we have to preach, so we have to go to United States. So if there is aeroplane, why shall I waste my time? Let us accept this thing. So we don't deprecate the material advancement. But we simply warn that "Don't forget Kṛṣṇa simply for the matter of material advancement." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We don't discourage you. We don't discourage you, but when you have invented something material, utilize it for Kṛṣṇa. Anāsaktasya viṣayān.
Lecture on SB 1.8.48 -- Mayapura, October 28, 1974:
Division. One division. One division of army consisting of so many horses, so many elephants and chariot... There are different types of fighter. Somebody would fight from the back, riding on the back of the elephant, somebody on horses. That is also nowadays current, cavalry. And somebody on chariot, somebody standing, infantry... So, one akṣauhiṇī means 64,000 elephants, horses, chariots and so many thousand infantry. That makes one division. So Kṛṣṇa Himself gave so many divisions to Duryodhana. Altogether there were eighteen divisions or more than that. They were all killed.
So actually, a sane man is thinking that "After all, the idea was that I should be enthroned on this chair, on this throne of the kingdom, and for me so many animals and men were killed."
Lecture on SB 1.15.31 -- Los Angeles, December 9, 1973:
These are all cars, but we are different from the car. We wanted to sit down in a certain car, so Kṛṣṇa is giving us the chance. Bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni (BG 18.61). Yantra means car or machine. It is very easy to understand. So this is going on because we are identifying with the car. Just like foolish man, if he rides on a Rolls Royce car, he's thinking "Now I am very rich man. I have bought a Rolls Royce." Similarly, if one body has got inferior car, he thinks that "I am poor"; identifying with the car.
But he's not car. He's different from car. This knowledge is required. This is called viśoko brahma-sampattyā. When we understand our spiritual identity, then we are no more lamenting or jubilation, equilibrium. Read the purport. It is very important verse.
Lecture on SB 1.16.5 -- Los Angeles, January 2, 1974:
We don't reject anything. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī: prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ. A thing which can be used for the service of Hari, Kṛṣṇa, if it is given up as material, that vairāgya, that renunciation, is not very good. That renunciation... "I have renounced everything..." Just like amongst the Jains, they will not ride on car, they'll walk. So our principle is not like that. "No, we shall not take advantage of the motorcar or the airplanes. These are all material. I shall walk." Why shall I walk? If I would not have taken the advantage of the airplanes, how I could preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world so swiftly? We must take all advantage, but for Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We shall encourage people, but the thing is that we may not forget. If by material opulence we forget Kṛṣṇa, then that is suicidal. That is sui... Therefore we have to be little careful.
Lecture on SB 1.16.16 -- Los Angeles, January 11, 1974:
Just like Kṛṣṇa, when He was playing with His friends, so they were sporting, and in the sporting there is defeat and victory. So if some of the friends would become victorious, then the challenge was that one who will be defeated, the victorious person will ride on his shoulder. That was the challenge. So when Kṛṣṇa became defeated, the other boys, they rose up and got up on the shoulder of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa had to carry them.
So although Kṛṣṇa is master, but He became a servant. Just like Kṛṣṇa, when He was playing as a child of Mother Yaśodā, so He was taken with stick, "Kṛṣṇa, if you become again very naughty, then see the stick." So Kṛṣṇa used to cry. There are very nice verses in the Kuntī's prayer, that "The whole universe is afraid of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is afraid by the stick of Mother Yaśodā." (laughter) Just see.
Lecture on SB 5.5.3-4 -- Bombay, March 29, 1977:
Mayādhyakṣena prakṛteḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). "This living entity wants a body like this. So give him a body like that." Yantra. That is called yantra. It is a machine. This body is the machine. And therefore we are changing, one body to another, yantrārūḍhāni māyayā. This is our business.
So if I am now in a yantra, Mercedes car, and suppose next life I ride on another yantra which is four-legged dog, then what is the benefit of this kind of struggle for existence? But that is going on. Therefore Kṛṣṇa warns, aśraddhadhānāḥ puruṣā dharmasyasya parantapa mām aprāpya. "The aim of life was to achieve Me," Kṛṣṇa says, "but the result is, because he does not hear what I say," mām aprāpya nivartante, "again goes back," mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. This material world means to take birth and die. That is called mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. Now I am born as Indian or as brāhmaṇa or something like that. The next life, there is no guarantee. Kṛṣṇa does not say that there is guarantee. Kṛṣṇa says tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ.
Lecture on SB 6.1.3 -- Melbourne, May 22, 1975:
Devotee (2): Śrīla Prabhupāda, when it is cited in the scriptures that Lord Brahmā rides on a swan, a haṁsa, is this, are we to take this to mean it is a real swan, or is it something symbolic?
Prabhupāda: Not symbolic, it is fact. Why do you say symbolic?
Devotee (2): It's rather unusual.
Prabhupāda: Unusual, what experience you have got? You have no experience. Have you got any experience of other planetary system, what is there? Then? Your experience is very teeny. So you should not calculate Brahma's life and other things by your teeny experience. Now, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that the duration of life of Brahma, sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ... (BG 8.17). Now, Brahma's life, it is stated in the śāstras. We have already explained that we accept the authoritative statement of śāstra. Now, Brahma's life is stated there. Arhat means his one day is equal to our four yugas.
Lecture on SB 6.1.32 -- San Francisco, July 17, 1975:
So these are the explanation in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And it is situated above the sun planet, and above, the distance is also given there: 1,600,000's of miles. And above that, similarly, 1,600,000 miles, there is Mars, there is Jupiter, there is Venus, like that. So universe is not so small that you can ride on your 747 and go. (laughter) It is not so easy. It is not so easy. So therefore, from the circumstances, we can conclude that they could not approach the moon planet. And now they are saying that "It is useless. There is no need of going there. The grapes are sour." (laughter) The jackal jumping, jumping, jumping. When he could not get the grapes, then he is rejecting, "Oh, this is sour. It is no use." So after jumping so many years and spending so much money, they are now rejecting: "The moon planet is not habitable." But we get there. This is one of the heavenly planets, and it is habitable by the most advanced pious men.
Lecture on SB 7.9.55 -- Vrndavana, April 10, 1976:
They bring the different parts of the car and mix and assemble them within half an hour. That means each half hour they are manufacturing car.
So, of course, sometimes we require car. But we should not forget Kṛṣṇa simply for the manfacturing and riding car. This is foolishness. This is foolish. We can utilize everything for Kṛṣṇa's service. Just like we have got so many cars... Not here. Here also we have got many, eight to ten buses and cars. In the foreign countries each temple has got more than dozen cars. So, but these cars are used for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to make the best use of a bad bargain. So we never use car for sense gratification. Nirbandhe kṛṣṇa sambandhe yukta-vairāgyam ucyate, prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari... A sannyāsī is supposed to walk. But if somebody criticizes, "Sir, why you are flying on airplane?" no, that is our not principle.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, December 27, 1972:
"I have become liberated," but actually he's not liberated. Liberated is he who is engaged in the service of the Lord. He's liberated. Nobody's liberated. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Just like they are going to the Moon planet. They have got very high speed sputniks. Simply riding on, boarding on high-speed sputnik does not mean he has gone to the moon planet. Actually he has to go there and live there. Then it is successful. But what they are doing? They are going and coming back. They are going and coming back. Similarly, āruhya kṛcchṛeṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanti adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). If you have to stay in the higher status of life, brahma anubhūti, then you'll have to come back again. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa. Kṛcchreṇa means by practicing severe austerities, penances, one may go up to the Brahman effulgence, paraṁ padam. That is called paraṁ padam. But because there is no stay... Just like in the sky.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 10, 1972:
Similarly, we are trying to get material comforts by manufacturing or adventing so many scientific discoveries, but that is not actually getting happiness. It is simply changing the position. Exactly, we just consider that in your country, especially, you have got many motorcars, but riding on motorcars, how much dangerous conditions you accept. Everyone accept.
So this kind of changing the course of discomfort... Actually, it is a place for discomfort. You cannot expect real comfort within this material world. It is a place... Because Kṛṣṇa Himself certifies this place duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). It is a place for miserable condition of life. Now, how you can make it a happy place? That is not possible. So our attempt to make us happy, the example is given, just like to take the heavy burden from head to the shoulder. That's all. Changing the place. Now we are creating so many problems, you know.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.11-15 -- New York, January 9, 1967:
This trident, she has got in her hand a trident. And a asura, a demonic person, is struggling with lion, and the goddess is piercing that trident on the chest of that demon. This figure is there. That is called Durgā. Have you seen that picture? That one lion has attacked that demon, and the lion is the carrier of Devī, Goddess Durgā. She rides on lion. Just like we ride on horse, Devī, she rides on lion. And the lion has attacked that demon. And demon is also very strong, fighting with the lion, and the mother, Goddess Durgā, she has caught the demon by the hair and piercing the trident on the chest, and the lion has attacked. So this is our position. We are thinking like the demon. Now, this lion is the symbol of rajo-guṇa. Rajo-guṇa. Kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ. Rajo-guṇa means we are full of lust and anger. When there is excess of rajo-guṇa, then we are full of lust and anger.
Festival Lectures
Ratha-yatra and Press Conference -- San Francisco, July 4, 1970:
And because it revives our consciousness about Kṛṣṇa, it is an easy process for reviving mass Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore if you participate in these car festivals, as it is stated in the scriptures, rathe ca vāmanaṁ dṛṣṭvā punar janma na vidyate... If you kindly see these Jagannātha deities riding on these cars and in procession, and as Caitanya Mahāprabhu chanted the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra in front of this car, then according to our Vedic scripture, if you participate in this festival, in your next life you'll go to back, back to home, back to Godhead.
General Lectures
Pandal Lecture at Cross Maidan -- Bombay, March 26, 1971:
Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī says the process is anāsaktasya viṣayān yathārham upayuñjataḥ. You... We should be unattached to the material necessities of life. It is not that we shall neglect this body. Because a body is vehicle for understanding. So we cannot neglect it. Just like you take care of your car. You ride on your car. For business you go from one place to another. So you have to keep it fit so that it can move very nicely, it can carry out your order. Similarly, there is no necessity of neglecting this body. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, yuktāhāra vihārasya yogo bhavati siddhi. We do not say that "You don't eat," but we say that "You eat Kṛṣṇa prasāda, bhagavat-prasāda." You satisfy your tongue. You do not starve, but you satisfy your tongue by the foodstuff which is offered to Kṛṣṇa. That is our proposal. We do not say that "You don't sleep," but we say, "Yes, you sleep. But sleep as much as possible so that to keep your body fit."
Philosophy Discussions
Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:
Prabhupāda: This one.
Śyāmasundara: Yes, they call it a saddle.
Prabhupāda: It is convenient to ride over.
Śyāmasundara: Masters of the universe.
Karandhara: They could make a thousand different drawings.
Śyāmasundara: These are all based on mathematical principles. Because they have observed that the universe is expanding, so they are trying to figure out what shape it is expanding into.
Philosophy Discussion on Karl Marx:
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is spiritual nature. That is spiritual nature. We are teaching people to come to that standard, spiritual nature which will never change. Just like we are trying to serve Kṛṣṇa. This is not (indistinct). We are serving Kṛṣṇa and when we go to Vaikuntha, we serve Kṛṣṇa. That which is called nitya. Nitya means eternal. Nitya-yukta upāsate. Bhagavad-gītā, eternally engaged in the service of the Lord. Not like Māyāvādī. Māyāvādī philosophers, they will say that "Let me serve Kṛṣṇa now. As soon as I become liberated, I become God. I become God." This is another bluff. Just like I am serving you to take your favor and as soon as I get opportunity I ride upon you. You see? Now,
Śyāmasundara, (indistinct). This is Māyāvāda theory.
Śyāmasundara: They want to become...
Conversations and Morning Walks
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation with Gaurachand Gosvami At the Radha-Damodara Temple (Mostly Bengali) -- March 11, 1972, Vrndavana:
Śyāmasundara: We should take them, I think.
Devotee: I don't (indistinct).
Yamunā: We must take them, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: To ride on a car in Vṛndāvana. (chuckles) (break) (inside a building:) Price is fixed up at five thousand, then it comes to...
Indian man: Minimum is five hundred rupees.
Prabhupāda: Why five hundred? Sixty...
Indian man: Sixty-five rupees per thousand for the stamp duty, then court fees, and then other (indistinct) solicitor charges or the (indistinct) charges. So the last time... (break)
Prabhupāda: Yes. So...
Morning Walk Conversation -- September 28, 1972, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Physics has nothing to do with spirit. (break) ...manufacture the subtle(?) parts of motorcar, easily you can go. So this rascal thinking this is advancement, says, "I am killing the soul. The soul is going to become a dog next life after riding motorcar." That is written, and they have no knowledge. But because you have advanced from bullock cart to motorcar, this is.... So rascal they are. They have no knowledge what is advancement. What is the time?
Jayatīrtha: It's quarter to seven, thirteen minutes to seven. The advancement of material science really means to complicate the problems of life.
Prabhupāda: That's all, increasing the problem. They have to dig out petroleum oil from the midst of the ocean. Is it easy job?
Jayatīrtha: No.
Morning Walks -- October 1-3, 1972, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Jayatīrtha: Five minutes after seven. (break)
(In car:)
Devotee (1): We were given a ride by some young people, a couple, and they were..., this was in Bakersfield, California. They said that a mahārāja of Guru Maharaj-ji, a mahātmā, they called him a mahātmā, a disciple follower of this fourteen-year-old so-called avatāra, is in Bakersfield, and he's staying there.
Prabhupāda: Where he is now?
Devotee (1): He's supposed to still be in Bakersfield after Guru Maharaj-ji, but this mahātmā is his follower. But they were very anxious to follow in his way because Guru Maharaj-ji is supposed to give direct perception of God. It's described that he will show you light.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 13, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: He has got already spiritual body. Material body is his covering. It is unnatural. Real body is spiritual. Just like your coat, this is unnatural. But your real body is natural. Otherwise how transmigration is possible? I am accepting different unnatural bodies. Unnatural means to my constitution. My real constitutional body is servant of Kṛṣṇa. So, so long I do not come to that position, I remain servant of nature and I get so many bodies. According to the nature's direction I am getting body, I am giving it up, again I am desiring something, I am getting another body. This is going on. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ, ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā (BG 3.27). He is a rascal. He is thinking, "I am this body." Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati, bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61). This is a yantra, machine. And we are traveling many species of life, all riding on this car, given by nature. Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā. Māyā has given this vehicle, anywhere wandering, up and down, sometimes demigod, sometimes dog.
Room Conversation with Reporter from Researchers Magazine -- July 24, 1973, London:
Prabhupāda: You are kṣatriya, you have to act as a kṣatriya. So acting means karma. How you can avoid karma? Bhakti is also karma. Bhakti is also karma. Bhakti, what is this bhakti? Just like we are engaged in devotional service. That service means karma. So they're also rising early in the morning at four 'o clock offering maṅgala-ārati, and then reading books, then chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, then taking the class and taking prasādam, then going to outside for performing saṅkīrtana, to distributing books. All day, twenty-four hours karma. So therefore outsiders, they can not understand, that "They're also working like us, they're also selling books, they're going to the press, they're also eating, they're riding motorcar, they're typing, what kind of bhakti it is?" They cannot understand what is bhakti. They think bhakti means, just like "Close your eyes and make some murmuring sound, that is good." Bhakti is not like that.
Room Conversation with Reporter from Researchers Magazine -- July 24, 1973, London:
Prabhupāda: But we see everything has got Kṛṣṇa connection. Therefore we utilize it for Kṛṣṇa. Just like you're talking about Kṛṣṇa, it is being recorded. So it is useful for Kṛṣṇa's service. Why should I give it up? Because the airplane is there, therefore my preaching has been easier. Every year I'm wandering all over the world, twice, thrice. Because if you use airplane. So why shall I give it up? It is giving me facility to preach my Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, why shall I give it up? It is mithyā. Just like the Jains, they do not ride on car, but if by going in a car I can go and preach, very swiftly, and come back again, why shall I give up this car? So our philosophy is not like that. Nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate. It is yukta-vairāgya. We have no attachment for all these things. We are sitting in this palatial building, that's all right. But you can talk things under the tree. But if I sit down underneath a tree nobody will come to me.
Room Conversation with British Man -- August 31, 1973, London:
Prabhupāda: No,...
Haṁsadūta: Actually in the Bible there's, someone mentions there the description that the Lord will come and He will ride on a white steed, on a white horse. And at that time he will kill all the nondevotee people. It's also in the Bible.
Guest (1): Yes.
Prabhupāda: So this Kalki, this incarnation of Kṛṣṇa which comes at the end of this age, He's described, He will come and ride on a white horse all over the world, and He will...,
Prabhupāda: Kill.
Room Conversation with Banker -- September 21, 1973, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: There are two things. One material, one spiritual. Spiritually, India is happy, those who are actually spiritualists. But materially, India is unhappy. Spiritually, even if you still go in the interior of village, poor man, living in a cottage, he is taking bath three times and doing his professional work, a cultivator, having little food, and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. They are happy actually. They have got their family, husband, wife, some children. If one lives spiritual life, he is actually happy. Materially, nobody can be happy. In your country, although there is enough facility for material enjoyment, actually they are not happy. Otherwise why in your country the hippies are coming out? They are coming from respectable, rich parents, nation, but they have given up their home, their father's opulence, mother's opulence. That I have seen practically. Practically all my students... Here, Brahmānanda, his father, at least he was a big industrialist, mother. But he did not like. He joined this movement. Similarly, Girirāja, his father is a big lawyer, rich man. But he did not like that. There are many, many students, their father's are... Śyāmasundara's father is big lawyer, rich man, businessman. He is the only son. But he did not like his father. So there are many... Even though he is not our student, still, I do not know. I have seen in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills. You know? That is a rich quarter. Very nice house. And one boy is coming, he is hippie, and riding on his car and going.
Morning Walk -- December 11, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: So in your country there are so many things to be done. I give you the idea, now you take the leaders. (break) Rascal. Sentimental. Be yourself leader. (break) ...you give up all this material advancement. But there must be Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise it is waste of time. Live very comfortably, gentlemanly. Kṛṣṇa never says that "You live like wretched urchins." Kṛṣṇa never says that. Yuktāhāra-vihārasya yogo bhavati duḥkha-hā. And this was practically introduced by my Guru Mahārāja, that living in palatial building and riding on first-class cars, one can become the best devotee. Not that one has to live underneath a tree, imitating Rūpa Gosvāmī. That is not possible in this age. That is the continuation of my Guru Mahārāja, that if one is sincere he can remain a first-class devotee even in this material opulence. And if he would not have introduced, then it was not possible to come here and preach this gospel.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- January 12, 1974, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Some 30th or 31st April. So if the government wants prayer, why they have prohibited in the schools? This is contradiction. Point out. This law was introduced due to inexperience. Now they are coming to experience that it has not helped us. Therefore they are introducing prayer. So why don't you take it?
Umāpati: We should ride with that. We should try to get in on that.
Prabhupāda: Otherwise what is the use of introducing prayer again? They have experienced that this without prayer, things have failed. That's a fact. You take this point.
Umāpati: Yes. The schools are falling apart. Delinquency and there's lots of criminal activity amongst the children in school. And even the teachers are walking out of the classrooms because of the violence in the schools and the lack of communication with their students.
Morning Walk -- April 12, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Yes, that "Everything, what you have done, it is all right. Utilize for saṅkīrtana yajña." Nirbandhe kṛṣṇa... Rūpa Gosvāmī has recommended that
- anasaktyasya viṣayān
- yathārham upayuñjataḥ
- nirbandhe kṛṣṇa-sambandhe
- yukta-vairāgyam ucyate
We have no attachment for these things. Just like in America, I ride on Rolls Royce car. That does not mean because in India there is no Rolls Royce car, therefore I shall not walk. We are not attached to all these things. But if it is available, we utilize it for Kṛṣṇa's purpose. That's all. (break) ...the best use of a bad bargain. When there is a bad bargain, so intelligent man makes the best use. "All right, how it can be used for the best purpose?" That is wanted. (break) Newspaper men, they call me "jet plane parivrājakācārya." (break) But our process is for yajña.
Indian man (1): You spread it like...
Morning Walk -- April 16, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: She became widow at the age of eighteen years. So my father engaged her in worshiping Deity. My father was worshiping, and she was the assistant. Of course, she had two children by that time. Yes, go on. (break) ...Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is all attractive. So immediately they attracted the other cows, although they were not actual mother. (break) ...doctor in Calcutta, young man, he married the daughter of a very rich man. So his father-in-law gave him a motorcar, so he advised... He was a businessman. He advised that "Even if you have no practice, you simply ride on this car and go around."
Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:
Professor Durckheim: As soon two, two men who are realized, there is no war. There is a very wonderful story. When the Emperor of Japan took over the leadership again after having been for six hundred years only the High Priest. Now he wanted to be again the emperor. And he was submitting one dainu (?) after the other one. Only one resisted in Tokyo. General of Tokyo did not submit to the emperor and didn't allow anybody to come in to negotiate. So the emperor was very troubled. He said, "Should I burn down Tokyo? I wouldn't like to do it." And then his young sword (?) master asked him—he was a realized man—"Do you permit me to just ride in this town and see the great general?" And he said, "Yes, you know the guards do not permit." "Let me do." He sat on horseback and just rode through. The guards, like this, let him pass. He announced himself to the great general. General said, "Yes, with him I am going to talk." And the general himself, being a self-realized man said, "Well, all right." In twenty minutes things were in order, and they submitted gently, and without a single shot, peace was established. Because two men of a high level of self-realization met.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So that is our point, that if we understand, every one of us realize that we are all servant of God or sons of God, that everything belongs to God, so we can use our father's property for our maintenance as much as we require, not more than that, so if we think like that, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and there will be no more war, everything peaceful.
Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:
Prabhupāda: Even children are learning how to dance, how to offer obeisances, how to chant, how to clap. They are also learning, small children.
Prof. Pater Porsch: And I think that it comes at the right time so that people may not be misled into juvenile delinquency, all of those "easy riders" and motorcycles and adolescent criminality. They find creative outlets for their energies also as a by-product.
Prabhupāda: No. We are teaching... Of course, we do not defy this modern advance of material civil... We don't say that. But this is our main business, that is, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā, to inquire about the Absolute Truth.
Prof. Pater Porsch: So can you not say that this knowledge is an ātma-vidyā, that we are trying to come to the knowledge of the ātman.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Coversation with Psychiatrist and Indian Boy -- May 12, 1975, Perth:
Prabhupāda: So, everyone is attracted with the woman's body. In your country I have seen the advertisement: "bottomless," "topless..." That is the material attraction. Everyone is in this material world on account of attachment. And similarly, for woman, the man's body is beautiful. So in this way both of them are attached to one another. That is the basic principle of material life. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham kaṇḍūyanena karayor iva duḥkha-duḥkham (SB 7.9.45). They become attached. On account of sex life, they become more attached, and therefore both of them remain almost perpetually in this material world, and to satisfy different desires they transmigrate from one body to another. And on account of accepting this material body, there is always miserable condition. Therefore everyone requires the psychiatric treatment so that the mind may be transferred from matter to spirit soul. Then he will be cured. The disease is of the mind. Harāv abhaktasy kuto mahād-guṇa mano-rathena. Everyone is riding on the chariot of mind. And the mind is taking him here and there, here...
Morning Walk -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:
Prabhupāda: It is said (Bengali). A villager, very poor man, he says, "I am very poor man. I live on eating the grasshoppers."
Madhudviṣa: Grasshoppers.
Prabhupāda: Yes. "I have no money. But when I go to pass stool, I ride on a horse." They cannot pay parking fare, but still they keep a carriage. (laughs) (Bengali). Because the villagers go to the field for passing stool, so this gariba man, this poor man, goes on a horse. Leaves can be also utilized as fire, but they do not know that. In India they collect, poor man, and use as fuel, they cook food. All this dry twigs and this, that can be used as fuel, at the same time the ground will be cleansed.
Morning Walk -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Just see.
Brahmānanda: "No one should ride the subway."
Prabhupāda: Then that there will be another problem.
Brahmānanda: Now there will be increase of crime.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Not only crime, if there is no passenger in the subway...
Brahmānanda: Yes. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...troubled water. Troubled water.
Brahmānanda: Yes.
Morning Walk -- June 28, 1975, Denver:
Prabhupāda: So it is a civilization of dog race. The man does not know, "By riding on a car, racing, is there any value if I do not know what is the meaning of my life?" Hmm? So this is going on. Big, big road for dog racing—that is civilization. (break) The rascal yogis, they say that "By this transcendental meditation you will keep your dog race very nice." They are attracted, "Oh, very nice. It is very nice." That's all. Mūḍhā nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. All mū..., rascals. Only hope is that you distribute books, as much as possible, whole Europe, whole America. If they come to some day, they will realize what is this value. (break) ...day they will realize that what valuable books we have left for the study of the whole world. That will come. (break) ...London city there is a big hall for dog race, you know that? Many people are coming to see the dog race. You have been in London?
Morning Walk -- June 28, 1975, Denver:
Prabhupāda: And Europe, the most aristocratic person means he is keeping so many horses and so many dogs. That is aristocracy. They will ride on the horse, and taking their dogs, they will go to the forest and kill some innocent birds. That is their heroic activities. We went to see one palace in France.
Satsvarūpa: Yes, I remember. In the hall they had all pictures of those activities.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Satsvarūpa: Killing birds and fox.
Prabhupāda: That is aristocracy. (break) ...cannon, there was fight? Or this man is very famous hero? There was statue of Napoleon also in Paris. And they identify Napoleon and France, the same. But France is there; there is no Napoleon. (laughter) Napoleon finished, Hitler finished, Gandhi finished. (break)
Morning Walk -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:
Jagadīśa: Do you want to walk.
Prabhupāda: Yes. But how we will walk if it is dripping?
Brahmānanda: It's raining. We can ride along the beach... (break)
Prabhupāda: ...saṁsāre, moha janmeiva, jīva ke karaye gadha. There are so many churches.
Jayatīrtha: This is a special area, Jagadīśa? There are so many churches. All over America there are very expensive churches. In India you do not see so many temples. I was surprised when I went there first. Because you do not see very many big, gorgeous, temples. But here everywhere there are big gorgeous churches.
Prabhupāda: Oh, no, India, in South India...
Morning Walk -- July 10, 1975, Chicago:
Jayatīrtha: (in car:) It says, "Forgive me if this story is not well-written. I am a woman. My brain weighs less than a man's, and I am not equal in intelligence." So she admits. "His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the seventy-seven year-old founder of the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, said so Wednesday. The Society is dedicated to peace in the world through love of God and relinquishment of all things material. The Swami spoke seated cross-legged on an expensive looking cushion surrounded by fresh flowers, microphones and burning incense in a conference room he rented at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel. He is in town for a Kṛṣṇa parade at 1:30 p.m., Saturday down State Street in which he will ride on a flower-bedecked float. He then will fly to Philadelphia for more celebration and philosophical chats. He looked occasionally at his gold watch as he explained his life philosophy. His adoring disciple, five men, knelt at his side. 'The MAN,' " capital M-A-N, "he said, 'who loves God, controls his sense, is clean inside and out, is simple and tolerant and uses knowledge he has acquired in practical life...' "
Prabhupāda: Intolerant?
Room Conversation -- October 5, 1975, Mauritius:
Prabhupāda: No, no. So long it is not available, we must take the best advantage. That is another thing. But gradually we shall develop a society that all these unnecessary rubbish things should be rejected. That is the idea. Or those who are interested, let them manufacture car; we take advantage. We don't bother ourself how to manufacture car. Ajāgara-vṛtti. Ajāgara-vṛtti, the idea is... Ajāgara means the snake. So a mouse makes a hole in the field to live very peacefully. So, and he enters the hole, and a snake gets the information and he comes, enters the hole. He eats the snake... The snake eats the mouse and lives peacefully. So let this rascal manufacture motorcar. When we require, we take from them and ride away. We are not going to manufacture. There will be some rascals. Let them do that, mouse. We enter as snake. (laughter) That's all.
Morning Walk -- November 21, 1975, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Why?
Mahāṁsa: Because first of all, they did not know how to ride the bulls, so the bulls gave a lot of trouble.
Prabhupāda: Then there is no professional driver?
Mahāṁsa: Well, now we are going to hire one driver to take care of the bulls. And secondly, even the axle of the cart was a little defective. Otherwise the program was a great success.
Prabhupāda: Oh, that is success. People were coming.
Morning Walk -- November 30, 1975, Delhi:
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Not everyone does it, but students and a lot of young people do that.
Tejās: Students coerce them. They stop the buses. If the bus driver doesn't stop, they'll break the windows and then they all get on and they ride free. They were burning many buses.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But this year, because of the emergency, everyone is behaving all right. They're scared to do anything.
Prabhupāda: How by emergency you can make people honest?
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: This house belongs to the (name withheld).
Tejās: This belongs to (name withheld)?
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- January 17, 1976, Mayapur:
Prabhupāda: Why? They should come by walking.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually, unless someone is carrying something heavy or is invalid, they shouldn't ride.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They should pass that rule, you know, Jayapatāka? If they're told they can't, then they won't do it, if they're told they shouldn't. One reason might be that it becomes a little hot at that time of the year, so the heat of the day, maybe it's too much for them. Actually, there was a suggestion made by a number of GBC men that they wanted to request you that in future years that the festival could be held ending on Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu's appearance day rather than beginning, the reason being that in America the months of...
Morning Walk -- January 19, 1976, Mayapur:
Prabhupāda: Yes, there will be income.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...will be a huge income. I'm certain thousands of people will come daily just to ride that escalator. (laughter) Because even now a few hundred or more, five hundred to a thousand people come every day just for darśana. So these will all pay a rupee. And if this building is there, that will be ten times the number of people. It'll be a gigantic income.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. (Bengali) (break) ...Mādhava Mahārāja's sisya? No.
Bhavānanda: Mādhava Mahārāja?
Jayapatāka: Gosvāmī. He used to be in charge of the agriculture.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Morning Walk -- February 9, 1976, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Boy, Prabhupāda, the people will pay... Everyone will pay a rupee to go in and see that. One rupee for that, one rupee to ride the escalator.
Prabhupāda: And there will be escalator to take them to different planetary system. Mention there.
Bhavānanda: My father... In those planetariums, they use a machine in the center that shoots out light. My father helped to invent that, so we could probably...
Prabhupāda: So bring your father. Father and son, both together. He is... Where he is?
Bhavānanda: In America.
Talk at Radha-Govinda Mandir -- March 24, 1976, Calcutta:
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Inspiration?
Prabhupāda: Inspiration. So you are all fortunate that you have come here. So let us offer our obeisances.
Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda! (break—to car ride)
Hari-śauri: Those Deities are very nicely looked after, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Hari-śauri: The Deities.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Hari-śauri: They are very nicely cared for.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. This is my inspiration, this Deity.
Morning Walk -- March 26, 1976, Delhi:
Prabhupāda: In the material world the poor man thinks, "Oh, this gentleman has got such big, big house. If I could have one." Eh? And the spiritual world, without desiring there are so many big, big house we have got.
Guru dāsa: Everyone can ride in the airplane in the spiritual world because everything is a pleasure trip for Kṛṣṇa. You've written in a purport in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that in the Vaikuṇṭha planets everyone can ride in the airplanes.
Prabhupāda: Yes, there is. (break) They say that when they're combined, there will be life, but the way of analysis we suggest is not complete?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The fact remains that even if they have a completely combined body, say a dead body, they still can't bring life back to it.
Morning Walk -- April 8, 1976, Mayapur:
Prabhupāda: Hah, yes. Everyone is trying to get more, and nature's order is that you take only to maintain your body and soul together. That's all. If you take more, then you are thief, you'll be punished by the laws of nature. This is going on. Laws of nature are so fine that by material activities you'll never be satisfied, and at the time of death, he'll lament that "I could not satisfy my desires. Let me take..." "All right, take another body. Satisfy." This is nature's punishment. Karmaṇā daiva netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye (SB 3.31.1). Simple things. We desire, and nature will give you another body. māyā-yantrārūḍhāni. He'll give you, "Ride on this car, you wanted, on this body." And this... This is creation of māyā. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe... (BG 18.61). Kṛṣṇa is there, orders māyā, "He wants to enjoy life. Give him this body." "Come on, here is a hog's body, eat nicely, stool. Come on." He did not like to eat prasādam. He wanted something rubbish. "All right, come here. Take this stool." These things are going automatically.
Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:
Prabhupāda: We have got enough books to read, these books. If you read our books, in your whole lifetime you cannot finish it. And that is required to understand Kṛṣṇa. That is success of life. So why should.... Of course, we are in touch in the newspaper, but as much as it is required. We are in touch with the material world as much as it is required. We are interested in Kṛṣṇa. To help our Kṛṣṇa consciousness we may be in touch with the material world as much as possible. Just like we are riding car also, we are also using dictaphone, everything, but it is not for any ulterior purpose. It is for Kṛṣṇa's service. Just like we are writing books. This is Kṛṣṇa's service. People may understand about Kṛṣṇa, be benefited. This is our.... And in that way we are printing books, we are selling books, we are writing books.
Room Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Just like you create a motorcar for easy transportation, and you have experience: the power problem, the accident problem. If there is no power problem, you get more petrol, and you commit more accidents. And you stop car, then you are unable to move, because you now you have created city. If you want to go to consult a doctor, you have to go thirty miles from your residence. You require doctor, but because you have now car, you have big, big roads. So your doctor, medical consultant, is living thirty miles off. So you have to ride on cars to go to the market, to go to the office, to go to the medical man. So car is required. And as soon as car is there, the accident is there, and there is, power shortage is there, you require big, big roads, so on, so on, so on.
Room Conversation with Ambarisa and Catholic Priest -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:
Ambarīṣa: So there are many nice projects going on in Boston. We are hoping that maybe sometime you can come. That would be very nice.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. From New York it is not...
Ambarīṣa: No, it is very close to New York, half-hour airplane ride.
Prabhupāda: So it is ready?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: We were talking about different names for the restaurant yesterday.
Śrutikīrti: Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja did not care for "Saṅkīrtana Restaurant." (laughs)
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I thought that there might be a name of Kṛṣṇa, like they were using "Govinda," but that's obviously a name for Kṛṣṇa. Because people don't...
Room Conversation -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: It was in New York?
Prabhupāda: It was San Francisco. The first beginning was in San Francisco.
Hari-śauri: There was pictures of you riding on that ratha cart, that was a truck?
Prabhupāda: No, rather, that was second or third. In the beginning, it was in a truck. So if the people are eager, you immediately organize.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Okay.
Hari-śauri: Śrīla Prabhupāda? Did you want to go out into the garden tonight or not?
Prabhupāda: I have no objection.
Hari-śauri: 'Cause there's no sunshine now.
Interview with Professors O'Connell, Motilal and Shivaram -- June 18, 1976, Toronto:
Prabhupāda: No, no. That is not play, that is real love. Just like father sometimes becomes a horse, and the child rides over, and father enjoys. There is a story about Prime Minister Gladstone. He was prime minister, so many people come to him. So one man came and the doorman said, "He is now busy. Wait." So he was waiting for one hour. Then he became impatient; he wanted to see what this gentleman is doing. So he saw that he has become a horse, and his grandchild is driving him. So why the prime minister had become a horse to take back his grandchild on the back and enjoy? Is it a horse? This is out of love, enjoying. He was not wasting time. The other visitors were waiting. This is love. So to revive that natural life is the opportunity in human life.
Prabhupada Visits Palace and Garden -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:
Prabhupāda: Oh. This side also.
Kīrtanānanda: This side. Goes down to that road there.
Prabhupāda: All this land can be planted. There is some graveyard?
Kīrtanānanda: Yes. You want to ride any further?
Prabhupāda: No. Harer nāma harer nāma harer (CC Adi 17.21). (break)
Kīrtanānanda: ...can be seen in one direction at least a couple of miles away, several, no, three directions. This is the capital that will go in the courtyard here in the assembly area. On those columns, this will go at the top.
Prabhupāda: Very nice. Thank you. This is plastic?
Kīrtanānanda: This is what they make the mold from. This one is in plaster. Now they will cast more. Below that the...
Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: So if he's eternal fragmental parts, how he can become one with the whole? The part is never equal to the whole. That is axiomatic truth. This is wrong conception, to become like God. The Māyāvādīs, they are trying to become God. That is impossible. They... Let them remain godly. Godly means servant of God. That will make him perfection, his life perfect. Vaiṣṇava philosophy is to remain, to act as servant of God. That is perfect. And if the servant tries to become like the master, that is artificial. Although in the spiritual world there is no difference between the master and the servant... Just like the boys, Kṛṣṇa's cowherd boy friends, they do not know Kṛṣṇa is God. They are playing with Him on equal terms. When Kṛṣṇa is defeated in the play He has to take His friend on His shoulder and he rides on the shoulder. So there is no such distinction who is God and who is not God. So that is spiritual conception. But the difference is always there. God and the part and parcel. Kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ.
'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:
Prabhupāda: Yes. As he desired, so he got a form. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). The form is offered by the Supreme Absolute Truth, as he desires. Just like the cloth has no form, but as the customer desires, the tailor gives a form suitable to his desire. Similarly, material world means we have got varieties. In the spiritual world also we have got varieties. Because we are originally of varieties of form, we are getting these varieties of body, being influenced by the modes of material nature. So I'm desiring that if I get such body, I can eat even stool. So God gives you, "All right, you take this body. Become a pig and eat stool." This is going on. Why? Your desiring. You eat, actually. So īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). He's friendly, He's sitting in everyone's heart, and the living entity is desiring. So bhrāmayan. Desiring means he wants to go here and there. Bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni (BG 18.61). He gives a particular type of yantra, machine. This body is machine. Body is machine, everyone accepts. This is a machine. If we want to go to India, we ride on a machine, airplane, and go there. Similarly, bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni. We want varieties of life, and God gives us a particular machine to ride on and travel, go to heaven, go to hell, become a dog, become a cat, become a demigod, become a tree. This is going on. Transmigration of the soul. God gives us a particular type of body, and we change from one machine to another. This is transmigration.
Conversation with Prof. Saligram and Dr. Sukla -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:
Guest: There's a very nice story about this illusion. That once he was walking and someone who knew that Śaṅkarācārya preached this illusion business, was riding on an elephant, so he asked his driver, "Chase Śaṅkarācārya." And of course he did and Śaṅkarācārya started running. So this man said, "Why are you running, since this is illusion?" And he said, "So is my running." (laughter) He said, "So is my running, that's also an illusion."
Prabhupāda: That's nice.
Morning Walk -- July 10, 1976, New York:
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is John. He's always helping us with the building. He works very hard. Which cart will Śrīla Prabhupāda ride on? Jayānanda? Which cart will Prabhupāda ride on?
Ādi-keśava: We wanted to know which one. Which one would you like to ride on?
Hari-śauri: Balarāma's cart goes in front?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, Jagannātha's was going in front in San Francisco, then Subhadrā's.
Hari-śauri:...told us Balarāma's is at the front,
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, really.
Morning Walk -- July 10, 1976, New York:
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break)
Rāmeśvara: Nobody can imagine what they do in all these office buildings. There are millions of offices.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We're going to take a ride down Fifth Avenue.
Hari-śauri: This is the parade route?
Ādi-keśava: Yes. You can see there's no wires, so we don't even have to bring the top down except for the very end entering into Washington Square Park.
Prabhupāda: (break) He has told that we have got already a copy.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Your Bhāgavatam was here?
Hari-śauri: Where was that, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Room Conversation -- July 17, 1976, New York:
Prabhupāda: So you suggest.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, it depends on a number of things. One thing is your rest. After taking massage you take prasādam, and then your resting period. Another thing is how long you want to ride along on the cart. It depends on... I think it should depend on... I can't... No one can make that decision. We're agreeable to anything that you suggest. Devotees are enlivened simply that you're here in New York with us.
Prabhupāda: So at two o'clock you start?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Right.
Prabhupāda: You want me at the starting point?
Room Conversation -- July 17, 1976, New York:
Prabhupāda: That's all right.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then it will be nice. Because the whole parade is about fifty-four blocks, and you'll be riding for about nineteen blocks. It means your ride will take about forty-five minutes.
Prabhupāda: So what time I'll going to start?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: From here?
Prabhupāda: Somebody will come?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, I think I will probably come. Kīrtanānanda will also...
Prabhupāda: At what time?
Morning Walk -- July 18, 1976, New York:
Prabhupāda: Ah, the wheels are very nice.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Really. Jayānanda has made good for all the other wheels.
Ādi-keśava: This is the cart you will ride, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is Lady Subhadrā's cart from Chicago. We borrowed it.
Ādi-keśava: It's our cart now.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Could have been painted, the wheels.
Rāmeśvara: Thick coat of lacquer or varnish.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: On the wheels.
Rāmeśvara: Yes, right on the wood.
Car Ride -- July 20, 1976, New York:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Give Ādi-keśava a recommendation. This will be gigantic, Śrīla Prabhupāda. I'll tell you one thing, that the first way we go, next year when we go one way, it will get huge publicity, and that will be the publicity for the going return trip. Because it will be so publicized, even more people will come on the return ride.
Rāmeśvara: On the return you simply go to the temple and drop the Deities off?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. We'll go to Fifty-ninth Street and have another feast at the park.
Rāmeśvara: Yes, there has to be another feast.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We'll have the feast, we may have buses, we'll have all our buses, and we'll bus the people to the temple. We could rent buses, Rāmeśvara.
Prabhupāda: Return Ratha-yātrā. Ulṭā-ratha.
Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Pṛthu-putra: The air, the atmosphere, is good.
Bhagavān: I don't know. I was thinking the trip.... We have that big Mercedes limousine. You rode in it last year. It was very comfortable, and the ride, I don't think you found it so difficult, did you? Last year.
Prabhupāda: No.
Jayatīrtha: This year, by the time he got to Bury Place, he was completely exhausted, Bhagavān. Half an hour's drive.
Bhagavān: Hm.
Prabhupāda: That due to the staircase.
Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:
Hari-śauri: We argued for a half hour against going to India, but in the end, you decided that you wanted to go to Bombay immediately.
Bhagavān: But I mean, if you have to risk that eight-hour plane ride, that's much more difficult than going to the farm. The farm is only three hours in a comfortable car.
Hari-śauri: It's not just that. It's the problem that you have to fly from France to somewhere else and then from somewhere else back to India. I said the main problem is that if you do go to France, then it means a great deal more traveling than would be involved in simply flying to India, because you'd have to travel back and forth to the Paris farm. Then you would also have to stay in Tehran, up and down like that in the plane, and then again fly to Bombay.
Bhagavān: But he doesn't have to stay in the farm for just nine days. He can stay there for long time.
Prabhupāda: If the health suits, I can stay there. If the health improves, I can stay.
Pṛthu-putra: Air India is direct from Geneva.
Morning Walk Around Grounds -- August 2, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):
Prabhupāda: Jagadiśa's son?
Bhagavān: Nirmala.
Hari-śauri: You want to ride in the palanquin?
Prabhupāda: Yes. We can sit down on the plank... (break) Snake here?
Devotee (5) : There are some, yes.
Devotee (2): There's a big one in the forest. It has not got any water in it, very big.
Devotees: Snake? (laughter)
Bhagavān: He thought you said lake.
Prabhupāda: Python?
Room Conversation -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:
Prabhupāda: They are younger. They are all my childhood playmates. Their older brothers, the eldest one was my very, very intimate friend, Siddheshvar Mullik. We used to ride on the same perambulator when we were three, four years old. And Ratha-yātrā ceremony was performed with all these guests. They were about, in our neighborhood there were four, five houses. So all the children of the same age, I was the leader. (laughs) Yes. I organized this Ratha-yātrā. I was performing Rādhāṣṭamī and Janmāṣṭamī, and I was learning how to dress the Rādhā-Govinda. Yes.
Hari-śauri: You used to go in and dress Them?
Prabhupāda: It is, actually, it was our house. Just three, four house after.
Evening Darsana -- December 3, 1976, Hyderabad:
Vāsughoṣa: Yes, we were told like that, that they would take their twenty rupees pay and then they would go and spend ten rupees and on alcohol, drinking, toddy. (break) I was in... Last time at the festival in Māyāpur I was riding from Māyāpur to Calcutta. And so one man was saying that "Oh, fish, 80 paisa a kg. How much are potatoes?" I asked. So even their hard-earned money, so much more they spend just to eat meat, to enjoy their senses. It doesn't make sense in any way.
Prabhupāda: And that also, they cannot live on meat. They must have vegetable also. Without vegetable, simple meat-eating will not help them. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (Hindi) Jaya.
Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Because he was first in Gujarat.
Dr. Patel: Baroda Maharaj, when he, when he did not appear in horse riding test, (indistinct) but he did not want to start the qualification (indistinct) So he came. So Baroda (indistinct) Maharaj knew he has came. Baroda Maharaj was in England then. He called him (indistinct). The same thing as the Britishers did at Baroda. That is, Baroda Maharaj was appreciated.
Prabhupāda: No, he was a person to be appreciated. There is no doubt. He had so many qualifications. But he was also doing yoga practice. When he was put into... No, after getting released from jail, twelve years. He was to be hanged.
Dr. Patel: C.R. Das.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:
Bhavabhūtī: Yes. On the boat. But even when we came into Calcutta—it was a two-hour train ride—the boys were not simply sitting. They were going from car to car selling books. One boy he sold fifty BTG's just coming from outside of Calcutta to Calcutta. Just two-hour train ride. He was going from car to car, "Hare Kṛṣṇa," and he would give them Bengali Back to Godhead. And they are taking very nicely now. All along the Ganga...
Prabhupāda: They know how to... (laughs) It is for them that the movement is being pushed on.
Guest (2): Sincerity in the... Two things are there.
Morning Discussion about Kumbhamela -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:
Dr. Patel: No, I just ran. I ran a little, so I...
Prabhupāda: Oh, so why don't you sit down?
Gurudāsa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, would you like to have an elephant to ride on one day?
Prabhupāda: Why? (laughter)
Gurudāsa: I heard, one of these "Prabhupāda saids" from one of the devotees that you said that "If they can ride an elephant, can you get one for me?" Some devotees said that you saw another sādhu riding on the elephant, and you asked him, "Can you arrange like that for me?"
Prabhupāda: (laughing) That was joking.
Morning Darsana and Room Conversation Ramkrishna Bajaj and friends -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: When I went to your MIT, I challenged that "Where is that technological department where a dead man can be brought into life?" It was interesting speech. The students gathered. This body is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā as machine. Do you know that? This body is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā as machine. Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā.
- īśvaraḥ sarva bhūtānāṁ
- hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati
- bhrāmāyan sarva bhūtāni
- yantrārūḍhāni māyayā
- (BG 18.61)
Just like you make a tour by driving a motorcar, similarly, the jīvātmā is touring all over the universe riding on this machine. This is machine. So... Aiye aiye. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (guest enters) (Hindi) Aiye. We have arranged for your prasāda. Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā. This is machine. This body is machine made by the material energy, as all other machine are made by the kṣitir-āp-tejo marud-vyoma, earth, water, air, fire.
Morning Walk -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
(riding in car)
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says one who is completely free from sinful life, he can become perfectly a devotee. So these are the four pillars of sinful life. Yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpam (BG 7.28). Oh, it is nice park.
Rāmeśvara: But because this is the age of Kali, even if the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement spreads and even captures governments, how can we stop individual people from doing this? (car stops)
Prabhupāda: No. You cannot expect cent percent will be sinless. But there must be an ideal section—"Oh, here is..." That is wanted. That is wanted, not that you can expect cent percent ideal.
Gargamuni: Gate's locked?
Hari-śauri: So that ideal should be the persons who are living in our āśramas.
Rāmeśvara: No, they're in there.(?)
Room Conversation -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Prabhupāda: Oh, hundred miles? (break)
Brahmānanda: ...here to Allahabad, I was coming from Bombay on the train. I was riding with some respectable people. They saw this button, and they said, "Oh, you are the disciple of Prabhupāda?" And I said, "Yes." And they were very appreciative of your work. And then I had one Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Eighth Canto, the story of Gajendra. And one man wanted to see the book. And he started reading it, and he kept the book throughout the whole journey, and he read the whole book, and he loved it. He said, "Your guru has written very nicely, very simply, very directly, and everything is there." He wouldn't give me back the book until he finished it.
Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: Caitanya-caritāmṛta. So we're desiring one after, one after, one after, one after... The last desire... Because if you become addicted to certain type of desire, that is prominent at the time of death. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6), sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ. So māyā's machine is immediately prepared. That mind—manaḥ buddhiḥ ahaṅkāra. Subtle. You cannot see. You see the body is burned, finished. Rascal, that is not finished. Na hanyate hanyamāne (BG 2.20). It is not finished. There is subtle body. The subtle body carries. The example is just like flavor of rose garden carries, similarly, the desire is carried, and he requires a machine to ride on, particular. So there are eighty-four million machines, and he's, karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1), by the supervision of māyā, carried to this mother's womb. The soul is injected through the semina of the father, and he enters the womb of the mother, and mother gives the ingredients, develops his body, and as soon as it is complete, comes out. Where is the difficulty to understand this transmigration of the soul? These rascals have no brain. That verse I have explained this morning.
Room Conversation -- March 26, 1977, Bombay:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, Girirāja is still on the phone, so he says this Mr. Rajda is a real devotee and is really after you. He is very keen on being with you. And he's also prominent because he has been elected. So the thing is that supposing... Girirāja's idea is that he will be at Shivaji Park, and he will bring Mr. Rajda, and they will pick us up from here. And that way Mr. Rajda can ride with you and have further time to be with you in the car.
Prabhupāda: Very good.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So the thing is that will get us to the pandal, if everything goes on schedule, by about 8:30.
Prabhupāda: That is all right.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Which means supposing you stay there an hour, you won't get back here till about ten.
Meeting with Mr. Dwivedi -- April 23, 1977, Bombay:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And then we can rest up a little bit.
Mr. Dwivedi: Yes. Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: If we have to travel by car after long train ride, it will be exhausting to Prabhupāda, for everybody.
Mr. Dwivedi: So even if you want to travel by car, then...
Prabhupāda: No, we can get our car from Delhi.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Vṛndāvana. Vṛndāvana to Gwalior, how many miles?
Mr. Dwivedi: About a little over hundred.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, that's nothing at all.
Prabhupāda: So we can get our car from Vṛndāvana.
Room Conversation -- June 18, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: Nonsense comfortably... They have changed the season? Is it comfortable? We have to take this cooling machine. What is the practical benefit? You can say that it is comfortable. That's all right. But that does not mean that you have moved the uncomfortable situation. You are struggling against. That much you can take credit. Real benefit is not there. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). Real unhappiness is this, that you are: "Why I am struggling? I don't want death." Actually why I am taking massage and so on, so on? So that I may not die. So where is the scientists' guarantee, "No, you'll not die"? Has he any...? You'll struggle only. That's all. The scientists cannot guarantee, "No, you'll not die." That is real guarantee. "You'll die comfortably." Hm? Die comfortably? Now there is no appetite. Where is the scientist, assuring, "Take"? What actual benefit they have done? They are giving some... Nothing they have given. It is simply bluff. Things without which we could do, such things are there. There were no motorcars. There was horse carriage and bullock carriage. Things were going on. Not that without this horseless motorcar society would have been vanquished. No. There are other alternatives. Rather, they were complicated. As soon as you ride on a car, there is anxiety, especially in your country, so many cars. When you ride on a car, full of anxiety... At any moment there may be accident. It is not comfortable.
Morning Conversation -- June 23, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You would ride alone in the subways? You would be alone, riding?
Prabhupāda: (aside:) Who are these men? I was loitering. Yes. "Let me take this train. Let me see where it goes." Like that.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Did you ever go to the Bronx?
Prabhupāda: Hm. I was sitting alone on the New York house.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Park.
Prabhupāda: Then I heard that one crazy man was killed.
Letter from Yugoslavia--'Books!' -- June 30, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Just see the fun. He rushed there and began... And...? It is a humorous.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "So I made arrangements with the book store to fulfill his desires. The next, University of Pristina. After riding all night in the train..." This boy is going through a lot of hardship all along. He said sometimes for two or three days he did not sleep. "After riding all night in the train I arrived on the campus at four a.m. in the morning. Before anyone could interfere with me, I studied the school very closely. In two hours' time I knew where all of my targets were. So when the professors and students arrived at 6:30 in the morning..."
Prabhupāda: 6:30 in the morning?
Letter from Yugoslavia--'Books!' -- June 30, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: We can go.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...go upstairs now. Then you can translate for a while. (break)
Prabhupāda: "When I go to call to the..., mean, my nature's call, I go on horseback, I ride on a horse. And for passing stool, I go on a horseback." (laughs) I am a sannyāsī, beggar, but I am carried. "Carry me four, five miles." (Bengali) Get this pan.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, I have a little more work to do now.
Prabhupāda: Hm, you can go now. You can all go. You can sit down here for some time and begin work.
Devotee: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. (break)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In Dhruvaloka.
Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: Hm. That's a fact.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You're not... By nature you've never been inactive. We can begin the activity by airplane travel and then a little car journey to the temple, and then we can carry you around in certain places. Like at the New York farm. Oh, we can give you wonderful ride in the palanquin. That's very appealing. If you go on the palanquin in the fresh air. No? That'll be, I think...
Prabhupāda: No, activity will give appetite.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, it has to. Change of atmosphere gives appetite also.
Prabhupāda: So let us artificial activity. I think this is a nice arrangement.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Upendra and I could see it for the last... (break)
Room Conversation -- October 12, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: Where is that place?
Jayapatākā: That's in Balasore district. It's about thirty miles south of Balasore. It's a three-hour bus ride from Bhuvaneśvara north. There's a Gaura-Gopāla Mandir there that was being managed by a disciple of Parvat Mahārāja, a disciple of Parvat Mahārāja. Lokanātha Swami had written to you that they wanted to donate the temple plus twenty-four bighās of land, and you had replied back that he should accept it. So he left three men there from his party and they registered the land in your name, including the mandira. At that place Lord Caitanya had visited on occasion, going back and forth between Bengal...
Prabhupāda: Baribhada? That place is called Baribhada?
Room Conversation -- October 12, 1977, Vrndavana:
Jayapatākā: When I left Māyāpur, everything was in order. Nitāicānd and Sarva-bhāvana Prabhu, as well as Pañca-ratna, are there. Actually one of our workers, he is filing his own case against thirteen Māyāpur villagers, because they had attacked him while he was riding on his bicycle. So that was the only disturbance that had happened in the past month. But he's doing a case against them, and the police said that they would prosecute against them for what they did. So because the people are of such a bad nature, they are continually making such mistakes. This is even getting the authorities against them.
Prabhupāda: Yes, they are guṇḍās. (laughter)
Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:
Purī Mahārāja: Jagannātha's Ratha-yātrā. (Bengali-explains to others.)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Lord Jagannātha is all-attractive. You cannot keep Him here. He's going out the door. This is... One of the sannyāsīs was giving a big lecture. We had some elephants. The children were riding on them. See, "Free Love Feast." Prasādam distributed... You can see these people are...
Purī Mahārāja: Love Feast.
Jayatīrtha: They served full prasādam to fifty thousand people.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fifty thousand people took full prasādam free of charge. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...ratha (Bengali) prasādam.
Room Conversation -- October 26, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: Then you have to make a stretcherlike bed?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, it won't be exactly like a stretcher. It will be more just like the great kings used to ride in. It will be a palanquin, but full length. It will be just like about half the size of this bed, the same as this bed but half as wide. Six people can carry. Four or six people. At least four men will carry it.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And we can pitch camp. We can go few miles, stop. And we don't have to come back here every day. It's not difficult.
Prabhupāda: Then you have to arrange for campment previously.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Arrange for?
Prabhupada Vigil -- November 1, 1977, Vrndavana:
Bhakti-caru: That is because this parikrama is very strenuous, Śrīla Prabhupāda, this jerking and swinging.
Prabhupāda: So how...? How? How we can?
Brahmānanda: So three hours to Delhi, then the plane ride and then three hours to Māyāpur?
Bhakti-caru: No, I mean that is out of the question.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's not out of the question. We were considering doing it. (laughter) It's only three hours away. (laughter)
Brahmānanda: The cars are coming.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The cars are coming. The tickets are booked. It's not out of the question. Śatadhanya's in Calcutta. (laughter)
Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Śrīla Prabhupāda, this morning you were asking for Bharadvāja? Here he is. We thought of a better way to go, Śrīla Prabhupāda, than car. We'll take the Taj Express from Mathurā to Delhi. It's quite a nice train ride. It takes only one hour and forty-five minutes, and it doesn't even stop one time.
Śatadhanya: I just took it from Delhi this morning. Very clean, very smooth.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We will have one devotee get on in Agra to reserve a compartment for us, and then we'll board it here in Mathurā, and it arrives in Delhi at about nine-thirty at night, nine forty-five. So then we'll spend the night in Delhi, resting, and then the following morning we'll take the morning flight to Calcutta and Māyāpur. This means also that you won't have to undergo any strenuous journey to Delhi and then immediately take a flight. The train journey is actually much easier than a car journey, and then we get the whole night to rest, which is also good. So basically it just means we take a plane and then the car ride to Māyāpur.
Prabhupāda: So I simply go by car from here to Mathurā.
Room Conversation -- November 10, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: I am thinking I am lying here... (break)
Lokanātha: ...should ride in very nice carts, a chariot.
Prabhupāda: No, (indistinct). (laughter)
Lokanātha: I saw one in Maharastra. In Poona. Yes.
Prabhupāda: Hm. You can purchase immediately. (laughter)
Lokanātha: We'll have to design it. They're not ready-made like that. The kind which we want, the pull-on kind, with cover on top and nice arrangements, we have to design it and order it. Get it made. There's a place called Meerut, north of Delhi...
Correspondence
1967 Correspondence
Letter to 'Children' at New York -- Vrindaban 26 July, 1967:
We had a very nice plane ride here to New Delhi, although it took somewhat longer than we had anticipated. We arrived in London on schedule Sunday morning, and Kirtanananda gave me a massage, and then I took shower bath and rested until afternoon. We boarded the plane for Moscow and no more than we got in our seats, when it was announced that due "to health regulation" there would be a short delay—the delay, however, turned out to be some 16 hours. It seem that someone on the plane when it came into London had smallpox, so the plane was quarantined until it could be thoroughly fumigated. So they put us up for the night in the "Excelsior" Hotel, which was something like a dream palace, complete with air conditioning, TV, Hi-Fi, swimming pool and everything else. We had a nice meal and slept very nicely. We boarded the plane for the second time the next morning at nine a.m. and took off for Moscow shortly thereafter, and arrived at that bastion of propaganda about three hours later. We had an hour stop there, so we got off the plane just to take a walk.
1968 Correspondence
Letter to Satsvarupa -- Los Angeles 14 November, 1968:
Yes, it is all right to continue painting Lord Caitanya and the Gopis as you have been, in flesh tone.
It is not mentioned how many hands the different Brahmas from the different universes have. Maybe four hands. Yes, they ride on swans.
I am sending herewith the tape, so you do the work on your dictaphone and send me regularly the typed copies. Don't stop sending them, it makes me stop also. Unless I get back the typed copies it doesn't encourage me. So you send me the typed copies regularly and I shall send you the tapes regularly. What about the 3rd Canto? I know that I have made up to the 3rd Canto 7th chapter and the present tape is continuation, but I am in darkness where are the papers. So give me an account where are the papers.
1970 Correspondence
Letter to Arundhati -- Los Angeles 1 April, 1970:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated "nil."
If you have got extra time, I encourage you to learn Sanskrit along with your husband. So far your movement is concerned, in pregnancy, you should strictly not ride on cars or any conveyance until your delivery, neither should you dance also.
So you stick to the composition work, and according to Brahmananda's program I understand you will have enough work to do now. Actually, the composition work was taken from August 1969, but still they are not yet completed. If you have no other composing work to do, then you may begin to compose Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Canto, immediately.
1971 Correspondence
Letter to Bhakta dasa -- London 18 August, 1971:
Then, if the devotee is male, give the sacred thread. Then hold a fire yajna as you have seen done before. Send the thread here to me before the ceremony is to be held and I will chant Gayatri mantra on the thread(s) personally.
So, if you can make your temple as nice as L.A. then certainly when I go to L.A. next time I will visit San Diego. It is only a 20 minute plane ride to San Diego from L.A. but it takes 200 minutes to get to the airport and back. Just see the conveniences of technological advancement.
1972 Correspondence
Letter to Bhavananda -- Honolulu 9 May, 1972:
Our house was later termed to be Govinda Bhawan, 151 Mahatma Gandhi Road. So Syamasundara is just like my younger brother, we call him by nickname "Gabu." His elder brother was Siddhesvar Mali and his nickname was "Subida," an he was calling me "Moti," so we were very intimate friends from the perambulator. We were riding on the same perambulator when we were very small children. We were so intimate that he would not go in perambulator without me. We would not separate even a moment. But he is now dead and gone. Now ask Gabu to help us to hold the Rathayatra Festival for eight days at Radha-Govinda Temple and have one continuous kirtana and distribution of prasadam at the Chadni Hall. It is a big hall, at least 1000 men can be accommodated there, and in front there is a nice veranda and the deities can be kept there for eight days with gorgeous decoration, and in this way establish nice performance. Syamasundara may invite his relatives to partake of prasadam.
1973 Correspondence
Letter to Jadurani -- Bombay 4 January, 1973:
So far the picture of three-headed Brahma in the assembly of other Brahmas, I have not seen, so what can I say? Whatever is palatable to everyone, you can do it that way. There is no mention otherwise, so the all Brahmas can be shown four arms. So far the question of all Brahmas riding on swans, at least when they came to offer respects they did not come with swan, they are all standing, they have walked into Krsna's palace. Yes, you may show all Brahmas very big in comparison with three-headed Brahma, otherwise how you can compare the elephant and the mosquito? The picture of my Guru Maharaja is nice.
1974 Correspondence
Letter to Sukadeva -- Bombay 28 December, 1974:
The temple president is in charge and the sannyasi should not contradict the instructions. Although if he does see something wrong or if he sees a fault or defect he should bring it out directly to the temple president. And then work it out in a Krsna Conscious way. Not that he will try to over-ride the temple president's authority. I want that you all work together cooperatively. Please continue your programs there with great enthusiasm and try to strictly follow all of my regulations without any deviation. Keep yourself always fixed in Krsna's service. Don't let even a spit moment go by being engaged in the service of maya.
1976 Correspondence
Letter to Jayatirtha -- Mayapur 20 January, 1976:
The people will see such a school and the example will encourage thousands to send their children there to be trained as human beings and devotees. The cost for maintaining such a place is minimal and when compared with the exchange rate in dollars, a very substantial savings. Some have objected to the cost of transport to India for the child, but children ride at a very reduced rate and require no visa. The one way fare can be arranged at a very small cost which will be made up in no time. For the child it costs $100 per month in the USA, but in India the cost will be a fraction of that amount. The average Indian makes about Rs. 400 per month ($50) and supports an entire family nicely. The savings will more than compensate for the ticket and maintenance, and once in a year, during the hot season of April, May and June, the child may return to the parents. Certainly the government will give cheap rates on a return ticket once they find out about the program.
| Page Title: | Ride (Lect, Conv. & Letters) |
| Compiler: | Sahadeva, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 23 of Feb, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=27, Con=71, Let=8 |
| No. of Quotes: | 106 |