San Francisco (Conversations 1975 - 1977)

Expressions researched:
"San Francisco"

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 4, 1975, Hawaii:

Yaśodānandana: Śrīla Prabhupāda, yesterday on saṅkīrtana I was distributing a book to someone, and when he saw your picture he said, "Ah, yes, in 1966 I chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa."

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Yaśodānandana: And he took a book because he saw your picture.

Prabhupāda: Yes. 1966, I was chanting in San Francisco.

Yaśodānandana: He said he chanted with you and your disciples on Second Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Yaśodānandana: He said he was fifteen then.

Prabhupāda: What is that, Thompkinson? No?

Kīrtanānanda: Thompkins Square Park.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Kīrtanānanda: Many, many people came to that storefront.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Oh, yes, it was packed.

Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Hmmm? Find out this dictionary meaning.

Prajāpati: Logic is the rational ordering of thoughts in words.

Pañcadraviḍa: When I was in San Francisco six or seven years ago, some new school of theology, theologians, they were having things, like they were opening up churches to the hippies to have parties for LSD and things like that. I remember a couple at the Glide Memorial Church. They had that. And a number of the other new theologians, they were starting to talk about "free sex," and drugs, and...

Acyutānanda: They put on stunts to attract people to accept Christianity.

Trivikrama: Like Bingo.

Morning Walk -- April 19, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Rāmeśvara: Los Angeles, New York, maybe Toronto, San Francisco, Dallas, that's all. Ten lakhs right there.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Every month.

Prabhupāda: So what is the actual expenditure?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, it must be...

Rāmeśvara: Four times that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: At least fifty lakhs.

Rāmeśvara: At least fifty lakhs each month.

Morning Walk -- May 27, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: No, no, it is all bogus propaganda. I told it in 1968. No, no, not '68-'58, in my book, Easy Journey to Other Planets. All childish. Then I told in San Francisco in 1968, like that. They asked me, the press reporter, "What is your opinion?" "It is all useless waste of time and energy."

Bali-mardana: Now they will have to agree with you. It's so much trouble. But the thing is that the scientists will lose their jobs if they do not make people want to go to..., useless things.

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

Paramahaṁsa: I know one devotee who was a... There was one devotee who was a disciple of him before he came to us. He used to live with Yogi Bhajan about ten years ago in San Francisco. Not ten years ago, about eight, nine years ago in San Francisco. And he said that when he first came, he was a professor from India. But then he associated with the hippies for some time and became a...

Prabhupāda: He was Indian?

Paramahaṁsa: Yeah, he's from India. You mean Yogi Bhajan or the devotee?

Prabhupāda: No, the devotee.

Morning Walk -- June 21, 1975, Los Angeles:

Bahulāśva: Oh, there are many rooms. Two very, very large rooms, at least as big as the temple room in San Francisco, er, in Los Angeles, excuse me. Two rooms that big. Then there's about four rooms for living quarters, a big kitchen, and then several offices, and then a nice quarters for Your Divine Grace with a bath, with a shower right there.

Prabhupāda: What it was before?

Bahulāśva: It was a Mormon church.

Prabhupāda: Ohh.

Bahulāśva: Built very solid.

Morning Walk -- June 22, 1975, Los Angeles:

Bahulāśva: Some life members came to San Francisco, and we picked them up in this Mercedes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, that's him, that same man.

Bahulāśva: And they were so impressed that we had such a nice car for greeting the life members. (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They talked about that. It's the same man I met in Washington D.C., Mr. Poddar.

Bahulāśva: Mr. Poddar, yes. They said, "Oh, this is the life member car."

Prabhupāda: One gentleman came to see me in Hawaii. He's also life member.

Morning Walk -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:

Indian guest: San Jose, San Francisco (Hindi), southern peninsula. (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) It is jumping of the monkeys. In my book, it was published in 1958. (Hindi conversation) I don't believe all these rascals. Otherwise, how could I write? Later on, in San Francisco some press reporter asked me, "What is your opinion?" And, "This is all foolish waste of time and money." It was published. (break) We are conditioned. We call ourself "conditioned soul." So whatever condition is made by nature or by God, you cannot overcome them. That is futile attempt. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14).

Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:

Bahulāśva: I was lecturing in the University of Marin in San Francisco. So I was explaining that, and one man said, "This is just your sentiment. You just have some sentiment." So I asked him if he had a dog. And he said, "Yes." So I said that "When your dog becomes old, will you kill it?" So he said, "No, why shall I kill it. It's a good dog." So...

Prabhupāda: Dog is good; cow is bad. Dog is creating always nasty things, and cow is so pure, even the stool is pure, and she has to be killed.

Morning Walk -- June 27, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, there is a student here? (laughter)

Bahulāśva: He's in San Francisco. Or she's in San Francisco.

Prabhupāda: Why not woman become man? Then that will be nice. Manpower will increase. Because every country the population of woman is bigger than the man. So if a woman can be made into man, then manpower will increase.

Jayādvaita: Then the women will decrease.

Prabhupāda: No, there is no question of decrease. They are already increased. They will be equal quantity. (break) ...is there, therefore the dogs are not there. Dogs? Best friend, dogs, are not there today because the policeman is there.

Morning Walk -- June 28, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: That boy who was with me... What is his name? In the beginning he went with me, San Francisco?

Satsvarūpa: Mukunda?

Prabhupāda: No, no. Rancor.

Brahmānanda: Oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: He told the history of his mother. Yes.

Brahmānanda: (break) ...is also a rogue.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. He was canvassing, "What is this nonsense, 'No women, no illicit sex' "? He gave car." (?)

Morning Walk -- July 1, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: Svarūpa-siddhi, arcana-siddhi. By simply worshiping Deity one can become perfect. Arcana-siddhi.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's a great advantage of our bus. Now we just traveled for two days in a row from San Francisco, but we did not miss one ārati, we had six āratis, full prasādam. We took bath on the bus in our shower room. We had regular classes, kīrtana all day. It was undisturbed.

Prabhupāda: So why not one week with them? I am prepared.

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Morning Walk Excerpt -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: Oh. (break) ...distribution he is right man.

Jayatīrtha: Yes. Sat's men are hand-picked. It takes a very special devotee to be able to speak with these professors intelligently.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break)

Jayatīrtha: At the library convention in San Francisco we had that booth there. So I went to see them and they appeared very professional with their suits and their wigs.

Brahmānanda: Successful?

Jayatīrtha: Yes. (end)

Morning Walk -- July 6, 1975, Chicago:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, When you were... Many years ago you used to have me send you eucalyptus twigs from San Francisco.

Prabhupāda: Hm, yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So now that you're in America we can easily arrange for that to be done. They can be sent. They take only one day by air.

Prabhupāda: So wherefrom?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, San Francisco is the best area for eucalyptus.

Prabhupāda: So arrange.

Press Conference -- July 16, 1975, San Francisco:

Bhaktadāsa: ...photograph, we'd like to introduce the founder-ācārya spiritual master of the entire Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who founded this movement in 1966, coming here to America from Calcutta. Now His Divine Grace has very kindly once again come to San Francisco to lead us in this holy Rathayātrā Jagannātha cart parade. And we will ask him the questions that you have written down, and he will answer those questions, like that. So the first question, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is "What is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement?"

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means that every one of us is in some type of consciousness: "I am American," "I am Indian," and, "It is my property," "America is my property," "India is my property." But we say that "Everything is Kṛṣṇa's property." Kṛṣṇa is the... Kṛṣṇa, God, when we say Kṛṣṇa, we mean God. God is the original proprietor.

Press Conference -- July 16, 1975, San Francisco:

Bahulāśva: Here in San Francisco we distribute 1,000 of these magazines per day.

Reporter (2): What is the budget of the movement in the United States annually? How much do you need to operate?

Prabhupāda: Our program is whatever collection is there, half is spent for our establishment—we have got about more than one hundred centers all over the world—and half we spend for reprinting the books. That's all.

Morning Walk -- July 21, 1975, San Francisco:

Bahulāśva: He gave a very nice talk in San Francisco.

Prabhupāda: Oh. About?

Bahulāśva: He said that from his scientific studies he is feeling frustrated. So he made a public statement that he is going to give them up for studying God. He says that he feels that everything indicates in the universe that there must be a supreme intelligence behind the workings of the universe.

Prabhupāda: Very intelligent man. He is intelligent. As soon as one denies the existence of God, immediately he comes within the category of four classes of men: sinful, rascal, lowest of the mankind and knowledge taken away by māyā.

Morning Walk -- August 6, 1975, Detroit:

Harikeśa: That man in San Francisco? The photographer? He was always trying to take pictures of your rings and always trying to take pictures of all the rich things on the altar. He was trying to make a story like that. They try to show that you are enjoying.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Harikeśa: They are trying to show that you are enjoying.

Brahmānanda: Even in Chicago the one, the woman who wrote the article, the 34-ounce? She said how "You looked at your gold watch." That was in the article, such an important thing.

Prabhupāda: Nityānanda Prabhu used to decorate Himself with very costly ornaments. Your teeth does not look very clean. Why?

Morning Walk -- September 15, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: There are many. I saw in Detroit, I think. The bridge is covered?

Brahmānanda: San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge they have put...

Prabhupāda: Not Golden Gate. That San Diego, I think. We crossed one bridge to go to the...

Brahmānanda: Oh, yes, San Diego also. They have these fences so when people jump off they are caught by the fences. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: And I think in Berkeley? The tower?

Morning Walk -- October 9, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: Oh. Is there any difference between Los Angeles, America or San Francisco and this city? Is there any difference?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: No.

Prabhupāda: The same thing. Is there any place where people do not die? Then?

Indian man: Besides maybe Kṛṣṇaloka also.

Prabhupāda: That is another thing. Within this material.

Indian man: On earth, everywhere, everybody.

Morning Walk -- October 20, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: Yes. And even if you prolong life, how long you'll prolong? There are trees. They are thousand times prolonging than your life. In... What is called? San Francisco, the Golden...

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Redwood trees.

Prabhupāda: Redwood trees. One redwood, already seven thousand years old, they told me. So what is the benefit, seven thousand years standing in one place, very long? Hm? What is the benefit? You are trying to prolong life. Very good idea. But what is the use of prolonging life while suffering? One side, you are trying to prolong life; the other side, for acute suffering, one is committing suicide. So why this contradictory proposal?

Morning Walk -- October 20, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: This is eucalyptus.

Harikeśa: Not like in San Francisco, though, Los Angeles. Once they gave the Maharishi four big pills of LSD.

Prabhupāda: Who?

Harikeśa: His disciples gave him, Maharishi, four big pills of LSD.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Maharishi?

Harikeśa: Yes. And he just stood there and said nothing happened. So everybody said, "This is proof that he's already there."

Prabhupāda: Huh?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 20, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: No, he inaugurated from San Francisco. We were printing these Back to Godhead, five hundred. And he was most of the... You were selling?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually it was 3,500, and we were selling 2,700 of them.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Then Brahmānanda... I asked Brahmānanda. He was in charge. I asked him that "Why don't you print more?" I understood that he has got the potency to sell more. So print in regular way, in that way we arranged. What is that press?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, mimeograph.

Prabhupāda: Mimeograph. I was printing. Yes. Then he inquired this Dai Nippon, many place. At last he said that "Unless we print twenty thousand, they will not take up this work." I said, "Immediately take it." From three thousand to twenty thousand immediately. At that time they were giving us ten cent or less than.

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In San Francisco they made it a holiday.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) "Rival of Nelson Column..." (Bengali) (break) (Bengali) "It is hell." Actually that is. Always wet. No road you'll find it is dry. Always damp. Is it not?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, hellish.

Prabhupāda: And it is so damp that in the trees you will see, what is called? (Bengali) Moss, moss, moss. Yes.

Indian man (1): Gathered moss.

Talk at Radha-Govinda Mandir -- March 24, 1976, Calcutta:

Prabhupāda: So he was criticizing my father that "You are performing Ratha-yātrā ceremony and you are not inviting us." So my father said, "That is children's play. What shall I invite you? You are very big man." "Oh, so you are avoiding. In the name of children you are avoiding us." On the whole, this Ratha-yātrā festival was very gorgeously.... Then imitating me, the other, my brother like, Kangalu(?), he also introduced Ratha-yātrā. And.... Kangalu. (Bengali) So all of them introduced Ratha-yātrā, and the destination was this Thakurbari, from there. So practically what I am doing now, the same thing, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa worship and introduction of Ratha-yātrā. I am not doing anything else. You know very well. We are now performing Ratha-yātrā ceremony practically in all big cities of the world, in San Francisco, in...

Morning Walk -- April 15, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Susil Kumar. He went to San Francisco. He met me there. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. So he has come back, so I inquired what is the result of his preaching.

Viśāla: All glories to Prabhupāda!

Prabhupāda: He said that he has converted one million persons to be vegetarian. So vegetarian, automatically our disciples, they are automatically vegetarian. There is no separate preaching. And what about the... He was talking about the ahiṁsā. And I told that vegetarian does not mean ahiṁsā.

Dr. Patel: The ahiṁsā should be practiced by... (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: No, in the śāstra it is said that ahastāni sa-hastānām apadāni catuṣ-padām.

Room Conversation -- Honolulu, May 20, 1976 :

Devotee (6): So I don't think it's a San Francisco endeavor.

Devotee (7): The separations were all...

Devotee (5): No, he said it was done there.

Devotee (6): Oh, in San Francisco?

Devotee (5): Yeah, they printed it while the festival was going on in India, and he didn't know anything about it until he came back and saw that it was all printed. He said they were going to use it for some, something to do with lectures.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Devotee (5): They were going to use it to introduce lectures and so forth.

Prabhupāda: When it was not published, so why did he publish unauthorized?

Room Conversation -- Honolulu, May 20, 1976 :

Devotee (3): I, we're still not sure who published it, uh, Bahulāśva or Dharmādhyakṣa? Has anybody, did you recommend?

Devotee (5): Rameśvara told me that they are the ones who did it, from the San Francisco center. (indistinct) he mentioned, and a Dharmādhyakṣa.

Devotee (3): Mm hm. He's in LA.

Devotee (5): He mentioned those two. He didn't mention the others. He said they were...

Prabhupāda: Bahulāśva published, published?

Devotee (5): He said Bahulāśva and Dharmādhyakṣa.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

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

Prabhupāda: No, by plane. I think...

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: From San Francisco.

Prabhupāda: Hm. At that time, I got some money. Five thousand was given by Jayānanda. He gave me five thousand, and Brahmānanda also gave me. So I spent some money for acquiring some... I had about six thousand. So then I purchased ticket coming back with Kīrtanānanda. In this way, came back to India.

Hari-śauri: You were just saying...

Prabhupāda: And again I paid five thousand rupees to Kīrtanānanda to come back. (aside:) What is that?

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

Prabhupāda: Yes, he was taking care of me here in Los Angeles. And they used to come from San Francisco. First of all, I came to San Francisco from India. Then I came to Los Angeles, to start a center here. I think Dayānanda took charge of this center.

Hari-śauri: So Los Angeles center was opened on your arrival back from India. And up to that time there was New York and...?

Prabhupāda: San Francisco.

Devotee: And Montreal?

Prabhupāda: No, Montreal later. I think, maybe, Montreal first. (end)

Room Conversation -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Do it immediately; they are eager. Begin this year. Yes, they'll get life, the Hindus. Immediately advise them. Just like I began in San Francisco on the truck. You know that? So you can begin in that way.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: That was the first ratha cart?

Prabhupāda: Yes. I suggested Śyāmasundara that on a truck you make a ratha-like dome, and put this. It was successful.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: It was in New York?

Room Conversation -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

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?

Conversation with Clergymen -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everything is work on higher authority.

Kern: In other words, there would be no election. Like if you go to San Francisco...

Prabhupāda: No, I have got my secretaries. I have got about twenty secretaries who are in charge of some group of temples.

Scheverman: I see. And you appoint the secretaries then who are in charge of the groups, each local group.

Prabhupāda: Yes. I try to manage as far as possible, but I'm not getting any government's cooperation. It is all my personal endeavor.

Room Conversation and Reading from Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 1 and 12 -- June 25, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: But San Francisco we haven't got our temple. We haven't got any temple?

Devotee (1): No. We used the photograph. We made a publicity notice, a news release, and they printed it directly. It was easier for them. The picture is of San Francisco, but the festival was in Cleveland.

Prabhupāda: There is no date? Hmm?

Devotee (1): Maybe not in that one article. Other articles, there are dates.

Prabhupāda: Is this Cleveland?

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. For nothing. And it is sure certainly you can write down, their Mars going also will be failure. Let it, you take in writing. I may die. I am old man. Take it down. It will be failure. I told ten years before that "It is childish." One press reporter inquired in San Francisco, what is your... "No, this is childish, wasting money." The reporter came to see me in Los Angeles. He remembered that. If you want to spend for nothing like that, you can do that. You have got money.

Morning Walk -- July 10, 1976, New York:

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.

Hari-śauri: And then Subhadrā's then Jagannātha at the back. That's the way they do it in Purī.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What's that cart, Jayānanda?

Jayānanda: This is a little Ratha-yātrā cart from last year. We use it as an advertisement for the Ratha-yātrā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, it's a good advertisement. Quite an improvement from last year to this year.

Prabhupāda: The whole go-down is rented.

Morning Walk -- July 12, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: So there was no difficulty. I got from other friends.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So when you moved down to the loft...

Prabhupāda: That boy, I gave him, Haridāsa, who was in San Francisco?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So this Paul Murray... Haridāsa left New York, he went to San Francisco. His name was something else. What is this?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's a steel factory. This is near the Ratha-yātrā carts.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Steel factory, but very good house?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Hari-śauri: Paul Murray, he was the boy that went crazy?

Morning Walk -- July 12, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: At first I had nowhere to eat, so the devotees in San Francisco, they gave me, then I heard you lecture and I became convinced. These banners are very common. You can see this one flying in the air. Most shops and things keep banners nowadays, but they aren't as nice as ours.

Prabhupāda: What is this street?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Eighth Avenue. There's a restaurant called Asia Restaurant.

Prabhupāda: Asia? It's behind you. It's hard for you to see.

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

Prabhupāda: By Thompkins Park I was chanting, and these boys gradually came. First picture was published by the New York Times. Then we started branches in San Francisco, in Montreal, Boston. And then Los Angeles. In this way...

Interviewer: So you just chanted in Thompkins Park, and people came?

Prabhupāda: Yes, I was underneath a tree. I think that picture was published by that Voice, very big article, published.

Interviewer: What did you have to offer then. If you were chanting in the park and I said "What are you doing? Why are you chanting? What's your thing here?"

Bali-mardana: He said what did you have to offer.

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

Rāmeśvara: This is a photograph of what takes place in India every year. It's a traditional festival in India, we are bringing it to New York. We've got our permits and everything.

Prabhupāda: We have already got in San Francisco, in Chicago...

Rāmeśvara: Philadelphia.

Prabhupāda: In Philadelphia.

Rāmeśvara: In London.

Prabhupāda: London.

Sudāmā: Melbourne.

Prabhupāda: Melbourne.

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

Prabhupāda: San Francisco it also happened.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Seems to me that he must be a great devotee of Lord Jagannātha.

Prabhupāda: Same thing happened in London also.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Really? The legs, wheels.

Hari-śauri: That's why they gave difficulty, the authorities, because the wheels broke?

Prabhupāda: No, that is wrong idea.

Room Conversation -- August 22, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Yes. He gave impetus for distribution. Then we got encouragement. Other party, another party. Where those mimeograph machine gone?

Gargamuni: I don't know. After I went to San Francisco... They should be preserved. That was beginning. We could still use them.

Prabhupāda: Yes. I paid $150 I had collected. They wanted hundred dollars each or $125 each. So I went there, that I want two machines, but I have got $150 dollars only. So he wanted to throw away the machine. "All right, you take two machines." So I gave $150 and took away two machines. I think it is more costly. Eh?

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

Prabhupāda: You take this paper. Make a list of important cities. Now suppose if you go from Delhi. So you can go first to Paris, Geneva, Rome, then London, Amsterdam, Stockholm. Then from London I think New York, Boston, Montreal, Canada. Then you go to the western side, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver. Go further, Honolulu.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Then you could go to the Pacific, Australia.

Prabhupāda: Ah yes.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: New Zealand, Sydney.

Prabhupāda: Australia, Melbourne.

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

Prabhupāda: In America, in Europe. They have got facilities, full facilities. And government appreciates. Some of the governments they have given public holiday of the Ratha-yātrā.

Paramahaṁsa: This is from the Mayor of San Francisco proclaiming that Ratha-yātrā is a public holiday.

Krishna Modi: In America.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Paramahaṁsa: Yes, fifty thousand people come every year.

Room Conversation -- September 30, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So I shifted there. And there I remained up to May 1967, I think. Then I got heart attack. Then I went to Stinson Beach. Then I could not improve my health. No, first of all, I went to San Francisco. There also I could not sleep at night. There was throbbing in the heart. Kīrtanānanda, he was serving me. So many difficulties. Then I came back to India in 1967 July. Here also not very much improvement. Then again I went to Los Angeles. There also one symptom developed. Always some sound in the ear, gongongongongon. It was so disturbing. Almost half-mad. And then Los Angeles. Then I think I went to Seattle. In this way, in the beginning there were so many difficulties. Montreal. I took Canadian citizenship. America I could not get. So one gentleman in the immigration department, he said, "Swamiji, you go to Canada and from there you try. It will be easier."

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: I have seen in San Francisco, what is that (indistinct)?

Devotee: (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: I think San Francisco. What is that park?

Girirāja: Golden Gate.

Prabhupāda: Golden Gate park.

Devotee: San Diego?

Prabhupāda: No, no, San Francisco. There is a lake. So there the ducks, the male duck is attacking the female duck, what is called? When man forcibly attacks?

Evening Darsana -- January 7, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Fifth Avenue.

D. D. Desai: Yes. They're pulling the chariot.

Prabhupāda: You might have seen.

D. D. Desai: I think San Francisco or somewhere?

Girirāja: This is very recent, in New York.

Prabhupāda: People become mad, and the papers admitted, "Here is the place for East and West to meet." And the police were so satisfied, they said, "Next year we shall make very, very nice arrangement."

Guest (1): Unfortunately what has happened, that several movements have merged.

Room Conversation -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So how many Indians are there?

Rāmeśvara: Altogether in Los Angeles, eight thousand. Plus Indians from San Francisco will come to this concert because she is very popular. Gopāla sent one devotee, Jagat-puruṣa, to manage the ticket selling.

Prabhupāda: Yes, he is expert.

Rāmeśvara: And we are trying to print one souvenir book also and take advertisements from local stores and shops. In this way we will also make money.

Prabhupāda: So you have to go back? (break)

Room Conversation on 1976 Book Scores -- January 16, 1977, Calcutta:

Prabhupāda: Actually in the beginning, for increasing the sale, Tamāla Kṛṣṇa gave the impetus. He was selling best in San Francisco. Then went from... What is that? We were printing in the beginning? What is the press called?

Rāmeśvara: ISKCON Press?

Prabhupāda: No, no. I purchased some hand press?

Rāmeśvara: Letterpress?

Prabhupāda: So that, it has got special name. I forget now. I purchased two presses, $150.

Hari-śauri: Mimeograph.

Room Conversation on 1976 Book Scores -- January 16, 1977, Calcutta:

Prabhupāda: Mimeograph. Ha ha ha. So we were selling about five hundred copies, and gradually... But still, Tamāla Kṛṣṇa was selling almost major portion. Then I asked Brahmānanda that "Why not print?" So he took quotation from different printers, and Dai Nippon, we gave them, printing, this Teachings of Lord Caitanya. So he took quotation, ten cents per copy. But they want twenty thousand. So we were selling about one thousand, and it is a question of twenty thousand. So I consulted Tamāla in San Francisco. So he gave me some encourage. I asked Brahmānanda, "Yes, print twenty thousand." So from five hundred to twenty thousand, great jump. Somehow or other, it began like that. Now what we are printing per month?

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Rāmeśvara: Well we have... I mentioned we have got these lawyers who want to start a nationwide organization to fight this law for us. So the head of this group is in San Francisco...

Prabhupāda: Now, the... Externally, it appears that anyone can be kidnapped simply by the certificate of the psychologist.

Rāmeśvara: Yes. That is the real point, that this is like Nazi Germany. This is insane. So because it is so anti-American, then many people who would not normally connect themselves with our movement are now coming forward to help us.

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: So what is the use of living longer, a tree is living longer, five thousand years. Does it mean that it is important life? A tree is standing for seven thousand years. There is a tree in San Francisco.

Gurukṛpā: Yes, I saw that.

Prabhupāda: You have.

Hari-śauri: Redwood forest.

Prabhupāda: And from the stoutness and strongness it will live another seven thousand years. Does it...? Is it living, worth living, to stand up very stout and strong in a place for fourteen thousands of years? Is that life? Hm? I have spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness within ten years, and he is standing eight thousand years. So credit goes to him or to me? Better to live for ten years than to live for ten thousand years in that condition. And therefore they are ass, mūḍha. They do not know what is life. What improvement they have made?

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- January 30, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But they did it. After that, I have to get from India government saying that Indian government has no objection for me to be in the United States. So I have to get from Central Government, from the Minister of Education, and I have to get one certificate from the passport office in Calcutta, Regional Passport Office. And I have to get one from Manipur Government saying that Manipur Government has no objection for me to be in the United States. And the Manipur Government objected, that they want me back to Manipur. So there was some difficulty at the beginning. So I told them that "No, no, don't say that. Just say that you don't need me." (laughter) So they did it, letter, and I got all those letters. And that letter has to go to Indian Embassy. First of all it has to go to Indian Consulate in San Francisco. And San Francisco has to send a letter of recommendation to Indian Embassy in Washington. And then the Embassy has to send to Federal Government to the Labor Department in Washington, State Department, saying that "Such and such has this letter."

Prabhupāda: So made it very complicated.

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- January 30, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Nanda-kumāra: Some of our devotees have got that spirit, some of our men. Keśava has sometimes taken ten men at a time. Once in San Francisco at Ratha-yātrā some men were attacking the Deity, throwing rocks.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā? When?

Nanda-kumāra: Keśava was picking... In San Francisco about four years back.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Nanda-kumāra: Black men.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Room Conversation -- February 2, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa?

Yugadharma: Yes. He has also has given $700 advanced order to Dhanañjaya also for San Francisco area.

Prabhupāda: Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa from...? Who was my secretary?

Satsvarūpa: Yes. He wants to help and come back a little.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Oh, that's nice.

Yugadharma: 'Cause there is no one actually doing this in Laguna Beach, and I would like to be a Vaiṣṇava, learn to be a Vaiṣṇava.

Prabhupāda: Oh, very good. Begin. Yes.

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: This is very dangerous.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: One of our devotees in California was kidnapped out of the airport. She was distributing books in the airport in San Francisco, and because the court gave an order to the parents that "For thirty days you can take your daughter and commit her," so they have brought her to Arizona, where they have a special center set up for deprogramming, legal psychological tests. So for thirty days they ran these... They did some... We don't know what's going on there, some horrible things. Now the girl has sent a letter, and it showed that she is no longer in a devotional attitude. She said, "I'm very glad that I was rescued. Otherwise I would have been made to collect money all my life for your society, and now I'm saved from this."

Prabhupāda: She had been dictated to write like that.

Room Conversations -- February 20, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Sometimes in San Francisco one girl was typing. I was giving them sufficient work. Hayagrīva was typing.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You had everyone busy trying to keep up. Even now I see that you're not at all wasting a second. Even in the middle of the night you call...

Prabhupāda: No, that, my... This is my childhood practice. I do not like to see anything wasted, nor I waste. I have told you many times that on the street I am going and seeing tap is open. I don't liked to see. I stop. Why it should be wasted?

Evening Darsana -- February 24, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: This is San Francisco?

Rādhā-vallabha: This is Rukmiṇī-Dvārakādhīśa in Los Angeles. Los Angeles.

Prabhupāda: Los Angeles. Hm.

Rāmeśvara: We printed fifty thousand copies of the 1.1 and twenty thousand copies of the 2.2.

Prabhupāda: This is selling more?

Rāmeśvara: First Canto we want to sell more because...

Prabhupāda: It introduces.

Evening Darsana -- February 24, 1977, Mayapura:

Jayatīrtha: With a small cart there's nothing so exciting about the Ratha-yātrā that people will come for miles, at least English people. They won't come just to see this small cart. In San Francisco these three huge carts makes it so exciting and colorful that people come just to see the carts.

Prabhupāda: They will not allow.

Jayatīrtha: No. I don't think so. It's a safety thing, they say. The street is such... And they won't stop the traffic, so the traffic is still going on.

Brahmānanda: Has there been any accident on the previous ones?

Jayatīrtha: Well, that argument won't work on the British bureaucracy. There hasn't been any accident in the past, nor in the future there will be any accident. They... Simply they don't want a big cart.

Evening Darsana -- February 24, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: But Wembley quarter is not good.

Jayatīrtha: No, that quarter is not so good. There may be other quarters where they'd do it, but...

Hṛdayānanda: New Dvārakā comes down to(?) San Francisco.

Prabhupāda: We can make another Ratha-yātrā from Bhaktivedanta Manor to Wembley and other places.

Jayatīrtha: Hm. Actually we were thinking to have... If we kept a small cart and had Ratha-yātrās, one in London, one in around Birmingham area, there's a lot of Hindus in that area that will come. One in the north around...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Evening Darsana -- February 24, 1977, Mayapura:

Jayatīrtha: Well, the crowd that's in Trafalgar Square is mostly there already. That's the thing, because there's always people in Trafalgar Square. So when the Ratha-yātrā comes they stay and they make benefit by ajñāta-sukṛti. But the number of people that are out in the parade is not very great. I've been thinking how it can be increased, because they keep us in one small lane about as wide as this room along this road, and they make you have this small cart, and the people are spread out for so long. A lot of Hindus come, but sometimes they are so far away from the cart it's hard to keep the kīrtana very nice, so they can't see the Deities. And after being in San Francisco for so many years at the Ratha-yātrā, I didn't feel so enthusiastic. That San Francisco festival is so elevated, so wonderful. Therefore I was thinking that if we could move it...

Hṛdayānanda: (indistinct)

Jayatīrtha: Not in the same way.

Pañcadraviḍa: Do we use like a marching band in the Ratha-yātrā? If we used a marching band, a lot of people come, like a parade, like they use in the parades with trumpets and drums and all these things.

Prabhupāda: I think you can introduce in Africa also.

Room Conversation with GBC members -- March 2-3, 1977, Mayapura:

Satsvarūpa: And in the Virgin Islands, two cities—St. Thomas and Aruba. And then for the coming year, permission given for opening centers in Phoenix and Albany. I was given permission for opening preaching center in San Francisco and in Colleen, Texas. Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja already has opened an approved center in Bloomington, Indiana; and Columbus, Ohio; and in the coming year can open in Morgantown, West Virginia; Dayton and Toledo, Ohio. Rāmeśvara Mahārāja has already established preaching centers in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, Utaḥ. Permission given for opening preaching center in San Antonio, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; Albuquerque, New Mexico...

Prabhupāda: Las Vegas is a dangerous place? Eh? Do...?

Room Conversation about Harijanas -- April 10, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: His wife is also nice, but when they are combined together, they become little spoiled. He becomes little lusty. That is his wife's complaint. I got them married in San Francisco. (pause) So you can give another letter to the manager, Bank, "You take eighty thousand from current account and twenty thousand is coming from Calcutta. Both together, you make one M.M.D., M.M.D.A."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: For seven years.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually, I've already typed that letter for eighty thousand, so I can add an N.B., that an additional twenty thousand is coming from Calcutta, and as soon as it comes...

Room Conversation -- April 22, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He is.

Prabhupāda: If required, he can cook also. He knows how. I gave... In the beginning he was cooking. He was from very beginning. Good or bad, he was doing. Gaurasundara and his wife, they were our secretaries, and he was cooking in the San Francisco.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I remember that. Yeah, he ever has to cook, I can give massage if necessary.

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) was working as postman.

Room Conversation -- June 17, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Then put it into ghee. That according to your... Put it long time or keep it or take it, as you can digest.

Upendra: It sounds... You may have instructed some devotees like this long time ago, because in San Francisco the devotees would sometimes make... Instead of making the cāpāṭi, they would make the balls and put it in the oven and then afterwards put butter on it and sometimes honey. They like honey. They dipped in honey. But it was the same thing, only put in the oven because we didn't have this cow dung chip. You may have instructed then. I never knew where they got this idea of putting the balls in the oven.

Prabhupāda: Oven is also good, but this is the best.

Morning Conversation -- June 23, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. I think Mukunda selected for that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just like in San Francisco, that same kind of place we got. So many young people were there, Haight Street, Haight-Ashbury. Now those two places have become ghettoes practically.

Prabhupāda: Dangerous.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, very dangerous. No more young people moving about, no more nice shops. Simply very dangerous.

Prabhupāda: Negroes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Many people with drugs, taking...

Room Conversation -- July 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Very good. (break) ...yatra is going on.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: She's supposed to appear in New York Ratha-yātrā, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All three, with all of..., many of her followers.

Prabhupāda: Public will see how we can unite white and black by this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That will be very good result.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Lot of black people follow her. All of her followers are black people.

Room Conversation -- July 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh. That means at the conclusion, where the festival comes to at the end, apart from the stage where Lord Jagannātha is, where the devotees will be chanting, there will also be many booths, selling prasāda and books. So these booths will be set within little houses that look like Indian-style houses. It'll appear like Jagannātha Purī. That's what they want to make it look like. 'Cause San Francisco they call New Jagannātha Purī. Anyway, it'll give a feeling of cultural change. It's one... It may be... It's one of the very biggest festivals now in the United States. It is already.

Prabhupāda: Last time, when I was there, so many young persons, they were giving me, "Thanks, Prabhupāda." They were feeling some enlightenment. Do you remember?

Bhu-mandala Discussion -- July 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Two way?

Śatadhanya: From New York or from San Francisco.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They can go from New York, that direction, or they go from Los Angeles, the other way. Either way, they come to India, and they say, "That proves the world is round 'cause we can go like this or we can go this way." But we say, "No, you can only go this way." But the compass shows I am going due east...

Prabhupāda: So we don't say differently. You can go this way.

Room Conversation With Son (Vrindavan De) -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: If we introduce this Ratha-yātrā in every city, all other religions will be finished. (laughs) Eh?

Upendra: Yes, Prabhupāda. In San Francisco there's nothing. The only thing in San Francisco is the Chinese Parade people come for. And the next thing is Ratha-yātrā. It is bigger than the Chinese parade, the Ratha-yātrā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It says here...

Prabhupāda: Ratha-yātrā is highly demonstrative. And what Chinese parade?

Upendra: One dragon only.

Prabhupāda: Childish. What dragon will help?

Room Conversation -- July 27-28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: San Francisco too.

Prabhupāda: Eighty percent, they're from Gujarat.

Yaśomatīnandana: One boy just came from Toronto, and he said that now they have a team of Indian people. They get on the phone. They have one festival every month. And these five or six Indian people call up all the Indian people, and one thousand people gather every festival. And it is just one little town.

Prabhupāda: They have got life now. The Indians, on account of this movement, they have got life. They were forlorn, completely cut off from Indian culture. Now they have got it.