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.
Gurudāsa: Yes. 'Cause last time, in 1972, you and I were walking, and you saw the sādhus on the elephant, and you said, "I would put Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa there." I remember it very well. You said, "I would not sit there."
Prabhupāda: What is the use? (laughter) It goes like this. (laughter)
Dr. Patel: Other sādhus I don't think.
Gurudāsa: No, others are. Processions. It is a procession thing. The nagas take them into the river.
Prabhupāda: When there was no car, elephant had some importance. And now they have got so many cars. (break)
Dr. Patel: Camels were used as they are now, for ...
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Gurudāsa: They still do.
Dr. Patel: They're better than the horses, don't get tired earlier. From Vṛndāvana to Delhi the camels were running. They used (Hindi). I don't know what they call it in Bengali.
Prabhupāda: My Guru Mahārāja purchased two camels. I did not... I do not know what happened, but he purchased.
Gurudāsa: I think Tīrtha Mahārāja was fighting with someone else over them.
Prabhupāda: No, it is long ago.
Dr. Patel: We have a story in Mahābhārata that all Ataravart, he can do. The Hastināpura in just when Abhimanyu was going for fight. In those days they were using camels.
Gurudāsa: In Rajastan they use widely.
Dr. Patel: Rajastan is a desert.
Prabhupāda: No, Vṛndāvana quarter there are many camels.
Dr. Patel: Everywhere there is camel.
Gurudāsa: They're using camels at the Mela. For carrying things they're using camels now.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Dr. Patel: Camels have long legs, you know. They go faster than... Don't get tired as the horses do.
Gurudāsa: In the West they are called "ships of the desert."
Hari-śauri: They have wild camels in Australia even. They used to use them in the desert.
Prabhupāda: Wherever there is desert, there is thorn twig and camels.
Dr. Patel: Both. I think Australian desert is bigger than Indian desert, much bigger, as big as Sahara perhaps.
Gurudāsa: Desert means deserted.
Devotee (1): I went to Makrana, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and I saw they had them hitched for plowing.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Dr. Patel: Camels are used for plowing even in Gujarat.
Trivikrama: And they eat the thorny twigs.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is their food. Karmis, they are compared with the camels. Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ samstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ (SB 2.3.19).
Dr. Patel: I don't think, sir, there will be camels in Bengal because in Bengal is so many rivers.
Prabhupāda: No. No, there is no camel. And unless there is that thorny twig, they cannot live. That is their food.
Dr. Patel: In Gujarat you find these camels right at the Surat, south of the Gujarat. In north Gujarat they are very common. On the desert. (break)