Prabhupāda: Meditation requires certain principles. You have to select a solitary, sacred place. You have to sit alone. You have to close your eyes half, not full. If you close your eyes full, then you will sleep. And you have to concentrate on the tip of your nose, and you have to sit straight under posture, and then you have to exercise the breathing. If your inhalation is going this side, then you have to breathe this side. There are so many processes. So these things are not possible. Because our mind is so disturbed, we are engaged in so many outside work, it is not possible to concentrate on... You cannot find out a solitary place. The so-called meditation going on in a class. That is not meditation. Meditation cannot be performed in that way. It must be very solitary place, sacred place, and you have to do it alone. You see? So these facilities are not available at the present age. Besides that, that meditation process will take you a very long time to realize yourself. So meditation is there in our process, but it is a very quick process. What is that? We loudly chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. So even if your mind is diverted to some other subject, you will be forced to hear Hare Kṛṣṇa. You have to apply your mind.
Straight (Conversations and Letters)
Expressions researched:
"straight"
|"straighten"
|"straightened"
|"straightening"
|"straighter"
|"straightly"
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: A wild boar. So when the boar attacked him the Musselmans, when they do not like they say, "Haram. Haram." Condemn means haram. So when the boar attacked him he said haram. "Haram!" But it acted, ha rāma, and he got salvation. Do you follow what I say? A Mussulman said, 'ha ram. Ha ram He condemned. It is abominable. That is the meaning of Urdu, haram. But at the time of death, when the boar attacked him, he said, "Haram." So it acted ha rāma. Ha, he rāma. It acted, chanting the name of Rāma, Hare Rāma. He meant something else, but it acted as beneficial as chanting He rāma. So therefore this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, either you chant seriously, or those who are criticizing us, jokingly, the effect will be same. So anyway let them chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Do you follow? Even they do not take it seriously, if they imitate, joke, still they'll be benefited .
Parivrājakācārya: Should these be straight saṅkīrtana, no... Should these be...
Prabhupāda: Well, they... As we install our Deity and chanting, dancing, offering ārati. This interests.
Dr. Weir: Well, I would take up that straight away, fundamentally, that it's perfectly correct to say it's the same size in every (indistinct) has no size.
Prabhupāda: No. It has size. We cannot measure it.
Dr. Weir: That's what I mean. Therefore the word size is a misconception.
Prabhupāda: But that is not a scientific statement. Because you have no measuring instrument you cannot say it has no size.
Dr. Weir: Now what you say it has not got three dimension, but when we talk about size...
Prabhupāda: Yes, three dimension. It is said, it is estimated that ten... one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair.
Dr. Weir: But, coming back to...
Prabhupāda: It is a question of vision. With your present imperfect vision you do not see. When you take a magnifying glass you see, "Oh, there is length and breadth."
Dr. Weir: Ah, but that brings you, Swami, straight away into the problem of the infinite regress. It (indistinct) get smaller and smaller. But you know you might just as well stop at the beginning...
Śyāmasundara: ...I am the smallest of the small.
Prabhupāda: That is stated in the Veda. (Sanskrit verse) God is greater than the greatest and smaller than the smallest.
Dr. Weir: You're using materialist words, Swami. You're using materialist words, greater and smaller.
Prabhupāda: What you meant spiritual?
Dr. Weir: No, but I say you are using materialist words to describe them.
Prabhupāda: What do you mean by spiritual? No speaking?
Dr. Weir: What I say is... (laughter)
Prabhupāda: If I say greater and smaller in this way and you say this is material. Then what is a spiritual expression of this? Can you give me? That means stop talking?
Dr. Weir: I think the object...
Prabhupāda: ...you have to. This is not material. When you speak in spiritual connection this is spiritual.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Jayatīrtha: Pragmatic means practical, and utopian means idealistic concept. (indistinct) So many people are suffering here, famine, so many things, and they're spending so many millions of dollars. (indistinct) anyway.
Prabhupāda: Why the scientists cannot make it straight?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Ideality is assumed in many scientific theories.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Ideality of certain laws of certain matter, they assume it.
Prabhupāda: Are they not utopian?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: But they take it as facts. For example...
Prabhupāda: So you take it your things as fact, we take our fact. Why do you say my things utopian, yours fact? Similarly, I can say my fact, your utopian.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: "Rival to Nelson." Our Ratha-yātrā is rival to Nelson. Actually world religion. There is no doubt about it. Kṛṣṇa is for everyone. And we have no restriction. They, so long they, our so-called Hindus, they restricted. But now this is open. (Hindi) (break)
Guest (1): I think the article they got in a straight weekly mag... (indistinct) envy our national character. You know, there's envy, a lot of envy. If you are successful, or somebody is successful, everybody becomes jealous.
Prabhupāda: So that we explain every day. This material life means to become jealous. That is material life. Material life means you are jealous of me, I am jealous of you.
Prabhupāda: Yes, they used to sit down in the Himalaya where the Ganges is coming. That is a sacred place. If you go simply on the Ganges side on the bank of the Ganges, Yamunā, you will find immediately purified your mind, immediately. Or on a seaside where there is nobody disturbing. These are sacred places. Then?
Pradyumna: "The yogi should then sit on it very firmly."
Prabhupāda: Then yogi has to sit down very firmly like this. Yes, straight, perpendicularly. Then?
Pradyumna: "And should practice yoga by controlling the mind and the senses."
Prabhupāda: Then he has to practice meditation for controlling the mind and the senses. First of all āsana place, sacred place, now, āsana, secluded place, alone. That is stated. These are the yogic process.
Prabhupāda: Can you wait?
Mukunda: I can take you straight to the station.
Sir Alistair Hardy: And I must catch at least the 7:15 train.
Mukunda: Oh, yes, definitely.
Sir Alistair Hardy: (break) ...through India, going out to the Far East. I've been out advising on the setting up of a fishery, biological research, at Hong Kong. But I never believe in going straight out and I've always stopped in India, various places, very little, short time. (eating) I had a great friend, Professor Bower, who was professor of zoology at Lucknow. He then became the vice-chancellor of Patna. But he overworked very badly, and he had a breakdown, and then... But he was an awfully nice man. I stayed with him in Lucknow.
Prabhupāda: This zoology is another subject matter, whether life began from matter or matter began from life.
Sir Alistair Hardy: That's a great problem in biology, how did life arise from the inorganic matter.
Revatīnandana: Quite a problem. We don't agree. We think that it didn't.
Sir Alistair Hardy: No? I say, that's...
Prabhupāda: Life came from life; matter also came from matter, er, life. That is explained in the Vedānta-sūtra, janmādyasya yataḥ. And it is explained in Bhagavad-gītā: Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8). So there is no difficulty.
Prabhupāda: Then, again they come down to this material world and he takes birth either in a very exalted brāhmaṇa family, śucīnām, or very rich, vaiśya family. After enjoying there, again he's given chance to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. And if he misses, then again he goes down. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says these are all false elevation. If I have to come again back, again I have to accept another lower grade life, then what is the profit? Kṛṣṇa gives His straight understanding, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti: (BG 4.9) You become Kṛṣṇa conscious. After the giving up this body, no more material body either in the heavenly planet or in the lower hellish planet. "You come direct to Me." That is perfection. You should not be attracted by somebody has gone to heavenly planet for ten thousands of years living. We should not be attracted by these things. Therefore Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says, kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tridaśa-pur ākāśa-puṣpāyate. Tridaśa-pur means the heavenly planets. Ākāśa, it is just like will of the wisp. Something, just like, what do you say Hindi? There are many proverbs, which has no existence. Just like in Bengali we say ghoḍā-ḍima. Ghoḍa-ḍima. Ḍima means egg. The horse never lays down egg. But the word is running on: "the egg of horse." So it has no existence but the word is there. Similarly, what do you say in Hindi? Something which has no existence but it is current. I think there is.
Prabhupāda: So... No, no. Visa, visa is issued from the country...
Ambassador: Yeah, from the embassy, but we have got some, some people we can straight-away issue. In some cases they would refer to India. But if we make a positive recommendation, they will agree.
Prabhupāda: So that I do not know. But visa is given by the embassy, from the local place.
Paramahaṁsa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, would you like prasādam?
Prabhupāda: Later on.
Ambassador: Much too early.
Prabhupāda: So they have done nice?
Ambassador: They have done so well, you know. I feel...
Prabhupāda: So you kindly eat all of them.
Prabhupāda: Let us go (indistinct).
Karandhara: Prabhupāda, we should go straight back; it's getting late.
Prabhupāda: Ah? No, no. What is the time now?
Karandhara: Quarter to seven.
Prabhupāda: Quarter to seven?
Devotee: Yeah.
Prabhupāda: All right.
Prabhupāda: Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Rascal means that... You know the story, that Kālidāsa, a great poet, he was a great rascal. So... It is a long story. So he was sitting on the branch of a tree and cutting. So some gentleman: "Why you are cutting? You'll fall down." "No, no, I'll not fall down." But when he fell down, then he went to that gentleman, "How did you know, sir, that I shall fall down?" Then they concluded, "Here is a rascal number one." (laughter) "Here is a rascal number one." They do not know that they are going to hell. That is rascaldom. By their so-called scientific advancement, philosophy, education, they are going to hell. That they do not know. Therefore they are rascals. Therefore they are rascals. This is the definition of rascaldom: one who does not know where he is going. If somebody goes in this way straight, and you say "Don't go!" "No! Why shall I not go?" He's rascal. (laughter) He's rascal. And the another rascal, "Yes, yes, you can go, it is all right." Yata mata tata patha. "As many ways you manufacture, it is all right. You can go this way." He's another rascal. This is going on.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Dr. Kapoor: That means straight. So if you stay at one place that's a different kind of life, you see, it's not so strenuous. You move around from place to place...
Prabhupāda: But I have got sixty-six branches, so if I do not go some time at least, they also become little depressed.
Dr. Kapoor: That is true, but you'll have to find some way out. You have to...
Prabhupāda: I have constituted one governing body as Prabhupāda desired, governing body, but still they are not so experienced.
Prabhupāda: This is plain understanding. Just like physician says that "If you eat these things, then you will not be cured." A physician should straightly speak to the patient, "You should not do this. Then you will be cured." If he does not agree, then he will not be cured. It is like that. If you remain sinful, then you cannot make any spiritual progress of life. That is going on. All the swamis, yogis, and... Don't mind. I have seen. They keep them in the sinful life and talk very, very, big, big words. That will not help. Sinful life must be stopped. Then yoga practice will be successful. Yuktāhāra-vihārasya yogo bhavati siddhiḥ. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. If you are yogi, if you want siddhi, then you must eat and sleep and accept things—yukta. Yukta means "as it is required, not more than that, not less than that." That is yukta. We don't say that you stop. No, we don't say. We give them eatables. We don't say there is no sex life. Sex life is there. But married, simply for begetting children. Otherwise, no sex life. Not for sense gratification. If these things go on... In New York there is a yogi. I do not wish to name his... But in the paper it was published that he was having sex with his disciple. Is it not?
Prabhupāda: So there is no coconut tree, mango tree, banana tree. Huh? These are all useless tree, simply for becoming fuel. That's all. They're also condemned. Yes. Sinful trees. There are pious trees and sinful trees. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa... (pause) We have to go straight? (pause) This park is bigger than that Golden Gate Park?
Bhagavān: Oh yeah.
Prabhupāda: Eh? (pause)
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Kṛṣṇa says that "One who is always active within is very dear to Me." Does this mean we should struggle to keep our minds engaged all the time in Kṛṣṇa's service.
Prabhupāda: Active within? Active within?
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: "Active within."
Prabhupāda: What is that, "active within"?
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: It is in the Third Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā.
Prabhupāda: "Active within." What is that "active within"?
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Thinking of Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: That is very good. Yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntarātmanā. Yes. We should be always active in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, within or without. That is wanted. Antar bahiḥ.
Bhagavān: Or like the politicians, they are afraid to speak because they are afraid that they will be voted out or get no more money to support their...
Prabhupāda: Yes. They're after money. So they are less than śūdras. That is the cause that Christianity has fallen down, that they cannot speak straightly, or otherwise... It is straight commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." And because people are killing, they're... Now they are give man-to-man marriage, what to speak of other things. The priests, they are sermonizing this man-to-man marriage. Just see how degraded they have become. Whether any conception... At least, outside America, nobody knows that a man can be married with another man. What is this? And they're supporting it. You know that?
Bhagavān: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So what is their standard?
Yogeśvara: Did he say anything before he left?
Jyotirmayī: Yeah, he said that he was in the, he was promulgating a law. So I asked him if he was going to help promulgate a law against cow-killing. So he said...
Prabhupāda: Now, this is our proposal, that why you should kill cow? Cow may be protected to take milk, and use this milk for so many nice preparations. Then, so far meat-eating is concerned, so every cow will die. It is a fact. So you wait a few days only. There will be so many dead cows. So you take all the dead cows and eat. So where is the bad proposal? If you say that "You are restraining us from meat-eating," no, we don't restrain you. We simply request you that "Don't kill. When the cow is dead, you eat it."
Prabhupāda: We shall go straight or right?
Haṁsadūta: Right. (break) He has taken safety place, and from safety place he is killing other poor animals. That is not shooting. The kṣatriyas, they will shoot tiger face to face. Previously Jaipur Mahārāja, he used to go to the forest, and so he would simply fight with the tiger with a sword.
Haṁsadūta: That doesn't happen anymore today.
Prabhupāda: See the tiger has got its nails and teeth and jaw. So there was no firearm. He will challenge the tiger with a..., and he will take a sword and kill him. And then the tiger would be brought in procession, giving all honor, military honor.
Haṁsadūta: Do you want to go this way around, Prabhupāda, or just walk straight on?
Prabhupāda: No, straight. Car is there?
Haṁsadūta: Yeah, car is there, following us. (break)
Prabhupāda: Artificially they live in the city.
Professor Durckheim: Yes, there are now millions and millions of children who never have seen a cow, never seen a horse.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Is there any process in the science? No. Then? That is called laghimā. Laghimā-siddhi. Laghimā-siddhi, you become so light that you can walk on the water, you can fly in the air.
Bali Mardana: There was one yogi who advertised just recently that he was going to walk on the water. And he sold tickets. So all the people came to see him walk on the water. Then when he got on the water he went straight down. (laughter)
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is right.
Dhīra-Kṛṣṇa: Because he was dressed and he didn't know that he was your disciple, so he was saying, "Bhaktivedanta Swami, he is coming in a disciplic line straight from Kṛṣṇa. That's why he can speak on all these books."
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is a fact. That authority I have got. That's a fact. Yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau, tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakaśānte (ŚU 6.23). They become manifest, all the meanings of the Vedic literature. Yasya deve parā bhaktiḥ. (aside:) Don't come very near. (break) ...explaining last evening. Don't speculate, hear. That is the qualification. All others, they are simply speculating. How long their energy will go on, limited energy? How speculating will help them? It is not possible. It is condemned. Athāpi te deva,
- (athāpi) te deva padāmbuja-
- dvaya-prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi
- jānāti tattvaṁ na cānya
- eko 'pi ciraṁ vicinvan
- (SB 10.14.29)
Ciraṁ vicinvan, speculating for millions of years, one cannot understand.
Prabhupāda: And Muhammad is the greatest? No. He is subordinate.
Yoga student: No. And in fact Muslims object to their religion being called Mohammedanism because it implies that they worship Muhammad, whereas in fact they feel that they go straight to God, to Allah, which... and that Muhammad simply was a messenger.
Prabhupāda: That's good.
Prabhupāda: Eh? Mohammed is the greatest? No, he's subordinate?
Guest: No. In fact, Muslims object to their religion being called Mohammedanism because it implies that they worship Mohammed. Whereas in fact they feel that they go straight to God, to Allah, which Mohammed is simply a messenger.
Prabhupāda: That's good.
Guest: And they call their religion Islam, which means submission.
Prabhupāda: That's very good.
Jayapatāka: Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Sit down straight. Otherwise feel sleepy.
Jayapatāka: Myself and Gopāla Kṛṣṇa were just going to Krishnanagara to see that attorney for that...
Prabhupāda: Oh, all right.
Śrutakīrti: Others will be coming.
Jayapatāka: Tamāla Kṛṣṇa and...
Acyutānanda: Theology or Theosophy?
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Acyutānanda: Theosophy?
Prabhupāda: No, theology.
Prabhupāda: Interpretation, first thing is that: why interpretation? If the meaning is straight, just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ (BG 1.1). And someone is interpreting dharma-kṣetre means this body. Why this interpretation? Eh? The dharma-kṣetra, kuru-kṣetra is still existing, the station is there. People are going as dharmakṣetra. Kurukṣetra (indistinct) ācāret... This is the Vedic instruction that everyone should go to Kurukṣetra and perform ritualistic duties, that is being done and it is written dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre (BG 1.1), why interpretation?
Guest: (Hindi)
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) You are more than Kṛṣṇa? You are so, you have got the audacity to speak more than Kṛṣṇa?
Guest: (Hindi)
Prabhupāda: Interpretation... (Hindi)
Guest: (Hindi)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We have to go.
Prabhupāda: We are discussing the same thing, we go or not go. (laughter)
Guest: People are waiting.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) You are a young man therefore I am requesting you: don't be misled by these blind leaders. Take Bhagavad-gītā as it is, and you'll be happy.
Brahmānanda: Actually, when I was in Germany, there was evidence of how the scientists increased disease. They invented some vaccine to counteract influenza, and they injected all of Germany with this vaccine. But what happened is sometimes the body builds up resistance to these vaccines and produces another germ. So, as a result, another type of influenza was created, which was far more worse than the previous. It made people get fever for four and five days straight, 105 degrees.
Prabhupāda: That is the way of... They have discovered this streptomycin, for tuberculosis, that if one takes too many injections of streptomycin, then it does not act.
Devotee: He becomes immune.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Gaṇeśa: Straight ahead, Śrīla Prabhupāda, there is another path.
Prabhupāda: There is another path?
Paramahaṁsa: Another footpath, yes.
Prabhupāda: This road is nice.
Amogha: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Which way? This way or that way?
Amogha: This way is all right.
Prabhupāda: All right.
Prabhupāda: No, no, this is a sign, that if there is a man, he must have a father. This is science. So what is your opinion about this science?
Guest (1): I see it as a straight, deductive logic. If there is a...
Prabhupāda: ...son, there must be father. That is science.
Guest (1): Don't you think this kind of reasoning is a deductive logic rather than inductive?
Prabhupāda: No, what is the reasoning yours, that you deny father?
Guest (3): The father must have a father too, mustn't he?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Similarly, there must be supreme father.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. You become happy. But we are not happy. What is the idea here?
Amogha: They want it to grow straight up. It looks like it started to go sideways.
Prabhupāda: Oh. (break) ...human being who knows things that I explained this thing that by nature's process I have come to this human body. Now what is next progress? That is human being. And even still I remain cats and dog but they have no inquiry, then what is the use of getting this human body?
Australian devotee 4: Why, then, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is a person given a human body then, if they...
Prabhupāda: Yes, that means better conscience. He can consider so many things. "Why I am dying? I do not want to die. Why there are so many miserable condition?" We are covering because there is miserable condition of this winter. I don't want to suffer from cold. Therefore I am covered. So this is struggle for existence.
Paramahaṁsa: And their spines stick out straight. It's very dangerous.
Bali-mardana: Poisonous. (break)
Śrutakīrti: It's twenty-five before seven.
Harikeśa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, do we say that they've gone to Rahu simply to placate them?
Prabhupāda: No, accidentally they went to Rahu. Maybe. That is also not...
Indian man: (break)...gone at all outside this atmosphere of earth.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...haven't gone to moon planet, that is my... (break) ...why they will give it up? That is the proof. America was found by Columbus. So many people came from Europe and utilized it. So if they would have gone to moon planet, they would have utilized it. But they have not gone. That is the fact.
Prabhupāda: No, what benefit you will derive there? Your problem is that if at the time of death you can remember Kṛṣṇa, then it is success. We are not going to any other planet. Yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25), let them go. We are not interested in these things.
Siddha-svarūpa: There's only a certain amount of time and a certain amount of..., that we can talk about to people. And if we're talking about so many material arrangements, then it means that we can't be talking about that which is actually important. So we have to make a choice, whether we're going to get straight to the point or beat around the bush. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...no interest in a particular subject, why should you bother your head about it?
Harikeśa: I become very fascinated when I read these descriptions in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam about the creation and the universal...
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. That's gist idea of the universal position. That is sufficient.
Prabhupāda: He is very intelligent.
Siddha-svarūpa: He speaks straight from his heart so you can... (break) ...that Yogi Bhajan's philosophy though. He wants everybody to come to the... (break)
Prabhupāda: ...is responsible for the mistake of the followers.
Siddha-svarūpa: Yes. So now he must have many leaflets printed up with this information about the prime minister's guru. But now it's out of date. It will be out of date. He will have to print new thing.
Prabhupāda: He was distributing leaflet like that?
Siddha-svarūpa: Yes, literature inviting people, you know, about the conference. (break) Is Cāṇakya Paṇḍita widely available in India?
Prabhupāda: That is not very important thing. It has nothing to do with spiritual..., but moral instruction.
Bhavānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda, I told Mādhava dāsa in Atlanta that you had said that the sun is actually closer than the moon, and he immediately was able to prove that that is correct. He sat down and he, "Oh..." He was able to prove something by the way they are measuring... They are measuring the distance incorrectly in terms of bending light rays and straight light rays.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Brahmānanda: Sometimes the moon comes in front of the sun.
Prabhupāda: What is the front?
Brahmānanda: Between the sun and the earth the moon comes.
Jagannātha-suta: Lunar eclipse.
Prabhupāda: No, no. Eclipse is different, not according to their theory. That planet is called Rahu.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...airport by this way? No, the other way.
Jayatīrtha: You can go this way. We usually go on the freeway. You can go straight up this street. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...freely.
Brahmānanda: Yes. Eating, sleeping, mating, and defending.
Jayatīrtha: Everyone is afraid now, of taking it. The crime rate has become very high.
Prabhupāda: Black and white?
Jayatīrtha: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Negroes are envious of the white men.
Paramahaṁsa: In the British historical museum in London, I have seen there's a plate about this large, and half of it is pure gold, and the other half is lead. And they found this. They can't explain. It's just a straight line where they separate, and they can't explain how it was produced. So they're experimenting now to try to change lead because there's only, what is it, one proton or electron in the atom? Different. There's only like one proton difference between lead and gold. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...the sky there are many big, big planets where the millions of miles made of gold. Just like desert, there is gold desert.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. We saw coming here a salt desert. There's a whole desert of salt.
Prabhupāda: Where?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In Utaḥ. It's called salt flats. There's a great salt lake. And the lake is gradually drying up. And for miles and miles and miles, simply salt.
Prabhupāda: Even in this planet.
Prabhupāda: So we shall have to go back from this way or there is another way?
Harikeśa: There's a path up here that goes straight across Bon Mahārāja's land.
Prabhupāda: Oh. (break)
Dhanañjaya: ...all this has subsided. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...and did he?
Dhanañjaya: We will find out.
Prabhupāda: So much land is vacant here.
Prabhupāda: ...this is?
Dhanañjaya: This is Akaṇḍhānanda Swami. Akaṇḍhānanda Mahārāja. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...just straight or return back?
Brahmānanda: Where is that path, Harikeśa?
Gurṇārṇava: The path is just ahead.
Prabhupāda: (Here?) We are Bon Mahārāja's land? No.
Woman: Jaya.
Prabhupāda: Jaya. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: No, no. After, he became a great sage. That is all right. But in the beginning everyone is subjected. Which way we shall...
Kartikeya: We can go straight.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) Brahmānanda, you just take an idea. We shall construct Gurukula in this pattern.
Brahmānanda: This building here, double story.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. Exactly. Double or three-storied.
Kartikeya: Most simple type.
Prabhupāda: Very simple type, very nice. Just get a sketch with your work. This will be done like that.
Brahmānanda: I'll ask Bhārgava. He has his camera. He can take photographs.
Prabhupāda: Yes. And downstairs, all shops. Only the roadside. Other side...
Brahmānanda: Oh, no. That's the courtyard, and then other side, a building. (break)
Bhavānanda: ...at the Gurukula best thing is outdoors classes. As soon as they're in rooms it gets too hot.
Prabhupāda: As far as possible, outdoors.
Prabhupāda: So which way?
Cyavana: To the park, straight.
Prabhupāda: Comfort, where is your comfort? Why you have so many medical men if you are comfortable? Why there are so many drugs, medicine, if you are comfortable? This is māyā. He is not in comfort; still, he will say that "I am in comfort." This is called māyā, illusion.
Brahmānanda: So these drugs, even though one may be feeling pain, he can take the drugs and he won't feel pain.
Prabhupāda: Yes. He will take injection. It is comfort. Daily he will take injection, and it is comfort. (laughter) Just see the fools and rascals. Mūḍha. (break) ...met so many medical men, doctors and quack. "Die comfortably." What is the use of this medical man, medicine? What is the use? If your comfort and death is comfortable, then why spend so much money? Die comfortably. Because you cannot check death, then why you are trying to check death? "Let me live some years more. Let me take this medicine." Why? Why this struggle? Die comfortably. Suffer disease comfortably.
Cyavana: Just straight ahead, where the ship is there. There are two ships there.
Prabhupāda: There.
Cyavana: Yes. That's where they come in.
Prabhupāda: This is not.
Cyavana: No, the next, where the white ship is.
Devotee 1: Very small.
Prabhupāda: That is your imperfect vision. It is perfect.
Harikeśa: People think, "Straight and corners, that is very nice. If everything has corners..."
Prabhupāda: That is your concoction.
Cyavana: Like a building, straight.
Prabhupāda: Just like if you think that "Why keep to the left? Why not right?" You think like that, but that is ordered by the superior. You can think in your own way.
Cyavana: Because it appears that way to my senses, therefore I think that...
Prabhupāda: Therefore it is authority. You can think like anything, but it will not be done according to your desire. It will be done by the authority's desire. That is authority. You cannot dictate the authority that "You do like this." That is not authority. You think any way; that is your business. But authority will do in their own way.
Devotee: It's stuck in the sand. We'll have to push to make the wheels straight.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So let Prabhupāda come back in the truck. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...have gone too much in the sand. It is dangerous. (break) ...panded so much, these Britishers, a few million people. This is demonic. Idam adya mayā labdham imaṁ prāpsye manoratham: "I have got now so much. Now let me increase more." Never satisfied. Idam adya mayā labdham imaṁ prāpsye mano: "I want to be the richest man, God." That was the British policy-ambition. Material ambition is like that. It increases more and more. (break) ...British buildings or American?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: South African.
Prabhupāda: South African.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: A lot of investment comes from both America and England, industries.
Prabhupāda: So England has got money to invest still?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. They do much investment here in South Africa. (break) Śrīla Prabhupāda, there's a sidewalk here. Would you prefer walking on the sidewalk or the sands?
Prabhupāda: Yes, sidewalk is better.
Prabhupāda: That is intelligence. If you can break laws, that is intelligence. So many laws. So which way we shall go?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: (break) We can go this way, straight. It goes around the park, around the lake. Usually the mother and the father, or at least the mother, they stay pretty close by.
Prabhupāda: It is double zero?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: There's a z missing. Actually "Zoo Lake" it is called.
Prabhupāda: There are many zoos. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Just see. They do not check their population. How many? About one dozen? No.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Ten. Eleven. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...He used to collect all these things for guru's cooking. Kṛṣṇa went to collect with Sudāmā Vipra, and all of a sudden, there was cloud and rain, and there was too much water, and they lived upon a tree for the whole night. Then Sāndīpani Muni, other students, came and rescued them.
Prabhupāda: Oh. (break) ...modern, that the earth comes in front of the moon or the sun and then there is eclipse. Do they not?
Dr. Patel: They, all the scientists also say the same thing, sir. When it comes in the straight line the eclipse...
Prabhupāda: No, no, no. I am saying, repeating their word. But why, then, eclipse takes place irregularly?
Dr. Patel: This is a question of simple harmonic motions according to the scientists here who explain it. The simple harmonic motion principle is that several motions are, I mean, going, gathered at a time. Then all of them come together. Then you see that thing occurs.
Prabhupāda: No...
Dr. Patel: So that motions are different. The different timings come.
Prabhupāda: But that means they do not know actually the motions.
Prabhupāda: Scientific means there cannot be two opinions. The same, that is scientific.
Dr. Patel: Aren't there multiple ways of approaching the same truth? One may be more straight. Bhakti may be more straight, according to us, but...
Prabhupāda: No, no. But we are... Truth is one. Truth is one. You cannot say that "I have got my own way of understanding truth." That is not possible.
Dr. Patel: Well, then I honestly have a little difference, and that is that truth is one point and we want to approach it. You go staight, directly. Yours is the shortest cut. I may be a fool, or a what you call, mūḍha...
Prabhupāda: So how you can remain...? If you are fool, how you can become a scientist?
Dr. Patel: But our science is taught to us, that's all. You may say anything about it, but that is what...
Prabhupāda: If you say, "My scientific way is foolish way..."
Dr. Patel: Yes, yes. Mine is foolish way, according to you. But according to you... Just be very wise. What is truth only God knows.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is going on. That is your science.
Prabhupāda: No, no, you say that "He is trying to understand in his own way."
Dr. Patel: No, that's right. Now, this point, you go straight. I go this way if I am a mūḍha, but I go there. That's all right. I'm a mūḍha. You may call me a fool. I don't mind it. But that is my way, and I am adamant about it. You may call me ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham... (BG 3.27). But he is not calling himself a karta. He goes his own way. That's all. I am sorry to say these words to you, but this is what they think.
Prabhupāda: Therefore they are rascals. That is...
Dr. Patel: (laughs) Call them if you like. Those were the rascals before. Some of them are rascals before. Even then...
Prabhupāda: No, no. It is not... I am not trying, but Kṛṣṇa says. Kṛṣṇa says, "mūḍha." Kṛṣṇa says, "mūḍha."
Yaśomatīnandana: I was a rascal until I met Prabhupāda.
Dr. Patel: You are now not a rascal. I have been watching you. Thing is this, that there are multiple ways of God. We don't know the greatness of God. We just... I feel aghast in thinking about greatness of God, simply.
Prabhupāda: There is no multiple ways.
Prabhupāda: It is one of the celestial planets. And they say there is no life.
Dr. Patel: It is not self-luminous. All grahas are not self-luminous. When we observe in the sky, those stars are bleeping like this. The grahas are straight as that, the Sukra behind us, just steady light.
Prabhupāda: (break) ...philosophy is also incorrect, there is no life after death.
Dr. Patel: Who says so?
Prabhupāda: Oh, so many, all Westerners.
Dr. Patel: The Easterns... That does not mean... The Eastern philosophy is only with the jāgrati stage. But the jīva has got three stages, and the fourth stage, the turīya stage, is the real stage that we understand. They don't have idea of it, unfortunately. So that philosophy is not the real philosophy of life. Life as a whole should have its own philosophy. They don't understand that there is anything beyond the jāgrati stage. But then there is a svapna stage, there is a sleep stage and the turīya stage. In that if I am wrong you may correct me, sir.
Prabhupāda: You cannot be corrected.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Which side is boat? Straight?
Bhavānanda: Boat is at Hulor Ghat.
Prabhupāda: Boat is worth seeing. (laughter) (break)
Jayapatāka: He's the only one who gives out fish prasāda. Even the ricksaw drivers don't take his prasāda. They say it is unclean. (break)
Prabhupāda: Lady?
Jayapatāka: In this house here. There's one lady lives here. One of the devotees was walking. He said she hears the kīrtana at night. One widow.
Prabhupāda: (break) ...bus came here.
Bhavānanda: Down this road, turns here.
Prabhupāda: Oh. It goes to Krishnagar.
Prabhupāda: Tin or steel. Why breaking, again another?
Jayapatāka: There's already a.... I was thinking about the rain, if it's falling straight down, that will be somewhat protected by this arch. Only if the rain is coming from this side, and even then it won't protect...
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. The arch will.... That's all right. Then don't require. Then it is all right. Don't require. (break) It will be colder in Bengal. Māghi, Māgha-māsa. Who has done this mischief, "Māyāpur"?
Jayapatāka: Someone put mud over "Māyāpur." This is our land, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Jayapatāka: This is our land here.
Prabhupāda: Which one?
Jayapatāka: This, with the wheat. We have a tube well there. We irrigate these lands. There are six and sixty, twelve bigas... (break) ...last year's harvest. We haven't had to purchase any wheat this year.
Prabhupāda: The capati we eat, that is our wheat?
Jayapatāka: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Very good, yes.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Yes. Automatically he becomes devotee: "No, we shall become, remain here." This is the secret. Why the woman is liked? Because the woman, if she is trained up to give satisfaction to the tongue, to the belly and the sex, straight line, she becomes favorite immediately. This is woman's business. And people are hankering. The karmīs especially, they are hankering after these three things: palatable dishes, fill up belly, and sex. That's all. If the woman can do it, she conquers over the husband immediately because these three things they want. Take things very practically. Hm? Am I wrong or right?
Jayapatākā: You are always right.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes. Tā'ra madhye jīhwā ati, lobhamoy sudurmati, tā'ke jetā kaṭhina saṁsāre, kṛṣṇa baṛo doyāmoy, koribāre jihwā jay, swa-prasād. So prasādam should be so nice that he'll (be) conquered. He'll not go to the restaurant; they will come to Māyāpur. I have seen in Japan. Who is? You were... Where you were staying, that place?
Sudāmā: Which place, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: No, no, far away from the city.
Hari-śauri: In the West they experience that. That many of the men that go out of prison, they immediately commit some crime so that they can go straight back in...
Prabhupāda: Yes. They think it is very nice. Yes. This is called māyā. He's into suffering, but he thinks this is very nice. It is called prakri badni dasuni (indistinct). (Sanskrit) It is covered. Stool, worm. You take the stool worm from the stool and kick it aside, again it will go.... (laughing) "This is enjoyment. Why you are taking from me?" (laughing)
Prabhupāda: Hmm. Ekaś candras tamo hanti. Stars, they cannot do anything; they simply glitter, that's all. Glow-worms.
Rāmeśvara: Śrīla Prabhupāda, one boy joined our temple here, he was attending a very well known college and straight A's in physics, a scientist. So his parents were a little concerned. His father is a very big professor at California Institute of Technology, the biggest technical school in America. His mother is a professor of anthropology, and she is in the family of millionaires from Germany, German industrialists, so they were very concerned. So they came to visit their boy at our temple, and now the mother is coming regularly, giving nice donations and sometimes spending the weekend.
Prabhupāda: (indistinct)
Dānavīr: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So give him nice. He's living with us?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: He was given one room? No?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Dānavīr, was he given a room?
Dānavīr: We have him a place to study every day.
Trivikrama: He also has a Ph.D., from Heidelberg University in philosophy.
Prabhupāda: Therefore, I say that take care of him, he's a good.
Prabhupāda: That is their.... Therefore we say these are all rascals. Therefore generally I say this very strong word, but that is the only word to be used for them. Rascals, simply rascals. We have no business with them that we have to flatter. "No, no, sir," you have to be saying "a great scientist." We say you are rascals. That's all. Straight, blunt. Four annas worth. (break)
Hari-śauri: I saw a lot of Indians walking around this morning even.
Prabhupāda: In our garden? Yes, they have found a good place, temple.
Prabhupāda: And after this hard labor, his only recreation is wine. Did you drink?
Hari-śauri: (laughs) Yes, we used to go straight from the steel works to the pub, public house.
Jagadīśa: I also worked in a factory for a while. Same thing. And people were always getting hurt.
Prabhupāda: You are not meant for that. (laughs)
Hari-śauri: No.
Prabhupāda: I thought you joined from college?
Jagadīśa: Yes, but during the summer I had a job in a factory.
Prabhupāda: Oh, to get some money.
Jagadīśa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: This girl Elizabeth paid so much money; it is due to Govardhana.
Prabhupāda: She has got children? No.
Mr. Boyd: No, she doesn't have children, but Haṁsadūta Mahārāja sent this child for Himāvatī to take care of at the school, and I guess the school was not ready yet, but she's taking care of him now, and he's a handful, too. She came up to New Delhi with us and spent a couple nights while we were getting some passports straightened around and visas cleared up. We had "Baldy," they called him—I never did know his name. We had a good time with him. It's a real pleasure having this opportunity to meet you.
Prabhupāda: Thank you.
Mr. Boyd: Barbara's been in the movement for two and half years and it's been..., we've heard a lot about you and a lot about the movement, and we've kept pretty close, you know, track of what's going on, and we've visited the different temples and talked to the different devotees, and we're quite impressed with the action.
Prabhupāda: We are having the difficulties of this immigration department.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Eight o'clock yesterday, and they just finished this morning. Straight through the night.
Prabhupāda: They are professional?
Rāmeśvara: Professional, but by the association of the devotees...
Prabhupāda: They become...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: One of them now says that he wants to rent a room for the whole year in our building.
Rāmeśvara: He loves the prasādam.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says he likes the prasādam.
Prabhupāda: Why don't you stay here? No rent, you stay here. You are devotee. Stay here.
Prabhupāda: Saw fireworks in Washington.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's the Empire State Building, Prabhupāda, straight ahead.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Rāmeśvara: I think one day our art paintings will also be in these museums. Because our artists are becoming as expert as anyone.
Prabhupāda: Must be.
Prabhupāda: Yes. This is Fifty-seventh?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fifty-ninth. They don't want to turn here, huh, Jayānanda? Do you? Go up Fifty-ninth it would be nicer. This is where the parade begins. From here down straight. All the way down Fifth Avenue.
Prabhupāda: The Ratha-yātrā.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. From here all the way down, we go all the way down to the park. Washington Square Park. All the way down, three rathas. It's the biggest avenue.
Prabhupāda: Is there any hour limit?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. Two or three hours it will take. You've got to get on the right side, Jayānanda.
Prabhupāda: It appears more congested than before.
Prabhupāda: Why these rascals compare it with Arizona? As if there is no other place in the world. Everything they are doing in Arizona. All photograph in this place. Now they have been caught. I was always protesting, "These rascals have never gone." For the last ten years I've protested. Whenever they asked me, I say straightly, "It is all childish. They have never gone, neither they'll be able to go." That has been proof available. Now they do not talk about it. That is finished, all propaganda, finished. Now they have taken another...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Mars.
Prabhupāda: ...to keep their service in order. This is going on, all cheating. To keep people in darkness and exploit them. The so-called swamis exploiting, yogis exploiting, politician exploiting, scientists exploiting, philosophers exploiting. What is the position of the world? And this is the opportunity, human life, to know everything, to solve all the problems. They are not given the opportunity, they are kept in darkness. The demons. "There is no God, science is everything, life is produced from chemicals, and there is no living entities on other planets." They are simply show. This planet is full of..., it is all scientists, and they are vacant. And we have to believe that. Perhaps for the first time I am raising protest against all this nonsense.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Go straight on, I want to show Prabhupāda the garage. I'll show you where we have our garage. This whole area, all this brown area, all the way where the yellow stripe is. Big, big. It's huge.
Prabhupāda: Down.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Down, the whole downstairs. Ten thousand square foot.
Rāmeśvara: That's the same..., ten thousand square feet is the same size as the book warehouse in Los Angeles.
Prabhupāda: Oh. The height is less.
Prabhupāda: His picture is hateful.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It says "Profit without any honor." He quotes you in here. It says "Swami Prabhupāda, spiritual leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and Bill Faill, Durban, South Africa, of the Natal Mercury Reporter, had the following dialogue: (reads from magazine) Bill Faill: 'Do you think that Transcendental Meditation is helping people?' Prabhupāda: 'They do not know what real meditation is. Their meditation is simply a farce, another cheating process by the so-called swamis and yogis. So everyone is talking about meditation, but no one knows what meditation really is. These bluffers use the word meditation, but they do not know the proper subject for meditation. They are simply talking bogus propaganda.' Bill Faill: 'But isn't meditation helpful in getting people to think straight?' Prabhupāda: 'No, real meditation means to achieve a state in which the mind is saturated by God consciousness.' "
Prabhupāda: Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). This is the Vedic version. When one man's mind is fully absorbed in the Supersoul, Viṣṇu, that is called meditation. And Bhagavad-gītā confirms,
- yoginām api sarveṣāṁ
- mad-gatenāntarātmanā
- śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ
- sa me yuktatamo mataḥ
- (BG 6.47)
These are the Vedic version. These rascals, some light, some this, some that.
Prabhupāda: How life is coming by force? And they say there is no soul.
Hari-śauri: You made the point the other day during massage that even though our building is twelve stories high and it's made of steel and concrete, still, there's small plants growing straight out of the cement.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) They do not go to the sun planet. What is the reason?
Tripurāri: They say that no life there.
Prabhupāda: Again life, no life.
Tripurāri: They think it's too hot for life to exist there.
Prabhupāda: So how Kṛṣṇa was there?
Rādhāvallabha: They don't believe that.
Prabhupāda: So how can I believe you? If you don't believe Kṛṣṇa, shall I have to believe you?
Rādhāvallabha: They have calculated that as soon as you come within a certain amount, a billion miles of the sun...
Prabhupāda: That is you. That is you, not Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference between you and Kṛṣṇa.
Hari-śauri: Thing is Prabhupāda is thinking that if he has to go to India anyway, so he may as well go straight there.
Bhagavān: The thing is you may be bothered in India. There are so many people who come, even though you say no. Even though you say no, there's always people.
Prabhupāda: No, the present problem is that I cannot go out.
Prabhupāda: This ring, concrete ring?
Saurabha: Yes, concrete. Reinforced. Most of the rings are one foot and some, when it is straight, you make two feet. It depends. Then all the guest rooms we have marble on the floor, because that is very much liked in Bombay especially, to have marble. The halls, they are kota stone.
Prabhupāda: So there is proposal to provide a bank?
Saurabha: Yes. I have the area already marked out. There's about four or five banks that are very interested.
Prabhupāda: Which bank are these?
Saurabha: The Indian Overseas Bank. That is the bank most interested at the time now. Then the State Bank of India.
Prabhupāda: State Bank of India. That is better.
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa baḍo doyāmoy. Because we want eating, so He is giving His mercy through eating. Eating nobody will refuse. So by eating he is being favored by Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. You understand Bengali? Kṛṣṇa baḍo doyāmoy, He's very merciful. Koribāre jihvā jay. We are accustomed to eat, go to the restaurant, go to the hotel, go to here and there, at home and so on. Simply eating, eating. So this is jihvā lampaṭa. Prostitution of the tongue. Just like a woman prostitute is not satisfied with one man. Similarly, our tongue is like a prostitute. It is not satisfied with simple foods. Sometimes here, sometimes there, sometimes on the street, sometimes on the restaurant, sometimes a hotel. Regular prostitution. It is called tongue prostitution. There are prostitution of three things: prostitution of the tongue, prostitution of the belly, and prostitution of the genital. Three kinds of. Udara-upastha-vegam. Jihvā-udara-upastha-vegam (NOI 1). Straight line. So to stop this prostitution is to control the tongue. The tongue prostitution means he wants to eat varieties of foodstuff. Kṛṣṇa is so merciful, "All right, you eat varieties of prasāda." Then tongue prostitution is controlled and naturally the belly and the genital controlled. Kṛṣṇa baḍo doyāmoy koribāre jihvā jay. To own victory over the tongue, He has given varieties... Therefore all nice things should be offered to Kṛṣṇa and then take prasāda. They will be benefited.
Prabhupāda: Oh, you have to walk, why you are getting?
Hari-śauri: There's no room. Prabhupāda said you have to walk. You have to stay in the park.
Children: No!
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: It's a straight road.
Hari-śauri: Come on, let's go. Let's lock the door. (break) (in the car)
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: His father's the head pūjārī.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Then they are breaking wall or what?
Harikeśa: No, no, they're not breaking. They made a big door so that you can walk straight in from the outside. You saw that door yesterday. Now what they're doing is building shelves and bookcases.
Prabhupāda: Hmm. That sound is disturbing.
Harikeśa: Would you like them to stop it until you left?
Prabhupāda: If stop then how their work will go on? They manufacture ideas and spend money. This is the difficulty. Everyone manufactures some idea. And break it, do it, dig it. Money is coming and they are spending it. They cannot adjust whatever is there. Big big ideas. Big big belly. And money we have to bring from America. "Give me one lakh, give me one lakh, 15,000. I make idea, you pay." So many rooms you can make showroom. Why breaking this door, breaking that door? Too many cooks spoils the broth. And repairing and, what is called, addition, alteration, will never stop. I do not know how to stop it. Now, the other, Yesterday that Viśvambhara said, you were here, no? Viśvambhara said, suggesting there should be raft (?) three feet high, seven feet high, this high... Everyone will suggest. And spend money. Any friend, you bring him, he'll suggest so that you may spend it. And wherefrom money will come? Oh, that is your look after. I am your friend, I am giving you good suggestion. Break it. Do it. I am your friend. You break your head. (laughs) There was a Mohammedan king, Raj Uddin or some... Nizamuddin. Nizamuddin there is a tomb in Delhi. He was poet.
Jagadīśa: The thing is, if we beat him here and keep him here, then all the boys will straighten up because they will see that if they go bad, then this will be their punishment.
Prabhupāda: As you think, you can do. But I wanted to engage in farm work, in digging.
Yaśodānandana: Yes, that is his propensity. Actually it's a fact when he was with me I would try to teach him Īśopaniṣad and your purports, which are so clear and simple, but after three or four times explaining the same thing, he would become angry to receive the instruction.
Prabhupāda: No, no. He is meant for śūdra's work.
Prabhupāda: He was a politician. That you cannot blame. Politics require all these things. A politician cannot be a saintly person. That is not possible. For politics he has to do so many things. That is necessary. Just like Arjuna wanted to be a nonviolent. Immediately it was condemned by Kṛṣṇa, "What is this nonsense? You are a military man. Nonviolent." And similarly, politicians, they require all this. Businessman must deal in black market. It is inevitable. Otherwise he cannot improve. Because the world is bad, you, if you become honest, then you cannot make pros..., cannot become prosperous. Sate sārtham samācaret.(?) Brāhmaṇa's dealing must be very straight and honest. They are not meant for politics or business. They are for transcendental knowledge. Kṛṣṇa conscious person should be all-inclusive. He must be a politician, he must be a brāhmaṇa, he must be a kṣatriya, he must be a śūdra—everything. All-inclusive. Because he is transcendental. In otherwise he is neither a brāhmaṇa, neither a śūdra, neither a... Yes. Nāhaṁ vipro na ca nara-patir na yatir vā. Neither of these. In other side he is everything. That is Kṛṣṇa conscious. As Kṛṣṇa is sometimes cowherd boy, politician, sometimes dancing with, artist—He is everything, not one-sided. So all food is finished?
Devotee: Yes, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: All vegetable also.
Prabhupāda: How? Kṛṣṇa says, yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25). How, you nonsense, straightly say that everyone goes to God? This is nonsense. You can go to Śiva, you can go to Indra, you can go... There are so many planets and you'll go there. And that is reasonable. And how do you say that "Whatever ticket I purchase, I go to this, Delhi?"
Vāsughoṣa: They say that all, they're all the same.
Prabhupāda: "They say." Therefore they are nonsense, mūḍha, rascals. They do not know what is God, what is demigod, what is Lord Śiva, what is Lord Viṣṇu or Brahmā. They do not know. If a woman says, "Oh, everyone is my husband," then she is a prostitute. That's all. A chaste woman will say, "No, there is one, my husband. That's all." That is chaste woman. And if she is liberal, if she says, "No, no, everyone is my husband," that means she is prostitute. She does not know what is value of husband. In Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says, kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ prapadyante anya devatāḥ: (BG 7.20) "Those who have adhered to other demigods, they have lost their intelligence," hṛta-jñānāḥ, "rascals." They'll go. Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ prapadyante anya devatāḥ, antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām (BG 7.23). Because they are rascals, they prefer like that. The public opinion will be taken out; Kṛṣṇa's opinion will be... Public is rascals. They can say all nonsense. That is not to be taken. You have to take—that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement—what Kṛṣṇa says. What do you think? Kṛṣṇa says, kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ prapadyante anya devatāḥ (BG 7.20).
Prabhupāda: At least, you do not know where gold is purchased and sold. But others know. Otherwise, how they are transacting business, lakhs and crores in gold. He knows. (Hindi) There are many other persons who are dealing in gold. Therefore it is advised... The first is that I want to purchase gold. Śraddhā, this is called śraddhā. Ādau śraddhā. Then sādhu-saṅga (CC Madhya 22.83). If you have to deal, you have to associate with persons. (aside:) I do not know exactly. For the present, we can go there. If I require, we can get up. (pause) At least, if you read Bhagavad-gītā to understand, and one is anxious to understand the need of spiritual life all over the world, So one should read Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Why he should interpret foolishly, spoiling the whole thing?
Indian man: Still, if (indistinct) of Tilak and...
Prabhupāda: Why, why should you read Tilak and Tilak and Tilak? Straight.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is explained. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt (SB 7.5.5). Because he has accepted something which is asat... Asat means which will not endure, such things, on account of this, he is always full of anxieties. Asat, this body is asat. Asad-grahāt. Because we have accepted this material body, we must be always full of anxieties. Asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). Although this body is temporary, still so long the body is there, we will suffer. Kleśada, kleśada means always giving trouble. This trouble, that trouble, this trouble, that trouble.
Mr. Malhotra: This road straight leads to Bangalore, Madras. This road goes to south, entire south. You can go by this road only to Kanyākumārī.
Prabhupāda: Oh!
Mr. Malhotra: Yes, Cape Comorin, right up to Calicut.
Prabhupāda: And all the tīrthas are on the four sides. Very good road?
Mr. Malhotra: Last year in the month of December I went to Rāmeśvaram.
Prabhupāda: On this road?
Mr. Malhotra: On this road. Of course, I went by air to Bangalore and from there we went by car. But this road goes straight. (break) ...by car, to Calcutta by air, then from there to that Bhuvaneśvara by train, and then from there by car like that. (break) It is very small place, Dvārakā, it is very small place, and in that leak was, an entire area was destroyed completely. Even communications could not be restored for three months. But Dvārakā itself was untouched completely. But on the way we found, because we went by car from here, we found roads, everything was destroyed completely. You could see demolished, the tops of houses gone away in the cyclone.
Prabhupāda: Maharastra Province is rich? I don't think so.
Prabhupāda: May not. Because Kumbha-mela is there. (break)
Mr. Malhotra: ...at auditorium. This road goes to Bangalore straight, and we go to Mahabalesvara. This side.
Prabhupāda: Bangalore how many miles?
Mr. Malhotra: Total, from Poona, 520 miles. And you go from here on this road only to Goa also. To go to Madras, you go also on this road (break) ...dolak.(?) Some (indistinct) will give... I mean sounds are different, you know, instruments are music.
Prabhupāda: This is called musical science, Jala-taraṅga. Jala, taraṅga means vibration, different vibrations. Still there are, among the musicians, there are artists, they'll put vials and make the different tunes by filling it with water.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) ...31st to go for Bhuvaneśvara. Then come to Kumbha-mela.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Or you can stay here and go to Kumbha-mela straight?
Prabhupāda: That can be also done. I am waiting for one letter from Gaura-Govinda Swami.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Then from Kumbha-mela you can go to Orissa, from Orissa to Māyāpur. Then you have go to Kodekana.
Prabhupāda: Kodekana, have you been ever? I have to inquire whether it is zigzag.
Indian man: Oh, Kodekana. That is very famous place.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Is it zigzag or is it straight?
Indian man: No, zigzag. In the mountain side.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: No that is not good.
Prabhupāda: OK, then it is...
Prabhupāda: That's all.
Jagadīśa: ...you have to look cross-eyed?
Prabhupāda: Why cross? You see, just easy, simply. That's all. This...
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They can sit straight and also look.
Prabhupāda: Yes. This has to be practiced. And then they should be given lesson on six or seven verses very elaborately, and they will hear.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They should sit like this, and then they should hear.
Prabhupāda: So simple thing.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But they may want...
Prabhupāda: So one, first, seven śloka they'll hear, then next class, they'll go to the next, in the next class, and next class, next class. In this way, one after another, within seven days they'll get the whole lesson.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Mr. Gupta: Actually Kashi Express was introduced before last Kumbhamela.
Prabhupāda: No, no. No, Kashi Express goes to Allahabad; then, from Allahabad, there is a straight line from Benares, to Benares. Then it goes to Mugger(?) side. Kashi Express, it goes up to Kashi or not?
Mr. Gupta: Up to Kashi.
Dr. Patel: And how long are you going to stay there, sir?
Prabhupāda: As long as Muratdev... (?)
Dr. Patel: (Hindi)
Prabhupāda: No, I'm not going to stay...
Dr. Patel: It is very cold, huh? There will be extreme cold this season. And to take bath in confluence in this biting cold of this cold water.
Prabhupāda: Sometimes I was taking.
Prabhupāda: Why not meet the minister?
Girirāja: Yes. We've met him once before because he's... The municipality is under him. So when we met the Chief Minister to get these things straightened out, so at that time he spoke to this Urban Affairs Minister. So he knows us, he's quite intelligent personally. But I think if... First we'll meet the city engineer, he's next to the commissioner and just say that we don't want to have to get this N.O.C. So if he removes that condition then the whole problem is solved. Do you think we should go straight to the minister?
Prabhupāda: Harassment.
Girirāja: Huh?
Prabhupāda: Harassment.
Girirāja: Oh, yes, completely. Their whole office, the papers are piled to the ceiling and people just waste hours (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: If there is ceiling, then we can divide the land amongst ourselves.
Jagadīśa: So I'll suggest that he goes straight to America instead of coming here.
Prabhupāda: If he's coming here, let him come. We shall talk together. There is no secrecy.
Jagadīśa: I'll leave it up to him, as he prefers.
Prabhupāda: Yes. If he's coming, don't stop him. That is...
Rāmeśvara: Śrīla Prabhupāda, I've got a letter here from Jayādvaita and from Jagannātha dāsa regarding some corrections. These are two books that are in production right now. So would it be all right to ask you them?
Prabhupāda: What is that book? (break) Sarvātmana yaḥ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyam. Factually Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate shelter. If he has taken that shelter, he's free, immune. And that Kṛṣṇa has confirmed here. Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo... (BG 18.66). If he's not Kṛṣṇa conscious, then if he gives such a duty, he's liable to fall down. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣ... "Because you are giving up all other duties, don't think that you'll be liable to punishment. I'll give you protection." So the conclusion is: if one is not fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, then he's obliged to do his duty. This is the easiest way to become free from all obligation—to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That, I think, duśyanta-rāja?
Hari-śauri: Yes, I've seen that in Vṛndāvana.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Nature's study gives the... And therefore Bhāgavata gives the example: "Don't work so hard simply for hog civilization." So if we use this word—it is very, very harsh for the Western people—"It is the hog civilization," actually it is so. But you cannot say. Satyaṁ priyaṁ vada... Unless it is palatable, you cannot say straight. That is... They take it seriously that "You are criticizing our mode of life." Hare Kṛṣṇa. (Dr. Patel enters) Aiye, aiye, aiye. (Hindi—"Please come in")
Dr. Patel: You're not going to walk upstairs?
Prabhupāda: Yes. It is not yet six.
Prabhupāda: Then it is all right.
Hari-śauri: So just straight from the shells is all right.
Prabhupāda: That's all. Get out from the shell.
Hari-śauri: You don't want them heating or anything?
Prabhupāda: No, no.
Gargamuni: They roast it in the sand. Dry roast it.
Prabhupāda: That is good.
Rāmeśvara: He doesn't know what to call this state, so he considers it similar to a spiritual body. But anyway, it appears to be a subtle body. He says that "People find themselves when they're out of their physical bodies, that although they may try to communicate to others, no one seems to hear them, that they are also invisible to others, and that they lack solidity. People were walking..." Here's a description of one man who was in a car accident. "People were walking up from all directions to get to the car accident. As they came by, they wouldn't seem to notice me. They would just keep walking with their eyes straight ahead. As they came very close, I would try to get out of their way, but they would walk right through me."
Prabhupāda: Car accident? He is lying down?
Rāmeśvara: His body is lying down, and somehow he experiences that he has left his body.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is...
Hari-śauri: He's observing the whole scene.
Prabhupāda: Who?
Rāmeśvara: The man. The living being.
Prabhupāda: The man who suffered from the car accident?
Devotees: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So that is natural.
Prabhupāda: And you turn into chānā?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Chānā and also milk, straight as milk. The devotees get sufficient milk, and also cheese for cooking.
Prabhupāda: Sandeśa, rasagullā.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes. All of the sweets are made very... New York... In America New York is known for its good milk sweets. Brahmānanda was...
Prabhupāda: New Vrindaban also.
Prabhupāda: Āra. So these things will be accepted by kṛṣṇa-bhakta, etaj jñānam. So whatever Kṛṣṇa has said, that is knowledge, vidyā. Everything nonsense. Therefore so boldly we say, "All rascaldom." Never mind. That's a fact. That is a fact. Anyone... Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ. Anyone who is not devotee of Kṛṣṇa, bhagavad-bhakta-useless. Jaḍa-bidyā jato māyāra vaibhava, jībake karaye gādhā. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has said. By this so-called material education, one is already gādhā, go-khara, dehātma-buddhi, and he becomes still more, another staunch gādhā. Now, if you speak the straight truth they'll be angry. Mūrkhāyopadeśo hi. But this is fact.
Jayapatākā: You can speak, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: I speak. I said in Melbourne, "United Nations is association of barking dogs."
Jayapatākā: You have that expert quality.
Prabhupāda: Yes. I cannot check myself.
Prabhupāda: From Delhi you can go to Singapore. From Singapore to Sydney.
Hari-śauri: Yeah. There are direct flights also, that they come, Delhi, Bombay and then straight to Perth and then Sydney.
Prabhupāda: I left from Delhi to Bombay.
Hari-śauri: If you fly from Delhi, they come Delhi, Bombay, Perth, Sydney, like that.
Prabhupāda: Perth. Oh.
Hari-śauri: Yes. Instead of going to the Far East, they go straight to Perth. And then refuel and then go on.
Prabhupāda: So Perth is nearer.
Hari-śauri: Yeah.
Prabhupāda: I have been in Perth.
Girirāja: ...12:30 to two. So I thought we could keep him busy until two. Otherwise, if you want, he can come straight away at one to meet you, and then, after that, you could take rest, and then we could give him prasādam and show him...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In other words, you could either meet him after taking your prasādam at noon but before taking rest, or you could meet him...
Prabhupāda: My prasādam-taking is now very important, because I do not take. So I can talk anytime.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Would you like to talk before resting or after, Śrīla Prabhupāda, 'cause to him it's the same. So it's up to you.
Prabhupāda: No, no, I said according to their convenience...
Girirāja: Okay, what I would say is that let them meet you first of all...
Prabhupāda: Hm, yes.
Prabhupāda: No, before that I met him.
Indian (1): Now Your Grace will have to speak either with the prime minister straight, and he will swiftly done.
Mr. Rajda: No, that was the... The prime minister himself will nullify(?). No, he will immediately grasp what is the... 'Cause I have already talked...
Prabhupāda: When I was in Delhi, there was one day a meeting at Brahmananda's place, so I personally requested. So he noted down. That's all. So he's the chief man, home member.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Indian (1): Practicing the principle of Bhagavad-gītā. So to him we can appeal.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Indian (1): And it will, appeal go straight home.
Prabhupāda: And therefore I am so much on the..., that a man, harāv abhakta. He is bhagavad-bhakta. (Hindi) This is another proposition.
Prabhupāda: And you are inviting Mr. Jetthi. So it is good opportunity. Let us...
Mr. Dwivedi: Failing that... If, somehow or other, he's not free... Because time is short, and if Jetthi says yes, then I have to go to the Chief Minister, because on previous occasion I told him I wanted him on a particular function. He said, "You do this. Then get this straight. Otherwise the president of our league(?) becomes expensive, so the expenditure will go over the head of the state." He showed me the way. So then immediately after, he said, "Yes." Then I, right from Delhi itself, I made a telephone call to the Chief Minister, and I said, "Such and such appealing, Mr. Jetthi is going, and I want to be present in the matter, and I request you also that you please participate."
Prabhupāda: Now the Chief Minister...
Mr. Dwivedi: Is Mr. Sukla there. Because then they'll have to make other arrangements.
Prabhupāda: Sukla?
Mr. Dwivedi: Yes. Camartan(?) Sukla.
Prabhupāda: Oh. He was a Kanpur man?
Mr. Dwivedi: Pardon?
Prabhupāda: He's a Kanpur man?
Mr. Dwivedi: No. Originally they might be coming from Kanpur, but now from Raipur. He's younger brother of this Vidya Charan, who was Broadcasting Minister. And in fact, even I'll... If I get... One of our workers is already there. I got a letter yesterday. So the principal of the college is going to Bhopal, and if I can contact him somewhere if he is available...
Prabhupāda: Bhopal is the capital.
Prabhupāda: Winding?
Mr. Dwivedi: Not very winding. There are two roads. There are two roads. There is is one road which is little winding. There is another road, but we have to travel eighteen miles more. Not winding, Agra-Bombay road. So there is a straight Agra-Bombay road also. But we have to take an extra eighteen miles more drive.
Kārttikeya: Eighty?
Mr. Dwivedi: Eighteen. One-eight.
Prabhupāda: So that is not...
Mr. Dwivedi: So we can take either. And even this is not so very zig-zaggy and we are... No, not much. Not much.
Prabhupāda: But anyway, we are going to hold session on Sunday.
Prabhupāda: There is spasm in the heart.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: On the heart. Still?
Prabhupāda: Hm. If I lie down straight... Lie down means spasm.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: If you lie down, then it's staying. And if you sit up?
Prabhupāda: Sit up, not so painful.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Maybe some gentle massaging on the heart would be good.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Morning he gave me a little massage. So there was little relief.
Prabhupāda: Human activity should be guided toward Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then it is human. Otherwise it is animal. Take minimum demand, be happy, and make progress. That is the platform of progress. Very little... (too faint) The same shape, (too faint) they are improving to make straighter, topless, bottomless, in this way and that way, miniskirt. They are arranging. The thing is the same, but they want to change the taste in different way. No knowledge. That means (too faint). Sex, you require under... You'll get it between husband and wife. There is no difficulty. What is the use of that? Daily pregnancy, daily... Three days divorce. Actually I saw in Chicago, within three weeks, three divorce.
Prabhupāda: But it does not stop.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. So I'm saying if it was going direct to Los Angeles it wouldn't have to go down. It could keep going. It would be like this, straight. So you'd save time.
Prabhupāda: Generally from London to New York, six hours. And from...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: New York to LA is about four and a half hours. That's ten and a half hours.
Prabhupāda: Ten hours.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So I think, probably, London to Los Angeles would be about nine hours. That would be my guess.
Prabhupāda: So far I remember, London to Paris from, er, Paris to Los Angeles I went. Took about ten hours.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Ten hours. London might be closer...
Prabhupāda: Than Paris.
Prabhupāda: Four times?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Three to four. Not so high. And it's not straight. It's shaped little bit of an L shape from what I recall.
Prabhupāda: You have seen it?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, I went in.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I was on my way with Bhavānanda to go to Africa for Brahmānanda Mahārāja. So we stopped for half a day in London, so they showed us the property. At that time they had not yet bought it, so the karmīs owned it. So I had to go in as if I was a customer there at the pub. I didn't buy anything, but I looked around. So then on the next floor... Basically it's a building, say, three rooms like this and then up.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah.
Prabhupāda: Quite big.
Correspondence
1967 Correspondence
Regarding cooperation in the matter of preaching work in the western countries it is the duty of every Indian and Hindu to cooperate in this task. There are so many Sanatana Dharma establishment in India but no body has tried to preach the principles of Bhagavad-gita in the Western countries although Bhagavad-gita is widely read all over the world. Swamis like Vivekananda or others who came here before me, manufactured their own ideological religion and that is not in conformity of the Bhagavad-gita. The straight way of Bhagavad-gita is that Lord Sri Krishna is the Original Personality of Godhead and He is the only worshipable object for all humanity. "Mattah nanyat parataram kimchid asti dhananjaya". There is nothing superior Truth than Sri Krishna is the Gospel of all Vedic instruction. I am trying to implement this truth in this part of the world and it is the duty of the Hindus and Indians to help me in all respects.
I am very sorry to hear Kirtanananda, without doing anything practical, changes his ideas constantly. He was first man in our society to take the robes shave cleanly, & take flag & now he is changing his position. You have asked me to tell you whether you are right or carry one by the following the foolish advice of Kirtanananda, & I say straight that Kirtanananda is wrong and you are right when you say that the movement will come to nothing if I am not satisfied with your actions.
1968 Correspondence
Regarding visa: I am not prohibited like that, that I cannot enter USA, but the permanent visa ws denied only on some technical ground. There is no impediment about my bona fides. But they have raised an objection because I submitted my application just after a fortnight of my arrival, and they say that I entered USA not as a bona fide non-immigrant. But I submitted my application, after consulting the Indian Embassy, as well as the American Embassy in Calcutta, but I see a different decision at the end. It is very difficult to take the words of government servants straightly. Canakya Pandit has advised not to trust a politician and a woman, so practically I consulted all these politicians and they have given a different decision. I do not know what is their intention, but for the time being I have not gotten the visa.
I hope you have already talked with Montreal, to Hamsaduta, or Janardana, about the money dispatched from the Canadian National Bank to London. It is very important. They are in the foreign countries; if they do not receive the money at time, how much difficulty they are in?! So the Montreal representative must immediately finalize what happened. And let them drop a letter to me what has happened. I am very much anxious about it.
I hope this will find you in good cheerful health, and activity, and you will have always Krishna's blessings upon you. Go on straight. Our Krishna Consciousness movement must be successful in the western world.
1969 Correspondence
clearly misunderstanding.
Now our policy should be as follows: 1. the layout should be done by us, 2. there should be no advertisements, 3. under different headings we shall publish articles from Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Brahma Samhita, Nectar of Devotion, Vedanta Philosophy, Upanisads, etc. as well as comic pictures when possible. Besides that, if some of our students write as they have assimilated the philosophy, that also should be welcome. You say that Rohini Kumar is an artist, so he can do comic work. There are other girls there such as Indira who can also do this. So we shall fill up the pages simply with Vedic ideas. Now the policy should be straight that this Back to Godhead is completely different from all other magazines. As there are different magazines for different subject matters, this magazine will be simply devoted for Vaisnava philosophy, or Krishna Consciousness movement.
He wants to print himself and distribute himself, and when he'll print he'll charge $15,000 instead of $5,000 or $6,000, and he'll charge 40%-50% for distributing, and with condition that if they are not sold the books will be returned to you. The net result is if we give him the printing charges, he will spend $5,000 and charge us $15,000, immediately making $10,000. So far as selling is concerned, he promises to sell, but he is unable to so he returns the books. That is his policy and the reason he does not give straight answers. Once I talked with him, so I can understand his dealings. His disagreement with the design of TLC means that he wants to do this himself and charge. So I don't think we can trust this man.
Regarding Mataji Syamadevi, she wanted to give us some pairs of Deities, but since she has left the USA she has not mentioned what she is going to do. So you can ask her straightly whether she is going to contribute the 24" Deities. If not, then we shall have to arrange for that. In any case, if Mataji does not contribute the Deities, I shall take with me some Deities when I go to London. In the meantime, Syamasundara may prepare the nice throne of which I have given him the design.
1970 Correspondence
The general public of Berkeley had a bitter experience that whenever there was a large gathering like this, inevitably there was political upheaval, protest, and window-breaking, and a general havoc. But this unique procession has convinced them that our men are very nice and they can organize a great crowd without any violence. That is a fact: if people actually want peace and tranquillity, they must support this movement wholeheartedly, and we shall execute our prescribed duties very seriously and sincerely. In this way if we are given chance, I am sure we will enact a new chapter in the history of the Western world. Please therefore always pray to Krsna to give you strength and protection, and go on with your duty straight forward.
Regarding Swami Tirtha, this is just a rumor because in the past there where such symptoms. Now you should forget about the past, and go forward straight for preaching this Krishna Consciousness Movement. Before preaching of your Spiritual Master as God, you never consulted me whether it was right. This means you were inspired by some external influence. Subala said that it was a mystic influence. Why that was wasn't cleared up until now. That mystic influence was widely spread which I clearly saw in Honolulu, Tokyo or in other words, wherever Brahmananda went. Now we have to forget the past incidences and shall have to go forward with clear consciousness.
1974 Correspondence
Please accept my humble obeisances. I am in due receipt of your letter dated September 30, 1974 and have noted the contents. I have not received any telegram from you, but I understand that you will be coming in about a weeks time. Srila Prabhupad confirmed upon my suggestion that you go straight to Bombay first. In this connection Srila Prabhupad said the following: "So far I have studied there is a clique of some enemies to acquire the land and spoil the whole scheme. So we have to save ourselves. Even if there is no sanction to build further buildings, we should maintain what we have got. We should not let anyone infringe on our rights. The book distribution program must be thoroughly organized."
1975 Correspondence
Please accept my greetings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated Feb. 1, 1975 and have noted the contents. I am glad that you enjoyed our chanting. You are welcome to come again and again if you like. You should understand though that we are not very much concerned with the principles of Hatha-yoga. We practice Bhakti-yoga strictly and since Bhakti includes all other results obtained from practicing other yogas as it is declared in the Bhagavad-gita to be the culmination of all yogas it becomes unnecessary for us to apply any other techniques besides simply chanting and hearing about the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna who is called Yogesvara or the master of all yoga. Of course, it is certain that if one sits with straight spine it may be of some help in his ability to concentrate, but it cannot be considered as essential by any means. That thing which is really essential in Bhakti is to develop one's eternal dormant love for Krishna.
This time that there were 10,000 Indians for Janmastami is very encouraging. Yes, they are good supporters. Yes, I approve of your program. We work where there is a good field. Do it nicely. You have noted that is the secret of success. Please continue this policy of straight forward dealings. Regarding Bury Place yes, for raising money to purchase there will be no difficulty. Try to keep our temple there. Purchase it and then repair it nicely and it will be a permanent establishment. We are staying there for the last two years. How we can be moved from there? You can hold the day after Diwali the Anakut Govardhana ceremony. There should be heaps of prasadam.
Logic we use to convince someone who doesn't accept the authority. The basic principle is authority. Vedas say that cowdung is pure and we accept it. There is no logic, but when we practically use it we see that it is correct. The logic of using analogy is called in the sastra "sakha candra nyaya." It is easier to focus on the moon through the branches of a tree. The moon is great distance away, and you say that it is just through the branches. So you can focus more easily on the moon because 2 points joined make a straight line. So focusing on the nearby object helps us to focus on the far-away object. This is the use of analogy.
1976 Correspondence
Please accept my blessings. I have received one letter from one of our life members in Delhi, and I am enclosing his letter addressed to me, that you might straighten this matter out. Why he should not have been issued with a receipt for his contribution at least?
I have been informed by Ādi Kesava Maharaja that the people in Washington are prepared to approve our purchase of the Delhi house at 12 Ring Road, but they cannot do so until* they receive the application which we submitted in New Delhi. So much time has passed and still they have not received the original application in Washington from the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. Please look into the matter and inform me in Hawaii where I shall most probably remain until the end of the month of May.
Ak Sw: The words are just like modern pop songs, you can't really tell what it means. I suggested to these people: "Why don't you put music to Prabhupada's books. Take the words straight from prabhupada's books...
HSd: No, Prabhupada has approved this method for attracting karmis, but the thing is, when you become a devotee,..
S.P.: Yes.
After thorough deliberation it seems much better for us to go straight from Hyderabad to Vardha instead of going first to Bombay. There is no advantage in going first to Bombay. There is a train which goes direct from Hyderabad to Vardha called the daksina express. It goes every night at 10:15 from Hyderabad arriving in Vardha the next morning at 8 AM. This way I can leave here on the 17th and arrive in time for the meeting with Vinobhaji on the 18th morning. Ask Mr. Bajaj to send us the money for purchasing the tickets. I would appreciate to have four first class accommodations so that we may have one full compartment and the balance seven can be second class. Then from Vardha I would like to go with one assistant to Nagpur and return to Bombay by plane. The balance nine men can go second class by train either to Bombay or Hyderabad. Hamsaduta is prepared to bring as many men as possible to make up the quota of ten others.
Regarding the question you have asked, you can give a very straight answer. Bhagavad-gita says, "dehantara praptih (BG 2.13)". The soul transmigrates, but there is no regular process. In the beginning of creation, when all the world was water, all living entities were aquatics. Then gradually from aquatics the soul passes into plant bodies, then insect bodies, then bird bodies, then animal bodies, then human beings. In the human form the soul can decide whether to go back to home, back to Godhead or return to birth and death, accepting material bodies according to his karma. Therefore, it is advised to take advantage of the human form of body to go back home, back to Godhead. Our movement is for this purpose, to offer all human beings a chance to go back home, back to Godhead.
| Page Title: | Straight (Conversations and Letters) |
| Compiler: | Rishab, Mayapur |
| Created: | 21 of May, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=94, Let=17 |
| No. of Quotes: | 111 |