Summer (Conversations 1976 - 1977)

Expressions researched:
"summer" |"summer's" |"summertime"

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Nellore:

Prabhupāda: Yes, but whatever the Lord says, that is truth. Not your statement is truth.

Acyutānanda: No, just like if I say...

Prabhupāda: You cannot say.

Acyutānanda: ...you should dress warmly. You should dress warmly now.

Prabhupāda: No, no. You cannot say.

Acyutānanda: And then I come in the summer, and you still are dressing warmly-it's for time and circumstance, only immediately.

Prabhupāda: No. That is spiritual fragment, eternally existing. Nityo nityānāṁ cetana... There are always plural number and singular number.

Acyutānanda: How can there be any truth separate from the Lord? Eka brahma.

Prabhupāda: No, it is not separate. You are thinking separate.

Acyutānanda: No, a gold ring is separate from the gold mine. That is your...

Prabhupāda: No, no, that is your material conception. But everything is...

Acyutānanda: Yes, that is a material example. The example came from you Vaiṣṇavas. We do not make...

Prabhupāda: No.

Morning Walk -- January 19, 1976, Mayapur:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: One boy who joined us in Boston...

Prabhupāda: (break) Chewing the chewed. This is going on. Material world means chewing the chewed.

Bhavānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda, I think this narrow path is smoother.

Prabhupāda: Better.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (break) ...go ahead and get the projector do you think, new projector?

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...government, Mr. Chaudhuri can do.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. As soon as you stop the land purchasing anyway can do.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In the summer time the colleges are.... (kīrtana) (end)

Morning Walk -- March 14, 1976, Mayapur:

Madhudviṣa: But does that means that Kṛṣṇa doesn't know something?

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa.... If everyone knows, why Kṛṣṇa does not know? "He knows everything" means this common sense everyone knows.

Madhudviṣa: Does He know what you will choose?

Prabhupāda: Eh? Just try to understand. Future means like this: nature's law; and it will happen. After summer there will be rainy season; it will happen, and they will call, I am foretelling future. It is not future; it is natural sequence, automatically happened.

Satsvarūpa: But that's predictable. If I have my own free will, what I'm going to do, you don't know.

Prabhupāda: No, no, if you are in knowledge, you can predict. But if you are fool, you cannot say. If I see that in July there will be rain, and if you are a fool, you'll protest. That is your foolishness. It is natural sequence, one after another.

Madhudviṣa: When is the natural sequence...?

Prabhupāda: Natural sequence.... Just like you are infected, some contaminous disease. You'll suffer. There is a story that one fool was sitting on a branch of a tree and he was cutting off. And somebody said, "You'll fall down." "Ha, fall down." But when he fell down he said, "Oh, you are a great astrologer." So who goes to the astrologer? Only fools and rascal. No sane man goes. They know that what is.... Yad bhavyantam tad bhavata.(?) What is to happen, that will happen. Why shall I go to astrologer?

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: The reflection theory is the modern theory.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because sometimes in the books it's stated...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Sometimes I have said or taken this modern theory.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just so that people will understand an example. I see.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Another question is "How do the different seasons come about-winter, summer, spring?"

Prabhupāda: That is due to the movement of the sun.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The...?

Prabhupāda: Movement of the sun.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Movement of the sun.

Prabhupāda: But they say sun if fixed up.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes, they say the earth is tilting back and forth like this.

Prabhupāda: That is always doing, but it takes little time. But the movement of the sun, uttara and dakṣiṇa, what is their explanation?

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1976, Mayapura:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They say that the earth is tilting like this. The sun is fixed. When the earth tilts like this in the northern hemisphere there is summer, and when it tilts like this, the southern hemisphere, there's summer. It's tilting back and forth as it revolves around the sun.

Prabhupāda: Tilting?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: But they say it is...

Pañca-draviḍa: Well, they say the earth is on a tilted axis.

Trivikrama: Twenty-three degrees from the north pole.

Pañca-draviḍa: So, as it revolves around the sun...

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: That's another theory too.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: There's two different theories.

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1976, Mayapura:

Pañca-draviḍa: It's on an angle.

Haṁsadūta: Yeah. And then it is tilting.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: But how does that explain summer and winter?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because it's close to the sun in...

Pañca-draviḍa: Because it's close to the sun and.... No, it's not closer.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: It spins. Every twenty-four hours it's turning. Why should that matter?

Pañca-draviḍa: No, but the orbit around the sun is...

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Elliptical.

Pañca-draviḍa: Yes. Elliptical.

Haṁsadūta: Yeah, for instance, in Sweden, they have a certain part of the year when it is always dark. So they say this is because the earth's axis has shifted so that.... Yeah.

Prabhupāda: So your work is going to begin today? No?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jayapatākā Mahārāja?

Jayapatākā: Pardon?

Room Conversation -- May 2, 1976, Fiji:

Prabhupāda: So how nature is working, he does not know. Then his knowledge is imperfect. Nature is working how, that we know. That is very sober understanding. We say that nature is working under the superintendence of Kṛṣṇa. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Nature.... We see nature. Generally we have got idea of the material nature, that the sun is one of the part and parcel of nature's working. The moon is also, the seasonal changes. So many things, nature is working very systematically. The summer season will appear exactly in the month of June and July. The fall begins in September every year. One can foretell that "Next September this will happen," because nature's routine is very fixed up. So this systematic work of nature, how it is possible if there is no supervision?

Guru-kṛpā: What they do is they just take it for granted because it's happening so regularly.

Prabhupāda: So that means you have to accept it—there is superior administration. You may not know what is that administration, but you have to accept it. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says, "Under My supervision." Here those who are in the gross ignorance, not intelligent, they can suggest that there is some brain, just like Professor Einstein used to say. But he has no knowledge who is that brain, and we have that knowledge, who is that brain. That brain is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore our knowledge is perfect. They can simply suggest that "There is a brain," but we can say, "Here is the brain." Then it is.... If one knows whose brain it is, that is perfect knowledge.

Guru-kṛpā: But they have no faith. That's the only difficulty.

Morning Walk -- June 11, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: They're all selling their property. They cannot maintain. Even the Queen cannot maintain her establishment, but because it's government.... The Buckingham Palace was not repaired for many years. Last time, when I went there, I saw it is repaired now. Before that, three, four times I went. It is blackish. The stone.... It is made of stone. The stone had become black. That means many years it was not repaired.

Hari-śauri: What they do now if they have some big house in the country and they want to keep it, they have to put it on show during the summer months. They allow people to come, and they charge them so much money to come and look around.

Prabhupāda: The Parliament and that.... What is that church?

Hari-śauri: Westminster Abbey?

Prabhupāda: Yes. They charge.

Hari-śauri: Guided tour. They cannot live there themselves. They can only live there in the winter.

Prabhupāda: They collect very sufficiently. I have seen. Again, inside you go, and a particular section, if you want to see, the another payment. Yes. First of all, entrance fee; then, within that, if you want to see another particular section, then another fee. And they are collecting money. I have seen. Śyāmasundara took me there.

Hari-śauri: To Westminster Abbey or...?

Prabhupāda: Parliament, Westminster, everything.... (japa) They are now statues in Parliament and Westminster. So many statues, you know.

Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: North. So north is supposed to be cooler.

Hari-śauri: In the winter it's not so good. Winter's very bad.

Prabhupāda: Winter eight months? No. In winter this water becomes solid. You know that?

Satsvarūpa: Sometimes in Detroit there's three foot of snow, and the winter is, it's a very deep winter here, but the summer is nice.

Prabhupāda: You convince your countrymen that "It is a great sinful activity that you are killing your mother. You stop this. If you want to eat meat, you can eat some other, nonimportant animals. There are so many." The Chinese they are eating rats also. Cats, rats, everything.

Devotee: Monkeys.

Prabhupāda: Monkeys also. So monkey's the forefather of Darwin. Better kill them so that there is no opportunity of criticism that "You are coming from monkey." You extinct this species. It is rather insulting. If I say that you are descendant of monkey, then it is insult. So extinct this monkey. I don't think there is monkey here. Africa there is monkey. You have been in Africa? There are monkey-eating birds. Top of the tree, monkey, they catch up on the head and drop it from high. And then they take it. (pause) There was a boat which belonged to this house. I think he has sold it.

Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Mādhavānanda: Because I remember when you went, someone said, "You will miss the mango season, Śrīla Prabhupāda." And you said, "Preaching in the snows of Russia is more sweet than any mango." (Prabhupāda laughs)

Hari-śauri: Even though you went there in the early summer, there was no fruits or anything. No flowers.

Prabhupāda: Only these...

Hari-śauri: Strawberries.

Prabhupāda: They simply eat meat, that's all. And some milk preparation.

Hari-śauri: They can't even do that now. Someone was saying that they restrict them now. One day a week they have to eat fish because there is not enough meat.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Hari-śauri: So they force them to eat fish now. (laughs) It's very bad.

Mādhavānanda: They are breeding.... In the airport we met one man; he is working on breeding a large bull, cattle. They breed cows for slaughter. So they are breeding now a very large cattle. They grow very, very.... it's called, instead of buffalo, they've named it beefalo.

Jayādvaita: They crossed buffalo.

Room Conversation -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "One of India's biggest and most ancient religious festivals, Ratha-yātrā, the festival of the chariots, which has been enacted in several Western cities in recent years, is to be staged in South Africa in July. The festival in honor of Lord Kṛṣṇa is planned to be held in Durban next month by the local branch of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, widely known as the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. Based on the thousands-of-years-old annual parade of the three main deities of the Jagannātha temple on huge chariots through the streets of Purī, Orissa, the festival has been staged by devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa in major world cities such as London, Paris, New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago, Montreal and Melbourne, following the spreading of Kṛṣṇa consciousness amongst thousands of Westerners in the decade since the founding of the movement in 1966 by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. Almost a million devotees participate in the chariot festival held every summer at Purī, where they offer oblations to Lord Kṛṣṇa; lend a hand, tugging the ropes, to pull the huge chariots; line the grand route; or simply attend to see the color and pageantry from high vantage points. Jagannātha-The three colossal chariots from which the term Jagannātha is derived carry the three Jagannātha Deities of Lord Balarāma, the Lord who gives spiritual strength and pleasure; Lady Subhadrā, one who is the auspicious one; and Lord Jagannātha, the Lord of the universe,"—with a capital L—"on the three-kilometer journey symbolizing Lord Kṛṣṇa's visit to the town of His childhood pastimes. This year ISKCON will sponsor Ratha-yātrā festivals in ten cities worldwide. Durban, however, is not amongst them, as the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is fairly new and has not yet established itself on a firm basis and increased its following in Durban. Branch members are enthusiastic and are hoping to organize a procession of their own through the streets of Durban to coincide with the festivals which will be held in several major cities."

Prabhupāda: They are arranging like that or not? Our branch there?

Room Conversation -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: (break) Yes, I'll inform them: "If cart is not possible to be made or (indistinct), then they can do it on the back of a flat truck with a canopy with a nice cloth."

Prabhupāda: Kīrtana party and truck, all Indians will come.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: One thing though is, July is, like in Melbourne, it's wintertime there. So is it okay if they have the festival in summer months?

Prabhupāda: Not necessarily.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: As they do in Melbourne, in the summertime?

Hari-śauri: They have it in January down there, because they get a better attendance and everything. It's a lot nicer.

Prabhupāda: It is now winter there?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes, wintertime now. Middle of the winter now. Very cold.

Prabhupāda: So better summer is all right. Then they can make ratha regular.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. (end)

Room Conversation -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

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.

Jagadīśa: Due to?

Prabhupāda: Govardhana.

Jagadīśa: Yes, Ambarīṣa also. Ambarīṣa also has given money due to Govardhana. He's a very gentle soul.

Prabhupāda: His background is good service. Therefore I'm asking why he should be changed?

Hari-śauri: But if he's not very fixed up, then...

Prabhupāda: That can be...

Jagadīśa: One thing, if I had not been tied up in Dallas with Gurukula, I could have spent more time in Detroit, and I think that would have helped the situation. Because he was alone, working alone...

Morning Walk -- June 18, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: Every few steps, there is a shop, young girls, wine, and a man is sitting.

Hari-śauri: Germany is very famous for its beer festivals. Germany. It's very famous for it's beer festivals.

Prabhupāda: Beer. Yes. Sadānanda told me. He was drinking beer in barrels. (laughs) He told me.

Hari-śauri: They even have a mug so big that it takes one gallon of beer at a time.

Prabhupāda: And they drink.

Hari-śauri: Yes. It's possible in the summer season, one of the big tourist attraction is to go to these big beer festivals. And you can go, they last about a fortnight, one week or a fortnight, and you can travel down the Rhine Valley and move every week to a new beer festival, like that, all through the summer. It's a big tourist thing. (end)

Arrival Room Conversation -- July 2, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore he's described as mad, bhora. Bhora means mad. Duniya sab bhoraho ke gare gare bhagini.(?)

Vipina: We're almost there, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: In the heavenly planets the woman is described that during summer they are very warm, the body is very warm, er, during summer the body is very cool of the woman, and during winter the body is very warm. That is the nature of the woman in the heavenly planets. And their breast is very, very tight and strongly built. And their youthfulness never diminishes. These are the description of the heavenly woman. Bhāgavata everything is there. Mohinī-mūrti began to play on the balls, and the description of the breast is there and, what is called this portion?

Hari-śauri: Armpit.

Prabhupāda: Armpit. Yes. So she was playing ball one hand and one hand a bunch of hair would become, immediately she was taking care. So with this beauty Lord Śiva become mad. As soon as one man sees the breast and this armpit of young woman, then he is finished. (laughs)

Vipina: So what happens to us?

Prabhupāda: It is every man that this is the position. This is the position. And so long we will be charmed with these things, he has to take birth again and again. Viṣayināṁ saṁdarśanam atha yoṣitāṁ ca.

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Central Park? Very nice. So you have advantage of the park.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes. And on Sundays we put on saṅkīrtana in the park, and then people are invited to come to the temple for the feast. Now because of the good weather, many people leave the city on the weekend, so the numbers of people who are coming on the Love Feast days is not as much as before the summer and after the summer. Now they like to go to the beaches and resort areas, where it's cool and there's water.

Prabhupāda: The zoo is here also here? (pronounces "joo")

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jewish people?

Prabhupāda: No, zoo, zoology.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Zoo, zoology. Yes, Central Park Zoo is on about Sixty-fourth Street, Sixty-fifth Street, just off of the east.

Prabhupāda: All big, big buildings.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's New York. The population now of the greater New York area is eighteen million.

Prabhupāda: Eighteen million?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: It was ten million.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, it has very much increased now. That includes the outlying...

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Rāmeśvara: I don't know. Generally the bookstores, they don't take our books because our distributors are distributing on the street in front of the bookstore, they say it is competition. But the college bookstores, they all take our books. We just got a report from Satsvarūpa Mahārāja that this past month of June in America they sold seventy-five standing orders. And that is remarkable, because all the schools are closed in June, and still they sold them books. They closed for the summer, and still they are ordering your books.

Prabhupāda: In this street I think there is one library office...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, it's Fifty..., it's either Fifty-fifth or Fifty-third, and it's called, it's one of main sub-branches. Yes, it's a very well known one.

Prabhupāda: Free rent?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Free rent. Rent a safe deposit box for one year and we'll give you an extra six months free." But first you have to pay for one year. Chemical Bank. Huge buildings now everywhere.

Prabhupāda: This is Rockefeller?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, Prabhupāda, now everything looks like the Rockefeller Plaza. All of the buildings are built in that same style. Very opulent. Now every day I look out the window of our building and I think when it will come that we will have one of these buildings. It won't be long. You can see how big these are, Prabhupāda. This is Sixth Avenue.

Prabhupāda: So we are between Sixth Avenue and?

Evening Darsana -- July 13, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: This is national degradation. Every state full of garbage, litters. Not only now, I was living here (indistinct); the last 10 years. At least I have seen.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: One of the parents of the devotees who came the other day, they said they went to Vṛndāvana, and the gentleman who bought those pictures, photographs in Washington...

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: He said he was surprised how clean Vṛndāvana was.

Prabhupāda: Many, even the poorest man's house you go in the village, you'll find everything neat and clean. At least the kitchen and eating, very neat and... Climatic condition is also nice. Almost all the year there is sunshine. Only during rainy season the sun is... That is also cooling a bit. After summer season, the rainy season covering, there is enjoyable cooling. Now everywhere... (end)

Morning Walk -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Ah, this is so cold. (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Unbearable (break) ...too cold then we can go in our bus to Florida for preaching. In the winter you go to Florida, eighty-five, ninety degrees.

Prabhupāda: Florida. And in summer?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Summer it's not very pleasant.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: It's about the same.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Really? Most people though, most tourists don't go to Florida in the summer time.

Prabhupāda: Very hot?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It is a little hot.

Prabhupāda: Some rain?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: There's moisture in the air and rain, like that.

Hari-śauri: They have a lot of hurricanes there, don't they?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: A few. But no place is perfect within the material world. (break)

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

Prabhupāda: Yes, continue this program. People will be attracted.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I was thinking that we could make a point to have many big festivals here each year, not just this one, but many.

Prabhupāda: Yes, at least three, four you can do. On Janmāṣṭamī, one; Gaura Pūrṇimā; for Śrī Rāma-navamī; and one, Ratha-yātrā.

Bali-mardana: We can do New York for the spring, summer and fall.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bali-mardana: Because the weather is nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That coincides. Rāma-navamī is spring, Ratha-yātrā is summer, and Janmāṣṭamī is fall.

Hari-śauri: Gaura Pūrṇimā would be a bit difficult, though. Everybody is in India.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's not possible.

Bali-mardana: We could do that inside.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But those three...

Prabhupāda: Janmāṣṭamī, take Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa procession.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: On carts?

Prabhupāda: No, on siṁhāsana, carried by hand.

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

Prabhupāda: Palanquin; no, the siṁhāsana as it is. Just like this is siṁhāsana, two big poles down, and tie it with..., cut it with legs and carry, four men or eight men change. Change the soldiers.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But not on carts, not on big chariots.

Prabhupāda: No. Chariot, only Ratha-yātrā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We'll make a big advertisement. We'll call it "Fall Festival." This festival, we called it "Summer Festival." People respond to that. If you say Ratha-yātrā, they can't even pronounce the word. So we call it "Summer Festival," and they came.

Hari-śauri: "Summer Festival" sounds very attractive.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Everyone was saying, "Oh, that means for me, Summer Festival."

Hari-śauri: "Ecstasy Outdoors."

Prabhupāda: And Jayānanda should be congratulated. Yes. Give one letter, written. I...

Bali-mardana: The carts looked magnificent.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Two people worked the hardest Prabhupāda, Jayānanda and all of his assistants, and Toṣaṇa Kṛṣṇa. He did all of the publicity and advertisement.

Prabhupāda: They should be congratulated.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: These two men, they worked the hardest.

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We can make an airline office by which they'll get a reduced rate, and they can travel here, travel agency, and they can come here very inexpensively to visit you, and we can give full accommodations. If somehow we can keep you here, we will do anything required.

Bali-mardana: At least for a few months. That is all.

Prabhupāda: Which month?

Bali-mardana: During the summertime.

Prabhupāda: July?

Bali-mardana: July, August.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because now it is the rainy season in India.

Bali-mardana: Because we do not want to inconvenience you as far as the weather goes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But I know now, June, even July, August, September now in India is not so good. October is very good in India.

Bali-mardana: September is very pleasant in New York. I think you remember.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: These months are very nice. Somehow, if there was some way... I mean, we would preach so hard. At least sixteen hours a day we could work to serve you. I know I would not want to rest even. There must be some way that we can convince you to stay here.

Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:

Hari-śauri: The one that mentions about Aurobindo...

Bhagavān: I sent you this summer.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bhagavān: Those two...

Hari-śauri: Yes, Prabhupāda's just asking about him.

Bhagavān: Oh, yes, he's waiting to see you.

Prabhupāda: Invite him to come to India.

Jayatīrtha: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: He likes me.

Bhagavān: Oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: He has studied very nicely. Otherwise how he could catch Aurobindo, a doctor of...? In a scholarly way he has attacked him.

Bhagavān: Do you have that in English? I gave you in English.

Hari-śauri: Yes, he got that one. It's in the files.

Prabhupāda: Apramana.(?) Actually, what is this? My Guru Maharaja: "He's a bokāloka." My Guru Maharaja used to say all these men, "All rascals." I was at that time coming him(?). But he said, all, "Everyone rascals." He told me, "Rabindranath Tagore and..., bokāloka."

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

Prabhupāda: If there is rain then there is no scarcity of water. The water comes here. Yes.

George Harrison: But how, when you drain it, then how did you stop it from filling up?

Mukunda: Well, it did fill up in the winter quite a bit, but then in the summer it went back down. It's filled up now—we had to use city water to get it started. But as soon as it rains it goes up about this far.

Jayatīrtha: It's evaporated about six inches since

Mukunda: You don't have a well in your place?

George Harrison: No, just, well, that (indistinct) pond. Originally the lakes all were filled just like this as well as flooding the drains, and when it rained off the house everything would go, and we have a big storage tank, and then there's ball cocks, and underneath that big bank of rhododendrons was like a room built there, which was a storage tank. Then any other water he must have used just from the mains. But these days, you know, they have meters on the mains, so you have to pay for every gallon.

Mukunda: What about getting those water diviners to come and find water?

George Harrison: Well, you can find it I think anywhere if you just bore a hole. So what we did was just bore at the end of the lake. But you have to go down to the depth of the riverbed, and there there's not much water because the rain, it's all chalk and limestone, so the rains.... That's the problem with watering in the summer, if you put water...

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

George Harrison: There's all kinds of strange things written in those newspapers, Dallas, strange things. Particularly about the little children's school.

Hari-śauri: It's because they don't bother to find out before they write things.

Gurudāsa: Just like they said that the children sleep in the basement. That's because it was in the hot summer. Everyone goes to the basement in the summer in Dallas.

Mukunda: The kids don't feel any difficulty at all sleeping on the floor. Children are naturally austere. It's just after you get to a certain age that conditioning affects you.

Devotee: They say they live without furniture. (laughter)

Gurudāsa: They're prejudiced about those things.

Jayatīrtha: They have to eat with their hands. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: You have got the last copy of Seventh Canto?

Hari-śauri: Seven, Three?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Mukunda: There's some books that came out since I brought those last books.

Room Conversation with Professor Francois Chenique -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: There are so many purports you can. (professor reads one purport in French)

Bhūgarbha: That one was all right. (laughter)

Professor Chenique: I was, up to recent time, I was commenting Bhagavad-gītā in the camping. For eleven years every summer I am commenting the Gītā in the camping. I commend very warmly this edition of the Bhagavad-gītā. I think it's the best that you may find in France. But when I'm reading the commentary for my students, I find some sentences which are not good French. I think because it is not a very good style, and I hope it won't be that matter with... (French)

Bhūgarbha: Perhaps Professor Chenique could go over our translations and make any suggestions.

Prabhupāda: I have no objection.

Yogeśvara: Professor Chenique is offering to re-read our publications. To read them and when he sees something he thinks can be corrected, he will make some indication.

Prabhupāda: I have no objection. It is welcome.

Yogeśvara: (devotee enters) This is Hayeśvara. Hayeśvara dāsa, in charge of the Dutch publications, Dutch translator. He has done the Bhagavad-gītā, this edition, in Dutch.

Prabhupāda: Jaya. Thank you very much.

Bhūgarbha: This is the Dutch translation. Professor Chenique made the comment...

Evening Darsana -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: The parents also like it.

Nandarāṇī: The parents love it. The parents are very happy. And they pay some tuition, they pay just fifteen or twenty dollars for a summer session, and their children like it. They come and take prasāda, we have long kīrtanas. I've taught them to do pūjā, some āratik for Lord Jagannātha, and they like it so much. Now whenever their parents have their meetings, or whenever they're meeting, their children bring their Deities and they have their own āratiks there, and they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. It's very nice.

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Nandarāṇī: Yes, the children like it very much. The parents also, because they don't want to take time to teach their children these things. They are so busy in their businesses.

Prabhupāda: They come here for money, at the sacrifice of...

Nandarāṇī: Yes. We have Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deities here, marble, sixteen inch, I think. They've been here for two years. Nava-yauvana got them in India because he thought that soon they would be able to worship them, but we will never have ten brāhmaṇas here, I mean, it will always be just...

Prabhupāda: Not ten brāhmaṇas, at least four, five.

Room Conversation -- August 20, 1976, Hyderabad:

Gargamuni: Good.

Prabhupāda: Not at all.

Gargamuni: Best season for Hill Station is May and June. May and June.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: That's when most people go, in the summer months.

Gargamuni: Very nice. Very warm.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Summer period.

Saurabha: Most people in the rainy season, they all leave that place, many houses. They close it all.

Gargamuni: Yes. In Simla and Nanital everyone leaves after June.

Saurabha: But after the rainy season?

Gargamuni: Yes, in October again they go back.

Prabhupāda: Rainy season is bad on the whole.

Saurabha: That place. But the rest of the year it's excellent.

Prabhupāda: That all right.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But I've told that Mr. Malhotra to come and see you here...

Room Conversation -- August 20, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Aurobindo?

Saurabha: No.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: I think Mahabaleswar is also the summer capital of Mahara... All the government ministers have been meeting there. And this Bhogilal Patel's son, he was saying that he knows all the big people there. Sītā, Rāma, (indistinct) he's the chairman of the local municipality...

Prabhupāda: So we must have a big temple there.

Saurabha: MRA? It's a moral institute. It's very big.

Prabhupāda: MRA?

Saurabha: MRA, yes.

Prabhupāda: Moral...?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Moral Re-armament.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Saurabha: It's just on the other side.

Prabhupāda: So it is still existing?

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Roof Conversation -- January 5, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Now, if I take such dip I may be paralyzed.

Mr. Gupta: Oh, yes. One man had actually died in Kashi Benares by dipping in the Gaṅgā. The water in Gaṅgā is very cold even in summer, sir, huh? Summer also is...

Prabhupāda: Almost. Because it is coming directly from Himalaya. Up to Prayāga, pure, no mixture. And then Yamunā...

Dr. Patel: And Gaṅgā mix together.

Prabhupāda: Mix together. They say Sarasvatī also.

Dr. Patel: Sarasvatī is the subterranean river. They call Sarasvatī everywhere. "Hindu mythological river."

Trivikrama: Mythological?

Dr. Patel: Yes, it is mythological. It is all subterranean water. Here's Sarasvatī. You got Sarasvatī in Gujarat also.

Prabhupāda: No, there is Sarasvatī

Dr. Patel: You get Sarasvatī in Maharastra also, everywhere. (laughs)

Trivikrama: This is Dr. Patel. I heard him speaking two years ago because a tape came. At the time you were, you and Dr. Patel, you were having very heated conversations. But now I see he is subdued. (chuckles)

Room Conversation -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: She is also very expert.

Rāmeśvara: She doesn't like the weather in Los Angeles.

Prabhupāda: Doesn't like? Why? What is wrong there? Los Angeles is very nice. I like Los Angeles.

Rāmeśvara: Only the spring and summer. I think it's in her mind.

Prabhupāda: Los Angeles is very nice. What is this?

Rāmeśvara: This is going to be one of the demigods in one of the exhibits. The painting is very, very expert. I've seen some of the dolls that are painted. They look alive.

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Rāmeśvara: Even in the eyes there is a little moisture as if the eye is...

Prabhupāda: Very natural. So I see the dolls... Intelligent boys, they can do it, educated, intelligent. Very good, nice. So many students are engaged...

Rāmeśvara: This is like pottery. Spinning on the wheel, he is designing the ornaments for the crown. Each doll of the demigods has a different crown. That's how they make them, on a spinning wheel just like a potter.

Prabhupāda: They are devising their own way. Eh?

Rāmeśvara: Sometimes.

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that's a fact.

Rāmeśvara: But his movement is so nonsense, he has women sannyāsīs. Swami Māyādevī (laughter). I've seen a picture of his advertisement. "Join our camp..."

Prabhupāda: The woman sannyāsī, Rāmakrishna Mission has.

Rāmeśvara: He's... What is it? Śivānanda? Divine Light. They advertise, "Come to our summer camp for yoga practice, and our women will teach you." They are swamis.

Gargamuni: His students sued him one time because he preaches brahmācārya.

Prabhupāda: I have seen their sannyāsī kissing woman on the street.

Rāmeśvara: On the street.

Prabhupāda: Yes. He came to see me in London, and I saw in the street there was some woman; he is kissing her. I have seen sannyāsī.

Nanda-kumāra: This Rajneesh makes woman sannyāsīs too.

Prabhupāda: Rajneesh makes husband and wife sannyāsī. That we saw, that, in Poona?

Hari-śauri: Yes. We stayed at one man's house, and his brother was a follower of Rajneesh.

Prabhupāda: Sannyāsī.

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Rāmeśvara: Of course.

Prabhupāda: That will be Satya-yuga. Again the Vedic principles will be established after finishing this Kali-yuga. And that is Satya-yuga. That is going on. Just after summer, there is winter. There is... After winter, there is summer.

Rāmeśvara: But this is extraordinary. Lord Caitanya's movement, the ten thousand years of His movement, that is a special exception for the Kali-yuga.

Prabhupāda: Special for this millennium. But the thing is going on like that, rotating.

Rāmeśvara: But in general, first it gets more and more degraded. Then it's all finished.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Unless there is degradation, there is no question of improvement. So this is going on. This is nature's way, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19), appearance and disappearance.

Rāmeśvara: Now, this Kṛṣṇa conscious government... Will many of the things that are going on in America, like schools and education, teaching people to read and write...

Prabhupāda: They'll have to reform.

Rāmeśvara: That will all continue, but it will be adjusted so that Kṛṣṇa consciousness...

Prabhupāda: Yes, Gurukula, Gurukula education.

Room Conversation -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: At that time Haṁsadūta was there.

Rāmeśvara: No, this is just this last year.

Prabhupāda: Oh, last year.

Rāmeśvara: Just 1976, in the summer, end of summer. From our temple in Toronto and in Montreal they combined to cover. Because there were hundreds of thousands of people, so it was a good opportunity to sell books.

Prabhupāda: Gurudāsa went there, eh? Gurudāsa?

Hari-śauri: No. He went to that Habitat Conference. That was different thing.

Gargamuni: So this man, he saw he was outnumbered, so he said, "All right, let us not talk." (Prabhupāda laughs)

Prabhupāda: A bogus.

Gargamuni: He's Chatterjee. He's Calcutta demon. I think Chatterjee is brāhmaṇa name, but he is talking like demon.

Prabhupāda: The Rāvaṇa was also Chatterjee. He was the son of Kaśyapa, brāhmaṇa. Bankim Babu wrote one book. The name of the book was Chatterjee and Bannerjis. So they're being distributed prasādam? No. (crowd can be heard in background)

Nanda-kumāra: The prasādam is there. I'll see if...

Prabhupāda: No... Somebody talking?

Evening Conversation -- January 25, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: No, no. Then why not sleep, someone, some two?

Gargamuni: No, it's not very... It's not long enough. We are big.

Gurukṛpā: We have enough place without.

Gargamuni: In the summer here we park... You know where I took you on the other side? We brought our vans there and we slept right on the sand. Very nice.

Prabhupāda: Beach. Very nice. Summer it is nice.

Gargamuni: Nice breeze all night.

Prabhupāda: Very nice sleep.

Gargamuni: Yes. Fresh. Right? You were there.

Gurukṛpā: Yes. I was there.

Devotee: We slept outside, under the stars. We cooked out there. We cooked outside.

Prabhupāda: In villages eighty percent, ninety percent people, they sleep outside during summer.

Gargamuni: But here there's no... There was no mosquitoes.

Prabhupāda: Because the wind is strong.

Evening Conversation -- January 25, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: Because the wind is strong.

Gargamuni: Yes. Very strong. And just a light cādara. A light cādara and that's all.

Prabhupāda: Yes. In village also. In summer, night is rather pleasant.

Gargamuni: Yes. Because there is breeze. Chandigarh we were there and Saharanpur. We were sleeping...

Prabhupāda: You can sleep very comfortably in summer. And in the morning you'll feel fresh, refreshed, complete.

Gurukṛpā: I am sleeping comfortable any place.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that depends on practice.

Gurukṛpā: An expert in sleep.

Prabhupāda: Anything. Śarīra nā mahāśaya, yā saha mithaya saha (?) There is a Bengali proverb that the body is very nice. If you practice something, it will tolerate. Jaya. (devotees offer obeisances) (break) And whatever plan he's making, it will be all frustrated. That is the whole history. Big, big emperor, big, big politicians, they have tried. Roman Empire, the Carthagian Empire, Greece Empire, Egyptian Empire, and Mogul Empire, British Empire—all frustrated. It will never be successful. For a few days, hundred, two hundred years or five hundred years, it may go on. So real plan is how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Then everything is successful. Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate (BG 3.27). These rascals, on account of false prestigious position, trying to be happy without God... That is not possible. Throughout the history you study. So many rascals have tried. The Napoleon, the Hitler, the Gandhi, this, that. What they have achieved? Nothing. If we honestly study their lives and activities, what they have achieved? Hm? Do you think they have achieved anything?

Satsvarūpa: No.

Room Conversation -- January 31, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Yogeśvara: Last summer was dry, but it was not so much dangerous for us. And now it is steady.

Prabhupāda: So there must be rainfall. And if we become Kṛṣṇa conscious, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, there will be rainfall.

Yogeśvara: That will be true everywhere we go.

Prabhupāda: There'll be rainfall. And then even barren land will be fertile. They do not know this. They are importing water. These rascals, they continue sinful life and import water. There are oceans and seas. Why (chuckling) you scientist cannot bring the water, make cloud and pour water? Where is that science? What do they say about it?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They are making it.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Again making. These rascals can promise...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Slowly.

Prabhupāda: While slowly, then life will be automatically finished. Instead of seeing success, he'll be... He will die. Sarthe sarthe dal puriya gelun.(?) One man was to go to a fair, so he began to dress himself nicely. So dressing, dressing, in the meantime the fair is finished. (laughs) This is their program. You require water immediately: "All right, after three hundred millions of-water." This is science, all rascals. I use very strong word, but actually... Simply promising, no solution of problems. They do not know even what is what. But big, big words, jugglery of words... They are themselves rascals, and some rascals praise them, "Oh, you are..." Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ (SB 2.3.19). What they can do? Real problem, there is no solution. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). Big, big scientists, why they not make provision that "My dear students, when I shall be dying, you give this pill and I shall again...," or "I am manufacturing another brain like me. You can utilize it"? Where is that science? The scientific brain of Einstein, he could not prepare another brain like his. Hm? Was he able to do that?

Morning Room Conversation -- February 16, 1977, Mayapura:

Hari-śauri: When we were in New York this last summer you said that the spiritual master also has associates who appear along with him to help him in his mission.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa wants His assistants; the spiritual master also requires assistant. Everything is going on under Kṛṣṇa's direct supervision. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10).

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ

hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati

bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni

yantrārūḍhāni māyayā

(BG 18.61)

So Bombay work is going on.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Full-scale work.

Prabhupāda: People come to see even what is going on now.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Many big people come to see. When I was there a very big life member came with his wife. Girirāja is constantly giving tours of the construction, showing, "This will be like this; this will be like this." People are very impressed. There is no such place in all of Bombay.

Prabhupāda: No, no, no.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In all of India there's no such place.

Prabhupāda: No, no.

Room Conversation about BTG the Moon -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Oh. That's nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So I think we will build a replica of the Varṣāṇā here in India.

Prabhupāda: Indians not there?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, they're starting, because the building that we're putting up is a guesthouse. It is very nice facility for Indians to stay there. And during the summer, especially, what they're thinking to do is for two weeks they'll have a program for the Indians to send their children there for school and activities. And the two weeks will end on Janmāṣṭamī. So all the parents of the Indian children can come and spend the weekend at the farm at this guesthouse. Gradually it can develop. Very big population of Indians in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and New York, and they're all within easy reach of this farm, three hours, two hours by car.

Prabhupāda: They have no temple, the Indians?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually they are looking to our society to provide them some spiritual place of worship. They're actually looking to us as priests.

Prabhupāda: American brāhmaṇas. Go-brāhmaṇa. American milk, American brāhmaṇa.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Dhṛṣṭadyumna Mahārāja has organized the life membership program to send the Indian members milk sweets in the mail every week from the farm. Burfi, sandeśa.

Prabhupāda: They also like. And in America, the Indians are there, they are all educated. They're not low-class men.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They read your books carefully.

Evening Darsana -- February 24, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayatīrtha: ...Liverpool-Manchester area.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That will be nice. Take the Ratha-yātrā along—we have this bus program—do publicity with the bus program, and then, at the end of the month, have a Ratha-yātrā somewhere in the city. I think if we keep the small cart, do at least three Ratha-yātrās this summer... Our big car is there?

Jayatīrtha: It's still standing.

Prabhupāda: So that we can move? No, that will not be possible.

Jayatīrtha: No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Could you do big ones in other places?

Jayatīrtha: It may be. We have to investigate.

Hṛdayānanda: There's no place in London where you can do big carts?

Jayatīrtha: It depends. In the Hindu quarters I don't think they could stop us. But in other quarters they would.

Prabhupāda: The Watsford area there are many Hindus.

Evening Darsana -- February 25, 1977, Mayapura:

Bali-mardana: So when you come there the house is waiting. It is very peaceful place for translation, and there's no winter. There is no winter. Seventy-five degrees, wintertime.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Bali-mardana: Very nice.

Prabhupāda: And the summer?

Bali-mardana: Summertime, eighty-five. A little hotter.

Prabhupāda: Not...

Bali-mardana: But it rains. Summertime is rainy season, two or three months rainy season, so it is also...

Prabhupāda: Near the sea?

Bali-mardana: Thirteen miles from ocean.

Rāmeśvara: So that's only fifteen minutes by car.

Prabhupāda: The ocean is on the southern side? Ocean?

Bali-mardana: It is east.

Prabhupāda: East.

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

Hṛdayānanda: Gambling, prostitution, intoxication.

Rāmeśvara: The whole city is managed by criminals. But they have given us permission to sell books in the airport.

Prabhupāda: Oh. That's nice.

Satsvarūpa: Then... Also, Rāmeśvara permission to open in the summer to cover these national parks: Yosemite, Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore. In South America, Pañcadraviḍa Swami permission for the next year to open Monterrey, Mexico; Guatemala, and Panama; Medellin, Columbia. Hṛdayānanda dāsa Gosvāmī, permission for a few cities in Brazil, Bolivia, and Valencia, Venezuela. In Europe, Bhagavān dāsa given permission to open centers in Barcelona, Spain; Lisbon, Portugal; Milan, Italy; and Harikeśa Swami has already started centers in Berlin, Zurich, Helsinki, Hamburg and... Rockshaw?

Harikeśa: Warsaw.(?)

Satsvarūpa: Permission given for Norway, Vienna and Copenhagan for the next year. Brahmānanda Mahārāja has been given permission to turn the following preaching centers into temples with Deities: Mombassa and Mauritius, and permission for a new center in Lagos.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Nigeria?

Hṛdayānanda: Preaching center in Nigeria. Richest African country.

Meeting with Mr. Dwivedi -- April 23, 1977, Bombay:

Mr. Dwivedi: The buildings...

Prabhupāda: Simply it has to be repaired. Climate, I think, it is good, eh? Eh?

Mr. Dwivedi: Climate is fine, particularly of the place where we have our headquarters, very pleasant, in summer especially, very pleasant. We don't have bad nights.

Prabhupāda: Why not go? If we go there, eh? In this time?

Mr. Dwivedi: The... In the way it might not be so pleasant, but when we have reached there it is quite pleasant because we are at a height of about 684 feet, then surrounded by forest. So therefore we don't have this heat wave in that area. And especially when we are at our college building we can telephone not to...

Prabhupāda: So why not go?

Mr. Dwivedi: ...cover with the blanket.

Prabhupāda: So if we go and stay there and organize...

Mr. Dwivedi: I mean, these days it's quite pleasant at our headquarters, but Gwalior, it is very hot.

Prabhupāda: No...

Mr. Dwivedi: Mosquitos also.

Meeting with Mr. Dwivedi -- April 23, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's good, gives a little time for preparing.

Mr. Dwivedi: The weather at our headquarters is always pleasant. Summer, very pleasant. You'll gain in weight.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Mr. Dwivedi: And strange enough, you gain in color also in summer.

Prabhupāda: Attractive.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Said the right thing.

Mr. Dwivedi: Strange enough. And strange enough, this paper that we produce there, the worms do not eat it. And I shall be able to show you some of our record, registered, thirty, forty years old, registered, as good as they were then.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How is the drinking water?

Mr. Dwivedi: Fine. Very fine.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You have well, deep well.

Mr. Dwivedi: Yes, we have got deep wells. And the water of our wells, particularly of the college well, is the best in the area.

Second Meeting with Mr. Dwivedi -- April 24, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Good place.

Mr. Dwivedi: So this is a mile's, hardly, less than a mile's distance from our colony. And the river it is perennial river. We have to just cross it, and it gives good passage, particularly during this season. All seasons practically we go and go over the mountain and the temple. Then, on the roadside itself near our colony, there is a water temple. We call it Jagamandir(?). That is also a beautiful temple. It's like the (indistinct) type. And one story of that temple is always in the water. Even in the summer, when Your Holiness will go there, Your Holiness will find. And that is Kṛṣṇa's temple.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Mr. Dwivedi: And some of the photographs which were shown to me yesterday, I find the ditto in that temple, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa's temple.

Prabhupāda: Good place.

Mr. Dwivedi: This is the... I think I got a view of that temple.

Prabhupāda: Good engagement. So Kārttika, you are coming?

Kārttikeya: If you're not going to Kashmir, I'll come with you.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Kārttikeya: If you are not going to Kashmir for the month of May...

Prabhupāda: No, no.

Morning Talk -- April 25, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, their climate is very nice. So you could accept it. If such things are available, now you'll get appetite and your health will increase.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually it's a fact. I remember that when I was traveling in Bhopal, and even in Bihar also—Bihar is similar climate; Bihar is similar—that I got a much bigger appetite in the summertime.

Prabhupāda: Bhopal is better than Bihar.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Better. Very dry. He is known to everyone for many hundreds of miles around. He's a very well known man because he's...

Prabhupāda: No, he is a sincere worker. Therefore he approached me. From Vṛndāvana, Gwalior is very near, within hundred miles. So Viśvambhara can transfer, come, come there to..., to see. Let us first of all settle up. My, this farming program, theoretically there is no comparison. But practically people are accustomed in different way. To bring them to the program it will take some time. Otherwise my program is assured happiness, happiness assurance, if they get... Have your own food grown. Keep cows. Have your own crops. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That goes for all over the world.

Evening Darsana -- May 15, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: So we are talking of who requires a guru. Guru is not a fashion. (loud yelling outside) Hm? What is that?

Indian man (2): Shouting by some people.

Indian man (1): I think all the educational institutions are closed for summer vacation. Therefore many students and these people may have come, and they this cause, or something like that. I'm not sure, but that is what I guess.

Prabhupāda: They have also manufactured. (laughter) This is going on. So Vedic injunction is tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Guru is required to understand tad-vijñānam, transcendental science, not for any material understanding. Material understanding, there are so many chemists, (sic:) physists and many other department of... When we speak of guru, it means beyond this material world. For that purpose we require guru. So... Just like now it is being very much advertised that "You execute meditation. Your mind will be strong. Your health will be strong." That means from material point. But keeping your health strong, the medical science is there and so many other thing. But people are taking advantage of this yoga system. The śāstra says that dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). He is yogi who is meditating and mind is fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise it is material. Material things does not require... Maybe a gymnastic, muṣṭika.

Indian man (1): Not for that.

Discussions -- May 20-22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So let it go on like that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually—of course you don't want it—but if that other one is also turned on the whole bottom floor will be very cool. And the kus(?), when they put that in—all these windows will have kus—then you will not know that you are in summer season. In fact, you won't even want to go upstairs at night. It'll be so cool down here. Of course, upstairs is good because open air.

Prabhupāda: The nail cutter, can you...? You know how to cut?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I don't know how to use the tool that you use. The kind I use is a different thing.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, it clips, and I think you use a knife of some kind.

Prabhupāda: No. You have got that clip?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, I have a clipper.

Prabhupāda: That will be...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: When do you want it done?

Prabhupāda: Oh, any time.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: After you wake up? Take rest now.

Morning Conversation -- May 29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Shaven hair. So why you should be victimized by keeping hair? What victory you will gain? Conquer over the whole world, Roman Empire, by keeping hair? Hippie mentality, that's all. That is within the core of the heart. As soon as get some opportunity... Just like during summer season the field appears to be dried up. And as soon as there is some rain, oh, it is green, immediately green. So things are already there. Hm? Is it not?

Hari-śauri: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Now you see to the field. They're all dry. But as soon as there will be rain in the village, all green. So the seeds are there, hippie seeds. As soon as there is some opportunity, come out, green: "Yes, I am beautiful. Come on." But in the court room they never addressed. Judge never asked that "Why you are shaven-headed?" Was there any question like that?

Hari-śauri: Actually, when he first went to court, they were wondering why he had hair.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Hari-śauri: When Ādi-keśava went to court the first time...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: ...he had suit and hair, and they wondered why he was dressed like that.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Then cheater.

Discussions -- June 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...this summer and he can come. We can provide free lodging and...

Prabhupāda: Yes, everyone should be provided free lodging.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We can invite about two hundred guests and have a week-long conference.

Prabhupāda: If they voluntarily give contribution, that's all right. Otherwise we shall provide. We have got guesthouse. It is very nice. Even they do not pay, we shall pay.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We can make scientific propaganda. And we can also do the same thing in Bombay. Bombay will be bigger.

Prabhupāda: Therefore you have been trained up, (chuckles) for this purpose. (break)

Girirāja: So we drafted a will, including the trust for the properties of India and some of the other...

Prabhupāda: Will? Will, there will be direction that "Management should be done like this." That's all.

Girirāja: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Nobody can say in court case that "This temple will be in charge of this person, this temple..."

Rāmeśvara: Yes, just like you said.

Girirāja: So we've included those points and the points in your brief will. Should I read it?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- June 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: And in summer shut off.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yeah. We have... We hired a man. There was man working there for four years. They were paying six hundred dollars. So we kept him for the first year until... We had one man stay with him. We have one devotee, he's a plumber. He's very good man. And he learned from him everything about the boiler for one year. And then we let that man go, and we have our own man running it. And there has to be a man twenty-four hours a day, sitting with the boiler.

Prabhupāda: That means you have to change.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, we have a change. One man is expert. He knows how to run. The other men, they simply watch the gauges to see that... Because the gauges indicate that's everything's okay. If anything ever goes wrong, then they call that man. He's a maintenance man. He's very good.

Prabhupāda: So where do they supply oil?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oil? There are companies that sell you oil. I don't know what the rate is.

Prabhupāda: What is that oil? Petrol?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's crude... It's something like crude oil, I think. I'm not sure, Prabhupāda. They just call it oil.

Prabhupāda: Not vegetable oil.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, no. It's a crude type of oil, brown.

Prabhupāda: Grease.

Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- June 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Everywhere, in India also.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's nothing like your books, Śrīla Prabhupāda, anywhere. There's no such thing like that. And now they're gracing the homes of millions and millions of people's shelves. (break)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...the professors there. And I talked with the head of the Botany Department this morning in Agra, Life Sciences. School is... It's a summer vacation, holiday, but we went to his home, and I started speaking about our conference.

Prabhupāda: (indistinct)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: And I requested him whether he's interested in this type of conference. And I also started talking about evolution. So he told me that it's already proven that life comes from chemicals. Then I told him that "How do you know?" He told me what he had understood, but he couldn't tell anything. And I told him that "These are all stories. So you think that whatever knowledge is coming from the West, the Western countries, the United States, is the ultimate. It's written in books, and you never think what is written in the Gītā, in Bhagavad-gītā." He's also a brāhmaṇa. He's a tri-vedi. So I started telling that "These are all fairy tale stories, and we'd like to prove that whatever science knows so far, it's all wrong." So he was very interested in what I said, (Prabhupāda chuckles) and he said that he's very interested to take part in our conference, and he's coming. So they can bring many scientists from Agra to participate in the conference. So...

Girirāja: Is there many of them?

Showing of Planetary Sketches -- June 28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Śivaloka? Śivaloka?

Bhakti-Prema: Yes, it is not actually Śivaloka, but residence of Lord Śiva.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: One of his... He described it that like during the summertime you go to a hill station. Each demigod has their place where they also go.

Bhakti-Prema: Śivaloka is different, but Lord Śiva is...

Prabhupāda: Summer residence.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Why not? If a man can have summer residence, Lord Śiva...

Bhakti-Prema: Actual residence is in Satyaloka. Brahmā is there in Satyaloka. That means 2,200,000,000 miles away from sun planet.

Prabhupāda: That... Then it is universe.

Bhakti-Prema: Yes, in the universe. It is very high.

Prabhupāda: And where is that cakra?

Bhakti-Prema: Cakra?

Showing of Planetary Sketches -- June 28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: But you said Brahmaloka.

Bhakti-Prema: Brahmapurī.

Prabhupāda: Brahmapurī, that.

Bhakti-Prema: Summer residence.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The middle part.

Bhakti-Prema: And then there are eight different residences of different loka-pālas, Indra, Agni, Varuṇa...

Prabhupāda: Summer residence.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, on top of Meru, like a hill station. (laughter)

Bhakti-Prema: You won't find many even like a (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: And they simply find rocks and sand. How nonsense...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because that's all there is in Arizona.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) That is... Do it nicely, carefully.

Bhakti-Prema: So scientists cannot try to realize the height of this mountain...

Prabhupāda: Not advised.

Visit From Allopathic Doctor -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Doctor: It is mainly a question of improving the appetite. And appetite will improve by appetizers. By appetizers I mean that whatever he has been liking before. The fruits or things should be as he likens. (Bengali) Salt is also necessary for body. Sugar is necessary for body. So even a complete salt-free diet for very long period will produce this sort of weakness, because there is always perspiration in summer, and salt, there's loss of salt also from the body. In very small quantity that will improve appetite.

Upendra: In the mung water there can be salt.

Dr. Kapoor: Vegetable juice.

Doctor: That much is sufficient. There are three medicines.

Dr. Kapoor: Three syrups. One tablespoonful of each. Mix them. Mix it up.

Doctor: No, it will bother. Better to take just one medicine and then after five minutes another medicine. So if all the three are taken together it will not be harm in mixing them. To mix them whole process once in morning, once in evening, after some food.

Upendra: After some intake, yes.

Dr. Kapoor: After some juice or whatever he takes.

Upendra: So that means these three medicines three times a day?

Dr. Kapoor: Two times, after meals. After meals. Mix them up, the three syrups, mix them up, one tablespoonful each. And give three tablespoonfuls after meals, twice.

Upendra: How soon after meal?

Doctor: Just along with meal. While making up with it. Unless he feels tired, then of course, you can give it separately. Otherwise just along with it, fruit juice.

Dr. Kapoor: And does he take vegetable juice?

Upendra: No.

Doctor: Something must be given of his liking.

Upendra: But Prabhupāda hasn't got any taste.

Prabhupāda: Liking... (Bengali)

Room Conversation -- October 22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: I had a similar story. It is my own personal experience. In 1974 I came here in India. I got malaria in the United States in summer 1975. Then temperature was very high. I went to the Baptist Hospital in Atlanta. They thought it was a virus, viral infection. They couldn't diagnose. Then they gave some medicine, and then I went. But it started again the following day, and I went to another doctor. He could not diagnose. So they gave me glucose injection, a big bottle, thinking it was a strange viral infection. So about six, seven doctors, they couldn't diagnose for three-four days. Then one day there was a doctor who came from Vietnam, he had some experience in tropical disease. So he thought it might be malarial fever. Then, after that, I was surrounded by many doctors thinking that it was a strange disease before, but they diagnosed... But it was not right. They did all the wrong medicine, thinking it was a viral infection.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: This is in America just two years ago.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I told you the story of my father recently, Śrīla Prabhupāda, how he had the arthritis in the hip, so they gave him a new hip. Then it moved to the other hip, and they replaced the other hip. So after eight weeks he was in bed in the hospital, and then they said, "Now you can try to walk." So they gave him crutches, and they stood him up, and after eight weeks of all these operations, as soon as he stood up he had a heart attack and died right on the spot. They were very sure. "Now you're all right," they told him.

Devotee: My great-uncle, he had tonsillitis, so he went to a friend who was a doctor, and the friend said, "That's all right. We'll operate, and I will not charge you anything." So he went into the hospital, and in the operation the doctor dropped a scalpel, and after that—he was very big, and he became very small, never could eat again. (break)

Prabhupāda: No protection.

Room Conversation -- October 24, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They spoke with Mr. Bangor, B. N. Bangor. He didn't know anybody. He spoke with Mr. Bajoriya. He also did not know anybody. They had not yet spoken with Mr. Jalan. Our feeling was that to bring a kavirāja, Rāmānuja kavirāja, is not difficult from wherever we are, whether we're here or anywhere. There are many kavirājas. Whether we have to get a local one or whether we have to go somewhere to bring one, they can be brought. Our one consideration was... (break) Just like this morning, it's getting cold in the morning, and we felt that, for example, in this summer, during the rainy season it rained very much—more than usual. So the climate is not completely predictable in this Kali-yuga. So it's getting very cold in the mornings. Now, if suddenly it gets much colder, to travel in the train would be very difficult, because these trains are hard. You can't keep them warm. They don't have heat in them. So we don't feel it's very safe to wait unduly. Our opinion was that so far as your health or strength goes, it's not going to increase significantly in one or two weeks. Even when you take this makara-dhvaja, it will take time to gradually get back your strength. So waiting is not so much for the purpose of gaining back strength. And the climate is working against us because it's getting colder if we wait. One of the main reasons to go that Your Divine Grace had was to get into a nice climate, fresh air, open-air atmosphere. So our feeling is that as far as a kavirāja goes, now we must find a Rāmānuja kavirāja. Now, if we cannot find one in Calcutta, then our feeling is let us find one somewhere else and bring him to Māyāpur. In other words, it doesn't have to be that he's living in Calcutta. Kavirājas are all over India. There is one... Who that person, Bhavānanda?

Bhavānanda: The head pūjārī at Śrī Raṅgam temple in South India. He is coming in the family of Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī. He is very friendly with our society, and Acyutānanda and Yaśodā-nandana Swamis, they stayed with him at his house...

Prabhupāda: Hm!

Room Conversation -- November 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Pañca-draviḍa: Maybe we could stay overnight.

Lokanātha: When we are there, out, we'll decide.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: He can't come back tomorrow night.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's helpful for the devotees to know, just so they can bring something to wrap around when it gets to be nighttime. It's not the middle of the summer, you know. It is...

Lokanātha: We have two, three vehicles here.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I'm saying it's something that should be considered now, and not when we get there. You said when we get there we'll see.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We should make all the plans complete.

Prabhupāda: That you consider.

Bhavānanda: We should go with plans for staying overnight.

Prabhupāda: Why you are asking me?

Lokanātha: I think we'll have to stay there.

Haṁsadūta: Yeah, definitely.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We definitely have to stay there.