Sweet (Conversations 1976 - 1977)

Expressions researched:
"sweet" |"sweetened" |"sweetening" |"sweeter" |"sweetest" |"sweethearts" |"sweetly" |"sweetness" |"sweetpea" |"sweetrice" |"sweets"

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Nellore:

Prabhupāda: Shallow water, when it is dried by the sunshine they get salt. Evaporation is done by sunshine, and they get the salt. Practically they get the salt without any cost, and whatever they get, money, they are satisfied.

Acyutānanda: Why is the sea salty? (break) Science can't.... They have no answer.

Mahāmṣa: Sweet water is falling, and it is becoming salty.

Prabhupāda: Salt means earth. Earth. So in the water there is earth. Bhumir āpaḥ. So within the water there is earth. And within the fire there is water. And within the air there is fire. Sukṣmaṁ to sthūla. From sky to land. These are the different transformation stages. (break) Nehru? Nehru. (break) Eat rice only?

Indian man: Yes, rice only. No capātis.

Morning Walk -- January 16, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Oh. This is our land?

Jayapatāka: No, this is our night guardsman.

Prabhupāda: (break) ...the gūr?

Jayapatāka: We use it the whole year for the sweetening in the different preparations of prasāda.

Prabhupāda: We use ourself.

Jayapatāka: Yes. We don't...

Prabhupāda: Sell.

Jayapatāka: No. We don't have surplus yet.

Prabhupāda: (break) You also? (laughter)

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Like that.

Bhavānanda: Just like in Navadvīpa.

Harikeśa: They have that near the Gopīnātha temple in Vṛndāvana. Everybody goes there. That is very big.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We should make a nice sweet, sweetmeats also.

Harikeśa: Lugloos is big there. Those lugloos.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We should make many types of sweetmeats. There should be so many preparations, all offered to the Deity. People can purchase mahā-prasādam. It will be very big. When you read in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, every time Caitanya Mahāprabhu's devotees are purchasing prasādam from Jagannātha temple, all the time.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the system.

Morning Walk -- February 19, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: By chance. (laughter)

Guru-kṛpā: Different chance creates different flavors.

Acyutānanda: They have scientists have analyzed. All smells come in seven or eight basic smells: burnt, sweet, bitter... So they said, "A rose is seven sweet, two burnt and one bitter." So they take the chemicals, and it doesn't smell like a rose. They put the seven sweet and the one burnt, and... And it doesn't smell rose. But just the statement that they are no longer chemicals...

Guru-kṛpā: But we can artificially create with our chemicals the smell of the rose.

Sudāmā: Just like now they have created flowers, plastic flowers that give scent.

Guru-kṛpā: Yeah, sure.

Acyutānanda: But they have taken material from the already created, and here's without factory it's made.

Prabhupāda: If you ask for an artist to...

Acyutānanda: But there's no seed in the plastic flower, no seeds to create more.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.

Morning Walk -- March 5, 1976, Mayapur:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: ...for getting a big display inside. And I got him to agree to only seventeen point five percent commission, which is very reasonable.

Prabhupāda: All right. Let them send. (break) ...is compared with a rose flower without flavor. Man with education is compared with the koi. (cuckoo bird) Kokilānāṁ svaro rūpam. The bird, koi, is very black, but his sound, sweet, so sweet, everyone likes. Kokilānām svaro-rūpaṁ vidyā-rūpaṁ ku-rūpanam, nārī-rūpaṁ pati-vrataḥ. And woman's beauty is how she is chaste and devoted to the husband. That is beauty, not personal beauty. Vidyā-rūpaṁ ku-rūpanam. And education is the beauty for the brain. And the beauty of the koi is her sweet voice. Kṣamā-rūpaṁ tapasvinaḥ. And those who are saintly person, they should be simply forgiving. That is their beauty.

Morning Walk -- March 19, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Ādi-puruṣam. Govindam ādi-puruṣam, that puruṣa. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. We are worshiping that supreme and original person. And the women are declaring, "independent." They are begging door to door to a man, "Please give me shelter. Give me a child," and they're independent. One American woman, was.... She was speaking that "In India the woman are treated as slave. We don't want." So I told her that it is better to become slave of one person than to slave of become hundreds. (laughter) The woman must become a slave. So instead of becoming slaves of so many persons, it is better to remain satisfied, a slave of one person. So she was stopped. She was the secretary of that Dr. Miśra. You know that? And our Vedic civilization says, narī-rūpaṁ pati-vratam: "The woman is beautiful when she remains as a slave to the husband." That is the beauty, not the personal beauty. How much she has learned to remain as a slave to the husband, that is Vedic civilization. Kokilānāṁ svaro rūpam. The cuckoo, it is black bird, but why people love it? Because of the sweet voice. Kokilānāṁ svaro rūpaṁ vidyā-rūpaṁ kurūpaṇam. A man may be ugly, black, but if he's learned, everyone will respect him. And narī-rūpaṁ pati-vratam. And the beauty of woman is how much she is devoted and obedient to the husband. So it is very difficult.

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Incense? No. Why intoxication?

Mr. Dixon: I don't know.

Prabhupāda: Incense keeps the atmosphere very nice, fresh.

Mr. Dixon: Very sweet-smelling.

Guru-kṛpā: This flower is not intoxicating.

Prabhupāda: It is just like in your country, what is that fragrance? Scent. Scent.

Guru-kṛpā: Perfume?

Prabhupāda: Perfume is very popular.

Mr. Dixon: But I would have thought that in some ways it might have perform the same sort of function for some people as, say, smoking some cigarettes performs for others.

Prabhupāda: No.

Mr. Dixon: In other words, it...

Prabhupāda: That depends on the particular man, what kind of flavor he wants. That is another thing. But there are different varieties of incense. Generally we use rose flavor, sandalwood flavor. We offer to the Deity room to keep the atmosphere very favorable. Originally in India it was dhūpa. They used to put in the fire some flavored hulls, and it was very nice. That has been transferred into now stick incense.

Garden Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: So, what is the next verse?

Hṛdayānanda:

ko nv artha-tṛṣṇāṁ visṛjet

prāṇebhyo 'pi ya īpsitaḥ

yaṁ krīṇāty asubhiḥ preṣṭhais

taskaraḥ sevako vaṇik

"Money is so dear that one conceives of money as being sweeter than honey. Therefore, who can give up the desire to accumulate money, especially in household life? Thieves, professional servants, soldiers and merchants try to acquire money even..."

Prabhupāda: Here is a very nice example. Soldiers. They know "We are going to give up our life." And what for? "Money." (laughs) They are prepared to give up life for money. Money is so sweeter than honey. (laughs) And thieves, they go at night for burglary. He knows that "If I trespass anyone's house, he can kill me immediately." But still he takes the risk for money. That is all explained here. What is the verse?

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.

Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Panwanna(?), puṣpānna, kijeranna(?), so many things. What is that? If you kill the cow you get the meat only one time. But if you allow the cow to live and take milk, and from milk you can make hundreds and thousands of preparations. That is enjoyment, real enjoyment. In Delhi, there are shops, very respectable shops. One side salt, and one side sweet. But the salt side or sweet side, they're all based on ghee. This preparation, dahibarā, so nice. Combination of grain and yogurt. So introduce this. They do not know. It is a new type of civilization we are trying to introduce for the benefit of the human society. They do not know it. Crude civilization. Primitive. Kill an animal and eat. And when you are civilized, you are supposed to know so many things; why should you kill the animal? You utilize the animal. This milk is taking the blood without killing. That is humanity. You are eating beef because of the blood. So if you take the blood in a different way, you get the same benefit. And if you are still ambitious to eat the meat, flesh, just wait, it will die, you take at that time. Why so hurry? Everyone will die, there is no doubt about it. So you take the dead body and eat. Why do they not?

Interview with Kathy Kerr Reporter from The Star -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Kathy Kerr: Ah. Very well. Okay, I understand that this is an extension of Hindu religion. Is that not correct? No, it's not. Does it have any basic tenets of the Hindu religion?

Prabhupāda: There is no such word as Hindu religion. You do not know. There is no such word as Hindu religion, at least in the Vedas. The religion is translated into Sanskrit as "characteristic." Religion is not a kind of faith. Just like chemical composition. Sugar is sweet—that is religion. Sugar must be sweet. Sugar cannot be pungent. Or chili must be pungent. If chili is sweet, we reject it, and sugar is pungent, you reject it. Similarly, our Vedic system is to train the human being to the ultimate goal of his life. That system is called varṇāśrama-dharma, gradually training the person how to become perfect human being and understand the goal of his life. That is our activity. It is not meant for any particular sect or particular nation. No. It is meant for the whole human society, how to make them perfect in the goal of his life.

Interview with Kathy Kerr Reporter from The Star -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Kathy Kerr: Do you consider that going..., your movement then is basically more of an educational movement than a religious movement.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Educational. It is religious, but it is not a man-made religious. Our idea.... I have already explained that our idea of religion means that like the sugar, it must be sweet. It is not that in Europe sugar is not sweet, in India it is sweet. Sugar, wherever it is, it is sweet. Similarly, the soul, the spirit soul is the same everywhere. So he, the spirit soul, is now embodied within this material body, and he is suffering on account of this material body. So we are teaching everyone how to get out of this material body and stay in his original, spiritual body. This is our real movement. This is another way..., another name is liberation. We are suffering within this body. Our suffering means on account of this body. So if there is such science how to continue our life without changing body, that science we are teaching. It is purely educational.

Garden Conversation -- June 23, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Devotee (3): So, Śrīla Prabhupāda, if at this platform we are not yet..., we are still desiring to depart from Kṛṣṇa's service and enjoy, then we are not, we have not yet tasted devotional service, what is it that we have tasted that is keeping us temporarily connected to Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: That is the Vedic injunction: You keep yourself connected with Kṛṣṇa, then you will develop the taste. Just like a jaundice patient does not taste sugar as sweet, but if he continues to take sugar candy, then he will have the real taste for sugar candy, sweet, not bitter. So he has to continue to eat sugar candy continually. Śravaṇam, kīrtanam. Then he'll have the taste.

Room Conversation -- June 28, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Hari-śauri: Rascal.

Prabhupāda: God is always prepared to talk with us in talking, but we don't... He talks through devotee, He talks through scripture—who is caring for that? Sādhu-śāstra. God is talking through sādhu. (break) Sometimes it is sweet; sometimes it is sour. Why?

Hari-śauri: Just the oranges. They have such a big variety.

Prabhupāda: Next, the third part, how many pages?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The third part of Seventh Canto?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation After Film -- June 28, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Kīrtanānanda: Our community is gaining in opulence.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Dhānyena dhanavān. If you have got grain, then you are rich. And if you have got cows, then you are rich. This is the standard of Vedic richness. Dhānyena dhanavān gavayo dhanavān. They don't say, "Keep some papers and you become rich." All rascal, one thousand dollar I promise to pay, a piece of paper. Practical, we have got enough food grains. We have got enough... That is richness. What is use of paper? Even gold you have got, you have to exchange. And if you have grain, immediate food. Just boil with milk, and it is nectarean, param anna, immediately. Take some wood collected from the wood and have fire, put the milk and the grains-oḥ, you'll get so nice food, nutritious, full of vitamin, and so easily made. It is practical. So tasteful, so nutritious, and don't require. If you simply boil little milk and little grain, whole day, so much sweet rice, you take-bas. You don't require any more. And if you add little apples and fruits, oh, it is heavenly. Your whole day free from any food anxiety, and you can work. And you can work. You can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Make this ideal life here. America has got good potency. We have got so much land here. We can have hundreds of New Vrindabans or farms like that. And people will be happy. And invite all the world, "Please come and live with us. Why you are suffering congestion, overpopulation? Welcome here. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." Make that. Indian culture and American strength make the whole world happy. That logic even I have given? Andha-paṅgu?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Blind and lame.

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

Prabhupāda: Come on. Jaya. (pause) You take. That's all. What is this?

Devotee: Kiwi from New Zealand. (Prabhupāda is eating during the conversation)

Vipina: Those are Narottama's rasagullās over there. Narottama's rasagullā.

Hari-śauri: He's learned how to make Indian sweets very expertly. He was making them in Detroit.

Prabhupāda: Hmm. Where he is going now?

Hari-śauri: Ready to arrange the luggage.

Vipina: This is real prasādam distribution.

Prabhupāda: Very nice.

Vipina: Those are melons, Prabhupāda. Watermelons, sweet melons, they are the best.

Prabhupāda: I take America as my fatherland. India is motherland, and here is fatherland. (laughs) So many fathers. My father was very affectionate to me. He would do everything for me. I lost one father, I have got so many fathers.

Conversation with Prof. Saligram and Dr. Sukla -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Too fallen to follow the regulative principles is like saying a diseased man is too diseased to take medicine. So it's actually in our own self interest. We have to become enlightened, to understand what our real interest is. Yajña vai viṣṇu. Now we are thinking that our real interest is to gratify the senses. This is perishable. When we come to the understanding of ātmā, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, then we understand that our real self interest is to follow these regulative principles. As Prabhupāda said, in the beginning it may be painful, undoubtedly, because we are, for so many lifetimes addicted to sense gratification, but gradually more and more ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), when the heart becomes cleansed from the dirty misidentification with this gross and subtle material body, gradually more and more it becomes favorable (indistinct). Kṛṣṇa says, "Be happy by this sacrifice." Therefore the sacrifice must be joy-producing, ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. Simply that because we're presently in diseased condition, it may appear to be displeasing. Prabhupāda gives the example of someone who has jaundice. In the jaundice state, when you take sugar it appears very bitter. The perception is very bitter. But everyone knows that sugar is sweet. So in the same way, the regulative principles are naturally painful for someone who is irregular. For.... Engaged in bodily identification of life. But gradually it becomes more and more pleasing.

Prabhupāda: Practical.

Devotee: When we have Kṛṣṇa conscious (indistinct) struggling for(indistinct). It has to be a struggle.

Prabhupāda: What is struggle? Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, dance and take prasādam. (devotee cheers)

Prabhupāda: Is that struggle? You don't want to take it. Say that. Where is struggle? To take prasādam, nice prasādam, is struggle? (laughs)

Morning Walk -- July 9, 1976, Washington D.C.:

Prabhupāda: No, I will say, "because I'm chanting you, you are my servant, you have brought the pill. (laughter) Because I am chanting, therefore Kṛṣṇa has sent the pill through you."

Rūpānuga: "You're simply working."

Prabhupāda: "You're simply working as my servant, that's all."

Rūpānuga: They can make.... We'll chant and dance and they can make the car to take us on kīrtana, make the pills so we can keep healthy.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The best pill is this hari-nāma.

Rūpānuga: Actually, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are the great physician. Everyone should come under your treatment. They're taking this hari-nāma as a bitter pill. But we are tasting it now, and after chanting and chanting, we're tasting, it's becoming sweeter and sweeter.

Prabhupāda: Hmm. This is all of us?

Devotees: Oh, yes. (end)

Morning Walk -- July 18, 1976, New York:

Rāmeśvara: (break) ...were just amazed at the dancing of Lord Caitanya. How Lord Jagannātha would stop His car just to see. It says that Lord Jagannātha is maintaining the whole universe, so who can carry Him? Only by His sweet will for His own pastimes can He be moved. And the cart that moves Him is as tall as Mount Sumeru.

Prabhupāda: Potamkin..., and what was that in Washington, Potomyer?

Devotees: Potomac.

Rāmeśvara: And you wrote that just like the cart of Jagannātha is compared to Mount Sumeru, similarly, in London they were comparing it to that statue of Lord Nelson.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Lord Nelson's column.

Rāmeśvara: Lord Nelson's column.

Prabhupāda: Rival to Nelson. They published, Guardian.

Rāmeśvara: The Guardian, yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Good newspaper.

Prabhupāda: It has become against.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Maybe because...

Prabhupāda: It is political.

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

Prabhupāda: How many preparations were there?

Bali-mardana: Very hard to estimate.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How many preparations in the feast? There was halavā, sabji, very good sabji by Ṛṣi Kumāra, rice, sweet, lemonade, popper-six preps. And puri, seven preps.

Prabhupāda: Very nice. Very good preps, sumptuous.

Bali-mardana: Oh, yes. Besides that, we had booths with watermelon, lassi and burfi.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Lassi was selling very big. We could not supply it fast enough.

Bali-mardana: We could not... All the time, those booths, there was a line.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because this was our first year, we were not expecting such a big turnout, so we did not have sufficient stands to meet everybody's needs.

Prabhupāda: And the police officer has approved.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, the policemen sat down at the end of the park later on.

Prabhupāda: You gave them prasādam?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I don't know.

Morning Walk -- July 19, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They were also selling lassi and lemonade. It was very big.

Bali-mardana: Burfi and lugloos, sweets, everything.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bali-mardana's wife, Taittirīya devī, she was in charge of the sweet table. So she had about four or five sweets, they were all the same, but she made them somehow look different. So everyone was saying, "Oh, which one is which?" And she would say "Each one is different. You have to take one of every one." But they were all the same. So people had to buy two and three kinds. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: She is good saleswoman.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: She is very good. And Tripurāri, I watched him in action. One person came up and said "I want a Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.2." So he looked and said "We have 2.1.," and he said "I want 2." So he said "This is very close. 2.1 and 2.2 are very close to each other, and it's all absolute." In this way he made the man take one.

Prabhupāda: No, actually that is a fact. There is no difference, 2.2 and 1.

Bali-mardana: And then we had a life membership table with Gajahanta and Śravaṇānanda. The Indians were all coming, and there were chairs for them to sit down, and they were preaching to them life membership.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And they had..., you know that little portable movie screen, you may have seen, it comes in an attache case.

Hari-śauri: Like Gargamuni's, he showed you in Māyāpur.

Prabhupāda: Ah.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: That's a fact, that I say always.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "But the Kṛṣṇa people were not entirely free of harassment. Along the parade route three men, including one who said he was an Evangelical Christian minister, jeered at the parade and called on parade watchers to become Christians. 'Idol worship. This is absolutely ridiculous. Read the Bible,' cried one man who would identify himself only as a normal Christian. There was a brief scuffle when an Indian immigrant tried to tear a large placard out of the hands of another heckler. The placard read 'Turn or Burn.' The police broke things up but made no arrests. 'They are insulting us,' said the Kṛṣṇa follower who declined to identify himself. 'I'm a devotee of Kṛṣṇa and Christ. These people who are doing this in the name of Christ are criminals.' " Very strong statement. "Except for the hecklers, however, the parade was generally very well received by passersby, who enjoyed the three multi-hued floats, the sun, and the chanting and dancing of the young Kṛṣṇa marchers. 'I think it's great,' said Tyrone Adams of Philadelphia, who was paying a visit to his home town of Inglewood, New Jersey. 'I'm not religious, but they're all happy and dancing, and that is what life is all about.' " Even a nonreligious person said that. "In Washington Square a crowd of about three thousand, many of whom were there as part of the normal Sunday afternoon activities, heard Swami Prabhupāda deliver a lecture. Later the crowd was served a free vegetarian feast. Along the side, Kṛṣṇa followers sold Indian sweets, Kṛṣṇa scriptures, and what one speaker described as 'transcendental paraphernalia.' "

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, it's a good article. For the Times especially it's good, because they are very conservative.

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

Prabhupāda: Sometimes they are surprised how one man can write so many books, but it is Kṛṣṇa's grace. Otherwise not possible. Human being, it is not possible.

Mukunda: That one series of books I brought you, the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Hari-śauri? There is no sweet melon.

Mukunda: And every single word is written by hand, five hundred years ago.

Prabhupāda: You are in the same house?

George Harrison: Hm? Henley.

Prabhupāda: Henley, yes. Very nice house.

George Harrison: Hm, very nice. I work from the house. I have a studio, recording studio in the house. So I don't have to go to London anymore.

Prabhupāda: Oh, you have all arrangement there. That's very nice. How many acres?

George Harrison: It's about thirty-five.

Prabhupāda: Oh, very good area.

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

Prabhupāda: Pradyumna, give him little, this one here.

George Harrison: Oh, no, no. Please, no more. I'm really full. I won't have to eat for a few days. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Sweets.

George Harrison: Very well.

Prabhupāda: Sweet will help you digest. Don't give three—at least four.

George Harrison: I won't be able to eat much more.

Prabhupāda: Three is given to the enemy. According to our Indian system, if you give somebody three, that means he is enemy.

George Harrison: Oh, really? I always liked the number three.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) You must give at least four.

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

Prabhupāda: And you have got many thousands followers.

George Harrison: It's nice, but I think we all...

Prabhupāda: Anyway, you go on chanting. That will influence. There is a poetry written by, I think in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Rupa Gosvāmī is wondering, "I do not know what sweetness there is in these two words, Kṛṣ-ṇa."

Gurudāsa: The verse starts with priya, "dear."

Prabhupāda: Varna-dvayī. You remember this verse? No jane, "What kind of nectar it is there in these two words, Kṛṣ-ṇa?" You have seen Deity today? No, it was closed.

George Harrison: It was closed.

Jayatīrtha: It's open again now.

Prabhupāda: When it is open?

Jayatīrtha: It's open now, the ārati is going on.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Sometimes you can come and stay here, see the ārati, at least one day, whole program, how they are doing. What is the program whole day?

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

Prabhupāda: Ah, kṛṣṇeti varṇa-dvayī.

Gurudāsa: Ah, yes. "I wish I had ten thousand ears to hear the sweet sound of Kṛṣṇa, and ten thousand tongues to say it."

George Harrison: So this isn't..., I didn't get this one?

Mukunda: Not yet, no. That's latest. It just came out.

George Harrison: Seventh Canto, Part Three.

Hari-śauri: They bring the first two copies to Śrīla Prabhupāda wherever he is. This we got in New York just before we left.

Gurudāsa: It's right off the press.

Prabhupāda: These pictures are made by our boys.

George Harrison: Yes, beautiful.

Prabhupāda: They are learning more and more.

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

Prabhupāda: Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya.

George Harrison: And he asked, this person said to me, "You should make it into a song in English." So I wrote English verses, and in each chorus it as "jaya kṛṣṇa, jaya kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa, jaya kṛṣṇa, jaya śrī kṛṣṇa; jaya rādhe, jaya rādhe, rādhe, jaya rādhe, jaya śrī rādhe." I don't know, did you..., if you heard that song. It was on that "Extra Texture"—you know that one? "He who..." I wrote the English words. "He whose eyes have seen what our lives have been, and who we really are—it is He, jaya śrī kṛṣṇa." And then it has a chorus. "He whose sweetness flows to any one of those that cares to look His way, see His smile, jaya śrī rādhe," then the chorus again.

Mukunda: This is on George's new record.

George Harrison: No, it was last year. And "He who is complete, three worlds at His feet, cause of every star, it is He, jaya śrī kṛṣṇa." It's a nice song. But I took the old, the tune that we sang in Vṛndāvana, and just make slightly different, you know, with chords, chord patterns.

Prabhupāda: So in your next record, you can give this. (laughter)

Arrival at Farm -- July 29, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Bhagavān: These are all smelling flowers. They're very sweet, like gardenia.

Prabhupāda: Oh, developed(?) in our garden.

Bhagavān: No, we bought. These we cannot grow. We bought these special.

Prabhupāda: You have got a greenhouse?

Bhagavān: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Still you cannot grow?

Bhagavān: It was too late, we started too late.

Prabhupāda: Last time I stayed in this room?

Bhagavān: No, you stayed in another room. You stayed in my office. This is silk wallpaper.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Bhagavān: Saffron.

Prabhupāda: Organize this center very nicely. So many people will be happy.

Bhagavān: The devotees are very ecstatic.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Yes, there was no hope for my coming. Now I've come, they must be. (laughter) Sunshine will stay at least up to noon, huh?

Room Conversation -- August 2, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Yes. Very good.

Bhagavān: Anything else hidden in here? This is our apple?

Woman devotee: Sweet peas.

Devotee (1): There's many varieties of flowers in the gardens, many flowers for garlands for almost the next two months.

Prabhupāda: Grow more, more, all these fruits, flowers.

Bhagavān: This is from ours?

Woman devotee: Yes.

Devotee (1): Rose. We are growing 2,500... (break)

Prabhupāda: Go and live happily. This is a...

Devotee (1): Pear.

Prabhupāda: You have got puffed rice? So bring some this pod. I shall, with puffed rice, I shall take this.

Hari-śauri: How do you want them cooking?

Prabhupāda: Yes, I'll take it. Let them bring.

Room Conversation -- August 8, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: This is a drink, Śrīla Prabhupāda, made of some melon, different melon.

Prabhupāda: This is also local?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes, that is very local. Is that sweet, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: No, it is nice.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: It can become very sweet. Sometimes it is very, very sweet.

Prabhupāda: Very nice. So, very nice. Like bael. In India, like bael. So nice fruits.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Can I serve the devotees, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. It is so nice. You can distribute this also. All the devotees. Do they eat meat very much?

Parivrājakācārya: Yes, they are learning. Before ten years ago, they were, everyone was very good Muslim, and they would eat a little bit of sheep. But today they are learning the...

Prabhupāda: Beef.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Effective? What happened?

Pradyumna: Well, I didn't notice anything happened, but it was very, very bitter, so bitter.

Prabhupāda: So that worms cured or not?

Pradyumna: I don't know. Sometimes I think I have worms.

Prabhupāda: You should not eat sweet.

Parivrājakācārya: You cannot get nim in Iran. I have never seen a nim tree in Iran.

Prabhupāda: No tree. In the desert, where is tree? All desert. All this Middle East, desert. So they can be allowed to eat meat. Otherwise, what they'll eat? So everyone must eat something. So if there is no vegetation, if there is no sufficient, they can be allowed.

Parivrājakācārya: I visited some of these small villages in the south of Iran, and the tents of nomads who kept sheep, that was their life. They had a tent and they had hundreds of sheep, and they would move the tent every month. They would take the tent, for one month they would live here, next month they would move.

Prabhupāda: Why they're changing?

Parivrājakācārya: Because they're desert people. The sheep eat all the little green, and then they have to move on.

Pradyumna: Same thing as the Bible. When the sheep eat up all the green in that place, then they have to go to another place with their sheep. In the Bible the same thing. All that Abraham, Joseph...

Prabhupāda: Bible was produced here, in this desert. Jerusalem is not far away. Mecca, (indistinct), Arabia.

Room Conversation -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: So you make your formula, I mean to say, plan and scheme. So far how to do it, that instruction I give.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Now in this house you will see, this house, the plan is that the house, the first floor will be kitchen, restaurant and a store. A little section for store. Store will have Your Divine Grace's books, records, tapes, japa-mālā and some sweets, prasādam that is made to go, to sell.

Prabhupāda: Who made sandeśa? It was very nice.

Hari-śauri: Nava-yauvana's wife, Mañjarī.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes, she can make sandeśa. And some of these products also can be stocked there. Once we start and it is successful, then we can grow.

Prabhupāda: He knows how to make kacuri.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: You like him to stay here, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: No, I don't say, but he can give you instruction.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: So if you will give us the formulas, we can learn from him the formulas for toothpaste?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Arrival Conversation -- August 13, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So cleanse this.

Hari-śauri: This spittoon? Very odd. They've put one here actually. This is the bathing loṭā, but there's one here also. Oh, they used this for bathing your feet. This is a new loṭā for drinking until I'll clean this silver one.

Prabhupāda: This is spittoon?

Hari-śauri: Yes. (long pause)

Prabhupāda: So? What fruit you have got?

Hari-śauri: I'll go check.

Prabhupāda: Ask somebody to call Saurabha.

Pālikā: Yes.

Prabhupāda: What is this?

Pālikā: Some sweet one girl has made here.

Prabhupāda: Not everyone should make. She is initiated?

Pālikā: Yes. I will generally make, but I just arrived today so there was not time. (end)

Evening Darsana (on night of arrival) -- August 16, 1976, Hyderabad:

give a package.

Indian man (4): There will be a lot of confusion, Prabhupāda, there. And what we should do in that passage, we should make them sit, as we were discussing, about six hundred or so. We should make the passage and put daddis(?) these on that and make all the visitors and guests sit on that, and immediately after pratiṣṭhā is over, installation of the Deities and all, one by one they should be allowed to go have darśana and come back. When they return, give them prasāda. Not in package, bhoogi (?) sweet, it is...

Prabhupāda: Whatever you want to arrange. When they're going back. That's all.

Indian man (4): That way there won't be any rush. Otherwise, they will be stampeding the temple. Then nobody would have to rush in the temple. This is how they did at this Veṅkateśvara temple Birlas have constructed. They, though I was not there, someone was saying that all the guests were made to sit. Whoever was coming, they were made to sit, and then after all the distribution, everything was over, they were just made to one by one go around the Deity.

Prabhupāda: You make that arrangement.

Press Interview at Muthilal Rao's House -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: It is not exactly religious. You have taken by it because we misunderstand the meaning of religion. Religion generally understood as a kind of cult and faith. But in the Vedic literature, religion means the characteristic. Just like sugar is sweet, that is its religion. If sugar becomes pungent, that is not sugar's characteristic. Similarly, a human being must be God conscious. So that God consciousness is religion. Because in the human form of life one can understand what is God, and if he does not become, he remains an animal. Animal cannot understand. So therefore his business is how to athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is not our manufactured word, this is the Vedānta words. Atha, now we have got this human form body, based on that transmigration of the soul after millions and millions of years, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19), you have got this human form of life, now it is your business to inquire about the Absolute Truth. This is the business of human life. And āhāra-nidra-bhaya-maithuna, how to eat, how to sleep, how to enjoy sex life and how to defend, that is animal business. If you remain busy with these four principles of bodily necessities of life, āhāra-nidra-bhaya-maithuna, then you remain on he animal platform. Beyond that, when you inquire about God, that is human life. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. So we are trying to raise him from this animal life to human life. This is our business.

Room Conversation -- August 20, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: His wife is... They are making...

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Satyabhāmā.

Prabhupāda: Cāpāṭis. When she brought, it was so thick. And "How shall I eat this?" But when I ate it was so nice. Soft and sweet. I ate everything.

Jayapatākā: Devotees have brought from the farm.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Maybe she should come here to cook for you.

Prabhupāda: Oh, maybe. No, they are very happy. All the boys and girls are very happy. Sit down. So that I want, that I live happily and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's all. We don't want unnecessary luxury. Anartha. Anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt. Anartha should be reduced, nil, bare necessities. Anartha... Just like this material thing we require for preaching. That is not anartha. But when it is used for sense gratification, that is anartha. Anything for sense gratification, that is unwanted, anartha. And anything for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is spiritual.

Room Conversation -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad:

Jayapatākā: Actually you are dictating the prescription for the whole world.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Bhavauṣadhāc chrotra-mano-'bhirāmāt. And prescription is so sweet it pleases the ear and the heart. That is stated in the Bhāgavata. Bhavauṣadhāc chrotra-mano-'bhirāmāt. It is medicine for this material disease. At the same time it is so pleasing to the ear and the heart. This is the very word. Bhavauṣadhāc chrotra. Śrotra means aural. Śrotra-manaḥ, and mind. Mano 'bhirāmāt. Abhirāma, pleasing.

Jayapatākā: After rainy season you'll be coming to Māyāpur then?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayapatākā: We'll write when the weather improves. We'll write when the rains cease.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)

Room Conversation -- August 22, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Take care of the cows, and?

Maṇihāra: It says, "This is ISKCON's first venture in protecting cows from going to slaughterhouses. Over four hundred cows give twelve hundred litres of milk daily, providing natural, healthy products like butter, ghee, etc. And especially milk sweets like gulabjamon, rasagullā, etc."

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Pradyumna: Just the names of those...

Prabhupāda: That's all right. Enclose this quote.

Garden Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Oh, he knows so many things. You have learned something? You?

Devotee: Very little. I can cook halavā and puris. Simple things. I can cook sweet rice. Sweet rice I can cook.

Prabhupāda: Sweet rice. That is very sweet for you. (laughs) The Europeans and Americans, they like sweet rice. Is it not?

Harikeśa: Oh yes.

Devotee: I think they like halavā the best, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā? If halavā is made nicely, actually it is best. So prepare all these things. Offer to Kṛṣṇa and devotees, and at last you take. Don't take first. Give all, as much as you like, then you take. Susukhaṁ kartum avyayam (BG 9.2). It is such a nice movement. It is simply pleasing. To execute, it is simply pleasing. And avyayam. Whatever you do is permanent. Whatever little service you have given. It will never be lost. Avyayam. Therefore Nārada Muni says, bhajann apakvo 'tha patet tato yadi. Even if he's not fully matured and falls down, kva vābhadram abhūd amuṣya kim. Where is loss? Whatever he has done, that is permanent. Because that will grow. If the seed is permanently sown, then it will naturally grow. It may take some time, but it will grow. So he's not loser. If he's little careful, then it will grow. Mālī hañā sei bīja kare āropaṇa, śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye... Then the creeper goes, grows, and at last takes shelter of Kṛṣṇa. These are described in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

Room Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Six hundred rupees. So take another four hundred rupees, make one thousand. It should not go more than five hundred to one thousand. You spend.

Harikeśa: But milk, when you cook down milk to make a sweet...

Prabhupāda: I have taken from six hundred to one thousand. All the maintenance.

Akṣayānanda: I will take every item with Viśvambhara, every single item.

Prabhupāda: You don't believe me?

Akṣayānanda: I can't understand. My intelligence is not great enough to understand it. I believe you, but I have to do it. That's all.

Prabhupāda: It cannot go more than one thousand.

Room Conversation -- September 11, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. We can have our shop here. We are getting so many shops. So one shop Deity and Deity clothes and mukuṭas. Just like they have got...

Dhanañjaya: In Loi Bazaar.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dhanañjaya: The same.

Harikeśa: One shop sweets.

Prabhupāda: Apply business brain, everything I'll have to tell you. You can... Anyone who has got business brain, he can earn any amount of money. That is the... These are all... Incense, Deity, and then mukuṭa, then tulasī-mālā, then karatālas, (indistinct), some pañcapātrā. In this way.

Harikeśa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? This man brought his friend. That room is not big enough for three. So they will have to take another room for two.

Prabhupāda: Friend?

Dhanañjaya: One friend has come with him.

Harikeśa: That same person from last night, the one wearing white?

Prabhupāda: Ah. So the three men cannot live there?

Harikeśa: No.

Room Conversation About Gurukula -- November 5, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Jagadīśa: Four o'clock.

Prabhupāda: Four o'clock. So after maṅgala-ārati, the maṅgala-ārati prasādam should be given them, a little sweet.

Yaśodānandana: We hadn't agreed on that (indistinct).

Jagadīśa: Yes, the maṅgala-ārati sweets.

Prabhupāda: Maṅgala-ārati sweets, they should be distributed amongst the children, little sweets. Then they can take 9:30 prasādam.

Jagadīśa: Full prasādam.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Then? Again they are taking bathing at what time?

Jagadīśa: The scheduled next bathing is 12:30.

Prabhupāda: Then what is the... 12:30, then?

Jagadīśa: After bathing they take a little prasādam.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that's nice. Then it is all right.

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Like this room, yes. And as far as possible, induce them to come and live here.

Mahāṁśa: Yes. Yes, that can be done. But family attachment... You see, these people, they have also family attachment, just like karmīs. So they are not so willing to... Because their whole family... The whole village is like one family. It's like one family. They are all related to each other. And they can stay. They stay. Many of them stay here overnight.

Prabhupāda: Naturally everyone wants to stay at his own place. "Home sweet home." "There is no place like home." That's a fact. That is psychology. They will like to stay there. But if they have got facility to live here with family they may come.

Mahāṁśa: I was thinking we can make their house just like our house. If they are living right on our border, we can go to their house, tell them how to make an altar and make them live like how we are living. Let them stay there but let them live a good Kṛṣṇa conscious life.

Prabhupāda: They'll come gradually, not immediately. Immediately, the psychology is, they have got attachment for their house. It may be worse house, but still, their attachment... That is natural. Long, long ago, when I was child practically, I went with my father in the village. So one man from the village was serving us. So my father: "This boy is nice. So why not take him to Calcutta?" So one day he was absent. It was dropping and... So I went in the interior of the village and I saw that his house was broken, there was no roof, and rain was falling and he was sitting, covering with a cloth. Then I told him that "Why not come with us in Calcutta? We shall give you nice place, nice food." So his answer was, nā bābu kanceri jabo nā (?): "Bābujī, I cannot go out of my home." That was his home. (laughter) This is my practical exp... He was sitting idly and it dropping and he could not come to serve. Still, that is his home, and he cannot leave home, that "Bābu kanceri jabo nā (?). That is psychology. It may be very worse condition; still, nobody wants to give up "home sweet home." That is natural psychology. So you have to manage. You see then why they, these Delhi passenger clerks... This morning I was telling that son was asking mother, "Who is this man?" His father, and he had never seen. "You have seen father." No, rather, he had no chance to see father because when the father comes back from the office it is night, ten o'clock or more than that. That time the son is sleeping, and again he has to go early in the morning. That time also, son is sleeping. So he did not know. So one Sunday, when he's grown up, he is asking his mother, "Who is this man?" "So this man..." Not only in India, in everywhere. I have seen in New York from the other island? What is that?

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Long Island. They are coming two hours in the ferry, three hours in the bus. They are going to the office. Eight hours there. Then five hours and eight hours, thirteen hours, again five hours. Then thirteen and..., eighteen hours. And for six hours they have got home. "Home sweet home."

Mahāṁśa: I knew people coming from Poona to Bombay to work.

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Mahāṁśa: All the way from Poona.

Prabhupāda: The home attachment is so great. These Delhi passengers, they are coming, hanging, and there are so many accidents daily. And few hours he will live with wife. That is his home. And whole other, out of twenty-four hours, seventeen hours are outside, and maybe seven hours at home. But still, he'll come home. The home attachment is very big. Therefore we have to create attachment for this hari-saṅkīrtana. If you create that attachment, then they will give up home attachment, try life, to live here. Athāsaktiḥ. You have to train them in Kṛṣṇa consciousness in such a way.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, whatever is there is there. Let it remain. They also require some shelter.

Dr. Patel: (indistinct) Why you are getting swelling or whether weakness of the heart. There are various reasons why did you get the swelling of he leg you know. We must find out by biochemical examination of the internal flesh. Such as the blood, urine, and stool, and put you on the right information. Now if you follow or not is your own sweet will, sir.

Prabhupāda: Nārtasya cāgadam udanvati majjato nauḥ, bālasya neha pitarau śaraṇaṁ nṛsiṁha. Na ārtasya ca agadam. Tāvad vibho tanu-bhṛtāṁ tvad-upekṣitānām (SB 7.9.19). If Kṛṣṇa neglects somebody then these things will not help.

Dr. Patel: Kṛṣṇa never neglects anybody. You have told once so. It is we, our own actions which we, I mean, forget. We get. If you walk too much you get tired. If you sit down you do not. If you walk then there is swelling of the leg, sir. Eh? So it is not Kṛṣṇa. I mean, this is your own saying, eh? I am not manufacturing my own arguments.

Prabhupāda: No, the śāstra says, nārtasya cāga... There is no guarantee. But we may try but there is no guarantee.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Now Kīrtanānanda has sent so nice sweets.

Hari-śauri: And ghee.

Prabhupāda: You have given something all other devotees?

Hari-śauri: Oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: Give him some.

Hari-śauri: Pālikā hid them somewhere. I don't know where they are. Pālikā hid them away so no one would take them. (laughs)

Prabhupāda: All right then. Preparing first class.

Hari-śauri: Kulādri has a box.

Prabhupāda: First class. And they have got enough milk. When I went there, all nice milk preparation. Ghee, sweet rice, these sweets. Ample. All variety. And they have ghee. Then prepare kachori, samosa. Such nice thing. And how friendly the cows. Just like family members. And they're giving more economically. That's practical. More milk. Then?

Conversation on Train to Allahabad -- January 11, 1977, India:

Prabhupāda: Charismatic spiritual master.

Hari-śauri: I think whatever was there was either packed in the basket or the cooker, and there was no sugar. So, I'll have to... If you want, I can have one of these men go and find some.

Prabhupāda: Sugar? Where you'll find?

Rāmeśvara: But the... Pradyumna has some sweet mango.

Prabhupāda: No.

Rāmeśvara: What is that?

Jagadīśa: Mango candy.

Prabhupāda: Mango candy? (Hari-śauri opens door and asks in another compartment)

Hari-śauri: Pradyumna, have you got some mango candy?

Jagadīśa: There are grapes also.

Prabhupāda: Grape candy?

Jagadīśa: No. Fruit.

Conversation and Instruction On New Movie -- January 13, 1977, Allahabad:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Rāmeśvara: In America everything is based on the tongue.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everywhere. Taste can be very nice, sweetened. There is salt, and you can add honey also. Naturally salty and sweet plus some ingredients like peppermint, wintergreen, camphor, it will make tasty. These ingredients are very nice. We can... Some ordinary medicament. That skin disease ointment, some cough mixture. I have got experience in all these things. If you want to introduce this kind of business, tidbit...(?) The gṛhasthas can do the business.

Rāmeśvara: Gṛhasthas. I also want to start this record...

Prabhupāda: You cannot expect everyone to be brahminical qualification. We are neither brāhmaṇa nor... We do not belong to any sect, but Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction, we can do anything. That, because we are doing some business, we are not vaiśyas. Just like Nanda Mahārāja was agriculturist. So that does not mean he was a Vaiṣṇava. But professionally, externally, he looked like a vaiśya.

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: If you arrange for prasāda distribution, you become very popular.

Rāmeśvara: None of the tourists who are Westerners ever takes Jagannātha prasādam, do they?

Prabhupāda: No, if there is good prasādam, they'll take.

Gargamuni: Tourists... We'll send in the sweet shops, but...

Prabhupāda: If they understand they are very palatable.

Gargamuni: But that beachfront, if we're on there, we can use that beach as a place to feed thousands of people.

Rāmeśvara: Of course, all the pilgrims that come to Purī for the temple festivals, they'll also come to our temple if it is very big.

Prabhupāda: Yes, naturally.

Rāmeśvara: But what style will it be? It will be a different style of architecture.

Prabhupāda: Vṛndāvana? That will be new introduction here.

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Dacca.

Gargamuni: No, in Karachi. A very huge market. They have, very good, these grapefruits. They're very sweet there.

Prabhupāda: Grape.

Gargamuni: Grapefruit. You know, like orange?

Prabhupāda: Oh, ah.

Gargamuni: But very sweet tasting.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gargamuni: Very nice.

Prabhupāda: Yellowish or greenish?

Gargamuni: No. They're pinkish inside, pink color. Yellow skin but pink inside and very sweet.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Karmuja. (?) And some sweet scent also.

Room Conversation -- January 28, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Not only more people. Our temple is gorgeous than any temple.

Hari-śauri: Yes. That's a fact.

Gargamuni: There is life. The places we visited last night, there was no life. There wasn't even enough light. They have no light. They use... To save money they use 15-watt light bulbs.

Gurukṛpā: Nor could they afford one sweet apiece. They were giving us...

Hari-śauri: Breaking off our one sweet. And no one's attending their āratis or...

Gurukṛpā: In Māyāpur now so many people come. The road is not big enough. The road is not big enough.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Gurukṛpā: Yes. There's that many people coming. I could not believe. So many people. And just a regular weekend. We need one way in and one way out.

Prabhupāda: Big road.

Gurukṛpā: Yes. So many people coming, all respectable people.

Prabhupāda: Our gateways, you mean to say.

Room Conversation -- January 28, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: So simply hear them. That's all. One big barrister, he was my friend. He is dead, M. C. Chatterji. He's a very big barrister. He used to charge sixteen thousand rupees for one appearance. So he was stating about when..., that he came to Vṛndāvana, and he met one boy, and "He asked me some sweets, I gave him sweet. Later on, when I was coming back to Delhi, I saw that boy was running on the train." He said. Such a big barrister, he said like that. "Oh, he was so..." Posturing like this. What can I say? "Kṛṣṇa as cowherd boy was running after you in the train?" This is going on. Another friend's wife, she came to Jagannātha Purī. So Jagannātha Purī, those who are rich men, they are allowed to go near the Jagannātha. So that lady said that "While I was circumambulating, Jagannātha was snatching my cloth." Jagannātha became so much attached with that blackish woman that He began to snatch his (her) cloth. So many stories I know. So what can be said? "Why did you not remain with Jagannātha? Why you came back?" This is going on. So I have got experience of many such stories. Kṛṣṇa as cowherd boy was running with his train. I have to take. And Jagannātha was snatching her cloth. They are very poisonous things. I was never fortunate with such incidences. I am simply trying to carry out the order of my Guru Mahārāja. That's all.

Room Conversation -- January 31, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: But they are the topmost devotees. These (chuckling) uneducated, without any town life, cow-men, they are Kṛṣṇa's best friend. Unsophisticated, no education, but love intense—that is perfect. That attracted Kṛṣṇa more. Vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya na padam ekaṁ (sic:) na kartavya... Kṛṣṇa is so much attached to Vṛndāvana that He goes nowhere... What is that? They are not educated girls, up-to-date fashion, (indistinct) or nothing. Crude. As soon as there was blowing of the flute, immediately they began to run towards Kṛṣṇa. Somebody is taking care of children, somebody is engaged in boiling milk, and somebody was even lying down with her husband. Still, immediately... Very crude, unsophisticated, but intense love for Kṛṣṇa—that is Vṛndāvana. We want to introduce this farm project means intense love for Kṛṣṇa. And other things—very simple: little milk, little food grain, little vegetable, that's all. And that is very nice. If you get fresh vegetable, fresh milk, and food grain, what do you want more? And from milk you can prepare so many nice preparations, unlimited number, all very palatable, sweet. This civilization we want to introduce, not so-called rascal civilization and become implicated in this cycle of birth and death. This is not civilization.

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: What do we supply in the restaurant?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Restaurant supplies two or three sabjis...

Prabhupāda: Two, three.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: At least. Then puris, cāpāṭi, then samosā or pakorā, kacuri...

Prabhupāda: Oh. (laughs) Sweet rice also?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sweet rice every day. Sweet rice, halavā.

Prabhupāda: Oh. It is all royal dishes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And then also dāl and a soup, vegetable soup. Some people like cream of vegetable soup. And salad, fresh salads, and drinks, orange juice, different kinds of juices. Cookies, cakes, breads.

Prabhupāda: All first class. You have got so many items here? (laughs)

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

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.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: New Vrindaban also. Sandeśa, rasagullā, gulabjamon, burfi...

Prabhupāda: And ghee?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, because...

Prabhupāda: Ghee you take from New Vrindaban?

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: You can have very nice center for restaurant. And in these cities they like nice restaurant.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We can compete with G. Polareddy.

Prabhupāda: No, he's a sweet man. He has no restaurant.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There are many hotels in Hyderabad.

Prabhupāda: Hm. Vṛndāvana hotel in our quar...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. That's a good... That will be very popular, restaurants, especially prasādam restaurant. If they know it is... If it is pure... Because I know. I was eating in many restaurants in different cities before you told us that we shouldn't do that, and people go there because there's nowhere else to go. But it's never that clean, nor is it very good. But the office people, they have to eat somewhere.

Prabhupāda: Formerly they used to be, because that was not restaurant. Restaurant in Indian style, they were selling paraṭā. In Delhi there are many. So those who were interested with paraṭā, they'll sit down and they will supply first-class paraṭā and vegetables.

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Enemy must be always dangerous. And Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said that "Don't take enemy leniently. Always think of him as dangerous." If you want to deal with enemy, you should always take him as very dangerous. Where is that sweet water? Sweet, that miśri?

Hari-śauri: You want sweet water?

Prabhupāda: Where is that miśri? No, we have to fight. Devise means, ways, how to fight. That's all. But try to prove that they have no brain. Actually that is the fact. Nobody has brain, especially in this age. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ (BG 7.15). Mūḍha means one who has no brain. Mūḍha, this word, applies to the ass, because ass has no brain. He works so hard for little grass, which is available everywhere. But still, he thinks that "This washerman is giving me grass." Therefore mūḍha. He'll stand at the door of the washerman whole day, eating little grass, which he can get anywhere. So that is mūḍha. Mūḍhaḥ nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. Bas. And anyone who is a mūḍha, he does not know Kṛṣṇa. So so long we do not know Kṛṣṇa, we shall remain mūḍha-ass. That's the fact. The whole system is to understand Kṛṣṇa. But one does not know Kṛṣṇa, so he remains mūḍha, and therefore all his attempt is baffled. (Bengali) (break) ...speaking that "Everyone who is not a kṛṣṇa-bhakta, he's a gādhā." Do you believe in this or not, first of all? Unless you are firmly convinced, you cannot say strongly. (Bengali) Kṛṣṇa-bhakta naya ei sei gādhā. (Bengali) Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). (Bengali) (break)...must be intelligent. Otherwise how can I say that you are rascal if I am in the same category? So that I was explaining in the morning. Where is your brain? And mūḍha is one who has no brain. (break) Wherefrom consciousness comes? Where is consciousness? What is that consciousness? You have to explain.

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

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.

Prabhupāda: This... There are some statements. Just like molten iron, a man can break for illicit sex. What is their objection?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well they think it's superstition. They think it is simply some stories.

Hari-śauri: Some fantastic...

Prabhupāda: Story means it is story for you. Do you know the details of the whole universe, where, what is what? Can you do? You go and say there is no moonshine, but this rascal conclusion will be taken. Why there should be shine? From the sand such brilliant moonshine is coming? We have to believe that? So many books have said (indistinct) brilliant. Sun is brilliant. This... So you rascal, you can believe in that, but we'll not believe. You can say. What do you know about moon? It is all rascaldom. It may be good for rascals like you, not for intelligent man like me.

Room Conversations -- February 20, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: I have no objection. (break) Nobody likes. In order to taste the sugar, you have to chew so much.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So many different potions also throughout the day. One time that kavirāja...

Prabhupāda: They say that "Why should you bother so much? You have to take the sweet. Take sugar."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Nobody can go through it. It's such trouble. An ordinary person can't do it. Unless you have a servant, you can't take kavirāja's medicine.

Prabhupāda: Just see. The doctor recommended eight tablets at a time.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: More than once a day. Many times a day?

Prabhupāda: Twice. Eight tablets.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Modern medicine, they would combine all those in one pill. When you take your massage, Śrīla Prabhupāda, do you find it more relaxing and beneficial if there's no talking going on, or...?

Prabhupāda: Not necessarily.

Room Conversation -- February 25, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Bali-mardana: Over a thousand people. And then when they ate they came back for seconds and thirds.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Give them.

Bali-mardana: Everything. Puri, sabji, sweet rice. They ate the whole plate. It was amazing.

Prabhupāda: Please do that. Give them prasādam and ask them to chant. Bas.

Bali-mardana: And then there were many articles written in the paper that the Hare Kṛṣṇas, they have supplied very nice food freely for everyone and they said, "Oh, they are very good."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The thing is when they take prasāda, then it's very easy to get them to chant.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They may not chant in the beginning, but as soon as their bellies are full of prasāda, then they chant.

Prabhupāda: (laughing) They chant. Very good. Do that.

Room Conversation -- February 27, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: I have suggested already, already suggested that "Take milk powder and ghee from Australia, and every center distribute prasādam like anything." And in India at least, if you give them nice puri and chānā preparation and sweet preparation from milk, oh, they'll be so glad, both poor man and rich man. Yesterday I was eating kacuris. What is this kacuri? Made of ghee. Samosā, made of ghee; rasagullā, made of... Cow is so important. She can deliver so many nice preparations, sweet and salty. The whole world does not know how to eat. Like rākṣasas they are killing the poor animals. So we have to teach. This is an introduction of new type of civilization for making life successful.

Harikeśa: This news in India that they are outlawing cow-killing—some news has been coming that they're outlawing cow-killing in India—is very encouraging to all the devotees.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They are doing it on account of this movement. Government has appreciation our movement, from private sources. Now this, our American, what is called? Opposing.

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- February 28, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Rūpānuga: ...America we can make some headway. Because America, the scientists are very arrogant and dogmatic. They're not so receptive. Here there is...

Prabhupāda: Big, big animals. Big animals. They are animals, but big animals, because they have got money. "Money is sweeter than honey."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That Bombay auditorium, theater, Prabhupāda was saying, could be used for so many meetings.

Bali-mardana: Conferences. Scientific conferences.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Simply.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We can give very nice slide show there.

Prabhupāda: So you make Bombay your headquarter. India means Bombay. And from Bombay you go and come. Make this...

Bali-mardana: In the West now Indian scientists have a big name because they are making...

Prabhupāda: And recruit Indian scientists. Make it. It will be very nice. Let us go to Bombay and organize.

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

Prabhupāda: Chutney.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Tomato chutney.

Prabhupāda: It is very nice. And if possible, little paramānna.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Little?

Prabhupāda: Paramānna, sweet rice.

Pañcadraviḍa: So for this, tomorrow we are...

Prabhupāda: Then people will be very much satisfied.

Satsvarūpa: Another resolution: A subcommittee be formed of the three GBCs for India as an ISKCON Food Relief Committee. They will make a proposal on how a food program will be conducted.

Rāmeśvara: That Prabhupāda said should have the Indian GBC and two others.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

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

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees:Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Jaya.

Pañcadraviḍa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? I talked to... What's his name? Pañca-ratna. And he told me that they ordered everything to prepare khicuṛi, vegetable, sweet rice and tomato chutney for tomorrow.

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Pañcadraviḍa: And also for the day after they'll be serving something, and everybody who comes will be getting in addition to prasādam distribution, some prasādam in the temple also.

Prabhupāda: That's nice. Very good.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. (end)

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

Prabhupāda: It is not meat. They are eating garlic. Those Christian tenant, they are eating. And onion everyone eats.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Except for us. Americans are very fond of onions. Yeah. They can eat a whole onion sometimes in one meal. They eat raw. Especially in the salad they will put onions.

Prabhupāda: For a meat-eater, onion is very sweet.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: For fish eater.

Prabhupāda: And fish eater.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fish, meats.

Prabhupāda: Actually, meat has no taste. The onion creates taste.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Dead flesh.

Prabhupāda: Onion is used. Onions. In India both Hindus and Muslims eat. More than potato, it is said.

Room Conversation with Ram Jethmalani (Parliament Member) -- April 16, 1977, Bombay:

Ram Jethmalani: Rāma comes later according to this.

Prabhupāda: No, no, there is no question of later or former. These are always existing. And They appear, disappear according to the necessity. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7). The mūrtis are there, permanently, and They appear and disappear according to the necessity. Suppose in a case you require the reference to a law. It is not that the law has appeared for the purpose. The law was there already. You have to simply bring it for your business. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat paramaḥ (Bs. 5.39). Any sweets?

Indian man: Here.

Prabhupāda: Oh, you have got. Madhureka samapayet.(?) At the end you must take some sweets. Then it will be digested. (Hindi)

Ram Jethmalani: In U.P. they give you sweets first.

Indian man: First, at the time of taking water even.

Prabhupāda: Yes. What is the system in your society? Sweet first or last?

Indian man: In here also, they are given first sweet.

Ram Jethmalani: Yes, but now everything has become Westernized. We have dessert.

Prabhupāda: In northern India first of all they give sweets. So they eat sweet to the heart's content. Then to counteract the sweetness...

Ram Jethmalani: The best way to destroy your appetite is to eat sweet first.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (laughs)

Morning Conversation -- April 23, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That is also insanity. (sound of metal dishes) No taste.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The milk has no taste or you have no taste, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: I have no taste. And maybe (laughs) has no taste.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In India there's no telling. Generally, recently the milk has been of a good standard, good quality. You might have more taste for lassi. That's a little sweet and nice.

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And it's also very good for digestion.

Prabhupāda: So give me lassi.

Upendra: Now?

Prabhupāda: No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because we get lots of that dahi. You drink it cool with a little sugar in it. I think it's good for digestion, dahi. How are you feeling today, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Not feel so... That jhuri was very heavy for me. Jhuri, jhuri. What is called?

Talk with Svarupa Damodara -- June 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Pineapple, your country is famous for pineapple.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Pineapple is very sweet. This is another season, but in about three weeks the larger variety will come. This is a little smaller type. The bigger ones, big. And it is green outside, but it's very sweet, full of juice. The hillsides all covered with pineapples, and it's very cheap.

Prabhupāda: So Calcutta, there was rain.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Oh, yes. The farming is very good this time in our side, Bengal and Assam and Manipur, so much rain from the south. And I saw from the plane that everything is already green.

Prabhupāda: (aside:) Why you are breathing? Is it necessary? (break)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But he doesn't want to speak.

Prabhupāda: You have asked him already?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, I said, "We are coming in September," so he's... We'll be giving lectures there. And the Atishah(?) personally told me that he never thought these ideas before. He said this is the first time that he's seeing such things, that science can be utilized in understanding the nature of the self or life from Bhagavad-gītā. Then I also went to Bose Institute. I wanted to talk with the dir...

Prabhupāda: Oh, Bose Institute.

Letter from Yugoslavia--'Books!' -- June 30, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But it's not done throughout the day. It's only...

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. That is not possible.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, it's not possible?

Prabhupāda: No. Give something in the evening.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But I just wanted to ask a question. Then I'll have it clarified. When I was at a Birla temple in Bhopal, what they did is... Supposing someone comes here at four o'clock in the afternoon, five o'clock. Now there's no prasādam distributed at that time, but at that time the pūjārī could give a little of those white sweet.

Śatadhanya: With a tulasī in it.

Prabhupāda: That is formality.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's not genuine. Yeah, it wasn't very nice.

Prabhupāda: Cheating. That is cheating.

Room Conversation with Mr. Myer -- July 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Gargamuni did not join in the beginning. He was watching his brother. He was, rather, little critical. Gargamuni came first, er, yeah...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Brahmānanda.

Prabhupāda: Brahmānanda. Then our Satsvarūpa, then Jadurāṇī. In this way, gradually increased. And Kīrtanānanda was very expert in learning. He learned how to make puri, kacuri, samosā, sweet ball. We were having very nice feast every Sunday. On Saturday night we would prepare so many things and stocked it. And Sunday, distributing... People would take: "Oh, so..." At least in that time seventy, eighty guests were coming. And they were very happy.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They all get fed sumptuously?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, food.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Where...? Would you eat with them?

Prabhupāda: No. I was eating also, not necessarily with them. I was seeing that they are...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You were in the room, though, while they were...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Acyutānanda was also doing very nice.

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

Prabhupāda: Just see. This is our triumph.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "...for the most attractive booth. And a plaque was awarded to our representative, Śeṣa dāsa." He was called up in front of all of the gathering of librarians. They awarded him a plaque. "He had the booth arranged with a portable movie projector showing one of the ISKCON films. Incense was burning, Indian sweets were distributed, and all your books were displayed as well as tapes. So it was nice that such a big organization recognized Kṛṣṇa was all-attractive."

Prabhupāda: That's the kind of propaganda.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Four hundred booths competed, four hundred publishers.

Prabhupāda: And we became first.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We were first.

Prabhupāda: Just see. This is triumph.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually these others, when they try and sell their books, it's all nothing.

Prabhupāda: There is a proverb in Bengali, chuṅco mere hata gandha.(?) What is called that chuṅco? It is like a rat, but a mouth is... They are different class.

Room Conversation during lunchtime -- July 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Which ball?

Upendra: Lakta.

Prabhupāda: Oh. How do you like?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very tasteful. In America sometimes they put either butter or honey on them also to give it a little sweet taste.

Upendra: But they cook them in the oven, and these are cooked on cow dung. These are cooked on the cow dung, khandi, khandi.(?)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I was wondering how you were able to chew them.

Prabhupāda: No, I could not.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They're pretty hard. These are very good on the long saṅkīrtana days. If someone has to go out for many hours, he takes some of these and puts them in his pocket. Then every hour he can eat one, and it gives him strength. Just like the villagers in India, they put in a little napkin. They put some... What is that? Ḍāl. Chickpeas.

Prabhupāda: The villagers, these grain soaked in water, they... Not cooked.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes I have seen they sell on the streets some spicy ḍāl? Hard? I think that's fried.

Prabhupāda: Last year in Washington I was there.

Room Conversation Varnasrama -- July 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: She has very good handwriting. "Śrī Śrī Guru-Gaurāṅga Jāyate. Dearmost and respected Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept our repeated humble obeisances at your sanctified lotus feet. Although we are certainly unfit to offer you our prayers and offenseless chanting for your well-being, still we beg to become purified to pour the nectar of the holy name of the Lord into your eternal transcendental service by following your divine instructions. From the beginning you have instructed to serve in sincere faith in vapu or vāṇī. That is our life's work, to make each and every moment a fit receptacle for receiving your benedicting rays of mercy. Enclosed is an offering of digestive spice for your pleasure as well as two photos of Śrī Rādhā-Vana-vihārī on Candana-yātrā and Śrī Nṛsiṁha-caturdaśī. Viśākhā devī remained here to photograph for the upcoming Vedic cookery book. The program here is flourishing under your shelter and glories. We beg to remain your servants eternally. Yamunā devī dāsī and Dīnatāriṇī devī dāsī." They sent these preparations. It says, "savory," and "sweet." It looks like they made these. Very expert.

Prabhupāda: So you can give me little bit.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And they sent photographs. These Deities are superwonderful.

Prabhupāda: Very nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That says, "Śrī Nṛsiṁha-caturdaśī. Śrī Rādhā-Vana-vihārī Mandir." This is Gaura-pūrṇimā outfit.

Prabhupāda: Continue.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Candana-yātrā.

Prabhupāda: Everything is very nice.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Oh!

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "The Sunday feast here has become so popular that whereas before only fifty people would come, now at least three hundred came yesterday."

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "And all of them got full prasādam-halavā, purīs, samosā, sweetballs, sweet rice, rice, vegetables..."

Prabhupāda: I want to eat, but I cannot. Very good. Very good. Although I cannot eat, simply hearing the names, I am satisfied. Very good. He's doing nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "However, the collections are poor. Only sixty-five rupees. I was wondering if we could also get some of the Food Relief money being sent to India to Śrī Lanka."

Prabhupāda: Why not? Oh, yes. America's money collect and send. So that is my proposal, American money and give this culture. They are squandering so much money. Channelize to spend through this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Their money will be properly utilized and our Kṛṣṇa consciousness will be spread.

Room Conversation With Madhudvisa and others -- August 17, 1977, Vrndavana:

Śrutakīrti: For free they had an orange lassi and halavā and a sweet and a nice potato vegetable with sour cream. And they had a sweet booth, and I think they made about four or five thousand dollars selling sweets right at the beach walk. They had watermelon and samosās they were selling. It was a very big day.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Good weather.

Śrutakīrti: Excellent weather. It was hot.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Los Angeles has good weather.

Prabhupāda: Hm. Very good weather.

Śrutakīrti: Hawaii's weather is (laughs)..., it's better.

Prabhupāda: So I wanted to return again.

Śrutakīrti: If not for the traveling, it would certainly be the best place to be for your health. I remember last time when you were sick, you recovered very well in Hawaii.

Prabhupāda: Let us see. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa wants me, wants to go back to...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I was encouraging Prabhupāda to... I said that if he goes to the Western temples, that the welcome from his disciples would be so much that he would live for hundreds of years.

Prabhupāda: You can... Go a little... (Bengali)

Śrutakīrti: Tamāla? Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to see the candles.

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Room Conversation -- October 4, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: I can hear day and night.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So should we arrange...? Maybe we should arrange starting in the morning going till night.

Prabhupāda: That is according to your convenience. But kīrtana is very sweet.

Hari-śauri: Last June we were doing twenty-four hours.

Prabhupāda: That is real business. These astrologer are karmīs. We have nothing to do with the karmī.

Hari-śauri: Their measurement of happiness and distress is how much nice wife and children they get and how much money they get.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Bhāgavata reading and kīrtana... Hm. Hm.

Hari-śauri: They don't understand that the real happiness is giving everything to Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Don't waste time and money in any other way.

Room Conversation -- October 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Um hm. This can be on the foot. Yes. Up.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Is it warm?

Prabhupāda: Hm, very nice. Very comfortable. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa... Made with our wool.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Would you like a little sweet singing, Śrīla Prabhupāda? (kīrtana begins) (break)

Prabhupāda: (Bengali conversation) Why not consult with father and son?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Which one is that?

Prabhupāda: The father's name is...

Sac-cid-ānanda: Harinam Place?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Harinam Place?

Sac-cid-ānanda: His one son is doctor. Raman Medical Store in Loi Bazaar, near Post office.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's a doctor, famous doctor. Cures people.

Sac-cid-ānanda: He has medical store.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I don't advise it, Śrīla Prabhupāda. I don't think it's a good idea to do. Because I don't see why we don't consult all twenty thousand doctors. I mean, why is he... Sac-cid-ānanda just happened to be... He goes to the shop and he sees the man's shop. Why not wait for Dr. Ghosh or call Dr. Ghosh here? I mean, what I'm trying to say is that if I go to Mathurā, I'll also pass many medical shops, so I could consult any one of those men, probably, just as well.

Sac-cid-ānanda: That's a fact.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's a fact, huh.

Prabhupāda: They have got good practice.

Room Conversation -- October 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: I wish...

Kulādri: You wish? Then come at once. I think that will make Him very happy.

Prabhupāda: But unless I become little strong, how can I go?

Kulādri: Hm. So we've also brought some sweets and ice cream, but just now is not so good for you to take it. The ice cream is not so good for you to take just now, so shall we keep it for you?

Prabhupāda: Distribute.

Kulādri: You'll take one little taste, Śrīla Prabhupāda? You'll take one little taste? (Prabhupāda takes taste)

Prabhupāda: First class.

Kulādri: Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: So make a list and keep with you.

Kulādri: Inventory. And the checks?

Prabhupāda: Check out. (pause) We want kīrtana. (soft kīrtana starts) (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You're a pure devotee. But as you are always saying, "You should pray," therefore we're not very strong in praying. But you are a pure devotee. So Kṛṣṇa will hear your prayers. If you desire to live, then Kṛṣṇa can make it happen.

Prabhupāda: You are all pure devotees, because you have no other desire.

Room Conversation Arrival of Jayatirtha and Harikesa -- October 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Go on with the chanting. (kīrtana continues) (break) You don't want to drink anything today?

Prabhupāda: Let me drink hari-nāma amiya-vilāsa.

Hari-śauri: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. That's the sweetest nectar. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...vilāsa.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So we'll begin to bathe you, Śrīla Prabhupāda. (break)

Prabhupāda: Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād bhavauṣadhāt... (SB 10.1.4). This is bhavauṣadhi, hari-kīrtana.

Jayādvaita: Bhavauṣadhāc chrotra-mano-'bhirāmāt.

Prabhupāda: Ah. And caraṇāmṛta, pāṭha(?)—diet. Diet and medicine. Let me depend on these.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very pure. Pure diet, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Transcendental. You're not feeling any discomfort?

Prabhupāda: Same discomfort or same comfort. No change.

Room Conversation -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is not being understood. Prabhupāda, do you mean what we are serving the royal family?

Prabhupāda: No, no. They have got restaurant.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The restaurant. What do they serve in the restaurant.

Rāmeśvara: Oh. In the restaurant there is cāpāṭis, nice ḍāl, two sabjis. Rice is a very favorite food of Persians, so rice is there, and some sweet, usually some pudding, some sweet rice, and some fruit juice and fruit. These things all come as part of the meal.

Prabhupāda: They like it.

Rāmeśvara: Oh, yes. It is so crowded. There's no more room. In fact, they are looking for a bigger place.

Prabhupāda: Hm. Hm. So everything is prepared by Nandarāṇī?

Bali-mardana: Nandarāṇī is preparing?

Rāmeśvara: Nandarāṇī and some other brāhmaṇas, some men who are there at the temple. She is especially a good cook. And in the evenings they play Hare Kṛṣṇa kīrtana tapes, mostly Your Divine Grace. People very much like the atmosphere because of the music. In Islam there is a tradition of chanting God's name and other mantras or prayers, so they appreciate the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa very much. When you enter the restaurant there is a big book table, so the first thing that one sees are japa beads and your books, and people buy the books from the table.

Prabhupāda: English.

Room Conversation -- October 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: This is sweet lemon.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: It is sweet lemon. The juice is very sweet.

Prabhupāda: Now give me.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: These are plums. They could be skinned and the drink is very good for you, soft.

Upendra: Juice comes from them?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes. It's very, very good for digestion.

Prabhupāda: Sit down.

Parivrājakācārya: Śrīla Prabhupāda? This is a pre-publication copy of our first magazine in Persian language.

Prabhupāda: This is Persian language?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Parsi, Parsi.

Brahmānanda: This is the name of it here?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes. The name is "Bhakti."

Prabhupāda: I understand that you go to the royal family and talk with them for hours. So it is very good sign.

Room Conversation -- October 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: One thāli?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: One full thāli.

Hari-śauri: Plate.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Thāli of prasādam. And sweet. And then we give them some herbal tea and dessert and sometimes fruits.

Prabhupāda: They like it.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: They like it very much. Nandarāṇī Prabhu and Dayānanda Prabhu are managing.

Prabhupāda: They are both intelligent.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes. They are working very hard.

Prabhupāda: And they are very sincere. What do you charge?

Parivrājakācārya: About sixteen rupees, fifteen tomands(?). It is very little price. It's very small.

Prabhupāda: For one plate?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: One plate. Very reasonable price. But many people give donations. And many of them take the books. We have your books. They take, and they read it, and they love it.

Prabhupāda: Success.

Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So I am trying to drink a little fruit juice.

Bhakti-caru: Prabhupāda wanted to drink some of this sweet lemon juice.

Prabhupāda: What do you think?

Bhakti-caru: (Bengali)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Maybe your sister can suggest some good drink.

Bhakti-caru: (Bengali)

Prabhupāda: (Bengali)

Bhakti-caru: (Bengali)

Prabhupāda: Little, that sweet juice.

Bhakti-caru: What Ātreya Ṛṣi Prabhu brought.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Bhakti-caru: The sweet lemon. I'll just get it, yes.

Prabhupāda: Hm? What is that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I'm suggesting that it should be sweet.

Prabhupāda: That is sweet, that sweet...

Ātreya Ṛṣi: It's very sweet. It's very, very sweet.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sweet is nice.

Prabhupāda: So keep it. When I require, give me little.

Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: I'll not sit up.

Kīrtanānanda: No. I'm getting a spoon so I can give you this. You don't want to take those pills the other doctor gave you? You don't want to take those pills for your urine?

Prabhupāda: No. That much, warm(?) glucose. That much, and nothing more possible. You don't increase. And decrease. Little in that ladle(?). That's all. And preserve those sweet lemon.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Preserve those sweet lemons. Prabhupāda wants sometimes sweet lemons for drinking, so you should preserve.

Prabhupāda: And chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Kīrtanānanda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Should we have some chanting now, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Yes, chanting twenty-four hours.

Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: On the telephone or where?(?)

Bhakti-caru: Yes, Prabhupāda.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We just had a little bit of your mahā-prasādam, and it is the sweetest nectar, Śrīla Prabhupāda. It has given us life. (break)

Kīrtanānanda: ...urine tested this morning, and there was some blood and pus in the urine. So the doctor there, he's prescribed some tablets and things. Do you want?

Prabhupāda: Who is the doctor?

Kīrtanānanda: Bhagatji? Where's Bhagatji?

Hari-śauri: Who was that doctor?

Bhagatji: Dr. Gopal in Rama-Krishna Seva Ashram. Physician. He's an M.D. He is the best doctor in Mathurā district.

Kīrtanānanda: He said it is not... It's just one or two times you'd have to take.

Bhagatji: To check the blood. And I can call him to see you, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Let me taste this.

Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Who is saying yes?

Upendra: Upendra dāsa. Tamāla, he's asking you.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, but we... I also say that as your sister Pisimā is here, whenever you like, she may cook something and you take. And take Yamunā jala, little sweet lemon juice. I mean take things also.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: As you are doing. Not fast. No... You shouldn't artificially fast or stop eating.

Prabhupāda: No, no. That is suicidal.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Right. We don't want suicide.

Prabhupāda: So, when you are beginning?

Pradyumna: Right now.

Prabhupāda: Do it. Śubha-suśīghram.(?) Upendra, you keep honey ready...

Upendra: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: ...whenever I shall require. (end)

Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: I have trying to pass urine.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Have you tried? You feel like it now? You want to try? I'll fix up the bottle. Okay. (break) (kīrtana) Yes, Prabhupāda? It's Tamāla Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: That sweet lemon juice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You want some? Okay. (aside:) Tell Bhakti-caru. It's coming in one second, Śrīla Prabhupāda. (break)

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He liked that, those lemons, sweet lemons. Here's Bhakti-caru.

Bhakti-caru: Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Hm. Today I like to take ḍāl-ruṭi.

Bhakti-caru: Ḍāl-ruṭi? Ācchā, Śrīla Prabhupāda. (Bengali)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Here's Pisimā. You want to see her?

Prabhupāda: She cannot hear me.

Bhakti-caru: (Bengali)

Prabhupāda: (Bengali with Bhakti-caru and Pisimā)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda liked that fruit juice.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali)

Bhakti-caru: Pisimā knows a nṛsiṁha-mantra. Prabhupāda wants that she chants that mantra.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? Can I wash your face now and wash your mouth? It's nearly eight o'clock.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: ...let me pass. (pause)

Hari-śauri: If you're here with us, then that's all we need. Then we can go out and do anything.

Prabhupāda: Tomorrow shall I take the risk of taking little milk?

Hari-śauri: Generally when you take milk it causes lot of difficulty with mucus. This sweet lime juice, that seems to be doing some good, though. Perhaps it might be better not to take the milk for a little while until your system becomes more healthy.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: Is there any difficulty from the solid food?

Prabhupāda: No taste.

Hari-śauri: No taste. But at least it may give some strength back.

Prabhupāda: How it can if it cannot enter into the system?

Hari-śauri: It's not being digested? If you were to take something like soup, that may be more easily digestible, just the liquids. But that would have much of the goodness...

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Hari-śauri: Things like soup and vegetable juices?

Prabhupāda: Cannot take. No taste.

Room Conversation With Svarupa Damodara -- October 15, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (laughs)

Bhāgavata: We fed them nice prasādam also yesterday, Śrīla Prabhupāda, three meals a day. They get breakfast in the morning, they get some kacuri and some hot jilabi and some ālu sabji and hot milk for breakfast, nāstā. Then in the afternoon for lunch they get two sabjis, they get rice, they get ḍāl, they get cāpāṭis, and two sweets, peṛā and bundi lāḍu. And then in the evening again they get some sabji and ruṭi, samosā, like that.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. We had nice prasādam.

Bhāgavata: And everyone is very pleased and satisfied with the prasādam. (break)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: I think about forty. Forty people. Today it will come more. Then Dr. Khorana is coming tomorrow. He's a medical doctor. He's bringing several of his friends. He's also our life member.

Abhirāma: His son is a devotee. Śrīla Prabhupāda knows him, Navīna Kṛṣṇa.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Navīna Kṛṣṇa. He's in Detroit. After the conference, I'm going to have a debate in Delhi, round-table conference with Dr. Kotari, D. S. Kotari and his group.

Prabhupāda: That will be very nice.

Room Conversation With Svarupa Damodara -- October 15, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So what I am drinking now?

Hari-śauri: This sweet lime juice. He also thought that might be a little strong, because it's citrus, because actually the urine is still cloudy, and that did not occur until you began to drink this orange and sweet lime. The first night when the blood was there, that day you had drunk two glasses of sweet lemon and one glass of orange. Just like pomegranate juice, this is very good because it's not citrus. Is the sweet lemon juice giving some strength?

Prabhupāda: I don't think so.

Hari-śauri: Just it gives a little taste, though. But that is also important. How did you like the pomegranate juice?

Prabhupāda: Good.

Hari-śauri: We should get some more.

Upendra: Give it to him...

Hari-śauri: (aside:) He's not taking... Prabhupāda said that made the blood pass urine before, but he's not taking any. I suggested that it was the orange juice. It's too strong.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Maybe. But you can't be sure of it.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Room Conversation With Svarupa Damodara -- October 15, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Herbal remedy? What is that herbal remedy?

Upendra: He took one spoonful of syrup, natural syrup, vitamin syrup.

Hari-śauri: That was all, though. It was just some syrup that you took before.

Upendra: I don't even know if he took it that day.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because the sweet limes, they're strong too. And he's not getting it from taking the sweet limes.

Hari-śauri: No, but his urine is still cloudy. There's still some pus coming through.

Upendra: He's drinking as much as he did that one day.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I don't think he had any sweet limes the day before he passed the blood.

Hari-śauri: Yes, he did.

Room Conversation With Svarupa Damodara -- October 15, 1977, Vrndavana:

Hari-śauri: Of sweet lime. And then in the nighttime he had orange juice. And then the next morning he passed the blood in his urine. And then again the next morning he took the sweet lime again. But he hasn't had any orange juice since then, so there's been no blood, but his urine is still cloudy. He's still taking the sweet lime juice. But it wasn't there before when he was taking it. So Prabhupāda hadn't had any orange juice for a long time. Parivrājakācārya said that citrus fruits are much too strong for the kidneys, 'cause the kidneys are weak.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh.

Prabhupāda: Maybe will take...

Upendra: We can get the bathing ready?

Prabhupāda: Hm. (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...with the bank people. A gentleman has come from Delhi. Girirāja and I are talking with him. We've transferred the receipts there, and we're just completing the formalities.

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Room Conversation -- October 15, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's brought some presentations for you.

Nava-yogendra: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is a Deity of Kṛṣṇa. Sandalwood. Nice carving of Kṛṣṇa. These are sweets, different types. Many fruits.

Nava-yogendra: Dried fruit, Indian fruit.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Kaju.(?) Milk sweets all on silver trays.

Prabhupāda: Keep them properly and distribute to the devotees.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Distribute to the devotees. All right.

Prabhupāda: Bank business finished? Bank business?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bank business concluded. (opening package) Almonds. Almonds. We'll keep these in the kitchen, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Special ām-ācāra. (Bhagatji laughs)

Prabhupāda: (Hindi or Bengali)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The dry things we can keep in your kitchen, almonds and nuts. Sometime you may like a little ground with honey or something. More fruits. Guavas. Silver cup. Big cup.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi or Bengali)

Nava-yogendra: Śrīla Prabhupāda, can I put this garland? I want to make... It's very nice flower. Jaya Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Hindi (break) (Hindi with Nava-yogendra Swami)

Upendra: Girirāja is here, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: So, the bank business?

Room Conversation -- October 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: And one thing... Just now I am forgetting. And don't try to make preparation in the temple. Order the foodstuff from confectioner. Have good stock and distribute.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All of the prasādam, or just sweets?

Prabhupāda: Sweets. There are many nice sweet supplier in Bombay. Order them... (break) How do you like this idea?

Girirāja: It's very good idea, except that we feel that you should personally be present.

Prabhupāda: That is Kṛṣṇa's desire. You are trying. I am also trying. Now it is Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma's desire.

Bhagavān: You are the jewel that will make it all gorgeous, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: So I am giving the idea. Ha. HAAA!

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The Complan is here, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: So what shall I do?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sit up and drink.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Hm. Hare Kṛṣṇa kīrtana.

Room Conversation -- October 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: The mosquitoes, they are warning.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Don't worry. They won't get you while we're near. The mass... The professional massage man, he massages with oil, and we are massaging with love.

Prabhupāda: That oil creates some ant.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. The ants are attracted by its sweetness. But we are only hoping to attract you by the sweetness of our massage. No ants will come.

Bhagavān: Your juice is here, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Would you like to sit up? (pause) (break)

Prabhupāda: ...softly and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...mind, niveśaya, fix up in Kṛṣṇa. This is Rūpa Gosvāmī method. Yena tena prakāreṇa manaḥ kṛṣṇe niveśayet. So you are already attached to Kṛṣṇa. You'll see the picture and enjoy. So you can give this picture to him, his own.

Haṁsadūta: We'll put it in his room. (end)

Room Conversation -- October 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That other fruit?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sweet lemons? Do you find that you have a good result with drinking that kind of juice at night? You don't have any reaction in any way? Causing mucus or something? It's okay?

Devotee: We could make an ice cream shake.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So Upendra will make it? All of the devotees are very excited about your travel plans, Śrīla Prabhupāda. (laughter) Maybe Bhagatji will come also.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (laughter) He likes the Māyāpur.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bhagatji had not heard yet, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Bhagatji had not been informed yet of your traveling plans.

Prabhupāda: No, you are proposing.

Doctor Visit and Conversation -- October 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Upendra: We're going to give you a little... It's custard.

Bhavānanda: Dr. Gopal wants to give you some custard, some cold custard.

Dr. Gopal: I want to see the reaction after that, you have. You can give two-three cloves(?) so that he can take. Is it sweet enough to give you taste? I think we just want that Complan, and he just take only custard and ice cream, dhaniyā bread, that's all. Just stick to only these four things now. And then you can increase. Any amount of things, you can... How do you feel now? Do you like warm thing or cold thing?

Prabhupāda: Cold are better.

Dr. Gopal: Cold better. Liking is towards cold rather than towards hot.

Guest (1): Ice cream?

Dr. Gopal: Don't worry about this passing of flatus, stools, every time by the urination. You should not worry. Because a scab(?) is still there, this will be unavoidable(?). Otherwise you can give a little soft enema so that that scab should come out, and so there is no spurious(?) there, a little one is coming out every time with the eating.

Prabhupāda: We are not worried.

Doctor Visit and Conversation -- October 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: What is this?

Dr. Gopal: This is glucose water. No taste?

Prabhupāda: Little taste.

Dr. Gopal: It is sweet enough?

Upendra: This is plain water.

Dr. Gopal: Take little more. Was there enough in..., that you have measured it. This is 101.

Upendra: Measure it back?

Dr. Gopal: No, don't measure it back. When it finishes, you prepare fresh.

Upendra: It can be kept.

Dr. Gopal: Yes. You have the prescription? Daytime, he is having sleep or not? Little bit.

Room Conversation -- October 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that's all right.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I wanted to know whether... The person who's singing is Śveta-varāha from Māyāpur. In Māyāpur they use a small microphone, not for the drums but for his voice, and he has a very sweet voice. So normally we don't use mic at all, but sometimes the devotees don't know how to sing very sweetly. Whether we should use a small microphone for his voice?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We can try it, and if it's not nice we can stop it.

Prabhupāda: It is going on without microphone?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The drums are... Right now the drumming is very loud.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Room Conversation -- October 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhavānanda: Last year in Māyāpur, Śrīla Prabhupāda, during the festival and before, when you were there, they would, this kīrtana group of your disciples, they would be chanting over microphone so that Your Divine Grace could hear it in your room. I remember you commented many times on how sweet and nice it sounded.

Prabhupāda: It is already very loud.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: It's very loud actually. (pause) All the devotees were very happy when they heard that you have started translating again.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yesterday Prabhupāda translated for nearly two hours. The edited work, Śrīla Prabhupāda, sounds very beautiful. It's very first class when it's finally edited. The whole staff is here, and it sounds very nice.

Prabhupāda: Tamāla Kṛṣṇa?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: In the horoscope we have dragged the life through so many catastrophes, but ultimately how long the life we have dragged?

Room Conversation -- October 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Bharadvāja is the best artist.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bharadvāja?

Prabhupāda: Best artist.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He also sings very sweetly.

Prabhupāda: Artist means that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Would you like to hear Hari Haraye Namaḥ? Should he play with harmonium? Okay. And we'll all accompany?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. (kīrtana) (break)

Prabhupāda: So urine is being stopped.

Upendra: Prabhupāda just tried for urine and passed about 10.

Prabhupāda: This is the last...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Should I just see why? If I look at the book I can give you some information.

Prabhupāda: Not in the book. Yes, you can see.

Room Conversation -- October 26, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No, just a sample.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīdhara Swami in Hyderabad has one. (break) ...parikrama is successful, we can attempt the Māyāpur parikrama. That will also be very good, Śrīla Prabhupāda. And then, if that is successful, we will do a world parikrama, ISKCON parikrama. That means world parikrama. We will go to all your temples around the world. That may be the sweetest parikrama of all, Śrīla Prabhupāda. (break)

Prabhupāda: I'll take little rest. (break) Makara-dhvaja will give strength. So for passing stool, whatever strength I have got, that will...

Bhavānanda: In the beginning, initially, when you start taking this medicine, I would think there would be some reaction within the body to something new like that before the body develops its tolerance. I don't think it's too serious at this point. (aside:) Śrīla Prabhupāda feels all hope is frustrated. The makara-dhvaja medicine is to give strength, but now he's passing stool, so all the strength he has is lost. At the same time, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you're taking a lot of liquid intake now. There has to be some stool. It's digested. You're taking almost a thousand milliliters a day, 960, 890, like that. So that's quite a large amount.

Bhakti-caru: Another thing is that this is a very strong medicine, and Vanamali Prabhu was hesitant to give it at this point because it was too strong for his...

Prabhupāda: Therefore I say stop it.

Room Conversation -- October 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes, I can try.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. You should do it just to please us, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Upendra: You can take the shoulders and... (indistinct)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Many people were in the temple tonight. The kīrtana party that has come from Māyāpur, they were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa very sweetly, and the whole temple room was filled with people sitting, listening and waiting for the ārati. Very nice program. Think you'll try to take a little now. Śrīla Prabhupāda? Bhakti-caru can feed you.

Bhakti-caru: (Bengali)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You'll sit up for a little while? Can I scratch your back?

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? Would you like Jayādvaita and Pradyumna to come again?

Prabhupāda: Hm. If you can make some resting place, then I can sit down more.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You mean with pillows in the back? Shall we do just now? Okay.

Prabhupāda: It is giving pain.

Room Conversation -- October 31, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) (Hindi conversation with long pauses)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, after bathing you'll go on parikrama? (aside:) You can inform the temple that Prabhupāda will go on parikrama. You feel satisfied with this kavirāja, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Hm. (break)

Bhavānanda: ...over there. We drink fresh gaṅgā-jala every day. Sweetest. When I was on the boat preaching, I never drank anything but gaṅgā-jala. I took my bath in the Gaṅgā three times a day. So spiritually enlivening.

Prabhupāda: Three times you were taking?

Bhavānanda: My bath.

Prabhupāda: Oh. When is your date for appearing in the court?

Bhavānanda: Twenty-ninth of December, which is the appearance day of your Guru Mahārāja, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. We have to appear that day.

Prabhupāda: Twenty-ninth December.

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Haṁsadūta was chanting.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You want him to chant again? Should he chant some more?

Prabhupāda: I think so.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. I think the reason that you haven't been having much kīrtana the last two or three days is because Haṁsadūta and Bharadvāja were not here. Isn't that it? Their kīrtana is very sweet. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...Ratha-yātrā ceremony.

Gaura-govinda: At Ratha-yātrā Jagannātha came very late for Pāṇḍu-vijaya. It was first time announced that it would take place at nine, but actually it took place at four p.m.

Prabhupāda: Why?

Gaura-govinda: We heard that this year that new body... Jagannātha has a new body, so it was heard that that was not proper time. These pāṇḍās and some people were interested with this business purpose. They did so, and also these pāṇḍās were doing some nonsense inside the temple, so Jagannātha was very much displeased, so it took so much time.

Prabhupāda: The pāṇḍās untimely changed the body?

Room Conversation -- November 4, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Bitter.

Bhakti-caru: Yes. So should I mix it with some sweet? Like... I normally give the powder with glucose so that the glucose will give you some sweet taste. But distilled medicine, the water thin, watery medicine, that is tasteless. It tastes like water.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Let us follow this medicine until its prescribed time, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Give me. (swallows medicine)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This kavirāja feels quite confident, Śrīla Prabhupāda. He is not a fool. He says there's reason to feel quite hopeful. Naturally you are feeling a little hopeless because you've been laying down for so long in bed. Would you like to hear a little bit of one of the books? We'll read some more of the Teachings of Lord Kapila that we were reading yesterday to you? In this way we can pass the time very nicely.

Prabhupāda: Who is...?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We're moving the light over to this side for reading.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: This book is wonderful, Prabhupāda, Kapila, Teachings of Lord Kapila. It is a beautiful cover. (Jayādvaita reads from Teachings of Lord Kapila) (end)