Terrible (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"terrible" |"terribly"

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Press Interview -- December 30, 1968, Los Angeles:

Journalist: He does an article for us next month. But I spoke to Dan and I told him that one of the things I would like to ask you, and I think that an awful lot of our readers, and an awful lot of people in the United States are terribly confused with the many people who claim to be avatāras and who come from India to this country, one after the other, after the other, and they say...

Prabhupāda: I can declare, they are all nonsense.

Journalist: That's what... I wanted to... If you could elaborate on that a little more.

Prabhupāda: And I can say furthermore, they're all rascals.

Press Interview -- December 30, 1968, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Method is also same, but they are not teaching people to follow the method. I am teaching them practically how to follow and how to do it.

Journalist: Let me ask you something that we've run into a great deal just recently. We've just started a youth supplement for kids. And one of the most... What should I say? That particular thing which provides perhaps the biggest schism between man's, or at least American man's and woman's love of God or the following of the Ten Commandments, is the problem, how shall I put it, well, the sexual problem. We here in this country are taught, and we have the Puritan background, that sex is a bad thing. And hopefully we're coming out of it, but when young people, a person reaches the age of puberty... Here in this country, I don't know from other countries. He begins to have a terrible, obviously a terrible problem. Now I'm stating something that's obvious. We've all gone through this. But it seems that is has been impossible for the western churches to give to the young people something to hold on to so that they can understand number one that what they're feeling is a normal beautiful thing, and number two, how to cope with it. And there is nothing in western culture that teaches or helps a young person to cope with this thing that is a very, very difficult problem. And I went through it. We all have. Now do you in your message, give the young people something to hold...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Press Interview -- December 30, 1968, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: This conchshell sounding is considered auspicious. Yes. Actually it is conchshell sounding. So after offering prayer to the Lord, we bugle this conchshell.

Journalist: I guess I've really asked the main question. Not the main question, but the thing I want to know again was, again, why this, and about people like the Maharishi, which turned me off and so many people. My daughter was very involved in that kind of thing for awhile, and she's terribly disillusioned.

Prabhupāda: Yes. The psychology is that your people, all the western people, especially youngsters, they are hankering after something, you see? But the difficulty is... Just like me. If somebody comes, "Swamiji, initiate me." I immediately say that "You have to follow these four principles," and he goes away. And this Maharishi, he did not put any restriction, you see? Just like a physician, if he says that "You can do whatever you like. You simply take my medicine, you'll be cured." That physician will be very much liked. You see?

Journalist: Yes. He'll kill a lot of people, but he's very liked.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (laughs) And a physician which says, "Oh, you cannot do this, you cannot do this, you cannot eat this," it is a botheration. So they want something. That is a fact. But at the same time, they want it very cheap. Therefore the cheaters come and cheat them. They take the opportunity. "These people want to be cheated. Oh let us take the advantage." You see. Otherwise, they are advising that "You are God, everyone is God. You just realize yourself, you have forgotten. You take this mantra, and you become God, and you become powerful. Whatever you like, you can control. And there is no control of senses. You can drink, you can have unrestricted sex life and whatever you like." People like this. "Oh, simply by fifteen minutes meditation, I shall become God, and I have to pay only thirty-five dollars."

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London:

Dr. Weir: I often used say to my students that I've got to remember that if anything in life to realize the difference between simple and complicated, which is objective, and easy and difficult, which is subjective. In other words sometimes a simple thing may be terribly difficult for a person to get hold of. Whereas complicated things he may find quite easy.

Prabhupāda: So your student has to follow your instruction. That means accepts authority.

Dr. Weir: But even so, even if he's working something out for himself, it has that same..., to some people it comes terribly easily.

Prabhupāda: No. No. To accept authority does not mean one should be blind. But the real source of knowledge comes from authority.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- June 14, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: That is the defect of modern education.

John Fahey: Well, they go to college, and so this is where the idea started. It got bigger and bigger and bigger, and now it's out of control. (laughs) It's terrible. It's all-pervasive. (indistinct) I don't kill animals.

Devotee: Vegetarian?

John Fahey: Now, yeah.

Devotee: He's vegetarian.

Prabhupāda: Well vegetarians are not animals. (laughter) In India, you'll still you'll find ninety-percent of the population, they're vegetarians, strictly. Always vegetarians. They're quite healthy, they're working. Therefore vegetarians are human beings. Vegetables, that food is meant for human beings. That is natural. For a human being to become nonvegetarian is unnatural. And to become vegetarian, that is natural. Just like our teeth, it is meant for cutting vegetables, fruit, not meat. You will find cutting by these teeth, meat, it will be difficult. But you take any vegetable, any fruit, you can immediately cut. Our medical laws says that anything eatable which you cannot cut with the teeth and smash it properly, it will not be digested. So fruits and vegetables you can properly cut even raw, not to speak of cooked. Raw vegetables and raw fruits, you can cut with these teeth and smash it and you swallow, it will be nicely digested. You get all food value. But you cannot do in that way, raw meat. It is not possible. You cannot take raw meat or bite one animal and take some flesh out of it.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation With David Lawrence -- July 12, 1973, London:

So there is no difference.

David Lawrence: The difference is irrelevant then.

Prabhupāda: No. There is no difference. Just like we are talking. You have got a coat. I have no coat. That does not make any difference. We are talking as gentlemen. That's all. The last time when I was in Calcutta I was invited by the Indo-American Cultural Society, and they gave me the subject matter: "East and West." So I talked, "We don't find any such distinction, 'East and West,' when we come to the spiritual platform. This is all material platform."

David Lawrence: We find when we're teaching, you know, really secular youngsters that it's terribly difficult to get off this cultural veneer, you know.

Prabhupāda: Therefore one has to understand first that "I am not this body."

David Lawrence: That's it. And you've got to believe... The teacher... This is the big thing, isn't it? The teacher has got to be God conscious.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- London, August 24, 1973 :

Prabhupāda: ...there are so many paths, that Kṛṣṇa says that "Real religion is to surrender unto Me. Therefore you give up all this pseudo-religion," sarva dharman parityajya, give it up, mam ekam saranam, "just surrender unto Me, I shall give you protection from all sinful reaction." So here is God, and He is accepted by great ācāryas. In India there were great ācāryas, religious leaders. Just like Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Viṣṇu Svāmī, Nimbarka, later Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and many others. They accept Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So there is God, His name, His address, His activities, everything is there. If you accept, then you will benefit.

Woman: Do you think that the, the poor Indians who are suffering because of this terrible drought in India..., is it in India?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Woman: Yes. Umm, is their relief never going to be in this world? Is it only going to be when they die?

Prabhupāda: Well, nobody is dying.

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

David Lawrence: And they've had one or two cases at their hospital where they've gone out afterwards and they've seen babies moving! Terrible.

Prabhupāda: It has been seen in Calcutta also, in dust bin found out some child, dust bin.

David Lawrence: Terrible. Some are in such an advanced state of pregnancy that clearly life is a strong possibility.

Prabhupāda: Not advanced stage, life begins from the very beginning of sex. The living entity is very small. By nature's law, according to his karma, he's sent to the father's semina and that is injected and immediately the two secretions emulsify, the man's and the woman's, and it forms a body just like a pea. That is the formation of body. Now that pea-like form develops gradually. Then first manifestation is the nine holes. Everything is there in the Vedic literature. Nine holes, they have got nine holes. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. In this way gradually the senses develop and by the time seven months, everything is complete and the living entity's consciousness come back. Prior to the formation of the body, the living entity remains unconscious just like in chloroform, anaesthetic. Then he dreams and then gradually consciousness... At that time he becomes very much upset to come out, come out. Then nature gives him "khut!" He comes out. That's all. This is the process of birth.

Morning Walk -- December 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, sarva-ga. Acalo 'yaṁ sthāṇur sarva-gaḥ. Nitya. Nityaḥ sthāṇur acalo 'yam. That is described. The seeds are everywhere. Just like they are trying to come out from this. You will find sometimes fracture, grass is coming. As soon as there is opportunity, they want to express the consciousness. Those who fall down... kṣīṇe puṇye punaḥ martya-lokaṁ viśanti. They come with waters, rain water, and falls down on the ground and become grass. Then gradually, evolution.

Hṛdayānanda: That's terrible.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino... How subtle laws are working, what do they know the scientists? Therefore their so-called knowledge is māyayā apahṛta-jñānāḥ, actual knowledge is taken away by māyā. And they are thinking, "I am very learned man, scholar." But actual knowledge is taken away. māyayā apahṛta-jñānāḥ. Why? Āsuri-bhāva. They won't accept God. Therefore they are all fools. In spite of all these degrees, they are all fools. Therefore they cannot explain everything very nicely. "In future we shall see."

Morning Walk -- December 17, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Why not the scientists?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: I think scientists are better than doctors.

Prabhupāda: Better rascals. (laughter) Scientists are better rascals. (laughing)

Karandhara: Well, doctors are simply out for money.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Oh, it is terrible. They don't think about anything else. They just think about money.

Prabhupāda: They have been taught like that.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: If the patient doesn't bring money, he won't give injection.

Prabhupāda: So the lawyers and everyone. Especially in your country, this country, because they require money, so they must have money some way or other. That is the prime principle. They require money. That's all.

Morning Walk -- December 17, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: It is a very big business here, Śrīla Prabhupāda, medical profession. They have this American Medical Association. They control the whole business. Even government cannot interfere. So they choose students, and they keep the supply so low that the demand is always high. That is why the price always increases. It's terrible.

Karandhara: To stay in a hospital now costs about $150 a day.

Prabhupāda: That is a sort of punishment of sinful activities. When you fall sick, it is due to sinful activity. So you are punished.

Karandhara: It's a very high price.

Rūpānuga: Pay fine.

Prabhupāda: Yes. The more dangerous is the disease, you have to pay more. (break)

Karandhara: ...very mercenary, hospitals...

Prabhupāda: Everywhere mercenary.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 6, 1974, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: And in Burma, my Guru Mahārāja opened a branch. So when they were frying puri, the, nice ghee, all the tenants, "Oh! What you are...!?" (laughter) They cannot tolerate. But in Burma, there is a preparation which is called nafi. The nafi means that a, a big jar will be kept on the door, and whatever animals, insect, cockroaches will die, they'll put in that. And during rainy season, it will be filled with water. And it will be kept for years. Then... And the bad smell was so terrible that if somebody would open the lid, it will immediately create very bad smell. So after some years, they will strain the water and keep in bottle. And when there is festival, they'll supply it in small... That is called nafi. And they'll take it very pleasantly. And when they were frying ghee, "Oh! What you are doing, this?!" Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that

nānā yoni sadā phire, kadarya bhakṣaṇa kare,

tāra janma adhah-pate yāya,

karma-kāṇḍa jñāna-kāṇḍa, kevala viṣera bhāṇḍa,

amṛta baliyā yebā khāya

Karma-kāṇḍa. There are three kāṇḍas: karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa and upāsanā-kāṇḍa. So upāsanā-kāṇḍa is bhakti. So instead of accepting this upāsanā-kāṇḍa, worshiping the Supreme, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66), if one takes to the other processes, karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa, they are viṣera bhāṇḍa, they're all poison pots. The result is, if they take to that path, then their, this transmigration of the soul, will continue, and they'll have to eat all nasty things. Because this time you may be human being. And next time you may be hog. So this is karma-kāṇḍa jñāna-kāṇḍa kevala viṣera bhāṇḍa, the all poison pots. Simply bhakti-kāṇḍa, we have to take. Otherwise our life is at risk. The jñāna-kāṇḍa is also not safe, because their ultimate goal of jñāna-kāṇḍa is to merge into Brahman. But there, they cannot stay. Because in Brahman simply it is eternal life, eternity, but there is no ānanda. but we are seeking ānanda. In the Brahman... Suppose if you are asked that "You will eternally live in this land, will you like that? You'll never die. You'll live eternally, but nobody will come here. Nobody will talk with you." Will you like that?

Devotee: No. Nobody would.

Morning Walk -- April 5, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Arms, He is exhibiting many. The same formula. Eko bahu syām. (indistinct) Then?

Girirāja: (Continues reading synonyms to:) "bahu-daṁṣṭrā-..."

Prabhupāda: "Many bellies" means a personal form. Daṁṣṭrā karālām.

Girirāja: (finishes synonyms) "Translation: O mighty-armed one, all the planets with their demigods are disturbed at seeing Your many faces, eyes, arms, bellies and legs, and Your terrible teeth, and as they are disturbed, so am I."

Prabhupāda: Kāla-rūpa, kāla-rūpa. This is called kāla-rūpa. Then? Yes.

Dr. Patel:

nabhaḥ spṛśaṁ dīptam aneka-varṇaṁ

vyāttānanaṁ dīpta-viśāla-netram

dṛṣṭvā hi tvāṁ pravyathitāntarātmā

dhṛtiṁ na vindāmi śamaṁ ca viṣṇo

Girirāja: (reads synonyms)

Dr. Patel: At the same time, all the gods were seeing the same thing?

Prabhupāda: Viṣṇu, this word has been used, "all-pervading, all-pervading forms." It does not mean that because all-pervading, there is no form. Form is there always.

Dr. Patel: Shall I go ahead?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- April 5, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: (reads verse 11.20 in Sanskrit)

Girirāja: (reads synonyms) "Translation: Although You are one, You are spread throughout the sky and the planets and all space between. O great one, as I behold this terrible form, I see that all the planetary systems are perplexed."

Prabhupāda: For devotee, that is a terrible form. That is not very pleasing. Therefore they do not worship the virāṭ form. They worship Kṛṣṇa's original, dvi-bhuja. Dvi-bhuja murlīdhāra śyāmasundara. That is the original form.

Dr. Patel: That is what we say.

Prabhupāda: Yes, Dvi-bhuja murlidhara śyāmasundara. Venuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ barhāvataṁsam asitāmbudha-sundarāṅgam (Bs. 5.30). Arcā-vigraha. Venuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ barhāvataṁ... Barha, this peacock feather. They are described in the Vedic literature, but these rascals say, "That it is imagination. They have imagined." The Māyāvādīs say, "They have imagined a form of God as Kṛṣṇa, with peacock feather, with murlī." But that's not the fact. The fact is there in the Vedic literature. So Kṛṣṇa has got this universal form, but the devotees are not interested with this universal form. But they know that Kṛṣṇa has universal form.

Room Conversation with Robert Gouiran, Nuclear Physicist from European Center for Nuclear Research -- June 5, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Robert Gouiran: ...with this plane, nothing could happen because I felt I was in harmony. And when I went back, I took the plane, exactly as you say, at Colombo, I went by Colombo, and there was a storm, terrible storm when the plane took off, and the lady beside me was very frightened, and I was so enlightened at the time that I told her, "We are protected. I am protected. So if you are beside me you are also protected. So nothing could happen." And it was an extraordinary feeling. In French we call that providence. You know that?

Prabhupāda: Providence? Yes. That... When we are in danger, we remember the providence, but when we are happy we forget providence. (laughter)

Robert Gouiran: (French, "I didn't understand.")

Guru-gaurāṅga: (French)

Robert Gouiran: No, because I felt that when we reach this point, we, we are, we get to...

Prabhupāda: Anyway...

Robert Gouiran: (French)

Prabhupāda: At the time of danger, we remember providence or God. That is also good. So that is a Hindi proverb that duhkse sab hari bhaje, sukse bhaje kol, sukse ajar hari bhaje, duhka ase hay(?). Means "When one is in danger, he remembers God, and when he is in happiness he forgets God. Therefore if he remembers God always, then where is danger?" So our business is to become God conscious. Then there will be no anxiety. So we are preaching that, I, here, that you become God conscious. Death is there. You cannot save yourself. Either you are on the land or on the plane, death will be there. You must be prepared for the death. But if by practicing remembering God, even at the time of death you continue to remember God, then your life is successful. Death will be there. You cannot stop that. Ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6). So if at the time of death we can remember God, then our life is successful. Therefore, before death we shall mold our life in such a way that always thinking of God.

Room Conversation with Robert Gouiran, Nuclear Physicist from European Center for Nuclear Research -- June 5, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: That's a... Temporary value, we also give but we say there is no healing.

Yogeśvara: Ah, yes, healing in the sense that it will never happen again.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: It is in his mind, that he thinks that he is healed. Just like if you have a disease and then you have terrible disease that produces headache and so you take aspirin to relieve the headache, but still the disease is there. So he thinks, "I am O.K. now."

Robert Gouiran: Wait, I say that taking aspirin is not a good healing.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: This is example. The disease is still there.

Robert Gouiran: Well, but it is by such example that we could be misled.

Prabhupāda: That is good thing, that is healing? Do you think honestly, there is healing? There is no disease?

Robert Gouiran: I have seen healings.

Prabhupāda: What is that you have seen, that he is not diseased? You have seen a man temporarily healed but why he suffers from another disease? Do you guarantee that there will be no disease? Can you guarantee?

Robert Gouiran: No more.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 15, 1975, Mexico:

Hṛdayānanda: (translating) If there's a certain criteria of proof or a certain evidence that we can know for certain that there actually is such transmigration of the soul?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like the baby is, the soul is, transmigrated from baby's body to child's body, child's body to boy's body, boy's body to youthful body, so the body vanishes, and because the soul remains, he gets another body. Now I am old man. I remember I had a child's body, I was lying down. I quite remember it. But that body is not existing. So this is the example. Everyone has experience. This is transmigration of the soul from one body to another. And at the time of death, the psychological condition of the mind will carry me to a suitable body, and I shall enter into the womb of my mother through the semina of the father, and the mother will give that a particular type of body, and when it is completely manufactured, then I come out and begin my again. Therefore we find varieties of forms, but in each and every form there is the soul. Now, in the human form of life, we should utilize our intelligence that "This constant change of body, how it can be stopped?" And we should remain in our eternal body because I am eternal, but psychologically I am simply changing different forms of body, and at the time of change of body I have to undergo so many sufferings. To remain within the womb of the mother for ten months in packed up condition, it is a very terrible punishment. But for each new birth, we have to undertake this terrible suffering. Sometimes nowadays they're being killed. So to avoid all these dangers, one should try to remain in his spiritual body so that there will be no more chance of accepting material... Find out this, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9).

Room Conversation with Two Lawyers and Guest -- May 22, 1975, Melbourne:

Guest 3: You don't claim it, I suppose. If you own property, what happens, I would have thought, is more that for a time you have got possession.

Prabhupāda: For a time you have got possession of the chair—that does not mean your property.

Guest 3: But I suppose if somebody came and took the chair while I've got it in my possession, I'd be terribly upset about it.

Prabhupāda: No, that is a (indistinct) thing. Nobody will disturb you. You remain in your chair. (laughter) That does not mean because you have sat down on the chair for two hours, you become proprietor.

Guest 2: One gets attached.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Guest 2: One gets attached to the chair. I like this chair. It's a nice chair.

Prabhupāda: No, that's all right. You like, you sit down, and you go when it is finished. But how do you claim that it is your property?

Guest 2: Good-bye. (laughter)

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

Revatīnandana: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Who are they? Very important men?

Revatīnandana: Well, it just said... The magazine was not terribly detailed. It just said that many scientists involved in this are claiming that within twenty-thirty years they will reverse the aging processes. I think it is a bogus claim actually. They dream all kinds of things like that.

Satsvarūpa: They say when a person is born, there is a kind of clock inside them that runs so long. If they can change that clock, then they'll make it stretch out.

Prabhupāda: Another foolishness.

Bahulāśva: Most of these big philosophers don't ever think of that question, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Bahulāśva: These big philosophers never think of that question.

Prabhupāda: Because they have no answer.

Morning Walk -- July 1, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: Chicago is also this...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, very bad. That is very bad.

Brahmānanda: There's one area of the town that there's a bad odor.

Prabhupāda: Here also they say. Just like in Bombay, the Bandra(?).

Harikeśa: Ah, terrible.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What's Viṣṇujana doing? (break) ...Deity, I've never seen it. He gets up early in the morning, wakes Him up, cooks for Him, then we offer ārati, then bathing and dressing the Deity, sings for Him all day. He's so devoted to Rādhā-Dāmodara.

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

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

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

Morning Walk -- July 3, 1975, Denver:

Devotee (3): I was just wondering if the spirit soul being in the spiritual world is eternally liberated, how can he return. By desire?

Prabhupāda: Yes. If he desires, he can come again. That option is always there. Just like I remain in India. I come here. And if I like, I may not come. It is my option.

Ambarīṣa: When we get to the spiritual sky, we'll always be able to remember how horrible it is down here? We'll always be able to remember how terrible it is in the material world?

Prabhupāda: It is terrible.

Ambarīṣa: Yes, we will be able to remember that.

Prabhupāda: That is intelligence. When one remembers that this world is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15), is a place of misery, then we can go. As long as we shall think, "Oh, it is very nice place," we have to remain. Kṛṣṇa is so kind, "All right, remain in this very nice place."

Brahmānanda: You gave the example yesterday of Lord Indra. When he took birth here as a hog, then he didn't want to leave. He thought it was nice.

Prabhupāda: Yes, he also thought it is a very nice place.

Morning Walk -- July 3, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: Yes, he also thought it is a very nice place.

Kāśīrāma: Queen Kuntī was always praying that the calamities would happen again and again so that she would remember Kṛṣṇa. If the calamities are always happening in the material world, we will realize it is a terrible place to stay.

Prabhupāda: This is jñāna, knowledge. When one comes to this conclusion, "This is worthless," that is jñāna, knowledge. And so long one will think, "No, it is not always bad, sometimes very good," that is ignorance. (laughs)

Kuruśreṣṭha: They say that without the bad, then the good wouldn't be as good.

Prabhupāda: So you remain with bad and good. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. That possibility is here. Sometimes you are going to the higher heavenly planets, a long duration of life, better standard of enjoyment—again coming back. (break) Good and bad is exemplified: just like I catch you and put down the water, and when you are suffocated, I raise you little, and you say, "Oh. (laughter) It is very nice." But you do not know, again you are going to be... You see? "This good, bad" is here like that. He is put into the water and suffocated, and when he is taken out little, he says, "Oh, it is very good. It is very good." The rascal does not know, the next moment he is going to be again drowned in that. That is going on. Daṇḍya-jane rāja-jana... That was the chief punishment formerly. If one has to be punished, instead of putting into the jail and feed him, the officers will take him to a river and put him in the water. In this way, one day doing, he will say "I will never do these things. Please excuse me." Daṇḍya-jane rāja-jane nadite cubaya. (break) ...unless one remembers this, that "To be in the material world, how suffocating it is," he will not fit for going to back to Godhead.

Morning Walk -- August 24, 1975, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Brahmānanda: He wanted one fan.

Prabhupāda: Fan? No.

Harikeśa: The reason is flies. They're terrible. (break)

Jayapatāka: ...Śrīla Prabhupāda, the deputy director of tourism of the government of West Bengal came out to visit Māyāpur. He said that many people have been wanting to see Māyāpur and Navadvipa. And the nearest guesthouse they have is Berhampur. They have a guest house at Berhampur. So they wanted to know the possibility if a bus of twenty-four people could use our guesthouse. They offered thirty rupees a night per room and said that normally they pay six rupees per meal. They wouldn't smoke or break any rules while they go in the building.

Prabhupāda: That's nice. Let them come. So in one room, one person?

Jayapatāka: Two people. Double room.

Prabhupāda: Thirty-two rupees?

Jayapatāka: Thirty rupees.

Morning Walk -- October 25, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...ceptive tablet, sleeping tablet, or...

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Waking tablets.

Prabhupāda: Waking tablets and so on, so on. Tranquilization tablet.

Brahmānanda: They had one tablet for pregnant mothers, and that tablet was used very much in Europe, and that tablet proved to be very harmful to the children that were born. They created terrible deformities amongst many, many children. So there was a tremendous lawsuit against the company. I think it was a German company.

Prabhupāda: What for the tablet was used?

Brahmānanda: Some vitamin for the pregnant mothers.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Thalidomide, yes?

Brahmānanda: Yes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The babies they came out with no arms. Just hands like this coming from their shoulder. Flippers.

Prabhupāda: Just see. This is their cheating. (break) ...everything had been experimented, and they were defeated; still, "science." This is their foolishness. (break) ...telling me that fifty thousand people died by motor accident?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 13, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Yes, and request him to stop to send, give passport to all these nonsense. Do this. Yes.

Satsvarūpa: "For this reason I am very excited to see the publication of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, by Śrī A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda, from his very birth, was trained in the strict practice of bhakti-yoga, and he appears in a succession of gurus that traces back to the original speaking of Bhagavad-gītā by Śrī Kṛṣṇa. His knowledge of Sanskrit is impeccable. His penetration into the inner meaning of the text is befitting only a fully realized soul who has indeed perfectly understood the meaning of Bhagavad-gītā. Personally, I intend to use this book in the courses which I am directing by invitation of the Mexican government on the language, culture, and philosophy of India. This authorized edition of the Gītā will serve a double purpose in Spanish-speaking countries. One, it will help to stop the terrible cheating of false and unauthorized gurus and yogis; and two, it will give an opportunity to Spanish-speaking people to understand the actual meaning of Oriental culture."

Devotees: Jaya!

Ghanaśyāma: Sometimes... (break) ...they say the exact things, you know. It's so nice that people...

Prabhupāda: Sometimes I myself read my reviews.

Morning Walk -- March 17, 1976, Mayapura:

Pañca-draviḍa: So they think chance.

Prabhupāda: So there must be third man, third brain who has created. You cannot do it.

Yaśodānandana: There is actual proof, Prabhupāda, that when these scientists and great, so-called poets, when they die, refusing to admit the authority of God, they die a very terrible death. Just like in France there used to be a great philosopher named Voltaire, and at the end of his life, because his whole writings and existence he tried to disprove the existence of God, he went insane, and he was eating his own stool and urine. And a priest came to him and said, "Why don't you accept the existence of God? You have become such great poet." He said, "I will never accept the existence of God." But he became to the point where he was eating his own stool and urine.

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Yaśodānandana: This has been recorded...

Prabhupāda: This is the punishment, yes. Punishment there is always. But they are so stubborn fools still.

Morning Walk -- March 17, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: What do you want more? "But he has not suffered. He has simply died." This is the argument. He has suffered. But "No, no, there was no suffering. He has simply died." What is the more suffering than death? (break)

Pañca-draviḍa: When somebody is dying and his external consciousness is completely absorbed in all kinds of terrible bodily symptoms, how is it that a devotee remembers Kṛṣṇa? What is actually happening that he's able to remember Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: Devotee generally remembers Kṛṣṇa. But even if he cannot, Kṛṣṇa will help him.

Devotees: Oh.

Prabhupāda: That is guarantee. Kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati (BG 9.31). Because he is devotee, for material condition he could not remember, but Kṛṣṇa remembers, "Yes," that "he has done so much for Me."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, otherwise...

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Otherwise, it's just mechanical.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Mechanical

Prabhupāda: No. That is.... That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, that.... He was giving the condition. Then, when Arjuna was little disturbed, so He said immediately, "Arjuna, you have no fear." Did you not read this portion?

Morning Walk -- April 21, 1976, Melbourne:

Guru-kṛpā: Well, up to now He's protected.

Prabhupāda: He is protected. Others are not protected. So his term has not yet come. But what is the answer, that "Lord has become your obedient servant to protect. And when He does not?" Actually He does not. The.... In Europe they are very, very much afraid of war, next war. You know that? It becomes a terrible fright for them. Therefore war was not declared. They are very much frightened. They have suffered two big world wars. So why the God did not protect them? (break) ...cow dung philosophy. Cow dung philosophy you know? That one cow dung is just passed through, and the other cow dung is being burned. So this cow dung is laughing, "Oh, you are burned." (laughter) He does not know that when the.... She will be burned. She will be dried up; she will be burned. So your father's logic is like that, "I am protected," laughing at the death of others. Cow dung philosophy.

Morning Walk -- April 24, 1976, Melbourne:

Guru-kṛpā: Our unhappiness is our lamentation for our past sinful activity, and because we're not committing any more...

Prabhupāda: That is another. That is another. That is to remember the terrible condition of karmīs. (break—in car) ...devotee who thinks unhappy because he is thinking, "I am not getting tea. I am not getting cigarette. There is restriction of illicit life, no meat-eating..." In this way he is unhappy.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: He cannot gratify his desire.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Real devotee will think, "Oh, so many botheration I have now given up." Anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje (SB 1.7.6). Bhakti-yoga means upaśamam: "No more this, all this nonsense." That is bhakti-yoga, anartha-upaśamam, completely given up. Bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje, lokasya ajānato vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām. But they do not know anything. They are increasing anartha. They are to give up cigarette. No, they are manufacturing new brand of cigarette and advertising, "Please come. This cigarette is better than the other." This is going on. This is karmī life. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). He has no sense that "I have smoke this cigarette and why, after another cigarette, the same thing?" But no. "I have enjoyed sex here. Why another sex?" He has no sense.

Morning Walk -- June 5, 1976, Los Angeles:

Rāmeśvara: So then there was no movement, no thinking, everything was...

Prabhupāda: Unconscious, that may be.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Terrible karma, like a tree.

Hari-śauri: I remember reading in England there was somebody that had been in a coma for seventeen years.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Hari-śauri: They had been in a coma, in a hospital, for seventeen years.

Prabhupāda: Seventeen years?

Hari-śauri: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bad karma.

Prabhupāda: And still he was taken care of?

Hari-śauri: Hm.

Prabhupāda: Good patient. (laughter) And then after? He revived?

Hari-śauri: No. He was still in a coma. It was just an article that he'd been in a coma for so long, and there was no hope that he would revive or anything.

Room Conversation with George Gullen, President of Wayne State University -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

George Gullen: Umhm, I hear what you're saying, yes.

Prabhupāda: But the modern civilization, throughout the whole world, they are very serious about the matter, but they are completely in ignorance about the spirit. What is your opinion about these things?

George Gullen: I understand that very clearly, and I think we're caught up terribly in matters that are not of the spirit. We're terribly caught up in materialistic things.

Prabhupāda: But material, that is temporary. This body, your body, my body, anyone's body, that is temporary. It will not stay. It has taken birth at a certain date, it will endure for certain years, and then it will be finished. But the spirit, that will continue. It will accept another body. Just like we are accepting, we are giving up our body, childhood body, accepting the body of a boy, then giving up the boyhood body, accepting the body of a young man. Similarly, this body.... Just like I am an old man. This will be finished, and I will accept another body. So the spirit soul is eternal, and the body is temporary. So we are taking care of the body very much. That is also required. But what about the spirit soul? This education is lacking.

Room Conversation -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: It is more than hell. There is no life. I have been in Tata steel iron factory. I saw it is a hell. One melting pot just like a skyscraper building. You have seen?

Hari-śauri: I used to work on them, same thing. I was working where they pour the metal into ingots, into casings, and then when it solidifies they take a chunk of iron out, it's still white hot, and then they put it in ovens. And then after a while, when they need them, they take them out with big cranes and they put them on a series of rollers, and then it goes through a mill, what they call a mill. It's like a big mangling machine, and it crushes the steel ingot into plates, big plates. Then it goes along and it's cut and sent out. It cools down on big banks and it's sent out. So my job was, I was doing maintenance fitting on all those machines. On the rollers and on the cranes and on the big mills, like that. It was terrible. We used to work from two o'clock in the afternoon until ten o'clock at night, one shift, then from ten until six, and then from six until two.

Prabhupāda: Eight hours. Without any recreation?

Hari-śauri: Well, one break, for lunch. It was just indescribable. There's so much heat and fumes, and always covered in oil and grease, crawling around on your hands and knees to fix some machine.

Jagadīśa: All for the advantage of some wealthy man.

Prabhupāda: And after this hard labor, his only recreation is wine. Did you drink?

Hari-śauri: (laughs) Yes, we used to go straight from the steel works to the pub, public house.

Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: But what you have gained out of it, rascal? Now, there is no water. Bring water and become atheist. Why do you see: "When there will be water?" Bring water by scientific method. Why you are looking on the sky: "Whether there is any cloud."

Hari-śauri: Set up a drought committee.

Prabhupāda: They have done?

Bhagavān: In France there was a big drought, terrible drought. Many animals died. So the president of the country made a speech, and all he could say in his speech was that people should try to use less water. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Oh. There was another caricature, India. So there was some drought, the same. So there was some, what is called, representation: "And there is no water. We are suffering. This is the difficulty." "Yes, we are taking step, but next week you'll have television." Advancement, television. Because there was no television, so this is the advancement. Next week they have television. As if television will solve the problem. All mūḍhas, rascals, are very horrible condition. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. There is no other.

Room Conversation -- August 3, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Bhagavān: Children?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bhagavān: I'll tell them... (to devotee outside) Those children out there, their terrible screaming's disturbing Prabhupāda.

Harikeśa: They're all the way down the road.

Bhagavān: Get them all off the road.

Prabhupāda: This is the trap of māyā, to keep them captivated by sex attraction. All these living entities who are in this material world, beginning from the higher planetary system down to the ants and germs and flies. This is the primary enjoyment, sex. The central attraction is sex. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham (SB 7.9.45). The human being, the same sex desire, they decorate it in a different way. But the central point is the same. "So all right, why? It is enjoyment, why you are forbidding?" Saintly persons say, yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tucchaṁ kaṇḍūyanena karayor iva duḥkha-duḥkham. It is a pleasure of itching sensation. Itching sensation, when you itch, it is very pleasing. But bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ (SB 7.9.45). Aftereffect is very bad, suffering. Itching, if you itch more, it aggravates, sometimes causes so many other by-products and so on, so on. That is fact. But everyone knows it, that "I may enjoy sex pleasure now; the aftereffect will be very bad." Bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ. But why people do it again and again? Tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṇā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ. Those who are kṛpaṇa-kṛpaṇa means not brāhmaṇa—those who are not trained up as a brāhmaṇa, they cannot tolerate this itching sensation. They become victimized and the aftereffect is very, very bad. So either illicit or not illicit... They know it. The modern civilization, they have adopted the means of killing. First of all, they try to stop pregnancy by contraceptive method, and still if it is not stopped, then kill. And if he's still born, then again they put up in a box and go away. You know this?

Harikeśa: Yes, the baby, they put it in a closet and lock the door and walk out.

Room Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Akṣayānanda: Terrible. I often think it's like the balada. The balada they have, with the balada gadi(?) and they cut. And the balada has no brain. He does anything you want.

Devotee: What's a balada?

Akṣayānanda: The oxen. And similarly the people. (break) There must be a war very soon. It seems that there must be war very soon. War may happen very soon.

Prabhupāda: There will be reaction.

Akṣayānanda: Such a transgression of the laws, it cannot... How much further can it go, Prabhupāda? There must be a war very soon. Any day.

Prabhupāda: Yes. I think they cannot ask you for sterilization. You are foreigners.

Room Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Nas means veins.

Akṣayānanda: Means?

Prabhupāda: Veins, these, veins.

Akṣayānanda: Veins! I didn't know that. Bandhi means stop it. Stop the vein so the semina will not go. Terrible.

Harikeśa: You're sure about that?

Akṣayānanda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: They told you that's what they're doing. Stops you producing... They cut the tube that produces semina.

Akṣayānanda: I don't know where they do it. Some part of the body.

Hari-śauri: It's somewhere near the testes. They cut the tube. It takes ten minutes. And it stops you producing any more semina.

Akṣayānanda: It's so bad. They give people... (break) ...and eating so much nonsense. So the preaching in India has to be done very, very tactfully.

Prabhupāda: No, just like I was speaking from Bhāgavatam.

Room Conversation -- September 11, 1976, Vrndavana:

Saurabha: So only the opening ceremony.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Harikeśa: Nitāi had them bathe the big Deities here, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, on Janmāṣṭamī.

Dhanañjaya: And on Balarāma's appearance day, the big Deities were bathed. Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma.

Harikeśa: Terrible speculation.

Dhanañjaya: Actually Janmāṣṭamī celebrations were very bad and it's very...

Prabhupāda: Therefore the color has faded? He is a rascal.

Harikeśa: I remember that when these Deities... They're never to be washed. Never water was to touch. Supposed to put a plastic bag over the Deity. That was... If you have to use the big Deities, you're supposed to cover them with plastic.

Prabhupāda: Why did you allow? Just see, this is the disease. Rascals they do not know. And although I was...

Dhanañjaya: No, but everyone was listening to him. He was posing himself as the most learned in Deity worship.

Prabhupāda: That he's fond of.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Arrival of BBT Manager -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: And that is our triumph. They're chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: I read that even the New York Daily News took a poll to find out. They were asking every person what they think about Hare Kṛṣṇa. Usually they only take polls for very important issues.

Rāmeśvara: Yes, but it was terrible. (laughter)

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: The poll?

Rāmeśvara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: And Dialectic Spiritualism is published?

Rāmeśvara: This year, after the Māyāpur Festival. Hayagrīva hasn't finished working on it completely.

Prabhupāda: How many pages it will be?

Rāmeśvara: Two volumes.

Prabhupāda: Two volumes?

Rāmeśvara: Two volumes, eight hundred pages.

Prabhupāda: Oh? So, big?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Is that Harikeśa's book?

Jagadīśa: Śyāmasundara.

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

Prabhupāda: So from next year we shall not do that.

Hari-śauri: No, if it becomes controversial then there's no point.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Oh, there's many, especially in the newspaper.

Nanda-kumāra: Terrible publicity in the newspapers.

Gargamuni: It came in the Calcutta newspaper, but it was not bad. It was not bad article. It was good article.

Prabhupāda: And what is the...? "Do you believe that the Hare Kṛṣṇas, they are in...?"

Hari-śauri: "Would you believe three Hare Kṛṣṇas dressed in Santa Claus suits?"

Prabhupāda: "...in Santa Claus?"

Gargamuni: I think people were more amused than they were angry.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is amusing.

Room Conversation -- February 3, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Well, fighting must be there. They protested.

Hari-śauri: There's so many Christian sects.

Prabhupāda: There are many. Means they don't want anything genuine. Something imitation. What is the cause of fighting, this Ireland? Unnecessarily. It is going on in Europe since long time. In France it was very terrible fight. I have seen that Church. They would bell, and they'll come and fight Protestant. You have been there? No. Concord. It is... That place is called Concord. So history there is a building, church. The Catholics would come and kill the Protestants. The Joan of Arc.

Hari-śauri: She was burnt.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: Europe has a big history of...

Prabhupāda: Fighting.

Hari-śauri: Religious fighting.

Prabhupāda: Crusade? Crusade?

Hari-śauri: Yes. The Crusades were against the Arabs, though.

Room Conversation -- June 17, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (extremely faint) Grandson says? What is that? "Grandson says"? Supersoul? Something very extraordinary. Triumphant. "I shall be triumphant." (break) (indistinct) That is Indian style. "Kṛṣṇa we must move. Now this child is trying to turn Himself. Turn Himself." There is ceremony. This is ceremony. This is Indian way of raising up children. Sad-bhakṣaṇa.(?) When we were small children, we were all, brothers and sisters, three mo..., three years before us. So naturally, when mother was young, she became pregnant. So there were three, four ceremonies during, within the period of three years. One is called sad-bhakṣaṇa. Sad-bhakṣaṇa. The idea is... That (indistinct) he is dangerous. At the time of delivery the woman is in danger. There may be so many dangers. Therefore twice sad-bhakṣaṇa, at the period of seven months and perhaps in nine months. Whatever she likes, she should eat. So that ceremony, new cloth, very nicely dressed, taking bath, all the children, not only her children but other children also, very nice foodstuff made, and sit together, and with the children the mother will eat. And the brāhmaṇas should be given some charity. They will chant Vedic hymns. The same thing is being observed by Mother Yaśodā. That was the saṁskāra. Then utthāna.(?) Then anna-prāśana, when the child is... So much care is taken for the children. And these rascals are killing children. They are civilized? To avoid botheration. What a terrible civilization. And they are claiming to be civilized. Full day(?) pregnancy their children will be there. And man and woman... That is meant for the woman, but... And before childbirth there is propaganda to kill. What is that?

Śatadhanya: Abortion.

Room Conversation With Dr. Ghosh -- October 16, 1977, Vrndavana:

Dr. Ghosh: By that rocket bus. Sixteen hours it took us from Siliguri to Calcutta. Terrible, bone-breaking. I never did that in my life, sixteen hours by bus. In Calcutta, Calcutta the greatest thing. With Lord Kṛṣṇa's blessings He could otherwise. This is the third flight that we got. We couldn't get before that. This morning we got a flight without a great...

Prabhupāda: Rocket bus?

Dr. Ghosh: Ha, from Siliguri to Calcutta. It usually takes twelve hours, but the road was so bad that it took sixteen hours to come to Calcutta. From Siliguri to Calcutta. Then Calcutta we were delayed. We couldn't get the first flight, second flight... Couldn't rest. With greatest difficulty, third flight we came this morning. Otherwise we would have reached yesterday, last night.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali)

Dr. Ghosh: Our name was in the waiting list. They would not give, do it. Anyway, we have reached.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Anyway, now it is good that you have come.

Dr. Ghosh: You should measure his urine.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We do. We do that. We have kept a record for two months now of everything that he takes in and passes out.

Prabhupāda: You can show him the record? Huh? (pause)

Hari-śauri: Pomegranate juice, then this...

Dr. Ghosh: Rajule.(?) Expectorant. Expectorant. There are two kinds. His urine report?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I have just sent for the detailed urine report. I sent for it. It will just be coming. Just coming. But daily, you can see, this is how much he's taking in, this is how much urine is going out.

Dr. Ghosh: Yes. Yes. Go through them. So first let me have a good wash.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All right. So Bhakti-caitanya Mahārāja, maybe you can help Dr. Ghosh to get into a nice room? (Prabhupāda and Dr. Ghosh talking in Bengali )

Dr. Ghosh: Don't worry. No.

Prabhupāda: Give him the best room. And have... Give him best wash.

Room Conversation -- November 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I'll tell you, I'm getting so upset sitting in the room upstairs. I mean I just... I was walking around... Two of the devotees told me this road is so bad that if you go on this road, you're going to be jolted back and forth. The road is terrible. I just can't understand, Śrīla Prabhupāda, why it has to be tomorrow that we have to go. If anybody wants you to travel, I do. My whole desire is to take you all over the world. I want to take you on parikrama, but why do we have to go when you're in this condition? I can't understand it. It just... I was standing outside. This kavirāja, he has worked so hard. He's so much disappointed. He can't understand why he... He says that now, today, you've taken half a kilo of milk. No mucus has is being produced. No stool is being passed. He says tomorrow he wants to give you a medicine that will begin to build the milk into muscles. He's going to get you to a point where you can take two kilos of milk a day. And he says very soon you'll be able to have the strength to actually do parikrama. So why are we throwing everything out the window, that we must go tomorrow? I cannot understand.

Prabhupāda: All right.

Bhakti-caru: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.