That is wrong (Conversations 1976 - 1977)

Expressions researched:
"This is a wrong" |"that is a wrong" |"that is also wrong" |"that is another wrong" |"that is his wrong" |"that is the wrong" |"that is wrong" |"that is your wrong" |"that is, means wrong" |"this is all wrong" |"this is also wrong" |"this is now wrong" |"this is the wrong" |"this is wrong" |"this is your wrong"

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Nellore:

Prabhupāda: Silent is also.... (dog barking) The stones are silent. Does it mean meditation?

Indian man (2): But mind cannot be silent. The mind must be made to (indistinct).

Harikeśa: Hut!

Prabhupāda: So then how you can make silent?

Indian man (2): By seeing God in everything.

Prabhupāda: Meditation is not silence. That is wrong idea. Meditation means to think of God. That is meditation.

Indian man (2): Brahma-bhāvana.

Prabhupāda: Brahma-bhāvana is also not practical. Parabrahma-bhāvana, kṛṣṇa-bhāvana. That is Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Indian man (2): Supreme Lord.

Prabhupāda: That is real meditation. Meditation does not mean to make the mind vacant. No, a wrong. People are thinking like that. It cannot be. One girl—that is written—"Sir, meditation to make the mind out of all thoughts." So she said, she thought that "How can I be without thoughts? This 'without thought,' I'll think—that is a thought. Therefore it is bogus." He (she) threw away this meditation book.

Indian man (2): No, thinking about the God's thought, in course of time it will be empty. Mind will be empty.

Prabhupāda: So unless you come.... According to your idea, unless you come to that emptiness, you are not perfect. But that will never come.

Morning Walk -- February 4, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: They are all in the material world, karmīs. Karma-kāṇḍa, ritualistic ceremonies. Prahlāda Mahārāja has described them. What is that very word used? And meaning is "one who cannot control their senses." Avijita-indriya. Ajitendriyāṇām, ajita, "one who could not conquer the senses," they are called karmīs. Ajitendriyāṇām. So all these penances, silence, meditation, then studying the Vedic literature, and so many things are there. Prahlāda Mahārāja, in one word he says, "They are meant for ajitendriyāṇām, one who could not conquer over the senses, for them." And for a devotee, one who is actually pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he is sa guṇān samatītyaitān (BG 14.26). Not that a tiny devotee can claim that he has overcome the influence of this world. No. This is called paramahaṁsa. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān (BG 14.26). Not that because you have taken to devotional..., you have become immediately. The process has begun immediately, curing process. But we should not think that we have become perfect. That is wrong. Yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma na tyājyam. Therefore you must follow the regulative principles. As soon as you become a rascal—"Now I have become advanced. I don't require to chant sixteen rounds. I can do whatever I like"—then he has gone to hell. Upstart, immediately he becomes paramahaṁsa. He's a rascal. He was given the path of becoming paramahaṁsa. One is admitted in the school, he must learn, and one day he will become M.A. But simply by entering in the school, if he says, "I am M.A.," that is rascaldom. This is a chance. To become jitendriya is very difficult task. But it is easy if he immediately becomes a pure devotee. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūṇyam: (Brs. 1.1.11) "Everything make zero, all desire, except Kṛṣṇa consciousness." That is wanted. But that does not become very easily done. One has to try very rigidly; then he'll be paramahaṁsa. Therefore amongst the devotees, there are three grades: kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, madhyama-adhikārī, and uttama-adhikārī. So if the kaniṣṭha-adhikārī thinks that "I have become uttama-adhikārī," then he's a rascal. He's a rascal. If he wants to imitate the uttama-adhikārī, then he's a rascal.

Morning Walk -- March 21, 1976, Mayapura:

Pañca-draviḍa: Why is it sometimes there's only quarter moon, no moon, half moon, full moon?

Prabhupāda: The same explanation. On the whole, we have to accept that something wonderful is going on. And that is Kṛṣṇa's arrangement.

Trivikrama: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: You cannot explain. You, you rascal scientists, from so much distant, you have calculated, "This is thi..." This is all wrong. Yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakraḥ. They are carrying order of Kṛṣṇa, not your order. Yasyājñayā. "By the order of Govinda," not your order. Yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakraḥ.

Pañca-draviḍa: (break) "There may be a God, but all these stories..."

Prabhupāda: "There may be." That is rascaldom.

Pañca-draviḍa: All these stories about Him...

Prabhupāda: Anyone who says "maybe," he's not scientist. He's a rascal. Then why shall I hear him? Rascal. Why shall I waste my time? I am not going to waste my time to hear a rascal. How can I? I have got value of my time. As soon as he says "Maybe there is God," he's a rascal.

Pañca-draviḍa: Then, if he says...

Conversation with News Reporters -- March 25, 1976, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: No, first of all you try to understand.

Reporter (1): But cancer is not a sin, you know.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everything is sin. Disease means sin. Unless you commit sinful life, there is no question of suffering.

Reporter (1): I thought.... But sin has some relation with...

Reporter (3): Sometimes the suffering is self brought and sometimes a suffering is brought without self, by nature.

Prabhupāda: Eh? No, no, that is wrong. Every suffering is brought by you, yourself. Just like if you are punished by the high-court judge to be hanged, you don't make the high-court judge is the cause of your hanging. You made a situation; the high-court judge has given you the judgment that you must be hanged.

Reporter (2): Would you tell us something about the Vedic city which is being constructed in Māyāpur?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: He wants to know something about the Vedic city which is being constructed in Māyāpur.

Prabhupāda: Yes, not Vedic city. Vedic planetarium. How you got this information?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: He had come to our temple earlier. He's already published one article in yesterday's paper.

Reporter (1): Which paper?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: This morning I have got.

Prabhupāda: You must try to understand that we are suffering on account of our sinful activities.

Reporter (1): Sir, I am asking what is sinful activity.

Morning Walk -- May 28, 1976, Honolulu:

Devotee (1): They're feeling that some people have the necessity for God, but actually...

Prabhupāda: Why? That is the question. Why some people have? That means some people intelligent, some people rascals. That's all. This is wrong.

Devotee (1): The question is, why some people are feeling a necessity for God? That is the question they ask.

Prabhupāda: That is the difference between rascal and intelligent. Just like in Hawaii Island, when the rascals were living, they did not feel the necessity of skyscraper. When intelligent Americans came, they feel the necessity. That is the difference. (everyone laughs) Is that all right?

Devotee (1): Yes, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Necessity is the mother of invention. That is an English proverb. Is it not? So unless you feel necessity, you are rascal.

Hari-śauri: Well, taking that the other way...

Prabhupāda: Dull matter. Dull matter. It has no necessity. It is dull matter. And as soon as you have got life, there is necessity. Without feeling necessity means dullness. Just like these Hawaiians, very nice. They did not think the necessity of the skyscraper, motorcar.... But when it was inhabited by the Americans, (indistinct) That is the difference between advanced and not advanced.

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

Prabhupāda: You don't think, but he thinks that "Here is happiness." You cannot induce him. He thinks. Just like few minutes ago you said that there is no obstacle, but we think there is obstacle. There is different thoughts. They don't care what is God, what is.... "I don't want to know what is God. I'm getting happiness," finished.

Richard: Okay, but continuing, you know, continuing, people are, okay.... People I think are basically the same in many respects as far as...

Prabhupāda: No, no, that is wrong. That is wrong.

Richard: That is wrong. Okay, why?

Prabhupāda: You see. I have already explained. One is getting happiness by drinking, and one is getting happiness by going to the church. You cannot say that they are the same.

Richard: Well I think they're the same in intent.

Prabhupāda: Now what do you mean by that? First of all, describe what is happiness, whether drinking is happiness or going to the church is happiness. Therefore you have to define what is happiness. Then we have to select whether this happiness is obtainable in the liquor shop or in the church. You must have clear idea of happiness. And if you speak generally, then he will say, "I am getting happiness; why you are insisting me go to the church? I am getting happiness." Therefore you have to define what is happiness.

Richard: Okay, I would say happiness is the pursuit of, to you, what makes your life work, worthwhile.

Prabhupāda: We are not working, we are not interested in working.

Morning Walk -- June 21, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: No. You cannot do that. Your attachment has to be purified. Just like this land. The Canadians think "This is my land," but this, when it is purified, it is this land God's land, then it is purified. And so long you falsely claim "It is my land," that is cause of all trouble.

īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ

yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat

tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā

mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam

(ISO 1)

Just a minute ago we were talking that in Canada there is so much land, and you told me there is so many fertile. Huh, you told me? But they'll not allow anybody to come. This is wrong position. Why? China or India, there are so many countries overcongested. Let them come. But he's thinking, "It my land."

Indian man (1): They pay the money to a farmer not to grow the wheat here.

Prabhupāda: Just see. This rascaldom is going on in the name of civilization. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1), they do not know. Everything belongs to God, and are all sons of God. So by God's arrangement there is enough land to live, enough land to produce food. They're misusing. Therefore the whole trouble.

Indian man (4): Prabhu, then what that means, what we mean is they should have rsabandutra(?)

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So far Vedic religion is concerned, it is not for the Hindus. That is to be understood. The sanātana-dharma. It is for all living entities, all human beings. It is called sanātana-dharma. That I have already explained. The living entity is sanātana, God is sanātana, and there is sanātana-dharma. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). And where Kṛṣṇa is described sanātana in the Eleventh Chapter. Do you remember? He is described as sanātana. Sanātanam. So actually, the Vedic system is called sanātana-dharma. Not Hindu dharma. This is a wrong conception. The sanātana-dharma is meant for all living entities, not the so-called Hindus, Muslims, Christians. For everyone. That is sanātana-dharma. These are later misconceptions, Hinduism and this ism, that ism, that ism. Actually, it is called sanātana-dharma, or varṇāśrama-dharma. That is meant for everyone. But because it was being followed regularly in India and Indians were called by the Muslims on the other side of the River Sind, or Sindu, and they pronounce Sind as Hind. Therefore they called India as Hindustan, means on the other side of Sindu, or Hindu River. Otherwise, it has no Vedic reference. So this Hindu dharma has no Vedic reference. The real Vedic dharma is sanātana-dharma, varṇāśrama-dharma. First of all he has to understand this. Now that sanātana-dharma, or Vedic dharma, being distorted, not being obeyed, not being carried properly, it has come to the understanding of Hinduism. That is a freak understanding. That is not real understanding. We have to study sanātana-dharma or varṇāśrama-dharma. Then we'll understand what is Vedic religion.

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: This next question is rather interesting. Question sixteen. "Is it not possible for all sections of Hindus, be they Advaitans, Dvaitans, or viṣiṣṭādvaitans, to come together instead of remaining isolated as warring factions?"

Prabhupāda: Yes. Dvaita and advaita. This is the process of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, to bring all the dvaitas and advaitas in one platform. To understand that he is essentially servant of God. The Advaitas, they are wrongly thinking that he is God himself. That is wrong, or not the proper way of thinking. How you can become God? God is ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇam, full with six opulences, all-powerful, all-strength, all-beauty, all opulent. So this is artificial, to think to become God. And... This is Advaita. And Dvaitas, they think that one is different from God, God is separate from the living entity. But actually, from the Bhagavad-gītā we understand that God is always the Supreme and the living entities, they are subordinate. And in the Vedas also it is said, nityo nityānaṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Both of them are living entities, but God is the chief. The difference between the two, that God maintains other living entities. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That is a fact. We are maintained and God is the maintainer. We are predominated, we are not independent, and God is predominator. But because the predominated living entities, they are part and parcel of God, therefore in quality they are one. This is acintya-bhedābheda, one and different. The living entity is one in the sense because he is part and parcel of God. So if God is gold, the living entity is also gold. That is one in quality. But god is great and we are minute, small. In that way we are different. Now, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has enunciated acintya-bhedābheda, inconceivable, simultaneously one and different. That is real philosophy. So on this philosophy everyone can come if they are reasonable. If they remain unreasonably stuck up in their own concocted philosophy, then it is difficult. Otherwise this is the fact, that the living entity is eternally part and parcel of God. Sanātana. What is that verse? Find out. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ jīva-loke sanātana (BG 15.7). Fifteenth chapter.

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So if he's eternal fragmental parts, how he can become one with the whole? The part is never equal to the whole. That is axiomatic truth. This is wrong conception, to become like God. The Māyāvādīs, they are trying to become God. That is impossible. They... Let them remain godly. Godly means servant of God. That will make him perfection, his life perfect. Vaiṣṇava philosophy is to remain, to act as servant of God. That is perfect. And if the servant tries to become like the master, that is artificial. Although in the spiritual world there is no difference between the master and the servant... Just like the boys, Kṛṣṇa's cowherd boy friends, they do not know Kṛṣṇa is God. They are playing with Him on equal terms. When Kṛṣṇa is defeated in the play He has to take His friend on His shoulder and he rides on the shoulder. So there is no such distinction who is God and who is not God. So that is spiritual conception. But the difference is always there. God and the part and parcel. Kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ. We can attain that position after many, many lives' pious activities. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

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

Prabhupāda: ...to collect, and he'll be keeper. That should be frankly disclosed, that "This is not possible." So we shall write our Upendra? No, I have already written that he should be the secretary. No?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. You mentioned earlier today that he was supposed to be one of the trustees, but now this is different, so...

Prabhupāda: So we are not going to make any trustee.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: No, no trustee.

Prabhupāda: That is wrong.

Kīrtanānanda: I understand.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So in this way write him, "I am very much anxious to get your clear reply to this thing." Is that all right?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: All right.

Kīrtanānanda: Can I...

Prabhupāda: So many things, "push-push-push-push" is going on. Let it be clear. If he wants to keep it private property, then we shall withdraw ISKCON name. Let him do it privately.

Hari-śauri: And he should send copies of the deeds also.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: Because he has not yet produced the deeds.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: That's what I wanted to ask, request a copy of the deed.

Room Conversation -- June 29, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Yes. They can do anything, take the dead cows. I do not know if there is any chemical composition change. They are eating so many dead animals. Take for fish. The fish is never killed alive, because as soon as you take it out from water, it is dead, after few minutes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: And they don't consider whether it's a young fish or an old fish.

Dhṛṣṭadyumna: If that was the system, people will not get sick. They will not get sick from eating old animals.

Prabhupāda: No, no. This is all wrong conception.

Dhṛṣṭadyumna: They will say..., simply think the taste there is too tough, the skin may be older.

Prabhupāda: They are eating so many rotten things.

Dhṛṣṭadyumna: Yes. And they are burning it, cooking it.

Prabhupāda: Lobster, it is simply pus. They eat. I've seen it. From whiteness it has become yellow. Puslike. They eat it, what is called that soup? Lobster soup?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Clam chowder? So many things.

Prabhupāda: But they like very much that lobster soup. In the plane, one Englishman was doing "What is this? I asked after lobster soup."

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: In England? Oysters?

Prabhupāda: No, lobsters.

Interview with Mike Darby -- June 30, 1976, Wheeling, W. Virginia:

Prabhupāda: No, they are passing resolution. Suppose there is a law of the state, ordinary, say, "Keep to the right," and in this village all members, they assemble together and pass a resolution that "No, keep to the left." Will it be accepted? Even they pass a resolution, the state will not accept it. Unless it is... Of course, there should be no change. But, anything spoken by God or His son or His representative, that cannot be changed. It is not that Christ said two thousand years ago, "Thou shall not kill," now it can be changed. That is rascaldom. They are doing that. If you do that, then, as it is said here, then it becomes lost. Then there is no meaning. If we take the instruction of God and His representative as temporary, then he is not representative, He is not God. Whatever is spoken by God and His representative, that is eternal. You cannot change by your whims. So that is going on. We..., I do not wish to discuss very much, but that is actually going on. As people they, by votes in the Parliament, they pass any nonsense thing, so they want to do that in the case of Bible also. Then where is the authority of Bible? If Christ says that "Thou shall not kill," and if people, say ten thousand people in a meeting pass resolution, "No, this is wrong," then where is the authority of Bible? Then you become authority.

Darby: I see. Then in the Bible, the beginning of it says that God created the heavens and the earth, and yet they say, give the description in Genesis as the way God created the heaven and the earth. Does this not conform with Brahmā's work?

Prabhupāda: Yes, God has created everything. Just like father, son and the mother. Mother gives birth to the son when the mother is impregnated by the father. This is the law, everyone knows. Now you can see that so many trees are coming from earth. Is it not? Trees and plants and grass. And we eat them, we live. Therefore the earth is mother, and the children are so many. The plants are about two million types of plants. Jalajā nava lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Then there are insects, reptiles, then beasts, then man. In this way there are so many living entities. The living entities are produced from the earth. The earth is the mother and the living entities are the sons. Then where is the father? This simple thing, why do they not inquire? Who is the father?

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: There is no question of evolution. It is already there. This is a wrong theory. The monkey is there, the man is there. The soul is going from monkey to man. It is not the evolution. Just like you have got apartment, ten rupees, five rupees, twenty rupees, thirty rupees, like that. Now, as you pay, "Come on, here." There is no question of evolution. It is already there. Jantur dehopapattaye. These dehas, these bodies, are already there. So immediately it develops a particular type of desire, "Yes, come here, sit down." First class, second class, third class, fourth class is already there. As you pay, "Yes, come here." It is not evolving; it is already there. He is transferred from one apartment to another. This has to be convinced. We don't find that monkey's body became a human body. That is not in the experience, anyone. The monkey is there, the human being is there. But the soul is going from monkey's body to human's body, or monkey's body to another body. That is by superior administration. Their theory is the body is evolving and some body is missing. Nothing is missing. Every body is there. The soul is being transferred from one body to another. Asatims caturam caiva laksams jīva jātiṣu.(?) Jāti means the form of the body. So the form of the body is already there, and the living entity is being transferred from one body to another. This is called transmigration. We have come here, not that that room developed. This room is here, that room is there, but I am transferring. Because they have no idea of soul, they are thinking that this nice room, now transform into this room or this room, transform... This is foolishness. A civil man transferred into jail—not that his civil house becomes jail. They are thinking wrongly like that, Darwin's theory. Body becoming changed. No. The different types of bodies are already there. The living entity is being transferred from one body to another. Just try to explain. So evolution you take that this apartment is better than that apartment, that apartment better than, and a living entity's going from one after another. So this is evolution. That you are now getting salary, one thousand dollar, now you get fifteen hundred dollars. So according to your qualification, you are getting.

Room Conversation -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Yes, the (indistinct) is a big affair, the sun is one of the important planets. Not only the sun, moon, Mars, Jupiter, everyone.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Actually as astronomy and (indistinct) are especially astronomy is one of the most unscientific branch of study, knowledge is concerned. It's very, very little known. The way that... The techniques that they use, are very difficult to rely on.

Prabhupāda: So their Astronomical calculation, the sun is fixed up, that is also wrong. The sun is not fixed up.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yeah, Your Divine Grace, you wrote me a letter saying about the universe is just like an inverted tree.

Prabhupāda: Yes, ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākham (BG 15.1), Bhagavad-gītā.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: And the tree, and the leaves, and the fruits and flowers are the planets.

Prabhupāda: Ūrdhva-mūlam, Gītā says, ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākham. The pole-star in the... And we see at night everything is moving. As a bunch it is moving.

Hari-śauri: Does that means all the planets are fixed in relationship to each other as well?

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Just like a tree. Tree is fixed up, as a whole tree is moving.

Hari-śauri: Because we see practically that the moon also moves, across the sky. Just like the sun does. So the sun has an orbit?

Prabhupāda: Sun is also... Yes.

Hari-śauri: And the moon has an orbit also?

Room Conversation -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate. Similarly, from the spirit soul everything has come out.

Rūpānuga: So spirit soul can create matter.

Prabhupāda: Actually, from life matter is generated.

Rūpānuga: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: Not from matter life is generated. That is wrong.

Sadāpūta: There are some people who have done measurements and...

Prabhupāda: Measurement is there in the Vedic literature, Upaniṣad.

Rūpānuga: Is it that the living entity, when he creates this matter to expand, like the stone is growing, does he manufacture this material from the etheric platform, or does he...

Prabhupāda: According to his desire he can.

Rūpānuga: Simply by desiring.

Prabhupāda: What is that verse? Icchā dveṣaḥ samutthena sarge yānti.

Rūpānuga: There have been some..., modern scientists have done some experiments showing that in the soil there are organisms, micro-organisms and earthworms that can produce chemicals, increasing just simply by their presence.

Prabhupāda: Yes. I have given that example, already he has mentioned.

Interview and Conversation -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: No, they were doing everything. They might have sent to America like that.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We saw lots of Śrīla Prabhupāda's books, recent books, in that library. Library of Congress has those books.

Prabhupāda: Inside, inside the... Have you got the photograph of inside?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, it's photograph of Bhaktisiddhānta Prabhupāda...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: And... This is not the copy that I wanted. Then Bhaktivinoda. (aside:) That is wrong, I think.

Prabhupāda: So 1944, and it is '76. Thirty-two years?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: How did you get the information?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: In the card catalogue. I think Pradyumna found it. Pradyumna, three, four, five of us went there to see the library. Actually we went to discuss that Sūrya-siddhānta and some of the astronomical calculations. We wanted to check in the library, but they didn't have anything. We found some.

Prabhupāda: Found?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: I found one Bhāgavata-purāṇa, it was printed in sometime 1901. Their summary of Bhāgavatam, they also described the planetary system, earth first, then... No. Yes, earth, then sun, then moon, like that, in circles.

Prabhupāda: They are... Just see. Their all activities are in Arizona. That's all. That is disclosed yesterday. He has...

Rūpānuga: Exposed.

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

Prabhupāda: San Francisco it also happened.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Seems to me that he must be a great devotee of Lord Jagannātha.

Prabhupāda: Same thing happened in London also.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Really? The legs, wheels.

Hari-śauri: That's why they gave difficulty, the authorities, because the wheels broke?

Prabhupāda: No, that is wrong idea.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, that happened, though. I remember hearing about it. This Jayānanda, it seems, must be a very faithful devotee of Lord Jagannātha.

Prabhupāda: Now, where these things will be kept?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In our garage. No problem. That's one of the advantages of our garage. It's one block away and it has ten thousand square foot of area, so we can store all the carts easily.

Hari-śauri: Good storage is very important.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And one block away in Manhattan is very unusual.

Prabhupāda: Be careful that termite may not attack.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm. I'll make a note.

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

Prabhupāda: No, no, we are talking of religion, not so-called religion. So-called religion is finished. That is not religion.

Dayānanda: Then it is very difficult to find out what is real religion.

Prabhupāda: Why not? Why the original, any religious scripture you can see.

Dayānanda: Then they will interpret.

Prabhupāda: No, that is wrong. You cannot interpret, you cannot change by resolution. That is not.

Dayānanda: Then they must have someone to tell them. Then they must have an authority.

Prabhupāda: It is already there, just like in the Bible.

Dayānanda: A spiritual master, I mean. They must have the person.

Prabhupāda: Yes, spiritual master, yes, must be there. That is Vedic injunction. Tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Spiritual, that I have already explained. Spiritual master, good father, good king, good teachers, they are required. That is defect. There is no guru, there is no spiritual master, there is no nice king, nice father, whole society... (break) (in room) If you find out sand and rocks, you must also (indistinct) there was water. And from water, vegetation comes. From vegetation, other life comes. What we speak, we don't speak unscientifically. It is scientific. How this rascal says all of a sudden in the sky there is rocks? Wherefrom the rock came?

Hari-śauri: Well, they say originally from gas.

Morning Walk -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Because we have no, that cātur-varṇa system. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). You have given up Kṛṣṇa's instruction, now you have to suffer. You do not train brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. So anyone who is in power, he is good. That is Kali-yuga. Kali-yuga means anyone gets vote, he's in power. They can misuse the power. There is no kṣatriya.

Dr. Patel: I think that is a wrong system (much airplane noise-indistinct) this open Democracy is not a (indistinct) by consensus...

Prabhupāda: No, no. Now, either democracy or monarchy, the population is śūdra. So either you make it democracy or any "crazy," śūdra will be on the power. So they can...

Dr. Patel: In Kali-yuga, sir, the śūdras will rule according to the...

Prabhupāda: Everyone is śūdra. Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ. Who is going to become brāhmaṇa? We are inviting everyone, "Come here, become brāhmaṇa." Who is interested? He'll go to the factory. Instead of becoming brāhmaṇa he'll be hammerman. In America no students are coming to the philosophical class or higher mathematics class.

Dr. Patel: Mathematics?

Prabhupāda: No. Higher studies, nobody comes. Only technology. The higher class, higher studies class, they are being closed. The professors are getting no job. We have a friend, Dr. Henderson, he is a doctor in higher mathematics, he is not getting job. No students, nobody is interested in higher... Similarly, many other things, and literatures.

Dr. Patel: Here also the same thing, nobody. And Sanskrit practically nil.

Conversation with Seven Ministers of Andhra Pradesh -- August 22, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: So if you worship the demigods, Indra, Candra, Varuṇa-yānti deva-vratā devān—then you can go to the higher planetary system. They are trying to go to the moon planet. In that way it is not possible. You have to be qualified to go there. Not by machine, by force you can go there. That is not possible. Yānti deva-vratā devān. So... And also you can go, mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām. You can go to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So we have to make choice in this human form of life. Actually, the aim should be to go back home, back to Godhead. Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). Ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16). Otherwise, within this material world, even if you go to the higher planetary system, then punar āvartinaḥ, you have to come back again. Now the human form of life should be properly utilized. If we think that this life is everything, that is wrong conception of life. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). You have to change this body. Transmigration of the soul. So by transmigration of the soul we have got this human form of life. If we properly utilize it, then we can make further progress. And if we do not, if we keep ourself as animals, then we'll degrade. Adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ.

Evening Darsana -- September 1, 1976, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: My point is that Kurukṣetra is the place where Bhagavad-gītā was spoken. So if we take the words of Bhagavad-gita as it is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa, then people will be benefitted. But if we do not take the words of Bhagavad-gītā, then moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo mogha-jñānā vicetasaḥ (BG 9.12). That I believe. Find out this verse. Moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo.

Indian man (3): That's true. I also believe that there must be a direct...

Prabhupāda: No, why not direct?

Indian man (3): Putting in your interpretation, that is wrong. It should be direct. That doesn't mean only those people who have accepted this can come together.

Prabhupāda: And why the others will not accept?

Indian man (3): No, we have made, you must have seen our literature, Gītā as a text, but still people may not judge...

Prabhupāda: No, no, we should not depend on the people's acceptance only. We have to present Gītā as it is. Now everything is not accepted by everyone. Even if you make change, there is no guarantee that they will...

Indian man (3): No, no.

Prabhupāda: No, no I am not speaking to you. Anyone.

Indian man (3): I am not trying to make a show. I believe a direct interpretation is important thing more than the other kinds of ideas and conceptions.

Room Conversation -- September 5, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So if a brahmacārī, gṛhastha, yes, if he wants to travel, so there is no objection.

Haṁsadūta: But what is happening is that for instance, someone will join me, then Gopāla will catch up with him and send the man to Delhi or to Hyderabad. The man will run away and come back again, and again he will be forced to go away. This is what I object to.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: No, this is wrong. I'll tell you what the facts are. In every temple there are certain key positions for some devotee. In no temple we are trying to keep more than necessary. Sometimes they come and he preaches to them and he gives them money. If he is the temple president... Like in Bombay Haṁsadūta came, he had a fight with Girirāja. Girirāja was ready to write such a strong letter to you. He gave money to few devotees...

Prabhupāda: The temple establishment, that has to be maintained.

Haṁsadūta: That I understand. Prabhupāda, I understand that.

Prabhupāda: So why, why the...? Besides that, if you want to take someone or if anyone is willing to go with you, the president of the local temple, he should be requested. Or the man who wants to go, that "I want to go with him." So if the president thinks that he can be spared, then he can go. But if he thinks that his presence is necessary, why he should go?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: This is one of the GBC resolutions. No devotee can go without the temple president's permission.

Haṁsadūta: I understand...

Prabhupāda: I cannot hear two. Let him... When I ask him...

Room Conversation with Indian Man -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Prabhupāda: No, I mean to say, this self-realization, as you said, that "There are as many ways as there are students," that is not scientific.

Indian man: That what he says.

Prabhupāda: That is wrong. Not maybe. Then let us try to understand. It is not the question of maybe. Self-realization must be. That is self-realization. Apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām. Śrotavyādīni rājendra nṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśaḥ (SB 2.1.2). (aside:) You come to this side, that's all right. Those who are not self-realized, they have got many questions and many answers. And those who are, one who is self-realized, he has only one question and one answer. One question, that what I am. There is no self-realization, one question, what I am. And now what I am, do you think there is, a student, he is inquiring, what I am, and whatever he thinks, that is his answer? If the student is ignorant... Therefore there are many students and many questions about self-realization. Do you think that there are many answers?

Indian man: Answer will be one.

Prabhupāda: This is self-realization. The answer is one, that "I am not this body." This is self-realization. You cannot say that because there are many students, so there are many answers.

Indian man: But who am I? Every individual starts quest, asking himself, "Who am I?" And everybody is thinking in his own terms that "I am something, I am somebody." Somebody is attached to the upper garments.

Room Conversation with Indian Man -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Prabhupāda: That the any person, any living entity, he is not this body. That is the answer. So then two things. Suppose you are, I am, that I am thinking of this body, and at the same time I am thinking that this finger, I say, "My finger." Nobody says, "I finger." "My finger." Even a child he will say. So "My finger, my head, my legs." So what is that "my"? That is the question. The answer is negatively that that "I" or "my" is not this body. That is different from the body. Now what is the nature of that "I"? That is explained one after another, one after another, one, one. Because he has no idea. Every one of us... I am speaking, you are speaking. Theoretically we take, accept it that I am not this body. But practically I say, "I am this body." That is wrong. That has to be explained. And that is being explained. The question is one and the answer is one. There cannot be many questions or many answers. Answer is one. That answer is, Kṛṣṇa begins, that "As the body is changing, within our experience..." dehino'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Very nice example. We are changing bodies. When you were born, there was no beard. Clean shaved or no hair. So that body has changed. It is not the same body. In which body you came out of the womb of your mother, that was a small body. That was a different body. This example given there. This body is changing during your experience of life. Similarly, after death the body will change, but you will continue. This is self-realization. It is not very difficult. The example is there. It doesn't take much time. The answer is one, and it is realized, say, within some minutes. So Bhagavad-gītā begins from self-realization, that "I am not this body." That is actual position, that if I understand that I am not this body, factually, then what I am, that I am something beyond this body. That is explained in so many different ways. So the center is this, that I am not this body. The answer is one. But I cannot answer, the master will not answer according to the whims of the student. Then he is not master. Because answer is one.

Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Prabhupāda: Politics. Senayor ubhayor madhye rathaṁ sthāpaya me acyuta. Senayor ubhayor madhye. (BG 1.21) "Between the two soldiers, keep my chariot, my dear Acyuta." He is addressing Acyuta. Acyuta, Kṛṣṇa, agreed to become his chariot driver. Therefore he is purposefully using this word acyuta. "Because I know You are the Supreme Lord, and I am ordering You, but because You promised that You will carry my order, Acyuta, You never fail in Your word." So God's another name is Acyuta. God never falls down. This Māyāvādī theory that "I am God, now I am fallen down," That is wrong theory. How God can fall down? If God falls down He is not God. Dog falls down, not the God.

Mr. Malhotra: How can he be supreme if he can fall down?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā (BG 4.14). "I have nothing to do, and neither if anyway I act, the resultant action does not effect Me." But we are all karma-phala vatya. (?) So how God and myself can be equal? Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa. There is daiva, there is superior arrangement. According to my karma I get a different type of body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1).

Mr. Malhotra: But when I surrender my karmas to Almighty...

Prabhupāda: Then ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣ... (BG 18.66), then Kṛṣṇa takes care of you.

Mr. Malhotra: Then those karmas don't affect...?

Prabhupāda: No. Karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām (Bs. 5.54). Those who are bhaktas, their karmas are finished. Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi. Devotee is not under karma-phala.

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

Prabhupāda: No, it was meeting. When Svarūpa Dāmodara challenged him, that "Suppose I give you the chemicals, right chemicals. Can you prepare a life?" Then he said, "That I cannot say." Why? Why do you say nonsense?

Dr. Patel: But their definition of life is very meager. They say that life is a chemical imbalance, a state of chemical imbalance. That is wrong. Life is something higher than...

Prabhupāda: Therefore these chemists—they are predominating—so how it is possible to take their version? Ayi. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. (break) ...a simple version of Vaiṣṇava.

piśācī pāile yena mati-cchana haya

māyā-grasta jīvera haya se bhāva udaya

Jaya. (someone else comes) Wherefrom you are coming?

Devotee (2): From London.

Prabhupāda: Oh. You are Englishman?

Devotee (2): Yes.

Prabhupāda: Stay here. We want some Englishmen. (laughter) No. We want Englishmen, Australian, Canadian, because they have no visa problem.

Dr. Patel: American will have no visa problem very soon.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Women are generally...

Dr. Patel: They're more religious, yes. My children... My son does not eat, I told you the other day, even tomatoes. He's going to States for a fellowship, and I don't know what he'll do there.

Prabhupāda: No. If you don't like to eat tomato, who is going to force? That is not... (break)

Dr. Patel: Hindu, that is wrong nomenclature. There is no Hindu dharma. It is a..., Hindu is a way of life. Even Muslims live the same way, even Christians live the same way. The sanātana-dharma is the real word. Just use it and then everyone says. I heard it in a letter to American consul about this matter. In there I mentioned sanātana-dharma. I have said sanātana-dharma, not Hindu dharma. I have mentioned like that. Real (indistinct) is the Vedic religion.

Prabhupāda: Because the religion actually means the law given by God. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Religion is not manufactured.

Dr. Patel: One ācārya has said, dharmāgnira sadācāra śruti smṛti (?)(indistinct). What is mentioned in the śruti and smṛti, that is dharma. Sadācāra.

Prabhupāda: Basic principle is that it is made by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Now there are books, how to carry out the order. And the ultimate understanding, how to become faithful to the (indistinct). Just like good citizen means faithful to the government. Unfortunately these rascals, they do not have any idea, the supreme controller, supreme government. They say anything automatically.

Dr. Patel: Vaiṣṇava is a good citizen of the government of God. That is Vaiṣṇava.

Morning Walk -- January 4, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: They create a cheap God. Real God they reject. That is going on.

Dr. Patel: Swami Nārāyaṇa said that (Sanskrit). Only to worship Kṛṣṇa. Nobody else. Unfortunately the disciples... Suppose disciples...

Prabhupāda: That the same thing. If the disciples are rascals, then what is the guru?

Dr. Patel: The disciple is being called guru-Kṛṣṇa again. That is what happens in all the other Vaiṣṇava. They say Vallabhācārya Mahāprabhu in place of Kṛṣṇa. That is wrong. Yathā. Yathā deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā...

Prabhupāda: Gurau.

Dr. Patel: Gurau. That is fact. Then you can get the real, I mean, kṛpā of guru and realize God. But they're...

Prabhupāda: These things happened by Vallabhācārya. That's a long history generally. They call him Mahāprabhu to make competition with real Mahāprabhu, Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Dr. Patel: Vallabhācārya was disciple of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Prabhupāda: Not disciple. Very admirer. But when He criticized strongly on account of his attacking Śrīdhara Svāmī...

Dr. Patel: Caitanya Mahāprabhu differs in philosophy from Vallabhācārya. He did.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But they were friend, Vallabhācārya and Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So he wanted to present his (indistinct) Gītā to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that "You'll find better than Śrīdhara Svāmī."

Evening Darsana -- January 7, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: There is no goal. They think after this body everything is finished.

Guest (1): Endless life they are returning.

Prabhupāda: Mūḍhā nābhijānāti mām eva param avyayam.

Guest (1): So we have to make them know that this is the wrong way, and this is the right way, and you have to go by this right way. And when you'll come to right way, he has to obey some discipline, obey some rules and rights. And there he wants nigraha. (break)

Prabhupāda: Is it possible to stop it? Or young men, if he says "No, no, I'm not going to..." but everyone wants that. Young man does not want to become old man, but by nature's law he has to become.

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni

guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ

ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā

kartāham iti manyate

(BG 3.27)

So the idea is that after losing our own culture, we have become set of fools. This is the real conclusion. Mūḍha. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). We have become so lowest of mankind and mūḍha and full of sinful activities that we cannot understand what Kṛṣṇa says. This is real position. I am not speaking—Kṛṣṇa says. This is the sign. If one does not hear Kṛṣṇa, then he must be grouped in these categories: duṣkṛtina, mūḍha, narādhama, māyayāpahṛta-jñānā. What is the value of their so-called education if they cannot understand the simple truth, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13)? What is the value of this education? Today I may be very big man, but I do not know that there is dehāntara. And what kind of deha I am going to get? Nobody has any knowledge, neither they're interested to cultivate. They have concluded that "After death, everything is finished." This is their education. Blind.

Room Conversation -- January 24, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he said that "When our men will be sahajiyā, oh, they'll be more dangerous." So our men are becoming, some of them, sahajiyās. This very word he said, that "When our men will be sahajiyās he'll be more dangerous."

Hari-śauri: Without any proper realization, on the basis of being able to read Sanskrit, they delve into all kinds of books, and then they pick fault—"Oh, this rule is not being followed. This is wrong. This is wrong."

Satsvarūpa: "We don't chant sixty-four rounds, so that is very bad. We'll never make any progress."

Prabhupāda: Sahajiyā.

Hari-śauri: No faith in the spiritual master.

Satsvarūpa: So far, though, we have not learned a way to sell standing orders to the common man.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Satsvarūpa: You say now the standing orders, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, after the universities, should be sold in every home. So far, no one has learned how to do that.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Satsvarūpa: That remains to be done.

Morning Walk -- February 1, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Failure.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So it has been completely failed. So now they are thinking about something else, that "Maybe what we thought was all wrong."

Prabhupāda: All wrong. Prove that. This is all wrong.

Gurukṛpā: They won't speak up or they'll lose their jobs.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No. So they're coming around. When we say life is nonphysical and nonchemical, this is very touchy word which they don't like to hear in the beginning.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says, "nonphysical." Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ, nainaṁ śoṣayati āpaḥ (BG 2.23). Everything, five elements, material... It has nothing to do with these five elements, clearly said in the Bhagavad-gītā. It is beyond this. Here whatever you find is kṣitir āpaḥ tejaḥ marud vyomā: earth, water, air, fire. That's all. But beyond that, it is not physical. And at last, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Everything is there. So I was confident in the statement of Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore I strongly stressed, "This is all wrong." I believed completely in the words of Kṛṣṇa. That's all. I never experimented. But I know what Kṛṣṇa says is completely right.

Yaśodānandana: Yasmād kṣaram atito 'ham akṣarād atito 'ham.(?) One who knows Kṛṣṇa knows everything.

Conversation on Roof -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: The tigers also do that. But you say, "Oh, we have got machine, cunning, (while the) tiger has to fight." This is their advancement of civilization.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bigger animals.

Prabhupāda: Acting like animals and going on as civilized. This is modern civilization.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They're trying to find so many things out from our past. They are trying to find any devotees who have left the movement, and they're trying to ask them so many questions to try and find out something that is wrong. Now, one devotee came to us... He's not a devotee anymore, Manasvī.

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So this Manasvī came one day to see Ādi-keśa and myself. You may recall in New York he had asked for a letter exonerating him. So you had told me to investigate. So I sent out a letter to three persons. Gurukṛpā Mahārāja and Śrutakīrti and Śukadeva. But none of them could find anything wrong with the accounts. Anyway, after a while I issued him one letter that at least to our... From our accounts we have not found anything wrong. Anyway, so I thought that would satisfy him. So recently he came, and now he says, "I am finding so much difficulty from my father-in-law. Because he lent me some money, now I have to pay back this money, and I'm having great difficulty, and I'm suffering on account of ISKCON has given me so much harassment against getting my citizenship here. So now the DA, the District Attorney has approached me, offering me money to speak things about this movement. Of course, I do not want to speak these things, but I am so much needing money." Blackmail. This man has become the blackest snake I have ever seen. So "I do not want to tell them anything." He told them everything he knows already. It's clear by the way he was talking that he's already spoken to them everything. So we told him that "We have nothing to hide. You may speak as much as you like. We have absolutely nothing to hide. So we cannot give you any money." Then again he called me on the telephone: "Now you have given me one letter which says that I was not doing anything wrong, but it is a fact that I have suffered so much. So my lawyer has advised me that I can sue the Society." So I pointed out to him that the letter I gave him was on ISKCON Inc. of New York letterhead, but the charges are against ISKCON Hawaii, which is a separate organization. So practically the letter has no value because I have no qualification for commenting on ISKCON Hawaii. I'm not an officer, nor do I have anything to do with them, so the letter is useless. I told him he can use it for... Well, anyway, I won't say... (laughter) Anyway. He's so black snake.

Interview with Mr. Koshi (Asst. Editor of The Current Weekly) -- April 5, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: This machine, so long it is working, it is valuable. If it does not work, what is the value? Throw it out. Similarly, the machine is not important, but so long it is working, it is important. So we must know what is that working principle. That is knowledge. So generally, people, they are embarrassed with the machine, this body. But they do not know what the power in the machine. Am I right or wrong?

Mr. Koshi: Hm.

Prabhupāda: This is a wrong type of civilization. A civilization of ignorance. Animal civilization. Just like animals: the cat, the dog, the cow, he does not know what is the working principle in the body. So he is jumping and running as a dog, as a cat, and he appears to be very busy. Similarly, the modern civilization, they are jumping and running like cats and dogs, but does not know what is the principle which is helping him to jump and run. That is the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā. Asmin dehe dehinaḥ. The active principle is there within this body. So who knows it? Ask big, big leaders, big, big scholars of Bhagavad-gītā. They are concerned with this body. Nobody is interested with the active principle within the body. So what do they know about Bhagavad-gītā? The basic principle is wrong. Kṛṣṇa is speaking on the subject matter within the body, the active principle. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Asmin dehe. The dehī, the owner of the body, is there. Who knows it? Tell me. This is the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā lesson. But one does not know that what is the important thing in this body. Not this machine, but the power that is driving the machine. And still, they are proud of becoming scholar on Bhagavad-gītā, knower of Bhagavad-gītā and so on, so on. This is going on. This misconception. They are themselves in ignorance, and they are keeping their followers in ignorance. Therefore no benefit has been derived from this culture of Bhagavad-gītā. We wanted to give it to the world. This is the purpose.

Morning Conversation -- April 11, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: ...so much money, is it possible?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. No ordinary man could have ever done it.

Prabhupāda: In the history it is unique. Crores of rupees' property, and all over the world, buildings, temples. It is all Kṛṣṇa's. Nobody can harm them. It is not for me. There is no history. In one, ten years only, books like this, which are being received with so much adoration. They are simply Kṛṣṇa. If I want to take credit personally, this is wrong, sir. So money does not come in that way unless Kṛṣṇa gives. Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrībhiḥ (SB 1.8.26). If Kṛṣṇa wants, He can give the whole world. My father used to say, "God has got ten hands. If He wants to take away from you, with two hands how much you will protest? And when He wants to give you with ten hands, with two hands how much you will take it?" That's a common... But people are after money. (break)

Upendra: ... garlands. They should be taken down.

Prabhupāda: They are not changing?

Upendra: He has stopped bringing flowers.

Conversation with disciples of Chinmayananda and Shivananda Ashram -- April 22, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Do you don't know what Gītā says? Then why do you read Gītā? Don't read.

Indian man (3): But there must be some means that you can adopt...

Prabhupāda: No, no, you do know what Gītā says. Do you know it? What Gītā says, do you know it? You do not know?

Indian man (3): Swamiji, nobody knows Bhagavad-gītā.

Prabhupāda: Nobody knows! You do not know. We know. Why do you say, "Nobody knows"? You do not know. It is open secret. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam... (BG 18.66). You do not know. But don't say that "Nobody knows." That is wrong impression. We know. You are blind. You do not like to know it. Everyone should know. What is the difficulty?

Indian man (3): No, Swamiji, I mean...

Prabhupāda: No, I do not know what you mean. But you say, "Nobody knows." That is a wrong impression. Everyone knows. You do not know. That is my...

Indian man (2): Swamiji, we have been taught like this and, in fact, now we are convinced on that point. We are convinced.

Prabhupāda: No, everyone knows, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65), sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66). These are open secret. What is the difficulty?

Indian man (3): Differences in meaning...

Prabhupāda: You can take different meaning, but we do not take like that. We take Bhagavad-gītā as it is.

Indian man (4): Swamiji, how do we know that that the meaning is distorted?

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

Prabhupāda: And you want cloth. That is primary necessities. So if you become independent about these things, your eighty percent economic problem is solved. So this is a wrong type of civilization only. That Gandhi's program was very nice. We want to revive.

Mr. Dwivedi: No, we... In fact, we have sent our students at Sabarmati Ashram itself, and the person... He is still with us. He's top of the list in the Sabarmati Ashrama, who was doing it.

Prabhupāda: Anyway, we can take up this enterprise immediately. Whether we can induce the villagers, neighboring inhabitants, to cooperate? That is wanted. Otherwise what we shall do with this building?

Mr. Dwivedi: Correct.

Prabhupāda: So our Gandhi's program failed because he could not attract the villagers to these activities. Everyone wants some attraction. That we were discussing, rasa, catur-vidhā-rasa, dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90). So we have to educate them to be attracted by the mokṣa-rasa. Then they'll stay. Unless there is rasa... Just like if you put a little sugar, small black ants will come immediately. The rasa is there. Raso vai saḥ. If... If you cannot attract people to some rasa, they'll not stay. Just like these Americans, foreigners, they have tasted little rasa in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore they are sticking. That we have to create. That is bhakti-rasa. So our first beginning is that the villagers may come, we have our temple, and they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and give them nice prasādam. And then, gradually, they will be attracted to this rasa. So that we want. So if we people cooperate... We have got our program already. The present problem is that they are being attracted with this artha-rasa. There are four kinds of rasa, catur-rasa: dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa. So somebody is tasting dharmārtha, ritualistic ceremonies. Somebody is economic development in the cities, artha. Somebody is attracted, sense enjoyment, sex. And somebody, very pure, mokṣa-rasa. Catur-rasa.

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

Prabhupāda: But I may interfere. The... In the Bhagavad-gītā is there such statement, that "Service to humanity is service to God"? Is there any statement?

Mr. Dwivedi: Daridrāṇāṁ bhara kaunteya... (?) I think there is somewhere...

Prabhupāda: There is no.

Mr. Dwivedi: But this particular I remember, daridrāṇāṁ bhara kaunteya...

Prabhupāda: This is... This is wrong theory. Don't maintain this. This is a very wrong theory. Just like "Service to the leaves is service to the root." Is it not wrong? What do you think? Like a tree, so where the service should be given, to the root or to the leaf?

Mr. Dwivedi: The root.

Prabhupāda: Then why do you say like that? And Kṛṣṇa says openly, mam ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. He doesn't even recommend to worship demigods. Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ yajanty anya-devatāḥ (BG 7.20). So these are imagination, concoction. They are not authorized. Vivekananda advocated daridra-nārāyaṇa-sevā hundred years ago. So India is full of daridras. What Mothilal can do? What Vivekananda can do? This is all simply concoction. You cannot do anything.

Discussion about Bhu-mandala -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bhakti-prema: First we should reply it is acintya. This should be the reply. "Inconceivable."

Yaśodā-nandana: If it is inconceivable, then they will say how we can conceive it?

Prabhupāda: Take the version of Bhāgavatam.

Bhakti-prema: Everything we conceived, that is wrong?

Prabhupāda: Everything you conceived, that is wrong. Yes. Therefore inconceivable.

Bhakti-prema: The Lord is inconceivable always and any (indistinct), it is inconceivable.

Prabhupāda: But we have to accept śāstra.

Bhakti-prema: This outer structure of the Lord is one with the Lord. It is inconceivable; it is not conceivable.

Prabhupāda: Acintya-guṇa-svarūpam. Acintya-guṇa-svarūpam. Yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa. Acintya. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. Acintya.

Bhakti-prema: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Give me that pineapple juice. (break)

Bhakti-prema: If it is inconceivable, then don't try to...

Prabhupāda: We are not lying to you.

Room Conversation with Vrindavan De -- July 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: About thirty million. But he has other, plus other... That he has, money in the bank.

Prabhupāda: So wherefrom the money is coming unless Kṛṣṇa sends? Did I go to America with some money?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Forty rupees.

Prabhupāda: That's all. And one tin box. (laughs) Give up this mistaken idea that "If we get some large sum of money from our father, then we shall be happy." That is not... That is wrong idea. Happiness depends on Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You can take advantage from your father that you may not live uncomfortably. That's all, that much. That I am making sufficient arrangement. In your present position you'll never be disturbed. Now try to become happy by advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is required.

nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma

yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti

na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam

asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ

(SB 5.5.4)

Pramattaḥ. These persons are mad, pramattaḥ. Prakṛṣṭa-rūpeṇa mattaḥ. Mattaḥ means mad, and pra means still more, more than mad. Kurute vikarma. They are engaged in so many nefarious activities—black market, white market, stealing, burglaring, so on, so on. Vikarma. Idam adya mayā labdham idaṁ prāpsye punar dhanam. This is asuric thing. If one can squander away crores of rupees like Harendra Singh... Suppose if I give you each one lakh of rupees, how long it will take? You can squander away in one day. Take some regular income. Be comfortably situated. Advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Bas. That is happiness. In your whole life you'll never be disturbed for economic condition. That I am arranging. That's all. That "I am suffering for money." No. It will regularly. Is not that scheme? So what is next Mukherjee? Hyderabad (Hindi) It will be great service to Kṛṣṇa. (Hindi)

Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. There are a group of physicists in the world today that... They think that the phenomena and the relationship between life and matter is some sort of a complementary. Just like they took this idea from a physicist called Niels Bohr. He tried to explain the quality of a particle called electron that has two properties. Sometimes is behaves like a wave, and sometimes it behaves like a particle. So he proposed an idea called "complementarity." Taking from that idea, some of the present-day physicists think that life and matter are some sort of a complementary. But we are saying that that is wrong, saying that life is completely different from matter, inanimate matter. We're going to make that stand strong and also make it quite clear in the conference.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhavānanda Mahārāja is here.

Prabhupāda: Hm. Bhavānanda Mahārāja?

Bhavānanda: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: So, things are being arranged very nice?

Bhavānanda: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Everything is being arranged now. The district magistrate and local officials have all been invited personally this morning, and the guesthouse is being completely cleaned up and made nice. Prasādam is being arranged. Conference room is being decorated. The dining hall for their prasādam is all being arranged also.

Prabhupāda: At the present moment our ordinary prasādam is very much liked by...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So? How things are going on?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Things are going nicely, though we didn't have too many guests today, Śrīla Prabhupāda. A little more than fifty came. Most of them will be coming tomorrow, and Sunday will be all full. 'Cause today is still Friday, and in Delhi all the schools are still open. But we came, quite a few interesting scientists from Delhi. And one had only one question. Otherwise nobody had anything. I spoke for about two hours on the difference between life and matter, and we showed that the science, modern science, actually does not study life. They only study inanimate matter, atoms and molecules. So they think that life could also be just atoms and molecules. But we showed that that is wrong, and they shouldn't propagate this false idea. Especially in India, I especially made a request to all the scholars, saying that "You should take this very seriously, and should try to expose this in genuine spirit of knowledge all over the world, because the Western science and technology, we tend to think that everything is the absolute truth because science is coming from the West, but we're saying that that is too narrow-minded. We should be a little broad-minded and we should also consider other possible alternatives." And we demonstrated that modern science actually cannot explain about the nature of life. So we requested that in the coming two days we'll establish this on a more scientific basis, that this is not just religious dogma; it is based on complete, genuine, scientific knowledge.

Prabhupāda: So where they are staying?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They're staying all in the guesthouse.

Prabhupāda: And their food?