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Tradition (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Questions and Answers -- Montreal, August 26, 1968:

Prabhupāda: If we play, train our devotees to present some dramatical performances or movie, I think it will be very successful, because they will play from transcendental sentiment, not for trade purpose. So that will come out very successful. Yes. In our childhood we had the occasion of taking part in a drama, Caitanya-līlā. I took the part of Advaita, and our friends, others, somebody took the part of Caitanya, Nityānanda. So that drama was so successful, it was unique in Calcutta. Because we were not, we were not professionals. I saw from the stage a huge gathering, they're all crying. I was surprised, "Why these people are crying?" You see? It was great successful, because we were not professionals. We were not devotees at that time, but some of us were devotee by family tradition, but not exactly what is actually meant by devotee. But still, because we were not professionals, the drama was so successful, unique. And there was no female. Now Śacidevī, Śacidevī, the friend who take the part, took the part of Śacidevī, his shoulders were so big, (laughing) so just see. So there was no question of beautiful woman taking part. So still the drama was very successful. Similarly, when Caitanya Mahāprabhu staged, all the devotees took part. Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, Advaita, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda and Mukunda and other, all devotees... (pause) Yes?

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 11, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: (to Hayagrīva) I think you wrote one article about this?

Hayagrīva: Enlight... I think in one of the Kṛṣṇa Consciousness poetry, I mentioned Blake.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Allen Ginsberg: Yes, he apparently fits into, in the West what is called the Gnostic tradition, which has similar ideas and similar bhakti attitudes to the Buddhist and Hindu traditions. Similar cosmography, cosmology. He was my teacher.

Prabhupāda: He did not give much stress on this material body.

Allen Ginsberg: No! At the end of his life, he didn't count on the material body.

Prabhupāda: So, there is a spiritual concept of life in his poetry.

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: Insanity for seeking Kṛṣṇa, that is required. Yes. Unless you become insane after Kṛṣṇa just like Lord Caitanya became... Yes. His worship is to become insane after Kṛṣṇa.

Allen Ginsberg: Is Kabir in the Vaiṣṇava tradition?

Guest (1): He is mystic.

Allen Ginsberg: So what tradition is he in, actually?

Prabhupāda: He is impersonalist on the whole. He is impersonalist, whole, and he has got some Vaiṣṇava thought. That's all, perverted thoughts. Perverted thoughts.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Prof. Kotovsky -- June 22, 1971, Moscow:

Prabhupāda: So that means they are lacking. It may be as you say, or it may be as I say, but there must be a department of knowledge, what is the... Now, recently one cardiologist, a doctor, he has accepted that there is soul, in Montreal and Toronto. I had some correspondence with him. So he is strongly in belief that there is soul. So that is another point of view, but we accept knowledge from authority. Authority. Just like this statement is given by Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the authority by all the ācāryas, in Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā is studied amongst the scholarly circle and philosophical circle still, all over the world. And this statement is given by Kṛṣṇa:

dehino 'smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati
(BG 2.13)

So dehāntaram prāpti... Just like the childhood, now, giving up the childhood body, the soul is coming to the boyhood body, from boyhood, youth..., similarly, the soul, giving up this body, he accepts another body. This statement is given by Kṛṣṇa, the greatest authority according to our tradition of knowledge.

Conversation with Prof. Kotovsky -- June 22, 1971, Moscow:

Prof. Kotovsky: From immemorial time, this festival...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.

Prof. Kotovsky: Very, very old...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Prof. Kotovsky: ...Hindu tradition of this car festival.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Prof. Kotovsky: Huge car.

Prabhupāda: Huge car.

Prof. Kotovsky: Very well parked(?)...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Prof. Kotovsky: ...that car, very interesting piece of car.

Prabhupāda: That has been introduced in the Western countries, in London and San Francisco. And gradually, maybe, we will introduce in other countries also.

Conversation with Prof. Kotovsky -- June 22, 1971, Moscow:

Prabhupāda: So if you can arrange some program, it is all right. There are... It is all right.

Śyāmasundara: Is there any possibility Swamiji could lecture at the institute itself in the next day or two?

Prof. Kotovsky: I don't think because, you know, now it is vacation time. (break)

Prabhupāda: "...Vedic Concept of Communism," "Knowledge by Authorized Tradition," and what was the other?

Śyāmasundara: "Scientific Values of..."

Prabhupāda: "Scientific Classless Society." This subject matter I wanted...

Prof. Kotovsky: Have you put into writing these three subjects somewhere?

Prabhupāda: I asked... Because I could not contact him, therefore I asked the ambassador. But unfortunately they said that "We did not receive any letter like that." So you can note down if you like.

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

Prabhupāda: I may make analogy or not analogy but the thing is that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is there but it is covered. As soon as its covering is taken away, it is uncovered, the original position comes out.

Śyāmasundara: I believe he made one observation which is rather in the British tradition, I believe, where he said that if there was no observer then there would be no such thing as light and darkness.

Dr. Weir: Yes, light and dark are subjective reactions. Really, the scientists would say there are wave lengths of a certain type in one part of the universe and in the other they're absent. But, until you have an observer you can't notice that.

Mensa Member: But the planet would still be there (indistinct).

Dr. Weir: (indistinct) Samuel Johnson quite rightly refuting that by taking (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Actually there is no darkness. Take it sunlight, it is whole. There is no darkness and everything is in sunshine, all the planets, they are rotating in sunshine. So under certain conditions one part is becoming dark, another part is light. But actually the whole universe is full with sunshine. Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. That is the exact definition given in Sanskrit. Everything is light, brahma.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with John Griesser (later initiated as Yadubara Dasa) -- March 10, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Because India, the caste system is very strong. So a brāhmaṇa will never accept a girl born into a śūdra family, although in śāstra it says that you can accept. (Sanskrit) means family member is respectful. Your family consideration is very... During marriage ceremony, the family consideration is very strong. Now that is dwindling. Formerly, family traditions, then horoscope. The so-called love was not given any importance, the so-called love. As in other countries the boys select wife or girls selects... No. There is no importance on this. The father, mother will see the horoscope, whether this boy and girl will agree according to the horoscope. Rāja-yoga(?) There are some calculations, astronomical calculations, from his birth, from her birth, and the expert astrologer will select, "Yes, this boy and this girl will be happy." Then they are married. If there is any discrepancy, they will deny, "No." These were the considerations. Then family tradition. What is the tradition of the boy's father's family, mother's family, so many things they calculate, then the marriage settlement, "Yes." And the boy might not have seen the girl. There is no necessity of the boy seeing the girl or the girl seeing the boy. There is no necessity. After marriage, when the marriage ceremony is performed, then the boy and girl can see one another: "Oh, she is my wife." (laughter) "He is my husband." That. (aside) So. You can begin. Oh, this is another magazine, Earth.

Interview -- July 5, 1972, New York:

Guest (1): Yes, I guess it would be hard to define in terms of a search. Man's..., man's search for something divine. I'd..., I'd define it in terms of, of a search for the divine. I've been studying Russian Elders in the Orthodox Church. Perhaps that's a tradition that you're familiar with in some way. They seem to have found the divine. I guess that's religion too. It seems to me both are, but perhaps you have a better definition than that?

Prabhupāda: Yes. When you are searching with some hope, what is that hope? Why you are searching? When you are missing something, then there is a question of searching for that missing point. You said religion means searching after the divine. So that means you are missing the divine. Is it not?

Guest (1): That's right.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 26, 1973, Jakarta:

Prabhupāda: Philosophy means why you are working, why you are living, what is the purpose.

Guest (1): We are working for (indistinct), I have been working also. We just follow the same tradition.

Prabhupāda: Still there must some why. Why your forefathers they work and they die? So do you think that is the only philosophy, to work and die? That is being done by the animals also. They work and die.

Guest (1): (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: That is another thing. First thing is, why you are working? What is the purpose of working? If the purpose of working is to work hard and then die, finished, then where is the difference between the animals and the men? They are also working. They are dying, too. Cats, dogs, hogs. Then after some time they die without knowing the purpose of life. Then where is the difference between cats, dogs, hogs and (indistinct) human beings. This question does not arise in the modern civilization. And one is thinking, "Yes, it is the same." But they're lying on the street, we're lying on a very nice apartment, bedstead. This is our profit.

Room Conversation with Indonesian Scholar -- February 27, 1973, Jakarta:

Prabhupāda: No, no, I want to know this (indistinct).

Scholar: He who knows that the day of Brahmā is thousand yuga and that the night of Brahmā is also 5,000 yugas is he who knows the truth of day and night.

Prabhupāda: Now, what is the explanation?

Scholar: The explanation is that, according to the traditions that Brahmā, the day or the night of Brahmā's is one thousand yuga.

Prabhupāda: What is that yuga?

Scholar: It's mentioned in Chapter 4, 8. Four, verse eight. Yuga is eighths, one yuga is, it's written here a hundred years. One yuga is one eighths between the one incarnations to another incarnations.

Prabhupāda: But he has not given actual calculation of the years.

Room Conversation with David Wynne, Sculptor -- July 9, 1973, London:

David Wynne: I'm making also the new coins for this country, and they were thinking of leaving off the words "Fin def," which means in Latin "Defender of the faith." And I refused to do it if they left that off the coin. Because it's the most important. It means she's, it acknowledges that she is the, although it's only a tradition, but she's the defender of the faith of the people. And they were going... They said, "Oh, this is just now archaism." But I got them to keep it in. (pause) What I was going to ask was to praise, I feel, and I may be wrong... I was going to ask you. When I make a piece of sculpture of... The other day, I made two dancing figures. They were just a boy and a girl dancing. But I felt that this was praising God because these were as God, I tried to make them, as God had made them, and in joy and simple, but happy. And is this, is this presumptuous, or is this right, to try to praise the creation by making sculpture?

Prabhupāda: Oh yes.

David Wynne: That's all right.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with Reporter from Researchers Magazine -- July 24, 1973, London:

Pradyumna:

kula-kṣaye praṇaśyanti
kula-dharmāḥ sanātanāḥ
dharme naṣṭe kulaṁ kṛtsnam
adharmo 'bhibhavaty uta

"With the destruction of dynasty, the eternal family tradition is vanquished, and thus the rest of the family becomes involved in irreligious practice."

adharmābhibhavāt kṛṣṇa
praduṣyanti kula-striyaḥ
strīṣu duṣṭāsu vārṣṇeya
jāyate varṇa-saṅkaraḥ
(BG 1.40)

Prabhupāda: Everything is, one after another, is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. So those who are responsible for giving up kula-dharma and jāti-dharma, and creating varṇa-saṅkara... Varṇa-saṅkara, just like brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, they are supposed to undergo the purificatory process daśa-vidhā-saṁskāra. So the first saṁskāra is garbhādhāna. So in this Bhāgavata it is said by Nārada that as soon as garbhādhāna-saṁskāra is not taken, immediately the whole family becomes śūdra. So who is observing the garbhādhāna-saṁskāra? Nobody.

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes.

David Lawrence: One day it's in, and the next day it's out. And while it's in, everybody claps and applauds. One or two other points, perhaps I can raise one or two of them. Some of them are longer in fact. An interesting thing that came out of my study of the Christian, or certainly the Jewish tradition, and I wondered, really, on your views on this, whether it relates at all to the Indian one. It seems when you get to the really high spot of Jewish religion, which many people consider the prophets of Judah...,

Prabhupāda: What is their high spot?

David Lawrence: Well, exactly,(laughs) that is, in inverted commas.

Prabhupāda: They are rotting in the lowest spot, still. What is their high spot?

David Lawrence: Let's think, somebody like, perhaps Isaiaḥ or somebody like this who was a universalist and uh...

Prabhupāda: Somebody, somebody says so many things...

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: What, I don't...

Śyāmasundara: In the Jewish tradition, they yearn for a life of living on farms, villages, small communities with cows and agriculture.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śyāmasundara: Is this also expressed in the Vedas.

Prabhupāda: Oh yes.

David Lawrence: You feel that strongly.

Prabhupāda: Oh yes. That is real life. Real life means you have to minimize your bodily activities so that you can save time and devote for spiritual understanding. That is real life. And the present civilization based on bodily concept of life is animal life. It is not civilized life. Civilized life means athāto brahma jijñāsā. When one is advanced so much so that he inquires about the spirit soul. But there is no such inquiry. Like the cats and dogs, they cannot inquire what is spirit soul. So Vedic life means to become free as much as possible from the bodily disturbances. Therefore, the first education is to become brahmacārī, celibacy. You see? Now, at the present moment, they are trying to make the abortion as law. But these rascals cannot check their sex life. You see? Their philosophy is that you shall go on with sex life unrestrictedly and when there is pregnancy, kill the child.

Morning Walk -- December 8, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But I think tradition must be still...

Prabhupāda: But tradition, what is that tradition? Tradition is here, in the proof. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). The reference is given to the quality, guṇa, and karma, and action. How you can simply say that because I'm born in such and such family, therefore I have also the same thing. Because my father was high-court judge, therefore I am high-court judge. Is that very good logic? How you became superior? You have to prove your superiority by your qualification and actual work. This is very nice. The world is accepting like that. Somebody's coming to you to accept some scientific instruction. He accepts you're superior in scientific knowledge, not for your birth, but for your quality and work. That is fact. So you first of all come to the platform of the quality and work, then you claim superior.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 9, 1974, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Hmmm? Well, everyone is in a bona fide disciplic succession provided he keeps that tradition, keeps that tradition. Āpani ācari prabhu jīve śikhāilā. One must behave that "I belong to this disciplic succession. I must keep myself fit for the post." Then it is all right. If he deviates, then he deviates the disciplic succession. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says frankly that... This is disciplic succession. Āmāra ājñāya: "Just carry out My order." Then you are in disciplic succession. If you do not keep yourself in the order of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, then simply by becoming disciple, you are not in the disciplic succession. This is disciplic succession. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said this clearly, āmāra ājñāya guru haña tāra ei: "Wherever you live, you become a spiritual master." How? Yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa: (CC Madhya 7.128) "Whomever you meet, you only speak what Kṛṣṇa has instructed." Then you are disciplic succession. It doesn't matter what you are and where you are. It doesn't matter. This is disciplic succession. And if you think, "Now I am initiated. I am now liberated. I have no other business," then you are not in the disciplic succession. You must preach. That is disciplic succession.

Room Conversation with Richard Webster, chairman, Societa Filosofica Italiana -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: Give him some... Give him some... Just wait.

Yogeśvara: It's our custom in Vedic tradition that anyone who comes is offered graciously foodstuffs...

Richard Webster: Oh, thank you, yes, I've been here quite long. Thank you.

Yogeśvara: Maybe you can stay just for a moment.

Richard Webster: Yes, thank you.

Prabhupāda: Gṛhe śatrum api prāptaṁ viśvastam akuto-bhayam. In the Vedic civilization even an enemy comes to your home, he should be offered respect. Take more. Now, these foodstuffs are meant for human being. They are not meant for cats and dogs. You should produce more of this foodstuff. And the remaining balance, the skin, you can offer to the animal. They will eat. You take the substance, and the outward, external skin you offer to the animals, and he will eat. She gives you milk. This is cooperation. You produce... Man can produce fruits and flowers, grains, take the substance, and the rejected portion give to the animal. She gives you milk. You require milk. This is cooperation.

Room Conversation with Catholic Cardinal and Secretary to the Pope -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Dhanañjaya: "In this translation the western reader has the unique opportunity of seeing how a Kṛṣṇa devotee interprets his own texts. It is the Vedic exegetical tradition, justly famous, in action. (reads rest of foreword of MacMillan edition of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is)" This is stated by Professor Edward C. Dimock, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilization, University of Chicago. Please take this.

Cardinal Pignedoli: Thank you. It will be a source also for unprofessionals, also to give true interpretation yes, by devotees.

Prabhupāda: The trades manager of Messrs. MacMillan Company, he has reported that this book is selling increasing, and other editions, they are decreasing.

Monsignor Verrozano: A great sign of interest.

Cardinal Pignedoli: Thank you. Well, may we be united in hopes and prayer and...

Prabhupāda: Yes, kindly pray to God.

Room Conversation with Mr. C. Hennis of the International Labor Organization of the U.N. -- May 31, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: Give him some prasāda. Please sit down for a moment.

C. Hennis: I have to go because I have a...

Yogeśvara: If you can wait just two minutes. One tradition is that we always offer our guests prasādam, foodstuffs that we prepared.

C. Hennis: Thank you very much. But I have to go very shortly. I have to...

Yogeśvara: Well perhaps I should give him downstairs.

Prabhupāda: No, no. Give him.

C. Hennis: May I, may I? Thank you very much. That's very kind of you. Thank you.

Prabhupāda: Thank you.

Room Conversation -- June 5, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: This is cleanliness. Instead of keeping unnecessary hair, we keep very clean.

Swiss Man (2): (French)

Yogeśvara: These traditions have existed for a long time, he's asking.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Especially the brāhmaṇas, they keep the shaven head. Brāhmaṇas are the topmost class. What is the symptoms of brāhmaṇa, find out.

Yogeśvara: (French)

Nitāi:

śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ
kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca
jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ
brahma-karma svabhāva-jam
(BG 18.42)

"Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge, and religiousness, these are the qualities by which the brāhmaṇas work."

Prabhupāda: So the Vedic conception is that the human society should be divided into four divisions, namely the brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, and śūdra, natural division.

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Yes, he was twenty-five years there.

Priest: Twenty-five years.

Prabhupāda: He is Indian. (laughter)

Priest: I was... I mean I am still a bhakta of Kṛṣṇa, but not..., of the old tradition of Maharastra the (indistinct) of Pāṇḍarapura, Viṭhobā.

Prabhupāda: Vaiṣṇava.

Priest: (indistinct) Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa, that Viṭhṭhala, Viṭhṭhala. Viṭhṭhala, there is... So they are Vaiṣṇava.

Priest: And it's the main... (indistinct) center of Maharastra.

Prabhupāda: Yes, Pāṇḍarapura.

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: What was your subject matter studying?

Priest: I was studying for a thesis, a doctorate thesis, this pilgrimage, the story of the pilgrimage and everything of the brāhmaṇa pilgrimage. And as you know, it was one of the main bhakti tradition in Maharastra, Orissa, Jñāneśvara.

Prabhupāda: Tukārāma, Tukārāma.

Priest: Tukārāma.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Priest: I have proceeded to (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: Tukārāma is in the line of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Priest: That's right.

Prabhupāda: He was initiated by Caitanya. His avanga, avanga, that is written there, he was initiated by Caitanya.

Priest: It's a great bhakti tradition.

Prabhupāda: Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). Find out. If we want to know God, then we have to accept the process recommended by God. That is bhakti.

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Although he did not mean Rāma, he condemned the boar as haram, condemned. But the...

Priest: Same story is said in the bhakti tradition of Maharastra of the hunter.

Prabhupāda: Yes, may be the same story.

Priest: Untouchable hunter who was chased by a boar and went to a tree, and then... It is a common story.

Prabhupāda: Anyway, we are recommending "Chant the holy name of God." (end)

Room Conversation with devotees about Twelfth Canto Kali-yuga, and Conversation with Guest -- June 15, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: That word, sound, is the Vedas. So before creation, Vedas were there. So you cannot find out the history of Vedas. You find out the history where the creation began. Then, before that, Vedas were there. (French)

Yogeśvara: He (the Bishop) says that he finds many things agreeable in this Vedic tradition, but he says that he thinks it might be a mistake to say that the Bible is exactly the same thing as the Vedas. He says there are still distinctions.

Prabhupāda: Then, then, distinction, then it is to be considered which is perfect, the later edition or the original.

Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: Four million copies.

Prof. Pater Porsch: May I please put a question before I forget. I heard from our, or I read in the invitation that this center is not only a center as such but something more. It should also be an āśrama and also a forest university in the tradition of the ancient times.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Prof. Pater Porsch: A kind of a university also.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Yes.

Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Prof. Pater Porsch: I agree with you but just think how the world was only a few years ago.

Professor Durckheim: Yes. And especially if you talk about the rational (German), the really German tradition is the irrational. So now this is coming back now, rediscovering their own past slowly.

Prabhupāda: So long they do not come to the standard platform, they will accept this sometimes and that sometimes. This will go on, changing.

Room Conversation -- June 20, 1974, Germany:

Guest: Yes. Well, but this in one form or another is the aim of any true tradition.

Prabhupāda: True?

Guest: Tradition, religion.

Prabhupāda: No.

Guest: Every teaching.

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) tradition, they are all material. They are also designation. I'm thinking I am Hindu, you are thinking Christian, he is thinking this, these are all designation.

Morning Walk -- June 21, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: They are all impersonalists. The whole world is impersonalist. Perhaps we are only the personalists.

Professor Durckheim: You know that the Christian theologian, they think the main difference between them and Eastern religions altogether is that the Christian are personalists and Eastern tradition is not personalist. This is the whole...

Prabhupāda: Misconception, yes. The majority of Indian population, they are personalists. Yes, majority. Either they worship God or demigod, but they are personalists. Recently the Māyāvādī philosophers, they have poisoned, the impersonalism, calamity. God is person. It is... In the Veda it is said, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). There are millions of persons. We are all persons. And God is the chief person. Just like in modern democracy, there is no monarch. But ultimately they have to select one president. Without person, there cannot be government. Why they do not remain without a president? Let it... Government, everything is government, impersonal.

Morning Walk -- June 22, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: Don't come near. (German translation)

Guest (1): And also the holy Francis of Assisi was in relation with all animals in the Christian tradition.

Prabhupāda: In Christian tradition there is everything nice, but nobody's following. That is the difficulty. (break) ... portion of the road is not paved like this. Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, annād bhavanti bhūtāni. Both the man and animals will live prosperously when there is sufficient foodgrain. (break) ...at anna-sambhavaḥ. If there is sufficient rainfall, the production of foodgrains will be very easy. And yajñād bhavati parjanyaḥ (BG 3.14). And if you satisfy the Lord by performing yajña, then there will be sufficient rain. And yajñaḥ karma-samudbhavaḥ. And our activities should be only to perform yajña, to satisfy the Lord.

Guest (1): But Sanskrit word for..., yajña?

Haṁsadūta: Yajña, sacrifice.

Guest (1): Yeah, yajña.

Prabhupāda: Yajña means to satisfy the Lord. Just like glorifying the Lord, that is also yajña. Saṅkīrtana-yajña. Yajña means to satisfy the Lord. Do it anyway and there will be no scarcity. Everything will be all right.

Room Conversation with Pater Emmanuel (A Benedictine Monk) -- June 22, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: Hen. The hen is giving egg and, by the backside, by the rectum, and eating by the mouth. So one man is considering that "This mouthpiece is expensive because I have to give to eat. Better cut it." So if the mouth is cut, then there will be no egg because it's a dead body. So this is not good logic, (laughing) that the expensive portion may be cut and the profitable portion may be kept. This kind of interpretation will not be helpful. If you accept the whole, this side and that side, then business will go on. (German)

Pater Emmanuel: In the Christian tradition... (German)

Prabhupāda: The first commandment is "Thou shall not kill." But they are killing. The first point is disobedient. Then where is love of God?

Pater Emmanuel: (German) It is in the relation of man. "Don't kill," it says, the Christianity understands...

Prabhupāda: Why they understand like that? That means that Lord Christ was not sufficiently educated to use the right word, "murder"? Does it mean so? There are two words, killing and murder. Murder is especially meant for the human being. So do you think that Christ was not learned enough to use the word murder instead of "killing"? "Killing" means any kind of killing, especially animal killing. Otherwise you should have frankly openly used the word, "Thou shall not murder." Even if it is meant like that, so does it mean that he was preaching amongst the murderers? They are very first-class men? They are all murderers? Therefore the injunction. This kind of interpretation does not appeal to us.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico:

Professor: If one is following different stage, status of knowledge...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Different stage of knowledge means different types of body. Just like a child. A child is talking in some way. The same child, when he will get a different body, youthful body, he'll talk differently. What do you think?

Guest (1) (German Man): I would like to ask you a question. Once Leibnitz, who is one of the fathers of the Western tradition, formulated the question which was the beginning of metaphysics in a way, Western metaphysics. The question is "Why there is anything?" What is your stand about this classic point?

Prabhupāda: Why?

Guest (1): Why there is anything?

Hṛdayānanda: Why anything exists? What is the reason for the existence of...?

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) "Why anything exists?" (laughter) What do you mean by anything?

Guest (1): Well, that's precisely the point. What is the purpose? What is the sense, if there is any, or does the very question make sense?

Prabhupāda: No, no, unless understand what is that "anything..." First of all, you have to understand what is that "anything." Anything... Just like this book, this table, this bell, the electric they are so many things. So you can take any one of them; that is anything.

Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico:

Professor: But I would say that even in India, where ancient tradition... They would propose how to arrange our telescopes to be able to see more correctly.

Prabhupāda: You have to see... That... Vedic injunction says, śāstra-cakśuṣā. Śāstra-cakśuṣā: "Your eyes should be the śāstra." There is another crude example. Just like who is your father? How do you understand? Through the vibration of the mother. The mother says, "He is your father." You accept it. Otherwise there is no experiment. So things which are beyond your perception, beyond your defective senses, that should not be speculated. Na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet. Acintyā khalv ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet. These are the injunction. What is beyond your perception, beyond your speculation, don't waste your time so-called argument and logic. What is argument? Mother says, "He is your father." Where is the argument? You cannot apply any argument.

Professor: No, I said old tradition in India has been going on into argument itself.

Prabhupāda: No, argument you can go on, but if you want to know the truth it will not be attained by argument because argument is also within your thinking power: thinking, feeling, willing. So if your thinking, feeling, willing is imperfect, what is the use of your argument? What is the use of your so-called advancement of knowledge? Basically, if the senses, knowledge acquiring senses, are imperfect, then how you can get perfect knowledge?

Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico:

Professor: Well, then what do we with all techniques, all systems, that have been developed? I am thinking only India, I am not thinking other places, and all the old tradition, since Śaṅkara onwards, of different ways to think, to study, to go deeply to all these relations between...

Prabhupāda: Śaṅkara has interpreted. Śaṅkara has interpreted by his limited knowledge. So that is not perfect knowledge. Therefore we don't accept Śaṅkara's philosophy.

Professor: But I said if he belongs to the same tradition, and you belong to the other...

Prabhupāda: That tradition is nothing. Tradition is just temporary. You make your tradition; he makes your tradition. That is another thing. But the, fact is fact. That is not dependent on tradition. Tradition we can make, tradition. "We believe." Just like somebody says, "We believe." What is the use of such saying, "We believe"? You may believe something which is not fact.

Room Conversation with three Trappist Monks, Psychologists from the University of Georgia, and Atlanta Lawyer, Michael Green -- March 1, 1975, Atlanta:

Guest (3) (Trappist monk): There's three of us here that are monks from Connear(?), Trappist monks, and you use Hare Kṛṣṇa as a way to God consciousness, while in our Christian tradition we use the name Jesus and we repeat it constantly and try to become conscious of him.

Prabhupāda: Jesus, did he say... Jesus Christ, did he say that Jesus is the name of God?

Guest (3): Well, that's what Christians believe, yeah.

Prabhupāda: No, is there anything mentioned in the Bible that Jesus is the name of God?

Guest (3): I'm not sure.

Room Conversation with three Trappist Monks, Psychologists from the University of Georgia, and Atlanta Lawyer, Michael Green -- March 1, 1975, Atlanta:

Guest (3): This tradition of the names was a tradition that was developed for two thousand years, beginning with the monks, and which most Christians are really not aware of, that through this japa a man can come to consciousness of God.

Prabhupāda: Yes, when one comes to God consciousness. And the relationship is "God is great; we are subordinate." Just like the father is the maintainer, and the son is maintained. Although the father and the son of the same quality, still, the relationship is the father is the maintainer, and the son is maintained.

Guest (5): That's, of course, not the orthodox Christian interpretation, that's supposed to be. It's very clear by the time the decrees were worked out that Jesus is not a creature. He's incarnate God.

Guest (6): You say that we are creatures, and we are subordinate to God, and I can understand that. Christ was not created.

Prabhupāda: Yes, none of us are created. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā...

Guest (6): Yes, I understand now. I spoke earlier with some people... In other words you say we are co-eternal with the father just as Christ is.

Prabhupāda: Yes. We are all eternal. That is nityo nityānām. I have already explained. Nitya means eternal. There are two eternals: one chief eternal, God, and one subordinate eternals, they are plural number. God is one, and we are many. Father is one; the children are many. Similarly, both the father and the children are eternal. God is not created, and the childrens are not created.

Room Conversation with three Trappist Monks, Psychologists from the University of Georgia, and Atlanta Lawyer, Michael Green -- March 1, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: That is subordinate. Yes. Everyone is creature. He is the supreme creature.

Guest (6): I am servant of God. He is my life. Without Him, I can't live. I understand what you're saying, but I believe that our tradition from the Old Testament says that we were created by God.

Prabhupāda: In one sense we are created, just like father creates the sons, not the sons create the father. In that sense we are created. (pause) So taking this word, that "sons were created," so the father existed before our creation. So He is not of the same quality again.

Guest (6): It's a mystery. We can only bow down before Him then.

Prabhupāda: That is our business. (laughter) This word, "creation," is applicable in this material world. In the spiritual world there is no creation, the father and the son existing eternally. When we come to this material world... Material world means it has got beginning, and it has got end. And spiritual world means there is no beginning, no end. That is sanātana, eternal.

Room Conversation with Tripurari -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: He is observing celibacy or...

Doug: As far as I'm concerned he's been celibate for an awful long time. And he had, his master... He comes from the Śaṅkarācārya tradition. His master was the last Śaṅkarācārya. And supposedly his master is a life-long celibate. So as far as I know, he always practiced that. Some other rumors have come up somewhere. I heard that the rumors originally originated with the Beatles when they were in India, that there was something going on like that. But as far as I know and anybody else who had been involved with him knew that he was very strict about that. And he encouraged the, me to meet...

Prabhupāda: Brahmacārī.

Doug: What was that?

Balavanta: Brahmacārī.

Doug: Brahmacārī.

Prabhupāda: Celibacy. Does he observe?

Doug: Yes, as far as I know.

Room Conversation with Canadian Ambassador to Iran -- March 13, 1975, Iran:

Ambassador: Well, this in one form or another is the aim of any true tradition.

Prabhupāda: Hmm? True?

Ambassador: Tradition.

Prabhupāda: Tradition?

Ambassador: Religion.

Prabhupāda: No. Tradition, religion, they are all material. They are also all designation. I am thinking I am Hindu, you are thinking you are Christian, he is thinking as Buddhist—these are all designation.

Ambassador: Within each of these there is the esoteric.

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, it is material. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). "Give up all this type of false religion." Mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. That means come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Ekam, only one. So unless one becomes fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is in trouble of this material condition. And our difficulty is that when we want to convince another person about Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he thinks that "I am Hindu, I am Christian, I am Mohammedan, so they are trying to proselytize me." That is the difficulty.

Room Conversation with Yoga Student -- March 14, 1975, Iran:

Prabhupāda: That's it.

Yoga student: There is a tradition, and there's a body of forty traditions, which are called the sacred traditions, one of which says that these are the words of God as enunciated through Muhammad, one of them saying that "The more you strive towards Me, the more you love Me, the closer I come to you."

Prabhupāda: Oh, that's it. Then the ultimate goal is how to love God.

Yoga student: Yes.

Prabhupāda: That is very good. That is our philosophy. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). Premā pumārtho mahān. This is the highest goal of life, how one has developed his love for God. And Bhāgavata says, "That is first-class religion which trains the followers how to love God and serve Him." That is first-class religion. Then Islam is Vaiṣṇava dharma in a crude form like the Christian. So we can amalgamate them all if they are sane men. I suggested that there are many churches vacant. If they give us these churches we shall install Deity—Gaurasundara, Nitāi-Gaura and Pañca-tattva—and along with them we shall worship Lord Jesus Christ also. Similarly, we can do Muhammad. There is no harm. But they are against this Deity worship, eh? Mohammedans?

Yoga student: Yes, they are.

Morning Walk -- March 15, 1975, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: And our business is to serve Him. What is that?

Guest: Our business is to serve Him? Precisely it was said last night...

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Guest: Our business is to satisfy. There is a tradition, there is a body of forty traditions, which are called the sacred traditions. One of which says, these are the words of God as enunciated through Mohammed, one of them saying that the more you strive towards Me...

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Guest: ...the more you love Me, the closer I come to you.

Prabhupāda: Then the ultimate goal is how to love God.

Guest: Yes.

Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Now you discuss whether this point is very nice.

Acyutānanda: So what is the authority?

Prajāpati: The authority is the Christian tradition.

Acyutānanda: The Bible.

Prabhupāda: Yes. When he says church, that means authority, Bible.

Acyutānanda: The Bible.

Prajāpati: No, part. The Bible is part.

Acyutānanda: Only part, one part.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Acyutānanda: He says the Bible is not... The Bible is not the complete authority?

Prajāpati: No, it's the tradition of the church through the great founding fathers, the great theologians up until the present day.

Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: But they... They must explain. Just like in Vedic literature the same idea is there. (aside:) Don't lean. I am begging excuse. I am old man. But you should sit down like that Guru Mahārāja. So we know what was the word, oṁkāra. Praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu. (break) So oṁkāra is the word. So what is the Christian word?

Prajāpati: Again there's no absolute authority. In the vast Christian tradition we have Origen saying one thing and Saint Francis saying another. Widespread... That's why it is not a science that we can go to like we can to Śrīla Prabhupāda for an exact answer, Bhagavad-gītā, exact absolute authority. In the Christian tradition it is simply defined as faithful men understanding themselves in the light of the scripture, in the light of the tradition.

Prabhupāda: No, that is because you are our student. Suppose our preachers meet the theologicians. How to prove that theology is not the means? Theology... Generally, you say it is speculation. So our point is that nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo na medhayā na bahunā śrutena. The ātmā, Kṛṣṇa, cannot be understood or approached, pravacanena, simply by logical arguments.

Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:

Prajāpati: Their answer would be: "We cannot talk about God. We can simply talk about the Christian tradition of God, or the..."

Prabhupāda: Now, again you come to the Christian God.

Acyutānanda: Then your knowledge is limited.

Prabhupāda: Then... Either Christian tradition... Then it becomes bound up by the Christian ideas.

Prajāpati: And that is exactly the situation today.

Prabhupāda: But that is not God. Just like gold. Gold is everywhere gold. Because it is in Christian country, you cannot say, "It is Christian gold." And because it is in Muslim country, you cannot say, "It is Muslim gold." Gold is the world standard of money. The same gold, dispatched from America, can be accepted in India. Dispatched from India, it can be accepted in Palestine because it is gold. Everyone who knows what is gold, he'll accept it. So God should be like that. And therefore the name Kṛṣṇa, "all-attractive"... When there is gold, either you be Christian, Muslim, Hindu—"Oh, here is a lump of gold. Can I possess it?" That is attraction. So as gold is all-attractive, similarly, God must be all-attractive. And that word is used as Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive. One who knows gold, he'll be attracted. Doesn't matter whether he's Hindu or Muslim, Christian, poor, rich man, black, white. It doesn't matter. Here is gold, and everyone... Just like in your country there was gold rush. Eh? In California? From all different parts of the world they came. So gold is gold for everyone. So now one should try to understand or check what is gold. That is required.

Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: You cannot say, reject. They cannot reject Kṛṣṇa unless you present an alternative.

Pañcadraviḍa: Well, here's the argument. Part of the thing I remember in the Judeo tradition, Judeo-Christian tradition, in the... Whenever we used to go to service and all that, they used to have in the prayer books... They would never write out the name of God because they say...

Prabhupāda: Oh, that means you do not know.

Pañcadraviḍa: No, they say God's name should never be spoken out loud.

Prabhupāda: Why?

Pañcadraviḍa: I don't know.

Prabhupāda: This is nonsense. If you know somebody, why should you say, "His name should not be explained"?

Brahmānanda: They say that God's name is so pure and we are so impure that to utter His name is to make it impure.

Ravīndra-svarūpa: Is blasphemy.

Acyutānanda: No, I heard the explanation that a nonbeliever should not know it.

Prabhupāda: That is all right.

Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:

Prajāpati: But it's the same word. In fact, everyone agrees they do not know what the real name is. Some say Yahweh; some say Jehovah. The Jewish tradition replaces completely and says Adonai, instead.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. He may not say. But we have to take from the meaning. What is the meaning?

Viṣṇujana: "No one is beyond Me."

Prabhupāda: That's all right. "No one is beyond Me." Then he comes to our conclusion, all-attractive. This is... They come to our conclusion, all-attractive. Because if somebody is beyond Him, then he should be attractive. But if He's final attractive, then all-attractive, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive. What do you think?

Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:

Prajāpati: A very major thing happenned to the Christian tradition in about 400 A.D. Up until that time, as best our records are, Christianity was very much like Kṛṣṇa consciousness, very much like our movement. But at that time it became the official religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine, and it took on many of the paraphernalia of the old Roman demigod worship, and at that time it became a whole...

Prabhupāda: Just to make it favorable for your government, for the government.

Acyutānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Then deterioration began.

Morning Walk -- April 19, 1975, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And now that you are saying, many people are stopping.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Somebody, they act... Just like illicit sex. They did not know that it is sinful. Now they are understanding. There was no good leader. Even the priests. In the Bible it is said, "Thou shalt not kill." The priests never said, because they are meat-eaters. They themselves are meat-eaters. How they can say? "It is our tradition to eat meat." But how the common man will be educated? (break) You can give me the general prasāda today. I will taste. (test?) (break) When one becomes rich, he becomes lazy. What is called? "Leads to poverty"? Luxury. "Luxury leads to poverty." So at one time one become very rich by hard work, and next generation gets the money for nothing, he spends it on luxuries, and the third generation, poor. There are many families, in everywhere. In England, all these English men, in the beginning they worked very hard, expanding their empire and working. Then gradually, when they became Lord family, then luxury. Now they are poverty-stricken.

Conversation with Governor -- April 20, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: This kind of understanding at the present time, at the present time... (Hindi) So we give reference, that "Present time, everyone is fallen." But truth is always the same, not at present time. So the real truth is that ideal man of character there must be. Because at the present moment there is no character, there is no moral education, therefore we have to adapt according to them, no. The pukka moralist, he must be moralist. It doesn't matter that "People at the present time, they do all immoral activities; therefore we have to adjust." No. Strictly one should be moralist. There is no question of present time or past time. That should be real point of view. Then?

Brahmānanda: "Regarding the elements in our tradition relating to dharma and saṁsṛti, we must adopt the whole varṇa and āśramas as they are recommended in all the śāstras. If you give up these directions of the śāstras, that is neither dharma nor saṁsṛti, at least in the Indian tradition, as it is directed in the Bhagavad-gītā that the four divisions of social and the four divisions of religious systems like brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsī must be adopted. Otherwise there is no tradition of bhāratīya sanskṛiti."

Prabhupāda: If you give up this varṇāśrama-dharma, then where is your bhāratīya sanskṛiti? But they are trying to give it up, abolish this. Then where is bhāratīya sanskṛiti?

Conversation with Governor -- April 20, 1975, Vrndavana:

Governor: It is an harmonious coordination.

Prabhupāda: Yes, harmonious coordination. But the śūdras were hated like anything, and they became Mohammedans. And there was no reacceptance. Formerly, from Caitanya literature we understand, that if the Musselman will take little water from the badna (?) and sprinkle like this, then you become Mohammedan. In this way all these Indians, they became Mohammedan. And the result is now the Pakistan, and you go on fighting forever. Why these innocent persons who were by sprinkling water became Mohammedan, why they do not claim? Kṛṣṇa and the śāstra, it does not say that if one has fallen, you cannot reclaim him. No, why not reclaim him? Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa... (BG 9.32). This is by birth. And of course, in our country everything was taken by birth. Now it is going on. But even by birth one is low-grade...

Governor: No, birth also was built up by a tradition. They were brought up in that atmosphere.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It doesn't matter. But if he wants to be elevated, he should be given chance. That is the verdict of all śāstras. Now we are feeling, India, this difficulty. Because they are Europeans, Americans, the so-called big societies, they are not agreeable to accept them. You see? Although śāstra does not say so. Śāstra says, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ. "If one takes shelter of Me, even he is born in pāpa-yoni"... Striyaḥ vaiśyās tathā..., te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim, "they can also be elevated to the highest exalted position." And in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is, many places it is said that a low-born person can be elevated. Caṇḍalo 'pi dvija śreṣṭho hari-bhakti-parāyaṇaḥ.

Morning Walk -- May 8, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Because they have been... The disease is very chronic. They are not opulent. That diagnosis already given. They have become poverty-stricken. So daridra-doṣa guṇa naśe. Although they are born in India, they have got many qualification, due to this poverty-stricken position, they... Their first business is how to... Because they have got family attachment, so they cannot sacrifice. They will work very, very hard. You have seen how they are going to office, how..., because they have got the responsibility of family. That is Indians another feature. They take family responsibility. In your country there is no such thing. There is no family. There is no family responsibility. In India still that old tradition is going on. Therefore they cannot sacrifice the family responsibility, although they are willing. And the whole thing is it is due to poverty-stricken position. They have got family responsibilities. They think, "If I go, then whole family will starve. How can I go?" That is the exact position. And to come to that stage, that "Let my family starve, I don't mind," that is very higher stage. That is sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), "Oh, no responsibility, simply I have got respons..." That is not ordinary stage. You cannot expect these things from ordinary man.

Morning Walk -- May 12, 1975, Perth:

Amogha: Śrīla Prabhupāda, many times when I am seeing professors or students also, they seem to think that traditional Hinduism or whatever they think it is, they say that the Māyāvādī philosophy, or monist, they think this is traditional, and..., because there's so many translations of the Bhagavad-gītā and the Upaniṣads they've read, and they're all impersonal. So I was wondering what is the best way to convince them that actually, that is not actually the original tradition of understanding?

Prabhupāda: How they are becoming foolish, that they are reading Bhagavad-gītā and they are accepting original tradition of the Māyāvāda? In the original tradition of Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, Kṛṣṇa said, ahaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān: "I said. I am person." How these rascals are accepting imperson? Why do they read Bhagavad-gītā? If they have got different theory, let them differently... They are cheating. Bhagavad-gītā is popular. Therefore they are taking advantage of Bhagavad-gītā and pushing on impersonalism. But here the tradition begins, ahaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ. Where is imperson? So if they want to be cheated willingly, who can save them? They are reading Bhagavad-gītā and devīating from the words of Bhagavad-gītā. Then what is the meaning?

Amogha: They don't know.

Garden Conversation with Professors -- June 24, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: You can... Then you know from us. We can... There is Viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma. Then Caitanya Mahāprabhu also. Nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktiḥ. Nāma... Nāma means the name and the person. There are many hundreds and thousands of names, and each name is as good as the person. Because it is absolute, there is no difference between the person and the person's name.

Dr. Judah: If God is known by many different names, though, is it not possible, then, to know God then in many different ways, in many different traditions?

Prabhupāda: No. Just like you are the same person, either as professor in the university or at home before your wife, you are the same person. Your wife may address you in a different name, and the students may address you in different name, but you are the same person.

Dr. Judah: It's true.

Prabhupāda: If the person is the same, so difference of name does not change the circumstances.

Garden Conversation with Professors -- June 24, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: (aside:) Just wait. I am coming. (break) Kṛṣṇa says that "I am present everywhere by My energy. But personally I may not be here, in here." But ultimately there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa's energy and Kṛṣṇa. Wherever there is energy... Just like electricity. Everywhere there is. If you are expert you can generate electricity from anywhere.

Dr. Pore: Is it possible to find Kṛṣṇa in the Christian tradition or in Islam?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Oh yes. Why not? Christians are seeking after God. You are going to the church. "O God." You accept God has created everything. Here also He says, "Everything is My energy." Where is the difference?

Dr. Pore: The Christians describe Kṛṣṇa in a different way. Are they making mistakes?

Prabhupāda: That is... Just like the heat, the question of energy, the heat 93,000,000's miles away from the sun, heat may be different, and in the sun-globe the heat may be different. But the heat is there; and light is there. The same thing: heat and light is the same, but the degree of presentation of heat and light may be different.

Morning Walk -- June 25, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: That is my question. (break) Just like in India, for higher technological knowledge, they come to foreign countries. So for knowledge, we can take it from anywhere. There should not be sectarianism, "Oh, why shall I take knowledge from here and there?" Wherever knowledge is available, we should take it. That is the real position of seeker of knowledge. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, nīcād apy uttamā vidyā strī-ratnaṁ duṣkulād api. He says, viṣād apy amṛtaṁ grāhyam. Viṣa, viṣa means poison. "In the pot of poison, if there is little nectar in, take it." Viṣād apy amṛtaṁ grāhyam. Poison is not to be touched, but if there is little nectar in, take it. And amedhyād api kāñcanam: "And in a filthy place there is gold. Take it." Not that gold has been polluted because it is in the filthy place. If there is gold in the filthy place, don't hesitate. Take it. And nīcād apy uttamā vidyā. Generally, people used to take education from brāhmaṇa. So Cāṇakya Paṇḍita advises that "If there is education, actual education, even he is a lower class man, śūdra or caṇḍāla, take it. Accept him as master." And nīcād apy uttamā vidyā. Nīcād apy uttamā vidyā strī-ratnaṁ duṣkulād api. And in India, according to Vedic civilization, the marriage is done after seeing the family tradition very scrutinizingly. So here it is advised that duṣkulād api, "In a abominable family, if there is nice girl, educated, beautiful, accept her. Accept her." Nīcād apy uttamā vidyā strī-ratnam. Ratnam means jewel. Wife, she is like jewel although born of a low family, accept. So anything very good, even it is available from a place which is not desirable, one should accept it. So if you are actually seeking after God, so here is God available from Vedic literature. Why don't you take it? Why you should refuse it? That is not very good sign.

Press Conference -- July 9, 1975, Chicago:

Reporter: This four-division society that you advocate is contrary to everything in American tradition. How can that be accepted in America?

Prabhupāda: That has to be trained up. Just like in your country there are medical, professional men, the engineering class of men, the lawyers class of men, similarly, you can train how to become a first-class man. The training process is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. Where is Bhagavad-gītā? Bring it. Śamo damaḥ titikṣa satyaṁ śaucam ārjavam. The... Just like you have got formula how to train medical man, how to train in the mechanical man, or different department of knowledge, similarly, you can train how to become first-class man. How to become second-class man. The direction are already there. You can take advantage of the direction and train people as first-class, second-class, third-class.

Room Conversation with writer, Sandy Nixon -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Nitai:

saṅkaro narakāyaiva
kula-ghnānāṁ kulasya ca
patanti pitaro hy eṣāṁ
lupta-piṇḍodaka-kriyāḥ
(BG 1.41)

"When there is an increase of unwanted population, a hellish situation is created both for the family and for those who destroy the family tradition. In such corrupt families, there is no offering of oblations of food and water to the ancestors."

Prabhupāda: So this instruction is strīṣu duṣṭāsu: "When women become polluted, there is unwanted population." That is coming all over the world, the hippies. Therefore the first thing is how to train up women not to become polluted. This is the way of... In the modern society they have given women freedom. That I have already explained. In the name of freedom of woman, they are being exploited. Everything is there: social, religious, political, cultural, educational. We have to accept that course. Then everything will be all right. If you don't accept, then you have to suffer problems. It is not meant for a particular class of men or particular country, it is meant for the whole human society. Therefore, this purification of the society at the present, fallen condition is very, very difficult to revive. Because people are so fallen, it is almost impossible. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended that "You all together chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and everything will be done nicely."

Conversation with Professor Hopkins -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: You can sit down.

Prof. Hopkins: In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And this I know is very important to you and to the Caitanya tradition.

Prabhupāda: You have seen all the parts published? Books and... Which Canto you have read?

Prof. Hopkins: I'm not thinking so much of the specific Cantos as the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as a whole. Is that, for you, as you see it, more important than Bhagavad-gītā?

Prabhupāda: No, Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Prof. Hopkins: So you would see the two related to each other.

Prabhupāda: Yes. If one can understand Bhagavad-gītā then he becomes a bona fide student of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Prof. Hopkins: Oh.

Prabhupāda: Because in the... You have read Bhagavad-gītā?

Prof. Hopkins: Oh yes, I have.

Conversation with Professor Hopkins -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: Implicated. Our problem is birth and death, old age and disease. (break) ...this birth, death, old age and disease. For them, liberation, the ultimate liberation is to transfer oneself to the spiritual world.

Prof. Hopkins: So you see... You see a clear difference there between those who follow the Vaiṣṇava tradition, which is less worldly, more spiritual...

Prabhupāda: That is the ultimate goal of life. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: na te viduḥ svārtha gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). People do not know what is his self-interest. The self-interest is to approach Viṣṇu.

Prof. Hopkins: What about Christian, Christian.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is Viṣṇu.

Conversation with Professor Hopkins -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: Just like there is butter in the milk but the milk is not butter. You churn it and then the butter will be there. Similarly, in every religious system... Every milk there is butter, but churning the milk and giving direct delivery of butter, that is the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā and Bhāgavata.

Prof. Hopkins: And it's more... It's more clear there, you would say, than it is in any other tradition.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Now God... Ask any religious system "What is God?" he cannot... What is God? They cannot explain. And we are saying, "Here is God, Kṛṣṇa." So which is better? If you search after gold and you do not know what is gold... Eh? And if you... If some authorized friend gives, "Here is gold. You take it." That is easier.

Prof. Hopkins: So the strength and the value is in knowing...

Prabhupāda: Oh yes.

Conversation with Professor Hopkins -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prof. Hopkins: You refer to Rāmānujācārya as an important person. Where does he... Where does he fit into your, the Caitanya tradition? He's accepted as an authority. His, the Śrī Bhāṣya is studied, accepted...

Prabhupāda: Rāmānujācārya has written comment on Bhagavad-gītā. You know that?

Prof. Hopkins: No.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Prof. Hopkins: No.

Prabhupāda: In the Bhagavad-gītā Caitanya philosophy is discussed.

Prof. Hopkins: So you would see no basic difference between Rāmānuja's position and...

Prabhupāda: They cannot be different because both of them are Vaiṣṇava. So this is the common point, that Caitanya Mahāprabhu is preaching Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Lord. Rāmānujācārya was preaching Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Lord. So where is difference?

Conversation with Professor Hopkins -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: People know it. Things equal to the same thing are equal to one another.

Prof. Hopkins: What about certain other traditions; Ishnamadeva(?), Tukārāma, some of the poet saints of Maharastra. Where...

Prabhupāda: Yes, Tukārāma accepted Viṣṇu as the Supreme. He accepted the process of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He accepted Caitanya Mahāprabhu as his guru so there is no difference between Tukārāma and Caitanya.

Prof. Hopkins: So Tukārāma, you would say, is teaching the same thing as Caitanya?

Prabhupāda: Yes, saṅkīrtana. And Kṛṣṇa is teaching the same thing. Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14).

Conversation with Professor Hopkins -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: No.

Prof. Hopkins: You are not excluding the Pandarpur tradition of Tukārāma, Rāmanitoba, (indistinct), you are not excluding the Alavars and Rāmancha, but you are saying all of these groups, all of these teachers.

Prabhupāda: Tukārāma accepts Caitanya Mahaprabhu as his guru. Then where is the difference?

Prof. Hopkins: So that Lord Vitoba and Kṛṣṇa...

Prabhupāda: Is the same.

Prof. Hopkins: You see as the same.

Prabhupāda: Vitoba means Viṣṇu. They call Vitoba.

Prof. Hopkins: And the Alavars, the Alavars of Tamil Nadu.

Prabhupāda: Alavar.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 13, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: "Artistry. But the poem is a symphony in which God is seen in all things. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda is, of course, profoundly sympathetic to the theme. He brings to it a special interpretative insight. Here we have a powerful and persuasive presentation in the bhakti tradition of this dearly beloved poem. The Swami's introduction makes clear at once where he stands as a leading exponent of Kṛṣṇa consciousness." That is my actual...

Devotee (1): (break) ...not only have your books there in the New York Public Library, but the head librarian of that Oriental division did the review also.

Prabhupāda: "...government(?) of postgraduate college..." Oh, O.B.L. Kapoor. (break) "It is an exhaustive plan of original Sanskrit text in Devanāgarī, then a translation, English synonym... What practitioner of philosophy cannot but be attracted to this serious student and scholar of Sanskrit language and Hindu religion and philosophy? The viewpoint of a devotee cum scholar has the advantage of making the philosophy meaningful to any practical-minded person."

Morning Walk -- May 28, 1976, Honolulu:

Hari-śauri: And it's there even if you don't feel the necessity.

Prabhupāda: Ha?

Hari-śauri: It's there even if you don't feel the necessity.

Prabhupāda: That is another tradition. First of all, as soon as you feel necessity, the object is there.

Devotee (4): They say that necessity should not be God, but that it should be transferred to man.

Prabhupāda: I am not talking of God. I say as soon as you feel necessity, the object is there.

Devotee (5): That necessity is our mistake. That is our insecurity.

Prabhupāda: So.... (break) ...that is mistake, then you are rascal, that's all. Mistake is committed by rascal. So you are rascal. If you commit mistake then you are rascal. Then don't talk, stop talking. (everyone laughs) Who is going to hear a rascal? (indistinct) (break) ...he is hungry, there is no necessity of food? Who's that rascal that says "No, there is no necessity of food"? He's feeling hungry, he wants to eat something, and if he says "No, there is no necessity of food," then is he not rascal? And if you say "Now we are feeling the necessity of food, but that is my mistake," is that answer?

Conversation with Clergymen -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: I am the founder, I am the founder.

Kern: You founded it.

Prabhupāda: In 1966.

Scheverman: 1966. And you utilized the traditions of oriental, especially Indian origin.

Prabhupāda: This book, this book. We are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is.

Scheverman: So this is a collection of the ancient writings as well as modern writings that reflect the way of life.

Prabhupāda: This is the summary of all Vedic literature.

Kern: Of what kind of literature?

Prabhupāda: Vedic.

Conversation with Clergymen -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: It is not Eastern, Western. It is the life. Just like to become peaceful, is it Eastern or Western? Peaceful is peaceful. Why do you bring Eastern?

Scheverman: No, but the way in which, the method in which..., is it Eastern? This is not to say it is bad; it is good too. There are many traditions....

Prabhupāda: No, I mean to say, it we look for Eastern, Western, then it become sectarian. But it is for all. If you teach a person to become peaceful, it is not the question of Eastern and Western. It is meant for everyone.

Scheverman: Jesus said "Blessed are the peacemakers; they shall see God." Yes.

Prabhupāda: That's right. That's right. So why should you say that it is Eastern or Western?

Scheverman: Well your methodology, much of your personal vocabulary, your garb, is from the East.

Prabhupāda: It is not personal. It may be said that in Eastern countries or in India, these things are very much appreciated and developed. That is another thing. But the thing as it is, it is neither Eastern or Western.

Morning Walk -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ (SB 3.25.25). Therefore sādhu-saṅga wanted. Association of devotees. That is wanted. Then our life will be successful. Not mysticism.

Satsvarūpa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, I think Bhakta Gene wants to know if you recognize that there are any great devotees in that Christian tradition. Do we recognize that any of those Christian saints were great devotees? Did they develop love of God? Or what's the comparison?

Prabhupāda: I do not know, I have not studied Christianity. But if anyone has developed love, that is perfection. So there is not question of my knowing or not knowing. If actually one has developed love for God, he's perfect. That's all.

Morning Walk -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: What do you mean by traditionalist?

Bhakta Gene: The traditionalists are strictly the old Roman Catholic traditionalists.

Prabhupāda: No, apart from Roman or, what do you mean by traditionalist?

Bhakta Gene: Those who abided by tradition rather than the scriptures.

Prabhupāda: Oh, scripture, they have no respect for scripture?

Bhakta Gene: Well, they had respect for scriptures, but they had more respect for tradition. Ritualistic laws.

Prabhupāda: What is the tradition?

Satsvarūpa: The way the church would apply the ritual rather than actually trying to...

Prabhupāda: But that is required. That is required. Just like we are worshiping the Deity. This is traditional. From time immemorial. So how you can reject? This is the way. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam (SB 7.5.23). That is bhakti way.

Bhakta Gene: But so much of the tradition within the Roman Church has no reference to any scripture.

Prabhupāda: No, no, that has not been properly done. Otherwise, just like here, we have got temple, regulative principle. If it is done properly, the result will be there. If it is improperly done, then there is no result. How these boys, European, American, they never knew what is Kṛṣṇa. But on account of this following the traditionalism, they are becoming devotees. It is practical, you can see. Simply theoretical knowledge will not do. Must be practical. That is traditionalism.

Morning Walk -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Satsvarūpa: Some of these Christian mystics would say it's more important to directly contact God within your own heart. These traditions are not as important.

Prabhupāda: God is there already. Where is the contact? God is there already. It is no question of contacting. He is already, but you are blind, you cannot see. Therefore if you follow the rules and regulations, then you'll see. You'll see. Otherwise we'll not see. God is there. God is everywhere. God is here. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). You have no eyes to see.

Bhakta Gene: These are almost the very words that Francis of Assisi stated.

Prabhupāda: Yes. This question was raised in Melbourne. And that is perfectional. He was embracing tree. So I told, "This is perfection." Perfection means he'll see everywhere God and everything in God. That is perfection.

Morning Walk Conversation -- June 20, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) This modern civilization. (Hindi) nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛ-loke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). Don't be hogs. Be human being. This is hog civilization. (Hindi) Sex. Don't care whether he's mother, sister or brother. No, no. This is going on. (long conversation in Hindi with Indians) (new sequence in car)

Satsvarūpa: (break) ...that we have to stick to the tradition. Tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt. Then.... Not just by mystical devotion.

Prabhupāda: There is no proper guide. They manufacture ideas, that's all. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2), that path is not there. (break) ...name? I forgot

Satsvarūpa: Gene.

Prabhupāda: Gene.

Satsvarūpa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: (break) ...building or something...

Viśvakarmā: Yes, it's a very big exhibit, scientific achievements. (break) ...come and see it.

Prabhupāda: (break) ...their achievement, no more death? As soon as you ask this question, matte kara heṭ. Baḍo baḍo baḍo badora(?) baro baro pet laṅkā diṅgaya matte karo heṭ. "Big, big monkey, big, big, belly, Ceylon jumping, melancholy." What scientific advancement? Do you think there will be no more death? Matte kore heṭ: (?)"Yes, we are trying." Answer them, "What is your achievement?" All achievement will be, remain in your back and you'll have to die. So what you have done, insurance, that you'll enjoy this? You'll be kicked out of the scene at any moment.

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

Prabhupāda: Nothing. Simply he has taught the sannyāsīs to eat meat. That is his contribution. He says there is no harm eating meat. This is going on. Nārāyaṇa has become daridra. Daridra-nārāyaṇa, these are Vivekananda's contribution. And spoiled India's spiritual tradition. He has created one illiterate priest as God. That is his contribution, if we become honest to understand. So it will take some time to counteract all these mischievous activity. Simply mischievous.

Devotee (1): How is it that these men are so attractive to the Indian people?

Prabhupāda: They have become fools. Fool's paradise, they have been made.

Dr. Sukla: Because Vivekananda became very popular in America, and...

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Who became popular in America?

Interview with Religious Editor Of the Associated Press -- July 16, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: No, no, it is ignorance. Why do you say...?

Interviewer: The Jewish, Biblical Christian tradition is traditional in the West, the Hindu tradition...

Prabhupāda: I never said that Jewish or Christian or Hindu or Muslim.

Bali-mardana: We aren't Hindus.

Prabhupāda: We do not belong either to the Hindus or Christian or Jewish. We belong to Kṛṣṇa or God. Kṛṣṇa means God.

Interviewer: Yeah, but you use the Hindu scriptures.

Prabhupāda: That is another thing. Just like we say the sun, sūrya and you say the sun, the "sun." But the subject matter is the same. You say the sun in the sky as s-u-n, "sun." And we say in India sūrya. S-ū-r-y-a. So the name may be different but the object is the same.

Interviewer: In other words, do you think the India-originated religion is, serves its particular purpose in the Western society? I mean, does, is it of particular value in a rather technological society, the Hindu tradition?

Prabhupāda: Generally speaking, everywhere, everyone everywhere is identifying his body as the self. It does not mean East or West. This is ignorance. Wherever there is ignorance one identifies himself with the body. This is ignorance. It may be in the East or in the West. It doesn't matter.

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

Gurudāsa: That's good. It means that we're not a light cult. It means we have a great tradition.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, it's actually good.

Gurudāsa: They're recognizing that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: " 'It's surprising that you find this right in New York City. It's our way of life,' said Nagan Patel, a civil engineer from Jersey City, who immigrated from Bombay. 'We love New York City and America. It's the most beautiful place in the world. No other country will give such freedom for our own ceremony.' "

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

Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:

Pṛthu-putra: "And there is also an index and some notes which are giving the work much more easy for the reader, even the profound. This teaching took its root in the teaching of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, that prophet of Kṛṣṇa's. His preaching in Bengal in Orissa in sixteenth century is again appear deeper for the devotion to Bhagavān. Srila Prabhupāda is descending in the disciplic succession, direct vamsa, from Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His first disciples, the famous Gosvāmīs. It is a considerable advantage for the French public to have these volumes where there is a vitality manifested from one of these past pantha, which are the most followed by the followers of the Hinduism. We hope that there is a large distribution of this tradition and commentary of the Bhāgavata-Purāṇa. Anyone who is interested in the life of India can find the authentic teaching, spiritual teaching authorized, and can also have access to one of the most beautiful religious poem from the Hindu tradition." This is the.... It's wonderful.

Prabhupāda: Yes, very good.

Room Conversation -- July 31, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Bhūgarbha: Many scholars are appreciating more and more. And on the University of Edmonton, in Alberta, Canada, Dr. Radhakrishna, he was a linguist, professor of linguistics, he's a very pious man, and he is writing a book with some other professor in the Religion department on the comparative study of bhakti in the Indian tradition and the Hebrew tradition. And he's using your books as his only source for the Indian tradition. So he ordered not only one set of all the books, but two sets of all your books. Three sets actually. He ordered one set of Bhāgavatams for his own personal library, then he ordered two sets for the University library, one for the reference section and one for the general section. So he ordered three sets. And when his book comes out, in the back they have a bibliography section, references, he will give reference to all your books. He's writing..., he was writing this book about bhakti, and he said "What is a good definition of bhakti for the Indian tradition?" So I showed him Nectar of Devotion, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). He said that is very good, and he wrote it down and put it in his book.

Prabhupāda: Till now, they took bhakti as a matter of sentiment. Religious science they did not know, all over the world.

Room Conversation -- July 31, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Bhūgarbha: He said he's trying to show that by studying bhakti in Indian tradition and also in Hebrew tradition, he's...

Prabhupāda: Bhakti is not achieved by studying. Bhakti stage is achieved by practice. That is the special significance of our institution, that we are engaging our men in practicing. Therefore they are getting knowledge—not by reading.

Bhūgarbha: He was saying there are certain social and economic conditions that need to be present before bhakti can come about.

Prabhupāda: Bhakti can solve everything, social, economical, cultural, religious, everything. So Dr. Joseph saw all my books?

Bhūgarbha: Every one he saw. We showed him some... He was very happy to see the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

Prabhupāda: Yes, I offered him the post of editing.

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

Prabhupāda: Thank you very much. You can come forward. I have read your review of our book. It is very nice. (translation is given) Very nice. Your study about this tradition, Indian tradition, I think he has mentioned. Indian tradition, the whole Vedic literature... He understands English?

Yogeśvara: Yes, but I should translate, he's asked me to translate.

Prabhupāda: ...is to approach God. This is the Indian tradition. But, as you have mentioned Aurobindo's name, Aurobindo's idea was to make a better situation of this world. He wanted by yoga practice, a better situation of the world. But our tradition says that is not possible.

Bhūgarbha: He asks what is meant by the situation in this world.

Prabhupāda: The situation is you have to suffer. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This is a place for suffering, and that also you cannot stay here. Even if you make compromise, "All right, I shall suffer and stay," Kṛṣṇa says no. You suffer, and after you make adjustment, you will be kicked out.

Room Conversation About Mayapura Construction -- August 19, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayapatākā: Gigantic. He has given that to the university. Then we did a kīrtana at his... He has one temple of Rādhā-kānta. That's present ācārya is about a twenty-two-year old boy. He's in the sampradāya of Nimbārka Svāmī. So he doesn't know anything about, very much about spiritual life, although he is following the tradition. That's such a vast... That building is vast. I can't explain to you how big that is. It's at least five times bigger than our building in all ways, and... It is a huge compound. He has got much land in the name of the Deity. So he's becoming a member because he wants to read your books to understand about Lord Caitanya and spiritual...

Prabhupāda: Now for making member you should be very clear so that no misunderstanding takes place. Books, we shall give five books.

Gargamuni: Yes, that...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gargamuni: On my form I have already printed we give five books.

Prabhupāda: "When you finish, you return this; you take another. When you finish that..." In this way.

Room Conversation About Blitz News Clipping -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Because he was very lenient. So mother had to be little strict for my education. So prepare a case for these rascals. We have got strong case. And charge, "Why you have made 'ungodly'? Prove it. What do you know about godly?" Charge them. So there will be discussion, long discussion, what is godly and what is not godly. Put them in the corner. "What do you know, rascal, about godly tradition? You have charged us, 'ungodly.' "

Gargamuni: He's a drunkard, that man. That editor, he drinks.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: He's a Parsee.

Prabhupāda: Charge in the court, "What do you know about godly that you have charge us ungodly." Then it will be exposed. Do, immediately do. Immediately plan to bring in the court.

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

Mr. Malhotra: Father begets father but he feels that he may, will progress...

Prabhupāda: No, no. Father may want to see that the son is equally qualified, but still the father is father, and child is child. That is perpetual. Similarly, a part and parcel of God may be very powerful, but that does not mean that he has become God.

Mr. Malhotra: Other traditions, guru disciple, then the disciple becomes guru, then disciple. The gurus may change.

Prabhupāda: They cannot change. If there are change of guru, the disciple acts, but does not, he'll never say that I have become equal or one with guru. That is not so.

Mr. Malhotra: I am thinking about this, Swamiji, that your Guru Mahārāja is preaching through you, and you are preaching through them.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

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

Mr. Malhotra: Ācchā, you came back via Rawalpindi. (break) You have I mean thought of spiritual bending, or spiritual...

Prabhupāda: No, we are trained up, because we belong to Kṛṣṇa family. So this Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa worship is our family tradition. Our forefathers, my father, my maternal uncles, we are Vaiṣṇava family. Belonging to the Caitanya-sampradāya.

Mr. Malhotra: But how you entered in business, I mean.

Prabhupāda: Because we were trained up from the very beginning of our life by our father, mother.

Mr. Malhotra: Grandfather also?

Prabhupāda: Yes, our whole family. We have our family Deity, Dāmodara. In my childhood I was worshiping Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deities. And then, fortunately, I got my Guru Mahārāja, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. So this was a good fortune, from the very beginning we were trained up. So in the beginning of our life, I was worshiping Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and playing with (indistinct). The same thing is being done now. In a larger scale. (laughter) Nitya yukta upāsate. There is no change.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Sannyasis -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Satsvarūpa: And after describing the whole tradition, he said that the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is the Western branch. So that's a good testimony for our movement, not just the...

Hari-śauri: Not something concocted.

Rāmeśvara: Yes. That's very good.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Rāmeśvara: That's very important. He has given us historical...

Prabhupāda: Place.

Rāmeśvara: ...perspective.

Prabhupāda: That is wanted.

Room Conversation with Film Producer about Krsna Lila -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Guest (2): We started for keeping the traditions of the songs of the Vaiṣṇavas.

Guest (1): All traditions of Śrī Kṛṣṇa līlā, all Vaiṣṇava, everything.

Guest (2): One aspect. One aspect we have taken, that supreme, the message, essence...

Prabhupāda: No, no... It is... Kṛṣṇa-līlā is in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, why don't you begin from the first chapter of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam? Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Just show how Kṛṣṇa is supreme, how everything is coming, coming from Him. Janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāt (SB 1.1.1). These things explain by picture. That will be real education. Why you jump over on the Tenth Canto immediately? That is my point.

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: "...Aurobindo and Dr. Radhakrishnan, they have compromised with the Western idea, but here is the real tradition of India." Actually that's a fact. All of them, they have tried to make a hodgepodge. And from the beginning my idea was I shall present as it is. That's all. Therefore I gave this name, "As It Is." Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Why shall I manufacture idea? Present this as it is. All right. Let us do our duty. (devotees offer obeisances) (break) So at any cost, I am still dictating. I'll go on dictating so long I live. That's all. But this is very nice program, our farm program. practical. So if possible, Paramānanda may come and teach them.

Room Conversation with Scientists, Svarupa Damodara, and Dr. Sharma -- March 31, 1977, Bombay:

Dr. Sharma: (replying to Svarūpa Dāmodara) ...to some of the basic scientists. Some of them have a spiritual background, you know. Just they probably are waiting to meet a person like your background or Mādhava's background. Normally it has come out like this. People talk half-heartedly here, and they don't pursue it, they don't have the conviction to pursue it in this country. Very quickly give up. If I get this idea, then next morning I forget about it, and then whatever... I don't even, you know, I am afraid to talk about it. So you have very boldly come out with this, and so many centuries of tradition is there to back you up. So I think you should pursue it with all your enthusiasm, and with Prabhupāda's blessing you will really go a long way, as I say about it.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Only by Prabhupāda's blessings.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So you can... Śrīla Prabhupāda, you wanted to ask Dr. Sharma about altitude?

Prabhupāda: Seven thousand feet high altitude, it is good for a person to go there?

Dr. Sharma: I think it will be better if you go with an oxygen cylinder and by helicopter, not by the routine journey. Not by, you know..., gradual. Because suddenly you can get air hunger, you know, when you...

Prabhupāda: It is risky.

Conversation with Vedic Astronomer -- April 30, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Indian Astronomer: Because we must place our Vedas before the people on the way of science without sacrificing tradition. It is also applicable to our minds. So all things are accumulated in Your Holiness, thoughts and...

Prabhupāda: You have seen our books?

Indian Astronomer: Yes, yes. Oh, yes, yes, thoroughly.

Prabhupāda: So...

Indian Astronomer: Great estimation, all your books. Even Christ is not able to do some things. But all our ācāryas incarnated in your body and your thinking. I know guru-ācārya... I made a contact with your ācārya of Gauḍīya Maṭha. I have made contact with him in Madras. Twice I met him.

Prabhupāda: He is now dead.

Indian Astronomer: No, that I know. I know.

Prabhupāda: He is my Godbrother.

Conversation with Vedic Astronomer -- April 30, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So you live in Madras?

Indian Astronomer: No, not in Madras. Mogun. Near the Madras also, by one of the yajñas there. But my agni-hotra place is at Kumbha-grama(?). We are following agni-hotra tradition for more than ten generations. I myself performed so many yajñas. And now I am performing yajñas also, day and night or morning and evening.

Prabhupāda: So...

Indian Astronomer: I am also a great lover of Bhāgavata. That is my life.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Indian Astronomer: Bhāgavata is my solace of my life.

Prabhupāda: So we are presenting this planetarium...

Indian Astronomer: Bhāgavata, yes?

Prabhupāda: From Bhāgavatam.

Conversation Pieces -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: The Deity worship and Indian real culture you develop. That is our contribution. Nobody could do before me, in the Western countries, introduction of this Deity worship, śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā **, and large-scale distribution of Indian cultural traditions. This is a new contribution. Not bug-bhak(?). The Indians are realizing. All these rascal swamis, "bug-bhak,"(?) professional... Here there is Śyāmabhāi?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Here there is...?

Prabhupāda: Śyāmabhāi.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śyāmabhāi, yes, Surao Sharma(?).

Prabhupāda: She is always in London, constantly.

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

Prabhupāda: (laughs) That is sufficient.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So this is a review. "From Books West: A magazine of the book trade, from June 1977." It says, "Readings in Vedic Literature: the Tradition Speaks for Itself, by Satsvarūpa dāsa Goswami..."

Prabhupāda: So this kind of, that "I do not know who is Vivekananda." "Oh! You do not know?" Then you can know what he is. Then he can say, "This is his philosophy." Then you criticize, "This is nonsense!" Let him present Vivekananda's philosophy and smash it. Let the other party present Gandhi's philosophy and you crush it by kicking. That is the opportunity. Otherwise it will be the same philosophy, to kill that... What is that animal?

Devotees: Skunk.

Room Conversation -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

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

Prabhupāda: English.

Page Title:Tradition (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Mayapur
Created:25 of Jun, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=91, Let=0
No. of Quotes:91