Translating my books (Conversations, 1974 - 1975)

Expressions researched:
"translatable" |"translate" |"translate" |"translated" |"translates" |"translating" |"translation" |"translational" |"translations" |"translator" |"translators"

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 9, 1974, Mayapura:

Guest (4): ...for the last three or four days, many people, specially young men, were asking for different sort of informatory books or leaflets in their own language. And also asking for how they can became members or more closely associated.

Prabhupāda: This is very important.

Guest (4): With more translational or a type of...

Prabhupāda: So unfortunately, we haven't got any expert Bengali to do these things.

Guest (4): In my own way, I am ready to prepare a sample of the English translation of the books.

Prabhupāda: Welcome. It is a great service.

Guest (4): But that must be very cheap.

Prabhupāda: Oh, cheap. We can distribute without price. That is not the question.

Morning Walk 'Varnasrama College' -- March 14, 1974, Vrndavana:

Hṛdayānanda: Would the brāhmaṇas learn Sanskrit?

Prabhupāda: Eh? Not necessarily.

Hṛdayānanda: Not necessarily. Just more philosophy.

Prabhupāda: Just like I am translating all the books, similarly, any book of knowledge can be translated into different languages. Not that one has to learn Sanskrit. Why?

Morning Walk -- March 27, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: ...I was on the airport, they called police because they got, they saw one Bhagavad-gītā in my bags. You see. This is the position.

Dr. Patel: They are, they are translating Bhagavad-gītā in their own universities now. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...may be because it was Bhagavad-gītā, they stopped me.

Morning Walk -- March 31, 1974, Bombay:

(break)

Prabhupāda: ...eighth time. No? Thirteenth time?

Dr. Patel: Thirteenth time. Now you must time, describe the fourteenth time because thirteen is a bad number. (Prabhupāda chuckles)

Prabhupāda: Yes, I have got the translation. All my secretaries, they have got. (break)

Morning Walk -- April 4, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Ah. So let us begin from the Eleventh so that word meaning they may understand.

Dr. Patel:

mad anugrahāya paramaṁ

guhyam adhyātma-samjñitam

yat tvayoktaṁ vacas tena

moho 'yaṁ vigato mama

(BG 11.1)

Prabhupāda: Now try to understand the word meaning.

Girirāja: (reads synonyms)

Dr. Patel: It is in relation to the previous, this thing, that Tenth that He showed you all the vibhūtis in various conditions of the creation, and by understanding the various vibhūtis, Arjuna said that "I have practically got disillusioned by this explanation." That is what he said. Is it all right?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Now it is clear. Any question on this?

Dr. Patel: All right. Shall I go on?

Prabhupāda: No. So what is the translation?

Girirāja: "Arjuna said: I have heard Your instruction on confidential spiritual matters, which You have so kindly delivered unto me."

Dr. Patel: There you see here the last, last... (break)

Morning Walk -- April 22, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: The question is the Old Testament, you say that there was the word "murder." Why you have changed? You accept Old Testament or reject?

Satsvarūpa: Accept the statement should be "murder."

Prabhupāda: But why it is "kill"?

Pañcadraviḍa: Wrong translation.

Prabhupāda: Wrong translation.

Pañcadraviḍa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: :They are fools, all set of fools. Useless. See one thing and write one thing. Then you are not perfect. Bhrama pramāda. You commit mistake. Therefore your instruction is useless, useless.

Morning Walk -- April 29, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: (break) Bon Mahārāja has written part of Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. And he published it before my coming to foreign countries.

Gargamuni: Yes. He has not sold any.

Prabhupāda: No, he has sold some, but still lying in the store. He published only one thousand copies. Our Nectar of Devotion, the translation of the same book, is selling like hotcakes. Yes. In the university, Temple University, they have made a textbook. And everywhere they like it, Nectar of Devotion. I think... What is our edition at the present moment? Fourth or Fifth edition. And we don't publish less than ten thousand copies. So we have to depend on Kṛṣṇa sincerely. Serve Him, everything, what is required, that will come, some way or other. That is miracle. Why should we try to cheat others, that "I can manufacture gold"? This rascal, if he can manufacture gold, then why he is doing himself business? That is simply jugglery. Even the magicians, they can do. They create so much money. But he is a poor man. Why he remains poor? And everyone thinks of us, that we have got unlimited wealth.

Room Conversation with Irish Poet, Desmond O'Grady -- May 23, 1974, Rome:

Bob Jackson(?): Some fantastic work. When you came to the house...

O'Grady: The text is in...

Bhagavān: There's original text in Bengali. This book is in Bengali.

O'Grady: And Sanskrit.

Bhagavān: Sanskrit, which Prabhupāda translates himself and gives the explanation and purport. Every night Śrīla Prabhupāda dictates into a dictaphone, and his secretaries type and edit. And then we have a press in New York which composes and prints.

O'Grady: It's a very nice edition, that Macmillan edition. Very nicely done.

Prabhupāda: Yes, they have fifth edition within two years. Five editions.

O'Grady: Five editions in two years.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And each time they print fifty thousand books.

O'Grady: This new printing.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. In London about few months ago we got report they sold thirty thousand copies in two months.

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

Bhagavān: There are many copies of Bhagavad-gītā, but the unusual happening with this version is until this was presented, there was no devotee...

Prabhupāda: Professor Dimock has said very nicely.

Monsignor Verrozano: Yes, we have also many translations. Yes.

Prabhupāda: You have not brought by the fruit?

Nitāi: Yes, Satsvarūpa Mahārāja did.

Monsignor Verrozano: We have here one translation of the commentary of Professor Zehner(?) from Oxford.

Prabhupāda: Here is my foreword by Professor Dimock.

Yogeśvara: This is a professor from Chicago University who wrote the foreword to this edition. He makes an interesting comment.

Prabhupāda: You read, read it.

Dhanañjaya: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Professor Dimock's.

Cardinal Pignedoli: It's very strange and famous. That's the gospel.

Prabhupāda: Read it.

Dhanañjaya: (reading) "Swami Bhaktivedanta comments upon the Gita from this point of view. And that is legitimate."

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is legitimate.

Dhanañjaya: "More than that, in this translation the Western reader has the unique opportunity of seeing how a Kṛṣṇa devotee interprets his own texts. It is a Vedic..."

Cardinal Pignedoli: Yes.

Prabhupāda: A Kṛṣṇa devotee interpreting on Kṛṣṇa, and a nondevotee interpreting on Kṛṣṇa. There is far difference.

Cardinal Pignedoli: Oh, yes, oh, yes.

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

Cardinal Pignedoli: Oh, yes, oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: So mostly the editors are by nondevotee. So they cannot interpret.

Monsignor Verrozano: Oh, yes. The same problem we have with our scriptures, because when the scriptures are interpreted by devotees, by believers, they are very faithful translated.

Prabhupāda: That is because it is legitimate.

Monsignor Verrozano: Yes, it's very important.

Prabhupāda: Read it again.

Cardinal Pignedoli: You are the best interpreter, yes, qualified interpreter.

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.

Room Conversation with Monsieur Roost, Hatha-yogi -- May 31, 1974, Geneva:

Guru-gaurāṅga: Science and knowledge for man, and it is a manual. And he has an āśrama here. And this is our spiritual master, His Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Swami. Monsieur Roost does not speak English, so...

M. Roost: I understand a little, but I cannot speak easily.

Prabhupāda: That doesn't matter.

M. Roost: But I want to know from...

Prabhupāda: It is a little technical subject, so translation. We... Our Bhagavad-gītā, there is yoga practice also. So we approve this yoga practice. There is no doubt. And in the Vedic literature it is said, dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). The yogis, they also sees the Absolute Truth by meditation within the mind.

Room Conversation with Monsieur Roost, Hatha-yogi -- May 31, 1974, Geneva:

Nitāi: Here it says 10.14.3, the third paragraph.

jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva

jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām

sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir

ye prāyaśo 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyām

Prabhupāda: Jito 'pi. Jito py asi tais tri-lokyām. Where we have explained in English. What is the...? Madhya-līlā?

Nitāi: This is Madhya-līlā, Eighth Chapter.

Prabhupāda: You have got?

Nitāi: Not here. It's in Bombay.

Prabhupāda: No, Eighth Chapter we have translated?

Nitāi: Yes. Manuscript is there in Bombay.

Prabhupāda: No, no. We have published this book up to Eleventh Chapter.

Nitāi: Not published yet, no.

Prabhupāda: What is this book, this Caitanya-caritāmṛta?

Nitāi: That is Ādi-līlā, not Madhya-līlā.

Prabhupāda: Oh, not Madhya-līlā.

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

Robert Gouiran: I have the impression that this translation is not very good because when you define the four states of life and you translate the two last ones by..., mainly the last one, by devotion for sannyāsin. Sannyāsin is not devotion. Sannyāsin is...

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: I'll read that again. "then again there are four orders of life, namely the student life..."

Robert Gouiran: Yes.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: "...the householder's life, the retired and the devotional life."

Robert Gouiran: Oh, yes. Another way of the fourth translation, the fourth one.

Yogeśvara: He says that the word sannyāsin should be translated as renunciation instead of devotion. The stage of renunciation, instead of...

Prabhupāda: What is the meaning of renunciation?

Robert Gouiran: Well, normal meaning.

Prabhupāda: No meaning?

Guru-gaurāṅga: The normal meaning.

Robert Gouiran: Normal meaning of the word...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Robert Gouiran: Usual meaning of the word.

Prabhupāda: Yes, What is the usual meaning of the word? First of all you say that...

Robert Gouiran: Renunciation is to get freedom.

Prabhupāda: Renounce means, renounce means, renounce means to give up. This is the ordinary meaning.

Robert Gouiran: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Is it not?

Robert Gouiran: In order to get freedom.

Prabhupāda: So...

Robert Gouiran: Absolute, absolute freedom.

Prabhupāda: So by renouncing you get freedom?

Robert Gouiran: Absolute freedom.

Prabhupāda: No, no. Absolute freedom, that's all right. Take your meaning. But do you think by renouncing... Suppose you are sitting here. You renounce this place. You get freedom?

Robert Gouiran: Uh...

Prabhupāda: Does it mean that you get freedom?

Robert Gouiran: No.

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

Pradyumna:

paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma

pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān

puruṣaṁ śāśvataṁ divyam

ādi-devam ajaṁ vibhum

(BG 10.12)

Prabhupāda: What is that translation?

Pradyumna: "Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are unborn and the all-pervading beauty. All the great sages such as Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me."

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

Bhagavān: Have you seen our Bhagavad-gītā?

Prabhupāda: He saw our all books. He is a scholar.

Devotee: This is a translation of Bhāgavata Purāṇa.

Prabhupāda: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Devotee: In sixty volumes we will translate this.

Bhagavān: We have Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

Prabhupāda: Here it is.

Devotee: And the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, all volumes.

Bhagavān: Would you like to see some of the pictures?

Priest: Yes, yes.

Bhagavān: These have been painted by our devotees. The meeting of Lord Caitanya and Sanātana Gosvāmī.

Prabhupāda: The American devotees, they have painted. We have got a very big painting department. All these pictures, they are painted by our devotees.

Bhagavān: This is one of our other specialties.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Prasāde sarva-duḥkhānāṁ hānir asya upajāyate.

Devotee: This is also a translation of the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It's a description of the activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa. That's in two volumes.

Priest: It's a tremendous work.

Prabhupāda: Our books are selling very nice. Last year we have sold four million copies throughout the whole world.

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

Priest: Have you got any French literature of conception (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.

Bhagavān: French literature. He's asking for French literature.

Jyotirmayī: He translated the Tukārāma in French.

Prabhupāda: Tukārāma. Tukārāma is great Vaiṣṇava devotee of Maharastra. His movement was saṅkīrtana movement.

Devotee: He was the one who was initiated by Lord Caitanya?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bhagavān: This was southern India?

Priest: Maharastra.

Prabhupāda: Maharastra, yes. Southwest.

Room Conversation with Monsieur Mesman, Chief of Law House of Paris -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Pṛthu-putra: He asks what language we use when we read Bhagavad-gītā and...

Prabhupāda: No. This is in Sanskrit language, but we translate into different languages.

M. Mesman: English?

Prabhupāda: English, French, German, Spanish, and other languages. (French)

Pṛthu-putra: He asks if we have to be disciple, do we have to know Sanskrit or to learn Sanskrit.

Prabhupāda: Not necessarily. Because it is published in other languages. (French)

Room Conversation with Monsieur Mesman, Chief of Law House of Paris -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Yogeśvara: Did you write all these books?

Prabhupāda: That you can say. What can I...?

Yogeśvara: Yes, our spiritual master has translated these books. (French) He asks, "These are the ancient Sanskrit books then?"

Bhagavān: Prabhupāda has not just translated. He's given commentary, purport.

Prabhupāda: Yes, you can show the nature, translation, word-meaning. (French) Then I combine with reference to the modern society, how they can be applicable to the modern life. (French)

Room Conversation with M. Lallier, noted French Poet -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Yogeśvara: You tell Prabhupāda how he's (M. Lallier) helping with the translation work.

Pṛthu Putra: After we translate your books in French, he reads the copies over, and he arranges the style to make it flow and he corrects the errors, grammatical errors.

Prabhupāda: Hm. Grammatical errors is different, but philosophical...

Bhagavān: No, not philosophy.

Pṛthu Putra: Not philosophy. (pause) He's reading your books.

Prabhupāda: So you're understanding.

M. Lallier: Not always, and I simply... It's difficult to understand.

Room Conversation with Roger Maria leading writer of communist literature -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Jyotirmayī: He says again that in India, now also there's a big struggle because they are trying to solve the immediate problems of hunger, you know, all these problems, now, and, of course, there is a religious people on the side of those who are struggling, but there's also religious people on the other side, of those who want to keep the situation as it is now... And then he said that...

Prabhupāda: Religious people wants to keep the situation? Starving? Starving situation? (French for some time)

Bhagavān: You don't understand what he's saying now? Because he has a different translation.

Pṛthu Putra: Because what he says, he says on the both parts, they are based on a passage of Bhagavad-gītā. The imperialist people and the other side, they do both, sometimes on the base of Bhagavad-gītā.

Prabhupāda: Who?

Pṛthu Putra: The communists and the imperialists. And he sees some names, Rajagopalacharya.

Room Conversation with Roger Maria leading writer of communist literature -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Yogeśvara: He likes to see people engaged in work that is humanitarian, that will resolve the problems of the world.

Prabhupāda: That everyone says. All rascals says like that. Humanitarian. He does not know what is humanitarian. And then killing one capitalist or communist and this and that. Sophistry. Fascist and communist. This is their humanitarian work.

Devotee: He's like one of these rascals who translates the Bhagavad-gītā in a certain way like saying the five Pāṇḍavas are the five senses, and the battlefield is the body?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee: And here we're having a fight with the body, but he doesn't accept that Kṛṣṇa is...

Prabhupāda: Their only business is to escape Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: They're trying to interpret that Kṛṣṇa is just our own intelligence or...

Bhagavān: The point is even when they see the practical proof, they don't accept it. They're so stubborn.

Prabhupāda: You be strong. Don't be... They cannot conquer us. But you be more strong. (end)

Room Conversation with Mr. Deshimaru -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Yogeśvara: So he's asking: therefore, what is the conclusion? If the soul is a person, how does that help us to solve the problem of the man's suffering?

Prabhupāda: That is another thing, why man is suffering. First of all... Just like we have to find out the disease, why he is suffering, and if the disease is cured, the suffering is cured. (French) (aside:) Why the others, they do not come? Why is that? What kind of GBC?

Yogeśvara: Because there's an old Buddhist saying that no matter what kind of body you have, whether it be made of feathers or flesh or whatever kind of body you have, the problem is how to get out of it.

Pṛthu Putra: (correcting Yogeśvara's translation) No, it's not question of body. If you receive an arrows. You have to translate clearly. If you receive an arrows, it doesn't matter if the arrow is made with wood, with iron, with anything. But just to take out the arrows of your body because that's the cause of suffering.

Prabhupāda: Why the GBC men are not interested in these talks?

Satsvarūpa: I'm interested, I was just doing secretary work.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. How you will do secretary work if you do not hear? These are the important philosophy is going on. Where is the other man Bhagavān dāsa? These important talks going on and you do not..., you think that you have learned everything. What is this?

Room Conversation with Mr. Deshimaru -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Pṛthu Putra: He says ignorance of himself. The man suffer because he's ignoring himself.

Prabhupāda: So let him become in knowledge. (French)

Karandhara: How does the cosmic force become ignorant of itself and fall into this condition? If before he was this form he was the cosmic energy, how he can fall down into ignorance and become an individual, limited, conditioned soul? (French)

Yogeśvara: I'm finding it hard to be able to translate because he says that we're ignorant and he says at the same time we're not ignorant.

Prabhupāda: What is this? When you speak of ignorance, that means he has fallen down from knowledge. That is ignorance. (French)

Pṛthu Putra: He says this knowledge is there anywhere for everyone, but the men take it or don't take it, ignore it or get themself interested.

Prabhupāda: No, why...? As soon as you say ignorant, that means he has lost his knowledge. (French)

Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Bhagavān: This book is being published in twelve volumes.

Professor La Combe: Yes. (indistinct)

Bhagavān: Yale University. I think you are familiar with Yale University in the United States. They have already placed advanced order for all these volumes. (French)

Prabhupāda: We are translating the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other Vedic literature. You have seen the sample, original verse, word to word meaning, then translation, then giving a purport.

Professor La Combe: You wrote the commentary.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Professor La Combe: One of you mentioned, because I had made a translation of the beginning of the Śrī-bhāṣya, Rāmānuja.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā. Śrī-bhāṣya, Bhagavad-gītā?

Professor La Combe: No. The Śrī-bhāṣya, the Brahma-sūtra bhāṣya. Unfortunately, it is out of print.

Prabhupāda: I see.

Professor La Combe: So one of you, I think...

Devotee: (indistinct)

Professor La Combe: You can read it in the library, but unfortunately, it is out of print. Yes. It is a complete translation of the first part you see. 850 pages with the text and notes.

Prabhupāda: Oh. I see. Just like we do text and transliteration?

Professor La Combe: The text is in nāgarī.

Bhagavān: There are synonyms in your translation? Do you give the synonym for the word?

Prabhupāda: Equivalent.

Satsvarūpa: His style here. Prabhupāda gives the Bengali...

Professor La Combe: Transliteration? No, no, there is no transliteration.

Satsvarūpa: Translation, purport or notes.

Professor La Combe: No, there is only translation and notes. But some of the synonyms are in the notes. And the purport also comes in in the notes when necessary.

Bhagavān: You are teaching a course now?

Professor La Combe: I finished. The year is finished.

Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Professor La Combe: One of you mentioned, because I had made a translation of the beginning of the Śrī-bhāṣya, Rāmānuja.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā. Śrī-bhāṣya, Bhagavad-gītā?

Professor La Combe: No. The Śrī-bhāṣya, the Brahma-sūtra bhāṣya. Unfortunately, it is out of print.

Prabhupāda: I see.

Professor La Combe: So one of you, I think...

Devotee: (indistinct)

Professor La Combe: You can read it in the library, but unfortunately, it is out of print. Yes. It is a complete translation of the first part you see. 850 pages with the text and notes.

Prabhupāda: Oh. I see. Just like we do text and transliteration?

Professor La Combe: The text is in nāgarī.

Bhagavān: There are synonyms in your translation? Do you give the synonym for the word?

Prabhupāda: Equivalent.

Satsvarūpa: His style here. Prabhupāda gives the Bengali...

Professor La Combe: Transliteration? No, no, there is no transliteration.

Satsvarūpa: Translation, purport or notes.

Professor La Combe: No, there is only translation and notes. But some of the synonyms are in the notes. And the purport also comes in in the notes when necessary.

Bhagavān: You are teaching a course now?

Professor La Combe: I finished. The year is finished.

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

Prabhupāda: (break) So Kṛṣṇa begins the first understanding,

dehino 'smin yathā dehe

kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā

tathā dehāntara-prāptir

dhīras tatra na muhyati

(BG 2.13)

Yes. What is the translation?

Satsvarūpa: "As the embodied soul continually passes in this body from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change."

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

Prabhupāda: Even children are learning how to dance, how to offer obeisances, how to chant, how to clap. They are also learning, small children.

Prof. Pater Porsch: And I think that it comes at the right time so that people may not be misled into juvenile delinquency, all of those "easy riders" and motorcycles and adolescent criminality. They find creative outlets for their energies also as a by-product.

Prabhupāda: No. We are teaching... Of course, we do not defy this modern advance of material civil... We don't say that. But this is our main business, that is, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā, to inquire about the Absolute Truth.

Prof. Pater Porsch: So can you not say that this knowledge is an ātma-vidyā, that we are trying to come to the knowledge of the ātman.

Prabhupāda: Ātmine?

Prof. Pater Porsch: Ātmā, self.

Prabhupāda: Oh, ātmā, yes. Tattva-jijñāsā means ātma-jijñāsā.

Prof. Pater Porsch: That is why it is also correct to translate the term kṛṣṇa-arjuna-saṁvara (?) as a kind of metaphysical knowledge, philosophical knowledge.

Prabhupāda: (aside:) No, not now. No, not now. No, whole knowledge. Metaphysical, physical, everything is there.

Prof. Pater Porsch: In the Gītā it also, a verse, that "Four kinds of persons seek Me..."

Prabhupāda: Ah, yes. Catur-vidhā bhajante mām.

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

Prabhupāda: Recently we have published one booklet. It is written by one scientist, my student, The Scientific Basis of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Pater Emmanuel: Thank you very much. It is translated in German too.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, yes. This is just... I received a sample.

Devotee: (German)

Pater Emmanuel: Ah, yes, yes. Who is author, Svarūpa Dāmodara dāsa?

Prabhupāda: He is my disciple.

Pater Emmanuel: Ah, yes. From India.

Prabhupāda: Yes, he is in Cali... His description is there in the last page, his photograph.

Pater Emmanuel: Oh, yes, I see. Vaiṣṇava, Manipur.

Prabhupāda: He (indistinct) his MS from Buffalo University and his Ph.D, chemistry from California University. And he graduated himself from Gauhati University. Very learned scholar.

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

German devotee:

māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa

bhakti-yogena sevate

sa guṇān samatītyaitān

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

(BG 14.26)

Translation in English?

Prabhupāda: Let him... German translation will help you?

Pater Emmanuel: Yes. French, in Hindi also and English I speak, but... (German)

Prabhupāda: You read the purport. (Devotee reads in German)

Reporters Interview -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Guest (2): I seem to remember reading a chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā that said... I can't quite remember what chapter it was, but it said that... Kṛṣṇa was talking to Arjuna, and it said that Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna, "When you realize Me or when you realize God, or Kṛṣṇa, you will see the whole of creation with inside..."

Prabhupāda: Hm? "You?"

Guest (2): "You will see the whole of creation (sic:) withinside Me and withinside yourself." Is that a true translation?

Prabhupāda: Where it is? Cāru?

Devotee Cāru?: "You will see all beings in Me and Me in all beings."

Prabhupāda: So what is that? Does it mean all beings in Kṛṣṇa?

Guest (2): The translation that I read also said, "Withinside yourself."

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa, He, as Paramātmā, is everyone's heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). But that does not mean everyone is Kṛṣṇa. You are in this room. That does not mean you are room.

Guest (2): So we are in God, and God is in us?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Without God we have no existence.

Room Conversation with Scientists -- July 2, 1974, Melbourne:

Madhudviṣa: No, not per se. We have our training centers where the students are trained in reading Sanskrit and studying the... Most of our education is centered around the ancient scriptures from the East. This is what our spiritual master dedicates his life to, translating these Sanskrit books. He's translated about twenty of them already. And so our centers are working in that fashion. We have a school for children where they are trained up from the time they're five years old. This is in America.

Dr. Harrap: Can you give us an indication where the centers are, where some of them are?

Madhudviṣa: The centers are all over the world. We have centers in America and centers...

Prabhupāda: We have got forty centers in America.

Dr. Harrap: Forty.

Prabhupāda: Forty, four zero, yes.

Dr. Harrap: Your knowledge of Sanskrit, this is one of your basic interests.

Prabhupāda: No, not Sanskrit, but knowledge we have received by disciplic succession from my Guru Mahārāja, from my spiritual master. Sanskrit is the language but mostly we derive knowledge from Vedic revealed scriptures. And this is also one of them, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This is the ripened fruit of Vedic knowledge.

Room Conversation with Devotees -- July 2, 1974, Melbourne:

Cāru:

cintām aparimeyāṁ ca

pralayāntām upāśritāḥ

kāmopabhoga-paramā

etāvad iti niścitāḥ

Prabhupāda: Translation?

Cāru: There is one more verse.

āśā-pāśa-śatair baddhāḥ

kāma-krodha-parāyaṇāḥ

īhante kāma-bhogārtham

anyāyenārtha-sañcayān

(Bg. 16.11-12)

"They believe that to gratify the senses unto the end of life is the prime necessity of human civilization. Thus there is no end to their anxiety. Being bound by hundreds and thousands of desires, by lust and anger, they secure money by illegal means for sense gratification."

Room Conversation with Devotees -- July 2, 1974, Melbourne:

Madhudviṣa: His question is... He is... This boy is Yugoslavian, Yugoslavian, and he has done some translating of your Īśopaniṣad into Yugoslavian. So he is wondering is it possible to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness in Yugoslavia?

Prabhupāda: Everywhere possible.

Room Conversation -- August 12, 1975, Paris (with French translator):

Bhagavān: Umāpati is nicely editing these books also.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Bhagavān: He is editing the philosophy, making sure everything is exact.

Prabhupāda: You are doing good service. Now you have got good engagement.

Umāpati: Everything is very nice here.

Prabhupāda: Stay here. Where is your wife?

Umāpati: She went to the farm, so I guess she just hasn't come back yet.

Prabhupāda: Oh, she went to the farm?

Umāpati: Yes.

Bhagavān: And she is translating Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Bhagavān: She is helping to translate the Bhāgavatam.

Prabhupāda: And Jyotirmayī?

Bhagavān: She is doing the distribution of Bhagavad-gītās in stores, and she is meeting important people. Whatever articles are written about us, she is answering the articles in the paper. Nice service. This Europe is a very good field for making devotees.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 4, 1975, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: (break) ...all of our books in different languages. At least all the European languages. America is one language.

Guru-kṛpa: South America.

Prabhupāda: South America, different languages. Spanish.

Guru-kṛpa: Spanish, Portuguese.

Prabhupāda: Hare Rāma Hare... What about that Japanese translation? Something is done or not?

Guru-kṛpa: Just a magazine.

Prabhupāda: No. His wife was translating Japanese?

Bali Mardana: It has to be checked over.

Guru-kṛpa: There is a girl in Tokyo who is very expert.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor, other Guests and Disciples -- February 12, 1975, Mexico:

Guest (2): Gītā, Kṛṣṇa, Caritāmṛta, and Bhāgavatam. You have other texts?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest (2): What do you recommend?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. We have translated it-Nectar of Devotion. This in...

Guest (2): This is in Sanskrit or...

Prabhupāda: No, English.

Guest (2): Bengali? No, but original.

Prabhupāda: Original Sanskrit.

Room Conversation with Metaphysics Society -- February 21, 1975, Caracas:

Śrutakīrti: God says, "I am who am."

Prabhupāda: No, God said, "I am," you say, "I am"—that is all right. But God says "I am,"—we can understand God. "I am" means God. But what you are?

Guest: Well, He said, "This is My name, and this is My name forever."

Prabhupāda: He says like that?

Śrutakīrti: That's the way it's translated, "I am who am."

Prabhupāda: So nobody knows Bible here? I am not very much conversant with Bible. But so far I know that Christ says that "I am the son of God." We can understand. So is there any difference? God says or Christ says that "I am the son of God." So the father is different. The father can say "I am," and the son also can say, "I am," but everyone is "I." But what is the relation between this "I" and that "I." That is wanted to know.

Morning Walk -- March 1, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: I am surprised how I have written so many, what to speak of them? (laughter) It is all Kṛṣṇa's mercy.

Dhīra-Kṛṣṇa: One professor the other day was trying to convince one of our boys that you were coming in the disciplic succession and were authorized to translate all these books.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is right.

Dhīra-Kṛṣṇa: Because he was dressed and he didn't know that he was your disciple, so he was saying, "Bhaktivedanta Swami, he is coming in a disciplic line straight from Kṛṣṇa. That's why he can speak on all these books."

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is a fact. That authority I have got. That's a fact. Yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau, tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakaśānte (ŚU 6.23). They become manifest, all the meanings of the Vedic literature. Yasya deve parā bhaktiḥ. (aside:) Don't come very near. (break)

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

Prabhupāda: What is his age?

Doug: What is my age?

Prabhupāda: No, his age.

Doug: His age? He's sixty-eight.

Prabhupāda: Old man.

Tripurāri: He translated Bhagavad-gītā, but only six chapters.

Doug: Actually, it's interesting about that, because he finished the whole Bhagavad-gītā, and he put out these first six chapters in a really a boggling word, way, the first six chapters. He was writing in a way that people could still enjoy material sense enjoyment and still do his technique of meditation. But I had a chance to hear the rest of the Bhagavad-gītā that he had translated. And we asked him... We heard that he had it. We asked him why he didn't put it out, and he said that the people of the Western world weren't ready to hear what he had to present. But actually what he had to say was... It's very authentic. What I read was very close with what you have to say, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that Kṛṣṇa says surrender all your senses unto Him. And I have hopes that maybe someday... Balavanta suggested the idea that I should write him a letter and ask him to have a meeting with you.

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

Prabhupāda: So you have translated in Parsi?

Dr. Movebhed: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So Bhagavad-gītā... Kṛṣṇa is speaking Bhagavad-gītā. What is the position of Kṛṣṇa? That you have mentioned?

Dr. Movebhed: I have to listen to you.

Prabhupāda: Why you shall listen to me? The Bhagavad-gītā is there.

Dr. Movebhed: But you are an insider.

Prabhupāda: Yes, actually without listening, so many big, big men, they have committed mistake about Bhagavad-gītā. Even Gandhi, he says that "I do not believe that there was a person, Kṛṣṇa, ever living." Just see. What to speak of others.

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

Viṣṇujana: Yahweh means "I am that I am. No one is beyond Me."

Acyutānanda: Yahweh.

Viṣṇujana: They will say Yahweh is God.

Prabhupāda: No, Yahweh, what is...? That is the name?

Viṣṇujana: Name. "I am that..." It means in English, "I am that I am."

Prajāpati: Some people translate that as Jehovah.

Viṣṇujana: Jehovah.

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:

Acyutānanda: In India Christians say that Jesus Christ is God.

Ravīndra-svarūpa: They're trying to substitute... In the beginning of the Bible it says that "In the beginning was the word, and the word was God." And modern-day translations, they have substituted the word "Christ" for "the word." So it says, "In the beginning was Christ, and Christ was God." So they're trying to make, they're trying in that way to make Jesus God. And that is the name, because they don't know what is that word.

Acyutānanda: Yes.

Prajāpati: We can understand this...

Prabhupāda: That is again another adulteration.

Morning Walk -- April 2, 1975, Mayapur:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They sometimes say that because Bhagavad-gītā was originally in the Sanskrit language...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: ...and that because now it's been translated into the English language, there is necessary interpretation.

Prabhupāda: No. Therefore we are giving the original verse, word to word meaning.

Pañcadraviḍa: Some, some man argued that...

Prabhupāda: Where is the interpretation necessary?

Satsvarūpa: They say we interpret even in the word to word.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Satsvarūpa: They claim that we interpret even in word to word.

Prabhupāda: But how do you do? Just like dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre (BG 1.1). Interpret in different way this word, dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre? It cannot be interpreted. And how do you dare to say that "We can interpret word to word." In the beginning, you cannot do it.

Pañcadraviḍa: They clam, then, unless you speak Sanskrit, you have to interpret Bhagavad-gītā.

Prabhupāda: No, that means if you are a nonsense, you better remain silent. Don't interpret. It is better not to talk than to talk nonsense. What is the meaning of that interpretation. If you do not know Sanskrit, stop speaking. Why do you make imagination?

Pañcadraviḍa: Well, their claim is you have to read the Gītā in Sanskrit in order for it to be read as it is.

Prabhupāda: Now, now, in the very beginning it is said, dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre (BG 1.1). Now interpret. What is your interpretation, dharma-kṣetre? What is your interpretation, kuru-kṣetre? Come on, in the beginning. They cannot interpret anything.

Conversation with Indian Guests -- April 12, 1975, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: ...nānyat. Na anyat. So this is going on. And where is surrender? If you don't believe in Kṛṣṇa, don't surrender to Kṛṣṇa, then what is the meaning of this surrender? This is going on. Our, one swamiji, is there in Bombay, Cinmayananda. He is a big speaker in Bhagavad-gītā, and he has constructed temple-Śiva-liṅga, the genital of Lord Śiva. Just see.

Mahāṁsa: He said he has translated... His interpretation of Kṛṣṇa is that this "Kṛṣṇa means black. Black is ignorance. So Kṛṣṇa is ignorance."

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Guest (1) (Indian man): I think one of the best persons in Madras who is translating the Prita-Gītā (?), isn't it? Cinmayananda Swami.

Guest (2) (Indian man): Cinmayananda?

Guest (1): Yes. I have heard it.

Guest (2): Ramana Maharshi, (?) has...

Guest (1): Ramana Maharshi was a great man.

Prabhupāda: Rāmānuja bhāṣya is a fact.

Guest (1): Ramana Maharshi?

Prabhupāda: Ramana Maharshi? No, he did not.

Guest (1): The Ramana Maharshi is actually a... Read Bhagavad-gītā. He requested you, "You should always read it."

Prabhupāda: "Always read it," but he never preached about Kṛṣṇa.

Guest (1): Eh?

Prabhupāda: But he never preached about Kṛṣṇa. He may be always reading, but he did not know what is Kṛṣṇa. He never spoke that "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord," never spoke. So what is the use of reading?

Conversation with Indian Guests -- April 12, 1975, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Philosophy is there, direct, you should do like this, that's all. You do it and get the results. You go to purchase something, the price is fixed, you pay the price and take it. Where is argument? If you are, if you serious about that thing, you may pay price and take it away. That is the advice of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti rasa-bhāvitā-mati kriyatāṁ yadi kuto 'pi labhyate. If you can purchase somewhere the thinking of Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa-bhakti rasa-bhāvitā mati. That is, we have translated into "Kṛṣṇa Consciousness." If you can purchase this consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, somewhere, immediately purchase it. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti rasa-bhāvita-mati, kriyatām, just purchase, yadi kuto 'pi labhyate, if it is available somewhere. And if I have to purchase, then what price? Tatra laulyam ekaṁ mūlam. Na janma-koṭibhiḥ labhyate. If you want what is the price, he says the price is your eagerness.

Evening Discussion -- May 6, 1975, Perth:

Amogha: May we ask questions about pronouncing the Sanskrit?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Amogha: When the a-h with the dot is in the middle of the verse should it always be pronounced clearly, a-ha. Adhi-yajña-ha, or is it more like adhi-yajña.

Prabhupāda: That is stated there. In the verse what it is?

Amogha: Adhi-yaj... Well, it depends on whether I pronounce it right. (laughs) But it is spelled, a-d-h-i-y-a-j-n-a-h with a dot underneath. So...

Prabhupāda: Adhi-yajña. When we divide the word, then the first noun form is used. Sanskrit grammar is very difficult. It requires twelve years to learn simply Sanskrit grammar. So, that is not possible. So whatever is there, you understand that. Sanskrit grammar is very, very difficult. At least twelve years it requires. And if you understand Sanskrit grammar, then you can read all the Vedic literature without any translation. Simply by studying. Therefore the Sanskrit scholars are first of all taught grammar. And when one is expert in reading grammar properly, then all Vedic literature becomes very simplified.

Room Conversation with Kim Cornish -- May 8, 1975, Perth:

Kim:

oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ

pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya

pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate

(Iso Invocation)

Prabhupāda: Read the translation.

Kim: "The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the complete whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the complete whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance."

Prabhupāda: Now read the purport. After reading the translation do you understand everything?

Kim: No. (reads purport to) "...and Paramātmā or Supersoul realization is the realization of His sat and cit features." I don't understand that. I read the words, but...

Prabhupāda: It requires elucidation.

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. They simply...

Prabhupāda: That means they are so rascal, that... You are reading Bhagavad-gītā. You must take the words of Bhagavad-gītā. Why you are taking other words? What business you have got?

Morning Walk -- May 12, 1975, Perth:

Paramahaṁsa: These professors didn't write the books, but they read all these Swami this and that books' translations. And then they think, "Well, all these swamis say it's like this..."

Prabhupāda: No. They should be conscious that if you read one book, you must understand what the author says. Why should you bring something else to understand that book? What is this? If you want to say something else, you write your own book or bring that book. Why you should take my book? If you want to smoke ganja, why should you take my hand? You have got your hand. You smoke ganja. What is this? I take your hand and smoke ganja? (laughter)

Paramahaṁsa: But they say that "We need the help of these different commentaries to understand such deep philosophy."

Prabhupāda: Why should you? Why should you? Why should you take Bhagavad-gītā? There are different philosophers. They have got different theories. You make your theories. But why should you make your theories on the basis of Bhagavad-gītā?

Morning Walk -- May 12, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Oh, majority.

Śrutakīrti: Democratic method.

Amogha: Majority rules.

Gaṇeśa: The result will show.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That democracy is the ruination of civilization.

Amogha: But actually many of them appreciate the actual translation because it's so much more clear. It's just that before, they didn't read it. Many of them, now they are reading it, they appreciate it very much

Prabhupāda: So we want to remain in the minority. We don't want to be ruled by the majority.

Room Conversation with Alcohol and Drug Hospital People -- May 16, 1975, Perth:

Paramahaṁsa:

balaṁ balavatāṁ cāhaṁ

kāma-rāga-vivarjitam

dharmāviruddho bhūteṣu

kāmo 'smi bharatarṣabha

Translation: "I am the strength of the strong, devoid of passion and desire. I am sex life which is not contrary to religious principles, O Lord of the Bhāratas, Arjuna."

Guest (1): You can follow actually? What does that exactly mean? It's a direct translation, I think.

Paramahaṁsa: He says, "What does that exactly mean?"

Prabhupāda: Explain to him.

Paramahaṁsa: Well, as it explains here, "The strong man's strength should be applied to protect the weak, not for personal aggression. Similarly, sex life, according to religious principles, dharma, should be for the propagation of children, not otherwise. The responsibility of parents is then to make their offspring Kṛṣṇa conscious."

Guest (2): The question was which religion, which religious principle?

Paramahaṁsa: Well, he means our marriage under... We accept that marriage, sex life in marriage, is licit, not illicit. So he asked, "Under what religious principles or under which religion?"

Prabhupāda: Any religion. Christian religion does not allow illicit sex. No adultery.

Room Conversation with Dr. Copeland, Professor of Modern Indian History -- May 20, 1975, Melbourne:

Dr. Copeland: Does this organization do social work?

Prabhupāda: Yes, this is the best social work. We are giving the best education, best knowledge, best hope of next life. And what they are giving? They do not know what is next life even.

Dr. Copeland: When you do the translations...

Prabhupāda: I have all translated during these ten years. I translated, began translating from 1968, or '9, I was publishing that Back to Godhead paper even from my gṛhastha life, from 1944.

Dr. Copeland: And when you do do the translation...

Prabhupāda: Then I began translating from 1968 or '69. And I published my first book in 1962. Then next was in 1964. And then the third volume was published in 1965. And then I came to America. And then I translated all these books, whatever you see, about fifty books. This is about eleven hundred pages. Other books are not less than four hundred pages.

Dr. Copeland: Oh, yes. I have many in my shelf like these. Where and when did you learn English?

Prabhupāda: In Calcutta. I was educated in a college. My professors were all Europeans.

Dr Copeland: Which college?

Prabhupāda: Scottish Churches' College. You know that? In our time Dr. Watt, he was principal. And I was student of philosophy of Dr. W. S. Urquhart. He was my professor. And our English professor was Mr. Cameron,(?) Mr. Scrimgeour, Mr. Warren. And I was student of economics also. One Mr. Keith, he was also... All our professors were Scotsmen, Englishmen.

Room Conversation with Dr. Copeland, Professor of Modern Indian History -- May 20, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yes, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa will supply everything. Be confident. This is brāhmaṇa. We don't depend. You see for the last ten years our institution going on. We don't depend on anyone else. If you contribute voluntarily, welcome, but we are not dependent on you. This is brahminical class of man. We don't... Find this: śamo damas tapaḥ śaucam. What are they? Śamaḥ?

Amogha: Śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca (BG 18.42). You want me to read each word, translate?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Amogha: Śamaḥ-peacefulness; damaḥ-self-control; tapaḥ-austerity; śaucam-purity; kṣāntiḥ-tolerance; ārjavam-honesty..."

Prabhupāda: Simplicity, honesty. Ārjavam means even an enemy enquires from me, "What is your secret?" I shall say, "Yes, it is... I have no secret. This is my position." This is called ārjavam. Don't keep any secret. So ārjavam, then?

Room Conversation with Dr. Copeland, Professor of Modern Indian History -- May 20, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Vyāsadeva is the authority. So Vyāsadeva is not Māyāvādī. He is Vaiṣṇava. We belong to Vyāsadeva's sampradāya, Brahma-sampradāya. Therefore we worship our spiritual master as Vyāsadeva's representative, vyāsa-pūjā.

Dr. Copeland: And how about in the south? Do you have many...

Prabhupāda: Yes, everywhere. South is the same thing.

Dr. Copeland: Surely not as many as in the north, or as much?

Prabhupāda: Well, that is the influence of the time. Otherwise, everything is there in the Bhagavad-gītā, and anyone can follow. Either south or north, it doesn't matter. Or east and west. But if you don't follow, and still you say that "I belong to this sampradāya," that is another...

Dr. Copeland: And when you translate the texts that you use, they come from Caitanya?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Copeland: So you don't worry about...

Prabhupāda: We have no worries. Because we have got...

Dr. Copeland: I don't have any worries either. (laughs) That's good.(?)

Prabhupāda: Because we follow the standard. Just like a small child. He follows his parents, and he knows, "My parents are there." Therefore he has no worries. Is it not?

Room Conversation with Dr. Copeland, Professor of Modern Indian History -- May 20, 1975, Melbourne:

Madhudviṣa: One of the... Just from understanding, speaking to Amogha, is one of the doctor's dilemmas is that he is reading your Bhagavad-gītā, but his colleagues do not appreciate your Bhagavad-gītā so much. He, sometimes he is confronted with the people who are tending more towards the impersonal school of thought, I think, and they have criticisms of your Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. So he...

Dr. Copeland: That's why I was asking. To see how you would reply to that.

Prabhupāda: First of all, you think that Kṛṣṇa is speaking as person. What right you have got to say that He is imperson?

Dr. Copeland: I don't say.

Prabhupāda: No, anyone, anyone. What Kṛṣṇa is saying, He is saying as a person. Aham. You know the Sanskrit word? Aham, "I," first person. So why these foolish interpreters, they interpret "imperson"? What right they have got? They have no right. Suppose you are teaching something from your own point of view. What right I have got to say that "This is not Mr. Such and such opinion. What I say, that is opinion"? Is that very good judgment? You are saying something from your point of view, and I poke my nose that "This should be spoken like this." Is this honesty?

Dr. Copeland: It's a difference of opinion.

Prabhupāda: No, why should you... I showed opinion on your book? If I have got opinion, I publish another book. Why should I interpret, why shall I poke my nose in your business?

Dr. Copeland: Yeah, but the dialogue is how you learn. Oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: No, that is most dishonest. Oh, yes. You cannot interpret my book in your own way. That is not allowed. No gentleman will do that. You, if you have got a different view, you put your view in your own book. Don't drag my book. That is honesty. And because my book is popular, you take advantage of my book, and you interpret in your own way... This is most dishonest. You cannot do that.

Dr. Copeland: No, but when you have different types of things...

Prabhupāda: Different types we may have, but Kṛṣṇa's book, what Kṛṣṇa is saying, it should be presented as Kṛṣṇa says.

Dr. Copeland: Yeah, but then you think that you know what Kṛṣṇa says.

Prabhupāda: No, I say, "Bhagavad-gītā As It Is."

Dr. Copeland: Yeah, and other people think they know, too.

Prabhupāda: No, how they know? Kṛṣṇa says man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ, simple thing. Find out this verse. What is the translation?

Amogha: "Always think of Me and become My..."

Prabhupāda: Now, Kṛṣṇa says, "Always think of Me." How you can say that "Don't think of Kṛṣṇa"? Is that very honesty? No, no, Kṛṣṇa may be wrong. That is another thing.

Dr. Copeland: Ah, okay. I'll buy that. (laughs)

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

Prabhupāda: Two devotees. Just like you are eating this sweet. So everyone will say, "Yes, he is eating sweet." And where is the question of interpretation? Everyone knows that you are eating sweet. So if I say this gentleman is eating sweet, so who will object to this? "No, no, my interpretation is different." What is that interpretation? This is a fact.

Guest 2: Yes, but I think that's a simple example.

Prabhupāda: So when you can understand directly, where is the question of interpretation? You cannot give interpretation.

Guest 1: I've read some of these, which are very difficult to understand. And I have seen the boys with writing in there which is help in their understanding of it where you could say fifteen words, but to a simple reading of them, they're very complicated.

Prabhupāda: No, this is... Therefore purport is given there. The explanation is given there. And even after that, if one cannot understand, then we are here. The devotees are there. I am there. There is no difficulty.

Guest 2: But I think it's easier if you have a teacher.

Prabhupāda: Of course, everything requires teacher. So we are giving the purport, that means we are teaching. Not only the verse is there, the translation is there, but we giving a purport. And even from the verse. Just like this verse, śamo damaḥ, yes.

Amogha:

śamo damas tapaḥ śau

caṁ kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca

jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ

brahma-karma svabhāva-jam

(BG 18.42)

Prabhupāda: These are different words. You can understand what is the meaning of śamaḥ. Śamaḥ means controlling the mind. So damaḥ means controlling the senses. If you first of all control the mind, then you can control the senses. Then śamo damaḥ sattvam.

Room Conversation with Yogi Bhajan -- June 7, 1975, Honolulu:

Yogi Bhajan: Kṛṣṇa avatāra is in his own poetry. It is about Lord Kṛṣṇa. If somebody of these people who know Sanskrit and who know guru-mukhi can translate that part...

Prabhupāda: No, translate or not translate, we have already accept Kṛṣṇa God. So if Guru Nanak has described Him as God, that's all right. Then if Kṛṣṇa is God, accepted by Guru Nanak, and Kṛṣṇa is God, accepted by us, why not put this God, one God?

Yogi Bhajan: Yeah. One God is all right. That everybody will agree. But everybody...

Prabhupāda: That one God, Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the same, I am the one God, that Supreme Lord." Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat. Where is...? Find out this verse. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kincid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7).

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

Prabhupāda: (break) How many books are pending? Rāmeśvara?

Rāmeśvara: I think we have just added one more in the Sixth Canto since you have started translating it.

Prabhupāda: No, no. How many books are pending?

Rāmeśvara: Still about seventeen.

Prabhupāda: So?

Rāmeśvara: We have just sent Madhya Two...

Prabhupāda: They are not complete?

Rāmeśvara: You have finished them.

Prabhupāda: No, I have finished. I mean to edit, editing?

Rāmeśvara: Editing, we are done five volumes in Madhya-līlā and two volumes in Antya-līlā. But they are being held up in the Sanskrit division.

Prabhupāda: So you get it corrected. I am present. I will do that.

Rāmeśvara: I think when Nitāi and Jagannātha come, Śrīla Prabhupāda, all the books will come out within a few months, all of them.

Prabhupāda: No, no, not a few months. I want these seventeen pending books must be printed within two months. That I want. Otherwise disqualification. Yes. (break)

Morning Walk -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: So our Rāmeśvara Prabhu, where is? You have got now machine arrangement, such nice—you can produce daily one book. (laughter) And if you cannot do so then it is like that moon planet. Bambhārambhe laghu-kriyā. It is very nice to see that so many machines are..., but what is the result? If you produce one book daily, then these machines are properly utilized.

Rāmeśvara: We will produce whatever you translate the same day, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Now you can produce the fifteen books which is...

Devotee: In fifteen days. (break)

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

Prabhupāda: In Bhāgavatam everything has been described.

Dr. Judah: Yes, I received the first part of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that you translated and sent to me, for which I again thank you. I brought it with me to read on the plane. (break)

Room Conversation -- June 26, 1975, Los Angeles:

Devotee (1): No. We want to... We want to know if the story has an allegorical meaning rather than a literal translation, or that King Ugrasena who was a man who lived five thousand years ago and had four billion bodyguards, or whether the stories within the Bhāgavatam, apart from some of them being actual, are allegorical stories. Such as the story of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma chopping off the the eighty-eight...

Prabhupāda: All right. You can give up that portion. You can take other portion.

Morning Walk -- June 30, 1975, Denver:

(break)

Brahmānanda: ...and the bird is also in India.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Brahmānanda: The scientists, they would say, "Somehow or other, the bird or something..."

Prabhupāda: "Somehow or other." This is science. "Somehow or other," "maybe," "perhaps." This is their science. (break) ...speculation. The whole Western countries, their all knowledge simply speculation. Nothing definite. (break) ...Professor Dimmock has "Definitive..." What is that translation, or something like?

Harikeśa: Definitive.

Prabhupāda: Definitive, then translation of Bhagavad-gītā, like that. (break)

Room Conversation with the Mayor of Evanston -- July 4, 1975, Chicago:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:

kṛṣi-gorakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ

vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam

paricaryātmakaṁ karma

śūdrasyāpi svabhāva-jam

(Bg 18.44)

"Farming, cattle raising and business are the qualities..."

Prabhupāda: They are not cattle raising, that was...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Cow protection.

Prabhupāda: Cow protection. It has to be corrected. It is go-rakṣya, go. They take it cattle-raising. I think Hayagrīva has translated like this.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hayagrīva.

Room Conversation with the Mayor of Evanston -- July 4, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: Young men say that there is no old age, but nature will not agree. Your next life is old age. That is natural. You cannot say, "No, no, I don't believe in it." You believe or not believe, it will come. Similarly, you believe or not believe, your next life is there. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Find out.

dehino 'smin yathā dehe

kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā

tathā dehāntara-prāptir

dhīras tatra na muhyati

(BG 2.13)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You want the translation to it?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change."

Prabhupāda: So this education is required.

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

Father: Yes. In the Bhagavad-gītā, I'm told that there are some two hundred versions of that. Is that the case?

Prabhupāda: Two hundred verses?

Jayatīrtha: Two hundred versions, different interpretations, commentaries, translations...

Father: But my question is that if that is the case...

Prabhupāda: But how can you interpret...? That I have already explained. How can you interpret the government's order, "Keep to the left," and "Keep to the right"? You have no right to interpret. If you interpret, then you become a foolish man because that interpretation will not be accepted. If you say, "What is the wrong there? Both ways there are roads. So if I keep to the left, what is wrong there?" You can interpret like that. But as soon as you interpret like that, you become a criminal. So all these interpretation are unauthorized, criminal. That they do not know because they are foolish men. You cannot interpret.

Jayatīrtha: That's why our Bhagavad-gītā is called Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.

Prabhupāda: Ah. No interpretation.

Jayatīrtha: Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, "Become My devotee." And He tells Arjuna that "I am speaking this to you because you are My devotee and because you are My friend. Therefore you can understand." So the point is that if Kṛṣṇa says that you have to be a devotee and a friend of Kṛṣṇa to understand what He's saying, then that's the case. So because Śrīla Prabhupāda is the devotee of Kṛṣṇa and a friend of Kṛṣṇa, therefore he can give it to us as it is, whereas most other interpretations are written

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). It is step by step. First of all Bhagavad-gītā study nicely so we can get the idea of Absolute Truth, and then by studying Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you understand more and more, more and more, more and more.

Prof. Hopkins: But is there, is there any one, one of the translations or one of the purports or of a series of purports of the things that you've published that you think is more clear, more...

Prabhupāda: Every śloka we are describing word to word. So every śloka you will find new idea, new idea. There are 18,000 verses.

Room Conversations -- July 26, 1975, Laguna Beach:

Satsvarūpa: "... all the water that people needed, and the earth produced all the necessities of man in profusion. Due to its fatty milk bags and cheerful attitude, the cow used to moisten the grazing ground with milk."

Prabhupāda: You can open this, these windows. There is no window? Just hear this.

Nara-nārāyaṇa: Close?

Prabhupāda: No, open this glass window so ventilation may come. Ah. So? Yes, so read the translation.

Satsvarūpa: "During the reign of Mahārāja Yudhisthira, the clouds showered all the water that people needed, and the earth produced all the necessities of man in profusion. Due to its fatty milk bag and cheerful attitude, the cow used to moisten the grazing ground with milk."

Room Conversations -- July 26, 1975, Laguna Beach:

Prabhupāda: This is knowledge. Etaj jñānam. The items prescribed by Kṛṣṇa, that is knowledge. And everything is no knowledge. Translation, you read.

Morning Walk -- October 4, 1975, Mauritius:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Goloka is the best.

Cyavana: You once said that is the nicest place in the material world.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Goloka is the best.

Prabhupāda: So Durban is better or Mombassa?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Well, I've never been in Mombassa, I can't say, but Durban is very nice. We have a very nice house there for you to translate in for several weeks if you'd like. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Hm? What is Brahmānanda's opinion?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Well, he's never been to Durban.

Room Conversation with the Rector, Professor Olivier and Professors of the University of Durban, Westville -- October 8, 1975, Durban:

Professor: I include the transmigration of souls and I include everything else, religion and the lot. But when I speak about science in the English language sense, science in this sense, then I have a problem.

Prof. Olivier: Even the German word wissenschaft that we normally use, which covers, as you say, everything—this is not translatable. The word science is...

Prabhupāda: But in Sanskrit there are two words, jñāna and vijñāna. Jñāna means theoretical knowledge, and vijñāna means practical knowledge. So vijñāna is taken as science.

Morning Walk -- October 9, 1975, Durban:

Indian man: Well, you see, I read a few books by Swami Shivananda.

Prabhupāda: So what is that book? Let me know. What does he say?

Indian man: Well, he teaches you the basics, you know.

Prabhupāda: What is that basics? Why don't you explain?

Indian man: Well, actually, well, he's got a Gītā too, translated.

Prabhupāda: So he has got everything. Why don't you explain what you have learned from it.

Indian man: Well, he's given us...

Prabhupāda: That means you have no idea what is divine life, and still, you are going to Divine Life Society.

Morning Walk -- November 3, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Dhīra does not exactly mean "sober," but something more than sober.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is only one part of it.

Dr. Patel: So many Sanskrit words cannot have translation into English.

Prabhupāda: Dhīra means one who is not disturbed by this bodily concept of life. He is dhīra because he knows that "I am not this body," even there is some trouble in respect of body. So Kṛṣṇa advised that titikṣasva bhārata.

Morning Walk -- November 14, 1975, Bombay:

Brahmānanda: "The greatest contribution of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is its authorized translations of Vedic literature." Oh, "The greatest contribution to scholars." No. "The greatest contribution of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is that it is providing to scholars authorized translations of these Vedic literatures."

Prabhupāda: That is the remark of a very big professor.

Morning Walk -- November 21, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: The Western learned circle, they are admitting that the greatest contribution of Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is these authentic translation of Vedic literature.

Morning Walk -- December 7, 1975, Vrndavana:

Aksayānanda: Yes. Very good. (break) ...dāhl will give you as much energy as eggs will any time.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Aksayānanda: Practically the same thing.

Prabhupāda: It contains protein.

Harikesa: Actually it's a wonderful challenge. This big, big scientist, big, big brain...

Prabhupāda: Big, big monkey. (laughter) "Big, big monkey, big, big belly, Ceylon jumping, melancholy."

Harikesa: And we walk in and put an egg in front of him.

Prabhupāda: You do not know this? Baro baro bandolel, baro baro peṭ laṅkā dingate, matakare het.(?) (laughter) This translation was done by one big professor, of President's College, Professor Rowe. He was a big professor in the President's College. So these professors required to learn Bengali, so he translated, "Big, big monkey, big, big belly, Ceylon jumping melancholy." (break)