Very important (Conversations 1977)

Expressions researched:
"very important"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "very important" not "not very important" not "this is very important" not "that is very important" not "not a very important" not "this is a very important" not "that is a very important"

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Yogi Amrit Desai of Kripalu Ashram (PA USA) -- January 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: (yawns) We want first quality.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But for Hindi books, Śrīla Prabhupāda, we find pricing is also very important. Because in Hindi and Bengali books, they cannot sell for more than a rupee or rupee, fifty. In English books...

Prabhupāda: So at what price you are selling?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: This is costing us seventy-eight paisa. So BBT will sell it to the temples for eighty paisa, and the temples are free to sell it for one, one-fifty. So we're charging reasonable price, so we can go after quantity.

Prabhupāda: No, if it can be sold at two rupees, you spend little more. Yes.

Morning Walk -- January 4, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So that verse is very important. That mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. As soon as you become fully surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, you are liberated, not that liberated means one has to grow four hands and eight legs. No. Simply you have to change the consciousness, that "Henceforward I shall act only as directed by Kṛṣṇa." That's all. You are liberated. It is one minute....

Dr. Patel: How do you get that direction moment by moment, hour by hour?

Prabhupāda: By His representative, by His words, they are present. Where is the difficulty to get His direction? Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena (BG 4.34). One who has seen, one who has understood Kṛṣṇa, take direction from him. "He's my representative." Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. If you get right guru, then you are liberated. If you follow the direction, if you want to please him, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **, then you are liberated. Otherwise, what is the meaning of this? Mām eva ye prapadyante.

Evening Darsana -- January 7, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Why they don't study? It is going on worldwide. They are studying.

Indian lady (2): They do not study because they give their opinion.

Indian lady (3): Like Swamiji, the karma-yoga is very important in India.

D. D. Desai: It is true, Swamiji. You are a preacher, teacher, everything. So one of your responsibilities will be obviously to make any ignorant man knowledgeable. And these people...

Indian lady (2): Excuse me, but that ignorant man must, you see, be prepared to get the knowledge.

D. D. Desai: I'll just finish. Now, here is our people, whether they are leaders or whether they are big politician, whatever you might call. Now, having known that they suffer for certain difficulties or... We say take... You can only pity them for their lack of knowledge, and to that extent, you, out of sympathy, would naturally like to impart in them certain basic material knowledge, which has distracted them. Now, this, I think, Swamiji Vivekanandi... Because my grandfather, granduncle, was, Haridāsa Bhai Dada, was responsible for Swamiji Vivekananda's trip to America. That was sometime at turn of last century.

Discussion on Deprogrammers -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: We do not know.

Rāmeśvara: They say that most people do not know how aggressive we really are. "Most of the families with young people involved with Hare Kṛṣṇa..." (break)

Prabhupāda: ...very important letter.

Rāmeśvara: We sent this to all the temples in America.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And give me one copy. I shall keep.

Rāmeśvara: This is for you.

Prabhupāda: All right.

Morning Walk -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: He's right. And he's a very important man.

Rāmeśvara: He has joined this society to defend us. He's now traveling different places in the United States to speak on our behalf.

Prabhupāda: He's serious gentleman. That is wanted. Kṛṣṇa will help us.

Dr. Patel: Aldous Huxley is another, he's also very...

Trivikrama: He's dead.

Dr. Patel: He is dead. No? He is dead? How long?

Trivikrama: Since 1962.

Dr. Patel: I had no idea of it. I am reading his books thinking he is still alive.

Trivikrama: He's a Māyāvādī, anyway.

Prabhupāda: Who?

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

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

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

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

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: The poll?

Rāmeśvara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: And Dialectic Spiritualism is published?

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

Prabhupāda: How many pages it will be?

Morning Darsana and Room Conversation Ramkrishna Bajaj and friends -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, spiritual... Sādhu-saṅga, (Hindi).

Guest (2): Sādhu-saṅga, of course, is very important. Getting to take a dip in Ganges at that, during this period, has that got any particular significance apart from sādhu-saṅga?

Prabhupāda: Yes. There is. At least your faith is increased. With faith you take a dip. Faith cure. And Ganges herself is purifying.

Guest (2): No. Is there special significance during this period? That is all the time.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is... The significance is sādhu-saṅga, purification. Our Vedic principle is: whatever is enjoined in the Vedas, we should accept it without any argument. That is Vedic injunction. This example we give generally: just like śaṅkha. Śaṅkha is the bone of an animal. So according to Vedic system, if you touch the bone of an animal, dead body animal, then you have to take bath immediately. But the śaṅkha is pure. Now, you cannot argue that "It is the bone of an animal. You say one place that 'Bone of animal is impure.

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

Prabhupāda: Enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāra lāgi. Our message is to kill the māyā. This is wonderful message, undoubtedly. Enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāra lāgi, hari-nāma mahā-mantra lao tumi māgi: "Take this hari-nāma." It is very important message.

Rāmeśvara: In America, say a music group becomes popular, very popular. Then automatically, every time they make their record album, one million people will buy it in the stores without any salesmen. Automatically one million. It's considered very popular.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So make records "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa."

Rāmeśvara: And for each record our profit is $2.50. So $2.50 times one million records becomes millions of dollars.

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma, like Vṛndāvana.

Rāmeśvara: That will also be very wonderful, to have Lord Gaurāṅga on the altar.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: Yes. That's very important now, Lord Caitanya.

Rāmeśvara: Very big Deities. That would be good if there were big Gaura-Nitāi Deities.

Gargamuni: Yes, there should be huge Deities.

Hari-śauri: Like in Hyderabad. There's those very big Deities there, five feet or something.

Prabhupāda: Five feet? Deity we can get it done here also. But there is no white stone. Stone is available here.

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: This is the judgment of the Chief Justice. He's not ordinary man.

Rāmeśvara: "...and the ultimate destiny of this universe." Then there is that other quote. This is also very important, by the Deputy Director of the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

Gargamuni: That Subhramaniam.

Rāmeśvara: He's a big man. And this is the national government.

Gargamuni: No, the central. Lok Sabha is like the Parliament.

Prabhupāda: Lok Sabha is Parliament. Lok Sabha means Parliament.

Rāmeśvara: Congress of the National Government.

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

Prabhupāda: He is a big professor.

Satsvarūpa: Yes, he's very important. At each university they find there's only one man who is very important in the Indian studies. So he's the biggest man there. I don't know whether this one was sent to you by a Dutch... State University of Leiden, in Leiden, the Netherlands, Dr. Schocker...

Prabhupāda: I don't think

Rāmeśvara: No.

Satsvarūpa: He wrote a long review on the Bhagavad-gītā.

Prabhupāda: Indian?

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

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.

Rāmeśvara: Prabhupāda said this past week that in the future, historians will study this period of world history, how this movement has changed the world. He said in the future they will just note this period, how the world is being changed.

Prabhupāda: Yes, a new Renaissance. What is called? Renaissance?

Room Conversation -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Very nice place.

Gargamuni: Yes. It's very nice. Very peaceful.

Prabhupāda: Caitanya Mahāprabhu stayed there, and Nityānanda Prabhu stayed. Mādhavendra Purī stayed. It is very important place.

Gargamuni: On our way down here we also stayed overnight. On my way down here.

Prabhupāda: Very good. So what do you pay?

Gargamuni: I gave them donation of twenty-one rupees for the night. I gave for the... (end)

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Your scientific knowledge, your car, means you are more dependent. Now, suppose you have to stay here. You had to, some very important business. Now whole thing is finished. But if you have calculated without having this car, then you would have done your duty. So the more material advancement means more you become dependent, more you become rascal. That is calculation by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. Jaḍa-vidyā jato, māyāra vaibhava, jīvake karaye gādhā, tomāra bhajane bādhā. Anitya saṁsāre, moha janamiyā, jīvake karaye gādhā. My business is that how to leave this material conditional life and become free. Now, with this so-called advancement of science I am becoming more and more attached. So I'll never get freedom. This is the result. Because I am trying in different way how to get, freedom. "Yes, wait millions of years. We shall do it. We shall do this." Gādhā, ass. You'll die trillions of times within millions of years, and he is expecting good result of his scientific... By the time, he'll become a banyan tree and stand there by nature's law, and he's expecting good result after millions of years. So gādhā, ass. Durāśaya. This has been described as durāśaya.

Room Conversation -- January 28, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Satsvarūpa: This discussion with Pṛthu-putra Mahārāja and the devotees in Europe doesn't so much concern those bābājīs as this business of the, when something is visited, when you have a visitation from the subtle plane, whether to take it as important or not. But you've already explained the position, to go on with your duty and not consider the message very important. Sometimes they speak of...

Prabhupāda: No, suppose you have seen that a gold mountain has come in your possession. Will you be satisfied with that?

Pṛthu-putra: No.

Prabhupāda: So this is like that. This is like that.

Pṛthu-putra: But in the case of Adhikaraṇa, person came as a fact.

Satsvarūpa: But this was... They feel this was more factual. An actual person came... A person...

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

Pradyumna: Yes. Rūpānuga was...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. And...

Prabhupāda: Our Girirāja also.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Psychology is very important.

Prabhupāda: Girirāja can also write one article.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Satsvarūpa Mahārāja and everybody can contribute articles, some sort of academic article, so we can reach the intellectual class with their format. But I talked about this with several Indians, the Indian scholars. They are... They think that it will be very powerful, especially in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. If we add that, then said it's going to be very much more powerful.

Room Conversation -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:

Brahmānanda: Initially there was a big conference of all the lawyers and they were all indirectly supporting our position. They just wanted to advertise this big controversy. They say that this controversy is the most important issue of the 1970's. Just like in the 1960's, the Vietnam War was a big issue. So it's becoming very important.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. So we have got very good certification by the psychiatrist of Calcutta University. You have seen it?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I don't think I've seen that yet.

Satsvarūpa: Dhīra Kṛṣṇa got a statement from the Brain Research Institute and said the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa is very good for the brain.

Hari-śauri: Brainwashing.

Prabhupāda: You have got that?

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, another operation. Then another thing they were describing that there was a patient who was dying. There was no chance of his recovery, but still, in order to get... The man was a big man. So the television was covering because he was an important political figure. So the doctor performed a big brain operation, even though there was no purpose whatsoever, so that he could get advertised on the television as a very important doctor. And at one point he said, "Now bring in the television," and he cut the man's head and did a whole operation for no purpose at all. The person died anyway. But he was given advertisement that he was the most important surgeon. And they talk amongst themselves. She knew all this.

Prabhupāda: They were arranging my brain operation.

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, but you do not know what is important. Science... I understand science is very important. And the Professor Einstein, a great scientist, as soon as the active principle is gone, you kick on the face and he is not seeing. So which is important, the face of Mr. Einstein or the active principle within that? Have you got any information? Then where is your brain?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The different scriptures like the Bible say that there is a soul.

Prabhupāda: Don't bring now scripture. We are talking in common language, common sense, that within... You cannot understand it. Therefore where is your brain? The dog also cannot understand. He's simply identifying with this body, and you also doing that. So where is your brain? Man is rational animal. Where is your rationality? If (you) avoid rationality, you are as good as dog. Where is your brain? Argue on this point. Dog... If one big dog thinking, "I am greyhound " or "this big body I am..." The lion also thinking, "I am so powerful. I am this body." So I am also thinking like that: "I am American, very rich."

Room Conversations -- February 20, 1977, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very important.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, especially in the United States.

Prabhupāda: New York high-court decision.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very important. This man is senior man too in the courts, very old, conservative.

Prabhupāda: But I think he's sincere.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, he's God-believing. This statement that he makes at the end, this statement that "Any attempt, be it circuitous, direct, well-intentioned or not, presents a clear and present danger to this most fundamental basis and eternally needed right of our citizens." "Eternally needed right." Freedom of religion.

Prabhupāda: So we should send him a letter of congratulations. "May God bless you for such right judgment. Be... Live long life to serve God." Like that, make a nice... That is our mission.

Arrival of Devotees -- February 24, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: These two books are very important. (chuckles) Everything improved. (leafing pages)

Gargamuni: Keep showing more.

Rādhā-vallabha: More's coming on the truck.

Prabhupāda: Ramakrishna Mission, in the beginning they asked me, "You be in coat and pant." Otherwise nobody will hear me.

Gargamuni: Ramakrishna suggested Prabhupāda use coats and pants.

Prabhupāda: Their sannyāsīs, they dress in coat-tie.

Brahmānanda: Swami Nikhilananda.

Prabhupāda: Yes, you have seen.

Evening Darsana -- February 26, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes, because you have got qualification-dhīra. What I say, you hear with patience. And those who are adhīra, they cannot. Sometimes... Aye. (someone enters) You can come this side. (break) Two words is very important. One is, that in the beginning one must be dhīra, not restless. Restlessness is for the animal, or a child. He is restless. He cannot understand. An animal, a cat and dog... Sometimes they remain very silent before the master, but not always. Their habit is not silent. So this understanding, that "I am not this body," is not possible for, say, restless person, that "I am not this body." It is specially mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā, dhīra. He must not be a restless animal, always busy. Just like monkey. Monkey is always busy. But as soon as the monkey comes, everyone knows he is very busy. He can jump very nicely. And immediately they take a stick, "Get out! Get out! Get out!" Busy fool. Fool, if he remains little silent, so he does less harm. But if he is busy, he is more harmful. So this is the position at the present moment, that people are kept in the animal civilization and they are busy. So they are creating more harm. It is not for the good of the society. They are creating more harm. This dehātma-buddhi is the conception of the animals.

Room Conversation -- February 27, 1977, Mayapura:

Harikeśa: It is very important.

Prabhupāda: They are taking it from national point of view. That is... Anyway, there is some defense from government side, their representative attending every court case. Yes?

Hari-śauri: Yes. Every hearing.

Prabhupāda: Ādi-keśava told me.

Harikeśa: In Germany the court case is fixed in November now. They have made a date.

Prabhupāda: In the meantime you overflood with books.

Room Conversation -- February 27, 1977, Mayapura:

Rādhā-vallabha: I was thinking of stopping anyway. Now that you have said it, it makes it very simple. I can find a way that it will be done nicely. Practically there's nothing for him to do, very important, anyway.

Prabhupāda: Hm. What is that?

Woman devotee (1): Medicine, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Rādhā-vallabha: So, also in the songbook... We will have to reprint that soon. The way it is now, I remember you also once told me that Acyutānanda makes mistakes in the Bengali. And the Sanskrit department, Jagannātha and the others, say that there are a lot of mistakes that they would like to correct. Is that all right? Do you want synonyms? Do you want synonyms in the songbook? No? Okay. We are also doing a very nice cookbook. Yamunā is doing it. I passed on the instruction that you left in Madhya-līlā that the recipes at Advaitācārya's house should be included. She's gotten practically all of those. She's going to put the cookbook together in such a way that it will be an example for Deity worship for all the temples, and we hope to have that finished this year sometime. That's all right?

Room Conversation 'GBC Resolutions' -- March 1, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: So anyway, printing and translation must continue. That is our main business. It cannot be stopped. Must go on. Just like persisting, now we have got so many Hindi literature. (laughs) I was simply persisting, "Where is Hindi? Where is Hindi?" So it has come to some tangible form. And I was simply poking him: "Where is Hindi? Where is Hindi?" So he has brought into fact. Similarly for French language also, very important, we must translate and bring books, as many as possible. "Bring books" means we have got already book. Simply translate it in the particular language and publish it. That's all. Idea is already there. You haven't got to manufacture idea. So France is very important country. So printing and translation must go on. That is my request. Then?

Room Conversation -- March 22, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: A butchers' health organization. Take these ideas all, there, everything is there, already mentioned. Cultivate. Try to give Kṛṣṇa in every... Let everyone come, stay with us, learn this art, preach all over the world. And Bombay is a city where you'll get all kind of help. Besides that, we shall get help from all over the world. But do it very cautiously, thoroughly. You don't take it as insignificant thing. Very important thing. I am talking of this Māyāpura. So this is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission. Bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya. Why He's stressing bhārata-bhūmi? Yes. It's a fact. Real knowledge is here, Bhagavad-gītā. Speaking Kṛṣṇa Himself. Why such knowledge should be denied? Is that all right?

Pañcadraviḍa: To lose this knowledge? No, it's not all right.

Room Conversation -- March 26, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: If he comes, I'll come.

Girirāja: Yeah.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think that Bombay is very important, so Morarji Desai must visit here. And when he visits here, he is a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, so we can invite him to our temple. And at that time he can see you.

Prabhupāda: With his associates, invite him, give him prasādam.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That will be more impressive then. You should not have to go. The administrator comes to the guru. And if he won't come to you, then there is no question of his helping, anyway.

Girirāja: Right.

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

Prabhupāda: No. The real thing he does not know. We know. We know on the basis of śāstra, authorities, ācāryas, so many. And what is your support? Your support is yourself. Then everyone will do that. His support is himself. Everyone will become authority. "I think, I believe." What is this nonsense, your belief? These things should be stopped now. (Hindi) Misleading, andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ (SB 7.5.31). These conditioned souls, very stringently bound up hands and legs by the laws of nature, they are trying to lead the human society. This rascaldom must be stopped. You do not know. Say you do not know. That's all. Why you mislead others? Giving them false knowledge. If you do not know even the distinction between the living entity and the material elements... You are trying to prove the living entity is also combination of these material elements, chemicals. Such a rascal you are. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said, apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām, jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedam (BG 7.5). It is very important thing. You do not know anything about it. Kṛṣṇa again says, nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. Negative definition. Still, you are so rascal, you do not understand, and you are misleading innocent persons. So combine together as many as possible and go and challenge.

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:

Gargamuni: ...from one very important Hindi scholar, and he is Dr. V. P. Singh, M.A. Hindi, M.A. Sanskrit, Ph.D. literature, and he's the senior professor and head of the department of Hindi, and Dean of Faculty of Arts of Benares Hindi University at Benares. So he writes about your Hindi Bhāgavatam, which has just come out: "It gives me great pleasure to review these publications of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Especially I am appreciating this Hindi edition of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, complete with original Sanskrit text, word-for-word synonyms, and a marvelously lucid Hindi translation. In addition, having read thorough portions of the purports, which in my opinion reflect the vast erudition of the genius of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, I am discovering an unequaled body of literature in terms of scholastic quality and devotional impact both. The real meaning of such bhakti literature can only be disclosed by one who is a truly devotee and a saint. The evidence of these qualities in Swami Bhaktivedanta are highly apparent because of his great dedication and success in spreading the message of the Bhāgavata all over the world, and creating thousands of foreign bhaktas who aptly deserve the title of Vaiṣṇava Brāhmaṇa, due to their strict practice, devotion and learning."

Prabhupāda: Ah, very good.

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: It is a very important document. It is written nicely.

Gargamuni: Oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: And print it. Wherever you go, you'll get order.

Gargamuni: Yes. Especially now the new prime minister is emphasizing Hindi literature and the study of the Vedas.

Prabhupāda: And send him one copy.

Gargamuni: Oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: Request him that introduce this Hindi Bhāgavatam to all government officers.

Gargamuni: One of our parties have just returned, and they have secured many new orders from factories, Raukala Steel Factory in Raukala.

Prabhupāda: In Hindi?

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

Prabhupāda: That is brahma-jñāna. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. So these things are here in India. Instead of distributing, understanding these things, we are jumping like cats and dogs, like the Western civilization. Anthill and four-wheel dog race. These big, big buildings, they are like anthill. You know anthill? The ant also can make a big stack of earth. Does it mean it is civilization to compete with the ant? Or run with the dog? Sometimes if a car is driving, and dog is running, it is a competition and the dog running. Is that civilization? Without understanding, the whole thing is going on, running on like that. Why India should imitate? India has got so much great exalted knowledge given by Kṛṣṇa. India should learn it and teach it to the whole world. That is India's business. Paropakāra. And that is being done in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Very important movement, very scientific movement. So do not neglect it. Come and join, learn it and give it to the whole world. This is the perfect knowledge, paropakāra. Not to imitate there and jump like monkeys and cats and dogs. This is not good.

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

Prabhupāda: Write nice article.

Mr. Koshi: Don't worry about that. It is my job.

Prabhupāda: It is very important.

Mr. Koshi: I think we will read out the article when it appears. Could you do that?

Gargamuni: We will bring the article to you. It is coming next week.

Mr. Koshi: Yes, within the next two, three weeks, depending on the availability of space.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So print some of this philosophy that Prabhupāda has been explaining...

Room Conversation -- April 13, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Friday.

Girirāja: And today the other M.P. should be coming back from Delhi. So if you like...

Prabhupāda: Invite all of them.

Girirāja: I can invite all of them. They're four very important M.P.'s, and they can all come. So if you take rest from one to two, then you can meet them at two.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Girirāja: You take rest usually from..., up to two o'clock?

Prabhupāda: No, up to three.

Girirāja: Oh, up to three?

Room Conversation -- April 13, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: My prasādam-taking is now very important, because I do not take. So I can talk anytime.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Would you like to talk before resting or after, Śrīla Prabhupāda, 'cause to him it's the same. So it's up to you.

Prabhupāda: No, no, I said according to their convenience...

Girirāja: Okay, what I would say is that let them meet you first of all...

Prabhupāda: Hm, yes.

Girirāja: ...at about one o'clock.

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Girirāja: Then, say, after twenty minutes or so, you can be free. And then we will give them prasādam...

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Room Conversation with Ratan Singh Rajda M.P. 'Nationalism and Cheating' -- April 15, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Where is that cutting that was published? He came, all, in Punjab. So there is no doubt about it, that this is the best humanitarian activities. So kindly help us as far as possible.

Mr. Rajda: No, I think myself duty-bound. It is very important.

Prabhupāda: Thank you very much. (Hindi)

Mr. Rajda: I have talked with him also. He's always with me in this public life, right from the beginning.

Prabhupāda: You were also M.P.?

Indian (1): No, I was municipal councilor.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Conversation with Tamala Krsna about Yadubara -- April 22, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: There is some big, big temples and their proprietor... In every city there are so many Kṛṣṇa temples. Just like in Kanpur there is very important Dvārakādhīśa temple. Many such big cities they have got Kṛṣṇa's pastimes(?).

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, at the end he would like to get "a short statement by Your Divine Grace in the movie on the importance of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in the world today. This film could, hopefully, be distributed to schools and colleges, showing that India is full of transcendental knowledge and that this knowledge is meant for the entire world for the benefit of all humanity."

Prabhupāda: That I am speaking of, that this, that this knowledge should not be kept locked up. That is my mission.

Conversation: Bogus Gurus -- April 25, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So there are cheaters, and if one wants to be cheated, how we can stop?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually this makes me feel that it's very important that we have our temple in Bhuvaneśvara.

Prabhupāda: So you can publish this in our Back to Godhead. These things are going on. Devotees should be very careful not to be victimized by this cheater.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think I can write a letter to the "Letters to the Editors" column. That'll be the proper place.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very good. What are...? Now, this man proclaimed himself to be "tīrtha-guru." What are some of the other ways that they will say? I remember Jagannātha was saying that he...

Morning Talk -- April 25, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Now the... We can see practically how the system of civilization is bad, that this Indira Gandhi, rākṣasī, she became exalted in the topmost rank, and she thought... A person who is equally good or more than her, he was imprisoned. Then how the system is bad, that a rogue comes to the topmost post and a good man is put into the prison? Is not the system defective? Imperfect? Some way or other, you can become very important, and the actually important man you can cut down.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Envious system.

Prabhupāda: Animal.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Animals are envious also.

Prabhupāda: Envious is everywhere. So the whole civilization is so defective.

Morning Talk -- April 25, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Somehow or other, you come to the power, and you do whatever you like, and the people in general will have to depend on such leaders for their welfare. How they can be happy? If the whole system is defective, how they can be happy? The same man, in one day he's very important, in the next day he's the most degraded. And the most degraded man, previously he was praised by millions of people and next day he's condemned. That means who elevated her to the post, they're all rascals.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Right.

Prabhupāda: Śva-viḍ-varāha-uṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ. So what is the value of such election, and what is the value of such important men? Therefore the whole system is condemned. Is it not the fact? Everywhere, not only in India. Not that the actual good man is on the head of the ruling power.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, rather, they look upon good qualities as weakness.

Prabhupāda: Whatever... That they'll achieve.

Srila Prabhupada Vigil -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: You haven't got to think over, "What shall I do now?" Never forget. So our first business is preaching. You should always remember. This is the education. These rascals, they have no father-mother-orphans. They may think as well-educated how to earn money. We have no... We are rich man's son. Economic problem is already solved. That is already taken. Tal labhyate yad anyataḥ sukham. We don't care for all this so-called improvement. That is already settled up. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ. Just see how to become a man of character like Nārada, Vyāsa. That is our goal. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ. Not for any other. "And what about your material problems?" That is already taken. Tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ kālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā. This is kṛṣṇa-bhakta. Don't care for maintaining body. "What Kṛṣṇa will give, I take. If He does not give, don't mind." So discussing all this twenty-four hours and death takes place. Death, if takes place, then where is the wrong? Where is the lamentation? There is nothing... You are not permanent. You have to die. But if you die discussing all these things, that is your glorious death. Death is sure. You cannot avoid it, today or tomorrow or hundred years after. But die a glorious death. Yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ. Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14). That is wanted. It is not... So I have called you for that purpose. So if death is to take place, let me die in your association and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. There is no harm. That is glorious. Now it is very important point, Nārada's qualification.

Srila Prabhupada Vigil -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. How the magistrate has... We are getting good judgment in so many big, big cases.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The London one we won.

Prabhupāda: We have owned one case, very important case, in the Supreme Court of New York. I have translated into Hindi.

Guest (1): The case has been decided in your favor.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest (1): Yes, that he told me and he...

Prabhupāda: No, I, by... A very learned judge has translated it. Because there are so many technical... And the Indian...

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

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The mental attitude of the inquirer or the seeker in this bhakti process, you also said, it plays a very important role in understanding this relationship between the jīva, or individual life, ātmā, and Paramātmā, these two relationships. So we proposed that since it is based on psychological interactions, willing, feeling and the thinking, so the attitude should be humble and it should not be arrogant, and it should feel the limitations. Actually we try to bring all the brahminical qualities in order to study this bhakti-yoga in a scientific manner, and we presented like that, briefly, in a scientific community, and it was mildly accepted. They were just thinking that...

Prabhupāda: Therefore in the society there must be qualified brāhmaṇa. The all rascals, śūdras, professors...

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

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) Actually this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a process of making this animal society into human civilization. At the present moment especially, all animals. I take them as animals. Therefore I say so boldly. I care for them. They are animals. That's all. Maybe very well do. I have not said. Bhāgavata says. Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ (SB 2.3.19). What are these leaders? Paśu. "Paśu? And they are so much held in estimation." Whom? By whom? Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ: "They are in estimation by the dogs and hogs and camels and asses." Actually they have no position. The public is dog, hog, camel and.... And they are selecting one leader. So what he should be? Another big paśu, another big camel, another big ass. That's all. Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ. (Bengali) A big animal. These leaders, they are only big animals. Just like in the jungle, a lion. A very powerful. Then does it mean that he's human being? He's animal. May be an elephant or lion, but he's not human being. A human child is more important than this lion. It doesn't matter that the human child is taken away by the lion and immediately killed or carried. That does not make the lion very important. (Bengali) A big paśu.

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

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Actually that's a good example, that, the one that we are using, same simile, that in order to study this life being nonphysical, so the experiment also has to be nonphysical, not that directly we observe just like any other material experiment. So those conditions necessary have to be fulfilled in order to conduct this experiment. So they become very quiet. The audience doesn't..., becomes serious, at the same time quiet. Let them think, "Yes, these things are part of the clear thinking and at very high level." So that since these experiments are nonphysical, the conditions necessary must be very subtle. And the... Because the diet that man eats also plays a very important role, and the brain has to be very clean, and the habit must be very clean. Otherwise these experiments...

Prabhupāda: Anartha-nirvṛttiḥ. This is called anartha-nirvṛttiḥ. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ tato bhajana-kriyā, atha anartha-nirvṛtti syāt (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). Ceto-darpaṇa-marjanam (CC Antya 20.12). Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ, hṛdy antaḥ-stho abhadrāṇi (SB 1.2.17). These are abhadrāṇi. Vidhunoti.

Conversations -- June 28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: They are (too faint).

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That Aurora is very qualified, very important. He was a judge in South Africa. He was an international lawyer. He graduated from Harvard, so many big schools-Oxford, Harvard. I know he wasn't lying. It's true. He held very good position.

Prabhupāda: Is Aurora pleader? Is Aurora pleader, you mean?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, that barrister. We have to take very good care to make the gurukula bona fide and genuine. It's really lucky you got that Dr. Sharma. Clearly he's the best. I mean, he's already been principal of big schools.

Conversation with Bhakti-caitanya Swami-New GBC -- June 30, 1977, Vrindaban:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...is flying in an airplane from Los Angeles to India via Hawaii, but in the picture that we have drawn, there is no way you can go from Los Angeles to India via Hawaii. If you go this direction, from Los Angeles, say, this way, you don't come to India. India's over here according to our description. Yet when they take a flight, they say, "We go around the earth." But we say, "You cannot go around the earth." So far, our understanding... So far—unless we have not completely understood yet—it is like a lotus, Jambūdvīpa, and the whole Bhū-maṇḍala is like a lotus. So how do... You cannot fly around Bhāratavarṣa, or earth. Yet every day the whole science of aeronautics, of flying, is based upon the fact that they're flying around different places of the earth. And everyone who sees this, that, our description, is going to ask this question. It's a very important question to answer, and Bhakti-prema has not yet answered it. None of us can. We are avoiding it at this point until we get further information. There must be an answer, but we have not yet been able to give the answer. I have absolute faith in these, the Vedic description. I am completely convin... I just know that I have not understood perfectly yet. Therefore the answer's not apparent. But it's definitely a question that they will raise. (break)

Prabhupāda: Give him this letter with immigration card.

Room Conversation -- July 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually I wanted to do this when we were in Bombay. I was going to write all of the presidents. At that time you advised me that we should wait until something, you know...

Prabhupāda: It is very important to select the names. He is doing alone. "He told me."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I didn't tell him to do it alone. I told him with Gargamuni and Girirāja and himself, they should sign. I told him specifically not to do it alone. And I wanted to write the temple presidents, but you advised me a few months ago not to. I was going to get a list from them, recommended, and then sit with, you know, Gopāla, and decide which of the fifty people chosen...

Prabhupāda: That's all right. Don't require.

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

Prabhupāda: That's all. That is their business. They might have presented such devices in a book, a different color. Just like medical science. The preparation is nothing, but they'll employ big, big medical students to write in such a way that it will be presented as very important. They are doing this. We have done in Dr. Bose's laboratory. They employ. (speaks garbled words to sound like big words) Go on speaking. (laughter) It sounds very nice. What is the meaning of? (more garbled phrases) So I have got my own common sense. I understand. (indistinct) in the Vedic literatures. (indistinct comments by devotees)

Prabhupāda: That I already told. Prejudiced.

Yaśodā-nandana: I'm not prejudiced. I'm just trying to understand. I'm trying to understand what is the facts according to Bhāgavatam.

Room Conversation-Recent Mail -- July 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So you can do it from other provinces also.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Also, the Endowments Commission has also written to all the temples in Andhra Pradesh requesting them to purchase our books." Very important.

Prabhupāda: Vṛndāvana, minister is very favorable to us.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "In addition, the Gujarati government has requested all libraries in the state to purchase our books by way of newsletter."

Prabhupāda: Oh. Wonderful.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Here in Maharastra the new Chief Minister and Education Minister have approved of our movement, and on the basis of these letters I sent our devotees to five district towns, on the basis of these letters." On the strength of the letters from the Chief Minister and Education Minister, he sent his devotees to five district towns, and they secured thirty-two standing orders in three weeks.

Bhāgavatāśraya: From five towns!

Room Conversation-Recent Mail -- July 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They're tremendous. Here is a letter from the member of the advisory board of the Sāhitya Academy. You know what that is Śrīla Prabhupāda? Sāhitya Academy? I think it's a literary academy. " 'No earthly writer today can match the vast outpouring of pure verse which our ancient sages, particularly the great Vyāsadeva, have left to the world. Motivated by a deep desire to give moral, cultural, and educational upliftment to all people irrespective of caste, creed or nationality, they have taught us the higher values of life through the medium of historical narrations, biographies, the lives of great men, and simple instructive stories. The unlimited wealth which they have left behind in the Devanāgarī script is sheer ecstasy to read for the poet, the student and the common man. Since dialectic differences began to splinter men into smaller groups, the original language, Sanskrit, was gradually forgotten. It is special grace upon the denizens of this world today that His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda has done such a tremendous job of meticulously translating into so many languages the sacred books of our heritage. Swamiji's most noteworthy achievement is his Encyclopedia of Vedic Education, the multivolume presentation of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta.' " One thing, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that this calling it the Encyclopedia of Vedic..., as he's doing...Everyone has always known the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but fewer people knew Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and now these two are lumped together as equally very important works.

Prabhupāda: Complete.

Room Conversation about Grhasthas -- July 17, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Anywhere. Bombay is the best city. He has got facility to stay there. For business Bombay is the best city.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In India.

Prabhupāda: In India. No, world. It is a very important city. Export, import, local. Tremendous business possibility there. Many poor men goes and becomes very rich men. Bombay is very important center. You have to get a place by giving bribe, fifty thousand, sixty thousand, to stay there.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They call that huṇḍi.

Prabhupāda: Not huṇḍi.

Bhakti-caru: Pagri.(?)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Pagri, I mean.

Room Conversation about Grhasthas -- July 17, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Pagri, yes. To get a place there... Bombay is so important that if you want to get a place you have to pay no less, fifty thousand, lakh of rupees to stand. Then do business. Very important. Anything you do, you must have land first of all to stand. Otherwise what you'll do? To stand in Bombay you have to pay lakh of... Don't you see—we drive away the tenants—how much we recompense. We pay compensation.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. We have to pay a lot of money...

Prabhupāda: That's it.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...so that they can pay for some other place.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: In London mostly they are brick.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: 'Cause of the cold climate. But the location is...

Prabhupāda: Very costly.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...very, very important. Just off Oxford Street.

Prabhupāda: The corner.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just off the corner, in the middle of the block.

Prabhupāda: They said that report following will come.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Report is coming. In the telegram that we received? Yeah, it said, "Report follows." I think some activity is good. Somehow I get the idea that you need to be more active. I know that you don't have any strength, but still, it seems to me unless you are active, you won't get your strength.

Room Conversation Gaurasundara, Dr. Kapoor -- July 26, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Now you're going to also get that planetarium in Washington.

Prabhupāda: Hm? Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's very important.

Dr. Kapoor: What is that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: One of our devotees, Ambarīṣa dāsa, his name is. He's very wealthy person.

Prabhupāda: He is grandson of Ford, great-grandson.

Dr. Kapoor: Yes, I was told. He came here once, I'm told.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So he offered everything he has to Prabhupāda. So Śrīla Prabhupāda has requested him to build a large building and put in a Vedic planetarium in Washington, D.C., capital of the United States, right near the White House, with the Vedic planetary system according to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Fifth Canto. So he has agreed to do this, and now they are choosing the property where they will develop this program right in the heart of Washington, D.C. So it will be very good. And also the dolls will be... Doll exhibit.

Room Conversation -- July 27-28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Nobody can say it is Indian.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: You can't say it's printed in India. Actually even our export quality now is very good. Actually there's a plastic coating on the top.

Prabhupāda: You cannot imagine that India has published.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: The First Canto Bhāgavatam which you printed in India were... Also we are keeping the cost low. This is very, very important. This whole book, Śrīla Prabhupāda, we've done within eight rupees, fifty paisa, which is quite reasonable. (end)

Room Conversation -- August 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Ventilate this.

Prabhaviṣṇu: It is very important to make this known to everyone.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Money belongs to Bhaktivedanta Swami by hard labor. We are his disciples. We are helping. It is mutual cooperation. Actually I do not like to take.

Bhakti-caru: (Bengali)

Prabhupāda: What do you think? Should I take?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is that kavirāja medicine?

Bhakti-caru: Yes.

Room Conversation -- October 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That is devotee. So for the time being you utilize the money and checks, everything, for developing. So you have returned?

Hari-śauri: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. (break)

Haṁsadūta: And we're also considering that a farm is very important there, to have a farm.

Prabhupāda: Apartment?

Haṁsadūta: No. It's a house. Quite a large house. Large area.

Prabhupāda: What foot is area?

Room Conversation -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Any part. (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think it's very important that you take something to drink. By drinking something it'll give you a little reason to sleep better. The program this morning should be that you drink something now, then take rest, and then, after resting, then we'll bathe you. (break)

Hari-śauri: This morning I was speaking to Girirāja, and he told me that this woman Śaktimātā was here and...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: She came from Vancouver, Śrīla Prabhupāda, to be... Because she heard how ill you were, so she came here to see if she could help in any way.

Hari-śauri: So she said that she knew how to make some juices from..., like carrot juice but with some ginger and a little hing and other things mixed which would give you very much strength, but at the same time not cause mucus or anything.

Prabhupāda: Let her make.

Room Conversation -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bhakti-caru? Can you give Dr. Kapoor some prasādam before he goes?

Bhakti-caru: Yes, sure. (whispering in background)

Prabhupāda: Hm? What is that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We were just talking, Śrīla Prabhupāda. It wasn't very important.

Upendra: So the other doctor has come.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bring the chairs here. Don't move that. This one.

Room Conversation -- October 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm. That is good. That's all.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Many people will come to this community to see how it is done. I think it will become very, very important in many different respects—for farmers, for people who are interested in designing ideal communities, for so many people who would like to live an ideal life, for people who want to come and see a unique place to visit, because there will be a temple of Kṛṣṇa-Arjuna there, a doll exhibit. I think it can be a wonderful preaching opportunity. And most wonderful of all is if we can exhibit self-sufficiency, that simply by farming the land, we can get enough grains, and taking care of the cows, we can get enough good foods to keep the body healthy. We can produce our own clothing. This is very much needed in this age. It's a positive alternative to artificial civilization. And the center will be Kṛṣṇa.

Room Conversation -- October 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Many people will come to this community to see how it is done. I think it will become very, very important in many different respects—for farmers, for people who are interested in designing ideal communities, for so many people who would like to live an ideal life, for people who want to come and see a unique place to visit, because there will be a temple of Kṛṣṇa-Arjuna there, a doll exhibit. I think it can be a wonderful preaching opportunity. And most wonderful of all is if we can exhibit self-sufficiency, that simply by farming the land, we can get enough grains, and taking care of the cows, we can get enough good foods to keep the body healthy. We can produce our own clothing. This is very much needed in this age. It's a positive alternative to artificial civilization. And the center will be Kṛṣṇa. All of the different activities and varṇas will be demonstrated, and all the different āśramas will be ideally being lived by the different devotees. People will see everything that they're doing is here but in its pure form and everyone working happily and cooperatively together. Actually, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in order for it to really work you have to come there, to be very honest. I know it will never be there unless you come and stay with us there and just show us and teach us. 'Cause I've seen practically that although everything is already written, Your Divine Grace has had to come and show personally a little bit, "Do like this; do like that." As the ācārya, you have adjusted everything perfectly to suit the situation of the present day and age. No one else could do that, none of your Godbrothers. No one in India could ever do that except you. So you are required. Everything is there, but you are also..., you have to be there. Otherwise I don't know if it's actually possible. And it's very important. You have to get better, Śrīla Prabhupāda. We're prepared to stay with you—all of the devotees feel this way—to encourage you to get better. Our plans are there, we're there, but we need you. You have to be there with us to guide us. I think that this disease is simply Kṛṣṇa testing our actual..., our love for you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, so that we will learn that we fully need you, 'cause actually we do. Everything we've done in this movement you've guided us with. We're realizing that you have to continue to guide us. We're not self-realized. We simply are able to carry out your instructions. So we have nothing else to do but to be with you here until you get healthy again and then lead us. This is our business now—to be with you. It seems like there are so many opportunities now that are beginning to present themselves. When you first went to the West there was nothing at all, and you created a whole world of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And now the public is beginning to actually take a real interest in our movement and people, respectable people from all over the world, are coming forward to want to help our movement. So there's a great facility that's available now even more than ten years ago. So if we've made so much progress in ten years, in another ten years there's no way to measure how much our movement can be expanded. And we're all just ready to follow each one of your directions. You don't have to tax yourself by... You can just talk to us and tell us, and we'll act. And we're very happy. In the meantime, we will give you the medicine of hari-nāma.

Prabhupāda: Hm. That is real medicine.

Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Some very important men was to come this evening?

Haṁsadūta: An important man was to come this evening? You mean for the conference, Śrīla Prabhupāda? I don't think any men have come yet, Prabhupāda. Svarūpa Dāmodara is here, but I think they're planning to come tomorrow and the following days.

Bhavānanda: Dr. Mishra, I think, is going to inaugurate the conference, and his friend, Dr. Chowdury, have just arrived. We've checked them into their room. They're taking a little prasādam. Svarūpa Dāmodara is with them.

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

Prabhupāda: So where they have gone?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's supposed to be coming back. I do not know if he's gone with Bhagatji, but he said that he'd be coming back in a short time. I think that this program of massaging and also using your brain for translating little bit...

Prabhupāda: Ah.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think that is also very important.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (end)

Room Conversation With Bharadvaja -- October 16, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Do it. Kṛṣṇa will fulfill.

Bharadvāja: Śrīla Prabhupāda? Long time ago, you wanted an exhibit in London. It seemed very important to you.

Prabhupāda: Yes, London there is good place. Many visitors come.

Bharadvāja: We have been considering where is the best place for this next big exhibit.

Prabhupāda: London, it is...

Bharadvāja: That would be better than Washington?

Prabhupāda: No, Washington, it is also... London, there are many hundreds of tourists daily come.

Room Conversation -- October 17, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: We have no such difference, disappearance and appearance.

Girirāja: Except in your case. We don't want disappearance.

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) Jīvo vā māro vā. Because we are going to accept eternity, so appearance and disappearance of this body is no a very important thing. Nitya-līlā, eternal life—that is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So, as early as possible. Take as far as possible our men. We can keep some assistant, local brāhmaṇa. If we keep one or two South Indian brāhmaṇas, they may take it that we are doing with cooperation. One or two can be kept.

Hari-śauri: Just one or two.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: South Indian brāhmaṇas.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Or local brāhmaṇas.

Room Conversation -- October 24, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (aside:) Paper... My pad is in... That man said it would take time. A week. Of course, we don't know if that's a fact or not. But it'll take about a week's time if it only takes a day or two. If it takes a week, then it may take a total of two weeks time until he reaches Māyāpura. When Gopāla and Śatadhanya were in Delhi, they went to see one man who was a very important Marwari kavirāja. They asked him about the ingredients of makara-dhvaja.

Brahmānanda: They asked that question about what medicine the poor man would take.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What medicine the poor man would take. So he said, "Poor man or rich man, it doesn't matter. The price of it is about forty-eight rupees per tolā, because the gold that is given, it's given back at the end." It's just passed through, the gold. It's not utilized itself. So forty-eight rupees a tolā. This is what he said, very big Marwari kavirāja.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that I have heard.

Room Conversation -- October 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: ...reported.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You can take it home with you. Bring it back tomorrow.

Prabhupāda: You purchase few copies more. It is very important.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. This is a photocopy. I can get photocopies made. That will be easier probably than getting back issue. And cheaper too.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda wants you to read it.

Guest (2): "The nonphysical view on the origin of species." (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Who, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Our... Our. O.B.L. Kapoor.

Room Conversation -- October 31, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...request him that "Since you feel that it is very important that Prabhupāda get a little more strength, you kindly wait about two more days, and let us go like that." In other words, we're not overly eager to leave tomorrow. If the kavirāja were willing to stay here for ten days more, we'd be very happy, and then after ten days we'd go with him.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So let us try and in some way induce him to extend, as far as he can, and then we'll go on whatever day he says he must go on.

Bhakti-caru: Actually he agreed to stay about three, four more days.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Huh. If he agrees to stay a couple more days, we should take advantage of that to give you more time to gain strength. Not that we're overly eager to rush out of here. Our plan is that we want to go where he is, that we want you to remain under his treatment. That is our point. If he was willing...

Prabhupāda: No, no, if after all he wants to go, why not leave earlier?

Prabhupada Vigil -- November 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The reason I don't want you to talk so much now, because I suspect they're all going to want to come and see you, and then you'll definitely talk too much. If they're all here, they're all going to want to see you. (indistinct) It's very prestigious that it's being held in our temple. In such a short time this temple has become (indistinct) for very important meetings.

Brahmānanda: Bon Mahārāja, he had this idea for making this center in Vṛndāvana, and now, after so many years, it's practically closed. Everything's shut down. Ghost town. Just in two-three, three years our temple is now the most popular.

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) Jaya Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Now we will pay them our (indistinct) but we will go on watching. That we want. As long as you're watching them, we will (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: They haven't got (indistinct).

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Brahmānanda: It's very important. If you can't understand it, it means it's important. (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They make up a language. Aurobindo has done like that. His writings are simply so many long words that no one can understand. Therefore they think, "Oh, he's very intelligent. Important philosophy." Your books are so simple and nice, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that even little children take pleasure in hearing Kṛṣṇa book and find no difficulty in understanding. And the biggest scholars, they are also praising. These are your books. I found that Śrīmān Nārāyaṇa was not so envious.

Prabhupāda: No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But the others were too much. He's not envious. He actually appreciated. He's very eager to come to Māyāpura, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Brahmānanda: During our festival.

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: We are waiting, but in case. (Tamāla Kṛṣṇa laughs)

Bhakti-caru: Śrīla Prabhupāda, the Āyurveda doctor was telling that one great factor is your willpower. That's very important.

Prabhupāda: I am losing my willpower, because practically I see that I am becoming more and more weak.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You said you're losing your willpower?

Bhakti-caru: Don't you think there has been a slight improvement, Śrīla Prabhupāda? Over last few days there has been a little improvement?

Prabhupāda: What is that improvement?

Room Conversation -- November 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Jayapatākā: And, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I was thinking that it's very important... We want to complete this temple during your stay here on this planet. Then your life's mission will be... There won't be anything that's left uncomplete if we could just complete the temple. The present... Just meditating that what are the obstacle... Actually we have already enough land for the temple itself, but the temple design... When you first came to Māyāpura, then the temple was going to be 225 feet. Then we asked Saurabha to make a design, and then he made 300 feet. At that time the estimate was fifteen million. Then again he was designing, designing, and it went to 350 feet. Then it went to thirty million. Then it went to 400 feet, fifty-five million. Now it's up to seventy million.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Dollars?

Jayapatākā: Dollars. Every time he thinks about it, he adds fifty feet, and it goes up twenty million. So now all the distributors in the world, they were very eager to see the temple built, but at the present time it requires so much money at seventy million dollars and 450 feet that no one can think of even starting it for five years. But if the temple was 300 or 350 feet and twenty-five or thirty million dollars, which I don't think anyone—it would be the biggest building even in India and the biggest temple in the world—then it could be started immediately, feasibly. Four temples in America said that if they just get five women each, that means twenty women from the Society, then they could each pledge 25,000 rupees a month for..., in collection. That means $125,000. Plus BBT's $100,000 a month and Gurukṛpā, that would be enough immediately even in the coming year to start the construction of the temple, simply if Saurabha was asked to just make the temple on a thirty million dollar budget, which would be 350 feet or 300 feet. And this is really inspiring the book distributors to have this temple begun, and to complete it within your lifetime, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: My lifetime... (laughs) It is now very brief. At any moment I can...