Prabhupāda: But he was devotee, but undoubtedly, but outwardly he was a governor. Outwardly. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not go him, but he understood that "Here is a nice sannyāsī." He came down and offered his respect and sat down before Him. And there was acquaintances, and Lord Caitanya said that "Bhaṭṭācārya has already informed Me about you. You are a great devotee. So I have come to see you." And then he replied, "Well, what devotee? I am a pound-shilling man, politician. But Bhaṭṭācārya is very kind to me that he has asked Your Holiness to see me. So if You have come, so kindly, kindly deliver me from this material māyā." So there was appointment of time with Rāmānanda Rāya and both of them met again in the evening and there was discussion about, I mean to say, spiritual advancement of life. Lord Caitanya inquired from him and Rāmānanda Rāya replied. Of course, that's a long story, how He questioned and how he replied.
Very kind (Conversations)
Conversations and Morning Walks
1967 Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: You are very kind upon her. (laughs) Yes. Vaiṣṇava is very kind. (pause) It is very heavy?
Devotee (2) (boy): No, not too heavy. If I had a memory I wouldn't need this. (Prabhupāda laughs)
Mālatī: So you're carrying your memory in your hand?
Devotee (2): Yes.
Prabhupāda: Because memory is reducing, therefore nature is helping to manufacture so many machines.
Prabhupāda: Please come and hear. Please... If you don't chant, please hear. That hearing process also will cure you. Śravaṇam kīrtanam. So people should come to our temple and hear this chanting, this... We are not taxing. We are not asking any... If you give some contribution, there is temple and management, there is expenditure, heavy expenditure, in this country. If you so kind... It is very kind of you. Even if you do not pay, you don't like, please come. Please come and hear. Please bring your friends if you are really friend. So it is very nice thing. Sthāne sthitaḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir. You remain what you are. We don't say that you change, but you hear. Śruti-gatāṁ. Śruti means this ear. God has given you this nice thing. You just inject this transcendental vibration through this ear. And when you will, you purify yourself, then you'll know how to make your life successful by your occupation. Sva-karmaṇā tam abhyarcya saṁsiddhiṁ labhate param (BG 18.46). Saṁsiddhi. Saṁsiddhi means perfection. So even fifty years... Not fifty.
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. There will be no grain, no milk, no sugar, no fruit. So I have to eat you, and you will have to eat me. Full facility for meat-eating. (laughter) Full facility. Kṛṣṇa is very kind. He'll give you facility: "All right. Why cows and calves? You take your own son. Yes. Eat nicely." Just like serpents, snakes, they eat their own offsprings, tigers. So this will happen.
Allen Ginsberg: Kali eats her own...
Prabhupāda: Yes. And there will be no brain to understand, no preacher, nothing else. Go. Go to, to the dog. And then Kṛṣṇa will come: "All right, let me kill you so that you are saved." So...
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: (indistinct)
Dr. Weir: I think that's been most fascinating, Swami, very kind of you, indeed.
Prabhupāda: Thank you.
Dr. Weir: And we would welcome you if you would just comply with our simple requirements. We don't have as one of our requirements the acceptance of anything other than the task of spending about, at the maximum an hour and a half doing some simple problems. It's an open invitation.
Śyāmasundara: To one of your meetings.
Dr. Weir: Oh no, to the test for the qualification.
Śyāmasundara: Oh, a test. They have a test for entry into their society and they want to know if you can take this test.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We shall talk more...
Dr. Weir: Well, I've enjoyed it very much. It was very kind of you. Where are you going on Wednesday? Where are you going?
Prabhupāda: I'm going to Mombassa.
Dr. Weir: Really. That should be interesting. One of my greatest pleasures was to be able to entertain the Dalai Llama's secretary in the luncheon hall in the (indistinct) just near here.
Śyāmasundara: We went walking there one morning, Lincoln's Inn.
Mensa Member: (indistinct)
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Guest: How you have... Yes. I was called governor for some time there. I liked the place when I was there. They were all very kind. They had settled down after a lot of rioting and, and (indistinct), and all that, they had settled down.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest: They were all very good to me. They looked upon me as a, an impartial man, which is a very great compliment in our country. Now you have undertaken a very great task. I am not competent to discuss or comment upon it.
Prabhupāda: No. I think you are the best man to comment upon it.
Prabhupāda: Śyāmasundara is transcribing your talks with me in Māyāpur.
Bob Cohen: I received your very kind letter about a week ago.
Prabhupāda: Now, you are very intelligent boy. You can try to understand this philosophy. It is very important. And try to preach. For sense gratification people are wasting so much time, but they do not..., they're not responsible what is going to happen next life. But there is next life. Foolish people, they are ignorant, but there is next life, and this life is preparation for next life. That they do not know. The modern education, universities, they're completely in darkness about this simple knowledge. We are changing body every moment—that's a medical science—and after changing this body, we'll have to accept another body. How we are going to accept that body, what kind of body, this can be also known. Just like one is being educated, when he passes his examination, one can understand that he's going to be engineer or a medical practitioner. Similarly, in this life you can prepare yourself to become something next life.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
David Lawrence: Yes. Well, no, in the Bury Place. And they were thrilled to bits. We had one or two who made the usual silly comments, you know, which you'd expect. But they were embarrassed, you know. Everything that came over, which was interesting, was that they found that all the devotees were very kind, very loving and very sincere. This, this came from even really the most secular of boys with a very, very low intelligence. He could see and perceive and understand that this was how it was.
Prabhupāda: That is our general certificate, everywhere. Even the Americans, they are surprised. They inquire, "Are you Americans?" (laughter.)
David Lawrence: Yes.
Dr. Arnold Toynbee: It was very kind of you to come.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Dr. Arnold Toynbee: I'm sorry I couldn't see you next week which would have been more convenient to you, but unfortunately next week I was very much occupied, and I'm very grateful to you for coming this afternoon. It was kind of you.
Prabhupāda: Thank you. (pause)
Devotee: These are some of His Divine Grace's books here, Dr. Toynbee.
Dr. Arnold Toynbee: Hm? Yes?
Devotee: And we'd like to leave them with you in fact.
Prabhupāda: Any one you can take. There are so many.
Lord Brockway: It has been very, very kind of you.
Prabhupāda: ...to associate with you.
Lord Brockway: And, uh...
Śyāmasundara: She's bringing some dinner for you. Just, just coming.
Lord Brockway: Yes.
Śyāmasundara: One minute.
Prabhupāda: Give him this garland. I forgot to give the garland.
Prabhupāda: No. The God is very kind. If you want to eat animals, then He'll give facility, good facility. Just like tiger. You become tiger, and eat animals. Those who are animal eaters, unrestrictedly, God will give him the body of a tiger next life so that he can very freely eat. "Why you maintain slaughterhouse? I give you nails and jaws. Just eat." So they are waiting that life.
Yogeśvara: Is it clear?
Cardinal Danielou: (French)
Yogeśvara: (translates)
Prabhupāda: No it is very kind of you that you have come.
Ambassador: No, it's all on you.
Prabhupāda: Give him prasāda.
Haṁsadūta: Yeah, we're preparing prasādam.
Prabhupāda: Purīs.
Haṁsadūta: Purīs and sweet rice.
Prabhupāda: So we are simply trying to revive people's dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So every sane man, every good government, everyone should come forward to help this movement. It is not a personal affair. We are not presenting that "I am avatāra, I am God." We are presenting science, philosophy. You see? Why we are taking so much trouble to write so many books? If we... We want to convince people through science, philosophy, logic, religious principle, by practical behavior.
Prabhupāda: In India. So if you kindly give some of our men the missionary visa, it will be very kind of you. It is missionary.
Ambassador: I'll immediately write and find out because it is a very logical thing.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Ambassador: Because we give them to other religions.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Why not this? So if you kindly help in this way. That is within your power.
Ambassador: I'll simply write. Of course.
Prabhupāda: Yes. No, there is no use of writing. You can do it. We can immediately submit some of the names. And you can give us.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: But the government is very kind to them. They supply money to do research on that, thousands of dollars.
Prabhupāda: And what is the government? Combination of some rascals. You are a rascal. You vote another rascal, and they combine together and become government. That's all. None of them are intelligent. I am rascal. So I must vote another rascal. And all those combination of rascals become government. And they cheat another, the rascals who voted them. That's all. Therefore it is a society of cheater and cheated.
Prajāpati: Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for letting us walk with you this morning!
Prabhupāda: Eh!
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: The body is just like a machine, and the spirit soul is sitting on this machine, and God is there within the heart. So He is giving the direction. "You wanted to do this. Now you go and do this." This is the... So if you are sincere, "Now, God, I want You," then He will give you directions, "You go and get it." This is the process. But if we want something else than God, then God will give you direction, "You go and take it." He's very kind. Īśvaraḥ sarva... I want to have something and He is within my heart, and He is giving me, "Yes, you come here. You take this." So if that God can give direction to give you indication, "You go and take this," why not the spiritual master? First of all we must know, we must be eager to again revive our God consciousness. Then God will give us the spiritual master.
Prabhupāda: That is very kind of you.
C. Hennis: Thank you very much. I come from the International Labor Organization which is an organization in the United Nations family. It's the second organization after the United Nations itself, and it's interested in every form of labor, every form of activity connected with labor, and the protection of the worker, the welfare of the worker. And in many respects, of course, our preoccupations must overlap with yours in certain respects of the activities, of man in general and his protection and his well-being.
Prabhupāda: So according to our Vedic conception, the labor class man is supposed to be the fourth-class man. First-class man, intelligentsia, very intelligent, learned. Or intelligent—one who can understand up to God. To understand God requires great intelligence. So first intelligent class of men, up to, so they are called brāhmaṇa. The next intelligent class man, those who give protection to the society, kṣatriya. And the third class, those who produce food and distribute. They are third class. And other, all others, they are fourth class.
C. Hennis: This we do try to do to the extent that it is possible for the secretariat to shape and evolve a philosophy. We do try to do it. But of course we can't adopt a completely radical approach. We do what we can in the manner of a good servant and the manner of a good steward to try and help the leaders along the right path and right direction. Your Divine Grace, I thank you very much indeed for this audience. It's been very kind of you.
Prabhupāda: I may be a madman. I have talked so many things and you say all right.
C. Hennis: It's been very splendid, and I thank you very much indeed for giving me...
Prabhupāda: (laughing) But I am very much, I mean, strict on this point, that if the society does not know what is sinful and what is pious, it is all useless.
C. Hennis: Well, let's hope that they'll be a...
Prabhupāda: It can be a decoration. That we describe, "The decoration of the dead body." Anyone who has no brain, lost all brain, it is a dead body. So a dead body you can decorate to your full satisfaction, but what is the use of decorating a dead body?
C. Hennis: Well, thank you very much again. It's very kind of you.
Prabhupāda: Give him some prasāda. Please sit down for a moment.
C. Hennis: I have to go because I have a...
Yogeśvara: If you can wait just two minutes. One tradition is that we always offer our guests prasādam, foodstuffs that we prepared.
C. Hennis: Thank you very much. But I have to go very shortly. I have to...
Yogeśvara: Well perhaps I should give him downstairs.
Prabhupāda: No, no. Give him.
C. Hennis: May I, may I? Thank you very much. That's very kind of you. Thank you.
Prabhupāda: Thank you. (Mr. Hennis goes out)
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: It's true what you say Prabhupāda. They come and they put forward their idea and if you don't like it, well, "Oh!" but if you like, "Oh, very good man." They have their own ideas.
Prabhupāda: What, his nonsense idea. From the result we see nobody is happy. What is this idea? They have big, big scientists, big, big politicians, big, big..., but where is it people are happy? They are simply fighting. Now, recently in Rome, Italy, the Communists and the Fascists fought, and six innocent person died. So where is the benefit of this United Nations? They do not have really brain. Manufacturing something, concocting something. That's all. Where is the brain? They have no discrimination between sinful activities and pious activities.
Prabhupāda: First qualification. He is very kind to everyone. Yes. Then?
Satsvarūpa: "He does not pick a quarrel with anyone. He takes the essence of life, spiritual life. He is equal to everyone. No one can find fault in a devotee. His magnanimous mind is always fresh and clean, without material obsessions. He is a benefactor to all living entities. He is peaceful. He is always surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. He has no material desire. He is very humble. He is fixed in his direction. He is victorious over the six material qualities, such as lust and anger. He does not eat more than what he needs. He is always sane. He is respectful to others, but for himself he does not require any respect. He is grave. He is merciful. He is friendly. He is a poet. He is an expert, and he is silent."
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That university, there is one professor, Norman Brown. I met him. He was a very nice gentleman. He carried my bags to the bus station. He was very kind. His father was a clergyman in India, so he was born in India. So he has got good respect for Indian culture.
Rūpānuga: Is that when you went to speak in Philadelphia?
Prabhupāda: Um hm.
Rūpānuga: Then that was when Nikhilānanda was there. Didn't you speak in his class?
Prabhupāda: Nikhilānanda was in New York.
Rūpānuga: At that time.
Prabhupāda: He is now dead?
Rūpānuga: Yes, I think so.
Prabhupāda: No, they are also God's creature, but covered by the body. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). Those who are spiritually advanced, they see equally because they know that within the body the spirit soul is there. The spirit soul is part and parcel of God. He is encaged somehow or other in a particular type of body. So a devotee of God is very kind to everyone. Brahma-bhutaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na ka..., samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu (BG 18.54). Samaḥ sarveṣu..., mad-bhakti labhate param. That is the stage of making advance in devotional life—equality. That equality is possible when we are on the platform of spiritual understanding. Otherwise not possible. The United Nation will never be able to unite the nation. That is not possible.
Prabhupāda: So your this behavior, attachment, is very much appreciated both by Kṛṣṇa and devotees. So continue this attitude and follow the instruction. Then it is guaranteed, go back to home, back to Godhead. It is not difficult. For a sincere person to go back to home, back to Godhead is not at all difficult. Especially Kṛṣṇa in this age has personally appeared as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is very, very kind to the fallen souls. Pāpī-tāpī jata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo. His business was with all the pāpī and tāpī. Pāpī means sinful, and tāpī means suffering. Pāpī-tāpī jata chilo... (to child:) Sit down.
Woman: I must give him tissues.
Yogi Bhajan: It is very kind of you. But if you carry this message to New Mexico, to all those guys, (laughing) it will be a great joy.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Yogi Bhajan: I am also carrying the message of those limited ones who want to share the unlimited ones. And that's what the whole attempt was, to provide a platform where limited, unlimited...
Prabhupāda: No.... First of all, just like you are leader, similarly, all the leaders must accept.
Yogi Bhajan: Yes, Swami Dhirendra...
Prabhupāda: Then the followers will accept.
Prabhupāda: Yes. This is very kind of you, but there have been so many attempts to cut down this movement, but they are cheated. They could not do so.
Dr. Gerson: May I try to help?
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is your real business. In India also, they are still making so much propaganda. They are making propaganda that "These American devotees, they are CIA." (laughter) This propaganda is very strong in India, making the people against these American boys who are preaching. So this is going on. They financed one film, "Hare Krishna." That is spite against us. But still, those who are sincere, they are praising, "Yes, this is a real."
Brahmānanda: In India the effect of that film is just the opposite that everyone is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Dharmādhyakṣa: Dr. Gerson has promised that he will read every single one of your books before he writes his book. He's very serious.
Prabhupāda: That is very kind of you. We have got about fifty books. (laughter)
Dharmādhyakṣa: He knows.
Prabhupāda: And it is increasing. Perhaps in the next two months we shall increase another seventeen books. There are seventeen books pending to be published. They have not done. So I am sitting here to see that this is published within two months. So therefore they are working day and night, the editorial department, printing department. They have got very nice arrangement for working.
Dharmādhyakṣa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? Dāmodara Prabhu has taken these tests already, and maybe he can explain a little.
Prabhupāda: No, that is very kind of you, but if they are persistent on majority vote, then you are nowhere. So the majority, if they want whimsically to do something, you cannot check.
City Counselor: No, but I can talk.
Prabhupāda: You can talk. We are also talking, but they don't care. This is the difficulty.
Jagadīśa: They are making it difficult, Śrīla Prabhupāda, but it seems that they will not be able to check us.
Prabhupāda: Then we shall have to go to court if they do something whimsically. You speak to your best, that's all. That is our request.
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is very kind. If you want this kind of food, he'll give you facility.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But the Vedic culture, I don't think they like this. They'll prefer this... Do you think Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Vedic culture means Kṛṣṇa prasāda.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Kṛṣṇa, you cannot offer this to Kṛṣṇa, can you?
Prabhupāda: No. (break)
Devotee (1): ...seaweed they eat. It grows out further. This isn't edible, they say.
Prabhupāda: Everything is edible but meant for different living entities. Stool is also edible, meant for the hogs. In the last war, stool was also eaten by human beings, you know that?
Prabhupāda: English, economics, philosophy or..., mostly Scottish... I was educated in Scottish Churches College. The philosophy professor, Dr. W. S. Urquhart, he was very friendly to me, very kind, just like father. (break) ...he became vice chancellor. He was a very learned man, and very nice man, W. S. Urquhart.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Did they teach in English or Bengali?
Prabhupāda: No, no. English. Medium English.
Harikeśa: He was the one who said that the woman's brain is thirty-six ounces?
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. (chuckles) Yes. No, not only he, another professor, Dr. Stephen (indistinct), he also said. That's a fact. Artificially they are trying. It has no meaning. But by agitation you can do anything. That is another thing. But that is not the fact. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21). These are all Indian quarters? No.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Indian man: This was.... Even Acyutānanda said the other day. Somebody asked us that question, "Why not 'God conscious'? Why do you want 'Kṛṣṇa'?" He also said the same thing. (break) "What is the difference between thieving the butter and other things by Lord Kṛṣṇa and thieving by us?" I said "The thieving is thieving." I said, "How can there be theft of..." (break)
Prabhupāda: And if you steal, you will be beaten with shoes.
Indian man: We are beaten with shoes, but He is allowed.
Prabhupāda: Not only allowed, but He is worshiped: "Sir, it is very kind of You that You have stolen."
Indian man: That is what.... In forensic language it is called abet, abetted. The very owner abets, "It is kind of you to have committed theft of this."
Prabhupāda: Oh yes. Get them. Let them make good profit. We want to put up, that's all. And let them take money, we don't mind. Śaṭhe śaṭhuṁ samācaret. When there is trickery, you become trickery. Śaṭhe śaṭhuṁ samācaret. Kṛṣṇa's play, those who are plain, Kṛṣṇa is very kind and plain. Those who are tricky, "All right, I am also tricky." We shall adopt all the means of the materialistic persons, simply for Kṛṣṇa. (break) Just like Kṛṣṇa's rāsa dance, any materialistic person at the dead of night will be glad to dance with young girls, what is the difference? (break) But because it was Kṛṣṇa's dancing, so this association of the woman and Kṛṣṇa is taken by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as the first class worship. ramyā kācid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargeṇa yā kalpitā. Kṛṣṇa should become a little tricky with the gopīs, "Oh, you have come in dead of night, what your husband, father would think, and there are so many (indistinct) and saintly (indistinct), please get out immediately." You have got that?
Prabhupāda: :Fantasy? Father is not fantasy. He is fact. You are grown up. You can leave the protection of the father. But how can you deny father? Then you are a rascal. It is not good to live independent of father. If the rich, opulent, very kind, very merciful, why shall I leave? A father is generally, even though he's personally a bad man, he's still, he's kind, merciful to the son. That he is, actually. A rogue, he loves—just like Ajāmila. He was a rogue, but he was taking care of the youngest child. This is nature, we study that even the father is a rogue, he's kind to his children. So practically he does all nonsense things, but giving protection to the family. So why should he give up the protection of father? When we say father, means all-kindness, all-mercifulness, all taking care. Immediately.
Prabhupāda: No, no. Bad way, good way, man proposes, God disposes. You want something, bad or good.... Actually, everything is bad. This body or the fish's body or the dog's body, that is all material body. So everything is bad. But I prefer to get the body of a human being or a dog or a fish or a bird. That is my choice. So God gives you that body. Everywhere God's mercy is there, because whatever you want, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). In the material world, you have come to enjoy. You cannot enjoy. You are thinking.... Just like child. He's playing with something for sometime, again taking another thing, again taking another thing, childish. So similarly we want to enjoy this material world. Sometimes I am thinking it will be convenient if I get a man's body, it will be convenient if I get a tiger's body, it will be convenient if I get a fish's body. So God is supplying you: "All right, you take this body." So what is God's fault? He is very kind.
Prabhupāda: So God reminds him that "You wanted this body; you have got this body." Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). So God is very kind in all circumstances. Now we proposing to enjoy this material world under different situations, and God is helping us. Bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61). You want to wander within this material world. That is your proposal. So, in order to enjoy this material world, you require different types of body. Just like they are trying to go to the moon planet. It requires a different body. So yānti deva-vratā devān: (BG 9.25) this life, you aspire of going to the moon planet; next life, automatically you will go there. Why you are trying unnecessarily to go to the moon planet by sputnik? You'll go there. You just always think of the moon and you'll go to the moon. It is simple process. And by this way, you cannot go. Now, exactly in the same way that you get the body of a fish and you very easily, whole day and night, for so many years, you jump over in the sea. So moon planet is one of the heavenly planets. There is process how to go to moon planet. In the Bhāgavata it is stated. Those who are karma-kāṇḍīya, very, discharging the Vedic ritualistic ceremony, karma-kāṇḍa, they can go to the moon planet or sun planet.
Dr. Sharma: You are so very kind you have given us the temple, and these devotees are such saints.
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is for this purpose. People may come, see God, then you can think of God. There is no difficulty. If you see something, you think of it. That is man-manā bhava. And if you regularly do it then you become a devotee. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī. And when you come to the temple you worship Him. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam (BG 9.26). Worshiping means give and take. Take blessings and offer little fruit or little flower. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam. And if you cannot do anything, just offer your obeisances. Very simple thing. Even the child can perform it. But they will not do it. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhā prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). Why does he not do it? That is explained. Because unless one is sinful, duṣkṛtina... He has got merit, but he's utilizing his merit for sinful activities.
Dr. Sharma: You are very kind. But we will try. It is supernatural. To me...
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Now here is Dr. Sharma. He is Ph.D. in four subject matters, and he is a lawyer, so he's very highly qualified man, and he wants to give his all aid so that...
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So we need his help.
Prabhupāda: Yes. And he is convinced about our bonafideness of this movement. So by his example many other qualified Indians... And it is the business of the Indian. It is Indian culture. They are accepting. Present them most scientifically, and it will be a glory of India.
Dr. Sharma: It is up to us to bring Kṛṣṇa's words now...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.
Prabhupāda: No, no, why one should not call a wife a mother? Is that very great advancement? But this rascal was impotent, he had no other alternative, so he manufactured some idea and people thought, "Oh, he's so devotee of goddess of Kālī that he sees even his wife as mother." This story he told me by Guru Mahārāja personally. He was talking with me privately somewhere, although I was a bad householder. (laughs) He was very kind upon me. And whatever is being done by his blessing, that's all.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda, what time do you take your bath? Because I can get hot..., you know we have a big heater in this building. So for hot water...
Hari-śauri: Sometimes between quarter to one.
Indian man: Right. In fact, several people, even in our community in Poughkeepsie, received letters from Satya Sai Baba's followers that "Here is a letter. Make ten copies and send the ten copies to ten different people. If you don't, Satya Sai Baba's thunderbolt will come and strike your family, and they'll be destroyed." Now no guru ever puts a thunderbolt on his devotee, and I said, "If that is a guru, I'll stay ten thousand miles away from him, because my guru is very kind and he'll bless me." I said, "No guru should ever put a thunderbolt on his devotee."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. You can turn towards this.
Indian man: At Monticello in Catskill... I don't know if you know it. Monticello in Catskill Mountains here? Just about fifty-sixty miles north, there is Muktananda.
Hari-śauri: Muktananda.
And actually happened to be good place. Gradually, all my disciples came. So I had no disturbance. I was living in the Bowery Street, and on my door these bums were lying with urine and wine bottles and everything. Still, they were so respectful. When I'll come, "Yes, you can enter. Please." (laughter) I had no quarrel with them. They were very kind. They welcomed me, they opened the door, "Please go." They also knew that "He's a harmless..." So, platform, if you remain on the spiritual platform, this material condition cannot hamper you. Ahaituky apratihatā. Then yenātmā suprasīdati, in that condition you can execute. First of all, we have to ascertain on which platform we shall stand. And if you want to stand on the spiritual platform, nothing can check it. That is not conditioned. So why not stand directly to the spiritual platform and make you life successful? That is our preaching. People in general, they do not know the importance of the spiritual platform. Therefore they prefer to stay in the material platform. They have no sufficient education.
Prabhupāda: No, no, that, that, there are so many people... If you do not satisfy his senses, everyone is free to run away. That you cannot check. You cannot say, accuse somebody or somebody. Because here everyone is giving voluntary service. Nobody is servant. So if he doesn't like something, at any moment he can go away. At any moment. Just like yesterday the Śāstrī came. So he went away. And somebody, they are coming, going. You cannot check them. Because they are not our paid servants. If they are very kind that they have come here, cooperating with us. But still there is some decency, if one is engaged in some work, all of a sudden he should go away, all of a sudden... That is not very good. That is not very good. Decently, that I used to go, and now in preaching work, so there will be no difficulty, this is the arrangement. Something must be done. All of a sudden, if somebody goes, that isn't very good.
Akṣayānanda: Gosāi Mā.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. No, she was very kind upon me.
Akṣayānanda: Yes, they are very happy.
Hari-śauri: How long is it since you've been to the Rādhā-Dāmodara?
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Hari-śauri: When did you last go?
Prabhupāda: Last? Maybe 1972.
Hari-śauri: About four years. What about that Keśī-ghāṭa?
Akṣayānanda: I didn't have time to find out.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: It is very kind of you that you give this statement. If we give genuine thing, it will act.
Yogi Amrit Desai: Right. This is what I'm doing too. Everyone... We have about 180 people who live permanently in the āśrama, and they all practice celibacy. Everyone wakes up at 4:00, and they sleep by 9:00. And they don't touch even each other. They sleep different quarters. They sit even separately in sat-saṅga. Everything strict. No drugs, no alcohol, no meat, no tea, no coffee, no garlic, no onion.
Prabhupāda: Very good. Yes. We are following this. But you have got any Deity?
Prabhupāda: No... You should be very kind upon... And what we can do? And if I cheat in the name of Bhagavad-gītā, then I become a great leader.
CID Chief: All nation has turned... An extraordinary order, you spreading the message of Kṛṣṇa to the world, message of Bhagavad-gītā.
Prabhupāda: So at least Indians should join this movement. They're feeling the weight, the Western countries. They are opposing means that those who are thoughtful, they are thinking that "If this movement allowed to go on, then our civilization will be finished." That is their... That... They are right. They are right. If these young men, they go on under my instruction, I shall finish their civilization. That's a fact. No meat-eating in Western countries? (chuckling) No intoxication? No illicit sex? No gambling? That means their life is finished. And we are imitating, that "We are becoming advanced in civilization." And we are condemning.
Prabhupāda: If I say (to) somebody, "You are rascal." There is maybe, partially he may be intelligent. But when we say andhā, andhā, then his life is... He cannot see anything. So that is the description given by Bhāgavatam, na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā (SB 7.5.31). They are durāśayā, hopelessly hopeful, trying to adjust things—bahir-artha-māninaḥ—by external energy. Simply wasting time, it cannot be. This is the position. So we are trying little bit and if you help us, it is very kind of you. Everyone should help this movement, prāṇair arthair virair arcair, by sacrificing life, artha money, and intelligence. So you have moved amongst the higher circle, what is the opinion of our government men about this movement?
Devotee: What is it our government people think about our movement?
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) ...we don't say like that. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu...
Dr. Patel: He's very kind man.
Prabhupāda: Kind man, so we are not also bad man.
Dr. Patel: No, no, I don't mean that. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: The thing is that this nationalism is... We have to go beyond that. Actually they're happening, these boys, they're not thinking in terms of nationalism. Otherwise he had no business to come to me and to start this. We are in a different platform, Kṛṣṇa-ism. That is our platform. So we shall go on.
Indian man: (indistinct) (break)
Prabhupāda: Oh, that is very kind of him.
Gurudāsa: We will see...
Prabhupāda: Yes, we will be his guest. He will pay rent. That's all right. Very good.
Gurudāsa: So anyway, he said it verbally. We'll see when Abhirama comes. I think he'll do it.
Prabhupāda: He's gentleman.
Gurudāsa: Yes, he is. He's offering all his prasāda, and he's following ekādaśī. And he told me yesterday... He showed me a picture of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and yourself. And he said he sleeps on his back, and he puts it on his heart.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Acchā.
Prabhupāda: I had one... When I was doing medical business I had one very nice customer. He was my patron also, one Muhammadan doctor, Sriraja Uttina.(?) He was very kind to me. He was just like a father to me. So his system was that in his pharmacy, patent medicine, drugs, medicine, surgical instruments, like that different headings. So suppose, at the sales time, sells some patent medicine. So he has got a box. So he puts the price in the patent medicine. And if he sells some surgical, he puts the price in the surgical pot. In this way, when they want to purchase again, so he would consult his pot, whether there is money. Then he'll allow to purchase. Otherwise not. So he told me, "This is my account. This is my account. When they want to purchase, they consign us something. I shall allow them to purchase so much as I have got in the box." This is... I have seen that gentleman.
Prabhupāda: Maybe. Out of his affection, it is his good will. He can like anyone, any dog, doesn't matter. But I know he liked me. Anyone, by his choice of free will, he can love any damn thing. It doesn't matter. That is called kṛpā-siddhi. "I like this man. This man must be prominent." That is his will. It doesn't matter on qualification. So all these people, they liked me not on my qualification, but out of affection, out of good will. (laughs) Other, a woman. Woman means my mother-in-law. She was woman. Out of affection for her daughter, she would sacrifice everything for the..., so that her daughter may not be unhappy.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Your mother-in-law. You said that when you took sannyāsa, she could not take it.
Prabhupāda: No, I must admit she was very, very kind. Very, very kind. Although she's woman, but on account of her daughter... Whatever I'll command, she'll suffer. Devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṟṇām (SB 11.5.41). We become indebted in this way with so many people. Devarṣi.
Guest (1): We are very grateful to you for your very kind work, but we have got something to do for ourself.
Prabhupāda: (break) ...therefore writing so many books. Bhagavad-gītā As It Is we are presenting. The Sanskrit verses you have written? Oh, very good. Hm. Nice. You are studying Sanskrit?
Gopa-vṛndeśa: Yes, I work at the Press.
Jayatīrtha: He works in Los Angeles at the Press.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What is your name?
Gopa-vṛndeśa: Gopa-vṛndeśa.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Gopa-vṛndeśa dāsa is his name.
Prabhupāda: Oh. Hm. Done very nice. Hm. Some others, they have opened account or...?
Prabhupāda: I think also. He is a very kind doctor. Whole family is attentive. Living is... That we have already discussed. Trees also live for many years. That is not wanted. To live for living forever, that is wanted. Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). That should be the human endeavor, not this dog race, changing condition, from four legs to four wheels. This logic was never taught, from four legs to four wheels. They are astonished.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And anthills. Yes, it's a very unique presentation of the philosophy. They have never heard it so nicely adapted to the modern situation.
Prabhupāda: So they have got farther two days, so I think they will be able to do it. That, my, apartment in Juhu.
Prabhupāda: It is very kind of you. So...
Indian Astronomer: As Patita-pāvana dāsa told me... I informed him, I am a student of religion and also working for religion. Single-hand, I made attempt to propagate Vedic concept and Vedic religion for the past forty years. I am not able to find out any help. But fortunately, when I informed about Your Holiness and saw in newspapers also, I have found you are the incarnation of Indian gods, (Prabhupāda chuckles) from my point of view, because the mission which is not fulfilled by other ācāryas, even Swami Vivekananda, so many. I know... I studied all variety of prophets. But it is only fulfilled by Your Holiness.
Bhavānanda: In Krishnanagar. The magistrate who is hearing the case is a real gentleman, very kind, understanding. He had been to Māyāpura about three or four months before this incident. He came with his wife and children. We gave him very nice prasādam and showed him the movie "Hare Kṛṣṇa People." And on the 25th of November, that's Rāsa-pūrṇimā festival, and that is big day at Māyāpura. In three days probably over half million people will come to the temple. We sell so many books, magazines. It never used to be like that, Śrīla Prabhupāda, until you built this center. Now the Rāsa-pūrṇimā festival has turned into a big, big event in Bengal. Everyone comes to Māyāpura on pilgrimage, just like Dol-pūrṇimā. Thousands and thousands of people, they come.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, in Vṛndāvana, it's... (break)
Prabhupāda: (conversation with Ānanda Mahārāja-Bengali) (break) Who is here?
Upendra: Śrīla Prabhupāda?
| Page Title: | Very kind (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Mayapur, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 30 of Oct, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=53, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 53 |