Prabhupāda: She likes this... (microphone noise) But also marriage problem, one must have a choice. So if we force something, that is not (chuckling) good. At least, in your country it is not... Of course, in your country, the husband...the boys and girls are, I mean to say, not major, whatever the parents force, that is another thing. When the boys and girls are grown up, it is not possible. Just like in India, there was svayaṁvara. Svayaṁvara means the girl will select her own bridegroom. That was allowed to princess. Princess, highly qualified princess. So the father would make a challenge, that "This is the condition. One who can fulfill this condition, I'll offer my daughter to him." So this was generally amongst the princes. So there was great fight. (laughs) Just like Arjuna. Arjuna married Draupadī. You know the condition? Her father made condition: there was a fish on the ceiling and one wheel was circling. So one has to pierce the eyes of the fish through the hole of the circle. And he cannot see directly. He has to see down. There is a reflection in waterpot. In this way, he had to pierce. (laughs) "In this way, he has to fix, and in one stroke the eye will be pierced. One who is successful, my daughter is for him." So nobody could, except only Arjuna. He was such expert bowman that he... Similarly, Lord Rāmacandra also made... In the palace there was a big bow. It was all hardened, made of iron. So long standing it was there. So one day, Sītā was sweeping the floor, and with her left hand she pushed the bow. It was very heavy. Nobody could... It was very weighty, heavy. And with her left hand she pushed it. So her father said, "Oh, this is wonderful girl. She can lift this. Nobody can lift it and with her left hand she pushed it? Oh, then my son-in-law will be he who can break this." (laughter) So he made a challenge that anyone, any prince, who will come and break this bow, he'll be my son-in-law. So it was only possible by Rāmacandra, Lord Rāmacandra. So these challenges were made amongst the kṣatriyas. Otherwise, generally, the parents would select. We were married.
Weight (Conversations)
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam?
Hayagrīva: You have a glossary at the end of the first volume. Is that the type of glossary...?
Prabhupāda: Yes. I have given glossary. You can follow that principle. Yes. And at the end of each book, glossary, index, will carry weight.
Hayagrīva: Well, that was fairly terse if I remember, though. That was fairly terse. I mean very short, brief. Definitions were very...
Prabhupāda: One thing may appear to be very simple and to other, terse, but you do your own duty. Another thing: where is the Bhagavad-gītā with my full translation and synonyms? Where is that manuscript?
Hayagrīva: I have... There are several existing manuscripts. I have... The manuscript I went over is in Columbus.
Prabhupāda: Whole?
Hayagrīva: The total manuscript is there.
Prabhupāda: So we have to prepare for next publication, revised and enlarged, giving in the same process: original verse, transliteration, synonyms, and translation, and purport.
Hayagrīva: English synonyms. Pradyumna was preparing...
Pradyumna: I've already started that, the first chapter.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: (aside:) Come on.
Śyāmasundara: ...the whole. So Kṛṣṇa, He is the source of our individual nature also. We are... We exist as part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Because He has personality, we have personality. Just like you have a piece of gold. The ring has a certain color and weight and characteristics of gold, the metal. You find the same qualities in the mine. So we have the same qualities as Kṛṣṇa has because He..., we are parts and parcels of Him.
Impersonalist: Then is it necessary to see Kṛṣṇa in the form that is depicted in the pictures, or can one see Kṛṣṇa in other forms?
Śyāmasundara: Yes, one can see Kṛṣṇa on three different levels of realization. The one level is this impersonal brahma-jyotir-merging level. That is called the elementary step, the first step towards God realization. And then the second step is when one realizes that God is isolated or localized within his heart, and this is the stage the great yogis and mystics attain. They are able to control their travel and attain other certain mystic powers. And then the highest step of self-realization is when one realizes God is the supreme person and meets Him face to face and spends his eternal life in the association of God in a personal relationship. There are five different kinds of personal relationships one can have with God: as His friend, as His father or His parent, or as His servant, like that, or as His lover. So if one, if one comes to this stage of realization, that "I am part and parcel of God," that "God is a person; therefore I am a person, and I remain person eternally," then he gets fixed up in his final, original, constitutional position, relationship, and there is no more higher place to go. So... And in this relationship, he understands that "Because God is very great and I am very small, then my position is to serve God." So I engage in a personal serving relationship, with a personal serving mode. In this way I'm always satisfied. I'm always relating with God, in everything I do, serving Him with everything I have.
Prabhupāda: That may be, but you may be cheated, that is another thing. Suppose you ask something from somebody. If he cheats you, that may be your mistake or his, but the process is the same; you cannot avoid it. If you want to know God, then you have to go to a person who knows God. You might have gone to a person who does not know. That is another thing. You went to a wrong person. But actually if you want to know God, you must have to go to a person who knows God. That you have to search out. That requires intelligence. But you cannot give up the idea. Because you have been cheated, "I could not get information"; therefore, you cannot give up that business. You have to find out somebody else. But because you say "I have been cheated. I could not get the right information. I stop this business," that is not allowed. You must. Therefore, according to Vedic order it is said, tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Abhigacchet means you must to a person to understand that science of God. You must go to a guru or a man who knows. Guru means who is more intelligent. Guru means weight, heavy, heavier, heavier in knowledge. So you have to find out a person who is heavier than you, not ordinary. Must go. Not that may go or may not go. No. Must go. Tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). And what is the symptom of guru? Śrotriyaṁ. Means he has heard about God from his superior, his guru. Śrotriyaṁ. And how can I know that he has heard from his superior about God? He might say that "Yes, I have heard," but what symptoms? Brahma-niṣṭham. Brahma-niṣṭham means that he has become a complete devotee of God, result. Just like a man, physician.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Svarūpa Dāmodara: I'm not very sure. But they produce imitation milk, the milk produced from soya bean. That's available in the market. Many, in fact I find, many people do not buy the natural milk. They buy the imitation milk, milk produced from the bean, soya bean. They say that milk contains too much fat. So that makes them very fat. So they want to control their weight by taking the imitation milk which contains less protein and...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Milk will disappear. Harer nāma... (CC Adi 17.21). (pause)
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Prabhupāda, buffalo, buffalo milk is as good as cow's milk?
Prabhupāda: No. It contains more fat. Milk means cow's milk. If you want to derive milk profit, then it is cow's milk. Otherwise every animal has got milk. And next to cow's milk is goat's milk. Goat. Buffalo milk is not so nice.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: It's difficult to digest.
Prabhupāda: No, they therefore mix with water.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: In Manipur we use mostly buffalo milk because cow's milk is not very plenty. Very expensive also.
Prabhupāda: Everywhere. In India, cows are disappearing by slaughterhouse. (pause) (break) The scientists cannot make drinking water from sea water?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. They can make.
Prabhupāda: No.
Śrutakīrti: Gain weight.
Prabhupāda: You have seen all our books.
Father Tanner: I have got several of your books.
Prabhupāda: I see. Thank you. So we are approaching people to become God conscious. That's all. (Aside:) Get the light on. And in the Bhāgavata it is stated, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). That is first-class religion which teaches people how to love God. That is first-class religion. It doesn't matter whether it is Hindu religion or Christian religion or Mohammedan religion, if it teaches the followers how to love God, then it is first-class.
Father Tanner: I think I'm almost only teaching them to love one another.
Prabhupāda: Yes. No. One another, that is going on in so many ways. You see? That has never become successful. Neither it will become successful. That is a fact. Because here the atmosphere is so surcharged with material ideas that even if I want to love you, you may not like it. That is the position here. So you cannot be successful to teach people to love one another. That will never be successful. That has never been successful. But if you can teach people how to love God...
Prabhupāda: Yes. The whole defect is that we are missing the goal of life. Therefore we do not know how to conduct business with the goal of life. At the present moment, in every field, they are missing the goal of life.
Malcolm: They seem oppressed by weight of number, that there are too many.
Prabhupāda: No, goal is one.
Malcolm: No, people.
Prabhupāda: No, people do not know the goal. That is the defect of modern civilization. Not modern, that is the defect of material existence.
Malcolm: But a number of people over a certain size make a goal by the number of people.
Prabhupāda: Hm? What is that?
Pradyumna: When a number of people think in a certain way?
Malcolm: No. The number of people make the goal not of them, but of the number.
Paramahaṁsa: Mass. Mass opinion usually forms society.
Malcolm: Not... No, not mass opinion. Not the, not the involvement of the people, but the number of the people.
Prabhupāda: The millions and trillions number...
Prabhupāda: Instead of making the state center, make God center.
Popworth: Do you think that the Christian monasteries practiced this in the past, or perhaps even today?
Haṁsadūta: Well, today, no one is practicing it. Otherwise why people are leaving the church? No one is in the monastery, no one is in the church. They are abandoning it. Because there is no center. As soon as there is a center, it will carry weight. Just like a wheel. If there's a hub, if there's a hub, that it will carry weight.
Popworth: I have not abandoned the church. I have embraced it.
Haṁsadūta: Anyway, our point is... We're speaking in general. In general, because the center, factually the center, God, is missing, somehow or other, He's missing, therefore people are also giving it up. They can't take it. Because it's not practical. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is practical. It's not a sentiment or a dry philosophy. It's a practical philosophy of life, absolute philosophy of life, how to do everything without any pollution, without any contamination. Just like we are experiencing by our so-called advancement that we have created so many modern facilities for comfort, but the result is, alongside, simultaneously, there's an equal disadvantage. Just like we create a motor car. But we create air pollution. Or you create a highway. But you have to create snowplow to clear the highway. You have to create police. You have to create so many other things.
Prabhupāda: And there is list of accidents, injuries.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Reporter (2): Makes it, weighs heavily on the mind?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Sometimes you have to take...
Reporter (2): So that's the reason why? It makes the mind lighter?
Prabhupāda: No. Actually if you keep clean yourself, then your mind is also clean.
Reporter (2): But it is... Is it really because hair presses down on the mind? Is that true?
Haṁsadūta: It's a burden, troublesome.
Reporter (2): I mean a physical burden.
Haṁsadūta: Just like you have to get some, some hair cream and then a comb and a mirror and...
Reporter (2): Well, I don't. I just get up and go like that. But I mean, I mean, I mean...
Haṁsadūta: You understand the point.
Reporter (2): Well, I mean. I do and I don't. I mean physically...
Prabhupāda: Working under condition. Working under condition. Just like you take a little needle, it will go immediately down the water, and you give a big log, it will not go. The weight of the needle and the weight of the big log, much different. Still, the needle will go; the gravitation will work. But to the log it will not work.
Karandhara: Well, there is a counter-law called buoyancy.
Prabhupāda: So anyway, there are so many laws. If the laws are fulfilled, then your so-called gravitation works. So who made the laws? That is the point. Under certain law, condition, it will not act, and under certain condition it will act. So who made the condition? That is the question. You cannot make finalize the laws of gravitation. It is also under condition. Who makes this condition? That is the point. (break) ...Lord Rāmacandra constructed the bridge with stone on the ocean, it began to float. So He is the condition-maker. He made the condition. He changed the condition, "Now these stones will float." That's all. Therefore God is supreme. (break) Law of gravitation did not work when Kṛṣṇa lifted the Govardhana Hill. (break) So that is nice. The scientific discoveries act under relative condition. That is not absolute, final. If such and such conditions are there, then the so-called scientific laws will act. Otherwise it will not act. (break) ...see. But you cannot see even so many things. Now you cannot see there, what is there. So what is that seeing power?
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: It is in the Tenth Canto. Bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padam. Just like this ocean, if it becomes a small pit, then don't require a big ship to cross over. You just... Like this. It can be reduced. By Kṛṣṇa's desire, it can be done so. Just like at the present moment... Formerly, people used to go to London from India, from Bombay, at least, in fifteen days. Now it doesn't take even fifteen hours. It takes only nine hours. How it has been reduced? Because there is a process to reduce. Similarly, the supreme spiritual process is like that. It can be reduced to any quantity. Aṇi... This is called aṇimā-siddhi. It can be expanded also, to the greatest length. Mahimā-śakti. All-powerful means not that "I cannot do, I cannot, I can do this only." No, anything He can do. That is all powerful. Aṇimā, laghimā, mahimā. Just like all these big, big planets, they are floating in the sky. This is called laghimā, weightless, no weight. Those who are going to the moon planet, they are finding out weightlessness. How it has become weightless? Such a big, huge... Just this planet. With so many seas and mountains and cities and buildings. But it is floating. That's a fact. It is floating like a swab. How it is floating? You can say something nonsense, but the actual fact is this.
Mahāṁsa: You give the example in Nectar of Devotion...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Mahāṁsa: ...that when the..., dead bodies will sink in the water, but a live, when the body has life, it can float on water. So when Kṛṣṇa enters...
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.
Mahāṁsa: ...impregnates...
Prabhupāda: If you follow these principles, automatically the loving propensity will awaken. It is already there. It is not artificial. It has simply to be awakened by a certain process. So that process we are prescribing, to rise early in the morning, have maṅgala-ārātrika, worship Deity, offer food stuff, eat prasādam, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Anyone who will follow this principle, he will become purified. There is no need of education, because the devotion is already there. By following these rules and regulations, it will be awakened. As, as, as in this straw, there is fire. Now, you ignite it, and just fan it, and the fire will come. It is already there, fire. But you know, you must know the process how to ignite fire. Huge fire will come. You can burn the whole garden from this straw. Is it not? So you must know the process, how to ignite fire. Fire is already there, in these trees, in these straws, in this grass. Fire is already there. That, that is the process. First of all, you must know that fire is already there. Now ignite. Then it comes more. Then burning, blazing. So the blazing fire is required. But that will come gradually. If you follow the process. That is described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the Śikṣāṣṭakam, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). The first step will be cleansing of the heart. And in the heart there is God, already. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). The Lord is situated in everyone's heart. So actually yoga system is to find out the Lord within the heart. That is meditation. Lord is there already: simply we have to find it out. That, that if, if you are informed that within this park there is one hundred weight of gold is lying there. Now you have to find out. But the indication is there. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). The Lord, the Supreme Lord, is situated in everyone's heart. Now find him out. That is yoga system. So these people, without finding out the Lord by practicing... (end)
Prabhupāda: Yes. The whole thing is managed by the law of gravitation, but when Kṛṣṇa lifted the hill, there was no weight. He's not conditioned by the law of gravity. He can lift up. We cannot do because we are conditioned. And when they cannot understand God's inconceivable power, they think it is all mythology. Because he is a rascal, he thinks Kṛṣṇa also rascal.
Bali Mardana: They try to put Kṛṣṇa within the framework of their own...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Because Kṛṣṇa is kindly become visible to our eyes, these rascals immediately take Him as one of us. By His kindness He's coming to be visible by us, to listen Him, His instructions, but these mūḍhās will take Him as ordinary human being. Mūḍhā nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So the consciousness, my consciousness... The consciousness of those living cells are dependent on my consciousness.
Prabhupāda: No, that consciousness is not developed. It is not equal to your consciousness. Just like a child's consciousness is not equal to your consciousness because he's not yet developed, similarly, this human life is the full-fledged... Not full-fledged. Almost full demonstration of consciousness. We have to utilize it for higher understanding. From material conditions, the consciousness develops. On account of loss of consciousness, they become godless. So it requires time. So this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is to help them to develop consciousness very quickly. Yes. Otherwise, it will take millions of years. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścit yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). We are helping people to develop that original consciousness very quickly. (break)
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes, gradually everything will be barren. At the end of annihilation everything will be barren and by scorching the sunlight will be twelve times higher. So everything will be barren and burned into ashes.
Devotee: Hiraṇyākṣa was taking the gold from the earth. Now they are taking the oil. So the weight, the oil makes weight in some parts of the globe, no? So when they take it and they put it some place else or they convert it in the earth, the earth is losing weights in some parts. That is no going to cause...
Prabhupāda: I think I have explained this. Instead of contemplating what will happen to this world, you have got a short duration of life, say fifty, sixty years. You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and go back to home, back to Godhead. Don't consider what will happen to this world. The nature will take care of it. You don't puzzle your brain with these thoughts. You utilize whatever time you have got in your possession and go back to home, back to Godhead. (break) You cannot check it. Best thing is that you mold your life and go back to home, back to Godhead. "Oil in your own machine." Instead of thinking what will happen... They will happen. Because people will go on with their rascal civilization, natural consequences will be there. You better take advantage of whatever time you have got and become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious and go back to home. (break) ...and we are thinking, "You are crazy. You are losing the opportunity of life." Therefore I wrote that "Who is Crazy?" They have got this opportunity, human form of life, to make a solution of all problems, but they do not care for it. They are simply allured, the temporary happiness of this body, and the body will finish within some years. That they do not take care. They think it is all in all, body.
Yaśodānandana: Actually they have run a survey in America and they have found out that the greatest drug takers are housewives. The housewives, they are taking these weight-watching pills and they are addictive amphetamines. They are taking them and it gives them energy and they don't want to eat so much. So they are very skinny. They drink a little coffee and smoke cigarettes and take some pills and that is all during the day. Finished. And they remain very slim. And they think this is nice. So gradually they are replacing foodstuffs with pills.
Prabhupāda: That is nature's way because there will be no food in the future. So nature is training them how to live without food.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The whole civilization is becoming expert in killing and dying. That's all.
Prabhupāda: You have got some agricultural experience?
Devotee: Not at all.
Prabhupāda: Not at all. Anyway, that not very difficult.
Devotee: No. I can take advice from the experts. That man with the white beard there, he's supposed to know very much. He's supposed to be very expert, and he speaks English. He's supposed to have agricultural experience.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Yaśodānandana: Jayapatāka had no agricultural experience.
Prabhupāda: Any city boy (indistinct) (end)
Paramahaṁsa: It weighs a hundred and ten tons. And it's 363 years old, this log. They say it grew that long. In America we have some redwood trees in California they say are many thousands of years old.
Amogha: This is a type of eucalyptus?
Paramahaṁsa: It says Eucalyptus diversicol.
Prabhupāda: Bhāgavata says, kiṁ taromana jīvanti. You want to prolong your life. The trees—they do not prolong their life? So if you prolong your life, does it mean that you are better than a tree? Kim taromana jīvanti. If prolonging life is your mission, the trees automatically do that without any scientific knowledge. Then what is the value of your science? Kim taromana jīvanti. Do they not live for thousands of years? What is the value of such living? If the tree is living, standing for 10,000 years, then what is the value of this 10,000 years? So if you live like a tree, without any benefit, then what is the value of your life?
Jayadharma: Some people say that trees may be very happy. How do we know?
Prabhupāda: If you want to become happy like that, be. Stand up. Stand up on the bench and laugh—be happy. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa also do in public.
Paramahaṁsa: But he cannot do anything like lift Goverdhana Hill or have sixteen thousand wives.
Prabhupāda: That is both for them. Let them lift only one mound weight. Then they will come. But they cannot do, neither of them. That is impossible. They have not killed any demons. They are taking advantage of the foolishness of some people. That's all.
Amogha: The only quality they have exhibited is expertness in cheating. That is their qualification. (break)
Paramahaṁsa: (in car) Because so many of them are saying that "I am God," they become envious of one another, and then they fight and expose each other.
Prabhupāda: Competition. God's competition.
Paramahaṁsa: Yes. And then everyone can see that they are simply materialists.
Prabhupāda: Not only he, but there are many others claim to become God. All of them should be brought into the court.
Paramahaṁsa: Didn't Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura do that once?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: No, they... Just like the ass. He does not know what is happening. Therefore he is agreeing, "All right, load with me any number of heavy weight. I shall carry." He does not know it is suffering. He has accepted the service of the man, bearing so much load, and he is giving little grass. The grass he can take from here, but he thinks that "He is maintaining me." Just see. This is ignorance. Therefore mūḍhā, this word is used. Suffering, suffering, suffering. Material nature is awarding sufferings after suffering. Still, they are not wake up. Who cares for suffering? (break) ...stand this philosophy that acceptance of this material body is suffering. They will say, "Oh, I have got this American body. I have got so much opulence. What is suffering?" He'll not believe. But real philosophy is that acceptance of this material body, whatever it may be, the demigod or dog, it is suffering. Who will understand? Even the demigods, they do not understand.
Devotee (1): They say that "It's natural to die. So everybody has to die. So we just have to accept it."
Prabhupāda: No, the philosophy is very simple. You don't want suffering, but where is a person who has got this material body is not suffering?
Paramahaṁsa: But then they will say, "Where is a person who has not got this material body?"
Prabhupāda: So scientists, the psychologist... As I was a student of psychology and our professor, a big man, Dr. W. S. Urquhart, he said that "By studying the brains of man and woman, we have found the highest brain substance found in man, sixty-four ounce by weight." You may deny. This is the statement of a big psychologist. You can shake your head, but this is the scientific words by big psychologist. You can note down his name, Dr. W.S. Urquhart, professor of psychology in the Scottish Churches College in 1918-20.
Woman reporter: Oh, dear, no wonder. 1918-1920, that means... O.K. I see now what you're thinking about. That was many, many years ago.
Prabhupāda: So can you give any proof since then that the woman's... In 1920... She does not take it?
Nitāi: She does not take it. Somehow they think that the brain is no longer small. If it was small, then, it is not small today.
Prabhupāda: But where is the proof...
Woman reporter: You do not believe that there has been advancement of science since 1920?
Nitāi: Well, if the brain has been ascertained as being half the size then why should it change by now? Should it change?
Prabhupāda: ...still avoid that position. (laughter) Where is the independence? Where is the independence of woman that she has to carry the weight of the pregnancy and the man is free? What is the answer to this question? Hmm? Answer Viśakha.
Viśakha: A woman is trapped by her body. She has no choice. By her body she must.
Prabhupāda: So she is already dependent on nature's law that man is free from becoming pregnant and the woman has to take the burden. Then where is the independence, equal right? Equal right means sometimes man may become pregnant, sometimes woman may become pregnant, but why only woman should become pregnant and the man goes away and she has to take care of the children, beg from government or this and that? Is that independence? Eh?
Satsvarūpa: For them, the independence has become contraception. "I don't have to have the child," they say.
Prabhupāda: That means you commit another sinful activity. Then you become dependent on nature. You'll be punished. The punishment goes to you. In this way... And the whole thing becomes cumbrous. So where is the benefit of equal right, independence? Phalena paricīyate. We have to see the result of every action—whether the result is beneficial. If the result is not beneficial—the action is not beneficial. There is cases of rape cases. The victims are women. Why the victim is not man? Why? In every rape case the sufferer, or the victim, is woman. And why not the man?
Prabhupāda: Then? Where is the independence? Why artificial independence?
Harikeśa: In this brain weight matter, the sixty-four ounce and thirty-six ounce, is that every brain, male brain, is...?
Prabhupāda: No, no.
Harikeśa: No. That is what they think you've said, that every male brain is sixty-four ounces, every woman is thirty-six ounces.
Prabhupāda: No, no. The highest brain substance found in man is sixty-four ounce.
Harikeśa: They did not understand that.
Nitāi: He said it clearly.
Prabhupāda: And the highest brain substance in woman found, thirty-six ounce. So that proportion is always there. It may be twenty ounce, forty ounce, but brain substance in man is more than the woman. That is a fact, always.
Harikeśa: Is that in the Vedas also?
Jayatīrtha: (in car:) It says, "Forgive me if this story is not well-written. I am a woman. My brain weighs less than a man's, and I am not equal in intelligence." So she admits. "His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the seventy-seven year-old founder of the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, said so Wednesday. The Society is dedicated to peace in the world through love of God and relinquishment of all things material. The Swami spoke seated cross-legged on an expensive looking cushion surrounded by fresh flowers, microphones and burning incense in a conference room he rented at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel. He is in town for a Kṛṣṇa parade at 1:30 p.m., Saturday down State Street in which he will ride on a flower-bedecked float. He then will fly to Philadelphia for more celebration and philosophical chats. He looked occasionally at his gold watch as he explained his life philosophy. His adoring disciple, five men, knelt at his side. 'The MAN,' " capital M-A-N, "he said, 'who loves God, controls his sense, is clean inside and out, is simple and tolerant and uses knowledge he has acquired in practical life...' "
Prabhupāda: Intolerant?
Jayatīrtha: No, "and tolerant." " 'Such MEN,' " capital M-E-N again, "he said, 'are first-class citizens and should be advisors to the world. Second and third-class MEN have not found God and should be administrators and workers.' " Not exactly right. "He spoke thirty minutes and never mentioned women. I asked how women fit into his system. 'Women,' he said, 'is not equal in intelligence to man. Man's brain weighs sixty-four ounces; women's weighs thirty-six ounces. It is just a fact.' He continued, 'Women are meant to assist men. That is all.' He said women do not figure in his class system except as daughters or wives. 'An unmarried woman presumably is classless. Is that,' asked a male reporter..."
Rādhāvallabha: Because it is in vapor form. It has not condensed yet.
Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, but it is weighty.
Rādhāvallabha: It is waiting for the proper temperature.
Prabhupāda: Then everything is conditional. Everything conditional.
Rādhāvallabha: So these conditions are part of nature.
Prabhupāda: That is all right. But you cannot say, "This is the law: 'Everything will come down.' " These things are not coming down. So if there is... Not only this cloud, so many planets, hundreds and millions and millions of tons, how they are flying? How they are stayed on the sky? Everyone knows it.
Rādhāvallabha: Each planet has its own gravitational force.
Prabhupāda: That may be. I say it is condition. Under certain condition... When Rāmacandra throws stones for a bridging, the stones were floating. The stones did not go down.
Rādhāvallabha: Well, we can see in these inborn laws of nature all these things are going on. We don't see where there is need of some person behind it. These things are going on. Each planet has its own gravitational force; therefore they are balancing each other in the universe.
Prabhupāda: You do that. You float one ball if you are so confident.
Saurabha: The slab is not strong enough to have so much weight on it.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh.
Saurabha: It has to be on the ground floor. We were thinking of making a godown there in the back, in back of the temple. When we build the temple, we build also a godown there.
Girirāja: Mr. Menon is willing to move upstairs.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Girirāja: Mr. Menon, who has a flat on the ground floor, he is willing to shift upstairs if we want to trade.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Let's have a look at his apartment today.
Prabhupāda: So, you can make down.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That can be done.
Prabhupāda: What is that strong?
Ambarīṣa: They can lift all kinds of weight and fight very strongly. Very strong people. So they're not starving.
Prabhupāda: No, no, they are stronger than the lions and the elephant? Are they stronger than these animals? Are they? Are the Russians stronger than the elephant and the lion?
Harikeśa: But they're stronger than the Europeans.
Prabhupāda: Then the lion is better than them. The elephant is better than them. Why do you call them, "They are animals"? They are better situated. One lion can kill hundreds of Russians. Then lion is better than the Russian? You have to accept that.
Harikeśa: I mean, but they're not poor because they're so, you know, they're well fed.
Prabhupāda: There everyone is poor, begging. You are talking theoretically. I went to Moscow. The taxi driver was wanting something excess. They are so poor, begging, "Give me something more." They are so poor. Most of the people, they are walking on the street. There is no taxi. Nobody can pay for taxi. This is their situation.
Harikeśa: Yes, but why should somebody be rich and I be poor? What gives him the right to have money?
Prabhupāda: That is everywhere. That is called, that... He is born in a rich family; I am born in a poor family. So why this is happening?
Prabhupāda: Yes. That adjustment is not solution.
Akṣayānanda Swami: You said once, putting the weight from your head to your shoulder.
Prabhupāda: Ha?
Akṣayānanda Swami: You are carrying a heavy weight I remember you said once. You're carrying heavy weight here, to take the pain you put it here. Then again back here. But still the weight is there.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Harikeśa: The scientists came up with another one for enjoyment. That they cut this little cord that makes the sperm come into the semen and in this way they can have sex life like anything and they're actually not killing. (Man shouts greeting in background)
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jai! Jaya. Semen, what is that?
Harikeśa: Well they say anyway, that... into the semen so they cut this little cord, that tube or something, that has the semen go into the sperm, so the sperm never gets into the semen. So therefore they can have sex life but they'll be no reproduction.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So if you like, you can do that.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I don't want to.
Prabhupāda: (chuckles) What directly He says, you have to take. And if you interpret, that can be interpreted.
Acyutānanda: They have rewritten the Bible, "Thou shalt not murder."
Prabhupāda: (break) ...can be used as paper weight. (laughter) (break) ...use anything for Kṛṣṇa.
Yaśodānandana: ...temples they are worshiping this Dvārakā-śilā with the śalagrāma-śilā.
Prabhupāda: That's all right, but we have no such instruction. (end)
Mādhavānanda: Crossbreed. And it is very huge bull. They raise it only for slaughtering, for getting a large quantity of meat. One bull, one buffalo, weighs hundreds and hundreds of pounds. And they sell it for half million dollars for one, so that they can breed it with others and make many. In the airports, when we are distributing books, we meet many farmers who have slaughter ranches. Whenever they say "farmer," usually it's for slaughtering. (break)
Jayādvaita: ...in Wisconsin we saw that there are many dairy cows. They are raising them especially for milk. It's called America's dairyland. And they have many, many big dairy cows. And they are getting so much milk. We were preaching that "If you take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you'll have the richest state, because you have so many cows, and we are preaching that people should drink milk and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. So your state will be the richest."
Prabhupāda: No. We can.... From milk, we can make so many nice foods. You take ghee, and from ghee, from grains, from fruits, you make so many varieties. Just like dahl, pulses, soak it in the water and then fry in the ghee and put masalā, and it is so nice salty preparation, dahl mutta. Then make samosā. You introduce these things, dahl mut(?), samosā, jalebīs, they will like. They have never tasted all these. Sandeśa, rasagullā, pantoa,(?) so many varieties from milk, only milk.
Mādhavānanda: In the restaurant in New York, many, many respectable people come, and they come once and they come back again and again and again.
Hari-śauri: And weighed so much.
Prabhupāda: Yes, and weight was so much. (pause) The time was not so bad. If you take some cash, thousand, two thousand rupees with you, you can safely walk on the street. Now if somebody knows that he has got thousand rupees cash with him, maybe he will be killed. The bank, they are so much afraid, they keep police in bank, police guard, always.
Hari-śauri: They have so much security systems and TV cameras. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...not working?
Hari-śauri: Is there any kind of a pain killer or anything?
Prabhupāda: No.
Hari-śauri: Nothing we can get from India or anything like that?
Prabhupāda: No, don't worry. It will be.... (break)
Prabhupāda: Because the living entity is there, matter is generated. Just like a tree, living entity is there, and big log, wood is generated.
Rūpānuga: Like that stone. That stone is increasing it's weight, so when someone goes to see the stone he sees, ah, the stone is bigger and heavier also. So that increased material or matter that makes up the bigger size of the stone, is that matter being generated from the soul?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rūpānuga: From the spirit soul. So spirit soul has power...
Prabhupāda: Mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate. Similarly, from the spirit soul everything has come out.
Rūpānuga: So spirit soul can create matter.
Prabhupāda: Actually, from life matter is generated.
Rūpānuga: Jaya.
Prabhupāda: Not from matter life is generated. That is wrong.
Sadāpūta: There are some people who have done measurements and...
Mr. Boyd: How do we handle these people who don't seem to want to carry their own weight, though, Prabhupāda? The ones who don't want to work and help produce this food?
Prabhupāda: They should be trained up. Therefore Vedic civilization is training. Some section of the people, they should be very intellectuals, brain, just like to maintain this body we require first of all the brain. If the brain is not order, then other parts, they may be there, but they are also useless. So similarly, in the society, some intellectuals should be maintained. They are called brāhmaṇas, and some of the brāhmaṇas, they are sannyāsīs. They are simply meant for giving good instruction. They should personally become very good and intellectual, and they should give instruction to other people what is the value of life, how to live. This is one section. They should be free from the anxiety of maintaining themselves. The society should treat them as children and give them all necessities, bare necessities, not they are meant for living very luxuriously. No. Simple living. Then the next class, kṣatriyas, the politicians, administrators, they are also required to give protection to the people from injury. Kṣatriya, kṣat means injury, and trāyate, "one who saves people from injury." It is kṣatriya's duty. So kṣatriya should protect all the living entities, including the animals. They are also subjects. So the first, intellectual brāhmaṇas, then kṣatriya. Then vaiśyas, their business is to produce food. Food production you can do by agriculture, kṛṣi, and by giving protection to the cows.
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa instruction, not to become Kṛṣṇa. If you want to become Kṛṣṇa, then you are not guru; you are cheater. Suppose you are working for master. If you say, "My master has fixed up this price. You cannot change it," then you are honest salesman. And if you place yourself that "I am the master," then you are cheater. The cheater cannot be teacher. Teacher is he who simply teaches what Kṛṣṇa has said, that's all. He's teacher. That is not difficult. Everyone can do. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, yāre dekha, tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa: (CC Madhya 7.128) "Whomever you meet, you simply speak to him the instruction of Kṛṣṇa." Then you become guru. And if you don't say that, if you manufacture your own words, then you are cheater, you are not teacher. So the so-called gurus, they are cheater. They want to become Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they are cheater. And it is very easy thing. If you cheat people that "You take this mantra, and you become God..." Is God so easy thing, to become God? But they want to be cheated. "Purchasing mantra, I shall become God." They want to be cheated. They do not think that "Whether I can actually become God?" They do not take the weight of His existence. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. So what is the time now.
Devotees: (offer obeisances)
Prabhupāda: Prasādam (Hindi) (end)
Prabhupāda: Not blindly. But you must know... Just like if you accept the government, and the government orders, "This man should be hanged," you have to accept it. You cannot protest that "The government has ordered this man should be hanged. It should be protested." And who will care for your protest? Government is government. You cannot criticize. You may criticize on account of your less intelligence, but government order is all. Is it not? If government orders that "This man should be hanged," can you say anything against it? It will not be accepted. Similarly, if you know that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, then as Arjuna said, sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye yan māṁ vadasi keśava (BG 10.14). Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitram (BG 10.12). Unless you understand Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's personality, you will try to weight the strength of His words, the value of His words. But if you understand other statement... Just like Kṛṣṇa says mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7), "I am the supreme authority." So if He is the supreme authority, then whatever He has said, it is all right. But if you have doubt about He's supreme authority, then you will find out His fault. That is the defect. So if Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the supreme authority..."
Prabhupāda: We are not talking of so many gurus, we are talking of real guru, that's all, real guru. Real guru is he who talks in disciplic succession of Kṛṣṇa. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). That is guru. The bumifor(?) guru is no guru. Avaiṣṇavo gurur na syāt. Anyone who is not Vaiṣṇava, he's not guru. First, He says in the Bhagavad-gītā, Bhagavān, ya idaṁ paramaṁ guhyaṁ mad-bhakteṣv abhidhāsyati (Bg 18.68). Find out this. He is guru, who is preaching what Kṛṣṇa has taught, he's guru. Not that anyone and everyone becomes a guru. If you want to be cheated by such rascal guru, that is your business, but who is guru, that is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Anyone who preaches the teachings of Kṛṣṇa, he is guru. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also says āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' ei deśa (CC Madhya 7.128). "You become a guru on My order." "How shall I become guru? I have no knowledge." Oh, you don't require any knowledge to manufacture. Yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). "Simply repeat the instruction of Kṛṣṇa, you become guru." Everyone can become. The instruction is there. Kṛṣṇa says sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). We say the same thing. Not that "I have become Kṛṣṇa, not..." We say "Surrender to Kṛṣṇa." Then you become guru. Kṛṣṇa's instruction, not to become Kṛṣṇa. If you want to become Kṛṣṇa, then you are not guru, you are cheater. Suppose you are working for master. If you say "My master has fixed up this price; you cannot change it," then you are honest salesman. And if you place yourself that "I am the master," then you are cheater. The cheater cannot be teacher. Teacher is he who simply teaches what Kṛṣṇa has said, that's all. He is teacher. That is not difficult. Anyone can do it. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Whomever you meet, you simply speak to him the instruction of Kṛṣṇa. Then you become guru. And if you don't say that, if you manufacture your own words, then you are cheater, you are not teacher. The so-called gurus, they're cheaters. They want to become Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they are cheater. And it is very easy thing if you cheat people, that "You take this mantra and you become God." Is it so easy thing to become God? But they want to be cheated. "Purchasing mantra, I shall become God." They want to be cheated. They do not think that "Whether I can actually become God." They do not take the weight of His existence. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Time? So what is the time now?
Prabhupāda: I do not take anything at night.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Morning, you are drinking milk? Is it...?
Prabhupāda: Very good.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Those cows are unique, that a cow can give her own weight in milk in eleven days.
Prabhupāda: They are selling milk also.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In our farm?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, we make fifteen hundred to two thousand dollars a month.
Prabhupāda: So if there is more milk, you can sell more, get money.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, we're getting nearly two thousand dollars a month.
Hari-śauri: (7-Up has been brought) Is there ice? He was supposed to get some ice from the kitchen downstairs.
Bali-mardana: It's cold.
Prabhupāda: Who will open? You open it.
Bali-mardana: I have just opened it. Is it cold enough?
Prabhupāda: Something?
Yaśomatīnandana: Human beings will discover some things on which the law of gravity does not work.
Prabhupāda: Law of gravity does not work now also. There is no question of this discovery. You take one small needle and you take one big log. The log will float and the needle will go down. The needle is so less weight, but it goes down. And the log is so heavy, it floats. Where is law of gravity?
Indian man (2): But that is, that is only relative. Both are being acted upon...
Prabhupāda: Therefore relative, it is not absolute, law of gravity.
Indian man (2): The thing is, till now we are thinking that light (indistinct) things, and all our thinking was conditioned by that. At least in the scientific context.
Prabhupāda: Scientific context... In Hawaii they cut all the coconuts because they are very scientist-law of gravity. But we don't care for this. We don't care. We are keeping the coconut on our head. We never think of law of gravity, that it will fall down. And those who are very much advanced in law of gravity, they have lost all the beauty of the trees, they have thrown the... They are afraid they will...
Indian man (2): Fall on the head.
Prabhupāda: What ungodly we have done?
Pradyumna: That he does not come out and say, but he implies that we are foreign, that we want to exploit India somehow.
Prabhupāda: Anyway, they are feeling the weight. Now they are feeling the weight. That is the progress. Otherwise, if our movement would have been a trifle thing, the government and newspapers they would not have taken care. Now they are feeling that this movement is going to be more and more important, all over the world.
Hari-śauri: They can see we're having an effect.
Pradyumna: The more we go with these traveling parties also, from town to town.
Hari-śauri: Most of the general population, they're already convinced.
Prabhupāda: First thing is that when you take śālagrāma-sevā, wherever you stay, this worship must go on daily.
Pradyumna: Yes, nitya-pūjā, nitya-sevā.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That you cannot... One day, if you are sick, your wife will do that. But that half an hour pūjā must continue. That you must decide.
Pradyumna: Yes. Yes. I saw those brāhmaṇas in Udupi, they will never fail to do it under any condition. They have little box with śālagrāma, little śaṅkha, little thing, little tulasī leaf they get. They will do that every day daily. They cannot...
Prabhupāda: Only for the Deity.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Others are just dāl, sabji, rice, cāpāṭi.
Prabhupāda: Everything. Everything calculated.
Akṣayānanda: I believe you, Prabhupāda. But to make it practical I want to see every item. The cost, the weight, and everything.
Prabhupāda: It is already calculated.
Akṣayānanda: Then I can do it. Then we can do it.
Prabhupāda: It is already calculated. I calculated not with a fool. With an experienced man.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: I have one other question regarding... We are going to observe very strict policies. Unless somebody is working he cannot stay in the temple. If some other tourist devotee comes from some other center, he can only stay for three days. But beyond that he should either pay or he should go and preach or do something else. What should we do with, like there's some sannyāsīs here, like Yaśodānandana Swami and his party. I hear they're going to stay for the whole month. They're already here since two weeks. They're occupying two rooms, everything. They're going to stay here till the end of the month.
Akṣayānanda: Get him to go and preach for Vṛndāvana.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Hari-śauri: That would be very weighty.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So do like that, that this is genuine, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is genuine, cultural and religious movement. This should be taken from all prominent persons and sent there. And the copies of the standing order for all the universities.
Haṁsadūta: Yeah.
Hari-śauri: The order forms.
Prabhupāda: Original orders, that should be copied and sent. This arrangement, ask them all over India and beside that we have recently got a testimony of one University authorities, just like one Goswami from Calcutta University and many others they have got. These copies should be sent immediately. We can approach even the chief justice of Allahabad high-court, he came here, the minister here, the governor of Punjab, he came to see me, the governor...
Hari-śauri: Andhra Pradesh government also.
Prabhupāda: Eh? Andhra Pradesh, chief minister.
Prabhupāda: And this paper should be carried to Pradyumna. (break) ...predicted it? They are not going to do all this protest against Transcendental Meditation.
Hari-śauri: No.
Prabhupāda: That means here they are feeling the weight. You see? These protests, this combination, this endeavor to collapse our..., that means they are feeling more weight. And what is this movement, Transcendent...? They never formed against any case, anything, Transcendental... They know that is farce. There are so many other groups. Yogi Bhajan, Transcendental Meditation and what is he? Guru...?
Hari-śauri: Guru Maharaji.
Prabhupāda: Guru Maharaja. So many. Ramakrishna is not very prominent. Sai Baba. (aside:) Little, little, everyone. Who asked for them? Aurobindo. Even Aurobindo. Who will protest against Aurobindo? Aurobindo has got some influence in the Western...
Jagadīśa: Not so much.
Hari-śauri: I never heard of him before.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Jagadīśa: And the police mistreat the devotees. But still, the devotees continue and now in Montreal there's no trouble.
Prabhupāda: They crucified Jesus, what to speak of devotees. Prahlāda Mahārāja was persecuted, Haridāsa Ṭhākura. I think I shall not go to Europe, America, for some time. (laughter)
Hari-śauri: Not unless this gets cleared up.
Prabhupāda: Because it is being discussed about me. They say, "Old man is behind this movement."
Hari-śauri: Even in Australia now they're having the same thing, kidnapping and everything. It's everywhere.
Prabhupāda: That means they are feeling the weight. It is spreading.
Hari-śauri: Yeah. (end)
Prabhupāda: No, no. First of all, try to see the distinction. Before me, so many people went. They misinterpreted Bhagavad-gītā, there was no effect. And we are not misinterpreting. We are simply presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is given. That is the point. Everyone says, "Swamiji, you have done wonderful thing." But I say , "I do not know any magic, jugglery. But wonderful thing is that I have not adulterated." That is wonderful. Otherwise, nothing wonderful. What I am saying? Man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. I am creating them bhaktas, that's all. I am starting these temples and ask them that "Here is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. You become devotee, you always chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." That's all. And they are giving up everything. Their father and mother, they are thinking, "They are our lost child." They are now giving the opposition. They have brought so many cases against me. But unless it is effective, how they are feeling the weight? Now these boys, their father, mother constantly kidnap them. "Stay here." No, they will not stay. They'll not eat with their father, mother. So they think that "Our son is lost." Other yogis and swamis go, they give some method. And the son is there at home."All right, a young man is going there." But here, their son is lost. Here their son is lost, and they are now called "American Hindus." So naturally they are very much against me. And counter movement is going on. Hindus... The government...That this is not a religion. The swami knows some mind-controlling power and he's brainwashing. In this way, there is charge. So because America has got freedom of religion, so if they accept my movement as Hindu religion, they cannot do anything. People are free to accept. But they are giving in a different charge, that I have manufactured something, that no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no gambling. How people can accept all these things? They're brainwashed. There are so many charges.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
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.
CID Chief: But most of the people realize that that is not the real..., real kind of advancement.
Prabhupāda: "It is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss."
CID Chief: We are helpless. I assure that will stand, but actually what we call advancement in... It is not. People themselves are realizing that...
Prabhupāda: Yoṣitāṁ saṅgī-saṅgam.
CID Chief: ...that advancement has led them to some sort of monotony, which they want to avoid, and they want to...
Rāmeśvara: Then they say, "The next best thing to do after you get the deprogramming is to hold a press conference to explain all the reasons that there is a need for criminal conviction of destructive cult leaders. Have ex-victims, especially of Hare Kṛṣṇa, present. The truth of their personal experiences carry great weight with reporters. It is now necessary to awaken America to how widespread..."
Prabhupāda: I... In the beginning... I have told many times when I first went that "If I say these prohibitions, who will accept?" And now it has taken a shape, it has become a problem throughout the country. I was thinking, "Who will hear me? As soon as I'll say this, they'll say, 'Go home.' " But by Kṛṣṇa's arrangement it has become a problem. That is Kṛṣṇa's grace. It has become a problem for them; it is success for me. Yes. I presented something which is now a problem for them.
Jagadīśa: They waited too long. They didn't tell you to go home soon enough.
Prabhupāda: (chuckles) No, my creed is at their home.
Jagadīśa: You planted seeds in their home.
Rāmeśvara: Sometimes they capture... Very rarely they capture one of our members and they convince him to leave. And after they convince him to leave our movement, then they tell him many lies about us. And then he goes on television and tells the American public that we brainwashed him. So sometimes they get some of our ex-members to speak against us. This is going on. In Los Angeles I have met three ex-devotees who viciously lie about us.
Prabhupāda: Who is he?
Rāmeśvara: Then it says, "Other things need to be done. We have to get supportive comments from professionals and authorities in areas of religion, education, mental health and physical health, law, and sociology. Statements by experts and professionals carry a lot of weight."
Prabhupāda: That is in our side.
Rāmeśvara: "Ask your contact to comment or express his opinion of such things as that this is not a matter of religion; that there is resulting mental and physical harm; the right of self-determination means the right to have a free mind; destruction of the family unit..."
Prabhupāda: So if one has the right to have a free mind, why he cannot chant Hare Kṛṣṇa?
Rāmeśvara: Well, their argument is that we do not allow him to consider alternatives.
Prabhupāda: Then where is the question of a free mind? That means you brainwash.
Rāmeśvara: Exactly.
Prabhupāda: Free mind means everyone has the right. That is free mind. If you force something, then where is the free mind?
Rāmeśvara: So actually they are understanding that once you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, you will stop thinking about māyā.
Prabhupāda: They're admitting.
Prabhupāda: Grace means he'll willingly give you mercy, and mercy means you ask for mercy. Kṛpa-siddha. Sādhana-siddha and kṛpa-siddha. You are trying to earn one lakh of rupees—that is sādhana. But if somebody is gracious he can give you: "Take one lakh of rupees. Don't work hard." That is grace. That is kṛpa. You are ambitious for one lakh of rupees or somebody graciously give you: "All right, take." There are many persons. So that is grace. Otherwise, you earn by your hard labor. That is sādhana. Similarly, by association, by sādhana-bhakti, you attain perfection, and by grace also, you can attain perfection. Two ways. So those who are kṛpa-siddha, they are more fortunate. (Hindi) Preach this Bhagavad-gītā as it is. People will be benefited. You'll be benefited. Don't make unnecessary interpretation, misguide others and spoil your own life. That is very unfortunate. What is the difficulty to accept Bhagavad-gītā? There is no difficulty. Unfortunately we interpret in different way and take it other way. So our little attempt is to spread Bhagavad-gītā as it is, and whatever it may be, it is being accepted in the Western countries. Not by all. But the people in general, now the... Feeling the weight, they have now began opposing.
Indian man: Have seen the new light.
Prabhupāda: Yes. They're opposing me very vigorously in America.
Indian man: And that is a good sign.
Prabhupāda: They are these...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Perfect description.
Prabhupāda: Do it carefully, cautiously. They are feeling the weight.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm. I can see this Ādi-keśava's a good person to push it.
Prabhupāda: No, you also help. He's also very young.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's only twenty-two. He's been consulting with me whenever we...
Prabhupāda: He is nice.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He comes from a good family. His father, grandfather's side, is Barclay from Barclay's bank. He's the grandson, grandnephew of Barclay. Good family. Parents are very well known.
Prabhupāda: Rich family.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Rich. Wealthier than Dhṛṣṭadyumna's parents.
Prabhupāda: He's also good gentleman.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You met...
Prabhupāda: Hm. He came to see me.
Prabhupāda: Sagara University. That is good.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Thirty-two
Prabhupāda: Scholars and universities... He's also big scholar, archaeologist, very big scholar. (break) ...beginning it was not so heavy. It is heavy. So even it is double weight, at that time it would cost thirty rupees. Now thirty into thirty times, nine...
Hṛdayānanda: Nine hundred.
Prabhupāda: So according to that proportion it would have cost one thousand at the present moment, value. So why so much, four hundred dollars? Four hundred dollars means three thousand.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: See, the thing with this coin is that they did not mint very many copies.
Prabhupāda: That's another thing.
Brahmānanda: Becomes rare.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Therefore it becomes rare.
Devotee (2): We checked it, Mahārāja. There was four thousand of those minted in that year.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Four thousand.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Prabhupāda: Make first of all in India.
Girirāja: From India you can be famous.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, first of all, when we have this journal out, this volume, first volume is going to be out in about three months, and then it will be more effective. We are going to speak, at the same time distribute the journals in the form of written forms, as evidence of what has been spoken. So that way it has more weight. And if they don't understand they can read it and study, and they can...
Prabhupāda: In the meantime let us recruit some important... Just like this Russian scientist.
Girirāja: This Dr. Khorana is supposed to be...
Prabhupāda: I think as our books are entering Russia, it will create something.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. I think it will be...
Prabhupāda: Eighteen books, Bhāgavata, they have ordered.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's not a joke. Someone is going to read them. The Russians are the biggest readers in the world.
Prabhupāda: Not only that. They are anxious to read from Indian literature. They know there is substance in these books. That they know.
Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, they felt the strength. In Bengali it is called capale babale.(?)
Mr. Koshi: What is the meaning of that?
Prabhupāda: Meaning means when there is some weight, is a (indistinct). So now they are feeling the weight of this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement.
Mr. Koshi: They were afraid of something.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Mr. Koshi: Why?
Prabhupāda: Because the young men are taking it.
Mr. Koshi: But how does it...
Prabhupāda: It is not such yoga system. (imitates snoring) Meditation. It is not like that. Young men, they are taking it. They are preaching, they have sacrificed their life. So they are intelligent persons, they can understand that we should not die. It is not old man's recreation.
Mr. Koshi: No, but you are responsible for it.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's good, gives a little time for preparing.
Mr. Dwivedi: The weather at our headquarters is always pleasant. Summer, very pleasant. You'll gain in weight.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Mr. Dwivedi: And strange enough, you gain in color also in summer.
Prabhupāda: Attractive.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Said the right thing.
Mr. Dwivedi: Strange enough. And strange enough, this paper that we produce there, the worms do not eat it. And I shall be able to show you some of our record, registered, thirty, forty years old, registered, as good as they were then.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How is the drinking water?
Mr. Dwivedi: Fine. Very fine.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You have well, deep well.
Mr. Dwivedi: So if I have your permission, I'll do this.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. I... For mine, that... You told that "You gain your weight, increase your weight." That induced me.
Mr. Dwivedi: The very fact that Your Holiness will be going there, that has manifold increased our... We are not worried about that.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Then accept. Then accept.
Mr. Dwivedi: As the saying goes in Rāmāyaṇa, sevaka sādhana svāmī avagamanu, maṅgalun amaṅgala harlun(?).
Prabhupāda: And you are inviting Mr. Jetthi. So it is good opportunity. Let us...
Mr. Dwivedi: Failing that... If, somehow or other, he's not free... Because time is short, and if Jetthi says yes, then I have to go to the Chief Minister, because on previous occasion I told him I wanted him on a particular function. He said, "You do this. Then get this straight. Otherwise the president of our league(?) becomes expensive, so the expenditure will go over the head of the state." He showed me the way. So then immediately after, he said, "Yes." Then I, right from Delhi itself, I made a telephone call to the Chief Minister, and I said, "Such and such appealing, Mr. Jetthi is going, and I want to be present in the matter, and I request you also that you please participate."
Prabhupāda: Now the Chief Minister...
Mr. Dwivedi: Is Mr. Sukla there. Because then they'll have to make other arrangements.
Prabhupāda: Sukla?
Prabhupāda: Yes. But as soon as there is restriction, that means, "Don't do it." Otherwise naturally they have got sex desire. What is the use of giving shastric injunction? That means to control him. The meat-eating... So everyone has got tendency to eat meat, but why śāstra should agree? Restriction means stop. The government's opening liquor shop—so much restriction in a heavy duty. The government charges excise duty. The liquor is produced, utmost, one rupee, eight annas, per gallon. This I know. I know. And government charges excise duty, sixty rupees. So it becomes sixty-one rupees spoiled. Then they have got to make profit. Huge profit government... They haven't got to do anything. The liquor manufacturer, he has to maintain the establishment, and everything he has to do. But when the actual liquor comes, it is there. This is the working system. The excise inspector is there. So unless the... When he takes liquor out of stock, that excise inspector shall come. He has his own key, just like bank, such custody. So in this way... And you have to pay duty first. Suppose stock is there, liquor, hundred gallons, say, thousand gallons. If you want to take ten gallons, so the excise inspector will see whether you have paid duty for hundred gallons. Then you'll be allowed to. So government, for nothing, has... They make huge profit. This is Kali-yuga government. They think that "To condone these are very common practice. Let them be drunk. Let them drink." They encourage them. And government means big ministers, secretaries. They get the profit and divide amongst themselves. So who cares for public? Similarly cloth. What is the cost of one...? One rupee per pound. But if you weigh one cloth, what is the weight? Not even one pound. And they charge twenty rupees.
Prabhupāda: No, not... We have said.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We should give a little background introduction of the court case and then this translation of the final verdict of the judge.
Prabhupāda: And "Translated by such and such judge." It will carry some weight.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: What is the name?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sardar Singh. Judge Sardar Singh.
Prabhupāda: What is the spelling?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: S-a-r-d-a-r.
Prabhupāda: Sardar.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Singh, S-i-n-g-h. He says, "I will come to Śrī Vṛndāvana by the 20th of June, and then I will be able to correct the mistakes and use proper words after seeing the dictionary. Lastly it is prayed that my name not be associated with the translation." Do we have to abide by his desire?
Prabhupāda: Now they will think twice.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This movement is very dangerous. They'll see. First they though it was simply some people clapping cymbals. Now they're beginning to feel the weight, these scientists especially.
Prabhupāda: Just like Tṛṇāvarta. He took away Kṛṣṇa as a small child. When he was up, He became as heavy as the mountain, and then he could not go up. Then he wanted to smash the child and throw it, but the child wrapped the neck of Tṛṇāvarta in such a way, he could not. The result was that he fell down and died. And the child was saved.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So in the same way Western civilization will fall down and die, and we will go on chanting.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: If we get some very leading scientists in the world on our side, at least few, let's say about three, that's enough.
Prabhupāda: So that I am asking to enroll as members of the Bhaktivedanta Institute.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: That must have come from the United States.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We have got enough material to convince. We are not blind.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Why do they have to come in the United States?
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Śatadhanya: They have to work hard.
Prabhupāda: Like an ass. Have you not seen the ass? Can anyone work like that? The animal is so small, and the load is ten times than his body's weight. You have not seen? If you weigh the animal's body and the load, the load is ten times more than his body. This is the punishment. And again, the man who is loading him now, he'll have to become an ass and take the load. This is called karma-bandhana.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He writes, "Many days... After working for more than one day at several universities, my presence became too obvious, and this becomes politically and legally dangerous, although in some little cities I became practically the talk of the town because people had not seen one with a dark body as mine, speaking only English and a little French." He's very dark. (break) He says, "Most important at this school was that after four days of trying to meet the Indologist, we were successful. I met the man and his assistant. They kept stressing that we were..." (break)
Prabhupāda: If required, you can show this line to Mr. Koku(?). In foreign countries they are no more interested in philosophical speculation. Actually they are not, neither in America nor India.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No.
Prabhupāda: That, the microscope... What is called? Telescope.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is the book of the rascal scientists. They describe the solar system according to their nonsense. The solar system... Gives all the calculations. They calculated how much it weighs on each planet. (laughs) They haven't even been there. They say that each planet has moons. Says here... This is how scientific they are. "Pluto was discovered only in 1930, and as yet, little is known about this remote planet. Pluto is much smaller than Neptune and has a diameter probably about..."
Prabhupāda: "Probably."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "...half the size..."
Prabhupāda: "Probably."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "The orbit of Pluto is extremely elliptical, and the day is some 6,109 hours long. There is probably no atmosphere, and there are no known humans."
Prabhupāda: "Probably." Their science is "probably." Probably it is science; otherwise it is nonsense. (laughter)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It says here, "The moon is 238,860 miles from the earth. It has no atmosphere, no weather and no wind."
Prabhupāda: Restrict, that instead of myself, he has to restrict: "Do this way."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Including go to the court. This boy writes further. He says, "They claimed I was brainwashed by Śrīla Prabhupāda and the devotees, and they were here to get me to think for myself again. They kept me up for ten hours at a time for so-called deprogramming, just blaspheming Śrīla Prabhupāda and Kṛṣṇa and telling lie after lie. Finally they let me go to sleep, and in the morning it was time for more blaspheming and lies. But by Kṛṣṇa's mercy I was able to escape out the front door of the house," he says, "which was unguarded. I ran down my block barefoot and was able to get to my friend's house. I told him the story. He gave me enough money to get to a nearby temple. There I served Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and had the association of my Godbrothers, who are most dear to me. There I spent the happiest time of my life as a devotee with the association of the Brajabāsīs. Being a devotee of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, there's nothing like it-singing, dancing, taking prasādam, being happy and free from anxiety all the time. It is just a blissful life. All Kṛṣṇa wants is for us to be happy with Him. I called my parents and told them that I was doing fine and that I had even gained seven pounds in weight. They had the police looking for me all over the place in only a minute, and they finally showed up. Mahārāja felt it was best that I go back and clear things up with my parents and with their consent come back. But they refused to let me go, and instead put me through a one-month deprogramming session.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Cabinet ministers, there are sober, Morarji Desai and some of them. This Vajpayi.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Vajpayi. That means that they took it that we were a threat. They are feeling the weight of our movement.
Prabhupāda: They are practically seeing that we are going village to village and people are receiving us. So if these Americans push on the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, naturally people will take it. And that was my idea from the beginning, that if the Americans become Vaiṣṇavas, then others will be. It is four?
Upendra: Three. (break)
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa men. They want Bengal completely godless.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's interesting to see how the Chief Minister Basu, he concentrates on only one point—"They have entered India illegally, which means now they must be asked to leave." That's the only thing he's pointed on, this one point. It's like it indicates his whole motive: "Get them out somehow." Oh, it's a very clever plan. They knew we would defend, and then on the pretext that we're taking the offense, arresting. And they knew already that we were entering with these passports changed. They already knew. Very clever plan. The thing is that this is very, very much harmful to our preaching work for the time being in Bengal.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This one Dr. Sharma wanted to open a Gurukula account. So they told him, "You have no authority whatsoever. Bhagatji has no authority, Akṣayānanda has no authority, Gopāla... Only Prabhupāda has authority." The funny thing about this, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is that according to our memorandum, they're not correct. Actually, according to the memorandum, two members of the Bureau can pass a resolution to open an account. But the most amazing thing is they don't accept the Bureau. They accept something called the Governing Body, which legally in India doesn't have any weight. And when I tried to explain to them that there's a memorandum and there's a Bureau, they said, "We don't accept it. Everything is Prabhupāda, and he's the chairman of the Governing Body." When I told this to Girirāja, Girirāja just laughed and said that...
Prabhupāda: If Girirāja can deal with these men, then let him do it immediately.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. Very good. He can, because he thinks legally, and that's how you have to deal with these men. They're actually small time, and they're just harassing us because we're acting in a very gentlemanly way and they're acting in a very ungentlemanly way. Anyway, we're not going to take out our fixed deposits. The ones that are there should be matured. But when they're matured, if we want to transfer them to somewhere else, we should have the freedom to do that and not be bound to have to keep the money there. That's the only point. And we'll be bringing so much money. Your Divine Grace has plans for making Vṛndāvana very much developed. So they should not worry like that. None of our other bankers are worried. They see sometimes we take the money, sometimes we bring money. But because of the way they're dealing, we don't want to bring any money. I'll tell Girirāja to..., if he can deal with this matter, that he should take it up. He wanted to meet them. He said he wanted to see what...
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa-Kāliya temple (Bengali).
Rāmeśvara: This is Kṛṣṇa's birthday cake for Janmāṣṭamī in Los Angeles.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Describe it.
Rāmeśvara: This cake weighs 2,000 pounds.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The cake, Śrīla Prabhupāda, weighs 2,000..., one ton. How high is it, Rāmeśvara?
Rāmeśvara: It is very tall.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How many feet? About fifteen feet high.
Hari-śauri: These are the people here.
Rāmeśvara: And each one of these different towers spins on motor for special effects. (laughter)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How do you eat it?
Rāmeśvara: After it is finished spinning. It's a cheesecake, very nice cake.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Los Angeles?
Rāmeśvara: Yes. This is another picture of this cake.
Prabhupāda: That is wanted.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very good. And then our sannyāsīs look so nice. There's Akṣayānanda Mahārāja and Bhakti-prema Swami. They were both there, very nicely dressed, with daṇḍas. It's really... The whole thing is complete. They get to stay in a nice guesthouse. Then there will be building of Bhaktivedanta Institute Hall. All of these things are a complete arrangement. I think these men are surprised to see that how such a thing has sprung up, and they have not been aware of it before. And when they see these books, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that the scientists have written, I think that will floor these men. They will be completely amazed to see it. Normally, if anyone else dared to do such a thing as this, to prove by science that life comes from life, it would be a very immature attempt by some religious person, and it would not have very much weight. But here they are coming face to face with people who are actually scientists, and they will not be able to deny our arguments. I think that your Guru Mahārāja is very pleased with this program, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: I have given the ideas. Now you give the shape.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We want some more ideas also. You have to give enough ideas for at least ten thousand years. (Prabhupāda chuckles softly) This is a great idea, Śrīla Prabhupāda. It's wonderful. I think that each year, if we hold one conference, at least one in Vṛndāvana, it gradually will become one of the main events of the scientific community of northern India. No doubt about it. In fact I'm certain that people will be begging to be able to come. There'll be big competition for who is able to be given the permission to come and the reservation in the guesthouse. I think we'll have to build many guesthouses here.
Dr. Ghosh: (Bengali) Regular lecture about health and disease in popular language with demonstrations by charts, models, projectors, and cinematography. (Bengali) Maintaining health cards for children. Every six months have their height, weight... (Bengali) Building health science museum. (Bengali) ... models, charts, shows various parts of the body... (Bengali) ...for propagating health science amongst the inmates of Gurukula and the public. (Bengali)... gymnasium for health. (Bengali)
Prabhupāda: (Bengali)
Dr. Ghosh: If you approve, then we can go on.
Prabhupāda: Āmādera spiritual... (Bengali)
Dr. Ghosh: (Bengali) ...should be taken care of, 'cause this is God's temple.
Prabhupāda: (Bengali)
Dr. Ghosh: Our people are steeped in ignorance about the laws of health. In the most impressionable age... (Bengali) ...young, the most impressionable age... (Bengali) He can have a little glucose in water?
Bhavānanda: Taking glucose in juice.
Upendra: We have lunch ready. Getting ready.
Prabhupāda: No. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavat... Any devotee can become. That letter, mayor's letter also, it carries weight. What is his name?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Ganatra? That telegram he sent?
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. And the Statesman report, it is very very...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very encouraging. This Haridāsa is transformed. You said that it was due to the mercy of a Vaiṣṇava, Girirāja.
Prabhupāda: Hm, yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Remember how you said that?
Prabhupāda: Vaiṣṇava ṭhākur tomār kukkura.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Girirāja gave him his association...
Prabhupāda: Vaiṣṇava. Chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava sevā, nistār pāyeche... Vaiṣṇava's kṛpā... Vaiṣṇava is already merciful. Vaiṣṇava means merciful. Kṛpā-sindhu, ocean of mercy. That is Vaiṣṇava.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Just like last night, Dr. Pathak, the Dean of the College of Veterinary, said Śrīla Prabhupāda is a touchstone, can transform everybody.
Pañca-draviḍa: This change with Haridāsa is a miracle.
Prabhupāda: Hm. Bombay is the most rich city in India. And now they are willing to help us. So there will be no scarcity of money. Wherever you'll go, you'll get it.
| Page Title: | Weight (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 14 of Nov, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=64, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 64 |