Prabhupāda: 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.
Wheel (Conversations)
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- October 27, 1968, Montreal, With First Devotees Going to London On Evening of Their Departure:
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Janārdana: So the subtle is moving the gross like the miller's wheel. The potter's wheel moves the pot. So the pradhāna... So the mind is moving the body. So the pradhāna... They simply put pradhāna...
Prabhupāda: If it is mentioned, five, then it is five gross, and seven means subtle. So five or seven... Of course, seven is more explicit than the five.
Janārdana: I never see anywhere where it is mentioned that there's an earth covering. It's always water as the first. Water is the first layer that's given. So there are four of the elements.
Prabhupāda: Then above water there is air.
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:
Prabhupāda: That is later invention. Originally Lord Buddha, the statue of Lord Buddha, worshiped all, all over...
Allen Ginsberg: Originally there was no Buddha. There was a wheel for the doctrine, for the dharma. There was a wheel, and then for a parasol.
Prabhupāda: We see from historical, archeological evidences, all over...
Allen Ginsberg: Then, when the Europeans came to India...
Prabhupāda: It is not the question, Europeans.
Allen Ginsberg: Then they made a statue of a human-faced Buddha.
Guest (1): No, no. Buddha's temple was much before then.
Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:
Allen Ginsberg: What I had understood is that like the Jews and the Muslims, the original first few centuries of Buddhist meditation made use of a wheel for the dharma, or a parasol, or a bo tree as the image of Buddha, as at Sanchi. But no, but no...
Guest (1): So long Buddha was living. After that, when Buddha died, they started making his statue, I think.
Prabhupāda: yes. That is the archeological evidence. Archeological evidence is that Buddha's statues were original.
Allen Ginsberg: The museum at Mathurā, I think, had the earliest human statues of Buddha, which are Greek nature.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- August 1, 1972, London:
Prabhupāda: ...trailer, yes, two wheel. Oh, it will go.
Devotee: The advantage of the van is that they can sleep in it.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Devotee: The advantage of a van is that it can be used for sleeping purposes also.
Prabhupāda: Sleeping purposes in India, tropical country, if you carry camp, if you want to sleep somewhere you just immediately set up a camp and pass night very comfortable. And you go on the field passing stool. Just catch up some watery place. (laughter) You can cook, you can take bath, you can wash your dishes, then put up on the trailer and go on.
Morning Walk Conversation -- September 28, 1972, Los Angeles:
Jayatīrtha: Spinning wheel.
Prabhupāda: Spinning wheel, they were spinning thread. Simple life and morality. No drinking of (indistinct) or tea, no smoking, and raghupati rāghava rāja rāma. This was his program. Hindu-Muslim unity. But all his programs failed. He died very dissatisfied.
Jayatīrtha: Why did they fail?
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Jayatīrtha: Why was it the programs failed?
Prabhupāda: Because his disciples, they had a different program. They wanted politics like the Western countries. They did not want... Just like all the politicians, they do not want anything good for the people. They simply want to make some money for their (indistinct), that's all. This is the whole policy of the modern diplomats and politicians. They do not know, you go to hell. Other way, in your country you see so many young men are frustrated.
Morning Walk Conversation -- September 28, 1972, Los Angeles:
Jayatīrtha: (indistinct) as man progresses, the mark of his progression is his ability to use tools to a greater extent. Like there was the Stone Age. In the Stone Age, they used stones for tools. Then there was the Bronze Age, so they made weapons out of bronze, knives and so on. Then they invented the wheel.
Prabhupāda: Modern age.
Jayatīrtha: So as their science progressed, then they progressed and were able to utilize nature.
Prabhupāda: So what is that progress? The caves are still there, somebody is living here. Then where is the progress? As the caves are still there and somebody is living here and skyscrapers, they are also, similarly, when you (indistinct) the cave (indistinct), there were palaces(?) but we could not see them. Both things are existing, but you studied only one side. Here is your history, see. Kṛṣṇa has sixteen thousand palaces and there was no need of light. Jewels, all jewels. Everything is existing side by side.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor -- August 13, 1973, Paris:
Prabhupāda: Yes, there are many. These are some of the pictures in Melbourne.
Haṁsadūta: Three carts like this.
Professor: The big wheel. That's nice.
Haṁsadūta: You can see. There it's taking prasādam, serving prasādam. Everyone, so many devotees.
Prabhupāda: Were there color pictures, small?
Haṁsadūta: Yeah, there's a small...
Śrutakīrti: This one here.
Prabhupāda: No, the small...
Śrutakīrti: No, oh, the small pictures...
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- January 9, 1974, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: This is brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20) stage. Just like this is a cakra. I am walking on this wheel. But I am thinking I am advancing. What is this advancement? It is already there. Just like they are advancing in science and they must remain here. They are trying for so many years to go to the Moon planet, and no result. (laughs) The same, same thing. "Now we are going to the moon planet." But coming again. That's all. So saṁsāra-cakra. Just like the dog. Dog is sometimes barking: "Gata-gata-gata-gata!" The master says, "Come on." Immediately come. He thinks that "I have got freedom. Let me jump over." You see. So we are thinking like that. We are under the māyā's clutches. "Come on, come on here." Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). He's under the reins of prakṛti. He cannot go anywhere. (pause) (break)
Hanumān: ...simultaneously in the dream and not in the dream. So when...
Prabhupāda: That is reality, when you are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is reality.
Morning Walk -- January 23, 1974, Hawaii:
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Bali Mardana: They say that a man walking in the street does not feel so big, but once he gets behind the wheel of the motorcar he becomes very puffed up.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is natural. He thinks, "I am motorcar." He identifies. (japa)
Satsvarūpa: We say sense gratification is available for everyone, but they don't agree. They think, "If I don't have this nice apartment it's not the same as sleeping in a bad condition."
Prabhupāda: Bad condition, good condition, that is another thing. But you get it. You get it. Bad condition, good condition, that is my consideration, but things are available. Even the best apartment in India, that is not a good apartment for America. This is simply my mental concoction: "This is good; that is bad." I am thinking, "It is the best;" another may think, "Oh, it is lowest." The hog is thinking stool is very nice food, and I am thinking, "What is this nonsense thing?" So "best" and "good", it is simply mental concoction, it has no value. Just like these western people, what is their ultimate standard of best, nobody knows. Nobody knows. Just like hundred years before, there was no skyscraper building, but now even best skyscraper building is not best. So where is the standard of best and... It is all mental concoction.
Morning Walk -- March 14, 1974, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: That is important. Otherwise every work is preaching. See that everyone is engaged. There was an advertisement by the railroad department, their monogram was a wheel of carriage and they have written that every employee of the railroad should see that the wheel is running on. Wheel is running on. Now suppose in the office the clerks are working, so how they will see the wheel is running on? Because in the office of railway there is some complaint, there is some claim, there so many things... But that is depending on their wheel. So they should expedite their business so that wheel may not stop, it must go on. It is very nice instruction. So the wheel is going on. Suppose some station has asked for ten wagons immediately, and that requires the sanction of the divisional superintendent. That is his office. So the clerk should help the progress that immediately the sanction is done. Then the wheel will go on. Do you understand? So everyone can help that the railway wheel is going on. Although apparently it will appear that "What this clerk has to do with the wheel going on?" Is it clear?
Morning Walk -- March 30, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: That is not to be taken into account.
Chandobhai: That is not to be... Yes, correct. Because old, past actions.
Prabhupāda: Yes!
Chandobhai: Understood that the wheel has to move.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Chandobhai: And will stop soon.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. That... Because the switch is now off, it will stop. Śaśvad bhavati dharmātmā. Śaśvad bhavati dharmātmā. Because he has taken to the shelter of Kṛṣṇa, therefore his all past business is finished. Although, due to past habit, sometimes you find some mistake, it is not to be taken. Because this thing will go.
Chandobhai: This thing will go. That is a part of past actions.
Prabhupāda: Very soon. Yes. Very soon.
Morning Walk -- March 30, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Very soon. Yes. Very soon.
Chandobhai: Because that wheel has to move and it will stop of its own.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Śaśvad bhavati... What is that verse? Śaśvad bhavati dharmātmā. That?
Chandobhai: Śaśvac chāntiṁ adhigacchati, kaunteya pratijānīhi...
Prabhupāda: Ah. Na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati.
Chandobhai: (quotes Sanskrit in background) (break)
Prabhupāda: ...may be callous. Just like some, somebody was asking me... That rascal Bharati's article. Who? That one Australian sannyāsī. So this rascal may speak something, but we cannot stop our movement. You see? Our movement is increasing, all over the world in, in spite of all criticism. We don't care for that. Because we know that we are following the footsteps of predecessor ācārya, that's all right. We don't mind. And actually, it is happening. Otherwise, within six, seven years, so much progress could not be possible. (break) What is the word, exact?
Morning Walk -- June 5, 1974, Geneva:
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Ferris wheel, ferris wheel goes up and down.
Prabhupāda: Sometimes "I am so up," and again come down. This is going on. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān. Therefore, in this way, going round, one who is very, very fortunate, he, guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151), he comes to the devotional life by the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa. This is the beginning of Caitanya Mahāprabhu's instruction. They are under the myth, under the spell of māyā. This is going on.
Yogeśvara: Well, they say "You are distributing food, and we are also distributing food. You are opening schools, and we are also opening schools."
Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:
Prabhupāda: (chuckles) Yes.
Professor Durckheim: You see? And today we realize the only thing, the only possibility not to be crushed, is to adapt themselves to the technical world, and in adapting themselves to the technical world, they become themselves little wheels of the big machine and stop to be human beings.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.
Professor Durckheim: Now this is going so far today that now suddenly something is awakening. They have said no. And this kind of rebellion in our western, as you know better than I do, in our western kind... And they say, "Well, after all..." You see, science, they say, "Whatever you are feeling here, it is only subjective. The only thing which counts are the objects." Now, today, mankind has awakened and said, "No, I am not subjected. I am a subject. I am a person. So you are quite right to eliminate me if you want to make an atomic bomb or I don't know what, a technical thing. But you want to guide me? You have to do away with scientist's spectacles and look at me with the eyes of the real self. Otherwise you won't see me." So this is the turning point today where we are.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- May 11, 1975, Perth:
Prabhupāda: No other method will help you-yoga, karma, jñāna, nothing. Bhakti-yoga is always strong, especially in this age, Kali-yuga. Therefore it is said, kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva, especially. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam, kalau nāsty eva... (CC Adi 17.21). This is the simplest. But people do not know what is the ultimate goal of life. They are so much in ignorance. They do not know what is spiritual life, what is ultimate goal. Simply like cats and dogs. The dog jumps over with four legs, and if a man can jump over with four wheels, then that is advance. Just see. They think, "Now we are advanced. We have got four-wheel car to jump over. And the dog is jumping with legs. Therefore this is advanced." They do not know this is also the same dog's business. They do not know it. (break) ...again they have made this car, coming from miles away, but the business is fishing. Just see. Bambhārambhe laghu-kriyā. "Advancement of civilization, we have got car, we are nicely dressed, we are human being, ev..." But what is your business?
Morning Walk -- July 24, 1975, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: You cannot know. Because you are foolish, you cannot know. Just like the example is given: there is reel. You know? What is called? The children...
Paramahaṁsa: Swing?
Jayatīrtha: Ferris wheel?
Prabhupāda: No, no. In your country there is not, but in India there is a reel, reel-like. It rounds the thread for flying kite. What is called?
Kṛṣṇa-kanti: Just a ball of string.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Spool.
Paramahaṁsa: Kite line.
Prabhupāda: Kite line? How it is?
Morning Walk -- October 6, 1975, Durban:
Devotee: It's stuck in the sand. We'll have to push to make the wheels straight.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So let Prabhupāda come back in the truck. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...have gone too much in the sand. It is dangerous. (break) ...panded so much, these Britishers, a few million people. This is demonic. Idam adya mayā labdham imaṁ prāpsye manoratham: "I have got now so much. Now let me increase more." Never satisfied. Idam adya mayā labdham imaṁ prāpsye mano: "I want to be the richest man, God." That was the British policy-ambition. Material ambition is like that. It increases more and more. (break) ...British buildings or American?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: South African.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- February 4, 1976, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: Suppose a small ant is on some big wheel, does it feel anything, movement? A big wheel and a small ant. What he will feel? This is called relativity. Law of relativity. Why you are thinking that relatively you are very big? That is your foolishness. You are nothing, insignificant. Therefore you are surprised when Kṛṣṇa appeared as Varāha-mūrti, to take the whole earth on His nose. Who will say it is mythology? You do not know how great Kṛṣṇa can become. Mahato mahīyān. Aṇu... What is that?
Hṛdayānanda: Aṇor aṇī...
Śāstrījī: Aṇor aṇīyān anusmared yaḥ.
Morning Walk -- March 21, 1976, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: Philosophy.... But we see, I mean, a distant matter is moving. We can see. And nearer we cannot see. It is fixed up. What is this?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: If you take a bicycle wheel, a spoke...
Prabhupāda: A bicycle you cannot concern. Bicycle or train, they have got different speed. You cannot compare. That analogy will not...
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Say you take one spoke, one...
Prabhupāda: No, no, we, cannot.... You cannot bring bicycles in discussion first of all. You can talk all this to the fools. Analogy cannot be accepted unless they are similar.
Pañca-draviḍa: The moon is locked up. The moon is in the same...
Prabhupāda: That means you are suggesting simply. You have no clear idea. Actually the sun is moving. That is my point. Such a huge, gigantic matter, and we see, so quickly.... From the sunrise, now, it is not even fifteen minutes. Just imagine how big speed is there is.
Room Conversation -- April 20, 1976, Melbourne:
Prabhupāda: Then what is the.... I say they're nonsense, rascals. They say that there is no.... And what is their knowledge? We don't give any value to their knowledge. Kṛṣṇa says clearly, hṛd-deśe 'rjuna. And this body is just like a yantra, machine. So as machine means, moving machine means it must have wheel, it must have sitting place.... Everything is there, machine.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: That would mean that even the plants and trees also have a heart.
Prabhupāda: Everything. That is proved scientifically. Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose has proved. There is a part(?). What is that? Spi...? Begins the word, the machine, the record?
Devotee (2): Spirograph.
Prabhupāda: Yes, the word begins with s. Spirograph or like that. You do not know? They smear with black, what is called, carbon, and the fine.
Conversation with Clergymen -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:
Prabhupāda: So if you produce enough food grains, both the man and the animal will live very peacefully. Food grains. And I've seen in your country, in America, in Africa, in Australia, so much vacant land without producing food grains. So men are not engaged to produce food grains, but they are brought in Detroit to manufacture of wheels of motorcar.
Kern: For ambulances to bring the sick to the doctor.
Prabhupāda: So we have to correct this. First of all, produce food.
Scheverman: So if I understand you correctly, you are saying utilize intelligence to correct the problem. Produce more food rather than worry about the fact.... So that the poor can have to eat and the animals can have. So your approach, then, is not one of direct assistance to the person who is starving or suffering, but rather indirect, utilizing intelligence to produce food.
Prabhupāda: Yes, and there will be no starvation.
Conversation in Airport and Car -- June 21, 1976, Toronto:
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. (break) People are being kept in such an ignorant way that they do not care about sinful activities. They can do anything for sense gratification. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). Actually, there is no advancement of civilization. They are thinking, they are running on four-wheel motorcar, and the dog is running on four legs. What is the quality change? This is going on in the name of civilization, and people are kept in ignorance. Where is the advancement? Running by motorcar is advancement? They have no knowledge that there is next life, and "Today I am running on Ford car, tomorrow I may have to run like dog on four legs."
Kīrtanānanda: They do not think like that.
Prabhupāda: So this is ignorance, this is ignorance. And they are kept, the whole world—the state, the father, the guardian, everyone, the priest. Everyone is ignorant. Dull-headed ignorant. And they are passing on as philosopher, scientist, religious leader. (break) ...hard to bring them to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Taking these few years, fifty years or sixty years living here, and dance like dog and finish. There is no life. You die peacefully or (indistinct). And not dying peacefully, they cry. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Morning Walk -- June 21, 1976, Toronto:
Prabhupāda: Two hundred millions years only for passing through the vegetables. Then you become insects. That is also 1,100,000. In this way you'll get chance again to become a human being. These rascals are wasting, four-wheel dog. (laughter) Dogs are four-legged, and we are four-wheeled. That's all. (laughter)
Indian man: Śrīla Prabhupāda, everyone has to go through all the 84,000,000 journeys(?), or is that to, like, you know, on his pious or impious karma he might go through only the vegetable class or he might go through only the animal life?
Prabhupāda: That will depend on your karma.
Indian man (2): Śrīla Prabhupāda, there's one thing in the human nature, that he always thinks that he's the chief and around the world everything is running around him, and most probably he always can show off that "I am the leader of everything." Why is it so? In every person.
Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: What is that progress? Dog's jumping is progress? (laughter) Is that progress? A dog is running here and there, here and there, and you are running on the four wheels? Is that progress? That is not Vedic system. The Vedic system is that human being has got a certain amount of energy. Better energy than the animals. Better consciousness. That should be utilized for spiritual advancement. So whole Vedic system is meant for spiritual advancement. The energy is employed in another direction, not the energy is employed to compete with the dog. Therefore sometimes those who have no idea of religion, they see that the... "Hindus" is not the proper term. The Indian saintly persons, they are not busy like the dogs. Because they think the dog race is life. But actual life is spiritual progress. Therefore śāstra says,
- tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido
- na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ
- tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ
- kālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā
- (SB 1.5.18)
The human being should exert the energy for that thing which he did not get in many, many lives. Many, many lives he had been in the form of dogs or demigods or cats, birds, beasts, many. There are 8,400,000. So this transmigration is going on, but in everywhere the business is sense gratification.
Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: Take to it, immediately, to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is so important. But that they do not know. Therefore there is no religion. A simply dog's race. The dog is running on four legs and you are running on four wheels. That's all. And they think the four-wheel race is advancement of civilization. But the Vedic civilization is different. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ (SB 1.5.18). Then one can say that "Then we shall do nothing?" Yes, practically it is said, "Do nothing." Whatever is obtainable by you or destiny, you'll get it wherever you are. Take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You'll get it. "How I, shall I get it?" Now, kālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā. By the arrangement of eternal time, everything is available. The example is given that you do not want something distressful. As it comes upon you, similarly, even if you do not want, the happiness for which you are destined, it will come. Now, Prahlāda Mahārāja says, na tat-prayāsaḥ kartavyam. You should not waste your energy for material happiness.
Interview with Mike Darby -- June 30, 1976, Wheeling, W. Virginia:
Prabhupāda: Yes. We are coming from Detroit? There are so many factories for four-wheel vehicles, and there is no factory to educate man to the right path. Perhaps... This is our little attempt, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, how to educate to the right path. We are not getting any help, either from the authority... In our own way, as far as possible, we are doing. When people will be educated they will be able to understand who is guru, who is not guru. We can say, but who is going to accept? We say always that they are all rascals, but who will accept our statement? And the state, (if) there had been a department to see what is the qualification of guru, then immediately they would have taken steps. Just like in Kṛṣṇa's time one man falsely presented himself as God. Immediately his head was cut off. Pauṇḍraka. So the state must be very strong to punish the miscreant. But there is no such state.
Interview and Conversation -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:
Prabhupāda: No. Materially they may be doing some improvement, but that is not spiritually important. Just like I give sometimes this example: just like a dog, animal, is jumping with four legs on the street, and we are going fast with four wheels, so that does not make any difference. The difference is the dog cannot understand about his spiritual identity. A man can understand if he's properly trained up. If the man is denied that facility, then he remains in the ignorance of an animal like cats and dogs.
Janice Johnson: I'd like to know, this is your first visit to Washington? Is that right?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Janice Johnson: Who have you visited with while you've been here? Have you stayed here, or have you gone out and...?
Morning Walk -- July 10, 1976, New York:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fifty foot high. These are the ones that Jayānanda and the men have built from scratch here in New York. You can see the powerful wheels. He heard what you had said, and then he decided to make it.
Prabhupāda: As powerful as the other wheels?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: More powerful. Look at them, Śrīla Prabhupāda, this is steel. This is steel. He built the carts in Australia. What is your opinion?
Hari-śauri: These are fantastic.
Jayānanda: See, these are like this, flat plate on the outside, then there's a piece of chain that goes around the inside.
Evening Darsana -- July 11, 1976, New York:
Indian man (3): He took the chariot wheel when Bhīṣma pitāmaha was coming to Arjuna. Is that a fight?
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is another instance, that for His devotee He can break His promise also. That is Kṛṣṇa. Arjuna... Duryodhana complained to Bhīṣmadeva, that "My dear grandfather, because you have affection for Arjuna and others, you are not fighting properly according to your strength." So at that time Bhīṣma saw that "This man is doubting about my sincerity." So he wanted to show his power, so he said, "All right." He knew everything, he was a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa, so he promised to Duryodhana, that "Tomorrow I shall fight in such a way that either Arjuna will die or Kṛṣṇa will have to break His promise." So he fought in such a way that Arjuna was practically vanquished. At that time, Kṛṣṇa took the wheel of the chariot and came before Him, that "Bhīṣma, you stop this fight, otherwise I'll kill you." So Bhīṣma said, "Yes, I am stopping my fight, because You have broken Your promise, that's all." This is the dealing between God and His devotee.
Morning Walk -- July 18, 1976, New York:
Prabhupāda: Ah, the wheels are very nice.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Really. Jayānanda has made good for all the other wheels.
Ādi-keśava: This is the cart you will ride, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is Lady Subhadrā's cart from Chicago. We borrowed it.
Ādi-keśava: It's our cart now.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Could have been painted, the wheels.
Rāmeśvara: Thick coat of lacquer or varnish.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: On the wheels.
Morning Walk -- July 18, 1976, New York:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Wheels are all right?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Wow, they are painted nicely. It's going to be a very attractive ceremony.
Prabhupāda: So all the cars should go also, behind.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We have some..., I think we have a lot of good vans here, Rāmeśvara.
Rāmeśvara: We can arrange for it at prasādam. That's the time when everyone should be there.
Morning Walk -- July 18, 1976, New York:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How big are those wheels, Rāmeśvara?
Rāmeśvara: Oh, they must be at least eight feet.
Ādi-keśava: Seven and a half.
Rāmeśvara: Seven and a half feet.
Prabhupāda: Jaya. Jaya.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's the park.
Prabhupāda: Very nicely made.
Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda! Jaya!
Room Conversation -- July 18, 1976, New York:
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, very nice, very strong.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because you gave him that warning. When he heard that, oh, he became very... "I must do it right." We told him, "Now you will have to be replaced. Prabhupāda has said that 'Jayānanda's wheels will never hold up.' So we have to find a replacement for you." So he took no chances.
Prabhupāda: San Francisco it also happened.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Seems to me that he must be a great devotee of Lord Jagannātha.
Prabhupāda: Same thing happened in London also.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Really? The legs, wheels.
Hari-śauri: That's why they gave difficulty, the authorities, because the wheels broke?
Prabhupāda: No, that is wrong idea.
Room Conversation -- July 31, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):
Prabhupāda: Science means how to make the motorcar wheel, that's all. This is their science.
Bhūgarbha: In America, the professors complain to us. When we try to sell them personal books, they should take books themselves, they say that the salary of a college professor in America is the same as the salary of a waiter in some hotel. That is the respect they are given.
Prabhupāda: Sometimes they are called churchmouse. Churchmouse. A mouse in the church, what he'll eat? He's in a householder's place, a mouse is there, he can eat something. But church, nobody's eating there. Simply dust, that's all. (laughter) Churchmouse. Any new mail?
Room Conversation -- August 2, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):
Prabhupāda: That's all. This is going on.
Hari-śauri: Dogs on four wheels. (laughs) It was so nice sitting underneath the tree there, chanting. I was thinking, this is what we could do forever, twenty-four hours. No need to do anything else.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (pause) Prospective place, this. Very future prospect.
Hari-śauri: Oh, yes. We're buying these big properties now, we don't have so many devotees, but we know just even in five years they're going to be packed.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Hari-śauri: Maybe now we don't have so many devotees for all these big places we're buying, but even just in five years or ten years they'll be full. We'll have to expand more and more. Your idea for fifty percent for books, fifty percent for buildings is very wonderful. I remember in Caitanya-caritāmṛta you said that the book distribution and the establishment of temples should go parallel lines, side by side.
Prabhupāda: Going on. Up to date, to my satisfaction, it is going on.
Room Conversation -- August 3, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):
Prabhupāda: "Washington, July the 19th." That's where it's reported from. It says, "New York saw on Sunday an unusual spectacle of three brightly colored chariots being pulled along the city's prestigious Fifth Avenue from Central Park to Washington Square, a distance of about five kilometers, by members of the Hare Kṛṣṇa group. The rathas, built in Orissan style with giant wooden wheels, attracted large crowds of spectators all along the route. It was a novel experience for the New Yorkers. Many resident Indians who are not members of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement enthusiastically gave a hand in the pulling. The Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees were celebrating the feast of Jagannātha in the traditional Indian way. The police and the city administration readily cooperated. In a city that is coming to be known for its tolerance of diverse cultures, chariot processions promise to be an annual event. While a few citizens booed and some altercations were reported, the spectacle was well received by the New Yorkers. 'I think it is great,' the New York Times quoted a man as saying.
Room Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: Yes, they should go and preach and bring some collection.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They're just relaxed, resting for a month.
Akṣayānanda: A month is too long, Prabhupāda said. Prabhupāda said three days a sannyāsī should stay and then he should go and travel. The wheels should be turning. I'll talk to him.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Because this just adds up. A ten people party staying here for a month...
Prabhupāda: Yes, they've always come, so there must be some control.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Few men are here from Haṁsadūta's party who eat with us. All this just adds up then our budget cannot be maintained.
Akṣayānanda: I'll preach to him.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Air conditioned room.
Room Conversation with Dr. Theodore Kneupper -- November 6, 1976, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: They are preparing Goodyear tire. Now eat tires. You rascal, eat tires. How long you'll eat tires? If there is no customer for tire, that means... So that is coming. And I went to Detroit about six months ago. There're factories. They have manufactured the wheels, huge stock. That means they are not selling. And the Goodyear Tire, they advertising, "So many millions tires we are manufacturing." You have been in Detroit? Yes. They're proud that "We have manufactured so many tires, so many wheels." The time will come when there will be no purchaser for tires and wheels, and they'll starve. That is coming. What they will do? If they become hungry there is no food grain. For some time they will eat, killing the cows, and then there will be no food, and what these tire and wheels will do? But there is no first-class brain that "We are wasting time by manufacturing tires and wheels. Without wheels we could live, but how we shall live without food grain?" There is no brain, no first-class men, no second-class men, no third-class men.
Room Conversation with Dr. Theodore Kneupper -- November 6, 1976, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: Well, in your country there is some adjustment because it is very big country and you are all intelligent people. In other countries they... But even though you have got resources, if you not properly utilize it, then the bad time is coming. You should expect. If your energy is all engaged in manufacturing tires and wheels, then who will go to the... Actually I have seen in your country. Now the farmers' son, they do not like to remain in the farm. They go in the city. I have seen it. The farmers' son, they do not like to take up the profession of his father. So gradually farming will be reduced, and the city residents, they are satisfied if they can eat meat. And the farmer means keeping the, raising the cattle and killing them, send to the city, and they will think that "We are eating. What is the use of going to..." But these rascals have no brain that "If there is no food grain or grass, how these cattle will be...?" Actually it is happening. They are eating swiftly. "The cattle will die. Before they die, let us kill and eat." Actually it is happening.
Room Conversation with Dr. Theodore Kneupper -- November 6, 1976, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: The important principle is that everyone must be gainfully employed. In ISKCON's Māyāpur project hundreds of persons operate spinning wheels and more than a dozen handlooms, dye the cloth, and (indistinct) popular design, process rice and dāl by hand, crush sugar cane for sugar products, and manufacture by hand, wooden shoes and other items of daily use. On twenty-five acres of agricultural land in Māyāpur, ISKCON is developing and demonstrating scientific farming procedures such as crop rotation, organic fertilization, and using improved strains. ISKCON is also cross-breeding cattle from Canada and Australia with Indian cows to increase milk production. Thus the community provides (indistinct) daily needs, acts as an agricultural development and demonstration center, and additionally feeds thousands of people twice every week. Within the next ten years, according to ISKCON's plans, the Māyāpur project will extend into a complete Vedic city with fifty thousand..."
Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 7, 1976, Hyderabad:
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Devotee (4): The devotees staying here, living here, they may make some pottery, set of potter's wheel, make clay pots.
Prabhupāda: What? What you'll use, pots? Here pottery is very cheap. We are not for arts. We are simply bare necessities of life and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Devotee (7): Tirupati, they have these Veṅkateśvarams, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and blowing on the loud speaker every day. One... You can hear for miles. So we can also do some Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra chanting?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Hari-śauri: They do that in Māyāpur.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Very natural. So I see the dolls... Intelligent boys, they can do it, educated, intelligent. Very good, nice. So many students are engaged...
Rāmeśvara: This is like pottery. Spinning on the wheel, he is designing the ornaments for the crown. Each doll of the demigods has a different crown. That's how they make them, on a spinning wheel just like a potter.
Prabhupāda: They are devising their own way. Eh?
Rāmeśvara: Sometimes.
Prabhupāda: That's nice.
Rāmeśvara: This is part of the Universal Form exhibit. This is Mahā-Viṣṇu.
Prabhupāda: Oh, lying down.
Evening Conversation -- January 25, 1977, Puri:
Prabhupāda: No, they were arranging for some operation.
Gargamuni: Yes. Those doctors.
Prabhupāda: I told Kīrtanānanda, "Give me massage."
Gargamuni: I can remember. I wheeled you down for test.
Prabhupāda: The heart was also very painful still.
Gargamuni: They wanted to take some blood, and I had to stop them.
Prabhupāda: They were examining my brain. Then I thought, "I must go away." I told, "Doctor, I am all right. I can go."
Gargamuni: They wanted to do so many tests. They wanted to take also from spine.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Satsvarūpa: They did that. They did give you that spine needle.
Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Prabhupāda: No. You are nonsense, that is accepted, but do not think that because you have manufactured printing press, you have become God. That is our proposal. We give you credit. And we can also say that without your printing press, people were not dying. Formerly people were copying. Everyone's business was going on. There was no need of mass studying. Only the brāhmaṇas, they used to copy and they used to vibrate the knowledge. And those who were interested, they were hearing and getting the knowledge. So what was the harm? It is little facility that... The same logic: The dog is running, four legs, you are running by four wheels. That does not mean that the dog will die, you'll not die. You'll die also, and dog will die. So this four-wheel car will not help you ultimately. Ultimately you have to die.
Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Puri:
Prabhupāda: Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that take, assimilate of the Vedic knowledge, and distribute it to the other parts of world. That is para-upakāra, real welfare activity. Because they are in darkness. What do they know, Western countries, about this knowledge? They think by this dog race... "A dog is running by four leg, and I am running by four-wheel car. I am advanced." That's all. That is Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. Moha, another illusion. Rascal, what you will do with this world, four-wheeling? You'll have to die like the dog. What you have done for this? You are very much proud. "The dog is running with four legs, and I have got a Rolls Royce car. I am so advanced." But, rascal, when the dog will die, you'll also die. In spite of four wheel, you'll die. What about that? What is your science says about that? Then he'll say, "Wait millions of years. We shall do that." This is science. When you put him in the corner—"Now, the dog, poor dog, will die, and you'll also die. What you have done for this?"—"No, wait. We shall do it." Is it not?
Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: They have got only the potato. In England what they produce? No food. So everything was exported. Their policy was to supply manufactured goods and take raw materials from India. So they supplied cotton goods. They saw that all Indians are using cotton cloth. Iron they introduced. They introduced railway line, all iron, the carriage, the wheel, the road. Everything was... In this way they became prosperous. And the Indian people, they saw... They were educated because they are fond of going to pilgrimage by walking. They would go... Suppose from here, Navadvīpa, one has to go to Vṛndāvana. He would make his will, because he does not know whether he'll come back or not. Long distance, thousand miles, you have to go by, on leg. They used to go. So they were advertised that "No. Now you'll have not to walk. The Company, they're making very easy going railway." So they received it, "Oh! (Hindi)" (laughs) But their idea was to draw all the raw materials from villages and send it to England.
Room Conversation -- March 22, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Echo mano jano mandanam arpane.(?) Manuṣya-janama pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā. You can very easily do it. And neglect it simply by dog race, four-legged, four-wheel race. They have no knowledge. Anthill. I have given the name. Anthill? Yes. These big, big buildings, anthill. And these four-wheel cars, dog-race. What is the difference between the anthill and the skyscraper building?
Guest (1) (Indian man): More modern only.
Prabhupāda: The same thing. They are also living in the holes, and we have made some holes.
Bhavānanda: Even in Africa, we saw some anthills that were as big as skyscrapers.
Prabhupāda: Ācchā?
Bhavānanda: Big, big.
Room Conversation -- March 26, 1977, Bombay:
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.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, there is no question. Actually, they were ready tomorrow.
Prabhupāda: Still to...
Room Conversation -- March 26, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Nobody knows goal. Everyone is living like animal. Many other goal. They do not know. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (SB 7.5.31). This is the modern civilization. They do not know what is the goal of life. And without knowing the goal of life, they are trying to adjust things on this material platform. That will never happen. Durāśayā. Now suppose this race... On the road we see so many four-wheel cars racing. Does it mean this will solve the problems of life? What is the difference? If the dog is running and I am also running in a four-wheel car, so where is the difference? (Hindi) What is the difference? Is that advancement of civilization because I am in a four-wheel Mercedes car and the dog is running on the street? He will also die, I will die, and he will have to change, he'll also change body, I have to change body. Next life, I may be a dog like that. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). My problem is how to stop this business, how to get my real life. So one who is interested in real life, why he should join the dog race? It is all dog race. And they are taking it as advancement of knowledge. That is not advancement.
Room Conversation with Scientists, Svarupa Damodara, and Dr. Sharma -- March 31, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: "This is not good." "But why not good? Let me enjoy." "No, you will not enjoy. You will create another body for suffering." Yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). You are already suffering. You have got this body. You are already suffering on account of your past activities. And you are creating again another body for suffering. So it is not good. They do not know. (Hindi) Four-wheel dogs. That is advancement of civilization. The dog is running with four legs, and he is running with four wheels. Dag-dag-dag-dag-dag. Where you are going? And this is their scientific advancement. Competition with dog. Otherwise what they have done? The ant hill, and four-legged wheel. That's all. Four wheel legs. This is animal civilization. Without knowing the aim of life, living in big, big skyscraper building, "I am king." And running like dogs with four wheel car, Mercedes. This is dog civilization. It is not human civilization. Human civilization begins when they take Kṛṣṇa's instructions: cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). Divide the whole human society into four divisions and let them cooperatively act for the benefit of God.
Interview with Mr. Koshi (Asst. Editor of The Current Weekly) -- April 5, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: That is brahma-jñāna. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. So these things are here in India. Instead of distributing, understanding these things, we are jumping like cats and dogs, like the Western civilization. Anthill and four-wheel dog race. These big, big buildings, they are like anthill. You know anthill? The ant also can make a big stack of earth. Does it mean it is civilization to compete with the ant? Or run with the dog? Sometimes if a car is driving, and dog is running, it is a competition and the dog running. Is that civilization? Without understanding, the whole thing is going on, running on like that. Why India should imitate? India has got so much great exalted knowledge given by Kṛṣṇa. India should learn it and teach it to the whole world. That is India's business. Paropakāra. And that is being done in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Very important movement, very scientific movement. So do not neglect it. Come and join, learn it and give it to the whole world. This is the perfect knowledge, paropakāra.
Room Conversation with Mr. Myer -- July 2, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: His son should be hanged.
Mr. Myer: So many (indistinct). Morarji Desai was in jail for nineteen months.
Prabhupāda: Just see.
Mr. Myer: Every day he was reading the Gītā, and he was doing the spinning wheel. Nineteen months he was doing. He's also eighty years old.
Prabhupāda: Yes, he is of my age, my...
Mr. Myer: Yes. He is guru's age.
Prabhupāda: Eighty, eighty-two.
Mr. Myer: Now is a very good time for ISKCON because this new government, all their policies is what ISKCON is already doing.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Let us see actually if it is good.
Room Conversation -- October 24, 1977, Vrndavana:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I mean there are other points also. Whether they'll have a wheelchair that can be wheeled through an aisle in an airplane? See, on the train we can carry you quite easily. Plane traveling just becomes a very... It's a sophisticated situation. And I don't want to take you in a stretcher in a plane. I don't like that idea. I don't think it's nice in any way, you know. It's all right if we take you in a wheelchair, and then you can sit down and lay down in the seat. That's no problem. But how to get through the aisle? You remember when we went to London you had to walk. They say they have... Foreign airlines say... I remember they used to say they had some wheelchairs.
Upendra: It's not exactly a wheelchair. It's a little tiny seat that they strap down.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. Who knows that they'll have it? What's the guarantee? He can't walk. You want to go by plane? Because it's two hours? That's a big advantage. (Prabhupāda coughing) Do you want a little miśri-jala, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: So that bus, they have stopped?
Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:
Gaura-govinda: There was one baḍa pāṇḍā. I don't know his name. One who does offerings.(?) He is chief of those pāṇḍās. And then, when this pulling of car... That took place just a few minutes before sunset. It was the custom that as soon as the sun set, there will be no pulling. Only Balarāma's car was pulled a few yards, dashed against a (indistinct), and four of the wheels were broken. So then it stopped. For two days there was no pulling unless it is repaired. Then for two days car stopped there. So on the third day it was pulled. The cars were pulled to the Guṇḍicā. Such things happened this year. And we were the only party who chanted before ratha from ten to four.
Prabhupāda: Only party means?
Room Conversation -- November 10, 1977, Vrndavana:
Lokanātha: If these roads are not bad, and the cart has tire wheels...
Prabhupāda: Yes?
Lokanātha: So we're discussing bumping, so won't be much bumping on the cart. Also, we always could go slow. If Prabhupāda wants to make an experiment, we could make one day...
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: A few hours.
Prabhupāda: I am thinking I am lying here... (break)
Lokanātha: ...should ride in very nice carts, a chariot.
Prabhupāda: No, (indistinct). (laughter)
Lokanātha: I saw one in Maharastra. In Poona. Yes.
Prabhupāda: Hm. You can purchase immediately.
| Page Title: | Wheel (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Rishab, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 16 of Jun, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=56, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 56 |