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Window (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:

Janārdana: It is a place... (break) ...of animals, and they are very expensive furs.

Prabhupāda: Yes, very expensive.

Janārdana: Very expensive. They want a dollar sixty a square foot per year, which is very expensive. We are paying 49 cents a square foot per year.

Prabhupāda: Oh. I thought that because it is a downstairs floor, the restaurant can be started there.

Janārdana: Oh, you mean there's another place? You mean that storefront downstairs?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Janārdana: Oh, that place... It's a green color and the windows are covered with soap? The windows are painted white?

Prabhupāda: No. It's a big building, big store. And big signboard. (break) ...shall approach. (laughing) Somebody said, told, that is for sale?

Janārdana: There is a store for sale. No. I think what they mean, the business is for sale.

Talk After Lecture (on Brahma-samhita, verse 29) -- November 8, 1968, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Oh, you have seen very nice house.

Maṇḍalī: Mm. I thought it was nice.

Prabhupāda: Very good. You have been in... We shall take that house. Very nice. You have seen inside also?

Maṇḍalī: We looked at it through the windows.

Prabhupāda: With Dayānanda?

Maṇḍalī: Yes.

Dayānanda: I have been in that place.

Prabhupāda: Oh, you have been? It is nice place?

Dayānanda: I think it has a fireplace in there.

Prabhupāda: That doesn't matter. (laughter) So you take that house. It is very nice.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 11, 1969, New York:

Advaita: Swamiji, last night our window was broken. Was that māyā striking at us?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Advaita: Last night my window was broken. Was that māyā striking?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Advaita: Kids broke the window?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Māyā is always striking. Why do you take only a window? Why do you compact māyā in the window? He is without window, within the window. Māyā is not only, I mean to say, limited to a certain extent. The whole world is māyā. Jagan mithyā. The whole universe is māyā. Only that part is not māyā where the chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa is there.

Devotees: Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: As soon as there was some slacking in Hare Kṛṣṇa the māyā struck. (laughs) Yes. Yes.

Conversation Before Lecture -- April 29, 1969, Brandeis University, Boston:

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. All right. Kṛṣṇa will see. So you just give service to Kṛṣṇa, impressing people that these Kṛṣṇa conscious people are not hippies.

Miss Rose: Oh, yes! I told a lot of people. You know, Swamiji, the first time when I heard about 95 Glenville Avenue, the first time, a woman told me that, she says, "You know," she says, "gypsies, we have neighbors, gypsies on the street." "Gypsies! I haven't seen any gypsies." Well, I put my shoes. I went downstairs. I went to the door and I start reading. I says, "This is spiritual. This is beautiful. This is spiritual." I forgot right away. So she came to the door, Jadurani. She came to the door and she said, "Hare Kṛṣṇa," and she said, "Come in." I came in and she started talking to me and that's... I got started. So when I seen her, I said, "That's not gypsies. That's not gypsies." And I explained it to her. "Oh," she said, "I seen the curtains in the window," she said, "and I thought they were gypsies." "Oh, well," I explained it to her. "Oh," I says. I let her have it, there was no gypsies there. So she used to see me coming down to got to the temple. So nice, yeah? Do you like that place, Swamiji?

Prabhupāda: Which place?

Miss Rose: Where the disciples are now, on Glenville Avenue? Or do you think that you need another place?

Prabhupāda: No, sometimes the, some children disturb. They broke...

Miss Rose: No. Oh, I know they broke the windows. I know that. You know, Swamiji, it's very hard to find apartments, and, Swamiji, they're very expensive. $125, $135, $145 dollars a month, the apartments are. See. Yeah. And they're very, very hard to find. And sometimes I want to get out of there myself. Because, I mean, there is so many... It's really turning out to be kind of a bad, a lot of children there.

Prabhupāda: Let us see. As Kṛṣṇa desires. Begin kīrtana. Chant. (end)

Room Conversation With John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison -- September 11, 1969, London, At Tittenhurst:

Prabhupāda: Just try to understand this flower example.

Yoko Ono: Yes.

Prabhupāda: It is all right. You are attracted by some flower, I am attracted by some flower, but amongst the flowers there are distinctions. There are many flowers which has no flavor and many flower has flavor.

Yoko Ono: Is that flower that has flavor better than...

Prabhupāda: So therefore attraction for any flower is not the solution of the question. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). Kṛṣṇa is Supreme Absolute. Anyone wants Him in any way, He also presents Himself in that way. Just like the same example. If you want a yellow flower, never mind whether there is any scent or any flavor or not, so that flower is there. It is for you. That's all. But if anyone wants rose flower, Kṛṣṇa gives him rose flower. But when you make a comparative study which one is better, then rose will be considered better. (chuckling) So ye yathā māṁ prapadyante. That means the Absolute is realized... Of course, varieties there are, but the original division of the Absolute is three: Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān. Now, Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān is the same Absolute. Different names. The jñānis, or the empiric philosophers, they reach or they aim at Brahman, impersonal Brahman. The yogis, they, I mean to say, focus on the Supersoul, Paramātmā. And the devotees, they aim at Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Now, this Kṛṣṇa and the Supersoul and the impersonal Brahman, they are not different. They are light. They are not darkness. But in the light also, there is difference The example is given: just like sunlight, sun globe and the sun-god. Everywhere you find light. In the sunshine there is light. In sun globe there is light. And what to speak of the predominating deity in the sun-globe? He also must be light; otherwise wherefrom this light comes? So so far light is concerned, everywhere there. But you cannot say because sunshine has come through your window in your room, you cannot say the sun has come. That will be mistake. Sun is many, many miles away. But so far light is concerned, now there is question of degrees of light, intensity of light. So the degrees of spiritual realization in Brahman, degrees of spiritual realization in Paramātmā, and degrees of spiritual realization in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are different.

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 13, 1970, Indore:

Prabhupāda: Yes. So he has gone to Calcutta. (break) Utsāhan, dhairyāt. Are you realizing the distinction between this association and others?

Revatīnandana: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That you should realize. That is realization. We are trying to create a real spiritual path, not bogus, for livelihood. India's falldown is due to that spirit, that everyone takes everything for livelihood, that's all. Not only India, everywhere. India especially because poverty-stricken. So they take religion also as livelihood. Just like this Akhila Saheb. He wanted to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra for livelihood. Do you know that?

Devotee (3): Yes.

Prabhupāda: How? How it was? No, you do not know. He was proposing that "I know how to cure disease by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa." So he wanted to go to foreign countries to take this profession. That means an attempt to kill our movement in purity. Of course, nobody can kill our movement, but this sort of thinking is just against the purity of our movement: utilize Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra for curing disease. Oh, it will not stay.

Haṁsadūta: No. If we put it on the window it will stay. It won't stay on the wall.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Haṁsadūta: If he puts it on the window it will stay.

Prabhupāda: Window means it will be dark.

Haṁsadūta: Yes. I think that (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Yes. It has to be done. Not only idea, it has to be done in practical sense. Now who will take charge of this task? That is to be found out. You write to the...

Room Conversation -- December 21, 1970, Surat:

Śyāmasundara: They make such a tremendous sound that they break windows and everything else.

Prabhupāda: Now we are with Sambhu in Bombay. As soon as the aeroplane would come on top of the house it is just like thunderbolt. Yes. At least I was feeling like that. Vajrapa. You see? So this is called illusion. We are creating a civilization which is so much painful, but we are thinking that we are advanced. This is illusion. We are creating simply problems, and still, we are thinking that we are advanced. And Bhāgavata says that there is no problem. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ (SB 1.5.18). You simply try for Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: The Vedic principle is that one should avoid sex life altogether. The whole Vedic principle is to get liberation from this material bondage. And there are different attachments for this material enjoyment, out of which sex life is the source of topmost enjoyment. The Bhāgavata says that this material world... Puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etam (SB 5.5.8). Means that a man is attached to woman and woman is attached to man. Not only human society, in animal society also. That attachment is the basic principle of material life. So, a woman is hankering or seeking after the association of a man, and a man is hankering or seeking the association of a woman. Just like we see the, all the fictions, novels, dramas, this cinema, or even ordinary advertisement, simply they depict the attachment between man and woman. Even in tailor's shop you'll find on the window some woman, some man. (break) So this attachment is already there.

Room Conversation -- April 20, 1972, Tokyo:

Śyāmasundara: Yes. We can go now. Here is some water. You can wash out the window. It's dirt below.

Prabhupāda: Everyone got? Everyone? No, I shall go there. (end)

Morning Walks -- October 1-3, 1972, Los Angeles:

Jayatīrtha: ...so many riots by the students at the university there that the shopkeepers in the local area are suing the State because the windows have been broken so many times and so much merchandise has been stolen by the students, they think the State should pay them back.

Prabhupāda: Yes, they must. The State must be responsible. What the State reply?

Jayatīrtha: Well, they're having to litigate in court over it. The State doesn't want to do it. So this university there is one of the most famous universities in the whole country. They spend so many millions of dollars to maintain it nicely. (break) (dog barking) ...changing their bodies in particular ways to make them look (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: When you do not take care of God, you must take care of dog. (laughter) (end)

Room Conversation -- October 25, 1972, Vrndavana:

Gurudāsa: He said that some people who are religious, they are vegetarian.

Prabhupāda: I don't think there is any vegetarian, because in the store you will get only meat. There is no vegetable, no fruit. Śyāmasundara had to spend two hours for collecting food. There is no rice, (indistinct), nothing. For vegetarians it is very, very difficult to live in Moscow.

Devotee (2): Just recently the Russians went to the United States and bought huge quantities of grains for Russia.

Prabhupāda: There are no grains.

Devotee (2): They bought some wheat.

Prabhupāda: It is a barren land, icy land, that's all. Huge land icy.

Devotee (3): They are being punished.

Prabhupāda: And I was in month of June, still in the morning the wind was so cold. And there is double glass in every window, double glass. Just like aeroplane, double. And at half past eleven in the month of June, when in your country it is half past eleven o'clock, that is evening. And at half past three o'clock, morning. And still the little night, that is just like dusk; it is not completely dark. And laborer class... (speaks to someone in Hindi) Keep it open. (break) (indistinct) Every corner of the street, Lenin's picture. All books are sold, they are Lenin. No other literature. You cannot get taxi. Poor men, they cannot pay for taxi. Very little number. When I was talking with Professor Kotovsky, so I asked him, "Now we shall go. Get me taxi." So he, "Yes, it is Moscow." So he got down, he personally showed me, "Instead of taking taxi waiting, please go in this way when you go to your hotel." He showed me shortcut. People are walking, and they are running for the bus. It is not at all a rich country. A poor country. And if you see the shops, you will find old (indistinct), just like antique shop. Because you cannot purchase generally, everything you have to purchase from government store, and in queue. It is botheration. And actually in India it is going to happen like this. Everything you have to purchase in queue. Here?

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- December 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: (break) ...illusion. Accepting this illusion, wherefrom the idea came? Just like in the tailor's window, there are nice beautiful women or men standing. That is illusion. Actually, that is neither man or woman. It is doll. But wherefrom the idea came of this illusion?

Hṛdayānanda: Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: No, no. Unless there is a real man, a real woman, how the illusory man and woman is there, doll? Illusion means which is not fact. So the fact must be there; otherwise how the illusion, reflection, comes? Illusion is exemplified by the mirage, water in the desert. So the man is or the animal is running after water, but that is not water. This is illusion. But that does not mean there is no water. This is the conclusion. Unless there is real water, how... (aside) You can give around here. How this illusion of water is there?

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 6, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Because everyone's life is mixed up with some distress or happiness. Nobody can say, "I am simply happy." That is not possible. Distress is there, but nobody wants distress. But it comes. So why happiness will not come? So don't waste your time in this way, because you cannot change this. This will come, automatically. You try for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which you never tried. That is recommended. And there is a Bengali verse, janame janame sabe pitā mātā pāya: to take care of oneself by the fathers, that is available in every life. Because the ant is also taking care. That is not human society, but he's still taking care. The tiger also taking care. The small cubs, they're loitering on the, on the body of the lion, and he is feeling very nice. Even monkeys, I have seen. One monkey came in window, and she had one small child, and somehow or other the child came inside my room. She, that outside monkey, became mad after it. So I had to take... (laughs) The affection is there. The ant, they're affectionate, the snake affectionate, tiger affectionate, man is affectionate. That is given; otherwise who will take care? So therefore the Vaiṣṇava kavi says, janame janame sabe pitā mātā pāya: in every life you'll get father and mother and their protection, kṛṣṇe guru nahi mile bhaja hari ei, but in every life you cannot get Kṛṣṇa and guru take care of. Because unless you get Kṛṣṇa and guru, then you are within the cycle of birth and death. And you get father and mother and their care, that is all right, but kṛṣṇa-guru does not come in that way. That you have to search out. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa brahmite kona bhāgyavān jīva guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti... (CC Madhya 19.151). Because Kṛṣṇa, guru will give you the nucleus of devotional life. Kṛṣṇa guru nahi mile bhaja hari ei.

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

Prabhupāda: So the cause of physical elements is spiritual energy, and the spiritual energy is... Both spiritual... Spiritual energy is coming from God. Just like... (aside:) Close. (sound of windows closing) Just like the sunshine is coming from the sun, and in the sunshine there are so many physical transformations. Is it not? In the sunshine... Just like we, ordinary men, we can understand. When there is absence of sunshine... In your western countries or in other..., the leaves of the tree falls down. And again, in the springtime, as soon as there is sufficient sunshine, immediately thousands of trees grows leaves. So there is action of sunshine. So sunshine is coming from the sun. And the sunshine is working in different ways, changing the color of the flowers, of the leaves, and... Or, so far I know, all the planets are, they're rotating on the sunshine heat. Eh? So therefore the sunshine is the original cause of all material, physical things. But wherefrom the sunshine comes? That comes from the spiritual energy. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). In the Brahma-saṁhitā. So that original cause is the spiritual energy. Therefore, because everything is coming from the spiritual energy, you can take everything as spiritual. The same example: like cotton is the original cause. Then it comes thread, then comes...

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

Jyotirmayī: (French)

(Prabhupāda tells someone to open window)

Bhagavān: How does one get the experience of personal existence of God?

Room Conversation with Bhurijana dasa and Disciples -- July 1, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Meditation? What is the ultimate goal? That means no perfect knowledge. The so-called meditation is very popular, but what meditation? What is subject matter of meditation? You can close. It is closed?

Satsvarūpa: Close the blinds? There's a draft coming in, but the windows are closed.

Prabhupāda: Not closed. Yes, now it is closed. Just make it point three. It is on two. That's it. (long pause) (break)

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- May 22, 1975, Melbourne:

Śrutakīrti: Yesterday you were telling Bhūrijana they should make the temple a tourist attraction. So with this method, it would be very easy.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (coughs)

Śrutakīrti: Roll down the window.

Prabhupāda: ...the demonic, they construct very nice house. (break) ...this planet, there are seven other planets. There sunshine does not go. But they are very well situated.

Madhudviṣa: Well situated? Even though there's no sun?

Prabhupāda: Yes, but there are snakes which has got jewel on the head. That light keeps them illuminated.

Madhudviṣa: But does that light also keep them healthy?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Madhudviṣa: Like the sun gives us, keeps us healthy.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Madhudviṣa: So the jewels from the snakes can also provide that nutrition?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Room Conversation after Press Conference -- July 9, 1975, Chicago:

Brahmānanda: Yes. "This cigarette is meant just for you to show that you're superior."

Prabhupāda: I think there was some objection, woman taking this objection, why woman's idol should be displayed in the shopkeeper's show windows.

Brahmānanda: The mannequins.

Prabhupāda: Yes. There was some protest. Generally, they keep the dolls of woman, beautiful woman. So there was some protest.

Brahmānanda: They even now have protested...

Prabhupāda: In advertisement also. Woman's pictures are so many. So why they are taking woman's picture? We also say that maidservant, 1920... Now she has become. Like the woman... There are many men like that. Why not men? Why they are taking advantage of the woman? Why there is no protest, that "Why you are taken?" There are many men who has improved from 1920 up to date. Why don't you give that picture. Why woman's picture? Where is the protest? Whenever there is some fashion dress, the woman's picture is given. Why? Is there any protest by the women for this that, "Why you are taking advantage of woman"?

Morning Walk -- July 21, 1975, San Francisco:

Bahulāśva: We have a display over here in the window of your books, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Bahulāśva: Would you like to see?

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) Very good. So they are selling?

Bahulāśva: This is just a display for the students to see, like advertisement.

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Bahulāśva: Yesterday many people bought your books.

Brahmānanda: And it says here, "Birth, old age, disease and death." What is this? "The Bhagavad-gītā we find information that besides earth, water, fire, air, space as well as the mind, intelligence and false ego, there exists a superior energy form. That superior energy is called ātmā, the self. There is an obvious difference between you and the ground. That factor that distinguishes the animate from the inanimate is consciousness. That consciousness or awareness of being is proof of the existence of the self."

Prabhupāda: Very nice. This is the library? No.

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

Upendra: He identifies. Identification.

Prabhupāda: Identification. So that identification is there in the animal life also. The animal, dog, also tries to protect his cub. So that sense is not sufficient to be human being. That sense is visible amongst the lower animals. In Kanpur I was sitting within the room, and one monkey came outside the window, and she had her child. So somehow or other, playing, that child entered into my room through the railings, and the mother remained outside. The mother became mad how to get the child. Then I pushed the child out of the room and she immediately embraced, and... The affection is there. You will find everywhere. In the birds, beasts, animals, lower animals, big animals, the same affection is there. If you strike one crow, then thousands of crow will gather: "Caw. Caw. Caw." You have seen? In India it is very... (chuckles) And they will bite you. If you have done any harm to any crow, all the crows will come.

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

Prabhupāda: (aside:) The windows this side cannot be opened?

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

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

Nara-nārāyaṇa: Close?

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

Morning Walk -- September 15, 1975, Vrndavana:

Vāsughoṣa: In every field someone is miserable. Just in America there was one lady, very famous etiquette expert, Amy Vanderbilt. So she jumped out of her window. She was sixty-nine years old.

Prabhupāda: There are many. I saw in Detroit, I think. The bridge is covered?

Brahmānanda: San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge they have put...

Prabhupāda: Not Golden Gate. That San Diego, I think. We crossed one bridge to go to the...

Brahmānanda: Oh, yes, San Diego also. They have these fences so when people jump off they are caught by the fences. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: And I think in Berkeley? The tower?

Brahmānanda: Oh, yes. In the college university they have a big clock tower...

Prabhupāda: These are the signs how they are disappointed. They are always ready to commit suicide. So where is success?

Vāsughoṣa: They are practically committing suicide by their activities.

Prabhupāda: That is also another side. But practically you see.

Vāsughoṣa: Hm. But by this smoking cigarettes, meat-eating... I mean, we explain to them that doctors have found that meat-eating...

Prabhupāda: I have seen about some thirty years ago, one man was sitting... I was traveling in the railway apartment, and all of a sudden he jumped through the window.

Devotees: Whew!

Prabhupāda: All of a sudden. He was sitting nicely. What he was thinking I do not know. But he took the opportunity of open window and jumped. I have seen.

Indian man (1): A kind of insanity overpowered him.

Prabhupāda: Insanity... everyone is overpowered by insanity, anyone in this material world and who is trying to be happy. Everyone is in insanity. They are trying to different way. They do not know the only solution is, as Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇa... (BG 18.66). That they do not, neither they'll accept.

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

Prof. Olivier: It's the foundation. But we know so little about the foundation. When the rich man in the Bible asked the Lord to send this poor man down to warn his brothers, the Lord said they've had all the prophets all the years and they haven't listened. Any new evidence they will not accept either. I think that we have enough evidences around us. We need not seek more evidences, except I believe, through more direct contact with the workings of the holy spirit itself, which I think is available. But again, which I agree with you, I don't think we have exploited enough. You could use that word advisedly. Because the spirit is there. "It bloweth where it listeth." It is for us to get attuned to that spirit. And now the point is, that we are concerned with: Who is going to do this? There has just been written a book in England, which I haven't read, and I hope to order it, but I've only seen the advertisement, namely, The Biology of God, which takes into consideration the points that you have raised here. Of course, there are a lot of objections to this book, in principle. You know—how can a man try to biologize God, to give Him a physical, scientific being in terms of modern life? But I think in the last book in the Old Testament, Malachi, there is a, when the Lord was complaining about all these people who bring blind animals as a sacrifice or lame animals or weak animals... The poorest in their flock they bring as sacrifices to the Lord. And He said, "It's not sacrifices that I want at all, if you bring this kind. It's obedience. It's truth. It's only truth that brings knowledge. It's truth that I want." But then He goes on to say you must... This is the challenge that you were referring to: how do we open more windows from God or from the spirit of God onto this present world today? Of course, the good Lord is still God. And He uses... (break)

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

Morning Walk -- October 25, 1975, Mauritius:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Ice was coming down, hail. Hail. Before we went to the program there was hail, ice coming down. It's gone.

Prabhupāda: Yes. In the window there was "cut, cut." (break)

Morning Walk -- November 30, 1975, Delhi:

Tejās: Students coerce them. They stop the buses. If the bus driver doesn't stop, they'll break the windows and then they all get on and they ride free. They were burning many buses.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But this year, because of the emergency, everyone is behaving all right. They're scared to do anything.

Prabhupāda: How by emergency you can make people honest?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: This house belongs to the (name withheld).

Tejās: This belongs to (name withheld)?

Prabhupāda: Yes. He has got three, four houses like that, separate, I saw, and whole day-two hours here, two hours there, two hours there.

Morning Walk -- December 23, 1975, Bombay:

Lokanātha: (break) ...window glass.

Prabhupāda: That is called māyā. (everyone laughs) The light is here, but it appears light is there. This is called māyā. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa! Jaya. The real world is the spiritual world, and here it is simply a reflection, but we are taking this is real world, and spiritual, there is no spiritual. Yathā bhāsaḥ tathā tamo. So Śaṅkarācārya said that this world is false, jagan mithya. So, but brahma satyam, he gave the same information. But we are taking this jagat satyam, and there is no spiritual world. This is the defect. Just like.... (aside:) That's all right. ...the mirage, the foolish animal goes after the water in the desert, but there is no water. He is bewildered. But that does not means there is no water anywhere else. There is water, but this mirage water is false. Similarly, this material world is false, but that does not mean there is no spiritual world. The water is somewhere else. That you do not know. But you are after this mirage, water in the desert. (Hindi conversation with man, about water) (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa! Yatra tri-sargo'mṛṣā. Tejo vāri-mṛdāṁ vinimayo yatra tri-sargo'mṛṣā dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi (SB 1.1.1).

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 3, 1976, Nellore:

Hariśauri: A straw roof, they call that thatching. Thatch.

Prabhupāda: Thatching, yes. That is right. So the windows are thatched. So where is the production? Vivekananda is standing as preacher. So where is the preachers? People should have gone there in hundreds; there should have been some program. So where is the program? Simply "Vivekananda house." Lick up the house. (break) ...rows of statues on the beach, many statues—for passing stool by the crows. I have seen in Calcutta one statue of Sir Asutosh Mukherjee. So in the morning, on the day of the birth anniversary, in the morning the municipal sweepers with their brush, they will rub it to cleanse the solidly stuck-up crow's stool with water. It will be done for three, four hours. Then in the evening, big, big men will come, gather, and offer him garland one after another, just like they were offering me. In this way the meeting will be held. In the morning it is brushed with the sweeper's street brush, and in the evening it is offered garland. I have seen it. Here also I see that she has kept Kṛṣṇa's mūrti outside. It is aparādha.

Morning Walk -- January 21, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Ask the grill men to come and prepare grills for all the windows.

Jayapatākā: Is that... Tamāla Kṛṣṇa's money can be used for that?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. You simply give him account. You will get as much money as you require. (break) ...think that you must be assured that it is going to be finished before the festival. Otherwise don't engage so many men uselessly. Take assurances that it will be finished. Then make so many people engaged. Otherwise there is no need. Only fifty men is sufficient.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I remember with the first building what we did is with the contractor, the labor contractor, we held back a little bit of his money on the guaranteed.

Jayapatākā: These are not contractors.

Prabhupāda: Contractor or no contractor, but you be assured. Otherwise don't engage.

Jayapatākā: He said we can finish all the brick work in two weeks.

Prabhupāda: I don't not know what they say, but I want finished within two months. Then engage so many men. Otherwise why you are uselessly...?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Six weeks left.

Prabhupāda: So if they cannot assure that, then keep only fifty men.

Morning Walks -- January 22-23, 1976, Mayapura:

Harikeśa: Pigs don't like to live in a clean house.

Prabhupāda: Yes. There is a story in Bhāgavata that Indra was cursed to become a pig. So after some time there was mismanagement in the heavenly kingdom. Brahmā personally came, "Indra, anyway, you became pig. Now you come with me." "Huh? How can I go? I have got so much responsibility." Then he was killed and took to heaven. So any life, any abominable condition, everyone is thinking, "I am perfect." This is called māyā. Any abominable condition, he is thinking, everyone is thinking, that "I am perfect. I have nothing to advance." This is called māyā. They do not know what is perfection. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). The ideal perfection they do not know. They are trying that "We shall make this pig life adjusted to civilized life." Is it possible? Pig life and adjusting to civilized life? Hare Kṛṣṇa. So we shall get down? (break) Nobody will accept. But if you explain that "You are no better than pigs and hogs and asses," then they will accept. So we have to take the idea from Bhāgavata and explain it for their understanding. That is wanted. (break) People are working so hard. Is it pleasure? But why they are working? They are working with the only hope that "Night, I shall go home, eat nicely and have sex with my wife." That's all. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham (SB 7.9.45). Otherwise why they will work so hard? Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...Los Angeles we have got a plant like this next to my window. That land for others, but it comes to my window. What is this?

Morning Walk -- February 6, 1976, Mayapura:

Jagadīśa: What is your explanation as to why the sun changes colors?

Prabhupāda: Sun is moving. You are seeing through some color. Then it is color.

Jagadīśa: Seeing through some color.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like there are... In your window there is glass, red. So sun is passing; you say sun red. And again it has come; it is white. That is our...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So the scientists say the same thing except they say that the earth is moving, not the sun. Same explanation you have given for the colors, they give, except that they say that the earth that is moving, not the sun. They wouldn't accept that point as a proof that the sun is moving.

Prabhupāda: No, sun is moving because the earth and the sun... The distance is the same, but you can calculate the distance from the rising up to the... It is millions, millions of miles. So unless the sun is moving, the earth cannot move so swiftly.

Morning Walk -- March 7, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Jaya. (break) ...ṣata-doltena malenatvaṁ na muñcyati.(?) If you take a coal and wash it, one who has... Still black.

Jayapatāka: And he does not allow himself to be washed. He never comes to the temple.

Prabhupāda: No. If he... A coal, however you go on with soap and other things, go on washing, it will never become clean. Aṅgarasya śata-doltena malenatvaṁ na muyati.(?) What is the defect? Why the...? The window is becoming black.

Jayapatāka: The lids are... We purchased some new lids yesterday. The lids have been damaged. Therefore the smoke is leaking.

Prabhupāda: So why damage cannot be repaired?

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1976, Mayapura:

Jayapatākā: They brought the glass light thing, and they didn't break it, with this plastic foam.

Prabhupāda: Oh, oh. That plastic bullet is now in motorcar. Even if you fire, it will not enter, the bullet. Is it not?

Gurudāsa: Windows? Plastic in the motorcar?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Bullet-proof glass.

Pañca-draviḍa: Yeah, they have bullet-proof glass.

Gurudāsa: They have something in regular cars that if it hits, it won't break.

Hari-śauri: It shatters.

Gurudāsa: And in the cars of big men they have bullet-proof glass. (break)

Morning Walk -- June 11, 1976, Los Angeles:

Rāmeśvara: This building is only two stories, even though it has three windows.

Prabhupāda: No, no, why two story? There is ground floor, first floor, second floor, third floor.

Rāmeśvara: One of the floors has two windows, top and bottom. But it's just one floor. Someone went inside and looked.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Oh, that is not floor. There is no ceiling.

Rāmeśvara: No, just three steps up.

Prabhupāda: Anyway...

Rāmeśvara: All the instructions for the future-like you said that one day even we will have the government—how to run the government, everything is explained in your books.

Prabhupāda: Yes. I think like that. (laughs) Is there mention, "The slaughterhouse must stopped"?

Rāmeśvara: You've given all the major policies for the future government, Kṛṣṇa consciousness government.

Prabhupāda: Let us hope. (end)

Prabhupada Visits Palace and Garden -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Kīrtanānanda: But this dome will go up another twelve feet, and four feet from the top there is, this lotus flower starts, and this is just one little sample of the kind of casting that will finish it. It will all be done now with smooth plaster. This dome here is being done like this dome, in cement. And then where you see these arches are being poured, there will be colored glass windows, stained glass windows.

Prabhupāda: To enter that temple you have to go through here?

Kīrtanānanda: To enter the Deity room you go through the kitchen.

Prabhupāda: No, generally people will go from this side to see the Deity?

Kīrtanānanda: No, they will see just from out here.

Prabhupāda: All these walls closed, there is no window.

Kīrtanānanda: There is no window.

Prabhupāda: Only one window.

Kīrtanānanda: Four windows on the up.

Prabhupāda: Ventilation.

Kīrtanānanda: Ventilation?

Prabhupāda: No ventilation.

Kīrtanānanda: There will be artificial ventilation, fan.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Natural ventilation is prohibited. (laughs)

Kīrtanānanda: No, these windows can open, air that way.

Prabhupāda: Nice veranda. This will be open like this?

Kīrtanānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: These are rooms?

Kīrtanānanda: Yes, these will be servants' quarters on this side.

Prabhupāda: This will be window?

Kīrtanānanda: Yes. This will be a kitchen.

Prabhupāda: Nice, very nice. And there will be garden here?

Kīrtanānanda: Yes. We are gradually clearing all this land, this was all wooded last year, and we're clearing now.

Prabhupāda: Very nice.

Prabhupada Visits Palace and Garden -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Kīrtanānanda: This is a sample of the handles.

Prabhupāda: Plumbing?

Kīrtanānanda: Like those on the doors. But we are just śūdras; we don't know how to do anything else.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. What for these marbles?

Kīrtanānanda: That will go on the wall in the bathroom, Italian cremo marble. Here's a picture of how the windows are being done in jāli work. This is being cast out of white cement.

Prabhupāda: Doing here?

Kīrtanānanda: Yes. This is some of the castings they've done. This goes up on the ceiling.

Prabhupāda: Cornice.

Kīrtanānanda: Cornice, yes. Then around the top of the building on the outside, there's a railing with these balusters.

Prabhupāda: This is made of cement?

Kīrtanānanda: No, this one is plaster, this was our first model, but the ones that will be used will be done out of cement. This is very light. Do you have your drawing of the outside?

Prabhupāda: Somebody's staying here?

Arrival Room Conversation -- July 2, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: That, everyone appreciated that in India, that the American fathers keeping him. Just like keeping him in cotton. (laughs) They admit that. Where is salt? There are many flies here?

Vipina: Not many, and we have screens also in the windows, so there shouldn't be too much disturbance from them.

Prabhupāda: Fruits are so nice. Kṛṣṇa has given fruit. They are locally grown?

Vṛṣākapi: No, Prabhupāda. Not too many. They all come from other parts of the country.

Prabhupāda: Your country?

Vṛṣākapi: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Not outside. Not like England, they have to import from... This is a very good example. Just like salt, we require. A little salt will increase the taste. But because it is absolutely necessary for eating, salt—everyone eats salt, nobody can avoid salt—it does not mean I shall eat too much.

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, Prabhupāda, now everything looks like the Rockefeller Plaza. All of the buildings are built in that same style. Very opulent. Now every day I look out the window of our building and I think when it will come that we will have one of these buildings. It won't be long. You can see how big these are, Prabhupāda. This is Sixth Avenue.

Prabhupāda: So we are between Sixth Avenue and?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, we're between Eighth Avenue and Ninth. Actually our building can be seen from here. Hare Kṛṣṇa is on the outside of it.

Room Conversation -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Ādi-keśava: From this window here you can see the Empire State Building and all the big buildings in New York.

Prabhupāda: Oh, very nice.

Rāmeśvara: There will not be any noise here either, because this is the eleventh floor.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Rāmeśvara: So it's very peaceful for translating work.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. (pause) My Guru Mahārāja left alone, so he has sent so many gurus to take care of me. You are all my Guru Mahārāja's representatives.

Bali-mardana: We are guru dāsa.

Prabhupāda: So you are taking care. I am very much obliged to you. I sometimes think in my childhood I was very, very pet son of my father. I have admitted that in that book I told. My father was not very rich man, but still, whatever I wanted, he would give me. He never chastised me, but full love. Then of course I got friends and I was married, so by Kṛṣṇa's grace everyone loved me. (laughs) And I came to this foreign country without any acquaintance. So Kṛṣṇa has sent so many fathers to love me. In that way I am fortunate. At the last stage if I live very peacefully, that is a great mercy of Kṛṣṇa. By Kṛṣṇa's mercy everything is possible. So we shall stick to Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet and everything is possible. What is that book? After Kṛṣṇa book? No, after Kṛṣṇa book, that yellow...?

Dhṛṣṭadyumna: Teachings of Lord Caitanya.

Prabhupāda: So distribute this prasādam. So Eighth Canto is also?

Morning Walk -- July 13, 1976, New York:

Ādi-keśava: Every time the wind blows it begins to bend back and forth in the breeze.

Bali-mardana: It swings.

Ādi-keśava: It swings back and forth in the breeze, and all the windows fell out. When we were two years ago in Boston, every day we used to hear how more windows had fallen in, so they made it all with wood. So it was a huge skyscraper with wood in the windows instead of glass.

Bali-mardana: Still they are not utilizing it.

Ādi-keśava: No, it's still bent, it cracked open.

Bali-mardana: It cost them over sixty, seventy million dollars and they cannot use it.

Ādi-keśava: It cracked all the concrete in the sidewalk because it was bending back and forth.

Prabhupāda: Which way?

Devotee (1): Left.

Prabhupāda: They have no estimation, that "So far we can come, then we'll fall"?

Morning Walk -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: I came here in the evening, with umbrella and in the morning I saw the whole street is white.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: White-washed, you thought it was white-washed?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: From the snow.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He thought that someone had poured white wash.

Prabhupāda: When I first saw from the window that the street was all white, "How is that? One white-washed?" (laughter) Then when I saw in the street, "Oh!"

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You never saw snow.

Prabhupāda: No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Even in the Himalayas?

Prabhupāda: I saw in Kashmir, but that was not so white.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: From a distance?

Prabhupāda: No, on the street also, but not so white. That is ice, not snow.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh yes. Here it's snow.

Morning Walk -- July 18, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The buses, you know the windows, some of the windows are broken a little bit—you saw them. Do you think they will look good in the parade? It's all right if the windows are not all...

Prabhupāda: Who is going to see? (break)

Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: Right in here.

Hari-śauri: Through that window you could see Rūpa Gosvāmī's samadhi. And for those two rooms they were charging five rupees a month?

Prabhupāda: Yes. These rooms were broken. So they told me that "You can repair these, and whatever you like, you can give." So I thought, "Don't need much space." "Pay me if..." I know, before me there was a tenant in that other room. He was paying three rupees. So I thought, "Two rooms, but I have spent money. So I'll give him five." Now I am giving them ten rupees.

Hari-śauri: To retain it.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: Sometimes the devotees go down there and clean out the rooms, and they have kīrtana there sometimes. I think this is the first book that someone included this photo.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It was very calm and quiet. And people used to offer obeisances from outside because they knew. Practically everyone knew me. So they used to offer...

Hari-śauri: You were very well known in Vṛndāvana before you came?

Prabhupāda: Not very well known, but people knew me.

Hari-śauri: Because you were writing or...?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: Or because of your ambition to come to the West?

Prabhupāda: No, at that time there was no such thing. I was living there, retired man.

Room Conversation -- August 2, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: There are so many things in India culture for becoming happy and advancing towards the goal of life. Now I am appreciating for more and more, seeing the whole world, what is India's culture. Formerly I was thinking, "It is custom. To become faithful wife, this is custom." But when I come outside I see what is wife and what is faithful wife. In India, still, in the village, even there is fight between husband, wife, the wife is faithful. Still. Completely dependent on husband. The husband also, in spite of fighting, is always careful that the wife does not get any inconvenience. It was the culture, now it is breaking. (about door or window) You can close that. In material world, for peaceful life, there must be peaceful condition between the husband and wife. Everyone requires wife, everyone requires husband. Sex is necessary, so make the condition of sex very peaceful. Why disturbed? Make the condition that there will be... It is necessary. As eating is necessary, sleeping is necessary, for ordinary man, so sex is also necessary. So make a condition so that nothing will be disturbed, and in undisturbed condition of mind execute spiritual advancement. This is Indian civilization. Aim is spiritual advancement. And to make condition favorable, there are so many things. So unless we get favorable condition... Here in the Western countries there is no favorable condition. First of all, they have no idea of spiritual life, the goal of life, neither there is favorable condition. And gradually things are becoming degrading. On my last tour in Chicago I saw. In three weeks she has twice divorced, one lady's advertised.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Evening Darsana -- January 7, 1977, Bombay:

D. D. Desai: Would it be all right to open the window?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. No, you can open the fan, one point. This is the real culture, original culture of India, and they are accepting it. Why not government come to my help? Without any help I am doing so much.

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

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: One of the biggest bookstores in Bombay, International Book House, has arranged a whole window display of your books.

Prabhupāda: That is useless.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Many people were seeing it.

Prabhupāda: Useless. I know these men. But you can get some customers. That's all right. Do they purchase or simply display?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: No. They purchase also.

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Rāmeśvara: Actually in Belgium the National Museum has also set up in their main window a display of your books. And that's very good for a museum, because they do not sell there, but they are considering it so important and scholarly that they are displaying them for the public to see.

Prabhupāda: That is good recommendation, yes. If that museum is so important, so to keep our books there is prestigious. In Europe, America, it is going on nice. Now here we have to take advantage of these papers. So I have already given Jagadīśa the idea. Now you immediately put into effect. You keep that also with your papers, this format. Yes.

Discussions -- May 20-22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually—of course you don't want it—but if that other one is also turned on the whole bottom floor will be very cool. And the kus(?), when they put that in—all these windows will have kus—then you will not know that you are in summer season. In fact, you won't even want to go upstairs at night. It'll be so cool down here. Of course, upstairs is good because open air.

Prabhupāda: The nail cutter, can you...? You know how to cut?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I don't know how to use the tool that you use. The kind I use is a different thing.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, it clips, and I think you use a knife of some kind.

Prabhupāda: No. You have got that clip?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, I have a clipper.

Prabhupāda: That will be...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: When do you want it done?

Prabhupāda: Oh, any time.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: After you wake up? Take rest now.

Prabhupāda: Just see. Here it is cooler or there?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's much cooler... It's cooler in this room. It's more airy and it's cooler. Because that cooler is on. You hook up that other cooler in there and you'll get just as cool.

Prabhupāda: No... (break) (end)

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "We have a model of saṁsāra on display in our shop window, and all day long we are getting dozens of curious passersby from the street who inquire submissively and listen attentively to the philosophy. I remember Your Divine Grace telling me emphatically..."

Prabhupāda: Try to sell them Bhagavad-gītā, which explains.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "I remember in Bombay in 1974 that this would make our preaching successful all over the world."

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Now I am practically..."

Prabhupāda: Without reading books they'll understand the philosophy. That is the advantage. Mass of people, without education, they will understand the philosophy.

Room Conversation Mayapura attack -- July 15, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I didn't notice. Here's a little news clipping. It's probably the same. You probably have seen this already. This is from Indian Express. "Why Krishna Mandir Men Fired Salvo." By a... "An attack on the devotees and destruction of the premises of ISKCON Māyāpur Chandrodaya Mandir, West Bengal, led to the shooting incident, according to Mr. Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Dāsa, Secretary, Bombay center of the organization. Mr. Dāsa, in his statement issued on Monday, said the news from their sources in Bengal stated that on July 8th about fifty miscreants were found encroaching on our agricultural field and stealing our crops. When a devotee requested them to stop, they became angry and beat him up, fracturing his skull. Nearly 250 supporters of the miscreants..." Notice how they're not going to use "Muslims." They say "miscreants." They don't say "Muslims." Probably the paper wants to avoid. This is a hot issue. No one wants to write "Hindu-Muslim." "Nearly 250 supporters of the miscreants armed with sticks and spears suddenly appeared from behind the bushes and all of them entered the temple area. Mr. Dāsa said the miscreants beat several more devotees, including the Gurukula school headmaster, whose both hands and skull were broken. They also stripped naked a female disciple. They cut off electrical connections, telephone lines and water pipes. The police did not come for two hours, and meanwhile the group destroyed the gate, broke windows and stole two bulls. According to ISKCON Secretary, as a final resort, one ran for a gun, appropriately licensed and registered with the government, and fired a shot in the air. As the group persisted, he fired again into the ground which injured eleven of the miscreants. All of those injured have been discharged from the hospital." They're not injured seriously at all. "Mr. Dāsa said the police advised the devotees to go to the Krishnanagar police station to report the incident, and when they did go there they were arrested. Two devotees in critical condition were also detained in the jail hospital. Asked why our men have been kept in jail, the police replied, 'As a precaution.' "

Prabhupāda: This report is already there.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Next, then the next is: "Probe Urged Into Krishna Cultists. Chief Minister Jyoti Basu has urged the Central Government to investigate how some of the foreign Vaiṣṇavas of Māyāpur temple of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness who clashed with the villagers last weekend could return to India after extradition from the country." And he's against us. Naturally, he's a big Communist. "In his report on the incident to Home Minister Charan Singh, Mr. Basu has drawn the Center's attention to reports that these foreigners came back to India by obtaining new passports and visas. This aspect, he felt, should be inquired into." He's against us. "The US Consulate visited the āśrama and met some of the American Vaiṣṇavas. The Consulate has not lodged any complaint with the government about the Friday incident."

Prabhupāda: I think he has gone.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This whole thing is planned by the Communists. Will the government understand that? The Central Government?

Prabhupāda: They surely understand.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, in your garden house. Oh, boy, that was a nice house you had there.

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Big window, picture window looking out to your garden. That Florida property is wonderful. Very, very good property in Florida. They call it New Naimiṣāraṇya. They have about ten peacocks flying free, wild peacocks. They trained them. First them put them in a cage and keep them on the ground and feed them. Then, after they get accustomed to it, then they let them loose. They have some all-white color peacocks, special, and then many colorful peacocks.

Prabhupāda: There are no fox.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. The danger is not from the fox. It is from the other people. They catch the peacock and eat it.

Prabhupāda: Oh, no. (indistinct)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They don't know. They think it is a pheasant or something. They have no idea it is a peacock, special bird. I asked Abhirama. Sometimes they fly away and they don't come back. I said, "Does it mean that they got lost?" He said, "We don't know exactly what it means, but we are guessing." The people there are...

Prabhupāda: Rākṣasa.

Room Conversation -- August 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhaviṣṇu: Śrīla Prabhupāda, in Bangladesh when we were doing programs, after the programs we'd distribute books, and there was such a great rush for books that we had to stay inside a locked room and sell the books through bars in the window.

Prabhupāda: That's very encouraging.

Prabhaviṣṇu: Everywhere we went the people would...

Prabhupāda: The best thing is that in Bangladesh you get foreign exchange. You print books there. It think it is cheaper there. Never mind for the quality, but you'll get good number of books. The government will be pleased.

Room Conversation -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, Śrīla Prabhupāda, it's not. It's clear weather. The sun is shining. It's hard to tell, of course, through these curtains and through the windows.

Prabhupāda: Who is there?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's Upendra Prabhu. He's cleaning up your room for you. He's cleaning the floor nicely. He put fresh flowers. Somehow you have to be able to eat something, Śrīla Prabhupāda. That's the... At least in my mind it's perplexing question which I don't know the answer to. In all these events I have to face the reality that I'm simply a completely bewildered fool. I know you have to... If you're to get better, you have to be able to eat something. I don't know what to suggest, though.

Prabhupāda: You bring some milk. That's...

Room Conversation With Dr. Ghosh -- October 16, 1977, Vrndavana:

Dr. Ghosh: Can you turn to one side gentle? I would like to see his back. (Bengali) Any side. Left side will be better because heart is on the left side. That will be less... Yes. Turn him on his left. Grape juice? Grape juice he doesn't like? Grape juice? That's more nourishing than that pomegranate juice, but pomegranate juice very good for sick feeling and all. Grape juice also. Little Horlicks. Changes, change every hour or two hours. Just a few teaspoons. And chānā and a little dahi. You see all these he must be getting. His urine should be had the first thing he took. There are too many people in this room. Let him have more oxygen. If you don't... More Oxygen. More oxygen. (window opens)

Bhavānanda: But then he's afraid of draft. Draft.

Dr. Ghosh: No, no. No draft. Fresh air. No draft.

Prabhupāda: You can open it.

Bhakti-caru: We opened it, Śrīla Prabhupāda. (Bengali)

Room Conversation -- October 22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, actually it gets very cold here in the wintertime. It wouldn't be very good to stay here when it's too cold, because we would have to keep the windows closed and then it would be too stuffy. Fresh air is very healthy. Open.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: There's a fast train from Delhi to Calcutta, just like the train you came in. We can get a... Yes. It's called Raj-dhani. It's a very fast train.

Bhavānanda: And they have a sleeper on it also.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's all air-conditioned.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: No. Just like this train you came by. It will be air-conditioned, but have some un-air-conditioned compartments.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Anyway, that won't be difficult to take you. It's not difficult. Any jumbos flying from Delhi?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: I can check on that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, it has to be a jumbo.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They have Airbus.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's useless. There's no benefit in Airbuses. The seats are the same in Airbus. There's no first class.

Bhavānanda: When you're feeling stronger, then the veranda is there for nice stroll.

Prabhupāda: There is ample space.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think change is good also sometimes. So we should make that program?

Prabhupāda: I think so.

Room Conversation -- November 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I'll tell you, I'm getting so upset sitting in the room upstairs. I mean I just... I was walking around... Two of the devotees told me this road is so bad that if you go on this road, you're going to be jolted back and forth. The road is terrible. I just can't understand, Śrīla Prabhupāda, why it has to be tomorrow that we have to go. If anybody wants you to travel, I do. My whole desire is to take you all over the world. I want to take you on parikrama, but why do we have to go when you're in this condition? I can't understand it. It just... I was standing outside. This kavirāja, he has worked so hard. He's so much disappointed. He can't understand why he... He says that now, today, you've taken half a kilo of milk. No mucus has is being produced. No stool is being passed. He says tomorrow he wants to give you a medicine that will begin to build the milk into muscles. He's going to get you to a point where you can take two kilos of milk a day. And he says very soon you'll be able to have the strength to actually do parikrama. So why are we throwing everything out the window, that we must go tomorrow? I cannot understand.

Prabhupāda: All right.

Bhakti-caru: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Bhavānanda: Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: I cannot refuse all your request.

Page Title:Window (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, MadhuGopaldas
Created:16 of Mar, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=54, Let=0
No. of Quotes:54