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Workers (Conversations 1977)

Expressions researched:
"worker" |"worker's" |"workers" |"workmanship" |"workmen"

Notes from the compiler:

  • VedaBase query: worker or workers or worker's or workmanship or workmen not "fruitive worker*

Conversations and Morning Walks

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Īśvara everyone. But īśvara parama is Kṛṣṇa.

Guest (1): Parameśvara.

Prabhupāda: Parameśvara. There is two words. One is īśvara; one is parameśvara. You may be īśvara. You may be īśvara in your business. So many workers are working under you, and you are ordering, you are regulating, but you are not parameśvara. Similarly, you take each and every one, up to Brahma. They may be īśvara, but he's not a parameśvara. Parameśvara is one. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). That is Kṛṣṇa.

Guest (2): Then the last question. Rāma, how do you relate?

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: What is the use of investing money there? I have already given fifty thousand.

Haṁsadūta: I mean I talked with Mahāṁsa also. I talked with him when he came back day before yesterday. Talked with him very frankly and openly. Of course, he always says, "Yes, yes, yes," and then he just does whatever he feels should be done. And Tejas also... Now, Tejas, for example, he started a vegetable garden, and it was going on very nicely, but then everything dried up because all the workers, they work under Mahāṁsa. They're all accustomed to taking instructions from him. And so the plants were not watered. Mahāṁsa continually put the water someplace else. So now everything that Tejas has done is frustrated. So he feels, "Why should I be here?" Tejas, I think, has something really to offer.

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

Prabhupāda: So it is promotion for the books. Whatever we do, it is promotion. That's all. And the main point is that it is not profitable, er profit concern, because you are not giving any royalty to the author. So where is his profit-making? Nobody's making profit—the author, the worker, everyone.

Trivikrama: That's a fact.

Prabhupāda: That's a fact. So all expenditure—promotion, that's all. The cost of paper, cost of printing, cost of promotion—finished everything. Make account like that. The income tax father will not touch it.

Hari-śauri: Everything we're doing is propaganda work, everything.

Prabhupāda: That's all. If still there is excess, give some bonus to the gṛhasthas bhaktas. They're family men. Let them have some expenditure.

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

Prabhupāda: They can't. That, this nonsense speaking, is going on throughout the history, but they'll never be able. That is the fact. "We are trying. We shall do in future"—these things are going on. But this is all stories. We don't believe in these nonsense things. They'll never be happy. That is not possible. Therefore I challenged your technology that "Where is that department? Do it!" First of all do it. Suppose if a man is in business. He may say that "I am trying to become a millionaire." But he cannot say that "I am millionaire." So the so-called scientist, "Yes, we are trying." You are trying, that's all right. But when you become, then you call scientist. There is no possibility, and because you are trying I have to accept you are scientist? Recently in California University one professor came. He has gained the Nobel Prize, Chemical Evolution. They are trying to prove that life is generated by chemical evolution. So in that meeting I had my one student. He's Dr. Svarūpa Dāmodara. He's also big chemist. So he knows. He talks with me. He has got the idea. He has written one book, Scientific Basis of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. So he challenged that "Suppose if I give you the chemicals, can you produce life?" The answer—"That I cannot say." Why he talks nonsense? He is theorizing that life is made of chemicals, but if you give the chemicals, why you cannot make life? When I was in South Africa... Where is that? Pretoria or something? There are many factories for chicken killing. Chicken incubator. So one of the students, worker there, I said, "Suppose this is a chicken factory. So take one egg and analyze the chemicals.

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

Prabhupāda: Where is leisure time? You rise early in the morning and start for your office. Where is your leisure time? All imagination. I have seen in New York. They are coming from the other parts, starting early in the morning, two hours in the ferry and two hours in the cars, and standing two hours. What is this? Leaders, rich men, can think like that, that "I have leisure," but a worker, lower class, they have no freedom. That is illusion, and we are trying to give freedom to everyone. That is freedom. You are forced to go to the factory and work there in a hellish condition of life. Is that freedom?

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: And the Mason.

Rāmeśvara: ...and the Mason Hall. And then the plan...

Prabhupāda: No, in between them, there is a small space, some worker.

Rāmeśvara: Yes. From karate down we do not own yet. But on the other side we've just purchased it.

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Rāmeśvara: Now we have a plan. Actually I have started a business with Karandhara called the...

Prabhupāda: He has a plan to make...

Hari-śauri: Skyscraper.

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: It will grow.

Rāmeśvara: ...before this will take place.

Prabhupāda: It will grow: It is growing. Simply our workers should be very sincere and strict, and it will it grow. Nobody can check. That's a fact. Simply we have to be very strict and sincere. Then nobody can check.

Rāmeśvara: Because after such a conflict the whole world will...

Prabhupāda: Conflict is already there. Just like they're opposing.

Rāmeśvara: But I mean actual destruction of their culture, their...

Conversation During Massage -- January 23, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Gargamuni: ...against the village people, and they harass the workers after working hours. So Jayapatāka said he was going to get the police there to watch.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Bring police and in the presence of police go on working, and if he disturbs, kill him. That's all. Sate sarthaṁ samācaret.

Gargamuni: He's a big demon.

Prabhupāda: So you become bigger demon. (laughter) (break) Place an application to the district magistrate and take police help. (break) ...ism.

Brahmānanda: So then they made these sacks.

Gargamuni: Actually there was...

Brahmānanda: They put cloth there. Then he tore it all down.

Morning Walk -- January 24, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Qualified, that is not very difficult. For the girl, find out a boy who is hard worker or a little educated. Bas. That's all. That was the selection. Then fortune. You give a daughter under the care of the boy who can work hard. That's all. They then will earn their livelihood. Even there is no education, a hard worker will do. A boy, as soon as has got the sense that "I have got a wife to maintain," he'll work. That is impetus to give him to work for the family. And if a boy gets wife or woman without any hard working, they why he should marry? And if he has got responsibility that "I have to maintain my wife; then I can enjoy," then he becomes responsible. Wooden bridge?

Room Conversation -- January 24, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Gargamuni: She worked in some hospital for a few years in Bombay.

Hari-śauri: She was a relief worker. Was it his mother or his wife?

Prabhupāda: Mother Theresa, no?

Gargamuni: No. It's his mother. I'm sure because I read the article. I did. I read. It was in the Illustrated Weekly.

Hari-śauri: And the Americans very much want to make friends with India, very much.

Room Conversation with Two Indian Guests -- January 27, 1977, Jagannatha Puri:

Prabhupāda: Yes. No. They knew that "We are not going. So long the nonviolence is there, we are safe." They were occasionally calling Gandhi and patting him: "Sir, why you are doing this? Let us compromise," because he knew that "So long nonviolence will continue, we are safe." But Subash Bose's protest was that "If you don't take to violence, then these people are never going." That was the difference of opinion between Subash Bose and... So when he was taking the Congress in hand, Gandhi became so angry that Subash Bose, being elected President, Gandhi did not attend the Congress. So other workers, he requested Subash Bose that "You resign. Otherwise Gandhi will not."(?) So he resigned. He done right. And then he thought that "Unless I go out of India, I cannot do anything." Then he managed to go out of India, and Singapore, he... Indians with their help and Hitler's intervention, he organized this INA.

Room Conversation -- January 29, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Hari-śauri: Not very much.

Prabhupāda: Not at all! Any common man can pay $250-once. Not that we are getting every month or every few year. Once 250 even ordinary worker can pay.

Hari-śauri: Yes. They do like that with those sets of books.

Satsvarūpa: They don't have to pay all at once.

Hari-śauri: Most things are done in America are on credit.

Satsvarūpa: "Book of the Month Club," they have. Very popular.

Prabhupāda: So you... We have to organize like that. And actually this is greater valuable for their life, changing life.

Room Conversation -- January 29, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: In taxi in the beginning, I saw, "Three hund..., three thousand dollar." So (laughs)... And "Three thousand yen." So I did not know. I have got... They changed. Not dishonest. Honest or dishonest, I did not know. Whatever they took and returned, that's all. But I know they are not dishonest. They are nice people, hard worker, honest. But Japanese... This Tojo attempted that "This is the time for expanding with German help." Bad luck. They could not do. They wanted to keep China under their control. That also failed. They fought with the Russians in the beginning, when we were children, to expand-failed. This time they wanted to occupy Hawaii.

Room Conversation -- January 31, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Jaipur artists?

Satsvarūpa: There's some... Just like village craftsmen and workers that Saurabha is working with in Bombay who are making the furniture and different decorations in Bombay, and he says that Saurabha also knows some men in these villages who are artists, and they work for very little, but they can make nice authentic illustrations of all these things, whether...

Prabhupāda: Hm, that is all right. I do not know.

Satsvarūpa: And they would be carefully...

Prabhupāda: No, I have no knowledge about these things. What is the use of consulting me?

Satsvarūpa: Well, I think it's to consult with you on the principle that they're not devotees...

Morning Walk -- February 1, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: It is correct. How they can prove it is incorrect?

Devotee (1): Well they say that by mathematics we can prove the position...

Prabhupāda: So we have got our mathematics also. (break) ...workers. In the beginning I was alone. Now we have got so many things. So we shall come out triumphant.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That's Prabhupāda's mercy.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: This professor of mine, he was very much against at the beginning of the theory. Then, when I gave this lecture, he invited me for home, in his home, and his wife supported our theory, so he came around, saying that "Yes, science says earth is only 4.5 billion years old, and there are so many defects. So they have to accept that "No, we cannot be correct." So people are coming around slowly.

Car Conversation -- February 5, 1977, Calcutta:

Prabhupāda: If somebody came to see me, some editor...?

Jayapatākā: Yes. He wanted to... (break) ...the train station to catch the trains.

Prabhupāda: Going to Calcutta?

Jayapatākā: Most likely Calcutta and then different factories and workers. That Hitagar and Chamnagar and all those places.

Room Conversation -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: The marbles, they are working or not?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes. They're working. I think there must be at least one hundred workers going full time.

Prabhupāda: Marble.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Marble and otherwise also, woodworking, so many things. But I mean it's a very big project, so I think certainly they'll be done by next March. They could open on October, but it won't be finished completely.

Prabhupāda: No, why? We must finish to the point. Then we can...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Otherwise we won't impress properly.

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: That means you are not intelligent. That is the proof. "Beyond your intelligence"—that means your intelligence is not yet perfect. You're lacking in brain. (aside:) I see so many workers simply loitering. They are doing nothing. What can be done? So many. Simply they are taking money. Doing nothing. I see. There is nobody to see. They take advantage. Seventy-five percent of the workers, they are doing nothing. But the Gītā explains that within this body there is something. Not body itself is moving, but dehinaḥ asmin dehe. Within this body there is the real power, dehī, who has got this body. That is there. And because he is there, the body is changing. They cannot understand. No brain, exactly like the dogs and cats. The dog cannot understand that "Within my body, I am." They cannot. Therefore you are no better than dogs. And actual fact is you are not this body. You are within this body. It is a dress. In so many ways Bhagavad-gītā teaches, but you have no brain. Then where is brainwashing? You have no brain to understand your real position.

Room Conversation about BTG the Moon -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Nothing more. Dhīras tatra na muhyati. If you are dhīra, then there is no difficulty. But you are the rascal. This is the defect. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Yes, we can practically experience also; when there is driver the motorcar is moving. No driver—no movement. Where is the difficulty? But because you are rascal you do not know how to take things practically. What is the difference between a motorcar and this machine? It is also machine. Bhagavad-gītā says it is a machine. So machine may without a conductor, without the... A machine may be very useful, computer, but if there is no worker, what is the use of this machine? Simply alone machine can work? It may be very wonderful machine.

Hari-śauri: Even the world's best computer has to have a programmer behind it.

Prabhupāda: So the computer worker or this dictaphone, everything is living being.

Hari-śauri: Must be living.

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

Rāmeśvara: This is very timely, because the President's mother, of United States, just came to India, and it's all over the American press how she was in the Peace Corps. So this book, the copy on the back cover, "A search for meaning carries a young American Peace Corps worker to ancient city in West Bengal..." There he meets you and finds out everything he ever wanted to know. It's very timely.

Gargamuni: Why don't you put the Jimmy Carter quote on it too?

Rādhā-vallabha: This is Satsvarūpa's book.

Prabhupāda: Hm. Buses arrived?

Gargamuni: One has come. The other nine will be at least another half hour or so.

Prabhupāda: Nine bus?

Gargamuni: Ten total.

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- February 28, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: ...the varṇāśrama established, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra-division, scientific division of the society. Ideal state. Just like the legislative assembly. They should be composed of men with complete brahminical culture. And the ministers, president, they should be kṣatriya, and the productive, vaiśyas, and balance śūdra, worker. Unless an ideal class of men is on the top of the state to give advice—just like Britishers, they assemble Parliament—there cannot be any improvement to the human society. All nonsense and rascals, simply by votes go to be member of the Parliament. They assemble. What they know? What they'll do? The whole world is mismanaged because there is no brahminical culture. Namo brahmaṇya-devāya go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca, jagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇāya govindā... I am proposing this because Kṛṣṇa consciousness means namo brahmaṇya-devāya go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca.

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

Prabhupāda: That should be rectified. They are important members. They are translating.

Rāmeśvara: How will that be rectified?

Prabhupāda: What...? Why they should be dissatisfied? If the workers are dissatisfied, then who will work books?

Brahmānanda: Bhagavān claims that the BBT printing is still going on, that next month a Back to Godhead is coming out and also a Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Prabhupāda: No, book...

Rāmeśvara: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam within three months, in three months.

Prabhupāda: So if you are satisfied that things are going on, that is different thing, but so far... What is his name? Yogeś...?

Room Conversation -- March 26, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Make them come, make them come. Treat them nicely. Give them good place. In this way increase the number of workers. Then people will, "Oh... They are not religious sentiments. They have got books, they have got scientists, they have got doctors." Is it not? And we can challenge them. "Come on, what is our education, let us test. We are prepared to talk with you like scientists." So you are all here now and... Organize in Bombay. Bombay, the center of Bhaktivedanta Institute.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: A few students came day before yesterday from Bombay University.

Prabhupāda: Let them come.

Room Conversation with Ratan Singh Rajda (Member of Parliament) -- March 27, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Jail?

Mr. Rajda: Yes. In that emergency, you know, and about 150,000, patriotic people were in jails, J. K. Prakash, Morarji and all Hindu leaders and all of the workers. So I was kept at Central Prison for nineteen months. Then they released me, and after this election period, just I would order to fight the elections from Bombay South. And with her blessings I have won it with a very comfortable margin, 65,000. Just now we were at Shivaji Pack. And when Girirājajī told me that you were here, I told him definitely I would like to ask for darśana.

Prabhupāda: The material adjustment... Just like we felt little danger under the regime of Indira Gandhi. Now we have another feeling. This is material adjustment. Material adjustment may be temporary beneficial, but that is not permanent beneficial.

Room Conversation with Ratan Singh Rajda (Member of Parliament) -- March 27, 1977, Bombay:

Mr. Rajda: Yes, yes...

Prabhupāda: No let us first of all meet some of the subordinate worker. When they agree, then we will have...

Mr. Rajda: That meeting could be arranged any time. Whenever it is convenient to you, you can, we can talk to him.

Prabhupāda: No, I am..., my life is dedicated for this purpose. I am... It is convenient for me at any time. Otherwise, I am not keeping good health at the moment. Still, I have come. I am just trying even up to the last moment of my life, if I can deliver some good to these people. That is my determination. What is this life? Life will end today or tomorrow or day after. But if you live just to the point, that is the idea. Otherwise trees are also living thousands of years. What is the benefit?

Room Conversation -- April 10, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: They want to be cured immediately. Go to the doctor. "Give me injection, give me tablet, cure me immediately." That is the Western treatment. Immediately stop it. Here also. A man, a worker, he's earning twenty rupees a day, and the doctors also take advantage of this rational. "You want to be treated quickly or let...?" And naturally he will say "Quickly." "Then you have to take injection." Injection means each injection at least five rupees. He may inject water.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They do that sometimes.

Prabhupāda: They do that. This is going on. They do actually, I know. Unnecessarily, little distilled water, and take from him five rupees. If he gives him mixture, he cannot charge from him. But these innocent persons, they have earned. "You want to be treated very quickly or slowly?" He says that "I am earning twenty rupees per day. If required, I will give you so much money. And give me quickly." Everything cheating and... I know. I was in the medical line. Dr. Bose admitted. He was talking with me very freely because I was just like his son. "My dear boy, I sometimes cheat. We are most sinful." He said like that. "As soon as we find some rich person, unnecessarily we harass."

Room Conversation with Ram Jethmalani (Parliament Member) -- April 16, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "In accordance with your desire I went to Karachi and spent two days there. I first visited the marble factory of Mr. Azis Pir Mohammed. This man belongs to the Ismaili sect of Islam, the followers of Aga Khan. His factory is very small, and he and his three brothers manage it. Their primary business is cutting alabaster into vases, tiles, plates, cups, etc., and they sell their products mainly to foreign countries. I made two visits to their factory and preached extensively to Azis, his brother, his friends and workers. They all liked Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are intelligent enough to understand and in due time will be able to follow your instructions seriously. However, they need more association and a devotee to constantly engage them. I did not see fit to ask them for the use of their house as a center yet, but I told them that I would be opening a center in Karachi, and they were happy to hear this. They promised to help in whatever way they could as soon as our men appear on the scene."

Meeting with Mr. Dwivedi -- April 23, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So many. So why not think over it? Let us go there for some time and organize.

Mr. Dwivedi: You wanted me first of all to bring some workers to Your Holiness.

Prabhupāda: No, they may come or not come. There should be kavel(?).

Mr. Dwivedi: No... Or if Your Holiness likes, they may come, as many as Your Holiness..., ten, twenty, fifty, to be gotten with us. And Your Holiness can further talk with those boys, and then at any time, either now or two months later...

Prabhupāda: No... Just like you have come. You can hold meeting amongst yourself. If you are agreeable, then we take immediately. There is no doubt.

Mr. Dwivedi: We have... If... There is no what is it that I can think of disagreeing. Your Holiness has said nothing in which I do not already believe, in which I do not try to live myself.

Second Meeting with Mr. Dwivedi -- April 24, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: He's a Kanpur man?

Mr. Dwivedi: No. Originally they might be coming from Kanpur, but now from Raipur. He's younger brother of this Vidya Charan, who was Broadcasting Minister. And in fact, even I'll... If I get... One of our workers is already there. I got a letter yesterday. So the principal of the college is going to Bhopal, and if I can contact him somewhere if he is available...

Prabhupāda: Bhopal is the capital.

Mr. Dwivedi: Bhopal is the capital.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We had a big function in Bhopal, my party, for about ten days a few years ago.

Morning Talk -- April 25, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Where we shall get men?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, that's the one thing we cannot...

Prabhupāda: That I have already clearly said.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But I'm very keen to go there and to associate with the workers there, teach them as much as...

Prabhupāda: I am also going there for that. Otherwise...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think it's a real good challenge. I mean, I feel it's a nice challenge.

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

Morning Talk -- April 25, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Better. Very dry. He is known to everyone for many hundreds of miles around. He's a very well known man because he's...

Prabhupāda: No, he is a sincere worker. Therefore he approached me. From Vṛndāvana, Gwalior is very near, within hundred miles. So Viśvambhara can transfer, come, come there to..., to see. Let us first of all settle up. My, this farming program, theoretically there is no comparison. But practically people are accustomed in different way. To bring them to the program it will take some time. Otherwise my program is assured happiness, happiness assurance, if they get... Have your own food grown. Keep cows. Have your own crops. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That goes for all over the world.

Conversation: Vairagya, Salaries, and Political Etiquette -- April 28, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. This is exploitation of the society.

Girirāja: I know. Since I've been preaching more, I've been able to see how much labor and endeavor is going in just to maintain so many idle people. I know you've been saying this for a long time, and now, you know, I feel the strength to actually change that, that only those who are really sincere workers can stay.

Prabhupāda: Otherwise no need. We need their service, but not by being salaried. That is not good. (end)

Morning Conversation -- April 30, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Women should be taken care of—as daughter, as wife, as mother, bas. No freedom. Then prostitution. Then spoiled the whole thing. Unwanted children, contraceptive, abortion. Very dangerous. In our society there are girls. They should live separately. They should be given full engagement, taken care of. No mixing. Then it will spoil. Both of them will be... We see big, big workers, sannyāsīs. (Name withheld) fell victim. The example is given: fire and butter. (laughs) You cannot say the butter will not melt even in fire. Woman is like fire, and man is like butter.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The butter should be kept cool.

Prabhupāda: Yes. In a cool refrigerator, cool-headed. As soon as come in contact with the fire, agitate. The example is given. In Indian... Up to our time restriction was very strict. Now it is slackened.

Room Conversation -- May 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, no, head, here...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I remember, in Los Angeles a long time ago you were having some pain in the heart. At that time we massaged your heart gently and you felt relief.

Upendra: Some workmen have come.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Upendra: Some workmen and one devotee have come to do something to the drain.

Prabhupāda: Repair. That is their daily business.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's an excuse for darśana, I think. (Prabhupāda chuckles)

Upendra: I think they have to drain something, some drain pipes. They're letting water out.

Room Conversation -- May 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Nature. Nature's way.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. Time factor. They cannot defeat the time factor. They want to make an old man a young man, without spiritual qualities. Only Kṛṣṇa can do that. What a rascal! I saw on the front page... There was one Muslim leader. He died. But he's being lauded as a great humanitarian welfare worker. And he gave one statement. He ended, "I have been an atheist, and I will die an atheist." He said, "Burn my body. Do not let it be at any ceremony. No plaque, nothing." He was against the Muslim making the women keep their heads covered, and it said he was a great worker for humanitarian rights. (Prabhupāda chuckles) Just like they praised that Dr. Ambhetkar for burning the Manu-smṛti. Manu-saṁhitā was burned, and he's praised, "A great man." It is coming to the time now when if a man is God conscious, he's considered the enemy of the people, and if he's an atheist, then he's praised for being humanitarian.

Evening Darsana -- May 11, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: Just like every one of us. I know, you know, that "This is my body. This is my finger. This is my leg." So the body is called kṣetra. We have been allotted a kṣetra. Just like the government distributes the land to a certain person, that "This is your land. You till it and grow your food," thirty bighās or something like that. This body is like that. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). He is there within the body, and He is giving us this kṣetra. Bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61). So I have got this body. You have got that body. The dog has got body. The cat has got body. So He's everywhere. So according to his karma or desire, he gets a body. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 18.61). And he works. Therefore the body is the kṣetra, the field, and the individual soul is the worker. So he is working and getting the fruitive result, but at the same time, God is also with him. But He is everywhere. I am not everywhere. I am one individual.

Conversation Pieces -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Pāpī tāpī jata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo. This is our position. We have to select our worker from the worst class of the society, pāpī and tāpī. But, we shall prove, by hari-nāma they become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is the movement. You trace the history of everyone. All worst, third class. And they come here. And that is Kṛṣṇa conscious movement. How many Doctor Svarūpa has come? If we speak frankly, (laughter) all from the worst class. Those who were finished. And Kṛṣṇa... It is said, pāpī-tāpī jata chilo. Pāpī and tāpī, they are not first class. They are the tenth class. Pāpī-tāpī jata chilo hari-nāme uddhārilo. This is the test of Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement, that how many pāpī-tāpīs have been picked up. Brajendra-nandana jei, śaci-suta hoilo sei, balarāma hoilo nitāi. This is Gaura-Nitāi. What is their business?

Room Conversation -- June 17, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Before leaving home I was loitering here and there, "If there is any shelter, this?" But that time in Harigrama(?), I stayed there for two, three days. Nice temple. He has construction of the workers also. I'll try some of that... That is next.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Your Guru Mahārāja had many disciples. Like you, he was very merciful. You have so many disciples, we have lost count.

Prabhupāda: I, I have disciples all over the world. They have got specially in Bengal.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Special?

Śatadhanya: In Bengal.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In Bengal, local. Your Guru Mahārāja knew that you would do this, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Conversation: 'How to Secure Brahmacaris' -- June 24, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That is required. But it will be a failure unless they are taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That... Gandhi's failure was there. He did not take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because the material civilization means pravṛtti-mārga, and spiritual civilization nivṛtti-mārga. Pravṛttir eṣā bhūtānāṁ nivṛttis tu mahā-phalām. So pravṛtti... Suppose he is in the village. He has to work with plow. And in the city, Goodyear Tire Company offering him twenty rupees per day. So he'll see that "What is the use of working with this plow? Let me go to Goodyear Tire." Then here the business will be finished. That is the position of India. So much land is lying vacant because there is no worker, and all the rascals have gone to New Delhi or big cities. And overpopulation? "Give them sterilization." Here there is no men to work and they're sterilization... How the leaders... And who is leader?

Talk About Varnasrama, S.B. 2.1.1-5 -- June 28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Not poor man. Kṣatriyas.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, not these...

Prabhupāda: No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not these workers.

Prabhupāda: They cannot maintain.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, that's right. They don't have the land to maintain. You have to have land.

Prabhupāda: You can have more than one wife, but maintain them just like wife. She may not have any complaints that "My husband cannot maintain me."

Śatadhanya: (entering) All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Close that door. How are you?

Conversations -- June 28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes, with one palace(?).

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You were telling me that there was one man who was living in a house. The roof was coming down, and it was raining, and he wouldn't leave. Some worker.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes. It is a different type of civilization, to become sanctified and Kṛṣṇa conscious. Other things are not very important. If it is possible to rectify him, don't bother about this. Be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Increase this qualification.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We find that to increase fasting on Ekādaśī day makes that new (indistinct) come like anything.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Room Conversation With Son (Vrindavan De) -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "Actually in America, when you criticize someone who is highly regarded, people are very interested to read it. That is the American spirit. So I think by purposely singling out historical figures who are considered good welfare workers and showing that actually their welfare platform failed, it will make interesting reading and will help to establish the real platform of welfare in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I also want very much to write this book on men..." And then it says here, he says, "I... We decided on a number of historical figures. Because they lacked Kṛṣṇa in their philosophy and activities, their program for welfare failed. I want to deal with the figure of Mahatma Gandhi and also with the daridra-nārāyaṇa philosophy which was taught before his time by Ramakrishna and Vivekananda." He says, "When viewed in the light of Bhāgavata philosophy, these personalities will have to be criticized for their failure to put Kṛṣṇa in their teachings. My question is whether there is any objection on your part to a book which will criticize Ramakrishna and Vivekananda."

Prabhupāda: I think that is not good. You should go positively instead of attacking some particular person. They will never admit that they have been failure.

Room Conversation With Son (Vrindavan De) -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No, no, it is waste of time. Don't write such book.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. He says, "In addition, I plan to write on other highly regarded welfare workers such as the American Civil Rights worker Martin Luther King." Boy, if he does that, every black person in America will hate us. It'll create many enemies. This book will be the biggest enemy-creator. We already have enough enemies.

Prabhupāda: That will be embarrassment. Yes, I said, "I do not know this." Bas. Finished. And that means it is not so important that I should know it.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Right.

Meeting With Governor of Tamil Nadu -- July 31, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Because every year I am losing five to six lakhs of rupees for their going, again coming. Just like he's acting my secretary. Now his visa is finished. He has to go, and again he has to come back. And that means ten thousand, more than ten thousand. So in this way so many workers are...

Governor: (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: So they will never do anything harm and never take part in politics.

Governor: I know it. I know it.

Prabhupāda: So kindly try to help.

Governor: Oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: That is wanted.

Room Conversation -- October 12, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Everything will be settled up. Don't be disheartened. So when you left Māyāpura, things were in order? Hm?

Jayapatākā: When I left Māyāpura, everything was in order. Nitāicānd and Sarva-bhāvana Prabhu, as well as Pañca-ratna, are there. Actually one of our workers, he is filing his own case against thirteen Māyāpura villagers, because they had attacked him while he was riding on his bicycle. So that was the only disturbance that had happened in the past month. But he's doing a case against them, and the police said that they would prosecute against them for what they did. So because the people are of such a bad nature, they are continually making such mistakes. This is even getting the authorities against them.

Prabhupāda: Yes, they are guṇḍās. (laughter)

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

Prabhupāda: So, he is the head office man?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. So he's agreeing to do everything. They have to do everything. They're just workers for the head office. They cannot act independently of the head office. They have to carry out the orders of the head office.

Prabhupāda: So you saw the massaging?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. How are you feeling after it?

Prabhupāda: Good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think massage is good. It will keep your body a little bit loosened and...

Prabhupāda: So where they have gone?

Room Conversation -- November 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Do it.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Bring some boys from Manipur.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Manipur boys are very good workers. We saw them in Bombay. Remember, Śrīla Prabhupāda? I brought three of them to meet you. They all looked like Svarūpa Dāmodara junior. Very humble, intelligent, hard-working.

Jayapatākā: The Manipur Mandir in Navadvīpa, when I was gone they had sent an invitation for attending one function. They're very favorable. When the party went to Assam, then they got invitation to go to Tripura, which is next to Manipur. It's eighty percent Bengali-speaking and also many Vaiṣṇavas. So we expect to distribute many books there. Next month party will be going to Tripura.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Book distribution has hit India, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Room Conversation -- November 7, 1977, Vrndavana:

Citsukhānanda: In Los Angeles, at the Spiritual Sky Incense company, there are so many karmī workers also assisting in Spiritual Sky business. So actually they are just coming to work every day without any change of heart. But we started... The receptionist started giving Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers to the people who work there. And this one man who's a theologian who works there in the bookkeeping department read your book and he said, "This man speaks perfectly. He has no fault. Everything he says is completely right, perfect." So now they're coming to the temple, now, because they've read your book. Otherwise they didn't want to associate. But now they read this book, Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers, and they're coming to the temple. They take prasādam. They've become very submissive, all the workers.

Jayapatākā: Now that your books are being printed in Hindi, in Calcutta, one of our life members, Mr. Tulsan, he got your Hindi Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and he's begun reading, and now he said his whole life is transformed. He said that never he found anywhere that the knowledge was presented so simply and so clearly. All the paṇḍitas he could never understand. So now he's become so enthusiastic he's purchasing four rooms in Māyāpura-two for himself, and he's making two relatives purchase. And every month he comes out with his family, with the whole family. "Instead of going to other recreation," he said, "we'll go to the temple." And he brings big basket of fruit, and he comes out, and they stay for the weekend and they all attend maṅgala-ārati.

Prabhupāda: Four rooms, which side? New?

Room Conversation -- November 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You had said that before a few times also. They are completely restricted in every respect. Whereas in other..., East European countries and in Russia, the professors may read various types of literature, in China they're not allowed to do that. And if they are ever caught doing that, they immediately are sentenced to prison and they lose everything. The difference in China as opposed to Russia is that in China every few years all the professors are made to be farmers. And also the workers in the factories and the farmers are the predominate controllers of the universities. They are not at all interested in culture or in higher education. Their whole purpose even for the universities is to train up loyal Chinese citizens. Everything is for that end. So no cultural interest would ever be tolerated on the part of the authorities there. And the people are so much controlled by these authorities that they would lose everything.

Prabhupāda: Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). (pause)

Page Title:Workers (Conversations 1977)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:12 of Nov, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=49, Let=0
No. of Quotes:49