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Border (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview with LA Times Reporter About Moon Trip -- December 26, 1968, Los Angeles:

Reporter: I would predict that you would not feel that there was... Would you then interpret it that they were able to get the visa or to...

Prabhupāda: No, if you go and land there and come back, that may be a pleasant thing for you, but we don't think it is a very nice thing. If I go in New York border and see and come back and I am not allowed to enter, why should I take so much trouble? It is useless trouble.

Hayagrīva: He says if you can't go there and live there, what's the point in going there?

Prabhupāda: Just the Russians advertised that "We're going to distribute land." That is a feasible understanding. But if you simply go and touch and come back, is that success? Why should you take so much trouble simply for touching the moon planet?

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 12, 1969, New York:

Prabhupāda: So śaśan ke adhikārī means they should be punished. (laughs) Punished means, just like dhol, when the, I mean to say, sound is not very hard, dag-dag, if you beat it on the border, then it comes to be nice tune. Similarly, paśu, animals, if you request, "My dear dog, please do not go there." Hut! (laughter) "No, my dear dog." Hut! This is the way.(?) Similarly, woman. If you become lenient, then she will be troublesome. So in India still, in villages, whenever there is some quarrel between husband wife, the husband beats and she is tamed. (laughs) In civilized society, "Oh, you have done this?" Immediately some criminal case. But in uncivilized society they don't care for court or civilized way of... Kicharī. (prasādam being served)

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1972, San Diego:

Ātreya Ṛṣi: San Diego is very close to the border of Mexico, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...the cemetery of dog, one becomes dog. Yes, that is stated.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yānti bhūtāni bhūtejyā. "The worshiper of this bhūta goes to the bhūta." Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām (BG 9.25). "And those who are worshiper of Me, they come to Me."

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes.

Prabhupāda: A good reason. If you worship Kṛṣṇa, go to Kṛṣṇa. If you worship the dog, you go to dog.

Devotee (1): Māyāvādīs, they say you can worship anything and it is all the same?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 25, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Holi, yes.

Dr. Patel: Māyāpur is in East Bengal?

Prabhupāda: No, West Bengal. Border of East and West. (break) What these gṛhasthas?

Dr. Patel: No, they are...

Guest (1): (indistinct)

Dr. Patel: We are not going there?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then, after Dvārakā, they are expecting us in Hyderabad by about the twenty... (break)

Prabhupāda: ...vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām.

Morning Walk -- April 6, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, in the covering, in the...

Acyutānanda: Is there some part of Lord Śiva that is there in between?

Prabhupāda: Not in between. That is also after that. Sadā-ṣiva. Just on the border, on the border.

Bhāgavata: On the border. Before you reach earth, the element of earth.

Prabhupāda: Yes. On the border between spiritual world and material world.

Bhāgavata: On the Virajā River? That is where Kailāsa-dhāma is.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Yaśomatīnandana: Are there different Kailāsa-dhāmas like is there any Kailāsa-dhāma in a particular universe also?

Morning Walk -- April 10, 1974, Bombay:

Śrīdhara: "He not only gave cows in charity, but hills of grain, decorated with golden bordered garments and many ornaments."

Prabhupāda: Anna-vastra, anna-vastra-dhana. Charity means to give in charity anna and vastra and cows. (break) ...give in charity some paper, one hundred rupees. (laughs) Another cheating. And he is also satisfied, "One hundred rupees." What is this one hundred? It is a paper, a piece of paper. (break) ...earned, black market, white market. Because when one does business, he has to do it, but it should be purified. I have seen the Marwaris, they do that. Although when earning money, they don't care, they do anything, but they give in charity. (break) ...purify the body by taking bath, similarly, the wealth is purified by the charity process, giving it to the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas. Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī. He accumulated much wealth. He brought in a big boat, all gold coins. So... So he distributed fifty percent to the brāhmaṇa and Vaiṣṇava and twenty-five percent he gave to the relatives, and twenty-five percent he kept for his personal emergency. This is example shown by Rūpa Gosvāmī. (break) Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyam vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). So where is that vaiśya, giving protection to the cows? Although they were village men, they were very rich. That is the old Vedic civilization. Now you go to the village—all poor. The cows are skinny, people have no home, no nice cloth.

Room Conversation with Prof. Regamay, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Lausanne -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:

Guru-gaurāṅga: Geneva Lake.

Prabhupāda: Geneva Lake. And few step after French lake.

Yogeśvara: Because French is a border of Geneva lake also. Therefore sometimes it's considered French.

Prabhupāda: So the sky is one. Sky is one. So in the sky, in the atmosphere, where God is forgotten, that is called material sky. And the sky where God is not forgotten, that is spiritual sky. Just like the sky is one, and the sun is one. But when your eyes are covered by cloud, you say the cloudy sky. The sky is not cloudy. The sky is one, it is always clear. But some portion of the sky there is cloud, and you say, "This is cloudy." (break) Similarly, materialism means when you forget Kṛṣṇa, that is material. And when you know Kṛṣṇa and act for Kṛṣṇa, that is spiritual.

Morning Walk -- June 20, 1974, Germany:

Haṁsadūta: Yeah, we can see today.

Prabhupāda: Greek dictionary. (break) ...France.

Haṁsadūta: Germany is bordered by many countries—Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland. So we are right in the center of Germany. So Germany is in the center of Europe.

Prabhupāda: (break) ...even a single stick like this in the laboratory. What do you think? You can?

Satsvarūpa: No.

Prabhupāda: What is scientist? Simply talking. Vikathyante. Vikathyante. This word is used in Bhāgavata. When one is covered by māyā, he talks so many nonsense things, vikathayante. (break)

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 4, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: ...situation. The... Why America is after this Pakistan? This requires little intelligence. The America has no interest either in Pakistan or India, but both of them, being on the border of Russia, it will be convenient for them to fight with the Russians from these places.

Devotee (1): Through Pakistan.

Prabhupāda: Do you follow? You have seen Indian map, eh, Asian map? Have you got any?

Devotee (1): Yes, India and Pakistan are right at the bottom of Russia.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They want this place.

Devotee (1): The Russians.

Prabhupāda: Russ... No. Americans.

Devotee (1): Americans.

Conversation with Governor -- April 20, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: She has written one article in our Back to Godhead. I am quoting from that.

Brahmānanda: "...in ignorance performed at an improper time and place to an unworthy person like a gambler or a drunkard, or contemptuously, without respect. Charity in passion, performed to get something in return with a desire for fruitive results or in a grudging mood. Charity in goodness, performed as a duty and at the proper time and place to a worthy person and with no expectation of material returns. And charity in pure goodness, performed only to satisfy the Supreme Lord. In the śāstras charity in passion and ignorance is completely rejected, although people do it unconsciously. Charity in goodness only is recommended. Point Eight: Proper and beneficial use of the income and property of the institutions and how far the policies of the government and the exercise of its authority in its behalf are just and proper. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī was the chief minister of the government of Nawab Hussein Shah. He gave us a good example how to divide the property in the society. Fifty percent of the income must be spent for Kṛṣṇa, twenty-five percent of the income should be spent for family, and twenty-five percent should be kept in reserve for emergency expenditure. Spending fifty percent of the income for Kṛṣṇa means for the whole society by encouraging the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Point Nine: The role of manava-dharma pariṣat. I think that if the manava-dharma pariṣat takes these suggestions of mine very seriously, certainly it will be of great benefit to the Indians and the whole world. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is going on on this principle, and if the pariṣat inaugurated by you cooperates with us, certainly we can render a very great service to the human society. So far manava-dharma is concerned, it should not be restricted within the Indian borders, because human beings are in all parts of the world. Point Ten:

Morning Walk -- May 15, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: New wrapper?

Śrutakīrti: I got for you in Vṛndāvana. I'd gotten it in Delhi.

Prabhupāda: With that border?

Śrutakīrti: No, no, that's this. See there are two wrappers.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Both of them are new.

Śrutakīrti: Yes.

Devotee (1): Śrīla Prabhupāda, in the Bhagavad-gītā it says that if a man simply works for Kṛṣṇa, he can come to the perfect stage. Is that perfect stage... When he fixes his mind on Kṛṣṇa... But is that achieved via the regulative principles?

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Morning Walk -- June 16, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: ...call it Jooeypur.(?) Joo-ee(?) Joo-ee.(?) (break) ...America can drop the first bomb in Moscow, then they will come out triumphant. And the Communists will be finished. (break) ...friendship with Pakistan only for this reason. It is just on the border of Russia. If from Pakistan they can drop the first bomb in Moscow. (break)

Siddha-svarūpa: ...in the United States and Russia are to get on special airplanes that are equipped... It's like a city in the air, where they will be able to wage war from the air so that even if the all the cities are destroyed, they will still be able to make strategy and keep sending missiles with warheads because they have so many missiles with warheads all over the country that even if all the cities are wiped out they can keep sending more. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...they will get their food?

Morning Walk -- June 27, 1975, Los Angeles:

Brahmānanda: Getting the clams.

Bahulāśva: He is going to eat them.

Brahmānanda: (in car) ...difficult to get visas for Trinidad and Guyana. Especially Trinidad. And once he even got a visa and they rejected it at the border.

Prabhupāda: There is no need of... (break)

Brahmānanda: Oh, Same situation of having a Negro government with a large Indian population. (break) ...will have to be gotten from inside the country and then sent to us here.

Jagatpuruṣa: Well, we would call Śeṣa Nārāyaṇa who is the speaker of the house and he would tell us that we could come.

Room Conversation with Mr. & Mrs. Wax, Writer and Editing Manager of Playboy Magazine -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Devotee: Blasphemy.

Jayatīrtha: Recently we got a conviction against him. He got six months in prison. In Los Angeles we got to convict him for this kind of activity. So he is being stopped.

Guest (Indian man): Also he can't come to Canada any more, can't cross the border.

Jayatīrtha: Oh, he's been barred.

Guest: He is barred from coming to Canada.

Brahmānanda: He was put into the Denver county jail also when we were in Denver. He's out on bail now.

Mrs. Wax: Not only kidnapping devotees, Kṛṣṇa devotees, but all religious movements. He can't stand them.

Prabhupāda: And the parents are taking help from him.

Morning Walk -- September 1, 1975, Vrndavana:

Brahmānanda: We have one devotee. He escaped from Communist Hungary, and he was telling me all the story, how on the borders how much they keep the people from trying to escape. Even in Berlin, in Germany...

Prabhupāda: They shoot.

Brahmānanda: They have a system, automatic shooting, that if you cross a certain line, they have these rays of light, and if you break the ray of light, then automatically all machine guns start firing in the whole area. It's all done...

Prabhupāda: This is their scientific advancement.

Brahmānanda: They've made such a nice place that they're afraid the people will escape from it.

Prabhupāda: And they are thinking, "This system is for happiness."

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 12, 1976, Mayapur:

Rādhāvallabha: This is only half of the temple pictures. The other half will go up today.

Rāmeśvara: And all the professor quotes will be up by tomorrow morning.

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Rāmeśvara: They'll fill the entire wall on the other side.

Prabhupāda: Do to your best capacity and Kṛṣṇa will help.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: There should be some border over here so that people don't accidentally fall into the box. Really. We have all kinds of kids coming around.

Room Conversation -- May 7, 1976, Honolulu:

Devotee: Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Budapest.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He is going to some communist European countries.

Devotee: They make their vans with false bottoms and they hide the books underneath so at the border they do not see. Underneath the van is all your books. When they get in the country then they distribute the books to these centers.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Revolution.

Prabhupāda: It is very nice.

Devotee: Sometimes he said when he's speaking, the translator will not say what he is saying because it's...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes he forgets-usually he speaks very carefully-guarded words. But once or twice he says, he starts speaking direct Krishna consciousness and the translator looks at him and won't translate it into the local language. Sometimes he forgets himself and starts speaking about Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the translator suddenly looks at him. Usually he covers everything.

Prabhupāda: He has done a good job.

Interview with Religious Editor Of the Associated Press -- July 16, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Vedic, Vedas, Vedas, that is real, the word. But they have taken it in a different way. Actually the "Hindu," this name is given by the neighbor Muhammadans. There is a river called Sindhu. That river is still there, it is now in Pakistan. So outside the border of India, the Muhammadans, they used to call the inhabitants of the neighborhood of that river Sindhu, Hindu. Because they pronounce s as h. So this is the origin. So "Hindu" is a title given by the Muhammadan neighbors. It is not found in the Vedic literature.

Interviewer: I see, I see. That's like most religious names derived quite often out of ridicule or scorn. Like the Quakers, that was originally a title of scorn. And Methodists, they were the methodical ones, that was a title of scorn. And the Baptists were the baptizers.

Evening Darsana -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Mr. Sahani: Actually, it's only one and a half hours.

Prabhupāda: Only? By car?

Mr. Sahani: No, no, by air. It's about, less than two thousand kilometers. Border is even nearer, but Kabul is less than two thousand kilometers.

Prabhupāda: One Afghan gentleman came. In Afghanistan there are many domiciled Hindus.

Mr. Sahani: Yes. Originally we use to live in Peshwar and they used to work and do business in Kabul and they lived in Kabul, but then they stayed on there and became Afghans.

Prabhupāda: After Pakistan. They left Peshwar and went to...

Evening Darsana -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: After Pakistan. They left Peshwar and went to...

Mr. Sahani: No, they were not living there because there was no passport, there was no need of visa, you could anytime come and go. But after independence of Pakistan, at the same time, they made border, and a country of their own, and then these people stayed on this side, and they became Afghans. There are about, oh, six thousand, five, six thousand.

Prabhupāda: Homes.

Mr. Sahani: No, five, six thousand people who are Hindus but have Afghan passports. They have got a beautiful temple there.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā.

Mr. Sahani: Oh, yes.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 7, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Any god or dog, anyone is part and parcel. This is our land? No.

Mahāṁśa: Yes. It goes all... That's a village. That... Those trees there is the village.

Devotee: Those date trees are on our land?

Mahāṁśa: You see the big trees? That is the border. Yes, all the way to the village our land goes.

Prabhupāda: Man gone?

Mahāṁśa: He went that side.

Prabhupāda: What is the market price?

Mahāṁśa: Of those vegetables?

Prabhupāda: Ah.

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1976, Hyderabad:

Mahāṁśa: I was thinking we can make their house just like our house. If they are living right on our border, we can go to their house, tell them how to make an altar and make them live like how we are living. Let them stay there but let them live a good Kṛṣṇa conscious life.

Prabhupāda: They'll come gradually, not immediately. Immediately, the psychology is, they have got attachment for their house. It may be worse house, but still, their attachment... That is natural. Long, long ago, when I was child practically, I went with my father in the village. So one man from the village was serving us. So my father: "This boy is nice. So why not take him to Calcutta?" So one day he was absent. It was dropping and... So I went in the interior of the village and I saw that his house was broken, there was no roof, and rain was falling and he was sitting, covering with a cloth. Then I told him that "Why not come with us in Calcutta? We shall give you nice place, nice food." So his answer was, nā bābu kanceri jabo nā (?): "Bābujī, I cannot go out of my home." That was his home. (laughter) This is my practical exp... He was sitting idly and it dropping and he could not come to serve. Still, that is his home, and he cannot leave home, that "Bābu kanceri jabo nā (?). That is psychology. It may be very worse condition; still, nobody wants to give up "home sweet home." That is natural psychology.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 3, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So you have got experience. Huh?

Setterji: Sometimes I have walked on the dead body.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā. So many dead bodies.

Setterji: I have seen about four men at the Pathan border, and the... One, this Korabhari, this ṭāṅgā, Victoria,(?) came with six Muslims. And they challenged us. Very... "We will kill you." We said, "Yes, come. You kill us; we will kill you. We fight." We were ready at that time because revolver was there and the Kurari Kundasa was there. One, my friend, he was from Gujawala(?). He showed this Kundasa, and his head cut out, and he was running...

Prabhupāda: Ācchā. Still running?

Room Conversation with Sannyasis -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Satsvarūpa: This is a very good one, from the University of Helsinki. That's right near the Russian border, in Finland. He's a professor of Indian studies, the Department of Asian and African Studies, Professor extraordinarious, Penti Alto. "The Bhagavad-gītā is no doubt the most important and the best known work in the whole of Indian literature. The magnificence of its spiritual concepts and the sublimity of its thinking have secured a great popularity everywhere. It has been edited and commented countless times. The meaning of the text, at least in its main lines, is obvious and clear. The justification of a new interpretation is there, for in my opinion, dependent on the message conveyed by the commentary. The translator and commentator, Swami Bhaktivedanta, represents the Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇava school, and thus interprets the message of the Gītā 'from the inside.' For example, Shankara in Canto Two"—he means Chapter Two—"verse twelve, interprets the plurality of the being enumerated to be only conventional. And according to the Māyāvādīns, the individuals after liberation merge into the impersonal Brahman. Swami Bhaktivedanta states that Kṛṣṇa here authoritatively emphasizes the eternity of the individuality."

Prabhupāda: Hmm.

Room Conversation -- January 24, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Kharampur.

Gargamuni: Yes. It's near the Bangladesh border. It's about 80 kilometers north of Krishnanagar...

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Gargamuni: ...near the Bangladesh border. It's five miles... In fact, we took the wrong road and we almost went over the Bangladesh border.

Prabhupāda: Acchā?

Gargamuni: We went through the border almost by mistake, and the guards came with their guns. Our driver took the wrong road. But it's five miles from the Bangladesh border. And the property... There's a temple there of Gaura-Nitāi.

Room Conversation -- February 28, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: That means there is no hope.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What is the difficulty?

Hari-śauri: Well, generally they require six weeks 'cause it's on the Chinese border.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's so many places...

Hari-śauri: They have some protected areas. That's all. It's because there's a lot of missile bases and stuff up there. They have a lot of armament there. They've probably got some big project going. (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...the letterhead now for you from France, really nice.

Hari-śauri: Prabhupāda's seen it.

Prabhupāda: Where it is?

Room Conversation -- April 5, 1977, Bombay:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: We read in the papers today that there is talk that Sanjay Gandhi and his mother may run from the country, because the government has launched many investigations into the malpractices of Sanjay Gandhi. So the government has ordered the security on all the borders to be very tight.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All the airports now they are making special security, especially to check any politicians who might try to escape the country, due to being investigated.

Guest (1): Their passports are also taken away. That's what I have heard.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They were, in themselves, the most exalted, and now they are treated as criminals.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: In the Times of India you saw that starlight or side light or something, about Indira Gandhi. In today's paper, Indira Gandhi had gone to a ten-day function at one of the African embassies. She went with her daughter-in-law, and nobody even noticed her. Only fifteen minutes after she left the function did the host realize that Indira Gandhi had come. She went to a party, she stayed there, and she left and the host did not know that "Indira Gandhi is here." That shows how material nature changes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It also shows that actually she had no value, because one who is actually great doesn't lose his value simply by losing an election.

Prabhupāda: Vidvān sarvatra pūjyate. Vidvatāṁ ca nṛpatyāṁ ca naiva tulyaṁ kadācana.(?) She is not a learned man. She occupied the royal seat. That honor was so long there, the royal seat. And who will be honor her?

Room Conversation -- April 5, 1977, Bombay:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, in today's evening news. That all the borders have been warned to be very careful.

Prabhupāda: The other son is already outside India?

Guest (1): No, he is out of politics. He is a wise man. He has not entered politics at all. Sanjiv.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: He is a pilot with Indian Airlines. He, I have never heard anything.

Guest (1): He never heard about any politics or anything. He is just like an ordinary citizen.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They say he is not as smart as Sanjay. That means he is not as crooked. So he is out of politics.

Bhakti-caru: He ran the...

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: No.

Guest (1): They have got. He is not living there.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: He is a pilot with Indian Airlines.

Prabhupāda: That is honest life. Earn your livelihood. Who is the elder?

Room Conversation about Harijanas -- April 10, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: From Bombay to Kashmir direct.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Either direct or through Delhi. The Punjab Mail. I think there is a Punjab Mail.

Prabhupāda: Punjab Mail goes up to border of Kashmir.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So something like that. I mean we could fix that up.

Prabhupāda: No, as many books you can carry without any difficulty, you can take.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: On the plane. Okay. Maybe Guru dāsa should wait there for awhile. If Guru dāsa and I go together as a preaching team, we can conquer anywhere.

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I mean we will bring everyone that you want to see.

Room Conversation with Ratan Singh Rajda M.P. 'Nationalism and Cheating' -- April 15, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That is another thing, "when we catch." Who will catch? "Bell the cat." It is going on. I know. During wartime, one Chinese man was coming from China, and one business friend, he was appointed his purchasing agent. He was giving a list of goods to purchase. And this man, whatever money he'll charge, he'll immediately-Indian currency. He'll not say, "Why so much price?" No. Then he will pack up the goods and through some channel he'll dispatch it. That is also through our way, not in the... The China is in on the border. There also, if you pay money, smuggler's rate... They try to do.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That seems to be a big issue now, these smugglers. I notice in the newspapers every day.

Prabhupāda: The smugglers get with money, printed money. Who can check it?

Room Conversation Meeting with Dr. Sharma (from Russia) -- April 17, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: We have got two temples in London. One in the city, and one in the border of London. That is very big temple. Seventeen acres of land. George Harrison has given us that property.

Guests: (talking about George Harrison)

Dr. Sharma: No, you are mistaken. George Harrison is a different... Rex Harrison is a British actor.

Prabhupāda: George Harrison of the Beatle group.

Dr. Sharma: Beatle group, oh. Rex Harrison is an actor...

Guest (2): They are singers.

Dr. Sharma: No, that's a different. Because Harrison is more popular in Europe and West than Lata Mangeskar. Raj Kapoor they know. They know, I think more than George Harrison(?), Raj Kapoor is a most popular man in Soviet Union because of his films. And second is Jawaharlal Nehru. So they can make anybody popular or unpopular. Because there is only one paper. They write whatever they want. Unfortunately, the whole thing is in the hands of those (indistinct). They publish whatever they want. So this type of popularity is not real popularity. You cannot take the face value popularity. So I think this type of creating a drama or taking a film for educating about God, and then there will be some sort of a scientific discourse as if intellectual level that...

Prabhupāda: Scientific research...

Room Conversation -- June 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Yaśodānandana: It is mentioned that this Sumeru Parvata, the mountain's height is the same as the width of Jambūdvīpa. So this mountain comes up to here, the same distance as this, 100,000 yojanas. So it's perfectly... This is the same length on this side and also like this. It's made like a big, a big cone on top. It describes, "Of that mountain, Sumeru Parvata, 16,000 yojanas, or 128,000 miles, are within, under." So Sumeru is like this, and it also goes under the Jambūdvīpa planetary system. And therefore the mountain's head above the earth, above here, there is 84,000 yojanas, 672,000 miles above the level. And the mountain's width, the mountain on top, is considered to be 32,000 yojanas, or 256,000 miles. And in the bottom it's 16,000 yojanas. Scientists cannot conceive of this. Their estimation of a mountain is that it must be bigger in the bottom and end up smaller at the top, but Mount Meru is twice as big in the top than it is in the bottom. They cannot understand. Next verse, it describes the different divisions. "Just north of Ilāvṛta-varṣa and going further northward, one after another, are three mountains, namely Nīla Mountain, Śveta Mountain, and Śṛṅgavān Mountain. These mark the borders of the three varṣas, namely Ramyaka, Hiraṇmaya, and Kuru, and separate them from one another. The width of these mountains is..."

Prabhupāda: And it was not possible for me to digest. (laughs) Somebody else helped me to... I am a layman. I do not know.

Room Conversation -- June 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Yaśodānandana: Then it describes here that "On the west and east of Ilāvṛta-varṣa are two great mountains named Mālyavān and Gandhamādana respectively. These two mountains, which are 2,000 yojanas, 16,000 miles..." (break) "...in the north and Niṣadha mountain in the south. They indicate the borders of Ilāvṛta-varṣa and also the varṣas named as Ketumāla-varṣa and Bhadrāśva-varṣa." Then it gets into more details regarding Mount Meru. "Text number eleven. On the four sides of the great mountain known as Sumeru are four mountains," these Mandara Parvata. This is the mountain.

Prabhupāda: So how you'll show actually?

Bhakti-prema: This is according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Prabhupāda: No, that's all right. Now, that doll, that you have to make.

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Benarsi sari also considered very valuable.

Prabhupāda: It is golden, gold border. You can... When you want to..., mean an old Benarsi sari..., you can go. There are persons, they'll take it, and they'll burn it, and the borders will take care, either silver or gold. Still in Delhi we find. Any investment were... Not this plastic plate and paper plate.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh. Whenever they buy something, it must have value.

Prabhupāda: Must have value. That is Indian investment.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's the opposite of the Western.

Prabhupāda: And whatever you manufacture, you can show back. Suppose this tape recorder. If it is working, it has value. What is the use of it? Who cares for you? If it is in working order, it has value. Otherwise, (taps microphone) who cares for it? But if you have got gold, silver, metal... There was a small banker's. You require... I am poor man. I require only two rupees, but I have no money. You take one utensil and go to a small banker. He will keep this pot. "Give me two rupees." The pot is only five rupees' worth, so he'll keep it. He'll give you two rupees. So your immediate necessity is... This way, Indian economics.

Bhu-mandala Diagram Discussion -- July 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Yaśodā-nandana: Past this golden land, until here, is the Lokāloka Mountain, which is the border between this Aloka-varṣa, or the uninhabited land, and the inhabited place. This Aloka-varṣa is constituted by a protective mountain that stops the rays of the sun to go beyond this portion. And it goes very, very high, it is described. It goes higher than Dhruvaloka. So the whole planetary system of Bhū-maṇḍala is like a big lotus flower with very high, high petals. It is very wonderful.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Which is that Lokāloka?

Yaśodā-nandana: This is the Lokāloka mountain.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just see how much it is, Śrīla Prabhupāda. It's like the whole Bhū-maṇḍala is protected by a huge mountain.

Prabhupāda: Karach.(?)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. And only in the very center are the inhabited lands of Bhū-maṇḍala.

Prabhupāda: The sun is above them?

Room Conversation -- October 12, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Bengal book.

Jayapatākā: In Bihar—they were doing the border of Bengal in Bihar—so they did both Hindi and Bengali. And in Darjeeling they did Bengali. Every day we're getting about twenty letters in the mail from people who want to be devotees or want to subscribe to the magazine. We get a big stack of mail. So there's a lot of interest from the books.

Prabhupāda: So utilize them properly.

Jayapatākā: Now there's eighty boys in the Gurukula, and they're all very bright-faced, chant very nicely. In the other temple that Lokanātha Swami had begun in Orissa, Bhadrak, there they also had a nice program during Janmāṣṭamī and Vyāsa-pūjā. I visited there. There it's in a small town, and it's about two hundred feet from the side of a small river. All the local people there are very favorable and very cooperative. So they help in all the functions.

Prabhupāda: Where is that place?

Room Conversation -- November 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: All right. (break) San Diego, we have got a temple.

Jayādvaita: Oh, yes. We have... They just moved to a nicer location, nicer building. They have maybe seventy devotees. It's quite large temple near the ocean in San Diego. They have... Every year at Govardhana-pūjā they have a very nice festival in the park. They have chanting and discourse and distribute prasādam. Then in the spring again they have a very nice festival. You were there one time. You spoke. Your Divine Grace spoke at one festival in the park in San Diego. They also go to preach just over the border in Mexico, and many Mexican boys join our San Diego temple, Mexican boys who've come to America. They join our temple in San Diego. The Deity there is very beautiful and very nicely dressed also in San Diego.

Pañca-draviḍa: Their new temple is very nicely decorated, with arches and everything. Rādhā-Giridhārī.

Page Title:Border (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:28 of Apr, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=37, Let=0
No. of Quotes:37