Culture (Conversations 1976)

Expressions researched:
"culture" |"cultures" |"culturing"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: culture or cultures or culturing not "spiritual culture" not "vedic culture" not "brahminical culture" not "indian culture" not "culture of knowledge"

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 8, 1976, Nellore:

Mahāṁsa: If the government wants to do that, you can't do anything.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But we are changing.... We are making our constitution look like a welfare society, so this way we may not fall under this.

Acyutānanda: We have to preach to them so that they understand the value of this movement.

Prabhupāda: (break) Europeans, they are coming here not for religion, but they are coming for the Kṛṣṇa culture. You have to make that. Religion they have already got, Christian. Why they should come?

Mahāṁsa: They will say that this Kṛṣṇa culture is Hinduism.

Prabhupāda: Then he's a rascal. Prove it in the court. Kṛṣṇa is not Hinduism. Never.... Is there anything in the Bhagavad-gītā that Kṛṣṇa says, "I am for the Hindus or for the Indians"?

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

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) Why they look inquisitive? No commentary. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) Cent percent cheater beginning from the top. They have lost their own culture, Vedic civilization, and they are not competent to earn properly. They must be cheater. Beg, borrow, steal. They have lost their own culture; therefore they have no one honest. Formerly Indians were so honest that after one man's death, his son comes... Even we have seen it in childhood. "Sir, my father took from you the five thousand rupees. So now he is dead, so I have come to pay you." So he says, "I never seen my account that your father has taken five thousand rupees from me. I cannot take it." This is India. One man is offering him five thousand, that "We are debtor to you.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes, if you remain animal. But that is not the ideal, that you remain animal. That is culture. If you want to remain animal, then it is all right. If you want to remain pig, you eat whatever you like. But if you don't want to remain a pig, then you have got to make discrimination. You have to take kṛṣṇa-prasāda. Because it is Bhāgavatam, it is written that one animal is food for another animal. That is for the animal. And I have already said that this Vedic civilization is meant for making the animal a perfect person.

Morning Walk -- February 6, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like Africa.

Hṛdayānanda: Prabhupāda? You wrote in a letter to Bhagavān... You said that originally the Europeans had Aryan-type culture but they have become degraded.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. They are still Aryan. Europeans are Aryan, Indo-Aryan. That is admitted in history.

Hṛdayānanda: You said that they became degraded by associating, by bad...

Prabhupāda: Yes, by association with these aborigines.

Morning Walk -- February 12, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: It is less than demonic. Demonic qualities, they have some activity and laziness is ignorance, darkness. Therefore too much sleeping is very, very bad. That is another part of laziness. Nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau **, one has to conquer over this sleeping and laziness. Eating, nidrā, ahāra, vihāra, sense gratification, vihāra means sense gratification. One has to minimize these things up to the point of nil, that is perfect. When there is no more sleeping, no more eating, no more mating, and no more fearing, that is perfection of spiritual life. And that is not possible, but as much as possible. (break) ...they cannot sleep more that the culture (?) is very great gain, profit.

Morning Walk -- February 27, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: ...ago Bengali culture was very much adored all over India. Even one big politician, Gandhi's guru, Goke, Gokule, he remarked, "What Bengal thinks today, other provinces will think tomorrow." He said like that. And actually all big, big movements started from Bengal. The national movement also was started from Bengal. Whatever we may criticize Vivekananda, when... He's a Bengali. He went first for preaching Indian religion. Rabindranath Tagore, he's a Bengali. All big, big...

Morning Walk -- February 27, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Bengali culture was very much adored. Surendranath Bannerjee started the political movement, and he was so well known. Even in Parliament, the Englishmen, English M.P.'s, he... They were speaking of Surendranath. They used to say "Surrendered not." "Here is a person who is not 'Surrender not.' He'll never surrender. 'Surrender not.' " Actually, the British Empire was startled by the agitation of Surendranath Bannerjee. The Congress was started by Surendranath Bannerjee, this one Congress. Two Bengali and one Englishman started this Congress sometimes in 1887, 1867, like that. So in our childhood we used to see that Surendranath Bannerjee was being elected president of Congress almost every year. And Gandhi came into prominence when Surendranath Bannerjee surrendered.

Morning Walk -- February 27, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: ...the architectural culture, they'll come to see the civilization culture, the philosophical culture, the religious culture by practical demonstration with dolls and other things.

Jayapatākā: And we'll be advertising that all over the world.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hṛdayānanda: It is a perfect plan.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayapatākā: There can be a model of that temple in every temple all over the world.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- March 15, 1976, Mayapura:

Pañca-draviḍa: Eight years. But the thing is, it's difficult for them to assume or take part in Hong Kong because it represents something like several million capitalists, which they have no use for in their country. For thirty years they've been training people in Communism. Their whole culture is centered around that Chinese language. Our books are in English, but their whole culture is...

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Our Chinese Gītā is coming out. It should be ready in two weeks.

Prabhupāda: It is not our policy that the whole country will be on our side. That is not.... At least some of them may be interested. That's all.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yaśodānandana Mahārāja says that the Chinese Bhagavad-gītā is ready for publication.

Morning Walk -- March 15, 1976, Mayapura:

Siddha-svarūpa: Part of their culture is basically.... It's deeply steeped in what's called Taoism, and it's.... An important part of that is retaining the semen for mental power. (break)

Prabhupāda: So give them attention, yes, even at the..., as far as possible. Jaya.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It may be possible for Dhṛṣṭadyumna's father to employ himself and myself in that business. Then I can go...

Prabhupāda: Very easily.

Morning Walk -- March 17, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Manipur, Chinese, Cambodian stock. (break) Many Chinese, for culture. I know. All came.

Pañca-draviḍa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, if they invite you to China, you'll go?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, certainly. I can go immediately. I have no objection.

Pañca-draviḍa: (break) Everyone was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and saying...

Prabhupāda: Crowd also?

Pañca-draviḍa: Yeah, the crowd here.... There was practically.... I didn't see any incidents of anybody doing anything wrong or trying to cause trouble.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Morning Walk -- March 19, 1976, Mayapura:

Satsvarūpa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, today starts a big international convention for the Association for Asian Studies, and we're there. It's in Toronto. We have an advertisement in this book, with Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, with a quote by that Bruce Long. And we have that big sign at our booth: "The largest publisher and distributor of books on the philosophy, culture and religion of India." This shows also with all the exhibitors, we're listed, the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. And this is where we are, this booth here.

Prabhupāda: So who is taking care?

Satsvarūpa: Two of the library men who didn't come, just so they could go to this convention.

Conversation with News Reporters -- March 25, 1976, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Dead loss? Dead loss.... But the leaders are dead loss. Misleaders. They have given up their own culture, and they are trying to imitate others.

Reporter (8): Swamiji, when there was discussion in Parliament about the fabulous money that the movement has, society has, then who provided the answers?

Prabhupāda: The Home Member.

Reporter (8): The Minister.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: We have a copy of this in Bombay, the question number and.... It was about two, three years ago.

Room Conversation -- April 4, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: They lost their culture.

Jagat-guru: Śrīla Prabhupāda, we were thinking that this is 1976, and in July there is Ratha-yātrā. So by next year, '77, we hope to be able to have Ratha-yātrā in Durban. There may be a quarter of a million, half a million Indian people. One cart and three deities on one cart.

Prabhupāda: And whether government will allow?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I think so. They already have permission.

Room Conversation -- April 4, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: I think in Mauritius there is good field. They adopted culture.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The problem in Mauritius has been that either they don't know how to collect, or they say it's a very poor country and they're not able to get funds to start any kind of a dynamic program.

Prabhupāda: They cannot chant even?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Chanting they do.

Prabhupāda: That is wanted. We don't want money. So give them directly.

Jagat-guru: Also, Śrīla Prabhupāda.... (too faint)

Morning Walk -- April 9, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes, in my Preface I have written that: "What is the necessity of the human society?" This is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is required. It is a mistake to understand that we are trying to push on Hindu culture. Where is the Hindu culture? To become a gentleman is Hindu culture? It is for everyone.

Jayādvaita: They think that their paraphernalia makes them gentlemen. If they have a big car and a nice house then they are gentleman.

Prabhupāda: And he may be great rogue, that "Simply dress yourself nicely; you become gentleman."

Morning Walk -- April 9, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Gentleman means that if you go to a gentleman's store, "Beware of the dog. Beware of the revolver." This is your culture. And when you go to the airport everyone is searched out, pocket. So who is gentleman? Is that gentleman? There is no gentleman in the world. All rogues and thieves, cheaters, bluffers. Now we are creating gentlemen. Otherwise there is no gentlemen. Here is the proof. If we are gentleman, why we are being checked in the airport? Hm? This is the proof. There is no gentlemen.

Morning Walk -- April 12, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: That is spiritual concern. And spirit itself.... Kṛṣṇa is.... I mean, without Kṛṣṇa there cannot be anything. That is the highest culture.

Guru dāsa: Kṛṣṇa even lets people forget Him.

Dr. Patel: (plane overhead) Vedas say that...

Prabhupāda: (break) ...and prasāda shall be ready. Anyone comes, he may give him. Then it will be nice.

Dr. Patel: But God has made māyā so strong that if the man is not attracted or caught into the web of māyā, the whole saṁsāra would not go. (laughs) That because God wants to...

Morning Walk -- April 15, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: (break) Garuḍa. He is perfect vegetarian. You know what is his food? Snakes. (Dr. Patel laughs) And he is carrying the Lord. It is a devotee, you see? He is not vegetarian. And how powerful he is that one sparrow, a small bird, lost his egg. The samudra took it away. And he decided, "I shall dry this samudra." So he began to pick up some water. So Nārada Muni was passing. So he asked, "What you are doing?" And "Sir, yes, the samudra has taken my egg, so I shall dry it up." So he said, "But how you can do it? You are so small. You just pray to your head. You are bird, and he is the head of the birds. You just pray to Garuḍa. He can do it." So he prayed Garuḍa, and Garuḍa came and asked samudra, "Immediately deliver; otherwise I shall take step." Immediately it was delivered. Such powerful. Yes. And he was not a vegetarian. (Hindi with Dr. Patel) You become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is the... (Hindi with Dr. Patel) (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. Thank you very much. Namaskāra. Jaya. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Real culture is how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Room Conversation with Reporter -- June 4, 1976, Los Angeles:

Rāmeśvara: ...culture

Prabhupāda: Yes. Attentive.

Reporter: You don't see any slowing down of the impact of...

Prabhupāda: No. It can be slowed down unless we spoil it.

Reporter: Is there anyone who is designated to succeed you as the primary teacher of the movement?

Prabhupāda: I am training some, I mean to say, advanced students so that they may be very easily take up the charge. I have made them GBC. They are under my direct training, and I think they will be able to conduct this movement.

Morning Walk -- June 4, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Arbitrary order is not science. That you cannot.

Candanācārya: How can it be arbitrary if every culture in the history of the planet has accepted that order? How can it be arbitrary?

Rādhāvallabha: That doesn't matter it's not arbitrary. Do you accept?

Hṛdayānanda: Rādhāvallabha is a rascal. (laughter)

Mahendra: Thirty or forty years also, Śrīla Prabhupāda, one man made a little plaster body of a human being, and he planted it in his back yard in England. And then he dug it up and said, "Oh, look, I've found the oldest man in history!" And all the scientists came and said, "Oh, yes, this is the oldest man in history." And for twenty or thirty years many men got their Ph.D.s by writing about how this plaster was the oldest man in history.

Prabhupāda: Yes, such fools are leaders.

Morning Walk -- June 9, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: (break)....culture and civilization is being introduced by Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement for the benefit of the whole human society. The modern civilization is not civilization. Mūḍhā nābhijānāti; mām eva param avyayam. Ninety-nine percent or ninety-nine point nine percent people do not believe in the transmigration of the soul. Is it not?

Rāmeśvara: In India people believe.

Prabhupāda: No, India believes. India have no authority.

Room Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Another paper was there: "Ambassador of India's culture."

Hari-śauri: Yes, that was the same article, in the Butler Eagle. It shows a photograph of you looking through one of your books.

Hṛdayānanda: Many times the devotees lament that we could not have been there to help you, because there was so much service.

Prabhupāda: Yes, you are helping me. (pause) Who can create such fragrance except Kṛṣṇa? (devotees laugh) Fragrance is coming from here, from the dirt, muddy dirt, and fragrance is coming. Unless there is fragrance, how it came here? The color is coming, the beauty is coming, the fragrance is coming, the arrangement is coming along the stem. Where is that scientist? They are seeing every day, and "There is no God." Just see, how foolish they are. You do it.

Room Conversation with Ambarisa and Catholic Priest -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: No, he said that "Give me the same money as the capitalist will spend in six months. I shall spend every day. I shall get that money every day and I shall spend it." So this worker class, there is no culture. You may pay them heavy amount of money, but they will spend it and remain a poor man. Because he has no culture.

Stansky: This is true.

Room Conversation with Ambarisa and Catholic Priest -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: You see this black men. They earn sufficient money, but see their home. See their home. You America, you have given them equal rights, they are getting money, but they have no culture. Therefore you may pay them as much as you like, but still poverty-stricken. In Africa also I have seen that they have got their own kingdom, independence, but if we go to the African slums, they are poverty-stricken, wretched. So this civilization will not endure. If there is no culture, simply by money you cannot maintain a standard of civilization. That is not possible. Now the American leaders they are thinking, "Let us have money, then everything..." Of course, by money you are covering all the defects of the social culture. But this will not endure. Day will come and everything will be exposed. Therefore culture required.

Room Conversation with Ambarisa and Catholic Priest -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Stansky: Well, there is no training here, there is no culture, as you pointed out.

Prabhupāda: No, I mean to say culture, not training.

Stansky: As a matter of fact, even among the educated classes in the United States, there is no culture. There are no cultural roots.

Prabhupāda: No, no culture. There is no culture. There is no standard social life. Simply hodgepodge. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is the only hope to bring everything in proper order. Everything is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. So America is the leading nation of the world. If you work on the principle of Bhagavad-gītā and train up your people, it will be ideal state and example for the whole world. At least a certain section of the American population should be ideal. That will also do. Not that..., we cannot expect cent percent will take Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is not needed. But if there is one section of the people ideal, that will be followed. We want to create that section, our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Room Conversation -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: No. During British period, high British officers, big, big managers, they liked Indians with original culture. They did not like any Indian with European imitation-pants, coats. They didn't like these imitations. My Godbrother, that German, Sadānanda.... You have heard his name or you have seen him?

Jagadīśa: No.

Prabhupāda: When he came to India, he was my intimate friend. So he was telling me that "In our country, when some Indian student comes, especially while returning home after their education, they stop for some time in Germany, we used to inquire from him how much he is aware of his Indian original culture."

Interview with Professors O'Connell, Motilal and Shivaram -- June 18, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: Not a single paisa they can spend in their own discretion. They are laboring hard to get this collection, but the money is mine. This is the arrangement. Now in Hyderabad they immediately require two lakhs. The money is there, they can take it, but they are asking by telegram my permission. I'll give them, but this is the arrangement. Guror hitam, brahmacārī. Vasan dānto guror hitam. So the prescription is there, the formula is there, the literature is there. If we take this culture, then the whole human society will be happy. That is our mission.

Prof. O'Connell: Do you find, Swamiji, that the mood of the young people in North America is the same now as it was in '65, or has it changed?

Prabhupāda: That you can see.

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

Prabhupāda: Now it is a big property. And when the palace will be ready, many people will.... You simply advertise "Come and see palaces in New Vrindaban." It will be a combination of Western and Eastern culture. For the profit of the whole human society. So Vṛndāvana-candra will come here? No. Vṛndāvana-candra Deity?

Kīrtanānanda: No.

Prabhupāda: His palace will be different.

Kīrtanānanda: His palace will be where the building is now. We're planning to move Him into the new building next to the present temple, the four-story building. He will occupy the fourth floor for now. Then we will take down that old building and put up a nice big temple.

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

Prabhupāda: Mistri or anyone, to develop this Kṛṣṇa culture, so the Society will give guarantee. Why not take permission? And they may not come back. They may reside.

Kīrtanānanda: I don't understand. That seems to be the government's, the Indian government's objection was that they wouldn't come back.

Prabhupāda: So they are disturbed with overpopulation.

Kīrtanānanda: It doesn't make any sense. But their objection was that they might not come back.

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

Kīrtanānanda: Gentleman means one who is cultured. So culture is not of the body but of knowledge.

Prabhupāda: But what do you mean by culture? First of all, the question will be "What do you mean by culture?"

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: There's some idea of progress involved, advancement of life. Otherwise, there's no need for any kind of progress. One remains as a child.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Culture means advancement in knowledge. We say, "You're a gentleman of culture." That means he's advanced in knowledge. So what is the advancement of knowledge? Next question will be.

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: He's dead. He was enlightened. "...equated Hindu ethos with castism." He equated that Hindu culture, or Hindu ethos, and castism is one and the same. "Will the fundamental values of Hinduism be in any way affected by the eradication of castism, towards which a concerted effort is now being made at all levels?"

Prabhupāda: But it cannot be done. This is another foolishness. Because Kṛṣṇa says, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). But the difficulty is the caste system is coming on account of false notion that a brāhmaṇa is the son of a brāhmaṇa. That is caste system. But Kṛṣṇa does not say. He says, "By quality and work." He never says, "By birth."

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Ritual is a practice based on tapasya. Unless one undergoes the ritualistic ceremony, he remains unclean. But in this age, because it is practically impossible to induce people to take all these ritualistic processes, therefore it is recommended that "Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra." That is special advantage of this age, that by constant chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra he automatically becomes purified. That is recommendation given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). The beginning is cleansing the heart, because we are impure on account of dirty things within our heart accumulated life after life in the animalistic way of life. So everything, advancement of spiritual life, culture, tapasya means cleansing the heart. So this process, chanting the mahā-mantra, the first installment of benefit is cleansing the heart. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam.

Room Conversation After Film -- June 28, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: India could not improve on account of poverty, lame. And America? Blind for want of culture. So let the blind man carry the lame man on the head, and the lame man give direction that "Go this way," and he walks. So both men's work is done. There is no hampering because one is blind and one is lame. Combined together, they get the benefit. Andha-paṅgor nyāya.

Rādhāvallabha: The book distributors use that example sometimes.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Rādhāvallabha: It works too.

Room Conversation -- July 4, 1976, Washington D.C.:

Prabhupāda: And what culture they'll speak? (Hindi) They can speak, "Milk is dangerous and meat is very nutritious. Kill all the cows. Oh yes, it's very scientific." This is the cult(?). "Milk is dangerous." Is it not?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, they're saying that, the doctors nowadays.

Rūpānuga: It's true.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I remember one day you retorted that. You said that "Milk is nothing but the blood of the cow transformed. And (sarcastically:) the milk is bad but the blood is good?

Conversation with Prof. Saligram and Dr. Sukla -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: So here is an opportunity to preach real India's traditional culture. So those who are Indians present here, they should cooperate. They should not mislead further.

Dr. Sukla: We have started teaching your Gītā at Georgetown University, where I teach. Before we had, we have two years course of Sanskrit, and we had some excerpts from Mahābhārata and some Pañca-tantra and so on, but there was no Gītā. So I decided and we were using the entire Gītā for the second year. Your contributions can't be duplicated.

Evening Darsana -- July 11, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Even though they are not coming, they should now come, and we can open many other temples if you come. We can maintain many other temples. You come and take advantage of it. Why you are losing your own culture? That is foolishness. You are Indians and you do not know Kṛṣṇa. That is not a very good credit.

Indian man (2): Remember when we were building our altar? Remember last year when I talked to you? We were building altar, and actually I went to every Indian, and myself and the president of that temple, we begged everything we can do possible... And we wanted to collect almost ten thousand dollars, we couldn't even collect five thousand dollars, and most of them were making between fifteen and thirty thousand dollars. Some of them in fact gave us pennies.

Evening Darsana -- July 11, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: That is not very good. That means they have fallen from their culture. They have lost their culture.

Indian man (1): Some of them in fact enjoy eating hot dogs and hamburgers. They said, "Oh, I have been eating vegetables for ages. Now I have come here to eat hot dogs and hamburgers." That is their comment. They have done totally,

Prabhupāda: What is this hot dog?

Morning Walk -- July 11, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They say that it is due to this culture that India has been kept down. Because the British taught them that, and now they themselves think like that.

Prabhupāda: Still, any Indian who comes to speak about some culture like this, you flock together. Why? Why you go to this Maharishi, this Bal Yogi, and this one. Why?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They're from India.

Morning Walk -- July 12, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Dried up on account of being detached from the original bark. Similarly, as soon as any civilization detached from God consciousness, they'll dry up.

Devotee (1): Simply buildings and cement, that is their culture.

Bali-mardana: Except for India, no civilization has lasted very long.

Prabhupāda: No, cannot last.

Hari-śauri: And as soon as they started to give up their culture in India, they're also dried up.

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

Prabhupāda: He was so much insulted. Because every European countries were harassed, they had very bad idea about this Napoleon. Unnecessarily expanding the interest of France. "France and Napoleon, one." Now where is that rascal? France is there. This is going on. British Empire means bring money, hook or crook, in London, and you get the title, "lord," "baron," this... This was their policy. "Sir." All hooligans, thieves, rogues, they were made big, big respectable people. A deposit in the government, this lord family means they have to deposit, say, ten million pounds, like that, and the government takes that money as fixed deposit, and the interest the family will maintain the aristocracy. This is the lord's family. Some way or other you deposit ten million pounds and your family becomes lord's family. So people become mad after money, somehow or other bring money. There was no other culture.

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

Interviewer: Well do you think that the Eastern sun, meaning Hare Kṛṣṇa, is appropriate in a culture that has a different religion traditionally?

Prabhupāda: No, no, it is ignorance. Why do you say...?

Interviewer: The Jewish, Biblical Christian tradition is traditional in the West, the Hindu tradition...

Prabhupāda: I never said that Jewish or Christian or Hindu or Muslim.

Bali-mardana: We aren't Hindus.

Prabhupāda: We do not belong either to the Hindus or Christian or Jewish. We belong to Kṛṣṇa or God. Kṛṣṇa means God.

Interview with Trans-India Magazine -- July 17, 1976, New York:

Interviewer: Prabhu, you, in this country you have a whole body of religious thought which does not subscribe to the Hindu assumptions about the transmigration of the soul, and the culture itself is a very secular kind of culture.

Prabhupāda: Which one?

Interviewer: The American. And about eighteen months ago or more, if I remember right, there was a film, a documentary, on your school in Texas, on the National Broadcasting Company's program, which was very hostile, if not vicious, attack on your whole movement, the rearing of the small children. So my question is, what is it that made you bring your movement into a culture and a religious ethos which is hostile to begin with, with most of your major assumptions?

Interview with Trans-India Magazine -- July 17, 1976, New York:

Interviewer: It seems to me that what you are saying is that you cannot have a religion, you cannot expect a religion to survive or prosper when the culture which is supposed to serve it is its opposite, is its antithesis. And that's why your movement, you are trying to suggest that the only way you can attain mokṣa, or liberation, or whatever, is through a particular kind of culture that you are propagating.

Prabhupāda: It is not..., it is the culture, it is the culture. Because you are suffering under material conditions and you are struggling for existence, that means you are struggling to get liberty. So this is the liberty. As it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). Mām upetya, find out this.

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

Prabhupāda: Very good philosophy. Eighteen years, you become bad.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: All their culture of goodness is wasted.

Rāmeśvara: Also there are these nightclubs, you have to be a certain age before you can go in.

Prabhupāda: "Afro-American Art." What is this?

Hṛdayānanda: I think it means art by American black persons.

Rāmeśvara: Afro-American means people with dark-skinned bodies, they have painted these paintings.

Conversation at House of Ksirodakasayi dasa -- July 25, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: You must be very serious, especially those who are Indians. They should take it very seriously. Because this Kṛṣṇa culture, Bhagavad-gītā, was spoken in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra in India, and we Indians, we do not take full advantage of this great transcendental knowledge, then you are committing suicide. So my request is, all the Indians who are here in this foreign country, keep your own original culture. Don't forget. Don't be bewildered. Be in your position. Try to under... It is very easy. Bhagavad-gītā is not at all difficult to understand, and we have tried to explain as easy as possible, not that we have deviated from the original verse, just like others do it. We do not do that; there is no need. That is another blunder.

Conversation with George Harrison -- July 26, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: In India, all different states they have got different alphabets, but the Sanskrit is the same. There is no change in Sanskrit. India's culture, all the provinces, they talk a little Sanskrit. If you chant this mantra according to the Sanskrit tune, oh, your admirers will take it very nicely. (laughter) And that will be a great benefit to the mass of people.

George Harrison: I don't know if they'd like it.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (laughs)

Room Conversation -- July 27, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: Just like George. What is his value? He's artist, that's all. From educational point of view, from things other view, he does not know anything. But he has got some money on account of his artistic play on it(?), and he's big man, that's all. Somehow or other get money, you become a big man. There is no question of culture or anything. That is stated in the Bhāgavata. The money will be the criterion—no family, culture, education. These things will not be taken into account. If you have got money, then you are big man. Never mind what you are. Therefore people are after money. Who is going to be brāhmaṇa? If you become a perfect brāhmaṇa, who will care for you? Nobody is interested to become a brāhmaṇa.

Room Conversation -- July 27, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: Anyway, but if you or somebody argues, "Where is Lenin? You are.... Why you are worshiping? You cannot see Lenin..." Because they say, "Where is your Kṛṣṇa? You are worshiping a statue," so we can say the same thing, "Where is your Lenin? The statue, it is?" In the airport station, street crossing and everywhere there is picture. And they go to worship Lenin's tomb every day. Many other fools also go there, tourists, that Red Square. They tried in India for Jawaharlal Nehru's tomb, for Gandhi's tomb. So in the beginning there was little crowd. Now nobody goes. But Vṛndāvana, Govindaji's temple, Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma temple? Without invitation-crowd. This is culture. (loud chanting begins in background)

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

Prabhupāda: And if you do it very carefully, then you'll never get disease. Take simple food, neat and clean, you'll not get disease. So everything depends on eating to keep the health proper. But these things can be simplified when the life is simple. If I go to work in office at this time, then so many things become topsy-turvied. But if you depend on yourself, either as a brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya, you haven't got to depend on others, then you can do timely. Now we have to go fifty miles at least to attend office. In your country at least, this is the system. They are coming from Long Island, Liberty Island. In New York I have seen. Three, four hours to go to work. And again three, four hours to come to home. And work there eight hours. Then what is value? He's shattered. He has no other solace than wine, and he has no other culture. No family, dog friend (laughter) and television idea, that's all. What his life? Every man has got a dog friend because he has no family. Men, women, and television, engagement, I have seen it, all this, in New York.

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

Prabhupāda: This meat-eating, chicken juice, tea, these things are unknown to India. No, why India? By nature, you say that you refused meat. Although you were born of a father and mother meat-eaters, still. What a horrible civilization they have made. He's human being born. Making him animal by culture. Instead of making him more cultured towards the spiritual life, making him redirected again to animal life. This is the civilization, Western civilization.

Hari-śauri: Yes, there's not much choice, not any choice.

Prabhupāda: These children are fortunate. Yesterday I was astonished how these children were receiving just like friend, laughing and something saying, you have seen it? As an old friend. Their mother pushes they would not come, but they were very glad to see me.

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.

Room Conversation -- August 3, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Yes. In our childhood, these tomatoes were called foreign eggplant, bilāti beguna. And because it was foreign, nobody will touch it. In our childhood we'd never eat the tomato. It was rejected by whole Indian Hindu culture.

Harikeśa: Tomatoes don't grow in India?

Prabhupāda: No. It was imported. Because it was imported they would not touch. The mill cloth, because they were imported, no gentleman will touch. No religious function would allow to use mill-made cloth. And so far medicine is concerned, they would never touch it. This is the difficulty... (indistinct) sent a confidential report that if you want to keep Indians as Indian you'll never be able to do like that. Then they will gradually introduce all this nonsense, drinking tea, drinking wine.

Room Conversation -- August 3, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Hari-śauri: Seems they're always carrying little snippets of information about what we're doing. Before there was a report about the restaurants, and here there's two reports about..., one about the Jagannātha festival in New York and one about the proposed Vedic university in Kurukṣetra. These were on consecutive days. The one about New York, it says, "Washington, July the 19th." That's where it's reported from. It says, "New York saw on Sunday an unusual spectacle of three brightly colored chariots being pulled along the city's prestigious Fifth Avenue from Central Park to Washington Square, a distance of about five kilometers, by members of the Hare Kṛṣṇa group. The rathas, built in Orissan style with giant wooden wheels, attracted large crowds of spectators all along the route. It was a novel experience for the New Yorkers. Many resident Indians who are not members of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement enthusiastically gave a hand in the pulling. The Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees were celebrating the feast of Jagannātha in the traditional Indian way. The police and the city administration readily cooperated. In a city that is coming to be known for its tolerance of diverse cultures, chariot processions promise to be an annual event. While a few citizens booed and some altercations were reported, the spectacle was well received by the New Yorkers. 'I think it is great,' the New York Times quoted a man as saying. The person, who identified himself as a visitor to New York and was not a Hare Kṛṣṇa fan, referring to the Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees, added, 'They are all happy and dancing, and that's what life's all about.' Later a vegetarian feast was served to the admirers."

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Room Conversation With French Commander -- August 3, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Yes. Anything grown in the garden, that is hundred times valuable than it is purchased from the market. (pause) Bhagavad-gītā is a book which can guide the whole human society. In all different branches of knowledge, namely in politics, in sociology, in religion, in culture, in philosophy, in economics, everything, all lines are described very vividly, and the human society can take advantage of it. The Bhagavad-gītā begins in the battlefield with politics. And when Arjuna declined to fight, how Kṛṣṇa chastised him, that is described, kutas tvā kaśmalam idaṁ viṣame samupasthitam. Find out this verse.

Room Conversation -- August 8, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: It is Āryan culture. Iranian means Āryan. It is a apabhraṁśa of Ārya, Iraya.(?) And they are called Parsis. Parsis still, those who fled away from this place, they are just like Hindus. They have got sacred thread. In India.

Parivrājakācārya: They keep a sacred fire.

Prabhupāda: Still there are there?

Parivrājakācārya: A few, a few temples here.

Prabhupāda: They are fire worshipers, Sūrya. (indistinct) Their marriage ceremony is just like Hindus. (to someone else) Namaskāra, Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Evening Conversation -- August 8, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: That was my policy from the very beginning, that if the Americans accept, then my mission will be successful. And that is being done gradually, and I am insisting that, preach in America vigorously. If America accepts, then whole world will accept. That's a fact. Anywhere, although America may be fallen, the ideal is American, everywhere. Because they have got money. Kali-yuga means money. If you have got money, then you have got culture, you have got education, you have got everything. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Formerly, they were attached, family, aristocracy, culture, education. Nowadays there is no such thing. Get money and you get everything. It is not? Somehow or other, if you have got control over money then you have got everything. Bring that black Bhāgavatam. What is that sound coming? There is goat?

Evening Conversation -- August 8, 1976, Tehran:

Atreya Ṛṣi: Śrīla Prabhupāda, this is Mr. Hamidi. He's a friend of mine at work, and he's very much interested in both Indian and Iranian spiritual life, in culture as it is. And this is Peter, he has been coming here on Fridays.

Prabhupāda: He's American?

Peter: English.

Atreya Ṛṣi: Yes. And he's come and taken prasādam and we talk to him sometimes.

Jñānagamya: He offers pūjā to Lord Buddha, he's worshiping Lord Buddha. He has an altar.

Prabhupāda: The other boy?

Evening Darsana -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Nandarāṇī: This, it takes them almost two hours to come from the city to here, so now they are coming here because on Janmāṣṭamī all thirty of them are putting on a play of Kṛṣṇa's birth from your Kṛṣṇa book. So starting Sunday until the 18th, every day I am bringing them here. I'm renting a minibus and getting them from city and bringing them here for play practice. Then on Janmāṣṭamī we are having four hundred guests from the Indian community, and the children are putting on this "Birth of Kṛṣṇa" play, and they learn to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and play the karatālas. These children are actually like American children; they have no touch with their culture. Most of them don't know Kṛṣṇa from anyone else. So now I've taught them, just like we had to teach American children. And they like it very much. So they are doing the plays...

Prabhupāda: The parents also like it.

Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: No, first of all you have to understand. So Kṛṣṇa is explained Himself, "I am this." Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). "There is no more superior authority than Me." We accept it. Why you accept another authority to understand Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa says mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). So there is no difficulty as it is. But we create difficulty. If somebody asks me, "Where is your nose?" if I say, "Here is my nose." And if I say, "No here," (laughter) then it is difficulty. If I say directly, "Here is my nose," then there will be no difficulty. But if I want to do like this, then it is difficulty. There is no difficulty. We have created difficulty. That is our folly. Therefore there is no result. That is the present position, that we have created difficulty in understanding Bhagavad-gītā and we Indians are now practically out of our own culture.

Evening Darsana -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: We held Hare Kṛṣṇa festivals in Calcutta, Bombay, Madras. As soon as it is advertised, you'll find fifteen thousand, twenty thousand men come. And if you hold for weeks, for weeks they will come. You have seen? They are not like Americans, rich. They are all poverty-stricken. To the general eyes they are poverty-stricken. Kumbhamelā you'll see, Hardwar, in Vṛndāvana. Or even in big, big cities like Calcutta, Bombay, such festivals are held, people will come by thousands. It is training, culture. And this boy is taking three times bath, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is training and culture. And if he is kept in this culture, in future he'll be great saintly person. Then he'll do everything automatically. He will deliver others. It is training.

Evening Darsana -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Why shall I make compromise? If we are presenting the right thing, why shall I make compromise with something wrong? (Hindi) Baliye(?). If we are confident that we are presenting the right thing, why shall I make compromise with the wrong thing? (Hindi) No, you are intelligent. You can say if I am saying something wrong. Our culture has been spoiled by interpreting wrongly Kṛṣṇa's words. Bhārata-bhūmi, puṇya-bhūmi... still, thousands and millions are there. If there is Kumbhamelā, millions of men are coming. Whenever we hold some Kṛṣṇa consciousness meeting, daily, twenty thousand, fifteen thousand, thirty thousand men come. The spirit is there. Unfortunately, that is being artificially depressed. But it cannot be done. The puṇya-bhūmi, bhārata-bhūmi, it will go on. But the unfortunate thing is that the clear thing is there and that is being misinterpreted and people are misled. That is the difficulty. (break) (Prabhupāda converses in Hindi with guest)

Arrival Conversation -- August 13, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Oh, I see. We are always traveling, they should give us some concession. Every time we get checked. Actually, the government should have given us the best facilities because I am distributing India's culture all over the world.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda!

Prabhupāda: Unfortunately, I am not receiving encouragement from the leaders and the authorities. This is India's glory. History will say. (prasāda arrives) Give it, yes, you can...

Hari-śauri: Pass it out.

Evening Darsana -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Kartikeya Mahadevia: Each item. In Ahmedabad there is a very religious person who was not becoming life member at all. Without seeing the balance sheet and this and that. And I told him, "What do you mean by balance sheet? Only money matters? If ten thousand foreigners are being converted and they are following this religion and this culture, everything, is it not part of the balance sheet? Only rupees and paisas you want to see, then that's a different matter. Here the people are chanting every day sixteen rounds, they have left so many bad vices, they are propagating all over the world." Then he immediately signed up. He has gone to... He might have met you in New York. Chandrakanti Ravaiwala. He was to come on 8th July in New York. He has gone to America to see his son there.

Prabhupāda: In America, in New York, they have got a very...

Press Interview at Muthilal Rao's House -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Human life means tattva-jijñāsā, inquiry about the Absolute Truth. That is now stopped. People are not interested, self-realization, tattva-jijñāsā. So this is an attempt to revive their spiritual consciousness, and it is authorized on the basis of Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without misinterpretation, and people are taking to it. So it is India's culture, and if we distribute this knowledge systematically, there are departments, cultural departments. So the things are there. If we cooperate, government and the public, then we can give to the whole world something which is very substantial. And there is no difficulty. The things are there, Bhagavad-gītā as it is, and this is our movement. Now if you have got any question.

Press Interview at Muthilal Rao's House -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad:

Interviewer (4): No, from the standpoint of this culture...

Prabhupāda: Standpoint is that I am trying to revive the Vedic culture, that's all. That is my business. I am not manufacturing anything.

Interviewer (4): No, but how do you explain the advance that Marxism has made in the world?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Hari-śauri: How do you explain the advance that Marxism has made?

Prabhupāda: There are so many "isms." If I go to criticize and study, it will take most of our time. Better positively present what you want. If you like you can take it, that's all. There are so many "isms." When we become animal, then we manufacture so many "isms."

Press Interview at Muthilal Rao's House -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad:

Interviewer (4): So is it correct from what that any culture...

Prabhupāda: It is correct because Kṛṣṇa says. Kṛṣṇa is infallible. We are not manufacturing anything, so it is correct because Kṛṣṇa says. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7), He is the supreme authority. But we have no faith in Kṛṣṇa, therefore we manufacture something other than Kṛṣṇa. That is our misfortune.

Interviewer (4): You mean to say that any system that doesn't subscribe to this movement has no future at all?

Prabhupāda: No.

Room Conversation About Blitz News Clipping -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: They are pleased with us. Otherwise, he would not have given.

Pradyumna: Their culture is dying in India. No one wants paṇḍitas anymore. But we are the only ones who are encouraging.

Prabhupāda: You must encourage.

Pradyumna: Other, all young men... Paṇḍitas... That book isn't here.

Prabhupāda: Teachings of Lord Caitanya?

Pradyumna: Oh, maybe. No. It must be in Ādi-līlā, first volume.

Prabhupāda: Ādi-līlā is not here.

Room Conversation with Endowments Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh -- August 22, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Because the culture is lost. Culture is lost.

Commissioner: Because we take the local people as trust board members. We appoint officers.

Prabhupāda: Therefore I said if you keep them dogs, what is the use of United Nations? You cannot make the dogs united. That is not possible.

Commissioner: Yes. Therefore recently in Tirupati we have been thinking of starting a training institute along with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

Prabhupāda: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, they have no idea.

Commissioner: They have no idea. Ramakrishna Mission we asked.

Prabhupāda: They have no idea.

Room Conversation -- August 24, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Not even you cannot see black, any black spots. Then it is clean. Otherwise not clean. If there's a single black spot, it is not clean. You can see from this poor class of men, how their utensils are cleansed. Before taking water the jug, the waterpot... You'll like to drink water. In our school days there were sweeper, they were a different quarter. So you like to sit down. So clean. The sweeper, cleansing the toilet, bangi. But when you come to his house, living quarter, oh, it is so clean. The bed, the room, the utensils. And they also will take twice, thrice bath, then they will eat. That is a Hindu culture. Even the sweeper class, lowest class. And I have seen one sweeper class who were in Allahabad, regularly worshiping Deity. Very nice worship.

Meeting with Endowments Commissioner -- August 24, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: When they combined together the lame man was taken by the blind man. So the lame man has got eyes, he was giving direction, "Go this way." So both their work was done. So I say that India is lame and America is blind. Let us combine together. Then we can give a great culture for the benefit of the whole human society. India has no money-lame. And they have got money but they have no knowledge. So let us combine together. This is logic. Andha-paṅgu-nyāya. So by this cooperation they have... When I was in India I published three parts of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with great difficulty. And now since I have gone there I am publishing every month a book. So on account of their cooperation we are able to publish so many books and organize the sale all over the world. But it is true that this culture is very much welcome all over the world. That is happening.

Morning Walk Conversation About Bombay -- August 29, 1976, Delhi:

Girirāja: In the Blitz in the bold type they quote the Endowments Minister that we owe a great debt of gratitude to Śrīla Prabhupāda for reminding us of the great treasure that we have in our own culture.

Prabhupāda: Then they've already owned (won) the case.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually, they don't know that you addressed the whole cabinet in that Endowment Minister's house. That Blitz doesn't know.

Girirāja: They mentioned that the Commissioner of Town Planning designed the temple. They mentioned that the Chief Minister came. They mentioned that we have a farm to help the poor people.

Prabhupāda: Oh, everything is there.

Meeting With Member of Parliament, Mr. Krishna Modi -- August 31, 1976, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Unless they are appreciating this culture, how they are accepting?

Krishna Modi: It is perfectly right. But they must do it like that.

Prabhupāda: Who will do. Do it... We can give you all information.

Krishna Modi: That I will speak each and every thing. I will give a speech about all these things in any way. I have got...

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: This one is later. Just came. This is a new sample copy that we have.

Krishna Modi: And what is your program, sir?

Prabhupāda: My program is chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and write books. That's all.

Evening Darsana -- September 1, 1976, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: One professor, Stillson Judah, he has written one book. After studying our movement five years he has written one, "Hare Kṛṣṇa and Counter-culture." "Hare Kṛṣṇa and Counter-culture." (Hindi)

Pradyumna: Doesn't have a copy here. It's published by Princeton University Press. In their religion... In their set of volumes on different religions.

Indian woman: Prasāda (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: I am going to Vṛndāvana tomorrow. (Hindi) I'll be three weeks there. (hindi) Still, it is Vṛndāvana. Ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa-tanayas tad-dhāma vṛndāvanam. (Hindi) As He is worshipable, similarly, Vṛndāvana dhāma is also worshipable.

Room Conversation -- September 5, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: ...they're reading now. Here, although we have got books, nobody reads. But there they are reading. But nobody is... (microphone moving) That means they are concentrating (indistinct) with so many books. There are other books also. Why they cannot sell so many books. Unless public is interested... If one has read one part of Bhāgavatam, he has got some impression, and actually that is the... (break) One young gentleman came, I do not know where. He simply asked me, "Swamiji, can I talk with you?" "Yes, sit down." His first appreciation was, "Swamiji, where you have got so vast knowledge?" I have already told some of you. So these people, these Americans and Europeans, they are intelligent. They are seeing that here are some ideas which is not to be found throughout the whole world. Therefore they are purchasing. Actually, it is right here. Every verse, every śloka is so sublime, and if it is properly explained people must appreciate. There is no doubt about it. And they are doing that. In our country, due to the loss of our own culture and poverty, we have now taken, "Money is everything." Wherefrom you are coming?

Room Conversation -- September 9, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: It is a question of culture. Culture. She was king's daughter, royal, and married her with a muni, old, rotten. Older than me. All the skin has become slackened. But still she was serving him just like worshipable lord. The age difference is great-grandfather and great-granddaughter. You'll find in Bhāgavatam. Lord Śiva, he could not construct even a house. He was living underneath a tree. And his wife, Durgā, sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā (Bs. 5.44). She can create a new world, so powerful, Durgā. She's living with her husband underneath a tree. Never claims, "My dear husband, if you cannot, I can make one." There is a story about that. That, "People criticize us.

Room Conversation -- September 16, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That was their policy. Because there was one Britisher politician, Lord McCauley. His report was, he studied the whole Indian situation. They were very expert politicians. He reported that "If you keep Indians as Indians, you'll never be able to rule over them. They must be trained up in such a way that they would think their own culture as useless; this Western culture is very good. That impression must be there. Otherwise, you cannot rule over them." So the education and everything was going on very silently on this principle.

Haṁsadūta: Imperceptibly they introduced this.

Press Interview -- October 16, 1976, Chandigarh:

Prabhupāda: India's culture and knowledge are richer than any other culture. And that is being accepted. Yes. Real knowledge, real culture is in India. Unfortunately, we did not try in that way. We simply went to the foreign countries to beg, "Give us wheat, give us this, give us this, give us that." But if we give our culture, they will accept that India is still richer than any other. You can bring some of the press items, professor, learned scholars' opinions. Aiye. (pause) Where is Caitya-guru?

Haṁsadūta: He's out. (long pause)

Prabhupāda: Opinions of the big scholars.

Press Interview -- October 16, 1976, Chandigarh:

Prabhupāda: So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is purely a spiritual movement. Therefore sometimes it is little difficult to understand the activities of this movement. There are two things, material and spiritual. That is the beginning of instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa begins with this statement: that this body is not the person, the soul is the person. Asmin dehe. Within this body there is the soul. And he has explained in different ways that this body is antavanta ime dehā (BG 2.18). This body is perishable, but the soul is not perishable. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), that even after the destruction of the body the soul is not destroyed. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. The soul never takes birth, never dies. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yam na hanyate hanyamāne (BG 2.20). There are so many things explained, what is the soul. So without the soul, this body is useless. That everyone can understand. Therefore the importance should be given to the soul, not to the body. Kṛṣṇa says that anyone who is paṇḍita, in knowledge, he does not give any importance to the body, either living or dead. So the India's particular culture is how to elevate the soul to the highest platform of perfection. That is India's culture.

Press Interview -- October 16, 1976, Chandigarh:

Prabhupāda: I think so. Because there is a cultural department in the central government but they do not know what is culture. Just see.

Interviewer: What is the difference between God consciousness and Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Prabhupāda: There is no difference. The same thing. Kṛṣṇa is God. (break)

Interviewer: What is, sir, the number of your disciples round the world?

Prabhupāda: Dedicated life—not less than ten thousand. And admirers, there are many millions. Recently one American politician has remarked in Houston, that "This Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is spreading like epidemic. So unless we take some steps it may take our government."

Room Conversation -- October 31, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Still.

Haṁsadūta: They're still faithful to culture.

Hari-śauri: Unless we get the farm, this farming scheme set up within the next...

Prabhupāda: We are getting so many.

Hari-śauri: We're getting the farms but we haven't got the management so...

Prabhupāda: Management that is in your hands. You have to... Who will give you management? You have to manage local, local men. Bon Mahārāja was failure that he could not get the local men. But I did not try to bring men from India and preach in England or America.

Room Conversation on New York court case -- November 2, 1976, Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that I have already suggested, that they should take signature from all Indians that this is genuine Indian cultural movement and it a great fortune for Indians. They were bereft of their own culture and now we have got this culture again. The Ratha-yātrā is going on, we are so much enlivened. In this way they should file petition.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Just like in England they would not let you do the Ratha-yātrā, the Indians...

Prabhupāda: Ah. This is discrimination against sect...

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Against minority.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Against minority.

Room Conversation on New York court case -- November 2, 1976, Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: The Indians should send a petition to the government that "We want this movement here. We are separated from our culture. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami has brought this..."

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They say mobilising the Indians in America...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: ...and that's the most important thing.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is a most important thing. That you cannot discriminate minority communities. That is against American constitution.

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. The child goes to the school. His brain is packed up: "I shall play all day." He likes to play but it is indoctrinization that "No, you should read. You must become graduate."

Hari-śauri: Yes. And whatever country he's born in, he has to learn the culture of that country, he's indoctrinated.

Prabhupāda: Apart from that, education is required. The child wants to play but we have to educate him that "No, play is not all. You have to be educated." Similarly, this animal life, eating, sleeping, mating, this is already there. No. We say, "Not only this, you have to realize God." This kind of brainwash is required. If we do not understand God, then what is the difference between you and dog? He knows how to eat, how to sleep. He doesn't require any high education how to eat. Everyone knows how to eat, how to use sex.

Evening Darsana -- December 3, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Yes, I know these rascals. Therefore the country's position is the Godless India. They lost their culture.

Vāsughoṣa: They had big propaganda that Sai Baba is God also. He was saying in the... These professors challenged him, so he said, "How can an ant try and understand an ocean?" He made that statement, that the Professor at Bangalore University, Vice Chancellor said that, you know, so many... (break)

Prabhupāda: Does that mean we have to accept him? That does not mean we accept. (break) ...one is against this movement because we are presenting Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme. (break)

Morning Walk -- December 25, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Their one qualification is that they are not poverty stricken. And our boys, they are poverty stricken. So daridra-doṣa guṇa-rāśi-nāśī.(?) Even though are educated, on account of poverty they sacrificed everything their culture, their knowledge. Daridra-doṣa guṇa-rāśi-nāśī.

Guest (1): Yes, hunger is the cause of all. (Sanskrit)

Prabhupāda: I chastise them only because they don't care for money. (laughter)

Guest (1): They are extreme. It is contradiction...

Prabhupāda: And because they are fortunate, wherever they go, they get money.

Room Conversation with Mr. Tombe (M.L.A.) -- December 25, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So Indians, they can make their life perfect by following this Vedic literature, and they can lead the whole world. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's. First of all you become perfect by taking lessons from the Vedic literature. And then you do good to others. But without making yourself perfect, if you try to do good to others, that is chaos. Then again comes, andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31). Some blind men following another blind man. What will be the result? The present Indians, we have lost our own culture. We have rejected our own culture. Still we are leading people. There is chaotic condition. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to correct this mistake. So leaders like you should cooperate.

Morning Walk -- December 29, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, not somebody. Everybody says. Not some. Everyone knows. It is common practice. Delicacy.

Dr. Patel: The idea is so abominable to our culture.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) Sewers activity's all abominable.

Dr. Patel: But this idea of eating a fetus is extremely abominable. You can't think of it. I mean a baby having developed, we can't imagine.

Prabhupāda: But you must know it. (Hindi)

Dr. Patel: ...makes the way Western civilized people kill, we simply shudder at the very idea. Others, they're not able to, I mean, bear the sight of meat.

Prabhupāda: Our men, those who are not educated, they are better than the... That people may call superstition, but if they are going by the old superstition they would have... I have seen in, sometimes in 1945 or '46, in a train one village girl was sitting and covering.

Press Interview -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Indian men refuse this culture. India's leader, beginning from Gandhi and all, they do not know what is India's culture. They have forgotten.

Indian man: Would you like to include Gandhi also in that?

Prabhupāda: Oh yes. Otherwise, how it can be? Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31).

Indian man: But he was the one who also preached Gītā.

Prabhupāda: But he did not know Gītā. Actually. Recently I have been in his āśrama. They are maintaining the chattai (?) and the lantern in memory. What is that? If Mahatma Gandhi understood Gītā, he should have introduced that āśrama in Gītā. Where is that? The chattai (?) food arrangement is there.

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, I know. Cakravarty. So (indistinct), I say that amongst the whole lot he was a sane man. Raj Gopalacharya. Because by culture he's a Vaiṣṇava. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...agreement with Jawaharlal Nehru.

Dr. Patel: He never was in agreement.

Prabhupāda: Not a single item. He therefore resigned. He wanted to form his own party.

Hari-śauri: Who's that, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Raj Gopalacharya.

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, Bengal... They maintained the culture. But therefore I say that Vivekananda broke that Bengali culture.

Dr. Patel: Bengali culture is fish-eating. Even brāhmaṇas eating.

Prabhupāda: No. They are eating fish only. Because Bengal is full of rivers. But not for all. Mass of people, that's a fact. But he introduced, "You can eat anything. It has nothing to do with religion." In Bengal in our childhood we have seen if anyone was habituated to take meat... Common man would not. Rich man. The rich men they have their sahis. Sahis you know, who takes care of the horse. So he would cook in the horse shed.

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. We make that arrangement. And what Vivekananda said, that it is better to water eggplant tree. Why tulasī plant? What you will get? Eggplant tree means you'll get some eggplant, begun. (Hindi) This is his culture. Make your body strong and stout by eating meat, and there is nothing to do with the...

Dr. Patel: The result will be the same as Gandhi's (indistinct). This slaughterhouse, so abominable and so horrible. When I first came to Bombay from my village and I had to pass through that railway, that nasty butcher house. It was so horrible smelling and those vultures sitting on the... I became spite of myself. When I came in Bombay. I had to join the grammatical college here.

Prabhupāda: You were... Two thousand years ago, Christ, he was born in Jewish family, he was horrified by seeing animal sacrifices in the synagogue. Therefore his first commandment is, "Thou shall not kill." He was so horrified. Why he has given this commandment? He was so much horrified. What is this? Therefore he gave up the Jewish religion. He started his own. This is the history. And he first commanded, "Thou shall not kill."