Go to Vanipedia | Go to Vanisource | Go to Vanimedia


Vaniquotes - the compiled essence of Vedic knowledge


Debt (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Questions and Answers -- September 6, 1968, New York:

Prabhupāda: The difference is that in Vṛndāvana they are pure devotees. They knew that "Oh, this is not a miracle for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa can do anything and everything." So they were not surprised. If I lift one mountain, you will be surprised because you know that "Swamiji is man. How he is lifting?" But they know that Kṛṣṇa is all-powerful. So there was no surprise. It is just like natural work. They were so much affectionate to Kṛṣṇa that... He was not only lifting. Every day He was doing so much great performances, and His boyfriends, they would come home, and they would narrate the story to their mothers, "Oh, mother, today Kṛṣṇa performed like this. There was a great demon, and He killed him immediately." And the mother will say, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa did that? He is very nice boy, very nice." (laughter) Because they were so affectionate to Kṛṣṇa, they always think, "Everything is possible for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is so nice. Kṛṣṇa is so great." That is their idea. So (indistinct) that is not miracle. That is ordinary thing for Him. Just like Yaśodā. Kṛṣṇa's friends complained, "Mother Yaśodā, Kṛṣṇa has eaten earth. You gave Him sweetmeat, but He was not eating sweetmeat." You know. The boys, they complain each other and again make friends. So Yaśodā was..., "Oh, Kṛṣṇa, I gave You sweetmeats. You are eating earth?" "No, mother. I have not eaten. They are telling false." And they were still, "Yes. We have seen, mother, He has eaten." Then mother asked Him, "Oh, show Your face. Open Your mouth. I want to see." So He opened His mouth, and she saw all the universe within His mouth, not only earth, the whole planets, sun and moon, and everything, within His mouth. Then she thought, "Oh, what I have seen? All right. Don't do it." That's all. (laughter) She is not at all surprised. She thought that "I saw something. Maybe I wrong or right. All right. Don't do it." That's all. So they were so much affectionate to Kṛṣṇa that Kṛṣṇa's this jugglery could not enchant them. (chuckles) You see? Therefore Kṛṣṇa said to the gopīs that "Your love is so pure that it is not possible for Me to repay." Kṛṣṇa is declaring insolvent to pay their debt.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- August 17, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: That's all. How He is doing that, it is very difficult to know. (pause) Jñāne prayāsam udapasya namanta eva san-mukharitaṁ bhavadīya-vārtāṁ jīvanti. (break) ...in temple you'll have to sleep. Yes. So also keep it in mind that unless there are four, five devotees experienced, we should not center, open a center. Because alone he becomes polluted. Without any association, he thinks otherwise and becomes fallen down. That which has happened to Kṛṣṇa dāsa. When he was alone, he could not manage. There was debts and he became disgusted. You see.

Haṁsadūta: What about, Prabhupāda, in Germany, I have, like for instance, in Munchen, in Munich...

Prabhupāda: At least, must be two, three men; otherwise don't open.

Haṁsadūta: Yes, there are two, three men, but I visit them regularly.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 17, 1973, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Yes. So in this way my connection became developed with Gauḍīya Maṭha. Then, gradually the process began, hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ. (chuckles) I wanted to become very big businessman and there was good opportunity. I was very nicely associated with the chemical industry of India. Dr. Bose's laboratory, Bengal Chemical, V.K. Farr (?), and all of them, they liked my business organization. Then I started big laboratory in Lucknow. So that was golden days, but gradually everything becomes (indistinct). And at last, my Allahabad business was lost. It was not lost on account of some, my debts, I had to hand it over to Dr. Kartik Chandra Bose because I was his agent. So I had some debts, so I tell the, "All right, you take this business." In this way, that Prayāg Pharmacy was lost. So I was not going to, I was sitting at home, but this Jājābara Mahārāja, at that time Sarvesva (?) brahmacārī and Atulananda brahmacārī, they used to come to take their subscription, and they were requesting that "Why don't you come to our maṭha? Why don't you come to our maṭha? You are now free." So, I used to visit their temple. That was not far away from my house...

Morning Walk -- April 26, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: This morning.

Prabhupāda: Bigger or smaller, it is always dangerous. Big fire or small fire, fire is fire. It will burn. That's all. In a... Cāṇakya Paṇḍita has given this example: this fire, debt and disease. Never think big or small. They are always dangerous.

Brahmānanda: Fire...?

Prabhupāda: Fire, disease and debt. How he instructed us. If you take loan from somewhere, interest compounded, one day it will become so big, unmanageable by you. Similarly fire may be very, a spark, but gradually it will so increase, oh, blazing fire. Disease also. Now there is little pain. Now, if it increases, it becomes tuberculosis. So therefore he has said: Never neglect these things: fire, or smaller or higher." They're always dangerous. (pause) There is a, in India, there is a proverb, hīrā and khīrā. Hīrā means diamond and khīrā means cucumber. It has no value, a few cents. And diamond is very valuable. But if some, somebody steals khīrā, he's also criminal, and one steals hīrā, he's also criminal. The punishment is equal. If he says: "I have stolen one khīrā. What is the value of it?" But by law, he's criminal. Never mind. (pause) (break) ...that he'll be happy in that way.

Morning Walk -- April 27, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: "New foods." food.

Prabhupāda: New foods? Why don't you find out new debt. Why it is old? Find out some new debt.

Brahmānanda: Some new sex.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Brahmānanda: New sex.

Prabhupāda: Yes. The same old sex. Either in the naked club or at home, the thing is the same.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They call it "new" because they never tasted before.

Room Conversation with Indian Guests -- July 11, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: No, you can come any time.

Guest (7): Now it's 73 or 72 days so I'm counting the days.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi for few sentences) Or debts. He thinks, "Oh, this is small debt." No, sometimes it becomes compound interest, big amount. So therefore Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that these three things must be finished by the root: agni and vyādhi and ṛṇa. We should not neglect.

Guest (7): What is that? Agni...?

Prabhupāda: Agni, vyādhi, disease. And ṛṇa, debts. You should not neglect it. You should finish it.

Guest (8): Before it's increased more.

Revatīnandana: Fire? Fire, disease and debts.

Prabhupāda: Debts. One should not neglect.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 1, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That is stated that pitṛṇām. No, what is that verse? Devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛnam-pitṛṇām (SB 11.5.41). We are... Just like we are indebted to our forefathers, family, similarly we are indebted to devas, the demigods. Just like the sun is supplying light. So we are indebted. Deva, ṛṣi, to the great, big, big, saintly ṛṣis. They have given us the śāstras. Devarṣi, devarṣi bhūtā... Bhūtā, ordinary living entities. Just like you are taking milk from the cows. And another, horse, is giving me service. So devarṣi-bhūtā apta, relatives. We take so much help from relatives. Devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛnam, ordinary human beings. Pitṛṇām. And the pitṛs. So we are debted to so many. If you want to clear up the debts, it will take millions of births. (laughter) So devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛnam-pitṛṇāṁ nayaṁ kiṅkara na ṛni ca rājan (SB 11.5.41). This man is neither servant nor indebted. Who? Sarvātmanā yaḥ śaraṇaṁ mukundam. One who has taken... That Kṛṣṇa says, that "You just surrender unto Me. I will protect you." So if he does not do anything else... One may think that he is being entangled in sinful activities because he does not do other duties. But Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi (BG 18.66). So one who has taken shelter, full shelter unto Kṛṣṇa, he doesn't require to do any so-called social, political and other duties. He doesn't require.

Room Conversation -- June 28, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Now, day after tomorrow, it will be past. (laughter) So if you are talking of future, but where is the history... In the history the future is past. This is common sense. So therefore they have discovered this nonsense ad infinitum that future will never come. And still, they will set aside the business to some future and take the credit. Yes. "In future we shall be able to do it." And that future will never come. And still, they will take the credit. (laughter) Just see. Therefore mūḍha. This is the explanation of mūḍha. It is just like somebody offered you a post-dated check, and then he wants to clear his debt. Suppose I am debtor by hundreds of dollars to you. I give you a post-dated check, and still I say, "Now I am clear of your debt." And that post-dated check will never be paid. This is their theory. Na māṁ prapadyante mūḍhāḥ duṣkṛtino narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). (pause) The government has recognized us as bona fide religious sect.

Morning Walk at Marine del Rey -- July 13, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Theft charges. He's, he stolen money, and he has stolen something in Bombay also.

Jayatīrtha: Prabhupāda, they still have so many debts from last year.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Jayatīrtha: They still owe money for last year's festival, so many thousands.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is... And even somehow or other, he goes out, then he should not be allowed strictly either in our, this temple or that temple.

Brahmānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Let him go to hell.

Brahmānanda: Actually, he was planning to see Revatīnandana Swami.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with the GBC -- March 27, 1975, Mayapur:

Jayatīrtha: O.K. (Reading) "To insure that the highest standards, including spiritual temple worship, saṅkīrtana propaganda, recruitment of new devotees and life members, financial management and repayment of all debts are being adhered to."

Prabhupāda: Why debts? Debts should be avoided. Not payment, but one should not make debt.

Jayatīrtha: But that... All temples... All the temples are in debt.

Prabhupāda: Why? That's not... Debts are very wrong. (?)

Jayatīrtha: Either they owe BBT money or they owe bank money.

Prabhupāda: That is not good. Debts should be... No debts. If any temple wants to make debt, it must be sanctioned by the GBC committee.

Jayatīrtha: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Make it clear.

Conversation with the GBC -- March 27, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Not that he whimsically, the president, and put the Society into debts, unless it is sanctioned.

Jayatīrtha: That's included in here, more or, more or less.

Prabhupāda: Make it clear: "They cannot create any debt."

Jayatīrtha: Just like to come to this festival has put everyone in debt.

Prabhupāda: That is risky. That is risky.

Rūpānuga: Be very specific about it.

Jayatīrtha: Right. The next point is to insure...

Atreya Ṛṣi: Let me just make sure this is understood. Any, any debts that any temple has, is going to make, has to be approved by the GBC representative.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: When you say debt, do you mean a loan?

Conversation with the GBC -- March 27, 1975, Mayapur:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Ah.

Atreya Ṛṣi: But...

Prabhupāda: Loan is also debt.

Atreya Ṛṣi: Yes. But if they are buying BBT books, if... On the books it may seem debt, but in fact he should know that he's going to pay for it in the very near fu... That you do not consider need approval, do you, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Jayatīrtha: The books are sold on consignment.

Prabhupāda: No, and that is all right. That is all right.

Jayatīrtha: If they fall behind, then it becomes a debt.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's different. Thirty days pay...

Atreya Ṛṣi: In other words, as long as he meets the terms, it's not a debt. It's not a loan.

Prabhupāda: That's it.

Conversation with the GBC -- March 27, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: That's it.

Atreya Ṛṣi: As soon as it goes over the term, it's unapproved.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then a loan where you're paying on time, is that considered a debt?

Atreya Ṛṣi: Yes. That's a loan. That has to be approved. That has to be, as much as possible, avoided. In other words, everything you're doing, more or less, on cash basis.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Atreya Ṛṣi: You don't depend on tomorrow.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayatīrtha: Otherwise, sometimes a president may leave, leaving so many debts, so many loans, so many this, so many that.

Conversation with the GBC -- March 27, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: As soon as there is collection, I paid him: "And you go on printing these books." This should be the policy.

Atreya Ṛṣi: This is very important that we understand. This is not common in the karmī world, that Śrīla Prabhupāda does not like credit or playing with money and saving it or something... You have a debt; you pay it; you don't create debt. Everything is just very honest and very flowing. This I have to learn myself because this is not the way the business world is, although I do a lot of business. And we all have to see that this policy is followed.

Prabhupāda: This complaint from the members is not at all good. If somebody becomes envious, he can file a suit that "These men have collected money from me, eh, but not supplied books."

Jayatīrtha: They sign a document we also sign.

Conversation with the GBC -- March 27, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: And if you can pay, it is all right. If there is deficit, BBT will pay. You don't bother.

Atreya Ṛṣi: Yes. But in this Gurukula project, Śrīla Prabhupāda, temples are having difficulty in paying their debts to BBT already. I don't think they will respond, respond. On one hand, BBT, Ramesvara Prabhu is recommending that we reduce the cost of books, and on the other hand, it's being recommended that the tax for Gurukula be collected.

Prabhupāda: No, no, cost of book... Cost of books?

Atreya Ṛṣi: Not cost. Price of books.

Jayatīrtha: Yes, price of...

Prabhupāda: Cost of selling price.

Conversation with the GBC -- March 27, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I'm a sannyāsī with a travelling preaching party. So I have no... Because I am personally seeing to the money, tbere's no debt on that party. Is that all right?

Prabhupāda: That you decide amongst the GBC. (laughter) Best thing is that don't keep money.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, I have no money in my name.

Prabhupāda: Anyway, you don't... You spend the necessary expenditure, and balance money, you give whatever you like.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, yeah. We're doing... I meant to say...

Atreya Ṛṣi: Śrīla Prabhupāda is...

Morning Walk -- July 1, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: Oh. (break) ...Dakṣa accused Nārada that "My sons were not out of the three kinds of debts." One debt is debtor to the saintly sages. Just like we are reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we are indebted to Vyāsadeva. He has given such literature, and we are taking advantage of it. As such, especially the brāhmaṇas, they have got indebtedness to big sages and saintly person. They receive knowledge from them. And they are indebtor to the demigods. Therefore they have to perform yajñas. And they are indebtor to their father because the father has brought them to this world. So in this way, especially a brāhmaṇa is indebted to demigods, the past sages, and the father. So the indebtedness to the sages is performed by becoming brahmacārī, and to the demigods by offering sacrifices, and to the father by begetting children, to continue the progeny. So Nārada Muni was accused that "You keep them indebted to these principles, so how they can be liberated? Simply by dressing like you, (laughs) a mendicant?" Accusing. But perhaps he did not know.

Morning Walk -- July 1, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: Anyone who has fully surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, he is no more debtor to anyone. And Kṛṣṇa says that "You surrender to Me, and I shall keep you protected from all kinds of..." Because if you don't repay your debts, then you become sinful. But Kṛṣṇa says, "I shall protect for all kinds of sin." So if anyone has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, he is no more debtor to anyone. He is immune from all obligation. His only obligation is to Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...has eaten up this?

Brahmānanda: This tree? (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes when we're reading Bhāgavatam about the prajāpatis... They are such exalted persons.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. They are no ordinary person.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yet sometimes they behave in such a way that is...

Prabhupāda: That is... After all, they are living entity, conditioned. They are also conditioned. They are not liberated.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They're not pure devotees.

Prabhupāda: No. They want enjoyment, material.

Morning Walk -- August 12, 1975, Paris:

Prabhupāda: People also thought, "Yes." He never said, "Nixon needs money." (laughter) This is cheating. He needs some money; he said, "America needs Nixon." And the rascals were befooled. (break) All these politicians do like that. What is their responsibility?

Brahmānanda: Now Nixon is in debt. He is now in debt.

Prabhupāda: Debt? Why?

Brahmānanda: For his legal fees. He owes 300,000 dollars. So one rabbi...

Prabhupāda: So he cannot give 300,000 dollars?

Brahmānanda: No, he has no money. He had to pay taxes.

Prabhupāda: So we are paying 300,000. So we are better than him. (break) ...rabbi is a Jew?

Morning Walk -- August 26, 1975, Vrndavana:

Guṇārṇava: So I wrote to him and he said that it is going for paying contracts.

Prabhupāda: Contract, why don't you pay the contract? Liquidate all debts?

Guṇārṇava: Mr. Lahiri and Saurab are checking the bills. He said that you wanted it checked three or four times.

Prabhupāda: Who? Oh.

Guṇārṇava: So that they have all the bills and contracts in...

Prabhupāda: Who is checking?

Guṇārṇava: Bombay... Saurab and Mr. Lahiri together. He is coming this week.

Prabhupāda: Bill is paid. Now it is checking. And before paying the bill there was not check. This is going on. After payment, checking is going on.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Final payments have not been made.

Prabhupāda: So that will never be made, because you will never finish your business. That is the difficulty.

Morning Walk -- October 5, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: Suppose when your, this shirt is torn, you have to purchase one shirt. Now, that shirt you have to purchase according to your price. If you have good price, then you get a good shirt. If you have no money, then you get a bad shirt. That's all.

Indian man (4): I wanted to say this, Swamijī, that hell also is situated in this world itself, because where do you think that we can pay our debt?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Indian man (4): The sin, the debt of our sin. Where do you think that we pay it? In the hell, which is not...

Prabhupāda: Hell is the place for your punishment.

Indian man (4): Therefore it is on the earth itself.

Prabhupāda: Why earth?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

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. Please take it." And he says, "No, I don't find in my account that your father took five thousand. I cannot take it." And now they are cheating. This is India's position. Even in our childhood I have see that Mr. C. R. Das, his father died insolvent some lakhs of rupees. So when he became a big barrister he called every one of them that "My father died insolvent. Now I have got money. You take it." This was India. And now they have become cheaters. This is svarāj, independence. Even in British times there was C. R. Das who liquidated the debts of his insolvent father. "My father died insolvent. He could not pay, so he declared insolvency in the court. Now I have got money. You take it." This was India.

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

Prabhupāda: Huh? Yes. Therefore ṛṇa-kartā pitā śatruḥ. A father dies insolvent, debtor; he is enemy because the son has to pay according to Manu-saṁhitā law. Because he inherits father's money, why he shall not pay if the father is debtor?

Jayapatākā: He also inherits the debt.

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is India's law. You cannot simply inherit father's property and no debt. You inherit father's debt also. So a father dies debted, indebtor—he is supposed to be enemy because the son has to pay. Ṛṇa-kartā pitā śatrur mātā śatrur dvicaraṇi.(?)And mother, if she marries for the second time in spite of presence of children, she is enemy. And in Western countries it is very common affair.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Divorce and remarry.

Room Conversation -- May 4, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: The loan will be clear very soon.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes. They have a.... They are very expert at financing now, these, the men who are in charge now. They're claiming that within two or three months all of the debt will be completely cleared. They have a plan, very easy.

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) He is the right person.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. And the restaurant is very successful. Also they have not advertised that, but every day about fifty people come for the lunch, and at least another seventy, eighty people come in the evening for dinner. For a full meal each person pays an average about $2.50.

Prabhupāda: That's cheap.

Morning Walk -- June 13, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: (indistinct).

Dhṛṣṭadyumna: I've been visiting your buses, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and managing the book distribution with the buses. It's going very nicely. Ever since Māyāpur all the boys have doubled their collection and distribution. And as soon as all the debts from New York temple are paid, then more and more books can go. We'll try to do everything. (break) The men are just like the army. The van leaders, bus leaders. So everything is very efficient, clean, and very high-powered. (break) ...just two years ago, when we left India, that you wanted an army of sannyāsīs and brahmacārīs always traveling, distributing books.

Prabhupāda: (looking at plaque) Commissioners?

Room Conversation with Mother and Sons -- June 13, 1976, Detroit:

Guest: Oh, yes. I feel that I am personally in debt to him as well as being in debt to you at this point in my life.

Prabhupāda: He's a good boy.

Mādhavānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda? There are many, many guests coming, Indian people coming. We have not seen so many coming for a long time, and I think it is because they know you are here. (break)

Prabhupāda: One or two words, that is enough. Godless civilization. Everything, there is proof, there is father, the supreme father. And still they do not believe in God. He says ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā, "I am the seed-giving father." We have got experience that father gives the seed in the womb of the mother and then the child takes body from the mother and comes out. Everyone knows.

Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Duṣṭā bhāryā. If wife is polluted, duṣṭā bhāryā, and śaṭhaṁ mitram, and friend is a hypocrite.... Duṣṭa bhāryā ṣaṭhaṁ mitram. What is that? Bhṛtyaś cottara-dāyakaḥ, and servant does not obey, gives answer or, yes, if your master asks, "Give me this," if he says, "Why are you asking?" Such kind of bhṛtya, servant, and polluted wife and hypocrite friend, three, and a snake within the bedroom.... (break) Family means father, mother, wife, children. Generally this is family. So family members are supposed to be all friendly, in one accord, so that family life is peaceful. But sometimes the family members become enemies. So how they become enemies? That is given by Cāṇakya Paṇḍita: mātā śatruḥ, ṛṇa-kartā pitā śatruḥ. Father is enemy if he's a debtor, he dies a debtor. According to Vedic law, because the son inherits the property of father, he's responsible also for the debts of the father, by law. A father dies debtor, so the creditor can claim from his son. So therefore ṛṇa-kartā pitā śatruḥ. A father who dies a debtor, he's enemy. Mātā śatrur dvicāriṇī.

Garden Discussion on Bhagavad-gita Sixteenth Chapter -- June 26, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Dhṛṣṭadyumna: You said your Guru Mahārāja used to keep the temples in debt all the time.

Prabhupāda: Mm. (pause) So you don't require covering? This girl? This cloth is sufficient? What you think? Why you have no covering? Mm? You do not require cloth?

Kulādri: It is warm for us Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: No, if they require, there must be supply. You must ask them what they need and provide them because they do not say you'll also keep silent. That's not good. Every month they must be asked what they need. Necessities, they must be supplied. We have already discussed this point, the women, they require protection, children, women. All right, you can...

Morning Walk -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Rāmeśvara: The city of New York is the most mismanaged city in the United States. The city government has a big debt. They borrow money from the banks and they cannot pay it back. So they..., the banks were closing the debt, the loans, calling for the loan, and they had no money, so they were firing everyone and there was great unemployment, and finally the United States government had to give them a free gift of money to bail them out. It is the worst management of any city in America. One of the big reasons is because of welfare. They give away free money to so many people in New York who don't want to work.

Prabhupāda: Yes, welfare is actually waste of money. But social construction is so bad they have to give welfare. If they take our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, we can stop this welfare money, let them pay.

Morning Walk -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Rāmeśvara: They don't know how to engage them, so they just give them free money. Also famous for its labor unions, the most powerful in America. They force the city to pay the highest wages for the garbage men, for school teachers, the highest anywhere in the country. So that's another reason they are in debt so much. (out of car, walking)

Ādi-keśava: Śrīla Prabhupāda, there's one of our posters for our Ratha-yātrā.

Prabhupāda: Yes. What they are doing here(?).

Rāmeśvara: The highest paid garbage men in America.

Prabhupāda: Still it is unclean. This is subway.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think it's a little quieter(?) from now on, Prabhupāda. This is the Plaza Hotel.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

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

Rāmeśvara: They get special contracts, concession rates, and they are able to get their men appointed to important government positions. Also, in the national government, the government of the United States has to always borrow money from banks. There is something called National Debt. Hundreds of billions of dollars they owe the banks, the United States government, to support all their different programs.

Prabhupāda: National Debt.

Rāmeśvara: National Debt. So then the banks are able to use their power to get favors. "Oh, you want to borrow money? Then you must give me some favor." It's common knowledge.

Hari-śauri: Everyone's trying to blackmail everyone else.

Rāmeśvara: Some people say that there is a worldwide conspiracy of bankers, that they can control any government. They can cause a depression. They say that the bankers caused the depression in the 1920s, 1930s, just to increase their power.

Room Conversation -- July 31, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Yes, I offered him the post of editing.

Bhūgarbha: Now he's sorry. Now he's simply sitting in debt(?).

Prabhupāda: But he did not say no. He wanted to do conveniently. Then I thought, it will not be... (coughs). "When he will return, he'll do it." That is not possible.

Bhūgarbha: He gave me some of his books that he wrote, he gave me some to read. And actually the English in your books is much better than his books, so better he's not editing. It's coming out better.

Prabhupāda: No, he's not a good English scholar.

Bhūgarbha: Actually, he speaks perfect French also. And he got his Ph.D. from the University of Paris.

Prabhupāda: Paris or Dutch as well.

Evening Darsana (on night of arrival) -- August 16, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Communists are seeing this movement as a great danger.

Indian man (3): Yes, great danger for their...

Prabhupāda: And we are spreading God consciousness. (break) By the grace of Kṛṣṇa, we have no debts. We are (indistinct) simply find out... (?) Now in Bombay I am getting from my Book Fund seven lakhs of rupees per month regularly.

Indian man (3): Yes, ten lakhs per month is coming. Otherwise that work will not progress.

Prabhupāda: We have given them three lakhs of rupees. What is that?

Mahāṁśa: This is the newspaper article which came in Hindu, the Hindu paper, about the government asking something about us.

Indian man (1): Communist party.

Room Conversation About Mayapura Construction -- August 19, 1976, Hyderabad:

Jayapatākā: Rāmeśvara, you wrote him a letter that "Jayapatākā Swami should be sent money for ISKCON Food Relief." And he told me that "I am sending you. I have four thousand dollars, "which he sent. We had already been 36,000 rupees in debt because we had not received money for six months. But he wrote in a newsletter to the temples that "Prabhupāda has wrote me to send money to Jayapatākā Swami; and now we're going to start again ISKCON Food Relief." But that was making it appear that we had stopped. But actually we had never stopped.

Prabhupāda: Rāmeśvara? He did not know?

Jayapatākā: Rāmeśvara had stopped collecting from the temples. But we had never stopped...

Prabhupāda: Anyway, he'll collect. That's all.

Room Conversation About Mayapura Construction -- August 19, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: No, our cloth necessities are supplied by ourselves? The cloth?

Jayapatākā: The difficulty is right now we have twenty thousand rupees worth of cloth in stock. That is all profit. We only are three thousand rupees in debt. But we have all the cloth. We have no customers.

Prabhupāda: Why?

Gargamuni: There's no customers. We have a huge stock...

Prabhupāda: You send immediately to America. They will pay.

Gargamuni: we sent a newsletter to get people to buy cloth the cloth because we have a huge stock of it.

Prabhupāda: Now, you ask Bhagavān. He is very clever. He's expert.

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

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: "CM praises ISKCON."

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.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 7, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: "Of your father."

Jagadīśa: "Very pompously"?

Prabhupāda: "Pompously. And, why not repay the debts of your father so that he may live very peacefully in his next life? A line in reply will much oblige us. Yours sincerely." You sign, "Secretary to His Divine...," as you... This man (laughs) over there was a pākā thief, and his sons also.

Jagadīśa: He was a pākā thief?

Prabhupāda: He cheated me. Ten years before I gave him about one thousand rupees. He never paid me. And these sons are also number, pākā, and they are observing the death ceremony. What you have written?

Room Conversation -- January 7, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: "And Prabhupāda assisted him."

Jagadīśa: Okay. "And Śrīla Prabhupāda assisted him with some money loan. Your father attempted to repay it, but he could not. Now, after his death, you are good sons behind him. You have observed the death ceremony very pompously. Why not repay the debts of your father so that he may live very peacefully in his next life? A line in reply will much oblige us. Yours sincerely, Secretary..."

Prabhupāda: Is that all right? Let us see how worthy sons they are. Everyone knows. They know. That Gauracandra Gosāi, Rādhā-Dāmodara, he knows. And I have got letters and everything... I... If I go to the court... And who is going to the court? I could have gone to the court, long, long ago. I never liked to go to the court. In my business life also, if somebody did not pay, I never go to the court. Bother... "To push good money after bad money." The money which is lost, and... And what about that money order?

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Acchā?

Rāmeśvara: And had a new government formed, because they had created a huge debt, federal debt. They were spending much more money than they had, and they were simply increasing the taxes more and more, and the people just kicked them out.

Prabhupāda: It is closed?

Hari-śauri: Yes. The year before they got kicked out, I was distributing magazines at one political rally. The Prime Minister came to Perth. And when he came there all the farmers came, and they were so angry, they were throwing rotten eggs at him and tin cans and all kinds of things.

Prabhupāda: The farmers.

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

Rāmeśvara: He wants to be a little independent. He wants to be in charge by himself.

Hṛdayānanda: But it was mentioned that he is not very competent.

Brahmānanda: Haṁsadūta Mahārāja planned(?) that there's much debt in the Hyderabad temple. They owe one lakh of rupees.

Rāmeśvara: They owe Prabhupāda five lakhs.

Brahmānanda: Well, just on rations they owe one lakh.

Pañcadraviḍa: One lakh on rice.

Haṁsadūta: The whole situation is very deteriorated.

Prabhupāda: So why he does not come?

Haṁsadūta: Both with money and men. His best men all want to leave. His staunchest support, they have all become just completely discouraged. They want to go away.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

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

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Haṁsadūta: They all want to go, his men. And the temple is very badly in debt, and it has not had a proper president for a very long time.

Prabhupāda: This cannot be.

Hṛdayānanda: It was suggested that he can preach in the area.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Or collect.

Rāmeśvara: Anyway, for this reason...

Prabhupāda: No why don't you call him to study the whole situation?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, the real point is that the GBC should meet with him...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- March 31, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, one story I can go. Not now, but I can go. So you are trying so much for my comfort. I do not know whether I shall be able to repay you. Then I shall try my best. It is not possible to repay your debts, that so kind. So I can simply pray to Kṛṣṇa to give His blessings to you so that you may remain very steady in devotional service and preach this cult all over the world. Otherwise, I have no other means. Without your help I could not do anything. So you are very much kind. Kindly continue your cooperation. Paropakāra. This is the movement for paropakāra. I have got report from our other temples all over the world. They are doing very nice, is it not? Other temples outside India, they are doing very nice.

Morning Conversation -- April 11, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (reading:) "Hoxar pleads for healthy land-man relationship. Mr. P. N. Hoxar, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, yesterday pleaded for developing a healthy and rational land-man relationship as the foundation to build the socio-economic superstructure. Unless such relationship is developed through proper land reforms, it is useless to talk about science and technology in employment-oriented planning, he added. Eighty percent of the people live in the villages and till the land which they do not own. The holdings were fragmented and the tenant was uncertain. They were burdened with debt to such an extent that they could not pay them back and fell into bondage of one sort or another."

Prabhupāda: Another rascal.

Discussions -- June 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Jayapatākā: Only one payment has come through. I paid the first thing.

Rāmeśvara: No, no, no, of the seventy thousand.

Jayapatākā: No. Seventy thousand? We have no debt with BBT. We're paid up.

Rāmeśvara: How much have you paid so far?

Jayapatākā: Since April I've paid twenty-one thousand.

Rāmeśvara: He's already paid twenty-one thousand rupees of it back.

Prabhupāda: So you can take fifty thousand also. If they have returned twenty-one thousand, you can pay fifty thousand, loan more.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: We can pay fifty thousand...?

Rāmeśvara: He'll take a loan.

Room Conversation -- June 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: When you ride on a car, full of anxiety... At any moment there may be accident. It is not comfortable. If you are full of anxiety. Aeroplane may be. At any moment you can die. It is your time only. They're going in good faith: "I shall go there." But before rising to the sky, finished, crash. So many airplane has been... So where is the comfort? As soon as you get on the aeroplane, you are in full anxiety that at any moment there may be crash. Is it not? Then where is comfort? Real comfort is without anxiety. That is real comfort. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita has given, real comfort means, arni akyavad(?): "One who is not out of home and one who has no debts, he is happy." Nowadays people are going out of home, and everyone is debtor to the bank and so many... The economic machine is so made that one is put always in debts for some so-called comforts, and he's full of anxiety. The whole month he has to work to pay debts. (end)

Conversation with Bhakti-caitanya Swami-New GBC -- June 30, 1977, Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: No, no. What is your debt to the BBT?

Bhakti-caitanya: Fifteen thousand rupees.

Prabhupāda: So why don't you pay?

Bhakti-caitanya: I will pay it.

Prabhupāda: Then let him.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In advance?

Bhakti-caitanya: I will pay in two installments. I will pay...

Prabhupāda: But that...

Bhakti-caitanya: I will pay seven thousand...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

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

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) No, you are doing more important business. Do that. But if you want to do, whatever you like, you can come. He is a good cook also.

Bhāgavatāśraya: Hm. Everyone compliments his cooking. Everyone.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "We have a great debt to repay you and we are perplexed how to repay. At least Your Divine Grace may stay as long as we try to repay till the debt we owe to you. I think if we work hard and preach and the world recognizes this movement, then you may want to stay here longer."

Prabhupāda: Yes, that's a fact.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "I am constantly filling this into the minds of the members of the Library Party. We are now emphasizing your books as a library of Encyclopedia of Vedic Knowledge, and I am herewith enclosing reviews from the biggest Marathi, Gujarati, and Sindhi scholars."

Room Conversation -- October 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: I could not follow what he said.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says... He found out that the Bombay temple owed the BBT seventy thousand rupees. So he says when he heard that you had decided that you wanted to live and not leave us, he got very encouraged and inspired. So he decided on his own that he wanted to pay back this money to the BBT for you. He says, "I have been encouraging all the preachers here at ISKCON Bombay to go out and collect the money to pay off this debt to the BBT. Śrīla Prabhupāda has made all this arrangement very easily because of his encouragement to us. Even devotees who have engagements where they are not likely to make a life member are making life members very easily and are collecting money. And even persons not expected to become members are now becoming members. This is all due to the desire in the hearts of the preachers here in Bombay to serve Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Page Title:Debt (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:07 of Sep, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=48, Let=0
No. of Quotes:48