Prabhupāda: (beginning of lecture extremely faint) ...Just like part and parcel of my body, hands and legs, they are serving the whole body, similarly, Kṛṣṇa is the supreme whole and we are His parts and parcels; therefore our duty is to serve Him. This is our constitutional position. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). We cannot become Kṛṣṇa. We are eternally Kṛṣṇa's servitors, part and parcel. This is real conclusion, qualitatively one. Just like this finger, you can call it body, but it is part and parcel of the body.
Extremely (Lec, Conv, & Letters)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Lecture on BG 4.34-38 -- New York, August 17, 1966:
There are number of fruits. There is ample supply of milk. So you can satisfy yourself. You can keep your body very healthy, and culture this spiritual knowledge. That is the plan. That is the plan of Kṛṣṇa. But if we want to possess more, then, er...
(sirens extremely loud in background)
So this is another example of punishment. (laughter) We are also punished and they, for whom they are going, they are also punished. So we are all being punished. As we are making progress, as we are violating the law of nature, the law of God, we are being punished in every step. But due to ignorance, we do not know how we are being... We have been accustomed. We have been callous, "Oh, let us be punished. Go on. Go on like this. Go on." Oh, this is not human life. We must make a solution of this punishment. That is human life. Because I am put into jail, "All right, it is very good. Without working, I am getting three times food. Let me remain in the jail."
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Delhi, November 6, 1973:
If the light is off, immediately he cannot see. So what is the value of your eyes? Why you are so much proud to see everything? "Can you show me God? Can you show me the soul?" You cannot see. You have no eyes to see. And what you cannot see, you can hear. Just like a blind man, he is sitting. He cannot see. Somebody comes. He inquires, "Who has come here?" Now, if somebody says, "It is such and such person," by hearing only he can understand, "Oh, such and such person has come." So seeing is not extremely perfect experience. There are other senses.
So which is beyond the sense perception you have to hear. Therefore Vedic knowledge is called śruti. You have to hear. Not by seeing. Simply by hearing. Śravaṇam.
Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972:
In the Kali-yuga this memory is declining, and they are proud, "We are advanced." There is no question of advancement. It is simply degraded. But this is māyā. Falsely they are thinking, "We are advanced." In this age, memory will be reduced, duration of life will be reduced, people's merciful tendency will be reduced, strength of the body will be reduced. In this way everything will be reduced. Now we do not find very strong men, very strong memory, living for a long time, bodily strength. No. These are reducing. Now people are not merciful. One man is being killed before you in the street; nobody takes care. This is the sign of Kali-yuga. Everything will be reduced. Memory also being reduced. There are eight kinds of things reducing. One of them, these four, five, I have already mentioned. Important things. The duration of life is reducing, no sympathy, no sympathy. One is suffering from some disease; nobody is taking care.
Lecture on SB 6.1.28-29 -- Philadelphia, July 13, 1975:
Nitāi: "At the time of death, Ajāmila saw three awkward persons, very fearsome in appearance, with ropes in their hands. They had twisted faces and deformed bodily features, and their hair stood on end. They had come to take Ajāmila away to the shelter of Yamarāja. Ajāmila became extremely bewildered when he saw them. His small child, Nārāyaṇa, was playing a little distance off, and with tearful eyes and great anxiety, he called the name of his son very loudly three times, 'Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa!' " (SB 6.1.28-29)
Prabhupāda: Is there "three times"?
Nitāi: It said in the manuscript. The manuscript said "three times."
Prabhupāda: Who said in the manuscript? There is no three times. Not "Nārāyaṇa" three times. One time, "O Nārāyaṇa," that's all. So did I say "three times"? No, it is not said here. You should correct it. Once, "O Nārāyaṇa," that's all. There is no reason of calling three times. There is no mention here. Once is sufficient.
Lecture on SB 6.1.28-29 -- Honolulu, May 28, 1976:
Pradyumna: Translation: "Ajāmila then saw three awkward persons with deformed bodily features, fierce, twisted faces, and hair standing erect on their bodies. With ropes in their hands they had come to take him away to the abode of Yamarāja. When he saw them he was extremely bewildered, and because of attachment to his child, who was playing a short distance away, Ajāmila began to call him loudly by his name. Thus, with tears in his eyes, he somehow or other chanted the holy name of Nārāyaṇa." (SB 6.1.28-29)
Prabhupāda: Sa pāśa-hastāṁs trīn dṛṣṭvā puruṣān ati-dāruṇān. So, at the time of death there are so many disturbance. We have got experience, but you have forgot because bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). But these things are observed by the sinful person. The Yamadūta, they come to take to the sinful, sinful person, not devotees. Just like the whole population of the city, they are not all subjected to the prison laws. Some criminals. Similarly, this Yamadūta goes to such sinful persons. They are not all. But it is the question of Ajāmila... He was so sinful that automatically the Yamadūtas came, and they wanted to take him.
Lecture on SB 7.6.19 -- New Vrindaban, July 2, 1976:
Therefore, pleasing Nārāyaṇa does not require as much endeavor as pleasing one's family, community and nation. We have seen important political leaders killed for a slight discrepancy in their behavior. Therefore pleasing one's society, family, community and nation is extremely difficult. Pleasing Nārāyaṇa, however, is not at all difficult; it is very easy.
One's duty is to revive one's relationship with Nārāyaṇa. A slight endeavor in this direction will make the attempt successful, whereas one will never be successful in pleasing his so-called family, society and nation, even if one endeavors to sacrifice his life. The simple endeavor involved in the devotional service of śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23), hearing and chanting the holy name of the Lord, can make one successful in pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has therefore bestowed His blessings by saying, paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam: "All glories to Śrī Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana!" If one wants to derive the actual benefit from this human form, he must take to the chanting of the holy name of the Lord.
Lecture on SB 7.9.3 -- Mayapur, February 17, 1977:
Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.) "Translation: Thereafter Lord Brahmā requested Prahlāda Mahārāja, who was standing very near him: My dear son, Lord Nṛsiṁha-deva is extremely angry at your demoniac father. Please go forward and appease the Lord."
Prabhupāda:
- prahrādaṁ preṣayām āsa
- brahmāvasthitam antike
- tāta praśamayopehi
- sva-pitre kupitaṁ prabhum
- (SB 7.9.3)
So Nṛsiṁha-deva was very, very angry. Now the atheist class of men, who do not know what is the nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they will say, "Why God should become angry?" So God, why He should not be angry? God must have everything; otherwise how He is God complete? Pūrṇam. The anger is also another quality of living symptom. The stone does not become angry because he's stone. But any living being, he becomes angry. That is a quality. And why God should not be angry? They imagine God; not they have got any factual conception of God. They imagine that "God must be like this. God must be nonviolent. God must be very peaceful."
Lecture on SB 7.9.10-11 -- Montreal, July 14, 1968:
Guest: Supposing if I were to become a devotee and I might be influenced to try to live like Śiva because richness doesn't appeal to me. But the problem is that in a country like this the winter is extremely cold, and if I try to live like Śiva I would freeze to death. So...
Prabhupāda: I have understood. I have understood. Kṛṣṇa consciousness does not mean that you falsely make some attempt. The... Just like Arjuna. Arjuna understood the Kṛṣṇa philosophy, and it does not mean that he became a naked fakir and went away from the fighting place, and without any clothing he began to travel. Is it that? No. The only thing is that he changed the account. The account was on behalf of Kṛṣṇa. So you haven't got to make such renunciation that you have to live underneath a tree or give up your dress, become naked. No. That is not... You have misunderstood.
Lecture on SB 7.9.39 -- Mayapur, March 17, 1976:
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "My dear Lord from the Vaikuṇṭha planets, where there is no anxiety, my mind is extremely sinful and lusty. It is sometimes so-called happy and sometimes so-called distressed. It is full of lamentation and fear and always anxious to get more and more money. In this way my mind has become most polluted. It is never satisfied, and therefore I am very fallen and poor. In such a status of life, how will it be possible for me to discuss Your activities?"
Prabhupāda:
- naitan manas tava kathāsu vikuṇṭha-nātha
- samprīyate durita-duṣṭam asādhu tīvram
- kāmāturaṁ harṣa-śoka-bhayaiṣaṇārtaṁ
- tasmin kathaṁ tava gatiṁ vimṛśāmi dīnaḥ
- (SB 7.9.39)
This is our position. This material world and the spiritual world, the difference is very nicely explained here. One place is no anxiety; in another place it is simply full of anxiety. This is the difference. (aside:) Ask them.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja in another place has said also the same thing. When his father asked him, "What is the best thing you have learned, my dear boy, from your school?" so he immediately addressed his father as asura-varya. Why? Now, because this thing, free of anxiety, is not understandable by the asuras. They want anxiety. They'll create such situation.
General Lectures
Lecture with Allen Ginsberg at Ohio State University -- Columbus, May 12, 1969:
So there are Santa Fe centers also.
In other words, the indigenous, the importation of a very strange oriental form, almost a hard-shelled Baptist oriental form, in the sense of its traditionality and its fundamentalism, its reliance on ancient texts and interpretation of ancient texts by long tradition of teachers—it's strange it's so far-out and ritualized an Indian form should take root in the United States a little more naturally than the more Protestant Vedānta Society or the extremely rigorous Zen groups that have taken root. I think partly it's due to the magnanimity or generosity or the old-age charm, wisdom, cheerfulness of Swami Bhaktivedanta, his openness of heart, his willingness to come down on to the street, and his sense of his own divinity and the divinity of others around that it's been possible for the bhakti-yoga cult of India to be planted very firmly here in America so that now there are communes, or ashrams, functioning on the basis of the Kṛṣṇa rituals, which are, in some respect, a model for all those anarchists and political people who are interested in establishing indigenous American communes.
Philosophy Discussions
Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:
Prabhupāda: So it is not the question of...
Hayagrīva: ...it was extremely difficult for Bryan to maintain any kind of prosecution with these...
Prabhupāda: But because both, we say that both of them are ignorant about the beginning. So if both of them are ignorant, so either you say six thousand, seven thousand, or six million, this is all imagination. It is not fact. But the six thousand or seven thousand, that is not the fact-millions and millions of years. But the fact is this, that God created this cosmic manifestation, and He impregnated the living entities to appear in different types of body according to the soul's desire. That I have already explained. The soul... "Man proposes; God disposes." Not only human form of life but all the animal forms of life, they are also from the very beginning. Not like Darwin's theory that there was no human form of life in the beginning. That is a wrong theory.
Purports to Songs
Purport to Parama Koruna -- Atlanta, February 28, 1975:
The shortcut is pahū. Prabhu, lord, or master. So these prabhu two, two prabhus, Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu... Caitanya Mahāprabhu is addressed as Mahāprabhu, Mahā-puruṣa. And others, they are addressed as prabhu. So these two prabhus, Nityānanda Prabhu and Caitanya Mahāprabhu, are very merciful, parama koruṇa. Parama koruṇa means extremely merciful. Extremely merciful because Kṛṣṇa is also merciful, but because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His original feature... Caitanya Mahāprabhu is also Kṛṣṇa, but He is acting as devotee. He is not acting as Kṛṣṇa. He is acting as devotee of Kṛṣṇa.
- namo mahā-vadānyāya
- kṛṣṇa-preme-pradāya te
- kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-
- nāmne (gaura-tviṣe namaḥ)
He is Kṛṣṇa, but at present He has assumed the name of Kṛṣṇa-caitanya. Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya also appreciated Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He made one hundred verses about Caitanya Mahāprabhu, but Caitanya Mahāprabhu, just to teach us, He destroyed the ślokas, "Oh, it is too much praising Me." So anyway, some of the ślokas were saved. Two of them are mentioned in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Garden Conversation with Mahadeva's Mother and Jesuit Priest -- July 25, 1973, London:
Jesuit Priest: Don't you find it extremely difficult to get the literal meaning from the Sanskrit to the English?
Prabhupāda: No. You may, it may be difficult for you, but...
Jesuit Priest: No, no. I'm just thinking...
Prabhupāda: ...for one who knows Sanskrit, it is not difficult for him.
Jesuit Priest: When I did my studies, we had to do Greek and Hebrew and Latin and, naturally, reading the scriptures in English. But it helped enormously with a background of a little bit of Hebrew. Not very much. But certainly Greek and Latin. You get a much more comprehensive notion of what's in the scriptures.
Prabhupāda: Therefore we are teaching Sanskrit.
Room Conversation with Indian Ambassador -- September 5, 1973, Stockholm:
Ambassador: ...distributed the invitations to all the Indians, you see. But I'm afraid the Indians in Sweden are extremely...
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Ambassador: How shall I put it? Extremely material and...
Prabhupāda: No, everywhere. Everywhere.
Ambassador: So I do not expect much response. I'm being very honest with you, you know.
Prabhupāda: No, everywhere. In India also. Indians are everywhere.
Ambassador: Yes.
Prabhupāda: But they think... Familiarity breeds contempt. "Oh, Kṛṣṇa, we know. What you have got to teach us?" Although he doesn't know anything, because he, he belongs to the country where Kṛṣṇa appeared, therefore he knows everything. That... You know that Hindi.
Interviews with Macmillan and various English Reporters -- September 12, 1973, London:
Prof. Gombrich: But do you think for instance, in this country, if somebody is a Protestant, or I mean a Christian and goes to church, this is also, you don't try to convert them away from that?
Prabhupāda: No, no. We have no such process (indistinct).
Prof. Gombrich: Because your movement is extremely distinctive.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We don't try to convert. Just like one gentlemen was asking, "Why these ladies, girls, they are putting Indian sari?" I never said that "You do that." But they're doing out of their own accord. So I never canvassed to become a Hindu, or like that, no. Our propaganda is, "Just become God conscious."
Morning Walk -- December 3, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Yes. (laughs) God has given them everything actually, to live peacefully and try to understand God, but that they will not do. They will do something to try to forget God. That is their aim.
Yaśomatīnandana: Prabhupāda, is it true that if a person is very sinful, he reduces some years from his life? If a person is very, very sinful, extremely sinful, then he reduces some...
Prabhupāda: Reduce or increase, what is the profit?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: We see the practical example. If you are alcoholic...
Prabhupāda: Even if you reduce or increase, suppose you are to live for hundred years, if you make it hundred and ten, so what is your profit? And if you are to live for hundred years, reduce time ten years, so what is the profit? You cannot live here, that is a fact, reduce or increase. This is all nonsense. What is increase? The trees, they have more longer period, increased the period, of life. Is, that kind of living is very profitable? What for increasing? To suffering? Your life is already suffering. Why you are covering this body? You cannot stand here, open body. That is suffering.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- February 17, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: But you are not poor man.
Dr. Patel: She had that painting from her young days of her father as a billionaire. But I am a extremely poor man.
Prabhupāda: But you are the husband of a millionaire's daughter.
Dr. Patel: She's dead now. She has got no... She had a grip on me when she was living. I am now a vagabond in her absence. (laughs)
Prabhupāda: No, it is not the question of you or she. I am just pointing out.
Dr. Patel: No, no, no. I will try. I have taken your, this thing to my heart. I will try to collect some fund and get some clothing, those ready-made ones.
Prabhupāda: So one day a tailors may be brought and take their measurement.
Dr. Patel: But ready-made is there.
Morning Walk -- February 17, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: That is our movement.
Dr. Patel: Your religion is extremely catholic.
Prabhupāda: Our catholic Kṛṣṇa consciousness—Kṛṣṇa says sarva-yoniṣu. Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ: (BG 14.4) "Any form of life, that is, I am the seed-giving father."
Dr. Patel: That's right, sir.
Prabhupāda: And how lovingly they come to take little prasādam. I was thinking that...
Dr. Patel: I was noticing, myself, the same thing...
Prabhupāda: How lovingly they offer me obeisances, touch my feet, and a little fruit or little, whatever I give, they are satisfied. So they are so friendly because they are innocent. They do not know what is this Hindu, Christian. So we must take care of them.
Morning Walk -- February 17, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: No, no, no. We don't say, we don't speak of "some." This is the, yes, there are many...
Dr. Patel: Extremely scholastic they have become afterwards. Even though they have not gone to the school.
Prabhupāda: Just like Jīva Gosvāmī. Jīva Gosvāmī, there is no comparison of learned scholarship with him throughout the whole world. He's such a jñānī. Even great, great paṇḍitas said that "There will be no more such learned philosopher, neither there was, like Jīva Gosvāmī." Yes. We are also referring to Jīva Gosvāmī.
Dr. Patel: I, I, I... I also refer. I want to read, I want to read his books.
Prabhupāda: So in our Gauḍīya-vaiṣṇava-sampradāya there are so many learned scholars. Just like my Guru Mahārāja.
Dr. Patel: But a Sanskrit... I tell you, the Bengalis are the great scholars all round, in all respects.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Morning Walk -- February 20, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Oh yes.
Dr. Patel: Extremely honest and extremely righteous. That is why the generation is good. This last hundred years...
Prabhupāda: Therefore they are taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Dr. Patel: ...we have been very fond of America. We have been taking great example of Americans during last hundred years. Now they have started degenerating. And that happens with everyone.
Prabhupāda: But the...
Dr. Patel: British degenerated; so they must degenerate.
Prabhupāda: Degenerating means...
Dr. Patel: Degeneration must come. (indistinct) It's not so-called revolution.
Prabhupāda: So they are...
Dr. Patel: (indistinct) they degenerate for others. So that (indistinct) degenerate. We degenerated. So the Muslims degenerated. Americans will degenerate. Somebody else will degenerate. Is that sort of a will? No?
Prabhupāda: So janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrī, good birth, riches, education, and sri, beauty, these are the result of pious activities.
Morning Walk -- February 20, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Oh yes. Vanauṣadhī loke jayate paramam (?).
Dr. Patel: So many, so many plants are extremely poisonous. And the poisonous plants are the plants which give the best medicine. As for example, digoxen(?), digitalis, life-saving in heart disease. If you eat a leaf, you will die.
Prabhupāda: Then, just like in your dispensary, you keep everything medicine. But it is to be given to different persons, different medicine. Not that because it is medicine you give to everyone.
Dr. Patel: No, what I mean to say is that this pān or gañjā, they might have used used by some for a good aim. But it has been misused by a majority of men.
Prabhupāda: So they are innocent people. They have imitated. Our, these so-called sādhu says that Lord Śiva used to smoke gañjā. That is their... So they have become Lord Śiva. Lord Śiva drunk the whole poison ocean and he kept it here. So you drink one drop of poison. But these rascals, they compare with Śiva, with Kṛṣṇa. "Kṛṣṇa danced with girls. Therefore we must have." These Māyāvādīs do that. I know.
Morning Walk -- March 24, 1974, Bombay:
Dr. Patel: They always drink tea, all the cooks. They won't like...
Prabhupāda: That is the difficulty with us. We do not want to set such bad examples. (break) ...Hindu system is very hygienic. Yes.
Dr. Patel: Extremely hygienic. The W.C.'s also.
Prabhupāda: Everything.
Dr. Patel: They must be kept extremely clean or some of the diseases, you must have (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: These European, American boys, they gave up their smoking habit, drinking tea habit, all habits, meat-eating, immediately. But if we ask any Indian, he has to consider for three generations.
Dr. Patel: That is because they have been so trained from childhood.
Prabhupāda: No, no. They have been trained so (indistinct) from childhood, meat-eating, drinking wine, drinking tea, smoking, and illicit sex, but they gave up immediately.
Morning Walk -- April 18, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Aurobindo Ghosh studied English from the very beginning.
Dr. Patel: But he was extremely clever. He studied then Gujarati, not even Bengali. After he came from England...
Prabhupāda: He came to Gujarati. No. He came to Baroda.
Dr. Patel: Then he studied Gujarati, but he did not know Bengali at all. And then he came... (break) What is that? (break)
Prabhupāda: (Sanskrit) From our childhood, if there was a rice grain on the floor, my father, er, my mother would ask me, "Take it and touch it on your head."
Dr. Patel: We were advised not to tread on the grains. (break)
Prabhupāda: Because by chance, if the grain is struck with the leg, she asked, "Take it and you touch it on the head."
Dr. Patel: That is the culture. That is real culture.
Prabhupāda: Means from the very beginning he understands anna-brahma.
Dr. Patel: Even it is not spoken, you practice it.
Room Conversation with Prof. Regamay, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Lausanne -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:
Prabhupāda: "All right, do it, at your risk." He doesn't want. He says, "Give up all this nonsense." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66). "Just surrender unto Me." That He wants. But because we will not do that, we want to do something else, but I cannot do without His sanction, therefore He sanctions. That means Kṛṣṇa does everything. But I want to do, and simply I want His sanction. Therefore, out of His causeless mercy, He agrees, "All right do it." But you have to get the result of it.
Prof. Regamay: I thank you very much.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Prof. Regamay: It was very extremely useful. Just ends some problems.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation with Psychiatrist -- February 22, 1975, Caracas:
Psychiatrist (Hṛdayānanda): He says that the spirit is also extremely important for the following reason. He feels that the human being needs to have problems and fight for something. The example he gave was in the Scandinavian countries they've practically solved all material problems. They have so many Social Security and this and that, and there are practically no material problems, but they have the highest suicide rate in the world.
Prabhupāda: Yes, exactly. So where is the institution, university, for educating people of the spirit soul? Where is it? Therefore the whole civilization is going in the wrong way.
Psychiatrist (Hṛdayānanda): He feels there are some people, for example who are teaching the right thing. There are missionaries who go to the Amazon jungles and also to Africa to teach. And he feels they are offering...
Prabhupāda: But we find the great cities are great jungles. A great city is a great forest. (lady begins speaking) Let her come forward.
Conversation with Professor Hopkins -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is greater than happiness. And the Māyāvādī, karmī, jñānī, they cannot understand. They will say, "Your gopīs are also crying for Kṛṣṇa, for want of Kṛṣṇa." But they do not know that this want is different.
Prof. Hopkins: So you have been extremely generous with your time and your wisdom.
Prabhupāda: I enjoy(?) that. And that is what the whole human society (indistinct).
Prof. Hopkins: Well I... I have been a friend for many years now. I suspect... I suspect sometimes that I may end up as a sannyāsī among your line at some point. (laughs)
Prabhupāda: Sannyāsa does not mean change of dress. Sannyāsa means everything for Kṛṣṇa. That is sannyāsa.
Morning Walk -- November 13, 1975, Bombay:
Dr. Patel: You see? I may little digressing from this point. Before the India became freed we had an extremely high opinion about American race, American people.
Prabhupāda: Still I have got.
Dr. Patel: Because... No, not people like us.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is correct. Still I have got.
Dr. Patel: I have got also. Because then it was American president who supported the freedom movement of India. But unfortunately Dulles spoiled the speech.
Prabhupāda: No, I am not speaking from that point of view. I see that the Americans, they have helped me in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Dr. Patel: You, but the whole India, they helped. It is only you.
Prabhupāda: Therefore I feel obliged to them. Nobody helped me. These boys helped me.
Morning Walk -- November 14, 1975, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ (BG 9.11). Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ. Param (Hindi) Otherwise it is...
Dr. Patel: It is said that gopīs were not foolish. They were very intelligent girls, extremely, because they chose what was to be chosen.
Prabhupāda: (break) Eternal companion of Kṛṣṇa. ananda-cinmaya-rasa pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāva. The gopīs are expansion of Kṛṣṇa's ananda-cinmāyā-rasa pleasure potency. Rūpa Gosvāmī, tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tucchavat. (Hindi) Tucchavat. But the engagement was gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi-laharī. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59).
Dr. Patel: Yes, that is right sir. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. Because the little part of it is remaining there and that never goes away from anyone with God.
Prabhupāda: Paraṁ dṛṣṭi, sādhu... (Hindi)
Dr. Patel: Hm. Because they are the agents of param.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Morning Walk -- November 14, 1975, Bombay:
Dr. Patel: Extremely difficult, that even man like Gautama Buddha had several times come back to see his child and son when he left his house, more than half a dozen times, come and go, come and go. Finally he closed his eyes and ran away. A man of that type. And for ordinary human beings it is very difficult.
Prabhupāda: No, it is not difficult. Therefore vānaprastha is recommended, that "Go out of home, remain in the tīrtha-sthana and again come. See your children. Again go. Then take sannyāsa.
Dr. Patel: Tapering it.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (Hindi)
Dr. Patel: That is why devata-loka is not a place from where you can have a release. It is from human life that you can have moksa. Devatas cannot get it.
Prabhupāda: No, no, human... Devatas cannot because they have got enough of material enjoyment.
Morning Walk -- November 24, 1975, Bombay:
Dr. Patel: For everything. They... Even the murgis. Nowadays this meat-eating has become very widespread in India. Even brāhmaṇas are eating meat. I don't mean those who have gone to Europe or America and come back, but people who are staying here. Extremely common.
Prabhupāda: That is the sign that in very near future there will be no food grains. That is the sign. There will be no rice, no wheat, main food grain.
Yaśomatīnandana: Already in Bombay it's about six, seven rupees per kilo, rice.
Prabhupāda: Ācchā?
Dr. Patel: No, no. Now rice will be very much down. In Gujarat it is two rupees. I bought some land here and sown the rice. We are going to get about eight hundred or a thousand mounds of rice. And when we sown the field it was sixty rupees, rice. Today it is thirty-two rupees. It is coming down. The crop is very good everywhere, all over India this year.
Prabhupāda: Because there was sufficient rain.
Morning Walk -- December 16, 1975, Bombay:
Dr. Patel: Viṣṇu Purāṇa is (indistinct) from Mahābhārata. It is very easy. Extremely easy.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa! (to passerby)
Dr. Patel: Some of the, some people try to poke at us also.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Dr. Patel: They are fools.
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Dr. Patel: Well, because we, we chant God's name, out of fun they also say. But we...
Prabhupāda: That is also good.
Dr. Patel: That we should not take it like that.
Prabhupāda: If one chants Hare Kṛṣṇa jokingly, that is also good.
Dr. Patel: That's it. Yesterday morning you came?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Morning Walk -- December 17, 1975, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: No, not cutting.
Saurabha: No. These poles, they all set in size about nine feet. You notice they're about fifteen to eighteen feet. So we use them only for the scaffolding.
Dr. Patel: (Hindi) ...anyhow, they have done it very quickly. Our engineers could not have done it so quickly as that. You are quite fast. And the structure is very strong.
Prabhupāda: (laughter) I say they are quite slow.
Dr. Patel: No, no, but it takes its own time for curing and all these things. How can an engineer accelerate that natural process? And that structure is really extremely strong.
Prabhupāda: No, no. We want to see the temple also.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- April 12, 1976, Bombay:
Dr. Patel: I think Christ taught humility by his own action.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Even Vaiṣṇava...
Dr. Patel: All Vaiṣṇava.... I mean Vaiṣṇava ācāryas suffered extremely than that.
Prabhupāda: Kavirāja Gosvāmī, who has written this immortal Caitanya-caritāmṛta, he is presenting himself, purīṣera kīṭa haite muñi se laghiṣṭha: (CC Adi 5.205) "I am lower than the worms in the stool." Just see. He is not hypocrite. He is feeling like that. "Oh, what is my value?" Purīṣera kīṭa haite muñi se laghiṣṭha, jagāi mādhāi haite muñi se pāpiṣṭha. Jagāi-Mādhāi was a...
Dr. Patel: Those two boys Caitanya...
Prabhupāda: Yes. So he says, "I am more sinful than Jagāi-Mādhāi." Mora nāma yei laya tāra puṇya kṣaya: "If anyone remembers me, then whatever pious activities he has done, it is all finished."
Dr. Patel: These Vaiṣṇava ācāryas don't allow their feet to be touched because they feel that he should...
Prabhupāda: So why they do not utilize it proper?
Morning Walk -- April 14, 1976, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Thank you.
Dr. Patel: He is such a man. He has all the characteristics of a sannyāsī in the home. He is a multi-millionaire's son. But absolutely untouched by wealth, and very fine man, extremely fine.
Prabhupāda: If our gurukula children comes here they can have very good sporting. And this idea I have given you?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Remain healthy.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Twice a day.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Twice a day can come, take bath and enjoy sporting life and then chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, take good prasādam. That's all. Why they should waste their time in technology to become a coolie?
Morning Walk -- April 16, 1976, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Dr. Patel: This ātma-dhī and kuṇape tri-dhātuke is very difficult to take out, extremely difficult.
Prabhupāda: No, if you analyze, you can take it.
Dr. Patel: That is done by Sāṅkhya philosophy.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Dr. Patel: You have to analyze, sir, with Sāṅkhya philosophy, by jñāna-mārga, that you are not this body.
Prabhupāda: Anyway, you analyze. Just like you take breathing. Breathing is taken as the life, breathing. When the breathing is stopped, then there is no life. So analyze this breathing. What is this breathing? It is air. So when breathing is stopped, then you can take air. There are so many persons here. And by some machine you can put within the heart or somewhere. Let the air go on passing. But that is not possible. Therefore immediately the air is rejected. Then take the bone, the muscle. Everything will be rejected. There is no life. So this is analytical study. And then what remains? That soul. Very common thing.
Garden Conversation -- June 9, 1976, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: In all the schools, colleges and universities, and at home, all children and youths should be taught to hear about the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In other words, they should be taught to hear the instructions of Bhagavad-gītā, to put them into practice in their lives, and thus to become strong in devotional service, free from fear of being degraded to animal life. Following bhāgavata-dharma has been made extremely easy in this age of Kali. The śāstra says:
- harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam
- kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
- (CC Adi 17.21)
One need only chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Everyone engaged in the practice of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra will be completely cleansed, from the core of the heart, and will be saved from the cycle of birth and death."
Room Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Indeed, sometimes foolish people deride the Lord for having put them here. Actually, everyone is put into conditional life according to his karma. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja, representing all the other conditioned souls, admits that he was put into life among the asuras because of the results of his karma. The Lord is known as kṛpaṇa-vatsala because He is extremely kind to the conditioned souls. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, therefore, the Lord appears when there are discrepancies in the execution of religious principles (yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata... tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7)). The Lord is extremely anxious to deliver the conditioned souls, and therefore He instructs all of us to return home, back to Godhead (sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66)). Thus Prahlāda Mahārāja expected that the Lord, by His kindness, would call him again to the shelter of His lotus feet. In other words, everyone should be eager to return home, back to Godhead, taking shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord and thus being fully trained in Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
Room Conversation -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:
Hari-śauri: It's an extremely difficult situation
Prabhupāda: Extremely. They've lost their religious sentiment, religious consciousness. They're just like rude, crude. There was one chief minister in Punjab, he got a big business, big man, "Mr. such and such, I'm sending such and such man. Give him ten thousand rupees without waiting for his reply." "So what for?" "Why you are asking? Give him ten thousand rupees." And the man goes, and he has to pay; otherwise he knows that "This minister will harass me in so many ways later on."
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They are called public servants, the so-called government officials.
Prabhupāda: Even your country, there are so many bogus institutes. There was one Mr. Bogart. I used to call him Bogus. Bogart is a title?
Jagadīśa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: His business is he has got some institute in the United Nations building, and he has got some office also. That means some poor country, poor, "Give me, give me charity," propaganda. And he will officially present some application to the Ford Foundation, and the trustees will give him money. There is no poverty-stricken application, but through this institution.... And there is clique, between the.... They are always.... That trustee came, that Desai?
Morning Walk -- June 18, 1976, Toronto:
Satsvarūpa: And their discussion is very blasphemous. This Dr. Dimmock, he's made much investigation on the Six Gosvāmīs, and he's read all manuscripts, and he's always going to India and studying Rūpa Gosvāmī and Lord Caitanya, but everything is extremely blasphemous that he writes. So in both ways, in their habits and whatever they write. The Library Party men, they become friendly to these professors, but only to use them more or less, that they'll accept our books, despite themselves.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that we must do. (break) ...policy is when we go to a, what is called, a bad character, we don't go to associate with him, but to give him our association. Therefore we must be strong and very pure, so that your association, they will be benefited. For the preachers, īśvare tad-adhīneṣu bāliśeṣu dviṣatsu, the four behavior. Īśvara, tad-adhīneṣu, devotees, bāliśeṣu, innocent, and dviṣatsu, those who are envious. So a devotee, those who are preachers, they, prema, loving God, making friendship with devotee, and those who are innocent, to deliver. And those who are envious, reject.
Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:
Prabhupāda: Then it will never get old.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, it's extremely...
Prabhupāda: You have to simply change the plastering.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, painting, plastering.
Prabhupāda: Then it will continue new for hundreds of years.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's built like that, it's all steel reinforced everywhere.
Prabhupāda: Ah, then it is very nice.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's rated..., it has the top fire rating in the city.
Prabhupāda: After three years it will require little repairing, then it will keep new always.
Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:
Prabhupāda: It is alluring. (laughter)
Jayatīrtha: Yes, Bhagavān is trying to allure you, I think.
Bhagavān: And we are having Deity installation also. The Kṛṣṇa-Balarama Deity is there. They're very beautiful, extremely. And we have a new Vyāsāsana. I had it made in Italy with all marble, temple. Anyway...
Jayatīrtha: You can send him pictures in India. I was going to ask you, Srila Prabhupāda. If I wanted to install Gaura-Nitai Deities also, like the ones in Baltimore and this farm, here also, along with the Radha-Kṛṣṇa Deities, without two altars...
Prabhupāda: Here?
Jayatīrtha: Yes. Whether or not that's all right.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:
Bhagavān: Well, it's being fixed right now, but if I.... But we have a palanquin to carry up the stairs. It's actually warm there, very warm during the day, and your room is extremely warm because the sun crosses it all day long, and there won't be anybody to bother you. All the devotees are out of the castle. They're all in little houses all around. And it's so big that you won't feel cramped.
Prabhupāda: So I shall feel hungry also?
Bhagavān: Hungry? No, you ate good there last year. You ate very well there last year.
Prabhupāda: No, I like it. It is very nice place.
Pṛthu-putra: The air is good too.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Pṛthu-putra: The air, the atmosphere, is good.
Bhagavān: I don't know. I was thinking the trip.... We have that big Mercedes limousine. You rode in it last year. It was very comfortable, and the ride, I don't think you found it so difficult, did you? Last year.
Prabhupāda: No.
Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:
Prabhupāda: Whatever you decide.
Bhagavān: Prabhupāda, the only thing I'm just a little concerned is just if you have difficulty in the car. But if that won't be too difficult, I really think that this is ideal. Your quarters are really first class, extremely wonderful. And the only other thing is at night it's cool, but that's not so bad either.
Prabhupāda: No, at night cool will be good.
Bhagavān: And in the morning it is warm at ten o'clock.
Prabhupāda: So kitchen is (indistinct).
Bhagavān: Yes. You have a cook here? Your temple was cooking?
Jayatīrtha: No, Arundhatī is cooking. I think Palika should come? Palika should not come for cooking?
Prabhupāda: She has come?
Room Conversation -- August 3, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):
Prabhupāda: Now.
Bhagavān: It was, in July. Extremely hot. And actually our well was one of the only ones functioning in the whole area, and we were watering the crops and everything. Our corn is very nice, very high, and our tomatoes are very good. The barley harvest was five tons.
Prabhupāda: Five times more.
Bhagavān: Five tons of barley we got, from our harvest. It was very nice.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Bhagavān: Did you get some barley flour?
Prabhupāda: I don't have any.
Morning Walk -- August 23, 1976, Hyderabad:
Indian man: Extremely happy to have your darśana today.
Prabhupāda: About birth control. So birth control means the father and mother, the father and mother should not become father and mother unless they take full responsibility for the children to save them from the repetition of birth and death. This is the śāstric injunction. Pitā na sa syāj jananī na sā syāt na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum. The, everyone is, in this material world, is going on in the cycle of birth and death. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Transmigrating from one body to another. And after many millions of years he gets the chance of becoming a human being. Now in this life he can stop the birth and death. Punar janma jāyate. That is Vedic culture. How to conquer over this process of repetition, birth and death. That is only possible in the human life. A chance is given, and if he misses this chance then again he'll be cycle... Therefore the father and mother's duty is to train up the children in such a way, that this is the last birth. No more birth. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). And that training, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But the things are different.
Room Conversation -- October 31, 1976, Vrndavana:
Hari-śauri: He has several, he has several books out. He was born in India in a traditional brāhmaṇa family, he learned Sanskrit at the age of 10, and his knowledge of the Hindu scriptures written in Sanskrit is very profound. He has committed to memory the entire Bhagavad-Gītā scripture and one fourth of the Ṛg Veda. He himself is a worshiper of Kṛṣṇa. His teachings is a way of life and he is extremely competent to judge whether the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is authentic and bona fide.
Devotee (2): He came to see you in Washington.
Prabhupāda: Hm.
Hari-śauri: So this is his statement. There are 18 chapters in Bhagavad-gītā, 18 thousand verses in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and several hundred verses in the Upaniṣads. These are the literary works which form the foundation of Indian culture and religion. They are all in Sanskrit. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, founder of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement has transcribed these texts, has translated them, and has explained their essence in English. From Sanskrit into English.
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. She's young girl, going to her husband's house. What is that? Kane.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: As if he was ordained to do it.
Dr. Patel: But, well, he felt... He was a philosopher.
Prabhupāda: Such a rascal. He has moved poverty. He was in poverty-stricken...
Dr. Patel: He was extremely poor man. Yes, he died (indistinct). But that is what he thought.
Prabhupāda: That means poor fund of knowledge. That's it. These rascals will never go to the... Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). They do not know this science, these rascals. They manufacture. And we have also learned to manufacture.
Dr. Patel: No, he did only on the Western thought.
Prabhupāda: No, no, Western philosophy... We have learned this art, manufacturing. Just like Vinoba Bhave's has proposed, "I want mukti not in the traditional way." He'll manufacture his own way. This is his intelligence after eighty-two years or eighty-one years. "Not in the traditional, not in the religious way." Just see. He's still hovering in darkness, and he's going to get mukti. This is the position.
Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: American Nobel prize?
Dr. Patel: (indistinct) ...he was an active friend of mine, Dr. Khoranna who has got (indistinct), a very intelligent fellow, extremely intelligent.
Prabhupāda: No, no, I mean to say, Nobel prize is given from...
Dr. Patel: He migrated to America. He married a (indistinct) girl, and he made a original discovery in genetic code, and then he got a Nobel prize. These people did not (indistinct).
Indian Lady: (Hindi)
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) ...we don't say like that. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu...
Dr. Patel: He's very kind man.
Prabhupāda: Kind man, so we are not also bad man.
Dr. Patel: No, no, I don't mean that. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: The thing is that this nationalism is... We have to go beyond that. Actually they're happening, these boys, they're not thinking in terms of nationalism. Otherwise he had no business to come to me and to start this. We are in a different platform, Kṛṣṇa-ism.
Morning Discussion about Kumbhamela -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: There is walking facility?
Gurudāsa: Oh, yes.
Dr. Patel: Water must be extremely cold.
Gurudāsa: No. No. In the morning the air is cold, but the water is warm, warmer than the air, very nice.
Prabhupāda: Yes. The earlier you take bath, it is warm.
Dr. Patel: Once you dip inside. Otherwise it is chilly.
Prabhupāda: No, no.
Gurudāsa: It's very nice. The tap water also. Either in the river or in the tap, it's warmer. You must come and try it.
Dr. Patel: You bring me water from... (Prabhupāda chuckles) I don't mind coming. Whereas returning it will be difficult for me. You people will be returning after ten, fifteen days. I must come after two, three (indistinct)... Traffic will be so heavy that I may not get even.
Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Prabhupāda: And bring that also: "Before the hog, you give him stool and halavā; he will prefer to take the stool." So let it be extremely exposed. We are fighting. Let them be exposed. What is the wrong there?
Gargamuni: We should, in our attack...
Hari-śauri: They're criticizing us. We should point out their defects.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Hari-śauri: That attack is the best form of defense.
Gargamuni: "You're a drunkard, you're a smoker, and you're doing all these things." We should turn the tide and expose them.
Prabhupāda: There are many opinion that "This movement is... Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will save the human society." There are many opinions like that. That's a fact.
Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, one girl now... There's a devotee named Madhusūdana. You may remember one of your disciples. His name is Madhusūdana. Anyway, his cousin has joined us in New York. So this boy, he's married to a girl who was the chief nurse for the biggest neurosurgeon in America, who operated on Kennedy, a very big man. So she told us something about the medical profession, some examples. She said the American doctors are extremely cruel.
Prabhupāda: Cruel they must be. They're eating meat, rākṣasas.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: She was describing that one time they were all looking at this x-ray of one of the patients who had had severe pain. And inside the x-ray they saw that during the operation they had left the scissors and scalpel in the man's body. And all the doctors were standing there laughing, as if it was a big joke. They thought it was a big joke. For a long time the patient had had much pain in the side, and he did not know why. Then they took x-ray, and they found a scissors and a scalpel left inside, and the doctors thought it was a big joke.
Prabhupāda: Then again operated.
Room Conversation -- June 17, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: (extremely faint) Grandson says? What is that? "Grandson says"? Supersoul? Something very extraordinary. Triumphant. "I shall be triumphant." (break) (indistinct) That is Indian style. "Kṛṣṇa we must move. Now this child is trying to turn Himself. Turn Himself." There is ceremony. This is ceremony. This is Indian way of raising up children. Sad-bhakṣaṇa.(?) When we were small children, we were all, brothers and sisters, three mo..., three years before us. So naturally, when mother was young, she became pregnant. So there were three, four ceremonies during, within the period of three years. One is called sad-bhakṣaṇa. Sad-bhakṣaṇa. The idea is... That (indistinct) he is dangerous. At the time of delivery the woman is in danger. There may be so many dangers. Therefore twice sad-bhakṣaṇa, at the period of seven months and perhaps in nine months. Whatever she likes, she should eat. So that ceremony, new cloth, very nicely dressed, taking bath, all the children, not only her children but other children also, very nice foodstuff made, and sit together, and with the children the mother will eat. And the brāhmaṇas should be given some charity. They will chant Vedic hymns. The same thing is being observed by Mother Yaśodā. That was the saṁskāra. Then utthāna.(?) Then anna-prāśana, when the child is... So much care is taken for the children. And these rascals are killing children. They are civilized? To avoid botheration. What a terrible civilization.
Bhu-mandala Diagram Discussion -- July 2, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: "Probably."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "The orbit of Pluto is extremely elliptical, and the day is some 6,109 hours long. There is probably no atmosphere, and there are no known humans."
Prabhupāda: "Probably." Their science is "probably." Probably it is science; otherwise it is nonsense. (laughter)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It says here, "The moon is 238,860 miles from the earth. It has no atmosphere, no weather and no wind."
Prabhupāda: "Probably." Everything "probably."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It says here, "There is thick dust covering and no evidence to suggest that the moon has ever supported life." In that newspaper article the man who is exposing them said—because they say it is covered by dust—"How is it that no dust is shown on the astronauts' suits when they walked around?" He says, "If there's such a thick dust, then, when the rocket landed, it would have made a pocket within that dust." He says, "But there's no crater around the rocket.
Room Conversation -- October 12, 1977, Vrndavana:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Mādhava Mahārāja. He sent you a telegram from Chandigarh. It says, "Extremely anxious for your health. Praying to Śrīla Prabhupāda and Lord Gaura-Kṛṣṇa for Their blessings unto you."
Prabhupāda: So send him back telegram: "Thank you. Excuse my offenses—all Godbrothers." What you have written?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Thank you. Excuse my offenses, all Godbrothers."
Prabhupāda: What is the other say here?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The other telegram is from Australia.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda, please do not leave us, for without your lotus feet we have no shelter. We are trying to distribute more books. Your eternal servants at Sydney Mandir."
Prabhupāda: Yes, I am willing to stay. After all, it is Kṛṣṇa's desire.
Room Conversation -- October 31, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: That's all right.
Adri-dharaṇa: Also Govardhanaji was not very, extremely helpful. He said he would not come to Vṛndāvana. He said he would not...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Now this man said in fifteen days Prabhupāda would be better.
Adri-dharaṇa: He said there will be improvement, in a few days, two or three days there will be improvement.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So he's staying for two or three days at least? Or is he going to stay one day and leave?
Adri-dharaṇa: So he is not... His mind is not made up. I'll have to talk to him and ask him to stay longer.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Let him first of all prescribe.
Adri-dharaṇa: Medicine.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But he should stay to see what the effect of the medicine is. Supposing he prescribes and it has a reverse reaction, then if he's gone how will he see anything?
Prabhupāda: No, whatever chart he has made, he'll follow.
Correspondence
1968 Correspondence
Letter to Uddhava -- Los Angeles 16 February, 1968:
After killing the demon Hiranyakasipu, the Lord Nrsimhadeva was pacified by Prahlada Maharaja, who offered prayers in hymns which are very instructive. I shall be preparing these for you in my Srimad-Bhagavatam. I will simply cite one nice verse: "Oh Benevolent Lord! Friend of the fallen! Oh the Tender-Hearted! Bound by my own Karma I have been thrown into the midst of these demons who are destroying every thing of Your devotees! I am therefore extremely averse to the unbearable and terrible miseries of this cycle of birth and death in this world devoid of service and devotion to You. Oh Lord! When will You be pleased with me and call me to the shelter of Your Lotus Feet which are soothing like the smiling beams of ten million autumnal moons?"
Letter to Mr. David Exley -- Montreal 22 August, 1968:
I beg to thank you for your letter dated July 15, 1968, and I shall be very obliged if you kindly let me know whether we can talk about Bhagavad-gita as it is, in the church attached to the United Nations. Such meeting and discussions would be of great interest to many persons, and would be extremely beneficial to everyone involved. Please let me know if we can arrange some lecture engagement, at the church above-mentioned, at the earliest convenience.
1970 Correspondence
Letter to Govinda -- Bombay 5 November, 1970:
Try to make others also happy by spreading this Krsna Consciousness.
I like the place Honolulu very much. Last time where I stayed in the skyscraper hotel was extremely pleasing to me, therefore I was induced to stay there for some time. I think that was my sense gratification, therefore Krsna liked me to come here and do some work. We shall always be satisfied with the routine work entrusted to us by Krsna. I hope things are going on well there. In the meantime I am enclosing one circular letter to whom it may concern and I authorize you to print them profusely and distribute to the public so that the misunderstanding created by Sai may be dissipated. Please keep me informed of your activities and I shall be glad to receive my maintenance charges regularly.
1971 Correspondence
Letter to Sri Galim -- Delhi 20 November, 1971:
These public festivals have proven very effective in spreading knowledge about Krishna Consciousness to all the citizens. In fact, I have directed the GBC to organize such festivals and travelling sankirtana throughout their zones. The festival we are holding at present in Delhi has been extremely successful, and by Krishna's grace everyone is appreciating this Movement by seeing the beautiful deity worship, by hearing the melodious kirtana, and by seeing the bright faces of my students.
It is not so important that you have no temple building just now. The main thing is that somehow or other preaching work goes on and literature is distributed. We are prepared to sleep under a tree, so what is there need for a fancy house? Only people must have some place to go, so as soon as possible try to get some place where the public can come and sit down comfortably and chant Hare Krishna.
1972 Correspondence
Letter to Gurudasa, Yamuna -- Sydney 2 April, 1972:
I am in due receipt of your letters dated March 22, 28, and 29, 1972, and I have carefully noted the contents. We are now in Australia and I am very glad to report to you that everything is going extremely well here, and I am much satisfied with the progress being made in western countries like Australia. Now in India you must develop things also very nicely, especially for attracting overseas visitors to come there and enjoy Indian special atmosphere of spiritual life. Our Indian boys and girls are not very much interested to become devotees, but I am seeing that these fair-skinned Americans and Europeans are like angels by coming to Krishna Consciousness increasingly more and more, and that very soon the whole world will become filled with such angels, and so I am very optimistic that if we continue in this way by sticking very tightly to our pure standards that the Lord Caitanya's prediction will very soon be realized all over the world.
Letter to Unknown -- Unknown Place 15 April, 1972:
We are on the threshold of bringing this important project to fruition, and we are very excited to inform you the progress made in this respect.
You will agree with me that your active participation and your direct involvement in this is most essential, and hence I appeal to you to spare your valuable time for Krishna and make it a point, in spite of your extremely busy life, to extend your unstinted cooperation. It is proposed to hold a meeting on Monday, the 26th April 1971, at 6:30 p.m. __ "Akash Ganga," 7th floor, 89 Bhulabhai Desai Road, Bombay-26, to discuss and to finalize plans to channel our united energies to achieve the goal. It will also be a great opportunity for like-minded Krishna devotees to meet, to have darsana of the deities, and to exchange views and suggestions to make rapid progress in spiritual life.
I very much want to meet you again, so kindly make it a "must" to attend our meeting; there is a lot of ground to be covered to spread Krishna Consciousness to millions and millions of our slumbering brothers and sisters!
Letter to Giriraja -- Los Angeles 8 June, 1972:
I understand that sometime ago one crown was stolen from Krishna's Head despite the presence of one brahmacari who was sleeping there and did not even hear the thief coming. So we must take very great precaution to always protect the Deities from all kinds of danger. One thing is, if we make our Deity worship program extremely opulent and gorgeous, and if all of the devotees are always attending arati and holding kirtana in front of the Deities, that will be the best program for attracting the Indian people to Krishna Consciousness Movement. So you try to give the pujaris all assistance to improve the standard of Deity worship and always render Radha and Krishna the most sincere attention.
1974 Correspondence
Letter to Dayananda -- Bombay 11 April, 1974:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of March 29, 1974 and I have noted the contents.
It is extremely assuring to me to hear that Gurukula is doing nicely. The importance of the school in Dallas cannot be overestimated, both for our ISKCON movement, and for the outsiders as well, indeed it is important for the whole world. I was discussing this point in my lecture last night here in Bombay, that human life means tapasya, and tapasya must begin with brahmacaryena, life at Gurukula. The boy is supposed to lie down on the floor, collect alms for the spiritual master—not that they are trying very hard to make a comfortable material arrangement. But the result is that although in this age everyone is born a sudra, we are producing first class brahmanas who can actually do good for their fellow man.
Letter to Jagadisa -- Mayapur 29 September, 1974:
I am in due receipt of your telegram dated September 25, 1974 as follows:
REQUEST PERMISSION TO PURCHASE BUILDING IN TORONTO STOP PRICE 200,000 DOLLARS RENOVATIONS 100,000 DOLLARS STOP VERY REASONABLE FOR TORONTO CONSIDERING THAT PROPERTY COSTS IN TORONTO AMONG HIGHEST IN NORTH AMERICA STOP LOCATION SIDE LAYOUT PRICE ALL FEATURES EXTREMELY SUITABLE PLEASE REPLY IMMEDIATELY
JAGADISA
So, if suitable you can purchase this house immediately.
Letter to Rupanuga -- Bombay 18 December, 1974:
As you mention in your letter that the United States is probably the most fertile preaching ground in the world and that the East coast is the best out of that, therefore our New York city temple is an extremely important center and the standard of purity in Krsna Consciousness must be maintained there by all means. If somehow or other we can convince the majority of the United States population to take to Krsna Consciousness then the whole world will become Krsna Conscious. This is a fact. The United States is the leader of all other nations. You simply educate the people in this Krsna Conscious philosophy and then there will be no difficulty in capturing the government. In your country there is very good system of democracy. As we have seen just recently the people, as the common people have so much power, that they were able to get down this Nixon, who is obviously a rascal. So if we can simply convince a good majority of persons then they will automatically want a Krsna Conscious leader.
Letter to Rupanuga -- Bombay 18 December, 1974:
Formerly this would have been considered impossible, but now by Krsna's grace everything is becoming possible. Encourage them all to increase more and more. Now Tripurari Prabhu is there and he can train the others. This book distribution is the essence of our mission.
Our farm projects are an extremely important part of our movement. We must become self-sufficient by growing our own grains and producing our own milk, then there will be no question of poverty. So develop these farm communities as far as possible. They should be developed as an ideal society depending on natural products not industry. Industry has simply created godlessness, because they think they can manufacture everything that they need. Our Bhagavad-gita philosophy explains that men and animals must have food in order to maintain their bodies. And the production of food is dependent on the rain and the rain of course is dependent on chanting Hare Krsna.
Letter to Tamala Krsna -- Bombay 28 December, 1974:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated 12-11-74 and have noted the contents carefully.
I was extremely pleased to hear your report from your travelling buses. It sounds as if your program is very very wonderful and I am very encouraged to hear that such a program is coming along so nicely. I am glad that you have understood the importance of my books, therefore I am stressing it so much. Let everyone take these books. If he simply reads one page then he is getting something substantial, a real eternal benefit. Or if he hands it over to his friend and he reads one page the same result is there. So continue these festivals constantly and make them all Krsna Conscious. Overflood the whole country by this preaching work. Let the whole United States become Vaisnavas, then everyone else in the whole world will follow.
1975 Correspondence
Letter to Mathura Prasad Agarwala -- Vrindaban 22 April, 1975:
I have heard from Gopinatha Mahesawari that you came here to see me, but that due to the Governor's coming there was some confusion and you were not able to see me. I am extremely sorry for this. I wish to invite you to come and take lunch with me on the 26th of April at about 11:00 AM if it is convenient for you. I will be awaiting your arrival.
Letter to Ramesvara -- Melbourne 19 May, 1975:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 7th, 1975 and I have noted the contents. I am extremely happy to hear that a firm of young lawyers are now working with us to help us spread this movement by helping us to flood the world with our books. This is very welcome news. Things are looking very favorable for us, now we simply have to try even harder to sincerely carry out Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's orders and He will be pleased to provide us with more and more facilities. Co-operate nicely with one another and strongly push on this mission by printing and distributing our books in unlimited quantity.
1976 Correspondence
Letter to Ramesvara , Radhavallabha -- Bombay 14 August, 1976:
I am in due receipt of the package from Los Angeles containing the Vyasa Puja and the latest BBT newsletter and I have found both to be extremely pleasing.
The report of the book printing is both encouraging and surprising. Every time I see this I remember the words of my Guru Maharaja when he told me that wherever there was money it should be used to print books, not that we shall have big big temples and then fight in the court. He asked me to do this and I am trying my little bit, that's all. It is all by his blessings for without his blessings this wonderful thing would not have happened. He said personally to me, "If I could sell this Gaudiya Matha building, that would have been better." He predicted that there would be fire within these walls. So I took it, "O, His Divine Grace wants some books."
| Page Title: | Extremely (Lec, Conv, & Letters) |
| Compiler: | SunitaS, RupaManjari, Mayapur |
| Created: | 26 of Aug, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=13, Con=44, Let=15 |
| No. of Quotes: | 72 |