Final (Conversations 1967 - 1975)

Expressions researched:
"final" |"finalization" |"finalize" |"finalized" |"finalizes" |"finalizing"

1967 Conversations and Morning Walks

Discourse on Lord Caitanya Play Between Srila Prabhupada and Hayagriva -- April 5-6, 1967, San Francisco:

Hayagrīva: The discussion between Sarvabhooma?

Prabhupāda: And Caitanya.

Hayagrīva: And Caitanya, regarding...

Prabhupāda: Regarding Vedānta-sūtra.

Hayagrīva: That's in the introduction to Srimad-Bhāgavatam. Yes, I remember that. All right. There's no sense in going over that. All right. What is the outcome of this now? Final outcome?

Prabhupāda: The outcome is that Sārvabhauma was impersonalist and Caitanya Mahāprabhu was Vaisnava. Then by argument, logic, and everything, that is shortly described here, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya became a disciple of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and he became a great devotee. That is the outcome. And it was a great victory on the part of Caitanya Mahāprabhu because Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya was known as the most stubborn scholar of logic of that time and he became a devotee. By Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya's becoming a devotee of Lord Caitanya, practically He became victorious in His missionary activities because Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya was the learned scholar in the assembly of the King of Orissa. So the King of Orissa also became a devotee. And many other scholars and big men.

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview -- September 24, 1968, Seattle:

Interviewer: How does one feel called toward Kṛṣṇa conscious? That is, does he begin by having faith or does...? What demands are made upon him? How does he come into the frame of mind where he can accept Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Prabhupāda: Of course, faith is the basic principle of everything. If you have no faith, then you cannot make progress in any line of action. So in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is also... Faith is the basic principle. Just like I have come here. I started my classes in New York. So I was alone chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Somebody came. Naturally, out of inquisitiveness, somebody comes. Somebody came and, "Oh, what this Indian swami is doing? Let me see." So he sat down. Some other came. He sat down. Then some of them took it, "Oh, Swamiji speaks very nice. Let me come again." He comes, he comes, and then he gets some faith: "Oh, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is very nice." Then next point is that he wants intimate relationship with the swami, or me: "Swamiji, I have heard you so many days. I think it is very nice. So I want to be your student." So faith is the basic principle. The next stage is that he wants to become a student. And as soon as he wants to become a student, the next stage is that I accept him a disciple if I think that he is suitable. Then as soon as he becomes a disciple, he follows my regulative principles, injunctions. Then gradually he becomes free from all misgivings and naturally he gives up that illicit sex life or gambling or meat-eating and so many other things. In that way he becomes fixed up. Then he develops a taste; he cannot give up the society, taste. Then attraction, attachment. He wants to do everything for the society. In this way he develops love of Kṛṣṇa. And in the final stage he loves only Kṛṣṇa and nobody else. And because Kṛṣṇa includes everyone, that means he loves everyone.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Meeting with Devotees -- June 9, 1969, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Maṭha commander means the, everything of that place under his command.

Hayagrīva: That's not good. Then advisor is better. Advisor would be better.

Prabhupāda: Advisor means his advice will be final?

Hayagrīva: Advice final? That means the advice would be depending on the president.

Prabhupāda: Confirmed by the president. So honorary advisor. Advice gratis?

Hayagrīva: Yes.

Prabhupāda: (Chuckling) No. Another thing is that, as I suggested, that Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja, being sannyāsī, he should be given the top post to give honor to the position of a sannyāsī. Otherwise in our society there is no meaning of a sannyāsī.

Meeting with Devotees -- June 9, 1969, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: All right. That's all right. Then you remain president. And let him become vice president. That will be all right? In case of your absence he will preside in the meeting. Will that be all right?

Hayagrīva: No, that's all right as long as I have final decision in certain matters, as to what to do with my vehicles, what to do with this and what to do with that.

Prabhupāda: No, you will hold meeting and decide in that meeting. If you form a committee, then whatever you do, something serious, you should consult the committee and do it.

Hayagrīva: Well, you make the final decision. You can have anybody you want in charge here. I just make a request, personal request, that I not stay here. That's all. So I mean you can put anybody you want in charge. What I have given of the place is yours. I don't even care to have it.

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) This is not a good proposal. Then where you want to stay?

Meeting with Devotees -- June 9, 1969, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: He should always preach and travel. Always. There is immense field here. He should convince people that we are developing such centers. And you make a nice literature, picture. You go. He is educated. He is intelligent. He has studied our philosophy. He can go and speak.

Hayagrīva: But he shouldn't stay here at all.

Prabhupāda: No. He can come. He stay for some time and go, in that way. That... When he comes here you take his advice, what to do, and then you execute in that way. The final is yourself, whatever you do. He will come and... Now, for developing this center we must require so many things. So he can do the outside work.

Meeting with Devotees -- June 9, 1969, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Some paper. (laughs) So inside-outside work must be done. Bahyābhyantaram śuciḥ. You know that verse?

apavitraḥ pavitro vā

sarvāvasthaṁ gato 'pi vā

yaḥ smaret puṇḍerīkākṣam

sa bahyābhyantaram śuciḥ

So we have to develop this center from outside work and inside work. Outside work means to draw sympathy of the people, to draw money for development. This is also required. We have got a very big scheme. It is not possible that by one man's earning we can do that. It is not possible. We require millions of dollars for developing. If we want to construct here temples, at least seven temples, nicely, so that requires huge amount. So outsiders' sympathy must be there. There is no scarcity of money in your country. Simply they have to be educated that "We are doing something very nice. Please come and help." And that will be nice, in my opinion, that let him come, stay here for one month, again go out for two months, again come here. And he sees how things are going on. He suggests. Now you decide whether his suggestion will be accepted or not. Then I am there, of course. If there is some suggestion, good suggestion. then my order will be final. In that way we have to develop this.

Meeting with Devotees -- June 9, 1969, New Vrindaban:

Hayagrīva: So he can be... He'll be general supervisor?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Naturally when he comes, he becomes overhead everyone, when he comes, because he is a sannyāsī. Just like here, when I am present, you take all final decision from me, so that should be the honor of the sannyāsī. But he should actually... He is not in charge of this place. Just like in other centers the president, secretary, are in charge.

Hayagrīva: So that's not called maṭha commander. That's called general supervisor.

Prabhupāda: He will be, for the time being, the superintendent of the society. He will go everywhere and see and report me what, how things are going on. And then we are going to make a central committee gradually. Everything will be done. Let us work very seriously and sincerely. Everything will come out.

Room Conversation With John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison -- September 11, 1969, London, At Tittenhurst:

Yoko Ono: Well, I mean, what do you mean by serious student? Maybe everybody, all of us are serious anyway. I mean, we're born serious or born, you know, unserious.

Prabhupāda: Then you must know what is distinction between Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān, if you are serious student.

Yoko Ono: But does it depend on knowledge? I mean, the final judgement that you make?

Prabhupāda: Everything depends on knowledge. Without knowledge how can we make progress? Student means to acquire knowledge. Serious student means to acquire knowledge.

Discussion with BTG Staff -- December 24, 1969, Boston:

Hayagrīva: Then he does the first editing. After it's typed up off the dictaphone, Satsvarūpa does the first editing. Then I go over what he has gone over and check the manuscript...

Prabhupāda: Yes. What you do, he goes. And what he does, you go. Then final. In this way. But the last editing should be checked twice. The dictaphone, then checked by him and then by you. Or checked by you and then by him. That's all.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Prof. Kotovsky -- June 22, 1971, Moscow:

Prof. Kotovsky: Surrender is to be accompanied with revolt against surrender of other...

Prabhupāda: Yes, therefore the surrender will be full stop when the surrender is to Kṛṣṇa.

Prof. Kotovsky: Ah ha ha, yes.

Prabhupāda: That is full stop, no more surrendering.

Guest: Final surrendering.

Prabhupāda: Other surrender you have to change by revolution, but when you come to Kṛṣṇa, then it is sufficient. You are satisfied. Just like... I'll give you one example, that a child is crying, and people changing laps, "Oh, you are crying." It is not stopping. But as soon as the small baby comes to the lap of his mother, he stops: "Yes, full satisfied."

Guest: Final satisfaction of...

Prabhupāda: So these changes, this surrendering, will go on in different categories. Actually all the surrenders-sum total is surrender to māyā. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, daivī hy eṣā guṇamayi mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). So this surrender is going on, going on. It is the māyā's, māyāra vaibhava, paraphernalia of māyā, either you surrender to this or to that. But final surrender-mām eva ye prapadyante, māyām etāṁ taranti te—the final surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Then he is happy. Surrender will stay. His process of surrender is there, but this surrender keeps him quite satisfied, transcendental.

Conversation with Prof. Kotovsky -- June 22, 1971, Moscow:

Prof. Kotovsky: But at the same time, the final goal of any consciousness is to change society...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Prof. Kotovsky: ...to make a better society. That...

Prabhupāda: That is automatically...

Prof. Kotovsky: I am not very so happy to hear that your ultimate goal is not to disturb society as such because in modern society there are many things to be changed...

Prabhupāda: That...

Prof. Kotovsky: ...through some consciousness.

Prabhupāda: That preliminary changes... Just like we prohibit, "Don't take intoxicants."

Room Conversation -- July 18, 1971, Detroit:

Mohsin Hassan: Will you accept a comment about, final thing, what do you suggest for me to put my energy on, and present beautiful picture, nicely...

Prabhupāda: Yes, so you try to understand the whole philosophy nicely, then you'll paint the picture all right. Unless you understand very nicely.... So not only one sitting. You have to question and I shall answer. You have to learn this philosophy. But one thing is that unless one is submissive to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and he follows the Vaiṣṇava principles, it is a little difficult to understand.

Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London:

Dr. Weir: That's where your line is so very good in saying that the real evolution of man's mind has been his ability to produce more and more the functions of whatever the mind may be. But the mind is just as indivisible as God. We know what the brain is, but we don't know what the mind is. Yet more and more of it under conscious control instead of being irrationally eruptive(?).

Prabhupāda: But there is the summum bonum of that realization. That is explained in Bhagavad-gītā: bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). After many, many births of this mental evolutionary process, when actually he becomes wise he becomes God conscious and surrenders to God. That is real evolution(?). That evolution will go on. But when it comes to the summit, that is God realization. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19). God is cause of all causes. That is final realization. Unless one comes to that point he has not come to the perfection of evolutionary process of the mind and intelligence.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Śyāmasundara: Even if you don't want to practice austerity, you must. You are forced to.

Prabhupāda: No, because... You have got... You have surrendered to your spiritual master. His order is final. So even if you don't like, you have to do it. To please me. Even you don't like. Nobody likes to fast, but spiritual master says, "Today is fasting," so what can be done? (laughter) This is austerity. And disciple means who has voluntarily agreed to be disciplined by the spiritual master. That is austerity. (Loudspeaker in background is very loud.)

Room Conversation -- April 18, 1972, Hong Kong:

Bhūrijana: Bharatratna. The name of the paper is Bharatratna.

Prabhupāda: Not the Bharatratna. Another daily paper.

Bhūrijana: South China Morning Paper.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. So the article is nice. So one thing is that we are simply interested for a temporary object, but we are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). We do not die. We simply change bodies. Just like these children, they are changing bodies from babyhood to childhood, from childhood to youthhood, the changing bodies. The final change is called death. That means, final change means, giving up this body, we accept again another babyhood body, again begin. This is going on. And this is called māyār bośe, jāccho bhese. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). We are being washed away by the waves of māyā. We are forced to accept a certain type of body, again give it up, again forced to, under 8,400,000 species of life. We do not know, next life what kind of body we are going to get. People should be careful about this. But they are simply interested with this short duration of life, say fifty years or hundred years. But they do not... There is no education, there is no university, that "Everyone is eternal. He should not be engaged only the changing phases of life. One should be interested in the eternal interest of life." This is our mission, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So I'll request you all, ladies and gentlemen present here. Sindhis are generally opulent and religious also, I know. Formerly, when some of our Godbrothers were going to preach in Karachi, they received very well. Now it is Pakistan. Otherwise all Sindhis, they have a special reception for saintly persons. They are religious persons. So you are all here. I think you should open a very nice center for preaching this gospel. And we have no discrimination. We accept anyone because we do not see the outward body. Just a gentleman is not interested with the outward dress, he is interested with the person he talks. Similarly, we are interested to see every person as spirit soul. Paṇḍitaḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). Paṇḍita means learned. Sama-darśinaḥ.

Conversation with Dai Nippon -- April 22, 1972, Tokyo:

Karandhara: If Dai Nippon opens a liaison office in Los Angeles, then it will be very easy to work. The contract is for all the jobs.

Prabhupāda: The officer who will remain there, he will be final or you have to consult with Mr. Ogata(?) and...?

Karandhara: Well, their liaison officer there, he will correspond with Tokyo. They will fix up estimates and confirmations. But it will make the communication better.

Prabhupāda: (chants japa) So there are many Japanese vegetarian? Or he is only.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 25, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But we know that there is a shadow. So there must be a real object.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Unless there is real object, there cannot be shadow. Now the sky is clouded. We cannot see above the cloud. Does it mean there is nothing? If somebody: "Oh, there is nothing (indistinct)"

Brahmānanda: All we have to do is fly up there, and it's bright as sun.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Somehow we have to remove the covering.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (pause) We don't give any credit to any man if he's not Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is our final conclusion. We can give credit so much, as you have got. Just like you are a driver. So I can give you the credit of a driver. But I cannot give you the credit of a high-court judge. So much, what you know, that much credit...

Room Conversation with Krishna Tiwari -- May 22, 1973, New York:

Krishna Tiwari: I, I have heard about those things, but I just don't know about the, how to believe...

Prabhupāda: That means, that means you are unbeliever.

Krishna Tiwari: No, not at all.

Prabhupāda: Certainly. Certainly! That you are unbeliever.

Krishna Tiwari: Not at all.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: If, if he doesn't know who he is, who is controlling?

Prabhupāda: Then he is?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Then he is admitting that there is a controller. You admit that there is a controller, but you don't know. You're telling us that you do not see Him and you do not know Him.

Prabhupāda: That is a fact.

Krishna Tiwari: Well, you can say that. I don't know.

Prabhupāda: You can not make finalize...

Krishna Tiwari: My point is I don't know, and I'm not too sure you know it either. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: I know. I know, because we are getting from authority of Veda. We know.

Krishna Tiwari: No, Vedas are there, but Swamiji...

Prabhupāda: You are, you are, you are, you...

Krishna Tiwari: When I was in India, dying in smallpox, children were dying in smallpox, and we were going to all the knowledge of Veda people, and they were sending us to the temple, and we, we go and worship, and the people will die and, and they didn't tell us anything about some kind of injection which could protect it. And the scientist people who went and found out about nature, they found out something, and children are not dying anymore. They are not deformed. I know about that...

Prabhupāda: You have stopped the death of children?

Room Conversation with Krishna Tiwari -- May 22, 1973, New York:

Śyāmasundara: You said once, in a court of law, if there are two points of view at the final judgment, it has to be judged by the results of which point of view. So if you, if you judge by the results of our process and his process which people are..., have attained to some kind of perfect understanding of themselves, some kind of satisfaction with life, you have to point to our process and say that ours gets the balance of favorable opinion, because in your process, no one has been made happy.

Krishna Tiwari: How does say that in your process, anybody has been made happy?

Prabhupāda: Everyone who follows Vedic injunctions, they're happy.

Devotee (1): You ask me.

Krishna Tiwari: You ask me. I'm very happy.

Prabhupāda: But you are happy with imperfect knowledge.

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

Prabhupāda: My wife was taking tea. So I asked her not to take tea, not to take tea. But she didn't care husband. Then I gave her final, that "Either you have to give up your tea or your husband." (laughter) So she agreed to give up husband, not tea. (laughter) So I left my home. That's all. (laughter)

Guest (8): Due to tea!

Guest (9): There won't be any place for me to go now.

Prabhupāda: We have got such a big house. We welcome all. Yes, bad habit is... Habit is second nature sometimes, but one should be determined. Therefore we have got four āśramas: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. Whichever is suitable. Just like here. He's gṛhastha. His wife, children, all are devotees. So he doesn't require to become a sannyāsī.

Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor -- August 13, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Well, it is not widely read, but this has become a fashion, to give his own interpretation. Yes.

Professor: Yeah, that's right, the fashion. That's the word. That's right.

Prabhupāda: But Kṛṣṇa was not a so, I mean to say, ignorant, that He left something to be interpreted later on by another rascal. No. That was not Kṛṣṇa's intention. What Kṛṣṇa says, that is final. So we accept in that way. Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). So we appeal to the people that "You think of Kṛṣṇa. You become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa." All these disciples, they have been taught like that. "You offer obeisances to Kṛṣṇa." Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī. "You worship Kṛṣṇa." That's it. And by doing that, they are advancing. Advancing. And before me, for hundreds of years or more than that, the Bhagavad-gītā was known to the European and American countries. As you say, there are so many trans...

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

David Lawrence: Yes, it seemed to me, I tried to read certainly, A.L. Basham...

Prabhupāda: Those who know Sanskrit, they know what is the meaning of Veda. Veda means knowledge. Vetti veda-vid jñāne. Jñāna means knowledge. That means the history of Veda means from the date of creation of this material world. Now find out the date of creation of the material world. Approximately, nobody can give what is the date of. We can, we cannot... Date of Brahmā, he got the, first of all, the Vedic knowledge. Now, one day of Brahmā you cannot calculate. One day of Brahmā. And the... When Brahmā's night is there, there is devastation up to some extent. So again in the daytime of Brahmā, that creation takes place. There are two kinds of devastation. One devastation is at the night of Brahmā and one final devastation is the whole cosmic manifestation finished. So these teeny people, they are after the dates of Vedas, and that is ludicrous, that is...(laughs) Just like there are many microbes, they grow in the evening and die just in the day beginning. So whole night is their span of life. So our life is like that. What history you can write? Therefore, we receive Vedic knowledge from the authorities. And what is the value of these dates?

Morning Walk -- December 8, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prajāpati: They think of it as actually a maturity. "We needed to talk about God when we were infants, and now we are advanced."

Prabhupāda: So maturity, you must give what is that standard God, if it is mature. Mature means you must give the real standard. That is mature. But if nobody of you can give the what is the real standard, then how it is mature? Bali Mardana Prabhu, what do you think? Mature means the final conclusion. Just like in scientific theory. All the scientists come into conclusion, "Yes, this is the..."

Morning Walk -- December 10, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Scientist! (laughs) So how, why it is imagination? Your idea of supremacy, you must define. How do you accept here in this material world a person as supreme? Why? Why you accept Nixon as supreme person within your state? What is the cause?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Because he has some power.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Eh?

Karandhara: He's elected.

Prabhupāda: No, no, he's elected, that is same. But his position is supreme. Why he's supreme? As government servant, he gets the highest salary, he has the, all the best facilities, amenities, and his order is final. In this way...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He has the command of convincing others.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He has the power or the command of...

Prabhupāda: No, you may not agree with him. Still, you have to accept. That is his supremacy. You may not agree with him, but because he's supreme, you have to accept his order. That is his position. It does not depend on your acceptance or not acceptance. That is supremacy. Is it not?

Morning Walk -- December 13, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They want to stop spread of communism.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Similarly, now America has to do the same thing to stop demonism. Then your nation will be leader. You understand; you have trust in God. Now it is your business to trust in real God and work for Him. You cannot... I have explained already. You cannot stop communism. You have to stop demonism. That is your real business. Communism is another type of demonism. So if you remain a demon, so what is the use of stopping another demonism? The same example: stool, the upside is dried up. You cannot say, "Because it is upside of stool, it is better side." Stool is stool. Guer ei pita en opita. (?) (dog barking loudly) Come on. That's all right. He cannot make the condition of the world better by... Just like Professor Kotofsky. He was saying that there must be revolution. I was talking of authority. So the authority you must have to accept. So he said that authority is accepted upon revolution.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: After revolution?

Prabhupāda: Ah. Because I said about authority... So this is fact. Now, in Russia the authority was the Czar. Now, after this Bolshevik revolution, Lenin became authority. That was his point. I said that you have to accept one authority. That you cannot change. That he said, that "Yes, that I accept, but authority has to be changed by revolution." And yes, we accept that. But the ult... When you come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness authority, then there is no more necessity of change." Yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ. Everyone is trying to achieve the greatest profit. So when he gets Kṛṣṇa, he is satisfied. No more profit. Final profit. Yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ. So there is no more necessity of revolution because that is the ultimate peaceful condition. So if you do not come to the ultimate condition of peace, then this revolutionary method will go on, continue. There will be no cessation of revolution, one after, one... That is māyā, illusion.

Morning Walk -- December 17, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Working under condition. Working under condition. Just like you take a little needle, it will go immediately down the water, and you give a big log, it will not go. The weight of the needle and the weight of the big log, much different. Still, the needle will go; the gravitation will work. But to the log it will not work.

Karandhara: Well, there is a counter-law called buoyancy.

Prabhupāda: So anyway, there are so many laws. If the laws are fulfilled, then your so-called gravitation works. So who made the laws? That is the point. Under certain law, condition, it will not act, and under certain condition it will act. So who made the condition? That is the question. You cannot make finalize the laws of gravitation. It is also under condition. Who makes this condition? That is the point. (break) ...Lord Rāmacandra constructed the bridge with stone on the ocean, it began to float. So He is the condition-maker. He made the condition. He changed the condition, "Now these stones will float." That's all. Therefore God is supreme. (break) Law of gravitation did not work when Kṛṣṇa lifted the Govardhana Hill. (break) So that is nice. The scientific discoveries act under relative condition. That is not absolute, final. If such and such conditions are there, then the so-called scientific laws will act. Otherwise it will not act. (break) ...see. But you cannot see even so many things. Now you cannot see there, what is there. So what is that seeing power?

Morning Walk -- December 30, 1973, Los Angeles:

Nalinīkaṇṭha: (break) ...will be overthrown and replaced with God conscious beings.

Prabhupāda: No. I am not talking of any government. We are not in politics. We are talking of preaching. Why? Why this government should you try to change. Where is the better replacement? First of all find out the better replacement. Then you talk of changing. Where is the better replacement? To replace one rascal with another, that is not... Now democratic government, if the people become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then naturally their leader will be Kṛṣṇa conscious. So automatically it will change. There is no question of violence. What is the use? Now, suppose by violence you become the president of the United States. Will you be able to do something?

Nalinīkaṇṭha: No.

Prabhupāda: Then what is the use? Because under democratic government, your order is not final. So if the people are demons, then what you will do? You cannot do anything. Therefore the people's mentality, consciousness, should be changed by this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. When they become God conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious, they will select Kṛṣṇa conscious president. Then everything finished. Formerly people used to accept the king as the final authority, but at this present moment, that is not accepted. People must accept. Now it is people's government. So unless people are God conscious, you cannot find good government. In comparison to other governments, your government is far better. People here (are) not starving.

Morning Walk -- December 30, 1973, Los Angeles:

Nalinīkaṇṭha: No, but as more people become Kṛṣṇa conscious, there will more of a desire to live simply.

Prabhupāda: That is good for them. That is good for them. Because at the present moment they are missing the aim of life. That is the defect. They do not know what is the goal of life. They are thinking, "We are also cats and dogs." And that is the defect of the modern civilization. Our human life is to achieve the highest perfection. Otherwise this āhāra-nidra-bhaya... Even the small birds they know. Just see how they are protecting themselves. They are also afraid of danger, and they are doing their own way. So if we simply discover atomic weapons for defense, that is not final advancement of civilization. Final civilization is how to save yourself from death. That is civilization. And there is no such program. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). The highest perfection is how to save oneself from these four miserable conditions: birth, death, old age and disease. They do not know. Nobody knows. Here is the process, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If people become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then he can solve these problems. That is real defense. (pause) So defense automatically, the small birds are taking. See. They are so alert that the water cannot overcome them. Immediately, they flee, by nature. This boy, his leg became full of water, but they are not. (laughter) They are so careful. Just see. By nature they are defending. Just see. Such a big wave is coming for him, "Yes, fly away," immediately.

Morning Walk -- December 30, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prajāpati: But would it be a good proposition to present Kṛṣṇa conscious philosophy in such a systematic way?

Prabhupāda: Oh yes, you do it. Do it. That is intelligence. Here is the only systematic way to understand God. You simply try to understand the first verse of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Then everything is explained there. Now you can... I have explained that, what is meant by God. God means the source of everything. Where is that theologician who can deny it? The first proposition is "God is that which is the source of everything." Now the next question will be, "What is that source, animate or inanimate?" Just like the scientists, they are claiming matter. This should be discussed. Then you come to the conclusion, "He must be animate." Then next question is "Wherefrom the animation came?" Then the conclusion should be that "He is self-sufficient. There is no need of cause." Then "Why people cannot understand?" That answer is that "Even great, great personality like Brahmā, Indra, they also bewildered." In this way, everything is there in that verse, systematical. Yatra tri-sargo 'mṛṣā. Now this material world is also creation of God, but it is shadow; it is not reality. The reality is where there is no illusion, and that is spiritual kingdom. That is the place of God. Everything is there in that verse in the beginning. And then next verse is, the so-called religions, they are kicked out from this Bhāgavatam. The religion is God is great and everyone should worship Him. Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsara...(SB 1.1.2). And it is meant for the first-class non-envious person. One who is envious, he will think, "Oh, why shall I worship God?" He cannot. One who is non-envious, he understands that "God is great always. I am always subordinate. Therefore I must worship." This is... In systematic way you discuss. "I must worship. Because I am dependent. I am not final authority. So the great... God is great, and I am always small. So it is my duty to submit to the great." So that is bhakti. So you can discuss in a systematic way. Bhāgavata is there. There is no difficulty. And it is said there, īśvaraḥ sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate: "By studying this literature, the God immediately becomes captured." Immediately becomes captured. These people are searching after God, but if one understands Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the very beginning, rightly, immediately God is captured. Sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate, śuśrūṣubhiḥ, "Those who are seriously and inquisitive, for them." Tat-kṣaṇāt, "immediately." There is no need of taking time, that "So many years it will take." No, Tat-kṣaṇāt. These are stated in the Bhāgavata.

Morning Walk -- December 30, 1973, Los Angeles:

Nara-nārāyaṇa: Actually they are simply selling their theories. Whoever will buy it, they are selling it to.

Prabhupāda: Another rascal is buying. We are not buying. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṇam, spotless knowledge, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Amalam. Amalam means without any spot. (break) ...of God is given in the dictionary, "Supreme Being." That is very nice. Everywhere we see that on the top there is a supreme being, just like in your state, the president. So why not this big government, a Supreme Being? Where is the difficulty? Without something supreme, controller, things cannot go nicely. Otherwise why you select a president? Why you select a supreme being and give him all power that "Your order will be final"? Why you do that? Because you want the government must go on nicely. Otherwise there is no need of electing a president. So supreme being must be there, in every management. So this big huge management, there must be Supreme Being. And that is God. Clear, simple understanding. How can you deny? The difficulty is that with our poor fund of knowledge, we cannot understand that how a Supreme Being, person, can create the sky, this huge water, the sun, moon. Because I am thinking, "God must be like me." A Dr. Frog. He is thinking, "Atlantic Ocean must be like this well." That is our defect. He cannot conceive that beyond this well there can be a vast great mass of water. He cannot conceive. So comparing his intelligence, he is thinking that "How it is possible that a person can create such a big sky, such big, huge...?" Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). This earth, so big, huge quantity of earthly planet. So not only one. Millions. And then water, then fire, then... He cannot conceive. He is thinking that "If there is God, He must be like me. So I cannot do this. Therefore there is no God." The same, "Yes. I close my eyes. Then there is no enemies." That's all. He should be intelligent. Just like we are here ten or twenty men. You accept that "He is our guru. He is most intelligent man." Similarly, somebody is more intelligent than me, somebody is more intelligent, more intelligent. Go on searching. Find out the final intelligent. That is comparative intelligence. That we know. But what is that final intelligence? That we must know. That is God. Just like the sun. If we think that beyond this sun there is no more planet, that is not correct. You cannot go beyond this sun. That is another thing. But all the planets are surrounding the sun. That everyone knows. So if there is a planet this down the sun, why not up the sun? It is common sense. This water is impersonal, but go down the water. You will find millions of persons, aquatics. Those who are seeing superficially on the surface, they have concluded, "Now finished, all personality finished. It is all vacant." That is poor fund of knowledge. Real knowledge is go deep into the water, you will find millions of creatures. They are living very nicely within the water. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayān... Even within the atom, you will find personality.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 3, 1974, Los Angeles:

New Devotee: I live in Long Beach and I will be going to school soon, but I'm...

Prabhupāda: Hm. We don't accept any speculative knowledge. We want final conclusion of the experienced person. Nṛpa-nirṇītaḥ, this word is used. Nṛpa-nirṇītaḥ, it is concluded. Kavibhir nirūpitaḥ. Idaṁ hi puṁsas śrutas..., tapasaḥ śrutasya vā. Avicyuto 'rthaḥ kavibhir nirūpitaḥ. Nirṇītaḥ... These words are... It is already concluded. There is no question of argument. In the Vedic literature, these words are used, nṛpa-nirṇītaḥ, nirūpitaḥ.

Morning Walk -- March 6, 1974, Mayapura:

Devotee: ...Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, very prominent. When Lord Caitanya came, He made the worship of...

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.

Devotee: ...Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa very prominent.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.

Devotee: The Vaiṣṇavas before...

Prabhupāda: No, other Vaiṣṇavas. But... The on... This Vaiṣṇava party, they stress on Bāla-Kṛṣṇa, Gopāla. We also, we have got our Gopāla, as Mādhavendra Purī installed a Gopāla. That Gopāla is now worshiped, Nāthavara (?), by the Vallabha-sampradāya. That is Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Deity. It is admitted in the court. (break) ...the modern civilization is that they do not know that this, there is transmigration of the soul, and this constant change of body is not very good. They do not know anything. Neither they do know that there is change of body. Neither they feel that "The constant change of body is not very good. If there is any remedy?" These rascals, they do not find the final remedy. They are busy with the temporary problems. Real problestem they set aside. (break) ...simply being bewildered by the three guṇas, sattva-rajo-tamo-guṇa, they do not know the ultimate goal is Kṛṣṇa. They do not know it. That is stated in Bhagavad-gītā.

Morning Walk -- March 30, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Ārambha means beginning. So it is already began, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. What is the new thing, you begin this, you begin that? No. No more. That's all right. Final. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21).

Dr. Patel: But even then you have got to eat. You have got to go to public...

Prabhupāda: That is going on, that is going on...

Dr. Patel: On these... These ārambha-parityāgī. You don't take any, any cognizance of these works being done by the body. I think, that is to my mind, the exact meaning. I have not been able to (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: No, that I have already explained. If you have taken seriously Kṛṣṇa consciousness, so something happening due to my past habit, you should not take care of it. It will subside.

Chandobhai: Ārambha.

Dr. Patel: Sarva-ārambha parityāgī. (break)

Prabhupāda: This is the final conclusion of... Final conclusion, that if anyone has taken devotional service seriously, avyabhicāriṇi, avyabhicāriṇi. Avyabhicāriṇi means as instructed by the spiritual master. If one takes this business very seriously, and he's executing that, then he's guṇātīta. That's all.

Dr. Patel: (Sanskrit)

Chandobhai: Brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham...

Prabhupāda: Brahma means Vedas, Brahma means... There are so many things. So many things. So here brahmaṇaḥ, brahma-jyotir... People are very much impersonalists. They think realization of brahma-jyotir is final. To, just to reply them, this is, this śloka is: brahmaṇo aham pratiṣṭha. Wherefrom this jyoti's coming? This is very common sense. A jyoti does... Just like this jyoti, this clearness, no darkness, wherefrom it is coming? Everyone knows it is coming from the sun. Without this sun, why at night there was no such jyoti? Because the sun is rising, therefore this jyoti has come. Similarly...

Morning Walk -- March 31, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Ah. Then anyaj jñātavyam. No. Then you become perfect. No more knowledge.

Mr. Sar: No more knowledge is required.

Prabhupāda: Yes, knowledge is perfect.

Mr. Sar: Final

Prabhupāda: Final, yes.

Prabhupāda: Yasmin vijñāte sarvam etaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavanti. This is also Upaniṣad. Yasmin vijñāte. If you simply understand Kṛṣṇa, then sarvam eva vijñātaṁ bhavanti. Then you have got full knowledge. And that is also stated in the Fourth Chapter. Janma karma me divyam yo janāti tattvataḥ, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti... (BG 4.9). He becomes immediately liberated. Simply if you understand Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa, tattvataḥ, in truth, then you are, your business is finished.

Mr. Sar: Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3).

Morning Walk -- April 5, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: What I mean to say that realized people don't criticize because final proof nobody knows. (break)

Prabhupāda: Sarvārhanam acyutejyā. Simply by worshiping Kṛṣṇa, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65), you can worship everyone. There is no need of separately worshiping the five devatās. There is no need.

Morning Walk -- April 5, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Why harsh? I am quoting Bhagavad-gītā. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante... (BG 7.15).

Dr. Patel: Bhagavad-gītā, no... Final śāstras are the Vedas.

Prabhupāda: Then don't accept Bhagavad-gītā.

Dr. Patel: We are accepting because it is the sarva ga...

Prabhupāda: Then don't accept the words. You accept Bhagavad-gītā...

Dr. Patel: How can you say, "Don't accept..."

Prabhupāda: No, no, here it is clearly said that "Anyone who is not surrendered to Me, he is a miscreant, rascal, mūḍhā, everything." That is the test.

Morning Walk -- April 11, 1974, Bombay:

Italian Man (1): I see, yes, yes. And the difference between the impersonalist, I mean, and the personalist is that the impersonalist does not believe...

Prabhupāda: No, no, believe... You don't believe or not believe, it doesn't matter. We are explaining science. If somebody says, "No, there is no temperature," that is foolishness. There is temperature. How can you say there is no temperature? There is temperature. Even you go to the water, there is temperature. Everywhere. Because the elements are all there, bhūmir āpo analo vāyu... The beginning is the ākāśa, ether. The ether is in the air, the air is in the fire, the fire is in the water, and the earth is in the water. This is this way. And in the earth you will find everything. You will find air, ether, water, fire, everything. And the final state, it is ether only, originally. So suppose I am breathing. It is ethereal. But so many things are coming. If I am contaminated, by touching my breathing, you will be contaminated, and it will come out as disease.

Morning Walk -- April 24, 1974, Hyderabad:

Devotee: They'll have to study your books to find out what to say.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like our, what is this? Sai, Sai, Siddha-svarūpa. He also tried to imitate ourself, and by reading, reading, he became my disciple. Although he has the same mentality, still, still he does not find any better solution than our philosophy. The Karandhara, he went away (chuckles) and does not find any solution. You see?

Satsvarūpa: "I find no alternative to Kṛṣṇa's service," he said.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the final. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). That is final. (break)

Room Conversation with Monsieur Roost, Hatha-yogi -- May 31, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: That I already said, dhyānāvasthita, dhyāna avasthita. Dhyāna means meditation, and situated, avasthita. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā, by mind, paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ. So these processes are approved, but they are more or less on the bodily concept of life.

M. Roost: Is according to...?

Prabhupāda: As the karmīs, they are in the bodily concept of life. They are working day and night trying to improve the material condition of life, not only in this life, but also in the next life. They are performing different ritualistic ceremonies for being promoted to the heavenly planet, like that. So they are all karmīs. Either in this world or in the next world, they are called karmīs. So karmī means they want comfort of this body. And the yogis, they are also on the concept of this body. They are identifying this body as designated Brahman, upādhi-brahma, "Brahman with designation." But their central point is this body. That... This bodily concept of life, so long it continues in the form of karma-yogī or dhyāna-yogī, it can give him relief from the cycle of birth and death and merge into the Brahman effulgence. Brahma-sāyujya-mukti, this is called, technically. The jñānīs also. But that is not final. There is still farther. Even there is brahma-sārūpya-mukti, brahma-sālokya-mukti, brahma-sarṣṭi-mukti. So generally, the yogis and the jñānīs, they aim at brahma-sāyujya-mukti, to merge into the Brahman effulgence. But that is not final. Final is bhakti-yoga. After advancing, if the yogi gets the chance of associating with pure devotee and he engages himself in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, that is final perfection.

Room Conversation with Biochemist, Dr. Sallaz -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:

Yogeśvara: What he says is that the final conclusion of their research work has been...

Dr. Sallaz: One of them.

Yogeśvara: One of their conclusions has been to be able to make one element to change into another element. They were able to take iron and transform it into chrome by chemical process, almost like alchemy, he says. And this was very startling for the scientific world.

Dr. Sallaz: Result. Result, only with physical heat, eight hundred, and pressure, only this. No laser, no atomic energy, nothing at all. Simply by natural measures.

Prabhupāda: We can give you one information, that metals like bell metal. Bell metal is combination of...? What is called? Tin? Tin? What is another name of tin?

Yogeśvara: Copper.

Prabhupāda: Anyway, tin and copper and mercury; if you can mix, it will become gold.

Dr. Sallaz: I'm sure it is possible, from what we have seen and made. But it is not of great interest to make gold.

Prabhupāda: No, we are interested. (laughter) We want gold for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Nobody is paying us. We are simply selling our books. That's all. Nobody paying us, no government, no..., that "You take so many million dollars for spreading Kṛṣṇa..." Nobody. Therefore we require some gold. So biology, what is the basic principle of biology?

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa says, and He is confirmed by Vyāsadeva, Asita, Nārada. This is the process. We do not accept everyone says "I am avatāra, I am God." We don't accept. But because it is accepted by the ācāryas, therefore we accept. Just like the same example I can give: I do not know who is my father, and many people will come, "I am your father." So we do not accept them. When mother says, "He is your father," then accept. That is final. I have no experience. It is beyond my experience, because father existed before my birth. So beyond my experience. So I am finding out who is my father, and so many people are coming, "I am your father." No. But as soon as the mother says, "No, no, this man is your father," then we accept. Then our business finished. Then we get experience. Father is beyond my experience, but when we receive the knowledge through the mother, then we get experience. Arjuna says that: paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12), "You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Not only You are saying, but You are accepted by these authorities." That is all. I cannot get my experience of God; that is not possible. God comes, He says, and Kṛṣṇa comes and He is accepted by all the great ācāryas, then our business is perfect. So give them prasāda.

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Therefore, it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7), "There is no more controller beyond Me." Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti. Nobody. This final controller. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). And in Brahma-samhita, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Vigraha means form, body. Govinda ādi-puruṣam, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1), the cause of all causes. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat.

Yogeśvara:

mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat

kiñcid asti dhanañjaya

mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ

sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva

(BG 7.7)

"O conqueror of wealth (Arjuna), there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread."

Prabhupāda: So "Nobody is superior to Me," there is nobody controller. Kṛṣṇa is not controlled by anyone. Therefore, He is īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). That is final God. Otherwise God... You will find, you are more powerful than me, he is more powerful than you, and somebody is more powerful than him, go on, go on, seeing, seeing. But when you come to Kṛṣṇa, nobody is more powerful than Him. Mattaḥ parataram. Parataram means better or higher principle, no.

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Then it is confirmed by Arjuna, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān, puruṣam (BG 10.12). "You are person"—puruṣam means person—śāśvatam, "eternally." Then he says that "It is not that You have said. I see from Your instruction, and it is confirmed by Vyāsadeva, by Devala, by Nārada." Then it is final.

Jyotirmayī: (French)

Prabhupāda: The Vedas say, therefore, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). In order to understand that science, you have to approach the guru. Vyāsadeva is the original guru. He is instructor of Vedic knowledge. Then from Vyāsadeva, ācāryas. So this is the instruction of the Vedas. Tad-vijñānārtham: in order to experience that transcendental thing, you have to approach to the authorities, gurum eva abhigacchet. And who is guru? Śrotriyam, one who has heard from his guru, authorized person, śrotriyam, brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12), and firmly convinced in the science of God.

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: So that is also good, and it is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, ārto arthārthī jñānī ca catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ. Catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna, ārtaḥ. Ārtaḥ means distress, ārtaḥ, one who is distressed. "I have no food, sir, my dear Lord. Kindly give me some food." So he is distressed, so he is praying to God because he is pious. The Communists say, "Why you are praying to God? You pray to us, the government. We shall give you enough bread." The Communist propaganda is like that. They send the people to the church, "So you pray." So they pray. "Have you got bread?" They say, "No, sir." "Now pray to us." "Give us, sir," and he gives hundreds of breads. In this way, they are making atheist. Because common man cannot argue, neither they know so much logic. But if there is some intelligent man, he will ask immediately that "Wherefrom you have got this bread? Who has given you the wheat? That you have not manufactured; that is given by God." So actually God gives, but the Communists take the credit that "I give." This is the misconception. If God does not supply you... Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān, He is supplying for everyone. So if He does not supply, then what your bakery machine will do? It is useless. So people have lost the intelligence in the Communist countries. They think that these government men, they have brought the bread, not God. In this way, they are gradually becoming atheist. But the central point is God. We are preaching the central point is God. You call Him by any name, it doesn't matter, either you call Jehovah or Kṛṣṇa or something, Allah, that doesn't matter. But you accept the authority of God and try to love God. This is our mission. And we say God is person. Impersonal feature, that is a feature only. Just like sun-god is a person and the sunshine is one of the feature of the sun-god. The sunshine is not final. You have to penetrate to the sunshine and reach the sun globe and go within the globe and see that there is the sun-god. But that requires strength how to enter into the sun globe and see this. But there is the information in the Bhagavad-gītā: imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam, vivasvān manave prāha (BG 4.1), "I first of all instructed this yoga system of Bhagavad-gītā to the sun-god." The sun-god is there in the sun planet, and if you have got strength, you can go there and see. But you cannot go, although it is material. So similarly, in the spiritual world there is the Supreme Spirit, Supreme Being, He is spiritual, concentrated, essence of light. That is ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). He is the origin of everything. And He says, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). Find out this verse. Find out. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham.

Room Conversation with Mr. Deshimaru -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Pṛthu Putra: He says it's very simple.

Prabhupāda: Yes, it is simple. It is simple. First thing to know that I am not this body. Because within this body there is the living force. I am that living force. Then he will understand that there is living force in this big cosmic gigantic manifestation. There is a living force. So what is the relationship with that living force and this living force? Then when it is understood that "Living force is great, and I am small," then what is my duty? Here we see that the great takes service from the small. Therefore my business is to serve the great. That is final. In three lines you can understand the whole truth, provided you understood. But if you become rigid to your understanding, own understanding, then it is very difficult. Otherwise it is very simple. You are a living force. There is no doubt. Is there any doubt? You are a living force. (French)

Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Professor Durckheim: ...and to write books, and people came, and today we have there what you would call a little āśrama, mostly about fifty, sixty persons living there, coming, going, no patients, just people who try to discover their real self, nothing else.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Professor Durckheim: That's our work we are trying to do.

Prabhupāda: So Absolute Truth is realized in three aspect. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). Some realize the Absolute Truth as impersonal Brahman, others realize the Absolute Truth as localized Paramātmā, situated in everyone's heart, and the final realization is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So we are cultivating the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). So which aspect you are cultivating, the Paramātmā or the impersonal Brahman or the Personality of Godhead?

Room Conversations -- September 11, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Mirabhai is becoming mixed up with Kṛṣṇa. You have seen it?

Brahmānanda: Yes, that was the final point. She worshiped Kṛṣṇa throughout her whole life so at the end she could become one with Him.

Prabhupāda: This is going on, the Māyāvādī rascals. But they do not refer where Kṛṣṇa says that "You become My devotee, then you become pushed (indistinct)."

Brahmānanda: They showed the two bodies coming together.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Brahmānanda: I think the picture of the two bodies...

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Professors -- February 19, 1975, Caracas:

Professor (Hṛdayānanda): Is the final goal of transcendence, then, immortality?

Prabhupāda: All perfection.

Professor (Hṛdayānanda): Then what would that be then? What would that be, that all perfection?

Prabhupāda: That is transcendence. You come in contact with the transcendence, all-perfect. Then you become all-perfect.

Room Conversation with Metaphysics Society -- February 21, 1975, Caracas:

Prabhupāda: That's all right. But you are basing your knowledge, "Perhaps." Therefore you are imperfect. "Perhaps." That means you are imperfect. Your statement will not be accepted. Because you are imperfect, you say, "Perhaps, maybe." So this is not knowledge. This is not knowledge. This is ignorance. As soon as you say, "Perhaps, maybe," that means you do not know what is, the actual thing is. Knowledge must be perfect. There is no question of "Perhaps, it may be." No, that is not knowledge. That is speculation. That is speculation. That is not knowledge. Because you are sitting, "Perhaps," therefore your knowledge cannot be accepted.

Guest: No, no, I'm just asking the question whether or not the right question could be: "Who am I?"

Prabhupāda: Yes, that's nice. That's nice. Therefore I say when you say, "I am," and when I say, "I am," I must understand who I am, you must understand who you are. That I am saying, that simply saying "I am," is not the final. Is not the final. Everyone is "I am," but he must know what I am, what that "I am." That is knowledge. If you blindly say, "I am," and you do not know what you are, then what is the use of using "I am"? Therefore I ask, "What you are?"

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- February 28, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: Koriho mane āśā. Do not try to research anything. That is final.

ar na koriho mane āśā.

If the guru is perfect, your knowledge is perfect. And how guru becomes perfect? He has heard from his guru. That's all. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2). Kṛṣṇa is the original guru. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam, vivasvān manave prāhu (BG 4.1). This is paramparā system. You hear... Just like Lord Brahmā heard from Kṛṣṇa, tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. He gave the knowledge to Brahmā. Brahmā distributed the knowledge. Therefore Vedic knowledge is perfect. The Vedic knowledge comes from the Supreme Person. Vedāham. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaṁ vedānta-vid vedānta-kṛt cāham (BG 15.15). So Vedic knowledge is coming from Kṛṣṇa, and it is received by Brahmā, and then Nārada receives. Then Vyāsadeva receives. Then he gives us all these Vedic literature. We understand. That's all. It is not by so-called rascal's research. Research means they are rascal. That's all.

Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Guest (3): That we admit that there's not very high study and it's not something final but I think some...

Prabhupāda: No, that protein fooding supply... Suppose the birds and bees, they have no research institute. They have sufficient protein supply, this supply and that supply by nature. An elephant has got so big body and so much strength that they have not found it by your scientific research. The nature is supplying. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27), it is being done. Why you are wasting time in this way? You study what is prakṛti, and what is behind prakṛti. That is real study. The protein supply is already being done. Just like a cow is eating grass and she's supplying milk, full of protein, so do you think the protein is coming from the grass? Can you eat grass?

Room Conversation with Yoga Student -- March 14, 1975, Iran:

Prabhupāda: Āhus tvāṁ ṛṣayaḥ sarve: "All the ṛṣis, great saintly persons, they have accepted You." And some of them are named: Asita, Devala, Vyāsa. They are very great authority, ṛṣis: Vyāsadeva, who has compiled the whole Vedic literature; Nārada, the spiritual master of Vyāsadeva; similarly, Asita, Devala, very, very big, big stalwart, they have accepted. So apart from all these ṛṣis, recently, within, say, thousand years, great ācāryas just like Śaṅkarācārya, Madhvācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Nimbārka, Viṣṇu Svāmī, Lord Caitanya, they have all accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme. And India's Vedic culture is practically dependent on all these ācāryas. So we are follower of these ācārya, so we accept, following the footsteps of the ācārya. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda. One who has ācārya, guidance... Just like if anyone is going to be doctor of philosophy, he is guided by three ācāryas. That is the system in India. I think the same here, is it not? Anyone who is going to present some thesis, he is guided by three experienced professors, is it not?

Dr. Movebhed: Yes, more or less.

Prabhupāda: That is ācārya. So ācāryavān puruṣo veda. Without following the ācārya, if we simply theorize, that is not good. Just like the same example: if you want to put some thesis, the university regulation is that he must be guided by three experienced professor. You cannot simply put forward your thesis without being guided by the experienced professors. That thesis will not be accepted. Similarly, here Arjuna directly hears from Kṛṣṇa. So he says that "You are Parabrahma. Now I understand." Now people may say that "You are accepting Him Parabrahma. Where is your authority? You are friend. You can say Parabrahma or anything—out of love. That is not final." Therefore he quotes that... What is that? Āhus tvāṁ ṛṣayaḥ sarve: "All the big, big ṛṣis, they have accepted You." Svayaṁ caiva bravīṣi me: "And You, the Supreme Person, You are also speaking to me. And so far I am concerned, I have realized now that You are the Supreme Lord, Parabrahma." So if we follow Arjuna, then there is no difficulty. Accept Kṛṣṇa as Parabrahma. So Arjuna has heard it from Kṛṣṇa directly. This is the process. Now Kṛṣṇa says that "I accept your statement in toto." What is that language?

Room Conversation with Yoga Student -- March 14, 1975, Iran:

Prabhupāda: ...fact is that if you have got different views about Kṛṣṇa, then you cannot prove that from the Bhagavad-gītā. That you cannot prove. If you take Bhagavad-gītā, then you must present it as it is. Don't distort it. You may have got some idea, but you explain that idea in your different book. But don't place it as the explanation of Bhagavad-gītā. That is not very good. If you have got different theory, you can write in a different book. But we cannot permit or do not like that as the commentary of Bhagavad-gītā you will place something different. That is not very honest. You put your own theory. Why should you try to put your theory through Bhagavad-gītā? That we protest. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said that "There is no superior authority than Me." Therefore He is the God. Mām eva ya prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8): "I am the origin of everything." And if you have got different idea, that somebody else is the origin, that you can explain differently. But you cannot keep it as explanation of Bhagavad-gītā. Then it is distortion, because in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said,

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo

mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate

He becomes final,

iti matvā bhajante māṁ

budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ

(BG 10.8)

Iti matvā: "One who knows this perfectly well that Kṛṣṇa is the origin of everything, he becomes a devotee." Iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā. Budhā mean very learned. Bhāva-samanvitāḥ: "Oh, here is the supreme cause, or Kṛṣṇa." The philosophy means to search out the supreme cause. That is philosophy. Find out the ultimate cause. That is darśana. In Sanskrit it is called darśana, find out what is the supreme cause. So here it is explained, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8), sarvasya, including whatever you know. Sarvasya means including everything. "So whatever you know, the cause of everything, that cause is also I am." And that is confirmed in the Vedic literature, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1).

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

Prabhupāda: Now, you... First of all, you finish one business. That Oath of Allegiance, so addition, alteration, you have made, complete, so that it may be typed?

Jayatīrtha: Satsvarūpa is...

Satsvarūpa: The only thing we've done is comment that Asnani's form hasn't specified on devotional principles.

Prabhupāda: So make addition, alteration, I say. You amongst yourselves.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In other words, add that one must follow four regulative prin...

Satsvarūpa: I can just add what Brahmānanda Mahārāja has.

Prabhupāda: So do it amongst yourselves.

Jayatīrtha: All right.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda wants to finalize.

Prabhupāda: Discuss and do it, and make a final...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This Oath of Allegiance is a legal document also, isn't it?

Prabhupāda: Eh.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's both a legal document and a spiritual document.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Atreya Ṛṣi: Everything we have is spiritual.

Prabhupāda: We cannot avoid.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But there must be legal also. That's the point.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayatīrtha: So somebody can read it?

Prabhupāda: So next make this final.

Atreya Ṛṣi: I recommend that you put Brahmānanda Swami's reco..., on the top part, just...

Prabhupāda: Hmmm? What is that?

Atreya Ṛṣi: Brahmānanda Swami's proposals, top portion, we'll just add?

Prabhupāda: Yes. So whatever you make, addition, alteration, make it copied.

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

Satsvarūpa: All right. So the whole thing, then, would read like... This is a proposal that it should read like this: "I, spiritual name, as initiated disciple, and GBC secretary of His Divine Grace..."

Madhudviṣa: Both names should be there.

Atreya Ṛṣi: No, prabhuji...

Madhudviṣa: Spiritual and, and, and legal name...

Atreya Ṛṣi: It should start with this.

Satsvarūpa: Well, it's not sure what it should start with. That's it.

Madhudviṣa: Both names should be there because a spiritual name is not legal.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's a fact.

Jayatīrtha: Both names. Good.

Satsvarūpa: "...as GBC secretary of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the founder..."

Prabhupāda: You... You... You make one copy, your copy, and make addition, alteration, corrections, and then copy the same thing for other men. That will be easier.

Satsvarūpa: All right.

Prabhupāda: You... You just fill up one copy, as you are doing. So make addition, alteration, your name, your spiritual name, everything complete. So, following that copy, others will do. (?) Is that all right?

Atreya Ṛṣi: I recommend that we keep this one.

Prabhupāda: Or you can make... Anyone, you can take.

Atreya Ṛṣi: In this shape.

Prabhupāda: You, you can make addition, alteration, everything, and read it complete. Then take that proposal. That's all.

Jayatīrtha: So maybe, Atreya Ṛṣi, you can write out a final draft of it...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayatīrtha: ...including both things, and then you can read it to everyone.

Atreya Ṛṣi: Where's Brahmānanda Swami?

Jayatīrtha: Is that all right? Should we go on while he's writing?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayatīrtha: We can go on.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

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

Atreya Ṛṣi: I think what Śrīla Prabhupāda has said to us is that if we have very close cooperation, the spirit of committee consultation always exists...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Atreya Ṛṣi: Like if Bhagavān dāsa is in U.S., then Satsvarūpa Mahārāja and Rūpānuga Prabhu will consult with him, like they always consult with each other.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Atreya Ṛṣi: They should always... And this spirit should go on amongst the twelve. Or if I'm in Tehran, and if there is a financial matter...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Don't bring politics. Then it will be ruined.

Atreya Ṛṣi: Yes. The spirit should be that you write me and ask me, and I will give you all the service that I can. This should come in us.

Jayatīrtha: For example, in the United States...

Atreya Ṛṣi: Not so much, necessarily, committees and formal...

Prabhupāda: So if a committee is necessary, it should be decided, first stage, decided by the GBC, and I'll give final sanction.

Jayatīrtha: For example, one committee that I would propose is in the United States, since we share so many similar problems and so many problems overlap...

Prabhupāda: So you... No, the GBC is already there. But that is... Committee is there, the whole committee. But for any special purpose, if committee is required...

Jayatīrtha: Another example of a kind of committee would be some projects. Say...

Prabhupāda: Project will be decided by the GBC.

Jayatīrtha: Say, the Gurukula, for example...

Prabhupāda: Now I have elected this committee in Europe because the German trouble is going on. When the German trouble is over, there is no need of committee. It is only for this particular purpose because there we have to defend court, we have to see... So two, three heads, not one head. One head may be puzzled. Committee means for special purposes. Otherwise, the standing committee, GBC, is already there.

Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:

Pañcadraviḍa: But when you came to France, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you spoke at the Theology Club. About four years ago you came for a conference. They arranged a big meeting at the Theology Society in France, a world-wide society. And one thing I was... One thing I was considering. They must be interested because the Christians say that there is soul, and they say that there is God, so then wouldn't our question be: "What is the relationship of the soul to God?" They admit there is a soul. Every human being, they say, has a soul.

Prabhupāda: No. That, that is also beginning of understanding. But first, preliminary understanding should be that God is one. There cannot be Christian God. There cannot be Hindu God. There cannot be Muslim God. That is not complete idea of God. That is imperfect. Just like in Vedic literature, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti: (SB 1.2.11) three phases of understanding of the Absolute. First, beginning, is Brahman, then, further advanced, Paramātmā, then, final advancement, Bhagavān. Similarly, the final realization of God is the Supreme Person. And then we should seek (see?) who is that person. That is real theology.

Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:

Prajāpati: But it's the same word. In fact, everyone agrees they do not know what the real name is. Some say Yahweh; some say Jehovah. The Jewish tradition replaces completely and says Adonai, instead.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. He may not say. But we have to take from the meaning. What is the meaning?

Viṣṇujana: "No one is beyond Me."

Prabhupāda: That's all right. "No one is beyond Me." Then he comes to our conclusion, all-attractive. This is... They come to our conclusion, all-attractive. Because if somebody is beyond Him, then he should be attractive. But if He's final attractive, then all-attractive, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive. What do you think?

Morning Walk -- May 8, 1975, Perth:

Gaṇeśa: Just like the child, Śrīla Prabhupāda, who was trying to find the sound within the drum, the material scientists are trying to find out the cause and effect of the material world. Is that not intelligence?

Prabhupāda: Yes, but they have not reached the ultimate goal.

Paramahaṁsa: But they are trying.

Prabhupāda: They are trying. That is admitted. But, they are concluding that there is no operator. That is their foolishness, because they have failed to find out. They have to go further, further, and see, "Yes, there is operator." That is the final part of the... That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān mām (BG 7.19). So after many, many births of sincere inquiry, when he is actually intelligent, he will see, "Oh, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19). Here is Vasudeva. He is everything." That is stated. He'll enquire. Go on enquiring, life after life. And then he'll come to understand vāsudevaḥ-sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ. You did not read this verse? They will come, after much trouble, much enquiry, they will come to the same conclusion, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19). But they'll waste time. That's all. When we say, "Here is operator," they will not take. But they'll waste time, and life after life laboring, one day they will come.

Room Conversation with Dr. Copeland, Professor of Modern Indian History -- May 20, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Cirāṇi kiṁ na pathi santi diśanti bhikṣāṁ naivāṅghripāḥ para-bhṛtaḥ sarito 'py aśuṣyan, ruddhā guhāḥ kim...

Madhudviṣa: Cīra-vāsā?

Prabhupāda: No, cirāṇi. Cirāṇi kiṁ na santi.

Madhudviṣa: It is "C"? It begins with "Ci"?

Prabhupāda: Yes, "c-h-i," or "c-i." Then it must be in the second part, Second Canto. Find out the Second Canto. If one reads Bhāgavatam thoroughly...

Madhudviṣa: Cirāṇi kiṁ pathi na santi?

Prabhupāda: Ah, that's it. Vidyā-bhāgavatāvadhiḥ. Then his education is finalized. Vidyāvadhiḥ, vidyā avadhiḥ. The limit of education is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Find out.

Room Conversation with Director of Research of the Dept. of Social Welfare -- May 21, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: I am giving the example ideal character.

Director: Yeah, but that's one opinion.

Prabhupāda: No. It will not depend on opinion. Opinion... What is the value of opinion if the people are all asses? There is no opinion. One should take as it is enjoined in the śāstra. No opinion. What is the use of taking opinion of an ass? So the people are trained up just like dogs and asses, then what is the use of their opinion? If you are to enforce, you must do like this. Just like when we introduced this "No illicit sex." I never cared for their opinion. The opinion... immediately there will be discussion. And what is the use of taking their opinion? It must be done. That is the defect of Western civilization. Vox populi, taking opinion of the public. But what is the value of this public? Drunkards, smokers, meat-eaters, woman-hunters. What is the... they are not first-class men. So what is the use of such third-class, fourth-class men's opinion? We do not advocate such opinion. What Kṛṣṇa said, that is standard, that's all. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme, and His version is final.

Morning Walk -- May 23, 1975, Melbourne:

Śrutakīrti: The following is Prabhupāda's final morning walk in Melbourne, Australia, in the Botanical Gardens on May 23rd, 1975.

Prabhupāda: ...filled with fruits and flowers, then it would have invited many nice birds. But they do not know that. (break)

Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:

John Mize: They think there's a mind, but not a soul.

Prabhupāda: No, that's all right. Something is there which is working. Now that may be mistake. You call it soul or mind. That is next understanding. But the machine is not working independently. That should be understood first. Then how the machine is working that will be next chapter. So they have no understanding even that how the machine is working. Mūḍhā nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). That they do not know, mūḍhas. So if you do not know how the machine is working then what is the value of your education? Education means enlightenment. You do not know what is the final cause, that huge body is working as nature, so many planets, so many big, big planets like sun, moon, they are floating in the air. Who has made this arrangement? They are... We see every day. They will never accept God is the original cause. That thing does not come to their brain. They are putting forward different theories and that is being accepted. One theory is accepted today, and tomorrow, "No, no, this is not. Here is another, advanced theory." That advanced means he does not know.

Morning Walk -- June 30, 1975, Denver:

Satsvarūpa: Yes, they asked him... Swami Bon said, "Don't speak."

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Satsvarūpa: He asked Uttamaśloka, "Don't speak. You shouldn't..."

Prabhupāda: What right he has got to say like that? It was a meeting. He did not say, "What right you have got to say me?" The president, he was president or what?

Satsvarūpa: He's a president.

Prabhupāda: No, no, in the meeting...

Satsvarūpa: No, Swami Bon was just a guest also.

Prabhupāda: So why he can, why he said like, "Don't speak"?

Yadubara: They tried to do that to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in Kurukṣetra. They did not want you to speak.

Prabhupāda: Kurukṣetra? No.

Yadubara: They allowed you?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Yadubara: But after some persuasion, I think.

Brahmānanda: They wanted Prabhupāda to speak at the end.

Prabhupāda: Oh. (laughs)

Brahmānanda: Because you gave the final word. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Yes. So I gave them these all... What I said?

Brahmānanda: So, first you said, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66), "Give up all of this so-called religion."

Prabhupāda: Yes. On cheating, I said.

Brahmānanda: Yeah. Then you, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ, then "It's all this cheating."

Morning Walk -- July 11, 1975, Chicago:

Lakṣmī-nārāyaṇa: But the bones of those people that they've found, where are their bodies now? Have they gone to some other...?

Prabhupāda: No, no, you might have found in your country. But that is not final that you have seen all the bones. (break) Darwin has... He is now dead. Now, even nowadays they are finding new bones. So how he studies perfect? He is now dead and gone.

Morning Walk -- July 16, 1975, San Francisco:

Yadubara: No one is teaching that in this big university. Therefore the students are very discouraged, depressed.

Prabhupāda: Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Paramaḥ, paramaḥ means the Supreme. Our definition of God is that supreme in every respect. What man can do, the dog cannot do. What the dog can do, the cat cannot do. What the cat can do, the rat cannot do. So we see so many differences. Therefore there must be others who are more intelligent than man. That is demigod. And there must be others most intelligent than the demigods. In this way when you come to the final, that is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Go on finding out more, more, more. When you come to the final, that is God or Kṛṣṇa. So we take instruction from Him. Therefore we are better than the so-called university professors.

Morning Walk -- July 24, 1975, Los Angeles:

Rādhāvallabha: Because the stem is very strong on a green apple, but on a red apple it is weak.

Prabhupāda: That means it is conditional; gravitation works on condition. It is not final. Under certain condition it works. Therefore, then you have to accept condition. Under such and such condition it falls.

Walk Around Farm -- August 1, 1975, New Orleans:

Devotee (3): Would you like to be fanned, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Harikeśa: Just keep the flies away.

Prabhupāda: He is very friendly to the small calves, this child?

Nityānanda: Yes. That's my boy.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Nityānanda: His name is Vimala.

Jagadīśa: He chases them all over.

Prabhupāda: Just see. That is the difference between animal and man. A child can control so many calves. Kṛṣṇa was doing that. One stick in the hand of a child can control fifty cows. The child is controller of many cows; a man is controller of many children. In this way, controller, controller, controller, over, over, over... When there is final controller, that is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). This is the definition of Kṛṣṇa: "the final controller."

Morning Walk -- August 26, 1975, Vrndavana:

Guṇārṇava: Well, there's some ninety-four thousand rupees in the Punjab Bank, but that's for finalizing all the contracts. Saurab said that...

Prabhupāda: Your explanation there. I want to see that it is not (now?) finished. That's all.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: All that money in the bank is to pay the overhead.

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 -- August 27, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So we are giving the best humanitarian service—to stop his repetition of birth and death.

Brahmānanda: The final solution.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Brahmānanda: This is the final solution.

Akṣayānanda: In India, now in the cities, wherever we go, there are so many big cinema houses being built. So if the young people are not yet tired of that, then how will we convince them of Kṛṣṇa consciousness? They all go by the thousands to the cinema house.

Prabhupāda: You approach the cinema proprietor and make him a member. We have got contribution from a very big cinema man.

Brahmānanda: Raj Kapoor has become a patron member.

Prabhupāda: You can show his letter, how he appreciates. So similarly, you can collect some money. So this money is coming from the cinema visitors, so indirectly they will be benefited. Yes.

Morning Walk -- September 13, 1975, Vrndavana:

Saurabha: But it comes to about eight thousand bags if I do the whole land like that around. That is the full thing, two stories. It comes to about eight thousand. And then there's always some extra for finalizing the floors...

Prabhupāda: No, no. I don't want to use this iron.

Saurabha: No, we don't require iron.

Prabhupāda: Simply brick. So in that way you still require ten thousand?

Saurabha: We require about eight thousand but it's best to apply for ten thousand. If we only need five thousand, we take that. They will give us that allotment.

Prabhupāda: Do it. (break)

Room Conversation with Bill Faill (reporter) -- October 8, 1975, Durban:

Faill: Well, it's just the name they seem to give people who've had an experience of another level of reality.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So yes, that... We don't say mystic. Our reality is God realization. There are different stages. I mean to say, direct perception, then receiving knowledge from authority, then personal experience between the two, then above that transcendental, and then, I mean to say, spiritual. In this way we have to go, step by step. We have to come to the point, to the spiritual platform. So, so long we are on the bodily concept of life, our understanding is sense gratification because body means the senses. And then, if we go still up, then we can see that mind is the center of sense activities. We take the mind as the final, and that is mental platform. Then, from mental platform, we come to the intellectual platform. Then, from intellectual platform, we come to the transcendental platform.

Morning Walk -- October 18, 1975, Johannesburg:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: We see practically that only the devotees are somewhat free from anxiety.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that's a fact. We have little anxieties simply because we have to deal with this rascal world. Otherwise we have no anxiety. But we have taken this mission, to go and approach them, tell them the truth. Therefore we have got little anxiety. Otherwise there is no question of anxiety. Because we are mixing with these rascals—and we have to do that, who have taken this mission-therefore little anxiety there. That is also not very much. But you must know, the whole world is full of rascals and fools. That is not exaggeration. Eh? Or you have got different opinion?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: No.

Prabhupāda: Hm? What do you think? Do you agree?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They are mūḍhas.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Our verdict is final: "All rascals and fools." Therefore, when I ask these rascals, "Any question?" Stopped. (laughter) "Come on, any question?" What they will question? I challenge them, "Any question?" They know that "We have been proved as rascals." Yesterday, last night, I told that the aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś: (BG 2.11) "This is the position of everyone. Everyone is fool, rascal. He does not know what is the real problem of life." Nobody said that "Why you are calling everyone rascals?" In Montreal some Bengali gentleman said, "Swamiji, you are using very strong word, 'fools and rascals.' Can it be explained otherwise?" And "No, this is the only word, that you are all rascals and fools. This is the only word to be used." (laughter)

Morning Walk -- October 18, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: No, jñānī is on the margin between material and spiritual world. He is trying to understand what is spiritual world or spiritual life, what is material, that much.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So he is better off than the karmī.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Karmī has no knowledge, what is the aim of life, but jñānī is understanding that "I have executed material activities so long, but I have not become happy. Then what is the reason?" That is jñānī. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. "What is real life?" But because they are not trained up as bhakta, they come to the conclusion of "The impersonal Brahman is the final." That is the defect. So anyway, they are better than the karmīs.

Morning Walk -- October 19, 1975, Johannesburg:

Indian man (1): Is it possible that every man's life is directed by God, and you're born to do certain things, and you come to be prime minister or something?

Prabhupāda: Yes, there is something like that. But I am talking of, if you depend on God, then why do you keep elections? You are opportunist. Sometimes you take shelter of God and sometimes of your election power. If you are so firm believer in God, then why election? Let God elect. Why you take part in election? Huh? Let God elect the prime minister. Why you are busy in giving vote? (break) God elected Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. Hm? His plan was that Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira should be king, not Duryodhana. So He killed all the Duryodhana's party and selected Yudhiṣṭhira: "Sit down here." That is God's election. So why you elect? Depend on God.

Indian man (1): And that comes through lack of spiritual knowledge, Swamiji?

Prabhupāda: Yes, no knowledge. No spiritual knowledge means he is animal. That's all. Sa eva gokharaḥ. This is the final verdict. One who has no spiritual knowledge, he is no better than these cows and dogs. That's all. Therefore guidance of the brāhmaṇa required. Why the brāhmaṇas are selected to guide? Because they have got full vijñāna, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyam, therefore.

Morning Walk -- November 14, 1975, Bombay:

Indian man (7): But also in the sky we can see something. I can see many things. I can see something. It is not vacant space. Only thing I don't know what it is.

Prabhupāda: Then you cannot see the stars. Can you see the stars now?

Indian man (7): No.

Prabhupāda: Then can you say there is no star? Then? That means what you cannot see, that is not final. Therefore our Vedic instruction is śāstra cakṣusāt: You should see through the śastra, not you these useless eyes. These are useless. Tad-vijñānārtham sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). In order to know perfectly, one should go to the guru. And Bhagavad-gītā has said,

tad viddhi praṇipātena

paripraśnena sevayā

upadekṣyanti tad jñānaṁ

jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

(BG 4.34)

"One who has seen, go there and learn it." That is the injunction. Don't try to see yourself. That is foolishness. This very word is used, tattva-darśinaḥ, "one who has seen." You have to go there and see through his eyes, through his instruction. That is real seeing.

Morning Walk -- December 17, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: ...kaunteya mukta-saṅga samācara.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is wanted. The māyāvādī philosophers, they are taking because the senses are creating so much trouble, material existence, finish this-śūnyavādi. But that will not solve the problem. Problem will be solved that you keep your eyes. You don't require to finish it, but cure it. Just like you medical man. If one is blind out of cataract, you don't say that you pluck it, the eye, and throw it. No. "Please cure it and you'll be able to see." This is the difference between māyāvādī philosopher and Vaiṣṇava philosopher. They want to pluck it out, make it zero, śūnyavāda.

Dr. Patel: Śūnyavāda.

Prabhupāda: No, no. This is the philosophy. Śūnyavādī means they want to make it zero. Your are troubling, you have got so much trouble with your eyes: don't bother, pluck it out! This is their philosophy. And our philosophy is, "No, there is no need of plucking out. Just cure it and you'll see." That is...

Dr. Patel: That is what the Kaṭhopaniṣad teaches us.

Prabhupāda: Every Vedic scripture will advise you. You take this Upaniṣad or that Upaniṣad; the ultimate is Gitopaniṣad. The final, Gitopaniṣad. Yes, Gītā is Upaniṣad.

Morning Walk -- December 18, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Śaṅkarācārya, because he had to deliver people from this nāstika philosophy, bauddha, so for the time being, he made some compromise. The bauddha says there is no God, and he said, "Yes, there is no God. You are God." So if he realizes himself brahma-bhūtaḥ, then he'll be engaged in devotional service, that was his purpose. Unless he says that, that "Yes, it is not the fact that there is no God. There is God, but that God you are."

Dr. Patel: That is the final argument is that if there is no God, who said there is no God? And that is God. That is what he said.

Prabhupāda: (laughing) So you know better than me.

Dr. Patel: No, no. I did not know this, I read it...

Prabhupāda: But I know, what is his policy? His policy was to make this godless men to think of God, that "I am God." That is.... Let him be accustomed with the word God, then gradually he will understand. It is called ahaṅgrahopāsana. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Therefore I shall worship myself. Ahaṅgrahopāsana Nikatena, jagatena, ekatena. It is mentioned in the Bhāgavata, ekatena. That "I am Brahma. So I shall worship myself."

Morning Walk -- December 24, 1975, Bombay:

Lokanātha: You have said many times that when mother says "This is your father," you have to accept.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is truth.

Lokanātha: We cannot go for experimenting other possibilities.

Prabhupāda: Yes. There is no question of experimenting whether he is my father. You take the truth from the mother, and that's final. (break) ...being more and more convinced, why Kṛṣṇa says na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhā prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15)? Huh? Anyone who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is within these groups, duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ. That is being more and more confirmed.