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Fun (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Press Interview -- December 30, 1968, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Why not? Suppose in your country, you have got some quota for immigration. Within this planet, if somebody comes, without your immigration department's order, nobody can enter. How do you expect in that planet where the people are more advanced, they are called demigods, they are living for ten thousand years, how you expect that you go and you are immediately enter into the moon planet? And they are selling tickets, reservation. You see? Everything, they make a fun of it, you see?

Journalist: Let me understand this if I may. Are you saying that there are people on the moon?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Press Interview -- December 30, 1968, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: (laughs) You see. That is our test. If you have developed... We don't say that you follow Christianism or Muhammadanism or Jewism or Hinduism—we don't say. Whether you are developing your love of Godhead. But they deny, "Oh, I am God. Who is God? I am God." You see? Everyone is taught nowadays that everyone is God. Just see how fun. Everyone is God. Do you think like that?

Journalist: You know from Meher Baba?

Prabhupāda: He is also another rascal. He is preaching this that everyone is God.

Journalist: He says he's God.

Prabhupāda: He's God. Just see. This is going on.

Journalist: Do you know him?

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: Yes. So at that time my disciples will be with Kṛṣṇa. (laughter)

Devotees: Haribol!

Prabhupāda: And those who will not follow them, they will see the fun, how they are being killed. (laughter)

Allen Ginsberg: 400,000 years. Will people still be chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa in 400,000...

Prabhupāda: No. Hare Kṛṣṇa will be finished within ten thousand years. There will be no more Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Allen Ginsberg: Ah. So what will be left?

Prabhupāda: Nothing. Left will be I'll kill you and eat you, and you shall kill me. You shall eat me. That will be left.

Lord Caitanya Play Told to Tamala Krsna -- August 4, 1969, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That was done in one day, saṅkīrtana. He asked His devotees after saṅkīrtana, "What do you want to eat?" So some of the devotees out of fun said that "We want mango." But that was not mango season. So He asked somebody, "All right. Bring some mango seed." So mango seed can be had in Bengal in everywhere because after eating mangoes they throw it, and gradually they become a small plant. So He brought some small plant mango and immediately sowed it on the courtyard, and immediately it became a big tree and full of mango.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That would be a nice time for us to distribute prasāda to all the people.

Prabhupāda: Yes. If possible, mangoes.

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 13, 1970, Indore:

Prabhupāda: In India, the land of sages, land of Kṛṣṇa, land of Lord Rāmacandra, land of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, without any restriction cow slaughter is going on. And they are speaking of karma-yoga. Just see the fun.

Guest (1): I don't know where this India is going to, the land of Kṛṣṇa is going to.

Prabhupāda: Well... No, we should try our best.

Guest (1): We have to fight these habits. It is our duty.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that's it. So you are a military man. I request you to fight against this nonsense.

Guest (1): Swami, I wish you could come sometime. I will gather section of some people.

Prabhupāda: Yes, I'll go. I'll go. Where? Just fix up some time.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Journalists -- August 18, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: Well, become religious. If you are really Christian, that is all right. But you are not Christian because you are violating the orders of Lord Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed his life and he says that he atoned for your sins, but you are not stopping your sinful life, and still you are claiming to be Christian. The fun is going on. Actually there is no Christian. Otherwise Christian religion is very nice religion. Yes.

Journalist (1): Do you think that you can help large numbers of people in this country understand that...

Prabhupāda: I can help everyone provided he takes my help. If you refuse my help, how can I help you?

Journalist (1): No, I'm merely suggesting that you would...

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- June 14, 1972, Los Angeles:

Marilyn: Cymbals. We sang Hare Kṛṣṇa on the airplane.

Prabhupāda: You're chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa on the airplane?

John Fahey: Yeah, it was fun.

Prabhupāda: You can chant anywhere. There is no restriction. There is no special rules and regulations. You can chant anywhere. Whenever you find it convenient, you can chant.

John Fahey: We were singing Hare Kṛṣṇa, so...

Prabhupāda: That's nice. Go on singing. (laughter) Yes. Go on singing and everything will be revealed within yourself, it's so nice.

Marilyn: It's a comforting feeling.

Room Conversation -- August 1, 1972, London:

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Devotee (2): Charlie Chaplin kept us up all night. (laughs) Charlie Chaplin show.

Prabhupāda: Hm. That was nice. (laughter) He is really funny man. (laughs) He has got originality. All his comic play has got some originality, that is the beauty. How he invented! (laughs) I think that character, when he was a drunkard, he was a great friend, (laughs) and when he's not drunkard, "Who is this man?" (laughs) He's grave(?) as rich man. And as drunkard, "You pay. You are my friend, life-long friend. Whatever you want, you take." (laughs) So these characters he's painting, it's very good intelligence. And he made him friend when he was going to commit suicide.

Devotee (1): Yeah, he stopped him.

Room Conversation -- August 1, 1972, London:

Prabhupāda: He stopped him. Accidentally he stopped. (laughs) Not willingly.

Devotee (2): Yes. He tried to pull him up from the water, he went in himself.

Prabhupāda: It is very nice, funny man with intelligence. And before him there was another, Mr. Max Linder.

Devotee: Max Linder.

Prabhupāda: Yes. He was also very funny Englishman. In our childhood we used to enjoy their play, Max Linder and Chaplin, or Charlie Chaplin.

Devotee: They were showing them in India?

Prabhupāda: Uh? Yes. Max Linder, I remember, he was sitting in a park. (laughter) You know that?

Room Conversation -- August 1, 1972, London:

Prabhupāda: So the tail was hanging, so some naughty boys, they fixed up nails, you see? So when he got up, the whole tail gone, you see? But he could not understand. He went to the ball dance. So he's dancing, so everyone's seeing his tail, in this way. So he thought, "Oh, what is the matter?" He went to the mirror and he saw, "Oh, my tail is lost." (laughs) Then he came again in the ball dance and he was pushing everyone, just to show. And everyone was asking, "What is this? What is this?" "Oh, you do not know? This is latest fashion. This is latest fashion." Then all of them cut the tails. I think he had taken the idea, (Sanskrit). This is Sanskrit story, that (Sanskrit), or monkey, he lost his tail, and he began to advertise, "This is the latest fashion." So that ball-dancing without tail, that was, I remember, it is very enjoyable. They say that Charlie Chaplin is the student of Max Linder. He learned this funny play from Max Linder. So I knew Charlie Chaplin is an Englishman.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 20, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Worship. That is their advancement of... After taking so much university education, they have learned how to love hogs. Just see the fun. (pause) They are living within the sand. How these rascals are speaking that because in the moon planet there is sand only there is no living entity. How we can believe? We see practically. They do not go to the garden. They live within the sand. How they are living? (pause—break) ...and they do some acrobatic feats, like that. Still they're in no condition.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They're smart.

Prabhupāda: So that smartness you haven't got. Even of a small bird. And still you are proud of advancement. The vulture goes up and he can see everything but when you go up, aeroplane, up you cannot see where is your home. Is it not? They can find out, four miles, five miles away, where is a corpse. Immediately they flock. (pause) What is this building? Some...

Morning Walk -- April 21, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: 1859. So hundred years ago. So all the brains developed within hundred years. All these rascals came out within hundred years. And before that, there was no other rascal. Just see the fun. All the scientific improvement, anthropology, everything came within hundred or two hundred years.

Brahmānanda: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Brahmānanda: Yes. That is their idea.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Before that, there were no brain.

Brahmānanda: 'Cause they didn't understand his theory.

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Morning Walk -- April 28, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: That means for their childish curiosity they're spending so much money. Just see the fun. To satisfy their curiosity, they're spending so much money. And when they're asked that: "There are so many poverty stricken countries. Help them." "No. No money."

Nīlakaṇṭha: Some people are very happy and they think: "Oh, my country has done this. They have gone to the moon. I am happy. I'm satisfied. I'm glad to be an American."

Prabhupāda: What's that?

Nīlakaṇṭha: Some people are very, the public, they're very satisfied: "Oh, I am an American, and we have done this. We have gone to the moon. We are so good."

Prabhupāda: Why don't you say: "We have gone to Kṛṣṇa-loka, Vṛndāvana, which you have no information"?

Brahmānanda: Then all their curiosity will be satisfied.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with David Wynne, Sculptor -- July 9, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: That's all.

Śyāmasundara: Many notes.

Prabhupāda: Useless, all... And taxation. No security and ninety-nine per cent taxation. Just see the fun. They are very much accurate to take taxation. And there is no guarantee of security. This is the position.

David Wynne: Has it ever been perfect?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

David Wynne: Has it ever been on earth in the material world perfect with...?

Prabhupāda: Oh yes.

David Wynne: It has.

Room Conversation with David Wynne, Sculptor -- July 9, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Any, any war. They create whimsical... Anything you do whimsically, you are responsible. Anything you do. Why fighting? Anything.

Śyāmasundara: Yeah. It's funny that that John F. Kennedy, he started that Vietnam war, and he was shot down later.

Prabhupāda: He started that war?

Śyāmasundara: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: What is the position now? Nixon? He's going to be impeached? Yes.

Śyāmasundara: Practically, he is, without...

Prabhupāda: He's cornered now.

Room Conversation with David Wynne, Sculptor -- July 9, 1973, London:

Śyāmasundara: It's funny, too. When David went to see the Queen one day, he took fifteen of our small rubies. They're not worth much compared to her crown jewels...

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Certainly.

Śyāmasundara: But he told her that they were like... She said, "Well, what shall I do with them?" And he said, "Well, they are... Consider them, Your Majesty, like flowers offered to you by one of your subjects." And she became very pleased to see it like that.

Prabhupāda: Yes. What, what is the value of those jewels to her? But if some citizen offers in good faith and love, she accepts. That's all.

David Wynne: Is it right thinking to think that one, although one can't give anything... Kṛṣṇa, of course, has everything. Should one not praise Him? Because...

Prabhupāda: No, no. You should praise Him, certainly. That is bhakti. That is bhakti. Yes.

David Wynne: Because what I...

Room Conversation with David Wynne, Sculptor -- July 9, 1973, London:

Śyāmasundara: What was that word he used?

Mukunda: Glorifying.

Śyāmasundara: They glorified the whole parade on television. They didn't make fun of it or like that.

Prabhupāda: Nobody should make fun.

Śyāmasundara: It wasn't just an objective report, but they said it was good, it was nice, and had good appeal.

Prabhupāda: Yeah, everyone appreciated.

Mukunda: The last thing they said on the program was, "Perhaps this will give us something to think about for a long time."

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, certainly.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest (3): We had a very funny incident after you left. After two or three days, my young daughter, you know... She's about two or two and a half at that time. She was sitting in one corner of the house, and she, you know, those cups like this you have to have, to keep under the furniture legs, you know, cup like this, she had two of them, and she was doing like that. And, uh...

Prabhupāda: Karatālas.

Guest (3): My daughter. I asked her, you know, "What are you doing?" She replied quietly, "I'm doing Hare Kṛṣṇa."

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Morning Walk -- December 9, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Gap of understanding because the basic principle is wrong, because everyone is fool. And they are trying to understand things with their foolish background. There is the wrong. They are trying to be advanced in knowledge on the foolish background. They do not accept that, that they are foolish rascals. And they are trying to advance in knowledge, active-foolish, fourth class men. Their background is wrong. No scientist, no politician, no philosophers, at the present moment, believe in this, that there is soul, and the soul is transmigrating from one body... Nobody believes it. So their whole background is foolish. So their so-called advancement must be all foolish. They're all fools, rascals, animals. An animal does not know that there is soul and the soul is transmigrating from one body to another. This is animal conception. You cannot teach these pigeons that "You are spirit soul. Your body's different from you." They will, they have no power to understand. So if a human being cannot understand, what is the difference between these pigeons and cats and dogs and him? Then basic principle is wrong. Just like in mathematical calculation, if at one point you have mistaken, then will that be correct ever? It will go on, mistaking, mistaking, mistaking, mistaking. If the, if one point, while adding, you have made two plus two equal to five, then after that, everything wrong, everything wrong. Everything wrong. So that is their position. Their basic principle is like animal. The animal cannot understand that there is soul and there is transmigration of the soul. And if the human society makes progress of their so-called knowledge on this wrong basis understanding, then what will be the result? Everything wrong, everything wrong, everything wrong. Everything foolish. That is stated in the Bhāgavata: parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam: "If somebody does not know what is ātma-tattva, what is the science of soul, then whatever he is making, so-called advancement that is all defeat." Parābhava. That is being done. And defeat they are taking as success. Just like these rascal scientists, they could not go and settle in the moon planet. Still, they are saying, "It is success. It is success." Just see the fun. What success?

Morning Walk -- December 12, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. So, "It is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss." That is already there. So we have to act by the order of Kṛṣṇa, not by the votes of the madmen. Just see the fun. Everyone is under control. Who is free? It is simply illusion. They are thinking, "I am free." Nobody is free. Under the stringent laws of nature, and still, he is thinking, "I don't care for God." This is madness. This is madness. Already under the laws of God, but still, he's protesting, "No, I don't care for God. There is no God." So we have to save these madmen from further deterioration. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Umāpati: Can a living entity ever lose his existence?

Prabhupāda: What you have studied in the Bhagavad-gītā?

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 18, 1974, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: Oh, that is foolish, another foolishness. That is... "You are beating me with your shoes. That's all right, it is temporary. That's all right. Let me go on suffering this." So that is foolishness. He does not think that "Why I have been subjected to be beaten by shoes, insult? All right, I do not mind. It is temporary." That is foolishness.

Nitāi: Well, they think that instead of being beaten that they're having fun, that it's pleasurable.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Unless he's...

Nitāi: They think, "Let us have all the pleasure we can."

Morning Walk -- January 21, 1974, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break in tape) ...śuddhyed. Life is meant for purifying the existence. They do not know. Rascal education. No education. Still, they are Nobel Prize winner. Just see the fun. Mūḍha. So how many books distributed? Who is a book distributor? Nobody?

Sudāmā: Yesterday?

Prabhupāda: Yes?

Sudāmā: Ah, I am not sure of the count...

Prabhupāda: Oh, your child has also come. (Laughing)

Hari-Vallabha: Ātmārāma dāsa.

Prabhupāda: Oh, that's nice. Eh?

Morning Walk -- January 21, 1974, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: Orientalia, yes. That lady was secretary of Dr. Mishra. (japa) (To child?) Oh, you cannot walk? That's not good. You must walk. She cannot... (japa) She's walking? (japa)

Bali Mardana: (break) ...talks real funny, sort of Spanish way?

Prabhupāda: I don't know.

Bali Mardana: He's been coming for many, many years. He's a old, older man.

Prabhupāda: I don't... (break) ...and their exercise is to keep the body fit. Tapasya means to keep the soul fit. (end)

Morning Walk -- April 24, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everyone.

Akṣayānanda: Many of those young boys and girls, they are potential devotees. They are just in it for a bit of fun. A bit of fashion or fun.

Prabhupāda: Similarly Rajneesh. (break) ...very good intelligence, Lieberman.

Satsvarūpa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes, he's speaking very nicely. He's fit for that position. Similarly our, what is his name?

Satsvarūpa: Balavanta.

Prabhupāda: Balavanta. He's also very nice. If we get some important votes in the government, then our mission will be successful. This, our philosophy is being properly ventilated, it is coming in the papers, isn't it? On account of this political leadership. And I see that his statements are published profusely. Not with other contemporaries. And what they'll speak? They have no sense, they have no leadership idea.

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

Priest: It's not wrong. It's funny.

Prabhupāda: Rather these girls, when they dress in Indian way, they look more beautiful. That you will have to admit. Yes. The same girl will dress in your...

Priest: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: So the girls, the women, they like to be more beautiful. So if by dressing in other way they look beautiful, why should you ask them not to do it?

Priest: Maybe for ladies and girls certainly, but for the dhotī and...

Prabhupāda: But we are not concerned with the dress, we are concerned with the advancement of spiritual understanding, that's all.

Morning Walk -- June 17, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: What is there? He is digging? (break) Just see the fun.

Devotee: Of all the four pillars of sinful activity, is meat-eating the worst?

Prabhupāda: Everything is worst. Sinful is sinful. Disease is disease. This body, either it is living or it is dead, it is not very important thing. Now see. And the whole world is after this body. Kṛṣṇa says, "The body, either dead or alive, it is not a subject matter for serious consideration." Now see. And what the world is going on? Simply for bodily... Body means senses. It is very difficult to the, for the western people to understand that body is not important thing; the soul is important thing. First of all, they do not know what is soul and then consideration of importance. This is their position. And if one cannot understand what is soul, what he will understand about God? Soul is a minute particle of God. If one cannot understand about this minute particle, then what he'll understand of the Supreme? In the laboratory, if you can test a little sample, just like take a little sea water, analyze, you chemically test, then you can understand what is the composition of the sea water. But if you have no knowledge even a small drop of sea water, how you'll understand the sea, what... That is their position.

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

Professor Durckheim: Is something not very agreeable. It's all the authority like this, the not understanding, the not loving, the authority. You see? There are so many fathers who say in their family, "I don't know what you are talking about freedom. In my house everybody can do what I like." So they are very much under this spell today. So I just say this because it's very funny also in this trend of development of religion of today...

Prabhupāda: It is not religion. It is fact. It is not... Religion is sometimes explained as sentiment, but this is fact, that father and son... Without father there is no existence of son, and without son there is no meaning of father. This is science. This is not religion. This is science. As soon as you speak of father means he must have a son, or most. And as soon as a son, he must have a father. So this is a question of "must," not sentiment.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: Then why she has sex?

Guest (1): Well, in this present world I think, you know, sex is not for procreation, it is more for fun. I think ninety-nine percent of the couples who indulge in sex do not think of children at that time.

Prabhupāda: But that is sinful.

Guest (1): That's true. But this is also true that ninety-nine percent people when they indulge in it...

Prabhupāda: Ninety-nine percent may be all rascals and fools, that is not true.

Guest (1): For the common, I think masses, some practical means are needed rather than...

Interview -- March 5, 1975, New York:

Prabhupāda: Natural means just like in psychology it is said that woman, the highest brain substance of woman is thirty-six ounce, whereas the highest brain substance of man is sixty-four ounce. So there is difference by nature, of the brain.

Female Reporter: Well (laughter), to get to something else, what do you do for fun when you're in New York?

Prabhupāda: Huh? What is that? I...

Śrutakīrti: You have defeated her.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Female Reporter: (laughs) But I'm not going to pursue your line of logic. And what do you do for fun?

Morning Walk -- May 9, 1975, Perth:

Amogha: They think catching fish is great sport, great fun.

Prabhupāda: They haven't got any business. They must do all of these sinful activities. That is the defect of the modern civilization—keeping all men in darkness.

Jayadharma: Does that mean that the people that catch the fish have to also become fish?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. And who will become fish? That they do not know, how the transmigration of the soul is going on. They cannot explain wherefrom the fish are coming, wherefrom the trees are coming. Everything in darkness. And this civilization, this dark civilization, is going on, in the name of civilization. They cannot explain what is death, what is next life. Sometimes they say, "It is nature," but how nature is working they do not know. All darkness, mūḍhā na abhijānāti, mām ebhyaḥ parama. The birds and beasts are also catching fish, and they are also catching. What is the difference? What is the difference? They have got this nice human body, and they are acting like birds and beasts. And they are kept in darkness. There is no enlightenment. This is the modern civilization. (pause) The smell. What is the smell?

Morning Walk -- May 9, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Then, the nature will stop it. What are you going to arrange for that?

Amogha: They say, "We don't know what will happen after, so we'll just enjoy and have fun now, as much as possible."

Prabhupāda: So why have you come to school? Why don't you play all day?

Amogha: Because we need to get a good job so we...

Prabhupāda: Then, they are thinking of future. Now we are thinking of the future. That is ignorance—that they do not know what is future life. They are thinking of the future, that's a fact, but because they are kept in darkness, about future life, they are doing all this irresponsible work.

Amogha: But nowadays people usually only go to school because the law requires it. Then at the age of...

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. As soon as you give up the ācārya-paramparā system, then it is lost. Kṛṣṇa says that man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. All the ācāryas will say like that, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya. And Dr. Radhakrishnan, "No, no, it is not to Kṛṣṇa." Just see the fun. He has become more than the ācāryas. So we reject immediately. He thinks himself too proud that he defies the ācāryas. You see? This is the defect. The whole Bhagavad-gītā is spoken on the battlefield. Gandhi says it is nonviolence. Just see. (Dr. Copeland laughs) So we have to follow these people, do you mean to say?

Dr. Copeland: If you're measuring your success by the numbers of people, he had a lot of people too.

Room Conversation with Two Lawyers and Guest -- May 22, 1975, Melbourne:

Guest 1: This man, his livelihood depended on those flowers and I don't... I think his possessions were more important to him unfortunately.

Guest 3: It's a funny story. There's a funny follow up to that one, and that is that the flowers were taken from two men that ran nurseries. And we had to go through an appeal finally to get heard. But just before the appeal came off the boys needed a glass house because of their special plants, which you've got outside here.

Śrutakīrti: Tulasī.

Guest 3: And they didn't know anything about glass houses. So they were driving around and one said, "Well, let's go and find out something about glass houses. Oh, there's a nice nursery." (laughter) So the car drives up, you see. The devotee comes out, and he said, "Excuse me, sir, but we're interested in glass houses." He said, "Will you please get out of my land?" The same nursery. (laughter) There were two hundred nurseries around the area. He picked that particular one.

Prabhupāda: But if people would have been God conscious, they would have excused, "Oh, they have come for God's service. All right, you can take." Therefore the first business is to make people God conscious. Then everything is adjusted.

Morning Walk -- May 31, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: That is God's supremacy. "If I don't give you water to drink, you cannot drink." And still, they are independent. Just see the fun. Even water, three-fourths of water, you cannot use a drop of water for drinking unless God gives you. He creates the cloud and give you. That is not your arrangement. You cannot do. Still they are independent. Jale kali-vāsa, nāme tila phyāsa. Sometimes sailors,(?) for being thirsty, they died in water. How they declare independence from Him? "There is no God. There is no authority. We are independent. We can do whatever we like." Childish.

Gurukṛpa: I think it's because they are meat-eaters, all their intelligence is completely gone.

Room Conversation with Yogi Bhajan -- June 7, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Amritsar.

Yogi Bhajan: Five years ago we had a one-paper print. We used to give it away for five cents. That developed into a paper. This is how everything develops. And my basic idea is people must share. And why not come there, participate, share, say what you have to say? It is one of the funny coincidence that we both live in Culver City. We live very adjoining to each other. And I go to your temple, see how it is made and how they are doing and what kind of marble they are using. And I have a lot of things to criticize but... You know. They are messing it up, but they are spending a lot of money. (laughter) So I don't mind what they are doing, but it is really a waste, lot of it is waste. I go and watch and it hurts me. But I just go around see, after all. You must have very wise architects.

Prabhupāda: They are very expert in wasting. (laughter)

Garden Conversation with Professors -- June 24, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Not important. He can have dhotī, you can have pant, you can have... It doesn't matter.

Dr. Pore: It's part of the beauty of the world. It's interesting, it's fun, it's enjoyable, and I see no reason for denial.

Prabhupāda: There are so many thing enjoyable, but who is enjoying? That is the question. The real enjoyer and sufferer is the soul, not this body. When the soul is out of this body the body is no more enjoyer or sufferer; it is a lump of matter. The sense of enjoyment and suffering is there so long the soul is there. Therefore the soul is important. And if you can study the soul then you can understand what is God.

Peter: How do you know there's a soul?

Morning Walk -- June 26, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He was child, His mother's friend would tease Him so that He may cry, and then they will chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and He will stop. To see that by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa He is pacified to see this fun, they would tease Him first of all, and He would cry, and then they will chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and they will... (break)

Rādhā-vallabha: In New Jersey one time we were driving very fast to try and meet you at the airport, and a police officer pulled us over, and he was very angry. We were driving very fast. And he said...

Prabhupāda: No, you should not drive fast. (devotees laugh) No, no, this is not good.

Rādhā-vallabha: We had to pick you up at the airport, Prabhupāda, and we were late.

Morning Walk -- July 28, 1975, San Diego:

Prabhupāda: This has got some meaning. What is this matchbox? There is earth, there is sands (sense?), there is comfort. So we shall go this way or...? (break) It is all vacant? (break) Big demonstration of cow fighting, bull fighting, and kill them. Such a Christian is trying to convert others as Christians! Just see the fun. Christ said, "Thou shall not kill," and they are sporting with the life of bull, and they are Christian. We have to believe.

Yadubara: Isn't that somewhat in the kṣatriya spirit?

Prabhupāda: Nonsense spirit. Rascal spirit.

Yadubara: But sometimes those people get killed when they're fighting the bull.

Prabhupāda: But your arrangement is to kill the bull. By chance or by God's desire you become killed.

Morning Walk -- August 7, 1975, Toronto:

Indian Man (2): I ask you one question. What is the future of India regarding the Kṛṣṇa consciousness? The people are so much demonic. It every time bothers me, day and night, that what will happen? The people don't have respect for the olders. They just harass. I was with my wife too, and I found the... We talk about the Kṛṣṇa, and they just laugh. They say, "There is nothing like that." They made so much fun, the young generation, that "You are a modern boy, and you are believing in that?" Just I found. I can't understand that how we can change over to the Indian future about Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Prabhupāda: If we preach, it will be all right. That is going on perpetually, darkness and light. If you bring light, darkness will go out, will be driven away.

Room Conversation -- October 4, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: What is the guarantee that you will live thirty-one years? What is the guarantee that you will live thirty-one years? There is no guarantee.

Cyavana: But everyone else around me appears to be having fun and enjoying.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They can use this argument though, Prabhupāda. I've heard it before, that "So God has placed us in this world. Okay, there is God, and He has placed us in this world, and He has created the world also, and He has made these things very, very enjoyable, sex life, and this and that. So why not enjoy if God has created it?"

Prabhupāda: That is foolishness. That is foolishness. It is not enjoyable. That is... If a criminal says, "The prisonhouse is very enjoyable," it is like that.

Room Conversation with the Rector, Professor Olivier and Professors of the University of Durban, Westville -- October 8, 1975, Durban:

Prof. Olivier: Well, Professor Oosthuizen here will take charge of you, but if there isn't an audience, I agree that one must be careful not to press too far. It may be more in the nature of a seminar. There might be people sitting around like this, and then there could be discussion. So that would depend on whether there is an audience. Students are funny people. They must be very strongly motivated before they will come away from their examination books at this time.

Prabhupāda: So my time for taking bath is half past eleven. They can... You can stay. I can go.

Prof. Olivier: So thank you very much.

Morning Walk -- Durban, October 13, 1975 :

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Well, actually Darwin said that there's a missing link.

Prabhupāda: You rascal, you say that. What is that missing link? Simply bluffing, and it is going on in the name of science. Just see the fun. Simply misleading, and people are so rascal, this civilized man, so-called, he is accepting as great theory.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Accepting?

Prabhupāda: This Darwin's theory as very big invention or discovery. Simply childish rascaldom. There is no reason; there is no sense. Man came from monkey—why not coming now? Stop once. So what kind of men came first?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: First there was very primitive man.

Prabhupāda: No, primitive…

Morning Walk -- November 13, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: And what is not existing which is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam (BG 4.13). Still people say, "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya," "I am this," "I am that." It is existing.

Yaśomatīnandana: They would even believe the mundane historians more than the śāstras. The historians have very funny stories. The Aryans came from the northeast Asia or something.

Indian man (1): Central Asia.

Yaśomatīnandana: Central Asia and inhabited in India. Then the Indian civilization sprang. Everybody thinks that India was not originally inhabited. It was all inhabited by the Dravidians, and then the Dravidians were pushed into the South and then Aryans dominated them. Whatever they learn in the schools. And because they have this theory, therefore they have to date all the śāstras, after, either after Christ or just a few centuries before Christ. (break) ...bhārata, they say, it must have been a small family feud and some poet's imagination made it a big war.

Prabhupāda: "May be. May not be." (laughter) We say, "may not be."

Morning Walk -- November 13, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, I know that. He is also one of them.

Devotee (2): He established... (too faint)

Prabhupāda: Others, they do not accept. So...

Yaśomatīnandana: Funny thing is that some of the historians, they say, "There was no war like Mahābhārata. It's all fictitious. There's nothing like Kurukṣetra." Some historians say that there is Kurukṣetra and there is evidences of war of Mahābhārata. But none of them completely agree with the scriptures. They all have their own fantastic theories, even those who say that...

Prabhupāda: So why shall I accept them?

Morning Walk -- November 26, 1975, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: No, equal rights, that's all right. This is the education. The uneducated girls do not do this. (break)

Harikeśa: This is very funny.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Harikeśa: It says, "Invincible are the Korean people who are rallied firmly with one ideology and will under the brilliant rays of the immortal juch (?) idea of Comrade..."

Prabhupāda: All ideals.

Indian man (6): This is South Korea or North Korea?

Harikeśa: South, I think.

Morning Walk -- December 14, 1975, New Delhi:

Harikeśa: It's a lot of fun to drive fast cars and have sex and see movies and... This is fun you know. It's the only way to enjoy!

Prabhupāda: Yes. Enjoyment is there in the cats and dogs. When you enjoy sex in palace and the dog enjoys sex on the street, the value is the same. The taste does not increase or decrease. But you are thinking to enjoy sex in big palace is advancement. That is your foolishness. Actually sex enjoyment in the palace or on the street is the same. It has no difference of taste.

Harikeśa: So then we can have sex on the street.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You are going to have that, next life! (laughter) Because you are desiring, you will get this life. Kṛṣṇa will fulfill your desire. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante māyā... (BG 4.11). Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā. Kṛṣṇa is within you. You are thinking that I will be very much happy if I enjoy sex like the dog. Kṛṣṇa notes, and next life, "My dear friend here is the body. You enter and enjoy." Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe... (BG 18.61). He is noting down your desire. Hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati. Māyayā brāhmayan sarva-bhūtāni, yantrārūḍhāni māyayā. This is clearly explained. Alright, you want the enjoyment like dog, here is. Remembrance is also there. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). You wanted to enjoy sex like a dog. Now I have given you this body, now you enjoy.

Morning Walk -- December 16, 1975, Bombay:

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 16, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says mam ekaṇ śaraṇaṁ vraja, and Vivekananda says yatha mat tatha path. Just see. He is poverty-stricken of knowledge, and he's giving knowledge. Just see the fun. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said guru more mūrkha dekhī' kori... śāsan: (CC Adi 7.71) "My guru found Me, seeing Me, I am a fool number one, he has chastised Me." What is that? "Don't read Vedānta; You cannot understand. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa," because...

Dr. Patel: Here we are talking about the divyā part of the...

Prabhupāda: Because, no, He was questioned...

Dr. Patel: ...of the life. I talk of the maintenance of the body. To maintain the body Karl Marx put up this theory and, I mean, spoiled the whole thing—whole society and social set-up.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 12, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, yes, critical...

Dr. Patel: I have studied even geology.

Prabhupāda: Critical student, that is...

Dr. Patel: Out of just fun, what it is about. I am a student all round.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. (Hindi) (break) It is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā, tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena (BG 4.34). Paripraśna is required, but after praṇipāta.

Dr. Patel: Surrendering yourself. In school also they say if you develop a sort of a liking for your teacher, a sort of a reverence is developed in you, and then you get knowledge much quicker.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- April 20, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: You liked?

Mike Barron: No.

Prabhupāda: Why?

Mike Barron: Er, a bit facetious. They had a funny way of doing it.

Prabhupāda: Funny way, but it is very serious. It requires little intelligence...

Devotee (3): Like to sit there?

Prabhupāda: ...that this body is a lump of matter, and the consciousness, or the living pulse, that is different. Can you prove that they are not? Eh?

Mike Barron: No.

Prabhupāda: Then how do you say it is joking?

Morning Walk -- April 24, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: But therefore I say animal. Nonsense means animal.

Passerby: (yells incoherently)

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa! (laughter)

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They think we're funny; we think they are funny.

Devotee (1): Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa...

Prabhupāda: (break) ...difference between animal and man. Therefore if one is not spiritually advanced or has no spiritual sense, he's animal. He is not human being. Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). The verdict is already there. Sa eva go-kharaḥ. He is nothing, no better than the cows and asses.

Devotee (3): Often the devotee thinks that he's more unhappy than the karmīs because he knows he's unhappy.

Morning Walk -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Rādhāvallabha: ...people also do that. They wake up at two or three in the morning and drive and stand in the water for eight or ten hours, just freezing, waiting to catch a fish.

Candanācārya: For sport.

Rādhāvallabha: Just for fun, not even for eating.

Candanācārya: There are some fishermen that spend six months out of the year far out at sea just fishing. They sleep only three or four hours a day. They don't see any other people. They just live together on a big boat.

Bharadvāja: So the only way to beat that cycle is ajñāta-sukṛti?

Prabhupāda: Why ajñāta? Why not jñāta? You rascal, you take Kṛṣṇa conscious. Why ajñāta? Be informed. This is the only way.

Bharadvāja: He can take it directly without having performed some pious activities?

Prabhupāda: He'll take.... No, if he accepts, that is pious. And Kṛṣṇa comes personally to canvass, "You rascal, take this and be happy." But he'll not do. Although it takes millions of years to come to that understanding, Kṛṣṇa personally comes: "You take it. I assure you, I shall give you all protection," but they'll not take it.

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

Prabhupāda: Jaya.

Hari-śauri: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. (break)

Prabhupāda: There were a funny man. They are called Gopal Bhan. So formerly kings, they used to keep some funny men because they are always full of anxiety, and one funny man would give them joke.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They call them jesters, court jesters.

Prabhupāda: Jester.

Kīrtanānanda: Court jester.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Court jesters, yes. So there was a man, court jester, in Bengal. So the Muhammadan governor asked one Gopal Bhan, jester... He was jester in the court of Raja Krishna Chandra. So he asked him, Nawab, that "Gopal Bhan, I have heard you are very expert. Can you write a similar book, Mahābhārata, about my kingdom?" (laughter) "Oh, yes. Why not?" That is not... So he took some hundred thousands of rupees and again come: "Give me another ten thousand," "Another ten," in this way. "When the book will be finished? You have taken so much money." "It is just on the verge of being finished."

Room Conversation -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: What is that controversial? (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's so nice, he reads things so on the walks, he can throw out scientific arguments and other things. He likes to do that. It's really funny, there's one article, one advertisement in the back of this magazine, meditation magazine. It says "Special offer: send in twenty-five dollars and you will learn how to do transcendental meditation in one evening. And if you are not satisfied, you get your money back, but you get to keep your own private mantra." This book is a real..., it really shows you what the whole scene on spiritual groups is, how phony they are. Except ours. Ours appears very legitimate from the magazine. But these others are complete hypocrisy.

Hari-śauri: He especially canes Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, he hates him.

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

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's very funny that Ninth Avenue turns into Amsterdam Avenue at this point. Ninth Avenue becomes Amsterdam Avenue on about Sixtieth Street.

Rāmeśvara: Yesterday there was a big parade in New York City, all people who are against abortion, they were marching. The U.S. is having a presidential election, so the Democratic party, they are having their convention in New York City to decide who will be their candidate for President. So all these people were marching to try to convince him to be against abortion. But he has already said he will not take any issue, he will not take a stand, because it is too controversial.

Prabhupāda: Who?

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

Prabhupāda: He's also Shankar?

George Harrison: Well, he's called L. Shankar. You know that South India they have a funny way around them, they have like a surname. He's just called L. Shankar. His brother is called L. Subhramanyam.

Devotee (1): George says he wants to spend some time in Vṛndāvana.

George Harrison: I was only there for about thirty-six hours last time.

Prabhupāda: We have got now very good centers. Another gentleman, he's offering us a very good place at Mahābaleśvara. That's one of the famous India stations. A very nice climate. So you can come and stay there. We have got now many good centers.

George Harrison: I'll come and see if you're in Bombay, because I'll be near where the temple is.

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

George Harrison: There's also somebody, I think it was a guy who was trying to get his wife back or something. (laughs) I know it was in California, and he was saying "They've stolen my wife." These stories kill me, I mean it's so funny because the way...

Prabhupāda: Find out this verse, brahmacārī gurukule.

Hari-śauri: I think that's in Seven, Two.

Harikeśa: Sixteenth Chapter, first verse, I think. It's the first verse, brahmacārī gurukule.

Jayatīrtha: One man came to the temple, he heard that his daughter had participated in one of our fire sacrifices, and he was afraid that...

George Harrison: Fire sacrifices?

Jayatīrtha: When we have initiations we have a fire sacrifice. He was afraid that she had been sacrificed. (laughter)

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Parivrājakācārya: Their pride, one country, just like children playing, one can say "I can fly higher than you," and so "We can go to the moon before you can." For no reason than just to show they can do it.

Hari-śauri: It's an excuse to spend money. It's for fun.

Prabhupāda: They cannot settle up their misunderstanding here. By going to the moon planet, they'll do it.

Hari-śauri: That's one thing that they said they were going to do, actually. They had some Russian astronauts and some American astronauts, and they had them meet in space, and then they joined their spaceships together and then they had a meal together and did some experiments, and then they left again. So that was very much acclaimed as bringing the two nations closer together.

Prabhupāda: We are afraid of these two classes of rascals. "Afraid of" means we don't want their association. It is very dangerous.

Room Conversation -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Human qualification there is no, otherwise how they are killing? Killing means they have no human qualification, animal qualification. I want you to eat, huh? You know that Aesop's fable story?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Funny story?

Prabhupāda: There was a lake. So one small lamb was drinking water on the other side, and this side another tiger. The tiger challenged that, "Why you are muddying the water." So he said, "Sir, I am here, long away, I am not muddying." So anyway, he picked up some quarrel and killed him. So the idea was to kill him, but he picked up some, find out some fault. So anyone finding out. This man who wants to kill somebody else, he's not man, he's animal. Give the dog a bad name and hang it. That English proverb? You try to discuss on this point, how people can refuse the proprietorship of God. That is a very good point for preaching. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam. Everything belongs to God. That's a fact. Sleeping? Meditating? Either sleeping or meditating, what is the real fact? Meditating or sleeping?

Hari-śauri: I'm not feeling sleepy anyway.

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

Prabhupāda: No librarian, no university, no scholar, no professor is refusing. As soon as we go, "Oh, yes, bring. We shall take." So I am bringing money from the foreign countries by my selling books, and they are criticizing me that I am C.I.A. Just see the fun. And there is nobody to give me protection.

Indian man: Not Lord giving protection? (laughter)

Prabhupāda: No, Lord, giving, giving. That I am confident. Because they are envious, "How Bhaktivedanta Swami is getting so much money? He's paying crores and crores. There must be some political..." As they are getting from Russia. But actually, I am selling. I am working night, writing these books, and these boys are helping me to sell it. I am getting enough money to spend it. What is my fault? For Kṛṣṇa's sake we have sacrificed everything, our life and everything and Kṛṣṇa is giving us money and we are spending it and they are criticizing in the Parliament. This is my misfortune. I don't take it as misfortune. Because asuras are always there. Even Kṛṣṇa's time.

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

Prabhupāda: Don't say certainly, you must come forward to fight. If you simply sit down in Vṛndāvana, then Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission is not being carried. He says, pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma, that is His mission. (CB Antya-khaṇḍa 4.126) So this (indistinct) in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, so why other parties, they should sit down and simply... I am a teeny person, single-handed we shall fight. Why you should see the fun and do not fight? That I am asking you. I shall fight and you shall see the fun.

Guest: No, no.

Prabhupāda: What is this? Now, you appear to be educated gentlemen, you combine all the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava gosvāmīs, and come with me to fight because there is a world fight now. They are threatened. Their whole civilization is threatened by this movement. That is the position now. Whole Europe and America, they are combining. They are intelligent person, they see that this movement is spreading like epidemic. They have admitted, some of their (indistinct), "If this movement is allowed to advance, then some day they will take our government." They have expressed that feeling. And now they are preparing to fight out. These, all these fathers of these young men, they are combining together to charge me that I am kidnapping their boys. So it is a serious situation, you should not see simply the fun and claim to belong to Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Now you should come out to fight. Am I wrong or right.

Room Conversation About Gurukula -- November 5, 1976, Vrndavana:

Yaśodānandana: Personally I had that boy with me for two months when I went to South India, preaching, and I thought it would be an asset to have a young boy, but he was so misbehaved that it was too much problem. And the same things that he was doing, in the beginning with me, telling lies and misbehaving, he is still doing now and he does not correct himself never. He has no effort to better his behavior or his conduct. He does not chant his rounds. He rarely comes to the kīrtana, or else when he comes to the kīrtana, he does not chant. He simply plays and makes fun. And it's very... He has a very bad influence on the other boys.

Prabhupāda: No, then he should be sent back. Or he can be sent to Bombay to work ordinarily. Or Hyderabad farm. Like that. Let him work on the ground.

Yaśodānandana: He speaks Bengali. That boy was in Bengal before and he picked up Bengali.

Room Conversation -- November 25, 1976, Vrndavana:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: I know from practical experience, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that... I just played this Alex's record. It's all current pop music with English philosophy wording. And all the brahmacārīs were so agitated, they came to my room to listen and they were, you know, really making fun of it like it was a pop...

Akṣayānanda: Because that style of music it reminds us of the nightclubs or whatever it might be.

Prabhupāda: Therefore I said it is better not to make these records.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Just your these records and paramparā records should be played, I think. There are so many tapes of your records.

Hari-śauri: This style that they are doing now, they explain that they wanted that because then that way, they'll be able get them played on the radio. Otherwise they won't play bhajanas or anything on the radio. But there's a distinction between that kind of music and pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness music. Even though the words indicate Kṛṣṇa consciousness, most of the songs are written in such a way that it's indirect. It's not directly Kṛṣṇa.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But you can't hear the words.

Prabhupāda: Yes, indirect.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Then let them come first of all. (laughter) There is no "if." There is sufficient place. Come. But nobody's coming. They want to see, "Let these white men come and we see." That's all. "We see the fun." This is going on. They are coming. They are disgusted. But we are not disgusted. That is the difficulty. Therefore I was speaking to this boy, "You are Englishman, you have come." It's a problem now in Māyāpur, here. And the government is after them as soon as three months pass. "Get out, get out, get out, get out." Then how shall I conduct my business? A big, big establishment. This is another problem. But Kṛṣṇa is doing His own business. But practically seeing. This is India's business. Bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra (CC Adi 9.41). Manuṣya-janma, not the cats and dogs, but those who have taken the human form. It is their business. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra (CC Adi 9.41), janma sārthaka-First of all, make your life successful by understanding the philosophy. Then, janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra, preach this philosophy all over the world. That is para-upakāra. So actually that is being done. They understand, they are understanding this philosophy. There is struggle now in foreign countries. There is opposition now. Who will explain what is the opposition?

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. He's of my age. Not less. But he's after three, four wives. His business is to go from one wife's house to another wife's house and each wife's house, expenditure of ten thousand rupees per month. (chuckles) He's a very funny businessman. He has made his wife director and they take money. So to avoid income tax... So, huge expenditure. Each, one house. Income tax cannot say, "Why you are maintaining?" (indistinct) That is not their business. It is comparison. Just like Bhogilal, he's maintaining big, big establishment. So I became his guest for fifteen days. He wanted to stay. I stayed for fifteen days. I first, my requisition was that he you must give me exclusive typewriter for writing my books. So he gave me. And if I would have asked for typewriter he would have given. But I was working with my broken typewriter. I went to our Tīrtha Mahārāja in Māyāpur, that "You give me a room (Śrīla Prabhupāda taps on table) and a typewriter, (tap) and print my books. (tap) Give me some (indistinct) (tap). I join you."

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: (Sanskrit) Everyone is (Sanskrit). That is according to his position. That does not mean equal. Kṛṣṇa Himself worshiped Sudāmā Vipra. That does not mean Sudāmā Vipra is as good as the Personality of Godhead. When Nārada was coming in Dvārakā, Kṛṣṇa immediately got down and... Nārada was smiling, "Just see the fun." But etiquette. Nārada never said that "I am better than Kṛṣṇa or equal to Kṛṣṇa." Never said.

Trivikrama: Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira the same.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everyone. Everyone knew their position. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is addressed by Arjuna, "Acyuta, You promised to drive my chariot, therefore I'm asking You. Don't forget. You never deviate from Your promise." Acyuta. Senayor ubhayor madhye rathaṁ sthāpaya me 'cyuta (BG 1.21). "Don't forget that You are Acyuta. Don't think that I am Your servant, I am ordering." He knows that "I am servant of Kṛṣṇa. I am ordering Him."

Room Conversation with Film Producer about Krsna Lila -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Ordinary question... Kṛṣṇa has advised in the Bhagavad-gītā, na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit, na hanyate hanyamāne śarī... (BG 2.20). This is for living entity, soul. And living entity is the part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. So the part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, na jāyate na mriyate. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). And "Kṛṣṇa, the supreme whole, He was killed." Just see the question, fun. Means he has no common sense even—"Kṛṣṇa was killed." "The part and parcel cannot be killed, but the whole can be killed." Just see his intelligence. If I say, "Not a single portion of this room can be destroyed," but "The whole house was destroyed," what is this nonsense? Part and parcel... Na jāyate na mriyate kadācit. Kadācit, this word, is used, "at any time." And "The whole is killed."

Guest (1): Who can kill?

Prabhupāda: No, he asked this question.

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- January 30, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Pradyumna: Yes, they have original, these. But they do not let... They have a funny... You cannot copy the whole book with a xerox there. You only can see it and copy by hand. They won't let you do it. But there's a copy there, Samadhi Press.

Prabhupāda: It must be very old paper.

Pradyumna: Yes, very old.

Prabhupāda: To copy in hand, how long it take? Very big book?

Pradyumna: No. Not so big. And they also have that paṇḍita who used to live with Bhaktivinoda? They had that tall Sarasvatī, that Sararati Satuspati... Bhaktisiddhānta... His name was... His books are also there, two, three books. They have published jointly from Saraswati Bhavan. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura...

Prabhupāda: So the scientists could not say anything.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Well, we said, "We are working on it." We were not giving a definite..., 'cause we need some proof to satisfy them. So we are...

Prabhupāda: Anyway, you are meeting big, big scientists.

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: In M.I.T.

Hari-śauri: Yeah. And when he asked them, "What was the purpose?" they said, "Well, it's fun." He asked what the purpose was, they said, "Well, it's fun."

Prabhupāda: Fun?

Hari-śauri: Fun.

Satsvarūpa: Amusement.

Hari-śauri: It's amusement.

Prabhupāda: But they unnecessarily spending money. So they have spent unnecessarily for the moon expedition. Money, if you do not know, you'll spend it for unnecessary purpose. That is they are doing. So give them brain, and this money can be spent for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They have got money. Why they are trying to manufacture artificial intelligence? What is the purpose?

Arrival of Devotees -- February 24, 1977, Mayapura:

Rāmeśvara: I have also gotten different letters from the state government of California, the mental hospitals that we're visiting. These are official letters on their letterhead. This one... I'll read the best one. "Dear friends, it is a great pleasure to thank you all for the extraordinary party you gave for Residence 32. The clients on 32 loved your chanting and enjoyed clapping along with you. This simple activity allowed them to take part in the fun and warm spirit. Everyone really liked the tempura-like cauliflower," the pakorās, "that you brought. It was a very tasty and special treat. We at Fairview," a very famous state hospital, "we at Fairview were so impressed with the way that you related to the clients on the residence..."

Prabhupāda: So these are the recommendation how we wash brain.

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

Prabhupāda: So? Now, this nationalism idea, so you have trace out the whole history. By introducing this nationalism, what improvement gave? Nationalism, the leader, it began in Europe, the Romans. They wanted to spread. Where are the Romans now? Carthagian, old history, Egyptian, Grecian, then, later on, Moguls or then British. So where are these groups? "Combined together, exploit others." That was, that means, a gang of rogues. Rogues and thieves, they... And by doing that, what they have actually done? The Romans, now their broken buildings are there. And people go to see the fun, how they used to enjoy. What is that called?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Coliseum. That's the Greek Coliseum, they...

Prabhupāda: By keeping one lion and fighting him and it is enjoyed. What is this? What they have gained? In this way, the privileged... Is it not subject perception? What Napoleon has done? Or Hitler has done? Or Churchill has done?

Room Conversation with Ram Jethmalani (Parliament Member) -- April 16, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Initiation means seriously take up the...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Vow.

Prabhupāda: And if you make it a fun business, then I become implicated, you become implicated.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In what way does the spiritual master become...?

Prabhupāda: Well, this is then something.(?)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He has to work very hard on behalf of the disciple...

Prabhupāda: No. To accept his sinful reaction.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He does that?

Morning Talk -- April 18, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: One gentleman came: "Sir, you are..." So he might be one of the hanging passengers.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (laughs) That was funny. When you said that, the Chief Minister was laughing. At that point he was smiling. Everyone in that crowd was thinking, "Yes. He's talking about me."

Prabhupāda: Is that civilization? Human being should be calm and quiet, peaceful and advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There must be four divisions, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, everything. Everything is lost. From the very morning, "Where is bread? Where is bread?" We have no fixed income, but we are so pure(?). We are maintaining big establishment. Who has got so big establishment? And what is our asset? Asset is only Kṛṣṇa. For ordinary karmīs to maintain such house and such big establishment...

Morning Conversation -- April 19, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: It will not...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...the scientific community, they'll make fun of this.

Prabhupāda: Then don't show it.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What about in the universities, the students?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: University students?

Prabhupāda: They are... University students, they may be educated. They'll also make a... Don't make it a laughing stock.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Well, very little is there. Just started, then finished. So I said, "If it can be done, it can be a little elaborated. Give some more authentic examples, a little more discussion and some philosophy...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Conversation -- April 30, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: This is like that. So you have to, as far as possible... If you can you have to demonstrate, "This is planetary system." So at least we shall show what is going on within this universe. And above... And each universe is covered with seven material elements. Each covering is ten times more than the other covering, earth, water, air, fire. A wonderful creation. And how it will be shown? So I have decided, therefore, that let us show something about this planetary, er, this universe. And others, we give idea. How it will be done, you think over as far as possible. (laughs) It is not these rascals' calculation, that every planet is rock and sand, and God had no business to create so many planets of rocks and sands to be discovered scientifically by these rascals' attaining them. Just see the fun, how far the godless men can dare to speak and think. How great rascals they are! Simply to deny the existence of God, that's all. That is their business. And the creation has no brain, asatyam. Anīśvaram: "There is no God. It is all false." Jagad āhur anīśvaram (BG 16.8).

Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- June 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: When he said, what the audience thinks?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, the audience, they laugh, and yet the laughing is a little... They swallow their laughing. In one sense it's funny; in the other sense they know it is very true, and they feel it. Actually it would be difficult to say such strong thing, but because it is an in a formal theater, the audience sits there respectfully, taking it all.

Prabhupāda: So we are criticizing, but...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But no one else is.

Prabhupāda: Nobody understands that these are bad things.

Conversation, 'Rascal Editors,' and Morning Talk -- June 22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "O sages, I have been..."

Prabhupāda: No, they cannot be reliable. They can do more harm. Just see here the fun(?).

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. We're finding out in the Fifth Canto that there're words that are so off, the meaning is completely changed, completely changed. I mean, in the three chapters that we read, Bhakti-prema Mahārāja made at least half a dozen corrections of serious corrections. They had changed the meaning.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Some of the mistakes in the numbers, the figures.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yeah, they're all...

Prabhupāda: So how they can be reliable, so-called, this way...? (background whispering) Hm?

Letter from Yugoslavia--'Books!' -- June 30, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Just see the fun. He rushed there and began... And...? It is a humorous.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "So I made arrangements with the book store to fulfill his desires. The next, University of Pristina. After riding all night in the train..." This boy is going through a lot of hardship all along. He said sometimes for two or three days he did not sleep. "After riding all night in the train I arrived on the campus at four a.m. in the morning. Before anyone could interfere with me, I studied the school very closely. In two hours' time I knew where all of my targets were. So when the professors and students arrived at 6:30 in the morning..."

Prabhupāda: 6:30 in the morning?

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

Prabhupāda: They're all superexcellent.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "I hope that they meet with your approval. We are now in the process of completing a reproduction of the saṁsāra display for the twofold purpose of museum publicity, a special photograph to be taken by a famous photographer..." It's funny. You told him not to do this, but they went ahead and did it. "...and an exhibit to be displayed at the Los Angeles First Annual Ratha-yātrā festival grounds. This saṁsāra diorama has an outstanding response from the general public, and we hope to make it available to many centers for the preaching work in the near future. In connection with this I had an idea of constructing traveling trailers housing one such exhibit, complete with lights and sound, explaining the process..."

Prabhupāda: Oh, it will be very nice.

Room Conversation -- October 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This one Dr. Sharma wanted to open a Gurukula account. So they told him, "You have no authority whatsoever. Bhagatji has no authority, Akṣayānanda has no authority, Gopāla... Only Prabhupāda has authority." The funny thing about this, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is that according to our memorandum, they're not correct. Actually, according to the memorandum, two members of the Bureau can pass a resolution to open an account. But the most amazing thing is they don't accept the Bureau. They accept something called the Governing Body, which legally in India doesn't have any weight. And when I tried to explain to them that there's a memorandum and there's a Bureau, they said, "We don't accept it. Everything is Prabhupāda, and he's the chairman of the Governing Body." When I told this to Girirāja, Girirāja just laughed and said that...

Prabhupāda: If Girirāja can deal with these men, then let him do it immediately.

Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That lemon should be preserved, not otherwise.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Utilized. Okay. Keep the lemon. Don't use it for anything else. That's what you have to tell him. Preserve it only for this purpose. That was a very funny joke you told, Śrīla Prabhupāda, about the doctor, con-doctor? Everybody was relishing it.

Prabhupāda: Where is Kīrtanānanda? He is annoyed (avoiding?)? (Tamāla Kṛṣṇa laughs)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Upendra said because he has a night shift sometimes he rests at this time. You want to see him?

Prabhupāda: No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just wondering.

Prabhupāda: Where is Hari-śauri?

Page Title:Fun (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:27 of Jun, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=81, Let=0
No. of Quotes:81