Grant (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"grant" |"granted" |"granting" |"grants"

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: Śruti-smṛti-purāṇadi-pāñcarātriki-vidhiṁ vina (Brs. 1.2.101). Any system we accept, it must be supported by the evidences of śruti-smṛti-purāṇadi-pāñcarātriki. Aikāntikī harer bhaktir utpātāyai... Anything which is not supported by śruti-smṛti... Just like Manu-smṛti. This is Smṛti. And Vedas are Śruti. Śruti-smṛti-purāṇadi pāñcarātriki-vi... (Brs. 1.2.101), aikāntikī harer bhaktir utpātāyaiva kalpate. Which is not evidence, which is not true by these pramāṇas, then it is disturbance. That is...

Guest: But I mean to say one thing is, like in Vedas, whatever is written could have been proved like in a scientific way, today... Suppose there is a lab which is scientific. Whatever is said by that lab, that "This is truth," accepted without going to argue into the propriety of it... Suppose you have a scientific knowledge shop or a place, and if this workshop or this scientific institution states, "This is not good. This is not good," a general body accepts, take it for granted, "Yes, scientific body has said so. It is understood. It's..."

Prof. Kotovsky: Hm. Yes.

Prabhupāda: Personally he hasn't got to examine, himself. He takes the statement of an authority and believes him.

Room Conversation -- August 14, 1971, London:

Sister Mary: Who controls, if one of the members becomes grasping, wants things for himself...?

Prabhupāda: No, what... We are therefore teaching. We are therefore teaching. Members are gradually learning how to sacrifice for God. So when he is completely trained up, he knows that nothing belongs to Him. Everything belongs to God. Therefore, whatever he possesses, it must be utilized for God's purposes. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness. We take it for granted, and that is a fact. Everything belongs to God. God, whatever God has given me for my use, so I must use it, first of all expressing my gratitude to God, "O God, You are so kind that You have given me this. So first of all you taste it. Then I'll eat." This is our philosophy.

Sister Mary: What about pleasures like listening to music?

Prabhupāda: Yes, we chant the glories of God.

Sister Mary: Could you listen to other peoples' music?

Prabhupāda: Huh? No. If he's chanting the glories of God, we are very eager to hear him. That is our process. Or somebody's chanting, somebody's hearing. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇu. Chanting and hearing about God, that is music.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1972, Sydney:

Prabhupāda: That is called scholar. "Oh, he is a big scholar."

Devotee (2): Is that the māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ?

Prabhupāda: Māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ (BG 7.15), yes. All nonsense. You take it granted that anyone who has no Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is a nonsense, whatever he may be. That is I take it, and I challenged him like that. I criticized Dr. Radhakrishnan in my Back to Godhead, "scholar deluded." I was criticizing him like anything.

Devotee (2): That was the first Bhagavad-gītā I read was this one by Radhakrishnan.

Prabhupāda: I have criticized him like anything, yes.

Devotee (2): Then Paramānanda and Satyabhāmā, they brought me this your Bhagavad-gītā.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1972, Sydney:

Prabhupāda: This is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. If somebody is thinking, "If I had like this, like that, like that, like that." "All right you will have all." (laughter) Just like Hiraṇyakaśipu wanted to save himself in this way, that... "Yes, all are granted," but still he had to die. All granted. So we are trying to take facilities from Kṛṣṇa beginning from "O God, give us our daily bread, then give me motorcar, then give me airplane, then give me this, give me that." "Take all, but you will never be happy unless you surrender to Me. You take all." This is going on. The modern civilization, they are wanting, "We may have this, we may have that, we may have this, we may have that." "Yes, you take all. But don't talk of happiness, please." That is the only problem. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66), if you want this. Otherwise, you take whatever you like.

Śyāmasundara: The devotees, they don't care. They'll go across the desert hitchhiking, but Kṛṣṇa gives them happiness. They're happy.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is happiness. They are going for Kṛṣṇa, that is happiness. They forget the trouble.

Śyāmasundara: Yes. Today he's gone again. (break)

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 17, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says, "You fully surrender. I give you full protection." Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi (BG 18.66). He will give you full intelligence. (break) ...these facts in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That will be our great success when the scientific world will admit. Let them admit simply. Then our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement will (be) great success. You simply admit, "Yes, there is God and mystic power." Then our movement is very successful. And that's a fact. Simply talking like a nonsense amongst the nonsense, that is not a very great credit. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31). One blind man is leading other blind man. What is the value of such? They are all blind. And so long one remains blind and rascal, he does not accept God. This is the test. As soon as we see that he does not accept God, he is blind, rascal, fool, whatever you can call. Take it for granted, however, whatever he may be. He's a rascal. On this principle we can challenge so many big, big chemist, philosopher, whoever comes to us. We say, "You are demon." The other chemist came, you brought him, that Indian?

Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 17, 1973, Los Angeles:

Kṛṣṇa-Kāntī: If they admit they are failures, they'll never get any more grants.

Prabhupāda: You see. All utopian. One platform... It is called ākāśa-puṣpa, ākāśa-puṣpa, to get flower from the sky. It is called ākāśa-puṣpa. This kind of plan is called ākāśa-puṣpa. Ākāśa-puṣpa. Or the bakāṇḍa-nyāya. Bakāṇḍa, the testicle of the bull and the duck, he is expecting, "Here is a fish. It will drop, and I will take it." He is following. Have you seen? In India we have seen many. The bull is going on, on the..., and the baka is going on. And whole day and night, he is after that. "It is a fish, big fish. It will drop and I shall take." Bakāṇḍa-nyāya.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: There is also a bird, Śrīla Prabhupāda; it is called heron.

Prabhupāda: Heron? I do not know.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yeah. They have long beaks. They also, they are always with the cows.

Prabhupāda: That is baka. We call baka.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They are all the time... They stay mostly in wet lands.

Prabhupāda: Yes, bakāṇḍa-nyāya.

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

Prabhupāda: You don't say there is no proof.

Krishna Tiwari: ...in science, you can do the same thing in your place.

Prabhupāda: No, no. There is proof. There is proof. Because, because the laws of nature is being controlled, that is the proof there is somebody controlling. That is the proof.

Krishna Tiwari: Well, okay, suppose we grant that. Suppose we grant that, that that is the case, then what we do about it?

Prabhupāda: So that, you do not know that. We know that. That is our difference.

Krishna Tiwari: Okay. Suppose we believe that this is the case. Then we do about it?

Prabhupāda: That, then our knowledge is perfect and your knowledge...

Krishna Tiwari: Then sit and just request him to do something.

Prabhupāda: No, no, no.

Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Yes. You can defend your theory but that will not help purification of the society. That will not help. Take it for granted. You can make so many theories but if you remain impure, if you are not God conscious, all these theories will be useless. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā mano-rathe... (SB 5.18.12). This is simply mental speculation. Mano-rathena, hovering on the mental plane, you can jump from this to that, but that will not solve the problem. Mano-rathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ. So we do not act on mental speculation. It may be our credit or discredit. That is different thing. We simply follow the standard policy. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Now, everything is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, how to become a brāhmaṇa, how to become a kṣatriya, how to become a vaiśya, how to become a śūdra, or how to remain less important than the śūdras. The societies must be divided in different divisions. They should work conjointly... (end)

Room Conversation with Indian Ambassador -- September 5, 1973, Stockholm:

Ambassador: I'm afraid I'm a very democratic person. If people, if they sincerely believe that they cannot exist without meat, they should be permitted, and once that is granted...

Prabhupāda: No, no, no.

Ambassador: ...you have to organize slaughterhouses.

Prabhupāda: Then, then that is the, our misfortune that we have lost our Indian culture.

Ambassador: Because...

Prabhupāda: Indian culture.

Ambassador: Your Grace, what you want is really a sort of complete...

Prabhupāda: No, I don't want.

Ambassador: ...a strong, obedient, disciplined society. But the moment the disciplinarian becomes a dictator, it is...

Prabhupāda: It is, it is the duty of the government to see. That is the government. Strong government means...

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1973, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ harer

bhajann apakvo 'tha patet tato yadi

yatra kva vābhadram abhūd amuṣya kiṁ

ko vārtha āpto 'bhajatāṁ sva-dharmataḥ

(SB 1.5.17)

Tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ hareḥ. Just like many of our disciples, as a matter of civilized man they should have remained at home, obedient to the parents, get married and live peacefully with father and mother. Of course, European, American boys, they do not do that. But it is expected that should be like that. Just like yourself. You should have lived with your father. He also. But you did not do this. So take it for granted, out of sentiment, you took to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Tyaktvā sva-dharmam. To live family life, peaceful life, obedient life to the fathers and mothers, this is called sva-dharma. So one gives up this sva-dharma, tyaktvā sva-dharmam, and takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness gone... Not many, a few. So Bhāgavata says, yatra kva vābhadram abhūd amuṣya kim: "What is the wrong there?" Even if he has fallen down, half-way, still there is no wrong. He has gained something. That much service which he has already given to Kṛṣṇa, that is recorded. That is recorded.

Room Conversation -- November 4, 1973, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Demon. Demon. (laughs) Prahlāda Mahārāja when he was asked, "Take benediction, whatever you like", he said, "Sir, what benediction I shall take? I have seen the benediction of my father. He was so powerful even the demigods trembled by his red eyes and You finished it within a second. So what is the value of this benediction? Kindly engage me in Your service." Then Prahlāda Mahārāja he did not ask anything for himself, but later on he asked Nṛsiṁha-deva, "Sir, my Lord, one request I can make. My father was great demon, he was against You, but still I pray that his liberation will be granted."

Guest: Very nice of him, very good of him.

Prabhupāda: (laughs)

Guest: To save his father.

Prabhupāda: So Nṛsiṁha-deva replied, "Don't be worried about your father. Not only your father, but your father's father, his father, up to 14 generations because a devotee like you, because you are born in this family, 14 generations they are also liberated." Best service. If your daughter can give best service to your family by becoming a devotee. She gives service to you, to your husband, to your husband's father, your father, that is the śāstric injunction.

Morning Walk -- December 11, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: No, no. Why do you waste your time by talking with these rascals? Take it for granted they are set of rascals. That's all. (break)

Karandhara: ...teach you about Guru Maharaji. So we just threw him out. (break)

Prabhupāda: "If we want your teaching, we shall go to you. Why you have taken the trouble to come here? Please go out." That's all.

Yaśomatīnandana: Even though, Prabhupāda, we chastise them so severely, somehow or other they still have a soft corner for the devotees. They are feeling guilty.

Prabhupāda: They must have. Yes, they must have. They know they are culprit. But for their party's sake they are thinking or saying, "We are right. We are right."

Yaśomatīnandana: Yes, yes. Cause they are not sincere enough.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 5, 1974, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: ...no woman can... (break) So I took it very a cheap price. There was no question of woman. I kept my office there. And the address was Multani temple. It is a temple. Multani temple, Grant Road. And in my retired life my office was there, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa temple and Delhi, Chippiwada. And my residence was Rādhā-Dāmodara temple. And before that, that Keśī Ghāṭa. Who has seen that? You have...?

Devotee: Oh yes.

Prabhupāda: That was also temple. Yes.

Indian devotee: Kṛṣṇa has arranged.

Indian devotee: Very nice side, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: I lived in that house for seven years. And then I came to Rādhā-Dāmodara temple.

Devotee: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Which way? (break) ...stayed in that Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa temple, Malliks. And still I am living in temple. So Kṛṣṇa has arranged nicely, from the beginning of my life, temple. Which way? This way? (break) Medhi, this is called medhi, this rod, center.

Morning Walk -- April 10, 1974, Bombay:

Girirāja: Everything. So is it the same living soul, Arjuna, in each universe, or a different living being may be taking that position?

Prabhupāda: Take it for granted, different. What is the wrong there? After all, everyone is Kṛṣṇa's expansion. Ānanda cinmāyā-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). We are also expansion. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. But still, we have got individuality. Kṛṣṇa proved it—I explained that in Vṛndāvana when everything was stolen by Brahmā. Again another batch of cows and calves and cowherds boys. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Immediately. What is the difficulty for Kṛṣṇa? Is it clear or not? You wanted to clarify. Is it clear or not?

Satsvarūpa: Yes, you said the answer is that it's different persons, not just one Arjuna, not just one Yaśodā.

Prabhupāda: Just like I have got hundred branches. Each branch I have got a set of my sitting room, of my books and everything. And wherever I go I see the same place. If it is possible for an ordinary man to have a hundred sets of the same thing, why not for Kṛṣṇa?

Girirāja: So in each branch you have a different cook, different president, different treasurer...

Prabhupāda: But the set is there, what I want. The set is there.

Morning Walk -- April 29, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Everyone... Even government... In the parliament the question was raised, "Wherefrom they get money fabulously?" These men, in our country, they may be fools. In your country also, Los Angeles, I mean, neighboring storekeepers, they are wonderful, that "These people do not work and they have got so many cars and live so nicely?" (laughing) They inquire that "How do we get all these things?" They actually see that they are not ordinary working. They have no working or bank balance or business. Still, they have got so many cars and they eat nicely and they maintain such a nice house. And six, seven house they have purchasing. The realtors, they also know in America that we are very rich men. As soon as there is some property, they offer, because they know that we are very rich men. Because we have purchased some properties, so all the realtors, they have taken it for granted that we have got immense money. Here also, the members are thinking like that, that "Swamiji has got immense money."

Morning Walk at Marina del Rey -- July 12, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Means, that is animal propensity. The same thing, example. As a rabbit is going to be killed, he closes the eyes. "There is no danger. (laughter) There is no danger." He's thinking.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, there are thousand things they are taking for granted without...

Prabhupāda: That is not science. Science should not take anything granted.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Something which is beyond their experimental knowledge...

Prabhupāda: Then where is the difference between the scientists and the devotees? The devotees, devotee accepts what Kṛṣṇa says. That's all. Granted. (japa) In the śāstra it is said that acintyā khalu ye bhāvā na tās tarkeṇa yojayet, yojayet. "Things which are beyond your conception or perception, don't bring it in arguments and logic."

Svarūpa Dāmodara: This is from Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu? Acintyā khalu ye bhāvā...?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: That's nice. Then we shall immediately publish. What (is) the title you have given?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: It's called "The Origin of Life and Matter." The origin of everything. When one talks about the life here in the material world, one cannot leave matter. Because the scientists, what they are doing, is the materialists taken it for granted. They do not ask who made this matter. So they've started at... "Oh, matter is already, given by nature." So they'll take the matter and then start life. That is their increasing. So we want to bring it that matter is also from life.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Rūpānuga: That's like saying the car produces the driver. That's what they're thinking.

Prabhupāda: The car necessitates the driver's service. Otherwise car is useless.

Rūpānuga: Neither is the driver dependent on the car for his existence. He doesn't need the car. The car needs him.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because Kṛṣṇa is living but you do not know; therefore your knowledge is imperfect.

Indian man: OK. Taking for granted that is the basis, does this movement believe in Kṛṣṇa Bhāgavata or Kṛṣṇa who preached Bhagavad-gītā, only this much or that much. Kṛṣṇa Bhāgavata...

Prabhupāda: You cannot say that Kṛṣṇa Bhāgavata, Kṛṣṇa as described in the Bhāgavata, should be rejected, and Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā should be accepted. You cannot say that.

Indian man: No, just I wanted to separate Them together because...

Prabhupāda: Why?

Indian man: Some people take Kṛṣṇa of Bhagavad-gītā. So far as Bhagavad-gītā was preached by a philosopher like Kṛṣṇa, all other things are not so pertinent. But when people associate Kṛṣṇa with Bhāgavata, Kṛṣṇa of Mahābhārata and Kṛṣṇa of Bhagavad-gītā, Bhagavad-gītā being a apart from Bhārata, if they all take together there's a lot of confusion.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa of Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa of Bhāgavata and Kṛṣṇa, Mahābhārata—the same.

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

Prajāpati: They have government.

Ravīndra-svarūpa: Yes, and that's what they do.

Prajāpati: They have grants. They write books.

Acyutānanda: Just to keep their, their...

Prajāpati: But the books are being read.

Pañcadraviḍa: There's a saying that.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Acyutānanda: Cinmayananda Swami. He's a professional swami, and he confuses all the people very talentedly so that they all clap. If you ask them after... Prabhupāda has asked them, "What did he say?" "He said very nicely." But they can't say anything.

Ravīndra-svarūpa: So... These men are influencing. One of the things we did. We invited him to the temple, and we gave him a big plate of nice prasādam, and he liked it very much. He said, "If my wife could learn to cook like this, I'd give up meat." So we thought that was very significant.

Pañcadraviḍa: Send his wife over to the temple. We'll train her up.

Morning Walk -- April 5, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: That is also future. "Your children" means future. You enjoy. Why do you care for your children? You enjoy.

Madhudviṣa: Well, it's granted that we are all thinking about the future, but isn't it possible for us to take the best of what the material world has to offer and also make the best of what the spiritual world has to offer, simultaneously?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Madhudviṣa: What is the necessity of renouncing everything? You can't be...

Prabhupāda: Not renouncing, not renouncing. Just like our (?) think of future, that is also for present benefit. Future, future... The best intelligence is that just like one is afraid of suffering in old age, future. So there is. That is not ignorance. That is future life. So karmīs are thinking future life should be very comfortable. They want to go to the heavenly planets. They therefore act very piously, perform yajñas. That is all future. So real problem is that we are going to get another body in future. So what kind of body we shall get? That is intelligence. Body you have to get. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). So one should be very intelligent—"What kind of body I am going to get?"

Morning Walk -- May 11, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: No question of overpopulation. There are so many land. You do not know how to live. There is no question of overpopulation. You want to live like cats and dogs. Therefore you fight; there is scarcity. If you live properly, there is no question of scarcity. (break) Otherwise it is perfect. Everything is perfect. There is no question of inconvenience. You live according to the direction of Bhagavad-gītā; there is no question of scarcity, inconvenience, overpopulation. Everything is made.

Amogha: People just take it for granted that...

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Amogha: Due to the propaganda, people take it for granted, "Yes, there is overpopulation. Yes, there is lack of food. There is starvation, this and that."

Prabhupāda: Because they cannot manage, so they give some other cause.

Amogha: Yeah. They blame it on nature.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- May 17, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes. The whole world is rascal. Anyone who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is a rascal. Take it for granted. This is the test. That is stated in the Bhāgavata, na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (SB 7.5.31). These rascals, they do not know what is his self-interest. He is simply enamored by the external energy and trying to make adjustment of things. Andhā yathāndhair upanīya... He is a rascal, and his leader is also rascal. Te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ. These rascals do not know they are bound up, hands and legs, by the laws of nature, and they are making solution, problem. Just like this geographer is making solution and all of a sudden will die. And then another rascal will come into that place to make solution. The problem will remain, and they will come and go. They will come and go. Napoleon came for solution, Hitler came for solution, Gandhi came for solution, but when Napoleon was offered a horse's urine instead of water, he could not make any solution.

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

Madhudviṣa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, Raymond did not realize that you were going to be so merciful to grant so much time and he thought that you were only going to give about ten minutes, so he left about twenty people back at his house at one party. So he's feeling that he must return.

Raymond: It's my father-in-law's birthday.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Raymond: And it's my son's ninth birthday.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Raymond: And what we're doing is we've decided we're going to have the family.

Prabhupāda: That's nice, very nice. So give some prasādam to his son and his father-in-law.

Raymond: And then my wife said, a couple of nights ago my wife said, "Well...

Prabhupāda: Take some blessings from the temple.

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

Prabhupāda: Therefore... So if you assemble some not experienced men, then how there will be unity?

Yogi Bhajan: No, granted. What we are trying to do is we are giving out a call to all learned, the unlearned... But basic fact is: there is a desire somewhere in the ether that everybody wants to feel each other. And they have not done anything good by negating each other or talking negatively. They have not gained anything. They have realized it now. Otherwise...

Prabhupāda: Now, what will be the basic principle of unity? That is the point.

Yogi Bhajan: The point of basic unity is respect for each other.

Prabhupāda: But that is going on. Suppose you have come here. I welcome you. If I go to your place, you welcome me. That respect is going on.

Yogi Bhajan: Yeah, that's right. That is between two individuals.

Prabhupāda: Similarly, whenever we come in a big assembly, we respect each one, gentlemen. There is no harm.

Morning Walk -- June 16, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: That's it. That much they have done, yes. (break) ...diverting the attention of the people from going to the moon planet, they are meeting in the sky. So what will benefit we shall derive by their meeting in the sky?

Siddha-svarūpa: They have scientists now that are proposing and they have grants on how to develop a city in outer space or on the moon. They already have it how they're going to send people, how they're going to get their...

Prabhupāda: This is another bluff. You see? And these rascals are believing them.

Siddha-svarūpa: Especially they're making, trying to make people feel that their problems will be solved, that when it gets too bad they'll just be able to go to the moon. So there's no real problem even if you ruin the earth because you can always escape.

Prabhupāda: No, no, that mean... What about their moon planet going? That is stopped?

Siddha-svarūpa: I don't think they're sending any more rockets to the moon.

Ambarīṣa: Yes, they're finished now. There's too much litter up there.

Prabhupāda: So, useless.

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

Prabhupāda: That means they have created thieves and rogues. Therefore they are suspicious. Nowadays in the airport, everyone is searched. Then it is now taken for granted that all of them are cheats. So what is the value of this education if all of them are cheats? There is no discrimination, "Now, here is a educated professor, Dr. Ph.D., he cannot be searched." No, he will be also searched-because, "You may be Ph.D., but we know you are a cheat." (laughter) Is not the conclusion? Will he be excused if he says, "Oh, I am Ph.D." No, you must be searched. "You may be Ph.D., but you are a cheat." This is education. So what is the value of this education? And according to Vedic civilization, as soon as one is a brāhmaṇa, he is not within the jurisdiction of administration, immediately. The government has no right to check in his activities. Because he knows he is a brāhmaṇa. Four person, four or five, they are excused from the jurisdiction of law. The first is brāhmaṇa, the second is cow, the third is woman, and the fourth is old man, and fifth is the child. These five persons are not in the jurisdiction of law. No. Just like we have got practical. If a child comes and takes my spectacle away, he is not criminal. Everyone knows. But if a man takes my spectacle, then he is criminal. Similarly, a brāhmaṇa is never criminal. A cow is never criminal. These are the Vedic civilization. Woman, woman is also excused. No punishment for woman.

Morning Walk -- July 25, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: ...scientists do not manufacture brain and give it to a stone, and he becomes a scientist. Why do they not do that? Manufacture. You have got so nice brain. Now manufacture another brain and put it on the stone, and he becomes that, what is called, Frankenstein? (laughter) Why they are not able to create another brain? What is the answer?

Jayatīrtha: They haven't been able to get sufficient research grants from the government.

Rāmeśvara: They need more money from the government to...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They say they will do it.

Prabhupāda: And then what is his position? Who has created his brain?

Rādhā-vallabha: This just came in the course of evolution.

Prabhupāda: So then why you are talking so much? It will come, everything. Why you are wasting time. Let it come everything by evolution.

Car Conversation -- August 3, 1975, Detroit:

Jagadīśa: I don't know. (break)

Brahmānanda: Switzerland is his home. (break) ...in this agreement that they signed in Finland was that Russia has pledged to make it easier for granting visas for families, members who are outside of Russia so that they can come to Russia and visit their family members.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Brahmānanda: So this will be good for our, what is her name? That devotee?

Jagadīśa: Mālatī? Himāvatī?

Brahmānanda: No. That girl devotee.

Prabhupāda: Mandakini.

Brahmānanda: Mandakini. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...cious animals also.

Room Conversation -- August 21, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati (BG 9.31). He says, "Kaunteya, take it for granted that My devotee will never be vanquished." Then you have to disbelieve all these words or you have to believe these words. There are two things. If you believe, then you are successful. If you don't believe... (Bengali)

Lalitā: ...to cooperate with you to establish a good life.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is actually my intention. Otherwise I have cancelled a very big, big... (Bengali)

Lalitā: (Bengali) ...immediately. She is eager to meet you.

Prabhupāda: No, I am not dependent on him. I can cancel, accept anything. (laughter)

Lalitā: (Bengali) ...only one, small, as a spiritual guide. And... (Bengali)...the photographer, with permission... (Bengali)

Morning Walk -- Durban, October 13, 1975 :

Prabhupāda: Victim of European propaganda. He used to take "Anything Indian, bad. Anything Indian, bad." Not only he. Later on, all the so-called educated persons, they took it for granted that "Whatever is done in London, that is first-class, and whatever is Indian original, that is all bad." And they controlled the native princes. So many things. It is a big history, how they killed India's original culture. And then Hindu-Muslim riots, friction, fighting between Hindus and Muslims and dividing them.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: You said that the British instigated the Muslims.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: How did they do that?

Prabhupāda: Oh, you… Nowadays you pay somebody, and he will do anything. So they appointed this Jhinna. He found that he is a very, intelligent lawyer. He was in the Congress. So there was dissension. There must be. So once this Jhinna was to be the president of the Congress, and the Patel, he frustrated. So Jhinna became angry, and at this moment the Britishers took it. He was a very intelligent barrister. So he instigated that, "You form a party, Muslim league. And whatever money is required for propaganda, we shall pay."

Morning Walk -- October 26, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: ...in scientific grants.

Prabhupāda: All another set of fools, that's all. (Break) ...whole world is unhappy on account of being controlled by different set of fools. That is the calamity. If they say, "There are so many educated persons. They are controlling, and you are saying "fools." Why? Then what you will answer?

Harikeśa: "Kṛṣṇa says."

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Mūḍha.

Prabhupāda: Mūḍha, narādhama māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ (BG 7.15). They have no knowledge. "Why no knowledge? Degrees." No, this is māyā. "What is the cause?" Aśuri-bhavam aśritaḥ: Godless rascal. Therefore he's a mūḍha.

Harikeśa: So it's not that we're so much concerned about science but rather the aśuravāda.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- December 7, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Therefore you have to take defense from the law. You present in the court the professors' opinion, how they are giving standing order. Why the state should restrain distributing knowledge? Do they want to keep their men in darkness? You have to preach like that. (break)...University is the most important university in Europe. They read our books. They order standing order. So why this loafer state prohibit?

Alanath: ...these explanations, they always argue, "If we allow you to sell your books, then we must allow everybody to sell on the street."

Prabhupāda: No. But you must consider the importance of... (break) Everybody submits application for becoming high-court judge. Will it be granted? There must be discrimination. (break) Thank you very much for your kindness. Yes. I am very pleased. Thank you. (end)

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- May 2, 1976, Fiji:

Guru-kṛpā: What they do is they just take it for granted because it's happening so regularly.

Prabhupāda: So that means you have to accept it—there is superior administration. You may not know what is that administration, but you have to accept it. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says, "Under My supervision." Here those who are in the gross ignorance, not intelligent, they can suggest that there is some brain, just like Professor Einstein used to say. But he has no knowledge who is that brain, and we have that knowledge, who is that brain. That brain is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore our knowledge is perfect. They can simply suggest that "There is a brain," but we can say, "Here is the brain." Then it is.... If one knows whose brain it is, that is perfect knowledge.

Guru-kṛpā: But they have no faith. That's the only difficulty.

Prabhupāda: That is foolishness. You accept some brain. But if somebody comes who is accepted as the brain, they have no faith. That means rascal. Nārada says, "Here is the brain." Brahmā says, "Here is the brain." Śiva says, "Here is the brain." Then ācāryas, Vyāsadeva, says, "Here is the brain." Then modern ācāryas, they say, "Here is the brain." Then why don't you accept? You are so rascal?

Morning Walk -- June 5, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: To the rākṣasas.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And everyone is rākṣasa practically. If the government even understood your mission in coming here, they would never have granted you this permanent residence visa. (laughs)

Prabhupāda: They thought "It is very nice, the Swamiji preaching about God." (break) So don't read newspaper.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Don't what, Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Don't read newspaper.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, no. (laughter) Another smash.

Prabhupāda: So many don'ts, add one another.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Don't read newspapers.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Then next they'll make so much propaganda against you.

Conversation with Clergymen -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: It is not personal. It may be said that in Eastern countries or in India, these things are very much appreciated and developed. That is another thing. But the thing as it is, it is neither Eastern or Western.

Scheverman: Oh, good. I grant it that the principles that you are utilizing are general and universal, granted.

Kern: May I ask you, Your Excellency, your own background? Were you born in India? Were you born in any other...?

Prabhupāda: Yes, I am Indian. I was born in Calcutta.

Kern: In Calcutta. And when you were there in Calcutta, did you receive the training?

Prabhupāda: Yes. I..., fortunately I was born in a very good family. So our familywise training was there. Especially in India, every family, it is like that. Trained up.

Kern: And your own schooling, then, in the local schools in Calcutta?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Not in the school, but in my family.

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

Prabhupāda: So he has got his doctorate?

Viśvakarmā: Yes. He's bringing one other professor with him. I can't remember his name. He's rather important. He just got a post at Oxford University, has been granted, er, uh, and from Oxford they've asked him to come from Toronto to there. So he'll also be with Professor O'Connell.

Satsvarūpa: This is Professor Shivaram from McMaster University.

Prabhupāda: I think I saw you quite before this. Thank you. But I.... (devotee or Indian introduces several people, including Mr. and Mrs. Mukherjee) Mrs. Mukherjee, you're also teacher here?

Indian lady: No, I am a student.

Prabhupāda: Student.

Indian man: They're all from Bengal.

Prabhupāda: Oh. (converses with woman in Bengali, mentions Gauḍīya Maṭha) So what I was talking just now about this motorcar race?

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Now these statements are quite scientifically valid and sound. Now this will be verified in our next slide that is called the axioms. This is called structure of a theory. In scientific disciplines, specifically in mathematics, now scientists work with a beginning called axioms. There are two types of axioms. First one is logical axiom, and second one is theoretical axioms. Now from these axioms, by inference, actually one deduces these theorems. That's in the second block. From there, by observation, we have this object of study. Now the basic question is wherefrom these axioms coming from? The starting point, axioms, they take it for granted, and actually there is no proof. It is beyond proof, beyond any scientific proof.

Prabhupāda: Vedānta-sūtra means all axiom. Vedānta-sūtra, that is all axiom. Axiomatic truth.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So the way that science works, also they depend on axioms. But actually, when one analyzes this a little thoughtfully, one should come to the conclusion that actually these axioms are coming from the Absolute. So our first proposition that in order to understand life and matter one must have this, er, some knowledge of the Absolute Truth is scientifically sound.

Room Conversation with Scientists -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Oh. So why don't you take him?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Oh, yes, he's very willing to help anything along these lines. But he told me that once we have this Bhaktivedanta Institute and we have this done, he told us that he can find some means by which we can get some grant from the government. There are several funding agencies, and he's one of the important men for giving grants, this National Institute of Health, and he has several connections with the top rank...

Prabhupāda: Authorities. So keep connection with him.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. And he even wants to write some articles along these lines.

Prabhupāda: Yes. He is favorable, keep in touch. (long pause)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: One thing I wanted to ask was about the ārati, in offering ārati, now we blow the conchshell, but, ah, coming out the pūjārī from the altar, outside, when the pūjārī blows the conchshell, he does this, especially in Atlanta, and I think in other temples also I have seen, the pūjārī comes out of the...

Rūpānuga: Yes, he comes on this side of the altar and blows the conchshell. Is that all right? It should be behind the curtain or in front of the curtain?

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

Svarūpa Dāmodara: This is the headquarters, Iowa, the main University. We saw the catalog. It contains everything, all sciences.

Hari-śauri: This article explains that when he first appeared in public, he presented himself as a Hindu representative of Śaṅkarācārya's cult, but then later on he concocted this Transcendental Meditation, and then he presented it as a science so that he could get government grants to teach it in schools and things like this.

Rādhāvallabha: They have another guru here, Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh.

Prabhupāda: He has also come?

Rādhāvallabha: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: His group is big here. He's very popular in America.

Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: Childish, with no sense. Actually that is the fact. All these rascals, they have no sense. Simply they bluff because they have no real knowledge. Mayayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ. That's a fact. If one, anyone, does not know Kṛṣṇa, then he's a bokā-loka. Immediately take it for granted, bokāloka. They take that we are very sectarian, but that is a fact.

Bhagavān: Our philosophy is that everyone else is wrong.

Prabhupāda: May be true to some extent, but they do not know the ultimate truth. That they do not know. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān (BG 7.19). He understands, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). That requires many, many births, to come to that conclusion. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). This Kṛṣṇa says. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya: (BG 7.7) "There is no more superior than Me." Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). He explains to everyone, sarva-dharman parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66). That is the.... There is the ultimate person. You call Him Kṛṣṇa or something, but you must know Him. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ, there must be. Father's father's father's father's father's.... Who is the original father? There must be.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just see. So this whole western civilization is threatened.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They are afraid of the Kṛṣṇa conscious movement.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Their whole economic structure will fail. Theoretically, take it for granted that if people give up meat-eating...

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: No smoking, no drinking.

Prabhupāda: Then whole civilization finished. Even theoretically taken, no smoking, no gambling, no intoxication, no illicit sex, their whole civilization is finished. Lord Zetland said... Not only that, one Sir Valentine Chiro (?), I think, Sir Valentine Chiro, British, important, when Gandhi started non-cooperation. So he remarked that "If Gandhi's movement, this non-cooperation movement is one percent successful, then we will have to leave it." And actually that happened. Because they were ruling over India by Indian cooperation. Gandhi struck to the right point, non-cooperation, and he scented the danger, and he remarked at that time, that if one percent of the Indian people non-cooperate then we are, our British empire finished. So there are intelligent persons, they are thinking in their own way that this movement is so strong against this modern material civilization, if it is allowed to spread then our whole civilization, whole economic structure will be finished.

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: ...so glorious. Glorious. He's glorious. That's all right. But kaniṣṭha-adhikārī will imitate his behavior, but he is not fixed up. Therefore it is not good for him. He is forbidden. This is...

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: He's forbidden to hear from a nondevotee.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They will commit so many mistakes and they'll take it for granted. Just like this "Nitāi-Gaura, Rādhe-Śyāma." That is avoided for kaniṣṭha-adhikārī. There are so many mistakes, rasābhāsa. So two things are there always, two sides. One for the mahā-bhāgavata, one for the ordinary kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, madhyama-adhikārī. So in the temple it is to be supposed generally for the madhyama-adhikārī and kaniṣṭha-adhikārī especially. So in the temple we should not...

Hari-śauri: We should just listen to whatever the ācāryas have...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Muslims are also restricted... (break) ...for some purpose. Therefore they are called karmīs. Actually, it is for satisfying Viṣṇu. Without Viṣṇu's satisfaction nothing can be done. So those who are desiring some material grants, they used to perform this ritualistic ceremonies. It is not for the devotee.

Dr. Patel: For devotee, Kṛṣṇa has said, "I am yajña, and I am also hutam, and I am also performer of yajña."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because he gives the intelligence. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). Unless He gives smṛti, he cannot chant the mantra. "Therefore actually I am performer."

Dr. Patel: Ahaṁ kratur ahaṁ yajñaḥ...

Prabhupāda: Therefore He says "I am performer. If I give him instruction, he does something, so he is not doing. I am doing. I say, 'Do like this,' and he does like that, then he's not performer, I am performer." So whatever mantra they are chanting, if Kṛṣṇa does not give him intelligence, he cannot do that. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). Everyone, whatever we are doing, it is being supplied, the intelligence, the everything, but according to my desires. I cannot do anything independent. Just like we are constructing, practically, with the sanction of the municipality, the sanction of the government. Independently I cannot do. Similarly, we cannot anything without sanction of God. But that sanction is ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11).

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: (laughs) "I grant you what ever you..."

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the position. Antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām (BG 7.23). "Because you are rascal, less intelligent you are doing this but this will not endure. You'll be a failure. Better what I say, you do. Then you'll be happy." This is the whole instruction. "You cannot do without My sanction. But you are insisting. What can I do? All right. Do it."

Dr. Patel: I grant you. And take the fruit and realize.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). He's there. Bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni (BG 18.61). If you have done then you must suffer or enjoy. That's all. That is your business. You get... Now you have created a karma. You have to enjoy it by accepting a certain type of body. Now you take it. I ask māyā, "Give him this body. He wants to eat stool. All right. Give him the body of a hog." Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā. The yantra, the body is supplied by māyā under the order. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate (BG 9.10). Everything is there. But these things they do not preach. They preach unnecessarily nonviolence. From Bhagavad-gītā, which is being taught in the battlefield, and Gandhi wants to draw some meaning—nonviolence. Immediately it is, what is the value? Not only Gandhi. Everyone. If he can give a new interpretation... I think in Bombay, was there any Dr. Reilly? He wrote some Bhagavad-gītā commentary as...

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Anywhere, this is our main program. Print books as many as possible and distribute. This is our main program. All other programs are secondary. So with this aim in view, work all together. Our Caitanya-caritāmṛta is unique literature. For Caitanya-caritāmṛta, we are above any ācārya. There are four ācāryas: Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī... But our Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava, Caitanya Mahāprabhu's legacy, ācārya's, that is unique. Anarpita-cariṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇa kalau. Here the Supreme Personality of Godhead is personally teaching-ācārya. Anarpita-cariṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇa kalau samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasam. The highest topmost bliss, madhurya. These dealings of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, madhurya-rasa, is the contribution of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. All other ācāryas, they could not give up to this. All other ācāryas, they contributed up to friendship, no vatsalya, neither madhurya. That is this contribution of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. There was dealings of mother Yasoda with Kṛṣṇa in the Bhāgavata. The Vallabhācāryas'...,they have got Bala-kṛṣṇa. But the dealings of gopīs with Kṛṣṇa, that was not granted. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's contribution. Anarpita-carim means was never contributed. Anarpita-cariṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇa kalau samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasaṁ sva-bhakti-sriyam, hariḥ pūvata-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandipitaḥ sadā hṛdaya-kandare sphurati... That is the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

Morning Walk -- February 1, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...even among their colleagues.

Prabhupāda: Because these rascals will boycott them.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. Once they speak out, then maybe they'll not get grant from the government.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that's it.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So somehow they are hesitant to speak out.

Prabhupāda: That is the position. And I have heard that among the scientists' society, if somebody speaks of God he's immediately rejected.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. Just like, for example, NASA this, what is it? Aeronautics and Space Institute, they are applying a lot of grants especially to the study of the origin of life from chemicals and all these research schemes. They are spending billions of dollars. But once...

Room Conversation -- February 3, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: ...India because the Japanese people, they were trying to expand. Two, three wars they tried, they could not. They wanted to take this advantage, Subash Bose's cooperation. But their motive was different. And therefore they killed Subash Bose. Subash Bose was... (break)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...in Manipur. So they wanted to construct some sort of memorial building but, somehow, India government is not granting them. So instead of doing that, they were just collecting the bones. They found out some bones by some... (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Bhūtejyā. This is called bhūtejyā.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: And they carried those bones along with them. Just in the village where I lived many Japanese bones were found. And they were coming very frequently to collect the bones.

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Gargamuni: When we were in Dvārakā they also showed us some shells.

Prabhupāda: How these Japanese died? In Manipur?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Very good report. It is worth seeing, worth considering our... If we develop our farms in India on this basis, it will be very nice. We have got greater land. You have got 450 acres; we have got 600. No? Now it requires development.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Mahāṁśa was calling for this because he said that by showing this... He wants to get a big grant of money.

Prabhupāda: They simply want money. That's all. Money will only be supplied. Let them show some work.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Paramānanda may be able to come to help there.

Prabhupāda: Yes, to give them direction. It will be very nice. If Paramānanda comes, we can invest money without any hesitation. He has got experience.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, I'll certainly... When Ādi-keśava comes here, I'll be talking to him about this point. He may be able to come in the winter time.

Prabhupāda: Similarly, we can develop farm here also. Farm development is Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. Kṛṣṇa is tending cows, and Balarāma is plowing. Therefore the plow and flute, flute for tending cows and plow for agriculture-Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma. In Africa also you have got good opportunity for these farm projects.

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Support.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Support.

Brahmānanda: And they're even talking that maybe the government will give financial grant.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They are afraid that these Kṛṣṇa conscious men may capture the government.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Some of them are saying like that, "This organization, the Kṛṣṇa con..., is a very powerful organization, and their ambition is to take over the world."

Prabhupāda: (laughs) And that's a fact. (laughter) Well, let us see. (laughter) It is a fight between Kṛṣṇa and demon. Let us do our duty and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Everything will be all right. There are so many demons. Prahlāda Mahārāja was five-years-old boy, and his father, such a big demon... The fight was at home. Still, Prahlāda Mahārāja gained victory. Similarly, you are all Prahlāda Mahārāja, (laughs) and your fathers are great demons. The fight is there. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Depend on Kṛṣṇa. You'll come out victorious. Nṛsiṁha-deva will come. So the poison of (laughing) Kṛṣṇa consciousness is acting now. That is good. If we come out victorious, then it will be a great victory.

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

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Gargamuni: They get special grants.

Prabhupāda: How many standing orders?

Gargamuni: Well in Rangoon I went to the head of the Oriental Studies. They ordered all of Bhāgavatam. Then there's the National Library. They want. Then the National Trading Corporation wants to import our books and sell to the various libraries there. We met... We were only there four or five days, but we met so many people of different types of departments who want the books. Then in Bangkok I met the head of the Department of Philosophy. He ordered the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Then I met the head of Eastern Languages...

Prabhupāda: Did you go to our center, Bangkok?

Gargamuni: No. I didn't have the address. And I heard they were giving up the house because it is not... They have to...

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- February 28, 1977, Mayapura:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, I went to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. It's a big medical school in India. So I spoke in the... They have a department called Biophysics. So I presented our philosophy, science in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The head of the department was... His name was R. K. Mishra. So he's actually quite well known international figure. Fame.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He had a lot of grants from the United States. From Europe also.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He had grants, money coming from the United States to support his research. So he was on opposite side, but we had a very interesting discussion. And he told me later on that he was a keen follower of Śaṅkarācārya. I said, "Why?" because I was speaking, "There are innumerable lives." I was giving examples that we are not as one, but there are innumerable forms of life depending on the level of consciousness, giving examples. scientific examples. So he answered that traditionally his forefathers, his parents, his grandfathers, became followers of Śaṅkarācārya, so he became some sort of addicted to it, but he said he's not one hundred percent follower of Śaṅkarācārya.

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- February 28, 1977, Mayapura:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. But still, he said that this is the best theory that they have at this time. So this is the only time they get the chance of doing something, so they want to continue whether it comes out right or wrong, but just some sort of a game.

Hari-śauri: They can't afford to lose their grants.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He said in about twenty years...

Prabhupāda: Again time, time-taking. (laughter)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...the matter is completely to be decided. He said, "Either religion wins or we win." He said, "It will be decided pretty soon." I think it is already decided, because we promised about ten years ago that those chemicals, if we make those, then we'll have life in a test tube. But actually we have all those chemicals made. So I said, "We have the know-hows. We have the equipments. We have all the chemicals. But still we can't do it." So that means it's...

Prabhupāda: It is failure. You cannot do.

Room Conversation with Scientists, Svarupa Damodara, and Dr. Sharma -- March 31, 1977, Bombay:

Dr. Sharma: Many of the even small temples in villages, their revenue have been taken away after independence. There are many small temples in where I come from, our village in Rajasthan. And when I was a small boy I used to go to the temple because, you know, my grandfather and my father used to go. And there was a very rich life in the villages because, you know, early morning, we would take a shower, bath, and go to the temples and do our pūjā, and the temple also we'd get some prasādam, and there was some land grants attached to a temple, some cows...

Prabhupāda: Some contribution.

Dr. Sharma: Contribution. And there was a real rich life in Indian village. Now, after independence, that life has been really destroyed. Because the grants have been taken away and here, it's really a pain to see such beautiful temples having no maintenance now. Plus this so-called secular education, you know godless education they have introduced, that has further harmed, because the temple-going public has also dwindled in number. And it looks like there has been a systematic plan to undermine our...

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, by this Congress. Their opinion is that India is too much religious; they spoiled.

Dr. Sharma: Yes. Also I just happened to do a survey in South about the party brāhmaṇas who were having the...

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

Prabhupāda. His Divine Grace mentioned several difficulties which are impeding his great work, and you have been kind enough to promise to remove these obstacles. 1) Our men are regularly being asked to leave India. How can we manage such important projects when our men are forced to leave? Every year we have to send so many men away from India and then again we have to bring them back. For every man who comes and goes like this, we have to spend Rs. 10,000, and in this way we are wasting not less than Rs. five to six lakhs each year. Our men should be given permanent residence in India. The United States Government granted Śrīla Prabhupāda a permanent residency visa so that he could fulfill his mission in the USA. Similarly, Śrīla Prabhupāda's foreign disciples should be given permanent residency in India. Śrīla Prabhupāda requires at least one hundred men to remain in India, and he is prepared to bring Rs. ten lakhs, foreign exchange, per month just to maintain them. They will not have to seek employment, they are not interested in politics, and they will not touch one paisa locally for their maintenance. Rather, they will bring money. Therefore we request that the government of India should grant permission for at least one hundred of our men. 2) Locally we are being troubled by the municipal corporation. The local councilor is trying to take over ten feet..." (break)

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

Prabhupāda: (Hindi conversation)

Ram Jethmalani: Our own intellect tells us that our intellect is finite. There are certain things which you can't reason, and that also I grant that you are right. One has to see these things with one's secret eye.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) This is the right of Bhāratavarṣa. Of this Caitanya Mahāprabhu says,

bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra

janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra

(CC Adi 9.41)

Ei para-upakāra, to distribute this knowledge to the whole human society. The human (Hindi). This is the real human service, to give them knowledge.

Girirāja: I know you haven't eaten all day.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi conversation)

Ram Jethmalani: What is your normal dinnertime?

Devotee: The same, rice, dāl, cāpāṭis.

Room Conversation Meeting with Dr. Sharma (from Russia) -- April 17, 1977, Bombay:

Dr. Sharma: The Communism, doesn't believe in God, etcetera, etcetera. It is simply fabricated things of the populace. Even Karl Marx when he wrote, he didn't talk anything about God. It was Engels, who was a contemporary, a great philosopher, materialistic philosopher, he started infusing certain things about this. And later on, because of being dogmatic, being wrapped up in this scientific discovery, we're being misled, and they would take many things for granted.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest: For example, my due respect for the medical profession, into which fortunately and unfortunately (indistinct) I have to tell this. Throughout the world not the best genetician doctor can prove to the soul of soul is the child of man. Nobody can tell who is the father. Medical profession. The real existence of his being is taken as sure faith. If the mother says, (indistinct). He takes it for granted, faith, (indistinct) praise the mother and calls so and so his father. Because he trusts.

Prabhupāda: Mother is called father?

Guest: No. Mother is trusted to take the father. Identity of father is known through the mother, not through any other method.

Second Meeting with Mr. Dwivedi -- April 24, 1977, Bombay:

Mr. Dwivedi: No, not new. Temple is also about two hundred years old. And it has a beautiful story behind it. This was the (Hindi), this Pauri. So the cashier, he spent the whole treasury in building up this temple. And when the news went to the yajñirdatta(?)... Then they did not meet very so frequently as they started meeting now in our life. Every six months they tries to come over there. So he took a diamond, and the cashier, then he died. Yajñirdatta was very sorry. He gave, he granted a yajñir(?) for that family of the temple, about six thousand rupees every..., a yearly yajñir for this much amount, some land and yajñir and all that. So this is a public temple that way.

Prabhupāda: There is another story like that, Rāma Mandir. Rāma Mandir. In South India. What is that state?

Mr. Dwivedi: And at Gwalior also we have got a beautiful temple of Lord Kṛṣṇa. We call it Sanātana Dharma Mandir.

Prabhupāda: So we shall see that temple.

Mr. Dwivedi: But that is with the only Kṛṣṇa with cakra-sudarśana in His hand.

Prabhupāda: Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa.

Evening Darsana -- May 12, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) They say, "What is this Hare Kṛṣṇa? We have chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa many times. Now let us meditate." This is going on.

Devotee (2): The Indian government even does not grant visa for the followers of Hare Kṛṣṇa movement in India.

Prabhupāda: So we are not dependent on Indian government.

Devotee (2): Just a few months long.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Devotee (2): They don't give long-term visa for Hare Kṛṣṇa movement in India.

Prabhupāda: No.

Devotee (2): Just for few months.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Conversation Pieces -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Ātreya Ṛṣi: The Indian government.

Prabhupāda: Indian. Indian?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes, because so many Indians have not been granted visa in Iran, so they are now reciprocating like that, and I had to go back to Tehran to see the ambassador, who is our friend, getting visa and come back immediately.

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: The government are just playing these games.

Prabhupāda: Whimsical. Very, very difficult to deal with such unscrupulous government. But still, we have got open field all over the world.

Rāmeśvara: In America the book selling has now surpassed last year.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Rāmeśvara: We are trying to double. So it is not yet doubled, but it has gone...

Prabhupāda: Surplus.

Morning Talk -- June 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Still in doubt. The brain is not clear. Your background is that rascal civilization. (indistinct) If you understand Bhagavad-gītā, you cannot support all this... (too faint) That I never said.

Śatadhanya: You are not moved by the scientists.

Prabhupāda: You should be firmly convinced about our philosophy. Otherwise where is that firm...? How you can support these rascal scientists? That is your rascaldom. Take it for granted. One who cannot understand this fact, that soul is immortal, body is... He is no more human; he is animal.

Śatadhanya: Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). Ass and camel, you say. But if we follow strictly your instructions, then we may gradually understand.

Prabhupāda: Why gradually? That means the background is foolish civilization, that's all. It is simple thing, very simple. Child is becoming boy. The body has changed. Where is the difficulty? How you can defy this argument? (break) ...means disciple. Still if it is so, that means a dog's obstinate rascal. Immediately. Or animal. Animal cannot be convinced.

Talk with Svarupa Damodara -- June 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The other day, when I went from Delhi to Calcutta in the plane, I happened to see that Dr. Chatterjee from Calcutta University. She's a lady, woman, but she's very well known. International scientist she has become. Her name is Asina Chatterjee. And I never saw here, though I was studying side by side in the next building, in Calcutta University. She discovered some drug. That's why she became famous. And she's also a member of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research all over India, and also a member of University Grants Commission. So she told me that she went for a meeting to attend in Delhi, and there was also an engineer who was sitting in between me and her, and I was discussing about our plan for scientific conference on Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He was also Bengali from Calcutta. Somehow she became very interested. I was explaining how scientists misleading, thinking that life can be chemical. And I was describing about how life can be nonchemical and nonphysical. So Chatterjee immediately joined the talk. And I immediately recognized that she must be Chatterjee. So I asked her, "Are you Dr. Chatterjee?" I never saw her before, but I just guessed right. She was Dr. Asina Chatterjee. And she became very interested in the talk, and then she was completely agreeing to our discussion that life is something spiritual, beyond physics and chemistry. So she actually invited me to come and give a talk in chemistry department Calcutta University. So I said that we are coming back with our scientific group from Kṛṣṇa consciousness and would like to present the philosophy in that chemistry department. So like that, there are many...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Recruit them, at least some.

Room Conversation -- July 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It is impossible. You can sometimes wait for years to get entry. They force us to come on tourist visa by not granting entry. Then they say, "Why did you come on a tourist visa? Why didn't you get entry?"

Prabhupāda: Dilemma.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, it is a...

Prabhupāda: If you come this way, you are condemned. If you come this way...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, both ways. In either case we're condemned.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I've seen that Kṛṣṇa always helps you, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Even against Mr. Nair, such a big demon, the way he was acting... I mean, simply by your devotion Kṛṣṇa did everything.

Prabhupāda: No, if it actually considered by the cabinet, there will be some.

Room Conversation -- October 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Kulādri: No, this one you're wearing is... Just this. He had one request. Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja asked me... He said you asked us to pray to Kṛṣṇa before, he said, but he doesn't feel qualified to pray to Kṛṣṇa. But he asked that you please pray to Kṛṣṇa for us, because we cannot pray to Kṛṣṇa directly. We don't know Kṛṣṇa. But if you ask Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa must be sure to fulfill your desire. So would you please pray to Kṛṣṇa to stay with us? 'Cause you're His pure devotee, Kṛṣṇa will certainly grant what you pray for. So on our behalf... I think He must want you to come to the palace, Śrīla Prabhupāda, if it is possible.

Prabhupāda: I wish...

Kulādri: You wish? Then come at once. I think that will make Him very happy.

Prabhupāda: But unless I become little strong, how can I go?

Kulādri: Hm. So we've also brought some sweets and ice cream, but just now is not so good for you to take it. The ice cream is not so good for you to take just now, so shall we keep it for you?

Prabhupāda: Distribute.

Room Conversation -- October 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Dr. Kapoor: Yes. And the science is basically unsystematic in the fact that it starts with certain assumptions which by itself is unscientific. Why should you start with certain assumptions? Philosophy does not commit that. Philosophy... I don't raise the questions. You see? Why do you believe that matter is ultimate? Why do you believe that spirit and time are ultimate? Science believes in assumptions. Philosophy has not taken that for granted. Very systematic thinking. Therefore I say you'll not go to the root of the matter. It will be just superficial thing.

Mādhava: We are trying to apply both.

Dr. Kapoor: Yes, both. As a matter of fact, there is no watertight compartment. They're not simply a part of each, then. They're dovetailed. Science penetrates into philosophy, you see?

Rūpānuga: But the root of the problem practically is whether life comes from matter and matter comes from life, and that is the basic theme...

Dr. Kapoor: That is the basic theme, but the philosopher will ask the question, "You must first be very clear in your mind about these basic concepts, What is life and what is matter?" You may have some idea about life. Because we are life ourselves, we have some experience, some idea of life. But what is matter? No scientist has any clear conception of matter.

Prabhupāda: Matter has no consciousness.

Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Rāma?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Round-table conference. There will be other scientists from Delhi, like D. S. Kotari. D. S. Kotari is the ex-chairman of University Grants Commission. He's a very well known physicist. He's a very interested... I think he's the most interested in India in our field. He's retired and very respected. All Indian scientific community... Actually, this was his idea, that we set up a round-table conference in Indian National Science Academy. So we agreed to that. We'll have some sort of a debating form. So I'll bring all our members, and we'll have conference in Delhi. Also Krishnamurti... He's the director of television in Delhi. He's going to make some arrangement for us after the conference for the television appearance in New Delhi. Also most of the schools, they want us come and speak on the same topics that we are organizing here.

Prabhupāda: We want that they should be interested.

Room Conversation -- October 30, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. While we were taking, we were thinking that you were seeing us, and we were satisfied. We were thinking that the spiritual master is very much satisfied when he sees his disciples respecting bhāgavata-prasādam. (break) ...pray, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that you recover. You won't have to be bothered now by any more worries of any kind. You simply can translate and see all of the temples and the devotees. It will be very nice. You've never in all these years been able to be free of the worries and anxieties, but now you'll be able to be. Kṛṣṇa may grant you some more years so you can just have nice time with all of your disciples, visiting all the Deities. Like to take a little rest now, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Yes. What can I do? (laughs) (scratching sound) Whose hand it is? Whose hand?

Bhavānanda: Śatadhanya.

Śatadhanya: Is it cold, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Make them warm. Make your hand warm by the stove.

Prabhupāda: Somebody's hand is warm, I want. Whose hand?