New York (Conversations 1975)

Expressions researched:
"New York"

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 3, 1975, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: Gandharvapur.

Devotee (2): What does it mean?

Prabhupāda: Sometimes... Means this is false thing. It appears as a big city. Similarly, this is also. This material world is like that. It is a false cloud only, but we have taken it as fact. Just see, it appears just like big New York City. If you go to the forest, you will find some illusion, that just after that tree there is a big house. Have you experienced that?

Devotee (2): Yes.

Prabhupāda: That is called Gandharvapur. So if anyone wants to enter that big city, then what is his position?

Devotee (2): Illusion.

Prabhupāda: The same thing: the conditioned soul enters the big city of material world, and he struggles. (pause)

Morning Walk -- February 4, 1975, Hawaii:

Kīrtanānanda: Packed every night, seventy-five, eighty people. (break)

Jayatīrtha: I went to that New York storefront first of all, and I was a Māyāvā... Well, I was a rascal. So they called me a rascal, so I became very offended. (laughs) Later on, I saw that they were right.

Prabhupāda: And you called them rascal? No.

Jayatīrtha: No. I knew that they were not rascals. They looked very pure. I just left. (break)

Prabhupāda: The sunshine has covered 93,000,000 miles all round, so the sunshine is big or the sun is big?

Morning Walk Through the BBT Warehouse -- February 10, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: This is developed photo.

Rāmeśvara: It is a drawing by a boy in New York named Peter Hawkins.

Prabhupāda: Drawing?

Rāmeśvara: A drawing.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Harer nāma harer nāma... (CC Adi 17.21).

Rāmeśvara: We have two warehouses... (break) ...to the wall and up to the ceiling.

Prabhupāda: So they are going or simply stock?

Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: Caracas.

Hṛdayānanda: And then Puerto Rico. Then Miami, Atlanta, New York, London.

Prabhupāda: And then, from London, I may go directly to Bombay, or I may visit some other European cities where we have got temple. In Paris, in Geneva, in Rome, in Amsterdam, we have got some temple, like this.

Professor: What you're going to do about...?

Prabhupāda: You have seen all our books? These are our books.

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

Prabhupāda: Risky life. The animal is always in danger. A dog is running, but at any moment he can be in danger. I have seen in my own eyes in New York. It is little in the off from New York. In I think in the month of December or January, a dog was jumping and he fell in the water pool and immediately died. It was so cold it collapsed immediately. So what is the use of this dog-like jumping? Besides that, in the animal society there is no question of culture, religion, philosophy, science. Animal, they do not require it. And why man requires it? That means human society is searching after the transcendence. But without knowing the way, how to understand, they are now engaged in different way. You find out this verse from Bhāgavatam, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā na yaś ceha karmabhiḥ. Find out. Kamasya nendriya-pritiḥ.

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

Prabhupāda: No, you can chant without ceremony. There is no loss. You can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and see the effect.

Professor (Hṛdayānanda): He said he has seen us in New York and London, and one thing he has noticed that wherever he sees us, our faces are very satisfied, content.

Prabhupāda: You are intelligent. (laughter)

Professor (Hṛdayānanda): That even though it's outside, it shows that there's something special inside.

Prabhupāda: No, this enquiry was made by one priest. I was going from Los Angeles to Hawaii. The priest was in his ordinary dress. He came. He said, "Swamiji, can I talk with you?" "Yes." He first of all he said, "How your disciples look so nice and full of spiritual consciousness?"

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

Prabhupāda: He asked him, that rascal chemist, that "If I give you the chemicals, can you manufacture life?" That time he said, "No, that I cannot say." Why do you say like that? In the beginning, in New York, that store front, the Satsvarūpa is with..., and Hayagrīva and... And you chant simply. You were also there. So this chanting is proving efficient. That is Vedic knowledge. It is not theory. Our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not theory or mental speculation. It is a fact. So therefore it is said,

guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete koriyā aikya,

ār nā koriho mane āśā **

So whatever little success I have got, it is only for this reason. My Guru Mahārāja said that "You go and preach whatever you learned in English language." That's all. So I came here with this faith, that "My Guru Mahārāja said.

Room Conversation with Tripurari -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Śrutakīrti: "Dear Gurudāsa, Thank you for your letter of January 2nd and for your continued prayers for me in my work. As you perhaps do not know, I am now ambassador to Israel. I have been in the United States for a couple of weeks but have not been able to arrange for any free time in which I could meet with you and have not been on the West Coast or at any point except Washington and New York. I hope it may be possible at some future time for us to get together, since, as you know, I have great respect for you and your associates who serve the Lord according to your faith and perform many good deeds in these hectic days. Warm personal regards. Sincerely, Kenneth Keating."

Prabhupāda: So any sane man will appreciate our activities. We are doing simply to turn people's attention towards God, that's all. That will make him happy.

Room Conversation with Tripurari -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: Um hm.

Rūpānuga: Then that was when Nikhilānanda was there. Didn't you speak in his class?

Prabhupāda: Nikhilānanda was in New York.

Rūpānuga: At that time.

Prabhupāda: He is now dead?

Rūpānuga: Yes, I think so.

Prabhupāda: Nikhilānanda was working with Dr. Bose, Bose's laboratory, and before my joining, it was disclosed that I was also... Dr. Bose had one department. He was in charge.

Room Conversation with Tripurari -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: Warm, oh.

Tripurāri: Probably warmer than here.

Prabhupāda: New York is cold.

Tripurāri: Yes. Now in New York they're distributing 100,000 Back to Godheads every month, New York temple. And you saw the lugloo from New York?

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) Yes. Which lugloo?

Tripurāri: They are making in New York lugloos and packaging them, distributing them on the streets with Back to Godhead magazine. Many people come back for more. They like the taste.

Prabhupāda: And for each lugloo there is magazine? No.

Morning Walk -- March 4, 1975, Dallas:

Prabhupāda: Yes. He knows, "This is life." There is no other alternative. That is his ignorance. He cannot do it. Still, he is doing. You see? You know that when there was electric failure in New York? The statistics is that more women became pregnant. (laughter) But what they will do in the darkness? "Let us have sex." That's all. (laughter) (break)

Devotee: At the Māyāpur festival the older Gurukula boys are coming. Dvārakādhīśa and Ekendra, they're all coming. How many, about twelve?

Jayatīrtha: No.

Devotee: How many?

Interview -- March 5, 1975, New York:

Prabhupāda: What is the question? Any question? Or shall we speak?

Reporter: Swamiji, can you please? Yes, please. Can you tell us what your purpose is in coming to New York at this time?

Prabhupāda: To New York, I am coming here since 1965. I have got my temple. So I am going to London. So it is for the time being, transit stoppage. Otherwise I have got my temple here.

Interview -- March 5, 1975, New York:

Reporter: I'm sure that you're aware that to many people in the West, in America, in New York City specifically, that your disciples seem strange because of the way they act on the streets. What about that?

Prabhupāda: Yes, they must be strange because they are spiritual. You are all material. (laughter) So, for the material persons, we are surely strange people.

Reporter: Is this manifestation the only way to be spiritual, dressing in this fashion?

Prabhupāda: No, no, you cannot compete with us. Because we don't have any illicit sex, we don't have meat-eating, we have no intoxication, we have no gambling. There's so many no's which you are unable to perform.

Interview -- March 5, 1975, New York:

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?

Prabhupāda: No, that is natural defeat. You cannot avoid it. (laughter)

Interview -- March 5, 1975, New York:

Female Reporter: Again, what do you do to have a good time in New York?

Prabhupāda: A sixteen-years-old boy can travel all over the world, and it is very difficult for a sixteen-years-old girl to travel all over the world. (pause)

Reporter: Thank you, Swamiji.

Prabhupāda: Thank you. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Haribol! (break)

Reporter: Have you realized the highest truth yourself?

Prabhupāda: Certainly.

Interview -- March 5, 1975, New York:

Reporter: Swamiji, perhaps the deficiency is in my question. Let me rephrase the question, if you'll permit. And I realize there isn't much air to breathe. Hare Kṛṣṇa. But I will make the question brief. My question has to do with karma-yoga in the outer world, for instance, in New York City. From what I understand, your disciples do not pursue the professions. Is that correct?

Prabhupāda: No, we are also, we are also karma-yogī. We are also eating, we are also sleeping.

Reporter: Oh, no, I understand that. I'm speaking in terms of outer service to people who are not in your mission. Other than preaching the truth of Kṛṣṇa, is there any other outer service to humanity?

Room Conversation with Press Representative -- March 21, 1975, Calcutta:

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) If you want to act as lawyer, you must learn. You must have legal education. (to devotees:) So you take your bath and prasādam. Wherefrom you are coming?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: From New York.

Prabhupāda: Oh, direct?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: How many hours?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actual flight time was twenty-three hours, but with the time change, about thirty-six hours.

Prabhupāda: You were in the, thirty-six hours in the plane?

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

Prabhupāda: The GBC should see that it is being done properly. Why he should...?

Haṁsadūta: But sometimes it...

Prabhupāda: ...involve himself in the...

Rūpānuga: Well, for example, in New York...

Prabhupāda: ...internal management?

Rūpānuga: Well, in New York, for example, I just recently signed with Gopī-jana-vallabha Prabhu the papers on the farm. I signed conjointly with him on the farm because the officers had to sign, and we just recently had a thing in New York, ISKCON, Los Angeles, New York.

Morning Walk -- April 5, 1975, Mayapur:

Brahmānanda: Oh, in the blackout.

Devotee: New York blackout.

Prabhupāda: Yes. "No business. Come on. Let us enjoy sex." That's all. This is their civilization. Yan-maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham (SB 7.9.45). Most abominable sex life—this is civilization.

Nalinī-kānta: They say that in the human form of life we can ejoy sex life better than the cats and the dogs.

Prabhupāda: That is imagination. They enjoy without any restriction, and you have to make so many arrangement. You require apartment, nice bed, nice this, so many. So where is the better facility? You have to work for it. They haven't got to work. They get in the streets sex life.

Morning Walk -- April 6, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: No, they'll do if they are continually eating.

Jayādvaita: In New York so many people are coming, they want to start a Saturday feast also.

Prabhupāda: Do it.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: Yes. There is no harm. We want to distribute all the days prasādam. Yes, if possible. Give them all.

Morning Walk -- April 19, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Especially Holland and England. Holland and England and France, there was competition for colonization. The same colonization is there in America, Canada. The Frenchmen and—what is that?

Brahmānanda: The Dutchmen, they went to New York first. The Dutch, they first went to New York.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dhanañjaya: Peter Stuyvesant.

Guru-kṛpa: The Scandinavian countries are not so poor. Denmark, Sweden...

Prabhupāda: They are industrious, and they have got resources.

Morning Walk -- April 19, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So without woman there is no dancing? (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: His whole troupe is women. The New York devotees, the Vaikuṇṭha Players, they have drama group.

Prabhupāda: So, drama is good. Woman dancing will not be very much appreciated here. (break) ...scarcity of grains and government will exact taxes for poor-feeding, and it will be used for their own purpose. These are the Kali symptoms. (break) ...stay in future.

Guest (1) (Indian man): Are they doubting for themselves or for us?

Prabhupāda: For us.

Morning Walk -- April 19, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Rāmeśvara: Los Angeles, New York, maybe Toronto, San Francisco, Dallas, that's all. Ten lakhs right there.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Every month.

Prabhupāda: So what is the actual expenditure?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, it must be...

Rāmeśvara: Four times that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: At least fifty lakhs.

Rāmeśvara: At least fifty lakhs each month.

Morning Walk -- April 23, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No, no. Now they are killing child in the womb. That killed child is taken in the hotel.

Brahmānanda: There was a report that that was going on in New York.

Prabhupāda: Yes?

Brahmānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: It is going on in London, in all civilized countries, advanced civilization.

Guest: And they say that there was report in Bombay also.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Morning Walk -- May 14, 1975, Perth:

Paramahaṁsa: In the newspaper yesterday there was an article about New York City. The city government is going bankrupt because they... They have asked the President for 1,500 million dollars in emergency aid. Because of crime and dirtiness and noise, all the rich people are leaving New York, and they can't get any taxes from the poor people. So they don't have money to pay to run the city.

Prabhupāda: Yes. I have seen. New York is very dilapidated, many quarters. And especially Second Avenue, those are very dirty. The... On the Fifth Avenue, that Central Park is also very dirty. This civilization will collapse. It cannot be run on. Fourth-class men, I tell. Because it is conducted by the fourth-class men. Ask that gentleman why they are asking. Are they not fourth-class men? They could not manage?

Morning Walk -- May 14, 1975, Perth:

Paramahaṁsa: In New York? Yes, they asked from the President, President Ford.

Prabhupāda: That is federal government.

Paramahaṁsa: Federal government, yes. And President Ford said no.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Paramahaṁsa: Yeah, he said no. He said, "If I give New York money then every city will come for money..."

Prabhupāda: Yes...

Morning Walk -- May 14, 1975, Perth:

Paramahaṁsa: They used to borrow money from the banks every year, the city government of New York. They used to borrow money from the banks.

Prabhupāda: Bank has refused?

Paramahaṁsa: Yes, they won't loan any more money because they know the tax money won't come in.

Prabhupāda: Just see the position. The bank is refusing loan to the municipal corporation, city corporation. They have no credit.

Śrutakīrti: So that means the city will increase their taxes on the public.

Prabhupāda: But if the public is moving from the city, where is the source of taxation?

Paramahaṁsa: That's the big problem. All the rich people are leaving because they're getting so much tax and so many other problems. And big business also is leaving.

Room Conversation with Journalist -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: So practically the entire human society is now becoming godless. That is very dangerous position. And we have already come to that dangerous position. There are so many problems, and recently we have heard that New York City, the most important city in the world, they are in a problem, that they cannot keep the city very nicely maintained and clean, and they asked for help, some millions of dollars, and the federal government has refused. In this way the godless society will have to meet so many problems of life, and if they want solution of all these problems, they must take to God consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So that is our sum and substance of the movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. So we are trying to... It is very simple method. Anyone can accept it by chanting and dancing and eating.

Room Conversation with Journalist -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yes, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is since five thousand years ago or before that. You may say forty millions of years ago as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. But taking it by modern history, in your country, in the Western countries, I have started it since 1966 from New York. The movement is very, very old. But it is started in the Western countries since last seven or eight years.

Journalist: And where did it first start, which country?

Prabhupāda: New York.

Journalist: In New York.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with Journalist -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: India, in Calcutta, my family is there in Calcutta.

Journalist: You live in New York?

Prabhupāda: No, no, I travel all over the world. My, in America headquarter, Los Angeles. And European headquarter, London.

Journalist: Is Kṛṣṇa consciousness connected with any other religion? Does it derive from Hinduism or Buddhism?

Prabhupāda: Yes, you can call it Hinduism, but actually it does not belong to any "ism." It is a science of understanding God. But it appears like Hindu religion. In that sense Buddha religion is also Hindu religion, because Lord Buddha was a Hindu and he started Buddha religion.

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

Prabhupāda: No, that is... That was... About hundred years ago Vivekananda came, and he stayed in New York, but these people... When I came, I asked, "What is...? Do you know Vivekananda?" They said, "No, we do not know." I had to find out, search out, where is Vivekananda's center. It was not very prominent. Nobody was going. So for hundred years they worked, this Ramakrishna Mission. They could not establish even half a dozen centers in America. And I established forty centers within six years. And in each center there is devotees not less than twenty-five, up to 225. In Los Angeles we purchased one church. The church was sold because nobody was coming. And since we have taken... If you sometimes go to Los Angeles, you will see it is packed always. The same people, the same church—why it is packed now? And why it was sold without any attendance?

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

Prabhupāda: Yes, they will do. If regular institution runs on with all facility... We get so many devotees come here, after some time they become dedicated devotees. The method must be there. This is... We are increasing; our movement is not decreasing. Just like we have opened a temple here. There was no temple, but we have got a nice temple. In this way all over the world our movement is increasing; it is not decreasing. I came from India alone in New York, 1965. So for one year I had no place to stay, I had no means to eat. I was loitering practically, living in some friend's house and some friend's house. Then gradually it developed, people. I was chanting in a Square in New York alone, full three hours. What is that, Tompkinson Square? Yes. You been in New York? So that was my beginning. Then gradually people came. You were in some club, what is that?

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

Prabhupāda: Sanctioning. They are allowing homosex. And there was report that man and man was married by the priest. In New York there is a paper, Watchtower. That is a Christian paper. I have seen in that paper. They are condemning it, that priest is allowing man-to-man marriage. And they are passing resolution, homosex is passed, "All right." And in Perth you said that the students are discussing about homosex, in favor of homosex. So where is the ideal character? If you want something tangible business, train some people to become ideal character. That is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes, that we want to do: one God, one state, one scripture, and one activity. That is the ultimate end of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Just like we are from different countries. We don't think as nationalism, that "I am American," "I am Indian." No. We all think that "We are all servant of Kṛṣṇa." And they are working in that spirit. It is possible. If this idea is accepted in that United Nation, it can be done. But they will not accept. They are going go be united, but everyone is thinking, "First of all my interest." All cheating. They are outwardly, "Now we have come to the United Nation," but no one is going to be united. Everyone is thinking, "It is my first interest first. I must give veto if he's opposing." This is going on. Therefore for the last twenty years or more than that, they are trying to be united, but it is becoming disunited. The flags are increasing. In New York they have got their headquarters. When I pass through, I see that another flag has increased.

Morning Walk -- May 29, 1975, Honolulu:

Gurukṛpa: You told us the story that in New York you walked in one yoga āśrama, and the man who was teaching yoga, and he told you in Hindi, "Don't reveal it. This is my... I am feeding my family by this method."

Prabhupāda: That is tanker? Oil tanker, yes. He is carrying so much oil.

Gurukṛpa: They have this type of gas now that they freeze it, and it shrinks five hundred times. And they put it in these big tanks, and they bring it across the ocean, and then when they get it to port, they again heat it up into the big tanks and it expands. So they freeze it and it becomes smaller and they can export more.

Prabhupāda: Oh, it becomes solid?

Morning Walk -- June 2, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Ah, yes. (laughter) Just see, route. Pan American, yes. They sold so many tickets. Such fools there are.

Bali-mardana: In New York sometimes people sell new immigrants the Brooklyn Bridge.

Prabhupāda: And Moscow Sea. They pitched one flag in the moon planet and named Moscow Sea. Yes.

Indian man: Just like you said that this moon and other planets are also made of these five elements—earth, water, fire, ether—they brought a rock from there. So they are accepting that the moon is made of those elements also. But they are not accepting that life is there.

Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu:

Harikeśa: They are turning Hawaii into New York City.

Siddha-svarūpa: Yeah, they're making it very difficult. They're going to develop this entire side of the island more and more, and so that they're taking agriculture land, and they'll be building subdivisions and people from the mainland will be moving, living in condominiums on this island.

Prabhupāda: That means for one convenience, they create another inconvenience.

Siddha-svarūpa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: This is the business. In this way they will take three hours to go to the other side.

Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: No, no.

Ambarīṣa: Jaya, okay. Not even New York.

Prabhupāda: New York is still doubtful.

Ambarīṣa: Yes. (break)

Prabhupāda: But that's a good house, New York?

Ambarīṣa: The one that they have or the one that they're trying to buy? (break)

Prabhupāda: They are trying to buy. Did he send them letter by lawyer?

Garden Conversation with Dr. Gerson and devotees -- June 22, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: In New York University, I think Brahmānanda?

Brahmānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: The students were smoking.

Brahmānanda: You were the first one to say, "Please stop smoking. Otherwise I will not speak." They were shocked. They were stunned at such a request.

Prabhupāda: So what is the psychology of this? They cannot stop smoking. And smoking is admitted, "It is injurious." So how you will do benefit? If you cannot stop the stop the student from smoking, then how you will do him benefit? You know that smoking is bad. So even if you study from psychological point of view and if you cannot rectify the wrong thing, then what is the use of studying? You cannot stop it. So find out the means how to stop it, and that means is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Garden Conversation with Dr. Gerson and devotees -- June 22, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: ...psychology is philosophy, part of philosophy. So philosophers are better than these fools, karmīs. They are accepted as ass. Karmīs are accepted as the animal ass. Why? Because the ass works day and night without any personal profit. The ass, they work very hard. You have seen ass? And he is working? In India we see very usually. It is loaded with tons of things. He cannot move even. You see. And he agrees to work. And what is his benefit? He gets little grass. But the grass can be had without any working. But this rascal does not know. He agrees to work hard, day and night. So all these karmīs, I have seen in New York, they are working so hard and they are eating only a glass of tea and this dry loaf.

Morning Walk -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: And we say, "No prostitution." (break) ...the problems will come, one after another. This is a bad civilization. It is already a dangerous place, material world, and this bad civilization is creating more dangerous problems.

Jayatīrtha: Now everyone is terrified. In New York they published... The police and the fire department published a pamphlet saying that New York is now called "fear city." And they pass them out to the passengers that come in on the airplanes and the buses, saying that "You should be very careful. You should not walk the streets at night and..."

Brahmānanda: Because the New York City is financially bankrupt they are firing so many policemen, firemen,...

Morning Walk -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Ācchā.

Brahmānanda: Yes. So the policemen, in retaliation, they are making propaganda—and actually it's a fact—that "Now New York is very unsafe, and no one should go out on the street after six o'clock."

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Brahmānanda: "No one should ride the subway."

Prabhupāda: Then that there will be another problem.

Brahmānanda: Now there will be increase of crime.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Not only crime, if there is no passenger in the subway...

Morning Walk -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: So you fish, catch fish. The houses will be cheaper. Now, in this crisis, the house, cost of the big, big house, is cheaper. So you want a big house. You can... Catch fish in the troubled water.

Brahmānanda: Oh, yes. (break) ...Bhavānanda Mahārāja, he did not give a very good report about New York, that the devotees there are not very enthusiastic. He says he was there one day, they collected... The temple collected only $125, which is ridiculous.

Prabhupāda: So Bhavānanda has given report to the GBC. Now you do the needful.

Brahmānanda: Well, he's heading back towards New York now. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...everything will be all right. (end)

Morning Walk -- June 28, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: Oh. Below zero?

Kuruśreṣṭha: Sometimes, at night. Ten below.

Prabhupāda: Like New York? No, New York was never below zero. (break) Winter, how many months is continuing?

Kuruśreṣṭha: Four or five months.

Prabhupāda: Four, five months. Always snow?

Kuruśreṣṭha: Sometimes snow.

Prabhupāda: So why the temperature is so low unless there is snow?

Morning Walk -- June 28, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: Where this air crash took place?

Kāśīrāma: In New York. And it landed on the freeway.

Satsvarūpa: A lightening bolt hit the plane.

Prabhupāda: Lighting...?

Harikeśa: Thunderbolt.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Just see, slaughterhouse.

Satsvarūpa: You said in your lecture the other day in Los Angeles that when that happens that many people are killed in one place, it means that it's arranged by the Supreme. Just like Kurukṣetra.

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: Yes. He is very nice gentleman. He came to see me in New York also, with his family.

Brahmānanda: His wife is Sally?

Prabhupāda: No.

Brahmānanda: That's another girl.

Prabhupāda: He is Gopal. He came to learn electrical engineering.

Brahmānanda: Gopal.

Prabhupāda: Mmm. His father is rich man. His father came to see me, yes.

Brahmānanda: From Mathurā.

Morning Walk -- June 30, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: So nobody knows where he is?

Satsvarūpa: He was staying sometimes in New York City in a place called the Theological Seminary. He was being put up there.

Prabhupāda: Theological Seminary?

Satsvarūpa: I've never heard of the place.

Bhāvānanda: Columbia? New York Theological Seminary

Prabhupāda: He might have started. He might have started.

Morning Walk -- July 1, 1975, Denver:

Brahmānanda: He has in Florida, Key Biscayne. He had two homes, one in Florida, one in California. But now he's staying in Florida. Recently he went to New York and testified before a committee. It's the first time that he has spoken publicly since his...

Prabhupāda: What is that committee?

Brahmānanda: They were investigating the Watergate.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Oh, he had to present himself.

Brahmānanda: Yes. It's the first time any ex-chief executive has ever testified.

Prabhupāda: So he is not out of danger.

Room Conversation with the Mayor of Evanston -- July 4, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: No. So if we get a good place with the cooperation of the authorities, then our simple program is that, as Professor Judah has remarked, drug-addicted hippies, they have been turned into devotees. We shall invite anyone to come and chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and take prasādam and we are... I began this movement in New York alone, and these boys gradually came to me, but my process was this: chanting and giving them prasādam. He is one of the original student. He was. So this process, very simple process, everyone will be able to accept it. Chant, dance, and take prasādam. Within that process, everything is there. Then he will understand. They will read these books... They are practical examples. I am poor Indian, I did not bribe them neither I have money. (laughter) So now they have dedicated their life for this purpose. So I want to do it in a large scale.

Room Conversation with Lt. Mozee, Policeman -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: I came here in 1965. But for one year there was no program; I was loitering only. And then, in 1966, July, I registered this society in New York, and gradually these students... I rented one storefront in New York, Second Avenue, and in this way practically it was started in 1966. Then in 1967 I was attacked with heart attack. Then I returned India. Then again I came back in 1968. So practically the movement is going on regularly from 1968. Yes.

Lt. Mozee: Do you find that you have—again, a personal thing—do you find that you are having difficulty disassociating yourself with false prophets like the Guruji?

Prabhupāda: No, we don't accept. We don't. Because...

Room Conversation with Mr. & Mrs. Wax, Writer and Editing Manager of Playboy Magazine -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: His photo was published in New York Times, dancing. He and another boy... (laughter) Yes. He and another boy, Acyutānanda—he is now in India; he is also sannyāsī—these two boys were dancing hand to hand, and this was published in New York Times.

Mrs. Wax: What I'm asking is why could he understand?

Prabhupāda: Then you ask him how, he'll reply. (laughter)

Mrs. Wax: Why did you?

Prabhupāda: Why he became attracted and began to dance. He is present here. I did not ask him to come and dance.

Morning Walk -- July 8, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: Well, I am not going to imitate Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (laughs) I have come to New York, not to the jungle. (laughter)

Sudāmā: New York is worse than jungle.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It is called an asphalt jungle.

Prabhupāda: After all, they are human being. Therefore we have collected some nice souls. (break) If you can go to the jungle, that is no hindrance, but let us take the opportunity of the civilized nations, preach them. Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhaḥ (BG 3.21). They are leading the whole civilization. If they are convinced, it will be great benefit to the human race. (break) Also my Guru Mahārāja said that "You go to the western country." If he had said that "You go to the jungle," I would have gone. (break) ...preacher, either the jungle or the city is the same. Nārāyaṇa-paraḥ na kutaścana bibhayati. One who is devotee of the Lord, he does not make any discrimination that "This is jungle and this is city." Svargāpavarga-narakeṣv api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ (SB 6.17.28). For them, everywhere, Kṛṣṇa's property. So where Kṛṣṇa asks him to go and serve, he will go. That's all. (break)

Room Conversation with writer, Sandy Nixon -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Sandy Nixon: I have questions which... I am going to be putting together a book on spiritual masters that have influenced, or that are influencing Americans today. Also in a mini-article, I'd like to put the same thing together with just those very few that are the most important for New York Times Magazine. And also I'm doing an article for a Philadelphia magazine named Seers of Higher Consciousness. So particularly with our book in mind, these questions are to let people know what Kṛṣṇa consciousness is about. So sometimes I'm going to be asking you questions, and most of the time I might be able to answer them myself, or it might be a question which I know the answer to, but I'm going to have to ask you it as if... It might sound as if I'm stupid, but it's what I'm going to do. The first question could be a very long... I've got fifteen questions. If I could get them all answered, I'll feel just great. The first one is very basic: what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa means God, and we are all connected with Kṛṣṇa, God. God is the original father. Therefore we have got intimate connection with Kṛṣṇa. So we have forgotten it, what is Kṛṣṇa, what is my connection with Him, what is the aim of life. All these questions there are. And when one becomes interested with such questions, he is called Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Room Conversation with writer, Sandy Nixon -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Woman: Yesterday I met a devotee from New York who said that there were many people present at the festival from other planets and that you could see them. Is that true?

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Everyone can see. If you have eyes, you can see also. But if you have no eyes, therefore you are envious because they have offered a nice motor car. So you have to make your eyes to see. A blind man cannot see. The eyes are to be treated how to see.

Woman: Is this true also with your other senses?

Prabhupāda: Every senses. If you want to see something, you must be trained up how to see. Like a scientist is seeing something through the microscope, and you want to see with naked eyes. How it is possible to see? You must adopt the process to see. Then you can see everything.

Room Conversation with Bernard Manischewitz -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: Now you can... I saw you before?

Bernard Manischewitz: Twice before. Once in Chicago and once in New York.

Prabhupāda: How are you now?

Bernard Manischewitz: I'm fine, thank you.

Prabhupāda: She's your daughter?

Bernard Manischewitz: My daughter. My son-in-law. My sleeping grandson. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: So make him active like you.

Bernard Manischewitz: I have a question. May I ask? Is it sometimes possible that a person is reborn in the same body (indistinct, Prabhupāda coughs).

Prabhupāda: Same body? What is that?

Conversation with Professor Hopkins -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Prof. Hopkins: I remember when I first, when I first met Brahmānanda in New York. I came there initially in part to, because I had been studying Bhāgavatam and I wanted to talk to people in the temple about Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And they said, "What is this?" (laughs) "We've heard Swamiji speak of this but we don't know it." A few years later you were all sitting around reciting verses from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Was this... You did not begin to teach Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam when you first came to the U.S.

Prabhupāda: No, I taught Bhagavad-gītā first of all, then Bhāgavata.

Prof. Hopkins: So you prepared, you prepared them with...

Prabhupāda: Oh yes.

Morning Walk -- July 31, 1975, Dallas:

Brahmānanda: The president. Nixon used to use the CIA to... If he had any enemy, he would have the CIA investigate that man. He was using it for his personal political purposes. (break) ...testing. In the early 1960's they were testing the effects of LSD, and so they gave LSD secretly into this one officer's coffee drink. And he drank it. He did not know it was LSD, and he went crazy and committed suicide. So now this investigation of CIA has uncovered this information. So now the family of this officer, they are suing the CIA for millions of dollars. (break) ... regular business of breaking into foreign embassies. In New York and Washington they did over 1500 break-ins, photographing documents, stealing coding machines. Sometimes when they would break in at night into one embassy, they would meet agents of another country who also were breaking into the same embassy, and they would salute one another. (laughter) It's a regular business.

Prabhupāda: They will not kill each other?

Room Conversation with Devotees -- August 1, 1975, New Orleans:

Brahmānanda: In New York City they now have one million people who are receiving welfare.

Prabhupāda: And all criminals.

Brahmānanda: Yes. All criminals, prostitutes, and hippies.

Prabhupāda: Because the government is paying for that, and they are now thinking that "What to do about crime?" This is rascaldom. You act in such a way, then repent later on.

Brahmānanda: There was one boy from Sweden, he was our devotee. And then he fell into māyā. He returned to Sweden. Now he's getting from the government fifty dollars a week. So he's using that money to buy drugs. So now he's completely trapped.

Morning Walk -- September 13, 1975, Vrndavana:

Harikeśa: He's Kuṇḍali. He just came from New York.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: He just came from New York. He's from the West... He's a Commonwealth citizen. He's from the West Indies. He says he'll stay in India for the rest of his life.

Prabhupāda: Oh, that's nice. So you are going to the magistrate? You have calculated?

Saurabha: Ten thousand bags.

Prabhupāda: Ten thousand bags. No, I wanted to construct this building with bricks.

Morning Walk -- September 15, 1975, Vrndavana:

Vāsughoṣa: But I was reading in this National Geographic Magazine, there is one sect of people in New York City, very orthodox following. They don't even go to cinema. When they have free time they are studying the śāstras, their śāstras. They are very strict. They don't even shave their faces because it says, "Do not round the corner of your face." So they have these big beards like this, and their whole life is dedicated like this to reading and... They also sing and dance.

Prabhupāda: That is something good.

Brahmānanda: When I was a teacher in New York I taught in one of their schools. I taught the little children... (break)

Morning Walk -- October 12, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: So this time you come and see our temple in Vṛndāvana. We have got, India, four, five temples. We have got in London, New York. In London we have got two temples, big, big. One is very big. In New York we have got, Los Angeles. Everywhere we have got. Here also, yesterday's paper, there was some advertisement, one Mr. Desai.

Indian man (3): Jayanti Desai, yes. Yes, he wants to give some charities.

Prabhupāda: So why not give us? Then we can make a nice...

Indian man (3): I think we could... (break) ...him and see what they are asking for applications from various charitable organizations.

Morning Walk -- November 8, 1975, Bombay:

Bhāgavata: We have to take a long trip in the car from Jangagara(?) to Dvaraka. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...like this place. And I have seen London, New York. (laughter)

Dr. Patel: I have not seen Hardwar myself.

Bhāgavata: Hardwar, there is also very new āśrama that was built up there only a few years ago called Africa āśrama, in Hardwar. And the sannyāsī there is very well known to me and he also said any time you come you can stay there at his place. Very nice āśrama.

Dr. Patel: Hardwar there are many places to stay.

Indian man (2): Even this, our (indistinct) āśrama people have got a very big area there. Nearly a hundred rooms are there.

Dr. Patel: Others, also. You can... (break)

Prabhupāda: Patel, he has got.

Morning Walk -- November 12, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. So when I landed in New York-(aside) Hare Kṛṣṇa—the captain said that "It is astonishing there was no hurricane in that line." I did not know. At last, he said. Captain said that he was very much anxious "What will happen in Atlantic? This swami is already seasick." Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Indian man (2): (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: Such kind of religious system is rejected. Dharmaḥ projjhita kaitavaḥ. Kaitava means cheating. To cheat God or to be cheated by God, this kind of religion is rejected. But people are very much fond of that kind of religion by which the God is cheated and he is cheated. He will commit all kinds of sins and he will be excused. That means God is cheated. And if he thinks that "I will go on committing sinful; God will excuse me," that is also cheating. He is cheating himself, as if God is so fool that he will go on committing sin and God will excuse. These are cheating. This is not religion. God is personally speaking, yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām (BG 7.28), and he is thinking that "I will go on committing sinful activities and God will excuse."

Morning Walk -- November 29, 1975, Delhi:

Harikeśa: Because just like New York has gone become bankrupt, so all the cities will go bankrupt, and then people will not have employment.

Prabhupāda: That is another thing. Bankrupt does not mean their philosophy is lost. Bankrupt may be due to some other reason. That does not mean the capitalistic philosophy is finished.

Harikeśa: Well, actually the communistic philosophy is strictly economic.

Prabhupāda: Not actually. Don't say "actually." Sometimes you say "accidentally" and sometimes "actually." Such a rascal. (laughter) "By some chance" and sometimes "actually."

Morning Walk -- November 30, 1975, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: They do not believe in the transmigration of the soul and they are "Awake." Just see these rascals. They have no preliminary knowledge even, and they are writing books, Awake.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They have a very big press in New York, Jehovah Witness, Brooklyn Bridge.

Harikeśa: They say the world is going to end next year.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Harikeśa: Then they also say if it doesn't end next year, that it's Biblically correct to say that it may end in three years after that.

Prabhupāda: And then again seven years. Then again ten years. They are so awakened. So rascals.

Morning Walk -- December 18, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: (Hindi comment about dirt)

Prabhupāda: New York is the dirtiest. New York. There you'll find so many of these papers scattered. In New York. Even the park, the most celebrated park, Central Park, they are all full of dirt.

Girirāja: The city is going bankrupt.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: Which?

Girirāja: New York City.

Morning Walk -- December 24, 1975, Bombay:

Kīrtanānanda: If they want to swing their arms, why not come to ārati and dance? (talking about people exercising on beach) In 1966, Prabhupāda, we went up to Dr. Mishra's āśrama upstate. And there was some yogi from the New York Institute there, and he said that automatically, just see these devotees, automatically they are doing everything that we are teaching, just by this one process of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: That is the statement by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Viha hoite sarva siddhe hoi betaman. By practicing this chanting, you'll get all perfection.

Kīrtanānanda: One morning we were out walking in a sunrise, and Hayagrīva pointed out, "Oh, there's a very beautiful sunrise," and you said, "The sunrise is not very wonderful, but He who has made it is wonderful."