These Bhagavad-gītā talks took place between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna in the battlefield just on the verge of his beginning the battle. So how much time he could spare? Utmost, half an hour. Not more than that. So within half an hour, this Bhagavad-gītā was taught to Arjuna, and he could understand it, and then he agreed to fight. Yes, naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā, kariṣye vacanaṁ tava. (BG 18.73) How much advanced he was in education and learning, just imagine. At the present moment they are reading Bhagavad-gītā years after years, big, big scholars, big, big theologians and... But they cannot understand. After reading Bhagavad-gītā, they are accusing Kṛṣṇa as immoral. One professor in Oxford University, he is a student or professor of Bhagavad-gītā, has written book. Now his conclusion is that Kṛṣṇa is immoral. That means he could not understand Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā cannot be understood by any demon or third-class man. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna that: "I am speaking to you the same Bhagavad-gītā (BG 4.1), science of God, which I spoke millions of years ago to the sun-god, because the paramparā is lost and I have picked up you because bhakto 'si me priyo 'si (BG 4.3), you are very dear friend and bhakta."
Oxford
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Śrī bhagavān uvāca. Bhagavān means the Supreme Being. That is also dictionary word. In the... I consulted the Oxford Dictionary, "God." God means "the Supreme Being." And the Supreme means... That is also stated in the dictionary, "The greatest authority." So God means the greatest authority, supreme, Supreme Being. We have got little idea of supreme. Suppose when you go to work in our office, the proprietor of the establishment or the managing director of the establishment, he's called the supreme. We have got experience of the Supreme Court. In India, we have got Supreme Court. If there is any judgment which is not accepted by the litigant, he can go to the Supreme Court. And in the judgment given in the Supreme is final. No more any appeal. That is final. Supreme means that, final.
Unfortunately, people do not understand even the ABCD of this Bhagavad-gītā. And what to speak of becoming graduate and postgraduate? This is the difficulty. If we try to understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is, at least we understand what is Kṛṣṇa, what is God. God is explaining Himself. And we are searching after God, making sear... There are so many institutions. In Oxford University there is a big research department. But here God is canvassing. He's explaining. There was a great controversy. What is that professor?
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
What, in European countries and American countries, they'll understand? But we are sending in every important street. In New York we are sending in the Fifth Avenue, the most important street in the world. Fifth Avenue, New York, we are chanting. We have seen pictures in our Back to Godhead. They are chanting. In London, the most important street, Oxford Street, we send our men. In Melbourne, they're, they're now arresting. I do not know what is the position now. But they are prepared. These boys and girls, so nice that they're arrested sometimes. Just like Kazi was torturing Caitanya Mahāprabhu's party. Of course, now, civilized world, there is no such torturing, but our men are, very often they are arrested and put into jail also. But still, they go. They go every day. Now in London, the police has become disgusted.
Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He's singular number; we are plural number. That is the Vedic instruction. He is the singular number eternal, and we are plural number eternal. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. He is singular number living entity, and we are plural number living entity. Therefore in the dictionary you'll find, this Oxford Dictionary, "the Supreme Being." God means "the Supreme Being." He's a being. He's not a stone. He's a living being. Even the dictionary accepts. He's not a stone, dead stone. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata, janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "The Supreme Absolute Truth is the original source of all creation." Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Everything that we see, matter and life, everything comes from Him. But whether He is matter or life? That is explained: yes, He is life. Janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ (SB 1.1.1). He is life because He knows. So who knows? A dead stone cannot know. Unless one is a living being, he cannot know.
So we living entities, we are also part and parcel of God, and because we living entity, part and parcel of God, is within this body, therefore the body is so beautiful, so big scientist, so philosophers or politician and... You can say anything. But without that soul, this body is useless, dead body, and you can give all titles, Ph.D, D.H.C., they are all useless. Suppose a man is dead and from Oxford University somebody comes, "Now I give you Ph.D. title," what is the use? Suppose a beautiful woman attracted so many people. Now, when she is dead, if she is offered, "Now you can take this body. You can use it as you...," nobody will like. Why?
Just like in our country, perhaps you know, there was a poet, Rabindranath Tagore. He got many distinction from the Oxford University. He got... He never went to school but he got the title "doctor," "Doctor Rabindranath Tagore." And if you think that "I shall also get doctorate without going to school," that is foolishness. That is special. Similarly, don't try to imitate. Follow the general course, sādhana-siddhi. The regulative principles you must follow as instructed in the śāstra. Therefore there are so many śāstras. And guru is guide. We must always... Even if you are nitya-siddha or kṛpa-siddha, you should not neglect the general regulative principle. That is very dangerous. Don't try to do that. We must follow.
This is bodily qualification, but I have got little more knowledge than others. I know what is Brahman. But still, I am not a Vaiṣṇava. Unless I become a Vaiṣṇava, I come to the position of a brāhmaṇa and then I engage himself in the Brahman's service, that is Vaiṣṇava. That is required. Simply... But in order to raise oneself to the highest standard of life, these principles of varṇāśrama-dharma should be followed. You cannot become M.A. without becoming a student in the school and college. But if there is any special service... Just like Dr. Rabindranath Tagore, he was given doctor title from the Oxford University.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Prabhupāda: Fifth Canto not yet published. Haṁsadūta has sent some copies of xerox. At all universities they are giving standing order. Oxford University, London University. In London, England, they are also giving standing order for Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
Jayatīrtha: Oh, yes. That's a fact. Satsvarūpa is coming tonight.
Prabhupāda: And Dr. Judah has written one very nice book. I have read it.
Brahmānanda: Dr. Judah's book.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, I have read it. Did you like that book?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
General Lectures
You know our present president in India, Dr. Radhakrishnan. He is a renowned scholar of the world, Dr. Radhakrishnan. When he came to your country, your president, late Mr. Kennedy, oh, he welcomed him as his own teacher, because when Mr. Kennedy was a student in the Oxford University, Dr. Radhakrishnan was a visiting professor. In the open meeting Mr. Kennedy admitted that "Now Dr. Radhakrishnan has come as the president, but he is always my teacher. He is still my teacher." It was very kind of him that he received him as a teacher, not as contemporary. So even that Dr. Radhakrishnan, he is also studying this Bhagavad-gītā very, I mean to say, profoundly. You know your Professor Einstein. Oh, he was a profound, I mean to say, student of this Bhagavad-gītā. Hitler was a great student of Bhagavad-gītā. So many, in all the countries.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Mr. Arnold: Near Oxford. A very large building, but it's, it's in a bad state of repair.
Śyāmasundara: We'll concentrate on the other ones.
Dhanañjaya: (indistinct) best as far as the land's concerned. It's situated in the biggest area of space.
Śyāmasundara: I have to try to find out when George is coming back.
Prabhupāda: George can give his..., what is called?
Śyāmasundara: Endorsement.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Mr. Arnold: Now in New Oxford Street, you can see it very easily. There's a Midland Bank, takes up the ground floor.
Śyāmasundara: It's right over here, isn't it?
Mr. Arnold: Yeah.
Prabhupāda: So, so long I am here, let us try some tangible, not simply proposal.
Śyāmasundara: Yeah. Now we've seen how nice places we can get, so we have to work on these other angles: the Indian community and George.
Mr. Arnold: The bank
Śyāmasundara: And the bank. There's... What about Mr. Gopal? Did you see him? He's very wealthy.
Dhanañjaya: Yes, but he helps by donating material things. Not material things, but he likes to give things rather than...
Revatīnandana: Convinced? No. Some of them are less hostile, some of them more hostile, naturally. We can chant on one side of Oxford St., but we cannot chant on the other side of the street because there's two different police departments. It's like that. There is no hard and fast way to figure it out. You just have to try it and see.
Devotee: One night at Picadilly Circus we were eight and four were arrested, and four other people, no, they let them go. So I said, "No, I was arrested." (laughter) When they went to the court, Prabhupāda, they got one pound five each... They were altogether eight, and four were arrested. They also doing the same offense. It is same offense. So he said, "All right, let them go."
Guest (2): Can I ask about your rate... about growth? How, can ask how the movement is growing? Can you give me any figures at all? I was speaking to one of your colleagues earlier who mentioned 150, but seventy-five approximately which were in London. Are the figures growing week by week?
Prabhupāda: Yes. I started this movement alone, and now there are eight thousand.
Haṁsadūta: Five years ago, Prabhupāda, he came to New York with these kartāls, and he began alone by sitting in a park underneath a tree chanting this very same Hare Kṛṣṇa, which you see the boys on Oxford St. chanting. And now there are eight thousand students all over the world, and approximately a hundred centers. At that time, Śrīla Prabhupāda didn't even have a place for himself. But now he has a place in every major city.
Guest (2): You used the word "student" here. You're referring to this as...
Haṁsadūta: Yes, because it's an education. This is a spiritual education.
Guest (2): This doesn't tie up with the figure that I've been given, though, 150. There must be more than that.
Haṁsadūta: No, we're talking about around the world.
Guest (2): But you would accept there's 150?
Haṁsadūta: Yes, in England.
Guest (2): No, five years ago.
Prabhupāda: In 1966.
Dr. Weir: I assure you, Swami, that the reverse was true. I went to Oxford. I sat at the feet, as we would put it, of one of the most tiresome men I ever met in my life. He gave me an extraordinary distaste for law. Any law I've learnt has had to be learned the hard way by, you know, looking up statutes, looking up cases. So I regret to say, that I have my own personal experiences...
Prabhupāda: That is, that is... Of course later on, in the beginning you are a student of a lawyer.
Mensa Member: That's use of analogy because some people have gone on (indistinct) no matter who they are.
Dr. Weir: Ya, Ya. Well this is the only thing, "Seek and ye shall find, or be still and ye shall know." I think this is the essential feature that you've been saying is that, really, grace comes to anybody if they're only willing to expect it. It's inherently there.
Dr. Weir: The atheist is the person who worries most about God. I mean, he really... God must exist but he tries to deny it all. Rather like, I had a lecturer at Oxford who wasn't interested in women. He was a misogynist. He talked, you know (indistinct) and he spent all his time telling you he wasn't interested in women. He thought about nothing but women and the fact that he wasn't interested in them. His lectures were full of it. It was pathetic.
Śyāmasundara: Just like Kaṁsa!
Prabhupāda: Hiraṇyakaśipu. Gold and women.
Śyāmasundara: Kaṁsa hated Kṛṣṇa and he wanted to kill him but all he could think about was Kṛṣṇa. So somehow or other it boils down that one somehow has to become Kṛṣṇa conscious under some process.
Dr. Weir: (indistinct) even other people, not using that name.
Śyāmasundara: (indistinct) It's God consciousness.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: And he's working somewhere?
Dhanañjaya: Yes, he's working. He's in Oxford Street, very near.
Prabhupāda: And he says that he's M.A., Ph.D.? You see? So? He says so.
Dhanañjaya: Yes, he's a graduate.
Devotee (1): He's a doctorate, Ph.D.?
Dhanañjaya: But still not so influential.
Prabhupāda: Neither you are. Is he reliable?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Dhanañjaya: We are collecting, on Oxford Street, we're collecting about forty, fifty pounds a day, and on travelling saṅkīrtana, sixty, seventy pounds, because they're doing it for more hours. So altogether we're over a hundred pounds a day.
Prabhupāda: Now you are GBC here, you have come, now you make it hundred pounds daily. How to do it, he knows.
Dhanañjaya: But, but there is already hundred pounds coming. Two hundred pounds, then.
Prabhupāda: And his best friend is George. (laughs)
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
David Lawrence: It was very interesting to read one of the very western versions, that of Professor Zeiner of Oxford. And on one or two points of contention between yourself and other translators of the Bhagavad-gītā, in fact, he, nearly always, went with you. Now, he's reckoned to be one of the foremost western Sanskrit scholars. And he every time emphasized the devotional tone of your translation. Nearly every time. I was very impressed by that.
Śyāmasundara: We talked with Professor Zeiner (Zayner?), and he may come. He's trying... He's going to see...
Prabhupāda: That is only interpretation. Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. Kṛṣṇa is speaking to Arjuna. He is plainly speaking that "I am speaking to you this Bhagavad-gītā because You are My devotee." Bhakto 'si priyo 'si me rahasyaṁ hy etad uttamam (BG 4.3). So first condition to understand Bhagavad-gītā is to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. So in the Bhagavad-gītā, the only talk is about devotion. There is no other talk. There are other talks, but they are subordinate. They are not principal talks. The principal talk is to understand Kṛṣṇa through bhakti-yoga. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). You understand Sanskrit? You...?
Prabhupāda: You have to go to Oxford?
Sir Alistair Hardy: Yes, yes, I must. I've been to the great temple of Rāmeśvaram in southern India, south of Madras. It was a very fine experience.
Prabhupāda: All the temples you have seen? South India?
Sir Alistair Hardy: A temple in southern India.
Revatīnandana: Which one?
Mukunda: Rāmeśvaram.
Sir Alistair Hardy: Rāmeśvaram.
Prabhupāda: Rāmeśvaram.
Prabhupāda: The Russians read. I have heard that in your Oxford University there is study of Rabindranath's books? They study?
Sir Alistair Hardy: They study which books?
Prabhupāda: Rabindranath.
Sir Alistair Hardy: Oh, I think they produce some of them, yes. He gave a course of lectures in Oxford about 1923, or, '22 or '23, which were very well attended. I wasn't there, unfortunately, but I read them.
Prabhupāda: 1953?
Prabhupāda: So you are teacher there? No.
Prof. Gombrich: I teach in Oxford, yes.
Prabhupāda: You teach in Oxford?
Prof. Gombrich: Yes.
Prabhupāda: But in India went to visit?
Prof. Gombrich: Yes, I lived for two years in Ceylon.
Prabhupāda: Ceylon?
Prabhupāda: And in London, Oxford Street, the most crowded street, just like our Bombay, Harley Road... So in the big, big cities they are now chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, dancing. People are enjoying. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21). You can play this record at home and dance in tune and enjoy.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They are bringing it. This is the record, Every Town and Village. They are bringing the machine.
Prabhupāda: We are arrested by the police sometimes. Sometimes there are big cases against us. In Ireland. Ireland?
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Dr. Patel: No, he was right up to the end very conscious about this. Because of his Oxfordian education. I think he was in eternal hell, one of these things.(?) (break)
Prabhupāda: England. He was educated in England, but who can become...
Dr. Patel: Absolutely. It was a miracle, the greatest miracle.
Prabhupāda: Yes. He was... From very beginning of his birth, he is Englishman.
Dr. Patel: He was not allowed to speak Bengali by his parents.
Prabhupāda: Just see. Because in those days... (break)
Dr. Patel: We are forgetting Sanskrit very quickly.
Prabhupāda: No, no, those who are interested...
Monsignor Verrozano: We have here one translation of the commentary of Professor Zehner(?) from Oxford.
Prabhupāda: Here is my foreword by Professor Dimock.
Yogeśvara: This is a professor from Chicago University who wrote the foreword to this edition. He makes an interesting comment.
Prabhupāda: You read, read it.
Dhanañjaya: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Professor Dimock's.
Prabhupāda: Yes, every..., everyone is representation of God. Sun is more powerful representation. You are also representation of God. The God is also a living being. That is said in the dictionary, Oxford Dictionary. God means, "Supreme Being." So we are all beings, and God is the Supreme Being. We are limited by our power. God is unlimited by His power.
Lady (3): (French)
Yogeśvara: When we say Kṛṣṇa, are we speaking about God or an incarnation of God? How to define it?
Prabhupāda: No, God Himself.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Guest (1): That is the point of a steady state theory of the universe also, that it... Arthur Hubble, I think, in Oxford. He talks about a steady state theory of the universe. But the whole idea is that the whole universe has always been there, and it will always be there. It might change in shape, like on the expressway in the morning. Any one morning you may look at it, blue car is here and the red car is there and another day the green car might be in the same place. So there might be transitory change, but he maintains that it has always been there. So I can see the point. There is a big controversy going on, and he might be very well right.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: He's talking from a physical concept.
Guest (1): The big bang theory and the steady state theory of the universe. And they have come up with a cyclical theory of the universe also, that there is a big bang and the universe expands and then comes back again, like in Vedic philosophy, they have one mantra...
Prabhupāda: Hm, bṛhattvād bṛhannatvād iti brahma.
Rūpānuga: There was another devotee, Jñāna dāsa, in Germany, who is a graduate from Oxford University, their school. And we have invited him to come to this meeting but he did not respond. Maybe he will come and help in the future.
Prabhupāda: Mm, yes.
Rūpānuga: He has, what is his field?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Oh, yes. His topic was classical, statistical (indistinct) proof. That was allotted to Jñāna dāsa Prabhu, to Germany. (indistinct) Mahārāja sent a telegram, and I also personally wrote a letter saying that he should participate in writing (indistinct). He has a (indistinct) background, he told me (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: Yes, this is nice, attend. Kṛṣṇa will help you. They are wiping out Kṛṣṇa, and your business will be to establish Kṛṣṇa. Hm.
Prabhupāda: Standing order?
Satsvarūpa: They're still getting them in public libraries in Detroit...
Prabhupāda: They have got standing order from Oxford University.
Satsvarūpa: You heard?
Prabhupāda: No, they have got, sent me the copy of the standing order.
Satsvarūpa: Oh, that's wonderful. They're getting letters from big professors at Cambridge and Oxford in praise of the books. They'll be very, very useful.
Bahulāśva: (break) ...professors are very impressed with your books, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Prabhupāda: Atom, atom not question of seeing. You can count all the atoms throughout the universe; still, you cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa. You may be so great scientist that you can count each and every atom within the universe, but still, you shall remain unable to understand Kṛṣṇa. That is stated in the śāstra. Now here is sand. You can say, "There are so many sands." And this is only a small beach, but you can say how many sands and atoms are there within the universe. You can become so qualified. But still, you are unqualified to understand Kṛṣṇa. Radhakrishnan, Dr. Radhakrishnan was a good man, brāhmaṇa, but he was victimized by the western culture. He got some money from Oxford University. Therefore he took the westerner—his father mother, that's all. That is his qualification. Whatever the westerners say, they will say, he will say, "Yes, this is science." Not only Dr. Radhakrishnan, all the big men of India, they thought like that.
Ghanaśyāma: No, about ten have taken standing orders, but others have taken books to use for their courses or for their own reading and for their own edification. Big schools like Cambridge, Oxford, as soon as they see the books, they really want them.
Prabhupāda: This is the rarest book. Not only rare, but rarest. There is no book throughout the whole world, such book. (break)
Ghanaśyāma: ...professor, he was reading your Bhagavad-gītā, it was on his desk when I came into his office.
Prabhupāda: Ācchā.
Prabhupāda: That's all. He became a victim of the western people. Because the Oxford University was paying him very nicely, he became a servant of the western thought. (break)
Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...in the evolutionary cycle, the transmigration of the soul, we were inquiring whether there's any specific details in the Vedas about the step by step transmigration of the spirit, of the soul.
Prabhupāda: Yes. From the aquatics to the plants, and then insect, then bird, then beast, then human being.
Prabhupāda: And our books are being appreciated, Europe, America, by big, big professors, universities. They are giving us standing order, even in Oxford University. What is that, Oxford University?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. I was just in London a while back.
Prabhupāda: No, that letter is there?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I don't know if I have the one from Oxford. This is from Harvard. We just received this telegram from Los Angeles, Prabhupāda. "Amazing success from your library party—one hundred and fifty-two standing orders sold in just seventeen days of September in New England. Thirteen standing orders at Harvard. These books are very much being appreciated in America."
Prof. Olivier: These are for the sets.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. They are also inquiring.
Guru-kṛpā: Every university in America takes complete book. Every book Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, there is standing order. Oxford, Princeton, Harvard, UCLA, University of California...
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: All of the leading professors also have written very favorable reviews, citing these...
Prabhupāda: Where is that book, Professor Judah's book? Hare Krishna and Counterculture.
Prabhupāda: So never went to school, but Oxford University gave him Ph.D. That does not mean that "I shall also receive Ph.D. like Rabindranath Tagore. I shall not go to school." The general method is: one must go to the school. Exceptional cases, that without going to school one can become Ph.D.... But we should not imitate that, that "Rabindranath Tagore got Ph.D. without going to school. I shall sit down." But the fact is that even without going to school one can get Ph.D. That's a fact. But that is not the method. The method is that you must go to the primary school, then secondary school, then enter college, then take your degree. Then you become M.A. and Ph.D. That is the general process, step by step.
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?
Mike Robinson: If I could just spend one or two minutes of your time. Shall I explain the program? We do a religious program for two and a half hours on a Sunday which covers all different religions, and what we'd like is, people in London have seen, you know, many members of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement on Oxford Street. And if you would explain more about the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, how it was formed, what you believe, this sort of idea, so that people would have a better understanding of the movement. And I'll just set up a tape recorder first.
Mukunda: This is your biography, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Yes, I have seen it, encyclopedia.
Mike Robinson: I'm beginning to understand. What I'm finding difficult is, for instance, we see on Oxford Street a lot of people who are handing out Hare Kṛṣṇa literature. Now...
Prabhupāda: Yes, this is the literature, how to convince them about the spiritual life.
Mike Robinson: And you're really not concerned whether or not they join the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement?
Prabhupāda: It doesn't matter. One must be.... Our mission is to educate. People are in ignorance. They are living in fool's paradise, that he is his body. Bas. When the body's finished, everything is finished. That is foolishness.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: If you all don't mind, just for five minutes, we would like to read the selected extracts from some leading scholars about this movement. We're not reading the views of Western scholars. These books are being used in five thousand universities, including Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, but some of the leading Indian scholars. So you also get an understanding of the Indian appreciation of Prabhupāda's activities. This for example, is a letter from Mr. Ghosh, District and Summon Judge in West Bengal: "I'm highly impressed at the sincerity and devotion of the disciples of the International Society of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. A visit to the Māyāpur Chandrodaya Mandir, West Bengal, sublimes the mind from all harsh talk and disturbing influences." Then...
Prabhupāda: (aside:) Stop now. Don't divert attention.
Prabhupāda: Our men regularly go on the Oxford St.
Mr. Malhotra: Yes Oxford. On that street only there was Indian restaurant where this rasagullās and tea and all that is available. So we were sitting having our this thing, and then they passed.
Prabhupāda: Our men, they can prepare rasagullā, samosā, kacuri.
Mr. Malhotra: Now this Bombay center, when I visited Girirāja he showed me, and the restaurant, that vegetarian restaurant which will be coming up, that is good. (break) ...I mean is it regular new films are being made or only one or two films have been made so far?
Girirāja: We make more films.
Girirāja: There was a meeting of four big scholars at Harvard University, it's like the Oxford of America. And one famous theologian named Cox...
Prabhupāda: Harvey Cox?
Girirāja: Yes and Kīrtanānanda Swami. His books are very famous. And they have brought up this issue, freedom of religion, that this is a bona fide religious movement and we should have freedom to worship. Then there's also a letter from a member of the World Fellowship of Religion and he is also saying that he takes this very seriously and very grave that such a bona fide movement is not being allowed to practice their religion freely. And then there's one Professor Sharma at one American University, and he is...
Dr. Patel: It was said that the man who was judge, was his classmate in Cambridge, Oxford, or something like that.
Prabhupāda: Maybe.
Dr. Patel: C.R. Das made a very good speech. I have read all about what he practicing yoga in jail when he was himself written when he came to the minister's court. He felt that everywhere was Kṛṣṇa. Everyone was... He was seeing Kṛṣṇa everywhere. That was his feeling. So he would not be punished by anybody. But God is everywhere. His brother was transported to the... He was to be hanged and then he was transported to (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: (indistinct). (break) This is the fact that yato mata tato patha? Whatever path you accept, that is all right? He said that. Do you think it is bona fide? Kṛṣṇa says mām ekam, and he approves anything.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: On whole, they like it?
Jayatīrtha: Yes, especially our kīrtana parties on Oxford Street and Picadilly Circus. They like that very much. Sometimes we get a thousand people standing around our kīrtana party, Picadilly Circus and Leicester Square, places like that.
Prabhupāda: So what about that house?
Jayatīrtha: That house? We've purchased now and we're fixing it up.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: How much hopeful? I think there's a great potential. It is a great future, and I can see that if we start publishing the first journal, volume, then it's going to attract many people from the academic circles and intellectual surroundings, and in some time I can see there will be a whole new field of preaching in the academic circles all over the world, not only in India and United States, Canada, but Europe. Europe is going to be observe better centers along these lines. In fact, there are some very leading men in Cambridge and Oxford going to open the whole...
Prabhupāda: So arrange for that, what to do, immediately.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. So we have our Indian headquarters in Bombay, and we can organize in such a manner that...
Prabhupāda: Where you will give them place?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Many..., some engineers came, and some doctors also came. They wanted us speak in Bombay Hospital. And just now also I got a letter from England from Jagadguru Swami. He said that on our way to the United States we should stop in England. He says that he talked something about Bhaktivedanta Institute in England. He said we should speak in Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He said there is a very good preaching background there. So he invited us to...
Prabhupāda: You will be invited. You stick to your position and train up your assistants and recruit more and more. We shall come out successful. Write books. You can take. Now yesterday Dr. Dattrey, did he say anything?
Prabhupāda: Ph.D. Genuine?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Some are honorary, but he is from Oxford and Cambridge, very renowned scholar.
Mādhava: He's a chemist.
Prabhupāda: He's a chemist.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. So he's very old. He's about seventy-three years old. And he had a genuine desire to be engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So he'll be a devotee. So he invited us to come and speak to him today on... I'm going to speak on science and Kṛṣṇa consciousness today.
Prabhupāda: New place?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: On Soho Street off Oxford Street they have purchased one pub, a restaurant.
Prabhupāda: That I saw?
Jayatīrtha: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. So in a few months that will be open with restaurant and reading room and so on.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bhaktivedanta Reading Room.
Prabhupāda: So you have taken my money last month?
Guest (3): He's M.A. from Oxford.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Guest (3): Or he was the chief editor of Sarasvatī and Bhārata Daily paper.
Prabhupāda: Sarasvatī... (Hindi)
Guest (3): In Allahabad. He's from Allahabad.
Prabhupāda: (aside:) So you just take his address and go and see him. He'll help you.
Girirāja: Yes.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) Take his address immediately.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That Aurora is very qualified, very important. He was a judge in South Africa. He was an international lawyer. He graduated from Harvard, so many big schools-Oxford, Harvard. I know he wasn't lying. It's true. He held very good position.
Prabhupāda: Is Aurora pleader? Is Aurora pleader, you mean?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, that barrister. We have to take very good care to make the gurukula bona fide and genuine. It's really lucky you got that Dr. Sharma. Clearly he's the best. I mean, he's already been principal of big schools.
Prabhupāda: Human activity should be guided toward Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then it is human. Otherwise it is animal. Take minimum demand, be happy, and make progress. That is the platform of progress. Very little... (too faint) The same shape, (too faint) they are improving to make straighter, topless, bottomless, in this way and that way, miniskirt. They are arranging. The thing is the same, but they want to change the taste in different way. No knowledge. That means (too faint). Sex, you require under... You'll get it between husband and wife. There is no difficulty. What is the use of that? Daily pregnancy, daily... Three days divorce. Actually I saw in Chicago, within three weeks, three divorce.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: " 'Any educational center interested in giving a complete education to its pupils should follow the example set by the University of California, the British Library, the Oxford University, and the University of Bombay, among many others, who have ordered sets of the BBT's encyclopedia. As an Indian, I am proud of the vast accomplishments of my fellow countryman, Swami Prabhupāda.' "
Prabhupāda: That's all.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Maybe later on I can read some more of these to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda. They are very ecstatic. Yeah. Later on I'll read more to you. We haven't even touched this section. This is the list.
Prabhupāda: So send Gargamuni many thanks for arranging in the libraries. Kṛṣṇa is blessing him. Organize in Bombay office very nicely, and arrange for printing enough stock. All money collected should be invested immediately. This is giving me new life, all these. Somebody is proposing to give us some dairy land? Dairy.
Prabhupāda: Very costly.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...very, very important. Just off Oxford Street.
Prabhupāda: The corner.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just off the corner, in the middle of the block.
Prabhupāda: They said that report following will come.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Report is coming. In the telegram that we received? Yeah, it said, "Report follows." I think some activity is good. Somehow I get the idea that you need to be more active. I know that you don't have any strength, but still, it seems to me unless you are active, you won't get your strength.
Prabhupāda: He's giving very strong argument.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "The Oxford Dictionary defines empirical as 'based on observation and experiment.' Observation and experiment is conducted with limited senses. Therefore the conclusions are naturally limited and imperfect. So in fact, the soul and the existence of God is quite beyond the power of Kovoor's observation. Why be so obstinate? This is common sense, a point anyone can understand. He says, 'It is the unique ability of man to engage in creative thinking that has made him succeed in his fight against the laws of nature.' This is a preposterous claim only a fool would make. Nature forces everyone to become old, diseased, and, lastly, die. Even the most powerful conquerors of the world are helplessly dragged off the stage of life by nature in the shape of all-devouring death. But perhaps Dr. Kovoor will be the first living being in the history of the world that will conquer over death. That remains to be seen.
Correspondence
1969 Correspondence
I understand that Mataji is going to donate one pair of Sri Murtis. I do not know what size they will be, but I have also ordered one pair of Sri Murtis, 24" high. I hope your arrangements for Rathayatra Ceremony are going ahead, and I shall be glad to hear from you at my Los Angeles address. I am very much encouraged to learn that your kirtana is going to be held at Oxford University, which is the most important university in the world. At least in India, if somebody is a graduate of Oxford University, he is very highly respected, and immediately he gets some good job in the government's service. So if your Sankirtana program becomes recognized by the Oxonians, it will be a great credit for you.
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated June 28, 1969, and I am very glad that Krishna has after all given you a nice place to remain in London and spread Krishna Consciousness with more enthusiasm. Your successful meeting in Oxford is also very encouraging. There is a verse in Caitanya Caritamrta in which Krsna dasa Kaviraja says that the whole world is busy to enjoy or to suffer by their respective results of karma, pious or impious, from past life. So in this material world, somebody is enjoying material life in some higher planet and somebody is suffering some material inconveniences in some lower planets. But they do not know that suffering or no suffering, this material existence itself is not at all congenial to the living entity.
Sivananda is contemplating to open a branch in Copenhagen, and Krishna das is trying for another in Munich. So this news is very encouraging to me. I shall request you that your next attempt shall be to establish a center in Oxford, where I have heard you have successfully performed kirtana so the students postponed their attendance in economic class and wanted to enjoy the transcendental vibrations. So I shall request you again to establish another branch in Oxford as soon as possible.
As expressed by you, our Rathayatra Festival in San Francisco must be continued every year with increased gorgeousness. I hope Krishna will bless you. So try to complete this purchase. I have got complete approval.
Here everything is going nicely, and we have got our permission to remain in 7 Bury Place, London. In Oxford we are also negotiating for a church, and Sankirtana Party is going very nicely.
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letters dated October 17, 1969 and October 22, 1969. The letters were very long; I have read them once and shall read them again carefully. Here things are improving. We have got now practically two centers in London: one in Mr. Lennon's place and one in 7 Bury Place. We are negotiating for a big church in Oxford and there is possibility of this coming out successful too. Besides that, I am negotiating with some local, influential Indian gentleman for the world Sankirtana Party. They have also given some hopes, and the preaching work here is also going on nicely. Yesterday we had a meeting in a law college and all the boys and girls joined us in chanting and dancing. But I think Mukunda is little bit strained managing all the affairs.
Yesterday we had a very successful meeting at Oxford at the Town Hall. About 350 boys, girls, old men, ladies and gentlemen participated, and we made them all dance and chant with us, every one. After the meeting, many boys and gentlemen came to congratulate me. Out of them, one was an Egyptian gentleman. Similarly, in another meeting in Conway Hall one Chinese boy came and offered his obeisances exactly like my disciples, bowing down to my feet. Negro boys are also taking part. So it is a fact that our movement will appeal to the heart of everyone, and they will join us. If one is not very much sophisticated and overburdened by material contamination, then he must respond to our call.
1970 Correspondence
The Government of U.K. has passed a bill to hand over the redundant churches to other religious sects, but the Christian authorities want good amount of money for selling these properties. So none of the churches have we been able to acquire, on account of the exorbitant price, for which I have not got money to pay. But they are available. In London we saw a redundant church and also in Oxford. They are very nice for our purpose, but the negotiation is very slow. Some other churches are also available in other districts, but they can be purchased. The government has no such scheme to place these unused churches at our disposal.
I hope Hamsaduta has met you by this time, and when you go to Germany along with him I think he may be situated as the president of the center being the seniormost member. I am so glad to learn that you expect to open another center in London in the hippy quarter as soon as possible. When I was in London I went to Oxford and there was a very successful meeting. Therefore I think Oxford will be a good center for our activities.
The whole debt has to be cleared off by twelve years. So the management here has taken a great burden upon themselves, and similarly I am awaiting the days when London Yatra party, headed by you, will have a similar achievement in London.
What happened to that application you submitted for the old Oxford church? I think these Christian people do not like our advancement in the preaching work. Never mind, we shall depend upon Krsna and march on progressively.
I have received word that English citizens can fly to Australia as immigrants, and the cost is only $20 per person. So under the circumstances, you can send some Brahmacaris to help out our new center in Sydney.
That will help him very rapidly. So for the time being you remain as you are and you also do the same thing, and if possible as suggested by you, Murari and Lilavati can open a center in Oxford. Oxford is a good place for our Krishna Consciousness movement. Formerly when I was there, we saw an old church for the purpose of purchasing it. I think Mukunda had some correspondence about it.
Besides that, what are you going to do about Rathayatra? Both you and Murari are good carpenters. So I shall be glad to learn what is your program about Rathayatra.
Regarding your program for the grammar schools, Yogesvara wants to write some books for children. So let him write and introduce them in the schools. If nice pictures are inserted the books will become very popular. I have already said; again I repeat, go from village to village and get them interested in Krsna.
You write to say that many nice devotees are coming, Oxford graduates, etc., and there is demand for temples by the people in many countries like Sweden and South Africa. These are all good news, so try to utilize these opportunities. When I hear all these things immediately I wish to go myself personally.
1973 Correspondence
This evening I had talk with Sir Alister Hardy M.A. D.Sc. of Oxford. He is a nice gentleman.
Human life begins when there is systematic education in the science of God consciousness. Just some days ago I was discussing with Professor Alister Hardy—Head of Religious Experimental research unit Oxford, it was his opinion that the problems of human life are over-population, environmental pollution etc.. But from Bhagavad-gita we understand that God is the father of all living beings, so the father must be competent to provide for all the children, and in the case of the Supreme Father this is actually so—we get it from Vedic Literature "nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13)—Amongst all the Eternals there is one chief Eternal Being and he is engaged in supplying and fulfilling the desires of all the others."
1977 Correspondence
So I suggested to Dhananjaya that each day he designates an area of London for them to distribute in which we have never touched before, especially for instance South London, Greenwich, Woolwich, Brixton, Herne Hill, like that—so they do not interfere with our Oxford Street. So in this way you must control them, and if (they) object or disobey in any (way), they must be sent away; 3) Ultimately the decision rests with the President whether their presence in London (or anywhere else) is favorable for the local situation, or if it is unfavorable. That is Dhananjaya's discretion. If he feels they are doing more harm than good, then they must go immediately. If they bark at going out after you have asked them to go, go see Mr. Jordan or someone at the Home Office and get them deported.
| Page Title: | Oxford |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 18 of Dec, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=10, Con=42, Let=14 |
| No. of Quotes: | 66 |