Shave (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"shave" |"shaved" |"shaven" |"shaves" |"shaving"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query:"shave" or "shaved" or "shaven" or "shaves" or "shaving" not head*

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 28, 1973, Jakarta:

Prabhupāda: Nowadays gradually, everyone is giving up cap. First of all, only the Bengalis were the capless nation. Now gradually, it has spread all over the world. Nobody uses hats or cap.

Guest (1): We like the cover cap.

Guest (2): You don't shave?

Guest (1): You don't shave more (indistinct) only shaving clean shave only (indistinct)

Devotee: You are asking me?

Guest (1): Yes.

Devotee: Yes. About every two weeks.

Guest (1): Every two weeks. What mean this symbol?

Prabhupāda: Flag. It is flag.

Guest (1): Flag? (indistinct) It is better to do like this?

Devotee: Yes.

Guest (1): And some Indian gentlemen only married here (indistinct) and...

Prabhupāda: This is temple. Temple.

Room Conversation -- September 1, 1973, London:

Guest: But why should he give us...

Prabhupāda: Because God is unlimited, He has got unlimited energy. have got limited energy. I can pass urine, say one pound, I can have perspiration say, one ounce but if God likes He can produce unlimited water. Why this one Atlantic Ocean? Many millions of Atlantic Oceans He can produce. Water produced from His body. So where is the difficulty to understand? When Kṛṣṇa says that the elements... Other matters are growing. Just like the hair. Now, today, I have shaved. Three days after, again it will grow. So I have got my energy within by which I'm constantly growing. But, hair is a material thing. So anything you take, it grows from the Supreme. It is very easy to understand.

Interviews with Macmillan and various English Reporters -- September 12, 1973, London:

Haṁsadūta: Nobody sits on it.

Reporter (2): It's still there, but...?

Haṁsadūta: Oh yeah.

Reporter (2): And lastly, a very trivial question. The uniform, the haircut, why is that?

Prabhupāda: This shaving?

Reporter (2): Yes, why?

Prabhupāda: It is very nice. It makes the head cool, not with big bunch of hair, burden. We feel it burden. When there is bunch of hair, we feel it is an extra burden.

Reporter (2): An extra burden on the mind?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Interviews with Macmillan and various English Reporters -- September 12, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Reporter (2): That's fair, isn't it?

Haṁsadūta: It's a matter of cleanliness. Not when...

Reporter (2): But he also says it's a matter of weighing down on the mind. That's fair.

Prabhupāda: It is a Vedic system. All the brāhmaṇas take clean-shaved. Vedic system. So we are trying to stay in the platform of brahminical culture. Therefore it is one of the essential things.

Reporter (2): I understand that. Thank you very much from me for your help. Thank you. Bye, bye.

Haṁsadūta: (break) ...A church. Which church?

Reporter (3): Methodist Church.

Haṁsadūta: Methodist Church.

Reporter (3): Which is fairly advanced, really...

Prabhupāda: Methodist Church is famous.

Haṁsadūta: Methodist Church.

Prabhupāda: Yes. I've seen many signboards.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That's a nice example.

Prabhupāda: They can use some bombastic word but we layman, we see this is the position. And you do not know how it is being done but the energy is there in you. That is called acintya-śakti, inconceivable energy. That is there. Now you shave every morning and next morning, again millions of hairs. You do not know how it is being happening. But it is happening, and this is called acintya-śakti. From Kṛṣṇa such big, big things are coming out. Even Kṛṣṇa may not know but Kṛṣṇa has got the inconceivable by which it is coming. The same example.

Rūpānuga: People will speculate so many theories as to why the hairs are coming out but then after some time they will see that theory is wrong they'll have to present a new one.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is their rascaldom.

Rūpānuga: And until they come to understand that Kṛṣṇa is pushing it, then they will never understand what's actually causing everything to grow.

Dr. Wolf: False ego.

Prabhupāda: That's it. So give something.

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

Prabhupāda: No, they look very nice with this dress. Don't you appreciate?

Dr. Copeland: Uh, that wasn't in my question, That's... (laughs). Yes, I think it's very nice, I couldn't do it. I wouldn't shave my hair, and I wouldn't dress like that.

Prabhupāda: You cannot sacrifice so much. They have sacrificed.

Dr. Copeland: Aḥ, I sacrifice up here.

Prabhupāda: They have got a spirit of sacrifice.

Dr. Copeland: But you ask a great deal of people. So why do you think they're willing to give?

Prabhupāda: No, I ask only four things: no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling. That's all. But these four things are very, very, difficult for the Western people. That I know. Just see. God consciousness cannot be achieved by any third-class man. One must be the topmost first-class man. Then he can become God conscious.

Room Conversation -- June 26, 1975, Los Angeles:

Devotee (1): Does that apply also for householder dharma, or is that simply for brahmacārī dharma? Even you... I have pictures of you on the Bhāgavatam when you did not have shaved head, with a mustache when you were doing your business as a householder. So does that apply to householders, or only to brahmacārīs, that a householder must also keep a shaved head or is that...?

Prabhupāda: At that time I was not initiated. You were seeing my picture, mustaches, at that time I was not initiated. Since I became initiated, I have shaven.

Devotee (1): Well, in India where one can do business...

Prabhupāda: I can... Why you are bringing this question? You ask, "Why you had mustaches?" I say when I had mustaches, at that time, I was not initiated. That answer is given. That's all.

Devotee (2): Can I ask one more question, Prabhupāda? What I would like to understand is why it is wrong to ask why? If I can just understand this, why it is wrong for us to ask you in a submissive way. We were humbly asking you these "whys," not because we are trying to be intimidating or we were trying to rebel, but because we have sincerely tried to understand as your disciples.

Prabhupāda: So you better ask my so many other disciples?

Devotee (1): They don't have any answers.

Morning Walk -- July 21, 1975, San Francisco:

Bahulāśva: You have to have a lot of faith.

Prabhupāda: He can do that, but you must have faith. Otherwise no shaving. So many... Suppose you are going to some unknown place. Now we are purchasing, paying two thousand dollars, ticket. But where is the guarantee that you will go there? You are paying first money, but there is no guarantee that you will go there. Then how do you get the ticket? How do you get on the plane unless, without faith? So faith, without faith you cannot move an inch. It must be there. (break) ...believe, "No, no, this ticket is issued by the Pan American. They are good company, and so many people are going. So I will go also." That's all. So faith. You never went there, neither you know whether it will be possible to go there. But still, you have to do. That is faith. (break)

Baradrāj: The airplane may crash.

Prabhupāda: Yes, there are so many things. There is no guarantee that you will reach there. But still you have to purchase ticket. You have to get on the plane. That is faith.

Morning Walk -- July 21, 1975, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: Who?

Baradrāj: This Yogi Bhajan. So he said that he tried to get a job with one of the railroad companies, but because he was Sikh—he was wearing long beard and hair—they would not give him a job. They said, "You must shave up first." He said, "No, I cannot do this." So finally he decided that "Not only will I not shave my beard and hair but I will make hundreds of disciples..." (break)

Sudāmā: ...Prabhupāda, either of those associations, which is the highest?

Prabhupāda: Both are equal.

Sudāmā: Both are equal?

Prabhupāda: You have to associate with both. Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). Both guru's kṛpā and Kṛṣṇa's kṛpā, they must be joined. Then you will get. (break)

Jayādvaita: We're very eager to get that guru-kṛpā.

Prabhupāda: Who?

Jayadwaita: We are, all of us.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. If you get guru's kṛpā, then automatically you get Kṛṣṇa.

Morning Walk -- September 15, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Let them say what is there. Then you can talk with them.

Brahmānanda: They say, "I love God. I go to church every... Once a week I go, Sunday morning. I make my prayer. So what more? I have my family. I have my job."

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)

Prabhupāda: After that, he is fit down(?). Then, if life member comes, he can simply stay in the guest room without any charges for three days. (break)

Dhṛṣṭaketu: ...that one is making progress by how he feels, or should he just simply execute the order of the spiritual master and not worry about how he feels? How should... In other words...

Prabhupāda: If he is making progress, he must feel. If he is not making progress, then he will not feel.

Morning Walk -- October 8, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: The Africans are all thieves.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Here there is not as much stealing as in Nairobi. (break) I think they have had to amputate afterwards, mangled by the shore. It happens frequently. On some of the beaches here they've put up signs that "There are many sharks in the water. It is dangerous to bathe here." Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā, "Amongst fish, I am the shark." (Prabhupāda chuckles) He shaved off his beard yesterday, this young boy. He shaved off. He had beard. He shaved off.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Further progress.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Jaya. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...900,000 forms of life in the water. How many they have seen? They are giving pictures. (break) Calcium carbonate, oil wintergreen, and soap powder, powder hard soap, and I will make toothpaste.

Harikeśa: What is this soap powder?

Prabhupāda: It is called powdered hard soap. (end)

Morning Walk -- November 1, 1975, Nairobi:

Brahmānanda: But formerly I had drunk water.

Prabhupāda: No, formerly, three hundred years, you had some water; therefore the water is coming out. This is all nonsense. Seven generation before my great-grandfather ate some ghee, and still I have got the smell. (laughter) It is that argument. Huh? This kind of argument has no value. Water is... You can create water from your body. What is there? You are a doctor. What is your...? Eh? Medical men they are. No? Water is created. How the blood is created? He did not drink blood. This is nonsense argument. How we create blood? It is becoming. You do not know how it is, but you have got such potency that blood is being created. You even do not know how the blood is being done, but it is being. That is inconceivable energy. There are so many secretions. They are coming within the body. So everything is there. By God's supreme energy they are being automatically. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). God has got multi-energies. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. This is the description. He hasn't got to do anything. Just like so many things are being manufactured within my body. I haven't got to directly work for it. So similarly, the God's gigantic... Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. Nobody is found equal to Him or greater than Him. We are... He is God, and we are subordinate because we have many equals, but He has no equal. He is unlimited; we are limited. Parāsya śaktir vivdhaiva śrūyate. He has got multi-energies. The energies are working. Just like here there are so many instruments within this box, but you just push one button and it works. You just push one button; the whole thing is working. So similarly, the God has made this body so perfect that whatever is required, it is being manufactured. Nobody can explain. Can you explain how your hair is... You shave today, and tomorrow again, how it is growing, can you explain? But it is coming out. The energy is there. Similarly, if in the small body, a sample of God, so many energies are there, automatically working, then, so far God is concerned, that parāsya śaktir, He has got unlimited number of energies and things are taking place automatically. This material world is also external body of Kṛṣṇa. Just like our body, external body, and the hair is coming out. Do you endeavor for it? Similarly, the trees, plants, they are coming out.

Morning Walk -- November 12, 1975, Bombay:

Harikeśa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: That is old. The new one, where it is? Now finished?

Harikeśa: No, they are also in the shaving kit.

Prabhupāda: Oh. So the new one it is all dried up with glycerin. If they are finished, then prepare the same formula. (break)

Indian man (3): ...not taking bath in the morning. I was not coming to the temple because my bronchitis. And once you told me, "You take without bath. You go to the temple." I started taking bath. I was now coming to the sea because that bronchitis was troubling me. But now... (Hindi) My wife told me, "Don't go. You are a sick man. You are not taking my..." I said, "No, it will be Kṛṣṇa's mercy only." I am ninety percent happy. Once I give some... Still I think I am, by your grace, I am ninety percent cured now.

Prabhupāda: Yes, Kṛṣṇa's grace.

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

Harikeśa: So faith in knowledge.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Knowledge means received from the superior. Like the child gets knowledge from the father. That kind of faith is required. If the child does not believe the statement of father and mother, he cannot make any progress. If the child does not believe the statement of mother, he does not know who is his father. So there must be faith, faith in the right person. Then it is all right. If you have got faith in the person who has got eyes to lead you, then he will help you to cross the road. And if you put your faith to another blind man like you, then it will cause disaster. Faith is required, but to the right person. Then it will be all right. You know that one barber is honest: then you can make your neck like this and he is with a sharpened razor. But you have faith that "He will not cut my throat; he will shave me." This is faith. And if you do not know him and if you put your neck like this and if he is a rogue, he will cut your throat. That's all. The same faith, if you put it to the right person, you become cleansed, shaved, and the same faith put in the wrong person—your throat is cut off. So you must know where to put the faith. So our Vedic injunction is: "Put your faith to the brahma-nistam, one who is God-realized." Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet samit-paniḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭam: (MU 1.2.12) "One who has full knowledge in the Vedas and firmly fixed up in Brahman, God, you put your faith there." Otherwise there will be disaster. Right faith. (break) ...you call Prabhakara?

Tejās: I called him on the phone.

Prabhupāda: He is here?

Morning Walk -- December 3, 1975, Vrndavana:

Akṣayānanda: One boy came a couple of weeks ago. He had long hair. But the next day he came back and shaved up. He's a devotee now. He's doing nicely.

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Akṣayānanda: So they will still come. They can become devotees. It's all right then.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break)

Akṣayānanda: ...doing, Śrīla Prabhupāda. If they come and they have long hair but if there's a chance they might become devotees, I tell them they must tie up their hair in such a way that you cannot see it.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. If many comes like that to become devotee, then it becomes a devotee place, er, hippie place. You give them chance to become a devotee. In the meantime, it will be known as a hippie resort.

Harikeśa: That's always been a problem here.

Prabhupāda: It is no problem. You can allow for three days only. If he does not change his habit, then he must go.

Akṣayānanda: Yes. all right. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...was in the beginning allowing, but they saw some disadvantage. Therefore they have stopped. (break) ...our Dhanañjaya?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 19, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: This is the position.

Acyutānanda: And now, in many cases, they forcibly occupy some land, and they create disturbance, and the local people set fire and drive them out. We call a barber...

Prabhupāda: Mūḍha. Anyone who's not a Kṛṣṇa conscious, he's a mūḍha, bās. Narādhama, bās.

Acyutānanda: We call a barber, and he shaves one, and we said, "Now sharpen again," and he does not bring his stone. "Go back and bring your stone." But even in the free society, American society, they have union. And that is caste. To protect the employment, one union man cannot do the work of another union or he'll put another man out of work. So they stay in their place. So that is sva-dharma and para-dharma. So the same principle is natural, svābhāvika, again appears naturally. Hmm? Just like we... In my house we purchased a piano. One union is hired to bring the piano from the shop to the lorry, another set of workers will lift the piano and put it into the lorry, and another union will take the, from the lorry into your house. So you have to hire about nine different men, because they'll say, "No, now our work is finished up to this point."

Prabhupāda: In America?

Acyutānanda: Yes. And the other union is the truck driver. And no man will do the other work. Like in India, if you hire a woman to wash the pots, if you tell her to wash the pāyakhānā, she will not go. Another woman you have to get. And that protects them. That protects their employment opportunity.

Prabhupāda: Division of labor.

Room Conversation -- May 2, 1976, Fiji:

Guru-kṛpā: The traveler is the loser.

Prabhupāda: Yes, traveler is the loser. If you have no faith, then loser, you are loser. You will never understand. Therefore śāstra says, Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). Big, big stalwart ācāryas, mahājanas, they are accepting. Therefore we accept. That is sense. And if you sit down, "No, no, I have no faith," you'll sit down and remain a rascal, that's all. Ādau śraddhā. Therefore faith is the first thing. Ādau śraddhā. If he has got intelligence, he'll see: "So many big, big.... Lord Brahmā accepts. Lord Śiva accepts. Vyāsadeva accepts. Nārada accepts. The ācāryas accept. So am I more than them? No. I will accept." And that is perfection of.... Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). And if still you remain faithless, then you are rascal. Same example can be.... Quantas. So many hundreds are purchasing ticket. They have also never seen London, but on faith they're purchasing ticket. So you have no faith, you don't purchase; therefore remain here. Without faith you cannot begin to work. The same example: You have gone to a barber shop. He is shaving, and people blindly, closing eyes, and he has got a razor. He can immediately cut. But why do you do this? Because you have faith that "These people are professional barbers. They are shaving so many other people. They will not kill me. All right. Go on." This is faith. And if you have no faith, then you will never have clean shaven. You go away. So beginning is faith, but faith should not be blind. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). You have to take faith from great personalities. That is faith. Just like you American boys and girls. You began with faith. Without faith nothing can be.... Ādau śraddhā. Just like people come, and they get some faith that "So many people are following Swamiji." So he associates for some time. Then he offers himself for initiation. This is the way. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo 'tha bhajana-kriyā (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). And bhajana-kriyā, if he agrees with spiritual master and takes his word, then anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt. Spiritual master says, "You should not do this," and if he follows, then automatically his unnecessary burden is cleansed. This is the way. But faith is the beginning. And that is quite natural. Faith means by seeing others, respectable persons following, "And why not I shall follow?" That is faith. Faith is not also blind. You can see that so many others are doing, "So why I myself?"

Room Conversation with Siddha-svarupa -- May 3, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Anyway, you can count, yes. (break)

Siddha-svarūpa: There are a lot of devotees here who follow the principles but cannot completely... (break) ...shaved up, and they still wear karmī clothes pretty much, but they're clean, they're devotees, and in this way they're attracting many of the local people, because they're able to relate to them.

Prabhupāda: So that...

Siddha-svarūpa: They're not lowering your standard.

Prabhupāda: No, naturally, but when they are initiated they must shave. They must keep to the standard. If one becomes initiated and he still keeps the hippie form, that does not look nice. Do you think that is all right? No, that is not good. So long they are coming as outsider, joining kīrtana, they may have their own dress, it doesn't matter. They are coming to kīrtana, that must be (indistinct). But when they are to be initiated, they must follow the rules and regulations given by the spiritual master.

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

Prabhupāda: What is that meaning?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prickly sconce. Prickly means short-haired, and sconce means...?

Hari-śauri: Look it up in the dictionary. (laughter)

Rādhāvallabha: People like to think they are scientific like this.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It says "the prickly sconce is lathered up with an old-fashioned mug and brush and shaved with a safety razor. It is considered of paramount importance that the base of the śikhā be shaved round evenly. The shavee sometimes shows some nervousness about this." He gets nervous that they'll cut his śikhā off. This man has caught every detail.

Prabhupāda: Good writer.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, he's a good one.

Hari-śauri: It says "Sconce: crown of head." It's an old term for the crown of the head.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's a special article about prasādam, Prabhupāda, called "Food for the Gods." "Of all the ways of getting to heaven, or nirvāṇa, or whatever your ideal place may be, the Hare Kṛṣṇa way is one of the most pleasant. Believers of this faith are convinced that you can eat your way into higher spiritual realms. Of course, this doesn't mean that food itself is sacred and the more you eat the holier you are. To begin with, there is a strict prohibition against the killing of animals, so meat, fish and eggs are not included in the diet at all of the Kṛṣṇa devotees. Furthermore, there are many special rules for preparing the food which may be offered to Kṛṣṇa to be blessed by Him and therefore to bring blessings to anyone who partakes of it." Should I read this whole article?

Prabhupāda: Um, hmm.

Morning Walk -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Yes, so let them...

Ātreya Ṛṣi: After the guru-pūjā.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: My I make some arrangements? May I go and...?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. But they should shave and have hair short cut.

Jñānagamya: Our only plan should be to put our mind on Kṛṣṇa's feet.

Prabhupāda: Our plan should be to accept Kṛṣṇa's plan, that's all. Approved, authorized plan. That is very easy. Take any words of Kṛṣṇa, it is very easy. What is your problem, first of all? Just consider, whether Kṛṣṇa answers it. First of all, propose what is your problem.

Hari-śauri: Well, my problem is that I have to have somewhere to live and I have to get something to eat.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that Kṛṣṇa's solves. Yes, Kṛṣṇa says annād bhavanti bhūtāni: (BG 3.14) produce food grains. You have to work because it is material world. You cannot sit idly. Even if you are a very strong tiger, you don't expect that animals will come and enter your mouth. You have to work for it. This is the world. Na hi suptasya siṁhasya praviśanti mukhe mṛgāḥ. Suppose a lion... He's the king of the forest. And if he says, "It is my order, I'll sleep here and all the animals may come in my mouth." The animals will urine on his face. "Yes, we shall pass urine on your face. We are not going to accept your order." You have to work. Practical, everyone has to work. This is the third nature. Avidyā karma-saṅga. Because here everyone is under ignorance, the punishment is he has to work for his living condition. Work is not very pleasing. It is very troublesome. But he has to. Avidyā karma-saṅga. You have to work. Therefore we see practically that countries who are working very diligently, they are materially prosperous. Europe, America, they work very diligently, hard, and they have got material prosperity. And the Eastern countries, they are not working, intelligent. From material point of view. From spiritual point of view that is another thing.

Room Conversation -- September 4, 1976, Vrndavana:

Hari-śauri: Acyutānanda.

Prabhupāda: Oh, Acyutānanda.

Harikeśa: Acyutānanda. And Kīrtanānanda's sitting down.

Prabhupāda: Kīrtanānanda's sitting there?

Hari-śauri: Yes. He sat next to you. He's shaved up.

Harikeśa: They're so skinny.

Prabhupāda: This was published in New York Times.

Harikeśa: New York Times?

Prabhupāda: With picture. The other picture was published in Voice, Village Voice, yes. Yes. Big picture. One page. They felt something; otherwise, why they should publish? Appealed to them, that here is God.

Harikeśa: This is really a historic picture.

Prabhupāda: Underneath a tree I was sitting and speaking. That's all. And when I would come back from the park to my apartment, at least two dozen people will come with me.

Room Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Therefore gurum evābhigacchet. Why do you manufacture yourself? Consult the authority. Then do it. That is intelligence. Why do you think that you are very intelligent? That is materialism. The more you remain that "I am a fool," that is good. And as soon as you become over-intelligent, then, that's finished. So Europeans, Americans, they are over-intelligent. They have intelligence, over-intelligence. Unnecessarily. They manufacture a machine for shaving. Gnowgnowgnow gnowgnow (makes machine sound). (Laughter) And they have wasted so much time. So much time. But people like it.

Akṣayānanda: Prabhupāda, if we don't use soap, the question has come up, how to wash the clothes. How to wash the cloth. If you do not use any soap, the question has come up, how to wash cloth. By beating only? Sufficient?

Prabhupāda: For washing cloth you require soap. But does not... You require everything, but because you are spending without any sense... So I calculated yesterday the whole thing, Deity worship, Deity pūjā, will require five hundred rupees per month.

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1976, Vrndavana:

Hari-śauri: Then when they go to any of our temples, they're amazed because we don't...

Prabhupāda: We sit down, don't use any chair, any couches, unnecessarily, carpet. What expenditure? We have no expenditure for personal self. And still you are faulty? What can be done? We don't purchase any cosmetic, this clay tilaka is sufficient. We don't apply any pomade or cosmetic or ointment. Either for our girls or ourselves. We don't do that, we live very simply. After 15 days we shave, there is no use of cutting or decorating. Note down all these things. We have no doctor's bill even.

Hari-śauri: It's because of those...

Prabhupāda: At least I save doctors bill, (chuckles) I am always sick, but I never go to the doctor. Give me little nim, give me little this (sounds of hand striking table), that's all. Then what less expenditure we can make? As far as possible we do not go even to the doctor.

Hari-śauri: Well, It's because of these things, that they're wondering well then, what do we do with the money?

Prabhupāda: We spend for Kṛṣṇa. Just like spending it, lakhs of rupees in Bombay for Kṛṣṇa.

Room Conversation -- November 25, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: At least once in a month you must be shaven headed.

Akṣayānanda: Actually, we usually shave more.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Akṣayānanda: We usually shave more than once a month. Two weeks. 'Cause after even two weeks it looks a little dirty.

Hari-śauri: We can get very good wigs.

Prabhupāda: No, no, there is no need. It is simply... That is also mental concoction. Nowadays, if you go with coat-pant shaven headed, nobody will criticize you. It has become a practi... Russians, they used... That Krushchev I have seen. Bald head.

Hari-śauri: Yes, bald head.

Prabhupāda: And so many.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They don't have a śikhā, that's all.

Prabhupāda: Oh? It is practice only.

Akṣayānanda: No, it's nice. We shouldn't be afraid to do that. Then it will become more and more accepted.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: That's so timely. Once we start diverting, like on these records I was thinking after you told me not to do it. We started. Now there's so many. Everyone's into records. Everyone wants to diversify into so many other areas. There's no end to it.

Jagadīśa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, when you were in Los Angeles you heard that new record by Kṛṣṇakānti.

Hari-śauri: This pop music? This tape that you just got of that Western style music.

Jagadīśa: Apparently in a new BBT newsletter which just came yesterday afternoon there's a statement by Rāmeśvara that you were asked whether this record should be played in the temples and you said, "Why not in the temples?" Hari-śauri thought that you said "not in the temples," Rāmeśvara said...

Prabhupāda: No, no. Not in the temple. I... I want... If the wordings are all right, so there is no... If there is no mistake in the set-up of the wording, the change of musical tune, that is not harmful.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Discussion about Kumbhamela -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: It will spoil the cleanliness of the...

Gurudāsa: Of course, they would not be in our camp.

Prabhupāda: It may be. But their, that association is very undesirable.

Gurudāsa: Yes, Yes. What if someone is willing to follow the regulations?

Prabhupāda: First they should be shaved, clean-shaved. Will they accept that? They must take early in the water, take bath. Cleanliness.

Gurudāsa: No, they won't do. So I won't have that. I just thought it was a preaching opportunity.

Prabhupāda: Preaching, if there is not clean even, what they will understand?

Gurudāsa: Well, when I came, I was not clean either. By your grace I cleaned up.

Hari-śauri: They won't clean up.

Gurudāsa: No, no. I accept what, you know. I want to do...

Prabhupāda: People may not misunderstand that "This is hippie camp."

Gurudāsa: Yes. The police were sending, and I went to the Mela officials...

Prabhupāda: Therefore the police came. They thought that you are hippies.

Discussion on Deprogrammers -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. He is not in the paramparā system. You talk with Rāmeśvara like this.

Hari-śauri: Actually, by using the Bhagavad-gītā, we can defeat their argument very easily anyway.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That I've defended in every page, that "These rascals have used this." Where is Rāmeśvara?

Jagadīśa: Coming. Śrīla Prabhupāda, we've been talking about... (break)

Haṁsadūta: I shave once a month.

Hari-śauri: Once a month on pūrṇimā.

Rāmeśvara: And our Ādi-keśava, he has also grown out his hair for the court case and all the people. He's meeting the politicians.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. But we are famous as shaven-headed. That is already advertised. Shaven-headed means Kṛṣṇas. So why should we relinquish this...

Haṁsadūta: Trademark.

Rāmeśvara: It has made us famous. That's a fact.

Trivikrama: Yes, it means a monk. In the Far East at least, shaven head means monk.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Shaven-headed. These Buddhist monks, they are shaven-headed.

Room Conversation -- March 31, 1977, Bombay:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: In suits.

Prabhupāda: In suit, yes. You get first dress, then address. (laughter) But tilaka must be there. You dress like up-to-date gentlemen, but tilaka must be there. That is our trademark.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Some hair for him is all right? Little bit of hair.

Prabhupāda: I don't think hair is required. Nowadays many gentlemen shaven.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Shaved head.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Many gentlemen. I have seen many Russian scholars and politicians, they shave clean.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: There is a very big American actor who always has a shaved head.

Prabhupāda: That is now fashion, shaved head. But if you think it is impediment, you can have hair.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: In India it is all right, but in the West, especially in the United States...

Prabhupāda: Then you keep hair. I have no objection. That should not be an impediment. Whichever you... But tilaka is objectionable?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Oh, no. Tilaka we can always have.

Prabhupāda: That's nice. Then it is all right. You belong to Hare Kṛṣṇa. That should be there. That cannot be...

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

Prabhupāda: And river, river, how far it is, river?

Mr. Dwivedi: Pardon? River, there are two rivers. One river is a small nada, but it flows throughout the year, where we have a scheme for starting dairy. So that is actually shaving our school boundary. Then there is another river, where I am talking of the Kedāreśvara temple. This is about a mile or about three-fourth of a mile...

Prabhupāda: Good river.

Mr. Dwivedi: ...from our colony. And a fairly big...

Prabhupāda: Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, or somebody, some authority says, that "In a place whether, where there is no friend, no temple and no river, don't go there."

Mr. Dwivedi: Ah, yes, yes, Mahārāja. That is in Śukravetti. That is in Śukravetti. (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) "Nadī, friend and temple."

Mr. Dwivedi: (Hindi) ...that is also shaving our colony, beautiful temple inside the waters.

Prabhupāda: Our Indian touring means...

Kārttikeya: River and temple.

Prabhupāda: River and temple. That's all. All our holy places are on the bank of the Ganges, Yamunā, temple.

Short Dissertations -- May 24-25, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: This is our thesis.

Jayapatākā: And educated young people, they're very... They're very susceptible to being devotees. When we traveled in one city, two people joined with us and traveled with us and said they'll be shaved and everything. Very easily they give up. Even when I returned in Māyāpur about five or six new young men had joined. In the twenty days I was gone Bhavānanda Mahārāja had enlisted about five or six men and about fifteen gurukula students and two families. And they were all very enthusiastic. They want to go and preach also. Things are improving.

Prabhupāda: So building work is finished?

Jayapatākā: They're just finishing the top waterproofing, jalja(?). They're building that now. That'll be finished in fifteen days.

Prabhupāda: Others things are going on.

Jayapatākā: Other things are going on.

Bhavānanda: Painting. Painting, finishing painting work is going on, first floor.

Jayapatākā: Painting is going on. Now we just have to furnish the rooms. Then guests can stay. The rooms are still unfurnished. This weekend it was packed, filled with guests, our big guesthouse. One Tara minibus came and filled, garden building. People only come to Māyāpur to see our temple. They don't go to see any other temple.

Prabhupāda: What they'll see there? (laughter) How Saman(?) Mahārāja is managing?

Morning Conversation -- May 29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: But they, they, they...

Bhagavat: ...it would be required to keep these hairs.

Prabhupāda: ...owned victory with the court by keeping shaven hair.

Hari-śauri: They won a victory in the court by keeping a shaved head.

Bhagavat: I asked their advice, whether I should shave or keep the hair.

Prabhupāda: Who is that nonsense advice? Who is that rascal? "Advice." By keeping hair you become beautiful and become victimized. "Advice." This is... Without advice, this mentality is going on outside, to keep hair. We are known as shaven hair, whole society.

Hari-śauri: I've been shaving my head once every month. It's just about three weeks since I've...

Prabhupāda: Every fortnight. At least. Before going to Europe, six years ago, you were keeping hair: "I have to go to Europe." That I have seen. Everywhere. Those who... You like to keep hair. That hippie mentality is going on. That's right. That is good, very intelligent reasoning, actual, long hair by keeping...(?) Everyone is giving some advice. Gurudāsa is giving. "He's keeping. He's..." Gargamuni. Everyone has some explanation. I do not know how you can give up this hippie mentality. Hippie. Lāvaṇyaṁ keśa-dhāraṇam. Kali-yuga. Victim of Kali-yuga. It is... It is not yet whole, but weak men, victimized by Kali-yuga... There are so many things to victimize over the living entities in Kali-yuga, and one of the item is that he will take that "I have become very, very beautiful, attractive by keeping long hair." Keśa. That is already stated there. You are victimized by that Kali-yuga. That's all. No explaining. Our trademark is clean-shaven. We are known as shaven hair. Why you should be victimized? You are known as shaven hair. Are you not? Hm? They say that "Hare Kṛṣṇa people, shaven hair"?

Morning Conversation -- May 29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Hari-śauri: Shaven-headed.

Prabhupāda: Shaven hair. So why you should be victimized by keeping hair? What victory you will gain? Conquer over the whole world, Roman Empire, by keeping hair? Hippie mentality, that's all. That is within the core of the heart. As soon as get some opportunity... Just like during summer season the field appears to be dried up. And as soon as there is some rain, oh, it is green, immediately green. So things are already there. Hm? Is it not?

Hari-śauri: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Now you see to the field. They're all dry. But as soon as there will be rain in the village, all green. So the seeds are there, hippie seeds. As soon as there is some opportunity, come out, green: "Yes, I am beautiful. Come on." But in the court room they never addressed. Judge never asked that "Why you are shaven-headed?" Was there any question like that?

Room Conversation with Devotees -- July 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Trivikrama: Sargal Singh?

Prabhupāda: No, I'll come to that. So the grocer also thought, "Now I also should shave." Something saying like that. Then another man met him. He also said. He also said. Then at last, one intelligent man, he asked, "Who is this man?" Then again the news come back through the paramparā, (laughter) yes, who is this man. Then he called the man, first, who said. He was a dhobi, and his ass was dead. The ass was dead, so hearing, it has gone so far. The other men... The unintelligent persons are like that. They do not know, inquire what is the real thing. Just like twenty years ago I said, "This is all nonsense, moon-going." And now they are coming: "Oh, it is hoax." So that is the difference. Twenty years before and "This is all childish waste of money. This rascal will never be able to go to the moon." And now they are coming. That is the difference. I said from common sense. Nakṣatrāṇām ahaṁ śaśī. And we read in the Bhāgavatam that to go to the moon planet, one has to execute such yajñas, karma-kāṇḍa. We understand from śāstra. And how this rascal with a machine will go there? That is a common sense. But they do not believe in the words of the śāstra. Rascals, they were bluffed and they believe. Śāstra-cakṣus. Your eyes should be through the śāstra. Yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma..., na siddhiṁ sa... (BG 16.23). We believe in this. Therefore I said twenty years before. That is the difference. We take the words of śāstra, words of Kṛṣṇa, ultimate. That's all. So we have no difficulty. They do not believe in śāstra. They do not believe in Kṛṣṇa. So they were bluffed. That is the difference. We have... I started this movement. It is not manufactured by me. Take the words of authorities and spread. There is no adulteration. There is no alteration. That is... Mahājano yena gataḥ... (end)

Room Conversation -- October 26, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.

Bhavānanda: I'd like to go and shave. May I be permitted to go?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Bhavānanda: I'd like to go and shave. (break)

Pañca-draviḍa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, on this pūrṇimā you look like a fresh lotus flower. (break)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Kīrtana.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Kīrtana. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). (break)

Prabhupāda: There is no harm, but if once is good, why twice?

Bhavānanda: Śatadhanya Mahārāja, the kavirāja said something to you about the dosage?

Śatadhanya: The kavirāja said that the dosage should be two times a day.

Bhavānanda: Did he say why?

Śatadhanya: Because the other kavirājas previously, the doses that they suggested were very large. So this kavirāja said they were too large. So this dose is quite smaller compared to the others. He said it should be done twice a day. This is only... Each dose is only two ratis. But the other kavirājas, they were even saying up to one tolā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not per day.

Prabhupāda: (laughing) Not one tolā.