Prabhupāda: We are having class morning daily, but for public we are holding classes in the evening from seven to nine in our temple. Perhaps you know. You have been yesterday there? So we are holding classes there and discussing on this book, having kīrtana, distribution of prasādam. So it is very nice. There is no labor. Simply you come, you hear nice songs, you dance, you take nice food, you hear nice philosophy, and you think over, and you may go home. We don't ask anybody that "You press your nose like this, you make your head down like this, make exercise like this." We don't ask anybody. But people automatically like to dance with us. Although dance is labor, but they like it. So the next stage is to associate with us, to understand more and more. This is the second stage, to associate. First stage, faith and respect, and second stage, association. The third stage, if by association one becomes serious, that "I shall become a regular student of Swamiji," that is third stage. That is called initiation.
Songs (Conversations)
Expressions researched:
"song"
|"songbook"
|"songs"
|"songs"
|"songwriter"
|"songwriters"
|"songwriting"
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That is, you can call sermon, because there is prayer song and there is, I mean to say, recitation from scriptures...
Interviewer: Well, you have six chapters, so evidently you cannot be everywhere at once. Who is in charge of a temple when you're not here?
Prabhupāda: The students are being trained. The students, they also speak the same thing. There is nothing new. I also speak from the Bhagavad-gītā and the students also speak from the Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā is the same in all the centers. But it may be because I have little more experience I can explain them a little more nicely. And the students, they also explain according to their experience. But the principle is the same.
Interviewer: Caller, you're on the air on KGO with the Swami.
Prabhupāda: Yes. You learn this song.
- śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya
- prabhu nityānanda
- śrī-advaita gadādhara
- śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
Chant this when dancing.(?)
- śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya
- prabhu nityānanda
- śrī-advaita gadādhara
- śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
(I offer my obeisances to Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa and all others in the line of devotion.)
Manifestation of Kṛṣṇa in five expansions. Kṛṣṇa can expand Himself. Not only Kṛṣṇa, even a perfect yogi he can also expand. Not as many as Kṛṣṇa. But a perfect yogi, from the scriptures we can understand that a perfect yogi can expand himself up to eight, up to nine forms.
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Our process is... It is also meditation. But as you understand by meditation, that concentrating the mind upon some super subject matter, the same thing is there, but we don't try to concentrate the mind artificially. But our, this chanting process immediately attracts the mind. Our process is... Just like Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. We chant it in melodious song. So mind is attracted, and we try to hear the sound. That means my mind and my ear is compact in that thought. Therefore it is practical meditation.
Prabhupāda: No, she is different. I know one Mātājī. She came to see me from Vṛndāvana in Los Angeles. She's in London.
Allen Ginsberg: So I have been learning to notate music, in..., singing songs by William Blake which I've written a little music to. So those are, in a way, my guru's songs.
Prabhupāda: I can give you so many songs. (laughter) Just like he can read it.
Allen Ginsberg: Are there many songs in there?
Prabhupāda: Not there. There is diacritic mark. Can you read it?
Allen Ginsberg: No. I don't think.
Prabhupāda: This, Nitāi-pada...
Allen Ginsberg: Nitāi-pada-kamala koṭi candra suśītala.
Prabhupāda: Yes, you are reading.
Prabhupāda: This, I was supplied this dummy book, without printing. So I'm using it as notebook. (laughs)
Allen Ginsberg: Would you like to hear one of the Blake songs?
Prabhupāda: Blake song?
Allen Ginsberg: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes, why not.
Prabhupāda: That song you were reading last night, Nitāi pada kamala? That is Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's song. For the Vaiṣṇava, to become poet is another qualification. Vaiṣṇava has twenty-six qualifications. I think it is written there.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Devotee means...
Guest (1): Vaiṣṇava. She was, Mīrā, Kṛṣṇa devotee. Oh, her songs has called me.
Allen Ginsberg: Have you used her songs here at all?
Prabhupāda: Yes, in India it is very popular, Mīrā's song. Mostly they are written in Hindi, and some of them have been interpolated. But Mīrā was a devotee. She saw Rūpa Gosvāmī, a contemporary. She has written many poetry about Lord Caitanya.
Allen Ginsberg: Oh, she was a contemporary of Caitanya?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: No. She appreciated that Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa, and she has written one poetry, song, that "Now You have left aside Your flute, and You have taken the sannyāsī rod." In that way she has written nice poetry. "And where is Your hair and peacock feather? Now You are bald-headed." In this way. So Mīrā appreciated. Her life is also very excellent. Her father gave her a small Kṛṣṇa doll to play, and she developed love for Kṛṣṇa as husband. So when she was married... She was princess, daughter of king, and she was married with another prince.
Prabhupāda: This is also mantra.
John Lennon: It's not the song, though.
George Harrison: No, no. It's chanting.
John Lennon: We heard it from Maharishi. A mantra each.
Prabhupāda: His mantra is not public.
Yoko Ono: If Hare Kṛṣṇa is such a strong, powerful mantra, is there any reason to chant anything else? For instance, you talked about songs and many different mantras. Is there any point in chanting other songs or mantra?
Prabhupāda: No, no. These mantras are also... But Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is specially recommended for this age. And the Vedic mantras, they are also chanted, I told you, with musical, tampura, and they sit down and chant. Nārada Muni, he's chanting always. So chanting through musical instruments, mantras, it is not new introduction. It is from time immemorial. And Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, especially in this age, that is recommended in many Vedic literature, Brahmanda Purāṇa, Kali-santaraṇa Upaniṣad, Agni Purāṇa, like that. And apart from the statement in the Vedic literature, Lord Caitanya Himself, He preached this mantra. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa... And people, public, followed Him. Yes. (break) So anything... Just like a scientist. When he discovers something, it becomes a public property. People may take advantage of it. Similarly, if mantra has got potency, all people should take advantage of it. Why it should be secret?
Yoko Ono: Then, in that sense, you see, for instance... I see the same pattern in what you have said. For instance, you said that Hare Kṛṣṇa is the most superpowerful word, and if that is true, then why do you bother to utter any other words? I mean, is it necessary? And why do you encourage us, saying that we're songwriters and all,...
Prabhupāda: No...
Yoko Ono: ...to write any song but Hare Kṛṣṇa?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is cleansing process.
Yoko Ono: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So actually one who chants Hare Kṛṣṇa regularly, he hasn't got to do anything. Actually it is the position. He doesn't require to read any book.
Yoko Ono: I mean the fact that we are doing songwriting and all that. It's a waste of time, isn't it? Without Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: No, not waste of time. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was chanting simply. Even He was criticized by great sannyāsīs that "You have taken sannyāsa. You do not read Vedānta. You are simply chanting and dancing." He was criticized. But the thing is, when Caitanya Mahāprabhu met such stalwart scholars, He was not lagging behind. Similarly, Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is sufficient. There is no doubt about it. But if somebody wants to understand this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra through philosophy, through study, through Vedānta, we are not lacking. We have got books. It is not that Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is insufficient, therefore we are recommending books. No. Not like that. Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is sufficient. But... Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He was chanting, but when there was a Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, when there was a Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, oh, He was ready to argue with him with Vedānta. So we should not be dumb. If somebody comes to argue with Vedānta philosophy, then we must be prepared. When we are preaching, there will be so many people, different types of people will come. Otherwise Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is sufficient. Sufficient. It does not require any education, any reading, anything. Simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and you get the highest perfection. That's a fact.
1970 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes, they do not speak.
Guest (8): They probably don't know Hindi.
Prabhupāda: No.
Guest (7): And I will also give you one song, you see, so that you may know that ...as a memory for me of my great svami, for whom I was always thinking for the last more than six months.
Guest (6): (Hindi)
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) I was born a Vaiṣṇava family. My father was a great devotee. Naturally, he led me... Oh, I am speaking in Hindi, English. (Hindi) They are not attracted to the Hindu dharma.
We are teaching love of Godhead. It is not we are teaching that you become afraid of God. (break) (Hindi) Bahut easy process hai. You come, sing, dance, and take prasādam. Is there any difficulty? If people come to us, in melodious songs they sing and they dance and when they are tired they take sumptuously prasādam, so what can be the more convenient way? (Hindi) You are a qualified lawyer, but you cannot do for want of money. (Hindi) He has no right because he does not know what is name. Nāma-cintāmaṇi-kṛṣṇaś caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ. (Hindi) Yes. Because you are responsible, if you cut throat of a goat, then you'll be responsible. Just like in your jurist(?) law, if you commit murder—you are lawyer—you have to be hanged. So, (Hindi) "...life for life." So I am killing one life. I shall not be liable to repay by my life.
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
When one is paramahaṁsa just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura, three hundred thousand times, no eating unless he finishes his chanting. No eating, no sleeping. That is another thing. "I shall eat so much, I shall sleep so much, and I shall do nothing, simply chanting." No. That is not recommended by my Guru Mahārāja. He says that you are cheating people. (Bengali) There is a song written by Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī: "What kind of Vaiṣṇava you are?" (Bengali) "Your chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa in a secluded place," (Bengali) "is simply cheating." What do you know what you are chanting? First of all prepare yourself to come to the stage of perfect chanting. This is sevā.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is another thing.
Revatīnandana: Just like we have so many beautiful songs and melodies and everything. They're very nice. And we sing these songs. They are glorifying the Lord. And we enjoy like that. Music is there, everything is there, but because it is directly in the devotional service of God, therefore there is this bhakti, there is this devotion there. Devotion to God. Without that, everything becomes void. Tasteless.
Prabhupāda: So this is artificial. There was Roman Empire, there was Mogul Empire, there was Carthagian Empire, there was Egyptian Empire and Greece and so on. They come and go. And there is a song by a Vaiṣṇava, kata caturānana, māri māri yāvatā.(?) There are so many Brahmās come also and they died. So this kind of empirical imperial, onslaught, they will come and stay for hundred or two hundred, and create some problems. There were...Just like there was Napoleon, there was this and that. So they will come and go. They will come and go, create some disturbances and go. Nobody will stay.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: If we do not make our..., revive our lost relationship with Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, then the human form of life means knowingly you are drinking poison. This Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's songs, they are Vedic songs written in plain Bengali language.
Author: Sir, when somebody joins your movement, when they first come to see your movement, what presents itself to them-men with shaven heads and saffron-colored robes who dance in the street and who sing songs, strange songs—these are strange aspects. And in themselves they are not especially significant to an understanding of the philosophy, are they?
Prabhupāda: No, this is... This chanting and dancing is for mass of people, but when you want to discuss philosophy, we have got volumes of books. Yes. Both things we have got. We are attracting both the intelligent class of men and the mass of people, even the children.
Prabhupāda: ...Bangladesh. That is his vision.
rādhā-kṛṣṇa bol bol bolo re sobāi,
(ei) śikhā diyā, sab nadīyā,
- phirche nece gaura-nitāi
Gaura-Nitāi, these two brothers, Gaura and Nitāi. There are Pañca-tattva: Śrī Caitanya, Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa, five tattvas. So rādhā kṛṣṇa bol bol, bolo re sobāi, ei śikhā diyā: "This is the teaching of Lord Caitanya." And he says, jay sakal bipod: Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, the composer of this song, he says that "you get out of all kinds of dangers," jay sakal bipod, gāi bhaktivinod, jakhon o nām gāi. "If you simply take to chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra."
Devotee (1): (reading Kṛṣṇa, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, chapter "Songs By the Gopīs") "Although the lotus flowers are so beautiful, without Your glance they fade away. Similarly, without You we are also dying. Actually we are neither..."
Prabhupāda: This building, it was a Christian church. Nobody was there. It was a barren desert. And since Kṛṣṇa has come here, you see? Same business. Is it not the fact? Same religion, the same. It was a church, but because there was no Kṛṣṇa, it was a barren land. This is a fact. Nobody was coming there; therefore they sold it off: "It is useless." That's a fact. Similarly, everyone can bring Kṛṣṇa at his home by becoming a devotee. There will be opulence. There is no question of committing suicide out of frustration. So many men, so many actors, out of frustration, committing suicide. They want to die. But if they take Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa consciousness, immediately everything will be there. Not that Kṛṣṇa was present there and not present here. He is present here. The Deity is present here. And if you think otherwise, then Kṛṣṇa will be (indistinct). If you think that Kṛṣṇa is absent, then everything is lost.
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Acyutānanda: Letter from the press regarding my songbook.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Acyutānanda: So I don't know what to do. Nobody would like to go, to leave you. We would like to go, but we wouldn't want to miss your classes.
Gurudāsa: That is so.
Prabhupāda: So you can make one condition, that if you return us, we can go at eight or nine, but you must return us by four. Then we can go. Make this condition. Instead of saying no, make some condition.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Acyutānanda: Yes. Well, for myself in particular, I don't think that many people take my words very heavily. There is so much bad talking about me. First they say the songs are māyā, then the tunes are māyā. They have, behind my back I hear all kinds of things they are saying. So nobody takes my words seriously. Even though I may quote from any scripture right, they don't respect me.
Prabhupāda: What is that māyā? Songs are māyā?
Acyutānanda: As soon as I left Calcutta, then all the bhajanas, they are all, "Oh that's Gauḍīya Maṭha poison." Then, "Ok, the songs are all right, but the tunes are poison." Now how can I overcome that?
Prabhupāda: Deki, yes. Simply dag da dag da dag dak. (sound imitation) But the rice is already taken away. So their labor is being spoiled in that way. They, pleasure... For the pleasure's sake, they are spoiling the human facilities. This is their intelligence. Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says: jaḍa-vidyā jato māyāra vaibhava tomāra bhajane bādhā, anitya saṁsāre moha janamiyā jībake karaye gādhā. This jaḍa-vidyā, this material science, is simply a hindrance to our progress of spiritual life. All these rascal scientists, they'll deny God. That is their business. Just like you said yesterday that somebody was accepting God, and the other scientists, they thought: "No, it is insult." So already they are in oblivion. They cannot understand what is God. And these rascals are making them more and more rascals. "There is no God." By their scientific research, the rascals are becoming more rascals. And they're becoming captivated: "This is pleasure." What pleasure you will do you with. Therefore they are, they are gādhā. They are gādhā and they are creating gādhās. That is the song of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura.
Prabhupāda: Asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam. Ānande bolo hari bhaja vṛndāvana.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: The Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's song, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Narottama dāsa's song, yes. (pause)
Passer-by: Good morning.
Prabhupāda: Good morning. And good morning to your dogs.
Prabhupāda: Therefore, our Society is association. If we keep good association, then we don't touch the darkness. What is that association? There is a song, sat-saṅga cari goinu asate vilāsa teka name lagi loma karma bandha phāṅsa.(?) Sat-saṅga. Sat-saṅga means association with the devotees. That is called sat-saṅga. So the, one poet, Vaiṣṇava poet, is regretting that "I did not keep association with the devotees, and I wanted to enjoy life with the nondevotees. Therefore I'm being entangled in the fruitive activities." Karma bandha phāṅsa. Entanglement. Here in this material world we act, and the result is there. Again we enjoy the result and act, again another result.
Prabhupāda: That is our problem. Either you become rich man or poor man, but you have to undergo. (aside:) Make the light. There is switch. (pause) So our position is that we are in this material world. George has sung that "I am in the material world." Yes, very sensible song. (laughs) He's good boy, realizing, he also... So this material life is not good. Material life is not good in this sense, because you have to change your body. Sometimes good birth, sometimes not good birth. Sometimes Englishman, sometimes cats, dogs. Because after death you'll get a body that will be chosen not by you but by the material nature.
Prabhupāda: "I am in material world."
David Lawrence: Yes. "Living in the material world."
Prabhupāda: That is a very nice song.
David Lawrence: And he sat there, and he was praying. And I didn't interfere. And he came out of the room after having turned the record player off. I said, "Well, you know, what were you doing in there?" And he said, "This, this record has been a complete experience to me." And that, if George could know that... It was tremendous, really tremendous to see this happening. George's record is so devotional, you know. It's really beautiful.
Prabhupāda: I talked with him about this material world in his house... When?
Śyāmasundara: Oh, it was last August, I think. Or July.
Prabhupāda: Last... I went to his house at Henley on the Thames.
Prabhupāda: And what is that song, "I am not the same..."?
Śyāmasundara: Something. "I'm not the same..."
Prabhupāda: "I have changed."
narottama-dāsa koy, nā ṭheliho rāṅgā pāy, tomā bine ke āche āmāra "I have no other shelter. Don't kick me away." There are many very appealing songs in Vaiṣṇava literature. Professor: How old is this one? Prabhupāda: Eh? It is about two hundred fifty years ago it was written. There are many songs of Narottama Ṭhākura.
gaurāṅgera duṭi pada, jār dhana sampada,
- se jāne bhakati-rasa-sār
Many songs. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's songs. Then Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's songs. Locana dāsa, Locana dāsa's songs. parama koruṇa, pahuṅ dui jana,
- nitāi gauracandra
saba avatāra-sāra śiromaṇi,
- kevala ānanda-kanda
bhajo bhajo bhāi, caitanya nitāi,
- sudṛḍha biśwāsa kori'
biṣaya chāḍiyā, se rase majiyā,
- mukhe bolo hari hari
In this way, there are so many songs. Very simple Bengali. Especially Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's songs, they have been approved by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura as Vedic evidences. Although it is written in Bengali, they are full of Vedic authority.
Prabhupāda: That is not very difficult. Government is always with you, but why you are suffering, and why one is enjoying? Government is not partial. You have created your situation to suffer. That's all. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that "You surrender to Me. I will give you all protection." But you will not do. You must suffer. Suffering is there. As soon as you are disobedient to God, immediately suffering begins. That is māyā. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, "Now you give up all this nonsense business. Surrender to Me. I will give you all protection." That you will not do. Then you must suffer. That is the song:
- māyār bośe jāccho bhese
- Khāccho hābuḍubu bhāi
That is our preaching, that "Why you are suffering? Just accept Kṛṣṇa; you will become happy." That is our preaching.
Prabhupāda: Insane, yes. So they are all insane. Anyone who has no clear knowledge what is the aim of life, what is God, "what is my relationship," one who does not know all these things, he is a bokā, illusioned. He is hovering in darkness. Therefore, whatever he is doing, it is defeat. That we see practically. So many scientists, so many philosophers, politicians, are engaged to bring in a better condition in the world, but they are failure. In the darkness they are working. They do not know. One bokā is trying to excel another bokā. This is going on. (break) ...great personality, Rabindranath Tagore, he used to say, a bokā. Actually he is so. What he has done? He has given some imaginary songs, that's all. What benefit the people will derive out of it? Simply waste of time, that's all. (break)
Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...could have written a lot of Vaiṣṇava songs, if he were a Vaiṣṇava.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...could have written a lot of Vaiṣṇava songs, if he were a Vaiṣṇava.
Prabhupāda: Yes. But he borrowed the idea from Vaiṣṇava. His guru, not exactly guru... In his zamindari, Golpur, he was going to a Vaiṣṇava, Baul. But Baul is sahajiyā. So he got the idea of Vaiṣṇavism, but because he was not Vaiṣṇava, he presented his idea in a different way. That is his Gītāñjali. Gītāñjali is the depiction of the idea he got from that Baul.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: His songs are so popular in Bengal.
Prabhupāda: No, all over the world, more or less.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Even I sang some of his songs when I was in Calcutta.
Prabhupāda: There is idea, some Vaiṣṇava idea.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: (Hindi). Now what is the latest record?
Guru dāsa: "Kṛṣṇa, I miss You. Kṛṣṇa, where are you?"
Guest (1): The song?
Prabhupāda: There was...
Guest (1): Song?
Prabhupāda: Yes, song. His song, as soon as one record is published, then millions is sold. Then millions.
Guest (1): I see. And this is the song he has sung, on the recording. Wonderful. Mahāprabhu has chosen right, perfect method of prasāda.
Prabhupāda: No, all the musicians, they're attracted to me. Big, big musicians. Another is, what is his, Dylan?
Guru dāsa: Bob Dylan.
Guest (2) (Indian man): No, no. He is from that sampradāya. (break) They worship God as Swami Nārāyaṇa. My Lord is Nārāyaṇa. Swami means the Lord, and Nārāyaṇa is the Lord. So they say always "Swami Nārāyaṇa, Swami Nārāyaṇa." Just like we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, they chant "Swami Nārāyaṇa, Swami Nārāyaṇa, Swami Nārāyaṇa." The Lord is Nārāyaṇa, God is Nārāyaṇa, God is Nārāyaṇa. So Swami is Nārāyaṇa. You see, actually what did he preach, "Our Swami is Nārāyaṇa." So they have Swami Nārāyaṇa song.
Prabhupāda: That is Māyāvāda. That is Māyāvāda.
Guest (1): That is Māyāvāda, or whatever it may be.
Dr. Patel: Everything is Māyāvāda.
Guest (2): Oh, Lord is Nārāyaṇa.
Prabhupāda: As soon as we say, "Our Swami is Nārāyaṇa," it is Māyāvāda.
Guest (1): After all, ego is the president of all aggregate.
Prabhupāda: That surrender has been explained by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. He has written a nice song. Mānasa, deho, geho, jo kichu mora. It is very easy to understand.
Prabhupāda: Yes. There are many songs: "O my dear Kṛṣṇa, please come dancing with Your flute. I will see." These are not devotees' songs. Kṛṣṇa will never say, uh, devotee will never say, order. No more.
Prabhupāda: No, yes. That is our mercy, that we take advantage of their creation to bless them. We don't require all these things, but we take the advantage: "Because he has done something, let us take it." Just like we are using the microphone. So we don't require any microphone, but because he has created, that is the proper utilization. Not for sense gratification, cinema song. That is not required.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...quarter there is no cinema song. Bhaja gopālam. (there is music playing in background, recording of a boy or woman singing "bhaja gopāla")
Prabhupāda: ...bindu sama, suta mitā ramaṇī samāje, sohe viṣere mana, tahe samarpala, ābrahma yuga hobo kono kāj.(?) This is Vidyāpati's song, that "We are seeking water in the desert." Taṭala saikata. Saikata, means the sandy beach and very hot. So then water is required. But we get little water. What is that? Suta mitā ramaṇī samāje. In the society, friendship and love, we are seeking that happiness, and it is exactly like seeking water in the desert. Although there is little happiness, but what is the comparison? Vāri bindu sama. I want water, but it is a drop of water. Vāri bindu. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So when there is requisition of water like seas and ocean, what this one drop will do? He admits there is little happiness, but this happiness is nothing that we want in comparison. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Taṭala saikata, vāri bindu sama, suta mitā ramaṇī samāje, tahe viṣere mana, tahe samarpala, havana yughamala na kāj. Mādhava āmāra pari nama nirasa (?): "Therefore, my Lord Kṛṣṇa, I see my future is hopeless, and therefore I surrender unto You. There is no other way." Mādhava āmāra pari nama nirasa, tuhu jagad taraṇa, dīna dayāla, ataeva tohari varosa (?), that "I have no other hope. Simply hope you are." Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...is better, the breathing air.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Because they are disgusted with this material thought, therefore they want to make it zero. But that is not possible. You must think of something. But they have no spiritual idea. They do not know what is spiritual thinking. They think that "Make it zero. These thoughts, let us make it zero." Just like a diseased man, suffering for, from the very beginning of his life... Then, if somebody suggests that "When you'll be cured, you'll very nicely eat, nicely walk and nicely think," so he's coming to the stage of diseased condition, "Again thinking? Again eating? Again lying down on bed? Then what is the difference? No, no. It must be zero: no eating, no sleeping, no bedding, nothing." He's thinking like that. Because he has got bad experience of his diseased condition, he thinks, "Again if there is eating, again if there is walking, then how it can be cured?" He cannot think of. These rascals, because they have no idea what is spiritual thinking, they want to make this thinking zero only. That's all. Śūnyavādī. They are called Śūnyavādī, nirvāṇa, Buddhist philosophy. "Your body is subjected to pains and pleasure; so dismantle this body." This is Buddha philosophy. "Make it zero. There will be no more pains and pleasure." "You have got some trouble in the eyes? Pluck it out." He does not know how to cure it. He simply knows, "Pluck it out." This is their philosophy. Asatyere satya kari māni. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's song.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: I don't think... Is he singing any other song, no?
Gurudāsa: Now he is not. He's going to Vṛndāvana next week.
Prabhupāda: Oh. Vṛndāvana. Where he'll stay?
Gurudāsa: I wrote him a letter to stay with us, but he may stay in Mathurā. I'm not sure. I wrote him a letter to stay at our place.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: That's all. Therefore śruti, Vedas. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhi... (MU 1.2.12). Hear from the guru and do it. That's all.
guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete koriyā aikya
Now, what is that song? Who knows this song, śrī-guru-caraṇa-padma **?
Nitai:
guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete koriyā aikya,
- ār nā koriho mane āśā
Prabhupāda: Koriho mane āśā. Do not try to research anything. That is final.
Prabhupāda: Oh, his song, "Kṛṣṇa..." I have forgotten that. That record?
Tripurāri: Yes. And he went on a tour of the United States, playing at different cities, concerts, and he would ask people in the audience to chant, "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa."
Prabhupāda: He was asking?
Tripurāri: Yes.
Devotee (1): And wherever he would go the devotees would be there with prasāda and literatures, distributing profusely. Very successful. Sometimes it seems that Kṛṣṇa is arranging these concerts simply so young people can come together so we can be there to reach many, many thousands at one time.
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is all-attractive.
Prabhupāda: Gāy gorācand madhur sware. I think I have sung this song. Huh? (Prabhupāda continues playing and singing for a few more minutes) Wherefrom you have purchased it?
Haṁsadūta: This harmonium was originally made for Nara-nārāyaṇa, and then it was... but it was never delivered to him. It was picked up by Maṇibaṇḍha. And Maṇibaṇḍha left it in Amsterdam, and so they did not like it. So I gave them a harmonium that I had, and I took this one. (Prabhupāda chuckles) Because I think it's very good, huh?
Prabhupāda: It is not very good.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But you sing the same song all the time. Prabhupāda: That's all right. But do you hear it? As soon as you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra hundreds of persons, they'll have to hear it. Ask them not to hear it. You go, you scientists, (indistinct) ...don't hear it. They hear it. That's all. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But your music is of one chanting is very limited.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Tagore also got his position because he got the Nobel Prize from western world. Therefore he was so much obliged. All the big, big men, governors, etcetera, he would invite at his home. He was rich man, zamindar. Not very rich but a descendant of rich. (break) ...became so enamored by the western people that there is a song, yo kūṭeko baralad galikiya uska tengri laya uṣka mutton chop bānāiya: "A dog, because he is killed by the governor, so we have made mutton chop out of it. Take it." (laughter) The dog became so exalted because he was killed by the viceroy." This is their philosophy.
Prabhupāda: Sattva-guṇa, goodness. In that platform one can understand very quickly. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is little successful because we are trying to bring the students on the platform of goodness. Therefore it is becoming little successful. If you keep them in the platform of ignorance and passion, then it will be difficult.
Dharmādhyakṣa:
- naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu
- nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā
- bhagavaty uttama-śloke
- bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī
- (SB 1.2.18)
Translation: By regular attendance in classes on the Bhāgavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.
Prabhupāda: ...Christian missionaries. They are trying to convert others, but they are closing their churches. They are selling their churches to us.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Finding new suckers. In South Africa they put up big paṇḍāls, and because the Indian people, they have no entertainment in the evening, so they go there and they are entertained, and they learn how to sing the hymns that they have. Then you find that the children are singing the hymns because that's the songs that they're learning. If we can provide entertainment like that in the form of saṅkīrtana, then they'll also sing Hare Kṛṣṇa and become devotees of Kṛṣṇa. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...own Christian priests, they asked me that "Why Christianity is dwindling? What we have done?" So I told them, "What you have not done?" (laughter)
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: (break) So then the chance is lost. Repeatedly Kṛṣṇa is saying, "You give up all this habit. Just become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Sarva-dharmān..." Nobody will hear. "Why shall I not?" There is a Bengali song, cakṣe yadi lāge bhālo keno dekhbo nā: "If it is gratifying to my eyes, why shall I not see a beautiful woman? Why you are forbidding me?" Cakṣe yadi lāge bhālo: "It is pleasing to my eyes. Why you are forbidding me? This is going on. Cakṣe yadi lāge bhālo. If there is little happiness, don't mind it is flickering. It will go on. The Carvaka Muni: ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet: "Some way or other prepare foodstuff with ghee." "I have no money." Ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā: "Just take. Beg, borrow, steal, bring ghee and prepare nice foodstuff and eat and enjoy life." This is the material world.
Prabhupāda: No, he has no sense what is God. This is going on.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Isn't it that song they sing at the Kumbhamela? You know, they were singing all the time at the Kumbhamela, "Give me this, give me that." What is that song?
Prabhupāda: Yes, the ārati, ārati.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That ārati song. Oṁ jaya jagadīśa?
Indian man (1): Hare.
Prabhupāda: Viṣaya paiye, dhana sampatti paiye. What is that? (laughter) Jaya bhagavān. Dehom ki viṣaya(?), jaya bhagavān.
Prabhupāda: No, no. If you cannot, you can take.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And just sing some songs and praise.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. Kīrtana is main thing.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And if possible, then the fasting.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Everything, water supply, everything is there? In the beginning I thought that "Such a big building. Who will come and live here?" (laughter) It is that Matsyāvatāra. You know Matsyāvatāra? Keśava dhṛta-mīna-śarīra, jaya jagadīśa hare. That one muni, he took water in his pot. He saw a fish. So after some time he saw the fish has grown, that it cannot be kept in that kamaṇḍalu. Then he gave more space. Then after some, he saw, He has.... "It is filled up." Again more, again more. Then he threw it in the ocean, and again still big. (chuckles) That is Kṛṣṇa. Pralaya-payodhi-jale dhṛtavān asi vedam **. And who knows this song,
- pralaya-payodhi-jale dhṛtavān asi vedaṁ
- vihita-vahitra-caritram akhedam
- keśava dhṛta-mīna-śarīra jaya jagadīśa hare **
- Similarly Varāha-mūrti also.
Prabhupāda: Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself says, ekākī āmāra nāhi pāya bolo. When He.... In Caitanya-caritāmṛta you have seen? In the first part you can find out this verse, ekākī āmāra nāhi pāya bolo.
Devotee: There's a song like that also.
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says it may be in a song also, one of the Vaiṣṇava songs.
Prabhupāda: The first part. Here, this is first part of the...
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Look in the index.
Prabhupāda: Index. You can read it. So you are reading books also. Not selling but reading also.
Prabhupāda: No. It was.... It was punishment. He became so much, I mean, attached with the animal that he forgot his duty in devotional service. That is stated. Forgot. He neglected. Therefore he was punished, but he remembered that "I did it." You cannot neglect your duty. Then Kṛṣṇa is always with you. (break) ...way, a soldier is dying in duty, immediately the government takes charge of the whole family. So that is.... Why not Kṛṣṇa? (break) ...kṛṣṇa viśvāsa pālana. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has said. You know this song? Avaśya rakṣibe kṛṣṇa viśvāsa pālana.
Prabhupāda: He, Moscow, he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa on the street, and when people asked "What is this?" "This is cinema song."
Prabhupāda: You cannot please Kṛṣṇa directly. You please your spiritual master, Kṛṣṇa will be pleased. If you want to please directly Kṛṣṇa, that is not possible. That is concoction You cannot please. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. You have to please your spiritual master, then Kṛṣṇa will be pleased. Don't jump. Guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete koriyā aikya **. What is that song you daily sing? What is that?
Pradyumna: By the words of the spiritual master our mind becomes conclusive from...
Prabhupāda: Āra nā koriha mane āśā. Don't concoct. Don't you sing daily? Āra nā koriha mane āśā. Don't manufacture ideas. That is dangerous. Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches by His example. Guru more mūrkha dekhi' karilā śāsana (CC Adi 7.71). Caitanya Mahāprabhu said to Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī that "My spiritual master saw Me fool number one, so he has chastised Me, that 'Don't try to read Vedānta; chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.' So I'm doing." (motorcycle in background) Just hear. He has come to this turn.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's song is there, para-duḥkhe sukhi. That is natural. Go on.
Dhṛṣṭadyumna:
- cintām aparimeyāṁ ca
- pralayāntām upāśritāḥ
- kāmopabhoga-paramā
- etāvad iti niścitāḥ
- āśā-pāśa-śatair baddhāḥ
- kāma-krodha-parāyaṇāḥ
- īhante kāma-bhogārtham
- anyāyenārtha-sañcayān
"They believe that to gratify the senses unto the end of life is the prime necessity of human civilization. Thus there is no end to their anxiety. Being bound by hundreds and thousands of desires, by lust and anger, they secure money by illegal means for sense gratification."
Prabhupāda: Illegal.
Prabhupāda: They don't want to worship anyone. They want to worship their senses. That's all. Sense gratification. What is dictated by the senses, they agree to worship. Servant of the senses. In the material world nobody worships nobody. Everyone serves his own senses: "I like it." That's all. There is a Bengali song, yoke yadi lage phala kena dag botai(?). "If it satisfies my eyes, why shall I not see? I shall see." This is the sum-substance of... Yoke yadi lage phala kena dag bhajai.(?) Everyone wants sense gratification, to be servant of the senses. If the senses want "Do this," he will do it.
Prabhupāda: Now dog dancing. What is that song? Dog dancing? I sang that song?
Hari-śauri: (sings) "We are independent, we are independent."
Svarūpa Dāmodara: (laughs) That is the spirit of patriotism.
Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, you can say any name, any style or any trademark. Where is the independence? That is the question.
Prabhupāda: Which portion appealed to you in Ramakrishna's life? Which portion?
Indian woman: (indistinct) When he used to be married he wrote some songs, he used to practice to sing, he used to chant and he used to cry.
Prabhupāda: As you identify with the body, then you suffer. (break) ...body is damaged, you are not damaged, but because you have got attachment for the motor car, you suffer. (break) ...song by Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura, yāhā smṛti nāhi yār, saṁsāra-bandhana kahata. One who has forgotten that he is this body, he has no suffering.
Prabhupāda: Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya.
George Harrison: And he asked, this person said to me, "You should make it into a song in English." So I wrote English verses, and in each chorus it as "jaya kṛṣṇa, jaya kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa, jaya kṛṣṇa, jaya śrī kṛṣṇa; jaya rādhe, jaya rādhe, rādhe, jaya rādhe, jaya śrī rādhe." I don't know, did you..., if you heard that song. It was on that "Extra Texture"—you know that one? "He who..." I wrote the English words. "He whose eyes have seen what our lives have been, and who we really are—it is He, jaya śrī kṛṣṇa." And then it has a chorus. "He whose sweetness flows to any one of those that cares to look His way, see His smile, jaya śrī rādhe," then the chorus again.
Mukunda: This is on George's new record.
George Harrison: No, it was last year. And "He who is complete, three worlds at His feet, cause of every star, it is He, jaya śrī kṛṣṇa." It's a nice song. But I took the old, the tune that we sang in Vṛndāvana, and just make slightly different, you know, with chords, chord patterns.
Prabhupāda: So in your next record, you can give this. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: They are also chanting.
Nandarāṇī: It is good for them here because they can preach. The guests who come, they are very attracted to these little children who can sing so many wonderful songs and read Sanskrit and preach from these heavy philosophical books that the Iranians cannot even understand. So they are learning to preach. I have a Gurukula here for the Indian children. Thirty children I have.
Prabhupāda: Oh, very good.
Prabhupāda: Presence is there, because just like a nice mango. So you cannot appreciate this mango simply by seeing. Natural tendency when you get a good mango, you smell. So why not see? Sufficient? Why you smell? So these are all misconceptions. Different things have to be realized in different processes. Suppose you are a good singer, I see you. So I cannot appreciate simply by seeing you. I shall ask you, "All right, please sing one song." When I hear you, then I shall appreciate. Is it not? So the physical experience by different senses, gross and subtle senses.
Prabhupāda: It is gān, gītā, song. One can chant it singing.
Prabhupāda: Oh. Then we cannot sit. (break) ...book is going on. (Bengali) This is our childhood song. (Bengali) The small drops of rain falling, now their will be flood in the river. (Bengali) (break) We know even in October sometimes there are rains. Because the Durgā Pūjā takes place in October. From our childhood we have experience. During Durgā Pūjā there was raining, fog.
Prabhupāda: ...forest, naked, renounced, eating fruits. But debauch number one. Markaṭa-vairāgya. There are so many vairāgīs. Markaṭa. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has said, ei 'ta kali-celā. Here is a disciple of Kali. Nāke tilaka galāi mālā. But has got a tilaka on the forehead and neckbeads on the neck. But is Kali-celā-number one disciple of Kali. You know this song? Kali-celā. These persons who are committing sinful life—don't say anyone (laughs) or publish—there will be trouble. But that's a fact. Those who are living in Vṛndāvana and acting like monkey, they'll get next life—a monkey. To remain in Vṛndāvana, and then next life they will be liberated.
Prabhupāda: Where is that President? They're all drunkards, woman-hunters, meat-eaters. Exactly according to prediction, he became a young man and he was entrusted the kingdom, "Now you rule." (chants verse)
- tataḥ parīkṣid dvija-varya-śikṣayā
- mahīṁ mahā-bhāgavataḥ śaśāsa ha
- yathā hi sūtyām abhijāta-kovidāḥ
- samādiśan vipra mahad-guṇas tathā
- Each verse is a song. I wanted our students should do that.
Prabhupāda: Why you joined them?
Mahākṣa: I did not know. I thought it would be a good opportunity. They promised me they would give us a good program and good accommodation. When we got there, they did not like that we were very popular. (tape breaks up throughout) Then Mr. Bishop (indistinct) brother, T.C. (break) ...tour, he is a good man. He came with... (break) He is one of the most respected men in Bareilly. He forced them to put the program back again. So we did again the same evening. The people there love our program. They are all supposed... They have pictures of Caitanya Mahāprabhu on the stage and they're supposed to be following Him but they sing all these sahajiyā sort of songs and they sit down and it's all gṛhasthas. There's no, There's no real...
Prabhupāda: They want business.
Hari-śauri: We're talking about these songs that they are writing.
Jagadīśa: Philosophy songs.
Prabhupāda: And therefore we have to see the words.
Hari-śauri: Like this "caterpillar had a change of heart."
Jagadīśa: If the words are all right, then they can be played in the temple?
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Because no one can hear the words. It's the pop music that people hear.
Akṣayānanda: Actually the words are just like modern pop songs. You can't tell really what it means. I suggested to those people. I said, "Why don't you put music to Prabhupāda's books? Take the words straight from your..."
Hari-śauri: No, Prabhupāda's approved this method for attracting karmīs.
Akṣayānanda: Yes, not for devotees.
Hari-śauri: But the thing is once you become a devotee, we don't need...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Hari-śauri: This style that they are doing now, they explain that they wanted that because then that way, they'll be able get them played on the radio. Otherwise they won't play bhajanas or anything on the radio. But there's a distinction between that kind of music and pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness music. Even though the words indicate Kṛṣṇa consciousness, most of the songs are written in such a way that it's indirect. It's not directly Kṛṣṇa.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But you can't hear the words.
Prabhupāda: Yes, indirect.
Hari-śauri: They give this thing, "The caterpillar changed his mind," like that. It provokes some speculation.
Prabhupāda: No, indirect for gross outsiders, not for us. Therefore they should not be played in the temple. Gross outsider only.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Hari-śauri: I remember once before, a few years ago, you sent a letter out saying that no one should try to compose songs or...
Prabhupāda: Yes. I do not encourage. What they will compose? They have no realization. But they're speaking something about Kṛṣṇa. That's his beginning. Just like a child, he speaks half-broken. That is not language. It has no meaning. But still the child, "Ah, ah, you are so nice. You are so nice." Because he's trying to speak something. "Papa, mama." And mama is... Not that his words are complete.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Hm. Caitanya's movement is pāpī tāpī yata chilo hari-nāme uddharilo. All sinful men, all suffering humanity, simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, they were. Pāpī tāpī yata chilo hari-nāme uddharilo. How it is possible? Tāra sākṣī jagāi mādhāi. You see the Jagāi-Mādhāi, how they became Vaiṣṇava. This is Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's song. So you have to ask anything?
Pradyumna: Just one thing. What does... It said in a text in just one wife-about Jarāsandha. Jarāsandha. Actually the story in Mahābhārata is that one half came from one wife and another half came from another.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: But do you mean to say unless you have long hairs, they will not hear your song?
Rāmeśvara: Medium.
Prabhupāda: That's not. If they like your song, it doesn't matter whether you have long hairs or not.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is a fact.
Rāmeśvara: They are astonished at the..., the words to the songs.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that's a fact.
Prabhupāda: Read it. Let us hear.
Satsvarūpa: "The Bhagavad-gītā, the Song of the Exalted God, is a very ancient philosophical, didactic poem on bhakti... (break)
Prabhupāda: Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2).
Prabhupāda: Jayadeva's, that poetry, that Kṛṣṇa is begging pardon from Rādhārāṇī, that is also very confidential. Dehi pada-pallava...
Guest (1) (Indian man): We have recorded songs, thirty-four songs, written by the ancient poets and Jayadeva.
Guest (2) (Indian man): Vaiṣṇavas.
Guest (1): All Vaiṣṇavas.
Prabhupāda: People misunderstand this Kṛṣṇa's behavior with Rādhārāṇī and the gopīs as ordinary woman-hunters.
Prabhupāda: No, no, you said Jayadeva's.
Guest (1): We have taken some rasa, merely some songs of Jayadeva.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. That is also dealing with the gopīs. Dehi pada-palavam udaram. So these things are not ordinary things. You should understand that. If you make, propagate, then the people... I have seen one book one rascal Bhaṭṭācārya has written. And the United Nation or something like that supported, gave him, them money. And in the cover of the book he has given a picture of Rādhārāṇī sitting naked. This is going on.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, yes. Find it.
Hari-śauri: "Songs of the Gopīs," I think.
Prabhupāda: He pointed out this, that "He came to establish religious principles. How is that He danced with other's wife in midnight?" This question was raised by Parīkṣit Mahārāja to Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and how he has answered? Read it.
Prabhupāda: Any... Anyway...
Guest (1): You are telling and your disciples are always telling about Kṛṣṇa's sacred(?) līlās. So we are your disciples, and we are telling the līlā in different form. It is in vision. And we are starting from Sarva-bhumna or Sarvabhauma...
Guest (2): We started for keeping the traditions of the songs of the Vaiṣṇavas.
Guest (1): All traditions of Śrī Kṛṣṇa līlā, all Vaiṣṇava, everything.
Guest (2): One aspect. One aspect we have taken, that supreme, the message, essence...
Prabhupāda: No, no... It is... Kṛṣṇa-līlā is in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, why don't you begin from the first chapter of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam? Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Just show how Kṛṣṇa is supreme, how everything is coming, coming from Him. Janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāt (SB 1.1.1). These things explain by picture. That will be real education. Why you jump over on the Tenth Canto immediately? That is my point.
Prabhupāda: Therefore we have to progress very cautiously, very cautiously, not irresponsibly. That is our point.
Guest (2): Recently I had been to Calcutta for the recording of this songs of kṛṣṇa-līlā.
Satsvarūpa: There is a song, "How are you going to keep them on the farm after they've seen Paris?" They don't want to go back.
Prabhupāda: Ah. So much land sitting. Huge land is lying vacant, and they are complaining, "Orissa is poor. Please..." Why poor? Why don't you work? You must remain poor. You do not produce your food. Kuyoginaṁ kuśam upaiti lakṣmiṇī.(?) If you work hard, Lakṣmī will come. Our institution is working so hard, all our devotees. Therefore we have no scarcity. We are not bābājīs, taking a mala and smoking bidi. "I do not go beyond Vṛndāvana." Rascal, loitering and associating with so many women, and they have become puffed-up, paramahaṁsas, Rūpa Gosvāmī, imitation Rūpa Gosvāmī. Only a loincloth of Rūpa Gosvāmī. No education, no book writing, no going out of Vṛndāvana, begging. And therefore government's capturing them and giving this injection. What is that? Sterilization. Yes, just see. So many illegal children are born by these women. Bhajana. Bhajana kara. One bābājī has at least three women, four women. That's all.
Prabhupāda: Some were, not all. And the Muhammadans, the could not convert any gentleman to Muhammadanism. Maybe one or two, say. Very... And similarly, Christian also. No high-class man became Christian. One or two. That is for some other purpose. Just like in Scottish Churches College, the Christian Indians were given more preference. There was one Mr. Raya. He would not speak in Bengali. Even if some Bengali student would like to talk with him Bengali, he would answer in English. (laughs) He was so sharp. (Bengali) (Hindi) You understand Hindi any of you? There is a song in the Howrah Bridge, pontoon bridge. So when this Howrah Bridge..., not this bridge. Up to 1900... When my daughter was married, in 1941, up to that time there was a bridge connecting Howrah and Calcutta, pontoon bridge. That we were seeing from childhood, from our birth. So this was an astonishment in India. They wrote song, (Hindi), that "How wonderful bridge this sāheb company...," because India was being governed by East Indian Company... After mutiny, Queen Victoria took charge. Otherwise the British government was known as Company Raja Sahib, East India Company. So the East India Company, they constructed this temple, er, bridge. So there is a song, (Hindi), like that. So this East India Company... Therefore this railway was known, "East India Railway." That is the first beginning of railway, from Calcutta to Burdwan, beginning of Ind... There was no railway in India.
Prabhupāda: So māyā means simply you are desiring one after another, one after another, one after another, one after another. Hm? Who will find out this verse? Hañā māyāra dāsa kari' nānā abhilāṣa. Where it is?
Jayapatākā: A song?
Prabhupāda: Caitanya-caritāmṛta. So we're desiring one after, one after, one after, one after... The last desire... Because if you become addicted to certain type of desire, that is prominent at the time of death. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6), sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ. So māyā's machine is immediately prepared. That mind—manaḥ buddhiḥ ahaṅkāra. Subtle. You cannot see. You see the body is burned, finished. Rascal, that is not finished. Na hanyate hanyamāne (BG 2.20). It is not finished. There is subtle body. The subtle body carries. The example is just like flavor of rose garden carries, similarly, the desire is carried, and he requires a machine to ride on, particular. So there are eighty-four million machines, and he's, karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1), by the supervision of māyā, carried to this mother's womb. The soul is injected through the semina of the father, and he enters the womb of the mother, and mother gives the ingredients, develops his body, and as soon as it is complete, comes out. Where is the difficulty to understand this transmigration of the soul? These rascals have no brain. That verse I have explained this morning.
Prabhupāda: This song was favorite to me since very, very long time. This album was very popular in Europe and America.
Rādhā-vallabha: So, also in the songbook... We will have to reprint that soon. The way it is now, I remember you also once told me that Acyutānanda makes mistakes in the Bengali. And the Sanskrit department, Jagannātha and the others, say that there are a lot of mistakes that they would like to correct. Is that all right? Do you want synonyms? Do you want synonyms in the songbook? No? Okay. We are also doing a very nice cookbook. Yamunā is doing it. I passed on the instruction that you left in Madhya-līlā that the recipes at Advaitācārya's house should be included. She's gotten practically all of those. She's going to put the cookbook together in such a way that it will be an example for Deity worship for all the temples, and we hope to have that finished this year sometime. That's all right?
Prabhupāda: Last time Acyutānanda was given some money. Still the same arrangement is there?
Rādhā-vallabha: I'm not giving him any money.
Prabhupāda: No.
Prabhupāda: Hyderabad is in the South. And further South, Ceylon? That's nice. Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrī Laṅkā. Today we're going to see the Hanumān, Song of Hanumān.
Kīrtanānanda: You have a note there about Prabhupāda's letter, that we're to be guided by that.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Gargamuni: There's also special mention that the Hyderabad farm should be run according to your direction and cooperation between Mahāṁśa Swami and Haṁsadūta Mahārāja
Prabhupāda: Yes. We have to develop this, an ideal farming.
Prabhupāda: So let us take advantage of it and make a very perfect institution so that people may take advantage. Otherwise... There is a Bengali song, māyār bośe jāccho bhese', Khāccho hābuḍubu bhāi. Everyone is being washed away by the waves of this material energy. And their attempt to save themselves... That's... Everything is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Just like in light, during the rainy season, so many worms and flies, they come and fall in the fire, phat-phat-phat. They do not know. This is the very description, in the Eleventh Chapter. So we do not condemn material life, but without spiritual understanding, this dog race for material comforts, it may be temporary, very nice, but ultimately it is being carried away by the waves of material nature. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). Let them study Bhagavad-gītā seriously. Let there be serious student to understand, to explain, and everything will be... There must be sadācāra.
Prabhupāda: So we can uplift the position of the harijanas very easily, by this process of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. There is a song, Bengali song, vrajendra-nandana yei. You understand Bengali?
Ram Jethmalani: No.
Prabhupāda: So there is a road. Whenever you go, always trucks: "Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoo, whoo, whoo..." The docks and ports filled up with all rubbish things. People are harassed. Is that life? And they are compensating by drinking, by illicit sex and meat-eating. Soul-killing civilization. Śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa. You know this song? There is a song.
Prabhupāda: So why don't you teach this song? You repeat, and they will repeat, and they will...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Chant.
Prabhupāda: Very nice song. Very. Just applicable to the point, everywhere. Philosophical, practical.
Prabhupāda: All these big, big leaders, they want to become āśraya. Gandhi wanted to be āśraya. And he was kicked out: "Get out! You are viśaya. You are trying to be āśraya." Immediately kicked out. That is false theory, Māyāvāda. Bhakativinoda āśraya... What is that song?
Pradyumna: Nāmāśraya kori' jatane tumi thākaha āpana kāje.
Prabhupāda: There is another... Yaśomatī...
Satadhanya: Yaśomatī-nandana, in that last line, Bhaktivinoda āśraya.
Prabhupāda: Āśraya.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, the spiritual master is the shelter.
Prabhupāda: No, spiritual master is under the shelter of Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: (pause) No, typing I was doing in my own mind. Some songs I was recording. Typing not from this. That, I was seeing book, that's all.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So you mean you would translate and then type it immediately.
Prabhupāda: From writing I was typing. (pause) Flies are more cunning.
Prabhupāda: Two songs especially, Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu, and Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, should be continued as well as any song, especially, I mean to say, here in this room.
Prabhupāda: Khāccho hābuḍubu bhāi. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's song. Those who have eyes to see, they will see all of them being washed away by the waves of māyā, hābuḍubu.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bharadvāja is here. He can sing any song you'd like to hear especially this morning.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi... Eh? What is that song?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi... One minute and we'll find it.
Prabhupāda: Tāra hoy braja-bhūmi bās.
| Page Title: | Songs (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Rishab, Mayapur |
| Created: | 14 of Jan, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=104, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 104 |