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Wheat (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- October 27, 1968, Montreal, With First Devotees Going to London On Evening of Their Departure:

Prabhupāda: Some grains. Any other grain.

Janārdana: There is whole wheat.

Prabhupāda: That will do.

Janārdana: Whole wheat grains and there's rice.

Prabhupāda: Rice... Better... Wheat is better.

Janārdana: And what else is there?

Prabhupāda: Sesame?

Janārdana: Sesame? I don't know. Is there some sesame?

Mālatī: Yes, I have some and Annapurna has some.

Janārdana: And there's some buckwheat. Raw buckwheat.

Prabhupāda: Buckwheat? What is that?

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation Including Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.1-34 Recitation & Explanation -- April 1, 1969, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: They go to village to village and ask the village men, "Oh, you pray to your church, pray, 'O God, give us our daily bread,' So have you got your bread?" "No, sir." "All right. Pray to us." They have taken a truck full of bread and... "Take bread. Take bread. As much as you like." "So whom do you like?" Oh, they will naturally say, "I like you." (laughter) Because they are not intelligent enough to answer, "You rascal, wherefrom you have brought this bread, from your father's house?" (Laughter) Can you manufacture the bread in the factory, rascal? It is God's bread. But they have no intelligence. They cannot say like that. If they had presented to me, I would have at once said, "Rascal, this is not your father's bread. It is God's bread. You have stolen the property." You cannot manufacture bread or wheat. It is sent by God. That answer we have to give to these so-called Communists and rascals, godless people, that "You are not proprietor. You are all rascals.

Conversation Including Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.1-34 Recitation & Explanation -- April 1, 1969, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So we have to present scientifically. We have to present by reason, by argument. Not that if we say somebody, "You are rascals..." No. You have to place the matter, that he is rascal. So that... Bhāgavata says that for economic solution... religion is not meant for economic solution. Economic solution is there, either you be religious or not religious. In God's kingdom there is wheat, there is rice, there is water, rainfall, and the production. Everything is there. There is fruit, there is flower. So either you be religious or not religious, it doesn't matter. Your economic problem is settled already. Just like in the prisonhouse, they are all criminals. That does not mean they will starve to death. The government has all arrangement to feed them. Similarly, although this material world is prisonhouse, all criminals are here, revolt, to a person are here, those who do not care for God. But still, their fooding problem, their lodging problem is there by arrangement of God.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Journalists -- August 18, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: We know that the fruit, flowers, or grains, or milk, whatever we are offering to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa has given us. You cannot manufacture these things, nice oranges, in factory. You cannot manufacture rice or wheat. Actually, God has given. That is God consciousness. Anything, even those who are eating animals, they cannot manufacture animals in the factory. That is also God's creation. So in the Vedas it is said, eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān, "That one supreme living being is supplying food or necessities of life to all living entities." That's a fact. He is the maintainer. He is the giver of food. We are simply handling. That's all. Everything. Even this house or your car, everything. The material ingredients are supplied by God. The intelligence is also given by God. So by God-given intelligence, by God-given ingredients, you are preparing something, and you are claiming that "It is mine." Why? Suppose if I give somebody intelligence, "You make this table like this," I give ingredients, I give him money, then after the table is manufactured, if the carpenter says, "It is mine," is that proper ?

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1971, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: You take grains, just like paddy or wheat. These plants, after producing the fruit, the grain, automatically they die. You are not killing. So, those who are taking fruits, vegetable, grains, they are not actually killing. You take the milk... What is milk? Milk is transformation of the blood. So, cow's milk means cow's blood, but still the cow is not killed. Cow's blood is nutritious, accepting this theory. Karnish (?), karnish it is called? Cow's blood? What is the meaning of karnish (?)? But by nature's way she is delivering you the blood which is nutritious—according to your science—but why you should kill her? So any circumstances, the direct killing is not approved by any śāstra, any religion. Jīva hiṁsā. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also says, niṣiddhācāra jīva-hiṁsā. So, jiva hiṁsā, violence upon other animals, that is against Vaiṣṇava principle. You cannot be violent, you cannot kill.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- October 25, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: There are no grains.

Devotee (2): They bought some wheat.

Prabhupāda: It is a barren land, icy land, that's all. Huge land icy.

Devotee (3): They are being punished.

Prabhupāda: And I was in month of June, still in the morning the wind was so cold. And there is double glass in every window, double glass. Just like aeroplane, double. And at half past eleven in the month of June, when in your country it is half past eleven o'clock, that is evening. And at half past three o'clock, morning. And still the little night, that is just like dusk; it is not completely dark. And laborer class... (speaks to someone in Hindi) Keep it open. (break) (indistinct) Every corner of the street, Lenin's picture. All books are sold, they are Lenin. No other literature. You cannot get taxi. Poor men, they cannot pay for taxi. Very little number. When I was talking with Professor Kotovsky, so I asked him, "Now we shall go. Get me taxi."

Room Conversation -- October 25, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Ravan?

Pañca-draviḍa: Rava or something, a particular notation on the calendar, it corresponds to March or April, r—a something. I don't know the exact period of time, but by March, the government says they will completely..., they want to completely take over the control of wheat by this time. They have already taken over the control of atta and flour and now suji. They want to take over the control of wheat and the control of sugar completely. So all these things we are seeing is what they are doing, they are taking over control, they are rationing the items, but in the ration shop you can get 800 grams of the product and then you have to go out onto the market and buy at outrageous prices, because nobody can feed a family on 800 grams of sugar a month. It's very little for five people. The price of sugar has gone up over a rupee and a half since the government took over.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 15, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Useful, giving milk. Most humble, useful. Even after death it is useful. And they are so rascal, they are taking care of the dog, not of the cow. Just see how they are rascals. And they are advanced, civilized. They do not know what is meant by civilization. Now, according to Vedic scripture, cow killing is sinful. It is never written, dog killing is sinful. Generally, any animal you kill, that is sinful. But especially cow killing is sinful. Go-hatya. Go-hatya. And that cow killing is going on by the Christian world, and still, they are religious. What kind of religion? Christian religion says generally, "Thou shalt not kill." All... And especially they are killing cows. Generally killing and especially killing. First thing is why they shall kill at all? In America, oh, they have got sufficient food. So much rice, so much wheat, so much oats, fruits, grains and butter and ghee. So why they shall kill? What is the reason?

Room Conversation with Dr. Arnold Toynbee, Famous Historian, at his home or office -- July 22, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: This will be done in Kali-yuga. And gradually, there will be no supply of grains. Especially rice, wheat, sugar, milk, these things will be finished. So people will be obliged to take flesh. These are all stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Śyāmasundara: In that case, is there any hope in a movement like ours to rectify the situation.

Prabhupāda: Yes. If they take to Kṛṣṇa co... That is also stated, kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet (SB 12.3.51). Kīrtanād, by Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one can become free from all these calamities and go back to home, back to Godhead. Only Kṛṣṇa conscious people will be free from all these calamities. Others will have to suffer.

Room Conversation with Cardinal Danielou -- August 9, 1973, Paris:

Cardinal Danielou: Oui. For the food of man to eat, to eat, and...

Prabhupāda: Man can eat grains, food grains, fruits, milk, sugar, wheat...

Cardinal Danielou: Not, not, (French)?

Yogeśvara: No flesh?

Cardinal Danielou: No flesh?

Prabhupāda: No. Why? Just like the fruits. The fruits are meant for human being. The tiger does not come to eat your fruits. So tiger's food is another animal. Man's food is fruit, food grains, milk products. Just like fruit...

Cardinal Danielou: Yes, yes. I understand. It is why because grain and plants are also living beings.

Prabhupāda: That's all right, that's all right.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 6, 1974, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: You cannot eat machine. You produce. You produce rice, wheat in the machine. What you have done? You have simply misled the people that instead of tilling the ground, they have come to machine, and there is no food.

Siddha-svarūpānanda: Yes, yes.

Prabhupāda: You have done this. You have, on the false plea that "We'll give you five hundred rupees salary. You come in the city and be engaged." Oh, he saw, "Oh, I am simply producing my food. If I get five hundred rupees, then I'll go to cinema, I'll have a good dress." Now there is no food even. You have done this. That's all. What is the benefit of this machine. Machine benefit is that we were purchasing, when there was no so much machine, in our childhood, three rupees, four annas per mound, first-class rice. Now we are purchasing one Kg.

Morning Walk -- March 6, 1974, Mayapura:

Devotee: Ten rupees Kg. For one rupee (indistinct) first-class wheat.

Prabhupāda: Just see. So if one is rascal, they will be misled by this. Otherwise, any sane man will not accept. They say that, "We have done so much." What you have done? You have done this. At least in India, the effect of machine and factories: that there is no rice, no food.

Devotee: With the machines they're mixing stones in the rice.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Devotee: With machine help, they're mixing stone in the rice.

Prabhupāda: That's it. That's it, that you cannot get. Oh, you have done so much. But India is not meant for machine. These rascals, they do not know. India is, India's culture is plain living, high thinking. You require some food. Produce food, and take it, and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. But they'll not accept, "Oh, this is primitive. Nowadays we have got... We must have the motor car, motor tire."

Morning Walk -- April 10, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. And there will be no more. These things will vanish. That is stated in the... Rice, wheat, milk, sugar and fruits, they will be no more available. You have to eat meat. That day is coming. But before that day comes, you go back to home, back to Godhead.

Devotees: Jaya!

Prabhupāda: That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. You simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa and everything is finished, all this nonsense place, full of demons.

Śrīdhara: "They possessed such an abundance of various kinds of milk products that they were throwing butter lavishly on each other's body without restriction."

Prabhupāda: Just see how rich they were.

Indian man: So much butter and all these things.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Throwing butter like anything. Yes.

Morning Walk at Villa Borghese -- May 25, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: That's all. Because I did not earn this money, I have printed. I am prepared to twenty rupees. So he says, "Why shall I pay ten rupees? I must wait for the customer, for twenty rupees, and hoard it." Even there is sufficient stock, he will not sell. Therefore the other man, who is honest, he is suffering. This is going on. So to stop this inflation, the government must stop this paper currency. Then the inflation... There will be no more inflation. But that they will not do. They want to cheat people. "In God I trust. Take this paper and you be satisfied that you have got thousand dollars." That's all. This cheating is going on. Why should you pay me paper? Give me real dollar, in gold. That they have none. They haven't got. That's all. They will employ laborers and cheat them by paying these papers, and this rascal will think that "I am getting more money." That's all. Since this world has taken this paper currency, the situation has degraded. Formerly there was barter exchange. That was very good thing. Still in Indian villages, the remote villages, there is barter. Yes. He has produced some grains, paddy. He will bring to the storekeeper. And the storekeeper will take, "For so much oil, you have to give me so much paddy." So he will weigh and keep it and give him oil. So he will arrange to sell the paddy. But for the villagers, he brings the paddy and he takes. They require little salt, little oil, some spices. That's all. Otherwise they have got their own thing. They have got dahl, their rice, wheat, everything. They have produced. In this way, still there are, Indian villages. There is no question of scarcity.

Morning Walk -- May 27, 1974, Rome:

Bhagavān: So in our community, when we grow things, or we have need of someone's services, how are these services distributed equally? Let's say we grow cauliflower, we grow peas, we grow wheat. Is it that each family must be responsible and take only what he needs? How is it distributed?

Prabhupāda: No, no. These varieties... Suppose you grow half a dozen different types of vegetables. So from this half a dozen you can make three dozen varieties. If you are a good cooker. So the varieties of enjoyment will be fulfilled. We have got some desire of different quality of varieties. That you can make. From milk, vegetable, grains, the three things, you can make three hundred varieties.

Bhagavān: But my question is, if the community produces... Some class of men produce vegetables and grains, some class produce cows, some class produce clothes, some class produce necessities for building. How are these things distributed equally?

Morning Walk -- May 29, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: Yes. They make this propaganda. They take bread to the peasants, and the peasants go to the church, and ask, "O God, give us our daily bread." Then they ask, "Has God given you bread?" So they say, "No sir." "You ask us." "Oh, Mr. Communist, give me bread." "Ah, take as much..." "Who is better?" "You are better." They'll say like that. But they have no sense that wherefrom this rascal has brought this bread. If God had, would not have given the wheat, wherefrom he would make the bread? But that, they have no sense. This is going on. If they had sense, they would immediately reply, "You are not giving the bread. God has given this bread." Because he prepared bread from the wheat. And wheat has been given by God. "You cannot prepare food. Therefore God has given."

Morning Walk -- June 3, 1974, Geneva:

Karandhara: Well, they have scanners on these satellites which pick up vegetation or life. From hundreds miles away, it will show up on a screen. And they sent it all around the moon, and it hasn't shown any indication of any organic matter or life. They can send this satellite up around the earth planet and they can locate fields of corn, fields of wheat, from hundreds of miles away, just by the way it shows up on these different electronic devices. (break)

Prabhupāda: Take one of these... (break)

Yogeśvara: The vegetables, made of different elements. (break) ...and they say they found indications of elements that were existing at the time of creation that went into the making of the living entities... (end)

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: The Communists say, "Why you are praying to God? You pray to us, the government. We shall give you enough bread." The Communist propaganda is like that. They send the people to the church, "So you pray." So they pray. "Have you got bread?" They say, "No, sir." "Now pray to us." "Give us, sir," and he gives hundreds of breads. In this way, they are making atheist. Because common man cannot argue, neither they know so much logic. But if there is some intelligent man, he will ask immediately that "Wherefrom you have got this bread? Who has given you the wheat? That you have not manufactured; that is given by God." So actually God gives, but the Communists take the credit that "I give." This is the misconception. If God does not supply you... Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān, He is supplying for everyone.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 21, 1975, Caracas:

Prabhupāda: Yes. There will be no rice, no wheat, no sugar, no fruits, gradually. So much sinful activities, they must be punished like that. (break)

Hṛdayānanda: ...a question from the lawyer?

Prabhupāda: Hm, don't come near. What is that?

Hṛdayānanda: He wanted to know what is the relation between the Vedic culture of India and the cultures that originally were in Latin America. There seemed to be some similarity, cultures such as the different Indian cultures.

Prabhupāda: Formerly the whole world was Vedic culture. They have deteriorated, and India a simply glimpse is maintained still. And everywhere it is lost. (loud screeching noise of birds) Why they are angry?

Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Guest (2): They are imperfect, surely imperfect. "Maybe," "perhaps." (laughs) (indistinct) But scientists say that Rome was not built in a day. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Therefore Indian civilization is that you take rice, wheat, ḍāl, vegetable, a little milk, whatever protein and vitamin A,B,C,D can be available, that is sufficient.

Guest (2): Dr. Malhotra has done excellent work on nutrition and he has done two books. In those books he has advocated that milk is not the only best diet. Balanced food, you can have by I mean ḍāls and so many other sources.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest (2): Milk is not the only one.

Room Conversation with Bernard Manischewitz -- March 5, 1975, New York:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Nutritional information means that we require for balance food: starch, carbohydrate, protein, fat. What else? Starch, carbohydrate, protein, fat. These are necessary nutrition, but these things are there in vegetable diet. Rice, starch; wheat, protein; dahl, protein; then vegetable, carbohydrate; and milk, fat. So if we take food and test it within these four, five groups... Eat according to our conception, sattvikaḥ. Sattvikaḥ means foodstuff in goodness. There are three qualities in the material world—goodness, passion and ignorance. So they are described: these are goodness foods, these are passion, these are ignorance. So these items: rice, wheat, vegetables, dahl and milk is sufficient for nutrition. Above that, you take little fruit, it is very good. And in India this foodstuff is taken by the learned circle—brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas—and they keep very good health, very good life.

Conversation with Devotees -- April 14, 1975, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Sil. Sil means cultured. A cultured man is called sil. Sushil. Sushil means very culture, very... Sushil. So kalo brahm... This is unnatural. Kalo brāhmaṇa kota śūdra bete mussulman, kanki chele... (indistinct) Now generally people, we saw, in our childhood, Europeans were very tall and now they are not coming (indistinct). Naturally when they'll not get sufficient nourishment, they'll be stunted. And Kali-yuga means decrease of nourishment, necessities of life decreasing. We see in such a rich man's house, there is no milk. Milk is one of the important nourishment foods. And there is no milk. So gradually there'll be no milk, no rice, no wheat, no sugar. These are stated. Where you'll get nourishment? And the mango, there'll be no pulp, only the seed. These are predicted. After all, you have to live by nature's gift, but these things will be finished. And Russia there is, already there is no rice. There is no fruit. There is no vegetable. Simply we eat meat.

Room Conversation with Alcohol and Drug Hospital People -- May 16, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: No, we say "Stop." We don't allow even smoking and drinking tea. That is also intoxication. We are so strict. But still, they give up. None of us take tea. We eat very simple things, vegetables, wheat, rice, little milk, that's all.

Guest (1): Did you say you eat meat?

Paramahaṁsa: Wheat, wheat.

Guest (1): Wheat. Ah. Is there any reason why you don't, you prohibit people from eating meat?

Prabhupāda: Because it is sinful. It is sinful. According to Vedic conception, these four things are sinful activities, four pillars. Just like four pillars, the legs of this table, similarly, illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication, and gambling are the four legs of sinful life.

Morning Walk -- May 23, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: No, it is not killing. If you take fruit, where is the killing? The tree is there. If you takes food grains, the food grains, after being produced, the tree dies automatically.

Śrutakīrti: Yeah. Wheat is harvested after it dies, not while it is alive.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Australian devotee 2: Śrīla Prabhupāda, in New Zealand we have a situation where the main industry is killing animals, the biggest industry, yet there is so much rain, so much nice atmosphere over there. Why is this? Why is there such a nice atmosphere but they are killing so many cows? Is that that they are innocent and they do not know and so Kṛṣṇa is not punishing them so much?

Radio Interview -- May 25, 1975, Fiji:

Prabhupāda: Balance is that you should be reciprocal exchange. What you haven't got, you give me; what I haven't got, I give you. This should be the process of exchange. Then the world will be united. When there is exchange of gifts. But our India followed the principle for begging. "Give me men. Give me money. Give me wheat. Give me rice. Give me war materials." Simply begging. So we must give something. This is the first time we are giving something. Otherwise, India was a beggar simply to the western countries. For their technical education they are going to the western countries, and when there is war, they are asking America, "Please give us war materials." And when they give war materials to Pakistan we become envious. But you are also taking rice, ḍāl for this(?). So why should you remain beggar?

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: And he will not work. Escaping. (break) ...demonic mentality, "I shall not do anything which will be enjoyed by others." And human mentality is that "I shall do something which will be enjoyed by others." That is human mentality.

Brahmānanda: In India isn't it the system that after they harvest the wheat they leave some on the ground for the others to come and pick?

Prabhupāda: Yes. No, they distribute while in the field. They give to the brāhmaṇas, to the temples, to the king, and the balance they take. This is the Vedic system, that if I grow something, first of all twenty-five percent to the king, then to the temple, to the brāhmaṇas, to the poor. And then balance, I shall take. And they produce so large quantity, they do not feel any scarcity. And when the trade came, people understood. Then they want to sell. "Why shall I give to the temple? Why shall I give to the brāhmaṇa? Save it. I shall sell it. I shall get more money, and I shall drink." When trade came. When there was no trade, you grow your own food and distribute freely. In my Guru Mahārāja's time they were collecting the rice and other food grain, huge quantity. They were giving. And now they are not giving. They think that "If I sell, I shall get so much money, and it will help me for my drinking."

Morning Walk -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: Ah, yes. Anna-dāna.

Ghanaśyāma: They make vows to give a certain amount to help the devotees out every week. They have a big chart. One Indian might make a vow that he will pay for all the wheat or all the breakfast prasāda for the devotees for that month, and he'll give that much money. (Prabhupāda laughs) It's very nice. They kind of compete with each other to see who's doing the most. They go out and make life members. They make, sometimes, five, six life members in one day.

Prabhupāda: So we shall go further? Our time is up.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: 6:30 now.

Prabhupāda: Oh, then we must go. (break) Hm.

Walk Around Farm -- August 1, 1975, New Orleans:

Prabhupāda: That's all? And you are not growing any food grains? Why?

Nityānanda: Er... We've been trying to establish self-sufficient cow protection program first, to grow our own food for the cows.

Brahmānanda: There is no land available for growing rice or wheat?

Nityānanda: Yes, but the number of devotees we have to do it...

Brahmānanda: But you have so many machines.

Prabhupāda: All these machines require oiling and keeping nicely. Otherwise it will spoil.

Devotees in distance: All glories to Srila Prabhupāda!

Prabhupāda: Jaya. Hare Kṛṣṇa. They are starting?

Car Conversation -- August 3, 1975, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Oh, that is Detroit.

Brahmānanda: This part is Canada, there.

Prabhupāda: In Canada they grow large quantity of wheat?

Jagadīśa: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Brahmānanda: America is now selling wheat to Russia again.

Prabhupāda: Oh. And what exchange they are getting?

Brahmānanda: I don't know how they pay for it. They pay for it in dollars.

Prabhupāda: Now they are no more enemies?

Brahmānanda: They are trying very hard to be friends.

Morning Walk -- October 2, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: But you do not know how to be happy.

Indian man (1): Even this land, here they are producing sugarcane. So that is strong for wheat. They can grow plenty of wheat.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Everything can be grown.

Cyavana: If sugarcane will grow, anything will grow. It's very fertile.

Indian man (1): Because they don't want to do anything, they simply plant the sugarcane and then they want rest for few months, simply getting money and taking and drinking.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Indian man (1): No work. (break)

Morning Walk -- October 2, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Indian man (1): No work. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...getting rice, wheat from outside, they can charge any price because the price of grain is increasing.

Indian man (1): Any time, they can stop it.

Prabhupāda: You can stop it. (end)

Morning Walk -- October 25, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: No good things. All bluffs. What good things they have done which has benefited the human society or saved the human society from birth, death, old age and disease? What they have done? Our main problem is this. And when there is no food, what the scientists can do? If there is no rice, no wheat? That will come. The scientists will be taught very nicely. Time is coming when there will be no food. Let them produce. Therefore they are trying chemical food, one, one tablet. This is another cheating. Why tablet? Why not actually produce rice by chemical composition? Why tablet? This is their bluff. The Western people, they take dozen of tablets every day. Still, they are the same condition.

Cyavana: They are becoming more crazy.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...ceptive tablet, sleeping tablet, or...

Morning Walk -- October 28, 1975, Nairobi:

Prabhupāda: If you open farm for financial help, then it will not be successful. You should take to farming for supporting yourself. That's all. Grow your own food. Grow your own cloth. There is no need of financial help from outside. You get your food grains sufficiently, rice, dahl, wheat, vegetables, milk, sugar. Bas You get everything. From these five, six items you should be economically free. That you have to do, not for trade to get money. Then it will be failure.

Indian lady (3): Can we purchase the house for our own staying?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because this is necessary. You must have some shelter; you must eat; you must cover. That is necessary. So you do it. Grow food first of all to feed yourself sumptuously. You must get strength, and that is needed. But not for trade. The policy should be that you should be self-sufficient and save time for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Morning Walk -- November 24, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That is the sign that in very near future there will be no food grains. That is the sign. There will be no rice, no wheat, main food grain.

Yaśomatīnandana: Already in Bombay it's about six, seven rupees per kilo, rice.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Dr. Patel: No, no. Now rice will be very much down. In Gujarat it is two rupees. I bought some land here and sown the rice. We are going to get about eight hundred or a thousand mounds of rice. And when we sown the field it was sixty rupees, rice. Today it is thirty-two rupees. It is coming down. The crop is very good everywhere, all over India this year.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Nellore:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is system in South India, with rice, everything. Just like in North India we make purī, kachorī, balusai, sṛṅgāra. There is ghee, wheat, and sugar and salt, varieties, hundreds of variety.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Maybe it has something to do with the weather. The colder weather?

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, in northern India, when there is some festival they will purchase, I mean to say, grains, means wheat and chānnā, and ghee and sugar. Then they will make hundreds of preparation out of it.

Indian man: Here we call it as poṅgal. Make it as poṅgal, we call it. It's chānnā, ghee, and sugar. We prepare it in...

Prabhupāda: Laḍḍu, you prepare laḍḍu? They prepare so many things. The main ingredient is this: besan, āttā, ghee, sugar. That's all. (break) ...also they eat rice more.

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1976, Nellore:

Yaśodānandana: If we say that the Russia has no grains, they will say that they are big wheat producers in the southern part. They may counteract by saying, "We also produce..."

Acyutānanda: They had to purchase wheat from America.

Gurukeśa: Russia is importing its food grains now.

Prabhupāda: So why they cannot produce sufficient, such a big country?

Gurukeśa: And Eastern Europe, which is also communist, gets all its supplies from...

Prabhupāda: No, what is their explanation. Russia is the biggest country.

Gurukeśa: Land.

Hari-śauri: The reason was that there was no rain.

Morning Walk -- January 17, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) You cannot utilize it for different crops. Only one you can.

Jayapatāka: You can only use for, in the rainy season, for some type of rice and then now wheat-two crops.

Indian man (3): (Bengali)

Jayapatāka: Winter rice, he is saying, bula(?) rice.

Prabhupāda: Oh. (Bengali) Now, taking instruction from Mādhava Mahārāja, you should be careful about purchasing land. People are very cunning.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (break) ...that ten bīghās and eight bīghās of land on the corner, you were mentioning?

Jayapatāka: Yes. We will go back this way. Will Prabhupāda be able to walk that far?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I don't know how far it is.

Morning Walk -- January 17, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: On the other side you have got some land?

Jayapatāka: Yes. We plan to put irrigation there. I have two diesel five-horsepower, seven-horsepower engine. One I put over there and they are irrigating. We have fourteen bīghās of wheat, very good wheat. And here in the back we've also purchased here another set and we're irrigating that, this unirrigated land, and it only gets some chick pea and things, very bad crop, minimum crop. So now we've got the irrigation, we're getting many more crops. (break)

Prabhupāda: That I want, that it must be properly utilized. Otherwise you purchase and there is no utility.

Morning Walk -- January 18, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: After tilaka. Gāyatrī mantra is description of the sun. (break) ...our land?

Bhavānanda: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Jayapatāka: This is wheat growing here.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Jayapatāka: This is wheat growing.

Prabhupāda: This land?

Jayapatāka: This is not our land.

Prabhupāda: And this? Up to this...?

Morning Walk -- January 18, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Jayapatāka: This is our land here.

Prabhupāda: Which one?

Jayapatāka: This, with the wheat. We have a tube well there. We irrigate these lands. There are six and sixty, twelve bigas... (break) ...last year's harvest. We haven't had to purchase any wheat this year.

Prabhupāda: The capati we eat, that is our wheat?

Jayapatāka: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Very good, yes.

Jayapatāka: (break) ...bīghā is also ours.

Prabhupāda: This one?

Morning Walk -- January 20, 1976, Mayapura:

Jayapatākā: What ha... In the... Because now this field is the only field that is ripening, so that if he doesn't scare the bird away, all the bird will come and eat his field. When all the wheat is ripening at the same time, then nobody cares. They let the birds eat. But if one man only is growing one crop at one time, then all the birds come. They will clean out and they all get...

Prabhupāda: No, therefore everyone should grow seasonal grains. Everyone should take wheat. I think the number of men is more than the number of bricks. (break) ...rooms will be finished. They are not being finished. This? (break) ...Calcutta. So landlords became very perplexed. So one landlord asking, "You don't go. I shall reduce the rent." "Yes, that's all right, but your house is also not very good. There are so many rats." "All right, you can remain without rent." "And still, there are rats." "All right, I shall give you one cat so there will be no dis..." "Ah, who is going to keep a cat? I will require milk also to feed." "All right, I shall give you half kilo or one kilo milk also." "All right." So then he says, "Now no rent and one kilo milk, that's all right." This was in 1942.

Morning Walk -- February 19, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Russia, yes.

Acyutānanda: Now they're having drought, and trying to get wheat from a freezing cold land. And they have their favorite class, also. The Party members are only a fraction of the population, and they get all the benefits.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Acyutānanda: So they have their caste system also. It was created out of envy...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Acyutānanda: ...for the... That's all.

Prabhupāda: I think I have discussed this.

Morning Walk -- March 17, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Mr. Mahadeviya, he might talk upon this point-wheat grass.

Pañca-draviḍa: But cows aren't all eating wheat grass.

Prabhupāda: Cows are eating grass, dry grass, and giving you nice milk. Now, if you eat it—"There is vitamins. Let me eat"—you'll die. So who made this arrangement?

Guru-kṛpā: They may argue, though, that even women give milk after there's baby, and they eat all sorts of things.

Prabhupāda: They eat grass?

Morning Walk -- March 17, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: No, it doesn't matter, but give him prasādam, other prasādam. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...halavā with powdered dahl or...

Pañca-draviḍa: Powdered dahl. They could use whole wheat flour?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Pañca-draviḍa: Whole wheat flour, they could use in?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Devotee (3): ...in right proportions. (boys shout)

Prabhupāda: What they say? What is the quarrel? (break) ...nice, South Indian. Oh, very nice. How many seats are there?

Morning Walk -- April 5, 1976, Vrndavana:

Indian: Yes, they used to have water at both sides of the inside. Now, probably, they are short of water or they have switched on to agriculture. So many they used to have flowers and tulasī and all that. Now they have come to agriculture-wheat, barley.

Prabhupāda: Money. Such a nice tank is vacant.

Indian: I remember my young days. People, young boys, they used to come swim here.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Just see. So you may pay them, say, 150, 200 rupees each. Then it will be all maintained, and that much money you can spend.

Indian: And if it's nicely maintained, possibility you can get some return out of it.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That way we shall get fruits and flowers.

Morning Walk -- April 12, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: We can get everything, but the government will not allow. That is the difficulty. We can get grain, food...

Dr. Patel: I think grain they would allow. So many Christian institutions from America donate butter and ghee and rice and wheat to the Christian churches here. I think they would not object. We have not tried, perhaps.

Prabhupāda: No, we are trying. In Bengal they are trying.

Dr. Patel: Not here. They allow. How we are getting that Australian ghee all the time?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: They allow from Australia.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- April 15, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: That has been said in Rāmāyaṇa by that Matan(?) Muni, you know, Matan Muni who was harboring Saubhari, and then he was killing one elephant and living on the elephant for one year, and all other ṛṣis were against him. He was, I mean, not practicing ahiṁsā. Then he gave the feast to all those ṛṣis, and the lāḍu starting moving about. Everywhere there is life, I mean, every grain of the wheat or...

Prabhupāda: Yes. So therefore how it is possible? Because, after all, apart from Matan(?) Muni, if this is the rule, that one living entity is the food for another living entity... This is the law of nature. Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. You cannot starve and live.

Dr. Patel: But sir...

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Grains, no. Grains, they are starch. According to medical science, we require four different groups: starch, carbohydrate, protein, and fat. That is full food. So you can get all these things by eating rice, dahl, mean pulses, and wheat, and.... These things contain.... Pulses and wheat contains protein. And milk also contains protein. So protein we require. Fat we get from milk. Fat is required. And vegetables, carbohydrate; and food grain, starch. So if you prepare nice foodstuff with all these ingredients, you get full..., and offer to Kṛṣṇa, then it's purified. Then you are free from all sinful activities. Otherwise, even if you kill vegetable, you are sinful because it has got life. You have no right to kill another life. But you have to live on life. This is your position. Therefore the solution is that you take prasādam. If there is sin by eating vegetable or meat it goes to the eater. We take the remnants, that's all.

Room Conversation -- May 7, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Everything..., and we could not get nice food. There was no nice rice, wheat, fruit, flour, nothing. Fruit means the strawberries. I don't remember we could get any other fruit.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Perhaps you went at a bad season.

Prabhupāda: No, no. Everything is controlled. Whatever government will give you, they have to accept. And all the stores, it is just like, what is called? The old?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Grocery store?

Prabhupāda: Antique, antique, antique shop. That means no purchaser. People have no p..., no bank. People have no money, simply bare necessities of life their government supplies. And bus transport, buses standing in one place, best time, and people are running after. Women, men, mostly they walk.

Morning Walk -- June 18, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: (break) ...propaganda is going on to kill God. Pani haya svapisaca khanakila.(?) (break)

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: ...yesterday, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that India this year has produced a record crop of wheat, surplus.

Prabhupāda: Yes, if they work, they can do that. (break)

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: In West Bengal they have huge quantities of rice surplus.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Hari-śauri: Could that be due to our saṅkīrtana activities?

Prabhupāda: Certainly. Bhavanti parjanyaḥ parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ. There was big valley like this in Tokyo. We walked, and there was a creek like this. Not so dirty. (break)

Conversation in Airport and Car -- June 21, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: That is due to misgovernment. There is no king; all rogues and thieves are in the government. Mismanagement. It is the government duty to see that everyone is doing nicely so that they can live peacefully, happily. There must be direction. Just like parentless children. Nobody is to take care; they'll be wretched. So India's position is like that. The parentless children. There is no good government. And they supply this control wheat that is not even touchable. Unfit for human consumption. There is a worm...

Hari-śauri: Control wheat?

Conversation in Airport and Car -- June 21, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: Yes. They purchase from here and there all rejected wheat, and they supply it. There is no ghee, no milk, no proper food grain. Everything black market. Any necessary commodity you cannot have in the open market; you have to purchase in black market. Just like for the building purpose, cement. In your country you can purchase any amount of it. You cannot purchase. You have to purchase black market, and that cement also mixed with some... What is that? And unless you give some bribe, it is not possible. (break)

Viśvakarmā: ...for the balcony in the church in the other room? How can we... (announcement being made)

Prabhupāda: ...fit for sitting. That is very nice. And next time when I come the seat should be just Deity altar, so that all balcony can see.

Viśvakarmā: Seat should be?

Prabhupāda: My seat should be near the altar of the Deity.

Morning Walk -- June 21, 1976, Toronto:

Indian man (1): They pay the money to a farmer not to grow the wheat here.

Prabhupāda: Just see. This rascaldom is going on in the name of civilization. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1), they do not know. Everything belongs to God, and are all sons of God. So by God's arrangement there is enough land to live, enough land to produce food. They're misusing. Therefore the whole trouble.

Indian man (4): Prabhu, then what that means, what we mean is they should have rsabandutra(?)

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is, a rsabandutra(?) means, unless you have got the central point. How we can have? First of all you know Kṛṣṇa.

Indian man (4): They must have a common background, common ground whereby you can...

Garden Conversation -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: It's just like, say here's a field, and it's full of wood, so a farmer comes and he cuts down the trees and then he plants grain, and then it comes up as wheat. So he'll say, "Well, God did not do it; I did it." So his proposal is that under such circumstances how is the idea of God practical?

Prabhupāda: So then practical is if God would not have given you this land, then where is scheme of tilling it? Can you till in the sky, in the air? Who has given you the land, hmm? You are very practical, but where you get the...? Can you manufacture this land? Can you? Then God comes, immediately. Where you get this water? Can you manufacture water? Where you get this air? Can you manufacture? Where you get this fire? Everything, there is God.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: But then he may say, "But what is the use, because someone who is atheist and someone who is God conscious, sometimes it is found that the atheist..."

Morning Walk -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: That is nice, so many. Tomato.

Kīrtanānanda: But most things are not yet fructified. This is early in our season. Peas will be ready just shortly. Lettuce is ready.

Prabhupāda: Vegetables, ghee, milk, wheat, then what do you want more?

Kīrtanānanda: The wheat is just about ready for harvest.

Prabhupāda: No, I mean to say we can grow all these things and eat very nicely. Where is economic problem? Yajñād bhavati parjanyo parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ. (break)

Kīrtanānanda: It's full of cow stool and urine.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā, for fertilizer?

Room Conversation and Reading from Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 1 and 12 -- June 25, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: All right, let her in.

Devotee (2): This is made with wheat from the farm.

Pradyumna: He's on Pennsylvāṇīa farm, with Paramananda.

Prabhupāda: Paramananda is there?

Devotee (2): Yes.

Prabhupāda: They are doing well?

Devotee (2): Oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. Hear, now.

Room Conversation and Reading from Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 1 and 12 -- June 25, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Hmm. Lāvaṇyam, now you know very well in the Western country. Beauty increases by having long hair. (laughter) I was just trying to recite this verse only, and now see how it is current. Who expected that this foretelling is there in the Bhāgavatam? To increase beauty, have long hair. Is it not? Now just see. How five thousand years this thing was foretold? That is the proof. There was no hippie movement then. (laughs) But Vyāsadeva foretold that in the Kali-yuga if one keeps long hair he will think himself as very beautiful. There are so many things. Ultimately, with the advancement of Kali-yuga you'll have no food. Food means there will be no food grains, there will be no milk, there will be no sugar, like that. No fruits. If you get fruits, there will be no pulp, it is simply seeds. These things are there. You get a mango, but a mango means simply the big seed, that's all. So how can you check it? If nature's way, things are going to happen like that, what the scientists will do? If there is no rice, no wheat, will the scientists...? They can say replace with a pill, but they cannot produce wheat or rice or dahl or milk, sugar. That is not possible.

Garden Discussion on Bhagavad-gita Sixteenth Chapter -- June 26, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Ugra-karmāṇaḥ, the factory. This is ugra-karma. Pradyumna was describing ugra-karma, hellish. Little karma, just wheat is growing, a little tilling, that is sufficient. What is the use of opening big, big factory? Ugra-karma. What it has helped? You were talking on behalf of them. What it has helped? Keeping them. Innocent men, women, they are kept in that factory simply for livelihood. A little work will provide his needs. Nature has given so much facility. They can grow little food anywhere. The cows are there in the pasturing ground. Take milk and live peacefully. Why you open factories? What is the use? Keeping them in hellish condition of life. So this is the description. Now discuss these points.

Conversation with Prof. Saligram and Dr. Sukla -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Dr. Sukla: And same thing with Bhāgavatam. We all know what a great book that is, and what I really appreciate about the whole thing is, number one, that there are no misprints in the book. So that's a great delight. Especially, for people who do not know Sanskrit, for them, there's no difference between the wheat and the germ that comes with it. The translations are very accurate. So it's real scholarship there. And people who were not aware of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they know that if the intellect is so powerful, the spirit must be powerful too. Our library, of course, has several copies, and our bookstore has almost all the...

Prabhupāda: All over the world they have given standing order. (laughter)

Dr. Sukla: Of course, it's very attractive to look at, another thing, the colors. So it's a beauty sight. But for some people...

Evening Darsana -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, we are layman, and we follow Kṛṣṇa's instruction that cow, milk is very important, we drink the cow's milk, therefore she is mother. So at least she should be saved from being killed. This is common sense. Apart from other big, big reasoning, we take it, Kṛṣṇa says go-rakṣya, so we take it. Besides that, so far vegetables are concerned, Kṛṣṇa says that patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati: (BG 9.26) "If anyone offers Me even patram," patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam,"I eat them." So we take Kṛṣṇa's prasādam. So Kṛṣṇa says "You give Me these vegetables, plants." So we offer Him, and then we take. Besides that, everybody has to eat something. So generally, food grains, vegetables, they are recommended for eating purpose. And those who want to eat meat or fish, they can do so, but at least they can avoid the important life of cow. That is recommended. So far we are concerned, we are eating Kṛṣṇa prasādam, foodstuff offered to Kṛṣṇa, and this, there is no such thing as meat or fish, or egg, but we are living. Not that because we do not eat meat or fish, we are dying. We can eat very easily. Anna. Annād bhavanti bhūtāni (BG 3.14). Actually, if we take food grains like wheat, rice, pulses, vegetables, fruits, milk, that is quite sufficient, nutritious foodstuff, full with vitamins and, what is called, protein, carbohydrate.

Evening Darsana -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: They should be trained up. Therefore Vedic civilization is training. Some section of the people, they should be very intellectuals, brain, just like to maintain this body we require first of all the brain. If the brain is not order, then other parts, they may be there, but they are also useless. So similarly, in the society, some intellectuals should be maintained. They are called brāhmaṇas, and some of the brāhmaṇas, they are sannyāsīs. They are simply meant for giving good instruction. They should personally become very good and intellectual, and they should give instruction to other people what is the value of life, how to live. This is one section. They should be free from the anxiety of maintaining themselves. The society should treat them as children and give them all necessities, bare necessities, not they are meant for living very luxuriously. No. Simple living. Then the next class, kṣatriyas, the politicians, administrators, they are also required to give protection to the people from injury. Kṣatriya, kṣat means injury, and trāyate, "one who saves people from injury." It is kṣatriya's duty. So kṣatriya should protect all the living entities, including the animals. They are also subjects. So the first, intellectual brāhmaṇas, then kṣatriya. Then vaiśyas, their business is to produce food. Food production you can do by agriculture, kṛṣi, and by giving protection to the cows. If you get sufficient food grains, like rice, wheat, pulses, and sufficient milk—from milk you get yogurt, butter, ghee—then your all food problem is solved. You must eat.

Interview with Newsday Newspaper -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Physical life, so you must keep yourself fit to execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is not our desire that you become sick and you cannot chant. But our purpose is to chant and we require the physical necessities just to keep ourselves fit, not more than that. Eating is necessary. Without eating, I will die. So we take Kṛṣṇa prasādam, not in the restaurant or hotel anything, no. We take nice vegetables, nice food grains, rice, wheat, sugar, milk, all vitaminous, full of vitamins. So there is no deficiency of food. Even from food value it is very nice. We do not unnecessarily kill animals.

Interviewer: You run farms as well, do you not?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.

Room Conversation -- July 27, 1976, London:

Hari-śauri: The reason why the Russians were buying wheat from America...

Prabhupāda: Yes?

Hari-śauri: ...was because they had no rain. All their crops failed.

Jayatīrtha: Not only that, people aren't inclined to work very hard. The farmers are not very enthusiastic to work very hard, because they work very hard, but they have to give all the fruit away. So because they are karmīs, they want the fruit. The state is taking the fruit; therefore they don't want to work.

Prabhupāda: Why they shall work?

Room Conversation -- July 31, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Friday, that is also. Harer nāma, harer nāma (CC Adi 17.21). Everyone is happy, the children, the woman. They don't demand anything, that "Give us this, give us that." They have simplified, automatically they have simplified their life. And gradually develop, make little cottages, grow little vegetable, little barley or wheat and milk. That is sufficient. We don't require much. We don't want luxury. We want just to subsist. Yavad artha prayojana. We hate the idea of luxury, unnecessary. Do the outsider come to see? Yes?

Bhagavān: Yes.

Prabhupāda: What do they say?

Bhagavān: They are impressed with how much we have done.

Room Conversation -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Yes, God has given you enjoyment, but you cannot enjoy yourself, alone. There are other sons, they will also enjoy. If you interfere with other sons, then you'll be punished. God's son is the lamb, and you let him enjoy, you also enjoy. But if you interfere with his right, then you'll be punished. That is God's law. Sarva-yoniṣu, God is not only your father, he's father of the lamb also. So if by your brute force you want to kill the poor lamb, then you'll be punished. This is natural. You have got your food, you produce your foodgrain and you eat. Why should you eat another animal? God says that annād bhavanti bhūtāni (BG 3.14), you must eat to become strong. But that does not mean you'll eat another brother. Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā (ISO 1), whatever He has designated, you eat like that. You are human being, you can produce food. You grow foodstuffs, rice, wheat, fruit, flowers, vegetables. That is allowed. Annād bhavanti bhūtāni, you produce anna, why should you kill an animal? And offer it to Kṛṣṇa, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam (BG 9.26). He never says that "You give Me an animal." Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam. So you produce patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalam, and offer to Kṛṣṇa, and then take.

Room Conversation -- August 20, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Nitāi-Gaura and Balarāma. Brajendra-nandana jei kṛṣṇa, śaci-suta haila sei: "He is now Śacī-suta." Balarāma haila nitāi: "And Balarāma has become Nitāi." That's all. These two brothers. And devotees are very nice. So if our devotees remain... Two hundred devotees there are. And they are taking prasāda on the open lawn. Very nice. Presently they are growing vegetables sufficient for their consumption and for the Paris temple. Fresh, nice vegetables. Flowers, grains also they have got. Barley and wheat. Milk also. Their own cows.

Gargamuni: Cows.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. So if there is milk, there is food grain, there is vegetable, so what do you want more? Enough we can grow. They have got two hundred acres of land. Some portion of the land they are utilizing. That is becoming sufficient for them. And if they grow the whole land, they can make good trade. Just like in Philadelphia they are producing so much milk, they are selling outside fifteen hundred dollars per month. Fifteen hundred dollars, how much it is?

Press Interview -- October 16, 1976, Chandigarh:

Prabhupāda: India's culture and knowledge are richer than any other culture. And that is being accepted. Yes. Real knowledge, real culture is in India. Unfortunately, we did not try in that way. We simply went to the foreign countries to beg, "Give us wheat, give us this, give us this, give us that." But if we give our culture, they will accept that India is still richer than any other. You can bring some of the press items, professor, learned scholars' opinions. Aiye. (pause) Where is Caitya-guru?

Haṁsadūta: He's out. (long pause)

Prabhupāda: Opinions of the big scholars.

Interviewer: I would request you to wait for five minutes because some other journalists are coming. They are...

Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Prabhupāda: All these Bombay industries, they belong to the outsiders.

Mr. Malhotra: Outsiders. Now in Punjab for instance, they have created sufficient wheat to cater the entire country. That is 4/5 of the total need of the country of wheat is supplied by Punjab.

Prabhupāda: But it is always.

Mr. Malhotra: Punjab and Haryana, now they are two, but both together.

Prabhupāda: Punjab is the best province in India.

Mr. Malhotra: You know we came and settled in Poona after partition of the country. Previously we were in Rawalpindi. (Hindi) (break)

Prabhupāda: On my way to Kashmir.

Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Mr. Malhotra: About two years back, two, three of your devotees came to our house here. Naturally we offered them, "Would you like to have coffee, tea?" They said, "No." Then we said, "Would you like to have Coca-cola." They said, "No." Then I said, "What would you like to have, milk?" "Yes." Lassi, chach?(?) Yes. Fruit. Yes. It happened so that Girirāja came to us twice, and twice it was this ekādaśī. Now ekādaśī day they are not supposed to eat this wheat or flour or anything. So when last we came to Bangleswara (?), so we brought some paraṭās with this gobi(?) in it.

Prabhupāda: Ekādaśī.

Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Mr. Malhotra: No, but not taking any wheat, like on ekādaśī day, all such things.

Girirāja: That's training. Once we surrender to the spiritual master, then he trains us in the process of spiritual life.

Prabhupāda: Sādhu-mārgānugamanam, ādau gurvāśrayaṁ sad-dharma-pṛcchāt sādhu-mārgānugamanam.(?) These are the process.

Mr. Malhotra: Sādhu-mārga.

Prabhupāda: Sādhu-mārga.

Girirāja: We study the śāstras every morning and evening in all of our centers, so we become educated. (break)

Prabhupāda: Four places, Haridvar, Prayāga, Vṛndāvana.

Mr. Malhotra: But after every 11 years or...?

Prabhupāda: No. It comes in rotation, every four years.

Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Hm, very good.

Indian man: They cannot speak in English. That's the whole difficulty, they are speaking Hindi and Gujarati. They are very, feeling very shy. And he's very great expert in growing this wheat grass which has become very popular. Everybody likes very much. Your devotees are also liking. He's an expert in this. He's a very good music teacher, he has a very good tape recordist. Puppeteer, also he's making these puppet for last twenty years. He's expert in making puppets. We can make kṛṣṇa-kathā puppets also for our theater. And he can train our young boys for the same thing. Video tape and everything, he knows about this audio-visual communication...

Prabhupāda: Everyone has got some talent. So svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya. That is wanted. Whatever talent you have got you can utilize for Kṛṣṇa.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation and Instruction On New Movie -- January 13, 1977, Allahabad:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That three hundred rupees is equal to nine thousand rupees now. Now, a middle class man, who has got nine thousand rupees' income? Maybe one thousand, two thousand... (break) ...same thing, thirty times. The same ghee is selling not less than twenty-five, up to thirty. Thirty times. Take anything, rice, dahl, wheat, two annas per seer. And now they charge two rupees, three rupees per kilo. So from two annas to two rupees, sixteen times more.

Rāmeśvara: America also...

Prabhupāda: No, sixteen, thirty-two times.

Rāmeśvara: Thirty-two times.

Conversation on Roof -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Hm hm. (break) Cats also do not disturb. But everyone is fully fed and happy. The first problem is eating. So if you produce like tons, this corn alone can feed everyone. It is so nice food. Corn you can smash, and the powder portion you can use as flour, and the portion which is not powder, the hard portion, you can use as rice. And it is more nutritious than flour, wheat flour, and ordinary rice, and very cheap, cheaper than the ordinary rice and cheaper than the ordinary wheat. But you can utilize it—both dāl, bhāta. Vegetable and fat. From milk you get so much fat. Complete food.

Bhavānanda: I was very impressed with that farm when I visited it. Nicest. I saw one little kitten in the barn, and there was milk coming out of the cow's milkbag and it was falling into the kitten's mouth.

Prabhupāda: Dropping.

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So much of this, what we produce, is given for the cows, because the cows cannot graze year round. Because for about four or five months there's too cold weather. Four months. So they have to have stock of food. "Oats-10 tons, wheat-10 tons." The wheat is... You tasted the cāpāṭi.

Brahmānanda: Excellent.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very tasty.

Brahmānanda: Nearby there's a mill, and they grind the wheat fresh.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Brahmānanda: Near to our farm is a mill where they grind the wheat fresh.

Prabhupāda: Our mill?

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: And engagement. Yaśodāmāyi was doing that, even she is the queen of Nanda Mahārāja, what to speak of other women. Churning milk, grinding the wheat, this is their household. We have got that picture. Full engagement. Otherwise gossiping...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Trouble.

Prabhupāda: Trouble. And whisping for laugh. That's all. (laughs) Whisping or whispering?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Whispering.

Prabhupāda: (chuckling) "Idle brain, devil's workshop." Then?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "In the year 1976 we cultivated 5 acres of vegetables, including 24 tons of potatoes. We also have 25 beehives, which produce 100 pounds of honey per hive. There is also a fruit orchard with a 150 trees, including apples, pears, peaches, and plum trees. Lastly, we are fortunate..."

Room Conversation -- March 24, 1977, Bombay:

Karttikeya Mahadevia: That depends upon health only. If one is not healthy, he may not remain there, and if he's healthy, he may remain even four years. He's one of the healthiest men in India today at his age. (laughter)

Bali-mardana: It's your wheat grass.

Karttikeya Mahadevia:. No, he's not doing wheat grass, but he is taking only fruits and vegetables and no cooked food. So he's following what I am telling him to do. I have sent my books.

Bali-mardana: He is a personal friend.

Karttikeya Mahadevia: It is not personal. My mother was personally with his son, and they were in the same school. So he knew him for last thirty, forty years. My wife's sister and Mr. Morarji Desai were working in the same cabinet in Bombay in 1955. (indistinct) Śrīla Prabhupāda, would you like to take that tulasī and (indistinct) in afternoon? Only once, one serving.

Pañcadraviḍa: We can bring some ḍābs from down the road if you like.

Prabhupāda: Yes, I have already ḍāb.

Conversation with M.P., Shri Sita Ram Singh -- May 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Anywhere. Why you are speaking of India? What is spoken in the śāstra, that is not for India or for Bihar. It is for everywhere.

Sita Ram Singh: And the situation is going from bad to worse. Will it go...

Prabhupāda: Yes. And at the end there will be no wheat, no rice, no sugar, no milk, and you'll have to eat... I shall eat your flesh; you shall eat my flesh. They are eating already fetus of their own sons. What is that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In some countries in the West...

Prabhupāda: Do they not?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In some countries in the West they perform this operation for... What do they call it?

Indian man (1): Abortion.

Room Conversation -- July 27-28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Yaśomatīnandana: But then, once we have developed, then we can have rice and wheat and then distribute free prasāda to everyone. Because every inch of the land is cultivatable.

Prabhupāda: I have given so much for... Try to repay.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda wants you to engage the local people in farming that land. Can you do that?

Yaśomatīnandana: Well, we are doing it as...

Prabhupāda: Gradually.

Yaśomatīnandana: Gradually.

Prabhupāda: Gradually.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Who's doing the cultivating now?

Yaśomatīnandana: We are doing it, and we are hiring it. Because if we just give them away, they will spoil it.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, you can't do that.

Room Conversation -- October 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: And rate have been...?

Bhagatji: The rate of the grain has gone so high. Last year the rate of wheat was forty rupees; this year, seventy-eight rupees. Gram (flour) fifty rupees; this year, eighty rupees. And, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that everything has gone so high. Yaba, this barley, was thirty rupees; this year, fifty rupees at present. And it is only up to April. And new rate will be coming in the month of April. So this means after seven months.

Brahmānanda: Why is it so high?

Bhagatji: The rains have destroyed all crops.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, do you want tilaka?

Bhagatji: From Delhi, only day before yesterday the road was clear. Again it is raining. Delhi to Mathurā, that road.

Room Conversation -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhavānanda: Now the flood waters have recessed. We're preparing for the planting, plowing. Everything has been flooded. Just now it's dry enough to plow for planting wheat. We planted 170 coconut trees. (pause)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Your pulse is nice and strong, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: What is the attitude of our Godbrothers?

Bhavānanda: Favorable and helpful.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Which ones?

Bhavānanda: Mādhava Mahārāja, Kosan Math(?), Madhusūdana Mahārāja.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Mādhava Mahārāja was there?

Bhavānanda: He was there two weeks back.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Anybody met him?

Room Conversation -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Rāmeśvara: There are fruits and juices, very nice fruits and juices in Iran. And they also have nice vegetables and wheat. Wheat is their main grain.

Prabhupāda: Wheat. Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda, wheat.

Prabhupāda: So wheat...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How to they make the wheat, into cāpāṭis?

Bali-mardana: They have a special type of bread.

Rāmeśvara: They makes breads.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is not being understood. Prabhupāda, do you mean what we are serving the royal family?

Prabhupāda: No, no. They have got restaurant.

Room Conversation -- October 12, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: What is this preparation?

Jayapatākā: It's wheat that's chipped. It's called bulgar wheat. It's wheat that's chipped into small pieces so that's it's... It's like oversized suji, about three times the size of suji, and that's just boiled and cooked with oil and some gur and spices. Or it can also be cooked with vegetables and spices. It's supposed to be nutritious, healthy, strength-giving food. Māyāpura Muslims tried to get the other Muslims in other villages not to take it because it was being given by us, but they said, "Why we shouldn't take? Just because you're giving them trouble doesn't mean we shouldn't take." So now they've all rebelled, and they're all taking now prasādam. He gave us address where we can get powdered milk possibly also.

Prabhupāda: It is mixed with powder milk?

Room Conversation -- November 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Jayapatākā: Now planting is going on. Already many flowers and vegetables have been planted, and now the wheat fields are being plowed for planting. (break) ...if the big temple was thirty or thirty-five stories high, there would be any harm?

Prabhupāda: No harm. It is too much.

Jayapatākā: The present design is too much. Yes, the present design means that every month, six hundred thousand dollars would have to be given, and that's just too much.

Prabhupāda: Too much strain is not good.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Also the tendency is that when you make an estimate, you're always higher. You say thirty million dollars-it's very likely that it will go more.

Jayapatākā: Yeah, so then consider. (break) ...his birthday was a couple days ago, and then he invited us. So I sent two brahmacārīs to his āśrama for his birthday celebration.

Prabhupāda: His temple is completed?

Page Title:Wheat (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:13 of Nov, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=83, Let=0
No. of Quotes:83