Writer (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"writer" |"writer's" |"writers"

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation With David Lawrence -- July 12, 1973, London:

David Lawrence: I was very interested this last week to be reading a book which really was trying to defend orthodox Christianity, and it was by a very devotional Christian writer, and he, in fact, was making exactly the same points as yourself about the God consciousness of Jesus. I read the Ratha-yātrā magazine, and saw how, I think it was a nun that asked you about the position of Jesus on this, and you quite rightly said, "Well, of course, Jesus never claimed to be God." I do wish that some Christians would realize that. He was God conscious, wasn't he?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

David Lawrence: The churches in this land seem to have forgotten that. He never claimed to be God.

Prabhupāda: No, how he could claim? He's a devotee of God, he's servant of God. How he can claim? Of course, there is no difference between God and His servant. Yes. That we say. Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas tathā bhāvyata... **. Because a devotee, like Lord Jesus Christ, means confidential servant of God, there is no difference between God and himself. Just like any political representative or business representative, he's, if he's a confidential representative, there is no difference between the king or the proprietor of the firm, so long he represents rightly. Similarly, anyone who represents God or the cause of God, he's not different from God. We should offer respect to such person exactly like God. That is our instruction of the ācāryas. Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktaḥ **. In every śāstra the spiritual master is recognized as personally the Supreme Lord. But in... Why he is recognized? Kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya. Because he's the most dear servant of the Lord. And that is natural.

Room Conversation with French Journalist and UNESCO Worker -- August 10, 1973, Paris:

Dr. Inger: Yes, I'm an Indian. I have been working a long time in Paris. I am a resident more or less in Paris. I work for UNESCO, and I'm a writer. I go backwards and forwards a lot to India. But my headquarters have been here for a long time. So I'm associated...

Prabhupāda: How long you are here?

Dr. Inger: In France, I've been twenty-five years.

Prabhupāda: Oh, I see. And wherefrom you came?

Dr. Inger: Punjab.

Prabhupāda: Punjab.

Room Conversation with French Journalist and UNESCO Worker -- August 10, 1973, Paris:

Dr. Inger: Well, now I am a consultant. I used to be a regular member of the staff for a long time. Now I do certain projects for them, and I'm a visiting professor, and I'm a writer, visiting professor at different universities. So I'm connected with, with UNESCO in a way that I can not be now a permanent member of the staff which I was... (break)

Prabhupāda: ...purpose is not to propose only. Because I wish that there are so many scient..., scientific men, philosophers and thoughtful men... Suppose even if I ask you, what is your answer, that what is the purpose...? The cosmic manifestation is there, the universe is there, and there are innumerable planets within this universe, and they are very organizely kept. Everything is nicely going on. The sun is rising in due time. The moon is rising in due time. The seasons, seasons are changing. There is nice organization. So is it not a bona fide inquiry to, "What is the purpose of this organization?"

Morning Walk -- December 15, 1973, Los Angeles:

Karandhara: Practically, in the last three hundred, or two hundred years, all the most famous writers, and scholars and intellectuals, they all became madmen.

Prabhupāda: Yes, they must be, because they do not know what is to be known. Their knowledge is imperfect.

Karandhara: Nietzsche, Freud, they all died madmen.

Prabhupāda: Madman means when one becomes frustrated, he becomes mad. That is the...

Karandhara: But the people, after them, they think that their lives were very great. They read their books and accept their authority.

Prabhupāda: There are two classes of men. We don't say their life was great. So therefore I say, who will settle? I am right or he is right? Always you will find the madman will say, "I am right." Another man say, "You are not right; I am right." Then who will settle up? That is the point. You will find always these two classes of men. You say you are right, I say I am right.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 10, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, yes. She invited me this time.

Yaśomatīnandana: She is writer, I think.

Prabhupāda: Yes. She is very educated. Now, her husband made very great attempt for publishing book, but there is no sufficient customer. Now the press is going to be sold, and nobody customer. That is letter-setting press. Now it is obsolete. So they were perplexed. She wanted that I shall purchase. And what shall I do with this press? Letter setting is now abolished. That is not good job now. There must be litho press or, what is called, offset. Yes.

Morning Walk -- April 11, 1974, Bombay:

Italian Man (4): These important writers who have been read throughout Europe, France and England, who has no importance for the moment, they have never tried to give a (sic:) lifely idea of Kṛṣṇa, the pastimes and the youthfulness, and the liveliness of this is not given. And they will take... Yes, that's it. Yes.

Prabhupāda: Here is a foreign reader. He says.

Indian Man (1): Which book you have read?

Italian Man (4): Well, I have read every book that can be available.

Indian Man (1): Have you read Rādhākrishnan on Bhagavad-gītā?

Prabhupāda: He is first-class impersonalist. He is a first-class blind man. First-class blind man.

Room Conversation with Irish Poet, Desmond O'Grady -- May 23, 1974, Rome:

Dhanañjaya: Desmond is a poet. He's written books also, published in London. And tomorrow he goes to Sicily to a convention of poets and writers, international conference for writers and poets. He's representing Ireland, he's coming from Limerick in Southern Ireland.

O'Grady: This is my friend, Michael Robert (indistinct) We are colleagues together since we teach literature, English literature. And this is another friend of ours who has just come from Greece. Everybody seems to be traveling within the last twenty-four hours. This is a young painter friend of mine, Bob Jackson, also from Ireland, whose first time in Italy, out of Ireland, and he's staying with me at the moment. He came back with me from Ireland just a few weeks ago.

Prabhupāda: We are also writing books, so many. You have seen our books?

O'Grady: I have seen some, yes, because some of the friends have come up and...

Prabhupāda: Some of the books, you can show him. Here is one book, Bhagavad-gītā.

Room Conversation with Roger Maria leading writer of communist literature -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Pṛthu Putra: Franscend. He says there is many swami and writer come from India and teach to the people, to the western people, what is Kṛṣṇa, what is Indian philosophy, what is God, but they always teach the people who need to be safe, to be, who need something to be safe, and they take it like just a drug or some kind of a dream just to get something to get safe from the material world. But that doesn't mean their action is concrete. That is his point.

Prabhupāda: But we are not doing that. We are, in the material world, we are teaching Kṛṣṇa philosophy, practicing. All these young men, they are actually twenty-four hours engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are different from them. (French)

Pṛthu Putra: He thinks that the people in western world, mostly now they take Indian religion, some religion or philosophy come from India, because the Christian philosophy has some defect.

Prabhupāda: Very good. (French)

Morning Walk -- June 20, 1974, Germany:

Satsvarūpa: Yes, in a number of articles, the writer notes that Prabhupāda came at a perfect time in history, and went to the right place, the lower East Side of New York, and then again in Haight Ashbury, just when the hippie movement was big but they were looking for spiritual life. That is a historical expert move that you made.

Prabhupāda: No, that is very good remark, appreciated. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He is known as patita-pāvana, the deliverer of the most fallen. Patita-pāvana-hetu tava avatāra: "My Lord, Your incarnation is for the reason to deliver all the fallen souls." So He gave one example by delivering Jagāi and Mādhāi, but by His grace, now thousands of Jagāi-Mādhāis are being delivered. He gave the example that here is the typical patita, fallen. So this movement will deliver this kind of people. That is His prediction. Or it... factually by this movement, so many Jagāi-Mādhāis are being delivered. Jagāi... What was their fault? The fault was they were number one woman hunter and all other good qualifications: (laughing) drunkard, meat-eaters and thieves, rogues. That is their qualification. And immediately Caitanya Mahāprabhu turned them to become Vaiṣṇava. "Simply promise that... You say that you shall not commit anymore these sinful activities." "Yes, Sir, I will not." So that process we are going on.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- March 1, 1975, Atlanta:

So many people are being misled by the so-called politician and scientist and... But Gandhi says... He has written so many nonsense things. One thing is that he said, "I do not believe that there was anybody as Kṛṣṇa living ever. Kṛṣṇa is of my imagination." These things he has written. And he is Mahatma Gandhi. Mahātmā's definition is there in the Bhagavad-gītā, mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ (BG 9.13). Mahātmā means devotee, who have understood vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19). But these rascal politicians, they have become mahātmā. For politics, they can do anything, lie like anybody, and so many things. There was a big writer in Bengal. So he is giving evidence in the court... That's a comic. So he says, "Do you think I am editor? I am pleader? I am prostitute?" Means indirectly he is saying that they are prostitutes. As the prostitute can say anything, lies, for their profession, similarly, these people, the editor and the..., pleaders, they are like that. "Do you think I am prostitute? Do you think I am lawyer? Do you think I am editor, newspaper editor?" So take this formula from the śāstras that a living entity is never created. These rascals are trying to create living entity and spending money and going to hold big, big conference. So where is the question of creation? They are already created. Why this common sense do not come in their brain? Why?

Morning Walk -- May 20, 1975, Melbourne:

Devotee (3): Śrīla Prabhupāda, there was one song written where the writer said that the reason the Americans won the war was because God is on their side.

Prabhupāda: So, that is the fact. Unless God desired, how they can win? That, we admit that.

Hari-śauri: But now they are again becoming a mouse, the Americans? Now they are losing the favor of God?

Prabhupāda: No, they are right officially: "We trust in God." (break) ...the whole, I think, Americans are fortunate because this saṅkīrtana movement is there. Yes. If they take it more seriously, they will be actually favored nation of the Lord.

Room Conversation after Press Conference -- July 9, 1975, Chicago:

Satsvarūpa: They have a standard answer to that that the women have always been oppressed, that the women could have become great philosophers and writers and politicians, but they were always kept in the home. So now they're going to change this, they say. It's only due to the man's oppressing them and keeping them down.

Prabhupāda: So this pregnancy is also pressing. The man has pressed to become pregnant? This is man's pressure or nature's?

Brahmānanda: Of course, they will try to stop that. Through contraceptive methods and abortion, they will try to stop having children.

Prabhupāda: But that is not stopping. That is artificially taking some other measures. That is not stopping.

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

Brahmānanda: They were selling one gulabjamin for seventy-five cents.

Prabhupāda: Just see. (laughs) It may cost two cent. And you have got your sugar also. In this way organize. Avoid machine. Keep everyone employed as brāhmaṇa, as kṣatriya, as vaiśya. Nobody should sit down. Brāhmaṇas, they are writers, editors, lecturers, instructors, worshiping Deity, ideal character. They have no anxiety for food, for clothing. Others should supply them. They haven't got to work. Sannyāsī is always preaching, going outside. In this way keep everyone fully engaged. Then it will be ideal. Otherwise people will criticize that we are simply eating and sleeping, escaping, so many, so many. And actually that is the position. Unless one is fully engaged, oh, that is not good. That is tamo-guṇa. Tamo-guṇa, and rajo-guṇa very active, and sattva-guṇa, intellectual activity. Both of them, active, only tamo-guṇa, not active. (indistinct) Tamo-guṇa means sleeping and laziness. These are the symptoms of tamo-guṇa. Every saintly man can avoid these two things—laziness and sleeping. Of course, as much you require, sleeping allowed, not more than... And keep everyone active, man or woman-all. Then it will be ideal society.

Morning Walk -- September 29, 1975, Ahmedabad:

Indian man (2): Even in case of mother Desai, it was a classic incident, that his wife came one day to Gandhiji, that "This man is your personal writer but he is going on with another woman in your camp."

Prabhupāda: There are so many.

Indian man (2): "And he comes only because of that woman. Otherwise he is not willing to be your personal writer. So I have complained." Then Gandhiji said, "All right, when did you know it?" So she said, "I was thinking for the three months, but fifteen days before I came." "All right, Mahadeva, you come here. You will fast for fifteen days." And one week later (indistinct) Mahadeva Desai was that he wanted food very badly. So after seven days he was about to die. Then that woman, wife, came again, "Mahārāja I made a mistake. I made a complaint. All right. But now this man will die and where I will go?" (indistinct) "Then why have you made a complaint? So you can take off for seven days but you fast for seven days." So he is relieved.

Prabhupāda: One—there are so many cases. This Lilavati Munshi, this is the same thing. You know that? There is a big history behind this.

Kartikeya: The failures are due to some basic reason. All the big people have failed, and they have not been able to deliver the country or anything because their moral character...

Prabhupāda: No, no, even they have delivered the country, these physical elements you cannot avoid. You cannot avoid unless you are on the transcendental platform, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So long you are on the physical platform, you cannot avoid. It is impossible. (Hindi) Gandhiji... (Hindi)... mistake. (Hindi) "And physical? Oh, you have done this? Fifteen days fasting."

Morning Walk -- November 16, 1975, Bombay:

Brahmānanda: Actually there was one proposal. It was written in the seventeenth century in England by one famous writer, that "Because the population is increasing so much, therefore if we become cannibals, then the population will be maintained."

Yaśomatīnandana: So who will eat who?

Brahmānanda: Well, that he didn't say.

Prabhupāda: These are scientists, big men.

Girirāja: So the reporter asked him what were his personal plans for the future. So he said he likes one girl, so he wants to get married, and that's all.

Brahmānanda: Increase the population. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Our plan is the best because before meeting such catastrophes, go back to home, back to Godhead. This is the best. They are seeing the catastrophe, but they have no way to escape. That is the difference between them and ourselves. Jaya. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. (break) ...said that "There is no need of God, but there is need of girl, of a girl." He said that. Then what is the difference between a scientist and a dog? The dog also does not know what is God, but another female dog he wants. Huh? What is the difference? Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). Then it is proved that he is no better than animal. The animal requires another opposite sex, but he does not know God. Then where is the difference? (break)

Morning Walk -- December 7, 1975, Vrndavana:

Aksayānanda: ...from Agra came yesterday, Prabhupāda. He wants to live with us. He knows Hindi. He's a teacher. He's a doctor. He's a writer. He's very, very nice. I'll bring him to you today.

Prabhupāda: He knows English also?

Aksayānanda: English very well. Very humble and he wants to teach. If he can stay in Vṛndāvana I think it will be very, very beneficial for us.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Aksayānanda: Wonderful. I'll bring him this morning if it's all right.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Aksayānanda: Jaya. He bows down. He pays dandavats. He said, "You're a sannyāsī, so I must respect. I'm only a gṛhastha."

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the duty.

Aksayānanda: And he is also very intelligent. He's not just doing it out of sentiment. Very nice man. Older man.

Prabhupāda: If a sannyāsī is not offered respect, the punishment is that he should fast one day. That is śāstric injunction.

Conversation on Roof -- December 26, 1975, Sanand:

Harikeśa: OK. "The fundamental premises of the theory of knowledge of Mock(?) and Averniu..., Avanarias(?) are frankly, simply and clearly expounded by them in their early philosophical works. To these works we shall now turn, postponing for later treatment an examination of the corrections and emendations subsequently made by these writers. 'The task of science,' Mock(?) wrote in 1872, 'can only be: 1. to determine the laws of connection of ideas, psychology; 2. to discover...' "

Prabhupāda: That is not science, ideas.

Harikeśa: He's saying to determine the laws of connection of ideas.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Harikeśa: He says he wants to determine the laws of connection of ideas.

Prabhupāda: But idea is also not fact. And what is other word?

Harikeśa: "The laws of connection of ideas."

Prabhupāda: If the idea is imperfect, then where is, what is the meaning of this law? That is also imperfect.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1976, Mayapur:

Bhavānanda: " 'He has been a prolific writer and commentator and has traveled and discoursed widely in different parts of India. His profound illuminative discourses have everywhere created a genuine interest in Vaiṣṇava philosophy and in the dynamic religious movement he represents.' There may not be any doubt among the well-informed people that the Śrī Caitanya Maṭha, with its branches, Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭhas, throughout India and abroad, have been propagating the greatest religion, which, from a realistic point of view, has helped to build up a true civilization. Today, due to the activities of Śrī Caitanya Maṭha, a spiritual thirst has been created, especially among the deep-thinking and educated people of the world, for people from all over the world are coming to this institution to learn and follow the great religion of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and to understand the practical Indian way of life. Today the headquarter extends over a mile, with beautiful temples, yet standing in an atmosphere of absorbing silence of meditation and worship, surrounded on all sides by emerald green paddy fields and the Ganges flowing hard by, far from the madding crowd's strife and strain. 'Māyāpur is now an enchanted place, the abode of peace. The atmosphere of the place is charming. The chanting of the holy name of Hari all day and night takes one to a celestial place.' "

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We don't hear the chanting from their maṭha all day and night.

Bhavānanda: No, it's only from here. "It is more heavenly than heaven itself. It is the sacred Vṛndāvana of Bengal, hallowed by the dancing steps of the Lord, and its air is purified by His noble call to prayer. Whoever pays a visit to her will leave her with regret, and those who have not yet visited the place will carry their regrets unto death."

Prabhupāda: So he is making some propaganda that he is the...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, just like in the woods the jackal is always crying that he is the king, but who cares for him? What is his qualification?

Prabhupāda: So do we require to...? There is no use.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, our answer is all of these books.

Prabhupāda: That's all.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Our answer is twenty-four-hour kīrtana, prasādam distribution...

Prabhupāda: And you keep it very carefully in the file.

Morning Walk -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Bhakta Gene: You didn't meet with him? He was supposedly the most prominent mystical writer within the Catholic Church in the past one hundred years. His writings gained tremendous prominence in the past..., oh, the past twenty-five years.

Prabhupāda: Prominence amongst whom?

Bhakta Gene: Uh, amongst Christians. And non-Christians as well. He made a trip to the East. He had an accident in the East and was electrocuted. Oh, this is some ten years ago now.

Jayādvaita: He wrote that original introduction for your first Bhagavad-gītā published by Macmillan.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Bhakta Gene: Well, this raises a question in my mind, Your Grace. Within Christianity there has been a history of mysticism from 100 A.D. to the present. Now there have been some prominent mystics, a few prominent mystics, and a great many not so prominent. Now how do you classify these men, these Christian mystics, Protestant as well as Catholic?

Prabhupāda: It is some yogic mysticism. It has nothing to do with spiritual life. They want to see some miracles, generally, ordinary public. So this mystic power, show some miracles and make them astonished. That's all. It has nothing to do with spiritual life.

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

Guest (3): The Māyāvādīs say that Vedānta is impersonal, and (indistinct) Vedānta...

Prabhupāda: You do not know what is Vedānta. (indistinct) In the beginning of Vedānta, athāto brahma jijñāsā. "Now try to inquire about this Supreme, (indistinct) Brahman." The next verse is janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), Brahman is there, from whom everything emanates. So now, what is that thing from which everything emanates? What is the nature of that thing? That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhāgavatam is the real explanation of Veda. Brahma-sūtra, (indistinct) mahasyam brahma-sūtrānāṁ vedasya parividyatam (?), this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, vedasya parividyatam, (indistinct) avyayam, brahma-sūtrasya (?) uvaca, by Vyāsadeva himself. Vyāsadeva is the writer of Vedānta-sūtra, so he's writing himself under the instruction of Nārada. So to understand Vedānta, you have to study Bhāgavatam. He's explained janmādy asya (SB 1.1.1). Brahman is the original source of everything. Janmādy asya yataḥ. So what is the nature? Janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca... (end)

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You want to hear what else he has to say?

Prabhupāda: Umhm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Others insist that the style of shaving the head identifies devotees of various spiritual orders. The long śikhās marks a man as a follower of Kṛṣṇa. Still another group says that the head-shaving simply stands for renunciation of the material world, its values and its pleasures. One or more of those reasons may be the true one. Possibly all of them have a multi-determined, have multi-determined the Kṛṣṇa cut. The how of the cut is simplicity itself. Commonly two men cut each others hair. Our pictures show how. Phase one of the cutting, known as the buzz-off, is done with ordinary..." (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Buzz off? (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. "...is done with ordinary hair clippers. The post buzz-off effect..." (laughter)

Rūpānuga: This guy's made a science out of it. (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "...shown in the second picture. Next, the prickly sconce."

Prabhupāda: What is that meaning?

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

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

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

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

Prabhupāda: Good writer.

Room Conversation About Mayapura Construction -- August 19, 1976, Hyderabad:

Jayapatākā: Myself? What happened was I applied last September. So now it's nearly one year, so they had sent my application from Māyāpur to Calcutta, Writer's Building. Again back. Again Writer's Building, then to Delhi. Then Delhi sent again back. I went, and I asked the secretary, and I found out that they had sent again back from Delhi, again back to Māyāpur and then re-investigated me. At that time they brought in some local people, and one investigator, he said that "This Jayapatākā Swami, we have heard that he is a very bad person. He beats the people." They said, "No, We never heard such thing." "No, no. We have heard that he is very bad." In this way by negative they are testing. They came and told me that for two hours police is drilling three different people from Navadvīpa and Māyāpur. In this way no one said a bad...

Prabhupāda: No, if you are a famous man, then they'll do.

Gargamuni: Him and Bhavānanda.

Jayapatākā: Now Bhavānanda is more famous.

Prabhupāda: He is notorious.

Jayapatākā: But now he is in the papers.

Prabhupāda: (laughing) He... You are famous; he is notorious. It is very difficult to deal with these nonsense. They are devotees and either notorious or famous. Our Godbrothers, they do not like Bhavānanda. Eh?

Room Conversation -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad:

Jayapatākā: I went to Writer's Building, I had four or five copies with me. I didn't go for selling. I went to see ministers. But all the peons, they were buying the Gītār Gāns from me. I sold out. People were coming up with rupees saying, "Gītār Gān." I didn't have any more.

Prabhupāda: Out of their own accord they...

Gargamuni: No, they've heard of it. It's becoming famous.

Jayapatākā: That's our inspiration, that if we can make Gītār Gān and Your Divine Grace famous all over Bengal, then we will feel that our mission...

Prabhupāda: Yes, I could not write any... I wrote some Bengali book, that is now... It can be collected from Devānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha. I continually wrote one book, Bhagavāner Kathā.

Jayapatākā: People are begging us for books in Bengali written by Your Divine Grace. We tell them that... There's no time.

Prabhupāda: That Subhaga translated. But his translations are not so...

Letter to Sai Baba -- September 13, 1976, Vrndavana:

Pradyumna: Then, this is the end of his quote and then the editor, the writer is speaking. "This may appear an extraordinarily controversial claim to those unfamiliar with the spiritual depths of Hindu religio-philosophy. The latter totally accepts the avatāra concept which broadly means the descent of the divine principle into human affairs. In the Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa intervenes to say..."

Prabhupāda: That is the editor's.

Pradyumna: Yes, this is the editor's. "In the Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa intervenes to save humanity from evil forces. The Purāṇas personify earth, the mother, as groaning under a similar burden to supplicate God for relief." Then heading, "Solution and cure to world's ills. To Baba's devotees, the avatāra has similarly come to provide both the solution and the cure to a world living in terror of a nuclear holocaust. The false dichotomies created by Western thought between God and man, puruṣa and deva, simply do not exist in the Indian scriptures, which prescribe..."

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Pradyumna: "The dichotomies."

Prabhupāda: Dichot...? What is that?

Pradyumna: Dichotomy means some kind of distinction, to make a distinction. He said the dichotomies created by Western thought between God and man, puruṣa and deva. Differences or analysis of differences. "Simply do not exist in the Indian scriptures..."

Prabhupāda: Why not?

Pradyumna: "Which prescribe the assimilation of God in man and man in God as the basis of religion."

Prabhupāda: This is another rascaldom. God is always distinct from man.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Girirāja: No, another one. Not Sukla. And this Sharma is saying that he has personal experience that this is a bona fide movement and that the American public in general may not know, but A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami is one of the renowned writers of translations of Vedic translations and commentaries of Vedic literature. (break) And then Ādi-keśava Mahārāja is going with a swami? Chandra Swami, some Indian swami in America. He's going with Ādi-keśava Mahārāja to meet the new President of the United States on January 27th.

Prabhupāda: He's going to see?

Girirāja: Yes, Jimmy Carter. On January 20th he will become the next President. So Ādi-keśava Mahārāja and this one Indian sannyāsī, they are going to make a representation to the new President.

Prabhupāda: Who is that Indian swami?

Śrutaśrava: His name is Chandra Swami.

Prabhupāda: Chandra Swami? So why...?

Guest (4): He's a young man.

Prabhupāda: He must be Māyāvādī. He's taking advantage of this. He's a Māyāvādī.

Morning Walk -- December 30, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Gandhi has... He's envious. The same thing. Bhagavad-gītā, he is writing essays on Bhagavad-gītā but the main principle of Bhagavad-gītā, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65), mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. What is that?

Girirāja: Mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te pratijāne priyo 'si me.

Prabhupāda: So where is that?

Girirāja: They don't follow.

Prabhupāda: This is their defect. Therefore they are failures. Must be failure. They do not take Bhagavad-gītā as it is. They mix with their false ideas. And therefore spoil, adulterate. And bhagavad-bhakti is without adulteration. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (CC Madhya 19.167). Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Pure. No adulteration. That is bhakti. Jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). Sarvopādhi vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). That is not nirmalam. Sa mala it is. With mala. With mala. Mala. It cannot be. Proportionately. So where she has sent this article?

Girirāja: In some of the newspapers in Vaidore, maybe Nagpur. He's writing for about three or five copies of those original clippings.

Prabhupāda: He has written very nicely. Good writer. Picked up the essence of the movement. That was published. (Hindi) So distribute them. (Hindi) Bhāgavata Darśana?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Next issue. This issue is all finished. Next one.

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Nowadays sir, they collect people to clap them.

Prabhupāda: Yes. No. They make such a speech and practice. One political leader, he is young man, he was saying in Hyderabad... He was ambassador in... That Rao?

Hari-śauri: Yes, Motilal Rao.

Prabhupāda: So he did not know. He said that "When I was going to be ambassador, Dr. Radhakrishnan, he told me that, "You first of all write a speech and practice it and deliver it very nicely. Then they will applaud." This is Dr. Radhakrishnan. They want simply applause. That's all. Because they know, "If the public applauds, then I keep my position. I am... Whatever nonsense I speak or whatever nonsense I... it doesn't matter."

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Public support.

Prabhupāda: Bas. That is their only business.

Hari-śauri: Some of them, they don't even write their own speeches. They have a professional script writer.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Professional writer and some speaker.

Dr. Patel: All of them. (indistinct)

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Even the President of the United States has a speech writer.

Prabhupāda: ...learned scholar, English licensed. We know that Madanmohan Malhotra. In those days Surendranath Bannerji was a great orator. You have heard his name? Surendranath Bannerji. He is the practically father of Indian nationalism. So he was I.C.S., and in those days English scholar, His father was big doctor. Dr. Dugdhachandra Bannerji. So his speech, this Madanmohan Malhotra used to rote, cram, and before a mirror he would speak like this. "Oh..." In this way he became a politician. He was smārta-brāhmaṇa and he became a politician. Simply by imitating Surendranath Bannerji's speech.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Rāmeśvara: Suppose we make a profit. Someone may enquire, "Isn't it better to use the money to distribute more books rather than giving it to the food program."

Prabhupāda: No, no, books department, that is already sufficient income.

Rāmeśvara: I would personally like to use it for the food program.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Book we are getting.

Rāmeśvara: So that's the answer then.

Prabhupāda: And we are not taking any profit. Neither the seller, neither the author is taking any profit. So there is enough money. You haven't got to pay either to the seller or to the writer, then why not spend the whole income? No profit. So we save income tax. And whatever little excess is there, (indistinct), advertise or pay some gṛhasthas some pocket expenses. In this way make it meet. No profit. By our arrangement there is no question of profit but even there is profit, we should pay the gṛhasthas some expenditure. He has... Family man there is... In this way, make always no profit. I was doing from the very beginning (indistinct), then I began to sell books. I was working, I was selling, I was collecting, I was spending, going to the printer, everything. Forcing (indistinct) I was publishing. Work nicely. If I don't force (indistinct), they'll not give me the concession rate, still I am doing. So I think this book department (indistinct) all right, you don't require to invest. But whatever income you'll get from this record business, spend it for giving prasādam. So we have got so many centers, they will feed.

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

Rāmeśvara: Prabhupāda, in the Back to Godhead magazine, one question has come up. Now that England is printing their own, India is printing their own, so this magazine that we print in America, ninety percent, ninety-five percent is sold in America.

Prabhupāda: But that is English and in India vernacular so there is no question of competition.

Rāmeśvara: Right. So the question is that the magazines in America, the readers like very much to have a feeling of who the author is, who the different writers are, the editors. So we are using our spiritual names on the list of writers and editors and so on. So they have asked me to enquire whether in parentheses they can also have their legal names.

Prabhupāda: Why not?

Rāmeśvara: That way, because they cannot pronounce these names, Gopīparanadhana.

Prabhupāda: Fine, allow this.

Rāmeśvara: Then it seems like a foreign thing.

Prabhupāda: Oh yes, you can...

Rāmeśvara: So should we have both names?

Prabhupāda: Oh yes.

Rāmeśvara: Use both names.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: So how to rectify it? They have not gone to the moon.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's what Balavanta told them. He said, "You have your ideas, and we have ours. We're not stopping you from having yours, so why do you stop us from having ours? As far as we're concerned, we have as much evidence as you. Your authorities say you went, and our authorities say you didn't go. And anybody can make a movie to show that you went to Jupiter or Saturn or any other planet. Movies..., they can make King Kong. So we don't accept it, but we don't stop you from having your beliefs. But don't force us to say, 'Yes, you went to the moon.' " He answered nicely.

Prabhupāda: No, actually when there is some news about the moon planet, I personally did not go with him. So how shall I believe him? Come to practical point of view. I did not go. You publish something, news. Why I accept it? If you say that "I did not go," er, "I did not see," that is everything. We believe some paper, that's all. So why shall we not believe the Vedic literature?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Look at the difference of the writers. The writer of the newspaper is a fool.

Prabhupāda: Vedic literature is so authoritative. It has been accepted by the ācāryas.

Tripurāri: So they are reading our books, but they do not believe that they're not the body, so many foolish people. They read, but they don't believe that they're not the body. They think it's just fantasy.

Prabhupāda: What do they believe?

Room Conversation With Artists and About BTG -- February 25, 1977, Mayapura:

Rāmeśvara: In the past I have sometimes asked you that we wanted to try to follow your example when you were first writing Back to Godhead, offering solutions to problems that people are currently bothered by, making the magazine contemporary and so on, rather than just giving them philosophy, but making it so that it can relate to their...

Prabhupāda: But we... Based on philosophy. You cannot go beyond the philosophy. Philosophy must be there. It cannot be changed. But we have to... You cannot change the wine. That should be the... So therefore, while changing, you can consult.

Rāmeśvara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: That will be...

Rāmeśvara: Now, there has been a tendency that I have observed among the writers to try to use what they call outside information sources, like quoting scientists...

Prabhupāda: That, one cannot do it unless he is very expert in transcendental knowledge. This is not possible for kaniṣṭha-adhikārī.

Rāmeśvara: It's difficult to do.

Prabhupāda: Yes. He must be very expert. Therefore I want...

Rāmeśvara: Satsvarūpa.

Prabhupāda: Guidance.

Rāmeśvara: But the principle is all right if it is done properly.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Rāmeśvara: Because I have found that when these so-called authorities...

Prabhupāda: In my old Back to Godhead I discussed Gandhi, Churchill, Jhinna, but with reference to the philosophy. I criticized them on the basis of our philosophy.

Conversation, 'Rascal Editors,' and Morning Talk -- June 22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: One time in that article they made a change. Saying that, the whole Vaiṣṇava philosophy became Māyāvādī in that scientific article. So I told them that "You are better than..., a better (indistinct)." It all become Māyāvādī, so it became all mad. That is why I strongly told them that "This shouldn't be the way. If you want to change, you have to consult with those who are writers."

Prabhupāda: So they are doing very freely and dangerously. And this rascal is always after change, Rādhā-vallabha. He's a great rascal. (pause) Read.

Talk About Varnasrama, S.B. 2.1.1-5 -- June 28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Upendra:

dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣv

ātma-sainyeṣv asatsv api

teṣāṁ pramatto nidhanaṁ

paśyann api na paśyati

(SB 2.1.4)

"Persons devoid of ātma-tattva do not inquire into the problems of life, being too attached to the fallible soldiers like the body, children, wife, etc. Although sufficiently experienced, still they do not see their inevitable destruction."

Prabhupāda: What is the purport?

Upendra: This material world is called the world of death. Every living being, beginning from Brahmā, whose duration of life is some thousands of millions of years, down to the germs who live for a few seconds only, is struggling for existence. Therefore, this life is a sort of fight with material nature, which imposes death upon all. In the human form of life, a living being is competent enough to come to an understanding of this great struggle for existence, but being too attached to family members, society, country, etc., he wants to win over the invincible material nature by the aid of bodily strength, children, wife, relatives, etc. Although he is sufficiently experienced in the matter by dint of past experience and previous examples of his deceased predecessors, he does not see that the so-called fighting soldiers like the children, relatives, society members and countrymen are all fallible in the great struggle. One should examine the fact that his father or his father's father has already died, and that he himself is therefore also sure to die, and similarly, his children, who are the would-be fathers of their children, will also die in due course. No one will survive in this struggle with material nature. The history of human society definitely proves it, yet the foolish people still suggest that in the future they will be able to live perpetually, with the help of material science. This poor fund of knowledge exhibited by human society is certainly misleading, and it is all due to ignoring the constitution of the living soul. This material world exists only as a dream, due to our attachment to it. Otherwise, the living soul is always different from the material nature. The great ocean of material nature is tossing with the waves of time, and the so-called living conditions are something like foaming bubbles, which appear before us as bodily self, wife, children, society, countrymen, etc. Due to a lack of knowledge of self, we become victimized by the force of ignorance and thus spoil the valuable energy of human life in a vain search after permanent living conditions, which are impossible in this material world.

Our friends, relatives and so-called wives and children are not only fallible, but also bewildered by the outward glamor of material existence. As such, they cannot save us. Still we think that we are safe within the orbit of family, society or country.

The whole materialistic advancement of human civilization is like the decoration of a dead body. Everyone is a dead body flapping only for a few days, and yet all the energy of human life is being wasted in the decoration of this dead body. Śukadeva Gosvāmī is pointing out the duty of the human being after showing the actual position of bewildered human activities. Persons who are devoid of the knowledge of ātma-tattva are misguided, but those who are devotees of the Lord and have perfect realization of transcendental knowledge are not bewildered.

Prabhupāda: Sometimes I become surprised how I have written this. Although I am the writer, still sometimes I am surprised how these things have come. Such vivid description. Where is such literature throughout the whole world? It is all Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Every line is perfect.

Room Conversation-Recent Mail -- July 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They're tremendous. Here is a letter from the member of the advisory board of the Sāhitya Academy. You know what that is Śrīla Prabhupāda? Sāhitya Academy? I think it's a literary academy. " 'No earthly writer today can match the vast outpouring of pure verse which our ancient sages, particularly the great Vyāsadeva, have left to the world. Motivated by a deep desire to give moral, cultural, and educational upliftment to all people irrespective of caste, creed or nationality, they have taught us the higher values of life through the medium of historical narrations, biographies, the lives of great men, and simple instructive stories. The unlimited wealth which they have left behind in the Devanāgarī script is sheer ecstasy to read for the poet, the student and the common man. Since dialectic differences began to splinter men into smaller groups, the original language, Sanskrit, was gradually forgotten. It is special grace upon the denizens of this world today that His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda has done such a tremendous job of meticulously translating into so many languages the sacred books of our heritage. Swamiji's most noteworthy achievement is his Encyclopedia of Vedic Education, the multivolume presentation of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta.' " One thing, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that this calling it the Encyclopedia of Vedic..., as he's doing...Everyone has always known the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but fewer people knew Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and now these two are lumped together as equally very important works.

Prabhupāda: Complete.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's very much increased...

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: The more you go, western side, you save time. The more you go eastern side, you add time.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, there's some science fiction that if you go like that fast enough, then you can go back into history. Time machine. By going at a certain speed in a certain direction you can go back into history, and if you go the other way you can go ahead into the future. There's a H. G. Wells. He's a famous science fiction writer. So he wrote a..., called The Time Machine. He was going back into history.

Prabhupāda: H. G. Wells, he was good writer, but he was a scientist also.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, not really a scientist. Science fiction writer. So he wrote this book called The Time Machine.

Prabhupāda: From imagination.

Room Conversation -- November 7, 1977, Vrndavana:

Jayapatākā: When one of the Communist papers was writing a critical report about us, then they said that "They even have a building that's longer than the Writer's Building. How they have done this, shamed our state building?" (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The gate is bigger than the Governor's gate and the building is longer than the Writer's Building. Kṛṣṇa is first. When we build that temple, it will... (laughter) Then everyone will simply be silent. That will end all comment.

Prabhupāda: They are already silent. (laughter)