Yogeśvara: If you have questions, you shouldn't feel shy. You can ask whatever you want.
Professor: No, why not?
Prabhupāda: No. He has already questioned once, that I am making brāhmaṇa—whether it is according to śāstra?
Professor: That's the usual question. That's not the first time this question has been asked to you.
Prabhupāda: No, it is... We do not do anything which is not in śāstra. So this Jābāla Upaniṣad, this Satyakāma Jābāla, he went to Gautama Muni for initiation. So Gautama Muni asked him, "Who is your father?" He replied that he did not know. "So ask your mother." The mother was asked also. She said, "No, I do not know." He came to Gautama Muni and said that, "My father's name is neither known to my mother nor to me."
Professor: Yes, yes. I know this story.
Prabhupāda: Then he accepted that "You are a brāhmaṇa," because he is talking truth.
Professor: The truth, satyam.
Prabhupāda: That is the sign.
Professor: The sign. It's a well-known story.
Prabhupāda: Therefore, by birth, a brāhmaṇa is not made. By character.
Professor: Yes, I agree with that. And what about girls? Do you initiate girls? Or not?
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Professor: Do you initiate girls?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. So many girls. Striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim.
Professor: That's...
Prabhupāda: Find out this verse, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya. Give him, Paṇḍita Mahāśaya.
- māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya
- ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ
- striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās
- te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim
- (BG 9.32)
Professor: Just like Gārgī and... Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Gārgī. Etad viditvā yaḥ prayāti sa brāhmaṇaḥ.
Yogeśvara: It's rather remarkable if one takes into account the fact that most of us come from backgrounds which had nothing whatsoever to do with the standards of brahminical culture.
Professor: That's right. Yes, that's...
Yogeśvara: We were, we were steeped in all kinds of bad habits.
Prabhupāda: No, according to Vedic injunction, the Westerners are mlecchas, yavanas. You know better than me.
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So pāpa-yoni. And therefore, Kṛṣṇa says... What does He say?
Pradyumna:
- māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya
- ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ
- striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās
- te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim
- (BG 9.32)
"O son of Pṛthā, those who take shelter in Me, although they be of lower birth, women, vaiśyas, merchants, as well as śūdras, or workers, can approach the supreme destination."
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: In another place, in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, I think Second, Second Canto... Find out this verse: kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ ye 'nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ (SB 2.4.18).
Professor: This one?
Devotee: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā...
Pradyumna: We publish these with nice indices.
Professor: Oh, yes, yes. It is so strange to have an index. Yes.
Prabhupāda: Index, there is.
Professor: Śloka-sūcī. Yes, there is index. Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Pradyumna: Kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ ye 'nye ca pāpā...
Prabhupāda: The name, yavana, is there.
Pradyumna: ...yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ śudhyanti tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ. Translation: "Kirāta, Hūṇa, Āndhra, Pulinda, Pulkaśa, Ābhīra, Śumbha, Yavana, and the Khasa races, and even others, who are addicted to sinful acts, can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord due to His being the Supreme Power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him."
Prabhupāda: What is the purport?
Pradyumna: Uh. "Kirāta. A province of old Bhāratavarṣa mentioned in the Bhīṣma-parva of the Mahābhārata. Generally the Kirātas are known as the aboriginal tribes of India. And in modern days the Santal Parganas in Bihar and Chota Nagpur might comprise the old province named Kirāta."
Prabhupāda: They're black.
Pradyumna: "Hūṇa. The area of East Germany and part of Russia is known as the province of the Hūṇas. Accordingly, sometimes a kind of hill tribe is known as the Hūṇas, the Huns."
Prabhupāda: Hoons.
Pradyumna: "Andhra. A province in Southern India mentioned in the Bhīṣma-parva of Mahābhārata. It is still extant under the same name. Pulinda. It is mentioned in Mahābhārata, Ādi 174.38, that is the inhabitants of the province of the name, Pulinda. This country was conquered by Bhīmasena and Sahadeva. The Greeks are known as Pulindas, and it is mentioned in the Vana-parva of the Mahābhārata that the non-Vedic race of this part of the world would rule over the world. This Pulinda province was also one of the provinces of Bhārata, and the inhabitants were classified amongst the kṣatriya kings. But later on, due to their giving up the brahminical culture, they were mentioned as mlecchas, just as those who are not followers of the Islamic culture are called kafirs, and those who are not followers of the Christian culture are called heathens. Ābhīra. This name also appears in Mahābhārata, both in the Sabhā-parva and the Bhīṣma-parva. It is mentioned that this province was situated on the River Sarasvatī in Sind. The modern Sind province formerly extended on the other side of the Arabian Sea. All the inhabitants of that province were known as the Ābhīras. They were under the domination of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira and, according to the statements of Mārkaṇḍeya, the mlecchas of this part of the world would also rule over Bhārata. Later on, this proved to be true, as it was proved in the case of the Pulindas. On behalf of the Pulindas, Alexander the Great conquered India, and on behalf of the Ābhīras, Muhammad Ghori conquered India. These Ābhīras were also formerly kṣatriyas within the brahminical culture, but they gave up the connection. But the kṣatriyas who were afraid of Paraśurāma and had hidden themselves in the Caucasian hilly regions later on became known as the Ābhīras, and the place they inhabited was known as Ābhīradeśa. Śumbha, or the..." (break)
Prabhupāda: One Yavana fought with him, Kālayavana.
Professor: Because usually the Yavanas is considered as being Greeks.
Prabhupāda: Greeks.
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Professor: Not Turks.
Prabhupāda: Turks and Greeks...
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: What is the mention there?
Pradyumna: Turkey.
Prabhupāda: Hm. Then?
Pradyumna: Then... "Another ..."
Prabhupāda: As far as I have searched out from Mahābhārata... Yes.
Pradyumna: "The western Yavana joined with Duryodhana in the Battle of Kurukṣetra under the pressure of Karṇa. It is also foretold that these Yavanas, that these Yavanas also would conquer India, and it proved to be true. Khasa..." (break)
Professor: Now I understand exactly what the purpose of your movement is. I just wonder if you think the Western world is ready for this message?
Prabhupāda: Yes, why not ready? So many young men are coming.
Professor: So many, O.K., yes, but consideration of so many other people outside this temple...
Prabhupāda: No, any sane man will accept. This cult will not be accepted by the insane. One who is in quite order of the brain, he'll accept it. Only mūḍhas. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15).
Professor: And in India where is your āśrama or something like that?
Prabhupāda: My main āśrama is in Vṛndāvana.
Professor: Where?
Prabhupāda: Vṛndāvana.
Professor: Oh, in Vṛndāvana, itself.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Māyāpur. Lord Caitanya. And we have got branch in Calcutta, Bombay, Hyderabad. Māyāpur and Vṛndāvana. Five, six... (break) I, I brought with me forty rupees and books. That's all.
Professor: Forty rupees! That was not enough to live in Boston or in New York.
Prabhupāda: Yes. And now we are spending about eighty thousand dollars per month.
Professor: Per month.
Prabhupāda: Throughout the whole world. But we are selling our books very nicely, about... How many, how much dollars?
Yogeśvara: How many, how many lakhs of rupees of books per month, Pradyumna?
Prabhupāda: No, no, daily...
Professor: Lakhs of...
Prabhupāda: Daily we are collecting about thirty, eight hundred... In, in, in Los Angeles we collect about eight hundred dollars daily.
Yogeśvara: More than that.
Prabhupāda: More than that. Eh?
Haṁsadūta: I think it must be about two thousand, about twenty thousand dollars a day, through the society.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Professor: Just by selling books or...?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Yogeśvara: Just by selling books.
Professor: You must receive gifts as well.
Prabhupāda: No gifts. By selling books.
Professor: Why not?
Prabhupāda: There are sometimes gifts.
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Just like George Harrison has given us a house in London, Letchmore Heath. It is worth 220,000 pounds.
Haṁsadūta: Over a half million dollars.
Professor: Ācchā.
Prabhupāda: So you can come sometimes. No you can stay there. It is very nice place. We have 17 acres of land, open, with a lake. It is a royal palace.
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We are installing our Deity next 21st. So if you have time, I invite you. It is not far, London.
Professor: London is not far. Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Professor: The 21st of September?
Prabhupāda: Twenty-first of August.
Professor: Oh, I see.
Yogeśvara: In a few days.
Professor: It's a big feast.
Prabhupāda: So you are Sanskrit scholar. You can join with this movement and help us.
Professor: Thank you.