Avenue (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"avenue" |"avenue's" |"avenues"

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview -- February 1, 1968, Los Angeles:

Interviewer: Did you come with the purpose of spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Prabhupāda: Yes. I am an ordained minister for preaching these missionary activities. So I came here in September, 1965. Then, for one year, I was traveling in many parts of your country. In the beginning I was in Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, and then I went to Philadelphia. Then I came to New York. And in this way I was traveling, not very much. And in 1966, in July 1st, I started my class in New York at 26 Second Avenue. That is my first starting. Then the younger generation began to come to me, and they started the San Francisco branch, Montreal branch.

Interview -- February 1, 1968, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. I am an ordained minister for preaching these missionary activities. So I came here in September, 1965. Then, for one year, I was traveling in many parts of your country. In the beginning I was in Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, and then I went to Philadelphia. Then I came to New York. And in this way I was traveling, not very much. And in 1966, in July 1st, I started my class in New York at 26 Second Avenue. That is my first starting. Then the younger generation began to come to me, and they started the San Francisco branch, Montreal branch. In this way the institution is going. And we have sent our students to Europe also. They have already started one branch in London, one in Hamburg. And we have sent our students in Honolulu. They have started a branch there. So our program is to start several..., as many branches as possible to spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. And it is very easy.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation Before Lecture -- April 29, 1969, Brandeis University, Boston:

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. All right. Kṛṣṇa will see. So you just give service to Kṛṣṇa, impressing people that these Kṛṣṇa conscious people are not hippies.

Miss Rose: Oh, yes! I told a lot of people. You know, Swamiji, the first time when I heard about 95 Glenville Avenue, the first time, a woman told me that, she says, "You know," she says, "gypsies, we have neighbors, gypsies on the street." "Gypsies! I haven't seen any gypsies." Well, I put my shoes. I went downstairs. I went to the door and I start reading. I says, "This is spiritual. This is beautiful. This is spiritual." I forgot right away. So she came to the door, Jadurani. She came to the door and she said, "Hare Kṛṣṇa," and she said, "Come in." I came in and she started talking to me and that's... I got started. So when I seen her, I said, "That's not gypsies.

Conversation Before Lecture -- April 29, 1969, Brandeis University, Boston:

Prabhupāda: Which place?

Miss Rose: Where the disciples are now, on Glenville Avenue? Or do you think that you need another place?

Prabhupāda: No, sometimes the, some children disturb. They broke...

Miss Rose: No. Oh, I know they broke the windows. I know that. You know, Swamiji, it's very hard to find apartments, and, Swamiji, they're very expensive. $125, $135, $145 dollars a month, the apartments are. See. Yeah. And they're very, very hard to find. And sometimes I want to get out of there myself. Because, I mean, there is so many... It's really turning out to be kind of a bad, a lot of children there.

Prabhupāda: Let us see. As Kṛṣṇa desires. Begin kīrtana. Chant.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- July 18, 1971, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because our government, India government would not allow to take money to go outside. So somehow or other I got the P-form sanction, and one big shipping company, they allowed me free passage. So I came here with great difficulty. Of course I was very comfortably situated on the sea, but still, because I am not accustomed, I got sea sickness. So the travel was very miserable. Still I came. Then for one year, I was going here and there, there was no fixed-up position, and then in 1...9, I came here in 1965, September, then 1966, July, I incorporated the society and started my preaching in a storefront, and... Second Avenue. And then gradually the students came and it developed, one branch after. Now we have got sixty branches, and our expenditure is very heavy. According to Indian calculation it is about 700,000's of rupees. We are paying every rent, we have got in each center not less than twenty-five devotees, up to hundred, hundred and fifty. So it is going on by Kṛṣṇa's grace.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Anna Conan Doyle, daughter-in-law of famous author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- August 10, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: I have seen in New York, Park Street...

Devotees: Park Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Park Avenue, that one skyscraper foundation was... And I see within the foundation, the subway train is running.

Haṁsadūta: Within the foundation.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And I was looking at least five, ten stories from the subway.

Haṁsadūta: They're working so much just for this...

Guru-gaurāṅga: They have people here in Paris that work in the subway, in the Metro. And when they have to make repairs, they close the Metro down, twelve o'clock at night, and they come and work from twelve o'clock at night all through the brāhma-muhūrta and work in the Metro, on the tracks, and they leave at four in the morning, and the Metro starts again.

Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor -- August 13, 1973, Paris:

Professor: No, I have not seen the temple, but I've seen, last time I was in New York, I saw, just in front of the library on the Fifth Avenue...

Yogeśvara: He has seen our saṅkīrtana.

Haṁsadūta: He saw us on the Forty-second Street.

Professor: Not on Forty-second Street.

Haṁsadūta: By the library.

Professor: Yes.

Guru-gaurāṅga: Forty-second and Fifth Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Forty-second Street...

Professor: Yes.

Prabhupāda: ...there is public library.

Room Conversation -- September 18, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Just like you have come here, a little tendency for hearing about Kṛṣṇa. Your life is succ..., on the path of success. And there are other, millions, they're not interested. So, for them, the śāstra says, "They're simply working like cats and dogs." Just like dogs sometimes goes very fast this way, that way, that way, they're passing with motor car, this way, (makes barking sound) "Onh, onh, onh, onh, onh, onh." They're simply spoiling time. In America, I have seen, always, (makes automobile noise:) "sonh, sonh, sonh, sonh, sonh, sonh, sonh, sonh, sonh, sonh." Here also. But we see these rascals spoiling time. But that will not appeal to the rascals. They'll say, "They are spoiling time. What these rascals are dancing Hare Kṛṣṇa on the Fifth Avenue?" They think, "Oh, they are crazy fellows." Yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī. They are thinking us as in darkness. I am thinking, we are thinking, "They are in darkness." This is going on.

Room Conversation -- September 19, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, why not play it. Bring that record. On New York, Fifth Avenue, our saṅkīrtana party is going on.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They are carrying the gramophone now.

Prabhupāda: And in London, Oxford Street, the most crowded street, just like our Bombay, Harley Road... So in the big, big cities they are now chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, dancing. People are enjoying. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21). You can play this record at home and dance in tune and enjoy.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They are bringing it. This is the record, Every Town and Village. They are bringing the machine.

Prabhupāda: We are arrested by the police sometimes. Sometimes there are big cases against us. In Ireland. Ireland?

Room Conversation with Banker -- September 21, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Practically all my students... Here, Brahmānanda, his father, at least he was a big industrialist, mother. But he did not like. He joined this movement. Similarly, Girirāja, his father is a big lawyer, rich man. But he did not like that. There are many, many students, their father's are... Śyāmasundara's father is big lawyer, rich man, businessman. He is the only son. But he did not like his father. So there are many... Even though he is not our student, still, I do not know. I have seen in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills. You know? That is a rich quarter. Very nice house. And one boy is coming, he is hippie, and riding on his car and going. Then I saw, although it is such a nice rich quarter, there are also hippies. That I could study. Why these boys are becoming hippies? And New York you know, the hippies are lying here and there in Fifth Avenue, Central Park, and they are worshiping pig. (laughs) You know that?

Morning Walk -- December 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, certainly. In Greece I think some people know of our movement. Because in the airport as soon as some young men saw us, they chanted "Hare Kṛṣṇa!" Yes. Maybe they are Europeans, but I had practical experience. (break) which..., that Park Avenue?

Bali Mardana: Wednesday they are having a meeting. Perhaps on Wednesday.

Prabhupāda: Wednesday. So you have to attend? No.

Bali Mardana: No, I don't have to attend. The lawyers attend. If I attend, it may ruin everything. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...one is yogi. Karmī, jñānī, yogi or bhakta. What is the difference between karmīs, jñānīs, yogis and bhakta?

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 4, 1975, Hawaii:

Yaśodānandana: He said he chanted with you and your disciples on Second Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Yaśodānandana: He said he was fifteen then.

Prabhupāda: What is that, Thompkinson? No?

Kīrtanānanda: Thompkins Square Park.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Kīrtanānanda: Many, many people came to that storefront.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Oh, yes, it was packed.

Morning Walk -- May 14, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Yes. I have seen. New York is very dilapidated, many quarters. And especially Second Avenue, those are very dirty. The... On the Fifth Avenue, that Central Park is also very dirty. This civilization will collapse. It cannot be run on. Fourth-class men, I tell. Because it is conducted by the fourth-class men. Ask that gentleman why they are asking. Are they not fourth-class men? They could not manage?

Śrutakīrti: That man last night admitted. He said, "Now I must leave and do my fourth-class activities."

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is fourth class. This is the proof. Fourth-class men administering... Just like misadministration not immediately detected. After some time, when the case is unmanageable, it is detected. Therefore fourth-class men. Simply these Western people, they know how to earn money by hook and crook. So, so long the money is there it is covered, the fourth-class men. And when the money is finished, they are exposed, fourth-class men.

Morning Walk -- June 28, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. "What is the wrong?" He was coming to our Second Avenue to call his son, "Why you are in this association? Come." At last, we could not save him. The father took away. (break) ...museum?

Kurusretha: Some kind of boat house or...

Devotee (1): It used to be a musical thing. They'd put pontoons out in the lake.

Kuruśreṣṭha: They would have concerts in there in the past.

Prabhupāda: (break) No mango here?

Kuruśreṣṭha: No mango.

Prabhupāda: What is this? They do not...

Kuruśreṣṭha: Only apples and peaches will grow in this state.

Prabhupāda: Why not mango? The climate is good for mango.

Room Conversation with Lt. Mozee, Policeman -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: I came here in 1965. But for one year there was no program; I was loitering only. And then, in 1966, July, I registered this society in New York, and gradually these students... I rented one storefront in New York, Second Avenue, and in this way practically it was started in 1966. Then in 1967 I was attacked with heart attack. Then I returned India. Then again I came back in 1968. So practically the movement is going on regularly from 1968. Yes.

Lt. Mozee: Do you find that you have—again, a personal thing—do you find that you are having difficulty disassociating yourself with false prophets like the Guruji?

Prabhupāda: No, we don't accept. We don't. Because...

Lt. Mozee: I mean disassociating your group with a man like that.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Certainly, we disassociate. We have no very good opinion.

Lt. Mozee: It would seem to me that it would be a very difficult thing...

Prabhupāda: Yes, for others to distinguish.

Morning Walk -- August 7, 1975, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: Where?

Indian man (1): Avenue Road. It is very busy street. There are so many cars coming in the morning, I think, twenty thousand a day.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And they will see the signboard. (break)

Indian man (2): ...that India, I traveled after several years. I last went in 1966. It was not so demonic. But this time I found the younger generation of India is very, very demonic and they don't believe God at all.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Indian Man (2): What is the reason of that?

Prabhupāda: They have been taught by your rascal leaders, Jawaharlal Nehru and company. These rascals taught them.

Room Conversation with the Rector, Professor Olivier and Professors of the University of Durban, Westville -- October 8, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: This is practical situation, that...

Prof. Olivier: Yes, I would agree. It is one of the neglected avenues of learning that we have not been able scientifically, I think...

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is my point. That is my point.

Prof. Olivier: This is the point that he's trying to make, that we have not been able to absorb into scientific studies those spiritual components which go up to make the whole of man. And I would agree. I think it's one of the great shortcomings in our modern educational system, that we... Not that we do not accept this. I think basically, as an intrastructure, we accept this. But it's like a house. When you look at all the superstructures you do not inquire too deeply about the foundations of that superstructure.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Thank you very much

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 12, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: (break) ...to rise early in the morning and do whatever is needed. Then, at nine, half-past nine, I will go his apartment and begin cooking. Then, after finishing, I'll take my bathing, and then we shall eat together. And then, after eating, I will go to the Fifth Avenue for loitering.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Fifth Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So I was cooking once only, that's all.

Yaśodānandana: Your loitering was very fruitful even.

Prabhupāda: I was studying Americans, how they are walking, how they are shopping, like that.

Satsvarūpa: One time you said you were happier then, maintaining yourself, than having thousands of disciples.

Prabhupāda: Yes. There was no chance of finding fault. (laughter) Now I have to find fault.

Room Conversation -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, hmm, at that time I was at Second Avenue. So then Raya Rāma took the help of a lawyer. He took the case, that he'll give me permanent residence. So he was extending only, and each time he was taking hundred and fifty dollars. So in this way, I entered in 1965, September, up to July—no, up to May—and in the May, month of May, there was heart stroke.

Hari-śauri: That was when, '67?

Trivikrama: '66.

Prabhupāda: '66. Yes. '66. Yes, after one and a half year.

Hari-śauri: No. That was '67 then.

Prabhupāda: Because the time was taken, extension. Then, in 1967, in July, I thought, "Now the health is broken." I was very sick after heartstroke. So I thought "Now I shall not exist. So let me go to Vṛndāvana and die there."

Morning Walk -- June 11, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: sat-saṅga chāḍi' kāinu, asate vilāsa, te-kāraṇe lāgila mora, karma-bandha-phāṅsa: "I have given up reality, and I'm attached to unreality; therefore I am entangled in fruitive activities." Te-kāraṇe lāgila mora, karma-bandha-phāṅsa. (japa) (break)

Rāmeśvara: Actually, on Watseka Avenue we own more property than anyone here in Beverly Hills.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Rāmeśvara: On Watseka Avenue, we have the temple and maybe seven other buildings, so we own more property and buildings than anyone here in Beverly Hills.

Prabhupāda: They have only one house—with great difficulty.

Rāmeśvara: We have the whole block.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) There is law, income tax, supertax, welfare to the..., so many taxes? No, only income tax.

Morning Walk -- June 13, 1976, Detroit:

Ambarīṣa: This used to be actually the best street in Detroit. About maybe seventy-five years ago, all the wealthy people lived on this street, Jefferson Avenue, and then the black people moved in and took over, and then all their businesses, they went out of business, and now it's all boarded up. Very dangerous place. All the white people in the suburbs, they live in fear of all the black people in the city.

Prabhupāda: The government cannot manage?

Ambarīṣa: No. The mayor is black. The police they cannot do anything.

Devotee (4): The police force is also becoming black. He's putting black men in charge of every department of the city, and they're mismanaging everything.

Prabhupāda: There is possibility of another civil war?

Room Conversation with Ambarisa and Catholic Priest -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Śrutikīrti: It's in a very nice area in Boston. Commonwealth Avenue was the most aristocratic street in Boston. The temple is right there, just one block from downtown.

Prabhupāda: Near Commonwealth Pier?

Śrutikīrti: Near Boston Commons. Boston Commons? The big park.

Prabhupāda: Not park, there is a pier, pier (pronounces "pire") what do you call?

Ambarīṣa: Oh, pier, pier. Oh, yes, it is near there, Prabhupāda, that's where you landed.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

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

Prabhupāda:And this movement is meant for these fourth-class, fifth-class, tenth-class men. Not this movement is fourth class, fifth class. They are so fallen that they cannot be counted even third class, fourth class-tenth-class of men. Deliver them. Patita-pāvana-hetu tava avatāra. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's incarnation is for delivering these classes of men. Caitanya Mahāprabhu never meant to start this movement for high-class brāhmaṇas, sages, saintly persons—no. This class of men. For the all fallen. Don't be disappointed, go on, go on. Stick to the principles. When there was no response, I did not know where to live, where to eat. Sometimes at Dr. Mishra's, sometimes with some friend somewhere. Where to live. And I was going to inquire the shipping company when the next ship returning to India. Still I was renewing my visa: "Let us hope. Let us hope." In this way, we started Second Avenue in month of July, I think?

Room Conversation -- June 28, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Fifth Avenue.

Rādhāvallabha: Brahmānanda?

Prabhupāda: Yes. He was Brahmānanda's assistant always. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. Simply capture Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet. Māyā will not be able to... When you have come here?

Ṛṣi Kumāra: We just got here his afternoon.

Prabhupāda: "We" means along with...?

Ṛṣi Kumāra: I came with Rādhāvallabha prabhu.

Prabhupāda: Rādhāvallabha, just see, young boy, how he's working hard. You were doing also. You were doing so many things at a time. In Bombay you were doing herculean task, everywhere. He knows how to cook, how to give massage, how to... Yes. How to keep accounts, yes. Qualified. How to cook. Everything. So, may Kṛṣṇa save you. What can I say more?

Room Conversation -- July 2, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Pradyumna: You first made ice cream in New York, Śrīla Prabhupāda? Someone told me that in 26 Second Avenue, did you make..., you made them ice cream when it was very hot?

Prabhupāda: Hot?

Pradyumna: It was hot, no, the weather was hot, so you made.

Prabhupāda: No, you can make ice cream in this, what is called, refrigerator. You can make.

Hari-śauri: Just make thick cream and put it in the fridge.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "Ice" cream.

Prabhupāda: (Prabhupāda speaks some gibberish). Big, big words.

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Downtown. This is First Avenue here, at about ll6th Street, where we are now.

Prabhupāda: Our building is on the Fifty-fourth?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fifty-fifth Street. Just near Broadway, one block from Broadway.

Prabhupāda: Broadway is important place.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very important. Our building is right in the midst of the theater, restaurant and entertainment section of the city.

Prabhupāda: In New York I feel little homely because first I came here, I was loitering on the street here and there. From 1965 September, to '67 July, continually I stayed in New York.

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's a little further down. It's on this avenue, it's on Forty-fourth Street, we are on Ninety-sixth Street. We are a little bit uptown.

Prabhupāda: And Ninety... Yes. That Indian Consulate office is Sixty-fourth.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sixty-fourth Street, and just off Central Park.

Prabhupāda: I was coming there sometimes, talking with the officers. One Mr. Malotra was there, he was showing me very friendly. He arranged some meeting in consulate office. They had some organization, Tagore Organization. Second Avenue we'll come?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. This is First Avenue, then comes Second.

Prabhupāda: Yes, sometimes walking on the Second Avenue.

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: This is Second Avenue?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think Third Avenue. Next comes Lexington Avenue.

Prabhupāda: This is black area?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Puerto Rican and black. This city has as many people Puerto Ricans as Puerto Rico does. So many Puerto Rican people come here, because part of it's a possession of the United States. So the East Side is Puerto Ricans and the West Side...

Prabhupāda: Generally they are worker class.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes. This is Park Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Madison Avenue. Here is Fifth Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Yes, Central Park. I was coming to Central Park from the other side, Seventy-second Street.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Our temple is four blocks from Central Park. Just walking distance. The mothers and children go there.

Prabhupāda: Central Park? Very nice. So you have advantage of the park.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes. And on Sundays we put on saṅkīrtana in the park, and then people are invited to come to the temple for the feast. Now because of the good weather, many people leave the city on the weekend, so the numbers of people who are coming on the Love Feast days is not as much as before the summer and after the summer. Now they like to go to the beaches and resort areas, where it's cool and there's water.

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is Fifty-seventh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fifty-ninth. They don't want to turn here, huh, Jayānanda? Do you? Go up Fifty-ninth it would be nicer. This is where the parade begins. From here down straight. All the way down Fifth Avenue.

Prabhupāda: The Ratha-yātrā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. From here all the way down, we go all the way down to the park. Washington Square Park. All the way down, three rathas. It's the biggest avenue.

Prabhupāda: Is there any hour limit?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. Two or three hours it will take. You've got to get on the right side, Jayānanda.

Prabhupāda: It appears more congested than before.

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, Prabhupāda, now everything looks like the Rockefeller Plaza. All of the buildings are built in that same style. Very opulent. Now every day I look out the window of our building and I think when it will come that we will have one of these buildings. It won't be long. You can see how big these are, Prabhupāda. This is Sixth Avenue.

Prabhupāda: So we are between Sixth Avenue and?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, we're between Eighth Avenue and Ninth. Actually our building can be seen from here. Hare Kṛṣṇa is on the outside of it.

Hari-śauri: I can see it just on the left.

Rāmeśvara: Straight ahead.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's on the left straight ahead. It's a brown building on the left side.

Hari-śauri: There's a tree on the top.

Morning Walk -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: When the devotees heard about your idea for a neon sign on the top of the building, they all went "Jaya!" They like that idea.

Prabhupāda: What is this street?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Ninth Avenue. Sometime I'd like to show you the garage.

Prabhupāda: On Ninth Avenue there are many grocery shops. Eh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Rādhāvallabha: Don't you want a lead car?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Where is the lead car?

Ādi-keśava: They don't know the way; I do.

Morning Walk -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Tenth Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Our temple is between Eighth and Ninth?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Jayānanda has been working very faithfully.

Prabhupāda: They've come to see what they are doing here?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Blow the horn. You want to get out, Prabhupāda? (walking)

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We have rented it from the railroad. This whole area is eight hundred dollars, we have rented. First class-electricity, water, it's first class. We can go around this way, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Oh, very strong.

Morning Walk -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Rāmeśvara: Nobody can imagine what they do in all these office buildings. There are millions of offices.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We're going to take a ride down Fifth Avenue.

Hari-śauri: This is the parade route?

Ādi-keśava: Yes. You can see there's no wires, so we don't even have to bring the top down except for the very end entering into Washington Square Park.

Prabhupāda: (break) He has told that we have got already a copy.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Your Bhāgavatam was here?

Hari-śauri: Where was that, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Morning Walk -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Rāmeśvara: Son is sannyāsa.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: 375 Park Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Like Prahlāda. (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very big building.

Prabhupāda: Other brothers he has got?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, he has two other brothers.

Prabhupāda: They are with father?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, yes, one of them is an architect. And the other one is a failure. He's not doing anything yet. Dhṛṣṭadyumna is the eldest son, though.

Prabhupāda: Eldest?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Then his father must be young man.

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

Prabhupāda: He arrived in Boston in September, 1965, a spry but grim-faced passenger of seventy years on the steamer Jaladuta. He had forty rupees in his pocket and a metal suitcase full of his books and translations. Finding his way to New York City, he set up a storefront temple at 26 Second Avenue in the East Village section. Gradually he drew a small coterie of students around him, mostly through his preaching in Tompkinson Park. As his movement grew, he found backers among his converts. Hare Kṛṣṇa centers were established in Boston, Buffalo and San Francisco, and an appreciation of Prabhupāda's Vedic translations by American university authorities, Columbia, Princeton, Yale professors among others, permitted the establishment of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust in Los Angeles. The Trust launched a promotion of Prabhupāda's translations and original works under the logo of the Living Library of Transcendental Knowledge.

Evening Darsana -- July 11, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Yes, in 1965. Then in 1966 I established this institution in a storefront on the Second Avenue. That is the beginning. I never thought we shall be able to possess such a big building.

Guest (1): You've done so much in that short time.

Prabhupāda: I have not done, Kṛṣṇa has done.

Guest (1): Kṛṣṇa has helped you to do it.

Prabhupāda: That I was speaking, that if we become sincere to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa can give us all opportunities. He's all-powerful; He can do that. (aside:) Those who are going, give them. Those who are going, you can give one. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ. Do you read all these verses, those who are reading Bhagavad-gītā?

Morning Walk -- July 11, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This quarter? No, this is the most prestigious. Fifth Avenue between Seventy-ninth Street and Thirty-fourth Street is the prime location. That's about as far north as you would want to go. Any further north uptown will not be nice, but this area here is very select. The best area is from Fifty-ninth Street to Thirty-fourth Street on Fifth Avenue, where all the shops are, the library. That area is very high class. This is Fifty-seventh Street, Fifty-fifth Street.

Rāmeśvara: Prabhupāda, if the spiritual master has a mission, is it proper for the disciple to think that he can take more than one..., he can take many births to help the mission of the spiritual master?

Prabhupāda: When the spiritual master goes there, somewhere, his nearest assistants, they automatically go there to assist him. When Kṛṣṇa comes the demigods also come to help Him. That is there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. All these Yadus, Yadu family, they came from heaven. So before Kṛṣṇa's disappearance, by some trick they were all killed and they returned to their original place. It is nicely described in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Just see, small house, this yellow. Still, in New York City.

Morning Walk -- July 12, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This school is called Amsterdam School, Prabhupāda, because this is Amsterdam Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's very funny that Ninth Avenue turns into Amsterdam Avenue at this point. Ninth Avenue becomes Amsterdam Avenue on about Sixtieth Street.

Rāmeśvara: Yesterday there was a big parade in New York City, all people who are against abortion, they were marching. The U.S. is having a presidential election, so the Democratic party, they are having their convention in New York City to decide who will be their candidate for President. So all these people were marching to try to convince him to be against abortion. But he has already said he will not take any issue, he will not take a stand, because it is too controversial.

Prabhupāda: Who?

Morning Walk -- July 12, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, Columbus Avenue. Next is Amsterdam.

Devotee (1): You walked here, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Rāmeśvara: Right here is number one hundred.

Prabhupāda: Here is.

Devotee (1): There is one hundred.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's the building, Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee (1): It says "Watergate." Watergate Hotel.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Which floor did you live on?

Prabhupāda: And I was trying to purchase one house here.

Morning Walk -- July 12, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Only when you went downtown did the permanent men come. No one was visiting you up here? Hayagrīva?

Prabhupāda: No, they came there, Second Avenue.

Hari-śauri: Mukunda?

Prabhupāda: All of them.

Rūpānuga: That's amazing. How long were you there, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Here? About six months. Then when my things were stolen, then one boy was coming, his name was Paul Murray, he invited me that "You come to my loft." He took me to Bowery Street.

Morning Walk -- July 12, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: What is this street?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Eighth Avenue. There's a restaurant called Asia Restaurant.

Prabhupāda: Asia? It's behind you. It's hard for you to see.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And there's another one, an Indian restaurant two blocks up, but they all serve meat.

Devotee (1): And liquor.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Meat samosās, like that.

Devotee (1): Like the Muslims.

Evening Darsana -- July 13, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Oh. No, you live I know. Sometimes you go out.

Mr. Kallman: Much traveling, but we've come for the parade.

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Mr. Kallman: Down Fifth Avenue.

Prabhupāda: So often you come to the temple?

Mr. Kallman: Yes.

Prabhupāda: That's nice. Hm. So? (break)

Devotee (5): Two hundreds places, universities, schools, government institutions, big ministers, temple managements for all,...

Prabhupāda: They have given all orders?

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

Rāmeśvara: Do you have any questions about our festival coming up this Sunday? You know we're marching down Fifth Avenue.

Interviewer: Are you going to march?

Rāmeśvara: He asks if you are going to participate in the Ratha-yātrā Parade.

Hari-śauri: This is the parade that it's based on.

Rāmeśvara: This is a photograph of what takes place in India every year. It's a traditional festival in India, we are bringing it to New York. We've got our permits and everything.

Prabhupāda: We have already got in San Francisco, in Chicago...

Rāmeśvara: Philadelphia.

Prabhupāda: In Philadelphia.

Morning Walk -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: This is Eighth Avenue?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No this is Central Park West. I used to live on this street. I was living here, Eighty-first Street and Columbus.

Prabhupāda: These are apartment buildings?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh yes, all residential. Very big, actually they are very first-class residential apartments. The ceilings are very high in every one of them, fifteen, twenty-foot ceilings. Nowadays the ceilings are usually only...

Prabhupāda: Ten feet.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: At most.

Prabhupāda: Otherwise nine feet.

Morning Walk -- July 17, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Best thing is collect and spend, that's all.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Don't bank a lot of money.

Prabhupāda: No. Best buildings are on this Fifth Avenue, huh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Prabhupāda. Stone buildings. They'll last for many hundreds of years.

Kīrtanānanda: No, they will tear them down.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Beautiful buildings, look at them...

Kīrtanānanda: On the lamp post here, green? Right here, on the street side, both sides. Our men went wild last night. We sent out a big party putting up these posters. The thing is nobody will see them today. They're in the temple.

Room Conversation -- July 18, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Always, so long I live, I must come.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Really?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: If we get on Fifth Avenue, you'll come again?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But we will double the amount of people, promise.

Bali-mardana: And double the prasādam.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We will double everything if you are here, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. I can stay here also. I like especially New York, because I started the movement here. And because there are so many branches, if I go they become enlivened.

Room Conversation -- July 18, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Now, by this, Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is advertised. Apart from all over the world, at least in New York it is, that "There is some movement."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prominent movement. Fifth Avenue. We were in charge of Fifth Avenue for one day. Practically we were controlling the Fifth Avenue today.

Hari-śauri: Lord Jagannātha was.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: If that side we get some small house, so that after going, eight days Jagannātha can remain there and festival going on, and then in the next week return...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How small a house?

Prabhupāda: Just to keep Jagannātha.

Room Conversation -- July 18, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Just to keep Jagannātha.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, there's your old storefront.

Prabhupāda: What?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What about your old storefront, 26 Second Avenue?

Prabhupāda: That is too small.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Too small. I'll immediately get a house.

Prabhupāda: And then you can utilize it for other purposes during the whole year.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, we can keep a downtown center.

Bali-mardana: West Village.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's a first-class place for a center, the West Village. We can make many devotees there. We'll keep a small preaching center, maybe a restaurant, prasādam distribution.

Room Conversation -- July 18, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Bottle or... Bottle or can.

Bali-mardana: This store has it... They have the machine.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What about Ninth Avenue? There's all those shops. (whispering in background about 7-UP)

Bali-mardana: He already went to get it?

Prabhupāda: If the government is going against our movement, then I'll have to stay. There is no alternative.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In India.

Prabhupāda: Because in that case I'll be hampered in India.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: "Fifth Avenue, Where East Meets West." Very good idea. Very good idea. Very nice.

Bali-mardana: The other pictures, I think some are from the Olympics.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very prominent. The center section is, next to the front page, the center section is very..., the most popular page in the paper, because it has interesting pictures.

Prabhupāda: You can send one, this cutting, to Mr. Bhajaj, "Fifth Avenue, Where East Meets West." Very good.

Hari-śauri: Send one to Māyāpur as well?

Prabhupāda: Huh? You can send to many place, but this title is very nice. This is the point, this is the point. East, as I say always, the lame man meets the blind man. Together they do wonderful. And different they cannot do anything.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very nicely written. "With everybody pulling together and everybody puffing together, a huge float is tugged down Fifth Avenue yesterday during the first Ratha-yātrā Parade of International Society for Krishna Consciousness. The parade moved south from Central Park to Washington Square Park, where a free feast, music, art, dance and theater festival was held. According to a spokesperson, Ratha-yātrā is a time when people come to dance, sing and feast amidst a sublime atmosphere of bright flags, festoons, banners, garlands, flowers and incense, simply to feel the poetry and blissful nature of life.' "

Prabhupāda: Very good, this is blissful nature.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, you can see the devotees pulling the float.

Bali-mardana: Read the caption in the middle.

Prabhupāda: And they have created a civilization, wine, woman, gambling and meat.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: And they have created a civilization, wine, woman, gambling and meat.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Here's what it said. "The multicolored floats contrast with Fifth Avenue's concrete canyon as parade passes Thirty-fourth Street yesterday." Here it says, "An idyllic mood in saffron robes."

Prabhupāda: Everything is approved.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes, highly approved. Then there's another, New York Times.

Prabhupāda: Oh, that is not very(?) important.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Beautiful photograph.

Bali-mardana: "East Meets West in Hare Kṛṣṇa..."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Feat."

Car Ride -- July 20, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: This is the Tenth Street? No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is Amsterdam Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Ninth Avenue turns into Amsterdam Avenue.

Rāmeśvara: Next year at the Ratha-yātrā they are planning to have a press box, so that the newspapermen and television cameras can come and film the activities on stage also. They can film your lecture, they can film the play.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We're also thinking to have a press box along the parade route, so that they can stay in an elevated position and take photos. We collected a total of about seven thousand dollars, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: And what you spent?

Room Conversation -- August 2, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Hari-śauri: If they do go out, it's just to go and get drunk.

Prabhupāda: And still, our landlord in 26 Second Avenue, if there is anything wrong in the apartment, he would personally do it. He could spare money to call a worker. He was alone. I don't think he had any dog, but he was always seeing the television, and when there was some complaint, he would come and work on it. He's landlord. And so many tenant, there is complaint always. Old house. That house was not very good, very old house.

Hari-śauri: There was many stories?

Prabhupāda: I think five, six stories.

Room Conversation -- August 2, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: No, that was another boy. He was drunkard. (laughter)

Harikeśa: Yogeśvara has many pictures of those meetings at 26 Second Avenue, with Hayagrīva with the beard and the long hair hitting this... There's pictures of all those meetings, photographs. Of Hayagrīva with the beard and long hair hitting the gong next to you.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Long hairs almost everyone. This Umāpati was also one of them.

Harikeśa: He said he was eating meat up until the point you gave him the beads on the day of initiation.

Prabhupāda: Hayagrīva.

Room Conversation -- August 3, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: These were on consecutive days. The one about New York, it says, "Washington, July the 19th." That's where it's reported from. It says, "New York saw on Sunday an unusual spectacle of three brightly colored chariots being pulled along the city's prestigious Fifth Avenue from Central Park to Washington Square, a distance of about five kilometers, by members of the Hare Kṛṣṇa group. The rathas, built in Orissan style with giant wooden wheels, attracted large crowds of spectators all along the route. It was a novel experience for the New Yorkers. Many resident Indians who are not members of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement enthusiastically gave a hand in the pulling. The Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees were celebrating the feast of Jagannātha in the traditional Indian way. The police and the city administration readily cooperated. In a city that is coming to be known for its tolerance of diverse cultures, chariot processions promise to be an annual event.

Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: I used to sit down there. There was no mṛdaṅga. A small dundubi. And I was chanting three hours—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. And people used to come.

Nava-yauvana: In a very bad neighborhood. Very low-class neighborhood.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Low-class, high-class, we don't mind. We chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, that's all. That 26 Second Avenue also not very good neighborhood.

Jñānagamya: It's the worst place in the country. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: But I did not know. Mukunda suggested this is good place, all right, live here. And actually happened to be good place. Gradually, all my disciples came. So I had no disturbance. I was living in the Bowery Street, and on my door these bums were lying with urine and wine bottles and everything. Still, they were so respectful. When I'll come, "Yes, you can enter. Please." (laughter) I had no quarrel with them. They were very kind. They welcomed me, they opened the door, "Please go." They also knew that "He's a harmless..." So, platform, if you remain on the spiritual platform, this material condition cannot hamper you.

Room Conversation -- September 4, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes, he first of all met me on the street and asked me this question. And I brought him, "Yes, I have taken one apartment here. You come here with me." Then I came back to show him the apartment. And from the next day they began to come, Kīrtanānanda and Hayagrīva.

Hari-śauri: Second Avenue apartment?

Prabhupāda: Yes. And this Umāpati. Then Satsvarūpa. They began to come regularly.

Harikeśa: Mukunda, you were already...

Prabhupāda: Yes, Mukunda was before that.

Hari-śauri: When was this, then, when Acyutānanda and Brahmānanda came. That was after...

Prabhupāda: This was in the park, Thompkins Square.

Garden Conversation -- September 7, 1976, Vrndavana:

Indian man: The Ratha-yātrā is held on 7th Avenue... (several talking at once)

Prabhupāda: They admitted: "This is the East and West meeting."

Hari-śauri: "Fifth Avenue: Where East Meets West."

Indian man: "Where East Meets West." Ah.

Hari-śauri: And this one is in South Africa.

Prabhupāda: Last year we introduced Ratha-yātrā in Philadelphia. It was very successful. And this year we have introduced in New York. It is also very successful. Everyone, government official, police, public, all enjoyed. And the Fifth Avenue is the most important avenue in the world, Fifth Avenue. So our procession was how many miles?

Garden Conversation -- September 7, 1976, Vrndavana:

Pradyumna: Central Park to Washington Square Park. All the way. Full length of the Avenue. Complete. From one end to the other.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: The government had sealed it off.

Indian man: What is the effect on Russians, this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement.

Prabhupāda: Here the Russians are afraid of this movement. They are very much afraid. And therefore they are greatest enemy in India. CPI. They are putting so many impediments.

Indian man: (Hindi) China?

Prabhupāda: China.

Room Conversation -- September 30, 1976, Vrndavana:

So I approached Mukunda. Mukunda had no place, still I asked him. So I kept my goods at Mukunda's house and went to live with Yeargen. That is another loft. So in this way, with great hardship—sometimes here, sometimes there—in this way, I got two hundred dollars by selling books, and then I asked Mukunda to find out an apartment. He found this apartment, 26 Second Avenue. One storefront down and one living quarters up. So I found it very convenient. Down I would lecture and hold kīrtana. So he charged 75 dollars per month for the apartment, small apartment. I think in a space like this room or less than that, everything is there. There was kitchen, there was shower, and two rooms. I think less than this. Two-thirds of this room and everything there. So I shifted there. And there I remained up to May 1967, I think. Then I got heart attack. Then I went to Stinson Beach. Then I could not improve my health. No, first of all, I went to San Francisco. There also I could not sleep at night.

Room Conversation on Farm Management -- December 10, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: But attract them. They will come here to eat, "Oh, very nice thing." That is wanted. I made this movement successful simply by love feast. They did not come to hear Hare Kṛṣṇa. They came for love feast. From very beginning, when I was in 26 2nd Avenue, every Sunday I was giving nice foodstuff, at least 200 men. Daily at least more than 15, 20. I was cooking myself. That is the beginning of my movement. The cāpāṭis with Kīrtanānanda, first of all he was taking one and two, then twelve. (laughter) There was another boy...

Devotee: Stryādhīśa.

Prabhupāda: Stryādhīśa. Twenty-two cāpāṭis. (laughter) "Stryādhīśa, can I give you?" "Yes." I gave him four. Finished. "Stryādhīśa, can I give you?" "Yes." (laughter) Very nice boy. He was eating twenty-two. One day there was no money, so he immediately went and came after some time with some money. "And where did you go?" The shoe booth. He polished shoes and brought some money.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Evening Darsana -- January 7, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Fifth Avenue.

D. D. Desai: Yes. They're pulling the chariot.

Prabhupāda: You might have seen.

D. D. Desai: I think San Francisco or somewhere?

Girirāja: This is very recent, in New York.

Prabhupāda: People become mad, and the papers admitted, "Here is the place for East and West to meet." And the police were so satisfied, they said, "Next year we shall make very, very nice arrangement."

Guest (1): Unfortunately what has happened, that several movements have merged.

Prabhupāda: This is not one of the several movements.

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Bhavānanda: Perhaps we should institute that. That would...

Prabhupāda: No, you... Not for my health you do your kīrtana, only then. That first stroke in Second Avenue, that was fatal. You were present, I think.

Gargamuni: Yes. I went to the hospital with Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa saved. Otherwise that was fatal.

Gargamuni: The doctor said that "How is it that he is still here?" They said.

Prabhupāda: When?

Gargamuni: When you had that attack.

Prabhupāda: Ha, ha.

Room Conversation -- January 20, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gargamuni: ...in 26 Second Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gargamuni: It was packed up.

Prabhupāda: Acyutānanda's mother was coming. Sometimes your mother came? No.

Gargamuni: Not for a feast, but she came.

Prabhupāda: No, she used to come. And kissing you. (laughter) He's very pet son of his mother. Sometimes I told her, "Mrs. Bruce, you can give us some money." "I have given my two sons!" And "That's all right." I have met his mother, is very nice lady.

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Brahmānanda: With loudspeakers and... We were very ambitious. So the people, they'd never seen anything like this, and so they accepted it. But then after a while, they resented. If you become too much... Actually, the governments feel very threatened. That was one of the reasons why you were not permitted to land in Kenya, because it was so much advertised, they put banners across the main avenue and radio, TV announcement, posters. They saw this as a..., something that will eclipse their government, their own president. You were more famous. (Prabhupāda laughs) Therefore they tried to say, "No, I am more famous." So therefore they didn't want you to come.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So it's better in some cases to be a little cautious, low key. Better to go slowly sometimes than very...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Not become aggressive.

Room Conversation -- February 19, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: That they will try, but we can find out another avenue.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Well, that's what we did do.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So now they're frustrated. On the whole, it has not hampered our book distribution.

Prabhupāda: That we want to see. That is result, that's all.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because as soon as they stop one thing, we go to another one.

Prabhupāda: That's right. How many places they'll stop?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They can't.

Prabhupāda: They cannot.

Morning Conversation -- April 11, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Money will come. We don't care for these rascals checking. But we must be very sincere. Money is coming, it will come. Kṛṣṇa has given us avenue, these books. We shall sell all over the world huge quantity of books. But they should give us this money, this Tirumala. They are creating anartha, situation which has no utility.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And they are doing it with the money which was given in good faith to Kṛṣṇa. That's very objectionable.

Prabhupāda: No, objectionable... The rākṣasas... Just like Kṛṣṇa was there within the womb of Devakī. Kaṁsa imprisoned. So the brilliance of the body of Devakī could not be seen by others, because imprisoned. So if Kṛṣṇa comes from the womb of Devakī, and He will come, similarly if by your endeavor Kṛṣṇa comes in this movement, then these Kaṁsas will be destroyed. He will kill. That day will come when we shall take all the political posts. That is Kṛṣṇa's mission.

Morning Conversation -- April 29, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So immediately I transferred myself to Jergens, keeping my goods at Mukunda's place, Michael. Then I searched out that 26 Second Avenue. From going to 26 Second Avenue taking this risk of two hundred dollars, then I became little relieved. Before that, I was simply vagabond. That was the first shelter. Then this Kīrtanānanda, Hayagrīva, Satsvarūpa, Umāpati, they guided. Brahmānanda. Some other boys also came, and they left.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Stryadhīśa.

Prabhupāda: Hm? Stryadhīśa. So after getting that shelter, I began to grow. Everything was very precarious condition-vagabond. I was selling some books. I thought that "This boy will be trained up" when I got that place. He invited me to "Come to my loft." It was very big loft. I was holding class, collecting ten dollars. Then he was not paying rent. He gave me the charge of paying rent. So Kṛṣṇa was giving by collecting. It was on the top. Still, people were coming. Great story.

Morning Conversation -- May 29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Śrīla Prabhupāda, with your permission I would like to try to get that first building in New York in which you were, you started Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Ācchā?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: On Second Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Twenty-six?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, Prabhupāda said that we could do that.

Prabhupāda: How you can get it?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: I'm going to New York in a week, and I can try to either purchase it...

Ādi-keśava: It's open.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's still available. We checked.

Morning Conversation -- May 29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes, then we can deliver them. They are, after all, simple. These negroes, they are, after all, simple. We have to claim them. You have got now experience in Detroit. They are very good-behaving negroes. They come to our temple. Nobody could drive there. Therefore we could acquire that house so cheap.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This one on 26 Second Avenue must also be very cheap.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Our Ambarīṣa, he was very much eager. "Oh, don't mind. Take it. We shall arrange."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Cash.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Fifty years ago the cost was six million dollars, and we have purchased, only 300,000.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And the condition is not deteriorated.

Prabhupāda: Oh, it is very first class, palatial building. You have seen?

Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- June 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Very nice roof.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The special feature of that roof is that for some reason there are no tall buildings around our building. Sometimes people say, "Your movement has come a long way from Second Avenue."

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes people say... There's couple people that even went to your place on 26 Second Avenue. They say, "So this movement has come a long way in ten years, from Second Avenue." They remember you sitting there. On Sundays in New York they have the Love Feast. So the average, they get about seven hundred people come. Six to eight hundred is an average crowd on a Sunday. And they serve the... They have simultaneously activities on the five different floors, four different floors. In the basement they have the restaurant.

Morning Conversation -- June 23, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No, no, I did not select that. Unknowingly I was thrown. I did not know which quarter is good way.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Who showed you that area?

Prabhupāda: Mukunda. I asked him that "Find out some upper class...." He found out that 26 Second Avenue. (laughs) I did not know. That's all. Anyone...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Humble beginning.

Prabhupāda: The landlord took advantage. He was receiving rent, eighty-nine rupees or eighty rupees. He charge me 125. And another room, he was getting fifty. So he charged me seventy-five. Little room.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Dollars.

Prabhupāda: Ah, yes, dollars. Eighty and fifty, 130. He charged me two hundred.

Morning Conversation -- June 23, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: On First Street. The First Street was there. I was in between the First and Second Street.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: So First Street, Second Street, and we went to 55th. And Second Avenue, Fifth.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Eighth Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Eighth Avenue.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fifty-fifth Street is midtown, middle of the... But actually that was the right place to be, because there were many young people at that time in the East Village who were searching for something.

Prabhupāda: Yes. I think Mukunda selected for that.

Room Conversation with Mr. Myer -- July 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: "When your next ship is coming to go to India?" So the manager: "Swamiji, you are coming. When you are going away?" I said, "Yes, I have no business practically here. But still, I want to stay and see if things can be pushed." Therefore I am writing. Otherwise I am useless. I am simply loitering and seeing the Fifth Avenue and the... And within the subway station, after taking my lunch I used to go by bus here and there, in the subway, anywhere go, it stops. No shelter. I was cooking, myself, in a friend's house. So he took it as a free cook he has got. And two men, of course, we... Sometimes some guest would... And I would be very glad. And ten, twenty, I'll feed them. And they would like very much ḍāl, cāpāṭi, and one vegetable. First-class... Everyone would like. That was going on, ḍāl, cāpāṭi, and one vegetable. I'll take pleasure. Sometimes somebody would come to assist me. He wanted to eat immediately. And "No, that you cannot. After I have finished, when it is offered to Kṛṣṇa, then I'll give you sumptuous prasādam, not before."

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: And the books I don't want to touch, because it is for the government of India.

Prabhupāda: No. That's nice. We have got so many avenues. So print books as soon as possible. This gives me life. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Jaya. (break)

Prabhupāda: Send this copy to this Communist man.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (laughs) Give him a little heartache.

Prabhupāda: Just photograph a copy.