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Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview -- September 24, 1968, Seattle:

Interviewer: What is your hierarchy in Kṛṣṇa conscious? That is, do you have anything comparable to bishops and the hierarchy of the Christian faith and of other major faiths? That is, you are the spiritual preceptor, and who are all those below you, between you and the congregation, the members?

Prabhupāda: It is not exactly the hierarchy, but in the Christian method, Roman Catholic method, the process of the Pope, Archbishop, and..., that is very nice. There is no objection of us. But our point is that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is lacking. In spite of all arrangement, if people lost faith in God, so simply by hierarchy, what is the benefit there? There is no benefit. You see? Bambarambhe laghu-kriya, in the Sanskrit word, that you can make a very high-grade arrangement, but the result is zero. So that hierarchical arrangement is exactly not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But our method is very simple. If one is fortunate enough to meet a bona fide spiritual master and if he acts strictly under his discipline, he also becomes within a very short time another spiritual master.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- June 29, 1972, San Diego:

Guest (2): What is the speciality of Vedic injunction compared to Hebrew scriptures?

Prabhupāda: Vedic injunction is, the ultimate goal of human life, to go back to home, back to Godhead. That's all. This is not... As... I have already explained that this is not our home, material world. We are spirit soul. Our real home is spiritual world. So in the lives, different species of life, 8,400,000's of species of life, they cannot understand it, that we are spirit soul, our home is in the spiritual world. They cannot understand it. That opportunity is available in this human form of life. Therefore if we don't take advantage of this information and prepare ourself accordingly, then we are losing the opportunity.

Room Conversation -- June 29, 1972, San Diego:

Guest (2): What is the speciality of Vedic injunction compared to Hebrew scriptures?

Prabhupāda: Vedic injunction is, the ultimate goal of human life, to go back to home, back to Godhead. That's all. This is not... As... I have already explained that this is not our home, material world. We are spirit soul. Our real home is spiritual world. So in the lives, different species of life, 8,400,000's of species of life, they cannot understand it, that we are spirit soul, our home is in the spiritual world. They cannot understand it. That opportunity is available in this human form of life. Therefore if we don't take advantage of this information and prepare ourself accordingly, then we are losing the opportunity. Tad api aphala-janma. Anāśrita govinda-caraṇa-dvayam.(?)

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with David Wynne, Sculptor -- July 9, 1973, London:

Śyāmasundara: It's funny, too. When David went to see the Queen one day, he took fifteen of our small rubies. They're not worth much compared to her crown jewels...

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Certainly.

Śyāmasundara: But he told her that they were like... She said, "Well, what shall I do with them?" And he said, "Well, they are... Consider them, Your Majesty, like flowers offered to you by one of your subjects." And she became very pleased to see it like that.

Prabhupāda: Yes. What, what is the value of those jewels to her? But if some citizen offers in good faith and love, she accepts. That's all.

Garden Conversation with Mahadeva's Mother and Jesuit Priest -- July 25, 1973, London:

Revatīnandana: I'm just saying not many people are doing it. How many pe... How many people, compared to the number of medical students in England, how many people are students in religious seminaries?

Jesuit Priest: Well, do you know?

Revatīnandana: No, I'm asking you.

Jesuit Priest: Well, I do. I do. I do know it.

Revatīnandana: So give us a comparison.

Jesuit Priest: Yes. Well, I... We've no problem at all...

Prabhupāda: Now, another thing is...

Room Conversation with Rosicrucians -- August 13, 1973, Paris:

Guru-gaurāṅga: They tend to smile when this question is asked, "Who am I?" So what can I say compared to these masters?

Prabhupāda: That means his knowledge is not perfect.

Guru-gaurāṅga: His knowledge is not perfect, and like us, he is simply trying for perfect knowledge.

Prabhupāda: So unless you have got your goal perfectly known, how you can make progress? (break)

Guru-gaurāṅga: ...their organization is the guru, and their whole organization knows the ultimate goal which they can attain.

Morning Walk -- December 5, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. As energy, how can you differentiate from Kṛṣṇa?

Umāpati: You give the... It could be described as like the growth of a plant as compared to the energy of the sun.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Umāpati: The growth of a plant as compared to the energy of the sun.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Umāpati: The growth of the plant is the inferior energy, and the... (loud waves)

Prabhupāda: Yes, there are so many things. That is comparative study. But... (loud waves) Energy is not different from the energetic. Sunshine is not different from the sun. Idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ. Everything is Bhagavān, but it appears like different.

Morning Walk -- December 5, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Not very cold.

Sudāmā: No, no. Compared to Hawaii, it is very cold.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Sudāmā: Compared to Hawaii, it is very cold.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Hawaii is very pleasant.

Sudāmā: Yes, now it is eighty-five degrees every day.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Sudāmā: It's wintertime now.

Prabhupāda: And summer?

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 14, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Ah?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: There are so many... So few compared to other religions, but we make so big propaganda always...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Because...

Prabhupāda: It is admitted, Hare Kṛṣṇa movement it is admitted.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Because we are not lazy like Māyāvādīs.

Prabhupāda: Yeah. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. "I have become now Brahman—stop work. Eat and make your belly..." You see how Māyāvādī sannyāsī... Ah. (Prabhupāda gestures; devotees laugh) They think that "Now I have become Brahman, I have nothing to do. (Prabhupāda laughs) I have become Nārāyaṇa." "If you've got nothing to do, then why you are eating?" And for one cāpāṭi you'll find there are many Māyāvādīs. They're busy simply collecting cāpāṭis. (devotees laugh) So what is time of your starting?

Morning Walk -- March 23, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: ...to eleven. Why not give me.

Dr. Patel: No, I have given all contribution. And we start with you when you are here.

Prabhupāda: Then Bhāgavata is compared to the body of Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa worships begins from the feet.

Dr. Patel: I started and come up to His mouth.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is avidhi-pūrvakam.

Dr. Patel: Avidhi... Then let me do it for avidhi-pūrvak, then I'll do it, vidhi-pūrvakam.

Prabhupāda: Then you'll never understand. Yes, you'll never understand.

Room Conversation with Mr. Deshimaru -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Yogeśvara: He doesn't understand the analogy. He doesn't understand the example, how that explains spiritual life as compared to material life.

Prabhupāda: Then why... How he will understand? Let me know. I will tell him. Let me know how he will understand.

Yogeśvara: He doesn't understand the example of the skin and the nail. How does that explain...

Prabhupāda: Why? It is everyone understands. Why he does not understand? Here is the nail; here is the skin. As soon I prick the nail cutter here, oh that "Ooooo!" And (chuckles) while it is cutting on, it is going on nicely. Why he does not understand?

Room Conversation with devotees about Twelfth Canto Kali-yuga, and Conversation with Guest -- June 15, 1974, Paris:

Madame Devi: (French)

Pṛthu Putra: She says, "Compared to the problem of the Bayonne, what's happened in Bayonne, the thoughts are more important than the action because the thoughts..."

Bhagavān: "The thoughts begin the action."

Yogeśvara: "The thoughts begin the action, determine the actions."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore we give thoughts beyond your present thoughts from the authoritative Vedic scripture.

Madame Devi: (French)

Morning Walk at Marina del Rey -- July 14, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: No.

Jayatīrtha: In the Kṛṣṇa Book you say that this Kali-yuga is compared to the cloudy season.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Jayatīrtha: The Kali-yuga is compared to the cloudy season of...

Rāmeśvara: The living entities, the living entities.

Jayatīrtha: And only by the appearance of Lord Caitanya with the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra are the clouds cleared away.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Metaphysics Society -- February 21, 1975, Caracas:

Guest (Hṛdayānanda): He has understood from Bhagavad-gītā that Kṛṣṇa says that "As you approach Me, I present Myself." So in that sense can this movement be compared to also the consciousness of Christ, Christ consciousness.

Prabhupāda: Yes, there is no difference between consciousness of Christ or Kṛṣṇa provided we follows them. Christ is speaking as son of Godhead, and Kṛṣṇa is speaking as God, so there is no difference. The truth—the father speaks or the son speaks—the truth is the same.

Morning Walk -- May 12, 1975, Perth:

Paramahaṁsa: They say that they measured the moon and that it's very small compared to the earth, very tiny.

Prabhupāda: All wrong.

Paramahaṁsa: If it's a longer distance than the sun but still it appears so big in the sky, it must be a very large planet.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Similarly Venus and others, they are also above.

Paramahaṁsa: Oh, above the sun.

Prabhupāda: The sun is moving near about that. This is one universe, and there are thousands and millions of universe. Jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). That is God's creation. And they are becoming God, "I am God." Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya (Bs. 5.48). If we simply think of the creation of God, we can appreciate how great He is.

Morning Walk -- May 20, 1975, Melbourne:

Hari-śauri: Śrīla Prabhupāda, if the human form is insignificant compared to demigods, but still, it is very much desired, this human form of life, even by the demigods?

Prabhupāda: Yes, because very good chance of realizing God in the human form of life. Just like difference between Western countries and India. India, a very quick chance of realization of God. The atmosphere is so nice. So this planet is good for God realization, and the best place is in India.

Morning Walk -- July 2, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: Then how the analogy is perfect? Machine it is. That is accepted. Kṛṣṇa says. That is undoubtedly, it is machine. It is nothing but machine. So machine, at the same time, he says, "It grows." How it can be comparable?

Brahmānanda: The body is compared to a machine.

Prabhupāda: Not... It is machine, not compared. It is machine. Actually it is machine.

Brahmānanda: But then it cannot grow because a machine does not grow.

Prabhupāda: No.

Room Conversation -- October 4, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Anumantā. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, anumantā, upadraṣṭā.

Cyavana: In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta in one of your purports you gave the example of Paramātmā being compared to when there is a circus in a village the government sends one inspector to watch over the activities. Then, when the circus goes, he is no longer there. Could you explain it? (pause)

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda, if Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of pleasure, then what does He need us for? If Kṛṣṇa is all blissful, then what... We're so, it seems, incapable of pleasing Kṛṣṇa. He is so magnanimous. What does He need us for?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 12, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: You are not poor. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Dr. Patel: We are poor as compared to.... We just live, no? Three percent(?) we acquire for our status.(?) We don't require much money.

Prabhupāda: (break) ...death.

Dr. Patel: Death is an artifact. There is no death. That is what Arjuna thought, and now, still, sir, you say they are dead. What is death? There is no death?

Prabhupāda: Arjuna's thought is different. That is Arjuna's thought. I mean these people, these materialists...

Morning Walk -- January 16, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: This height?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This height as compared to the ground and everything.

Prabhupāda: Yes, this is all right.

Jayapatāka: And we'll landscape on this now, planting trees and things.

Prabhupāda: And how this side? You can make it also slope. (break) ...clear.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, perfectly clear. (break) ...cannot bathe. We'll have to make more. (break)

Prabhupāda: This land will be utilized for walking?

Morning Walk -- March 7, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: And where is sense gratification? As soon as nature kicks you out, where is your sense gratification?

Hṛdāyānanda: It's a relative thing. Actually, compared to the ordinary man, he's much more intelligent.

Prabhupāda: What is intelligence?

Hṛdāyānanda: He's thinking that "I know so many things, and these other people, they don't know these things. Therefore I'm better than them."

Prabhupāda: So the birds and beasts, they know better than you many things. There are many birds and beasts.

Press Conference -- April 27, 1976, Auckland, New Zealand:

Prabhupāda: We are educating from him that point of view, that the living entity is entrapped within this body, and according to his desire, he's changing different types of body and undergoing continually birth and death. So in order to save him from the cycle of birth and death, one has to understand God, or Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means God. Then he comes to his real, identical position as spiritual body, and then he lives forever. He lives forever. Just like a man changing constantly dresses; that does not mean he's dying. Similarly, we do not die. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). After destruction of this body, we are not dying. We remain. But we simply accept another body. So this is a great botheration. But people are in ignorance. They're thinking that after death there is no life. This ignorance is a great, I mean to say, difficult position. So we are trying to educate them how to get out of this entanglement of cycle, birth and death. And therefore there are so many books on this subject matter. It is a very serious movement. It is not compared to the so many rascal movements. So if you are serious, you can study our books, you can try to understand the philosophy, science; then the whole human society will be benefited.

Morning Walk -- June 3, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, yes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: ...compared to the innocent person, ignorant person.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14).

Rāmeśvara: But then again he argues like this, he says, "The living entity cannot do anything without the sanction of God. So I am desiring certain sinful activities, but why is Kṛṣṇa sanctioning it?"

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa does not sanction.

Rāmeśvara: Then how is it going on?

Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Mādhavānanda: It's larger. And the width of the temple room is twenty-eight. So if we were to put in the altar in the top room, it would also take ten feet. So that would make thirty-five feet as compared to fifty feet downstairs. So because we don't have that extra space of the temple room, the downstairs actually is bigger. The only difficulty is because there is an upstairs walk we have to walk above the Deity. But if we put a nice domes there it might look very nice also, and then not walk up there. But the space is bigger.

Prabhupāda: I thought this space was bigger.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. I never said that "You have to give up this, you have to do this." Never said. Then gradually ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). When the heart becomes cleansed, then little. There is no hopelessness. So many people have come, and they are coming. Both black, white, everyone is coming. There is no question of (indistinct). But you cannot expect that cent percent people will come; that is not possible. But even, even one-fourth percent people come to this, then it will be successful. Compared to the American population, what percentage we have got? Still they have made some impression, the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. Literatures are selling, they are appreciating, learned circle.

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

Prabhupāda: Kālena, in due course of time, all these items, there are eight items it will be reducing, reducing, reducing, reducing, reducing so much. So what is that?

Devotee (2): They say that men are living longer now compared to five hundred or six hundred years ago.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Devotee (2): They say that men are living longer now. The scientists, they say that there's less disease. They say that a hundred years ago people had more disease than...

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

Dhṛṣṭadyumna: "Performance of sacrifice, study of the Vedas, austerity and simplicity, nonviolence, truthfulness, freedom from anger, renunciation, tranquillity, aversion to fault-finding, compassion and freedom from covetousness, gentleness, modesty and steady determination, vigor, forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, freedom from envy and the passion for honor—these transcendental qualities, O son of Bharata, belong to godly men endowed with divine nature." (purport) "In the beginning of the Fifteenth Chapter the banyan tree of this material world was explained. The extra roots coming out of it were compared to the activities of the living entities, some auspicious, some inauspicious. In the Ninth Chapter also the devas, or godly, and asuras, the ungodly or demons, were explained. Now according to Vedic rites, activities in the mode of goodness are considered auspicious for progress on the path of liberation, and such activities are known as daivī prakṛti, transcendental by nature. Those who are situated in the transcendental nature make progress..."

Prabhupāda: The defect of modern civilization is that they have no idea about liberation. Neither they have any idea about transmigration of the soul. From the very root, they are defective. They are thinking... Just like animals. Dog is thinking, "I am this dog. I am born dog and I'll die, that's finished, everything."

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

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: But that everything should be done in relationship to Kṛṣṇa. Then everything will become purified. Hṛṣīkeśa hṛṣīkeṇa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. When the senses are engaged for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction, then they're no longer... The senses are compared to the sharp teeth of (indistinct). (indistinct) sharp teeth are naturally very dangerous. But when engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, the shark teeth, they're broken. So they can't feel any trouble. Although we are using the senses which is the cause of bondage, these senses employed in Kṛṣṇa's service, they no longer become a source of bondage, but of liberation.

Prabhupāda: (Sanskrit) Serpent is dangerous, so long he has got the fangs. (indistinct) If the fang is taken away that means he's no more dangerous. So (indistinct). But if I am sure that his fangs are taken away (indistinct). Senses are dangerous, it is compared with the serpent. (Sanskrit) But if you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness that (Sanskrit) the fangs are no more existing therefore it is no more dangerous.

Room Conversation With Scientists -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Any stage, it is, the whole thing is complicated.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: But you are saying that the soul is actually by nature very simple.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: At least compared to the material world.

Prabhupāda: Yes. The soul is not complicated.

Sadāpūta: I believe what Svarūpa Dāmodara Prabhu is saying is that matter, each element studied by itself, has a simple structure, but when the body is formed with the soul, then it becomes apparently more complex; the chemical reactions become more complex.

Rūpānuga: As a matter of growth even. Because life is present, then this small pea grows.

Room Conversation -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: No, the formula is all given in this Bhagavad-gītā.

Dr. Sharma: I find your Bhagavad-gītā most illuminating as compared to other Gītās I have read, the translations.

Prabhupāda: We are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is, that's all.

Dr. Sharma: How can we best serve the movement? By joining it? I have joined it in a...

Prabhupāda: Prāṇair arthair dhiyā vācaiḥ: "By life, by money, by intelligence, by words." Either four or three or two, at least one. Then it will be all right.

Dr. Sharma: I'll be writing...

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

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because of this rain the atmosphere is actually very clean now. You notice that. It's not very much smog, compared to usual. This is the FDR Drive.

Prabhupāda: These are cooperative buildings?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Prabhupāda. These are lower middle class cooperative buildings. This is the East Side.

Prabhupāda: I selected one cooperative apartment, they wanted five thousand dollars. (laughs) I had no money. Very nice apartment, near city office.

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

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

Hari-śauri: In Arizona. There's an article, and it showed a picture of Mars and it compared, there's supposed to be this canyon four miles deep. So they said it compares to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, like that. So Prabhupāda said that by even mentioning Arizona they've revealed themselves. And he told one story about, there's a man, he heard a noise in his room, and he said, "Ah, who is that?" And immediately the reply came, "Oh, I'm not stealing." So even without asking, they've revealed themselves by saying Arizona, even mentioning Arizona.

Prabhupāda: Why these rascals compare it with Arizona? As if there is no other place in the world. Everything they are doing in Arizona. All photograph in this place. Now they have been caught. I was always protesting, "These rascals have never gone." For the last ten years I've protested. Whenever they asked me, I say straightly, "It is all childish. They have never gone, neither they'll be able to go." That has been proof available. Now they do not talk about it. That is finished, all propaganda, finished. Now they have taken another...

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

Rādhāvallabha: They have here proof that his mantra is no different than any ordinary sound. It says "In a Stanford Research Institute experiment, a group of TM trainees was compared to a control group who had been taught a fake mantra that they believed would be effective. In both groups some subjects were able to bring unpleasant psychosomatic symptoms under control. Three of these dropped out of the TM training group. Their symptoms returned. Two dropped out of the control group; their symptoms came back too. Evidence like that suggests that whatever works in the TM system, it does not depend upon the mystical mantra."

Prabhupāda: Let their men come and talk with our men in a public meeting. Then people will understand what is the difference.

Morning Walk -- July 18, 1976, New York:

Rāmeśvara: And you wrote that just like the cart of Jagannātha is compared to Mount Sumeru, similarly, in London they were comparing it to that statue of Lord Nelson.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Lord Nelson's column.

Rāmeśvara: Lord Nelson's column.

Prabhupāda: Rival to Nelson. They published, Guardian.

Rāmeśvara: The Guardian, yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Good newspaper.

Prabhupāda: It has become against.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Maybe because...

Prabhupāda: It is political.

Conversation with George Harrison -- July 26, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: "Woman is compared to fire, and man is compared to a butter pot. Therefore a man should avoid associating even with his own daughter in a secluded place. Similarly, he should also avoid association with other women. One should associate with women only for important business and not otherwise."

kalpayitvātmanā yāvad
ābhāsam idam īśvaraḥ
dvaitaṁ tāvan na viramet
tato hy asya viparyayaḥ

"As long as a living entity is not completely self-realized—as long as he is not independent of the misconception of identifying with his body, which is nothing but a reflection of the original body and senses—he cannot be relieved of the conception of duality, which is epitomized by the duality between man and woman. Thus there is every chance that he will fall down because his intelligence is bewildered."

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

Prabhupāda: But still husk is not rice. You cannot say husk is rice.

Pradyumna: He says the husk... He says "Rice is the equivalent of God in man while the husk can be compared to desire which reduces God to man."

Prabhupāda: No, no.

Pradyumna: Therefore my desire is life plus desire equals man. Life minus desire equals God."

Prabhupāda: (dictating:) You are desiring to become God. There cannot be no desire. But you're unceremoniously desiring to become God. Although there is no proof in the śāstras. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is accepted that the living entities are sparks of..., part and parcel of God, Kṛṣṇa.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 7, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Mr. Nair told me that "I have purchased not more than twenty rupees per square yard. So I shall charge you seventy rupees. It is my profit."

Dr. Patel: Seventy rupees also you were wise as compared to the modern, present prices.

Prabhupāda: No, at that time it was selling 150. And now it is more than four hundred. Our land is, only one crore, apart from these buildings. Therefore everyone is envious.

Dr. Patel: Most envious men are... That fellow was himself burned by pouring kerosene on. He was a most envious fellow. He even once told me, "Why do you go there?"

Room Conversation -- February 10, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is not... On principle, I am talking on the principle. That is not yet. It will take some, at least two, three years or at least one year, but this is the position. This Dāmodara Mahārāja you have already experience about... (laughs)

Bhavānanda: Yes. And he is like an ant compared to them.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bhavānanda: He is like an ant. They are more envious.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: He has no intelligence.

Prabhupāda: They are like wasp.

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Hm? Hm!

Hari-śauri: I was thinking I was very unfortunate to take a birth in a family of nondevotees, but they're not so bad compared to these others.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jayapatākā's mother is here.

Prabhupāda: Oh. What does she say?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, she's very nice. She wears sari. She's attending your lectures in the morning, taking prasādam. She's a very nice woman. He's such a nice son, and it's due... You can see... She's very nice. She could be a devotee easily, in my opinion. I never talked to her, but just from the way she carries herself, immediately putting on sari, quite happy to stay here for the time she's staying. He said he was going to bring..., bring her here one evening to meet you. Acyutānanda's mother came here.

Prabhupāda: Hm. He has returned?

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- February 28, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: That I have studied already, that British period, occasionally so many railway accidents. But the Indian people, since svarāja, I see no railway accidents. And they are being managed, these railway lines, by śūdra class, less-intelligent class. So they are so intelligent.

Rūpānuga: Compared to the British.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They sent their best men here.

Prabhupāda: The fireman, Indian driver, the signal man, they are not very high class men.

Rūpānuga: In America the scientists are like the blacksmiths. They're like just blacksmiths. And in India the scientists may have some culture...

Prabhupāda: Blacksmith or black snake?

Room Conversation with Ratan Singh Rajda M.P. 'Nationalism and Cheating' -- April 15, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That is another thing, but they are cheating. That is a fact. How we have learnt it, that is another thing. But you are cheating. That's fact.

Devotee (4): Just like this President Carter, though, he's supposed to be a religious man and bringing so-called honesty into government, compared to the others.

Prabhupāda: That, everyone says.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And this, these space flight cheatings, this is for the purpose of giving a few men more tax money or fame. That's another reason for cheating, to get fame.

Prabhupāda: I have got tendency to cheat, so people unnecessarily poses himself as very big man even by ideas that you will consider him very great man, although I am nothing. So many gurus, they are doing that.

Room Conversation -- May 2, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This movement is so powerful, this message is so pure, that it seems that no matter how big the opposition is, still, it can conquer. We can be victorious. Arjuna was victorious. There's a wonderful statement in the beginning... You make this... It's stated in the Tenth Canto. Parīkṣit Mahārāja is appreciating Arjuna, and he's saying, "How, how could he defeat such gigantic...?" He's comparing to the ocean the battlefield. He says, "Bhīṣma, such a big fish..."

Prabhupāda: Timiṅgila.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: In the ocean there are fishes. You cannot see them. Big fishes: (makes gulping sound). From the skeleton I saw in Calcutta Museum...

Bhu-mandala Diagram Discussion -- July 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In other words, Śrīla Prabhupāda, Priyavrata had seven children on seven islands, and each one of them had seven children. So each son of Priyavrata divided his island in seven parts, and it was given to one of the grandsons of Priyavrata. We could not show that because it's so small. This is drawn exactly to scale. In order to include all of the Bhū-maṇḍala we had to make everything up very small because, as you'll see, most of Bhū-maṇḍala is made of Loka-varṣa and Lokāloka mountain. Everything else is very small compared to those two.

Yaśodā-nandana: Surrounding the sugarcane ocean, there is Śālmalidvīpa, where again there are seven divisions of land, seven rivers...

Prabhupāda: So island and surrounded by ocean, like that.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes, he has made this.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Very beautiful. I think it's even more beautiful than Hyderabad. It's hundred acres compared to six hundred acres, but all hundred acres is cultivable. And secondly, it is not far from the city. It is only like from Juhu to Churchgate. It's even less than that.

Yaśomatīnandana: Eight miles.

Prabhupāda: It is nothing.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Nothing. It took us fifteen minutes by scooter to get that. So I suggested to Yaśo that we should make that farm like New Vrindaban. Let us build a temple there...

Room Conversation -- October 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Haṁsadūta: Once Lord Buddha, they say, was sitting under a bo tree, and a leaf fell down. He picked it up and he said, "The knowledge I am giving you is like this leaf compared to the tree of knowledge." So I always quote that. They appreciate that, "Oh, yes," that beyond nirvāṇa there is brahma-nirvāṇa, and beyond that there is Paramātmā, and above that there is Bhagavān.

Prabhupāda: Nirvāṇa means sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). That is nirvāṇa. Kṛṣṇa said, sarva-dharmān parityaj... Parityajya means giving up, and that is nirvāṇa. It requires expert presentation.

Room Conversation -- October 26, 1977, Vrndavana:

Śatadhanya: Because the other kavirājas previously, the doses that they suggested were very large. So this kavirāja said they were too large. So this dose is quite smaller compared to the others. He said it should be done twice a day. This is only... Each dose is only two ratis. But the other kavirājas, they were even saying up to one tolā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not per day.

Prabhupāda: (laughing) Not one tolā.

Śatadhanya: They were saying some large...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, one tolā, not per day.

Prabhupāda: (laughing) That was wrongly inter... Nobody can... Anyway, let us see for some days, one.

Prabhupada Vigil -- November 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You took morning and lunch.

Prabhupāda: That is very little.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. But compared to other days, you took as much or more. Well, then we can postpone and we can put ourselves under the care of this other kavirāja who came the other day.

Prabhupāda: Who came?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Remember the kavirāja from the Raṅgajī temple? The assistant that this man was going to bring. So now we can be put under his care and take our chances. 'Cause that's what staying here means.

Prabhupada Vigil -- November 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (aside:) It's not as rough as traveling to Māyāpur, though, not one tenth as rough or one fiftieth. You know, all you got to do is go on a rough road. It's nothing. This palanquin is smooth compared to that, going slowly and being carried. I think the main point, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is that we have to consider going as opposed to staying here with the possibility of being at the..., under the care of this other kavirāja. That to me is the choice. This kavirāja will give medicines... First of all, we can try to convince him to stay, but failing that, he's giving a series of medicines which he expects will be proper according to the condition. But naturally the condition can change on any date. Then what will we do?

Prabhupāda: I say no medicine.

Page Title:Compared to... (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:25 of Nov, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=48, Let=0
No. of Quotes:48