Prabhupāda: These are our books. You have seen?
Professor: Yes, sir, I've seen... Some of them, I've seen. This one in particular I have seen.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We are... This is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. There are sixty volumes, books like this.
Professor: Sixty volumes like this?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Sixty volumes. And you can see how we are doing Sanskrit.
Professor: Transliteration.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Transliteration and word meaning, then translation, then purport.
Professor: Yes, I've studied the text myself.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Professor: I've studied the text myself.
Prabhupāda: I see. You have studied? How do you like it?
Professor: Yes, I like it very much.
Prabhupāda: Thank you.
Professor: I'm very interested in the bhakti.
Prabhupāda: Which one you have studied?
Professor: Oh, well, I haven't read all of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, but of course, this Tenth Chapter I read.
Prabhupāda: Tenth Canto?
Professor: Yes, the Tenth Canto I read. And other parts, other parts also.
Prabhupāda: Oh. We have begun from the First Canto, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). You show him the verse, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). This is First.
Pradyumna: First Volume.
Professor: Yes.
Pradyumna: After introduction.
Professor: Yes, yes, it's...
Prabhupāda: Janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye... (SB 1.1.1). Like that.
Professor: You belong to the Caitanya...?
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. We have translated Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
Professor: Oh?
Prabhupāda: Yes. This is one chapter, only, sample.
Professor: In the Bengali script. That's good.
Prabhupāda: Yes, in... Caitanya-caritāmṛta is in Bengali.
Professor: I've read also, I've read parts of that also.
Prabhupāda: Caitanya... Original Bengali?
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So you know Bengali?
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Oh, thank you.
Professor: Yes. Sanskrit and Hindi and Bengali and Tamil.
Prabhupāda: Oh, oh, that's nice.
Professor: So I read lot of the Tamil bhakti scriptures.
Prabhupāda: Oh, I see.
Professor: The Alwars and the Nayanas.
Prabhupāda: I see. Just a..., immediately he came, Dāmodara, the Ambassador. He came just now.
Professor: Yes. Oh, he came just now?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Professor: He has left now?
Paramahaṁsa: Yes, Ambassador Dāmodara. He was... Just prior to your coming, he was also meeting with Śrīla Prabhupāda, yes.
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Just a half and hour before, he was here.
Professor: I see, I see. I know him well.
Prabhupāda: He's coming from Malayalam.
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So we can see, you can see how we have done.
Professor: Do you recite this also, Caitanya-caritāmṛta?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.
Professor: Do you think you could do a little?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Professor: I would be very interested.
Pradyumna: Glasses.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Shall I read? You want?
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: All right. (pause) This is...
Professor: If you could read some of the Bengali part. Of course, in the beginning there are some Sanskrit.
Prabhupāda: Only one verse.
Professor: Some Sanskrit.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Professor: But the pure Bengali.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
- jaya jaya mahāprabhu śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya
- tāṅhāra caraṇāśrita, sei baḍa dhanya
- (CC Adi 7.2)
You understand Bengali?
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Or shall I explain?
Professor: Oh, well, I understand.
Prabhupāda: All right.
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: (Chants many verses from Ādi 1.7 in Bengali) ...kāśīra māyāvādī. You know kāśīra māyāvādī?
Professor: Yes. Yes, a little.
Prabhupāda: Vṛndāvana yāite prabhu... (continues chanting) ...vasilā sei sthāne. You want to hear more?
Professor: No, thank you.
Prabhupāda: So, in this way, we have given Sanskrit, here, the transliteration. Just like
- āra dine gelā prabhu se vipra-bhavane
- dekhilena, vasiyāchena sannyāsīra gaṇe
Here is the transliteration. Āra, dine, gelā, prabhu, se, vipra, bhavane, dekhilena, vasiyāchena, sannyāsīra, gaṇe.
Professor: Hm. How many volumes is this one, when it's complete?
Prabhupāda: This is only one chapter.
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: And you know how many chapters there are. How many chapters?
Pradyumna: Seventeen in the first part, about twenty something in the second part...
Professor: Second part.
Pradyumna: Thirty something in Third Part.
Professor: Yes, about sixty altogether. A little more than sixty.
Prabhupāda: So how many, all...? Sixty.
Professor: Sixty, sixty-five...
Prabhupāda: So, at least, fifty volumes like this.
Professor: Hmm.
Prabhupāda: So why don't you introduce in your university?
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: You see.
Professor: Yes, yes. I like myself also to acquire this one.
Prabhupāda: Yes. You see how we have translated. I have given transliteration and word to word meaning. You are scholar, you can understand. So we want to introduce this literature in the Universities.