Prabhupāda: Instead of not very sympathetic, they have remarked this, "Oh, these boys are very nice." At least, people will appreciate, "Oh, these boys are... These Kṛṣṇa conscious men are very nice. They do not smoke. They do not drink. They have no illicit sex life. They do not kill for satisfy the tongue. They are satisfied with natural food. And their behavior is very good." Who will deny it? And the other asset they cannot estimate, that how much he is in contact with Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme. That, they have no estimating power, but at least they will appreciate these external features. One clergyman, when I was going to Hawaii, he was talking with me. He said, "Swamiji, I have seen your disciples have a very nice face, glowing face." And "Yes, certainly. They must be. They are making spiritual progress." So it is not difficult. It is very easy. If you take to this, you have everything sublime and your life becomes sublime. You haven't got to give up anything. The material needs are there, eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That is not disallowed, but adjusted for Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Estimate (Conversations)
Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Cow, yes. And in Vedic literature you'll find, a man is... Richness of a man is estimated by the possession of grains and cows. Dhanyena dhanavān. If he has got sufficient quantity grain, then he's to be... Formerly, even still in India, when a daughter is offered to a family, they will go and see how many morais(?) there are. Grain stock. If he sees that he has five, six, big, big grain stock, then he can... "Oh, this is nice house." You see? "They can feed." So in India still, the arrangement is that every family has got at least two years grain in stock. You see? And cow at least one dozen. No economic problem. And actually, that is the fact. You keep cows and have sufficient grains, whole economic problem solved. Eating.
Prabhupāda: He saw he is nice gentleman. He was a rich man, brāhmaṇa. "What is this?" He said plainly, "Oh, I have been attracted by your wife, by the beauty of your wife." "All right, come on. What is that?" You enjoy my wife. You are brāhmaṇa. You are..." So he was received well. And at night, when he was given place, then he asked that woman, "Mother, will you give me your hair pin?" He took the hair pin and pushed in the eyes: "Oh, these eyes are my enemy." Since then he became blind. And in that blindness he was worshiping Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa was coming to him. And he would not touch. He'll sing, dance, and He'll supply milk and go away. So this Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura wrote one book, Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta. It is very valuable book. That is very highly estimated, Lord Caitanya.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Devotee: Haribol.
Prabhupāda: This whole property. We have to manage so many temples.
Kīrtanānanda: The conservation people estimate that this land will support eighteen people.
Hayagrīva: Well, that's materialists.
Kīrtanānanda: Thirty people, I think.
Hayagrīva: That's a materialistic calculation.
Kīrtanānanda: So if you want one cow for every person, it would only support eighteen cows.
Prabhupāda: Eighteen cows? The whole property?
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Paris. And we have got two ceremonies, very big ceremonies, in London and San Francisco, Ratha-yatra, car festival. And, it is estimated, fifty thousand people are going to participate in the ceremony both in London and San Francisco. We are making arrangement, car festival. This car festival is observed in Jagannātha Purī. You have been in Jagannātha Purī?
Prof. Kotovsky: Yes, yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prof. Kotovsky: From immemorial time, this festival...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.
Prabhupāda: So call him so he can come here just now. He was talking seriously about "You please come immediately."
Śyāmasundara: I have his Delhi address too.
Prabhupāda: Now suppose the estimate is 250,000 pounds. So how much the bank may advance?
Mr. Arnold: I don't think the bank, in this state of, of, umm, the one at King Street, Hammersmith...
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Mr. Arnold: The one at Kings Street, Hammersmith. I don't really think the bank will advance you anything. Umm, you see you've got nothing to mortgage.
Haṁsadūta: He says, "My dear Lord, people may say that I am the master of all Vedic knowledge and I am supposed to be the creator of this universe. But it has been proved that I cannot understand Your personality, even though You are present before me just like a child. You are playing with Your boyfriends, calves and cows, which might imply that You do not even have sufficient education. You are appearing just like a village boy carrying Your food in Your hand and searching for Your calves, and yet there is so much difference between Your body and mine that I cannot estimate the potency of Your body. As I have already stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā, Your body is not material." He says, "Even though You are standing before me, I cannot..."
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Haṁsadūta: He says, "Even though You are present before me just like a child, I cannot understand." So people they think they understand it only when God is nowhere near.
Prabhupāda: No, this is the position. Even Brahmā cannot understand; what we can understand? So without bothering ourself... Jñāne prayāsam. Jñāne prayāsam means endeavor to understand. Namanta, give up this practice. Jñāne prayāsam udapasya namanta eva. Just become submissive.
Dr. Weir: Now what you say it has not got three dimension, but when we talk about size...
Prabhupāda: Yes, three dimension. It is said, it is estimated that ten... one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair.
Dr. Weir: (laughs) We could do better than that with a micron.
Prabhupāda: Then find out the soul, if you've got instrument.
Mensa Member: How many angels on the end of a pin?
Dr. Weir: In fact this is coming back to that, the analogy again.
Mensa Member: But the whole thing (indistinct) about this (indistinct) Kṛṣṇa instead of Christ.
Dr. Weir: But the whole business, if you try to explain...
Prabhupāda: In Geometry they say the point has no length nor breadth. But that is not fact. The point has length and breadth but you cannot measure it.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: The officer who will remain there, he will be final or you have to consult with Mr. Ogata(?) and...?
Karandhara: Well, their liaison officer there, he will correspond with Tokyo. They will fix up estimates and confirmations. But it will make the communication better.
Prabhupāda: (chants japa) So there are many Japanese vegetarian? Or he is only.
Dai Nippon Representative: Lately it is quite increasing in Japan, yes, becoming popular, because we have a lot of problems with pollution. We have a lot of social problem like pollution, traffic jam. So people, in order to keep good health, vegetarian is very good for health.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Then, then it is imperfect. If he cannot count, reject, then it is imperfect. Hare Rāma Hare Rāma...
Karandhara: They would estimate.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Karandhara: They would estimate.
Prabhupāda: What is that, estimating. Estimate how many...?
Karandhara: They cannot count perfectly. So they estimate.
Prabhupāda: Rough idea. (pause) So on the sea side, it is more pleasant than in the park. Is it not? Brace air. (pause) This is bike route? Bicycle route?
Prabhupāda: Not Lenin. Stalin.
Karandhara: Stalin.
Prabhupāda: Stalin. He's estimated to be the greatest criminal in the world. As soon as he'll suspect you... You may be a great friend. Next day you are finished. He'll ask his friend: "Now, here is poison and here is revolver. What do you want? If you want to die yourself, take this poison, and die. Otherwise, you'll be shot." So what he will select? He will take poison. Finish. This was his business. As soon as little suspicion. He'll call him: "Now here is poison. Here is revolver. What do you want?" Yes.
Prabhupāda: Count the sand grains, count the sand grains.
Karandhara: They would make a rough estimate.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. Even if you make a fool estimate, then still, you are nothing in the face of the creator. Even if you can count.
Yaśomatīnandana: They are so stupid Prabhupāda that they do not recognize that the most important things in life is birth, death, old age and disease. And if they really want to conquer the nature, they should try to conquer birth, death, old age and disease.
Prabhupāda: That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14).
Prabhupāda: No, that you cannot find here in this material world. Anyone has relative position. Everyone will find somebody is greater than him, somebody is lower than him. He's not absolute, nobody. A rough estimate of supremacy: if one man has got, is very rich, he's considered great. If he has got influence, if he has got bodily strength, bodily beauty, wisdom, or renunciation... These are the six items for calculating a man's greatness. Therefore when you speak, "God, the Supreme," He must possess all these things. That is the definition given by Parāśara Muni. The other day we were discussing. Somebody said, "This is all imagination." Why imagination? Who was telling?
Prabhupāda: Eh? Yes. Because... Therefore acintya. How great He is, how great fortunate He is, that you cannot think of, you cannot estimate. That is called acintya. Acintya means I cannot conceive, I cannot estimate. Not only I, any big personality within this universe. Just like Brahmā says, "The others may say that he knows you, but so far I am concerned, I do not know you." That is inconceivable. Brahmā, the greatest personality within this universe, he also admits that "Others may say that he knows what You are, but from my personal experience, I say I do not know anything." We can simply partially see. Parāsya śaktiḥ. Just like we are seeing this material nature, partial exhibition of His potencies. This is one of the potencies, but He has got many potencies. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). This material nature is only... This is also inferior potency. Apareyam. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). This material nature is made of earth, water, air, fire, ether, mind intelligence, ego. All these eight elements are separated inferior energy, and how much superior energies He has got.
Prabhupāda: Hrishikesh, yes, that is Haridvar. So one yogi friend was coming to my father. He said that, he said that "I went with my Guru Mahārāja." They simply sit down and touch guru and after few minutes, he's in Dvārakā. This is, this is yogic power. What your aeroplane will do? Just like Durvāsā Muni, he traveled all over the universe, up to the Vaikuṇṭhaloka within one year. But according to modern calculation, they say, with light year, in forty thousand light years we can approach to the highest planet. Is it not? If they want to go to the topmost planet, how much, how many years it will take? Is there an estimation? But, so far I know, I heard it that, someplace... They have estimated it will take forty thousand leap year. Now, leap year is beyond our calculation. What is called leap year? Light year.
Prabhupāda: Just like Kṛṣṇa says, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9), "Immediately comes to Me." So just see the velocity. Tyaktvā deham. As soon as he gives up this body, immediately goes to Kṛṣṇa. So see... Where is Kṛṣṇa? You cannot estimate even this material world. And then you enter the spiritual world. And then you go to the highest planet of the spiritual world, Goloka Vṛndāvana. So you cannot calculate how far it is, neither by driving your aeroplane of mind and vāyu, you can reach there. But the soul is so powerful that immediately goes there. Just like mind. You are here, many thousand miles away, 25,000 miles away in somewhere, immediately goes, mind goes.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: No. According to our present calculated, about 180 mounds. So there should be 120 mounds excess of grain. Instead of excess, they want ten thousand rupees for maintenance. This is... This management is going on. These things were not discussed in GBC? So what kind of discussion was there? Simply talking? No practical? And the estimate of budget was presented for ten thousand rupees per month. And... And when it was scrutinizingly studied, immediately it came down to six thousand. So what kind of budget? So management should be in that way, that nobody is sitting idly. Automatically he'll fall sick. Sickness means idleness. Or excess eating, sleeping. No excess, no less. Yuktāhāra-vihārasya yogo bhavati duḥkha-hā. Yukta. Yukta means actually what you need. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. So everywhere, in each center, this system should be introduced, and there must be practical application of the varṇāśrama. At the same time, this program of devotional service.
Girirāja: (reads synonyms) (Prabhupāda interrupts)
Prabhupāda: Here Kṛṣṇa is addressed, "Yogeśvara," because the yogic power, that is estimated very much important by the ordinary class of men. So He is the master of all yogic power. Just like here, that gold maker?
Girirāja: Sai Baba?
Prabhupāda: Sai Baba. He is showing little yogic aiśvarya. But people are, because they do not know, they are not aware of Kṛṣṇa, they are taking him as God. You see?
Girirāja: (reads rest of synonyms for this verse) "Translation: If you think that I am able to behold Your cosmic form, O my Lord, O master of all mystic power, then kindly show me that universal self."
Prabhupāda: Now, first of all, he's saying that paśyādityān. Ādityān, plural number. Not only one, plural number. Ādityān means the Sūrya...
Dr. Patel: Sūrya and all those twelve sons.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, ādityān. So here they cannot estimate the influence of one Āditya, and here he is showing all the Ādityas.
Dr. Patel: Within Him.
Prabhupāda: Within Him. That is Yogeśvara.
Dr. Patel: All ādityāns, vasūns, rudrān, aśvinau and the Marut. Bahūny adṛṣṭa-pūrvāṇi paśyāścaryāṇi bhārata.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Cardinal Pignedoli: For all. Well, also we are for all. But I mean, you have not so many people. You have some thousand people. Do you prefer for this your people? Do you prefer they go to a place where God is not known, where spiritual values are not estimated? Or they go also to places where God is loved and God is present.
Prabhupāda: No, we go everywhere.
Cardinal Pignedoli: Everywhere.
Prabhupāda: Just like you go in the villages of Africa. They are almost aborigines, with their...
Cardinal Pignedoli: Local people. Local citizens.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Automatically... There was news that in the coal mine all of a sudden a frog came out and it was estimated that... Because the coal is formed by the ruins. So when there was ruins, at least ten thousand years ago, during the ruins, the frog was encaged. And it formed coal. Still he was living. That means he lived at least for ten thousand years. So Brahmā lives for ten millions of years. So what is the... They are also condemned. Ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartinaḥ (BG 8.16). Kṛṣṇa says, "What is the use of going to Brahma-loka. Even if you live for millions of years, you will have to die." Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama: (BG 15.6) "But if you come to Me, you will never have to die." Our struggle is for that purpose. Antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām (BG 7.23). for these things, those who are trying, they are less intelligent.
Prabhupāda: Scientist, they estimate something that thing is beginning from here, next year that it has changed. (break) ...test atomic bomb on this planet and to test atomic bomb on the sun planet. What is your idea? What is the description of the sun planet according to science?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Scientists say that is burning mass of ah, chemistry, gases. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...atomic bomb there. Huh? (laughter) It is a burning mass of... Suppose it is a burning mass. So what atomic bomb will act there?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Atomic bomb normally acts as, ah, what happened is the particles floating in the atmosphere, like chemicals, chemicals, what happened is this explosion offers this, ah, fundamental particles like neutrons, electrons, they bombard further atoms which are already in the atmosphere. So one by one they knock out these smaller particles called electrons. They move very high velocity. There is a very tremendous energy, amount of energy released.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: When there is scarcity of food, will these motor tires help us? We shall eat motor tires? This is going on, so-called industrialization, producing unnecessary thing which is not required, and they are neglecting producing food grains. And I have estimated—I am traveling all over the world—that there are so much space even now that if you produce food grain, you can feed ten times of the population as it is. But they will not do that. They will create motorcars, and the whole street is congested. At any moment there can be accident, and if you have to go to consult a doctor, you have to go thirty miles off. Because the motorcar is there. I am diseased. I want to consult a doctor. So he must be in neighborhood. But I have to go thirty miles. And maybe, before going to the doctor, I may be finished, by accident. Anartha, it is called anartha. Anartha means unwanted things.
Prabhupāda: They have given separate account or only on the total?
Hari-śauri: Only approximation.
Śrutakīrti:: An estimate. (break)
Hari-śauri: ...a drawing of the so-called missing link between the evolution from ape to man. They have given one drawing of a species looking like a man but hunched like an ape. And they're claiming this is...
Prabhupāda: Where they have got it?
Hari-śauri: ...that this type of personality was existing millions of years ago. (break)
Prabhupāda: That is their foolishness. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ (BG 9.10). They are observing this nature, very powerful, but the powerful nature is working under the order of Kṛṣṇa. Mayādhyakṣeṇa. It is being informed, but they are so poor brain, they cannot understand it. Mūḍhā. Our position is just like these foams. By one little wave, millions of foams are coming out and again finished. It is like that, our position. So our position is like foam; we are taking estimate of the ocean. This is our position. Our position is like one of the drop of the foam, and we are calculating the strength of the ocean. And when you cannot calculate, it is accident. That's all. Finished business. It is accident. Everything is being done accident. We will never admit that we cannot calculate. Accident, that's all. Dismiss.
Rādhā-vallabha: ...are very worried. They say the earth has a certain tilt, and every few million years the tilt is changing little, little, and by this changing eventually the ice on the North and South Poles will melt, they say. So they are very afraid because then their estimate is that the entire earth will be covered with water.
Prabhupāda: Why he is..? Why he is afraid?
Rādhā-vallabha: Well, they are afraid for future humanity. They will all be killed.
Prabhupāda: He is not careful about himself. He is thinking... He cannot take care of himself, he is thinking of others.
Dhanañjaya: Guṇārṇava Prabhu has estimated that it will cost at least another five thousand rupees...
Guṇārṇava: 75,000.
Prabhupāda: So I know that even if it is given, 75,000, you'll never finish it. That I know.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: What we are doing is...
Prabhupāda: Then you will say, "Our estimate was wrong. We were mistaken." This is going on. Several times, "This is estimate," money paid—"No, it was wrong. Pay more." This is going on. What is the estimate, what is the right estimate, nobody knows.
Prabhupāda: So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that every Indian should do like that. I am only one Indian. If I can do as, according to your estimate, so much, so if every Indian does like that.
Member: Unless he has been directed by God. He must be ...
Prabhupāda: No, God is directing. This is the direction of God.
Member: Only through you they will get that. Only people like you can relate with... It is dormant. The soul is there, and it is in a dormant stage. Unless it is kindled, it cannot have light. People like you can kindle them. And it is really our fortune that we are having Swamiji with us. There was some ṛṣi. Even our Samanja Ācārya(?) or his guru, they were not able to carry this outside India. But you are able to, with all your... I think you are... Is it not said that you are an incarnation of God or you are deputy of God, is it?
Prabhupāda: Nobody would sincerely respect them. Only for some self-interest. But here, respect opportunity, it is out of love. That is not for any bargaining. So who can get this? So this is God's... So one has to see by the result. That is stated in the... I think we have described. The, what is called, container is understood by the quantity of contents. The container is understood by the quantity of the contents. The example is given of water-water, air, and bright. When there is good flame, then we can understand that the contents is very inflammable. Just like petrol. So that is in comparison like when there is big amount of, quantity of water; that means the container is big. Similarly, the big quantity of ether, then it is to be understood, quantity according to the content. So one has to understand, as Kṛṣṇa said, yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ mama tejo-'mśa... How much Kṛṣṇa's favor is there, we have to understand from the contents. Then we can understand, we can make an estimate of the container. By the quantity of contents we can understand the, what is called...?
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15), and you are finding out happiness. Then how much fool you are. The best authority says that "This is a place of suffering," and you are finding out happiness. So how much fool you are, it is very difficult to estimate. (laughter) Therefore Vedic knowledge is perfect. Now just like there is signboard, "No admission." So who is the fool, create some trouble by entering into it? He's a fool. If there is signboard, "There is no admission," and if somebody enters to create some trouble, he is not a fool? So Kṛṣṇa says, "There is no happiness," and if somebody searches happiness, he is not a fool? That is... Therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness required, that he gets perfect knowledge from Kṛṣṇa. He has no trouble. Kṛṣṇa said, "There is no happiness," and if somebody thinks, "All right, although Kṛṣṇa said, let me try for it," then he is a fool.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That is the lack of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (background talking, commotion) (break) Sixty, seventy, and another, small books. Sixty books like this.
Hariśauri: She's asking how many do we sell.
Prabhupāda: Sell? That I have given, estimate.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: With our standing orders we sell them all.
Carol Jarvis (Woman Interviewer): Oh, no, I mean, how many do you sell a day? For instance, how many of each book would you sell a day? Would it be thousands a day?
Guru-kṛpā: Yeah, maybe.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, sometimes tens of thousands.
Prabhupāda: Twenty thousand dollar daily.
Prabhupāda: Why market? You can produce your food at home.
Hari-śauri: They have so much land, and then they grow a crop that they don't need...
Prabhupāda: I have estimated if land lying vacant, if they used for farming, producing food, ten times as many people can be fed. There is no question of scarcity. Your American government, "Oh, don't produce, don't produce, don't produce." If they'll produce more, "I'll throw it in the sea." Produce motorcar. Produce (indistinct), 1967 model. Don't produce foodgrains. This is government's position. Don't produce foodgrains, produce 1967 motorcar, so that there may be more and more accidents.
Prabhupāda: Thank you. So here in the material world happiness means sense gratification, that's all. So Prahlāda Mahārāja said, "The happiness of sense gratification, obtainable in any form of life..." The birds, beasts, human beings or even the demigods, cats, dogs—everyone has got the happiness of sense gratification, namely eating, sleeping, sex and defense. That is obtainable everywhere. But the spiritual happiness, that is obtainable in human form of life. Therefore the human being from childhood... Kaumāra ācaret prajño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1). From the very beginning of childhood. Why so early? Durlābhaṁ manusam janma. This human form of life is obtained after many, many births' evolutionary process. And adhruvam. There is no certainty that I shall live so many years. Although it is estimated that one is expected to live for at least hundred years—that is estimation—but at the present moment at least, nobody is living up to that.
Prabhupāda: But one thing, you can send one copy of this to Vṛndāvana to take casting cost there. They're also doing.
Bharadvāja: Estimate. Perhaps they'll be able to do it cheaper in India.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Bharadvāja: They'll definitely be able to do it cheaper in India.
Prabhupāda: Then if they can do cheaper, why not cast there?
Bharadvāja: The transport.
Prabhupāda: Transport is the same. You have to transport from here, they will have to transport from...
Richard: Right, but still people carry on, people...
Prabhupāda: Let them carry on. Ass is also carrying on. That is another thing. But distinction between ass's life and human life, the ass cannot estimate the impediments or the obstacles of life. A human being can see, and it is his duty how to overcome it.
Richard: Pardon me while I get that down. Um, yeah, okay, I guess what I'm saying then is that I know many people who do not live in āśramas, who will...
Prabhupāda: I am not advising that you live in āśrama, but.... Just like here is an.... You see, McGill University. So they are giving permanent order of our books. So the university authorities, they are not coming to our āśrama, but they'll get the benefit by reading our books.
Prabhupāda: Very good. You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be one of our members. Your son is also very good. Mother good, son good. According to our Indian estimate, son acquires the quality of mother and the daughter acquires the quality of the father.
Mother: I didn't understand.
Pradyumna: You didn't understand? The son acquires the quality of the mother and the daughter acquires the quality of the father. So like mother, like son.
Mother: When Frank(?) was living in the temple, I didn't tell Kim this, but he looked ten years younger than he does right now.
Prabhupāda: Oh, that is imagination. That is never will be fulfilled. That is simply imagination. As I told you, that, what you can do? There are so many poor men. We can estimate like this: the rich men and the middle class men and the poor class men. These three orders are there everywhere.
Scheverman: So you see that as in nature, as coming from the Lord God Himself, these three levels.
Prabhupāda: Now, when I did not come to your country, I thought that in America, everyone is rich.
Scheverman: (laughs) Most everyone in another country thinks everyone in America is rich, yes. There's only one class here.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: This cheating has to be stopped.
Hari-śauri: And actually, on the same page, what was that, the percentage scientists are engaged in warfare?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Forty percent of all the scientists in the world, the estimate is, are engaged in making weapons. And it said that since the end of World War II, six trillion dollars, which is six thousand billion dollars, have been spent on armament in the world.
Hari-śauri: In the West.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The West, did it say?
Prabhupāda: In India, no money. They can't.... (laughs) They have no sufficient money to eat even. Still they are spending more than fifty percent, fifty-four percent.
Hari-śauri: They estimate there's four hundred thousand so-called scientists working on armament.
Prabhupāda: As you can afford. Minimum one cart. Otherwise, three carts. In India the Ratha-yātrā festival is going on, according to rough estimate, for the last two thousand years, and the crowd never diminishes. One secretary of Parliament or something like that.
Hari-śauri: Śrī R. Subramanyam, M.A., Deputy Director Research, Lok Sabha Secretariat, National Parliament, New Delhi. Should I read it? "A strange feature of the modern world is that in spite of vast advances in science and technology and the establishment of a good number of institutions for human welfare, mankind has not found true peace and happiness. Knowledge of material sciences and arts has increased tremendously in recent times, and millions of volumes on each fill the libraries the world over. People and leaders in every country are generally well versed in these arts and sciences, but despite their efforts, human society everywhere continues to be in turmoil and distress. The reason is not far to see. It is that they have not learned the science of God, the most fundamental of every other art and science, and fail to apply it to the facts of life.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is mathematics.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: That's longer than Brahmā's life.
Sadāpūta: So mathematics shows that chance alone would never begin to produce the things that go into life, because this, say, is just for one protein, but it's estimated in the simplest cell that they experiment with that there are some three thousand proteins. This is what they estimate. And in a human, in a single cell of the human body, they estimate three hundred thousand, or even three million. It's just an estimate. But it shows that chance is completely unrealistic.
Rāmeśvara: Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja gave one class this morning. So he was explaining that we cannot understand the good fortune of this city that you have come here. We cannot begin to estimate how fortunate this city is.
Prabhupāda: Yes, I, when I decided I shall go to foreign countries, I never thought of going to London, I thought of coming here. Generally they go to London, but I thought, "No, I shall go to New York."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very progressive.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) I do not know. It is Kṛṣṇa's dictation. I could have gone, London was nearer. But I thought, "No I shall go to New York." Sometimes I think I was coming this part. Aimlessly... I think the United Nations building is somewhere here?
Prabhupāda: Oh, you did not stay there?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, still, it's so big. I estimated that through three to four hours there were thirty to forty thousand people that went in and out of that park.
Prabhupāda: Still they are eating?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They're still eating. Every piece of burfi we sold cost one dollar.
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just a piece of burfi...
Prabhupāda: Burfi?
Prabhupāda: How many preparations were there?
Bali-mardana: Very hard to estimate.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How many preparations in the feast? There was halavā, sabji, very good sabji by Ṛṣi Kumāra, rice, sweet, lemonade, popper-six preps. And puri, seven preps.
Prabhupāda: Very nice. Very good preps, sumptuous.
Bali-mardana: Oh, yes. Besides that, we had booths with watermelon, lassi and burfi.
Prabhupāda: The construction will be like your Washington capital, like that.
George Harrison: A big dome.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Estimated eight crores of rupees. Is there any dahi preparation? Oh, that's all right. Now, there is fruit. You...
George Harrison: Very good. Fantastic. Maybe just a little bit of, but now I'm not.... Thanks. That's fine. No, okay, thanks, fine, that's enough, that's fine.
Prabhupāda: That watermelon, you can give. It is water.
George Harrison: Now let me finish all this.
Prabhupāda: This is that mango preparation.
Prabhupāda: Not as big-four acres of land—but the building is very costly. One room will cost now three hundred thousand dollars. So nicely made.
Hari-śauri: They estimated it would cost about fifteen million to build such a house now.
George Harrison: Yes, they probably wouldn't even bother or be able to, at least. Is it an old house?
Hari-śauri: Fifty years old. It's very solid, though, very good condition as well.
Prabhupāda: And on the house on bottom, there is river. Not directly, but an offshoot of river. People come, rowing. A very nice situation, and because it is black quarter, nobody was purchasing. So I said that "For us, what is black or white? Purchase it." So we got very cheap. At that time I paid them hundred and fifty thousand, and (indistinct). So we purchased.
Prabhupāda: The śāstra also, Prahlada Mahārāja describes the sleeping is waste of time. You find out that verse.
Hari-śauri: It's in Seven, Two?
Prabhupāda: Seventh Canto. He's estimating you have got hundred years at most. Out of that, fifty years lost, sleep. And then twenty years playing as child, a boy. And in old age, another...
Prabhupāda: Twelve lakhs. So by selling my books. And I have sent him more than four lakhs, five lakhs from foreign countries. This is my fault. Similarly, in Bombay we are spending every month seven lakhs regularly. That is coming from foreign countries. And they are thinking that I'm taking bribe and acting as C.I.A. And C.I.A. have become Vaiṣṇavas with long śikhā and giving up all facilities of life and they are dancing with the C.I.A. People have no common sense that C.I.A. agent could stay in a nice hotel and enjoy life. Why so much vairāgya? Even my Godbrothers said that American government has given me two crores of rupees. Now we are planning to have a temple in Māyāpur where... What is, what is the economic estimates, where we shall spend how much money monthly?
Prabhupāda: So many men. We don't want so many men. Now we are going to minimize. We don't want so many men. That if, now we have to estimate how many men absolutely required. So many men we shall keep. Others, they must go for the preaching. They must go to the preaching.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They can all go on the buses, the extra men.
Prabhupāda: No, they should be distributed. They may go to other centers.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Hyderabad needs men.
Prabhupāda: Here, unnecessarily increasing men and increasing expenditure, twenty thousand, twenty-five thousand, thirty thousand. Why? Unnecessary. Only minimum men should be kept who are actually useful. There is no need of keeping extra men. What is that?
Akṣayānanda: He does not speak kṛṣṇa-kathā, Prabhupāda. So five thousand you have estimated for the Deities? For a month you have estimated last night five thousand?
Prabhupāda: Five hundred.
Akṣayānanda: Five hundred. For all...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: For a month?
Akṣayānanda: With Viśvambhara you have discussed?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Just like we were going to in the evening... Don't divert attention. In the evening we have estimated four plates. Each plate eight puris.
Akṣayānanda: Six plates.
Prabhupāda: Six plates. Six plates, eight puris means forty-eight puris. Forty-eight puris, Viśvambhara calculated the āṭā and ghee.
Akṣayānanda: Yes, you already made that estimate.
Prabhupāda: Two rupees. Āṭā and ghee, two rupees. Then other preparation, another two rupees.
Akṣayānanda: He'll tell me everything Prabhupāda. No need to...
Prabhupāda: "This is imagination." He wants to make God like himself, and he wants to become like God. Therefore all description about God he thinks imagination, kalpana. Kalpana. Dr. Frog. Huh? More than this water, the...? How it is possible? Atlantic Ocean, very very big. What is that big? Maybe four feet, five, yes. Otherwise kalpana. It it is not within his "feet" estimation, then he's kalpana, imagination. This is their knowledge. (indistinct) I can think of three feet, four feet, five feet, ten feet, hundred feet-like that. And when I'm informed, "No, no, it is unlimited feet." Ah, this is kalpana. This is going on. So what other news? I have to send one letter to the governor. (break) Sūtyām abhijāta-kovidāḥ. Yathā hi sūtyām abhijāta-kovidāḥ samādiśan vipra mahad-guṇas tathā. Where this class of literature is now. Yathā sūtyām, in the maternity home or maternity room, Sūtyām. Abhijāta-kovidāḥ. The astrologers who can estimate the newly born child's destiny. Whatever they predicted, according to them, yathā hi sūtyām abhijāta-kovidāḥ samādiśan. They said that "This child will be like this"—exactly he became. Parīkṣid dvija-varya-śikṣayā, and being trained up by first-class brāhmaṇas, and the child came perfectly the king. Where is that king?
Prabhupāda: Best thing is this type temple.
Devotee: Like here. With three domes. Well see, it all depends on the cost. I have some cost estimates here that... We figured out it's somewhere between thirty and forty dollars per square foot to build.
Prabhupāda: Hm.
Devotee: Now if we build a temple that's 6,500 square feet, quite a large size, that would come out to $260,000 and on down to 3,600 square feet which would be about $144,000. I've collected about $100,000 on my own and I have another person who promised somewhere between fifteen and twenty-five and by the time that three or four months have... Actually we couldn't build until about six or seven months anyways so by this time...
Prabhupāda: (indistinct) ...that Kṛṣṇa will (indistinct) money.
Prabhupāda: Ha, yes. All these Kṛṣṇa consciousness books, we are selling daily five to six lakhs of rupees. All over the world. I have estimate. That religious book (Hindi). It is full of religion and philosophy, still they are selling.
Mr. Saxena: That is an achievement.
Prabhupāda: We have got, not only in west outside India, in India, we have got standing order from all universities, libraries, and many other places. Complete standing order value is 40,000 rupees.
Mr. Saxena: This is one aspect, of course, appreciable, but another aspect is that of teaching. That should be...
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: How many men are found there?
Gurudāsa: When I was leaving there was about eighty thousand.
Prabhupāda: Acchā?
Gurudāsa: But they expect ten million. That's the estimate. Many camps, many pandals.
Prabhupāda: And store, supplies, everything is...
Gurudāsa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Road is nice.
Gurudāsa: It's being improved. In some spots it's nice. But because it's on sand they have to always keep it wet and they put metal plates down. They're trying to do it very well.
Prabhupāda: No, then you can take... What is the price?
Gargamuni: Well, I can only estimate. I have not gone deeply into it. But it will cost a few lakhs of rupees.
Prabhupāda: Few lakhs?
Gargamuni: Yeah. (Prabhupāda laughs) Well, it's a huge boat. But it can go on the sea. And we can do the whole coast of India. We can go all around the coast and do all the villages.
Prabhupāda: Why so much? Few lakhs?
Prabhupāda: Eastern Indian.
Rāmeśvara: Mostly us, and some bogus so-called gurus.
Hari-śauri: Those charismatic movements, that's like the Jesus Christ movement. The Catholic preachers call that charismatic.
Rāmeśvara: "To estimate the average church attendance in 1976, surveys..." Oh, this just tells you how they took the survey. "So analysis of these figures shows that church attendance is up among all major population groups. The Catholics are better attendees than the Protestants. Women go more often than men." Women go more often than men in America. "Southerners and the Mid-Western"—from the South and the Mid-West—"they attend more frequently than they do in the East, and far more than those living in the West." So this says that people in the West, like California, they're the least religious.
Rāmeśvara: This took several weeks of very careful work to prepare. We were calling up printers... We threatened Dai Nippon, they must give us the figures. We called up every BBT office around the world, so this is very accurate. And also I estimate that at least ninety to ninety-five percent of all these literatures that have been published have already been distributed. These are the figures for publishing, but most of them have been sold already.
Rādhā-vallabha: So English is first. 43,450,500 literatures. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: Where is such publisher?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rādhā-vallabha: Sixth is Portuguese, 835,000. Seventh, Dutch, 593,000. Eighth, Italian, 448,000. Ninth, Hindi, 315,000. Tenth, Bengali, 305,000. Eleventh is Telegu, 115,000. Twelfth is Swahili... This is also another estimate, 110,000. Fourteenth is Chinese... Thirteenth is Gujarati, 90,000. Fourteenth is Chinese, 55,000. Fifteenth is Marathi, 25,000. Korean, 20,000. Yugoslavian, 20,000. Oriya, 20,000. Polish 10,000. Hungarian, 10,000. Czechoslovakian, 10,000. Tamil, 10,000. Russian 5,000. And the total is 55,314,000.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Russian is last. Yes.
Rāmeśvara: It's the most difficult.
Prabhupāda: But something is better than nothing. Kānā māmā. ("Blind Uncle")
Prabhupāda: No, because they do not know what they will do except killing.
Pañcadraviḍa: They have twenty million people, and they have sixty million cows. That's the estimate I heard, three cows for every person.
Trivikrama: He has brought you one Chinese script.
Hari-śauri: What does it say?
Devotee (3): This is Chinese character scroll. It says, "Books are the basis, preaching is the essence, utility is the principle, and purity is the force." It was translated wholly by myself, and the characters were written by...
Prabhupāda: Is that all right?
Prabhupāda: Recruit two others and make it at least five, and travel all over the world. All institutions, all universities, all scientists. If you have got commodity, deliver. It is not a bluff, gold manufacturing. It is not that. Actual fact. That day, your presentation was very nice. Any scientist will be convinced by such presentation, learned speeches. So now at least five men, and estimate what will be the expenditure. I shall arrange. Don't worry.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: I will submit that at the time of opening our this temple, and we will make...
Prabhupāda: For expenditure there is no worry. What will be the rough expenditure?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "The center of the planetarium will be the temple of Kṛṣṇa."
Prabhupāda: Just see. It is their manufacture?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "The planetarium and temple alone will be estimated to cost rupees seventy crores."
Prabhupāda: That is another thing. But it is not going to be Kṛṣṇa's temple.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, that's the point.
Prabhupāda: And they have manufactured this?
Prabhupāda: Fifteen, twenty thousand dollars per month.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So we can pay you so much. What was your estimate? You made some estimate.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yeah. It is about six thousand, six thousand dollars.
Prabhupāda: Six thousand dollars, but we are ready to spend fifteen to twenty thousand dollars. Make it nicely, everything. We shall spend. Make worldwide propaganda. And there will be no scarcity of money. Tour. Make extensive tour, especially in Russia. In Russia send this film group, the scientific group, and if the Doctor is seriously our friend, let him translate. And that translation, it shall be good.
Prabhupāda: Ah, yes. He is animal. Know that. What is his idea? And he has not correctly estimated that how high is Himalaya.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. A gross underestimation-five miles instead of eighty thousand. Not even close. That means he has no idea.
Prabhupāda: There are... I have seen many places by aeroplane, hilly tract. Perhaps you have also seen. They could never go there. Hundreds and thousands of miles, simply stone.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, that we've seen.
Prabhupāda: Who is going there?
Prabhupāda: We accept nothing of their theory. They are prejudiced and nonsense. Formerly they were speaking that the world is flat. Now they have changed: "It is round." So what is the value of his estimate? And you'll find in that book, "probably."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That was the most frequent word used.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So what is the value of their knowledge? Besides that, they'll insist that life is combination of chemicals, and they cannot produce it. Simply useless. So it is, what is called, childish obstinacy. So why shall I believe them? Just like a child cries, "I want. I want," it is like that. There is no science. Still they will say it is science.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So something's wrong with their instrument. When they fly from Los Angeles and their compass...
Prabhupāda: Nothing is wrong. From their estimate it is all right. But there is superior power.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They go due west and they hit India from Los Angeles, but according to our calculation, that's not possible.
Prabhupāda: You can go further, but you cannot go. That is condition. You are restricted. The same, that you are bound up. If an animal can go further... But he cannot, because he is bound up. Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate (BG 3.27). He is thinking, "I am free." He is not free. So what is the value of his education? This is the real point.
Prabhupāda: Then? But if you cannot trust them, they're rejected immediately. This is one argument. Another argument, (Bengali). The frog in the well, he's estimating, "This is the limit of water." What he'll understand about Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean? There is so many things. On the whole we are imperfect, and although imperfect, they want to be perfect. That is cheating. Now for argument's sake, if they put some argument, we have to reply. We have to prepare for them. Otherwise they're useless. We know they're useless, but sometimes they put some argument. We have to give answer. This is the position. And our duty is to present picture of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam correct. So what do you have to say? At least some answer you should give.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: (softly) No.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. You said that the godown would only cost three lakhs.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Three to four is the estimate. (to Prabhupāda:) So we are going to start work on the godown in November.
Prabhupāda: That's nice.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, that's nice. Now, as soon as our six Gujarati books are ready, we are starting this mail order campaign even for Gujarati books and for Hindi books. Actually by this mail order technique we will sell more books than we sell on the streets or in colleges. Just in two months I sold more Gītās...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How many?
Prabhupāda: Too much strain is not good.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Also the tendency is that when you make an estimate, you're always higher. You say thirty million dollars-it's very likely that it will go more.
Jayapatākā: Yeah, so then consider. (break) ...his birthday was a couple days ago, and then he invited us. So I sent two brahmacārīs to his āśrama for his birthday celebration.
Prabhupāda: His temple is completed?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: His nātha-mandira?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Any amount in particular that you want to be given?
Prabhupāda: Make an estimate.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's some maximum amount?
Prabhupāda: Bhagatji.
Bhagatji: Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: You can assist?
Bhagatji: (Hindi)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jayapatāka can go with him. This man that came yesterday was Visvanath Misra?
| Page Title: | Estimate (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 05 of Mar, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=69, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 69 |