Explanation (Conversations 1977)

Expressions researched:
"explanation" |"explanations" |"explanatory"

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Darsana and Room Conversation Ramkrishna Bajaj and friends -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Guest (10) (Indian man): Prabhupāda, surrender, sar..., word, if you can give us a full explanation of the word surrender. What's the meaning of surrender and how one should do it? Basis of surrender.

Prabhupāda: Surrender, this is surrender, that... First of all, why you surrender? You must know it perfectly well that "Kṛṣṇa is master; I am servant." Otherwise there is no question of surrender. Then you have to believe that "Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi. So now I have surrendered. I have no more fear. Kṛṣṇa will give me protection." To believe firmly... "Kṛṣṇa is all powerful. Kṛṣṇa is my master. He is not a fakir, that He's talking nonsense." We have to believe that. This is surrender. If you think, "Kṛṣṇa is another fakir like me. He's talking nonsense," then that is not surrender. You have to believe that. That is explained in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, that śraddhā śabde viśvāsa niścaya. This is śraddhā. Sraddha is the beginning. That śraddhā means when you firmly believe in Kṛṣṇa: "Yes, He'll give me protection." That is surrender. Kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya. When you come to this stage, firmly believe in the words of Kṛṣṇa, that is surrender.

Morning Darsana and Room Conversation Ramkrishna Bajaj and friends -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: There is no need of interpretation.

Indian man: You can explain it in the language which people can understand.

Prabhupāda: Explanation also not very much required because the explanation is already there, and we are not so intelligent that we can explain. But we take it, the words of the Bhagavad-gītā, that Kṛṣṇa says, na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). If we see that one is not surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, he comes to this group: duṣkṛtina, narādhamāḥ and mūḍha. That's all. This is our conclusion. We are fools and rascal. We take the words of Kṛṣṇa. He cannot surrender to Kṛṣṇa on account of duṣkṛtina. Kṛti means he's doing something meritorious—but for bad purpose, duṣkṛtina. He is taxing his brain to do something, but against the will of Bhagavad-gītā. That is called duṣkṛtina. The purpose of Bhagavad-gītā is to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, or God. But if you are deviating them to become atheists, narādhamāḥ, then what is Bhagavad-gītā preaching? You preach Bhagavad-gītā as it is. So they take the Bhagavad-gītā for serving their purpose. Somebody was telling me that Dr. Radhakrishnan said that "If you take Bhagavad-gītā as..., Kṛṣṇa as God...," something like that, that they deny that Kṛṣṇa is God.

Conversation on Train to Allahabad -- January 11, 1977, India:

Indian man: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Good explanation-stool. Stool, this side or that side... (break) More opposition there will be, more we have to defend.

Rāmeśvara: It's forcing us to become expert in different fields.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Rāmeśvara: You said, "Take the opportunity to be well advertised."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.

Rāmeśvara: So we have to scheme in so many different ways to take advantage of this. (train stops) (break) ...friends with all the newspaper, television and radio people. Already in Los Angeles they know us by our first names, and we know them by their first names. There is some familiarity.

Prabhupāda: Intimate with...

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Just to keep you everlastingly in darkness He shows this līlā, that "See? I am dying. You are right that I am a man." Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā (BG 9.11). "You rascal, mūḍha, you remain in that condition." This is explanation. Otherwise how Kṛṣṇa can die? We do not die, His part and parcel. And how He can die?

Gargamuni: Well, they will try and separate Kṛṣṇa from His soul, His body from His soul.

Prabhupāda: Whatever you do, that is for you. It is not Kṛṣṇa's actual position. It is for you: "Yes. You see? I am dying." Just like sometimes Hindu-Muslim riot, many Deities of Kṛṣṇa, all broken. So the Muhammadans, they think, "Now Hindu's Deity I have broken. Finished."

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: This is the answer—just to delude them, cheat them. They want to remain atheist—"All right, remain atheist. Suffer," janmani janmani, "life after life." This is the real explanation. Is that correct answer? But still, there is some argument. Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya (BG 7.25). This is the idea. "Why shall I reveal Myself to this atheist class?" Mūḍha janmani janmani (BG 16.20). "Let them remain asuras."

Hari-śauri: Should I read the purport?

Prabhupāda: Hm? What is that?

Hari-śauri: "It may be argued that since Kṛṣṇa was present on this earth and was visible to everyone, then why isn't He manifest to everyone now? But actually He was not manifest to everyone. When Kṛṣṇa was present there were only a few people who could understand Him to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead." (break)

Room Conversation -- January 26, 1977, Puri:

Satsvarūpa: Any explanation except Kṛṣṇa. They give some alternative explanation than Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: That is their aim: no God.

Satsvarūpa: Now these psychiatrists are doing that with our Hare Kṛṣṇa. They say, "When these people... They take to Hare Kṛṣṇa because of this, because of that, and when they chant this happens in their brain, and this is happening." They don't believe that it is anything transcendental.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They say that "There is a brain. There is a tissue. There is cerebrum. On account of, they are thinking spiritually. Otherwise if it is cut off, there will be no more opportunity." They'll do that, brain operation. And whatever nonsense they will do, we'll accept.

Gurukṛpā: They have electric.

Satsvarūpa: Electric shock.

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: They are dogmatic teachings.

Satsvarūpa: So they take us like that too, another religious explanation.

Prabhupāda: No. Our religion is not faith. It is science. That is the fault. Fanaticism of Christianism, Muhammadanism, has created this godlessness. But Vedic knowledge is not that. It is really knowledge.

Satsvarūpa: And in the beginning, when science began, modern science, the scientists would say something against the Bible that was different than the Bible. Then they would torture him. The church would torture him, this Galileo, big scien... So they point these things out, that the church is not tolerant.

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Puri:

Satsvarūpa: They say these are the explanations that ancient man gave before science came. Now science...

Prabhupāda: What, rascal, you are giving, explanation? Do you know what are the stars?

Satsvarūpa: As if science explained these things.

Prabhupāda: That... What is your science nonsense? You cannot explain actually what is the position. You are simply speculating—"There is no life," "Somewhere there may be life. Let us take photograph. Let us go." What is your knowledge? We have got some knowledge from the śāstra that they're all full of living entities. And what knowledge you have got? We have got some śāstric evidence, Veda-śāstra. Is full of life, but you have no evidence. You simply speculate. So what is the value of your knowledge? Admitting that you are defective, I am defective, but I have got some authority. You have nothing. You are in the darkness.

Morning Walk -- January 29, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: If by chance everything is taking place, what is the use of science?

Satsvarūpa: They don't say their work is by chance, but ultimately everything is by chance. But they have...

Prabhupāda: That is a very good explanation. (chuckles)

Bhāgavata: Isaac Newton disproved that theory.

Prabhupāda: Hm. Chance. (break)

Hari-śauri: So one man, he did a paper called "Life Has No Meaning."

Prabhupāda: Ācchā? (break)

Satsvarūpa: That means dead.(?) (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Life has no meaning, but the lifeless man's words have meaning.

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- January 30, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. How that can come about by this..., those pushes and pulls? That is our question. We inquire how can this be explained just in terms of atoms and molecules? If we assume that life is nothing but a manifestation of these pushes and pulls of these molecular interactions, then science has no explanation. Then we take example from Darwin himself, his own words.

Hari-śauri: Did you read this caption, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for this crocodile? 'Cause it explains how the male crocodile, he takes the egg underneath his tongue and he rolls it backwards and forwards very gently until the young crocodile hatches, and then he leaves his mouth open, and the little crocodile jumps out and swims ashore.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Hari-śauri: So the point they were making was that if it was simply a question of chemical reaction, that tendency...

Prabhupāda: How it is... How would that..., eggs.

Morning Talk -- April 5, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, your point yesterday was very nice that some things which are difficult, they may need explanations, but when Kṛṣṇa says, "Give it to Me," what is the question of a need of interpretation? That Radhakrishnan, immediately he gives his explanation: "It doesn't mean to Kṛṣṇa the person."

Prabhupāda: Just see. How rascal he is, and he is commenting. No, no, this is the rule, grammatical rule, that when things are clear, there is no interpretation.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's an actual rule.

Prabhupāda: Just like Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya and Caitanya Mahāprabhu was talking. Caitanya said, "When the meaning is clear, why you are giving us this, nonsense?"

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sarvabhauma asked Him, "You have sat here hearing vedānta for seven, eight days, but You have not said anything. Are You not understanding?" Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "I understand the vedānta, but I cannot understand your interpretation."

Indian man: (Hindi)

Room Conversation -- April 22, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Guru-kṛṣṇa.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It was mentioning how the initiator spiritual master is the representative of Śrī-Śrī-Madana-mohana, and the instructing spiritual master is a representative of Śrī-Govindadeva. Very nice explanation you gave in the purport.

Prabhupāda: As far as possible, I have tried to present. In one place I have criticized my Godbrothers.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Last night?

Prabhupāda: No, no, in Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yeah, at the end in one line. We were... When we read that, it was actually relishable, very personal.

Prabhupāda: Śrīdhara Mahārāja is little...

Morning Conversation -- May 29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That's all.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda! (obeisances)

Prabhupāda: Make just this garland... (break) ...keep hair. Look very beautiful by keeping hair. What is that explanation?

Bhagavat: I was advised that because I was going to the European countries for preaching for some time, that...

Prabhupāda: But they, they, they...

Bhagavat: ...it would be required to keep these hairs.

Prabhupāda: ...owned victory with the court by keeping shaven hair.

Hari-śauri: They won a victory in the court by keeping a shaved head.

Bhagavat: I asked their advice, whether I should shave or keep the hair.

Morning Conversation -- May 29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Every fortnight. At least. Before going to Europe, six years ago, you were keeping hair: "I have to go to Europe." That I have seen. Everywhere. Those who... You like to keep hair. That hippie mentality is going on. That's right. That is good, very intelligent reasoning, actual, long hair by keeping...(?) Everyone is giving some advice. Gurudāsa is giving. "He's keeping. He's..." Gargamuni. Everyone has some explanation. I do not know how you can give up this hippie mentality. Hippie. Lāvaṇyaṁ keśa-dhāraṇam. Kali-yuga. Victim of Kali-yuga. It is... It is not yet whole, but weak men, victimized by Kali-yuga... There are so many things to victimize over the living entities in Kali-yuga, and one of the item is that he will take that "I have become very, very beautiful, attractive by keeping long hair." Keśa. That is already stated there. You are victimized by that Kali-yuga. That's all. No explaining. Our trademark is clean-shaven. We are known as shaven hair. Why you should be victimized? You are known as shaven hair. Are you not? Hm? They say that "Hare Kṛṣṇa people, shaven hair"?

Talk with Svarupa Damodara -- June 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Woman? Woman?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, no, Amrtabal Singh is the name. And he told me he didn't have time to talk with me because, he said, he had a meeting. So I told him that I just came to see the director, but since the director is not there I just want to let him know that "We want to hold a conference on life sciences and Kṛṣṇa consciousness, so if you are interested, I'd like to invite you because you're a leading scientist. And the Bose Institute is quite well known. So I'd like you to participate in our conference." Then he asked me, "What is that conference?" Then I started describing about the way modern science is going at this time. "Science says that everything is molecules. So what do you think as a scientist? Now, the way we communicate... I talk with you, and you talk to me, but the way we communicate, science say that these are just chemical reactions. You talk because of some chemical reactions. And so what do you think about this modern philosophy?" Then I started talking about the very unsatisfactory explanations of these ideas according to modern science and trying to introduce concept of Bhagavad-gītā, that "Life is nonchemical and nonphysical. It is spiritual.

Conversation with Surendra Kumar and O.B.L. Kapoor -- June 26, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) "The Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is genuine, bona fide." (Hindi) So you are ready? (Hindi) Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) (Hindi conversation) (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The only explanation can be that Kṛṣṇa is in everyone's heart.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam: "I give him intelligence."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In the Kṛṣṇa book there's the part where Lord Brahmā steals away all the calves and children, so then Kṛṣṇa gives Himself instead. So...

Prabhupāda: Not gives. He exands Him...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Expands Himself. So Balarāma is wondering, "How is it possible that everyone is so attracted?" Then the explanation is, "He's Kṛṣṇa." So these books are there. People are automatically attracted. I don't think they're so attracted to any other books.

Prabhupāda: No, what other books? Rubbish. I say, rubbish. There is no book. Mental speculation is not book. Garbage.

Room Conversation -- July 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: You did not ask that "You are here, and I am seven hundred miles away. How you'll do?"

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually I wrote him a letter stating...

Prabhupāda: Simply explanation, but there is no practical. I receive only explanation—"I did it. I did it." That's all. Where is the action?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I told him to...

Prabhupāda: You told him, that's all. Where is the action? That is idea, "I told him." What is the result? Nothing. In every day, "I told him." This is the sign of irrespons... It is so important thing—simply "I told him." That's all. Then my business is finished.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He left the day he came here, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: That is going on, simply explanation, "I told him."

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

Prabhupāda: Take one room in the gurukula building.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It will be very interesting. They can use this for teaching.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Explain there in bold and this picture.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, explanation can be... This book is the explanation.

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's amazing how Kṛṣṇa has made each universe. It's just like all the fruits. When you get a fruit, it's protected by a skin. This universe is very much protected, first by uninhabited land, then by huge mountain, then by golden land. And then only in the center of these dvīpas there are all the inhabitants and all the activities are going on, very much protected.

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

Bhakti-prema: Yes, then it is coming this side, up to Canada, all Himalayas.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So what is the explanation?

Bhakti-prema: And bring this from there and there, there are nine islands. From each, divided one between (indistinct). They say that it's 8,000 miles. (indistinct)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And how high is the Himalayan Mountains?

Bhakti-prema: Eighty thousand miles.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Ten thousand yojanas, 80,000 miles. Here it says that "The highest mountain is Mount Everest, 29,000 feet." Not very high. That's about six miles. And we are saying 80,000 miles. So we want to know where is that. How high is Govardhana supposed to be?

Bhakti-prema: Govardhana (indistinct). Govardhana mountain is sinking.

Prabhupāda: Sinking.

Discussion about Bhu-mandala -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Lotus petal... There are so many petals. You are conditioned with one petal.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's... If that's the explanation, then it can be somehow adjusted.

Prabhupāda: You do not know what is going on outside.

Devotee: There's so many round parts of a lotus petal.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, that part...That could be adjusted. But there's a place within it, you know, the center part, there's no petals. In the middle of the lotus there's like a... I don't know what you call it, but a... It's a flattish area. They show Kṛṣṇa standing sometimes when they draw a picture of Kṛṣṇa on a lotus.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. But your place is in.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That we accept.

Prabhupāda: That we have to hear from authority.

Discussion about Bhu-mandala -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So rectify it.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, well how?

Prabhupāda: That is the explanation. Petal.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: See it doesn't say petal anywhere in the Bhāgavatam. It doesn't say Bhārata-varṣa is a lotus petal.

Upendra: Neither does it say it's flat, though.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well I can get the Bhāgavatam right now if you allow me to. It doesn't say... I believe it says Jambūdvīpa is the second part of the lotus, and there aren't petals in the center.

Upendra: It's a transcendental lotus flower.

Discussion about Bhu-mandala -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Just like I take Kṛṣṇa's word. Bas, fact. You can say that you are prejudiced, you see. This is the book.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That is a nice explanation, the petals.

Prabhupāda: Everyone is prejudiced. But who is rightly prejudiced who is wrongly prejudiced. That is everywhere. Just like materialistic person will think, "Brainwash. These rascals, they have given all up material enjoyment, and after some phantasmagoria they sacrifice everything. Brainwash." And we are thinking, "Oh, these rascals, got this human form of body, he did not understand what is spiritual life." Both of them—he is rascal and he is rascal. This is going on. Yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī. Is it not? They say, "Brainwash. Unnecessarily they've sacrificed everything." And we say that he got the human form and unnecessarily he is working like cats and...

Room Conversation With Son (Vrindavan De) -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, anything. It doesn't matter what it is. For example... I was reading a report about them. So just like we have our saṅkīrtana parties and each, like five or six men in a van go out, they also have vans like that. But each van they have one Korean woman with each van. They say she keeps the accounts. That was the explanation. But it's obvious that she's a prostitute. It's very clear. So they do anything. They have no scruples or principles. So at any rate, the thing I feel about this is that we take pride in saying that we are on the streets now and we'll always be on the streets because our business is selling books. We're not going to depend on some big business and then stop our preaching. They are not preaching. This proves that what they do on the street is not preaching. They're simply collecting money.

Prabhupāda: They have nothing to preach. What they have got to preach?

Room Conversation about Mayapura Attack Talk with Vrindavan De -- July 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: It is absorbed.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And the opposite is true, in the daytime the night goes into the water, so it appears a very dark color. This is... Every explanation is given in the Bhāgavatam, and it's all in contradiction to the so-called scientists. They say that the reason we experience day and night is that the earth is rotating on its axis and at the same time circumambulating the sun.

Prabhupāda: Double. Double motion.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. So they say, therefore, when you're on this side and the sun is here, you won't see, but when it turns around, then you'll see the sun. But the Bhāgavatam does not agree with that description. The Bhāgavatam says that you don't see the sun because it's blocked by the Meru. The sun is moving, and Meru is blocking. And they never even heard of Meru.

Room Conversation-Recent Mail -- July 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. You train up assistants and this will be recognized by government and everyone. You'll do more than Columbus. (laughter) In the Washington, in different compartments, a different explanation of Bhāgavata śloka by dolls will attract millions of people to see. Will it not?

Bhāgavatāśraya: Oh! It will become more than Disneyland.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. And you can charge some fees, entrance fee. People will gladly pay. All around, this doll exhibition, and in the medium, a planetarium, small.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Small?

Prabhupāda: Yes. If they're going to have it in Māyāpura, they can have a little... Not very small. Proportionate.

Room Conversation-Recent Mail -- July 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Everyone is recommending. All libraries.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: " '...should have on its shelf these works.' " Next is a letter from Trinvak Govind Meinpark(?), Professor of Sanskrit and Head of the Department at the University of Bombay. " 'His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the renowned Vedic scholar and founder-ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, has translated into English the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the Encyclopedia of Vedic Culture.' " Now it's getting to be known like that. " 'The special feature of this publication is to be seen in the explanatory notes, added with a view to summing up the purport of the passages rendered. The Bhāgavatam is a classic of the Kṛṣṇa cult, and in the manner of sweetness, sincerity of devotion and purity of emotion, it surpasses all other texts of the Purāṇas, as well as other texts of the Bhāgavata religion.

Room Conversation Varnasrama -- July 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: He was Ph.D.?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yeah. Big personality. And because of the fact that he was an important member of the faculty at Harvard, so even though all he produced was an intoxicant, he gave it so much explanation, that "This is..."

Prabhupāda: Transcendental meditation.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, this is transcendental. "This is real psychotherapy," he called it. He made it seem like this is legitimate, this is a bona fide experiment, just like you go to a psychologist or psychiatrist. He tried to explain it as a medical drug for helping the mind. But as a result of it so many people became crazy by using it.

Prabhupāda: Howling.

Room Conversation Mayapura attack -- July 15, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm? Yes. Full of anxiety. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyām. Because they were Kṛṣṇa conscious, there was no anxiety.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That could be the only explanation. What about the Mussulmen?

Prabhupāda: They were also happy. They were also religious, according to their own way. Within, say, seventy years so much change has taken place. Horrible.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Is there any valuable, any benefits that took place? Any good things? Only...

Prabhupāda: Change, change for the worse.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think even in America things were better.

Prabhupāda: There things are changing fast.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: The same cover?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Only this picture inside changes. It's the same as the English. Only this changes inside. Explanation, everything, is the same.

Prabhupāda: So you please complete this. Jaya.

(break) Otherwise you just grow cotton and pluck. Problem solved. Get some lamb fur. It is not killing. They grow. Take the, what is called?

Bhakti-caru: Fleece. Wool. Wool? Fleece.

Prabhupāda: Wool, yes. You make some warm cloth. Very easy to live.

Bhakti-caru: (Bengali)

Prabhupāda: (Bengali)

Room Conversation -- October 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So he knows. When you are ready(?), let him have it. (Bengali)

Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: (Bengali) You have fulfilled all, everything. (Bengali)

Prabhupāda: Don't fight amongst yourselves. I have given the explanation, my will. Execute like that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: And then everything will be. They'll guide. Then what there is. (Bengali) Ekādaśī?

Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Ekādaśī.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) (Haṁsadūta chants) (end)

Visit From Allopathic Doctor -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Where is Bhavānanda? (break)

Bhavānanda: The Bengali Gītā is going out now for printing.

Prabhupāda: Bengali Gītā with explanation.

Bhavānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) Śatadhanya says that Bengalis, they like my book.

Bhavānanda: Very much. We get huge amounts of mail. We get huge amounts of mail from all over Bengal every day asking about different literatures that have been printed in Bengali by Your Divine Grace.

Śrīdhara: Turn over? On your back or on your side, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Upendra: Back.

Visit From Allopathic Doctor -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Brahmānanda: Yes. This is a magazine, Rudiwawumungu(?) It means "Go back to God." Mungu(?) is "God." That says, "Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa."

Upendra: They have letters explaining what each of the..., beads means, tilaka, clothes, explanation down here, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Brahmānanda: To distribute these books Cyavana Swami is having African devotees distribute them. He is organizing them. Cyavana Swami is good at organizing the Africans. But we are not able to distribute them for what it cost to print.

Prabhupāda: It doesn't matter.

Brahmānanda: What is that?

Hari-śauri: Doesn't matter.

Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: It is explained?

Pradyumna: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. The calves, they were beyond milking, so when the cows were so affectionate, He could not understand.

Prabhupāda: Viśvanātha explanation?

Pradyumna: Yes, a very big one, big explanation.

Prabhupāda: Read it. We shall try to...

Pradyumna: Premardher hetor autkaṇṭhyaṁ mukta-staneṣv api vatseṣu nava-prasūta-vatsatarīṇām api gavām ahetu-vit hetum ajānan acintayad iti.

Prabhupāda: You can translate?

Room Conversation With Svarupa Damodara -- October 15, 1977, Vrndavana:

Abhirāma: Śrīla Prabhupāda started translating Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam last night. Pradyumna was reading, and Śrīla Prabhupāda was giving the explanation of translation.

Prabhupāda: Try... (Bengali)

Bhāgavata: Everyone is eagerly awaiting the new issues of your books all over the world. What to speak of the devotees, the scholars, the professors, the librarians, and just the general reading public who are patronizing your books, literally millions of people all over the world are eagerly awaiting new issues of your volumes. When the news gets out that you are again translating and that the new volumes of Tenth Canto will be available, everyone will be in ecstasy.

Prabhupāda: I have got some letters from New Vrindaban appealing for the books.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Everybody appreciates, even the scientists, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Room Conversation -- October 24, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No, there is no explanation. He must be sincere, the kavirāja, and must know how to do it. That's all.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: On one hand, we didn't want to take Bhakti-caru Mahārāja away from you, because he's serving properly, and this is the best thing. I can see that you also don't want that. So then we can find... It's good if one Indian devotee goes with Smara-hari. But there are others that we can find. No, we can find someone. That's not... You don't have to tax yourself for that, Śrīla Prabhupāda. But this is our idea, that why we should wait here? The longer we wait, the colder the weather becomes. And what advantage do we gain by waiting here? There's no advantage gained. You could say "Well, because if we wait here and I get the medicine immediately, and I start to take the medicine, then I will become stronger." But our feeling is that strength will take time. So just by waiting for two weeks, the strength will not increase so significantly to make traveling less risky. Traveling is risky if we are not careful. If we take great care, then traveling will not be risky.

Prabhupāda: So by plane or train?

Prabhupada Vigil -- November 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Don't bother to come here, then.

Brahmānanda: But they treated you with much respect, though. They said that they had wanted Your Divine Grace to come because you are also a member of their steering committee. (indistinct) They also had a proposal to produce a series of different books, small books, pamphlets, forty, fifty pages, comprising selections from the Bhagavad-gītā. And these would be for specific types of persons. The books would be Bhagavad-gītā for students, Bhagavad-gītā for businessmen, Bhagavad-gītā for scientists, like that. So they want us to produce the book for the scientists, taking various quotes from Bhagavad-gītā with a short explanation of the verse. So I said one problem is that all the different groups who are assembled here will all have different interpretations of the verses. What about this?

Room Conversation -- November 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's called Preaching is the Essence. "His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda." It says, "Compiled by Rāmeśvara dāsa Swami and Śubhānanda dāsa Brahmacārī." It says, "A note of explanation. Every word of the text of this book is taken directly from the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, founder-ācārya of the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. The text appearing in boldface type is Śrīla Prabhupāda's translations of verses from the Vedic literatures. The text in regular roman type consists of excerpts from His Divine Grace's summary studies and purports. Contents in brief: 1) The mission of the Lord—to give all living entities the benediction of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. 2) It is the duty of the devotee to preach." Each one of these subjects, then they give verses or purports.

Room Conversation -- November 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (Hindi—mentions word "poison")

Kavirāja: (Hindi)

Devotee: Someone gave him poison here.

Kavirāja: (Hindi long explanation)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda was thinking that someone had poisoned him.

Adri-dharaṇa: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That was the mental distress.

Adri-dharaṇa: Yes.

Kavirāja: (Hindi)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What did Kavirāja just say?

Bhakti-cāru: He said that when Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that, there must be some truth behind it. (People all speaking at once)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, Sastriji says that there must be some truth to it if you say that. So who is it that has poisoned? (pause)

Kavirāja: (Hindi with Bhakti-cāru and Prabhupāda)

Woman: What did he say?