Fantastic

Expressions researched:
"fantastic" |"fantastical" |"fantastically" |"fantastics"

BG Chapters 7 - 12

Brahmā lives one hundred of such "years" and then dies. These "hundred years" by earth calculations total to 311 trillion and 40 billion earth years. By these calculations the life of Brahmā seems fantastic and interminable, but from the viewpoint of eternity it is as brief as a lightning flash.

BG 8.17, Purport:

In Kali-yuga vice increases to such a point that at the termination of the yuga the Supreme Lord Himself appears as the Kalki avatāra, vanquishes the demons, saves His devotees, and commences another Satya-yuga. Then the process is set rolling again. These four yugas, rotating a thousand times, comprise one day of Brahmā, and the same number comprise one night. Brahmā lives one hundred of such "years" and then dies. These "hundred years" by earth calculations total to 311 trillion and 40 billion earth years. By these calculations the life of Brahmā seems fantastic and interminable, but from the viewpoint of eternity it is as brief as a lightning flash. In the Causal Ocean there are innumerable Brahmās rising and disappearing like bubbles in the Atlantic. Brahmā and his creation are all part of the material universe, and therefore they are in constant flux.

SB Canto 5

There are different types of bodies. Some living entities have short durations of life, whereas others live for fantastic durations. Every one of them, however, from Brahmā down to the ant, acts according to the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is sitting in everyone's heart.

SB 5.1.13, Purport:

As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (3.27), prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ: everything is being done by prakṛti, material nature, under the direction of the Supreme Lord. Modern scientists do not know why there are varieties of bodies in 8,400,000 forms. The fact is that all these bodies are ordained for the living entities by the Supreme Personality of Godhead according to the living entities' desires. He gives the living entities freedom to act as they like, but on the other hand they must accept a body according to the reactions of their activities. Thus there are different types of bodies. Some living entities have short durations of life, whereas others live for fantastic durations. Every one of them, however, from Brahmā down to the ant, acts according to the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is sitting in everyone's heart. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (15.15):

sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo

mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca

"I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance. knowledge and forgetfulness." It is not a fact, however, that the Supreme Personality of Godhead gives direction to certain living entities in one way and other living entities in another way.

SB Canto 6

Philosophers and scientists conduct scholarly research to find the original cause, but they should do so scientifically, not whimsically or through fantastic theories.

SB 6.5.17, Purport:

Philosophers and scientists conduct scholarly research to find the original cause, but they should do so scientifically, not whimsically or through fantastic theories. The science of the original cause is explained in various Vedic literatures. Athāto brahma jijñāsā/janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The Vedānta-sūtra explains that one should inquire about the Supreme Soul. Such inquiry about the Supreme is called brahma jijñāsā. The Absolute Truth, tattva, is explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.11):

vadanti tat tattva-vidas

tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam

brahmeti paramātmeti

bhagavān iti śabdyate

"Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān." The Absolute Truth appears to neophytes as impersonal Brahman and to advanced mystic yogīs as Paramātmā, the Supersoul, but devotees, who are further advanced, understand the Absolute Truth as the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu.

Easy Journey to Other Planets

Brahmaloka is subject to destruction. Although life on Brahmaloka is fantastically long compared to life on Earth.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

The highest planet of the material universe, Brahmaloka, is also subjected to these modes of nature, although the duration of life on that planet, due to the predominance of the mode of sattva, is said to be 4,300,000 x 1,000 x 2 x 30 x 12 x 100 solar years. Despite this long duration, however, Brahmaloka is subject to destruction. Although life on Brahmaloka is fantastically long compared to life on Earth, it is only a flash in comparison to the eternal life of the nonmaterial worlds. Consequently, the speaker of the Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, asserts the importance of the antimaterial universe, which is His abode.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Just like in Bengal they say, jokingly, ghoṛā ḍim. Ghoṛā ḍim means a ghoṛā, a horse, never gives eggs. It is fantastics. It is not possible.

Lecture on SB 1.8.31 -- Mayapura, October 11, 1974:

Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that kaivalya, the impersonalists' theory of becoming one, monist, with the Absolute... That is called kaivalya. So he says: kaivalyaṁ narakāyate: "For a devotee who has got little favor of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, for him, this kaival ya-sukha, happiness of becoming one with the Supreme, is as good as the hell." Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. And tri-daśa-pūra ākāśa-puṣpāyate. Tri-daśa-pūra means where thirty-three millions of demigods live, heavenly planets. It is something like phantasmagoria, ākāśa-puṣpa, which has... Just like in Bengal they say, jokingly, ghoṛā ḍim. Ghoṛā ḍim means a ghoṛā, a horse, never gives eggs. It is fantastics. It is not possible. Similarly, these heavenly planets, for a Vaiṣṇava, is ghoṛā ḍim. They don't care for it. It is no fact.

So kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tri-daśa-pūra ākāśa-puṣpāyate. Karmīs, they want to go to the heavenly planet. This is the sarcastic remark upon the karmīs

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

You know how to do that?

Room Conversation -- July 20, 1971, New York:

Pratyatoṣa: And for $185 a month, we could have forty hours a week of computer time, eight hours a day. And they have courses, this company gives computerized courses that'll teach children how to read and how to do arithmetic through the terminal. And also, it has a fantastic editor. If you type in the text, and any mistakes you make, you can just type in a few instructions with a computer and it'll change them. Then after you get all the text the way you want it, it's stored on a magnetic disk at the computer. And then when you get it perfect—you can change it a hundred times if you want—but when you get it perfect, then you just have the computer automatically type out the whole thing.

Prabhupāda: You know how to do that?

Devotee (4): Yes, Prabhupāda, I got A's in that.

But as soon as an electronic is a little sick, the whole thing stops.

Room Conversation -- July 20, 1971, New York:

Ratyatoṣa: With a photon machine, you can do a whole book. You could have a thousand-page book done in one night. It would type the whole thing in one night. That's all you'd need is a (indistinct).

Devotee (4): Those machines are fantastic.

Pratyatoṣa: They're so fast.

Devotee (4): They are fantastic.

Pratyatoṣa: They turn out a page in a couple of seconds.

Devotee (4): Electric brain.

Pratyatoṣa: Yeah.

Devotee (4): Big electric.

Pratyatoṣa: And they're always perfect. There's no variation in the characters or anything like this.

Prabhupāda: But as soon as an electronic is a little sick, the whole thing stops.

Devotee (4): No, they're reliable machines. These are just...

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

I work at night, writing books. My work is going on. At night, I write.

Room Conversation with French Journalist and UNESCO Worker -- August 10, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Bring all the books.

Devotee: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam? (break)

Prabhupāda: These books have been produced within six years.

Dr. Inger: Really!

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Inger: Fantastic. I do not know how. So much work, incredible!

Prabhupāda: I work at night, writing books. My work is going on. At night, I write. (break) In the UNESCO, to understand God or spiritual life, they do not think it a necessary?

Dr. Inger: Well, that's a very, very important question. I think that the real trouble is that all of them are bureaucrats, sitting in offices, creating more jobs for other officers. I was one of the earliest members. I came when Dr. Radhakrishnan was the, was our president. And... At the very early stage. In those days, there was that feeling, that some importance should be given, but because it became a governmental organization, because every religion thinks that they should have a part to play in it, what they did was, they brought out, in ten volumes, a scientific and cultural history of mankind. But it has, it's only incidentally philosophy, only incidentally religion. The only religious books that have come out are those that have been translated. Old books like the second book to the East, for instance. Max Muller's books.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

It is not religion. Of course it is religion. But the religion, as it is misunderstood in European countries that religion is a kind of faith, but it is not like that. It is science. It is fact.

Morning Walk -- April 11, 1974, Bombay:

Italian Man (1): It is the most satisfying thing I have been reading up to now. I have been searching through the Tibetan Books of the Dead, but it wasn't enough, and this is beyond that. It is really complete.

Prabhupāda: In your country people will like it? They would like these ideas?

Italian Man (1): Oh, yes. Absolutely, absolutely. I have such a keen interest in going to see what the situation is because I... (break) ...for Venice.

Prabhupāda: Oh, Venice.

Italian Man (1): Yes. So it would be so fantastic to present them a platform of religion so...

Prabhupāda: It is not religion. Of course it is religion. But the religion, as it is misunderstood in European countries that religion is a kind of faith, but it is not like that. It is science. It is fact. Religion, you have got some faith. That may not be right. It may be wrong. Just like the Christian religion, they have got faith in this way, that animal has no soul. Do you know that?

We are also writing books, so many. You have seen our books?

Room Conversation with Irish Poet, Desmond O'Grady -- May 23, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: We are also writing books, so many. You have seen our books?

O'Grady: I have seen some, yes, because some of the friends have come up and...

Prabhupāda: Some of the books, you can show him. Here is one book, Bhagavad-gītā.

Yogeśvara: You have seen the Bhagavad-gītā, haven't you, in English?

O'Grady: Oh, yes, but not this particular edition.

Yogeśvara: This we just recently published in German, a German edition. (Yogeśvara discusses books with O'Grady for a minute)

Bhagavān: All these books are illustrated by our artists in New York.

O'Grady: They illustrated this?

Bhagavān: Oh, yes, they are beautiful.

Bob Jackson(?): Some fantastic work. When you came to the house...

O'Grady: The text is in...

Bhagavān: There's original text in Bengali. This book is in Bengali.

O'Grady: And Sanskrit.

Bhagavān: Sanskrit, which Prabhupāda translates himself and gives the explanation and purport. Every night Śrīla Prabhupāda dictates into a dictaphone, and his secretaries type and edit. And then we have a press in New York which composes and prints.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Such stories are in Mahābhārata also. The demons were engaged, giants and demons, for construction. Yes. And they were very good artist.

Morning Walk -- May 16, 1975, Perth:

Devotee (1): They also have the big structures in Egypt, the pyramids.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Amogha: Perhaps they used sand also.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Paramahaṁsa: The Greeks say that they built their buildings... They hired some very big men called cyclopses, big giants. And they came and built all the buildings.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And such stories are in Mahābhārata also. The demons were engaged, giants and demons, for construction. Yes. And they were very good artist, how to do it. Now we employ the first-class men, so-called first-class engineering, but they were meant for the demons and giants. Yes.

Paramahaṁsa: Well, that explains how they built such fantastic temples and palaces.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Amogha: Some people say, "Why don't we see any giants any more today?"

Prabhupāda: Yes. In the Africa, there were many giants, very high, very strong.

Therefore you have to believe only. You have to accept what Bhāgavata says. That is your business. Not to try to make an experiment. That is not possible.

Morning Walk -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Madhudviṣa: In other books, Śrīla Prabhupāda, it says things and then in time you can see them, you can substantiate them. But some of the descriptions in the Bhāgavatam are so fantastic that people, I mean, its very difficult for people to even...

Prabhupāda: Therefore you have to believe only. You have to accept what Bhāgavata says. That is your business. Not to try to make an experiment. That is not possible. It is already experimented, and the mature knowledge is stated there. You have to accept, that's all. Śruti-pramāṇa. Śruti means Vedas. Evidence... Vedic literature there are three kinds of evidences. The most powerful evidence is śruti. If it is stated in the Vedas, that is first-class evidence. Therefore whatever we say, immediately quote some Vedic version, that is the way of understanding. Kṛṣṇa says, Vyāsadeva says, Parāśara says, that's all. We don't require much proof. This is the first-class proof, when you find the statement corroborated by the Vedas. And śruti, smṛti. Smṛti means literature written according to the Vedic version. Śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi (Brs. 1.2.101). Purāṇādi is itihāsa, history. And another pramāṇa is anumāna. And anumāna means "by right person." Thinking that it may be like this, anumāna. That is called anumāna.

So why shall I accept them?

Morning Walk -- November 13, 1975, Bombay:

Yaśomatīnandana: Funny thing is that some of the historians, they say, "There was no war like Mahābhārata. It's all fictitious. There's nothing like Kurukṣetra." Some historians say that there is Kurukṣetra and there is evidences of war of Mahābhārata. But none of them completely agree with the scriptures. They all have their own fantastic theories, even those who say that...

Prabhupāda: So why shall I accept them?

Yaśomatīnandana: How can we prove the...

Prabhupāda: They cannot prove. Our proof is already there. They cannot prove. Why don't you take that point, that these rascals, they are contradictory to one another, so they cannot prove. Our proof is already there.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

We are just attempting a big planetarium in Māyāpur. We have asked government to acquire land, 350 acres.

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

Prabhupāda: Give him, give him, give him. No, that is the different. Oh, all right. We are just attempting a big planetarium in Māyāpur. We have asked government to acquire land, 350 acres. That is negotiation going on. We shall give a Vedic planetarium.

George Harrison: Is that the one you were talking about? With all the...

Prabhupāda: In the Fifth Canto.

Gurudāsa: The planetarium will be 350 feet high and show the cosmology of the spiritual world.

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.

He said that breaking the bricks is the business. I said the sooner you give up this, then you are happy.

Radio Interview -- July 27, 1976, London:

Harikeśa: I was noticing that, that when you finish speaking with somebody, although he's bewildered, all of a sudden he understands, and he becomes amazed. I mean that happens with me also. It's just, it's the most fantastic technique. You're so patient.

Hari-śauri: Like that man from the Associated Press. You forced him to stay on those two analogies until he understood. For ten minutes you explained that, the car and the driver, until it finally got through to him. Then when he finally had some realization of it, then you again gave him another analogy about breaking the bricks in the prison. And again you forced him to stay on the same subject matter. And he..., you do it in such a way that they think that they're asking very good questions from their own intelligence. Actually, you've already captured them.

Harikeśa: It's like taming wild animals. The perfect animal trainer. (laughing)

Prabhupāda: He said that breaking the bricks is the business. I said the sooner you give up this, then you are happy. Karmīs, the karmīs want this, breaking the bricks. They think this is civilization. Brick, more brick, and bring more bricks and break it. That is civilization.

So you quote from all these quotations. Ananda Bazaar and others. You give quotations.

Room Conversation About Blitz News Clipping -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: So you quote from all these quotations. Ananda Bazaar and others. You give quotations. They may make a fresh pages so when court case is there this should be presented.

Gargamuni: Yes. Newspaper articles can stand as evidence because the Ananda Bazaar, they sent a whole team there, and the article they wrote was fantastic.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: You have to give me all of them.

Gargamuni: They're here on Prabhupāda's desk.

Hari-śauri: No, Harikeśa has got them.

Prabhupāda: So go and pick up and make arrangement immediately show them. One thing, that we have got this śālagrāma-śilā. So if you like to personally worship, we can keep it. Otherwise I am sending to Bombay. Do you like to worship?

Pradyumna: We can take with us? Yes.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: That is good to take with you.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Pradyumna: We can make small thing like you used to have, small Deities? We can do that.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Make a small box.

Who explains how the stone came like this?

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 7, 1976, Hyderabad:

Devotee (4): These are very fantastic stones here. Especially this one stone.

Prabhupāda: Who explains how the stone came like this?

Devotee (4): Yes, I think it's wonderful.

Devotee (5): They will say from the formation of the mud. Mud accumulated over the years and became stone. Or vice versa.

Devotee (4): This one stone is so big. It is just holding on a little stone, it is just in the air, like somebody's underneath and holding it. (break)

Prabhupāda: Cow dung can be collected. At least they can be used as cow dung. Here, you should.

Devotee (6): In the small villages the women and children they make the paddy for burning in cooking.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

The scientist proposing that they'll control the laws of nature, and they will produce food from garbage, so many fantastic ideas.

Room Conversation on 1976 Book Scores -- January 16, 1977, Calcutta:

Prabhupāda: ...discussing some subject matter from Reader's Digest about the next two hundred years, how things will happen, the scientist proposing that they'll control the laws of nature, and they will produce food from garbage, so many fantastic ideas. But our suggestion, according to Caitanya Mahāprabhu,

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma iva kevalam

kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā

(CC Adi 17.21)

(break)

Rāmeśvara: This is a very bad picture. It makes the devotees look very strange. And they have this elaborate ghee holder.

Prabhupāda: This is our men?

Rāmeśvara: Yes. This is at an ārati. You can see the donations that people have put on the tray. But it makes it look very strange, this picture with the lighting. They have deliberately selected this.

Prabhupāda: Very big article.

That is fact. Because we are part and parcel of God, therefore there is illumination.

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Rāmeśvara: And they say you can understand a person not by hearing his words but by catching the thoughts from his mind. These people report that kind of experience, that they can understand another man from his thoughts even before he speaks. But the most fantastic thing of all, which I'm not clear about, is they have a description... Almost every person that they interviewed had the same experience of a very bright light. Now this is the way they describe it. "The first appearance of this light is very dim, but rapidly it gets brighter and brighter until it reaches an unearthly brilliance." Every person agreed that this light was actually a living being and it had a definite personality. It was emanating a feeling of warmth and friendship, and it was asking them questions. And it describes the two main questions: "Are you ready to die?" "What have you done with your life to show me? What have you done with your life that is sufficient?" And then it goes on to say that all these people felt that this being who appeared to be like a luminous being was concerned with two things: how they had developed love and how they were searching for knowledge. Every one of them had this same description of a being of light. A luminous being.

Prabhupāda: That is fact. Because we are part and parcel of God, therefore there is illumination.

Story means it is story for you. Do you know the details of the whole universe, where, what is what?

Room Conversation about BTG the Moon -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Dhṛṣṭadyumna Mahārāja has organized the life membership program to send the Indian members milk sweets in the mail every week from the farm. Burfi, sandeśa.

Prabhupāda: They also like. And in America, the Indians are there, they are all educated. They're not low-class men.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They read your books carefully.

Prabhupāda: This... There are some statements. Just like molten iron, a man can break for illicit sex. What is their objection?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well they think it's superstition. They think it is simply some stories.

Hari-śauri: Some fantastic...

Prabhupāda: Story means it is story for you. Do you know the details of the whole universe, where, what is what? Can you do? You go and say there is no moonshine, but this rascal conclusion will be taken. Why there should be shine? From the sand such brilliant moonshine is coming? We have to believe that? So many books have said (indistinct) brilliant. Sun is brilliant. This... So you rascal, you can believe in that, but we'll not believe. You can say. What do you know about moon? It is all rascaldom. It may be good for rascals like you, not for intelligent man like me.

It is all Kṛṣṇa's grace. Let us try our best sincerely, and Kṛṣṇa will give us. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam.

Room Conversation -- February 27, 1977, Mayapura:

Harikeśa: And so by your mercy I managed to drag him back by his hair one day, and I sent him and his wife to Austria, and now they are doing something amazing. They never spend even one penny. Everywhere they go, they beg as monks that someone should please give them a place to stay and something to eat, and they're begging gasoline and they're selling so many books, it's inconceivable. The bookstores...

Prabhupāda: German language. German language.

Harikeśa: In German language, yes. To bookstores. Bookstores are buying like anything, and people are buying the books in the bookstores. Because we can't sell in the streets, so they're buying in the bookstores. And he's also training up Austrians to sell books, and gradually it's expanding. One day last week—he called me just before I left—he sold 1,200 marks worth of books in six hours. It's simply fantastic.

Prabhupāda: It is all Kṛṣṇa's grace. Let us try our best sincerely, and Kṛṣṇa will give us. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam (BG 10.10). Otherwise how it is happening? In foreign countries, a system of philosophy which is foreign to them, how they are purchasing? In India, if they purchase one Bhāgavatam, it has got meaning. But in Germany, purchasing Bhāgavatam, it is only Kṛṣṇa's grace. How it is possible? And India, nobody is interested to purchase Bible. So if they purchase Bhāgavatam, that is not surprising, but in Europe and America in Christmas festivities they are purchasing. So it is all Kṛṣṇa's arrangement. We sold more books in Christmas festivals.

Hari-śauri: Oh, yes. Christmas is always big.

Prabhupāda: What business they have got? Christmas festival and purchasing Bhāgavata. What is that?

Brahmānanda: This is wording for the Certificate of Awards. The Certificate of Awards.

Prabhupāda: Ha ha. Ha ha.

Therefore they asked you, "your city," "his city," "will build a center, fantastic..."

Conversations -- April 19, 1977, Bombay:

Surabhīr Abhipālayantam: They took a picture. I have only given them this picture and this picture.

Prabhupāda: Not a single man's name is there. "The Swami," your photograph... Nothing.

Surabhīr Abhipālayantam: We will go immediately. I will go today, immediately.

Prabhupāda: But what is published, that is already damage.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes they will retract it.

Prabhupāda: Therefore they asked you, "your city," "his city," "will build a center, fantastic..."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, no one's going to give it any credence.

Prabhupāda: It is most objectionable article. So you are doing things very, full independently. This is not very good. The impression will be that "Surabhī Swami has come to construct this city. He is cheating," like that, as if everything doing, you are the all and all. That's... No other. And "the temple will be Kṛṣṇa." Just show him, "the temple of Kṛṣṇa." You do not know what is, the temple will be? Clearly mentioned. They have also manufactured? They have manufactured? What is this?

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.

Rather, they have criticized that "This fantastic thing, it is going to be like Aurobindo's city, list of fifty thousand, 404 acres." They are not taking it very seriously.

Conversations -- April 19, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It appears just below this article. "ISKCON Branch in City from October, by a staff reporter. A branch of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, the center for advanced learning and research of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, ISKCON, based in Washington, D.C., is scheduled to be opened in October at Hare Krishna Land in Juhu. This was stated by Dr. Thoudam Dāmodara Singh in Bombay on Tuesday. Dr. Singh, who is in charge of the arrangements for the opening, told a press conference that the Institute presents in a modern format the higher sciences of the ancient Vedantic literatures. In Bombay, Dr. Singh said, the Institute will publish scientific articles, monographs, and the journal 'Sa-vijñānam, Scientific Knowledge,' regularly." That's the whole article. Again Your Divine Grace's name is not mentioned. Of course, it says, "Bhaktivedanta Institute," but still, it's not... Yeah, it was a very good opportunity that we could present our program, but somehow it... Where did they get these figures of "three years"and "ten years"? I mean, how could they have just concocted "three years" and "ten years" unless you told them?

Surabhīr Abhipālayantam: I...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But how did they get these figures? How does someone manufacture that we will spend seventy crores in three years? (pause) It seems like they have tricked you. You must have made a statement, and they...

Surabhīr Abhipālayantam: They fabricated. That's the whole thing.

Prabhupāda: How they can fabricate in their own way? From... (pause) Rather, they have criticized that "This fantastic thing, it is going to be like Aurobindo's city, list of fifty thousand, 404 acres." They are not taking it very seriously. Otherwise why he has remarked? Indirectly he has said, "This man is speaking like lunatic." They are not taking very seriously. That very remark shows that "It is going to be meet the same fate." So many fantastic ideas.

It will be fantastical. Therefore they, "It is going to meet the same fate."

Conversations -- April 19, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's an article in the Times of India yesterday about foreign travel as a center to expand.(?)

Prabhupāda: There Hare Krishna movement is nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, it says that "The Hare Krishna movement is responsible for promoting knowledge of India and India's culture abroad." I mean, it is farce, because according to this article, we have to now come up with seventy crores of rupees and spend seventy crores in three years. So we cannot come up with seventy crores of rupees. Neither anyone could build that quickly. I mean, it's a farce. How could anyone build a temple of that proportion, a planetarium of that size, in three years' time. I mean, anybody who knows about building will know. We can't even build this building in three years.

Prabhupāda: It will be fantastical. Therefore they, "It is going to meet the same fate." (pause) You do not know what is the temple will be? You do not know?

Surabhīr Abhipālayantam: Hm?

Prabhupāda: That temple, what will be the Deity, you do not know?

Śrī Kṛṣṇa caitanya rādhā kṛṣṇa nahe anya. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya wants that pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma. And for Kṛṣṇa's grace. This new building, it may not divert attention from Deity worship.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, if we celebrate... If you're in America for Janmāṣṭamī or Vyāsa-pūjā day, all the devotees in the whole country will come to wherever you are. Thousand, two thousand will come. It will be the most fantastic...

Prabhupāda: Śrī Kṛṣṇa caitanya rādhā kṛṣṇa nahe anya. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya wants that pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma. And for Kṛṣṇa's grace. This new building, it may not divert attention from Deity worship.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In London, yes.

Prabhupāda: Library, restaurant, lecture. How many rooms are there?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, first of all there's a basement, which is the restaurant area. That restaurant area is, say, four times the size of this room.

Prabhupāda: Four times?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Three to four. Not so high. And it's not straight. It's shaped little bit of an L shape from what I recall.

Prabhupāda: You have seen it?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, I went in.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I was on my way with Bhavānanda to go to Africa for Brahmānanda Mahārāja. So we stopped for half a day in London, so they showed us the property. At that time they had not yet bought it, so the karmīs owned it. So I had to go in as if I was a customer there at the pub. I didn't buy anything, but I looked around. So then on the next floor... Basically it's a building, say, three rooms like this and then up.

Very good. This is preaching.

Room Conversations Bangladesh Preaching/Prabhavisnu Articles by Hamsaduta -- August 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Now, to get to the main article, in answer to Kovoor's question of what objective evidence I have made the fantastic statement that life comes from life and matter also comes from life, and that there is soul, rebirth of the soul, and Supreme Soul, God, they say fight fire with fire, and so I have taken advantage of three scientists who happen to be members of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement and, I dare say, more qualified than the so-called Dr. Kovoor, who is only an honorary doctor..."

Prabhupāda: Ah!

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Ah. He's exposed now. "...whereas these men have actually qualified themselves in bona fide institutions of learning by submitting their theses for Ph.D. degrees. Dr. Kovoor boasts that for over twenty years he has challenged holy men to show him God or the soul, and no one has ever dared to take up his challenge. But now someone has come forward to challenge him. I have rented the Ramakrishna Mission Hall on the 20th of August, Saturday, 6:30 PM, and invite him to accept my challenge on the stage before the public to produce life from chance biochemical combination. All are invited to attend. Admission free. Bring some chemicals if possible." He rented a hall. He's put out a challenge in the newspaper. Now we'll hear what the public is saying. I think he gave a good reply.

Prabhupāda: Very good. This is preaching.

Very good idea. If I die then, it will be a great luck.

Room Conversation -- October 26, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bharadvāja: The svarṇa-sindhu is also similar in effect, for medicine, as medicine?

Prabhupāda: That I do not know. (break) If I can continue this parikrama, that is spiritual cure. (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then we can enlarge the parikrama path. Can we take you some time all around Vṛndāvana?

Prabhupāda: Why not?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What about to Govardhana?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Rādhā-kuṇḍa.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: This is very, very nice weather now.

Brahmānanda: Yes, it's beautiful weather, fantastic weather.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We will make a palanquin, special palanquin, you see, which will have a bed in it. It will be very nice. And it will have curtains. When you want, the curtains can come down or they can come up. And it will be full length, so you can recline very comfortably. And we will make a camp. We will go by foot all the way.

Prabhupāda: Very good idea. If I die then, it will be a great luck.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And if you live it will be also great luck.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Jīvo vā māro vā.