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Finally (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1967 Conversations and Morning Walks

Discourse on Lord Caitanya Play Between Srila Prabhupada and Hayagriva -- April 5-6, 1967, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: So in this way at Advaita's house He remained for some time. Say about a fortnight. And during that time, in the beginning, His mother came and His mother became so much sorry. That scene you have to describe very nicely. Mother seeing that her son has taken sannyāsa, no more He'll come to house. So (s)he was crying. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu fell on his(her) feet and begged, "My dear mother, yes. This body belongs to you. This body should have been engaged for your service. Unfortunately I've done a mistake. I have already taken sannyāsa. Please excuse Me." In this way. That scene described in the Dilip Kumar's house, that Caitanya is consulting mother, that is a false scene. The actual scene is that after accepting His sannyāsa, His mother came to see Him at Advaita's house. That is the...

Hayagrīva: Yes. Does she give Him her blessing finally?

Prabhupāda: No. Of course, mother's blessings are always there. But the scene was that mother was crying and He was falling on the feet and His mother was very sorry that He had very beautiful hair. Now it is all cut off. In this way, the scene is very pathetic. So in this way, after remaining at Advaita's house, His mother was asking Him through Advaita, "Let Him remain for some time." Then He consulted "Mother, now just you think over that I have taken sannyāsa. And if I remain in this way, leaving My own family, and if I leave another family, do you think this is very nice for a sannyāsī? So give Me permission to go away." Then mother agreed and other friends like Advaita and Śrīnivāsa requested His mother that "You give Him permission." Then (s)he said, "Yes, I have to give Him permission because He has already accept sannyāsa. If somebody blames Him, blasphemy, that is also not good. So my last request is that He may make His headquarter at Jagannātha Purī so that... Because people generally go to Jagannātha Purī, so I shall be able at least to know about Him, how He is faring there. That is my last request."

Discourse on Lord Caitanya Play Between Srila Prabhupada and Hayagriva -- April 5-6, 1967, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: Fifth scene.

Hayagrīva: This is Haridāsa Ṭhākura?

Prabhupāda: Haridāsa Ṭhākura.

Hayagrīva: At who's death? At Haridāsa's death?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Haridāsa was very old man. He was Muhammadan.

Hayagrīva: He was the person that was thrown in the river.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hayagrīva: So he finally met his end here, in the fifth scene.

Prabhupāda: We are not meant for those... Of course, Haridāsa Ṭhākura has a separate life, but that we are not going to show.

Hayagrīva: Yes. All right. This particular incident.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 11, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Allen Ginsberg: ...that salvation would also have to become easier and easier in the Kali-yuga.

Prabhupāda: That is very nice statement that in the Kali-yuga salvation is very easier. That is the version of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also, but that process is this kīrtana, not LSD.

Allen Ginsberg: Well, it was... The reasoning there, was that for those who would only accept salvation in purely material form, in chemical form finally, and completely material form...

Prabhupāda: Hmm. So where is the salvation when there is...

Allen Ginsberg: ...that Kṛṣṇa had the humor to emerge as a pill.

Prabhupāda: No, the thing is that any of these material forms...

Allen Ginsberg: Yes?

Prabhupāda: ...then where it is salvation? It is illusion.

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 11, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: Yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ. You have got Kṛṣṇa's blessings upon you. You are not ordinary man.

Allen Ginsberg: I'm not certain that I'm worthy of that, Swamiji.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. But I know that you are not ordinary man.

Allen Ginsberg: Well... I've only recently stopped smoking, by the way, finally. With that car crash, I quit smoking. But I haven't stopped eating meat. So what is the intelligence of meat?

Prabhupāda: You remain with us at least for three months and you'll forget your... You remain with us for three months. (laughter) With your associates, you just come to Vṛndāvana. We shall live together.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1972, San Diego:

Prabhupāda: ...forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa. When there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is no longer material. That is spiritual.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Those of us who have been blessed by your teachings, we still are conditioned to forget Kṛṣṇa. It's very painful when we forget. I know myself, I am still a rascal. It's very difficult when I forget. (break)

Prabhupāda: It is your duty to give protection.

Devotee (1): When he was very small, he came back from the temple one Sunday chanting and dancing, and finally we went to see what it was.

Interview with the New York Times -- September 2, 1972, New Vrindaban:
Prabhupāda: When this particular body is finished, we are carried by a subtle body into another gross body. That is called transmigration of the soul. And when we finally get free from the subtle body also, we go back home, back to Godhead. It is that easy. Human beings therefore should endeavor to get out of this gross and subtle body, attain the spiritual body and go back home. That should be the aim of human endeavor. Not that we should simply live like animals. Animals cannot get out of the gross and subtle body because to extricate oneself one must know in fact what God is. An animal cannot know what God is, but a human being can. That is the opportunity afforded by this body; nature gives us this human body just to understand God, and if we simply use it for animal propensities, we again go to the animal kingdom. That is a form of punishment.
Interview with the New York Times -- September 2, 1972, New Vrindaban:
Prabhupāda: Everything is possible, provided we make the choice. Therefore according to Vedic civilization in the beginning of life you become a brahmacārī. Then you are allowed to marry and become a householder, and after a number of years you remain a husband but abandon sexuality, and that is called vānaprastha. Finally you take sannyāsa and leave your family to practice and preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is Vedic civilization. Everything is provided to enlighten the people in general. All the knowledge is there, and the method is there; we simply have to take advantage of it. If we do not, how can we expect a peaceful and happy world? If society creates animals, then how can it expect peace and prosperity? In spite of so many big universities and all educational facilities, this society is producing hippies and frustration amongst the youth because we are spirit soul and cannot become happy simply by amassing material comforts. We must have spiritual life. If a fish is taken out of water, it cannot be made happy with all the comforts of land. To be happy, a fish must have all the freedom of water. Similarly, we are all spiritual sparks, and we cannot become happy in matter. We require spiritual food, spiritual atmosphere.
Morning Walk Conversation -- September 28, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: There must be something ideal; otherwise how they will try to make it ideal? They are trying to be immortal. Unless there is something immortal, how they...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The actual ideality is there.

Prabhupāda: That is explained in Bhāgavatam: satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi (SB 1.1.1). Finally proof.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: If there would be no ideality, the scientists cannot think about ideality itself.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- August 11, 1973, Paris:

Guru-gaurāṅga: But then the profane, Prabhupāda, they say that: "Let us carry that logic to the very end, that even God is created. Then why... You say God is having no..."

Prabhupāda: No. No. God is created, you can say. But when a created thing is, then he's not God. Our, our proposition is that everything is created, but finally if we find somebody, he's not created, then he's God.

Yogeśvara: They would say: our conclusion was just now that everything has to have been created.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Yogeśvara: Everything has some source of origin.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- August 11, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: No, when there is no source of origin, that is God.

Bhagavān: Just like Kṛṣṇa showed Arjuna His universal form. So He established that He was the origin of everything, and He had no cause.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Cause of all causes. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). Everything has some cause, but when you finally come to a thing who has no cause, then He's God.

Bhagavān: The rascals...

Prabhupāda: Vedānta-sūtra: janmādyasya yataḥ. The origin of everything. But He's not originated from something else. And that is God. Therefore He's called Absolute. Everything here is relative. And God is Absolute. That is the difference between Absolute and relative.

Morning Walk -- December 19, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: (laughing) So just imagine where is light. In our side or their side? They are deprecating, "Bhagavad-gītā is now old. We require new knowledge." Still, we sold thousand copies.

Hṛdayānanda: Finally the Guru Maharaji said over the microphone, "Don't buy more of these Bhagavad-gītās." (laughter) He said it's not bona fide. I told Prabhupāda that when the devotees had a big kīrtana, all the people...

Prabhupāda: So what was the result, stopped?

Hṛdayānanda: Yeah, after that it was more difficult. After that, the devotees were preaching more to individuals. But that was already after a thousand Gītās had been sold. Everyone left their meeting and went out to see the kīrtana. They had to keep calling them back, over and over again, "Please, please come back."

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 16, 1974, Hawaii:

Sudāmā: :-yes, Gopāla Kṛṣṇa, Mahārāja, in Tokyo.

Bali Mardana: No, Gopāla Svāmī.

Sudāmā: Gopāla Svāmī.

Prabhupāda: Gopāla Svāmī, yes.

Sudāmā: And he said that within a month the society will be registered there in Japan. That the registration is finally coming to effect.

Satsvarūpa: There was also a telegram from Bhūrijana in Hong Kong.

Prabhupāda: Ah.

Satsvarūpa: And he's fully prepared for us to come and he's hoping that we'll come.

Prabhupāda: Oh yes, then prepare that. So by the twenty-eighth?

Satsvarūpa: Yes, we'll inform him.

Morning Walk -- March 30, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: The sum total is how to become guṇātīta. That is bhakti-yoga.

Chandobhai: That is bhakti yoga. Last stage of bhakti, finally, is said like that, māṁ ca yo avyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the only guṇātīta position.

Chandobhai: But these, qualities are the test of that man.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Chandobhai: After he attains that, these qualities are the test of that man, how we can test that man?

Prabhupāda: No, no, testing, that is also stated. Just like these Europeans, Americans, in their previous position, they had many bad habits. But somehow or other, they have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is their position, guṇātīta. Even by habit they commit something mistake, that is not to be taken into account.

Morning Walk -- June 2, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: Government made agreement.

Karandhara: Yeah, they made some compromise with the union.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: It seems that the government had arrested all of the union leaders, and this paralyzed the worker's appeal. So the workers finally agreed to go back. They put many thousands of union leaders into jail.

Prabhupāda: It was right. (break)

Yogeśvara: ...did in such a way that crops can be grown anywhere? Can crops be grown anywhere in the world?

Prabhupāda: Yes. If it does not grow, then what is nature's arrangement?

Yogeśvara: Well, for example, there are some parts in India that are too dry to cultivate the ground.

Prabhupāda: Dry means there is no rain. If natures like, there can be profuse rain. That is nature's arrangement. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ. Parjanyāt. You must have sufficient rain. And for having sufficient rain, you must execute yajña. Yajñād bhavati parjanyaḥ (BG 3.14). So these people are now becoming rascals. They are not performing yajñas. They are opening slaughterhouse. How there will be rain? Instead of performing yajñas, they are opening big, big slaughterhouse.

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

Pṛthu Putra: For himself it's just to practice zazen, to meditate on Zen.

Prabhupāda: That is also desire.

Pṛthu Putra: He says that's for sure. In the beginning when they are practicing zazen is always some material desire. We desire that, we desire that. We would like to know God or something like that. But by practicing zazen finally we just come to the point—we don't have any more desire, just by practicing zazen.

Prabhupāda: Then what is that position of no desire?

Karandhara: The real position is to eliminate the self. The only possible way that they can achieve no desire, no initiative, is to eliminate the self altogether, to make the self become eliminated and just be the cosmic one again without any self.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that will be done automatically. Why you practice so much? (French)

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 7, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: No. Senses are there. The dog has senses, you have got also senses. Body may change, the senses will continue.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: But when the body is finally finished, aren't the senses also finished?

Prabhupāda: No. Body will have finished when you are liberated. Otherwise, one after another, another body, that's all. Childhood body is finished, you have got another body. But in a childhood body there were senses, and still you have got senses. The body may change, but the senses will continue. Even in the small ant, for sense gratification, they gather as soon as there will be grain of sugar immediately. They have got the same senses. Just like you run after something according to your estimation very big, for them that one grain of sugar is very big. So they are also running after sense gratification. So anybody, viṣaya karuṇa sarva dakṣaya, whatever body you may get, the senses will be there, and you'll enjoy, according to your capacity.

Radio Interview -- May 25, 1975, Fiji:

Interviewer: Finally Swamiji, what is the relevance of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in our modern society?

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Interviewer: What would be the relevance of Kṛṣṇa's teaching in...

Prabhupāda: Relevance mean you are spirit soul. You are not this body. This thing first you have to understand. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That is India's philosophy, that "I am spirit soul." And if you realize brahmāsmi, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na... (BG 18.54). As soon as you realize that you are not this material body, you are spirit soul, then immediately you become jolly, prasannātmā. Prasannātmā means na śocati na kāṅkṣati. He has no more any hankering for things which he does not possess, no more any lamenting which he has lost.

Morning Walk -- June 21, 1975, Los Angeles:

Revatīnandana: Some time back in the newspaper... This old president of America, Harry Truman, died, and it mentioned that he was eighty-eight years old and that in the last eight years he had been in and out of the hospital ten times for surgery. So in eight years he had been operated on ten times. At eighty-eight years old he was still trying to live, and finally he died.

Prabhupāda: Just see, just see.

Revatīnandana: So much misery; still, he would not die. He tolerated all these operations.

Bahulāśva: This Professor Stahl, he was saying that his experience is that everything is changing and temporary. So therefore he was thinking that that is the nature of all things, that they are temporary.

Prabhupāda: Temporary, this (indistinct). Why this "temporary" word has come into existence unless there is the opposite, "eternal"? Why do you use this word, "temporary"? When you say, "It is fraud," and there must be something as honesty. Otherwise, why this "fraud" has come? Hm? We say, "This is light"—means there is something as darkness. This is relative world.

Morning Walk -- July 2, 1975, Denver:

Devotee (2): What does the yogi perceive when he cuts off the outer senses, he finally reaches the...

Prabhupāda: Perceive?

Devotee (2): What does he experience when he cuts off the outer senses and is able to...

Prabhupāda: Outer senses, what do you mean by outer senses-dead?

Devotee (2): His bodily senses.

Prabhupāda: There is no question of outer senses. Senses purified. What do you mean by outer senses?

Devotee (2): The senses with which you perceive the outer gross...

Prabhupāda: That always remains. But when it is not purified, you perceive material things. When it is purified, you perceive spiritual things.

Car Conversation -- August 3, 1975, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Russian boundary, American boundary meets there. What is that? The corner?

Jagadīśa: Alaska?

Prabhupāda: Alaska. That boundary? No.

Brahmānanda: No. This is in regards to Europe, isn't it?

Jagadīśa: Eastern Europe. America finally agreed to recognize that...

Prabhupāda: East Berlin.

Jagadīśa: Eastern Europe is under Russian dominance and should stay that way.

Prabhupāda: So the Eastern countries, they agree?

Brahmānanda: Well, they don't have much opportunity to disagree.

Morning Walk -- September 30, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So by vidhi, he becomes practiced, and....

Dr. Patel: That becomes a nature then.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Then it is nature.

Dr. Patel: And finally it gives you sākṣād-dharma. (?)

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: All that thing...

Prabhupāda: They are... The vidhi-niṣedha, if you give up vidhi-niṣedha, then you cannot improve.

Room Conversation -- October 4, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: No, no. First of all your answer... You say the heart failure is the cause. The man is dying. I say that because the man is dying, the heart is failure. So heart failure is not the cause. It is the effect.

Harikeśa: That's very difficult...

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Because his karma in that body is running out, he has to leave.

Brahmānanda: But if I can get some machine that will make the heart keep on beating, then the man won't die.

Prabhupāda: No. That you are failure. You have got so many machines. You go on, keeping the heart going on. That is not possible.

Harikeśa: Finally they just pull out the plug. The doctor kicks the plug one day.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes.

Morning Walk -- November 7, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Sir, I have one point to ask you, that Vyāsa Bhagavān was not satisfied, doing all these things, and he finally composed the Bhāgavatam. But even Mahābhārata can be called equal to any of them. Mahābhārata, with the Bhagavad-gītā in... With the Vidura-nīti, with the Viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma and all these things can be equal to any other...

Prabhupāda: Stri-śūdra-dvija-bandhūnām (SB 1.4.25). It is meant for less intelligent class of men: stri, woman; śūdra; and dvija-bandhu. Dvija-bandhu means persons who are born in high family but they have no education. Just like a man born in brāhmaṇa family...

Dr. Patel: Brahma-bandhu.

Prabhupāda: ...but without education, without qualification, he wants to become a brāhmaṇa. They are called brahma-bandhu or dvija-bandhu. So Mahābhārata is meant for the, these persons: stri-śūdra-dvija-bandhunam. They cannot understand directly the Vedic injunctions; therefore it is simplified in a history. Mahābhārata is the history. History and stories, ordinary people, they can read with interest. But those who are advanced, they want higher philosophical thoughts. That is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo atra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ vāstava-vastu vedyam atra (SB 1.1.2). Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam (SB 1.1.3). It is meant for higher class. So there are different literatures for different persons.

Morning Walk -- November 11, 1975, Bombay:

Devotee (3): :We see Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but they see Him as a common man like themselves also.

Prabhupāda: :Therefore they are mūḍhas. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ. Only the mūḍhas can deride. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritaḥ (BG 9.11). It is stated already.

Devotee (3): :Then how is it that some people do finally come to accept Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: Yes. They come in the paramparā system, through guru. Tad-vijñānārtham sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Therefore you have to go to guru to understand. You cannot understand personally. That is not possible. Therefore our system is to see through the guru and śāstra, not by these naked eyes. That is misleading.

Morning Walk -- November 14, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Extremely difficult, that even man like Gautama Buddha had several times come back to see his child and son when he left his house, more than half a dozen times, come and go, come and go. Finally he closed his eyes and ran away. A man of that type. And for ordinary human beings it is very difficult.

Prabhupāda: No, it is not difficult. Therefore vānaprastha is recommended, that "Go out of home, remain in the tīrtha-sthana and again come. See your children. Again go. Then take sannyāsa.

Dr. Patel: Tapering it.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (Hindi)

Dr. Patel: That is why devata-loka is not a place from where you can have a release. It is from human life that you can have moksa. Devatas cannot get it.

Prabhupāda: No, no, human... Devatas cannot because they have got enough of material enjoyment.

Morning Walk -- November 30, 1975, Delhi:

Harikeśa: In the back of that Awake magazine there was one little article that said that this one teacher in one college was doing yoga. He locked himself up in his room and went into a yogic trance, and they finally broke into his room two days later and found him in the same position but dead. So then they say that because he was in yogic trance that his heart was going too slow to give sufficient blood to the body, so he died.

Prabhupāda: So by yoga practice he died.

Harikeśa: Yes, that's what they're saying.

Prabhupāda: The result is he's died.

Morning Walk -- December 11, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Śaṅkhy-pūrvaka nāma-gaṇa-natibhiḥ. Śaṅkhya purva, or numerical strength must be there. And you should follow rigidly.

Akṣayānanda Swami: So if, if we are serious and sincere, it means that that sixteen will increase to, ah, to continuously chanting.

Prabhupāda: You can do also now. It's not that because I've finished sixteen rounds...

Akṣayānanda Swami: No.

Prabhupāda: You can increase. But that sixteen must be finished.

Akṣayānanda Swami: Yes. (pause) What I mean is, that's to bring us to the platform of chanting constantly. That at least we do that numerical number, finally we may be able to do, if we're fortunate to chant constantly day and night.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- December 12, 1975, Vrndavana:

Harikeśa: Inductive reasoning? Deductive reasoning. Impossible.

Prabhupāda: Deductive reason is possible. Kṛṣṇa says that na jāyate na mriyate vā. This is deductive: you hear from Kṛṣṇa, and this is fact. And if you want to make research, how that living entity never takes birth, then it will take time and at the same it may not be perfect.

Harikeśa: I finally understood why you were always talking to Svarūpa Dāmodara about inductive and deductive reasoning.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Harikeśa: Because it's just not possible to go the other way.

Prabhupāda: By inductive reason you cannot reach the truth perfectly.

Morning Walk -- December 24, 1975, Bombay:

Lokanātha: For detachment you suggest they remain separate.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Unless they are separated, it is very difficult to advance in spiritual consciousness. That is the whole Vedic system. Gradual. First of all, brahmacārī, he is educated very nicely that this is not good to marry and enter into a family life. And in spite of education, if he is still inclined, then he is allowed to marry. This is a concession. And that is for a few days, few years. Then compulsory separation from the family life. Vanaprāstha. At that time, wife is allowed to stay with the husband, but finally they are separated, sannyāsa. Wife should go home, remain with their children. That's all.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation With Radha-Damodara Sankirtana Party -- March 16, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Crocodile.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So one day his father brought him two little crocodiles as a pet back to New York, where we were living. So he was keeping them in the bathtub. But just as you described, they started to grow, and eventually they became so big that he had to keep them in the house, and then they were running. And anyone that would come in, they would run. (laughter) Finally they had...

Prabhupāda: Very ferocious.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They had to give them to the zoo. New York Zoo.

Prabhupāda: But I understand they can be tamed also. Is it possible?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I don't think so.

Recording of TV Interview -- April 20, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yes. But there are many beggars. They do not get money. We get money. We are not beggars. We are giving books, knowledge. (inserted kīrtana)

Carol Jarvis: I wonder if I could ask you just finally, then, if you have a message.

Prabhupāda: Yes, this is the message, that people are under the impression that one is this body, but that is not the fact. The soul, or the man, he is within the body. Just like you are not your, this shirt and coat. (inserted kīrtana)

Room Conversation -- May 2, 1976, Fiji:
Prabhupāda: You have to wait. And intelligent person, he says, "Why shall I wait? Let me take finally vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19). That business is finished." Sa mahātmā. Therefore it is said, sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ. That kind of staunch faith is not very easy. It is for the great personality. Immediately accepts. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). Immediately accepts: "Yes." Then sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ. That is not very easily done. That means yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām (BG 7.28). He is completely free from all reaction of sinful life. Puṇya-karmaṇām—he is only engaged in pious activities. Yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānām, te dvandva-moha... He has no more doubt. Dvandva-moha-nirmuktāḥ. He has no doubt. "Yes, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Person." That's it. That's all. If you take by argument, reason, you may waste your time. But if you are intelligent, you can take it on the evidence of mahājano yena gataḥ, all the mahājanas.
Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Oh. Fuller's earth. That is wanted, Fuller's earth.

Mādhavānanda: Actually the previous owner of this house, he wanted to make this a restaurant, a very posh restaurant on the waterfront, and he applied for many, many months to get permission from the city. And finally he got it. So actually we have restaurant status here. It would be very easy for us to start a restaurant. People would come.... When people see the house, they are so amazed.

Hari-śauri: That would be a big attraction—a waterside restaurant.

Prabhupāda: Hmm, yes.

Mādhavānanda: We could have tables and chairs on the grounds.

Prabhupāda: No, we are not going to do that. Better make it a doll exhibition. And give them prasāda free. Restaurant in the city, that is all right. Not here. Nobody will come to the restaurant from the city. That is not possible. But we give them free prasāda. (japa)

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that direction is coming from Kṛṣṇa. He is all-perfect.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The instructions are given so vividly here, that first there is called the initiation step. It has to get specific information coded in this, they are called bases, and now, then it elongates, and then finally it's called stop signal. There's some message coming that "You stop right there." And if there is some mistake or something wrong along the path, then there will be a correction signal: "You made a mistake, so correct there." This type of...

Prabhupāda: Just see how perfect. How perfect it is. (laughs) Pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate (Īśopaniṣad, Invocation). Because the direction is coming from the pūrṇam, complete, so correction is made and everything is done, everything nicely. Because the direction is coming from the complete perfect, there cannot be any mistake. That's it.

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

Hari-śauri: Can the seed extract anything without the spirit soul being present there?

Prabhupāda: No. Seed is instrumental. Just like you have to do something, you require an instrument. Actually, according to the desire of the living entity, he's given instrument, bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61). Yantra. You require something, you require a particular yantra or machine. So seed is practically the machine, and the living entity is using it to satisfy his desires.

Hari-śauri: So that growth of matter, that's the matter is coming from outside, and the spirit soul is simply taking it and expanding his body.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Sadāpūta: Is earth still being manifested from ether? Like the description in Bhāgavatam is from sound and then through different elements finally down to earth. Is that still happening today?

Prabhupāda: Every, always happening. Nature's law is going on.

Interview with Religious Editor Of the Associated Press -- July 16, 1976, New York:

Interviewer: Well ah, I thank you very much for your time, your Grace, and I'm glad I finally got acquainted with you. I missed you in Brooklyn.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Interviewer: I missed you in Brooklyn, I came over there and you were in the backyard, I think you were asleep or having a backrub or something. So I didn't get to see you.

Prabhupāda: Yes, in the daytime I am...

Interviewer: It was good to catch you this time and I hope to see you again.

Prabhupāda: So kindly put the matter properly because people misunderstand on account of their ignorance they misunderstand our, movement.

Interviewer: What are their main misunderstandings?

Prabhupāda: This bodily concept. They are thinking that they are body. "I am Muhammadan, I am Christian, I am American, I am Eastern, I am Western," all bodily conceptions.

Radio Interview -- July 27, 1976, London:

Mike Robinson: Perhaps finally, then, I could ask you, do you ever have any doubts?

Prabhupāda: If I have doubts, how I am preaching? That means I am cheating. And how I am writing so many books? Do you think a man with doubt can produce, in doubtful condition, he can produce so many books? (devotees quietly laughing) Do you think like that?

Mike Robinson: Well, I don't know, I just...

Prabhupāda: Well, you should know. (laughter)

Mike Robinson: So you never doubt any of this, anything at all.

Prabhupāda: We are sure.

Room Conversation -- August 2, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: You were there, yes. Is that life? How they can be happy if this is the condition? So what further advancement?

Harikeśa: In reference?

Hari-śauri: Tehran.

Harikeśa: Oh, your tickets are definitely booked on the nonstop flight. I finally managed to...

Prabhupāda: Take the ticket. Oh, we have got ticket.

Harikeśa: The reservation, I mean... And if for some reason we can't get on that flight, we have reservations on another flight that arrives four hours later.

Prabhupāda: That doesn't matter.

Evening Darsana (on night of arrival) -- August 16, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Ha. Four hundred acres land, we are producing our vegetables, vegetables, fruits, and food grains, milk, and two hundred devotees, they are living very happily. (converses in Hindi) It is, for health it is very nice. (Hindi)

Mahāṁśa: We were planning on your staying over there, and this last night this thing happened. So this morning we tried our best to complete your room, but then finally it was not coming off, so I...

Indian man (1): It came as a surprise that one o'clock he says Prabhupāda will be staying here. We said nothing more than that, it will be my privilege, but I was just embarrassing, whether it would be inconvenient.

Prabhupāda: Not inconvenient. But now we have comfort. For staying, it is the best place. There is no question about it. But because for the function we have come, so little too far away.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: "He thinks," means he's a rascal. Nothing to be think. It must be from the śāstra.

Guest (1): Is there any evidence in śāstra that I can look?

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Guest (1): The daśa-avatāras, that the first was Matsya and then Kūrma and Varāha, and finally...

Prabhupāda: That is God's pastime. He becomes like this, like that. It is not evolution.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Discussion about Kumbhamela -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Gurudāsa: Well, I hired a autoscooter for the day, but there's so many things to do that since you had a place to live, I put that..., that I'm going to see it, but I didn't do it immediately. I went to see Munshi's camp though. Now, that is three miles away. That I walked to. It took one and a half hours to go.

Prabhupāda: One and a half hours!

Gurudāsa: From our camp. And one and a half hours back. They kept on saying, "Sida, sida! Agi, agi!" And finally I got there. And their camp is not nicer than ours. It would mean a saving of approximately...

Prabhupāda: At the cost of inconvenience.

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

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...was giving us so much difficulty.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Ah, but finally I got it.

Prabhupāda: Yes, I have received. Got the blue card?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. They gave me all kinds of trouble in Washington.

Prabhupāda: What is the reason?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Ah..., there is no reason. They're just not...

Prabhupāda: Because you were challenging, maybe? But one thing is... I have got experience. Because you took immigration from America, it was so difficult. If you had taken immigration outside USA, then it would have been easier. That was my case. When I was trying to get immigration from America, it was practically...

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

Prabhupāda: So made it very complicated.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: And (laughter) they have to send to Atlanta to the Immigration Office. And finally the Immigration Office has to get the final word from Federal Government, from the State Department. Then the interview has to come. So it took almost two years. So I thought that I'll not get it.

Prabhupāda: They made it so complicated.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: It's very difficult nowadays. So Rūpānuga Prabhu was telling me that... Rūpānuga was telling me in Washington when we had meeting that I will never get it because they know that I am in Hare Kṛṣṇa. So they're against Hare Kṛṣṇa, the Federal Government, at this stage. So they're thinking that just because of that, I'll never get it.

Prabhupāda: So our... The opposition is very strong now?

Morning Walk -- February 1, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Satsvarūpa: One man said a knife was used...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Satsvarūpa: ...and the other said, "No, it was a scissor that was used." And they began arguing back and forth, and finally one man who held that it was a knife, he threw the other man in the river...

Prabhupāda: That "You accept that it is done by scissor." So he said, "No, I won't tolerate." Then he pushed him in the water. Then he was doing like this. (laughter) Scissor logic.

Bhāgavata: Argumentum vaculam.

Prabhupāda: That was used. He was put in the water. "Either you accept or I shall push you in the water." "No, I'll not accept." (laughter) So these rascals are like that. They are failure. They cannot. Still, they'll do, (laughter) the so-called scientists.

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

Prabhupāda: You can bring case against them. Just like fight in same position, that brainwashing. Not brainwashing. Whatever they have said.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bring a case against them?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Back to back.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Oh, yes. We're planning to do that. After this case is finally won, then we'll turn around and sue them for damages.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Evening Darsana -- February 24, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: So we have already started restaurant? No.

Jayatīrtha: Not yet. It takes some time. We just got permission finally from the planning commission from the city. That was a technicality. But we just got that. There was no problem. Now we're starting to do the refurbishing. We have to do a lot of painting and...

Prabhupāda: So we shall move from Bury Place there? No.

Jayatīrtha: No. We want to build a very nice temple and cultural center in London. The Indian community is very anxious for that actually. They're spread out, the Indians, in Wembley and South Hall and different areas. And they have a few very lousy local temples. But they know that we're the only ones who can build a very nice place, so they're interested in helping us build a very big place as close to the center of London as possible.

Morning Talk -- April 18, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Even if he has committed suicide, he'll be saved.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: If he did that, he'll be...

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. He lamented. He was very grave(?). Yoga-bhraṣṭo 'bhijāyate. He'll get another good opportunity to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness-until finally he reaches to Kṛṣṇa.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. And that seems to be more in fitting with his character, very, very... I don't think he left. I don't think he left and went back to the material world. It doesn't seem to fit his...

Prabhupāda: All right.

Room Conversation -- May 8, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Young man (4): No, it's not what I said. What I said was, when finally man comes to the conclusion that his mind is chaotic—there is no order—when he admits this to himself and he looks to find a way to purify his mind, will not the spiritual sādhana open up naturally?

Indian man (1): Without a guru.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, that's the point I'm making. I mean that's something within himself.

Prabhupāda: Without a guru? That is not possible.

Young man (4): Hm?

Prabhupāda: That is not possible.

Short Dissertations -- May 24-25, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhavānanda: You've got many nice young staunch Bengali brahmacārīs, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two years old.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They joined?

Prabhupāda: Where?

Bhavānanda: At different times. Now all, they have become very strong. Finally it's happened. We have a brahmacārī core. And they're all anxious... This week they're all going out preaching, everyone.

Prabhupāda: Gītār Gān selling nice?

Bhavānanda: Gītār Gān is selling nice. Bhagavānera Kathā is selling nice, Bhāgavata Darśana. We sell two Bhāgavata Darśana, Gītār Gān and Bhagavānera Kathā. The people take it.

Conversation Pieces -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Girirāja: This morning you gave the hint that there might be envious persons coming to take away our properties, so in the GBC meeting we discussed this point, that... A committee of us six was made to resolve this. So basically what we did is we made a model trust deed which can be used for all of the Indian properties. There may be three trustees for each property. And the basic point of the trust deed is that the property rests with these trustees and that they have no right to sell or mortgage or dispose of the property in any way. That is the basic point. And then we have proposed three trustees for each of the properties. So...

Prabhupāda: But there will be finally the trustees. And there may be one advisory board to... Pick up some friends and make an advisory board. They are not final. Final is trustee. Anything to be done should be considered first of all by the advisory board, and then if it should be sanctioned by the trustees, then it can be done. So some friends, we can make an advisory...

Conversation Pieces -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Hindus, I do... The trustees appoint. And when trustees are going to retire, he should nominate his own person.

Jayatīrtha: We've included that in the closure of the will.

Jayapatākā: So the trustees should be managing on behalf of ISKCON.

Prabhupāda: So after making finally, we consult with that Mr. Sharma. He'll make some clarification. Gargamuni knows. He'll make it final.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's a trust lawyer. He specializes in this.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Then make it final. That's all.

Room Conversation -- June 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Good management.

Prabhupāda: That's all. But if there is no good management, where is the use of office? Simply occupying seats? Management is... I have told him that. And he has brought some management. But there is no one. Just like government, the Filing Center, the Filing Center. Where is the file? Nobody knows. This is going on. What can I do? How the things are being done finally, nobody knows. But it is informed. "I am informing." Is it not? Anyway...

Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- June 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He has to run out of the universities because finally, after a while, the officials get notified. They figure out who he is, and then they start chasing him. Then he had to run out.

Prabhupāda: Dangerous affair.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But after all, it is literary. They know we're not... It's not like a political spy.

Prabhupāda: All open secret.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: "Here is the book."

Letter from Yugoslavia--'Books!' -- June 30, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: This will increase India's cultural program. And the government is not... You have to show to the government.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "The day ended with a visit to the Philosophy Institute. The professors were in a meeting, and they did not want to speak with me, but finally I rather abruptly started showing them the books anyway." He burst into their meeting.

Prabhupāda: How much obstacles he had. His feature is not attractive, he speaks another language, and he presents the most tough subject. And still, Bhāgavata is going through. So many hard knocks.

Śatadhanya: It is the topmost mysticism.

Prabhupāda: You can write to Māyāpura. I think on the hill there are punar, punar navās.

Letter from Yugoslavia--'Books!' -- June 30, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Just see. The first reception is they do not like to speak with him. Of his bodily feature and language... But the end is good reception.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "But finally I rather abruptly started showing them the books anyway. One chief professor became a little angered and dashed over to me. He started pulling my books out of my case, and he shouted, 'Son, you are pushing us.' But in seconds later he shouted, 'Send us all these books.' "

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Just see the fun. He rushed there and began... And...? It is a humorous.

Room Conversation -- October 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Where is Bhakti-caru?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's taking the rāmānuja-vaidya back.

Devotee: He's from Vṛndāvana?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. I think from Śrī Raṅgam temple. I haven't talked with him yet. He left very quickly. Śrīla Prabhupāda? One good news, the fixed deposit receipts have been transferred finally. We got them back now endorsed from the head office, so they are officially now with the Parliament Street office. That was Girirāja's very good work. He said he would do this, I remember, and he did it.

Prabhupāda: What is the amount?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Total amount? Total amount is ten lakhs, sixty thousand. It's now transferred. I have the receipts locked as before. And they're duly endorsed.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Room Conversation -- October 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: It is already very loud.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: It's very loud actually. (pause) All the devotees were very happy when they heard that you have started translating again.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yesterday Prabhupāda translated for nearly two hours. The edited work, Śrīla Prabhupāda, sounds very beautiful. It's very first class when it's finally edited. The whole staff is here, and it sounds very nice.

Prabhupāda: Tamāla Kṛṣṇa?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: In the horoscope we have dragged the life through so many catastrophes, but ultimately how long the life we have dragged?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: As far as I recall... The horoscope is written in such a way that if you survive these catastrophes, then it mentions that... He said that you would live for another five or six years.

Prabhupāda: That's all.

Page Title:Finally (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Serene
Created:25 of Jun, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=57, Let=0
No. of Quotes:57