Five thousand years (Conversations 1976 - 1977)

Expressions researched:
"5,000 years" |"5000 years" |"five thousand years"

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 15, 1976, Calcutta:

Prabhupāda: Garden. It was a jungle. Eh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Helping to load the jeep.

Prabhupāda: (break) ...for foretelling, lāvanyaṁ keśa-dhāraṇam. So all the young boys, they are keeping big, big hair. That is foretold in Bhāgavata, five thousand years, "In Kali-yuga, they will think by keeping long hair they become more beautiful." (laughter) (break)

Madhudviṣa: In Kṛṣṇa's time everyone had long hair also.

Prabhupāda: No.

Madhudviṣa: No? Well, Kṛṣṇa did, Balarāma did, and the cowherd boys.

Prabhupāda: We don't find. That is normal. Kṛṣṇa can do anything. You cannot imitate Kṛṣṇa.

Morning Walks -- January 22-23, 1976, Mayapura:

Indian man (2): Hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15).

Prabhupāda: Yes. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ, He said. So who is taking His advice? Five thousand years Kṛṣṇa said, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66). Who is surrendering? Hm? Therefore Kṛṣṇa came again as Caitanya Mahāprabhu how—to surrender—but still the rascals will not do that.

Indian man (2): Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8).

Prabhupāda: Janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). This is illusion. (break) ...two cases. One was my friend, and he was a big man. So one servant, he advised him that "You do like this." He was immediately dismissed. I have got experience. "You are trying to advise me? Get out immediately." Huh?

Morning Walk -- February 3, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Forty-five thousand years. (laughter) Who is therefore mūḍhas? Intelligent men can answer, understand everything, in a minute. And if he's a fool, rascal, even forty-five thousand years he cannot understand. We are giving the best service to the whole world, trying to make them educated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Sudāmā: (break) ...very curious: "What is the power and mystery of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, how he is doing so many things but yet he does not appear like these others yogis who are..., like Satya Sai Baba who is making magic and..."

Prabhupāda: But why? Because they have no eyes. Has Satya Sai Baba so many properties all over the world? He is creating gold but has he got so many properties? One property like this? Huh? I started this business with forty rupees; now it is forty crores. Has this rascal has any property like this? (laughter)

Morning Walk -- February 5, 1976, Mayapura:

Hṛdayānanda: No, no, even the scientists don't say that.

Harikeśa: Yeah. Four or five thousand years.

Hṛdayānanda: No, no, no, scientists don't say that.

Harikeśa: At most, fifteen thousand years, they say.

Hṛdayānanda: No, no, no, they don't say that. You have to keep up to date. It makes good arguments.

Harikeśa: What do you mean?

Hṛdayānanda: They don't... They say now millions of years.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What? Human beings?

Hṛdayānanda: Yes. How to present good arguments.

Harikeśa: Millions of years?

Hṛdayānanda: Yes, they say that.

Jagadīśa: One scientist said that.

Hṛdayānanda: No, no, no. It's accepted.

Harikeśa: Really?

Hṛdayānanda: Yes, I've seen many quotes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I was in an anthropology department. They don't accept millions of years. They said forty thousand years ago there were no...

Prabhupāda: And what was before forty thousand years?

Morning Walk -- February 19, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: But He is directly saying, "You surrender." Still, He has to will? Just see the argument.

Guru-kṛpā: He already willed five thousand years ago.

Hṛdayānanda: Cheating.

Acyutānanda: No, there was a story like that, that a cow ate a man's grasses. So the man beat the cow and the cow died. So Yamarāja came. And he was saying, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa willed me, and I killed the cow. It is all Kṛṣṇa's kārya. I did not kill him." So Yamarāja said, "Well, who, who planted this rice?" He says, "I did." "And who purchased this land?" He says, "I did." "And who purchased, who raised that land?" "I did." "Who did that?" "I did. I did. I did." "Now, who killed the cow?" (Prabhupāda laughs) So they want to take credit...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Well we can also predict.

Pañca-draviḍa: :Yeah. They predicted Lord Caitanya's appearance.

Balavanta: And five thousand years ago, in Kurukṣetra, they predicted when Kṛṣṇa went...

Pañca-draviḍa: So apparently they can predict Rāhu's attack also.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's all right.

Gurudāsa: Actually, even the scientists say there is astrological reasons behind Rāhu the planet.

Pañca-draviḍa: So they're predicting five thousand years before the scientists. This is the explanation.

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: No, when there was no civilization.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Eh? They...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There is no civilization five thousand years ago.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Three thousand years...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All cavemen.

Prabhupāda: ...before, there was no civilization.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I just.... I read that recently in an anthropology book, that 3000 B.C. means five thousand years ago, everyone was living in.... Especially in this part of the world, people were simply living in caves.

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: The best class of men, the Aryans, and they were worshiping a tribal chief! And what was Arjuna? He was also a tribal chief? Arjuna said that "I become Your disciple." So what was he, that he is submitting to a tribal chief? Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam (BG 2.7). And He's teaching Bhagavad-gītā?

Lokanātha: Which is being read after five thousand years.

Prabhupāda: And still, they cannot assimilate it, so much, so-called civilized men, they cannot understand even the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), that there is transmigration of the soul, these rascals. And who is tribal chief?

Haṁsadūta: Just to master the language takes twelve years.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Haṁsadūta: What to speak of understanding the content.

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: ...misleader. But he himself has no character. So here it is open secret, to keep a beautiful girl as secretary, everywhere in Europe and America. So where is purity? Purity? Marriage is a taboo, and keep secretary is very good job. And you can get secretary even free of charge. Rather, she will pay. So this is going on. In Vedic civilization marriage is one of the important function of life. As death is important function, birth is important function, similarly, marriage is also important function. Janma-mṛtyu-vivāha. So in this age everywhere, not only.... The marriage is now farce. This is the symptom of Kali-yuga. There will be no more marriage. Svīkāra eva codvāhe. Even there is marriage, there will be simply an agreement. That is happening, and it was written five thousand years ago. Svīkāra eva. Svīkāra means by agreement, signing agreement. No marriage function.

Morning Walk -- April 24, 1976, Melbourne:

Guru-kṛpā: Thinks he's happy.

Prabhupāda: Standing happily for five thousand years.

Guru-kṛpā: Drinking only water.

Prabhupāda: If you are asked to stand here for five hours, you'll feel most uncomfortable. But they are standing for five thousand years, no uncomfortable. This is punishment. Punishment is there, but unaware. So everyone is like that. Anyone in the material world, they are being punished in different degree, but unaware. That is māyā's grace, that although he is punished, he cannot understand.

Guru-kṛpā: So they answer that "If you're happy, then what's wrong with that?"

Prabhupāda: Yes, that class you are here. You go on with that happiness. But we are not satisfied with this. You are rascal, you are happy in that way, but we are not. That is the difference between you and me.

Morning Walk -- May 12, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Then you are.... As soon as you say "making research," then you are not perfect. Don't say that you are scientist. You are student. Don't say that you are scientist. And you are declaring, "There is no authority, nothing." Why do you speak all this nonsense? Because you are not scientist. You are making research. That's all right. When you complete your research—you come to the conclusion—then call yourself as scientist. Why, as a student, neophyte, you are claiming as "scientist"? Why misleading people? You do not know anything, how things are going on, and you are claiming you are scientist. Our point is, "Don't do this, misleading propaganda. You are not scientist. We protest against this false propaganda. Why you are making.... You do not know anything. You cannot solve any problem, major problem, so why you are claiming scientist? Stop this as a gentleman." (break) And there is the soul within the body, and when the soul is gone, transferred to another body, it is dead. Dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). One who is actually scientist, he is not surprised. He knows the soul has transferred to another body. That's all. That is scientist. (break) ...real scientist, not a rascal like you. We don't give.... (break) You cannot act. We accept Kṛṣṇa as scientist because He explains. You cannot explain. How we can accept you as scientist? You are rascal. Up till now, nobody was able to explain—simply vague. How we can accept these vague explanation as scientist? And daily changing, every year new theories. And I have to accept you scientist? Kṛṣṇa said tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13) five thousand years ago.

Morning Walk -- June 3, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. They'll not stay. This reality will not stay.

Hari-śauri: It's all a dreamlike existence.

Prabhupāda: Yes, simply a long duration dream. Do you think this skyscraper building will stay? Nothing will stay. It may stay for five hundred years or five thousand years. But is it not permanent. Anything you take—the trees, this land, nothing; even this ocean. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). It appears again and again disappears, that's all. Everything. The material world means that. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate. Vyaktāvyaktam. Sometimes manifested, sometimes not manifested. This town is manifested, and one big wave of sea, it will be nonmanifested, immediately.

Yadubara: So that subtle reality is existing side by side with this gross reality.

Room Conversation -- June 9, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: "All right, let me see how your strength is coming. Now I shall kill you, come on. Let me see (laughs) how your God is coming to save you." This is atheism, challenging. And when He appeared, the Hiraṇyakaśipu became a fly (laughs) in front of.... Eh? Where is such language? Even there are many Sanskrit scholars now, they cannot produce such language. That is not possible. And five thousand years before, Vyāsadeva presented this unique language.

Rāmeśvara: This is the twentieth volume of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam now printed, twentieth volume.

Prabhupāda: Number twenty.

Rāmeśvara: Of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam series.

Prabhupāda: Out of sixty. Still forty.

Rāmeśvara: So you have already finished two more volumes at least.

Prabhupāda: So, say...

Morning Walk -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...in the age of Kali-yuga, difficulties will increase. That's a fact. Very, very difficult. We have passed only five thousand years, and there is balance of 427,000, hundreds of years, thousands. (break) ...only go back to home, back to Godhead. (break) ...has therefore advised that "Don't be engaged in all this nonsense activities, economic development. Simply become Kṛṣṇa conscious." (break) ...promises that "For such persons who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, I'll take charge for their maintenance directly." Yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham (BG 9.22). (break) ...envious of one another. They see that "These people, they do not do anything, and living so comfortably."

Rāmeśvara: They say that in the future, because of the overpopulation problem, there will not be sufficient foodstuffs, so they will have to develop eating simply by taking pills.

Prabhupāda: Scientists will do that, but we shall take milk preparations.

Morning Walk -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The troubles that India is going through today, they were foreseeing over five thousand years ago, that the Muslims would invade, the Turks?

Prabhupāda: Yes. The Englishman would invade. That is also...

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The Greeks.

Prabhupāda: In the Twelfth Canto.

Devotee (1): I think Candragupta's name is also.... The last emperor of India. (break) ...fighting between the demons and the demigods, the demons brought mountain and it was in fire, the jungle, and it was split by dynamite, and all the stones fell down on the enemies. Where is that war plan? Bring the mountain on the head of the enemies and split it by dynamite, and it will.... (break) This information is there, that dynamite was there, and it was used for breaking mountain. Fighting was taking place. Not in this planet, upper planet.

Hari-śauri: This is in connection with the churning of the ocean?

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break)

Morning Walk -- June 21, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: That I was explaining last night. Human life is meant for understanding what is the goal of life. The goal of life is to go back to home, back to Godhead. If they do not go back to home, back to Godhead, then remain here, become a tree. Stand, for five thousand years. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Two millions you have to pass through. And each species, some thousands of years. And such two million. So, how many years? Hmm? Two millions of varieties of vegetables. And each item, if you pass, say hundred years. Then?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Two hundred million.

Prabhupāda: Two hundred millions years only for passing through the vegetables. Then you become insects. That is also 1,100,000. In this way you'll get chance again to become a human being. These rascals are wasting, four-wheel dog. (laughter) Dogs are four-legged, and we are four-wheeled. That's all. (laughter)

Prabhupada Inspects New BTG -- June 24, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: What is this article? Ah. "Kṛṣṇa Consciousness-The Spirit of '76." "Curing the Crimes of a Lifetime." Vibhavatī. "Curing the Crimes"—read it.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: (reads) "Adapted from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, translation and commentary by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda." In the middle there is a picture of Arjuna piercing the target, and Draupadī. "With the recent disgrace of an American president still fresh in our minds, it is interesting to read of a similar case in ancient times. Five thousand years ago a blind king named Dhṛtarāṣṭra dishonored his high post and caused the death of millions. This story is of special importance even today, because he found an antidote to the crimes of a lifetime and in his old age became self-realized. King Dhṛtarāṣṭra was the acting monarch of Hastināpura, the capital of the Vedic kingdom of Bhārata, which five thousand years ago, according to the Vedic literature, spread over most of the planet.

Room Conversation and Reading from Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 1 and 12 -- June 25, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: What is the time now?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: About 7:20, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Should we take your leave?

Prabhupāda: Any question regarding this?

Pradyumna: Says Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the topmost theological science, therefore it can react on the layman as medicinal doses?

Prabhupāda: If they simply hear, it will act as medicine.

Devotee (1): Vyāsadeva is called tri-kala-jñā—he sees past, present and future. How is it that he sees the future, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: (microphone rattling) Just like common business. Bring that black (indistinct) Bhāgavata. Five thousand years before Bhāgavatam was written, and so many foretelling are there. (microphone rattling-indistinct) If you like, you can keep...

Room Conversation and Reading from Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 1 and 12 -- June 25, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: How things will deteriorate, that is explained here. Tataś cānu-dinam?

Pradyumna: Dharmaḥ satyaṁ śaucam...

Prabhupāda: With the progress of the Kali-yuga... The Kali-yuga has begun after the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. So five thousand years ago. The whole duration of life of Kali-yuga is thirty-two hundred thousands of years. Thirty-two hundred thousands of years, out of which we have passed only five thousand years. Still, the balance is twenty-seven hundred thousands of years. So with the progress of this age, these things will happen. What is that? Tataś cānu-dinam?

Pradyumna: Dharmaḥ satyam.

Prabhupāda: Dharmaḥ. People will gradually decrease in their sense of religiosity, dharmaḥ. Then?

Room Conversation and Reading from Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 1 and 12 -- June 25, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Dayā, mercifulness. People will have no mercy. It has already begun. If somebody is attacked, being killed, nobody takes care; he goes in his own way. There is no mercy. There is no mercy to the animals. Now there is no mercy even to one child, one's own child, they killing. Just see how degraded, dayā. What to speak of no dayā, no mercy for the animals—all right, you are not so advanced—but the mother's mercy to the child will be diminished. This is foretelling. This is called tri-kala-jñā. Who expected that mother will kill the child? But Vyāsadeva, five thousand years ago, said, "Yes, mercy will be reduced." Then?

Pradyumna: Āyur.

Prabhupāda: Āyur, duration of life. The maximum duration of life in Kali-yuga is hundred years, but who is living hundred years? It is being reduced, and it will be so reduced that if a man would live twenty years, he is an old man. It will come to that stage. Now it reducing, from hundred years to ninety years to eighty years.

Room Conversation and Reading from Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 1 and 12 -- June 25, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Hmm. Lāvaṇyam, now you know very well in the Western country. Beauty increases by having long hair. (laughter) I was just trying to recite this verse only, and now see how it is current. Who expected that this foretelling is there in the Bhāgavatam? To increase beauty, have long hair. Is it not? Now just see. How five thousand years this thing was foretold? That is the proof. There was no hippie movement then. (laughs) But Vyāsadeva foretold that in the Kali-yuga if one keeps long hair he will think himself as very beautiful. There are so many things. Ultimately, with the advancement of Kali-yuga you'll have no food. Food means there will be no food grains, there will be no milk, there will be no sugar, like that. No fruits. If you get fruits, there will be no pulp, it is simply seeds. These things are there. You get a mango, but a mango means simply the big seed, that's all. So how can you check it? If nature's way, things are going to happen like that, what the scientists will do? If there is no rice, no wheat, will the scientists...?

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: God is great. That's all. God is great. Kṛṣṇa proved that He's great. Therefore He's God. Everyone says, "God is great." Allah akbar, Muslims say. God is great. It is translated, "God is great." And Hindu says, paraṁ brahma. So God is great. So Kṛṣṇa proved that He is all-great. Therefore He is God. Kṛṣṇa, when He was present, He proved it that He is the great. Therefore He's God. If you accept God is great, and if you find somebody, he is great in everything, then he's God. How can I deny it? At least, you can see Kṛṣṇa great by His Bhagavad-gītā. It is still going on. Five thousand years passed, still Bhagavad-gītā is accepted as the greatest book of knowledge all over the world. Even among the Christians, among the Muslims, those who are really learned, they take it, "Yes." That is greatness of Kṛṣṇa, the knowledge. Who can give such knowledge? That is the proof that He is God. Aiśvaryasya samāgrasya viryasya yasasaḥ... Jñāna, knowledge. Where is such knowledge throughout the whole world?

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No. There is no different role. God is one. God cannot be duplicate. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). "There is no more superior authority than Me." That is God. Now people is to understand that Kṛṣṇa is God. There is no different role. The role is the same. Five thousand years Kṛṣṇa said that "I am the supreme authority. There is no more superior authority than Me." Still He is so. So we are simply attempting to introduce Kṛṣṇa. Nobody attempted. Although five thousand years past, nobody attempted to introduce the supreme authority Kṛṣṇa. We are just trying to introduce following the orders of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He, five hundred years appeared. He is Kṛṣṇa. He wanted that this Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be spread all over the world.

Room Conversation -- June 28, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: About the foretelling of Bhāgavatam. The other day I recited so many verses. One of them, long hairs. Now see how practical. And now this is confirmation of the foretelling. Who knew five thousand years that people will keep long hairs and think of themselves as very beautiful? It is mentioned in Bhāgavata. How it is possible unless they can see actually what is going to happen? That is foretelling. And other description, they are also fact. Everything is there. And all this is five thousand, two thousand years' foretelling. The millions and millions of years' foretelling they are. What will the eighth Manu, and how they will..., ninth Manu, tenth Manu, up to fourteenth Manu. All the Manus together, forty-three lakhs, thousand times. This is all the Manus' time. And the whole history is concluded that "Now I have mentioned past, present and future." It is not difficult. Just like tomorrow for my daily routine, what I shall do tomorrow from morning to evening, I can say. Is it very difficult for me?

Room Conversation -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The difficulty in this Christian aspect is that they claim that it was created about five thousand years ago. That is the reason why we want to bring up this...

Prabhupāda: That is nonsense. (laughter)

Rūpānuga: These Creationists preach that?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, Creationists.

Rūpānuga: Gish(?) preaches that? Five thousand years ago, literally? Do we want to make this comparison, Śrīla Prabhupāda, or not?

Prabhupāda: Why you are going to fight with them?

Rūpānuga: No, no. We don't fight. We're just saying that they are using all the good arguments already, but they are making that one mistake.

Room Conversation -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: So long. As soon as there is five thousand years, they will (indistinct). The Christian theory used to say that the world is flat. So what is the value of their words? There is no value. You do not try to compromise with others.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, we are not compromising with anybody.

Prabhupāda: You present your own as it is Bhāgavatam, try to explain them to your best capacity scientifically. If you bring this, bring that... All of them are imperfect. So what is the use of wasting time with something which is imperfect?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We want to demonstrate that those points are imperfect.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Room Conversation -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: That you can do, but you must know they are all imperfect. Five thousand years! We can give history of millions and millions of years. And what was before five thousand years, there was no, nothing? What is their (indistinct), reply?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: What do they say, the Christians?

Sadāpūta: They don't say too much.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Want to make any more points along that line?

Rūpānuga: One thing is, just like here, Śrīla Prabhupāda, these are our Manus, the real situation, right? And their time scale begins back here, Cambrian Age. Back here in Vaivasvata Manu's age, according to Veda. So we were showing, we made the actual time scale, and showed how their time scale only went back one or two Manus. (aside) Is that right? How many Manus? Two.

Room Conversation -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: What Manus? There is seventy-two into 432,000 years. So they are calculating five thousand years... What is this nonsense?

Rūpānuga: No, the Christians calculate, but the others, they go back more than that time. The scientists... These Christians are not accepted so much as.... They're not included in scientific knowledge; they are considered something else.

Prabhupāda: My point is that the Christian theory is also imperfect and the scientists also imperfect.

Rūpānuga: We can show both.

Prabhupāda: If you can show that, that is all right.

Rūpānuga: That is why we made this chart...

Prabhupāda: That is all right.

Room Conversation -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Show them imperfect. That will be... (break) Actually they're imperfect. Just like they say five thousand years, a ludicrous. They, and the scientists say that the stratum of earth, what is called?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Strata, layers.

Prabhupāda: Layers. And I was telling my colleague that stratus, the layers so perfect that everywhere, say five inches, just like it appears somebody has laid down. Is it not?

Rūpānuga: Yes. Layer upon layer.

Prabhupāda: Yes, one after another, the same height, same color, the same ingredient—how it comes to happen? And they give history of millions of years? And these people say five thousand.

Sadāpūta: We were wondering about those strata. We were wondering if maybe those could be masses of sediment deposited...

Room Conversation -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, the side height of the strata is the same for miles together. As if somebody very intelligently laid down.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So how do we explain that?

Prabhupāda: That I want. (laughter) How they can say five thousand years? Things are going on for millions and millions of years.

Sadāpūta: The geologists say that in different strata, they give names for the strata, and in one strata they say that there is one type of animal remains to be found, and another strata they say you find the remains of a different kind of animal. So they say this shows evolution.

Prabhupāda: Anyway, it takes millions of years. So how they say five thousand years?

Sadāpūta: Well, no one really believes the Christians.

Evening Darsana -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: So God is great. Now we have to analyze what is the greatness. A man is supposed to be great when he is very rich. A man is supposed to be great when he is very wise, man of knowledge, strength, reputation. So item by item, you analyze and see, you'll see Kṛṣṇa is the greatest. By reasoning. Therefore He is God. They have been analyzed. You'll find in The Nectar of Devotion, the Gosvāmīs have analyzed the characteristics of Kṛṣṇa, and they found Him the greatest. So if God is great, and He is the greatest, then He is God. How can you deny it? At least, we can see in the Bhagavad-gītā, the little knowledge given by Kṛṣṇa, it is still standing as the greatest. Five thousand years past, nobody could give such a book of knowledge throughout the whole world. The Bhagavad-gītā is studied not only by the Indians and Hindus but by all scholars of the world. Even such persons who think that there is somebody greater than Kṛṣṇa, they also read Bhagavad-gītā and they recite from the Bhagavad-gītā. Even Śaṅkarācārya, the leader of the Māyāvādīs, he says Bhagavad-gītā kiñcid adhītā. Is it not? Does he not say?

Evening Darsana -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: You can take Arjuna as guru. Kṛṣṇa spoke to Arjuna, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2). He directly listened to Him. And he's guru therefore, because the guru is by the paramparā. So he understood Kṛṣṇa. So you take Arjuna's instruction. Make Arjuna your guru. What does he say? He accepts Kṛṣṇa, Param Brahman. So we accept Kṛṣṇa as Param Brahma. Where is the difficulty? Arjuna, by his direct experience talking with Kṛṣṇa, he understood Him that "Kṛṣṇa, you are Param Brahman." So you take the words of Arjuna and accept Him as Param Brahman. Where is the difficulty? Just like the same example, one lawyer giving example, the judgment of other court. That is accepted. So Arjuna is accepting Kṛṣṇa as Param Brahman. So why don't you accept? Where is the difficulty? You accept Arjuna as your guru, and whatever he says, you accept it. The difficulty is that we do not accept guru. That is the difficulty. Otherwise where is difficulty? Five thousand years, Kṛṣṇa spoke to Arjuna, but what Arjuna understood, that is there. So you accept it. What we are doing? We are accepting.

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

Prabhupāda: What is your age? You are all scientists within 200 years. And our Bhāgavata is written 5,000 years ago. Why shall I accept yours?

Yadubara: So no matter what they say we should present it at least.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You have become all scientists, and everything within 200 years. What is the age of your European, Western civilization? It cannot go more than 3,000 years? Our Bhāgavata is written 5,000 years ago. And before that, Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, "I have heard like this." That's all. Millions and millions (of years ago)...

Devotee (1): You were saying that everything they say is wrong, and that is our position. We take that position, that everything they say is wrong.

Prabhupāda: Yes, because they are imperfect, they are speculating.

Room Conversation -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Oh, he's American?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes.

Tripurāri: He thinks there are different types of meditation that all work, and ours is one type, bona fide, that works. There are also other types.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The article goes on—I don't know if you want to hear it all. You want to hear it? Okay. Here's this thing called "Who is Kṛṣṇa?" "Kṛṣṇa, viewed by ISKCON as the Supreme Personification of Godhead, is said to have many pastimes in which He assumes different appearances. One such is that of Gopālajī, the cowherd boy—see picture, cowherd boy—He can appear in other forms such as four-armed Nārāyaṇa. Most often Kṛṣṇa is portrayed as having light blue skin and, by Western standards, a soft and effeminate physique. He is said to be full in the six opulences: beauty, strength, fame, wealth, knowledge and renunciation. He is said to be all-attractive. Kṛṣṇa incarnates on one planet after another in infinite universes. The last time He appeared on earth as Kṛṣṇa was five thousand years ago.

Evening Darsana -- July 11, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: There is nothing doubtful; everything is very plain. But we, by our rascaldom, we make it doubt. By our rascal interpretation. Everyone can understand. Just like dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ (BG 1.1). The Kurukṣetra is dharma-kṣetra. Still Kurukṣetra is there in India, and it is dharma-kṣetre. People go there for performing religious ritualistic ceremonies. So where is the difficulty to understand? And five thousand years ago the Kurus and Pāṇḍavas, they assembled there for fighting—that is clearly stated, dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ (BG 1.1). Who were they? Māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva: "My sons and the sons of Pāṇḍu," Kuru-Pāṇḍava. So where is the difficulty to understand? But by misinterpretation they'll write volumes of books and spoil the whole thing. This is going on. This business should be stopped. Then we will be benefited. Everyone is misinterpreting. Is it not a fact they are misinterpreting? What do you think?

Interview with Newsweek -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Lord Caitanya started this movement, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa congregationally. It was predicted five thousand years ago in the Vedic scriptures that in this age, the present age, the Lord would appear and would teach the real religious process for this age which is chanting of the holy names.

Rāmeśvara: This is very traditional in India, temple worship and the figures are on the altar. It's very very traditional. It goes back many thousands of years.

Interviewer: Let me ask you one more question. Why are you returning to India? Had you ever considered staying here in the United States?

Prabhupāda: I have got branches everywhere. Just like I am coming here after traveling so many branches, similarly I am going to India.

Rāmeśvara: Prabhupāda has no fixed home.

Prabhupāda: I want to see that every center, things are going on nicely.

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

Prabhupāda: So this was spoken five thousand years ago and we are doing the same thing.

Interviewer: Now what's your, what's your...?

Prabhupāda: Now your answer is there, it is not that I invented something.

Interviewer: Yes, you didn't invent it, I get the point, that it derives from the Vedic scriptures.

Prabhupāda: Whatever we are doing, it is authorized. That is the principle for spiritual understanding.

Interviewer: What I was trying to ask you a while ago, do you think that these particular Vedic disciplines and spiritual principles, concentration on the spirit instead of the body, has a particular usefulness in Western society nowadays?

Prabhupāda: It is useful for every human being. If the Western society thinks that they are not human being, that is another thing. (laughter)

Arrival Conversation -- August 13, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: It is predicted in the Bhāgavata five thousand years ago.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. They're having earthquakes in China now.

Hari-śauri: Yes, big ones. They say a million people died in the last one.

Prabhupāda: You have got the keys for that?

Hari-śauri: I think they're... That last set that I gave you, Śrīla Prabhupāda? These, yes.

Prabhupāda: Print books many, as good as possible. Let us do our duty.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: We have three small Hindi books in production, plus as I said, Hindi Back to Godhead.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Hari-śauri: This silver loṭā has become very black. You can get it polished.

Prabhupāda: See if there is...

Morning Walk -- September 2, 1976, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is not so crowded. That path is very crowded. (break)

Lokanātha: ...five thousand years back, until now, there's only thirty ācāryas...

Prabhupāda: Chain is broken when there are false spiritual masters. Otherwise it is not broken. Chain is broken if a so-called spiritual master speaks something manufactured. Then the chain is broken. Otherwise chain is not broken.

Devotee: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: No, you could not. (break) Uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya: ** "The spiritual master is as good as God because he's very dear to Kṛṣṇa." He's preaching Kṛṣṇa's mission, and Kṛṣṇa is very, very pleased with him. Na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ (BG 18.69). That is spiritual master's qualification. He's trying his best to deliver the soul from these clutches of māyā. That is a great service. Therefore he is very dear. One who is chanting or executing devotional service for his personal benefit and one who is trying to deliver others for others' benefit, there is difference.

Garden Conversation -- September 7, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Okay.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: "This society was formed strictly for the purpose of spreading God consciousness. We briefly submit below the misleading information as reported by Blitz and humbly inform you of the fact." What I've done is I've shown each point that Blitz has incorrectly said and then responded to it. Should I read? Okay. "Point one. Blitz Ungodly Face of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. ISKCON: The International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness is a worldwide community of devotees practicing the Vedic teachings, the eternal science of rendering devotional service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Society was founded by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, a pure devotee of God, who is coming down in paramparā started by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa five thousand years ago. In other words, the roots of this movement trace back to at least five thousand years.

Garden Conversation -- October 9, 1976, Aligarh:

Prabhupāda: We get all this information. There is. These rascals, they do not know what are these planets, what are the arrangement. They are exactly like this planet. Just like here also, we have got president. It is expected, one president or one king in one planet. That was formerly. On this planet there was one king. The Pāṇḍavas, up to Mahārāja Parīkṣit. Five thousand years ago. One king of the whole world. One kingdom, one ruling, one culture, Vedic culture. Gradually we're losing... The culture is lost and anyone is doing as he likes. No king, no ruling. Therefore chaotic condition. Otherwise, according to God's plan, every planet there is one chief person ruling. So in the sun there is a person. His name is given in the Bhagavad-gītā. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān. His name is Vivasvān. And his son is Vaivasvata Manu. Vivasvān manave prāha. These things are there. And his son, Ikṣvāku. And from Ikṣvāku, the kṣatriya-vaṁśa... In India still, the kṣatriyas are known, two dynasties, one from sun, one from the moon.

Room Conversation on New York court case -- November 2, 1976, Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Yes, many thousands and thousands of important Indians, very rich men there are. In London there are very rich Indians. They can form immediately a solid association. They should present that this Kṛṣṇa is our God. In every Indian home we observe Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī. Even though one does not follow Kṛṣṇa cult, still if he is Hindu he follows the Janmāṣṭamī. Inevitably, everywhere. So this Kṛṣṇa cult is genuine, Vedic, based on Bhagavad-gītā which was spoken long, long years ago before any religion, any religious literature in the world. The Buddha literature or the Christian literature and Jewish literature, they cannot be counted more than two thousand years. A little more than that. But this Kṛṣṇa cult is coming, it is coming from, I have already explained in the introduction, it is coming from four hundred millions of years ago. But even from historically, it is five thousand years. Beyond all religious literature in the world. We have to present this case in the court. And let it be discussed thorough (indistinct), and see our books, compare any religious books with our these books. Present all the opinions of big, big professors how traditional Indian culture is there. You have to fight, organize (indistinct).

Room Conversation with Dr. Theodore Kneupper -- November 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Well, now this age will... The duration of this age is calculated 432, 432 thousands of years. Out of that we have passed only 500,000..., no, five thousand years.

Dr. Kneupper: A long time to go.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But why should you wait for the long time? You can go back to home, back to..., immediately. That is our proposal, that "Why should you wait? This may be long time. But we... You give up the connection with the material world. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). If you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then after giving up this body you go back to home, back to Godhead. Then you have no connection, this. But we are make, planning here, "We shall be comfortable." This is rascaldom.

Press Conference -- December 16, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is desirable in human. Otherwise the animals are in darkness. They do not know what is God. But a human being, because he has got this human form of body, he can come to the light. So all the śāstras are for the human being, not for the cats and dogs. So if you do not take advantage of the śāstras, then you remain in the darkness. This is our position. The light is here. Just like apart from all other śāstras, if you take Bhagavad-gītā, it is the very brilliant light. It is not that changing. Five thousand years ago Kṛṣṇa said, what, that is still the same thing. Just like light. Millions of years ago, what was sun, the same sun is there. In the light there is no change. In the darkness there is change. If we do not accept the standard knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā, then we shall continue to remain in darkness and there will be no solution of the problems of life. This is our propaganda. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means that we are asking everywhere, all over the world, "You come to this light and be happy." That's it.

Press Conference -- December 16, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: And we are not changing. Because five thousand years have passed therefore, we have to make some additional, no.

Guest (1): Then why should there be so many commentaries upon it?

Prabhupāda: They are rascaldom, that's all. Simple word, rascaldom.

Devotee: Rascaldom.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You cannot interpret on the words of God. You cannot interpret. Just like law. There is law by the government. You cannot interpret in your own way. You have to accept it. "Keep to the right"—no interpretation. You must keep to the right. That is law. If you say, "What is wrong if I go to the left?" Actually if one goes to the left, it is not very... But you cannot do it. As soon as you do it, you are criminal. You'll be punished. That is law. The dharma means dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19).

Room Conversation -- December 20, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Literally, yes. The thing is the interpretation is required when you cannot understand. If, if I say, "This is a stick," everyone knows it is a stick. So I say, "Here is a stick." So if you say, "No, I do not accept it is stick." So what is that interpretation? Everyone knows it is stick. Similarly, Kurukṣetra means that the place, still existing. And in the Vedic śāstra it is ordered, kurukṣetre dharma yajayet. You go... From time immemorial it is a place of pilgrimage. Even Kṛṣṇa, during solar eclipse, Kṛṣṇa with His family, He came there, Jagannātha. The ceremony is there, Ratha-yātrā. Because Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma and Subhadra came in the same chariot. That is being performed. So Kurukṣetra, dharmakṣetra, at least five thousand years ago the system was that people used to come to Kurukṣetra as a place of pilgrimage, dharmakṣetra. And Kurukṣetra, the place is there. And the the two family members, the Kurus and the Pāṇḍavas, they fought. The Battle of Kurukṣetra took place. These things are evident. Then why there is need of interpreting? That is the first point.

Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Mr. Malhotra: Why this trying to understand Kṛṣṇa? Why not try to understand one's self? Kṛṣṇa passed 5000 years ago. Now ashes are there in our hands. Why not...

Prabhupāda: That means you do not know what is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore you do not know what is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is... Why Kṛṣṇa? You are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. You are nitya, nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So you are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, you are nitya. Why do you say Kṛṣṇa existed 5000 years ago? He is existing always.

Mr. Malhotra: Always existing there. (indistinct) Within you, within oneself.

Prabhupāda: No no. You are also nitya, but you are part and parcel of that nitya. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). God is nitya, you are also nitya, God is also living, you are also living. What is the difference between the two? That one person He is maintaining all of us.

Room Conversation with Fate -- December 27, 1976, Bombay:

Rādhā-vallabha: This is the very beginning. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the First American Theistic Exhibition. Since time immemorial we have inquired about our origin. We have tried to understand our place in the universe, the nature of birth and death, free will and predestination, time, God, and nature. However, even after countless years of philosophical study and comprehensive research these questions still remain for the most part a mystery. The words you are about to hear were written five thousand years ago in a language no longer spoken called Sanskrit."

Prabhupāda: No longer spoken? Why?

Rādhā-vallabha: I was just wondering about that myself. No longer spoken on the earth?

Prabhupāda: Yes, it is spoken in India. There are many scholars who speak Sanskrit. In Europe also.

Room Conversation with Fate -- December 27, 1976, Bombay:

Rādhā-vallabha: So we should just say, "Five thousand years ago in a language called Sanskrit."

Prabhupāda: Which is still continuing, but in a limited circle.

Rādhā-vallabha: "They come from a text which bears the most profound truths ever revealed to mankind. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2)." It's that series of verses. "This supreme science was received through the chain of disciplic succession and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost. That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend. Therefore you can understand the transcendental mystery of this science. Preserved by the invincible tradition of spiritual scholars known as the disciplic succession, these original words spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa to one of his most intimate devotees were recorded in a book called Bhagavad-gītā, Sanskrit for the 'Song of God.'

Press Interview -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That's all right. In the śāstras it is not said that after passing of many years the śāstra becomes obsolete. This is another ignorance. Śāstra is not like that. You write some mental speculation and after some years it changes. That is not śāstra. Śāstra is this... Just like the Bhāgavata was, five thousand years ago it was it was written... And the symptoms of Kali, Kali-yuga is written there in the Twelfth Canto.

Indian man: The complete purport was written five thousand years back.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Indian man: But most of the scholars, they say...

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: Babhruvāhana was adopted by his grandfather. That is called putrikā, putrikā-putra, "daughter's son adopted as son." So our Dr. Svarūpa Dāmodara belongs to this family, Babhruvāhana family. His title is Singh. That means kṣatriya. And they are Vaiṣṇavas for the last five thousand years or more than that.

Dr. Patel: Now all the Nagas have turned into Christians. Only fifty years back they were headhunters. Fifty years back Nagas of Assam were more or less like cannibals.

Prabhupāda: No, the headhunters means they were killing?

Dr. Patel: Yes. They would take revenge by cutting the head of the enemy.

Prabhupāda: Oh, that is... Why they are blamed? Everyone is doing that. (laughter)

Dr. Patel: Africans also do that.

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

Prabhupāda: Day after. So our movement is genuine. Now it is up to you to help this movement. And there is no concoction. From... Sa evāyaṁ mayā te 'dya yogaḥ proktaḥ purātanaḥ (BG 4.3). As Kṛṣṇa said five thousand years ago, yogaḥ proktaḥ purātanaḥ, so we are also presenting that purātanaḥ. This philosophy is not new. Purātanaḥ. So we have nothing to tax our brain to manufacture something new. So people give me credit: "Swamiji, you have done wonderful, wonderful." I do not know magic. But I am presenting purātanaḥ, that's all, no adulteration. If there is any credit, the credit is this-yogaḥ proktaḥ purātanaḥ.

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

Prabhupāda: But you do not know the meaning of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means "all-attractive." That is God. That is God.

Rāmeśvara: Yes. I tried to explain. But he said Kṛṣṇa means that person who appeared in India five thousand years ago. That is Kṛṣṇa. So he said if God is Kṛṣṇa, then there would be some evidence in the Bible, but there is no evidence.

Prabhupāda: There is ev... There is evidence. Because... But you are so fool that you do not inquire, "If the Christ is son of God, who is God?" They never inquires. Why did you not inquire?

Rāmeśvara: He said that God spoke to Moses. God did not tell Moses that He was Kṛṣṇa. He told Moses that He is Jehovah.

Prabhupāda: Did Christ say that "Jehovah is my father"?

Conversation and Instruction On New Movie -- January 13, 1977, Allahabad:

Prabhupāda: No, no, this, this, this śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, this śloka, was cited just little after the creation. That means millions and millions of years ago. Now, not recently. Many millions and billions of years ago. That is the oldest. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam (SB 7.5.23). Whichever item you take, it is very, very... Just like this Parīkṣit Mahārāja. That is at least five thousand years ago. So where is the history of the human society in the Western countries? They cannot give history more than three thousand years.

Rāmeśvara: They think it is simply caveman.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: And they are trying to save harassment by nature's law. That is impossible. That is ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā, rascal, and under false prestige they are trying to save themselves. And ultimately crushed—death. Struggling, struggling... Now, last word—death. Finish. Now, according to your karma, "All right, you just become a tree." Finish. "Stand up here for five thousand years." This is nature's... And these rascal scientists have no knowledge of this, "Wherefrom the tree comes? Why the tree is standing there for five thousand years, and I have got good car? Why this difference of position? He is also living entity; I am also." They have no brain. That is also living entity. "This tree is dead." Dead means it has life. So wherefrom the life came? Who made him a tree and made him a prime minister? Who made him? They cannot answer all these questions. Simply blindly following their own mental concoction. Mūḍho nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi (BG 3.27). Everything is there.

Morning Walk -- January 24, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: How they would reveal? They are thieves and rogues. Their idea is: three thousand years ago there was no civilization. This is their poor idea.

Bhāgavata: (break) I was speaking with him. He's an Indian here in Bhuvaneśvara. He said Vyāsa could not have written the Vedas five thousand years ago because writing did not start till 2,500 years ago. I said, "What is your proof?" He said, "Because we can see in the caves the markings, and these things did not come till 2,500 years ago." I said, "Do you think Vyāsa was a cave man, that he was banging on the walls with hammers?" So I said, "He is a great professor." He said, "No, no. Actually Vyāsa is not even a person. He's only a school." So I said, "Well, you do not understand." These are very atheistic type of people. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...taking Bhagavad-gītā as some imaginary writing, a school, thinking that.

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: They may be rascal. Why you should become rascal? There it is written, the document. They may be rascals, but why you become rascal, following the rascals? You are following not Kṛṣṇa. You are following another rascal. Why? That is your misfortune. Kṛṣṇa says, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). He says. You do not take Kṛṣṇa, you take another rascal. Then how you can be helped? Kṛṣṇa says, the speaker of Bhagavad-gītā, that "I told him," and you do not take it. You take another rascal. Then who will guide you? You remain rascal. What can be done? Śaṅkarācārya may be seventeen hundred years. Buddha is two hundred and fifty. And Bhagavad-gītā, five thousand years ago, this Bhagavad-gītā... And before that, puruṣa, forty millions of years ago... If you don't believe Bhagavad-gītā, then don't talk of Bhagavad-gītā.

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: What is that? Disease... Does it mean there is no disease? You die by this disease or that disease. What is the improvement?

Gurukṛpā: They say that people used to live much longer, that they live longer now.

Prabhupāda: So what is the use of living longer, a tree is living longer, five thousand years. Does it mean that it is important life? A tree is standing for seven thousand years. There is a tree in San Francisco.

Gurukṛpā: Yes, I saw that.

Prabhupāda: You have.

Hari-śauri: Redwood forest.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes, let us cooperate.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: It will be very easy.

Prabhupāda: Let us cooperate. The Manipur is already... For the last five thousand years at least, their name is in the Bhāgavatam, Manipur. And still they are Vaiṣṇavas. They have got temple in Navadvīpa, in Vṛndāvana. So Manipur have cele...

Gargamuni: The chief minister also came, Karan(?) Singh?

Prabhupāda: The governor of Punjab is Manipuri. He's so kind, he came to see me with his full staff. That governor is so respectful to me. So he came to see me. You know?

Evening Darsana -- February 19, 1977, Mayapura:

Satsvarūpa: This is an article... This is not very new. I don't know where all these articles came from, but it's about our movement in Chicago. It says, "The path of Kṛṣṇa is like a sharpened razor. Whether selling incense or salvation, this band refuses to split hairs." "Uncompromising," it describes us.

Prabhupāda: That is Kali's sign. Lāvaṇyaṁ keśa-dhāraṇam. Five thousand years ago it was predicted, and now it is happening. Just see. This is śāstra. Lāvaṇyaṁ keśa-dhāraṇam. "Younger generation will think by keeping long hair they have become beautiful." It is mentioned in Bhāgavata. Dāmpatye ratim eva hi: "Marriage means sex life." As soon as there is disturbance in rati, it is divorce.

Satsvarūpa: This is two years old. "The deep roots of India's food plight."

Prabhupāda: That's not... New...

Morning Conversation -- April 23, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: It is very insignificant thing, personal. And it is said, personal, if you keep long hair, it will look... But it has been made here, it is said that "People will think like that, that he has become more beautiful." The psychology. Lāvaṇyaṁ keśa-dharaṇam. They rejected all other things. Simply they'll think that "If I keep long hair, I'll be very beautiful." This psychological study is there. And five thousand years before, prediction. How much authoritative the book is, just imagine. Is it not fact? Vyāsadeva's authority, try to... How perfectly authorized he is. They're stating psychological effect of people five thousand years ahead. Not only that, there are many descriptions what will be the name two thousand, three thousand years... Generally said, "This name will be like this. This name will be like this. Your son, grandson, great-grandson, what will be their names, this is..." So why shall we not believe just that statement of planetary system? If they are so correct... Planetary system is already there, but they are foretelling what in future, it will happen.

Room Conversation -- May 8, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: Who cares for them? For some time they can do, jumping. It will not stay. But the Vaiṣṇava religion is going on. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). As many... So we may take it since the time of Kṛṣṇa, five thousand years, this has been going on, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, Deity worship, going on.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: One thing I saw in Hrishikesh. They have...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The dictaphone fell over.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They have a lot of big statues displaying Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, dioramas. I just saw.

Prabhupāda: Where?

Room Conversation -- June 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: This...

Bhakti-prema: From the intelligence...

Yaśodānandana: This knowledge will actually destroy their misconceptions, 'cause most people think that previously, to five thousand years ago, people used to be barbarians. But if they were barbarians and they knew the whole description of the universe, they must have been very advanced.

Bhakti-prema: This is Lokāloka Mountain. We're drawing that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We're simply following your Bhāgavatam description, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Not that... Iti susru... (break)

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

Prabhupāda: Bhramyādbhiḥ. There are different forms of bodies of jīva. That is also stated. Jalajā nava-lakṣānī sthavara lakṣa-vimśati. So first of all, general, from water. That you have got experience. Fish is coming. As soon as there is some reservoir of water, after some day mosquito will come, fish will come, many other bugs and germs will come, jalajā. And their number is also given, nava-lakṣānī. In this way, bhramyādbhir jīva-jāti, the soul, the living entity, is wandering, jīva-jātiṣu. Then he gets a human form of life. The civilization is there. And five thousand years ago Kṛṣṇa said, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). So what this nonsense Darwin will tell us? Rascals. We have already information-jīva-jāti, they are already existing, one after another. (break) "...missing, fossil." What is this nonsense? What is missing? The monkeys, they, your father, is there, monkey. Where is monkey is missing? Your father, grandfather is there. So why you have got this body of all a sudden? Enjoy.

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

Svarūpa Dāmodara: In Christianity a Christian group, they also are trying to counteract modern science, but their approach is very superficial. They also think that somehow God created life, but the way their knowledge is based, it's very superficial, so the scientists don't take anything seriously. They also say that it's only about five thousand years ago that man was created, these groups.

Prabhupāda: Not thousand. Millions, the very beginning. God has brain; therefore we have got brain.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They call Creation Research Institute. They have office in San Diego.

Showing of Planetary Sketches -- June 28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: They will be puzzled. These material scientists will be puzzled. (laughter)

Bhakti-Prema: But according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the beginning of creation we have relation with all this, in India. Even five thousand years ago Parīkṣit Mahārāja went and he conquered this area. I have translated this. This Tattvata-varṣa was conquered by... And this Ramya-varṣa was also conquered. And Vardhanya also... And then this is Bhārata-varṣa, this whole world.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Where?

Bhakti-Prema: This.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That is Bhārata-varṣa.

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "In their view, controverted by most Western scholars..." Most Western scholars are in controversy with us about our view. "The basic Vedic documents form a constant theistic doctrine first presented to mankind five thousand years ago."

Prabhupāda: Just see. Such a good certificate.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Satsvarūpa, American-born personal secretary to Swami Bhaktivedanta, presents the official Hare Kṛṣṇa approach." They don't even identify you. They know who you are. You are so well known in these literary circles now that someone says, "Swami Bhaktivedanta." They don't have to say "Founder of ISKCON." They know already from your other books. "...presents the official Hare Kṛṣṇa approach in an articulate and highly serviceable introduction to this immense body of literature. The readings include the Īśopaniṣad, the Bhagavad-gītā and excerpts from Purāṇas, supplemented with a glossary and index. Preliminary essays detail the logic by which his group rejects both the academic experts and the rival approach of advaita-vedānta that Westerners know through the writings of Vivekananda and Radhakrishnan.

Room Conversation -- October 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Haṁsadūta: In all the temples they keep a Viṣṇu Deity. All the Buddhist temples they have a Viṣṇu Deity. They have a saying that Viṣṇu promised Lord Buddha to protect the Buddhist religion in Śrī Lanka for five thousand years in this age. They say that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How many more years they have to go?

Haṁsadūta: I don't know.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? I'm thinking to go today to the Rādhā-Dāmodara temple to see how things are going on. You told me regularly to check there whenever we're here?

Prabhupāda: Not immediately.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm. Better not to go today. Okay. (break)

Room Conversation -- November 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm. Read it?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It says here, "It is clearly stated that the Gītā was especially meant for the saintly kings because they were to execute its purpose in ruling over the citizens. Certainly Bhagavad-gītā was never meant for the demoniac persons, who would dissipate its value for no one's benefit and would devise all types of interpretations according to personal whims. As soon as the original purpose was scattered by the motives of the unscrupulous commentators, there arose the need to reestablish the disciplic succession. Five thousand years ago it was detected by the Lord Himself that the disciplic succession was broken, and therefore He declared that the purpose of the Gītā appeared to be lost. In the same way, at the present moment also there are so many editions of the Gītā, but almost all of them are not according to the authorized disciplic succession.