Forefathers (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"forefather" |"forefather's" |"forefathers"

1967 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: Chand Kazi.

Hayagrīva: Muhammadan.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Muhammadan. Chand Kazi was a... Maulana Chand Kazi. His name is Maulana Chand Kazi. He was a great scholar in the Koran scripture. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu first of all asked the Chand Kazi, "My dear uncle, what is your religion that you are eating your mother and father?" (laughs) So he could understand that He was attacking the cow killing process. So he said, "Well, You are just trying to criticize our cow killing, but in Your Vedic literature also I have seen that cow killing is allowed in sacrifice." Then Lord Caitanya said, "Yes. That is not killing. That is rejuvenating. That is not killing." The sacrifice of cow recommended in the Vedic śāstra means that the brāhmaṇas prove how powerful was Vedic mantra that it could give a new life to the old cows and bulls. So then Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, that "Such kind of learned brāhmaṇas and Vedic yajña is not possible in this age. Therefore cow killing..." Not cow killing. "Sacrifice by offering cow, sacrifice by offering horse, and..." Aśvamedhaṁ gavālambhaṁ (CC Adi 17.164). And sannyāsaṁ pala paitṛkam. Sannyāsa means to become in the renounced order of life. And these five things. One thing is sacrifice by offering cow. Second, sacrifice by offering horse. Third, to accept renounced order of life. And fourth, offering ablutions... Or what is called? Offering some, something to the forefathers? What is called?

Hayagrīva: Oblations.

Prabhupāda: Oblations. Yes. This, and to beget child by the husband's younger brother. Formerly, the society allowed that if a woman is young, she has no child, but husband died, so if the husband has younger brother, through the younger brother she could have a child. This system was current. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that these five things are forbidden in this age. So Chand Kazi also replied that "Cow killing is also not generally recommended in the Koran. Actually, beef-eating or flesh-eating is not in the higher stage. But those who are inclined to take flesh, for them it is recommended that instead of killing many small animals, one big animal should be killed. So actually in Mecca, Medina, they kill camel. That is also in the mosque." So the substance of his speech was that flesh-eating ultimately is not recommended.

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview with LA Times Reporter About Moon Trip -- December 26, 1968, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. So far the movement is concerned, it has nothing to do with the moon planetary journey, it has nothing to do. But in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the authoritative Vedic scripture which we generally follow, in that scripture there is statement that for promoting oneself to the moon planet, one has to accustom himself to the different kind of worshiping process. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated that yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25). Those who are worshiper of the demigods, they are promoted to different planets of the particular demigods. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ. And those who are worshiper of the pitṛs, or forefathers, they go to that planet. Similarly, one who is engaged in worshiping the Supreme Lord, he also goes to the supreme planet. These informations are there in the Bhagavad-gītā.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Lord Caitanya Play Told to Tamala Krsna -- August 4, 1969, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: After His father's death it is the custom amongst the Hindus to offer oblations at Gayā. There is a temple, Viṣṇu temple. They offer prasādam. This is a Hindu custom. And with that prasādam the forefathers and the father is offered. So He went to perform that ceremony and by chance He met Īśvara Purī and He was initiated by Īśvara Purī. And after coming back from Gayā, He became very much emotional for Kṛṣṇa, and sometimes people thought that He has become crazy. So His mother treated with some oil. But learned devotees, they said that He has got devotional emotion. So His initiation was in Gayā, when He went to perform that ceremony. So you can show the Gayā temple or some temple. And He's offering oblations, He's meeting His spiritual master, he's initiating. In this way you can make it two, three scenes. And He became emotional chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa after initiation.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 12, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No. Otherwise they will not be scholars.

Guru dāsa: At any rate, where it came from is...

Prabhupāda: Because according to Darwin's theory, your forefather was monkey. So their theory is that long before there were monkeys only. How such high philosophical thoughts could come?

Dr. Kapoor: It is true that in England there were only monkeys there. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: On this theory, all their philosophy is going on. So if they give credit that Indians were so high scholars and philosophers, then the whole theory is spoiled. Because brain is developing, and the background of brain was monkey. So how such philosophical highly moral scholarly work can be done? And this is going on. If Bhāgavata is accepted as we accept that five thousand years ago it was written, then their whole civilization becomes topsy-turvy.

Room Conversation with Dai Nippon -- April 22, 1972, Tokyo:

Prabhupāda: This is... This is their atheistic theory. But our Vedic civilization is putrārthe kriyate bhārya putra-piṇḍa-prayojanam. Prayojanam. Piṇḍa, piṇḍa-dāna, offering piṇḍa by the son, is necessity, puṇyena narakāt trāyate, because the son delivers the forefathers from the hellish condition of life. There are so many plans, and they say, "Oh, there is no plan." Ignorance. We say that there is necessity of a putra, or a son. Therefore to have a son, a wife is necessary. Therefore wife is accepted. This is a plan. But they say that it is... "Whenever you feel, just like cats and dogs, sexually inclined, have sex." That's all. Where is plan? This is difference between atheist and theist. They have no plan. Sex desire is necessity of the body we have, and all of a sudden there is pregnancy. Avoid.

Morning Walk Conversation -- September 28, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: No, you are rascal, you have rascal's history. We are not rascal; we have got another history. Why shall I accept your history? You are rascal. You be satisfied with the history that your great grandfather and his father used to live in the cave. But we don't accept. Our forefather used to live in palace. Sixteen thousand palaces, Kṛṣṇa. (laughter) So you rascal, you live with your own history. Why you force your rascaldom history upon us? We are not going to accept. We get history from five thousand years ago. You have no history beyond three thousand years. But we give the shortest history, five thousand years ago, Kṛṣṇa. And how much intelligent from historical point of view Kṛṣṇa was. We can understand from His instruction, Bhagavad-gītā. It is not that because we are Kṛṣṇaites we are canvassing. The whole world is reading Bhagavad-gītā.

Morning Walk Conversation -- September 28, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: The whole world is reading Bhagavad-gītā. Why, unless there is intelligence? All scholars, all religionists, all philosophers, they are giving attention to Bhagavad-gītā. So how you can say Kṛṣṇa was living in the cave? Your forefather might be living in a cave, but our forefather did not live in a cave but palaces. Your forefather is a monkey, according to that history.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So people completely lack the real knowledge.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That is why they give all these books. When we started school, we are taught with these..., or we are supplied with this information right from the beginning, the history of mankind and then how this started. So they give all this information.

Prabhupāda: Stone Age. What is that, Stone Age? And before that?

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 26, 1973, Jakarta:

Prabhupāda: Still there must some why. Why your forefathers they work and they die? So do you think that is the only philosophy, to work and die? That is being done by the animals also. They work and die.

Guest (1): (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: That is another thing. First thing is, why you are working? What is the purpose of working? If the purpose of working is to work hard and then die, finished, then where is the difference between the animals and the men? They are also working. They are dying, too. Cats, dogs, hogs. Then after some time they die without knowing the purpose of life. Then where is the difference between cats, dogs, hogs and (indistinct) human beings. This question does not arise in the modern civilization. And one is thinking, "Yes, it is the same." But they're lying on the street, we're lying on a very nice apartment, bedstead. This is our profit.

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

Prabhupāda: That means that individual person has left. That is the proof, that is the proof of individual soul. Just like there are so many plants of the same species. One is dead. That individual plant is dead, but other species are living. It is not extinct. How can you say the species is extinct? How you can say? Darwin's forefather might be extinct. But the monkeys are there. What is the time?

Brahmānanda: Six-thirty.

Karandhara: Six thirty-five.

Prabhupāda: Hmm. We can walk little more.

Room Conversation with Indian Guests -- July 11, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: And that was written for strī-śūdra-dvija-bandhūnām (SB 1.4.25). Mahābhārata was written by... This is history, but it was written by Vyāsadeva for woman, strī, śūdra and dvija-bandhu. Dvija-bandhu means those who are born in high family, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, but they are not cultured as their forefathers. They are called dvija-bandhu. And they are compared with śūdras. So strī-śūdra-dvija-bandhūnām. For these women, śūdra and dvija-bandhu, Mahābhārata is Vedic literature. But for their understanding... They could not understand the Vedic language directly. Therefore Mahābhārata was written. And in Mahābhārata he gave the topics, Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā is the essence of all Vedic literatures.

Interviews with Macmillan and various English Reporters -- September 12, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Eh? Yes, hungry, everyone is hungry. Because in the Western countries, unless they are hungry for spiritual consciousness, why they are hippies? They are frustrated. They are not going to live like their fathers and forefathers.

Reporter (2): Frustrated?

Prabhupāda: Yes. This material civilization, ultimately it will be frustration because... Just like... Try to understand... You are a person. You are covered with this coat and shirt. If I simply take care of your coat and shirt, and if I do not give you something to eat, how long you'll be happy?

Reporter (2): Not very long.

Prabhupāda: That's right.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 22, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: The other countries, they were never following.

Dr. Patel: Worst are these Muslim countries. They kill each other and come into the power. Still they are following their forefathers. They are faithful to them.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. (japa).

Dr. Patel: We should go there. And here.

Prabhupāda: A little more?

Dr. Patel: So I am trying to associate with them because here is a guru who is trying to spread the real religion to the foreign countries.

Prabhupāda: Thank you very much.

Morning Walk -- February 22, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, we don't hate Muslims. I have got many students, Muslims.

Dr. Patel: No, we don't hate. I mean, what they have done in past, their forefathers. They have demolished so many temples. Because they did not... They were all (Hindi).

Prabhupāda: And this is all going on. Even in the Kurus' family, the other party, how much wrong they did to the Pāṇḍavas. They insulted their wife, they took their kingdom, and so many... They sent them to the forest, banishment. What did they not do? It is not the question of Hindu-Muslim. It is the question of the man, who is concerned.

Dr. Patel: Swami, you have got a soft kind of conscience.

Morning Walk -- March 24, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, Muslim name.

Dr. Patel: But here in Gujarat we have got so many brāhmaṇas and... (break)

Prabhupāda: ...magistrates.

Dr. Patel: Ah, but then these are Muslim brāhmaṇas.

Prabhupāda: So it is Muslim name. Their forefathers were magistrates. That's all. Kāzi, there is no harm... Munshi, Kāzi. They're common... (break) If you go to anyone, "Hare Kṛṣṇa," they'll understand: "Here is Hare Kṛṣṇa people." That's all. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Anywhere, Africa, Australia, Japan, they know, "These are Hare Kṛṣṇa people." We are known as "Hare Kṛṣṇa people." So there are so many apartments... (end)

Morning Walk -- March 29, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: You can manufacture your own way...

Dr. Patel: I'm not manufacturing, I'm not manufacturing. Nowhere Veda say you kill the animals, and eat them away. They, our forefathers were so clever as to kill them and bring them living again.

Prabhupāda: Every sacrifice, every sacrifice there is written in injunction of Vedic...

Dr. Patel: Sacrificing means you're sacrificing your own...

Prabhupāda: You may mean something, but actually, that is not the meaning. That is the difference. You may mean something. The point is that you may follow. In the Vedas there are different ways, but you cannot decry the authority of the Vedas. That is the point.

Morning Walk -- April 1, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That is stated that pitṛṇām. No, what is that verse? Devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛnam-pitṛṇām (SB 11.5.41). We are... Just like we are indebted to our forefathers, family, similarly we are indebted to devas, the demigods. Just like the sun is supplying light. So we are indebted. Deva, ṛṣi, to the great, big, big, saintly ṛṣis. They have given us the śāstras. Devarṣi, devarṣi bhūtā... Bhūtā, ordinary living entities. Just like you are taking milk from the cows. And another, horse, is giving me service. So devarṣi-bhūtā apta, relatives. We take so much help from relatives. Devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛnam, ordinary human beings. Pitṛṇām. And the pitṛs. So we are debted to so many. If you want to clear up the debts, it will take millions of births. (laughter) So devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛnam-pitṛṇāṁ nayaṁ kiṅkara na ṛni ca rājan (SB 11.5.41). This man is neither servant nor indebted.

Morning Walk -- April 17, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because I am giving you this paper—I am cheating you-therefore I am "In God we trust." (break) And the best in the world. That is a fact.

Dr. Patel: They have given, fathers, by their forefathers.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...street you'll find, both ways, boarding: generally cigarette, wine, and...?

Dr. Patel: And the night clubs.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Naked woman, that's all. Both sides it is there. They advertise. Here... In America, anywhere you deposit forty dollars. Next day you get everything. (break) ...they say, "This year it is now reduced." Mean "Criminality, let go on, but from the last year, this year it is now reduced." That's all. (break) "...are drinking. Therefore you cannot call me drunkard." This is the logic. (break) These rogues and thieves will increase. That is the law of nature. Men... (breaks) They have a fire(?). (break) ...took down. (break) ...police, they simply only note down.

Morning Walk Excerpts -- May 2, 1974, Bombay:

Girirāja: (break) "...narration of the Kāliya serpent and his punishment will need fear no more the envious activities of snakes. The Lord also declared, 'If one takes a bath in the Kāliya lake where My cowherd boyfriends and I have bathed, or if one, fasting for a day, offers oblations to the forefathers from the water of this lake, he will be relieved from all kinds of sinful reaction.' " (break)

Bhāgavata: ...actually are devotees or how do they become demons? Are they devotees? Obviously Kāliya is... Just like Jaya and Vijaya, they were devotees. And due to some offense, then they became demons and they fought with Kṛṣṇa to satisfy Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Anyone who is living in this material world is a demon. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Where is your mother?

Morning Walk -- May 29, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: That is going on. Therefore it is called punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām: (SB 7.5.30) "chewing the chewed." That's all. You know the sugarcane. You chew it and throw it, and again another man comes to chew it again. This is going on. They do not have the sense... Even in this Rome city, they see that "Big, big buildings were constructed by our previous forefathers and they are now lying, now simply relics. So this will be also relics. So what we are doing actually?" But they have no sense. Another relic. And other generation come; they will make another relic. This is called punaḥ punaḥ, again and again chewing the chewed. That's all. They have no other brain to do something else, which is actually fact. They are seeing it, that this will be say, after two thousand years it will be all useless. So what actually we are doing?" They have no sense of what is actuality, what is reality, no spiritual knowledge. Therefore bahir-artha-māninaḥ, external something, some engagement, like children.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Bernard Manischewitz -- March 5, 1975, New York:

Prabhupāda: In this age of Kali, five things should be avoided: one is performing sacrifice by offering cows; performing sacrifice by offering horse; and oblation offering to the forefathers with meat; and then to get child by the husband's younger brother. Maybe it was practiced formerly. According to Vedic rituals, the husband's wife... That is permanent relation; there is no divorce, nothing of the sort. But in case of the husband being sick or dead, the women was allowed, if she has no children, to get children by the husband's younger brother. Devareṇa. That is also now not allowed. So these five things are not allowed in this age, Kali-yuga: sacrifice offering cows, sacrifice offering horse, sannyāsa—renouncing family life—sannyāsa order, offering oblations with meat to the forefathers, and begetting children through the husband's younger... These five items are forbidden.

Morning Walk -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Nobody follows. We do not follow... There are so many... Why they are struggle? Why they struggle? Why do you fight? Because you are all thieves—you want to steal God's gold-therefore you fight. Why do you fight? Why you declare war from one nation to another? Because you are all thieves and you want to steal God's gold. Therefore there is fight. Why do you claim, "This is America, my land"? Is it your land? Have your forefathers created this? Why you falsely claim like that? What is the answer? You have stolen from another party, Red Indians, and you are now claiming, "We are the proprietor." You are thieves. You are not even gentlemen. What do you think?

Morning Walk -- April 7, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Because your forefathers came from England and taught them like this. That is the real fact. India was satisfied, but the Lord Macauley, they said no, that if you keep Indian as Indian, you'll never be able to rule lower down. Cultural conqueror. So they began to teach Indians England's work in India. "Whatever you have got, that is all nonsense. You learn from us." And the first product is Jawaharlal Nehru. This is the misfortune of foreign rule.

Yaśodānandana: It would seem then that English culture is stronger than Indian culture then.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Conversation with Devotees -- April 14, 1975, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: According to our śāstra you are going to be pygmy men. That is, there is proof, because you are not as strong as your forefathers. That's a fact. You are becoming dwarfer, dwarfer. According to our śāstra you come to that pygmy, (indistinct) in due course of time. As it was before, so again the time is repeating, history repeating.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then that means our pygmy men were from a previous Kali-yuga?

Prabhupāda: Yes. We say there was Kali-yuga. Four yugas are changing.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Dinosaurs also?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with Journalist -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yes, he must be. Because he is foolish, he will do all nonsense..., wrong things, which will create unhappiness. To deny God means foolishness, and foolish man simply will create trouble. Just like monkey. Monkey is always busy by simply creating trouble, that's all. And they are claiming, the foolish Darwin's theories, they also claim that monkey is our forefather.

Journalist: Is that true? Do you believe that?

Prabhupāda: No, I have told you already, the evolution. The monkey is not our forefather, but in the evolutionary process we came through monkey. That is a fact. Because that is an animal, so we have to pass through three million varieties of animal's body. So monkey is one of them.

Room Conversation with Journalist -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: No, no, from the very childhood we are Kṛṣṇa conscious, our family, the Vaiṣṇava family. My father and my forefathers, they are all belonged to this cult, Kṛṣṇa cult. So naturally from our childhood we were trained up in this cult.

Journalist: Yes. Do you have children?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. I have got my wife, children, everything. But now I have no connection with them; I am a sannyāsī. Sannyāsī means to give up all material connection.

Journalist: Yes. Is your son in the cult?

Prabhupāda: Yes, everyone. But they are not so advanced. Just like one belongs to some cult, religion, but one may not be very expert to understand that religion. So they are Kṛṣṇa conscious, but not so expert.

Room Conversation with Two Lawyers and Guest -- May 22, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: That is called māyā. This is māyā. The philosophy of māyā, māyā means what is not. Mā-yā. Mā means not, yā means this. So māyā means the conclusion, as you have made, that is not. That is not the fact. So we are claiming, "America is our", "Australia is our", "India is our". Nothing our. Everything God's. The best conclusion is, "It is God's property. God has given us to live. Let us thank God, feel obliged to Him, and glorify Him." That is our vision. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. You accept the real position, that nothing belongs to you, everything belongs to God. You also belong to God. Your body, yourself, everything belongs to God. This body is material body. That material energy, earth, water, air, fire—everything belongs to God. This sea belongs to God, water, vast water. You have not created, neither your forefather has created. So this body is made of earth, water, air, fire, five elements. So your, the body is also God's.

Morning Walk -- May 27, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore it is said, bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānāṁ tayāpahṛta-cetasām (BG 2.44). "Those who have lost their identity, being captivated by bhoga and aiśvarya, they cannot understand." Bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānām. Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahataḥ. For slight, so-called happiness they are making big, big problems (projects?). Māyā... bharam. Bharam means big, big problems. (projects?). And sometimes they put forward their whim (?) for the next generation. Now, if Darwin's theory accepted, the monkeys never thought of the next generation, so how you have got this consciousness(?)? Why you are thinking of your next generation? What is the argument? The monkey cannot think that Mr. Nixon will come, become president of this or that, U.S.A. So how he became president without your thinking of the, your forefathers, monkeys? So why you are thinking of your generation? Your forefathers did not.

Morning Walk -- August 5, 1975, Detroit:

Brahmānanda: Only civilized monkeys. (laughter)

Ambarīṣa: We(?) are living in the cities.

Prabhupāda: At least civilized man's forefather. (break) ...bigger than monkey. You remember? We were walking in that park?

Brahmānanda: Yes. Oh, yes. Many were in the trees, jumping. (break)

Prabhupāda: Birds who eat monkey. You know that? I have seen in Los Angeles zoo, monkey-eating bird. They capture the monkey by the neck and drop it. And when it falls down it dies, and meat. And I have seen one statue in the Central Park. They are catching goats-eagle. And there are big eagles. They catch up elephant. (break)

Room Conversation -- October 4, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: You may not see. You have not seen your forefather. That does not mean... This is all bad argument. Why do you believe? Your eyes are so imperfect; still, you say, "I did not see. I want to see." What is the value of your eyes? You see the sun globe—a small disc. But is it so? Then how do you know that it is so big?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: By hearing.

Prabhupāda: By hearing. That is important, not by seeing. Therefore śruti, Veda, is important, not your eyes.

Harikeśa: When people die, though, there is usually some cause. Like they have a heart attack or they get hit by a car or some disease. So that death is caused by the disease...

Morning Walk -- October 7, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: They are Indians or, these, white?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Muslims. Most of these Muslims originally from Gujarat side. Their forefathers came here.

Prabhupāda: They are called Boris. (pronounces "Boreez") Boris Muslim.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Boris Muslim.

Prabhupāda: They were formerly Hindus. All Muslims were Hindus formerly.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They have an Islamic propagation center here, and I went there. I was walking by one day. They invited me in. So they began to blaspheme this and that. So I asked them, "What is your conception of God?" He said, "God is beyond conception." So I told him that "Therefore you cannot say that Kṛṣṇa is God and you cannot say that Kṛṣṇa is not God, because you don't know what God is."

Prabhupāda: Then what did he say?

Morning Walk -- Durban, October 13, 1975 :

Prabhupāda: No. We don’t say like that. We say that God first spoke to sun-god, and sun-god spoke to his son, Manu, and Manu spoke to Ikṣvāku, Ikṣvāku spoke to his son. In this way are there. We don’t say, "The God spoke to me." Evaṁ paramparā prāptam, that is quite reasonable. God said to Brahmā, and the Brahmā said to Nārada, Nārada said to Vyāsadeva, Vyāsadeva said to others. In this way we should know. If my father said to my forefather… My forefather said to my father or my grandfather, and the same news is coming in family way, then where is the wrong? We don’t say, "Darwin simply knew it." No, we don’t say that. Evaṁ paramparā prāptam. He was a rascal number one, all these scientists, the so-called scientists.

Room Conversation -- October 15, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: That may be in few cases. Generally the duration of life is reduced. Nobody lives nowadays like his forefather. So where is extension? It is reduced. And what is the extension? In old age the body becomes subjected to so many ailments. What is the use of living with ailments, with toothache and many other things? What is the use of such life? Better die young, in good health, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. What is the use of prolonged life? The prolonged life... The trees are also prolonged life. Does it mean it is happy? They live for five hundred years, five thousand years. Hundred, two hundred years' living for tree is not at all difficult. But they live for thousands of years. So is it very pleasing to live like a tree for many thousands of years? Hm?

Morning Walk -- October 19, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: It is training. How they are become brāhmaṇa? According to śāstra, they are coming from mleccha, yavana. How they have become brāhmaṇa? More than brāhmaṇa. But they are abiding by the rules. You see? They are accustomed to eat meat from the very birth. They have given up. And if we request Indians, they will not give up, although their forefathers never ate meat.

Indian man (1): Does it say somewhere in the Bhagavad-gītā that we shouldn't eat meat?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. Yes. Ahara-śuddhi. There are three kinds, four kinds of ahara: sattvika, rājasika, tamasika. Everything is there. The classification of ahara. Meat is tamasikāhara, fourth class. It is not first class.

Morning Walk -- November 3, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: No, because I don't drink. I don't know. I have not taken tea even in England during my education because I am not to take tea. I am totally teetotaler of the right way. The society is right from the beginning body conscious, more or less, we. We are not taught even during our age of education that we are not this body and something else. This was being done in the ancient times, our forefathers. When the boys were going to the guru, they were first taught this, that "You are not this body; you are something else." And here you are taught you are body so you have to take exercise.

Prabhupāda: That is the first education, first instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā, beginning of Bhagavad-gītā-dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Unless one understands that "There is change of body and I am spirit soul within this body," he remains a cat and dog, and that's all. Dehātmā-buddhiḥ. Yasyātmā-buddhiḥ kunape tri-dhātuke sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). So we are keeping this civilization—animals. How there can be peace? You cannot make several dogs, bring them together as nation, and they will live peacefully. It is not possible that "You all dogs come here and feel nationally and be peaceful."

Morning Walk -- November 3, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: But why you accepted that? (laughter) Why you accepted? Then why don't you accept? You should have refused.

Dr. Patel: Well, we were not there to refuse. We came afterwards. Our forefathers gave us...

Prabhupāda: No, you can... Just like they are reforming. Their forefathers were drunkards, woman-hunters, (laughter) and they are reformed, the great-grandchildren. And we old men, we cannot do that.

Dr. Patel: I talk of MacCauley...

Prabhupāda: MacCauley may mislead you. Why you should believe?

Dr. Patel: He misled our forefathers.

Morning Walk -- November 3, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: He misled our forefathers.

Prabhupāda: No, why you should be misled?

Dr. Patel: Now we are going to lead them. Are you not leading them?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Your forefathers might have been misled, but why you will commit the same mistake again?

Dr. Patel: Now we have improved upon the mistake and we are leading them, and we will lead them.

Prabhupāda: No, that is not the fact. These boys, European, American boys, they were misled from the very beginning of their life, but how they are improving in spiritual consciousness? The thing is we are not prepared to take up our own culture. That is...

Morning Walk -- November 12, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: No, but who said like that for that... Really he got that temple, no? This temple is his forefather's. And they were doing the śraddhā pūjā here. Then I knew that he died. He was a great, sort of a roguish man. His grandfather or somebody had some power to knows things here and there, and people used to come and worship him and give him some money. But this man started fanning him exactly like this, sort of a (Hindi). Parsis are coming very often. Parsis are very simple community.

Nara: He has committed suicide?

Dr. Patel: Yes, he has committed suicide, rightfully.

Nara: He was drinking and...

Dr. Patel: What was he not doing? What was he not doing? He was in all this sort a big debauch, mentally, physically, all sensually.

Prabhupāda: Why he committed suicide?

Morning Walk -- December 16, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, that progress means still rascals. After ten years they'll make no... This is progress. So they have no standard knowledge, and that is very much palatable, modern progress. Mūḍha.

Dr. Patel: But sincerely by all these six, six, I mean śāstra, I mean what you call darśanals(?), our forefathers have realized God, by all the six methods of darśanas.

Prabhupāda: You, why your forefathers? Everyone's forefather can understand.

Dr. Patel: No, no. Other civilized people's forefathers. (laughs) The Āryan race. Nyāya vaiśeṣika also has told the same thing. This, such śāstra, I mean darśanas, are all from the Vedas. They are all from the Vedas you see.

Prabhupāda: No, they are not strictly Vedas. They are partial. Just like mimāṁsa. They say that you do good work and you get the result. That is godlessness.

Morning Walk -- December 18, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, no. That is not education. The education for eating, sleeping, that is not education.

Dr. Patel: The way we were educating, our forefathers are educating their children, by this method of sending them to a guru in an āśrama...

Prabhupāda: That is real education.

Dr. Patel: And then they are prepared right from the brahmacārī āśrama for the highest goal, till they become a sannyāsī. Here he, he's neither this nor there.

Prabhupāda: No, there is no education. Real education is not there. Just like Cānakya Paṇḍita, he was not a spiritual man, but he was a prime minister. Still, he gave the standard of becoming educated.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 12, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So many medicines, vitamin D, vitamin C...

Dr. Patel: All medicines, sir, vitamins, and all even hormones...

Prabhupāda: But why not discover something that you will save from death?

Dr. Patel: But what is death, after all? Our forefathers found it out...

Prabhupāda: Then why you are trying to live?

Dr. Patel: We want to make you live in a good way so that you can think well and solve your life. That is what we are doing. We don't want to keep your, this body going on for all the time. Who says, sir? I do not think that is the aim of the medical profession, to keep...

Prabhupāda: But they have to accept because they cannot do it.

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

Prabhupāda: Because everyone is prostitute. Vartula pravaha.(?) You know vartula pravaha? This nyāya, logic? Vartula pravaha. One brāhmaṇa was taking bath daily in the Ganges. So as a brāhmaṇa's regulative principle, they take kośa-kuśī to offer oblation to the forefathers, śraddhā. So one day he found there are so many kośa-kuśīs, so he could not understand which is his own. So next day, just to find out his own, he put one earth ball in his own kośa. Kośa you understand?

Jayapatākā: Some plate.

Prabhupāda: One plate, yes. It is placed like this. So when he came from, after bathing, he saw that so many kośas are, everything is containing that ball, vartula. Then again he was puzzled that he put a ball in his own kośa so that he can find out, but when he came back from bathing he saw that all the kośas... Then he asked all other brāhmaṇas, "How is that, that there are so many balls in everyone's kośa? I put it to recognize my own." So they said, "I thought that it is a fashion now. It is an occasion to put a ball in..." Vartula pravaha. The same difficulty. At Bombay there was some news like this, that prostitutes are not doing well in their profession? Who told me that?

Morning Walk -- June 4, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. (japa) All these rascals should be approached that, first, "Whether you have come from your.... Is your father monkey? You say that from monkey man has come. You have come from monkey or from your father?" Ask him this question. Naturally he will be ashamed to say "Yes, I have come from some monkey." (laughs) Unless he is a great fool, he will not say it. Then your father comes from his father, from his father.... Where the monkey comes? Is there in the history of your family that your forefather...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, we are studying the bones. That's what they say.

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We are digging up bones.

Morning Walk -- June 6, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: No. In America, Kṛṣṇa consciousness has developed. What you have done? Why don't you say?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But our forefathers have done, and just see the mess we are in because of it.

Prabhupāda: Forefathers ate ghee, so lick up your hand. My forefathers ate ghee.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All you have is dalda now,

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Why dalda? Your forefathers had ghee. You enjoy it now.

Rāmeśvara: Actually, if we introduce ghee in America, we'll be very famous. That will make us very popular.

Prabhupāda: Yes, do it. You have got enough milk, you can do it.

Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Monkeys also. So monkey's the forefather of Darwin. Better kill them so that there is no opportunity of criticism that "You are coming from monkey." You extinct this species. It is rather insulting. If I say that you are descendant of monkey, then it is insult. So extinct this monkey. I don't think there is monkey here. Africa there is monkey. You have been in Africa? There are monkey-eating birds. Top of the tree, monkey, they catch up on the head and drop it from high. And then they take it. (pause) There was a boat which belonged to this house. I think he has sold it.

Garden Conversation -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Your America has got so much money. Has it solved all the problems? Our Ambarīṣa Mahārāja will answer.

Ambarīṣa: What is the question, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Question is that your forefathers and fathers have got so much money, whether it has solved the problems of life?

Ambarīṣa: No, it hasn't solved any of their problems. It has multiplied them. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: He is the best.... He could have personally owned this palace and lived very luxuriously. He has got the means. But he did not like that. He gave it to the Vaiṣṇavas. So money cannot solve the problems. That is not possible.

Garden Conversation -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Then why do you trust in God? Don't trust in God, like the Communists say, "We don't trust in God. We shall do it ourselves."

Kuladri: But the forefathers who made up our slogan "In God We Trust," they were very unintelligent, they were very backwards.

Prabhupāda: But you are intelligent. Why you are putting the forefather's words? You avoid it. That means you are cheating people. You do not believe in, but you still write it. That means cheating. Why do you write such things in which you do not believe? That means cheating. Hmm? What do you think? If you write something which you do not believe in, are you not cheating? That means cheating. You take word, you are giving a piece of paper, and it is written there, "one thousand dollars." That means you are cheating, in the name of God, he will accept you, that's all. If you say, "No, I don't want paper. Give me gold dollar," then you are finished. Your currency will be finished. Immediately there will be revolution, that "The government is cheating us."

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: No, Pitṛloka is different. That is downwards.

Hari-śauri: Does that Pitṛ, does that refer to the original progenitors?

Pradyumna: No, forefathers.

Prabhupāda: Latest development they are finding water in Mars?

Parivrājakācārya: It is very difficult for them because they are using their eyes and other instruments. They have found places where there were rivers, and they are finding ice, other things. So, I don't know the latest about it. It is obvious to them there is life, different kinds of life.

Hari-śauri: The way of testing for life...

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

Prabhupāda: No, we are trained up, because we belong to Kṛṣṇa family. So this Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa worship is our family tradition. Our forefathers, my father, my maternal uncles, we are Vaiṣṇava family. Belonging to the Caitanya-sampradāya.

Mr. Malhotra: But how you entered in business, I mean.

Prabhupāda: Because we were trained up from the very beginning of our life by our father, mother.

Mr. Malhotra: Grandfather also?

Prabhupāda: Yes, our whole family. We have our family Deity, Dāmodara. In my childhood I was worshiping Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deities. And then, fortunately, I got my Guru Mahārāja, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. So this was a good fortune, from the very beginning we were trained up. So in the beginning of our life, I was worshiping Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and playing with (indistinct). The same thing is being done now. In a larger scale. (laughter) Nitya yukta upāsate. There is no change.

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

Mr. Malhotra: Mr. Biani, Biani. He is just Birla's tea (indistinct) looking after tea. Last time I was in Delhi about two months back, so I just talked about you that I had to meet you and we could go to Vṛndāvana. Because at that time I was told that you were there. So he knew you very well, he had been to your discourses, Mr. Biani. He's Marwari. They are in Calcutta. Tea business, export tea business. We agreed on one thing, that it is very easy, rather, to make Indians understand the spiritual teachings of Lord Kṛṣṇa, because in homes, in houses, forefathers, grandmothers, mothers, they are doing, I mean, always. But to, I mean, impart this knowledge to the...

Prabhupāda: Foreigners.

Mr. Malhotra: Foreigners, and that to who have more or less completely, I mean very much away from the spiritual life, very much engrossed in material life, very much engrossed. And it was something very, very, very difficult, right? Without the blessings of Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself... (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Therefore their fathers are charging me that this man knows something, mesmerism. (laughter)

Morning Walk -- December 25, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: (aside:) They supply water regularly.

Devotee: Yes.

Guest (1): Here Indians don't get up early in the morning. All our forefathers did. The people, most of them would be snoring? No. (break)

Prabhupāda: Two days I had been in Mahabaleshwar, and our host was sleeping. (laughter) So I asked them, "Let us go immediately, otherwise we'll be infected." (laughter) So I left that place.

Guest (1): A normal day of life...

Hari-śauri: Śrīla Prabhupāda, it's five to seven. You can go down now. (break)

Hari-śauri: Will you be speaking this morning Śrīla Prabhupāda?

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

Prabhupāda: Because we are simply speaking what Kṛṣṇa has spoken. That's all. Yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa... That's all. I do not claim that I am Sanskrit scholar, I am this big man, that man, no. Whatever books I have written, only about this-Kṛṣṇa. In our book in every page you will find Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa. My Guru Mahārāja, if we used to write some article, so we wanted to show him how it is written. So he was very busy. So somebody would read and Guru Mahārāja would say, "How many times he has said 'Kṛṣṇa'?" (laughter) If he finds that in every page there is Kṛṣṇa, it is all right. That's all. (laughter) So we are making Vedāntist, "How many times he chants Kṛṣṇa?" If he chants always Kṛṣṇa, yes, he's Vedāntist. That's all. Bas. Because śāstra says, kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet (SB 12.3.51). That is being effective. These boys, their forefathers or their father, grandfather never knew what is Kṛṣṇa. But kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet. So unless there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness there is no question of Vedānta. That is my point. (Hindi) That is real Vedānta. And the Vedānta says also... If you actually read Vedānta, what is the beginning of Vedānta? Boliye? What is the beginning?

Morning Walk -- December 27, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That may be, but why penicillin is required?

Dr. Patel: No, but that means it had some value right from beginning. Our forefathers must have known it. Why they did not...

Prabhupāda: No, no, we are speaking... We are speaking... Because it is important, therefore Kṛṣṇa said, kṛṣi-go-rakṣya. Why go-rakṣya required, you do not require any explanation. Kṛṣṇa said, go-rakṣya, "You must protect." That's all. That is Kṛṣṇa conscious. Because we have no brain why Kṛṣṇa—giving up all other animals—He is giving stress on go. And that is meaning. He never said, animal-rakṣya, paśu-rakṣya, no. Those who want to eat paśu, let them eat nonimportant like hogs and dogs. There are class of men who eat dogs also, hogs also. Or, utmost, goats. But don't touch cow. This is instruction. And modern civilization first of all killed all the cows. And when they are no more available then can you eat other animals. I do not know why our government is now restricting cow slaughter.

Dr. Patel: They have banned the cow slaughter all over India now.

Prabhupāda: I know that. Eh.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: And what do you mean by "we"? We are not...

Dr. Patel: "We" means our forefathers.

Prabhupāda: Forefathers may be saintly person, but we are not. Why do you say "we"?

Dr. Patel: "We" means the descendants of our forefathers.

Prabhupāda: My father might have been very rich man, but I am a poverty-stricken man, loitering in the street. Why say "we"?

Dr. Patel: "We" means these Aryans in India, they brought all the Vedas and Vedic culture with them. They must have taken it in.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. One who is speaking, he is not in Vedic culture. That is the difficulty.

Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: This, falsely to become proud: "We... We have done." What I am at the present? That is to be taken, not that... Now in Bengal... "Fourteen generations before my father took ghee, and I have got a smell." (laughs) What is that? Whether you are eating ghee or not, that is talk, not that "Fourteen generations before my father and forefathers ate ghee, and I have got the smell here." (laughs)

Dr. Patel: No, we talk of Vedic culture, sir.

Prabhupāda: Vedic culture is all right now. There is no question of "we" or "you."

Dr. Patel: But why it is not with them?

Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Why it is not with you? First of all say why you are challenging them? (laughter) First of all challenge yourself.

Dr. Patel: (laughing) That's right. But they have not, their forefathers have got. We have at least with our forefathers.

Prabhupāda: No, no, their forefathers are the Aryans, the same forefathers, your forefathers.

Dr. Patel: They're Aryans, but they did not take the Vedic culture with them.

Prabhupāda: They did not take. You are not taking. That's the same thing.

Dr. Patel: Presently the whole world is...

Room Conversation -- January 7, 1977, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Washington and people like Jefferson. He has polluted that seat. They must change that seat. Change the White House wholesale. The greatest curr on this most, I mean, enlightened people. Americans are very enlightened because their forefathers were enlightened and they came there as pilgrims. Those, what do they call them? Puritans, you see. They are most different from Aussies. The Australians who are criminals of England.

Prabhupāda: If Nixon is a Jew?

Dr. Patel: No, no. He's a Christian. No Jew can be, serve as the president of that country. Not only Jew but not only Catholic.

Trivikrama: Well, some Catholics. Kennedy was...

Dr. Patel: Only Kennedy was the first Catholic to be. Otherwise till Kennedy came, there was no Catholic ever elected. (break) Methodist. Even in material world, he was a fool the way he carried out... (laughing) But sir, one thing: about the freedom of America. I have my hat off that that man could be knocked off by ordinary paper reporter. That would not happen in any other country.

Prabhupāda: Therefore I asked to take the government.

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

Prabhupāda: I do not know. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to go and preach in eastern Bengal. And His original paternal house is in Sylhet.

Dr. Patel: It is in Assam.

Prabhupāda: Yes. His forefathers from Sylhet. Jagannātha Miśra, His father came from Sylhet to Navadvipa for studying. Then Nilambara Cakravartī got him married with his daughter, Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mother. And he resided in Nabadwip.

Gurudāsa: There's one temple in Vṛndāvana where they have Deities of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda that look like Manipur. They made His eyes like that.

Prabhupāda: That is not so good. If you make any picture, then you paint according to the people's, local people's feature. Kata catur anana, mani mani yāvat. Vidyāpati. You have heard the name of Vidyāpati? He was a great poet of Darbhanga.

Discussion on Deprogrammers -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So to become devotee means to do the best service to the family. If there is one devotee in the family, all the forefathers, they are delivered. So anyway, don't be disappointed. Go on fighting and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Everything will be right. There is no cause of disappointment.

Rāmeśvara: Actually the field now for preaching in America is better than ever. More people are becoming interested to hear what we are and what our message is than ever before because of all this controversy. Whenever something is making newspapers that is confusing or controversial, they immediately want to hear about it because they have a tendency to look for faults.

Prabhupāda: That is everywhere.

Rāmeśvara: But they're very eager to have us come to the colleges and high schools...

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: That means he is going to learn. He is not learned. That is another word of rascal.

Satsvarūpa: He's new on the scene, so don't expect too much, but he'll soon know everything.

Prabhupāda: What is new? History, whole history, is the same. Your forefathers, his forefathers, never have done that? Why it is new?

Satsvarūpa: Well, they say there's been regular improvements, medicines...

Prabhupāda: What is that improvement?

Satsvarūpa: Medicines have done away with so many diseases.

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

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- February 28, 1977, Mayapura:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He had grants, money coming from the United States to support his research. So he was on opposite side, but we had a very interesting discussion. And he told me later on that he was a keen follower of Śaṅkarācārya. I said, "Why?" because I was speaking, "There are innumerable lives." I was giving examples that we are not as one, but there are innumerable forms of life depending on the level of consciousness, giving examples. scientific examples. So he answered that traditionally his forefathers, his parents, his grandfathers, became followers of Śaṅkarācārya, so he became some sort of addicted to it, but he said he's not one hundred percent follower of Śaṅkarācārya.

Prabhupāda: Individual. Where there is question of mixing? Śaṅkarācārya's mistake is that the spirit is a mixture, and in māyā state, they're divided. Is it not? So when the division is finished, then it is spirit. But Kṛṣṇa does not say that. He says in the past we are individual, at present we are individual, and in future we shall continue to be individual.

Room Conversation with Ratan Singh Rajda M.P. 'Nationalism and Cheating' -- April 15, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ. It is meant for the rulers, rājarṣi, not for the loafers. Imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ. (Hindi) Our, this monarchy was there, but they were rājarṣis, monarch, at the same time, great saintly person. Therefore they were worshiped, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, Mahārāja Parīkṣit, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa. They are not autocrat. Imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ. They understood the science of Bhagavad-gītā from saintly person, exalted brāhmaṇas. They ruled. You'll find in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam this Mahārāja Parīkṣit, grandson of Arjuna. His father died when he was in the womb of his mother. So all, everyone died. Only these five brother remained. And Parīkṣit Mahārāja, the grandson of Arjuna, he was in the womb of his mother Uttarā. So he was also attempted to be killed by Aśvatthāmā by brahmāstra. Kṛṣṇa saved him. So anyway, the grandfathers took care of this child, baby in the womb. And when he was born... This is a ceremony, jāta-karma. Just after birth there is a ceremony. This is now gone, daśa, daśa-karaṇa... Nobody is... So they are making horoscope, the brāhmaṇas. "So this child will be like this, like this, like this, like this," Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja's question was that "What you are speaking, that is all right. Whether this child will be to their forefathers' reputation, how to give happiness to the subjects, praja-pālana?"

Morning Conversation -- April 19, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Indians... And Manipur, there are many men from Bangladesh.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. Sylhet.

Prabhupāda: From Sylhet. Sylhet is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's place. There is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's forefathers' house, Sylhet. So what talk you had with that doctor?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, his name is Dr. Sir M. S. Thakur, and we had a very interesting talk yesterday, and he's willing to come and stay in the temple for at least a week. He's going to come and stay here for at least a week.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He wanted to learn more about Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Prabhupāda: Very good. Let him come. Give him good place, and we shall talk.

Room Conversation -- August 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) There is a... There was a great Bengali poet. He was very rich man, Micheal, Madhusūdana Datta. So he went to England, and because he was extravagant, he spent all his money. So he was in difficulty. He begged some money from his countrymen, help him. But nobody gave him. Only there was a big paṇḍita, Isvaracandra Vidyasagar. He gave him the money. He thought that "Such a big man is in need of money. Let me... He may pay or not." So after receiving that money, he thanked Isvaracandra Vidyasagar, that "You have got courage of an Englishman and the heart of a Bengali mother." He was poet, so he gave these two examples: the courage of an Englishman and the heart of a Bengali mother. So you are Englishman. You are famous for your forefathers' courage to expand British Empire. The America is also your creation. But everything in this material world deteriorates. That is not fault.

Room Conversation -- October 22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Before that time?

Dr. Gopal: Before that, I was hardly two years old.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Your forefathers were from any part of India besides this?

Dr. Gopal: No. They're always from this UP.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Ācchā. (break)

Bhavānanda: ...in Vṛndāvana. That perhaps he could stop there and just inquire whether they had any kavirāja there, because that's Rāmānuja-sampradāya. Shall he do that? (break)

Prabhupāda: Eh? What is that? No. This doctor's treatment is failure.