In front of... (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"in front in" |"in front of" |"in the front of"

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- October 27, 1968, Montreal, With First Devotees Going to London On Evening of Their Departure:

Janārdana: The building, the Strathcona, the government building.

Prabhupāda: That is very nice, but other building in front of our temple, just not in exactly front. That big signboard.

Janārdana: Oh, 16,000, 15,000 square feet, a dollar sixty a foot?

Prabhupāda: Dollar sixty?

Janārdana: Yes. We are paying forty-nine cents a foot, and they are asking there a dollar sixty a foot. They are asking three times more rent than we are paying. It's very expensive.

Prabhupāda: How many..., there? 16,000?

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: That is another thing. It may be understood that he was Śeṣa, but that was the incident. And another incident is that when He was just walking... So it is the system that small children, they are decorated with ornaments here, here, bangle, so many ornaments, here. So one thief saw that... He stole away the child. So he was seeking some secret place, lonely place, so that he can rob of... In this way seeking, seeking, he traveled, and at last he came just in front of the house, and he dropped the child, that "Somebody may see that I have taken this child. Then I'll be beaten, I will be caught." So out of fear he fled away. And the guardians, ladies, they were very much anxious, "Who has taken the child? He was with ornaments." But they saw that the child is there. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu enjoyed for some time on the shoulder of the thief.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 1, 1972, Sydney:

Śyāmasundara: No one will live here. The apartments are vacant.

Sudāmā: He's losing money.

Śyāmasundara: Someone has built in front of him.

Pradyumna: He had view over whole city. This was the biggest building, I think, and he said he had view everywhere. Now someone built one right up, right next to him.

Bhūrijana: In the United States, the most amazing thing is that everyone is envious. The general population is envious of the hippies because they all want to do that. The ones who are working so hard, they want to be the ones who are just getting fed and do nothing and enjoy sex. But then when the hippies have it, they say bad things about them.

Prabhupāda: What is that? I could not...

Room Conversation -- April 20, 1972, Tokyo:

Prabhupāda: No. No saving. (laughter) Give me immediately. (laughter) Give them.

Devotee (2): Prabhupāda? Your Divine Grace? I have a question. I was always under impression or understanding from your teachings, that one never eats in front of the Deities. Can you please explain that? Cause I understand you are pure devotee.

Śyāmasundara: He says that he always understood that one should not eat in front of the Deity. What is the difference?

Prabhupāda: Difference is generally we should not eat before the Deity. But there is another injunction, prasādaḥ prāptir mātreṇa bhoktavyaḥ. As soon as we get prasāda you should immediately eat (laughter. Sound of Prabhupāda eating prasāda.) Take this. So we shall have to go there?

Room Conversation -- May 4, 1972, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: This is the process going on in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. They become devotee, follow the rules and regulations, the prescribed method, you'll see God. You'll see constantly, twenty-four hours. Santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti, premāñjana cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena (Bs. 5.38). If you have developed such devotion and love for God, then you will see always God. Just like if you have got a child whom you very much love, you'll see the child always in front of you, always. It is due to love. Similarly, you have to develop love for Kṛṣṇa and you'll see Him. He can be seen by love, not by your method. He is not under any method, but He is under love. So you have to develop love and then you'll see. (aside:) There is no flavor. Is it any flavor?

Martin: It's very faint.

Devotee: Mexican incense.

Room Conversation -- June 29, 1972, San Diego:

Prabhupāda: There are so many married families. So many married families. He is married family, he is married family, he is married family. They have got children, wife, everything. There is no problem. The children are getting nice education, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, dancing, eating nicely. Just now we are purchasing one house in front of our temple, seventy thousand dollars for providing gṛhasthas. Husband, wife, children will live there. So we have no problem. The gṛhasthas are there, the brahmacārīs are there, sannyāsīs are there—everyone is there. We maintain the Vedic culture, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, or brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. The eight orders of social structure we maintain. But they're all engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. That is the distinction. Everyone is twenty-four hours engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service.

Guest (2): What are the kṣatriyas of this order supposed to doing now?

Room Conversation -- July 5, 1972, London:

Prabhupāda: No, it is just in front of Bon Mahārāja's college.

Devotee: It's in Rāman Reti.

Prabhupāda: (laughter) Best place in Vṛndāvana. All (indistinct). And we have got potential. There are so many buildings, they are not being properly utilized. If we want to, you can purchase the whole area.

Devotee: How is the Gauḍīya...

Prabhupāda: Now you have got enough place in Vṛndāvana, in Navadvīpa, in Bombay. There will be no difficulty if you go by thousands to India. You can live very comfortable. So you can go, purchase, you can go and come back. We saw that foreigners, they visit, and gradually, there will be unity between the so-called Hindu, Muslim, all Kṛṣṇa's servant. This is the idea behind Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We don't believe in this skin disease. (end)

Morning Walks -- October 1-3, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Many thousands of chickens are being killed.

Jayatīrtha: Oh, millions of chickens.

Devotee (1): Millions every day.

Jayatīrtha: Just like this MacDonald's hamburger stands, they have a sign in front of their hamburger stands—they have also several thousand hamburger stands—the sign says, "Over ten billion hamburgers served." Their company has served ten billion hamburgers. (break) (Outside walking:)

Prabhupāda: America?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. He told me he was very pleased to see Śrīla Prabhupāda, and he said he will start chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. He said he will go to Laguna Beach temple and he said he will try out chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 25, 1973, Jakarta:

Prabhupāda: Just like the Pacific Ocean at any moment it can overflow at any place. But it does not do so. You walk... I was walking in Los Angeles just about three feet away from the sea. So I was explaining to my students, "Now, I am just three feet away from the sea and the sea is so vast. At any second it can overflood us. But why you are confident the sea will not come here?" Because we know, by God's order, although the sea, the ocean, is so big, it cannot violate the order of God. That you are big, that's all right. But you cannot come beyond this line. So these things are being managed. And there is no God? What a nonsense. If things are... Just like when you pass through a house, sometimes if you don't see—the house is not properly taken care of, or there is no light in front of the house, there are so many garbages, we immediately say, "Oh, there is no man in this house." And as soon as you see house is very nicely kept, there is light and the garden is kept, we understand there is a man. So this is common sense. If things are going on, everything is going on so nicely, how you can say there is no management, there is no brain? How you can say? What is this nonsense? How you can say there is no God?

Morning Walk -- May 1, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Under whose order it is working? Śāstra says, "By the order of Kṛṣṇa." Yasya ājñayā. "Under whose order he is working," govindam ādi-puruṣam, "I worship that Govinda." The śāstra is giving you information, that he is working under, he must be working under... Otherwise why it is so accurate, so punctual, unless there is some direction? Unless there is order of God, why this big ocean is so obedient, it is not coming here? Why don't you study like this? Where is the difficulty? There must be some direction that "You Pacific Ocean, you are so big, that's all right, but you cannot come here. Remain up to this." Otherwise why you are feeling so safety although in the front of a big ocean. If the ocean likes, within a second, he can finish us immediately. But she will not do, because there is order. Similarly sun. Sun is also moving under the order. You have to study like that. If you do not see God, see how God's order is being carried out. Then you will understand. Just like we do not see President Nixon. But you know there is direction, and the government is going is going on under his direction.

Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor -- August 13, 1973, Paris:

Professor: I saw that in the streets of New York.

Yogeśvara: Oh yes, you've seen the saṅkīrtana party?

Professor: No, I have not seen the temple, but I've seen, last time I was in New York, I saw, just in front of the library on the Fifth Avenue...

Yogeśvara: He has seen our saṅkīrtana.

Haṁsadūta: He saw us on the Forty-second Street.

Professor: Not on Forty-second Street.

Haṁsadūta: By the library.

Professor: Yes.

Guru-gaurāṅga: Forty-second and Fifth Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Forty-second Street...

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: No, that is literally. Because gopīs were just dancing according to Kṛṣṇa's desire. They are so devotees that whatever Kṛṣṇa desires, they are prepared to do.

David Lawrence: See, without being too irreverent, it seems a strange thing to get young ladies to undress in front of you.

Prabhupāda: Therefore I say...

David Lawrence: I'm probably misunderstanding it you see.

Prabhupāda: ...it will be difficult for ordinary persons. Still, as far as possible, I have tried to explain for understanding of the ordinary people. By general reading, it is not difficult.

David Lawrence:. This is the sort of problem one comes across, whether in fact... You see, having grown up in what was really a very liberal, critical attitude...

Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor, Dr. Suneson -- September 5, 1973, Stockholm:

Paramahaṁsa: ...say, praise, or your appreciation of our movement or Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in front of the audience.

Professor: I, I, I don't know exactly... I hope I can come, but I can't say for sure.

Paramahaṁsa: I understand. I understand. Well, you're kindly invited. That goes without saying.

Professor: Yes, yes, I'll try to come. That will be at the University.

Paramahaṁsa: Yes, tomorrow evening at seven-thirty.

Professor: No, I'll try to come. Do you think, this one, do you think I could...?

Prabhupāda: Yes, this is also available.

Professor: ...for myself, or...?

Paramahaṁsa: Unfortunately, I think we have to order these.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Morning Walk -- December 4, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. God is distributing His mercy from within and from without. Without mercy is the spiritual master. Without means externally, just in front of you.

Devotee: Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpā...

Prabhupāda: Ahhh!

Devotee: ...bhakta-gaṇe.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) Impersonalist boys... (break) ...who are... (break) Eh?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: What is life cannot be proved by experiments. So it is not necessary to talk about life now.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Grapes are sour. (devotees laugh) The jackal's philosophy. The jackal came in the orchard of grapes and tried to take some grapes. He jumped many times, and when he failed, "Oh, there is no necessity, it is sour." It is jackal's philosophy. Sly fox.

Morning Walk -- December 18, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Belonging to the Ford family?

Devotee: Not the people that make the cars, no. Different Ford.

Prajāpati: If we were there and we could make one speech in front of that assembled Congress and Senate, the main government of the United States, what were the main points we would stress?

Prabhupāda: Yes. The main point is that "In God we trust," on this slogan... So the same point that, "What do you mean by God and what do you mean by trust? That you do not know." So you have to explain what is God and what is trust, thoroughly, from our books. Our point of propaganda should be that "It is very good that you write this slogan, 'In God we trust,' but nobody has got clear conception of God; neither they do not know what is the meaning of trust. Under the circumstances, so you have to learn it scientifically. And our propaganda is like that, to teach actually what is God and what is trust. And you important men of the state, you come forward, try to understand, and open schools, colleges.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. There are many planets invisible. So there is a Rahu planet which comes in front of the moon planet, and that is called eclipse. So there is a planet rotating. I think they are going to that Rahu planet, not to the moon planet.

Haṁsadūta: How can they make such a mistake?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Haṁsadūta: How is it that they made such a big mistake?

Prabhupāda: Their whole life is mistake. (laughter) They cannot do anything but mistake. Why you are so much confident about that? Their whole life is simply mistake.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda, they see a little fire, and they see that it has heat and light, and so they see a huge thing having heat and light, and so they conclude that that's also a fire. So if that's their deductive method, then if they see that whenever there's intelligence, there must be a person, then why don't they conclude that behind the universe, there's so many wonderful things, that there must also be a person?

Morning Walk -- April 6, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So after my festival of Ratha-yatra the other boys in the Mullicks, they began. My ratha was, I think, this much high, very nicely made.

Acyutānanda: When we had Ratha-yatra in Calcutta we stopped in front of your house and they had that ratha decorated in the doorway. And we turned the ratha towards the house, and they came out and did ārāti, the Mullick family, Śyāmasundara.

Prabhupāda: So there was good festival, saṅkīrtana, and procession. We all little children enjoyed. And eight days, my mother was cooking different foodstuff for Jagannātha. Then return ratha-yatra. Ratha-yatra means...

Yaśomatīnandana: Fifteen days festival.

Prabhupāda: No, eight days. From dvitīya to daśamī. Ratha-yatra...

Morning Walk -- April 10, 1974, Bombay:

Śrīdhara: "...ceremony takes place after the birth of the child. The family members take baths, cleanse themselves, and decorate themselves with ornaments and garlands. Then they come before the child and the astrologer to hear the future life of the child. Nanda Mahārāja and other members of the family dressed and sat down in front of the birthplace. All the brāhmaṇas who were assembled there on this occasion chanted auspicious mantras." (break)

Prabhupāda: (break) ...Mahārāja. This is kṣatriya king. Who has got so many cows to distribute? They cannot maintain even one cow. He is handed it over to the slaughterhouse. This is our position.

Śrīdhara: "He not only gave cows in charity, but hills of grain, decorated with golden bordered garments and many ornaments."

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

Prabhupāda: When you are God conscious...

O'Grady: Without being pantheistic, you mean?

Prabhupāda: Just Like if you come in front of the sunlight, the sun consciousness is there, which includes your personal conscious... you also see. In the darkness you cannot see. At night you do not see even your hands and legs. But if you come in front of the sun, or light, then you see the sun and see yourself. So without the sunlight, without God consciousness, self consciousness is incomplete. But God consciousness makes self consciousness very clear.

O'Grady: Well, a lot of young people that we meet in our teaching profession, we don't try to teach them any kind of didactic salvation. But we do try to direct them towards an awareness of what is best and what is most good for them and what is most spiritually nourishing in the world about them, in so far as the system allows us. And I speak of my friend Michael and we here. And the one condition or emotional state—because very frequently the students are not mature enough to be in a spiritual condition, they are in a emotional condition rather than a spiritual one—what we are faced with, is the basic question of "Who am I?" "What is it all about?" "Why am I here?" "Why should I be here"?

Room Conversation with Mr. C. Hennis of the International Labor Organization of the U.N. -- May 31, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: No, it is already there. It is already there. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyam (BG 18.44). Those who are interested in producing means of living, or foodstuff, in the society, say, the mercantile, the agriculturist, they should give protection to the cows. That is very essential, that milk is so important thing. If you get... Now, we have, in your western country, we have introduced such ideas in West Virginia. We have started one community project where we are keeping cows also. The cows are giving more milk than in other farm. They are so jubilant. Even up to eighty pounds milk, they are giving, because they know that "These people will not kill me." They know it. They are very happy. We don't kill their calves. In other farms, as soon as the calf is there, in front of the mother they are killed. You see? So if these things go on without any brain, without any intelligence, you may make hundreds of organization, the society will never be happy. This is our verdict.

Room Conversation with Monsieur Roost, Hatha-yogi -- May 31, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: (coughing) Water, little.

M. Roost: To make the problem very, very clear and by fight with arm, sword, is to see what people is able to do in front of the death. Master is coming with an assam, (a sword) and he makes like he will kill the disciple, and disciple must learn to be calm in front of the death. It is so... We can say it's a practice, a psychological practice to...

Prabhupāda: No, why the master will kill the disciple? What is this practice?

M. Roost: No, he don't kill, but he makes like he will kill, but he don't kill. Of course not.

Prabhupāda: That is another...

Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Professor La Combe: Because my last visit there was in 1970 and it was the worst moment. But I hear that it is improving.

Prabhupāda: Improving, yes. Just near that Asiatic Society we held our Hare Kṛṣṇa Festival in front of, I think, the museum.

Professor La Combe: Yes, on Chowringhee.

Prabhupāda: Yes, and it was very successful. Daily, thirty thousand people were assembling.

Professor La Combe: This year?

Prabhupāda: No. (break in tape) ...God conscious. So the leaders suppressing. This is the present position. The leaders are more or less communists, and they are suppressing their natural outflow and that is the position now.

Morning Walk -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: (laughing) How they have made easy life, that see. They are... There is a story that a boy went for examination. So when he came back, his father asked, "My dear boy, how you have written your question paper?" "Yes, very nice." "How?" "No, those questions which were very difficult, I could not answer. And the easier questions, what is to write? I know everything. (laughter) Easier questions, there is no need of writing. I know everything." Both ways he has not written anything. So these rascals, both ways they will not follow anything. And still, they will credit... Not only Christians, everywhere these people want to banish God. Simply we are canvassing "God, God, God." Otherwise nobody cares. Say about 1945, so in front of my house there was an old man. So as neighbor, we had very good talks always. So as soon as I say, "Bhagavān," he will be angry. "God." So one day he said, "Why you always say Bhagavān, God?" Just see, an old man and still he is such a rascal. He did not like. That is called demonism. Even the father of Prahlāda Mahārāja, that five years old boy, he was doing nothing harm, simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa—he became angry: "No, no." So big enemy that he wanted to kill him. This is demoniac. Some bad smell?

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: They are preparing their road for going to hell. What they will understand about spiritual matters? Nature will not excuse. That is not possible. (break) That is sufficient for your being killed. Yes, sir. Wherefrom these laws come unless there is God's laws? Everyone will be killed. They are thinking that "We are not going to slaughterhouse to kill. They kill; we purchase." The Buddhist says like that. Everyone says like that. Therefore, according to Vedic scripture, those animal-eaters, they should kill them personally so that they can see how much suffering is there, so he will stop. But now the things are being done in the slaughterhouse. They do not see. They purchase very nicely packed. They do not know. And they are becoming implicated. Therefore, according to Vedic injunction, if you want to eat meat, you kill yourself in your front, in the front of goddess Kālī. So that the animal will get next life as human being. He is promoted immediately. He hasn't got to go to the evolutionary process. He gets immediately. And it is given right that "After you get human form of (life), you can kill this person." You see? This is the process of bali-dāna, mantra and everything. (Break) ...regulation that... that is not cow. An insignificant animal, goat... (end)

Room Conversation with Bishop Kelly -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Bishop Kelly: Well, of course, the difficulty as you rightly point out many times there, that man in the present day civilization, he is so often mesmerized, he is captivated by what he sees in front of him... It is the modern garden of Eden that he sees. He sees many delectable apple trees, so to speak, and he feels in the new vaunted value given to personalism and the expression of self, and the self-seeking, that he reaches out towards those things, and I'm afraid that in many cases the difficulty is to convince him that he is only getting poor substitutes until he has tasted and eaten and tried to digest and finds, you know, that there is no satisfaction, there is no wholesome food to be found there.

Prabhupāda: That is also stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by... That is also statement of Prahlāda Mahārāja, this boy devotee. He says, na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum: (SB 7.5.31) "These foolish people, they do not know, what is their actual self-interest." So he says, "They do not know the actual self-interest is approaching God. That is real self-interest. But they do not know it." Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā (SB 7.5.31). "They have made their plan wrongly to become happy in this material world." Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (SB 7.5.31).

Morning Walk at Marine del Rey -- July 13, 1974, Los Angeles:

Bali Mardana: They should have a protest meeting in front of the Parliament building, with signs.

Prabhupāda: Protest meeting must be there. How to organize? At least, a protest meeting should be done in such a way that the whole world may know that the British Government stopped the yearly Ratha-yatra ceremony of the Hindus. That should be organized. What can be done? You are not very strong GBC's. There must be vehement protest meeting.

Bali Mardana: They can protest in front of Downing Street, in front of the Prime Minister's residence.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with the GBC -- March 27, 1975, Mayapur:

Haṁsadūta: No, that's not a fact. Where is the advantage?

Jayatīrtha: Anyway, let me finish... That's why I don't want to discuss this in front of Prabhupāda, because of argument. Anyway, the next point is that, as far as Karandhara's salary is concerned...

Prabhupāda: No, the Spiritual Sky was contemplated that our gṛhastha bhaktas may be employed...

Haṁsadūta: Yeah, but they're not employed anymore.

Jayatīrtha: That's not true.

Prabhupāda: And the bare necessities should be paid.

Jayatīrtha: Right. Well, generally we have about seventeen, eighteen gṛhasthas employed in Los Angeles, and they get much smaller salary, and they, for the most part, they're giving everything over subsistence to the temple as donation. They take out minimum subsistence...

Prabhupāda: But Karandhara is not giving anything.

Evening Discussion -- May 6, 1975, Perth:

Paramahaṁsa: In this connection you have quoted Lord Brahmā, saying that... Lord Brahmā says that the great material scientists, they may be able to calculate the atomic structure of the material world and the planetary system, but even if Kṛṣṇa is standing right in front of them, they can't calculate His potencies.

Prabhupāda: Vivekananda liked to say, he challenged Ramakrishna, "Can you show me God?" He said, "Yes," and he showed him God and then he became disciple.

Paramahaṁsa: They're saying that this Bal Yogeshwara, people ask him "Can you show what is God," and he says, "Oh, yes," then he shows them.

Prabhupāda: Where he is now, this Bal Yogeshwara?

Paramahaṁsa: I don't know where he is. There was one article about him recently, but they didn't say where he was. I think he was rejected. Maybe he is trying to start his own movement. But as far as his Divine Light Mission, he is kicked out.

Prabhupāda: Kicked out by whom? By mother.

Morning Walk -- May 9, 1975, Perth:

Amogha: So actually many people like to see the chanting now. When we go downtown with a big party on Friday and Saturday nights, when they have late-night shopping and movies, many people clap, and they dance a little bit. Sometimes mocking, but also one can see they're affected. And usually if we stop in front of a cinema and chant there, fifty or more people they just stop and they stare, and they can't think of anything else. They just watch and watch and watch. They seem to be fascinated by the sound of Kṛṣṇa's name.

Prabhupāda: There is a natural tendency to hear. Artificially they stopped. Nitya siddha kṛṣṇa bhakti. Appeals to the heart immediately. Unless he is too much sinful it will appeal immediately.

Amogha: In Sydney there was one teacher in a school, a private school, for rich men's sons, very, very wealthy. And he is the head of general studies and the school chaplain. A Christian. One boy from the school became a devotee, although he still went to the school. And the discussion came up in class about what the Hare Kṛṣṇaś believe. So he invited us to come.

Prabhupāda: The clergyman?

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

Madhudviṣa: Well, it depends. It depends on what the lady was doing.

Guest 1: It depends if he pushed her in front of a car.

Madhudviṣa: That lady may have been...

Guest 1: If she wanted to cross the road?

Madhudviṣa: No, no. That lady may have been walking home with a cartload, with booze, to kill herself. So when she got knocked over and all her liquor fell out on the ground and you didn't help her up with it, then maybe it was good that you left her there.

Guest 1: No, I think that particular situation where he helped the lady across the road...

Prabhupāda: No, particular situation is different. But generally if we do not know what is the ultimate goal, then we misguide. That is the point. So either in society or politics or economics or religion, philosophy, culture—everyone is engaged in some department. But if that leader does not know what is the ultimate goal of life, how he will lead? That is given direction in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in two verses. One verse is: idaṁ hi puṁsas tapasaḥ śrutasya vā (SB 1.5.22). Find out this verse. It is in the First Canto. Who can...? Where is? First of all find out this verse.

Morning Walk -- May 23, 1975, Melbourne:

Australian devotee 2: ...Śrīla Prabhupāda, they can teach these people how to educate the youngsters. Is this right?

Prabhupāda: Therefore so many books. (break)

Hari-śauri: ...the verse that you have put in the front of the first volume of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, kṛṣṇe sva-dhāmopagate, that the Bhāgavatam can give light even to people in ignorance.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kalau naṣṭa-dṛśām. Naṣṭa-dṛśām: "They have lost their sight, what is the progress of life. They have lost their sight." (devotees offer obeisances as Prabhupāda enters car) (end)

Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu:

Ambarīṣa: You can't avoid seeing it.

Siddha-svarūpa: No, they are always telling you.

Devotee: In front of their shop it's always there.

Siddha-svarūpa: "We have killed this many." They are also trying to connect themselves with patriotism and religion. They have, at all of their restaurants, they have the American flag flying along with the McDonald's flag. They have their own flag, McDonald's. So they fly alongside the American flag. (break)

Ambarīṣa: I heard once that human beings in the modes of goodness were coming from the cow family or from the cows mostly? If there are so many cows being killed, why aren't there more people in the modes of goodness?

Prabhupāda: Hmm? Now, after the... There are three sources: cow, monkey, and lion. This is the last animal life.

Siddha-svarūpa: Okay, now park here.

Prabhupāda: Why not go a little...

Morning Walk -- June 22, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: That is.

Dharmādhyakṣa: Worship of demigods. They also say, "Putting any god in front of the one Supreme God." Worshiping matter. (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In Berkeley there's this one demon, so-called Christian, and every day he comes out and he stands behind us with a big sign that "You will not achieve anything by your mantras and meditation." And he calls us idol worshipers. And now he writing these big signs, "Don't chant Hare Kṛṣṇa with them." He chanting... He's writing, "Hare Kṛṣṇa," and he's telling... (laughter)

Prabhupāda: You charge, "Why you are chanting?" (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (break) ...day he stands behind us for two hours to three hours of kīrtana. He's becoming one of our men now. (laughter) (break)

Revatīnandana: ...used to do that but he never came around. He used to be out there every day in Los Angeles for years.

Morning Walk -- June 22, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Revatīnandana: One day in London a woman came to try to drag her daughter from the temple. She came into the temple room with her shoes on, and one devotee... She would not remove her shoes, so the devotee pulled off her shoes and she fell down. It was almost like she bowed down. She became so angry, she was shouting in front of the Deities, and I dragged her out and had to wrestle her out of the temple, literally wrestling with her to get her out the door. And she came back in with a policeman, and she pretended to have a fainting spell because we had beaten her so badly, she said. And so she said, "Get me some water," but we didn't have any water, so we have her some milk prasādam, and she drank it without thinking what it was. And so in so many ways—she saw the Deities, she had prasādam, and then she left again, and all this, completely out of anger, but her anger was so strong that she got a lot of association because of it. She was so energetic, I think she could become a devotee some day.

Morning Walk -- June 22, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Brahmānanda: Sometimes the moon comes in front of the sun.

Prabhupāda: What is the front?

Brahmānanda: Between the sun and the earth the moon comes.

Jagannātha-suta: Lunar eclipse.

Prabhupāda: No, no. Eclipse is different, not according to their theory. That planet is called Rahu.

Devotees: Ah yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's not the moon. That's Rahu.

Revatīnandana: So Rahu covers sometimes the sun and sometimes the moon?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with Mr. & Mrs. Wax, Writer and Editing Manager of Playboy Magazine -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Mrs. Wax: Never walked out. (laughter)

Jayatīrtha: The parents of one devotee came to the temple in Los Angeles and were picketing with signs in front of the building.

Mrs. Wax: Oh, really.

Jayatīrtha: They were accusing us of kidnapping their daughter. When I spoke with them I said, "Before your daughter came to our movement she was taking drugs and having sex life even though she was at the early age and so many nonsense things. But now she's not doing those things." They said, "I'd rather she be doing those things than joining your movement." So some people they can't appreciate.

Mrs. Wax: I understand Mr. Patrick kidnapped Lakṣmī-nārāyaṇa. Is he all right?

Jayatīrtha: Lakṣmī-nārāyaṇa, yes he escaped.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Room Conversation with Mr. & Mrs. Wax, Writer and Editing Manager of Playboy Magazine -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Brahmānanda: All over America.

Jayatīrtha: They tear off the neckbeads and tear up your pictures in front of the devotees, try to force them to eat meat, so many things.

Devotee: Blasphemy.

Jayatīrtha: Recently we got a conviction against him. He got six months in prison. In Los Angeles we got to convict him for this kind of activity. So he is being stopped.

Guest (Indian man): Also he can't come to Canada any more, can't cross the border.

Jayatīrtha: Oh, he's been barred.

Guest: He is barred from coming to Canada.

Brahmānanda: He was put into the Denver county jail also when we were in Denver. He's out on bail now.

Mrs. Wax: Not only kidnapping devotees, Kṛṣṇa devotees, but all religious movements. He can't stand them.

Prabhupāda: And the parents are taking help from him.

Morning Walk -- August 6, 1975, Detroit:

Ādi-keśava: In Boston when we bought the big temple there, they said... They asked us, "We saw you dancing and chanting in the street right in front of there the other day, and now we see you going into a house on the richest block in the whole city."

Prabhupāda: So why don't you say, "We have pleased Kṛṣṇa, He has sent money"? That is our business. Why should we work like an ass and dog? We simply please Kṛṣṇa, and He sends money. That's all. You see practically. Yesterday I went to see the house. I had no money, but I purchased. Twenty-four lakhs. Wherefrom the money comes? That is intelligence, that you please one person and you get everything. And you rascal, you please so many others; still, you are not happy. That is intelligence. You are going to water the trees and leaves and the twigs and..., but we put water in the root. It reaches everywhere. Yathā taror mūla-niṣecaṇena tṛpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopasakhaḥ (SB 4.31.14). If I pour water on the root, all the branches will be pleased and they will give me fruits, flowers, everything. They do not know this science.

Harikeśa: They can't even see the root.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is their blindness. Andhā.

Morning Walk -- October 28, 1975, Nairobi:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Many times, many times. When I was in Rādhā-Dāmodara temple I was eating, and they will open the door and take my food. And who is going to struggle with him? Whole bunch of capatis. Even raw dough taken away.

Harikeśa: We were once walking in the road right in front of Rādhā-Dāmodara temple holding some prasādam, and the monkey came from a tree and knocked down...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Harikeśa: ...the devotee and stole the prasādam and ran away.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jñāna: I heard they take the devotees' tape recorders and trade them for bananas in the market. I heard.

Prabhupāda: They are intelligent.

Morning Walk -- November 1, 1975, Nairobi:

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Indian woman (7): (Hindi) (break)

Prabhupāda: ...say that if he remain forward even in the front of danger, that is his first credit.

Indian woman (7): (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: It was a great service. That was a great service, recognized. (break)

Devotee (8): It's a type of poem.

Prabhupāda: Anyway, so this, like sword. The tree is just like sword, and the sinful man is pushed through that tree.

Jñāna: Prabhupāda, I've heard that even in hell the people think they are enjoying. Is that right?

Prabhupāda: Where you have heard? (laughter)

Morning Walk -- November 17, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Girirāja: Well, that's probably Bilvamaṅgala's wife before they moved.

Prabhupāda: Oh. (break) ...modern, that the earth comes in front of the moon or the sun and then there is eclipse. Do they not?

Dr. Patel: They, all the scientists also say the same thing, sir. When it comes in the straight line the eclipse...

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. I am saying, repeating their word. But why, then, eclipse takes place irregularly?

Dr. Patel: This is a question of simple harmonic motions according to the scientists here who explain it. The simple harmonic motion principle is that several motions are, I mean, going, gathered at a time. Then all of them come together. Then you see that thing occurs.

Prabhupāda: No...

Morning Walk -- November 17, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, no. They give that the earth comes in front of the sun or the moon, therefore the shadow.

Dr. Patel: Earth comes in front of the sun. Then it becomes sun eclipse.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So, but why, if the movement is regular, then the earth come regularly.

Dr. Patel: But there are several movements also. The movement of the earth, sun, and moon.

Prabhupāda: That means again escaping.

Dr. Patel: All harmonic motions...

Devotee (5): Many shooting stars...

Dr. Patel: Things should be thought scientifically.

Prabhupāda: What is the scientifically if you cannot say how many movements are there?

Morning Walk -- November 20, 1975, Bombay:

Indian man (2): (Hindi) (break)

Dr. Patel: ...mother died. Their relatives never came to lift her up. So himself dragged the dead body out and burned her just in front of his house.

Prabhupāda: A brāhmaṇa says because he is saṅkara, varṇa-saṅkara. Yes.

Dr. Patel: Who?

Prabhupāda: Śaṅkarācārya.

Dr. Patel: Was he? No, no. Both were brāhmaṇas.

Prabhupāda: He was born when his mother was widow, and she became pregnant by the priest. So she was going to kill herself. Then her father restrained her, that "Don't do it. Your... In the womb there is a big personality." So the brāhmaṇa community did not like her.

Yaśomatīnandana: Oh, I see.

Prabhupāda: Therefore he is called Śaṅkarācārya.

Morning Walk -- November 21, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, we cannot cooperate. But if there is meeting we can prove them that they are fools. (laughter) That's all. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. Jaya.

Indian devotee: That is required. Actually, that is the potency of your teaching is so powerful. I have seen that every time someone makes this poor excuses in front of people... Just like yesterday I was in the train, and one guy was saying exactly the same thing, that "I believe in the Bhagavad-gītā in my own way." So I opened up Bhagavad-gītā and I showed to four people, "Look here, just see what Kṛṣṇa is saying here." And all of them agreed. They said, "Yes, yes. You are right and he is wrong." All of them. He said that "I believe in Bhagavad-gītā in my own way." I said, "Are you the controller of the sun and the moon and the stars and the planets?"

Morning Walk -- December 7, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Big, big monkey. (laughter) "Big, big monkey, big, big belly, Ceylon jumping, melancholy."

Harikesa: And we walk in and put an egg in front of him.

Prabhupāda: You do not know this? Baro baro bandolel, baro baro peṭ laṅkā dingate, matakare het.(?) (laughter) This translation was done by one big professor, of President's College, Professor Rowe. He was a big professor in the President's College. So these professors required to learn Bengali, so he translated, "Big, big monkey, big, big belly, Ceylon jumping melancholy." (break)

Alanath: There's some countries in Europe where they have absolute laws against selling books in the street. In these countries do we have to make something secret to sell your books?

Prabhupāda: Secret? Why?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 19, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: I have seen in New York. Many tenants, they leave their whole possession and go away. I have seen it. And for the landlord it becomes a problem, how to cleanse this. I have seen it. All table, chairs, bedding, scattered in this way, and they went away. I have seen it.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In Colorado I convinced this one boy to join us. He was a musician, the leader of a band. So I only talked to him for a few minutes but he became convinced very quickly. So I asked him, "You're a musician. You have some instruments?" because these instruments are very valuable. He said, "Yes, I have some." I said, "Well, you should give them to Kṛṣṇa because everything that you give, then you'll get benefit. Even if sinfully you got these things previously, now everything will be turned to a positive, good use." He said, "Well, the thing is, my band, we're doing a program in the mountains, and they may be leaving with all the instruments." So I said, "Let's go." So I took him in the bus, and I took the bus to his house, and there was the people in his band, and they were about to come out of the house. They were already packed up. So I pulled the bus in front of the driveway and blocked them. Then I told him, "You bring all your members of your band into the bus."

Morning Walk -- February 3, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: No, you can bathe śālagrāma.

Sudāmā: Bathe śālagrāma.

Prabhupāda: Bathe the śālagrāma-śilā.

Sudāmā: Place Him... Place the Deity there and śālagrāma in front of Them and then bathe śālagrāma.

Prabhupāda: (break) ...made so gigantic and so opulent. And we make Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura on the gate? How foolish they are. The doorkeeper?

Jayapatākā: I challenged them that "Why you are putting Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura on the gateway?" So they say, "Well, this was in memory because when..." They say when Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was a magistrate that he used to go there and he used to watch the local people do their..., do some sports and horse-racing and things, and so as memory they are making there.

Morning Walk -- February 6, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Actually it is white, that's all right, but if you see one fixed thing, a color, practical experience is the color does not change if it is fixed up.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Supposing you are... Supposing there's a white light, and you are situated here, and in front of you is a screen with many colors, and you are moving different ways along this screen. Sometimes you are looking through a green, sometimes... in that way although the light is fixed up, because you are moving behind different colors...

Prabhupāda: So where is that screen?

Jagadīśa: That's called the spectrum.

Prabhupāda: Spectrum. So where is that? That is also finished?

Hṛdayānanda: The atmosphere is.

Dayānanda: The atmosphere is the screen.

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Jaya.

Rādhāvallabha: (break) They keep putting their pictures there. I keep taking them off.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Rādhāvallabha: ISKCON Amsterdam keeps putting their pictures up in front of the books. I keep taking them down. They keep putting them up again.

Prabhupāda: Hm? Why you are taking?

Rādhāvallabha: They can't see the books.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Rādhāvallabha: It's not possible to see the books with the pictures up. They can put them down at the end where there is some room. (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (break) Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma.

Talk at Radha-Govinda Mandir -- March 24, 1976, Calcutta:

Prabhupāda: Citra Das. No. No, Kashinath Mullik's father? So gradually this whole quarters belonged to this Mullik family. Still in front of this temple there is Gangara(?) building. That is also the property of Rādhā-Govinda. And as I have shown in coming, our house was just behind the present Govinda Bhavana. And we had the opportunity of seeing this Rādhā-Govinda from very childhood. When I was three or four years old I used to visit this Rādhā-Govinda daily.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Jaya Rādhā-Govinda! Jaya Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: And that is the inspiration of my devotional life. Then I asked my father that "Give me Rādhā-Govinda Deity; I shall worship." So my father was also Vaiṣṇava. He gave me small Rādhā-Govinda Deity. I was worshiping in my house. Whatever I was eating, I was offering, and I was following the ceremonies of this Rādhā-Govinda with my small Deity. That Deity is still existing. I have given to my sister. So then I introduced Ratha-yātrā.

Morning Walk -- April 8, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Why?

Madhudviṣa: There was no security around him. He just was standing there on the sidewalk out in front of one hotel after this luncheon.

Prabhupāda: Mm.

Madhudviṣa: And she just walked up to him and "Oh, this is a flower for you," pinned it on his lapel.

Prabhupāda: Mm. So he has no personal guard?

Madhudviṣa: He had some guard, but it was not very strict security, there was no... It's not like in America, where the president is very..., his life is very jeopardized all the time. (pause)

Prabhupāda: It is not their fault. The Western civilization is like that. Now you have to make a thorough change. The persons from the ecclesiastical order, they are also so polluted, they are sanctioning homosex, abortion. What can be done for the common man?

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

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Taking money.

Rādhāvallabha: They have one argument, that during solar eclipse, the moon appears to pass in front of the sun, between the sun and the earth.

Hṛdayānanda: Prabhupāda explains that. It is the Rāhu planet.

Rādhāvallabha: But they are viewing the moon. The moon is right there, they can see it. And all of a sudden it goes in front of the sun.

Prabhupāda: Huh? What is that? Moon is there, sun is there. Now which first? That is the question.

Rādhāvallabha: They will say that they've observed in their telescopes...,

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

Prabhupāda: That I do not know. First of all, answer this. Yes. Yes. They say the moon planet first. I say, no, sun planet. First of all...

Trivikrama:(?) But they can see the moon comes in front of the sun.

Candanācārya: This is some other planet.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Candanācārya: That must be some other planet.

Prabhupāda: Which one?

Candanācārya: This one that comes in front of the sun.

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, all over the world, they accept Sunday first.

Morning Walk -- June 5, 1976, Los Angeles:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...sobered up. These books are a real slap. They make you awake very quickly. We always.... I used to lecture from that to the new men to bring them out of their māyā quickly. People don't like to think of death. They try to forget it. It's so fearful to them. And that brings all of the horrors of death very graphically in front of them. You describe how the soul is kept.... The body is burning like a big fire, and the soul is trying to get out, but all of the holes are blocked. Just like a man in a house that's burning and he can't get out. Fearful condition.

Rāmeśvara: (break) ...numbers of men, big temples, it is all due to our books, to your books. So I was thinking that if one day this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement becomes so powerful that even it is giving instruction to governments, that will also be because of...

Prabhupāda: That is very easy. If you increase the number of your devotees, government hears you(?). That is not very difficult thing. Simply you have to increase our supporters; then the government is there.

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...

Rāmeśvara: Prabhupāda says out of sixty volumes, twenty are already printed, and...

Prabhupāda: Twenty already printed, and two or three ready for being printed.

Morning Walk -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: Oh. Tomorrow. We are leaving also tomorrow?

Satsvarūpa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: (break) ...of the garden, they are not clean. They should be clean. Just like in front of our, this temple, the footpath is very clean.

Satsvarūpa: There's stones in the garden, washed.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Grass, water it, cleanse. Mandira-mārjanādau. That is also bhajana.

Viśvakarmā: (break) Do you think you'll be able to see the temple either today or tomorrow and give me some ideas on how to utilize the building?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.

Viśvakarmā: I can arrange it with Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa? When you're available?

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

Prabhupāda: He became an elephant.

Rādhāvallabha: Yes, Gajendra. So the artists want to know if it is okay to show him outside in front of a cottage like that.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Very good.

Rādhāvallabha: This is a very rough sketch. This is when the demigods and demons were churning the ocean of milk with Vāsuki. So they want to make sure... So Lord Śiva will be standing outside the milk ocean. He won't be in the ocean. He'll be on the shore of the ocean, drinking the poison.

Prabhupāda: Why?

Rādhāvallabha: Sorry, it's not a very good picture. Here is the ocean. So Lord Śiva is on the shore, he's not in the ocean. He is on the shore, drinking the poison. They want to know if that's okay.

Prabhupāda: Welcome.

Room Conversation -- July 4, 1976, Washington D.C.:

Rūpānuga: We were thinking that just like when you were in Moscow, some pictures were taken that were used for Back to Godhead, very good propaganda. We were thinking maybe when we go on this tour that in front of the White House maybe we could take a picture and use it in Back to Godhead in an article like that. It might be good propaganda.

Prabhupāda: Yes, you can do.

Rūpānuga: So we were thinking we would go there to the White House on the first part, then to Capitol, second part, then around to Lincoln Memorial, then Monument for fireworks ceremony.

Prabhupāda: I will go to the fireworks.

Evening Darsana -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore it is authorized. When you take anything from the statute, book, that is law. And if you manufacture something, that is not law. Just like, I'll give you one very good example. Just like in your front of your house there is U.S. letterbox. So another man, he sees that the box is in front of his house, "Why shall I go so far? Let me manufacture a box here." So he's posting. After six months, he'll see all these letters are lying there. (laughter) And one who is posting that authorized box, his letter is going to thousands and thousands of miles away. So you cannot imitate. If you imitate U.S. letterbox in front of your house and post your letters, it will never go, it will remain there.

Guest (4): Your Grace? I don't understand how it can be all right for a person to lie, even if he is a shopkeeper or a diplomat.

Prabhupāda: But you cannot do business without speaking lies; you have to do it. What can be done?

Room Conversation with Scientists -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Rūpānuga: Yes, he comes on this side of the altar and blows the conchshell. Is that all right? It should be behind the curtain or in front of the curtain?

Prabhupāda: Behind the curtain?

Rūpānuga: He should blow it behind.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, what he does is, the pūjārī comes out while the other devotees are there, behind the curtain, and then blows the conchshell.

Prabhupāda: To make the sound audible? But there is no harm.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Inside. But this disturbs something to the whole scene, because he has to remove the chain and cross it and then...

Prabhupāda: No, no. Why? There is no need. No need of crossing the chain.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But it can be done inside then?

Prabhupāda: Why not? It can be done.

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Rāmeśvara: I don't know. Generally the bookstores, they don't take our books because our distributors are distributing on the street in front of the bookstore, they say it is competition. But the college bookstores, they all take our books. We just got a report from Satsvarūpa Mahārāja that this past month of June in America they sold seventy-five standing orders. And that is remarkable, because all the schools are closed in June, and still they sold them books. They closed for the summer, and still they are ordering your books.

Prabhupāda: In this street I think there is one library office...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, it's Fifty..., it's either Fifty-fifth or Fifty-third, and it's called, it's one of main sub-branches. Yes, it's a very well known one.

Prabhupāda: Free rent?

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Rāmeśvara: Yes, good idea.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Pull over if you can on the right side, then Prabhupāda can see the building from across the street. (break) Yes, at least for the next five or ten years.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Then you'll have to change again.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then we want the Empire State Building. (laughter) We have a nice banner which flies in front of the building also. I think you should park on the right side, Jayānanda, unless... All right, park on the left. See the banner?

Prabhupāda: Yes. (end)

Morning Walk -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Ādi-keśava: We wanted to know which one. Which one would you like to ride on?

Hari-śauri: Balarāma's cart goes in front?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, Jagannātha's was going in front in San Francisco, then Subhadrā's.

Hari-śauri:...told us Balarāma's is at the front,

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, really.

Hari-śauri: And then Subhadrā's then Jagannātha at the back. That's the way they do it in Purī.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What's that cart, Jayānanda?

Jayānanda: This is a little Ratha-yātrā cart from last year. We use it as an advertisement for the Ratha-yātrā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, it's a good advertisement. Quite an improvement from last year to this year.

Prabhupāda: The whole go-down is rented.

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

Prabhupāda: Another meditation.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, this is another one. Deichman experiment. Then they have one about Zen Buddhism, it shows Zen meditation. Here's a Zen master sitting in front of a basketball. I don't know why.

Ādi-keśava: They have a meditation that they call Zen basketball.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Ādi-keśava: We went to one seminar once when they were teaching Zen basketball.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Here's another one, "Hypnotism or Meditation." A hypnotist discusses a question that many face. Because they accuse that we're hypnotizing, so they're trying to distinguish in this article what is hypnotism, what is meditation. Then here's another one, "The Art of Awareness." This woman is supposed to be a great transcendental artist. You can see some of her famous pictures. Here's a picture called "Congregations of Souls." And here's another picture called "Temple Stones." Then this is the Gansfield effect. (laughter) Ping-pong balls.

Morning Walk -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: No, practically.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because some of our men here who have helped to make this wall, the front wall of the temple that we're making in front of the Deities, they are artists and they have the ability to cast large, they've done this previously,

Prabhupāda: Let them do some small first of all.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And show you.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All right. They say that they can do it very easily.

Rāmeśvara: What will it look like?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, we can do anything.

Prabhupāda: Three, three foot, four foot (indistinct).

Room Conversation -- July 17, 1976, New York:

Indian man: When I was a young boy, eight years old, I went to Śrīnāthajī with my father, mother, and there I had to take the brahma-samāna,(?) which is the oath, taking of the oath in front of the Mahārāja and the priest of the Śrīnāthajī temple. And is that equal to initiation, or is that just a ceremony by itself?

Prabhupāda: No, initiation is another ceremony.

Indian man: What are the qualifications required for a person in working life like me, household like me, like myself, to get initiated?

Prabhupāda: No, you can be initiated. There is no... Because you are following the rules and regulations. That's it. We initiate a person who follows the rules and regulations.

Indian man: I am following all your rules and regulations.

Prabhupāda: Then you can be initiated.

Arrival Speech -- July 28, 1976, Paris:

Bhagavān: ...devotees came, and we carried Jagannātha around the land. It was very blazing hot, and we stopped at one point to read Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the part where Lord Caitanya is going in front of the Ratha cart. And thunder came and lightning, and it started to rain. (break) (lecture:)

Prabhupāda: Kṣetra-jñākhya tathā para. Avidyā karma saṅgaḥ anya tṛtiya śaktir iśyate. Viṣṇu-śakti, Viṣṇu, the supreme controller, all-pervading Godhead, Viṣṇu, He and His potency, viṣṇu-śakti parā proktaḥ, both of them are transcendental. (someone translates into French throughout) So the Viṣṇu-śakti potency is one. Another reflection of the Viṣṇu-śakti is karma-saṅga anya, that is, you have to work. That is called tṛtiya, the third, karma-saṅga, where you have to work. The idea is that original Viṣṇu potency, you haven't got to work. Everything is supplied automatically. And the avidyā karma-saṅga anya, and the other reflection or perverted reflection, is this material world. Just like you have recited this verse, cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29).

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

Prabhupāda: There's no question of starvation for want of money. Anywhere sit down and do something palatable, and people will purchase. So your livelihood will go on. Pakorā, kacuri, jalebi, anything. You make some palatable, people are fond of eating some palatable things. That is their hobby. In Allahabad, there was a brāhmaṇa. I had my business, and he was neighborhood, he was living. So in the morning, the husband and wife would go to take bath in the Ganges. They would very nicely take bath, and while coming they will purchase some ingredients and then come home. The husband will perform pūjā, etc., and the wife will prepare many nice preparations-baḍā, pakori, puskar (?), this, that. Then he'll take his meals, rest awhile, and in the evening he will sit down, he was sitting just in front of my shop, about four or five o'clock. All the preparations his wife had made whole day, and the small shop. And the university students will come up to night, ten o'clock, he'll finish. Nothing will remain.

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

Prabhupāda: Rascal, working, it is already being done, so what is your credit? We are working. You may work also, but what is your credit? Suppose if you become successful. What is your credit? It is already being done by the chicken. Why should you take the laureate title, Dr. such-and-such. Give it to the chicken. What they can do? Can they produce a seed of this, just like one seed produce so many things? Bījāhaṁ sarva-bhūtānām. Where is your credit? (break) Mines, as soon as it is national, nobody will take. In 1950, twenty-five years, twenty-six years ago, I was in Madras, Gauḍīya Maṭha, and there is a bus stop in front of the temple. So every bus was making some sound, huuuuuung, but when nothing was properly oiled. Machine is going to hell when it is managed by the government. As soon as there is government management, nobody wants. So long there is proprietorship, the proprietor takes care that "My machine will go bad if I don't take care." But who cares for that? That showing that so much oil purchased, who is going to check it? People have become dishonest.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. They have got all plans and direction, and altitude, latitude, which direction is going on(?) in front of the pilot. So everything is there. In what position the plane is there, how high it is and how low it will be, where it is, everything. On that direction they can fly. Otherwise, what they can see with the eyes? At most ten miles, and it is running at six hundred miles? What ten miles will do them? So śāstra-cakṣuṣā. Authoritative literature should be the eyes, not these blunt eyes. What is the value of these eyes? Here is authority: nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. You should go to the school, colleges, and from Bhagavad-gītā give them rascal knowledge. The whole world is in darkness, and these rascals are guiding them. You have tasted the baḍā? Nim baḍā?

Pradyumna: This morning.

Prabhupāda: Huh? Did you like it?

Room Conversation -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: It is, actually, it was our house. Just three, four house after.

Hari-śauri: Rādhā-Govinda were the only Deities in the neighborhood?

Prabhupāda: No, only Deity, yes. And Rādhā-Govinda has big property. In front of the Deity house there is a very big building.

Hari-śauri: Just across the road? That one?

Prabhupāda: Yes, just opposite. That is His building. Very good income. Besides that, He has many other lands. They have got very good income.

Hari-śauri: They're very well looked after.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They're one of the oldest aristocratic families of Calcutta, Mulliks. The whole, from Howrah Bridge up to that street, all belongs to their property. Very rich men.

Morning Walk -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: ...from this light.

Hari-śauri: The switch is just in front of Prabhupāda's door.

Prabhupāda: There was a seat? Where is gone, that seat?

Hari-śauri: They probably took it in because of the rain. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...rainy season these leaves should have been very green, but it is not green. Huh?

Saurabha: It's also the sea wind that kills a lot of trees. Not so much here, but if one goes down to the sea, all trees they have no leaves. There's some type of salt or something in the air that destroys plants. Here it's all right, but close to the sea it's all... That must affect them. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...saptāha, it is not authorized.

Room Conversation with Endowments Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh -- August 22, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: It is very difficult. Very difficult. You see. Big, big scholars, big, big politicians, they are supposed to be preaching Bhagavad-gītā. They take their photograph in front of Bhagavad-gītā, but without Kṛṣṇa. They'll never talk of Kṛṣṇa any time. Banish Kṛṣṇa. Even Gandhi has said, "My imagination of Kṛṣṇa is different." Perhaps you have read in his Gītā-Press edition.(?) Kṛṣṇa is speaking... Radhakrishnan said when Kṛṣṇa says man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ, he says "It is not to the Kṛṣṇa person." Kṛṣṇa says man-manā bhava mad bhaktaḥ, and he says it is not to the Kṛṣṇa person. Just see how misleading it is. And if a person like Dr. Radhakrishnan, Gandhi, misleads, then who will hear me? What I am? There is one big person in Bombay, he said that he has set aside ten lakhs of rupees for Gītā-pracāra. But when I proposed Gītā-pracāra means Kṛṣṇa pracāra, so he said, "No, I want Gītā without Kṛṣṇa." Everyone...

Commissioner: Then who is the Gītā-pracāra? Gītā-pracāra.

Room Conversation -- September 9, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes, nine hours on the bus. And I took a little chipped rice, and whatever I had with me. So I got down from the ship about one o'clock. Then I had to wait for the bus till five o'clock. Then at five o'clock the bus started. About two o'clock, three o'clock in the morning, I went to Pennsylvania, and just in front of the bus Gopal was standing with his car, that... What is called? Van Car ?

Harikeśa: Stationwagon.

Prabhupāda: Stationwagon. So he took my luggage, and from there thirty miles off, the Butler County. So I went there. Then at night he took my (indistinct). The next day, he had no many rooms in his apartment, he arranged for my stay in the YMCA nearby them.

Hari-śauri: You never actually stayed with him then.

Room Conversation -- September 30, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: One boy, he was coming to me. In that hundred, about one hundred seventy-first street, all my things were stolen. My tape recorder, typewriter. Fortunately they did not touch my manuscript that I was typing, typing my books. So some money was stolen. Then one boy, he was coming to me, he told me, "Please come to my place." A loft. Bowery Street. I did not know the Bowery Street was not a good quarter. All bums and drunks. When I see there, one Jewish friend, he had electrical shop, he told me, "Swamiji, you have gone to Bowery Street? Oh, it is not your place." I did not know that it is full of drunkards. But they were lying down in front of my door, but they were very respectful. When I'd go, these drunkards comes and they respectfully give me ways. And they would lie down on urine and something like that, on water. Then the boy who took me there... He was Murray. His last title was Murray. And he was taking LSD. So since I went there he did not go to work. Otherwise, he was working and getting daily twenty-five dollars, in some dock he was working.

Room Conversation -- October 31, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: First of all friendship, and that established them. And then they began to create enmity. Hindus against Muslim, Muslim... They wanted to stay. When they forgot this idea that if they wanted to stay for the benefit of the people, nobody could drive them away. But their policy was for the benefit of the English people. Therefore they failed. Lord Curzon, he says a statement that, "If you want to stay in India, rule India for the benefit of Indian people. You can keep control over India. They are fond of kings, so one member of the royal family can become king here and they'll earn respect and honor (from) these Indian people. But rule for their benefit. Then British Empire will stay." Very good advice, but his advice was not taken. You have seen Lord Curzon's statue near the, in front of the Victoria Memorial Hall?

Haṁsadūta: Hm.

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Oh, hm. (break) ...just in front of our house, attached to our house. That means the house belonged to one of our relatives and her son, stepson, he sold the whole house to a Marwari without the knowledge of this, my, she was in relation grandmother. So when the house was sold in those days, about say about 100 years ago, not 100 years, about 90 years. In Mahatma Gandhi road, most important, that Mullik's house you have seen? That was one of the Mullik's house, for 12,000 rupees. One bighā of land and grand building. So it was unknown to the stepmother, the stepson sold it. Then she appealed to the high-court that, "I belong to a respectable family and this my spoiled stepson has sold the house without my knowledge, then where shall I go?" The high-court considered that, "The drunkard son has sold at a cheap price, and she's belongs to a respectable family, where she'll go?" And the high-court order was, "The half of the house shall be used by this lady. During her lifetime, you cannot take possession," the Marwari who purchased.

Morning Walk -- November 17, 1976, Vrndavana:

Caraṇāravindam: Something to do with Rādhā-Rāmaṇa Mandira in Vṛndāvana. I think one is Puruṣottama. Anyway, the first night we did a very nice program, kīrtana, and everyone was joining in dancing with us. We were dancing and they were all joining. And the second night they cancelled our program. We were trying to sell books in the front of the pandal and they were giving us trouble for that.

Prabhupāda: Oh, they are envious.

Caraṇāravindam: They are envious. Very envious.

Prabhupāda: Why you joined them?

Caraṇāravindam: I did not know. I thought it would be a good opportunity. They promised me they would give us a good program and good accommodation. When we got there, they did not like that we were very popular. (tape breaks up throughout) Then Mr. Bishop (indistinct) brother, T.C. (break) ...tour, he is a good man. He came with... (break) He is one of the most respected men in Bareilly. He forced them to put the program back again. So we did again the same evening. The people there love our program. They are all supposed... They have pictures of Caitanya Mahāprabhu on the stage and they're supposed to be following Him but they sing all these sahajiyā sort of songs and they sit down and it's all gṛhasthas. There's no, There's no real...

Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Punjabi.

Indian man: Hindu brāhmaṇa. But there the brāhmaṇas also eat meat. Kashmiri brāhmaṇas eat meat. So he was about 25, 24 years old at that time. When he reached Bhavnagar, he could not get a house. There were so many "To Let's" but wherever he went he was told no. So after all he got fed up, he inquired what is the reason. He said "You are a non-Katyawari, non-Saurastri. You are from the frontier, so you must be eating meat and eggs. So we'll not give you our house." So ultimately, one of his business friends, because he was the manager of the office after a month or so, one of the business friends he said, "All right, I'll get you a house if you give a written undertaking that you'll not eat meat." So he said, "Okay, thank you. I'll write undertaking that I'll not eat meat." One year passed. But when he used to come back from office, in front of a particular shop he used to see... In those days even a crowd of twenty persons in front of a shop was a big thing. So he would see ten, fifteen people and eat what is stop in a shop and take a small tiffin box, drop off a small tiffin box and walk away. So one day he also stopped there and he asked the shopwala for this tiffin box. "What you are giving in there?" "That," he said, "is not for you." "What is this?" He said "It's not for you. You'll not get it."

Morning Walk -- December 29, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Yes. They have been. They have finished now.

Hari-śauri: There's no carpet to sit down in front of... Oh, here it is.

Dr. Patel: No, If you sit down, these swellings will become less on the feet.

Prabhupāda: No, a little movement.

Dr. Patel: We got your examined. You haven't got much diabetes now. But unfortunately kidneys are...

Prabhupāda: I'm not eating all.

Dr. Patel: No, after kidneys are little affected. It was lack of albumen and perhaps you'll be all right by this shapauri.(?) You know this shapauri. Shapauri's growing in our own garden here. That (indistinct) will be coming on first day at six o'clock.

Prabhupāda: What is that satavari,(?) you see. If it is medicine, we can have.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 3, 1977, Bombay:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: The corner land to the left? Left of Gurukula? Or...

Prabhupāda: No Gurukula... When we go to the chuni,(?) in front of...

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Ha, ha, ha. In that direction.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is agricultural land.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Right opposite...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: Where that gate is.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Right before the gate. That is... I was under the impression that belonged to some Christian man.

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. That is first. After crossing the road, the corner.

Hari-śauri: Where the parikrama path is.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: That is available for...?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- January 7, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Our family was taking two kilos and a half milk daily. Two annas per kilo. Ghee was selling, first-class ghee, in Calcutta... Just in front of our house there was a grocer shop. We were purchasing in that tin, but if some required, I would go immediately.

Dr. Patel: Fourteen rupees I think it was. Fourteen rupees is twenty kilos.

Prabhupāda: Less than that. Ten seers.

Dr. Patel: That is twenty kilos.

Trivikrama: Cow ghee?

Prabhupāda: No, buffalo's... Cow ghee we were taking with rice. But it was not available in quantity.

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Because after some years I went to USA, in 1966, er '65. 1958 or '59, I went there. For four, five years naturally. And after going to USA there was no chance.

Gargamuni: In front of the temple, though, is so many beggars. You cannot walk peacefully. In front of the temple so many beggars, and no one is giving...

Prabhupāda: In 1920 I came to Bhuvaneśvara. So I was thronged with so many beggars. So at that time I promised, "If I bring at least"—in those days—"more than one thousand rupees to distribute to the beggars, then I shall come. I'll not come." (laughs) I thought like that. Means whatever money I had I will distribute. Still, they are thronging, the beggars. So much beggars have now come. Beggars. Very poor country.

Gargamuni: We could have very big prasādam distribution there, in Purī. Right on the beach we could set up a whole prasāda distribution.

Prabhupāda: If you arrange for prasāda distribution, you become very popular.

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Just see the policy.

Gargamuni: But they, I think annihilated all of the... Anyone who had any education... Just like that boy. He was translating your books? They shot him in front of firing squad. One boy. I printed one book there in Bengali, I think, three thousand copies: The Peace Formula and Who is Crazy, I think. It was about fifteen pages. They gave me some donation. Even the Gopāla... His name was Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Brahmacārī. He also gave me from his pocket. And I printed... We had it translated in Bengali, but then...

Prabhupāda: He was killed?

Gargamuni: Yes, for translating. He was shot in... Not him but this other brahmacārī, young boy, very nice boy. His name was Karuṇāmayī.

Rāmeśvara: For translating it they did it.

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Gargamuni: Yes. Very long flight. So I was number 15,000 on the list. Everybody camped out at the airport. Because of the war everyone wanted to leave. So there was a line of 15,000 people. They gave me my number. I was 15,000. So we waited at the airport. I said, "I can't wait here," because the bombs were dropping and the tanks were coming and the troops were coming and... I said, "I gotta get out of here." So I spoke with the commander, and I played him a tape of kīrtana. I had a tape, and they... All the officers, they were Mussulmen from Pakistan, and they started clapping: "Oh, kīrtana." You know. So I asked him, "Could you allow me to go on board before all the others? There's no use in us staying here. Who knows what will happen? We are foreigners." We were dressed as sādhus also. So he allowed us to go on in front of everyone. So we managed to leave.

Prabhupāda: What was the condition at that time, general, during the war?

Gargamuni: Where? In Dacca?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- January 28, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: No, that land I shall use, if I take it, for another gate, in and out. That is my idea.

Gargamuni: Oh, I see

Gurukṛpā: We are putting a road in front of this new building. There's a road in front of the new building.

Prabhupāda: Why?

Gurukṛpā: There must be some walkway.

Gargamuni: Just like where the wall is? There's one little road for walking. So similarly, in front of the long, this new building, will be one road for walking.

Prabhupāda: Then you have to break these houses.

Gurukṛpā: No, it goes around.

Evening Darsana -- February 25, 1977, Mayapura:

Devotee (1): They keep iron gates in front of the doors. When you knock on the doors, and they open the doors, and they just become very afraid and they slam the door right in your face.

Prabhupāda: That is in America also.

Devotee (1): Hong Kong. But here even more so.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The dogs.

Prabhupāda: Hong Kong?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, in America.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: To scare people

Devotee (2): Attack. Attack dogs.

Room Conversation With Artists and About BTG -- February 25, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Whatever is there... They have pointed out some defect, so in the presence of them you discuss. Then I shall give my decision.

Hari-śauri: That should be done in front of Your Divine Grace?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Rāmeśvara: They should all come?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. So, Satsvarūpa, Tamāla Kṛṣṇa, you have said?

Rāmeśvara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: He's also. He has also pointed out... So altogether. Pros and cons.

Rāmeśvara: One point that was felt, not the specific defect, but a very general point, is that this magazine is being distributed by the hundreds of thousands to very ordinary people who go shopping in stores, housewives and so on.

Interview with Mr. Koshi (Asst. Editor of The Current Weekly) -- April 5, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: They do not know what is the risk of mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. After all, you have to die. After death, if you become a tree in front of my house, who can check it? It is law of nature. You cannot check it. Then what will be your position? Stand up for thousands of years in one... So risky. They do not understand. They do not discuss these things in the Bhagavad-gītā, and still they are scholars of Bhagavad-gītā. They write comment on the Bhagavad-gītā, whimsically. This is going on. There are so many things to be learned from Bhagavad-gītā. They do not understand. And they are writing comment on Bhagavad-gītā, misleading others. It is clear. Dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre samavetā (BG 1.1). It is clear. They will comment, they will make some bogus meaning.

Mr. Koshi: Interpretation.

Room Conversation -- April 13, 1977, Bombay:

Girirāja: He was a famous singer, and his father was also... So now he has become something like a guru. And he has a temple in Poona called the Hare Krishna Temple. And the main Deity is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Of course, he's bogus, more or less, but he... One thing is he was just praising you for hours almost, in front of all of his disciples.

Prabhupāda: How old is he? As old as I am?

Girirāja: He is seventy-five. He was saying that... He's written some sentimental books about Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's flute and this and that. But anyway, he was just saying that he couldn't imagine how you could do so much. You know, he said, unless you were empowered by God, you could not have done this. He said with great difficulty he had published one book in America, and you'd published so many books, sales, and making devotees, and establishing centers. He wasn't feeling well, but he said he would really like to come here and offer...

Prabhupāda: Bombay?

Discussions -- May 20-22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (Hindi)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda will come and he'll sit in front of Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma every day for a couple of hours, and he's calling some of his, all the devotees here. They'll be here. No... Perfect medicine.

Prabhupāda: No, he's calling all the GBC, all the GBC.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All the GBC men, we're calling them.

Prabhupāda: So there is no hurry. Go on with your respective duty. That's all. All right. Now you can...

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. (break)

Srila Prabhupada Vigil -- May 28-29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That's all. That is... That will be glorious. They are very mean-minded. All mean-minded class, they are assembled together. That's all.

Jayapatākā: You are like the sun, Śrīla Prabhupāda. In front of you the darkness cannot remain. Everything is visible as it is. Your words remove all doubt.

Prabhupāda: Even... He's... Even a simple Vaiṣṇava, he also advocated, "Why you are keeping?"

Jayapatākā: Yeah. Kṛṣṇa dāsa Bābājī.

Prabhupāda: Although he's considered their man, but his business is Vaiṣṇava. He told the real truth. That is Vaiṣṇava. "Why you are holding? You cannot do anything."

Jayapatākā: Even they give it, they're not giving anything.

Prabhupāda: No.

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

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes people say... There's couple people that even went to your place on 26 Second Avenue. They say, "So this movement has come a long way in ten years, from Second Avenue." They remember you sitting there. On Sundays in New York they have the Love Feast. So the average, they get about seven hundred people come. Six to eight hundred is an average crowd on a Sunday. And they serve the... They have simultaneously activities on the five different floors, four different floors. In the basement they have the restaurant. That is where the Life Members take prasāda. And very nicely dressed people, they go down there and they sit at the tables. And we have a group of devotees chanting bhajana, and they take prasādam and we serve them right at the table. Then, on the next floor, there is all the time kīrtana and ārati, throughout the Love Feast. It starts from five in the evening till nine. So they have continuously kīrtana and ārati. And also the store. We have a very good store. It's a very big sized store, and it has all kinds of devotional paraphernalias, all instruments, mūrtis, things to make people take part in Kṛṣṇa consciousness in their homes. And another very popular thing we have, just in front of the temple room we have a big table where we sell flowers and oils that people can purchase to offer to the Deities. And even mukuṭas for the people...

Room Conversation -- July 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yaśodāmāyi was always thinking of Him, "Here is my son. How to give protection? How to give Him food? How to..." She did not that He is God, but she knew. She knew. Gopī knows. He did not know what is Kṛṣṇa. They know "There is God." That's all. That God is in front of them, that they did not know. They thought, "Our beloved child, beloved friend, dearmost friend..." That's all, absorbed in Kṛṣṇa. That is the..., their purpose.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They weren't distracted by Kṛṣṇa's opulences as God.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They weren't distracted by Kṛṣṇa being God. They were simply seeing Kṛṣṇa. (break)

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

Prabhupāda: Just see. This is our triumph.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "...for the most attractive booth. And a plaque was awarded to our representative, Śeṣa dāsa." He was called up in front of all of the gathering of librarians. They awarded him a plaque. "He had the booth arranged with a portable movie projector showing one of the ISKCON films. Incense was burning, Indian sweets were distributed, and all your books were displayed as well as tapes. So it was nice that such a big organization recognized Kṛṣṇa was all-attractive."

Prabhupāda: That's the kind of propaganda.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Four hundred booths competed, four hundred publishers.

Prabhupāda: And we became first.

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, actually there's a group, a musical group. And as part of their performance... They keep a pen of hogs in front of them. And as part of the performance they all take off their clothes and jump in and play with the hogs. And all the people applaud, and some of them jump in also. Very popular group.

Prabhupāda: The hippies are nothing but a group of madmen, that's all. A madman, they..., means publicly sex, that's all. This Allen Ginsberg's movement is that, homosex, public sex. Ginsberg was very proud that he had introduced homosex. He was telling me.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He was telling you?

Prabhupāda: When he first came to me he was very proud: "I have introduced homosex." He thought very brilliant work it was. And another man, what is that? He's put into jail.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Timothy Leary.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: First point is that all those cooks aren't even needed.

Prabhupāda: Dismiss. Whoever will remain, they'll eat in front of us. Nobody will be allowed to take food.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That was the problem. There were three different kitchens, so they were all eating one place or the other, and you couldn't watch them. Now everything...

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: In one kitchen is very good, Gurukula.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually there were four kitchens. Including the snack bar, there were four kitchens.

Prabhupāda: One pakki, one kachi. Expert.

Room Conversation -- October 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes he likes to go out to collect for Them. Is that all right?

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So starting tomorrow, we will go in front of Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma for a half hour every day?

Prabhupāda: Or less time.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Or less time. As you feel comfortable.

Prabhupāda: Let us try.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Maybe Baladeva will give you the strength to sit for a half hour there. (break) ...comfortable in here? This new bed is all right? It is a jumbo size, very big size bed.

Prabhupāda: Where is Viśvambhara?

Room Conversation -- October 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: What is that bell?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That bell? It didn't ring four times earlier. (discusses with Upendra) Yeah, there is a bell in the front of the temple which people sometimes ring as they enter. Do you want to hear the purport to this verse? Yes? Purport. There are two sides of the transcendental manifestations of the Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. For the pure devotees He is the constant companion, as in the case of His becoming one of the family members of the Yadu dynasty, or His becoming the friend of Arjuna, or His becoming the associate neighbor of the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, as the son of Nanda-Yaśodā, the friend of Sudāmā, Śrīdāmā and Madhumaṅgala, or the lover of the damsels of Vrajabhūmi, etc. That is part of His personal features. And by His impersonal feature He expands the rays of the brahmajyoti, which is limitless and all-pervasive. Part of this all-pervasive brahmajyoti, which is compared to the sun rays, is covered by the darkness of the mahat-tattva, and this insignificant part is known as the material world. In this material world there are innumerable universes like the one we can experience, and in each of them there are hundreds of thousands of planets like the one we are inhabiting.

Room Conversation -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Floodwater entered our new house? No.

Bhavānanda: No. The lawn, the park in front of the temple, there was water. There were fish there, swimming.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Where? In that big maidan?

Bhavānanda: No. That was filled with fish. The water was not from the river as much as it was... It was from rainwater.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Is this more water than that seven or eight...

Bhavānanda: No. Then it came over the road.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, right. It didn't come over the road.

Bhavānanda: It didn't enter into the temple. It entered up to the temple stairs.

Prabhupāda: Which water?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Which water? The rainwater, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Rāmeśvara: It lasts for one month, the supply. (laughter) This is another picture of the Janmāṣṭamī in Los Angeles. The whole street is closed by the city, and we build a stage in front of the temple, and Sudāmā's men were performing Rāmāyaṇa and Kṛṣṇa-līlā, and there were rugs in the street for people to sit on and under the pandal on the grass and they were watching. About five thousand people came.

Hari-śauri: Many Indians in the picture also.

Rāmeśvara: This is the Deities clothes, on Janmāṣṭamī.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrī-Śrī-Rukmiṇī-Dvārakādhīśa. Los Angeles Mandir. Rukmiṇī-Dvārakādhīśa.

Rāmeśvara: These were the nightclothes offered on Janmāṣṭamī to the Deities.

Prabhupāda: See that it does not touch...

Room Conversation -- October 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: He said it is not.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: One thing is that Bhakti-caru should have... When we gave these ingredients... It's just like when you mentioned about the ring. When you give the stone, in front of you it must be made. So with such valuable ingredients... In any case we can find out if it is genuine or not. But if it is not genuine, then the man... Bhakti-caru?

Devotee: This kavirāja mentioned that you get it tested in front of you. I want to make here. He said that "I don't want to make here." This kavirāja said makara-dhvaja.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: My only interest in Vanamali is if by some chance he has done some trick, that I want to find out. Because then I want back the ingredients or the money. That's my only interest. Because we've given him very valuable ingredients.

Room Conversation -- October 24, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, that can be done. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda, here is Smara-hari, and he's going to be leaving today for South India. We've given him the instructions, and he's the proper person. He knows that chief priest in Śrī Raṅgam temple, and first thing is he's going to find out what are the ingredients of this makara-dhvaja. Then he's going to purchase the ingredients himself, and then he's going to go to the kavirāja and give it to the Rāmānuja kavirāja and have him make it right in front of him. He will supply the ingredients so that he knows the ingredients are bona fide, first class. And he'll see that they make it in front of him.

Prabhupāda: According to the direction of the Rāmānuja...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, he'll have the Rāmānuja man make it. First he'll ask, "What are the ingredients?" Then he'll go and get those ingredients, and he'll bring it to the Rāmānuja man. And the Rāmānuja man will make it.

Prabhupāda: The man must be sincere and experienced.

Room Conversation -- October 24, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This Tulasī dāsa has sent different things. Here's a news clipping from the Leader. It's a newspaper. It says, "Hare Kṛṣṇa festivity. All roads lead to the Hare Kṛṣṇa farm āśrama at Cato Ridge last Sunday where thousands of well-wishers and devotees celebrated Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī. His Holiness Śrīmān Jayatīrtha dāsa Prabhu came out especially from the United States for the occasion and to officiate at the opening of the new temple of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness." One picture shows the devotees... It says, "Members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and followers of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda lead the crowd in the singing of Hare Kṛṣṇa kīrtana. In the foreground is the havana-kuṇḍa on which the sacrificial prayer was performed prior to the opening of the new temple. A view of the large gathering...," it shows thousands of people, Śrīla Prabhupāda, "...at the Hare Kṛṣṇa farm āśrama at Cato Ridge at the weekend when the new temple was officially opened. The function was held in conjunction with Lord Kṛṣṇa's birth anniversary celebrations." Here's the temple. "Head of the group, Tulasī dāsa, seen with other devotees in front of their new temple."

Room Conversation -- October 26, 1977, Vrndavana:

Pañca-draviḍa: If the devotees are staying away, it is not because you are poisonous. It is because we are poisonous. I know due to my sinful habits I am so poisonous that when I'm in your presence I feel so contaminated and unworthy of being in the sight of such a person as yourself that I feel that I should be in some corner hiding like some... I am so impure that I cannot stand in front of you. It is not because I feel that you are poisonous, Śrīla Prabhupāda. I am poisonous.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: That's very true, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Pañca-draviḍa: You are a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa, and your whole life is simply dedicated to the propagation of Kṛṣṇa's teachings all over the world, whereas my whole life is simply dedicated to sense gratification. So therefore, when I come in front of a person such as yourself, I feel ashamed.

Bhavānanda: It is true, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that if you lose your desire to remain here, then no medicine can be effective. But if you desire to remain, then the medicine can become effective.

Prabhupāda: No, in this way to remain—not desirable. Every day, crisis.

Room Conversation -- November 7, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: They are already silent. (laughter)

Citsukhānanda: Before I came to India, Prabhupāda, one Saturday night in Los Angeles about three weeks ago we had a big mahā-saṅkīrtana, big chanting party, because President Carter was coming to Los Angeles. So we got there about thirty minutes before he was coming, and we went with about 125 devotees from New Dvārakā. We went chanting through the street right in front of his hotel room. So he came in from the back way, but it was known to us that he heard the chanting, and all the main people from the government saw this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa. We were chanting very nicely, dancing in the street. And everyone was protesting something different, but we were just happy and joyful, and everyone could see that this is positive, this is best thing. Everyone is griping about something, but we are all happy. We have no complaints. So we think that President Carter heard this kīrtana party.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He's supposed to come to India this month.

Room Conversation -- November 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Lokanātha: Yes, we came back from saṅkīrtana. We had kīrtana in the town, Vṛndāvana, Loi Bazaar and Banke Bihārī temple, that route. We had a bullock cart filled in with Gurukula school children, and there was a big group of devotees chanting and dancing in front of the cart, and there was also van, making announcement, inviting people for our afternoon program of ārati, kīrtana, and prasādam distribution.

Prabhupāda: So go.

Lokanātha: No, we already did. I announced, and we also had kīrtana. It was very ecstatic. Thirty, forty devotees came, and it was very, very nice. Wherever we stopped, people gathered around us in a big number, enjoyed kīrtana and heard announcements about the program. So I just came back.

Prabhupāda: And prasādam?

Lokanātha: Prasādam will be served out to the guests after this ārati. Twelve o'clock is ārati. And then we'll be serving out prasādam to the guests first. When everyone is served, we'll eat the remnants.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The devotees aren't going to take the feast also?

Lokanātha: Yes, remnants of the Lord.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, the remnants of the Deities.

Prabhupāda: What is the time now?