Kitchen (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"kitchen" |"kitchens"

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Talk After Lecture (on Brahma-samhita, verse 29) -- November 8, 1968, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Oh, you have been? It is nice place?

Dayānanda: I think it has a fireplace in there.

Prabhupāda: That doesn't matter. (laughter) So you take that house. It is very nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How many rooms does it have?

Dayānanda: I think it has two bedrooms and a bathroom and a big living room and a dining room which you can make into a temple. And a kitchen too. There's a back yard with a tree in it.

Prabhupāda: Very nice. (Devotees discuss for some seconds.)

Prabhupāda: And on the broad road. A very important place. Very nice. You immediately take that house. Yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (kīrtana) (end)

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 12, 1969, New York:

Prabhupāda: Vinode.

Gargamuni: Yes. And he helps us cook prasādam. And he cooks in the kitchen and oh, he says, "Kṛṣṇa is my only life." He says he was so happy to find a temple here.

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Gargamuni: He mentioned to me that he's married and that he has a child in India. And he asked, "Oh, were you married?" And I said, "No. My wife was taken away." And he came over and he hugged me. "Oh," he said, "you are so lucky." (laughter) He hugged me. He said, "Oh, you are so lucky."

Room Conversation -- April 27, 1969, Boston:

Prabhupāda: All right, Kṛṣṇa will solve the problems. But the space is not lesser than this temple?

Satsvarūpa: Well, the temple room is maybe even smaller than the present temple room, but then there's another large, very large room for a kitchen and then another space where bunks could be for sleeping. So there's actually three different spaces. The thing is that the main temple hall is not too large.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. That doesn't matter. You have to take saṅkīrtana party. That should be the main business. And the..., at least sixteen men, four mṛdaṅgas. Practice mṛdaṅga like that. And twelve cymbals, and one chanting and all others responding. Oh, it will be tremendous. Take some flags, "ISKCON, Hare Kṛṣṇa" flag, red flag. You see? And conchshell, mṛdaṅga.

Room Conversation -- April 27, 1969, Boston:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Oh, you will get devotees. You just begin saṅkīrtana party. You will get many devotees. You see? In Los Angeles, daily the devotees, new devotees, are coming, and very nice boys. We are now searching after a bigger place. Yes. That temple is not sufficient, although that is the biggest center of all our centers. It has got compound. It has got parking place. It has got two big halls, one big room, one big kitchen, and three, four, five small rooms. It is a nice situation, you see, just suitable for our purpose. And they decorate Jagannātha very nicely. Yes. So increase centers. And what is the name of the boy who went to... Nanda-rūpa(?). He wants to open Toronto?

Haṁsadūta: In Toronto. Toronto is a very good place to go.

Prabhupāda: So let him open.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. And His mother would prepare nice dishes and offer to Viṣṇu and think, "Oh, this nice prasādam, I could offer my son Caitanya Mahāprabhu..., Nimāi, but He is..." She would cry. She was crying, "Oh, the boy is no longer here." Then, after some time, she would see the whole finished, whole prasādam. "What happened? I did not offer to Viṣṇu Deity? I simply brought the empty pot? Maybe." Then again she goes to the kitchen, and... "There is also nothing." Then again cook. "Perhaps I have forgotten to cook even, thinking of Caitanya." Then again she'll offer. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu sent news by some men that "Inform mother that one day she was thinking like that. So I went there. I ate everything, and she saw everything empty. She'll remember. Then again she cooked. And mother will feel happy. "Oh, then Nimāi came and did it. Oh, it is very nice." So this scene is very pathetic.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation Vaisnava Calendar Description -- March 11, 1972, Vrndavana:

"No, he does not go anywhere, ask anybody, but he stands on the outside of the kitchen of Jagannātha and whatever rice is thrown from the outlet of that kitchen, while the kitchen is washed, he collects some rice and eats those rice."

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu became very much glad to hear that Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī is practicing so much renunciation. So all of a sudden one day He went to his room, "Raghunātha, I did not see you for so many days." Then He found out in a pot those collected rice were kept and immediately He took it, "Oh, you have got very nice rice here," and began to eat. Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī immediately caught His hand, "Sir, it is not fit for Your eating." "Oh! I am eating so nice, you say it is not fit for Me?" That means Lord Caitanya encouraged him that "Don't be discouraged that this is bad, or this is not fit. I can eat, anyone can eat." In this way Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī was elevated to a very exalted position amongst the Gosvāmīs. He is known as Dāsa Gosvāmī because he belonged to the kāyastha family and other Gosvāmīs, they belonged to brāhmaṇa families.

Room Conversation -- April 20, 1972, Tokyo:

Prabhupāda: So do it.

Śyāmasundara: You've got a nice little house down here. Just perfect. Your own house. Little kitchen is there too.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Śyāmasundara: Isn't there a kitchen down there?

Prabhupāda: There is no kitchen?

Śyāmasundara: A little one.

Prabhupāda: All right. We can prepare kicharī. So Karandhara Prabhu, how do you like this place?

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

Prabhupāda: These rascals are... I'm doubtful whether they are going to moon planet or some hell planet. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā (SB 5.18.12). Our only formula is anyone who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, he has no good qualities—we reject him, whatever he may be. He is rejected from the list of good men, immediately. He may be president or he may be this or that, it doesn't matter. Because he is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is a third-class man, that's all. This is our certification. (break) These skyscraper buildings are no better than caves. They live here, and here is bathroom, here is kitchen, here is (indistinct) room, three inches. (laughter) Is that advanced civilization? Advanced civilization means every man must have sufficient space to live. Why do you create this path? People will recreate, they will feel repressed, so space is required for refreshment. So what is this civilization? Three inches room.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: Working?

Guest (5): Yes.

Prabhupāda: What work?

Guest (5): Well I'm on the (indistinct) hotel. In the kitchen working, all the washing, and the supervising and things. You know, my father's seen you. He's come and seen you a bit.

Prabhupāda: Ma-phal?

Guest (5): My father.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Room Conversation with Lord Brockway -- July 23, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: ...what kind of service we shall give? I can give you one example. I have seen it practically, that in Calcutta one neighbor, neighboring gentleman, he is (has) a daughter-in-law, he (she) was beating her young son. So I inquired, "Why that daughter-in-law...?" Because her father-in-law was of my age, little older. "So why daughter-in-law is punishing her son? What is the fault?" Naturally, young, a small child. So the report came that the, one of the child, one of the boy, was suffering from typhoid, fever, and another boy stole from the kitchen some parāṭā and gave him to eat. And when the mother came into knowledge, she was punishing, that "Why you have given this parāṭā?" Because in typhoid, no solid food is taken. So he cannot... But the suffering child was thinking that "Mother is not giving me food." So he requested his younger brother, "You give me some food." So he does not know. He has given the food. But the result is that he is being punished. So without knowing how to give service, sometimes we may be punished. What kind of service we shall give? (indistinct) example. So there are three kinds of services: goodness, passion, and ignorance.

Morning Walk -- December 16, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Once there was a big cobra, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in home in Manipura, in our kitchen. He was just coiling and just sitting there, but he was very mild, because he was about to skin his skin. By that time, he doesn't bite anything, very tame.

Prabhupāda: No, sometimes the serpents are tamed.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: That's a fact. But still, they are dangerous. That is said by Cāṇakya Paṇḍita. The serpent is so dangerous. That, Caitanya Mahāprabhu said. The serpent is so dangerous that even one imagines there is a serpent, he is, becomes afraid. You see? When Mahārāja Pratāparudra wanted to see Him and Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya and others requested, that "He is a devotee." "But I know that he is a devotee, but because he is king, therefore I cannot see him." He gave this encou..., "The serpent even by imagination is also fearful." He said like that. And Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said, manina bhujitaḥ sarpa kim asau na bhayaṁkaraḥ. (?) A serpent... You know, sometimes they have got jewel. "So a serpent with jewel, does it mean that he is not fearful?" Even with jewel he is fearful. Therefore, the demon, even with high educational qualification, he is rascal. He is rascal, fearful.

Morning Walk -- December 30, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Oh, that's all right. They say, "Conservation of energy." So why there is crisis? Find out the reservoir and find out the energy. That is the scientific theory, "conservation of energy." Find out where the energy comes from. When it is finished, so I ask, "Just go to the kitchen. Find out some more to eat." So that is the source of energy. You find out the source of energy. Then there is no crisis. (laughter) But the rascals they do not know where the puri is being made. He is going to the privy. (laughter) "Might be puri here." That is their mistake. He does not know the puri is being supplied from the kitchen, not from the latrine. That is their mistake. Instead of going to the kitchen they are going to the latrine. Their advancement of knowledge is up to latrine. That's all. That is the Vedānta information. The conservation of energy if first explained in the Bhāgavata: janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), that here is... (break) (end)

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 24, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, sometimes they smoke bidis. That is the difficulty.

Indian (2): That is not in the presence of the kitchen itself, but outside.

Dr. Patel: They do all sorts of nonsense.

Prabhupāda: That is the difficulty.

Dr. Patel: If we don't allow them, they do it.

Prabhupāda: And they will drink tea, smoke.

Dr. Patel: They always drink tea, all the cooks. They won't like...

Prabhupāda: That is the difficulty with us. We do not want to set such bad examples. (break) ...Hindu system is very hygienic. Yes.

Morning Walk -- March 24, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: They are observing hygienic principle as far as possible, but only thing is they require little guidance.

Dr. Patel: This kitchen behind is too small, hotel, they...

Prabhupāda: No. We can make a big kitchen, we have got enough room.

Dr. Patel: I told them, maybe away we must have a small room attached to it where these boys can take... (break) (Hindi) (break)

Prabhupāda: ...I am not this body.

Dr. Patel: That's right. So the mosquitos also have no body.

Prabhupāda: They tolerate. Actually, they tolerate because they factually think that "I am not this body. Let the mosquito bite my body."

Room Conversation with M. Lallier, noted French Poet -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: So he's not fit for that business, but he imitates. That is childish. Sometimes goes to the kitchen, wants to make foodstuff, preparation, and he is given some toys that "You just play with it." So every living entity is part and parcel of God. So God is enjoyer, God is controller. So he wants to imitate God. That is called māyā. (French)

Pṛthu Putra: So what should the soul do if he cannot imitate God?

Prabhupāda: Yes, the soul... Just like the same example. The child should be guided by the father and mother. Similarly, we should be guided by God, Kṛṣṇa. That is our normal life. And the guidance is given personally by Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā. So if you follow the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, and be guided by God, then you are happy exactly like a child is happy when he's under the protection of the parents.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- June 16, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: No.

Siddha-svarūpa: Then how is it they had a fire in one? They had a fire in one recently.

Bali-mardana: Sometimes a fire starts in the kitchen or...

Prabhupāda: Kitchen, yes.

Bali-mardana: Because there's gas. And the furniture...

Prabhupāda: Not in the house. Wooden houses, they are just like match box. (break) ...Australia, they like cottage house. They don't like this skyscraper.

Bali-mardana: Yeah, they like brick house, many brick houses, spread out.

Prabhupāda: Small, one storied. They are aristocratic. They do not go to the skyscraper, common man.

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

Prabhupāda: Then we can go this way. (break) ...many rooms are there in the new house?

Bahulāśva: Oh, there are many rooms. Two very, very large rooms, at least as big as the temple room in San Francisco, er, in Los Angeles, excuse me. Two rooms that big. Then there's about four rooms for living quarters, a big kitchen, and then several offices, and then a nice quarters for Your Divine Grace with a bath, with a shower right there.

Prabhupāda: What it was before?

Bahulāśva: It was a Mormon church.

Prabhupāda: Ohh.

Bahulāśva: Built very solid.

Jayatīrtha: Made of bricks.

Morning Walk -- September 18, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So you collect only the ghee price. And what about others? Other, attar and sugar and so many things? That means you are spending hundred rupees, and the kitchen department, you are is collecting eighty rupees. So twenty rupees lost. Hm? So what is this business? What you are spending, you must collect also. Or balance you are eating?

Dhanañjaya: A few days ago a devotee donated three hundred rupees to the Deities.

Prabhupāda: Donated, that is all right. I am talking of the business.

Dhanañjaya: I see.

Prabhupāda: Donate, I may donate three thousand. But that is a different thing. But from practical point of view, you are spending hundred rupees per day, and you are collecting eighty rupees.

Morning Walk -- November 13, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Otherwise what will be the impression of the sādhus, that one treatment to one and one treatment to another? Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...require, everything is there by God's arrangement. (break) ...heavy load, there is elephant, truck. Elephant is truck, horse is carriage. Everything is there by nature's... And for small load, the bulls, the asses. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) Where he is? He has gone back? In the kitchen they are preparing tea? They are preparing tea in the kitchen?

Brahmānanda: Tea. Was he making tea in his kitchen?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: I didn't know that. (break)

Prabhupāda: So Nanda Kumara, you see me. I shall talk with you at half past eleven. (break) ...from this side. (break) ...flies. So do the modern botanists, er, biologists know all these things? In our śāstra it is, jalaja nava-lakṣani sthavara lakṣa-viṁśati, kṛmayo rudra-śaṅkhyakaḥ. (break)

Morning Walk -- November 15, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Saurabha: Those apartment buildings. Make them very opulent and big. They want... Some people told me they like to have apartments of 2,000 square feet for one apartment. It should have four big rooms, a kitchen, everything, very opulent. Like this we can have on one floor two of them. We can have 4,000 square feet on one floor. It is possible.

Prabhupāda: Do that. Do.

Saurabha: And then we make five like this, six, five or six. Then put... For those buildings one can get about 150. I think here at least 150 rupees per square foot minimum. I think it will... By the time we are having it built there'll be more.

Prabhupāda: So try for that.

Morning Walk -- November 17, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Now they are keeping dogs in their kitchens.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Doggish mentality is there.

Dr. Patel: You see, the people are spending more than thirty, forty rupees on a dog every day. But they won't pay two rupees to a servant, domestic servant in their home.

Prabhupāda: They are keeping servants also. But educated dogs. After passing so many examinations, they are seeking after master. And without master they will starve. This is doggish mentality. A big technologist, unless he gets a good job, he is nothing but dog.

Dr. Patel: He has got no means to further his technology. He must have some means to further his own technology in the modern times, sir. It is very difficult to further your technology without proper means, instruments.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 16, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: That's ni...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Separate.

Jayapatāka: Separate. Then the prasādam pavilion and kitchen are there.

Prabhupāda: (break) ...dispensary I can give you some formulas for general diseases. One has got little fever; you give that mista. One has got some sores; you give some ointment, without any doctor's advice.

Bhavānanda: We need, Śrīla Prabhupāda. For all those little things we need.

Prabhupāda: Yes, I will give you so many formulas.

Bhavānanda: For boil also?

Morning Walk -- January 16, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: No, you can join some pipeline. Make a water storge, and from pipeline it will be supplied everywhere. Make water storage on the roof, on the roof.

Jayapatāka: We have.... On that corner room there in the kitchen, that's one water storage.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayapatāka: That supplies.

Prabhupāda: So by pump store water and by pipe distribute.

Jayapatāka: This is what the Gargamuni's money, as we get, we're using for these programs.

Prabhupāda: Why it is being broken again?

Morning Walk -- January 17, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: (break) ...bus came here.

Bhavānanda: Down this road, turns here.

Prabhupāda: Oh. It goes to Krishnagar.

Sudāmā: Over here, Śrīla Prabhupāda, down below, there is the kitchen for cooking. And we have here small kuchulla(?) for coal cooking.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Can you open one of these boards, show Prabhupāda the... (break)

Jayapatāka: All is for storage.

Sudāmā: Underneath. You have to open.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali)

Jayapatāka: They put all rice and everything there.

Prabhupāda: Stock.

Morning Walk -- March 10, 1976, Mayapur:

Bhavānanda: Separate woman's house, separate man's house.

Prabhupāda: That is our Indian system. Up to the family they have got separate house for men, separate house for women, separate house for kitchen, separate house for toilet.

Bhavānanda: Very nice. Compound.

Prabhupāda: In Calcutta, we have seen our big, big Mullik family, separate house.

Bhavānanda: One brāhmaṇa village, Sharmapur, I went to. They all lived like that. They had five houses in a compound.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. A woman's house, nobody can go. Bahir bāri bhitara bāri. Bāhir bāri. Bāhir. Who can understand Bengali?

Morning Walk -- March 10, 1976, Mayapur:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Bāhir? "Outside," isn't it?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Bāhir bāri. Bhitar bāri. Then pūjār bāri. Rāmnā bāri.

Jayapatāka: Kitchen.

Prabhupāda: Ah, kitchen. Not that within the apartment, all bāris. This is European invention.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Bāri?

Prabhupāda: Bāri means house. In Gujarat they say wādi. Wādi.

Bhāgavata: Wādi, bhajan wādi.

Prabhupāda: It is the same thing, bāri. In Maharashtra also, they say.

Morning Walk -- March 17, 1976, Mayapura:

Jayapatākā: So in that way, it's...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That one has two.

Guru-kṛpā: Half of it's kitchen.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This one has three.

Prabhupāda: No, there are floors, ground floors.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That also has three, if you count the ground floor.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So that's three, plus six times longer

Prabhupāda: (break) ...just decorate green leaves and yellow flower. By chance? Rascals say, "By chance." It is coming by chance? Just see. Show me anything within your experience which has come by chance. Anything, whatever you like, show me, come by chance, which has come by chance.

Room Conversation -- April 22, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: They'll not touch: "Oh, it is still dirty." But our going on. What can be done? Where there is no cleanliness, little rubbed with soap, that is sufficient. What can be done? But that is not cleanliness. If there is a black spot on the..., it has to.... It will immediately be cleaned. My mother used to see every utensil, whether there is any spot. The maidservant had to surrender. Examine. Then it is no spot. Then it is finished. Otherwise she has to do again. Everything should be neat and clean. The kitchen should be very neat and clean, washed twice daily, opened nicely and smeared with water and gobar. And if you see the kitchen, immediately you'll feel comfortable. It is very cleanly prepared, then offered to the Deity. Then you take. Automatically your mind becomes cleansed. (break)

Morning Walk -- June 13, 1976, Detroit:

Satsvarūpa: Yes. And since we have this and the Deity worship, the collecting has increased and the book distribution, because now they're more regulated and it's not so difficult.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They have a kitchen in the back, Śrīla Prabhupāda. And a shower and toilet, a sink. It's complete.

Prabhupāda: Small house.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes, traveling.

Prabhupāda: This is fulfilling Caitanya Mahāprabhu's desire: pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma. (CB Antya-khaṇḍa 4.126) Go to every village and town. So you are doing very nice to satisfy the Lord. He wanted this. Pṛthivīte nagarādi—all over the world. So when He meant all over the world, naturally He meant all the people of the world. Why Indian? Pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma, it will include all the villages, towns, all over the world. That means all people of the world should take up this. Bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra (CC Adi 9.41).

Room Conversation with Ambarisa and Catholic Priest -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Śrutikīrti: No, yeah. This is condominiums, houses, for people living above, so the restaurant is just that one floor. That's what we would be purchasing, not the whole building.

Ambarīṣa: The kitchen is inside the big building.

Śrutikīrti: But it's very choice space. It's just two blocks from what's called the Ritz Hotel, which is most famous hotel in the country, they have in every large city. These pictures, that glassed-in area, that would all be just the serving area. Then the kitchen is behind the wall. There would be a large kitchen facility, where all the devotees would be cooking.

Prabhupāda: Kitchen is within the building?

Room Conversation with Ambarisa and Catholic Priest -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Kitchen is within the building?

Śrutikīrti and Ambarīṣa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So one-story building also included?

Ambarīṣa: Yes, there's a kitchen and dish-washing room and office, storage...

Śrutikīrti: All inside.

Prabhupāda: Nice.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Did you explain that it was being built for someone who was going to start a restaurant, but they didn't?

Morning Walk -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Kīrtanānanda: It's the end of the road, so I think we can turn here.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break).... in the kitchen, this wood or gas?

Kīrtanānanda: Both. Mostly wood.

Prabhupāda: There are so many jungles, we can use wood.

Kīrtanānanda: Actually we like it better.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, it is better, nice.

Kīrtanānanda: But it is a little dirty. Unless you change it to charcoal, there was always some smoke. This is not ours. Our property comes down this way, but not on this corner. (break) ...land, Prabhupāda, and they say overpopulation.

Prabhupāda: In the beginning, I protest against this assertion, there is overpopulation. I never admitted. Perhaps you know.

Prabhupada Visits Palace and Garden -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: To enter that temple you have to go through here?

Kīrtanānanda: To enter the Deity room you go through the kitchen.

Prabhupāda: No, generally people will go from this side to see the Deity?

Kīrtanānanda: No, they will see just from out here.

Prabhupāda: All these walls closed, there is no window.

Kīrtanānanda: There is no window.

Prabhupāda: Only one window.

Kīrtanānanda: Four windows on the up.

Prabhupada Visits Palace and Garden -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: These are rooms?

Kīrtanānanda: Yes, these will be servants' quarters on this side.

Prabhupāda: This will be window?

Kīrtanānanda: Yes. This will be a kitchen.

Prabhupāda: Nice, very nice. And there will be garden here?

Kīrtanānanda: Yes. We are gradually clearing all this land, this was all wooded last year, and we're clearing now.

Prabhupāda: Very nice.

Kīrtanānanda: It has very good view, all the way around.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Garden Conversation -- June 27, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: No, the flower has taken directly, without any chemical addition. You do that. It is a fact the flavor is there within the earth, you take the flavor, extract the flavor. Not only this flavor, there are different flavors, all, everything there. There are so many flowers coming out. Huh? Sarva-kāma dugha-mahī. Mahī means earth. Everything's coming out from the earth. But not in your attempt. It is Kṛṣṇa's attempt that He can take out. Out of so many different flavors, everything is there within the earth, but Kṛṣṇa's manipulation takes the different colors, different flavors, different bodies, everything. That is Kṛṣṇa's manipulation. Mayādhyakṣeṇa (BG 9.10). Just like in our kitchen we have got the ingredients, rice, dahl, āṭṭā, ghee. But the expert can prepare hundreds of preparations.

Arrival Room Conversation -- July 2, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: How many rooms?

Vṛṣākapi: Several buildings, Prabhupāda. We have one big temple building down there, very gorgeous, with big kitchen.

Prabhupāda: I may see now?

Rūpānuga: If you like.

Prabhupāda: Or it is closed.

Rūpānuga: Deities are resting.

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Rūpānuga: In the morning I think it would be better to see things.

Arrival Room Conversation -- July 2, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Morning walk.

Rūpānuga: Jaya.

Vipina: The kitchen is governmentally approved, so that if we decide to have a big festival, we can cook and distribute publicly without any problems.

Prabhupāda: These furnitures were there?

Rūpānuga: No, this is all we have purchased.

Vṛṣākapi: For you, Prabhupāda.

Rūpānuga: The doors also, lights, everything we have purchased.

Prabhupāda: Oh. You had to utilize so much money.

Room Conversation -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: No, no, I have taken breakfast. So Bali-mardana Prabhu, doing all right?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Those are your servants' quarters, and the kitchen, and there's also a dresser in your bedroom.

Prabhupāda: There is any closet with lock?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes. This closet here is a walk-in closet. Small room with a lock. You also have a cabinet that locks. It's a big walk-in closet.

Prabhupāda: Oh, that's nice. So I shall again stay in New York? Nice place.

Ādi-keśava: From this window here you can see the Empire State Building and all the big buildings in New York.

Evening Darsana -- July 13, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: He said he was surprised how clean Vṛndāvana was.

Prabhupāda: Many, even the poorest man's house you go in the village, you'll find everything neat and clean. At least the kitchen and eating, very neat and... Climatic condition is also nice. Almost all the year there is sunshine. Only during rainy season the sun is... That is also cooling a bit. After summer season, the rainy season covering, there is enjoyable cooling. Now everywhere... (end)

Room Conversation -- July 18, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: So if there is more milk, you can sell more, get money.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, we're getting nearly two thousand dollars a month.

Hari-śauri: (7-Up has been brought) Is there ice? He was supposed to get some ice from the kitchen downstairs.

Bali-mardana: It's cold.

Prabhupāda: Who will open? You open it.

Bali-mardana: I have just opened it. Is it cold enough?

Prabhupāda: We call it in India, lemonade.

Hari-śauri: That was the original name, lemonade. Then all these new things, they changed all the names.

Bali-mardana: It's good for bringing up gas.

Morning Walk -- July 20, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Cooking.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: In the park, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: At one Dr. Mishra's house. In my apartment there was no kitchen. (break) There was some news. Their machine has gone to Mars planet.

Hari-śauri: Machine is?

Prabhupāda: They sent some machine?

Hari-śauri: To Mars?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: To picture, to take pictures around the Mars, to take pictures, and they have found on Mars signs of life and water. They have taken many close pictures.

Morning Walk -- July 20, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: No, different quarters... They should not go to the...

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They should not be brought before the Deities.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Alone.

Hari-śauri: In the kitchen or...

Prabhupāda: Man and woman together should not worship unless they are husband and wife.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Never be alone. So just because they are married to someone else, that is not... They must be married to each other.

Prabhupāda: No, no, they must be together, the man and the woman. The husband-wife can go, not others.

Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:

Bhagavān: There are three hundred devotees who want to carry you. But I mean there you will not have people coming if you want to rest. There are no.... There are only planned people who would come. But there won't be hundreds of Indians coming to see you. And you have.... Right next to your quarters there's your own private kitchen also, so everything's very close at hand. All your servants quarters are.... That whole floor is.... Actually the whole castle is empty, so there's no noise.

Jayatīrtha: It may be very nice for you there.

Bhagavān: Your quarters.

Prabhupāda: We shall go immediately?

Jayatīrtha: I think that, Srila Prabhupāda, you should not feel obliged in any way to go. Only whatever you think is best for your health condition.

Prabhupāda: No, obliged, I am always obliged to you. That's a fact. Yes.

Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: No, at night cool will be good.

Bhagavān: And in the morning it is warm at ten o'clock.

Prabhupāda: So kitchen is (indistinct).

Bhagavān: Yes. You have a cook here? Your temple was cooking?

Jayatīrtha: No, Arundhatī is cooking. I think Palika should come? Palika should not come for cooking?

Prabhupāda: She has come?

Jayatīrtha: Should she not come? She wants to come.

Bhagavān: There are so many cooks. Malati is there, and we have.... You've never had problem with cooking in France before.

Arrival at Farm -- July 29, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Arundhatī cannot. She cannot.

Harikeśa: No, she's not so... She knows the mechanics of it, but the details are difficult. When we get to the farm there is a separate kitchen, and every spare minute I will be with him and just teach him everything in great detail. (break) (lecture:)

Prabhupāda: So I am very glad to see you again in this village.

Devotees: Haribol!

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. It was the prediction of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu that in every village, in every town on the surface of the globe, there will be preaching of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's name and the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. It is to be translated? (translator translates into French) So by your transcendental endeavor it is being fulfilled, otherwise who expected that in this remote village of France, Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra would be chanted?

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

Hari-śauri: Expert management.

Prabhupāda: You have got puffed rice?

Hari-śauri: They may have some in the kitchen, I can check. They have flat rice.

Prabhupāda: No.

Hari-śauri: Puffed rice. This Chavana-prash, it says five to ten grams every morning with milk.

Prabhupāda: With milk. Five to ten grams.

Hari-śauri: Yes, that's like a heaped spoonful. I think that's about what you're getting there.

Prabhupāda: Whatever we take, that is five to ten grams?

Evening Darsana -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Gaura-Nitāi is worshiped simply by kīrtana.

Hari-śauri: The problem they have here is because there's no Deities, then things like the practices they have in the kitchen and the general bhakti rules and regulations are a little slack because the Deity's not there. So if they had some Deity, then that will encourage them, maṅgala-ārati at a certain time and like that.

Prabhupāda: Atreya Ṛṣi recommending another house.

Nandarāṇī: Yes, we actually want two places because when Iranian businessmen come, we cannot just show them the altar and say, "Here is our program." It must be very careful. And yet when the Indians come we want to have Deities, we want to have kīrtana. So we are trying to do two things in one house and it is very difficult. So he wants a separate place for a restaurant, for Deities, for my Gurukula school, a big room for my classroom, and then a separate home when we have some sophisticated guest we can bring them for dinner. But then we have many Indians, we can bring them for Deities. The Indians, they think this is a temple, but because there are no Deities, then they are not inclined to come. They want to see the Deity.

Room Conversation -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: So you make your formula, I mean to say, plan and scheme. So far how to do it, that instruction I give.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Now in this house you will see, this house, the plan is that the house, the first floor will be kitchen, restaurant and a store. A little section for store. Store will have Your Divine Grace's books, records, tapes, japa-mālā and some sweets, prasādam that is made to go, to sell.

Prabhupāda: Who made sandeśa? It was very nice.

Hari-śauri: Nava-yauvana's wife, Mañjarī.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes, she can make sandeśa. And some of these products also can be stocked there. Once we start and it is successful, then we can grow.

Prabhupāda: He knows how to make kacuri.

Morning Walk, House Visit, Evening Darsana -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: For restaurant, very nice. (some conversing as lady shows them through)

Dayānanda: Very nice kitchen, Śrīla Prabhupāda. It's a good size kitchen.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: That kitchen can be extended.

Prabhupāda: Thank you.

Dayānanda: An adjoining room for storage.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Would you like one of these peaches, Śrīla Prabhupāda? Yes, that's right, that's right. Would you prefer an orange? Can I skin this?

Hari-śauri: I can cut an orange.

Morning Walk -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Cold water from. We put boiled water into it. Bring boiled water from the kitchen.

Prabhupāda: We have no tap water here?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: We have tap water, but it's not drinking water. I mean it needs to be boiled. In Delhi you can drink the tap water, they say it's okay, but in Bombay it's very risky to drink tap water. Especially in monsoon. (break) ...famous actress and singer called Shri Lakshna-pandit. She's one of our devotee's sister-in-law also. She has some devotion. So she is coming to sing bhajanas tomorrow in the pandal. Is that okay? She's very famous.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: It's okay.

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

Prabhupāda: So where is the puffed rice? Somebody is bringing it?

Harikeśa: Pālikā is...

Prabhupāda: Why Pālikā, huh?

Harikeśa: Pālikā is in the kitchen taking care of it.

Prabhupāda: No, bring it to... Why you making there, puffed rice? There is... It is too late now. (long pause) So what she is doing?

Harikeśa: I will check.

Mahāṁśa: She is cooking prasāda.

Prabhupāda: Cooking? What she is cooking?

Room Conversation -- August 20, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: They have done.

Saurabha: It's already the biggest. So this is the building, (unfolding plans) and these three rooms—this is 32 by 32—is your sitting room where you can receive people. Then here is your bedroom, and here is the secretary room, here is kitchen, and here is servant room. So personally you have this, four rooms.

Prabhupāda: What are these?

Saurabha: This is the elevator.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Saurabha: Then this is the entry where the people can wait in case many people are there. Here's the secretary. This is the kitchen and...

Room Conversation -- August 24, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Even though they're not... You cannot say not... They are clean. I have seen in Bombay even the poorest man, his house, and a Parsee gentleman, his house. Kitchen habits. A Parsee's kitchen is so nasty. And here you see this poor man's house, they are neat. Their utensils how much cleansed. I had been in Parsee kitchen. All the pots black. Nothing is cleansed. For eating they use this China. So clean or unclean cannot be understood. Simply washed. But so far the kitchen pots, all are... In our also, when it is handled by this European, American devotees, the black. Down, it is black. That should not be black. It must be cleansed.

Mahāṁsa: By the heat with these wood, it brings up a lot of soot.

Prabhupāda: But it must be cleansed daily.

Room Conversation -- September 5, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yesterday I told him that temple painting is going on... Who is painting? I never saw. (Hindi conversation)

Akṣayānanda: So we should have one kitchen only. One kitchen? As we had discussed last night. Now we have a Deity kitchen and a devotee kitchen. We also have a guest house kitchen.

Prabhupāda: Why three?

Akṣayānanda: So the devotee kitchen and Deity kitchen could be made into one.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: That's decided.

Akṣayānanda: Yes. So I'll give you a list of the preparations we'll offer for your approval. It means we'll be offering less to the Deity.

Garden Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Tell me something.

Harikeśa: Tell Prabhupāda some.

Caraṇāravindam: Ah... Most of the kitchen preparations (indistinct) one gets in India. Iddlies (indistinct) ...things like that.

Prabhupāda: Oh, he knows so many things. You have learned something? You?

Devotee: Very little. I can cook halavā and puris. Simple things. I can cook sweet rice. Sweet rice I can cook.

Prabhupāda: Sweet rice. That is very sweet for you. (laughs) The Europeans and Americans, they like sweet rice. Is it not?

Garden Conversation -- September 7, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Paṭola, both leaves and fruits they're useful. Very useful.

Caraṇāravindam: What is that?

Hari-śauri: Little round, green, oblong shape. Looks like a small cucumber. About this long. You can see some in the kitchen. (break)

Prabhupāda: You give me lunch in banana leaves. Give me.

Hari-śauri: We were doing that in Māyāpur. I remember last time.

Prabhupāda: Because there are so many banana leaves. You can utilize it. One leaf is sufficient for four plates at least.

Room Conversation -- September 30, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Then one day that boy Murray, he showed some crazy features. So I thought it is dangerous to live with him. So I approached Mukunda. Mukunda had no place, still I asked him. So I kept my goods at Mukunda's house and went to live with Yeargen. That is another loft. So in this way, with great hardship—sometimes here, sometimes there—in this way, I got two hundred dollars by selling books, and then I asked Mukunda to find out an apartment. He found this apartment, 26 Second Avenue. One storefront down and one living quarters up. So I found it very convenient. Down I would lecture and hold kīrtana. So he charged 75 dollars per month for the apartment, small apartment. I think in a space like this room or less than that, everything is there. There was kitchen, there was shower, and two rooms. I think less than this. Two-thirds of this room and everything there. So I shifted there. And there I remained up to May 1967, I think. Then I got heart attack. Then I went to Stinson Beach. Then I could not improve my health. No, first of all, I went to San Francisco. There also I could not sleep at night. There was throbbing in the heart. Kīrtanānanda, he was serving me. So many difficulties. Then I came back to India in 1967 July. Here also not very much improvement. Then again I went to Los Angeles.

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Haṁsadūta: Yes, Anatol was telling me, that boy Ānanda-śānti. His whole family was living in that..., but you did not see his room. His room is very small, maybe two times the size of your kitchen and whole family was living in that. Mother, grandmother, father, him, and when Mandākinī went there she was also living there.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Haṁsadūta: Very small.

Prabhupāda: Pigeonhole.

Haṁsadūta: Pigeonhole, really pigeonhole.

Prabhupāda: So why this is?

Room Conversation -- November 24, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm? Finished. So what is your charge?

Hari-śauri: Your including...

Prabhupāda: Eh? What is that?

Devotee (1): Well, restaurant, shop, kitchen, the kitchen godown.

Prabhupāda: Kitchen godown?

Devotee (1): Supplies.

Prabhupāda: Oh, supplies. So what is the difficulty? The other day you complained some difficulty. So what is the difficulty?

Devotee (2): Nothing. Nothing excepting my jaundice.

Prabhupāda: Then?

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Not willing. They are not willing.

Mahāṁśa: They're not willing to help in the kitchen because it is very hot, very hard, the eyes get burned, things like that. So this one Bengali boy, he's a very good cook. He can do it very nicely but he wants help. And if no one helps, then he refuses to cook. And if you press him, then he runs away. Yesterday he tried to run away four times because we were trying to press him.

Prabhupāda: No, no, cooking alone, it is not possible. So that you have to do. Find out some men. Cooperate. Otherwise how it is possible?

Haṁsadūta: Yes, therefore I'm asking you about hired people, whether hired people are good. In my experience...

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

Prabhupāda: Ask the leaders! I was talking that in all our other branches, our men manage the cooking and kitchen and as soon as they come here, they become varalasai. (?) That is Rāvaṇa. Why do they not do here? We have to keep some cook who is neither initiated, nor very clean, a smoker, and we have to keep them. (break) In all other branches, the boys and girls, they manage everything. (break)

Amogha-līlā: ...follow the regulations more strictly?

Prabhupāda: That I have to say again? That means Rāvaṇa. He's asking. I am repeatedly saying that follow, and he's asking. That means he's Rāvaṇa. Why you are inquiring like that. If you know this is the solution, why don't you do it? That means Rāvaṇa. If you know this is the solution, why don't you do it? (break)

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 7, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: I know. They are eating. They eat everything. I have seen one Parsee here in Bombay. He is chanting and getting one chicken cut throat by the man. And he's cutting. He gave in a paper and he took it away. And he's chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. (Dr. Patel laughs loudly) Not Hare Kṛṣṇa, but... They have got all their chants. They have got their chanting. And I have seen their kitchen. It is more dirty than the toilet.

Dr. Patel: Filthiest thing. Most dirty kitchens are the Muslims, very horrible thing. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...day one Hindi gentleman came. He presented a picture, India's map, and all the whole India is full of avatāras: Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, this, that. This is India.

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Girirāja: So what could be more charitable than feeding?

Prabhupāda: No, you keep always kitchen, and by drum beating, that, "Anyone hungry within this area, or anywhere, come here. Take capatis, roti," and distribute prasādam. That is in our program.

Mr. Asnani: I shall go what Prabhupāda says, nearest to our village, within ten miles, five miles, two miles.

Prabhupāda: That I ask you. Do that. Why it is stopped, I cannot understand.

Mr. Asnani: And even the Ottomans.

Prabhupāda: Yes. I'll give money...

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So why Pālikā is not helping her to get the beads?

Hari-śauri: She's already got it on. I don't know why she didn't come out.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi—woman answers in Hindi) Call Pālikā. Just teach her... Take her in the kitchen and teach her how to make tilaka.

Pālikā: How to make tilaka, yes.

Prabhupāda: Tilaka, dvādaśa-tilaka. You just go and learn. (break) What is that? (break) Otherwise there is no death. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Actually there is no death. This forgetfulness is death. We have forgotten: "Who was our father, who was our mother, where I was born?" That is death. And otherwise I am the soul, continuing. Just like in childhood so many things we did, but we have forgotten. The forgetfulness is death. The more one forgets, the more one is dead. Otherwise there is no death.

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

Prabhupāda: I do not know, but a straw house... Is there any chance of setting, getting fire?

Gurudāsa: Well, your kitchen is apart, in tin. So that... The kitchen would be safe. Otherwise why would there be any fire? The outside is also tin. There would only be your house. Now, I can make a tin house if you want, but...

Prabhupāda: No, tin house will be...

Gurudāsa: Not so good. Straw is the best.

Prabhupāda: That is best, but fire protection-wise...

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

Prabhupāda: Yes, I'm directing and nobody learns.

Gurudāsa: I can learn.

Prabhupāda: Everyone can see. It is...

Gurudāsa: There's no... Your health must be pakkā. So we have separate kitchen for you, separate kitchen for life members. Gargamuni Mahārāja is sending his Shantilal, his cook.

Prabhupāda: Cooking is being done with wood? That's nice. That is very good.

Gurudāsa: Yes, very nice. And in the morning, the first morning... When I went there, actually nothing was happening very much. So the first morning... It's so cold, the devotees were just staying in their blankets. So I got up at four o'clock and bathed and started a fire. And I said, "It's warmer here than in your tent. Come around the fire."

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

Prabhupāda: Kramaḥ means gradual evolution. So you have to take that gradual evolution. But it will be done if you remain with the associate. Saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ. They are giving this opportunity. Come here in our association and learn the art. I have seen in Bombay. The other day I went to a gentleman's apartment. He is.... The gentleman is earning two thousand, and the wife is earning seven hundred. But they are living in an apartment of this size. Within this, there is bedroom, and there is kitchen, and there is toilet, and everything is there. And if we say people, "Please come here. Take a room like this and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa," they'll not come. They'll prefer to remain in that tiny apartment. Am I right or not? Manda-bhāgyā. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10). Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has declared, ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kono bhāgyavān jīva. They are rotting or rotating within this universe in different species of life. But if by chance he becomes fortunate, then take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "ISKCON farm report: Port Royal, Pennsylvania, report for year 1976. ISKCON Incorporated of New York owns a prime farm in Juanita County of Pennsylvania. The land is nearly four hundred acres in size, valued at around five hundred dollars per acre, or two hundred thousand dollars. In addition the buildings on the property consist of the following: barn worth $40,000; outbuildings worth $10,000; calf barn $25,000; equipment $50,000; residential building $45,000; guesthouse and public kitchen and prasāda pavilion $75,000; and silos $20,000. Total, including land, $465,000. The purpose of this land is to produce foodstuffs to meet all the needs of the farm community as well as the needs of our temples in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. Another purpose is to demonstrate the principle of cow protection, as we are strict vegetarians and do not believe in slaughtering cows.

Room Conversation -- February 19, 1977, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Do you happen to know who's charge of it? Tapomaya?

Hari-śauri: Tapomaya's always down there.

Prabhupāda: This kitchen management is a great art. That attracts men. Tā'ra madhye jihwā ati, lobhamoy sudurmati, tā'ke jetā kaṭhina saṁsāre, kṛṣṇa baṛo doyāmoy, koribāre jihwā jay, swa-prasād. Give varieties of prasāda. That is required. That is the art.

Hari-śauri: We're going to need some very expert cooks for our Bombay center.

Prabhupāda: You change it. You change it. The Gujarati, they know it.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Gujarati cooks.

Prabhupāda: I asked Bhogilal. He sent, but they cancelled.

Room Conversation -- March 26, 1977, Bombay:

Hari-śauri: I looked around your apartment this morning. It will definitely be ready by Wednesday morning. It's coming along very nicely.

Prabhupāda: Wednesday?

Hari-śauri: Yeah. Main work now is cleaning and the kitchen.

Prabhupāda: The doors have been...?

Hari-śauri: The door frames are there. They are just..., it will take tomorrow to fit, and then they'll be ready. Gargamuni's men have arrived last night, too.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.

Conversation with Patita-pavana -- April 20, 1977, Bombay:

Patita-pāvana: I will do that. We can arrange for some apartment for them to stay.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Patita-pāvana: The one man, he only eats what his wife cooks, so he has to have some kitchen.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So we have your... If you like, we have your old quarters.

Patita-pāvana: But that is upstairs. His wife cannot climb stairs. That is... That's why I liked Māyāpur, because all those apartments are on the wall.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, they're also upstairs. In Māyāpur everything's up the stairs also. There's nothing that...

Patita-pāvana: But on the wall...

Conversation with Patita-pavana -- April 20, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That's nice, Chand Society. There are three rooms. That is very nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They occupied or...?

Girirāja: Well, they could have one room and the kitchen.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, and the other gentleman...

Girirāja: Well, if we... Yeah.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's no problem. So there's residential quarter.

Prabhupāda: Why not request Mr. Acarya to exchange? They may go to his...

Girirāja: Okay.

Prabhupāda: That "We have kept your request."

Room Conversation -- June 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What do they see in that light? Their death.

Prabhupāda: That is material world. (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually, as I could see in that building, the kitchen is nearly completed, so even if they have not completely opened that building, still, if the kitchen is completed, they can begin to cook there immediately. Why should they wait two or three months? The storeroom is a storeroom. That can be used immediately and put strong locks, and one man is in charge, and he has a register, coming in, going out.

Prabhupāda: No different store, no different...

Room Conversation -- June 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No different store, no different...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No different store?

Prabhupāda: Two servants always cleansing. As soon as somebody eats, the servant cleanses the place, take the plates and washes, return to kitchen. You have seen cut rows, wood. Devotees have seen. You can purchase. Engage one wood cutter. Then that will be... Everything can be arranged. Simply good management. Sleeping management will not help. And everyone... Such a big hall. Everyone should eat.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Such a big dining hall. The other day they were showing, "Here is the sign. Here is the si..." So let them be utilized. Simply showing?

Room Conversation -- June 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Such a big dining hall. The other day they were showing, "Here is the sign. Here is the si..." So let them be utilized. Simply showing?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (loud clanking in background) This kind of sound spoils the whole peacefulness of this guesthouse, this kitchen. And it starts from early in the morning, at 5:30.

Prabhupāda: No, it is disturbing to me. Where is guest?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually they do have a number of guests here. They're having about twenty...

Prabhupāda: That's all right. Welcome. But no cooking there.

Room Conversation -- June 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No, opening ceremony... Gurukula is going on.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. Some of the offices are already being utilized. So the dining hall can be utilized and the kitchen floor.

Prabhupāda: That offices I cannot understand. There is no management; then office. Big, big office, but no management. All bogus. Office means management. But there is no management, and the office. Office, what does it mean, office?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Good management.

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

Room Conversation -- June 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that plates can be brought.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. So we'll see to that first of all.

Prabhupāda: One store, one kitchen, one dining room. Bas. Not separate.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not separate dining room.

Prabhupāda: That is not management. Such a big hall, such a big kitchen, sufficient. If some special per..., it can be done in that kitchen.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In that big kitchen.

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Room Conversation -- June 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Devotees will get one kind of food and the guests will get a different kind.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They can prepare there. What for that separate kitchen?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, there's no reason.

Prabhupāda: Separate cooking may be... (break) ...cannot. Simply they have... Every cheap people goes there. What they have done? Tell me that "This they have done, very beneficial to the human society." What they have done?

Śatadhanya: They say that they are curing disease.

Prabhupāda: Disease? So what is the benefit? One disease after another disease...

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

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yeah, some came in the temple. We also gave university, in the physics class, called "Physics for Skeptics," the title of the class. It was very interesting.

Prabhupāda: Now it is clearing. You can go inside.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Jaya. (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: One basement is there where the restaurant is. You saw that. And kitchen. Then, below that, I was going to take you to the boiler room, but you didn't want to come. That's another basement, sub-basement. That boiler... (end)

Room Conversation -- July 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Never mind.

Mr. Myer: ...know exactly what is happening, once we commonize the kitchen, the office, accounting chain and everything. At present we are slightly under capital, small space, but... Gurukula is coming out very well. In fact we met the contractor yesterday. So we're hoping that by next month this time the whole thing should be shifted and so many more guestrooms will be released for people coming here for the festival. Possibilities are very good.

Prabhupāda: Everything is there by Kṛṣṇa's grace. Simply if it is nicely organized, things will... Tamāla Kṛṣṇa is very much appreciating.

Room Conversation-Recent Mail -- July 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Delhi temple is going on nice?

Bhāgavatāśraya: Oh, yes. We are redecorating everything inside. We've painted to about four feet off the ground with some gloss paint and then nice distemper. And I've spent, oh, a lot of money, around two thousand rupees on the whole temple. Temple room, Deity room, kitchens, everything, we're painting it all. And now Bhakti-caitanya Swami, he will have his office there. BBT office will be in Delhi. It is very good arrangement.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Maybe I should show you the pictures first. I've brought your glasses. These are the photographs, Śrīla Prabhupāda, of the Deities to be installed in Fiji. He's sending to you for your approval. First, this is Śrī-Śrī-Guru-Gaurāṅga in day dress.

Prabhupāda: First class. Just like life.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: You see how things are mismanaged. There is no place for accommodating the cooks. What is the question of cooking? Have you seen it? They have no place where to accommodate the cooks, so many cooks. Similar thing I noticed in Bombay also, so many laborers. What can I do? Anyway, don't be discouraged. But things are going actually. I am discouraged. At the same time, let things go on like that. Therefore I say do not mind for little more charges. If things are coming quickly, good work, pay. You are already squandering money in this way, in the kitchen. Why not for your own?(?) Hm? Unnecessarily you're feeding some rascal paratha, halavā, and paying him. Who is going to see?

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

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 -- August 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: All right. That's all right.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Then we can get the building complete in October.

Prabhupāda: Whatever money you have got, you squander. I don't mind. I know that the kitchen, so much money is squandered, and that is given. Squander. And increase the period of squander. That I know. So don't bother me now with your money. But finish within that period. That's all.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: That is my only request. Otherwise, you are squandering money. Do it. Do it. But after all, do it in time. I'm not going to live for long. If possible, I'll see and...

Room Conversation -- August 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That is not very good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's not a big thing here to cook. Prabhupāda just closed four kitchens down.

Prabhupāda: Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam (BG 9.26). No cooking. Tulasī and jala. You can offer little fruits, nuts, milk. No need of cooking. Takes much time. I want here no hired... But for the Deities and the devotees it is false.(?) Their association is bad. Make some arrangement so that you can avoid hired cooks unless it is absolutely necessary. The hired cook, they are most wretched people.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, it's about twelve-twenty. Maybe you want to take your message now. (break) (Bengali conversation with Bhakti-caru) (end)

Room Conversation -- October 9, 1977, Vrndavana:

Rāmeśvara: During the day he has a job with computer work, and in the evening he manages the restaurant. He is the general manager of the restaurant.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What does his wife do?

Rāmeśvara: His wife also helps in the kitchen. She spends the whole day working in the kitchen at the restaurant. And the two girls, they help as waitresses, serving the food and taking the plates.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Muslims come to eat there?

Prabhupāda: They are all Muslim. That quarter is very busy where the house, restaurant.

Visit From Allopathic Doctor -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhavānanda: Śatadhanya Mahārāja and I have formed the welcoming committee, and we're going to greet all of the guests when they come. We're having... The guesthouse will be empty tonight and cleaned up and all arrangements made for their stay there. That's as much as I've been able to do to date, because I don't know what Svarūpa Dāmodara has done. That's all I'm able to find out. There was nothing done as far as that goes-greeting the people and seeing that their living arrangements are made. They've made a temporary kitchen over in the Gurukula building for cooking, and we're seeing that the prasādam is... We're going to go over the menu, that that is all nice and nicely served. I'm waiting for...

Prabhupāda: And what about the conference place?

Bhavānanda: The conference place is being cleaned up now.

Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Purī Mahārāja: He's a big superior doctor, con-doctor. (laughs)

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) ...con-ductor. Bhakti-caru?

Brahmānanda: Just calling him. He's in the kitchen, Śrīla Prabhupāda. (pause)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Here he is, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) (break)

Purī Mahārāja: (Bengali)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? Maybe Purī Mahārāja would like to see the pictures from the Los Angeles Ratha-yātrā. Remember those pictures I showed you in London?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Who is come in?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Rūpānuga Prabhu is here, Tripurāri Mahārāja, and Ikṣvāku Prabhu and Yadubara Prabhu. Yadubara has brought so much film that he's very hopeful for your recovery so he can use it. He brought so much film to take pictures of you. He and his wife have come. In the kitchen, Pisimā is cooking, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Seeing her cook reminds one of the Kṛṣṇa book, how the ladies in Kṛṣṇa's time were always cooking nice preparations.

Prabhupāda: When the conference begins?

Room Conversation -- October 15, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Bank business finished? Bank business?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bank business concluded. (opening package) Almonds. Almonds. We'll keep these in the kitchen, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Special ām-ācāra. (Bhagatji laughs)

Prabhupāda: (Hindi or Bengali)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The dry things we can keep in your kitchen, almonds and nuts. Sometime you may like a little ground with honey or something. More fruits. Guavas. Silver cup. Big cup.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi or Bengali)

Room Conversation -- October 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yesterday you were really on fire, lecturing and translating.

Bhavānanda: Bhakti-caru has gone to the kitchen to bring some... But I recall that when we went to see the kavirāja he said... We had showed him your urine when it was muddy, filled with pus. He said he wanted that before this medicine could be given, he wanted to see that your urine had cleared up. But he had prepared the medicine and we have it here.

Prabhupāda: What is the dose?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Do you know the dosage?