Mathura (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"Mathura"

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Janārdana: Virāṭa rūpa conception.

Prabhupāda: Virāṭa rūpa, yes. That is also nice, right, that through fire He eats, yes, or through the mouth of the brāhmaṇas and devotees. Two things are there. Therefore, according to the Vedic religion, the brāhmaṇas or Vaiṣṇavas, devotees, are invited to take food in some ceremonies. In śraddhā ceremony they are especially invited with great honor. In pilgrimage somebody goes to Vrndavana, Prayag, Mathura. They invite the brāhmaṇas and Vaisnavas so that through them Kṛṣṇa is eating. They have come to satisfy Kṛṣṇa in a place of pilgrimage. These are the systems. So for the purpose of eating, so many brāhmaṇas have sprung up. Because brāhmaṇas are invited, so so many so-called brāhmaṇas there. They'll be present when eating, and when there is chanting of Vedas they are not present there. (break) Baby has also tilaka. (chuckles) She is very happy. You see? I never seen such small child not crying. That means she is always happy. She's not crying means... Because baby cries when there is discomfort. And with her face shows that she is very happy. (laughs)

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- May 10, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: I was simply asking, "When Guru Mahārāja will speak? When he will speak? When?" And I will sit down and go on hearing, and I will understand or not understand-others will disperse—I will not disperse. That he marked. Yes. First. There was first one instance. At that time I was not initiated. There was a circumambulation of whole Vṛndāvana. So although I was not initiated, I was one of the important members of the... So I thought, "Let me go. What these people are doing, circumambulating all over Vṛndāvana?" So I went to Mathurā. Then I went to the Vṛndāvana interior, which place was known as Kosi. So in that Koṣi one of my godbrothers declared that "Prabhupāda is going tomorrow back to Mathurā. So he will speak this evening. So anyone who wants to hear him, they can stay. And others may prepare to..." Sit down.

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: yes. That is the archeological evidence. Archeological evidence is that Buddha's statues were original.

Allen Ginsberg: The museum at Mathurā, I think, had the earliest human statues of Buddha, which are Greek nature.

Guest (1): Because Candragupta's style... (Bengali) And they had many temple...

Prabhupāda: No, Buddha is worshiped by statue. That is historical. That is historical fact. And there are many temples in Burma, China, and in Japan, all these Buddhist countries. But these Buddhist temples began not exactly after Buddha's disappearance. At least, after one thousand years. That is a fact.

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: Ratha-yātrā, as we are performing, San Francisco. So Lord Jesus Christ saw.

Allen Ginsberg: We went to Mathurā also.

Prabhupāda: Ah, Mathurā. Yes.

Allen Ginsberg: For several days. And Vṛndāvana for about a week.

Prabhupāda: You stayed there, Vṛndāvana?

Allen Ginsberg: Yeah, about a week.

Prabhupāda: Oh. You have seen Vṛndāvana nicely.

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: Mataji?

Allen Ginsberg: Śrīmata Kṛṣṇaji.

Guest (1): Mathurā, I think this Mātājī lives so(?).

Allen Ginsberg: In India.

Prabhupāda: No. She is not. She does not...

Allen Ginsberg: But in Vṛndāvana.

Guest (1): In Vṛndāvana.

Prabhupāda: Nidhuvana(?). In which year you have been in Vṛndāvana?

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Gaurachand Gosvami At the Radha-Damodara Temple (Mostly Bengali) -- March 11, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No, the check will not buy stamp; you have to take money.

Kṣīrodakaśāyī: Yes, I will give the check to the man and then he will give me cash to..., before we go to Mathurā.

(Prabhupāda converses in Bengali with guests) (break)

(in car, horn honking:)

Devotee: Actually he planned them very nicely.

Śyāmasundara: Is he willing to give us the rooms?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- March 12, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Atonement.

Dr. Kapoor: Atonement. So I was made to undergo atonement, you see. (chuckles) I was coming to Mathurā. I had to drop down some (indistinct) at Mathurā, and I had a trunk and bedding with me. (break) (Hindi), a big volume, about one thousand pages, that he had given to me for revision. So that thing was there, there was one...

Prabhupāda: Bengali?

Dr. Kapoor: Hindi.

Prabhupāda: Hindi.

Morning Walk -- October 15, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Śyāmasundara: When Kṛṣṇa used to come here, was His home in Gokula at that time, or Mathurā?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śyāmasundara: And He used to come here for herding the cows?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee (2): But He did not live here.

Śyāmasundara: Was there any palace here?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Room Conversation -- October 25, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Anyone can purchase. But to get the palace it requires great tactful dealing.

Gurudāsa: Subala Mahārāja and I are going to Mathurā today to find out the position what they have done in relationship to this sanction, written sanction.

Prabhupāda: From Mathurā, then go to Bharatpur.

Gurudāsa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: From Mathurā, Bharatpur is near.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 17, 1973, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Yes, so at that time Vinode Bhai, later on Keśava Mahārāja, he informed that "Prabhupāda is going to Mathurā tomorrow morning and he will speak Hari-kathā this evening. Anyone who wants to remain may remain or otherwise they may prepare to go to see Śeṣaśāyī." So at that time, I think only ten or twelve men remained. Out of them Śrīdhara Mahārāja was one of them, and I thought it wise, "What shall I see, this Śeṣaśāyī? Let me hear. Prabhupāda will speak, let me hear." So Prabhupāda marked that this boy...

Room Conversation with Anna Conan Doyle, daughter-in-law of famous author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- August 10, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: ...desert in India, is expanding. It is coming near to Mathurā and Vṛndāvana. So everyone is concerned.

Bhagavān: The desert is expanding because it's...

Prabhupāda: Desert expands. As everything expands and diminishes, desert also... That is nature's course. Desert means less production. So na..., if nature wants, she can make the whole world desert. What your tractors and so many agricultural machines will help? It will turn into desert. There will be no rain. What you can do? And still you are very proud of your scientific advancement. You cannot struggle with nature.

Room Conversation -- September 19, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No... nāpnuvanti. Saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ. Saṁsiddhim. Siddhi, siddhi is ordinary. If you become transcendentalist, jñānī, yogi, that is also kind of siddhi. Yogis, they have got aṣṭa-siddhi, aṇimā-laghimādi. But that is not saṁsiddhi. Saṁsiddhi is different. Saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ. The highest perfection, saṁsiddhi is to go back to home, back to Kṛṣṇa. That is saṁsiddhi. Mām upetya kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). That will save him from coming down again to this place which is full of miserable conditions of life. That is saṁsiddhi. That one can attain very easily. That is also described, that janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ: (BG 4.9) "Anyone who understands Me in truth..." Generally, people understand Kṛṣṇa that "He appeared as a great personality, son of Vasudeva. At Mathurā, He was born.

Morning Walk -- December 17, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Everywhere. (break)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Śrīla Prabhupāda, I think the Indian government has set up one oil factory now. I saw in the news, that in Mathurā now, the government of India has set up one oil refinery. There will be a factory there.

Prabhupāda: In Mathurā?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: In Mathurā, yes. They have laid the foundation, Indira Gandhi. I think a few months ago I saw in the paper. So there will be one refinery there. So it will be industrial town now.

Morning Walk -- December 17, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. They want to spoil the spiritual value of Mathurā, Vṛndāvana. They are not giving any more sanction for temples. (break)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yesterday Rūpānuga Mahārāja was telling me that about the calculation of time through the atom.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Rūpānuga: Calculation of time from the atom, Śrīla Prabhupāda. He is talking about Bhāgavatam. By the light passing over the atom, you can calculate the time, the sunlight passing over the atomic particles.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 22, 1974, Hawaii:

Satsvarūpa: When the customs authorities tried to stop Kṛṣṇa in Mathurā, He cut off their heads. They said, "Where are you going with that cloth?"

Prabhupāda: No, that is supreme authority. Supreme authority means nobody can check. That is supreme authority. But he is checked in so many ways.

Sudāmā: But the rascals, they say that "This is his līlā."

Prabhupāda: Līlā? Then I kick on your face. that is also my līlā. (laughter)

Bali Mardana: What's that.

Morning Walk -- March 29, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: But maybe it was being done by somebody.

Indian man (3): They must be... In those days... Those were the departurous(?) days when he was born.

Prabhupāda: This thing is being done, I know, in a big temple in Mathurā. When there is big crowd, they put off the electric, and the rascal goes within the woman. I know that. In Vārāṇasī also, in Viśvanātha Temple. They do like this.

Indian man (4): I know, I have seen. That is why this injunction... So now you are satisfied that these injunctions are right.

Morning Walk -- April 12, 1974, Bombay:

Girirāja: "...all the cowherd men who went to Mathurā to pay tax returned home and were struck with wonder at seeing the gigantic dead body of Pūtanā." (break)

Prabhupāda: Here is description of Pūtanā, twelve miles. Big gigantic body. And nobody has seen such gigantic body. But it is described in the Bhāgavatam. (break) ...Mahārāja was so simple, village man, that he accepted Vasudeva, a great mystic. Hare Kṛṣṇa. A devotee says that "I prefer to become a dog in the house of a devotee."

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

Professor La Combe: After Mathurā.

Prabhupāda: After Mathurā. It is Vṛndāvana, Vṛndāvana. There is a shortcut. Formerly... The road is very old road, from Delhi to Vṛndāvana, taking a turn at the place known as Chattikara. So on that road we are constructing our temple.

Professor La Combe: Constructing now?

Prabhupāda: No, it is finished.

Professor La Combe: It is ancient? But you are...

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk Through the BBT Warehouse -- February 10, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: I don't think... Is he singing any other song, no?

Gurudāsa: Now he is not. He's going to Vṛndāvana next week.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Vṛndāvana. Where he'll stay?

Gurudāsa: I wrote him a letter to stay with us, but he may stay in Mathurā. I'm not sure. I wrote him a letter to stay at our place.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Rāmeśvara: We have enough space here to store all the Spanish books, because they are printed in Los Angeles, or in America.

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Room Conversation with Canadian Ambassador to Iran -- March 13, 1975, Iran:

Prabhupāda: Yes. They have already opened some factory. One factory is there in Mathurā, in... What is? Who preserve the fruits in cans, what they are called?

Parivrājakācārya: Cannery.

Prabhupāda: Cannery? Anyway, so when they boil this onion, up to ten miles the good smell spread. (laughter) You see? And the whole atmosphere of Vṛndāvana is spoiled. Similarly, they are trying to refine oil, and the refuse will be thrown in the Yamunā. So the river Yamunā will be spoiled. Nobody will go to take bath. This is Indian government's policy. They think that this so-called spiritual fanaticism of India is the cause of India's material degradation. So this must be killed. Like the Russians.

Morning Walk -- April 23, 1975, Vrndavana:

Guest: But now they've put in Mathurā, refinery at Mathurā to pollute Yamunā River. And again problem will come after four or five years.

Prabhupāda: So if your government wants to kill you, who can save you? That is another thing. Rakṣa bhakṣaka. Government is meant for giving you protection, but if the government wants to kill you, then who will give you protection? Just like nowadays. The mother is meant for giving protection to the child, and the mother is killing now. Then who will protection? There is no other way. Even in the animals, birds, the mother is giving protection. And the small children, they are going after the mother.

Morning Walk -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:

Indian guest: Really, it is some kind of sanctifying to a person to come in contact with a real sādhu. In India I run into hundreds of sādhus, and I donate some money, but completely... Well, this poverty probably has brought this corruption, in that whole temple. I go to Benares and I go to Mathurā and I go to any temple, Badnatham(?), and those people only they are after money.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Indian guest: This has been over the... I don't know how it can be corrected, those holy places.

Prabhupāda: So you see, they are living within the sand... (laughter)

Brahmānanda: Has a house.

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: Mmm. His father is rich man. His father came to see me, yes.

Brahmānanda: From Mathurā.

Prabhupāda: Mathurā, yes. His father, mother... That Sally used to say, "My husband is a lost child of their parents." He is not doing very well. He is getting $800. At that time, maybe $1,000. What is here, eight hundred, thousand dollars? He could have lived very comfortably at his father's care. He is very rich man. (break) (walking:) Thing is that people are working so hard day and night for these temporary years, and less than that laboring they can go to back to home, back to Godhead. Little labor.

Morning Walk -- July 17, 1975, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: And even in the material world, Kṛṣṇa superficially has gone to Mathurā, but He has captured the heart of the gopīs. So He is not leaving. Gopīs are enjoying Kṛṣṇa by separation. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's feeling, how He is appreciating Kṛṣṇa by separation.

Bahulāśva: Out here on the campus, Śrīla Prabhupāda, different people come with little carts and they sell food things.

Prabhupāda: Food?

Room Conversation with Devotees -- August 1, 1975, New Orleans:

Prabhupāda: Yes. He was therefore called king. But he was a vaiśya. He engaged his land for agriculture and cow keeping. And Kṛṣṇa took charge of the cows, the calves, although still calf, He, (indistinct) This is the system. He was going with the calves whole day, playing with the boys and taking care of the cows, in the evening come back. Mother then washes and bathes and gives nice food. And immediately goes to sleep. And Kṛṣṇa is clever. At night He goes to the gopīs. (laughter) Then Mother Yaśodā did not know, when she thought, "My good son is sleeping." And the gopīs also would come at a place and they'll dance. This is called life, childhood life. And when He was grown up, then He was brought to, I mean to say, Mathurā and He fought with His maternal uncle, killed him, and then His father Vasudeva, took care, sent Him to, what is that?

Morning Walk -- August 25, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: And then we shall give him good refreshment.

Bhāgavata: The assistant chief of police from Mathurā has booked the V.I.P. room for the 29th and 30th of this month.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: For whom?

Bhāgavata: For himself and his family. He wants to stay in the V.I.P. room for two days. He booked about a week ago.

Prabhupāda: For Janmāṣṭamī.

Bhāgavata: Yes, for Janmāṣṭamī he wants to stay.

Morning Walk -- August 27, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So he is going to Mathurā? You told him? Huh?

Akṣayānanda: He is going after breakfast.

Devotee: What is the purpose?

Akṣayānanda: To meet Prabhupāda's relative, I think?

Prabhupāda: Yes. You have told?

Devotee: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So from Mathurā he can bring that medicine. You can give him.

Devotee: Castor oil.

Morning Walk -- September 1, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: As if Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked him to give this institution to Vṛndāvana. Such a foolish person.

Brahmānanda: Yet he also admits that any boys who have intelligence, who are good students, they will go to Mathurā and Agra and other places for education. Here only the village boys come.

Prabhupāda: (to passerby:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya.

Brahmānanda: Therefore he has very few students. He has very few students.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break)

Brahmānanda: Now he is wearing kuntī beads.

Morning Walk -- November 13, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Oh, husband, no. Yes. His son-in-law.

Dr. Patel: The son-in-law, Mathurā.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Ah, yes.

Dr. Patel: So he experimented as a Christian, as a Muslim, and all, and he said he came to the same truth.

Prabhupāda: That is rascaldom. That is rascaldom. He experimented means he was a fool. And a fool makes experiment, one who is fool. One who knows, why he should make experiment?

Morning Walk -- December 9, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: ...transform into a nice park this space. (break)

Akṣayānanda: Did Giridhārīlal see you last night, from the Mathurā Janmasthān? (break) ...influence Dalmia, but I don't know. We haven't seen any results yet regarding the gośālā. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...sandy. We want to avoid this sandy.

Harikesa: We should go back up, then. (break)

Devotee: The people here say that this is the Raman Reti. This is the place, the most sacred spot where Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma would come.

Prabhupāda: Hm. (break) ...panot. (loud squawking of birds)

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 10, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: No. '23, of course, when I first met him, he was sitting ground. I was also. At Mathurā there was party, parikrama party, in 1933. So I went to see that party, what they are doing, Gauḍīya Maṭha, out of inquisitiveness.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It was at that time.

Prabhupāda: Hm hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You mentioned once that most of the parikrama devotees, they wanted to go on parikrama but he was speaking?

Morning Walk -- February 10, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: 1933.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So from Mathurā everyone went to Allahabad?

Prabhupāda: Yes, or they went to somewhere. But I came back. From Allahabad I went to Mathurā, and I came back to Allahabad at my own place.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Initiation was held at that Gauḍīya Maṭha in Allahabad?

Prabhupāda: Hah. At that time that Gauḍīya Maṭha also not there. That is at a rented house.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Did you help to build that one?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: There is no use taking part in that meeting. Simply take a book stall. "Bhakti-yoga books." Give a signboard, "Bhakti-yoga books." And give the picture of Dhruva Mahārāja, five-years-old boy, executing bhakti-yoga alone in the forest. We have got meditation. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). That is real yoga. And Bhagavad-gītā, yoginām api... These ślokas, yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntarātmanā (BG 6.47). One who's chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, he is first-class yogi. Give one picture of the devotees chanting in a very nice place, and give evidence, yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntarātmanā: "This, first-class yogi. Here is first-class yogi." That will be our preaching. Dhruva Mahārāja is practicing yoga. There are many others. The highest perfection is Rādhārāṇī, that simply crying, "Kṛṣṇa has gone to Mathurā, not coming back." That is the..., the whole day and night crying. Who can perform this yoga? So if you, if possible, draw pictures.... Satchidananda, he is also a leader? He has?

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

Rādhāvallabha: It was Hṛdayānanda Mahārāja's idea to come here.

Rāmeśvara: We've been planning for some time to prepare one flyer advertising our Vṛndāvana guesthouse, because every year college professors take students to India. They all go to see the Taj Mahal, so they pass through Mathurā, so they can easily stop.

Prabhupāda: Agra they must go. Every foreigner, they go to Agra.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Agra.

Garden Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Then the proper utilization of time. Avyartha-kālatvam (Cc. Madhya 23.18-19). Advancement of devotional service means always be alert whether a moment is misused. Because you cannot get back even a moment of your life if you pay millions of dollars. Not possible. 1967, 10th June, 5 o'clock, you had to do something, and if you have missed, then that 5 o'clock, 10th June, 1960, ah, '76, will never come back, even you pay millions of dollars. So if that moment is improperly passed, then what is more loss than that? So avyartha-kālatvam. We should not let even a moment of our life misused. Avyartha-kālatvam. Nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ. This is advanced life of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Prītis tad vasati sthāle (Cc. Madhya 23.18-19). Attachment for living at places where Kṛṣṇa had His pastimes, like Vṛndāvana, Mathurā, Dvārakā. Prītis tad vasati sthāle. And avyartha-kālatvam (Cc. Madhya 23.18-19). These are advanced spiritual consciousness. Go on.

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

Prabhupāda: They asked, "What you want to eat?" "If you can, you make first-class kacuri." That is from my childhood. My friends also did it. They'd make the first-class kacuris in my youthhood. I am fond of kacuri. Kacuri is made first class in Mathurā. Agra and Mathurā. Very, very nice. The kacuri is being made, hundreds of customers waiting. At shops, there was many shops, waiting for purchasing. And as soon as it comes out of the pan, immediately sold. There is no question of waiting. They make spice nicest. That is India's craftsmanship. Nobody will starve. If you have no business, you prepare something palatable, and people will purchase, all over India.

Room Conversation -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Two weeks? Why? Because the ingredients were not...?

Harikeśa: No, because your mustard oil, no one liked to taste it, and then you changed it to mustard seeds.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Mustard seed also can be exported from India. In the Mathurā district there is sufficient mustard seed.

Hari-śauri: Yellow mustard seeds.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Mustard seeds and instead of chalk powder we mix nim powder. Mustard seed, nim powder.

Room Conversation -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Very big place. That you have seen this Keśavajī Gauḍīya Maṭha in Mathurā? No. There is Caitanya Mahāprabhu Deity. That Deity was there. When I closed that I brought that big, big sannyāsī and delivered them, they will show.

Jayapatākā: One man cheated you there? Some land? No.

Prabhupāda: The building belonged to a big zamindar. So Prabhākāra arranged. So it was to be given to me, and I wanted to start the League of Devotees from there. So I spent some money, whatever money I had, and it was going on. But in the meantime, this Lilavati Munshi, Mrs. At that time she was wife of the governor. Her husband, K. M. Munshi.

Room Conversation -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: The building belonged to a big zamindar. So Prabhākāra arranged. So it was to be given to me, and I wanted to start the League of Devotees from there. So I spent some money, whatever money I had, and it was going on. But in the meantime, this Lilavati Munshi, Mrs. At that time she was wife of the governor. Her husband, K. M. Munshi. She had some organization of foreign women. So somehow or other she got imagination that "This house is very nice." She was governor's wife. So it was not given to me rightly, but I was using. So she wanted that house. Through collector and through all government officials pressure. She wrote me later on, that "Bhaktivedantajī, you wanted to organize, but you could not. But I have got this institution. Why not give it to me?" So, of course, there were many lawyer friends. They advised me that "You do not give up. You should litigate." So I thought, "Who is going to litigate? Let me go to Vṛndāvana." So I left. So at Mathurā I delivered the Deity to this Keśavajī Gauḍīya Maṭha, and I made my place in Vṛndāvana.

Room Conversation with Pandita from Tirupati and Government Minister -- August 24, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: They have no idea.

Paṇḍita: No facility. So I left there. I came all the way, decided to select a place for myself. After touring Mathurā, Vṛndāvana, all these places, Kāśī, I came to Lucknow. In Lucknow Ramakrishna Mission I had been to. There was one Gauda Shivananda. He discussed with me, and he directed me to Calcutta. Then I went to Calcutta, and when I went to Calcutta, that Swami Gambhirananda, who is the general secretary now, was there. He asked me to join the Mission. I joined Ramakrishna Mission. I was in Ramakrishna Mission in Calcutta for one year. And I was taking care of their printing section, this proof-reading, editing, etc., Ramakrishna Vivekananda literature for one year. But still, my idea of going to the original texts of this Vedānta commentary etc., was not fulfilled.

Evening Darsana -- September 1, 1976, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: There is no sufficient outlet.

Indian man (3): Yes. But some of those āśrama, Mathurā, it's very deep, that four feet water in the āśramas. Three-four feet water.

Prabhupāda: Within the āśramas?

Indian man (3): And temple.

Pradyumna: Our temple is all right. Raman Reti is not flooded where we are. It's almost up to Fogel Ashram in the back, Yamunā, but it has not come to our Raman Reti.

Room Conversation -- September 4, 1976, Vrndavana:

Indian man: Right.

Prabhupāda: Prasāda.

Indian man: Your ideas are superb.

Prabhupāda: You remain in Mathurā?

Indian man: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Here is prasāda. Give. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)

Room Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Akṣayānanda: And there's no need for me to go out. There's so many nice sannyāsīs. So many big preachers and so many buses. So if we just try it.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Īśvara Candra prabhu has come from Mathurā. (break)

Prabhupāda: When you will come to preach something. You take it from me.

Īśvara Candra: Last one and a half year I'm trying for something in Mathurā but I'm...

Room Conversation -- October 3, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: My Godbrother's temple. He had a temple in Delhi, Karol Bagh. I left Jhansi and came to Mathurā. I lived there for few months. Then I went to Delhi. In this way, here, there.

Hari-śauri: The boy at the front, he's reading one of your old Bhāgavatams. He has one of your original Bhāgavatams. The boy at the front that's on guard. Akṣaya, the boy that guards. He's been reading one of your original Bhāgavatams, the 1.1.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Morning Walk -- December 27, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So anyone's question about this, this misdirected civilization? In India there was no such misguided civilization. Now they have learned how to misguide people, and they have taken this ideal, that "Unless we become like the Europeans and Americans our progress is checked." This is going on. Actually there is no progress. We are condemned. Why they should waste so much energy not for progress. Before British period, India, there were cities, but not like this because their energy was utilized. Cities were constructed especially in pilgrimages, like Mathurā. Mathurā is very old city, but that is a pilgrimage. Dvārakā, that is also very old city.

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: So Prabhupāda, I was just finalizing today this year's festival when the devotees come. I think instead of having a festival, a pandal in Delhi like we had last year. We had one in Ludhiana and Mathurā. In Ludhiana Caityaguru promises that he can raise money for the whole thing. Our devotees won't have to spend a penny. In Delhi if we do a pandal it will require an investment of at least twenty thousand rupees. If we do our festival in Ludhiana, book distribution I calculated will be as good and no money will be invested. We have a festival in Mathurā in Janma Bhumi. Every evening by buses devotees will go from Vṛndāvana to Mathurā. You wanted to have a big program there, you remember? When I was in Vṛndāvana. So we can invite different leaders also.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Delhi to Mathurā. It's only ten minutes flight. Fifteen minutes. Vṛndāvana to Mathurā it's only fifteen minutes.

Hari-śauri: Last time it was an hour. Almost three-quarters of an hour when we traveled from Vṛndāvana to go to that program.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Vṛndāvana to Mathurā is not more than fifteen minutes.

Prabhupāda: Fifteen to twenty minutes.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. It's not more than that.

Hari-śauri: We were at least... We were...

Prabhupāda: That we round about way.

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That we round about way.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Usually it takes by motorcycle fifteen minutes. In a car I think we could do it in fifteen minutes. So I calculated our Hindi distribution of books would be very strong because Mathurā we can generate big crowds.

Prabhupāda: You said that today we'll get another book?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Probably come by tomorrow.

Prabhupāda: What is that book?

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Easy Journey to Other Planets. They finished printing it yesterday and they're binding it together. One or two days, it always happens. When I give a date sometimes it gets delayed. So I figured the distribution of Hindi books will be very good. Ludhiana and Mathurā and also not much investment will be required. It's very common, devotees go every year and they are tired of it. So this year we should concentrate on book distribution. If we have a pandal in Mathurā every evening starting at six o'clock. If we can reach Mathurā at five for book distribution it will be nice. Actually I was also thinking of having a three day pandal in Agra.

Prabhupāda: Agra is very good.

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Agra is very good.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Agra is even bigger than Mathurā and our book distribution would be good. I'm going to write and see what the possibilities are.

Prabhupāda: Nearby cities we can...

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, that is what I'm thinking of. Near Vṛndāvana.

Prabhupāda: Away from Vṛndāvana.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Girirāja: There's that one man, he was very enthusiastic there, Mr. Bansalji.

Prabhupāda: Bansalji.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Yogi Amrit Desai of Kripalu Ashram (PA USA) -- January 2, 1977, Bombay:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: You like it? We only did ten thousand each, but I think we'll sell it out in Kumbhamela. And if we have these two pandals in Ludhiana and Mathurā...

Prabhupāda: So why don't you order more?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Right now I don't have much money, so I'm going slow. But when we sell, we'll get the money back, print more.

Prabhupāda: No, I can give you some loan.

Room Conversation -- January 7, 1977, Bombay:

Trivikrama: Many temples. All over India.

Indian (1): All over India. In Mathurā, Vṛndāvana, there is something going on.

Prabhupāda: And that is finished. Our temple is the biggest and the nicest.

Indian (1): Idea is the nice. Devotion is the biggest. So everything naturally...

Prabhupāda: (Hindi)

Indian (1): (Hindi) I will advise my people...

Prabhupāda: Why advise? Why not come practically?

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Oh. (pause) I think Mathura train also goes early in the morning. You have taken before?

Jagadīśa: Not from Bombay.

Prabhupāda: Two, three train goes, one Frontier Mail, one Deluxe Express and another-three trains for Delhi. It takes, altogether, from here to Delhi, nineteen hours. And Mathura, still two hours less. And from Mathura it is six miles. There are buses, ricksha.

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Just like in Kṛṣṇa's time there were cities like Mathurā, Dvārakā. They were cities, big, big city. And when Kṛṣṇa came, they were decorating, they were receiving. So that kind of city will continue, but not this hellish city-slaughterhouse, brothel and big, big tin car, and so on, accident.

Hari-śauri: Skyscrapers.

Prabhupāda: We have no objection to this, provided there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Unfortunately these things cover more time for their maintenance, and they forget Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That should be stopped. The main business is development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Room Conversation -- January 29, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: From business point... Now they're making Delhi industrially developed. That is new attempt. But Calcutta, Bombay, Kanpur is old... Calcutta is manufactured by the British. Bombay also manufactured. But Kanpur is older, very old. Kanyakubja. That Ajāmila upākhyāna?(?) Ajāmila?

Hari-śauri: Ajāmila.

Prabhupāda: Ajāmila story, that was in Kanpur. Very, very old city. Kanpur, Mathurā, they are very old cities. Allahabad, Prayāga. Prehistoric. Manipur.

Room Conversations -- February 20, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: They are like mother.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I met that Madan-Mohan.

Prabhupāda: Mathurā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Mathurā-Mohan. Whew! Smoking.

Prabhupāda: All spoiled. Mother has spoiled. Everyone.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What about this Vṛndāvana? He's...

Prabhupāda: He's half-spoiled.

Evening Darsana -- February 26, 1977, Mayapura:

Hṛdayānanda: "Besides his commentary on the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Swamiji has written on the Upaniṣads, the Gītā and on several other works of ancient bhakti lore. K. D. Vajpay."

Prabhupāda: So when I went to Vṛndāvana, he made friendship with me. The Mathurā Museum. He liked me very much. He remembered me.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That was in 1954 or '55. Twenty years after.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He still remembers.

Room Conversation -- March 31, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: This year or last year?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: This year. Over ten thousand people came.

Prabhupāda: They are, after all, Mathurā men, after Kṛṣṇa. They have got natural love for Kṛṣṇa.

Dhanañjaya: Also the decoration was very gorgeous in the temple. All the domes were lit, and in the front door two cakras and one lotus flower, opening and closing. Thousands of people were coming daily to attend it. We inherited all the American devotees that come. So they were very anxious to see the arrangements made. Also the signs are up on the road, Bhaktivedanta Swami Marga. Big marble plaque. Very nice stone fitting. In two places on the road.

Prabhupāda: On all the roads.

Conversation with Tamala Krsna about Yadubara -- April 22, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says his general idea is "to present and establish Kṛṣṇa as a factual personality and not just some mythical character." To do this, he wants "to show historical sites of His pastimes combined with paintings to illustrate Kṛṣṇa's birth, His Vṛndāvana, Mathurā and Dvārakā pastimes, speaking Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna, and His teachings as given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Then we would show His, Kṛṣṇa's, teachings, how Kṛṣṇa's teachings were passed down..."

Prabhupāda: This is good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: The idea is good.

Evening Darsana -- May 15, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: So sādhu descriptions are there. Sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇaḥ. A sādhu means ultimately bhajate mām ananya-bhāk. So tīrtha-sthāna, one should try to associate with sādhus. This is the purpose to go to the tīrtha-sthāna. Otherwise, if you simply go to the tīrtha-sthāna and take bath in the Ganges and Yamunā, and if you think, "My business is finished..." Everywhere, all tīrtha-sthāna... In Gayā-actually, begins from Gayā—there is Phalgu River. Then Benares, there is Ganges. Then there is Prayāga. There is also Ganges, Yamunā. Then go to Mathurā, Vṛndāvana. Everywhere there is the sacred river. So if we simply think that going to the holy place and taking bath... In Kali-yuga it is general hobby. Dūre parjakanam(?) tīrtham. In Calcutta there is Ganges, but...

Indian man (1): They will come here.

Prabhupāda: They will come here.

GBC Meets with Srila Prabhupada -- May 28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: This paper was started, one page, this. Now it has developed.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Now it's the biggest paper in this area, Hindi paper, Amara Jana(?). In Agra, Vṛndāvana, Mathurā. They have written about us several times. Even when the road was changed to Bhaktivedanta Swami Marg, we had a press conference—I was there—and they reproduced it that Chattikara Road name had been changed to Bhaktivedanta Swami Marg.

Prabhupāda: What is that photograph?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They have one of your photographs.

Prabhupāda: Which one?

Conversation about Old Days in Calcutta -- July 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Openly they'll never.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, it's hard to even find a butcher shop here.

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. In Mathurā there is slaughterhouse.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Wow! Government allowed. The government.

Prabhupāda: I do not know whether it is stopped or not, but formerly. In Bangladesh, fish you can get very cheap. It is... It is water. You can... Rivers.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So many rivers.

Prabhupāda: And especially for (indistinct), the branch of Ganges, it is full of fish, hilsa fish, very famous. You know hilsa fish?

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

Prabhupāda: So what you have paid for you coming and going? What is the amount?

Vrindavan De: (Bengali)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: From the Mathurā station?

Prabhupāda: No, no. From Calcutta to here. Ticket, what is?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Something like about... The ticket's about fifty-six...

Prabhupāda: (break) ...the modern kīrtana. Kīrtanāt... (break) "We shall improve our economic condition for more and more sense gratification." And that is the mistake. People are trying for that. Kāmasya nendriya-prītir lābho jīveta yāvatā (SB 1.2.10). Yāvad artha-prayojanam. Whatever money is required for maintaining, that's all.

Room Conversation -- July 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Mr. Myer: Oh, yes. This actually will be the largest, Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma. We think that now we have made all possible efforts people to know about it. In fact, if we could have a base in Mathurā—that's where all the people come from—and one on the highway, then I think we can attract people both side.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Everybody knows about this. Anybody who goes to Mathurā comes to this place. Oh, that's sure. People go to Mathurā to come to Vṛndāvana anyway. Anybody that comes to Vṛndāvana has heard about Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma. It's a fact.

Mr. Myer: So next two months are very, very busy starting from August. The books definitely, for printing and publishing, I'll get some samples. He has done good work. And in case you want to do some editorial work, he'll definitely do.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But then he has to be... To do editorial work requires that he understand the philosophy. And if he's following Sai Baba now, how will he...?

Mr. Myer: Actually he's not following. I think it's just that at that point of time, nothing else is there. Like most people...

Prabhupāda: The professors challenge him... What...?

Room Conversation -- August 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Then Tṛṇāvarta, big, big yuddha. Then Aghāsura, Bakāsura, Śakaṭāsura, this asura, this asura, that asura, in childhood, in Vṛndāvana, so many. Then, when He went to Mathurā, big, big elephant, big, big wrestler. Then Kaṁsa. Then, after Kaṁsa, then Jarāsandha, Pauṇḍraka, then kidnapping His wives. Fighting, only fighting. And these rascals say, "I do not like this Kṛṣṇa." You have heard that? He is creating his own Kṛṣṇa, this Gandhi.

Room Conversation -- August 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So you can go.

Surabhī: So I have to go to Mathurā. Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: You arrange. In this stage, don't tax me very much. Now I have authorized that will and everything. Follow that. You believe.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: We'll discuss it with Tamāla.

Prabhupāda: As far as..., don't tax me. And printing, don't mind for price. Do it quickly and nicely.

Room Conversation -- October 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, do you want tilaka?

Bhagatji: From Delhi, only day before yesterday the road was clear. Again it is raining. Delhi to Mathurā, that road.

Brahmānanda: The road is clear?

Bhagatji: Because it was blocked.

Hari-śauri: It was blocked. Yesterday they got through, but only just. The day before it was blocked. Now today again it's raining.

Prabhupāda: The buses stopped?

Room Conversation -- October 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Hari-śauri: He was driving your car from Mathurā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And he was also here when Bhagatji came.

Prabhupāda: He came?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Hari-śauri: Yes.

Prabhupāda: That is my concern, that such huge, huge establishment, if properly, regularly not managed, then again everything will be finished.

Room Conversation -- October 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I don't advise it, Śrīla Prabhupāda. I don't think it's a good idea to do. Because I don't see why we don't consult all twenty thousand doctors. I mean, why is he... Sac-cid-ānanda just happened to be... He goes to the shop and he sees the man's shop. Why not wait for Dr. Ghosh or call Dr. Ghosh here? I mean, what I'm trying to say is that if I go to Mathurā, I'll also pass many medical shops, so I could consult any one of those men, probably, just as well.

Sac-cid-ānanda: That's a fact.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's a fact, huh.

Prabhupāda: They have got good practice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because Vṛndāvana is small, so everyone has to go to whoever is the doctor here.

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Room Conversation -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Dr. Kapoor: He's not very efficient. You should call some good doctor from Agra, from Mathurā. Doctor Vyas of Mathurā is good. He's a devotee also, Dr. Vyas. The son of late Dr. Vyas, Dr. G. N. Vyas. If you say, I can write to him. Hm? I can write to him. Isn't there any doctor amongst the disciples of Prabhupāda who can stay here for some time?

Girirāja: Well, there are doctors, but actually it's very difficult to find a doctor that the treatment is effective. So it's very difficult.

Dr. Kapoor: What I mean to say is ask him to treat Prabhupāda or not. But there should be some qualified doctor who stays here permanently for the purpose of checking him out from time to time, because you are all laymen. If there is any complication, you don't understand it. So if there is doctor by his side always, he can check up and say, "This is so and so." You can call any other doctor afterwards and treat him. In the present condition of Prabhupāda it is necessary that you always have some good medical advice available here. So if you had one of the disciples of Prabhupāda... There was one Dr. Batnagar, I think, who retired as civil surgeon of Mathurā, who was here for some time I saw. If he can be help, you can call him, I think.

Girirāja: Dr. Batnagar?

Dr. Kapoor: I don't remember his name, but perhaps Dr. Batnagar. He's perhaps a disciple of Prabhupāda. He at least stayed here for quite some time, and he told me that once he proposed that he would stay here permanently and treat the devotees.

Prabhupāda: Sometimes they recommend hospitalization, and I don't like that.

Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhagatji: Dr. Gopal in Rama-Krishna Seva Ashram. Physician. He's an M.D. He is the best doctor in Mathurā district.

Kīrtanānanda: He said it is not... It's just one or two times you'd have to take.

Bhagatji: To check the blood. And I can call him to see you, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Let me taste this.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: First let him take the tablets.

Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: They cannot come for three days. Eh?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Many are coming for three days, except a few. From Agra I expect about fifty, and from Mathurā there will be about fifteen to twenty, and from Delhi I expect about thirty for tomorrow. Then, on Saturday, Sunday... Sunday is going to be... Everybody's coming on Sunday, whomever I invited. Because in Delhi, schools and colleges are still going on.

Prabhupāda: Fifty, fifty.

Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Which newspapers came?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: From Mathurā the Times of India came. I think five?

Jñāna: There were five reporters here altogether.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Five reporters. Also from All-India Radio they came.

Jñāna: They're coming again on Sunday.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. And the press people are coming tomorrow also, day after tomorrow. So we'll try to summarize what we have studied today and try to print it nicely in the newspapers. I requested them that this is a great responsibility for the newsmen to do this genuine scientific propaganda. So I requested them they should cooperate with us. They said that they will do it. I also requested the members of the delegate to kindly attend our temple functions. Right now I think they are in the ārati, sandhyā-ārati.

Prabhupāda: Hm. So let them.

Room Conversation -- October 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhagatji: So there is one Vedic kavirāja in Mathurā. Should I bring him?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well I don't know. First of all there's now already two kavirājas involved. Maybe we should first let this rāmānujī do his work.

Bhagatji: Today, he came today.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's a kavirāja. Oh, yeah. And Vanamali is coming tomorrow. So I think before you call a third man...

Prabhupāda: No, Vanamali is no use.

Room Conversation -- October 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We already have power of attorney for signing any kind of..., these kind of businesses, joint power of attorney.

Prabhupāda: In Mathurā why don't you go just now? He is also going?

Guest (1): (Bengali)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: See, first you have to have the certificates. That's what I'm trying to explain to Prabhupāda. This is only an identity slip. This has to be surrendered with the certificates.

Guest (1): To any post office.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Right.

Guest (1): Or any bank will collect.

Room Conversation -- October 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: At the post office. So you're going to Mathurā now?

Guest (1): Yes, I am going to Mathurā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So you want to go with me to the post office there?

Guest (1): Because I have no time.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, time is short. See, Prabhupāda, I was planning to go to the post office.

Guest (1): Or I can let you know everything to him.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. The main question's just that... And actually there is no need to...

Guest (1): But if you have power of attorney, then everything will be... But you have to collect it from bank. That would be easier.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. We will do it through the bank, not directly.

Prabhupāda: So why don't you do that?

Room Conversation -- October 22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Dr. Gopal: Mostly belongs to district Mathurā itself, in Bles(?) near Mathurā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: For many centuries? Do you know?

Dr. Gopal: No, my father migrated from this place to district Agra, Siroabad(?), in 1945.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Before that time?

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

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

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Ācchā. (break)

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

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

Room Conversation -- October 28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: There's a train at five o'clock that I came by, train, five o'clock. It's a very good train. Maybe they didn't know that train. It starts from Nizammudin Station. So if they're planning to come by train tomorrow, the Taj Express is at seven o'clock in the morning, arriving Mathurā at nine o'clock.

Upendra: Someone could call Delhi.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: I don't know whether they're in the temple or not. I think some of our men came from Delhi temple about four o'clock, arrived in the temple. (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And we discussed a number of points. One thing is that I talked to him about Panchashil flat. So I explained to him that he should feel the responsibility for paying for the living there, as we have given him this nice place. So he's agreed to do that. And I told him that whatever he pays, the receipts should be in your name, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. Apparently the receipts have been issued in the name of M. M. De. So I told him don't do that, because if they get the receipts in their name then they become the tenant. I don't want that. They're living there as our guest, not as tenants. So he agreed to that. As soon as I mentioned it, he understood what I was talking about. M. M. is a little clever. So then I told him, however, that the permanent electricity was never hooked up. Permanent electricity line was never installed. So since that was an initial giving of the flat, I told him that if he paid for half of that, we would pay the other half. I said but first of all he has to pay and send me the receipt showing that he's paid. It's about 650 rupees.

Prabhupāda: Six hundred and fifty?

Room Conversation -- October 28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Vrindavan De: As this Mail from here, Mathurā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So where to get the...? I don't want to get the tickets from Mathurā. I want to get the tickets from Delhi. That is my point. I will arrange to purchase a ticket from Delhi.

Vrindavan De: But where can I stay in the night?

Prabhupāda: Or you can go by plane. We shall pay.

Room Conversation -- October 29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Agarwal.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Is that his name? Agarwal? From Mathurā. Whew! Very high class man, thoroughly gentleman.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Noble-minded.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We met. Svarūpa Dāmodara and I spent an hour at Bhagatji's house. Bhagatji brought him. So he's going to do that Trust. He says in three or four days time he can finish it, Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust, with the aims and objects we have given. Then I talked about that squandering amendment.

Room Conversation -- October 30, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Adri-dhāraṇa Prabhu says that today the kavirāja is going to Mathurā, and he will sit six hours watching the medicine being distilled. He's personally going to watch to see so that there's absolutely no mistake made. This is required.

Bhavānanda: This man is competent.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I may not be an expert judge, but I have never seen, in my opinion, anyone who seemed to be this good.

Prabhupāda: No, if we have program to go to Māyāpur, he has got that distilled medicine in his dispensary.

Room Conversation -- October 30, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Oh, I also gave a lecture on the life in its origin. In Mathurā there is one veterinary college, the biggest in Asia, about two hundred scholars. We also showed "Hare Kṛṣṇa Frontier," "Spiritual Frontier" movies. They liked very much. And we're having another lecture Thursday to be given by Thompson in All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. There will be about some two hundred, three hundred scholars from around Delhi. We'll be discussing about life in its origin. And also we are planning to give several lecture in Delhi University, in the mathematics, biology and physics departments.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali)

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: What is the condition of the road?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This road is hopeless. We have to find an alternate way.

Bhakti-caru: How about going from Mathurā to Delhi by train?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Śrīla Prabhupāda, this morning you were asking for Bharadvāja? Here he is. We thought of a better way to go, Śrīla Prabhupāda, than car. We'll take the Taj Express from Mathurā to Delhi. It's quite a nice train ride. It takes only one hour and forty-five minutes, and it doesn't even stop one time.

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We will have one devotee get on in Agra to reserve a compartment for us, and then we'll board it here in Mathurā, and it arrives in Delhi at about nine-thirty at night, nine forty-five. So then we'll spend the night in Delhi, resting, and then the following morning we'll take the morning flight to Calcutta and Māyāpur. This means also that you won't have to undergo any strenuous journey to Delhi and then immediately take a flight. The train journey is actually much easier than a car journey, and then we get the whole night to rest, which is also good. So basically it just means we take a plane and then the car ride to Māyāpur.

Prabhupāda: So I simply go by car from here to Mathurā.

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: How long it takes to go to Mathurā?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: From here to Mathurā? It would take about twenty minutes.

Prabhupāda: Not much.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I mean, within one hour of leaving here you'd be on your way to Delhi on the train. Another thing is that that Taj Express is very much on time. It's never late because it only stops one time between Agra and Delhi, and that's here in Mathurā. It's a very, very exacting train. So we can arrive fifteen minutes before the train is expected to arrive. We don't have to arrive hours before, or anything like that.

Room Conversation -- November 4, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So, that legal business?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Girirāja has gone into Mathurā to meet with Mr. Garg to just see that all of the drafts are in order, if everything is in order. Then hopefully tomorrow we can finish it all.

Prabhupāda: So it was argument, not that we have rejected. Upāyān cintayet prajñāḥ...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You mean the treatment? Yes, I have learned to take everything very philosophically, Śrīla Prabhupāda. I mean I took it that you were presenting the..., you know, presenting the whole picture to be considered.

Prabhupāda: I am now puzzled. Still, I am thinking.

Room Conversation -- November 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: The brāhmaṇas must be fixed first of all.

Girirāja: Yes. So he said he would write today, and this evening I'll confirm it that he wrote and sent that letter, and then, within a week, we should actually get the confirmation. Otherwise they are very eager to do this and the only thing would be the date. So this afternoon we're planning to execute the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust and also the amendment to your will. So Viśvambhara Prabhu and I are supposed to go to Mathurā now to meet the registrar and some other people. So is it all right if I go now? (break)

Room Conversation -- November 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: How? The young kavirāja, oh.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bhakti-caru and Śatadhanya have gone to Mathurā, Śrīla Prabhupāda, to call the Shastriji from Calcutta. (Svarūpa Dāmodara and kavirāja assistant—Hindi)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What did he say, Svarūpa Dāmodara?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He said that it's a little increased, the heartbeat. There's a little increase in the pulse.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The pulse has increased? That's good. It is stronger or weaker?

Upendra: Did we give him medicine today so far?

Room Conversation -- November 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda? Śatadhanya Mahārāja and Bhakti-caru went to Mathurā and they called Calcutta. They spoke with Adri-dhāraṇa? So he's going to bring the kavirāja here.

Prabhupāda: Kavirāja has no telephone.

Bhakti-caru: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda, he has one. He has telephone at home and in his chamber also. But when we rang up, he was not at home.

Room Conversation -- November 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Many students.

Bhagatji: It contains many colleges outside Agra also. Just in Aligarh, in Mathurā, all are affiliated to Agra University. All other universities in UP are local universities, just like Allahabad, Benares, Lucknow.

Prabhupāda: This, our Bon Mahārāja's, that is also...

Bhagatji: Affiliated to Agra University, this quarter, yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Some people came here to the temple from Manipur today, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Did you preach to them, Svarūpa Dāmodara?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. They are very impressed. They said they'll come many. They told me they're going to come in many numbers.

Room Conversation -- November 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) Lokanātha?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Lokanātha has already gone, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Haṁsadūta: He has gone to Mathurā for renting.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He has gone out for renting the bullock cart.

Prabhupāda: Oh. (Hindi)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Lokanātha says that the bullock cart could probably go around Vṛndāvana in about five to six hours, parikramming Vṛndāvana town.

Prabhupāda: Make an experiment. Then we shall decide.

Room Conversation -- November 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So? Where did you go?

Lokanātha: I went to Mathurā. I went first to Vṛndāvana and looked for the carts. They were not very good kind. They were made for rough loads. So I went to Mathurā and spoke to one farmer. He had a fairly big size cart and two strong bullocks, and he asked for a hundred rupees. He wouldn't come down. So ultimately I agreed for a hundred rupees. And he will reach tonight at eleven o'clock. I asked him to start immediately, but they have pūjā—as we have go-pūjā, they also have oxen pūjā today—so he will only reach at eleven o'clock, and he will be with us all day long tomorrow. I had to give him one day or maximum...

Room Conversation -- November 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That will be very nice.

Guṇārṇava: There are already many thousands and thousands of people there, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Perhaps it will take a long time to get there because of traffic. I was in Mathurā today. Every ten minutes buses and ṭāṅgās and so many kinds of vehicles were going to Govardhana. There are many, many thousands of people there today.

Pañca-draviḍa: Besides that, the devotees would have to walk nine hours in the sun.

Guṇārṇava: Perhaps the road will be very busy tomorrow, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Whew!