My travelling (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"I am traveling" |"I can travel" |"I have traveled" |"I shall travel" |"I travel" |"I traveled" |"I was traveling" |"I'm traveling" |"I've traveled" |"my traveling" |"my travelling" |"my travels" |"travel" |"traveled" |"traveling" |"travelled" |"travelling" |"we are traveling"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "my travel*"@5 or "me travel*"@10 or "I travel*"@10

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview -- February 1, 1968, Los Angeles:

Interviewer: Did you come with the purpose of spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Prabhupāda: Yes. I am an ordained minister for preaching these missionary activities. So I came here in September, 1965. Then, for one year, I was traveling in many parts of your country. In the beginning I was in Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, and then I went to Philadelphia. Then I came to New York. And in this way I was traveling, not very much. And in 1966, in July 1st, I started my class in New York at 26 Second Avenue. That is my first starting. Then the younger generation began to come to me, and they started the San Francisco branch, Montreal branch. In this way the institution is going. And we have sent our students to Europe also. They have already started one branch in London, one in Hamburg. And we have sent our students in Honolulu. They have started a branch there. So our program is to start several..., as many branches as possible to spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. And it is very easy. We simply invite persons to come and chant with us. It doesn't matter what he is, what is his language, what is his religion. We don't take into account all these things.

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

Prabhupāda: Then Harvard University and Boston University, and one church. They have paid, yes. And one church, Arlington Church, in that church... I think you were present there? Arlington Church?

Govinda dasi: Unitarian?

Prabhupāda: No. You have not been in Boston. Some girls from temple, they were present.

Govinda dasi: Annapūrṇa?

Prabhupāda: Annapūrṇa is always present wherever I go. (laughing) She is very nice, that she wants to follow me. This morning I was asking her that "After your marriage where you want to stay?" and she said, "Wherever you stay, I stay." "And I am traveling. Then you are married. You must have a place to settle." Anyway, in that church they charged us for meeting, but we collected very nicely. We collected more than hundred dollars. Yes. A very nice meeting.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Radio Interview -- February 12, 1969, Los Angeles:

Interviewer: Did you come to found this society?

Prabhupāda: Not exactly, but I came to preach the gospel of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and fortunately I met some enthusiastic young boys and girls. So then we formed this society.

Interviewer: This was in New York?

Prabhupāda: Yes. I first came in New York. Then I went to Pittsburgh, and for one year I was traveling, and I established this society in July 1, 1966.

Radio Interview -- February 12, 1969, Los Angeles:

Interviewer: How many centers are there now?

Prabhupāda: There are six centers. Why six? Seven. Seven centers. One in New York, one in San Francisco, one in Los Angeles, and one, Santa Fe, one, Montreal, one, Boston, one, Buffalo.

Interviewer: And do you spend a certain amount of time in each center? Do you yourself travel from one center to another?

Prabhupāda: Yes. I travel... Just like now I am this side, and from here I'll go to New York. Then I shall go to Boston. Then I shall go to Buffalo. Then I shall go to Montreal. In this way I travel.

Interviewer: And in the main, are the people who have gathered around you, younger people?

Prabhupāda: Yes. My disciples are all between twenty to thirty years. Generally they are between twenty to twenty-five, utmost, thirty years old.

Interviewer: Is that deliberate on your part...

Prabhupāda: No.

Meeting with Devotees -- June 9, 1969, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: But suppose if Kīrtanānanda says, "Then I'll leave this place," then what will be the situation? As you say that "Unless I am in charge, I leave this place," similarly, if he says that "If I am not in charge, then I will leave this place," so would you like that he should leave this place?

Hayagrīva: No.

Prabhupāda: Then both of you are required. Then how you can say that "I'll leave this place," how he can say he'll leave? You must jointly work because both of you, you have started this New Vrindaban, and you have to work jointly. There may be sometimes disagreement, but you should settle up. Otherwise how you can make progress? He's a sannyāsī. He has got the right to travel. That is his business. He can go and preach. That is actually his business. His business is not to stay any place. Just like I am also; in this old age I am traveling, parivrājaka. So if you think that you can do without him, then he can travel and sometimes he may come here.

Hayagrīva: Well, I think he's necessary here. Definitely we need him.

Prabhupāda: So if his presence is necessary, then he is a sannyāsī; he should be given some responsible post. And if he is not necessary, then his main business is to go. Now, if I... I am getting older. If he travels all over the centers and sees as superintendent what things are going on, that will be also nice. And in my absence he can deliver speech and in that way he can get experience. Now he went to North Carolina. He did nicely. So... I know that both of you are required here to develop this center. Not that if you say, "I go," and if he says he goes, then this place, the advancement which is progressing, this will be stopped. It is now in the nascent stage. You should not neglect now. You should work conjointly.

Meeting with Devotees -- June 9, 1969, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Sometimes I think that "I came here with no money, and now I am spending so much money in traveling." (laughter) Aeroplanes. As soon as I get on aeroplane, immediately two hundred dollars. And not only I am, my assistant also. So Kṛṣṇa will provide. That doesn't matter.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- July 18, 1971, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: We have no other business than Kṛṣṇa. So it is a question of confidence and surrender. And actually we have no problem. So far our children are going, these boys, they are taking prasādam, we are taking prasādam, we are traveling all over the world, spending, as I told you, over 700,000's of rupees per month, but we have no source of income fixed. We have no business. Nobody goes to the factory, nobody goes to work, but still we are maintaining our establishment.

Room Conversation -- July 18, 1971, Detroit:

Mohsin Hassan: Do you do your printing in Japan and America?

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. I am... Whenever I travel, I travel all over, around the world.

Mohsin Hassan: I want to ask... Just a few more minutes. You went to Russia. What's your impression?

Prabhupāda: Yes, Russia is the same people. They are anxious to receive this movement. Very much anxious.

Mohsin Hassan: And are you intent to (indistinct) over there?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with Dr. Karan Singh, -- November 25, 1971, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Yes, (Sanskrit)-mukha. And one American lady, when she saw these boys are chanting on the street, she was surprised. She said that "Are you Americans?" She was surprised. One priest, when I was traveling from Los Angeles to Hawaii, one priest in..., gentleman there sitting, out of his own accord he came to me and began to talk with me that "Swamiji, I see in the face of your students brightness. How you have created brightness?" He admitted that. Another priest, Christian priest in New York..., in Boston, he issued a pamphlet that "These boys and girls, they are our boys. But we see they have got this nice qualification, they are mad after God, but we could not give them." So it is a process. The madness after God is there in everywhere, in every heart. But because it is now covered, we have to...

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: So we should utilize this human body for furtherance of knowledge. And the first important knowledge is that we should know that there is life after death. That is the basic principle of knowledge. Unfortunately at the present moment, in no university there is any department of knowledge where this education is given where there is life after death. I am traveling all over the world. There is no such department. They have completely evaded or set aside because they cannot make any solution whether there is... I talked with one Mr. Kotovsky, a Russian professor in Moscow. I was in Moscow. He said, "Swamiji, there is no life after death." Just see. He's a big professor and his knowledge is so imperfect that he says that there is no life after death. So that is the position everywhere.

Conversation with the GBC -- May 25, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Ah, no problem. GBC means now they should tour very extensive. That is the first principle, the GBC. Not sit down (in) one place and pass resolution. No, they must be active. They must act like me. As I am old man, I am traveling all over the world. Now to give me relief, the GBC members... I shall expand into twelve more so that they can exactly work like me. Gradually they will be initiators. At least first initiation. You must make advance. That is my motive. So, in that way I want to divide it in twelve zones. And we have to make more propaganda throughout the whole world. Now if you think that the world is so big, twelve members are insufficient, then you can increase more than that and make the zone similarly divided. It is world affair after all.

Introduction Speech By Dr. Kapoor and Conversation -- October 15, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So I had no money, (laughter). But one nice boy—his name is known all over the world, George Harrison—he has promised to give me loan.

Dr. Kapoor: Kṛṣṇa has all the money.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So actually, we are spending not less than seven lakhs of rupees per month throughout the whole our institution. But by the grace of God, Kṛṣṇa, we are selling our books very nicely.

Dr. Kapoor: That's very encouraging. That's most encouraging.

Prabhupāda: Yes. We are selling our books, average, at the rate of 25,000 rupees per day.

Dr. Kapoor: Ah. That is unbelievable, I must...

Prabhupāda: Yes. So they are selling magazines, books, and especially our Nectar of Devotion is selling like hotcakes. (laughter) Nectar of Devotion. So Kṛṣṇa is encouraging. There is no scarcity. And I am traveling throughout the world at least twice in a year. And each time we have to spend... Now we purchased $20,000 ticket for four persons. $20,000. $20,000 means how much in Indian exchange? $20,000 to ten times.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 29, 1973, Los Angeles:

Karandhara: Now in Russia, the people are starting to become disillusioned.

Prabhupāda: I, I, I am traveling all over the world. My opinion is that, materially, America is happy. And spiritually some portion of India is happy. Otherwise, there is no happiness all over the world. And material happiness is illusion. That is not happiness. Because it will break at any time. Therefore that is not happiness. And spiritual happiness is real happiness. So in Russia, there is neither material nor spiritual. So they are unhappy in all respects. I asked Professor Kotovsky to call for a taxi. So he said: "Well, it is Moscow. Very difficult to get taxi." So he came down himself, he showed us this way: "Please go in this way, in this way, and you get (to) your hotel." He's a big man. He knows that taxi will not be available. And there are few taxis only, show. I did not see any store very neat and clean, well-decorated. Not a single. All old with dust. As if antique shop. The antique shop, just like in your country. I was daily having my morning walk in the Red Square. The most dangerous square...

Morning Walk -- May 12, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like there are different nations. They are already existing. So jāti means that. Jāti means born of a particular species. That is jāti. Jīva-jātiṣu. Ṣu, plural number. So many jīva-jātiṣu. He's simply Bhramadbhiḥ. Just like I am traveling, sometimes America, some Australia, sometimes... But they are already there. I am going sometimes in America, sometimes Australia, sometimes Africa, but they are already there. I am the man; I am traveling. Not that because I have to come to America, I create America. This is nonsense. And there are many countries I have not gone there. Does it mean that they are not existing? They have no even human reason, these rascal scientists. The common sense reason. And Bhagavad-gītā clearly says they are already existing. Wherever you like, you can go. You can go even up to the kingdom of God if you so desire. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā.

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

Prabhupāda: Oh, in India, I shall stay about one week. Then I shall go to Japan.

Reporter (2): Do you find, uh, you must find it very, very difficult travelling all the time.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Reporter (2): What don't you like about it?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Haṁsadūta: What don't you like about travelling?

Prabhupāda: No, I like.

Reporter (2): Oh, you like it. Do you always go...?

Prabhupāda: Yes, but because I am old man, it is little troublesome for me. Otherwise, I like travelling.

Reporter (2): What, what were you doing, what did you do before this, before 1966?

Prabhupāda: I was retired from my family life. I was living in a holy place called Vṛndāvana. I retired from my family life in 1954. Then, in 1959, I took sannyāsa order. This is called renounced order of life. No family connection .

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

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Pradyumna: Professor Gombrich.

Prabhupāda: Oh. So you have seen our books?

Prof. Gombrich: Yes, I have, yes. You are travelling to India, I hear?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Prof. Gombrich: You are setting up a university in India?

Prabhupāda: In... What is that?

Haṁsadūta: Are you establishing a university in India?

Prabhupāda: It is not so easy thing. (Hindi)

Prof. Gombrich: At Navadvīpa?

Prabhupāda: Navadvīpa, yes.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk 'Varnasrama College' -- March 14, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That, as it is suitable. It is not that because the kṣatriyas were killing by bows and arrows formerly, you have to continue that. That is another foolishness. If you have got... If you can kill easily by guns, take that gun. Just like formerly, parivrāja, Caitanya Mahāprabhu walked on the street. There was no aeroplane or... Or he did not use it. Does it mean that I shall have to follow that? I must take the jet engine. If it is available. If somebody criticizes, "Oh, Caitanya Mahāprabhu walked on leg and you are travelling in the jet plane?" Shall I have to take that ideal? These are rascaldom. When you have to work, you have to work with the greatest facility. That's all. Now I have got the facility of the talking in microphone, and... So why should I not take it? It will be recorded. It will be heard by so many others. I am speaking to four, five men. It can be heard by a big crowd of four hundred men.

Morning Walk -- April 20, 1974, Hyderabad:

Indian man (2): (Hindi) ...in English

Prabhupāda: That is their local language.

Indian man (1): Even wordly, everything is in English in world also. But these peoples said, "Why the devotees don't...?"

Prabhupāda: Now, I have earned my practical experience. I am traveling all over the world. Everywhere, if not all, some sections they understand English. Everywhere.

Indian man (1): English is common language.

Prabhupāda: Yes. We cannot avoid English.

Room Conversation -- June 5, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: So far I have studied... I am traveling all over the world. It is my calculation that we can produce food to give food ten times of the population if we properly utilize the whole planet according to this-produce food. Why because the milk is produced more, the cows should be slaughtered when there is a need of milk? It is so nice foodstuff. So on account of this false nationalism, "This is my land, this is my land, this is my land..." And why not take it as God's land and produce enough foodstuff. There will be no scarcity. There will be no skeleton. And distribute it. Where is that consciousness? There is so much land uncultivated all over the world, especially in America, in Australia, and in Africa, so much, huge land, no cultivation. They are keeping some cows and slaughtering them and exporting. What is this? Why don't you produce food?

Morning Walk -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: So it was going on for some years, then collapsed. The movement was started by some priest or gentleman, and it was supported by President Eisenhower. It was patronized by him. So their principle was that, Christian principle, that "You do whatever you... Simply confess. Simply confess." So that man came to India also with his party, just like I travel. (break) ...substance, no movement will stay. It may go on for some time, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Now, what about our movement? It will stay or it will also go like that?

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico:

Professor: You are traveling all Latin America now?

Prabhupāda: Yes. I have traveled all over the world in eight years. Eight years? From 1967, eight years. So eight years I have traveled around fourteen times or more than that. No, twice in a year, almost.

Room Conversation with Reporter -- March 9, 1975, London:

Prabhupāda: No, you require... First thing, you require to eat. So Kṛṣṇa says that annād bhavanti bhūtāni (BG 3.14). Produce sufficient grain, food grain, so that both the animal and the man, they will eat and become robust, stout, and strong. And they will be capable of working. So that is the first thing. But who is producing food grains? They are producing motor tires. When there is scarcity of food, will these motor tires help us? We shall eat motor tires? This is going on, so-called industrialization, producing unnecessary thing which is not required, and they are neglecting producing food grains. And I have estimated—I am traveling all over the world—that there are so much space even now that if you produce food grain, you can feed ten times of the population as it is. But they will not do that. They will create motorcars, and the whole street is congested. At any moment there can be accident, and if you have to go to consult a doctor, you have to go thirty miles off. Because the motorcar is there. I am diseased. I want to consult a doctor. So he must be in neighborhood. But I have to go thirty miles. And maybe, before going to the doctor, I may be finished, by accident. Anartha, it is called anartha. Anartha means unwanted things.

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

Journalist: Yes. Is your son in the cult?

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

Journalist: In India or the United States?

Prabhupāda: India, in Calcutta, my family is there in Calcutta.

Journalist: You live in New York?

Prabhupāda: No, no, I travel all over the world. My, in America headquarter, Los Angeles. And European headquarter, London.

Journalist: Is Kṛṣṇa consciousness connected with any other religion? Does it derive from Hinduism or Buddhism?

Prabhupāda: Yes, you can call it Hinduism, but actually it does not belong to any "ism." It is a science of understanding God. But it appears like Hindu religion. In that sense Buddha religion is also Hindu religion, because Lord Buddha was a Hindu and he started Buddha religion.

Morning Walk -- May 31, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: ...see (sea?), you can... Water is so clear, ten feet down you can see clear.

Gurukṛpa: Here.

Prabhupāda: Any sea anywhere. When I was traveling by ship, I used to see ten feet down crystal clear. It is very clear water.

Gurukṛpa: But you cannot drink it.

Prabhupāda: That is God's supremacy. "If I don't give you water to drink, you cannot drink." And still, they are independent. Just see the fun. Even water, three-fourths of water, you cannot use a drop of water for drinking unless God gives you. He creates the cloud and give you. That is not your arrangement. You cannot do. Still they are independent. Jale kali-vāsa, nāme tila phyāsa. Sometimes sailors,(?) for being thirsty, they died in water. How they declare independence from Him? "There is no God. There is no authority. We are independent. We can do whatever we like." Childish.

Television Interview -- July 9, 1975, Chicago:

Woman reporter: What will you do in Philadelphia?

Prabhupāda: The same thing. I have got my temple there. I stay there, and I teach people according to my philosophy.

Woman reporter: Is Philadelphia your last stop in...

Prabhupāda: No, no, I travel all over United States. Then I will go to Europe. Then I will go to Africa. I have got my touring program for 4 months. (break)

Woman reporter: There's one more question I'm going to ask. Is that tea? Is that tea that you're drinking?

Prabhupāda: No, we don't drink tea. We don't drink tea, don't drink liquor. We don't smoke. This is our process, no illicit sex, no meat eating, no intoxication, no gambling. Unless one is married, there is no sex. And unless one is going to beget child, there is no sex. Not for pleasure. This is our regulative principle.

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

Prabhupāda: It is not a profession: "Now, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is my profession. I'm getting very easily food and shelter." Just like the Indians, they are doing, a profession, say another means of livelihood. Not like that. It is for para-upakāra, actually benefiting the others. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then Kṛṣṇa will be very much pleased: "Oh, he is trying." 'Cause Kṛṣṇa personally comes for doing this benefit to the people, and if you do, then how much Kṛṣṇa will be pleased. Then? Just like I am traveling in my centers, and if I see that my students, my men are doing very nice, everything is going nice, how much pleased I will be, that I'll save my labors and now write books for the rest of my time. Similarly, if Kṛṣṇa sees that you are, on behalf of Kṛṣṇa, you are trying to save these rascals, then He'll be very (indistinct) with you. They are rascals. The leaders are rascals and the followers are rascals and they're all going to hell. Nature's law is very strict. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). You cannot avoid it. Nature is all-powerful.

Morning Walk -- September 15, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: I have seen about some thirty years ago, one man was sitting... I was traveling in the railway apartment, and all of a sudden he jumped through the window.

Devotees: Whew!

Prabhupāda: All of a sudden. He was sitting nicely. What he was thinking I do not know. But he took the opportunity of open window and jumped. I have seen.

Indian man (1): A kind of insanity overpowered him.

Prabhupāda: Insanity... everyone is overpowered by insanity, anyone in this material world and who is trying to be happy. Everyone is in insanity. They are trying to different way. They do not know the only solution is, as Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇa... (BG 18.66). That they do not, neither they'll accept.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with News Reporters -- March 25, 1976, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: You are starving on account of your economic condition being bad or.... I cannot say anything. But they are also starving. You are poor by force, and they sometimes accept poverty voluntarily, just like the hippies. They have enough money. They are coming from very rich father and grandfather, but they lie down on the street, and the police comes and kick them, "Hey, get up! Get up!" Why? Why they have accepted this? So this kind of varieties we find everywhere-rich man, middle class man, and poverty-stricken man. Don't think that it is in India. I am traveling all over the world.

Press Conference -- April 27, 1976, Auckland, New Zealand:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Do you spend your whole year traveling, or only part of the year?

Prabhupāda: I am traveling either in Europe, America, Africa, Canada, India, everywhere.

Interviewer: So, do you have a home, or do you have...

Prabhupāda: I have 102 houses, but nowhere I am allowed to live. That is the difficulty. (laughter)

Interviewer: How old are you, Swami? How old?

Prabhupāda: What do you think?

Interviewer: Oh,... How old?

Prabhupāda: When one becomes old? Do you know?

Interviewer: Well, how many years do you have?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Interviewer: How many years?

Prabhupāda: I am eighty years.

Interviewer: Eighty. How long have you been a Hare Kṛṣṇa man?

Prabhupāda: Ten years. I began this movement when I was seventy years old.

Room Conversation with Reporter -- June 4, 1976, Los Angeles:

Reporter: I wonder if you can tell me a little bit about your routine. I understand that you only sleep about two or three hours a day. And do you usually sleep during the middle of the daytime as well?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Daytime I sleep two hours, and night also two hours.

Reporter: Ah! Two hours at night also.

Prabhupāda: Hmm.

Reporter: Does it...? Is it more difficult to do this when you're traveling a lot?

Prabhupāda: No. I..., my work is going on. By traveling also, I carry this machine. Dicta..., dictaphone. I dictate, and then my assistants, they write, transcribe, and then it is..., it goes to the Press. In this way my work is.... (noise comes from outside)

Magazine Interview -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Interviewer: Is this your last trip to America?

Rāmeśvara: He's asking if this is your last visit.

Prabhupāda: Not necessarily.

Interviewer: You feel that you can continue to make those serious travels?

Prabhupāda: Well, I began my traveling in foreign countries at very ripe old age, seventy years. Ten years I'm traveling. This is the fifteenth tour all over the world.

Interviewer: Are you surprised to see the popularity of your teachings in the last few years?

Prabhupāda: I think it is becoming popular.

Rāmeśvara: He was asking if you are surprised that it is being, that your books are selling so much and that so many devotees are coming.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. Neither anybody has written so many books within ten years.

Guest: How many?

Prabhupāda: Now it is fifty-four. Bring books.

Conversation with Clergymen -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Scheverman: Are you training people to become teachers in this school, this process of education?

Prabhupāda: Yes, as soon as you become. Without being first-class man, you cannot teach. A second-class, third-class, fourth-class man is not meant for teaching.

Scheverman: Where would you do this teaching?

Prabhupāda: Teaching everywhere, wherever there is possibility.

Kern: Do you do this by yourself? Are there any teachers?

Prabhupāda: No, I give them ideas, they go and teach. It is not one man's business.

Kern: No, I understand. Will you be here a good long while? Or will you be going to...

Prabhupāda: The thing is that I have established so many centers. So I have to go from one center to another just to encourage them. Otherwise I am old enough. I am eighty years. So traveling is not very good job for me, but still I do it just to encourage them.

Kern: Do.... Your lines of authority then come from you, or is it an elective authority?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everything is work on higher authority.

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

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

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

Rāmeśvara: Prabhupāda has no fixed home.

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

Interviewer: Oh, I see. I thought you were not returning to the United States.

Cyavana: He has traveled the world sixteen times around?

Prabhupāda: Yes, sixteen times.

Cyavana: Sixteen times around in ten years. So this is a common thing for Prabhupāda to do.

Prabhupāda: Just to inspect things, how they are going on.

Rāmeśvara: Just to inspect things.

Interviewer: But you might want to come back to the U.S.?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Why not.

Rāmeśvara: He might. But there are many projects in India now. That we can talk about.

Prabhupāda: Every year, almost six to seven months, I pass outside India.

Interview with Newsday Newspaper -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Interviewer: They still have to go out and ask occasionally?

Bali-mardana: It's not that we sit back and wait for Kṛṣṇa to send it to us.

Rāmeśvara: No, we're very industrious.

Prabhupāda: We don't sit down idly.

Bali-mardana: God helps those who help themselves.

Prabhupāda: We are not idle preachers, we are working. All, very hard, more than the karmīs.

Rāmeśvara: These men, they go out to engage people in taking our books maybe twelve hours a day sometimes, ten hours a day, without any salary.

Prabhupāda: I am now eighty years old, I am working twenty-four hours. I think I work more than my young disciples (laughter).

Bali-mardana: Oh yes, definitely.

Prabhupāda: I work at night.

Rāmeśvara: It is hard to keep up with Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Hari-śauri: Very difficult.

Prabhupāda: We are not idle creatures.

Rāmeśvara: We are publishing his books and sometimes he is ahead of us by seventeen volumes.

Interviewer: How do you spend your days? You do an awful lot of traveling I understand.

Prabhupāda: Traveling is going on throughout the whole world and wherever I go, at night I write books.

Bali-mardana: Translates.

Prabhupāda: Translate. And daytime I meet devotees.

Bali-mardana: Manage.

Prabhupāda: Manage.

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

Interviewer: ...planning a trip to India soon.

Prabhupāda: I'm planning to India, and from India to Europe, that is my business.

Bali-mardana: Travels.

Prabhupāda: I travel.

Interviewer: I mean you aren't leaving this country for good. You're a permanent resident, right?

Prabhupāda: Who said?

Interviewer: I don't know, I just heard that somewhere.

Prabhupāda: From where?

Interviewer: I don't know, somebody said it.

Prabhupāda: How can I answer this? Somebody madman must have said it. (laughter)

Interviewer: :I'm just checking it out, but there's nothing to it, huh?

Prabhupāda: I am touring always.

Bali-mardana: He's always traveling.

Interviewer: Where is your main home?

Prabhupāda: My home is back to home, back to Godhead.

Interviewer: Is where?

Hari-śauri: Back to Godhead.

Bali-mardana: With God.

Prabhupāda: That is my real home. That means every temple is my home.

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

Prabhupāda: Why don't you stay here in our temple?

Indian man: Probably I might. (laughs)

Prabhupāda: Yes. We have got ladies' department and gentleman's department. You can stay.

Indian man: I would like to invite you to Poughkeepsie and stay with us if it is possible.

Prabhupāda: Yes. How long it is?

Indian man: Hundred miles north from here.

Prabhupāda: So by car?

Indian man: Yes, by car.

Prabhupāda: It will take about four, five hours.

Indian man: No, two and a half hours. Two and a half hours.

Prabhupāda: Traveling is little difficult for me. So there are many Indians?

Indian man: There are about hundred and fifty Indian people. Thirty percent of them are Ārya-samājīs. They don't believe in anyone except doing (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: Second edition of Muhammadans.

Indian man: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Ārya-samājī means another edition of the Muhammadans.

Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:

Hari-śauri: You doing a color scheme on the different color for each canto?

Bhagavān: Maybe not, maybe keep the same.

Prabhupāda: There will be three parts or two?

Bhagavān: Two parts.

Prabhupāda: So give Bhagavān prabhu nice prasādam. Our, the devotees only eat prasādam.

Bhagavān: My prasāda was sitting here. I'm sorry to hear that you are so sick. You are sick.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Should have, cough, to stop.(?) The coughing is continuing and practically no appetite, and palpitation of heart. Going up the step is.... So how under this condition I can travel? It is not...

Bhagavān: Very difficult

Prabhupāda: Yes. When you came back from India?

Pṛthu-putra: Three months ago.

Prabhupāda: From Vṛndāvana?

Pṛthu-putra: From Bombay. I was last in Bombay.

Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:

Jayatīrtha: Harikeśa Maharaja and I were discussing last night about your travel plans, and we were debating on what was actually the best place for you to go. So someone was saying Tehran, someone was saying Paris farm, like this, but the point that came out was that as far as health is concerned, India is not the best place for you to go at all.

Prabhupāda: India.

Radio Interview -- July 27, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: I must be prepared, I must be bona fide to preach.

Mike Robinson: And how do you become qualified? How did you become qualified?

Prabhupāda: That is a spiritual process.

Mike Robinson: And so you presumably had your teachers.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Mike Robinson: Just as you now are teaching many...

Prabhupāda: If one is going to pass M.A. examination, he must be qualified. Not that all of a sudden one becomes M.A. He must be qualified.

Mike Robinson: So what are you doing now? You've come to England for a brief stay. I gather you travel a lot.

Prabhupāda: Just to guide my disciples and to see how they are doing things, that's all.

Mike Robinson: And do you do that, or travel around the world, don't you.

Prabhupāda: Yes, but now I am getting old. So it is little difficult for me. Still I have to do and come and see.

Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Ali: Does this mean that a person should turn his attention from the world, from his surrounding?

Prabhupāda: That you cannot do. Just like we are, although we are interested fully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it doesn't mean that we do not live in a house, we do not eat, we do not use motorcar, we do not use typewriter, dictaphone. We are using everything. But the purpose is different. We are traveling and paying heavily to the air companies. Whenever I travel, at least five, six men go with me, and one round trip world travel means sixteen thousand dollars or sixteen hundred dollars?

Arrival Conversation -- August 13, 1976, Bombay:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Ashnaniji's helping us a lot now.

Prabhupāda: He is the cause of this site. Unless he would not help, it was practically lost. I know that. Two, three hours how we finished that sales agreement.

Ashnaniji: Customs did not open anyway.

Prabhupāda: Oh, I see. We are always traveling, they should give us some concession. Every time we get checked. Actually, the government should have given us the best facilities because I am distributing India's culture all over the world.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda!

Prabhupāda: Unfortunately, I am not receiving encouragement from the leaders and the authorities. This is India's glory. History will say. (prasāda arrives) Give it, yes, you can...

Hari-śauri: Pass it out.

Room Conversation -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, but the mission should be, human being should be meant for doing good to others. Para-upakāra. That para-upakāra spirit is gone on account of losing our own culture. Otherwise, India's culture is para-upakāra. India was open, "Come everyone, learn." Lord Jesus Christ also came here. All the Chinese, learned scholars, they used to come. The history is there. And India was open. Gṛhe śatrum api prāptaṁ viśvastam akutobhayam. This is Indian culture. Even the enemy comes, "Yes, please come, you stay." But later on, they took advantage: "Oh, they are very liberal, enter there." And still we are liberal. "Please come here, stay here and take prasādam free, and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." Open to everyone. I shall manage anyway, I shall travel, still I shall lay down my life and bring money. Come here, stay. Still we are liberal. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission, janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra (CC Adi 9.41). First of all, make your life successful by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then do good to others.

Morning Walk -- August 31, 1976, Delhi:

Devotee: It seems to me that most people in India can cook something. Even if there's just cāpāṭis they can do this. But people in the West, they now are so helpless. They buy everything it seems in packets and you would not know how to prepare any food as much as just to cut the packet and pour it out and even then they don't even know how to put water into the pan.

Prabhupāda: They do not know how to eat on the whole. India knows how to eat. (Pause) I have traveled all over the world, and this is my experience. Nobody knows how to eat.

Devotee: Nowhere at all, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Only India. (break) ...every province they have got different dishes. Because the woman, they are trained up how to cook very nice.

Devotee: I even see these boys when I was in Chandigarh, in a dish next door to the temple we were starting there.

Prabhupāda: Woman is meant for that purpose, how to make nice palatable dishes.

Evening Darsana -- September 1, 1976, Delhi:

Indian man (3): And now you will remain here in India for some time?

Prabhupāda: That I do not know. I, actually, now it is little troublesome for me to travel all the year.

Indian man (3): You are just gone from (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: Rest, if I rest then there may be... Because I am dealing with all neophytes. If I don't keep them alive by personal presence... Still they are doing nice. I have appointed twenty secretaries all over the world. I am training them. They are managing. Managing nicely. I have been in New York and Los Angeles and Hawaii, all big, big centers. London, Paris.

Room Conversation -- September 5, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: ...Sannyāsī should go on preaching, preaching, preaching, preaching. Practically, I was sitting here in Vṛndāvana, in Rādhā-Dāmodara temple. So at the age of seventy years, nobody goes out. At least from Vṛndāvana nobody goes at the age of seventy years. But Kṛṣṇa asked me. I thought that I must go, Guru Mahārāja wanted it, Caitanya Mahāprabhu... Let me try. So if I had not gone then this institution would not have developed. So this is practical. Mahataḥ nirvicaraṇam.(?) Mahātmā, they must move. So when there is absolute necessity they may stay. Otherwise, they must move. Move on, move on, move on, move on, move on. No staying. That is principle. No staying. I am this old age, I cannot move... My... I... So many... Still I am traveling all over the world. I am simply interested that whatever I have done, it may not be vanquished in my absence. Let me go and encourage them. Otherwise, I have no capacity to move now. But still I am moving. Only for this purpose. Girinaṁ grhna-cetasam.(?) So a sannyāsī must move. A sannyāsī must not stay anywhere more than three days. That is the principle. So he was moving, but his moving is creating disturbances here. Therefore I have stopped. And besides that, a temple is nirguṇa. A sannyāsī is forbidden to stay anywhere else, but in a temple he can stay for more than three days provided there is business. Otherwise, there is no necessity.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 29, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: No. We shall gradually do. When the English language there, from English you can do any language.

Hari-śauri: Yes. There's unlimited field.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Sanskrit is very difficult. But when I have given in English language, you can convert into any other. English is known everywhere. This is international. So far I have seen—I've traveled all over the world—English language is understood. Sometimes they purposefully avoid. Otherwise, they understand. I have seen in Germany. They understand English, but they hate talking.

Room Conversations -- February 20, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Director of... (break) So arrange for that. (break) ...part of the country where there is vigorous malaria.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Really?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because he is director.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You were also traveling.

Prabhupāda: No, I was not traveling. The wife was traveling.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: His wife?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore doctor became fortunate. He got very good wife.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But you were most fortunate.

Prabhupāda: Huh? (break) I think so.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And your wife wasn't so good.

Prabhupāda: Because she was always against Kṛṣṇa... My father said like that, that "You are so fortunate that you don't like your wife. Don't try to marry again."

Second Meeting with Mr. Dwivedi -- April 24, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) If you agree to cooperate with me, you'll see immediately. Because I want to deliver the real thing, therefore in my feeble health I am prepared to go. If one man can understand, that I want to see. I am traveling all over the world to see that at least one man may understand. They have spoiled the whole situation by misinterpreting, by malinterpreting, and by bringing some rascal and pose as leader. The whole world is spoiled. If you want to preach some rascal philosophy, you do. Why you take Bhagavad-gītā? That is cheating.

Room Conversation about Mayapura Attack Talk with Vrindavan De -- July 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm. Go and take rest. (break) Because I am very much fond of traveling, touring, they might have caused some danger. So Kṛṣṇa has detained me. What do you think?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think you're right, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Yes. Actually the GBC, we all were thinking that it might be dangerous for you...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...to travel.

Prabhupāda: They would have been very glad that "Here is the old rascal who has spoiled our children." They could charge, and drag me to the courts and give me trouble. Therefore a restriction on me.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What, Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Restrict, that instead of myself, he has to restrict: "Do this way."

Room Conversation -- November 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So you come at four, have kīrtana (?). (break) I wish that you GBC manage very nicely and consider I am dead and let me try to travel all the tīrthasthāna. Without any responsibility. If I become recovered from this malady I shall come back and then I shall die in, what is it when the dead body is there, let them bring to Māyāpura and Vṛndāvana. I am thinking in this way. Bring little medicine and no medicine, little milk, and travel one place to another and if there is death, what is the lamentation? My age is ripe. In the open air and bullock cart or during daytime, eh? Or you can say semi-suicide, although living what consider me dead for the time. You manage and nowadays there is in India ample sunshine. So during daytime I shall travel and nighttime you make a camp under a tree. In this way let me travel all the tīrthas. I am thinking in this way. What is your opinion?

Room Conversation -- November 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's how long it takes to go around Vṛndāvana by bullock cart. It takes three hours walking at a good pace, and it takes at least five or six hours, Lokanātha says, by bullock cart. How...? We couldn't even go a half hour just around this temple.

Prabhupāda: No, I traveled. It takes two hours in the morning.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Walking.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But not by bullock cart. That's when a man walks very quickly you can do it in two hours, but by bullock cart it will take five hours. We have... You had difficulty even doing a half-hour parikrama around this temple. You became very faint. Whether you think that you can go five hours in a row?

Prabhupāda: From Mādhava Mahārāja's Maṭha, bring Kṛṣṇa dāsa Bābājī.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We should bring Kṛṣṇa dāsa Bābājī here? Okay.

Prabhupāda: And Indu.

Bhakti-caru: Indu-mati Prabhu?

Prabhupāda: Indu-mati.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Indu-mati.

Prabhupāda: Then talk.