Navadvipa (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"Navadvipa"

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Questions and Answers -- Montreal, August 26, 1968:

Prabhupāda: So your question, Rukmiṇī's question, Lord Caitanya's opulence... There are six kinds of opulences: richness, then fame, strength, influence, beauty, education and renunciation. So He exhibited all these six. He was very beautiful; therefore His name is Gaurasundara. Very beautiful-tall and stout and strong. There was no comparison of His beauty at that time, He was so beautiful, fair complexion. This time He did not appear in black complexion because people after fair complexion. So... And son of a very respectable brāhmaṇa family, and very highly educated. His scholarly manifestation you'll find in the explanation of one verse:

ātmārāmāś ca munayo

nirgranthā apy urukrame

kurvanty ahaitukīṁ bhaktim

ittham-bhūta-guṇo hariḥ

This verse was twice explained, two times explained: once before Sanatāna Gosvāmī and once before Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya. Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya was considered at that time to be the greatest learned man in India. At that time nyāya-śāstra, logic, amongst the learned scholar logic is the greatest weapon to get victory over His opponent. So learned scholar is always a very learned scholar in logic, nyāya-śāstra. So this logic was taught in Bihar, Dharvanga. India, in different parts of India, different kinds of education was imparted. In Benares, the Mayavāda philosophy was very prominent. In Dharvanga, logic was very prominent. In Navadvīpa, philosophy was very prominent, and nyāya also. Similarly, in Bharampura, Bharatpura.

Interview -- September 24, 1968, Seattle:

Prabhupāda: This Bhagavad-gītā is read by the human society not only in India, but outside India, since a very long, long time. But unfortunately, as everything is deteriorated by the contact of material contamination, so people began to interpret Bhagavad-gītā in different ways. Therefore about five hundred years ago, Lord Caitanya appeared, and he started the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement under His personal guidance in Bengal. His birthplace is known as Navadvīpa. Now, He ordered every Indian to spread this message of Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world, in every village, every town. That was His order. But unfortunately, since India was under foreign subjugation, they could not spread, or they lost their own independence of culture. But everyone expected after declaration of independence by India, such things should come to the outside world. But the government did not take much care of it. So far I am concerned, I belong to Lord Caitanya's disciplic succession, and my spiritual master, who was just ninth generation from Lord Caitanya, he ordered me that "You try to spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the Western world." Therefore in pursuance of his order, I have come here.

Interviewer: Where is Kṛṣṇa consciousness most common in the world, and how widespread is it in India?

Prabhupāda: In India Kṛṣṇa consciousness is cent percent spread. Every Indian, even if he is not Hindu, he is Kṛṣṇa conscious. There is one professor in Allahabad University. He is Mohammedan by religion, but he is a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa. On the birthday of Kṛṣṇa he would fast the whole day, and he would write one article to some paper. So similarly, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is heart and soul of every Indian. One may differ, one may not agree, or there are so many different classes of men, but Kṛṣṇa is known cent percent in India.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 14, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: Oh, that is... Yes. That is Sanskrit scholar. Not in prose. He'll go on composing verses. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu at that time was sixteen years old boy, but He was very learned logician. So the Keśava Kāśmīrī, he was traveling all over India by, I mean to say, competing other paṇḍitas, other learned scholars. So he, everywhere he was victorious. So he came to Navadvīpa. And in those days Navadvīpa and Benares and Udipi and Kashmir, four, five places, were very scholarly.

Allen Ginsberg: I have been to Birbhum.

Prabhupāda: Birbhum.

Allen Ginsberg: I've been through Birbhum, yes. Navadvīpa also.

Prabhupāda: So when he came to Navadvīpa, that was the... In all other places he was victorious. So all the Navadvīpa paṇḍitas, they conferred that "Nimāi Paṇḍita should be forwarded to talk with him. And if he is defeated by Nimāi Paṇḍita, then we'll become victorious because a boy has defeated him. But if Nimāi Paṇḍita becomes defeated, then we'll get another chance: 'No, you have defeated boy. Let us come.' " In this way they make. So Keśava Kāśmīrī was informed that first of all he'll have to talk with Nimāi Paṇḍita. So one day Nimāi Paṇḍita, boy Nimāi Paṇḍita, was talking with his disciples, students. And Keśava Kāśmīrī was strolling on the Ganges side. So he heard that this boy is Nimāi Paṇḍita. "Oh, I will have to talk with Him? He is a boy." So he went there, and when He was acquainted that Keśava Kāśmīrī..., "Oh, please come down, sit." So Nimāi Paṇḍita said that "I have heard that you are so learned scholar. Now we are on the Ganges side. You can chant the glorification of mother Ganges. She may hear and enjoy."

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 18, 1972, Hong Kong:

Prabhupāda: Yes. My headquarter is in Los Angeles. Now we have made very big headquarter in Bombay, Juhu. Twenty thousand square yards. We are constructing a very nice temple there. And similarly, we have got another headquarter at, by pīṭha, in Lord Caitanya's birthsite, Navadvīpa. There also we are constructing very big temple. It is eleven bighās. What is a bighā? About four acres.

Guest (1): What about England? London. How is your movement doing?

Prabhupāda: Yes, London is very... There is also. We have got very nice temple near British Museum, 7 Bury Place. And all Europeans, they come to see our temple from Germany, from France. Because we have been advertised in cooperation with the Beatles. The Beatles, Beatles, the George Harrison. You do not know his name? He is very famous man. Yes. So we have produced some records in cooperation with George Harrison's organization. So because the records are produced through George Harrison, we have got a very, very big sale. You see? And that has advertised Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Temple, London. So people come to see what is this Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa temple, out of... Because London, every day, thousands of visitors come in London. They have got visitors buses also, charge nominal. So London is still important. From all parts of the world people come. So anyone who comes, they come to see our temple.

Room Conversation -- July 5, 1972, London:

Sumati Morarjee: I know so many, but.... (Hindi exchanges)

Prabhupāda: ...maybe Paris. Maybe Nairobi. Then either Los Angeles or to India.

Sumati Morarjee: (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: (Hindi), because whatever that Māyāpur.... You have been in Nava, Navadvīpa?

Sumati Morarjee: Yes, yes, I have been to Navadvīpa, Māyāpur, Śāntipura, then that Katwa, all those places I have visited.

Prabhupāda: So, Māyāpur we are constructing a big temple. And Vṛndāvana also. So, for maintenance of the temple perpetually, I want to purchase some property in Los Angeles, because here, Los Angeles, property gets nice income.

Sumati Morarjee: Is it?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Sumati Morarjee: How?

Prabhupāda: Los Angeles.

Sumati Morarjee: Good income?

Prabhupāda: Yes, because any ordinary room is about a hundred twenty-five dollars. So a hundred twenty-five dollars in our Indian exchange is about thousand rupees. So, thousand rupees, two rooms, who will pay in India?

Sumati Morarjee: No, nobody will pay.

Room Conversation -- July 5, 1972, London:

Prabhupāda: Yes, because any ordinary room is about a hundred twenty-five dollars. So a hundred twenty-five dollars in our Indian exchange is about thousand rupees. So, thousand rupees, two rooms, who will pay in India?

Sumati Morarjee: No, nobody will pay.

Prabhupāda: (laughter) No one will pay. So then therefore I thought that to purchase one, two house, so that as Vṛndāvana property, because I am maintaining now the whole institution by begging. But when Vṛndāvana and Navadvīpa deities are there, there is no income.

Sumati Morarjee: No, there won't be any ... both places...

Prabhupāda: In Bombay we can go to you..."Mataji we have no more money, please give me some."

Sumati Morarjee: No, that is different, but these things...

Prabhupāda: Yes, so, but Vṛndāvana and Navadvīpa I want to make some provision. So I'm negotiating for that. This is one business. So Bombay.... (Hindi exchanges) Huh?

Sumati Morarjee: Of course, you won't get so much rent for London properties. They're also very much appreciated.

Prabhupāda: London property is very costly.

Sumati Morarjee: Oh very costly, but they're day by day, appreciating.

Prabhupāda: Hmm.

Room Conversation -- July 5, 1972, London:

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

Devotee: It's in Rāman Reti.

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

Devotee: How is the Gauḍīya...

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

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Sridhara Maharaja -- June 27, 1973, Navadvipa:

Prabhupāda: Oh, why, why not Back to Godhead?

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Last time I requested, but they have forgotten.

Prabhupāda: It is...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: (Bengali) Once letter to me that in Benares Candraśekhara and Navadvīpa Candraśekhara, uncle. The Benares Candraśekhara, the lekha śūdra, and the Mahāprabhu's maternal uncle Candraśekhara Ācārya...

Prabhupāda: Candraśekhara, yes.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh? ...Has been misplaced.

Prabhupāda: Oh, Candraśekhara Ācārya and śūdra...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Candraśekhara...

Prabhupāda: Where?

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Has been told to be this Candraśekhara, a servant Candraśekhara.

Prabhupāda: Benares Candraśekhara was a vaidya.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Vaidya.

Prabhupāda: And he is...

Conversation with Sridhara Maharaja -- June 27, 1973, Navadvipa:

Prabhupāda: Yes. He lectured. And I did not go.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Tīrtha Mahārāja did not go.

Prabhupāda: I do not know. Tīrtha Mahārāja did not go?

Bhavānanda: They were made Vice-presidents, but Śrīla Prabhupāda was asked to be chief speaker.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Once when I was in a hut here, then Ānandamaṇi came to Navadvīpa, and one devotee, Mano-rañjana, he wanted to bring Ānandamaṇi here. I refused, that "I won't be able to pay any respect to her. She's a pakka Māyāvādī." I, I saw that she, with a cow in her back and with the flute...

Prabhupāda: Yes, there is a picture like that.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Picture. So it is abhorrent. I refused that I won't, however she may be... She was not so great as she is now famous but I refused. What I need for him, for her? Hare Kṛṣṇa. Tīrtha Mahārāja is of this type, this type. I had one Sanskrit śloka devoted to Prabhupāda: Gaurī-gaṅga-taṭe nava-braja navadvīpe tu māyāpure śrī caitanyam atha prakāśa-kamaru jīvaika-kalanaudhi, śrī-siddhānta-sarasvatīti milito gaurī gurvanyaiḥ bhartur amriba prabhāta gagane rūpānuga-pūjitau.(?) Siddhanthi, (Bengali) He told the composer of this poem, "He has got not a place in the maṭha of Prabhupāda." Who can praise him in such a poem, "He cannot, he has no place...,"

Prabhupāda: Place.

Room Conversation with Reporter from Researchers Magazine -- July 24, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: (laughs)

Reporter: The attachment is mukti, materialistic attachment, and bhukti... (break) I was very impressed with the account, how...

Prabhupāda: This will be New Gokula.

Reporter: New Gokula. Hm, hm, it's very good.

Prabhupāda: They've got New Vrindaban, New Navadvīpa, New Jagannātha Purī, New Dvārakā...

Pradyumna: New Gayā...

Prabhupāda: ...New Gayā, and this is the New Gokula. You are in touch in politics, therefore I'm talking something of politics, that the politicians of India, they wanted the..., from the British government, India, a strong united nation. But they could not achieve that goal. Pakistan was taken away. They're now lamenting, or there is some, always unsettled anxiety due to Pakistan. So... So far this movement is concerned, we are spreading the Indian culture, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all over the world. So the politicians are lamenting for division of India, and here is a movement that everyone will glorify India for this culture. Why do they not join? It is practical.

Reporter: Yeah. But the trouble is that politicians are not interested in Indian culture; they're interested in power.

Prabhupāda: Therefore they're mūḍhas.

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

Professor: In India, where is your center? Do you have any headquarters or something like that...?

Prabhupāda: Yes, I have got center in Vṛndāvana.

Professor: Oh?

Prabhupāda: Yes, in Navadvīpa. I was, after my retirement from family, I was staying at Vṛndāvana. From 1956. Then in 1965 I came to America. So... Where is Haṁsadūta?

Paramahaṁsa: He's leading kīrtana downstairs, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā. Then...? You can, you can lead. Or anyone can lead. (break) So you like this kīrtana?

Professor: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Professor: It's very unusual in Sweden.

Prabhupāda: So you are, you are a devotee. Kindly cooperate with us, and overflood Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You are educated. Your word will be accepted more than ours.

Professor: Yeah. How does one order these books?

Haṁsadūta: We have them here or...

Room Conversation with Indian Ambassador -- September 5, 1973, Stockholm:

Prabhupāda: No, we can give you the names if...

Ambassador: I see. Please give me the name and the nationality. I can immediately (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: Yes. So you can submit immediately some of the names. Because we are organizing there, and the security department there: "Oh, your visa is now complete. You please return."

Ambassador: I know.

Prabhupāda: But who... We have got now temples. Who will manage that? Big, big temples I have constructed. In Navadvīpa, in Hyderabad.

Ambassador: Navadvīpa... Of course, Navadvīpa is...

Prabhupāda: In Vṛndāvana.

Ambassador: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Yes, In Vṛndāvana. We have got very, very, big, big temples now. So those temples, the Indians are callous. They are after technology. They are not coming. So how I'll manage, how I'll manage them if they are driven away? That is my problem. But the Indian boys, they are not coming. Indian educated... They are coming, but not very educated.

Ambassador: That's... I, I understand what you mean.

Prabhupāda: Yes. The educated Indian, boys, they'll accept good service. Why they come to temple?

Ambassador: I'm sorry. You are right.

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

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.

Prof. Gombrich: And, uh...

Prabhupāda: We have begun teaching, but I do not know when it will become a university. That is a big job.

Prof. Gombrich: I see, yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Prof. Gombrich: Who is teaching there?

Prabhupāda: Our students. We have got these books. That's all.

Prof. Gombrich: You don't have the Bengali paṇḍitas teaching Sanskrit?

Prabhupāda: At least, at the present moment, we haven't got. They're... Generally, in India, they want to learn English. So, as soon as they learn English, they can read our books. And Sanskrit is also... You have seen? We have given each word meaning, Sanskrit. The pronunciation. Oh yes. Here is the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.

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

Prabhupāda: Our students. We have got these books. That's all.

Prof. Gombrich: You don't have the Bengali paṇḍitas teaching Sanskrit?

Prabhupāda: At least, at the present moment, we haven't got. They're... Generally, in India, they want to learn English. So, as soon as they learn English, they can read our books. And Sanskrit is also... You have seen? We have given each word meaning, Sanskrit. The pronunciation. Oh yes. Here is the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.

Prof. Gombrich: So in Navadvīpa, will the instruction be in English or in Bengali?

Prabhupāda: These boys, they do not know Bengali.

Prof. Gombrich: Oh, I see. So it's literally for English-speaking devotees.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Not English-speaking. They are Bengalis, the students. But they want to learn English. Therefore we are teaching English.

Indian Man: Is this a government-recognized college now?

Prabhupāda: No. Government recognition means we have to abide by the orders of government. We cannot teach Bhagavad-gītā only or Bhāgavata. But our aim is to teach... We have got another school in Dallas for small children. There we are Sanskrit, teaching Sanskrit and English. Yes.

Prof. Gombrich: Yes. But did you yourself study Sanskrit at Vṛndāvana or...?

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 2, 1974, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Jayapatākā: He has given us nice shirt, Gaura-Nitāi.

Madhudviṣa: Yes. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...is a great opportunity, this taking bath along with the Vaiṣṇavas in the Ganges at Navadvīpa.

Jayapatākā: By your mercy, you have given us such a great opportunity, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is all respectively. You are all Vaiṣṇavas. To take bath along with you is a great opportunity.

Gurukṛpā: A great opportunity to be purified. (break)

Bhavānanda: ...spiritual master. Then when he reaches a certain point, he lets go. What is...? What becomes of Him? He is also Māyāvādī.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is Māyāvādī philosophy. (break) ...philosophy, cakhudāna dilo yei janme janme prabhu sei. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sings that, "One who has opened my eyes, my spiritual master, he's my father, life after life." So how he can, he can say, "Go away now"? That is Māyāvāda philosophy. (end)

Room Conversation with Robert Gouiran, Nuclear Physicist from European Center for Nuclear Research -- June 5, 1974, Geneva:

Robert Gouiran: ...one month. I should be very glad to know where I should go for my second trip. If you could inform me.

Prabhupāda: Yes, you come to Vṛndāvana. We have got nice place there, and we shall accommodate you. Real spiritual life you'll find in Vṛndāvana, in Navadvīpa. We have got places... In Navadvīpa also we have got very big building, and Vṛndāvana. These are recognized.

Robert Gouiran: But where is it?

Prabhupāda: Actually... First of all, thing is that what is your point of view for visiting these Aurobindos and Maharshi Raman and what others?

Guru-gaurāṅga: Pondicherry.

Prabhupāda: Pondicherry. That is all Indian.

Robert Gouiran: And Tirumalaya (?).

Prabhupāda: Tiru... One...?

Robert Gouiran: Tirumalaya.

Prabhupāda: You have been there?

Robert Gouiran: Yes.

Room Conversation with Roger Maria leading writer of communist literature -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: No, I'll give you example that mass of people in Jagannātha Purī, in Vṛndāvana, many thousands, ten thousands, twenty thousands people, every day come, to worship Jagannātha, to worship Kṛṣṇa, but there is a Ramakrishna temple in Belurmath, or somewhere else—nobody goes. So how do you say the mass of people are attracted to Ramakrishna? And similarly, recently, our foreign students went to Vṛndāvana, went to Navadvīpa, by thousands, but nobody goes to Ramakrishna Mission temple. Then other point: Ramakrishna Mission is working in the western world almost one hundred years. Find out their disciples so many we have got. So your statement, "It is meant for the mass of people," it is false. I have given you proof from India and from here also. That means throughout the whole world. In India nobody cares for Ramakrishna. That I have given you proof. You go to Vṛndāvana. There nobody cares for Ramakrishna. You go to Jagannātha Purī, Haridvar, so many holy places. Nobody cares for Ramakrishna. So your idea, that it is for the mass, it is false. (French)

Pṛthu Putra: He says he was talking about the time of Ramakrishna, when Ramakrishna was there...

Prabhupāda: That, everything, bubble comes and goes away. It is no meaning. (French)

Yogeśvara: He says numbers aren't really very important.

Jyotirmayī: It's not a proof.

Yogeśvara: It's not a proof, just numbers.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Morning Walk -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Paramahaṁsa: That vice, or sinful activity is not something one is born with, that he acquires those qualities. But many people believe today that they are born, you know...

Prabhupāda: But we are giving you the process of cleansing. Why you are persisting to remain unclean? We are giving you the medicine. We are all unclean. Now we are attempting and we are becoming clean. Why don't you come and be cleansed? (break) ...Navadvīpa. From the day you arrive there, you'll be cleansed. I have got such a nice place. Come there, and stay, according to our rules and regulations. He'll be cleansed. One may be diseased but there are so many clinics, so many physicians, cleaning. Why should you insist to remain unclean? (break) That is accepted. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ (?). By birth, everyone is a śūdra. Śūdra means unclean. Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. But he takes to the reformatory methods, he becomes cleansed, dvija, twice-born, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya.

Paramahaṁsa: Do people naturally act sinfully, or is that something that they develop?

Prabhupāda: Hm? By association. If you mix with the drunkards, you'll learn how to drink. And if you mix with the devotees, similarly, you can become cleansed. By the association. Saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ. One's desires develop according to the association.

Bhagavān: Śrīla Prabhupāda, in the Bhagavad-gītā, you state that sometimes they begin to take on these demonic qualities within the womb. These demonic qualities are inherited from the past life. So if we begin Kṛṣṇa conscious education very young, it's possible to stop these demonic qualities from developing?

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

Prabhupāda: We have got about hundred branches, and each branch, there are not less than twenty-five up to 250. So average, if you take one hundred, then it is ten thousand, yes. And all of them are young, within thirty, within thirty. So... And they are trying to understand the philosophy very nicely, even these girls. She knows. In India, even the big, big learned scholars, they are-Indian scholar, I mean—they were surprised when some of my students, the young students, girls and boys, were speaking in Navadvīpa.

Professor La Combe: You have all been to India?

Bhagavān: Not all. Some of us.

Professor La Combe: Not all. Some of you.

Bhagavān: We have a very big center in Māyāpur.

Prabhupāda: Navadvīpa, the birthplace of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Professor La Combe: I have been in Navadvīpa.

Prabhupāda: I see.

Professor La Combe: Long ago in 1936.

Prabhupāda: 1936. Did you see my Guru Mahārāja?

Professor La Combe: No.

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

Professor La Combe: On account of the seashore.

Prabhupāda: Ah. Vṛndāvana is very hot. Vṛndāvana is very hot.

Bhagavān: If you go back to India, you can..., you are welcome to stay in our temples.

Professor La Combe: In Vṛndāvana.

Bhagavān: In Vṛndāvana. We have Māyāpur, near Navadvīpa. And we also purchased some very nice land outside of Bombay. Juhu. Hyderabad and Calcutta.

Devotee: In Delhi also, we have a nice center.

Professor La Combe: What part of India?

Devotee: It's in West End. It is very close to the airport.

Professor La Combe: And in Calcutta?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Near Park St., Camac St.

Professor La Combe: Camac St. I know.

Devotee: Very nice, old... It was called the Ray Castle. It used to be occupied by some governors. (Someone gives the professor some prasādam.)

Professor La Combe: Thank you very much. Just a little.

Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: We have no other... Even in the Indian Parliament, the question was raised that "How is that this international society is spending lavishly? What is their income?" There is a rumor that Americans are sending these CIA, what is this? (everyone laughs) Rascal people, they think the CIA has come to dance and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. (everyone laughs) So, of course the reply was given that we have no information that these people are CIA but we know that they are maintaining themselves by selling their literature and public contribution. That's all. And we have got 102 centers like this. This is not very... If you go to our Los Angeles center, New York center and other, Vṛndāvana center and Navadvīpa center, not less than 200 men are there always. And we are providing with their food, shelter. We give education to their children. We are getting them married. We don't allow these boys to live as friends. No. "You get yourself married." Yes. (German) Here is a girl, Kausalyā. I picked her from Hawaii. Now you can ask what she was and what she is now. Now she's married. She's happy. She has everything here. Life is there. (pause) Hare Kṛṣṇa. So I think you are all learned gentlemen, you should give us support and cooperate with this movement. It is very nice movement. That is my request to you. (German)

Satsvarūpa: May we take your leave, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: No. You sit down. I do not... I can talk all night. (devotees laugh) Because it is Kṛṣṇa's talk that is your (indistinct) already. Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām (BG 9.14). Why do you stop? Satatam. Go on. Continuous. What is that? Satatam means?

Satsvarūpa: Always?

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: Where is Kṛṣṇānanda? What is...? What is his name?

Rāmeśvara: Kṛṣṇa-kānti.

Prabhupāda: Ah. Yes.

Rāmeśvara: Kṛṣṇa-kānti has moved to Santa Cruz. He has a house there. Navadvīpa Prabhu is now managing Golden Avatar.

Prabhupāda: He is technical.

Rāmeśvara: Yes. This is the man. His name is Robin.

Prabhupāda: He is...

Rāmeśvara: Very expert. And this is the duplicating machine. How fast can it make copies?

Robin: Three minutes.

Rāmeśvara: How many copies.

Robin: Four.

Rāmeśvara: It makes four copies on the cassette every three minutes, so we are mass producing your lectures.

Prabhupāda: Less than a minute, one copy.

Hṛdayānanda: Yes, both sides.

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

Prabhupāda: Denmark, Holland, and Rome, then Switzerland, Geneva. So we have got several branches here.

Reporter: Are many people joining you?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Just see, many people here. Each center we have got not less than fifty men, up to 250. Similarly, we have got in Australia and New Zealand, all over the world. In India we have got six. In India I have got six. In Vṛndāvana, Calcutta, Bombay, Navadvīpa, Hyderabad—in so many places.

Reporter: Is the work you recommend your followers to do purely spiritual, or do you...

Prabhupāda: This we simply say, that "God is great. You are servant. Don't be befooled that you are God. Don't be befooled like that." That is our program.

Reporter: Do they do anything like social work or other...

Prabhupāda: Yes, social work, this is the best social work. People are in ignorance, and we are giving them knowledge. Is it not the best social work? If you keep the man in ignorance and if you give him something... Just like your child. You simply give him to eat but no education. Then what is the benefit? Is that very good nice work, that you give your children nice food to become robust but no education? Is that very good nice work? People are, in this human form of life, especially meant for understanding God. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is the Vedānta-sūtra. So they are keeping them in darkness and teaching them technology, how to make cycle. That's all. The life is meant for understanding God, and they have been educated for making cycle and sewing machine. This is going on. Therefore there will be disaster. It is already there. Just like in America or any Western country, they have manufactured so many cars, and now they are flattering the Arabians, "Please give us oil." You see? Power crisis. And if they stop manufacturing, there is unemployment. And if they increase car, there is power shortage. So this dilemma, this modern civilization will have to meet this dilemma because they are going against the laws of God.

Morning Walk -- June 30, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: Who is that astro...?

Brahmānanda: I don't know his name. He lives in..., across, on the other side there, where the bank is.

Prabhupāda: Oh, Bamanpukur.

Brahmānanda: No, on the other side of the...

Prabhupāda: Navadvipa?

Brahmānanda: No, on the..., where the railway is.

Prabhupāda: Oh, Svarūp Gañj.

Brahmānanda: Yes, Svarūp Gañj. So he likes our movement very much, and he said that, he told one of our devotees that you were the most powerful personality in the world. And he has given very accurate astrology readings to some of our devotees.

Prabhupāda: And he was, what he has told about me?

Brahmānanda: That you are the most powerful personality in the world.

Prabhupāda: If I am representative of Kṛṣṇa, then I must be the most powerful. Kṛṣṇa has got..., all omnipotent. (laughs) Most powerful, the most my Godbrothers. That is my credit. They are thinking like that, "This man became most powerful than all of us. (Still laughing) He was a gṛhastha." They used to say all the gṛhasthas, paca-gṛhastha. Paca means decomposed. What Bon Mahārāja is doing now?

Satsvarūpa: I don't know up to date. I just know a few weeks ago he was in Canada.

Morning Walk -- August 24, 1975, Delhi:

Brahmānanda: He wanted one fan.

Prabhupāda: Fan? No.

Harikeśa: The reason is flies. They're terrible. (break)

Jayapatāka: ...Śrīla Prabhupāda, the deputy director of tourism of the government of West Bengal came out to visit Māyāpur. He said that many people have been wanting to see Māyāpur and Navadvipa. And the nearest guesthouse they have is Berhampur. They have a guest house at Berhampur. So they wanted to know the possibility if a bus of twenty-four people could use our guesthouse. They offered thirty rupees a night per room and said that normally they pay six rupees per meal. They wouldn't smoke or break any rules while they go in the building.

Prabhupāda: That's nice. Let them come. So in one room, one person?

Jayapatāka: Two people. Double room.

Prabhupāda: Thirty-two rupees?

Jayapatāka: Thirty rupees.

Prabhupāda: Thirty rupees. And meals?

Jayapatāka: Six rupees a meal they are accustomed to pay.

Prabhupāda: That's very nice.

Jayapatāka: Either rice, dahl, and...

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1976, Mayapur:

Bhavānanda: Yes, they have to. They've all been here. They all know it. They come with different personalities, different friends... In Krishnanagar, we are like the cinema in terms of entertainment. As soon as any man, any official, government official, his friends come from Calcutta, immediately they get in one of the government jeeps and they drive out here and come to see the ISKCON Maṭha, Māyāpur Chandrodaya Mandir. Immediately. So many men, they come all the time with their friends from Calcutta. Same thing in Navadvīpa. They come for an evening's...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bhavānanda: Fully satisfied. The woman puts on her sari, the man dresses up in his kurta...

Prabhupāda: So our arrangement should be to give them some prasadam, very nice treatment.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We've got to do this. We've got to do this.

Prabhupāda: And if important man should write something in the visitor's... Reception.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There should be a reception, proper receptionist.

Prabhupāda: So where the reception?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Will sit?

Bhavānanda: We'll make some arrangement.

Prabhupāda: Make it immediately. Reception.

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: You will find such confectioner's shop, sitting place and eating.

Bhavānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Like that.

Bhavānanda: Just like in Navadvīpa.

Harikeśa: They have that near the Gopīnātha temple in Vṛndāvana. Everybody goes there. That is very big.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We should make a nice sweet, sweetmeats also.

Harikeśa: Lugloos is big there. Those lugloos.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We should make many types of sweetmeats. There should be so many preparations, all offered to the Deity. People can purchase mahā-prasādam. It will be very big. When you read in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, every time Caitanya Mahāprabhu's devotees are purchasing prasādam from Jagannātha temple, all the time.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the system.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It sounds like they make a huge quantity at Purī, huge quantities of foodstuffs.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Any time you can get one thousand man's eatables.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Any time? But we only offer one little plate at ārati.

Prabhupāda: No, that you can increase as the demand is increased.

Morning Walk -- February 10, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was so strict (laughs) that because he married twice, he used to say, "strī-saṅgī, attached to woman," even his father. (laughter) He was very strict. Sometimes when he would be angry, he'd, "You strī-saṅgī." And don't discuss this thing. (laughs) He was very strict. No excuse, no compromise.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's where you got all of that from.

Prabhupāda: My is imitation, but his was real. (laughs) All these Navadvīpa people were afraid of him.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Afraid.

Prabhupāda: Strong-hearted. They made a, what is called, conspiracy to kill him.

Hṛdayānanda: Who did this?

Prabhupāda: Oh, the Navadvīpa gosvāmīs. They raised 25,000 rupees and wanted to bribe this police officer that "You take this money. We shall finish him. Don't take any action."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But the policeman said?

Prabhupāda: Refused. "Yes, we take bribe, but not in such cases."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Why?

Prabhupāda: "He's a saintly person. We cannot agree to that." Everyone knows police takes bribe. They admit, "Yes, we take bribe, but not in such cases." This was told by Guru Mahārāja, Bhaktisi..., to me. He was talking many things confidential.

Morning Walk -- March 13, 1976, Mayapur:

Mahendra: Sometimes they use it, right.

Madhudviṣa: In New York there was a big scandal. There was ten millions dollars worth of drugs confiscated from a boat, and they put it in the police lockup, and then it was gone.

Prabhupāda: In Navadvīpa... You have heard the name of Vamsidāsa Bābājī. So sometimes, when his things were stolen, the disciples will cry that "It is stolen." So he said, "Why you are bothering? One thief gives; another thief takes. That's all. Who gave the money, he is also thief, and who has taken away, he is also thief. So why you are bothering?" One thief gives; another thief takes.

Bhāgavata: He learned that the policeman was selling the stolen goods because one morning in New York they passed by the temple, and they said, "We have many cartons of paper towel. You want to buy?"

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Bhāgavata: They came by our temple. They said, "We have many cartons of paper towel."

Prabhupāda: Paper towel?

Bhāgavata: Paper towels, yes. And they asked if we wanted to buy. "Very cheap," they said, "cheaper than in the supermarket." So then we could understand where they had gotten...

Morning Walk -- March 14, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: No, no, not "certain time."

Revatīnandana: Does He ever say, is there any statement in the śāstra...

Prabhupāda: Now it is six-thirty. Generally I go down. If I like, I don't go.

Devotees: (laughter) Jaya Prabhupāda!

Prabhupāda: (break) ...party did not go Navadvīpa?

Revatīnandana: We went to another place. We did not go to Navadvīpa. We went to the temple of Murāri Gupta over here, just behind the Yoga-pīṭha. It's just around the bend.

Gurukṛpā: Today they are going to Nṛsiṁha-dvīpa(?)

Prabhupāda: Oh. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Gurukṛpā: Yesterday down at the Ganges there was everywhere Bhāgavatam class. Caitanya-caritāmṛta class was going on in different groups, and kīrtana was going on everywhere.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. (shenai band music) (break)

Gurukṛpā: Prabhupāda internationalized...

Prabhupāda: They can go to the Ganges.

Gurukṛpā: That is better. The lake looks very nice.

Morning Walk -- June 11, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Germany is little recouped, but England is finished. Therefore I say India got independence not due to Gandhi. It is due to Hitler. That is my opinion. I have got reason. The Hitler fighting with England made them smashed, so their political power became nil almost, and on this opportunity, Hitler helped Subash Chandra Bose, one of the leaders of India, to organize Indian National Army. This Indian National Army, when attacked, at least made a show of attack from Imphala(?), especially on Calcutta dropped bombs, and the whole Calcutta became vacant. Perhaps myself and a few others remained. I sent my sons.... Of course, daughter was married, but they sent to Navadvīpa, Śrīdhara Mahārāja's āśrama. My wife refused to go out of Calcutta. She said, "I'll be bombed maybe, but I'll not go out." (laughs) So I had to remain in Calcutta. So I've seen bombing and Calcutta all vacant. And one day I was eating in the evening, at night—immediately bombing. Kachori... I was hungry, (laughs) but the eating finished.

Hari-śauri: It was bombed frequently, or just once or twice?

Prabhupāda: Almost daily. But it was meant for bombing the European quarters. So when the Britishers saw that "Now this Subash Bose has organized I.N.A...." I.N.A. was organized by Subash Chandra Bose. Outside India, all the Indians, they contributed money, especially from Singapore. Singapore, Hong Kong, this side..., all the Indians, they contribute sufficiently. And he got men from the fighting Indians soldiers. The Britishers, they were fighting with Indian soldiers, with Germany and Japan and others. So the contract with Hitler and Subash Bose was this, that "All the Indian soldiers which you arrest in the war, please give me them. Then I shall organize." So the soldiers, when they understood they're being arrested—"We shall go to Indian side"—they voluntarily surrendered. So Hitler, all others, Hitler and Japan, Tojo, arrest them and give it to Subash Chandra Bose, and he was organizing in Singapore.

Room Conversation -- July 2, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Like being dead almost.

Prabhupāda: No fighting spirit. Ṭhākura dekhiya (indistinct). Just make a Deity, show. Our Tīrtha Mahārāja is doing that. His whole idea was, that "I have now captured the birthplace of Caitanya Mahāprabhu by high-court favor. Now I have got everything. People will come and they'll pay something, and that will be my income for my family." As the caste gosvāmīs do in Navadvīpa and other... A means of livelihood. He has no devotion. He wanted as a means of income. Like the Vṛndāvana gosvāmīs, Navadvīpa gosvāmīs do. Little devotion, automatically, there is. They are, after all, worshiping the Deity. But their purpose is different. Just like we have established Rādhā-Vṛndāvanacandra not that people will come and pay something. Who will come here, in this foreign country or in this secluded place? So our aim is to make the devotees real devotees. Not for earning money. When we establish a center in a place like this, where is the idea of getting money? (laughs) Who will come here? One, it is a foreign country, nobody knows what is Kṛṣṇa. And one has to come with so great difficulty, on the mountain. And who is coming to pay for it? After spending so much money, they will come here to pay? Our process is that wherever we stay, we worship Kṛṣṇa. As far as possible. That we are doing. Not for earning money but spending money. Now Tīrtha Mahārāja is seeing that without getting Caitanya Mahāprabhu's birthsite, Swami Mahārāja, he is attracting lakhs of people. Without the favor of high-court, he is attracting. That is his envy. This year, you were not present?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: At Māyāpur?

Prabhupāda: Oh, you were present?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes. There was always...

Room Conversation -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No. Chapter Three. "In this chapter the author has fully discussed the reason for the descent of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, after displaying His pastimes as Lord Kṛṣṇa, thought it wise to make His advent in the form of a devotee to explain personally the transcendental mellow reciprocations of service and love between Himself and His servants, friends, parents and fiancees. According to the Vedic literature, the foremost occupational duty for humanity in this age of Kali is nāma-saṅkīrtana, or congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord. The incarnation for this age especially preaches this process, but only Kṛṣṇa Himself can explain the confidential loving service performed in the four principal varieties of loving affairs between the Supreme Lord and His devotees. Lord Kṛṣṇa therefore personally appeared, with His plenary portions, as Lord Caitanya. As stated in this chapter, only for that purpose did Lord Kṛṣṇa appear personally in Navadvīpa in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja has herein presented much authentic evidence from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other scriptures to substantiate the identity of..."

Prabhupāda: You are reading Caitanya Mahāprabhu. About Nityānanda, see the contents? No, in the beginning. Chapter where is contents. Nityānanda-tattva.

Rūpānuga: "The Glories of Lord Nityānanda-Balarāma."

Prabhupāda: Fifth Chapter?

Room Conversation About Mayapura Construction -- August 19, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: In our favor.

Jayapatākā: In our favor strongly. And only a minority are actively opposed, one percent even. And thirty per cent are in doubt. So, so much so that even I saw recently the M.L.A. who was previously against us. And when I saw him I invited him for Janmāṣṭamī, and he said what about our program for a bridge? I said, "Oh, yes, I discussed with Śrīla Prabhupāda, and he suggested having a floating bridge to Navadvīpa. That will be very short. Very easily done with least expense." He said, "Anyway, next time you come to Navadvīpa you can discuss with me. I am ready to help you in all ways." So he has turned his mind around.

Prabhupāda: Who?

Jayapatākā: The MLA. The local Member of Legislative Assembly. He was previously a little against us. But because our whole aṁśa (?) is for us, if he doesn't cooperate he won't get their vote, they want the development in their area. Also the...He is changing a little. Everyone is saying that our society is actually simply doing sincere work.

Prabhupāda: As they doing (?).

Jayapatākā: This food distribution has been very important.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Room Conversation About Mayapura Construction -- August 19, 1976, Hyderabad:

Jayapatākā: Myself? What happened was I applied last September. So now it's nearly one year, so they had sent my application from Māyāpur to Calcutta, Writer's Building. Again back. Again Writer's Building, then to Delhi. Then Delhi sent again back. I went, and I asked the secretary, and I found out that they had sent again back from Delhi, again back to Māyāpur and then re-investigated me. At that time they brought in some local people, and one investigator, he said that "This Jayapatākā Swami, we have heard that he is a very bad person. He beats the people." They said, "No, We never heard such thing." "No, no. We have heard that he is very bad." In this way by negative they are testing. They came and told me that for two hours police is drilling three different people from Navadvīpa and Māyāpur. In this way no one said a bad...

Prabhupāda: No, if you are a famous man, then they'll do.

Gargamuni: Him and Bhavānanda.

Jayapatākā: Now Bhavānanda is more famous.

Prabhupāda: He is notorious.

Jayapatākā: But now he is in the papers.

Prabhupāda: (laughing) He... You are famous; he is notorious. It is very difficult to deal with these nonsense. They are devotees and either notorious or famous. Our Godbrothers, they do not like Bhavānanda. Eh?

Jayapatākā: No, they don't like me anymore either.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā? What is your fault?

Meeting With Member of Parliament, Mr. Krishna Modi -- August 31, 1976, Delhi:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: And to start out they can come to Vṛndāvana which is right nearby. We can take them in a bus. We have a beautiful center in Vṛndāvana.

Prabhupāda: Vṛndāvana and Navadvīpa.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: And Māyāpur, Vṛndāvana.

Krishna Modi: Yes, that because this is in India. Whenever they like, they will see it.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: So when can they organize this tour? How soon can it be organized?

Krishna Modi: I'll ask them. I have an idea about that only. Because yesterday Mr. Brahmānanda already told me that "Why not you people also stand up and say something about that." Why not you strengthen my hands. Because they press and press and they want something that I should say something. So if you people stand and then you say that "No no no no, this is not the thing and we have seen it and this and this and that and that." And they will be... That is his idea.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But the only people who are pressing charges are the Communists.

Krishna Modi: But they will do. That is their duty.

Prabhupāda: They are atheists.

Garden Conversation -- September 7, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That is mother and... (laughter) Jananī jana. (Sanskrit) Any rotten place, but birthplace has got some attraction.

Harikeśa: I feel perfectly at home there.

Prabhupāda: That is natural. Just like when I go to Calcutta. Therefore a sannyāsī is forbidden to live in his native place. There will be attraction. Caitanya Mahāprabhu never returned to Navadvīpa. (break) ...no striking six o'clock. Did you mark it?

Hari-śauri: I never hear him ring it. At least the one in the daytime. I think evenings he rings it.

Harikeśa: I heard the four o'clock.

Prabhupāda: He is not regular. That means he's another lazy fellow. All lazy fellows.

Harikeśa: He sits out here and he sleeps. He sleeps on the steps. I caught him last night.

Hari-śauri: When I was here before, sometimes I would go up to the caukidāra at night. They used to carry this big spear. A pole with a big sharp point on it. Metal point. And I would take his spear and stick it in his ribs and then he would wake up, "Oh." And then he would smile.

Prabhupāda: We have to maintain some paid...

Harikeśa: We've had so many caukidāras here and not one of them has ever... (end)

Room Conversation -- September 11, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Make a hand design like that and have your people make like that. Make a nice...

Dhanañjaya: Make, yes. I mean, better design.

Prabhupāda: Yes, make a better design. And the hand will be like this.

Dhanañjaya: Not like this. I like this myself. It's Navadvīpa style.

Prabhupāda: This is Navadvīpa style.

Dhanañjaya: Yes, I like this much better. Otherwise the arms are too long and thin.

Prabhupāda: In this way make a nice design Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. And Rādhārāṇī should be like this. This is Vṛndāvana style. Not this. This is Lakṣmī style. This. Make these arrangements. I am hopeful of this business. Very good business we'll have. I want to introduce in every family. They'll do it. If they do not worship, let them keep as dolls. That will also give them inspiration.

Dhanañjaya: Actually so many Indians in their house they're keeping just like dolls. They are not worshiping regularly. They're keeping on the mantlepiece or on the side.

Prabhupāda: In this way be encouraged and in full capacity do business and get others.

Dhanañjaya: There was one boy who just came from Italy and he's expert in wood carving.

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Press Interview -- October 16, 1976, Chandigarh:

Prabhupāda: Rupees. Per day.

Interviewer: Per day!

Prabhupāda: And by this collection, from this collection, we are bringing money in India. We are bringing money in India not less than ten lakhs of rupees per month. Our buildings and temples are going on in Bombay, in Vṛndāvana, in Navadvīpa. So we have got at least ten lakhs of rupees expenditure for these temples, and that I am bringing from foreign countries. So if by laboring hard at night in this dictaphone, I write books and I sell them in the foreign countries and I bring the money here for spending in India, do you think it is faulty?

Interviewer: One American professor who is a teacher of Hinduism there, in some of the universities you mentioned, she said, I asked him a question about ISKCON, and she said, "Well this thing is creating a bad impression in the sense that people are accosted everywhere, in the streets, on the airport, at the bus stand. They accost you and force you to buy their literature, to buy their books. And this is creating a revulsion.

Prabhupāda: So why you are forced? Suppose as preaching work... In our childhood we saw the Christian preachers were also standing on the road. So if we stand on the road and preach and sell our books what is the fault?

Interviewer: I put that. He said you are doing what the Christian... (break)

Press Interview -- October 16, 1976, Chandigarh:

Prabhupāda: That we have see, if you come to our center, live with us, you'll see how we are doing it. You are welcome. You can live with us any time or any period of time. You'll see how we are doing that.

Interviewer: Thank you, but you know I have living here quite often but...

Prabhupāda: We have our centers, we have got big centers in Bombay, in Navadvīpa, in Vṛndāvana. We have got very comfortable guest house. So you can come and live with us and see practically.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: If you all don't mind, just for five minutes, we would like to read the selected extracts from some leading scholars about this movement. We're not reading the views of Western scholars. These books are being used in five thousand universities, including Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, but some of the leading Indian scholars. So you also get an understanding of the Indian appreciation of Prabhupāda's activities. This for example, is a letter from Mr. Ghosh, District and Summon Judge in West Bengal: "I'm highly impressed at the sincerity and devotion of the disciples of the International Society of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. A visit to the Māyāpur Chandrodaya Mandir, West Bengal, sublimes the mind from all harsh talk and disturbing influences." Then...

Prabhupāda: (aside:) Stop now. Don't divert attention.

Press Conference -- December 16, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Farms.

Guest (3): Fifty, five zero.

Guest (5): Yes, five zero.

Prabhupāda: No, in America. We have got farms like this. They are very successful. They are eating fresh vegetables, fresh grains and milk, and chanting. The temple is there. They have left the city life. So I want to organize that here also. We have already one in Navadvīpa. The devotees are there. They are having their own cloth, own food, own milk, residence, and chanting. That's all.

Guest (3): Total membership for around the world?

Prabhupāda: Total membership is practically unlimited because we are now getting opposition, so... But actually dedicated life, about ten thousand like these boys.

Guest (5): What's going to be the name of this āśrama?

Prabhupāda: It is already told. It is ISKCON Venkateshvara Trust.

Guest (5): The name of the trust will be the name of the āśrama.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: New Naimiṣāraṇya?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: You can live with your son, husband, you can live. I can give you a room like this. So you haven't got to live underneath a tree. We have got up to date. (Hindi—asks if they have seen Vṛndāvana)

Indian lady: You must go to Vṛndāvana, everywhere.

Prabhupāda: We are offering best facility.

Indian lady: No she is saying, she wants to...

Prabhupāda: Similarly, you have seen our Navadvīpa also?

Indian lady: Māyāpur dekhi.

Prabhupāda: Māyāpur, yes. So we are giving, as far as possible, comfortable life. Because modern man, he cannot go to the forest and live underneath a tree. That is not possible. Therefore by begging, begging, spending blood, we are getting money all over the world and spend it like this. For me, I can live anywhere. And I can collect one or two ruṭi anywhere. It is not for me. It is for you. I have invited. Come here, stay and preach this cult, Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. That I want. People are being cheated all over the world shamelessly.

Indian lady: What about this Guru Grantha Saheb.(?) The philosophy which Guru Grantha Saheb has, what is that about?

Prabhupāda: Well why you are going here and there? Why don't you take one Bhagavad-gītā.

Indian lady: Inquisitive mind asks that question.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

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

Dr. Patel: It is in Assam.

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

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

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

Dr. Patel: Vṛndāvana?

Prabhupāda: No, no. Darbhanga, the entrance to Bengal from Bihar.

Dr. Patel: Darbhanga. Door to Bengal.

Prabhupāda: Hardwar. "Door to Hari." Dwar means gate.

Room Conversation -- January 24, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Sakhībekhī. There are so many apasampradāyas, thirteen at least in the counting by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura: āula, bāula kartābhajā, neḍā, daraveśa, sāṅi sahajiyā, sakhībekhī. This sakhībekhī. Smārta, jāta-gosāñi, ativāḍī, cūḍādhārī, gaurāṅga-nāgarī. These thirteen, fourteen apasampradāyas. They are passing as Caitanya Mahāprabhu's sampradāya. But they're the worst, rejected. The sakhībekhī, dressing like.... To cheat Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is after the gopīs, so they have dressed like gopī, and Kṛṣṇa does not know that he's a rascal man. (laughter) Just see. This is their intelligence, to.... "I have become a sakhī. Kṛṣṇa will embrace me and kiss me." So Kṛṣṇa is so fool. (laughs) These rascals are doing that. Sakhībhekhī. There was a Lalitā-sakhi in Navadvīpa. All women surrounding him. Somebody is dressing him with red, what is called?

Satsvarūpa: kuṅkuma?

Prabhupāda: No. Alta it is called. And gumta (?). Somebody is giving massage. Lalitā Didi. Rayarāma dāsa's guru-bhai. This Rāma dāsa's, I have... "Nitāi gaura rādhe śyāma." This Rāma dāsa and that Lalitā, they're Godbrothers. So many... And amongst them there was fight—"You said that you have done this wrong," "You said you have done this wrong." But both of them are dead and gone. There are so many that, Sakhībhekhī. All women. Sometimes he—I have heard all this—he will observe the menstrual period. (laughter) To laugh or lament? "He's in menstrual period." This Ramakrishna did. He was also, because Jagamati experimented.

Hari-śauri: Oh, he became a woman sometimes.

Prabhupāda: Yes, sometimes. And there was menstrual, menstruation period. He became so perfect, there was menstruation. (laughter) This rascal Ramakrishna did it. And he was going to make experiment of the Muhammadan realization by eating...

Hari-śauri: Meat.

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- January 30, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Yes, let us cooperate.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: It will be very easy.

Prabhupāda: Let us cooperate. The Manipur is already... For the last five thousand years at least, their name is in the Bhāgavatam, Manipur. And still they are Vaiṣṇavas. They have got temple in Navadvīpa, in Vṛndāvana. So Manipur have cele...

Gargamuni: The chief minister also came, Karan(?) Singh?

Prabhupāda: The governor of Punjab is Manipuri. He's so kind, he came to see me with his full staff. That governor is so respectful to me. So he came to see me. You know?

Pradyumna: Yes. At Chandigarh.

Prabhupāda: Chandigarh, yes. In his state way-eti khan,(?) secretary, everything—he came to offer me respect. So Manipuri people are very nice. So why not organize? Rejuvenate them. So you are the Manipur's son. Now you are perfect Vaiṣṇava. Now let us make Manipur a Vaiṣṇava kṣatriya center, very nice. Then make relation with Nepal. Nepal, they are kṣatriyas also.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They have intermarriage within the kingly families. The Manipur and Nepal. There is marriage.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They have intermarriage.

Room Conversation -- February 2, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Hm. That's nice.

Yugadharma: He has three sizes. He has four inch, six inch, and nine inch.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Yugadharma: And they are mūrtis that slip off the base. They are very first-class. I went to mūrtiwālā in Navadvīpa, Gopal.

Prabhupāda: No, he's not good.

Yugadharma: No. I went and looked at his prices and his quality...

Prabhupāda: No, no. Don't deal with him. He's a great thief.

Yugadharma: Yes.

Prabhupāda: I don't like him. He has made the karatālas so third-class. He is simply cheating. Don't deal with him.

Yugadharma: Laguna Beach temple... Agnideva dāsa, he's doing very nicely, very first-class. Everything is going... Temple life now is very nice.

Prabhupāda: Everywhere there should be nicer because you are getting experience.

Satsvarūpa: I have the mail, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that Jayapatākā Mahārāja brought yesterday from Calcutta.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Yes. Some book?

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Oh, I think about 1928, long ago, because about twenty years ago there was centenary, hundred years. So the local produce was not exported. Everything was cheap in the village because you have to consume. Whatever is produced in the village you have to consume. And these Britishers, they introduced railway and drew everything in the village to the town. And they would not sell in the village because they would get good price in the city. Otherwise in the village, everything was very cheap, very, very cheap-milk, vegetables, rice, dāl, everything. And the Britishers, they had no food. They have got only the potato. In England what they produce? No food. So everything was exported. Their policy was to supply manufactured goods and take raw materials from India. So they supplied cotton goods. They saw that all Indians are using cotton cloth. Iron they introduced. They introduced railway line, all iron, the carriage, the wheel, the road. Everything was... In this way they became prosperous. And the Indian people, they saw... They were educated because they are fond of going to pilgrimage by walking. They would go... Suppose from here, Navadvīpa, one has to go to Vṛndāvana. He would make his will, because he does not know whether he'll come back or not. Long distance, thousand miles, you have to go by, on leg. They used to go. So they were advertised that "No. Now you'll have not to walk. The Company, they're making very easy going railway." So they received it, "Oh! (Hindi)" (laughs) But their idea was to draw all the raw materials from villages and send it to England.

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām (SB 1.7.6). Anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje, lokasya ajānataḥ. The rascal people, they do not know how life is going on, and they are creating anarthas. Therefore vidvān, Vyāsadeva, vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām. So this is the position. Mūrkhāṇām upadeśo hi prakopāya na śāntaye. "If you try to advise rascal, he'll be angry."

upadeśo hi mūrkhāṇāṁ

prakopāya na śāntaye

payaḥ-pānaṁ bhujaṅgānāṁ

kevalaṁ viṣa-vardhanam

So this is the position. Still, we have to do our business. What can be done? Difficult task. Therefore, if you want to please Kṛṣṇa very quickly, you should struggle for preaching.

ya idaṁ paramaṁ guhyaṁ

mad-bhakteṣv abhidhāsyati

na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu

kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ

(Bg 18.68)

So we have got our business, to please Kṛṣṇa. That is our mission. So despite there are so many inconveniences, we have to do this business. Mūḍhaḥ nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ paramam avyayam. They are all mūḍhas. So we have been engaged to teach them some lesson. Caitanya Mahāprabhu did also. He sacrificed all personal comforts, home life. He was learned scholar, very honored in Navadvīpa. He had no grievances with family: His wife, Viṣṇupriyā; affectionate mother, Śacīdevī. But still, He gave up everything for the benefit of the whole world.

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Then? There was great agitation in Navadvīpa. He wanted to establish a temple of Jagabandhu. Do you know that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Acyutānanda spoke in a big meeting against this.

Prabhupāda: Yes, I sent him. (laughs) He challenged that his title is purchased.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They applauded that.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They applauded at that meeting.

Prabhupāda: Yes. If he knows about, anything about Caitanya, why should he say like that? Bogus temple. By attempting to establish a temple like that, he has diminished his value. And therefore it is doubtful whether he actually obtained this. Now, our Bon Mahārāja also writes "Doctor."

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

Prabhupāda: Hm. Come on. Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma. Jaya. very nice. (someone showing pictures?) Jaya Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma. We have got Balarāma, the most powerful being, so we have no fear. Balarāma. Nāyam ātmā bala-hīnena labhyaḥ. Bala-hīnena labhyaḥ.(?) "One who is not supported by Balarāma, he cannot understand, cannot come to the spiritual platform." Na medhayā na bahunā śrutena.(?) By intelligence one cannot. He must be supported by Balarāma, big brother of Kṛṣṇa. (laughter)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: When I came today from Krishnagar to here, Navadvīpa ghāṭa, on the bus, I was speaking about going to Gauḍīya Maṭha, and somebody almost gave a lecture, said that... They were speaking in Bengali, but I knew what they were speaking. They were telling about ISKCON, about Abhay Caraṇāravinda's mission.

Prabhupāda: Jaya. (laughs)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They were saying, "There are things going on and we must also go there." Somebody was advising people to come. (break)

Prabhupāda: And on this Kṛṣṇa culture, the India was ruling all over the world. During Parīkṣit Mahārāja time there was only one flag. And now go to the United States organization—simply flag increasing, "United."

Brahmānanda: In Africa they just made a new country. It's the smallest country in the world. It's one little island. Now it's independent country.

Prabhupāda: This is going on. So for the time being let this program. We go to Vṛndāvana and from Vṛndāvana to Bombay, and then we make program there. Is that all right? If possible, invite some ministers.

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Those who are after Hindi read. These professional Bhāgavata reader, what do they know about Bhāgavata? Rāsa-līlā, that's all. Kṛṣṇa is kissing Rādhārāṇī. Bas. That's all. And people take it that it is a sex literature. Vivekananda has said. This rascal Vivekananda has said that Vaiṣṇava religion is sexism, because they see sahajiyās in Vṛndāvana and Navadvīpa. The whole thing was spoiled.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So now they are finished. They actually never even began. The whole thing was a fake.

Prabhupāda: Whole Vṛndāvana is compact of sahajiyās. They'll... Our temple is there now. Here, this certification may be printed in a block letter, and you can, kept in our entrance of Vṛndāvana temple. People will read it. Is it not good?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Gargamuni: Can I get a block tomorrow and hang it up?

Girirāja: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Similarly, the judgment of high-court, that should be also printed.

Gargamuni: The chief justice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, the judgment from New York.

Prabhupāda: And respectable gentlemen will understand what is this temple. It is not this ordinary.

Srila Prabhupada Vigil -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Whole thing. We have no hope for...(?)

Guest (1): (Hindi) I have asked this boy to give me some necessary points about your life.

Guest (2): Biography.

Guest (1): He's my brother-in-law.

Bhavānanda: Last year, when you came to Māyāpur... This is the motto of the mandira we're going to build.

Guest (3): Māyāpur? Navadvīpa?

Bhavānanda: You were there last year?

Guest (3): We had been there for three or four days in temple block.

Guest (2): (Hindi)

Guest (3): He's M.A. from Oxford.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Guest (3): Or he was the chief editor of Sarasvatī and Bhārata Daily paper.

Prabhupāda: Sarasvatī... (Hindi)

Guest (3): In Allahabad. He's from Allahabad.

Prabhupāda: (aside:) So you just take his address and go and see him. He'll help you.

Room Conversation -- June 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: In Māyāpur.

Śatadhanya: In Māyāpur especially, yeah. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...wanted to see our. Is it not?

Śatadhanya: Yes.

Prabhupāda: All inhabitants of Navadvīpa were...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda said we should get some launch. Just like in Hrishikesh there's some launches and they take people free of charge back and forth, Prabhupāda said we should do that, take people back and forth from Navadvīpa Ghāṭa.

Prabhupāda: Not Navadvīpa Ghāṭa. Others, from...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, Svarup Ganj?

Śatadhanya: Navadvīpa.

Prabhupāda: Navadvīpa side.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: From Navadvīpa side?

Prabhupāda: Where you take bath, just opposite.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh. Right now there's nothing over there on that side.

Room Conversations Bangladesh Preaching/Prabhavisnu Articles by Hamsaduta -- August 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: The chart is given. The calculation there is finished. That doesn't matter. Rather, if I am finished now, it will be glorious.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It will be what, Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Glorious.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Living will also be glorious.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Let us see.... As Kṛṣṇa desires. All right. Thank you. Would you like to send to that Navadvīpa astrologer?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, I'm going to write to Jayapatākā this evening. I'll give him the information.

Prabhupāda: You have got the janma?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes. I'll have Abhirāma... What he has given, I'll have him write it up and add it to that other report. I have a file I'm keeping in case you want to hear again. Pradyumna is here, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Would you like to hear Caitanya-caritāmṛta?

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) Can you guarantee life? Then you are controller. Your so-called advanced medicine or advanced knowledge has no meaning. You have to die. Then where is the value of your empty voice?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What, Prabhupāda? Empty voice.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- October 30, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Gaura (indistinct) area where?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, right now our bank accounts are in Swarup Ganj, Bhavānanda Mahārāja?

Bhavānanda: We have in Swarup Ganj and Navadvīpa and Krishnanagar.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I felt we would open it in either Swarup Ganj or Navadvīpa.

Bhavānanda: Navadvīpa is good banks.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In Navadvīpa. And give the standing instruction at that time to Parliament Street bank to transfer every month the interest. That was my idea. But for the time being we have to tell them what to do with the interest. So I thought instead of going to the botheration of opening new accounts at the Punjab Bank at Parliament Street, let them go on transferring it to your accounts here. And then, when we open the Charity Trust account, then I'll give them a fresh instruction.

Prabhupāda: What...? The... In the Punjab National Bank, fixed deposits in the name of?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fixed deposits are in the name of... Five lakhs are in the name of Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Temple Maintenance account, and five lakhs, sixty thousand in the name of Māyāpur-Vṛndāvana Trust.

Prabhupāda: Oh. So where they will kept?

Room Conversation -- October 30, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Oh. So where they will kept?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The interest or the fixed deposits? The fixed deposits are in Delhi, and the interest, for now, for the next few months, I am instructing the bank to continue to transfer to the accounts here in Vṛndāvana that it's always been given to. Then when the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust account is opened, I will issue a fresh instruction to the Parliament Street bank that the interest money should be transferred to that account in Navadvīpa or wherever we open the account. My idea was simply that since the money is to be spent in Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi, then when we write checks out, etcetera, from that account, it's much easier to encash it rather than having to go to Delhi for encashment.

Prabhupāda: No, why Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi? Whenever needed...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, you said that the purpose of the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust was for development of Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi. That was your original... At least that's what you initially told us.

Prabhupāda: Mm. Which is better? Which is better?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That it should be just for Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi or general?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Room Conversation -- October 31, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhavānanda: Twenty-ninth December.

Bhakti-caru: It's a long way to go, actually.

Bhavānanda: Long way.

Bhakti-caru: About two months.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Two months. That's in Navadvīpa?

Bhavānanda: In Krishnanagar. The magistrate who is hearing the case is a real gentleman, very kind, understanding. He had been to Māyāpur about three or four months before this incident. He came with his wife and children. We gave him very nice prasādam and showed him the movie "Hare Kṛṣṇa People." And on the 25th of November, that's Rāsa-pūrṇimā festival, and that is big day at Māyāpur. In three days probably over half million people will come to the temple. We sell so many books, magazines. It never used to be like that, Śrīla Prabhupāda, until you built this center. Now the Rāsa-pūrṇimā festival has turned into a big, big event in Bengal. Everyone comes to Māyāpur on pilgrimage, just like Dol-pūrṇimā. Thousands and thousands of people, they come.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, in Vṛndāvana, it's... (break)

Prabhupāda: (conversation with Ānanda Mahārāja-Bengali) (break) Who is here?

Upendra: Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: (Bengali)

Room Conversation -- November 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: They go.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They are all Vaiṣṇavas.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Just on the western gate of Jagannātha Purī there is also a place for Manipur. Devotees there, they serve Lord Jagannātha in Purī, special section for Manipur on the western gate of Jagannātha Purī.

Prabhupāda: Everywhere. Navadvīpa there is Manipur Mandir. Here also.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, the Maharani of Manipur Mandir in Navadvīpa.

Indian man: In Vṛndāvana also Prabhupāda there is one? Which is that?

Prabhupāda: The Sevā-kuñja.

Indian man: Sevā-kuñja.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Also in Rādhā-kuṇḍa.

Indian man: Rādhā-kuṇḍa there is, I know.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That Sevā-kuñja is under the charge of the Manipuri devotees.

Prabhupāda: Manipur devotees are very enthusiastic.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So is Svarūpa Dāmodara. (Prabhupāda laughs)

Prabhupāda: So Agra University, you lectured professors?

Room Conversation -- November 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Do it.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Bring some boys from Manipur.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Manipur boys are very good workers. We saw them in Bombay. Remember, Śrīla Prabhupāda? I brought three of them to meet you. They all looked like Svarūpa Dāmodara junior. Very humble, intelligent, hard-working.

Jayapatākā: The Manipur Mandir in Navadvīpa, when I was gone they had sent an invitation for attending one function. They're very favorable. When the party went to Assam, then they got invitation to go to Tripura, which is next to Manipur. It's eighty percent Bengali-speaking and also many Vaiṣṇavas. So we expect to distribute many books there. Next month party will be going to Tripura.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Book distribution has hit India, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Jayapatākā: And, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I was thinking that it's very important... We want to complete this temple during your stay here on this planet. Then your life's mission will be... There won't be anything that's left uncomplete if we could just complete the temple. The present... Just meditating that what are the obstacle... Actually we have already enough land for the temple itself, but the temple design... When you first came to Māyāpur, then the temple was going to be 225 feet. Then we asked Saurabha to make a design, and then he made 300 feet. At that time the estimate was fifteen million. Then again he was designing, designing, and it went to 350 feet. Then it went to thirty million. Then it went to 400 feet, fifty-five million. Now it's up to seventy million.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Dollars?

Room Conversation -- November 7, 1977, Vrndavana:

Jayapatākā: That was supposed to be done this year, but then Bombay took all the funds. Prabhupāda sanctioned it already last year. It was a good idea. But Māyāpur has become very popular. This is all due to your effort, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Simply due to your efforts Māyāpur and Navadvīpa is becoming so much more famous and popular. We want to make the Māyāpur temple so beautiful and make the city so nice that not only the Queen of England and the President of United States, but even the Russian and Chinese leaders, they'll all have to come to see this. They can't avoid. Will that please Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura? If all the leaders, all these presidents and kings would come and visit the temple at Māyāpur, that would please Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Seems like your activities, Śrīla Prabhupāda, are so much pleasing to the previous ācāryas.

Jayapatākā: This is the secret you are showing, working towards satisfying the desires of the previous ācāryas.

Prabhupāda: Tāṅdera caraṇa-sebi-bhakta-sane bās. So you are all bhaktas. To live with you, to serve the lotus feet of the ācāryas, that's good...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We've already become famous as spiritual United Nations.

Jayapatākā: You've given the secret for success. (break)

Prabhupāda: If possible, make some improvement in Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's birthplace.

Room Conversation -- November 7, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Purchase it.

Jayapatākā: When you say Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi, that means any of the līlā places of Lord Caitanya.

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not just Navadvīpa.

Prabhupāda: No. No, in Bengal.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What about in Jagannātha Purī?

Prabhupāda: That is another. That is Orissa.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It is your great mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that you are allowing us to do a little helping to you in your service to the previous ācāryas. We are completely fallen, without any spiritual credit, but still, you are allowing us to help you in a little way.

Jayapatākā: Without your intervention we would have no hope.

Prabhupāda: Where is Jayapatākā's mother?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Where is Jayapatākā's mother?