No taste (Conv. & Letters)

Expressions researched:
"No improvement of taste" |"Not even taste" |"cannot taste" |"no information or taste" |"no more any taste" |"no more taste" |"no taste" |"not actually taste" |"not create taste" |"not much taste" |"not practically taste" |"not taste" |"not the taste" |"not to taste"

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 17, 1971, Allahabad:

Prabhupāda: Condition.

Guest (1): You see, otherwise it is said that when a person is happy with the self, happy with others...

Prabhupāda: No, no. No, no. Try to understand. He has got his senses. These senses are now covered with the coating of material conception of life. Therefore this sense pleasure is not complete or perfect. Just like everyone has got... Now, you have got your tongue. Now, the tongue, when it is coated you cannot taste the things. So the coating is māyā.

Guest (1): What I was, missing me was in this degree, that just like here, people, why we are, we got the news in our senses, our mind sees or perceives...

Prabhupāda: These are living, symptoms of living condition.

Room Conversation Excerpt -- March 18, 1971, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Whenever there is sun, there is sunlight, immediately. Where there is light, immediately there is illumination. Just like a drop of poison. You just take a drop of poison as soon as it touches the tongue immediately it expands all over the whole body and it make the whole blood, water, dead. How it expands, a small grain of potassium cyanide? Simply a grain immediately (indistinct). If a material thing can have so much effect, immediately, the spiritual atom cannot do that? That is called science. Similarly, the biggest spiritual identity, Kṛṣṇa, He can become all-pervading. We are particle spiritual, spark. We have got limited power. (indistinct) Yena sarvam idaṁ tatam, "I become immediately expanded throughout My body." And He is unlimitedly big. So how much His consciousness is distributed all over the world? Sarva-jña. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is not abhijña. Svarāṭ. Janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheśv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ (SB 1.1.1). This example is nice. A grain of potassium cyanide is sufficient. There is no taste. The chemical characteristic of potassium cyanide, they have not mentioned the taste because as soon as there is taste, finished, they cannot... (laughter) He cannot say whether it is pungent or sweet. (laughter) Finished. So there is no taste. (end)

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- August 1, 1972, London:

Devotee: Hm.

Prabhupāda: That is the way of taking milk. And this masala, it does not taste good. In India, especially in Northern India, Punjab, they will take at night, milk, (indistinct). No other things. They, all business men, the Marwari society, they'll take food before evening and then again they work. Then after ten they will come home and take little milk and go rest. (pause) So foundation committee is being established in Bombay making her the president of the trust. Then Giriraja will have no difficulty.

Devotee: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: They'll contribute. And if she canvasses, she can collect lakhs.

Devotee: But one thing is, if Giriraja takes advantage and begins preaching in her school daily... She's invited him, open invitation.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Then it will be pleased.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 27, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Habit is like that. (pause)

Brahmānanda: You once said that the urad dahl is a good substitute for that fish taste.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Not taste.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Protein.

Prabhupāda: It is containing protein. Taste is also. (pause) This seaweeds, all over the ocean. When passing ship, you can see. All over. Where is their roots? Because the ocean is very deep, the root grows from the bottom?

Karandhara: No, it doesn't have roots.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Karandhara: Doesn't have roots. Floats on top of the water. (pause)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Hari guru vaiṣṇava?

Prabhupāda: Hari guru vaiṣṇave.

Morning Walk -- April 27, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Brahmānanda: New sex.

Prabhupāda: Yes. The same old sex. Either in the naked club or at home, the thing is the same.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They call it "new" because they never tasted before.

Prabhupāda: Why not? Taste. Everyone is tasting sex.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That is, the food.

Prabhupāda: I think I..., Germany, in the war, they extracted fat from stool because stool is full of fat and hypophosphytes. Stool. So there was scarcity of fat. So they were extracting fat from stool. By scientific method. There was no fat available in wartime. That my Godbrother, Sadānanda, when he came India, so I asked him that: "Your German people, I've heard that German people are very stout and strong. Why you are lean and thin?" So he replied that: "During the war days, there was control. So I was getting fat, butter, simply because we were children." He showed his wrist watch, "to this, this much. Only for children, this much butter, weekly, once." That means under, under-nourished. So therefore they are finding out fat from stool. And in the concentration camp, Kīrtanānanda told me, actually they ate their own stools. And who was telling me...? Śrutakīrti, you were telling me that in the, what is called? Capsule? They turn their stool into food.

Room Conversation -- September 2, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: This is the process. If you hear about Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa is within yourself. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). When he sees you are anxious, then he helps you in cleansing the dirty things within your heart. Purport read?

Śrutakīrti: Messages of the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa are nondifferent from Him. Whenever, therefore, offenseless hearing and glorification of God are undertaken, it is to be understood that Lord Kṛṣṇa is present there in the form of transcendental sound, which is as powerful as the Lord personally. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in His Śikṣāṣṭaka, declares clearly that the holy name of the Lord has all the potencies of the Lord and that He has endowed His innumerable names with the same potency. There is no rigid fixture of time, and anyone can chant the holy name with attention and reverence at his convenience. The Lord is so kind to us that He can be present before us personally in the form of transcendental sound, but unfortunately we have no taste for hearing and glorifying the Lord's name and activities. We have already discussed developing a taste for hearing and chanting the holy sound. It is done through the medium of service to the pure devotee of the Lord.

The Lord is reciprocally respondent to His devotees. When He sees that a devotee is completely sincere in getting admittance to the transcendental service of the Lord and has thus become eager to hear about Him, the Lord acts from within the devotee in such a way that the devotee may easily go back to Him. The Lord is more anxious to take us back into His kingdom than we can desire. Most of us do not desire at all to go back to Godhead. Only a very few men want to go back to Godhead. But anyone who desires to go back to Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa helps in all respects.

One cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless one is perfectly cleared of all sins. The material sins are products of our desires to lord it over material nature. It is very difficult to get rid of such desires. Women and wealth are very difficult problems for the devotee making progress on the path back to Godhead. Many stalwarts in the devotional line fell victim to these allurements and thus retreated from the path of liberation. But when one is helped by the Lord Himself, the whole process becomes as easy as anything by the divine grace of the Lord.

To become restless in the contact of women and wealth is not an astonishment, because every living being is associated with such things from remote time, practically immemorial, and it takes time to recover from this foreign nature. But if one is engaged in hearing the glories of the Lord, gradually he realizes his real position. By the grace of God such a devotee gets sufficient strength to defend himself from the state of disturbances, and gradually all disturbing elements are eliminated from his mind.

Prabhupāda: The prescribed methods are there. We have to adopt it. Without adopting the prescribed method, nobody can advance. But in this age the prescribed method is very simple. Simply to hear the holy name of the Lord.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 9, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa's. Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Yes. (pause) (break)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...water is tasteless, but Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the taste in water." Science says water is tasteless, no taste in water.

Prabhupāda: Science says.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: But have you tasted that tasteless water? (laughter)

Gurukṛpā: If it is so tasteless, why is it quenching?

Karandhara: If someone gives you a glass of water and you drink it, you immediately know what it is.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They'll say the taste of water depends on the amount of chemicals contained in the water.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. So that is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. The tastefulness. Tastefulness of water is Kṛṣṇa. Not the water.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Tripurari -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tripurāri: No other group, no other societies of philosophy distributes literatures. Guru Maharaj-ji, they published one magazine for some time, and his devotees, they went out and distributed short time. But they had no taste for continuing the distribution. So they have stopped now.

Prabhupāda: Artificial.

Tripurāri: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So he is still making propaganda? No.

Balavanta: Who, Guru Maharaj-ji? Not so much. You don't hear about them. There's not much activity.

Devotee (5): Decreasing. We are increasing, and they are decreasing.

Tripurāri: Sometimes the Christians are distributing papers still at the airports. We invite them to come and take prasāda with us every day.

Prabhupāda: They come?

Tripurāri: They are reluctant. Some, one or two, come.

Devotee (2): Every once in awhile someone we meet when we're distributing books comes and joins us for prasādam, one time a businessman and one time a soldier. Various people sometimes join us. We take a 12 o'clock, 12:30 lunch break. Sometimes we'll be joined by one of these people we distribute books to.

Prabhupāda: When you were with Maharishi? Come here.

Morning Walk -- April 7, 1975, Mayapur:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Why did God arrange for the pleasures of sense gratification if He wants us to go back to home, back to Godhead?

Prabhupāda: Yes, senses are meant for enjoyment. But if you want to enjoy your senses in diseased condition, that is your misfortune. You have to cure your disease, then you will enjoy. Just like the tongue, in diseased condition, even if you are given rasagullā, you will not taste it. Senses, we are not the Māyāvādīs, they finish the senses, make, become impersonal. That is not our program. We want to purify the senses. Sarvopādhi vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). Purīfy. The diseased man, he cannot see. He has got some glaucoma disease. Cure it, and he will see very nicely. That is our program. The Māyāvādī program is that if this eye is giving trouble, I cannot see, pluck it out. We are not doing that, we are trying to cure the disease and see. So senses should be cured, and then you will be able to enjoy. That is our program. We are not stopping sense enjoyment; we are trying to give you real sense enjoyment.

Morning Walk -- May 21, 1975, Melbourne:

Madhudviṣa: Yes, but there is some traditional respect. (break) When you were speaking with the priest yesterday, he was saying the chanting is material because it comes out of the mouth and it's made like a material sound vibration. Would it be possible for them to run scientific tests on the chanting, the sound of Hare Kṛṣṇa, to make a distinction between that sound and let's say the sound of an automobile's horn? Would that be perceptible?

Prabhupāda: No, the same sound. Sound is the same; when you are impure, this is material. Just like the tongue is the same, but when you are suffering from jaundice, you are tasting sugar as bitter, and when you will be cured, then the same tongue will taste it is sweet. So it depends on the purification of the body. Whole this bhakti-yoga or any yoga, the whole system is purification. Tapo divyaṁ yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1). Our existence is now impure. Therefore we have to accept birth, death, old age, and disease. And when it is purified, without any contamination, then there is no birth, death, old age. In diseased condition you cannot relish. Even if you are given actually rasagullā you will not taste it very nice. If there is no appetite, even it is rasagullā, it is useless. Spiritual life means curing the contamination of material disease. That is spiritual life. And when you are purified, you relish the spiritual taste.

Morning Walk -- October 17, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Smeran bhangi-traya-paricitam. Kṛṣṇa is always smiling and standing in curved position. That is jubilant. Why so near?

Harikeśa: Because the car makes so much noise that if I don't they'll never hear.

Prabhupāda: Smeran bhangi-traya-paricitam saci-drstir na drstim. (break) ...shows that people are prosperous. They are not cheap buildings like America. (break) ...termite, always attacked by termite. They have no taste for good building. (break) And fuming? Fuming process?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Fumigation.

Prabhupāda: Ah, fumigation.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: When the termites get into the wood they eat up the wood and they hide in nests underneath the house. So the way that they try to kill the termites is by gassing them. They cover their house with a tent, and then they gas, and it goes into the nests and kills all the termites. They are perfecting this art of killing. You said that in Calcutta in a very expensive cloth shop... Your father's brother used to have cloth shop?

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Morning Walk -- December 20, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: If you manufacture your own knowledge, then you'll never be able to understand. (everyone laughs) Tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet: (MU 1.2.12) compulsory. You cannot understand; that is not possible. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that the honey, huh? Honey, honey, if somebody says, "Take this honey," the bottle, and he began to lick up the bottle: "It is not sweet. Why it is not sweet?" You go to a person who can open the bottle. (laughter) Then you'll see. You cannot taste the sweetness of honey by licking up the bottle. It must be... There must be some expert who can open it, and then you can taste. So they are trying to taste the honey in the bottle by their own imagination and licking up the bottle. Where is the taste? Otherwise why Kṛṣṇa says,

tad viddhi praṇipātena

paripraśnena sevayā

upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ

jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

(BG 4.34)

One who has seen, one who knows where is the honey is there, go there, and he'll open, and you'll understand.

Dr. Patel: So "I am not there for the rascals, and I am there for you," like that, is that the meaning you say?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Dr. Patel: "I am not there for the rascals, and I am there for those who are tattva-darśanas."

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the way of learning everything. You cannot learn your medical science from a pān-wālā. You have to go to a medical college.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 7, 1976, Nellore:

Prabhupāda: ...no taste, no vitamin, and still they eat.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They can everything. They have canned food, canned fruits, canned...

Prabhupāda: Yes. No, I have seen. Eating and remnants, it is kept in...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes, put in the refrigerator. And then you cook it up again with fresh foods, mixing together.

Harikeśa: Is it all right if he keeps it in there and then he puts some on the plate when taking? He puts on the plate when taking?

Prabhupāda: I do not know whether it is all right, but it is not all right that you eat and keep it. This is not all right.

Harikeśa: He takes it from there and puts it on the plate before you eat?

Yaśodā-nandana: He keeps the salt in a separate bowl. When you require it he will give you only as much as you require.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is nice.

Morning Walk -- April 15, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: He came back Candranagar(?), to his place. (Hindi) He never came. After svarājya he never came.

Prabhupāda: But that is all nonsense. That is...

Dr. Patel: (break) ...find fulfillment there only, God consciousness.

Prabhupāda: Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). This is the sign of bhakti, that he has no more taste in anything material. That is bhakti. (Hindi)

Dr. Patel: And artha.

Prabhupāda: Dharma cannot be. Therefore Bhāgavata said, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2). Dharmārtha-kāma-mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90)—these are all cheating. These are all cheating. Yes. Dharma means you become... Generally people go to temple to get some material gains: "O God, give us our daily bread." That is the idea. Dharma is to get some material profit. And why material profit? For sense gratification. Dharma, artha, kāma. And when he's baffled in sense gratification, he wants to become one with God, mokṣa. These are all cheating. Therefore Bhāgavata says, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2). And Śrīdhara Swami says, atra mokṣa-vāñchām api nirastam. So long one is stuck up even up to mokṣa-vāñchā, he'll be.... He is in trouble. Therefore Kṛṣṇa, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). Beginning from dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90), you give up everything. Then you'll become purified. Even if you have got mokṣa-vāñchā, then you are in the material world. Yes.

Morning Walk -- April 26, 1976, Melbourne:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They can't stop, na śocati na kāṅkṣati. They have to go further.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And this is negation. Just like one man is diseased. He is also eating, he is also sleeping, but that is not healthy eating, sleeping. He has to get relief from this eating, lying down on the bed and eating by some instrument. This nonsense eating, sleeping should be stopped. And when he's healthy, he eats also, sleeps also. That is different. That is different eating, sleeping, but they do not.... He is suffering from disease. He thinks, "Again eating? Make it zero. Make it zero." This is Māyāvādī. He has no taste what is the other eating. He wants to make it zero because here the eating is so botheration, "Oh, let me commit suicide. Make it zero." So that is Buddha philosophy.

Room Conversation -- May 3, 1976, Fiji:

Guru-kṛpā: Polished.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Guru-kṛpā: Polished dogs.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Actual modernized means how far you have advanced in spiritual consciousness. That is wanted. (drinks or eats) It does not taste exactly dahl, I think, due to the new (indistinct) water in it. So is there any engagement? Somebody was to come.

Guru-kṛpā: Was to come, but...

Prabhupāda: He is not coming. Who is not modernized? They will go to the dancing party for their salvation. (laughter) Dog dancing.

Guru-kṛpā: Today is Sunday. Everyone is busy with their family, family, society.

Prabhupāda: You know this Ravi Shankar?

Guru-kṛpā: Umm hmm.

Prabhupāda: His elder brother, Udar Shankar, he became very famous man as a dancer, all over the world. Udar Shankar. And by imitating his brother, the Ravi Shankar also tried to become first-class sitarist. So family.... (break) ...was a little famous for artistic.... So that Udar Shankar was dancing in the Indian way, and there are many sculpture of dancing. Like that. That was his art. So he became famous.

Garden Conversation -- June 23, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Devotee (3): So, Śrīla Prabhupāda, if at this platform we are not yet..., we are still desiring to depart from Kṛṣṇa's service and enjoy, then we are not, we have not yet tasted devotional service, what is it that we have tasted that is keeping us temporarily connected to Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: That is the Vedic injunction: You keep yourself connected with Kṛṣṇa, then you will develop the taste. Just like a jaundice patient does not taste sugar as sweet, but if he continues to take sugar candy, then he will have the real taste for sugar candy, sweet, not bitter. So he has to continue to eat sugar candy continually. Śravaṇam, kīrtanam. Then he'll have the taste.

Kulādri: But the patient must be intelligent to keep.... Even though he does not want...

Prabhupāda: Patient is always rascal fool. You cannot expect him to be intelligent. He must agree to the physician's directions. That is intelligence. He must know that he's diseased, he must follow the instruction of the physician. That much will help him. Unless one is rascal, he does not fall sick. As soon as you violate the hygienic principles, you become sick. All commit sinful activities on account of ignorance. So therefore the best advancement of civilization is not to open hospitals, but to give them a lesson that they may not fall sick and go to hospital. That is real...But they do not know. They keep the mass of people in ignorance, they fall sick and they come to hospital and number of hospitals increase, they think it is advancement. This is their idea.

Evening Darsana -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: So when you come to the standard of bhakti, then you can understand Kṛṣṇa. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). Unless you come to that stage, you cannot understand Kṛṣṇa, you will mistake. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). This siddhi means to become liberated from the bodily concept of life. So out of many millions of people, one gets the opportunity of becoming siddha, brahma-bhūtaḥ, and yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ (BG 7.3). And those who are siddhas, liberated, out of many of them, kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ. So how this Mr. Bannerji will understand Kṛṣṇa? He is not a bhakta, he cannot understand. He can talk of the honey within the bottle. He cannot taste it. If he wants to taste, somebody must be able to open the bottle and give him little. Then he'll get. Otherwise, let him lick up the bottle. (laughter) That's all. So those who are licking the bottle, they cannot say what is the taste of the honey. One must actually taste. That is possible, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55), that taste is available by the bhaktas, not by the so-called scholars. That is not possible. Nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyaḥ. That is Vedic injunction. Na medhayā, na bahunā śrutena. You cannot realize self by your intelligence or by your learning or by your brain. Nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyaḥ na bahunā śrutena.

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

Devotee (6): Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Prabhupāda: You have taken? What is that?

Devotee (6): I can't tell.

Prabhupāda: No taste?

Devotee (6): It tastes like mustard oil and spices. I think it's mango.

Devotee (7): Yes, that may be it.

Devotee (6): I think it's green mango.

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Devotee (6): What do you think?

Hari-śauri: Yes, it's mango.

Prabhupāda: It's mango? That's nice.

Hari-śauri: Tastes like pickled onions. (break)

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: This verse that we were studying yesterday:

yogya-pātra hao tumi bhakti pravartāite

krame saba tattva śuna, kahiye tomāte

"You are fit to propagate the cult of devotional service. Therefore gradually hear all the truths about it from me. I shall tell you about them." (Mad. 20.107)

Prabhupāda: This is the... (break) ...to see the newest sanitary condition.

Devotee: Oh yes.

Prabhupāda: Such an important country. So nasty everywhere, park, street, what is there? This is not good sign. In other cities, you see so neat and clean. Washington, even that parkway, so neat and clean. Why this city is neglected? Los Angeles also, neat and clean. Which other cities we went?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Detroit.

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

Rāmeśvara: It's like the "emperor's new clothes." Everyone thinks it is pleasing because the leaders or the artists say it is pleasing. Everyone is being fooled. And if they say it is meaningless then they are called a fool.

Prabhupāda: In Bengali it is called pare mukhe jhalma(?). Somebody says "Oh, it is very hot!" "Oh, it is very hot!" (laughter) He did not taste, but the other man says "Oh, it is very hot!" So he says "Oh, it is very hot!" Pare mukhe jhalma.

Rāmeśvara: The city pays these artists hundreds of thousands of dollars to make these forms. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...it is constructed?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Metropolitan Museum of Art extension.

Prabhupāda: Oh. (pause) (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We can return back now. This one is older, this is new. There are twice as many floors in the same amount of space. It's actually double. (break) ...think there's an advancement in living conditions. Seems to be worsening, but they're taking it as advancement. (break)

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: About the same as Mercedes. Ten thousand.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Nandaki, is it as good mechanically as a Mercedes?

Devotee: No, I don't think so.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Mercedes is very sturdy.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The comfort's better.

Devotee: But after two years this all becomes finished, all this. Starts falling apart.

Prabhupāda: But Mercedes is strong. (indistinct)

Devotee: No, Mercedes is strong.

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: All rotten, rather the same vegetable, as we have got in India practice, we dry it and keep it. That is tasteful. In season time—suppose this season there is huge quantity of vegetable—so here the system is they cut into pieces during the season and dry it in the sun and keep it. And during out of season it is soaked in water, it revives the old taste, then you can cook. (Hindi or Bengali)

Devotee (1): Tastes as though it is different. The fresh vegetable the taste is very good.

Prabhupāda: Fresh vegetable must be, but still there is some taste. But this frozen it has no taste.

Hari-śauri: No.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) Even they have, Indians those who are fish eaters, they keep this dry fish.

Haṁsadūta: Yeah, dried fish.

Prabhupāda: They-fresh fish—they smear with turmeric and salt and keep it in the sunshine and they dry it. And of course this fish it has no, what is it taste. (laughter) But they keep it. (aside) Bring me little water. (Bengali and Hindi) This I want to introduce, let them be satisfied whatever they can produce themselves locally. What is that, little cloth, little food? Any man can produce these things. There is no difficulty at all. They must agree to this simple life. Otherwise, everywhere you can produce your own food and cloth and cottage. If possible you can construct big buildings. There is no need. And they should be satisfied, happy with Kṛṣṇa. Then life is successful. This I want to introduce now, anywhere. And it is practical. It is not something bogus. It is... We have already experimented. By God's grace we can produce everything from the lands, sarva-kāma-dughā mahī, sarva-kāma-dughā mahī? You can get everything. If they are satisfied with this simple life, then they save time for Kṛṣṇa consciousness and happy life. In India they don't require even cottage. One katiya (?) is sufficient. Keeping in one place and lay down. Eight months, at least six months, it is very nice. At night, even in daytime it is very hot, at night it is cool. So you have got very good sleep, soothing, then you become refreshed in the morning. If you have got good sleep at night, then you become refreshed, your health is regained. Hm? If I (indistinct), take morning snāna and cāpāṭi. During very hot season they don't take even cāpāṭi. They take some fruits, guava and this... What is called that? (Hindi)

Devotee (2): That? Melon.

Prabhupāda: Melon, yes. During hot season you get watermelon, this other melon.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation on Train to Allahabad -- January 11, 1977, India:

Prabhupāda: No, no. I don't say that you give up sex life.

Rāmeśvara: That means that they want to have nice clothing and cars for sex. As soon as there is sex, then they want so many other things to make it more attractive.

Prabhupāda: Not necessarily. Not necessarily. Formerly there was sex life. They're thinking like that, "We require," naturally. First of all they'll be... If they advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they will stop sex life. Yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa... If they're really Kṛṣṇa conscious, they'll have no more taste for sex life. That is...

Hari-śauri: But that position is not very easily attainable.

Prabhupāda: No, that is not easy. Therefore we say, "Restrict this." And this will be possible if he follows our program.

Rāmeśvara: You have said many times that if a small percentage of the Americans become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then the whole country can gradually become Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Room Conversation -- January 28, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Pṛthu-putra: That is what should be told to them.

Prabhupāda: Yes. He may be very fortunate that he's dreaming. "All right, keep aside. Do your duty. You are very fortunate, but don't bother now. First of all be strong and follow." Otherwise ei chure pākā. Ei chure pākā. Ei chure (?) you know? Stunted jackfruit. Jackfruit becomes so big, but one fruit, it is so small and... Taya eka channi sa. (?) And it has become ripened. So it has no taste, neither it can be used for cooking-useless. Ei chure pākā. A small fruit ripen, it is useless either for this person or for that. So they are called in Bengali, ei chure pākā. Do your duty. Guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete koriyā..., āra nā koriho **. That is bhajana. And as soon as he deviates-yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto 'pi. He is finished. That has happened to Nitāi. Ei chure pākā. So what these people will do? It is the effect of bad association. That's all.

Room Conversation about Harijanas -- April 10, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: And fish eater.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fish, meats.

Prabhupāda: Actually, meat has no taste. The onion creates taste.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Dead flesh.

Prabhupāda: Onion is used. Onions. In India both Hindus and Muslims eat. More than potato, it is said.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm. Potato is king of vegetables.

Prabhupāda: We have seen many canvassers. (calling like street vendor:) "Bataka."(?)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm.

Prabhupāda: Kada bataka.(?) Everyone has to eat. The Maharastrians, they eat, even the brāhmaṇas. In 1927, I came to Bombay and stayed in the Empire Hindu Hotel. I think it is still there. Very nice hotel. So it is under Maharastrians. Very neat and clean everything. Gave me onions. "What is this? Onions?" I was surprised. "I don't eat."

Room Conversation -- April 22, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I was amazed to see how much you translated last night. You translated more last night than in months, almost two hundred digits. I think it was 190. I think eating these pakorās at night is giving you strength.

Prabhupāda: No, not that. Something must be eaten. I was feeling weakness in the evening. But what can I eat? I have no taste for fruits. Milk also, not very much taste I have got. Naturally I won't eat now(?).

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You have a taste for nim?

Prabhupāda: That is compulsory. Whatever little benefit is there in the leaf of nim... Still, I have got taste for nim begun(?). You like that? I think I shall take little, little milk.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Milk.

Prabhupāda: Hm. That will give strength. Milk produce strength. And it is suitable for everyone: children, diseased, invalid, old men. It is such a nice food. Everyone in any condition can get some benefit.

Morning Conversation -- April 23, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We have not heard from him. Last time he was staying with St. Paul.

Prabhupāda: Yes, the incarnation of St. Paul.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But since that time we have not heard anything.

Prabhupāda: That is also insanity. (sound of metal dishes) No taste.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The milk has no taste or you have no taste, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: I have no taste. And maybe (laughs) has no taste.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In India there's no telling. Generally, recently the milk has been of a good standard, good quality. You might have more taste for lassi. That's a little sweet and nice.

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And it's also very good for digestion.

Prabhupāda: So give me lassi.

Upendra: Now?

Prabhupāda: No.

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

Prabhupāda: Human form of body or in the form of this insect. And karmīs, they're trying to improve their... (microphone moving) That is their ignorance.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They never get tired of trying.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They think by changing the body... (microphone moving) ...demigod's... That is called mṛtyu-saṁsāra. The facility is in that you have to die, you have to take again birth and again begin the same tasting, āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunam. No improvement of taste but improvement of the container. If you go by bullock cart and if you go by motorcar, the transport is the same. But we are thinking, "Now we have improved scientific." That's all. First of all improve that you'll not die. Because you are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So where is that improvement? That improvement is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma (BG 4.9).

Room Conversation -- August 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, I don't see how it is having so much effect.

Prabhupāda: No effect.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Powder isn't working effectively, and milk is keeping you going. I don't see that this medicine is doing anything. It's not giving you appetite.

Prabhupāda: Not even taste.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. It's giving you bad taste. You don't like to take it.

Prabhupāda: So your opinion not to take?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: My opinion is that if you feel that... I don't see that it's having any effect. I think the milk is the best thing, milk, mango milk like you're taking, little juices. This is for creating appetite, I think.

Prabhupāda: Take the courage of an Englishman and the heart of a Bengali mother. (end)

Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) (kīrtana) (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This... At noontime you seemed to be getting a little taste. Did you have a little? You said gradually.

Prabhupāda: And now... Just now, I have no taste.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So I don't think there is any problem. I mean, what you ate today was more than I saw you eat in three months, Śrīla Prabhupāda. You ate a Love Feast today. So whenever we eat a Love Feast, we never have much appetite in the evening. Usually we simply chant.

Prabhupāda: So I am trying to drink a little fruit juice.

Bhakti-caru: Prabhupāda wanted to drink some of this sweet lemon juice.

Prabhupāda: What do you think?

Bhakti-caru: (Bengali)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Maybe your sister can suggest some good drink.

Bhakti-caru: (Bengali)

Prabhupāda: (Bengali)

Bhakti-caru: (Bengali)

Prabhupāda: Little, that sweet juice.

Bhakti-caru: What Ātreya Ṛṣi Prabhu brought.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Bhakti-caru: The sweet lemon. I'll just get it, yes.

Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: Is there any difficulty from the solid food?

Prabhupāda: No taste.

Hari-śauri: No taste. But at least it may give some strength back.

Prabhupāda: How it can if it cannot enter into the system?

Hari-śauri: It's not being digested? If you were to take something like soup, that may be more easily digestible, just the liquids. But that would have much of the goodness...

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Hari-śauri: Things like soup and vegetable juices?

Prabhupāda: Cannot take. No taste.

Hari-śauri: At least with the chanting, that gives a higher taste.

Prabhupāda: Hm. What is the time now?

Hari-śauri: About twenty minutes to six.

Prabhupāda: It will continue up to six.

Room Conversation With Svarupa Damodara -- October 15, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Simply touch.

Bhāgavata: How was it tasting?

Prabhupāda: It was very tasteful, but my tongue has no taste. Maybe gradually by stimulating the body...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Vṛndāvana is so beautiful at this time, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Everyone's... The sky is so clear, the stars are so bright, and also the weather is so beautiful. We have a nice decoration of the hall. Last night one of the professors from Agra told me that he wants to have us organize this conference next year. He said this should be an annual feature, a science conference in Vṛndāvana every year.

Prabhupāda: Let them make advance in scientific research, but still they cannot capture the real thing.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Just like I have heard it, when Socrates was condemned to death, the judges inquired that "How Mr. Socrates wants to be entombed?" When the judges inquired Socrates, "How you want to be entombed?" Socrates: "First of all capture me. Then to the question of entomb me." What he said?

Abhirāma: That is a historical fact.

Room Conversation -- October 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Doubtful. Dubious. So Prabhupāda has more faith... Another thing, kavirājī medicine is not dangerous. Whereas these men, you can see how many side effects they have, these Western medicines. Prabhupāda becomes dizzy, he cannot sleep, he vomits. And as soon as we agree to x-ray, x-ray is only the first step, then there'll be more and more and more. When you call in a doctor it means you are ready to take his treatment. When you ask for an x-ray it means that after the x-ray you're ready to accept whatever they advise. Otherwise why do you call for x-ray? That's the whole point. So the real issue we have to decide is whether Prabhupāda wants to take the allopathic medicine or not. If he says, "I don't want allopathic medicine," what is the use of taking x-ray? Because the kavirājas don't care for x-rays. They say that simply by pulse they can see everything. Just like this man, he took the pulse and immediately he reached for the kidneys. We did not tell him anything, but he took the pulse and immediately he reached for the kidneys and the stomach. And he said, "Kidneys are completely malfunctioning, and the fire of digestion is nearly extinguished." I think that's a very practical statement if you think about it. Prabhupāda, he's passing urine, he can pass stool, but what is the real problem, the biggest problem? There's no taste, no appetite. And that you have to admit, he has no idea how to get appetite, Dr. Gopal. He has no idea. He's thinking this and this. He doesn't even understand there's a fire of digestion. Where does it mention that Kṛṣṇa is sitting as the fire of digestion in the stomach? Where does it say that in the allopathic books? (laughs) It doesn't. But Prabhupāda has said it from the very beginning: "I have no digestion." So the question is how to wake up that fire. And they can't do this, these allopathic doctors. Maybe the kavirājas can do it.

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

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

Bhagatji: Today, he came today.

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

Prabhupāda: No, Vanamali is no use.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No use. Don't even bother calling him. The only question is that we have given him such expensive ingredients to make that medicine. The musk is worth many hundreds of rupees. Gold and pearls. So the real question in our minds is if this medicine is genuine. We want to know whether the medicine he has prepared is genuine or not.

Prabhupāda: He said it is not.

Doctor Visit and Conversation -- October 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhavānanda: No, Dr. Gopal was saying for taking some foodstuff, little bit, one, two, spoonfuls. He said he's going to cut the medicine down to half.

Prabhupāda: What is this?

Dr. Gopal: This is glucose water. No taste?

Prabhupāda: Little taste.

Dr. Gopal: It is sweet enough?

Upendra: This is plain water.

Dr. Gopal: Take little more. Was there enough in..., that you have measured it. This is 101.

Upendra: Measure it back?

Dr. Gopal: No, don't measure it back. When it finishes, you prepare fresh.

Upendra: It can be kept.

Dr. Gopal: Yes. You have the prescription? Daytime, he is having sleep or not? Little bit.

Devotee (3): Yesterday he rested for some hours, few hours.

Dr. Gopal: And today?

Devotee (3): Today he rested for about three hours.

Bhavānanda: Today from four a.m. to nine a.m. he rested.

Dr. Gopal: He rested.

Bhavānanda: Yes.

Dr. Gopal: So I think the time of his rest or sleep, when he has..., the same as from usual... Because previously he used to wake from twelve to four in the night, or... So you want to change your sleep hours?

Prabhupāda: No, no.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Mohanananda -- Ahmedabad 11 December, 1972:

I am very, very glad to hear of your desire to return to Gurukula school and apply yourself to developing that place. I am so glad to hear this good news. Only a few weeks back I had got a letter from Satsvarupa wherein he has informed me that Stoka Krishna has left Dallas and that he must go there to take charge himself. But he is sannyasi and he should travel and preach, and he has not much taste for watching after so many things. So I had suggested him to get a full-time manager, some grhastha, nice husband and wife together, to manage the things, and that he shall expect that such person will stay tightly and develop it and make that his life work. It is the most important preaching work, to train our children in Krishna Consciousness education of life. And I think that you are just the right man to do it. Krishna has given you the right idea, just see!

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Govardhana -- Bombay 18 November, 1975:

Upon your recommendation, I accept as twice-born initiated brahmanas Ramananda Raya das and Visvatomukha das. Enclosed are their brahminical threads, duly sanctified and the mantra sheet. Hold a fire sacrifice and impress upon them the importance of following the rules and regulations so that they may not be affected by the influence of maya. There is two things: there's Krsna and there's sex life. So if you want to have Krsna, one must be above illicit sex life. That requires some strength. So you have to impress upon them that following these rules and regulations, especially by chanting Hare Krsna, one will become strong. Unfortunately, we have no taste for this chanting. This is our misfortune.