Obviously

Expressions researched:
"obvious" |"obviously"

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 3.12, Purport:

Without the Supreme Lord, there can be no profuse sunlight, moonlight, rainfall, breeze, etc., without which no one can live. Obviously, our life is dependent on supplies from the Lord. Even for our manufacturing enterprises, we require so many raw materials like metal, sulphur, mercury, manganese, and so many essentials—all of which are supplied by the agents of the Lord, with the purpose that we should make proper use of them to keep ourselves fit and healthy for the purpose of self-realization, leading to the ultimate goal of life, namely, liberation from the material struggle for existence.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.8.18, Purport:

Religious affiliation in terms of different countries and cultural circumstances is obviously not the common religion of the human being; rather, the basic principle is devotional service. Even if a particular type of religious principle does not recognize the supremacy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the followers still have to obey the disciplinary principles laid down by a particular leader. Such a leader of a religious sect is never the supreme leader because such a circumstantial leader comes to the position of leadership after undergoing some penance. The Supreme Personality of Godhead does not, however, require to be under disciplinary action to become leader, as we see in the activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.25.35, Purport:

Purañjana inquired from the woman about those eleven men and their wives and the snake. The woman gave a brief description of them. She was obviously without full knowledge of her surrounding men and women and the snake. As stated before, the snake is the vital force of the living being. This vital force always remains awake even when the body and the senses become fatigued and do no work. Even in the state of unconsciousness, when we sleep, the snake, or the life-force, remains intact and awake.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.2.10, Purport:

These eatables include grains, fruits, vegetables, milk and sugar for persons in the mode of goodness, and also eatables for the nonvegetarians, such as meats, none of which can be manufactured by men. Then again, take for example, heat, light, water and air, which are also necessities of life—none of them can be manufactured by human society. Without the Supreme Lord, there can be no profuse sunlight, moonlight, rainfall or breeze, without which no one can live. Obviously, our life is dependent on supplies from the Lord.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.13.60, Purport:

In the material world one may collect funds all over the world in order to distribute food freely, yet those to whom the food is given may not even feel appreciative. The value of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however, will gradually be very much appreciated. For instance, in an article about the temple of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement in Durban, South Africa, the Durban Post reported, "All the devotees here are very active in the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and the results are obvious to see: happiness, good health, peace of mind, and the development of all good qualities." This is the nature of Vṛndāvana. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ: without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, happiness is impossible; one may struggle, but one cannot have happiness. We are therefore trying to give human society the opportunity for a life of happiness, good health, peace of mind and all good qualities through God consciousness.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 10.16.34, Translation:

What You have done here is actually mercy for us, since the punishment You give to the wicked certainly drives away all their contamination. Indeed, because this conditioned soul, our husband, is so sinful that he has assumed the body of a serpent, Your anger toward him is obviously to be understood as Your mercy.

SB 10.30.30, Translation:

These footprints of that special gopī greatly disturb us. Of all the gopīs, She alone was taken away to a secluded place, where She is enjoying the lips of Kṛṣṇa. Look, we can't see Her footprints over here! It's obvious that the grass and sprouts were hurting the tender soles of Her feet, and so the lover lifted up His beloved.

SB 10.86.55, Translation:

Ignorant of this truth, foolish people neglect and enviously offend a learned brāhmaṇa, who, being nondifferent from Me, is their spiritual master and very self. They consider worshipable only such obvious manifestations of divinity as My Deity form.

SB 11.7.68, Translation:

The male pigeon said: Alas, just see how I am now destroyed! I am obviously a great fool, for I did not properly execute pious activities. I could not satisfy myself, nor could I fulfill the purpose of life. My dear family, which was the basis of my religiosity, economic development and sense gratification, is now hopelessly ruined.

SB 11.18.26, Translation:

One should never see as ultimate reality those material things which obviously will perish. With consciousness free from material attachment, one should retire from all activities meant for material progress in this life and the next.

SB 12.10.5, Translation:

He is as calm as the waters of the ocean when the wind has ceased and the fish remain still. Therefore, my lord, since you bestow perfection on the performers of austerity, please award this sage the perfection that is obviously due him.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 9.49, Purport:

If Brahmā did not create the Vedas but he is acknowledged as the first created being, wherefrom did Vedic knowledge come to Brahmā? Obviously the Vedas did not come from an ordinary person born in this material world. According to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye: (SB 1.1.1) after the creation, the Supreme Person imparted Vedic knowledge within the heart of Brahmā. There was no person in the beginning of the creation other than Brahmā, yet he did not compile the Vedas; therefore the conclusion is that the Vedas were not compiled by any created being. Vedic knowledge was given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who created this material world. This is also accepted by Śaṅkarācārya, although he is not a Vaiṣṇava.

Easy Journey to Other Planets

Easy Journey to Other Planets 2:

This cosmic manifestation is called "nature," but there is another nature, which is superior. The cosmic manifestation is inferior nature, but beyond this nature, which is manifested and unmanifested, there is another nature, which is called sanātana, eternal. It is easy to understand that everything manifested here is temporary. The obvious example is our body. If one is thirty years old, thirty years ago his body was not manifested, and in another fifty years it will again be unmanifested. That is a factual law of nature. It is manifested and again annihilated, just as waves in the sea rise frequently and then recede.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 33:

Kṛṣṇa's lifting of Govardhana Hill and His killing of great demons like Pūtanā are all obviously extraordinary activities. Similarly, the rāsa dance is also an uncommon activity and cannot be imitated by any ordinary man. An ordinary person engaged in his occupational duty, like Arjuna, should execute his duty for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa; that is within his power. Arjuna was a fighter, and Kṛṣṇa wanted him to fight for His satisfaction. Arjuna agreed, although at first he was not willing to fight. Duties are required for ordinary persons. They should not jump up and try to imitate Kṛṣṇa and indulge in rāsa-līlā and thus bring about their ruin.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 4.2:

After writing this and thus accepting the real purport of the Gītā, how can Dr. Radhakrishnan later state that Lord Kṛṣṇa's body and soul are different? Such an idea must be a result of his materialistic education. What a strange monism he propounds, in which the Absolute Truth, the nondual Supreme Being, is supposedly separate from His inner existence! Can Dr. Radhakrishnan explain these obvious flaws in his philosophy? When the Supreme Lord Himself is present in everyone's heart as the omniscient Supersoul, then who else can sit in His heart? In the Gītā, Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself speaks about His transcendental qualities, making statements that Dr. Radhakrishnan, armed with his material erudition, has made but a feeble attempt to contradict. Through such foolishness Dr. Radhakrishnan has made a show of spreading education, but in fact he has preached untruth.

Message of Godhead

Message of Godhead 2:

Obviously, attainment of transcendental loving service to the Personality of Godhead is the ultimate goal of all mysticism. That is the purport of the above-mentioned verse. It is also worth mentioning the statement that Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda makes in this connection: "The mystic who is engaged in the performance of the principle of loving service of Godhead is the highest of all mystics." One who renders loving service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, with devotion and austerity, is the greatest of all mystics. Men who undertake austerities motivated by a desire for material results cannot be called yogīs or mystics. Those who are not motivated by material results include the empiric philosopher, the mystic pursuing the eightfold mystic perfections, and finally the mystic engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Personality of Godhead.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 7.14 -- Hamburg, September 8, 1969:

Guest (3): I had a question. Whose choice is it? In other words, you said it takes an intelligent person to become Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but it's obvious that (there) are not so many intelligent people. Whose choice is it? If a person isn't intelligent, is it because he wants to enjoy that makes him ignorant?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest (3): Or is it because he has to wait until he is...

Prabhupāda: It is his choice. Just like if somebody offers you one million dollars, "Take it." You do not know what is the value of one million dollars; you will refuse it. So little intelligence. So the choice is yours. In all the case, the choice is yours. If you know the value, instantly you accept it. If you do not know the value, then it will take time. But after all, the choice is depending on you to accept it or not accept it. It is your choice. Kṛṣṇa also says in the Bhagavad-gītā. After instructing him, He inquires, "Whether your illusion is now over? What you decide to do now?" He said, "Yes, my illusion is over. I will act what You say." That's all. The choice is mine.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975:

Guest (2): But is there no way of finding out what is good and bad besides obeying guru, and the because to follow the guru would obviously be to create frustration.(?)

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Is there some way to find out good without following the rules and regulations laid down by the authorities?

Prabhupāda: No, that is not possible. You cannot violate the rules and regulation. That is not possible.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: He says that to follow the rules is to be frustrated.

Prabhupāda: Why frustrated? So many people are following the rules and regulation. What is the frustration?

Guest (2): ...if you follow rules, then isn't it obvious that you must be frustrated? You want to do something, but the rule says, "No, you must not do it."

Prabhupāda: That is tapasya. I want to do something, but the rule says, "Do not do," so I'll have to do it. This is called tapasya. I have no intention to do it, but because it is ordered by the authority, I have to do it. Just like the law... In the street you find it convenient to go by one side of the road, but the law says, "Keep to the right." So you don't like it, still, you have to go.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975:

Guest (2): But is not to accept authority, the authority of God, is that not to speculate about God? How can I accept authority without knowing what God is? As soon as I say, "I know God," then obviously I am speculating.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: His question is, "Is it not speculation to say that one knows God? As soon as he thinks that he knows God..."

Prabhupāda: You know also God. You know also God.

Guest (2): No, I don't.

Prabhupāda: No, You are... Or do you think you are independent of God?

Guest (2): I don't know what God is.

Prabhupāda: No, no, you do not know. Why you do not know? You do not know that you are not independent?

Guest (2): No, I do not know God.

Prabhupāda: But are you not going to die? Can you check your death? You will be forced to die, so how do you say that you are independent?

Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Boston, May 4, 1968:

Guest (2): Let me try to delineate that a little more precisely. I have known people who have said, "Well, yes, you know I don't like birth, and I don't like death, and I don't like old age. But I have a tremendous driving need, and I don't know how to deal with it. You see, I must have sex. I must have sex. And I'm tormented. I'm stuck in the trap. I'm ensnared." You see? That is the individual I'm... Now if you can already reach the person through jñāna and convince him, and he can act on the decision of his will, then he's obviously already in a high state. But what do you do with the sort of person who is split, who is torn by his instinctual physical needs and they drive him? You see? And yet he wants to do something. How can you deal with such a person without forcing him to contain himself in such a way that he will resent it? Or must he be allowed to expend his energy until he is convinced by experience?

Prabhupāda: No. Just like amongst our students there are many married couples also, and there are brahmacārīs also. That I barred from this? He is not barred. Nobody is barred. Simply following some regulation. That will gradually train him. And the main principle is that as you go on hearing about this transcendental message, then you gradually become attached to these transcendental things. And the more you become attached to these transcendental things, the more you forget these material things.

Festival Lectures

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 16, 1968:

We'll take the law of gravity again. If some object in nature which has no consciousness behaves in a regulated manner, then it's obvious that it's under the control of a law. We call it a law. For example, if an apple drops from a tree, the apple is obeying the law of gravity. The apple does not know the law of gravity; therefore that law is being enforced by some superior entity. In our dealings in society, people know laws. Still, they don't obey them. They have to be forced to obey the laws, and still, people disobey the law. But the laws of nature are so perfectly enforced that nobody can disobey. Just a little thought will make this a little bit more clear to anyone. So there are twofold implications, namely the law proceeds from lawmaker, law enforcement proceeds from law enforcer. Man has tried so hard to establish law and order.

General Lectures

Lecture at St. Pascal's Franciscan Seminary -- Melbourne, June 28, 1974:

Guest (4): The most obvious sign that we see of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is your chanting and reciting of the mantra. Are there other valid forms of reaching God consciousness?

Prabhupāda: Yes. We are lacking in God consciousness on account of being impure. So by chanting, glorifying the Lord's name, you will be purified. The example is, just like you put one iron rod in the fire. It become warm, warmer, at last red-hot. When it is red-hot, it is no longer iron rod; it is fire by association with the fire. Similarly, if you remain always, constantly, in association with God, then you become godly, and you become purified. Then your vision will be clear. So God and God's name, the same, because God is Absolute. If you chant, glorify, God's name, that means you associate with God directly. And if we... Associate with God means you gradually become godly. This is the meaning of chanting the holy name of God.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Hayagrīva: Because obviously, say in my next life, I'll be a different personality.

Prabhupāda: Yes. According to your work, this karmaṇā daiva netreṇa (SB 3.31.1), by..., the body will be selected, not by you but by superior authority, that "This man has acted like this, so he should get this body."

Hayagrīva: If at death the soul takes the mind, intelligence, and ego with it...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Śyāmasundara: He has an optimistic side to his philosophy in that he says the fate of the world depends upon man's decision. Obviously, if men decide to do things properly, the world would be a better place.

Prabhupāda: Yes. We agree with that. We are trying to do that by introducing this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, to make the world Vaikuṇṭha. That is our philosophy. Anyone can come to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness and become happy. But that is not a blind decision. We take decision from higher authority; therefore it is perfect. We are taking decision from the ācārya, Kṛṣṇa.

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Śyāmasundara: He has an optimistic side to his philosophy in that he says the fate of the world depends upon man's decision. Obviously, if men decide to do things properly, the world would be a better place.

Prabhupāda: Yes. We agree with that. We are trying to do that by introducing this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, to make the world Vaikuṇṭha. That is our philosophy. Anyone can come to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness and become happy. But that is not a blind decision. We take decision from higher authority; therefore it is perfect. We are taking decision from the ācārya, Kṛṣṇa.

Philosophy Discussion on Karl Marx:

Hayagrīva: His father, Marx's father. And Marx's mother, however, remained Jewish, and Marx was raised a Christian. But at the age of twenty-three, after having studied some philosophy at the university, Marx became an avowed atheist. And Hegel, it was Hegel who wrote, "Because the accidental is not God or the Absolute is," and Marx commented on this, "Obviously the reverse can also be said." That is because God is not, the accidental is.

Prabhupāda: God is not?

Hayagrīva: Yes.

Prabhupāda: What, what does...?

Hayagrīva: So everything is accidental.

Prabhupāda: Accidental.

Philosophy Discussion on Origen:

Hayagrīva: As far as seeming contradictions and seeming absurdities in scripture are concerned, Origen considered these as stumbling blocks allowed by God to exist in order for man to go beyond the literal meaning. He says, "In some cases no useful meaning attaches to the obvious interpretation, but everything in scripture has a spiritual meaning, but not all of it has a literal meaning."

Prabhupāda: Literal... Generally, every word in the scripture there is literal meaning, but one who cannot understand properly because one does not hear from the proper person, he makes some interpretation. But there is no need of interpretation in the words of God. It may be that the words of God sometimes cannot be understood by ordinary person; therefore he requires to understand through the via-media of transparent guru. Guru is fully cognizant of the words spoken by God. One has to accept, therefore, a guru to go through the scripture properly. Generally there is no ambiguity in the words of God, but due to our lack of perfect knowledge we sometimes cannot understand and try to interpret. But this is, this interpretation is not at all feasible, because imperfect person interpreting means whatever he interprets, that is imperfect. So the proper import of the words of scripture or words of God should be understood from a person who has realized God.

Philosophy Discussion on Origen:

Hayagrīva: As far as seeming contradictions and seeming absurdities in scripture are concerned, Origen considered these as stumbling blocks allowed by God to exist in order for man to go beyond the literal meaning. He says, "In some cases no useful meaning attaches to the obvious interpretation, but everything in scripture has a spiritual meaning, but not all of it has a literal meaning."

Prabhupāda: Literal... Generally, every word in the scripture there is literal meaning, but one who cannot understand properly because one does not hear from the proper person, he makes some interpretation. But there is no need of interpretation in the words of God. It may be that the words of God sometimes cannot be understood by ordinary person; therefore he requires to understand through the via-media of transparent guru. Guru is fully cognizant of the words spoken by God. One has to accept, therefore, a guru to go through the scripture properly. Generally there is no ambiguity in the words of God, but due to our lack of perfect knowledge we sometimes cannot understand and try to interpret. But this is, this interpretation is not at all feasible, because imperfect person interpreting means whatever he interprets, that is imperfect. So the proper import of the words of scripture or words of God should be understood from a person who has realized God.

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview with LA Times Reporter About Moon Trip -- December 26, 1968, Los Angeles:

Reporter: ...and given the information about the degrees... But obviously, they're going ahead with plans to do so, and you have a transition period, for instance, between the part of the moon that is in sunlight and the part that is darkness.

Prabhupāda: That I've already admitted, that by modern scientific method if you can change the condition of your present body then you can go. It may be possible, but that is very remote.

Interview with LA Times Reporter About Moon Trip -- December 26, 1968, Los Angeles:

Reporter: But obviously, they're going to go there anyway, and, so that's why I'm trying to think to see whether there are any...

Prabhupāda: Now, do you think that after so much trouble, so much labor, if you go there and simply come back and be complacent that, "Oh, I went there," is that very great achievement? If you can live there, you can utilize that place, then it is all right. Just like so many Europeans, they came to America and not simply to see and go back. Why they settled here? That is successful. Columbus invented this island and people came and they utilized it. Otherwise, if simply coming and going, why take so much trouble?

Interview with LA Times Reporter About Moon Trip -- December 26, 1968, Los Angeles:

Reporter: For instance, the jehovah's Witnesses have all but predicted that Armageddon or the end of the world will come in 1975, and obviously, if nothing happens in 1975 or shortly thereafter, their sect will suffer in some relation because they have said this and if it doesn't happen...

Prabhupāda: But they said so many things.

Press Interview -- December 30, 1968, Los Angeles:

Journalist: Well, yes, obviously "Thou shall not kill" is an ethic, and it's timeless and it's valid, but man is not really interested in...

Prabhupāda: They are not interested in religion. It is simply a makeshow, showbottle. Then how they can be happy? If you do not follow the regulative principles, then where is your religion?

Journalist: I'm not arguing with you. I couldn't agree with you more. I'm in total agreement. It doesn't make any sense. "Thou shalt not kill," "Thou shalt worship no other Gods before Me," "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's ass," "Thy shall honor thy father and thy mother," those are beautiful ethics, but they're not obeyed.

Prabhupāda: "Thou shall not kidnap your neighbor's wife."

Press Interview -- December 30, 1968, Los Angeles:

Journalist: Let me ask you something that we've run into a great deal just recently. We've just started a youth supplement for kids. And one of the most... What should I say? That particular thing which provides perhaps the biggest schism between man's, or at least American man's and woman's love of God or the following of the Ten Commandments, is the problem, how shall I put it, well, the sexual problem. We here in this country are taught, and we have the Puritan background, that sex is a bad thing. And hopefully we're coming out of it, but when young people, a person reaches the age of puberty... Here in this country, I don't know from other countries. He begins to have a terrible, obviously a terrible problem. Now I'm stating something that's obvious. We've all gone through this. But it seems that is has been impossible for the western churches to give to the young people something to hold on to so that they can understand number one that what they're feeling is a normal beautiful thing, and number two, how to cope with it. And there is nothing in western culture that teaches or helps a young person to cope with this thing that is a very, very difficult problem. And I went through it. We all have. Now do you in your message, give the young people something to hold...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 12, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Allen Ginsberg: No. Obviously not.

Prabhupāda: You see? You know from the very beginning. I came here single-handed. I chanted. That's all. I never asked anybody money.

Room Conversation With John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison -- September 11, 1969, London, At Tittenhurst:

Devotee: Then why... Obviously not satisfied yet with what they found in (indistinct) that post office. Why have you come here, then? If you have been satisfied with that... You have to test.

John Lennon: Yeah, we've gotta go around. Yoko never met Maharsi. We're asking advice of how to, you know, how to stop. You can go on forever. I know people that have been wandering around for years, seeking gurus and spiritual teachers. I mean it's doing them all quite well.

Prabhupāda: Bring prasādam.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- August 14, 1971, London:

Guest (2): If you're a member, you have to practice the whole thing obviously. (break)

Revatīnandana: Everyone is a member of this movement. But some people have forgotten. Our movement is to remind them. Every living being is by nature a servant of God. Now people are forgetting. We want them to remember. We don't care for some difference of technique in worship. We want people to take up the business of chanting the names of God.

Prabhupāda: Just as in the same family some of the sons have forgotten father and some of them remember, but both of them member of the same family. Because he has forgotten his father does not mean that he is not son. He still remains. So actually, everyone is a member of God's family. That is our vision. Not only human being, but animals also. We therefore consider animals also brothers. We don't support animal killing.

Conversation with Journalists -- August 18, 1971, London:

Journalist (1): Yes. I'm only suggesting that you were saying already that only people who were kind or gentle perhaps would find it easy to start. There are obviously, as you were saying, lots of people who are not so kind or gentle and presumably would find it more difficult.

Prabhupāda: No. They may not be gentle, but we are gentle. Please come to us and learn. They may not be gentle. We can create gentle, provided he follows.

Journalist (1): Is that one single...

Dhanañjaya: (background talk) Śrīla Prabhupāda, (indistinct) the BBC One, Radio. They're (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: You can also note—this is common-talking of God.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- June 29, 1972, San Diego:

Guest (1) (Indian man): Obviously, they have got some other work, this, that.

Prabhupāda: Hm. But anyway, because you are living in this country, you must have some friends. Whenever you talk with your friends, you talk about Kṛṣṇa. Don't waste your time in other ways. That will be beneficial for you and for your friends. And before talking about Kṛṣṇa, you should know about Kṛṣṇa. And you can know about Kṛṣṇa very easily by understanding Bhagavad-gītā. So read Bhagavad-gītā thoroughly. Try to understand it and you can distribute it. That is a great service to Kṛṣṇa, to your personal self, and to the person you are speaking about Kṛṣṇa. And four principles of impious life, as it is accepted by our Vedic followers, namely, no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no gambling, no intoxication. That will give you strength and over and above that, if you can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra... You can chant. It is not difficult. There is no loss. You can chant.

Morning Walks -- October 1-3, 1972, Los Angeles:

Rāmeśvara: Our calendar says Tuesday. It's obvious when they talk about their teachers that they never talk of service to Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Therefore, they have no realization. Our relationship is service. So one who is not engaged in the service of the Supreme, he has no realization. Whatever little realization he has got, that is called śānta-rasa.

Jayatīrtha: Dāsya realization is (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: Dāsya-rasa. (indistinct) (break) ...practical devotee, he cannot become (indistinct).

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Krishna Tiwari -- May 22, 1973, New York:

Krishna Tiwari: Okay. I mean that is, but that is very obvious to everybody. I mean this is nothing, this is no...

Prabhupāda: Now our, our preaching is, "Here is the controller." Now, you may take it or not take it. That is different thing. But we say "Here is the controller."

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: In which point the students may possibly object?

David Lawrence: Well I've mentioned a few points on which... You know, obviously, I've studied a bit more deeply than the average student, because of the university and all this sort of business, which gives a particular form of knowledge.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

David Lawrence: You know the manifestations obviously of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and kīrtana and so on. Seems to be obviously you regard as a scurrilous or wrong-headed or a dull-headed field of people who regard His manifestations of God consciousness as verging on madness, or temporary madness. What would you say about that. Obviously you would reject it.

Prabhupāda: When a man is himself mad, he'll find others mad.

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

David Lawrence: Once again, many thanks for your tremendous cooperation and as I say I hope it won't put you to too much work. Obviously some of these things have already been met. To a certain extent we've done some of the work already, haven't we?

Prabhupāda: Some of our students may read. If it is presented, if it is misrepresented then it is useless to publish.

David Lawrence: I don't want that to happen, you see. This is why I'm so anxious that at every stage it be seen.

Prabhupāda: So you read it and find out.

Room Conversation with British Man -- August 31, 1973, London:

Guest (1): Yes, I understood all that. Also, whilst listening, I could quite see that you gain a freedom through grace, and don't have to come back here again, and then I thought that you personally must have come back here because you wanted to. Because you had a job to do perhaps. Well, obviously—not perhaps.

Prabhupāda: Come back?

Pradyumna: He said that you must have come back here because you had a job to do.

Guest (1): You see you, if you were freed in your previous time and did not have to come back, it does occur to me that you have come back because you have a job to do.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is also, just like, Kṛṣṇa comes. Similarly Kṛṣṇa's son, God's son, sometimes He comes. Sometimes Kṛṣṇa's great devotee, servant, he comes because the spiritual enlightenment to the fallen souls, that is required. So in the human society, when the living entity gets the chance of having this human form of life, he has got the facility to understand his position, how to go back to home, back to Godhead. So that facility is offered by God, by Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, we have got these books. We have got spiritual master, we have got ācāryas. Just to enlighten these fallen souls to go back to home, back to Godhead.

Morning Walk -- December 8, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: This is... Anyone can... Any child can accept. What is that?

Karandhara: Well, they say, If there was a God, He would be perceivable to everyone, whether they believed in Him or not, He would be so obvious.

Prabhupāda: Yes, it is available. This is common formula, that we see comparative study of these six opulences. When it is topmost, that is God.

Morning Walk -- December 8, 1973, Los Angeles:

Karandhara: No, they say, "If God is absolute, then he has to be obvious to everyone." Just like the sun comes up. The sun is obvious to everyone whether they believe in it or not.

Prabhupāda: Yes, but who is in the room, closing the room, how he can see?

Prajāpati: If they're asleep.

Prabhupāda: If somebody's sleeping just like owl, he cannot see the sun. The sun is a fact, but the owl cannot see.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 16, 1974, Vrndavana:

Harikeśa: ...which I've always been afraid to ask, because I don't know if it's proper, but you being the external manifestation of Supersoul, if we are having questions, doubts, when, in your absence, if we are receiving indications, is there any possible way that someone who is so conditioned can have any understanding of proper action in your absence? In other words, if I am in your absence and I am in great doubt, and I am praying to Supersoul to please save me somehow, if I receive some action which I must do or some course of action becomes obvious, should I trust that, considering that you're communicating with me, or...?

Prabhupāda: That depends on purity. If one has become pure, without any material desire, then that is possible. But if there is some material desire, we cannot expect direct communication.

Room Conversation -- March 16, 1974, Vrndavana:

Harikeśa: Sometimes we have the experience of someone in authority who is obviously not following your instructions.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Harikeśa: Sometimes we have the experience, someone in authority who is obviously not following your instructions.

Prabhupāda: That you have not to judge.

Morning Walk Excerpts -- May 2, 1974, Bombay:

from all kinds of sinful reaction.' " (break)

Bhāgavata: ...actually are devotees or how do they become demons? Are they devotees? Obviously Kāliya is... Just like Jaya and Vijaya, they were devotees. And due to some offense, then they became demons and they fought with Kṛṣṇa to satisfy Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Anyone who is living in this material world is a demon. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Where is your mother?

Indian Lady: She is at home.

Bhāgavata: But only certain demons get to fight with Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is special demon.

Morning Walk Excerpts -- May 2, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bhāgavata: Like Kāliya. So then if they have performed so many pious activities, then obviously they have done something very mischievous in order to take this demon's body? There is some falldown?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Without some mischievous activities... (end)

Morning Walk at Villa Borghese -- May 25, 1974, Rome:

Bhagavān: ...people tolerate such obvious mismanagement.

Prabhupāda: As long as they will not take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they have to tolerate. They must suffer. That is nature's law. That is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā... (BG 7.14). You cannot escape all these miserable conditions of... Mām eva ye prapadyante. If you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then you escape. What is difficulty to become Kṛṣṇa conscious? Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru: (BG 18.65) "Simply always think of Me." We have got nice Kṛṣṇa. And attend the temple, and we see. And what is the difficulty to think of Him always? Or chanting, hearing His name. So there is no difficulty in remembering Kṛṣṇa always.

Morning Walk -- May 28, 1974, Rome:

Yogeśvara: Obviously, they wanted sex in the beginning, but they didn't know it was going to be so much trouble.

Prabhupāda: That is our point. Then why do you marry? Just begin Kṛṣṇa conscious, and you will find, without sex, you will be happy.

Room Conversation with Reverend Gordon Powell, Head of Scots Church -- June 28, 1974, Melbourne:

Reverend Powell: I don't... I believe, obviously, you would have ways, methods of becoming God conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious. What...? Sort of a meditation? Chanting? Or...?

Prabhupāda: No, it is practical. What is it?

Satsvarūpa: (Reading) It says, "There are many such qualities. Lord Caitanya described some of them. A devotee of the Lord is always kind to everyone. He does not..."

Prabhupāda: First qualification. He is very kind to everyone. Yes. Then?

Room Conversation with Scientists -- July 2, 1974, Melbourne:

Guest (2): It's very obvious that His Grace isn't suffering from cholestrol. (laughter) Cholestrol is no problem for you.

Dr. Harrap: But we've had very close connections with India in the dairy research laboratory in that Dr. Chulak... Yes, you know him? One of our staff members some years ago spent several months in India developing methods of making cheese from buffaloes' milk.

Prabhupāda: No, India's position is different now. India has practically no milk, and no food. Due to our leaders' mismanagement, there is no milk. India is depending on your milk powder sent by Australia or by Europe. There is no milk. But milk is very important because Kṛṣṇa said that kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). Find out that verse.

Room Conversation with Scientists -- July 2, 1974, Melbourne:

Dr. Muncing: With respect, sir, I notice you wear a watch. This must be obviously a product of science, and this is what it's about. But you are stressing time and again in your writings the need to concentrate on the laws that you set out in order to achieve some standing in the future, in the life hereafter. Isn't this at the risk of neglecting the people who are sharing this life with us here and now?

Prabhupāda: No, it is not the question of neglecting. Just like formerly there was no watch, but still they used to keep time by the movement of the sun on a dial, just making some marks on the stone. Do you know this?

Guests: Yes, yes, I know.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So their work was going on. Their work was not suffering for want of this watch.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Doug: Actually, it's interesting about that, because he finished the whole Bhagavad-gītā, and he put out these first six chapters in a really a boggling word, way, the first six chapters. He was writing in a way that people could still enjoy material sense enjoyment and still do his technique of meditation. But I had a chance to hear the rest of the Bhagavad-gītā that he had translated. And we asked him... We heard that he had it. We asked him why he didn't put it out, and he said that the people of the Western world weren't ready to hear what he had to present. But actually what he had to say was... It's very authentic. What I read was very close with what you have to say, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that Kṛṣṇa says surrender all your senses unto Him. And I have hopes that maybe someday... Balavanta suggested the idea that I should write him a letter and ask him to have a meeting with you. And maybe some conciliation could be made, and maybe he could come to his senses or something that he could propagate this Kṛṣṇa consciousness also, because he has so many followers. And I think that there must be some sincerity in him, else I wouldn't have spent so long with him. He must have some sincerity. And I think that he obviously feels that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, and I noticed that on his pūjā table he always had a picture of Kṛṣṇa protecting the cows.

Prabhupāda: Instead of asking him to preach, you preach. He has already enunciated a type of formula, and it is very difficult for him to change it. He does not say that he is Bhagavān?

Doug: No, he does not say he is God.

Prabhupāda: That is good.

Interview -- March 5, 1975, New York:

Reporter: I understand, Swamiji. Again the deficiency is obviously with my question. My question relates to service to the outer world by your disciples.

Prabhupāda: That I have already explained...

Reporter: Yes, but...

Prabhupāda: That if you pour water on the root of the tree, the service reaches everywhere.

Interview -- March 5, 1975, New York:

Reporter: Yes, I've understood your words, and I'm grateful for them, but again the problem, obviously, is with me and not with you. But the question still remains, what about being of material service. Material service, not just spiritual service?

Prabhupāda: It is material service, as I showed. If you put foodstuff in your stomach, all the parts of your body feel energetic. That is material service. That is not spiritual service. Spiritual service (is) beyond that. Similarly, the center is God. If you understand God, then you understand everything.

Conversation with the GBC -- March 27, 1975, Mayapur:

Atreya Ṛṣi: What is obvious is that Prabhupāda's interference has always come because we have not done our jobs right.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- April 4, 1975, Mayapur:

Bhagavān: They are not dramatic like our movement. Our movement is very dramatic and obvious.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bhagavān: And we're an obvious cultural movement, whereas they are a hobby.

Prabhupāda: Hobby. That they can understand. So on account of this political situation, the government is not very favorable to our movement. But we have to counteract it by our behavior, by our propaganda. It is not difficult if you do it very nicely. We opened this college program, that foreigners should come here, then it will be solved. If it is recognized by the university and you come, you people come as students, then the whole situation will be solved.

Room Conversation with Carol Cameron -- May 9, 1975, Perth:

Śrutakīrti: That's obvious he meant only human beings, because he himself was killing animals.

Prabhupāda: Christ was killing animals?

Śrutakīrti: Well, he instructed his own disciples to distribute the fish. So he was also involved in killing of animals.

Prabhupāda: Yes, but he said that the fuits and vegetable should be your flesh. What is that?

Śrutakīrti: Well, that was before Christ. He never said that.

Paramahaṁsa: He also said that.

Śrutakīrti: Where does he say that?

Paramahaṁsa: He said that in the (inaudible). Yes. The Bible says that and Christ also spoke that, that the grasses of the fields and the fruits of the trees shall be your meat.

Prabhupāda: Then there is contradiction?

Room Conversation with Justin Murphy (Geographer) -- May 14, 1975, Perth:

Justin Murphy: Well, why aren't we better off then? Because obviously, therefore, going on what you've just said, there are a lot of people in Australia every day, perhaps certainly once every week, chanting the name of their God. Why then do we still have problems?

Prabhupāda: No, problem...

Justin Murphy: Are there not enough people chanting to their God or to the one God?

Prabhupāda: So problems... Suppose if you are... Aborigines, they have God? They have their name of God?

Justin Murphy: Yes, well, they have multiple gods, yes.

Prabhupāda: So if they chant the holy name of God there is no loss. At least there is no loss.

Room Conversation with Dr. Copeland, Professor of Modern Indian History -- May 20, 1975, Melbourne:

Dr. Copeland: Well, I don't define the people first, second, third, and fourth class like you do, obviously.

Prabhupāda: You don't find? You don't find first person...?

Dr. Copeland: Well, I'm not as willing to judge other people. I'm not willing to say whether you're first, second, or third class, just as I'm not willing to say...

Prabhupāda: No. At least, you are educationist, you are professor. According to the modern society, you are one of the first-class men. Do you think your position and the lower class man, the same?

Dr. Copeland: I think everybody has the same amount of intelligence and ability. It's just that some of them get more breaks than others.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. Everyone has got the potency, but unless he shows his intelligence, he has no value.

Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu:

Siddha-svarūpa: Yes. And he had made a replica. He had made a small replica of the universe with all the planets floating and so on. He had made a small replica, and it was sitting in his house. And his assistant came one day, his atheist assistant, he came and he says, "Oh, who has made this wonderful replica of the universe?" And Sir Isaac Newton, who was sitting there reading, he says, "Oh, no one." And the man said, "What do you mean no one?" He says... He didn't look up. He just says, "No one made it." And he kept reading and the guy, the assistant, the atheist, he became very perturbed. He kept saying, "What do you mean, you fool? Obviously somebody made it. He must have great intelligence, and I'd like to meet the fellow who created this." And Sir Isaac Newton put down his book and says, "My friend, this is but a small replica of the universe, and you're the one who is always declaring that no one has created the universe. And now you're declaring to me that somebody must have created that. I'm saying it just happened, but you don't believe me. So how can I accept your logic when you say that all of this just happened?" (break)

Prabhupāda: ...temple is very nice. (break) ...is also very nice.

Morning Walk -- July 21, 1975, San Francisco:

Brahmānanda: And it says here, "Birth, old age, disease and death." What is this? "The Bhagavad-gītā we find information that besides earth, water, fire, air, space as well as the mind, intelligence and false ego, there exists a superior energy form. That superior energy is called ātmā, the self. There is an obvious difference between you and the ground. That factor that distinguishes the animate from the inanimate is consciousness. That consciousness or awareness of being is proof of the existence of the self."

Prabhupāda: Very nice. This is the library? No.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 16, 1976, Mayapur:

Hariśauri: It's obvious. If the body is growing within the womb, there must be life there.

Prabhupāda: The same process is going on from the very beginning. A body is formed and it develops. The child is born.... The same process is going on. How do you say there is no soul? If there is no soul, how it has developed within the womb? Such rascals, they are passing on as big scientists. What is the reason they don't believe that there is no soul?

Harikeśa: They have really no argument.

Prabhupāda: Just see. All dogmatic. All dogmatic foolishness they are propagating, and it is going on in the name of vijñāna, science.

Morning Walk -- March 8, 1976, Mayapur:

Madhudviṣa: One of the points, obvious points, that are there is that many of the boys that are working with Siddha-svarūpa feel more allegiance to Siddha-svarūpa than they do to you.

Prabhupāda: That doesn't matter.

Morning Walk -- March 17, 1976, Mayapura:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So you asked me the question, "Is there vitamins in the grass?" And obviously there's not such vitamins in grass that it produces milk. So the vitamins are coming from Kṛṣṇa? Yes?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because if you eat grass, considering that there is vitamins—"There is indeed"—then you'll die.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Of course, Karttikeya Mahadeviya...

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Mr. Mahadeviya, he might talk upon this point-wheat grass.

Pañca-draviḍa: But cows aren't all eating wheat grass.

Prabhupāda: Cows are eating grass, dry grass, and giving you nice milk. Now, if you eat it—"There is vitamins. Let me eat"—you'll die. So who made this arrangement?

Morning Walk Excerpt -- April 2, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) Dilemma.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I mean, it's obvious if it was detrimental to our devotional service, then Prabhupāda would correct it.

Prabhupāda: They cannot also keep clean even Central Park. Then what to speak of Vṛndāvana? Things are becoming very, very...

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Here in Vṛndāvana the people also pay taxes?

Prabhupāda: Yes, without tax.... (break)

Tripurāri: ...in the day sometimes, and now they are giving prasādam to the devotees free, without charge. (break) ...stay?

Prabhupāda: They stay at the Rādhā-Dāmodara temple. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Morning Walk -- June 9, 1976, Los Angeles:

Hari-śauri: He'd obviously read fair amounts of your books.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Here is a house, four-story?

Hari-śauri: That one's three-story.

Prabhupāda: Three? And down, motor garage.

Room Conversation -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Hari-śauri: (laughs) He was becoming very enthusiastic. He was very enlivened. Anyone with a little intelligence, as soon as you begin to speak to them, they, immediately, they become so much enlivened. He's obviously, he's had some idea about organization and whatever, but he's never seen it practiced. And now he's come here and seen it practical.

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is practical training. That is wanted. Simply theoretical knowledge.... That is helpful, but training, that is the greatest need, that we have to create a set of first-class men. Then the world will be all right. That is an attempt of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, to make first class, ideal. Why they'll be attracted? They are seeing that "The priests are doing the same thing as we are doing." So how they will be attracted? Therefore Christianity is failing. They are also having the meat, illicit sex, drunkard, and they're priest.

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

Kern: So this is a development. Saint Ignatius did the same, somewhat. When he began, he sought the leadership. And he sought the intelligent, so that they might do what.... Obviously, you do it also, seeking the leadership that can then teach. We call it sometimes elitism, and this is perhaps a good word for it.

Prabhupāda: So you find out the verse, satyaḥ śamo damas titikṣā, the qualification of brāhmaṇa. Here, it is meant, the first class, second class, third class, fourth class. Yes.

Dhṛṣṭadyumna: "Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge, and religiousness—these are the qualities by which the brāhmaṇas work."

Prabhupāda: This is first class. Again repeat that.

Interview with Kathy Kerr Reporter from The Star -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Kathy Kerr: I notice all your followers obviously dress similarly and so forth.

Prabhupāda: We cannot get many followers. Because everyone is under this impression, "I am this body." And to get him released from this conception is not so easy job. So we cannot expect many thousands and millions. Only selected fortunate people will understand it. But everyone can understand it. It is very simple thing. But the modern education has made them so dull brain, they cannot understand, neither do they try to understand. That is the difficulty. Matter, subject matter, is very simple thing. I am changing bodies, but in spite of my change of body, I am the spirit soul existing. This is the first understanding. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), that I am not dead on account of my body being finished.

Conversation in Airport and Car -- June 21, 1976, Toronto:

Hari-śauri: How is it that, say, obviously they must be backed by very great pious activity, but somehow or other, they...

Prabhupāda: Therefore they have taken birth in India.

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Hari-śauri: Even anyone with a little common sense can understand that a very simple thing cannot produce a highly complicated thing. It's such an obvious point, but they have to have so many mathematical equations to accept it.

Prabhupāda: Dictaphone, so many complicated, then it is working.

Morning Walk -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Vṛṣākapi: To be able to be so fooled, that is the greatest wonder, how it's so obvious that there's a creator, but yet one can say there is no creator.

Prabhupāda: That is foolishness. That we are protesting, that "You rascal, you stop this nonsense talking." There is son and there is mother; there must be father. This is conclusion. And "I do not see father. I do not see that." But without father, how there can be son? This is intelligence.

Radio Interview -- July 27, 1976, London:

Mike Robinson: If we could just put one more tape on it. No, if I can explain to you, the question I am trying to ask, which I'm finding difficulty to explain. Obviously, the members of the movement who are here have made a definite sort of decision that you've decided, they've decided, for instance, to dress differently, and they're dressing now in what would appear to be an Indian style. Is it necessary to do that, or could I carry on being a member of a radio station and still be a member of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Harikeśa: That would be very nice.

Mike Robinson: Perhaps if I phrase it a bit differently. I gather that the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement also has some concern for areas of the world where there is suffering, physical suffering.

Prabhupāda: We have got the only concern. Others, they are simply avoiding. They have no responsibility. They are talking all nonsense. We have got real responsibility. These people are being misguided, they are kept in darkness. Let us try to give them some enlightenment.

Evening Darsana -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Ali: I believe in this one because when I dream...

Prabhupāda: No, believe or not believe, these are facts, that physical senses are not absolute.

Ali: That's exactly what I mean. It's so obvious.

Prabhupāda: Physical senses not absolute; it is the spiritual senses that acts through the physical instrument and utilize it.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Parivrājakācārya: It is very difficult for them because they are using their eyes and other instruments. They have found places where there were rivers, and they are finding ice, other things. So, I don't know the latest about it. It is obvious to them there is life, different kinds of life.

Hari-śauri: The way of testing for life...

Prabhupāda: Why you are spoiling your nails? It may come to a boil and then you'll understand. It is very dangerous habit. If there is little (indistinct) then it will become a boil.

Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Atreya Ṛṣi: Somebody by the name of Mehta. He was obviously a very great scholar, because this magazine is very first-class magazine. It's not a cheap magazine, and it was written very nicely. Somebody by the name of Mehta. He's a Dr. Mehta. In the New Yorker magazine, New Yorker.

Prabhupāda: He has written one book, My Experiment With Truth, that truth is truth, but it is very (indistinct) thing. That means he did not know what is truth. (long pause-child says "haribol") He says "Haribol"?

Atreya Ṛṣi: Yes.

Child: Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol!

Prabhupāda: Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! (devotees chant japa)

Child: Haribol! (child makes sounds for some time)

Prabhupāda: Let him play.

Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Ali: All right. I was thinking about the material platform that you mentioned last night, and I could not figure out how vast this platform is, what does it consist of, how do we define this platform. Is nature materialism? I mean, there are many things which are obvious, such as money, greed, etc. But how about nature, love?

Prabhupāda: We have got three platforms, generally. Material platform divided into two-gross and subtle, and there is spiritual platform. The body is material platform, divided into two, gross and subtle. And then if you are fortunate enough to come to the spiritual platform, then your life is successful. So the karmīs generally... Just like we see in the city, they are all busy, working very hard. They are on the gross material platform. And then next class, just like scientist, poet, philosopher, they are in the subtle platform.

Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Ali: So obviously this ignorance follows, even when we leave this body.

Prabhupāda: You leave this body, you accept another body. Tathā dehāntara prāptir. Just like you have already accepted. When you were a child, this body was not there.

Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Ali: The master is usually on a totally different level. It is quite obvious, from the actions, the talks, the understanding and the experience. How close does one student usually, how close does he get to the master? How closely does he understand the master? Or he could interrelate himself to the master?

Hari-śauri: He's asking how intimate does the connection become between the master and the disciples.

Prabhupāda: Simply by association.

Room Conversation -- October 31, 1976, Vrndavana:

Hari-śauri: So Dr. Allen Gerson says, "I am here today as a citizen who dislikes injustice, as a person who's own people, because of their religious beliefs, are being persecuted repeatedly, and as a scientist who knows how ignorance can turn the normal rationality of people into blind hatred." (aside:) He's Jewish. "As a citizen I can see a great injustice perpetrated here. Several people, all of legal age, have chosen a lifestyle which, because it differs in form from our lifestyle, has been viewed by their families as unacceptable. These families with honest but misguided intentions have had their children removed from the Hare Kṛṣṇa Temple and have attempted to reprogram them to the behavior and attitudes of society at large. The reprogramming obviously did not work and their children returned to the movement, thus angering and frustrating their parents. Not being able to understand the wishes of their children, or their behavior, or their motivation for returning, and needing to blame someone they effected through devious means to have 2 members of the Hare Kṛṣṇa..."

Prabhupāda: He has used very nice strong words.

Evening Darsana -- December 3, 1976, Hyderabad:

Vāsughoṣa: They feel great anxiety to talk about God. Once, about three years ago, I had met one big scientist from University of Chicago. Just a chance there was one... My father had invited me back home for something. The scientist was there. We got in a big discussion with him and his daughter. They were just saying, "We don't see God. There is no evidence of God." Even logically we could show them. They still didn't want to accept. It was so obvious to them. Ultimately they couldn't say anything.

Prabhupāda: What is their logic to deny God?

Vāsughoṣa: They don't have any logic. And ultimately, if we present our conclusions of Bhagavad-gītā to them, they are silent. They can't say anything but they still refuse. They don't accept it, but they can't deny it.

Prabhupāda: That is dog's obstinacy. The dog, however you ask the dog to stop barking, it will go on barking. Dog's obstinacy. Hm. What is that? I have taken.

Press Conference -- December 16, 1976, Hyderabad:

Guest (1) (Indian reporter): Obviously we have selected darkness. That is what we want to do. We want to go into light later on.

Prabhupāda: You are requesting something... Veda says, "Come to the light." Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya: "Don't remain in darkness. Come to the light."

Guest (2): We want more light.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Press Conference -- December 16, 1976, Hyderabad:

Guest (9): It started in...

Prabhupāda: It started in actually 1967. But the preliminary arrangement was made from 1965. Two years I had spent for making the suitable ground.

Guest (9): Obviously the first, when you started in the United States.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Rāmeśvara: Here's the description of that. "The initial appearance of this luminous being and his questions are the prelude to a moment of startling intensity, during which this luminous being presents to the person a panoramic review of his life. It is obvious that this luminous being can see the individual's whole life and he doesn't need the information," but he is getting the dead man to reflect on his past life. It says that "The remembrance is extraordinarily rapid. Everything appears at once and can be taken in with one mental glance. Yet despite its rapidity, all the..."

Prabhupāda: That is happening in dream also. So many remembrances come together; it becomes topsy-turvied. Therefore we see all of a sudden: "Oh, it is done long, long ago."

Room Conversation with Adi-kesava Swami -- February 19, 1977, Mayapura:

Hari-śauri: If we come ask for asylum, then it's obvious.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that "Americans, they are taking refuge in our law." Do it very nice. Immediately do it.

Ādi-keśava: So I will investigate this in America. I think before I go back, I'm going to go see some people in Delhi.

Prabhupāda: This Home Member can help in Delhi.

Hari-śauri: Gopāla Kṛṣṇa can give you all the names.

Prabhupāda: Gopāla Kṛṣṇa, with Gopāla Kṛṣṇa, Home Member will be very glad. He's in sympathy.

Ādi-keśava: I can, perhaps, stop in Delhi...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Conversation -- April 23, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We were discussing that this paper that it came out in is a small, very small paper. Probably... The question is whether any newspaper... I mean, why such a small newspaper carried the story and not a big newspaper? That is the real question. I mean, obviously the man must have gone to many places. But why no one would touch that story? That is the next thing. Because they're all afraid. They're also implicated. They all reported. That means they were also implicated.

Prabhupāda: I don't think we shall add in our...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, we concluded that... The thing is that it's clear... This man will probably get no... No one will listen to him. Everybody will think that it is raving of a madman. Just like whenever the reporters... I remember the Los Angeles...

Prabhupāda: He has given very good reasoning.

Conversation Pieces -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Rāmeśvara: It's obvious.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Rāmeśvara: It is obvious, what you are saying.

Prabhupāda: When I left India, I promised "I'll never come here." I was reluctant to do anything here. You know that? No action do there. But still, I thought that "At least in Māyāpur let me have my..." (laughs) At least Māyāpur, that "There is Vaiṣṇava, so many resident, in Māyāpur, Vṛndāvana." I was... I promised that "I'll never come again, back again here." That was my promise. But Kṛṣṇa wanted. That's all right. I was quite disgusted. Still I am disgusted. America giving permanent resident, these rascals will not give. What is wrong? In your country they also get permanent resident, outsiders?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: In my country there is also a reaction towards Indians. I had to come twice. Once I came the night before, and they would not give me visa at the entry.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Morning Conversation -- June 23, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, a whole family of them. This is their feeding place, the garbage can here. They don't come when they see people, though. Around all the holy places I always see a lot of monkeys and cows in India. Is there some reason, special, about... I mean, cows, there's obvious reason, but what about the monkeys? Why are they around the holy places?

Prabhupāda: Because they are fed by the visitors.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They like them. The visitors like the monkeys.

Prabhupāda: Here you'll find many of...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I remember in the Rādhā-Govinda Temple in Jaipur, oh, the monkeys, they lived there as regular citizens practically. And they're very friendly there. They come up and they hold their hand out.

Prabhupāda: That Kṛṣṇa was giving the monkeys. Monkeys were pet, not as enemy.

Letter from Yugoslavia--'Books!' -- June 30, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He writes, "Many days... After working for more than one day at several universities, my presence became too obvious, and this becomes politically and legally dangerous, although in some little cities I became practically the talk of the town because people had not seen one with a dark body as mine, speaking only English and a little French." He's very dark. (break) He says, "Most important at this school was that after four days of trying to meet the Indologist, we were successful. I met the man and his assistant. They kept stressing that we were..." (break)

Prabhupāda: If required, you can show this line to Mr. Koku(?). In foreign countries they are no more interested in philosophical speculation. Actually they are not, neither in America nor India.

Discussion about Bhu-mandala -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Both are saying the same thing. Obvious.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Now who is correct? Who will decide? I accuse you, you accuse me. But who is correct? Who will decide? That is śāstra. There is no question of argument. That is called pratiṣṭhā. You will never come to any conclusion by arguing. I think you are wrong, you think I am wrong. Somebody must decide. Judge. And that is śāstra.

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, anything. It doesn't matter what it is. For example... I was reading a report about them. So just like we have our saṅkīrtana parties and each, like five or six men in a van go out, they also have vans like that. But each van they have one Korean woman with each van. They say she keeps the accounts. That was the explanation. But it's obvious that she's a prostitute. It's very clear. So they do anything. They have no scruples or principles. So at any rate, the thing I feel about this is that we take pride in saying that we are on the streets now and we'll always be on the streets because our business is selling books. We're not going to depend on some big business and then stop our preaching. They are not preaching. This proves that what they do on the street is not preaching. They're simply collecting money.

Prabhupāda: They have nothing to preach. What they have got to preach?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Here's a picture. It shows only two pictures. Here is the difference between the Moonies and us. Here is a picture of some Moon woman. She has a picture of Moon on her button and her daughter waving the American flag. And then here's us, the devotees. "Hare Kṛṣṇa followers parade on the street." This is in New York. These are some of the New York devotees. "The drop-out rate is high, but there is a slow though steady growth rate among the small membership." This is from the New York Times. I know all these devotees.

Prabhupāda: Slow but sure.

Room Conversation -- July 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Mr. Myer: Hindi is good. Hindi, English. In fact, he's now very obvious data.(?) He's very well connected. He's known to local governor and people each end in Calcutta. In fact, (indistinct) recommended you to start a center there. But only, you see, that so many faiths people start believing in. He has been believing in Sai Baba sometime. So I was not wanting... But he'll change. It's just a matter of time.

Prabhupāda: The Sai Baba has been challenged in so many ways.

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...Vyāsadeva is the basis of all education. " 'Later the saint Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, in commenting upon the life of the great Mahāprabhu Śrī Caitanya, brought to the highest level of understanding these principles in his immortal Indian classic, Caitanya-caritāmṛta. It is good fortune of the world that these two spiritual works presented as the Encyclopedia of Indian Culture have been translated and commented upon in the style of a true scholar by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda, out of his obviously great desire to inject the world with his vast storehouse of learning, has translated precisely the rich Sanskrit and Bengali ślokas. He has given the transliteration, word-for-word meaning, purports, and each volume filled with full color illustrations by his disciples. I therefore wholeheartedly recommend this encyclopedia of our culture and all other Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publications to all educational institutions, schools, libraries, and colleges concerned with the moral and cultural development of their students within the boundary of Maharastra and throughout the world.' "

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Prabhupada Vigil -- November 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Brahmānanda: One thing they recognize is that the young people of India, they want to see the experience of Bhagavad-gītā. Just like Arjuna in the beginning was bewildered and in the end he agreed. So that experience... I said, "Yes, and we have had the same experience, because as Westerners, in the beginning we didn't even the know the name Kṛṣṇa, and now we are serving Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours a day. So obviously there was some great experience. So that has been given to us by Śrīla Prabhupāda." And then he recognized, "Yes." I said, "So we are... We can actually give our experience." So then he suggested that some publication be made actually dealing with the experiences.

Prabhupāda: That we are giving. This Bhāgavata discourse...

Brahmānanda: I think now that our books are coming out in the Indian languages and are being distributed, I think this will cause young Indians...

Prabhupāda: Young Indians are not... They have already published these things. Scientific investigation of matter.

Room Conversation -- November 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Akṣayānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda, this morning, in the Bhāgavata class, we read a verse how Bali Mahārāja had been awarded all material opulences by the Lord—because of his devotion, not because of his puṇya. So I gave lecture to the devotees—in the same way Your Divine Grace, because of your devotion and preaching, Kṛṣṇa has given you every facility for propagating the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, and although there are other nice movements in India, actually they should all join you. They should all surrender to you. We want that everyone should actually join us at your lotus feet because you have actually been given all śakti by Lord Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe tāra pravartana. So I told the devotees like this. "Do not be misled by others, even though they may be appearing to do nice work." Actually you are the only one who is really distributing the message of Lord Kṛṣṇa. This is very obvious by the result. These others have not made even one foreign disciple. And if they did make one, he could not give up smoking, drinking and this and that. So there is no benefit whatsoever. Any intelligent person can see. Plus you have given us so much nectar. Prahlāda Mahārāja says mahāmṛta. I always think of that verse. You have given us so much nectar to absorb our minds in. There is really no chance that we will be influenced by these dry personalities.

Prabhupāda: Now you take up seriously and distribute. (aside:) It has finished.

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And you can fast. That's... But why should we suggest that at this point? It is not proper for us to suggest that. Obviously we could say that, but that's not very... That means hopeless. So we cannot become hopeless. As your disciples, we can't become hopeless. And putting you in the hospital means hopeless. That's sure. Hospital is absolutely useless.

Śatadhanya: Neither we would ever go against your instruction.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, it's not within our... Śrīla Prabhupāda, we only took you to the hospital in London because Your Divine Grace said we should take you there. Otherwise we were not going to do that on our own. We did not go there on our decision.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that starving and chanting and little gaṅgā-jala or... In this way let me pass away peacefully.

Room Conversation -- November 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But stool-passing this many times is not right either. Passing stool five, six times, that is not right. It's obvious that it's a result of something. It's either the medicine or the diet. Prabhupāda says it's the medicine, just like last time when he took that makara-dhvaja, and he was right. It was the medicine. (break) ...the best thing to do. There may be some good effect by taking the medicine in addition to the causing you to pass stool. So if by giving you some other small medicine at the same time, you can still take this medicine and you don't pass stool, then that's the best thing. This only a kavirāja knows. I don't know this. I have no idea. Maybe we should take the help of that... This doesn't seem like a very difficult thing, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Passing stool is something that any kavirāja should be able to treat, and maybe for this small thing we should call that assistant who was here yesterday. That's why that kavirāja from Calcutta arranged for there to be an assistant here, in case... In other words he came and diagnosed the disease, and he made a very complicated thing, medicine that an expert had to make. And for the fact that there might be some side effect, that you may not sleep properly or you might be passing stool, something of this kind, he found out one assistant for the purpose of helping in these cases. So why not carry through with that and take the help of this assistant, see what he says? This is a common ailment that people have, diarrhea or passing stool too often, loose bowels. That's not a very major problem.

Prabhupāda: No, you have to stop.

Room Conversation -- November 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But the idea is that... According to him... I mean, obviously we're all conditioned, and... I mean, he's not claiming not to be a conditioned soul either, but according to him, going on this bullock cart is a suicide. He said within an hour or two hours, the bouncing and jumbling of the bullock cart will cause a heart attack. Just like you were having heart..., a little heart spasm the other day, just laying in bed two days ago. He says this going in a bullock cart, up and down, within one, two hours it can cause heart attack. So as his treatment has been better at least than any other doctor, and certain symptoms have improved, why are we giving up his advice? If you say his advice is wrong, then there's no comment, but all along, his advice seems to have been more accurate than any other doctors that we've had. I mean we who are closely around you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, your servants, secretary, our opinion of him is far superior than our opinion of any of these others. I see that he's able to take care of one symptom after another somewhat successfully. He's able to deal with these problems. He can deal with the problem of not enough urine...

Prabhupāda: That I know.

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Rayarama -- Calcutta 9 November, 1967:

If he does not return it then how are you going to publish it and how are you going to edit it. In two previous letters you write that he has already returned it. In letter of Oct. 21, you write "Hayagriva has left the manuscript of Gita with me and I am going to have it typed and sent to you, a few chapters at a time." In letter of Oct. 25 you write "I've been working on the manuscript which Hayagriva returned to me". In this letter you wrote to say that he is trying to obviously punish us by not returning same. The quarrel amongst yourselves, the Godbrothers is not very much palatable. I am now thinking about our society. We were very smoothly going on but this disruption created by Kirtanananda has plagued and disturbed the situation. The best thing is to do our duty nicely with faith in Krishna and everything will be adjusted. You are nicely doing BTG.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Tittenhurst House, England 31 October, 1969:

So far as we are concerned, he has admitted that the boy whom he spoke with was soft-spoken and polite. He seemed intelligent and had obviously been well brought up. In another place he says "What interested me most however was that here was a boy who was obviously religiously inclined. He was trying to find God and was trying to help other people find God, and he had taken up his post in front of a Christian church to preach Krsna." Don't you think that indirectly he is feeling the effect of our preaching work and his whole pamphlet is written as if he is afraid of the Krsna cult, which is spreading like wildfire? So we shall not be at all discouraged by such writings. Rather we should take the real fact that people are actually hankering after the real type of religion.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Abhirama -- Mombassa, Kenya 9 September, 1971:

Please accept my blessings. With further reference to my letter dated 31st August, 1971, I have already asked you to consult with the GBC members before purchasing the boat. So do not purchase this boat unless all the GBC members agree. I understand that some of the GBC members are not favorably disposed to this proposal of purchasing a boat. In one letter I have read "Otherwise there is so much chance of misuse. For example I have heard from Satsvarupa that the President of Baltimore Temple has $10,000.00 with which he wants to purchase a boat to go to South America. Obviously this is misappropriation and could be avoided if all these kinds of funds were immediately centralized". So in this regards do not purchase this boat without unanimous consent of the GBC members.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Secretary to Minister of Education and Culture -- Los Angeles 7 June, 1972:

We also understand from one prominent Soviet professor of Indology that a few years ago your government published a translation of the Ramayana, an ancient Vedic scripture describing the pastimes of Lord Rama, who advented Himself as the Supreme Personality of Godhead long years ago, and that this translation, the whole stock, was sold out within a few days. With reference to this obvious preference by the citizens in general, we wish to publish our translation of another ancient classical Vedic literature, namely, Bhagavad-gita, in the Russian language. The English edition of this great book of knowledge, which has been called by us as Bhagavad-gita As It Is, is already published by the famous London publishing house of Mss. MacMillan Co.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Rupanuga -- Bombay 18 December, 1974:

The United States is the leader of all other nations. You simply educate the people in this Krsna Conscious philosophy and then there will be no difficulty in capturing the government. In your country there is very good system of democracy. As we have seen just recently the people, as the common people have so much power, that they were able to get down this Nixon, who is obviously a rascal. So if we can simply convince a good majority of persons then they will automatically want a Krsna Conscious leader.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Gauragopala -- Honolulu 26 May, 1975:

Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated nil and have noted the contents. I think it is very obvious, even you have admitted, that the problem is that you are not following the basic principles of our society. The fact that you have not chanted your rounds for a long time is enough to make you without any spiritual strength. The best thing for you is to seriously try to follow all of the rules and regulations very strictly under the guidance of the temple authorities. Then your mind will become very clear, not so agitated. You have taken initiation from me, so actually you are obliged to do this. You have promised, therefore there is no choice,—you must follow strictly. Otherwise, you are carving your pathway to hell.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Jayatirtha -- Mayapur 20 January, 1976:

All the devotees in Vrindaban, especially the children are in fine health and their needs are being guaranteed by the members. They can even beg from door to door and collect enough to feed themselves nicely. This is the system. This is the required training. But if this is done in America, they will accuse us of child cruelty although this is actually the saving grace of the child and he becomes very blissful. Therefore in all ways it is obvious that the best place to have this gurukula is in Vrindaban and this should be done before the US Government starts to cause a disturbance which will harm us, and before we have to waste large sums of money on a risky endeavor which may turn out to be a complete failure.