Sanskrit scholars (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"Sanskrit great scholar" |"Sanskrit scholarship" |"sanskrit scholar" |"sanskrit scholars" |"scholar in Parsi and Sanskrit" |"scholar in Sanskrit" |"scholar in Urdu, Farsi, Sanskrit" |"scholar of the Sanskrit" |"scholars in Sanskrit" |"scholars of Sanskrit" |"scholars, in Sanskrit" |"scholars, not only in Sanskrit"

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: Then the analogy and metaphor should be like that. Nothing should be twice repeated. So there is Sāhitya-ratna in Sanskrit, Sāhitya-ratna. Caitanya Mahāprabhu defeated one great scholar simply by little mistake. Yes. Keśava Kāśmīrī. Keśava Kāśmīrī was great scholar, and Sanskrit great scholar means he must fluently speak in Sanskrit verses everything.

Allen Ginsberg: Everything he says must be done in perfect Sanskrit verses?

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

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

Prabhupāda: Then the analogy and metaphor should be like that. Nothing should be twice repeated. So there is Sāhitya-ratna in Sanskrit, Sāhitya-ratna. Caitanya Mahāprabhu defeated one great scholar simply by little mistake. Yes. Keśava Kāśmīrī. Keśava Kāśmīrī was great scholar, and Sanskrit great scholar means he must fluently speak in Sanskrit verses everything.

Allen Ginsberg: Everything he says must be done in perfect Sanskrit verses?

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

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 11, 1971, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: That is rascaldom. That means your conclusion was wrong. Hmm. Your conclusion was wrong. Just like Vivekananda and many others, now present, presently there is one Karpatri. Vivekananda was actually rascal. He, he had no knowledge. But the Karpatri is actually very learned man. He has studied all the Vedas, great Sanskrit scholar, but still, because he did not worship the lotus feet of the Lord, he is also proving rascal. He is now in politics. He has got a political party, Rama-Rajya Party, and nobody cares for him. He is insulted so many place, but still, but he's so learned, if, if anyone, anybody goes and reads scriptures and Vedas, he can give very good reference and very nicely explain, but the conclusion is dull. Conclusion is dull means again he has come to this philanthropy work.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation Vaisnava Calendar Description -- March 11, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So this boy, Jīva Gosvāmī, when he saw that his father and uncles all left home, why he should remain at home? So he also left, and he first of all went to Benares, which is called Vārāṇasī. It is a great center for learning Sanskrit. So he finished his education in Sanskrit grammar, specifically, he was a great scholar in Sanskrit grammar. According to Vedic system, the students are first of all taught the Sanskrit grammar, because it is very difficult subject. Usually one has to study grammar for 12 years, and when one is very much conversant with grammatical rules, he can read any literature. That means after studying grammar, the door is open for any other subject matter, just like philosophy, medicine, then military art, there are so many Vedic knowledges. Generally they read literature, the Purāṇas, the Vedāntas and śaipa(?), śaipa(?)

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation With David Lawrence -- July 12, 1973, London:

David Lawrence: It was very interesting to read one of the very western versions, that of Professor Zeiner of Oxford. And on one or two points of contention between yourself and other translators of the Bhagavad-gītā, in fact, he, nearly always, went with you. Now, he's reckoned to be one of the foremost western Sanskrit scholars. And he every time emphasized the devotional tone of your translation. Nearly every time. I was very impressed by that.

Śyāmasundara: We talked with Professor Zeiner (Zayner?), and he may come. He's trying... He's going to see...

Prabhupāda: That is only interpretation. Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. Kṛṣṇa is speaking to Arjuna. He is plainly speaking that "I am speaking to you this Bhagavad-gītā because You are My devotee." Bhakto 'si priyo 'si me rahasyaṁ hy etad uttamam (BG 4.3). So first condition to understand Bhagavad-gītā is to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. So in the Bhagavad-gītā, the only talk is about devotion. There is no other talk. There are other talks, but they are subordinate.

Room Conversation with Sir Alistair Hardy -- July 21, 1973, London:

Sir Alistair Hardy: Well, I'd very much like to have records of experience, accounts of present-day experience. Although as I say, at the moment I'm rather tending to concentrate on the western. I'm hoping to get scholars who are really Sanskrit scholars and those people who can really understand the language of oriental affairs.

Prabhupāda: No, first thing is: this, this is a different science. Science of God is not material science. Simply material, academic career will not help.

Sir Alistair Hardy: No, no. I agree.

Revatīnandana: "Eastern-Western" will not help.

Room Conversation with Sir Alistair Hardy -- July 21, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Simply by becoming Sanskrit scholar or Latin scholar, it is not sufficient. He must be God-realized, purified. Then it is possible. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ: (Brs. 1.2.234) "By your these blunt senses it is not possible to understand what is God, what is His form, what is His name, what is His quality, what is His kingdom, what is His paraphernalia." These things are to be understood. God means... Just like when we speak of "king." King does not mean alone. King means he has got his queen, he has got his kingdom, he has got his secretary, he has got his minister, he has got his palace, he has... so many things, king, royal.

Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor -- August 13, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Set all the books. Let him read the Sanskrit portion.

Guru-gaurāṅga: This is Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā.

Professor: That's the translation of...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Each word. Just see how we have translated. You are Sanskrit scholar.

Professor: This is the first volume. Are you preparing more of them?

Prabhupāda: Yes, we are preparing sixty.

Professor: Oh, I see.

Prabhupāda: Sixty volumes.

Professor: Oh, that's wonderful.

Prabhupāda: Sixty volumes.

Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor -- August 13, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Oh. (pause, opens letter) Any other letter? No.

Haṁsadūta: That's all. No.

Prabhupāda: So just see how we have translated. You are Sanskrit scholar.

Professor: You know the Kali-santaraṇa Upaniṣad?

Prabhupāda: Kali-santaraṇa Upaniṣad. Yes.

Professor: Yes, I have made a translation of it into French. It's under print now at the present.

Prabhupāda: Kali-santaraṇa Upaniṣad? That is Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.

Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor -- August 13, 1973, Paris:

Professor: Oh, I see.

Yogeśvara: In a few days.

Professor: It's a big feast.

Prabhupāda: So you are Sanskrit scholar. You can join with this movement and help us.

Professor: Thank you.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because it is worldwide movement.

Professor: I cannot help you. That's, that's...

Prabhupāda: No, you can help us.

Professor: That's very strange.

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

Prabhupāda: Translation is all right, but his commentation is wrong. Translation is all right. I know. That's very nice. It is done by some Englishman. Eh?

Professor: Well, that's one. Yes. And also there is Edgarton (?). He was an American Sanskrit scholar.

Prabhupāda: No, translation, there is, there is good translation. But he comments like that. Just like Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya. When Caitanya Mahāprabhu was asked that "You are hearing; You do not speak anything," He said, "Yes, I am understanding the original verse of the Vedānta very clearly, but you are trying to cover the meaning. Therefore I am puzzled." This is the business of the Māyāvādīs. They'll simply puzzle. That's all.

Room Conversation with Dr. Christian Hauser, Psychiatrist -- September 10, 1973, Stockholm:

Prabhupāda: Some Sanskrit scholar in Swedish language must come forward. Then it can be done. But he must be a good scholar because each word is meaningful. Yes. Just like beginning of the Bhāgavata, janmādy asya (SB 1.1.1). Janmādi. So this one word has volumes of meaning. Janmādi means beginning from janma. So beginning from janma, but, how many things are there? Generally, birth janmastiti lat(?), birth, then you stay for some time and then you become vanquished. This body. Janmādy asya (SB 1.1.1). Asya of this material world. Janma, creation, then situation, then annihilation. Now how many volumes of books you can write on these three words?

Room Conversation -- September 19, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: You can come this side. Brahma-jijñāsā means this human form of life is meant for inquiring about the Absolute Truth, brahma-jijñāsā. This is human life. Unless one is jijñāsu, just like Sanātana Gosvāmī went to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and he inquired... His first inquiry was, "What I am?" His first inquiry was. Ke āmi, kene āmāya jāre tāpa-traya? He said, "grāmya-vyavahāre paṇḍita, tāi satya māni." He was a brāhmaṇa. So brāhmaṇas are addressed as "paṇḍitjī." He was paṇḍita. He was very learned scholar in Sanskrit and Parsee, Urdu. But he admitted his fault, that "Everyone calls me as paṇḍitjī, but I am such a paṇḍita that I do not know what I am. This is my 'paṇḍitjī.' Therefore I have come to inquire from You what I am." That is brahma-jijñāsā. Nobody knows in this material world what he is. Everyone is thinking, "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am woman," "I am man." This is their... is their...

Room Conversation -- September 21, 1973, Bombay:

Gargamuni: Some of them are shocked. We went to the National Library in Calcutta. That's the largest library. They saw your books and they said, "Oh, he is doing this work?" They were so impressed. They had never seen Sanskrit or Bengali printed in foreign countries the way you have done in your books. They said, "This is fan..." There's no one else who is doing this in India, no one. Very impressed. And these men themselves are Sanskrit scholars. He immediately started to read. He said, "Oh, very nice." He said, "It is just right." So he was very enthusiastic. There are two boys. They spend the whole day just going to libraries.

Prabhupāda: That has been written by Professor Dayal, Dimock, that "Sanskrit scholars should get good opportunity, and nobody, I think, will deny Swamiji's scholarship." He has said that.

Room Conversation -- November 4, 1973, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: So far I am concerned, although people say I am Sanskrit scholar, but we are not educated as Sanskrit scholar. Whatever Sanskrit we have learned from this book only. A Sanskrit scholar is different, he learns grammar 14 years.

Guest: A waste of time, a waste of life.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Then other side, he takes a whole time, you see?

Guest: (indistinct) greatest Romanian poet and he studies Sanskrit and (indistinct) he's worshiped like Shakespeare in Romania. And (indistinct)

Room Conversation -- November 4, 1973, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: In Germany there are many Sanskrit scholars.

Guest: Max Muller for example.

Prabhupāda: Max Muller was not very big scholar, but at the present moment there are many actually scholars.

Guest: And Lesnee(?), Professor Lesnee(?) was another scholar in Bengali and Sanskrit.

Prabhupāda: But that does not mean he knows the Vedic literatures.

Guest: No, but they were...

Morning Walk -- December 5, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Professor?

Umāpati: Professor Scharfe. He's a Sanskrit scholar of the Vedic, Vedic...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Scharfer?

Umāpati: Scharfe. Scharfe.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: It's not Scharfer?

Devotee: Scharfe, spelled S-c-h-a-r-f-e.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, I met him.

Room Conversation with Latin Professor -- December 9, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Just like this sun, the sunshine, the sun globe, and within the sun globe. In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, the Fourth Chapter, the person sun, whose name is Vivasvān, he was instructed by Kṛṣṇa. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). You are a Sanskrit scholar.

Professor: No, I'm afraid not.

Dharmādhyakṣa: That was the gentleman whose works he translated. In other words, the gentleman that he worked for was the Sanskrit scholar.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 17, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Then let him start, right earnest, and I will be the student along with him. I want to replace my all Sanskrit knowledge.

Prabhupāda: No, Sanskrit knowledge, whatever you have got, that is sufficient for understanding. We don't require to be a Sanskrit scholar.

Dr. Patel: No, I don't want to be scholar. I want to learn all the ancient literatures. Bhakta does not want to learn even, but I am a little of that temperament. Whole day I pass my time in reading only, practically.

Prabhupāda: So bhakti is jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167). When you will not try to become a jñānī, then you'll come to the stage of bhakti.

Dr. Patel: I don't mind but let me...

Prabhupāda: So long, so long you...

Morning Walk -- March 24, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: We have to say yes before you. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: No, no. You are a Sanskrit scholar.

Dr. Patel: I am not. I have just very little Sanskrit.

Prabhupāda: No, no. Yena, this word means person. Yena. This is person.

Dr. Patel: Both imperson and person. Svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṁ vindati mānavaḥ. Now that girl, the doctor lady, you choked the other day in the morning, she, poor thing wanted that "I am practicing the medicine and serving people," and you call her a fool, "You are a damn fool." Well, she's doing the...

Morning Walk -- April 20, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: We are making all over India members with these English books. Why do they not say, "No, no, no, I cannot accept English book." Why they are accepting English books? It is my fault that I have written in English or it is their fault? Why they are accepting? Everywhere we are making life members but why do they accept these English books? They could have refused, "No, no, no, I cannot accept English book." Why they are accepting? I know one boy. He is about forty-two years. But he was practically my first student. He is a very big scholar in Sanskrit. But because he does not know English, he is useless. He could not make any, prosper in any way. He is taken as half-educated. He was appointed as vice-chancellor of the Darbhana(?) Sanskrit University. Maybe it is only name. Anyway, now his teaching period is over. Now he is useless. He does not get any service. Although he is a very big Sanskrit scholar. The only defect, that he does not know English—he does not get any responsible position.

Morning Walk Excerpts -- May 1, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: He's a learned scholar, I know.

Dr. Patel: He had also returned (indistinct) In Nariya(?) he's supposed to be the best scholar in Sanskrit, not only a big bhakta also a Vaiṣṇava. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...there is no saptāha. (break)

Girirāja: "...is so potent that the more one advances in this line, the more he loses his attraction for material life."

Dr. Patel: People used to prostrate themselves.

Prabhupāda: All right. That is artificial.

Dr. Patel: I have read somewhere. (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: That is not the way.

Morning Walk -- June 21, 1974, Germany:

Professor Durckheim: No, they don't.

Prabhupāda: Just see. And still, they want to be masters of understanding God. I have seen many scholars in the western countries. They are well known as Sanskrit scholar. But they cannot quote even a verse.

Professor Durckheim: I see. Well, it's a pity. Sanskrit scholars...

Prabhupāda: Yes. But I understand in Germany there are many Sanskrit scholars.

Professor Durckheim: It seems so.

Morning Walk -- June 21, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: Yes. But I understand in Germany there are many Sanskrit scholars.

Professor Durckheim: It seems so.

Prabhupāda: In Germany there are many learned Sanskrit scholars. But till now I have not met any one of them.

Professor Durckheim: Well, to be a scholar in the usual sense of the word and to really go into the meaning, they are two different things. There are sometimes people who seeks to be a scholar, but in their actual knowledge, they have no insight. And that's also the case in the, with the theologian and the Bible. They know the Bible sometimes...

Prabhupāda: No, that is required.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Evening Discussion -- May 6, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Adhi-yajña. When we divide the word, then the first noun form is used. Sanskrit grammar is very difficult. It requires twelve years to learn simply Sanskrit grammar. So, that is not possible. So whatever is there, you understand that. Sanskrit grammar is very, very difficult. At least twelve years it requires. And if you understand Sanskrit grammar, then you can read all the Vedic literature without any translation. Simply by studying. Therefore the Sanskrit scholars are first of all taught grammar. And when one is expert in reading grammar properly, then all Vedic literature becomes very simplified.

Morning Walk -- June 16, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: No, the Germans, they very much praised Indian culture. That my godbrother Soulier, when he came to India he said that "When Indian students come to our country, first of all we inquire how much he has got asset of his own culture. If we find that he has got some knowledge in his own culture, then we receive. Otherwise we reject." As soon as they found that somebody is made of London culture, then immediately they reject. There are many Sanskrit scholars in Germany.

Harikeśa: All of the good dictionaries are from Germany.

Prabhupāda: No, Max Mueller was German.

Morning Walk -- November 20, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Why? Nobody taught them. You are chanting. How you are chanting? Nobody taught them. That is the difficulty.

Jayapataka: Why the Germans are good Sanskrit scholars? Why?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because they had very good tendency for learning Sanskrit to know so many things. That was their research. They knew it that in Sanskrit language there are so many wonderful things.

Dr. Patel: Now, sir, they say that in American universities also, many universities have started teaching Sanskrit.

Morning Walk -- November 20, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: By international scholars' meeting these diacritic marks were discovered for studying Sanskrit. The diacritic marks which we use, that is international agreement of Sanskrit scholars.

Dr. Patel: Yes. Yes. Those marks. A, and a and u and ai and these dots. Yes, that is international. Nobody can claim. That is long back, sir. I think Max Muller's time.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 15, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: What is the wrong in India?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: (break) ...reviews from big, big people in Delhi, that will be very helpful in Russia. Like the head of the Lok Sabha Research Library is giving a review on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and other Sanskrit scholars have also been approached, and they've all agreed to give reviews.

Prabhupāda: Take these reviews. You print.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Print those.

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

Rāmeśvara: ...surprised that you have written so many books. They cannot understand how you could write so much. They wonder whether you were a great Sanskrit scholar for many years, so they try to guess. They just can't imagine anyone writing so much.

Prabhupāda: We are exceeding all material authors except Vyāsadeva.

Rāmeśvara: Vyāsadeva.

Prabhupāda: One book, seventeen volumes, Caitanya-caritāmṛta. That is also.... So many, our Godbrothers, attempted. Everyone is...

Hari-śauri: Have any of your Godbrothers translated anything?

Prabhupāda: They died half-way finished.

Room Conversation -- June 9, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: "All right, let me see how your strength is coming. Now I shall kill you, come on. Let me see (laughs) how your God is coming to save you." This is atheism, challenging. And when He appeared, the Hiraṇyakaśipu became a fly (laughs) in front of.... Eh? Where is such language? Even there are many Sanskrit scholars now, they cannot produce such language. That is not possible. And five thousand years before, Vyāsadeva presented this unique language.

Rāmeśvara: This is the twentieth volume of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam now printed, twentieth volume.

Prabhupāda: Number twenty.

Rāmeśvara: Of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam series.

Prabhupāda: Out of sixty. Still forty.

Room Conversation with Ambarisa and Catholic Priest -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: As their textbook for Sanskrit class. They found it so wonderful. Because for Sanskrit scholar it is good opportunity to learn Sanskrit, because each word we have given in English and German synonyms.

Stansky: I want very much to learn basic Sanskrit, but I have so much to learn right now that ah,...

Prabhupāda: No, it is not necessary, but those who are interested in studying Sanskrit literature, for them it is very good help. And at the same time they get sublime knowledge. They study Sanskrit and get knowledge. So you have kindly come to join us. You study our philosophy very minutely and then try to do something for the suffering humanity.

Room Conversation -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: You see these two things especially, that they.... English is their mother tongue, mother language. They can easily become English scholar very easily. And Sanskrit language is no difficulty. Read and write, read and write, then he will learn. Our education in Sanskrit was in college. Of course, I was the best student in my class of Sanskrit. I was standing first. But we are not like the so-called Sanskrit scholars. But for our purpose we can read and write, that's all. Similarly, we don't want any very learned scholars, Sanskrit grammarian to manufacture jugglery of words, meanings. No, we don't want that. Simply we can conduct our business, that's all. Just like Marwaris, they, their education is up to their business understanding, that's all.

Room Conversation -- June 24, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Kī jaya. Oh.

Kulaśekhara: It is misspelled? I'm no Sanskrit scholar, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Guruban dhāma kī, that kī should be different.

Kulaśekhara: K-i?

Prabhupāda: No, not kijaya. Kī one word, jaya one word. Just like Guruban one word, dhāma one word. Similarly kī one word and jaya.

Kulaśekhara: The spelling is correct though?

Prabhupāda: Spelling? Yes, but generally k-i.

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That is another misgiving. They will never be able to learn Sanskrit, and neither it is possible that by learning Sanskrit they will be elevated. There are many Sanskrit scholars. So how they are elevated? They are rotting. It is not a good suggestion, this. If the harijana actually becomes harijana, then it will benefit. That training we can give. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is that we can make a harijana, a so-called, I mean to say, camaras, bhangis... Now they understand harijana means he must be a camara or bhangi. But that is not the actual... harijana means devotee, "The man of Hari." So in spite of their illiteracy in Sanskrit language, we can make him harijana, actually. So why do you take the trouble of learning Sanskrit?

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Śravanaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇu. Hear and chant about Viṣṇu. That is wanted. Not kṛn pratyaya, di-pratyaya, du-pratyaya. No. That is not wanted. Na hi na hi rakṣati du-kṛn-kāraṇe. This will not save you. If you have become a Sanskrit scholar, du-pratyaya, di-pratyaya, da-pratyaya, that will not save you. Na hi na hi rakṣati dukṛn-kāraṇe, bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha mate. So this, they are thinking by learning Sanskrit they will become perfect. In the Bhagavad-gītā I don't find that "You learn Sanskrit, then you become perfect." "You surrender unto Me, then you become perfect." That is wanted. If you learn Sanskrit, there is no harm, but it is not the only condition that "You have to learn Sanskrit, then you will be able." Who knows in our camp Sanskrit? Who knows Sanskrit? How many?

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Anyone can respectable. That is already described. Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya (BG 9.32). Kirāta-hūṇāndra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ. Everyone can be, śudhyanti, they can be purified. But if you take the real process, this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness process. Otherwise, simply by learning Sanskrit, what will be able...? There are so many big, big Sanskrit scholars in India. They are loitering in the street. Huh? What is that? You have met so many scholars. What is their position? That Prabhakara you know? He was my first student.

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: He's a big Sanskrit scholar. But what is his position? He got big, big position also, but he could not stay. If one's mind is not fixed up, you learn Sanskrit or no Sanskrit, it will.... (break) To make a good man, it is not necessary that one has to learn Sanskrit. He can be made good provided he fully surrenders to Kṛṣṇa. Sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcana. If one has got unflinching faith and devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ. All good qualities will develop automatically. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad guṇā. If he's not a devotee, he will hover over the mental concoction.

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: He's a big Sanskrit scholar. But what is his position? He got big, big position also, but he could not stay. If one's mind is not fixed up, you learn Sanskrit or no Sanskrit, it will.... (break) To make a good man, it is not necessary that one has to learn Sanskrit. He can be made good provided he fully surrenders to Kṛṣṇa. Sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcana. If one has got unflinching faith and devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ. All good qualities will develop automatically. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad guṇā. If he's not a devotee, he will hover over the mental concoction. Manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ (SB 5.18.12). Then he'll remain in the material platform. Never mind he's a Sanskrit scholar or this or that.

Morning Walk -- July 17, 1976, New York:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Sanskrit department.

Prabhupāda: Very learned scholar in Sanskrit. Titles in Sanskrit.

Hṛdayānanda: (break) ...Ratha-yātrā, "No Parking. Sunday Parade."

Prabhupāda: You convince the authorities of America that my logic, andha-paṅgor nyāya. Who will explain this? Andha-paṅgor nyāya, lame and blind logic.

Hari-śauri: Ah, lame and blind.

Bali-mardana: Oh, yes, I told a reporter that just a few days ago.

Room Conversation -- July 31, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Bhūgarbha: He's been every place. He went to, in Paris he got in the Sorbonne and also in Pondicherry they have one French Institute, and there he got his Ph.D. And also in Holland there is one very important... So by his letters we can, many people will take our books.

Prabhupāda: No, he's undoubtedly very great Sanskrit scholar. He had written some book how to make the sacred thread, like that. How many knots should be there, how many... (laughter) Smārta brāhmaṇa.

Bhūgarbha: Now he's written another book to show how his line is changing. His latest book was about the five chapters of the Dasama-skanda, which is the rasa-līlā. That is his book now.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Room Conversation with Professor Francois Chenique -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: No, if from Sanskrit to French can be translated, I have no objection. But we have no such arrangement.

Yogeśvara: We have no Sanskrit scholars in French yet, no.

Prabhupāda: Not only scholar, not only scholar, he must be a realized soul. Simply scholars will not help, simply scholarship will not help. There are many Sanskrit scholars in India. There are many Sanskrit scholars, original Sanskrit scholars in India, they cannot understand Bhāgavata.

Room Conversation -- September 11, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Don't allow him. This botheration he has gone. He is simply posing himself very learned Sanskrit scholar, above everything. That is his ambition.

Saurabha: And on the opening day the Deities will be on the altar or they will be in front when they're bathed? When the bathing is taking place in Bombay for the opening...

Prabhupāda: That the priest will arrange who will come from...

Saurabha: Yes. But they will be on the altar or they will be in front?

Prabhupāda: No. In the front they are left.

Room Conversation About Gurukula -- November 5, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So we have to train like that, guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ, not that everyone should be Sanskrit scholar. Why? It is not necessary. There are so many other things.

Jagadīśa: The inclination depends on guṇa-karma.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) Although by nature we should not enforce something. We should see for which work he is suitable. You should engage him. And we must have all departments of work—the weaving department, the plowing department, the cow-keeping department, the Sanskrit department, the English department, the trading department. We should have all the departments. Guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13).

Room Conversation About Gurukula -- November 5, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Whichever suitable, that... One must be suitable for any of these. It is the guide's intelligence: for which purpose he is suitable engage him, like that. That is required, not that everyone has to become a big scholar in Sanskrit. That is not required. Let him come to gurukula, but if he is not suitable... Gurukula, this... So far character is con..., that is for everyone. Just like early rise in the morning, chanting, and going to the... What is the objection? Anyone can do it. That is practice. And for working, if he is not suitable for higher education, let him go to the farm, take care of the cows and grow food, flowers, fruits, eat, and dance and chant. Chanting, dancing, everyone will take part. There is no doubt.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: We have no other business. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has ordered, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Bas. Very easy. And that is being effective. Now because I am carrying these words of Kṛṣṇa throughout the whole world, perhaps I have done the best service than the combined so much Vedāntists. All the Vedāntists of India could not do that. That's a fact. How it has become possible? Because we are simply speaking what Kṛṣṇa has spoken. That's all. Yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa... That's all. I do not claim that I am Sanskrit scholar, I am this big man, that man, no. Whatever books I have written, only about this-Kṛṣṇa. In our book in every page you will find Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa. My Guru Mahārāja, if we used to write some article, so we wanted to show him how it is written. So he was very busy. So somebody would read and Guru Mahārāja would say, "How many times he has said 'Kṛṣṇa'?" (laughter) If he finds that in every page there is Kṛṣṇa, it is all right.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 24, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: I have dedicated my Bhagavad-gītā to Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana.

Guest (1): Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana? Following Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana?

Hari-śauri: He dedicated it. Yes, this is... Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana.

Guest (1): I am glad to talk with Pradyumna Mahārāja. He's good Sanskrit scholar. And I also a Sanskrit teacher for ten years in a Sanskrit school with my postgraduate from this, (indistinct) University.

Prabhupāda: What you are doing now?

Guest (1): Duḥkhi-sampat-nyāya.(?)

Prabhupāda: No, what is your occupation now?

Room Conversation -- January 24, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Satsvarūpa: As research editor, you could write a nice review of Śrīla Prabhupāda's reviews. We have many reviews. All the big Sanskrit scholars.

Guest (1): Yes, I will write. Actually if I get a small literature about Prabhupāda I will write an article in newspapers. People of Orissa could not know that an international figure came to Orissa, and they could not avail of the opportunity.

Hari-śauri: That would be very nice. International.

Gurukṛpa: Interplanetary.

Hari-śauri: These are appreciations from all over the world, France...

Guest (1): Pradyumna Mahārāja put some pertinent questions on Bhāgavata when he came to know that I am Sanskrit scholar. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...Leyland.

Gargamuni: Yes, Leyland(?) Bank.

Prabhupāda: Yes. "Our Guru Mahārāja went to America with this hope—that Indian culture and American money combined together will save the world." That's a fact. Everything requires money, but we are securing money with hard labor. If money little easily comes, we can make very nice program.

Room Conversation -- April 5, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Our books are selling due to the Sanskrit scholarship.

Guest (1): Yes, Sanskrit scholarship.

Prabhupāda: Word-to-word meanings.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It doesn't appear to be in alphabetical order. I mean, look.

Guest (1): This is I, so you have to go to J.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well it's not in alphabetical order.

Guest (1): No, it is according to Sanskrit order. Can you find it?

Room Conversation -- April 19, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Little ABCD, and they are trying to challenge the laws of nature. Little learning dangerous. Alpa-vidyā bhayaṁ kare(?). Just like in our society. Some of them have got little Sanskrit—they have become scholar, Sanskrit scholar. They're reading only Sanskrit. Rascal cannot read anything, and they are wasting money, four hundred, five hundred, like that, "Sanskrit Department," dozen men. You were speaking. So I have stopped it. Unnecessary. I have talked with so many foreign Sanskrit scholars. They do not know anything. Still, they are passing as Sanskrit scholar.

Conversation, 'Rascal Editors,' and Morning Talk -- June 22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Sādhu means they are very pure. What can be done if it goes there and these rascals becomes Sanskrit scholar and do everything nonsense? One Sanskrit scholar strayed, that rascal... He take... What is his...? Śacī-suta? Śacī-sandana?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jaya-śacīnandana?

Prabhupāda: And they are maintaining them. Different meaning.

Conversation, 'Rascal Editors,' and Morning Talk -- June 22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Now here is "O sages," and the word meaning is "of the munis." Just see. Such a rascal Sanskrit scholar. Here it is addressed, sambodhana, and they touch(?) it—"munayaḥ—of the munis." It is very risky to give to them for editorial direction. Little learning is dangerous. However proper Sanskrit scholar, little learning, dangerous. Immediately they become very big scholars, high salaried, and write all nonsense. Who they are? (pause) Then?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "O sages, I have been..."

Prabhupāda: No, they cannot be reliable. They can do more harm. Just see here the fun(?).