Prabhupāda: Formerly the kings and governors, they used to take bath in the Ganges with their paraphernalia, band party and many brāhmaṇas and all kinds of charitable things. In this way they used to come to take bath. So Lord Caitanya saw that somebody is coming in that great procession, and He was told about Rāmānanda Rāya, the governor of Madras province. Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya requested Him that "You are going to South India. You must meet Rāmānanda Rāya. He's a great devotee." So when He was sitting on the bank of the Kaveri and Rāmānanda Rāya was coming in procession, He understood that he is Rāmānanda Rāya. But because He was sannyāsī, He did not address him. But Rāmānanda Rāya, he was a great devotee, and saw a nice sannyāsī, young sannyāsī was sitting and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Generally, the sannyāsīs they do not chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. They, "Oṁ, oṁ..." Simply sound oṁ. Not Hare Kṛṣṇa.
South India (Conversations)
Conversations and Morning Walks
1967 Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Is that a nice scene to perform?
Prabhupāda: Yes. While He was traveling in South India, in a village that leper Vasudeva, he was coming to see Caitanya from a very distant place. And then when he came to see Him, Caitanya Mahāprabhu had already left. So he was so sorry and crying. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu came back and embraced him and he was cured. These are some of the miracles.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In the introduction to the Teachings of Lord Caitanya, up until the age of 31 there is description, but then there is very little description from the age of 31 to Lord Caitanya's disappearance. Maybe you can tell me as much as you can of what happened...
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: (reading:) "...Kṛṣṇa can be described, not (indistinct) Him, his mind becomes totally associated with Him. His Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda in his discourse at the (indistinct) Sunday, said there was no rigid rules and regulations for chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, nor does it require formal education. While uttering the name of Sri Kṛṣṇa one should focus the mind on the image and form of the Lord, His auspicious activities, His delightful sport, and His role as Gītā-ācārya. Lord Caitanya, during His visit to a temple in South India, found a man scanning the pages of the Bhagavad-gītā without seeming to read the verses, and inquiring, the same found that the person was illiterate and yet he was turning the pages of the Gītā at the request of his master because as he did so, he had a vision of Sri Kṛṣṇa expounding spiritual knowledge to Arjuna on the Kurukṣetra battlefield.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: You have to go to Oxford?
Sir Alistair Hardy: Yes, yes, I must. I've been to the great temple of Rāmeśvaram in southern India, south of Madras. It was a very fine experience.
Prabhupāda: All the temples you have seen? South India?
Sir Alistair Hardy: A temple in southern India.
Revatīnandana: Which one?
Mukunda: Rāmeśvaram.
Sir Alistair Hardy: Rāmeśvaram.
Prabhupāda: Rāmeśvaram.
Prabhupāda: Hoons.
Pradyumna: "Andhra. A province in Southern India mentioned in the Bhīṣma-parva of Mahābhārata. It is still extant under the same name. Pulinda. It is mentioned in Mahābhārata, Ādi 174.38, that is the inhabitants of the province of the name, Pulinda. This country was conquered by Bhīmasena and Sahadeva. The Greeks are known as Pulindas, and it is mentioned in the Vana-parva of the Mahābhārata that the non-Vedic race of this part of the world would rule over the world. This Pulinda province was also one of the provinces of Bhārata, and the inhabitants were classified amongst the kṣatriya kings.
Prabhupāda: Yes. No, in Madras, I have seen...
Ambassador: Most of them...
Prabhupāda: Mostly they are vegetarian, strictly vegetarian. Actually, in Southern India, they maintain the Hindu culture. You'll find big high-court judges, they have got tilaka.
Ambassador: That's true.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Strictly in Rāmānuja sampradāya, or Śaiva sampradāya they have got... Strictly taking bath and tilaka. In New Delhi, you'll find so many Madrasi gentlemen, big, big, high officers, they're strictly following Hindu principles.
Prabhupāda: And still, if I am correct, in Madras, they, there, there is not many Mohammedans. The Mohammedan culture could not enter...
Ambassador: That's very true.
Prabhupāda: ...into Madras, Southern India. And you'll find also in our Caitanya Caritāmṛta... Now I am translating. When Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to Southern India, practically whole Southern India became Vaiṣṇava by His preaching.
Ambassador: It is a great period of...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. And all the ācāryas, they came from South India. Śaṅkarācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya. I think Madhvācārya belonged to your province? Malaya?
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Everyone knows that "Here is a stone statue." Then so many hundred and thousands of people are coming to worship that stone statue? Somebody can argue. The atheist will argue. And when... So... We have got millions of temples. Especially in South India and Jagannātha Purī and many where. So are they going, spending so much money to worship a statue? That is forbidden. Guruṣu nara-matiḥ. Guru should not be considered in that way. If he's actually guru.
Dr. Patel: Guru, guru's śakti on his disciples comes from...
Prabhupāda: The same.
Dr. Patel: ...either way. Where the śiṣya draws his power and guru gives it.
Prabhupāda: Yes, but if he has no power, how he can give?
Prabhupāda: Yes. This preaching is also required, to make the groundwork. Because nobody's taking care. Just like some of the devotees, great devotees, they took the profession of becoming thief. They, in South India, it was done so. They took the profession of becoming thief. So a devotee is a thief? But he took. They took it. Because nobody was paying. So they organized a plundering party. "Plunder all these big men." Just like the politicians do. There is history. Yes. So even up to the point to become a thief, devotees took it. Yes. And the gopīs, even up to the point of becoming prostitute—for Kṛṣṇa. So for Kṛṣṇa's sake we have to accept any nonsense type of business. Or on the highest grade. Anything. But for Kṛṣṇa we have to do that.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Some of the manuscripts were found in South India and He brought it and He delivered, that "This is authoritative."
Dr. Patel: As a matter of fact, the Vaiṣṇavism started from South India.
Prabhupāda: Even Śaṅkara was also South India.
Dr. Patel: Cult of Vaiṣṇavism started from South India.
Prabhupāda: All the ācāryas, they came from South India.
Dr. Patel: They are more religious.
Prabhupāda: Vallabhācārya also South India.
Prabhupāda: Vallabhācārya also South India.
Dr. Patel: Vallabhācārya is from North, no?
Prabhupāda: South India. (break)
Dr. Patel: And the worst damn... (break)
Prabhupāda: ...beaches. The sand is like this. Not like that.
Dr. Patel: Like this.
Prabhupāda: Yes. This soft sand. But not walking, all sand. This Juhu Beach is specially nice.
Dr. Patel: Made for us. (laughs) (break)
Prabhupāda: Best thing is that "Why your president, he did not write a single Hindi book? He has got so many. He is a famous philosopher. Indian religion, Indian philosophy, and Bhagavad-gītā. Then... He has written so many books but not a single in Hindi."
Indian man (1): Dr. Radhakrishnan belongs to South India.
Prabhupāda: Yes, he is from Madras.
Indian man (1): Yes, he doesn't know.
Prabhupāda: No, he does not know. Sometimes, before my taking sannyāsa, sometimes I used to see him. So once upon a time he asked me, "Swamiji, you are simply writing in English?" So I asked him, "What you are doing?" So he began to laugh. (end)
Prabhupāda: Brāhmaṇa.
Indian man: Brāhmaṇa. Vaiṣṇavite.
Prabhupāda: Yes, Iyengars are all...
Indian man: We belong to South India.
Wife: Yesterday I saw you in the temple, I and my daughter.
Prabhupāda: Yes. How many children you have got?
Indian man: I have got three sons and four daughters.
Prabhupāda: All daughters, sons.
Prabhupāda: Nepal. My birthplace is in Calcutta.
Cardinal Pignedoli: Yes, very nice. In Delhi, and Monsignor too, he has visited all the places, huh?
Monsignor Verrozano: South India.
Cardinal Pignedoli: In Kerala?
Monsignor Verrozano: Kerala, Tirusrilapatti(?), Cochin, Madras, Bombay of course. Yes, last year I attended a kind of manifestation of your movement in Bombay.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Monsignor Verrozano: Yes, I visited.
Prabhupāda: Bombay, there was function.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Bhagavān: This was southern India?
Priest: Maharastra.
Prabhupāda: Maharastra, yes. Southwest.
Priest: For the north it is south (indistinct).
Devotee: Śrīla Prabhupāda, another thing that's stated in the Bible, in the Christians' philosophy, they say that God created man out of His own image. It's stated in the Bible. So therefore man has a form, why not God? Because it's stated there in the Bible.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Devotee: Where is this temple?
Prabhupāda: In South India.
Devotee: South India.
Devotee: (indistinct) (barely audible) ...industrialists they are making life very difficult.
Prabhupāda: Where, where?
Devotee: In India.
Prabhupāda: In India. Oh.
Prabhupāda: They come in the Viṣṇu Svāmī. I do not exactly know who was his immediate guru.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh. I'm just trying to clear these points up because, I remember when I was preaching in South India, this discussion came up, that... Just like Mādhavendra Purī, he found the Deity of Gopāla, and you've explained...
Prabhupāda: That is our Gauḍīya. Mādhavendra Purī is Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. You explained how he was worshiping the Deity. Now, that Deity of Gopāla...
Acyutānanda: Śrīnāthjī.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīnāthjī. So that Deity was eventually handed over?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: And because there is no king, therefore he is flourishing.
Devotee (1): Yes.
Prabhupāda: Had there been any real king, he would have been killed immediately. Because there is no king, therefore in South India, they are insulting the statue of Lord Rāmacandra, because there is no king. Everyone is king. Diplomacy... Democracy. What is this nonsense, democracy? All over the world the royalty is hereditary, never elected. (break) ...and it was hereditary, even Russia. That is the system. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2). And evaṁ paramparā-prāptam—who? Rājarṣayoḥ. They are king, but just like saintly persons. That is king, not a loafer class is elevated to the royal post. Rājarṣayoḥ. Although they're holding the post of a king for administration, they're just like ṛṣi. That is king.
Guest: One restaurant near Metro was serving that type. And one man suffering from leprosy was given only about one month to live, and "If you want to enjoy, you enjoy. But if you want to get cured, you have to eat human flesh." "I don't eat human flesh." So he started eating anywhere. And he liked one place very much, and he started eating for one month at that particular place. And eventually he was cured. Then a police report was found out that they were serving human flesh by inviting very poor people from the South India for washing the dishes at night, giving five rupees. When they come, they kill him and serve in the morning.
Prabhupāda: That was being done long, long ago in a Chinese house in Calcutta. They'd call hawker.
Guest: Hawker. And kill him up.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: There was a great devotee in South India. He was a treasury officer. So he took money from the treasury and constructed very nice temple. (laughter) Yes. Later on, he was caught, and he was put into jail by the Nawab. At that time the Mohammedan king, Nawab, he saw in dream that two boys, very beautiful, they have come to the Nawab: "Sir, what money he has taken, you can take from me and release him." So the Nawab said, "If I get my money, I can release him." Then, when his dream broke, he saw the money on the floor, and nobody was there. Then he could understand that he is great devotee. He called him immediately, that "You are released, and you take this money also. Whatever you have already taken, that's all right. And now this money also you take. You spend as you like." So devotees sometimes do like that. Actually nothing is private property.
Bali-mardana: If we keep that example in mind, then it becomes easier.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Another example is given. In South India there are a class of dancer. They keep a waterpot on the head, and they will dance, but it will not fall down. Careful. (break) ...kṛṣṇa-padaravindayor kṣīṇa-tavābhrāṇi ca sākaṁ pramodaḥ. If we remember always Kṛṣṇa, then all our inauspicity is driven away, and prosperity increases. Sākaṁ pramodaḥ. (break) If you know a little Sanskrit, they will see the composition of Bhāgavatam so fine. It is not possible to be composed now.
Gurukṛpa: Sweet.
Prabhupāda: Ācchā?
Paramahaṁsa: Usually closer to ten dollars, for one lobster. Very costly. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...import lobster from India. I have seen it. Lobster from Cochin.
Bali-mardana: South India.
Prabhupāda: Ah, South India. Lobster and this, what is called? Labhanga...? Cloves. And these cashew. Cashew is produced in India. (break) ...big, big European companies for doing this business in Cochin.
Bali-mardana: They were set up by the British?
Prabhupāda: Yes, and Greeks. (break) Americans don't care for this business. They want machine.
Prabhupāda: You are capable. I know that. He is very capable. You know how to do business, yes. In India an educated man and big, big government officers, lawyers, they will purchase. We do not approach them. School, colleges, library, universities. After all, English language is still current in India. It is not stopped. So they will like to read their own literature in English. They made vigorous propaganda to replace English by Hindi. That has failed. That has failed. No gentleman cares to learn Hindi. (chuckles) At least I never cared. I know Hindi, not by diverting my attention, no. That is very important, no. Automatically whatever I learned, that's all. I am not in favor of that Hindi. Especially in South India, they are all... So by appointing some professional men also.
Jayatīrtha: This is a special area, Jagadīśa? There are so many churches. All over America there are very expensive churches. In India you do not see so many temples. I was surprised when I went there first. Because you do not see very many big, gorgeous, temples. But here everywhere there are big gorgeous churches.
Prabhupāda: Oh, no, India, in South India...
Brahmānanda: South India is full.
Jayatīrtha: Oh, South India. North India not.
Prabhupāda: Yes. You have not seen Jagannātha temple?
Jayatīrtha: No.
Prabhupāda: Beginning from Madras, very big, big temples. In Vṛndāvana also, that Raṅganātha temple?
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is rich man. That is the explanation given by Marshall, a great economist. He says that unless one is obliged to work, nobody will work. That is his economic impetus. So the family affection gives impetus to work. He has to maintain the family. That is, he says, that is the beginning of economic development. Marshall theory. (break) ...kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yukta-vairāgyam ucyate. When there is attachment on account of Kṛṣṇa, that is detachment. Yukta-vairāgyam ucyate. He is attached to everything but not for his personal self. We are spending lakhs of rupees for constructing a temple, but we are not interested to construct a house or a skyscraper building. We are not interested. That is detachment. (break) We give up. Prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari-sambandhe-vastunaḥ: "No, no, we don't touch money." Why? If the money can be utilized for constructing a nice temple for Kṛṣṇa, why we shall say, "We don't touch money"? Yes, give me as much money as you have got. Therefore you will find in India very, very big, big, costly temple, not skyscraper building. That is the sign. If any man had any money, he would spend it for Kṛṣṇa, not for his personal self. Personally he would be satisfied with a cottage. That is India's civilization. You will find in South India one temple is more than a fort, bigger. It is impossible to construct such temple nowadays.
Vāsughoṣa: Once I went to one Gauḍīya Matha in South India, and I showed them a picture of our Deities in Hyderabad. They said, "This Kṛṣṇa is white." So later on I told that story to Acyutānanda Swami, and he said, "Do you know what I tell those people? I say, 'No, Kṛṣṇa is not white. You just can't see Kṛṣṇa.' " So like that, sometimes we are criticized by them for Kṛṣṇa in the Deity being white. (break)
Hari-śauri: ...Kṛṣṇa's energy is all-spiritual, then why in Bhagavad-gītā does Kṛṣṇa make a distinction—"My separated material energy"? Why does He say, "separated"?
Prabhupāda: Separated... Just like I am talking and this will be reproduced as it is, although it is separated.
Prabhupāda: No, I am going to every country because everywhere the same mistake is going on, bodily concept of life. So I am trying to bring them to the real life and then make their plan. They will be happy. It is not for South Africa. For any Africa, or any country, South America or South India or anywhere. The problem is the same. Everywhere the same conception: "I am South African." "I am American." "I am Indian." "I am this." "I am that." So all these things are on the bodily concept of life. Nobody says, "No, I am not this body. I am different from body." Nobody says. We are simply preaching that "You are not this body. You are different from this..." That is our unique situation. Perhaps throughout the whole world we are trying to preach that "You are not this body. You are different from body." And we have not manufactured this idea.
Prabhupāda: Amongst the Vaiṣṇavas, he was the greatest ācārya, Rāmānujācārya. And to kill the Māyāvādīs, he was the ablest person, Rāmānujācārya. Still in South India, the Māyāvādīs and the Rāmānujas, they have talks, and the Māyāvādīs are defeated always.
Dr. Patel: These ācāryas, they are all Rāmānujācārya followers that Tithi Kṛṣṇam Ācāri(?) and Rajgopal Ācārya, and they are all these Vaiṣṇavas of Rāmānujācārya.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Ācārya means Vaiṣṇava. Ayar. Ayar. And avaiṣṇava, Nayar, yes.
Dr. Patel: Nayars are non-Aryans. Then the... All Nayars are black, charcoal black, because they are not Aryans. Aryans have the white, light skin.
Harikeśa: In South India I think a lot of the Rāmānuja followers are.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break)
Akṣayānanda: If everything was void, then there would be no hope for living. So might as well die.
Prabhupāda: No. By combination, permutation, you create, and if you don't want it, then avoid this combination. (break) Even in four o'clock time, visiting, if he comes at four o'clock, you let him come in. (break) ...Gurukula we require teachers for teaching the small children. So our, these girls, they cannot take this charge of teaching?
Akṣayānanda: Yes, one is already teaching now. One is already teaching children now, one girl.
Prabhupāda: Who is he?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Pantheism, monism, dualism.
Dr. Patel: And qualifies, I mean.... Somebody has very well commented on that particular śloka, giving all the views of Madhvācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Jīva(?)ācārya, and all the modern.... Somewhere I read, I don't know where, on that particular śloka. After all these things, ācārya, ācārya para...
Prabhupāda: Ācāryopāsanam...
Dr. Patel: (indistinct) Without ācārya...
Prabhupāda: Ācāryavān puruṣo veda. One who has accepted ācārya, he knows, he knows. Now our these European and American boys are preaching in South India, big, big ācāryas, they have received them. Because they know that these boys know; latest letter. Hare Kṛṣṇa! (end)
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Harikeśa: That later-on interpretation?
Prabhupāda: Yes, the Śaivaites, they want to make Lord Śiva the exalted Supreme Person. In South India there is good propaganda. That is always going on.
Lokanātha: When Lord Śiva says in Purāṇas that mukti-pradapaḥ sarveṣāṁ viṣṇu... (sic)
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Lokanātha: Purāṇa, the same Lord Śiva says there is no other liberated besides Viṣṇu.
Devotee: ...engagement, one devotee commented that the reason that Lord Rāma worshiped Lord Śiva was because He wanted to kill Rāvaṇa and Rāvaṇa was a devotee of Śiva, so Lord Rāma worshiped Śiva in that respect.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Yaśodānandana: This vehicle is the vehicle in which we travel to all the different cities for making the life members and arranging all the programs in South India, this vehicle.
Prabhupāda: This is your own?
Yaśodānandana: We are renting.
Prabhupāda: When I was in South Africa...
Indian man (1): South Africa.
Prabhupāda: Yes, Johannesburg. This beach reminds me of that beach. You were with me?
Acyutānanda: It is called Mahāprabhu sādhana. It is on record that that is the house where Caitanya Mahaprabhu spent catur-masya. (break) Yes, he arranged to have these programs for us. There were almost ten thousand people there.
Prabhupāda: There is good potency in South India.
Acyutānanda: Oh, yes, it is very promising.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) Jaya.
Mahāmṣa: He is secretary of our committee here and president of the Rotary Club in Nelore.
Prabhupāda: So your arrangement was very nice. Thank you. Hm. Where is that wrapper? These cottages are very nice.
Mahāmṣa: (break) His father is donating for Kṛṣṇa's Deity.
Yaśodānandana: That is why when Caitanya Mahāprabhu came back to Purī, He said, "I have met many Rāmānujas, many Mādhvas, many Buddhists, but I like Rāmānanda Rāya very much because he has this knowledge of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa."
Acyutānanda: In South India there are very few Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa devotees. And what they have is from some Purāṇas, the marriage of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. They perform Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa kalyana, marriage.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Is that bona fide, Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Indian man: Yes, rice only. No capātis.
Yaśodānandana: Yes, in South India they only eat rice. In Mysore we had a meal. The gentleman served us nine different kinds of rice.
Acyutānanda: Nava-dhānya.
Yaśodānandana: Nava-dhānya. Rice with yogurt, rice with chilies, rice with dahl, rice with everything.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is system in South India, with rice, everything. Just like in North India we make purī, kachorī, balusai, sṛṅgāra. There is ghee, wheat, and sugar and salt, varieties, hundreds of variety.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Very good.
Pañcadravida: Very expert in South India.
Prabhupāda: You can engage a company, three, four men, for all the year.
Jayapatāka: So they should.... Before maṅgala ārati they should begin playing.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Yes, in Madras.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What is the idea behind this shenai-playing early in the morning?
Prabhupāda: It is very pleasing to hear.
Jayatīrtha: Jaya.
Prabhupāda: It is very pleasing to hear.
Jayatīrtha: Jaya.
Yaśodānandana: Many temples also in South India, they have all the functions in the morning-waking up the Deity, bathing the Deity, dressing the Deity, they have different shenai tunes for that. Every temple.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Similarly here introduce.
Guru-kṛpā: You should play your flute. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa knows how to play the flute.
Prabhupāda: No flute.
Guru-kṛpā: He can learn to play the shenai, though.
Prabhupāda: No, shenai, yes. Very good.
Jayapatāka: In South India, Śrīla Prabhupāda, when the ācārya goes out...
Prabhupāda: So you are taking this bamboo down? This?
Jayapatāka: It's already down.
Prabhupāda: No, this down?
Jayapatāka: Hah, down. Cleared out.
Prabhupāda: So it is cleared. You men can live there.
Devotees in distance: Jaya!
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break)
Jayapatāka: They have big umbrella overhead.
Prabhupāda: Yes, they did it. They did it in South India when I was there.
Jayādvaita: In America that's called giving someone enough rope to hang himself.
Prabhupāda: Mm.
Pañcadraviḍa: In South India, when we were down there, we had to do that. We listened to them first and then took their money.
Madhudviṣa: But we also should defeat them.
Pañcadraviḍa: Taking their money is defeating them.
Lokanātha: Śrīla Prabhupāda, what is the position of vrajavāsīs, those who are living in Vṛndāvana now? What happens to them next life?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Simply by living, if they do not commit any sinful, they'll go back to home. Simply by living. Without committing any sinful activities. Always remember Kṛṣṇa, this is Kṛṣṇa's land, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto. That will deliver them.
Yaśodānandana: Prabhupāda, there has been discussion amongst many of the members of the press and the Sanskrit editors regarding the actual place of Nṛsiṁha's pastimes. So I told them that on the occasion of our travel to South India we visited this place Ahobilam, and the paṇḍitas, they have scriptural reference from the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa and the Nṛsiṁha Purāṇa that the place is actually mentioned there, and it has been recognized by Rāmānujācārya and many of the great Ālwār saints. And yourself have already told me twice personally that this was the actual place where it happened. And on top of the mountain there, there is the pillar, iron pillar, which is the symbol of the spot where Lord Nṛsiṁha killed Hiraṇyakaśipu. So for the benefit of all of these devotees, they were just requesting your actual confirmation.
Prabhupāda: Confirmation or no confirmation, Nṛsiṁha-deva is our worshipable Deity, that's all. Why you are bothering where He killed Hiraṇyakaśipu? You worship Him, that's all.
Dr. Patel: You mean those.... (Hindi) In south we have got those temples, gates. That is only common in southern India but not anywhere else. Gopurams.
Prabhupāda: Gopurams.
Dr. Patel: Gopurams are not found anywhere else.
Indian man (2): (Hindi)
Prabhupāda: (Hindi)
Dr. Patel: Raṅganātha temple is in Vṛndāvana or in south?
Prabhupāda: No, original, south. Here in Vṛndāvana also there is...
Dr. Patel: That was the temple where this, I mean, Rāmānujācārya, they would.... That is Śrī Raṅgapuram. (break)
Prabhupāda: Not at all. It is a business.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Dr. Patel: This is a Matadar Campo(?), no? This is a Matadar Campo(?).
Devotee (2): (break) ...Deities with Acyutānanda Swami. He's going to travel down South India as soon as he's finished...
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, very nice. Better Gaura-Nitāi. Gaura-Nitāi is better.
Devotee (2): But Acyutānanda was explaining that people in South India don't accept Gaura-Nitāi so much as Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Oh, all right.
Prabhupāda: Now in India also they are trying. Yaśomatī.... Yaśodānandana's report is that he approached one head librarian in Andhra Pradesh and...
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Karnataka.
Prabhupāda: Karnataka. Karnataka province, educated province, Karnataka, South India, Karnataka, very educated. So he has immediately ordered thirty sets of books in different libraries. He has appreciated so much.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The professors in Bombay, some of them are already reviewing Prabhupāda's books very favorably.
Prabhupāda: So you just touch the topmost men. But if, somehow or other, if you see some of the topmost men of the China, "You kindly read our books at your leisure."
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I remember in South Africa though, Prabhupāda, you called them, (laughs) at every meeting, dogs and cats. And afterward they were always applauding. (claps)
Hari-śauri: He did that, (laughing) you did that in South India as well.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I think that...
Prabhupāda: No, no, when I come into emotion, I cannot check to speak the truth. But actually it is the fact. I cannot give any credit to these rascals (laughs) who are running at high speed, big, big car.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: What did we read? There was an article about Mars today.
Hari-śauri: Oh. Nonsense.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The scientists, again...
Prabhupāda: That is the karmīs. Even the Orissa politicians, they accused Caitanya Mahāprabhu, because the Orissa politician, it is a fact the Mahārāja Pratāparudra, the King of Orissa during the time of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he was politically very strong. At that time the Muhammadans were conquering different parts of India, but they could not enter Orissa or the southern India. They were very strong. So this Mahārāja Pratāparudra politically was very strong. So the modern politicians of Orissa, they accuse Caitanya Mahāprabhu that, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to Orissa and Mahārāja Pratāparudra became influenced by Him, Orissa fell down. They accuse sometimes that Orissa's political position became weakened on account of Caitanya Mahāprabhu's influence on Mahārāja Pratāparudra. They say. The modern politicians of Orissa, they also do not like Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement.
Prabhupāda: He's also Shankar?
George Harrison: Well, he's called L. Shankar. You know that South India they have a funny way around them, they have like a surname. He's just called L. Shankar. His brother is called L. Subhramanyam.
Devotee (1): George says he wants to spend some time in Vṛndāvana.
George Harrison: I was only there for about thirty-six hours last time.
Prabhupāda: We have got now very good centers. Another gentleman, he's offering us a very good place at Mahābaleśvara. That's one of the famous India stations. A very nice climate. So you can come and stay there. We have got now many good centers.
Jñānagamya: His father was attached to British in India. He traveled in India during his boyhood in South India.
Prabhupāda: In my young age I had one Afghani friend, he belonged to the royal family. What is the king? Some of their brothers were banished in India. Who was the king? So one..., the family were staying in Allahabad. His name was Sen, Sen Aband(?) like that. So he was my friend. He was coming to me and we were talking. Amar Lakhana(?), his brother, he belonged to the royal family.
Guest: That's right, that must be before 1936 though.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Please come in.
Indians: Jaya, Prabhupāda ki jaya.
Gurukṛpā: He's a life member from Bangalore. He was one of our first members in South India.
Prabhupāda: I saw you? Give them prasāda.
Indian man: Last night at the airport.
Devotee: They had prasāda.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi or Bengali)
Gurukṛpā: That Raṅganātha temple is that temple where they do not allow us in. So Sampat Kumar and all of these paṇḍitas, they will sign one letter trying to request them. Also with the Purī people. To request them to let us in. While they are all here they will do that. Also Sampat Kumar was thinking that in November and December in South India the weather is nice because the rainy season is finished, and it would be a very good time to go and visit many of the temples. He personally knows many people in all the big temples. Shri Rangam, Kañcipuram, Maha Balipuram, Tirupati. They could arrange for receptions and programs.
Prabhupāda: (Bengali) South India, Indian culture is still there. Other parts of India, they are not now Indian.
Guest: Correct. (Bengali)
Prabhupāda: Yes. Week is sufficient. One month is too much. That is laziness.
Akṣayānanda: Residential. Laziness.
Prabhupāda: So he was preaching in the South India, so why he came here? There was no resting place?
Harikeśa: He came here... Actually they're going north soon. They're going to be in Chandigarh when we're in Chandigarh.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: That is six weeks from now.
Harikeśa: That's all right. They're also going north and preaching and he's having a very hard time getting his financial position down. He has no men. Two, three, four men. He's having...
Haṁsadūta: Mm. (pause)
Prabhupāda: Our temple, where many people come. Our Māyāpur temple, Hyderabad temple, it is not only in Europe or America, in India in our temples, south India.
Haṁsadūta: Yeah.
Prabhupāda: It is genuine religious cult. You have to send all these people. Now note down and do all these things and send it. I can suggest. (noise in background)
Haṁsadūta: It is disturbing.
Prabhupāda: There is some commotion all over there. (break) ...our child is lost altogether...
Prabhupāda: Very bad country, the communist country.
Haṁsadūta: I was asking this boy, that was here a few days ago from South India, from Kerala, he was in Russia. I asked him. "What did you eat there?" What did you, you stayed for one year?
Prabhupāda: He must be eating meat.
Haṁsadūta: No, he said, "I was able to get frozen vegetables from the south of Russia. They freeze it and then they sell it," he said, "but it is very expensive, very costly." He was getting frozen.
Prabhupāda: Best thing will be send him back. He's incorrigible.
Yaśodānandana: Personally I had that boy with me for two months when I went to South India, preaching, and I thought it would be an asset to have a young boy, but he was so misbehaved that it was too much problem. And the same things that he was doing, in the beginning with me, telling lies and misbehaving, he is still doing now and he does not correct himself never. He has no effort to better his behavior or his conduct. He does not chant his rounds. He rarely comes to the kīrtana, or else when he comes to the kīrtana, he does not chant. He simply plays and makes fun. And it's very... He has a very bad influence on the other boys.
Prabhupāda: No, then he should be sent back. Or he can be sent to Bombay to work ordinarily. Or Hyderabad farm. Like that. Let him work on the ground.
Prabhupāda: What "work hard" he has... (indistinct)
Devotee: Other day one man was telling me they bought two of your Bhāgavatams, Ramakrishna Mission. He said that one Ranganath Swami from South India, from Hyderabad was lecturing there but he was... When he was lecturing he had your Bhāgavatam, First Canto, Part One in his hand and he was speaking from there. (laughter) I said it is very good.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) Give him prasāda. (Hindi)
Devotee: Many ācāryas, they imitate you. They read your books and take some of this part and what is useful for them they use on their lecture. How we should stop them? (break)
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: The water is not yet there?
Mahāṁsa: One building is finished. Now the pump has to be gotten for that. The second building, we didn't have... I wasn't over there. I had gone to South India to collect some money. And then, when I came back, the people had gone away because there was no money to be paid to them.
Prabhupāda: Why? I have already transferred?
Mahāṁsa: That came just five days back. So now we'll be working on it full swing because we have some money.
Prabhupāda: So the bank has transferred?
Mahāṁsa: Yes, Prabhupāda.
Rāmeśvara: One thing they will like to see in this movie is many different temples, beautiful temples from South India, and also Vaiṣṇava festivals.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rāmeśvara: Like Ratha-yatra in Jagannātha Purī.
Prabhupāda: And the stories also, that how by executing one of the items a devotee became perfect.
Hari-śauri: And show how they're doing those...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Hari-śauri: ...items in different sampradāyas and...
Rāmeśvara: This will show, this movie will show, that Vaiṣṇava is very authorized.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Gargamuni: They're building a city. You've never heard of it? It's big, worldwide... Auroville. Building a city of spiritual life.
Rāmeśvara: Where?
Hari-śauri: Yes. That's all over the world. Aurobindo. That's in South India on the coast, Pondicherry.
Rāmeśvara: Who goes there? Westerners?
Gargamuni: Oh, yes. That's all that's there now. But there's only about twenty of them.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Rāmeśvara: Including Hyderabad.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: All of South India.
Prabhupāda: Hyderabad is in the South. And further South, Ceylon? That's nice. Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrī Laṅkā. Today we're going to see the Hanumān, Song of Hanumān.
Kīrtanānanda: You have a note there about Prabhupāda's letter, that we're to be guided by that.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Gargamuni: There's also special mention that the Hyderabad farm should be run according to your direction and cooperation between Mahāṁśa Swami and Haṁsadūta Mahārāja
Prabhupāda: Yes. We have to develop this, an ideal farming.
Satsvarūpa: Bali-mardana has been given permission to move the Adelaide center to the Australian farm. Ātreya Ṛṣi permission to open centers in Karachi and Istanbul. Jayapatākā Mahārāja permission to open Panihati and Dacca. And Haṁsadūta Mahārāja in South India, Bangalore, Madras, Kodaikanal, Colombo in Ceylon, and Kathmandu, Nepal; and Goa.
Prabhupāda: Lage laghu.(?) Very good.
Satsvarūpa: In the US, all that territory where there are no temples was assigned into geographic zones so that all territory in Canada and the United States fits into the zone of one GBC or another.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? I'd just like to point out to Your Divine Grace that preaching center means no Deities. It just means Pañca-tattva worship.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I'd just like a point of clarification, 'cause I don't understand. What exactly is your engagement? I see that you're traveling all over India. What exactly are you going...? Has Prabhupāda told you to travel like this continuously, all over...?
Patita-pāvana: No, he told me to go South India and find some paṇḍitas.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And now you're planning to go to Delhi.
Patita-pāvana: No, no, Surabhī Mahārāja has asked me to do some press releases for the newspapers.
Prabhupāda: So Surabhī Mahārāja has asked. So you are conducted by Surabhī Mahārāja.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Messing, there is a system. Some clerks, they make a small cooperative hotel. In India there are many.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That I see in South India sometimes... In places like hotels I see.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Men who work, they all come...
Prabhupāda: Cooperative effort.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So he called that a joint mess, and he said that some of the disciples were doing that.
Prabhupāda: There is another story like that, Rāma Mandir. Rāma Mandir. In South India. What is that state?
Mr. Dwivedi: And at Gwalior also we have got a beautiful temple of Lord Kṛṣṇa. We call it Sanātana Dharma Mandir.
Prabhupāda: So we shall see that temple.
Mr. Dwivedi: But that is with the only Kṛṣṇa with cakra-sudarśana in His hand.
Prabhupāda: Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa.
Mr. Dwivedi: Ha, Vāsudeva.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's what he's asking. What should be shown? Actually we're a little stumped by... I mean...
Prabhupāda: Yes, you must have proper answer as far as possible.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We just read... We got a version from South India, and we've even found that there are different conceptions of what the Bhāgavata is saying. But the Purāṇas, they give some Puranic references.
Bhakti-prema: It is written the world... The earth is round and flat.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Bhakti-prema: Earth is round and flat both, together.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, that's where the lobsters are kept, near the harbor. Nowadays the fashion is that you go to a seafood restaurant, and they keep the lobster...
Prabhupāda: The lobsters, I do not know. They take it from Indian foods. It is from Cochin. Cochin, South India. I do not know... Huge quantity of lobsters are there, and they are exported to America.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, they also have them in America, Prabhupāda. There's a lot of them in the whole eastern seaboard.
Prabhupāda: But in India, they take fresh, lobster.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They do that in America sometimes in the so-called high-class restaurants. You choose your lobster, and then you sit down and they boil it alive.
Prabhupāda: Fresh.
Purī Mahārāja: His name...
Haṁsadūta: He's a Tamil from South India.
Purī Mahārāja: Christian.
Haṁsadūta: His father was a minister.
Purī Mahārāja: Yes. Proper dose you have given. Kṛṣṇa must bless him.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then he gave him big challenge. "Rupees five lakhs' challenge to Dr. Kovoor."
Purī Mahārāja: (laughs) Dr. Kovoor. He cannot be called as "doctor." How could he be a doctor?
Haṁsadūta: Quack. Quack doctor.
Prabhupāda: There is a story. A bridegroom was selected. So, the other party, bride's party, they inquired how the bridegroom was quite qualified. So they said, "He's a doctor." Then they inquired, "What kind of doctor? Doctor of philosophy, doctor of medicine or...?"
Prabhupāda: Yes. Where you are preaching now?
Acyutānanda: I was in Calcutta during the Māyāpur affair. Then I went to South India. Now I'm going to America. My stay in India may be terminated. And I received American passport. I'm able to travel now. Rāmeśvara Prabhu is sending me a ticket.
Prabhupāda: Huh? Rāmeśvara?
Bhavānanda: Rāmeśvara Mahārāja is sending a ticket for him to go.
Prabhupāda: Oh. So you can go now, America, eh?
Bhavānanda: The head pūjārī at Śrī Raṅgam temple in South India. He is coming in the family of Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī. He is very friendly with our society, and Acyutānanda and Yaśodā-nandana Swamis, they stayed with him at his house...
Prabhupāda: Hm!
Bhavānanda: ...in Śrī Raṅganātha temple for five days he was their host.
Prabhupāda: Where? Śrī Raṅgam.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So the man must be very... He's not so smārta. Because he will allow Westerners to live with him, he's favorable. So Smara-hari, one of the devotees here... We felt that if we do not find from Jalan or anyone a good kavirāja in Calcutta, then let us send two devotees to Śrī Raṅgam to meet with this head pūjārī and get his help for finding out a proper Rāmānuja kavirāja and bring him to Māyāpur. And immediately let us go to Māyāpur. Why should we sit here waiting here? Because actually we don't find any benefit from waiting here.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So the man must be very... He's not so smārta. Because he will allow Westerners to live with him, he's favorable. So Smara-hari, one of the devotees here... We felt that if we do not find from Jalan or anyone a good kavirāja in Calcutta, then let us send two devotees to Śrī Raṅgam to meet with this head pūjārī and get his help for finding out a proper Rāmānuja kavirāja and bring him to Māyāpur. And immediately let us go to Māyāpur. Why should we sit here waiting here? Because actually we don't find any benefit from waiting here. The idea was to give change of climate, and what is the purpose of waiting for that to happen? Because we're not gaining anything by staying here except that the weather is becoming colder, so it becomes more and more dangerous to travel in cold weather. And as far as bringing a kavirāja goes, now we've already seen there's not going to be one in Vṛndāvana, so at best, we'd have to bring him from Delhi. But whether a man has to come from Delhi or come from Śrī Raṅgam, he's going to have to come and visit and stay with us. And once the treatment begins, if we get a Delhi kavirāja, he's going to have to keep coming down here. We don't want to have to stay here for more than one or two weeks. But the treatment is going to be longer than two weeks. So then we'll be stuck here. If we depend upon a Delhi kavirāja we'll be stuck here. Best thing is someone from Calcutta, because then they can come frequently to Māyāpur. But in the event that we cannot get someone from Calcutta, then we should take the help of one kavirāja from South India. And your dream was that it was a Rāmānuja kavirāja who was preparing the medicine. I think that after it's prepared he may administer the medicine for some time, but afterwards we can find another kavirāja. If he has to return to South, then another kavirāja may continue the treatment.
Prabhupāda: There is no treatment.
Prabhupāda: First of all make it formal.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, that can be done. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda, here is Smara-hari, and he's going to be leaving today for South India. We've given him the instructions, and he's the proper person. He knows that chief priest in Śrī Raṅgam temple, and first thing is he's going to find out what are the ingredients of this makara-dhvaja. Then he's going to purchase the ingredients himself, and then he's going to go to the kavirāja and give it to the Rāmānuja kavirāja and have him make it right in front of him. He will supply the ingredients so that he knows the ingredients are bona fide, first class. And he'll see that they make it in front of him.
Prabhupāda: According to the direction of the Rāmānuja...
Prabhupāda: Chanting is our life.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So there's no need to send anyone to South India.
Prabhupāda: I have got it already.
Bhavānanda: And that kavirāja in Delhi said that no, the gold is absorbed in the medicine.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: These events are all like a dramatical play, Śrīla Prabhupāda, great drama. It's simply like reading the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
Prabhupāda: Ebe jaśa ghuṣuk tribhuvana. He has contributed seven tolās? Hm?
Prabhupāda: That was my scheme, but we have not given full freedom to the tenant, or controllment(?).
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We're always on their heads.
Prabhupāda: You take four brāhmaṇas from South India, four from Vṛndāvana, and four from...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bombay.
Prabhupāda: In this way, make it gorgeous.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I'm just thinking, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that each of these brāhmaṇas have their own style and method, and by bringing three different groups, it will be a..., you know, there may be some disagreement amongst them.
Prabhupāda: Go on like that.
| Page Title: | South India (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 19 of Dec, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=71, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 71 |