Prabhupāda: So Govinda dāsī, you are feeling all right? Like this atmosphere? So Caitya-guru, your program, that you are going to construct temple there? (break) Aiye (break) You must accept the standard way, then you'll get siddhi, you'll get sukha and parāṁ gati. Unless you follow the standard way, na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim. So if you have interest in bhakti-yoga, then you practice the bhakti-yoga properly. That will make you successful. Otherwise, teṣām asau kleśala eva śiṣyate, simply whatever labor you are doing, that is your profit and no other profit. Kleśala eva. Nānyad yathā sthūla-tuṣāvaghātinām. The example is tuṣa. Tuṣa you know? The skin of rice? Husk. Yes. So if there is paddy, if you beat it, you'll get rice. But if you beat on the husk, then...
Standards (Conversations 1977)
Expressions researched:
"standard"
|"standardization"
|"standardized"
|"standards"
Conversations and Morning Walks
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Otherwise whole world is in darkness. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatim. They do not know what is the end of life. Adānta... Matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Vyāsadeva's real contribution... Ajānataḥ, lokasyājānato vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām (SB 1.7.6). He has given the right direction. And they are not taking advantage of it. If they come to sense some day, they'll read all these books, and they will come to know how to live life. That is our contribution, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The whole world plunged into darkness. They do not know what is life and what is the aim of life. That's a fact. Periodically, they manufacture some ideas, and people will follow, and then it is failure, and again another revolution. They are..., the Russian philosophy, that periodically revolution required. That is also to some extent. But why revolution? Take the standard. They do not know what is the standard.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) It is great, fortunate that you are trying to understand. So if you try to understand this philosophy, you understand it is not the so-called religion, it is a culture for benefit of the whole human society, para-upakāra. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission, para-upakāra. Because people are in the darkness of knowledge, to enlighten them, to come to the light, that is Vedic injunction, tamasi mā jyotir gamaḥ. Do not remain in darkness, come to the light. So our attempt is to bring these people who are kept in different types of, or different standards of darkness, to bring them to light. This is our position. It is not sectarian. Not for the Hindus, not for the Indians, but it is meant for the whole human society. Kṛṣṇa never said that He's Hindu or He's Indian. He says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ tāsāṁ mahad yonir brahma ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). He never says that "I am for the Hindu or for the Indians." Sarva-yoniṣu.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. He said. Some politician has said that "The Hare Kṛṣṇa people are growing so rapid, like epidemic." He has said. "And if they grow like this within ten years they may take our government." He has remarked it.
Dr. Patel: Good for them. The amount of money that has been wasted by America, that much money could have raised the standard of living the whole...
Prabhupāda: Money is no consideration.
Dr. Patel: Apart from that, sir, after all, it is a disease, poverty. If the people are out of poverty, then they will think about... First they'll think about God in the stomach. Then anywhere else.
Prabhupāda: No, no. This is not the fact.
Trivikrama: Out of poverty, then they'll think about wine and women.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. It is modern standard, very nice hotel, still good hotel.
Dr. Patel: Maharastrian brāhmaṇas keep very good hotel, still good hotel. They are not as greedy as the Gujaratis. That is a fact.
Prabhupāda: No, they are following principle. Now the Gujarati are also... And Maharastra, as good. This material civilization, meat-eating, has spread like anything. Here we see, signboard: "Beef shop." We have seen.
Dr. Patel: Was it?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: If by serving humanity, you cannot raise him to the standard of understanding he's part and parcel of God and his main business to serve Kṛṣṇa, then it is useless. Śrama eva hi kevalam. So our service to the humanity should be... He is in forgetfulness. He does not know what is his position. If you can raise him to the position that he is part and parcel of God... Unless he comes to the position of serving God, his material condition will continue. Mām aprāpya nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. So, dharmasyāsya janma, parantapa. Aśraddadhānāḥ... Like that. Then that service is useless. If he continues, punar api janma, punar, then his service to the humanity useless. Therefore our service to the humanity should be aimed how to awaken his original consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is real service. (pause—someone says something—Hindi) It is... There is no benefit. Simply labor of love. That's all. And just like to make one Hindu from Christian. So what benefit you'll get?
Prabhupāda: Ekaḥ apy asya. Eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭim. They create millions of universes.
Dr. Patel: But the standard of creation is the same, sir. That I believe of life. Wherever you see, it's the same. That is the greatness of God, that there is no change.
Prabhupāda: So without that...
Dr. Patel: If you are an amoeba or a highest evolved man, the system of life is the same.
Prabhupāda: Without...
Prabhupāda: And that is also different standard. People are not satisfied with simple living.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: So they want...
Prabhupāda: Therefore there is certain age, that "At this age no more such ambition, material. Lead simple life and advance." That is after fiftieth year. This is our Vedic system. In the beginning it is not possible, but by practicing... So if one lives for hundred years, fifty years' extravagancy, "Now stop. Now be regulated and try to be mukta." This is the system. But they don't want even up to the point of death, even men like Gandhi and others. They do not want. This morning Indira Gandhi said that "I am for the mass of people." And Vivekananda, "My country." The same feeling as a person, individual person thinking of his family, these people are thinking of his country, a big family, not for the whole living entities, jīva. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Nobody is interested in the śāstric injunction. They've lost them all... Temporary... This is an institution to elevate people gradually. (break) If we follow our own... (microphone moving)
Dr. Patel: Not only simply, but he never worried much about things. When he was asked in Christian university how much money he would want paid when first migrated to America, he said, "What is the standard of living here?" (indistinct)
Trivikrama: But still, the tendency... Kali-yuga means their tendency is away from...
Dr. Patel: It is Kali-yuga for all of us, for the good and the bad.
Prabhupāda: Kali-yuga means mandāḥ. Mandāḥ-two meaning. One is "slow"; another meaning is "bad." So mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā (SB 1.1.10). Four times this word used: mandāḥ, sumanda-matayo, manda-bhāgyā.
Dr. Patel: But one thing about Kali-yuga is that by doing small amount of good work or doing little bhakti, it has a greater amount of benefit than you would get otherwise in Satya-yuga, Dvāpara or Treta. Is it not, sir? No...
Prabhupāda: Good work or bad work, you have to enjoy, good or bad.
Prabhupāda: These German people have accused that "The old man is sitting in Los Angeles and he has engaged all these young boys and getting money from them." The German propaganda. They're thinking that way, that I have some mind control power, I engaged these young men and they're getting money and I am enjoying.
Trivikrama: Everyone judges others from their own standard.
Prabhupāda: They're surprised, the neighboring people around our temple, "How do you live so comfortably? You have got so many cars and so nice house." But they are working hard like hogs and dogs and we are getting money without doing anything. They are envious.
Prabhupāda: I am thinking of Kṛṣṇa, and if you stop me to think of Kṛṣṇa, is it not going against my thought? Bhagavad-gītā, it is recommended, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto. So this is a standard thing. So I thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Why you should stop me? Is it not infringement my freedom?
Rāmeśvara: They argue that they are not stopping you from thinking about Kṛṣṇa. They want to stop you from being a member of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement.
Prabhupāda: Why? If I have to think of Kṛṣṇa, I must be member of the society. Otherwise how can I think of? Suppose if I have to do business, share business, I have to become a member of the share market.
Hari-śauri: This is really separating us from these other cults because most of these other cults, they have no defense because their whole thing is a concoction. But for ourselves, we're actually practicing a standard way of worship, and we have so many testimonials from actual Hindus themselves.
Prabhupāda: No, outside scholars...
Hari-śauri: And from all the scholars and professors and everything.
Prabhupāda: "It is bona fide thinking and you are checking."
Hari-śauri: What complicates it is they get ex-cult members to come and testify that "Yes, I was psychologically kidnapped. I was made into a robot just to think of God."
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rāmeśvara: They think they have achieved a higher standard of freedom by traveling all over the world...
Prabhupāda: Where is your freedom? Where is your freedom if for your livelihood you have to go a hundred miles? Where is your freedom? Why you are illusioned? For your bread, you have to go hundred miles off, either by car or by train. So where is your freedom?
Rāmeśvara: The freedom is in leisure time. They have a lot of leisure time.
Prabhupāda: Where is leisure time? You rise early in the morning and start for your office. Where is your leisure time? All imagination. I have seen in New York. They are coming from the other parts, starting early in the morning, two hours in the ferry and two hours in the cars, and standing two hours. What is this? Leaders, rich men, can think like that, that "I have leisure," but a worker, lower class, they have no freedom. That is illusion, and we are trying to give freedom to everyone. That is freedom. You are forced to go to the factory and work there in a hellish condition of life. Is that freedom?
Rāmeśvara: In America there is a very big emphasis on getting people to join us by moving into our temples. The temple presidents are very eager to get as many people to move in as possible, but in the long run most people cannot come up to the standard.
Prabhupāda: Therefore I am... Farms.
Rāmeśvara: So they have to be encouraged to have a little bit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in their own home, make their home a temple.
Prabhupāda: No, let them go to the farm, New Vrindaban.
Rāmeśvara: Many people... Most people in the world, they are gṛhamedhīs, and they cannot give it up so easily.
Rāmeśvara: Now in the Western countries, the standard of culture and education is coming from the idea of the Renaissance in Europe.
Prabhupāda: That is not culture. That is not culture. As soon as you change, that means it is not culture. It is mano-dharma, mental concoction. Culture is never changed, Renaissance and (sic:) Fennaissance.
Rāmeśvara: This is something that has been constant for many hundreds of years, the idea that a man is learned when he is well-learned, when he is educated in many different fields-literature, art, music.
Prabhupāda: That does not mean the original culture will be lost. That is not culture.
Prabhupāda: That does not mean the original culture will be lost. That is not culture.
Rāmeśvara: No. But this is their argument, that the standard in America is that you become learned in different fields: science, music, art, literature. But in our Hare Kṛṣṇa movement we are isolating all these things and simply reading one set of literature-Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rāmeśvara: And therefore our people cannot speak about art, music.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We want to stop your nonsense. That is our mission. Those who are intelligent, they have taken. And you also take. It will take some time.
Prabhupāda: Then why do the rascals say like that? Because we say God, Kṛṣṇa, therefore He's not. Why is... This is nonsense. I can say in my language, you can say in yours, but God is one. That you have to accept.
Rāmeśvara: One of their standard arguments is...
Prabhupāda: Now, this is... First of all defeat that, that "Why do you stress on name? In different countries, in different societies, the same thing may be called by different names."
Rāmeśvara: Well, they're saying that the substance is different. Kṛṣṇa is one...
Prabhupāda: The substance is different; then God... There is no God. Either Kṛṣṇa is not God, Jehovah is not God. Just like gold...
Prabhupāda: Yes, gold standard. Gold standard... At that time gold was selling... My mother was purchasing gold for ornament at twenty rupees per tola. Now the gold in India is six hundred rupees.
Rāmeśvara: Thirty times.
Prabhupāda: Thirty times.
Rāmeśvara: So that three hundred rupees is like nine thousand.
Prabhupāda: Nine thousand. And who has got nine thousand rupees' income?
Rāmeśvara: So the next thing is the entire year, the ratings for the whole year. So number one for zones is Tamāla Kṛṣṇa-$1,000,000 for the whole year. Number two was the area that I have: Los Angeles, Denver and San Diego-$762,000. Number three is Balavanta-$476,000. And number four was the other half of the West Coast-$464,000. You can see that if you put the West Coast as one it would have been $1,200,000 to Tamāla Kṛṣṇa's $1,000,000. But anyway, it's been divided, so he has won. So he's also... New York temple is number one among temples, and his zone is number one among zones. So he has set the whole standard for the whole movement in book distribution.
Prabhupāda: All brahmacārī and sannyāsī.
Prabhupāda: No... So the today's standard is nice. So she must take instruction or you do it. This was all right. We shall continue this standard for the time being. Yes. So if he's not come back, then wherefrom they got this puffed rice?
Hari-śauri: Well, that man from Haridaspur went and got that. That Prabhu Svarūpa, he went and got the muri.
Prabhupāda: Wherefrom?
Hari-śauri: I don't know. I couldn't make head nor tail of what he was saying.
Prabhupāda: Ask him. Is it fresh?
Hari-śauri: He just said he went out and begged some from somewhere. I don't know.
Prabhupāda: Oh, begged from some house.
Rāmeśvara: There was one question I had, Śrīla Prabhupāda. You have written in the Third Volume of the First Canto different instructions for the age of Kali, how there'll be compulsory marriage and so on and so on. And you mentioned about the gold standard, that this is very bad, this artificial standard of monetary exchange.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. It is very bad.
Rāmeśvara: In the future this is something that we should try to correct.
Prabhupāda: You should introduce coin, real money.
Hari-śauri: Real gold coins. No paper.
Prabhupāda: Anyone has got money... It is fact. And what is this nonsense, keeping some paper and thinking he has got money? How cheating it is going on, from government's side. And therefore artificial inflation. You can print, so the price is increased. Because you haven't got to pay him real money, you print and pay him, and he will ask, "Give me this money. Then I'll supply." "All right, take." You print and pay.
Prabhupāda: Anything done artificially.
Rāmeśvara: They control the amount of interest on loans. It's all standardized from what they call the Federal Reserve system. This was introduced during the Depression by the bankers.
Prabhupāda: Whatever they do, when you receive money in the paper it has no value. Bad money. It is bad money. It is not good money.
Rāmeśvara: Actually most purchasing in America is done on credit now. Even a step beyond paper money is credit, no money, buying on no money, loans.
Prabhupāda: That is in India also.
Prabhupāda: Anything artificial, it will break. You cannot make a scheme of mental concoction. That will not endure. You take standard it will be beneficial. The whole world is in chaotic condition because they have so many artificial way of living.
Hari-śauri: You want some channa?
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Hari-śauri: They brought some fresh channa. You want some of that too?
Prabhupāda: Bring separately.
Hari-śauri: With the peanuts. Separate.
Prabhupāda: The reason is: their real business they have forgotten. Durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ. They are trying to be happy by adjusting this external energy. They do not know what is happiness, what for happiness is meant for, nothing, simply manufacturing ideas which is external. Durāśayā. Durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ.
Prabhupāda: We do not approve anything which is not actually beneficial. Otherwise it doesn't matter, homeopathic or allopathic. But there is standard medicine given by Dhanvantari.
Rāmeśvara: Yes. But what about certain technological advancements like airplanes and automobiles?
Prabhupāda: There are subtler aeroplanes. Aeroplane is mentioned in the śāstras. Now they are working on machine, but there are aeroplanes which can work on mantra.
Rāmeśvara: But that science is lost.
Prabhupāda: Not lost. It is there.
Hari-śauri: So those persons who can't come up to the standard of the temple life...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Hari-śauri: ...they should remain outside.
Prabhupāda: That is above all the guṇas.
Rāmeśvara: That's very rare. That is the most rare.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rāmeśvara: Not every man. You always say it's not possible for every man.
Prabhupāda: No, that you cannot do. Because you are in the material world, how you can avoid the influence of material qualities? But our process is so nice that anyone can avoid if he follows. There is no difficulty.
Satsvarūpa: "Such great kings were more responsible than modern elected executive heads because they obliged the great authorities by following their instructions left in Vedic literatures. There was no need to enact daily a new legislative bill by impractical fools and to alter it again and again conveniently to serve some purpose. The rules and regulations were already set forth by great sages like Manu, Yājñavalkya, Parāśara, and other liberated sages, and the enactments were all suitable for all ages and all places. Therefore the rules and regulations were standard and without flaw or defect. Kings like Mahārāja Parīkṣit had their council of advisors and all..."
Prabhupāda: Our things on the veranda can be kept inside. Because they are here, somebody may... So many men are coming and going.
Prabhupāda: Therefore ekādaśī. One day or two days in the month he should practice fasting, and then he'll be able to conquer over these things. These are all practical. So we should practice ourself and teach others. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. And if he thinks that he's quite all right in this material atmosphere, then he's doomed. Mūḍhaḥ nābhijānāti. That means aprāpya mām—without achieving Kṛṣṇa—nivartante—again he goes back-mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3)—the cycle of birth and death. Take one birth, suffer, again take another body, again take another body, another body. There are 400..., eight million four hundred... That's all. Sometimes so-called happiness, he is born as demigod, sometimes as dog, sometimes as insect, sometimes as tree. What is this business? "I am eternal. Why shall I suffer this?" This is sense. They are simply trying how to become a hog, how to become a dog, or how to become a god. God you cannot become. You may have some partial happiness just like the demigods. They have got power. They have got high standard of living.
Gargamuni: In the court they also have no standard. They don't know what moral life is. They think this is normal.
Prabhupāda: At least you should take our books, that "This is our statement. Defense is. You first of all read this; then give your judgment."
Satsvarūpa: One of their biggest charges is that we don't...
Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be. All charges are replied in these books. So you read these books and argue on this. Finish this. Then give judgment. Make this. Make a firm. Bring all these eighty-four books. That is legal! From law point, it is legal. What I have to say, you have to hear. So we have said everything there.
Prabhupāda: Kīrtana and prasādam distribution. This is our preaching mainly. And if they hear little philosophy, that is very good. Otherwise simply kīrtana and prasādam distribution is sufficient. Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to do that. He was not speaking philosophy to everyone. Kīrtana and prasāda distribution. So our men can perform very nice kīrtana, and if they come to take little prasādam, that is preaching. You have to maintain this standard, that kīrtana must go on and prasādam should be distributed.
Satsvarūpa: And take collection for that, to continue that.
Prabhupāda: Yes. By selling books, by contribution, somehow or other maintain. Everywhere.
Hari-śauri: There's no reason why the BTG should be any different from any of our books. There's no reason why the BTG standard should be different from our books. We take your books as absolute authority.
Prabhupāda: No, it will not be.
Hari-śauri: BTG should not be any different from that.
Prabhupāda: See to that.
Satsvarūpa: Yes. (break) Mainly it's about the girls who are over ten. They were in Vṛndāvana and discussed this with Jagadīśa, but they couldn't settle up, so they wanted to know what you think. Their idea is that... As of now, there is no plan for a school for the girls over ten, but just that they should return to their parents and not get any more schooling. But they're thinking that there should be, and one reason is that you said in France that the girls could learn these sixty-four arts. So they were thinking that there should be a school for girls over ten, and that it should be situated in India. One reason is that in India our teachers can take help from Indian Life Member ladies who know these arts.
Prabhupāda: I take some three, four prostitute and flatterer. Then..." And he'd be received very nicely. We have seen when, when we were boys, ten years, twelve years old. I have seen it. Formerly, in our father's time, it was aristocratic to keep one prostitute and keep one garden also. Then he'll get... So this man, dehātma-buddhi and sexually inclined, he is mahātmā. This is the standard of... Ramakrishna, he was worshiping goddess Kālī. It is condemned in the Bhagavad-gītā, kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ prapadyante 'nya-devatāḥ (BG 7.20), that "Anyone who is worshiping a demigod, he is lost of all sense." So this man, by losing his all senses, worshiping a demigod, he became God. People do not take reference from Bhagavad-gītā, that "A demigod worshiper has no sense, and he has become God?" What kind of God? Senseless God? And God's definition is aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47), jñāna. God means full in knowledge.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Brahmānanda: That is their standard.
Prabhupāda: But still, you are forced to take help of this lantern when there is no electricity.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This electricity has enabled so much...
Prabhupāda: What is the price of one tin kerosene?
Bhavānanda: It's sold by liter. I don't know. About 90 paisa per liter, one rupee per liter.
Prabhupāda: And one tin, how many liter?
Prabhupāda: Formerly they used to stock huge stock in Calcutta. Burma Sale. And new tin, if you exchange the container, then six annas less. Not very costly. Of course, in those days it was costly, taking consideration of the purchasing power of money. Four rupees, I remember, a few annas. My father did not like to purchase anything retail. For his daily necessity he'll purchase, he would purchase potato, one bag. So one bag means, maybe, one rupee, eight annas. (laughs) One anna per seer, kilo, I have purchased. Rice, fifteen mounds he will purchase. And what is the price? Three rupees, four annas. First-class rice. Coal, this coal, coke. Five annas per mound, purchase one cart load, fifteen mounds. The other day I was calculating. My father's income was, utmost, three hundred rupees per month in those days. And taking gold standard, my mother was purchasing gold from my cousin—he has gold shop-twenty rupees per tolā, first-class gold. Now it is six hundred rupees per tolā. (break) ...in those days thirty rupees per month. For thirty rupees, clerical staff, if you increase thirty times, how much it comes?
Ādi-keśava: What about in the temples, when we're visiting the temples? The temples we're visiting now... That book that Jayatīrtha was making on Deity worship following from the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, he told me he is making on your order to make a standard of Deity worship. That is the standard we should be advising the temples to follow?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Make it simplified. At the present moment, especially in the Western countries, it is not possible to follow very elaborate program, but what I have given already, that is sufficient, six times worshiping, ārati, just like here going on, just like the same program. Not to make it difficult thing, because with the advancement of Kali-yuga, more difficulties are coming. So simple, things should be simplified. That is wanted. (break) Go on preaching from one place to another, another place. Mahā-vicalanam. Mahātmās should walk. Vicalanam, "movement."
Rāmeśvara: This is the new artwork for 2.2 on the cover. Same idea. Each book now has captions on one side, pictures on the other; the standard new typeface.
Prabhupāda: Second Canto, Part Two.
Hari-śauri: The same color as the Sixth Canto?
Rādhā-vallabha: No.
Prabhupāda: This is San Francisco?
Rādhā-vallabha: This is Rukmiṇī-Dvārakādhīśa in Los Angeles. Los Angeles.
Prabhupāda: Los Angeles. Hm.
Prabhupāda: Oh. Very good. The more you distribute books, the more you are blessed. There is no more or less. Everyone is blessed... (laughter) There is no such discrimination, but still, there is some competition. (laughter) In Vṛndāvana there is no discrimination that gopīs are the highest and others... No. Every one is all right. Still, from neutral point of view, the gopīs are the highest. Caitanya Mahāprabhu..., ramya kaścid upāsanā vraja-vadhu vargabhir ya kalpita,(?) that "There is no standard of worship, what was conceived by the gopīs." Caitanya Mahāprabhu said. There is no distinction between the cowherd boys and the gopīs or the trees and the flowers and the calves and cows. It is the absolute platform. But still, in the spiritual world also there is distinction between living entities. That is variety, spiritual variety, viśeṣavāda.
Prabhupāda: This is Gaura-Nitāi.
Bali-mardana: Yeah. The standard is very high, I think.
Prabhupāda: Hm. Very nice. Thank you very much.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Generally speaking, in India people are willing to become our life members.
Prabhupāda: Let them become life members.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. What would be... I don't see the advantage of this program, because life membership, you get more money.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rāmeśvara: We have a plan to increase the number of paintings, starting with the Tenth Canto, because many more artists have been coming, and some of them are becoming qualified to paint for the books. The standard right now is there's a picture of Your Divine Grace and seven paintings. So we want to increase it to a picture of Your Divine Grace and eleven paintings.
Prabhupāda: You can... If you want to increase picture, you can take important words... Just like the verse nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānāt: "One who has no more material hankering..." Paint it in picture. Nivṛtta-tarṣaiḥ, no more hankering for anything material. And there is word, dharma-śīla, "religious." What is that religion? One who has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, he is religious. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66). He is religious.
Hari-śauri: So surely you could put an illustration on that.
Rāmeśvara: We could, but the standard is we use just Prabhupāda speaking, showing Prabhupāda.
Hari-śauri: But there was that hand pouring that thing into the test tube, which... No one liked that.
Rāmeśvara: No one heard the reason. I don't like it either, but I understand why they did it. You have to hear both sides, you know.
Hari-śauri: Well, there's always a reason. But you have to get to the point-Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Even it is eso..., esopheric? What is called?
Prabhupāda: Knowing or no knowing, they'll not do with him. So what is the use of consulting me? They'll break. They'll promise and they'll break. How you can make them standardized? They will break.
Rādhā-vallabha: They have to be responsible people.
Prabhupāda: They'll never become. That is my experience. So what is the use of consulting me? They'll never become. Almost impossible. They'll not keep standardized.
Rādhā-vallabha: So it should just be up to them.
Prabhupāda: What is the use of consulting? They'll promise and they'll break.
Satsvarūpa: And we discussed the sannyāsa recommendations. No one who was recommended last year for sannyāsa was approved this year. During the year they did not prove well. No one is here for initiation. And for next year no recommendations were made. Then... One man... And I was accepted as editor in chief of Back to Godhead. The details of the editorial policies that I should follow, I can take in consultation from my other GBC Godbrothers. And further, in an attempt to set a uniform standard so that Back to Godhead is like scripture, I should function as editor for all Back to Godheads published in the various languages. In this I should work in cooperation with the co-editors and BBT trustees of the various foreign language BTGs. There may be various co-editors of those magazines, but I will be responsible to keep a uniform standard.
Prabhupāda: That's nice.
Satsvarūpa: All temples will be encouraged by the GBC to undertake vigorous life membership programs with the Indians. In America this program should be standardized in all respects, using the present forms developed in New York and New Vrindaban. The program in USA will be overlooked by Ādi-keśava Mahārāja.
Prabhupāda: That's nice.
Satsvarūpa: Resolved: A committee be formed of Saurabha, Tamāla Kṛṣṇa, Rāmeśvara, Ātreya Ṛṣi, Jayapatākā, Gopāla Kṛṣṇa, and Gurukṛpā to research and give a report on all aspects of the Māyāpur projected construction, including its material feasibility, cash flow requirements. They will report their research to Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: One very big paṇḍita is coming. He'll help us about the Sanskrit language, how to form this...
Prabhupāda: So the sum and substance is that I have got the opportunity of human form, everyone, and they should not be kept in the same animal consciousness. This is civilization. They should be raised to the standard of inquiring. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. That is civilization. This, civilization? To keep them in darkness? Hm? Sanātana Gosvāmī went to Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The first question is ke āmi kene āmāya jāre tāpa-traya. "Sir, I was prime minister, and I was very much eulogized by the people as paṇḍita." Grāmya-vyavahāre paṇḍita tāi satya māni. "These village people, they call me paṇḍita, and I also, such a fool, I accept, 'Yes, I am paṇḍita. Yes.' But factually, if I inquire, 'What kind of paṇḍita'? then āpanāra hitāhita kichui nā jāni: 'I am such a learned paṇḍita that I do not know what is the ultimate goal of my life. I am such a paṇḍita.' Therefore I have come to You, Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Prabhupāda: "This Bhagavad-gītā what I am speaking, if one is not interested to hear it or to take it, then result will be he'll not get Me." "So what is loss if I don't get You?" No, mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani: "Then go again to the cycle of birth and death." That's it. That is nature's law. If my next life I become a worm, then it will take millions of years to evolve, again come to the human standard. How I am lost. That they do not know. It is clearly said. Mām aprāpya: "By not getting Me." "So what is loss if I don't get Kṛṣṇa?" No, mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. That you cannot check. You have to die. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). You have to accept another body. Then you go on. Why this human form of life should be lost in this way? So at least to try to give this knowledge to the people in general is para-upakāra. This is para-upakāra. And that is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's gift. India can especially do it.
Prabhupāda: So make arrangement so that they are not displeased.
Saurabha: Yes, I am very careful, and at the moment it is going very nicely.
Prabhupāda: So keep that standard. Money scarcity we shall not allow. We shall put.
Saurabha: I pay exact what they are working for.
Prabhupāda: Money's, Kṛṣṇa's supplying; so there is no question of scarcity. Finish it as soon as possible. There is no question of money supply. Yes. So Lokanātha Swami, your bullock cart program, how it is going on?
Prabhupāda: That's all right. When you were there.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Oh, yes. In Washington and in Atlanta and Florida...
Prabhupāda: That standard should be maintained. Everywhere.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: It will be nicer now after the court case. All the devotees must be very enthused now because court was very favorable, New York case.
Prabhupāda: How is Vṛndāvana going on?
Dhanañjaya: By your mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda is there. Our community is growing very nicely. The festival is very successful. Everyone enjoyed very much—kīrtanas and all the different programs.
Prabhupāda: Now in our childhood, when we were ten-years-old boy, my father used to purchase high kilo saraṣera tela, for eight annas. Can these rascals do to that standard? Eight annas, first-class Kanpur mustard oil. Now that oil... Not that quality oil, still, they are being sold thirteen rupees per kilo, instead of three annas.
Dr. Sharma: They were always, even in a small village, there were five or ten good people were to do the kīrtana. You know, they had a knack of one particular instrument, they could get up and all on the Janmāṣṭamī and so many festivals they used to have kīrtana. And all, you know, small village, even nook and corner of the country, bubbling with life, religious life. This is only twenty-five years ago, even thirty years ago it was there. And look now...
Prabhupāda: All sorts may go, but you must know the real message, that within this machine the owner of the machine, the driver of the machine... All sorts of... There are three thousand parts in a motorcar. You have all sorts of knowledge about the parts of the car, and you do not know who is driving, then what is this knowledge? Every paper, every learned man, every..., every should take it seriously and implement it. It is not meant for everyone. Still, there must be an institution to teach this, I mean, the highest standard of knowledge to the human being. Why they should simply jump like cats and dogs? This is our mission. So don't try to imitate cats and dogs, but be human being. Understand what is your position and cultivate that knowledge. That is nature's way. The evolutionary process, after 8,400,000 species of life, it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that if you don't understand this opportunity, then nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3).
Prabhupāda: Huh? What is that? We are preaching internationalism, everyone welcome. Come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is being done. Real United Nations. Here is Christian, here is Jew, here is African, here is Muhammadan, everything. Worldwide. That is real United Nations. They have no conception. If they would thought that "I am American," then why he is after a poor Indian man? Indians are known outside India as poverty-stricken, and that's a fact. So why he should come to the person born of poverty-stricken nation? But actually we are not poverty-stricken. If we cultivate our own standard of knowledge, Bhagavad-gītā, then we are the richest and we can give the whole world the gift. That should be... And they will welcome. That will be glorified if they accept. Just see. This is our... I am trying for that.
Prabhupāda: Why not? Because I am giving the standard movement. I am not manufacturing anything. I am giving what is said by Kṛṣṇa. I am just distributing that. Why shall I not be happy? I am not manufacturing anything. That is not my business.
Mr. Koshi: How are others doing?
Prabhupāda: Yes, they are manufacturing. They have to do artificially. My things are ready, but I have simply distributed. Why shall I not be happy? If you do something artificially, you have to manufacture. I am not doing that. My things are ready.
Prabhupāda: Then that television speech must be out in the paper.
Girirāja: Yes, it must have been reported this morning. I mean he is representing a return to the more traditional standards of morality and culture of India.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They say that they are going to replace this family planning with yoga. Instead of using artificial means, they're going to teach yoga.
Prabhupāda: To become brahmacārī.
Girirāja: The minister of health and family planning, he said, he denied, that "This name should be changed to just minister of health, because this type of family planning is against the traditional values of India."
Prabhupāda: They can do, all their political divisions. These rascals, they can do. Anything. They have no principles, no morality, no standard of morality, nothing. Simply all rogues and thieves. It will more and more. All rogues and thieves will take part in politics. That is stated. Dasyu dharmeṇa. Just like dasyu, the burglar, the thieves, they have got organization how to get money. So they, the government, they'll be rogues and thieves. And whenever there is necessity of money, then tax. You work hard; they will tax. Organized burglars, organized guṇḍās. And Indira was doing that. Indira and company. Take the power and club(?) them and do whatever you like. She is a prostitute; her son is a guṇḍā. This is the sample of the... But it will be done all round the world. This is a sample of that.
Prabhupāda: That's all. And then go to hell. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). So after jumping, when this body is finished, he is going to accept another body offered by nature. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). Rascals, they do not know how nature is working. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi (BG 3.27). Making plan and wasting time, wasting their valuable life. At least, this institution which we have started to give this enlightenment, they must be maintained in India in a first-class standard, that at least some intelligent persons can take advantage. They are all fools, rascals. They cannot take. All the duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ. That is already described. Narādhamas will not take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But there are persons who are not narādhama. For them there must be. Diamond shop is not for everyone, but there are some persons who can purchase diamonds. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu (BG 7.3).
Prabhupāda: But it doesn't matter. We shall elevate them to go back to home, back to Godhead. Whatever he may be. Striyo vaiśyas tathā śūdrāḥ (BG 9.32). Kiṁ punar brāhmaṇāḥ puṇyā bhaktā rājarṣayaḥ (BG 9.33). Simply by denying that "I am not śūdra," that will not help. But they must be elevated to the standard of brāhmaṇa. That we will talk later on. But we have to convince that "This world movement is going on to make the human society to the highest perfection of life. If you join, we can help you." To the perfection of life. On the basis of Bhagavad-gītā. There is no difficulty. That we can do. If you really want, there is a...
Bhakti-caru: They have got unions also, harijanas. How to approach the unions?
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, everything requires intelligence. If you haven't got that standard of intelligence, how you can do it? Nowadays, suppose if you do some business, is there a hindrance that "You are low class, you cannot do this business." Neither the government nor the society. You can do it. Why you cannot do it? Just like in Bengal, the Marwaris are rich and Bengalis are... Their land, their country, and their naturals. And the Marwaris have big (indistinct). It is your incapability. Why don't you admit that?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. And when the brāhmaṇas did not approve, they had the power of brahma-tejaḥ. Just like with Veṇa. Even in our own society, if someone is not doing nicely, then the others may, they come together and they say, "This person is not keeping standard." It is not that because I have power or something, one can maintain his position.
Prabhupāda: Whole thing is spoiled, vitiated. And ultimately this human form of life, it is a chance given by nature. Tathā dehāntara, you become a dog, next. Finished. And you wait millions of years again to come, take the human form. What can I do? These are nature's law. And they are also prepared. "Oh, what is the wrong there, if I become dog?" This civilization. Just imagine how much spoiled it is.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: BBT, yes. They had a meeting in Māyāpur discussing some common points of interest and concerns. It says, "We will anxiously be awaiting a report on Śrīla Prabhupāda's reaction to the various points, and it would be good if you sent copies to all the trustees directly if there are any urgent points. I am going to L.A. in a few weeks, at which time I will make it my business, as one of the US trustees, to look into the Press matter. I will send a report after doing so. I also share your concern in this matter. I am going to France in a few days and will send a report on my findings. I am especially concerned to see that BBT be set up along standard lines. I have heard that Śrīla Prabhupāda's health has improved somewhat. Please be so kind as to send reports on this from time to time, as all the devotees are very much concerned. We are all praying to Lord Nṛsiṁha-deva that His Divine Grace's health will be completely restored. I remain your servant, Jayatīrtha dāsa. P.S. I will be visiting Africa in May." This letter is dated 25th March.
Prabhupāda: March?
Prabhupāda: ...Hayagrīva. But he is doing nothing and taking money.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, they stopped his salary now. "18) The US BBT will experiment with importation of books from India as soon as practical. Gopāla Kṛṣṇa will make further efforts to increase the quality."
Prabhupāda: Yes, quality must be there. It is not yet standard. Unless quality is improved, it cannot be exported and spoil the market.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm. So those were the resolutions we passed, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: That is called...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Gold standard.
Prabhupāda: Not gold standard, but there is a technical name. That means if you print notes, currency note, immediately you have to keep stock of gold in the reserve bank. Reserve. Therefore it is called...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The gold reserves.
Prabhupāda: Gold reserve. Gold reserve, yes. At least forty percent.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What's the idea behind that?
Prabhupāda: What is that? The idea is cheating. The cheating business begins from the government. And why people will not learn to cheat? This is cheating. I am giving you one paper, one hundred rupees, dollars, and you are happy: "I have got so many ..." I am giving you check, ten thousand dollars. You got ten thousand dollars. Now I give you a paper. But it is going on. We have made machinery in such a way that it will go on in hundred rupees or ten thousand rupees.
Prabhupāda: Caitanya-līlā can be played very nicely.
Guest (1): And it is maintained at a very remarkable level standard. Performance is very good. This could definitely go in as an Indo-Soviet cultural group, and it would be really educating the masses in no time. It is almost as good as showing them a film show or a cinema.
Prabhupāda: The difficulty is the government has got the cultural department. So they will patronize Lata Mangeskar, but they will not give us money to go there.
Guest (1): That is I am telling. And the associated with ISKCON's...
Prabhupāda: No, I will say, not Lata Mangeskar, any dancing party, they will patronize. But if we go for preaching Bhagavad-gītā...
Girirāja: During the New York case, one of the leading men in the Arya Samaj wrote a very personal letter in support of us, not a standard letter, but in his own words he was glorifying your work like anything, and especially from this point of view.
Patita-pāvana: Even this Arkasomayaji, his iṣṭa-devatā is Kanaka Durgā from the Kabur district of the Godāvarī in Andhra, and he's a Māyāvādī. I told him, "We have some difference, but please shelve your differences and simply follow our point of view." He said, "That's all right, but I think your guru is the Divine walking the earth, and I must serve him." (laughs) So I said, "Very good. Please come and help."
Prabhupāda: So arrange to receive them. Give them very kindly... If Acarya agrees, that will be great success.
Prabhupāda: I have no taste. And maybe (laughs) has no taste.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In India there's no telling. Generally, recently the milk has been of a good standard, good quality. You might have more taste for lassi. That's a little sweet and nice.
Prabhupāda: Hm.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And it's also very good for digestion.
Prabhupāda: So give me lassi.
Upendra: Now?
Prabhupāda: No.
Prabhupāda: No, hanged. They are not guru. They are not missionaries. They do not know. They have no knowledge. And missionaries? You see? The so-called politicians, philosopher, religionists, rascals, distorting the meaning of Bhagavad-gītā. And yato mata tato patha. And "I like. Whatever I like, I can speak, and that is supported." What is this? Chaotic condition. There is no standard. We are giving the standard, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. And Gandhi said, "Oh, how can I stop cow-killing? It is their religion." Just see. Such a rascal. "My religion is to kill others, and it should be supported by the government." Such a foolish man, they are on the government power. Parīkṣit Mahārāja, did he consider that? "So you are killing cow? You must be killed." That's all. Life for life. "It is my religion, sir." "Then get out here! Get out of my kingdom! Perform your religion outside." This is king. This is government. He said like that, Kali. You know?
Prabhupāda: This is the normal condition, that he fully surrenders and acts according to the dictation of Kṛṣṇa. This is surrender. He says also, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65)—four things. It doesn't require any... It is very easy. If you like, you can think of Kṛṣṇa always-man-manāḥ. And unless you love Kṛṣṇa, how you'll think of Him? Mad-bhaktaḥ. And bhakta will worship-mad-yājī. And worshiping means offering obeisances-māṁ namaskuru. These four things can do, any... Even a child can do. But they'll manufacture and ultimately come to the conclusion-void, finished. So our request is that life is not zero. It is a fact. Don't spoil it. Take His instruction from Bhagavad-gītā and become perfect. This is our request. And we have no difficulty. The authority is there, Bhagavad-gītā. We haven't got to manufacture anything, some artificial rules. The standard of knowledge is there. What is the difficulty? Why should you manufacture knowledge? They are imperfect. Whatever you manufacture, that is imperfect.
Prabhupāda: Rather, they are more distressed. Take for example, in our childhood my father's income was, utmost, three hundred rupees. So we were not very rich men. But we had no want. Father was maintaining his family, getting children married, distributing the wealth. Everything very nice. And we never felt any want. In this mango season, because father saw it that "There must be a full basket of mangoes daily for the children," so we were jumping, playing and eating mangoes. And now, taking consideration of gold standard... At that time my mother was purchasing gold, twenty rupees...
Sita Ram Singh: Per tolā.
Prabhupāda: Twenty-two rupees. Now the same gold is six hundred rupees. So three hundred times more?
Rāmeśvara: None. We're not eager to publish anything which is not perfect, because you have already set the highest standard for the BBT. The name BBT means the highest standard right now in the world.
Prabhupāda: That is good answer.
Kīrtanānanda: Therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda, we think that you cannot leave us very soon.
Prabhupāda: I don't want. But if I am obliged, what can I do?
Kīrtanānanda: If you don't want, Kṛṣṇa will not want.
Prabhupāda: A realized soul, must be. Otherwise, simply by imitating A-B-C-D will not help. My purports are liked by people because it is presented as practical experience. (aside:) It is within the mouth.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...come directly, brāhmaṇas sometimes brahmacārī, gṛhastha. That will impress. (break) ...hodgepodge. Respect is no. Ideals become a leader. He'll do. He'll do. There must be some strong men. Tilaka always must be there. That is our great standard. Kaṇṭhī-mālā. Every fifteen days you should be cleansed. (break) (indistinct) Don't be in all this (indistinct). Go on very nicely. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita Gadādhara Śrīvāsa... (break)
Gargamuni: Well, we only printed two Oriya books. Both were printed in Calcutta so far, because there's one Oriya printer there. Gaura-Govinda Mahārāja is investigating completely the... We went around investigating the presses in Cuttack and Bhuvaneśvara, if we might get some cheaper or easier price. It appears that some things we can do cheaper there, like the inside part, but cover cannot do cheaper there.
Prabhupāda: That is natural. There is no question of his accelerating. It is already going on in this world. (pause) So many things we have to discuss. Is it not? People are in darkness in so many ways. Therefore we have to take the standard knowledge.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Always comes to the...
Prabhupāda: (aside:) Little cold water. And our mission is to deliver them by giving knowledge. Āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' ei deśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Our mission is not to keep men in darkness. Otherwise "Let them go to hell, śūnyavādi. We don't..." No. They should not remain in that way. They should come to the real light. This is our policy. (pause)
Prabhupāda: Degraded, most. There is no principles. Formerly there was a standard principle. Then they fall down.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But what did the British think of that principle?
Prabhupāda: British gave liberty about our culture and religion. They never interfered. That was their credit. They knew it. If they interfered with their internal affairs, then they will be lost. That was Queen. She guided them.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They were expert like that.
Prabhupāda: No, they were very good politician. (pause) I can say, in the British period there was no scarcity, and leniency. I recall the way. Didn't require... And when they like... With three hundred rupees they were so happy. Now you calculate that three hundred rupees means ten thousand. So where is that ten thousand rupees?
Indian man (1): (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: This is the standard, vidvān and bhaktimān.
Indian man (1): (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: That I know because people are now debauch and uneducated. So they want their son to be debauch and uneducated, Hiraṇyakaśipu. Hiraṇyakaśipu did not want a child like Prahlāda. It was there formerly the misunderstanding took place. Prahlāda wanted to satisfy Nārāyaṇa, and he wanted to become a devotee of Nārāyaṇa. The father is asura. He wanted: "What is this nonsense, to become devotee? I wanted politics, diplomacy, cheating. You are studying." Presently there is a class of men, Hiraṇyakaśipu. They do not like to see their sons become Prahlāda. And our ideal is to create Prahlāda. It doesn't matter there are many Prahlādas. At least there must be... So we have got... How many rooms we have got?
Prabhupāda: So here is the opportunity. Come and join together.
Surendra Kumar: He is fond of these things.
Prabhupāda: And we have got standard. We haven't got to manufacture.
Surendra Kumar: No, there is nothing to manufacture.
Prabhupāda: No, not... Everything is there. Everything is there.
Surendra Kumar: So only these things have to be brought to his knowledge.
Prabhupāda: That's all.
Prabhupāda: You must know thoroughly that, that how yaḥ is spelled. This is standard. Practice. Everything practice. (break) Y-a-ḥ... This is determined by the diacritic mark. But this, everything is there. So this was beginning... (break)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They know...
Prabhupāda: Good.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. It's personal. They have a personal conception of God, of a person, but they don't understand that one has to become very highly qualified before he can actually talk to God. They take it as anybody who has any position in spiritual life should be able to talk to God. So that she has to learn again with real understanding.
Prabhupāda: No, our books are more than university standard. If they simply can study our book, it is more than the course he was given. Tan manye adhitam uttamam. All right.
Akṣayānanda: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...of first grade, one hour there. That doesn't mean necessarily life is shorter. (end)
Prabhupāda: Yes. Even in this planet, in different places there are different standard. In the ocean, then the standard is different from this standard.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. You said, just like in Africa there are seven-foot-tall people.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Giants.
Prabhupāda: In Japan, when I went there for... (aside:) Here. The house, it was so low that "How they live here?"
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Was that when we went to Dai Nippon that time?
Prabhupāda: (laughs) No, Dai Nippon has good building.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Patitānāṁ pāvanebhyaḥ. Pāpī tāpī jata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo, tāra sākṣī jagāi-mādhāi, brajendra-nandana jei, śaci-suta hoilo sei. Kṛṣṇa is coming. He has come as Caitanya Mahāprabhu to deliver these pāpīs and tāpīs. Whole process is scientific. It is not (laughs) the Ramakrishna, Vivekananda. It is not that. What do they know? Or Gandhi. They are also trying for the betterment, but they do not accept the standard process. Everyone is trying. That is struggle for existence. So who is fittest? The fittest is the devotee. He'll survive. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma (BG 4.9). I have now explained how Kṛṣṇa became subordinate to devotee. (turns on dictaphone, plays back from tape:) "Yamarāja, controller of all living entities, is afraid of the order of Kṛṣṇa. Still, Kṛṣṇa is afraid of mother's stick. This contradictory thing cannot be understood by one who is not devotee.
Prabhupāda: Yes... So happiness, unless Kṛṣṇa gives, there is no question of happiness. Our business should be that we may not be uncomfortably living which will disturb our progress of Kṛṣṇa consciousness—that much. Other things? Depend on Kṛṣṇa. If He wants to make you Indra, you become Indra. There is no happiness even by becoming Indra. You... We read from books. Indra is how much disturbed, always fighting, devāsura. He has to fight. The same thing as here. Only difference is the standard of living in the heaven and the duration of life are greater. But if you have to struggle for existence, then what is the use of this duration of life, greater? Simply struggling, where is happiness? So in different planets, in different species of life... I see at night these small bugs. They have got the same happiness. The husband and wife or the male and female together, jumping and having sex, and everything in a different body. And same thing is going on in higher planetary system.
Prabhupāda: You can say, but who made you representative? You can say all nonsense. That is your business. (break)... who will give something standard, they'll be established. That standard is in this varṇāśrama. Here is the standard, that leg must be there, the hand must be there, the head must be there, the belly must be... One who has got the qualities to work like hand, he must work as hand. That is natural. These rascals have no education actually. Therefore I always say, "rascals." They manufacture. They are imperfect, and they manufacture. (break) "Probably," "maybe," like that. No standard logic. So, (Bengali)
Prabhupāda: Now we have got some position, Hindi books.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Gujarati books also should be same standard.
Prabhupāda: Yes, same standard. Very nice, Hindi books. All right.
Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Thank you very much. Be enthusiastic to print books. And these items are very, very nice, greeting.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Greeting cards. This will overtake India, take everyone by storm. Plus, we are coming up with calendars next year.
Prabhupāda: Yes, make money and spend it for printing.
Prabhupāda: The printing is first class.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. It's like American standard.
Prabhupāda: I think the Diwali greeting card dealers also will accept.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, but we are keeping it... Śrīla Prabhupāda, I studied the whole market. It is to our advantage to restrict the sale, because when we deal with dealers or distributors we have to sell them at half the price and allow them to keep their profit. But we want to make this exclusive for life members. Otherwise, if anyone can buy it in a market, it's not such a great prestige.
Prabhupāda: No, no, no. You keep...
Prabhupāda: He can worship Deity very good.
Upendra: In Hawaii he introduced very high standard of Deity worship, Bhānu did.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Gurukṛpā brought his Deities, little Gaura-Nitāi. He's wondering where will be a good place to keep them while he's here in Vṛndāvana.
Prabhupāda: The altar?
Gurukṛpā: No, that's not...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's difficult. He says...
Gurukṛpā: I'd like to bring them in daily for you to have darśana since you cannot go to the Deity.
Prabhupāda: No, I go.
Prabhupāda: How many copies they have published?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think... I got a letter from Satsvarūpa yesterday. I think this issue was 400,000. It varies between 400-and 500,000 copies. Generally about a half a million every month. Pretty good standard.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. (break) ...bad education. They have learned to... No education. (aside:) Get this down here. I am seriously thinking how to do. Organized, a society for sinful activities, Western. Now you are advanced, sincerely carry on. At least in America.
Gurukṛpā: This restaurant is very good propaganda. They get a higher taste. I've seen on the airplane when I went last time. I had some cookies from the restaurant, so I gave them to the pilot, the stewardess, and said to give them to everyone. And they came and said, "Oh, we have been to your restaurant. We appreciate very much. It is very nice."
Prabhupāda: In this way we have to change their mentality.
Prabhupāda: Believe. "I believe." You can say also, "I believe." You can say, "I believe." Where is the standard?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: This is their life. "I believe." Whatever he believes, that's all right. This is going on.
Gurukṛpā: The difficulty is they have no intelligence to understand what they are doing. But if... By mass prasādam distribution they will get intelligence to see the serious sins they are doing.
Prabhupāda: Whole thing is "I believe," "Unless I believe..." Anyone can believe something. Is that knowledge?
Prabhupāda: So kindly maintain this standard. That is very important item. I am not eating, but I am hearing (laughter) and getting the appetite.
Devotees: Jaya.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Another nice feature, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is that we all eat together.
Prabhupāda: Catur-vidha-śrī-bhagavat-prasāda-svādv-anna-tṛptān hari-bhakta-saṅghān, kṛtvaiva tṛptiṁ bhajataḥ sadaiva **. This is also bhajana, to be satisfied that others are taking first-class prasādam.
Prabhupāda: That is not standard.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, according to this man, your life should have been over at the age of seventy-five. In other words, when someone is a pure devotee, then he is not conditioned by the laws of birth and death. For people who are conditioned, there is standard. But in your case they cannot... They admit openly that there's no question of material standard. They can simply tell you... According to your birthday they can predict which days will be difficult for you because of the position of the planets. But so far as your ability to conquer over these difficulties and to live, that they completely accept is completely within Kṛṣṇa's hands, that you're not bounded by the material energy.
Prabhupāda: Karmāṇi nirdahati.
| Page Title: | Standards (Conversations 1977) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 13 of Dec, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=84, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 84 |