Prabhupāda: In that house, Caitanya, Lord Caitanya was lying unconscious in ecstasy, the same unconsciousness which He got from the temple. So Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya was trying to treat Him with some water so that He may come to consciousness. Now when His other friends, Nityānanda, Gadādhara and others arrived there, they told, "Oh, Lord Caitanya, He becomes unconscious while chanting. So He cannot be revived to His consciousness by any other means. We have to chant." So in the Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya's house that chanting and dancing began with all the members, and gradually Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to consciousness. Then there was introduction of Caitanya Mahāprabhu through Gopīnātha Ācārya and Gadādhara. And Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya told that "You become my guest, you, all of you." And he gave them places. Then... Caitanya Mahāprabhu was only twenty-four years old, and Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, he was old man, about sixty years old. So by acquaintance it was disclosed that Sārvabhauma's father and Caitanya Mahāprabhu's grandfather were class friends. So Jagannātha Miśra in that sense... Jagannātha Miśra means Caitanya's father, was a relative, brother-in-law of Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya. So he took Him affectionately and told Him, "My dear boy, You have taken sannyāsa at a very early age. So You should be very careful to study Vedānta-sūtra from me. Otherwise it will be very much difficult for You, young man." So He agreed, "Yes, you are just like My father. So you will kindly give Me instruction on Vedānta-sūtra." So there was discussion of the Vedānta-sūtra between Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya and Caitanya Mahāprabhu. That discussion is shortly mentioned in the introduction of my Srimad-Bhāgavatam. You will see.
Very careful (Conversations)
Conversations and Morning Walks
1967 Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: No, of course not. Devotional service is first.
Mālatī: So if we miss some sleep we should do it.
Prabhupāda: We should forego sleeping even. The real regulated life is that if sixteen rounds is not completed, then we have to forego sleeping. You should take out hours from sleeping. We should be... The main thing is that we should always be careful that... We are going, we have taken up a very responsible task, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So we should be very much careful in discharging the duty. The devotee should be so much careful that he'll always see "Whether this moment is spoiled or utilized?" Avyartha-kālatvam (Cc. Madhya 23.18-19). Avyartha-kālatvam, that "My time may not be wasted." He should be so careful, "Whether my time is being wasted?" and time wasted, the time we engage for our bodily necessities, that is wasted. Generally, conditioned souls, they are simply wasting their time. Only the period which we have engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is utilized. So we should be very much careful whether time is being wasted or being utilized.
Devotee (1): Sometimes, well, if you (we) slept less, we could do more for Kṛṣṇa, but at the same time you (we) would be very tired. I mean, you could be... Well, you could regulate that.
Prabhupāda: What is the maker?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Olivetti. It's the portable.
Prabhupāda: Olivetti portable.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. A good one. But the sewing machine is very expensive. It may be 150 dollars. 163 dollars. Very good.
Prabhupāda: So we have to take care. What can be done? Now you should be very careful, and somebody must remain there always.
Govinda: We live in a very good quarter though. They live by Watts and that's the... They live by Watts district, and Watts district is very notorious. There were seven-day riots of shooting and Negro revolts there about two years ago, three years ago. We live in a very nice quarter, but where they're living is in a very bad place.
Prabhupāda: So you will continue to live there?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, it's in La Palma. It's not directly in the worst area. It's not in Watts county. It's in a different area, but still... Where you live is very good though. I don't think there would be any theft. More safe.
Prabhupāda: Yes. It appears very respectable quarter. All right. Read. (end)
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: As soon as there was some slacking in Hare Kṛṣṇa the māyā struck. (laughs) Yes. Yes.
Govinda dāsī: Swamiji?
Prabhupāda: Yes. You are asking at the last moment. You are very much careful about time.
Govinda dāsī: Oh. I didn't know.
Prabhupāda: No, you ask me.
Govinda dāsī: No, I won't ask.
Prabhupāda: No, no, no, you ask. Yes. Yes.
Govinda dāsī: Could you describe Kṛṣṇa's pastimes as cowboy whenever He goes out in the morning with the cowherds boys?
Prabhupāda: Yes, you can... Because... Have you seen how the... You have no experience here in your country. Have you got any experience? But in India we have got experience how in the morning the cowboy takes some food from the mother and with the cows he goes to the field. The cows are let loose on the grazing ground. They are enjoying, and this cowboy is sometimes singing. The flute, Kṛṣṇa's flute is because He is cowboy. The cowboys still play in that flute. In India you'll find. Because the cows are let... They are doing their own work, and what this boy will do? They are playing. There are many cowherds boys, they are playing.
Prabhupāda: Well, when one is a professional, there may be something wrong. That doesn't matter. But you try to discharge your duties, rightly, whatever you are prescribed to do. Then everything will come to the right point. Your only business is to follow the four principles of regulative life and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa sixteen rounds. So there may be sometimes mistake. That will be corrected automatically. Because we are coming from a different platform, so it may be. And that is also said in the Bha... Api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ: (BG 9.30) "If one is found doing mistake or doing something wrong, but because he is sticking to this principle of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is sādhu." Sādhu means a holy man. He is holy. He is not doing any wrong consciously. But due to habit... Suppose just like most of you were, in your former life, you were smoking or taking intoxication. But by some influence, if you sometimes take to it, yes, if you are conscious, "Oh, I have done wrong," but that is excused if you have done unconscious. But if you think that "Now I am Kṛṣṇa conscious. Whatever I do, it is right," then it is great sin. But accidentally it happens—that is excused. Never mind. So accidental mistake is not dangerous. Willful mistake is dangerous. That we should be careful. We should be very careful always so that accidental mistakes also may not take place. But if it takes place, it is excused.
Devotee: Can haṭha-yoga hinder or help Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or is it...?
Prabhupāda: Hinder. Yes. Because it is useless, simply wasting time. You cannot perform haṭha-yoga in this age. You do not follow the rules and regulations. You are simply bluffed. Do you know what is the rules and regulations of haṭha-yoga factually?
Devotee: Not actually.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest: It's very important...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest: ...because all religious organizations have floundered on scandal, and you will have to be very careful about that.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest: This is what an old man has a right to tell you.
Prabhupāda: Yes. No, from the very beginning, because in Western country the boys and girls, they intermingle very freely.
Guest: Oh, yes, we know all that.
Prabhupāda: Yes...
Guest: We know for a fact.
Prabhupāda: ...and therefore I, as far as possible, I get them married.
Guest: Yes. But that doesn't prevent permissive culture. It acts as a sort of guarantee (Prabhupāda laughs), as a sort of insurance against scandal. But scandals do come out.
Prabhupāda: Yes, and that is a...
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Devotee (3): At least we won't be killing ourselves. At least we won't be making it so that in the future we will have to leave India. We'll be asked to leave, our visas will be taken away and we'll be asked to leave. These things can happen very easily. It is not a, it is not a, it's not an impossible thing. There are places in the world where we can't go already. Singapore. These things have happened. So I feel we should be very, very careful, selective, about who we let manage...
Prabhupāda: At Singapore our men cannot enter.
Śyāmasundara: Yeah.
Devotee (2): This has happened.
Devotee (3): There's many places that, although legally we can enter, still people don't like us, you know.
Prabhupāda: That Singapore (indistinct) enter.
Śyāmasundara: They wouldn't even let you enter.
Devotee (3): I think that his point, I think we spoke about this in Manila, was that anywhere in the world, in, as a general policy, from what I've experienced is that if one or two people are sent to an area, or are in an area and they are given full authority to try to get that population to engage in bhakti-yoga, engage in this process, that that gradual development with the local people, that that has more effect than...
Śyāmasundara: Yeah, it's more successful.
Prabhupāda: Citralekhā. Yes, he remembers. (pause)
Svarūpa Dāmodara: There is an experiment that was done by Pasteur, a French scientist a long time ago. In that experiment he boiled some, I think it was water. Because normally the water, without boiling there are so many microorganisms, small, small living entities, that can be detected under microscope. He wanted to know whether life started from some ingredients inside or just life started from life. So he boiled this solution and he kept for some time under very careful covering so that there is no contamination from outside. And then there was no life. He couldn't find any organisms. So they said, "Life starts from matter." That is one of the experiments.
Prabhupāda: What is that experiment?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Boil water first of all. Without boiling water, they can detect so many organisms, small, small bacteria and these small, small living entities under microscope. But when they would boil it and it kept for some time, and then they tested, there was no organisms.
Prabhupāda: But that microscope is imperfect. That is our contention. Because the living entities, the dimension of the living entity is 1/10,000th part of the top of your hair. So what you can see?
Karandhara: Also, they make the condition unsuitable for the spirit soul to occupy. Just like if we take and kill all these bodies and put them somewhere, and come back in a week, it's not that life will come back to the bodies. They make the circumstances unsuitable for the spirit soul.
Prabhupāda: But dog stool is not illegal. Just see how foolish they are. If you drop a paper on this grass, that is illegal. But you can get your dogs pass stool, it doesn't matter. This is their intelligence. They will not allow if you are bringing one mango from other part of the country, but they will allow dog also bringing so many germs. They do not know. Dog also brings so many germs, infectious germs.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: That is why they were very careful. When the astronauts from the moon, when they come back on the surface of the planet, they thought there might be some germs which they do not know yet. So they put it in quarantine for several days, to make sure that they are...
Prabhupāda: First of all make sure whether he had gone there, and then talk of all these things. (laughing) I am not sure they are going there.
Kṛṣṇa-Kāntī: You know they made another blunder.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. What is that?
Kṛṣṇa-Kāntī: They made a spaceship that they wanted to orbit around the earth so that they could send men and ship an outpost.
Karandhara: A house, station.
Kṛṣṇa-Kāntī: So they sent it up and it failed. It cost two billion dollars or something, squandered.
Prabhupāda: Just see why they are wasting time in that way? Money.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest: ...is very touchy about his being śūdra?
Prabhupāda: No, why he should be?
Guest: No, but he thinks that all of us look down upon him. So one has to be very careful. And I think that if you could say something about the real Harijana.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that I'll speak, that I'll speak. Now, if he is coming from the śūdra community...
Guest: Yes.
Prabhupāda: ...but he is now minister...
Guest: He's a brāhmaṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Lady Guest: Not even brāhmaṇa.
Prabhupāda: Not exactly, yes.
Lady Guest: Not a brāhmaṇa.
Prabhupāda: But at least he's a kṣatriya.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: This is the consideration. By policy if he could save his wife, that first. He was following like that...
Girirāja: " 'If in the future I get a child who can kill Kaṁsa, just as Kaṁsa is thinking, then both Devakī and the child will be saved, because the law of providence is inconceivable. But now someway or other let me save the life of Devakī.' " (break)
Prabhupāda: ...jumps. In the village also there is experience, when there is fire, it jumps over another house, leaving one house in the middle.
Girirāja: "Similarly, a living entity may be very careful and fearful in the matter of executing his duties, but it is still very difficult for him to know what type of body he is going to get in the next life. Mahārāja Bharata was very faithfully executing the duties of self-realization, but by chance he contacted temporary affection for a deer, and he had to accept his next life in the body of a deer." (break)
Prabhupāda: Yes. Not liberal. He was truthful. He used to bring all the sons as soon as born to Kaṁsa, and he was killing.
Girirāja: "Kaṁsa knew the value of Vasudeva's word of honor and he was convinced by his arguments. For the time being he desisted from the heinous killing of his sister. Thus Vasudeva was pleased and praised the decision of Kaṁsa. In this way he returned to his home. After due course of time Vasudeva and Devakī gave birth to eight male children as well as..." (break)
Prabhupāda: Demons are known as sura-dviṣām, sura-dviṣām, those who are envious of the demigods, sura-dvisa. Sammohāya sura-dviṣām (SB 1.3.24). This word is used in the Bhāgavata: "just to cheat the demons," sammohāya sura-dviṣām. (break) That is the instruction of Nārada. You see? Then?
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Bhagavān: Madness when they keep creating things which are hurting them, but they don't stop.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is māyā. Māyā is very strong.
Bhagavān: We can go down this way.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa... (break) ...different countries, they are very careful. When foreigners come, if they bring some fruit, "No, no. You cannot take it within." And they keep the lakes contaminated. You cannot bring in one fruit, but you can keep the whole lake contaminated. This is their intelligence. Why they are contaminating? Eh?
Bhagavān: All the factories.
Prabhupāda: Their very business is contaminated, factories. (break) Even the sea has become contaminated.
Bhagavān: The sea?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Bhagavān: Yeah.
Prabhupāda: In Long Island and those places, if you go, the sea, the sea is so dirty.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Even you are fearless, you should not be fool. Because, if you know that "There is danger, I must be very careful," that is intelligence. That is not fearfulness. Besides that, a devotee like Prahlāda, he's fearless, but he's fearful for others. That is stated. Just like the mother. She knows that she'll not catch fire, she'll not fall down in the water, but she is always anxious to see her child that the child may not fall into the water, may not catch fire. She's working in her own way, but always fearful of the child. Similarly, a Vaiṣṇava, he's not fearless for himself, but because he's sympathetic, because he knows that all these rascals, they are wrongly wasting their time, therefore he's anxious, fearful. Para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. They are unhappy by seeing others unhappy. For themselves, there is no unhappiness. That is their grace. And Vaiṣṇava is fearless, even if he's sent to hell, he's not unhappy. Because wherever he goes, he'll chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. So actually he has no fear, fearfulness. He is only unhappy... Just like we are talking. Others may think that we are criticizing, but we are actually talking. Suppose this, one who has manufactured this big park and he has, next life, he has become contaminated, the dog's life, then what is the use? How you can guarantee that you are not going to be a dog? It is under the management of material nature, maram (?), very powerful. Just like even a big man like Napoleon, he's also under the control of material nature. As soon as the time is... "Get out." "No, I want to finish this arch." "No, sir, you get out." Then where is your powerfulness? That they do not know. For the temporary power, they become puffed up and go to hell. That's all. But they have no conception of hell. These are primitive ideas.
Prabhupāda: No, influence should be only Kṛṣṇa or God. Kṛṣṇa, when we speak of Kṛṣṇa, God, but they have no clear idea what is God. How does He speak, how does He act. Where does He live. What is His form. What is his color. Nobody knows. Ask any religious people, "Do you know about all these?" (tape too faint to hear) (indistinct) If they think about it at all. First of all, generally they think of something impersonal or void. The Buddhists they think God is zero. And others they think God has no form. So, two classes. The Hindus they think God has not particular form, (indistinct). And you can imagine any of them(?) That is Śaṅkara. The pañcopāsanā. But still Śaṅkara is very careful. He has given five particular forms—the Goddess Durgā, Lord Viṣṇu, Lord Siva, the sun. Therefore there are sections—the sun worshipers, the fire worshipers. Originally, (indistinct). That is Vedic culture. Their Vedic culture means many demigods. But the original God is accepted, Viṣṇu. And original to Viṣṇu is Kṛṣṇa. īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Kṛṣṇa also says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). "There is no superior form or authority than Me." That is confirmed by Lord Brahmā, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇah (Bs. 5.1). Kṛṣṇa is controller. There are different grades of controller but the supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says mām ekam, "Unto Me, no one else." Now our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is trying to convince people to give Him our attention, therefore we have published so many books only about Kṛṣṇa. On every page you'll find Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa. Either in Kṛṣṇa Book or in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, or in the Bhāgavatam or in Nectar of Devotion, Teachings of Lord Caitanya. The word(?) is Kṛṣṇa, that is simply explained in the (indistinct).
Guest: What is the word actually? "Kr" is the root for making, isn't it?
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa?
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: I first saw this machine in the Commonwealth Pier, Boston. (machine moving around, crashing sound)
Jayatīrtha: What are you doing, Śruta-śravā?
Rāmeśvara: Sometimes because of that roof you can't see what you're doing.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rāmeśvara: So usually he's very careful.
Prabhupāda: Sometime they are breaking also. (laughter)
Rāmeśvara: So far, no accidents.
Kirtirāja: Just today.
Rāmeśvara: He's a little nervous. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: What is the rent?
Rāmeśvara: 1,800 dollars each month for all the offices in the warehouse. It's considered a good price in this area. We have a speaker system, so during the day, while they work in the warehouse, they're always hearing your lectures.
Prabhupāda: Ācchā? (chuckles)
Rāmeśvara: This is the other warehouse.
Hṛdayānanda: Back to Godhead.
Prabhupāda: What is that? No, by nature's way there is evolution, from dog to fox, fox to this, that, that. That is... There is a law. But again one can fall down. In this way one comes to the human form of body. That is the chance of self-realization. But if in the human form of life, he does not behave like a human being—he behaves like cats and dogs—then he gets again cats and dogs. So if by his work, he gets degradation to get the body like a dog, then again it will take millions of years to come to the human form of life. Therefore intelligent man should be very careful. He should not say, "I don't care." That is very risky life.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): He's saying that he thinks that not everyone's looking for God, but people should be asked whether they want to be something different than what they are, and he thinks we need something practical, not simply something of faith.
Prabhupāda: Therefore I say that every practical things are there in the Bhagavad-gītā. You ask any question and the solution is there.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): They say that they say the same thing of the Bible.
Prabhupāda: Yes. You follow Bible. That is also nice. But you do not follow. That is the difficulty.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): He's saying that in this world we're all so limited, and we're like prisoners, and the more laws that we submit to, the more we become slaves.
Prabhupāda: No. The influence should be only Kṛṣṇa, or God. Kṛṣṇa, when we speak of "Kṛṣṇa"—God. But they have no clear idea what is God. How does He speak, how does He act, where does He live, what is His form, what is His qualities—nobody knows. Ask any religious people, "Do you know about all this, about God?" They do not know. What do you think, Atreya? Have they any clear conception of God? They imagine something. If they think of God at all... First of all, generally they think of impersonal or void. Just like the Buddhists. They think God is zero. And others, they think that God has no form. The two classes. The Hindus they think, "Yes, God has no particular form, but He has got many forms. And you can imagine any one of them." That is Śaṅkara, the pañcopāsana. But still, Śaṅkara is very careful. He has given five particular forms. The Goddess Durgā, Lord Viṣṇu, Lord Śiva, the sun, then... Therefore there are a section who are the sun worshiper, or fire worshiper. Original Iranians were like that. So that is Vedic culture. There... Vedic culture means there are many demigods, but the original God is accepted-Viṣṇu. And original to Viṣṇu is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). And Kṛṣṇa also says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: (BG 7.7) "There is no more superior form or superior authority than Me." And that is confirmed by Lord Brahmā. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Īśvaraḥ means controller. There are different grades of controller, but the supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa says, mām ekam: "Unto Me alone." (to devotee:) What is that?
Parivrājakācārya: It is apple juice.
Prabhupāda: Is that all right?
Devotees: Jaya.
Atreya Ṛṣi: Just applicable to myself, it's very easy to think that "Now I am in a position of responsibility. I may be most advanced." But what your instruction is that I always think that this position of responsibility requires that I become pure, so I have to be very, very careful. I am not most advanced. I have to...
Prabhupāda: That purity process is chanting.
Atreya Ṛṣi: I have to chant very carefully...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Atreya Ṛṣi: ...and very seriously.
Prabhupāda: Offenseless.
Atreya Ṛṣi: Not that I'm already advanced.
Prabhupāda: Offenseless chanting, that will purify. That is the easiest process, given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Ceto-da...(?) He first of all recommends cleansing the heart. And as soon as your heart is cleansed, then you become immediately purified. This is the way. So be always engaged, either in chanting or reading or preaching. Then it will be clarified.
Rūpānuga: It is actually a very easy process.
Prabhupāda: Dice, yes. If the dice falls on the face of the serpent, immediately it comes down. We have to come to the tail.
Śrutakīrti: Back to the start.
Prabhupāda: Yes. It is like that. Goloka nadha(?). One is trying to go to back to home, back to Godhead. A little discrepancy... Mahārāja Bhārata? Yes, he became deer. Therefore we should be very careful. That is the instruction. Even Mahārāja Bhārata, he fell down. So therefore how much careful we should be. These are the instructions to become careful. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31), always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. That will save you. That Kṛṣṇa chanting and hearing, that will keep us safe. Example is given: just like a polluted woman is doing all household work, but she is always thinking when she will meet with her paramour at night. This example is... Similarly, we may be engaged in different material activities, but if we keep our faith in Kṛṣṇa, then it will save us. It is possible. Just like the example: the woman is engaged in household affairs very diligently, but she is always thinking when she will meet her paramour.
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: Yes. Fire is better than smoke. Smoke is better than wood. Wood means tamo-guṇa. And smoke means rajo-guṇa, "Now it is coming." And fire means sattva-guṇa. So you have to go still above. That is called śuddha-sattva-guṇa. Here, simply blazing fire, it may also extinguish, but the platform where it is never extinguished, that is spiritual platform. That is spiritual. That is not material. Not only fire, but ever-blazing fire. That is spiritual platform. You cannot stop even, "Oh, here is now fire." It must be ever-blazing fire. Then it will act. But that is said when there is no chance of extinction. Nitya-yukta upāsate. That is stated in the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, nitya-yukta, ever-existing, eternal. That is wanted. Sometimes our devotees fall down because he has not come to that platform, ever-existing. Therefore the fire extinguished. That is possible, but everyone should be very, very careful that the fire may not be extinguished. Then again māyā. There are two things: Kṛṣṇa and māyā. If Kṛṣṇa fire is extinguished, then māyā, ignorance, darkness. Two things.
- kṛṣṇa-bhuliyā-jīva bhoga-vāñchā kare
- pāśate māyāra tare jāpaṭiyā dhare
As soon as you forget Kṛṣṇa, then māyā is there, "Yes, please come here." Finished. There is no two, er, three. māyā, Kṛṣṇa. If you are not in Kṛṣṇa, then you are in māyā. And if you are in Kṛṣṇa, there is no māyā. Yāhān kṛṣṇa, sūrya-tāhān, nāhi māyāra adhikāra. That is our Back to Godhead motto, "Where there is Kṛṣṇa, there is no nescience."
Prabhupāda: And we say, "No prostitution." (break) ...the problems will come, one after another. This is a bad civilization. It is already a dangerous place, material world, and this bad civilization is creating more dangerous problems.
Jayatīrtha: Now everyone is terrified. In New York they published... The police and the fire department published a pamphlet saying that New York is now called "fear city." And they pass them out to the passengers that come in on the airplanes and the buses, saying that "You should be very careful. You should not walk the streets at night and..."
Brahmānanda: Because the New York City is financially bankrupt they are firing so many policemen, firemen,...
Prabhupāda: Ācchā.
Brahmānanda: Yes. So the policemen, in retaliation, they are making propaganda—and actually it's a fact—that "Now New York is very unsafe, and no one should go out on the street after six o'clock."
Prabhupāda: Just see.
Brahmānanda: "No one should ride the subway."
Prabhupāda: Then that there will be another problem.
Brahmānanda: Now there will be increase of crime.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Not only crime, if there is no passenger in the subway...
Dhanañjaya: Well, they have... I'll make sure it is done today.
Prabhupāda: Oh. When I say? That means no brain. I am asking without seeing, and you are seeing for the last one week. You do not know it, that what is secure, what is not secure. That is the defect. Here thieves are very expert.
Dhanañjaya: But the chokidar is there at the front, guarding all night, and the bell is situated very high inside the dome.
Prabhupāda: Still should be secure. (break) ...that in the temple these bells are stolen even it is secure. Therefore we shall be very careful.
Dhanañjaya: But there are always devotees, twenty-four hours.
Prabhupāda: (to passerby:) Jaya. Hare Kṛṣṇa. But our devotees, the first-class devotee, (chuckles) he is not very intelligent. He does not know what is secure, what is not secure. (break) ...character that we are not very much concerned, but we have to live in a world which is very, very cunning. It is not yet half past six. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)
Prabhupāda: Then you must first of all rectify your karma. Then talk. Past karma, you have got this body. Therefore you must rectify your karma. Karmano 'pi bodhavyam akarmana. You must know what is karma, what is akarma, what is vikarma. That is knowledge. If you remain blind about your karma and by nature's way you get different body, then what is your knowledge? Just like if you go to a doctor, he says that "Due to this infection, you have got this disease," so you know it so that in future you will be very careful. That is knowledge." I do not know why I have got this disease, and still, I do not know what further it is going on"—that is ignorance. (aside) Hare Kṛṣṇa. To remain in ignorance, that is the greatest sin. Tamasi ma: "Don't remain in darkness." That is Vedic injunction, "Enlighten yourself." Jyotir gama: "Go to the light." But where is your light, you do not know. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Karmīs say, "Ignorance is bliss."
Prabhupāda: (laughs) That's nice. Yes. That is dog's bliss.
Yaśomatīnandana: Then we say that, this verse, that...
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Yaśomatīnandana: Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna that "If you know that you are not this body, then even if you kill all these people, then you are not affected by the reaction."
Prabhupāda: But kill by Kṛṣṇa's order, not whimsically.
Harikeśa: One has to be very careful.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Otherwise even a devotee like Bhārata Mahārāja, he had to accept the body of a deer. A little careless. Then nature's law will act. Hm? If you do not become cautious and if you infect the smallpox disease, you have to suffer. Therefore a civilized man takes process, caution, "Oh there is smallpox disease, I shall not go there. Or if I go there, I must take vaccine." This is human civilization, caution. And if you are animal, you do not know. So human life means not animal life. Very reasonable, very cautious, educated, cultured, that is human life. Not animal life. Drink like animal, or eat like animal, have sex life like animal. Freedom, animal has got all freedom. So that freedom is not allowed to the human beings. That is civilization. The same example. The animal has got freedom and you'll see in Indian market, vegetable market, some cow comes and eats, takes so many vegetables and eats, but he's not going to the court. But if you take one small piece of chili without, then you'll go to the court. So therefore, law is meant for human beings, not for the animals. Those who want to be free, they are animals. So-called freedom means animalism. That is not humanism. Humanism means to follow the rules and regulations and the laws, and then he is human being. Because law is meant for the human being, not for the animals. And when you come out from your home, immediately the law is keep to the right. And if you violate, immediately you go to the law. But a dog, he doesn't care. If you say, "A dog does not obey this law," that is no excuse. You are human being. If you don't obey then you go to jail. So many animals are on the street naked, they're having sex life, naked. You do, immediately you'll be prosecuted. Why? Because you are a human being. You have to restrain. Even if you like. Just like the Hawaii University students, "What is the wrong to become a dog?" So if you think like that then you become a dog, nature is ready to give you a dog's body. That is (Sanskrit). He's thinking, "The dog's life is very nice. This liberation of sex life on the street." "Alright, you take dog's body." Yaṁ yaṁ vā... Bhāvam... ah, what is that?
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That is very good.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not only that, but he's not going to sleep in anyone's home either. They want to camp out by the riversides.
Prabhupāda: Very good idea.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says that he finds it very.... From reading your books it is very clear that Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very careful and strict to only eat prasādam cooked by proper persons.
Prabhupāda: No, purchase from Jagannātha temple. People would come to offer Him prasādam, so what is the cost of the prasādam, that was taken, and He purchased. Formerly, the system was, there was no hotel, but there were temples. You go and you can purchase very cheap price. I went with my father in my childhood in a place. My father would never take food at anyone's house or in the hotel. He will find out some temple and pay them and take prasādam. Still there are many temples. So I was about ten years old at that time, say, seventy years ago. So he paid two annas to the pūjārī and he gave us so much. It can be eaten by five, six men. Kicheri, vegetables, varieties. So much. Two annas.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's a nice temple in Nabadwip that does that, the Govinda temple in Nabadwip. When I was going to purchase the land in Māyāpur, the Mr. Das, the lawyer, and I, we would take our meals at this temple. Every day he would purchase. He would give a little.
Prabhupāda: Yes, still there are.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think these are from the local..., growing here.
Prabhupāda: That we should be very careful, that we should think of Kṛṣṇa only, not of māyā, in everything. No more strength. Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām (BG 9.14). Avismṛti-kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ kṣinoty abhadrāṇi. We are in the abhadra, māyā. But avismṛti-kṛṣṇa-padaravindayoḥ kṣiṇoti. The thinking of māyā will gradually finish. Avismṛiti-kṛṣṇa-padaravindayoḥ kṣiṇoti... No, no, I said that you give these pieces, little, little. I'll do it myself. These pieces, this amroot(?), yes.
Hariśauri: This. I'll give it out.
Prabhupāda: So no vismṛti. Avismṛti. Vismṛti is ignorance. Avismṛti.
- śṛṇvataṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
- puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ
- hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi
- vidhunoti suhṛt satām
- (SB 1.2.17)
- All right. (end)
Prabhupāda: What service they do?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What does that man do?
Bhavānanda: He weeds all of the hedges under Tapomaya.
Prabhupāda: So why they are drying? They should water it. (break) (Bengali) They are doing rightly. There are so many men. Why this should be not taken care of? (break) ...not indulge to give shelter persons—in the name of so-called japa they take advantage of free boarding and lodging. You should be very careful. Everyone should be, according to capacity, must be engaged to some work. Don't allow this stupidity. (break) ...plants are grown properly you get so many fruits. They are drying. There is so much space. You can get the sak and the fruit also.
Sudāmā: (break) We made vegetable from that stem.
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is very good vegetable. (break) ...and cycle.
Bhavānanda: That is one of our boys from Italy. He is working in the gośālā.
Prabhupāda: Oh. That is not utilized. (Bengali) (end)
Prabhupāda: What is the cause?
Jayapatāka: The cost?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The cause for the...
Jayapatāka: Oh, because of Pīppalāi's very careful service.
Prabhupāda: That's it.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Who is Pīppalāi?
Jayapatāka: This is Pīppalāi prabhu, here. He is from Mexico.
Prabhupāda: You have got experience?
Pīppalāi: No, I don't have experience.
Hariśauri: He was running the presses in New York.
Prabhupāda: So you like this?
Pīppalāi: Yes, very much so.
Prabhupāda: That's all right.
Jayapatāka: And also John prabhu... Both of them, they are staying here even though there's no electricity.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Otherwise, how Indira Gandhi could see me? Even in the midst of crisis she gave me time. She has got very impression. She said that "I have all faith in you, but because I am afraid of the these Americans..."
Jayapatāka: We understand how important it is to keep all our dealings in the open.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, yes, very, very careful.
Jayapatāka: Watching the dangers.
Prabhupāda: We have got good reputation all over the world. The German rascals, they wanted to minimize our value, but he failed, that police officer.
Haṁsadūta: If the government sanctions for acquiring this land, then we won't have any trouble in Hyderabad getting that land either.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Haṁsadūta: Have to give it.
Prabhupāda: (break) ...take it rightly. Then we'll lay down the foundation. Something, anything.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is another thing. Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally taught this. To be victimized by māyā is possi.... There is possibility.... Just like Jaya and Vijaya. They were gatekeepers in the Vaikuṇṭha. They also fell down, Hiraṇyakaśipu. So this falldown, there is possibility in any moment because we are very small. We can be captivated by māyā at any moment. Therefore we shall be very, very careful. And if you fall down, then punishment is you make suicide. That's all. Then next life we shall see.
Satsvarūpa: But Śrīla Prabhupāda, in The Nectar of Devotion it says devotional service is so pure that there's no prāyaścitta necessary. Just again engage in your service.
Prabhupāda: Yes. This is not prāyaścitta. This is exemplary punishment. He was not liable to be punished, but they played that "This is the.... This should be done."
Guru-kṛpā: He did not kill himself immediately. He waited for a year.
Prabhupāda: He was waiting if Caitanya Mahāprabhu would accept him again. But when he saw that Caitanya Mahāprabhu is not so lenient, he committed suicide. Vajrād api kaṭora. Harder than the thunderbolt and softer than the rose. This is the position.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But, Prabhupāda, if you were as strict as.... If you were that strict...
Prabhupāda: You keep this. We shall have to show to the Indian government authorities.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: " 'Just as it has dealt with black marketers and smugglers, it is high time the government took immediate action to round up all those who claim supernatural powers.' While he was happy that Bangalore University has already established a committee to investigate miracles and superstitions, he cautioned them to be very careful, as even the scientists were not infallible."
Prabhupāda: How many scientists?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They are also fallible, they can also make mistakes. "Experts Misled: For instance, investigators in universities in the West were known to be misled by tricksters who claimed para-psychological powers." Like ESP.
Prabhupāda: They invent some big, big words (laughter). Aparkalasvena-vargolas-double-wakundali-gondolais (gibberish). (laughter)
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "One of them was Uri Geller, an ordinary street magician who succeeded in hoodwinking two scientists of the Stanford Research Institute. He claimed that he was able to perform miracles with psychic powers obtained from a computerized brain thirteen million light years away in space." Very far away in space there's a computerized brain that he's using.
Prabhupāda: Yes, preaching constantly required to keep them in balance. As soon as the balance is tilted over on the māyā side, then everything is finished.
Hari-śauri: They get a bit overwhelmed sometimes.
Prabhupāda: That is possible. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). It is very strong. But if we also become equally strong in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no... That... Just like in the beginning, a seed sown, it requires very careful attention. Then it grows up. And when one grows a tree, then that is all right. But so long it is not a tree—it is a plant—one has to take... And the watering is śravaṇa-kīrtana. Śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana. That is required. Mālī hañā sei bīja kare āropaṇa, śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana. I think, nineteenth chapter of Madhya-līlā.
Hari-śauri: It's a very good description how the bhakti tree grows, the creeper of bhakti.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana? Nineteenth chapter, Madhya-līlā. Mālī hañā kare sei bīja āropaṇa (CC Madhya 19.152), śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana: "When a person receives the seed of devotional service, he should take care of it by becoming a gardener and sowing the seed in his heart. If he waters the seed gradually by the process of śravaṇa and kīrtana, hearing and chanting, the seed will begin to sprout."
Prabhupāda: Atreya Ṛṣi recommending another house.
Nandarāṇī: Yes, we actually want two places because when Iranian businessmen come, we cannot just show them the altar and say, "Here is our program." It must be very careful. And yet when the Indians come we want to have Deities, we want to have kīrtana. So we are trying to do two things in one house and it is very difficult. So he wants a separate place for a restaurant, for Deities, for my Gurukula school, a big room for my classroom, and then a separate home when we have some sophisticated guest we can bring them for dinner. But then we have many Indians, we can bring them for Deities. The Indians, they think this is a temple, but because there are no Deities, then they are not inclined to come. They want to see the Deity.
Prabhupāda: Indians, they want Deity.
Nandarāṇī: They want to see the Deity.
Prabhupāda: Temple means Deity, there must be Deity.
Nandarāṇī: So these Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deities, we should simply keep until some future time when we might be able to worship Them?
Prabhupāda: No, if you can, in a separate house, if you can follow the principles, you can install.
Prabhupāda: I was invited by the...
Krishna Modi: Yes, they have told, they have told. And they have told also that, no, no, no, no, no, no. For (indistinct) they are the (indistinct) and we must respect them. And if anybody says something against them, and we must be very careful about that. And we cannot object to it. Then all we have got the same opinion (indistinct) and we have to (indistinct). This is the thing. Now about this thing, Blitz article. You should not reply. I advised that. You should not reply to all these things.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: We gave the reply to...
Krishna Modi: To me. And...
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) We shall break after twelve, later prasāda.
Krishna Modi: If Gurudeva is hungry . How I can take?
Prabhupāda: No, you can take. You can take.
Krishna Modi: You give something so that...
Prabhupāda: No. You give the whole thing to him. (indistinct)
Krishna Modi: I will arrange.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Mahā-prasādam. (Hindi)
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Hari-śauri: Drowned in the river.
Prabhupāda: The rush came, and there was no protection.
Hari-śauri: We'll have to be very careful if we go to bathe in the river.
Prabhupāda: No, now they make arrangement, section by bamboo, so the rush may not be very pressurable. Section by section. So section they go. Now the arrangement is better. But formerly the arrangement was not... It was open, and people come. As soon as there is little rush, pushing, there is great danger.
Hari-śauri: (laughs) Sounds like an auspicious place to die, though.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So I remember that day. I was thinking that "Such a big rush, forty million." Forty million, er four million.
Hari-śauri: Four million.
Prabhupāda: And if there is little push, then this poor child
will be finished. We were going very slow, and we did not know. I like... I remember that, that "I have come in a very dangerous position." Perhaps 1928, or about fifty years ago.
Hari-śauri: The reason for the Mela is because there was some drops of nectar from the...
Prabhupāda: Haṁsas. They live in a very nice clean water, garden. Uśanti mānasā. They do not go there. Now they are making so much propaganda against our men, but these boys will never go to cinema. Uśanti mānasā. They are boys. They have no attraction, restaurant and cinema. You'll never find. Uśanti mānasā. They have rejected. And we see others—they are making line, queue. Yes. Why? Vāyasaṁ tīrtham. They like that. Crows like... They have been educated like crows.
Dr. Patel: They feed on the filth. This is one difficulty. All people are mad after the cinema.
Prabhupāda: They will wait four hours, five hours, standing. Why cinema? I have seen in London the British Museum. Something came there. From morning there is a queue. Exactly like that, they were standing to go and see the museum. Something came. I... Three, four years ago I saw. They were standing. Just like here. For purchasing the cinema ticket they are standing and eating nampalli, just to see, eyesight. They will not come to see Deity in the temple. They'll not come. Mentality is different. It is a very dangerous civilization, soul-killing civilization. We should be very, very careful if we want success also. We shall go now? (end)
Rāmeśvara: It is like you wrote in that letter to Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "They did not mind when the children were hippies, taking drugs, having prostitutes. But now that they have joined Hare Kṛṣṇa, now they are kidnapping you. They did not protest formerly when they were engaged in all sinful life. Now they are completely pure. Now they are complaining."
Jagadīśa: Now their children are afraid of sinful life, and they think it's brainwashing.
Rāmeśvara: This is a devotee making part of the armor for Arjuna. Each time they make an outfit, they do a very careful drawing. Then from the drawing, they make the actual equipment or armor.
Prabhupāda: And how devotedly he is working. That is the..., that "I am..." How devotedly he is working. That will elevate him. He's very attentively serving Kṛṣṇa. This is advancement.
Rāmeśvara: They are working, minimum, twelve hours daily just on the dolls.
Prabhupāda: Yes. They do not become tired. Kṛṣṇa conscious work is so nice, nobody becomes tired. He wants to do more. Duralage hurahuri. (?) Competition. This is spiritual.
Rāmeśvara: This is one devotee who is painting dolls of the demigods.
Prabhupāda: Aiye, aiye.
Devotee: Śrīla Prabhupāda, these people come from Muscat. That's where I went last month. (break) (Hindi)
Rāmeśvara: ...supervises all the work.
Prabhupāda: Yes, he should be engaged for propaganda.
Prabhupāda: All brahmacārī and sannyāsī.
Rāmeśvara: My zone is all gṛhasthas (laughs) with a few brahmacārīs. Anyway, next year we can beat Tamāla Kṛṣṇa. (Prabhupāda chuckles) He has only beaten us by a few hundred thousand dollars.
Prabhupāda: But don't tell him now.
Rāmeśvara: Or it may be ruined.
Prabhupāda: He may be very careful.
Rāmeśvara: I think we should send him a congratulations letter.
Prabhupāda: (laughing) Yes. You send.
Rāmeśvara: I'll send him.
Prabhupāda: (laughing) Yes. To entice him.
Rāmeśvara: This is his main...
Prabhupāda: Actually in the beginning, for increasing the sale, Tamāla Kṛṣṇa gave the impetus. He was selling best in San Francisco. Then went from... What is that? We were printing in the beginning? What is the press called?
Rāmeśvara: ISKCON Press?
Prabhupāda: No, no. I purchased some hand press?
Rāmeśvara: Letterpress?
Prabhupāda: Five feet? Deity we can get it done here also. But there is no white stone. Stone is available here.
Gargamuni: Yes, stone they have, but no marble.
Prabhupāda: Anything made of iron corrodes.
Gargamuni: Iron. Yes. We have to be very careful of the type materials that we use. Also near the sea, I think on cement that has some effect. We'd have to make the temple out of stone or marble.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rāmeśvara: So that it will last...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rāmeśvara: ...many centuries. Hundreds of years.
Gargamuni: Yes. Because I have seen all of the cement buildings. Within five or ten years it's finished. You have to put a new plastering. So I think we have to use either stone or marble.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Gargamuni: White marble.
Rāmeśvara: Whew! That's expensive.
Hari-śauri: Stone is not so bad.
Rāmeśvara: This problem practically ruined Australia's economy. Five years ago Australia was a very wealthy country, and then they elected a new government, socialist government, and they began increasing all sorts of benefits, pensions, welfare benefits. And millions of people... Not millions, but many working people stopped working because it was easier just to get the free money. In this way...
Prabhupāda: So you should be very careful. Because you are giving free prasādam, similarly all lazy fellow may not come and take free prasāda. Therefore engagement must be there. Otherwise this lazy fellow will come, sleep and take prasāda.
Gargamuni: In Māyāpur we feed free on Saturday, Sunday. And during the week we feed those who work, those who work, them we feed, those who do service.
Prabhupāda: No, one day, two days, we give prasādam. But regularly we give prasāda and they'll remain lazy.
Rāmeśvara: So in Australia they kicked out the government, completely kicked them out.
Prabhupāda: Acchā?
Rāmeśvara: And had a new government formed, because they had created a huge debt, federal debt. They were spending much more money than they had, and they were simply increasing the taxes more and more, and the people just kicked them out.
Prabhupāda: It is closed?
Prabhupāda: "What benefit you have got from Vivekananda?" You did not ask? What bene...?
Gargamuni: No. I told him "Actually Prabhupāda, he has done more work than Vivekananda in helping to spread India's dharma all over the world." I had to very careful because there were many other people sitting around, including the manager, and I didn't want to start a fight. So I said, "Actually Prabhupāda has done greater work." He said (in shocked tone), "What have you said? You have said that your guru is greater than Vivekananda?" I said, "He has done more work." And he started, "No. You cannot say that." Then two other men who were sitting there stood up and said, "No! He has done more work. I was at the Olympic games, and I heard the whole thing was chanting in Montreal. Last year I was at the Olympic games, and I saw them all chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. He has done more work." Two men, they came. So I just sat there and let those two men argue.
Prabhupāda: It is Kṛṣṇa's grace.
Gargamuni: Yes. He was very nice man. He was glorifying you. He said, "I have read their magazine."
Rāmeśvara: We were selling books and having kīrtana at the Montreal Olympics.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rāmeśvara: So he was seeing that.
Gargamuni: So he saw that personally. He said it was a great thing.
Prabhupāda: To know about Kṛṣṇa. It is not also difficult. Science of Kṛṣṇa is there, Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa speaks Himself. So to know the science of Kṛṣṇa is also not difficult. But because we are unfortunate, we go to rascal, and they interpret Bhagavad-gītā in a rascaldom way, and we are missing. So you should be very careful not to go to a rascal. Then your mission will be successful. If you want to purchase gold, you must go to a shop where actually gold is purchased, gold. If you do not know, then you'll be cheated. That is not also very difficult. That I have repeatedly said. Those who are interpreting in their own way, Bhagavad-gītā, he's a rascal; he's not guru. (loud kīrtana in background) As soon as he says an interpretation, "I think like this," you reject that. Why should we think like that? You should preach what Kṛṣṇa says. Then you are right. Why should you say something which Kṛṣṇa does not say? Then you are misguided. He does not know Kṛṣṇa. He's not kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā. So he's cheating. That is going on. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), and these rascals say, "It is not to Kṛṣṇa person." So he's a rascal. He's taking Kṛṣṇa's book and preaching against it. So what will be benefit if you go to such a rascal? Therefore there is no difference between śikṣā-guru and dīkṣā-guru because if he's actually guru, he'll not say anything which Kṛṣṇa has not spoken. Yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa. So guru is that. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' ei deśa: (CC Madhya 7.128) "You become a guru." And what is the function of the guru? Yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa. That is there. You haven't got to manufacture any instruction. Whatever is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, you say. You try to convince him with logic, with philosophy, with your knowledge, same thing, not philosophy. That is intelligence. And suppose Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Before that, Kṛṣṇa has described everything, why you should surrender to Kṛṣṇa. At last He says, "You surrender to Me." So there is no difficulty. Immediately Kṛṣṇa does not say, "You surrender to Me." But after describing everything—karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, dhyāna-yoga, so many things, politics, sociology, religion, everything—at last He says that "This is the most confidential part. You surrender unto Me."
Prabhupāda: They'll try to give us trouble in so many ways.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So many ways. So we have to be very careful.
Brahmānanda: Did you hear in Argentina?
Hari-śauri: Yes, a little bit. Just that we've been banned.
Prabhupāda: What happened?
Brahmānanda: They have banned our Society and also Guru Maharaj-ji.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And jehovah's Witnesses.
Brahmānanda: Because these societies go against the Argentine culture, morals, and nationhood.
Prabhupāda: So we have to close.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's already closed.
Brahmānanda: And they seized our books.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Books were seized for twenty thousand dollars worth of books.
Rādhā-vallabha: We have the figures for the production of your books in every single language since the beginning, twenty-three languages.
Rāmeśvara: This took several weeks of very careful work to prepare. We were calling up printers... We threatened Dai Nippon, they must give us the figures. We called up every BBT office around the world, so this is very accurate. And also I estimate that at least ninety to ninety-five percent of all these literatures that have been published have already been distributed. These are the figures for publishing, but most of them have been sold already.
Rādhā-vallabha: So English is first. 43,450,500 literatures. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: Where is such publisher?
Rādhā-vallabha: That's one for every five people in America. And second is Spanish: 2,947,000. Third is German: 2,125,500. Then Japanese, I had to make a guess. I'm not sure, but this is pretty close: 2,125,000. Fifth is French: 1,670,000.
Prabhupāda: There should be... A big board should be hang.
Rāmeśvara: We have a big display of this for the Māyāpur exhibit. We made this up as a...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: The thing is, it is guesthouse, and once it is advertised that the food is not good, nobody comes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: First impression is the lasting impression. If one time a man comes and it is not good, he will never return.
Prabhupāda: Then in Bombay we shall be very careful.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very careful. Only the best cooks.
Prabhupāda: Not best cook. The best cook is available. Management is not good.
Hari-śauri: We need a very expert manager for that guesthouse.
Prabhupāda: And in Bombay-before we get bad name—then it is lost.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Everything has to be set up beforehand perfectly.
Prabhupāda: If required, we shall appoint professional man and keep everything very vigilant; things are going. Otherwise, once bad reputation—finished, so much attempt.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Our Mr. Chagriya should be able to give a lot of guidance and advice. I spoke with him a few years ago.
Prabhupāda: But he did not. Theoretical.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He has those hotels, Sea Palace Hotel. Svarūpa Dāmodara still has not come.
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?
Lokanātha: I have got just one letter from them when I was in Vṛndāvana. They were doing good, but there was not enough men with them. I left five boys when I left Māyāpur for Vṛndāvana. One of the boys, when he came to know that I am not traveling, he decided not to go. And one other boy was approached and was asked to stay in Māyāpur. So there are only three boys on the bullock cart.
Prabhupāda: Nobody is joining?
Dr. Sharma: Well, he has stopped after doing nine, but Stanford people, they have done about almost over a hundred, and they can keep somebody alive another six months or a year or at the most two years. But the man, the man's existence is very miserable. He has to take so many drugs, and he is bloated like a balloon, and he cannot even do the simple duties like taking walks or going to bathroom. He has to be very careful. If he just slips, it will develop the fracture of his ventricle, and that's all. It is very, very unnatural, and I don't think they can solve this problem at all. It is just man's struggle (for) life.(?) And I know they are saying they will do only in people with proper insurance because the hospital bill is $70,000 for a heart transplant.
Prabhupāda: All rascals, they...
Dr. Sharma: This is a perfect example of what Prabhupāda is saying, because this is not justified on any account-moral, ethical, medical...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Or financial.
Dr. Sharma: Or financial. They only waste their time, and this is, you know, an example of how stubborn man can be, especially the scientists. The real transplant that was done was done by the Lord Śiva when he did transplant of the head of Lord Gaṇeśa. That was the only successful transplant I know of.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So we will come back about four or five hours. (speaks to Dr. Sharma about setting up preaching engagements)
Prabhupāda: Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). What is the goal of life, they do not know. Svārtha-gatim. Everyone says, "I must see first of all my self-interest." But he does not know what is self-interest. That is not unnatural. If I say that "I must see first of all myself," you cannot blame me, because everyone does that. But you must know what is your svārtha-gatim. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). So it is in paper published that they have been forbidden to go out?
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, in today's evening news. That all the borders have been warned to be very careful.
Prabhupāda: The other son is already outside India?
Guest (1): No, he is out of politics. He is a wise man. He has not entered politics at all. Sanjiv.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: He is a pilot with Indian Airlines. He, I have never heard anything.
Guest (1): He never heard about any politics or anything. He is just like an ordinary citizen.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They say he is not as smart as Sanjay. That means he is not as crooked. So he is out of politics.
Bhakti-caru: He ran the...
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: No.
Guest (1): They have got. He is not living there.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: He is a pilot with Indian Airlines.
Prabhupāda: That is honest life. Earn your livelihood. Who is the elder?
Prabhupāda: So there are cheaters, and if one wants to be cheated, how we can stop?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually this makes me feel that it's very important that we have our temple in Bhuvaneśvara.
Prabhupāda: So you can publish this in our Back to Godhead. These things are going on. Devotees should be very careful not to be victimized by this cheater.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think I can write a letter to the "Letters to the Editors" column. That'll be the proper place.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very good. What are...? Now, this man proclaimed himself to be "tīrtha-guru." What are some of the other ways that they will say? I remember Jagannātha was saying that he...
Prabhupāda: Tīrtha-guru, if he's able to take him to the temple, then tīrtha guru. Otherwise he's a goru, cow, tīrtha cow. That's all.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Say like that.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (laughs) Tell them that. He's unable to show Jagannātha. Then how he's guru? It is guru's responsibility to bring him to... That is upanayana. Upanayana, this sacred thread, means the guru brings him near God.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, this man gives them some thread, makes them touch his feet, the whole thing, offer coconut...
Prabhupāda: He's a foolish rascal. What can be done?
Prabhupāda: How intelligent.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Every language, all the books in all languages. "Feeling a little satisfied that this school had been properly inoculated..."—he called it an inoculation—"...I picked up my two bags and ran to the train station."
Prabhupāda: When all these standing orders will be supplied and they read it, we'll get more first order.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah.
Prabhupāda: So our book prospect is very nice future. So BBT must be very careful for distribution like this. Such reception, who is that author, he'll not be engladdened all over the world? Against odds. Against odds. It's simply Kṛṣṇa's arrangement.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, I just have to see if my room is being flooded.
Śatadhanya: I'll go see.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Can you just check and have that boy start mopping? As soon as it... See, that's why they were banging yesterday. And they'll have to bang some more tomorrow. The room becomes flooded as soon as it rains, due to the faulty pipes.
Prabhupāda: Now rectify the fault.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: The whole...
Bhakti-caitanya: From there we can see that result.
Prabhupāda: So if we mix with these politicians, very bad. Better not to mix. But sometimes this is very important thing, and we have already presented our case. Let us see how he does it. Everywhere you should be very careful about mixing with the politicians. What is that?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is a bottle of rosewater. I asked him to get it from Seth Visanchand. I asked this man, "Seth Visanchand sent this?" The boy who brought it said, "I'll just make inquiry."
Prabhupāda: They are so careful.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: One boy brought it to another boy who brought it to another boy, and he brings it here. So I said, "Where is it from?" because if it's from Seth Visanchand we can take it that it's a good chance it's pure. So I want to know who has sent it originally.
Prabhupāda: That is the difficulty here. I say. You say. Another rascal, he says. Another rascal, another... Ultimately it is done by grace. Rather, what can I do? It is very difficult. He did not hear what I am saying. "Will o' the wisp." Without understanding, "garagara," run off. Bas. Foolishness. What is written there, in the bottle?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Absolutely nothing. It's just a bottle with water in it.
Prabhupāda: And where is that eye washing?
Prabhupāda: Not immediately.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm. Better not to go today. Okay. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...keeping money in the bank. Means so long I think that the bank keeping money is my pocket. And as soon as I've got the sentiment that these men are interested to keep our money in their pocket, I'll be very careful not to deposit.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, he said that to me today. He said, "Now your fixed deposits are decreasing, and your bank balances in all accounts are very minimal." The manager said this to me today.
Prabhupāda: Because they are harassing.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because... The reason... We are afraid of their psychology that they think that our money is now theirs. And that is giving us fear.
Prabhupāda: They're thinking like that. We cannot freely have our money.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually it's only with the greatest difficulty that you were able to transfer this fixed deposits. Four times they came to you, and for even a half hour to one hour at a time went on and on, explaining to Prabhupāda why he should not do this. Really the best thing is that, I mean, if I can give this humble advice, is that someone like Girirāja should deal with them instead of... Because I feel, Śrīla Prabhupāda, they take advantage of you when they talk with you, and that makes me feel very bad to see.
Prabhupāda: Then tell Girirāja. Ask Girirāja to take...
Prabhupāda: I am not thirsty now. But caraṇāmṛta, little can be given also in the..., no harm. But don't take me, hospital.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, Prabhupāda. Under no circumstance. Even if you are unconscious, we will simply chant.
Prabhupāda: Yes. I am quite all right here.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That we can see.
Prabhupāda: I came back from London on account of here in this hospital I... (microphone moves) Oh... Be very careful. (break) (kīrtana)
Prabhupāda: So how many critical days he has...?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Critical days.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How many critical days. Today, tomorrow, and then on the eleventh, three days from today. Today, tomorrow, then one day is not so bad, and then the next day after that becomes bad again.
Prabhupāda: In this way how long prolong?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, those three days are the worst. Then the whole month is not very good. In fact, for another two or three months it's not very good. But these two or three days mentioned, they are very bad.
Prabhupāda: And then again...?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We should be very careful to choose the right people to come.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not just that anybody goes to an Embassy and they immediately get three years and they come here, they move around India, then in two weeks or two months they leave and go back. Then the government will not like it.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. And if some Americans find out that ISKCON had this special status, then someone can also pose as an ISKCON devotee and get this visa.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: So we should require that they have GBC authorization and..., with the Embassy.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: No. What we will do I think...
Prabhupāda: Our GBC should select. Not...
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Or the GBC will communicate with India and then India will send a letter.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Some way...
Prabhupāda: Bombay also.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Especially everybody's going to be after us for that air-conditioned hall. It's really good that you're telling us.
Prabhupāda: Be very careful.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually, Śrīla Prabhupāda, Your Divine Grace and this movement is the only substantial movement left in India now, in the whole world.
Prabhupāda: Yes. You can have signboard: "No Māyāvādīs visit (?) here." (laughter)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Wow. Just like "No dogs allowed." (laughter) Are you serious about that, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Hm. (indistinct)
Brahmānanda: If they come and they want to hold meetings, we show them the signboard that "We don't allow Māyāvādīs here."
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, on the signboard we'll quote the verse from Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Prabhupāda: Why they do not hold meetings in Bon Mahārāja's...?
Prabhupāda: Now the danger is māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). So Vṛndāvana is full of Māyāvādīs. Do you accept it? And I am afraid our men may be influenced. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's clear saying-māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa. Hm? What is to be done? (break) They are coming to our Vṛndāvana temple, Bombay temple. What is their purpose? They may occupy it? Hm?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, they can't occupy it.
Prabhupāda: So we have to be very careful. Hm?
Akṣayānanda: Yes, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Akṣayānanda? And Tamāla?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, they're not going to get in. From now on we're going to have a sign on all of our temples, "No Māyāvādī Meetings Allowed."
Prabhupāda: It is clearly written, māyāvādi-bhāṣya śu... Sixth Chapter. Hm? The Sarvabhauma...
Bhavānanda: One sixty-nine.
| Page Title: | Very careful (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 21 of Nov, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=56, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 56 |