Words of... (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"word of" |"words of"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "Word* of" not "krsna word*"@6 not "word* god*"@3 not "word* lord"@5

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 12, 1969, New York:

Prabhupāda: Yes. "She'll go later on. She'll go." So he went back. The father used to..., went back. In this way, several times. Then it was agreed that the girl would go there, father's house, and the father took the girl in the morning, and in the evening Tulasī dāsa went there. (laughs) His wife chastised, "You are so rascal fool that I have come this morning and you have, evening you are here? You have so much attachment for the skin?" Just like husband and wife talking. That struck him very badly, and he immediately left that place and went to... Left home for good. Yes. And that was the initiation that he took up writing about Rāma. That is Tulasī dāsa's life. Just being, I mean to say, hurt by the words of wife, that "I love her,"... Later on he understood, "Yes, she is right. So why should I be so much attached?" She uttered this (indistinct), "If you have got so much attachment for this skin and bone; if you had so much attachment for Rāma then your life would have been different." So he took it seriously. "Why not attachment for Rāma?" So he became a great devotee of Rāma, Tulasī das. His book, Rāma-carita-mānasa. "Thinking always of Rāma," that is his book. It is very famous book, and that is the only important literature in the Hindi language, Rāma-carita-mānasa. It is very popular in India. Village to village. Practically Gītā Press has flourished simply by selling the Rāma-carita-mānasa and Gītā. Gītā and Rāma-carita-mānasa. Two books. Millions of books they print and sell, this Rāma-carita-mānasa and Bhagavad-gītā. So he has written that din ka dakini. In the daytime she is just like what is called, witches. Witch? Witch?

Brahmānanda: Witch, yes.

Prabhupāda: Ḍākinī. And rat ka bhāginī. At night she is tigress.

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 13, 1970, Indore:

Revatīnandana: Does that also apply to reading the words of a pure devotee?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Revatīnandana: Even a little association with your books has the same effect?

Prabhupāda: Effect, of course, it requires both the things. One must be very eager to take it. Just like Mahārāja Parīkṣit heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and there are so many others. They are also reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So Mahārāja Parīkṣit was very serious. So both things should be serious. Just like the example: the husband and wife must be potent; then there is pregnancy. Otherwise there is no pregnancy. So sewing the seed, the field also must be fertile or receptive, then the seed will fructify. It is reciprocal.

Revatīnandana: If the seed starts to sprout and it lacks sufficient facilities, then it will die completely.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.

Revatīnandana: But if a spiritual seed sprouts, then whatever sprout is made is never lost. Right?

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is not lost, but it is checked. Sometimes he is checked.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: Christian religion is practically, from the name it appears-Christian and "Kṛṣṇian". Original word of this "Christ" comes from the Greek word "Christo".

Dr. Weir: Anointed.

Prabhupāda: Yes. This "Christa" is Kṛṣṇa.

Dr. Weir: From the Sanskrit?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṭa is the popular word for Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa is always anointed with tilaka. We follow this tilaka, Kṛṣṇa, anointed, with this sandal pulp. So, so far I think, there is some very nearest relationship with this Christian and "Kṛṣṇia". Kṛṣṭa means love, love of Godhead or love. We are preaching also the same philosophy. Try to... Not try. The love of Kṛṣṇa is there in everyone's heart, but it is covered. And being covered, it is misplaced. We are loving our society, loving this body, loving our family, loving our kinsmen, or loving internationally human society. But this love is actually perverted reflection of real love of God. Because the love is not placed in the real place. Therefore we are being frustrated in love. Just like in our country Mahatma Gandhi, he loved his country very much. But at the last moment the countrymen shot him down. He was shot down by his own countrymen. The love was paid by (sic:) shooting him and he lost his life. There are many instances.

Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London:

Śyāmasundara: Objectively, seeing is just to gratify the senses.

Dr. Weir: Well, Freud said, of course, he's the great chap on gratification, and that's where Jung sensibly said, "Ah, that's not sufficient. You've got to have the spiritual side of life as well." He comprises it. Jung got the advantage of being, you might say, a higher stage to use the words of the Swami because he's able to contain the lower things like...

Prabhupāda: The conclusion comes in this way, that to remain animals, scientific animals, that's all. The propensities are the same, sense gratification, but the man is trying to make it scientific. That means to remain animal but become scientific, that's all, scientific animal.

Dr. Weir: But at the same time he's a spiritual animal. It's interesting to find that in this twentieth century, science is rather replacing the spirituality. You know people in the past gave religion an enormous importance and science was practically unknown. Now they're going the other way around.

Prabhupāda: That scientific spirituality, that is advancement more than the animals. Otherwise if you simply remain on the (indistinct) eating, sleeping, mating and defending scientifically, you remain animal. But when that scientific research goes to the spiritual thing that is special prerogative of the human.

Śyāmasundara: This replacement by science of religion has proven inadequate also in the twentieth century because how can it satisfy ultimately the questions?

Interview with Reporters -- November 10, 1971, New Delhi:

Reporter: My (indistinct), sir, that without existence, without faith, there can not be (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: No, no. That I say: faith is the beginning. Faith is the beginning.

Reporter: Because I take the word of my father, of my mother, that he is my father...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Reporter: ...I cannot prove it. Nobody can prove it that he is my father.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Therefore that is the beginning of knowledge. That is the beginning, adau śraddhā. That is stated in the śāstra: adau śraddhā, faith. Then if you have got śraddhā, then ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). Suppose if you are, if you are very much anxious, you have got faith to understand Kṛṣṇa, then next step is to associate with persons who know Kṛṣṇa. Just like you are doing some business, so you have to enter into some association, businessmen, to understand the business from them. Similarly, if you have faith in Kṛṣṇa, then you have to understand Him through the association of devotees. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgau (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). Atha bhajana-kriyā. Then as soon as you have... Just as these boys, they came to me. After association they wanted to be initiated: "Swami, please initiate." That is called bhajana-kriyā. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ atha bhajana kriyā. And if you are performing bhajana kriyā nicely, then anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt, then all misgivings will go away.

Reporter: Anartha visya.

Room Conversation with Dr. Karan Singh, -- November 25, 1971, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: I was born in 1896.

Dr. Singh: '96, So I was seeing here. He was born on about the same date.. How do we organize this? Are you going to do it or what's going to happen? Do you sit where you are, or do you group together? What do you want, a piece of paper?

Śyāmasundara: She wants to write the words of the mantra on a piece of paper.

Prabhupāda: What is that? Hare Kṛṣṇa?

(break)

Dr. Singh: Harrison. So our devotees, they (indistinct) that singer of the Beatles.

Prabhupāda: He gave me nineteen thousand dollars.

Dr. Singh: Did he?

Prabhupāda: (indistinct)

Dr. Singh: (indistinct) "Words from Apple."

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) Śyāmasundara. (indistinct) find out.

Dr. Singh: (indistinct) Śrīman George Harrison, Śyāmasundara dāsa Adhikārī, Śrīman Brahmānanda dāsa Brahmacārī, Hayagrīva dāsa Adhikārī, (Hindi), Śrīmate Devahūti devī, Śrīmate Jadurāṇī dāsī. You are Devahūti? Śrīman Muralīdhara dāsa and Bharadrāja dāsa. Bharadrāja dāsa, Pradyumna dāsa Adhikārī.

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1971, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Nara-Nārāyaṇa: He is also saying that, "I have no will but to do the will of my father who has sent me, and that everything I am saying are not my words but are the words of Him (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: Complete surrender.

Nara-Nārāyaṇa: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: That's nice. But they do not follow and still they say they are Christians. They do not follow. Christ is all right. According to the time, according to the country, according to the atmosphere, he's all right, but the followers, they reject.

Devotee (1): The followers try to make everyone fear God. Their whole aim is to make everyone so much afraid. They always try to instill fear in everyone they speak to. "You are going to hell."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That is the principle of eternal hell that is used to make people surrender, fear of eternal hell.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee (1): Fear of God.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk Conversation -- September 28, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: (indistinct), they say that this is utopian. But when they speak of "we are going to send some (indistinct) in a capsule and it will reach, and after ten thousand years it will come out," are these not utopian? They will make a station, (indistinct) station, and (indistinct). All these are practical or utopian? What is the opposite word of utopian?

Jayatīrtha: Pragmatic.

Prabhupāda: Pragmatic?

Jayatīrtha: Pragmatic means practical, and utopian means idealistic concept. (indistinct) So many people are suffering here, famine, so many things, and they're spending so many millions of dollars. (indistinct) anyway.

Prabhupāda: Why the scientists cannot make it straight?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Ideality is assumed in many scientific theories.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Ideality of certain laws of certain matter, they assume it.

Prabhupāda: Are they not utopian?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But they take it as facts. For example...

Introduction Speech By Dr. Kapoor and Conversation -- October 15, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So blessings of Dr. O.B.L. Kapoor. He is a Vaiṣṇava. Although by age he is my younger brother, we are Godbrothers, and for the last forty years perhaps, since he was a student at Allahabad and I was doing some business there, we are known to each other. So his association is a great blessing for us. But this reception is actually not my reception. It is the reception of my foreign students. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted that His message should be broadcast all over the world, in every village and every town, and my Guru Mahārāja attempted. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura distributed his literature. I think, in 1896, he sent his first book, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, and I saw in McGill University that book. And I do not know. That was the year of my birth also, 1896. So somehow or other, later on, I came in contact with Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja in 1922, and he immediately asked me that "Why don't you go to the foreign countries and preach Caitanya Mahāprabhu's blessings." So I was little surprised. Especially at that time, I was very young man and I was newly married. I got one son also. So it was my mistake that I did not take up the words of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja immediately. I thought that "I am now married. Let me settle down." Perhaps if I would have joined from 1922, by the blessings of Guru Mahārāja, I could do more preaching work. Anyway, it is better late than never. After my retirement, I was living in the Keśī-ghāṭa, Nāthagrāma(?) Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Temple. But this Gosāijī, Gauracanda Gosāijī, he asked me, "Why don't you come here?" So I left that place. I came here. And with some arrangement, I took this room. But I was always thinking that "Guru Mahārāja asked me, and he asked also some of my other God-brothers, but up till now, nothing has been done. So let me try, at least, at the fag end of my life." So I left Vṛndāvana in 1970 and went to New York. Uh, not. 1965. At the age of 70 years.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Garden Conversation with Mahadeva's Mother and Jesuit Priest -- July 25, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: We are teaching Sanskrit to our students.

Jesuit Priest: Yes, but all I was saying was, isn't it difficult to get across at times what you can see the meaning in the Sanskrit, but you can't put it into acceptable English? You know what I mean. The idiom isn't the same.

Prabhupāda: We are giving every word, meaning. The book... Have you got any book? Bring it. You can see. Each and every word of Sanskrit we are giving meaning. Our mode of presentation is first of all we put the original Sanskrit language in devanāgarī character. Then we give English, Roman transliteration, pronouncing the same word by diacritic mark. Then each word is translated into English. Then we give translation, the whole. And then we give the purport. This is our way. So we are giving meaning of each and every word means we have got considerable knowledge of that word. Otherwise how we can give? Yes.

Jesuit Priest: I was just thinking how difficult it is. I read Latin pretty well. And Greek. And I can see the meaning in the original, in the Greek when it was translated from the Aramaic. Now in your translating you can get a phrase, and if you know the language, you know exactly what it conveys.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jesuit Priest: Put it into English and somehow, some of the meaning has come...

Prabhupāda: Then that exact...

Jesuit Priest: It's like the French. How do you say in..., how do you translate "au revoir"?

Room Conversation with Cardinal Danielou -- August 9, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: No, is it not in the New Testament?

Cardinal Danielou: It is in the Levitic, in the Levitic, in the book of the Levitic.

Prabhupāda: Ahhh.

Cardinal Danielou: It is not a word of Jesus. It is a word of the Levitic, and it is a part of the decalogue of the Ten Commandments what God gave to Moses.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. But Ten Commandments, one of the Commandments is that: "Thou shalt no kill."

Yogeśvara: (French)

Cardinal Danielou: (French) Mais, it is surely, I think, it is surely the killing of the man. I think, I have a great difficulty to understand why in Indian religion... Because it is impossible... By example, it is necessary, pour la nourriture?

Yogeśvara: For food.

Cardinal Danielou: Oui. For the food of man to eat, to eat, and...

Prabhupāda: Man can eat grains, food grains, fruits, milk, sugar, wheat...

Cardinal Danielou: Not, not, (French)?

Yogeśvara: No flesh?

Cardinal Danielou: No flesh?

Morning Walk -- December 15, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Both of them God, but one God is worshipable, and another God is worshiper. So for the disciple, both of them are worshipable because both of them are God. That is the distinction. Sevya-bhagavān, sevaka-bhagavān.

Prajāpati: Therefore, when we hear the words of guru, we are actually hearing Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is said, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. If you please guru, then Kṛṣṇa is pleased because he is saying the same thing. Just like we are... What we are doing? Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). We are saying that "You just surrender to Kṛṣṇa." We are inventing nothing. Therefore I am guru. Because I am saying Kṛṣṇa's words, not my words, therefore I am guru. As soon as I say my words, then I am not guru. This is the significance.

Rūpānuga: You are the only one, Śrīla Prabhupāda, who claims to be servant. The rest of them take Kṛṣṇa's position.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because they are not guru. They are not guru. That is the difficulty, that one who is not guru, he is taking the place of guru. Therefore people are misguided.

Rūpānuga: One man who has written a book on these different so-called spiritual movements has remarked that Your Divine Grace is the only one of all... The big difference between our movement and the others is that you claim to be servant, and the others claim to be God.

Prabhupāda: He has written? Oh.

Rūpānuga: It is in a book talking about different spiritual movements in this country.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 10, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Then if he cannot, then he is cat and dog. He is not a human being. Why he should accept initiation? Let him remain a cat and dog. He promises to follow, and if he cannot follow, then he is nothing but cat and dog. In the court, they take promises, that "In the name of God," "In the name of Bible." So that means he will speak the truth. Similarly, before the fire, before Deity, before guru, before devotees, he is promising something, and if he does not follow, then he is cat and dog. He cannot advance. It is not possible. That is the distinction between cat and dog and human being. Cat and dog, they cannot promise. It is not possible. But a human being can promise. And if he keeps his promise, then he is human being. Otherwise cat and dog. Word of honor. The cats and dogs, they have no sense of honor. Either you kick him or pat, he does not know what is the difference. That is cat and dog. He does not know the distinction. A human being knows what is promise, what is word of honor. (break)

Yaśodānandana: ...you mentioned that the vaiśyas, they are considered to be the capitalists and the śūdras, they are considered to be the Communist. And you mentioned that eventually the communists will take over the capitalists. So how long do you think that will happen?

Prabhupāda: What's the use? Why shall I think like that? Let them go to hell, and let us go back to home, back to Godhead. Why shall I waste our time? We can advise them, "Do this. You will be happy." If they do not take, then we don't bother anymore. We are not social welfare worker or political worker. We are worker for Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...in this world that people are suffering for want of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Let us try to make them Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is our only interest. Otherwise we have no interest in this material world. Let them do their own duty and suffer or enjoy. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu (BG 9.29). Samaḥ. Samatā. We are not social worker or political worker. We are Kṛṣṇa worker.

Room Conversation -- March 20, 1974, Bombay:

Guest: Therefore... I'm coming on that. What I say on the prima facie, the nuisance is not there. Number two ground, about that traffic objection, it is always a practice in Bombay, if there is objection, of traffic department, in that arranged, in that party which has agreed, in the person or the body which has made the proposal for the temple, is to be called, and they are to stand on the side and find how the traffic is going. There is an example about this near here, this bandstand at Chowpatti. One of my relations, he wanted to have a theater there. The position was not granted by the traffic department. But in that way the traffic department had, before deciding the issue, had to call those people who had purchased the plot for a theater purpose and convince them that this traffic will be a block and will be a bottleneck and it will be difficult for the police to control it. And theater, at every time, every three hours, you have particular four thousand or five thousand or two thousand people entering in the theater and going out also. Here the same problem is not there. Therefore the police or the traffic department has been biased and deliberately, for their own ulterior motive, they have taken this type of position, without involving us. If I am guilty, I must be told that I am a guilty man. They should prove in my presence. So no chance was given to me. Nothing was, I was not invited at the spot where the traffic was a bottleneck problem for the future. Without any justification, merely one sentence that "It could be." And if you will read their letter, they have not committed that certainly it will be a traffic problem. They said, "may be." If you see the reading, wording of their letter, they said, "It may be a traffic problem." They were not positive in their statement by saying that "This will be a traffic problem." This "shall be," or this "will" word, is not mentioned. It "may be." That means the option is equally open: "May not be," also. That's only (indistinct) has been taken without any basis of policy.

Prabhupāda: That is your second item.

Morning Walk -- March 25, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: Yesterday only you said that in the course, this thing.

Prabhupāda: That is perfect knowledge. Harer nāma harer nāma... (CC Adi 17.21).

Dr. Patel: These are, these are joking him, hearing (?) this, you know. Tāny aham... Uh. Not. What is that? What is the word of that śloka? (break)

Prabhupāda: ...janma paraṁ janma vivasvataḥ. Katham etad vijānīyām. (break) ...May, June.

Dr. Patel: (laughs) Yes, May. Mirage in May and also in June. They want to report the... May, June, he has... (break)

Prabhupāda: The interpreters do like that.

Dr. Patel: May and June.

Prabhupāda: May and June.

Dr. Patel: You see?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: You were born in June.

Morning Walk -- April 2, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Ah, karyam, that one should take the order of the guru, because guru is the representative of Kṛṣṇa. So when one takes... That is explained by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura in connection with the verse:

vyavasāyātmikā buddhir

ekeha kuru-nandana

bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca

buddhayo 'vyavasāyinām

(BG 2.41)

So the vyavasāyīs, those who are fixed up in the words of guru, "So guru has ordered me to do it. Oh, that is my life. I do not know whether I will be promoted to heaven or hell. It doesn't matter. I shall execute..."

Dr. Patel: Execute the order of the guru.

Prabhupāda: Guru. Yes. Very easy. That is the secret. Yasya deve parā bhaktir tathā deve yathā gurau (ŚU 6.23). Then he is sure to be successful. This is the secret.

Morning Walk -- April 4, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Without understanding, if you follow like a storm, that is no use. That is no use. Slow, but sure. Go slow... And that is the defect in the modern. If somebody can recite Bhagavad-gītā like storm, it is to be understood he has perfected himself. No. Let him explain at least one word of Bhagavad-gītā. That is wanted. Slow, but sure. That is going on. The professional Bhāgavata reciters, they jump over Kṛṣṇa's rāsa-līlā. The rascal does not explain the first line of Bhāgavatam, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). It requires many years to understand that one word, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), and he jumps over, "Bhāgavata recitation means rāsa-līlā." That is going on. That has spoiled the whole atmosphere. Therefore that rascal has been able to challenge that Kṛṣṇa, that, what is that, rural?

Satsvarūpa: "Popular rural god with sixteen thousand wives."

Prabhupāda: That's it. He does not know what is Kṛṣṇa. And he is writing about Kṛṣṇa, "rural boy with sixteen thousand..." First of all, he does not know that when Kṛṣṇa was rural boy in Vṛndāvana he had no sixteen thousand wives. You see. Still, these rascals say, "rural boy with sixteen thousand wives."

Dr. Patel: When He had this rāsa dance, he was only seven years.

Morning Walk -- April 7, 1974, Bombay:

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?

Girirāja: "Within the prison, shackled in iron chains, Vasudeva and Devakī gave birth to a male child year after year. Kaṁsa, thinking each of the babies to be the incarnation of Viṣṇu, killed them one after another."

Prabhupāda: Yes. He killed his brother. He was merciful upon the father only, kept him in the prison. Otherwise he killed the whole family—brother, brother's son and everyone. (break) ...present kings, such incidences are very many in the history, killing everyone. There is another story that Pana, Pana?

Yaśomatīnandana: Panavada.(?)

Prabhupāda: Yes. The child was to be killed and the...

Morning Walk -- April 12, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So our policy is that if you want to construct, if you have got the tendency, so you construct for Kṛṣṇa. That will be service. Construct a temple for Kṛṣṇa. So that service will be taken into account. Similarly, when we use this motorcar or aeroplane, so in the same purpose... Now they have done this, let it be engaged in Kṛṣṇa conscious service. So one who has manufactured it, he will be benefited, and others will be benefited.

Girirāja: "After observing such wonderful happenings, Nanda Mahārāja began to think of the words of Vasudeva again and again." (break)

Prabhupāda: He was a great charmer. Yes. Simple, simple life, village life. They were all... Vasudeva said all these things. Vasudeva is kṣatriya. From the political eyesight, he predicted that "This may happen," but he, as a vaiśya, simple agriculturist, he thought that "Oh, Vasudeva is so, foreseer." (break)

Girirāja: Simplicity is not considered a bad quality?

Prabhupāda: No, no. For him it is all right. And anyone, sva-dharma... He is a vaiśya, He should believe like that. A politician should act like that, that... para-dharmabhāvaḥ. One should not imitate. Just like a physician is operating. I should not imitate, to take the knife and operate. That is not my business.

Girirāja: "After this incident, when Yaśodā was once nursing..."

Morning Walk -- April 22, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: They are fools, all set of fools. Useless. See one thing and write one thing. Then you are not perfect. Bhrama pramāda. You commit mistake. Therefore your instruction is useless, useless. Because you commit mistake, therefore your instruction is useless. And that actually they are doing. As it is suitable, they are changing the words of Bible. They are useless. Things which are changeable, that cannot be accepted as scripture. Scriptural injunction means you cannot change. Just like we accept the Vedic scripture but don't change it. That example I have given many times. Because Lord Buddha wanted to change Vedic literature, therefore he is rejected. Although Lord Buddha is so... We worship him as incarnation of..., but he was rejected. You cannot change. Immediately you are rejected. (break)

Pañcadraviḍa: ...Christians, they were arguing with me they said, "God has given us the pig to eat."

Prabhupāda: It is said in the Bible?

Pañcadraviḍa: No.

Prabhupāda: Then where is this nonsense? How he can say? Actually, Christians cannot eat any meat because the word is "Thou shalt not kill." (break)

Pañcadraviḍa: Christ Himself was distributing fish, to the hungry, to the poor. He gave out so much fish.

Prabhupāda: That was not killing fish. That is my support.

Morning Walk -- April 22, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: No, we don't allow to comment or interpret on the words of... That we cannot allow. You cannot interpret in that way, in your own logical... That is not allowed.

Pañcadraviḍa: "But we say that when Christ said, Thou shalt not kill, and you say it refers all living beings, we say that is your interpretation because Christ is coming to teach fishermen. He never told them to give up their occupation. They continued to live as fishermen. Continued to live as sheep herders. He knew that killing was going on. Therefore his statement, 'Thou shalt not kill,' must refer to human beings because he was living in the community. He was teaching by his example."

Prabhupāda: But I can say, "Why not to the animals? You can eat fish only." Then I'll write book like that. Jesus Christ allowed the fishermen to fish, so then you can fish. Why you are killing cows? That will be my argument. If you are actually following Christ, all right, you can take fish, but why you are killing animals, and other animals? Why you are going that "Because Christ has allowed some fish killing, therefore everyone should be killed"? What is this nonsense? You follow strictly. All right, fish-killing.

Pañcadraviḍa: What is the difference between fish killing and goat killing?

Prabhupāda: Then everyone will say what is the difference between animal killing and and man killing?

Morning Walk -- April 24, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Vishva Hindu Parishad. What is this nonsense Vishva Hindu...? (chuckles) He does not know what is the meaning of Hindu. And his jñāna-yajña. Gītā jñāna yajña. He does not understand even a word of Gītā, and this rascal is preaching Bhagavad-gītā. This is going on. And he has made some name, people after him. People means if you flatter him, that "Whatever you are doing, it is all right."

Mahāṁśa: They will...

Prabhupāda: Then they will be very much pleased. And as soon as you criticize, that "You are doing this wrong, you will suffer." "Oh, yes, this Swamiji is not (indistinct)." That is going on everywhere. In the name of religion you do all nonsense rascaldom, and the leader approves, "Yes, you can do." Vivekananda did it. "Yes, there is no difference between eating meat and not eating eat in terms of religion system." He preached this, and all the sannyāsīs of the Ramakrishna Mission they eat meat, they drink, they have woman secretary, everything. This Chinmayananda is also like that. I know his whole mischief. Unless one is purely Kṛṣṇa conscious, one cannot give up all these bad habits. This is the test. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra caiṣa (SB 11.2.42). One... Unless one is substantially advanced in kṛṣṇa-bhakti, they cannot give up this material attachment—illicit sex, meat eating—they cannot. It is impossible. So even in the name of swami or big, big yogis... They are doing all these things. Especially those who go in foreign countries... In USA illicit sex is very cheap. Everything is very cheap. Yes. Intoxication very cheap, meat-eating very cheap, gambling, very cheap, so when they get this cheap amenities, they forget their so-called spiritual life.

Akṣayānanda: Prabhupāda...

Room Conversation with Prof. Regamay, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Lausanne -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:

Prof. Regamay: Yes, I know what it is in the Bhagavad-gītā but, for instance, in the words of Rāmānuja, it is not Kṛṣṇa, but it is Viṣṇu which is the highest form. So this one question, what I had to put that... And also... May I sit down on...? I would be much more...

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Give him another pad.

Prof. Regamay: Among the avatāras which are described in the second and third book of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there are two questions I have to put. There is Kṛṣṇa Himself, who appears as His own avatāra, and the Kṛṣṇa, the yādava Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa, when He appears within this material world... That is also in the Bhāgavatam, that He appears as Viṣṇu incarnation. But actually, Kṛṣṇa is the... In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated, yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ, viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣaḥ (Bs. 5.48). You understand?

Prof. Regamay: Yes, I understand.

Prabhupāda: Viṣṇur mahān, Mahā-Viṣṇu, yasya iha kalā-viśeṣo govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. So the Mahā-Viṣṇu, the origin of the material creation... There is Mahā-Viṣṇu in the Causal Ocean. From Him the Garbhodakaśāyī-Viṣṇu enters into each and every universe. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). So jagad-aṇḍa-nātha is Brahmā. So he is produced on the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. And this Garbhodakaśāyī-Viṣṇu is expansion of Mahā-Viṣṇu. And Mahā-Viṣṇu is kalā viśeṣaḥ, partial expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Yasya hi, yasya hi. What is that? You have Brahma-saṁhitā?

Room Conversation with devotees about Twelfth Canto Kali-yuga, and Conversation with Guest -- June 15, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like in the Bible it is said, "There was only word in the beginning." So in the beginning, there was word. That means that word is not the word of this material creation.

Yogeśvara: Just like these Guru Maharajis. They say you cannot chant the name Kṛṣṇa because it's simply a material sound. They say the name is material.

Prabhupāda: That's it. The rascal does not understand what is this sound. He does not see that there was word before creation.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Also in Revelation in the Bible it states that in the spiritual world there is no need for sun and moon...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: ...because the body of God is giving off light.

Prabhupāda: No, the residents also, they are bright.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Yes, illuminating.

Prabhupāda: Just like in the sun planet, all the inhabitants, they are fiery body. (French)

Jyotirmayī: They said that they told me before they came that they could stay only one hour, so now they to take...

Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Professor Durckheim: May I ask a question, master. You see, the belief, the understanding, is always depending on the level of the one who wants to understand, and that's the level of our quite natural, normal mind of the usual general person. And there is another level where certain experiences open the door to some deeper consciousness. And, as you know, one of the key words of the Christian religion is in the Gospels, that you have to turn around, to make annoya (?), to pierce through a certain skin to get quite another level.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Professor Durckheim: And from this level the heaven opens to those who didn't understand what the heaven means. They thought it was behind the clouds. You see, there is a natural way to look at God, and this natural way to look at God is lost as soon as people go through the rational mind. And then there is no other way out but to have a personal initiated experience. We talk about initiation. When people are capable to go through a certain death and to discover another level, and only... And so, the great wisdom which you are talking about, I am sure that it also touches people on two levels. There is the ordinary man and he might believe, but there is a deeper level where things start to change yourself, to transform yourself in deeper experiences.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is... That is the beginning of instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā. The beginning of knowledge...

German Lady: Excuse me. Would you please explain for some people who don't speak English here in German because we don't know all of your words.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with three Trappist Monks, Psychologists from the University of Georgia, and Atlanta Lawyer, Michael Green -- March 1, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: Yes. No, every country, every country. Now, just like you are highly educated. Your country could not give you service. You are coming here. And that is śūdra. One who cannot live independently, he is śūdra. Paricaryātmakaṁ karyaṁ śūdra-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ. In this age, everyone is practically śūdra, because nobody can live independently. So we are producing mass śūdras. Therefore it is in chaotic condition. The Communist is the last word of the śūdras. The Communist philosophy is that "We are worker. We have all the power. We must have all the power." And that they are doing. And because they do not want to obey any authority, therefore they are denying existence of God. This is the tendency of the modern society. Not only they do not know what is God, and they are trying to disobey the orders of God. So practically there is no religion. And without religion human society is animal society. Dharmeṇa hīnā pasubhiḥ samānāḥ. "Human being without any ideas of religion, God, he is no better than animal." That is the difference between animal and human being. Animal eats, we eat; animal sleeps, we sleep; animal have sexual intercourse, we have; animal also defends, we also defend. These are common features. And what is the special feature? The special feature of human being—that he can understand what is God. So if he does not understand God, he is animal, because the distinction between animal and man is being avoided. So far other activities are concerned, they are the same as of human being and as of animal. But what is the distinction? The distinction is that in the human society there is an endeavor to understand God, and the animal society, there is no such endeavor. So when the so-called human society becomes devoid of God consciousness, it is animal society. Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for raising the human society to the real platform of human society, not to keep them in the animal platform. Try to understand God and love Him.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is just like sugar doll. Anywhere touch—it is sweet. That's all. When I read books, I open anywhere. Any book I take, and anywhere I open, and I read.

Devotee (3): Sometimes we feel like... I know myself personally, if I'm distributing, like, Second Volumes of Caitanya-caritāmṛtas I have this doubt, this feeling that it's sometimes hard for me to understand Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and I feel like the karmī, he will open the book, and he will look into it, and he will become offended because he won't be able to understand hardly a word of it.

Prabhupāda: No, Caitanya-caritāmṛta is not meant for ordinary person. Bhagavad-gītā, Īśopaniṣad and other thing...

Tripurāri: Kṛṣṇa book?

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa. They will read as story book. The Kṛṣṇa trilogy is selling very nice?

Tripurāri: Yes. Nectar of Devotion also.

Prabhupāda: Nectar of Devotion is very nice.

Devotee (1): And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatams. They are very attracted to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Tripurāri: Many of the karmīs appreciate the Fourth Canto, part four, the story of King Purañjana. They understand that.

Devotee (2): There's many psychologists at the airport. I would attract them by giving them that particular volume and saying how this deals with the psychology of the conditioned self. And they were attracted in that way.

Room Conversation with Yoga Student -- March 14, 1975, Iran:

Prabhupāda: So why they are disobeying the order of Muhammad?

Yoga student: Yes. The... They follow... It's essentially the same practice as the...

Prabhupāda: No, you cannot amend on the words of Muhammad if you are a true Mussulman.

Yoga student: I don't think they have to amend it. They're...

Prabhupāda: Why? There was five. Why they have made three? That is amendment. You cannot do that.

Yoga student: It has been maintained that Ali..., that this was the practice of Ali.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Yoga student: That Ali prayed at noon, in the afternoon...

Atreya Ṛṣi: Ali, the representative of Muhammad.

Yoga student: He's the brother-in-law..., the son-in-law... Hazrad(?) Ali.

Prabhupāda: Ali, Ali. Ali Hussein. No.

Yoga student: Hussein is his son. Ali is the cousin and the son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad. But can they feel the grace of Kṛṣṇa within this framework, within the framework of their dietary laws and their..., in opening up the experience of Kṛṣṇa to them?

Morning Walk -- March 15, 1975, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Why are they disobeying the order of Mohammed?

Guest: Yes, they follow. It's essentially the same practice as the majority.

Prabhupāda: Yes, you cannot amend on the words of Mohammed if you are a true Muslim.

Guest: I don't think they have meant to amend it, its just that...

Prabhupāda: Now why? There was five now they have made three. (indistinct) You cannot do that.

Guest: They maintain that, that Ali, that this was the practice of Ali. That Ali prayed at noon in the afternoon.

Guest: Ali is a representative of Mohammed.

Guest: He's the brother, brother-in-law, the son-in-law.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Guest: Ali.

Prabhupāda: Ali, Ali.

Guest: He was...

Prabhupāda: Ali Hussein.

Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: That is all right. Anyone who chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, he becomes purified. It doesn't matter what he is.

Ravīndra-svarūpa: Many of them are afraid to accept our movement or our philosophy because they feel that their personal religion is threatened, that they'll have to stop being a Christian. So when I earlier mentioned that to start some Christian group, the idea was to have some people who are professing to be Christians, but they are taking the word of Jesus to the deepest point where he says that "There are many things I have not revealed to you, and you will understand them by the grace of the Holy Spirit." So they could have a Christian group where people worshiped Lord Jesus as their spiritual master and simultaneously worshiped Kṛṣṇa. And they could introduce that to develop more knowledge of God one can read the Bhagavad-gītā, one can follow the instruction in the Bible by chanting the names of God, and they would have better access to Christians than those of us who are wearing robes or shaving our heads.

Prajāpati: Better the same people to understand that Śrīla Prabhupāda meets all the qualifications that Jesus Christ met, plus more in he is here, and he is the Christ. Christ is the anointed one of God.

Ravīndra-svarūpa: Yes. So we have to bring them to that understanding, but we have to understand also that they're afraid, that their own faith will be shaken. So if you can give them more knowledge, then they can come to understand that. So if they... You have said that we accept Jesus as our guru. So if someone was practically worshiping, so then they could see. They could not deny. When a devotee says to them, "Yes, I'm accepting Jesus in my heart," They could not deny. If they are, for instance in a person, householder's home-he's worshiping Kṛṣṇa, and he's having a picture of you and a picture of Jesus—then there's no way they can deny that they are not Christians. And they could have access to a lot of the young Christian groups. (break)

Morning Walk -- April 23, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes, everywhere. The only difficulty is there is no water, no supply of water. In the rainy season this will be all green immediately, immediately, without any delay. So, the only difficulty—there is no water.

Guest: In Gujarat now the same problem is there and they are digging well, five-acre well, just we have dug at Māyāpur, and collecting water. Rainwater is collected that way. So here also it can be done for a small farm. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...saṅkīrtana, then water will come. You haven't got to do anything. Otherwise the words of Gītā will be false. Yajñaiḥ... Yajñād bhavanti parjanyaḥ. The formula is there. You perform yajña and the water will be supplied. They are not performing yajña.

Dhananjaya: So then it's very important to perform twenty-four-hour kīrtana here.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Devotee (2): From that, then, the rains will be produced.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But we should not chant for rain. That will automatically come. But you should chant for pleasing Kṛṣṇa.

Makhanlal: There's some rumors that there will be a drought in the United States, a very severe drought.

Tripurāri: But by the devotees chanting they would never have to...

Prabhupāda: Yes, everywhere.

Makhanlal: Even if there was drought for the nondevotees, the devotees would, automatically wouldn't have to worry about such a thing.

Morning Walk -- May 12, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: How they are becoming foolish, that they are reading Bhagavad-gītā and they are accepting original tradition of the Māyāvāda? In the original tradition of Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, Kṛṣṇa said, ahaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān: "I said. I am person." How these rascals are accepting imperson? Why do they read Bhagavad-gītā? If they have got different theory, let them differently... They are cheating. Bhagavad-gītā is popular. Therefore they are taking advantage of Bhagavad-gītā and pushing on impersonalism. But here the tradition begins, ahaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ. Where is imperson? So if they want to be cheated willingly, who can save them? They are reading Bhagavad-gītā and devīating from the words of Bhagavad-gītā. Then what is the meaning?

Amogha: They don't know. They simply...

Prabhupāda: That means they are so rascal, that... You are reading Bhagavad-gītā. You must take the words of Bhagavad-gītā. Why you are taking other words? What business you have got?

Amogha: They think by majority, most people think like this...

Prabhupāda: Majority or minority, it doesn't matter. But why you should take Bhagavad-gītā to establish your rascal theories? That means you are cheating.

Amogha: But they think that's the meaning of Bhagavad-gītā.

Prabhupāda: That's the meaning how?

Amogha: That's what they think. They think because they've read so many commentaries...

Morning Walk -- May 12, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: So why Māyāvāda... Interpretation is required when you cannot understand, but when the things are understood very clearly... Just like we had been in Kurukṣetra. That place is there for millions and millions of years. And why one should interpret, "Kurukṣetra means this body"? Why should we accept this meaning? Kurukṣetra is already there. Everyone is going. And if somebody interprets, "No, Kurukṣetra means this body," so why I shall be so foolish to accept this interpretation?

Paramahaṁsa: Well, people say that they're not sure whether it's a symbolic meaning or an actual meaning.

Prabhupāda: That is your conjecture. But when you read book you should understand the wording of the book. You cannot conjecture in such...

Paramahaṁsa: Because they say some of the Vedic literatures...

Prabhupāda: That means willingly they want to become fool.

Paramahaṁsa: There are so many great symbolic literatures.

Prabhupāda: You are seeing this green. If you interpret, "It is not green; it is white," what is this? Can you interpret like that? It is green, and "No, in my interpretation it is white. What you are seeing, it is not actual seeing." You can go on saying like that. But I am an ordinary man. Why shall I take it white? It is green. That's all.

Paramahaṁsa: But that is the way of great writing, to write in symbolism. That is...

Amogha: Great literary works are done in that way.

Morning Walk -- May 12, 1975, Perth:

Paramahaṁsa: Better to...

Prabhupāda: Yes, don't talk with them. So lower-grade men they are, it is useless to talk with him.

Amogha: Yes.

Prabhupāda: "God is detained by the word of court." He has no power to defy the words of court.

Paramahaṁsa: The judge will judge him.

Prabhupāda: And he is God.

Amogha: Yes. He will probably bribe the judge. That will be the real...

Prabhupāda: That is possible. Everything is possible.

Amogha: Because he is so rich he can pay the judge a few million rupees, and the judge will say, "Yes, yes, he is God." By court's rule.

Prabhupāda: Then the other party will go to appeal. Where he is being judged, in the Supreme Court or lower court?

Amogha: I'm not sure. Actually, the judgment is whether or not he put a false picture in the newspaper of his brother with a girl. The older brother is claiming that... First he put a picture in the paper showing the younger Guru Maharaj-ji kissing an American girl. So Guru Maharaj-ji put another counter-photo showing his older brother with an American girl. So the suit is over whether this second picture is a real picture or is it artificially made. That's what the court will decide.

Morning Walk -- May 16, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Latin, yes. People's vote. The people may be asses, but still, their votes will be taken, the vox populi. The fourth-class, fifth-class men, and they are giving vote. And the mistake is detected. Just like this Nixon was voted and the mistake was detected. But still, they follow the same process, vox populi. What is the value of the votes of the fourth-class, fifth-class men? Better one intelligent man, if he knows things, if he is liberated, if he says, "This is right," that should be taken. That is Vedic civilization. We are accepting Kṛṣṇa. We are not accepting the vox populi. One person, the Supreme, that's all. This is our process. We don't accept vox populi. All these Vedic literature are accepted not on the people's vote, but who is presenting? Vyāsadeva is presenting, Kṛṣṇa is presenting. Parāśara Muni is presenting. Therefore they are accepted. You cannot expect the mass of people very intelligent. That is not possible. So what is the value of their votes if they are not intelligent?

But in the Western countries this is the disease, vox populi. Socrates said there is soul, and he was killed because vox populi was against. Christ was killed because vox populi was against. This is the defect of the Western civilization. During the lifetime of Christ, nobody accepted. When he was killed, or crucified, then the other saintly persons, they gave their experience, what they learned from Jesus Christ. Christ could not give any words. Some sporadic words were there, and the Bible was made on that basis. Actually, the Bible is not the word, directly words of Christ.

Amogha: That must be why it says... It says, "The Gospel according to John," "The Gospel according to Mark."

Room Conversation with Yogi Bhajan -- June 7, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Similarly, whenever we come in a big assembly, we respect each one, gentlemen. There is no harm.

Yogi Bhajan: No, no, but people do not understand why we are like this, why they wear like this. They don't get a chance to explain. At Interreligious Council, I am a member. They never knew. They think we are the most weird people from the Mars perhaps. They don't understand a bit. And now our legal services are helping them, and all sorts of things have happened, and they are trying to understand. And when the last president left the office, he said, in his words of departure, he said, "I am only limited by the Christ. I never understood anything else. But I do feel from that limit that God is unlimited and it is in everybody." Asking a fanatic Christian to make that statement to the general assembly, it took us about two years.

Prabhupāda: Hm. You find so many fanatics. How you will unite them?

Yogi Bhajan: Gradually, one by one, one by one, they will understand. Love is the winning point. That's why they don't understand. When they find love from you, they will find love from me, they will love from people, they will love from everybody else. You know, you can take a mango stick and beat somebody, but you can take mango off it and eat. Effort has to be made somehow. And now...

Prabhupāda: Effort is being made, but the platform, the world where you are staying, that effort is very difficult to fulfill.

Yogi Bhajan: That is agreed. That's typical, difficulty is agreed. I go to India; I find the difficulty. I am here; I find the difficulty. But there are genuine people in the spiritual work...

Prabhupāda: But one thing is, just like you said some Christian priests?

Yogi Bhajan: Yes.

Morning Walk -- July 12, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is intelligence. That is intelligence. These, all these rascals, they are unnecessarily wasting. Śrama eva hi kevalam. Simply they are wasting time. That's all. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed ratiṁ yadi

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

You are executing your duties as scientist or as anything, but if you don't have faith in the words of viṣvaksena, then you are simply wasting your time.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That's one of the chapters in our book that Mādhava is working, that inductive knowledge, there is nothing like inductive knowledge. It's all māyā; it's illusion.

Prabhupāda: Yes, it is illusion. (break) ...western countries it is full of inductive knowledge. That's all. (break) Dr. Radhakrishnan used to say, on sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66), "It is too much." (laughter)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He died just a few months ago.

Prabhupāda: Yes, he died, and brain fag. All his knowledge, last five, six years—he could not recognize his own men.

Gurudāsa: When we went to see him, he hardly could speak.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

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

Prabhupāda: That he was speaking, vāṇī and vapuḥ. Even if you don't see his body, you take his word, vāṇī.

Nārāyaṇa: But how do they know they're pleasing you, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: If you actually follow the words of guru, that means he is pleased. And if you do not follow, how he can be pleased?

Sudāmā: Not only that, but your mercy is spread everywhere, and if we take advantage, you told us once, then we will feel the result.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayādvaita: And if we have faith in what the guru says, then automatically we'll do that.

Prabhupāda: Yes. My Guru Mahārāja passed in 1936, and I started this movement in 1965, thirty years after. Then? I am getting the mercy of guru. This is vāṇī. Even the guru is not physically present, if you follow the vāṇī, then you are getting help.

Sudāmā: So there's no question of ever separation as long as the disciple follows the instruction of guru.

Prabhupāda: No. Cakhu-dān dilo jei... What is that, next one?

Sudāmā: Cakhu-dān dilo jei, janme janme prabhu sei.

Prabhupāda: Janme janme prabhu sei. So where there is separation? Who has opened your eyes, he is birth after birth your prabhu.

Paramahaṁsa: You never feel any intense separation from your spiritual master?

Room Conversation with Professor Olivier -- October 10, 1975, Durban:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Oh, here it is.

yām imāṁ puṣpitāṁ vācaṁ

pravadanty avipaścitaḥ

veda-vāda-ratāḥ pārtha

nānyad astīti vādinaḥ

kamātmānaḥ svarga-parā

janma-karma-phala-pradām

kriyā-viśeṣa bahulāṁ

bhogaiśvarya-gatiṁ prati

"Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there is nothing more than this."

Prabhupāda: Purport.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "Purport: People in general are not very intelligent, and due to their ignorance they are most attached to the fruitive activities recommended in the karma-kāṇḍa portion of the Vedas. They do not want anything more than sense gratificatory proposals for enjoying life in heaven, where wine and women are available and material opulence is very common. In the Vedas many sacrifices are recommended for elevation to the heavenly planets, especially the jyotiṣṭoma sacrifices. In fact, it is stated that anyone desiring elevation to heavenly planets must perform these sacrifices, and men with a poor fund of knowledge think that this is the whole purpose of Vedic wisdom. It is very difficult for such inexperienced persons to be situated in the determined action of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As fools are attached to the flowers of poisonous trees without knowing the results of such attractions, similarly unenlightened men are attracted by such heavenly opulence and the sense enjoyment thereof. In the karma-kāṇḍa section of the Vedas it is said that those who perform the four monthly penances become eligible to drink the somarasa beverages to become immortal and happy forever.

Morning Walk -- October 26, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: Yes, but you are also dreaming. Why do you claim that your dream is all right; his dream is wrong? Dreaming is wrong. If his dream is wrong—you are also dreaming—you are also wrong. Why do you claim that your dream is all right? That is nonsense. Everyone thinks that he is right and everyone is wrong. We do not think like that. We take the words of the authority, that's all. Or we have no respect(?). This is our program. That is the way of paramparā. Not only we accept, but our previous ācāryas, all the big, big ācāryas, they have accepted. Śukadeva Gosvāmī said. He is ācārya. Vyāsadeva says from the very beginning. Kṛṣṇa says. That's all right. We take these authorities. We do not dream. That is not our process. Dream, your dream or my dream, this is all rascal. Dream is dream. Why do you think that your dream is right and my dream is wrong?

Brahmānanda: That's why they're always bickering with one another.

Prabhupāda: Yes. There is no standard idea. I dream some way; you dream some way. That's all. What is this?

Cyavana: Seaweed.

Brahmānanda: It looks like a sponge.

Cyavana: Plant.

Prabhupāda: That is their defect. If my dream is wrong, why your dream should be right? That they did not conceive of, that "My dream is right(?)." And if you say that "Your dream is also wrong," yes, I do not dream. I take the facts from the authority. We do not dream. Dream is dream, either yours or mine. It doesn't matter.

Morning Walk -- December 20, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yogi, I am taking lesson from Śukadeva Gosvāmī. I may be fool, but I am taking lesson from the yogi. Yes. So yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇaḥ tatra śrīr vijayo bhūtir (BG 18.78). I don't require to be a yogi. I take shelter of the yogeśvara.

Dr. Patel: Yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntarātmanā (BG 6.47).

Prabhupāda: So, my problem, there is no problem, because as soon as there is Kṛṣṇa, śrīr, vibhūtir, victory, everything is there. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. So we have got everything, but I am not a yogi. We must believe in the words of Bhagavad-gītā. Yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇaḥ yatra dhanur-dharaḥ pārthaḥ tatra śrīr vibhūtir vijayo. Everything is there. That art we have to learn, that let us become dependent like Arjuna on Kṛṣṇa, then everything is there.

Dr. Patel: Kṛṣṇaḥ sarva-bhūtanāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati.

Prabhupāda: Yes, and He teaches also...

Dr. Patel: You consult Kṛṣṇa within before you do...

Prabhupāda: Yes, but Kṛṣṇa is not so foolish that He will give consultation...

Dr. Patel: He'll give consultation free of charge...

Prabhupāda: ...to the nondevotees. Arjuna was a devotee. That teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīthi-pūrvakam (BG 10.10). One who is constantly engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, to him He gives intelligence, not to the rascals. Kṛṣṇa is there, but—even in the heart of the pig or dog—but He does not give any instruction to the pig and dog. They must suffer. But only to the devotees: teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam. To them. Otherwise Kṛṣṇa is staying everywhere.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 13, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Oh, that we are doing.

Dr. Patel: That is what I said.

Prabhupāda: That we are doing. We give each word's meaning. Each word of any Sanskrit śloka, we give the meaning. That is right.

Dr. Patel: That is the way I learned myself. I mean, a student of...

Prabhupāda: If one is serious to learn, he can learn. There is no difficulty. No, dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre (BG 1.1). Now, if he inquires, "The word is dharma-kṣetra. Why it is written kṣetre?" then it is grammar.

Dr. Patel: That is what I say. That is the way I learned.

Prabhupāda: So that, if he likes, he can learn it. Saptamī, adhikaraṇa saptamī, sthāna, kṣetra, kṣetre, dharma-kṣetre. If he simply tries to learn the nominative case, the objective case, or like that, then he'll learn.

Dr. Patel: (Sanskrit) Like that. All things in different ways.

Prabhupāda: Sañjaya uvāca. It is nominative case. Dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre samavetāḥ (BG 1.1), this is plural number, yuyutsavaḥ, plural number. Māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva (BG 1.1). Pāṇḍavāḥ is plural number, and when it is added with ca it becomes śca. The visarga... In this way he can learn. Eva, again sandhi. Māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś ca eva.

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: No, what is the Commandments?

Guest (4): This is one of them, that the church should be run by a prophet and twelve apostles. We believe in what is called the word of wisdom. This is abstaining.... This is much like your...

Prabhupāda: Church. Church means.... Suppose.... There is no specific message that "The church should be conducted on this principle"? Is there any such message?

Guest (3): I think that the real thing is people have to accept Christ as their savior and make his atonement effective. See, when he made his atonement...

Prabhupāda: What about his Commandments?

Guest (3): Well, his Commandments are.... We believe that Christ gave them to Moses as a...

Prabhupāda: So what are the Commandments? You simply say, "It was given to him, it was given to him, it was given..."

Guest (3): The Ten Commandments?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest (3): Those Commandments we follow? We believe Commandments of living the Sabbath Day, law of chastity...

Prabhupāda: So whether they are being followed?

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: So He said? He ordained cow for your food?

Guest (2): He ordained meat. Yes.

Devotee (4): But only in times of starvation and famine.

Guest (2): Well, the matter.... It also said...

Devotee (4): That is the word of wisdom in the Mormon scripture.

Guest (2): I don't want to get in contentions about it, but the scripture also says that who abstains from meat is not ordained of God. So you can take it whatever way you want.

Prabhupāda: What is that? "One who abstains from meat"?

Guest (2): Well, he's trying to say that the Mormons overeat meat. And all I'm saying is, well, the scripture which was revealed to the modern-day prophet Joseph Smith was that "Whoever.... Who does abstained from meat is not ordained of God." And I have no intentions to get contentious about it. So all I'm saying is I'm honored to be here, and it's good to be here.

Prabhupāda: No, no, the point is that in the Commandment it is clearly said, "Thou shall not kill." So what does it mean? That unless there is absolute necessity, we shall not kill.

Guest (2): I think that's right, and I feel that way.

Morning Walk -- May 26, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Not now. They sold in the beginning. They're so hopeful now that "We shall go to the moon." Some family (inaudible) "Oh, scientific advancement. Yes, they go to the moon. So I have got money. Why not purchase a ticket so I can go to the moon?" There are many persons in your country who can very easily pay $50,000 for purchasing tickets for going to the moon planet.

Hari-śauri: It's like Rāvaṇa's promise of being able to go to the heavenly planets by climbing up the staircase.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...believed in the words of śāstra. Even I am not scientist, still I shall.... It is all childish. And it has proved childish. I do not say that I am better than the scientists. No. But on the words of śāstra, I say this is childish. They'll never be able to go to the moon. (break) The Americans who are here, mostly they are tourists. They're not residents.

Devotee (6): Some of them are retired, I believe.

Prabhupāda: Some, they're some. Otherwise they are tourists.

Devotee (5): Yes. (break) (end)

Morning Walk -- June 5, 1976, Los Angeles:

Devotees: Jaya.

Rāmeśvara: Just by reading one word of your books.

Prabhupāda: What is that word?

Rāmeśvara: Any word. (laughter) Surrender to Kṛṣṇa! (break) .... making almost ten devotees, new men, every month. And they're all coming from your books, from reading your books, every one of them.

Prabhupāda: Therefore I am insisting, "Spread books."

Dānavīr: Śrīla Prabhupāda, there was one boy who just joined a few months ago, and he had been reading your books, and he came to join the temple. He had graduated from college and he's been to law school, and we found out after some time that his father, his name was Dr. Royal McClain, he was a very, very big preacher in the South, and he had his own television program.

Rāmeśvara: Christian. His father was the biggest Christian preacher in the South, he had his own TV show. Very big preacher, very strict Christian, and his son joined our movement. So the father calls up the son, "How could you desert our religion and join this Kṛṣṇa movement?" So.... (laughter)

Dānavīr: He explained how he was actually feeling real love of God now for the first time in his life.

Morning Walk -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: So how the fishes are born in the water? How the other living entities, they remain in the air? Or without air? There are five elements: earth, water, fire, air.... Anywhere, the living entities can take birth. Sarva-ga. Sthāṇur sarva-gataḥ acalo 'yam. You read all these words of Bhagavad-gītā. Sarva-ga. From anywhere, he can take birth.

Devotee: Do the living entities who are born from perspiration require a mother and father?

Prabhupāda: No. No. There is mother. That perspiration is mother.

Rādhāvallabha: So the reason why they get a particular body...

Prabhupāda: And the father is God.

Rādhāvallabha: So they are just getting a particular body just due to Yamarāja.

Prabhupāda: Yes, according to the decision of the Yamarāja, he has to get a particular type of body.

Rādhāvallabha: The scientists don't know this.

Hari-śauri: It's very confusing, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Confusing must be. How you can understand the subtle laws of God? You have dull brain, with cow dung. (laughs) You cannot understand.

Garden Conversation -- June 23, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: You cannot please Kṛṣṇa directly. You please your spiritual master, Kṛṣṇa will be pleased. If you want to please directly Kṛṣṇa, that is not possible. That is concoction You cannot please. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. You have to please your spiritual master, then Kṛṣṇa will be pleased. Don't jump. Guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete koriyā aikya **. What is that song you daily sing? What is that?

Pradyumna: By the words of the spiritual master our mind becomes conclusive from...

Prabhupāda: Āra nā koriha mane āśā. Don't concoct. Don't you sing daily? Āra nā koriha mane āśā. Don't manufacture ideas. That is dangerous. Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches by His example. Guru more mūrkha dekhi' karilā śāsana (CC Adi 7.71). Caitanya Mahāprabhu said to Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī that "My spiritual master saw Me fool number one, so he has chastised Me, that 'Don't try to read Vedānta; chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.' So I'm doing." (motorcycle in background) Just hear. He has come to this turn. This sound is purposefully created? (motorbike going back and forth through much of the tape)

Kulādri: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Just to show that he has a motorcycle? Or what is purpose?

Kulādri: They have given us trouble sometimes.

Prabhupāda: Demons.

Kulādri: When your palace is on the other side, they won't disturb. And we will have walls.

Prabhupāda: No, they don't like us.

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

Prabhupāda: Arjuna is rectifying this because people may say, "Arjuna was Kṛṣṇa's friend, he is accepting Him as guru." No, Arjuna says, "Not only I, but other authorities, they also accept." So it is..., everything is clear, that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and He should be accepted as guru or His representative should be accepted guru. Then it will be... So our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is that we are presenting Kṛṣṇa as the supreme guru. You take instruction from Him and be benefited. But one who is carrying this message, he is also authorized. Just like one money order, it is coming through the post office, but an ordinary peon is handing over the money. But he is representative of post office. Actually, the money order is being delivered by the post office, general post office. But it is coming through an ordinary peon. But because he is authorized to deliver you, he is also post office. He's as good as the post office. Just you have got a letter box, a small box, but if you put your letter there, your letter will surely go ten thousand miles away. Therefore, although it is a small box, you don't think it is small box. It is whole post office. Similarly, anyone who is carrying the message of Kṛṣṇa, don't think that he's ordinary man. If you imitate one box like that post box and put your letter, for thousand years it will lie down there. Because it is not authorized. So if somebody says this small box, red box, is as good as the post office, one may say, "Huh, this is small box. How it can be as good as the post office?" But you see. You post your letter, it will go. Therefore, sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ **. Guru is directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Why? Because he is presenting the words of Supreme Personality of Godhead without any deterioration. Therefore he is so honored. So therefore the conclusion is guru is necessary and guru is he who is representative of Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise he's bogus.

Evening Darsana -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: You can take Arjuna as guru. Kṛṣṇa spoke to Arjuna, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2). He directly listened to Him. And he's guru therefore, because the guru is by the paramparā. So he understood Kṛṣṇa. So you take Arjuna's instruction. Make Arjuna your guru. What does he say? He accepts Kṛṣṇa, Param Brahman. So we accept Kṛṣṇa as Param Brahma. Where is the difficulty? Arjuna, by his direct experience talking with Kṛṣṇa, he understood Him that "Kṛṣṇa, you are Param Brahman." So you take the words of Arjuna and accept Him as Param Brahman. Where is the difficulty? Just like the same example, one lawyer giving example, the judgment of other court. That is accepted. So Arjuna is accepting Kṛṣṇa as Param Brahman. So why don't you accept? Where is the difficulty? You accept Arjuna as your guru, and whatever he says, you accept it. The difficulty is that we do not accept guru. That is the difficulty. Otherwise where is difficulty? Five thousand years, Kṛṣṇa spoke to Arjuna, but what Arjuna understood, that is there. So you accept it. What we are doing? We are accepting. That's all. Kṛṣṇa said mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7), "There is no more superior truth beyond Me." We are accepting, that's all. Where is the difficulty? But if you do not accept, who can make you to accept? It is not possible. Kṛṣṇa therefore said mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. "You do it." He never forces him. He's God, He can force, "You must do it." No, he doesn't say "You do it." Not only that, He says yathecchasi tathā kuru (BG 18.63), "Whatever you like, you do." What is that verse?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Iti te jñānam...

Prabhupāda: Iti te jñānam, huh?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Ākhyātam.

Prabhupāda: Ākhyātam, "I have spoken to you everything about knowledge." Then?

Room Conversation -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: What they want?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Some of them are not sincere, so they simply want to find fault, but those who are sincere can be encouraged to...

Harikeśa: They are all wanting material things. Like in Bhagavad-gītā, what is the verse, traiguṇya-viṣayā vedāḥ? Kṛṣṇa is asking Arjuna to rise above the scriptures, the flowery words of the Vedas.

Prabhupāda: They are not concerned with the Bhagavad-gītā. You cannot quote from Bhagavad-gītā to instruct these rascals. You have to talk with them with common sense. Their charge is, what is their charge? That you are engaged in ritualistic ceremonies?

Nava-yauvana: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So what they want us to do? If you don't want me to do this, then you must say what you want me to do. Is it not right? Suppose I am chanting. If you don't want me to chant, then what do you want me to do? The next question will be.

Jñānagamya: They want us to engage in sense gratification like they are engaged. That is what they want.

Prabhupāda: Want..., we want that, if you want me to do like you, then I want you to do like me. If you want me to accept your proposal, why you not accept my proposal?

Jñānagamya: Because if I think that sense gratification is better, then I...

Prabhupāda: That's all right, you think sense gratification is better, I think sense gratification is bad.

Evening Darsana -- September 1, 1976, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: No, no.

Indian man (3): I remember that you had written yourself that there is something we can do together. Possibly this question, building and all that. (indistinct) It is good to have that building and that land, but even before that there is work to be done at the Kurukṣetra.

Prabhupāda: My point is that Kurukṣetra is the place where Bhagavad-gītā was spoken. So if we take the words of Bhagavad-gita as it is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa, then people will be benefitted. But if we do not take the words of Bhagavad-gītā, then moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo mogha-jñānā vicetasaḥ (BG 9.12). That I believe. Find out this verse. Moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo.

Indian man (3): That's true. I also believe that there must be a direct...

Prabhupāda: No, why not direct?

Indian man (3): Putting in your interpretation, that is wrong. It should be direct. That doesn't mean only those people who have accepted this can come together.

Prabhupāda: And why the others will not accept?

Indian man (3): No, we have made, you must have seen our literature, Gītā as a text, but still people may not judge...

Prabhupāda: No, no, we should not depend on the people's acceptance only. We have to present Gītā as it is. Now everything is not accepted by everyone. Even if you make change, there is no guarantee that they will...

Room Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Akṣayānanda: Your Bhāgavata. There are no others actually.

Prabhupāda: Vyāsadeva, the words of Vyāsadeva. I am simply trying to explain, that's all.

Akṣayānanda: No one else is trying. No one else has done it.

Prabhupāda: It is due to the blessing of my Guru Mahārāja. He directly told me that "If you get some money, publish some books." I took it seriously, so he's helping me. All our Godbrothers, they didn't take it. Did not know it, neither... Even they... They know it. Because from the very beginning, Guru Mahārāja was serious about publication. He started press and published these books. This Bhāgavata was published by him. And the journal, six journals, he was very much fond of publishing, publication. Very, very. He told me directly that if it was possible to get the marbles from this Gauḍīya Maṭha and sell it and convert it into books, I would have done it. Because I know there will be blazing fire in this place. (break) And by Kṛṣṇa's grace, by selling books we are getting. This is Kṛṣṇa's grace. Otherwise... This Bon Mahārāja is so proud of his institution. He could not do this. He could have done it. For the last forty years.

Akṣayānanda: He does not speak kṛṣṇa-kathā, Prabhupāda. So five thousand you have estimated for the Deities? For a month you have estimated last night five thousand?

Prabhupāda: Five hundred.

Room Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So how you can take care with nothing? Kṛṣṇa makes you nothing, then how you can take care of your family? Bālasya neha śaraṇaṁ pitarau nārtasya ca... These things I have explained. That we have got so many means against struggle for existence, but that is not final. Tāvat tanu-bhṛtāṁ tvad-upekṣitānām. If there is no sanction from Kṛṣṇa, you cannot do it. It is impossible. If Kṛṣṇa does not like you to be implicated in that way, that is false, then how can you do it? You are thinking that I shall take care of my family. But if Kṛṣṇa wants that you cannot take care of your family then how you'll do it? Can you go against the will of Kṛṣṇa? You can understand at least this, if not very much advanced. You cannot go against the will of Kṛṣṇa. So you have tried for the last one and a half years, you could not improve your material situation. That means you are going against the will of Kṛṣṇa. Take it from me. Kata bāccā? Four (Hindi) Separate. No more together. (Hindi) Tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṇā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ (SB 7.9.45). Everything is discussed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Kṛpaṇa, brāhmaṇa, kṛpaṇa, tṛpyanti neha. He knows that one bāccā has given me so much trouble. Illicit or legal, (Hindi) it is troublesome business. Otherwise why these Americans and Europeans, they're killing their own child. They don't want to take the botheration. (Hindi) So it is botheration, there is no doubt about it. The Bhāgavata says tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṇāḥ. The kṛpaṇa (Hindi) What is the meaning of kṛpaṇa? Do you know? Miser. Miser, what is the meaning of miser? Yes. We have got this something, human form of body, to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Instead of doing that, in spite of possessing this something, I am utilizing it for sense gratification. If you want sense gratification that's all right. Get one child, two child. Why again and again? Therefore śāstra says tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṇāḥ. Because he's kṛpaṇa, he's never satisfied. He's suffering—again, another child, again, another child. All right, you have got two child, one child, that's all right. Be satisfied. Why again and again? The kṛpaṇa. Kṛpaṇa, he does not know how to utilize this asset of human life. He's wasting the asset in a different way. Kṛpaṇa. One has to become brāhmaṇa. The opposite word of kṛpaṇa is brāhmaṇa. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). That is wanted. So we are giving brāhmaṇa's position. Instead of taking the brāhmaṇa position, if he wants to take again kṛpaṇa position, then what is the use of being initiated?

Room Conversation with U.N. Doctor -- September 29, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Any form you imagine that he is God, that will give you success. They say like that.

Doctor: I think I have taken too much of time.

Prabhupāda: I am going there at six.

Doctor: Words of enlightenment.

Hari-śauri: Have you got any of Prabhupāda's books?

Doctor: I have got some. I bought all the volumes of translation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. I have got all of them. But some of them have not arrived from United States, the latest ones. And I have got...

Hari-śauri: That's very nice.

Prabhupāda: You are staying in New Delhi?

Doctor: I stay in the Hague, and come to New Delhi when there are no cases.

Prabhupāda: Hague?

Doctor: Holland.

Prabhupāda: Holland. That is the international court?

Doctor: Yes, the court case located, the headquarters.

Prabhupāda: I went somewhere. That is also international. In Geneva, I think. Is there any...?

Room Conversation -- December 20, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: But how it can be called? If you interpret in your own way, interpret in your own way, interpretation, then where is Bhagavad-gītā? Best thing is that take Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Then there will be (indistinct). Why you should interpret? You have no right to interpret on the words of Bhagavad-gītā?

Guest: But Swamiji, you have also given so much (indistinct). That is interpretation.

Prabhupāda: No, that is not interpretation. That is explanation. Interpretation, if I change Kurukṣetra into something else, that is interpretation. That is wisdom. That is wisdom.

Guest: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: No, I mean to say instead of collecting so many hundreds and thousands of literature on the Bhagavad-gītā, why not take Bhagavad-gītā as it is? What is the difficulty? Kurukṣetra is this position is fact. Mahābhārata, Mahābhārata means greater India. And that is, it is itihasa. It is called itihāsa. Itihāsa, if you don't believe that there was a battle in the Kurukṣetra... But that is the fact. It is the history. Then how you can finish (?) Bhagavad-Gītā? Every point of Bhagavad-gītā, it is clear. It is clear. There is no need of interpretation. That is the first thing. If you interpret you spoil the whole thing. Because interpretation is required when the things are not clear. If everything is clear, why should you interpret?

Guest: No, it is explanation I think.

Room Conversation -- December 20, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: If you say my idea then I become one of you. (laughter) So I don't want that. I say I am foolish man. I have no idea. Whatever Kṛṣṇa says, that is idea. Just like a child, he speaks the words of the father. If the father... The child asks,"Father, what is this?" The father says, "This is a stick." So if the child says, "That is a stick," so that is correct. He may be a child. Because he repeats the words of the father... (Hindi) If the people are fools and rascals, then other will be fool and rascal. Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ (SB 2.3.19). (Hindi) If you accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme then where is the question of interpretation? (Hindi conversation) But who accepted? This is a fact. You try to understand that before me for 200 years so many swamis, yogis were there. Not a single man became Kṛṣṇa conscious. (Hindi conversation) He is not teacher he is cheater. Why should you change Kṛṣṇa's words? That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu, yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Don't manufacture. What Kṛṣṇa has said, you say. Just as a child he can say, "This is a stick." "How you have learned?" "Father said." That's all. (Hindi) I started this business with forty rupees. (laughter) (Hindi) Yes when I went to New York they allowed me only forty rupees. (Hindi to end)

Room Conversation -- December 27, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: It is authorized, and it is taught by Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Others are unauthorized. This is authorized. And that's a fact. This is authorized. And others, those, they are manufactured. Just like they have manufa...

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: It is authorized in the Bhagavad-gītā.

Prabhupāda: In every... Bhagavad... This is Vedic. Bhagavad-gītā means the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And which other way can be authorized way? You have to impress that upon.

Jagadīśa: That's two hours.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Another one hour...

Prabhupāda: Chanting, dancing.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually...

Prabhupāda: They haven't got to attend other classes. Let them chant and dance, kīrtana, other one hour. Because here is the class. They'll simply sit down in that yogic posture and hear. That's all. You explain.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: These people are... I understand this...

Jagadīśa: No, they have a misconception what yoga is.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: I know, I know. But if we want to get repeat business...

Prabhupāda: No no, we are not after business. This is our...

Press Interview -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: But I don't see that they have made one single Kṛṣṇa bhakta, neither they were Kṛṣṇa bhakta. What kind of Bhagavad-gītā they have read I do not know. I see by the result. The last word of Bhagavad-gītā is man-manā bhava mad-bhakto... Mām eva... Sarva-dharmān. That is study of Bhagavad-gītā. They do not speak of Kṛṣṇa anywhere, that "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Person, you become a devotee." Now how he has read Bhagavad-gītā? I shall take it? Simply make jugglery of words? We have to see the result. They have neither made one Kṛṣṇa bhakta, neither they were Kṛṣṇa bhakta. How he has read Bhagavad-gītā? Tell me. This is the test. They... Whole country is after Gandhi or Aurobindo or big, big. But who is Kṛṣṇa bhakta under their direction? Now we are simply following Caitanya Mahāprabhu, yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Just see. Thousands are become Kṛṣṇa bhakta. See by practical.

Indian man: Simply by chanting Kṛṣṇa.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Bombay:

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. There are 8,400,000 species of different types of life. That is the fact, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10). Wherefrom the life is coming? These rascals, they do not understand what is actual science, how things are going on, how the laws of nature is working. Simply superficially, "We have got some ideas." Fundamentally they have no knowledge. So we are trying to enlighten them with our teeny effort. Although it is single-handed, still it is genuine. If you kindly try to understand the whole philosophy—the first thing is, andhā yathāndair upanīyamānā, the whole world is now being conducted by blind leaders. And they're keeping people in darkness because they are themselves in darkness. They do not know what is light. So they do not know what is the object of life, what is the destination of life. Simply in blind faith they have created so many isms. It is simply misleading. It is little difficult to understand that we are simply leading others... That's a fact, that's a fact. If you impersonally try to understand this philosophy that every man is kept in the darkness of a different stamp, different ism. That is the first instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, tathā dehāntara-prāptir, after death you have to change your body. Then where is your ism? Whole ism changed. That they do not understand. They're so much in darkness, mūḍha. "Today I am very great national leader, my country, my..." So on, so on. And tomorrow by the laws of nature if I become a dog in Europe, then where is my nationalism? And it is possible. What is called? Because you are under nature's law, you are not independent. Therefore they have given up this idea that there is life after death. This is their first ignorance. Everyone is thinking that this life is everything for twenty years or thirty years or hundred years-eat, drink, be merry, enjoy then everything is finished. The whole Russian people, they think like that. Not whole, I don't, I cannot say but the learned, their learned professors, they think like that. The life is ended after this body. So our people also, our these politicians, they also think like that. So this is the platform of ignorance. And people are so much (indistinct), born into this ignorance. It is very, very difficult to raise them from this ignorance. This is our task. The first business is to convince him that "Your life continues." Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). But it is very difficult for the modern man to understand. They have been so poorly educated that it is very difficult. But this is the first beginning of knowledge and if we are in the conception that "I am this body and the body is everything," then we are no better that the cats and dogs. So this is a movement to raise people from the platform of cats' and dogs' life. It is little difficult but we have to do it. That is our mission, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, para-upakāra. They're living like cats and dogs, do something good for them so that they may live like actual human beings. This is our... So you kindly stay here for some days, read our books and if there is any question, doubt, I shall be very glad to enlighten you. But this is the fact, the whole world is misguided by the rascal leaders, I must say that. Andhā, andhā is the last word of rascaldom, andhā yathāndair upanīyamānā.

Conversation on Train to Allahabad -- January 11, 1977, India:

Prabhupāda: Who cares for Vivekananda? Who cares for Dayananda? Nobody cares. They are doing their own business. Still, daily two lakhs of contributions in Vaikuṇṭhanātha temple, Tirupati, still. Who is paying their money? Ordinary payers. Who cares for Radhakrishnan? India is not so fool that by the words of Radhakrishnan they will stop worshiping Kṛṣṇa, will not worship Kṛṣṇa. India, although poverty-stricken, illiterate, but they have got their still... All, millions of people, will come in this Mela. Who cares for Radhakrishnan? There are so many atheists came and gone, things are going on as it is. This is culture.

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.

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.

Room Conversation -- January 20, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: ...neither they do not know how life becomes possible. They may go on (Imitating the speaker?) "Bhag, bhag," but these two things are absent. You are all scientists? No. You do not know how life becomes possible. They simply theorize in so many ways, but they cannot give us any positive information. (Bengali) "Man is the architect of his own fortune." So we can take the words of the ācāryas. (Bengali) (someone preaching in Oriya in background) (Prabhupāda speaks in Bengali to guests, tells someone to give them prasāda)

Indian boy: I want to read some books published by Swamiji. Can I get?

Prabhupāda: Yes, why not? You can have here. We have got forty standing orders from this city in different libraries, colleges. So you can take books from any library, or if you like you can purchase also.

Indian: From libraries?

Prabhupāda: Yes. So many libraries, they have ordered. There is a list in Orissan. (aside:) You can give me little, little sample... (break) ...for life that it is a dead body. A dead body. So what is the use of decorating a dead body? So if anyone accepts Christ actually and his instruction, then it proves that he has got a good soul. Otherwise what... He's dead body. That's a fact. If one accepts that Christ says, "Thou shall not kill. Thou shall not do this," if one is actually a person with soul, they must accept this. Otherwise where is the use? Dead body. The same thing, as we say, aprāṇasya hi dehasya maṇḍanaṁ loka-rañjanam. What is the use of decorating a dead body? A dead body means soul-less. When the soul is not there, it is called dead body. So even one has got the soul, but he does not act... They possesses the soul.

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: Happy must be because he's a fool.

Satsvarūpa: They say man has only been in existence a little while comparatively. So he's just very young. He's got so much he's going to learn, and then, because he's young...

Prabhupāda: That means he is going to learn. He is not learned. That is another word of rascal.

Satsvarūpa: He's new on the scene, so don't expect too much, but he'll soon know everything.

Prabhupāda: What is new? History, whole history, is the same. Your forefathers, his forefathers, never have done that? Why it is new?

Satsvarūpa: Well, they say there's been regular improvements, medicines...

Prabhupāda: What is that improvement?

Satsvarūpa: Medicines have done away with so many diseases.

Prabhupāda: What is that? Disease... Does it mean there is no disease? You die by this disease or that disease. What is the improvement?

Gurukṛpā: They say that people used to live much longer, that they live longer now.

Prabhupāda: So what is the use of living longer, a tree is living longer, five thousand years. Does it mean that it is important life? A tree is standing for seven thousand years. There is a tree in San Francisco.

Room Conversation -- January 28, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, this is the position. Those who are neophyte, they are always in danger. Therefore their duty is to be guided by sādhu-śāstra-guru. That's all. That is our... Now, I'll say from my practical life... It is not pride. Actually everyone knows that my Guru Mahārāja had thousands of disciples. So out of thousands of disciples, practically I am little successful. That everyone knows. Why? Because I firmly believed in the words of my guru. That's all. This is the... There may be many other Godbrother, maybe very learned and very advanced, whatever it may be, favored, and... Everyone claims that "I am the most favorite." And practical point of view... So I think sometimes that "Why this wonderful thing has happened to me?" So I search out. I search out only that I cent percent believe in the words of my spiritual... That's all, nothing else. Guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete koriyā aikya, āra nā koriho mane āśā **. Don't think of any nonsense. Simply execute what your guru has said. That is success. You are daily singing, guru-mukha-padma-vākya **. You know the meaning?

Pṛthu-putra: Yes. Cittete koriyā aikya, āra nā koriho mane āśā.

Prabhupāda: This is the instruction. And the child decides it that "Whatever my parent says, that's all I shall do. I shall do nothing," then he's safe.

Satsvarūpa: "My only wish is to have my consciousness purified by the words emanating from his lotus mouth."

Prabhupāda: Then he's safe. And as soon as he manufactures—finished. So don't do this. Yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau, tasyaite kathitā... (ŚU 6.23). This is the secret of spiritual success. Vṛndāvana, there are so many dangerous. All these bābājīs, they are... "Oh, I am not going out of Vṛndāvana." But he has got connection with so many women. So what is the use? Have you experience of this? He's attached to women and doing all sinful activities in Vṛndāvana, and he's a devotee. "He cannot go out of Vṛndāvana." This is going on, manufacturing biḍi, smoking biḍi, in the dress of Rūpa Gosvāmī, loincloth, big tilaka, kaṇṭhi, and what he's doing? Biḍi-making. Have you seen?

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: ...the words of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Do not forget. What He has said about the Western people?

Hari-śauri: The further West you go, the more demoniac they become.

Prabhupāda: You cannot speak? Paścimera loka saba mūḍha anācāra. Find out this verse, where it is.

Jayapatākā: Western are all are like asses?

Prabhupāda: No, not asses. Yes, mūḍhas. (chuckles) And anācāra, misbehaved.

Jayapatākā: Anācāra, misbehaved.

Prabhupāda: Misbehaved. So this is the words of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. From India, the more you go to the Western side, you'll find all fools, rascals, and misbehaved. Paścimera loka saba mūḍha anācāra. If you become impartial, you'll understand Him. Not clean, eating all, everything nonsense, they do not..., have no brain to understand spiritual life. Are they not mūḍha anācāra? Hm? What do you think?

Jayapatākā: Yes.

Room Conversations -- February 20, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Not that willingly they're coming, "Oh, it is good institution." That they do not. One or two, that way they are coming. Otherwise...

Jayapatākā: But the others who are giving the children here, they are seeing that here the child can benefit.

Prabhupāda: Yes, their fathers realize. But generally all helpless people, no caretaking at home, "So let me go to..."

Jayapatākā: Up to now there's been no book distribution. Only thing people heard is by word of mouth. And actually the word of mouth won't convey a very broad understanding. "You can go and stay. Bas." But now with our book distribution...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayapatākā: ...we increase. Then, as intelligent people read your books, Śrīla Prabhupāda, then they'll be convinced.

Prabhupāda: They are coming. They're writing letters. So do this.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The point that I was trying to bring out, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is that as you were mentioning that you had desire to spend your money for printing books... The point I'm trying to bring out is that...

Prabhupāda: Print books, sell, and expand.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What I'm saying is that...

Prabhupāda: Directly I do not want to spend money.

Room Conversation -- February 25, 1977, Mayapura:

Bali-mardana: Hm. One must become free from all doubt.

Prabhupāda: And then?

Bali-mardana: You always said because you had faith in the words of your Guru Mahārāja, therefore...

Prabhupāda: Yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau (ŚU 6.23). Similar surrender to guru. Yathā deve, as you surrender to Kṛṣṇa—similar to guru—then your life is perfect. Yathā deve tathā gurau, tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante. Then this meaning of the scripture will be revealed automatically. And you are singing daily, guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete kariyā aikya, āra nā kariha mane āśā **. Nothing more. Then your life is perfect. This is secret. Guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete kariyā aikya, āra nā kariha mane āśā **. Don't manufacture ideas, rascal. Then it is finished. In material world everyone is a demon-crazy. Everyone is manufacturing ideas. And they are suffering. All rascals, are manufacturing ideas. Kartāham iti manyate. Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate (BG 3.27). He's fully under control of the laws of nature and he's thinking, "I am independent. I can manufacture ideas." Āḍhyo 'bhijanavān... That is... Find out this. Āḍhyo 'bhijanavān asmi ko 'nyo 'sti, some like that, in the Sixteenth Chapter. "Demon-crazy." Crazy demons are thinking like that. (chuckles) "I can manufacture something. I am very intelligent. We..."

Hari-śauri: Oh.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation Meeting with Dr. Sharma (from Russia) -- April 17, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That, we give the example.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. He is a doctor, and he is stating that he knows for a fact that these geneticists, they are bluffing. Actually they cannot say.

Dr. Sharma: So one has to take the words of the guru.

Prabhupāda: Therefore in our Hindu society there is garbhādhāna-saṁskāra, so that everyone knows that "This man is this man's father." That is garbhādhāna-saṁskāra. And especially in brāhmaṇa family, if there is no garbhādhāna-saṁskāra, immediately he becomes a śūdra, because cannot give real identity of the father.

Dr. Sharma: It is most unfortunate that in the West and elsewhere, I have found the people with a great interest and enthusiasm maintain a pedigree chart of the Pomeranian and Alsation dog in their house.

Prabhupāda: This is gotra.

Dr. Sharma: Yes. They maintain a pedigree chart of Alsation dogs and Pomeranian dogs in their houses.

Prabhupāda: Our this gotra...

Guest (2): Not the human being they don't keep it. It is only the dogs they keep in Western countries.

Prabhupāda: Dogs?

Second Meeting with Mr. Dwivedi -- April 24, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Poor means poor in knowledge. Otherwise even a small ants, it is not poor. It is eating. You are not giving food. In this room you'll find some hole. Hundreds and thousands of ants will come out. Are you giving him food? And you go to the jungle. Thousands of elephants are there. Are you giving them food? Why you are concerned about the poor? Who is poor? Poor means who has no knowledge. He is rascal. He is poor. Poor means poor in knowledge. Otherwise nobody is poor. Everyone is getting his food according to his karma. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). These are wrong theories. Wrong means because they are rascals, they are putting something rascal, idea. Mūḍhaḥ nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam, avyayam. Nityo nityānāṁ ceta... This is Vedic version. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). (Hindi) We want to stop all this nonsense. That is our mission. Our Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission is that "You become guru," as I was telling, "and teach, deliver persons where you are." If you say, "How can I become guru?" there is no difficulty. Simply repeat the words of Bhagavad-gītā. That's all. You become guru. So our mission is to create real guru, not these jugglers. And real guru is he who speaks on behalf of Kṛṣṇa. And that is wan... It is very simple. Do you accept or not? Boliye.

Mr. Dwivedi: (Hindi) (laughter)

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) ...manufacturing word, nārāyaṇa daridra. Lakṣmī-pati is daridra. Kitna gādhā. (Hindi) ...without checking. (Hindi) (Hindi conversation) We want to reestablish this. This is our mission. Everything is there. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upade... "You simply make your life successful by understanding Bhagavad-gītā and preach this. You become guru." So where is the difficulty? Why don't you do that? Boliye. (Hindi) You quoted from Vivekananda, not from the Bhagavad-gītā.

Srila Prabhupada Vigil -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Impressed.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "We arrived at the courthouse and waited in the big hallway while the Reverend went through to the public gallery. The plainclothesman who arrested us soon turned up, now dressed in uniform. It took a little persuasion before they cautiously took some of Lord Nityānanda's prasāda in the form of cookies while we waited for our case to turn up." The devotees brought prasādam with them to the courtroom and were distributing. "A stir went... At last we were beckoned into the courthouse itself and ushered into the dock. A stir went around the assembly in the court. Shaven heads and saffron robes were the last thing anyone expected to see in Her Majesty's court on a Tuesday afternoon. The magistrate, a balding, portly man in his late middle age, a red nose in his dark grey suit, surveyed us over the top of his gold-rimmed spectacles. We affirmed our plea of not guilty to the clerk of the court, and one of the constables who was sworn in at the witness box proceeded to report the supposed conditions of our arrest. The actual number of the chanting nagara-saṅkīrtana party miraculously grew from the original five first of all to seven when he started his account, and later to eight persons when he described how three devotees ran off and escaped arrest. According to his description, it seemed that many more people had been using Oxford Street than we had been aware of. Indeed, unlimited numbers of pedestrians had been obstructed and forced into the road at the grave risk of being run over by the almost nonexistent traffic. The judge listened impartially and then, since we had no advocate to speak on our behalf, he asked if we would like to cross-examine the evidence of the policeman. When we humbly pointed out that the constable, like everyone else, had imperfect senses, that he had contradicted himself in assessing the actual number of devotees, the judge politely suggested that it was a mathematical error. A titter of laughter rippled around the courtroom at his remark, while the police constable shuffled his feet and looked embarrassed. We were asked if we ourselves would like to speak for our defense, so having been previously chosen as a spokesman, I volunteered to be sworn in at the witness box. Surprised when the usher asked me to hold a copy of Bhagavad-gītā, I read out the words of the card presented before me." He didn't swear on the Bible; he swore on the Bhagavad-gītā. "

Talk with Svarupa Damodara -- June 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Mad-bhaktiṁ labhate param. It is the last stage of knowledge. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). When you surpass all the stages... Mad-bhaktiṁ labhate param. It is the last word of knowledge. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavanti. So unless you understand the supreme cause, Kṛṣṇa, there is no knowledge. And if you understand Kṛṣṇa, then you understand everything. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavanti. Kṛṣṇa also says, aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2), ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). If you understand Kṛṣṇa, then everything.... And how Kṛṣṇa can be understood? Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). No other way. You cannot understand by any other way. Therefore bhakti-vedanta is last knowledge. There is.... Argument there is.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The reaction from that Dr. Kundu... As soon as I said Bhaktivedanta, he immediately realized that this is the personal aspect or, they would say, the personalism or Vaiṣṇava philosophy. So it is also a good fact on those who know some meaning about this. So we can make it...

Prabhupāda: Unless there is personal conception, there is no question of bhakti. (break) Bhakti means the way to understand the person. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). Mām means person, aham, mām. Vague idea, Brahman; distributed idea, Paramātmā; and the personal idea can be applied here. It is said, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). It is not impersonal, not scattered. Particular person, Kṛṣṇa. When Yaśodā-mā was allowing her child to suck her breast, the child was.... And Yasoda mother was enjoying the beautiful face, patting. But all of a sudden she saw within the mouth the whole universe. Immediately she became disturbed: "Another danger is coming." She's not concerned with Kṛṣṇa's expansive, gorgeous.... She's only concern is to Kṛṣṇa, what.... She became disturbed: "What is this nonsense? Again something is coming, danger? Let me remember Nārāyaṇa. He'll save my child from all..." The personal conception is so strong that he (she) disliked to see gorgeous opulence of his (her)...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Therefore it transcends jñāna.

Prabhupāda: That is jñāna.

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Here's one from the Mayor of Bombay, Murali S. Deora. He's the new mayor. " 'The good work of the members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness is well known to me. It is especially commendable that the founder-ācārya of the society, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, has been able to convince so many foreigners all about the simple purity of India's exalted philosophy-plain living and high thinking. Swamiji is a very highly respected Vedic scholar, and he has seen to it that his numerous disciples from all over India and the world stick to the actual disciplines required of students of our ancient philosophy. The growing cultural and educational center now under construction at Juhu...' " He refers it as the growing cultural and educational center. He's understood your purpose, Śrīla Prabhupāda. " '...is an object of deep interest and pride to myself and all fellow Bombay citizens. The members of Kṛṣṇa consciousness are always well mannered and cheerful due to the blessings of their benign Swamiji. Anyone who reads Śrīla Prabhupāda's clear translations and commentaries of well-known Sanskrit and Bengali literature can understand his secret of success. I do not think such accurate scholarly and clear expositions of Vedic culture can be found in English elsewhere. His Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publishing house has made sure that the immortal words of our classics have been presented in first-class style. Among the BBT publications, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta, comprising an encyclopedia of Vedic knowledge, are especially notable. I have examined volumes of these sets and recommend these sets not only for our municipal corporation libraries and municipal-funded libraries, but for all libraries of the world...' "

Prabhupāda: They are approaching municipal libraries?

Room Conversation -- October 24, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, we were thinking that this Vanamali Prabhu, he has made this medicine. So why not find out what is this medicine from him and you can take that in the meantime. He's made this medicine, Vanamali.

Prabhupāda: What is the benefit?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, according to him, this is makara-dhvaja. I mean, I don't discount that this may be Makara-dhvaja. I am not rejecting it simply on the word of that Rāmānujī kavirāja who was here. Otherwise, then we simply wait for the makara-dhvaja.

Prabhupāda: That we'll do.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. I'm always remembering your words, "Some husband must be there."

Prabhupāda: Wait for the husband.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. Wait for the husband.

Prabhupāda: So, take three seats in plane. That will be nice. And the best of the plane, 7-7 or who?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, 747 there aren't any. The Jumbo jet, that we cannot get.

Prabhupāda: No...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: 707, 727, they're both Boeings. They're good.

Prabhupāda: Then take that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They're big jets.

Room Conversation -- November 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's called Preaching is the Essence. "His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda." It says, "Compiled by Rāmeśvara dāsa Swami and Śubhānanda dāsa Brahmacārī." It says, "A note of explanation. Every word of the text of this book is taken directly from the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, founder-ācārya of the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. The text appearing in boldface type is Śrīla Prabhupāda's translations of verses from the Vedic literatures. The text in regular roman type consists of excerpts from His Divine Grace's summary studies and purports. Contents in brief: 1) The mission of the Lord—to give all living entities the benediction of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. 2) It is the duty of the devotee to preach." Each one of these subjects, then they give verses or purports.

Brahmānanda: All about preaching.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In other words, a devotee can use this book to learn these verses which substantiate the following points. These are the points. "3) Preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the highest welfare activity. 4) Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be distributed to everyone without restriction."

Prabhupāda: How many copies?

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Courage of an Englishman and the heart of a Bengali mother."

Prabhupāda: This is the word of a great poet.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Girirāja's parents took him there, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and they made another offer to him.

Prabhupāda: What is that? (Tamāla Kṛṣṇa laughs)

Girirāja: Well, no, they... My father has increased the fortune, so he was trying to tempt me again, but I wasn't interested. But I think in the end he may give in to Kṛṣṇa, because we were in... We were helping Prabhaviṣṇu by giving him dollars, and he would give us rupees. So we were in a shop, and my mother was making a check, which she was giving to me to give to Prabhaviṣṇu. So the owner of the shop thought that the check was for him, and he started making some objections. So my father said, "No. In our system the husband gives to the wife, and the wife gives to the son, and the son gives to Kṛṣṇa." (laughter) So everyone laughed.

Prabhupāda: Just try to manage.

Girirāja: I had a very nice dream last night in which Your Divine Grace appeared. And you were walking around the premises of the Vṛndāvana temple, and there were some doll exhibits. So you were saying that they should improve the quality of the exhibits, because this is their sādhana. So I felt that you were, actually, you were telling me that I should improve the quality of my service and that this was my sādhana, but to be, you know, polite, instead of saying it directly, you were pointing out to their service. And then you started to speak very directly and very boldly, and you were saying...

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: In that also, I am diminished.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's a fact. Now when you try and sit up, you always fall over to the side.

Prabhupāda: So in case... "In case," no. From the fact I can see that I have no appetite. Then how I can increase strength?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, I can only repeat the words of the kavirāja.

Prabhupāda: No, that is not...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He states that you can't expect to eat as long as the liver and the kidneys are not functioning properly.

Prabhupāda: So that is not functioning.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, he says that he can get it to function properly.

Prabhupāda: He says, but I practically see.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But his medicine cannot... He also says that his medicine cannot be judged over a period of five or six days. He's not claiming...

Prabhupāda: I mean in case I do not increase.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All right. Okay. In case you don't increase. Because I don't think we can say... Unless we want to say that this kavirāja is absolutely wrong. But if we accept...

Prabhupāda: You cannot say wrong or right.

Room Conversation -- November 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Girirāja: Then, just after I left... Before that, I spoke to Gopāla Kṛṣṇa, and he was arranging for Mahāṁśa Swami and Mr. Polareddy to meet the President of India to invite him to be the chief guest because Mr. Polareddy of Hyderabad knows the present President. And then, so far as the publicity for the opening, we felt that we should actually fix up the chief guest first, because if some big person like the President comes, that will be an important part of the wording of the invitation and the other publicity.

Prabhupāda: So finishing?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Construction?

Girirāja: Well, the building was not finished. I think that... I mean the inside of the temple and the theater and the restaurant and lobby of the guesthouse and many of the guestrooms will be ready, but the marble work on the domes was very behind schedule. So when I was there only about ten or fifteen percent of the marble on the three big domes was up, and the... Of course, the three domes at the entrance were almost ready. So the three main domes could be finished by the time of the opening, but there will be marble work that has to go on after the opening.

Prabhupāda: It will never be finished. When the date is being fixed?

Girirāja: Well, we fixed it for January lst and begin the ceremonies on December 29th, which is Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī's Disappearance Day. And... The ceremonies begin a few days before the actual installation of the Deities. So those ceremonies, or yajñas, those will begin on Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta's Disappearance Day, which is December 29th, in about six or seven weeks. And then, a few days later, on January lst, which is the English New Year's Day and Sunday, that will be the actual installation ceremony, and thousands of people will be coming. And we also discussed that there should be very opulent prasādam distribution, and different arrangements for receiving the people and kīrtana and darśana and festival activities.

Prabhupāda: Still work is going on.