Prabhupāda: ...moment I am sick. When I am well enough, I shall do something. Hm? Tamāla Kṛṣṇa?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, that's a very proper answer. So in order for you to be able to do something, they should pray to Jagannātha. Śrīla Prabhupāda? Girirāja is here.
Prabhupāda: Oh. Girirāja?
Girirāja: Yes.
Prabhupāda: How is your health?
Girirāja: Oh, I'm better, improved.
Prabhupāda: What is the news of Nepal?
Girirāja: Oh, well, they have a very nice program there. They have a nice house with many rooms, and the Nepalese people...
Prabhupāda: How many rooms?
Girirāja: About nine big rooms. And they do street saṅkīrtana every day in the main street, and they distribute literature. And the Society is not yet registered there, but I went with Prabhaviṣṇu to a lawyer, and we've set up the formalities for getting registered, but the government is presently reviewing the registration law, so it might take a few weeks before they accept our case.
Prabhupāda: On the whole, it is favorable. Hm?
Girirāja: Oh, yes. There is a tremendous scope. And the royal family is very powerful. They run the whole country, and, of course, they're Hindus. So I also went with Prabhaviṣṇu to meet one relation of the Queen Mother, and this lady was very enthusiastic about our activities. So I discussed with Prabhaviṣṇu the strategy how to approach the royal family, and... It's a Hindu state. They don't claim to be secular, like in India, so...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hopeful.
Girirāja: Yes, it is hopeful. Then he has one local boy who has joined, Nepali, and he's a very nice boy. I mean, there's so much field for preaching. There's the royal family, then there's membership for the business community, and there's saṅkīrtana and book distribution for the general people, and then also there are many hippies there. So we could recruit devotees from amongst them.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The hippies seem to be still our best customers, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The hippies seem to be still very good customers. (Prabhupāda laughs)
Girirāja: That's because Prabhupāda's patita-pāvana. And the temple atmosphere is nice. It's mainly saṅkīrtana. There are no women there, so very good atmosphere. They have a nice program. They have a love feast program, and many people are coming. I think they can have two or three hundred people coming very soon. And the people are very simple and good natured. Everywhere we went, people would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They recognized the devotees?
Girirāja: Yes. And they're not envious. It seems that in India many of the people are a little envious of us, but everywhere we went in Nepal, it seemed that the people were very happy to see us.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Have you ever been there, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: No.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You'd like to go sometime?
Prabhupāda: Why not?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. We'll include that on our world parikrama.
Girirāja: Actually, the relation of the Queen's mother whom we met, she was also asking about people coming who could give good lectures and enthuse everyone. So I said that you yourself would probably like to come when you're feeling better. So she was really wild about that idea. I'm sure that they would give you a real royal welcome.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very good field it sounds like, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Trivikrama: What about the language? Is there problem with language?
Girirāja: No. The educated people speak English. In all the schools they teach English, so all the youngsters speak English in Kathmandu. And then most people in Kathmandu, even if they don't speak English, they speak Hindi. And there are just a few who only speak Nepali. But Prabhaviṣṇu has arranged for The Perfection of Yoga to be translated into Nepali.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He sounds like he's doing very good, Prabhaviṣṇu.
Girirāja: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Good man.
Girirāja: He's very good. So he's eager to get that in print. Then they'll be able to distribute literature to everyone without exception.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? Do you remember when Prabhaviṣṇu was here you told him to go with "the courage of an Englishman and the heart of a Bengali mother"? He remembers those words.
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... You quoted the verse,
- yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa
- āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' ei deśa
- (CC Madhya 7.128)
And you were saying, "This is my order, so you do it for me." I mean, I felt that you were saying that since it was your order and we were doing it for you, even though it's very difficult, but it would be successful.
Prabhupāda: Anyway, there is a beginning in Nepal. Try to implement.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? When you took prasādam today did you find a little taste? Not yet. Did you have any avocado?
Prabhupāda: That was little tasteful.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm. You've been thinking about having that for a long time. You talked about it on and off before. Avocado is said to be very good, nutritious.
Prabhupāda: What is the rent of the house?
Girirāja: The rent? It's about twelve hundred rupees, but that's less than one thousand Indian rupees, and it's right on the way to the Paśu-pati-nātha temple, which is the biggest temple in Nepal.
Prabhupāda: Hm. Very famous temple.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You've heard of it, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Hm. People go there to see.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How is it on the way? Directly on the way?
Girirāja: There's a crossroads which all the traffic passes to go to that temple, and our temple is about just a few hundred yards from that crossroads.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We could put a sign on the road. We have a whole building?
Girirāja: Yes. It's a bungalow.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm. In a compound?
Girirāja: Yes. In the compound they're growing flowers and vegetables.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Wow. How many acres?
Girirāja: Well, it's about half an acre, but whatever land they have, they're using.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They have a lease?
Girirāja: I don't know if they have a lease, but the owner of the house is a Vaiṣṇava, and he's very... Actually his house is next door, and his house is called Viṣṇu-nivāsa. And when he built the second house, he wanted it to be used as a temple, and he called it Bhagavān-nivāsa.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So he's very pleased with the use of the house.
Girirāja: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How many members they've made there?
Girirāja: Well, he's only made two members. I think he's going to get into it a little more. He doesn't have to be registered to make members, because the two members he made... Tax exemption has to be... Each case is considered individually. There's no system, but the lawyer and other people I spoke to felt that, since it was a Hindu state, and since they wanted to encourage such activities, that they would give us tax exemption. There's even a community of Marwari businessmen. So Prabhaviṣṇu had made one or two members by giving receipts from Calcutta, since we're not registered. So I suggested that he should concentrate on the Marwaris for the time being, and he can give receipts from Calcutta, and that would be good practice, because they are the most willing to become members. And then, by the time he got registered, he could start approaching the Nepali businessmen.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How will the Calcutta receipt help them?
Girirāja: Well, I don't think...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They care much.
Girirāja: No. Just to give them something official. He has seven boys there now, and a few of them ...
Prabhupāda: They are taking their prasādam and living there?
Girirāja: Yes. They have nice meal in the morning and evening, and then in the day the main activity is they have the chanting party, and around the chanting party they distribute literature.