740426 - Conversation - Tirupati
Satsvarūpa: He said, "You write in your books that your movement by Lord Caitanya is the..., as if it's the most exclusive thing." He said, "But actually, in India the Rāmānuja is a more prominent Vaiṣṇava sect." So, as I understand our claim, it's based on the fact that we worship Kṛṣṇa in a higher form, in Kṛṣṇaloka, and they worship Kṛṣṇa which leads to Vaikuṇṭha.
Prabhupāda: Yes. [break] ...quarter there is no cinema song. Bhaja gopālam. (there is music playing in background, recording of a boy or woman singing "bhaja gopāla ")
Satsvarūpa: Śrīnivāsa (?) said every... [break] ...is controlled by the temple here. Even the government doesn't control.
Prabhupāda: This is all temple here around (indistinct). [break]
Satsvarūpa: ...prominence. [break]
Indian man: We came here yesterday. We went to the temple three times and just for a long...
Prabhupāda: Oh, very good.
Indian man: This is my wife and daughter. You came yesterday?
Prabhupāda: Yes, I came yesterday at about eleven.
Indian man: We saw you in the evening going to the temple.
Prabhupāda: Yes. It is very nice place.
Indian man: Very nice, beautiful place. Very inspiring. Where's (indistinct) American? (?)
Prabhupāda: I am, of course, Indian, but I have got my headquarters in America. (chuckles) Yes.
Indian man: America. (chuckles) I think I have seen you at Bombay once.
Prabhupāda: Yes, Bombay I have got my headquarters.
Indian man: And your friends were there at the airport, Santa Cruz Airport, and you came by plane, some two years back I remember.
Prabhupāda: No, I am going every year. Two times, three times, I have to go all round the world.
Indian man: I respectfully request you your name, please.
Prabhupāda: Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. That's all. Call me Prabhupāda. I am preaching this cult, what you have come to see, this being expanded all over the world.
Indian man: Yes, yes. It's very good.
Prabhupāda: And we have got about hundred temples.
Indian man: At every America?
Prabhupāda: No, no, all over the world. In America I have got forty temples.
Indian man: Forty temples, I see.
Prabhupāda: Yes. In England we have got about five. And France, in German, we have got four.
Indian man: In Germany also.
Prabhupāda: Oh yes. Germany, Sweden, Rome, and Australia.
Indian man: They are also... They are very devoted to our creed, our religion?
Prabhupāda: Yes, we are preaching Bhagavad-gītā. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śa... BG 18.66. That is the only religion.
Indian man: Yes, yes.
Prabhupāda: Everything is not religion. It is cheating. Only religion is to surrender to the Lord. That is religion. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmaḥ.
Indian man: I am a Vaiṣṇavite, you see. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, ahaṁ tvāṁ pāpebhyo... BG 18.66.
Prabhupāda: That is, religion. That is religion. Mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ.
Indian man: Oṁ namo nārāyaṇa (recites mantra ). These are our, is our mantra.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, you are Vaiṣṇava. The Vaiṣṇava, that is real form of religion. Others, they are not religion. It has been rejected in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo atra SB 1.1.2 . Atra, kaitavaḥ religion is rejected. Kaitavaḥ means cheating.
Indian man: We have to surrender ourselves to God. That's all.
Prabhupāda: That is religion. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam SB 6.3.19 . Religion means the codes and the laws given by the Lord. That is religion. So if one does not surrender to the Lord, then what kind of religion it is? It is not religion. Just like good citizen means who abides by the law of the state. If he does not care for the laws, then what kind of good citizen he is? Similarly, if one does not surrender to the Supreme, then his religion has no meaning. It is simply cheating, that's all. What is your name?
Indian man: Raja Gopal Iyengar.
Prabhupāda: Brāhmaṇa.
Indian man: Brāhmaṇa. Vaiṣṇavite.
Prabhupāda: Yes, Iyengars are all...
Indian man: We belong to South India.
Wife: Yesterday I saw you in the temple, I and my daughter.
Prabhupāda: Yes. How many children you have got?
Indian man: I have got three sons and four daughters.
Prabhupāda: All daughters, sons.
Indian man: Three sons, three daughters are married. This daughter is to be married. She is a doctorate. She has got M.Sc., Ph.D., in nuclear physics. She went to England for one year.
Prabhupāda: Where did you stay in England?
Daughter: Liverpool.
Prabhupāda: Liverpool. I think we have got our branch.
Daughter: Manchester, I have seen, Manchester.
Prabhupāda: Manchester you have seen? Oh. Manchester, Liverpool, and London... London we have got two.
Indian man: London, in London I have got my son. My son is there.
Prabhupāda: Oh. What he is doing?
Indian man: He is employed there. He's an accountant, cost accountant.
Prabhupāda: Oh. So your children are also... (laughs)
Indian man: I have got another boy in West Germany.
Prabhupāda: West Germany. Berlin?
Indian man: No, he is in Frankfurt.
Prabhupāda: Frankfurt. Oh, yes. Frankfurt is a big city. Sons are all married?
Indian man: The last son is not married. Two sons are married. Three daughters are... This daughter is to be married. We are trying, not able to get a suitable groom, you see. With your blessings I hope we will succeed.
Prabhupāda: (chuckles) Nowadays it is very difficult job to get married. (everyone laughs)
Wife: Suitable.
Prabhupāda: Well, suitable cannot be. There is no suitable.
Indian man: Difficult to find.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Formerly, as the girl is grown up, any boy.
Indian man: We used to marry at the age of ten, eleven. That is... Those days have been forty years back.
Prabhupāda: I was also married. My wife was eleven years old.
Indian man: My wife was eleven when she was married. I was only sixteen when I was married. Only a difference of four or five years.
Prabhupāda: Yes. And before that, I heard my father-in-law, he was eleven years old, and my mother-in-law was seven years old. My eldest sister was born at nine years old. And I was born after her marriage.
Indian man: Those old days are finished.
Prabhupāda: All right, thank you. (end)