720514 - Conversation - Honolulu

Conversations by Date, 1972

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Govinda dāsī: (chants japa) (testing microphone?) Stop. (indistinct background overtaping) (break)

Gaurasundara: (reading letter from Acyutānanda) “…Swami, I will come to speak end quote. He invited me to Burdwan…”?

Prabhupāda: Burdwan.

Gaurasundara: “…Burdwan, and will give me an English Koran, and I will present him with a Śrī Īśopaniṣad. They are just ready for that.”

Prabhupāda: Yes. Very good.

Gaurasundara: “If Your Divine Grace writes to them, they will be very much encouraged.” That he gives the address.

Prabhupāda: Ha. Yes, I shall write.

Gaurasundara: “This will help the preaching in Bangladesh very much. Last week I paid my obeisances to Dāmodara Mahārāja and touched his feet.”

Prabhupāda: And that's nice. I am… And he is satisfied?

Gaurasundara: “He was threatening all the local people that if they attend our functions he would call the police. I met him on the road, and he immediately started shouting. Then I started shouting, and then he left Māyāpura for two weeks…”

Prabhupāda: Hmm.

Gaurasundara: “…in which time everybody came back to the meetings, and now 250 to 300 men are taking prasādam.”

Prabhupāda: Ah, he was not satisfied. He touched his feet, but still…

Gaurasundara: Even after he started shouting.

Prabhupāda: Then what can be done?

Gaurasundara: (laughs) So Acyutānanda started shouting back. (laughs) And then he…

Prabhupāda: He is a rascal, that Dāmodara Mahārāja. Nobody likes him.

Gaurasundara: “And now there are 250 to 300 taking prasādam here every Saturday and Sunday.”

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Gaurasundara: “Now we are friends again.”

Prabhupāda Ah, Dāmodara.

Gaurasundara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Ha. (laughs)

Gaurasundara: “And I am afraid the man is mad.”

Prabhupāda: I guess he is mad.

Gaurasundara: “He writes these very strange letters about Bengali history and trivia.”

Prabhupāda: His farce history.

Gaurasundara: “Your servant, Acyutānanda Swami.”

Prabhupāda: I shall dictate all this.

Gaurasundara: Yeah, we can do it in the morning.

Prabhupāda: Hmm. Morning is best.

Gaurasundara: Best time.

Prabhupāda: So things are going nicely.

Gaurasundara: In Māyāpura, very nice.

Prabhupāda: Yeah.

Gaurasundara: So when you go back there…

Prabhupāda: Lalitā Prasāda Ṭhākura is in my favor. His men are giving little trouble.

Gaurasundara: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: This is the…

Gaurasundara: And he doesn't want to…, to offend his men.

Prabhupāda: That is natural.

Gaurasundara: So immediately you can fly from… When you go there you can go from this side to Calcutta and see how it is going on.

Prabhupāda: So, we shall come again Hawaii?

Gaurasundara: Yeah, Hawaii, Japan.

Prabhupāda: Naturally.

Gaurasundara: Australia.

Prabhupāda: Hong Kong.

Gaurasundara: (laughs) Hong Kong. New Zealand. (laughs)

Govinda dāsī: His smile is very much revealing.

Gaurasundara: (aside to Govinda dasi: You’d better start cooking)

Prabhupāda: Not so many days. Two days, three days, like that.

Gaurasundara: Hah. Instead of two weeks.

Prabhupāda: So, short visit will encourage everybody.

Gaurasundara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Now, we, our workers work hard and seriously and sincerely, this mission will, I mean, advance. There is no doubt about it. Because we are sincerely working. There is nothing bogus. Our Godbrothers have deliberately disobeyed my Guru Mahārāja.

Gaurasundara: Ha.

Prabhupāda: That is my charge against them. Deliberately. He never appointed an ācārya. First of all they appointed one ācārya, you see, and later on he proved to be a rascal.

Devotee: Now they have several different ācāryas.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That made the fracture, you see.

Gaurasundara: Mādhava Mahārāja.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Gaurasundara: Mādhava Mahārāja.

Prabhupāda: No. Purī, Purī, Purī—another of my Godbrothers. He was duplicate (sic) number one. He was saying something on mouth, and...

Devotee: Hah.

Prabhupāda: So he was appointed ācārya. Whatever he may be, Guru Mahārāja never designated any ācārya. And the Śrīdhara Mahārāja, he was the principal man to support him.

Gaurasundara: Śrīdhara?

Prabhupāda: Ha. The Śrīdhara Swami from Bengal Maṭha. He made a great blunder, he and Professor Sanyal and Keśava Mahārāja. At that time he was, these three men supported, and he proved later on to be false. Actually this Tīrtha Mahārāja, he wanted to be ācārya. People did not like him, so they made another bad ācārya. (laughs) Why ācārya? They should have continued the preaching work uncontaminated. What is the use of ācārya? Sādhu will have come out automatically by working, but they did not. Propaganda.

Devotee: There is one group that accepts Bhakti-saraṅga as ācārya also.

Prabhupāda: So many.

Devotee: They have a Maṭha right down the street from our Māyāpura.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Devotee: And they have a big marble plaque on the wall that says how he went on a tour, and he brought back his Australian disciple with him.

Syāmasundara: Lord Zetland and… It sounds from the plaque like he conquered the West. And he found his statue in Kensington Park, Kṛṣṇa-mūrti. (laughs)

Govinda dāsī: Lord Zetland?

Prabhupāda: Let us not criticize others. Let us go on with our own work. Make your progress steady, you see. Where is that Australian student? (indistinct)

Devotee: Someone told you about that in Māyāpura, and you said that you knew the story that he had simply met a man on a boat, (laughs) and he brought him back and pleaded with him, “Please stay for two weeks at our āśrama.” And he came and stayed for two weeks and went away.

Prabhupāda: He was coming without any disciples. He made friendship, (laughs) canvassing that “You stay with us.” And he canvassed that “I have brought such Australian student.” Like that.

(pause) Now Ramakrishna mission will understand that we are their enemy. (laughs) It will be good propaganda for all this nonsense. (pause) Yes. Take this spectacles and give them.

Gaurasundara: Pradyumna?

Pradyumna: Can you bring in the electric shaver and the (indistinct)? And Prabhupāda’s (indistinct).

Gaurasundara: Hey Syāmasundara. I thought you guys were going to wait for me? I thought you were going to wait for me?

Syāmasundara: Coming?

Gaurasundara: Well I can't come right this minute. Why can't you wait a few minutes?

Syāmasundara: Better go?

Gaurasundara: Why not? (end)