761228 - Conversation A - Bombay

Conversations by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

761228R1-BOMBAY - December 28, 1976 - 16:52 Minutes

Girirāja: He made another point that in Krishna Shankar Shastri's compiling of the commentaries, commentators, that Śrīdhara Svāmī is given the first position.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Girirāja: But he says that is because he was the first, but it does not mean he was the best.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) It is nonsense. Unless one is best, why he should be given first? Any . . . if there is any meeting, the most important man is given the first position. At least out of respect. Everyone has given first position. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has therefore praised. What is his nonsense arguments?

Yaśomatīnandana: There are two other versions of Bhāgavatam. There also, Śrīdhara Svāmī has been considered the best commentator.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepts. Svāmī nā māne yei jana veśyāra bhitare (CC Antya 7.115). Everyone has given. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, iti svāmī caraṇa kahe. Jīva Gosvāmī, all authorities, they accept. And why they are criticizing Śrīdhara Svāmī?

Girirāja: That is the main point.

Prabhupāda: That is the main point. If you can criticize Śrīdhara Svāmī, then your criticism, why you take the criticism? Then others, you must be judged.

Indian devotee: Because all of these other gurus, they are all devotees now, all of them.

Prabhupāda: So what they are going to answer to this? Will you accept everything? Ask them. So when the rascal . . . (indistinct) . . . but exposes you, what answer you have got? Why you are silent? Silent means acceptance. Maunam . . . (indistinct) . . . if I say: "You are rascal, you are thief," and if you don't reply, that means you accept it. Maunam . . . (indistinct) . . . if you do not protest, and if you do not say anything . . . so such a big criticism from . . . (indistinct) . . . and they are silent. Why do they not go to the court? Bluff only. That means he accepts . . . (indistinct) . . . has been made here?

(static—very indistinct for some time) (indistinct Hindi)

Indian devotee: He was here also with . . . (indistinct) . . . Mahārāja.

Prabhupāda: Another (indistinct) . . . also . . . (indistinct)

Indian devotee: He is son of . . . (indistinct) . . . Mahārāja, but he is very envious. Very, very envious. I went to him, I remember, when we were . . .

Prabhupāda: They are envious of the Gauḍīya-sampradāya, because of . . . (indistinct) . . . since a long time.

Yaśomatīnandana: But they cannot say anything against Gauḍīya-sampradāya because Vallabhācārya glorified Caitanya Mahāprabhu. They cannot say anything against Caitanya Mahāprabhu because Vallabhācārya glorified Him.

Prabhupāda: No. He has written to . . . (indistinct) . . .?

Girirāja: Yes. He made another point, that is, Vallabhācārya actually considered Caitanya Mahāprabhu as his superior. Then after this incident, still, he criticized Śrīdhara Swami. So that means he did not accept Caitanya Mahāprabhu as superior.

Prabhupāda: There is no question of accept. He was plainly defeated. Because he said that . . . (indistinct) . . . even Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted his invitation after this. He also invited, and he also . . . (indistinct) . . . talk like that. So not only that, Caitanya Mahāprabhu criticized, but as soon as Vallabhācārya invited, He accepted. There was no enviousness. Rather friendly, sometimes they call others are . . . (indistinct) . . . otherwise why Caitanya Mahāprabhu would accept invitation from Vallabhācārya? But they are habituated to criticize . . . (indistinct) . . . that Caitanya Mahāprabhu chastised him: "Why should you think like that?" In a friendly way . . . (indistinct) . . . they are still criticizing Śrīdhara Swami, and if others criticize them, "Why you are criticizing Śrīdhara Swami?" there is no answer. This is the position. (indistinct—only fragments of conversation audible for some time)

Hari-śauri: There was one . . . in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, there was one tax collector, a friend of Nityananda Prabhu, and then afterwards he was raided by the authorities, and his whole family and everything was completely finished.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Indian devotee: That was Haridāsa Ṭhākura.

Hari-śauri: No, . . . (indistinct)

Indian devotee: He was the same one who also tried to . . . besides, some of the Vallabhācārya devotees told me in Ahmedabad that . . . (indistinct) . . . is also as debauched as the other . . . (indistinct) . . . (indistinct comments by devotees) What is his qualification to speak as ācārya? (indistinct comments by devotees)

Prabhupāda: . . . (indistinct)

Hari-śauri: They have no . . . (indistinct) . . . because they even refute what is in the śāstra. They were criticizing that Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja made mistakes when he wrote the Caitanya-caritāmṛta also.

Prabhupāda: They say like that?

Hari-śauri: Yeah, he said that he didn't know . . . he wrote the wrong version in the section about Vallabhācārya, and that the real version is somewhere else.

Prabhupāda: . . . (indistinct)

Hari-śauri: Yeah, well they don't accept the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) . . . they don't accept; we don't accept you. The whole world is accepting Caitanya-caritāmṛta . . . (indistinct) . . . all over the world, not only in India. All over the world. Is it not? (indistinct—fragmentary for some time)

Indian devotee: They even told me . . . (indistinct) . . . that this sampradāya will be finished by the forces from the . . . (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) . . . Gauḍīya-sampradāya. So if the court decision is there, why not claim?

(more indistinct fragments) (break)

Girirāja: They're having a ceremony of bringing the flag.

Devotee: Again?

Girirāja: Yes. From the Nathdwara, Bombay, at some place. And they invited us to do kīrtana.

Prabhupāda: You may go. You have no . . .? You can go.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Last time they would not let us distribute our magazines when they had it in Shrimati Morarji's house. They had the same ceremony in Shrimati Morarji's house here about a year ago, and they didn't like our book distribution there.

Prabhupāda: What this time, where it will be held?

Girirāja: This is an organization. This last time was Sumati Morarji's personal . . .

Prabhupāda: Private house. This is organized function. You ask them a place to show our books. If they deny, then we don't go. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) Jaya. Haribol.

Rādhā-vallabha: This one parade in Los Angeles, the Rose Bowl, they distribute thousands of books on this one day. What happens is all the karmīs get out there, sometimes the night before—at least very, very early in the morning—and they line both sides of the road.

Prabhupāda: To see?

Rādhā-vallabha: To see, yes. Approximately a million people. About a million people, they're just lining both sides of the road, and the street is empty before the parade. So this year we're going to have the gurukula boys do a kīrtana and go right up the road. So one million people will see the saṅkīrtana party.

Guru dāsa: And then it will be on television.

Rādhā-vallabha: It will probably be on television.

Hari-śauri: They have a similar parade in Melbourne like that, called a Moomba. Three-quarters of a million people come for it, and the whole city closes down. And they line up and down the main road and then they have a parade of floats. So they invited that we could put a float in, so Bali-mardana said he would try and get the ratha cart in. Three-quarters of a million people seeing Lord Jagannātha.

Guru dāsa: Why don't you do that in Los Angeles? (break) (end)