771013 - Conversation B - Vrndavana
Prabhupāda: (Bengali with Pisimā and Bhakti-caru) [break]
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Purī Mahārāja.
Prabhupāda: Ah. (Bengali) (meeting with Purī Mahārāja and others—Bengali) ( kīrtana )
Purī Mahārāja: (Bengali) Where is he? He is in charge of Colombo. Where...?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Brahmānanda Mahārāja?
Purī Mahārāja: Not Brahmānanda Mahārāja.
Hari-śauri: Hṛdayānanda. South America?
Purī Mahārāja: (Bengali)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Haṁsadūta. Here he is.
Purī Mahārāja: Haṁsadūta. (laughs)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He took sannyāsa.
Purī Mahārāja: Ha. I have seen him, but I could not able to... Haṁsadūta. He sings well. Last parikrama I saw him.
Prabhupāda: (Bengali)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He captured a very big scientist.
Purī Mahārāja: Scientist.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: One Dr. Kovoor.
Purī Mahārāja: Singhali.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, in Ceylon. And this Dr. Kovoor was saying that life comes from chemicals. So Haṁsadūta Mahārāja challenged him that "If life comes from chemicals, then I will give you ten lakhs' rupees if you come to this hall and you make chemicals into life."
Purī Mahārāja: Life. (laughs)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So he challenged him to a big thing, and in the newspapers every day for two or three months there was discussion between Haṁsadūta Mahārāja on behalf of the belief that life comes from life, not from chemicals. Life comes from Kṛṣṇa. So he defeated this man, big scientist.
Purī Mahārāja: Ācchā. Ah, good.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And the man did not come.
Prabhupāda: You can read one newspaper article.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: One of the articles?
Prabhupāda: Yes. (Bengali) "Prepare one mosquito." (Purī Mahārāja laughs) (Bengali)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Shall I read, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "...the appropriate chemical into himself to check death..." Let him make himself deathless. "And restore his old and worn-out body with youthful luster and beauty. He may find this task too difficult, so perhaps he could just produce a simple form of life like a mosquito or a bedbug. Better still, let him recombine the chemicals of the praying mantis he decapitated, as described in his article, and bring it back to life. Or, is the science of Dr. Kovoor only a one-way road of destruction of life? But it may be that science is not yet ready to produce a finished product of life, so he could make a plastic egg and inject into it the yellow and white chemical substances, incubate such an artificial egg and thereby produce one chicken, which could then go on laying eggs and producing more and more chickens. Even this task may be a little too difficult for Dr. Kovoor, so perhaps he could simply produce a drop of milk or a grain of rice or an ounce of gold by chemical combination. Then we could begin to take him seriously. However, everyone knows that these are impossible tasks for even the most powerful so-called scientist. Dr. Kovoor will undoubtedly give the reader in his next exposition a long-winded barrage of words to cover up his bluff. The sum and substance of it will be, 'We will do it in the future. We are trying.' In any language, this is just a bluff."
Purī Mahārāja: Bluff.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Haṁsadūta Swami was preaching.
Purī Mahārāja: Yes. He's a Singhalese. I don't think he's a Singhalese.
Haṁsadūta: No. He's a Tamil.
Purī Mahārāja: His name...
Haṁsadūta: He's a Tamil from South India.
Purī Mahārāja: Christian.
Haṁsadūta: His father was a minister.
Purī Mahārāja: Yes. Proper dose you have given. Kṛṣṇa must bless him.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then he gave him big challenge. "Rupees five lakhs ' challenge to Dr. Kovoor."
Purī Mahārāja: (laughs) Dr. Kovoor. He cannot be called as "doctor." How could he be a doctor?
Haṁsadūta: Quack. Quack doctor.
Prabhupāda: There is a story. A bridegroom was selected. So, the other party, bride's party, they inquired how the bridegroom was quite qualified. So they said, "He's a doctor." Then they inquired, "What kind of doctor? Doctor of philosophy, doctor of medicine or...?"
Purī Mahārāja: Doctor which way?
Prabhupāda: So he said, "No, no, no. He's not all these nonsense. He's a big doctor." "What is that?" "Conductor." (laughter)
Purī Mahārāja: He's a big superior doctor, con-doctor. (laughs)
Prabhupāda: (Bengali) ...con-ductor. Bhakti-caru?
Brahmānanda: Just calling him. He's in the kitchen, Śrīla Prabhupāda. (pause)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Here he is, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: (Bengali) [break]
Purī Mahārāja: (Bengali)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? Maybe Purī Mahārāja would like to see the pictures from the Los Angeles Ratha-yātrā. Remember those pictures I showed you in London?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I have a photo album. This is the Ratha-yātrā we celebrated in Los Angeles, California. This is Jagannātha. We call it New Dvārakā. Los Angeles we call New Dvārakā. And this is the Jagannātha mūrtis, Gaura-Nitāi, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. This is in the temple. And Rukmiṇī-Dvārakādhīśa. So this is they are constructing the rathas, very big. This was a pandal we are constructing. Many of the little children, they helped to make the garlands, mālā. And the artists, they did the paintings.
Purī Mahārāja: Paintings. These are artists. Artists. Artists.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then they made so many signs, preparations. This was the vyāsāsana in the ratha, and Jagannātha Swami was carried.
Purī Mahārāja: Carried, yes, being carried.
Jayatīrtha: Each cart is fifty feet high.
Purī Mahārāja: Ācchā? Jagannātha's ratha is only forty-five feet.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But here it's fifty feet.
Purī Mahārāja: In Purī the Jagannātha ratha is forty-five.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But this is Los Angeles. Everything is big there. You see Jagannātha. You see Him?
Purī Mahārāja: Yes. Jagannātha, yes. Dark eyes. (laughs)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very good eyes. And such a crowd. Two lakhs ' people attended. So many people came.
Purī Mahārāja: Jagannātha's Ratha-yātrā. (Bengali-explains to others.)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Lord Jagannātha is all-attractive. You cannot keep Him here. He's going out the door. This is... One of the sannyāsīs was giving a big lecture. We had some elephants. The children were riding on them. See, "Free Love Feast." Prasādam distributed... You can see these people are...
Purī Mahārāja: Love Feast.
Jayatīrtha: They served full prasādam to fifty thousand people.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fifty thousand people took full prasādam free of charge. [break]
Prabhupāda: ... ratha (Bengali) prasādam .
Purī Mahārāja: Prasādam .
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I just sent Hari-śauri to...
Purī Mahārāja: Yes, yes. They are preparing.
Hari-śauri: The prasādam will be ready in about five minutes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. They're just cooking the puris now. The halavā is done, and the sabji is almost ready. [break]
Prabhupāda: (Bengali)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The prasādam is here, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Purī Mahārāja: (laughs) There is so much prasādam .
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, not so much.
Prabhupāda: What you have given?
Purī Mahārāja: Puri, halavā and gulabjamin. You have prepared very costly feast.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because you are our most valuable guests. [break]
Prabhupāda: (Bengali) ( kīrtana ) [break]
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This... At noontime you seemed to be getting a little taste. Did you have a little? You said gradually.
Prabhupāda: And now... Just now, I have no taste.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So I don't think there is any problem. I mean, what you ate today was more than I saw you eat in three months, Śrīla Prabhupāda. You ate a Love Feast today. So whenever we eat a Love Feast, we never have much appetite in the evening. Usually we simply chant.
Prabhupāda: So I am trying to drink a little fruit juice.
Bhakti-caru: Prabhupāda wanted to drink some of this sweet lemon juice.
Prabhupāda: What do you think?
Bhakti-caru: (Bengali)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Maybe your sister can suggest some good drink.
Bhakti-caru: (Bengali)
Prabhupāda: (Bengali)
Bhakti-caru: (Bengali)
Prabhupāda: Little, that sweet juice.
Bhakti-caru: What Ātreya Ṛṣi Prabhu brought.
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Bhakti-caru: The sweet lemon. I'll just get it, yes.
Prabhupāda: Hm? What is that?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I'm suggesting that it should be sweet.
Prabhupāda: That is sweet, that sweet...
Ātreya Ṛṣi: It's very sweet. It's very, very sweet.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sweet is nice.
Prabhupāda: So keep it. When I require, give me little.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bhakti-caru? Make it and then keep it ready, and as Prabhupāda wants it...
Prabhupāda: No, no.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: It has to be made very fresh.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh. Ātreya Ṛṣi says it should be made fresh.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That lemon should be preserved, not otherwise.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Utilized. Okay. Keep the lemon. Don't use it for anything else. That's what you have to tell him. Preserve it only for this purpose. That was a very funny joke you told, Śrīla Prabhupāda, about the doctor, con-doctor? Everybody was relishing it.
Prabhupāda: Where is Kīrtanānanda? He is annoyed (avoiding?)? (Tamāla Kṛṣṇa laughs)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Upendra said because he has a night shift sometimes he rests at this time. You want to see him?
Prabhupāda: No.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just wondering.
Prabhupāda: Where is Hari-śauri?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hari-śauri? He's bathing, Śrīla Prabhupāda. [break] ...comfortably, Śrīla Prabhupāda? Śrīla Prabhupāda? In order to finish the Bombay temple, we're making a... We're sending some money to them for completion. So we have a committee called the Māyāpura-Vṛndāvana committee. Persons on the committee are Jayapatākā Swami, Girirāja, Gopāla Kṛṣṇa, Ātreya Ṛṣi, Rāmeśvara Mahārāja, Gurukṛpā Mahārāja and myself. That committee was formed by the GBC last Māyāpura festival. So they decided that they would give a loan, because the BBT was a little short of money... The BBT sends the money to Bombay. So the BBT wants to loan some money from the Māyāpura-Vṛndāvana account in Los Angeles, and they'll pay it back with the same bank interest.
Prabhupāda: Make me centered.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Make a loan from Los Angeles to the BBT, and the BBT will repay it with the regular bank interest. Is that all right? Had you given power of attorney, now that the MV trust has approved it, Girirāja and I can sign on your behalf. See, we'll never sign on our own. We only sign after we get authority from the respective committee or from Your Divine Grace.
Prabhupāda: That's all right.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We're only mechanical signers.
Prabhupāda: Very good. Make the body centered.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Make the body centered? Which place is not centered, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: More.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Is that all right? You said to the devotees who came to came to see you from the Gauḍīya Maṭha, you said you were mahā-patita. But they said, " Mahā-patita-pāvana. " We all appreciated that, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Actually, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I don't think that your Godbrothers really have any bad feelings. If, as you describe, because you had to preach amongst such fallen persons as us, the offense is really on our part, not on yours. I think actually they know that. Of course, they're a little sorry that they could not do what you did, but actually the offense is ours. We are not very trained up. It is not your fault. It is just that we are so fallen that we are only now beginning to learn a little etiquette. So sometimes, not purposely, but because we're very fallen, we sometimes make mistakes and offenses. And because we've taken shelter of Your Divine Grace, you are always giving us protection. (Yaśodā-nandana chants Brahma-saṁhitā ) [break]
Prabhupāda: ...they will appreciate tomorrow.
Yaśodā-nandana: Yes. I'm training the boys. There's three boys I'm training especially in the morning. Dvārakādhīśa, Ekendra and Kātyāyana. I'm training to chant the Brahma-saṁhitā and Bhagavad-gītā every day. Tomorrow we have arranged that for the beginning of the conference the boys will chant namaḥ oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya, namaste narasiṁhāya, namo mahā-vadānyāya, namo brahmaṇya-devāya, and four verses from Brahma-saṁhitā, tomorrow at ten-thirty. And every day I'm training some of these boys to chant Brahma-saṁhitā and Bhagavad-gītā. Is that all right, Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Some very important men was to come this evening?
Haṁsadūta: An important man was to come this evening? You mean for the conference, Śrīla Prabhupāda? I don't think any men have come yet, Prabhupāda. Svarūpa Dāmodara is here, but I think they're planning to come tomorrow and the following days.
Bhavānanda: Dr. Mishra, I think, is going to inaugurate the conference, and his friend, Dr. Chowdury, have just arrived. We've checked them into their room. They're taking a little prasādam . Svarūpa Dāmodara is with them.
Haṁsadūta: Yes, some men have come.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. [break]
Paramānanda: We're very much encouraged how it's working out. We've been discussing it for many hours here, and it seems like it's going to work out very nicely.
Prabhupāda: The program is there. If you follow, immediately success. You are leaving?
Paramānanda: Tomorrow morning.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Vāmanadeva is going to go to Māyāpura before he goes back to America. He's going to go to Māyāpura for a week or so with his family.
Prabhupāda: Very good.
Paramānanda: Also I would like to offer you the obeisances of Gaura Hari Prabhu and Bhurijana, who may not be able to come and see you. They're also working very dedicatedly to developing this project, and they wanted very much to come and see you.
Prabhupāda: That's all right.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Dhṛṣṭadyumna Mahārāja is here also, and his brother is here, Śrīla Prabhupāda. His brother's name is Bill. I think you remember meeting Dhṛṣṭadyumna Mahārāja's parents in New York.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So Dhṛṣṭadyumna is, I think, the elder. His brother is here.
Dhṛṣṭadyumna: My brother is an architect, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and he's helping us to design the community plan for the small village and the temple. He's working very hard to help set up an ideal Vedic community.
Prabhupāda: Keep always engaged yourself in Kṛṣṇa activity. That is wanted. Jaya. [break] ...yad yad ācarati... BG 3.21. You can give me two teaspoon glucose.
Brahmānanda: Two teaspoons?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Glucose.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I was just... Everything you say is important to us, so I was just explaining to Jayādvaita to make sure that if you speak about these... (microphone moving) What would you like? Turning over? Okay.
Prabhupāda: Turn me over occasionally this way and that way, even I do not say.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh. Of course, we'll ask you first, but we'll do it.
Prabhupāda: Yes. [break] ...has offered place in Delhi. Is it not?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: For the Institute?
Prabhupāda: Some place in Delhi for Institute.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: No. They haven't offered that place. Did they? No.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. It was what you told Prabhupāda earlier.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, they didn't offer a place, but they wanted to help establish a center for the Bhaktivedanta Institute.
Prabhupāda: How to help?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Various ways, money and supporting us. They said it's very essential.
Prabhupāda: Who supported with money? Will they helpful with money, or what sort of support?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Actually he was speaking in general terms. This Professor Malsanda(?), he's the head of the physiology department in the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. He's a very religious man. He's also a very well known scholar. He's medical doctor by profession. Also he belongs to many different scientific worldwide organizations, and he feels very strongly that we should have a center in Delhi for the Bhaktivedanta Institute.
Prabhupāda: So money is required.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So he didn't say anything specifically, but he said he would be very happy to help us in establishing a center there. He's very favorable to our philosophy, and he invited me to his own home, and we discussed at great length about the philosophy that we are trying to present in the scientific community, and he feels that it's very genuine and we should... They should help us to push forward.
Prabhupāda: So with this cooperation, this institution will be very prestigious. So if it is possible, organize. But don't overburden.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What is that overburden?
Prabhupāda: Other business may not suffer.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm. Publishing books should not suffer, and lecturing, like that.
Prabhupāda: We have already place in Bombay.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So if Bombay is sufficient, don't bother in Delhi.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. I will do it slowly first of all to make sure that whatever we have done is going on nicely, then we can expand later on. But in India it is true that everybody I met, very respectful to Śrīla Prabhupāda's movement to what we are trying to do.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That much we want to keep. The people may not think of it as bogus.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Our chief guest for tomorrow has already arrived. And he's very impressed. I took a tour of our temples, also the Gurukula. And they're very impressed with the whole building and the whole program that we have here. Very nice. He brought also an architect. He's a retired engineer, Chowdury from..., together. Also we already have a mathematician from Delhi University for tomorrow. So I took three of them tour of our temple and gave them nice prasādam . They were very impressed.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This has never happened before, Śrīla Prabhupāda. You are the real ācārya for this age, Śrīla Prabhupāda. You perfectly know how to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You're making people who would ordinarily never take interest in Kṛṣṇa consciousness become devotees.
Prabhupāda: In the beginning, when I was selling Back to Godhead alone, I wrote one practical businessman, Mr. Bande(?) I think. He said, "Swamiji, why you have made Vṛndāvana headquarter? (laughs) It is not a place for..." [break]
Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...place in Vṛndāvana, they said the selection is ideal. So this type of conference should start from Vṛndāvana. They feel that way, many of them. Yesterday Mishra, Dr. Mishra... He's the head of the biophysics department in the All-India Institute, Medical Sciences. He called me to his home, and I went and we had about half an hour discussion. He told me that he wanted to do this by himself for a long time several years ago. Then somehow, when he saw our flyer, his wife told him that "You've been trying to do like this for so many years, but somebody has started doing it." So she told him "You must join them." So actually he wanted to come from tomorrow, but some people are coming from Germany, 'cause he has a big grant. He's actually internationally well known scientist. But he's coming on Sunday, and he's also going to speak about half an hour.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Is he bringing his German friends?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: No. His German friends are busy touring all over India to make sure that when they get grant, everything goes okay.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It sounds like this Bhaktivedanta Institute might get a..., maybe get some grant sometime, eh?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. Once we get incorporated in Bombay, then we can also get some grants from the government, also in the United States when we get it properly established. And the word bhakti-vedānta is so important that it seems everybody knows what it means, at least in India. When they say bhakti, "Oh," they say, "Oh, that's different from Maharishi Yogi. That's different from anybody else. You have to start with bhakti ." So the word is so nice also.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And Prabhupāda is very famous also. So people think about Prabhupāda and Hare Kṛṣṇa movement when they hear it also.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: When they hear "Bhaktivedanta," they immediately know that this is Prabhupāda. Many of them told me that "Oh, I have heard Swamiji's lecture in Delhi. It's very nice and very impressive and very convincing." Many of them told me like that.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Your lectures in Delhi drew the most intelligent class of people, Śrīla Prabhupāda. The other swamis, when they would lecture, they would get just the typical pious Indian people, but yours also drew very intelligent group of people, sophisticated people.
Prabhupāda: They danced. (laughter) With coat-pant. I have seen.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Especially there's one Dr. Murti. He's the professor of chemistry, Delhi University. He told me that Prabhupāda is a very good speaker. He said he heard Swamiji's lectures. He said, "Very good speaker." And he's coming early in the morning tomorrow. Whole chemistry group are coming from Delhi University.
Prabhupāda: What is the time?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's 9:30 now, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda? Your glucose is here.
Prabhupāda: Give me.
Upendra: Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: A little ladle.(?)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Have Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja give it.
Kīrtanānanda: Is there a spoon?
Prabhupāda: I'll not sit up.
Kīrtanānanda: No. I'm getting a spoon so I can give you this. You don't want to take those pills the other doctor gave you? You don't want to take those pills for your urine?
Prabhupāda: No. That much, warm(?) glucose. That much, and nothing more possible. You don't increase. And decrease. Little in that ladle(?). That's all. And preserve those sweet lemon.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Preserve those sweet lemons. Prabhupāda wants sometimes sweet lemons for drinking, so you should preserve.
Prabhupāda: And chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Kīrtanānanda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Should we have some chanting now, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Yes, chanting twenty-four hours.
Upendra: Śrīla Prabhupādajī? I would like to change your dhoti. It won't take but five minutes. I have everything.
Prabhupāda: What happened?
Upendra: Well, you have passed liquid stool.
Prabhupāda: Stool?
Upendra: Yes, Prabhupāda. And by morning it will be too dry. It's not that much, so it's very easy. You're already on your side, so that's good. [break]
Bhavānanda: And you could take little bit spoon, half spoonful, every half an hour or twenty minutes, I think.
Prabhupāda: Very good suggestion.
Bhakti-caru: Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He said, "Very good suggestion."
Prabhupāda: (Bengali) (end)