750627 - Morning Walk - Los Angeles

Morning Walks by Date, 1975

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

 Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this lecture

750627MW-LOS ANGELES - June 27, 1975 - 28:50 Minutes

Prabhupāda: . . . one man?

Devotee (1): They only take one master usually.

Brahmānanda: It's a German dog.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Don't care for other?

Devotee (1): No. They train them that way.

Brahmānanda: What are those? Deer?

Satsvarūpa: This is a zoo.

Kuruśreṣṭha: Those are elk.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Kuruśreṣṭha: Some are elk.

(break) (in car)

Prabhupāda: . . . your American Congress Library, they placed a standing order, eighteen books, whatever I published, each book. So I have tried so many, what is called, GBC. They are not very expert to organize in India. So if you think you can do it . . . now we have got sufficient place in Bombay. So if you take charge of this distribution of book not only in India but neighboring countries, just like Hong Kong, Singapore, if you think you can do that, that will be nice. You have got experience how to distribute books. So you think over. Now we have got very nice place in Bombay. We have got place for at least fifty men very comfortably. Is it not?

Brahmānanda: Oh, yes. And there's go-downs and office space, everything.

Prabhupāda: Everything, we have got enough facility. We are not going to rent anyone, anyway, any room. We shall utilize it for our purpose only, receiving guest, organizing this book sale. That is my idea. (japa)

Brahmānanda: Thank you very, very much for asking me. I will go immediately.

Prabhupāda: You are capable. I know that. He is very capable. You know how to do business. Yes. In India an educated man and big, big government officers, lawyers, they will purchase. We do not approach them. School, colleges, library, universities. After all, English language is still current in India. It is not stopped. So they will like to read their own literature in English. They made vigorous propaganda to replace English by Hindi. That has failed. That has failed. No gentleman cares to learn Hindi. (chuckles) At least I never cared. I know Hindi, not by diverting my attention. No. That is very important, no. Automatically whatever I learned, that's all. I am not in favor of that Hindi. Especially in South India, they are all . . . so by appointing some professional men also.

Brahmānanda: Some agents.

Prabhupāda: Some agents, selling agents. Simply one has to organize vigorously.

Paramahaṁsa: There's that big book company, Wheeler?

Prabhupāda: Wheeler, yes. They can take all small books. They cannot take . . .

Brahmānanda: We'd sell them in the train stations?

Jayatīrtha: Yes.

Brahmānanda: That Wheeler, they have shops in every train station.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayatīrtha: When I was there once, I was in the market and I had a Kṛṣṇa trilogy with me, and the man who was selling the fruits, he started to look at it, and he was so impressed that he immediately offered me ten rupees.

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Jayatīrtha: And then a big crowd of people came around, and they were looking at the pictures and everything, and they were all bidding, they all wanted set for ten rupees. They were demanding that I sell it to them. A big crowd of people, they were all willing to pay ten rupees, because they'd never seen anything like this book before.

Prabhupāda: What is the position of Bhagavad-gītā? MacMillan, you are not taking supply, so they have stopped?

Jayatīrtha: We've informed them that the . . . we want to make the . . . because they no longer have it in print, that the abridged edition, we want to break the contract.

Prabhupāda: No, that is already, they have permitted. Anyway, you can . . .

Jayatīrtha: But as far as the other one is concerned, we have a stock on hand.

Prabhupāda: What they are doing?

Brahmānanda: They're picking the papers.

Prabhupāda: Oh. He's earning forty dollars daily?

Jayatīrtha: At least.

Prabhupāda: Just see. For picking up the papers they have to spend so much.

(break) (on walk)

Prabhupāda: . . . is we want to distribute books vigorously because general public, they have not yet understood what is the importance of this movement; neither they have any knowledge. The general public, maybe with some exception in India, they are simply like cats and dogs. They have no knowledge that what is the purpose of this life . . . (indistinct) . . . and . . . pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca na vidur āsurāḥ janā. That is stated. Pravṛtti means what we should accept, what kind of life we should accept and what kind of life we shall reject. This is their first ignorance. Pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca na viduḥ āsurāḥ janā (BG 16.7). And what is the next line? Jagad āhur anīśvaram (BG 16.8).

Jayādvaita: Na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāro . . .

Prabhupāda: Nāpi cācāro. Na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāro . . .

Jayādvaita: Na satyaṁ teṣ . . .

Prabhupāda: Na satyaṁ teṣu vidyate. This is the whole population. They do not know . . . there are big, big nation, big, big philosopher, big, big scientists, and all very big, but what kind of life they should live they do not know. What is the accurate destination of our life, that they do not know. And all humbug, big, big scientist, philosopher, theologist and so on, so on, politician, sociologist, welfare. But real thing, they are rascal. They do not know which way we have to go. So what is the use of these big, big words? They do not know which way to go. Suppose we are walking. If we go to the this side without knowing that "This is water; we should not go," then what is the use? That is their defect. Pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca na vidur āsurāḥ janā. Na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāro (BG 16.7). (chuckles) Śaucam, cleanliness, they do not know; neither behavior. Nāpi cācāro. Jagad āhur anīśvaram: "Oh, there is no God. It has come out, out of the sand." This is the whole population. Jagad ahur anīśvaram (BG 16.8). Which way we shall go? (break)

Therefore we require vigorous propaganda to make these fools to understand what is the real aim of life. That should be our propaganda. Idam adya mayā labdham imaṁ prāpsye punar dhanam (BG 16.13). They have simply calculated, "Now today the bank balance is now three millions dollars, and tomorrow it will be four million." Simply they say. Idaṁ prāpsye punar dhanam. And everyone is proud: "Who is greater than me? Who can understand more than me? I am very great man." Āḍhyo mām abhi . . . what is that? Āḍhyo mām, hmm? "I am the richest man. I am the most aristocratic. I have killed so many enemies. Now I shall kill that enemy."

Everything is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. This is their position. The rascal does not know that he is going to be a dog next life, and if he is going to, he says, "Oh, what is the wrong? I can become dog." This is the position. (break) . . . āhur anīśvaram. (break) . . . trying to go to the planet, this planet, that planet. Rascal, say . . . they did not recognize, "Who has made this planet where I am going?" They are taking credit by going there, but he is not giving any credit to the person or the agent who has made it. Just see. What do you think? That "I am going there, but who has made it? Who is that person?" "No, it has come out . . . there was a chunk, and it became plant (planet?) and then so on." This is their knowledge. And people are accepting, "Oh, great scientist. There was a chunk." Just see. Why don't you get yourself a chunk and it burst into big, big planet? (laughter) Such rascals are governing the whole human society.

Rādhā-vallabha: They have another theory, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Any theory, they are all rascals, that's all. (laughter) (break) . . . arrangement in one planet, it has come accidentally by chunk bursting, and we have to believe them. This is their position. (break) . . . this understanding comes automatically when one understands that he is soul. Then. And that requires brain. Therefore we are discussing, tapasā brahmacaryena (SB 6.1.13). We have to to create brain how to understand it. (break) . . . phalaṁ teṣāṁ tad bhavati alpa-medhasām (BG 7.23), it is stated. Alpa-medhasām, a slight brain substance. Medha, medha what is called, cere . . . cere . . .

Harikeśa: Cerebral?

Prabhupāda: Cerebrum, yes. So intelligence becomes more, more, who has got more cerebrum. So psychologically, it is . . . a very intelligent man has got sixty-four-ounce cerebrum. And woman, even she is very intelligent, is not more than thirty-four ounce. Therefore we don't find, amongst women, any big scientist. It is impossible. Don't be angry. (laughter) And these rascals giving equal rights. Just see. And Vedic civilization: "No, they should be protected." The woman should be protected by the father, by the husband and by elderly sons. No independence. (break) . . . she is my sister. She is old, about three years less than me, but she has got sons. She is very happy moving, protected by the sons.

Even Kuntī, such intelligent woman, such educated and . . . she also kept herself under her sons, the Pāṇḍavas. The Pāṇḍavas lost the game. They were banished, but Kuntī was not banished. But she said, "Then how shall I . . .? I must go with my sons." Sītā, wife of Lord Rāmacandra. So Rāmacandra was ordered by His father, "My dear son, You have to go forest for fourteen years." Sītā was not ordered, but she voluntarily followed Him. "Where shall I go? You are my husband. You are going to the forest? I shall go to the forest." This is Vedic civilization. And because she went with her husband, the Rāma-Rāvaṇa fight was there. Pathe nari-vivarjitaḥ. It is said that "When you go to a foreign country, you don't take woman with you." Pathe nari-vivarjitaḥ. But she said that "Where shall I remain for fourteen years? I must go with You."

So Rāmacandra had to agree. And on account of taking this wife along with Him, there was so much trouble. And the husband is so responsible that . . . Lord Rāmacandra, He is God. He could create thousands and millions of Sītās, but not for one Sītā He killed the whole family. That is husband. That is the duty of the husband. If wife's a little hair is infringed, he should take steps immediately. That is husband. Not that accept wife today and give it up tomorrow. That is not husband. Husband must be very responsible to take care of the wife, and wife must be very chaste to serve the husband. Then family life is all right. (break) . . . do not understand that "I am a living entity. I am encaged in this material body, and this material body means subjected to so many miserable condition." That they cannot understand. So my first business is how to be free from this repetition of accepting a material body.

That they are not . . . a temporary life for fifty years or sixty years, they are busy, making very, very gorgeous arrangement. This is asuric civilization. He does not take it very seriously that "I am encaged in this material body. My first business is how to get out of it and remain in my spiritual body." They get one type of body and, like cats and dogs, engage how to keep that body in sense gratification. That's all. (break) . . . spiritual education, that "I am spiritual, spirit soul. I am encaged in this body. I want freedom. That is my first business, how to become liberated." No, that question set aside. Now, for the time being, we are walking here, and if there is some misunderstanding, we fight, forgetting that we have come here for walking, say, for half an hour. And why we shall forget our real business? That intelligence is not there. (break) . . . India, the Indira Gandhi was made as all in all. Now there is a catastrophe. We do not know what is going to happen.

Brahmānanda: They say she is the most powerful woman in the world.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes, very powerful. Now she is going to hell, so powerful. She is so powerful, now she is going to hell.

Kāśīrāma: The United Nations has declared this year International Woman's Year, so that all the women can gain more liberation from the bondage of being under the supremacy of man.

Prabhupāda: But how to get liberation, not being pregnant?

Kāśīrāma: That's one of the programs.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Let them be liberated, not being pregnant. The man will be pregnant equally. (laughter) Where is that liberation? Can they make any resolution, "Now man has to become pregnant also equally."

Jayatīrtha: The scientists will begin work on that.

Prabhupāda: Yes, let these rascals engage in that work, how a man can become pregnant. (laughter) "Yes, we are trying. We shall do in the future." They will say like that, yes. (break) . . . there are women police. You know that? So they were guiding . . . I said that "If somebody captures your hand, then where is your police force?" Any young boys, sixteen, seventeen years old can capture any two, three women, and he can control. And where is the police force?

Brahmānanda: They're now making women firemen.

Prabhupāda: Firemen?

Brahmānanda: Yeah. So all the wives and girlfriends of the firemen, they have lodged a protest because they are afraid . . . because the firemen, they, often they have nothing to do. So they are afraid that if there are women firemen, that the women firemen will steal away the husbands. So they have made a protest. Because practically they have to remain together. They have to live together in the firehouse.

Prabhupāda: Oh. That is bondage.

Brahmānanda: Well, they're afraid that there will be illicit activity between the firemen and the firewomen. (laughter)

Jayatīrtha: Now they're changing the names. Anything that implies sexism, they want to change the name. Just like "seamstress," now they have to call "sewing machine operator." Because "seamstress" implies that it's a woman's job. So they say "sewing machine operator." Or "firemen," they have to say "fire prevention operator" or something like that.

Kirtirāja: Mailman?

Jayatīrtha: Mailperson.

Kirtirāja: Mailperson. But then they can't even do that, because it's male.

Revatīnandana: . . . (indistinct)

Bahulāśva: They're going crazy now in this country, Prabhupāda. Men are having operations to become like women.

Prabhupāda: Yes, there is a student here? (laughter)

Bahulāśva: He's in San Francisco. Or she's in San Francisco.

Kirtirāja: Is that Winifred?

Bahulāśva: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Why not woman become man? Then that will be nice. Manpower will increase. Because every country, the population of woman is bigger than the man. So if a woman can be made into man, then manpower will increase.

Jayādvaita: Then the women will decrease.

Prabhupāda: No, there is no question of decrease. They are already increased. They will be equal quantity. (break) . . . is there, therefore the dogs are not there. Dogs? Best friend, dogs, are not there today because the policeman is there.

Jayatīrtha: Oh, this man.

Kirtirāja: That's Hayagrīva's and Kīrtanānanda's friend.

Jayatīrtha: Dr. Henderson.

Kirtirāja: George Henderson, yes.

Prabhupāda: Who?

Kirtirāja: Right here, standing here. He just went like this to you. (break)

Brahmānanda: I asked him to prove mathematically that one minus one equals one.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) . . . doing there?

Brahmānanda: Getting the clams. Clams.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Bahulāśva: He is going to eat them.

(in car)

Brahmānanda: . . . difficult to get visas for Trinidad and Guyana. Especially Trinidad. And once he even got a visa and they rejected it at the border.

Prabhupāda: There is no need of . . . (break)

Brahmānanda: Oh, same situation of having a Negro government with a large Indian population. (break) . . . visas will have to be gotten from inside the country and then sent to us here.

Jagatpuruṣa: Well, we would call Śeṣa Nārāyaṇa, who is the Speaker of the House, and he would tell us that we could come. He's the Speaker of the House

Prabhupāda: On the whole, we should not take any risk. That is not good. Then we shall postpone everything. (break)

Brahmānanda: . . . this Mr. Henderson, he is living . . . looking like a . . .

Prabhupāda: Hippie.

Brahmānanda: Yes, hippie.

Jayatīrtha: He works . . . He makes things for Spiritual Sky. He's not employed by them, but he makes things and sells them to Spiritual Sky. (break) . . . job as a professor, but he doesn't want to. (break)

Prabhupāda: . . . say "impossible" is a word found in fool's dictionary.

(car drives past devotees chanting)

Prabhupāda: Jaya. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)