Garden Conversation

Prabhupāda: ...of United Nation. [Hindi] ...practically they do. Hindu, Musselman, Christian, Jews, African, and so...

Dr. O.B.L. Kapoor: Real United Nations.

Prabhupāda: Yes. The real United Nation. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu [Bg 18.54].

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

[Hindi] Kṛṣṅotkīrtana-gāna. Not otherwise. In some place I said that this United Nation...

Hari-śauri: Oh, Melbourne. In Melbourne they put it on the front page.

Prabhupāda: Melbourne, yes. It was published in the paper, that "It is a dog's barking association." [laughter] It was published.

Dr. Kapoor: Published.

Hari-śauri: Front page. [laughter]

Prabhupāda: And he added something, that "Swami is hounding."

Hari-śauri: Yes, the heading was, "His Divine Grace has come here to hound us." And then the article was Prabhupāda describing how the United Nations was a collection of dogs barking. [laughter]

Prabhupāda: My point was that if you bring some dogs and ask them, "My dear dogs, sit down here peacefully. Don't bark. Don't create trouble." Will they do? Will they do?

Dr. Kapoor: No.

Prabhupāda: If you keep them dogs, how it is possible they will be peaceful?

Indian man: So long as they are dogs it is not possible.

Prabhupāda: It is not possible. And so long one is in the bodily concept of life—"I am Indian," "I am American," "I am this," "I am that"—and all of them go to the United Nation assembly... So what is the difference when a dog thinks that "I am dog. I am this dog," and an American or Indian thinks "I am a..."? Where is the difference? So as American, as Indian, as German, as Chinese, if they go there, they remain animal, and how there can be peace? That is not possible. And the peace formula is given by Kṛṣṅa: bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām [Bg 5.29].

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

When one understands Kṛṣṅa is suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ, jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati. That is śāntim. So if you keep them as Americans or Indians or this or that, how there can be peace?

Hari-śauri: That was front page.

Dr. Kapoor: [laughs] "He's here to hound us." [laughs] [Hindi] [reading from paper] "His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the founder of the Hare Kṛṣṅa movement, is here to save us from a dog's life." [laughter] "He's here to save us from a dog's life. For unless we cultivate some spiritual knowledge, warns His Divine Grace, we are left with a dog mentality."

Hari-śauri: This was the New York Ratha-yātrā. This was in New York Times.

Gopāla Kṛṣṅa: The Ratha-yātrā is held on Seventh Avenue... [several talking at once]

Prabhupāda: They admitted: "This is the East and West meeting."

Hari-śauri: "Fifth Avenue: Where East Meets West."

Dr. Kapoor: "Where East Meets West." Ah.

Hari-śauri: And this one is in South Africa. [guests look at article]

Prabhupāda: Last year we introduced Ratha-yātrā in Philadelphia. It was very successful. And this year we have introduced in New York. It is also very successful. Everyone—government official, police, public—all enjoyed. And the Fifth Avenue is the most important avenue in the world, Fifth Avenue. So our procession was... How many miles?

Gopāla Kṛṣṅa: From Washington Square Park... How many miles? At least four or five miles.

Pradyumna: Central Park to Washington Square Park. All the way. Full length of the Avenue. Complete, from one end to the other.

Gopāla Kṛṣṅa: The government had sealed it off.

Indian man: What is the effect on Russians, this Hare Kṛṣṅa movement?

Prabhupāda: Here the Russians are afraid of this movement.

Indian man: Afraid of.

Prabhupāda: They are very much afraid. And therefore they are greatest enemy in India. CPI. They are putting so many impediments.

Dr. Kapoor: [Hindi] China?

Prabhupāda: China maybe [Hindi]

Gopāla Kṛṣṅa: But they like Prabhupāda's books. Russian scholars have praised Prabhupāda's books. I was in Russia two months ago. They have praised Prabhupāda's books very much.

Indian man: Sir, what is your opinion about Sai Baba? [laughter]

Prabhupāda: According to śāstra, [Hindi]. Jugglery.

Indian man: No avatāra has declared so far that "I'm avatāra."

Prabhupāda: He is... What is called avatāra?

Indian man: But he has declared that "I am avatāra."

Prabhupāda: He has no, nothing on the śāstra basically. And anyone who has no śāstra basics, he's useless. Yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ na sa siddhim avāpnoti [Bg 16.23].

[But he who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.]

He can cheat so many fools and rascals, it has no meaning. That is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam about this kind of guru. They have been condemned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. I think you'll find out at the end of the Twenty-fourth Chapter, Eighth Canto. They have been condemned.

[break] Now what is the benefit? From rational point of view, suppose he can manufacture gold. That is his jugglery, eh? He can manufacture some gold? So far I have heard. I've not seen.

Indian man: I don't know. He does some kind of trick.

Prabhupāda: Suppose he manufactures a little gold. So far I have heard.

Gopāla Kṛṣṅa: Not gold. He does other magic. Gold also, but other magic.

Prabhupāda: What is that other magic? Generally he...

Gopāla Kṛṣṅa: Generally, it is said he blesses sick people who have diseases, and they get cured.

Prabhupāda: So that is done by medical men also, so what is the excellence? Huh?

Hari-śauri: One man said that once he was traveling in his car, and a train came, and the train hit the car and he was thrown out, but somehow or other he survived. He said he was thrown out to the left hand side and the train stopped, came to a sudden standstill just as it hit the car. So then he said he went to see Sai Baba, and then Sai Baba looked at him and he said, "Oh, you have been in an accident, and your car was hit by the train. But I stopped the train and threw you to the left, and therefore you were not injured." Like this. And he also mentioned that at that time you should think of God.

Prabhupāda: If he can do so, can he save him from death? If he's so powerful?

Dr. Kapoor: That is very easy. I can also do that. [laughter] I know the trick.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Gopāla Kṛṣṅa: What is the trick?

Dr. Kapoor: I'll not tell it to you. [laughter]

Prabhupāda: No. These tricky things are... They have no...

Hari-śauri: Sometimes he conjures up different items in his hand. Like he can conjure up a watch. Or there's a particular type of nut that is found in Nepal. So some American scientist was trying to get him to...

Prabhupāda: [aside] You have found out that portion?

Pradyumna: I'm just, I'm getting...

Hari-śauri: They were trying to get him to give some examples. So he refused. Then he produced this nut in his hand. Then he closed his fist and opened it again, and the nut was there but this time it had a gold cross attached to it, like this. And then he...

Prabhupāda: Now what is the result of showing these tricks? What is the ultimate result?

Indian man: B. N. Sarkar shows much better tricks than that.

Prabhupāda: Yes. B. N. Sarkar, he was going on cycle in London, busy street, and his eyes bound up. Everyone has seen it. He was going on cycle in busy...

Dr. Kapoor: Motorway.

Prabhupāda: Ordinary street he was going, and his eyes were bound up. Everyone has seen.

Gopāla Kṛṣṅa: The Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University, along with some other professors, they decided to do research into all these so-called gods like Sai Baba. There's another six-year-old "god" called Bhagwan Shri Krishna. So they sent Sai Baba a questionnaire. He did not reply. Then this Vice Chancellor with a group of professors, they went to this six-year-old Bhagwan Shri Krishna. He was producing ash with some magic.

Prabhupāda: Ash?

Gopāla Kṛṣṅa: Ash. So all the local..., a big crowd would come to see him. So they went and they sat right next to the child. So that day the ash was not produced. So later on the whole thing got exploded, and the child's parent admitted it was bogus. Now that "god" is finished, Bhagwan Shri Krishna. He was six-year-old Śrī Kṛṣṅa. So this Sai Baba refused to answer the questionnaire. He said, "Why should I respond to these people?"

Indian man: He's angry for this [indistinct].

Gopāla Kṛṣṅa: This group of professors, they're exposing all these bogus gurus who are saying they are God.

Prabhupāda: Have you got it?

Pradyumna: Yes.

acakṣur andhasya yathāgraṅīḥ kṛtas tathā janasyāviduṣo 'budho guruḥ tvam arka-dṛk sarva-dṛśāṁ samīkṣaṅo vṛto gurur naḥ sva-gatiṁ bubhutsatām [SB 8.24.50]

Prabhupāda: What is that? Acakṣuḥ?

Pradyumna: Acakṣuḥ.

Prabhupāda: Acakṣuḥ...

Pradyumna: Acakṣur andhasya yathāgraṅīḥ kṛtas.

Prabhupāda: Abudho guru. So andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ [SB 7.5.31].

[Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṅu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.]

They are gurus. They are blind, and they are guru for blind men. Abudho guru. These have been described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. If we are to accept guru, so the original guru is Kṛṣṅa because He instructed Lord Brahmā, the first living creature within this universe. Tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye [SB 1.1.1]. He instructed the ādi-kavi. He is the guru, Kṛṣṅa. And in the Bhagavad-gītā He also says, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam [Bg 4.1].

[The Blessed Lord said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku.]

So He is ādi-guru. In Bhagavad-gītā also He is instructing Arjuna. He is ādi-guru. So instead of this tricky, jugglery guru, why not people approach Kṛṣṅa? Therefore acakṣur andha. [Hindi] Read this verse again.

Pradyumna: Acakṣur andhasya yathāgraṅīḥ kṛtas tathā janasyāviduṣo 'budho guruḥ.

Prabhupāda: Ah. Aviduṣaḥ abudho guruḥ. [Hindi conversation] You can bring something...

Pradyumna: Drink?

Prabhupāda: [Hindi] If things are very easy, why they go roundabout way? Bhagavān svayam [Hindi], man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru mām evaiṣyasi asaṁśayaḥ [Bg 18.68]. [Hindi conversation] I went to see the Ramakrishna Mission head, Prabodhananda Swami. So just by seeing me, he immediately said that Thakur was formerly Gaura Hari.

Indian man: What Swāmījī? Gauḍīya? Gaura Hari.

Prabhupāda: Gaura Hari. [Hindi] He said Ramakrishna Thakur, Thakur Rama... He was formerly Gaurasundara. Gaurasundara [Hindi conversation] [end]