Room Conversation

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: I said, "What will I eat it with?" He said, "A little sugar." I thought he was going to give me some bread or something. He said, "No, no. Eat it just like that with sugar."

Prabhupāda: Butter and miśri.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: They eat... The Punjabis are very fond of eating a lot of mākhana, fresh butter.

Bhakti-caru: They are also vegetarian.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: But Kashmiri are meat-eaters, fish-eaters. Bengali are fish-eaters.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Oriyas, fish-eaters. What about U.P.?

Prabhupāda: U.P., this dāl, cāpāṭi. They prepare first class.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Ḍāl and cāpāṭis.

Prabhupāda: Vegetable also.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: What is the speciality in Punjab?

Prabhupāda: Punjab, this pilau.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: What is...

Prabhupāda: Panir.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Panir.

Prabhupāda: Means this chānā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: They make very nice preparation.

Bhakti-caru: Dundhuri preparation.

Prabhupāda: Every province has got.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Is there a speciality in the Madhya Pradesh area?

Prabhupāda: Madhya Pradesh, they are practically South Indian.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Yeah. Then every place has its special fruits and vegetables.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: It seems in that respect that Bengal is very opulent in varieties of vegetables.

Prabhupāda: And fish. They prepare varieties of preparation of fish. Māche jol, māche tal, māche dal, māchera dorma.[?] They kill this jhasere koi[?] and paste with mustard and fry it in oil. [Bengali]

Bhakti-caru: [Bengali]

Prabhupāda: [Bengali] They know more of fish preparation and also vegetable. [Bengali]

Bhakti-caru: [Bengali]

Prabhupāda: [Bengali] Kṛṣṅa baro doyāmoy, koribāre jihwā jay [Prasāda-sevāya I]. Kṛṣṅa-prasāda... [Bengali conversation] The real fact is that this jīvo jīvasya jīvanam [SB 1.13.47],

[Those who are devoid of hands are prey for those who have hands; those devoid of legs are prey for the four-legged. The weak are the subsistence of the strong, and the general rule holds that one living being is food for another.]

one life is food for another life. That is nature's way. But one has to pass through so many varieties of life, evolution. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṅi [Padma Purāṅa]. How many millions of years we'll take to evolve to become a human being? Then he gets chance of Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Payeche mānava janma, mano rañjanam alpa.[?]. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante [Bg 7.19].

[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]

Emona janma, this janma, manuṣya-janma. And if we miss and don't get Kṛṣṅa, again glide down. Mām aprāpya mṛtyu-saṁsāra [Bg 9.3].

[Those who are not faithful in this devotional service cannot attain Me, O conqueror of enemies. Therefore they return to the path of birth and death in this material world.]

Again you fall down. I'll eat you; you'll you eat me. And the aquatic, 900,000 species, varieties of life. The same struggle—one fish eating another fish. Struggle within the water. A small fish can understand three miles away a big fish is coming. It is all stated in the Bhāgavatam. This struggle is going on. Then in the jungle, animals. The man-eater trees are there in Africa. Trees, man, eat man.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: How do they do that?

Prabhupāda: You go, and if you are in touch on that tree, then you cannot get out. You'll die and you'll become dead.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: They eat you?

Prabhupāda: Yes, the tree.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: They eat through the roots.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Spider, big, big spider.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: There's a thing called the Venus Fly Trap. It's this special plant, and if anything goes near it, it goes like that. Maybe they have big ones in Africa.

Prabhupāda: Simply eating competition. These American... It's called surfer?

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: American...?

Prabhupāda: What is that sport, surfer?

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Surfing. You mean on the board in the water? Surfing.

Prabhupāda: So they may become fish next life.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Actually, you said that in a lecture in Hawaii in our temple. I remember. That really gave everybody a thought. Food for thought.

Prabhupāda: It is in the Bhagavad-gītā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Yes. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvam tyajaty ante kalevaram [Bg 8.6].

[Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.]

Prabhupāda: It is not my manufactured idea. Kṛṣṅa consciousness, śravaṅaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṅoḥ smaraṅaṁ pāda... [SB 7.5.23],

[Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Viṣṅu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words)—these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Kṛṣṅa through these nine methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge.]

this is the only way. In our childhood we used to play golo dhana. You... What is called? Dice, going, going, going. Then it comes in the mouth of a serpent, and the serpent, immediately you had to come again. All progress you have made, if you are in the mouth of a serpent, then you have to come to the tail of the serpent. Suppose you are on the fifty point and there is mouth of serpent, then you have to come to point three. Again you have to rise. So dice. Golo dhana. We used to play in our childhood.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: In America they have similar game, but the different points are properties. It's all business. They made a very involved business game.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. It is same.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Same principle. If you get on the wrong spot, you have to go to jail. That's what they have. They put you in jail. Different culture. Demoniac culture.

Prabhupāda: Just see, practically. Indira Gandhi, she came to a point, and then falls again. Is it not? The same golo dhana[?]. She was all-in-all powerful, and once again finished.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Finished.

Prabhupāda: Sanjay Gandhi—finished. President Nixon—finished. They do not see, these big, big stalwart men of the world. They can be finished in one second. Prahlāda Mahārāja said that "I have seen my father, such a powerful man, finished. What benediction I shall ask, this material world? Don't allure me. Better engage me as the servant of Your servant." Anything, any opulence. Now nobody utters the name of Indira Gandhi. Every... Every day the people or newspaper filled up with Indira Gandhi. That the Russian minister, Krushchev? Nobody knows where he is.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: He's unknown now.

Prabhupāda: They said he is living privately.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Why did they depose him?

Prabhupāda: The cause may be many, but we have to see the result. The main cause was that he was appointing his own men in big, big office.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Same thing as Indira.

Prabhupāda: Nepotism. Indira's plan was next prime minister, Sanjay.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Family heritage. I saw one cartoon in the..., in one newspaper. It said... A little conversation between Gandhi, Nehru and Indira. They're speaking with Cāṅakya Paṅḍita. Each one of them is discussing how he's gone wrong. Cāṅakya is advising them what they've done wrong. Cāṅakya Paṅḍita is advising each one of them what they did wrong.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: It's a cartoon. [pause] I was speaking with Abhirāma today for quite a long time. Now he understands that he will... [break] [end]