Room Conversation

Prabhupāda: Don't strain for collecting. Then spiritual progress will be hampered.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Don't strain for collecting. Then spiritual progress will be hampered. That's a fact.

Jayapatākā: It seems that the temple could be completed within seven years without straining.

Prabhupāda: That is nice.

Jayapatākā: Then we can have it completed by the five-hundredth-year anniversary of Lord Caitanya...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayapatākā: ...which is in eight years.

Prabhupāda: Do it. That is...

Jayapatākā: And the architect at Māyāpur, he said that the temple that's inside the big temple, that could be opened up to the public within three years by having just some type of false ceiling, and then the upper stories, work can go on. That means within three years people could start visiting the temple and using it, which will also be a big inspiration to the public. And then the upstairs and complete outside would be completed.

Prabhupāda: Do like that. That is very good idea. And different name, you can purchase.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust?

Prabhupāda: Hmm.

Jayapatākā: Each of the..., like gośāla, handloom, these can be separately formed into societies, which would be easier for bookkeeping and management anyway, and each of those societies can purchase the land on which their handloom or gośāla, whatever is, they can purchase that land in that name.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya bhūmi Trust.

Jayapatākā: Mr. Chowdury tried, but now he's been transferred from the development commissioner. Now he's the transport commissioner. So now all he can do is give us a free... He gives us, tax free, vehicles. But he can't give us the land anymore.

Prabhupāda: Tax free?

Jayapatākā: Our vehicles in Bengal, we don't pay any road tax. He's the transport commissioner, but now he's no longer development commissioner. And if the government gives us some land on acquisition, we'll take. But I don't think they'll give a big amount, neither we should wait for that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: No. That's also utopian.

Jayapatākā: When they see we're doing something, automatically they want to also help.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: And that bridge is a good idea. Pontoon bridge.

Jayapatākā: Because so many tourists are coming. The local M.L.A., he told me now there's thousands and thousands people coming. This last weekend there was... At any time you could see hundreds of people walking on the road to take darśana. So now the local man, he wants to build some guesthouse on his own, the government, where they're going to serve meat and other things. So that's why our temple, we want to... We're getting our guesthouse all straightened up. If we have a restaurant, then we'll be able to take all the tourist traffic.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: So why don't you have a restaurant?

Jayapatākā: That was supposed to be done this year, but then Bombay took all the funds. Prabhupāda sanctioned it already last year. It was a good idea. But Māyāpur has become very popular. This is all due to your effort, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Simply due to your efforts Māyāpur and Navadvīpa is becoming so much more famous and popular. We want to make the Māyāpur temple so beautiful and make the city so nice that not only the Queen of England and the President of United States, but even the Russian and Chinese leaders, they'll all have to come to see this. They can't avoid. Will that please Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura?

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Jayapatākā: If all the leaders, all these presidents and kings would come and visit the temple at Māyāpur, that would please Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Seems like your activities, Śrīla Prabhupāda, are so much pleasing to the previous ācāryas.

Jayapatākā: This is the secret you are showing, working towards satisfying the desires of the previous ācāryas.

Prabhupāda: Tāṅdera caraṅa-sebi-bhakta-sane bās. So you are all bhaktas. To live with you, to serve the lotus feet of the ācāryas, that's good.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We've already become famous as spiritual United Nations.

Jayapatākā: You've given the secret for success.

Prabhupāda: If possible, make some improvement in Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's birthplace.

Jayapatākā: I was just thinking about that, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: At least repair it nicely, without any claim of our...

Jayapatākā: From the Bhaktivedanta Charity Trust.

Prabhupāda: Hmm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: This Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust will be very popular, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayapatākā: Amongst the Vaiṣṅavas.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Everyone will glorify your name. It will be a great pleasure to give them funds from this Trust.

Devotee: [whispers] Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's birthplace.

Jayapatākā: Sometime in the future we can, if they are ever agreeable, if we can take the sevā of that birthplace, then we should do so.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayapatākā: In Malda district at Rāmakeli, where Lord Caitanya first met with Rūpa and Sanātana, there is a temple of Rādhā-Kṛṣṅa that Lord..., that Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmī used to worship those Deities. Bhaktisiddhānta Ṭhākura Prabhupāda has put a lotus feet of Mahāprabhu there. So we have gone there on two occasions for preaching, and they..., some local people came and said they would like us to take some..., to either take over management or somehow be connected with that, because they felt that it required preaching there. They're very favorable at that place.

Prabhupāda: Purchase it.

Jayapatākā: When you say Gauḍa-maṅḍala-bhūmi, that means any of the līlā places of Lord Caitanya.

Prabhupāda: Hmm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Not just Navadvīpa.

Prabhupāda: No. No, in Bengal.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: What about in Jagannātha Purī?

Prabhupāda: That is another. That is Orissa.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: It is your great mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that you are allowing us to do a little helping to you in your service to the previous ācāryas. We are completely fallen, without any spiritual credit, but still, you are allowing us to help you in a little way.

Jayapatākā: Without your intervention we would have no hope.

Prabhupāda: Where is Jayapatākā's mother?

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Where is Jayapatākā's mother?

Jayapatākā: She's in California. Citsukhānanda Prabhu said that... [to Citsukhānanda:] You said you saw her in Los Angeles? She is coming to the temple? My mother?

Citsukhānanda: Yes.

Jayapatākā: What is she doing?

Citsukhānanda: She's coming now. There's another lady, Mrs. Forkash, and she has been working with Mrs. Forkash, and she's been attending the programs and also organizing for good publicity for the movement all over America. And she's been attending any major functions that we do. Like we had a major function with all the important people of Los Angeles—movie stars, directors, politicians—and so she also assisted, and she was preaching, speaking about Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: She's becoming a devotee.

Citsukhānanda: Yes, very much.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: She's also connected with that Parents for Kṛṣṅa? There's one parents' group called Parents for Kṛṣṅa?

Citsukhānanda: Parents for Kṛṣṅa, yes. She assists in that Parents for Kṛṣṅa group.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: That is your magic touch, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Anyone who contacts you becomes a devotee. You're just like the associates of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Whoever saw them...

Prabhupāda: She's already a good lady. Otherwise how she can have such a nice son? [laughter]

Citsukhānanda: I asked her if she had met you, Prabhupāda. I asked Jayapatākā's mother if she had met you, and she said, "Yes..."

Prabhupāda: A fortunate lady. All your mothers, they are all fortunate.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: I remember some parents used to come, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in Los Angeles while you were sitting in the garden in the evening. Once in a while, some parents would come and appreciate you so much that you've trained their sons and daughters to become a human being.

Prabhupāda: Tenants?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The parents...

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...used to come in Los Angeles in the evening while you were sitting in the garden.

Prabhupāda: Which garden?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: In Los Angeles.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Jayapatākā: One day you'll be celebrated for saving the whole world, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Every day, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I receive so many letters praising Your Divine Grace, how you have saved so many fallen souls.

Jayapatākā: Even this kavirāja, he said that he has seven patients in Calcutta who are about to die, but he said they're all materialists, so if they live or die it doesn't matter much. So he said, "If Prabhupāda stays on the planet, then so many hundreds, thousands, countless living entities will get devotional service, get liberation, get elevated." That's why he's dropped those patients to come here. You are the most important. You are the pure devotee.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: It's amazing to think, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that ten years ago you were living in Rādhā-Dāmodara temple and just conceiving all of this. Now Kṛṣṅa has arranged everything. You were sitting alone, having to draw your own water, doing your own typing. Everything you had to do yourself. And now, gradually, the whole world is coming to assist you in serving Kṛṣṅa. It is most wonderful.

Jayapatākā: But still we are not able to serve properly. You have to show us continuously. We are so unfortunate, we are not able to serve you properly.

Devotee (1): Everyone is knowing of your glories, Śrīla Prabhupāda. I was coming in a truck from the airport in San Francisco, and one policeman pulled me over, and he ran an investigation and then he came back and said, "I know this isn't right, but do you have any books by Prabhupāda?" So he pulled me over just to get one of your books. And later on I saw him, and he and his friend... He was a sergeant, and they were reading your book at a liquor store.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: [chuckling] The policeman pulled him over. He was in a car, Śrīla Prabhupāda. He thought he was going to be arrested, but the policeman said, "I'm pulling you over to ask for one of Prabhupāda's books."

Jayapatākā: Haribol!

Devotee (1): He said that he used to go through the airports all the time and get your books, but he hadn't been through the airport in so long, he was feeling the separation. So he had to pull us over, because he saw we were devotees, so that he could ask for some of your books.

Citsukhānanda: In Los Angeles, at the Spiritual Sky Incense company, there are so many karmī workers also assisting in Spiritual Sky business. So actually, they were just coming to work every day without any change of heart. But we started... The receptionist started giving Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers to the people who work there. And this one man who's a theologian who works there in the bookkeeping department read your book, and he said, "This man speaks perfectly. He has no fault. Everything he says is completely right, perfect." So now they're coming to the temple, now, because they've read your book. Otherwise they didn't want to associate. But now they read this book, Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers, and they're coming to the temple. They take prasādam. They've become very submissive, all the workers.

Jayapatākā: Now that your books are being printed in Hindi, in Calcutta, one of our Life Members, Mr. Tulsan, he got your Hindi Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and he's begun reading, and now he said his whole life is transformed. He said that never he found anywhere that the knowledge was presented so simply and so clearly. All the paṅḍitas he could never understand. So now he's become so enthusiastic he's purchasing four rooms in Māyāpur—two for himself, and he's making two relatives purchase. And every month he comes out with his family, with the whole family. "Instead of going to other recreation," he said, "we'll go to the temple." And he brings big basket of fruit, and he comes out, and they stay for the weekend and they all attend maṅgala-ārati.

Prabhupāda: Four rooms, which side? New?

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: New building or the old one?

Jayapatākā: He's going to purchase, I think, two rooms in the old building, and then maybe two rooms in the new building he'll have his friends purchase.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: They like the new building also?

Jayapatākā: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: I think we'll have to build more buildings soon, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That long building?

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Prabhupāda was saying that Tīrtha Mahārāja's brother says that our gate alone is worth all the other temples, that front gate alone. [laughter] When I told Śrīla Prabhupāda that people say that our new building is like a..., worth a whole train, Prabhupāda said, "A double train."

Jayapatākā: When one of the Communist papers was writing a critical report about us, then they said that "They even have a building that's longer than the Writers Building. How they have done this, shamed our state building?" [laughter]

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: The gate is bigger than the Governor's gate, and the building is longer than the Writers Building. Kṛṣṅa is first. And when we build that temple, it will... [laughter] Then everyone will simply be silent. That will end all comment.

Prabhupāda: They are already silent. [laughter] Jaya.

Citsukhānanda: Before I came to India, Prabhupāda, I was... One Saturday night in Los Angeles about three weeks ago we had a big mahā-saṅkīrtana, big chanting party, because President Carter was coming to Los Angeles. So we got there about thirty minutes before he was coming, and we went with about 125 devotees from New Dvārakā. We went chanting through the street right in front of his hotel room. So he came in from the back way, but it was known to us that he heard the chanting, and all the main people from the government saw this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṅa. We were chanting very nicely, dancing in the street. And everyone was protesting something different, but we were just happy and joyful, and everyone could see that this is positive, this is best thing. Everyone is griping about something, but we are all happy; we have no complaints. So we think that President Carter heard this kīrtana party.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He's supposed to come to India this month.

Jayapatākā: We were noticing now the headline in America in the Newsweek or some magazine was that America is going right. Now people are protesting against abortion. They are demanding that leaders be moralistic. It is a whole trend now. And so we see that just because Your Divine Grace has begun book distribution and preaching in the West, in America, that now the people, they're becoming more... Qualities of goodness are automatically coming about just because of your preaching.

Devotee (1): At one big fair, Prabhupāda, we were distributing your books, and after the fair was over so many people were coming up. So we surrounded the truck with stacks of books and passing them out. And pretty soon after all the books were gone the people started rocking the truck. They were surrounding it, asking for one of your books. They were demanding that they have one of your books.

Jayapatākā: The kavirāja has come.

Kavirāja: [Hindi, offers pranamas]

Prabhupāda: [Hindi]

Kavirāja: [Hindi conversation with Prabhupāda and Bhakti-caru]

Svarūpa Dāmodara: How much did urine yesterday?

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Yesterday was 475.

Kavirāja: [Hindi with Bhakti-caru]

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: One thousand liquid was taken in.

Bhakti-caru: Yes, 1,000.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: One kilo.

Bhakti-caru: [Hindi with kavirāja]

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: What's he saying?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He said give [indistinct] at seven o'clock.

Kavirāja: [Hindi with Bhakti-caru and Prabhupāda]

[Svarūpa Dāmodara whispering indistinct translation]

Kavirāja: [Hindi with Prabhupāda]

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: We washed his eyes with rose water. Prabhupāda said he felt a little...

Kavirāja: [Hindi]

Bhakti-caru: He said that the medicine that he started administering, in four or five days Prabhupāda will be fit enough to go into parikramā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Does that sound all right, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Kavirāja: [Hindi with Prabhupāda and Bhakti-caru]

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Prabhupāda slept the whole night soundly.

Kavirāja: [Hindi conversation about heartbeat, medicine, Bhagatjī, oil for massage]

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Is it bitter?

Bhakti-caru: [Hindi] Śrīla Prabhupāda? [Hindi]

Svarūpa Dāmodara: [whispering] He said it's better to give by mixing it. [Prabhupāda drinks something and coughs]

Kavirāja: [Hindi conversation with Bhakti-caru]

Bhakti-caru: Was the stool... How was the stool?

Bhavānanda: Last night?

Bhakti-caru: Yesterday.

Bhavānanda: It's in there.

Bhakti-caru: No. How was the...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The color?

Bhavānanda: Consistency?

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: One thing you can say. Prabhupāda was saying that there was a little... Prabhupāda, you said that there was a little trouble for passing urine today?

Bhavānanda: He said it's coming in installments.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Is it painful or anything, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Jagadīśa: Some slight pain.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: You can tell Shastrijī that Prabhupāda was saying that for urine there's a little difficulty, pain.

Bhakti-caru: In the morning. [Hindi to kavirāja]

Kavirāja: [Hindi with Bhakti-caru about the arak]

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: You want some water, Prabhupāda?

Jagadīśa: What is he saying?

Bhakti-caru: The arak is that distilled medicine...

Prabhupāda: [Hindi] ...choke... [Hindi] ...choke... [Hindi]

Bhakti-caru: We have to increase the quantity of that arak.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: That's for the kidney?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Urine was clear yesterday?

Bhakti-caru: You kept the urine from last time?

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Next one we'll keep. There'll be more. Prabhupāda, you want to try for passing urine?

Prabhupāda: Immediately?

Bhakti-caru: No, whenever. [pause]

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? You want to rest now? We've been talking for a long time with Prabhupāda. You should be resting. We can take off. You want kīrtana or not now, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Soft.

Tamāla Kṛṣṅa: Soft kīrtana. Shastrijī? You can close curtain? [kīrtana with harmonium] [end]