710821 - Conversation - London

Conversations by Date, 1971

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

710821rc.lon - August 21, 1971

Prabhupāda: Class must be. Without hearing, everything will be tainted. (knock on door) Yes?

Haṁsadūta: Prabhupāda, what do you think about the German translation work? I mean . . .

Prabhupāda: It must go on.

Haṁsadūta: I know it must go on. But isn't there some way to increase it, to make it go more quickly?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everything should be done quickly. Because we do not know when we shall die. So everything, Kṛṣṇa consciousness business, should be done as quickly as possible.

Haṁsadūta: I mean in that respect . . . see, everything must go through Maṇḍalībhadra's hands. Before it can be printed, everything has to go through his hands because he is the chief translator. But at the present moment it's going so slowly that . . . we haven't even been able to produce the magazine.

Prabhupāda: So find out somebody else.

Haṁsadūta: Well, that's my proposal. Or make a different arrangement. But one arrangement I proposed was to pay him some money.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Haṁsadūta: I proposed that we pay him some money so that he can do it full time instead of . . .

Prabhupāda: So yes, you can do.

Haṁsadūta: Is that okay?

Prabhupāda: Yes. He's a gṛhastha. If he needs some money . . .

Haṁsadūta: Cause right now he's working full time, eight hours and day and still he's . . .

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Haṁsadūta: So if that's okay.

Prabhupāda: If he requires some money, give him. What can be done? That is not unusual. A gṛhastha, he requires some money.

Haṁsadūta: Yes, I understand. I just wanted to know if it was acceptable.

Prabhupāda: No, no. Why not acceptable? No. Yes. Yes. That's all right. Let him take. We are paying Hayagrīva also. What can be done?

Haṁsadūta: And another thing I wanted to ask you about, Prabhupāda, is that Maṇḍalībhadra, he wants to make your literature perfect, which is natural because we want to make the nicest presentation. But the devotees are saying that the translation . . . for instance, this Easy Journey to Other Planets, has been in the process so long, it has so many times been reworked, that it's no longer palatable to them. They don't even read it. They'd rather have the English version. So I know that Your Divine Grace has said you have full faith in his ability to do the work . . .

Prabhupāda: No, no. If you . . . you find out somebody else. He can also do.

Haṁsadūta: Because my opinion is that he's becoming overworked, it's becoming strained, so much so that we're not even able to bring it to the printer because he insists on making every time more and more corrections.

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) It never comes to perfection.

Haṁsadūta: It never comes to perfection. It can, you know. For instance, this little booklet, Easy Journey to Other Planets, one of the things that has been holding it up is because the diacritic marks, to get the diacritic marks in there perfectly . . . we took it to a professional composer. Of course, they're not experienced, so they didn't, at first they didn't want to do it and then . . . at any rate, my opinion was first let us print it without the diacritic marks, and then the second edition make it with diacritic marks. Improve it by editions rather than wait until it's completely perfect before we put it on the market because . . .

Prabhupāda: But if once it is made perfect, then it will be easier to print more and more.

Haṁsadūta: That's true, but see, what has happened is the entire sum has been lost . . .

Prabhupāda: He could not finish any one?

Haṁsadūta: No, not even the magazine was finished. The magazine before this recent one, I put it together myself from old magazines.

Prabhupāda: There are so many German students. They cannot do?

Haṁsadūta: They can do, but the thing is that you have said that he is the chief and unless it goes through him, it can't be printed.

Prabhupāda: No. No, no. No, no. No, no.

Haṁsadūta: Everything is bottle-necked around him.

Prabhupāda: Now, the important subject, he may do slowly, but . . .

Haṁsadūta: Like Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Others may be done by others. You print it. Even there is some mistake, that doesn't matter.

Haṁsadūta: Yes. And another thing I wanted to ask Your Divine Grace is this. This Bhagavad-gītā, I would like to print it as it becomes finished chapter by chapter. Otherwise it will be a long time before we have a book.

Prabhupāda: No, no, you can publish, chapter by chapter.

Haṁsadūta: This is all right?

Prabhupāda: Oh yes.

Haṁsadūta: Because these German people, they have to have books.

Prabhupāda: No, no. You give them chapter by chapter. That's all. We should use our intelligence. You give something, full. So chapter by . . . introduction, chapter by chapter, like that. And others may also translate, which is not very intelligent. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa . . . so do like that.

Haṁsadūta: Yes. (break)

Pradyumna: They have some of our philosophy. (break)

Bhagavān: . . . who has finally approved it, to see if it was up to standard.

Haṁsadūta: Well it reminds me of Janārdana. You know Janārdana was a big scholar and he was very intelligent, but he never produced very much. You remember Janārdana? So Maṇḍalībhadra is working full time. He never comes to the temple. Of course, he lives far away, but he never comes to the temple. And I know when a person doesn't come to the temple, it's very difficult for him to maintain, especially if he maintains a full time job. It has an imperceptible effect on your consciousness. And he also, you know, we sometimes, we don't see very much eye to eye. Like for instance, this coming Back to Godhead he wanted to produce, he wanted to put a picture of some of the . . . like there's a picture in one of the old Back to Godheads of Vṛndāvana. So I said: "This picture is not good because Kṛṣṇa is not in this picture. There's no Kṛṣṇa. We must have . . ."

Prabhupāda: Old Vṛndāvana?

Haṁsadūta: Yes, some buildings. Like Jaya Govinda used to write those articles, you remember? He used to write articles . . .

Prabhupāda: Comic?

Haṁsadūta: No, no, not comics. He would take some pictures of the scenery of Vṛndāvana, like the Yamunā or some of the temples, like Madana-Mohana temple, like that. So I said: "We must have a picture of Kṛṣṇa or a devotee or Prabhupāda. It can't be without some activity, some form, because people will not understand what it is. It may be very nice for us." So I feel that he has to either associate more with the temple or he must be paid some money so that he can work full time and . . . some change must be made.

Prabhupāda: No you pay and . . . you pay him money, and he must come. Both things should be done. He must come.

Haṁsadūta: Right. He should have a lot of association with devotees.

Prabhupāda: Without association, it will be whim.

Haṁsadūta: It's essential. Otherwise he'll become dry and . . . I mean that's what I fear.

Prabhupāda: I shall write to him.

Haṁsadūta: He may also come to visit you.

Prabhupāda: Then I will advise.

Haṁsadūta: He may. I don't know. He's also having a little, even though he's working, having a little money problem. And another thing I want to ask Your Divine Grace: We have not invited you to Germany because I thought that I didn't want to impose on your time because your time is very valuable, but if you'd like to come to Germany, we can arrange a program for you in Heidelberg, and there, Pradyumna says, there are some big professors there that are important. If you like to come there, it's not that . . .

Prabhupāda: If you can arrange a meeting amongst the scholars.

Haṁsadūta: Some scholars.

Prabhupāda: But another thing is that I do not know German language.

Pradyumna: They all speak English.

Haṁsadūta: They generally speak English very well. Generally, they all know English.

Prabhupāda: Then if some scholars' and philosophers' meeting is going on that will be nice.

Haṁsadūta: Then I will try to do that. What about a meeting in the biggest hall of Heidelberg? Would you also be interested in that?

Prabhupāda: But I will have to speak in English.

Haṁsadūta: Yes. They know English. This city is especially English. They, practically everyone knows English. Very, very, many people from America are always there. Especially the younger people, they all know English. It's a center for . . .

Pradyumna: It's the best German university. The most famous German university is there.

Haṁsadūta: And Śivānanda. Shall Śivānanda come here to see you? He wants to know about his taking sannyāsa. He can either go to Paris and meet you there or he can come here.

Prabhupāda: He cannot go to Paris?

Haṁsadūta: He can go to Paris and meet you there. The Hamburg devotees will meet you in Paris. They will not come to the festival because it's very complicated for us to come here and expensive. So they will . . . and Śivānanda can also go to Paris or he can come here.

Prabhupāda: If it is possible, come here, join this festival.

Haṁsadūta: Yes. I'll let him know that.

Devotee: Also the Olympic games are held in Germany this year. There will be people from all over the world.

Prabhupāda: Games?

Devotee: The Olympic games.

Haṁsadūta: Sport.

Prabhupāda: Oh yes.

Haṁsadūta: A big sport festival in Munchen. (break) And so we have some girls and they have asked us, they want to be married. What is our position?

Prabhupāda: Be married legally first.

Haṁsadūta: Legally. And they will be living outside the temple for sure. Is that correct, Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Haṁsadūta: And with a job and like that.

Prabhupāda: No, they can live in the temple . . .

Haṁsadūta: But they will live separate.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Haṁsadūta: Then what is the use of getting married? (end)