760720 - Conversation - New York

Conversations by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

760720CR-NEW YORK - July 20, 1976 - 10:01 Minutes

(in car)

Prabhupāda: Appreciating.

Rāmeśvara: They have so many different groups, religious groups and minority groups from other parts of the world, they call it a melting pot. So they accept us because they've accepted so many others, the Puerto Ricans, the blacks, so similarly they are accepting us.

Prabhupāda: Who?

Rāmeśvara: This city, the people of this city.

Prabhupāda: America.

Rāmeśvara: New York.

Prabhupāda: New York.

Rāmeśvara: In other places they consider us to be very foreign, alien. But here there are so many foreigners, so it fits right in.

Prabhupāda: This is the Tenth Street? No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is Amsterdam Avenue.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Ninth Avenue turns into Amsterdam Avenue.

Rāmeśvara: Next year at the Ratha-yātrā they are planning to have a press box, so that the newspapermen and the television cameras can come and film the activities on stage also. They can film your lecture, they can film the play.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We're also thinking to have a press box along the parade route, so that they can stay in an elevated position and take photos. We collected a total of about seven thousand dollars, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: And what you spent?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Spent ten thousand. But we also collected another fifteen thousand in advertisements. So total collection was about twenty, over twenty thousand, and expenditure was under ten.

Prabhupāda: Good business. (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And that was the first year.

Rāmeśvara: (chants japa)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Next year we will collect sixty to seventy thousand dollars . . .

Devotee: Whew!

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: . . . easily, I'm sure, with advertisements.

Prabhupāda: So where the profit is going?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Where is the profit? Into distributing more books.

Prabhupāda: That's nice, very good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That is our only business. (break) . . . completely cleansed all of the grounds throughout the night, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Where?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Last night all night long we were cleaning up the grounds.

Rāmeśvara: At the park.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: At the park. One woman who lives next to the park said: "In all my years of living here I've never seen such a wonderful festival held."

Prabhupāda: Yes . . . (indistinct)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And one . . . the official of the park, who's in charge of the park, was on CBS television, and he said that, "You see? Spiritual life is still present in Washington Square Park." He made that comment. He said: "We are very proud to be able to say that in our . . . this park was founded hundreds of years ago, when America was religious." And he said, "Spiritual life is still present in Washington Square Park."

Prabhupāda: So why not ask the mayor to construct a temple there? (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I don't think they'd agree.

Prabhupāda: People will come.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Maybe, but, ah, I don't think they will agree to that. They're not that spiritual.

Rāmeśvara: No, in America you have to raise your own money for temples. You cannot get the city to build it.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, you can't get their land either, not for a building like that. You can put up a hospital maybe. Thing is, park space is so short in that area of the city that they . . . I don't think they'd give it up for a building. Prabhupāda told us yesterday that we should rent a small building downtown in that area and call it Guṇḍicā, so that Lord Jagannātha will stay down there.

Prabhupāda: For one week.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: For one week. And we'll keep a restaurant there.

Prabhupāda: And then they'll again come in procession.

Rāmeśvara: Wow!

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, two festivals.

Gurudāsa: I was told that there was another procession last night bringing the car back, and all the night persons—there's a different whole segment of the city, people who come at night . . .

Devotee: Bums.

Gurudāsa: . . . who stay up all night. And they were there, hundreds of people following the car back in the nighttime.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It took about seven hours to bring the carts back. All night they worked. Jayānanda was slaving out there, and Ādi-keśa Swami. Ādi-keśa finally got back at five in the morning, collapsed on the carts. He was exhausted.

Prabhupāda: They should be given some recommendations in writing.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Give Ādi-keśa a recommendation. This will be gigantic, Śrīla Prabhupāda. I'll tell you one thing, that the first way we go, next year when we go one way, it will get huge publicity, and that will be the publicity for the going return trip. Because it will be so publicized, even more people will come on the return ride.

Rāmeśvara: On the return you simply go to the temple and drop the Deities off?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. We'll go to Fifty-ninth Street and have another feast at the park.

Rāmeśvara: Yes, there has to be another feast.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We'll have the feast. We may have buses, we'll have all our buses, and we'll bus the people to the temple. We could rent buses, Rāmeśvara.

Prabhupāda: Return Ratha-yātrā. Ulṭā-ratha.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What is it called?

Prabhupāda: Ulṭā-ratha.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Ulṭā-ratha.

Rāmeśvara: Should the actors perform the Herā Pañcamī ceremony?

Prabhupāda: That is in the middle.

Rāmeśvara: In the middle.

Prabhupāda: Do that.

Rāmeśvara: So they can do that? (break) . . . pañcamī, where they carry the goddess of fortune on an opulent palanquin.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually, New York doesn't have a name. We have to give it some name. We call Los Angeles as New Dvārakā. Here it's just New York. (break)

Rāmeśvara: (whispering) . . . Rādhā-vallabha.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Huh?

Rāmeśvara: Rādhā-vallabha.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: . . . monkey.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Rāmeśvara: Rādhā-vallabha is your faithful servant.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Guarding you. (break)

(walking)

Ghanaśyāma: We were talking about the pictures, the paintings in the books. We were mentioning how professors liked the paintings and how sometimes they actually buy the books because of the nice paintings. Sometimes when we go back to see a professor or librarian a year later, we'll notice that they'll have a catalogue up on the bulletin board. Sometimes they'll take the cover of the jacket of the book and they'll put it on display. And now we're getting recognized when we go to some of the colleges. They say: "Oh, you're the man with the nice colorful books. We've seen your catalogue, we got one in the mail. We've seen your books, and they're very attractive books." And our men are getting known now that because we've been to most of the schools in America once, and they say: "You're the men who don't leave until your books are in the library." Even if the school is closed, our men, now, they'll go to the professor's home and they'll get him out of bed to come to see the librarian or to write a notice or to call the librarian. So even if the school is closed, the books are still being placed, and when the students come the books are in the library. (break)

(in car)

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Satsvarūpa: Is that what you want?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Gurudāsa Mahārāja can speak very nice.

Satsvarūpa: The speaking starts in the fall, especially. That's when we could work together.

Prabhupāda: No, in our temple.

Satsvarūpa: In the temples also.

Gurudāsa: Should I not go to the London zone at this time? I've been invited. They say they need a sannyāsī in that zone, for years, so I've been invited. Do you think I should go now with Satsvarūpa Mahārāja, or go to London?

Prabhupāda: That you decide among, among all of you.

Gurudāsa: All right. Very good. (break)

Prabhupāda: Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ (SB 5.18.12). As soon as one becomes devotee, all the good qualification immediately manifest. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (indistinct background comments) . . . all these people hanging out and making noise.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)