760816 - Conversation B - Hyderabad

Conversations by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

760816AR-HYDERABAD - August 16, 1976 - 19:52 Minutes

(Evening Darsana - on night of arrival)

Prabhupāda: . . . not Paris. Paris we have got rented. What is the . . .?

Devotee: It's a hundred miles away from Paris.

Prabhupāda: It is a big name. What . . .?

Hari-śauri: Lucay de La Male.

Prabhupāda: It is interior, near Orleans. So we have got very nice, beautiful palace. We have installed Gaura-Nitāi and Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma.

Mr. Badruka: Brindavan me bhi Krishna-Balaram hai. (In Vṛndāvana also there is Kṛṣṇa Balarāma.)

Prabhupāda: Hah. Four hundred acres land, we are producing our vegetables . . . vegetables, fruits, and food grains, milk. And two hundred devotees, they are living very happily. It is, for health, it is very nice. Aapne . . . se itna dur me makan kyo banaya hai. (You . . . with why have you made your house so far?)

Mr Badruka: Nahi pitaji ko bawadi ka pani, nal ka pani nahi peete hain, wo thoda orthodox hain. Roz teen baje uth ke hawan karna, yagya karna, ghoomne jana. To . . . ke hisab se. (No, father does not drink water from the well or the tap, he is a little orthodox. Everyday he gets up at 3 o'clock and does hawan, yagya, then goes for a walk. So . . . according to . . .)

Mahāṁśa: We were planning on your staying over there and this last night, this thing happened. So this morning we tried our best to complete your room, but then finally it was not coming off, so I . . .

Mr. Badruka: It came as a surprise, at one o'clock he says Prabhupāda will be staying here. We said nothing more than that, it will be my privilege. But I was just embarrassing, whether it would be inconvenient.

Prabhupāda: Not inconvenient. But now we have comfort. For staying, it is the best place. There is no question about it. But because for the function we have come, so little too far away.

Mahāṁśa: To be near the program and see what is going on.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore even it is little inconvenient.

Mr Badruka: Hum pehle do bar aaye the yahan par. Tab aapne yahin par devotees ko kaha tha ki Hindustan me kya hai. (We have come here twice before. Then you had told the devotees here what is there in India.)

Prabhupada: Do baar nahi ek baar. (Not twice but once.) What is the position now about this political situation?

Mr. Badruka: Political situation remains the same. No elections, nothing for the time being.

Prabhupāda: Mahāṁśa was saying that the businessman is in trouble.

Mr. Badruka: Yes, business is not prospering since last two, three years. Business conditions are not picking up.

Prabhupāda: What is the reason?

Mr. Badruka: A general recession throughout the world.

Prabhupāda: Depression. Not for any political reason.

Mr. Badruka: No, on account of Emergency also, Swāmījī, mostly these people are afraid of . . . (indistinct) . . . Government has right powers, whereby without question, nobody has the power to question in the court.

Prabhupāda: Why not?

Mr. Badruka: If the arrest means even the constable can come and arrest. So all these food grain, many other things, after all there may be countervention in some way or the other. Rules which are made, terms and conditions laid out . . .

Prabhupāda: How long this will continue?

Indian man (2): They say up to February, because this February she must have elections. Otherwise, there should be an amendment in the Constitution to allow her to continue.

Prabhupāda: That is being made.

Indian man (2): This present government will serve no indication to that, that she will be allowed. Because as far as the Constitution, only one year of extension can be given to Parliament, that nobody has followed through.

Prabhupāda: One year?

Indian man (2): One year extension to the existing Parliament is given as per Constitution. After one year it must dissolve if it is necessary.

Prabhupāda: That is the Constitution.

Indian man (2): That is our Indian Constitution.

Prabhupāda: But that is going to be changed?

Indian man (2): No, that clause is not proposed to be changed. The changes which she is bringing in decision, that clause at least is not proposed to be changed. The last proposition she made . . .

Mr. Badruka: We were surprised as usual.

Indian man (3): There were some questions in Parliament about her.

Mahāṁśa: Yes, it came in the Hindu . . .

Prabhupāda: Let them inquire. Our . . . everything is open secret. We are selling books throughout the whole world to the extent of six lakhs rupees per day. So money is coming from Kṛṣṇa.

Mr. Badruka: Here only, Swāmījī, Prabhupāda, just now this . . .

Prabhupāda: If you don't like this, you can close India; we can go all over the world.

Indian man (2): Yes, there is a very big scope there.

Indian man (3): No, but here even it would declare it. Minister of State. Only Communist have put those questions.

Prabhupāda: Communists are seeing this movement as a great danger.

Indian man (3): Yes, great danger for their . . .

Prabhupāda: And we are spreading God consciousness. (break) By the grace of Kṛṣṇa, we have no debts. No. We have no scarcity of money. They will simply find out. Now in Bombay I am getting from my Book Fund seven lakhs of rupees per month regularly.

Indian man (3): Yes, ten lakhs per month is coming. Otherwise that work will not progress.

Prabhupāda: We have given them three lakhs of rupees. What is that?

Mahāṁśa: This is the newspaper article which came in Hindu, the Hindu paper, about the government asking something about us.

Mr. Badruka: Communist party.

Mahāṁśa: "New Delhi, August 13th. Mr. Om Mehta, Minister of State for Home, informed the Rājya-sabhā yesterday that government will order an inquiry into the activities of Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Society in Nadia District of West Bengal to find out whether there was something fishy about it."

Hari-śauri: This is the same report Gopāla Kṛṣṇa read you.

Mahāṁśa: You have read this, Prabhupāda?

Indian man (3): It must have come in earlier.

Prabhupāda: But the name is "Kṛṣṇa Caitanya." (laughs)

Mahāṁśa: Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Society.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.

Hari-śauri: Śrīla Prabhupāda, it's ten-thirty. Would you like anything to eat or drink before we take rest?

Devotee: Śrīla Prabhupāda, there's puffies and peanuts and hot milk. Puffies.

Prabhupāda: Puffies?

Hari-śauri: Puffed rice.

Prabhupāda: Puffed rice.

Devotee: And some fried. And there's hot milk.

Prabhupāda: You can give me little puffed rice.

(long pause)

Prabhupāda: During wartime some, during noncooperation movement, so one firm, they were supplying printing machine, and . . . very famous firm; I forgot the name. So they had 113 branches all over the world. So somebody questioned that, "If your British boycott, if by boycott movement, if your firm is closed . . ." So the manager replied: "So what is wrong there? If one branch is closed, we'll still have 112 branches all over the world." So if the Communist party in India they want like that, so we have our own branches all over. (slapping sound for mosquito) Don't kill.

Indian man (3): This book sales all over the world, six lakhs of rupees?

Prabhupāda: Sixty thousand . . .

Indian man (3): Dollars. About five lakhs.

Prabhupāda: Books. We are printing books five lakhs, three lakhs, one lakh, fifty thousand. Lowest twenty thousand.

Indian man (3): Volumes.

Prabhupāda: And repetition.

Hari-śauri: They expect to sell twenty thousand copies in one week now. When a new book is published, that first batch of twenty thousand will sell in one week.

Prabhupāda: So, here is? (break)

Mahāṁśa: It was a touch-and-go thing. Because it was going to be finished just enough for the opening, and afterwards the work could go on for another one month, finishing work. It is coming out very, very beautiful. Everyone who comes in, they like the whole . . . the hall is very big and massive, it's very ornamental, and it will be very, very popular. Oh, yes, already people all over Andhra Pradesh know about it. We have done some good publicity. The press has given us some good covering. Tomorrow is a press conference at about . . . their press conference starts at five. We are going to have a film show for them and prasādam and all that before Your Grace goes there. And then afterwards there is a program at Muthilal Rao's house. We had a program there before in his garden, if you remember.

Prabhupāda: He is some ambassador?

Mahāṁśa: Yes, for Somalia. Now he has come back. He just . . . he's very, very favorable for you. Because, we were talking and he was blasting all the Śaṅkarācāryas, he was blasting all the different gurus and everyone, and he says the only guru is Śrīla Prabhupāda. And he says he met our devotees in Africa. He's been to London and other temples in Europe.

Prabhupāda: Oh, he has seen our temples.

Mahāṁśa: He has seen our temples in Europe and Africa, and he was very, very impressed. So when I told him that Prabhupāda is coming for the inauguration, he said: "You must give me the privilege again to have a program." So tomorrow evening there will be a program there, and then on the 18th morning at ten o'clock, between ten and ten-thirty is the prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā. The chief minister is coming there as the chief guest, and it will stay till about twelve o'clock. I wanted to have a feast for all the people as we did in Vṛndāvana, but it's not possible here because there's no space. The area around the temple is very little. So we have made these kinds of packages with different items, just like a little prasādam feast, small. So we'll be giving everyone who comes—about ten thousand packages we are preparing. We'll be distributing prasādam like that. And then in the evening there's a program again, Janmāṣṭamī program. This is for public. The morning program we have restricted only to invitees, because it will be so crowded otherwise. This is one problem which I am trying to figure out, how to face of the managing the crowd, because the space around the temple is very small, so we cannot have very big, huge assembly. We have to figure out something about that. I'm still trying to think what to do.

Prabhupāda: There is no question of management. Anyone comes, if you have made packages for distribution, give a package.

Indian man (4): There will be a lot of confusion, Prabhupāda, there. And what we should do in that passage, we should make them sit, as we were discussing . . . (indistinct) . . . we should make the passage and put daddis these on that, and make all the visitors and guests sit on that. And immediately after pratiṣṭhā is over, installation of the Deities and all, one by one they should be allowed to go have darśana and come back. On their return, give them prasāda. Not in package, bhoogi, sweet, it is . . .

Prabhupāda: Whatever you want to arrange. When they're going back, that's all.

Indian man (4): That way there won't be any rush. Otherwise, they will be stampeding the temple. Then nobody would have to rush in the temple. This is how they did at this Veṅkateśvara temple Birlas have constructed. They, though I was not there, someone was saying that all the guests were made to sit. Whoever was coming, they were made to sit, and then after all the distribution, everything was over, they were just made to one by one go around the Deity and . . .

Prabhupāda: You make that arrangement.

Indian man (4): Yes. If there are no rains that arrangement will go through very nicely. Only if there is no rain.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Mahāṁśa: If it rains, then there will be a problem. Everyone will try and rush into the temple.

Indian man (4): In Janmāṣṭamī day usually many times it rains also.

Prabhupāda: So, where is the puffed rice? Somebody is bringing it?

Harikeśa: Pālikā is . . .

Prabhupāda: Why Pālikā, huh?

Harikeśa: Pālikā is in the kitchen taking care of it. (background talking)

Prabhupāda: No, bring it to . . . why you making there, puffed rice? There is . . . it is too late now.

(long pause)

Prabhupāda: So what she is doing?

Harikeśa: I will just check.

Mahāṁśa: She is cooking prasāda.

Prabhupāda: Cooking? What she is cooking?

Mahāṁśa: Only puffed rice.

Prabhupāda: No, no, what she is cooking?

Mahāṁśa: I'll just . . .

Devotee: Here it comes. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. (break) (end)