760903 - Conversation A - Vrndavana

Conversations by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

760903R1-VRNDAVAN - September 03, 1976 - 16:12 Minutes

Prabhupāda: So, everything is going nice?

Akṣayānanda: Yes, by your grace only.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: We have a very beautiful garden for you.

Prabhupāda: Hm. Garden? Oh.

Akṣayānanda: Guesthouse has improved very much. Now we have about twenty paying guests. And during Śrāvaṇa and Janmāṣṭamī it was completely full. Very, very encouraging.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually, many of our Life Members were turned down. We met some in Delhi. They said they couldn't get in. The whole thing was full.

Akṣayānanda: They were fighting to come.

Prabhupāda: So, they are allowed three days free?

Akṣayānanda: Only. Also book distribution has improved very much.

Prabhupāda: Locally?

Akṣayānanda: Here in the temple specifically. Haihaya has been concentrating. He's very good.

Prabhupāda: Hindi?

Akṣayānanda: Yes, Hindi magazines and what we can get.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Viśāla alone does about two, three hundred every day.

Akṣayānanda: Viśāla is . . .

Prabhupāda: Where is our Viśvambhara? Viśvambhara is helping nicely?

Akṣayānanda: Oh, yes. Hundred percent. (break) French.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: That's the new French Bhāgavatam on the back.

Prabhupāda: Oh. I think I have seen it.

Hari-śauri: Yes, that's the one we got in Paris, Bhagavān.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: It looks very nice.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Bank is going nice?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: The bank.

Akṣayānanda: The bank is all right.

Prabhupāda: Sab theek thak? Tabiyat theek hai to? Aur sab padosi theek-thaak hai? (Everything is alright? Your health is fine? All neighbors are doing good?) So, the gurukula building, how far it is? . . . (indistinct Hindi) . . . you have got them, the keys? (devotees look through keys)

Indian Man: Ji Han. (Yes)

Prabhupāda: Main to sab tumhare bharosa me hi choda hun,ye log bichare ladkhalata hai. (I have left everything under your trust, else these people get wobbly.) . . . (indistinct conversation) (break)

Prabhupāda: Ek manjil hogaya?(1 floor is completed?)

Indian Man: Ek manjil ab nahi ho sakta, ek mahina lag jayega. (1 floor can't be done now, it will take around 1 month.)

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: When devotees come for Gaura-Pūrṇimā . . . Ground floor me reh sakte hain . . .Jab bhakt ayenge agle saal festival pe, ground floor aur first floor me reh sakenge. (They can stay on the ground floor . . .When devotees come next year for the festival, they cab stay in the ground floor and first floo.) (. . . indistinct. . .)

Prabhupāda: Ayega to idhar se hokar sab jayega. (If they come, they would first come over here and then go.)

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Māyāpur, Delhi, Vṛndāvana, Bombay. From Bombay back to Europe.

Bhagatjī: . . .Hamari aur nahi aye Prabhupāda? Ki Nityānanda festival yahan ho aur Gaur Purnima Māyāpur me ho, aur Ram Navami Bombay ho (You won't come to our place, Prabhupāda? We can have Nityānanda festival here and then Gaur Purnima in Māyāpur and Ram Navami in Bombay.) . . . (indistinct) . . .

Prabhupāda: . . . So let them come first of all here from Delhi.

Bhagatjī: They come first here.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Thing is, the whole thing has to be completed in three weeks, because the American GBCs don't like . . . they think it is a very big loss financially. . . . Agar teen hafta se jyada India me rehana hai to financially bahut mehenga padta hai kyunki sab devotees . . . (. . . to stay in India for more than 3 weeks becomes very expensive for all the devotees because . . .) Book distribution stops completely. They are saying . . . (indistinct conversation with Bhagatjī)

Prabhupāda: Where is Hari-śauri?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Hari-śauri? Prabhupāda wants you.

Prabhupāda: Is that correct? Is that correct key? What is that?

Hari-śauri: This one's for some of the locks on the doors.

Prabhupāda: Which door?

Hari-śauri: Ah, front door. I think it was one on the bedroom originally. They may have taken them off again.

Prabhupāda: Find out the door.

Bhagatjī: . . . (indistinct Hindi conversation with Prabhupāda)

Prabhupāda: He is pakkā-bāṇiyā, and here is another, more pakkā. (laughter) Ye pakka baniya hai. (He is a thorough business man)

Bhagatjī: (. . . indistinct . . . )

Prabhupāda: Aap to sahansheel hain, ye apka special quality hai. (You are so tolerant, this is your special quality.) He is very tolerant.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: He's very calm.

Bhagatjī: . . . To wo kehne lage ye jo mandir hai . . .lekin aap . . . Mene kaha tha dekhiye, me Iskcon Prabhupāda ji pe viswas karta hun, aur me hriday se kehta hun ki me Iskcon ko . . . wese me jab me hun ya na hun . . . (indistinct) . . . (So he started saying, this temple . . . but you . . . I told, look, I believe in Iskcon Prabhupāda ji, and I say it with my heart that I believe in Iskcon . . . even if I am there or not there . . .)

Prabhupāda: Apne kya socha hai? (What have you thought?)

Bhagatjī: . . . Maine, ye socha saab, ye contractor bade ache mile hain, badhiya party hai, bade imandar aadmi hain . . .Kitni musibat padi hai unko nikalne me ye ap hamare dil se puchiye. Kitni musibat padi hai saaman uthane me . . . (I have thought, the contractors whom we have got are very good. It's a good party, they are very honest . . . You can ask my heart, how great difficulty it was in getting them out. There was so much difficulty in lifting the luggage . . . )

Prabhupāda: Mumbai se . . .(From Mumbai . . .)

Indian man: . . . Prabhupāda ne nikalwa diya Mumbai se. . .(Prabhupāda got us out from Mumbai . . .)

Bhagatjī: . . . To Prabhupāda wo jab me gaya, sabse pucha,humne kaha pehle kimat lagayi hai apne .Mene unse keh diya 10 rupaya hum government ne (. . . indistinct) aur itna hamara paisa kharch ho raha hai. Aur aap banayenge 7 feet jo hai sadak ke center se master plan me apko zameen chodni padegi agar ap ashram banayegnge. Aur residence banayenge to aur jyada zameen chodni padegi (. . . indistinct. . .) Me ek bhai ke nate maine kaha ki apse me keh raha hun ap karo , aur hamare bachon ke liye khelne ka maidan ban jayega, ek tent ban jayega chota sa. Are aap usko muft de do to hum apka naam likhwaden isme (. . . indistinct . . .) Hum chinta karte rahe Prabhupāda ye zameen to hum apne paise se lenge chahe kuch ho.(So Prabhupāda when I went, I asked everybody, I asked them to fix the price first. I said 10 rupees our Government . . . (indistinct) . . . and this the amount which gets spent. And you want to make 7 feet from road's center, so in the master plan you would have to leave land if you want to build ashram. And if you want to build a residence, you would have to leave even more land. As a brother, I said you do it, and there is will be some space as playground for our children to play, and we could also put a small tent. And if you give it for free, we will write your name on it. )

Prabhupāda: Tit for Tat. Bahut baniya hain aap. (All laughing) Bhagwan Kṛṣṇa bhi baniya hain. (You are a very big merchant. Lord Kṛṣṇa was also a merhcant.)

Bhagatjī: . . . Han yashoda mayya to vaishya hain. (Yes, Yashoda mayya was a vaishya.)

Prabhupāda:Bhagwan Vṛndāvana me baniya hain aur jagah me Kshatriya hain. Hain to bhagwan sabhi. (Lord is merchant in Vṛndāvana but in all other places he is Kshatriya. Anyways, in both forms he is God.)

Prabhupāda: (to Pālikā) You have come before? Or with us?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: With you.

Pālikā: In a bus. I have some fruits ready for you, if you'd like to take.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You have . . . (indistinct) . . . paraṭā? No. What you have prepared?

Bhagatjī: . . . (indistinct Hindi)

Prabhupāda: Jitna jaroorat hai utna collect karo. (Collect only that which is required.) Keep patience. I am not dishonest.

Prabhupāda: Dishonest or not . . . (indistinct Hindi) . . . your family is very nice.

Bhagatjī: Keep patience. I am not dishonest . . . (indistinct Hindi)

Devotee: Your breakfast has come. Breakfast is here.

Prabhupāda: I'll take. This man, he's not . . . (indistinct) . . . jaya.

Devotees: Jaya, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Come Krishna-Balaram sabko sukhi kare, aur kya humlog chahte hain. Sab uni ka kripa hai. (May Kṛṣṇa Balarāma make everyone happy, what else do we want? Everything is His mercy.) Balarāma . . . bala-hīnena labhya (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 3.2.4). Wo bhagvan Baladev ka kripa bina yahan kabza nahi hota hai. Wo Vivekananda uska meaning kiya hai. Jiska takat kam hai wo kabhi . . . labh nahi kar sakta. Mota-taaza khub maans khao wo mota-taaza bahut . . . ye hota hai. (Balarāma . . . if He showers His mercy then anything is possible. Vivekananda gave the meaning of this verse to one who has less muscle power . . . what is the use? Fat, sturdy, eats a lot of meat and becomes fat . . . this is what happens.)

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: By your mercy, Balarāmajī is giving.

Prabhupāda: Nitāiyer koruṇā habe braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pābe. These rascals, they do not know. Nitāi, balarāma hoila nitāi. So without the mercy of Balarāma, nobody can appreciate Vṛndāvana life. Jaya. (end)