761220 - Arrival - Bombay

Conversations by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

761220AR-BOMBAY - December 20, 1976 - 15:04 Minutes

(kīrtana welcoming Prabhupāda at the Bombay Airport)

Hari-śauri: Girirāja? Who's got the baggage?

Girirāja: Ah?

Hari-śauri: Somebody's got to get the baggage.

Girirāja: I'll get it. (kīrtana ends)

Devotees: Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jaya!

(in car)

Hari-śauri: Look at this.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Bridge ka neeche se jaoge na? (You will go from under the bridge, will you not?)

Prabhupāda: He is leading.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. He speaks fluent Hindi, this boy, Bilvamaṅgala.

Prabhupāda: He is married Indian wife?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, he is the fellow who married that actress's sister.

Prabhupāda: They are living together?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But they are not living in the temple. They are living outside. They are living together but outside.

Prabhupāda: Wife maintaining the husband?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Pardon?

Prabhupāda: Wife maintaining the husband?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Her family has given them house. . . . nahi-nahi. (. . . no, no.) (aside) This would have been a shorter cut, I think.

Prabhupāda: Whose car this is?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: This is one of our Life Members' friend's. He is like a devotee, Jasbir. Nanda-kumāra Mahārāja just arrived with Radha Fahavar (chuckles).

Prabhupāda: What is his dress?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: He is a sannyasi. (chuckles) He arrived this morning in Delhi, this evening in Bombay.

Prabhupāda: Hah. Everything is all right?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Everything is going very nicely. We've arranged . . .

Prabhupāda: Yes. Car is very nice.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Very nice. We made a palanquin, Śrīla Prabhupāda, but I think it's not very good, so we're . . . how did the meeting go yesterday . . . today?

Prabhupāda: Yes, it was very successful.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: (laughing) Thanks.

Prabhupāda: Crushed.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Crushed. But they won't change, these Māyāvādīs.

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) . . . will say that you are not on the right party.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Motorcycle ours?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. It's ours, one of our devotees. He lives outside. He has a motorcycle, so I thought he can escort motorcycle first. (calling to somebody) Bele!

Hari-śauri: There is red light on the front?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: There is one red light that doesn't work.

Hari-śauri: (indistinct) . . . at least it scares everyone, putting a red light in the . . . (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Is there a garage?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: There is a garage, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in the temple where it is being built, and Mr. Gonia told me it will be ready in three or four days. He is getting all cleaned up. So we didn't want to build one because there is one there we can get. I spoke about that today. Our first book which you had told me to prepare showing us as a religious movement, it has come from the printer, looks first class. Kṛṣṇa Consciousness Movement Is Authorized, it's the Indian version. You told me to produce it in Vṛndāvana, it just came from the printers. Looks very, very nice, Śrīla Prabhupāda. And we are doing a similar one with only with s . . . little different, which shows us as a cultural movement. Plane was a little late.

Prabhupāda: Yes. One hour. It arrived late. Bombay is always opulent.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: India's first city.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Rādhā-vallabhā was telling me that he likes Bombay.

Prabhupāda: Ah.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: I told them him are getting such cheap printing rates we may be moving a lot of printing to Bombay. He said he'll come and stay here.

Prabhupāda: You are for the first time to Bombay?

Rādhā-vallabha: I was only in the airport before. I have never actually seen the temple. Very nice.

Prabhupāda: What is the news of Los Angeles? You are coming from Los Angeles or New York?

Rādhā-vallabha: From Los Angeles. They are having the Christmas distribution now, big book distribution of the year.

Prabhupāda: About that opposition movement?

Rādhā-vallabha: I can't hear.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: About the opposition movement.

Rādhā-vallabha: Yes. The devotees dress up like Santa Claus and go out and distribute books. Now all the other Santa Clauses, the karmī Santa Clauses, are complaining.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: To the police?

Rādhā-vallabha: So our devotee Santa Clauses are getting arrested. So we had a press conference with the devotee Santa Claus and another devotee preaching to everyone. It was very successful.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda meant with the opposition with the parents, that case.

Hari-śauri: That court case.

Rādhā-vallabha: In Chicago?

Hari-śauri: No. From Los Angeles, that girl.

Rādhā-vallabha: In Los Angeles, it's all very favorable.

Prabhupāda: Ask him.

Hari-śauri: What's happening in Chicago?

Rādhā-vallabha: Chicago with the boy?

Hari-śauri: Yeah.

Rādhā-vallabha: Rāmeśvara and Satsvarūpa and some others met in Chicago. It's being taken care of. The boy is in Chicago with his mother.

Prabhupāda: Hmm.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: One of the sadajīs, he rented that bus for the devotees. He's a sadajī but he's like a devotee. He comes every day.

Hari-śauri: (discussing quietly, out of Prabhupada's hearing) Harikeśa is GBC for Germany and Eastern Europe. The New York protest is doing all right? The New York protest?

Rādhā-vallabha: One hasn't happened yet. There's not really much more in New York till the case is solved. You have the manuscripts or does Pradyumna?

Hari-śauri: Pradyumna. He had them. He had up to the Sixteenth Chapter is complete, but I don't know how he was going to send them. There is in the Hyderabad farm, so then he didn't come to Wardha with us. He is coming directly to Bombay and his wife. He should be here tomorrow.

Rādhā-vallabha: We need those manuscripts if we're going to get the book done

Hari-śauri: Yeah.

Rādhā-vallabha: We have finished Eighth Canto, Volume Three.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Rādhā-vallabha: Eighth Canto, Volume Three is finished. It should be here in a few days.

Prabhupāda: Eighth Canto, Part . . .?

Rādhā-vallabha: Three.

Hari-śauri: (aside) There was a book that was sent with some electrical apparatus. It was sent to Delhi, and they can't get it cleared from the Customs.

Rādhā-vallabha: Electrical appliance?

Hari-śauri: Electrical, yeah, that's what they have said. Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja knows about it. There were some books, a book that was also sent to Prabhupāda.

Rādhā-vallabha: Is it cleared?

Hari-śauri: No, they can't get it cleared because we have to pay so much duty on it.

Rādhā-vallabha: Oh, the electrical. Did you get the shaver?

Hari-śauri: I got some stuff. The last I got was from Jāmuna.

Rādhā-vallabha: Well, did you get the shaver?

Hari-śauri: For Prabhupāda?

Rādhā-vallabha: Yes.

Hari-śauri: What kind was it?

Rādhā-vallabha: Well, I wrote it down. I sent you one.

Hari-śauri: . . . (indistinct)

Rādhā-vallabha: That's what it is, then.

Hari-śauri: I got another one from . . .

Rādhā-vallabha: (indistinct) . . . some new books? Did Prabhupada get one through?

Hari-śauri: That's what it is then.

Rādhā-vallabha: They sent you some new books. I just found out from Hari-śauri that they never cleared Customs.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Really?

Rādhā-vallabha: First Canto, Part Three.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: The reason is you sent them with some electrical apparatus.

Rādhā-vallabha: It was a new shaver for Prabhupāda.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah.

Rādhā-vallabha: They wouldn't let you clear it?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Didn't Hari-śauri tell you people not to send any electrical apparatus?

Prabhupāda: Yes, they should not be mixed.

Hari-śauri: It's almost impossible to get it through Customs.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They mixed up everything. When you leave the country maybe you can clear it out.

Hari-śauri: What burnt out was the recharger.

Rādhā-vallabha: That's all?

Hari-śauri: Yeah, the shaver's all right. (laughs) If you can get that shaver and take it back with you, in case you . . . (indistinct)

Rādhā-vallabha: Oh, right.

Hari-śauri: Actually, the recharger's working now again. It was almost burnt out. To get . . . what I wanted was a recharger that works off of 220 volts . . . (indistinct) . . . how's Rakṣaṇa doing?

Rādhā-vallabha: He's getting his leg amputated.

Hari-śauri: Yeah. I sent him a letter, you know, with a picture of Prabhupāda from Paris, and . . . (break) (end)