771103 - Conversation G - Vrndavana

Conversations by Date, 1977

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

771103R7-VRNDAVAN - November 03, 1977 - 25:36 Minutes

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda said: "What you have brought?"

Śatadhanya: Bengali potols, big, very nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Show him. Wow.

Śatadhanya: That one's a little soft, but . . .

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Give him a good one.

Prabhupāda: Hmm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fat.

Śatadhanya: You'll take, Śrīla Prabhupāda? Also some jhinga.

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Śatadhanya: In Māyāpur, when they heard that Your Divine Grace was coming, it was like electricity. There was . . . I've never seen anyone so excited as they were. They were electrified. Everyone was . . . all the gurukula, little boys who had never even seen . . . "Prabhupāda is coming! Prabhupāda is coming!" There were shouts all through the āśrama. And everything was very well organized by Jayapatākā Mahārāja for your arrival.

Bhavānanda: Mrs. De at the airport?

Śatadhanya: At the airport that Mrs. De, who you had . . . I think she met you previously. She had told you, "I am also a De."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Remember when we flew to Bombay that lady helped us for getting special seating?

Śatadhanya: So she very kindly made all the nice arrangements at the airport. There was a big caravan with flowers to take you to Māyāpur.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You expected Prabhupāda on that plane?

Śatadhanya: Yes. We had the car out. Everyone was expecting.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They couldn't get through in time to tell them you weren't coming, Śrīla Prabhupāda, so they were all ready at the airport with the cars.

Prabhupāda: So we failed to catch.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. You must have been surprised when Prabhupāda didn't come out of the plane.

Śatadhanya: Surprised? Yes. (laughs)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They arranged that special lift to take you out of the plane also. Remember that we went in the plane when we went to . . . on British Airways from London? That way you don't have to get carried or bounced around, because it's a machine that goes up and down.

Prabhupāda: The difficulty is on the, this road.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, it's very bad.

Śatadhanya: Yes, it's very bad.

Prabhupāda: What is the condition?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Imp . . . oh.

Śatadhanya: I came by train just now.

Bhavānanda: Kavirāja said, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that under no condition should you go on that road.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Under no circumstances. It's lucky that the car didn't arrive in time, Śrīla Prabhupāda. He said under no circumstances can you be taken over that road.

Śatadhanya: It must have been Kṛṣṇa's arrangement to protect Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda knew it.

Śatadhanya: The weather in Bengal is very nice, very warm and very nice weather.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You saw Mr. Shastri? The kavirāja?

Śatadhanya: No, I left that night he was to arrive.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Adri had gotten back yet?

Śatadhanya: Not when I left.

Bhavānanda: He left the night I left.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How did he come? By plane?

Śatadhanya: The train for free. On Jayapatākā's Indrail pass. You go first class for free.

Bhavānanda: Last night I had a dream, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Everyone at Māyāpur, all the devotees, were rolling on the ground and flailing their fists on the ground and pulling their hair and weeping. They were all expecting Your Divine Grace to come.

Prabhupāda: Hmm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think you have to fulfill their prayer, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śatadhanya: There's also some news from Māyāpur. Seventeen of the Muhammadans, those Muslims, they have been arrested. Now they're released on bail, but they were officially arrested in Māyāpur. And also Jayapatākā Mahārāja says that the site where they are thinking of building that big temple in Māyāpur, some land has just become available for sale, about fifteen bighās of land. And it ranges from fifteen hundred to twenty-five hundred rupees per bighā. So Jayapatākā wanted me to tell Your Divine Grace.

Bhavānanda: Fifteen bighās, that's five acres.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So why not purchase?

Bhavānanda: Right where the . . . where we want to put the temple. It must be a group of men that the prices vary per bighā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Why not purchase?

Śatadhanya: Jayapatākā Mahārāja is very anxious to purchase that land. It's exactly where the site for the big temple, at that location. Fifteen bighās.

Prabhupāda: Whether he can purchase?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Whether he can purchase. If you don't go to Māyāpur, Śrīla Prabhupāda, all of Māyāpur will come here to be with you. Now, if you get a little stronger, we can go.

Śatadhanya: Even the airport officials were disappointed. They were saying: "Where is our Guru Mahārāja?" I was shocked to hear them saying. Saying: "Where is our Guru Mahārāja?" They had purchased very nice fruits and vegetables of all different varieties, and Prabhupāda could choose which he liked—potol, jhinga, so many things.

Prabhupāda: What other news?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What other news?

Śatadhanya: Everything is very nice there, very organized. Jayapatākā Mahārāja and Bhavānanda Mahārāja have organized it very nicely. Calcutta is very clean. Also Calcutta was prepared in case your Divine Grace was feeling tired. Then you could have stayed at Calcutta for a day or so and then gone on to Māyāpur. Many Life Members had come to the airport. Sita Ram Daga . . .

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think we have to go soon, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Actually, to take you to different places is the greatest ecstasy, because there's no greater pleasure the devotees have than when you first arrive, they see you. Their feelings know no bounds. Airport arrivals have always been ecstatic over the years, Śrīla Prabhupāda. The newspapers always remark how ecstatic they are.

Prabhupāda: What is the condition of the road?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This road is hopeless. We have to find an alternate way.

Bhakti-caru: (whispering) How about going from Mathurā to Delhi by train?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Śrīla Prabhupāda, this morning you were asking for Bharadvāja? Here he is. We thought of a better way to go, Śrīla Prabhupāda, than car. We'll take the Taj Express from Mathurā to Delhi. It's quite a nice train ride. It takes only one hour and forty-five minutes, and it doesn't even stop one time.

Śatadhanya: I just took it from Delhi this morning. Very clean, very smooth.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We will have one devotee get on in Agra to reserve a compartment for us, and then we'll board it here in Mathurā, and it arrives in Delhi at about nine-thirty at night, nine forty-five. So then we'll spend the night in Delhi, resting, and then the following morning we'll take the morning flight to Calcutta and Māyāpur. This means also that you won't have to undergo any strenuous journey to Delhi and then immediately take a flight. The train journey is actually much easier than a car journey, and then we get the whole night to rest, which is also good. So basically it just means we take a plane and then the car ride to Māyāpur.

Prabhupāda: So I simply go by car from here to Mathurā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Then we take the Taj Express, which is nonstop to Delhi, then stay in the Delhi temple, which is also nice, overnight, and then we proceed on to Calcutta. The next morning we leave on the plane at six-thirty in the morning and we arrive in Calcutta by about eight-thirty, and we should arrive in Māyāpur by noon. Does it sound like a good plan? Now you simply should gain more and more strength, Śrīla Prabhupāda. This time, until the kavirāja comes, from now until then, you should rest as much as possible, take these medicines. I think it's having a positive effect. You mentioned this morning that when you sit up you feel a little stronger now. I think it's good that you're not taxing yourself in any way. That's important. Would you like to do something specific right now, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: What shall I do? (chuckles)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, Upendra's saying you might like to wash now your face and teeth. When does Prabhupāda wash his body?

Upendra: Two, approximately.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In the afternoon. (background whispering) Maybe I should read some news to you? What would you like to do now, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: News?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I might have a little bit of news. I'll see.

Prabhupāda: In Māyāpur I shall stay in my quarter?

Śatadhanya: Yes, Prabhupāda. Everything is very nicely arranged. There's one nice, big bed, this same size, with nice, soft mattress.

Prabhupāda: Why another bed?

Śatadhanya: The other bed is still there . . .

Bhavānanda: The other bed, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is not wide enough. (break) . . . very high. We find for moving you about on the bed, sitting you up and turning you on your side, that it's safer and more convenient for you if we're able to get up on the bed itself. So the bed that you had at Māyāpur was single bed. It wasn't very wide. This will be much more comfortable for you.

Prabhupāda: How long it takes to go to Mathurā?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: From here to Mathurā? It would take about twenty minutes.

Prabhupāda: Not much.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I mean, within one hour of leaving here you'd be on your way to Delhi on the train. Another thing is that that Taj Express is very much on time. It's never late, because it only stops one time between Agra and Delhi, and that's here in Mathurā. It's a very, very exacting train. So we can arrive fifteen minutes before the train is expected to arrive. We don't have to arrive hours before, or anything like that. I mean it's . . . we'll also make a special arrangement with the train stationmaster that only when he sees that Your Divine Grace is settled comfortably in the train will the train proceed onwards.

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You got one letter, Śrīla Prabhupāda, from the BBT Library Party in America. I won't read it all, but just to sum it up . . . that Readings in Vedic Literature by Satsvarūpa Mahārāja, that book—remember, that I read some parts of to you? Readings in Vedic Literature Satsvarūpa wrote? It's a short book? That book is becoming very much accepted in university courses. Many, many classes are using it as a textbook, which means that automatically thirty to fifty copies are purchased at a time.

Prabhupāda: Hmm!

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And all over the country now, as the Library Party travels, at each college one or two courses use this book now each semester. It's a regular textbook now. Now that they've introduced the study guide to the Bhagavad-gītā, they expect the Bhagavad-gītā will also become a regular textbook more and more. Actually, this is a . . . the Library Party reports that this is a great future for these books, is that gradually all of these books will be accepted as textbooks, and they will be made mandatory reading in college courses, which means there will be huge sales, year after year. Another thing which they're beginning to sell very widely, Śrīla Prabhupāda . . . see, first the Library Party went to every university in America over the last four years and sold standing orders of the Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Now they're going back this year and starting to sell textbooks, text orders. They've done standing orders, now they're going to the same colleges and they're approaching the professors and saying: "Here's a book for your class as a textbook," which means that the teacher orders thirty copies at a time. So they're beginning to do this now. And they're also beginning to sell the movies. Yadubara's movies are being taken. In each school one or two people are renting these films or purchasing these films as well as slide shows. This is called audio-visual media, and they're starting to sell . . . the Library Party is starting to sell a lot of the movies and the slide shows, as well as tape cassettes. Music courses, for example, want to order tape cassettes of Your Divine Grace singing bhajanas and playing the harmonium as part of a course in Indian music, for example. This is a . . .

Prabhupāda: How many of you are going to Māyāpur with me?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We are going, ten—ten on the plane and another four or five on the train. Say fifteen altogether.

Śatadhanya: Even more. There was about four or five on the plane that Prabhupāda didn't take.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Now, of course, there are more devotees who are coming, just like Citsukhānanda Prabhu and others, so they'll also be going. By the time we go, we may be able to rent a third of the plane or something. At least there will be twenty or twenty-five devotees maybe.

Bhavānanda: And then they have big caravan arranged, so from the airport or from Calcutta temple to Māyāpur there will be at least forty devotees going with Your Divine Grace to Māyāpur—the devotees who go and the devotees who greet you there.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Do you like that, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That we go in big numbers like that?

Bhavānanda: Then at Māyāpur there will be at least 150 devotees to greet you.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Running down the road?

Bhavānanda: Yes. (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, shall I continue with this report? Another thing that's beginning to happen is that the professors, after getting your standing orders and after teaching with your books in their courses, they are starting to become very friendly to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. For example here is one example cited. He says . . . it says here that, "Daśaratha Prabhu went straight to the Chairman of Philosophy who happens to teach in that field, and that chairman also bought a copy of Monograph 2 . . ." which is Svarūpa Dāmodara's science books; these are also becoming important, ". . . and promised to review it. During this time, Śeṣa was meeting with Fritz Blackwell, an Asian language specialist who has used Kṛṣṇa book in his course as a textbook and has known devotees for four years. Fritz's exchanges with Śeṣa were so intriguing that we shall simply list them one by one. The two passed in the hallway, not knowing each other, but later, when they met, Mr. Blackwell said: 'Oh, I knew you must have been with ISKCON. No one else would be so nicely dressed.' Śeṣa had corresponded with Mr. Blackwell previously and sent him copies of 'The Hare Kṛṣṇa People' and 'Spiritual Frontier' movies to review for a special national survey of audio-visual materials on new spiritual movements. Fritz related that ISKCON's response was the quickest among his many suppliers for the project, and when he told his wife the Hare Kṛṣṇas were the first to send their films, she simply replied, 'They would be.' (laughter) Śeṣa acquired advance copies of Mr. Blackwell's reviews on the two films, which we'll enclose with this report if possible. Introducing Mr. Blackwell to the Readings in Vedic Literature prompted him to say: 'I will definitely use this in my course next year.' He also agreed to send a review by December. Fritz told Śeṣa, 'It's amazing that you've come today. We're just going to start our study of Kṛṣṇa tomorrow. Can you come and speak in my class?' Śeṣa immediately complied. Fritz introduced him as an authority and personal colleague, so the students listened attentively and took notes. Śeṣa used slides to supplement his academic glorification of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Interested, the students asked many questions, such as 'Why is Kṛṣṇa blue?' 'What is prasādam?' Fritz was very pleased with the whole thing and gladly helped Śeṣa make arrangements to get another Caitanya-caritāmṛta standing order in the library." They already had one order, and they got another order. "On the same campus, Śeṣa sold a preview order . . ." Anyway, then they sold some more books. That's just an example of the way professors are beginning to be more and more helpful, and they're actually becoming devoted to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They've been very much impressed with the Library Party. The Library Party devotees come in suits with ties. They look very proper. They're scholarly. The books are the most prestigious, scholarly presentations of the philosophy available. And these people, they first ordered the standing order; now they're ordering course textbooks. And now they're starting to teach your books in the courses, Śrīla Prabhupāda. They're preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness right in the classrooms. So automatically, when they see the devotees, they are very much attracted and friendly with our devotees. They want to take prasādam. So the scholars, who are the most intellectual community in America, are becoming devoted now to Your Divine Grace and this movement.

Bhakti-caru: Śrīla Prabhupāda, ektu phaler rosh khaben? Uthe boshben? (Śrīla Prabhupāda, will you take a little fruit juice? Will you kindly sit up straight?) (break) (end)