760719 - Conversation B - New York

Conversations by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

760719R2-NEW YORK - July 19, 1976 - 06:18 Minutes

Prabhupāda: Not only our men, outsiders also.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Many outsiders were doing that.

Hari-śauri: They like to pull the ropes. It's a big experience for them.

Prabhupāda: (belches loudly) What is this gas? Oxygen? No.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Er, not oxygen.

Prabhupāda: They put some gas.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Carbon dioxide. CO2. You should have seen it. It was literally completely filled. When we were . . . we put on a play. First we did a big kīrtana after you left, very big, and many, at least a thousand to two thousand people were dancing. Then there was a play, and the people crowded to see that play of Kali, Sudāmā. Oh, they were amazed to see. Sudāmā was moving around, dancing, watching. They like that very much.

Prabhupāda: Sudāmā plays nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's expert. Especially at that part, Kali and Sin. (laughter) And then after that I looked out at the crowd, and literally I could not see any open space in the park. Really, I was shocked. Even where there was a fountain, the whole fountain was filled with people; even where there was water, they were standing in the water, there were so many people. It was hot, so they were standing. And the beautiful thing is because there was a fountain, the air was blowing the water all the way to the stage.

Prabhupāda: It is very nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We were preaching all this time.

Bali-mardana: Preaching and kīrtana.

Prabhupāda: Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja chanted.

Devotees: Oh, yes, very nice.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda, this festival was wonderful. So many people took prasādam, and afterwards they had a play and then they had . . . they did some bhajanas, and the people were enchanted by the whole thing. And the neighbors there, they said that, "In the five years I've lived by the park, the park has never been so nice." It was just wonderful. They say about seven thousand people took prasādam.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: See, seven thousand.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: There was a line all the way around the park. They couldn't serve it out fast enough.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Seven thousand took prasādam! That was the free prasādam. And another seven thousand we sold prasādam.

Hari-śauri: They had big queues for buying watermelon. Bali-mardana had bought lots of watermelon, and they were selling slices for fifty cents each. Big, big queues.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Lassī also, and lemonade, very tasty. They were also selling lassī and lemonade. It was very tasty.

Bali-mardana: Burfī and lugloos, sweets, everything.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bali-mardana's wife, Taittirīya devī, she was in charge of the sweet table. So she had about four or five sweets, they were all the same, but she made them somehow look different. So everyone was saying, "Oh, which one is which?" And she would say, "Each one is different. You have to take one of every one." But they were all the same. So people had to buy two and three kinds. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: She is good saleswoman.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: She was very good. And Tripurāri, I watched him in action. One person came up and said: "I want a Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.2." So he looked and he said: "We have 2.1.," and he said "I want 2." So he said: "This is very close. 2.1 and 2.2 are very close to each other, and it's all absolute." In this way he made the man take one.

Prabhupāda: No, actually that is a fact. There is no difference, 2.2 and 1.

Bali-mardana: And then we had a Life Membership table with Gajahantā and Śravaṇānanda. The Indians were all coming, and there were chairs for them to sit down, and they were preaching to them Life Membership.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And they had . . . you know that little portable movie screen, you may have seen, it comes in an attache case.

Hari-śauri: Like Gargamuni's, he showed you in Māyāpur.

Prabhupāda: Ah.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So we had three of these set up, and many people were sitting in chairs watching the different movies.

Bali-mardana: It was amazing that one little generator was supplying all the power. This one little gasoline generator was supplying the power for all the sound and the various electricity things.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, there was no electrical hook-up; we did that with a gas generator.

Prabhupāda: Oh. And there was no sound cut-cut-cut-cut-cut.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, because we put it very far away. In India that would be a nuisance, the sound of the . . .

Prabhupāda: So where is Ambarīṣa?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He was not in the parade.

Bali-mardana: He is going back to . . . I spoke to him for a little while. He's going back to Boston right after the parade, I think, with Aja? I spoke to him. He seemed to be a nice boy. I asked him, because we were meeting with reporters. So they like to ask who is giving you big donation. I wasn't sure whether he wanted his name to be used or not, but he said: "Oh, yes." He said: "You can use it without any question. I do not mind at all."

(pause)

Prabhupāda: All right, go take rest. You have worked so hard.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, we didn't. (end)