June 29, 1974

On his morning walks through the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, Prabhupada would ask how many varieties of plants they have. On several occasions he asked, "Do they have two million varieties? Krsna has produced two million varieties of plants, but I think maybe they have two thousand." He said, "The plants are standing still while we are able to walk because they are being punished. But although it is punishment, Krsna's intelligence is so nice that it has become a beautiful arrangement." Madhudvisa Maharaja asked, "If one gets a body according to his desire, so that one who wants to eat flesh can become a tiger-well, who would want to become a tree?" (We understand that tree life is the result of too much lust.) Srila Prabhupada said, "The students in America like to stand naked. So Krsna says, 'Here, take the body of a tree. Stand naked for a hundred years.' " I could suddenly understand better Prabhupada's position as our savior. He can save us from coming back in the lower species. If we follow the regulations of devotional life he has taught us, if we don't fall down from this, we can go to Krsna at the end of this life. Those bewildered by material desires have to go on in the material world.

Prabhupada is very interested in the excellent response from high church officials here in Melbourne. He wants to make a united effort with the Christians. The preaching platform is that they should chant the name of Christ, which is the same philologically as Krsna, coming from the Greek "Christos," and stop the animal slaughter. The clergy is appreciating this approach.