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Tamala Krsna: I said, "What will I eat it with?" He said, "A little sugar." I thought he was going to give me some bread or something. He said, "No, no. Eat it just like that with sugar."

Prabhupada: Butter and misri [sugar candy].

Tamala Krsna: They eat... The Punjabis are very fond of eating a lot of makhana, fresh butter.

Bhakti-caru: They are also vegetarian.

Tamala Krsna: Oh, yes.

Prabhupada: But Kashmiri are meat-eaters, fish-eaters. Bengali are fish-eaters.

Tamala Krsna: Oriyas, fish-eaters. What about U.P.?

Prabhupada: U.P., this dal, chapati. They prepare first class.

Tamala Krsna: Dal and chapatis.

Prabhupada: Vegetable also.

Tamala Krsna: What is the speciality in Punjab?

Prabhupada: Punjab, this pulao [fried rice].

Tamala Krsna: What is...

Prabhupada: Panir.

Tamala Krsna: Panir.

Prabhupada: Means this chana [curd].

Tamala Krsna: Yes.

Prabhupada: They make very nice preparation.

Bhakti-caru: Tandoori [cooked in coal fire] preparation.

Prabhupada: Every province has got.

Tamala Krsna: Is there a speciality in the Madhya Pradesh area?

Prabhupada: Madhya Pradesh, they are practically South Indian.

Tamala Krsna: Yeah. Then every place has its special fruits and vegetables.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Tamala Krsna: It seems in that respect that Bengal is very opulent in varieties of vegetables.

Prabhupada: And fish. They prepare varieties of preparation of fish. Mache jol [fish curry], machera tak [fish cooked in tamarind], machera jhal [chilly fish], machera dorma. [fish cooked in mustard paste] They kill this jessore koi [climbing perch fish] and paste with mustard and fry it in oil. [Transl. What do they call it?]

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. Bhapa. Steamed climbing perch fish with mustard paste. Also fish kalia or fried fish with chilli and spices.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Machera dorma and kofta or pakora. Many varieties.] They know more of fish preparation and also vegetable. [Transl. Pitha-pana. [rice cake]]

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. That is called tel koi. [climbing perch fish fried in oil]]

Prabhupada: Hun?

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. Tel koi.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Tel koli?]

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. Tel koi.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. That koi fish.]

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. Cooked in oil and added with mustard paste and steamed it. By steaming, it becomes soft and cooked.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. This is the world of enjoyment. If you want to go to Krsna then you have to forget all this.] Krsna bada dayamaya, karibare jihva jaya Prasada-sevaya [song I, Gitavali, Srila Bhakti Vinoda Thakura.] Krsna-prasada... [Transl. You have to practice this. And by practicing this you will automatically forget all that.]

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. There will be no problem for that.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. No.]

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. By the influence of sadhu-saṅga…]

Prabhupada: The real fact is that this jivo jivasya jivanam. [SB 1.13.47] One life is food for another life. That is nature's way. But one has to pass through so many varieties of life, evolution. Jalaja nava-laksani [Padma Purana]. How many millions of years we'll take to evolve to become a human being? Then he gets chance of Krsna consciousness. Payecha manava janama, emana janama ara pabe na. Bahunam janmanam ante [Bg 7.19]. Emona janma, this janma, manusya-janma. And if we miss and don't get Krsna, again glide down. Mam aprapya mrtyu-samsara [Bg 9.3]. Again you fall down. I'll eat you; you'll you eat me. And the aquatic, 900,000 species, varieties of life. The same struggle-one fish eating another fish. Struggle within the water. A small fish can understand three miles away a big fish is coming. It is all stated in the Bhagavatam. This struggle is going on. Then in the jungle, animals. The man-eater trees are there in Africa. Trees, man, eat man.

Tamala Krsna: How do they do that?

Prabhupada: You go, and if you are in touch on that tree, then you cannot get out. You'll die and you'll become dead.

Tamala Krsna: They eat you?

Prabhupada: Yes, the tree.

Tamala Krsna: They eat through the roots.

Prabhupada: Yes. Spider, big, big spider.

Tamala Krsna: There's a thing called the Venus Fly Trap. It's this special plant, and if anything goes near it, it goes like that. Maybe they have big ones in Africa.

Prabhupada: Simply eating competition. These American... It's called surfer?

Tamala Krsna: American...?

Prabhupada: What is that sport, surfer?

Tamala Krsna: Surfing. You mean on the board in the water? Surfing.

Prabhupada: So they may become fish next life.

Tamala Krsna: Actually, you said that in a lecture in Hawaii in our temple. I remember. That really gave everybody a thought. Food for thought.

Prabhupada: It is in the Bhagavad-gita.

Tamala Krsna: Yes. Yam yam vapi smaran bhavam tyajaty ante kalevaram [Bg 8.6].

Prabhupada: It is not my manufactured idea. Krsna consciousness, sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada... [SB 7.5.23], this is the only way. In our childhood we used to play golok dhandha [Snakes & Ladders]. You... What is called? Dice, going, going, going. Then it comes in the mouth of a serpent, and the serpent, immediately you had to come again. All progress you have made, if you are in the mouth of a serpent, then you have to come to the tail of the serpent. Suppose you are on the fifty point and there is mouth of serpent, then you have to come to point three. Again you have to rise. So dice. Golok dhandha. We used to play in our childhood.

Tamala Krsna: In America they have similar game, but the different points are properties. It's all business. They made a very involved business game.

Prabhupada: That's all right. It is same.

Tamala Krsna: Same principle. If you get on the wrong spot, you have to go to jail. That's what they have. They put you in jail. Different culture. Demoniac culture.

Prabhupada: Just see, practically. Indira Gandhi, she came to a point, and then falls again. Is it not? The same golok dhandha. She was all-in-all powerful, and once again finished.

Tamala Krsna: Finished.

Prabhupada: Sanjay Gandhi-finished. President Nixon-finished. They do not see, these big, big stalwart men of the world. They can be finished in one second. Prahlada Maharaja said that "I have seen my father, such a powerful man, finished. What benediction I shall ask, this material world? Don't allure me. Better engage me as the servant of Your servant." Anything, any opulence. Now nobody utters the name of Indira Gandhi. Every... Every day the people or newspaper filled up with Indira Gandhi. That the Russian minister, Krushchev? Nobody knows where he is.

Tamala Krsna: He's unknown now.

Prabhupada: They said he is living privately.

Tamala Krsna: Why did they depose him?

Prabhupada: The cause may be many, but we have to see the result. The main cause was that he was appointing his own men in big, big office.

Tamala Krsna: Same thing as Indira.

Prabhupada: Nepotism. Indira's plan was next prime minister, Sanjay.

Tamala Krsna: Family heritage. I saw one cartoon in the..., in one newspaper. It said... A little conversation between Gandhi, Nehru and Indira. They're speaking with Canakya Pandita. Each one of them is discussing how he's gone wrong. Canakya is advising them what they've done wrong. Canakya Pandita is advising each one of them what they did wrong.

Prabhupada: Accha?

Tamala Krsna: It's a cartoon. [pause] I was speaking with Abhirama today for quite a long time. Now he understands that he will... [break] [end]