Arrival Conversation – December 20, 1976, Bombay

Everything is all right?

[kirtana welcoming Prabhupada at the Bombay Airport]

[02:36]

Hari-sauri: Giriraja? Who's got the baggage?

Giriraja: Ah?

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

Giriraja: I'll get it. [kirtana ends]

Devotees: Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

[in car]

Hari-sauri: Look at this.

Indian man: [Transl. When will you go to Calcutta?]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Sometimes in January.]

Indian man: [Transl. In the month of January.]

Devotee: Put the inside light on.

Indian man: [Transl. I came to the temple to inquire about you. In Calcutta they couldn't tell exactly. Then I heard that you are coming, so I also came.]

Prabhupada: So let us go.

Gopala Krsna: Ok. Let's go. Chelo!

Prabhupada: We are not waiting for Giriraja?

Gopala Krsna: No. He is bringing the luggage.

Indian men: Jaya. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Gopala Krsna: [Transl. Hare Krsna. Come to the temple at Juhu.] It's a motorcycle escort.

Prabhupada: Whose car this is?

Gopala Krsna: This is one of our Life Members' friend's. He is like a devotee, Jasbir. Nanda-kumara Maharaja just arrived with Radha Fahavar[?] [chuckles].

Prabhupada: What is his dress?

Gopal Krsna: He is a sannyasi. [chuckles] He arrived this morning in Delhi, this evening in Bombay.

Prabhupada: Hah. Everything is all right?

Gopala Krsna: Yes. Everything is going very nicely. We've arranged…

Prabhupada: Yes. Car is very nice.

Gopala Krsna: Very nice. We made a palanquin, Srila Prabhupada, but I think it's not very good, so we're... How did the meeting go yesterday..., today?

Prabhupada: Yes, it was very successful.

Gopala Krsna: [laughing] Thanks.

Prabhupada: Crushed.

Gopala Krsna: Crushed. But they won't change, these Mayavadis.

Prabhupada: [indistinct] will say that you are not on the right party.

Gopala Krsna: Yes.

Prabhupada: Motorcycle ours?

Gopala Krsna: 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-sauri: There is red light on the front?

Gopala Krsna: There is one red light that doesn't work.

Hari-sauri: [indistinct] at least it scares everyone, putting a red light in the front.

Prabhupada: Is there a garage?

Gopala Krsna: There is a garage, Srila Prabhupada, in the temple where it is being built, and Mr. Gonia [Guniya?] 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. Krsna Consciousness Movement Is Authorized, it's the Indian version. You told me to produce it in Vrndavana; it just came from the printers. Looks very, very nice, Srila Prabhupada. 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.

Prabhupada: Yes. One hour. It arrived late.

Gopala Krsna: [Transl. Drive below the bridge.]

Prabhupada: He is leading.

Indian devotee: [Transl. The railway crossing gate is open.]

Gopala Krsna: Yes. He speaks fluent Hindi, this boy, Bilvamahgala.

Prabhupada: He is married Indian wife?

Gopal Krsna: Yes, he is the fellow who married that actress's sister.

Prabhupada: They are living together?

Gopala Krsna: But they are not living in the temple. They are living outside. They are living together but outside.

Prabhupada: Wife maintaining the husband?

Gopala Krsna: Pardon?

Prabhupada: Wife maintaining the husband?

Gopala Krsna: Yes. Her family has given them house. [to the driver: [Transl. Level crossing gate is open?]

[aside:] This would have been a shorter cut, I think.

Driver: No.

Prabhupada: Bombay is always opulent.

Gopala Krsna: Yes.

Prabhupada: India's first city.

Gopala Krsna: Yes. Radha-vallabha was telling me that he likes Bombay.

Prabhupada: Ah.

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

Prabhupada: You are for the first time to Bombay?

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

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

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

Prabhupada: About that opposition movement?

Radha-vallabha: I can't hear.

Gopala Krsna: About the opposition movement.

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

Gopala Krsna: To the police?

Radha-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.

Gopala Krsna: Prabhupada meant with the opposition with the parents, that case.

Hari-sauri: That court case.

Radha-vallabha: In Chicago?

Hari-sauri: No. From Los Angeles; that girl.

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

Prabhupada: Ask him.

Hari-sauri: What's happening in Chicago?

Radha-vallabha: Chicago with the boy?

Hari-sauri: Yeah.

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

Prabhupada: Hmm.

Gopala Krsna: One of the Sardarjis, he rented that bus for the devotees. He's a Sardarji but he's like a devotee. He comes every day.

Hari-sauri: [discussing quietly, out of Prabhupada's hearing] Harikesa is GBC for Germany and Eastern Europe. [traffic noise] The New York protest is doing all right? The New York protest?

Radha-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-sauri: 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.

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

Hari-sauri: Yeah.

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

Prabhupada: Hmm?

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

Prabhupada: Eighth Canto, Part...?

Radha-vallabha: Three.

Hari-sauri: [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.

Radha-vallabha: Electrical appliance?

Hari-sauri: Electrical, yeah, that's what they have said. Gopala Krsna Maharaja knows about it. There were some books, a book that was also sent to Prabhupada.

Radha-vallabha: Is it cleared?

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

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

Hari-sauri: I got some stuff. The last I got was from Jamuna.

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

Hari-sauri: For Prabhupada?

Radha-vallabha: Yes.

Hari-sauri: What kind was it?

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

Hari-sauri: [indistinct]

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

Hari-sauri: I got another one from…

Radha-vallabha: [indistinct] some new books? Did Prabhupada get one through?

Hari-sauri: That's what it is then.

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

Gopala Krsna: Really?

Radha-vallabha: First Canto, Part Three.

Gopala Krsna: The reason is you sent them with some electrical apparatus.

Radha-vallabha: It was a new shaver for Prabhupada.

Gopala Krsna: Yeah.

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

Gopala Krsna: Didn't Hari-sauri tell you people not to send any electrical apparatus?

Prabhupada: Yes, they should not be mixed.

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

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

Hari-sauri: What burnt out was the recharger.

Radha-vallabha: That's all?

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

Radha-vallabha: Oh, right.

Hari-sauri: 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 Raksana doing?

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

Hari-sauri: Yeah. I sent him a letter, you know, with a picture of Prabhupada from Paris, and... [break] [end]