Room Conversation – December 28, 1976, Bombay

You ask them a place to show our books. If they deny, then we don't go

Giriraja: He made another point that in Krishna Shankar Shastri's compiling of the commentaries, commentators, that Sridhara Svami is given the first position.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Giriraja: But he says that is because he was the first; but it does not mean he was the best.

Prabhupada: [laughs] What is nonsense. Unless one is best, why he should be given first? Any... If there is any meeting, the most important man is given the first position. At least out of respect. Everyone has given first position. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has therefore praised. What is his nonsense arguments?

Yasomatinandana: There are two other versions of Bhagavatam. There also, Sridhara Svami has been considered the best commentator.

Prabhupada: Yes. Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepts. Svami yeva nahi mane vesyara bhitare [Cc Antya 7.115]. Everyone has given. Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, iti svami carana pada. Jiva Gosvami, all authorities, they accept. And why they are criticizing Sridhara Svami?

Giriraja: That is the main point.

Prabhupada: That is the main point. If you can criticize Sridhara Svami, then your criticism, why you take the criticism? If you judge others, you must be judged.

Indian devotee: Because all of these Vallabha gurus, they are all devotees now, all of them.

Prabhupada: So what they are going to answer to this? Will you accept everything? Ask them. So when the rascal [indistinct], but exposes you, what answer you have got? Why you are silent? Silent means acceptance. Maunam sammati laksanam. If I say, "You are rascal, you are thief," and if you don't reply, that means you accept it. Maunam sammati laksanam. If you do not protest, and if you do not say anything... So such a big criticism from [indistinct], and they are silent. Why do they not go to the court? Bluff only. That means he accepts. [indistinct] has been made here?

Indian devotee: He was here also with [indistinct] Maharaja.

Prabhupada: Another [indistinct] also. [indistinct]

Indian devotee: He is son of [indistinct] Maharaja, but he is very envious. Very, very envious. I went to him, I remember, when we were...

Prabhupada: They are envious of the Gaudiya-sampradaya, because of the statement svami yeva nahi mane…[indistinct]. Since a long time.

Yasomatinandana: But they cannot say anything against Gaudiya-sampradaya because Vallabhacarya glorified Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They cannot say anything against Caitanya Mahaprabhu because Vallabhacarya glorified Him.

Prabhupada: No. He has written to you?

Giriraja: Yes. He made another point, that is, Vallabhacarya actually considered Caitanya Mahaprabhu as his superior. Then after this incident, still, he criticized Sridhara Swami. So that means he did not accept Caitanya Mahaprabhu as superior.

Prabhupada: There is no question of accept. He was plainly defeated. Because he said that svami yeva nahi mane. Even Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted his invitation after this. He also invited, and he also friendly. So friend and friend can talk like that. So not only that, Caitanya Mahaprabhu criticized, but as soon as Vallabhacarya invited, He accepted. There was no enviousness. Rather friendly, sometimes they call sala-sali, gali. Otherwise why Caitanya Mahaprabhu would accept invitation from Vallabhacarya? But they are habituated to criticize [indistinct]. That Caitanya Mahaprabhu chastised him: "Why should you think like that?" In a friendly way. [indistinct] They are still criticizing Sridhara Swami, and if others criticize them, "Why you are criticizing Sridhara Swami?" there is no answer. This is the position. [indistinct-only fragments of conversation audible for some time]

Hari-sauri: There was one..., in the Caitanya-caritamrta, there was one tax collector, a friend of Nityananda Prabhu, and then afterwards he was raided by the authorities, and his whole family and everything was completely finished.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Yasomatinandana: Ramachandra Khan. That was Haridasa Thakura.

Hari-sauri: No, not Haridasa Thakura.

Yasomatinandana: He was the same one who also tried to... Besides, some of the Vallabhacarya vaisnavas told me in Ahmedabad that [indistinct] is also as debauched as the Ahmedabad one. [indistinct comments by devotees] What is his qualification to speak as acarya? Debate can take place between equals. But there is no question of his debating…

[indistinct comments by devotees]

Prabhupada: [indistinct] You have got right to criticize others and others have got right to criticize you. That means you are faulty. When one is weak in logic, he becomes…

Hari-sauri: They have no scare because they even refute what is in the sastra. They were criticizing that Krsnadasa Kaviraja made mistakes when he wrote the Caitanya-caritamrta also.

Prabhupada: They say like that?

Hari-sauri: Yeah, he said that he didn't know..., he wrote the wrong version in the section about Vallabhacarya, and that the real version is somewhere else.

Prabhupada: [indistinct]

Hari-sauri: Yeah, well they don't accept the Caitanya-caritamrta.

Prabhupada: I don't accept you. They don't accept Caitanya-caritamrta ; who accepts you? The whole world is accepting Caitanya-caritamrta, Lord Caitanya all over the world, not only in India. All over the world. Is it not?

[indistinct-fragmentary for some time]

Yasomatinandana: They even told me in Ahmedabad that this sampradaya [Vallabha] will be finished by the forces from within the barrack. …Within a short time…people will be so corrupt…even they are admitting, those who are frank vaisnavas that this is our life's mission. They became our life members.

[Indistinct fragments]

This Srinathji Deity is also belonging to our sampradaya.

Prabhupada: This is the decision of the court.

Yasomatinandana: This is the decision of the court?

Prabhupada: Hmm. We can claim.

Yasomatinandana: How do we do that?

Prabhupada: [indistinct] ...Gaudiya-sampradaya. So if the court decision is there, why not claim?

[Indistinct fragments] [break]

Yasomatinandana: Srinathji. Nathadvara. After Tirupati it is biggest.

Giriraja: They're having a ceremony of bringing the flag.

Yasomatinandana: Again?

Giriraja: Yes. From the Nathdwara, Bombay, at some place. And they invited us to do kirtana.

Prabhupada: You may go. You have no...? You can go.

Gopala Krsna: Last time they would not let us distribute our magazines when they had it in Shrimati Morarji's house. They had the same ceremony in Shrimati Morarji's house here about a year ago, and they didn't like our book distribution there.

Prabhupada: What this time, where it will be held?

Giriraja: This is an organization. This last time was Sumati Morarji's personal...

Prabhupada: Private house. This is organized function. You ask them a place to show our books. If they deny, then we don't go. Hare Krsna.

[break] Jaya. Haribol.

Radha-vallabha: This one parade in Los Angeles, the Rose Bowl, they distribute thousands of books on this one day. What happens is all the karmis get out there, sometimes the night before-at least very, very early in the morning-and they line both sides of the road.

Prabhupada: To see?

Radha-vallabha: To see, yes. Approximately a million people. About a million people, they're just lining both sides of the road, and the street is empty before the parade. So this year we're going to have the gurukula boys do a kirtana and go right up the road. So one million people will see the saṅkirtana party.

Guru dasa: And then it will be on television.

Radha-vallabha: It will probably be on television.

Hari-sauri: They have a similar parade in Melbourne like that, called a Moomba. Three-quarters of a million people come for it, and the whole city closes down. And they line up and down the main road and then they have a parade of floats. So they invited that we could put a float in, so Bali-mardana said he would try and get the ratha cart in. Three-quarters of a million people seeing Lord Jagannatha.

Guru dasa: Why don't you do that in Los Angeles? [break] [end]