Room Conversation – November 13, 1977, Vṛndāvana

Dictating Srimad-Bhagavatam Tenth Canto

Tamala Krsna: It's sort of encouraging to see you taking milk. That's encouraging. That's something which you always said if you could take, you would get stronger, so I'm encouraged by that. I think that a great deal of patience is ultimately required, you know. We have to expect that actual strength and muscles will take a little time to come.

[aside:] Prabhupada's being disturbed by gases [indistinct].

Upendra: What's wrong?

Tamala Krsna: Prabhupada's feeling a little gas.

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. It seems there is a little gas in the stomach.]

Kaviraja: [Transl. In the stomach? That will become less.]

Bhakti-caru: No, that will go away.

Tamala Krsna: That will go away.

Kaviraja: [Transl. When there is no motion for two days, it becomes like that.]

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. I see.]

Prabhupada: [Hmm.]

Kaviraja: [Transl. Don't you pass any gas Maharaja?]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Yes.]

Kaviraja: [Transl. Okay.]

[indistinct background conversation]

Tamala Krsna: That's alright.

Prabhupada: Hmm.

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. Is that oil only for applying? Or anything else like massaging?]

Kaviraja: [Transl. Yes, little, little you can rub it in. The oil will quickly subside the gas in 10/15 minutes. It is gas remover.]

Bhakti-caru: [To others] Just rub it in and the pain will go away.

Kaviraja: [Transl. From here to here. Apply in the body. … What massage? There are only bones. There is no need of massage. Apply from here like this slowly slowly with soft hand.]

Prabhupada: [Hmm.]

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. What, Srila Prabhupada?]

Prabhupada: They are taking urine?

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. No, That is taken already. They are not taking now]

Prabhupada: [Hmm.]

Kaviraja: [Transl. Did he pass less today.]

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. No, Today he already passed.]

Kaviraja: [Transl. Then it is alright.]

Upendra: Srila Prabhupada, you didn't pass any urine the first time. Do you want to try again? [pause] We can cleanse you now?

[Bengali conversation with Bon Maharaja; Krsnadasa Babaji also present, chanting throughout.]

Prabhupada: Hmm. [break] Bon Maharaja Dandavat.

Bon Maharaja: Dandavat Maharaja.

Prabhupada: Dandavat Maharaja.

Bon Maharaja: Dandavat Maharaja.

Prabhupada: [Transl. Who else has come? Maharaja, kindly give me dust from your feet. All my offenses ... [indistinct]]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. No, no, it is Srila Prabhupada's [Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada] unlimited mercy on you. There is no comparision to what a great service you have rendered. That means, Prabhupada's unlimited mercy is with you. That is why you have spread Mahaprabhu's name throughout the world. We are all greatly glorious because of your service.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Bless me, if I live ...]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. As long as you will live, Mahaprabhu's service and Srila Prabhupada's glories will be spread in the world more and more.]

Prabhupada: [Hmm]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Feeling inconvenience because of weakness?]

Prabhupada: [Transl. That's all, Nothing else.]

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. Last few years he has tortured his body so much that now his health has broken down.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. He is in advanced age [indistinct]]

Prabhupada: [Transl. I am hearing this little kirtan and lying here.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Simply by the influence of this holy name you have executed such a great service. This is the mercy of the holy name. [Pause] A few of your disciples had come and they were saying you have a desire to visit the places where Mahaprabhu went. But I told them that he will visit all those places in his mind. Will he physically tolerate all that? Most of Mahaprabhu's places are in South India. I told them to read about those places from Sri Caritamrta and by hearing Maharaja will have the darsana of those places in his own heart.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. I didn't go to holy places. Mollar dauḍ masjid paryanta [literal meaning, a Mohammadan priest can run only up to the mosque, it means a person with limited goal or focus] only to America. Hmm. And recently I went to Haridwar. Hmm.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Are you feeling any discomfort?]

Prabhupada: [Transl. The body has totally become dependent on others. To move one finger and leg I need an assistant. This is the trouble. Hmm.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Weren't you treating yourself with Kaviraja for this?]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Yes.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. That was effective for you. Before also, in the first time you took some massage oil and everything was alright.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. That's what I am doing, but not much…]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. According to the age there must be inconveniences to the body. But your mind is very sound. You can speak correctly.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. The mind is gradually losing memory.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Not as yet.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. It is happening.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. [Smiling] It is great even now.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Before death one loses his memory.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. That will happen to each of us one day. We must leave one day. That is not a factor. That you are still mindful, you are hearing Harinama, kirtan is going on all the time, this is the greatest service, in Vrndavan Dhama. My wish is that the body has to be given up one day, so to give it up in the dhama is the topmost. This is the place of the Lord's pastimes.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. That is why I returned here after touring all over.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Our prayer to you also is that as long as Krsna keeps we will have to stay. When He will take away may He take you to His abode. That is the highest goal. You have got darsana of everything. And whatever holy places and places of Mahaprabhu's pastimes, those you can think of in the mind. Moreover there is no superior holy place to Vrndavan, this is the sacred place of the Lord's pastimes. We hear about your glories everywhere. Everybody glorifies your qualities. You have rendered unlimited service. They had taken me to your Toronto, Montreal centers, when I went there last year. Told them that I will go but I will speak Hari-katha. They said; Yes, certainly. We will arrange everything. Then in Montreal I stayed in one Bengali Engineer's house.]

Prabhupada: [Hmm.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. I told them, your disciples-look brothers, here I have big problem for food. I cannot eat anything. They took care of me so nicely. They arranged for my prasada by taking me to the Math and then bringing me back to his residence. Then I had to go to Ottawa, the plane was ready. Two brahmacaris came and said-we are going by motor and we will take you in our car. I said-my ticket is already arranged. They said-don't worry, we will cancel it. So they took care of me very nicely, your brahmacaris.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Did you see the new church in Toronto?]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Yes, they have taken that Church building. You will have a temple there they said. Now they are worshiping the Lord in the photo.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. It is done.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Is it done?]

Prabhupada: [Hmm.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. It is big, a very big church.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Yes. The government did not allow to dismantle it.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. It was remodeled from inside, the Deities were already established I believe.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Yes, the Deities have been installed.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. We have seen the Deities.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Very big temple.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. What more can we say. You have fulfilled Mahaprabhu's words, He has chosen you to fulfill it. "prthivite sarvatra pracara haibe nama", this has been fulfilled actually by you. Many have gone and returned, that is different.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Dandavat Maharaja, What I can do?]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. nimitta-matram bhava savya-sacin. Srila Prabhupada has made you the instrument for it.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. You have always encouraged me.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Yes, I must do it. If you remember, I told you in the beginning, you know English, without knowing English it is not possible to go abroad. You go to America, and by the Lord's mercy you have accomplished it successfully.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. I printed books, you told me, I have printed. You said-Each one of your books is a Matha itself.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Your books are your real contribution. That you have been able to publish so many literatures, that is permanent, they will remain forever.]

Prabhupada: Show the certificate from Soviet Union. Hmm.

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. When I heard that the Mayor of San Francisco had declared two days of public holiday, I felt extremely happy. No one else could do that. It was done only by you-Rathayatra. Many such activities have been accomplished by you only.]

Tamala Krsna: This is a certificate arrived from the Soviet Union.

Bon Maharaja: It's in Russian language or in English?

Tamala Krsna: Well, some of it, I think, is in Russian. I have the translation. It says..., the top wording here, this says that "Books in the service of peace and progress. A diploma for the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, Bombay, given by the First Moscow International Book Fair Exhibitions and Fairs, General Directorate of International Book Exhibitions and Fairs, USSR."

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Fine. What a wonder you have done! Even the people of Russia are accepting.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. All over Soviet Country that have taken Books.]

Gopala Krsna: All Russian universities ordered Prabhupada's books.

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Srila Prabhupada had shown that way ... press, platform, you have done both.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. In Radha-kunḍa, I went to see Srila Prabhupada from Bombay…… he expressed a little unhappiness that if we had paid 200/250 rupees rent we could have lived happily, but from the day we built … the marble house at Dalhousie, quarreling started, who will occupy which room…]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. That surely became the curse on us. While at Ultadingi everything was ideal.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. ...I wish if I could take out the marble and print some books instead [indistinct] each book would be like a temple. It is written.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. And Permanent Temple.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Bless me.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Now as long as Srila Prabhupada will keep you in this world, so much service will be done by you.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Tenth Canto has been published in English, Tenth Canto ... two parts]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Please stop, do not take strain.]

Prabhupada: Hmm.

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Your Caritamrta has been published in 25 volumes I have seen. O this is tenth canto? That is up to which chapter?]

Jayadvaita: Twelve chapters are finished. This is up to Chapter Twelve. And now thirteenth chapter is also completed.

Bon Maharaja: In and out, both are superexcellent. Inside, in Maharaja's translation, and outside, your publication, printing, makeup-everything superexcellent. That is first attraction, when you take the book in your hand you feel that is something very nicely done. I don't think in India we can have this type of printing and publication. You get them printed now in Los Angeles, no?

Devotee: Kingsport.

Jayadvaita: They're printed in Tennessee.

Bon Maharaja: Tennessee.

Jayadvaita: The work is done in Los Angeles, then in Tennessee, and the pictures are printed separately from the Bhagavatam. Then the pictures are sent to the publisher in pages when the book is printed.

Bon Maharaja: Last time they told me in New York... Your press was in New York, and they were shifting it to Los Angeles. About two hundred brahmacaris were working there, and they told me.

Tamala Krsna: Now it's in Los Angeles.

Bon Maharaja: Now it's in Los Angeles. Well, it is all Mahaprabhu's will, and Prabhupada is our...

Prabhupada: [Transl. Have you seen the godown in Los Angeles?]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. No, I have not gone there.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Howrah Station. Hare Krsna. ...laughter]

Tamala Krsna: I have a picture of it, Srila Prabhupada. I have a picture of that BBT godown.

Prabhupada: Show him.

Devotee: It's about two blocks long and about one block high.

Bon Maharaja: Everything is done in a very big way.

Jayadvaita: 'Cause Prabhupada's a big [indistinct], and he needs everything big[?].

Prabhupada: [Transl. I told them whatever income we get, half of it should stay here and the other half should be utilized for constructing mathas and temples. Don't spend it for any other purpose.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Maharaja, your body is getting strained. Do not speak any more. Your body is weak.]

Tamala Krsna: Here's a picture of that book godown in Los Angeles.

Bon Maharaja: What's the length of the building?

Tamala Krsna: What is the length of that building, Jayadvaita? [discussion among devotees] Twenty thousand square feet in area. Twenty thousand.

Bon Maharaja: In area. Well, in your country, in USA, everything is very big. Nothing is done in a small way.

Tamala Krsna: This is the Los Angeles temple. These are the Deities, Sri-Sri-Rukmini-Dvarakadhisa.

Bon Maharaja: In Los Angeles?

Tamala Krsna: In Los Angeles. Yes. Then we have a very nice doll exhibition there.

Bon Maharaja: What is that exhibition?

Tamala Krsna: Doll, diorama. These are some of the exhibitions. This devotee here, Baradraj dasa, he's the creator of this doll exhibition. This is our temple in New York now, this building.

Bon Maharaja: You have purchased it? There was a talk of taking that twelve-story theological seminary.

Tamala Krsna: This is also thirteen stories, but it's a different building. It's in Manhattan.

Bon Maharaja: Which street?

Tamala Krsna: Fifty-fifth Street. And this is our temple in London. We have actually three temples there now. This one is in Hertfordshire, called Bhaktivedanta Manor, and then we have one near the British Museum in Bury Place, which is that five-story building. And then we just purchased a restaurant and reading room just off of Oxford St., on Soho St. This is in France. It's a chateau which we have purchased, very nice, with a farm. Very beautiful place. And these are the Deities, Krsna-Kaliya, in Fiji. This temple was just opened in Fiji. Krsna-Kaliya.

Bon Maharaja: Kaliya-damana.

Tamala Krsna: Ah, Kaliya-damana.

Bon Maharaja: That is in Fiji. [Transl. So Maharaja, if Krsna desires we will meet again. You are here only]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Please take prasada.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Prasada?]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Bring here.]

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. Should I bring here.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Bring two small table and asanas here.]

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. Srila Prabhupada, I was saying there might be some inconvenience in taking prasada here as things are lying all over. It will be difficult to put asanas.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. To Bhakti-caru: listen, you pack the prasada and keep it in the car. We will go and honor it in the Matha with other devotees as now the time for evening arati is coming closer. Maharaja, I will take away the prasada with me.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Yes, alright.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Again whenever you send me message I will come. I came here the other day. Babaji Maharaja told me that you are sleeping. So I said I will not disturb him. Earlier one time you send someone for me, but I was in Bombay that time. I came back and heard about it. [Pause] So, give me permission to leave, Maharaja.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Dandavat.]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. We should move. We should not disturb.]

Babaji Maharaja: [Transl. So Dandavat Maharaja. Whenever you remember me, send a message and I will come. I come here from time to time.] [pause]

Santa: [Transl. I am Santa. I wish to take your feet dust. Kindly let me take a little dust from your feet.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Enough, enough stop. Is your father well? What?]

Bon Maharaja: [Transl. Will have darsana?]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Hmm Santa has come. Is his father keeping well?] [indistinct]

Santa: [Yes] [indistinct]

Pisima: [indistinct]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Take care of Bon Maharaja nicely.]

Prabhupada: [Bengali with Svarūpa Damodara about serving prasada.]

Svarūpa Damodara: Prabhupada is asking to give prasada to all the devotees. [End]