Room Conversation – November 2, 1977, Vṛndāvana

We shall chant our beads or read book?

Tamala Krsna: [looking at Preaching is the Essence?] Each verse is like a separate lecture, Srila Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: So, we shall...

Tamala Krsna: What, Srila Prabhupada?

Prabhupada: We shall chant our beads or read book?

Tamala Krsna: Well, we can... Which would you like?

Prabhupada: For me, everything is all right.

Tamala Krsna: So we can chant japa for a little while.

Prabhupada: All right.

Tamala Krsna: And then we can read again. All right?

Prabhupada: Hmm. [devotees chant japa] [break]

Tamala Krsna: Hare Krsna. We received... I received some results of book distribution from September, worldwide, very extraordinary figures. Actually, they are astounding figures.

Prabhupada: [chuckles] That is right. He misses news.[?]

Tamala Krsna: [whispered aside:] Call [indistinct] and find out the most recent newsletter from September.

[break] This is very good, Srila Prabhupada. This resting is very good. Kaviraja said that two things, resting and passing urine, are signs of recovery for you. Sleeplessness is bad. But constant resting means that the body is getting a chance to renew itself and take strength. He said that we should look for that resting as a sign of gradual recovery, called "rest and recuperation." [indistinct background talking]

Prabhupada: So?

Tamala Krsna: I'll just get it, Srila Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: Not that pillow.

Tamala Krsna: Not that pillow? Is that all right? Says, "Book distribution, worldwide." Says here... These are the world totals for the month of September, Srila Prabhupada. In the month of September all over the world they distributed the following number of big books: 215,914. 216,000 big books in one month, Srila Prabhupada. Medium books: 226,000 in one month. Small books: 237,000. And Back to Godheads: 433,000. Now I calculated, Srila Prabhupada, also the total amount of money realized by the BBT. In the month of September the BBT sold..., the temples sold 675,000 dollars' worth of books. In rupees, I figured out it's fifty-nine lakhs the BBT sold. Now, the temples, when they..., if they sell a book, they get double the amount of money. You know what I mean? If the BBT sells the book to the temple for say $2.50, the temple gets $5.00 when it sells the book. So I calculated that the temples collected $1,350,000 from selling your books in the month of September, which comes out to one crore, seventeen lakhs collections from book sales. And then I was calculating what this would mean... [end]