Room Conversation – October 13, 1977, Vṛndāvana

I am trying to drink a little fruit juice

Tamala Krsna: This... At noontime you seemed to be getting a little taste. Did you have a little? You said gradually.

Prabhupada: And now... Just now, I have no taste.

Tamala Krsna: So I don't think there is any problem. I mean, what you ate today was more than I saw you eat in three months, Srila Prabhupada. You ate a Love Feast today. So whenever we eat a Love Feast, we never have much appetite in the evening. Usually we simply chant.

Prabhupada: So I am trying to drink a little fruit juice.

Bhakti-caru: Prabhupada wanted to drink some of this sweet lemon juice.

Prabhupada: What do you think?

Tamala Krsna: Well...

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. Srila Prabhupada after you took that juice yesterday you had cough.]

Tamala Krsna: Maybe your sister can suggest some good drink.

Bhakti-caru: Mausambi? [Transl. What about little pomegranate juice Srila Prabhupada.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Do you have pomegranate.]

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. Yes, we have pomegranate from Kabul.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Make little sweet lemon juice and let me see.]

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. Okay Srila Prabhupada. I go and bring it. Do you need this stick?]

Prabhupada: Little, that sweet juice.

Bhakti-caru: Sweet lemon. What Atreya Rsi Prabhu brought.

Prabhupada: What is that?

Bhakti-caru: The sweet lemon. I'll just get it, yes.

Prabhupada: Hmm? What is that?

Tamala Krsna: I'm suggesting that it should be sweet.

Prabhupada: That is sweet, that sweet...

Atreya Rsi: It's very sweet.

Tamala Krsna: It is?

Atreya Rsi: It's very, very sweet.

Tamala Krsna: Sweet is nice.

Prabhupada: So keep it. When I require, give me little.

Upendra: So you don't want any now?

Tamala Krsna: Bhakti-caru? Make it, and then keep it ready, and as Prabhupada wants it...

Prabhupada: No, no.

Atreya Rsi: It has to be made very fresh. It cannot be...

Tamala Krsna: Oh. Atreya Rsi says it should be made fresh.

Prabhupada: Yes. That lemon should be preserved, not otherwise.

Tamala Krsna: Utilized. Okay. Keep the lemon. Don't use it for anything else. That's what you have to tell him. Preserve it only for this purpose. That was a very funny joke you told, Srila Prabhupada, about the doctor, con-doctor? Everybody was relishing it.

Prabhupada: Where is Kirtanananda? He is avoiding? [Tamala Krsna laughs]

Tamala Krsna: Upendra said because he has a night shift, sometimes he rests at this time. You wanted to see him?

Prabhupada: No.

Tamala Krsna: Just wondering.

Prabhupada: Where is Hari-sauri?

Tamala Krsna: Hari-sauri? He's bathing, Srila Prabhupada.

[break] ...comfortably, Srila Prabhupada?

[pause] Srila Prabhupada? We... In order to finish the Bombay temple, we're making a... We're sending some money to them for completion. So we have a committee called the Mayapur-Vrndavana committee. Persons on the committee are Jayapataka Swami, Giriraja, Gopala Krsna, Atreya Rsi, Ramesvara Maharaja, Gurukrpa Maharaja and myself. That committee was formed by the GBC last Mayapur festival. So they decided that they would give a loan. Because the BBT was a little short of money... The BBT sends the money to Bombay. So the BBT wants to loan some money from the Mayapur-Vrndavana account in Los Angeles, and they'll pay it back with the same bank interest.

Prabhupada: Make me centered. [break]

Tamala Krsna: Make a loan from Los Angeles to the BBT, and the BBT will repay it with the regular bank interest. Is that all right? Had you given power of attorney, now that the MV trust has approved it, Giriraja and I can sign on your behalf. See, we'll never sign on our own. We only sign after we get authority from the respective committee or from Your Divine Grace.

Prabhupada: That's all right.

Tamala Krsna: We're only mechanical signers.

Prabhupada: Very good. Make the body centered.

Tamala Krsna: Make the body centered? Which place is not centered, Srila Prabhupada?

Prabhupada: [moves Prabhupada] More.

Tamala Krsna: Is that all right? You said you were..., to the devotees who came to came to see you from the Gauḍiya Matha, you said you were maha-patita. But they said, "Maha-patita-pavana." We all appreciated that, Srila Prabhupada. Actually, Srila Prabhupada, I don't think that your Godbrothers really have any bad feelings. It's as you describe, because you had to preach amongst such fallen persons as us, the offense is really on our part, not on yours. I think actually they know that. Of course, they're a little sorry that they could not do what you did, but actually the offense is ours. We are not very trained up. It is not your fault. It is just that we are so fallen that we are only now beginning to learn a little etiquette. So sometimes, not purposely, but because we're very fallen, we sometimes make mistakes and offenses. And because we've taken shelter of Your Divine Grace, you are always giving us protection.

[pause] [Yasodanandana chants Brahma-samhita] [break]

Prabhupada: ...they will appreciate tomorrow.

Yasodanandana: Yes. I'm training the boys. There's three boys I'm training especially in the morning-Dvarakadhisa, Ekendra and Katyayana. I'm training to chant this Brahma-samhita and Bhagavad-gita every day. Tomorrow we have arranged that for the beginning of the conference the boys will chant namaḥ om visnu-padaya, namaste narasimhaya, namo maha-vadanyaya namo brahmanya-devaya, and four verses from Brahma-samhita, tomorrow at ten-thirty. And every day I'm training some of these boys to chant Brahma-samhita and Bhagavad-gita. Is that all right, Prabhupada?

Prabhupada: Somebody, important man was to come this evening?

Hamsadūta: An important man was to come this evening? You mean for the conference, Srila Prabhupada? I don't think any men have come yet, Prabhupada. Svarūpa Damodara is here, but I think they're planning to come tomorrow and the following days.

Bhavananda: Dr. Mishra, I think, is going to inaugurate the conference, and his friend, Dr. Chowdury, have just arrived. We've checked them into their room. They're taking a little prasadam. Svarūpa Damodara is with them.

Prabhupada: Somebody has...

Hamsadūta: Yes, some men have come.

Prabhupada: That's all right.

Hamsadūta: Jaya. All glories to Prabhupada. [break]

Paramananda: We've worked very hard to follow your [indistinct]. We're very much encouraged how it's working out. We've been discussing it for many hours here, and it seems like it's going to work out very nicely.

Prabhupada: The program is there. If you follow, immediately success. You are leaving?

Paramananda: Tomorrow morning.

Tamala Krsna: Vamanadeva is going to go to Mayapur before he goes back to America. He's going to go to Mayapur for a week or so with his family.

Prabhupada: Very good.

Paramananda: Also, I would like to offer you the obeisances of Gaura Hari Prabhu and Bhūrijana, who may not be able to come and see you. They're also working very dedicatedly to developing this project, and they wanted very much to come and see you.

Prabhupada: That's all right.

Tamala Krsna: Dhrstadyumna Maharaja is here also, and his brother is here, Srila Prabhupada. His brother's name is Bill. I think you remember meeting Dhrstadyumna Maharaja's parents in New York.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Tamala Krsna: So Dhrstadyumna is, I think, the elder.

Dhrstadyumna: Yes.

Tamala Krsna: His brother is here.

Dhrstadyumna: My brother is an architect, Srila Prabhupada, and he's helping us to design the community plan for the small village and the temple. He's working very hard to help set up an ideal Vedic community. So...

Prabhupada: Keep always engaged yourself in Krsna activity. That is wanted. Jaya.

Devotees: Thank you very much, Srila Prabhupada.

[break] [kirtana] ...yad yad acarati... [Bg 3.21]. You can give me two teaspoon glucose.

Brahmananda: Two teaspoons...?

Tamala Krsna: Glucose.

Prabhupada: Hmm?

Tamala Krsna: I was just... Everything you say is important to us, so I was just explaining to Jayadvaita Prabhu to make sure that if you speak about these... [microphone moving] What would you like? Turning over? Okay.

Prabhupada: Turn me over occasionally this way and that way, even I do not say.

Tamala Krsna: Oh. Of course, we'll ask you first, but we'll do it.

Prabhupada: Yes. [break] ...has offered place in Delhi. Is it not?

Svarūpa Damodara: For the Institute?

Prabhupada: Some place in Delhi for Institute.

Svarūpa Damodara: No. They haven't offered that place. Did they? No.

Tamala Krsna: No. It was what you told Prabhupada earlier.

Svarūpa Damodara: No, they didn't offer a place, but they wanted to help to establish a center for the Bhaktivedanta Institute.

Prabhupada: How to help?

Svarūpa Damodara: Various ways-money and supporting us. They said it's very essential.

Prabhupada: Who supported with money? Will they helpful with money, or what sort of support?

Svarūpa Damodara: Actually, he was speaking in general terms. This Professor Malsanda, he's the head of the Physiology Department in the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. He's a very religious man. He's also a very well known scholar. He's medical doctor by profession. Also he belongs to many different scientific worldwide organizations, and he feels very strongly that we should have a center in Delhi for the Bhaktivedanta Institute.

Prabhupada: So money is required.

Svarūpa Damodara: So he didn't say anything specifically, but he said he would be very happy to help us in establishing a center there. He's very favorable to our philosophy, and he invited me to his own home, and we discussed at great length about the philosophy that we are trying to present in the scientific community, and he feels that it's very genuine and we should... They should help us to push forward.

Prabhupada: So with this cooperation, this Institution will be very prestigious. So if it is possible, organize. But don't overburden.

Tamala Krsna: What is that overburden?

Prabhupada: Other business may not suffer.

Tamala Krsna: Hmm. Publishing books should not suffer, and lecturing, like that.

Prabhupada: We have already place in Bombay.

Svarūpa Damodara: Yes.

Prabhupada: So if Bombay is sufficient, don't bother in Delhi.

Svarūpa Damodara: Yes. I will do it slowly, first of all to make sure that whatever we have done is going on nicely; then we can expand later on. But in India it is true that everybody I met, very respectful to Srila Prabhupada's movement and to what we are trying to do.

Prabhupada: Yes. That much we want to keep. The people may not think of it as bogus.

Svarūpa Damodara: Our chief guest for tomorrow has already arrived. And he's very impressed. I took a tour of our temples, also the gurukula. And they're very impressed with the whole building and the whole program that we have here. Very nice. He brought also an architect. He's a retired engineer, Chowdury from..., together. Also we already have a mathematician from Delhi University for tomorrow. So I took three of them tour of our temple and gave them nice prasada. They were very impressed.

Tamala Krsna: This has never happened before, Srila Prabhupada. You are the real acarya for this age, Srila Prabhupada. You perfectly know how to spread Krsna consciousness. You're making people who would ordinarily never take interest in Krsna consciousness become devotees.

Prabhupada: In the beginning, when I was selling Back to Godhead alone, one practical businessman, Mr. Bande[?] I think, he said, "Swamiji, why you have made Vrndavana headquarter? [laughs] It is not a place for..." [break]

Svarūpa Damodara: ...conference place in Vrndavana, they said the selection is ideal. Said this type of conference should start from Vrndavana. They feel that way, many of them. Yesterday Mishra, Dr. Mishra... He's the head of the Biophysics Department in the All-India Institute, Medical Sciences. He called me to his home, and I went and we had about half an hour discussion. He told me that he wanted to do this by himself for a long time several years ago. Then somehow, when he saw our flyer, his wife told him that "You've been trying to do like this for so many years, but somebody has started doing it." So she told him, "You must join them." So actually he wanted to come from tomorrow, but some people are coming from Germany, 'cause he has a big grant. He's actually internationally well known scientist. But he's coming on Sunday, and he's also going to speak about half an hour.

Tamala Krsna: Is he bringing his German friends?

Svarūpa Damodara: No. His German friends are busy touring all over India to make sure that when they get grant, everything goes okay.

Tamala Krsna: It sounds like this Bhaktivedanta Institute might get a..., maybe get some grant sometime, eh?

Svarūpa Damodara: Yes. Once we get incorporated in Bombay, then we can also get some grants from the government, also in the United States when we get it properly established. And the word bhakti-vedanta is so important that it seems that everybody knows what it means, at least in India. When they say bhakti, "Oh," they say, "Oh, that's different from Maharishi Yogi. That's different from anybody else. You have to start with bhakti." So the word is so nice also.

Tamala Krsna: And Prabhupada is very famous also. So people think about Prabhupada and Hare Krsna movement when they hear it also.

Svarūpa Damodara: When they hear "Bhaktivedanta," they immediately know that this is Prabhupada. Many of them told me that "Oh, I have heard Swamiji's lecture in Delhi. It's very nice and very impressive and very convincing." Many of them told me like that.

Tamala Krsna: Your lectures in Delhi drew the most intelligent class of people, Srila Prabhupada. The other svamis, when they would lecture, they would get just the typical pious Indian people, but yours also drew very intelligent group of people, sophisticated people. [break]

Prabhupada: They danced. [laughter] With coat-pant, I have seen.

Svarūpa Damodara: Especially there's one Dr. Murti. He's the Professor of Chemistry, Delhi University. He told me that Prabhupada is a very good speaker. He said he heard Swamiji's lectures. He said, "Very good speaker." And he's coming early in the morning tomorrow. Whole chemistry group are coming from Delhi University. [break]

Prabhupada: What is the time?

Tamala Krsna: It's 9:30 now, Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada? Your glucose is here.

Prabhupada: Give me.

Upendra: Srila Prabhupada?

Prabhupada: A little lay down.

Tamala Krsna: Have Kirtanananda Maharaja give it.

Kirtanananda: Is there a spoon here? Get the spoon.

Prabhupada: I'll not sit up.

Kirtanananda: No. I'm getting a spoon so I can give you this. You don't want to take those pills the other doctor gave you? You don't want to take those pills for your urine?

Prabhupada: No. That much, warm glucose. That much, and nothing more possible. You don't increase. And decrease. Little in that ladle[?]. That's all. And preserve those sweet lemon.

Tamala Krsna: Preserve those sweet lemons. Prabhupada wants sometimes sweet lemons for drinking, so you should preserve.

Prabhupada: And chant Hare Krsna.

Kirtanananda: Hare Krsna.

Tamala Krsna: Should we have some chanting now, Srila Prabhupada?

Prabhupada: Yes, chanting twenty-four hours.

Upendra: Srila Prabhupadaji? I would like to change your dhoti. It won't take but five minutes. I have everything.

Prabhupada: What happened?

Upendra: Well, you have passed liquid stool.

Prabhupada: Stool?

Upendra: Yes, Prabhupada. And by morning it will be too dry. It's not that much, so it's very easy. You're already on your side, so that's good. [break]

Bhavananda: And you could take little bit spoon, half spoonful, every half an hour or twenty minutes, I think.

Prabhupada: Very good suggestion.

Bhagatji: Srila Prabhupada?

Tamala Krsna: He said, "Very good suggestion."

Prabhupada: I am ready.

Bhagatji: Gahga-jal and Yamuna-jal as you like.

Prabhupada: [Transl. Yamuna-jal.]

Bhagatji & Tamala Krsna: [Transl. Yamuna-jal.]

Bhagatji: [Transl. Srila Prabhupada, Today I have invited all the devotees, GBCs, presidents and sannyasis to my house for lunch. Should I send your prasada here? Just to taste? I had a desire from a long time that all the devotees and sannyasis are here, so I should feed them.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Where they will eat?]

Bhagatji: [Transl. In my place. I have made all the arrangements. Prasada will be in my house.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Alright. As you wish.]

Bhagatji: Laughs. [Transl. To Tamala Krsna: Accepted. I will send a plate for him.]

[end]