Room Conversation with Śatadhanya – November 3, 1977, Vṛndāvana

What other news?

Tamala Krsna: Prabhupada said, "What you have brought?"

Satadhanya: Bengali potols, big, very nice.

Tamala Krsna: Show him. Wow.

Satadhanya: That one's a little soft, but...

Tamala Krsna: Give him a good one.

Prabhupada: Hmm.

Tamala Krsna: Fat.

Satadhanya: You'll take, Srila Prabhupada? Also some jhinga.

Prabhupada: Very good.

Satadhanya: In Mayapur, when they heard that Your Divine Grace was coming, it was like electricity. There was... I've never seen anyone so excited as they were. They were electrified. Everyone was... All the gurukula, little boys who had never even seen... "Prabhupada is coming! Prabhupada is coming!" There were shouts all through the asrama. And everything was very well organized by Jayapataka Maharaja for your arrival.

Bhavananda: Mrs. De at the airport?

Satadhanya: At the airport that Mrs. De, who you had... I think she met you previously. She had told you, "I am also a De."

Tamala Krsna: When we went to Bombay. Remember when we flew to Bombay that lady helped us for getting special seating?

Satadhanya: So she very kindly made all the nice arrangements at the airport. There was a big caravan with flowers to take you to Mayapur.

Tamala Krsna: You expected Prabhupada on that plane?

Satadhanya: Yes. We had the car out. Everyone was expecting.

Tamala Krsna: They couldn't get through in time to tell them that you weren't coming, Srila Prabhupada, so they were all ready at the airport with the cars.

Prabhupada: We failed to catch.

Tamala Krsna: Yes. You must have been surprised when Prabhupada didn't come out of the plane.

Satadhanya: Surprised? Yes. [laughs]

Tamala Krsna: They arranged that special lift to take you out of the plane also. Remember that we went in the plane when we went to..., on British Airways from London? That way you don't have to get carried or bounced around, because it's a machine that goes up and down.

Prabhupada: The difficulty is on the, this road.

Tamala Krsna: Yes, it's very bad.

Satadhanya: Yes, it's very bad.

Prabhupada: What is the condition?

Tamala Krsna: Imp... Oh.

Satadhanya: I came by train just now.

Bhavananda: Kaviraja said, Srila Prabhupada, that under no condition should you go on that road.

Tamala Krsna: Under no circumstances. It's lucky that the car didn't arrive in time, Srila Prabhupada. He said under no circumstances can you be taken over that road.

Satadhanya: It must have been Krsna's arrangement to protect Srila Prabhupada.

Tamala Krsna: Srila Prabhupada knew it.

Satadhanya: The weather in Bengal is very nice, very warm and very nice weather.

Tamala Krsna: You saw Mr. Shastri? The kaviraja?

Satadhanya: No, I left that night he was to arrive.

Tamala Krsna: Adri had gotten back yet?

Satadhanya: Not when I left.

Bhavananda: He left the night I left.

Tamala Krsna: How did he come? By plane?

Satadhanya: The train for free. On Jayapataka's Indrail pass. You go first class for free.

Bhavananda: Last night I had a dream, Srila Prabhupada. Everyone at Mayapur, all the devotees, were rolling on the ground and flailing their fists on the ground and pulling their hair and weeping. They were all expecting Your Divine Grace to come.

Prabhupada: Hmm.

Tamala Krsna: I think you have to fulfill their prayer, Srila Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Satadhanya: There's also some news from Mayapur. Seventeen of the Muhammadans, those Muslims, they have been arrested. Now they're released on bail, but they were officially arrested in Mayapur. And also Jayapataka Maharaja says that the site where they are thinking of building that big temple in Mayapur, some land has just become available for sale, about fifteen bighas of land. And it ranges from fifteen hundred to twenty-five hundred rupees per bigha. So Jayapataka wanted me to tell Your Divine Grace.

Bhavananda: Fifteen bighas, that's five acres.

Tamala Krsna: So why not purchase?

Bhavananda: Right where the..., where we want to put the temple. It must be a group of men that the prices vary per bigha.

Tamala Krsna: Why not purchase?

Satadhanya: Jayapataka Maharaja is very anxious to purchase that land. It's exactly where the site for the big temple, at that location. Fifteen bighas.

Prabhupada: Whether he can purchase?

Tamala Krsna: Whether he can purchase. If you don't go to Mayapur, Srila Prabhupada, all of Mayapur will come here to be with you. Now, if you get a little stronger, we can go.

Satadhanya: Even the airport officials were disappointed. They were saying, "Where is our Guru Maharaja?" I was shocked to hear them saying. Saying, "Where is our Guru Maharaja?" They had purchased very nice fruits and vegetables of all different varieties, and Prabhupada could choose which he liked-potol, jhinga, so many things.

Prabhupada: What other news?

Tamala Krsna: What other news?

Satadhanya: Everything is very nice there, very organized. Jayapataka Maharaja and Bhavananda Maharaja have organized it very nicely. Calcutta is very clean. Also Calcutta was prepared in case Your Divine Grace was feeling tired. Then you could have stayed at Calcutta for a day or so and then gone on to Mayapur. Many Life Members had come to the airport. Sita Ram Daga...

Tamala Krsna: I think we have to go soon, Srila Prabhupada. Actually, to take you to different places is the greatest ecstasy, because there's no greater pleasure the devotees have than when you first arrive, they see you. Their feelings know no bounds. Airport arrivals have always been ecstatic over the years, Srila Prabhupada. The newspapers always remark how ecstatic they are.

Prabhupada: What is the condition of the road?

Tamala Krsna: This road is hopeless. We have to find an alternate way.

Bhakti-caru: [whispering] How about going from Mathura to Delhi by train?

Tamala Krsna: Yes. Srila Prabhupada, this morning you were asking for Baradraj? Here he is. We thought of a better way to go, Srila Prabhupada, than car. We'll take the Taj Express from Mathura to Delhi. It's quite a nice train ride. It takes only one hour and forty-five minutes, and it doesn't even stop one time.

Satadhanya: I just took it from Delhi this morning. Very clean, very smooth.

Tamala Krsna: We will have one devotee get on in Agra to reserve a compartment for us, and then we'll board it here in Mathura, and it arrives in Delhi at about nine-thirty at night, nine forty-five. So then we'll spend the night in Delhi, resting, and then the following morning we'll take the morning flight to Calcutta and Mayapur. This means also that you won't have to undergo any strenuous journey to Delhi and then immediately take a flight. The train journey is actually much easier than a car journey, and then we get the whole night to rest, which is also good. So basically it just means we take a plane and then the car ride to Mayapur.

Prabhupada: So I simply go by car from here to Mathura.

Tamala Krsna: Yes. Then we take the Taj Express, which is nonstop to Delhi, then stay in the Delhi temple, which is also nice, overnight, and then we proceed on to Calcutta. The next morning we leave on the plane at six-thirty in the morning and we arrive in Calcutta by about eight-thirty, and we should arrive in Mayapur by noon. Does it sound like a good plan? Now you simply should gain more and more strength, Srila Prabhupada. This time, until the kaviraja comes, from now until then, you should rest as much as possible, take these medicines. I think it's having a positive effect. You mentioned this morning that when you sit up you feel a little stronger now. I think it's good that you're not taxing yourself in any way. That's important. Would you like to do something specific right now, Srila Prabhupada?

Prabhupada: What shall I do? [chuckles]

Tamala Krsna: Well, Upendra's saying you might like to wash now your face and teeth. [aside:] When does Prabhupada wash his body?

Upendra: Two, approximately.

Tamala Krsna: In the afternoon. [background whispering] Maybe I should read some news to you? What would you like to do now, Srila Prabhupada?

Prabhupada: News?

Tamala Krsna: I might have a little bit of news. I'll see.

Prabhupada: In Mayapur I shall stay in my quarter?

Satadhanya: Yes, Prabhupada. Everything is very nicely arranged. There's one nice, big bed, this same size, with nice, soft mattress.

Prabhupada: Why another bed?

Satadhanya: The other bed is still there...

Bhavananda: The other bed, Srila Prabhupada, is not wide enough. [break] ...very high. We find for moving you about on the bed, sitting you up and turning you on your side, that it's safer and more convenient for you if we're able to get up on the bed itself. So the bed that you had at Mayapur was single bed. It wasn't very wide. This will be much more comfortable for you.

Prabhupada: How long it takes to go to Mathura?

Tamala Krsna: From here to Mathura? It would take about twenty minutes.

Prabhupada: Not much.

Tamala Krsna: I mean, within one hour of leaving here you'd be on your way to Delhi on the train. Another thing is that that Taj Express is very much on time. It's never late, because it only stops one time between Agra and Delhi, and that's here in Mathura. It's a very, very exacting train. So we can arrive fifteen minutes before the train is expected to arrive. We don't have to arrive hours before, or anything like that. I mean it's... We'll also make a special arrangement with the train stationmaster that only when he sees that Your Divine Grace is settled comfortably in the train will the train proceed onwards.

Prabhupada: That's nice.

Tamala Krsna: You got one letter, Srila Prabhupada, from the BBT Library Party in America. I won't read it all, but just to sum it up... That Readings in Vedic Literature by Satsvarūpa Maharaja, that book-remember, that I read some parts of to you? Readings in Vedic Literature Satsvarūpa wrote? It's a short book? That book is becoming very much accepted in university courses. Many, many classes are using it as a textbook, which means that automatically thirty to fifty copies are purchased at a time.

Prabhupada: Hmm!

Tamala Krsna: And all over the country now, as the Library Party travels, at each college one or two courses use this book now each semester. It's a regular textbook now. Now that they've introduced the study guide to the Bhagavad-gita, they expect the Bhagavad-gita will also become a regular textbook more and more. Actually, this is a... The Library Party reports that this is a great future for these books, is that gradually all of these books will be accepted as textbooks, and they will be made mandatory reading in college courses, which means there will be huge sales, year after year. Another thing which they're beginning to sell very widely, Srila Prabhupada... See, first the Library Party went to every university in America over the last four years and sold standing orders of the Bhagavatam and Caitanya-caritamrta. Now they're going back this year and starting to sell textbooks, text orders. They've done standing orders, now they're going to the same colleges and they're approaching the professors and saying, "Here's a book for your class as a textbook," which means that the teacher orders thirty copies at a time. So they're beginning to do this now. And they're also beginning to sell the movies. Yadubara's movies are being taken. In each school one or two people are renting these films or purchasing these films as well as slide shows. This is called audio-visual media, and they're starting to sell..., the Library Party is starting to sell a lot of the movies and the slide shows, as well as tape cassettes. Music courses, for example, want to order tape cassettes of Your Divine Grace singing bhajanas and playing the harmonium as part of a course in Indian music, for example. This is a...

Prabhupada: How many of you are going to Mayapur with me?

Tamala Krsna: We are going, ten-ten on the plane and another four or five on the train. Say fifteen altogether.

Satadhanya: Even more. There was about four or five on the plane that Prabhupada didn't take.

Tamala Krsna: Now, of course, there are more devotees who are coming, just like Citsukhananda Prabhu and others, so they'll also be going. By the time we go, we may be able to rent a third of the plane or something. At least there will be twenty or twenty-five devotees maybe.

Bhavananda: And then they have big caravan arranged, so from the airport or from Calcutta temple to Mayapur there will be at least forty devotees going with Your Divine Grace to Mayapur-the devotees who go and the devotees who greet you there.

Tamala Krsna: Do you like that, Srila Prabhupada?

Prabhupada: Yes.

Tamala Krsna: That we go in big numbers like that?

Bhavananda: Then at Mayapur there will be at least 150 devotees to greet you.

Tamala Krsna: Running down the road?

Bhavananda: Yes. [laughter]

Tamala Krsna: Srila Prabhupada, shall I continue with this report? Another thing that's beginning to happen is that the professors, after getting your standing orders and after teaching with your books in their courses, they are starting to become very friendly to Krsna consciousness. For example here is one example cited. He says... It says here that "Dasaratha Prabhu went straight to the Chairman of Philosophy who happens to teach in that field, and that chairman also bought a copy of Monograph 2...," which is Svarūpa Damodara's science books; these are also becoming important, "...and promised to review it. During this time, Sesa was meeting with Fritz Blackwell, an Asian language specialist who has used Krsna book in his course as a textbook and has known devotees for four years. Fritz's exchanges with Sesa were so intriguing that we shall simply list them one by one. The two passed in the hallway, not knowing each other, but later, when they met, Mr. Blackwell said, 'Oh, I knew you must have been with ISKCON. No one else would be so nicely dressed.' Sesa had corresponded with Mr. Blackwell previously and sent him copies of 'The Hare Krsna People' and 'Spiritual Frontier' movies to review for a special national survey of audio-visual materials on new spiritual movements. Fritz related that ISKCON's response was the quickest among his many suppliers for the project, and when he told his wife the Hare Krsnas were the first to send their films, she simply replied, 'They would be.' [laughter] Sesa acquired advance copies of Mr. Blackwell's reviews on the two films, which we'll enclose with this report if possible. Introducing Mr. Blackwell to the Readings in Vedic Literature prompted him to say, 'I will definitely use this in my course next year.' He also agreed to send a review by December. Fritz told Sesa, 'It's amazing that you've come today. We're just going to start our study of Krsna tomorrow. Can you come and speak in my class?' Sesa immediately complied. Fritz introduced him as an authority and personal colleague, so the students listened attentively and took notes. Sesa used slides to supplement his academic glorification of Lord Krsna. Interested, the students asked many questions, such as 'Why is Krsna blue?' 'What is prasadam?' Fritz was very pleased with the whole thing and gladly helped Sesa make arrangements to get another Caitanya-caritamrta standing order in the library." They already had one order, and they got another order. "On the same campus, Sesa sold a preview order..." Anyway, then they sold some more books. That's just an example of the way professors are beginning to be more and more helpful, and they're actually becoming devoted to Krsna consciousness. They've been very much impressed with the Library Party. The Library Party devotees come in suits with ties. They look very proper. They're scholarly. The books are the most prestigious, scholarly presentations of the philosophy available. And these people, they first ordered the standing order; now they're ordering course textbooks. And now they're starting to teach your books in the courses, Srila Prabhupada. They're preaching Krsna consciousness right in the classrooms. So automatically, when they see the devotees, they are very much attracted and friendly with our devotees. They want to take prasadam. So the scholars, who are the most intellectual community in America, are becoming devoted now to Your Divine Grace and this movement.

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. Srila Prabhupada, will you take some fruit juice now?]

Prabhupada: Hmm.

Bhakti-caru: [Transl. Please sit up little bit.] [break] [end]