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Conversation with Śrīdhara Mahārāja , Navadvīpa , 1973-06-27

Prabhupāda: ...German center, [Bengali] ektā United States.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Three in America.

Prabhupāda: Three in America.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Another three, Another...?

Prabhupāda: Another three in Europe.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Three in Europe. Six.

Prabhupāda: One in India.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: India, one.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

[aside:] [Bengali] Why you are keeping there?

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: India, one. Seven.

Prabhupāda: Seven. And Africa, one.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: One.

Prabhupāda: Eight.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That will be at [eight].

Prabhupāda: And one, Australia.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Australia.

Prabhupāda: New Zealand.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nine, New Zealand ektā [one].

Prabhupāda: And one...

Bhavānanda: Canada.

Prabhupāda: Canada.

Devotee: Africa and South America.

Bhavānanda: Ah, yes, South America.

Prabhupāda: South America. What part?

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: South America. South America, kon jaegaeta [?]

Bhavānanda: Australia and Southeast Asia also.

Prabhupāda: Argentina.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Argentina.

Devotee: And Japan. Japan.

Prabhupāda: Japan includes now...

Devotee: Western United States.

Prabhupāda: Western.

Bhavānanda: Western United States?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Including Hawaii and Japan. Japane lokera...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: [indistinct]

Prabhupāda: Russiate, there is big lokat. I have got a student there. They are very much strict about religious things. When I went to Moscow...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Well, reaction will come.

Prabhupāda: Reaction already come. They do not...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sure to come... Reaction, reaction.

Prabhupāda: So they found one of my Bhagavad-gītā in the immigration. So immediately he called police. [laughs] Then he, he examined. He allowed, "All right, it is all right. It is such a rubbish." But they are not very happy country, as they advertise.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is happiness? God is happiness.

Prabhupāda: Now, apart from materially, they're poor.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha...

Prabhupāda: This is...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...anudarśanam. So they are poor in intelligence. This is sattvic intelligence. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam [Bg. 13.9].

Prabhupāda: Anudarśanam.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Divide up higher kind of intelligence.

Prabhupāda: The Russian professor...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And the scientific fineness, that is also in the jurisdiction of matter. But a more subtle and subtler knowledge is possible.

Prabhupāda: Now we are presenting through two of my scientific students, Doctor of Chemistry, that matter is..., the source of matter is spirit. This is our theory. Generally they believe the life, life comes from matter.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Life comes from matter.

Prabhupāda: Matter. But we, we are presenting, "No, matter comes from life."

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Apparently. This is not appropriate. This is Vedānta. Vedānta...

Prabhupāda: Janmādyasya yataḥ.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah! I say that just examine the healthy body. This material world is an excema expect[?] in the healthy body.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Material, material atmosphere means diseased condition.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Diseased condition, very negligent or diseased condition, very negligent part, forming very negligent part of the whole, this material world, where creation and dissolution is compulsory.

Prabhupāda: Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg. 8.19].

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Creation and the dissolution is compulsory. That is a negligent portion of the real universe.

Prabhupāda: Ekāṁśena.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Otherwise, if a major portion of a body is bad, then that cannot stand. So the major portion of the universe must be healthy, wholesome. And the negligent part is the diseased portion. That is the world, where the majority lives.

Prabhupāda: One-fourth part.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The, the possession of Satan. It is under possession of Satan. Satan means having vikṛta-jñana. That is misunderstanding.

Prabhupāda: Perverted.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Misunderstanding is perverted. Misunderstanding is set out. Understanding is there, but it is perverted.

Prabhupāda: Dehātma-buddhiḥ.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Dehātma...

Prabhupāda: Dehātma-buddhiḥ.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Dehātma-buddhiḥ. Rather, rather the enjoying principles, offensive.

Prabhupāda: Sense gratification.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Enjoying mood. That is the basis of this. And mood of renunciation, that is a vapor state. That is nothing only. And the real life is the life of self-dedication and service. And the service not of any part. Or service not for any part which is like me, but for the whole, for the Divinity. As Kṛṣṇa says in Gītā,

athavā bahunaitena
kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna
viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam
ekāṁśena sthito jagat

Who lies..., whose bed is infinite. Śeṣāśrita, ananta. Infinite gathered together. And though He seems to, to have a figure, but figure that, that sort of figure which can contain many, many number of infinite of our conception. Kṛṣṇa is a figure talking with Arjuna, a limited figure, but Viśvarūpa emerged from Him. How? A big Viśvarūpa emerged from a limited figure? So such limited figure, that is God. Vṛndāvana. Vṛndāvana has been described as only sixty..., say...

Prabhupāda: Eighty-four miles.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Thirty-two miles. Thirty-two miles.

Prabhupāda: Somebody says eighty-four.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Āṭhār-krośa Vṛndāvana,

Prabhupāda: Ah, Saloka[?].

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...thirty-two miles. But Paravyoma, which is to be understood as Vaikuṇṭha, means infinite, many of the paravyomas is accommodated there within that thirty-two miles' area. Square miles area, or something like that. That, we must be conversant with that sort of understanding. Any number of length of rope coming, but only two fingers less. Only two fingers less. Another big rope added, again that two fingers less. This is all categorical principle. We have to be acquainted with. Then we shall go to read Bhāgavatam...

Prabhupāda: [aside:] fan?

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...or to... [Bengali]

Prabhupāda: [aside:] Drive these flies.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: How it is possible? Eka vigraha tāṅra ananta svarūpa. In one figure, He accommodates numberless of figures. Eka vigraha tāṅra ananta svarūpa. But all these appear to be real, and it will be shown to them who has got real śraddhā. Śraddhāmayo 'yaṁ lokaḥ, the world of faith. And that is substantial, not imaginary. What we say to be concrete, that will be reduced to ashes and imaginary. It will evaporate, both the scientist, material scientist, as well as the ṛṣis. But this will ready evaporate one day, with sun, moon, everything.

This will evaporate, but that subtle thing stands forever. Śraddhāmayo 'yaṁ lokaḥ. The experience of the region of faith stands forever, undisturbed. The world of experience is evaporating every second. And for the being who is dying every moment, every second dying. The what is to be told to us to be reality, that is, means dying every second. That sort of reality is given to us by these great persons of the present universe, big scientists and big leaders of the knowledge world. In India there is a saying that once a big mountain, he..., he or she expressed that she will produce a child. Parvate mūṣika bhave. She has got fame just before producing child. Then the people thought, "Oh, what a big child must come when the big mountain, she feels pain to produce a..." Eh?

Prabhupāda: Labor pain.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Labor... "Then a big child must come." At last it was seen that a mice, a mouse, was produced. So the big giants of the present world, so-called leaders of the scholars...

Prabhupāda: Scientists.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...scholars, with world, they are producing like a mouse. That is a dying substance, in this form or that form.

Prabhupāda: Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām [SB 7.5.30].

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah, this is sheer deception, a deception to be a challenge to the real thinkers. We should abhorrently throw it out at once. It is within the boundary of janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi [Bg. 13.9]. Throw it off.

Prabhupāda: So I, I try to impress upon them this fact, that this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a challenge for this deception. They're simply deceived.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All sorts of deception. Even Vaikuṇṭha. Paravyome [Bengali]. And the calculation, even they, the self is, a sort of calculation comes between the, the servitor and the object of service, then also it throws us down. In Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that sort of calculation is also absurd. There is love, there cannot be any calculation. It is autonomous. Autonomous anurāga. Cultivate, do. No sort of calculation of any benefit. The calculation disturbs autonomy.

Prabhupāda: [Bengali] Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya devī-maheśa-hari-dhāma... [Bs. 5.43]. [Bengali] About our temple contemplation, it will be almost a skyscraper building.

Bhavānanda: Will be.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Prabhupāda: Skyscraper building in temple shape, with four divisions. Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya devī-maheśa [Bs. 5.43]. So Maheśa-dhāma, how it will be depicted? Pārvatī-wise.[?]

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It has been already described by Sanātana Gosvāmī in Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛtam. After crossing Brahmaloka...

Prabhupāda: There is Maheśa-dhāma, in between.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Maheśa-dhāma. And the devotee..., Śiva is devotee.

Prabhupāda: Yes, everyone is... Śiva's devotional prayer is there in Fourth Canto, about the four sons. What are those?

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Devī-dhāma. Virajā to virajā, nirviśeṣa. The last conception, or the highest conception, of Devī-dhāma is what are the conception of virajā; prakṛti ends there. Then begins...

Prabhupāda: Kāraṇa, kāraṇārṇava.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kāraṇa, kāraṇārṇava. Then it begins Brahmaloka, the halo of the spiritual world.

Prabhupāda: Effulgence. Yes.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Spiritual world. And that is also some, some, somewhat nirviśeṣa.

Prabhupāda: Nirviśeṣa.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And then, after crossing that, the Śiva is on the other, higher side or he is in lower side. That is differentiation...

Prabhupāda: Śiva is...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Differentiation... Differentiation on two sides is Śiva. This side also, master of Devī, and this side also. He is searching after something, and when the differentiated world ends in Brahmaloka, there also Śiva is devotee. This side, Śiva is a yogī. He's searching after. And then, there, he's going to meet Nārāyaṇa, to face [indistinct].

Prabhupāda: Both sides, he's a devotee.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: This side, he's not such a devotee. But that is pure devotee on the other side, Vaikuṇṭha.

Prabhupāda: Ah. Sadāśiva.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sadāśiva, Mahā-Viṣṇu. On the other side, he's a devotee. Vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ [SB 12.13.16].

Prabhupāda: Mahā-Viṣṇu and Sadāśiva, the same.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Same.

Prabhupāda: Advaitācārya.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Advaitācārya. On the other side. And this side, sometimes revolving. The other day, I told a gentlemen that Śiva is rather the leader of the opposition party.

Prabhupāda: Yes, in Dakṣa-yajña, that is the curse.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In Dakṣa-yajña and in many a place, many demons is encouraged by him, we find.

Prabhupāda: But when Pracetās, Pracetās also, they met Śiva...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That, that is that Śiva, devotee Śiva.

Prabhupāda: Oh, they...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mārkaṇḍeya also in Bhāgavatam. Mārkaṇḍeya worshiped Śiva. But that is the devotee Śiva. It is clearly mentioned in Bhāgavatam. Mārkaṇḍeya's worshiping Śiva. But that Śiva is the pure devotee of Nārāyaṇa.

Prabhupāda: Pracetās, Śiva, the Pracetās met in this material world or in the spiritual world? They met in the material world.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I can't remember that particular... But Śiva, this side also Śiva, in the nirviśeṣa, on the lower side of the nirviśeṣa is also Śiva, and the higher side of the nirviśeṣa is also Śiva. Then Nārāyaṇa.

Prabhupāda: Here, he's Bhūtanātha, leaders of the atheistic class of men.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Atheistic class. And his paraphernalia is Nandibhṛṅgi, bhūta, and his, and his eldest son is Vināyaka, and he misguided... The leader of the misguided, Vināyaka, Gaṇeśa.

Prabhupāda: Oh, Vināyaka. Vi-gata...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Vināyaka. Not proper nāyaka. Vikṛta-nāyakaḥ.

Prabhupāda: Vikṛta-nāyakaḥ.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Vināyanikapamode-śuddha-prabhu, that are protected by Kṛṣṇa, and they, they...

Prabhupāda: But in Brahma-saṁhitā Gaṇeśa is described = vighna-nāśa.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Vighna-nāśa, but with the help of Nṛsiṁha-deva on his kumbha.

Prabhupāda: Oh, I see. Yat-pāda-pallava-yugaṁ vinidhāya [Bs. 5.50].

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: With the help of His lotus feet, he's able to... Otherwise, he's vināyaka.

Prabhupāda: [laughs] Vināyaka. Gaṇeśa.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: [Bengali]

Prabhupāda: Misleader.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Misleader, misguider, Gaṇeśa, his eldest son. And he give support, Śiva. Just as C. R. Das, he encouraged the Subhas Bose and the other members of [indistinct] party, but he himself was a little common person.

Prabhupāda: So Satsvarūpa Mahārāja, how do you like this place?

Satsvarūpa: Very transcendental.

Prabhupāda: Hmm.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: [Bengali] Śrutakīrti. Where is Śrutakīrti?

Prabhupāda: Here is Śrutakīrti.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: His health, you have to arrange what will be...

Prabhupāda: Śrutakīrti wants to serve you, provided you go with us, USA [laughter]. He says, "If Mahārāja goes with us, then I shall take care of him."

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In another life. Some other life. [laughter]

Prabhupāda: Ne. [Bengali]

Indian man: [Bengali]

[Bengali conversation continues for some time]

[devotee shows some vegetables---eggplant, pāṭola, okra]

Prabhupāda: Oh, pāṭola is there? Oh.

[Bengali conversation interspersed with a little English, talking about success of the movement around the world, which vegetables to eat during Cāturmāsya, Bon Mahārāja, and other topics for some minutes]

[30:07]

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: [Bengali] ...independent of matter. Into clear introspection, the spirit can see spirit, can feel spirit, but matter cannot feel matter. [Bengali] The matter presupposes spirit. Whatever you will ascribe to your forces, it presupposes consciousness = this is his color, this is dark, this is this, this is... This, that means...

Prabhupāda: Consciousness studying forces.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Consciousness in a degraded state sees forces. Consciousness in śraddhā [Bengali], is there, śraddhā, himself, then superior soul...

Prabhupāda: And the supermost.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And in the ultimate reality, Kṛṣṇa---all love, all good, all beauty. That realm. Consciousness can..., individual consciousness can live in and move in, in a land of beautiful. In the land of divine love. Anyone having any conception of beauty and love which is divine cause of the universe cannot write anything in this world than that. [indistinct] Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate [Bg. 2.59]. All his charm has vanished as soon that type of rasa, that rasa, that quality has got little, how you can write in the heart. Everything. [sings mantras]

[Bengali and English]

[34:35]

Prabhupāda: So what is your advice? Shall I fly like the [indistinct] or return?

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: [Bengali]

[Bengali, with little English, about different centers]

[37:18]

Prabhupāda: How within five or six years...?

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: [Bengali] The intellectual barrier has been crossed, and from there, it is being extended to this mundane world of ours. [Bengali]

Prabhupāda: One intelligent boy---you have heard his name, George Harrison---he's one of the greatest musicians at the present moment, of the world. I think so, eh?

Devotee: Yes.

Prabhupāda: George Harrison. So he's becoming---he's very intelligent---so he's becoming interested. Now recently he has given us a house in London which is fifty-five lakhs.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: [Bengali]

Prabhupāda: Which is worth two hundred thousand Pound. Two hundred thousand Pound, ordinarily it is forty lakhs. And in the market value, because Pound is selling in India thirty, twenty-eight, at least twenty-five, in that way...

[break]

[Bengali conversation for some time, with little English interspersed]

[40:22]

Prabhupāda: I don't like it, air-conditioned. Artificial. [Bengali] Air-condition, I never liked.

[Bengali conversation continues with other man also]

[44:15]

We are solely depending on our books. [Bengali conversation] ...Bhaktivedanta Book Fund account [Bengali]. "Five thousand dollars, you take advance. Deposit. And take my orders." So I gave him order, "Books worth fifty-two thousands of dollars, advancing five thousand dollars." And they gradually supplied to India. And from USA we gradually, little by little, we paid.

So that became the asset, of books. And I advised them that "You go and present these books to respectable gentlemen to become a member, and they'll become."

And actually that plan became successful. Now the same members, they have not only paid eleven hundred. Now some of them, they're paying eleven thousand. Recently one gentleman belonging to the Birla family... Eh?

Bhavānanda: L. M. Birla.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The other day, the family came there and Jagan[?] went there...

Prabhupāda: No, no. Another family. They came to our Calcutta center. In how many motors they came?

Bhavānanda: Seventeen.

Prabhupāda: Seventeen motorcars, whole family. And after seeing the Deity they presented a check for eleven thousand rupees. So by Kṛṣṇa's grace, money is coming. There is no scarcity. And they are spending here in Māyāpur. So with that five hundred..., five thousand dollar, whatever asset is Indian now, that is from five thousand...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Also you have proved also that capital is on the other world. Capital is also... So it is being supplied...

Prabhupāda: Now, these books suppliers, Dai Nippon, they give us credit up to $200,000. $200,000, in our Indian exchange, it is twenty lakhs of rupees. So they give us credit. We take books from them and distribute and then pay. In this way, it is going on. In Los Angeles alone we are selling... How many books daily?

Śrutakīrti: Two thousand, maybe. Fifteen hundred a day.

Prabhupāda: Two thousand pieces, and the collection is about eight thousand dollars..., no, eight hundred dollars. Eight hundred dollars. So they're very anxiously taking our books. A new literature. They have no such idea, what is God, what is bhakti, how they can be explained. Our Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, publisher Macmillan, within one year... Last August they, the first edition. And... Not yet August. By this time, they have finished two editions, and the third edition is in the press. That will be available in July.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Edition of a very number...

Prabhupāda: Fifty thousand.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Fifteen thousand.

Prabhupāda: Fifty. Five, zero.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Marvelous success.

Prabhupāda: And Bhāgavata also, we have got six volumes. So people purchase the whole set, sixty dollars.

[aside:] Sixty dollars for the whole set? No? How much?

Śrutakīrti: They sell it for thirty dollars.

Prabhupāda: Thirty dollars, yes. So this is very encouraging that our books are [Bengali]. The books are selling like anything, these books.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hotcake. [laughter]

Prabhupāda: Hotcakes, yes. [laughter] We are ordering to Dai Nippon... Because they are giving us facilities, 100,000 copies each. And distributed all over the world. Australia... The whole world. Australia is English-speaking. Whole America is English-speaking. England, English-speaking. And Europe also, half, English-speaking.

India, more than half English-speaking. So in this way, English literatures, worldwide circulation we are getting. And besides that, we have published in German language, in Spanish language. Just yesterday I received Spanish Back to Godhead. People are liking it very much. So here is something.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who is in charge of this publication?

Prabhupāda: Publication... I have made one Trust, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who is the leader?

Prabhupāda: I am there, and one, my sannyāsī śiṣya, Bali-mardana.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Where is that Bali-mardana?

Prabhupāda: Bali-mardana. Bali-mardana and another, Karandhara dāsa Adhikārī. So actually he's the manager, Karandhara dāsa Adhikārī. He is looking after.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: At America.

Prabhupāda: In Los Angeles. He's very intelligent boy. He knows everything. He knows accounts, He knows how to construct building. He knows how to manage. He knows how to publish. Everything.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Versatile.

Prabhupāda: Versatile, yes. And he's not very old. And he wants to take sannyāsa also. He's a gṛhastha; he has got a child. And = "Just wait. We shall arrange for your... You are already sannyāsī." He lives apart from his wife. So he's very nice boy.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So I do not have here one copy regularly.

Prabhupāda: Oh, why? Why not Back to Godhead?

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Last time I got I requested, but they have forgotten.

Prabhupāda: It is [indistinct].

[52:05]

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: [Bengali] Once letter to me in [indistinct], in Benares Candraśekhara and Navadvīpa Candraśekhara, uncle. The Benares Candraśekhara, the lekhā śūdra, and the Mahāprabhu's maternal uncle, Candraśekhara Ācārya...

Prabhupāda: Candraśekhara, yes.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh? Has been misplaced.

Prabhupāda: Oh, Candraśekhara Ācārya and śūdra...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Candraśekhara...

Prabhupāda: Where?

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Has been told to be this Candraśekhara, a servant Candraśekhara.

Prabhupāda: Benares Candraśekhara was a vaidya.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Vaidya.

Prabhupāda: And he is...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: This is... Uncle.

Prabhupāda: Uncle, uncle. In Back to Godhead, you have seen it.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Back to Godhead.

Prabhupāda: Maybe.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So much clear conception in such a small period of time that they have acquired. This is a marvelous thing. The [indistinct] also, ISKCON has said in such a way, this Dāmodara Svarūpa and the Paṇḍita Dāmodara. Generally, these are for public, but minute reader only can differentiate.

Prabhupāda: Dāmodara. Svarūpa Dāmodara and Dāmodara Paṇḍita.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Dāmodara Paṇḍita. Two different, but one is Lalitā. Another is a mañjarī of Candrāvalī, Paṇḍita Dāmodara.

Prabhupāda: Oh. [chuckles] Opposite party.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Opposite party. And this is the leader of this party, and he...

Prabhupāda: How they came together? Caitanyākhyāṁ prakaṭam adhunā [Cc. Ādi 1.5].

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bon Mahārāja once misplaced that very...

Prabhupāda: In which book?

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In this... many.

Prabhupāda: Eh? In which book? Or he spoke in a speech or what?

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In speech must be, but...

Prabhupāda: But he hasn't got many books.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No. One Paramo Dharma in Bengali, and First Year in England, Second Year in England, in this way...

Prabhupāda: That is not a...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: One [indistinct] in German language.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is there, I do not know. First Year in England. My First Year in England. My Second Year in England. And it was very disgusted to Prabhupāda, this...

Prabhupāda: Prabhupāda, yes.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And his servant.

Prabhupāda: And therefore he was called back.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nothing. "I met that such-and-such person on such-and-such date. I met on that... I, that is one lecture there." Everything = "I, I, I..."

Prabhupāda: [chuckles] And there was a picture = "Swāmījī is playing on harmonium."

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: [laughs] And Tīrtha Mahārāja is trying a, be a pigeon or something like that, and staring... These were the pictures while London preaching. And the money...

Prabhupāda: So our present Tīrtha Mahārāja, Bhakti-Vilāsa-Tīrtha Mahārāja, he's representing Prabhupāda. At least, he tries to pose himself. So Bon Mahārāja's activities, in comparison to that, my activities certainly better. And Bon Mahārāja was given so much reception. But he did not give me any reception. How he can claim to be Prabhupāda's representative?

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bon Mahārāja was given reception because Prabhupāda was...

Prabhupāda: No, Prabhupāda appreciated anyway.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Anyway.

Prabhupāda: But here there is no appreciation.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He's representing..., he's representing the mission, he thinks. He thinks so, but he's so poor in his preaching capacity that he cannot accommodate any other in his camp than him and Vinobhe[?]. I heard a story of Maharashtra. In old age, there was a good king who encouraged the paṇḍitas very much. And he had got in his assembly a scholar, one Balarāma. He always looked after this, that.

No paṇḍita can have any entrance to that Mahārāja. And he professed himself to be, he is the biggest paṇḍita in the land. So once Kālidāsa... At the time of Kālidāsa. Kālidāsa, when he heard, then he formed a plan and went to that paṇḍita, that "I am a poor brāhmaṇa. I want some, some sort of money from the king. You are all in..."

Prabhupāda: Recommend.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: "Please recommend me." "Oh, yes." And then "What sort of scholarship you have got? Do you..., can you compose any poem?" "Yes. I can." "Then do it." Then = uttiṣṭhottiṣṭha bhū-rājan mukhaṁ prakṣālaya atha, roditi na ghare kukurana vaidyuhi na vaidyo hi.[?] This stanza. What is the meaning? [laughs] The uttiṣṭhottiṣṭha rājan: "O King,..."

Prabhupāda: "Get up."

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: "Wake up, wake up. Get up." Bhū-rājan mukhaṁ prakṣālaya atha. "And..."

Prabhupāda: Wash up.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: "...cleanse your mouth. Wash your mouth." And ta... Then what is this ta? "Well, keep it in your hand." Roditi na ghare kukura... "The ta must come here." Roditi na ghare kukura ta mughi. "That ta is placed there in advance; that ta must come here." Roditi na ghare kukura ta. "But for the caṇḍa, and it has been removed there. And that one word, the place was empty.

So this ta has been positioned, has been placed there." Roditi na ghare kukura. "And what is this ca vai tu ki, ca vai tu ki? No." "This is ca-vai-tu-ki, all these letters only to pada, for pada pūraṇa. So this fourth pada, I could not fill up. So these four things have been placed here." Ca vai tu ki, "Oh, that's very good. I'll put it to the king."

Prabhupāda: He saw it is very intelligent.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: "How, how a scholar I am I! I wrote this is the specimen of other scholars."

[Bengali---recites some verses]

And this sort of poems was produced by him in the court. The king was charmed. This man was perplexed. So Tīrtha Mahārāja[?] is like Balarāma. And he, and he...

[60:52]

Prabhupāda: Nobody should be allowed. [laughter]

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And when he find man comes around him, then he will be nowhere to the... He's, he's, he knows one thing, that Haritaki. You know that story of Haritaki.

Prabhupāda: Yes. [laughs]

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He knows this canar-dharma.[?]

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Canar-dharma is everything to him, just as Haritaki to that fabulous Kavirāja. [Bengali] And he has got one thing, I...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Tusarkanti[?] very much appreciates.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Whom?

Prabhupāda: No, this canar-dharma. [laughs] Because that Gaura Mahārāja, you know.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, I know.

Prabhupāda: He told me that he was given...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He wanted election of Vāsudeva Prabhu, Gaura Mahārāja, and that Bhagavānānanda, but Paraśurāma. But anyhow, he escaped and he came to Tīrtha Mahārāja, his former relative, old Tīrtha Mahārāja.

Prabhupāda: Old Tīrtha Mahārāja.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Former relative. Then Tīrtha Mahārāja told him that "What about my guru?" "Well, if your guru on one side, another bullock in another side, and if you can plow and produce some crops, and that can be offered to Mahāprabhu, then your guru may have a path of relish." [laughs] See what Tīrtha Mahārāja says, "This is blasphemy."

Prabhupāda: [laughs]

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: "No, it is true, but this is very cruel. But this is truth."

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: If he's presently the pakkā Māyāvādī, if he's used passively by a great man, then only in that way he can come this side. Not in front walking. Not by front walking. Only by back drawing he can be taken to this side only. It is quite true. That... So Cinmayānanda, now Gaura Mahārāja, he...

Prabhupāda: Cinmayānanda, Gaura Mahārāja.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...knows me better, and he, he's a paid goswami of those Patrikā persons.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And they are exploiting him; he's exploiting them.

Prabhupāda: This time, in their meeting, they made me chief guest. But I did not attend.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That's a lower position.

Prabhupāda: In, in a big meeting, they made me chief guest.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He wants to show, so that, "I have got..."

Prabhupāda: That, that...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: "...such big man."

Prabhupāda: Oṁkāranātha...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Was president, was made president.

Prabhupāda: And that, uh...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And yourself, Mādhava Mahārāja and Tīrtha Mahārāja invited to be Vice-President. I heard.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Mādhava Mahārāja went there.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Went there.

Prabhupāda: Yes. He lectured. And I did not go.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Tīrtha Mahārāja did not go.

Prabhupāda: I do not know. Tīrtha Mahārāja did not go?

Bhavānanda: They were made vice-presidents, but Śrīla Prabhupāda was asked to be chief speaker.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Once when I was in a hut here, then Ānandamaṇi came to Navadvīpa, and one devotee, Mano-rañjana, he wanted to bring Ānandamaṇi here. I refused, that "I won't be able to pay any respect to her. She's a pakkā Māyāvādī." I, I saw that she, with a cow in her back and with the flute...

Prabhupāda: Yes, there is a picture like that.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Picture. So it is abhorrent. I refused, that "I won't, however she may be..." She was not so great as she is now famous, but I refused. What I need for him..., for her? Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Tīrtha Mahārāja is of this type, this type. I had one Sanskrit śloka devoted to Prabhupāda = Gaurī-gaṅga-taṭe nava-braja navadvīpe tu māyāpure śrī caitanyam atha prakāśa-kamaru jīvaika-kalanaudhi, śrī-siddhānta-sarasvatīti milito gaurī gurvanyaiḥ bhartur amriba prabhāta gagane rūpānuga-pūjitau. Siddhanthi, [Bengali] He told the composer of this poem, "He has got not a place in the maṭha of Prabhupāda. Who can praise him in such a poem, he cannot, he has no place..."

Prabhupāda: Place.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: "...of accommodation in his own, in the maṭha of Prabhupāda." [Bengali] Adṛṣṭi-parihāsa. What will be the English expression? Adṛṣṭi-parihāsa. Kasno...

Prabhupāda: Desire.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I have got another śloka. That is, that will be very effective to have a clear conception of Prabhupāda's mission. Nikhilo bhuvana-mayacchino vicchino karteji vivhala bahuta mukti mohan tadatri, siti-liti-vidhi rādhā rādhā-rādhe sādhane vilasatu dviji taṁ bhaktisiddhānta vāṇī.

Prabhupāda: Āpnāra composition.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: A clear picture of Prabhupāda's mission. Visi siti mayachinna vichinna kartri. And vibudha bahula vimudhe means scholars. Vibudha bahula vigdha mukti mohana dartri asiti...

Prabhupāda: The mohan.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Prabhupāda: The mukti

[Bengali conversation continues, with many Sanskrit verses praising Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī]

[75:03]

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...grandfather is on your head.., back.

[Bengali conversation]

Prabhupāda: ...so many fruit trees.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...grandfather is on your head.., back.

[Bengali conversation] [break]

[75:40]

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah, yes. Do it gradually. And the more beautiful, they will do it in plant time.

Prabhupāda: Eh? This is very beautiful species.

Śrutakīrti: Yes, big birds and...

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Jayapatāka: Engineer was saying that if we have a big tree around the building, then it blocks the view of the building. [laughter] We will make such beautiful building and no one will see it through the trees..

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Prabhupāda: If we cover with these gardens big, big trees, then the beautiful building will be covered. So therefore he wants to keep it barren. [laughter]

Devotee: That is how the engineer always sees his engineering.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You see, Vṛndāvanam, Gauravanam. The vegetable class is not eliminated. They have got their part to play, and that is not to be neglected. At night... At night...

Prabhupāda: I think, Mahārāja, after your coming here, all these trees have grown.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Only these trees...

Prabhupāda: Only the mango tree I remember...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Others have grown. At night in the forest pastimes, holding a principal part of the kṛṣṇa-līlā. And when pasturing the cows, then also, forest is necessary. So it will arouse in your mind the memory of Vṛndāvana and the Gauravana. They have got their part to play. And what Uddhava says?

āsām aho caraṇa-reṇu-juṣām ahaṁ syāṁ
vṛndāvane kim api gulma-latauṣadhīnām
yā dustyajaṁ sva-janam ārya-pathaṁ ca hitvā
bhejur mukunda-padavīṁ śrutibhir vimṛgyām

"I aspire after the birth of a shrub or creeper or a grass in this land because I may have chance of being..., having been tread by Your, those divine damsels. Then their feet dust will be on me." So that is a necessary and important part, this vegetable kingdom...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...of Vṛndāvana and Gauravana. They will arouse in your mind the first real memory of Kṛṣṇa and His pastimes.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And help you, help you. Green. [Sanskrit] But real sabuja is there in Vṛndāvana, the source of all sabuja. This sabuja will die, will be dried out.

Prabhupāda: Wither away.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The source of real sabuja, kiśora sabuja[?], constant sabuja, constant greenness, is only there, kiśora. Nitya kaisore sthiti. Eh?

Prabhupāda: [Bengali]

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: [Bengali] Everyone is a kiśora. Kiśora means youth. [Bengali]

[79:18]

Prabhupāda: Pre-youth.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Pre-youth. Kiśora.

Prabhupāda: Pre-youthtime, kiśora.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Pre-youthtime. And there it stands.

[Bengali conversation]

Prabhupāda: Have we got bael nuts also, with our garden?

Devotee: Separate.

Prabhupāda: Oh, separate. Yes, bael nut is separate. That police officer, Ashe, district magistrate...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ashe was re-elected. [Bengali conversation] ...on the real basis of this downpour of the civilized people here.

[Bengali conversation for some time, some English interspersed]

...they said they will come here. Ostentatious childhood, the real key factor. [Bengali] ...be able to understand reality.

You're not crossing bhukti and mukti, then proper bhakti. So in their life, when they're trying that all material and political tendencies has been pushed down by some aspiration of high divine nectar, then in glance they will come and mount up.

[81:54]

[Bengali conversation with English interspersed; Sanskrit verses]

[92:05]

Prabhupāda: [aside to devotees] If you manufacture one palanquin... Palanquin. You know palanquin? Then sometimes you can carry Śrīdhara Mahārāja there. Yes. It will be great service and benefit for you. Because he's, he's very now...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Feeble.

Prabhupāda: Feeble now. So palanquin is all right. He can be carried in palanquin.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Now, this is the palanquin.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It will be a ludicrous exhibit, sitting demonstration...

Prabhupāda: No, why? All aristocratic kings, they were carried by palanquin.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, it was previously.

Prabhupāda: And...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Now the motorcar has taken place, and the more advanced...

Prabhupāda: Motor, motorcar, there is jerking.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...helicopter.

Prabhupāda: Now, now we, this, recently, before coming here, one of my student, Śyāmasundara, he took me from the airport on helicopter to my temple, and he spent over one thousand pounds for that rascal thing. [laughter] Unnecessarily. "Why you have spent unnecessarily?" No.

[93:28]

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What this mundane man?

Indian man: [Bengali conversation] [end]