Room Conversation
with C.I.D. Chief
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
January 3, 1977, Bombay

Prabhupada: So you expand it. A dog is thinking, “I am this body. I am bulldog,” “I am greyhound.” And man is also thinking, “I am American,” “I am Indian.” But they do not know their real identity, and they are fighting like dogs. And this is going on in the name of civilization. And when we put forward Bhagavad-gita, the first lesson is that asocyan anvasocas tvam prajna-vadams ca bhasase: [Bg. 2.11] “Arjuna, you are talking like a very learned man, but you are lamenting about the body. But actually…” Gatasun agatasums ca nanusocanti panditah: “So far the body is con…, this is lump of matter. So whether it is dead or alive, nobody seriously think of it, no learned, pandita.” Of course, those who are fools, rascal, they can take it. But those who are actually learned, they do not talk about this body. So upon this statement just see the world situation. Everyone is busy on the concept of body. So what is the position of the world? Apandita, ignorance. And such people are going on as learned scholars, as politicians and leaders and so on. So how there can be peace? If you bring different types of dogs, greyhound and bulldog and Indian dog and bring them—the “United Dog Association” (laughter)—so will there be peace? That is the position. I declared in Melbourne in a public meeting that this United Nation is the unity of barking dog. I told. It was published in the paper. They also criticized me, “The Swami has come to hound.” (laughter) But that is actually the fact. If you become impartial judge, not on behalf of CID or anyone, then you see the actual.

CID Chief: That is the truth, eternal truth. What you have said…

Prabhupada: No, we are speaking about Krsna. So if I say that Krsna says like this and it is a fact, then what is our fault? But they are taking very serious, just like especially nowadays in Western country they are opposing that “This philosophy is a brainwash.” So this is our position. Satyam bruyat priyam bruyat ma bruyat satyam apriyam.(?) The world situation is that you can speak truth if it is palatable. And if it is unpalatable, don’t speak. But this thing cannot be maintained when you are preaching spiritual life. There we cannot cheat. Spiritual life must be declared very frankly. Not that we have to declare; it is already declared. Krsna says, dehino ’smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam, tatha dehantara-praptih [Bg. 2.13] The spirit soul is within this body. The body is different from the spirit soul, and as it is changing—the body is changing— similarly, after death, so-called death… Because spirit has no death, no birth. Na jayate na mriyate va. So this knowledge is the beginning of spiritual life. And if you are preaching, they are opposing us. India also opposing. This is our position. They take Bhagavad-gita and they mislead them. And we are presenting Bhagavad-gita as it is. That is our fault. So what we can do. Can you suggest?

CID Chief: (laughs) I am a layman. What…?

Prabhupada: No… You should be very kind upon… And what we can do? And if I cheat in the name of Bhagavad-gita, then I become a great leader.

CID Chief: All nation has turned… An extraordinary order, you spreading the message of Krsna to the world, message of Bhagavad-gita.

Prabhupada: So at least Indians should join this movement. They’re feeling the weight, the Western countries. They are opposing means that those who are thoughtful, they are thinking that “If this movement allowed to go on, then our civilization will be finished.” That is their… That… They are right. They are right. If these young men, they go on under my instruction, I shall finish their civilization. That’s a fact. No meat-eating in Western countries? (chuckling) No intoxication? No illicit sex? No gambling? That means their life is finished. And we are imitating, that “We are becoming advanced in civilization.” And we are condemning.

CID Chief: But most of the people realize that that is not the real…, real kind of advancement.

Prabhupada: “It is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss.”

CID Chief: We are helpless. I assure that will stand, but actually what we call advancement in… It is not. People themselves are realizing that…

Prabhupada: Yositam sangi-sangam.

CID Chief: …that advancement has led them to some sort of monotony, which they want to avoid, and they want to…

Prabhupada: No, first of all, we must know the destiny of life, what is the destiny of life. Then whether we are advancing or degrading, then it will be decided. But they do not know what is destiny of life. They are so fools, they are thinking that this life, say, for hundred years, and after hundred years everything finished. The Russian big, big professor, they think like that. I went to Moscow, and I talked with Indologist. They say “Swamiji, after this body is finished, everything is finished.”

CID Chief: I read somewhere that this scientist, Russian scientist, was making research through electronics as to what happens to the soul when man dies, what actually happens when man dies. What is…

Prabhupada: No, no. You may study with electronics and other, but it is a open secret. The soul departs from the body, and it is a lump of matter. What is the difference between a lump of matter and the dead body? We see practically a motorcar, when it is no more workable, it is a lump of matter. What is the value of it? Who cares for the motorcar? Of course, we do not see here, but in the Western countries there are many places. Oh, hundreds and thousands of cars are…

Gopala Krsna: Junk yard.

Prabhupada: Hundreds and thousands. Here, of course, we have not so many cars, but there in many cities I have seen. They have gathered together, and then they are pressed and thrown to the iron factory and again melted in fire of… So similarly, when the life is not there, it is a lump of matter. So it is lump of matter. Just like the motorcar. When it was being driven by driver, it has value, but when it is not to be driven anymore, it has no value. Similarly… But the motorcar is the same. It is the driver that is important. Similarly, the soul is important, not this body. But the modern civilization, accepting this body as the important, and they have no information of the driver, soul.

CID Chief: They try to decorate it, a body, dead body. It is…

Gopala Krsna: Decorating a dead body.

CID Chief: No, but I think this…, a lot of a wakening in the minds of people.

Prabhupada: This education is lacking throughout the whole world, and we have started this movement to give this education, and people are against. That means they have become so fallen that they cannot even take up right knowledge. The same proverb: “It is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss.” So we have to struggle against this darkness, but we have to do it. This is our mission. We cannot stop it. It is Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission, para-upakara. People are kept in darkness, and… That is not Caitanya Mahaprabhu… Krsna’s mission actually. Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata [Bg. 4.7]. “When people are misguided,” tadatmanam srjamy aham, “at that time I come down.” So the whole world is misguided on this bodily concept of life, and this Krsna consciousness movement means Krsna has come down in the shape of this movement. That is the real fact. Nama-rupe krsna kali-kale avatara. “In the Kali-yuga Krsna is incarnated in the form of His name, Hare Krsna.” Therefore in this age… That… Kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-sangah param vrajet. This is the injunction of the sastras. Kirtanad eva krsnasya. Simply by chanting the holy name of Krsna, mukta-sanga, he becomes free from all this material contamination, and he param vrajet, he goes back home, back to… So this name is not different. Because Krsna is absolute, there is no difference between His name and Himself. And that is confirmed in the sastra, and Caitanya Mahaprabhu recommends, sastra recommends. We’re just following their footprints, that’s all. Kaler dosa-nidhe rajann asti hy eko mahan gunah. This Kali-yuga is the ocean of faults. So… But there is one great opportunity in this ocean of faults. What is that? Kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-sangah param… That is a great facility to these rascals, that if they chant Hare Krsna mantra they become free from all contamination and become fit for going back home, back to Godhead. So this is a authorized movement. It is not a concoction, manufactured idea. So we are doing that. Unfortunately, the people… Not all, but majority…

CID Chief: It has gained tremendous and spontaneous response, and people, all people… It has… The strength has shown me that people have taken liking from their soul. Not just…

Prabhupada: No, these young men, they have taken seriously. Otherwise what business they have got to join me? They have taken it seriously. And with their help I am little able to push on this movement. But they are taking it seriously. And big, big learned scholars, they have opined that this movement is not going to die.

CID Chief: I saw the photograph yesterday, Vinoda Bhave, meeting with Vinoda Bhave.

Gopala Krsna: They’re showing the pictures of our Walda (?) meeting. I just showed him pictures of our Walda meeting.

CID Chief: Vinoda Bhave.

Prabhupada: Vinoda Bhave is also… He has issued some statement.

Gopala Krsna: He said “What Prabhupada has done, no one has done,” something like that.

CID Chief: Otherwise, how can the West would have come to know about Krsna?

Gopala Krsna: These are all books by Prabhupada, all. I was telling our book sales…

Prabhupada: Where is that telegram we have received yesterday?

Gopala Krsna: I was telling him our book sales are eight to ten lakh rupees a day. All by Guruji, all. Can you imagine, Srila Prabhupada writes one book a month. [break] One lakh seventy thousand big books. 90,737 medium books. 63,322 small books, and 437,420…, that is, four lakhs of Back to Godhead. Total in one week: seven lakhs and 9,236 books. In one week…

CID Chief: There won’t be such a big…

Gopala Krsna: Prabhupada produces one book a month still.

Prabhupada: Now… I am talking to you as a CID official. Now, here is my dictaphone. I… (clicks dictaphone switch) It is not working. (Prabhupada plays back section of Bhagavatam dictation he has made) This is a Sanskrit verse. (synonyms) Tatra(?) saumika. So the whole night I write books, and then this is typed. In the daytime they are typing. And then it is composed, and then it is made into book, and we take so much trouble to sell it, as you got the selling of, and we collect money and they send money, ten lakhs of rupees in India, and I construct the temple, not only here.(?) So is that my fault?

CID Chief: No, no, no. The man who would say it is a fault, either he is mad or it would be mistake.

Prabhupada: In this old age—eighty-one years I am—I am working day and night just to preach this Krsna consciousness and…

CID Chief: This is absolutely a service to God and humanity. Whatever tendency you have… Whatever comes out of your mouth, word, becomes a religious… It is written, out of which you write books. Out of the produce… From the proceeds of that book, you constructed a… It is wholeheartedly towards the God. Whole life is devoted to God.

Prabhupada: And for these books, as author, if I would have taken royalty, my daily income would have been one lakh, fifty thousand. I don’t take a single farthing. Whatever two capatis they give, that’s all.

CID Chief: Then if that had been the objective, so much of this (indistinct) not would have come in reality.

Prabhupada: I have no appetite also. (laughs) I do not eat too much. Whatever, one or two capatis, they give, I take. That’s all. This is my royalty.

CID Chief: But any… How these politicians, they react to this in America? Do they…

Prabhupada: There also… Here. Here people are suspecting that I am getting money from CIA, and they are also suspecting that I am cheating people and getting money.

CID Chief: Yeah, but do they have any prohibition about these religious discourses?

Prabhupada: No, not… Prohibition has yet come. But individual cases, they have been instituted, and we are fighting by spending so much money to defend.

CID Chief: Yeah, but I read in some paper that somewhere they had this county courts, you know, ruling that people are disturbed by the kirtanas and this for twenty-four hours and…

Prabhupada: No, we have got judgment. You read those judgment, judges? We have got counterjudgements also.

Gopala Krsna: Now, this is from Philadelphia, Judge Alfred Longo, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia decree was typical and included the following points: “Krsna consciousness is recognized as an authentic religion. To broadcast the glories of God to all people, members of the Krsna consciousness society can perform sankirtana, a missionary activity including chanting, dancing, and playing cymbals and drums, the dissemination of the word of God through preaching and reading aloud from religious literature, the distribution of religious literature, sanctified food and flowers to the public, and the solicitation and acceptance of contribution. In performing sankirtana devotees can go wherever people gather: streets, libraries and other public places.” So we also had decisions… Eventually we win almost all cases.

Prabhupada: And we have got good support from the scholarly section by big, big professors. Even one priest, Mr. Cox, he is forming an association to support this movement in Harvard University. So we have got supporters also.

CID Chief: People are also coming in a good number to join this organization.

Prabhupada: Indian community, they are also supporting us.

Gopala Krsna: All the Indians abroad.

Prabhupada: Abroad. They got life. There was no temple. There was no hari-sankirtana. Now they are feeling obliged. In London every Sunday all Indian community, they come. And during the Janmastami, ten thousand people. Ten thousand people and the contribution was… What is? Twenty-five thousand pounds or…? One pound equal to twenty rupees.

Gopala Krsna: Fourteen rupees. Now it’s fourteen rupees. It’s coming down every day.

Prabhupada: And they are giving… Practically our temple is going on by the contribution of the Indians. They are giving goods. Rice, dal, and ghee and our… No scarcity.

CID Chief: The Lord Krsna is the Deity(?) which is close to most of the Indians. It’s a common…

Prabhupada: Yes. Sometimes they ask that “What is your position, Krsna consciousness movement, in India?” And in India everyone is Krsna conscious. Everyone.

CID Chief: Because if you read from beginning, like the childhood, all His childhood plays and mischiefs and this from the birth, then childhood.

Prabhupada: Every house. Even there are Muhammadan house, they observe Janmastami. I know that. One professor in Allahabad, Kavi or something like… I went to his place. He’s a great devotee of Krsna.

Gopala Krsna: There’s one big movie star… Not very big. Sanjaya Khan. He’s Muslim, but he wears a pendant of Krsna always. He’s our member. He’s promised us a donation of ten thousand rupees after his picture is released. Many Muslims we have members now.

Prabhupada: No, he’s Indian Muslim. We have got Iranian Muslims. They are our devotees, many there.

CID Chief: Well, sir, I would like to remain here, but now I have to go to my office.

Prabhupada: So give prasada. Bring prasada.

Gopala Krsna: Prasada also.

Prabhupada: No, bring here. Jaya.

CID Chief: Just touch my hand, that’s all, and make me cure bodily…

Prabhupada: Thank you. Thank you. You come whenever you find time.

Gopala Krsna: He comes regularly.

CID Chief: I was longing to come, so today I came. It’s my great fortune that…

Prabhupada: No… That. Even as CID officer, you can note. This is my business. I am working hard, producing these books, selling, and the telegram you see, and bringing that money here. So if you thing that I am still faulty, then what can I do?

CID Chief: From the beginning I have made it clear that I come here to get some mental peace.

Gopala Krsna: We have Chinese Bhagavad-gita. Actually Trivikrama Swami has just come. He’s been preaching in Taiwan. (breaks) (end)