Room Conversation Hrdayananda: Last night you were preaching that. Prabhupada: Yes. My lecture was very nice. Hrdayananda: It seemed that you were answering all the points that man had made. Prabhupada: Ha. Hrdayananda: All his mistakes. Gargamuni: Who spoke? What man? Hrdayananda: The education minister. Hari-sauri: Mr. Bannerjee. He was talking about Vivekananda and how our movement is spreading because of our moral strength. Hrdayananda: Prabhupada answered each of his points. Hari-sauri: Prabhupada said afterwards that he smashed him. (laughter) Yasomati-nandana(?): One is Vivekananda. Another is Gandhi. Prabhupada: They have spoiled India’s culture. All these… Rabindranath Tagore. All misleaders. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the real leader, and Krsna. Yasomati-nandana: And Prabhupada. Gargamuni: In the Book Fair there’s other… Ramakrishna is there, Aurobindo. They have their books, but no one is going. (Prabhupada chuckles) They have booths, Ramakrishna Mission, Aurobindo, Yogananda. Prabhupada: I don’t think they have so many books also. Gargamuni: No, very few books. The stalls are also very small. Our stall is three times as big as theirs. And their books are these cheap paperbacks. Prabhupada: Their days are finished. Gargamuni: Oh, yeah, they’re all… Yasomati-nandana: It seems… Prabhupada: There is no substance, simply vocabulary jugglery. Gargamuni: In fact, there are so many people around our stall, the management had to make announcements that people should visit the other stalls also. (laughter) Prabhupada: Canvassing. Gargamuni: Yes. There were thousands watching the movies and coming in, streaming out. And all the other stalls, they were half empty. Prabhupada: That’s good. They will understand what is their position. Now, what is the signboard, our? Gargamuni: It says… A big signboard with lights around, it says, “The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust,” and “Founder of the Trust, Founder- Chairman, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The largest book publisher of India’s culture in the world,” And then “Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama…” Prabhupada: Ah. Very good. (chuckling) Yasomati-nandana: There is no misunderstanding. It says Hare Krsna and they’ll understand this is the Hare Krsna. Gargamuni: Yes. It’s a big sign about sixteen feet long and four feet wide. Everyone stops there. Yasomati-nandana: Where is this? Gargamuni: Just where the Maidan…, next to Victoria Memorial, next door. Prabhupada: I have seen the camp. Gargamuni: Of course, we didn’t spend as much as the others, but ours was the most attractive because of your books. Hrdayananda: How many…? You have all the books there? Gargamuni: Yes. We have them on display. All of the books. Hrdayananda: In different languages? Gargamuni: Yes, in all the languages. We sold a Spanish book. Spanish Bhagavatam someone bought. There’s international people there. Some Russians came. We sold Russian book. We had one Russian book, and we sold it. Prabhupada: A small book, Easy Journey. Gargamuni: Yes. That’s all they have. They bought a poster also of Krsna, a big poster, the Russians. Hari-sauri: There’s a couple of Hungarian books. Gargamuni: Yes. If we have any, I can use them. Prabhupada: Oh, yes. There is. Hrdayananda: All around the world now people, by Prabhupada’s work, can at least recognize Krsna. In all the Western countries, whenever we show a book with Krsna’s picture, everyone says, “Well, this is Hare Krsna.” Now everyone knows Krsna’s form. Prabhupada: When the books fair opened? Gargamuni: It opened on Friday. Prabhupada: No, is there any time, every day? Gargamuni: Yes. It starts… They open at one, but everyone comes around four-thirty, five, up through nine. So we get about five hours. In five hours we sold 850 books. Prabhupada: Electric? Electricity they supply? Gargamuni: Yes. They had a loudspeaker next to our stall. So this was hindering the film. And the manager, they wouldn’t turn it down, you know, because so many people were being attracted, they wanted to stop us, so I gave some small bribe and made a man climb up and take it down, and now it’s all right. (laughter) Prabhupada: This is called how to do business, (laughter) natural instinct from his father. Gargamuni: I had no intelligence till I met you, Srila Prabhupada. Yasomati-nandana: Even Sanatana Gosvami bribed to get out of the… Prabhupada: Yes. We can do everything for Krsna—for Krsna, not for personal sake. So your drama is going on. Gargamuni: Yes, I heard about it. Prabhupada: Last night it was very successful. Hrdayananda: I think in India the people never become tired of Ramayana. The people here never becomes tired of seeing Ramayana. Gargamuni: Even our men at the stall, they were very much appreciative that the people coming were very much… They were accepting prasadam without any hesitations. They were taking it very humbly. Prabhupada: What prasada you have? Gargamuni: Some sabji and capati, mixed, we gave to everyone. Prabhupada: Like sandwich. Gargamuni: Yes, like a sandwich. We wrapped the sabji in the capati, and they took. Prabhupada: One. One capati. Gargamuni: Yes. No, half. We cut them in half. But everyone who came got. Prabhupada: They liked? Gargamuni: Oh, yeah. Especially there, after walking around, people get hungry, so they most enthusiastically took. Prabhupada: They take once or twice. (chuckling) Gargamuni: Yes, sometimes they came in again. Hrdayananda: Everywhere in the world people are liking prasadam very much, if it’s nicely prepared. Gargamuni: We have a letter from Jimmy Carter, of the President who received Bhagavad-gita. So the people are very enthused to see that the President is reading Bhagavad-gita. So we have sold many Bhagavad-gitas at the stall. Prabhupada: So your GBC meeting? Hrdayananda: They’re going quickly. Prabhupada: You were not present? Gargamuni: No. I just came now. Prabhupada: When it is going to be held again? Hrdayananda: Yes. We just stopped for lunch break, and then, after lunch, again, around two o’clock. Prabhupada: So you attend? Gargamuni: Yes, I’ll attend. I just wanted to stay in Calcutta a few days to… Prabhupada: Pick up some fight. (laughs) There was no fight? Hrdayananda: Just little fight. Prabhupada: (laughs) Don’t fight. Then everything will be spoiled. Hrdayananda: Not very much fight this time. It was much more peaceful than before. Prabhupada: (chuckling) Yes. For Krsna’s business why there should be…? Even there is fight it should be mock fight, not real fight. Then it is right. Gargamuni: Yeah, most of the fights we have aren’t personal. They’re just difference of opinion. Prabhupada: No, that will go on. Then majority vote. Then it’s decided. What can be done? Gargamuni: No one has any personal animosity. Hrdayananda: No. There’s no more personal animosity. A chairman was elected, Kirtanananda Swami, and vice chairman, Jayatirtha, and secretary, again Satsvarupa. Prabhupada: That’s nice. Who is chairman? Hrdayananda: Kirtanananda Swami. Prabhupada: He’s senior. Hrdayananda: Yes. Gargamuni: Is Gopala here? No. Hrdayananda: Yes. Everyone was present except Gargamuni. Prabhupada: And he was elected GBC, Svarupa Damodara? Hrdayananda: He was accepted immediately, because it was said that you had wanted him to be GBC. So he was immediately… Prabhupada: He is science department. Hrdayananda: Harikesa Swami and Pancadravida Swami were accepted as GBC members, and Bali-mardana, since he had gone only recently to Australia, was made for one more year acting GBC, so his activities could be observed. So he accepted that. Gargamuni: Who else? Pancadravida and who else? Hrdayananda: And Harikesa. Prabhupada: With great force, preach Krsna consciousness. So your prasadam time is now. Go and take. So you find it all right, this Hindi? Indian devotee (1): Yes. Hari-sauri: Prabhupada found one or two mistakes in it. Prabhupada: No, that is… Hari-sauri: Small. Prabhupada: That is composing mistake. Yasomati-nandana: Otherwise it’s nice. Hari-sauri: It’s a big breakthrough for our book distribution. Once the Hindi Bhagavad-gita comes out then there’ll be no stopping. Prabhupada: And you are having Gujarati? Yasomati-nandana: Gujarati, yes. We are… We have started printing the Bhagavad-gita in Gujarati. It is long due, but it is coming now. In two months it’ll be ready. Hari-sauri: Once your Bhagavad-gita gets on the Indian market, everybody else will be finished. Yasomati-nandana: Yes. So many beautiful pictures and… Hari-sauri: But once they read the philosophy they’ll immediately understand what nonsense they’ve been reading for so many years. Yasomati-nandana: Yes. Anyone who reads it, he is finished. All his nonsense is finished. That’s a fact. He must become a devotee. Hari-sauri: Everybody’s telling them that “Whatever you believe, that’s all right. It’s all the same.” You’re telling them that “You either accept Krsna or you’re a demon.” Yasomati-nandana: Just now the political situation in India is so… Prabhupada: Tense. Yasomati-nandana: So tense. Prabhupada: Congress position is not good. Yasomati-nandana: Not good this time. And therefore we can always expect a big shock at the last moment from Mrs. Gandhi. She’s so… Prabhupada: Emergency. Yasomati-nandana: Yes. She’s such a snakelike… Prabhupada: She has become unpopular. Yasomati-nandana: She has become very unpopular now. (end)
with His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
March 1, 1977, Mayapura