Room Conversation
with His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
October 25, 1977, Vrndavana

Bhavananda: Srila Prabhupada? A nice vegetable broth Atreya Rsi prepared for you. [break]

Prabhupada: (indistinct)

Tamala Krsna: You can what, Srila Prabhupada?

Prabhupada: I can sit up. [break] (devotees chanting japa) Bhavananda, you can take little oil and…

Bhavananda: Yes. (devotees chant japa) [break] Srila Prabhupada? Satadhanya Maharaja has come.

Satadhanya: I have brought the makara-dhvaja from the kaviraja in Delhi. This kaviraja, he’s not Ramanuja-sampradaya, but many people say in Delhi that he’s the foremost kaviraja in India. He treats the Prime Minister, Morarji Desai, and all the ministers also. So many people trusted him, and he mixed this medicine… He was mixing it for some other person, but when he heard that you were ill, he gave it to us.

Bhavananda: What kind of makara-dhvaja?

Satadhanya: There’s different kinds of makara-dhvaja, six kinds. This is the most potent kind. This is called siddha makara-dhvaja. This contains gold and pearl and musk and mica and many other ingredients.

Bhavananda: And what are the other ingredients you have to take it with?

Satadhanya: You can take it with either honey or milk. But he recommended that for Prabhupada’s particular condition he take it with honey.

Prabhupada: That’s all right. What did he charge?

Tamala Krsna: What did he charge?

Satadhanya: Nothing. We got it for free because we got it through one influential man named Chandra Swami.

Prabhupada: Oh.

Tamala Krsna: Oh, Chandra Swami. That’s that person Adi-kesava was always working with.

Prabhupada: That means he’s honest. That’s all.

Tamala Krsna: You met Chandra Swami?

Satadhanya: No, he’s in Madras. This is forty-eight doses, two doses a day. That means this is twenty-four days’ medicine makara-dhvaja. Two doses per day.

Prabhupada: So do it carefully. Tamala?

Tamala Krsna: Yes, Srila Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: You take care.

Tamala Krsna: All right. I’ll keep it locked up.

Prabhupada: They charged nothing. Then he is honest.

Tamala Krsna: Did he say what the charge would normally have been?

Satadhanya: No. But he did say that what the other kavirajas said about dosage was very wrong, and that if that dose was taken it would have been detrimental.

Tamala Krsna: Which dose?

Satadhanya: One tola. He said that’s not sane.

Bhavananda: Did he say anything about length of time involved for the efficacy of the medicine?

Satadhanya: No. He just said it’s very powerful medicine.

Tamala Krsna: What time should it be taken? Morning and night?

Satadhanya: Morning and evening.

Tamala Krsna: Any particular time in the morning?

Satadhanya: No.

Bhavananda: Srila Prabhupada, would you like to take some now?

Prabhupada: Yes. Why not? Huh? Tamala?

Tamala Krsna: Yes.

Prabhupada: Simply with honey.

Tamala Krsna: Is it in the form of powder? So it’s mixed…

Satadhanya: It’s already mixed and separated into separate doses.

Tamala Krsna: And it’s put in a spoon of honey?

Satadhanya: It’s mixed with honey.

Bhavananda: About ten drops of honey.

Tamala Krsna: It’s already with honey?

Satadhanya: No, you have to mix it with honey.

Bhavananda: How much honey?

Satadhanya: He said just some honey.

Tamala Krsna: Just so it becomes palatable.

Bhavananda: So Bhakti-caru Maharaja will take charge of mixing that?

Prabhupada: Where he is?

Tamala Krsna: Bhakti-caru? He’s here.

Prabhupada: (Bengali)

Tamala Krsna: I’ll keep it locked in the almirah, and I will give one dose at a time to Bhakti-caru.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Tamala Krsna: And he will mix it with honey and give to you.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Bhavananda: Very good. So let’s mix a little…

Prabhupada: What is date today?

Tamala Krsna: Today is the 25th. It’s an inauspicious day. So it’s the proper day to begin taking it.

Prabhupada: So let us begin tomorrow morning.

Tamala Krsna: Begin tomorrow morning, on an auspicious day.

Prabhupada: Ha.

Bhavananda: Of course, you… Srila Prabhupada, you’ve said when an auspicious thing comes along, it’s best to act on it immediately. However, if you feel that you want to start in the morning…

Prabhupada: You decide.

Trivikrama: You should take it now.

Panca-dravida: Yes.

Prabhupada: All right.

Panca-dravida: If something’s auspicious, why wait for tomorrow?

Prabhupada: So?

Bhakti-caru: Here, Srila Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: Bhakti-caru… (Bengali)

Tamala Krsna: All right, we’ll go an arrange, Srila Prabhupada. (devotees chant japa) [break]

Prabhupada: (Bengali)

Bhavananda: Srila Prabhupada, I’m going to take rest now.

Prabhupada: Oh, yes.

Bhavananda: Hare Krsna.

Prabhupada: So, for giving the medicine, Tamala Krsna and Bhakti- caru in charge. Eh?

Bhavananda: I think that’s good.

Prabhupada: Is that all right?

Tamala Krsna: Oh, yes.

Prabhupada: Why in spoon? Why not take mortar and pestle?

Tamala Krsna: He is making it in the mortar. Should you take it directly on the mortar?

Prabhupada: Yes.

Tamala Krsna: Better, huh?

Prabhupada: Hm.

Tamala Krsna: Definitely better?

Prabhupada: I think so.

Tamala Krsna: Okay. I’ll just tell him.

Prabhupada: I’ll lick it.

Tamala Krsna: Yes. That way every bit will be on your… Okay. [break]

Prabhupada: …round the temple.

Hari-sauri: Round our temple. Do you feel strong enough to be able to sit in that…

Prabhupada: Strong or weak, it doesn’t matter. You carry me at least three times.

Hari-sauri: Yes. And darsana?

Prabhupada: Hm? And darsana also.

Hari-sauri: At 9:30 or 10:00.

Prabhupada: Any time.

Hari-sauri: Just as before.

Prabhupada: Any time. If by parikrama, even I die, that is good luck. Do you follow?

Hari-sauri: Yes.

Prabhupada: Instead of dying on the road, jerking of train, aeroplane, why not here?

Hari-sauri: Vrndavana is the best place.

Prabhupada: So arrange like that. It doesn’t matter. Which leaves his time with kirtana, even I may die or live, it does not matter.

Hari-sauri: For us it matters, Srila Prabhupada. For us it matters.

Prabhupada: That… No… What can be done? If Krsna desires…

Hari-sauri: At least all the devotees will be very happy to chant for you whilst you go around. (pause) One of our men just died in Bhubaneshwar.

Prabhupada: Hm?

Hari-sauri: One man, one of our men, he died in Bhubaneshwar.

Prabhupada: When?

Hari-sauri: We just got a telegram today from Bhagavata.

Prabhupada: Who is he?

Hari-sauri: He was an elderly Australian devotee, the man who was doing the architecture. You saw him in Bombay, that older man. He was about fifty-six.

Prabhupada: In Bombay?

Hari-sauri: You saw him in Bombay last year. He had just done some drawings for the development of Bhubaneshwar, and you asked him if he would like… Oh, Haridaspur. At that time he was working on some plans for Haridaspur, and you asked him if he would like to stay there. He’s… Bhagavata put that he had died of some brain virus.

Prabhupada: In Bhubaneshwar?

Hari-sauri: Yes. That is part of Jagannatha Puri dhama?

Prabhupada: Oh, yes.

Hari-sauri: Is that a guarantee for going home, if someone leaves their body in the dhama?

Prabhupada: At least, he gets high standard of life for many years. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita. Find out in Bhagavad-gita.

Hari-sauri: (pause) Prapya punya-krtam lokan [Bg. 6.41]?

Prabhupada: Hm.

Hari-sauri:

usitva sasvatih samah sucinam srimatam gehe yoga-bhrasto ’bhijayate [Bg. 6.41]

Prabhupada: Read the whole verse.

Hari-sauri: The English?

Prabhupada: Or Sanskrit.

Hari-sauri: That was text 41. “The unsuccessful yogi, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people or into a family of rich aristocracy.” Then the next verse,

athava yoginam eva kule bhavati dhimatam etad dhi durlabhataram loke janma yad idrsam [Bg. 6.42]

“Or he takes his birth in a family of transcendentalists, who are surely great in wisdom. Verily, such a birth is rare in this world.”

tatra tam buddhi-samyogam labhate paurva-dehikam yatate ca tato bhuyah samsiddhau kuru-nandana [Bg. 6.43]

“On taking such a birth, he again revives the divine consciousness of his previous life, and he tries to make further progress in order to achieve complete success, O son of Kuru.” [break] …telegram came today. It didn’t give the exact time, but it came from Bhubaneshwar.

Prabhupada: He was there?

Hari-sauri: Yes. He was working with Gaura-Govinda Maharaja.

Prabhupada: He is… He was coming from Australia.

Hari-sauri: Yes. He was from Melbourne. He gave up his family when he was fifty-one and joined the temple, and then he came here to work with Saurabha.

Prabhupada: Hamsaduta?

Hari-sauri: Hamsaduta Maharaja?

Hamsaduta: Yes, Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: From tomorrow, you sit me down in that palanquin, and, with devotees, let me have parikrama, temple.

Hamsaduta: Tomorrow.

Prabhupada: Round the temple.

Hamsaduta: What time?

Prabhupada: Any time suitable.

Hari-sauri: Nine to ten, like we did before.

Hamsaduta: All the devotees, have kirtana.

Prabhupada: How do you like this idea?

Hamsaduta: Very good.

Prabhupada: Instead of dying—train jerking (laughs) or aeroplane jerking—why not parikrama? Die or live, it doesn’t matter.

Hamsaduta: Parikrama is noble.

Prabhupada: Oh, yes. Either in palanquin or make a stretcher, but have parikrama.

Hamsaduta: Yes, Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: Do you like this idea?

Hamsaduta: Yes, I think it’s a good idea.

Prabhupada: So arrange like that with leading men. Let me have parikrama. If I live, that’s all right; if I die, that’s all right. Both ways.

Hari-sauri: Done, Srila Prabhupada?

Prabhupada: No, Bharadvaja?

Bharadvaja: Yes, Srila Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: You have heard what I’ve have said?

Bharadvaja: Yes, Srila Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: Do you like this idea? Hm?

Bharadvaja: Yes, Srila Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: What is the harm?

Bharadvaja: All the devotees will love to see you.

Prabhupada: Hm. (end)