Chant follow, four rules & pray to Krishna for helplessness

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami: As we came into his room, Srila Prabhupada was seated on the same floor level amid devotees. He said first on seeing Rupanuga, we have to be Rupanugas to know Krishna. He said something to each of us in his expert manner. He asked about the library party. I read a recent review by a professor at University of Virginia and a librarian's statement that we never leave without an order. Did he also take an order? he asked. Yes. He spoke of competition. Heart-breaking, he said. This heart-breaking is good. It is also there in the spiritual world between Krishna's queens and gopis also, but he indicated that it should not be a cause of strife and envy. He spoke how he also was in competition with his Godbrothers and went to visit one locally, in his new Mercedes and with a van with loudspeakers. He referred to it, quoting the Bhagavad-gita verse how the conches of the Pandavas broke the hearts of the other party.

He used each Sanskrit word and explained. In the evening the GBC met with him again. He emphasized books in all languages and countries and inquired into sales. He heard the French Gita sold 25,000 copies of the first edition and the second edition was 50,000. Now, he said, the next edition should be twice that. Therefore, my Guru Maharaja told me to increase books, he said. He spoke of sannyasa and said everyone should take, although he also said we make no distinction.

On a walk One devotee's mother is a biologist and became an atheist. I said, They say Krishna is perhaps,' maybe,' just as we say of them. No, we have evidence [in sastra], he said. I said, They don't accept our evidence and we don't accept theirs. You don't accept us and we don't accept you. People (on Mayapur land, workers) are bewildered unless they have their tea early in the morning.

One man has worked for us for years without changing. Srila Prabhupada said, "If you wash coal with soap and water, no matter how much you wash it, it will remain black". When we read results of our GBC meetings, Srila Prabhupada said, "You each be guru."

As I have five thousand disciples, or ten thousand, so you have ten thousand each. In this way, create branches and branches (of the Caitanya tree). You have to be spiritually strong. This means chanting rounds and following the four rules. Not an artificial show. It is not a material thing. Chant, follow the four rules, and pray to Krishna for helplessness.

Enthusiasm. Utsaha. If we lose enthusiasm everything will become slack. He said, In old age I came out from Vrndavana. I had no money, nothing, but I thought, Let me try.'

Bhagavan dasa: You're still enthusiastic.

Srila Prabhupada: Yes, I am enthusiastic. I do not think I am an old man.

Bhagavan: Sometimes we think we're old!

Srila Prabhupada: No one is old. Na hanyate hanyamane sarire. Sometimes in old age one is pushed down [but I am enthusiastic]. He said he was pleased at our resolutions and now he was relieved to do his translation work. He said we have to follow strictly what we have agreed on this year for the entire year, no changes, and next year we can change again (as necessary).