Get some copies and send this rascal editor Karanji.

Although Srila Prabhupada is still not going out for his morning walks, he is going down for the greeting of the Deities and guru-puja. He is not giving class however. Prabhavishnu dasa, a soft-spoken Irish member of the Indian Library Party, is here. He has been distributing full sets of Srila Prabhupada's books to the libraries and schools down the east coast. Srila Prabhupada received him after his morning rest. He is very pleased with the success Prabhavishnu prabhu is meeting. Also present was Manihara dasa, a tall, gregarious Englishman, who has just come to India from Europe. Mahamsa Swami walked into the room durng their meeting, beaming with satisfaction. He showed Prabhupada a copy of this morning's Sunday Deccan Chronicle, the most widely-distributed English language newspaper in this area. It carried a full feature on ISKCON and the temple opening. Srila Prabhupada had Manihara read the article aloud. It was one of the best written articles about our Society to date and began by explaining that although man has progressed from barbarism to civilized life, and his search for knowledge has progressed beyond the boundaries of earth to ponder the question of life on Mars, the mystery of God still baffles him. The author of the piece declared that this search for God has been going on throughout the ages. He said that to know God is to know the truth in all things, in all forms, in time and in space. "The destiny of man is unity with God," Manihara read out, "for man is essentially inseparable from God. It is this knowledge which helps man to attain the state of eternal satisfaction or moksha. But for self-knowledge, moksha would be impossible. And self-knowledge would be impossible of attainment but for those divine messengers who throw light on the path of our lives. Whenever true knowledge, spiritual knowledge, begins to vanish from the face of the earth and tends to lapse into oblivion, the divine messengers revive that knowledge and nourish it with the vitality of their own experience. These divine messengers seek to awaken man to the knowledge of his real heritage. One such divine messenger is His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada." Prabhupada grinned, appreciating the eloquence with which the author set the groundwork for the article. It was quite a contrast to what we heard yesterday. "We should send this to Blitz," Gargamuni Maharaja said. "Because they have said 'ungodly,' and he is saying 'divine messenger.'" "Yes. You please send this," Prabhupada said. "Get some copies and send this rascal editor Karanji." As the article went on to describe the practices of Krishna consciousness, Prabhupada noted with particular pleasure the mention of ISKCON's acceptance by scholars and theologians as "a genuine and important spiritual movement." A brief, but comprehensive, overview was given of chanting, the daily practices in the temples, book distribution, Ratha-yatras, the Dallas gurukula and the farming projects. Prabhupada liked that it especially mentioned our protection of cows. Then the article focused on our Indian projects, mentioning Mayapur, Vrindavana and Bombay. It said that Kurukshetra was "the site of a three-crore rupee international Sanskrit university." Noting that it will be sponsored by Alfred Ford, the nephew of Henry Ford, it declared that this will serve as a "cultural gateway to India for the people of the world." Describing ISKCON Hyderabad the article said, "The magnificent Sri Sri Radha-Madana-Mohana temple at Nampally Station Road, inaugurated by Swami Prabhupada, will serve as a center of the cultural, spiritual, educational and social activities given to uplift the lives of people here. According to Sri Mahamsa Swami, the president of the Society here, the devotees will hold seminars in colleges, factories, business centers, universities, schools, etc., to teach the techniques of spiritualizing the day-to-day life. Deity worship accompanied by the constant chanting of the holy names will be a special feature at the center. Besides, there will be daily classes in Sanskrit, Bhagavad-gita, Bhagavatam, and the Upanishads. There will be a Vedic library consisting of Swami Prabhupada's books and various books on comparative study of religion. A cassette library will be a special feature here. Devotees will travel into towns and villages and do sankirtana for the uplift of the masses." There was also a mention of the pending farm project down here. But the most satisfying section referred to Srila Prabhupada's writing: "Swami Prabhupada's most substantial contribution, however, is to be found in his books, a veritable storehouse of knowledge and wisdom. He has written more than 50 books so far, explaining the principles of Krishna or God consciousness in a logical, practical, and scientific way. Through his books people are understanding the eternal wisdom of the ancient Indian scriptures. That ISKCON has made a significant contribution to the intellectual, cultural, and spiritual life of contemporary man is obvious from the fact that people of all ages and..." Prabhupada interrupted, giving one of his little sideways nods of ascent. "A very important article," he said. Noting that it details everything, he told Gopala Krishna to purchase more copies in order to help prepare the case against Blitz. Manihara continued reading: "...and of varying degrees of education and from many walks of life, students, teachers, scientists, servicemen, laborers, and professionals?indeed numerous race, creeds and nationalities?are attached towards it. The unifying characteristics that brings such diverse individuals to Krishna consciousness are high ethical standards and a sincere desire to understand spiritual truths. To make a pleasure?loving and easygoing Western youth to shed his fashionable dress and make him give up his dearly cherished beefsteaks, wine and women, cannabis and LSD, and don the saffron robe, shave his head, hold the danda, and chant Hare Krishna, is no mean achievement. That ISKCON has made thousands of Western youths perform this seemingly impossible task is an eloquent testimony of the impact it has made on the life of the contemporary West. ISKCON does offer to the modern man a haven of refuge from the complexity of anxiety of present-day life. The society has indeed set before itself a noble and laudable ideal..." Prabhupada smiled at the irony. "When the Englishmen were ruling over this country and Gandhi had to do so much labor, his life sacrificed, some way or other they were gone. Now the same Englishman is working here as book distributor, who was our ruler. So whose achievement is better?Gandhi's or mine?" We all agreed: "Yours." "And one Englishman is giving me massage," Prabhupada laughed, giving me a glance. "This rascal criticizing. But they have come to me for money? They are poor, or they are illiterate fools? They have come to me for money or some material gain? No. Unless they are convinced about the spiritual gain, why they should give me such service? They have no eyes to see." Prabhupada indicated that Manihara continue reading. "The Society has indeed set for itself a noble and laudable ideal, producing men and women of high character, sincerity, and God consciousness." Srila Prabhupada sat back, full of pleasure. "Send this rascal." Gargamuni assured him. "Yes, this shall be sent. And also to Om Mehta." "He knows you, Gargamuni," Prabhupada said. "Yes. Say, 'You have mentioned several times my name, so for your benefit, and to open your eyes, I am sending you one article. Please read what ISKCON is doing.' Simply write this." Gargamuni said that since he had to go to Delhi, he would personally deliver it to the Blitz office. Prabhupada focussed once more on book distribution. He was eager for more association with Prabhavishnu and Prabhavishnu was eager for his. Prabhupada was pleased to hear that both the books and his disciples were being well received wherever they went. He advised Prabhavishnu how to stay fit for his service. "Keep your health nice, because Indian climate sometimes does not suit. Eat simple things. Fruits, vegetables. Don't be miser in the matter of ... But don't eat voraciously. Eat sufficiently, nutritious. Vegetable, fruits, very innocent, little milk. That's all." His next suggestion made Prabhavishnu raise his eyebrows and laugh a little in mild apprehension and surprise. "Even if you don't eat these foodgrains, that is preferred, better. Vegetable and fruits and milk, that is sufficient nutritious. There is no question of disease. But for our tongue taste we eat so many cooked food, but if we eat vegetables, boiled vegetables and fruits and milk, ah, it is sufficient. Ekadasi, daily ekadasi. And these peanuts, a few grains. Not much. That is also nice. Cashew, peanut, yes. "So thank you very much. You are working so much for Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission. Yare dekha tare kaha krishna-upadesa. Bas, you become a guru. Actually you are doing the guru's work. 'Here is a message from Krishna. Please take it.' Bas. Simple. Yare dekha. And whomever you meet, tare kaha krishna-upadesa. Either you speak personally or give him a book." Manihara had a copy of the most recent Hare Krishna Explosion with him. This is a newspaper Mahamsa Swami produces and publishes here in Hyderabad. Prabhupada thumbed through it and something caught his eye. "What is this Krishna crossword?" he asked mildly. "This is gambling." We were all surprized. I asked, "Oh. Crosswords are gambling?" "Yes," Prabhupada said. Manihara also couldn't quite see the connection. "Gambling?" Prabhupada looked at us innocently. "Is it not gambling?" "They give clues and it's to make you think," I said, failing to understand the point. "But there is prize," Prabhupada said, revealing it. Manihara didn't think our paper was offering a prize, but Gargamuni confirmed that other newspapers do offer prizes. Prabhupada analyzed it for us. "So they work; originally it began for prize. Otherwise, these karmis, why they shall waste their time? They wanted some prize." I explained that sometimes they simply print the names of the winners in the following issue, but Prabhupada said that "winner" means there is a prize. "Anything of these four prohibited regulations should not do. Yatra papas catur-vidha, four kinds of papa-sinful activities. From the very beginning, because I introduced this, no catur-vidha, four kinds of papa, therefore our Society is now so respected. From the very beginning we are following to keep these principles in forefront. This is appreciated by anyone. Even he is himself a debauch, he'll appreciate. It is so nice thing. A person may be a big drunkard, but he'll never like to see his son drunkard. That is natural." Gargamuni grinned and said that although his father smoked, he told him not to smoke and I said that my father did the same thing. Prabhupada chuckled, hypothetically paraphrasing our parents: "'When you are older, you become a debauch?but don't become now!' If it is a good thing, why older and younger?" He said that such a reaction was natural. "These things are not good. They know it, but they are habituated. But they do not like that son should be habituated." He turned to Gargamuni and said, "Your father predicted about Brahmananda that 'This boy will be a saintly man.' Yes. He'll not be a karmi. From the beginning he could understand. How did he understand?" Gargamuni explained that Brahmananda never had business tendencies. "He was an intellectual. He used to read a lot and he was interested in religion. In college he took courses in religion." Prabhupada reminisced, "And when he first came to me, he expressed that 'I was searching this institution. Now I'll join.' And he was getting at that time 400 dollars?" "Yes. A school teacher," Gargamuni added. "Yes. So he was paying everything almost, keeping little money." Turning to us and indicating Gargamuni with a tip of his head and a smile, Prabhupada added, "And then he brought him." They shared some remembrances about ISKCON's early days in New York, about how Gargamuni sold the first Back to Godheads on the street from a pushcart. Prabhupada laughed as he recalled how he boldly accepted Brahmananda's idea to print the magazine in Japan, even though the minimum order had to be 20,000. "So I said yes. 500, 1,000 we were selling, and he proposed 20,000. 'Yes, you order.' Now, two million." Prabhupada said that Tamal Krishna on the west coast gave the impetus for distribution. "Then we got encouragement. ... Anyway, Krishna is giving us encouragement." He said that people in general have a natural tendency to avoid religious and philosophical books. Prabhavishnu pointed out that, in contrast, people in India are very respectful when they see that a white man has taken up the Vaishnava religion. Prabhupada nodded, recalling the Chief Minister's statement at the temple opening, who said that the rise of our movement was "a reversal of history." "So that was my policy," Prabhupada told us. "That I shall go America, and if the Americans become devotees then these rascals will be automatically. Here they could not appreciate. When I wanted to start this movement, they refused to give their son. 'swamiji, what benefit there will be by becoming brahmana, by devotee? They have to earn their livelihood.' Spiritual culture is in India practically rejected. They are convinced with the idea that for spiritual culture we are so much behind this material. That is their full conviction." Manihara took the opportunity to clear up the answer to a question he had about the specific benefit someone gets when they take prasadam. Prabhupada told him that by eating one is getting mercy. "Eating nobody will refuse. So by eating he is being favored by Krishna. This is the process. You understand Bengali? Krishna bado doyamoy, He's very merciful. Koribare jihva jay. We are accustomed to eat, go to the restaurant, go to the hotel, go to here and there, at home and so on. Simply eating, eating. So this is jihva lampata, prostitution of the tongue. Just like a woman prostitute is not satisfied with one man, similarly, our tongue is like a prostitute?it is not satisfied with simple foods. There are prostitution of three things: prostitution of the tongue, prostitution of the belly and prostitution of the genital. Three kinds of: jihva-udara-upastha-vegam, straight line. So to stop this prostitution is to control the tongue. The tongue prostitution means he wants to eat varieties of foodstuff. Krishna is so merciful, 'All right, you eat varieties of prasadam.' Then tongue prostitution is controlled and naturally the belly and the genital controlled. Krishna bado doyamoy koribare jihva jay. To own victory over the tongue, He has given varieties. ... Therefore all nice things should be offered to Krishna and then take prasadam. They will be benefited. If you do not give tongue Krishna prasadam, then the tongue will dictate, 'Why not go to the restaurant?' So this is the process. Give everyone nice prasadam. His tongue will be conquered and he'll be conquered. He'll be able to conquer over the prostitution of the senses, and then he'll become a devotee." Throughout the conversation, Mahamsa was in and out, busily arranging the initiations scheduled for mid-morning. He produced a list of five candidates that he had approved for first initiation and informed Srila Prabhupada that there was another five girls who also want to become Prabhupada's disciples. Four of the girls?Meera (the youngest at 14 years), Shaku, Citra and Gita?are daughters of Dr. M. K. Misra, a retired army lieutenant-colonel; the other girl, Vasanti Jyoshi, is her daughter-in-law. Dr. Misra became a life member in 1974 and since that time all the girls have been regularly helping to sew Deity clothes and do other services, as well as enthusiastically attending the temple programs. They even made the full set of Deity outfits which were offered for Srila Prabhupada's vyasa-puja. Mahamsa said he had decided to make them wait for another month because they were still drinking tea and coffee until yesterday. But Prabhupada decided to show them some special mercy. If they promised to give up their bad habits, he said they could be initiated today. "If they have promised, we shall give. Simply you don't break promise. You have promised?do it, that's all." Mahamsa had a further concern about the girls. Some of them are young and unmarried and, he said, they may end up marrying men who are not devotees. Prabhupada was not concerned. "But she can chant and observe the rules and regulations?what is that?" "Even if her husband does not follow?" Mahamsa asked. "That does not matter," Prabhupada said. "It is individual. My sister, while she was married, her father-in-law's house, they were all eating fish. So a new girl, ten years, eleven years old, so she was given this foodstuff with fish and everything. So she was crying. So her mother-in-law asked, 'Why you are crying?' "?'No, we do not touch all these things.' "She immediately arranged special cooking for her. So her husband and other members they were taking fish, but she never touched. She never touched; she does not know what is fish. If one wants to keep oneself pure, he or she can keep herself pure in any circumstances." Prabhupada then turned his attention once more to glorifying the efforts of his book distributors. "So Krishna will recognize your service. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, na ca tasman manushyeshu kascin me priya-krittamah. You are distributing this knowledge, so you become immediately recognized, very dear servant, very confidential servant of Krishna. He says personally, na ca tasman manushyeshu. 'Amongst the human beings those who are doing this preaching, nobody is dearer than these persons to Me?anyone.' You have read that?" With Prabhavishnu's confirmation that he had, Prabhupada went on. "To be quickly recognized by Krishna, this is the shortcut process. He never says those who are sitting in a secluded place meditating or chanting, doing nothing, He never says that, 'They are My very dear devotees.' But those who are preaching?na ca tasman manushyeshu kascin me. Just like government takes more care for the soldiers, especially when there is fighting. They are giving life for the state. So their comfort?first consideration." The clash of karatalas and strains of kirtana from the temple room signaled that the devotees were waiting for Srila Prabhupada to preside over the initiation ceremony. Yet Prabhupada ignored this. He was awaiting the Minister of Endowments, Mr. Raju, who was due to arrive at 10:30 a.m. He continued discussing the state of the British Empire, or rather what's left of it. The Minister finally arrived, a little late, but with the news that he had arranged for Srila Prabhupada to address some of the ministers of the Andhra Pradesh state government at his home. Unfortunately the Chief Minister would not be able to attend, but Prabhupada was still pleased and agreed to go there at 4:00 p.m. As everyone except myself and Prabhavishnu departed from his room, Prabhupada prepared to go down into the temple. He poured a few drops of water into his left palm and rubbed a small ball of gopi-candana into it to make a paste. He then applied the tilaka to his forehead. Carefully scraping the remaining paste onto the edge of his palm he then looked over to me, lifted his hand up and nodded towards the transcendental remnants. "Take it." Once before in Vrindavana His Divine Grace had extended to me the same privilege and I felt honored. As Prabhavishnu looked on, smiling with what I took to be transcendental envy, I gratefully came forward, scraped off the residue tilaka from Prabhupada's hand, and applied it to my own forehead. Prabhupada rose from his seat and we followed him down to the temple room.