Just do this, it will be successful
Krishna Kanti das : It was his first time in our studio. All our previous recordings were done in his room. And a lot of the devotees showed up, which made it a little more complicated because of all the extra energy. I requested Prabhupada to chant the Hare Krishna mantra because we had him doing all these bhajans but we never really had any recording other than the original happening record from New York in 1966 with Prabhupada leading Hare Krishna. So he accommodated me for about two or three minutes and then stopped the kirtan and then went and did some other Vaishnava bhajan.
Mangalananda das : Krishna Kanti was the main recorder, and I was his helper. We were back in the room listening to the recording as we were starting to get it set up, and the kartal players were - there were maybe four of them, and they were very enthusiastic. But unfortunately, the kartals were so loud that they were just overwhelming Prabhupada's voice. We can always hear kartals, it's Prabhupada that we wanted to hear. So I came out to tell Prabhupada that we can't have these kartals because we won't be able to hear him. I was so intimidated. I said some things to him and I can't remember what I said, but I was trying to be as delicate as I could. And finally he said, "You are the experts. Do whatever." Krishna Kanti das: We tried to do the recording, and we stopped because the mridanga player couldn't play properly the way Prabhupada liked it. So he was there showing us how to play mridanga. But most people would try to follow Prabhupada rather than keep a steady beat for Prabhupada to follow. And then I told him that we had the technology that he could overdub it later, which is what we had normally done on all the recordings up in his room. Whenever I recorded with him in L.A., as soon as the recording went in he would always say, "And so how long is it?" He would always want to know how long the recording was. There was never a retake, it was always one take.
Mangalananda das : Prabhupada had finished playing and he stood up, and I went out and spoke to him and said, "Prabhupada, I wanted to play something for you." He sat back down and he said, "Go ahead." When I put the lyrics down in front of him, "Bhagavad-gita," "You're Not That Body" and I think "Time for Going Home" from the Change of Heart that we were going to record. This is before we had funding for it, we were just putting it together. So he looked at them, and then we played portions of the songs. Then he just looked at me and he said, "So what is this for?" I said, "Well, we want to make an album to distribute to glorify Krishna and teach the philosophy." I said, "Some of the big men say that it's maya." That's when he said, "Just let the cows moo." That's what he told me. He said, "Just do this, it will be successful." Then shortly after we spoke to this gentleman and got a loan for $5,000 to do the album. Then we lined up different people and did that. I felt that it was blessed, everything was happening so easily. Then the gentleman heard the album and he said, "Don't even worry about paying me back." He said, "This is beautiful." So that was nice. Prabhupada heard it later and he really liked it and he said, "This could be played before the Deities." So that made me feel good. Srila Prabhupada: "My father wanted me to become like this, know everything what is going on. He never wanted me to be a worldly man earning money. He never wanted. There was some arrangement for my going to England after my college education to become barrister. My father refused, "No. My son is not going to be a mleccha."
Krishna Kanti das : We ended up having Prabhupada play the mridanga himself overdubbed with headphones, and that's what we did. There it is. He would listen to the track that he had done with harmonium and singing with kartals. Listening to that on headphones, he would then play the mridanga himself. And many times when I watched him overdub mridanga up in his room, I was always amazed at how beautiful he played and how lucky I was to be in the room. I'd be the only one there watching him play mridanga so expertly. He had a touch, a golden touch.
Reference: Following Srila Prabhupada-A Chronological Series by Krishna Kanti Dasa
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