Room Conversation

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
It’s sort of encouraging to see you taking milk. That’s encouraging. That’s something which you always said if you could take, you would get stronger, so I’m encouraged by that. I think that a great deal of patience is ultimately required, you know. We have to expect that actual strength and muscles will take a little time to come.

[aside:] Prabhupāda’s being disturbed by gases [indistinct].

Upendra:
What’s wrong?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
Prabhupāda’s feeling a little gas.

Bhakti-cāru:
[Transl. It seems there is a little gas in the stomach.]

Kavirāja:
[Transl. In the stomach? That will become less.]

Bhakti-cāru:
No, that will go away.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
That will go away.

Kavirāja:
[Transl. When there is no motion for two days, it becomes like that.]

Bhakti-cāru:
[Transl. I see.]

Prabhupāda:
[Hmm.]

Kavirāja:
[Transl. Don’t you pass any gas Mahārāja?]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Yes.]

Kavirāja:
[Transl. Okay.]

[indistinct background conversation]

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
That’s alright.

Prabhupāda:
Hmm.

Bhakti-cāru:
[Transl. Is that oil only for applying? Or anything else like massaging?]

Kavirāja:
[Transl. Yes, little, little you can rub it in. The oil will quickly subside the gas in 10/15 minutes. It is gas remover.]

Bhakti-cāru:
[To others] Just rub it in and the pain will go away.

Kavirāja:
[Transl. From here to here. Apply in the body. … What massage? There are only bones. There is no need of massage. Apply from here like this slowly slowly with soft hand.]

Prabhupāda:
[Hmm.]

Bhakti-cāru:
[Transl. What, Śrīla Prabhupāda?]

Prabhupāda:
They are taking urine?

Bhakti-cāru:
[Transl. No, That is taken already. They are not taking now]

Prabhupāda:
[Hmm.]

Kavirāja:
[Transl. Did he pass less today.]

Bhakti-cāru:
[Transl. No, Today he already passed.]

Kavirāja:
[Transl. Then it is alright.]

Upendra:
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you didn’t pass any urine the first time. Do you want to try again? [pause] We can cleanse you now?

[Bengali conversation with Bon Mahārāja; Kṛṣṇadāsa Bābājī also present, chanting throughout.]

Prabhupāda:
Hmm. [break] BonMahārājaDandavat.

Bon Mahārāja:
Dandavat Mahārāja.

Prabhupāda:
Dandavat Mahārāja.

Bon Mahārāja:
Dandavat Mahārāja.

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Who else has come? Mahārāja, kindly give me dust from your feet. All my offenses … [indistinct]]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. No, no, it is Śrīla Prabhupādā’s [Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda] unlimited mercy on you. There is no comparision to what a great service you have rendered. That means, Prabhupāda’s unlimited mercy is with you. That is why you have spread Mahāprabhu’s name throughout the world. We are all greatly glorious because of your service.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Bless me, if I live …]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. As long as you will live, Mahāprabhu’s service and Śrīla Prabhupāda’s glories will be spread in the world more and more.]

Prabhupāda:
[Hmm]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Feeling inconvenience because of weakness?]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. That’s all, Nothing else.]

Bhakti-cāru:
[Transl. Last few years he has tortured his body so much that now his health has broken down.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. He is in advanced age [indistinct]]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. I am hearing this little kīrtan and lying here.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Simply by the influence of this holy name you have executed such a great service. This is the mercy of the holy name. [Pause] A few of your disciples had come and they were saying you have a desire to visit the places where Mahāprabhu went. But I told them that he will visit all those places in his mind. Will he physically tolerate all that? Most of Mahāprabhu’s places are in South India. I told them to read about those places from Śrī Caritāmṛta and by hearing Mahārāja will have the darśana of those places in his own heart.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. I didn’t go to holy places. Mollār dauḍ masjid paryanta [literal meaning, a Mohammadan priest can run only up to the mosque, it means a person with limited goal or focus] only to America. Hmm. And recently I went to Haridwar. Hmm.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Are you feeling any discomfort?]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. The body has totally become dependent on others. To move one finger and leg I need an assistant. This is the trouble. Hmm.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Weren’t you treating yourself with Kavirāja for this?]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Yes.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. That was effective for you. Before also, in the first time you took some massage oil and everything was alright.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. That’s what I am doing, but not much…]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. According to the age there must be inconveniences to the body. But your mind is very sound. You can speak correctly.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. The mind is gradually losing memory.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Not as yet.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. It is happening.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. [Smiling] It is great even now.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Before death one loses his memory.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. That will happen to each of us one day. We must leave one day. That is not a factor. That you are still mindful, you are hearing Harināma, kīrtan is going on all the time, this is the greatest service, in Vṛṇdāvan Dhāma. My wish is that the body has to be given up one day, so to give it up in the dhāma is the topmost. This is the place of the Lord’s pastimes.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. That is why I returned here after touring all over.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Our prayer to you also is that as long as Kṛṣṇa keeps we will have to stay. When He will take away may He take you to His abode. That is the highest goal. You have got darśana of everything. And whatever holy places and places of Mahāprabhu’s pastimes, those you can think of in the mind. Moreover there is no superior holy place to Vṛṇdāvan, this is the sacred place of the Lord’s pastimes. We hear about your glories everywhere. Everybody glorifies your qualities. You have rendered unlimited service. They had taken me to your Toronto, Montreal centers, when I went there last year. Told them that I will go but I will speak Hari-kathā. They said; Yes, certainly. We will arrange everything. Then in Montreal I stayed in one Bengali Engineer’s house.]

Prabhupāda:
[Hmm.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. I told them, your disciples—look brothers, here I have big problem for food. I cannot eat anything. They took care of me so nicely. They arranged for my prasāda by taking me to the Maṭh and then bringing me back to his residence. Then I had to go to Ottawa, the plane was ready. Two brahmacārīs came and said—we are going by motor and we will take you in our car. I said—my ticket is already arranged. They said—don’t worry, we will cancel it. So they took care of me very nicely, your brahmacārīs.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Did you see the new church in Toronto?]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Yes, they have taken that Church building. You will have a temple there they said. Now they are worshiping the Lord in the photo.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. It is done.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Is it done?]

Prabhupāda:
[Hmm.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. It is big, a very big church.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Yes. The government did not allow to dismantle it.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. It was remodeled from inside, the Deities were already established I believe.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Yes, the Deities have been installed.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. We have seen the Deities.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Very big temple.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. What more can we say. You have fulfilled Mahāprabhu’s words, He has chosen you to fulfill it. “pṛthivīte sarvatra pracāra haibe nāma”, this has been fulfilled actually by you. Many have gone and returned, that is different.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Dandavat Mahārāja, What I can do?]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savya-sācin.* Śrīla Prabhupāda has made you the instrument for it.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. You have always encouraged me.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Yes, I must do it. If you remember, I told you in the beginning, you know English, without knowing English it is not possible to go abroad. You go to America, and by the Lord’s mercy you have accomplished it successfully.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. I printed books, you told me, I have printed. You said—Each one of your books is a Maṭha itself.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Your books are your real contribution. That you have been able to publish so many literatures, that is permanent, they will remain forever.]

Prabhupāda:
Show the certificate from Soviet Union. Hmm.

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. When I heard that the Mayor of San Francisco had declared two days of public holiday, I felt extremely happy. No one else could do that. It was done only by you—Rathayatra. Many such activities have been accomplished by you only.]

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
This is a certificate arrived from the Soviet Union.

Bon Mahārāja:
It’s in Russian language or in English?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
Well, some of it, I think, is in Russian. I have the translation. It says…, the top wording here, this says that “Books in the service of peace and progress. A diploma for the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, Bombay, given by the First Moscow International Book Fair Exhibitions and Fairs, General Directorate of International Book Exhibitions and Fairs, USSR.”

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Fine. What a wonder you have done! Even the people of Russia are accepting.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. All over Soviet Country that have taken Books.]

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa:
All Russian universities ordered Prabhupāda’s books.

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Śrīla Prabhupāda had shown that way … press, platform, you have done both.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. In Rādhā-kuṇḍa, I went to see Śrīla Prabhupāda from Bombay…… he expressed a little unhappiness that if we had paid 200/250 rupees rent we could have lived happily, but from the day we built … the marble house at Dalhousie, quarreling started, who will occupy which room…]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. That surely became the curse on us. While at Ultādingi everything was ideal.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. …I wish if I could take out the marble and print some books instead [indistinct] each book would be like a temple. It is written.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. And Permanent Temple.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Bless me.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Now as long as Śrīla Prabhupāda will keep you in this world, so much service will be done by you.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Tenth Canto has been published in English, Tenth Canto … two parts]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Please stop, do not take strain.]

Prabhupāda:
Hmm.

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Your Caritāmṛta has been published in 25 volumes I have seen. O this is tenth canto? That is up to which chapter?]

Jayādvaita:
Twelve chapters are finished. This is up to Chapter Twelve. And now thirteenth chapter is also completed.

Bon Mahārāja:
In and out, both are superexcellent. Inside, in Mahārāja’s translation, and outside, your publication, printing, makeup—everything superexcellent. That is first attraction, when you take the book in your hand you feel that is something very nicely done. I don’t think in India we can have this type of printing and publication. You get them printed now in Los Angeles, no?

Devotee:
Kingsport.

Jayādvaita:
They’re printed in Tennessee.

Bon Mahārāja:
Tennessee.

Jayādvaita:
The work is done in Los Angeles, then in Tennessee, and the pictures are printed separately from the Bhāgavatam. Then the pictures are sent to the publisher in pages when the book is printed.

Bon Mahārāja:
Last time they told me in New York… Your press was in New York, and they were shifting it to Los Angeles. About two hundred brahmacārīs were working there, and they told me.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
Now it’s in Los Angeles.

Bon Mahārāja:
Now it’s in Los Angeles. Well, it is all Mahāprabhu’s will, and Prabhupāda is our…

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Have you seen the godown in Los Angeles?]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. No, I have not gone there.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Howrah Station. Hare Kṛṣṇa. …laughter]

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
I have a picture of it, Śrīla Prabhupāda. I have a picture of that BBT godown.

Prabhupāda:
Show him.

Devotee:
It’s about two blocks long and about one block high.

Bon Mahārāja:
Everything is done in a very big way.

Jayādvaita:
’Cause Prabhupāda’s a big [indistinct], and he needs everything big[?].

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. I told them whatever income we get, half of it should stay here and the other half should be utilized for constructing maṭhas and temples. Don’t spend it for any other purpose.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Mahārāja, your body is getting strained. Do not speak any more. Your body is weak.]

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
Here’s a picture of that book godown in Los Angeles.

Bon Mahārāja:
What’s the length of the building?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
What is the length of that building, Jayādvaita? [discussion among devotees] Twenty thousand square feet in area. Twenty thousand.

Bon Mahārāja:
In area. Well, in your country, in USA, everything is very big. Nothing is done in a small way.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
This is the Los Angeles temple. These are the Deities, Śrī-Śrī-Rukmiṇī-Dvārakādhīśa.

Bon Mahārāja:
In Los Angeles?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
In Los Angeles. Yes. Then we have a very nice doll exhibition there.

Bon Mahārāja:
What is that exhibition?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
Doll, diorama. These are some of the exhibitions. This devotee here, Baradrāj dāsa, he’s the creator of this doll exhibition. This is our temple in New York now, this building.

Bon Mahārāja:
You have purchased it? There was a talk of taking that twelve-story theological seminary.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
This is also thirteen stories, but it’s a different building. It’s in Manhattan.

Bon Mahārāja:
Which street?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
Fifty-fifth Street. And this is our temple in London. We have actually three temples there now. This one is in Hertfordshire, called Bhaktivedanta Manor, and then we have one near the British Museum in Bury Place, which is that five-story building. And then we just purchased a restaurant and reading room just off of Oxford St., on Soho St. This is in France. It’s a chateau which we have purchased, very nice, with a farm. Very beautiful place. And these are the Deities, Kṛṣṇa-Kāliya, in Fiji. This temple was just opened in Fiji. Kṛṣṇa-Kāliya.

Bon Mahārāja:
Kāliya-damana.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
Ah, Kāliya-damana.

Bon Mahārāja:
That is in Fiji. [Transl. So Mahārāja, if Kṛṣṇa desires we will meet again. You are here only]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Please take prasāda.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Prasāda?*]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Bring here.]

Bhakti-cāru:
[Transl. Should I bring here.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Bring two small table and āśanas here.]

Bhakti-cāru:
[Transl. Śrīla Prabhupāda, I was saying there might be some inconvenience in taking prasāda here as things are lying all over. It will be difficult to put āśanas.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. To Bhakti-cāru: listen, you pack the prasāda and keep it in the car. We will go and honor it in the Maṭha with other devotees as now the time for evening ārati is coming closer. Mahārāja, I will take away the prasāda with me.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Yes, alright.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Again whenever you send me message I will come. I came here the other day. Babāji Mahārāja told me that you are sleeping. So I said I will not disturb him. Earlier one time you send someone for me, but I was in Bombay that time. I came back and heard about it. [Pause] So, give me permission to leave, Mahārāja.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Dandavat.]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. We should move. We should not disturb.]

Bābāji Mahārāja:
[Transl. So Dandavat Mahārāja. Whenever you remember me, send a message and I will come. I come here from time to time.] [pause]

Śānta:
[Transl. I am Śānta. I wish to take your feet dust. Kindly let me take a little dust from your feet.]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Enough, enough stop. Is your father well? What?]

Bon Mahārāja:
[Transl. Will have darśana?]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Hmm Śānta has come. Is his father keeping well?] [indistinct]

Śānta:
[Yes] [indistinct]

Pisimā:
[indistinct]

Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Take care of Bon Mahārāja nicely.]

Prabhupāda:
[Bengali with Svarūpa Dāmodara about serving prasāda.]Svarūpa Dāmodara:
Prabhupāda is asking to give prasāda to all the devotees. [End]