Morning Walk
Los Angeles
30 Apr

Prabhupada: ...things of value, they're disappearing. Just like formerly people used to have some dishes of valuable metals. Now it is plastic. This is the advancement.

Svarupa Damodara: Yes.

Prabhupada: It's...

Svarupa Damodara: That's what they call.

Prabhupada: Rascals, they are thinking it is advancement. And if he goes to sell the plastic plates, nobody will pay even cent. But one of those metal plate, if he's in difficulty, he can get some money. This is scientific advancement. Instead of gold coins, now there is papers: "I trust in God. We trust in God." Cheating, "We trust in God." Take hundred dollars. And what is this hundred dollars? It is paper. "We trust in God." By the name of God, I give you. And it is scientific. That's all.

Svarupa Damodara: They call it convenience.

Prabhupada: Eh?

Svarupa Damodara: They call it convenience.

Prabhupada: Yes, convenience means going to hell. That's all. It is very convenient to go to hell. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna. Everything synthetic. Cotton is disappearing.

Svarupa Damodara: Everything's artificial.

Prabhupada: Eh?

Svarupa Damodara: Artificial.

Prabhupada: Artificial. And the scientists, they are giving this clue: "Oh, now we have produced something very valuable. Take it."

Svarupa Damodara: Yes, when Dupont made the first nylon, it was a great..., praised all over the, all over the world...

Prabhupada: What for? What for?

Svarupa Damodara: Because they produced the synthetic fibers, nylons.

Prabhupada: Useless. And big, big cars. They are charging thousands and thousands of dollars. But what it is? Tin car. As soon as the machine gone, nobody will pay for the tin even. Especially in this country, they are thrown away to the garbage. No value. (pause) In India, we have seen still, they are going on. People stock metal utensils. You know.

Svarupa Damodara: Yes, we use.

Prabhupada: Never use this china clay. Never. No respectable gentleman will use china clay. Still. So if a poor family is in need of money, immediately he can take one Benarsee sari, or some metal utensils to the pawn maker. He'll immediately offer some money. "Yes." So these are conveniences. Investment was in gold ornaments. Still we have seen that so many jewelry shop, silver dishes shop, ornament shop. Still. Every marriage, the father must give at least fifty tolas. I was not a rich man. Still I had to give to my daughter fifty tolas of gold during marriage. Fifty tolas. Two and a half tolas makes one ounce. So what is the value of fifty tolas?

Karandhara: Twenty-five ounces? Right now that's worth about two thousand, three hundred dollars.

Prabhupada: Just see. So that is her stock. Stri-dhana. The husband cannot touch. Then it is criminal. So in case of need, she can convert the ornaments into money. Sometimes there is disagreement with the husband. So she has got some stock. The father gives some ornaments. The father-in-law gives some ornament. The relatives also, during marriage, they present some ornaments. So if he, if she gets hundred tolas of gold, that means at least five hundred...?

Karandhara: Almost five thousand.

Prabhupada: Oh, five thousand dollars. She has got some assets. That is called stri-dhana. Stri-dhana means "woman's property." Nobody can touch it. Only, according to Manu-samhita law, stri-dhana... Now they are changing. Stri-dhana, the son cannot touch, the husband cannot touch. Nobody can touch. But, after her death, the daughters will share that money. Because formerly, the daughters could not get share of the father's estate. Only the dowry which is given by the father at the time of her marriage. That much. But she could not claim any estate share. Therefore at the time of marriage, the dowry by ornaments, saris. Hundred pieces of sari. If one is rich man. All Benarsee sari, costly. And woman's nature is that if she gets good ornaments, saris, good food, she's satisfied. She doesn't want anything. She'll never become faithless to her husband. So these things are disappearing. Now rich man, rich man's wife, no ornament. (indistinct). Only the widows, they were without ornaments. Any woman who has got husband must have ornaments. Otherwise, insult. So individual liberty, individual prosperity, everything is disappearing. By the scientific improvement. That's all. This is the net result. Now in your country, that... What is that? Draft board? Eh?

Karandhara: Draft board?

Prabhupada: Yes. Calling young men to fight.

Svarupa Damodara: Drafting... The army?

Prabhupada: Yes.

Karandhara: They don't do it anymore.

Prabhupada: Eh? They do not do it?

Prabhupada: They stopped it.

Prabhupada: Yes. Because they saw: "Now we are producing more hippies for this. Only for, on account of this."

Brahmananda: Yes.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Svarupa Damodara: So the, the material world itself is very temporary.

Prabhupada: Eh?

Svarupa Damodara: The material world itself is temporary. So the scientists still make it much more temporary?

Prabhupada: Eh? Eh?

Svarupa Damodara: By investing, by, by finding out the different ways of..., they're called conveniences. So by producing these things makes much more comfortable.

Prabhupada: Easier. Easier to die. They have invented the atomic. Very easy to kill. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna ... (pause) But, in, despite all these disadvantages, if the scientists bring in Krsna consciousness, then that is success. It will be success. The sea, without waves, does not look well. Without waves, when the sea's calm and quiet, it does not look well. What do you think? Eh?

Karandhara: It does not look well?

Prabhupada: Yes. Now with waves it looks beautiful.

Karandhara: Yes.

Svarupa Damodara: So that is the property of the ocean.

Prabhupada: No, everything has got some quality and beauty. Just like Canakya Paná¸ita says: narinam bhusanam patiḥ;. Woman, the personal beauty is not beauty. When she has got a husband, then she's beautiful. How scientific it is. All these girls in your country, without husband, they're all morose, unhappy. They have no fixity of husband. Is it not?

Brahmananda: Yes.

Prabhupada: Yes. The woman population is greater everywhere, and if they have no husband, they're very sorry. I have studied in this country. They're very unhappy without husband. Therefore I introduced this marriage in our society. Now in our society see all the women with children, how happy they are.

Brahmananda: Oh yes.

Prabhupada: They have got Krsna, they have got husband, they have got children. Now, happy they are. They're working hard for beauty of the home, for the temple. And now last night that Mukunda's cousin sister came. How unhappy she is.

Brahmananda: Yes. You could also see the child.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Brahmananda: The difference between that child and our children.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Brahmananda: You could see immediately.

Svarupa Damodara: Oh, that girl was Mukunda's...?

Prabhupada: Cousin sister. Without husband, woman is very, very unhappy. Therefore according to Vedic system the father has got a very responsible duty to get the daughter married. It is a responsibility of the father. In the absence of father, elder brother. Now the scientists have given them contraceptives. Don't marry and use contraceptive. This is scientific advancement. And the contraceptive user of girls, they're never beautiful. Natural beauty... Natural beauty's lost. Did you mark it? Between a woman having natural children, her beauty's better than the girl using contraceptives. It is natural. As soon as you check natural system, you become in difficulty. The... Still the system is current. Ksatriyas, kings, when they are married... You have seen, Krsna's father's marriage... So many women also were given.

Brahmananda: Yes, in charity.

Prabhupada: Because always women population is greater than the man. So those who are kings, they could maintain more than one wife. So not only one wife, another three dozen maid-servants. They are freely mixing with king. They got also children. But they were not, I mean to say, eligible for throne. Only the married wife's son. This is, this was the system. Just like Vidura. Vidura happened to be a son of such maid-servant. So she had, he had no claim on the throne. Dasi-putra. They were called dasi-putras. They were maintained. Just like in royal family, but they have no claim on the throne. (pause)

Svarupa Damodara: There are two scientists working on how to make...

Prabhupada: Huh?

Svarupa Damodara: How to make chemicals for contraceptive. One is in Stanford. His name is Carl Geraldsey. And one is in Harvard. His name is Corey, E.J. Corey. They are quite famous now.

Prabhupada: Eh?

Svarupa Damodara: They are very famous now.

Prabhupada: Because they gave contraceptives?

Svarupa Damodara: Yes. They are trying to make compounds, steroids.

Prabhupada: Sterile. When all the scientists are not famous, notorious. Then this will be called notorious. Somebody has manufactured atomic weapon. Somebody has contraceptive. Somebody has synthetics.

Brahmananda: All rogues.

Prabhupada: Scientists means they must do something mischievous. That's all.

Svarupa Damodara: Ultimately, they're saying that: "In the future, we'll make tablets, scientists will make tablets, just, taking one or two tablets and they will be satisfied, their hunger." So food will be very simplified.

Prabhupada: But the food value will be taken by him. "Instead of paying to the stores, you pay us. We give you tablet."

Svarupa Damodara: They're dreaming so many things.

Prabhupada: Idle brain is a devils' workshop. Because they have no Krsna consciousness, their brain is a workshop of the devil. That's all. Harer nama harer nama... [Cc. Adi 17.21]. (pause) And without culture men are becoming rogues and thieves, uncultured. Communist movement. Atheistic... Everywhere, nobody's happy. The government's duty, first duty should be that everyone is happy. That is described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, during the time of Maharaja Yudhisá¹­hira. Even there was no natural disturbances. No excessive heat, no excessive cold. No anxiety. People are dying now out of anxieties. They're becoming mad, committing suicide, drinking liquors more and more. Just for anxiety. When they cannot solve any big problem, "Bring bottle." Is it not?

Brahmananda: Yes. (pause)

Prabhupada: Harer nama harer nama harer nama eva kevalam [Cc. Adi 17.21]. This is the only solution. (pause) Now sastra says jalaja nava-laksani. There are nine hundred thousand forms of aquatics. So what the scientist says? How many there are?

Svarupa Damodara: They have no number. They cannot count it. When we say, then they'll say: "How do you know?"

Prabhupada: We have got our process. You do not know. You admit. That is Vedic knowledge. Everything is there. If you want to know, you have to spend so much money to study how many forms are there. But we believe in the Vedas. We get immediately the correct knowledge. Now you cannot challenge it because you do not know. Neither you can know by research work. (pause) Jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati. The, actually the sea waves, bringing their food. The small fishes or...?

Svarupa Damodara: When a wave comes, they run this way, and when the wave goes down, they run down.

Prabhupada: When the waves bring the food, so immediately they capture. So there is no scarcity of food, even for the small birds. And we are in scarcity. The scientist is manufacturing tablet.

Svarupa Damodara: They're going to convert the wood, the big woods to food also, by treating with the enzymes. That is one of the...

Prabhupada: Programs.

Svarupa Damodara: The wood that grows big, big trees, they say, in a few years, then these will be converted to food by treating with enzymes.

Prabhupada: That means there will be no food, natural food. That is stated in Bhagavata. You don't, you'll not get these grains, sugar, milk. This will be stopped. You have to eat woods. Yes. By your advancement of civilization, you have to eat woods.

Brahmananda: Like a termite.

Prabhupada: Yes. (pause) Go home. (Apparently aside) Harer nama harer nama harer nama eva kevalam... [Cc. Adi 17.21]. (pause)

Svarupa Damodara: At the moment, scientists are doing so many things. They're having so many hopes. So in about fifty years...

Prabhupada: There will be so much advancement that there will be no grains, no milk.

Karandhara: Many scientists and doctors now say you shouldn't drink milk anyway.

Prabhupada: Why?

Karandhara: They say it's unhealthy.

Prabhupada: Accha. What is healthy? Meat?

Karandhara: Meat.

Prabhupada: Do the scientists say like that?

Svarupa Damodara: I'm not very sure. But they produce imitation milk, the milk produced from soya bean. That's available in the market. Many, in fact I find, many people do not buy the natural milk. They buy the imitation milk, milk produced from the bean, soya bean. They say that milk contains too much fat. So that makes them very fat. So they want to control their weight by taking the imitation milk which contains less protein and...

Prabhupada: Yes. Milk will disappear. Harer nama... [Cc. Adi 17.21]. (pause)

Svarupa Damodara: Prabhupada, buffalo, buffalo milk is as good as cow's milk?

Prabhupada: No. It contains more fat. Milk means cow's milk. If you want to derive milk profit, then it is cow's milk. Otherwise every animal has got milk. And next to cow's milk is goat's milk. Goat. Buffalo milk is not so nice.

Svarupa Damodara: It's difficult to digest.

Prabhupada: No, they therefore mix with water.

Svarupa Damodara: In Manipur we use mostly buffalo milk because cow's milk is not very plenty. Very expensive also.

Prabhupada: Everywhere. In India, cows are disappearing by slaughterhouse. (pause) [break] The scientists cannot make drinking water from sea water?

Svarupa Damodara: Yes. They can make.

Brahmananda: Very expensive isn't it?

Svarupa Damodara: Yes. I think in Japan they get water from the ocean.

Brahmananda: I don't know.

Svarupa Damodara: It's process. They remove the salt. And they use the water for drinking. But it is quite expensive.

Prabhupada: Then what is the use? If people cannot provide it...?

Brahmananda: It's not free. It's not provided freely.

Svarupa Damodara: They'll say when the necessity arises, they'll do it.

Prabhupada: All future.

Brahmananda: In the future. It's going to be a wonderful future.

Svarupa Damodara: So so long as the future is there, they have something to say. (end of recording)