Morning Walk
New York
10 Jul

Hari-sauri: Everyone is infected with this "Life comes from chemicals." That I was talking to the air hostess on the plane coming, and she said, "But life comes from chemicals." This is the way everybody's taught in the schools, they don't know any different and they don't think about it, they have no intelligence to understand.

Prabhupada: And as soon as we say that you take an egg and find out the chemicals and put it into the incubator or under a chicken, get life, "No, wait millions of years." This bluffing. And this moon planet going means Arizona. That is now disclosed. They take photographs in the Arizona. That's all.

Tamala Krsna: Take photographs where?

Hari-sauri: In Arizona. There's an article, and it showed a picture of Mars and it compared, there's supposed to be this canyon four miles deep. So they said it compares to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, like that. So Prabhupada said that by even mentioning Arizona they've revealed themselves. And he told one story about, there's a man, he heard a noise in his room, and he said, "Ah, who is that?" And immediately the reply came, "Oh, I'm not stealing." So even without asking, they've revealed themselves by saying Arizona, even mentioning Arizona.

Prabhupada: Why these rascals compare it with Arizona? As if there is no other place in the world. Everything they are doing in Arizona. All photograph in this place. Now they have been caught. I was always protesting, "These rascals have never gone." For the last ten years I've protested. Whenever they asked me, I say straightly, "It is all childish. They have never gone, neither they'll be able to go." That has been proof available. Now they do not talk about it. That is finished, all propaganda, finished. Now they have taken another...

Tamala Krsna: Mars.

Prabhupada: ...to keep their service in order. This is going on, all cheating. To keep people in darkness and exploit them. The so-called swamis exploiting, yogis exploiting, politician exploiting, scientists exploiting, philosophers exploiting. What is the position of the world? And this is the opportunity, human life, to know everything, to solve all the problems. They are not given the opportunity, they are kept in darkness. The demons. "There is no God, science is everything, life is produced from chemicals, and there is no living entities on other planets." They are simply show. This planet is full of..., it is all scientists, and they are vacant. And we have to believe that. Perhaps for the first time I am raising protest against all this nonsense.

Tamala Krsna: It is such a challenge. Your statements are such a challenge to their so-called science that they're still in shock. I still think that they do not take us seriously yet because it's such a difference to what they are saying. Soon, gradually, they'll take...

Prabhupada: Therefore we have engaged these scientists. They are going to publish one paper.

Tamala Krsna: Very good.

Prabhupada: Sa-vijñanam.

Hari-sauri: That's the name of the paper.

Prabhupada: And other scientists have joined. Scientist in four subject matters, an Indian gentleman.

Hari-sauri: I think he's here now.

Prabhupada: He's here? He has come?

Tamala Krsna: What's his name?

Hari-sauri: Sharma.

Tamala Krsna: Oh, no. Different one.

Hari-sauri: This one has four Ph.D.s.

Prabhupada: He has got some international name. So he says that "It's great fortune I have met you." He's now realizing his mistakes. He has still some respect for Vivekananda; that I did not disturb; he might misunderstand. Actually this Vivekananda rascal, what he has done? What is his contribution?

Tamala Krsna: You always add on "rascal" whenever you mention his name.

Prabhupada: No, no, what he has done? He has ruined the Vedic culture.

Hari-sauri: Completely misrepresented it.

Prabhupada: And the Bon Maharaja is his follower. He's in name a disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, but he's a servant of Vivekananda.

Tamala Krsna: He's very similar to him.

Prabhupada: He's a great appreciator of Vivekananda. He has put in his curriculum Vivekananda philosophy, Gandhi philosophy. Rascal, what philosophy they have got?

Hari-sauri: He mentioned all the nonsense people. He put a circular out, he mentioned Rama Tirtha, Vivekananda, all these nonsense.

Prabhupada: Now I am convinced he's a rascal. He's nothing but a great rascal. My Guru Maharaja rejected him. Therefore he was called back, rascal, he used to say like that, banamanusa. Banamanusa.

Tamala Krsna: Bon?

Prabhupada: His name is Bon Maharaja, and my Guru Maharaja used to say banamanusa. Banamanusa means the gorilla. (laughter) He is black also like gorilla. He has given so much trouble to Guru Maharaja.

Tamala Krsna: So we should go now, Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: Called him back: "Call this rascal back." Every month he was being sent seven hundred rupees. That, in those days seven hundred rupees is a big amount. So at least ten time value has gone up. Seven hundred means seven thousand. He was spending for nothing, and he was publishing report, "Swamiji is playing on harmonium." And photo. This is first year, second, like that.

Tamala Krsna: And he told your Guru Maharaja that "Unless we serve meat, they will not come."

Prabhupada: Accha! I do not know that.

Tamala Krsna: I think you have once said that he had written to your Guru Maharaja that letter. I heard that, that "Unless we serve meat," in England, when he was in England.

Prabhupada: Yes, he was in England. Just like these rascals...

Tamala Krsna: Ramakrishna Mission.

Prabhupada: They serve muragi, this chicken prasadam.

Tamala Krsna: Chicken prasadam!

Hari-sauri: You told us in Madras that your Guru Maharaja used to call them the Muragi Mission.

Prabhupada: Another Godbrother used to say Muragi Mission, Chicken Mission. (laughter) He was so much against this Ramakrishna Mission and Vivekananda, so much. He knew all history of Ramakrishna. He became impotent. He was woman-hunter and therefore uneducated. In the village he was simply hunting after this low-class woman. Therefore his brother got him married. When he was married he was impotent. So therefore he planned, "Oh, I see everyone mother. You are my mother." And people said, "Oh, he's so realized that even his wife is his mother." Rascal. Where is that another person in the Vedic culture, Vyasadeva, or, they are also married, who has called his wife mother?

Tamala Krsna: Everyone but the wife.

Prabhupada: No, no, why one should not call a wife a mother? Is that very great advancement? But this rascal was impotent, he had no other alternative, so he manufactured some idea and people thought, "Oh, he's so devotee of goddess of Kali that he sees even his wife as mother." This story he told me by Guru Maharaja personally. He was talking with me privately somewhere, although I was a bad householder. (laughs) He was very kind upon me. And whatever is being done by his blessing, that's all.

Tamala Krsna: Prabhupada, what time do you take your bath? Because I can get hot..., you know we have a big heater in this building. So for hot water...

Hari-sauri: Sometimes between quarter to one.

Tamala Krsna: Should I make sure there's hot water at that time?

Hari-sauri: You can put it through the pipe system? Anytime from twelve-thirty on. (in car)

Tamala Krsna: When the devotees heard about your idea for a neon sign on the top of the building, they all went "Jaya!" They like that idea.

Prabhupada: What is this street?

Tamala Krsna: Ninth Avenue. Sometime I'd like to show you the garage.

Prabhupada: On Ninth Avenue there are many grocery shops. Eh?

Tamala Krsna: Yes.

Radhavallabha: Don't you want a lead car?

Tamala Krsna: Where is the lead car?

Adi-kesava: They don't know the way; I do.

Tamala Krsna: Go straight on, I want to show Prabhupada the garage. I'll show you where we have our garage. This whole area, all this brown area, all the way where the yellow stripe is. Big, big. It's huge.

Prabhupada: Down.

Tamala Krsna: Down, the whole downstairs. Ten thousand square foot.

Ramesvara: That's the same..., ten thousand square feet is the same size as the book warehouse in Los Angeles.

Prabhupada: Oh. The height is less.

Tamala Krsna: Height is... How high is it, Adi-kesava?

Adi-kesava: Ceiling is twenty feet.

Ramesvara: Same height.

Prabhupada: Same height, huh.

Tamala Krsna: The rent, this is the middle of Manhattan, only one block from the temple, so we got it for about $3.75 a square foot, very cheap, and on a three year lease, which is also very good.

Prabhupada: What is this road?

Tamala Krsna: Tenth Avenue.

Prabhupada: Our temple is between Eighth and Ninth?

Tamala Krsna: Yes. Jayananda has been working very faithfully.

Prabhupada: They've come to see what they are doing here?

Tamala Krsna: Yes. Blow the horn. You want to get out, Prabhupada? (walking)

Prabhupada: Oh, yes.

Tamala Krsna: We have rented it from the railroad. This whole area is eight hundred dollars, we have rented. First class-electricity, water, it's first class. We can go around this way, Srila Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: Oh, very strong.

Tamala Krsna: Yes, Jayananda heard what you said about him. He said, "I will never let it happen again."

Prabhupada: Yes, now it is...

Tamala Krsna: Look at in there, Prabhupada, this is really strong.

Prabhupada: Yes, no, if you keep it very nicely...

Tamala Krsna: The other carts are..., this one is not yet finished as much as the others. Jayananda, did you build this cart?

Jayananda: No, no.

Tamala Krsna: This is Chicago's old cart. Not the last year's one, an old one, we got it from them, they did not want it anymore. This will be Subhadra's. They only want one cart, the one they have now. So we called them up and we said "Oh, don't throw it away, we'll take it."

Ramesvara: How tall will they be with the canopies?

Tamala Krsna: Fifty foot high. These are the ones that Jayananda and the men have built from scratch here in New York. You can see the powerful wheels. He heard what you had said, and then he decided to make it.

Prabhupada: As powerful as the other wheels?

Tamala Krsna: More powerful. Look at them, Srila Prabhupada, this is steel. This is steel. He built the carts in Australia. What is your opinion?

Hari-sauri: These are fantastic.

Jayananda: See, these are like this, flat plate on the outside, then there's a piece of chain that goes around the inside.

Hari-sauri: Amazing.

Tamala Krsna: Think this is strong enough, Hari-sauri?

Hari-sauri: Oh, yes.

Tamala Krsna: Then he's covered it with canvas. This has rubber tire, and then it's covered by canvas.

Devotee: ...steel.

Tamala Krsna: Pretty big carts. These carts have the same mechanism, they go up and down, Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: Hare Krsna.

Tamala Krsna: This is John. He's always helping us with the building. He works very hard. Which cart will Srila Prabhupada ride on? Jayananda? Which cart will Prabhupada ride on?

Adi-kesava: We wanted to know which one. Which one would you like to ride on?

Hari-sauri: Balarama's cart goes in front?

Tamala Krsna: No, Jagannatha's was going in front in San Francisco, then Subhadra's.

Hari-sauri:...told us Balarama's is at the front,

Tamala Krsna: Oh, really.

Hari-sauri: And then Subhadra's then Jagannatha at the back. That's the way they do it in Puri.

Tamala Krsna: What's that cart, Jayananda?

Jayananda: This is a little Ratha-yatra cart from last year. We use it as an advertisement for the Ratha-yatra.

Tamala Krsna: Oh, it's a good advertisement. Quite an improvement from last year to this year.

Prabhupada: The whole go-down is rented.

Tamala Krsna: Yes, look at the area we get for eight hundred dollars, it's a great deal.

Prabhupada: Eight hundred dollars per month?

Adi-kesava: For the whole period, for three months.

Tamala Krsna: Three months. It's very good, because it gives protection for working in the sunshine and because it's so open there's a lot of air blowing, it's very cool for the workers.

Prabhupada: What is this factory?

Tamala Krsna: Jayananda, what kind of factory is this?

Jayananda: Steel. They make sheet metal. It's owned by the railroad company.

Tamala Krsna: Another thing we're using it for is we're using this for parking garage also. So we save the money for that, too. [break] (in car)

Ramesvara: No, they have just reduced to one cart.

Tamala Krsna: They only had one cart. This was their old cart. Then last year they built a new cart. So this was just in storage there, not being used.

Prabhupada: It is very strongly built.

Tamala Krsna: Oh, it is first-class. So we sent our big truck there and we picked it up, and we brought it here and assembled it, and now we have three carts. And these carts will be disassembled and kept in the garage. And the nice thing is that we are now on 60th Street and Eleventh Avenue and the festival is on 59th and Fifth. Very easy to get there. [break] These are mostly warehouses, Prabhupada, this part of the city.

Ramesvara: The city of New York is the most mismanaged city in the United States. The city government has a big debt. They borrow money from the banks and they cannot pay it back. So they..., the banks were closing the debt, the loans, calling for the loan, and they had no money, so they were firing everyone and there was great unemployment, and finally the United States government had to give them a free gift of money to bail them out. It is the worst management of any city in America. One of the big reasons is because of welfare. They give away free money to so many people in New York who don't want to work.

Prabhupada: Yes, welfare is actually waste of money. But social construction is so bad they have to give welfare. If they take our Krsna consciousness movement, we can stop this welfare money, let them pay.

Ramesvara: They don't know how to engage all these millions of people.

Prabhupada: Huh?

Ramesvara: They don't know how to engage them, so they just give them free money. Also famous for its labor unions, the most powerful in America. They force the city to pay the highest wages for the garbage men, for school teachers, the highest anywhere in the country. So that's another reason they are in debt so much. (out of car, walking)

Adi-kesava: Srila Prabhupada, there's one of our posters for our Ratha-yatra.

Prabhupada: Yes. What they are doing here(?).

Ramesvara: The highest paid garbage men in America.

Prabhupada: Still it is unclean. This is subway.

Tamala Krsna: I think it's a little quieter(?) from now on, Prabhupada. This is the Plaza Hotel.

Prabhupada: Oh.

Tamala Krsna: Have you ever heard of it, the Plaza? [break] Growing out of stone.

Prabhupada: Yes. It is little crack, they are growing.

Devotee: Even on the roof of the building where we were sitting last night, between the cracks of the bricks on the roof, there were little plants coming out.

Prabhupada: Between the cracks in the stone. [break] (in car)

Tamala Krsna: When Balavanta was running for mayor of Atlanta he met him, so there's a good chance that if he gets elected to be President then that's easy opportunity to see the President.

Prabhupada: What we'll do, seeing him?

Tamala Krsna: Yes, right.

Hari-sauri: At least, though, if he's favorable, if he likes us a little, it may give us, ah...

Prabhupada: Yes. [break]

Ramesvara: Nobody can imagine what they do in all these office buildings. There are millions of offices.

Tamala Krsna: We're going to take a ride down Fifth Avenue.

Hari-sauri: This is the parade route?

Adi-kesava: Yes. You can see there's no wires, so we don't even have to bring the top down except for the very end entering into Washington Square Park.

Prabhupada: [break] He has told that we have got already a copy.

Tamala Krsna: Your Bhagavatam was here?

Hari-sauri: Where was that, Srila Prabhupada?

Tamala Krsna: This library is the biggest library in the country. Forty-second street. You can go back up on Madison and Park. [break]

Ramesvara: ...carts all the way down.

Adi-kesava: It's fifty-two blocks, so it's going to take us at least two hours.

Prabhupada: What is that?

Ramesvara: About two to three hours.

Hari-sauri: The parade, Ratha-yatra.

Tamala Krsna: Two hours. [break]

Prabhupada: Lord Rama's, what is this?

Hari-sauri: There's shop there with a sign of Lord Rama's.

Ramesvara: Train station? Grand Central?

Tamala Krsna: Grand Central Station.

Adi-kesava: You want to go on the upper level and around?

Tamala Krsna: Yes. [break]

Prabhupada: ...underneath there is subway.

Ramesvara: Yes, yes.

Prabhupada: About hundred yards below.

Tamala Krsna: Yes, quite far below. Beautiful church here, St. Bartholomew's Church. This is the Seagram's Building. Yes, this is Dhrsá¹­adyumna's father's building. The whole building, the Seagram's building.

Ramesvara: It's a liquor company.

Prabhupada: Liquor?

Tamala Krsna: His father is the president of the biggest liquor manufacturer in the whole world.

Prabhupada: And father, and son is no liquor.

Tamala Krsna: Yes.

Ramesvara: Son is sannyasa.

Tamala Krsna: 375 Park Avenue.

Prabhupada: Like Prahlada. (laughter)

Tamala Krsna: Very big building.

Prabhupada: Other brothers he has got?

Tamala Krsna: Yes, he has two other brothers.

Prabhupada: They are with father?

Tamala Krsna: Well, yes, one of them is an architect. And the other one is a failure. He's not doing anything yet. Dhrsá¹­adyumna is the eldest son, though.

Prabhupada: Eldest?

Tamala Krsna: Yes.

Prabhupada: Then his father must be young man.

Tamala Krsna: His father is about fifty.

Prabhupada: That's young.

Tamala Krsna: Dhrsá¹­adyumna is about twenty-six.

Prabhupada: That's quite young. [break]

Tamala Krsna: Yes, he is sorry.

Prabhupada: Eldest son.

Tamala Krsna: But they admit that his life is, they admit that his character is very much improved. That they admit, but now they'd like him to come back.

Ramesvara: And join their business.

Tamala Krsna: These posters are from Reverend Moon, advertising his big Yankee Stadium appearance.

Adi-kesava: Fiasco.

Hari-sauri: It says "God Bless America."

Tamala Krsna: Yes, that's the title of it, "God Bless America." But who is God? He says "I am God."

Prabhupada: No, he has taken advantage, that "So many rascals are coming from India, God, why not from the Christian league? I become God." He's taking advantage. He's intelligent man. So many gods are coming from India, why not from Korea?

Tamala Krsna: Yes, he's the first Korean god.

Ramesvara: He's very intelligent. He's big in Korea. Multimillionaire.

Hari-sauri: He makes rifles.

Tamala Krsna: He has a big factory that makes weapons.

Ramesvara: He hates the Communists. He hates them.

Tamala Krsna: That's why the American government likes him. A lot of big politicians in America are backing him because he's anti-Communist and he's a big man in Korea.

Prabhupada: So he's already a big man.

Tamala Krsna: Oh, he's an industrialist.

Ramesvara: He became famous during the Korean war with the Chinese. He fought against the Chinese, and then he became very wealthy. As a result of that war he became very wealthy. He was selling ammunition.

Prabhupada: America was in favor of Korea?

Ramesvara: They were trying to prevent the Chinese from conquering.

Prabhupada: During Truman's?

Ramesvara: Yes.

Tamala Krsna: These are the kind of tables we want to put on the balcony. Remember I showed you that place, our patio on the third floor. So I want to put those kind of tables in the restaurant.

Ramesvara: Like a snack bar. [break] ...problems in New York is in the schools they cannot control the violence. The students are very violent. They sometimes fight their teachers.

Tamala Krsna: When I was going to school, I grew up in New York, here in Manhattan, twenty years ago probably, and sometimes there would be children's gangs, and they would come in and beat the teachers.

Prabhupada: That is the... Killed, in the...

Tamala Krsna: In our school one teacher was killed by such a gang.

Ramesvara: This is still a big problem. And the teachers are also very militant. They blackmail the city that, "Unless you give us more money, we refuse to..." Then they close the schools. They go on strike. The teachers have joined a union, and they are very militant, they always go on strike. So sometimes the school is closed half the year.

Tamala Krsna: Adi-kesava, I want to show Prabhupada the banner, so maybe you can stop...

Hari-sauri: In a lot of big cities that's a major problem now. They can't get any teachers to teach there because the children are so violent and uncontrollable that the teachers are just too scared to work there.

Prabhupada: In our Gurukula we'll improve. But the parents do not want that their children should be religious, sadhu.

Ramesvara: In these schools, the children are given drugs by their schoolmates. Even at an early age, six, twelve years old, ten years old, they are smoking cigarettes.

Tamala Krsna: Not only cigarettes, marijuana also.

Ramesvara: And all types of drugs.

Tamala Krsna: I wanted to show you this banner closely, Prabhupada, that we have a big banner, this is permanently hanging outside our building. You'll see it shows a picture of a devotee dancing with "Hare Krsna" over it. See? Very attractive, people can see it. [break] "Founder-Acarya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founded 1966." (end)