Room Conversation

Satsvarūpa: Secretary, he said, "You write in your books that your movement by Lord Caitanya is the..., as if it's the most exclusive thing." He said, "But actually, in India the Rāmānuja is a more prominent Vaiṣṅava sect." So, as I understand our claim, it's based on the fact that we worship Kṛṣṅa in a higher form, in Kṛṣṅaloka, and they worship Kṛṣṅa which leads to Vaikuṅṭha.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

[break] ...quarter there is no cinema song. Bhaja gopālam.

[music playing in background, recording of a woman singing "bhaja gopāla"]

Satsvarūpa: Śrīnivāsa said it is controlled by the temple here. Even the government doesn't control.

Prabhupāda: This is all temple [indistinct]. [break]

Devotee: ...prominence. [break]

Mr. Iyengar: We came here yesterday. We went to the temple three times, and just for a long...

Prabhupāda: Oh, very good.

Mr. Iyengar: This is my wife and daughter. You came yesterday?

Prabhupāda: Yes, I came yesterday at about eleven.

Mr. Iyengar: We saw you in the evening going to the temple.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is very nice place.

Mr. Iyengar: Very nice, beautiful place. Very inspiring. Where's somebody coming? [break]

Prabhupāda: I am, of course, Indian, but I have got my headquarters in America. [chuckles] Yes.

Mr. Iyengar: America. [chuckles] I think I have seen you at Bombay once.

Prabhupāda: Yes, Bombay I have got my headquarters.

Mr. Iyengar: And your friends were there at the airport, Santa Cruz Airport, and you came by plane, some two years back I remember.

Prabhupāda: No, I am going every year. Two times, three times, I have to go all round the world.

Mr. Iyengar: I respectfully request you your name, please.

Prabhupāda: Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. That's all. Call me Prabhupāda. I am preaching this cult, what you have come to see, this being expanded all over the world.

Mr. Iyengar: Yes, yes. It's very good.

Prabhupāda: And we have got about hundred temples.

Mr. Iyengar: At every America?

Prabhupāda: No, no, all over the world. In America I have got forty temples.

Mr. Iyengar: Forty temples. I see.

Prabhupāda: Yes. In England we have got about five. And France, in German, we have got four.

Mr. Iyengar: In Germany also.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Germany, Sweden, Rome and Australia.

Mr. Iyengar: They are also... They are very devoted to our creed, our religion?

Prabhupāda: Yes, we are preaching Bhagavad-gītā. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śa... [Bg 18.66].

[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]

That is the only religion.

Mr. Iyengar: Yes, yes.

Prabhupāda: Everything is not religion. It is cheating. Only religion is to surrender to the Lord. That is religion. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmaḥ [SB 1.2.6].

[The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.]

Mr. Iyengar: I am a Vaiṣṅavite, you see. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja, ahaṁ tvāṁ pāpebhyo... [Bg 18.66].

Prabhupāda: That is religion. That is religion. Mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ.

Mr. Iyengar: Oṁ namo nārāyaṅa [recites mantra]. These are our..., is our mantra.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, you are Vaiṣṅava. The Vaiṣṅava, that is real form of religion. Others, they are not religion. It has been rejected in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo atra [SB 1.1.2].

[Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, this Bhāgavata Purāṅa propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries. This beautiful Bhāgavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyāsadeva [in his maturity], is sufficient in itself for God realization. What is the need of any other scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhāgavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is established within his heart.]

Atra, kaitavaḥ religion is rejected. Kaitavaḥ means cheating.

Mr. Iyengar: We have to surrender ourselves to God. That's all.

Prabhupāda: That is religion. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṅītam [SB 6.3.19].

[Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although fully situated in the mode of goodness, even the great ṛṣis who occupy the topmost planets cannot ascertain the real religious principles, nor can the demigods or the leaders of Siddhaloka, to say nothing of the asuras, ordinary human beings, Vidyādharas and Cāraṅas.]

Religion means the codes and the laws given by the Lord. That is religion. So if you one does not surrender to the Lord, then what kind of religion it is? It is not religion. Just like good citizen means who abides by the law of the state. If he does not care for the law, then what kind of good citizen he is? Similarly, if one does not surrender to the Supreme, then his religion has no meaning. It is simply cheating, that's all. What is your name?

Mr. Iyengar: Raj Gopal Iyengar.

Prabhupāda: Brāhmaṅa.

Mr. Iyengar: Brāhmaṅa. Vaiṣṅavite.

Prabhupāda: Yes, Iyengars are all...

Mr. Iyengar: We belong to South India.

Mrs. Iyengar: Yesterday I saw you in the temple, I and my daughter.

Prabhupāda: Yes. How many children you have got?

Mr. Iyengar: I have got three sons and four daughters.

Prabhupāda: All daughters, sons.

Mr. Iyengar: Three sons. Three daughters are married. This daughter is to be married. She is a doctorate. She has got M.Sc., Ph.D., in nuclear physics. She went to England for one year.

Prabhupāda: Where did you stay in England?

Daughter: Liverpool.

Prabhupāda: Liverpool. I think we have got our branch.

Daughter: Manchester. I have seen, Manchester.

Prabhupāda: Manchester you have seen? Oh. Manchester, Liverpool and London... London we have got two.

Mr. Iyengar: London, in London I have got my son. My son is there.

Prabhupāda: Oh. What he is doing?

Mr. Iyengar: He is employed there.

Daughter: He's an accountant.

Mr. Iyengar: He's an accountant, cost accountant.

Prabhupāda: Oh. So your children are also... [laughs]

Mr. Iyengar: I have got another boy in West Germany. West Germany, my last son.

Prabhupāda: West Germany. Berlin?

Mr. Iyengar: No, he is in Frankfurt.

Prabhupāda: Frankfurt. Oh, yes. Frankfurt is a big city. Sons are all married?

Mr. Iyengar: The last son is not married. Two sons are married. Three daughters are... This daughter is to be married. We are trying; not able to get a suitable groom, you see. With your blessings I hope we will succeed.

Prabhupāda: [chuckles] Nowadays it is very difficult job to get married. [everyone laughs]

Mrs. Iyengar: Suitable.

Prabhupāda: Well, suitable cannot be. There is no suitable.

Mr. Iyengar: Difficult to find.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Formerly, as the girl is grown up, any boy.

Mr. Iyengar: We used to marry at the age of ten, eleven. That is... Those days have been forty years back.

Prabhupāda: I was also married. My wife was eleven years old.

Mr. Iyengar: My wife was eleven when she was married. I was only sixteen when I was married. Only a difference of four or five years.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And before that, I heard my father-in-law, he was eleven years old, and my mother-in-law was seven years old. My eldest sister was born at nine years old, and I was born after her marriage.

Mr. Iyengar: I see. Those old days are finished.

Prabhupāda: All right, thank you. Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa [end]