srila prabhupada said...!!!
chitralekha devi dasi (bcs)
Visala dasa wanted to find an astrologer in Vrndavana. Without consulting Srila Prabhupada, he found one who was wearing tilaka and chanting Hare Krsna. Visala wanted to get something he had seen other residents of Vrndavana wearing, a charm you wear around your neck that has on it all the mantras of the demigods. It was supposed to counteract all the bad influence of the planets. The astrologer sold him one of these neckpieces, and it all sounded very nice. He told Visala to dip it into the Yamuna and to have an arati at twelve noon.
Soon after this, Brahmananda Maharaja noticed Visala's new ornament.
"Visala," said Brahmananda Swami, "what's that you have around your neck?" When Visala told him, Brahmananda Swami replied, "Prabhupada says we don't have to add anything to this process." At these words Visala became disturbed. He thought that Brahmananda Swami was right and he also felt embarrassed.
"Why are you wearing this?" Brahmananda Swami demanded. Visala replied that he would like to talk to Prabhupada and he asked if he could have an appointment.
When Visala went to see Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada asked him how much he had paid the astrologer and what he had said. Visala said the astrologer had claimed the charm would ward off the ill effects of the planets.
"Krsna consciousness is beyond astrology," Srila Prabhupada said. "If you surrender to Krsna, with a slight kick Krsna can annihilate 100,000 Rahu planets." So Visala put aside his astrological neckpiece and just depended on Prabhupada and Krsna.
Soon after, a Godbrother showed Visala a letter he had received from Prabhupada about the same subject matter:
"Astrology will not save you at the time of death. My Guru Maharaja was a great astrologer and astronomer, but he gave it all up. It is meant for the karmis. We have no interest in such things."
Visalini-devi dasi, interview; letter to Sanatana dasa, June 3rd 1975.
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chitralekha devi dasi (bcs)
Tamala Krsna Goswami explains the difficulties of serving at Mayapur when it was in its beginning days. He and Jayapataka Maharaja had to go out themselves to different parts of India and get wagon loads of stone chips, steel, sand, and cement. Even before obtaining the materials, they first had to get government sanction, which was not easy. It was also difficult to get any wagons or trains since there was a shortage. Somehow or other, they managed to gather some materials, and they proudly sent Prabhupada a photograph. These materials were so precious that the devotees would sleep on top of the stone chips and steel at night to protect them from thieves. Prabhupada wrote back a letter saying, "What is the use of so many pictures? Where is the building?"
Prabhupada gave some money to begin the construction, but he told them that they had to raise all the funds. "Why are you sitting there?" Prabhupada wrote in another letter to Tamala Krsna Goswami. "Now go out and collect more money." Even when Prabhupada donated money, the devotees knew he did not want to, and they felt bad for asking.
"You are all just like widows," Prabhupada told them sarcastically. "Better you all go to Mayapur and sit there, and I will earn the money and maintain you all."
One day in France, Bhagavan dasa and other disciples walked into Prabhupada's room and found Prabhupada looking up meditatively at the chandeliers. "Look at the chandelier," Srila Prabhupada said. "You should make the universal model for the planetarium just like that. The planets are hanging just like crystals in the chandelier."
After serving for a while in India, Giriraja became restless. He approached Prabhupada one day during his massage.
"Srila Prabhupada” asked Giriraja, "I have been discussing with Syamasundara and Tamala Krsna Goswami, and I was thinking that maybe I should go back to the West and preach in colleges and universities to the professors and writers."
Prabhupada replied, "A devotee may be massaging Krsna's left leg, and then he may think, ‘now I will massage Krsna's right leg.' Of course, that is also service to Krsna. But Krsna may feel that He wants more massaging on His left leg still."
"Well, if that's the case," said Giriraja obediently, "if you want me to stay in India, I will stay. That's why I was asking. I wanted to know what you want."
"Yes," Srila Prabhupada said. "India is our most important work right now."
Tamala Krsna Goswami, interview; Bhagavan Goswami, interview; Giriraja Swami, interview.
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chitralekha devi dasi (bcs)
"Human life means somebody is being killed, so he should be immediately warned, thinking, worried, ‘oh, my turn is coming, let me go away.' There is one story in this connection. Not stories, these are facts.
"A hunter spread his net. Some little birds fell down from the nest, and they are crying, they are crying. So when the father and mother came, they saw their children in danger. ‘They are caught by the net of the hunter.' So the mother immediately jumped over it to save the children, and she was also captured. Then the father saw; ‘Now if I go to save them, I will be captured. Let me go away. Let me take sannyasa. That's all.' That is intelligence. You cannot give protection to your family, your society."
-- Lecture of February 26th 1976
"I beg to apologize on behalf of my student and I shall solicit the pleasure of your goodness to visit our temple regularly. One should not be angry and eat his meals on the floor just because someone has stolen his plate. This is a Bengali saying. The logic is that if one's plates are stolen by a thief, he does not become angry and decide not to purchase new plates and eat on the floor."
-- Letter of August 31st 1975
Letter to Sri Rameshji Mahalinga, August 31st 1975. Prabhupada's version of the birds in the nest is different from that printed in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Eleventh Canto. There, the father bird, after seeing his children and his wife captured in the net of the hunter, simply laments in a stunned way, so the hunter catches him also. Prabhupada's bird is more intelligent, and therefore he decided to "take sannyasa." The image of a bird taking sannyasa is another unique Prabhupada-ism. Prabhupada felt free sometimes to use different stories in his own way. Sometimes devotees have pointed out what they think are contradictions in sequence in books like the Krsna book. For example, Prabhupada sometimes quoted Krsna at a young age referring to Bhagavad Gita, "As I have said in the Bhagavad Gita." Of course, there is no contradiction, since the Bhagavad Gita is eternal and is presented again and again during different incarnations of the Lord. In any case, when Prabhupada was questioned about his method in the Krsna book, he replied, "Therefore I have called it summary study. Summary study means I can do what I want" Srila Prabhupada said.
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chitralekha devi dasi (bcs)
Early in ISKCON history, two foolish disciples broke away from the movement and remarked, "This is not the society for Krsna consciousness. It's the society for Prabhupada consciousness." Another disciple replied, "What's wrong with Prabhupada consciousness? The guru is the representative of Krsna."
Prabhupada created the name ISKCON as well as the phrase "Krsna consciousness," which he coined from a translation of a verse by Rupa Gosvami. He shaped the society in his own personal way. He sometimes said that he never demanded that his disciples wear dhotis, and yet they did. They did because they wanted to follow Srila Prabhupada. A member of the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya and a disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Prabhupada wrote his purports after great acaryas like Jiva Gosvami and Baladeva Vidyabhusana. Yet he was an individual person. Thus his society, ISKCON, bears his personal stamp. His particular viewpoint, for example, on why his Godbrothers did not vigorously follow the order of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and why they did not assist Prabhupada when he began to actually spread the worldwide movement -- this viewpoint of the history is adopted by Prabhupada's followers.
He intended his personal stamp to last long into the future. He worked hard so that things would go on as he had set them up, even after his disappearance. He built temples to last for generations and he set up a school system, intending that it would last as he introduced it. Srila Prabhupada said that his books would provide the foundation of civilization for ten thousand years.
These statements by Prabhupada do not exclude the possibility that other teachers may come and make great contributions, but neither should we overlook the fact that Srila Prabhupada is the only founder-acarya of ISKCON. A special flavor is found in the Bhaktivedanta purports, and its essence is savored while its teachings are followed by Prabhupada's parampara descendants. Specific personal experiences of Prabhupada are found in his purports as he drew examples for his teachings. These are also a part of the accumulated knowledge which may be called smrti.
"Do as I am doing," Srila Prabhupada said. It's not that he wanted a cult of personal worship of himself, but because he set the standard for his GBC leaders and others, he wanted his followers to do as he was doing. His intention was that his followers should work together to keep what he gave. He had received the blessings of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and he wanted that success to be carried out by his followers. He also gave his own example when Srila Prabhupada said that any one person can go and open a center as he had done, one man alone lecturing, cooking, playing the mrdanga, etc. He also gave his own life as an example when he encouraged his disciples to go to foreign countries and endure difficulties. He encouraged them by saying he had done the same thing when he had come alone to America. Every devotee has to develop himself to become a spiritual person and Srila Prabhupada is the best example of that.
The guru is a very personal teacher and one may differ from another. For example, Srila Prabhupada translated The Nectar of Devotion, and yet in his personal demonstration of Krsna consciousness, he excluded some of the injunctions in The Nectar of Devotion, saying that they were not practical according to time and place. Therefore Srila Prabhupada's emphasis on what should be done and what should not be done is an expert selection by an expert acarya. Prabhupada's personal stress on priorities in preaching, such as book printing and distribution, appear not to be simply personal with Srila Prabhupada, and yet they are done his way. Prabhupada wanted that.
Srila Prabhupada lived in a very deliberate way as an example, desiring that his followers should do as he did. He also said that his followers should expand beyond what he himself had done. Prabhupada established that a very important aspect of preaching was to defeat the scientists' speculation that life comes from matter, but he left it to his Bhaktivedanta Institute scientist-disciples to expand on this instruction and to write books in which the scientists would be defeated in their own scientific terms. Prabhupada encouraged his disciples to paint pictures of Krsna and to become great artists, to build buildings for Krsna and to become great architects and engineers, and all this was done personally under his jurisdiction.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
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apane acare keha, na kare pracara
pracara karena keha, na karena acara
‘acara,' ‘pracara,' -- namera karaha ‘dui' karya
tumi -- sarva-guru, tumi jagatera arya
Some behave very well but do not preach the cult of Krsna consciousness, whereas others preach but do not behave properly. You simultaneously perform both duties in relation to the holy name by your personal behavior and by your preaching. Therefore you are the spiritual master of the entire world, for you are the most advanced devotee in the world.
Caitanya-caritamrta Antya-lila: 4:102–3
In 1972, when Srila Prabhupada was residing at the home of Kartikeya Mahadevia in Bombay, an unusual incident occured one morning. Prabhupada's secretary, Syamasundara dasa, and servant, Srutakirti dasa, had taken Prabhupada to Chowpatti Beach for his morning walk. Syamasundara had driven them in Mr. Mahadevia's car, one of those black Ambassadors popular throughout India. When they were ready to return, Syamasundara found that he couldn't start the car engine. He fitted the key into the ignition, but the key wouldn't turn. Syamasundara tried jamming, cursing, and forcing the key until he became completely frustrated.
"It's not going to work, Srila Prabhupada," he said. "I'll go get a taxi." He dashed out of the car, leaving Srila Prabhupada chanting japa in the back seat with Srutakirti. After a few minutes, two Indian gentlemen in suits and ties approached the car, opened the front door, and got in. Srutakirti became alarmed, but Srila Prabhupada began a friendly talk with them in Hindi. When the man put his key in the ignition, started the car, and drove off, Srutakirti finally understood what had happened. Syamasundara had led Srila Prabhupada to the wrong car! When the real owners of the black Ambassador heard from Srila Prabhupada his explanation, they were honored and insisted driving Prabhupada back to Mr. Mahadevia's.
Srutakirti tried apologizing for what had happened, but one of the men turned and replied, "Oh, no, this is very nice opportunity for us to do some seva for Swamiji."
Srila Prabhupada then began to explain the basis of Krsna consciousness and his worldwide mission, and the men listened attentively.
When they arrived at Mr. Mahadevia's building, Srila Prabhupada invited the men up to take some prasadam.
"No, we have to go to the office, but thank you very much, Swamiji."
"Yes, thank you, Swamiji. Hare Krsna!"
After the pleasant incident, Srila Prabhupada remarked to his servant, "This is the difference between India and America. In America if we had gotten into someone's car, we would have been in great difficulty" Srila Prabhupada said.
Srutakirti dasa, interview. Srila Prabhupada repeated a similar anecdote in his lectures about the time he and his disciples had walked across a farmer's field in Vrndavana. The farmer had come out with members of his family to meet Prabhupada and to express that it was a great honor for him to have Srila Prabhupada walking in his field. Prabhupada compared this to the West, where there are signs, "Beware of Dog," and where a trespasser may be shot.
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chitralekha devi dasi (bcs)
Usually Srila Prabhupada accepted devotees for initiation based on the temple president's recommendation, but sometimes he personally interviewed devotees to see if they were fit. At least that seemed to be his intention in Los Angeles when he called Subhananda dasa, Srinatha dasa, and another devotee into his room in June of 1971 before awarding them their brahminical initiation.
"What is your conception of Krsna?" Srila Prabhupada asked, turning to Subhananda.
"He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead," Subhananda replied, and he enumerated Krsna's six qualities -- all strength, all beauty, all knowledge, all wealth, all fame, and all renunciation.
"Thank you," Srila Prabhupada said.
He then turned to Srinatha and asked, "Who is Lord Caitanya?"
Srinatha replied confidently, "Lord Caitanya is the most munificent incarnation of Krsna."
"No," Srila Prabhupada said. Srinatha was surprised. "Not incarnation," Srila Prabhupada said, "He is Krsna Himself." At first Srinatha thought to defend himself, remembering how Prabhupada used the word "incarnation" for Lord Caitanya in Teachings of Lord Caitanya, but then he realized that he should not argue with the spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada was correcting and refining his improper understanding.
Then Srila Prabhupada briefly explained that there is no difference between Lord Krsna and Lord Caitanya.
"Have you read the Bhagavatam?" Prabhupada addressed all three of them, and they nodded yes.
"Have you read the chapter on incarnations and expansions?" Again they all nodded and said yes.
"Krsna is the source of all incarnations and expansions," said Subhananda, and Prabhupada again replied, "Thank you."
"All glories to you, Srila Prabhupada!" they said upon leaving.
"Jaya," Prabhupada replied.
Conferring among themselves, the devotees agreed that Srila Prabhupada's requirements seemed very little. They had not been devotees very long, and they had been born and raised in the degraded Western culture. Yet it had been so simple. He had only asked, "Do you know who Krsna is? Who is Lord Caitanya? How are They different?" It required no great learning or austerities, but faith that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Lord Caitanya is Krsna Himself.
Subhananda dasa and Srinatha dasa, interviews.
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chitralekha devi dasi (bcs)
In July 1976, when Srila Prabhupada visited New Vrindaban, he was feeling ill. His secretary announced there would be no open meeting that night. It was raining, and Prabhupada stayed in a little house they had provided. He sat in the living room on a couch while Pradyumna dasa read to him from Bhagavad Gita As It Is. A few other devotees were also in the room. Prabhupada had his hand on his head and he was looking down. Pradyumna read for about an hour and Srila Prabhupada said nothing. Everyone present was painfully aware that Prabhupada wasn't feeling well, and they all knew he was being very merciful just to sit with them for a while.
Prabhupada's secretary finally said, "Thank you very much for your association, Srila Prabhupada." This was an obvious hint for everyone to leave.
"All glories to Srila Prabhupada," said another devotee, and everyone bowed down and prepared to leave.
"Any questions?" Srila Prabhupada said, and he lifted his head. Devotees happily sat back down and started asking Prabhupada philosophical questions. One of the questions was about the coming of Kali-yuga.
"Go get the Bhagavatam," Srila Prabhupada said. Pradyumna began reading a list of the coming calamities of Kali-yuga. At every point, Srila Prabhupada stopped him and gave an explanation. Within a few minutes Srila Prabhupada was preaching dynamically and everyone forgot how sick he had been.
He spoke of how Vyasadeva could see the future. Therefore he predicted that the standard of beauty would be long hair. In the course of the conversation, Srila Prabhupada also praised living at New Vrindaban, the favorite topic of the New Vrindaban devotees. Srila Prabhupada said that in India, if people live on the banks of a sacred river like the Ganges, they will travel a long distance to go to a tirtha, or place of pilgrimage. The Ganges River flows through Calcutta, Srila Prabhupada said, but the people of Calcutta will go all the way to Hardwar to bathe in the same Ganges. Prabhupada assured the New Vrindaban devotees that their place was nondifferent from Vrndavana and that they had no need to go on any other pilgrimage.
"You are already living in a sacred place."
After the rainy-night darsana, Radhanatha remarked, "Prabhupada was saying so many wonderful things!"
Radhanatha Swami, interview. We have yet to fully appreciate how much Prabhupada sacrificed in overcoming the difficulties of illness and old age to distribute Krsna consciousness up to his last breath. Prabhupada cautioned many times in his books that one should neither become attached to the body nor bothered by bodily discomforts. He exemplified this. One usually doesn't think much in terms of Prabhupada's different illnesses, except that they were transcendental. His first illness after he came to America was in 1967, when he endured something like a stroke or a heart attack. Later, Prabhupada was diagnosed as a diabetic, yet he never took regular treatment for any of these diagnosed diseases.
One time in India, a disciple of Prabhupada's was worried about his own jaundice. The disciple told Prabhupada that he had different symptoms of jaundice such as yellow eyes, and that his stool was changing from brown to white. Prabhupada at first dismissed the possibility that his student had jaundice, although he had the symptoms. Of himself Srila Prabhupada said sometimes the stool was one color and sometimes another, but these things were temporary and not noteworthy; one should go on with his Krsna consciousness.
Similarly, even when Prabhupada was diagnosed as having certain diseases, he never thought of himself, "I am a diabetic" or "I am a victim of heart attacks." He just continued his transcendental service. This is an instruction for all of us. Prabhupada's glories cannot be imitated, yet we should also always put our service first and not identify ourselves as victims of various diseases. When there was too much talk of a particular disease or even its cure, Prabhupada would point out that the real disease is the material body and the real cure is chanting Hare Krsna. We often think, rightly, that Prabhupada's diseases were not materially caused but had transcendental causes. We may note that not only were the causes transcendental, but Prabhupada's response to his so-called diseases was entirely transcendental. He understood that illness came from Krsna, and as far as possible he went on with his service, always staying on the transcendental platform. (In anecdote 49, Ramesvara Swami also describes how Srila Prabhupada transcended his physical illnesses to deliver Krsna consciousness.)
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chitralekha devi dasi (bcs)
Anyone who has heard Srila Prabhupada knows that he quoted many Sanskrit verses while preaching, but sometimes after preaching, he would murmur a verse or a portion of a verse which might serve as a final comment, a footnote, or merely a sign that His Divine Grace was absorbed in a chain of Krsna conscious thought. Hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam ... Srila Prabhupada might be dealing with someone's personal problems, ISKCON management or whatever, and the quotation could be viewed as a reminder; whatever Srila Prabhupada did or Srila Prabhupada said, he was always mindful that he was acting as the servant of Krsna and the acaryas in Krsna's disciplic chain.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami recalls being present during one of Srila Prabhupada's ecstatic Sanskrit murmurings. It was in Dallas in 1971 and Srila Prabhupada had been reprimanding Satsvarupa for different mistakes he had made in the management. They then left the room together to go look at the Deities of Radha-Kalachandji, which were being prepared for installation. As they walked through the hall, Prabhupada murmured grhesu grha-medinam ... This was the verse he had lectured on in that morning's Bhagavatam class, but by Prabhupada's murmuring it like a little song, Satsvarupa felt assured that Prabhupada was completely pure and transcendental and that his anger was simply meant for his disciple's benefit.
Srila Prabhupada also took genuine pleasure in quoting Sanskrit verses. Jayadvaita Swami recalls one time being with Prabhupada in his room in Brooklyn when Prabhupada quoted a verse by Rupa Gosvami. It was a verse that Prabhupada quoted often, but as he quoted it yet again, the devotees could see Prabhupada was relishing a deep, fresh pleasure. To Srila Prabhupada it seemed to be another opportunity to associate with Rupa Gosvami and serve him by passing on his teachings to others.
Prabhupada used to say, "I have already given the example several times ...” Several! This phrase invariably introduced an example that devotees had heard so many times they had long ago lost count. But for Srila Prabhupada there was no need to invent anything new. "The same example ...” was still serviceable, still perfect, still worth quoting yet again.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
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chitralekha devi dasi (bcs)
"I am beginning to understand that anything in connection with Srila Prabhupada is truly nectarean. It is his causeless mercy that I have finally found a preaching engagement I am really attached to -- that is, telling other devotees about the glorious activities of our beloved spiritual master. Every word spoken and step taken by him is a source of pleasure for thousands of disciples around the world. It is Prabhupada alone who can turn wretched lives into something worthwhile. He accepts the most insignificant service as a great deal.
" ... While engaged in talking about New Vrindaban during Prabhupada's massage yesterday I mentioned how we used to do cow aratis. At that point Prabhupada frowned. I asked if they were okay to do and Srila Prabhupada said no. I asked if there was anything special to do for the cows. Srila Prabhupada said keep them clean, brush them nicely, bathe them, and also you can polish their horns and hooves.
"Prabhupada also received your sandesa yesterday, and I put two on his plate last night at his request, along with pineapple and hot milk. He bit into one and Srila Prabhupada said Kirtanananda Maharaja made first-class sandesa. He then said how sandesa and rasagulla are called Bengali sweets and how they are ‘standard.' He has been criticizing L.A.'s making of concocted sweets -- sweets with puffed rice, carob, powdered milk, food coloring, and peanut butter in different combinations that he did not care for. Srila Prabhupada said, ‘I have given you sandesa, rasagulla, and sweet balls. These are standard sweets and are very good. Why do they go to these different things?' So last night I made cheese and turned it into sandesa this morning. I gave him one of the sandesa you had made and one I had made with his lunch. He ate both. When he was finished, I asked him how the sandesa was. His face lit up and Srila Prabhupada said, ‘did you make them?' I told him what I had done and Srila Prabhupada said they were very good. I am really happy because they are one of his favorite sweets."
-- Letter by Srutakirti dasa to Kirtanananda Maharaja,
September 27th 1972
"Here in Madras we were seated in Srila Prabhupada's room and His Divine Grace had just made an inspiring plea for Krsna consciousness. Then a clean-cut European in his twenties exclaimed, ‘Yes, and then we can become more loving and less angry.' His Divine Grace replied, ‘what is wrong with getting angry?' The boy was startled and stammered, ‘well, uh, if we are angry, it is hard to have peace of mind.' Prabhupada interrupted and Srila Prabhupada said, ‘Anyway, that is some speculation. Even Krsna Himself gets angry. We are part and parcel of Krsna, and the fact is that Krsna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to make Arjuna angry. Arjuna was not angry when he should have been. The whole Gita was spoken just to make Arjuna angry so he would fight. Similarly lust. In the Bhagavad Gita Krsna says that kama according to dharma, I am that lust.'"
-- Letter by Giriraja Swami to Uddhava dasa
January 21st 1971
Letter by Srutakirti to Kirtanananda Swami, September 27th 1972; letter from Giriraja dasa to Uddhava dasa, January 21st 1971. This is the first time I have used exchanges of letters between devotees as entries in Prabhupada Nectar. It shows us another wonderful way to glorify Prabhupada. These letters are especially nectarean because they give us a direct flavor of Prabhupada's association, as if he is present in the next room. We therefore request any devotees who have letters they wrote when Prabhupada was present or who have letters they received from devotees traveling with Prabhupada to please submit them for use in Prabhupada Nectar.
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chitralekha devi dasi (bcs)
Srila Prabhupada said:
"So take more land and engage them in agriculture, plowing by the bulls instead of tractor. Bulls can be engaged in plowing and transporting -- nice bullock carts village to village for preaching. Make the farm the center and go ten miles this side, ten miles that side, ten miles this side, etc., with four bullock carts. Sell books and preach and live peacefully at the farm. People used to engage the bull for this purpose. So there was no problem which ways to utilize them. First of all, this artificial way should be stopped, and the bulls should be engaged in plowing and transporting and smashing the grains -- to avoid machinery, petrol, machine oil, by nature's way."
-- Letter of January 3rd 1977
"Regarding the New Orleans farm, do not make sugar. Just boil it and make molasses. You can eat the molasses instead of sugar. Just boil it and keep it until granule forms and then keep in a pot. Don't try to make sugar and sell it. That will simply increase botheration."
-- Letter of November 20th 1975
"Yes, if our householders cannot distribute books, then let them live on the farm communities. They can produce thread for cloth, spinning, and other activities. But they must do something, not sit idly, for an idle brain is the devil's workshop."
-- Letter of April 12th 1977
"Our cows are happy; therefore they give plenty of milk. Vedic civilization gives protection to all living creatures, especially the cows, because they render such valuable service to the human society in the shape of milk, without which no one can become healthy and strong. In your country the dog is protected and the cow is killed. The dog is passing stool and urine in the street, and he is considered the best friend, and the cow is all-pure, stool, urine, and milk, but they are taken to the slaughterhouse and killed for food. What kind of civilization is this? Therefore you have to preach against all this nonsense."
-- Letter of December 7th 1975
"You can visit our farm projects at New Vrindaban and the farm in Port Royal, Pennsylvania. They do everything very nicely and you can develop your farm on their model. That you are growing all your grains is very good. It is my ambition that all devotees remain self-independent by producing vegetables, grains, milk, fruits, and flowers and by weaving their own cloth on handlooms. This simple life is very nice. Simple village life saves time for other engagements like chanting Hare Krsna maha-mantra."
-- Letter of August 23rd 1976
"When I was in Frankfurt, round our place I was happy to see the farms and the cows. Unfortunately they will kill the cows. So if we organize a farm without killing any cows that will be a great example in that country. Instead of killing cows, if we let them live, we will get so many nutritional foodstuffs filled with vitamins. I have seen in New Vrindaban how happily our devotees are living there with free air, fresh vegetables, and ample milk, and simple living cottage. What you want more? We should not neglect the upkeep of the body, and we should save time to chant Hare Krsna. This mission should be propagated. Save time and chant Hare Krsna."
-- Letter of September 7th 1974
Letter to Balavanta dasa, January 3rd 1977; letter to Jaga-disa dasa, November 20th 1975; letter to Nityananda dasa, April 12th 1977; letter to Rupanuga dasa, December 7th 1975; letter to Tusta Krsna dasa, August 23rd 1976; letter to Hamsa-duta dasa, September 7th 1974.
Biographies and Glorifications of Srila Prabhupada Gita-nagari Press-Srila Prabhupada Nectar-Srila Prabhupada Said: on Farming-Satsvarupa dasa Goswami