George Harrison & Srila Prabhupada
Bhaktivedanta Manor, August 22, 1973
Devotee: Come see the statue, George.
(Inaudible)
Prabhupäda: Oh, you have not seen my room? Your house, my room.
George: Kåñëa’s house.
(George Harrison and Çyämasundara are looking at Çréla Prabhupäda's room after prasädam and talking in background)
Prabhupäda: It doesn't matter.
Revaténandana: I think it might.
Prabhupäda: And dahi also.
Revaténandana: Yes. Everything from the cow.
Prabhupäda: Hm?
Revaténandana: The cow. Providing everything nice.
Prabhupäda: Cow is so important. These vegetables, grains, and cow. Bas, finished. You can make hundreds and thousands of preparations. Why the poor animals should be killed? Take as much possible. And those who are flesh eaters, let the animal die - eat. Why lifetime should be killed? In India that is the process. Those who are flesh-eaters, when the cow dies, they are called. "You can take." Cobbler. So they get the skin, the hoof, the horn, they eat the flesh. So that's all right. Finished. And they keep the bones also for manure. Yes. After death. That is the system in India. Whenever a man's cow dies, this class of men, cobbler, they are called. "You take it." They will take it.
Pradyumna: I do not think many children like to eat meat.
Prabhupäda: Eh?
Pradyumna: Many children do not like to eat meat. They are trained to eat meat.
Prabhupäda: This is unnatural.
Pradyumna: I did not... When I was... I did not like to eat it but they trained.
Prabhupäda: Unnatural.
Revaténandana: Even from the economic side, they waste so much land for keeping a few animals for slaughter. They could grow large quantities of grains, fruits, everything. Instead all the land now is devoted to slaughter and they have to import grains, fruits, other things in England. The whole countryside is beautiful country, all like this. The whole country. And everywhere is nothing but slaughter business. And they could grow everything, everything that they need. In fact, that can be... Eventually we can, they can do that. And this country would be self-sufficient. Now it has to import so many things.
Prabhupäda: Yes.
Revaténandana: It takes many acres of land to keep one animal. On the same acreage you can produce enough food for several men for a whole year.
Prabhupäda: Both for the animals, both for the man. Just educate them, these rascals.
Revaténandana: There are some professors who may be coming to see you. They are involved in that kind of thing. They are understanding that a little bit now and they can be worked with. I talked to one today. I think he will come late next week perhaps. Not certain. He's a nice Cambridge professor. Very nice man. And they're very interested to make the society balanced and sane, and so they... This is the solution.
Prabhupäda: Yes. Aim should be back to home, back to Godhead. They do not know what is the aim of life. Give me that powder and water.
(George Harrison and Çyämasundara talking in the background - inaudible)
Revaténandana: Talking about the bathroom. George is interested in your bathroom. He's saying all these things. (Laughs)
Prabhupäda: There is no hot water supply.
Revaténandana: That can be arranged. They misused it. They put the wrong kind of coal and it caught fire over there some months back, a small fire. Because they were... When we moved in they used the wrong kind of coal in it and it became fiery and lit a small fire, so they stopped it. But it can be...
Prabhupäda: Revived.
Revaténandana: Revived nicely. We should do that.
Prabhupäda: Of course, I get little, one bucket is sufficient. But when it will be winter there is need of hot water. So you have seen my room?
George: Yes, it's very nice.
Prabhupäda: So you can read it or shall I type it?
George: Yes.
Çyämasundara: Those are the words.
Prabhupäda: pralaya-payodhi jale dhåtavän asi vedam.
Revaténandana: I have it typed.
Prabhupäda: Hm? You have got typed copy?
Revaténandana: Yes, I have one here.
Prabhupäda: Keçava dhåta-ména-çaréra jaya jagad-éça hare.
Revaténandana: Were you playing it when I came in?
Prabhupäda: Yes, yes.
Çyämasundara: Once you told me that we should try to describe in English some songs about description of the spiritual sky, how it is there.
Prabhupäda: Yes. That is Cintämaëi. This is spiritual sky.
cintämaëi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-våkña-
lakñävåteñu surabhér abhipälayantam.
[Bs. 5.29]
Çyämasundara: We sang that one, didn't we?
Prabhupäda: You have got record?
Çyämasundara: Yes.
Prabhupäda:
lakñmé-sahasra-çata-sambhrama-sevyamänaà
govindam ädi-puruñaà tam ahaà bhajämi.
This is description of the spiritual kingdom. In Bhägavata there is Vaikuëöhadescription.
George: Oh, there's eleven.
Prabhupäda: Eh?
George: There's eleven stanzas. I thought there was only ten.
Prabhupäda: Yes. No, that is summary.
George: Summary.
Prabhupäda: Summary of the ten.
George: But there's only of the ten.
Prabhupäda: Of the ten.
Revaténandana: What is the eleventh çloka where it says däsya vidhä rüpa?
Prabhupäda: Keçava dhåta däsya vidhä rüpa jaya jagadéça hare.
Revaténandana: Who is he offering obeisances?
Prabhupäda: Jayadeva, Jayadeva. Let me see the eleventh, yes.
sré jayadeva-kaver idam uditam udaraà
çåëu sukha-dam çubha-daà bhava-säram
keçava dhåta däsa vidha rüpa jaya jagadéça hare.
The meaning is sré jayadeva-kaver idam uditam udaraà - he very magnanimously has written this poetry, Jayadeva - kavi, çåëu - just hear,sukha-dam - very pleasing, çubha-daà - all auspicious, bhava-säram - and the essence of life in this material world. Keçava dhåta däsya vidhä rüpa - Keçava appeared in ten kinds of incarnation. Jaya jagadéça hare - all glories to Jagadéça, the Lord of the universe.
Revaténandana: Däsa means ten.
Prabhupäda: Eh? Däsa means ten, yes.
Revaténandana: I see.
Prabhupäda: Keçava dhåta däsya vidhä rüpa jaya jagadéça .
George: Is this pronounced like dhåta?
Revaténandana: Dhåta.
Prabhupäda: D-h-å-...
Revaténandana: And the a is without a line over it. It's dasya.
Prabhupäda: R on a dot, dhåi.
George: Underneath the dot.
Prabhupäda: Just like k and å under dot, kå, Kåñëa.
George: So it's this way. The s has this little line.
Revaténandana: Shh... Shhh.
Prabhupäda: Çåëu (shrinu).
George: Is that ç-å-ë-u. Or ç-i-ë.
Revaténandana: Çåëu.
Çyämasundara: In the back of Bhagavad-gétä, on this page, it gives the whole...
George: Except when you're trying to read...
Prabhupäda: Yes, if you read once or twice...
George: And you're trying to go back and...
Prabhupäda: No, you can one read that direction, once or twice, you will understand.
Çyämasundara: Little practice.
Revaténandana: And here there is also...
George: It's hard to memorize.
Çyämasundara: It's hard for English speaking people to...
George: I can't even speak English.
Prabhupäda: You speak all languages.
Revaténandana: These have all got a meter, a nice meter. I have it on a tape and also if you want I can go over it with you. I can sing it.
George: Well, we just included this song in an album, you know. It's not out yet. But it's got a different melody to the one we just now heard. It's really nice.
Çyämasundara: How does your melody go?
Revaténandana: Is it a kind of a jolly melody?
George: No, it's (sings) da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da...jaya jagadéça hare.
Revaténandana: Who are you doing it with?
George: Well, Ravi recorded it a few years back when he had all these musicians over, Festival of India, and I believe the singer is the son of the priest from the temple in Goa. He's got very strange pronunciation, you know. The sound of his voice is very different. I'll bring it over next time.
Çyämasundara: Yes. George has got a plan to bring all the good Indian musicians to...
Prabhupäda: Yes, yes, yes.
Çyämasundara: ...to Britain and live and record music here.
George: And not just Britain, to everywhere.
Çyämasundara: Traveling.
George: I've heard so much fantastic music and it's such a shame that nobody gets to hear it, but it's so expensive. But now with the Material World Foundation I'm going to try and get...
Prabhupäda: No, if you come to India you can meet so many.
George: Yes, well I already know so many. What I want to do is get them all grouped together like an orchestra, then register them with the charity so that they're a charitable orchestra. Then my charity can pay to bring them all and we'll do concerts and... Because even if you only did one concert it's so hard to pay for thirty or forty people to come over and just to feed them for a week and send them all the way back to India, it costs a lot. But once you overcome that problem then we could tour them. And they're all such fantastic musicians.
Çyämasundara: You can set your... That's part of your... You can set your message in a palatable sound. You can make everything sound very nicely, all the words.
Prabhupäda: Now India, the classical songs, they are diminishing. Classical songs.
Revaténandana: It's all cinema music now.
Prabhupäda: They are all cinema music.
George: But the classical will stay there like the Gétä. It's just that people are...
Prabhupäda: Why not sing Bhagavad-gétä?
George: Yeah. Lata Mangeshka. She did one. Lata Sings the Gétä. But in the West it's very hard to hear some classical Indian music because they're always playing the popular music. But the people in the West would presume that you go to India, you turn the radio on, you're going to hear the classical Indian music. But you don't hear it there either. I mean, they don't play it very often. They play Bhismilla Khan or Ravi Shankar.
Çyämasundara: Yes. In South India more.
George: I've got Bhismilla Khan on a jukebox, Shiv Kumar Sharma.
Prabhupäda: Eh?
George: I've got a music box at home. It's the type they used to put money in to play a record. But it has all the shenai, Bhismilla and Shiv Kumar. There's that flute player, he's the most fantastic flute player.
Mukunda: Which one? Panlal Ghosh?
George: No, Panlal Ghosh is dead now. This guy is called Hariprasad Chaurasia. We saw him in concert... Fantastic. He plays from these little flutes down to one four foot long and this wide. And the whole, the way he plays. He just blew one note and...
Çyämasundara: Imagine what Kåñëa's flute...
George: I've been making recordings with him. I just did one, like twenty minutes. (Inaudible) What's this? Daçävatära...
Revaténandana: Daçävatära-stotram. Daçävatära-stotram. Ten avatäras, a song about them, a hymn.
George: So it isn't... I see. Yes, because we were just calling it Jaya Jagadisa Hare. I mean, that would be okay just to say... Oh, this is the one who Prabhupäda dedicated the book to? The Gétä?
Çyämasundara: No, that's Baladeva...
Revaténandana: Baladeva Vidyäbhüñaëa.
Pradyumna: Govinda-bhäñya
Çyämasundara: Show him that book. Here's the book that comes from (inaudible)
Pradyumna: Mahäjana-géti - Songs of Great Souls. They're songs by all the past spiritual masters. Jayadeva.
Çyämasundara: Incredible songs.
George: Did you... Do you read Sanskrit? (Inaudible)
Çyämasundara: He reads it like English. And he understands the words. You should hear him recite the mantras. (Inaudible) Çréla Prabhupäda is passing on everything - Sanskrit, everything. Cooking, singing, philosophy. That's how it's kept alive.
George: You've really got to be prepared for the future, you know. I don't know what made me think of that the other day. I was just thinking that the difference from now from the last few years. I mean in a relatively short time it's got such a huge organization. And in another five years...
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