# Room Conversation *Type: Conversation Dated: October 13th 1977 Location: Vṛndāvana Audio file: 771013R2.VRN.mp3* Prabhupāda: [Bengali with Pisimā and Bhakti-caru] [*kīrtana*] [break] Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Purī Mahārāja. Prabhupāda: Ah. [Bengali] [meeting with Purī Mahārāja, Āśrama Mahārāja, Ānanda Prabhu and others---Bengali] [*kīrtana* led by Purī Mahārāja] Purī Mahārāja: [Bengali discussion with Prabhupāda and others] [break] Prabhupāda: Nārāyana Mahārāja? Purī Mahārāja: Nārāyana Mahārāja. [Bengali] Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's in Mathurā. Purī Mahārāja: Yes. He came today. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He came yesterday as well. Purī Mahārāja: Well, he came here today, during feasting. Just now he left. He told me also, you should go there, his [indistinct]. Prabhupāda: [Bengali] Purī Mahārāja = [Bengali with Prabhupāda and others] Prabhupāda: [Bengali] Brahmānanda. Purī Mahārāja: [Bengali with Prabhupāda and others] Who is that? He is in charge of Colombo. Where...? Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Brahmānanda Mahārāja? Purī Mahārāja: Not Brahmānanda Mahārāja. Hari-śauri: Hṛdayānanda. South America? Purī Mahārāja: [Bengali] Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Haṁsadūta. Here he is. Purī Mahārāja: Haṁsadūta. [laughs] Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He took *sannyāsa.* Purī Mahārāja: Ha. I have seen him, but I could not able to... Haṁsadūta. He sings well. Last *parikrama* I saw him. Prabhupāda: [Bengali with Purī Mahārāja] Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He captured a very big scientist. Purī Mahārāja: Scientist. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: One Dr. Kovoor. Purī Mahārāja: Sinhali. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, in Ceylon. And this Dr. Kovoor was saying that life comes from chemicals. So Haṁsadūta Mahārāja challenged him that "If life comes from chemicals, then I will give you ten *lakhs'* rupees if you come to this hall and you make chemicals into life." Purī Mahārāja: Life. [laughs] Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So he challenged him to a big thing, and in the newspapers every day for two or three months there was discussion between Haṁsadūta Mahārāja on behalf of the belief that life comes from life, not from chemicals---life comes from Kṛṣṇa. So he defeated this man, big scientist. Purī Mahārāja: *Ācchā.* Ah, good. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And the man did not come. Prabhupāda: You can read one newspaper article. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: One of the articles? Prabhupāda: Yes. [Bengali] "Prepare one mosquito." [Purī Mahārāja laughs] [Bengali] Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Shall I read, Śrīla Prabhupāda? Prabhupāda: Yes. [break] Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "...the appropriate chemical into himself to check death..." Let him make himself deathless. "And restore his old and worn-out body with youthful luster and beauty. He may find this task too difficult, so perhaps he could just produce a simple form of life like a mosquito or a bedbug. Better still, let him recombine the chemicals of the praying mantis he decapitated, as described in his article, and bring it back to life. Or, is the science of Dr. Kovoor only a one-way road of destruction of life? But it may be that science is not yet ready to produce a finished product of life, so he could make a plastic egg and inject into it the yellow and white chemical substances, incubate such an artificial egg and thereby produce one chicken, which could then go on laying eggs and producing more and more chickens. Even this task may be a little too difficult for Dr. Kovoor, so perhaps he could simply produce a drop of milk or a grain of rice or an ounce of gold by chemical combination. Then we could begin to take him seriously. However, everyone knows that these are impossible tasks for even the most powerful so-called scientist. Dr. Kovoor will undoubtedly give the reader in his next exposition a long-winded barrage of words to cover up his bluff. The sum and substance of it will be, 'We will do it in the future. We are trying.' In any language, this is just a bluff." Purī Mahārāja: Bluff. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Haṁsadūta Swami was preaching. Purī Mahārāja: Yes. He's a Sinhalese... I don't think he's a Sinhalese. Haṁsadūta: No. He's a Tamil. Purī Mahārāja: His name... Haṁsadūta: He's a Tamil from South India. Purī Mahārāja: Christian. Haṁsadūta: His father was a minister. Purī Mahārāja: Yes. Proper dose you have given. Kṛṣṇa must bless him. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then he gave him big challenge = "Rupees five *lakhs*' challenge to Dr. Kovoor." Purī Mahārāja: [laughs] Dr. Kovoor. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And then later on he gave ten *lakhs.* Purī Mahārāja: He cannot be called as "doctor." How could he be a doctor? Haṁsadūta: Quack. Quack doctor. Prabhupāda: There is a story. A bridegroom was selected. So, the other party, bride's party, they inquired how the bridegroom was quite qualified. So they said, "He's a doctor." Then they inquired, "What kind of doctor? Doctor of philosophy, doctor of medicine or...?" Purī Mahārāja: Doctor of which way? Prabhupāda: So he said, "No, no, no. He's not all these nonsense. He's a big doctor." "What is that?" "Conductor." [laughter] Purī Mahārāja: He's a big superior doctor, con-doctor. [laughs] Prabhupāda: [Bengali] ...con-doctor. [pause] Bhakti-caru? Brahmānanda: Bhakti-caru is where? Kitchen? Call him. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just calling him. He's in the kitchen, Śrīla Prabhupāda. [pause] Here he is, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda: [Bengali with Bhakti-caru about *prasādam* for guests] [break] Purī Mahārāja: [Bengali with Prabhupāda and others about Jagannātha] Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? Maybe Purī Mahārāja would like to see the pictures from the Los Angeles Ratha-yātrā. Remember those pictures I showed you in London? Prabhupāda: Yes. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I have a photo album. This is the Ratha-yātrā we celebrated in Los Angeles, California. This is Jagannātha. We call it New Dvārakā. Los Angeles we call New Dvārakā. And this is the Jagannātha *mūrtis,* Gaura-Nitāi, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. This is in the temple. And Rukmiṇī-Dvārakādhīśa. So this is..., they are constructing the *rathas,* very big. This was a *paṇḍāl* we are constructing. Many of the little children, they helped to make the garlands, *mālā.* And the artists, they did the paintings. Purī Mahārāja: Paintings. These are artists. Artists. Artists. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then they made so many signs, preparations. This was the *vyāsāsana* in the *ratha,* and Jagannātha Swami was carried. Purī Mahārāja: Yes. Carried, yes, being carried. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, here you can start to see. Jayatīrtha: Each cart is fifty feet high. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fifty foot high. Purī Mahārāja: *Ācchā?* Jagannātha's *ratha* is only forty-five feet. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But here it's fifty feet. Purī Mahārāja: In Purī the Jagannātha *ratha* is forty-five. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But this is Los Angeles. Everything is big there. You see Jagannātha. You see Him? Purī Mahārāja: Yes. Jagannātha, yes. Dark eyes. [laughs] Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very good eyes. And such a crowd. Two *lakhs*' people attended. So many people came. Purī Mahārāja: Jagannātha's Ratha-yātrā. [Bengali---explains to others.] Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Lord Jagannātha is all-attractive. You cannot keep Him here. He's going out the door. This is... One of the *sannyāsīs* was giving a big lecture. We had some elephants. The children were riding on them. See, "Free Love Feast." "*Prasādam* distributed." You can see these people are... Purī Mahārāja: Love Feast. Jayatīrtha: They served full *prasādam* to fifty thousand people. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fifty thousand people took full *prasādam* free of charge. You can see all the people. [break] Prabhupāda: *...ratha* [Bengali with Purī Mahārāja about Bhubaneswar] [pause] *...prasādam*. Purī Mahārāja: *Prasādam*. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I just sent Hari-śauri to... Purī Mahārāja: Yes, yes. They are preparing. Hari-śauri: The *prasādam* will be ready in about five minutes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. They're just cooking the *purīs* now. The *halavā* is done, and the *sabjī* is almost ready. [break] Prabhupāda: [Bengali with Purī Mahārāja] Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The *prasādam* is here, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Purī Mahārāja: [laughs] There is so much *prasādam*. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, not so much. Prabhupāda: What you have given? Purī Mahārāja: *Purī, halavā* and *gulābjāmun.* You have prepared very costly feast. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because you are our most valuable guests. [break] Prabhupāda: [Bengali with Purī Mahārāja and others] [guests take leave] [*kīrtana*] [break] [end]