204 THE SCIENCE OF SELF-REALIZATION
Prof. Kotovsky: May I put one question to you? Have you many
branches of your society in the world?
Srila Prabhupada: Yes.
Prof. Kotovsky: Where is your main center, and where are the branches
of the Krsna consciousness society?
Srila Prabhupada: Of course, I have over sixty-five branches.
Prof. Kotovsky: Sixty-five branches.
Srila Prabhupada: Yes, and I have made my main center in Los
’ Angeles. And now we are establishing an important center in Mayapur,
the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. Have you been to India?
Prof. Kotovsky: Six or seven times. Now there is a very difficult situa-
tion in Calcutta because of the influx of refugees from Bangladesh.
Srila Prabhupada: Yes, but we had our savikirtana there for ten days, and
it was very wonderful. The gathering was not less than thirty thousand
people daily. They were much interested in hearing our lectures, since we
; lecture from the Srimad-Bhdgavatam and the Bhagavad-gita. So people
are responding from every part of the world, especially the American
boys and girls. They are especially interested, and England, and also Ger-
many and France. From here I plan to go to Paris. What is the name of
that place?
Disciple: In Paris? Oh, Fontenay-aux-Roses?
Srila Prabhupada: Yes, they have taken a whole house, a nice house. So
our process is very simple. We ask our students to observe four prohibi-
tive principles—no illicit sex life, no eating of meat, fish, or eggs, no
gambling, and no intoxication, including cigarettes, tea, and coffee. One
has to obey these four principles and chant the Hare Krsna mahd-mantra,
and you will find how, by this process only, these boys and girls are
quickly improving. The process is very simple. Besides that, we have
books—volumes of books—the Srimad-Bhdgavatam, the Bhagavad-gitd.
Throughout all these years, I have written about one dozen four-
hundred-page books— Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in two
parts, the Srimad-Bhdgavatam in six parts, Teachings of Lord Caitanya in
one part, The Nectar of Devotion in one part. So we are trying to spread
this Krsna consciousness. Krsna is a historical personality, as much as
Lenin is a historical personality. Just as you are trying to understand his
philosophy, we are trying to understand Krsna’s philosophy.
Prof. Kotovsky: Are there many participants in your sixty-five
branches?
Srila Prabhupada: Oh, yes, more than one thousand initiated, and out-
side there are many. The one thousand have accepted the principles. Just
