Hare Krsna-Below is a great example of why I love to read the 37 conversations books with Srila Prabhupada . Every night I fall asleep reading these conversations. He talks  and explains about how there is no happiness here in this material world, how  bogus gurus like Meher baba and Maharishi were cheaters, how the pope and others like him have no conception of real religion, etc etc He says that other than Krsna Consciousness there is no religion at this time in the world.Hare Krsnadamaghosa das——————————-
Oct 20 1975 Johannesburg conversations

Harikeśa: So it’s not possible that anyone’s happy? There is no possibility of anyone being happy.

Prabhupāda: No. One who thinks he is happy, he is number one fool.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Everyone is searching after material happiness.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But there is no happiness.

Harikeśa: What about if one is in the mode of goodness? Maybe one or two…

Prabhupāda: Mode of goodness… If he thinks that he is happy, then he is fool. The mode of goodness means one must know that we cannot be happy here. That is mode of goodness. And if he thinks, “I am happy,” then he is not in mode of goodness. He’s in darkness.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So everyone at present is trying to become happy by this or that activity.

Prabhupāda: They are fools, rascals.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So if everyone accepts that there is no happiness at all to be found in this world…Prabhupāda: Then they are intelligent.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Then what to do?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Tad-vijñānārtham… Therefore you go to guru. Go to Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee (1): Do I have to join your movement to be happy? Can I just take Kṛṣṇa consciousness outside your movement?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee (1): So there is no possibility of me being Kṛṣṇa conscious outside your movement.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa consciousness can be developed with devotees. Alone it is difficult.

Devotee (1): If I start my own community outside the movement?Prabhupāda: Yes. The community means many devotees.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So you were saying,

Śrīla Prabhupāda, that if there is no happiness and one recognizes it, then he goes to guru.Prabhupāda: Then he must… Just like Arjuna submitted to Kṛṣṇa because he was disturbed. So that is the point where one must approach a guru, how to become happy. That is intelligence. Athāto brahma jijñāsā: “Now inquire about real happiness.”

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So one who is looking for material happiness…

Prabhupāda: He’s a fool.

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SB. 10.7.13-15––When brāhmaṇas are free from envy, untruthfulness, unnecessary pride, grudges, disturbance by the opulence of others, and false prestige, their blessings never go in vain. Considering this, Nanda Mahārāja soberly took Kṛṣṇa on his lap and invited such truthful brāhmaṇas to perform a ritualistic ceremony according to the holy hymns of the Sāma Veda, Ṛg Veda and Yajur Veda. Then, while the hymns were being chanted, he bathed the child with water mixed with pure herbs, and after performing a fire ceremony, he sumptuously fed all the brāhmaṇas with first-class grains and other food.

PURPORT Nanda Mahārāja was very confident about the qualifications of the brāhmaṇas and their blessings. He was fully confident that simply if the good brāhmaṇas showered their blessings, the child Kṛṣṇa would be happy. The blessings of qualified brāhmaṇas can bring happiness not only to Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but to everyone. Because Kṛṣṇa is self-sufficient, He does not require anyone’s blessings, yet Nanda Mahārāja thought that Kṛṣṇa required the blessings of the brāhmaṇas. What then is to be said of others? In human society, therefore, there must be an ideal class of men, brāhmaṇas, who can bestow blessings upon others, namely, upon the kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras, so that everyone will be happy. Kṛṣṇa therefore says in Bhagavad-gītā (4.13) that human society must have four social orders (cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ); it is not that everyone should become a śūdra or a vaiśya and human society will prosper. As enunciated in Bhagavad-gītā, there must be a class of brāhmaṇas with qualities like satya (truthfulness), śama (peacefulness), dama (self-control) and titikṣā (tolerance).Here also, in the Bhāgavatam, Nanda Mahārāja invites qualified brāhmaṇas. There may be caste brāhmaṇas, and we have all respect for them, but their birth in brāhmaṇa families does not mean that they are qualified to bestow blessings upon the other members of human society. This is the verdict of the śāstras. In Kali-yuga, caste brāhmaṇas are accepted as brāhmaṇas. Vipratve sūtram eva hi (Bhāg. 12.2.3): in Kali-yuga, simply by putting on a thread worth two paise, one becomes a brāhmaṇa. Such brāhmaṇas were not called for by Nanda Mahārāja. As stated by Nārada Muni (Bhāg. 7.11.35), yasya yal lakṣaṇaṁ proktam. The symptoms of a brāhmaṇa are stated in śāstra, and one must be qualified with these symptoms.The blessings of brāhmaṇas who are not envious, disturbed or puffed up with pride and false prestige and who are fully qualified with truthfulness will be useful. Therefore a class of men must be trained as brāhmaṇas from the very beginning. Brahmacārī guru-kule vasan dānto guror hitam (Bhāg. 7.12.1). The word dāntaḥ is very important. Dāntaḥ refers to one who is not envious, disturbing or puffed up with false prestige. With the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, we are trying to introduce such brāhmaṇas in society. Brāhmaṇas must ultimately be Vaiṣṇavas, and if one is a Vaiṣṇava, he has already acquired the qualifications of a brāhmaṇa. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (Bg. 18.54). The word brahma-bhūta refers to becoming a brāhmaṇa, or understanding what is Brahman (brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ). One who is brahma-bhūta is always happy (prasannātmā). Na śocati na kāṅkṣati: he is never disturbed about material necessities. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu: he is ready to bestow blessings upon everyone equally. Mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām: [Bg. 18.54] then he becomes a Vaiṣṇava. In this age, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura introduced the sacred thread ceremony for his Vaiṣṇava disciples, with the idea that people should understand that when one becomes a Vaiṣṇava he has already acquired the qualifications of a brāhmaṇa.Therefore in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, those who are twice initiated so as to become brāhmaṇas must bear in mind their great responsibility to be truthful, control the mind and senses, be tolerant, and so on. Then their life will be successful. It was such brāhmaṇas that Nanda Mahārāja invited to chant the Vedic hymns, not ordinary brāhmaṇas. Verse thirteen distinctly mentions hiṁsā-māna. The word māna refers to false prestige or false pride. Those who were falsely proud, thinking that they were brāhmaṇas because they were born in brāhmaṇa families, were never invited by Nanda Mahārāja on such occasions.

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SB 10.9.14--The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no beginning and no end, no exterior and no interior, no front and no rear. In other words, He is all-pervading. Because He is not under the influence of the element of time, for Him there is no difference between past, present and future; He exists in His own transcendental form at all times. Being absolute, beyond relativity, He is free from distinctions between cause and effect, although He is the cause and effect of everything. That unmanifested person, who is beyond the perception of the senses, had now appeared as a human child, and mother Yaśodā, considering Him her own ordinary child, bound Him to the wooden mortar with a rope.

SB 10.9.19--O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, this entire universe, with its great, exalted demigods like Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā and Lord Indra, is under the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yet the Supreme Lord has one transcendental attribute: He comes under the control of His devotees. This was now exhibited by Kṛṣṇa in this pastime.

PURPORT This pastime of Kṛṣṇa’s is very difficult to understand, but devotees can understand it. …By His one plenary portion as Paramātmā, the Lord controls innumerable universes, with all their demigods; yet He agrees to be controlled by a devotee. In the Upaniṣads it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead can run with more speed than the mind, but here we see that although Kṛṣṇa wanted to avoid being arrested by His mother, He was finally defeated, and mother Yaśodā captured Him. Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam: [Bs. 5.29] Kṛṣṇa is served by hundreds and thousands of goddesses of fortune. Nonetheless, He steals butter like one who is poverty-stricken.Yamarāja, the controller of all living entities, fears the order of Kṛṣṇa, yet Kṛṣṇa is afraid of His mother’s stick. These contradictions cannot be understood by one who is not a devotee, but a devotee can understand how powerful is unalloyed devotional service to Kṛṣṇa; it is so powerful that Kṛṣṇa can be controlled by an unalloyed devotee. This bhṛtya-vaśyatā does not mean that He is under the control of the servant; rather, He is under the control of the servant’s pure love. In Bhagavad-gītā (1.21) it is said that Kṛṣṇa became the chariot driver of Arjuna. Arjuna ordered Him, senayor ubhayor madhye rathaṁ sthāpaya me ’cyuta: “My dear Kṛṣṇa, You have agreed to be my charioteer and to execute my orders. Place my chariot between the two armies of soldiers.” Kṛṣṇa immediately executed this order, and therefore one may argue that Kṛṣṇa also is not independent. But this is one’s ajñāna, ignorance. Kṛṣṇa is always fully independent; when He becomes subordinate to His devotees, this is a display of ānanda-cinmaya-rasa, the humor of transcendental qualities that increases His transcendental pleasure. Everyone worships Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore He sometimes desires to be controlled by someone else. Such a controller can be no one else but a pure devotee.

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SB 10.10.1-King Parīkṣit inquired from Śukadeva Gosvāmī: O great and powerful saint, what was the cause of Nalakūvara’s and Maṇigrīva’s having been cursed by Nārada Muni? What did they do that was so abominable that even Nārada, the great sage, became angry at them? Kindly describe this to me.
SB 10.10.8–Nārada Muni said: Among all the attractions of material enjoyment, the attraction of riches bewilders one’s intelligence more than having beautiful bodily features, taking birth in an aristocratic family, and being learned. When one is uneducated but falsely puffed up by wealth, the result is that one engages his wealth in enjoying wine, women and gambling.

PURPORT Among the three modes of material nature—goodness, passion and ignorance—people are certainly conducted by the lower qualities, namely passion and ignorance, and especially by passion. Conducted by the mode of passion, one becomes more and more involved in material existence. Therefore human life is meant for subduing the modes of passion and ignorance and advancing in the mode of goodness.tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye ceta etair anāviddhaṁ sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati (Bhāg. 1.2.19)This is culture: one must subdue the modes of passion and ignorance. In the mode of passion, when one is falsely proud of wealth, one engages his wealth only for three things, namely wine, women and gambling. We can actually see, especially in this age, that those who have unnecessary riches simply try to enjoy these three things. In Western civilization, these three things are very prominent because of an unnecessary increase of wealth. Nārada Muni considered all this in the case of Maṇigrīva and Nalakūvara because he found in them so much pride in the wealth of their father, Kuvera.

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SB 10.10.20-22-–These two young men, Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, are by fortune the sons of the great demigod Kuvera, but because of false prestige and madness after drinking liquor, they are so fallen that they are naked but cannot understand that they are. Therefore, because they are living like trees (for trees are naked but are not conscious), these two young men should receive the bodies of trees. This will be proper punishment. Nonetheless, after they become trees and until they are released, by my mercy they will have remembrance of their past sinful activities. Moreover, by my special favor, after the expiry of one hundred years by the measurement of the demigods, they will be able to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva, face to face, and thus revive their real position as devotees

PURPORT A tree has no consciousness: when cut, it feels no pain. But Nārada Muni wanted the consciousness of Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva to continue, so that even after being released from the life of trees, they would not forget the circumstances under which they had been punished. Therefore, to bestow upon them special favor, Nārada Muni arranged things in such a way that after being released, they would be able to see Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana and thus revive their dormant bhakti.Each day of the demigods in the upper planetary system equals six months of our measurement. Although the demigods in the upper planetary system are attached to material enjoyment, they are all devotees, and therefore they are called demigods. There are two kinds of persons, namely the devas and the asuras. Asuras forget their relationship with Kṛṣṇa (āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ), whereas the devas do not forget.dvau bhūta-sargau loke ’smin daiva āsura eva ca viṣṇu-bhaktaḥ smṛto daivaāsuras tad-viparyayaḥ (Padma Purāṇa)The distinction between a pure devotee and a karma-miśra devotee is this: a pure devotee does not desire anything for material enjoyment, whereas a mixed devotee becomes a devotee to become a first-class enjoyer of this material world. One who is in direct touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in devotional service remains pure, uncontaminated by material desires (anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu….anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā“One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa favorably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service.” Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.111.1.11]).By karma-miśra-bhakti one is elevated to the celestial kingdom, by jñāna-miśra-bhakti one is able to merge in the Brahman effulgence, and by yoga-miśra-bhakti one is able to realize the omnipotency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But pure bhakti does not depend on karma, jñāna or yoga, for it simply consists of loving affairs. The liberation of the bhakta, therefore, which is called not just mukti but vimukti, surpasses the five other kinds of liberation—sāyujya, sārūpya, sālokya, sārṣṭi and sāmīpya. A pure devotee always engages in pure service (ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā). Taking birth in the upper planetary system as a demigod is a chance to become a further purified devotee and go back home, back to Godhead. Nārada Muni indirectly gave Maṇigrīva and Nalakūvara the greatest opportunity by his so-called curse.Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/sb/10/10/20-22

Oct 4 1974 Mauritius
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes, Prabhupāda, when they see your Bhagavad-gītā, they say, “Oh, it is too big for me to read.” They don’t know that the purport…. They’ve never read.

Prabhupāda: Therefore I say that bring them, let them chant and dance and take prasādam. That, everyone will hear, agree.

Harikeśa: One who does that, he is preaching? One who arranges for chanting and dancing and taking prasādam, that is as good as preaching?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Śravaṇam, kīrtanam, arcanam—anything.

Harikeśa: These festival programs are very important.

Prabhupāda: (pause) You have to spend or waste gallons of blood before you can convert a person to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is so difficult task.

Cyavana: You have to spend?

Prabhupāda: Gallons of blood, waste.

Cyavana: In what way?

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SB 10.8.37-39--When Kṛṣṇa opened His mouth wide by the order of mother Yaśodā, she saw within His mouth all moving and nonmoving entities, outer space, and all directions, along with mountains, islands, oceans, the surface of the earth, the blowing wind, fire, the moon and the stars. She saw the planetary systems, water, light, air, sky, and creation by transformation of ahaṅkāra. She also saw the senses, the mind, sense perception, and the three qualities goodness, passion and ignorance. She saw the time allotted for the living entities, she saw natural instinct and the reactions of karma, and she saw desires and different varieties of bodies, moving and nonmoving. Seeing all these aspects of the cosmic manifestation, along with herself and Vṛndāvana-dhāma, she became doubtful and fearful of her son’s nature.

PURPORT-All the cosmic manifestations that exist on the gross and subtle elements, as well as the means of their agitation, the three guṇas, the living entity, creation, maintenance, annihilation and everything going on in the external energy of the Lord—all this comes from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda. Everything is within the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (9.10). Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram: everything in the material nature (prakṛti) works under His control. Because all these manifestations come from Govinda, they could all be visible within the mouth of Govinda. Quite astonishingly, mother Yaśodā was afraid because of intense maternal affection. She could not believe that within the mouth of her son such things could appear. Yet she saw them, and therefore she was struck with fear and wonder.

Below-the gaping  and smiling mouth of Saksi Gopal Salagram Sila

                             Todays breakfast for the Lord’s

Hare Krsna to All….
Today, Vyasa puja day 2020, some of our local Prabhupadanugas met at Kanhaiyas ashram for kirtan, puja, puspha puja,some readings from Srimad Bhagavatam about Lord Krsna and His pure devotee-Srila Prabhupada.Some stories were told about remembrances of Srila Prabhupada, and one in particular was told by Kanhaiya about  one of the three dreams he had wherein Srila Prabhupada appeared to him. In this dream Kanhaiya, myself and Yasoda nandanan were all there sitting taking prasadam and then all of a sudden Srila Prabhupada  showed up  from behind us and poked me in the back with his cane…saying Damaghose,,how are you, how are you feeling??
And then after this Kanhaiya  went somewhere and came back with one of Srila Prabhupadas actual walking cane/stick and then gave it to me. He received this cane along with a lot of Salagram Silas from Mother MahaMegavati, an old and now deceased disciple of Prabhupadas a few years back.
I was shocked he was giving me this Prabhupada cane, but he also told me when I am able, then I can give it back to him.You can see in the last picture myself holding this nectarean tadiya of Prabhupadas to my unworthy head.So getting this cane along with hearing that dream of Kanhaiyas definitely made my day and then some…
Hare KrsnaAll glories to Srila Prabhupada
ps–kirtan programs can go on despite corona virus-we all wore masks and basically stayed 6 feet apart just to be safe.