By reading his countless letters, any follower of Srila Prabhupada can get a real sense of his personality, his character, with all types of people. Here are snippets of a conversation between His Divine Grace and George Harrison in London, July 26, 1976.
George Harrison: How do you feel?
Prabhupāda: I have old man's disease, cough and cold, so coughing. But still, work is going on, and I shall complete eighty years this month. September, eighty-one. So now, due to age, it is becoming little difficult.
George Harrison: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Anyway, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. So how are you?
George Harrison: Quite good.
Prabhupāda: Chanting is going on?
George Harrison: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Thank you. That is our life and soul. Gṛhe vā vanete thāke, 'hā gaurāṅga' bole ḍāke. Wherever you live, it doesn't matter---chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's all. That is our only support. [aside:] So bring food here.
Jayatīrtha: We should have the lunch here?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Bring
George Harrison: All the devotees are looking really good.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
George Harrison: The devotees are looking great. Strong.
Prabhupāda: [laughs] Yes. Phalena paricīyate. By the result, one has to study. Yesterday, one devotee's father and mother came, Hari-śauri. She and his father were very pleased to see him healthy, bright.
Mukunda: They hadn't seen him for six years.
Prabhupāda: Six years, yes. So we are inviting everyone, "Come here. Such a nice house given by George. [laughs] You live here comfortably, eat nicely, and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." We don't want any factory work.
George Harrison: No.
Prabhupāda: [laughs] Simply kartāla and mṛdaṅga. Still, people do not come. They'll prefer to go the factory, whole day work in the hell. [laughs] They prefer.
George Harrison: I suppose some day the whole of the world will just be chanting in the country.
Prabhupāda: That is not possible. But if some of the leading men, they take it seriously, then others will follow. Just like in our book, your signature is there, "Oh, George Harrison. Yes." They take it, without any consideration, Kṛṣṇa book. Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas tad tad evetaro janaḥ [Bg. 3.21]. If the leading man does something, then his followers also do. This is the way. So if some of the leading men of the world, they take this movement seriously, then people will be happy. There's no doubt about it. You have come alone, without any associate?
...
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. You give him two more samosās. He likes it. So now you can begin also. Yes. [background comments while prasādam served] All the boys and girls are so nicely qualified for Kṛṣṇa's service.
George Harrison: They are looking better and better all the time. It's nice for me to see Gurudāsa. He's turning into a mountain. [laughter]
Prabhupāda: His wife has also sannyāsī, [indistinct] renounced. Have you seen her latest?
George Harrison: No.
Prabhupāda: She has cut hair and white dress, living alone in the temple. Vairagya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam [Cc. Madhya 6.254]. This bhakti-yoga means vairagya-vidyā, means detachment. That is the perfection of life. If we remain attached, that is conditional. Māyā has made so many things attractive so that we have to remain attached, and to come out of this attachment is called bhakti. [aside:] So one man, you can sit down, you can eat. Pradyumna, you can eat.
...
George Harrison: Everything's so dry this year, lot of trees and things dying without water.
Prabhupāda: That will be the punishment for this age. It is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. There will be scarcity of rain, and there will be scarcity of food, and heavy taxation by government. And people will become mad on account of these three things. Anāvṛṣṭi, durbhikṣa, kara-pīḍitāḥ [SB 12.2.9].
George Harrison: It's getting dryer in England each year. It's probably going to end up as a desert in another hundred years.
Prabhupāda: They expect like that?
George Harrison: Well, I don't know. I think the whole world's changing. Somebody said it's the pollution, leave such... There's so much of the oceans now with polluted and with oil on the top, there's not so much evaporation anymore.
Prabhupāda: Not in the ocean. It is the sinful activities of the populace. That is real problem. They are all engaged in sinful activities. Especially this innocent animal killing. These are the all reactions.
Gurudāsa: In New York they had one island of refuse floated in to shore.
Prabhupāda: Give him more samosās.
...
Prabhupāda: Are you reading sometimes my books? Which one?
George Harrison: Mainly Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: That is the main book. [laughs]
George Harrison: Mukunda gave me the new books, but there's so much in..., ah, there's just so much to read.
Prabhupāda: Philosophy.
George Harrison: I don't know how anybody could have written it, it's difficult enough to read all that amount.
Prabhupāda: Sometimes they are surprised how one man can write so many books, but it is Kṛṣṇa's grace. Otherwise not possible. Humanly it is not possible.