Prabhupāda: In every big temple there is shenai. All through the year, morning, night. Not only temple; rich man’s house. And they are so nice player that early in the morning, people, the resident, will rise by hearing the shenai. And at night they will go to bed and sleep hearing the shenai.
Jayapatāka: So that early in morning and late at night.
Prabhupāda: No, other time also. But this time especially.
….
Prabhupāda: They are expert in Madras.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, when we went to Nellore, remember, they were greeting you each time with shenai.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Very good.
Pañcadravida: Very expert in South India.
Prabhupāda: You can engage a company, three, four men, for all the year.
Jayapatāka: So they should . . . before maṅgala ārati they should begin playing.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Yes, in Madras.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What is the idea behind this shenai-playing early in the morning?
Prabhupāda: It is very pleasing to hear.
Jayatīrtha: Jaya.
Yaśodānandana: Many temples also in South India, they have all the functions in the morning—waking up the Deity, bathing the Deity, dressing the Deity—they have different shenai tunes for that. Every temple.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Similarly here introduce.
…
Prabhupāda: Hmm? Yes. (break) . . . shenai on the gate, that is nice. Jayapatāka?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jayapatāka.
Jayapatāka: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: They should play shenai on the gate, and here kīrtana will go on. Not that kīrtana will be stopped to hear their dundubhi.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Shenai is not a replacement for kīrtana.
Prabhupāda: No. Shenai is meant for . . . that is navadhana. That is called navadhana. (break) . . . must be played. Not this dundubhi. They are playing as a dundubhi. That will not work. And along with shenai they can play.
Prabhupāda: If he is so sincere. Just like dried wood immediately ignites. And if it is moist, it does not. It is the quality of the wood. One takes three hundred years; one in three minutes. That’s it. (loud shenai)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You can see them there. (break)
Prabhupāda: One is dry from the material moist of contamination, he becomes immediately ignited in spiritual . . .
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What is that drying process?
Prabhupāda: Drying process is for many, many years one has tried to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, for many, many lives, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). When he actually becomes man of knowledge he surrenders unto God. Otherwise he is lost. His drying process may take three minute or three millions’ years.
Gurukṛpā: But that knowledge that Kṛṣṇa is everything comes by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa’s mercy is already there, but if you are not able to take it . . .
Pañcadravida: Then you don’t even have to hear from a self-realized soul. Simply by seeing him you can become completely purified.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Both required. The matches must be also all right, and the wood must be also. Then there is fire. If one of them is defective, then it will not . . . but when you go to the fire, you become dry. But willfully we put again water. This nonsense business makes us late. This process is already there, how to become dry. But instead of taking the process, we put water. Then how it will be ignited? The rules and regulations is the drying process. But without following the rules and regulation, if you again become a victimized by māyā, then there is water, and again dry it. So this is going on: watering and drying, watering and drying. No straightforward process for drying. That will help. But difficulty is that we dry, and again water.