A Month in the Life of Srila Prabhupada - February 1973

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The Months in the Life of Srila Prabhupada present 2200+ of his lectures; 905+ of his conversations; 490+ of his morning walks;
65+ of his interviews and 6,570+ of his letters. This listing covers all available material,

and includes:
  • 10,300+ links to Vanisource - our repository of all of Srila Prabhupada's words;
  • 470+ short audio clips Nectar Drops from Srila Prabhupada sprinkled throughout the months;
  • 1,080 short video clips extracted from lectures, conversations, morning walks or interviews with subtitles in up to 93 languages sprinkled throughout the months;
  • 13,350+ concise statements, drawn from Srila Prabhupada's lectures, conversations and letters are highlighted within quoteboxes;
  • For further study on the different subjects addressed, each statement links to the various categories in our thematic section of Vanipedia named Vaniquotes;

These statements from the Months in the Life of Srila Prabhupada offer unparalleled insights into his devotional character; his vision to re-spiritualize human society; his dedication to translate, publish & distribute his books; his expertise to tirelessly lead & manage his worldwide movement; his empowered ability to encourage, care for, train & clearly communicate the disciplines he expects from all his disciples as he engages them in their pursuit of Krsna consciousness & performance of missionary activities. Through all these situations one can also experience how Srila Prahhupada consistently represents the pure teachings of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates.


Feb 1 to 7 - Calcutta

1973 - February 06

Letter to Danavir written from Calcutta

vanipedia.org 		For taking sannyasa you may consult your GBC member as we shall be starting a new policy where the sannyasa candidate must meet certain requirements to be determined by the GBC. This taking of sannyasa should not be a whimsical proposition, and should not be an excuse for becoming irresponsible, no responsibility of grhastha, brahmacari, etc. Sannyasis also have great responsibility to become fearless preachers of our Krsna Consciousness movement.


Feb 8 to 11 - Melbourne

1973 - February 10

Letter to Karandhara written from Melbourne

vanipedia.org 		If anyone strictly follows the regulative principles of Krishna Consciousness then he will always remain enthusiastic and dynamic. So if there are any defects within our Society it is only symptom that the instructions of the Spiritual Master are being neglected. Follow my instructions strictly and always think for giving this gift of Krishna Consciousness wherever you go and to whomever you meet, this is the advice of Lord Caitanya.

vanipedia.org 		You GBC men now decide how to manage things so nicely so that I may spend my time solely for translating my books. This I desire. Each GBC man can act as my secretary for one month at a time as I originally planned. In this way you will all be trained up nicely.
Letter to Kurusrestha written from Melbourne

vanipedia.org 		I can see that Lord Caitanya is giving you good intelligence to carry on in this way and infiltrate all facets of society with the sublime process of Krishna Consciousness, for this is the only way that you can save these rascals.
Letter to Satsvarupa written from Melbourne

vanipedia.org 		Your question in regard to marriage, we must impress upon the parties involved that Krishna Conscious marriage is not some cheap thing that may be embraced whimsically and at any time thrown off. The boy and girl must be willing to accept each other for life and be prepared to get a job if need be and live in an outside apartment and raise children. These points should be emphasized.

vanipedia.org 		Legally it is impossible and neither are there many of our devotees who are prepared to assume the responsibility for many wives. Therefore as I have suggested previously as they do in Christian religion they have so many convent where the women stay and they receive protection. The point is that the women must be protected and it is the duties of the leaders of our society to see that this is carried out.

vanipedia.org 		Your program for those who are desiring to take sannyasa is approved by me and I request that you make something concrete and distribute it to all the other GBC members and amongst yourselves you may decide who will take sannyasa.
Letter to Tamala Krishna, Jayapataka, Bhavananda and Gargamuni written from Melbourne

vanipedia.org 		While travelling here to Melbourne I was thinking how wonderful our Mayapur project is and how it can be developed in the future.

vanipedia.org 		I want that Mayapur be self-sufficient by having its own production of grains, vegetables, fruits and milk products etc., to the extent that you will be able to feed at least 500 men daily. This will be better than trying to arrange for maintenance funds to come from outside. So we can make some scheme for purchasing sufficient quantity of land. The land there is very fertile and if our men can manage the program then we can go ahead.


1973 - February 11

730211 - Lecture BG 03.36-37 - Melbourne

vanipedia.org 		We are trying to be free from the rules and regulation, but that is meant for the animals, not for the human being. We have forgotten. We want freedom. We say that "We don’t want to be regulated." That is not possible by nature.
Letter to Guru-gauranga written from Melbourne

vanipedia.org 		As far as police problems are concerned, this is going on all over the world, especially here in Melbourne, they are being persecuted by the police. Even they are going to jail daily, but still they will not stop their chanting and distributing. When they go to jail, they refuse to eat the food, and in this way so much public sympathy is there. So eventually the police will accept us and our Sankirtana activities will go on unchecked. Simply we must have the determination to continue our preaching work under all circumstances.
Letter to Kirtanananda written from Melbourne

vanipedia.org 		I approve of the initiations of Bill Allan who is now to be called Balaji das, Paul Terry who is now to be called Parambrahma das, Richard Selvin who is now Radhanatha das and Tom Meyers who is now Taru das.
Letter to Nityananda written from Melbourne

vanipedia.org 		Therefore I recommend that you go on with more enthusiasm to inspire the devotees of New Orleans Yatra and I am confident that through your sincerity you can very shortly be one of the top distributing centres in the world.
Letter to Tosana written from Melbourne

vanipedia.org 		Carving tulasi beads should not be your sole occupation. You should also go out for street sankirtana and distribute my literature for the cripple minded masses, and whatever spare time you have you can carve some tulasi beads for me to sanctify. But whatever you do should be done with wholehearted enthusiasm and strict adherence to the principles of chanting 16 rounds, rising for mangala arati, following the four basic principles, always remaining clean etc.


Feb 12 to 19 - Sydney

1973 - February 12

Lecture Arrival - Sydney
Nectar Drops from Srila Prabhupada
"If you serve Kṛṣṇa, then we are reflection. We are reflection. Kṛṣṇa being satisfied, immediately we become satisfied. So if you want peace, satisfaction, then you make Kṛṣṇa satisfied. That is the way. You cannot… Just like decorate the reflection in the mirror—that is not possible. You decorate the reality, person, and the reflection in the mirror will be decorated. This is the process. Kṛṣṇa is not hankering after your decoration, after your nice foodstuff, because He is full perfect, ātmārāma. He can create any kind of comforts, He is so powerful. But He is so kind that He comes to you in a form which you can handle to serve Him: this arcā-mūrti. Kṛṣṇa is so kind. Because you cannot see at the present moment Kṛṣṇa in spiritual identity, therefore Kṛṣṇa comes before you as stone, as wood. But He is not stone; He is not wood."
730212 - Lecture Arrival - Sydney

vanipedia.org 		Sankirtana movement is so nice that it will increase blissful life more and more, more and more. Although you are getting some impediments from the authorities, you don’t mind for that. You go on with your business and nobody can check you. Krsna is there. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is there.


1973 - February 14

Lecture - Sydney

vanipedia.org 		So the conclusion is, we living entities, we being part and parcel of God, Kṛṣṇa, our only business is to serve Kṛṣṇa. We have no other business. As soon as we are engaged in other business, that is our abnormal condition. That is not normal condition.
Letter to Ramesvara written from Sydney

vanipedia.org 		I am very much pleased to hear of your increased book distribution and it gives me great pleasure to hear of your increased eagerness to distribute my literature. Through the distribution of this literature, we can completely annihilate all the bogus yogi groups in the world. Of this fact I am sure. Therefore there is no need for us to directly attack these charlatans but simply by this distribution of books the sunlight of Krishna consciousness will prevail.

vanipedia.org 		So my request to you is to go on in this way with more enthusiasm. This is the key. Always remain enthusiastic and inspire others and your life will be glorious and at the end you are sure to go back to Home, back to Godhead.
Letter to Rupanuga written from Sydney

vanipedia.org 		After conferring with my various GBC representatives I have concluded that polygamy must be strictly prohibited in our society. Although it is a Vedic institution still there are so many legal implications. Neither are many of our men fixed up enough to tend for more than one wife. Polygamy will simply increase the sex life and our philosophy is to gradually decrease the sex life till eventually there is no sex life. The policy should be that all the women are given the utmost protection. Women are looking for husbands because they feel unprotected so it is up to the senior members to give all protection to the women.

vanipedia.org 		The devotees can dress up in respectable clothes like ladies and gentlemen in order to distribute my literatures under special circumstances, but even this program should not become widespread.

vanipedia.org 		Wherever there are individuals there is bound to be difference of opinion. Therefore for this purpose I have formulated the GBC.

vanipedia.org 		Any new programs or proposals or discrepancies should be submitted before the Governing Board Commission and then their conclusion should be submitted to me for the final approval.

vanipedia.org 		I am requesting you as my senior men not to tax my brain with so many details but simply come to a conclusion amongst yourselves and then present this final conclusion for my sanction. In this way I will be free to concentrate on my translation of Srimad-Bhagavatam.

vanipedia.org 		As far as studying my books is concerned, I have already given the order. One hour in the morning class and one hour in the evening and if there is extra time during the day it may be used for studying but we cannot expect everyone to be studious.If someone has desired to distribute books all day he may do this, but he must always follow the principles of rising early, chanting 16 rounds, etc.

vanipedia.org 		Just as some rich men have no inclination for studying, but still he opens many schools for others to study at. Like this, all of my students may not be inclined to study but they are very much eager to give others the opportunity to read my books and this should not be discouraged. All programs must go on but it is a fact that this book distribution program is very very important.

vanipedia.org 		You are advanced devotee and you should use your intelligence to convince the professors that they should use my books in the colleges. This will be the greatest service.


1973 - February 15

Letter to Satsvarupa written from Sydney

vanipedia.org 		Right from the beginning of my mission, I have always stressed and encouraged my disciples to work with the college students.

vanipedia.org 		You should not be discouraged if people are not coming to your meetings. We are trying to please Krishna. That is all. We simply must go on with our business, to the best of our ability. We must always sincerely try to do our best with great determination. This is the transcendental position. Success or failure, this is not our business. We leave that up to Krishna. My Guru Maharaja said, it does not matter if anyone comes to hear. You go on with your chanting. If no-one hears you the walls will hear.


1973 - February 16

Lecture BG 07.01 - Sydney

vanipedia.org 		This present edition, Bhagavad-gita As It Is, is now published by Macmillan Company, the biggest publisher in the world. And we are doing very nice. We published this Bhagavad-gita As It Is in 1968, in small edition. It was selling like anything.
Load video
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vanipedia.org 		The Bhagavad-gita is the basic principle of our Krsna consciousness movement. What we are spreading as Krsna consciousness, that is only Bhagavad-gita. It is not that we have manufactured anything.
Nectar Drops from Srila Prabhupada
"When I was in America in 1966, one American lady asked me to recommend an English edition of Bhagavad-gītā so that she could read it. But, honestly I could not recommend any one of them, on account of their whimsical explanation. That gave me impetus to write Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. And this present edition, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, is now published by Macmillan Company, the biggest publisher in the world. And we are doing very nice. We published this Bhagavad-gītā As It Is in 1968, a small edition. It was selling like anything. The trades manager of Macmillan Company reported that our books are selling more and more; others are reducing. Then recently, in this 1972, we have published this Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, complete edition."
730216 - Lecture BG 07.01 - Sydney

vanipedia.org 		The trades manager of Macmillan Company reported that our books are selling more and more; others are reducing. Then recently, in this 1972, we have published this Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, complete edition. And Macmillan Company published fifty thousand copies in others, but it was finished in three months and they are arranging for second edition.

vanipedia.org 		When I was in America in 1966, one American lady asked me to recommend an English edition of Bhagavad-gita. But honestly I could not recommend any one of them, on account of their whimsical explanation. That gave me impetus to write Bhagavad-gita As It Is.
Letter to Citsukhananda written from Sydney

vanipedia.org 		I am very much encouraged by your work in pioneering this movement in South America and I pray to Lord Sri Krishna that he will protect you in all your endeavors. Hanuman and yourself appear to be working so nicely as a team that I am writing to you as a team so you please discuss the points I have mentioned in Hanuman's letter and do the needful in this regard.
Letter to Ghanasyama written from Sydney
Letter to Sudama written from Sydney

vanipedia.org 		As far as your attachment for tending the Deities is concerned by no means this can be considered material attachment, but this is our real desireless state to be always engaged twenty four hours in the service of the Lord.

vanipedia.org 		You must be very careful to see that the leaders are observing the principles of chanting 16 rounds, rising early for Mangala Arati, participating in the morning and evening classes, observing the four regulative principles etc., and if there is any deviation from this standard then it is the responsibility of you and the local GBC representative to rectify it immediately. Within these Vaisnava standards which I have put forward lies the spiritual strength of our movement. So you may please do the needful in this regard.

vanipedia.org 		Now I am seeing more and more that my senior disciples must take an active role in continuing the high standard of purity which has been established in our Vaisnava line. In your travelling from centre to centre, you must be very careful to see that the leaders are observing the principles of chanting 16 rounds, rising early for Mangala Arati, participating in the morning and evening classes, observing the four regulative principles etc., and if there is any deviation from this standard then it is the responsibility of you and the local GBC representative to rectify it immediately.

vanipedia.org 		In your travelling from centre to centre, you must be very careful to see that the leaders are observing the principles of chanting 16 rounds, rising early for Mangala Arati, participating in the morning and evening classes, observing the four regulative principles etc.

vanipedia.org 		If there is any deviation from this standard then it is the responsibility of you and the local GBC representative to rectify it immediately. Within these Vaisnava standards which I have put forward lies the spiritual strength of our movement.


1973 - February 17

Lecture SB 06.01.06 - Sydney

vanipedia.org 		This Krsna consciousness movement means we are preaching the cult of Bhagavatam. It is a scientific method.
Letter to Govinda dasi written from Sydney

vanipedia.org 		I am glad to hear that you are opening another workshop in Kauai for the manufacturing of the Gaura-Nitai Deities and this is a very great service to our society and devotees. But one thing. You should always inform me before sending the Deities to the Temples. We cannot send them indiscriminately to anyone who has the whim of worshiping the Deities. We must be very very careful as to not commit offenses in worshiping the Deities, so therefore there must be sufficient facilities and Brahmins to worship the Deity.
Letter to Hansadutta written from Sydney

vanipedia.org 		It was brought to my attention that our Sriman Hayagriva das has become deviated from the four basic principles which I have given to all my students for adherence to when they are first initiated. I do not know why he is living in such a way but I feel that he must be brought back to the standard immediately. So I am requesting you as my Governing Board Commissioners to help me bring him back to the standard. He has very good talent, but he is spending it by living such an unrestricted life.
Letter to Karandhara written from Sydney

vanipedia.org 		I am requesting you as my Governing Board Commissioners to help me bring him back to the standard. He has very good talent, but he is spending it by living such an unrestricted life.


1973 - February 18

Letter to Bhaktin Toni written from Sydney

vanipedia.org 		I am very much pleased that the Deities are worshiped so nicely and as this continues, the children there will become more and more purified. These children in Gurukula are the most fortunate children in the world, because right from the beginning they are having the association of Radha and Krishna. This was the case in my childhood also. My father was pure Vaisnava and he gave me and my sister the Radha Krishna Deities to worship and in this way we were trained. And still to this very day my sister is worshiping these very same Deities in Calcutta. So like this the children must be trained.
Letter to Gurudasa written from Sydney

vanipedia.org 		I am very pleased also to see that you are keeping such an orderly account, and as far as further financing is concerned I have arranged with Karandhara das, and he is sending 5000 copies of Bhagavad-gita As It Is to India, and Kartikeya Mahadevia in Bombay, one of our life members, has agreed to distribute 3000 of these Gitas at no less than 50 rupees apiece.
Letter to Kirtanananda written from Sydney

vanipedia.org 		The Deities should be facing East. If you are laying the foundation stone to this temple there is a ceremony which you can observe. First you may have one fire ceremony with four Brahmins surrounding the fire, reading from Bhagavad-gita, Nectar of Devotion, Srimad-Bhagavatam and Teachings of Lord Caitanya.
Letter to Nityananda written from Sydney

vanipedia.org 		Again I am feeling overjoyed at hearing of your increased distribution program and I request that you increase more and more. There can be no limit to our distribution because Krishna is unlimited therefore devotional service to Krishna is also unlimited, so you may instruct the devotees there about this.


1973 - February 19

Letter to Kirtika written from Sydney

vanipedia.org 		If your prayers are sincere then Krishna will accept them and if Krishna accepts them then automatically I accept them, and if I accept them then automatically Krishna accepts them. So like this Krishna is everywhere. He is even between the atoms. So therefore wherever you are He will accept your prayers, and therefore I automatically accept. But the most important part again, the prayer must be sincere.
Letter to Sankarasana written from Sydney

vanipedia.org 		All of your programs sound very pleasing to me and I request that you write and consult with Visnu Jana Maharaja and the local GBC men, in order to bring about the realization of this proposal.


Feb 20 to 24 - Auckland

1973 - February 20

Lecture SB 01.01.09 - Auckland

vanipedia.org 		Rupa Gosvami has quoted so many verses, so many incidences from different sastras, how the biography is stated there in compiling Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, which we've translated, Nectar of Devotion.


1973 - February 21

Lecture BG 02.13 - Auckland

vanipedia.org 		This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for creating some brāhmaṇas, or the most intelligent class of men. There is no hindrance. Anyone can become brāhmaṇa. Just like in education anyone can become engineer, anyone can become medical practitioner or anyone can become lawyer if he takes such education from the very beginning, similarly, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, there are natural division of the society.

vanipedia.org 		We commit mistake. Every one of us who are sitting in this meeting, nobody can say that "I have never committed any mistake." That is not possible. We commit mistake, everyone. We commit mistakes and we are sometimes illusioned. Illusioned. That we can make experiment, that every one of us at the present moment is illusioned. How it is? That I have...I am not this body, but I am accepting this body as "I am." The whole world is—I may say whole world, but at least the majority portion—everyone is under the impression that "I am this body." But I am not this body. I am soul.

vanipedia.org 		If you inquire whether I am perfect or my disciples who are preaching this Krsna conscious movement, they are perfect, we may be imperfect. We are imperfect. We accept we are imperfect. But we are distributing the perfect knowledge.
Lecture SB 06.01.13-15 - Auckland
Nectar Drops from Srila Prabhupada
"It is the duty of the father, it is the duty of the mother, it is the duty of the government, the state, to raise the children very nicely. Now how horrible civilization it is that instead of raising them to perfect their human life they are being killed in the womb. Oh, how much horrible civilization this is, just imagine. It is simply horrible to think that the duty of the parents is to raise the child to the highest perfection of life; instead of doing that they are being killed in the womb of the mother."
730221 - Lecture SB 06.01.13-15 - Auckland

vanipedia.org 		This is not our condition of life to die or to take birth. Things have come to such horrible condition that birth has become also very much risky. One child, one living entity, takes birth in the womb of a human being, and that child is being killed by the conspiration of the mother and the doctor. This is going on.
Letter to Dr. Singhal, Mr. Saraf, Dr. Poddar, Mr. Vasista and Giriraja written from Auckland

vanipedia.org 		Prahlada Maharaja said that even a saintly person becomes pleased when a scorpion or a snake is killed. So if it is a fact that Nair is dead it is a matter of great pleasure for all devotees.
Letter to Karandhara written from Auckland

vanipedia.org 		Regarding Sriman Hayagriva Dasa; it is our duty to rectify him. To create a devotee takes much labor and to reject him in a minute is not to our credit so please try to do the needful in this regard. Consult the other GBC men there, then make a proposal to Hayagriva and if still he is incorrigible then you take the necessary steps.
Letter to Mukunda written from Auckland

vanipedia.org 		You should try and get these TV personalities to show our books and advertise them over the air. This will be the real success of our endeavors with the media.


Feb 25 to 28 - Jakarta

1973 - February 25

Lecture Excerpt - Jakarta

vanipedia.org 		If anyone is proud of his education, let him come and study our books, understand this philosophy, and I'm sure he'll find satisfying. Don't take it as something sentimental, religious. It is a scientific, educational movement.
Conversation - Jakarta
Nectar Drops from Srila Prabhupada
"I was walking in Los Angeles just about three feet away from the sea. So I was explaining to my students, 'Now, I am just three feet away from the sea, and the sea is so vast. At any second it can overflood us. But why you are confident the sea will not come here?' Because we know, by God's order, although the sea, the ocean, is so big, it cannot violate the order of God. That you are big, that's all right. But you cannot come beyond this line. So these things are being managed, and there is no God? What a nonsense. If things are... Just like when you pass through a house, sometimes if you don't see..., the house is not properly taken care of, or there is no light in front of the house, there are so many garbages—we immediately say, 'Oh, there is no man in this house'. And as soon as you see house is very nicely kept, there is light and the garden is kept, we understand there is a man. So this is common sense. If things are going on, everything is going on so nicely, how you can say there is no management, there is no brain? How you can say? What is this nonsense? Huh? How you can say there is no God?"
730225 - Conversation - Jakarta

vanipedia.org 		If you discover something that will stop my death, that is meritorious. And everyone is dying, and you have discovered some machine so that you can die quickly. So what is the merit? But people are appreciating, "Oh, this is meritorious." This is called duṣkṛtinaḥ. Duṣkṛtinaḥ, mean one has got merit, it is being spoiled for doing something wrong.


1973 - February 26

Lecture - Jakarta

vanipedia.org 		The difficulty is that this Māyāvādī philosopher, they cannot understand that in the spiritual world there is also pleasure. Their foolish brain cannot accommodate. Because here in this material world they have got very bad experience of this material... They want to make the spiritual world as zero or imperson due to less intelligence. But actually, real life, real pleasure, eternal pleasure is there in the spiritual world, not in this material world.
Lecture BG 02.12 Hindi - Jakarta
Conversation 1 - Jakarta
Conversation 2 - Jakarta

vanipedia.org 		They are not my books. I am simply translating. They are written by Vyāsadeva, the original Vedic scholar. So there are now many secular states. Our Vedic idea of secular state is the government must be responsible of proper execution of religious system.


1973 - February 27

Lecture SB 01.01.23 - Jakarta

vanipedia.org 		So you can make so many questions—intelligent questions must be, of course—about (indistinct), and the answers are there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhagavad-gītā. So every (indistinct) this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is there, that not just in this meeting we shall discuss about Kṛṣṇa but at every home, every family, you can sit down together at the end of their work and simply question about Kṛṣṇa and try to understand the answers. The books are already there. Answers are already there. So this is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
Conversation A - Jakarta

vanipedia.org 		The Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Just like before learning any literature, one has to read the first book, ABCD. The Bhagavad-gītā is the ABCD. It is just beginning of understanding of what is God. ABC. When one has passed the entrance examination, then he gets the opportunity of studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Conversation B - Jakarta

vanipedia.org 		The essence of sastra is Bhagavad-gita. So anyone who studies Bhagavad-gita minutely will become perfect.
Conversation C - Jakarta

vanipedia.org 		All over the world. It is called spiritual bankruptcy all over the world and leading men are thinking this catastrophe, and the only hope is Bhagavad-gita.


1973 - February 28

Morning Walk - Jakarta

vanipedia.org 		Inform them: "Take this Krsna consciousness philosophy. Your nationality will be first class."
Lecture - Jakarta

vanipedia.org 		The difficulty is that this Māyāvādī philosopher, they cannot understand that in the spiritual world there is also pleasure. Their foolish brain cannot accommodate. Because here in this material world they have got very bad experience of this material... They want to make the spiritual world as zero or imperson due to less intelligence. But actually, real life, real pleasure, eternal pleasure is there in the spiritual world, not in this material world.

vanipedia.org 		That was the quarrel between the father and the son. The son was a great devotee and the father was a great atheist.
Conversation A - Jakarta

vanipedia.org 		Write immediately Karandhara. You want to publish books in Indonesian the national Language.
Conversation B - Jakarta

vanipedia.org 		You become one of the Life Members of our Society and you can go anywhere and stay there.
Conversation C Hindi - Jakarta


   
 
   
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