From a garden conversation in New Vrindaban June 22, 1976; see the whole conversation here.
I wasn’t at this one, as there were so many devotees we were taking turns attending them. I wish someone had mentioned the bitter melon comment to me back then as it wsa too many years later before I got into them.
Prabhupāda: Difference is it is Kṛṣṇa’s desire. He wants that “Don’t remain like cats and dogs. Be intelligent and come back to Me.” Kṛṣṇa says sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam śaraṇaṁ vraja BG 18.66 . So it is the duty of a devotee of Kṛṣṇa to spread this knowledge so that they may take to Kṛṣṇa. The cats and dogs, they cannot understand, but those who are two-legged cats and dogs, (laughs) they can understand. That is the advantage, because they have got two legs. So long they had four legs (laughing) they could not understand. So here is a chance, two-legged, so give them some opportunity. That’s all. (long pause) You grow bitter melon also here?
Kīrtanānanda: We tried to this spring to grow it, but we can’t get the seed to sprout.
Prabhupāda: You can get it from Māyāpura?
Kīrtanānanda: We got seed, but it won’t sprout.
Prabhupāda: Oh, due to the climate.
Kīrtanānanda: We don’t know. It is a very hard seed.
Devotee (4): Śrīla Prabhupāda, perhaps the material scientists could help us make the seed sprout.
Prabhupāda: Hmm?
Devotee (4): I was thinking earlier how a farmer can put the seed in the ground, but he cannot actually make the seed grow if it is not the will of Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes. The situation is not favorable. That is the proof that everything is a living entity. If you put the seed… The seed is not the tree, but when you put the seed on the ground, if the situation is favorable, the particular living entity who has to take the form of that tree, he comes, and then it grows. That is the proof. Just like sex. It is not the secretion of the man and the woman. It creates a situation so that the soul may come and live there, and then there is pregnancy. It is not the matter. This is the proof.
View From a New Vrindaban Ridge 
December 19, 2009 at 1:08 pm
hows the snow up there? Mary wants to know. She doing good at her new school.
December 19, 2009 at 1:44 pm
We have about 6 inches so far and not finished yet.
December 19, 2009 at 1:45 pm
brrrrrrrrrrr…. will marken make his game tomorrow/
December 19, 2009 at 5:57 pm
IT is supposed to stop by noon and a 4:30 game so it will be close
December 20, 2009 at 8:52 am
I didn’t know Srila Prabhupada liked bittermelon. This is great, I like bittermelon too, which is kind of rare for a westerner. I like to slightly soften it in ghee, sprinkle salt, pepper, some lemon juice and some nutritional yeast, and fit it in between two slices of bread for a delicious sandwich. They grow easily here in my area, south of West Virginia. Maybe those gardeners in Srila Prabhupada’s assistance didn’t think of trying sprouting it IN THE SUMMER. Spring bittermelon? I don’t think even science can help that. But then again, according to those rascal scientists, life itself comes from a rock. Or some thing…
December 20, 2009 at 9:06 am
i’ve been wanting to grow it for years in FL
Tried both the spiny and smooth varieties.
Tried nicking the seed coats. Germinating on paper towels in a tray.
The seeds just rot.
Any tips ?
DDD
December 20, 2009 at 10:35 am
We soak the seed in a water overnight with a little seaweed in the solution. We do that with all our gourd seeds also.
Another way that is too time consuming for larger scale is the “shoulders” of the seeds have little points on them and you file them, or use a nail clipper to take a bit off. That allows entry for the moisture through the relatively impermeable seed coat without damaging the seed itself.
December 20, 2009 at 10:43 am
Warmth is also an issue – we start our seeds using bottom heat, we actually have propagation mats we use. And put plastic domes over the top of the seed containers, or use something like a strawberry shell.