"I am God" (Conversations, 1968 - 1974)

Expressions researched:
"I am God" |"I'm God"

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview -- February 1, 1968, Los Angeles:

Interviewer: What is the significance of... Right after the chanting, everyone bows, and that I don't understand, what they're doing.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is offering respect. The whole, our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is to ask people to surrender to God. They have rebelled against God. Somebody says, "There is no God." Somebody says that "I am God." These nonsense things are to be eradicated from human society. So they should be trained to submit. So the submission is symbolized by bowing down: "Yes, you are great; I am humble." This should be taught. Otherwise, whimsically somebody is thinking that "I am God." They do not know what is God. It is most foolish proposal if somebody claims that he is God. He is dog. We very much hate this proposal, when a man claims that he is God. It is most blasphemous.

Prabhupada Comments on Prahlada Maharaja Slides - August 25, 1968, Montreal:

Prabhupāda: The devotees are servitors, but the atheists, the demons, they are always inimical to the Personality of Godhead. That is the nature. Demonic nature means they do not believe in God. "Oh, what nonsense, God. I am God." Although he's a dog, he thinks himself, "I am God." That is demonic nature. He is being kicked every minute by the laws of nature, and still, he is superficially thinking that "I am God." God is not so cheap, but they have made to become God is very cheap. If you pay thirty-five dollars to a person, he'll give you a mantra and you become within six months God. This is very nice statement and people will follow. Thousands and thousands will follow. But if you say, "Oh, you have to undergo much austerity, penance, regulation and tapasya," "Oh, this is botheration. We shall enjoy material life, and the same time become God." So these cheap things are exhibited by the demons.

Prabhupada Comments on Prahlada Maharaja Slides - August 25, 1968, Montreal:

Prabhupāda: There are many men... You have got experience, some of you, that if you speak something about God, they become very angry: "What nonsense, God? I am God. Everyone is God. What special qualification of God?" This is demonic principle.

Press Interview -- December 30, 1968, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Bhagavad-gītā, it is daily read by practically all over the world, but they do not understand it. Simply they become student of Bhagavad-gītā, or simply just to think falsely that "I am God." That's all. But they don't take any particular information.

Press Interview -- December 30, 1968, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: If you have developed... We don't say that you follow Christianism or Muhammadanism or Jewism or Hinduism—we don't say. Whether you are developing your love of Godhead. But they deny, "Oh, I am God. Who is God? I am God." You see? Everyone is taught nowadays that everyone is God. Just see how fun. Everyone is God. Do you think like that?

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 27, 1969, Boston:

Prabhupāda: We are claiming, some of us, foolishly claiming, that "I am God, but I forget." God does not forget. Therefore I am not God. Is that clear? That is the difference between living jīva and Śiva, God. He does not forget.

Room Conversation -- April 27, 1969, Boston:

Prabhupāda: "God has nothing to do, no responsibility. Nobody is found greater than Him." So if this Vedic injunction is followed, if somebody is claiming, "I am God," we have to see whether he has nothing to do and whether nobody is greater than him. And these two tests will make him false immediately. He has to prove that nobody is greater than... Even contemporary... Suppose I am claiming I am God. So I have to show that at the present moment, throughout the whole world, apart from universe, nobody is greater than me. Then I am... Will these pretenders be able to show that nobody is greater than him? This is a simple test. And na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate: "And he has nothing to do." There are so many things to test who is God. Ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇaḥ. Nobody shall be richer than him; nobody shall be stronger than him; nobody shall be wiser than him; nobody shall be beautiful than him. So these things have to be tested, whether he is God. And simply if I claim, "Oh, I am God," there will..

Room Conversation -- April 27, 1969, Boston:

Prabhupāda: We are not fully independent. And just now, if I feel a little toothache, I will have to go to a doctor. So how can I claim that I am God? God's first qualification is fully independent, svarāṭ. Abhijñaḥ. Abhijñaḥ means fully cognizant of everything.

Room Conversation -- May 10, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: Jīva soul, a part and parcel, cannot be separated from the Supreme. Sun and the light, electric bulb, and the diffusion of light, they cannot be separated. But this portion is covered. It appears darkness. So when it is covered, that is called māyā, and he thinks that "I have no relationship with God," or "I am God," "There is no God." This is māyā. He is covered. He cannot see. So he has to be treated by this Kṛṣṇa consciousness treatment, and the māyā will be separated, and he will see, "Ah, yes, I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa." Then he comes to the direct relationship. Anyone, so-called spiritualist or transcendentalist, if he is claiming that "There is no God," "I am God," "There is voidness," these are all disturbing positions, different symptoms of this disease of māyā. It is disease. How one can think of, that he is God? That means he does not know what is God.

Room Conversation -- May 10, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: So if I say, "God," and you accept, then how much insane you are. Just try to understand. How much insanity is there, one who is claiming that "I am God" and one who is accepting that he is God. This is insanity.

Room Conversation -- May 10, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: God is one. That means you have no complete understanding. Just like in spite of your becoming American or human being, you deny to identify yourself with President Nixon because you have full knowledge of President Nixon and yourself. And as soon as you say, "I am God," that means you have no full knowledge of God. You are insane. You do not know what is God. That very thing immediately asserts that you are unknown factor about God. God is said, "Great," but you are claiming that greatness. That means you do not know how great He is. A tiny factor, you are claiming that "I am God," without having that greatness. That means insane, insanity.

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 12, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: Christ says that "I am son of God." And Kṛṣṇa says "I am God." So there is no difference. Son of God and God, we respect everyone. If I respect your father, I respect you also. Do you mean to say if I disrespect your father, you'll be pleased upon me? No. That is our philosophy. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that I am servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: So Lord Buddha says, "Yes, there is no God." Lord's philosophy is: "There is no God. Void. There is no God. But what I say, you follow. Yes. That's all right." But he is God. Is it not cheating?

Allen Ginsberg: Yes, except that he claims to be neither God nor not God.

Prabhupāda: Huh? But he never said that "I am God." He said there is no God.

Allen Ginsberg: No. He doesn't say there's no God either. He says...

Prabhupāda: That's it. That's anyway.

Discussion with Guests -- December 23, 1969, Boston:

Prabhupāda: First of all you do not know yourself. The first ignorance is that you are identifying yourself with this body, which you are not. First of all try to understand yourself, then you will understand what is God. You do not know yourself.

Guest (3): But I am God, right? I am God. You are God too.

Prabhupāda: You are dog.

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1970, Indore:

Prabhupāda: Gītā means unless one takes Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead he does not understand anything of Gītā. That is the test. He may advertise himself as scholar or this or that, but our only test is whether he accepts Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). That is the test. Is that person accepting Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead? He himself accepts that "I am God." Is it not? Therefore he's a foolish. He is squandering money, public money. That's all. That is his business. He might have some qualification to collect money, but he does not know what is Kṛṣṇa.

Room Conversation -- December 13, 1970, Indore:

Prabhupāda: So our present fighting is atheism, against atheism. They say, "There is no God. God is dead. I am God. You are God." We are fighting against these principles. So our fighting is very strong. You don't think that we are keeping idly. I have come here to fight with these atheists, you see, and we go everywhere. We are fighting with atheists all over the world. So we are meeting so many opposing elements. You see? They say, "God is dead." In America, when I first went, they were popularizing theory that "God is dead." But they again accepted and: God is not dead, but He is here with Swamiji." They accepted. So these atheistic theories, that "Everyone is God," "I am God," "you are God," "God is dead," "there is no God," "God is not person"—we are fighting against these principles. We say, "God is Kṛṣṇa. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is Kṛṣṇa. He is a person, and He is not dead." This is our preaching. Therefore it is a fight.

Room Conversation -- December 13, 1970, Indore:

Prabhupāda: If you don't improve yourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you again become stool worms. The human form of life is an opportunity to come out of the cycle of birth and death, but if one does not take—these are the statements in Padma Purāṇa—then he loses the chance. They do not know what is life, how life is rotating, talking nonsense, "I am God. Why Kṛṣṇa should be God? This is written by man." How much low-graded people have become. They are completely under the laws of nature. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14), stringent laws of nature, and still, they are claiming, "I am God. I am this. I am that. I am free. I am..." And they do not mind, even they are degraded to the position of the worm of stool. But there is possibility.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 17, 1971, Allahabad:

Prabhupāda: So unless we surrender, so long we think that "I am independent, I am God, I am Supreme," these are all illusions. What do you think?

Room Conversation -- January 17, 1971, Allahabad:

Prabhupāda: If I am God, how I have become so much dependent on the laws of material nature? Why I have accepted this body which I do not want? What kind of God I am? So the whole world is full of these ideas. So this movement is a revolutionary movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Room Conversation -- January 17, 1971, Allahabad:

Guest (5): (Hindi) What is the meaning of God.

Prabhupāda: He does not... He does not know what is meaning of God. He thinks that God is something plaything. Therefore he claimed that "I am God." He does not know what is God. Therefore God personally showing—He's coming, Kṛṣṇa: "What is God, see." God is from very beginning God. Kṛṣṇa, from the birth He is God. He hasn't got to meditate. He hasn't got to go to the forest and..., to become God. He is God.

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1971, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: The cheating type of religion means which does not teach people how to serve the Lord, that is cheating. They take advantage of the religious feeling. They say, "I am God" or "I am everything, you serve me, you give your money unto me, I shall give you some material benefit, atonement. You have made your confess, you are sinful, give me some money and you are excused." In this way religion is being perverted.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Bob: The soul may be, I have considered, somewhat a part of God. But my soul I do not feel, but at times I think I feel God. It's... I'm here maybe, and you may say God is here. If the soul is inside me, then should I be able to feel God inside me? Not all of God I mean, but a...

Prabhupāda: Part of God.

Bob: Yeah. Not to mean to say that I feel I am God, but to mean to say I feel that I am God...

Room Conversation with John Griesser (later initiated as Yadubara Dasa) -- March 10, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: If I think, "Oh, I am American. Why shall I take this Indian philosophy?" Or if I think, "I am Christian. Why shall I take the philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā?" then it will not work. One has to be free from these designations. Then it will be easy. I am... God is God, and I am also part and parcel of God, my relationship with God.

Conversation with the GBC -- May 25, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Somebody is speaking, saying "God is dead." Some is (saying), "God is impersonal. There is not God. I am God, you are God," all this nonsense. Here is God. We have to push this.

Conversation with the GBC -- May 25, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: If I don't believe there is no president, it does not mean there will be no president. There must be president. I do not know who is president. (indistinct) So people are in misconception that there is no God, God is dead, I am God, you are God, God is not person, so many God theories. But we have no theory, we have got a positive presentation, "Here is God."

Room Conversation and Interview with Ian Polsen -- July 31, 1972, London:

Prabhupāda: If anyone is serious, then he can make his life successful, even during this span of life. So I'm very glad that you have got this attitude. So it is very simple thing. Hm? There is a Bengali verse, (Bengali). Just like a person ghostly haunted, he speaks so many nonsense, up to somebody's declaring "I am God." First of all "I am this; I am that. I am this; I am that. I want to become this. I want to become this." And when he is frustrated with everything, then he says, "I am God." That is also another illusion. How you can become God? So, insanity. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means sanity, that's all. So to come to that position of sanity, Lord Caitanya has given us very simple method: chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's all. If anyone sincerely chants without any offense, then his life is successful.

Conversation with Bajaj and Bhusan -- September 11, 1972, Arlington, Texas, At Their Home:

Guest (5): How to identify a true learned man?

Prabhupāda: That you have to become a learned man. If you are a fool, how you can understand who is learned man? You have to become a learned man. Is it not? Otherwise you will be cheated. Anyone will come—"I am learned man. I am God"—and you will be cheated, if you do not know what is God, what is learned man. So first of all you have to become learned man. Then you will understand who is learned man.

Room Conversation -- October 25, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Our process: Kṛṣṇa says that He is the Supreme, we accept. Not blindly—because other ācāryas, they also accept. Now some rascal is taking advantage of that statement, "If Kṛṣṇa can say, 'I am the Supreme, I am God,' so I can also say." Māyāvādī philosophy. (break) Swamis could not do anything, he was (indistinct). There are so many. Vivekananda went in 1893, three years before my birth, and what he has done?

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 26, 1973, Jakarta:

Prabhupāda: We have manufactured so many types of religion, and here God says that "You give up your manufactured religion. You just surrender unto Me." This is religion. Religion means to surrender. A good citizen means to surrender to the government law. Similarly, a religious person means who has surrendered to God. Nowadays it has become a regrettable fashion that everyone is God, when we surrender to one. And this false prestige that "I am God. I haven't got to surrender to anyone. I am God. What surrender?" This atheism is going on and spoiling the whole human society. God has become so cheap. Any nonsense can claim, "I am God." That is the defect of the modern society. There is a great necessity to understand God. If everyone is God then where is the necessity of religion?

Room Conversation -- February 26, 1973, Jakarta:

Prabhupāda: Ahaṁ brahmāsmi is the Vedic version, that is all right. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi means, "I am spirit. I am not this body." So 'ham means, "I am the same quality as God." But they are misinterpretation: So 'ham means, "I am God." This is nonsense. This is going on.

Room Conversation -- February 26, 1973, Jakarta:

Prabhupāda: If I think that I am the proprietor, if I think that I am the enjoyer, or, in other words, I am God, then you'll never get peace. That is not possible. That is a false. If one of the children thinks that I am the independent, then naturally father will say, "All right, if you're independent, do your own business." This is an example. So if you want peace then, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, you have to learn these three things. It is not very difficult. To accept God as the Supreme Enjoyer, and God as the sole proprietor of everything, and He's the best friend of everyone. Then you have peace. Anyone can appreciate this. Anyone can adopt this principle and he'll be in peace. And so long one will falsely think that "I am God. I am enjoyer, I am this, I am that." Then he'll suffer.

Room Conversation -- February 26, 1973, Jakarta:

Prabhupāda: Lord is the master of material nature, and we are conditioned by the material nature and still we are claiming, "I am God." Then?

Room Conversation with David Wynne, Sculptor -- July 9, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: So you can, at any time, visit our temple. You can understand, try to understand the conception of God. We shall try to explain. But we can, at least, so far our knowledge is concerned, we have got a clear conception of God, what is meant by God. Therefore we do not accept the so-called dogs as God. No. So many people come: "I am God. I am God." We kick on their face. We don't accept. We don't accept such cheap gods. God is one, and He's all-powerful. That is our conception. We all servants of God. If anyone says that "I am servant of God," he's welcome. He's my master. The servant of God is my master.

Room Conversation with Indian Guests -- July 11, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: If somebody says that "You surrender to Kṛṣṇa," then he's Kṛṣṇa's representative. But if somebody says, "Kṛṣṇa is not God. I am God," then he's not representative. To talk with Kṛṣṇa is not difficult. You find out the representative, talk with him, and you are talking with Kṛṣṇa. That's all.

Room Conversation With Three College Students -- July 11, 1973, London:

Revatīnandana: So to come to your point, as he was pointing out, in the past, back hundreds of years, thousands of years, all the great authorities of spiritual knowledge and yoga have accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Personality of Godhead. And these ancient Vedas, they confirm it clearly in many, many places. Now, if someone comes and he says something else than Kṛṣṇa is God, "I am God" or "This light is God..."

Prabhupāda: You find out this verse

Room Conversation With Three College Students -- July 11, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: But everyone can say, "I am God." Then how you'll understand? If Guru Mahārāja says, I can say also. He can say. Then go on studying who is God. The same question: Everyone says, "I am your father," "I am your father," "I am your father," but whom you have to believe? You have to believe only mother.

Discussion about Guru Maharaji -- August 13, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: So what is the evidence that he is God? Anyone can say, "I am God." Then, anyone will be accepted as God?

Discussion about Guru Maharaji -- August 13, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: We are passing on, on the street. If I say: "Here is a big building. So someone is proprietor." This is one guess. But to know the proprietor, how he has constructed it, that is another thing. But if somebody says: "I am the proprietor." And we accept immediately? Similarly if someone says: "I am God." There is no need of evidence. "I am God." The people have to accept like that? There is no need of śāstra. How much degraded people have become that without any little evidence, they're accepting a rascal as God.

Room Conversation with Indian Ambassador -- September 5, 1973, Stockholm:

Prabhupāda: So we are simply trying to revive people's dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So every sane man, every good government, everyone should come forward to help this movement. It is not a personal affair. We are not presenting that "I am avatāra, I am God." We are presenting science, philosophy.

Interviews with Macmillan and various English Reporters -- September 12, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Anyone who says that: "I am God," he's a rascal.

Room Conversation -- September 18, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: There are so many Gods, false gods, nowadays. Can anyone say that "Nobody is greater than me"? All these rascal Gods, can he say? Can anyone say? Immediately... He feels some sickness. Immediately he has to call greater God, physician. And he's claiming, "I am God." We don't want such kind of God, manufactured God. We want real God. When we see nobody is greater than Him, that is God.

Room Conversation -- September 18, 1973, Bombay:

Indian Woman: But, Guru Mahārāja, if one has some original faith in Jesus Christ or Muhammad, would he...? They think they're sons of God or a messenger of God.

Prabhupāda: No, Jesus Christ says "I am son of God." He never says, "I am God."

Indian Woman: So if they follow Jesus Christ...?

Prabhupāda: Yes, that's all right. Son of God is as good as God. That is another thing. We have no objection. Suppose in a big office, the father is there, the son is there. And the son has ordered something. The father will never say that "Don't do it." Because father and son, the same position. That is another thing.

Morning Walk -- December 8, 1973, Los Angeles:

Karandhara: They say they've seen Guru Maharaji lifting Govardhana Hill, and they've seen his universal form.

Prabhupāda: No, Govardhana Hill, when he lifted, everyone saw.

Karandhara: The scientists want to see it also to believe in Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Yes, so show him. Show him. But prove him. Then everybody says that... I have got some disciple. I can say also, "I am God. My disciples have seen it. Believe me." Say that.

Morning Walk -- December 11, 1973, Los Angeles:

Yaśomatīnandana: Once a devotee met somebody on the street, and he said, "Actually I am God, you know." And the devotee said, "Oh yes, you are God?" So he said, "I am your devotee. Why don't you give me a million dollars," he said. "I am your devotee, I have dedicated my life to you. Why don't you give me some money."

Prabhupāda: Who said?

Yaśomatīnandana: A devotee said. One guy said that he was God, he said, "I am God." Then devotee said that "Oh you are God? Then I am your devotee. Why don't you give me some money."

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 22, 1974, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: Neither I say that I am God. I am simply speaking of the established movement. Now, my movement is that Kṛṣṇa is God. So Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7), "There is no more superior authority than Me," but is it a fact that this rascal is the supreme authority?

Morning Walk -- February 23, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: But rascals are not gurus.

Prabhupāda: No, no. The gurus, so-called gurus, there are. These Māyāvādīs, all they say. "I am God."

Morning Walk -- March 6, 1974, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: There is that story that one old woman, she was suffering. And she had to collect woods from the forest and sell in the market. So one day, how do you say, she was praying to Kṛṣṇa, or God, that "Kindly help me. I am in very poverty-stricken." So one day, she was carrying that load of fuel. It fell down. So nobody was there to help him. So she began to cry, "Who will help me?" So she began to pray to God "Kindly help me." And God came: "What do you want?" "Who are you, Sir?" "I am God." "Kindly help me to take this burden on my head." Yes. "All right." From God, she's asking, "Please help me to get this burden on my head." That's all.

Morning Walk -- March 29, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Here, at the present moment... Not at the present moment, always in the material world, the desire is that "I shall become the greatest enjoyer. I shall become king, I shall become minister... And at last I shall become God." (laughter) You see? So this the false pravṛtti. And one who can cut down this rascal propensity, he's successful. But I'm neither king, neither a minister, neither I'm going to become God. I'm a tiny living entity, being kicked by the māyā, like football. When he comes to this understanding, he is in knowledge.

Indian man (4): (Sanskrit)

Prabhupāda: Yes. But he is so shameless than in spite of being kicked like that, always, he's thinking, "I'm God, I'm independent, I can do anything," like that. This is asura. Āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ. Ah?

Morning Walk -- March 30, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So those who are falsely claiming that "I am Paramātmā," this is the test: whether you are cognizant of everything?

Dr. Patel: Right.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But you cannot falsely claim that "I am Paramātmā," or "I am God." Whether you have got this all-pervading knowledge? This is the only test to the pretenders that he is God, he is Paramātmā.

Morning Walk -- March 30, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So amānitvam. Instead of becoming amānitvam, these Māyāvādīs say, "I am God." Just see. This is amānitvam. He falsely claims that "I have become God now." Does it mean amānitvam? And here, Vaiṣṇava says, gopī-bhartuḥ pāda-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ (CC Madhya 13.80). This is amānitvam. This is amān... "I am servant of the servant." And these rascals are claiming, "I am God." This is amānitvam.

Morning Walk -- April 2, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: One who is not envious. A person generally... All conditioned souls, they are envious of God, envious. "Why He should be God? I am God. I am God." So Arjuna is not like that person. Therefore he is speaking to Arjuna. He is devotee.

Morning Walk -- April 2, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Difficult... The jñāna-yoga... Indirectly. They are bhajante mām, but in a different way. And the mahātmās, those who are bhaktas, they are directly in the way. And they are indirectly, in this way.

Dr. Patel: Ekatvena pṛthaktvena bahudhā viśvato-mukham.

Prabhupāda: Ah. Ekatvena: "Now, I am, I am God."

Dr. Patel: Pṛthaktvena. Bahudhā viśvato-mukham.

Prabhupāda: Pantheism, pantheism, bahudhā. Bahudhā means God has become pantheism.

Morning Walk Excerpts -- May 1, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Religion means to abide by the orders of Kṛṣṇa. That is religion. Other things are cheating. If they have no sense of God, they do not know what is God, how to abide by the orders of God, that is not religion. Therefore Bhāgavata says, dharmaḥ-projjhita kaitavo atra: (SB 1.1.2) "All cheating types of religion system is rejected, kicked out from this Bhāgavata." They're all cheating. "I am God. You are God. I am everything. You are..." This is not religion.

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa says, and He is confirmed by Vyāsadeva, Asita, Nārada. This is the process. We do not accept everyone says "I am avatāra, I am God." We don't accept. But because it is accepted by the ācāryas, therefore we accept. Just like the same example I can give: I do not know who is my father, and many people will come, "I am your father." So we do not accept them. When mother says, "He is your father," then accept. That is final.

Morning Walk -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: How is it possible, Śrīla Prabhupāda? We're so tiny, one ten-thousandth the tip of a hair, and yet we can become so puffed-up as to think that even I am God or I am the controller of the material nature like the scientists are thinking?

Prabhupāda: Because they are in the bodily concept of life, they are thinking, "I'm not teeny, small particle. I am this big, fatty body." He's thinking like that. Just like a dog is thinking, "I am bulldog." It is like that, the same concept.

Reporters Interview -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Guest (3): So, Śrīla Prabhupāda, have you realized God?

Prabhupāda: What do you think? What is your opinion?

Guest (3): I can't say.

Prabhupāda: Then if I say, "yes," then what you will understand? If you are not yourself expert, then even if I say, "Yes, I am God realized," how you will take it as truth? If you do not know what is God realization, then how you can ask this question and how you will be satisfied by the answer? You do not know.

Reporters Interview -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: We are created as being controlled. So instead of aspiring to become controller, if we remain controlled, that is our natural position. But some rascals, they are trying to become controller, "I am... By meditation I have become God." But if you are a God, then how you have become dog? This is going on. The cheating, the so-called swamis. Do they not say, "I am God?" Do they not say? "I am God. You are God. Everyone God."

Guest (2): No, some... Some might say that, but...

Prabhupāda: But some of them, I am talking, the some of them. Some of them are not all foolish. Some of them are foolish. So these foolish persons, they say that "I am God. You are God. Everyone is God." That is foolishness. We are not God. We are part and parcel of God, qualitatively one. But we are not the Supreme Being. We are living being but not Supreme Being.

Room Conversation with Devotees -- July 2, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Next stage. "What is God? I am God." Then?

Cāru: "And in the bodies of others and blasphemes against the real religion."

Morning Walk at Marina del Rey -- July 14, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Somebody said. So Girirāja said, "I am God?" "Yes, you are God." "Then I can take your money?" "Yes." And he gave him some money, all the money. (laughter) So out of sentiment, whatever money he had in his pocket, he gave him.