Alive (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"alive"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 1.13-14 -- London, July 14, 1973:

Pradyumna:

tataḥ śaṅkhāś ca bheryaś ca

paṇavānaka-gomukhāḥ

sahasaivābhyahanyanta

sa śabdas tumulo 'bhavat

(BG 1.13)

Translation: "After that, the conchshells, bugles, trumpets, drums and horns were all of a sudden sounded, and the combined sound was tumultuous."

Prabhupāda: So there are mention of various types of musical instruments. Those instruments are no longer in use. But different types of bugles, drums, kettledrums, as they use in modern days. So the same principle. By musical instruments, the soldiers are kept alive so they can fight nicely. Sa śabdas tumulo 'bhavat: "When simultaneously all the instruments were sounded, it become tumultuous." Next verse. Tataḥ śvetair hayair yukte mahati syandane sthitau.

Lecture on BG 1.26-27 -- London, July 21, 1973:

One who is too much attached to this society, friendship and love, he is pramatta. Pramatta means crazy, madman. Paśyann api na, tasya nidhanam. He does not see. Although he is seeing that "My father has died. When I was a child, my father was giving me protection. Now my father has gone away. Who is giving me protection? Is my father alive to give me protection? Who is giving me protection? My mother was giving me protection. Now who is giving me protection? I was in family, my sons, my daughters, my wife, but I left them. Now who is giving me protection?" And actually Kṛṣṇa gives you protection always. Not your society, friendship and love. They will be finished. As your father is finished, as your grandfather is finished, similarly, your sons, grandsons, will be finished. None of them will be able to give you protection. Only Kṛṣṇa will be giving you protection. Therefore you surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣa... (BG 18.66). "I shall give you protection." Kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati: (BG 9.31) "My devotee is never vanquished."

Lecture on BG 2.1-5 -- Germany, June 16, 1974:

He says to Arjuna as follows. He says, aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase: (BG 2.11) "My dear Arjuna, you are talking like very learned scholar, but you are lamenting on a subject matter which you should not do." Gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ. Gatāsūn means this body. When it is dead or when it is alive, bodily conception of life is foolishness. So no learned man takes serious consideration of the body. Therefore in the Vedic literature it is said that "One who is in the bodily concept of life, he is nothing more than an animal." Therefore at the present moment, without knowledge of the self, the whole world is going on under the bodily concept of life. The bodily concept of life is there amongst the animals. The cats and dogs, they are very proud of becoming a big cat or big dog. Similarly, if a man also becomes similarly proud that "I am big American," "big German," "big," what is the difference? But that is actually going on, and therefore they are fighting like cats and dogs.

Lecture on BG 2.8-12 -- Los Angeles, November 27, 1968:

He says, Kṛṣṇa says, that "This body, either dead or alive, has nothing to be lamented." Dead body, suppose when the body is dead, it has no value. What is the use of lamenting? You can lament for many thousands of years, it will not come to life. So there is no cause of lamenting on dead body. And so far spirit soul is concerned, that is eternal. Even it appears to be dead, or with the death of this body, he does not die. So why one should be overwhelmed, "Oh, my father is dead, my such and such relative is dead," and crying? He's not dead. This knowledge one must have. Then he'll be cheerful in all cases and he'll be interested simply in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is nothing to be lamented for the body, either alive or dead. That is being instructed by Kṛṣṇa in this chapter.

Lecture on BG 2.16 -- Mexico City, February 16, 1975:

Now, when you mix up three, three into three, it becomes nine. And again if you multiply nine by nine, it becomes eighty-one. So it increases in so subtle division of the mixture of the three qualities. Just like the painter. He knows how to mix the three original color, namely blue, yellow and red. The red color represents passion, and the yellow color represents ignorance, and the blue color represents goodness. So as the color painter, er, painter knows how to mix and make varieties of colors, similarly, the three modes of material nature being mixed up, they are represented in so many different forms of body. So at the present moment, in your human form of body, you are also mixing the same qualities in your different desires. That means you are creating your next body. So at the time of death the thoughts and the activities which will be prominent within your mind, you will get a similar body in next life. Therefore the intelligent man should be very cautious to get the next body. We can get the body like God; we can get the body like the dog. Therefore the best intelligent person should try to endeavor to get the next body like God. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that you endeavor in this life so long you are alive to get a body like God. That will solve your all problems, namely birth, death, old age and disease.

Lecture on BG 2.17 -- Hyderabad, November 22, 1972:

They simply say that "We do not know, but we are trying to know." That's all right. But here is the knowledge, perfect knowledge, in the Bhagavad-gītā. Why don't you take it? That they will not take. They'll go on speculating and promise falsely that "In future we shall be able to inject some matter within the body and the body will again become alive." That is their dream. In the past history, it was never possible; at present also, it is not possible. How you can expect in future? But they are under illusion. They think like that, that "We are making progress." At all, no progress, practically. They have no knowledge. That is their position. They have no knowledge. So we have to understand from the authority. There are so many arguments. Now, if you say "This body's dead because the blood has become white. Blood corpuscles, they are now become white instead of becoming red." So if that is the possible, so why don't you make the blood red? By some chemical injection or by adding some color, as soon as the blood becomes red... Why don't you do that? No. If you say "That was 'natural' redness. That natural redness cannot be brought," then your science is defective.

Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Hyderabad, November 30, 1972:

So the body was not existing before. And it will not exist after death. So in the via media, if the manifestation of body is there, so why it should be the object of lamentation? In this way, Kṛṣṇa is trying to convince Arjuna that he should act as kṣatriya and perform his duty. A kṣatriya is profited, either dead or alive. That will be explained. Because in a, in a fighting, I mean to say, real religious fighting, on principle, it is, a kṣatriya is not responsible for killing. Just like in sacrificial ceremony, if the animal is killed, the brāhmaṇa is not responsible for killing an animal. So because it is duty, it is ordained by the śāstras, therefore they are not ordinary killing. Avyakta-nidhanāny eva tatra kā pari... "It was nonmanifested before, and it will become nonmanifested again. So why should you lament for the via media?"

Lecture on BG 4.8 -- Montreal, June 14, 1968:

So similarly, the ultimate change of this body is called death. When this body is no more workable, then we transmigrate to another body. That body is offered to us according to our consciousness. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). At the time of death, the situation of your consciousness makes you ready for accepting a similar body. And if you quit this body in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you get a body by which you can associate with Kṛṣṇa. That is to be understood, how it is possible. Therefore the training should be Kṛṣṇa conscious. (break)

...in particular type of consciousness. That we cannot deny. Now if we change our consciousness to Kṛṣṇa type of consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is perfection of our life. The process is: by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa we keep always alive to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on BG 6.11-21 -- New York, September 7, 1966:

So I (said), "Yes, they are meditating by lying down." Yes. So sometimes meditation goes on in sleeping. No. That is not the process. You cannot close your eyes completely. Then you will invite the queen. Sleep and she will capture you. Whole process will be like that.

Here it is said that in order to keep yourself alive, you have to always see the upper portion of your nose. Samprekṣya nāsikāgraṁ svaṁ diśaś cānavalokayan. And you cannot see that who is coming there, "Oh, who is here? Some tiger is coming or something is coming?" No. No fear. Because you are put in a Himalaya, in a secluded place, and in a sanctified place. So you haven't got to, for any other reason, you haven't got to move your neck. That is not possible in the society. You must have to go in a secluded place. There are so many disturbance. At once, disturbance is there and I have to look, "Who is there?" This is the position here. But here it is said that you cannot move your head. You have to sit down straight, that your neck and skull and body should be in one straight line, and you have to see the upper portion of your nose always.

Lecture on BG 7.1-2 -- Bombay, March 28, 1971:

So in order to understand asaṁśayam... Asaṁśayam means "without any doubt." At the present moment we have got many doubts whether actually there is God or not. In Europe and America, when I first went there in 1965, I was informed even by some clergymen that "God is dead." Then again, when I was chanting in the Tompkinson Square in New York, they admitted, and they published a very big article in one of the important papers of New York. They admitted that "We thought God was dead, but actually now we see God is there in the saṅkīrtana movement started by Swamiji." They admitted.

So these are saṁśayam, or doubts: whether there is actually God or not, whether God is dead or alive. But here Kṛṣṇa says that if we develop our attachment for Kṛṣṇa... Take Kṛṣṇa as a historical personality. Still, if you develop your attachment for Kṛṣṇa by the prescribed methods, then you will understand God without any doubt. Asaṁśayam. And samagram. Samagram, "in fullness." Not partially. The Absolute Truth, samagram Absolute Truth.

Lecture on BG 8.12-13 -- New York, November 15, 1966:

So that linking process is called yoga. Yoga, the actual translation of the word yoga means plus, plus, just the opposite of minus. Now, at the present moment, we are minus God, or minus Supreme. So when we make ourself plus, connected, then our human form of life is perfect. So at the time of death we have to finish that perfection. So long we are alive, we have to practice how to approach that point of perfection, and at the time of death, when we give up this material body, that perfection has to be realized.

So for the last three days we have been discussing. Prayāṇa-kāle manasā 'calena. Prayāṇa-kāle means "at the time of death." Just like the students, they prepare two years, three years, five years, in their college education, and the final test is their examination, and if they pass in the examination, they get the degree. Similarly, in our living condition, if we prepare for the examination at the time of death and we pass the examination, then we are transferred to the spiritual world.

Lecture on BG 9.2-5 -- New York, November 23, 1966:

So Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja said, ahany ahani lokāni gacchanti yama-mandiram. Ahani, ahany ahani means daily, every day, every moment. At least every day we see so many death list. If you go to the crematorium ground, you can see. So ahany ahani lokāni gacchanti yama-mandiram, śeṣaḥ sthitam icchanti. But those who are still alive, they think, "Oh, death will not take place. I'll live. I'll live." He does not think that he... You are also subjected to this principle of dying. But he does not take it seriously. This is called illusion, māyā. He thinks, oh, that "I shall live forever. Therefore let me do whatever I like. There is no question of responsibility." Oh, this is very risky life, very risky life. And this is the most covering part of illusion. One should be very serious that death is waiting. "As sure as death." If there is any surety in this world, that is death. Nobody can avoid it. And when there is death, oh, there is no more intelligence, no more your puffed-up philosophy. You are under the grip of nature.

Lecture on BG 10.1 -- New York, December 27, 1966:

If there is a strong man, many woman is attracted. So strength is also another feature of attraction.

Wealth, strength, and then fame. If a man is very famous, just take any famous man of the world, if he comes in this room, oh, thousands of people will come here. When Gandhi was alive I read one news from the newspaper in India that in some Italian city, there was great crowd, innumerable people gathered in the station. And nobody could understand why these people are assembled here. So when they are asked, they replied that, "We have heard that Gandhi is coming here." Mahatma Gandhi, perhaps you heard his name. He was very famous man, politician. So actually the news they are published that one, there was one Mr. Glandi. So he was coming. And people misunderstood as Gandhi. So my point is that a famous man also attracts. These things are attraction, richness, wealth, and strength, and famous, fame.

Then beauty. Beauty also attracts. If a man is beautiful, or a woman is beautiful, oh, many man or woman are after them, beautiful.

Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Hyderabad, December 15, 1976:

Because they are not śuci... Śuci means brāhmaṇas, always cleansed, hygienic. That is śuci. And muci. Muci means cobbler. There is a class in India, cobbler. Their business is to take away the dead animals, especially cows. Other animals, they do not care. They are taken by the vultures and others. But when a cow is dead, that is very important. Cow is alive important and dead also important. It is so important. When the cow is dead the skin is valuable, the hoof is valuable, the horn is valuable, the bones are valuable. Everything is valuable. Just like elephant. Dead or alive, it is one lakh of rupees. The price is the same. That is the... Because elephant is very costly, everyone knows. You cannot... One lakh of rupees. Unless one is king or a big zamindar he cannot purchase elephant, neither he can keep. And if the elephant is dead, that is also one lakh of rupees because it contains the ivory bones, very, very costly. So there are animals; either dead or alive, the price is the same. Similarly, cow, dead or alive, the price is the same.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- Caracas, February 20, 1975:

He immediately gets the gold immediately. And those who are awaiting for chemical examination, they will get it. They will also know, but it will take time.

So in this Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa Himself explains Himself, analytical study, and Vyāsadeva presents Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, "Here is God, Kṛṣṇa." Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Now it is up to you to take it or reject it. That is your business, but things are ready for acceptance. So everyone is searching after what is God. Somebody says, "There is no God." Somebody says, "God is dead." Somebody, "Something, something," but no. God is neither dead nor the action, action that "There is no God"—both of them foolishness. God is not dead; neither we are dead. Because we are part and parcel of God. So if God is alive, then part and parcel are alive. Just like if my body is alive, the finger is alive, because finger is part and parcel of my body, similarly, if God is alive, we are alive. And because we are now in material condition of life, therefore we do not understand what is God and what is our aim. Therefore it is called ajñāna, ignorance. Therefore one who dissipates this ignorance, he is called guru.

Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Bombay, December 28, 1972:

First deficiency is there is no yajnic brāhmaṇa. Formerly, the brāhmaṇas were so expert that by mantra they ignite fire, and they would test, putting one animal in the fire, they would take and make it again alive. That is the test of the mantra. By mantra, an animal, animal put into the fire, comes out again with rejuvenated life. People think that gomedha yajña, aśvamedha yajña are made for killing the animal. No. It was testing the mantra of the Vedas, whether actually being pronounced. That was the test. Just like in biological laboratory, the medical practitioner, they test with animals to observe the physiological and anatomical conditions. Similarly... But they cannot give life, they simply kill. But here in the Vedic yajña, the animal was put in the fire and it was again taken alive. Because such yajnic brāhmaṇa is not there in this Kali-yuga, therefore the all the yajñas are forbidden. Aśvamedhaṁ gavālambham (CC Adi 17.164). Aśvamedhaṁ ga... uh, pāla-paitṛkaṁ devareṇa sutot, sannyāsam pāla-paitṛkam. Even sannyāsa is also in this age. Karma-sannyāsa. That is called karma-sannyāsa.

Lecture on SB 1.2.17 -- San Francisco, March 25, 1967:

We have already discussed on this point that the spirit is eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre: (BG 2.20) "Even after the destruction of this body, the consciousness is not destroyed." That continues. Rather, consciousness transferred to another type of body makes me again alive to the material conception of life. And that is also described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). At the time of death, if our consciousness is pure, then it is sure that next life is not material. Next life's pure spiritual life. But if our consciousness is not pure at the point of the verge of death, just leaving this body, then we have to take again this material body. That is the process going on by nature's law. We have got our finer body. This is gross body. The body which you are seeing, which I am seeing, this is gross body. Just like shirt and coat. Within your coat, there is shirt, and within your shirt, there is a body. Similarly, the pure soul is covered by shirt and coat. The shirt is mind, intelligence and false ego. Mind, intelligence and false ego.

Lecture on SB 1.7.25 -- Vrndavana, September 22, 1976:

We cannot violate which is mentioned in the... Therefore he was taken... But he's avatāra. It was needed at that time.

As it is said here, bhuvo bhāra-jihīrṣayā. When these rascals and fools increase, it becomes a burden to the earth. Just like a practical example: a child or a man, you weigh him. When he's alive you will find one weight, and when he's dead you will find another weight. That is practical. It will be heavier. Why heavier? Because there is no more spirit soul. So the more people will be materialistic, the world will be burdened. Therefore there must be war, pestilence, famine, to clear these rascals, clear out. You'll find these things. In Europe, every ten years, twenty years, there is a fight, war. It is the history. From the Greece history, Roman history and Seven Years War, Hundred Years War-wars. There must be war, because they are sinful. The same sinful, killing animals continually. So there is war, reaction. So what is that war? To lessen the burden. To lessen the burden. It becomes very heavy, unbearable by the earth.

Lecture on SB 1.13.11 -- Geneva, June 2, 1974:

So Yamarāja said, "What benediction you want?" "Now, as woman, I wish that may be a son of mine, from me." "All right, you will get a son." Then again she said that "If you are taking away my husband, how I will get my son?" So her husband was made alive. So indirectly... So kṛṣṇa-devatāḥ. If you actually want to be eternally blissful, take to kṛṣṇa-devatāḥ. Or there is no need of praying for "Make me immortal." No. If you accept kṛṣṇa-devatāḥ, then automatically... Just like the benediction was that "You... Yes, you will get a son." Automatically her husband was made alive. So kṛṣṇa-devatāḥ.

So Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja asking that "Did you see them, the Yadu families, who have Kṛṣṇa as their worshipable Deity?" Dṛṣṭāḥ śrutā vā yadavaḥ. Yadu. Yadavaḥ is plural number. Sva-puryāṁ sukham āsate: "Whether they are happy in their home,"sva-puryām, sva-purī, "Dvārakā?" So in this way Kṛṣṇa consciousness means always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. And make Kṛṣṇa the friend. Kṛṣṇa says that suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29).

Lecture on SB 2.1.1-5 -- Boston, December 22, 1969:

Fortunately he was married. And when he was in the battlefield, fortunately his wife was pregnant, and this Parīkṣit Mahārāja was the posthumous child. He was born after the death of his father. He could not see his father. His grandfathers raised him. All the boys died, of the whole family, in the battlefield. Only these five brothers remained alive, and this child was in the womb of his mother. Otherwise, the members of the whole Kuru family died in the battle. It was such a big fight. So this child was also hit by atomic energy, brahmāstra, but Kṛṣṇa saved him. Kṛṣṇa wanted that "The descendant of My devotees, they must prolong." They were very good family, Kṛṣṇa conscious family. Kṛṣṇa wants to give protection to the Kṛṣṇa conscious men, family. That you know from the Bhagavad-gītā. So this child was saved even in the womb of his mother by Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa also could save him when the king was cursed by a brāhmaṇa boy, but Parīkṣit Mahārāja did not like the idea. He took it very seriously that "I have offended the brāhmaṇa, and he has cursed me. That's nice." You see? How much liberal he was. So he accepted.

Lecture on SB 2.1.2 -- Paris, June 11, 1974:

Professor Einstein or any other big, big scientist, they could not manufacture any scientific instrument and keep it in the custody of his student, that "As soon as I die, you just apply this machine. I shall come alive again." Where is that freedom? So this so-called scientific improvement, advancement in civilization, it is just like jumping like the dog. That's all. It has no value. Real value is to understand ātma-tattvam, "What I am? Why death is imposed upon me? I do not wish to die. Why old age is imposed upon me? I do not wish to become old man or old woman. I wish to remain a beautiful young..." "No, sir, that is not possible." Then where is your freedom? What for you are jumping so much? As soon as the master will call "Yes, sir. Bind me..."

So you are completely under the nature's control. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14).

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Bombay, December 25, 1976:

That means indirectly He accused Arjuna that "You are not paṇḍita. You're a fool because you are lamenting on the subject matter on which no paṇḍita laments." So what is that? This bodily conception, agatāsūṁś ca. Gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca. This body, dead or alive, is not the subject matter of study by learned scholars—this is the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā—dead or alive.

So actually we are concerned at the present moment with the body—either Indian, American, Hindu, Muslim, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, they are all bodily conception of life. But śāstra says that those who are on the bodily conception of life, they are no better than the animals.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 13, 1975:

That means we are not yet completely educated. Kṛṣṇa also chastised Arjuna in the beginning, (sic:) asatyam anvaśocas tvam prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase, "You are talking like a very learned scholar, but you are lamenting only the body, bodily concept of life." Gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ (BG 2.11). "So far the body is concerned, either it is dead or alive, a learned man does not care for it." That is svarūpa. Now we are simply concerned with this body; therefore we are missing our svarūpa, therefore missing mukti. I have already explained, mukti means to be situated in his own original, spiritual life. That is called svarūpa. Svarūpanu bhuti (?). Svarūpa. There is, I think there is the word used in Bhagavad-gītā that all the persons assembled in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, after death they attained svarūpa. Means liberated, all liberated and situated in spiritual life because they gave up their life in the presence of Kṛṣṇa. While dying they saw Kṛṣṇa. Therefore all of them after death attained svarūpa. So the mukti means sva-rūpena vyavasthitiḥ mukti hitva anyathā rūpam sva-rūpena vyavasthitiḥ.

Lecture on SB 5.5.5 -- London, September 3, 1971:

The human being, being advanced in consciousness, they should have used the advanced intelligence for self-realization. But that, they are... There is no such education in the universities. That... I raised this question in the Massachusetts Technical Institution when I was asked to speak, that "Where is your technical department where a man after death can be alive again, injecting some...?" Just like motor stops, so a mechanical technologist go and makes the, I mean to say, machine correctly. Then it again runs. That I understand that there is technology. But when a man stops running, where is the technology to give him again the energy to go on? Because it is Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this technology must be there. So I asked the university, "Where is your that department?" The rascal could not answer. (laughter) Yes. And they appreciated, the students. Later on, they surrounded me and they appreciated: "Actually, where is that technology in the university?" That is called parābhava.

Lecture on SB 5.5.34 -- Vrndavana, November 21, 1976:

What is this body? So long the hand is working, the eyes are working, the legs are working, all these different karma and jñāna, indriyas, they are working, then it is body. Otherwise, if the indriyas do not work, then it is dead matter. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur (BG 3.42). So these indriyas, so long the indriyas are working, that means my body is working, I am alive. Therefore if we engage our indriyas in the service of Kṛṣṇa, then this material..., not This is not material activities. To engage the senses in the matter of serving Kṛṣṇa, these are not material activities. These are all spiritual activities. And the difference between the Māyāvāda philosophy and Vaiṣṇava philosophy, that the Māyāvāda philosophy, they want to stop activities. They think stopping of all activities is perfection, śūnyam, śūnyavādi. Nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi. Simply stop material. But what is the positive engagement? That they do not know. That is the difference. Positive engagement means serving Kṛṣṇa. That positive engagement means, engagement means, acting means, the employment of the senses.

So when we employ our senses in the positive activities, that is liberation.

Lecture on SB 6.1.6 -- Bombay, November 6, 1970:

Prabhupāda: "Co-co, co-co, co."

Haṁsadūta: In India everything is alive.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Haṁsadūta: In India it appears that everything is alive.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Haṁsadūta: When we came we first noticed everywhere there's a town, all kinds of animals are living. No one is disturbing them.

Prabhupāda: Well, this is land of religion. It is admitted by other parts of the world. Just see. Columbus was searching after India even for trade, hundred of years... People are coming to India for so many: for knowledge, for philosophy, for trade, for money. Why these Britishers came? They came for money. And now, India being exploited for so many thousands of years and their standard of civilization deteriorated, the condition is now... Still, India's position is unique, still, in this fallen condition.

Lecture on SB 6.1.26 -- Honolulu, May 26, 1976:

"Death will come all of a sudden without waiting for my settle everything." That is the eighth wonder. This question was asked by Dharmarāja to Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja: "What are the wonders, the most wonderful wonders? What is that?" So he said, "This is the most wonderful thing." "What is that?" Ahany ahani gacchanti lokāni yama-mandiram. Every moment we see that someone is going to the court of Yamaraja—that means death. That is our experience, everything. Ahany ahani lokāni gacchanti yama-mandiraṁ śeṣāḥ sthitam icchanti. Śeṣāḥ, who is not yet dead, he's still alive, he thinks, "I will never die. My dear friend is dying. That's all right. But I'll... Your father is dead. No, still I will be..." Śeṣāḥ sthitam icchanti kim aścaryam ataḥ param. This is the most wonderful thing that we have experience, that "My father is dead, my father's father is dead, so I shall also be die, my sons will die." Well, who will stay? Well, what is the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest? He never thinks of it. This is the eighth wonder.

Lecture on SB 6.1.27 -- Honolulu, May 27, 1976:

The law will go on. One king may be dead. The next, his son or somebody will become king, and the government law will go on. So what is the use of talking foolishly like "God is dead"? God is never dead. This is going on. This morning we're talking.

So we are concerned with the laws of God. God may be dead or alive—it doesn't matter. Suppose by law we are prisoners, we are in the prison house, and all of a sudden the president or the king dies. Does it mean you shall be free? No. You have to rot. Just like Bengali proverb says (Bengali), that if the king dies, his government is not stopped. We should remember that, that that government is prakṛti, the material nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). You are reading Bhagavad-gītā. So this is all foolish things, that "God is dead," "I don't care for God." But God, actually, God is not dead. You are dead. You are dead actually because this body, the bodily concept of life, this body is dead. Just like you are driving one car. But if you think that "I'm the car..." The car is dead. The car is moving because you are alive.

Lecture on SB 6.1.27 -- Honolulu, May 27, 1976:

Similarly, this dead body, this body is dead, already dead from the very beginning, but it is moving on account of the soul. This is knowledge. It is dead from the very beginning. Therefore in the śāstra it is said that... What is that? I am just now forgetting. Oh, aprāṇasya hi dehasya maṇḍanaṁ loka-rañjanam. Aprāṇasya hi dehasya. Deha, deha means this body. So either it is dead or alive, it has no life. Aprāṇasya hi dehasya. Deha, he is not alive. It is always dead. Simply we understand, because we are foolish rascals, we understand that this body is dead when the soul is away. The body is always dead. So bhagavad-bhakti-vihīnasya jatiḥ japas tapaḥ kriyaḥ. If one is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, bhāgavata-bhakti-vihīnasya, then his big nationality, jatiḥ, his achievement, japas tapaḥ, his activities, everything bhagavad-bhakti-vihīnasya jatiḥ japas tapaḥ kriyaḥ, all these things are like decoration of the dead body. Aprāṇasya hi dehasya maṇḍanaṁ loka-rañjanam. Maṇḍanaṁ loka-rañjanam. We are decorating this body with flower, ornaments, nice cloth. How long? So long the life is there. Then it is beautiful. Otherwise no one will do. If you garland... Suppose I become dead and you garland.

Lecture on SB 6.1.27 -- Honolulu, May 27, 1976:

"My dear Arjuna, you are talking like very learned scholar, but you are so rascal that you are talking of this body."

So, so far this body's concerned, either it is dead or alive, it is not the subject matter of any talk. Nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ. Those who are learned scholars don't talk about the body. They'll talk about the soul. That is paṇḍita. What is the... This is dead body. Suppose this is cloth. Uh? Now if you talk about this cloth, you can talk. You can write volumes of books: "This silk was purchased in that store and it was manufactured in such and such day, and the man manufactured, he's like this..." You can go on talking nonsense like that and can write books. So all these rascal philosophers, they are writing about this cloth. That's all. Yasyātmā-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). But this is not the subject matter for the learned scholars. Nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ. What is this body? A combination of matter. It is already dead.

Lecture on SB 6.1.41 -- Los Angeles, June 7, 1976:

You cannot understand bad without having some conception of good, and you cannot understand good without having some conception of bad. You require the opposite. So in the spiritual world, this duality conception is absent. Everything is absolute. We have to understand this theoretically at the present moment. But there, everything is cintāmaṇi. Everything is alive, spiritual.

So Nārāyaṇa's place is there, sa dhāmani. That is His own abode. This is also Nārāyaṇa's abode, this material world. Just like king. King's kingdom is very widespread, but still, he has got a palace. That is sa dhāmani. Everywhere his property, government property, but still there is a government house, particular. Similarly, everything belongs to God, īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1), everything. Everything, God's property. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). He is the proprietor. But still He has got His own abode. That is Goloka Vṛndāvana. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto (Bs. 5.37). That is God. He's always there. He hasn't got to go out for some business.

Lecture on SB 6.2.12-14 -- Allahabad, January 17, 1971, at Kumbha-mela:

He has uttered offenselessly once the name of Nārāyaṇa." But one should not think that "All right. Let us go on committing all sinful activities, and at the time of my death I shall think of Nārāyaṇa or Kṛṣṇa." That is not possible. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. If you practice when you are alive, when you are strong for chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa or Nārāyaṇa, then there may be chance. Otherwise it is not possible. Not that a layman will all of a sudden will chant "Nārāyaṇa." He must have previous practice. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). Amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. Sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ. In the Bhagavad-gītā Śrī Kṛṣṇa says, sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ (BG 8.6). If you practice in your life chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa... I remember one of our teachers in our school life. He instructed that "If you always think that 'I shall pass my examination with distinction,' then you can pass in first division. If you think that 'I shall pass my examination in the first division,' then you may pass in the third division.

Lecture on SB 6.3.18 -- Gorakhpur, February 11, 1971:

Preaching, you have to meet opposing elements. So many will criticize, so many will attack. Nityānanda Prabhu was hurt personally, but still, outdoor. This is missionary work, not that "Whenever I find some opportunity, go to some solitary place and sleep." This is not missionary life.

So we should adjust things, not that "All right, it is going on. That's all." You have got very responsible business, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is genuine, it is authorized, and Lord Caitanya wants us to do it all over the world. The things should be adjusted and keep us always alive to our self responsibility. That is missionary life, not to give away. (aside:) So it is working?

So I think we should now... Six-thirty, yes. You can have kīrtana, another kīrtana. Our business is very responsible.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

From the very beginning. The Bhagavad-gītā is begun from the understanding that Arjuna was spoken by Kṛṣṇa, aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāmś ca bhāṣase (BG 2.11). "My dear Arjuna, you are talking like a very learned man but," gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ, "but actually one who is learned man, he does not bother about this body either dead or alive." This is not the subject matter, to supply the necessities of body. This is not the subject matter of study for a learned man. In other words, the whole world is absorbed in the study of this body only. So there is no learned man according to Bhagavad-gītā. Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāmś ca bhāṣase (BG 2.11). That you are talking Actually, so many learned men, M.A., Ph.D., with university qualification, they are talking so much, but as soon as they are asked, "Do you know what is the soul?" They stop.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1-2 -- Stockholm, September 6, 1973:

Bhāgavata means in relationship with God. So our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is bhāgavata-dharma. Bhāgavata-dharma means we are presenting God. People are searching out whether there is God, God is dead or alive. But we are giving, "Here is God. Here is His name, here is His address, here is His activities." Everything we are giving distinctly. Not blindly, but there is philosophy, there is reason, there is logic, and these are all stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, sixty volumes. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that everyone from the very childhood, that means when education begins, this bhāgavata-dharma. Otherwise, we are missing the point. We are missing the opportunity of this human form of life. We are simply living like cats and dogs and dying like cats and dogs. And if we maintain that mentality like cats and dogs, then next life... Because we are given the opportunity by nature to utilize our consciousness, to utilize our intelligence, to understand God. But if we do not utilize, if we live like cats and dogs, then next life we have to accept, by nature's law, the body of cats and dog. This is bhāgavata-dharma. This is an opportunity.

Lecture on SB 7.9.9 -- Montreal, July 4, 1968:

How you can conceive, how you can perceive that God is not dead? There is sufficient symptom that God is not dead. Just like your body. If you are breathing, if your bodily functions are working nice, if there is blood, and if you are feeling, thinking, willing nicely, will the doctor say that you are dead? No. He will say, "No. All the symptoms of life are present there, so he is not dead. He is alive." Similarly, if you have got that talent to test how God is alive, that is very simple. The whole cosmic manifestation, the whole gigantic body of God is working so nicely. The sun is rising in time, the moon is rising in time, the seasonal changes are taking place in time, the planets are moving. Everything is in order. How you can say that God is dead? What is your reason? No. God is not dead. God is alive, and you can meet also God because He is a person and you are a person. Just like here, if you try, you can meet the greatest personality of this material world, say, the president. It is not difficult. You have to simply arrange your meeting. Similarly, you can meet God face to face, just we are meeting here face to face. Simply you have to make arrangement.

Lecture on SB 7.9.11-13 -- Hawaii, March 24, 1969:

So these, these qualities are working. These qualities are working. Now, in your country, by the rajo-guṇa you have created so many things, a nice country, very nicely operating. But another side: the confusion is there, the hippies. You see? Future hope of the country is very dark. You see? It will spoil the whole thing if the country's not alive to the situation. This is another way of protest. Just like in Europe there are, in Russia there is communist, so this is another way of... So these qualities will work because this material world—one side, goodness; another side, darkness; another side, activity. This is going on. So as there are so many departments of activities, all these demigods, they are in charge of, director, director in chief. So brahmādayaḥ. Brahmā is in charge of something. Indra is in charge of something. The demigods, they're officers. They have no information. They say, "It is nature, nature, nature, nature." No nature. They are department, department. Indra is in charge of this cloud, how cloud is conducted, how rain falls there, and he's in charge of... Water department, like that. Just like moon. Moon is in charge of lighting at night.

Lecture on SB 7.9.22 -- Mayapur, February 29, 1976:

So they keep it for some years, and when it is decomposed, the juice is coming, they strain the juice and keep it in bottle. That is called naphi. And when there is some festival, they give little, little, and people enjoy it. So, nānā yoni bhraman kare, kadarya bhakṣaṇa kare. When my Guru Mahārāja was alive, we had one temple, one of his, in Burma, in Rangoon. So when they were making puris with nice ghee, all the inhabitants will come, "Oh! What you are doing? What you are doing? (laughter) What you are doing? Intolerable. It is..." The flavor of ghee was intolerable, and the flavor of naphi is tolerable.

So nānā yoni bhraman kare, kadarja bhakṣaṇ kare. Very peculiar condition we are in this material world. But do not think that when Kṛṣṇa comes, He also is subjected to this suffering. No. That is īśitā. Just like there are many patients in the hospital, infectious disease, but that does not mean the doctors who are treating them, they are also infectious. No. They are not infectious. Similarly, when Kṛṣṇa comes... Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7).

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.1 -- Mayapur, March 25, 1975:

And that is further explained by Kṛṣṇa, that living force means na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), na jāyate na mriyate kadācit. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, that living force is not finished even after the annihilation of this body. Very nice statement by Kṛṣṇa. We can understand living... In the life, when we are alive, the body is moving, we can understand what is living force. And we can understand further when the body does not move—that difference, why the body was moving and why the body is not now moving. If we simply study this difference of position we can understand what is living force. It is not very difficult. Simply we have to understand, "Now this living force is gone out of this body; therefore the body is no longer moving and it is a dead matter." This is this... So this Caitanya-caritāmṛta means we are talking of the living force, not of the dead matter. We should always remember. So the guru belongs to that living force. And Īśa, Īśa means controller. So everyone, that living force. Gurūn, īśa, īśa-bhaktān, īśa-bhaktān and īśam.

Festival Lectures

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 16, 1968:

This is not a sect. This is for people of the world who understand one premise, that "I am not this body; I am pure spirit soul," that this body is simply a dress. Just like you wear clothes. But what is it that keeps you alive that is eternal? This is spirit soul. This is so simple that even a child at the age of five years can understand this. If it's from a bona fide source, he can understand this.

We are requesting to you that you please come to the practices of Bhāgavata. Come to kīrtana. By chanting

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare

Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

you at once are elevated into the spiritual platform, and our contaminated material senses may become purified simply because of this association of the names of God. These names are absolute. They are not material. If you chant "water, water, water, water," your thirst will not be quenched.

Varaha-dvadasi, Lord Varaha's Appearance Day Lecture -- Bhuvanesvara, January 31, 1977:

It is not living. It is dead. From the very beginning it is dead. And when the soul will go away, it will appear its real identity-dead. Otherwise it is dead. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that "You are lamenting on this body? Oh, you are such a rascal." Nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ. Those who are learned, they do not care for this body, either dead or alive. It is dead matter. So why should you lament for the dead matter?

aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ

prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase

gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca

nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ

(BG 2.11)

This is spiritual life. When we are not at all concerned with this body, material body, that is the beginning of spiritual life. And so long we are interested with the dead lump of matter without any information of the spirit soul within it, that is material life. This is the difference between material life and spiritual life.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation Sri Ranga, Romaharsana, Sridhara Dasas -- Los Angeles, July 3, 1970:

That was his offense. So exemplary. He was killed not with any weapon. One straw. He was immediately... Balarāma had some straw. So all the sages said that "Sir, we allowed him to sit on the vyāsāsana, and he was speaking. Now what is to be done? He's killed." So then Balarāma said, "All right. If you want, I can make him immediately alive." So they also considered that "If we say that 'Make him alive,' then... Balarāma's decision was to kill him. Then we overrule Him." Just see how the behavior. Then the saints and sages said, "No, Sir. We do not want. Whatever You have done, that is all right. But You do something, that we blessed this man for long life to speak. Now he is dead. So our version is also nullified. But we want that our version may not be nullified and Your action may not be nullified. You do something like that." (laughter) So then Balarāma said, "All right. You bring his son. I shall empower him and he shall be a great speaker on this Vedic literature." And because his son means he himself... Ātmaiva jayate putra. Son is born, there is no... The father and son there is no distinction.

General Lectures

Speech to Indian Audience -- Montreal, July 28, 1968:

If head is cut off from the body, then body becomes immediately dead. But if your hand is cut off from the body, the body still remains alive. It is not dead. So the intelligent class of men who form the head of the society, if they are lacking, if there is no intelligent class of men, then it is to be considered that sort of human society is dead, because the head is not there. Similarly, at the present moment there is lack of intelligent class of men. Intelligent class of men... Who is intelligent class of men? There are so many intelligent class of men. So according to Bhagavad-gītā, intelligent class of men can be tested by some qualification. What is that? Satya śaucaṁ samaḥ damaḥ titikṣa ārjavam, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42). Intelligent class of men means... First qualification is that he must be truthful. Then satya, śaucam. He must be always clean. Bahyābhyantaram: he must be clean without and within.

Lecture on Teachings of Lord Caitanya -- Seattle, September 25, 1968:

Paṇḍitāḥ means those who are learned, they are not affected by this body, either dead or alive. So that means one should be inquisitive to learn about the soul which is sitting in the body. That is real knowledge.

So one who is inquisitive about understanding that knowledge, he requires a spiritual master. Not that one who wants to keep this body fit or wants to reduce fat. No. For him there is no necessity of spiritual master. That he can go to a doctor or a medical physician. That's all. He can advise. What is the use of going to a spiritual master? Spiritual master means jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam. Who can teach you about the highest benediction, he is spiritual master. So we shall discuss in next meeting. This is very interesting, and you'll be profited if you please come and hear.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 2, 1968:

So the function of the body of the original person is going on nicely. How you can say that God is dead? Just like in your body, when the physician finds by feeling your pulse that the heart beating is going on nicely, he does not declare that "This man is dead." He says, "Yes, he is alive." Similarly, if you are intelligent enough, you can feel the pulse of the universal body—and it is going on nicely. So how you can say God is dead? God is never dead. It is rascal's version that God is dead—unintelligent persons, persons who have no sense how to feel something dead or alive. One who has got the sense to feel how a thing is dead or alive, to understand, he'll never say God is dead. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated that janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ: (BG 4.9) "Any intelligent person who can simply understand how I take my birth and how I work," janma karma... Now, mark this word janma, birth; and karma, work. He never says janma mṛtyu. Mṛtyu means death. Everything that is born, that has death also. Anything. We haven't got any experience which is born does not die.

Lecture Excerpt -- London, August 13, 1971:

That we can experience. Anubhāva. It is called anubhāva perception. So anyone, any sane man, can understand there is something missing. The scientists also say, "the something missing." Now, what is that missing, they cannot say. If they knew it, what is missing, then they are scientists, they could produce again that thing by laboratory mixture of chemicals and put it into the body, and he becomes alive. No, that is not possible. Acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet. Therefore Veda says that "Don't uselessly argue on subject matter which is beyond your perception." That is not the process.

So here, the original cause is being explained by Vyāsadeva. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Now, what type of that supreme cause is that? Is it a stone or sentient? No. Vyāsadeva informs, no. The original cause, how it can be a stone? Original cause cannot be. It must be sentient. Creator must be sentient. Without brain, without creative power, how there can be creation? Where is your argument? No, that is not. These are false arguments.

Address to Rotary Club -- Chandigarh, October 17, 1976:

"How can I kill my..., the other side? They are my brothers, and if the brothers are dead, my sister-in-laws will be widow and they will be polluted, and there will be varṇa-saṅkara. And so..." These things are facts, but Kṛṣṇa says that "You are simply taking calculation of the body. Body. You have no spiritual calculation. The life is meant for spiritual understanding, athāto brahma jijñāsā. But you have no such understanding. You have no such knowledge, and still you are speaking." Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase: (BG 2.11) "You are talking like a very learned man, but My dear friend, you are not learned." He said in a different way. Agatāsūn. Gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ. "Because this body... You are thinking in terms of bodily relationship, but a paṇḍita, a learned scholar... Actually he is learned scholar when he does not lament for this body, either alive or dead." This is the first instruction. This body is already dead. It is matter, dead matter. But you should try to understand the living spirit within this body.

Evening Lecture -- Bhuvanesvara, January 23, 1977:

And Kṛṣṇa also says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru, mām evaiṣyasi asaṁśayaḥ (BG 18.68). These four things will get you back to home, back to Godhead. What is that? Simply think of Kṛṣṇa. But if from the very beginning you want to understand the meaning of Kṛṣṇa—"Kṛṣṇa is nirākāra. He has no hand, He has no leg"—then how you'll think of Kṛṣṇa? You have to give up all this nonsense idea. Then wherever you live, you will be perfect by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (break) ...Kali-yuga the special advantage is that people cannot become very much advanced in spiritual life, but for Kali-yuga there is a special concession. Kalau nāsty nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma iva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21). And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also, it is confirmed, kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅga paraṁ vrajet (SB 12.3.51). So you remain gṛhastha. It is now difficult to give up gṛhastha life. But don't be merged into this black hole. Don't make black hole tragedy. Be alive, take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and you'll be happy. So there is no distinction in Kṛṣṇa-bhajana whether one is a gṛhastha or a sannyāsī. He must take the science. Then he will be all right.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Prabhupāda: And within those small particles there is Kṛṣṇa. That small particle is not final. Aṇḍāntara-stha paramāṇu... That is also superficial.

Śyāmasundara: He says that these monads are individual, conscious, alive and active, and they range in quality from the lowest type, or matter, through the higher of types, such as soul, to the highest, which is God.

Prabhupāda: So whether within the atom there is soul or not?

Śyāmasundara: His theory is that even the atoms are made out of these monads.

Prabhupāda: What is a monad?

Śyāmasundara: It's difficult to understand, but a monad means a tiny particle of force which is...

Prabhupāda: And we say that is Kṛṣṇa.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: So what is the profit? After fifty years he has to die. Stop, stop death, then that is credit.

Śyāmasundara: They say they will be able to take out someone like Einstein's brain when his body dies and keep it alive, a disembodied brain, and use it like a computer.

Prabhupāda: All right. Whatever. (sounding disgusted) No. All rascals, fools. As if in the brain there is the thing. What is this brain? It is a material substance, what is there, lump of matter.

Śyāmasundara: Just like they can take a heart out of a living being and they put it in a machine and keep it alive and then they transplant it to some other person.

Prabhupāda: The same intelligence, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13), they're trying to find out life in this lump of matter. That is their defect.

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Hayagrīva: He felt that the spirit of mysticism must be kept alive by the fortunate few who know God until such time as a profound change in the material conditions imposed on humanity by nature should permit in spiritual matters of a profound transformation.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Actually they are trying to change the whole situation. The perfect social order is, as I have already mentioned it, that is perfect society when they have learned how to love God, without any motive, as natural behavior between the father and the son, and the son and the father, mother and the son. That is real perfection, perfection of society. Godless society is animal society. It is not to be adored.

Hayagrīva: What could..., what must he mean by "until such time as a profound change in the material conditions imposed on humanity by nature should permit in spiritual matters of a profound transformation?" What kind of...

Prabhupāda: Transformation.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Śyāmasundara: He says... I'll read a statement of his. He says that "The will forces a person to remain alive, even when there is nothing for which to live. It impels him to live and suffer another day, even when there is no hope or promise of any pleasant future prospects. It is like the alms which the beggar receives from life today, that he may hunger again on the morrow. For all men, irrespective of their status, the essence of life is misery and frustration."

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is a good point, but why he is hankering after something? Why he is hankering after...? He is being frustrated.

Śyāmasundara: The will. The will is...

Prabhupāda: Therefore the conclusion is: there is a goal. He is hankering after that goal. But he has not as yet approached that goal, achieved that goal. Therefore, to understand what is that goal, one should approach a spiritual master. Tad vijñānātaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Prabhupāda: How it is possible? So long the living entity is alive, he, he will will, some sort of willing. So that means the willing party, the living being, he is eternal, and the willing, this activity, has to be purified. Then his life will be happy. Willing cannot be stopped, because he is eternal. But he is wrongly willing; therefore he is unhappy. When he will come to the position of willing rightly, then he will be happy.

Hayagrīva: According to him, the man of knowledge is not disturbed in any condition. He says, "Such a man would regard death as a false allusion, an impotent specter which frightens the weak but has no power over him, who knows that he is himself the will of which the whole world is the objectification or copy, and that therefore he is always certain of life and also of the present." He goes on to say that he could not be terrified by an endless past or future in which he would not be, for this he would regard...

Prabhupāda: Then why does he want nirvāṇa? This is contradictory.

Philosophy Discussion on Ludwig Wittgenstein:

Prabhupāda: The main principle is when the body is called dead, why don't you put some chemicals and make it alive again? You say something is wanted. What is that something? That you do not know. But we can say what is that something. We say that something is the soul. That is wanting.

Śyāmasundara: So far that proposition, you said "I am" means that the soul exists. That is your proposition.

Prabhupāda: My proposition is that "I am" means I am the soul, spirit soul, not this body.

Śyāmasundara: So they say that if we are to verify this proposition, to prove that it is true, then we have to know what conditions under which it is true. What are those conditions under which it is true?

Philosophy Discussion on Ludwig Wittgenstein:

Prabhupāda: That is evidence. Because the soul is there, therefore the child is growing or changing body from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youth. Suppose a child is born, doctor says it is dead child. You say something is wanted, but what is that something? You do not know. Otherwise, if you know, you add it. What is that something? Suggest, what is that something? Simply vague idea something, that is nonsense idea. That is not science. You must give, "This is wanting." Suppose that you say that the blood, the redness, just like nowadays blood supply is the theory, so what is this blood? Blood is a liquid, red liquid, like chemical or something, with some salt. So you can add salt, just like in cholera cases, they add saline injection. So dead body, you give saline injection, make it red by some color, give him life. If you say that "Red blood is now white," so make it red. What is the difficulty? There is no difficulty. There are so many chemicals. If you say the redness is the life, then there are many natural products, just like jewels, by nature it is red. Why is it not alive? Why it is not alive? By natural redness of something, if you say that is the cause of life, then there are many jewels. What is called, jewels?

Philosophy Discussion on Ludwig Wittgenstein:

Prabhupāda: Ruby. Why it is not alive? Redness is there. Therefore we have to accept your identification with the soul, not with this body; otherwise this is nonsense.

Śyāmasundara: He is not disputing that there is soul or there is not soul. He is merely putting forward a principle to test something, if it is true or false.

Prabhupāda: This is the test. This is the test. Because the soul is there, therefore the body is moving.

Śyāmasundara: So that is the evidence for...

Prabhupāda: That is the evidence. Anyone can see. Now we say, "My father is gone. Oh, my father is gone." Where has he gone? Your father is lying there. Why do you say gone?

Devānanda: They say he has passed away. But what is passed away?

Philosophy Discussion on Ludwig Wittgenstein:

Devānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda, when death comes, at the moment... Before death, the whole body is alive, completely alive and functioning, and in a split second it's all finished, completely dead. That would be an evidence that it is not a chemical combination. If it were a chemical combination it would die slowly.

Prabhupāda: The reason is that the soul, when quitting this body, there is examination what kind of body he is going to get. Superior examination. Either you call nature or God, there is superior... According to his karma he will get a body. Now, that requires a little time. So what kind of body this soul will get? As soon as it is decided, then immediately he's transferred to that kind of body, and this body remains there.

Śyāmasundara: This would also, it seems, satisfy his second requirement for verification, that sense observation or information ultimately derived by means of sense observation is necessary for verification.

Prabhupāda: This is sense observation. It not nonsensical; it is complete sense, sensible, that now this soul has passed and quit this body—death. So the body is not the man; the soul is the man. This is quite sensible. It is not nonsensical. Otherwise how do you explain? You explain what is that distinction between dead body and living body. What is your sensible explanation, according to this philosopher?

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Hayagrīva: How, how, well, he does. He says, his very words, he says, "Since we have discarded God the father, there has to be someone to invent values. Before you become alive, life is nothing. It's up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing else but the meaning that you choose."

Prabhupāda: I will have to give meaning of my life? So what is that idea?

Hayagrīva: You must give meaning to your own life. Since, since there is no God to give life meaning, man must invent his own meaning.

Prabhupāda: Everyone will invent his meaning.

Hayagrīva: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Then where, where there will be symmetry?

Hayagrīva: Si..., similitude.

Prabhupāda: No, symmetry.

Philosophy Discussion on Origen:

Hayagrīva: He uses this metaphor. He writes, "The human body has unity because its various members are all made for specific functions in it, and it is bounded by a single soul. In the same way, it seems to me, the whole immense, gigantic world should be regarded as one being kept alive by God's power and logos, as by a single soul."

Prabhupāda: But single soul is created, he says. But that single soul, his spiritual identity is never created. That is the difference between matter and spirit. Anything material, that is created. Spiritual is never created.

Hayagrīva: At the same time...

Prabhupāda: (aside:) You go and wash your face with water, running.

Hayagrīva: At the same time Origen differed from the later Church tradition in his belief in the transmigration of the soul. Although he believed that the soul was originally created, he believed that it transmigrated, and it transmigrated because the soul, the individual soul, could always refuse to give itself to God, although he believed that ultimately the time will come when everyone will return, and God's rule will be restored to its original integrity.

Philosophy Discussion on St. Augustine:

Prabhupāda: Augustine says as spiritual death, that is his forgetfulness. Just like in unconsciousness one forgets his identity, but if he is dead then he cannot revive consciousness. Similarly, it is little difficult for the bodily concept of life persons, but there are many proofs and understanding that soul is eternal. He, of course, until he gets his freedom from this material existence, he is spiritually dead. Even though he is working in this material form, because he has forgotten his real identity, that is also a kind of death. Yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī. This śloka explains how one is dead and how one is alive. When one is forgetful of his spiritual consciousness, God consciousness, he is supposed to be dead, and when he, one is alive to the spiritual consciousness or God consciousness, he is alive. In this sense, it is a question of two stages, awakening stage and forgetful stage, but actually a soul is eternal. He never dies, even after the annihilation of this body.

Philosophy Discussion on St. Augustine:

Prabhupāda: Yes, it is not. It can be, what is called, revived, his consciousness. That is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Just like a man is sleeping, almost unconscious, but if you call him again and again, and the sound enters through the ear into the heart, he becomes awakened. Similarly, by this chanting process he revives his spiritual consciousness, then he is alive in his spiritual life.

Hayagrīva: So then... But Augustine would say that God would eternally abandon the damned soul, a soul damned to eternal perdition.

Prabhupāda: "Eternally abandon" means for very, very long years, millions of years, he remains forgetful. So...

Hayagrīva: Seemingly eternal.

Prabhupāda: Ah. But actually he can be revived at any moment in good association, sādhu-saṅga (CC Madhya 22.83), by this method of hearing and chanting, śravaṇam. Therefore this devotional service, beginning with hearing, is very important. If he consciously hears from the self-realized soul, then he becomes awakened to his spiritual life, and keeping himself always in the devotional service, he remains spiritually alive.

Philosophy Discussion on St. Augustine:

Hayagrīva: Well, this..., thinking in this way Augustine writes, he says, "We do not apply 'Thou shalt not kill' to plants, because they have no sensation, or to irrational animals that fly, swim, walk or creep, because they are linked to us by no association or common bond. By the creator's wise ordinance they are meant for our use, dead or alive. It only remains for us to apply the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' to man alone, oneself and others." So...

Prabhupāda: So that is imagination of Augustine. But Jesus Christ does not say such qualitative killing. He says frankly, "Thou shalt not kill." When he says that, he means, "You should not kill." But when there is absolute necessity, just like he says that "One life is food for the another life..." Does he not say it like that?

Hayagrīva: He says, uh... (break) He says..., this is, this is Augustine writing. He said, "Some people try to stretch the prohibition 'Thou shalt not kill' to cover beasts and cattle and make it unlawful to kill any such animal, but then why not include plants and anything rooted in and feeding on the soil? After all, things like this, though devoid of feeling, are said to have life and therefore can die and so be killed by violent treatment."

Philosophy Discussion on Rene Descartes:

Prabhupāda: Now you find out what is that extra. That extra you will find out if you come to the right platform—that it is soul, jīvātmā. And on the basis of jīvātmā, that is very minute. If you take authority of the Vedic śās..., very, very minute, one ten-thousandth part of the top of the hair, a very small particle that we cannot find it where it is in the body. It is very small. So with your material eyes and material instruments it can not be found. We are missing. But this thing is there, we get information from the śāstra. Therefore the life is going on, it is so powerful. Just like the sun is ninety-three million miles away, but it is keeping the whole universe illuminated. Similarly, although the soul is very, very small particle, it is keeping this body alive, fresh. So by material analysis you cannot find out, because it is so small you cannot see that. But it is to be accepted that because that small particle is there, this body has developed. So the conclusion is that matter comes on account of soul, not that combination of matter produces soul.

Purports to Songs

Purport to Parama Koruna -- Atlanta, February 28, 1975:

"Now we are independent." This is all illusion.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared to save us from all these illusions. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Caitanya means living, not dead. If we have no spiritual consciousness, if we have not Kṛṣṇa's consciousness, then we are dead. This, what is this body? This body is dead. Alive or dead, so-called dead, it is already dead because it is matter. But because there is spirit soul, it is moving. The same example: the motor car, what is this? A lump of matter, some iron, some other metals or some rubbers and combination. And so long the driver is there—it is moving—it is important so long it is moving. And as soon as the movement stops, you throw it away. That is very good experience in your country. So many useless motor cars are heaped together. So similarly, the brāhmaṇa means one must know that who is the driver of this body, brahma-jñāna. So at the present moment nobody knows who is driving this body. So therefore all śūdras, fourth-class men. There is no first-class man. But in the human society there must be four classes of men: first class, second class, third class... Fourth class also required for assisting the higher, third class.