Banyan tree (Lectures, Conv. and Letters)

Expressions researched:
"asvattha" |"banyan" |"banyans"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.23-24 -- London, August 27, 1973:

Sarva-gataḥ means all-pervading, everywhere the soul is there. Even within the stone, even within the sands, there are. So how these people can say there is no existence of living entity in the moon planet? Sarva-gataḥ. We have seen sometimes that from the stone, I have marked it. There is one juma mastika(?) in Agra. On the top of the stone dome a plant has come out, on the top. Now who has gone to place that seed that a banyan tree, banyan plant has come out and it has cracked the stone? So nobody has gone there, but this means the soul is everywhere. As soon as it gets the opportunity, it accepts a material body immediately. As soon as there is opportunity. That is explained in the Seventh Chapter very nicely.

Lecture on BG 2.30 -- London, August 31, 1973:

This is very important. Not that simply in human body the soul is there and not in other bodies. That is rascaldom. Sarvasya. In every body. Even within the ant, even within the elephant, even within the gigantic banyan tree or within the microbe. Sarvasya. The soul is there. But some rascals, they say the animals have no soul. This is wrong. How you can say the animal has no soul? Everyone. Here the authoritative statement by Kṛṣṇa: sarvasya. And in other place, Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ: (BG 14.4) In all species of life, as many forms are there, 8,400,000 different forms of life, tāsāṁ mahad yonir brahma. Mahad yonir. Their source of body is of this material nature. Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā: "I am the seed-giving father." As without father and mother there is no offspring, so the father is Kṛṣṇa and the mother is material nature, or spiritual nature.

Lecture on BG 7.9 -- Vrndavana, August 15, 1974:

He's the life, seed. Bījo 'ham... Next, next verse He'll say, bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 7.10). Bīja, the seed. The seed is so nicely made by Kṛṣṇa's brain that as soon as you put on the seed within the earth and put some water, it will come out, fructify, and gradually grow and exact the flavor, the color, everything. This is a fact. No, everybody knows. Not only that, a small seed of banyan tree... Bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānām. There is also Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise how this wonderful thing can happen? A small seed just like a mustard seed, and it... Not only one tree, but many millions of fruits, and in each fruit, many millions of trees. This is Kṛṣṇa's brain. You cannot do that. The so-called manufacturers, they can manufacture one watch, very complicated, but not that from that watch many watches will come. No, that is not possible.

But Kṛṣṇa is so powerful, omnipotent, that He has manufactured... Because He is there. Bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 7.10). Whenever He is there, He can play wonderful things. This is the study of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Where is the difficulty?

Lecture on BG 7.9-10 -- Bombay, February 24, 1974:

And the same question was raised by the cobbler, and he, Nārada Muni replied in the same way. And he began to cry, "Oh, my Lord is so powerful. He can do anything." So Nārada Muni inquired that "How do you believe that the elephant is being drawn through the hole of a needle?" "Now, why not? I am seeing daily. I am sitting under this banyan tree and there is fig, banyan fruit, and there are thousands of seeds, and I know that each seed's containing a big tree like this."

That's a fact. Everyone knows. Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām. (Bg 7.10) Here Kṛṣṇa says, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām. Is there any chemist? Just get one small seed like the fig seed. It is very small, but it contains that big tree. Where is that chemistry? Where is that physics? So here is the answer, Kṛṣṇa says, bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ viddhi. Big, even this big, gigantic universe, that is also bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānām. It is stated in the Vedic literature. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). There are so many things.

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

What Nārāyaṇa was doing?" He also said that "He was doing like this..." Oh, he began to cry, "Oh, my Lord is wonderful. He can do anything." So Nārada inquired, "So do you believe that Lord can push one elephant through the holes of a needle?" "Oh, why not? I must believe." "Then what is your reason?" "Oh, my reason? I am sitting under this banyan tree, and so many fruits are falling daily, and in each fruit there are thousands of seeds, and each seed there is a tree. If in a small seed there can be big tree like that, is it very impossible to accept that Kṛṣṇa is putting one elephant through the, I mean, the holes of a needle? He has kept such a nice tree in the seed." So this is called belief. So unbelievers and believer means the believers, they are not blind believers. They have reason. If by Kṛṣṇa's process, by God's process, or nature's process, such a big tree can be put within the small seed, is it very impossible for Kṛṣṇa to keep all these planets floating in His energy? So we have to believe. We have no other explanation.

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Miami, February 27, 1975:

Here we have got big, big trees. So from aquatic life they have come to this vegetable life. And one tree standing for thousands of years. They cannot move an inch. This is also life. There is life.

The trees, these banyan trees, they are making their arrangement how to stand fixed up very strong. Nobody can move. The same struggle for existence is going on. As we are struggling to make our position secure, similarly, the trees are also making their position secure. The cats and dogs, they are also making attempt to make their position secure. This is called struggle for existence. So from this tree, just try to remember that there are nine hundred thousand species of aquatics.

We get information from śāstra. There is a fish which is called timiṅgila which swallows big, big whales just like big fish swallows a small fish. This is struggle for existence. Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. Phalgūni mahatāṁ tatra jīvo jīvasya jīvanam.

The natural law is that ahastāni sahastānām:

Lecture on BG 15.1 -- Bombay, October 28, 1973:

Pradyumna: (Translation:) "The Blessed Lord said: There is a banyan tree which has its roots upward and its branches down and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas."

Prabhupāda: So this is the description of Vedic literature. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). That will be described. Veda means knowledge. Vetti veda vida jñāne. Vid-dhātu. From vid-dhātu, the word Veda has come, which means knowledge. There are different kinds of knowledge, and all kinds of knowledge you can get perfectly from the Vedas. There is Dhanur-veda, Āyur-veda, Ṛg-veda, Sāma-veda, different branches of Veda, but the objective of studying Vedas means to understand Kṛṣṇa. Vedaiś ca sarvaiḥ. All kinds of Vedas. Any book of knowledge. There are different types of book of knowledge. So if by studying the books of different types of knowledge one comes to the understanding of knowing the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa, then his knowledge is perfect.

Lecture on BG 15.1 -- Bombay, October 28, 1973:

So Kṛṣṇa has already described bhakti-yoga. Now He is describing about the activities of this material world. Traiguṇya-viṣayā. Activities of the material world means to act in such a way that you become liberated at the end and go back to home, back to Godhead. That is real activities of this material world, not to act as the animals—eating, sleeping, mating. So this material world is now described, compared with a banyan tree which has its root upwards, above. That means this material world is created from the spiritual world. Eko nārāyaṇa āsīt. In the spiritual world there is always Nārāyaṇa. Even Śaṅkarācārya, he says nārāyaṇaḥ avyaktāt paraḥ. The spiritual world has nothing to do with this material world. This material world is created. Just like the banyan tree. It takes its root and it is created. So the seed of the creation is in the spiritual world. Sa īkṣata, sa asṛjata. The creation is coming from the spiritual world. Spiritual world means the kingdom of God, Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.4 -- Rome, May 28, 1974:

The fact is as you have changed so many bodies in this life, you have to change this body, you have to accept another body. It is a great dangerous position. That they do not think. If I accept another body of a tree, then I will have to stand in one place for thousands of years. This is the science. Now I cannot stay for five minutes in the Bhagavad-gītā class, but if I am given the body by nature... Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni. You are under the grip of nature. You cannot say... You cannot stop your death. When nature asks you, "Now you must die," your science cannot stop this. So you are under the grip of the nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ. So if the nature gives you, now you take this body of banyan tree and stand here for five thousand years, how can you stop it? Will your scientific knowledge can stop it? Is it possible?

Lecture on SB 1.2.33 -- Vrndavana, November 12, 1972:

The energies, different energies are working.

Kṛṣṇa's energy is so powerful that He puts the potency in a seed. Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10). Kṛṣṇa says bīja, means "seed," sarva-bhūtānām. "Whatever is coming out, being manifested, the seed, I am." Means—"Seed, I am"—means "It is manufactured under My supervision." Just find out the seed of a banyan tree, a small grain, like mustard seed. But you sow the seed and a big tree, gigantic tree, will come out. Unless the energetic tree is there within the seed, how it comes out? That is Kṛṣṇa's energy. That is Kṛṣṇa, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). His energy is so subtle that svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Svābhāvikī.

Now, from that seed, first of all, the trunk will come, the branches will come. Then the twigs will come, the leaves will come, and the fabrication of the leaf. Everything see, wonderful. Everything we see, wonderful. But svābhāvikī, as if coming automatically, automatically. A creeper is coming, is trying to find out a shelter.

Lecture on SB 1.4.25 -- Montreal, June 20, 1968:

Similarly, this body may be finished, but the seed of the body, the soul, that is eternal. It will develop another body. That is a fact. Just like in this very life every one of us experiencing that because I, I am the seed of this body... Seed. Just try to understand this word seed. Just like you have got idea: a small seed of a banyan tree. It is smaller than even a mustard grain, but in that seed there is potency of a big tree, so high, hundred stories high. In your country I see so many big trees very high. There are many other big trees in other planets. So..., but that big tree means that seed. Within that seed, there is so much potency. That we do not understand. Actually, the materialist scientists, they cannot produce such seed. That if you want the tree, you have to sow one seed. If you have to produce a child, you have to sow. The man has to sow the seed in the womb of the woman. This is a practical.

Lecture on SB 1.8.22 -- Los Angeles, April 14, 1973:

It is a seed of developing your original consciousness. Just like in the seed there is potency, in a small seed, mustardlike, but if you sow it, in due course of times it comes out a big banyan tree. As much potency in that seed... Where is that scientist? Just prepare a seed in which there is a big, gigantic banyan tree. Where is your science? But that is not possible. Kṛṣṇa says, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām: (Bg 7.10) "I am that seed." So anyone can appreciate. Suppose you... The banyan seed, you have seen the fig fruit. There are hundreds and thousands of seeds. And each seed, there is a banyan tree. Each seed. If you simply study a fig of banyan tree, you can study the whole cosmic manifestation. If you simply think over... This is a small seed, insignificant. And there are millions of seeds like that, millions of fruits. And each seed containing the potency of fructifying into big banyan tree. So who has made it? How much His brain is sharp that He has made it? It is, it is, it is done by brain.

Lecture on SB 1.8.34 -- Los Angeles, April 26, 1973:

Therefore the spirit is the basis of development of matter. Not that by development of matter spirit grows. No. That's not a fact. This is... Everyone knows. Why a dead child does not grow? Because the spirit is not there. A tree grows so long there is life in it. A small seed of banyan tree, you sow in the soil and pour water favorably, then it grows. Because the spirit soul is there. But if somehow or other... Take for example you take one grain and fry it in the fire. If you sow it, it will not grow. Because the spirit soul is not there. Therefore they are searching after what is the original cause of creation. The original cause of creation is the spirit soul as everything is growing. Matter is growing, developing on account of the spirit soul. Similarly the whole universe is growing on account of presence of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Creation. Go on.

Lecture on SB 1.16.24 -- Los Angeles, July 14, 1974:

The rose flavor, wherefrom it is coming? It is there. Anyone can understand. But you cannot extract that. Kṛṣṇa requires His hand. When Kṛṣṇa is there in the form of seed... Kṛṣṇa says, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām: (Bg 7.10) "I am the seed of all living beings." The seed. That... Just like there is sex. Unless the seed is there, there is no child. Similarly, unless the seed is there, there is no plantation. The banyan tree is there because the seed is there. And the rose tree is there because the seed is there. And Kṛṣṇa claims, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām. And Kṛṣṇa's potencies are there in the seed so that different types of seeds producing different types of flowers, fruits, colors, flavor. This is Kṛṣṇa's supervision. Mayādhyakṣeṇa (BG 9.10).

So ultimately, time and earth and everyone is abiding by the Lord, by the orders of the Lord.

Lecture on SB 2.3.18-19 -- Bombay, March 23, 1977, At Cross Maidan Pandal:

The Bhāgavatam says that certain trees live for hundreds and thousands of years. At Vṛndāvana there is a tamarind tree (the place is known as Imlitala) which is said to have existed since the time of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In the Calcutta Botanical Garden there is a banyan tree said to be older than five hundred years, and there are many such trees all over the world. Svāmī Śaṅkarācārya lived only thirty-two years, and Lord Caitanya lived forty-eight years. Does it mean that the prolonged lives of the abovementioned trees are more important than Śaṅkara or Caitanya? Prolonged life without spiritual value is not very important. One may doubt that trees have life because they do not breathe. But modern scientists like Bose have already proved that there is life in plants, so breathing is no sign of actual life. The Bhāgavatam says that the bellows of the blacksmith breathes very soundly, but that does not mean that the bellows has life.

Lecture on SB 3.25.11 -- Bombay, November 11, 1974:

That is called moha. We have discussed this. Illusion. We are under illusion. So Devahūti says, sva-bhṛtya-saṁsāra-taroḥ kuṭhāram. In the Bhagavad-gītā the tree is described, aśvattha tree. So aśvattha, as we have got experience, the banyan tree, the root is very strong, very strong. So it is also compared, this material world is compared with the aśvattha tree, banyan tree. Very strong root. So... But any tree can be cut with an ax, kuṭhāram. So that kuṭhāram, if we take shelter at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, that is the real kuṭhāram, or ax, to cut the strong root of material existence. Sva-bhṛtya-saṁsāra-taroḥ kuṭhāram. Taṁ tvā gatāhaṁ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyam. Gato mukundaṁ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyam.

There is another similar verse that... Because we have given up the servitorship of Kṛṣṇa, we are servant of so many other things. We are obliged to serve, ṛṇī. Ṛṇī means debtor. Devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṟṇām (SB 11.5.41). We are debtor to so many persons. We are debtor to the demigods. Just like the sun is demigod. He's giving you heat and light. You are not paying any bill, but you are ad..., taking the advantage of the sunlight and sun heat. Now, if you take the advantage of electric light and heat, you have to pay bill. But here we don't pay bill.

Lecture on SB 3.25.11 -- Bombay, November 11, 1974:

This is material world. And internal energy is the spiritual world. And marginal energy-we, the living entities. Marginal means we may remain in this material world or we may remain in the spiritual world, living entities. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā there are two kinds of living entities who are living in this material... Kṣara, they have fallen down. Fallen down in this... And attracted in this tree of saṁsāra, banyan tree. This is described in the Fifteenth Chapter of... So asaṅga-kuṭhāreṇa. We have to disassociate with this tree. Asaṅga-kuṭhāreṇa. By detachment. To cut this tree, it is very difficult. But we have to become detached. Detached means... There is a Bengali proverb: dhari mach nacoi pane.(?) Means that "I'll catch the fish but will not touch the water." That is, that intelligence required. You see in the beach... Here we do not see many, many. But in America we see on the beach, old men. They have got no business. They simply waste their time catching fish. Yes. But they are not very interested in this way, nacoi pane.(?) They also touch water also.

Lecture on SB 3.25.38 -- Bombay, December 7, 1974:

There is no such thing.

But here in the śāstra we see that that is real life. This is not real life. It is shadow. In the Bhagavad-gītā in the Fifteenth Chapter it has been described as shadow. Ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākham aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam (BG 15.1). Aśvattham. We have got experience of banyan tree. It is very durable. It stands for many, many hundreds of years. Therefore this material world has been compared with the aśvattham, aśvattham tree, very durable and very expansive. It goes on increasing, increasing. That is very nicely described in the Fifteenth Chapter. So it is called ūrdhva-mūlam. Ūrdhva-mūlam means... Here we have got experience: the tree has got its roots underneath, down. But this material world, which is compared with the aśvattha tree, the root is upside and the branches downside. That means it is shadow. We can experience of this tree, ūrdhva-mūlam. The root upside and the branches downside, we have got experience. Where it is? In the shadow.

Lecture on SB 3.26.20 -- Bombay, December 29, 1974:

This body, everyone's body, is also a small universe. Whatever the arrangement is there in this body, the similar arrangement is there in the whole universe. The principle is the same. The same arrangement is within the seed of a banyan tree. We have got practical experience that a small seed of banyan tree, very small, but the potency within the seed is there, a big tree.

So these universes are also coming like a small seed. Therefore innumerable universes: yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya (Bs. 5.48). From the breathing of Mahā-Viṣṇu, the small particles are coming, and they are developing into big manifestation of universal form. Similarly, our desire is also very small. We are very small, one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. Still, we have got desires and everything. And according to the desire, as soon as there is creation, everything fructifies, everything comes out. It is called suptotthita-nyāya.

Lecture on SB 3.26.47 -- Bombay, January 22, 1975:

This is Govinda. Govinda is one, and... Ekaṁ brahma dvitīyaṁ nāsti. And ekaṁ bahu syām. And He has become so many. Just like from the seed, one seed, a small seed, when it is grown up, fructified, you will find big banyan tree and so many big, big branches, twigs, so many fruits. And each fruit contains again the seed, and each seed contains again millions of trees. This is creation. But the origin is one. Origin is one. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1), Kṛṣṇa. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). The Bhagavān is the origin of everything. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). These are the shastric vacana.

So here is also sound. Here is also sky. So as the beginning of this material world is from the sound vibration... I think the scientists also agree, the materialistic scientists, that from sound everything emanates. So similarly, the same sound, you can enter into the spiritual world by taking shelter of sound.

Lecture on SB 7.9.31 -- Mayapur, March 9, 1976:

Cause and effect, sad-asad. One disappears, the cause appears, disappears, and the effect comes into being. The very good example is given here, aṣṭi-tarvoḥ. Aṣṭi means seed, and the... From the aṣṭi, from the seed, a big banyan tree comes out. At that time the aṣṭi, the seed, disappears. A tree is manifestation, so this is example of sad-asat. Aṣṭi, the seed, disappears, and the tree is manifest. So the creation of God is like that. Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10). Bīja, aṣṭi, or seed, He is the root cause of everything. One seed, a small seed, grain, and hundreds of thousands trees coming out of it, and in each tree there are millions of fruits, and each fruit, there are hundreds and thousands of seeds. Again, from the seed, the same creation, hundreds and thousands, millions and millions. This is God's intelligence, how from one source so many varieties are coming out. Again, when annihilation takes place, they again go into the original seed, Kṛṣṇa. Yānti māmikam, it is said.

Lecture on SB 7.9.33 -- Mayapur, March 11, 1976:

Your potential energy known as kāla-śakti, this total lump of matter is agitated, and thus three modes of material nature are manifested. In this way You become awakened from the bed of Ananta-Śeṣa, and from Your navel a small transcendental seed is generated, from which the gigantic universe becomes manifest. Exactly like the small seed of banyan tree, the lotus flower of the cosmic manifestation is grown up."

Prabhupāda: These verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they are Vedic mantras. They're not ordinary wording, set of wording. It is not. Veda-mantra, saṁhitā. So every one of you must try to chant. This is required. Each verse of Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they are Vedic mantras, veda-mantra. So simply by chanting them we become purified. So every one of you... There is diacritic marks, literation, transliteration, so everyone should try to chant the mantra. That is very beneficial. That is kīrtana. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya (SB 12.3.51). Everything is being chanted in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, with reference to Kṛṣṇa.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 1, 1973:

That is called parakīya-rasa. That is most abominable in this material world, but that is most first-class thing in the spiritual world. Parakīya-rase yāṅhā brajete pracāra. So these things are very higher principles of spiritual life. But we can understand that whatever we are experiencing in this material world, that thing, in its pure form, is existing in the Supreme Absolute. That is the fact. Otherwise they cannot be manifested in this material... Just like on the bank of a tank, pond, there is a tree, and you find the tree just upverted. The upper portion of the tree has gone down. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Find out in the Fifteenth Chapter: ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākhaṁ aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam (BG 15.1). Find out this verse. This material world is the reflection, urdhva mulam. Generally the tree has got its root down, but the material world... So... It is described as a big banyan tree, but the root is upwards. Read it.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 1, 1973:

Pradyumna: "The Blessed Lord said: There is a banyan tree which has its roots upward and its branches down and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas."

Prabhupāda: Yes. One who knows this tree, he knows the Vedas. That means the Vedas says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). That is the Vedānta-sūtra. Wherefrom this material world is coming? That is Absolute Truth. The atheist class men, they cannot think that there is a cause. In the Sixteenth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā: jagad āhur anīśvara. Jagad āhur anīśvara. What is that? Find out. Sixteenth Chapter. They say that this material cosmic manifestation, manifestation, this world is... Uh? Uh?

Pradyumna: Could we have the verse again?

Devotee: Jagad ahur anīśvaram (BG 16.8).

Prabhupāda: No, that is the last word. You find out, Sixteenth Chapter.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1972:

The material variety is the perverted reflection of the spiritual variety. As it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, Fifteenth Chapter: ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākha. This tree, this material world (is) compared with a aśvattha vṛkṣa. The root is up, upstairs, upwards, and the branches and leaves are down, downwards. Why? Because it is reflection, chaya, or māyā. The real tree is in the Vaikuṇṭha planet or in the spiritual world. It is only simply reflection. Just like a tree standing on the bank of reservoir of water, on the bank of a lake or a river, you'll see the tree is reflected downwards. So this description in the Fifteenth Chapter of this material world, downwards... Ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākha means this is only a perverted reflection of the spiritual world. The real tree is in the spiritual world. The other day, who was asking about this question? Some of our...? Ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākha? Who was asking me? Eh? Oh. Gopāla. He's not here. All right.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 13, 1972:

Because whatever we see, whatever there is, they're nothing but different manifestations of the energy of the Supreme Lord. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ. We can appreciate the potencies, the energies of the Supreme Lord, anywhere. As I explained yesterday, the potency is there in the seed. As Kṛṣṇa says, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10). A big banyan tree is concentrated within a small seed, smaller than the mustard seed. There is the potency of a very big tree.

There is a story, it is very instructive story, that Nārada Muni was passing to go to Vaikuṇṭha, and on the way one very learned scholar, brāhmaṇa, met him, and he inquired from Narada Muni where he was going. Nārada Muni said that "I am going to see Nārāyaṇa, my Lord." So the brāhmaṇa asked him, "Oh, you are going to meet Nārāyaṇa. Will you kindly inquire for me when my..., when I shall be liberated." Nārada Muni said, "Yes, I shall inquire." Similarly, on the way, he met one cobbler. He also inquired Nārada Muni where he was going, and he said, will you kindly inquire from Lord Nārāyaṇa when he would be liberated?

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 13, 1972:

So Nārada Muni inquired, "How do you believe this? The other person, the brāhmaṇa, he's learned person. He did not believe. How do you believe it? What is your conviction?" He said, "Sir, I believe in this way, because I am sitting under this tree. This is a banyan tree. And so many," what is called, "figs are falling down. And each fig there are thousands of small seeds, and in each seed there is a banyan tree. So if Nārāyaṇa can keep thousands of banyan trees within this fig fruit, how it is not possible for Him to pull an elephant through the hole of a needle?"

So this is called faith. The faith is not blind. There is proof. He, the cobbler was not blindly believing that Nārāyaṇa was pulling an elephant through the hole of an needle, but he sees practically the potency, the power of the Lord, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10), how He keeps all the potencies of the banyan tree within the seed. So otherwise there is no meaning, "all-powerful." He can do whatever He likes. Inconceivable.

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 35 -- New York, July 31, 1971:

So as soon as there is sunrise, you see Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says "I am the sunshine, I am the moonshine." So why don't you try to see Kṛṣṇa? In the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, there is a big list. Just like Kṛṣṇa says "I am the Lion amongst the animals." Because He took the shape of a lion, Hiraṇyakaśipu, eternal shape. I am the banyan Tree, so many thing. Kṛṣṇa has described in the Bhagavad-gītā. So in the beginning, if one is not fortunate enough to see Kṛṣṇa, although He is sitting in this temple, let him see Kṛṣṇa in this way. If he's not fortunate to come here and to see Kṛṣṇa, take prasādam, and dance in ecstasy, then let his unfortunate condition be diminished by seeing Kṛṣṇa in water, in sunshine, in moonshine, in this and that.

Kṛṣṇa is visible, but Kṛṣṇa is visible to the devotees. Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ (BG 7.25), I am not exposed to everyone, yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ, covered by the curtain of yoga-māyā.

Festival Lectures

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day -- Bhagavad-gita 7.5 Lecture -- Vrndavana, August 11, 1974:

The Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has nothing to do Himself because His energies are so complete that simply by His desire, the energies work svābhāvikī, automatically. Just like the energy within a seed. You implant it, put it in, within the earth, put little water, and it fructifies. It becomes a big tree, banyan tree. The energy is so perfect. We can study by ordinary understanding. The banyan tree, one fruit, and there are thousands of seeds within one fruit. And each seed is containing another banyan tree. This is a fact. We can experience. Now, how much energy is there, a small seed. But the energy is so complete that it can produce a big banyan tree. Not only a big banyan tree, many millions of fruits, fig fruits, and each and every fruit there are millions of seeds. Just imagine parāsya śaktiḥ, the energy of the Supreme, how perfect it is. And so perfect... Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. The energy is put there, electric energy or spiritual energy is there, and automatically it becomes perfectly done. Wherever it is... As it is required. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. We, if we try to paint one picture of a banyan tree, it will take so much energy of us and days. Still, it is simply painting. It is not perfect.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Hyderabad, December 10, 1976:

They are denying "What is God? There is no God. Everything is science," although they cannot explain science. They cannot do anything, simply talking like nonsense. Last night some girls came, so they are students of botany. So I asked them, "Can you manufacture a seed which can give birth to a big banyan tree?" "No, sir, it is not possible." Then what kind of botany you are studying? Actually what is their science? They talk simply something which is going on in the middle portion. Where is the beginning and where is the end of knowledge, that they do not know. They are theorizing only in the middle. They do not know janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), where is the beginning of this science. That is... Beginning is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo (BG 10.8). He is the beginning. Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10). That seed, you scientist, you cannot manufacture. What chemicals are there that if you put in the earth and pour some water and it will grow a big tree? These scientists, they cannot explain what is the chemical composition is there. But there is. So that is in the hand of Kṛṣṇa.

General Lectures

Lecture at Art Gallery -- Auckland, April 16, 1972:

If we take things very insignificantly, "Ah, by nature," but you cannot explain what is nature. In the garden you see different flowers are coming out. The same ground, the same water, but different flowers are coming out, different flavor, different color, all different, varieties. So the answer is bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtāni. He is the seed. He is the seed. You have seen the banyan tree, a small seed. But this small seed has got so potency that if you sow it in a nice place and water it, one day it will come, a big banyan tree. Now, what are the potencies, what are the artistic arrangement, scientific arrangement, within that small seed that it grows a big banyan tree? Not only a big banyan tree, but also many millions of big fruits, and within each fruit there are millions of seeds, and each seed contains the potency of another tree.

So where is your science in that way? Where is that artist within this material world? Where is that pleasure of that artistic work? These things should be enquired. It is called athāto brahma jijñāsā. In the Vedānta-sūtra this is the first aphorism, that "In the human form of life these enquiries should be made.

Lecture at Art Gallery -- Auckland, April 16, 1972:

In the Vedānta-sūtra this is the first aphorism, that "In the human form of life these enquiries should be made. These studies should be made." This is a fact. You cannot manufacture such machine that automatically a rose flower is coming out. You cannot make a chemical combination or a tablet which contains a big banyan tree, automatically will come out. So don't you think there is need of artistic brain and scientific brain? If you simply say, "It is nature," that is not good explanation. But the Vedas gives us information, "No." Janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "The Absolute Truth is He from whom everything is being generated." First aphorism is athāto brahma jijñāsā. Greater thing. We are engaged in smaller thing. We become amazed when we see a small sputnik is flying in the sky, and it is trying to go to the moon planet, and we are giving all credit to the scientist, and scientist is challenging, "What is God? Science is everything." But if you are cool brain, then you will see that now, in comparison to the sputnik, there are millions and trillions of planets and stars, big, big planets like sun planet, which is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth. Apart from sun planet, if we take this teeny planet, earthly planet, on which we are living, there are so many oceans, so many mountains, skyscraper buildings.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Prabhupāda: One may be surprised that how this universe has come from the breathing of Viṣṇu, but actually it is so. If we accept that the universe is increasing, length and breadth, then the universe may come like particles and then begin to develop. That is the process we see in our child birth. In the womb it becomes just like a small pea, then it develops, develops as either elephant or man, the body develops. So everything material, it is created, it is very small, that a seed, very small, but it develops a big tree, banyan tree. That is the way of nature. So that's a fact that the universe is increasing. Not perpetually; to a certain extent. Then stop, again it becomes dwindled, and then it is finished.

Hayagrīva: Yes. He didn't know. He says, "It is growing, perhaps indefinitely." "Perhaps," he says.

Prabhupāda: Perhaps is no knowledge.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 11, 1969, New York:

Prabhupāda: Therefore it has got janma. Janma means birth or creation at a certain period, and it stays, say, for fifty years or hundred years. Then dissolved, dissolution. Therefore it is imitation. Just like if you create a doll, clay doll, very nice beautiful girl. But it will... It is imitation. It is shadow of the real beautiful girl. It is created at some time and... So reality is there in the spiritual world. Therefore it is called janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The idea comes from there, but the impersonalists, due to their intelligence being very meager, they think that the Absolute Truth is without any variety, impersonal or void. They think that varieties are only in the material world, but actually, real varieties are there in the spiritual world. It is only reflection, as it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, ūrdhva mūlam adhah-śākha. Adhah-śākham. Aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam. Aśvattha... This material creation, material manifestation is compared with a banyan tree whose root is upward. And that I have explained several times how the tree can be upwards root. That means it is reflection. Just like you stand on the riverside, the tree will be reflected on the river, on the water, as obverted.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- May 4, 1972, Mexico:

Devotee: Banyan? Banyan tree?

Prabhupāda: Banyan tree. There is small seed, very small. It contains the potency of a big banyan tree. You cannot create such seed. You create something, just like you are creating vitamin tablets. You are proposing that "No more eating required. You simply take some vitamin tablet." Is it not? Similarly, you create some tablet and sow it in the earth and big banyan tree comes. Then I will accept you. (laughter)

Martin: You, you say that... (break) ...who created this knowledge that this flower and the banyan tree is Kṛṣṇa. What place in the divine scheme do such great names as Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad have?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Buddha, we accept him as incarnation, as expansion of Kṛṣṇa. He's Kṛṣṇa working as Buddha, Lord Buddha. Keśava dhṛta buddha śarīra. He has accepted body of Buddha. That is our conception of Lord Buddha.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 28, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: So who is giving the pushing? The living entity, driver. A big truck is being pushed: kata kak kata kak kata kak kata kak, one after another. Similarly the whole creation, Kṛṣṇa is giving the pushing. Then one after another, one after another, one after another working. You see. mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). That is stated in the Bha... mayādhyakṣeṇa. Kṛṣṇa gives the pushing first. Then everything comes, one after another. But His pushing capacity is so perfect that everything is coming out perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect. Just like Kṛṣṇa says: bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10). "I am the seed of everything created." Now take the seed of the banyan tree. Kṛṣṇa has created. He says, "I am the seed." Now you sow the seed. A big tree will come out. Big tree will come out. Not only big tree. Many millions of seeds will come out of it. And each seed, again big tree. So the original seed, Kṛṣṇa, pushes. Then one after another, one after another, one after another... So you are simply observing when the things are coming into existence by such pushing. But you are trying out, trying to find out who is the original pusher. That you do not know. That you do not know. Who has originally pushed this energy? That you do not know.

Morning Walk -- May 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That superior energy is life. A small seed of banyan tree fructifies; there is life, and the big tree comes. So many wood, so many twigs, so many things, huge quantity. Here is the proof. Life is the origin. According to our Vedic description, Brahmā is first created. He is life. Not that matter is first created, then Brahmā comes. No. And Brahmā comes from Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu is life, the supreme life. Then Brahmā creates this universe. That is Vedic version. What do you think?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So life is the origin.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Life started from life. It cannot start from matter.

Prabhupāda: No. If you can establish this theory, you will get also Nobel Prize. Yes, try for... Yes, do it. And all these rascals will be defeated. Do that. Their so-called theory that life has come out of matter... Do this by your education. Yad-uttamaśloka-guṇānuvarṇanam. Here is life, Kṛṣṇa. Here begins everything. Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). Kṛṣṇa says. Vedānta says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Everything is there. Simply we have to present it scientifically. That's all. So you were the only person to protest against him in the meeting?

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 23, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: In the seed there is the whole banyan tree.

Prabhupāda: Yes, matter... They manifested into varieties. First of all, they, after sex intercourse, the two seminas is emulsified, and it becomes like a pea. And it develops into different parts of the body.

Dr. Patel: Right, but I, what I am coming to this point is that...

Prabhupāda: But you cannot say...

Dr. Patel: ...even in Upaniṣad, from a small seed, big banyan tree has come out.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.

Dr. Patel: And that...

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Dr. Patel: So seed is the real thing. And that seed is Kṛṣṇa.

Morning Walk -- April 12, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: ...the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the performances of all austerities. One can get the result of all austerities simply by serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Girirāja: "...made charities and performed many welfare activities for the public, such as growing banyan trees and excavating wells. As a result of these pious activities, we have got back our child." (break)

Prabhupāda: ...very nice building. And one day death will come, "Oh, what is this?" Finish now. Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). And as soon as death comes, all this construction becomes ah, finished. You have to begin another chapter, either as human being or as bird or cats and dogs or anything. That is another thing. But they do not know this. They are thinking that "This construction work will save me."

Morning Walk -- April 29, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Yes. I offered that, that "What is this two thousand, 2,500 per month? Oh we can earn at any moment two thousand. So you become devotee; I excuse you of rent." They are not agreeing. (break) ...like an ass simply for sense gratification. Therefore it is warned in the Bhāgavatam, nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kāṣṭān kāmān arhati (SB 5.5.1). (break) ...to respect the Vaiṣṇava, to water tulasī, and this aśvattha tree. These are bhakti items.

Nitāi: Jaya, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: That is not water! That you do not know.

Devotee (1): That's not water either.

Prabhupāda: Hm? What is that?

Satsvarūpa: Ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākham. "The blessed Lord said: 'There is a banyan tree which has its roots upward and its branches down and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is a knower of the Vedas.' "

Prabhupāda: Ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākham (BG 15.1). Where you have experienced this tree? You have experience: a tree is adhaḥ, down, a mūla, the root, is down and the tree is up. And here it is said, ūrdhva-mūlam, the root is up and the branches and twigs, they're down. Where you have experienced? Eh? Dr. Wolf, where you have experienced this tree?

Morning Walk -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yes, glorify. Trees live for thousands of years, five thousand, six thousand. Fig tree and banyan tree, they do not die.

Madhudviṣa: They must be especially sinful. They get five thousand years as a tree.

Prabhupāda: No, they are most pious. Because you want to live more by science, so they are also living more years. What is the use of such living, like tree? Therefore Bhāgavata says taravo kiṁ na jīvanti. You are trying to live more years by scientific advancement, but do the trees not live for many, many years? What you will gain by that? Suppose you live for three thousand years, what you will gain if you remain ignorant? Better live for a few years and understand that this material world is worse, I have to go to the spiritual world and meet Kṛṣṇa. That knowledge will help you. You live for ten years, but get this knowledge, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is perfect life. And what is the use of living like this tree for many thousands of years without any knowledge? (break) ...cars, they have come to botanical garden?

Morning Walk -- August 15, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) ...this land will be banyan, full of banyans. (break) ...many obstacles we are facing. Never mind. Still, we are coming out, gradually. Kuntīdevī said, "Kṛṣṇa, all those dangerous days may come again so that I can always remember You. Now... When we were in dangerous days You were always with us. Now we are prosperous; now You are going away. So better I call for again those dangerous days so that You can remain and we can become surrendered to You." (break) ...country, I started on this ocean, thirteenth August, thirteenth August, this ferocious ocean. Everyone said, "This time you don't go by sea."

Brahmānanda: It's the worst season.

Prabhupāda: Yes, worst season.

Brahmānanda: This is the...

Prabhupāda: No, no, not worst...(?)

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 3, 1976, Nellore:

Prabhupāda: Automatically. (sic:) Parāsya bhaktir vividhaiva śruyate svabhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Svabhāva..., you can.... Just like if you ask me how to do something, if I say, "Yes, you do like this," svabhāvikī. I have got by nature knowledge how to do it perfectly. That is going on. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Kṛṣṇa is dictating that "You do like this." So, you see, everything is coming perfect. From the nim seed a nim tree will come. It is so nicely made by Kṛṣṇa-bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10)—that it will come nim tree, not mango tree. The chemicals are so combined. You do not know what is there, a small seed, baṭa vṛkṣa. And a huge banyan tree will come out, not other tree. That is knowledge. He has given the whole, I mean to say, operation in a small seed. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām. There is no mistake. You simply take it and cultivate. You'll get the result.

Morning Walk -- April 26, 1976, Melbourne:

Guru-kṛpā: ...in Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that when a devotee, he sees a banyan, fruit of a banyan tree, and there are so many seeds within that fruit, and each seed can mean one tree and one tree means millions of fruits, and in this way the devotee can appreciate Kṛṣṇa. But the jñānīs, they go on speculating, and they can never relish anything. The devotee can simply relish how Kṛṣṇa has done everything in the material nature.

Prabhupāda: We can go here? No. And no...

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. It is a little distance there.

Devotee (1): (break) ...devotee is only unhappy to see others unhappy. Does this ever cease? Is a devotee always unhappy because of this?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Devotee (1): Is a devotee always in some anxiety to see others unhappy?

Prabhupāda: Yes. How to deliver them? This is Kṛṣṇa anxiety. This kind of anxiety is welcome.

Morning Walk -- May 29, 1976, Honolulu:

Devotee (2): There's another theory that God created the universe, and then things are just happening haphazardly. There's no actual design or ultimate plan of creation. Simply He created, and things were set in motion.

Prabhupāda: That is another foolish notion. Just like the seed, banyan tree seed, every plan is there: how the tree will grow, how the fruits will flower, flowers will come. Everything is there. That is intelligence. Within a small seed everything is there potency. Aśakti vividaiva. Sarvavidya. It comes certainly.

Devotee (2): One thing though, people, they see that there's birth and death, they don't understand the purpose of the whole creation when they see that so many things are going on like this.

Prabhupāda: There is purpose. We have explained so many times. The purpose is that we have come here to enjoy, but this enjoyment is false. God has given us the chance to enjoy, to experience that this enjoyment is not good. They are simply suffering. They cannot enjoy. The plan is that he's given the chance to enjoy and experience that here there is no enjoyment and he's simply suffering. So when he comes to his sense, he again goes back home. The thief, he thinks that to live in the prison house is very good: "I haven't got to work, and I shall get my food and shelter."

Garden Conversation -- June 27, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: So one learned brāhmaṇa, he said, "All right sir, namaskār your Kṛṣṇa. I cannot believe all these things." And the cobbler, he began to cry, "Ah, Kṛṣṇa is so great, He can do anything." So he, Nārada Muni asked, he saw the learned brāhmaṇa refused to accept, and this cobbler is so absorbed that he's crying, "Ah, Kṛṣṇa can do anything." So he asked him, "Do you believe this?" "Yes, why not?" "So how do you believe it?" "Now I'm sitting under this banyan tree, and so many banyan fruits are falling down, and I can see there are hundreds and thousands of seeds within the fig, and each seed contains a banyan tree. So why can I not believe? If within this seed a big banyan tree can be kept, what is the difficulty for Kṛṣṇa to pull the elephant through the hole of a needle?" He has got reason. He is not blindly believing. How the scientist who does not believe in God, he can explain that within the small seed there is a big banyan tree? Let them do that. By chemical composition make little seed. As I told, make little egg. They cannot do anything. Still they are so proud.

Evening Darsana -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Mr. Boyd: That's just down the street from Mr. Dubhai, that's a big tree, it's an Indian tree, I don't know what it is, it grows up and down both. It happened to be in his yard. (laughter) Another highlight of the day.

Hari-śauri: Banyan tree.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They have banyan trees in America. In Florida.

Mr. Boyd: Oh, is that banyan tree? You see, they are not particular to this area.

Hari-śauri: Hawaii's full of them.

Mr. Boyd: That's not what I find in the backyard. That was the first time I'd seen one. They indicated that the day before, they'd walked by there and was startled, there was an elephant standing under it. First time they'd seen one. Of course, you know, it's out of environment, if all of a sudden you see one, you don't realize it. I didn't realize it either, but in India elephants are commonplace. But it's not common for me to be in India. (laughter) I was very impressed with the cleanliness of the country, though, in that area.

Prabhupāda: Hm, very nice pictures.

Mr. Boyd: The two that were taken in Philadelphia, they are not what I call quality work, but are the best I could do and run. You didn't sit still too long.

Prabhupāda: This child is your daughter's son?

Morning Walk -- December 5, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Space. Space grows, Brahman. Bṛhatvād bṛhannatvāt.(?) Brahman means the greatest. The space is considered to be the greatest. So it is not only greatest but it is expanding more and more. It is becoming greater and greater. Just like some children. They made some foam, soap. It becomes bigger, bigger, bigger. It is like that. It comes from the breathing period but as soon as come out it becomes bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger. That is bṛhatvād bṛhannatvāt, Brahman, the greatest. A small seed of banyan tree, very small, you cannot... It becomes bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, and so big tree. It is... You see daily how it is coming. Can you make such seed, you scientist? Can you make? Then? Why do you compare your poor knowledge with Kṛṣṇa's knowledge? That is your poor fund of knowledge. You are thinking that "Kṛṣṇa may be like me." You can just compare the small banyan tree seed, just like a mustard seed, and it contains such a big tree, not only big tree, millions of seeds also, containing another millions of big trees. Can you make such seed? Hm? You scientists, can you make? You tell me. Can you prepare that seed? Then what you are scientists? See Kṛṣṇa's science. Don't compare yourself with Kṛṣṇa's science even.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: So the more material advancement means more you become dependent, more you become rascal. That is calculation by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. Jaḍa-vidyā jato, māyāra vaibhava, jīvake karaye gādhā, tomāra bhajane bādhā. Anitya saṁsāre, moha janamiyā, jīvake karaye gādhā. My business is that how to leave this material conditional life and become free. Now, with this so-called advancement of science I am becoming more and more attached. So I'll never get freedom. This is the result. Because I am trying in different way how to get, freedom. "Yes, wait millions of years. We shall do it. We shall do this." Gādhā, ass. You'll die trillions of times within millions of years, and he is expecting good result of his scientific... By the time, he'll become a banyan tree and stand there by nature's law, and he's expecting good result after millions of years. So gādhā, ass. Durāśaya. This has been described as durāśaya. He's expecting something, hoping something, will never be fulfilled.

Room Conversation Varnasrama System Must Be Introduced -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: You know castor seed tree, a plant? it does not grow.

Satsvarūpa: Small.

Prabhupāda: Small. So there is no banyan tree. It is taken—"Oh, it is very big."

Hari-śauri: I don't follow the analogy.

Satsvarūpa: In the complete absence of trees, then a small tree is considered big.

Hari-śauri: Oh. (laughs) Well, say, like here in Māyāpur now we have a situation...

Prabhupāda: No, no. Why? Why one should stress to become big tree? Here it is clearly said even if you are small tree, you can get perfection. So we should take that.

Hari-śauri: So in Māyāpur here now we have that situation, that so many...

Prabhupāda: Everywhere, wherever, Māyāpur or anywhere. Question is that here it is clearly said, sve sve karmaṇy abhirataḥ. Brāhmaṇa has his duty, kṣatriya has his duty, vaiśya has his duty, śūdra has his duty. And if he performs his duty nicely, then he also becomes perfect. So why artificially he should be called a brāhmaṇa? Let them do, according to śāstra, the work of śūdra, or vaiśya. He'll get the perfect. Perfection is not checked. But why artificially he should be made a brāhmaṇa or he should be made a sannyāsī and fall down and become a ludicrous? That is the point.

Talk with Svarupa Damodara -- April 18, 1977, Bombay:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Scenery's just beautiful. It's all on the foothills, and it's very charming, with the banyan trees and the monkeys, four classes of monkeys.

Prabhupāda: They are receptive.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Oh, yes. Very friendly. They're not like monkeys in... (laughs)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Vṛndāvana.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: These monkeys are very friendly. They wait until they are given. They don't just steal.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In Vṛndāvana they're a problem now.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They were so enthusiastic that they even gave me a blueprint of the map of Manipur to show Śrīla Prabhupāda. This is the... Here is the capital, here, in the middle, Imphal. And the one is little smaller, in Imphal, in the capital. And it is also very close to the Govinda Temple that I was describing. And there is a mūrti of Hanumān that the people worship there in this... It's just like little forest. In the middle of this forest there is a small, little temple. There they worship Hanumān.

Prabhupāda: Govindajī Temple?

Second Meeting with Mr. Dwivedi -- April 24, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Mr. Dwivedi: And round about the whole year from the mountain water flows back, water drizzles over a banyan tree and then inside into the mountain...

Prabhupāda: It is waterfall.

Mr. Dwivedi: Waterfall. The waterfall is different. This water drizzles from the mountain. Waterfall is five miles away, so I do not count it. They say 150 feet or so, waterfall.

Prabhupāda: How far it is, waterfall?

Mr. Dwivedi: Waterfall is about four or five miles away from our buildings.

Prabhupāda: Oh, that's nothing.

Discussion about Bhu-mandala -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Did you know that story, the Nārada was going to Vaikuṇṭha? Nārada came back and replied to a cobbler... Cobbler asked him what Nārāyaṇa is doing. "He has taken one elephant and He's drawing through the hole of a needle like this and again taking." The learned brāhmaṇa, he began to laugh. "These are all stories." And the cobbler began to cry, "Oh, Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, can..." Nārada inquired, "How do you believe that elephant is being drawn through the hole of needle?" "No, why not? I'm daily seeing by sitting under this banyan tree, and within a fruit there are thousands of seeds. And each seed contains the big tree." Can the scientists make such small seed contain a big banyan tree? So it is acintya. That's a fact. (break) ...thing is inconceivable. And these rascals want to bring them as conceivable. He's conditioned, and he's trying to bring inconceivable thing to his conception. Useless, futile attempt. How the scientist will answer? We take a fruit. There are hundreds of seeds, and each seed contains a big tree. How you can explain? Is it not inconceivable?

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Hayagriva -- Los Angeles 9 March, 1970:

Then Brahma gradually creates. He begets so many sons known as Prajapatis who are supposed to be the generators of living entities, and therefore the history begins from Brahma. In the Bhagavad-gita this is confirmed in the 15th chapter. It is said there that the root of this big universal banyan tree is on the top; therefore history begins from the top.

Yes. This planet comes later on. We can take the idea from the tree—the tree grows gradually, and the different fruits, branches, and twigs gradually appear. Therefore it is to be understood that this planet has grown later on. Besides this we understand that although the planet was later on grown up, it was covered with water—pralaya payodhi jale **, merged into the water after devastation. Then gradually it emerges from water. That we can experience, that gradually land is coming out of the oceans. Because of its being merged into water, it is natural to conclude that the beginning of life was aquatic.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Abhirama -- Calcutta 6 March, 1973:

For some time now I have been thinking to have a nice place in Florida and now it looks like you are trying for it.

As far as the Deities are concerned, we do not want to repeat the same mistake again, so it is better that you wait to get some more brahmanas before installing Them again. For worshiping the banyan tree, the representation of Krsna, simply offer a little flower, incense and water. Of course, now I am trying to get more valuable time for my translating of Bhagavatam, so you may consult in these matters with Rupanuga Maharaja, your GBC representative.

Yes, you are feeling increase in strength with increase in service, and I am not the actual bestower of mercy, rather I am just a messenger for Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So just work hard for Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His mercy will fall upon you like torrents of rain in the monsoon season.