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Bhakti-yoga (Conversations 1976 - 1977)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 13, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Yes, and request him to stop to send, give passport to all these nonsense. Do this. Yes.

Satsvarūpa: "For this reason I am very excited to see the publication of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, by Śrī A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda, from his very birth, was trained in the strict practice of bhakti-yoga, and he appears in a succession of gurus that traces back to the original speaking of Bhagavad-gītā by Śrī Kṛṣṇa. His knowledge of Sanskrit is impeccable. His penetration into the inner meaning of the text is befitting only a fully realized soul who has indeed perfectly understood the meaning of Bhagavad-gītā. Personally, I intend to use this book in the courses which I am directing by invitation of the Mexican government on the language, culture, and philosophy of India. This authorized edition of the Gītā will serve a double purpose in Spanish-speaking countries. One, it will help to stop the terrible cheating of false and unauthorized gurus and yogis; and two, it will give an opportunity to Spanish-speaking people to understand the actual meaning of Oriental culture."

Morning Walk -- April 9, 1976, Vrndavana:

Pṛthu-putra: Jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam.

Prabhupāda: ...jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam. That was automatic. And the bhakti-yoga means vairāgya-yoga. Vairāgya-yogaṁ nija-bhak.... Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam (CC Madhya 6.254). So anyway, you have got the right thing. Now make it perfect. Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14). With great vow and endeavor, kīrtana should go on. Then it is perfect. There is no difficulty. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam (BG 10.10). The kīrtana is bhajana. So if you are engaged, satatam, in kīrtana, then you are safe. Māyā's father will not be able to touch. In India as soon as you say, "You give up your family life," immediately he becomes morose. The family attachment, especially the wife's attachment, is very, very strong. And śāstra says if one can give up this attachment of wife, then he can conquer Kṛṣṇa. It is said. He can conquer Kṛṣṇa. Simply.... Eh?

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: There is no use taking part in that meeting. Simply take a book stall. "Bhakti-yoga books." Give a signboard, "Bhakti-yoga books." And give the picture of Dhruva Mahārāja, five-years-old boy, executing bhakti-yoga alone in the forest. We have got meditation. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). That is real yoga. And Bhagavad-gītā, yoginām api... These ślokas, yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntarātmanā (BG 6.47). One who's chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, he is first-class yogi. Give one picture of the devotees chanting in a very nice place, and give evidence, yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntarātmanā: "This, first-class yogi. Here is first-class yogi." That will be our preaching. Dhruva Mahārāja is practicing yoga. There are many others. The highest perfection is Rādhārāṇī, that simply crying, "Kṛṣṇa has gone to Mathurā, not coming back." That is the..., the whole day and night crying. Who can perform this yoga? So if you, if possible, draw pictures.... Satchidananda, he is also a leader? He has?

Morning Walk -- April 24, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Real devotee will think, "Oh, so many botheration I have now given up." Anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje (SB 1.7.6). Bhakti-yoga means upaśamam: "No more this, all this nonsense." That is bhakti-yoga, anartha-upaśamam, completely given up. Bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje, lokasya ajānato vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām. But they do not know anything. They are increasing anartha. They are to give up cigarette. No, they are manufacturing new brand of cigarette and advertising, "Please come. This cigarette is better than the other." This is going on. This is karmī life. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). He has no sense that "I have smoke this cigarette and why, after another cigarette, the same thing?" But no. "I have enjoyed sex here. Why another sex?" He has no sense.

Room Conversation -- May 1, 1976, Fiji:

Guru-kṛpā: If bhakti-yoga is the..., one can only understand Kṛṣṇa through bhakti-yoga, why did Kṛṣṇa bother to explain karma-yoga and jñāna-yoga through so many...

Prabhupāda: Because there are third-class men, fourth-class men. They cannot understand bhakti-yoga immediately. But at last He says, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66), if you are intelligent. Sarva-guhyatam. Real knowledge is here. Sarva-guhyatamam. But He's proposing at last, "If by understanding all other ways, if he has come to know what is the actual knowledge..." That is the most confidential knowledge. That is not for everyone. How one can give up karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, dhyāna-yoga? They cannot. But Kṛṣṇa says, "This is the most confidential. If you accept this, then it is to be understood you have knowledge." It is not for everyone. Find out this verse. Sixty-three, Eighteenth Chapter, I think. So take these notes, take these books and preach. You have taken all, sannyāsa. You preach.

Morning Walk -- May 3, 1976, Fiji:

Guru-kṛpā: Prabhupāda, what about these people that perform so-called bhakti-yoga but their aim is to merge?

Prabhupāda: Hmm? That is not bhakti-yoga. That is not bhakti-yoga. Who says that is bhakti-yoga?

Guru-kṛpā: I said "so-called" bhakti-yoga.

Prabhupāda: That, that is not.... Cheating! That is another cheating. (Hindi) There is the same example. "Now I am serving the master. Just as soon as the master will be somewhere, I'll take everything." That kind of servant. Servant serving the master, but the intention is that "As soon as master is away, I'll take everything." (laughter) "I'll become Nārāyaṇa. Let me serve now Nārāyaṇa, and as soon as there is the opportunity, I shall become Nārāyaṇa." They are thieves, rogues, these duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ narādhamāḥ. Very faithful servant. He's planning how to usurp everything belonging to the master, and saying, "I am very faithful servant." Caitanya Mahāprabhu is teaching mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). "Life after life, let me serve You." That's all. Never willing to become master. That is Māyāvāda. (break) ...don't want even salvation. Therefore He says, janmani janmani, "life after life."

Room Conversation -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Hari-śauri: It says you have come for one month as a commissioner to preach bhakti-yoga in the West.

Prabhupāda: Called me "Ambassador." It is a very old article. Where you got it?

Trivikrama: From one... Candanācārya had a copy.

Prabhupāda: Oh. It was in Butler in 19...

Devotee: You were staying in the YMCA.

Garden Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Purport.

Nalinīkaṇṭha: "The mammonist philosophy, 'Work very hard and enjoy sense gratification,' is condemned herein by the Lord. Therefore for those who want to enjoy this material world, the above-mentioned cycle of performing yajñas is absolutely necessary. One who does not follow such regulations is living a very risky life, being condemned more and more. By nature's law, this human form of life is specifically meant for self-realization, in either of the three ways-namely karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, or bhakti-yoga. There is no necessity of rigidly following the performances of the prescribed yajñas for the transcendentalists who are above vice and virtue; but those who are engaged in sense gratification require purification by the above-mentioned cycle of yajña performances. There are different kinds of activities.

Conversation in Airport and Car -- June 21, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: These things are not required at all, but they have created. They are called anartha, unnecessarily diverting valuable attention of the human being to waste their time and energy and next life become a dog. That they do not know. This science is unknown to them. They'll believe, "This life finished, everything finished. That's all." (break) ...is working. That they do not know. Life is eternal, and how they are under the cycle of birth and death, nothing. Yāvad jīvet sukhaṁ jīvet.(?) Cārvāka philosophy. So long you live, live happily. But actually they are not living happily. To work in this factory is not happy. They are not happy men. But they are thinking they are happy. Just like the hog eating stool, he is happy. This is gross ignorance. Actually, therefore, there is revolt against these capitalist. There is another unhappiness. Now there is strike. So where is happiness? If there is happiness, why there is strike? Why there is so many strikes? Why there is protest? There is no happiness. But they are thinking... Whole thing is based on ignorance, māyā. Anartha upaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje. And the direct method for subduing these anarthas, unnecessary troubles-bhakti-yoga. There is no other. Anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje, lokasya ajānataḥ (SB 1.7.6). People do not know it. Vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām. Therefore Vyāsadeva, most learned scholar, he has made this Bhāgavatam. Anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣāt. (break) I was translating the Bhāgavata, Eighth Canto, Twelfth Chapter.

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Then the ocean of transcendental bliss increases. Ānandāmbudhi-vardanaṁ sarvātmānam snapanaṁ. Wholesale blissful life. Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. All glories to the chanting of Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana. Then the other processes... That is described in the Śikṣāṣṭaka. So this is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's gift, that kevalaya bhaktya. All the practices of austerities, penances, and mystic yoga, and so on, so on. There are so many things. Everything will be totally achieved simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Bhakti.

kecit kevalāya bhaktyā
vāsudeva-parāyanaḥ
aghaṁ dhunvanti kartsnyena
niharam iva bhaskaraḥ
(SB 6.1.15)

Just like when there is sunrise, immediately the all-pervading fog disappears. Now this Kali-yuga, by bhakti-yoga, especially by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, one can be fully reformed and come to spiritual platform, and that is success of life.

Conversation with Prof. Saligram and Dr. Sukla -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: That is foolishness. That is his foolishness. Gītā is completely bhakti-yoga. Sarva dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Everything is finished. And what is karma-yoga? What is karma-yoga?

Dr. Sukla: According to these Māyāvādīs...

Prabhupāda: Not according, according to Bhagavad-gītā.

Dr. Sukla: According to Bhagavad-gītā, all the karma should be done for Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Prabhupāda: For Kṛṣṇa, yes. So that is bhakti-yoga. Yat karoṣi kuruṣva tad mad-arpaṇam. That is bhakti. Karma-yoga means bhakti. That is the difficulty, that these Māyāvādīs, they have killed India's Vedic civilization. Now India is atheist. Very tragic position.

Evening Darsana -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Bhakto 'si me...

Prabhupāda: Bhakto 'si me. He was not a Vedantist, he was a soldier. How the soldier can understand the highest topics of bhakti-yoga? Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). It is the yoga. How a soldier... Arjuna was not a Vedantist, he was a fighter. There was a doubt that "How a soldier can understand?" Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, bhakto 'si, "You can understand because you are My bhakta." The first qualification, one must be a bhakta. Then he can understand. Otherwise it is not possible.

Mr. Deyani: How then can the God come in a human form, because human, when you talk of human body, it is a limited...

Evening Darsana -- July 7, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Oh, your father is also recluse.

Dr. Sharma: Recluse. And I must tell an incident which, although I was growing up with meditation, I find the bhakti-yoga, the chanting, really fulfilling and actually making the difference. Actually making the difference. In one case, it is abstract philosophy, which is the rāja-yoga, other yogas, philosophies, and this actually makes the person transformed. Another incident occurred yesterday, when I was meditating and I wanted to ask about five different ślokas of Gītā, out of which, surprisingly, you discussed four. (laughter) This was most astounding to me.

Prabhupāda: Which one?

Room Conversation -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: They must abstain from meat-eating, intoxication, gambling and illicit sex. Illicit sex is defined as any sexual act other than that intended for procreation. Sex outside of marriage is forbidden. Married, full-time devotees may have sexual relationship once a month at a time propitious for procreation. All the devotee's activities are regarded as bhakti-yoga, the yoga of devotion. He regards everything he does as service to God. The name he is given at initiation is followed by the word dāsa, 'a servant.' Full-time ISKCON devotees adopt Vedic dress, one objective being to keep others aware of Kṛṣṇa. Women wear saris, the men dhotis; both may wear shawls. The men shave their heads except for single lock of hair at the back. (See the article, "The Kṛṣṇa Cut.") The lock, called a śikhā, identifies the followers of Kṛṣṇa." Actually no one can imitate us because no one wants to give up their hair, so no one will try to make believe they are devotees.

Room Conversation -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Oh, he's American?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes.

Tripurāri: He thinks there are different types of meditation that all work, and ours is one type, bona fide, that works. There are also other types.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The article goes on—I don't know if you want to hear it all. You want to hear it? Okay. Here's this thing called "Who is Kṛṣṇa?" "Kṛṣṇa, viewed by ISKCON as the Supreme Personification of Godhead, is said to have many pastimes in which He assumes different appearances. One such is that of Gopālajī, the cowherd boy—see picture, cowherd boy—He can appear in other forms such as four-armed Nārāyaṇa. Most often Kṛṣṇa is portrayed as having light blue skin and, by Western standards, a soft and effeminate physique. He is said to be full in the six opulences: beauty, strength, fame, wealth, knowledge and renunciation. He is said to be all-attractive. Kṛṣṇa incarnates on one planet after another in infinite universes. The last time He appeared on earth as Kṛṣṇa was five thousand years ago. He will not return in that form for another four hundred thousand years, but five hundred years ago He appeared in His incarnation of Lord Caitanya, who taught people of the mahāmantra and started the Kṛṣṇa consciousness in its present state. According to the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa hungers for the devotion of His followers." Very nicely put. "This devotion in its pure sense takes the form of bhakti-yoga, the dedication of one's every action to Kṛṣṇa.

Conversation with George Harrison -- July 26, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: She has cut hair and white dress, living alone in the temple. Vairagya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam (CC Madhya 6.254). This bhakti-yoga means vairagya-vidyā, means detachment. That is the perfection of life. If we remain attached, that is conditional. Māyā has made so many things attractive so that we have to remain attached, and to come out of this attachment is called bhakti. So one man, you can sit down, you can eat. Pradyumna, you can eat.

Pradyumna: I've taken some milk before.

Prabhupāda: Oh, you don't require. Now you can eat, go on. Prasāda prapti mātrena. Our Jayatīrtha prabhu is a good manager. Management, looking after. Yes, he's a very good manager, experienced.

Room Conversation -- August 4, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: Says, "Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, India's message of peace and good will. Sixty volumes of elaborate English version by Tridandi Goswami A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. Carried by the Scindia Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., Bombay, all over the world for scientific knowledge of God." Then it says, "The sufferings of the entire human society can at once be brought under control simply by individual practice of bhakti-yoga, a simple and easy process of chanting the holy name of God. Every country, every nation and every community throughout the world has some conception of the holy name of God, and as such either the Hindus or the Muhammadans or the Christians, everyone can easily chant the holy name of God in a meditative mood, and that will bring about the required peace and good will in the present problematic human society.

Evening Conversation -- August 8, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: If you do not come to the point of fulfillment of your appetite—you are eating, but if you have not sufficiently eaten, then you want more to eat. But if you have sufficiently eaten, then you will say, "No, no, no, no more I want." Even if you are offered, "Take more food." You'll say "No, I have enough." It is a question of sufficiency and insufficiency. If you are insufficiently spiritually advanced, you'll feel vacancy so much. But if you are sufficiently advanced, then you'll say, "It is all right now." It is a question of sufficiency and insufficiency. So other method, jñāna, yoga, they are insufficient. And bhakti-yoga is sufficient. Therefore you'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). Find out this verse. He never recommends jñāna, yoga, karma. Bhakti. So if you take the path of bhakti, then you'll feel sufficiency. Otherwise you'll feel insufficient. To some extent, although it is perfect, but it is not completely perfect.

Evening Darsana -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: What you want more? It is up to you. He has explained everything, what is karma-yoga, what is jñāna-yoga, what is dhyāna-yoga, what is bhakti-yoga, what is the ultimate goal-sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66)— He has explained everything. Now it is up to you to think over it and do whatever you like. There is no force. You are at liberty. Your question has no standing. You have to decide, if you have got intelligence, to take up the instruction of Kṛṣṇa and by happy. It is up to you. What was your question? What was your question?

Indian man (2): What was my question? I said how does it matter what name we give to Kṛṣṇa, whether we call Him by Bhagavān or other names...?

Evening Darsana -- September 1, 1976, Delhi:

Pradyumna: "The group of transcendentalists who follow the path of the inconceivable, unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord are called jñāna-yogis, and persons who are in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, engaged in devotional service to the Lord are called bhakti-yogis. Now here the difference between jñāna-yoga and bhakti-yoga is definitely expressed."

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa personally says bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). (Hindi) If you like to tolerate adi-kleśa, that is your choice. Otherwise, Bhagavān, sac-cid-ānanda...

śrī vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-
śṛṅgāra-tan-mandira-mārjanādau
yuktasya bhaktāṁś ca niyuñjato 'pi
vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam **
(Hindi) You can accept any way. That is your choice.
Room Conversation with Indian Man -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Indian man: That little knowledge I possess about Gītā starts with Third Chapter. With the knowledge made there, and Kṛṣṇa coming down to bhakti-yoga step by step, karma-yoga, and saying everything, "This is the supreme, this is the supreme, this is the supreme."

Prabhupāda: Not supreme. He says this is of the person, different ways of thinking. But everywhere He is stressing bhakti. Just like generally people are karmī. Karmīs. They are working hard. And he has made his plan. He has made his plan that, "In this way, I shall be happy." So throughout the whole world, the beginning from animals, lower than the man, and then men, different types of men... So manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi, every one of them, he is planning or he is thinking in different ways. So the animals, they cannot understand the master's answer. But in the human being, they are according to the mind, mental concoction and planning, there are four classes of men.

Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). To serve Kṛṣṇa favorably, that is oneness. That is oneness.

Mr. Malhotra: This is bhakti-yoga.

Prabhupāda: Any yoga. You are individual, God is individual. That is already explained, I told you. God says, Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, "Me, yourself and all these people who have gathered, they are all individuals. They were individuals in the past, they are individuals now, and we shall continue to remain individuals in the future."

Mr. Malhotra: Even if we surrender.

Prabhupāda: Surrender means agreement.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: You'll advise, but you'll never do it. That is going on. (break) ...elephants dance, and we see. This is Indian policy. These white elephants, they'll come and dance, and you'll see. And you are busy with your daughter's marriage. That's all. (break) ...means vairāgya-vidyā. Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga (CC Madhya 6.254). Nobody can become a bhakta unless he has disgusted with material life. "I shall do this, I shall do that." And he'll never do bhakti-yoga. That's all. This is not possible. (break) Before leaving my family life I wanted to get my all sons and daughters married, but some of them disagreed, some of them... My wife disagreed. Let them go to hell, I don't care. Time is up. Never mind you are married or not married. Then see your own business. (break) I or you, then who will take care of the marriage of your daughter? Suppose you die immediately? Then who will take care?

Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Jagadīśa: "Dear Dr. Lubin: In our recent telephone conversation you asked me to articulate in a letter those questions concerning the current brainwashing, deprogramming controversy which I feel may be pertinent to psychiatrists interested in religious issues and therefore a potential topic for discussion and or research within the Committee on Psychiatry and Religion of the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry. Speaking on my own behalf and informally on behalf of the Hare Kṛṣṇa religious society, I might suggest that this issue raises some very serious questions concerning possible abuses of diagnostic power in psychiatry against religious practitioners and movements for what may be social, political, and legal ends. Within the last ten years a large number of new religious groups, sects, communities and organizations have appeared on the American scene. Some are totally new organizationally as well as theologically. And others are, or allege to be, based upon some already existing spiritual tradition. I myself am a member for six years of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement. The term Kṛṣṇa consciousness is synonymous with the term bhakti-yoga, a theistic form of yoga which finds its scriptural authority in the Bhagavad-gītā and other major Indian devotional texts.

Room Conversation -- December 27, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: For woman there is no...

Jagadīśa: I think we should avoid women altogether. Avoid women altogether?

Prabhupāda: Women, it is only possible in our Vaiṣṇava bhakti-yoga—women and men can be given equal right. There is no other system.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They can wear a normal dress.

Hari-śauri: If they wear those big robes... Sometimes I see... It's a one-piece thing. It comes down to their ankles. If they wear something like that, it's all right.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Because they want to do something different. They want to see different things. If we give them a pajama and kurtā, we'll still make them do bhakti-yoga, but it's...

Room Conversation -- December 27, 1976, Bombay:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Because they want to do something different. They want to see different things. If we give them a pajama and kurtā, we'll still make them do bhakti-yoga, but it's...

Prabhupāda: Bhakti-yoga, chanting, dancing there will be. They can join.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, but...

Prabhupāda: But they cannot practice. They cannot sit down like this, the women. They'll be tired. This is real practice.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: I think even the men...

Prabhupāda: Yogāsana. Yogāsana, dhyāna, dhāraṇā, āsana.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: That's so then we can show them, "See this yoga is...," because it appears a little difficult, it is the best form of yoga. It's not something easy that you can just do in one second.

Jagadīśa: So what's the conclusion?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They will sit together.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Yogi Amrit Desai of Kripalu Ashram (PA USA) -- January 2, 1977, Bombay:

Yogi Amrit Desai: You consider that as a material. Only bhakti-yoga is more... That's true.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Karma... What is the difference between the karmīs and yogis? Yogis want some siddhis, and karmīs want some material profit. Both of them are in want. They are not free from want. Is it not?

Yogi Amrit Desai: No, it depends on the yogi. My guru is a yogi, but he never demonstrated any power ever.

Prabhupāda: No, no... Yogi, he wants siddhi. Yogis... Of course, nowadays yogis, they have no siddhis.

Yogi Amrit Desai: (laughs) That's right. Even they don't have that.

Conversation with Yogi Amrit Desai of Kripalu Ashram (PA USA) -- January 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So you can take... You have taken to bhakti-yoga, but take it seriously, pure bhakti-yoga. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). (break) ...favorable, according to bhakti-yoga, then he is successful.

Trivikrama: Śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā.

Yogi Amrit Desai: Pure bhakti. (Hindi) jñāna...

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) Kevala-bodha-labdhaye, kliśyanti. Just to know things, if he's simply troubling, his gain is that troubling only. Śreyaḥ-sṛtiṁ bhaktim udasya kliśyanti ye kevala-bodha-labdhaye. So jñāna... This jñāna is to understand. Just like the scientists, they are getting some knowledge, studying some features, and what do they gain more?

Conversation with Yogi Amrit Desai of Kripalu Ashram (PA USA) -- January 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So Govinda dāsī, you are feeling all right? Like this atmosphere? So Caitya-guru, your program, that you are going to construct temple there? (break) Aiye (break) You must accept the standard way, then you'll get siddhi, you'll get sukha and parāṁ gati. Unless you follow the standard way, na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim. So if you have interest in bhakti-yoga, then you practice the bhakti-yoga properly. That will make you successful. Otherwise, teṣām asau kleśala eva śiṣyate, simply whatever labor you are doing, that is your profit and no other profit. Kleśala eva. Nānyad yathā sthūla-tuṣāvaghātinām. The example is tuṣa. Tuṣa you know? The skin of rice? Husk. Yes. So if there is paddy, if you beat it, you'll get rice. But if you beat on the husk, then...

Conversation with Yogi Amrit Desai of Kripalu Ashram (PA USA) -- January 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: What is the profit? (Hindi) Sewer. Pigs. These are the natural examples. (Hindi) Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyed sattvam (SB 5.5.1). Just purify your existence, that tapasya. Then you'll get... Yasmād brahma-saukhyam anantam. Ramante yoginaḥ anante (CC Madhya 9.29). That is real yogic perfection. Satyānande cid-ātmani. (Hindi) So if you have taken the bhakti-yoga system, do it nicely. You'll get success very quickly. Otherwise, śrama eva hi kevalam. So why should we waste our time, simply satisfied with the labor?

Trivikrama: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Jaya. (guests leave) This is Japanese?

Trivikrama: Chinese. I'm in China now.

Prabhupāda: In China proper?

Trivikrama: No, no. But that is from China proper.

Prabhupāda: So what is the news?

Trivikrama: We have distributed about 2,500 now of Chinese Bhagavad-gītā.

Prabhupāda: Out of five thousand.

Morning Walk -- January 4, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the beginning. Then it becomes purified more and more and more and more by service. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234). Then he realizes his position. Svayam eva sphuraty... The more he advances in sevonmukha, by service, God becomes revealed to him. And then buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam. Then as he becomes more confidential, then he is imparted buddhi-yogam, means bhakti-yoga. What is that bhakti-yoga? Yena mām upayānti te. "That bhakti-yoga, by which he can come back to Me." Not that bhakti-yoga means you remain here in this rotten place. Yena mām upayānti te. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam, buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam (BG 10.10). He can receive that buddhi-yoga. What is that buddhi-yoga? Yena mām upayānti. So this is required. This is the ultimate goal of life.

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Just like there is infection, and if you take a vaccine, then it will not infect, the contaminous disease. Similarly, if you take to bhakti-yoga, then you'll not be infected by these three guṇas. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya. You'll remain immune. This bhakti-yoga... Māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena (BG 14.26). Not vyabhicāreṇa, avyabhicāreṇa. Then you'll remain above the qualities transcendental. This is bhakti-yoga. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām (BG 9.14). If you cannot do anything, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours. Bas. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma... (BG 14.26). You remain on the brahma stage. (long pause-kīrtana in background)

Morning Walk -- January 29, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: They have "mation." What is that? "Cremation"? (break)

Satsvarūpa: This year in the United States several temples had very good success by advertising a cooking class in the college, because many times the students, they don't want to come when they see Bhagavad-gītā or bhakti-yoga. But they would see "Indian Cooking," and they would go, and in the class they would teach how to make cooking, but then they would preach, "And so this food should be offered to God, and this is the Bhagavad-gītā." In this way it was much...

Prabhupāda: Very good. This is very nice.

Pṛthu-putra: Yes. We had also classes like this in Paris. People were coming just to learn how to cook. And in that way they could hear the philosophy.

Morning Walk -- February 1, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: It's a very subtle subject. We try to present this bhakti-yoga among scientists...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...and these physicists and biologists. We are thinking how to do it.

Prabhupāda: No, here is argument. Here is... A plant is coming. So yoni... The source of birth is called yoni. So yoni is there, the earth. But who begotten this? There must be father. Because we, our experience, without father and mother there is no generation. You prove that, that here is the mother; there is the child. And where is the father? And the father says, "Yes, I am father." Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām. That's all. There must be father. "You do not see." This is not logic. There must be father. So there must be God; otherwise how they are coming? By whose arrangement? Now, the exact fruit and flower will come from this. You bring another tree. Not it will resemble like. Varieties of life. You cannot say it is accident. Huh?

Morning Walk -- February 1, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: No, that is later on. First of all you have to accept that there is original father. That is God. Now, how to realize that God, that is another detail.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So we made an attempt... I made an attempt to show this, that bhakti-yoga is science, but it is a subtle science. But it has...

Prabhupāda: To understand God.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: It needs to...

Prabhupāda: It is a science. It is the only science by which you can understand God. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55).

Svarūpa Dāmodara: It needs to change our thinking. So we approached like this, that...

Morning Walk -- February 1, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: But because they are not accepting the process, they cannot understand what is God. Therefore they are bewildered. This is the only process. So if they take to bhakti-yoga, they will see, "Yes, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19). Oh, everything is Vās... Kṛṣṇa is the origin." No, they are struggling to know the origin, but because they have not taken the right process, they are bewildered. Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate (BG 3.27). By false ahaṅkāra, egotism, they are rejecting, that "There is no God," and they remain in the darkness. Mūḍha janmani janmani (BG 16.20). Birth after birth they remain in darkness. (pause) Mūḍha janmani janmani, birth after birth. (break)

Morning Walk -- February 1, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Avan(?) mānasa-gocara. Acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yoja... Which is beyond your knowledge, you don't argue. Accept the authority.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That is approach. Then we bring bhakti-yoga...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...saying these things.

Prabhupāda: That is the beginning, submission. Tad viddhi praṇipātena (BG 4.34). That is the beginning of bhakti-yoga. And if you remain just like the scissor man, then you'll never learn.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: And once we bring this bhakti-yoga, we can prove very easily that the Supreme Being, must be a person.

Room Conversation Meeting with Dr. Sharma (from Russia) -- April 17, 1977, Bombay:

Dr. Sharma: The top politicians, they come in the way. They stop these things. They had a yoga class institute set up in the Moscow University, and when they came to bhakti-yoga, they realized that spiritualism's involved. So at the earliest they get rid of this.

Prabhupāda: One book is published, what is that religion?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Anthology.

Prabhupāda: Anthology. So in that book they have given quotation from my books.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. It's just come out.

Prabhupāda: It is very nice.

Dr. Sharma: One day they removed the professor the department of Russian, for arguing in favor (?) of Indian yoga, and he was practicing it and teaching the people. And they got rid of it.

Prabhupāda: So when they get the information...

Room Conversation Meeting with Dr. Sharma (from Russia) -- April 17, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Anthology of Religions of the World.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So your book is considered an authoritative book on the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: They have given nice description of bhakti-yoga. So if you want to, we can give you some sets of books for reading, and discussing amongst your friends.

Dr. Sharma: Thank you.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You can select our any number of books you want. Let them read and understand.

Guest (2): He is good at translating also. He could translate our books.

Prabhupāda: If you kindly do that, you can. That will be a great service.

Conversation: Vairagya, Salaries, and Political Etiquette -- April 28, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Lower stage. Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam (CC Madhya 6.254). That... There is one verse written by Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya. What page I don't... Śikṣārtham. The bhakti-yoga, nija-bhakti-yoga... Bhakti-yoga means devotion to Kṛṣṇa. And that is vairāgya-vidyā, how to learn, renounce this world. Otherwise why Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave up His gṛhastha life? He's the same person. Why Rūpa Gosvāmī gave up their ministership? By their personal behavior they are showing this is not required. This is vairāgya-vidyā. So under the circumstances, those who have no vairāgya, they cannot live in the temple. They are taking advantage of the temple facilities for their sense enjoyment. Do you understand?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, I do.

Conversation: Vairagya, Salaries, and Political Etiquette -- April 28, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Surepsita. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's position was, even the demigods, they desired such family life. But He still gave up. That is teaching. Therefore Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya says, vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhak..., śikṣārtham: "to teach others." He understood that in order to teach others vairāgya-vidyā... He is the Supreme Person. Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga-śikṣārtham ekaḥ purāṇa-puruṣaḥ: (CC Madhya 6.254) "That He was, Supreme Lord. Now He has appeared as Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya."Śarīra-dhārī: "He has accepted one body as Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya." So these things should be stopped, that they should live comfortably with husband and wife, children, and take salary from the... You decide. This is not to our... Besides that, in our BBT it is clearly written that "Fifty percent for printing book, and fifty percent for..." So you cannot violate this. Those who can give voluntary service, "Welcome." Otherwise we don't require. At least they should not be given any salary. That is very bad. This is against principle.

Evening Darsana -- May 13, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: Simply one has to understand. Then he becomes fixed up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. People are generally after yoga, especially the Westerners. I think they have come here for perfection of yoga. But here it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. That is first class, to increase your attachment for Kṛṣṇa. Mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan. This is yoga, how to increase the attachment for Kṛṣṇa. This is called bhakti-yoga. So this yoga can be practiced-mayy āsakta-manāḥ pār..., yogam, mad-āśrayaḥ, not anyone's other's āśraya. Mad-āśrayaḥ. Taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa or taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa's personal person, personal associates, mat-para. Mat-para means one who has dedicated his life for Kṛṣṇa. He is called mat-para. Or directly under Kṛṣṇa. Directly under Kṛṣṇa is difficult. Because we do not understand Kṛṣṇa, therefore we have to take shelter of a person who is already under the shelter of Kṛṣṇa.

Indian man (1): Mat-para people are very seldom available.

Evening Darsana -- May 15, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: Artificial. Cyavanti te. There is one verse. They'll fall down. What is the purport?

Pradyumna: "The group of transcendentalists who follow the path of the inconceivable, unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord engaged in devotional service of the Lord are called (sic:) bhakta-yogīs. Now, here the difference between jñāna-yoga and bhakti-yoga is definitely expressed. The process of jñāna-yoga, although ultimately bringing one to the same goal, is very troublesome, whereas the path of bhakti-yoga, the process of being in direct service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is easier and is natural for the embodied soul. The individual soul is embodied since time immemorial. It is very difficult for him to simply theoretically understand that he is not the body. Therefore the bhakti-yogī accepts the Deity of Kṛṣṇa as worshipable because there is some bodily conception fixed in the mind which can thus be applied. Of course, worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His form within the temple is not idol worship. There is evidence in the Vedic literature that worship may be saguṇa or nirguṇa, of the Supreme possessing or not possessing attributes.

Evening Darsana -- May 15, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: Partial. So partial understanding will not satisfy because he is himself, the same quality, sac-cid-ānanda. He's seeking after ānanda. If he does not get ānanda, if he cannot dance with Kṛṣṇa, then he falls down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Again material dancing, again hospital, schools. Big, big sannyāsīs could not get any relish. Then... (Hindi) The brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. If it is mithyā, why you are after school? Patanty adhaḥ. Therefore unless one is very pious, sukṛti, they cannot stick to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtinaḥ. Therefore piety, pious activities, is recommended in the śāstras. And so far devotees are concerned, especially in this age, directly, directly engage him in bhakti-yoga, and everything will be all...

Evening Darsana -- May 15, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: The general process is tapasā brahmacaryeṇa yamena niyamena, satya-śaucābhyāṁ tyāgena, satya-śaucam, śamena damena... (SB 6.1.13). There are different stages. But kecit kevalayā bhaktyā, simply by bhakti, kevalayā bhaktyā vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ... Vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yoga-prayojitaḥ. They can wash. Kārtsnyena aghaṁ dhunvanti. All sinful reaction of life becomes washed. Aghaṁ dhunvanti kārtsnyena. How it is possible? Nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ. Just like there is wash of mist, sun, as soon as the sun rises. So let Kṛṣṇa rise up. Therefore our, this motto is in the English Back to Godhead, "Kṛṣṇa is light..."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Kṛṣṇa is light..." "Godhead is light. Nescience is darkness. Where there is Godhead, there is no nescience."

Prabhupāda: So this is direct process. Because Kali-yuga, they cannot actually undergo severe austerities, penances, vairāgya. Little difficult. Not difficult. Very difficult. But that is a special concession for this age. Because we are very fallen, we cannot undergo severe austerities, penances, yamena niyamena vā, brahmacarya. Very, very difficult.

Conversations with Kirtana Groups -- May 29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: ...meat-eating, gambling and intoxication. Find out throughout the whole world if they can give up these bad habits by adopting any other means. But one who has taken to the bhakti-yoga, they have given up very easily. Is it not?

Hari-śauri: Yeah, immediately.

Prabhupāda: Anartha upaśamaṁ sākṣāt. Nobody dies without illicit sex or intoxication. Anartha, unnecessarily they are habituated. There is no need, but by bad association you have practiced this, habituated, cannot be given up. LSD. Government spends so much, millions of dollars, that "These hippies may give up." Not successful. See practically. And as soon as they come to our camp, they give up. Is it not?

Conversations with Kirtana Groups -- May 29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: The same bhakti-yoga. This is practical.

Jayapatākā: Now there's another group.

Yaśodānandana: Jaya oṁ viṣṇupāda paramahaṁsa parivrājakācārya aṣṭottara-śata śrī-śrīmad... (break)

Prabhupāda: They do not know. They'll not pay. All dry flowers they'll supply you and take American money. He'll not pay. Anyway, satisfy yourself. So it is raining?

Hari-śauri: It's beginning to. (break)

Prabhupāda: Where is Bhavānanda?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He is at the fire sacrifice.

Prabhupāda: Fire sacrifice not yet finished?

Talk with Svarupa Damodara -- June 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We are describing that life, or ātmā, as such. Sometimes they ask, "Show me the experiment so that I know that there is life," so we are proposing that "Yes, the experiment is bhakti-yoga."

Prabhupāda: Another example you can give. Suppose a man is high-court judge, very... Now, his mother is feeding him, sitting down. And if the son says, "No, let me dress like a high-court judge, then I shall eat," will the mother like it? That is like...(?) "You become high-court judge and be satisfied."(?)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Once I gave a lecture at Emory University to the scientific community, and I tried to introduce this bhakti-yoga in a scientific language and found it difficult, but I tried to bring the idea by comparing that an electron... In order to study an electron, we actually take advantage of a field where an electric current can be generated. Otherwise the property of electron cannot be studied in a scientific experiment.

Talk with Svarupa Damodara -- June 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Once I gave a lecture at Emory University to the scientific community, and I tried to introduce this bhakti-yoga in a scientific language and found it difficult, but I tried to bring the idea by comparing that an electron... In order to study an electron, we actually take advantage of a field where an electric current can be generated. Otherwise the property of electron cannot be studied in a scientific experiment. Similarly, we established that ātmā, being nonphysical and nonchemical, is spiritual and also has personal character. We must take advantage of a personal feature where one can have direct relationship between this individual ātmā, and there should be also a supreme ātmā. And the relationship of the study of this will be the experimental study, and that experiment is bhakti-yoga.

Prabhupāda: I have several times stressed that living being is a sample of God. If you study living being, you understand God.

Talk with Svarupa Damodara -- June 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The mental attitude of the inquirer or the seeker in this bhakti process, you also said, it plays a very important role in understanding this relationship between the jīva, or individual life, ātmā, and Paramātmā, these two relationships. So we proposed that since it is based on psychological interactions, willing, feeling and the thinking, so the attitude should be humble and it should not be arrogant, and it should feel the limitations. Actually we try to bring all the brahminical qualities in order to study this bhakti-yoga in a scientific manner, and we presented like that, briefly, in a scientific community, and it was mildly accepted. They were just thinking that...

Prabhupāda: Therefore in the society there must be qualified brāhmaṇa. The all rascals, śūdras, professors...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Just like in a scientific experiment we have so many conditions...

Room Conversation -- July 27-28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Also we are now going to have big distributors who are ready to take on our books, and we're going to have them distribute our Hindi, Gujarati books all over India. Plus, you know, those railway stands? We're going to come out with a plastic, small bag type, with six pockets in it, and it's going to say, "Bhaktivedanta Yoga Library." We're going to have Beyond Birth and Death, Perfection of Yoga, in Hindi, and in Gujarati areas, Gujarati books. We'll have a complete selection of yoga books. I've been speaking to many distributors, and yoga books are very popular in India. I was also thinking, I have this book all ready, The Scientific Basis of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. I wanted to change the name to The Scientific Basis of Bhakti-yoga in Hindi. Just by replacing "Kṛṣṇa Consciousness" with "Bhakti-yoga," the appeal will broaden because people are buying books just...

Prabhupāda: You can.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Can I do it?

Room Conversation -- October 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Purport.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Purport. This material world is a manifestation of the three modes goodness, passion and ignorance, and the Supreme Lord, for the creation, maintenance and destruction of the material world, accepts three predominating forms as Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śaṅkara (Śiva). As Viṣṇu He enters into every body materially created. As Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu He enters into every universe, and as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu He enters the body of every living being. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, being the origin of all viṣṇu-tattvas, is addressed here as paraḥ pumān, or Puruṣottama, as described in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.18). He is the complete whole. The puruṣāvatāras are therefore His plenary expansions. Bhakti-yoga is the only process by which one can become competent to know Him. Because the empiric philosophers and mystic yogīs cannot conceive of the Personality of Godhead, He is called anupalakṣya-vartmane, the Lord of the inconceivable way, or bhakti-yoga. SB 2.4.13;

Room Conversation -- October 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: "O Lord, You are the maintainer of everything, both material and spiritual, and everything flourishes by Your mercy. Your devotional service, or bhakti-yoga, is the actual principle of religion, satya-dharma, and I am engaged in that service. So kindly protect me by showing Your real face. Please, therefore, remove the veil of Your brahmajyoti rays so that I can see Your form of eternal bliss and knowledge." (break)

Hari-śauri: ...reminding them that the caukidāra wasn't ringing the bell until it became established.

Brahmānanda: It's been going on for years.

Prabhupāda: After my departure they stopped this? You may take. Where is Akṣayānanda? (break) (bell rings)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hari-śauri? Śrīla Prabhupāda, they just rang the bell now.

Prabhupāda: He is going...

Room Conversation -- October 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Some people even come, higher class people, and work. They give their service in the restaurant. They wash dishes. They serve tables. We engage them in bhakti-yoga.

Brahmānanda: What's the name of the restaurant?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Govinda.

Prabhupāda: So you make good profit.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: It's your mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda. (Prabhupāda chuckles) They respect you a lot in Tehran. The royalty respects you. The businessmen respect you. They really respect Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Persian civilization, very high, Aryan civilization.

Room Conversation -- November 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhavānanda: Purport: "Factually the devotional service of the Lord is described in Vedānta-sūtra, but the Māyāvādī philosophers, the Śaṅkarites, prepared a commentary known as Śārīraka-bhāṣya, in which the transcendental form of the Lord is denied. The Māyāvādī philosophers think that the living entity is identical with the Supreme Soul, Brahman. Their commentaries on Vedānta-sūtra are completely opposed to the principle of devotional service. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore warns us to avoid these commentaries. If one indulges in hearing the Śaṅkarite Śārīraka-bhāṣya, he will certainly be bereft of all real knowledge. The ambitious Māyāvādī philosophers desire to merge into the existence of the Lord, and this may be accepted as sāyujya-mukti. However, this form of mukti means denying one's individual existence. In other words, it is a kind of spiritual suicide. This is absolutely opposed to the philosophy of bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga offers immortality to the individual conditioned soul. If one follows the Māyāvādī philosophy, he misses his opportunity to become immortal after giving up the material body. The immortality of the individual person is the highest perfectional stage a living entity can attain."

Prabhupāda: Who were..., was present all through in the meeting?

Room Conversation -- November 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati (BG 4.7). (Hindi) Whenever there are discrepancies in the human society—tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham—at that time He appears. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). This is the program. And when He comes, the time is fixed. So unless one thoroughly studies, they cannot accept. Actually Kṛṣṇa... Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). This system, Bhagavad-gītā, it is yoga, bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga is the topmost.

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ
mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā
śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ
sa me yuktatamo mataḥ
(BG 6.47)

There are many yogas. The aim is how to come to the topmost yoga. That is bhakti-yoga. And Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, bhakto 'si me. What is that verse? Eh? Evaṁ purātanaḥ yogaḥ.

Page Title:Bhakti-yoga (Conversations 1976 - 1977)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:25 of Sep, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=56, Let=0
No. of Quotes:56