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Blackish (Conv. & Letters)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1967 Conversations and Morning Walks

Discourse on Lord Caitanya Play Between Srila Prabhupada and Hayagriva -- April 5-6, 1967, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: ...recording?

Hayagrīva: Good.

Prabhupāda: The first scene is that people passing on with saṅkīrtana movement as we have, as we usually do, very nice procession with mṛdaṅga, karatālas and that bugle, all people, just in the ordinary way. We have to make a nice procession. The second scene is that Kali, the personified Kali, a person should be decorated blackish. A blackish man with royal dress and very ugly features. And his queen, another ugly featured girl or lady. So they are disturbed. They'll talk between themselves that "There is saṅkīrtana movement now and how we shall prosecute our business of this Kali-yuga?" There will be, in that scene, in some corner somebody is drinking. Two or three persons drinking. The scene will be like that. They are sitting in the center. In one corner somebody taking part in drinking, and another part somebody is illicitly talking of lust and love with woman. In another section there is slaughtering of a cow, and another section gambling. In this way that scene should be adjusted. And in the middle, the ugly man, black man, and the ugly woman will talk that "We are now in danger. The saṅkīrtana movement has been started. What to do?" In this way you have to finish that scene.

Hayagrīva: Now Kali is depicted as a male. As male?

Prabhupāda: As male, yes.

Hayagrīva: Because sometimes I know he's depicted as female.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Male, his feature black, and dressed like a king. Black means ignorance. And similarly the scene is also blackish.

Hayagrīva: Yes.

Prabhupāda: These things should be ascertained(?). Then, it is mentioned there, exhibit illicit sex, slaughterhouse, intoxication, gambling. Then the third scene is very nice. Rāsa dance.

Discourse on Lord Caitanya Play Between Srila Prabhupada and Hayagriva -- April 5-6, 1967, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: So one Kṛṣṇa and one gopī, they are dancing. That should be, scene should be... Then the rāsa dance should be stopped and Kṛṣṇa will talk with the gopīs. Kṛṣṇa will say to the gopīs that "My dear friends, you have come to Me in this dead of night. It is not very good because it is the duty of every woman to please her husband. So what your husband will think that you have come in such dead of night? A woman's duty is not to give up her husband even he is not of good character or if he is unfortunate, if he is old, or if he is diseased. Still, husband is worshiped by the wife. So you have come here, it is very sinful. So you... People will decry it. Please go back. Now we have finished." So in this way the gopīs will reply that, "You cannot request us to go back because with great difficulty and with great, I mean to say, ecstatic desire we have come to You, and it is not Your duty to ask us to go back." In this way you arrange some talking that Kṛṣṇa is asking them to go back, but they are insisting, "No, let us continue our rāsa dance." Then when the rāsa dance is finished, the gopīs will go, then Kṛṣṇa in His halilak(?), He says that "They are My heart and soul, these gopīs. They are so sincere devotees that they do not care for family encumbrances and all, any bad name. They come to Me. So how shall I repay them?" He was thinking. "How shall I repay their so ecstatic love?" So He thought that "I cannot repay them unless and until I take up their situation to understand Me. Because I Myself cannot understand Me. I have to take the position of the gopīs, how they are loving Me." So with that consideration He took the form of Lord Caitanya. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is blackish, Lord Caitanya is of the color of the gopīs. The whole life of Lord Caitanya is representation of gopīs' love towards Kṛṣṇa. That should be painted in that picture. You have got to ask anything?

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: There are some special marks on the chest of Viṣṇu by which in Vaikuṇṭha He is known that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Otherwise, in Vaikuṇṭha, everyone has got the same feature like Viṣṇu. Just like if President Johnson comes here as a gentleman, you'll not, nobody will recognize him whether he's president or not unless he shows his special mark. Is it not? All government officers, big officers, they have got within the coat one, some mark. So far I know. So similarly, in Vaikuṇṭha the inhabitants, they got svarūpa. Their form is exactly like Viṣṇu. There is no difference. When the Viṣṇudūta came to take Ajamila from the hands of Yamadūta. They were four-handed with śankha-cakra-gadā-padma as Viṣṇu, the lotus flower, this disc, and the club, and the conchshell. There is no difference in the body. Simply by that special mark, some special hair on the chest and there is Bhṛgu, I mean to say, sole, sole, a mark of the feet of Bhṛgu Muni. So by some special marks one can recognize He is Viṣṇu. Otherwise, from bodily features and from dress and from ornaments, there is no distinction between Viṣṇu and His devotees in Vaikuṇṭha. They're all four-handed. Svarūpa sāyujya sālokya sārṣṭi. They have got equal, I mean to say, situation of prosperity, wealthy, equally, almost equally powerful. So practically there is no difference between Viṣṇu and Viṣṇu-bhakta. In Kṛṣṇaloka also. Only Kṛṣṇa is little blackish. Otherwise there is no... In the Kṛṣṇaloka they are two-handed, and Viṣṇuloka they are four-handed. All the Vaikuṇṭhas, the residents, they are four-handed. You want four-hand or two-hand? (laughter) Mr. Murti? What do you want? Four hands?

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 17, 1971, Allahabad:

Guest (1): No, there is no denying, you see, because we only know that all-attractiveness in Śyāmasundaram.

Prabhupāda: Śyāmasundaram... But the Śyāmasundaram means He is blackish, still, He is so beautiful that thousands of Cupids cannot be compared with Him. Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ (Bs. 5.30). Kandarpa-koṭi. Cupid is supposed to be the most beautiful, but about Kṛṣṇa it is stated that:

veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ
barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam
kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
(Bs. 5.30)

Veṇuṁ kvaṇantam: He is playing on flute. Aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ: His eyes are just like petals of the lotus flower. Barhāvataṁsam: He has got a peacock feather on His head. Asitāmbuda: and His color is just like black cloud. Sundarāṅgam: but His beauty, total beauty is kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ (Bs. 5.30). Still, the beauty... As soon as we say blackish, we think that he... If somebody is blackish, he is not beautiful.

Guest (1): That is also charm in that.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But still, He's still charming. Because it is all transcendental, we cannot compare the blackish cloud. It is simply given, an idea, that it is like blackish cloud. But immediately it is said, still, kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (Bs. 5.30). So God has many names, and according to your conception, you can have God's name also. But out of all those names, many thousands and unlimited different types of names, Kṛṣṇa is the principal name because Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive. You cannot say that God is not all-attractive. And if you use that sense, all-attractive, this is the word, Kṛṣṇa.

Room Conversation -- December 10, 1971, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Meher Baba, he's a...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Vaibhava.

Prabhupāda: Oh, Meher..., and Vaibhava. I thought that Meher Baba. (laughter) (break) There was a Hari Baba, there was a Meher Baba. Meher Baba is famous in your country. Is it not?

Devotees: Yes.

Prabhupāda: He's a nonsense. Vaibhava, prabhāvā, expansion of Kṛṣṇa. When the body is similar, but the color of the body different, that is called vaibhava. Just like Balarāma. Balarāma. Kṛṣṇa's body and Balarāma, there is no bodily difference, but Kṛṣṇa is blackish, Balarāma is whitish. These things are described in the Teachings of Lord Caitanya. You don't read it? Huh?

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Garden Conversation with Mahadeva's Mother and Jesuit Priest -- July 25, 1973, London:

Śrutakīrti: I think a storm is coming.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Śrutakīrti: A rainstorm is...

Prabhupāda: Rainstorm? No.

Revatīnandana: Little, little... It might rain. It's not for a while. But when it gets misty, it sometimes rains.

Prabhupāda: You can understand from the cloud. When it's blackish, then there is rain. (Break) (end)

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Indian Guests -- April 12, 1975, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is all-attractive, that he will not explain. In the Brahma-saṁhitā, it is said, asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ (Bs. 5.30). Asitām, sundaram. He is blackish, but He is so attractive, more attractive than many millions of Cupid.

Guest: (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: No, no. Why you should commit offense like that? It is a great offense to decry Kṛṣṇa.

Guest: (indistinct) ...describe Him as blackish or black.

Prabhupāda: But why does he say Kṛṣṇa means black?

Guest: Kṛṣṇa means black, (Hindi) Somebody questioned me: "What is Kṛṣṇa means?" Then apart from this, Sanskrit reply he gave: "Kṛṣṇa means black also."

Prabhupāda: So why did he not say Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive?

Guest: As far as Kṛṣṇa's features are concerned, we know it is (indistinct) black. (indistinct)

Mahāṁsa: The last time we had come here, I had come to just see on the first day what he says. So on the first day he said that now we'll have a gītā-jñāna yajña, and he said we will take the ślokas which are suitable and which ślokas are not suitable...

Prabhupāda: Just see.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- June 11, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: It is finished. In England aristocracy is finished.

Hari-śauri: Yes.

Prabhupāda: They're all selling their property. They cannot maintain. Even the Queen cannot maintain her establishment, but because it's government.... The Buckingham Palace was not repaired for many years. Last time, when I went there, I saw it is repaired now. Before that, three, four times I went. It is blackish. The stone.... It is made of stone. The stone had become black. That means many years it was not repaired.

Hari-śauri: What they do now if they have some big house in the country and they want to keep it, they have to put it on show during the summer months. They allow people to come, and they charge them so much money to come and look around.

Interview with Jackie Vaughn (Black Congressman) -- July 12, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: The institution is already there. We are conducting Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But if the government cooperates that a certain number of students must be trained up scientifically what is the meaning of God, that will be very much beneficial to the state or to the country. We can give solution for any problem. "We" means Kṛṣṇa. We are simply preaching Kṛṣṇa's message. Kṛṣṇa means God. Kṛṣṇa means black also. Kṛṣṇa, this word, (chuckles) means black also. He is following?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Another meaning of kṛṣṇa is blackish.

Jackie Vaughn: Black is beautiful?

Prabhupāda: Why not? He's the most beautiful. Otherwise, why people are attracted? There is a verse in the Brahma-saṁhitā: kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobham (Bs. 5.30); barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam. He has got one peacock feather on His head and He's blackish, but wonderfully beautiful. These words are used. Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya. He's so beautiful that thousands of Cupids cannot be compared with His beauty. Cupid is understood to be the most beautiful person within this universe. You know Cupid? Yes. He enchants by beauty. But Kṛṣṇa's beauty is so great that millions of beauty, kandarpa or Cupid, cannot be compared with Him. Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (Bs. 5.30). It is a question of attraction. It is not a question of black and white. Attraction. So unless Kṛṣṇa is beautiful, why He has got so many millions of devotees? This very word is kandarpa-koṭi. Barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam. His blackness is compared with the black cloud. Asita-ambuda, ambuda means the cloud. The black cloud is full of water. When there is black cloud in the sky, you can be sure that the rain is going to fall down. Not the white cloud. White cloud means no water. Is it not?

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

Prabhupāda: He's my Godbrother.

George Harrison: Yes, but he didn't speak English. But all the people I was with said he spoke very good Sanskrit, had a good understanding of Sanskrit. But I couldn't understand anything that he, you know.... I just watched him.

Pradyumna: I think Puruṣottama Gosāi.

Prabhupāda: He's talking of Puruṣottama.

Pradyumna: Gosāi.

Prabhupāda: He's blackish?

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 28, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: So simply hear them. That's all. One big barrister, he was my friend. He is dead, M. C. Chatterji. He's a very big barrister. He used to charge sixteen thousand rupees for one appearance. So he was stating about when..., that he came to Vṛndāvana, and he met one boy, and "He asked me some sweets, I gave him sweet. Later on, when I was coming back to Delhi, I saw that boy was running on the train." He said. Such a big barrister, he said like that. "Oh, he was so..." Posturing like this. What can I say? "Kṛṣṇa as cowherd boy was running after you in the train?" This is going on. Another friend's wife, she came to Jagannātha Purī. So Jagannātha Purī, those who are rich men, they are allowed to go near the Jagannātha. So that lady said that "While I was circumambulating, Jagannātha was snatching my cloth." Jagannātha became so much attached with that blackish woman that He began to snatch his (her) cloth. So many stories I know.

Room Conversation -- June 17, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So upon the top there is one pot rice, one pot... And round that fire put these balls.

Upendra: Do you have to turn them?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Upendra: Turning them little...

Prabhupāda: When it is downside little blackish, then turn. It is difficult?

Upendra: No, it sounds very simple, almost too simple. You take these balls, bread balls...

Prabhupāda: Then put in a ghee pot.

Upendra: Hot ghee or just ordinary ghee?

Prabhupāda: Melted.

Upendra: Melted ghee.

Prabhupāda: And dip it and take it out.

Upendra: This, I think this is a... This sounds like you're cooking out in the jungle.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It will be very digestive. You can try one day.

Room Conversation -- June 17, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: A man is working. Now he has got with him rice, ḍāl, āṭā. Now anywhere he can collect this dry gobar and set fire. And he has got his loṭā, and he's cooking. Very palatable and digestive.

Upendra: The balls, laktha, they're looking... I mean, when they are finished, they are looking brown or black?

Prabhupāda: No, brown. Brown and blackish spot.

Upendra: Black spots.

Prabhupāda: Then it is prepared, very... Just like loaf.

Upendra: Yeah, bread loaf.

Prabhupāda: Then put it into ghee. That according to your... Put it long time or keep it or take it, as you can digest.

Correspondence

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Juggannath Babu -- Calcutta 14 March, 1949:

In the Srimad-Bhagavatam when Karabhajana Muni was elucidating the different incarnations of Godhead in different yugas, he said that "In the Kali-yuga the intelligent persons will worship the incarnation of Sri Krishna, by the transcendental sankirtana method. This incarnation of Sri Krishna will be non-blackish in the color of His body but will constantly chant the name of Krishna along with His many disciples who will act as the soldiers for the deliverance of the fallen souls of the Kali-yuga."

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Citralekha -- Bombay 15 June, 1971:

Yes, the bumblebee is very much favored by Krishna and Radharani. Sometimes the bumblebee is taken as a messenger by Radharani and she rebukes the bumblebee because the bumblebee is blackish and Krishna is also blackish. Still, in spite of all rebuking, the bumblebee tried always to touch the Lotus Feet of Radharani. Therefore the bumblebee is to be offered our all reverence and respect. So please try to attract always the bumblebee by sufficiently decorating the Deity with flowers.

Letter to Jadurani -- Los Angeles 9 July, 1971:

Krishna in a boat with the gopis, that picture is all right. He is enjoying. This is spiritual rest and enjoyment. That is the real feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Why should he work? So finish the picture nicely. The idea is all right. The monkeys with Lord Rama are greyish with black face. Why Ramacandra has only one ankle bracelet? They should be on both legs. Painting of Sukadeva is all right. Nara Narayana has four arms and they are bluish; Datyatreya, Prthu and Dhanvantari are yellowish; Lord Buddha is flesh colored; Yajna is bluish; Mohini is extraordinarily beautiful woman. There is no comparison to her beauty, so much so that Lord Siva is captivated by her beauty, what to speak of others. Vyasadeva did not speak all the Vedas to Ganesa. He simply dictated. But the picture is all right. Ravana has twenty arms, 10 heads, and he is blackish in color. The tortoise incarnation, his head portion should be Visnu, as I have told you in my last letter. Kalki should be on the horse's back with sword in hand. It is not clear in the picture.

Page Title:Blackish (Conv. & Letters)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, GauraHari
Created:02 of Aug, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=13, Let=3
No. of Quotes:16