Prabhupāda: The other day the radio man was asking, "Swamiji, how to adjust?" "And there is no adjustment. You have to go out of the scene. There is no adjustment." So he was not very happy. If I would have bluffed him, "Oh, you do this, you do that, you do this humanitarian work, you spread(?) education and give foodstuff." No! There is no adjustment. The only adjustment is quit this place. That is the function of this human form of life. You can get out of this show by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa says that this is the abode of miseries and that also temporary. Because you can accept any miserable life. That is the spell of māyā. Just like this dog life. If somebody asked me, "Would you like to be a dog? I can make you," shall I agree? Why not? Because I know that's miserable life. But the dog is satisfied. By becoming a purchased slave, very much satisfied. He has no independence, always chained and always servant, eternal servant of a particular man. He can do any harmful thing by the order of the master, he's so faithful. But still, his life is miserable because he's dog. But he is satisfied. He thinks that "Oh, it is a very nice life." This is called covering power of māyā, illusion.
Chain (Conversations)
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. So similarly, just like this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is coming down from Kṛṣṇa through the chain of disciplic succession. So if it is actually given in the exact definition, that process, it is effective. And it is actually being experienced that it is effective.
Śyāmasundara: Just like this medicine...
Dr. Weir: Which may not, unfortunately... This is the danger of analogy. This medicine may work in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred and the hundredth one could kill the poor chap. Now you can't say that the physician was cheating in prescribing for the hundredth chap because he just didn't know.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes, yes. Decorating a dead body, yes. So this is another foolishness. (loud sound of a chain-saw in the background) First of all they pin all these logs. Now they are cutting. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30), chewing the chewed. And millions of dollars will be spent for this purpose.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: They have so many plans, one after another. Never stop.
Prabhupāda: Restlessness. Not fixed up. What they are doing here?
Brahmānanda: They want to break these posts to dig this hole.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: This is a very big..., quite deep. I think they are digging so they can take this out. This is called technological advancement. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: Yes, to work foolishly. (break) 6:37. Is that all right?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. So some are saying that when they make these chemicals like the big molecules that we were talking about, DNA... And they are saying that DNA can make its own replication, means it can make another chain of molecules by its own. So they are saying that it is living.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: And some are saying that it's not living.
Prabhupāda: That means their knowledge is imperfect. Somebody is saying something somebody is saying something. That means imperfect.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So if we define the definition what is living and what is non-living, so living means that contains consciousness.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: And the non-living, that has no consciousness.
Prabhupāda: No. That is the difference. That is defined in Bhagavad-gītā. Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. That thing which is spread all over your body, that is avināśi, that is eternal. Antavanta ime dehā (BG 2.18). This, what is said... The body is antavantaḥ, perishable. Nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ. And the spirit within the body, that is eternal. That they cannot understand.
Prabhupāda: No, no. Subjugative, when you are forced to become old, when you are forced to become diseased, you are under subjugation.
Krishna Tiwari: Mistake. Not forced. It's automatic, it's, it's just a chain. It's a growth into. It's a factor; it's no force.
Prabhupāda: That automatic means just like you become criminal.
Krishna Tiwari: That, that's the way progress, I'm a part of it. I'm not under or over anybody, and no one is over, under, or above me. You are not under me. You are not over me.
Śyāmasundara: You're under nature's law.
Krishna Tiwari: Right, we all are. You, me, Swamiji, you, all of us are.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Exactly. Exactly.
Krishna Tiwari: Neither you are above me, nor you are below, nor I am above you. I may have respect for you, because I, on my own, believe that you are respectable. That is entirely different thing.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: That's up to you.
Krishna Tiwari: Then authority. That's what I'm saying. This is up to me. But authority and subjugation are, are the two things which will not come.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: It's a matter of your choice. Accepting...
Krishna Tiwari: It's a matter of personal choice.
Prabhupāda: If you are not under subjugation, that does not authority?
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Girirāja: "Within the prison, shackled in iron chains, Vasudeva and Devakī gave birth to a male child year after year. Kaṁsa, thinking each of the babies to be the incarnation of Viṣṇu, killed them one after another."
Prabhupāda: Yes. He killed his brother. He was merciful upon the father only, kept him in the prison. Otherwise he killed the whole family—brother, brother's son and everyone. (break) ...present kings, such incidences are very many in the history, killing everyone. There is another story that Pana, Pana?
Yaśomatīnandana: Panavada.(?)
Prabhupāda: Yes. The child was to be killed and the...
Yaśomatīnandana: Sarvan sevya.(?)
Prabhupāda: Yes, Hare Kṛṣṇa. The maidservant, she changed her own son and kept the real royal family, defended him. Her child was killed.
Girirāja: "...Vasudeva attempted to take His son from the delivery room, and exactly at that time, a daughter was born of Nanda and Yaśodā. She was Yogamāyā, the internal potency of the Lord. By the influence of His internal potency, Yogamāyā, all the residents of Kaṁsa's palace, especially the doorkeepers, were overwhelmed with deep sleep and all the palace doors opened although they were barred and shackled with iron chains. The night was very dark, but as soon as Vasudeva took Kṛṣṇa on His lap and went out, he could see everything just as in the sunlight." (break)
Dr. Patel: (Hindi) ...he worships like anything. Then he... We have an assembly, and they passed by majority vote that I should refrain from coming here, but I somehow or other came.
Prabhupāda: But I saw and offer my obeisances to your motorcar. (laughter) I was thinking that "Dr. Patel's representative, the car is here."
Dr. Patel: (Hindi) Because we are trained to all the accredited saints of India, to whatever opinion...
Prabhupāda: Our business is to point out who is not a saint.
Prabhupāda: Dogs are disturbing to the people. They can attack any man. If one takes dog, he must lash it, chain. That is the law there. (break)
Indian man (4): There is no idea also. When master is there, then he can control the dog.
Prabhupāda: Oh, the master is... He may be master of the dog, but he is not master of the world.
Indian man (4): But that is how he did it.
Prabhupāda: That is quite all right, but after all, it is dog. After all, it is dog.
Indian man (4): And the law also is that it should be chained. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...sometimes dog attacks the master. Not only dog, animals. (break) ...the bitterest enemies of the demons, always. That is the position. Viṣṇu-bhakto bhaved daiva āsuras tad-viparyayaḥ. So demigods, they are devotees of Viṣṇu, and they are always enemies unto the demons. (break) ...especially in the heart of the saintly person, to kill the saintly person. So Kṛṣṇa also will be killed. Because Kṛṣṇa is in everyone's heart, therefore everyone is Kṛṣṇa. The same conclusion.
Prabhupāda: To teach how to get rid of this disease of birth, death and old age. That is guru's business. That is also father's business, that is also guru's business, or the caretaker's business, the government's business. Because this human life is meant for getting out of these clutches of māyā, constantly, repeatedly changing body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), bhūtvā pralīyate. This business should be stopped. Na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyuṁ gurur na sa syāt. Śāstra says, "One should not be guru if he cannot deliver the disciple from the chain of birth, death, old age and disease."
Guest (4): (indistinct-question about why there is a better response to Kṛṣṇa consciousness in foreign countries than in India)
Prabhupāda: The Americans and the Europeans, they are fed up with this material type of civilization. They are... They know that spiritual life is there in India. They understand it. Therefore, any swami goes there, they go round him to take some spiritual instruction. Unfortunately, mostly they go who have no knowledge. They cannot give them right knowledge. So for the time being they may surround them, but after some time they disperse. Because they do not get actually. Because so far Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, now many swamis went there and they preached Bhagavad-gītā also, but not a single person became a devotee of Kṛṣṇa for the last hundreds of years. But now Bhagavad-gītā is being presented as it is, and people are taking it by hundreds, thousands. So they are after some knowledge, spiritual knowledge, from India, but our so-called swamis, they go, they do not give actual information of the Indian spiritual culture. Therefore they are practically deceived.
Mahāṁsa: (break) ...Rāmānuja sampradāya, do they have a chain of disciplic succession, bona fide chain, to this present day?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Mahāṁsa: And the other sampradāyas also?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Chain must be there. Now, whether strictly following the..., that is another thing.
Pañcadraviḍa: (break) ...invited us to their program at Udupi, Madhva-sampradāya. When they are changing the ācāryas every two years, they extended one invitation to come for their program, main temple program.
Prabhupāda: So why did you not accept?
Pañcadraviḍa: There was no transportation available.
Prabhupāda: Transportation?
Mahāṁsa: Should we go to such programs, Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: If they invite, why not? That means they recognize. But one thing, you be certain whether this Tirupati temple is going to allow our men.
Prabhupāda: As soon as... Just like dog he does not know that he is controlled by the master, "Tch tch tch tch," chain. He does not know. He is thinking, "I am now free. Rau! Rau! Rau! Rau! Rau!" This is the position, no difference between the dog and so-called big, big men. If the dog thinks that he is free and he can jump over anywhere freely, is it possible? No. Fully controlled under the master. He has accepted this control.
- prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
- guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
- ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
- kartāham iti manyate
- (BG 3.27)
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Especially in the western countries, Śrīla Prabhupāda, the people do not like to think that they are controlled or that they are...
Prabhupāda: Therefore they are rascals. He is controlled in every step, and he is thinking... Therefore rascals. In spite of this big, big house, nice road and good car, they are rascals. But he thinks falsely. He thinks that he is independent; He will not die. Then why does he think like that, like a foolish man? As soon as māyā kicks on his face, he will die. That's all. Immediately. "I have got some business, sir." "No, no, you must die immediately." And still, he thinks that he is not controlled. What is this nonsense? We shall go that side? That is knowledge, that "In spite of my all so-called advancement of civilization, I am controlled." That is knowledge. That is the beginning of knowledge. Then he should think how to get out of it. That is intelligence. And if, like cats and dogs, he thinks that "I am not controlled," then he is no better than cats and dogs. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27). By prakṛti, by nature, he is pulled by the ears, "Come here!" "Yes, sir." "Come there!" "Yes, sir." And he is thinking, not controlled.
Satsvarūpa:
- evaṁ paramparā-prāptam
- imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ
- sa kāleneha mahatā
- yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa
- (BG 4.2)
"This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken and therefore the science, as it is, appears to be lost."
Prabhupāda: That's it.
Professor Durckheim: Absolutely, that's it. But I realize that since about twenty, thirty years there is a big awakening in the western part of the world. Science and the technique coming out of science, which was invented to liberate the human being, right do exactly the contrary. People become more and more slaves of that organization which they created for their freedom.
Prabhupāda: (chuckles) Yes.
Professor Durckheim: You see? And today we realize the only thing, the only possibility not to be crushed, is to adapt themselves to the technical world, and in adapting themselves to the technical world, they become themselves little wheels of the big machine and stop to be human beings.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.
Professor Durckheim: Now this is going so far today that now suddenly something is awakening. They have said no. And this kind of rebellion in our western, as you know better than I do, in our western kind... And they say, "Well, after all..." You see, science, they say, "Whatever you are feeling here, it is only subjective. The only thing which counts are the objects." Now, today, mankind has awakened and said, "No, I am not subjected. I am a subject. I am a person. So you are quite right to eliminate me if you want to make an atomic bomb or I don't know what, a technical thing. But you want to guide me? You have to do away with scientist's spectacles and look at me with the eyes of the real self. Otherwise you won't see me." So this is the turning point today where we are.
Prabhupāda: Yes. But this is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam five thousand years ago. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum: (SB 7.5.31) "These rascals, they do not know what is the aim of life."
Prabhupāda: Naṣṭa, this word is used.
Satsvarūpa: "This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost."
Prabhupāda: That's it. As soon as the discipline broken, then everything is lost. Now you can dance like a dog. That will not affect. Nobody can do that unless there is spiritual strength. Now, last night Madhudviṣa Mahārāja was singing, and so many men became enthused to dance. So unless there is spiritual strength, it cannot be done. Others cannot ask and dance. No, that is not possible. That is not possible. Unless there is spiritual strength, you cannot enthuse others. So we should have to acquire spiritual strength by following the regulative principle. Sanātana Gosvāmī has therefore forbidden. Avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇam pūta-hari-kathāmṛtam śravanām kartavyam: "Those who are not following Vaiṣṇava principles, one should not hear from him." Why? It is Kṛṣṇa-kathā, Kṛṣṇa's. Now sarpocchiṣṭa-payo yathā: "Milk is very good, but as soon as it is touched by a serpent, it is no more good. It is harmful." So one must be Vaiṣṇava. Unless one is Vaiṣṇava, there is injunction, "Don't hear from him. It will be poisonous." So one who is not following Vaiṣṇava principle, he cannot speak about Vaiṣṇava principle. It is harmful. That is forbidden by ācāryas, Sanātana Gosvāmī. If somebody says, "What is the harm? He is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa..." He cannot chant. That is a show-bottle chant. That is not effective.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Atomic bomb normally acts as, ah, what happened is the particles floating in the atmosphere, like chemicals, chemicals, what happened is this explosion offers this, ah, fundamental particles like neutrons, electrons, they bombard further atoms which are already in the atmosphere. So one by one they knock out these smaller particles called electrons. They move very high velocity. There is a very tremendous energy, amount of energy released. So one... So suppose first atomic bomb, ah, the, ah, the energy-bringing substance like electron, neutron, hits another atom, and then it knocks out several of that sort, and then it makes a chain reaction, not stopping because..., and thereby several atoms they will knock each other, one by one, without stopping. Small particles, so much energy has got. But in the sun planet, where it is so hot, it is already probably more powerful that the atomic bomb itself.
Prabhupāda: Therefore this example. (laughs) What it will act, the atomic bomb, in the sun planet? Similarly, Brahmā might have possessed some power, but what is that power in comparison to Kṛṣṇa? Every power is derived from Him; so Brahmā's mystic power cannot act on Kṛṣṇa.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Hanumān: It's a chain of reaction.
Prabhupāda: Reaction. First of all there must be beginning of action, then reaction.
Hanumān: In the beginning there's Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is... I think Newton or some scientist also said that "Original motion is given by somebody; then other motions are given." Just like this, what is called? Railway wagons? So one engine pushes it. Then the wagon, another wagon, (makes sound) "cutcutcutcutcut," like that. Wherefrom the original? That is answered in the Bhagavad-gītā,
- ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo
- mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate
- iti matvā bhajante māṁ
- budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ
- (BG 10.8)
The Vedānta... Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The motion... Wherefrom the original motion comes? That is Brahmān, Parabrahmān. Aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2). In the Bhāgavata it is said, (sic:) aham as amāgre. So they have no eyes to see wherefrom the original motion comes. Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10). These are the statement. Bīja. Now, this flower has come, white flower, from the particular seed. If there are several seeds you sow, the one seed will come rose flower, another seed will come this flower, another seed... Why? Why not the same? Who has made this variety?
Yoga student: They don't worship form as such, but they speak of it in the poetry. They say... In one poem of Hafez(?) there's a meeting between Hafez and his spiritual master. And he asks the spiritual master (recites verse in Parsi). He asked, "I asked him, 'What was this current, this chain of idols that we must worship?' And he replied so that my heart might moan, lament about the dark night..."
Prabhupāda: "Dog night"?
Yoga student: "...the dark night of ignorance of..."
Prabhupāda: Oh, "dark night."
Yoga student: "...separation from God." So that he used the form of expression of worship, the expression...
Prabhupāda: Separation, how it is possible? Separation is expressed when there is separation between man to man or man to woman, person. Otherwise what is the meaning of separation?
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the law, but we are so dull-headed that we do not enquire. That is my statement, that you should enquire "Who is forcing these things?" Then there is enquiry of God. First of all we must be... Just like a dog. He cannot understand. He's under chain. He's leading a life most dependent. And he is jolly. He is jumping here and there. That is dog's life. If the master kills him, he cannot do anything. But he is very jolly. He is jumping. That is dog's life. But not human life. Human life is that I am dependent in every step, still I am declaring independent. What is this nonsense? This enquiry should be there. He is dependent in every step, exactly like the cats and dogs, but he is claiming, "I am independent."
Carol: Is it possible to carry out that enquiry while you're engaged in activities?
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the real enquiry. Wherefrom my life has begun? What is the ultimate goal of my life? Why I am put into these conditions which I do not like? Who is enforcing? These things should be asked. That is the proper enquiry of the human being. And we cannot solve the question of birth, death, old age and disease, and you are theorizing something utopian. What is the use of such advancement of knowledge? I live for fifty years and sixty years, and the Darwin's theory they are calculating gap of millions of years. There is a gap of millions of years, and we will live for fifty years.
Amogha: "This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost."
Prabhupāda: Yes. As soon as you give up the ācārya-paramparā system, then it is lost. Kṛṣṇa says that man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. All the ācāryas will say like that, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya. And Dr. Radhakrishnan, "No, no, it is not to Kṛṣṇa." Just see the fun. He has become more than the ācāryas. So we reject immediately. He thinks himself too proud that he defies the ācāryas. You see? This is the defect. The whole Bhagavad-gītā is spoken on the battlefield. Gandhi says it is nonviolence. Just see. (Dr. Copeland laughs) So we have to follow these people, do you mean to say?
Siddha-svarūpa: He also sells, I think. But this other chain of restaurants, McDonald's, they are very proud. They announce how many hamburgers they have sold. They have branches everywhere in the world.
Prabhupāda: Hamburger means?
Siddha-svarūpa: Uh, that's beef. They kill the cows in a unbelievable, at an unbelievable rate, the number of cows they're killing for their meat.
Prabhupāda: (break) ...up? No?
Siddha-svarūpa: I'm not sure.
Devotee: I think up to now they have sold 200,000,000 hamburgers or something like that.
Prabhupāda: You also keep account?
Prabhupāda: So we should take full advantage of the human life. That is civilization. And in sense gratification it is not civilization; it is animal life. (break) ...for sense gratification. This is the modern civilization. (break) ...nice place is made for sense gratification. And as soon as you perform kīrtana, the police will harass you. This is civilization. (break) ...nice place, there should be so many temples. People will come early in the morning, take bath in the sea, go to the temple, have some spiritual inspiration. That program is there. And running. The dog is running and the man is running. (break) This sense does not come that "The dog is running; I am also running. Where is the difference between him and me? She has got a female mate; I have got a female mate. Where is the difference? How I am civilized?" That, this sense, does not come. (break) ...thinking, "I have chained the dog, but I am not chained." But you are chained by māyā, invisible chain. That he does not know. He is also chained. (break) ...māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān (SB 7.9.43). Māyā-sukhāya. (break) ...peacock? No, cranes, sarasa. (break) ...football? Football ground.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: I have heard he's a chain smoker.
Brahmānanda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: And the Marwaris are after him, "avatāra." He is called "līlā-avatāra." Whatever he does, it is līlā. Smoking is also "līlā." (break) ...these cottages?
Dhanañjaya: Some sādhus live here.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Vṛndāvana resident: Jaya Sītā-Rāma!
Prabhupāda: Jaya. (break) ...Bon Mahārāja's land?
Dhanañjaya: Yes. This is his building, part of land.
Prabhupāda: So we shall have to go back from this way or there is another way?
Prabhupāda: Yes. It cannot be. You cannot stop the sex unless you are fully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is not possible. And that is the material bondage. In the material prisonhouse they have got so many means-big, big walls, handcuff, chain—but nature is so perfect that simply give you a beautiful woman, and you are all prisoner. Big wall, handcuff and chain—everything is complete. I think I have discussed in my recent purports.
Harikeśa: Oh, yes, yes.
Indian man (2): Even in case of mother Desai, it was a classic incident, that his wife came one day to Gandhiji, that "This man is your personal writer but he is going on with another woman in your camp."
Prabhupāda: There are so many.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Keśavalāl Trivedi: Yes, there is lock and chain.
Mahāmṣa: This way, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Which way? This is natural lake or...?
Mahāmṣa: Yes, Prabhupāda. It never dries up. It stays full all year round.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Gigantic. Like the Hyderabad lake.
Mahāmṣa: It looks bigger than the Hyderabad lake.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bigger.
Prabhupāda: (break) So if you are not independent, what is the value of your thinking independently?
Keśavalāl Trivedi: Absolutely none. None.
Prabhupāda: But everyone is thinking independently.
Keśavalāl Trivedi: Yes. That is māyā. That is the māyā, that which is not.
Prabhupāda: They are making plans, theories, "ism." What is the value of this?
Prabhupāda: No, that is your ignorance. Nobody is happy. That is.... Then it is the happiness of the dog. He is also thinking happy. The hog is also thinking happy. That is another illusion. The dog may be a very big dog, and he can bark very nicely, but he is not happy because he has got a master. As soon as the master, "Come here," "Yes." Chain.
Carol Jarvis: But all of these people have a mouth, and you do the same to them. You call them, and they jump.
Prabhupāda: No.
Carol Jarvis: That's the same as a dog coming to its master.
Prabhupāda: Yes. But to have a real master and to have a false master.... Just like a physician. He is asking that "Come here. Lie down." He is knife.... He knows that he'll make surgical.... He agrees. But if somebody, rogue, says that "I shall cut your throat," he'll not agree. That is intelligence. A physician is also with the knife, and the rogue is also with the knife. When the physician says, "You lie down. I shall have some surgical operation," he agrees to ply on his body the knife. But he'll never agree if he knows that "He is a rogue. He'll simply cut my throat." That is the difference.
Prabhupāda: They say "What we care for liberation? It is troublesome. You have to sacrifice so many things. We don't want liberation. That is nonsensical. You keep your liberation. We don't want." This is the problem. As you said, liberation means "Whatever I like I will do." But that is, actually, he cannot do that. But he's thinking that he's liberated. Can he do that, whatever he likes? But still he's... Therefore rascal. Dog's life. The dog is jumping, barking, that "I'm free now." But he forgets that as soon as the master will call and chain him, he'll do it. But he's thinking that "I'm liberated." This is the problem. What is his liberation? He does not know what is liberation.
Dhṛṣṭadyumna: "Either they will have to remain in this material world as human beings or they will descend among the species of the animals or even lower life forms."
Prabhupāda: Ah, they will say, "All bogus. This life, finished. I am free." That is the problem. This is their position.
Hari-śauri:
- evaṁ paramparā-prāptam
- imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ
- sa kāleneha mahatā
- yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa
- (BG 4.2)
"This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost."
Prabhupāda: The succession was broken. So similarly, Christ says something. So if that commandment is received by succession, then it goes nicely. But if you break it according to your necessity, then where is the authority?
Darby: None. No use if you have the rules there, the law is there, to be passed, and someone forgets them, it's just sinful.
Prabhupāda: No, they are passing resolution. Suppose there is a law of the state, ordinary, say, "Keep to the right," and in this village all members, they assemble together and pass a resolution that "No, keep to the left." Will it be accepted? Even they pass a resolution, the state will not accept it. Unless it is... Of course, there should be no change. But, anything spoken by God or His son or His representative, that cannot be changed. It is not that Christ said two thousand years ago, "Thou shall not kill," now it can be changed. That is rascaldom. They are doing that. If you do that, then, as it is said here, then it becomes lost. Then there is no meaning. If we take the instruction of God and His representative as temporary, then he is not representative, He is not God. Whatever is spoken by God and His representative, that is eternal. You cannot change by your whims. So that is going on.
Prabhupāda: To make the sound audible? But there is no harm.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Inside. But this disturbs something to the whole scene, because he has to remove the chain and cross it and then...
Prabhupāda: No, no. Why? There is no need. No need of crossing the chain.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: But it can be done inside then?
Prabhupāda: Why not? It can be done.
Hari-śauri: I think they took that from Vṛndāvana. In Vṛndāvana, they blow the conchshells, they come out onto that little balcony and blow.
Rūpānuga: I also wanted to ask a question, Śrīla Prabhupāda, on dancing in the temple room during ārati, especially maṅgala-ārati. Is it not that the devotees should not turn their back while dancing to the Deity?
Prabhupāda: No, no.
Rūpānuga: And that they should not bump each other or dance with each other personally, distracting the attention from the Deity? Shouldn't all the dancing be focused toward the Deity?
Prabhupāda: Sometimes dancing is done here in peculiar method. (laughter). That is not desirable. The dancing, Caitanya Mahāprabhu is showing.
Prabhupāda: Yes. It is not so crowded. That path is very crowded. (break)
Lokanātha: ...five thousand years back, until now, there's only thirty ācāryas...
Prabhupāda: Chain is broken when there are false spiritual masters. Otherwise it is not broken. Chain is broken if a so-called spiritual master speaks something manufactured. Then the chain is broken. Otherwise chain is not broken.
Devotee: (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: No, you could not. (break) Uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya: ** "The spiritual master is as good as God because he's very dear to Kṛṣṇa." He's preaching Kṛṣṇa's mission, and Kṛṣṇa is very, very pleased with him. Na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ (BG 18.69). That is spiritual master's qualification. He's trying his best to deliver the soul from these clutches of māyā. That is a great service. Therefore he is very dear. One who is chanting or executing devotional service for his personal benefit and one who is trying to deliver others for others' benefit, there is difference.
Prabhupāda: No, if you make it nicely with chain.
Akśayananda: I have made it even nicely with a cord, with a ring, and the proper straps. But they put it like this and like this and they bang it the wrong way. This is my problem. I can't stop it, no matter what we do.
Hari-śauri: You just bring them out for ārati and then have somebody take them back and they won't get broken. Haṁsadūta was doing that with his mṛdaṅgas.
Akśayananda: I was also doing that.
Hari-śauri: The mṛdaṅgas are in there all day long. Any karmī that comes in, they beat the drum and mess around. The little kids go in and they do the same thing. I've seen them. You should take them out of the temple. Let them be there for kīrtana and then take them away and store them in your room. There's no kartālas now either because everybody steals them.
Prabhupāda: These two rooms can be used for keeping.
Akśayananda: Kartālas are locked away every time and the drums were done... That was done until they were broken.
Hari-śauri: Or you can just put them in that tourist room. Or in the pūjārī room.
Akśayananda: Yeah, I'll arrange for that.
Prabhupāda: Everything depends on organized management.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Gurukṛpa: I saw one naga. They said he was smoking a cigarette for twelve years. Not a chain smoker, "cable smoker."
Prabhupāda: Markaṭa-vairāgya, the renunciation of a monkey.
Bhāgavata: You have explained in Fifth Canto. Verses are there. Renunciation like a monkey.
Gurukṛpa: One man had his arm up for twelve years. He had his arm up with his hands closed, and his fingernails had grown, and his arm was flat for keeping up for twelve years like Hiraṇyakaśipu.
Hari-śauri: We saw one man in the Rāmānuja camp, too. He hadn't sat down for eighteen years. He carried a small swing with him, so wherever he went, he would go underneath a tree and hang the swing and lean on it. And he'd not sat down for eighteen years. (laughter) He had bandages all over his legs.
Bhāgavata: They have concocted this. It is not written in Vedas anywhere.
Prabhupāda: No, there are. Hiraṇyakaśipu did it.
Bhāgavata: That is a Vedic...?
Prabhupāda: Yes. But what did he gain?
Bhāgavata: He got this. (laughs)
Prabhupāda: What did he gain? Became a rākṣasa and was killed.
Mr. Myer: ...know exactly what is happening, once we commonize the kitchen, the office, accounting chain and everything. At present we are slightly under capital, small space, but... Gurukula is coming out very well. In fact we met the contractor yesterday. So we're hoping that by next month this time the whole thing should be shifted and so many more guestrooms will be released for people coming here for the festival. Possibilities are very good.
Prabhupāda: Everything is there by Kṛṣṇa's grace. Simply if it is nicely organized, things will... Tamāla Kṛṣṇa is very much appreciating.
Mr. Myer: Nothing is done by us.(?)
Prabhupāda: So gradually...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There was a letter from Śrīdhara Swami from Hyderabad temple. Would you like to hear it?
Prabhupāda: You have read it?
| Page Title: | Chain (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 29 of May, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=34, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 34 |