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Characteristic (Conversations & Letters)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- May 10, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Kīrtanānanda: You don't have the characteristics.

Prabhupāda: No. That means you are not rascal. You are sane, that you do not accept me as President... That is one thing. At least you are not insane. So if I say, "God," and you accept, then how much insane you are. Just try to understand. How much insanity is there, one who is claiming that "I am God" and one who is accepting that he is God. This is insanity.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation Excerpt -- March 18, 1971, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That is called science. Similarly, the biggest spiritual identity, Kṛṣṇa, He can become all-pervading. We are particle spiritual, spark. We have got limited power. (indistinct) Yena sarvam idaṁ tatam, "I become immediately expanded throughout My body." And He is unlimitedly big. So how much His consciousness is distributed all over the world? Sarva-jña. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is not abhijña. Svarāṭ. Janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheśv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ (SB 1.1.1). This example is nice. A grain of potassium cyanide is sufficient. There is no taste. The chemical characteristic of potassium cyanide, they have not mentioned the taste because as soon as there is taste, finished, they cannot... (laughter) He cannot say whether it is pungent or sweet. (laughter) Finished. So there is no taste.

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1971, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: They are simply sticking to a particular kind of faith. Faith can be changed, faith can be given up but real religion, that cannot be given up. It may be perverted. Real religion is to render service to the Supreme Lord. That cannot be changed. We are serving, if not to the Lord, we are serving māyā. But my, that characteristic to serve is continued. So religion is presented simply on formulas and stereo-typed ideas, but actual religion is this surrender. Yato bhaktir adhokṣaje. Bhakti means serving. Bhaja sevayā. Sevayā means serving. So, religion means to serve the Supreme Lord, that is religion. Anything which has no such idea, that is not religion. Then again (you) have different types of religion, how far they are making progress with, on that ultimate goal, serving Kṛṣṇa. The more we advance, the more you become perfect, our real religious life becomes manifested, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We say this is real religion. So what others have to say on this point? We say this is real religion. Bhāgavata says dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2), "All cheating type of religion is thrown away."

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Author -- April 1, 1972, Sydney:

Author: I must start off from the beginning for the person who reads the book, and the beginning for the person who reads the book is: here are these people wearing these strange clothes and doing these strange things. Now, why? Now, that's what I've got to do in the book. And in order to do this it's necessary to describe some of these physical characteristics. And my reason for doing this is, in order to define what is relevant, it's necessary also to define what is irrelevant. That's pure logic.

Devotee: But Prabhupāda wants that you should have the highest understanding, not just looking at it from their point of view, but if you present it from our point of view, then it can gain the realest, greatest understanding.

Author: Well, with respect, I think that can only, we can only consider that question in practice. When I actually write the material, you'll have to...

Prabhupāda: No. I mean to say, why there is objection if they are dressed in a particular way?

Room Conversation with Kenneth Keating, U.S. Ambassador to India -- October 14, 1972, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: A small sample of God. Just like you take a drop of ocean water and you taste it, then you can understand immediately the whole ocean is salty. Similarly, if you analyze your characteristic, then the same characteristic is there in God. Just like you want to love someone. Everyone wants to love someone. Therefore it can be concluded that God has got the propensity to love.

Mrs. Keating: Yes. God is love.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But if God is love...

Mrs. Keating: Spirit?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa means love, so when you want to love somebody and somebody wants to love you, the both of us must be a person.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Lord Brockway -- July 23, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Then characteristics of demonic people?

Pradyumna: Uh...

Prabhupāda: Pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca...

Pradyumna:

pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca
janā na vidur āsurāḥ
na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāro
na satyaṁ teṣu vidyate
(BG 16.7)

"Those who are demoniac do not know what is to be done and what is not to be done. Neither cleanliness nor proper behavior nor truth is found in them."

Car Conversation after meeting with Cardinal Danielou -- August 9, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: I am a human being. You accept that I have got soul. By what symptoms you accept that I have got soul? First of all you have to ascertain that. What is the symptom that we agree that I am human being. I have got, I am a soul. By what characteristic, analytical study, you accept that I have got soul, and the dog has not got soul? What are the different characteristics? First of all, we have to enumerate that thing. If we find in the characteristics, then we can say there is no soul. But if we see that both the animal and the human being have the same characteristics of living condition, then how you can say the animal has not soul?

Yogeśvara: His point was that the animals don't show the same symptoms. They don't think as...

Prabhupāda: Why not, why not? The general symptom is animal eats, you eat, animal sleeps, you sleep, animal has sex, you have got sex, animal also defends, you also defend. Where is the difference?

Car Conversation after meeting with Cardinal Danielou -- August 9, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: What that higher platform? Eating, you require to maintain the body. I eat something, you eat another. That does not mean higher or lower. You eat, I also eat. That's all. You eat according to your taste. I eat according to my taste. So the eating is the real symptom, not the varieties of eating. By varieties of eating, suppose I... A animal, the cow is eating grass, and you are eating the same animal by keeping a huge slaughterhouse with machines and... Does it mean that you have improved your eating process? Simply by having big, big machine and ghastly scenes. And the animal eats simple grass. Does it mean that you are advanced than the animals? There is no logic. Eating is eating. One man's food, another man's poison. That is another thing. But eating is there. Somebody eats poison. Somebody eats ordinary thing. But eating is there. So nobody can avoid eating. That is the main symptom. Even in human society, there are different varieties of food. We Indians, we like a different type of dish. European, Americans, they like a di... But eating is there. Either American, Indian or cats, dogs, eating must be there. That is real symptom. After eating, you must sleep. That is essential. So where is the difference of real character, characteristic between the animals and the human beings?

Morning Walk -- December 10, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: No. All the qualities that we find within this material world, all of them must have come from God. If there is wrath within this material world, it must have come from God because God is the origin of everything. That is the Vedānta-sūtra. Brahman, Absolute Truth, means the source of everything. Whatever we have got experience within this material world, everything is there in God. That is perfection of God. You cannot say, "This thing is not in God." So aiśvaryasya samagrasya. Everything is there. Just like Kṛṣṇa stealing as a child. But apparently sometimes He does something which is not very moral. So this immorality, the so-called immorality, it is there also. That is the full conception of God. He's not lacking in anything. Under the circumstances, God is in wrath, that is correct. But that is not His only characteristic. He has got mercifulness also. Everything is there. That is God. Therefore as theologician, you should understand the correct conception of God. They have no complete conception of God. Now, God is described in the dictionary as the Supreme Being. Is it not?

Morning Walk -- December 12, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: That everyone is taking chance. A poor man is taking chance to become rich man. So what is the difference between the poor man taking chance and the scientist? (break)

Yaśomatīnandana: ...which into all the characteristics are described in Divine and Demoniac natures. This modern world fits into all the demoniac qualities...

Prabhupāda: Yes, because they are godless. Whole modern world is godless. They don't think of God very seriously. Everyone. They have described it as "Opiate," what is that?

Karandhara: "Opium of the people."

Prabhupāda: Yes. They think, "Those who are religious, they are simply wasting their time." Therefore communist country, they are completely against religion. They cannot allow their people to waste their time. That is their philosophy. This is the condition of the world.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 29, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. This is the position of the asuras. This is the characteristic of the asura. They are under stringent laws of nature, being kicked every moment, and still is declaring, "There is no God, I'm independent. I'm independent." Every moment he's dying, and still he thinks, "I shall live forever." This is asura. Pravṛttiṁ ca, nivṛttiṁ ca (BG 16.7). So this is required. Pravṛtti and nivṛtti, to know.

Indian man (4): What is pravṛtti?

Prabhupāda: Pravṛtti means inclination for doing something. That is called pravṛtti.

Indian man (4): Nivṛtti means...?

Prabhupāda: Nivṛtti means to stop. Pravṛttir eṣā bhūtānāṁ nivṛttis tu mahā-phalām.

Indian man (4): Nivṛtti...?

Prabhupāda: Nivṛttis tu mahā-phalām. Here, at the present moment... Not at the present moment, always in the material world, the desire is that "I shall become the greatest enjoyer. I shall become king, I shall become minister... And at last I shall become God." (laughter) You see? So this the false pravṛtti.

Morning Walk -- April 5, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Corroborated by you. By you. If somebody says that "I am correct," then you have to refer to the śāstra whether he is correct or wrong. Just like a medical man. There is characteristic of certain chemicals. That is mentioned. So when accepting some chemical, the medical man tests in his laboratory whether it is correct. Not that somebody brings some chemical, some bunch of lime, and he says, "It is sodium chloride," or "Something, something." It must be tested. So the testing method is mentioned there, that the avatāra means, "This avatāra means his feature of body is this, his work is like this, he will come on such and such." Just like Kalki avatāra. Kalki avatāra, it is mentioned in the śāstra... Although He will come after four lakhs of years, it is stated in the śāstra that in Sambal... Sambal, in the house of Viṣṇu-josi, Kalki-avatāra will come.

Morning Walk -- April 5, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: In śāstra all the signs, symptoms, and characteristics of a siddha are mentioned. And those characteristics must be there with the siddha.

Prabhupāda: Yeah, then we shall accept. Sādhu-śāstra-guru-vākya tinete karīyā aikya. Śāstra will say, and guru will say, "Yes, it is rightly said." Saintly person also will accept. Just like Kṛṣṇa is accepted by Arjuna. Paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān. He immediately mentioned that "Such sage, authorities, accept. The śāstra says." Not that because Kṛṣṇa was His friend, he accepted blindly. No. That is corroboration. Whether it is mentioned in the śāstras, whether other saintly persons... Just like there are so many avatāras, but we have got our ācārya-sampradāya, Rāmānuja, Yamunācārya. Whether they are accepting? Not a third class man accepted, and it is accepted. The ācārya. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda. This is the way of accepting. (break) Everyone will create his authorities, and unlimited imitation of God will come into existence, and people will be diverted from the reality. (break) The same example, that "Here is an imitation medicine, very cheap, as good as the original one." Even taking it for acceptance that it is as good as the other one, but why in the presence of the original, I shall accept this imitation? What is your answer? Accepting this imitation is as good as the other, but if the other original is present, I can get it, why shall I go to the imitation?

Room Conversation with M. Lallier, noted French Poet -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

M. Lallier: But why? We, in France, for instance, or in occidental world, we are accustomed to think, to think that the phenomena of consciousness is only a characteristic... (break) What is the signification of...?

Yogeśvara: Of that degradation of the human species?

M. Lallier: Yes, of the flow (?) of the four ages.

Yogeśvara: So, so far, to this point, we've been speaking about a gradual evolution of consciousness through the species. So what is the explanation, what is the reason for which there is a degradation of the human consciousness through the four ages?

Prabhupāda: Where there is evolution, there must be degradation. Otherwise, what is the meaning of evolution? Why it should be stagnant? If you go, ascend, then you can descend also. Now, the Mr. Nixon was elected president, and why he's being dragged, "Come down." He is not coming down, but he has already come down, degradation. Nobody likes him.

Room Conversation with M. Lallier, noted French Poet -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Karandhara: I think what he's asking, Prabhupāda, isn't the degradation... Because in the Vedas it outlines the ages, succeeding one another, and there're different characteristics, isn't it inevitable that it's going to occur, that the devolution occurs inevitably without anyone's being able to change it.

Prabhupāda: No. It is just like, winter season. The season is winter, but still, you can keep yourself warm. If you like, you can keep yourself in warm. So daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Nature's course is very strong, going on, according to the program, but mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te: "Anyone who surrenders unto Me, he's above this degradation."

Room Conversation with Russian Orthodox Church Representative -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: No, it is characteristic. Definition means you mention the characteristic. That is definition. Definition, you mention the characteristic. So that can be mentioned directly, or if it is not perceivable, then you can define in opposite way. Just like we have got experience: everything in the material world, it is beginning. There is a beginning. Anything of this—your body, my body, everything—it has got a beginning, and it has got an end. So it is stated, na jāyate na mriyate vā: "It has no beginning, no end." And nityaḥ, eternal, śāśvataḥ, very old, purāṇaḥ. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). "It is not destroyed, annihilated, after the destruction of the body." So if we accept this definition, then we can understand the soul is eternal. Our characteristic, if we accept these characteristics, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), after the destruction of body the soul is never destroyed, then you can understand the soul is eternal. And it is clearly stated, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). "After the destruction of the body, it is not destroyed."

Room Conversation with Reverend Gordon Powell, Head of Scots Church -- June 28, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā. These are the proofs. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ (SB 5.18.12). If one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, then he becomes qualified with all godly attributes. That I have explained, that if you be in touch with God, then you become godly. That is the test. Simply by saying that "I am in commune with God." No. There is test. The test means if he is always in touch with God, he'll become, in his characteristics, godly. So they... One of the qualifications is serenity. Is one of the qualifications. There are twenty-five qualifications of a devotee.

Reverend Powell: Twenty-five?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Reverend Powell: What are some of the others?

Prabhupāda: Have you got the list?

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: Religion, as it is passing on at the present moment, "a kind of faith," this is not religion. This is not religion. According to... Religion means dharma, the characteristic. Just like you are eating something salty, something sweet. So the sugar, the characteristic, it is sweet. That is religion. And the salt is salty. The chili is pungent. So these characteristic is religion. So you'll have to find out religion, what is your real characteristic. That is religion. Now, religion is going, "I believe in this way." That is another thing, sentiment. Religion without philosophy is sentiment, and philosophy without religion, mental speculation. Those two things must be combined, philosophy and sentiment. Then it is religion.

Room Conversation with Psychiatrist -- February 22, 1975, Caracas:

Lady (Hṛdayānanda): She would like to know what would be the characteristics of this brahminical class, how would they be selected and what are their qualities and so on?

Prabhupāda: Just find out this, satyaḥ śamaḥ damaḥ, titikṣa ārjavaḥ āstikyaṁ, jñānam vijñānam, brahma-karma svabhāva.

Hṛdayānanda:

śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ
kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca
jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ
brahma-karma svabhāva-jam
(BG 18.42)
(reads translation in Spanish)

Prabhupāda: So brāhmaṇa means one who knows Brahmān, the soul. This qualification required. Just like to become a lawyer, one must be graduate. Similarly, one must have first of all be trained up as brāhmaṇa. Then he can understand what is God, what is soul. So there is no such training college. Therefore they cannot understand what is God, what is soul. That is required. Then your problems will be solved.

Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Sanātana... Yes, religion should be sanātana. Sanātana means there cannot be any change. Just like every living being eats, you cannot change it. You cannot say that this living entity is not eating. Apart from human society, even in animal society, a living being eats. This is his religion. Sleeps, has sex, these are eternal characteristics. Similarly, religion means spiritual characteristics. That spiritual characteristic is also pervertedly reflected in the material world. Just like every one is servant. Anyone, any one of us, we are all servant. You are serving the University. He is serving the...

Devotee: He is serving, serving.

Prabhupāda: He is serving International Society. I am serving Kṛṣṇa, or he is serving Kṛṣṇa, like that. So everyone is serving, this is religion. To remain a servant. It does not mean that the Hindus are only servant, or Muslims are servant and Christians are not. Everyone is servant. Is it not a fact?

Morning Walk -- May 20, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Where they have got it?

Hari-śauri: ...that this type of personality was existing millions of years ago. (break)

Amogha: Of the 400,000 human species, what is the distinguishing characteristic that makes one different from another? How could we recognize them, or could we?

Prabhupāda: You have not seen varieties of men?

Amogha: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Then, what is the...

Amogha: Well is it divided by country or within one country there are many species?

Prabhupāda: You are taking of country, but the śāstra takes of the planets, not of the country. Your idea is very crippled: country, national. But śāstra is not... There is no such thing as national. They take the whole universe as a whole. They consider from that angle of vision. These crippled ideas, "state," "national," has come later on. There was no such thing previously. One planet or universe, like that.

Morning Walk -- June 2, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Different planets, different position. Just like this sun planet is fiery. There is fire. Similarly, in moon planet there is fire, but it is surrounded by cold atmosphere. Therefore it is cooling.

Harikeśa: So that's the specific characteristic of this moon?

Prabhupāda: Which moon? Yes, this is...

Harikeśa: Our moon.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Harikeśa: So the other moons that rotate around Saturn and Jupiter...

Prabhupāda: Other moon? There is no other moon.

Harikeśa: So they're just planets?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with Yogi Bhajan -- June 7, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: No, we should... The conference should be made that if there is God and God is one, then who is that God? What is His characteristic? That should be discussed.

Yogi Bhajan: Well, that's what I say. But what we are trying to do is spend all, what we have righteously earned, provide that platform, and invite somebody. My personal feeling is even if somebody comes and tell us there that we are the worst being on the world, but by coming and opening himself up, herself, he at least acknowledges that there is a mutual existence. At this time I have walked away to every corner, here and there, everywhere. Some people are not aware totally. I was asked one day a question, "Why these Hare Kṛṣṇa people dance in the streets?"

Prabhupāda: Ecstasy.

Room Conversation with Mr. & Mrs. Wax, Writer and Editing Manager of Playboy Magazine -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: We want to raise first-class man. Try to understand. The present society, we are creating fourth-class men. Therefore we are not in very happy condition. We want to raise the fourth-class man to first-class man. First-class man means with qualification who can control the mind, control the senses, always very cleansed and truthful, very simple, full of all kinds of knowledge, practical application in life, then to have full knowledge of God, these are the characteristics of first-class man. So at the present moment everyone is a fourth-class man. So we want to get some first-class men. That is required. Because there is no idea, first-class man, therefore people are becoming full of crimes. You have seen the article in the Time? "Crime, Why and What to Do?" That is the concern of the materialistic society. So we are trying to raise a group of men who will be ideal. Just like our devotees. You will find their characters different from all others, at least in your country.

Morning Walk -- July 16, 1975, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: What do they define about transcendence?

Dharmādhyakṣa: Well, actually they give all the characteristics of transcendence that are found in the Bhagavad-gītā but without saying that man is a spirit soul and without talking about Kṛṣṇa. They believe man should overcome duality, should be beyond attachment, should work for a higher goal in life, things like this, all the characteristics that Kṛṣṇa gives but without Kṛṣṇa.

Bahulāśva: It appears that they have taken these things from Bhagavad-gītā.

Prabhupāda: Yes, they must. What is this department? (break) ...cial science.

Bahulāśva: How to live in peace. How to live, peaceful society.

Prabhupāda: And fall down from the tower?

Morning Walk -- July 20, 1975, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is said by Kṛṣṇa. It is not our imagination.

Bahulāśva: So the eternal characteristic of the self, then, is that he is pure consciousness.

Prabhupāda: Pure consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He knows that "I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa." That is pure consciousness.

Bahulāśva: And therefore His servant.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Part and parcel means servant. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Bahulāśva: Would you like to walk further, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: No. What is the time now?

Morning Walk -- September 30, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: They should work, and at the same time, they may fall down, just like a child tries to walk, falls down, again walks, again... Then he becomes complete.

Dr. Patel: Those thirty characteristics of a sādhu that are depicted in the, in Bhāgavata....

Prabhupāda: That is not possible in one day.

Dr. Patel: Thirty cannot come, but a few should come.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Few that... They are... Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate (SB 5.18.12). If they have got unflinching faith in Kṛṣṇa and guru, that is all qualification.

Dr. Patel: That is a fact.

Prabhupāda: That is all qualification. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcan sarvair guṇaiḥ. All these qualities are already there.

Morning Walk -- September 30, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: There was a temple?

Dr. Patel: In the morning they had to say prayer to Deva. (?) Gītā-mandir they had. They had all the characteristics of a good saint.

Prabhupāda: Why not from the beginning? No, no, no. Gandhi did not believe in Kṛṣṇa. No, yes, he has written, that "I know..."

Dr. Patel: Not that the way we believe, but he did believe.

Prabhupāda: No. That means he is right and we are wrong.

Dr. Patel: We may be right. We may be right. Who knows? Many ways may be right. It is not only that one way be right.

Prabhupāda: Then how we understand who is right and who is wrong?

Morning Walk -- November 14, 1975, Bombay:

Yaśomatīnandana: Someone was telling me, and I was telling that if somebody is not following the particular characteristic of a saintly person mentioned in the śastra, they cannot be accepted as a sādhu. So he was trying to prove that some sādhus, so-called, who eat meat, and who are drinking, they were actually great paramahaṁsas. And then I... He said that because in the previous ages there is mention of... In the śāstras there is mention that there were many ṛṣis and munis who were eating meat.

Prabhupāda: He knows them. He is such a rascal that he knows only and nobody knows. That is the verdict of this Rāmakrishna Mission.

Morning Walk -- December 10, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says, na mā duṣkṛtino mūḍhā prapadyante narādhamāḥ. So we find out rascals, if he is not Kṛṣṇa conscious. So what is our fault? Kṛṣṇa says this is the test to find out who is a rascal. And who is rascal? Who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is a rascal. So if you are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, you are a rascal. We have to see through the śāstra characteristic of a rascal, that he is not Kṛṣṇa conscious. That's all. We may be fool, but we take lesson from Bhagavad-gītā. That's all. And from the lesson we understand you are rascal number one." That's all.

Indian man: Tilaka's(?) wife, she told me... She was very upset you know. One day she, when she came to see you and that one rascal yogi was there and he said that in the Vedas everything is mentioned that we can drink and woman and the man have equal right. Then you answered her, and she was also saying the same thing and you answered her, "Okay, if woman and the man have equal right, then why not your husband begot the children... Why not you begot the children in the womb of your husband?" And she was very upset, you know. She said, "Prabhupāda sometimes say the things like that which are unreasonable, you know."

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 25, 1976, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Within mind you can think, "I have become emperor of the world." That you can do. Who can check you? But that is not the actual fact.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: That is the characteristic.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is mental concoction. Within mind you can think, "I have become the proprietor of the banks, all the banks." Madman that is. He's a madman.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: They have so many philosophies, but it's all mental.

Prabhupāda: All mental. We say, therefore, don't say "philosophy." We say "mental speculation."

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: Philosophy means tattva-darśinaḥ. That is described, tattva-darśinaḥ. One has seen the truth, he is philosopher. And who is hovering in the mental concoction platform, he's a rascal. "I think." This is.... Their all European philosophy is.

Morning Walk -- April 14, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Thank you.

Dr. Patel: He is such a man. He has all the characteristics of a sannyāsī in the home. He is a multi-millionaire's son. But absolutely untouched by wealth, and very fine man, extremely fine.

Prabhupāda: If our gurukula children comes here they can have very good sporting. And this idea I have given you?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Remain healthy.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Twice a day.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Twice a day can come, take bath and enjoy sporting life and then chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, take good prasādam. That's all. Why they should waste their time in technology to become a coolie?

Room Conversation with Reporter -- June 3, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: In our country, the street law is "Keep to the left." So I have come to America, you say "Keep to the right." If I say, "No, I have no faith in this 'Keep to the right.' " No, I must obey. That is law. Similarly, religion means you may have faith or no faith, but you must obey. It is a must. It is not optional. That is religion. That, I explained it many times that (indistinct) means characteristic. Just like everyone of us, we are servant. So, the living entity is servant. He may have faith or no faith, he must be a servant. And if you don't become servant of God, then you become servant of dog. That is your advancement of civilization. When there is no service for God, just like here we have got service for God, there is no question of serving dog. But when we forget service of God, then automatically we become service of dog. But service.... I am servant, that's a fact. And voluntarily keep a dog and serve him. They have no master, then I keep a master, dog, cat. You call it by the name, pet. What is a pet? I do service, that's all. So this is our advancement of civilization. We have refused to serve God, and you voluntarily accept to serve dog.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is Kṛṣṇa saying, coming, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). Real dharma is to remain subordinate to Kṛṣṇa as servant. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). So we have forgotten it. This is dharmasya glāniḥ. Dharma means characteristics. It is not a faith; it is a fact. So our characteristic is that we are eternal servant of God. When we forget this characteristic, that this is my original characteristic, that is adharma. That is dharmasya glāniḥ. So yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). When there is discrepancy in the matter of discharging dharma, my occupational duty, then there is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. So one has to take it, then he's fortunate. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kono bhāgyavān jīva. He's rotating within this universe, up and down. So if he's fortunate enough, he takes to this movement. It is an opportunity.

Interview with Kathy Kerr Reporter from The Star -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: There is no such word as Hindu religion. You do not know. There is no such word as Hindu religion, at least in the Vedas. The religion is translated into Sanskrit as "characteristic." Religion is not a kind of faith. Just like chemical composition. Sugar is sweet—that is religion. Sugar must be sweet. Sugar cannot be pungent. Or chili must be pungent. If chili is sweet, we reject it, and sugar is pungent, you reject it. Similarly, our Vedic system is to train the human being to the ultimate goal of his life. That system is called varṇāśrama-dharma, gradually training the person how to become perfect human being and understand the goal of his life. That is our activity. It is not meant for any particular sect or particular nation. No. It is meant for the whole human society, how to make them perfect in the goal of his life.

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Rūpānuga: The characteristic here, Śrīla Prabhupāda says, is that life has specific complex form and activity by nature. So that this activity, complex activity...

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is explained in the Vedānta-sūtra, axiomatic. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). By nature, ānandamaya. And variety is the mother of enjoyment. Unless... Just like these bunch of flowers... When there are varieties of flowers, it becomes a very enjoyable bunches. If you simply bring rose, although it is very valuable, it is not so enjoyable. But when there are small, insignificant leaf also, which is not valuable than the rose, but rose becomes beautiful. That is life. And who appreciates it? When a man is living. A dead man cannot appreciate this beauty. There is beauty. Combination of varieties is beauty, or blissfulness.

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

Prabhupāda: So God is great. Now we have to analyze what is the greatness. A man is supposed to be great when he is very rich. A man is supposed to be great when he is very wise, man of knowledge, strength, reputation. So item by item, you analyze and see, you'll see Kṛṣṇa is the greatest. By reasoning. Therefore He is God. They have been analyzed. You'll find in The Nectar of Devotion, the Gosvāmīs have analyzed the characteristics of Kṛṣṇa, and they found Him the greatest. So if God is great, and He is the greatest, then He is God. How can you deny it? At least, we can see in the Bhagavad-gītā, the little knowledge given by Kṛṣṇa, it is still standing as the greatest. Five thousand years past, nobody could give such a book of knowledge throughout the whole world. The Bhagavad-gītā is studied not only by the Indians and Hindus but by all scholars of the world. Even such persons who think that there is somebody greater than Kṛṣṇa, they also read Bhagavad-gītā and they recite from the Bhagavad-gītā. Even Śaṅkarācārya, the leader of the Māyāvādīs, he says Bhagavad-gītā kiñcid adhītā. Is it not? Does he not say?

Room Conversation With Scientists -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Hmm. Everything is there. Not prominent, that's all.

Rūpānuga: So the main characteristic then is the water that is prominent.

Prabhupāda: Just like the skin, you cannot find water, but there is water.

Rūpānuga: So earth is prominent.

Prabhupāda: Just like you cut the skin, the blood will come. What is the blood? That is water.

Sadāpūta: That is mineral water, it has minerals in it.

Prabhupāda: That may be, but it is water.

Room Conversation -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Rūpānuga:

mano buddhir ahaṅkāraś
cittam ity antar-ātmakam
caturdhā lakṣyate bhedo
vṛttyā lakṣaṇa-rūpayā

"The internal subtle senses are experienced as having four aspects in the shape of mind, intelligence, ego and contaminated consciousness. Distinctions between them can be made only by different functions, since they represent different characteristics." Purport: "The four internal senses or subtle senses described herein are defined by different characteristics. When pure consciousness is polluted by material contamination, and identification with the body becomes predominant, this is called false ego. Consciousness is the function of the soul, and therefore behind consciousness there is soul. When consciousness is polluted by material contamination, this is called ahaṅkāra."

Prabhupāda: Bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān. The same thing. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-sthaḥ bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān.

Morning Walk -- July 13, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: (break) ...things are going on.

Rāmeśvara: (break) ...science called genetics, where they study the chemicals which determine the characteristics of the living entity, whether he has fair skin, or...

Prabhupāda: That our Svarūpa Dāmodara has begun with this rascal genetics. He has written that Scientific Basis, beginning with these rascals, genetics.

Rāmeśvara: Before they can try to create life, they have to master this science of genetics first. This controls whether a living entity has different color eyes and hair and ability to hear and see, everything. So they say when they have mastered that science, then the next step will be to create life.

Prabhupāda: That will take millions of years. By that time he'll be finished.

Press Interview at Muthilal Rao's House -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: It is not exactly religious. You have taken by it because we misunderstand the meaning of religion. Religion generally understood as a kind of cult and faith. But in the Vedic literature, religion means the characteristic. Just like sugar is sweet, that is its religion. If sugar becomes pungent, that is not sugar's characteristic. Similarly, a human being must be God conscious. So that God consciousness is religion. Because in the human form of life one can understand what is God, and if he does not become, he remains an animal. Animal cannot understand. So therefore his business is how to athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is not our manufactured word, this is the Vedānta words. Atha, now we have got this human form body, based on that transmigration of the soul after millions and millions of years, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19), you have got this human form of life, now it is your business to inquire about the Absolute Truth.

Room Conversation -- September 4, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: This is sādhu. Not the dress. Now what is the...

Harikeśa: "The symptoms of a sādhu are that he is tolerant, merciful, and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime."

Prabhupāda: This is sādhu. The first qualification is titikṣava. very tolerant. And Cāṇakya Paṇḍita has said kṣamā-rūpaṁ tapasvinām. Those who are tapasvīs, their first duty is how much he is forgiving. How much he has learned to forgive. Kṣamā-rūpaṁ tapasvinām. Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śamena damena (SB 6.1.13). So what is the explanation?

Letter to Sai Baba -- September 13, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So what is Yāmunacārya's quotation?

Pradyumna: "My dear Lord, devotees like Vyāsadeva and Nārada know You to be the Personality of Godhead. By understanding different Vedic literatures, one can come to know Your characteristics, Your form and Your activities, and one can thus understand that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

Prabhupāda: You have to quote that verse and the meaning.

Pradyumna: But the Sanskrit wasn't give here?

Prabhupāda: The Sanskrit is there.

Pradyumna: No, but this verse from Yāmunācārya.

Prabhupāda: Oh. You'll find the Sanskrit in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

Pradyumna: Oh. Which place?

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Evening Conversation -- January 25, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: ...perception. That is experience. Why do you give on seeing only? By seeing one mango you cannot understand what quality it is, but you have to touch with your tongue. Therefore in chemical laboratory the characteristics are there: "This is the color. This is the taste. This is the reaction." So you have to gather experience like that, not by simply seeing. That... I gave the example. Now you take one egg. What is there? Some white and some yellow substance. So you make one egg with white and yellow and bring life. So what is the power of your seeing? A small egg. Take a small egg. The covering, some celluloid, within, some white substance, some yellow substance. Or make further analysis and give some chemicals of the same taste, same color, same characteristic—now bring life. But the same thing. You put under the feather of the chicken. Within five days it will bring life. So what is the credit of these rascal doctors, D.H.C.? That a small chicken is better than these D.H.C.

Correspondence

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Mr. Chagan Govinda -- Los Angeles 17 December, 1968:

Actually this movement is now becoming very popular in the Western countries. Our followers in the West are neither Hindus nor belonging to any principle sect following the Vedas but, by Krishna's Grace, they are accepting this very nicely. Some of them are very advanced as you might have seen from the characteristics of our devotees in London.

I was very pleased to read how these students were very well received by your organizations there. Please extend my thanks to all concerned for cooperating with my students in London. Thanking you once more for your interest and I hope to hear again from you soon.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Edith -- Bombay, INDIA January 28th, 1971:

We are presently in the age; called Kali yuga, or the age of quarrel and dissention where man is very shortlived and not so very intelligent. But the most regrettable characteristic of this age, is that man has forgotten God. He is claiming God is dead or I am god, etc. Just try to understand how much degraded this age is. One of the anomalies, of this Kali yuga is that our foodstuffs have been grown with so many chemicals, etc. Actually nothing in this Kali yuga is pure. The soil is polluted, the air, so many things as well as man's motives, but by firmly establishing our Krishna Consciousness Movement all over the world, such unfavorable conditions can be terminated.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Madhudvisa, Amogha -- Los Angeles 24 August, 1972:

One thing we should always remember is that all of our devotees picked up here are accustomed to all of these bad habits in their past life, so if sometimes they reveal their old characteristics, instead of rejecting them, it is up to us to rectify them as far as possible. So try to reform Mohananandan there. What he will do by coming here? Amogha has indicated he has already shaved his sikha and has left everything. do you think U.S.A. is a magic place, simply by coming here he will become reformed? If possible you can send to the U.S.A., but it is better to correct him to the standard point by friendly gestures. We can reject anyone, that is very easy, but to reform him that requires great skill and tact and if you can reform him there by kind words and dealings, that is best. When I was there in Sydney, I observed that Mohananandan is very, very good boy and he has great intelligence and talent, simply it has become little bit misguided due to circumstances.

Page Title:Characteristic (Conversations & Letters)
Compiler:SunitaS, RupaManjari
Created:07 of Aug, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=44, Let=3
No. of Quotes:47