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Clarification (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Radio Interview -- March 12, 1968, San Francisco:

Interviewer: Where in India did you come from originally?

Prabhupāda: Oh, I was born in Calcutta. But after my acceptance of this renounced order of life, I am inhabitant of Vṛndāvana.

Caller: Of where?

Prabhupāda: Vṛndāvana. V-r-i-n-d-a-v-a-n. Vṛndāvana is a sacred place. It is about 90 miles south of New Delhi, capital of India.

Caller: Yes, yes, I see. One thing I just wanted to clarify, did you... are you are follower of Lord Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Caller: That's all I wanted to know. Thank you.

Interviewer: The callers know more about the subject today evidently than I do. Now, your guru told you to be a wanderer.

Prabhupāda: Yes. A sannyāsī means itinerant teacher. He will wander and teach from door to door.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- August 14, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: That's it. Mercy of... So... That is the test, that he has learned how to love God. Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te (CC Madhya 19.53). Caitanya Mahāprabhu is also worshiped, that "You can give love of God." Kṛṣṇa prema-pradāya te. Namo mahā-vadānyāya. "You are the most munificent of all incarnations because You are distributing love of God." Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te (CC Madhya 19.53). Kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne. "You are Kṛṣṇa in the form of devotee of Kṛṣṇa. So I offer my respects." This is Rūpa Gosvāmī's prayer.

Guest (1): Do you find that you chant, it clarifies you?

Prabhupāda: Yes, certainly. God and God's name, and God or God's son, they are nondifferent. So either I be in touch with God's son or God's name, I am in touch with God. But they are nondifferent.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 29, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That is why we are asking questions so that...

Prabhupāda: Yes. You ask, clarify it. Be strong in your position and then preach. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma... (CC Adi 17.21). (pause)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The literal meaning of sūtra is a condensed statement, Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The literal meaning of sūtra...

Prabhupāda: Yes?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...is a condensed statement?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with Reporter from Researchers Magazine -- July 24, 1973, London:

Reporter: No, no, I'm not saying Kṛṣṇa did not take... I'm just saying that it seems that He sometimes, it seems, that people who emphasize the spiritual consciousness do not clarify enough..., it is not clear enough—and I'm not saying it's not there but it's not clear enough—the social political dimension, social action, political action, how we run our society in its practical terms. So it is not clear.

Prabhupāda: It is clear. If you are actually surrendered soul, then to you it is clear, it is very clear. Kṛṣṇa gives direction, that this is the business of the brāhmaṇa, this is the business of kṣatriya. So politics is the business of the kṣatriya. So if you act according to Kṛṣṇa's direction in politics, then you are surrendered soul. It is not that because we have got this mālā and tilaka we are surrendered soul, and a kṣatriya cannot be surrendered soul, or a vaiśya cannot be surrendered soul. You have to act according to the direction. Kṛṣṇa is giving direction: "This is brāhmaṇa's karma." You do it. That means you are surrendered soul, at the same time you are acting as a brāhmaṇa.

Room Conversation with Reporter from Researchers Magazine -- July 24, 1973, London:

Woman: But it's the same with Arjuna, wasn't it?

Prabhupāda: But you are talking of Christianity. Don't talk of Arjuna now. If you talk of Christianity, don't take support from Arjuna. You talk of Christianity. It is clear statement, "Thou shalt not kill." Why you are killing? "Thou shalt not covet." And illicit sex and illicit man and woman intermingling is going on. Who's stopping it?

Reporter: True.

Prabhupāda: Just see Arjuna—you are talking of Arjuna—before fighting, before killing so many things, he getting clarified. Ah? (Sanskrit) Just see, "Why shall I kill?" So you have to understand why you should kill, why you should not kill.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk 'Varnasrama College' -- March 14, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Our main aim is how to give them Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But if they are already disturbed in every respect, then how they'll take it? Therefore we are taking these subjects, to help him to come to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And this is the method-varṇāśrama.

Hṛdayānanda: So just to clarify, Prabhupāda, I want to make sure I have it very clear, that if someone comes to our varṇāśrama college, even though this may be preliminary help, in general—you've made some exceptions—but in general, when they come to our college, they have to follow the four regulative principles, also learn something about Bhagavad-gītā and then, side by side, they learn a...

Prabhupāda: Four regulative principles compulsory.

Morning Walk -- April 10, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Take it for granted, different. What is the wrong there? After all, everyone is Kṛṣṇa's expansion. Ānanda cinmāyā-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). We are also expansion. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. But still, we have got individuality. Kṛṣṇa proved it—I explained that in Vṛndāvana when everything was stolen by Brahmā. Again another batch of cows and calves and cowherds boys. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Immediately. What is the difficulty for Kṛṣṇa? Is it clear or not? You wanted to clarify. Is it clear or not?

Satsvarūpa: Yes, you said the answer is that it's different persons, not just one Arjuna, not just one Yaśodā.

Prabhupāda: Just like I have got hundred branches. Each branch I have got a set of my sitting room, of my books and everything. And wherever I go I see the same place. If it is possible for an ordinary man to have a hundred sets of the same thing, why not for Kṛṣṇa?

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with the GBC -- March 27, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Offenseless chanting, that will purify. That is the easiest process, given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Ceto-da...(?) He first of all recommends cleansing the heart. And as soon as your heart is cleansed, then you become immediately purified. This is the way. So be always engaged, either in chanting or reading or preaching. Then it will be clarified.

Rūpānuga: It is actually a very easy process.

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the easiest process. There is no secondary process. Chanting. And it is recommended by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the authority, param vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. So many things will happen.

Morning Walk -- July 14, 1975, Philadelphia:

Gurudāsa: When a heart is transplanted does the soul stay in the heart?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: I want to clarify another that Prabhupāda told us that compared with the cells, I am a little bigger god, but the cells are smaller. Just like we are serving spiritual master. Similarly, the cells are serving. They have no choice in the...

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is good idea. Yes.

Morning Walk -- November 3, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: All Vaiṣṇava Ācāryas are more or less parallel. There's a little difference here and there. It is not much...

Prabhupāda: No, there is no difference. Everything. It is, rather, more...

Dr. Patel: In philosophy there is no difference, sir. But in...

Prabhupāda: In presentation, clarify. Yes. That is our business. Just like what I am doing. I am following the Ācāryas, but I am presenting, writing in such a way the modern man can understand. This is our point.

Dr. Patel: Modern man. Modernizing? (laughs)

Prabhupāda: Yes. You know him, this boy? He's a great-grandson of Henry Ford. He has contributed to our society not less than two crores of rupees.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Siddha-svarupa -- May 3, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Initiation means to follow instructions of the spiritual master. That is the first (indistinct) And if there is still hesitation to surrender to the rules and regulations, then all other (indistinct).

Siddha-svarūpa: I think it is pretty clear, Śrīla Prabhupāda. It's just for clarification, that they're working, they have a store on..., a very nice store, they're distributing foodstuffs to all the other stores on the island, and they're working a lot within the society with the karmīs, I guess. So their thinking is that "If we shave our heads and wear robes, like that, then they'll look at us...

Prabhupāda: That is not... Because imitating. Officially don't chant. Who is prohibiting to chant? You can chant, you can dance, you can take prasādam.

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

Prabhupāda: Perception of the soul is there, but this physical demonstration is of the soul by consciousness. The more it is purified, it becomes spiritual. The consciousness is there. The more it is purified, then it becomes spiritual. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). It has to be purified. The water is crystal clear, but when it comes in touch with the earth it becomes muddy. But again you can clarify it, and water becomes crystal clear. That consciousness is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

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

Prabhupāda: Everything eternal.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, eternal in the sense that it's different from prakṛti. Now prakṛti is, when it is completely manifested...

Prabhupāda: Prakṛti, pradhāna, puruṣa, these things are little complicated.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But we wanted to clarify this, because this is the nice thing that we can show that matter comes from life. This is the source.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Sa īkṣata, sa asṛjata, by the glance of Mahā-Viṣṇu... Eko nārāyaṇa āsīt. In the beginning, Nārāyaṇa was there. There was no Lord Śiva, no neither Brahmā. This mantra was there. So originally by the glance...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: By the glance of Viṣṇu.

Prabhupāda: We can prove it that how by the sunshine everything is growing. How it is? Your molecule and so on, so on... You can describe. Actually, from the sunshine the trees are growing, leaves are coming. As soon as there is no sunshine, immediately they fall down, the leaves, and the tree becomes without any leaves. How this happens? The same process.

Room Conversation with Dr. Theodore Kneupper -- November 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Just like you are a philosopher. So you should not make only theories, "perhaps." But actually, by your philosophy, you establish the existence of God. Then you are philosopher. Idaṁ hi puṁsas tapasaḥ śrutasya vā sviṣṭasya sūktasya... (SB 1.5.22). Find out this verse in the Bhāgavata. Avicyuto 'rthaḥ kavibhir nirūpito yad-uttamaśloka. If by your philosophical knowledge you prove, "Yes, there is God," then your philosophy study is perfect. And if you philosophize, "There is no God," that is useless waste of time. To gain popularity, if you make philosophy like... In your country there are so many rascals philosophers, Darwin, Freud. They are all rascals. They are predominant.

Dr. Kneupper: I think there is some misunderstanding that many Americans may have about the teaching that you have. Maybe you can clarify it.

Prabhupāda: So you clarify it. It is your duty. You are philosopher.

Dr. Kneupper: Well, that's why I am trying to understand it.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Guest (2): Brahman you consider Kṛṣṇa. But He is, of course... He was incarnate. He was one of the avatāras.

Prabhupāda: That is your opinion. That is not...

Guest (2): That is our point which I want to clarify.

Prabhupāda: You have to take the śāstra, authority. Brahmaṇo aham pratiṣṭhā. Read Bhagavad-gītā. You read Bhagavad-gītā? Now, did you not read this?

Guest (2): Well, that's what I want to clarify.

Prabhupāda: Find out this.

Room Conversation with Ratan Singh Rajda (Member of Parliament) -- March 27, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: But now he says that "Janata is my God." Is it not, recently?

Indian (2): In the first paper like that. But then recently he said that point because it of Kṛṣṇa's grace.

Mr. Rajda: He'll swear to God. Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa. He is very clear in his mind.

Prabhupāda: Why not preach Kṛṣṇa, God? Why not with me...

Mr. Rajda: He has clarified that point.

Indian (2): He has clarified. Up to three days or four days he has clarified. On Friday it was not clarified. Today it was clarified.

Prabhupāda: Why not government make people God conscious? It is very simple thing. God personally is explaining how to become God conscious. Very simple thing. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). Four things. Even a child can do it. So why not leaders? Then their example should be followed.

Conversations -- April 19, 1977, Bombay:

Patita-pāvana: We could also have them write some article. I know the chief reporter there.

Prabhupāda: Therefore I say you have done independently, whimsically. This is... This is to be stopped. You are acting too independent.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I'd just like a point of clarification, 'cause I don't understand. What exactly is your engagement? I see that you're traveling all over India. What exactly are you going...? Has Prabhupāda told you to travel like this continuously, all over...?

Patita-pāvana: No, he told me to go South India and find some paṇḍitas.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And now you're planning to go to Delhi.

Patita-pāvana: No, no, Surabhī Mahārāja has asked me to do some press releases for the newspapers.

Prabhupāda: So Surabhī Mahārāja has asked. So you are conducted by Surabhī Mahārāja.

Patita-pāvana: Yes, Prabhupāda. At least I'm trying. If I have acted untimely, I...

Prabhupāda: And this is the result. This is the result, this disastrous article. You do independently when you like under the direction of Surabhī Mahārāja and create disaster.

Conversation Pieces -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Hindus, I do... The trustees appoint. And when trustees are going to retire, he should nominate his own person.

Jayatīrtha: We've included that in the closure of the will.

Jayapatākā: So the trustees should be managing on behalf of ISKCON.

Prabhupāda: So after making finally, we consult with that Mr. Sharma. He'll make some clarification. Gargamuni knows. He'll make it final.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's a trust lawyer. He specializes in this.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Then make it final. That's all.

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Actually you gave it up as useless. To talk with those priestly orders, I remember, you concluded, "This is a waste of time." They're not at all priestly.

Prabhupāda: They have no intelligence. Anyway, do something.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: I want to clarify a point. The other day I was discussing with this Professor Kundu...

Prabhupāda: Professor Kundu is a famous man, I think.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Oh, yes, he's the director. He works on the nature of consciousness. He has great interest in Bhagavad-gītā.

Prabhupāda: Was he in Scottish Churches College?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: I never know his background.

Prabhupāda: I think in our student there was some Kundu. The same?

Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- June 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Then you are spirit. How you can say that your life is correct and... It is all wrong.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That is the very point, that science studies not life but...

Prabhupāda: Superficially.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: External. Just like Prabhupāda's... The external manifestations.

Prabhupāda: Features. Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So they are mistaken. So this is the whole basis. Once this is clarified, then others will follow just...

Prabhupāda: Automatically.

Letter from Yugoslavia--'Books!' -- June 30, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No. Give something in the evening.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But I just wanted to ask a question. Then I'll have it clarified. When I was at a Birla temple in Bhopal, what they did is... Supposing someone comes here at four o'clock in the afternoon, five o'clock. Now there's no prasādam distributed at that time, but at that time the pūjārī could give a little of those white sweet.

Śatadhanya: With a tulasī in it.

Prabhupāda: That is formality.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's not genuine. Yeah, it wasn't very nice.

Prabhupāda: Cheating. That is cheating.

Room Conversation -- October 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Śruta-gṛhītayā. And śruta-gṛhītayā is Vedānta knowledge, not sentimental. Śruta-gṛhītayā. That is sound knowledge. Discuss Bhāgavatam daily, as much as possible. Everything will be clarified. Because Bhāgavata is the essence. Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam (SB 1.1.3). And vyāsadeva-kṛta. Kim anyaiḥ śāstraiḥ. When he's self-realized, he made this. Mahā-muni-kṛte. So the more we read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the knowledge becomes clarified. Each and every verse-transcendental. Is this clear?

Devotees: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. (break)

Prabhupāda: Ah, how are you?

Dayānanda: Very nice, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Thank you.

Prabhupāda: So everything is going nice?

Dayānanda: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. I brought you some fruits. Ātreya Ṛṣi told me to bring you some oranges and some lemons.

Page Title:Clarification (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Serene, Mayapur
Created:17 of Aug, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=22, Let=0
No. of Quotes:22