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Close - near (Lectures)

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.9 -- Auckland, February 21, 1973:

Prabhupāda: No. At least, we are not able to bring them into service. We are depending only on one sun in this universe. You may say there are innumerable suns, but why the astronomers or the scientists could not take advantage of another sun at night? Why it is darkness?

Man (2): Because we're much closer to this one than the others. We're much closer to this one.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is... What is that?

Madhudviṣa: He says that the earth is much more closer to this sun than it is to other suns.

Prabhupāda: Anyway, we do not take. But we, according to our Vedic information, this is only one universe, which is within our vision, this sky, the dome. That is one universe. The other universes are outside this universe. That is the Vedic information.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:

Our senses are very imperfect. That we can understand. For example, we are daily seeing the sun globe, but our experience is just like a disc because my eyes cannot see things placed in long distance, neither can see which is very near. Just like the eyelid is just attached to the eye, but I cannot see. This is imperfect. Neither we can see very close, neither we can see very long distance point, neither we can see in darkness. There are so many conditions. If those conditions are fulfilled, then our senses can act. Therefore it is to be understood that our senses are imperfect.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.16.19 -- Hawaii, January 15, 1974:
Prabhupāda: So we have got all information in the Vedic literature beginning from Bhagavad-gītā and then described further in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, four Vedas. The four Vedas—Sāma, Yajur, Ṛk, Atharva—they are concentrated in the Vedānta-sūtra, and the Vedānta-sūtra is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore, our propagation, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is that we are trying to get our students well conversed in Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So those who are our students, we have got our books now ready published so nicely. People are accepting it. I was very glad to hear from our Mahārāja that we are selling about hundred...

Sudāmā: Close to, yes. Prabhupāda: Eh? Sudāmā: Close to. They're doing many..., close to a hundred Kṛṣṇa books a day sometimes. Prabhupāda: Yes. So it is very good news that people are reading our books. They have already got about more than one dozen such books, four hundred pages each. And besides the smaller books, now we are immediately going to add six more books.

Lecture on SB 2.2.5 -- Los Angeles, December 2, 1968:
Prabhupāda: Hṛṣīka. Hṛṣīka means senses. So when the senses are applied for Hṛṣīkeśa—means Kṛṣṇa—then it is purified. And when the senses are applied in our designated position, that is impure. That is contaminated.

Woman: When there are several living entities within a close area of space or there are several living entities... Prabhupāda: They are under different designations, that's all. Different living entities means under different designations. That's all. And when that designation is off, then he's Kṛṣṇa's. That's all. Actually he is Kṛṣṇa's, but under different designations he has got different bodies. So if we place ourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in spite of this designated body, still we become purified. Jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate. He's liberated even living within this material tabernacle. Īhā yasya harer dāsye. If anyone fixes his mind up to the service of Kṛṣṇa, then in whatever condition he may be, he is a liberated person. Simply we have to fix up that we shall simply execute business of Kṛṣṇa. That's all.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- Paris, August 12, 1973:

Prabhupāda: So God, because existing, His name was also existing. Therefore, His name is not material name. Because God was existing, His name was existing. So God was existing before creation, therefore His name, His form, is not material.

Jyotirmayī: (If the) name of God is not material, how is it possible to pronounce it materially, with our material tongue?

Prabhupāda: Yes, it is possible, when you are purified.

Guest: Has God put the suffering here for us to experience so that we will want to give up material lives and get closer to Him? Is it punishment?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Lecture on SB 5.6.2 -- Vrndavana, November 24, 1976:

Caitanya Mahāprabhu very rigidly followed. He did not lie down even on a quilt, only one naked cloth. He did not use... And no woman should come to offer Him obeisances very near. They must do it from a distant place. He was so strict. One of His personal associates, Haridāsa, Junior Haridāsa, he simply glanced over a young woman with lusty desire. He immediately rejected him: "Ask Haridāsa not to come anymore." So He never excused him very strictly. And Haridāsa, being disappointed, he... On his behalf, very close devotees like Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, Rāmānanda Rāya, big, big devotees, Svarūpa Dāmodara and others, requested Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu that "He has committed mistake, but he is Your personal servant. Kindly excuse him." Then Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "All right, then you can call him. You live with him. I shall go from here. You live with him; let Me go away." He was so strict.

Lecture on SB 6.1.28-29 -- Philadelphia, July 13, 1975:
Prabhupāda: Ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān. Kṛṣṇa says, "Ācārya means I am." Nāvamanyeta karhicit: "Do not try to neglect." Na martya-buddhyāsūyeta: "Do not consider ācārya, spiritual master, as ordinary human being and become envious." These things are warned. Ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhicit, na martya-buddhyāsūyeta (SB 11.17.27). Familiarity breeds contempt. That is not good. Similarly... Because by the mercy of ācārya, by the mercy of guru, you will get Kṛṣṇa. You sing that, kṛṣṇa-prāpti jāhā hoite, what is that? Kṛṣṇa-prāpti jāhā hoite. What is that language?

Kṛta-kṛta: That by his mercy he brings us close to Kṛṣṇa. Prabhupāda: No, no, what is that Bengali language? You cannot... You are singing daily? Kṛta-kṛta: Prema-bhakti jāhā hoite, avidyā vināśa jāte. Prabhupāda: Ah. Avidyā vināśa jāte, kṛṣṇa-prāpti haya... So these are the things. Avidyā vināśa jāte. Avidyā means ignorance. We are full of ignorance. So guru's duty is to open the eyes, and by opening your eyes he will give you Kṛṣṇa. So this is the process. So you should be very much careful not to cheat Kṛṣṇa, not to cheat guru, and become very sincere and follow. Then it is guaranteed.

Lecture on SB 6.1.61 -- Vrndavana, August 28, 1975:

So this boy, Ajāmila, he was passing, he saw that the śūdra was embracing another śūdrāṇī. Dṛṣṭvā tāṁ kāma-liptena. When he saw that this man and woman is embraced with one another with lusty desire... Embracing woman or man, this is kāma, lust. There is no question of any other thing. Kāma-liptena. Dṛṣṭvā tāṁ kāma-liptena bāhunā. The man was embracing the woman, and the woman was embracing, pari-liptena, very closely attached, and everything was going on. Then... We have got lusty desires. Everyone's heart... Hṛd-roga-kāma. The material world means there is a heart disease which is called kāma, hṛd-roga-kāma. So hṛc-chaya-avaśam. If we... This is called impetus. If I see one engaged in lusty or sex affairs, naturally my sex desire also becomes awakened. Even though I am trying to control in the neophyte stage, still, if I see in my front something, lusty affairs, naturally I will be inclined to such. Therefore it is called avaśam.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation of Baradraj and Chandanacarya Dasas -- Boston, May 4, 1969:

Prabhupāda: You must give them copies. Is there any name Madana-mohana dāsa? Yes? There is? So his name should be Baradraj. B-a-r-a-d, Baradraj, r-a-j, Baradraj. Baradraj is another name of Lord Viṣṇu. Baradraj dāsa Brahmacārī. All right. Just bow down. Bow down. Bow down.

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine

(devotees repeat) All right. Take your beads. Be happy. Baradraj. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (japa) Chant. (japa) Keep it there. You can keep it.

Śāradīyā: You want to move more closer?

Prabhupāda: You can keep it.

Candanācārya: Put it down?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Nama. You take little, little, everyone, and when I say svāhā, you put it.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Jakarta, March 2, 1973:

Devotee (2): You like those gongs.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Very nice.

Devotee (1): This type of temple and culture is prominent in that island of Bali. Many, many people. Here there are just a few, in Jakarta.

Prabhupāda: So we have to introduce this here. And if they give place, immediately take it.

Devotee (1): We have it. We'll take. It's very close to the man's house who built this temple, the man who was speaking in Indonesian. He gave us the house. Over a month ago they offered it to us.

Prabhupāda: So then take it.

Lecture at St. Pascal's Franciscan Seminary -- Melbourne, June 28, 1974:

Guest (5): Your Grace, all of us who are attached to a transcendental religion, I think we face a common problem, and I would like to hear you say how you see the answer to the problem: the problem of evil. If I put it in these terms, that all energy, all reality, is from God, the spiritual and the material. And material is good when we use it towards God consciousness, use it properly. But the thing that makes a difference is ourselves, the way we consciously use things differently. And the trouble is that in this consciousness, this is how we come closest to God, our consciousness in itself. Now, some people would say that the source of evil is individual consciousness, our consciousness as persons. Others would have other ways of answering. I was wondering how you yourself would say.

Prabhupāda: Individual consciousness and the supreme consciousness, God and we... We are all also the same principle. God is also living being, we are also living being, but He is the supreme living being. That is stated in the Vedas. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Nitya means eternal. God is eternal; we are also eternal. But because we have fallen down in this material existence, we have forgotten our eternity; we are changing body. We are thinking, "I am this body." This is our misgivings. But God does not fall down. He is eternal. We are also eternal, but because we are very small fragment, sometimes we fall down. Therefore God's another name is Acyuta—"Never falls down." We cyuta, we fall down sometimes. When we fall down, then God comes to save us. So this is the difference between God and us, that we are also eternal and God is also eternal.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is going on. Actually, religion means obedience to God. So religion does not mean some sect. They are trying to understand God some way, but that is not actually religion. That is a method of understanding God. But religion begins when one has actually understood God and giving Him, rendering Him service. That is religion.

Hayagrīva: For Kant, the true religion is the divine ethical state. He is..., he was fond of quoting the Christian Bible. When Christ was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, 'Lo here' or 'Lo there,' for behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Now Kant footnotes this passage by saying, "Here a kingdom of God is represented not according to a particular covenant, but moral, knowable through assisted reason." So again he insists on the priority of God within, on the priority of ethical action and the freedom to accept ethical action. And this is epitomized in his famous line, "The starry sky above and the moral law within." The starry sky above is the abode of God, is very far away, but the moral law within is very close. Thus he emphasizes that the kingdom of God is within you.

Prabhupāda: Yes. If one is actually aware of God and His instructions, then the kingdom of God is within himself.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: That means he has no clear idea of God. If God has got a son, then the father must be a person. Where is a son who is born out of imperson father? Where is the evidence?

Śyāmasundara: An idea, born out of an idea.

Prabhupāda: Idea. This is nonsense. If son is a person, his father must be a person.

Śyāmasundara: He says that in philosophy we approach closest to the absolute or God, whereas art is the form of the absolute.

Prabhupāda: Then his statement that Christianity is perfect, that is refuted.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: It is difference of culture.

Śyāmasundara: It's different from what we think of as species.

Prabhupāda: Culture.

Devotee: It's not species in the bodily...

Karandhara: So the angle of vision is not from the bodily, it's from the closeness of the soul to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, as far as they're able...

Prabhupāda: Unless you accept soul and consciousness, there cannot be question of culture.

Śyāmasundara: But when the scientists say "species," they mean different types of bodies.

Prabhupāda: Yes. We say 400,000 different forms of body, so human body, just like Negroes, they are also human beings, and you are also human beings. So this, scientists will say they are all one species, human being. But we say that Negro culture and the Āryan culture is different.

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Prabhupāda: That is good. That is good. Then whether he is a believer or a doubter?

Śyāmasundara: He is a believer, but the extent of his belief we'll discuss in a few moments. He says that the one who disbelieves faces the added risk of losing any chance of discovering the truth.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śyāmasundara: So it is better to believe, even though one doesn't know for sure. It is better to believe because it gives one more chance of discovering the truth. He says that we have the right to believe in God, even in the absence of absolute proof. Even though there is no absolute proof, he says, of the existence of God, still we have the right to believe in God because this helps us to get closer to the truth. It gives us a better chance.

Prabhupāda: That means he accepts God is truth and that He's existing. Does he say like that or not?

Śyāmasundara: Yes. He says there is no absolute proof, but...

Prabhupāda: But that is proof.

Philosophy Discussion on Edmund Husserl:

Madhudviṣa: Someone else can be your father. If he says, "No, he's not your father, he's your father over there," he's never seen before, still, the idea of fatherhood is the man who's been with him all the time.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Madhudviṣa: So your mother..., the mother's saying "This is father" has no meaning, has no value. It contains no potential as father. The father is the person who is the close companion of the mother, and...

Prabhupāda: The thing is, when the mother says who is your father, then next question will be from the child, "What is father?"

Śyāmasundara: Yes. What is father...?

Prabhupāda: What is father, that enquiry. Then (s)he'll say that without father you cannot get birth. That is progress of knowledge. Why you should be satisfied only with the fact that the mother says, "This gentleman is your father"? So why should you..., if he does not inquire, "What is father?" Then he understands. This is inquiry, and knowledge.

Philosophy Discussion on Johann Gottlieb Fichte:

Hayagrīva: "Know for action you are here. Your action and your action alone determines your worth."

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that we are meant for rendering service to Kṛṣṇa. So we do it daily from morning, four o'clock, to night, ten o'clock, they are always engaged to give service to Kṛṣṇa. So this is practical. If you simply sit down, speculate on God and smoke cigarette, then what is the use of such speculation? Here is practical life.

Hayagrīva: Well in this sense Fichte is closer to Kṛṣṇa consciousness than most impersonalists, because most impersonalist advocate inaction and meditation on the void, but, uh...

Prabhupāda: No, impersonalist...

Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Henry Huxley:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Karma... That is called karma-bandhanaḥ: one after another, one after another, one after another, it is going on. So if this evolutionary process one comes to the form of human being, then he is allowed the discrimination to decide whether he shall continue in this karma-bandhanaḥ process or he should stop his karma-bandhanaḥ process and surrender to Kṛṣṇa. If he surrenders to Kṛṣṇa then his karma-bandhanaḥ process stopped, and if he does not, then he is again put into the karma-bandhanaḥ process by the laws of nature.

Hayagrīva: So he does appear at least a little closer than Darwin, because Darwin didn't recognize any of this transmigration at all.

Prabhupāda: Darwin, he is all through. Everyone is more or less. Unless one has got the right knowledge... Why Darwin? Everyone is under false impression. Therefore our proposition is that you take right knowledge from the right person, Kṛṣṇa, then you are perfect. And if you go on speculating—you speculate in one way, I speculate in another way—it does not mean that we are intelligent person.

Philosophy Discussion on B. F. Skinner and Henry David Thoreau:

Prabhupāda: But he does not know what is that enjoyable life. He cannot define, definitely, what is that enjoyable life. He is simply hankering after it. That is natural. But he does not know definitely what is that enjoyable life.

Hayagrīva: As close as he comes to a definition of it, he says, "We simply arrange a world in which serious conflicts occur as seldom as possible, or, with a little luck, not at all."

Prabhupāda: What does it mean? Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's trying to make an ideal arrangement where no conflicts come about.

Prabhupāda: That is materially impossible.

Page Title:Close - near (Lectures)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Serene
Created:11 of Nov, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=19, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:19