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Consequence (Lectures)

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- New York, March 7, 1966:

All individual selves are more or less subject to the affliction of ignorance. We are, all living entities except God, everyone, everyone, they are subjected to ignorance, forgetfulness. That's a fact. Ignorance, egoism. Egoism means that without having the qualification, one declares that "I am God." This is egoism. Without having the qualification of God, if one declares that "I am God," a foolish man, that is called egoism. Egoism, desire, aversion and dread of death. They have to do various kinds of work, good, bad, and indifferent, and reap the consequences thereof. That means they are subjected to the acts of your, I mean to say, reaction of their acts. If you do some good thing, then you reap the good result. If you do some bad thing, then you reap the bad result. And because we are defective, therefore we do something good, sometimes bad.

Lecture on BG 2.20-25 -- Seattle, October 14, 1968:

So if I like, I can utilize this body for higher grade of life. Kṛṣṇa will give us all facilities. And if I like, I can utilize this body for lower grade of life. Kṛṣṇa will give us facilities. So He's always friendly. And He gives us also friendly advice, that "Don't act independently. Just act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness under Me. Then you'll be happy." That is His actual instruction. But the living entity does not care for the instruction of the Supersoul. He wants to act independently, and he has to suffer the consequence.

Lecture on BG 4.39-5.3 -- New York, August 24, 1966:

The living entities, they are all parts and parcels of the Supreme, and therefore the energy... That is ... That energy also part and parcel. That energy also part of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has got unlimited energy, and our energy is just a part of energy. That's all, part of energy. Therefore our energy should be spent for Kṛṣṇa. Jñāna-sañchinna-saṁśayam. And that, I mean to say, utilizing the energy for Kṛṣṇa should be based on pure knowledge, pure knowledge that how... What is that pure knowledge? That "I am meant for Kṛṣṇa" or I am meant for God, so I should utilize my energy for that purpose." Ātmavantaṁ na karmāṇi nibadhnanti dhanañjaya. So anyone who is working in this way, then he hasn't got to suffer the consequence, good or bad, for any work. He is free from the reaction of this work.

Lecture on BG 5.17-25 -- Los Angeles, February 8, 1969:

Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram: (BG 5.29) "I am the supreme enjoyer. I am the proprietor of all planetary system." Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām: "I am the friend of everyone. I am supplying the grains for all living entities. Why you are destroying it? You shall be punished."

So people do not see the effect of these abominable activities because they do not know Kṛṣṇa. But they will have to suffer the consequence. Time will come when there will be devastation, just like there was First War, Second War in Europe, and there was mass devastation. So, these are the reaction because we do not know Kṛṣṇa. Therefore this movement is very important movement, every gentleman, every serious man to take to it.

Lecture on BG 6.16-24 -- Los Angeles, February 17, 1969:

Devotee: "One should be sure of success at the end and pursue his course with great perseverance, not becoming discouraged if there is any delay in the attainment of success."

Prabhupāda: Determination means that one has to continue with patience and perseverance. I'm not getting the desired result. "Oh what is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, I give up." No. Determination. It is a fact. Because Kṛṣṇa is saying this it must happen. There is nice example. That a girl is married to a husband. She's hankering after a child. So if she thinks that "Now I am married, I must have immediately a child." Is it possible? Just have patience. You just become faithful wife, serve your husband, and let your love grown up and because you are husband and wife, it is sure you'll have children. But don't be impatient. Similarly, when you are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, your perfection is guaranteed. But but you'll have patience, determination. That "I must execute. I should not be impatient." That impatience is due to loss of determination. And how that loss determination is there? Due to excessive sex life. These are all consequences.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Nairobi, October 29, 1975:

So this is the Kali-yuga position. So five thousand years ago, when Kṛṣṇa spoke about Bhagavad-gītā, at that time the position was manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu (BG 7.3). So sahasra. Now, on account of Kali-yuga, manuṣyāṇām "millions," because it has increased. The Kali-yuga has increased. Not sahasreṣu, and the percentage has increased millions and millions. Therefore nobody is interested in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We are trying to give the highest perfection of life, but they are not interested. They want to remain like cats and dogs and suffer the consequence. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ, ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā (BG 3.27). This is going on.

Lecture on BG 7.14 -- Hamburg, September 8, 1969:

Just like we are old and some way or other, keeping this body by massaging, by taking some medicine, this way, that way. This body is no longer just like a young man's body. It is suffering body. As soon as you are over fifty years, by nature, so the old age begins. And when you are over seventy years, you are completely old, and you have to suffer the consequences of old age. You may try to keep that old body for... But there is suffering. A young man cannot understand, but one who is old, he can understand, there is suffering. Suffering of old age, suffering of birth, suffering of death, and suffering of disease.

Lecture on BG 13.21 -- Bombay, October 15, 1973:

So we are trying to make the situation improved because, after all, as soon as you get this material body, it is suffering. There is no question of happiness. But by the illusory energy, by illusion we are thinking we are enjoying. That is called illusion, māyā. Just like the same example, a hog is eating stool, but he is thinking he is enjoying. This is called prakṣepātmikā-śakti. Not only hog, even in human society, somebody eats the most abominable, most rotten fish; still, he's thinking he's enjoying. We have seen it. Unless he thinks like that, how... If he thinks that, "This is most rotten thing," then he cannot live. The māyā must make him forget that he is eating the most rotten thing. He'll think, "It is very nice." Māyayāpahṛta-jñāna. So this is the consequence of all forgetfulness.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.14-16 -- San Francisco, March 24, 1967:

One may say, "If I get next life in a very rich family and becomes very rich man and becomes very learned man, very beautiful man, why shall I not take this opportunity?" But intelligent man says that "Even if I get such opportunities, the material miseries are there." It is not that because a child is born of a very rich family, he hasn't got to go into the womb of his mother and suffer the consequence. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). The distress of birth, death, disease and old age equally there, either you become born in a very high family or either you born in a very low family, either you're born in India or you are born in America. This suffering, the four kinds of sufferings are everywhere. Not only India and America, they are in this planet, but even if you go to the moon planet or if you go to the sun planet. Ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ. Even the highest planet.

Lecture on SB 1.8.47 -- Mayapura, October 27, 1974:

Nature's regulation is so strict that you cannot avoid the consequence. That is not possible. These are practical. I have seen another practical... In front of our residence there was another neighbor. So the old man had his daughter-in-law. So she was beating her one child. So I inquired through my servant, "Why this young woman is beating her child?" Now, then the servant brought me the news that this boy gave paraṭā to his elder brother who is suffering from typhoid. The typhoid... In typhoid fever, solid food is forbidden strictly, but the boy did not know. He asked his younger brother that "If you steal one paraṭā and if you give me, I am very much hungry." So he became very sympathetic to his brother, and he gave the paraṭā. And the boy was ill; he aggravated the illness. So as soon as the mother heard that he gave a paraṭā to him, he (she) began to beat: "Why did you give?" Now, it was charity, it was affection and sympathetic, but the result was beating with shoes. So if we do not know where charity should be given, then, where affection should be there, then we are under the laws of nature; we shall be punished if it is not properly done. There is punishment.

Lecture on SB 1.15.24 -- Los Angeles, December 3, 1973:

Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). We are acting, and daiva-netreṇa, by superior administration, daiva-netreṇa, we are getting different types of body, and suffering or enjoying the consequence. This is our position. Kṛṣṇa is... God is... It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu: (BG 9.29) "I am equal to everyone." Otherwise how He is God? God is not partial, that somebody should be killed and somebody should be rewarded with ten thousand dollars. No. It is our own work, we create such situation. That you should know. We forget. Now, somebody I kill in my last life. Just like here, if I kill somebody, then I shall be killed also, by the law, nature or law of God.

Lecture on SB 2.3.24 -- Los Angeles, June 22, 1972:

Vidhi-bhakti, or regulated devotional service by the limbs of the body (namely the eyes, the ears, the nose, the hands and the legs, as already explained hereinbefore), is now stressed herein in relation to the mind, which is the impetus for all activities of the limbs of the body. It is expected by all means that by discharging regulated devotional service one must manifest the change of heart. If there is no such change, the heart must be considered steel-framed, for it is not melted even when there is chanting of the holy name of the Lord. We must always remember that hearing and chanting are the basic principles of discharging devotional duties, and if they are properly performed there will follow the reactional ecstasy with signs of tears in the eyes and standing of the hairs on the body. These are natural consequences and are the preliminary symptoms of the bhāva stage, which occurs before one reaches the perfectional stage of prema, love of Godhead.

Lecture on SB 6.1.3 -- Melbourne, May 22, 1975:

You cannot say that you are independent. Nature's law is very strict. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). Nature's law... Just like fire. If you touch fire, it will burn. And even a child who is innocent, if the child touches the fire, it will burn. There is no excuse. You cannot say that "The child is innocent. It does not know the effect of touching fire, so he should be excused." No. Ignorance is no excuse. Especially... That is the state laws. You cannot say... Suppose you have committed some criminal act. If you plead, "My lord, I did not know that the, after doing this act, I had to suffer imprisonment. So you excuse me," no, that will be no excuse. You know or not know the law, if you have acted like that, you must suffer. This is going on. So we don't believe in the next life just to avoid this consequence. But that will not excuse us. We have to accept a type of body. Otherwise how there are so many different types of bodies? What is the explanation? Why different forms of body, different stages of body, different standard of body? That is nature's law.

Lecture on SB 6.1.6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1970:

Mama yonir mahad-brahma tasmin garbhaṁ dadāmy aham. The history of creation, as we learn from the Vedic literature, that after creation of this material world, the living entities are impregnated... Just like a man constructs a nice house or takes a very nice apartment and begets children in the womb of his wife, similarly, the material nature is the mother, and the father is God, and we are all children. These are the Vedic literature description. So who are these children? These children are all criminals. All criminals. Beginning from Brahma, the highest living creature, down to the ant, a small insignificant ant, more or less, we are criminals, and we are suffering the consequences. We cannot deny. If we are sincere, if we actually believe in the śāstras, in the Vedic literature, then our sufferings are due to our mischievous activities.

Lecture on SB 6.1.19 -- Los Angeles, January 15, 1970:

In any condition of life, everyone thinks that he's happy. But actually he does not know what is happiness. This is called māyā. But here it is said that a person, for a short period, if he becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, sakṛt, manaḥ, if his mind is somehow or other placed on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, then, even in dream he'll never see what is the punishment in the planet of Yamarāja. That means a Kṛṣṇa conscious person is guaranteed not to be touched by the Yamarāja or his attendants or his police force or constables. They... A living entity is taken away. After his death, if he's sinful man, then his soul is taken away by force. He doesn't want to... Through a desert. These things are described. You may believe or not believe, but we believe, because we believe in Vedic literature. So these descriptions are there, and practically we experience also in our this life, sometimes in dream we are put into great troublesome position and we suffer. Although when we wake up we do not see anything like that, but still, the consequence of the dream we suffer. So here, Śukadeva Gosvāmī gives guarantee that a Kṛṣṇa conscious person is never to be troubled by the Yamarāja or his agents.

Lecture on SB 6.1.67 -- Vrndavana, September 3, 1975:

So this man, Ajāmila, by his association with the prostitute, he degraded. Therefore it is the duty of the guardians, of the government, of the father, to protect the civilization from degradation. But nobody cares for that. Therefore, at the present moment, everything is chaotic. They are degraded. Prostitution is allowed freely, bad association, and they are encouraging by opening liquor shop, brothel, restaurant, meat-eating. So how you can expect a very nice civilization? That is not possible. We are suffering the consequence of our own degraded life.

Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Calcutta, March 5, 1972:

Guest (1): Some yogis harness energies and claim to use these energies to benefit humanity. Is there any value in their work? Is there any real consequence?

Prabhupāda: Yes, that I have already explained that they employ their energies but if they do not reach the ultimate goal, Kṛṣṇa, they fall down. There is chance of falling down. Because Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate goal. So they are employing their energies, that's all right, but they have to employ their energies more and more to approach Kṛṣṇa. If you do not approach Kṛṣṇa, then they fall down.

Lecture on SB 7.12.4 -- Bombay, April 15, 1976:

If you simply associate with the debauches, yoṣitāṁ saṇgam... Yoṣitām saṅgi-saṅgam. Those who are too much fond of woman, they are called yoṣit-saṅgī. They are called yoṣita-saṅg... So not only to become... It is condemned, too much being attached to woman. If one is too much attached to woman, if you make association with him, then you are also condemned. Tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ (SB 5.5.2). If you want to be relieved from these anarthas, unwanted things, to become clean, sattva, yes... Sattva-śuddhi. It is called sattva-śuddhi. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyed sattva (SB 5.5.1). We do not understand that we are in aśuddha-sattva. Our existence is impure. Therefore, although I am eternal, although I am living entity, nityo śāśvato 'yam, still I have to suffer this consequence: birth, death, old age, and disease.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.31-33 -- New York, January 16, 1967:

If there is māyā, there is no Kṛṣṇa. And if there is Kṛṣṇa, there is no māyā. This is the test. If we are still in māyā, that means I'm out of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And if I am actually in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no existence of māyā. And what is the symptom of māyā? Mamāham: "My country, my society, my father, my mother, my wife, my children, my property, my position, my, my, my." There is no end of "my," although nothing belongs to him. This is called māyā.

So the more we make progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this "my" consciousness and "I" consciousness will vanish. Just like while eating, the hunger and weakness will vanish. When you are hungry, you have not eaten in three days, we become weak and we become hungry. So this is natural consequence. And as soon as you begin to eat, this weakness will disappear and the hunger will disappear, and satisfaction will come.

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 7 -- Los Angeles, May 10, 1970:

So their ekatvam, Māyāvāda philosophy's ekatvam, oneness, and our ekatvam of oneness—a little different. They say that the energy's false; the Brahman is real. Brahmā satyaṁ jagan mithyā. We say that because Brahman is truth, therefore His energy's also truth. That is the difference between Vaiṣṇava philosophy and Māyāvāda philosophy. We cannot say that energy is false. Energy is temporary; this external energy is temporary, not false. Although... Suppose we have got some trouble. There are so many kinds of troubles pertaining to the body, mind, external affairs. But that trouble comes and goes. But when the trouble is there, it is true. We feel the consequence. We cannot say it is false. The Māyāvādī philosophers say that it is false. But when he's troubled, why he's so much disturbed? So that is not false. Therefore this very word is used: vijānataḥ, "one who knows." Perfect knowledge must be there, vijānataḥ.

Initiation Lectures

Brahmana Initiation Lecture with Professor O'Connell -- Boston, May 6, 1968, (Glenville Ave. Temple):

Ye tu bhajanti māṁ prītyā teṣu te mayi. Those who are engaged in devotional service, He's specially inclined to him. And to him he gives instruction from within. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānām (BG 10.10). Satata means always. Twenty-four hours, one who is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to him He gives instruction from within because he's qualified. Others, instruction He's giving, but other is not obeying the instruction. Just like a man is ready to commit some sinful activities. He thinks, "Shall I do it?" From within, "No, no. Don't do it." Again he says, "Why not? Let me do it." In this way, when he insists, oh, then He says, "All right, do it. Do it." So the word that "Nothing can happen without the sanction of God," that is a fact. Nobody can act anything... Then the question is why a man acts sinfully? Why...? Does God give sanction for sinful action? Yes. When one insists that "I shall do it." "All right, do it. And suffer the consequences."

General Lectures

Lecture -- Montreal, October 26, 1968:

Just like a child has committed some wrong and he comes to the father. The father sees that he has done something wrong. So the child confesses, "Yes, father, I have done it. Please excuse me." "All right. Excused." The father says, "Don't do it again." Second time, again he commits the same thing. The father or the teacher says, "Oh, again you have committed?" "Yes. Please excuse me. I shall not do it again." "All right. Excused." But if on the third time again he commits the sin, what the father and the teacher will do? He will slap him. Yes. Just to teach him, "Nonsense. I have warned you twice, thrice, and again you are doing that? No more excuse. Now punishment." This is natural. So if I go to God, if I go and confess, "Father, God, Supreme Father, I have done these sinful activities. I am confessing," "All right." The father excuses. If you make it a business, that "I shall do it and confess," then what will be the result? The result will be punishment. That is natural consequence. So people should come to the understanding that "These sinful activities I shall not do."

Subha Vilasa Home Engagement -- Toronto, June 19, 1976:

But Prabhupāda is accepting this uncomfortable situation simply to establish Kṛṣṇa consciousness throughout the world, at least to give people the opportunity that "Choose, if you like, between the internal potency and the external potency." The external potency means you're forced. We have no choice. We're forced to undergo repetition of birth and death. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). Nobody likes to grow old, but this youthful age, soon it will become old age. And nobody likes to die. So present-day civilization is blindly going on. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās: (SB 7.5.31) the blind leading the blind. People are thinking that "My parents did it. Their parents did it. Generations have done it. So also we engage blindly in materialistic way of life and everything will be okay." But the result is that everyone is simply suffering, and after this lifetime they also have to suffer the consequences of this present life's activities blindly, not knowing that they're responsible for their activities.

So we have a choice now whether to follow a representative of God, Kṛṣṇa, who can bring us to the internal potency of the Lord. This internal potency is not dry. It is the origin of bliss, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1).

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on David Hume:

Śyāmasundara: He says that there is no such thing as a cause-and-effect relationship. Just like, for example, we associate friction with heat, but he says that it's a mistake to assume that friction causes heat or possesses any power which must inevitably produce heat. He says that it is a mere repetition of two incidents, so that the effect habitually attends the cause, but it is not necessarily a consequence of it. So the fact that I rub my hands together and there is heat produced, I am used to assuming that the friction causes heat, but he says that it is not necessarily so. Whenever there is friction, there is heat, but that is only because they are associated with each other, not that one causes the other.

Prabhupāda: Then how are they associated?

Śyāmasundara: That one habitually attends the other, but not necessarily as a consequence of it.

Prabhupāda: But who made this law? As soon as they associate, immediately after friction there is heat. So there is a systematic law. The association may be accidental, but as soon as there is friction between the two associates, the law is there must be heat. So there is systematic law. Either you rub the hands, or I rub the hands, the law is that heat must be there, either in your hands or in my hands. That is law.

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Hayagrīva: Yes. He sees the material worlds as being isolated. He says, "There is then a bond between the worlds, but this bond may be regarded as infinitely loose in comparison with the mutual dependence which unites the parts of the same world among ourselves," excuse me, "which unites the parts of the same world among themselves. So that it is not artificially for reasons of mere convenience that we isolate our solar system. Nature itself invites us to isolate it." So this, this calls to mind the image of a prison house. The isolation of the world, as far as man is concerned, is isolation imposed by material nature on the conditioned.

Prabhupāda: He is isolated. He is thinking in the wrong way. Just like in the prison house every prisoner, every, every criminal is different from other criminal. So everyone has to suffer the consequence of his criminal activities, so every individual person is suffering or enjoying according to his past deeds. So there cannot be any combination. Then we forget the individuality. That is not possible.

Philosophy Discussion on Jeremy Bentham:

Śyāmasundara: Someone might raise the point, "Well, the man is hungry and he has no food, therefore in order to feel pleasure he must steal it and cause displeasure to someone else." But this Bentham says that there are four natural curves or preventions, preventative forces to keep people from egoistic over-indulgence. One is the physical consequences of over-indulgence. If I eat too much, I get sick. One is political, that I will be imprisoned if I transgress. I will be punished. One is moral, or popular opinion, the public will think badly of me if I over-indulge. And the fourth one is religious, that God will punish me if I am an evil-doer. These four preventions he says, keep us from over-indulging in pleasure.

Prabhupāda: But if there is some happiness, why there is no prevention. That is real happiness. There is no prevention, simply go on increasing.

Śyāmasundara: Indulging.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like Kṛṣṇa's happiness, there was no prevention. So that is real happiness. Prevention means material, limited. Just like drinking liquor. There is prevention also. There are no-alcoholic beer. You have seen the signboard? That is prevention.

Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey:

Śyāmasundara: Today we are discussing the American philosopher John Dewey. Last time we were discussing William James, who is called a pragmatist. His philosophy deals..., believes that practice is better than theory. So this John Dewey is more or less a successor in this same line of philosophizing. He says that practical consequences are the only valid test of truth, and he says that the proof of an idea consists in its being subject to predictable results. The idea is not true unless the results of the idea are predictable.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śyāmasundara: He is also...

Prabhupāda: That is practical. That is practical. No theoretical knowledge is necessary.

Śyāmasundara: But do the results of an idea have to be predictable?

Prabhupāda: Idea may..., if it is a concocted idea, the result cannot be ascertained. If it is fact, then the result can be predicted.

Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey:

Śyāmasundara: He says that "All ideas must be tested in the laboratory of educational experience, where they can be challenged, their consequences evaluated, and where they can be continuously modified or reconstructed."

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because you see how Arjuna was perfectly good man, because he was Kṛṣṇa conscious. He was not willing to kill his enemy. He was hesitating, "What is the use of taking this kingdom?" This is Kṛṣṇa conscious. Because the other side, they were not thinking, but Arjuna, because he is Kṛṣṇa's devotee, he was considering, "What is the use of taking this kingdom, by killing (indistinct)?" In other words, nobody can be perfect without Kṛṣṇa consciousness. No philosopher, no scientist, no sociologist can be perfect without Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Philosophy Discussion on Plotinus:

Prabhupāda: The supreme father is all-opulent, full of everything, and I am minute only. So if I live under the care of the father, naturally I will live very comfortably, like rich man's son. But if I prefer that I shall live independently, that is my foolishness. So only the fools and rascals they try to remain independent of Kṛṣṇa, and they suffer. That is the consequence. And those who are intelligent, even in the, this material life, by association of devotee and spiritual opportunities, when he comes to this understanding, that "I am son of Kṛṣṇa. He claims, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4), 'I am the father,' so I am the son of Kṛṣṇa, and why I am rotting in this way? Let me go back to my father," that is back to home, back to Godhead—that is intelligence.

Philosophy Discussion on Blaise Pascal:

Hayagrīva: Descartes was more in the jñānī tradition, and Pascal more in the bhakti tradition. He says, "Employ the rule of love not of intellect," and for Pascal, knowledge can only be attained by curbing the passions, submitting to God, and accepting the revelation of God. And he was also Christian. And he said "There is no happiness apart from religion."

Prabhupāda: Yes. We say the same thing, that without religion one is animal. Because the animal society there is no church, there is no religion, there is no discussion about God. So if the human society, as they are doing now, that they are denying discussion about God even in the schools and colleges, so it is the most degraded form of society, and the consequence is there: they are all suffering.

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

Hayagrīva: He ultimately believes in bringing people under control. He says, "If there is any purpose or direction in the evolution of a culture, it has to do with bringing people under the control of more and more of the consequences of their behavior."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Human life is meant for control. That is the Vedic process, tapasya, because the aim is spiritual perfection. If we allow material activities according to the desire of the people, then they forget spiritual identity altogether. So that aim of life in the human form of body is missing, that Vedic civilization is how to raise one to the spiritual platform. Otherwise he remains an animal. First of all we must know what is the aim of life, and then the question of organization. If you do not know what is the aim of life, material adjustment will not make the condition of the society very good. (break ?)

Page Title:Consequence (Lectures)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Ghanshyam
Created:20 of Nov, 2010
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=31, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:31