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Disappearance (Lectures)

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.13-17 -- Los Angeles, November 29, 1968:

Madhudviṣa: "Such a man is never deluded by the change of bodies by the living entity."

Prabhupāda: Yes. A man is crying, "Oh, my father is dead," or "My friend is dead, my..." so on, so on, crying. But one who is dhīra he knows, "What is this death? He has changed his body, so there is no question of lamentation." So how much spiritual education required to come to this point? Yes, go on.

Madhudviṣa: "O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of heat and cold, happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course are like the appearance of winter and summer season. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed."

Prabhupāda: Now the question is, "Yes, I understand that my grandfather is spirit soul and this body is material. Still, by nature I'll be unhappy if my grandfather is killed and my teacher is killed. I'll be unhappy." So Kṛṣṇa is instructing Arjuna that this kind of unhappiness, distress, is this world. You cannot avoid it. These are necessary distresses. The example He's giving that severe cold. In the winter season, in the month of January or some month, the winter is very severe, intolerable. Sometimes somewhere it is below 30 degrees zero. But what is to be done? The people in such part of the world who live... Just like in Canada it goes sometimes 30 degrees below zero. Does it mean that they'll close their offices and work and everything? No. Everything is going on as usual. One has to tolerate. That's all. In India also, in India and other parts of the eastern countries. Just like Arabia, Iraq or... During summertime, the temperature is 135. You cannot imagine 135. In India we have experienced temperature, I have experienced up to 118 degrees. Not always, unusually.

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- London, August 20, 1973:

Pradyumna: Translation: "O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed (BG 2.14)."

Prabhupāda: This is very important verse. In the previous verse it has been described, dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Actually we living entities, we are within the body. The bodily pains and pleasure are not the pains and pleasure of the soul within. It is simply abhiniveśa. It is called abhiniveśa, absorption or misidentify. The example I have given many times. Just like you are sitting in a nice motorcar; another man is sitting on a rickshaw. I have seen in India. So the rickshaw has come in front of the nice motorcar, and the driver is asking that man who is drawing the rickshaw, "You rickshaw!" Means he is thinking, he is sitting in a nice motorcar, so he has become a motor, and the man who is drawing the rickshaw, he has become rickshaw. This is the position.

Lecture on BG 4.1-6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1969:

Neither His body nor His intelligence ever deteriorates or changes. Therefore it is clear herein that in spite of His being in the material world, He is the same unborn, eternal form of bliss and knowledge, changeless in His transcendental body and intelligence. Factually His appearance and disappearance are like the sun rising, moving before us and then disappearing from our eyesight. When the sun is out of sight, we think that the sun is dead. And when the sun is before our eyes, we think that the sun is on the horizon. Actually the sun is always there. But owing to our defective, insufficient eyesight we must calculate the appearance and disappearance of the sun in the sky. And because His appearance and disappearance are completely different from that of any ordinary common living entity, it is evident that He is eternal in blissful knowledge by His internal potency, and He is not contaminated by material nature.

Lecture on BG 4.1-6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1969:

In the Bhāgavatam He appears before His mother as Nārāyaṇa with four hands and the decorations of the six kinds of full opulences. His appearance in His original eternal form is His causeless mercy, according to the Viśvakośa dictionary. The Lord is conscious of all His previous appearances and disappearances, but a common living entity forgets everything about his past body as soon as he gets another. He shows that He is the Lord of all living entities by performing wonderful and superhuman activities while on this earthly planet. The Lord is always the same Absolute Truth, and is without differentiation between His form and self, or between His quality and body. A question may now be raised as to why the Lord appears and disappears in this world at all. This is explained in the next verse."

Lecture on BG 4.3-6 -- New York, July 18, 1966:

Just like Kṛṣṇa's birth, Kṛṣṇa's appearance and disappearance, is just like the sun, is just like the sun. Now, sun, in the morning, you'll see that it, it appears as if it is born from the eastern horizon. It is not born. The sun is always in the sky. It is the position of the earth in which we understand that sun is now rising from the eastern horizon. He's neither rising, nor he's dipping into the sea. He is, the sun is as it is, in his position, but due to the position, changing position of this earth, we see that the sun is rising and sun is setting. Similarly, the Kṛṣṇa, when He comes as incarnation, He comes just like this, in the same way.

There is some historical, I mean to, calculation, when Kṛṣṇa comes on this earth. It is calculated that 864 crores of years after He comes once. Just like you can see the sun rising after twelve hours, after twenty-four hours. The morning sunrising takes place every twenty-four hours or the sunsetting also takes place every twenty-four hours. Similarly, there is also time limit. That is mentioned. When Kṛṣṇa comes. When Kṛṣṇa rises. He, He is rising... Just like sun, sunset and sunrising is going on every moment, every moment.

Lecture on BG 4.3-6 -- New York, July 18, 1966:

Similarly, if you inquire from Japan or any other country, the sun, the sun is somewhere in the meridian, sometimes it is, I mean to say, dead of night. So this timing difference is just like going on according to the position of the world movement. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's appearance and disappearance is like that. It is not that Kṛṣṇa is born and Kṛṣṇa is gone. No, it is not like that. Somewhere is Kṛṣṇa there. Just like the sun is somewhere. There are innumerable universes. The one universe, you see, oh, this is only one, but there are many. You'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā that ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42). Ekāṁśena sthito jagat. This material manifestation, with innumerable universes, is only a one part of manifestation of the Supreme Lord. Ekāṁśena sthito jagat. These descriptions are there in the Bhagavad-gītā.

So we should always remember that we are reading Bhagavad-gītā and we should understand it as it is. We should not make any interpretation. That is a wrong thing. And if there was some necessity of interpretation, we should not think that Kṛṣṇa left the matter for being interpreted by in later age by some scholar. Oh, He could have disclosed it Himself. He was quite competent. No. There is no question of interpretation.

Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

Now Kṛṣṇa is explaining to Arjuna the difference between a living entity and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is very distinct here that both you and Me had many, many, many other appearances and disappearances. "Birth and death," that is ordinary word. Actually, the word is "appearance and disappearance." Just like the sun. The sun sets and sun rise. This is our calculation. The sun is there always, twenty-four hours, but to our limited understanding, because we cannot see... Now just, this is sun-setting time. After setting of the sun the people on this part of the world, they will not see the sun. That does not mean that sun is not there. Sun is there, but this part of the world cannot see it, and that we say sunset.

Similarly, if this is possible for a material object... sun is nothing but a material object, lump of material matter, very powerful, predominantly fiery. That's all. Everything in the material world, they're made of five elements: ether, air, and fire, water, and earth. So in somewhere the earth is predominant, somewhere the air is predominant, somewhere the fire is predominant. So there are innumerable planets, and the sun is one of them. So this is also material object. If it is possible for the material object to disappear and appear within our limited senses, what to speak of God and His devotees.

Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

I have got also form, everyone has got form. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He is the supreme individual personality, and we are subordinate personalities. That is the difference. Otherwise, in quality, God, you and me, are all the same. That Kṛṣṇa says.

So far appearance and disappearance is concerned, Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa are on the same level. Bahūni me vyatītāni janmāni. "My dear Arjuna, I have many many appearance and disappearance in the past. Similarly, you had also many appearance and disappearances in the past. But the difference is, tāny ahaṁ veda. My appearance and disappearances, I remember everything, past, present, future, everything. Na tvaṁ vettha parantapa, but you do not." Now, we cannot remember what was, what I was in my past life. Neither I know what I am going to be in the next life. But there is. I was in the past, I am in the present, and I shall remain in the future. That is my position.

In the Second Chapter, it is said by Kṛṣṇa, "My dear Arjuna, both you and Me and all these kings and soldiers who are assembled here, do not think that they did not exist in the past, or they will cease to exist in the future.

Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

The difference between God and living entity is this, that God knows past, present, future, and I or you do not know past, present and future. That is the difference.

Tāny ahaṁ veda sarvāṇi. Sarvāṇi. There were millions and millions of births and appearances and disappearances in past. Because time is unlimited, nitya. There is no... The past, present, future, this is due to this body. Just like a small ant, it's calculation of past, present, and future, and my calculation of past, present, and future are different. Because he has got a different body, I have got a different body, the atom has got a different body. So it is according to the body, past, present, and future. But there is a life where there is no existence of this material body of past, present, and future. Therefore in the eternal world means there is no past, present and future. Because there is no, not this material body. This is the difference between past, present, and future. Therefore it is called nitya. Nitya means eternal, where there is no influence of this time. Here the influence of time is there. Therefore we experience past, present, and future.

Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

How I can believe that You told this truth to sun-god?" In answer to that question, Kṛṣṇa says that bahūni me vyatītāni janmāni tava cārjuna. "Both you and Me had many, many births, or appearance and disappearance, in the past. I remember all those things as it is, without any mistake. But you do not know." Eka evāham eko 'pi san bahudhā yo 'vabhati ity ādi śruty-uktāni nitya-siddhāni bahūni rūpāni vaiduryavad-ātmani dadhanaḥ pura rūpantareṇa taṁ pratyupadiṣṭavān iti bhavenaha bhagavān.(?)

Now we should not consider that because the difference between God and the living entities, that our different appearance and disappearance is different. Just like in this life I may be an Indian, you may be an American. But next life, we do not know what body we are going to get next life. Because in the material existence the body and the soul is different. But in the spiritual existence... Just like Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's body and Kṛṣṇa is nondifferent because it is completely spiritual. Our body, in the present condition... When we are free from this material condition, we also get. That is explained in the Bhagavad... mad-bhāva upaja(?). Mad-bhāva means "exactly like My body." When one is liberated from material conditions, then he also gets exactly the same sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1).

Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

Wherever there is sun, there is sunshine. But if you get sunshine in the morning, if you say, "Now the sunshine is created," that is a mistake. It is our misconception. The sun and the sunshine are always there. It is a question of appearance and disappearance, that's all. Everything expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Without any exception. Some of them are expansion of His material energy, some of them are expansion of His spiritual energy, some of them are expansion of His marginal energy. So everything expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). So because everything expansion of Kṛṣṇa's, therefore nothing but Kṛṣṇa. But still they are different. This is the whole basic principle of philosophy. Simultaneously one and different.

Lecture on BG 4.6 -- Bombay, March 26, 1974:

So Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, explaining the method of His appearance and disappearance. People do not know it. Just like the sun. Because we do not see at night, formerly some people used to think "The sun is now dead, or gone." But later on, by scientific method, they have come to know the sun is always in the sky. Due to our different position, we do not see the sun at night. Otherwise, the sun is there. This is... If this is possible for an ordinary material thing, how much it is greatly possible for the Supreme Spirit.

Therefore ajo 'pi san. Kṛṣṇa has no birth, no death. We have also no birth and death because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. We have no birth and death; that is explained already in the Second Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā: Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit...na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20).

So if the part and parcel particles, small atomic particle... We are atomic particle. Our magnitude is described in the śāstra, Padma Purāṇa and Upaniṣad also: keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatāṁśaḥ kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140).

Lecture on BG 4.6 -- Bombay, March 26, 1974:

That is the test, that He has already explained that He remembers. Therefore His appearance, disappearance, birth, is not ordinary. That is to be understood. Otherwise, how He can remember? We cannot remember. We do not know what we were in our last birth, or millions of years ago. Although we are also eternal. But we do not remember. Therefore there is difference between Kṛṣṇa's birth and our birth.

When Kṛṣṇa appeared as the son of Devakī and Vasudeva, He appeared before them as four-handed Nārāyaṇa. Kṛṣṇa did not come from the womb of Devakī. You have, most of you have read in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam His appearance. He appeared before them as four-handed Nārāyaṇa. Then Devakī prayed, "My Lord, You have come. Kaṁsa is now eager to kill You. As soon as..." As a mother, she's speaking simply the truth, that "Kaṁsa is now eager to kill You. As soon as He will see You four-handed, immediately he will kill You." Because as woman, and simple woman... The four-handed Nārāyaṇa cannot be killed, but she was thinking that "Because You, now You have appeared as Nārāyaṇa, four-handed, You'll be immediately killed. Kindly become two-handed." So immediately Kṛṣṇa became two-handed.

Lecture on BG 4.7-10 -- Los Angeles, January 6, 1969:

Then what kind of God He is? Yes. God can come personally out of His compassion. That is possible. Yes. And He comes. He says here in this verse that "I come." But it is not that somebody will imitate and he will say that "I am God." No. That also not. You have to test actually. That test, if you have got, if you are conversant with the principles of God appearance, disappearance, incarnation, then you can understand who is a pretender and who is actually representative of God, by action.

There are... Just like Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead by His actions, wonderful actions, not that He pretended and cheated some people that "I am God." Actually, from the beginning of His appearance, He played, I mean to say, uncommon activities. Just like at the age of seven years old He lifted the Govardhana Hill. There are so many instances. If you read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, life of Kṛṣṇa in the Tenth Canto, there is description. And in the Battle of Kurukṣetra, the Bhagavad-gītā. So by His activities, by His knowledge, by His opulence—everything is there. Nobody is supposed to be cheated by a pretender if he is actually intelligent. Go on.

Lecture on BG 4.7-10 -- Los Angeles, January 6, 1969:

This is very nice. If one can understand the principles of appearance and disappearance of God, His activities, so simply by understanding these principles he will be liberated. It is said here that after quitting this body, he is no more coming to take birth again in this material world. So just like a layman does not know how the sun appears and disappears, but an astronomer, he knows very well the movements of the sun, moon, and other planets' appearance and disappearance. This is a science, astronomy. Similarly, there is a science of God by which you can understand how God appears, disappears, how He acts, how He works. Everything is there, but if you are not interested that does not mean that the science of God is false or there is no such science. There is. You must be interested to know; then you can understand. And if you simply understand this science, then you become liberated. It is open order. Simply by understanding, even not engaging yourself in transcendental service of the Lord, simply by understanding the process of appearance and disappearance. So why don't you try that? Go on. Purport.

Lecture on BG 4.9 -- Montreal, June 19, 1968:

Kṛṣṇa is explaining how one can very easily enter into the spiritual world, or the kingdom of God. The simple formula is that anyone who understands the appearance, disappearance, activities of the Lord as divyam, transcendental, with perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth... Simply by this understanding one can immediately enter into the spiritual kingdom.

To know the Absolute Truth is not possible by our present senses. That is also another fact. Because at the present moment we have got materially affected... Not material senses. Our sense are originally spiritual, but it is covered by material contamination. Therefore the process is to purify, to purify the coverings of our material existence. And that is also recommended—simply by service attitude. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ (Brs. 1.2.234). The whole thing depends on our surrendering process and engage ourselves in the service of the Lord. Then gradually, the Lord reveals to the devotee. That is the process.

So what is the birth of the Lord? There is no question of birth of the Lord or of the living entities. This subject matter we have already discussed in the last meeting, that the Lord and the living entities, both are eternal. There is no question of birth and death.

Lecture on BG 4.9 -- Montreal, June 19, 1968:

The same example, just like the sun. Sun setting and sun rising. (someone adjusting tape recorder—long pause) Sun set and sun rise, it is simply adjustment of our own position. Actually, there is no sun set, there is no sun rise. The same example is applicable to our appearance and disappearance, as well as God's appearance and disappearance. We are eternal. We are eternally existing, but appearance means this body, appearance of this body.

The difference between the appearance of God and appearance of myself is that I appear in different bodies as it is offered by the material nature according to my karma; God appears in His own original body. That is the difference. And because God appears in His own original body, therefore He is not forgetful of the past, present and future. And so far we are concerned, because we appear in different material bodies, therefore we forget our past, present and future. This is the difference. And in this verse it is specifically mentioned here that janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9). Divyam means divine, spiritual, transcendental. Our appearance and disappearance is different from the Lord's appearance and disappearance.

One has to learn the subject matter. And how it can be learned?

Lecture on BG 4.9 -- Montreal, June 19, 1968:

Everything understanding of Lord, that is revelation. By our experimental knowledge, we cannot understand what is God. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). Our senses are now materially contaminated; therefore we cannot understand what is God, what is His appearance, what is His disappearance. This is not possible. The whole thing is to accept the purificatory process of the senses. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170).

One has to become purified by freeing himself from all designations. This is the first step. We are now under different designations. Every one of us is thinking that "I am this body, and because I am this body and this body is produced under certain condition, in a certain family, by certain father and mother, in a certain society, certain country, certain land, therefore I have got, you have got so many designations." But we have to become first of all free from the designations. That is the first qualification for understanding the science of God. We have to become free from all designations.

Lecture on BG 4.9-11 -- New York, July 25, 1966:

Lord Kṛṣṇa says that "The process of My birth and the process of My activities, they are all transcendental." And anyone who can understand the transcendental activities, appearance, disappearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then the result is that tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). The result is that anyone who understands these transcendental activities of the Supreme Lord, tattvataḥ, in truth, the result is that he becomes a liberated person.

Tyaktvā deham. Tyaktvā means by quitting, by giving up this present material body he at once is transferred to the spiritual world. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). He does not require to come back here in this material world to have this material body. He at once develops his own spiritual body just like Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. Simply by understanding the transcendental activities and the appearance and disappearance, he becomes fully spiritualized, and the result is that he at once... He does not get. The spiritual body is already existing. I am spirit; I have got my spiritual body, but that body is now covered by this matter.

Lecture on BG 4.9-11 -- New York, July 25, 1966:

Therefore if we want to understand Bhagavad-gītā, then we have to understand as Arjuna understood it. That is the process.

So here the Lord says that janma karma me divyam: (BG 4.9) "My appearance and disappearance..." Mark this word, "appearance and disappearance." "Birth and death" is not applicable to Lord. "Birth and death" is applicable to this material body. The material body has its birth, and the material body has its death, dissolution. But the spiritual body is eternal. It has neither death nor birth. Therefore the spiritual body—the exact language to be used, "appearance and disappearance."

I have several times spoken in this meeting. Just like the sun. The sun disappears and appears. For the sun there is no question of birth and death because sun is eternal. So anything eternal... So when the Lord comes it is just like the sun appear and sun disappears. It does not mean because we do not see Kṛṣṇa just now in our presence... Of course, in transcendental sense, when we acquire that transcendental sense, we see Kṛṣṇa through this Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā is Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 4.9-11 -- New York, July 25, 1966:

Therefore it is stated here that "My appearance, disappearance and activity and glories, they are divyam." Divyam means transcendental. They do not belong to this world of duality. This world is of duality. But transcendental means that it is above, above this dualism. It is the absolute world. So anyone who understands this fact, that Kṛṣṇa is not different from this sound Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is not different from this Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa is not different from anything which is connected with Kṛṣṇa... These things are to be understood.

The whole world is the representation of the energy—that you will learn in the Seventh Chapter—is the manifestation of the energy of Kṛṣṇa. And it has been described. There are two kinds of energies: the lower energy and the higher energy. And the higher energy is the living entities. Just like we are. We living entities, we belong to the higher nature of the Supreme Lord. Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). This world is moving, this world is made of lower nature, material, and the higher nature is the living entity. So anything which is connected with Kṛṣṇa, it becomes to the higher nature. Even in this material things, if it is dovetailed with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then it turns into higher nature.

Lecture on BG 4.9-11 -- New York, July 25, 1966:

We should always, whatever we hear from here, from this place, we should try to understand clearly without any doubt.

Just like Lord Kṛṣṇa says here, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9), that anyone who understands Kṛṣṇa's appearance, disappearance and activities, all these transcendental things, he goes back to the kingdom of Godhead after leaving this body. Now this fact should be clearly understood. So I am trying to make you understand it clearly, how it can be possible. This is possible in this way, that you have to think of Kṛṣṇa always, "How is that that Kṛṣṇa appears in His transcendental body and how He disappears?" So everything, scrutinizingly we have to understand.

In the Bhagavad-gītā you will find tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā (BG 4.34). One has to learn all these things from the person who is in the knowledge of these things. It is not that simply by purchasing one Bhagavad-gītā we understand everything. No. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā. You have to approach a person who is in the knowledge of the thing. Without this, you cannot understand. It is recommended; it is essential.

Lecture on BG 4.9-11 -- New York, July 25, 1966:

This is the very easiest process, that how, what are the activities, how Kṛṣṇa appears, how Kṛṣṇa disappears, what are the nature of Kṛṣṇa's activities. So we must try to understand these things.

So janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). And this inquisitiveness, the appearance and disappearance of Kṛṣṇa, and His activities, this inquisitiveness, is transcendental enquiries. So we must know it from persons who are in the knowledge. And that way we shall be able to put ourself constantly in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and the result will be that tyaktvā deham, by quitting this body we shall be at once transferred to the transcendental world. This is the process.

Now, in the next śloka Kṛṣṇa says that

vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā
man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ
bahavo jñāna-tapasā
pūtā mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ
(BG 4.10)

Kṛṣṇa says that "Arjuna, in the past there were many sages who," vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhāḥ, "after surpassing three stages of existence, when they came to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they were liberated." Vita-rāga-bhaya-krodhāḥ. Now, what is this rāga? Rāga-bhaya-krodhāḥ. Rāga means attachment, attachment. And vīta-rāga-bhaya. Bhaya means fear, and krodha means anger. So these three stages are there in our life.

Lecture on BG 4.11-18 -- Los Angeles, January 8, 1969:

You have to adopt the process. Ādau śraddhā. If you are inquisitive to understand that is your first stage of faith. That is called śraddhā. Ādau śraddhā. In the beginning your inquisitiveness that "I want to understand," that is faith. Then next stage is association of persons who know, sādhu-saṅga (CC Madhya 22.83). Then initiation. Then disappearance of all misgivings. Then steady faith. Then attachment. And then ecstasy. Then realization. These are stages.

So if you are anxious to know then please come to our classes. We are discussing simply this subject matter so you'll kindly, if you kindly come, gradually you'll be able to understand. It is not very difficult. All my students, they are all American boys and girls. I have not brought with me any Indian or Hindu but they are understanding. Just talk with them. They will be able to explain how they are understanding. So similarly you will also be able to understand. It is not very difficult subject. But you must be sincere to understand. That is the only qualification required. That's all. Yes?

Lecture on BG 4.14 -- Bombay, April 3, 1974:

He comes in His original body. Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). Yuge yuge sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). So Kṛṣṇa comes to save us and gives us His instruction so that after His disappearance from this world, people will take advantage of His instruction and make his life perfect. This is Bhagavad-gītā.

But if we misuse our intelligence and do not take advice from Kṛṣṇa and manufacture so many plans for prosperity, that will all fail. Moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo mogha-jñānā vicetasaḥ (BG 9.12). That is moghāśā. Mogha means frustrated. They will be frustrated. Moghāśā. Anyone who does not take the direction of Kṛṣṇa, then whatever he is hoping, that will be frustrated. Moghāśā mogha-karmāṇaḥ. And whatever he is planning, "I will do like this, he will do like that," that will not stay. Because the māyā is there. Daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā. Māyā will kill all your plans. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). And if you follow Kṛṣṇa and do accordingly, then you will not be frustrated. Your life will be successful. This is the philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Los Angeles, March 12, 1970:

In the Fourth Chapter it is said that "My appearance, disappearance, and activities are all transcendental. Anyone who can understand this transcendental nature of My activities, appearance, disappearance, the result is," tyaktvā deham, "after leaving this body," punar janma naiti, "he does not take birth again in this material world." That is stated in the Fourth Chapter. That means immediately liberation achieved. This is a fact. This is Bhagavad-gītā study, not that to interpret in your own way. Bhagavad-gītā says like that. Therefore we present Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without any nonsense interpretation. There cannot be any chance of nonsense interpretation. You have to take fact as it is; then you study. But they are not inclined to study Bhagavad-gītā as it is. They want to study Bhagavad-gītā as they are. So how you can study Bhagavad-gītā? Your mentality, your situation, is completely different.

So according to his own nature... That is also explained, that everyone creates his God, religion, according to his own nature. There are three kinds of men: goodness, passion, and ignorance. So those who are in the modes of ignorance, they create their own religion of ignorance; those who are in the passion, they create a kind of religion of passion; and those who are in the modes of goodness, they create their own. But this system, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is transcendental.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- San Francisco, September 11, 1968:

Gargamuni: It says in the Gītā when Kṛṣṇa... He comes to achieve a certain mission and then He leaves. In the Bhāgavatam it says that at the disappearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa everything fell down, everyone was dejected, and Arjuna was crying, in such... Well, if He comes to achieve a certain mission and then when He leaves it all falls down again...

Prabhupāda: Not immediately. Just like here the nature is working in that way. You build a very nice house. Gradually, the nature's course is it will become old and you'll fall down. This is the way of nature here. You cannot keep anything fresh always. So, so long Kṛṣṇa or God is present, or His representative is present, the affairs of the world go very nicely. But as soon as they disappear again the same system begins, dwindling. Begins... By the power... Just like so long the sun is there, there is no darkness, but as soon as the sun is away from your sight, at once the darkness comes. Because the whole atmosphere is darkness. It is by artificial means or by arrangement of God we are keeping it light. This room, if at once the electric fails, oh, it will be dark, because its nature is darkness. Its nature is darkness. Therefore Vedas say, "Don't keep yourself in this darkness. Just get out of this. Come to the light." Tamasi ma jyotir gama. Just come to the light.

Lecture on BG 7.8 -- Bombay, February 23, 1974:

In this way, if you practice, and if you chant also Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, and if you hear from realized souls about Kṛṣṇa, then you gradually become advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And when you come to perfection... Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. This Kṛṣṇa's appearance, disappearance, His activities, will be revealed to you. Svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. When Kṛṣṇa becomes manifest, revelation, then you understand what is Kṛṣṇa, what is His activities, what is His name, what is His pastimes. Everything becomes revealed. Then you can understand perfectly. Not... We cannot understand perfectly, but so far our ability is concerned, we can understand Kṛṣṇa. And if we a little bit understand Kṛṣṇa, then our life is successful. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). Simply by little understanding Kṛṣṇa. What is that? Now, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar... That is the highest perfection. After giving up this body... Ordinarily, we give up this body and we accept another. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13).

Lecture on BG 7.11-13 -- Bombay, April 5, 1971:

The whole world is captivated by these three qualities of material nature. The difference is that Kṛṣṇa comes also within this material world, and the ordinary living entities, they also come within this material world. As Kṛṣṇa says in the Fourth Chapter, "Arjuna, both you and Me had many, many births, but you have forgotten. I have not forgotten." This forgetfulness is under the influence of tamo-guṇa. So although Kṛṣṇa takes birth, many, many times He appears, janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9), but such appearance and disappearance are divyam, transcendental. They are not ordinary. And if we accept Kṛṣṇa's birth or Kṛṣṇa's appearance and disappearance like us, then we are mistaken. Then mohitam.

Lecture on BG 9.7-10 -- New York, November 25, 1966:

So we have to take instruction from them if we want to know the science of God. And here Lord Kṛṣṇa, He personally is saying. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). The Supreme Personality of Godhead, He has come before you. This Bhagavad-gītā is also His representation. Now, we are speaking of Bhagavad-gītā after five thousand years of Kṛṣṇa's disappearance, but because God is absolute, therefore these words left by God is also God. Whatever we are hearing just now, you should consider that we are hearing directly from Kṛṣṇa. Whatever I am speaking, I am not speaking something manufactured by me. I am speaking the simple words that is left by the merciful Lord in this Bhagavad-gītā. I am speaking to that. He says, mayādhyakṣeṇa (BG 9.10). Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram. Adhyakṣa means superintendence. "Under My superintendence..." Prakṛti means this material nature. Sūyate, sūyate means producing. What she is producing. She is producing carācara. Cara acara. Cara means which is moving, just like we are moving. We have got life. And acara, there are many things acara, that does not move. So two things are there, cara and acara, moving and not moving. And above this, there is God, who is controlling both this cara and acara.

Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Hyderabad, April 19, 1974:

So why does He comes, that is also described. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8), yuge yuge sambhavāmi. So the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa descends to give us knowledge like Bhagavad-gītā, personally speaking, so that even after disappearance of Kṛṣṇa, you can take advantage of Bhagavad-gītā and, as Arjuna is asking personally, so similarly, all Your question, not only religious...

Of course, when there is something, talks about God, it is taken as religious. So religious, the meaning of religion in the English dictionary is different from what we mean by religion, that in the dictionary it is said, "Religion is a kind of faith." Faith may be wrong or right, but religion cannot be wrong or right. Religion must be correct. That is the meaning of religion. the example is that the sugar is sweet. It is not the question of wrong or right. Sugar must be always sweet. You cannot change it. That is religion. Chili is hot. That is correct. Chili cannot be sweet, and sugar cannot be hot. So religion means that. Religion described in the Vedic śāstras is said, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam: (SB 6.3.19) "Dharma means..." The plain description of religion is "the code, or the laws, given by God." Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19).

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- London, August 6, 1971:

These things are to be understood. And if we can understand Kṛṣṇa, janma karma me divyam... (BG 4.9). These are all transcendental knowledge. They are not ordinary knowledge. Divyam, transcendental. His appearance, His disappearance, His work, His activity, His pastimes, they are all transcendental. So anyone who can try to understand Kṛṣṇa in His transcendental position beyond creation, beyond creation... Even Śaṅkarācārya, the impersonalist, he says nārāyaṇa paraḥ avyaktāt: "Nārāyaṇa is beyond this material creation." Avyakta. Avyakta means there is a total stock of material elements beyond this universe. There are so many things to be learned. This universe we see just like a ball, and this ball is covered by layers of water, fire, air, earth, like that. Circling. And each layer is ten times bigger than the previous layer. In this way the universe is covered. And beyond that covering, there is another sky. We are prisoned here within this universe. We are thinking that we are very free to move in the sky with, what is called, sputniks. But you cannot go beyond your limitation. That is not possible. They are going to the moon planet, again coming back. You see. That is our conditional life, that you are conditioned, packed up under certain regulations. If you violate, then you are punishable.

Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Montreal, August 2, 1968:

"Kṛṣṇa appeared for reestablishing the religious principles, but after His disappearance, who has taken charge for this department?" That was their question. So Sūta Gosvāmī is congratulating them, that "This question is very auspicious," loka-maṅgalam. Loka means this world, and maṅgalam means auspicious. So first of all he is explaining what is dharma. Dharma is translated in English as "religion," but actually, it does not convey the real import of dharma. As I have many times explained in these meetings, that dharma means some particular characteristic which you cannot change. That is called dharma. Dharma does not mean a particular type of faith. Faith is different thing. Faith is followed blindly or by social custom or something else. Faith is different. But dharma, either you change social custom, country, time, space, it cannot be changed. That is dharma.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- London, August 26, 1971:

The last verse He says that āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām adarśanān marma-hatāṁ karotu vā (CC Antya 20.47). Now lover and beloved, one is anxious to see the other. If the lover sees the beloved, he becomes happy. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that "If You make Me unhappy for many thousands of years by Your disappearance, but by not being present before Me, I don't mind." Just see. "I don't mind." Āśliṣya: "You either embrace Me, or You trample Me down with Your feet, You are at liberty, whatever You like." Lampaṭa. Lampaṭa, just like a debauched husband sometimes entreats the good wife and the good wife tolerates. There are many instances, such thing, India still, but that is diminishing. Of course, if we say so many stories, it will take... But there are many examples. I have got personal experience of my youngest sister, you see. She is dead and gone. Her husband was a first-class debauchee. (break) ...she could understand, after her marriage. But she was so tolerant that when I used to go to her house, I used to enquire about my brother-in-law and she would reply, "Oh, he has gone just now out." She would never say that her husband never comes home.

Lecture on SB 1.2.26 -- Vrndavana, November 6, 1972:

They do not know what is the objective of life, what for the human life is meant. They do not know. I was just talking with Guru dāsa. Sometimes in the year 1950 or '51 I went to Jhansi, and it happened so that the..., the friend in whose house I was staying, he was a leader, and there was a meeting for Gandhi's disappearance day. So I was asked to speak. At that time I was not sannyāsī. I was asked to speak something on nonviolence. So I explained that violence means if you have got some right and if somebody by force stops you to utilize your right, that is violence. That is violence. I have got some right to take something, so, or enter in some room, and, if somebody checks me by force, that "You cannot enter," that is violence and it is criminal.

So our land of Bhāratavarṣa, it is not ordinary thing to take birth in Bhāratavarṣa. Just see, practically, how many men, they are automatically circumambulating this temple. Even a common man. So in this way, if you study, by nature, they are God conscious, in Bhāratavarṣa. By nature.

Lecture on SB 1.3.23 -- Los Angeles, September 28, 1972:

If anyone understands, tattvataḥ, in truth, then the result is tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), then such person, after giving up this body, he does not take any more a material body. Punar janma naiti mām eti. "He comes to Me." That is success of life. If you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa, the, His transcendental appearance, disappearance, activities, if you try to understand, then your life is success. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We are trying to make people understand what is Kṛṣṇa. Simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa, he will become liberated from this material bondage. Actually, every one of us trying to get out of some kind of bondage. We feel that "I am bound up under certain circumstances, so I must get out." This is called ātyantika-duḥkha-nivṛtti.

Duḥkha-nivṛtti means avoiding painful situation. So everyone is trying to avoid painful situation. That's a fact. We are struggling. I have got income, say two hundred dollars, so that is not sufficient for me.

Lecture on SB 1.8.29 -- Los Angeles, April 21, 1973:

He's already delivered from the material clutches. But to satisfy him, Kṛṣṇa is always...

Just like a devotee wants to satisfy the Lord in all respects, similarly more than the devotee, the Lord wants to satisfy the devotee. This is the exchange of loving affairs. Just like in your, in our ordinary dealings also, if you love somebody, you want to satisfy him or her. Similarly, she or he also wants to reciprocate. So if that reciprocation of loving affairs is there in this material world, how much it is greatly elevated in the spiritual world? So there is a verse that: "Sādhu is My heart, and I am also the sādhu's heart." The sādhu is always thinking of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa is always thinking of His devotee, sādhu.

So the appearance and disappearance of Lord within this material world, that is called cikīrṣitam. What is the word meaning of cikīrṣitam?

Lecture on SB 1.8.29 -- Los Angeles, April 21, 1973:

So we are equal. We are equal. I am also governor."

The rascal thinks like that. "Because Kṛṣṇa has come, descended, avatāra, so I am also avatāra." This rascaldom is going on. So here it is said: na veda kaścid bhagavaṁś cikīrṣitam. "Nobody knows what is the purpose of Your appearance and disappearance. Nobody knows." So tava, tava īhamānasya nṛṇāṁ viḍambanam. It is bewildering. Nobody can understand what is the real purpose. The real purpose is His free will. "Let Me go and see." He doesn't require to come to kill the demons. There are so many agents that if there is a strong wind, thousands of demons can be killed in a moment. So Kṛṣṇa does not require to come to kill the demons. And He does not require also to come to give protection to the devotee. By His simply will, everything is there. But He takes a pleasure pastime, "Let Me go and see."

Sometimes He wants to fight. Because the fighting spirit is also there in Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, where we get? Because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, all the qualities of Kṛṣṇa in minute quantity, they are within us. We are sample of Kṛṣṇa, but the, wherefrom we get this fighting spirit? The fighting spirit is there in Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 1.8.29 -- Los Angeles, April 21, 1973:

At the same time, to teach us that becoming enemy, enemy of Kṛṣṇa is not very profitable. Better become friend. That will be profitable. Therefore it is said that: na veda kaścid bhagavaṁś cikīrṣitam. "Nobody knows what is the purpose of Your appearance and disappearance." Tava īhamānasya nṛṇāṁ viḍambanam. "You are in this world just like ordinary human being. This is bewildering." Therefore ordinary man cannot believe. "How God can become ordinary person like...?" Kṛṣṇa is playing. Although He was not playing ordinary person. He was playing as God. Wherever there was necessity...

Just like He married 16,000 wives. When He married He was one, and 16,000 girls offered the surrender to Kṛṣṇa that: "We are now kidnapped. If we go home, nobody will marry us." That is a strict Vedic system. If an unmarried girls goes out of home even for one night, nobody will marry her. Still it is going on. Nobody will marry her. So this is the old system. All the 16,000 girls who were kidnapped by Bhaumāsura... So they prayed to Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa came, killed the Bhaumāsura, delivered all the girls.

Lecture on SB 1.8.30 -- Los Angeles, April 22, 1973:

So similarly there is the supreme vital force. Supreme vital force is Kṛṣṇa or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore where is the question of His taking birth, appearance and disappearance? In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said: janma karma ca me divyam (BG 4.9). Divyam means it is spiritual. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. Aja means unborn. Avyayātmā, without any destruction. So Kṛṣṇa is existing as in the beginning of this stotra, Kuntīdevī addressed Kṛṣṇa that: "You are within, You are without, still invisible." Kṛṣṇa is within, without. That we have explained. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ (BG 15.15). Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone's heart. Therefore He is within everything. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). He, He is within the atom even. And without also.

Lecture on SB 1.8.30 -- Los Angeles, April 22, 1973:

Sometimes He comes Himself. Sometimes He leaves instructions like Bhagavad-gītā. The whole propaganda is going on. Therefore it is said here: tiryaṅ nṛ, tiryaṅ nṛ ṛṣiṣu. Everywhere Kṛṣṇa's incarnation is there. Yādaḥsu. Aquatics also.

Just like Kṛṣṇa appeared as the Fish Incarnation. Tad atyanta-viḍambanam (SB 1.8.30). So Kṛṣṇa's disappearance and appearance, His taking birth, these are all bewildering. It is not that... We are forced to take birth. We are, we are , we living entities, conditioned souls, we are transmigrating from one body to another, being forced by the laws of nature. But Kṛṣṇa does not appear by being forced by the laws of nature. That is the difference. Therefore those who are foolish rascals, they think that: "I have taken my birth in this world and Kṛṣṇa has also taken. Therefore I am also God." They, they do not know that you have to take birth by the force of laws of nature. You have been given the chance of very nice body, beautiful body, as American boys and girls, educated, with opulence. If you misuse it, then you are going to get another body according to your mentality.

Lecture on SB 1.8.30 -- Los Angeles, April 22, 1973:

"All right sir, you become a hog." Nature's arrangement is like... Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ. Prakṛti, nature has got three modes of nature, and as soon as you associate with one type of modes, you get the next body according to that.

So therefore Kṛṣṇa's, this plan of appearance and disappearance, they are to be very greatly understood. Not that whimsically Kṛṣṇa has come. He has got a great plan. Otherwise why He should come here? He is very much eager to take you back to home, back to Godhead. That is Kṛṣṇa's business. Therefore He says:

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
(BG 18.66)

He is giving assurance. "My dear..." Everyone of us, we are children of Kṛṣṇa, God. So He is more unhappy. Because we are unhappy on account of this material body, we are undergoing repetition of birth, death, old age and disease.

Lecture on SB 1.8.38 -- Los Angeles, April 30, 1973:

When one is living, a big man, nobody can go before him or touch him—there are so many guards. But the same man, when he's dead, if he's lying on the floor, if somebody kicks on his face, nobody cares, finished.

So we should understand this. That after the disappearance of the body, soul, this so-called big name, big fame, important body, has no value. And what is that soul? That soul is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore we are energy of Kṛṣṇa. So when the energy is withdrawn or Kṛṣṇa is not there, the energy... Kṛṣṇa's energy and Kṛṣṇa is no difference. Śakti-śaktimator abhedaḥ. Just like the sun. The sun is the śaktimān, energetic, and the sunshine is the energy. So, so long the sunshine is there, the sun is there. There is no difficulty. When the sun is not there, the sun's energy's also not there. Similarly Kṛṣṇa, so long Kṛṣṇa is within us, within this body... Kṛṣṇa's energy... There are... Two things are always. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they do not accept the energy. Simply they accept the energetic impersonal. No. We must accept the energy and the energetic, both. Śakti-pariṇāma. Śakti, śakti means energy. By the energy everything is going on.

Lecture on SB 1.15.33 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1973:

Pradyumna: Translation: "Kuntī, after overhearing Arjuna's telling of the end of the Yadu dynasty and disappearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa, engaged in the devotional service of the transcendental Personality of Godhead with full attention and thus gained release from the course of material existence." (SB 1.15.33)

Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa has got two kinds of existence: prakaṭa and aprakaṭa. Prakaṭa means when you see Kṛṣṇa personally. When Kṛṣṇa is present on this planet, everyone can see Kṛṣṇa. And actually, everyone saw. But only the devotees could understand that "Here is the Supreme Personality of Godhead." So that is called prakaṭa, "physically present." And there is another phase, which is called aprakaṭa, "not physically present." But that does not mean Kṛṣṇa is dead or God is dead. That does not mean. Prakaṭa or aprakaṭa, physically present or not present, it doesn't matter.

Lecture on SB 1.16.23 -- Hawaii, January 19, 1974:

So here Kṛṣṇa came, and this incident took place after disappearance of Kṛṣṇa. Kali-yuga entered after disappearance of Kṛṣṇa. Parīkṣit Mahārāja was also very vigilant. The Pāṇḍavas, they left their kingdom because they could understand that Kali-yuga has already entered. So bhūri-bharāvatāra-kṛtāvatārasya. Bhūri-bhara, when people become too much sinful, the earth becomes overburdened by the sinful activities of the people. Therefore it is called bhūri-bharavatāra. And Kṛṣṇa comes to mitigate. Dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham. Kṛtāvatārasya harer dharitri. This is the purpose of avatāra. Avatāra, this word is very significant. The tara, tara means movement; and ava, ava means down. Just like avanati. So avatāra. Kṛṣṇa lives in the spiritual sky, beyond this material sky, very high, and Kṛṣṇa-loka, the planet of Kṛṣṇa, is the topmost planet in the spiritual world. That is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā, goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya (Bs. 5.43). The topmost planet is Goloka, Goloka Vṛndāvana planet. You have seen the picture. It is lotuslike. So goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni: "That is His personal abode."

Lecture on SB 1.16.25 -- Hawaii, January 21, 1974:

Ātyantika-duḥkha-nivṛtti. Ātyantika means ultimate, and duḥkha means unhappiness. Ātyantika-duḥkha-nivṛtti. Nivṛtti means finish. So people do not see what is that ātyantika-duḥkha-nivṛtti, what is that ultimate disappearance of unhappiness. That they do not know. So many things they do not know. Therefore it requires education. Education means knowledge, to get knowledge. And the Vedic direction is that if you want really knowledge, then tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet: (MU 1.2.12) "One has to go to the guru, or the spiritual master." Gurum eva abhigacchet. One must go. There is no alternative. Nobody can say that "Without going to the guru we can become happy." That is not possible, according to Vedic principle. Even Caitanya Mahāprabhu, although He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He accepted guru. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality, He accepted guru. So that is our Vedic principle. The beginning of Bhagavad-gītā it is said, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). Imaṁ rājarṣi. Rājarṣi means great saintly kings. They also accepted a predecessor guru.

Lecture on SB 2.3.20 -- Bombay, March 24, 1977, At Cross Maidan Pandal:

So we have to understand Kṛṣṇa tattvataḥ, as He is. This tattvataḥ word has been used in several places in Bhagavad-gītā. Janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). Here is one tattvataḥ. Kṛṣṇa's appearance and disappearance is not ordinary thing. Yo jānāti tattvataḥ: "Anyone who understands in truth..." So what is the result? Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). Immediately becomes liberated. Immediately he becomes eligible not to accept any more this material body. Tyaktvā deham. Everyone has to give up this body, material body. You cannot remain permanently Indian or this party or that party. You have to change your body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). So why should you waste your time in this way, that "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am horse," "I am cat," "I am dog"? There is no difference. If a dog is thinking that "I am dog," and if I am thinking "I am Indian," where is the difference? The mentality is the same: I'm identifying with the body.

Lecture on SB 3.26.25 -- Bombay, January 2, 1975:

Ananta. You will find the picture of Nārāyaṇa lying down on Ananta-śayana(?). That Ananta caturdaśī-vrata. As there is Nṛsiṁha caturdaśī... A Vaiṣṇava, they have got different functions of appearance and disappearance days of Vaiṣṇava and Viṣṇu. Āvirbhāva, tirobhāva. Just the rising sun and the setting sun. When the sun sets, it does not mean the sun is finished. Of course, some of the former theosophists and scientists, they used to think that this is..., at night the sun is dead. That is not fact. The sun is not visible to our limited eyes. Similarly, appearance and disappearance of incarnation of Godhead is like that. They are going on just like the, a horse is running in due course, but when it comes in front of your door or window, you can see. But that does not mean the running of horse is stopped when you cannot see. Similarly, these incarnation of Godhead, ananta, unlimited, they are from this sahasra-śirasam Ananta, Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu.

There are description in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. It is not possible to describe all the incarnation, how they are being manifest. But they are recorded in Vedic literature and especially in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

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

Sun is already there in the sky. It may not be in Australia's vision, but it may be in other country's vision. The sun is not dead. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa appears by rotation in this universe after so many years, eight billion and billion years. So next He goes to another universe. Just like the sun, after disappearance from Australia, it goes to another country. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, after finishing His business in this universe, He goes to another universe. In this way the rotation takes eight million, nine billion years. Just imagine how many universes are there. He stays in one universe for 125 years. Everything is there, calculation, in the śāstra. Now we can imagine how many universes are there. That is, altogether, material world. That is stated in the.

Lecture on SB 6.1.6-8 -- New York, July 21, 1971:

"If anyone understands about My appearance and disappearance and activities in truth, not superficially, in truth..." Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. Tattvataḥ means truth, not superficially, ephemerally. Actually. What he gains? He gains that tyaktvā deham, after giving up this body... Because we have to give up this body, every one of us. We are giving up body every moment. So the last phase of giving up this body is called death. Kṛṣṇa says, tyaktvā deham... After giving up this body, punar janma naiti, he does not accept any more a material body. Why? Mām eti. Because he returns back to Kṛṣṇa. When you have to go to Kṛṣṇa, then you have to prepare your body, spiritual body. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If your keep yourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then gradually you make, you prepare your next body, spiritual body, which carries you immediately to Kṛṣṇa-loka, and you become happy and live there perpetually, blissfully.

Lecture on SB 6.1.14 -- Bombay, November 10, 1970:

He is giving another example, nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ. Fog, when there is big fog that you cannot see in front of you anyone, but as soon as there is sunlight the fog immediately disappears. Similarly, agham dhunvanti. Kecit kevalaya bhaktya vasudeva parayanaḥ (SB 6.1.15). Simply by becoming devotee of Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva, one can immediately vanquish all sinful reaction. Just like the sun causes disappearance of the fog without any extra effort. You take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness sincerely, seriously, then all the past reaction of your sinful activities will be vanquished. Now there are two kinds of vanquishing: one by setting fire on the dry plants, and the rising of the sun and fog, the fog disappearing. Again in the presence of sun there is no possibility of appearance of fog. That is not possible. But the dry plants burnt out, as soon as there is rainfall, it again comes out.

So by bhakti, by devotional service, one can completely root out the causes of sinful life. Not by otherwise. It is not possible.

Lecture on SB 6.1.27-34 -- Surat, December 17, 1970:

Superficially, we can see that the same mouth is being used, but one is feeling comfortable being carried by the mother, and another is feeling the death knell. Similarly, at the time of death, the devotee's feeling that they are being transferred to Vaikuṇṭha, whereas the ordinary sinful man is feeling that the Yamarāja, the dūtas, the constables of Yamarāja are dragging him to the hellish condition of life. So one should not conclude simply by seeing that he is dying. No. The process is different. Janma karma ca me divyam (BG 4.9). As Lord Kṛṣṇa's appearance and disappearance are all spiritual, transcendental, they are not ordinary things, similarly, Lord Kṛṣṇa's devotee, His representative, who is sent to this material world for preaching the glories of Lord Kṛṣṇa, their appearance and disappearance is also like Kṛṣṇa's. Therefore, according to Vaiṣṇava principles, the appearance and disappearance of Vaiṣṇava is considered all-auspicious. Therefore we hold festivals. Just like yesterday we had the disappearance day of His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Goswami Prabhupāda. So we offered our respects and observed a festival, Āvirbhava, Tirobhava. Tirobhava.

Lecture on SB 6.1.30 -- Philadelphia, July 14, 1975:

Just like father maintains all the children, so we are all children, and the supreme father maintains. So if the children have got forms, so it is naturally concluded the father has got, even though you have not seen the father. Suppose a posthumous child, a child is born after the death or disappearance of the father. So that does not mean because he has not seen the father, he will conclude that "My father had no form." This is not conclusion. He should know from the mother that "Yes, my child, your father had form." So this is intelligence.

So difference between this prime, or the Supreme Person, and these... Difference is that eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. We different living entities, we are planning differently. Just like children. Somebody is playing with the motorcar toy, somebody is something, somebody is..., a doll, and the parents are supplying, "All right, you take this doll. You take this. You take this. You take this." So we are playing like that, making plan. So God is supplying all the... But He wants that "My dear child, you are now grown up. You have got this human form of body.

Lecture on SB 6.1.41-42 -- Surat, December 23, 1970:

The nature of this material world is that it becomes manifest at a certain time and again it disappears. That is the difference between material world and spiritual world. Spiritual world is eternal. There is no question of occasional appearance and occasional disappearance. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyaḥ (BG 8.20). In the Bhagavad-gītā you will find the description that "There is another nature, bhāva." Bhāva means... Svabhāva, bhāva, these are the Sanskrit terms of the nature. So that nature is vyaktāvyakta. This nature is vyakta and avyakta, manifest and nonmanifest. So, and above this, beyond this manifested and nonmanifest material nature, there is another, spiritual nature, which is sanātana. Sanātana means eternal. And it is also stated, yasmin sarveṣu api naśyatsu na vinaśyate: "When everything is annihilated, that sanātana nature is not annihilated. That sanātana nature remains as it is." That is the spiritual nature and material nature.

Lecture on SB 6.2.3 -- Vrndavana, September 7, 1975:

So we have taken a very difficult task, to convince people to take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But that is the only benefit, or the supreme goal of life. Kṛṣṇa personally comes to teach this science. Why Kṛṣṇa left Bhagavad-gītā? Out of His compassion, that "After My disappearance people would take advantage of this Bhagavad-gītā. As I instructed My dear friend Arjuna, they will also take advantage and become free from the clutches of death." This is the purpose of Bhagavad-gītā. Bhāgavata-dharma. Unfortunately, people have become so rascal that they do not care for this Bhagavad-gītā instruction. And if anyone poses himself to be a very good scholar of Bhagavad-gītā, he interprets in his own way, he misleads himself and misleads others also. This is the position. Therefore my request to you all who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement—do not be a bluffer. Behave in your life how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious and teach others. Then the whole world will be benefited, and the Yamadūta will not come to them.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

That is not in our capacity. God is so great, we are so small. But to our small understanding whatever we can know, that are described in different kinds of scripture, and Bhagavad-gītā is also another description of the truth, Absolute Truth. So here Kṛṣṇa says that anyone who understands this Absolute Truth or the activity or the purpose or the appearance, disappearance, about God, what is God, what are His activities... Just like we have got our activities, we have got our identification, similarly God has got His identification, His activity, His form, everything. Now one has to understand what is that. It is called divyam. Divyam means it is not like this material thing. It is spiritual. So that is a spiritual science. So the result will be that janma karma ca me divyam evam yo vetti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). Tattvataḥ means truth, scientifically. Two plus two equal to four. This is called tattvataḥ, truth. Similarly anyone who understands the science of God, then the result will be tyaktvā deham. By quitting this body.

Lecture on SB 7.6.6-9 -- Montreal, June 23, 1968:

"Thus one understanding Me in truth," viśate tad-anantaram, "he is allowed to enter into My kingdom." Yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ: "Only by devotional service one can understand Me, actually what I am." So if we engage ourself in submissive way in the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa will let you know what is His birth, what is His appearance, disappearance, activities—everything revealed. These things are not to be understood by mental speculation. These things are revealed to a heart of a devotee when he is engaged in devotional service. So that is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As you make more advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you understand everything. Any other question?

Guest (2): Chanting is devotional service?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Devotional service are discharged in nine different ways: śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23), to hear about the Lord from proper source, and kīrtanam, and to glorify the Lord; smaraṇam, meditating upon the Lord; pāda-sevanam, to engage oneself in the service; arcanam, worshiping; prayer... There are nine different ways of devotional services. So you can accept nine all together or eight or seven or six or five or four or three or two. So even you accept one, you will advance. If you simply come here and hear this chanting, your devotional service will be perfected one day. So although there are nine different processes, but if you can accept even one, you will be advanced in devotional service. Yes?

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 4, 1973:

The same example. Just like six-thirty, sunrise, as soon as it passes from India, the six-thirty in another country. And as soon as it passes that country, six, six-thirty in another country. So six-thirty always there. Similarly six-thirty, twelve-thirty, three o'clock, all the times, twenty-four hours, always present in some, somewhere or other. Similarly Kṛṣṇa's līlā, from His birth up to the disappearance, that is always existing. Disappearance means disappearance from my eyes. Kṛṣṇa does not disappear. Just like formerly people used to think, after the sunset, the sun is dead. Huh? Who were the persons that used... Sometimes, you...? They thought like that: "Sun is dead now"? Some philosophers or the Christians, they used to think like that. Similarly sun... (break) ...no birth and death because you are Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel. But we disappear. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, tathā dehāntaram-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). One who is sober, he knows that "This man, he's not dead." Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). "He's not dead.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.3 -- Mayapur, March 27, 1975:

Who are they? Āula, bāula, kartābhajā, neḍā, daraveśa, sāṅi, sahajiyā, sakhībhekī, smārta, jata-gosāñi. Then ativāḍī, cūḍādhārī, gaurāṅga-nāgarī, tota kahe ei tāra saṅga nāhi kori: Tota Bābājī, he says, "I do not associate with these classes of men." So after disappearance of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, so many apa-sampradāya sprang up. So we should be very much careful that... Sampradāya means who are carefully following the Vedic principle. Therefore Kavirāja Gosvāmī, although asserting the truth, he is prepared to give Vedic evidences. Now he has begun.

The Vedas, they begin with the Upaniṣad. Vedānta-sūtra, Upaniṣad, they are all Vedic literature. Purāṇas, Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, they are all Vedic literatures. Four Vedas—Sāma, Yajur, Ṛg, Atharva—then the Upaniṣad, then the Vedānta-sūtra, then Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Vedānta-sūtra is the same thing. It is explanation. Therefore at the end of each chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated by Vyāsadeva, brahma-sūtrasya bhāṣya. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam means comment on the Brahma-sūtra. Brahma-sūtra is the gist code of all Vedic literature. And then it is explained, athāto brahma jijñāsā. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā: "Jīvasya, for living being, the only business is to enquire about the Absolute Truth." That is the only business. People are in trouble because they have given up their real business.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.113-17 -- San Francisco, February 22, 1967:

Kṛṣṇa is already there. But we should know that He has, by sound vibration, Kṛṣṇa is there. So aṅgāni yasya. Sa īkṣāñcakre.

So His vision, His presence, His activities, they are all spiritual. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ: "Anyone who understands the absolute nature of My birth, of My appearance, disappearance and activities," tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), "he becomes immediately liberated." Sa aikṣata. Sa imāḻ lokān asṛjata. This is Aitareya Upaniṣad. What is that? Sa aikṣata. The same thing: "He saw. He put His glance." Sa aikṣata. Sa imāḻ lokān asṛjata: "He has created all this material manifestation, cosmic manifestation." So tad vā īśan vijato tebhya ha prabhur babhūva. In this way, there are so many instances, so many quotations. Apāṇi-pādaḥ. In the Śvetāśvatara, apāṇi-pādaḥ. He has no, I mean to say, hands and legs. If He has no hands and legs, then how can He see? Is there any instance in your experience that something which has no hands and legs, he can see? No. He has no... Whenever... This is impersonal... The impersonalists quotes these authorities, that "He has no hands and... Therefore He's impersonal."

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.154-155 -- Gorakhpur, February 19, 1971 (Krsna Niketan):

That means janma-sthiti-pralaya. It comes into existence, then it remains for some time, and again pralaya, vanishes, vanquish. This is the way of material existence. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). It takes place... Therefore in the Vedānta-sūtra, Brahman means the original source of appearance, maintenance, and disappearance. From Brahman, the Supreme Brahman, everything is emanating, janma. Janmādi. Janmādi means, janma sthiti and pralaya. So it is remaining in Brahman. Mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam avyakta-mūrtinā, mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni (BG 9.4). Everything is existing, maintained by Brahman. And when the whole manifestation annihilates, pralaya-prakṛtiṁ yānti māmikam—it enters into the energy, supreme energy of the Personality of Godhead. That is the way, sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya. From the energy... In the Vedas also it is said, sa aikṣata sa asṛjata: "The Supreme Personality of Godhead glanced over." In the Bhagavad-gītā also, ahaṁ bijā-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). In the material energy, Kṛṣṇa gives the seed. Just like a father gives the seed, the semina, within the womb of the mother, and a living entity comes out, similarly, within this material world the Supreme Personality puts, impregnates, the material energy with the living entities, and they come out with different types of bodies, 8,400,000's. This is the creation.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.105 -- New York, July 11, 1976:

Narottama dāsa says, "By... Their dust of lotus feet is my subsistence." So today Sanātana Gosvāmī's birthday? Disappearance. Disappearance and appearance the same. His disappearance here, appearance somewhere. Just like sunset somewhere is immediately, sunset and sunrise, simultaneously. So for a Vaiṣṇava, because he is under the order of Kṛṣṇa, he appears somewhere and disappears somewhere because he is order-carrier. He says, "Now go there. Preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Go there." So appearance here, disappearance there. Therefore the same thing. Then what is the next line?

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.144-146 -- New York, December 1, 1966:

Anyone who can understand critically and in truth about the appearance, disappearance, activities, transcendental activities, pastimes, of the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, at once he becomes liberated. Tyaktvā deham: "This person who has known like that," tyaktvā dehaṁ, "by quitting this body," punar janma naiti, "he never... No more he takes another material body." Then what does he do? Mām eti: "He comes to Me."

So simply by understanding what is Kṛṣṇa, one becomes liberated. Vedas, knowledge of Vedas, means to become liberated. The knowledge of Vedas is set in such a way that they are directing that "You have come here to enjoy this material world, so you try to enjoy in this systematic way." Just like government gives you facility. You want to do some business; the government gives you all facility, but under certain rules and regulations, not that whatever you like, you can do. No. You have to get license to do any sort of business. Even if you do any nonsense, still, you have to follow the rules and regulation of the government. So Vedas means that we conditioned souls who have come here in this material world to become an imitation Kṛṣṇa, enjoyer... Because Kṛṣṇa is enjoyer, and we are all here imitation enjoyers, imitation... Frogs.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.245-255 -- New York, December 16, 1966:

Anyone who understands about the appearance and disappearance of God or His incarnation, simply by understanding this, one is liberated. And that person who understands, after quitting this material body, no more he comes here, but he goes back to Godhead to become one of His associates. Such persons who knows about the incarnations, they are not impersonalists. Therefore they do not merge in the impersonal Brahman feature, but they go to the different spiritual planets.

So viṣṇos tu trīṇi rūpāṇi: "That Viṣṇu, for the creation of this material world, takes into three forms, trīṇi rūpāṇi." Viṣṇos tu trīṇi rūpāṇi purusākhyāny atho viduḥ: "And all of them are known as puruṣāvatāras." Mahā-Viṣṇu puruṣāvatāra, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu puruṣāvatāra and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu puruṣāvatāra. They are called puruṣāvatāra. Ekaṁ tu mahataḥ sraṣṭṛ: "And the first puruṣāvatāra, who is called Mahā-Viṣṇu, He creates the material ingredients, which is called mahat-tattva." Everything requires ingredients. So the, I mean to say, original ingredients, the, what is called, subtle ingredients, they were created first by this Mahā-Viṣṇu.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.385-394 -- New York, January 1, 1967:

Prabhupāda:

'nitya-līlā' kṛṣṇera sarva-śāstre kaya
bujhite nā pāre līlā kemane 'nitya' haya

Nitya means eternal. Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, appearance and dis..., disappearance, is continuous and eternal. There is no stoppage. Lord Caitanya says, bujhite nā pāre līlā kemane 'nitya' haya. Ordinary persons, common men, cannot understand how kṛṣṇa-līlā, Kṛṣṇa's appearance and disappearance, can be eternal. Generally, we think that Kṛṣṇa appeared five thousand years before; now He's no longer. So either He's dead or gone. Just like ordinary man takes his birth and stay here for some time and then he goes away—no more, no trace of that particular man's activities. He's lost in the whirlpool of this material ocean. Neither exactly in a similar body, that particular living entity will again come back. Once. This form which you have got, material form, it is just like a bubble in the ocean. It is formed somehow or other according to our past actions and reactions, and it will stay for hundred years at most. Then it will disappear. And there will be no trace where that particular individual soul has gone. Of course, there is account in the books of Supreme Personality of Godhead. Vedāhaṁ samatītāni (BG 7.26). He says, "I know everything." And He's always constant companion. As Supersoul of the individual soul, He knows. But we, the persons of a particular person's relatives, father, mother, brother, all these things—who knows? Nobody can give information. But Kṛṣṇa's appearance and disappearance is not like that, because He's not different from His body.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.385-394 -- New York, January 1, 1967:

"Just like the time calculation of the sun is always present in the orbit of this earthly planet, similarly, in the orbit of Kṛṣṇa-līlā, everything is happening in some universe." That is called nitya-līlā. Because it is happening eternally and continually, in either of innumerable planets, which we cannot calculate, therefore His pastimes, appearance and disappearance are all eternal. We are not worshiper of a dead thing. Just like if a foolish person says at night, "Oh, sun is finished." How? "I cannot see. Because I don't see in the sky, it is finished." Similarly, the foolish person thinks, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa is..., I cannot see; therefore He's finished." This is foolish calculation. Now, from the description of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, we can understand that Kṛṣṇa is not dead and gone. He's present always and every time, everywhere. And if we are sincerely in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that Kṛṣṇa is always with us, He gives us protection, His mercy is there. Everything is there. With this conviction, we should continue Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.391-405 -- New York, January 2, 1967:

So we have already discussed how kṛṣṇa-līlā, or the pastimes, different manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's pastimes during one hundred and twenty-five years, beginning from His birth up to the disappearance, as many pastimes there are, they are being manifested in some of the universe, out of the innumerable universes. So God is never dead. Kṛṣṇa is never dead, as some of the modern philosophers, they are putting forward the philosophy of "God is dead." God is dead for those who are following the owl philosophy. Owl has never seen sun, or it does not like to see the sun. Therefore the owl says, "There is no sun." Similarly, the atheistic philosophy is... There are so many logic. Just like the owl philosophy, the frog philosophy, the camel philosophy and the dog philosophy, the hog philosophy—there are so many philosophies. So only the persons who are, who have got two hands and two legs, but they are counted amongst the animals. And therefore they cannot think of the eternal, blissful existence of the Supreme Lord at all times.

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 32 Excerpt -- Los Angeles, August 14, 1972:

So this is understanding of Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa says that janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9), "My appearance, disappearance, and activities, they are all transcendental," so how it is transcendental? Because His body is different from us. The bodily limbs are different from us. The activities of the body are different from us. And because He is full with all potency, in spite of all these transcendental qualities, He can present Himself as one of us. And those who are rascals, they think that "Kṛṣṇa is like us." Because He presents Himself as one of us by His omnipotency, the fools take him as one of us. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā (BG 9.11). Muḍḥā means rascals, foolish people. Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ: "They do not know the transcendental nature of Me." This is transcendental nature, aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti. This is explained by Brahmā. Brahma-saṁhitā means... Brahmā is the first living creature appeared in this universe, and after his realization, he is offering prayer. Realization means you should write, every one of you, what is your realization. What for this Back to Godhead is? You write your realization, what you have realized about Kṛṣṇa. That is required. It is not passive. Always you should be active. Whenever you find time, you write. Never mind, two lines, four lines, but you write your realization.

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Lecture -- New York, July 28, 1971:

He destroys all kinds of resultant activities of sinful life. Not he does; it is done by Kṛṣṇa. He says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo: "I'll help you. I will release you from all kinds of reaction. You simply surrender." Therefore vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ, one who is devotee, and simply engaged in devotional service, aghaṁ dhunvanti, immediately He causes disappearance of all sinful action. How? The example is given: aghaṁ dhunvanti kārtsnyena, wholesale, immediately. How? Nihārām iva bhāskaraḥ. Just like fog is immediately, I mean to say, moved, simply by sunrise. Sunrise. Just like this is night, darkness. In the morning, as soon as there will be sunrise, there will be no more darkness. Immediately all thousands and millions of miles of darkness immediately moved. So try to make Kṛṣṇa sūrya, the sun, Kṛṣṇa, rise in your heart, and everything will be solved.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Festival Lectures

Ratha-yatra -- London, July 13, 1972:

Simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's appearance, Kṛṣṇa's disappearance, Kṛṣṇa's activities. This Rathayātrā is one of the activities of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore to take part in the Rathayātrā festival means to associate with Kṛṣṇa directly. So in this way, if we associate with Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, Kṛṣṇa's qualities, Kṛṣṇa's form, then, gradually, we transcend this material existence. Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. If we simply try to understand about Kṛṣṇa's movement, then the result is, Kṛṣṇa says, tyaktvā dehaṁ: we have to give up this body. But if we give up this body after being elevated into Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then Kṛṣṇa says, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). Then, after giving up this body, you haven't got to accept another material body. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). Then where shall I go? Kṛṣṇa says, mām eti: "He comes to Me."

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 16, 1968:

"My dear Arjuna, any person who simply tries to understand about My transcendental birth or appearance and disappearance and activities, janma karma..." The Personality of Godhead is not niṣkriya, without activities. So anyone who can understand that what kind of activities the Lord has and what kind of birth He accepts, simply by understanding these two things one gets wonderful result. What is that? Tyaktvā deham. By quitting this body, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), he does not take any more birth in this material world. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti. Some of us may think that punar janma naiti means he becomes vanquished. No. Punar janma naiti, but mām eti, "He does not come to this material world, but he comes to Me." Mām eti. Mām eti means, then... (break) ...abode where we can go. Simply by understanding the nature of His appearance and activities.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 9, 1968:

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Come on. I was thinking of "Where is Jayānanda?" now immediately he has come. (someone brings some kind of offering and Śrīla Prabhupāda says to give it to his Guru Mahārāja) Take care it may not fall down. (pause) All right.

So today is the disappearance day of my Guru Mahārāja. As I told you that sādhavo jīva vā mara vā. There was a nice story the other day I told you that a sage is giving different kinds of blessings to different types of persons. So to a king's son, a prince, he blessed, rāja-putra ciraṁ jīva: "You are a king's son, a prince. You live forever." And muni-putra, the son of a saintly person, he blessed him, mā jīva mā jīva: "You don't live." Rāja-putra ciraṁ muni-putra mā jīva. And sādhu, devotees, he blessed him, jīva vā mara vā: "Either you live or you die, as you like." And there was a butcher, he blessed him, mā jīva mā mara: "You don't die, don't live." So these words are very significant. That I have already explained, still I am explaining.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 9, 1968:

So "Don't live. And don't die also." Because after death, oh, he is going to be in so much hellish condition, nobody can describe. So both lives, living condition and death, after death, his condition is very horrible.

Anyway, apart from others, the devotee, for him, appearance and disappearance the same thing. Just like when my spiritual master appeared at Jagannātha Purī... He was the son of a very big government officer, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. He was magistrate, government officer. In those days a magistrate is a big officer in the government, practically next to governor. And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was in charge of the Jagannātha temple. That is the system in Jagannātha Purī. The manager in charge of the temple is the district magistrate. So there was a Ratha-yātrā festival, and the car was passing in front of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's house. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's name was Kedaranath Datta. When he was magistrate, he was known as K.N. Datta. Kedaranath Datta. So the car stopped before his house, and at that time, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, a child in the lap of his mother.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1973:

Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura passed away from this material world on 31st December, 1936. So almost forty years past. So there are two phases, prakaṭa and aprakaṭa, appearance and disappearance. So we have nothing to lament on account of disappearance because Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's devotee... Not only devotees, even the nondevotees, nobody disappears. Nobody disappears because every living entity... As Kṛṣṇa is eternal... It is confirmed in the Vedic literature, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). The description of the Supreme Lord is that He is also nitya, eternal, and the living entities are also eternal. But He is the chief eternal. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. So qualitatively, there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and the living entities. And quantitatively, there is difference. What is the difference between nitya, the singular number nitya, and the plural number nitya? The plural number nitya is subordinate, eternal servants of the singular number nitya. Just like if you want to serve somebody, so the master is also exactly like you. He has got two hands, two legs, or the same sentiments.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1973:

So spiritually, appearance and disappearance, there is no difference. Just like in material point of view, if a person takes birth... Suppose you get a son born, you become very happy. The same son, when passes away, you become very unhappy. This is material. And spiritually, there is no such difference, appearance or disappearance. So although this is the disappearance day of Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, so there is nothing to be lamented. Although we feel separation, that feeling is there, but spiritually, there is no difference between appearance and disappearance. There is a song, Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's song, ye anilo prema-dhana. Do you know, any one of you? Can you sing that song anyone? Oh. Ye anilo prema-dhana, karuṇā pracura, heno prabhu kothā gelo. I don't remember exactly the whole song. That is our lamentation, that Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura brought this message to distribute all over... Of course, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu expressed His desire, that

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma
sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma
(CB Antya-khaṇḍa 4.126)

He predicted that "All over the world, as many towns and villages are there, everywhere My name will be known." Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's name. Which is now, attempted now, it is being actually.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Bombay, December 22, 1975:

So, Kṛṣṇa has described everything, in the Bhagavad-gītā, and today, this night, we are trying to explain the mission of Kṛṣṇa, because the same mission is being carried out by us beginning from Brahmā, and today is a special day, the disappearance day of my Guru Mahārāja, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Goswami. So these ācāryas, they come and they go, that is not like ordinary birth and death. It is called prakaṭa, aprakaṭa, āvirbhāva, tirobhāva. So even ordinarily nobody takes birth and nobody dies, na jāyate na mrīyate vā kadācit, so what to speak of the ācāryas, or Bhagavān. Nobody, a living entity, a living being... God is the supreme living being, and we are subordinate living beings. Both of us, we are living beings, so what is the difference between the two kinds of living beings? The difference is that the one, God, or Kṛṣṇa, He maintains all the other living beings. And we are being maintained. This is the difference. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. The plural number living entities, we are plural number, in different species of life, but we are maintained by the Supreme Being.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Los Angeles, February 7, 1969:

And after Him, there was six Gosvāmīs. They also managed. Then, as it is the rule of this material world that you start something very good but in due course of time the things deteriorate, so this Vaiṣṇava, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, also deteriorated in due course of time. Say, after the disappearance of the Gosvāmīns, about 250 years after, the things became most ridiculous. The so-called devotees... Their representatives still are continuing. They are called prākṛta-sahajiyā. Prākṛta-sahajiyā means taking things very easily. They thought that Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is just like a boy and girl's lusty affairs. And in this way they took it that sex life as religion. Even Vivekananda, he also criticized, "Vaiṣṇavism is sex religion." So the things deteriorated in such a way that... And similarly, as Advaita Prabhu was afflicted, similarly, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura... He was at that time a householder, government officer and magistrate. He felt very much: "Oh, Lord Caitanya's movement is so... People... As soon as one will see that he belongs to the Caitanya sampradāya, he'll deride, 'Oh, these are all rascals, simply taking sex pleasures. That's all.' " There were thirteen pseudo Vaiṣṇavas, thirteen sects: Āula, Bāula, Karttābhajā, Neḍā, Daraveṣa, Sāṅi, Sahajiyā, Sakhībhekī. Sāṅi community... You have heard that in London there is a Sāṅi community.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Los Angeles, February 7, 1969:

So he spoke on the distinction between brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas, and he defeated so many learned paṇḍitas. Then the whole audience began to take, touch his lotus feet and touch with water and drink it, in this way, when he was young man. That book is also available in Bengali, Brāhmaṇa-Vaiṣṇava.

Then, after disappearance of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in 1914... Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura organized this Kṛṣṇa Caitanya's movement in pure form from Māyāpur. He published many books and papers, Sajjana-toṣaṇī. When he passed away in 1914, at that time, he entrusted the matter to Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, that "I am going, my work unfinished, about this Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement. You take charge of it." So he took very seriously the word of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. So since 1914 to '18, he was simply thinking that "How I can expand this movement?" So in 1918 he started this movement with the help of some disciples. Kṛṣṇa sent him. So one of the disciples, he is now Tīrtha Mahārāja. Perhaps he is... He belonged to Rama Krishna Mission Society. So he is very ambitious.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Mayapur, February 8, 1977:

Similarly, a Vaiṣṇava means the confidential servant of Kṛṣṇa, he also comes for some purpose by the order of the master. So their life and Kṛṣṇa's life, it is same. There is no question of past, present, future. Nityaḥ. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yam, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So they are the same thing as the appearance and disappearance of sun. And Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, our master, spiritual master, he also came in this world to execute some mission of life or mission of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So he executed it, and when it was required, he left this place and went to another place to do the same business. Just like the sun rises at six o'clock and seven o'clock there is six o'clock in another place, and it is eight o'clock another place. It is going on. Nitya-līlā.

So we have nothing to lament for disappearance. We should simply remember his activities. That is Vaiṣṇava—you cannot understand the activities of the Vaiṣṇava, but they come, any Vaiṣṇava comes, for some particular mission. Prahlāda Mahārāja,

Six Gosvamis Lecture, Sri Sri Sad-govamy-astaka -- Los Angeles, November 18, 1968:

Vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau. So Sanātana Gosvāmī, Rūpa Gosvāmī, and two Raghunātha Gosvāmī, and three, four, and then Jīva Gosvāmī and Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī. Six Gosvāmīs. Practically, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu left behind Him that eight ślokas, Śikṣāṣṭaka, which you have seen. I have translated in my first volume of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. On the basis of those eight verses, the Gosvāmīs wrote literatures, volumes of books. From Vṛndāvana they were dispatched after the disappearance of... The Gosvāmīs, they left so many books handwritten, that when they were dispatched it was a full cartload, a big cartload, you see. Just imagine how many books they wrote. They were great scholars, and many varieties of books of bhakti school, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they wrote. So these Gosvāmīs were engaged, kṛṣṇotkīrtana-gāna-nartana, chanting and dancing. Kīrtana means chanting, and nartana means dancing. Kṛṣṇotkīrtana, utkīrtana. Utkīrtana means very loudly, not softly.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation of Bali-mardana Dasa -- Montreal, July 29, 1968:

This is called dīkṣā. The Sanskrit term is called dīkṣā. Dīkṣā means... Di, divya-jñānam, transcendental knowledge, and kṣā, ikṣā. Ikṣā means darśana, to see, or kṣapayati, explain. That is called dīkṣā. Ādau śraddhā tato sādhu-saṅga. First faith, then association, then beginning of regulative principles. And if one follows, then the next promotion is to the stage of anartha-nivṛtti, disappearance of all misgivings. Just like in our association we don't allow four kinds of sinful activities: illicit sex life, nonvegetarian diet, intoxication, and gambling. So by following the regulative principles one becomes freed from all these sinful activities. He does not any more indulge in illicit sex life, he does not indulge in nonvegetarian diet, he does not indulge in intoxication and he does not indulge in gambling. That is called anartha-nivṛtti. Unless one is above these four kinds of anartha, or sinful activities, one cannot be fixed up. When one is free from these four kinds of sinful activities, then he becomes fixed up. Ruci. Niṣṭhā, fixed up, and then ruci. Ruci means he increases the taste. Then āsakti. Āsakti means attachment.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Seattle, October 2, 1968:

That I do not know. I simply change my body. So this is to be understood. Kṛṣṇa consciousness science is a great science. It is stated...it is not a new thing. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā... Most of you, you are well acquainted with Bhagavad-gītā. In the Bhagavad-gītā, it does not accept that after the death of this body—not exactly death—after the annihilation, appearance or disappearance of this body, you or I do not die. Na hanyate. Na hanyate means "never dies" or "is never destroyed," even after the destruction of this body. This is the position.

Now this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we have to understand through the teachings of Lord Caitanya. He is the... Five hundred years ago, He appeared in Bengal, a province of India, and He specifically preached Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. His mission is that anyone who is born in India should take this message of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and distribute it all over the world. To execute that order we have come to your country. So my request is that you try to understand this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement with all your knowledge, scrutinizingly.

Lecture at Engagement -- Columbus, may 19, 1969:

That is the statement in the Bhagavad-gītā. We have published Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Try to read it. In that Bhagavad-gītā in the Fourth Chapter it is said, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ: if simply tries to understand what is Kṛṣṇa, what is His business, what is His life, where does He live, what does He do...., janma karma. Janma means appearance and disappearance; karma means activities; divyam—transcendental. Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. One who knows the appearance and activities of Kṛṣṇa in fact, in truth—not by sentiment but by scientific study—then the result is tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). Simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa, you'll no more have to come back to this miserable condition of material existence. This is fact. Even in your life, in this life, you'll understand, you'll be happy.

So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is no religious movement or any sectarian movement. This movement is to see everyone, every human being, not only human being, even the animals, everyone be happy. Sarve sukhino bhavantu.

Lecture with Allen Ginsberg at Ohio State University -- Columbus, May 12, 1969:

So there is 428..., 427,000 years to go. In a conversation with Swami Bhaktivedanta today, I was inquiring more about the details of the mythology, which are found in a book called the Bhāgavata Purāṇa. He explained that according to Hindu analysis we are five thousand years into the descent from a lighter age, the age of brass, the disappearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa, an aspect of the Hindu Deity Viṣṇu, preserver, or perhaps the supreme form of the preserver aspect of the universe, of ourselves, or of Viṣṇu. The disappearance of Kṛṣṇa, mythologically or historically, is five thousand years ago. We're five thousand years into the age of iron, and we have ten thousand years in which to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, which is to say, repeating the name of the aspect of the preservation, hope, that particular vibration of dancing joy transcending our cosmopolitical words. We have ten thousand for that play before there is a total descent into one-foot-tall monsters who eat each other up for meat because all the vegetables have disappeared, because DDT has completely geared out any biological life form except mammals who go around eating each other at that point.

Lecture at Christian Monastery -- Melbourne, April 6, 1972:

Śyāmasundara: Śrīla Prabhupāda? At the beginning you mentioned a question. Śukadeva Gosvāmī was asked, "If, after the disappearance of Kṛṣṇa..."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Munayo sādhu pṛṣṭo 'haṁ bhavadbhir loka-maṅgalam. When a question about Kṛṣṇa, or God, he congratulated them, "My dear sages, your question is very welcome because it is the question of God." So there may be questions, but every sincere man must question what is God and try to learn it. That will bring auspicity all over the world. Simply in schools, colleges, in business, in assembly, in society there must be some discussion about God. Then it will be very much auspicious for all the world. There must be some question. The question may be offered in the beginning, but if the question is sincere and if he takes the answer sincerely, then he will understand about God. So therefore he welcomed,

munayo sādhu pṛṣṭo 'haṁ
bhavadbhir loka-maṅgalam
yat kṛtaḥ kṛṣṇa-sampraśno
yenātmā suprasīdati

"My dear sages, you have inquired about Kṛṣṇa. It is very welcome because it is auspicious." Kṛṣṇa-sampraśno. "And by question and answer in this subject matter, you'll feel satisfaction." Yenātmā samprasīdati.

General Lecture -- (location & date unknown):
Besides that, Kṛṣṇa proved Himself from His very childhood. When He was a small child on the lap of His mother, beginning from that, up to the time of His disappearance from this world, oh, He played everything just like God. There is no comparison. He... Those who have read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they are acquainted with the activities of Kṛṣṇa. I am speaking this for people who are outside the scope of Vedic religion. Those who are in the Vedic religion, all of them, they accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is no doubt about it. So far our Vedic religion is concerned, the propounder of the Vedic religions in India still existing, still continuing, the ācāryas, just like Śaṅkarācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī, Nimbārka, these ācāryas... The followers, the whole Hindu community or the whole Indian nation, they are followers of these ācāryas. Jarāsandha: "One must worship the principle of ācārya." Ācāryavān puruṣo veda: "One who has accepted ācārya, he knows what is knowledge." Ācāryavan puruso veda. In this way all the ācāryas, they accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So far the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas are concerned, namely, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī, they would naturally, because they are Vaiṣṇavas...

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But as soon as they get a compound, then they forget God.

Śyāmasundara: Darwin did that. He made the appearance and disappearance of animals' bodies seem so mechanically arranged that God was removed from the picture, and it appeared as if combinations of ingredients created animals and they evolved from each other.

Prabhupāda: That is another foolishness. Combination means God. He is combining. Combination does not take automatically. Suppose I am cooking. There are so many ingredients for cooking—they are not combined together. I am the cooker; I am cooking, first of all oil, and the spices, then the rice, then the dahl, then the water. In this way nice foodstuff is coming out. So this combination means God. Otherwise where is the instant the combination is taking place? I place all the ingredients in the kitchen room, and after one hour if I go, "Oh, where is my food?" (laughing) You nonsense, who is cooking your food? You starve. Just take help of a living being, then he'll cook and then you can eat. This is our experience. So why does he say combination? Wherefrom the combination comes? He is such a fool he does not know how combination takes place.

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Prabhupāda: That means that the sum and substance, that is supremely experienced, past, present and future. Unless He is supremely experienced, how He can know future? Past and present..., past, present and future for us, because of the time, eternal time... I am a fragmental production of this time; therefore there is a beginning of my appearance, date. And when I disappear, there is a date of my disappearance. And within this date of appearance and disappearance, there is past, present and future. So my past, present and future and an ant's past, present and future and Brahmā's past, present... They are all different.

Śyāmasundara: Your experience after you, your body finishes, your experience is passed on, so that everything that we see-doors, walls, bodies, minds—everything is made up of previous experience. So and so learned how to build a door this way, and it was passed on...

Prabhupāda: That previous experience of Kṛṣṇa. Just like I was sometimes thinking of Africa, I think. They have made their houses almost like India. I have see that this is the Indian style. I have told you that this is Indian style. So how the Africans got my Indian's experience or the Indian got the African experience? So actually, the Indians did not take experience from Africans, nor the Africans took the experience from the Indians. It is experience of the Supersoul.

Purports to Songs

Purport to Gaurangera Duti Pada -- Los Angeles, January 6, 1969:

And then he says, gaurāṅgera madhuri-līlā, yāra karṇe praveśilā. Now he comes to the pastimes of Lord Caitanya. He says that "Lord Caitanya's pastimes are also as much transcendental as Lord Kṛṣṇa's." As in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that anyone who can simply understand the transcendental appearance, disappearance, activities, work of Kṛṣṇa, he immediately becomes eligible to enter into the kingdom of God. Simply by understanding the pastimes and the work, transcendental activities of Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, one who enters into the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, he immediately becomes freed from all contamination of the heart. Gaurāṅgera madhuri-līlā, yāra karṇe praveśilā. Karṇe praveśilā means simply one has to receive the message of Lord Caitanya. Karṇe means in the ear. To give the message a submissive aural reception. Then immediately one's heart becomes freed from all material contamination.

Page Title:Disappearance (Lectures)
Compiler:Mayapur, RupaManjari
Created:21 of Sep, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=89, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:89