We are all laymen. We are ignorant, what is actually position, what is the actual position. But we have got our discretion also. Just like every one of you has some knowledge in the history. Now, in the history in the past... Suppose you are now thirty years old or thirty-five years old, and suppose two hundred years before, the history which you read, you find that all people were individuals. And at the present you are experiencing that all individual, they are. All living entities—either human being, or animals or birds, or anywhere—you can see that they are individual. Then why should you not believe that in future they will remain individual? Do you follow? In the past they were individuals, in the present they are individuals, and why not in future they'll remain individuals? It is naturally concluded that they will continue to be individuals. Even we do not have any sufficient knowledge in either of these two theories, mixing up or keeping individual, but by our own small reasoning we can understand that in the future history we have information that there were individual persons.
Discretion (Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Woman: Jñānī.
Prabhupāda: Jñānī. Jñānī means philosophers, empiric philosophers. Empiric philosophers. Brahma, Brahmavādīs, those who want to merge into the existence of Brahman. They are called jñānīs. And those who meditate on God within himself, they are called yogis. This is general definition. And those, those who worship the Supreme as Personality of Godhead, they are devotees.
Woman: Yes. The name? The name? You say jñānī...?
Prabhupāda: Jñānī, yogi and bhakta.
Woman: Bhakta.
Prabhupāda: Bhakta.
Woman: The other one...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Bhakta.
Woman: Jñānī, how do you spell it?
Prabhupāda: J, N, A, N, I. "Jan-nanee. Jan-nanee." The spelling is "Jananee." So the Supreme Truth, the Supreme Truth is Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān, the Supreme Truth. Now, according to... Because we have already explained that each and every individual being has got his individual minute quantity of independence. God has given us. Now, by our independence, I may accept as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, I may accept Him that the all-pervading Supersoul, and I may accept Him that the all-pervading Brahman, impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence. So all these are applicable to the Absolute Truth. Now, it depends on my discretion whether I want to merge into the existence of the Lord, whether I want to keep my individuality and associate with Him as friend, as father, mother, as wife. Just like we have got relation. So that depends on my discretion. But now, comparatively, if we study that if we merge into the existence of God, the, at least, in the opinion of the bhaktas, that is not acceptable. That is not acceptable. They know that, that "God has created me as an individual being, so He has got some purpose. And because He has created me for some purpose, I must fulfill that purpose. I must fulfill that purpose."
Madhudvisa: Prabhupada, when you say we must be honest in our dealings... If we have an advantage to, to take advantage of somebody else for Krsna, for Krsna consciousness, is this permissible? If we have a chance to take advantage of somebody to get money from them, not by stealing but by means... (Prabhupada chuckles) Is this permissible?
Prabhupada: Yes, but that is not by your discretion. You have to consult your spiritual master. Just like what Krsna says Yudhisthira Maharaja, "Yudhisthira, My dear brother Yudhisthira, you go and tell," I mean to say, "Dronacarya, that 'Your son is dead.' " Because this gentleman would not die unless he hears the message of the death of his son. So he was not dying. So Yudhisthira was commissioned to speak this lie, that "You go and say that 'Your son is dead.' " And he says that "I never spoke lie. I cannot do that." Now here the order is coming from Krsna, therefore he should have executed the order immediately. Although speaking lie for common man is sin, but because it is in relationship with Krsna, it is not sin. So that telling lie should not be taken risk of at one's own discretion. It must be ordered by Krsna or by His representative. Telling lie is always sinful. That's all right. But if Krsna says "Tell lie," it is not sinful. That is the secret. You can violate the laws only on the direct order of Krsna or His representative. That's all. That is common sense. Just like a political person is engaged to kill somebody under superior order. And if he can kill, he is rewarded, he is given high post. But the same man, if he kills by his own discretion, he'll be hanged. So serving greater purpose, supreme purpose, absolute purpose, there is no question of such piety or sinful. But in the ordinary field, there must be "This is pious, this is sinful." So that discretion should not be taken by oneself, but it should be consulted.
Jaya-gopala: If one can engage one who is demonic in service by telling a lie...
Prabhupada: General principle is that if you can engage anyone in Krsna consciousness, that is good. That is good. That is also said in the Bhakti-rasamrta. Yena tena prakarena manah krsne nivesayet. If your aim is to engage him in Krsna consciousness, if you do something which is not very straight, that is allowed. (laughter) Because you are doing very good to him. Suppose a man is drunkard. So suppose if you say, "Oh, all right. I'll give you a very nice bottle of whiskey at cheap price. Give me fifteen dollars." And if you take fifteen dollars and engage it (in) Krsna consciousness, that cheating is allowed. (laughter) Because that fifteen dollars he'll take and drink. So you have by some way taken away that fifteen dollars and engaged in Krsna consciousness. So that you have done good to him. So therefore it requires little intelligence and discretion. But that does not mean you shall cheat fifteen dollars from everywhere. But there is no cheating because anyone who is not Krsna conscious, he is a drunkard. He is drunkard, he is illusioned under material spell. You see? You see? The greatest drunkard, everyone who is not Krsna conscious. Therefore any way, if you can induce him to spend something of his hard earned money in Krsna consciousness, that is very good to him. Yes. This is called ajnata-sukrti. He does not know, but he is advanced one step to Krsna consciousness. Anybody who is contributing even a farthing to you, he is advanced in Krsna consciousness. It is so nice thing. Yes.
Prabhupada: What is the purpose of eating? To live. If you can live very peacefully, very nicely, with good health, by eating so many varieties of foodstuff given by Krsna, why should I kill an animal? This is humanity. Why should I imitate an animal? Then what is the difference between animal and human being? If you have no discretion, if you have no consciousness.
Besides that, scientifically, your teeth is meant for eating vegetables. The tiger has teeth for eating meat. Nature has made it like that. It has to kill another... Therefore he has got nails, he has got teeth, he has got strength. But you have no such strength. You cannot kill a cow like that, pouncing like tiger. You have to make slaughterhouse and sit down at your home. Somebody may slaughter, and you can eat very nicely. What is this? You do like tiger. Pounce upon a cow and eat. (laughter) You cannot do that. You cannot do that.
So Krsna is free from the laws of nature. Therefore He can help you. He can, I mean to say, unbind your tightening. Tri-gunamayi. Tri-gunamayi means the guna. Guna means rope and also the modes of nature. Daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya (BG 7.14). So we are all under the stringent laws of this material nature. So if we want to get free, we must accept a leader who is free from this material nature. So Krsna is free. Daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya. The material nature is working under His direction. Mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sa-caracaram (BG 9.10). You'll find in the Bhagavad-gita. Material nature is working under His direction. He is not under the direction of material nature. Therefore He can be our leader, and nobody else can be leader.
So if you actually want... Because by nature we have to follow some leadership, so if we actually want the leadership which will lead us to the perfect goal of life, then we have to follow Krsna. That is a fact. If you don't follow, that depends on our discretion. Just like Arjuna. He was asked by Krsna, "Now, what you have decided? Are you going to follow Me? Oh, you can do whatever you like. I have told you everything." So Krsna is telling us everything in the Bhagavad-gita. Now it is up to us to accept His leadership or not. If we accept His leadership, then we are free from this material bondage, and if we do not accept, then we can do whatever we... Krsna does not interfere with our independence. That is a fact.
Thank you very much. Now if there is any question, you can ask.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So we are trying to give that body. Not a fish body, cat's body, dog's body. That we have experienced, past life. We have got this life now to make discretion, to make choice, what kind of body we are going to get next. That is intelligence. That is intelligence. Not that to give away with the waves of this time. Māyār bośe jāccho bhese' Khāccho hābuḍubu bhāi. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura therefore sings that "Don't be carried away by the waves of māyā. Now you have got intelligence. You try to understand that you are eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa and do the needful. Then get out of this māyā's webs." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, giving the right information, that "If you do not want to be carried away by the waves of this māyā, material nature, then take to this consciousness so that at the time of your death you will change this body to Kṛṣṇa planet, Kṛṣṇa, Goloka Vṛndāvana." Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). Kṛṣṇa says. Kṛṣṇa is not making lying propaganda. He has no business. He is giving you information, that if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, janma karma me divyam, always thinking of Kṛṣṇa—how He is acting, why He has come, why He has appeared, why He has given us the Bhagavad-gītā, what lessons He is giving—in this way, if you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tat..., in truth, not whimsically, not sentimentally, with sound philosophy, knowledge, argument, you try to understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is, then you get tyaktvā deham... Then after giving up this body, undoubtedly you go back to Kṛṣṇa, go back to home back to Godhead.
Pradyumna: Translation: "Factually, this is all due to the supreme will of the Lord, the Personality of Godhead. Sometimes people kill one another, and at other times they protect one another."
Prabhupāda: Now read the purport also. (SB 1.15.24)
Pradyumna: "According to the anthropologists, there is nature's law of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest. But they do not know that behind the law of nature, there is the supreme direction of the Supreme Lord Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is confirmed that the law of nature is executed under the direction of the Lord. Whenever therefore there is peace in the world, it must be known that it is due to the good will of the Lord, and whenever there is upheaval in the world, it is also due to the supreme will of the Lord. Not a blade of grass moves without the will of the Lord. Whenever, therefore, there is disobedience of the established rules enacted by the Lord, there is war between men and nations. The surest way to the path of peace is, therefore, dovetailing everything to the established rule of the Lord. The established rule is that whatever we do, whatever we eat, whatever we sacrifice, whatever we give in charity, must be done to the full satisfaction of the Lord. No one should do anything, eat anything, sacrifice anything, or give anything in charity against the will of the Lord. Discretion is the better part of valor, and one must learn how to discriminate between actions which may be pleasing to the Lord and those which may not be pleasing to the Lord. An action is thus judged by the Lord's pleasure or displeasure. There is no room for personal whims. We must always be guided by the pleasure of the Lord. Such action is called yoga-karmasu kauśalam, or actions performed which are linked with the Supreme Lord. That is the art of doing a thing perfectly."
Recently one of our life members -- he is a big industrialist -- he has jumped from the, what is called, that Daksinasvara(?) Bridge, down to the Ganges. No, Wellington Bridge, I think. So committed suicide. In Western countries also, because there is no end of greediness: "More, more, more, more, more." Ask him that "What will be satisfaction for you?" Oh, there is no such limit. This is rajas and tamas. And some people, they are sudras. So some political party, by agitation, by propaganda, makes them convinced to accept some way, and they do it. Another party will do another... They have no their own discretion. They elect some president, and again they want to dethrone the president. Because they are sudras, they have no intelligence. They do not know how to elect the president, who should be the governor, who should be the executive head. They commit mistake. They again cry.
So why should we waste our time? Why we should be entangled in this bodily concept of life and become subjected to the transmigration of the soul from one body to another? We should be disgusted, this repetition of birth and death. Janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-dosanudarsanam (BG 13.9). One should be intelligent enough to understand, "Why I should be subjected to birth and death?" Nobody wants to die. Ke ami kene amaya jare tapa-traya. Nobody wants the threefold miserable condition of this material life, but it is forced upon us, and we are thinking "Independent." That is foolishness. We are not independent. Prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah (BG 3.27). As you are associating with the different modes of material nature, the prakrti, material nature, by pulling your ear, "You'll come on here. Take this body." "No, I don't want." "No, that is not your discretion. Now you have infected, you see. You must take this body." This risk is there. And just to forget ourself we sometimes say, "No, there is no life after death." Why there is no life after death? You were a child. The child became a boy, the boy became a young man, the young man became an old man, and what is the old man? He must have a body, next body. That is not simply mental speculation. This is confirmed by the most exalted authority, by Krsna. Tatha dehantara-praptih. Dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha dehantara-praptih (BG 2.13). As you have changed your body in so many ways from babyhood to childhood, childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, then, similarly, dehantara-praptih.
Sometimes there is some disagreement, that "Why one should not live outside the temple?" But that is little difficult, because in the temple you get good association. Everyone is trying to become free from this bondage of life. So there is some inspiration. But if you live outside the temple... We are making this temple commodious so that people may come here and live and learn the art, but if you do not live, there is risk. Because sangat sanjayate kamah. If you live in certain association, drunkard association, then you will learn gradually how to drink. And if you live with the association of the devotees, then you will forget drinking. You will become devotee. So we are opening these centers, giving chance everyone. There is no discrimination. It is not a religious system. It is a cultural institution. Don't take as a religious. Religious is a kind of faith. You may accept that faith or not. That is your discretion. But Krsna consciousness is not a kind of faith. It is an cultural institution. If you, actually, you are serious that "I must stop these inconveniences of birth, death, and old age," then you must join this Krsna consciousness movement. That is my request. That is called nivrtti-marga. And gradually, you will be elevated to the topmost position, that you have no more attraction for these material things. That is possible. It is not that impossible. Simply one has got to follow the process.
It is very difficult to understand. Because Kṛṣṇa says out of many millions of people, one is perfect, and out of many millions of perfect men, one can hardly understand Kṛṣṇa. So it is very difficult to understand Kṛṣṇa. But if one is fortunate, he can understand. How? Now, Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). "There is no more higher truth than Me." So if one is fortunate to understand Kṛṣṇa, that there is no more higher truth than Kṛṣṇa. And if he follows the advice of Kṛṣṇa, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), then he's fortunate. Fortunate means everyone has got his discretion. So one who has the fortune to discriminate, then he can understand Kṛṣṇa very easily.
So the Kṛṣṇa conscious life is not very difficult. It is very easy. In one second, if he agrees: "Yes, Kṛṣṇa, whatever You say, I shall do..." That Arjuna did at last, after hearing the whole Bhagavad-gītā. When Kṛṣṇa asked, inquired from him, "Now, what is your decision...?" Kṛṣṇa never interferes with your decision. You have got little independence. Kṛṣṇa has given you. But if you use your independence, do not like to obey the orders of Kṛṣṇa, that is your business. You can do that. Kṛṣṇa will not interfere with you. But Kṛṣṇa says that "If you want actual happiness, liberation, then follow what I say." That is Kṛṣṇa's request. As we are subordinate, Kṛṣṇa can order that "You must do it." That Kṛṣṇa does not say, never. Kuru. He says sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), "You do it." He doesn't say "You must." That is your option. You can deny it. That is going on. Kṛṣṇa is instructing everything perfectly, but why people are not doing? That is his discretion. That Kṛṣṇa gives always. After teaching Bhagavad-gītā thoroughly, He asked Arjuna: "Now, Arjuna, I have spoken to you everything. Now it is up to you to do it or not to do it." Yathecchasi tathā kuru (BG 18.63). Yathā-icchasi: "Whatever you like, you do." He doesn't force, but Arjuna, that is, means knowledge, Arjuna said naṣṭo mohaḥ: "My illusion is now over." Naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā: "Now I am remembering, I am memorizing my position," tvat-prasādād, "by Your grace." So kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73): "Now I shall act as You desire." This is perfection of life. Whenever we decide that "Now we shall act as Kṛṣṇa says," then our life is perfect. Vāsudeva-uktaḥ kāriṇaḥ.
So what is the difference between going to the heavenly planet and going to Kṛṣṇa? The difference is ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokān punar āvartino 'rjuna: "My dear Arjuna, if you go even to the highest planetary system, Brahmaloka, you will again fall down." Then? Mad-gatvā na nivartante: "If you come to Me, you will have not..." So why not select this, that "I have to work for the next life. Why not devote this life for Kṛṣṇa? I shall go back to home, back to Kṛṣṇa"? This is intelligence. I am suffering so many lives, accepting this fish life or the tree life, the plant life, the moth life, the insect life, the serpent life, the bird's life. And not only bird's life—there are so many varieties of birds, beginning from the eagle. There is a big eagle bird. We have no information. They are very big bird. They are flying in the sky, and their rest is from one planet to another. Just like here you find the birds, they are flying from one tree to another. Similarly, there are so big birds... They are called garuḍa. So garuḍa, these birds, they start their flying from one planet and sits in another planet. Just try to understand what is their flying. Not only that, they also lay eggs while flying, and the eggs, while falling down, it becomes another bird. And these birds can pick up elephants for eating. So this is God's creation. So if you want to become such a big bird, you can become. (laughter) Yes. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). God is so kind. Whatever you desire, you will get. Therefore it is depending upon our discretion, that "What kind of desire I shall maintain?" That desire is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then you will be happy. Otherwise, you prepare your next life and you suffer or enjoy and again next life, again next life... That is not very good. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Nobody wants that, that "I accept some position: again it is lost. Again I accept another position, again it is lost."
Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures
So our proposition: If you inquire, "Then why you restrict, "No meat-eating'?" The answer is that actually we do not make any distinction between the meat-eaters and the vegetable eaters, because the cow or the goat or the lamb has got life, and the grass, it has also got life. But we follow the Vedic instruction. What is that? Now, īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ yat kiñcit jagatyāṁ jagat, tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā: (ISO 1) everything is the property of the Supreme Lord, and you can enjoy whatever is allotted to you. Mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam. You cannot touch others' body, others' property. You cannot touch. That is Vedic life. So in all scriptures it is stated that man should live on fruits and vegetables. Their teeth are made in that way. They can eat very easily and digest. Although jīvo jīvasya jīvanam: one has to live by eating another living entity. Jīvo jīvasya... That is nature's law. So the vegetarian also eating another living entity. And the meat-eater, they're also eating another... But there is discretion. Discretion means that these things are made for human being. Just like fruits, flowers, vegetables, rice, grains, milk—the animals do not come to claim that "I shall eat this." No. It is meant for man. Just like milk. Milk is an animal product. It is the blood of the cow changed only. But the milk is not drunk by the cow. She is delivering the milk, but she's not taking, because it is not allotted for it. By nature's way. So you have to take. Milk is made for man, so you take the milk. Let her live and supply you milk continually. Why should you kill? Follow nature's law. Then you'll be happy. Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā (ISO 1). Whatever is allotted to you, take. You live comfortably. So our, in temple, in this temple, we take fruits, flowers, milk because they're allotted, and Kṛṣṇa says: patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Kṛṣṇa does not say that "You give Me meat." Kṛṣṇa says, "You give Me fruits, flowers, vegetables, milk." So we prepare nice preparations out of these things, we offer it to Kṛṣṇa, and we take it. If Kṛṣṇa would have said that "Give Me eggs and meat," then we would have given and eaten it. But because we are Kṛṣṇa conscious, we do not take anything which is not accepted by Kṛṣṇa.
General Lectures
Student (8): How important is your diet?
Prabhupāda: Oh, that is a very important thing. If you read Dr. George Bernard Shaw's book, You Are What You Eat, you see. So if you eat like human being, then you can increase your qualities of human being. If you eat like cats and dogs, you increase the quality of cats and dogs. That's all. So we must have discrimination what to eat. That is there in the human world. Eating is there, but everything eatable. Even stool is eatable by a certain kind of animal, but that does not mean that stool has to be eaten by human being. Human being must have discretion what kind of food will be just suitable for my health, for my intelligence, for my brain. So these things are prescribed. If we eat things which are in goodness... They are prescribed in the Vedic literature that wheat, rice, sugar, milk product, vegetables, fruits, these things are in goodness. So if you want to increase your quality of goodness, that is required for God realization. Unless you are situated in the quality of goodness, you cannot be promoted to the higher platform. So your eating should be arranged within this group: rice, wheat, sugar, milk product, vegetables, and fruits. In your country you have got enough nice grains, nice fruits, enough supply of milk, butter. So there is no question of accepting any other food. You can accept foodstuff within this group and become healthy and good brain, good conscience. You can engage yourself in God consciousness. That is possible. So therefore "Discrimination is the best part of valor." We should discriminate what kind of food we should eat. We cannot eat anything and everything. That discrimination must be there.
Indian man: Kṛṣṇa, in the Gītā it says the student comes to the teacher.
Prabhupāda: If it is natural, then why it was needed that Kṛṣṇa would teach Arjuna? It is not natural. You have to select by getting knowledge from superior person. Otherwise there is no meaning of teaching, Kṛṣṇa's to Arjuna. Arjuna was perplexed. He could not understand whether he should fight or not. So that is the position of everyone. Everyone is perplexed. He requires a guidance like Kṛṣṇa. Then you can find out the... It is not natural. Natural means up to the animal life it is natural. Then come to the human form of life. Then it is discretion. As you like, you make your choice. If you like Kṛṣṇa, you can go to Kṛṣṇa. If you like something else, you can go there. That is your discretion. Everyone has got independence, little independence. Kṛṣṇa says at the end of Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: (BG 18.66) "Just you surrender unto Me, giving up everything." If it is natural, then why He should say, "You should do this"? It is not natural. One has to learn it. Therefore he requires a spiritual master like Kṛṣṇa or His representative. But he has got the potency to accept it. And because he has got little independence, he can reject it. So it is not natural evolution. You have to accept the principle as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Why it is said, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7)? If it is actually evolutionary, then why there is dharmasya glānir? Tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham: "As soon as there is discrepancies in the discharge of real duties, I appear." So it is natural. If we keep ourself in natural life, it is natural. But because we are developed consciousness, we do not keep in natural life. We accept so many unnatural things. Therefore our knowledge becomes covered by unnatural material nature. So that has to be cleared by superior instruction. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). Therefore we have to take; voluntarily we have to accept.
Now here is the chance, that human form of body. Now you have got discrimination, you can understand because your consciousness is advanced. Now you can make your choice whether you want to continue this repeated birth and death in different species of life or you want to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is your discretion. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja says,
- kaumāra ācaret prājño
- dharmān bhāgavatān iha
- durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma
- tad apy adhruvam arthadam
- (SB 7.6.1)
Very nice instruction. "My dear friends," durlabham, durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma, "this human form of body is very, very rare to achieve. Now we have got it. Therefore, let us begin Kṛṣṇa consciousness from very childhood." That is the Vedic system. From the very childhood, a brahmacārī is given Kṛṣṇa consciousness so that in future his life becomes perfect. What is that perfect? He knows Kṛṣṇa by Kṛṣṇa consciousness perfectly. And what is the result? If one knows Kṛṣṇa perfectly, then tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), then after giving up this body, he does not come again back to take another material body, and he goes back to home.
We have to think how this body will be manufactured, but Kṛṣṇa is so intelligent, His potencies are so great that simply He shall do it—"This soul should get such and such body"—immediately it is manufactured and comes out. This is Kṛṣṇa's intelligence. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). You cannot manufacture this. But under Kṛṣṇa's direction there are certain energies which can immediately manufacture. But the rascals say, "Automatically it is coming." Not automatically. There is brain, there is energy, there is discretion, there is judgement. There is all these things. Then it will come out with another body. Not blindly. The rascals, they see, "It is coming out blindly." No. How much the mechanism is there within the body that they are working so nicely? Two kinds of secretion mix and immediately they get energy. The mother is eating, from that eating the child is also eating, the intestine is connected (indistinct). How much mechanical arrangement is there? Can any medical science, any scientist, (indistinct) this is matter? Even this is matter, let them manufacture outside this body another body. No. Suppose you have to manufacture something, a small watch. That particular watch has to be manufactured. But Kṛṣṇa has created so nicely that two machines—one male machine, one female machine—and they're joining and so many machines are coming out. Not that each and every particular machine body has to be tackled (?). Kṛṣṇa has made so nice arrangement, His intelligence is so sharp, that the potency is there that one male machine, one female machine, and they are producing unlimited number of machines.
God consciousness does not prohibit war, but it must be for the right cause. Just like in Bhagavad-gītā we see that the instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā was given to Arjuna in the battlefield. And in the beginning Arjuna did not like to fight. He was a good, good man, religious man, devotee. Naturally, he was not inclined to fight with his relatives, kinsmen. He said, "Kṛṣṇa, the opposite side, they are all my brothers and nephews and fathers and grandfathers. So there is no use of fighting like this, to kill them and take the... Let... Let them enjoy." That was his conclusion. But Kṛṣṇa induced them, induced Arjuna, "No. This is the right cause. You must fight." So similarly, war is not always bad. Nothing is bad, nothing is good, unless it is used for God. That's it. Our philosophy is everything is good. God is all-good. So if He advises to fight, that is also good. But we shall depend on the discretion of God. If God wants us to fight, then we shall fight. If God wants us to stop fight, then we shall not fight. Because we are surrendered to God, so whatever God orders, we have to do. That's all. We don't say, "This is good; this is bad." Whatever God says, that is good. What God does not say, prohibit, that is bad. This is our conclusion.
| Page Title: | Discretion (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Labangalatika, Suan, Alakananda |
| Created: | 20 of Dec, 2008 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=20, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 20 |