One who has got, one who has taken shelter of ācārya, bona fide spiritual master, he knows. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda. Because he is receiving the right knowledge from the right source, ācārya... Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). Ācārya means by disciplic succession. As Kṛṣṇa says, disciplic succession, all the ācāryas will say the same thing. They will not change, they will not interpret. They can explain. But the original fact is not distorted. That is ācārya. Ācārya will never say that "Kṛṣṇa is material. Kṛṣṇa... There was no such thing as Kṛṣṇa. There was no such battle, Battle of Kurukṣetra. These are all imaginary." So if we don't want to be cheated, then we should take Kṛṣṇa as He is presenting Himself and as it is confirmed by the ācāryas. Then our knowledge is perfect.
Distort (Lect., Conv. and Letters)
Expressions researched:
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Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
You should understand, the so-called yogis, they are first-class rascal because they do not understand Kṛṣṇa. The jñānīs they are also second-class rascal. Even a big scholar like Dr. Radhakrishnan, he is how, I mean to say, deforming the meaning of Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru: (BG 18.65) "You always think..." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, man-manā: "Always think of Kṛṣṇa, Me, about Me," Kṛṣṇa says. And they will make meaning that you can say also. "Kṛṣṇa says that you always think of Him; you can say also, Think of me." This meaning, they are distorting. So Kṛṣṇa says man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65), and this Dr. Radhakrishnan says, "It is not to the Kṛṣṇa person." Just see. Just a big scholar, doctor of philosophy, he cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says directly, man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ (BG 9.34). He is interpreting in a different way.
Anyone who is leading his life on the bodily concept of life, he is no better than the dogs and hogs. So in order to stop this civilization of dogs and hogs, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is essential. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means to take instruction from Kṛṣṇa. This is the first instruction. Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase (BG 2.11). So gradually He will give instruction.
So it is our request that you try to study Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Don't try to distort it by your so-called education. Try to understand Kṛṣṇa as He is saying. Then you will be benefited. Your life will be successful. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break)
We want to change it according to our whims. This rascal havoc has ruined the whole world. Otherwise, if they would have preached Bhagavad-gītā as it is, the world situation would have been different. Everything would have been in order, tranquility, peace, and everybody would have been prosperous. But the rascals will not do that. That is the defect. Therefore our tiny effort is how to present Bhagavad-gītā as it is. This is our mission. If we take... Even now, in this distorted condition of the world, if we accept Bhagavad-gītā as it is, then still, we will be benefited. There is no doubt about it. Therefore our appeal is that throughout the whole world people should come, try to understand Bhagavad-gītā, and set up examples and do the needful. Then everything will be peaceful. This is the peace formula. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānam (BG 5.29). Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānam. Suhṛt means well-wisher. Well-wisher. Here is the supreme well-wisher. He wants, Kṛṣṇa wants that wherever you live, you live peacefully and happily; and therefore He is called suhṛt. He is desiring everyone's happiness.
This age is called Vaivasvata Manu, this age. Now, Vivasvān, because he's the son of Vivasvān, therefore this Manu is called Vaivasvata Manu. Vaivasvata Manu. Now the age is going of Vaivasvata Manu. Manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt. So Manu also spoke to his son. So in this way, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2), He's giving some examples, but the knowledge has to be received by the paramparā. But some way or other, the paramparā being lost... Just like I have spoken something to my disciple. He says the same thing to his disciple. He says the same thing to his disciple. But some way or other, if it is distorted at a certain point, then the knowledge is lost. As soon as any of the disciples in the succession distort the knowledge, then it is lost. That is being explained.
Or kāla means the black snake. So black snake destroys. As soon as touches anything, it is destroyed. Similarly, kāla... This kāla is also another form of Kṛṣṇa. So kālena mahatā. Therefore it is called mahatā. It is very powerful. It is not ordinary thing. Mahatā. Its business is to destroy. Sa kālena iha naṣṭa. So by due course of time... Because how the kāla can destroy? As soon as kāla sees that you are distorting, then it will be lost. So don't try to understand Bhagavad-gītā from persons who are under the influence of kāla—past, present, future. Don't try to understand Bhagavad-gītā from so-called rascal philosophers, commentators, and... They will write Bhagavad-gītā in a distorted way. Somebody will say, "There was no Kṛṣṇa. There was no Mahābhārata." Somebody says, "Kṛṣṇa stressed on this point," "Kṛṣṇa stressed on that point." Somebody will say, "Kṛṣṇa stressed on karma, karma-kāṇḍa." Somebody will say on jñāna, and somebody will say yoga. There are so many editions of Bhagavad-gītā. Yogī cārtha, jñāna artha, Gītār gān artha...
"This is my problem. I do not want to die, but death is as sure as anything." So this is the problem. Nobody is careful how to solve this problem. They are simply engaged in the, I mean to say, temporary problems. The temporary problems are not problems. Real problem is how to stop death, how to stop birth, how to stop old age, and how to stop disease. That is real problem. That can be done when you are liberated from this material world. This is our problem.
So Kṛṣṇa comes here again... Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). Dharmasya glāniḥ. Glāniḥ means when it is distorted. So people are manufacturing, in the name of so-called religion, "This is our religion. This is..." "This is Hindu religion." "This is Muslim religion." "This is Christian religion." Or "This is Buddha religion." And "This is Sikh religion." "This is that religion, that religion..." They have manufactured so many religions, so many religions. But real religion is dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Religion means the codes and the laws given by the Lord, given by God. That is religion.
In the Vedic literature it is said, kasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati: "If you understand that one Supreme, then you will understand everything." So Rāmāyaṇa, Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, not other Rāmāyaṇa, the so-called Rāmāyaṇa... Authority, Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa... If you read Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, that is also as good as reading Bhagavad-gītā. But if you read Bhagavad-gītā, you understand the transcendental science very easily. There is no difficulty. So we shall advise to read Bhagavad-gītā. It is very widely read all over the world, not only by the Hindus, but others also, by all scholars, all philosophers. They read Bhagavad-gītā. So we recommend you all to read Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Do not distort the meaning. Try to understand as it is. Just like in the beginning the Bhagavad-gītā is mentioned,
- dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre
- samavetā yuyutsavaḥ
- māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva
- kim akurvata sañjaya
- (BG 1.1)
The dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre... This is a fact. The kuru-kṣetra is a pilgrimage, dharma-kṣetra. Still it is. There is a railway station of the name Kurukṣetra, and that Kurukṣetra place is very big field. So why should we misinterpret, "Kuru-kṣetra means this body, and Pāṇḍava means the senses"? Why? This business distorted the meaning, so we should give up.
That spirit soul is above the intelligence. Grossly, we can understand our material senses, indriyāṇi. Then, above these material senses, we can understand also that without the action of the mind, these material senses also do not work. If mind is not in order, in spite of my possessing these hands and legs, I cannot work. Madman just like. He cannot work properly because mind is distorted. So superior than the senses is the mind. Mind is superior than the senses, and the intelligence is still more superior than the mind, and the spirit soul is still more superior than the intelligence. That is the position.
So we cannot see even mind, intelligence, what to speak of seeing the soul. So we cannot see even the individual soul which is living within your body, within my body. You cannot see my soul, I cannot see your soul. Just like when a person dies, his sons and daughters or relatives cry, "Oh, our father has gone."
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
The modern civilization is based on rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ. Nobody is satisfied. Everyone is greedy. And lusty. Kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye. Kāma. So long you are lusty, so long you are greedy, there is no question of devotional service. There is no question of advancement to spiritual life. So therefore you have (to) come to the platform of sattva-guṇa, where simply knowledge... There is no other thing, ignorance or greediness, only knowledge.
So at that time, it is said, ceta etair anāviddham. Because everything is within the heart. We become greedy, we become lusty on account of distortion of the heart disease, kāma. Tadā hṛdi lobha-kāmau apahinoti(?). That is a heart disease. This kāma and lobha is a heart disease. Actually, you don't require this, but it is a kind of disease. "More and more and more and more and more." Never satisfied. So we have to cure this disease. And this process, simple process, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given: ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). To cure the heart disease of lusty desires and greediness is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. These are the shastric injunction, and spoken by personalities like Lord Caitanya and other ācāryas.
Festival Lectures
So therefore his birthplace is mentioned, "the holy place, my lord and master, His Divine Grace." "O my master, the evangelic angel, give us thy light, light up thy candle. Struggle for existence, a human race, the only hope, His Divine Grace." So actually we are in a very precarious condition, the modern civilization, I mean to say, manipulated by the Western people. It is a soul-killing civilization, this civilization. By nature the chance is given after many, many evolutionary process. Jalajā nava lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣā viṁśati. The evolutionary theory is there in the Padma Purāṇa. It is not Darwin's theory. Darwin stolen it from Padma Purāṇa, and he presented in a distorted way of his own imagination. Otherwise the Darwin's theory is not the original. The theory... It is not theory-fact. Jīva-jātiṣu. It is wandering within the cycle of jīva-jāti, different species of life. Tathā dehāntara prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). This is Vedic knowledge, this evolutionary process. It is not Darwin's theory.
General Lectures
He says, "My dear Arjuna, whenever people are misguided and there is too much manifestation of irreligiosity, at that time I appear Myself." So this movement... This material world is such that suppose one thing is now set right, but still, the time is so cruel, after some time it will be distorted. This is the way of material existence. Therefore movement is required. Whenever there is deterioration of the real truth, there is necessity of movement. But the same movement, not a new movement. The movement means God is there, He is great, we are all subordinate; therefore our duty is to abide by the order of God. Then we are happy. The movement is very simple. There is no misunderstanding. The same movement was preached by Lord Kṛṣṇa. The same movement was preached by Lord Jesus Christ. The same movement we are also preaching. So there is no difference: simply accepting the authority or the greatness of the Supreme Lord and engage ourself. That's it. There is nothing new. You don't try to see something new. It is not new. It is the oldest because God is oldest, you are oldest, and your relationship is also oldest.
Now Kṛṣṇa, five thousand years ago, when Kṛṣṇa was talking with Arjuna in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, he was perplexed whether to fight or not to fight, and just to enthuse him in the fighting, He spoke this Bhagavad-gītā five thousand years ago to Arjuna. And He said there that "The paramparā system, disciplic succession, is now broken; therefore I am speaking to you again so that people may learn from you what is the purport of this philosophy, Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
So five thousand years ago this philosophy was spoken to Arjuna, and we are having the instruction. Unfortunately that is again being distorted. Because we do not receive through the paramparā system, we inference, we make inferences in our own way, and therefore it is also again broken. Therefore again, five hundred years ago, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu instructed this Bhagavad-gītā as a devotee. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is supposed to be incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. As Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He instructed as the order-giving master, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), but still, people misunderstood. Therefore this time, five hundred years ago, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Kṛṣṇa Himself, appeared as a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa.
You become a guru." So our request is that you are so many Indians living in this foreign country for generations. So take this instruction of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Because you are coming from India, therefore it is special request to you that "By the order of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, every one of you become a guru." And what shall you have to do? Āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra ei deśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Ei deśa. This South Africa, you are staying here. So you preach as a guru. And what shall you preach? Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). You haven't got to do anything. The instruction of Kṛṣṇa is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. Don't distort it, but put it as it is. That's your duty. If you do simply this thing... Because in the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead... Kṛṣṇa says Himself that mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7).
There are different incarnation of God, but one incarnation is there, it is mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other places also, in Upaniṣad and Mahābhārata. These are approved Vedic scriptures. So the Vedic knowledge is summarized in the Vedānta system, Brahma-sūtra, everything done by Vyāsadeva. And in order to protect the sanctity of Vedānta... Because there are so many foolish persons, they are distorting the purpose of Vedānta-sūtra; therefore Vyāsadeva, under the instruction of his spiritual master Nārada, he personally wrote a commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra. This is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu introduced these two things—saṅkīrtana and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam means the expansion of Bhagavad-gītā. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, at the last stage, Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also begins from that point. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives introduction, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2). All cheating type of religious system kicked out, projjhita. Projjhita means just like you sweep over the floor, and all the dust, you throw it away. That is called projjhita. Prakṛṣṭa-rūpeṇa ujjhita.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
Syamasundara: Distorted?
Devotee (1): Water-logged, yeah. The skin gets water-logged?
Prabhupāda: No, not that. There are some kind of weeds within the water.
Devotee (1): Oh. Algae?
Prabhupāda: Maybe.
Devotee (2) (boy): Seaweed.
Prabhupāda: Seaweeds, yes. So they... All over the body there was some seaweeds. Not exactly... He was very unclean and odd-looking, and beard and ugly. So he thought that "He's a great yogi. If I refuse, 'No, I'm not going to hand over my daughter to you,' then he may be angry and create some catastrophe." So he said, just to avoid him, that "I have got eight daughters, and it is the desire of my daughters that they should be given over to one husband." No, that "they should be married all at once. So unless I find other husbands for my daughters you have to wait." So immediately, "Yes, I shall myself become eight then."
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Ramakrishna Mission, if I say it frankly, they distorted the Bhagavad-gītā to the greatest extent. Because they presented somebody, Ramakrishna, as God. Ramakrishna said that "I am the same Kṛṣṇa, I am the same Rāma," and they accepted it. But one thing is, anybody can say that "I am the same Rāma, I am the same Kṛṣṇa." First of all we have to see the proof. So many, there are many ways of to understand. So Ramakrishna Mission is pushing on this wrong idea. And another thing is that, supposing this Ramakrishna is the same Kṛṣṇa, then the philosophy is different. Ramakrishna's philosophy and Bhagavad-gītā's philosophy is different, because Ramakrishna says that you can accept any method, every method is all right. But Kṛṣṇa says only unto Him, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66). "Give up everything, simply surrender unto Me." Now Kṛṣṇa says one: "Simply surrender unto Me," and Ramakrishna says that we can accept anywhere. So which one we shall accept? Kṛṣṇa's or Ramakrishna's? What is your opinion? If something is spoken by Kṛṣṇa and something is spoken by Ramakrishna, so which one we shall prefer to accept?
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Devotee: "Purport: In this verse it is clearly indicated that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the only means of being delivered from the clutches of this contaminated material world. Sometimes unscrupulous commentators distort the meaning of what is clearly stated here: that all devotional service should be offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Unfortunately, unscrupulous commentators divert the mind of the reader to that which is not at all feasible. Such commentators do not know that there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa's mind and Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not an ordinary human being. He's Absolute Truth. His body..."
Prabhupāda: Just like Dr. Radhakrishnan. He has explained this verse... When Kṛṣṇa says man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ, he comments, "It is not to the person Kṛṣṇa." Just see. Kṛṣṇa says man-manā, "Always think of Me." And he, out of his so-called nonsense scholarship, he says, "It is not to Kṛṣṇa." (Hindi)
Guest (1) Indian man: He's impersonalist. I read that Bhagavad-gītā in school.
Prabhupāda: He's a nonsense. He's a nonsense. Now he's suffering. I saw him last year in Madras. He has lost his brain. He's suffering now. You cannot ask him whether he's hungry or whether he wants some... Only his daughter is attending and here he cannot understand who is standing before him. He cannot speak. Like that. (Hindi) He has committed so much offenses under the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. (Hindi for some minutes) ...very meritorious. I think you cannot understand Hindi.
Prabhupāda: No Gītā, or... Many translations, but the original Gītā is perfect.
Paramahaṁsa: Yeah. Well they are not even sure that the Bible is (tape is very distorted) As a matter of fact it's a known fact that so many of the excerpts from Christ's disciples were, how you say, censored. There were parts taken out.
Prabhupāda: Some Bible authorities say that there is no soul of the animal. St. Joseph or something.
Devotee: St. Thomas.
Karandhara:. That was St. Augustine.
Prabhupāda: Just see. How great fool he was. And he's a saint. You see.
Kṛṣṇa-kāntī: Well the real in his book (tape distortions)
Prabhupāda: Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: One life is the food of another.
Prabhupāda: Just see. How great fool he was. And he's a saint. You see.
Kṛṣṇa-kāntī: Well the real in his book (tape distortions)
Prabhupāda: Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: One life is the food of another.
Prabhupāda: Another. That is not the question. That is also science. And this is also science that every living entity has got... (distortions) You eat. That I have already said, but why do you say something which is not fact?
Devotee: They say what is the difference between an animal and a plant?
Prabhupāda: Maybe different (distortion) difference between you and me. That difference you'll find amongst ourselves. We are all different. But that does not mean I have no soul. Any one of us has soul. (distortions till end of tape)
Prabhupāda: No, soul is different. Soul is different. Soul is finer than intelligence. These things are explained in the Bhagavad-gītā.
- indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur
- indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ
- manasas tu parā buddhir
- yo buddheḥ paratas tu saḥ
- (BG 3.42)
First of all, gross understanding. This body means the senses. Indriyāṇi. Those who are animals, they are thinking this is all. But they do not understand that these indriyas are being controlled by the mind. If one's mind is, what is called, distorted, then the indriyas cannot work. That is madman. You try to cure the mental disease just to bring him in proper position to control the senses. Otherwise, he does not know how to control the senses. Therefore the controller of the senses is the mind. And above the mind there is intelligence. And above the intelligence there is soul. So we cannot see even the mind, intelligence and ego. And how we can see the soul? The soul has got his magnitude. And without understanding, without education about the soul, about the spirit soul, any other understanding, that is animal understanding. (pause) Give him prasāda.
Ambassador: Most of... Well, I mean, I was a very political person. I must be very honest with you.
Prabhupāda: No, I'm talking of...
Ambassador: To me, Gītā means Gandhi's Gītā which said in a very distorted, very limited version...
Prabhupāda: Gandhi did not know anything about Bhagavad-gītā.
Ambassador: (laughs) I understand him best.
Prabhupāda: Well, you... Gandhi may give his opinion, but why he should give through Bhagavad-gītā?
Ambassador: I know. Anāsakta-yoga is really...
Prabhupāda: He should not take advantage of... That is being done. Everyone is taking advantage of the popularity of Bhagavad-gītā and he's expressing his own opinion.
Ambassador: That's true.
Prabhupāda: This is going on. We want to stop this nonsense. If you have got opinion, you write different book.
Pradyumna:
- kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ
- prapadyante 'nya-devatāḥ
- taṁ taṁ niyamam āsthāya
- prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā
- (BG 7.20)
"Those whose minds are distorted by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures."
Prabhupāda: Hm. Next verse.
Pradyumna:
- yo yo yāṁ yāṁ tanuṁ bhaktaḥ
- śraddhayārcitum icchati
- tasya tasyācalāṁ śraddhāṁ
- tām eva vidadhāmy aham
"I am in everyone's heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship the demigods, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to some particular deity."
Prabhupāda: Hm. Then next.
Pradyumna:
- sa tayā śraddhayā yuktas
- tasyārādhanam īhate
- labhate ca tataḥ kāmān
- mayaiva vihitān hi tān
Prabhupāda: That also kāmān. Whatever benediction they get, that is sanctioned by Kṛṣṇa. They cannot give it independently. You can keep it here. These six volumes are already published.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: ...fact is that if you have got different views about Kṛṣṇa, then you cannot prove that from the Bhagavad-gītā. That you cannot prove. If you take Bhagavad-gītā, then you must present it as it is. Don't distort it. You may have got some idea, but you explain that idea in your different book. But don't place it as the explanation of Bhagavad-gītā. That is not very good. If you have got different theory, you can write in a different book. But we cannot permit or do not like that as the commentary of Bhagavad-gītā you will place something different. That is not very honest. You put your own theory. Why should you try to put your theory through Bhagavad-gītā? That we protest. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said that "There is no superior authority than Me." Therefore He is the God. Mām eva ya prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8): "I am the origin of everything." And if you have got different idea, that somebody else is the origin, that you can explain differently. But you cannot keep it as explanation of Bhagavad-gītā. Then it is distortion, because in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said,
- ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo
- mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate
He becomes final,
- iti matvā bhajante māṁ
- budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ
- (BG 10.8)
Iti matvā: "One who knows this perfectly well that Kṛṣṇa is the origin of everything, he becomes a devotee." Iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā. Budhā mean very learned. Bhāva-samanvitāḥ: "Oh, here is the supreme cause, or Kṛṣṇa."
Harikeśa: Then in the afternoon they're vacant. That's when they get their big collection, big collection on Sunday.
Dr. Patel: Sir, everywhere it is the church which has actually distorted the message.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Dr. Patel: It is the church which has distorted the message. You see the Christ's message is distorted by the church; our Kṛṣṇa's message is distorted by our temples, sort of a thing.
Prabhupāda: Why temples? Even your big, big political leaders, they distort. Why do you blame the temples?
Dr. Patel: But Christianity is distorted by the...
Prabhupāda: Everyone. That is going on.
Dr. Patel: ...those popes. However, Christ taught bhāgavata-dharma, absolute bhāgavata-dharma. It is this creation of the church, really to my mind, that the Christ is forgotten by the Western countries.
Prabhupāda: And who is remembering your Kṛṣṇa in this country?
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: (tape very distorted) They are not beggar. But Kṛṣṇa has assured, yoga-kṣemaṁ vahām... Why they should go to beg? That this is only a process to approach them. If you approach any gentleman as beggar, he'll give you, at least in India. Not.... Just to enlighten, give them education. (break) He's thinking, "This is life." And the sannyāsī's duty is: "No, not this is life. You are in darkness, mūḍha." That is sannyāsī's business: to enlighten. (break) ...everything, and only for understanding future, they'll be left on the hand of the nature. Is that very good proposal? Hmm? No. There must be.
Indian man: But they have process. They earn wealth. That's all. And no future for the child, they don't...
Prabhupāda: Because they have no education. The guru's duty is to give them education; the sannyāsī's duty is to give.... They do not give. They say, "Yes, you are all right. Give me some money." That's all. That they go: "I am avatāra, I am this, I am that," that's all. And he is.... He return (indistinct) to darkness. That's all. (break) ...they used to discover, whole method is finished.
Hari-śauri: Oh, yeah. During the war.
Prabhupāda: At the Kumbhamela millions of people are coming to take bathing in the Ganges because they are interested how to become liberated. They're not lazy. They're going thousands miles, two thousand miles away, to take bathing in the Prayāgaa. So they are not lazy. But they are not busy in the dog's race. Yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī. Saṁyamī. He keeps night, he does not sleep. Others are sleeping. So similarly, the dogs and asses, they think that "They are not working." And they are working. The different platforms. So the Vedic civilization which is practiced in India... Now it is distorted, but actually, they are not lazy. They are very, very busy. Not only very, very busy, but from, they are trying to become self-realized from the very beginning of life. Kaumāraṁ...
Devotee: Kaumāraṁ acaret prajñā?
Prabhupāda: Prajño dharmaṁ bhāgavatan iha. That is recommended. They are not lazy. They are so busy that want to begin the business from the very childhood. So it is a wrong conception that they are lazy.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So then if this is false that actually they're not...
Prabhupāda: they do not know what is the aim of life. They think that "they are not racing like dog; therefore, they are lazy." But they are busy, very busy, from the childhood. But they have no eyes to see what is, business means.
Prabhupāda: So far Vedic religion is concerned, it is not for the Hindus. That is to be understood. The sanātana-dharma. It is for all living entities, all human beings. It is called sanātana-dharma. That I have already explained. The living entity is sanātana, God is sanātana, and there is sanātana-dharma. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). And where Kṛṣṇa is described sanātana in the Eleventh Chapter. Do you remember? He is described as sanātana. Sanātanam. So actually, the Vedic system is called sanātana-dharma. Not Hindu dharma. This is a wrong conception. The sanātana-dharma is meant for all living entities, not the so-called Hindus, Muslims, Christians. For everyone. That is sanātana-dharma. These are later misconceptions, Hinduism and this ism, that ism, that ism. Actually, it is called sanātana-dharma, or varṇāśrama-dharma. That is meant for everyone. But because it was being followed regularly in India and Indians were called by the Muslims on the other side of the River Sind, or Sindu, and they pronounce Sind as Hind. Therefore they called India as Hindustan, means on the other side of Sindu, or Hindu River. Otherwise, it has no Vedic reference. So this Hindu dharma has no Vedic reference. The real Vedic dharma is sanātana-dharma, varṇāśrama-dharma. First of all he has to understand this. Now that sanātana-dharma, or Vedic dharma, being distorted, not being obeyed, not being carried properly, it has come to the understanding of Hinduism.
Hari-śauri: Somehow or other, they seem to think that the Vedānta is something better than any of the other śāstra. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam doesn't seem to be so popular in India as Vedānta or something like that.
Prabhupāda: It is very popular amongst the Māyāvāda people. You speak also... Now the so-called Vedantists they are speaking on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, distorting. Akhoyananda, Akandananda, Karpatri, the rascals. Because they have no subject matter to speak, they are distorting the meaning of Bhāgavata. This boy appears to be nice, this fat boy.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Kīrtanānanda said he's the only local boy who has taken interest. He's from hereabouts.
Prabhupāda: He said that "I've wanted to see you since a long time." So, keep friendship with... Giving them prasādam?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Kīrtanānanda Swami cut up some watermelon, and we distributed it to the guests.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, shall I lock this up?
Guest (5): ...distorting the life of Kṛṣṇa. Your divine grace the film producers are distorting all our mythological...
Prabhupāda: But as soon as you say "mythology," there is no Kṛṣṇa.
Guest (5): Don't say "mythology," I mean to say, my meaning was that they are distorting all our religious... They are making films, putting something, unusual things and cheap things. We can reform them and bring...
Prabhupāda: No, unless (indistinct) it will not to the art.
Guest (5): You can bring these (indistinct) into the art.
Prabhupāda: No, that you can use your art.
Guest (5): Yes.
Prabhupāda: Just to give some incentive but the thing is unless we practice...
Prabhupāda: Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). "This science of Bhagavad-gītā, I spoke to the sun-god millions of years ago." By the calculation it is forty millions of years ago. Now who will believe that, that Kṛṣṇa spoke this Bhagavad-gītā forty millions of years ago to the sun-god? Hm? Who will believe that? They'll say mythology. So where is the faith in Bhagavad-gītā and faith in the words of Kṛṣṇa? Understanding Hamlet without Hamlet. (distortion) You cannot make your interpretation that whatever is written there, I take instead of..., I take... (coughing) That is not the way of understanding Bhagavad-gītā. Then from the very beginning you'll spoil it. Then what is the meaning of preaching Bhagavad-gītā? If you do not accept the direction of the author, then what right you have got to say that you have understood Bhagavad-gītā?
Prabhupāda: Now how you will understand unless you come to the science? (break) Gandhi manufactured. The Bhagavad-gītā is spoken in the battlefield, and he wanted to draw the conclusion of nonviolence. What is this? Kṛṣṇa says kutas tvā kaśmalam idaṁ viṣame... "In this battlefield you are talking of nonsense, that 'I'll not fight.' " He says so and Gandhi wanted to make it nonviolent. Just see how from the very beginning he distorted. And people accept it. Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhaḥ (BG 3.21). He was a śreṣṭha, leader. So whatever he will say people will accept. The whole India became spoiled.
Indian man: But the way to saksaska (?) is only...
Prabhupāda: Saksaska is... Kṛṣṇa is speaking, "Here I am." Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8). Now why not saksaska? You can have. Unless you believe... You do not believe it.
Indian man: It is a...? It is a belief or is it...?
Prabhupāda: Rather, if somebody says, "I am your father." So if you don't believe then how it can be believed?
Indian man: But there is somebody, some concrete person, telling me that "I am your father," but...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Nobody knows who is his father.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: No, tattva-jñānārtha-darśanam. Tattva. Tattva, what is tattva?
- vadanti tat tattva-vidas
- tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam
- brahmeti paramātmeti
- bhagavān iti śabdyate
- (SB 1.2.11)
"One who has understood these three features of the Absolute—Bhāgavata—Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān, he knows tattva." That is tattva. Yo jānāti tattvataḥ. So where is that tattva-jñāna? Tattva-jñānārtha-darśanam. That is philosophy, when he is trying to understand the tattva. And Bhagavān says, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). That is tattva. So everything is there, Bhagavad-gītā. And they are distorting the meaning of Bhagavad-gītā, explaining in their own way and cheating people. We are presenting, therefore, Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Then it is acting. So he is now in the West Coast?
Yogi Amrit Desai: Who? Yes.
Rāmeśvara: Actually, one argument that they use... They have found an old Back to Godhead article that I think you wrote, Śrīla Prabhupāda. It was about Arjuna's position during the battle of Kurukṣetra, where he had to fight against his relatives. You were commenting that "So sometimes you may have to even kill your family members for Kṛṣṇa." So they take this magazine article, and they say that "Hare Kṛṣṇa leaders are teaching all the devotees to kill their parents." So this is an example of how they will distort everything.
Prabhupāda: That... You can distort anything. If there is expert distortion, it is...
Trivikrama: We can kill our parents even, like Prahlāda.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is actually required. Prahlāda did not protest. It is a great sin, if your father is being killed before you, if you do not protest even, "Why you are killing?" not to give protection. But even if you do not, then you are not worthy son. So in that way Prahlāda Mahārāja was accused that in his presence his father was being killed. He did not protest, neither he... Rather, he was ready with the garland: (laughter) "As soon as my father is killed, immediately garland the Lord." So that is not the fact. And he is... Later on, he requested that "My father was a great offender. So kindly give him protection."
Prabhupāda: And you are presenting nicely.
Rāmeśvara: Usually what they do is they bring someone on the show to ask us questions, and this person is very demoniac. He distorts and...
Prabhupāda: Why they should question? We shall explain.
Rāmeśvara: Well, we get the opportunity to, but that's how they set it up. In other words, they want to see us defeated, but in the end they are always defeated.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is in our charge. Yes. They are afraid of their demonic civilization being killed by this movement. That is their...
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Fear.
Prabhupāda: Therefore they are combining together. The demons, without illicit sex, without intoxication, without meat-eating, without gambling, their life is finished. So they are thinking, "How we shall live if this movement is allowed to make progress like epidemic?" And that is the idea behind.
Prabhupāda: But do you say like that?
Rāmeśvara: No, they are distorting. But that is their ar... And just like they use your Back to Godhead article about Arjuna on the battlefield, that sometimes we may even have to kill our relatives for Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: So, suppose if God said that "You kill," what you will do?
Rāmeśvara: Our argument is just that, that in the Bible, God told Abraham, "You must kill your son Isaac." This is a famous story in the Bible. So Abraham took his son and was ready to chop off his head. And God felt sorry and He stopped him. But that story is there in the Bible, that God told Abraham to kill his son, and Abraham was ready to do it. It does not mean that the Jewish religion is based on killing your son.
Jagadīśa: It was a test of his faith.
Rāmeśvara: It was a test of his faith. The same story of Arjuna, he had to kill for Kṛṣṇa. It's actually a good argument when they say that.
Prabhupāda: You have got sugar candy?
Prabhupāda: That is not presented in that way. So we do not say... But these warnings that... It is... We must understand it is very confidential thing. It is not for ordinary men. If we present as ordinary thing, that is distortion. Our... I have got stricture that we don't present...
Guest (2): (showing picture?) This is our... Here. You made this. This is...
Prabhupāda: This is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. That's all right. But generally, gopīs, rasa-līlā and gopīs, vastra-haraṇa-līlā...
Guest (2): No, no. Vastra-haraṇa is not...
Guest (1): All is concentrated—the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa līlā.
Prabhupāda: No, no. Why don't you present...? Kṛṣṇa has so many līlās. Just like... Where is our Kṛṣṇa book? You have got?
Hari-śauri: I can get a copy.
Prabhupāda: Yes. There is...
Hari-śauri: Any volume, or...?
Prabhupāda: That... Kṛṣṇa is killing Kamsa.
Prabhupāda: So if you are serious, you let us combine together, learn Kṛṣṇa consciousness, deliver your country, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu advised that āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra ei deśa (CC Madhya 7.128). The whole country has gone to hell. So many people come, ask me all odd question... (tape distorted—break)
Guest (3): Out of their... This Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: (Bengali)
Guest (2): Yesterday one of my colleagues asked me, "What is this (Bengali)?" But we, the parents of Mother Earth forget about it. But Swamiji has started it not only Europe, America, he has started universal... Except India (Bengali)... You said that you are educated man, you go and hear lecture.
Prabhupāda: No, we are recognized by all educated circle all over the world. If you read the opinions of scholars.
Guest (2): We have read many of your publications. And I was just telling him like dharma that "Swamiji has done only one thing, that he has made the universe not only contained to India. He has made the whole world conscious about Kṛṣṇa. To know about Kṛṣṇa at least, the real Kṛṣṇa. Or the superpower. He has made this point.
Prabhupāda: That's all. This is the dangerous... And they are considered as big men, and people follow, and they are misled. Otherwise, in India, so much fallen condition due to these rascal leaders. That I am speaking repeatedly, although it may be very harsh. But we have to say that. Everyone has distorted. Gandhi says Kurukṣetra, "this body." Where is the chance of talking of "this body," the Kurukṣetra? Has he not?
Guest (1): Yes.
Prabhupāda: Where is the dictionary, "the body means Kurukṣetra, and Kurukṣetra means the body."
Guest (1): He has told, karma-kṣetra. Kuru-karma.
Prabhupāda: So you can drag some meaning. That is another thing. But Kurukṣetra is there still.
Mr. Pandiya: That is the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.
Guest (2): That is interpretation.
Prabhupāda: That is interpretation. Interpretation... Here is a person in the legal way. Interpretation is required when you cannot understand. Is it not?
Prabhupāda: Yes. No, anything, if you can understand very clearly, where is the question of interpretation? But it has become a fashion that "If I can interpret in my own way, I become a big scholar." This is going on. If you have got your philosophy, you can speak. Everyone is free. Why you should take Bhagavad-gītā and distort it? Kṛṣṇa never meant that "In future Gandhi will come," or "Dr. Radhakrishnan will come, and he will explain My ideas." What is this nonsense? Kṛṣṇa was a foolish person that he left it for Gandhi for distortion? He could not explain Himself that Kurukṣetra means this body? Gandhi has to interpret? Do you think it is right?
Guest (5) (Indian man): Not at all.
Prabhupāda: But this is going on. What right you have got to interpret? If Kurukṣetra means body, Kṛṣṇa would have explained that. Was He not learned? He left it for Gandhi. Just see. He left it for Tilak. How harmful these interpretations are. That is going on. (end)
Satsvarūpa: "Indian Brain Research Association, Department of Biochemistry, University of Calcutta. Gentlemen: The Hare Kṛṣṇa kīrtana mantra used in meditation or chanting of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa has been practiced not only by the Vaiṣṇavas of India, but by most of the Hindus as a regular religious and social practice in Hindu families. Millions of Hindus practice with sublime devotion the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. We are not aware of any case where such practice has resulted in any detrimental effect to the health or mind of anyone. We can submit that the worshiping of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, as being practiced in West Bengal, India, does not differ from that of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra chanting of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. And as such, either of them cannot do any harm to the devotee or to the observer. Further we can add that the rhythmic dance and musical (Bengali:) svara in Hare Kṛṣṇa kīrtana mantra may have profound beneficial effect on a distorted human mind. These practices do not have any relation with brainwashing, although the word seems to carry no scientific meaning at all. Statement by Professor Ajit K. Mytee. Yours faithfully, J.J. Ghosh, President on behalf of the Indian Brain Research Association."
Prabhupāda: It is good certificate. And University of Calcutta. So you publish this.
Satsvarūpa: Śrīla Prabhupāda sent letters to Rāmeśvara and Ādi-keśava to put it in the newspaper.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Ādi-keśa is here in India.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Prabhupāda: I do not know how he wanted to draw nonviolence from this idea. This is going on, distorting the real fact. Politics without violence is impossible. There is a Bengali proverb, Naste base gun tata:(?) "A girl has come to the stage for dancing, and she is pulling her veil." (laughs) She has to dance freely, and what is the use of...? Nasta base gun tata.(?) In politics nonviolence, there is no history. The Britishers took it an opportunity to continue their ruling.
Mahāṁśa: He wasn't even political man, because politics means there has to be violence.
Prabhupāda: No, impartially studying, he endeavored for upliftment of the South African Indians, South Africans, yes, Johannesburg.
Brahmānanda: In Durban he started.
Prabhupāda: Ah, in Durban. That was failure. The Indians haven't got any position still.
Jayatīrtha: None.
Prabhupāda: It is universal, science. It is science. So why this science is kept locket up and distorted by the leaders? If you understand one line of Bhagavad-gītā, your life becomes successful. Now our leaders are supposed to read Bhagavad-gītā, but who understands this one line, tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13)? Nobody understands. And they are scholars of Bhagavad-gītā. They cannot understand this one line in the beginning. This is going on. So I would request you to take this matter seriously and... And it is being responded. I am writing these books on Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and we are selling daily five to six lakhs' worth of books. In a foreign country, where their religious system is different, and during Christmas festival we are selling our books, large quantity.
Mr. Rajda: That's a novel thing, no, novel thing.
Prabhupāda: So unless there is something substantial... They are intelligent.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Why not make that? This political change, this political situation change, it will go on. Today you are powerful. Tomorrow I am powerful. That does not make any difference. Indira Gandhi was so powerful. In one day everything finished. So it may be finished, my position. Mohitaṁ nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam (BG 7.13). Tribhir guṇamayair bhāvaiḥ. They do not know, behind these all activities there is a person who can do anything He likes. So what about to know about Him? So these things are there in India. The knowledge is not secret. It is open. So without distorting it, without breaking it and spoiling it, why not give it as it is for the benefit of the whole humanity? You are young man. You can think over.
Indian (1): With a commission.
Prabhupāda: But...
Mr. Rajda: With your blessings... With your blessing I can be sure to be able to do something.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: That is being done all over the world. If you simply understand this one line, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ... (BG 2.13). So today I am Indian, and after death I become something else. There are 8,400,000 different bodies. Today I may be very exalted minister, and tomorrow, if I become something else... I'll have to, because nature's law, you cannot check. Tathā dehānt... Just like here is child. You cannot check to become young man. That is not in your power. She must become or he must become. Similarly, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ, it is not in your hand or in my hand. It is in the hand of the prakṛti. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ, ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā (BG 3.27). So there are so many things that... The human society requires this knowledge and we are trying to give this knowledge alone with our humble attempt, and these foreigners are helping with their prāṇair arthair dhiyā vācā, by their life, by their money, by their intelligence, by their words. (aside:) Give them pad. They cannot sit comfortably. There is pad. Give him. Pads. Yes. No, no. Oh. (Hindi) Sukham asinaḥ.(?) First of all one must... Give her. So we have got, at least in Bombay, the most important place in India, this institution. So come here. Try to understand the philosophy. There is no difficulty. But we neglect it. We are simply ne..., and distorting.
Prabhupāda: We are simply ne..., and distorting. Everyone is giving his own interpretation. Eh? Then when, where is the importance of Kṛṣṇa? If Bhagavad-gītā is a book who is authority, and if you interpret and give your own interpretation, then where is the authority? Suppose Parliament passes one law, and if I interpret in my own way, then where is the authority of the law? This is the idea. If you want to give some idea of your own, give it separately. Why do you take Bhagavad-gītā and distort it? This is not gentlemanly, this. We are presenting, therefore, Bhagavad-gītā as it is, and it is being accepted. And before me so many swamis, yogis went there. They also tried to explain Bhagavad-gītā, but nobody accepted. There was... In the history there was not a single devotee of Kṛṣṇa before my going. Now there are thousands. Why? The secret is that I am presenting as it is.
Mr. Rajda: As it is, quite.
Prabhupāda: No distortion, no cheating. This is the secret. They give me credit, "Swamiji, you have done wonderful. You have done..." I say the secret of wonderful is this, that I have not distorted it. I have presented Bhagavad-gītā as it is. It is open secret.
Prabhupāda: So they are hankering after for improving. Everyone is hankering. So let there be a demi-official, a regular institute to teach people the principles of Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Bas. Don't distort it. Don't amend it. As it is. What is the objection?
Mr. Rajda: I can't find any objection.
Prabhupāda: Bhagavad-gītā is accepted, and so far I understand that when Morarji was going to be arrested, he said that "Let me finish my reading of Bhagavad-gītā." I read it in the paper.
Mr. Rajda: Yes, he was saying.
Prabhupāda: So he... He's a devotee of Bhagavad-gītā, and there are many others. So why this teaching should not be given to the whole world?
Mr. Rajda: Now, sir, daily he gets up at 3.30 a.m., does first of all his religious things, reading of Bhagavad-gītā and all this. And that goes on for two, three hours. Then, at seven, he comes out of his room after taking his bath. Then he meets particular...
Prabhupāda: No, no, I mean to say that you have to take work from the head and from the leg, but head and leg different. Sva-karmaṇā tam abhyarcya (BG 18.46). That is science. If you want to take the work of head from the leg, that is foolishness. Head must remain head, leg must remain leg, but you take the work of leg for walking; you take the work of the brain for thinking. That is wanted. Evasive is no good. So anyway, our mission is that Indians especially, they should take advantage of Bhagavad-gītā—not by distorting the meaning. As it is. You cannot distort the statement of Bhagavad-gītā. Then you defy the authority of Bhagavad-gītā. You manufacture your own way. That is very bad. Then there is no authority. Sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi keśava (BG 10.14). As Arjuna... "Whatever You say, I have accepted." That is the need, not that "I am very learned scholar; I can change the meaning." That is not good. You are not greater authority than Kṛṣṇa. Thinking like that is foolishness. Kṛṣṇa is authority. All the ācāryas, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, they have all accepted kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). How you can speak something else what, against what, the instruction of Kṛṣṇa?
Prabhupāda: You can take different meaning, but we do not take like that. We take Bhagavad-gītā as it is.
Indian man (4): Swamiji, how do we know that that the meaning is distorted?
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Indian man (4): How do we know that the meaning is distorted?
Prabhupāda: Because you do not worship Kṛṣṇa.
Indian man (4): Swami?
Prabhupāda: Because you do not worship Kṛṣṇa. It is plain fact. But we worship Kṛṣṇa. In every temple, all over the world, 102 temples, we worship Kṛṣṇa. But you don't worship Kṛṣṇa.
Indian man (3): No, we worship all gods, Swamiji, irrespective of...
Prabhupāda: Ah, that means avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11), kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ yajante anya-devatāḥ (BG 7.20). Hṛta-jñānāḥ, naṣṭa-buddhayaḥ.
Indian man (3): Swamiji, we are interested in...
Indian man (2): I think...
Prabhupāda: Everyone. What is the difficulty? But you understand in a different way. It is simple thing. Everyone understands. This is expected. But you understand in different way. That is difficulty. You create your own meaning.
Indian man (3): I request, Swamiji, on what basis we can say that it is a different meaning or distorted meaning and not the meaning which the Gītā says...?
Prabhupāda: Because you say that nobody knows. You say. And whatever meaning, that is in your mind, but you said nobody knows.
Indian man (5): No, that is quite mistaken talk.
Prabhupāda: That mistake... Then what can I talk? It is mistake.
Indian man (3): I said nobody knows until he knows.
Prabhupāda: So if one does not want to know, how he'll know?
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is all right.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not necessary to bring these people.
Prabhupāda: Distorting meaning.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This... The thing is, their guru is nonsense, so he's attracted nonsense disciples. They want to be cheated and they have the cheating guru.
Prabhupāda: They have come from Hawaii?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hawaii. Hawaii.(?)
Prabhupāda: Oh, oh, that Hawaii program(?).
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Two of them are disciples of Shivananda Ashram in Hrishikesh, and three of them are from Swami Chin... They're Swami Chinmayananda's disciples. Swami Chinmayananda has this program. He advertises for getting young men. Now they're the second batch. They study different Vedas and Upaniṣads. (end)
Prabhupāda: That is the misfortune. They have left the authority, real authority. They have accepted some foolish man as authority. And that is the misfortune. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, the supreme authority. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). Why don't you take this? Distortion of our śāstra, distortion of authority, and bringing something foolish, and you are following. Not... You cannot follow. That is not possible. It is not possible. But you are making some authorities. You trying to follow. Even if you follow... That, the same example, just like Vivekananda was advocating daridra-nārāyaṇa. First of all this is a concocted word. How Nārāyaṇa can be daridra? People have accepted. Nārāyaṇa is daridra?
Mr. Dwivedi: No.
Prabhupāda: Then how he manufactured this nonsense word? It is insulting. If I say, "Foolish Jetthi, President, rascal," so is it not insult? Similarly, if you say, daridra-nārāyaṇa, it is insult to Nārāyaṇa. But people are accepting daridra-nārāyaṇa. Just see how they are misled.
Indian man: They have not even proper knowledge, sir.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Prabhupāda: No, hanged. They are not guru. They are not missionaries. They do not know. They have no knowledge. And missionaries? You see? The so-called politicians, philosopher, religionists, rascals, distorting the meaning of Bhagavad-gītā. And yato mata tato patha. And "I like. Whatever I like, I can speak, and that is supported." What is this? Chaotic condition. There is no standard. We are giving the standard, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. And Gandhi said, "Oh, how can I stop cow-killing? It is their religion." Just see. Such a rascal. "My religion is to kill others, and it should be supported by the government." Such a foolish man, they are on the government power. Parīkṣit Mahārāja, did he consider that? "So you are killing cow? You must be killed." That's all. Life for life. "It is my religion, sir." "Then get out here! Get out of my kingdom! Perform your religion outside." This is king. This is government. He said like that, Kali. You know?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: "Yes, all right, I don't interfere with your business, but not... You leave my kingdom. Get out."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Kali said that "You have given me nowhere to live now, 'cause in your kingdom there is no such place."
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) It will distribute India's glories. People will feel obliged to India, that "We have got this knowledge from India." Actually knowledge is here. There is no such knowledge all over the world.
- bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra
- janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra
- (CC Adi 9.41)
Paropakāra. India is meant for paropakāra. India is not meant for exploiting others. But unfortunately the knowledge is... Sarasvatī jñāna-khale yathā satī. We have got the store of knowledge, but we have kept it locked up, not distributed to the world. They are called jñāna-khala. One who has knowledge but he does not want to distribute it, that is, they are termed as jñāna-khala. So we should not be jñāna-khala. In India there is storehouse of spiritual knowledge, and every one of us should make our life successful by assimilating this knowledge and distribute all over the world. There is customer; there is appreciation. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. (Hindi) Why you should be jñāna-khala? Na sādhu manye. Jñāna should be distributed. The modern scientists also, they have... If they have discovered something new, they go and distribute for the benefit of the whole human society. Unfortunately we are distorting the knowledge in Bhagavad-gītā, interpreting in a different way according to my whims, and spoiling my life and others'. This process should be stopped. Present Bhagavad-gītā as it is. You'll be benefited; others... Don't distort.
Prabhupāda: That is the aim of life. So everything is explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And then these unfortunate rascals, they are distorting. What can I do? How to stop it?
Devotee (3): But they will argue, "Why should we accept that there will be a next life?"
Prabhupāda: Rascal, why you are accepting old age? You are young man. You have to accept, become. Why you are accepting, rascal? Answer this.
Devotee (3): I don't know.
Prabhupāda: So then why do you talk nonsense? "Why shall I accept?" You have to accept, nonsense. That is the law of nature. Do you think you'll not become an old man like me? "I'll not accept." You have to accept. So what is the use of saying like that, foolish rascals?
Devotee (3): So they must accept that...
Prabhupāda: They must accept. They have to accept.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Oh, yes.
Governor: Distorted. I know it.
Prabhupāda: Distorted. Manufactured by the Communists.
Governor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So give us little protection. That is my request.
Governor: We'll do it, no doubt. I'm meeting the Prime Minister tomorrow, and we are going to discuss that matter. This is my daughter. She stays in Delhi.
Prabhupāda: Oh. Thank you very much. She is married?
Governor: She is married. She has a husband. She was also an advocate in... This is husband. He's in the government of India agricultural department now.
Prabhupāda: Very good. We are very much interested in agriculture.
Governor: He's a scientist. Very, very great scientist. He is Ph.D. of California University.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Prabhupāda: Gandhi tried twenty years to get little equal rights. The General Smuts refused. He was failure in South Africa. And then he decided that "I shall drive these Europeans, Englishmen, from India." He came. That also he could not do. Here also, for thirty years he struggled. He was failure, nonviolent. It is Subhash Bose's INA which drove away these Englishmen. You know that? That Indian Army, what is that, INA, Indian National Army? When he organized this National Army, then the Englishmen came to sense that "Now we cannot rule over." This rascal was going on, nonviolence... (laughter) While... "We shall pat them: 'Oh, yes, you are so powerful. Oh, why you are trying to drive away?' " And he'll be... "Oh..." The Baitland(?) Colony in a loincloth, and engaged in the sun chair.(?) He had no practical knowledge. He started the movement from 1917, and actually it was... Independence was given, 1947. Thirty years he failed. Twenty years he failed there. He spoils fifty years for nothing, and distorting Bhagavad-gītā, that in Bhagavad-gītā there is nonviolence. Such a rascal. Bhagavad-gītā begins with, with this word, dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre yuyutsavaḥ: (BG 1.1) "Two parties desiring to fight." That is the beginning. Yudhyasva mām anusmara (BG 8.7). And Kṛṣṇa's whole life is yuddha, fighting. Before His birth, plan was being made how to kill Him. This is yuddha. Kaṁsa was planning. And after His birth He had to go away, just to make a show, from His father's house to another house incognito to avoid yuddha. And when yuddha began, three months old, He killed Pūtanā.
Prabhupāda: Just see. How they are distorting history and everything. And in Mahābhārata... He's advertising himself as staunch student of Bhagavad-gītā, and he is distorting the meaning in so many ways. That is his business. And he's mahātmā. Mahātmā means mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, bhajanty ananya... (BG 9.13). Mahātmā is a great devotee who has no other business than to obey the orders of Kṛṣṇa. Bhajanti. Bhajana-sevā. And he's is discarding, distorting, and he's mahātmā. Just see. If you study, scrutinizing, these men have done greatest disservice to the country, to the people in general. And they have received no result. And I have worked ten years only with Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: So much result.
Prabhupāda: Yes. The rascals are so blind. Phalena paricīyate. The result is here.
Yaśomatīnandana: And he's called father of the nation.
Prabhupāda: Therefore your nation is like that
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Nation is so poor now.
Correspondence
1969 Correspondence
In this case also the best treatment is to give the people scientific religious ideas which are very clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gita. But unfortunately, unscrupulous and rascal so-called scholars, religionists and philosophers have misinterpreted the teachings of Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita, and they have misled the whole population. Bhagavad-gita is popular not only in India, but also all over the world. Unfortunately, the real idea has been distorted. We have therefore presented our Bhagavad-gita As It Is, and perhaps you know it; it is published by MacMillan. I have tried to explain in this book the real purpose of the Bhagavad-gita. Bhagavad-gita is the authorized book to teach people how to love Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is nothing else except devotional service to the Lord described there, but great politicians have misinterpreted the sunshine-like clear statements of Bhagavad-gita with a cloud of mental concoctions. So if you think seriously to improve the condition of India, you can begin even in a small-scale the propagation of Krishna Consciousness, and if you do it seriously and sincerely, surely you will be successful.
1976 Correspondence
We have published so many books to explain our viewpoint, and why we should sit idly by and allow the press to unfairly take advantage of such a situation to misrepresent the Hare Krishna Movement. In any case, the movement cannot be judged simply by the activities of some individuals, but these men were not in our camp and still the press took unfair notice of all the facts. We should demand at least equal time from the press to explain the entire situation clearly, and when necessary we should file suit against such newspapers in order that things are not distorted. It is not in our aims anywhere to build bombs for any purpose. The same mentality is involved in trying to blow-up a slaughterhouse as is there in meat-eating. Such things will not stop people from unnecessary animal slaughter. It is only by educating people in the science of Krishna Consciousness that they will automatically develop all good qualities. Yasyatma bhaktir bhagavati akincana, sarvair gunais tatra samasate surah. And the nondevotee will not have any good qualities even they may be vegetarians. Harav abhaktasya kuto mahad guna manorathenasati dhavato bahih (SB 5.18.12). So we should clearly establish our aims in such situations and sit by idly. We must preach very boldly whenever the situation is favorable.
| Page Title: | Distort (Lect., Conv. and Letters) |
| Compiler: | Mayapur, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 09 of Oct, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=15, Con=43, Let=2 |
| No. of Quotes: | 60 |