If you want to conquer the tongue, then you fix up your mind that you shall not take anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa. Then your tongue will be controlled. Tāra madhye jihvā ati lobhamaya sudurmati. Tongue is the bitterest enemy of the living being. The tongue is dragging. Jihvā. "Kindly give me this immediately. Kindly give me this wine immediately. Kindly give me this tea immediately. Kindly give me this cigarette immediately. Kindly give me this meat." Why? Control. Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ (BG 9.26). So we have to take prasādam, eat Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Then naturally the other things will be negativated. This is the position. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29).
Drag (Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Lecture on BG 1.36 -- London, July 26, 1973:
So many things they have. So when Hiraṇyakaśipu was defeated, all the devatās, they did not make such aggression, but the wife of Hiraṇyakaśipu—Kāyadhu, I think—she was arrested by Indra and was taken. She was crying, just usual, woman. But she was being dragged by Indra. So Nārada was passing. Now, he said, "What are you doing this?" "No, there is no question of harassing this woman. But I am taking her in my custody because she is pregnant and the child is begotten by asura, Hiraṇyakaśipu. Therefore I shall wait for the birth of the child, and as soon as she gives birth, I will kill that child." Yes. So Nārada said, "No, no. That child is not asura child. He is coming, a great devotee, mahā-bhāgavata of Kṛṣṇa." Because Nārada knew that when... Not before. After all, he knew.
Lecture on BG 1.37-39 -- London, July 27, 1973:
Plural number: "By us." "Us" means including Kṛṣṇa. He is saying not "I" or "by me." He is including Kṛṣṇa: "You are in this side; so because You are on my side, You are my charioteer, if I do not consider all these things, what people will say? That 'Arjuna is such a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa is there. He is committing such sinful activities.' " Therefore he says, kathaṁ na jñeyam asmābhiḥ. He is dragging Kṛṣṇa also. That is right, yes. A saintly person, a devotee, should consider all these things, before acting, "Whether I am doing it property or improperly?" This is Arjuna. The other party, lobha-upahata-cetasaḥ. Upahata-cetasaḥ.
Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:
Viṣṇujana: When we're engaged in spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness by this singing or selling Back to Godheads or speaking with people, if through our senses, like seeing or hearing or touching and smelling, our mind gets distracted even while we're engaged in selling Back to Godhead, then how can we always, how can we always return to that point of remembering even though our senses are being dragged by billboard signs and so many...
Prabhupāda: No, suppose you are selling Back to Godhead. Does it not remind you (of) Kṛṣṇa? Does it not remind you about Kṛṣṇa? What for you are selling Back to Godhead? You could sell another popular magazine which could sell very nicely, quickly, thousands of copies. Why you have taken this Back to Godhead? For Kṛṣṇa. You are not for business, you are not ordinary, I mean to say, newspaper seller. Why you have taken Back to Godhead? Your motive is that people may know about Kṛṣṇa. That is your motive. If magazine selling is your business, you can take any other sense gratificatory magazine. There are so many. And you can sell, you can make some profit.
Lecture on BG 2.8 -- London, August 8, 1973:
This example is given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that just like we have got our senses, similarly, if somebody has got different wife, so one wife is snatching him that: "You come to my room," another wife is snatching: "You come to my room." So he's perplexed. Similarly we have got these wives, the senses. The eyes are dragging: "Please come to the cinema." The tongue is dragging: "Please come to the restaurant." The hand is driving somewhere else. The leg is driving somewhere. So our position is like that. The same man, who has got different wives and dragging him different room. This is our position. So why this position? Because these wives are rivals. Here: sapatnyam ṛddham. If there are many kings to claim one property, there is difficulty. And Arjuna says: avāpya bhūmāv asaptnyam ṛddham (BG 2.8).
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:
There are also living entities, but their body is so made that it is fiery. They can exist in the fire. They can exist in the fire. Similarly, Varuṇaloka, in the Venus, all these planets, they have got different types of body. Just like here you can experience that in the water the aquatics, they have got a different type of body. For years and years together there are aquatic animals, they are within the water. They are very comfortable. But the moment you'll drag it to the land, it dies. Similarly, you are very comfortable on the land, but the moment you are put into the water, you die. Because your body, bodily construction is different, his body, the bodily construction different, the bird's bodily... The bird, heavy bird, it can fly, but it is God's made flying instrument. But your man-made instrument, it crashes, crashes. You see? Because artificial.
Lecture on BG Lecture Excerpts 2.44-45, 2.58 -- New York, March 25, 1966:
We have become the servant of the motorcar, servant, not the expert driver but a servant. This body means the senses. The senses. The sense wants that... My eyes, it wants, "Oh, there is a beautiful girl. Let us see. Oh, I am hankering after it. I am following that beautiful girl." "Oh, there is very nice music. All right." Ear. "All right. Let us have it." "Oh, there is a very good restaurant, palatable dishes." Oh, tongue, tongue dictates, "Oh, you go there." Similarly, all our senses... This body means senses. Without senses, the body has no meaning. So our position is that eyes dragging to some place, ear dragging to some place, tongue dragging to some place, hand dragging to some place, leg dragging to some place. So we are perplexed. Now, we have to learn how to control these senses. That is called svāmī. Svāmī, this very word svāmī suggests that he is the controller of the body. He is not controlled by the body. Svāmī or gosvāmī. Go means senses, and svāmī means master. One who is the master of the senses, he is called gosvāmī or svāmī. They..., all the same.
Lecture on BG 2.55-56 -- New York, April 19, 1966:
There is another very good example. Of course, that is not in your experience, but it is in our India we have got experience that on the riverside the boatman drags the boat with a rope. Have you got any experience like that here, in America? I don't think you have got. The boat is in the middle, middle of the river, and there is a big log in the middle of the boat, and that log is tied with a rope, and that rope is, I mean to say, snatched by the boatman, and the boat goes in the middle of the river. Now, while passing on the bank of the river, there are so many things which pains his, I mean to say, sole. So he is thinking that "When I shall be very rich man, then I shall cover this bank of the river with, I mean to say, soft pillows so that when I shall go by the pillows, dragging this boat, I shall have no pain." Now, our position is like that, that the foolish boatman, thinking that "When I shall be very rich man, still I shall be pulling on this business." He does not know that "If I at all become rich man, then where is the necessity of my pulling this boat in this way?" So similarly, we want to be happy in the same way, that "When I shall be able to cover the whole world with cushions and soft pillows to travel over it, then I shall have no pain of working like this." You see? This is our plan.
Lecture on BG 2.55-58 -- New York, April 15, 1966:
So we should be very clever to understand about the spiritual life. We should not be dragged to this material conception of life due to this false affection. This bodily affection is false affection. Because the body will not exist. Suppose I and my wife, or my children, we are all very happy. Paśyann api na paśyati. Teṣāṁ nidhanaṁ pramattaḥ paśyann api na paśyati. It is said in the Bhāgavata that... Now, for example, suppose if you are preparing very nice thing, a nice, very nice house. All right. If somebody asks you, "Well, sir, why you are building such nice house?" Now, if you answer, "Yes, just to set fire in it," so what the people will think? "What a fool he is, that he is building such a nice house, and at the end he'll set fire in it? Then why you are taking so much trouble, sir?" "No. Yes." This is called... Actually our position is like this. Actually our position is like this because the whole life I am working so hard because of maintaining this temporary body of myself, my son, my daughter, my father, my mother. So setting fire. At the end the setting fire. Setting fire I am speaking specially because after death, as you put it into graveyard, in India, accord, in Hindus, they set fire. They set fire to the dead body.
Lecture on BG 2.59-69 -- New York, April 29, 1966:
The whole yoga process means controlling the senses, nothing more. The haṭha-yoga means by different practice of āsana, posture or sitting posture or breathing posture... All these means concentrating myself, focusing my attention to the Supersoul. And because our mind is disturbed, because our mind is distributed in so many engagements, therefore the yogic process is a mechanical process by which we can, I mean to say, drag the mind from outside engagement to inner side and focus the same for perceiving or for realizing the Supersoul. (break)
So in the preliminary stage one is required to control the senses. Uncontrolled sense will drag me to the material plane. Adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). There is a very nice verse in Bhāgavata: matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā mitho 'bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). The purpose is that those who are uncontrolled of their senses and those whose mind is fixed up only for this material enjoyment, they cannot enter into the sphere of spiritual life.
Lecture on BG 2.59-69 -- New York, April 29, 1966:
So the whole program is there. So viṣayā vinivartante. Still, even the yoga system... The yoga system, by mechanical process, concentrating the mind and dragging the mind from other engagement, that is also forceful. That is also forceful. Because by some artificial means... Because first thing is that "I am not this body." Still, I am trying to control my senses by some bodily activities. Therefore it is... Some way or other, it is artificial. And as I have... Last day I cited one example that a great yogi just like Viśvāmitra, he practiced yoga and he rose to the highest platform, but still, he failed to control his senses. He came in contact with Menakā, a society woman of the heaven, and Śakuntalā was born. So here Bhagavad-gītā says that viṣayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ.
Lecture on BG 3.6-10 -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1968:
This is very important thing. Yoga indriya-saṁyamya. Yoga, the definition of yoga means sense control, controlling the sense. So here Kṛṣṇa says that you cannot control your senses artificially. It is not possible. Those who are trying... Just like some of the yogis, they close their eyes, "Oh, I'll not see beautiful woman." That is another practice, but that does not mean that he can control his senses. No. You cannot curb down the natural force of sense. This is the secret. People do not know. And if you let the senses go on in its own way, that is also dangerous. Then you are going to hell. Adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisram. If your senses are not controlled, then your senses will drag you to the darkest region of hell. That is another problem.
Lecture on BG 3.6-10 -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1968:
Think of. At the same time, chant. Two things will go on, and this will conquer. (chuckling) As māyā is forcing you to drag you from this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you also force māyā by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. There is fight. And māyā will go away.
- daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī
- mama māyā duratyayā
- mām eva ye prapadyante
- māyām etāṁ taranti te
- (BG 7.14)
This māyā is very strong. She'll force you to entice you to other path. But if you do not stop, if you chant loudly...
Just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura was chanting, and māyā could not victimize him. You know that? What was his stand? Simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. Māyā could not entice. Māyā failed. Māyā became his disciple. He did not become māyā's disciple.
Lecture on BG 3.6-10 -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1968:
Prabhupāda: Māyā means which drags you from Kṛṣṇa. That is māyā.
Woman devotee: Is it a spiritual form?
Prabhupāda: Whatever form may be, (it is) force. We shall see form later on. You just... Just like a police sends a warrant, arrest. You do not ask what is the form of the police, but here is warrant, you have to go. Force, that's all. Similarly, don't try to understand what is māyā's form, but you just feel her force, how she is acting. How she is putting you in difficulty. You see? There are so many things. Māyā puts into this difficulty and you are encumbered. That we have to understand, how I have become encumbered. In my childhood I was free. There was no encumbrances. Now I am encumbered. I am harassed. This is māyā's action. So if you want to get out of this māyā's influence, then you have to become Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is no other alternative. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 3.17-20 -- New York, May 27, 1966:
Oh, he will feel himself fully satisfied. Nothing can enchant him, nothing can drag him from this platform. And for him there is nothing to do. So that is the stage. That is a stage described by Lord Kṛṣṇa, that if somebody comes to this stage of life, he hasn't got to do anything of religious rituals, this or that, meditation or reading or nothing.
Lecture on BG 3.18-30 -- Los Angeles, December 30, 1968:
So those who are concentrating mind, thinking of Kṛṣṇa, that is the perfection of yoga system, but they have no idea of Kṛṣṇa. They make some circle, they concentrate. That is a practice only, how to engage one's mind. Because mind is so flickering, I am thinking of a red circle, and then next moment, I think something red, and from that red, I go to something red, something red, oh... Mind is gone. You see? So this concentration of mind is very difficult in this age because mind is so agitated. Therefore force them to hear Hare Kṛṣṇa. Even they have no mind to hear, you chant loudly Hare Kṛṣṇa. They will hear. Their mind will be dragged.
Lecture on BG 4.34 -- Questions & Answers -- August 14, 1968, New York:
Spiritual master is the representative of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, surrendering to the spiritual master means surrendering to Kṛṣṇa. He is the bona fide. Spiritual master is just like, as just I explained the śloka, hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi vidhunoti suhṛt satām. I'll try to relate one nice story in this connection, the story of Dhruva Mahārāja. Dhruva Mahārāja was a child, and he was insulted by his stepmother. So he went to his own mother and he prayed, "My dear mother"—he was five years old only—"my stepmother has insulted me in this way. I was sitting on the lap of my father and she dragged me out.
Lecture on BG 6.4-12 -- New York, September 4, 1966:
So we should have by good association, by study of good books like Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we should realize ourself. Otherwise, our mind will remain always an enemy, an enemy. And enemy, as the enemy is always prepared to do harm, so my mind will drag me to things which will make me entangled more and more in this material miserable life. Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). We are struggling very hard with this mind and six senses. So we have to make the mind our friend. Now, Kṛṣṇa is gradually making progress to explain to Arjuna how the mind can be made friend.
Lecture on BG 6.4-12 -- New York, September 4, 1966:
Now by training the mind, jitātmana, one who has conquered over the mind, jitātmanaḥ praśāntasya... Praśānta means he has become in equilibrium, praśānta. Praśānta. Because mind is dragging me always in nonpermanent things. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ (SB 5.18.12). Asati manorathena. By the chariot of the mind. So long we are seated on the chariot of the untrained mind, unbridled mind, the mind will drag me to things which are nonpermanent. But my whole business is that I am permanent, I am eternal. Somehow or other, I have got this attachment for nonpermanent things. So I have to get out of this entanglement. So if my mind is not trained up, then the mind's business will be to drag me to nonpermanent things. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ. But this mind, as I told you the other day, can be very easily trained up if we fix up in our minds, on the fort of the mind, a great soldier, Kṛṣṇa. Just like if the fort is defended by a great general, then there is no question of entering of the enemy, similarly, if we put Kṛṣṇa on the fort of the mind, then there is no chance of entering of the enemies. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18). That day we have explained.
Lecture on BG 6.4-12 -- New York, September 4, 1966:
So jitātmanaḥ praśāntasya. Praśānta means who has ceased to desire material enjoyment. Bhavantam evānucaran nirantaraṁ praśānta-niḥśeṣa-mano-rathāntaram. A devotee to the Lord, bhavantam evānucaran nirantaram, that "When I shall be able to act twenty-four hours in Your service, or when I shall be able to think of You cent percent?" And praśānta-niḥśeṣa-mano-rathāntaram. Mano-rathāntaram means mind is dragging me in so many imaginations; so many plan-making business we have got, so many plan-making business. That is called mano-rathāntaram. Just like I go on some chariot, on some car, in several places. So mind is... The same thing is described. Māyā....yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61). So we are traveling like that, that way. But as soon as I am able to fix my mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it become jitātmanaḥ. Jitātmanaḥ means conquered. And then my mind becomes clear of all the engagements of nonpermanent things.
Lecture on BG 6.11-21 -- New York, September 7, 1966:
Now the yogi should control in such a way his mind that as soon as mind goes from the position of meditating on Viṣṇu, he should at once drag the mind. That requires a very good practice. You see. Then Kṛṣṇa says that
- sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad
- buddhi-grāhyam atīndriyam
- vetti yatra na caivāyaṁ
- sthitaś calati tattvataḥ
- (BG 6.21)
One who does not know that real happiness can be experienced by our transcendental senses, not with these material senses... Senses are not to be sacrificed. Desires are not to be sacrificed, but there are desires in the spiritual field, there are sense satisfaction in the spiritual field. That is a different thing.
Lecture on BG 6.21-27 -- New York, September 9, 1966:
Now, the practical practice of yoga is that mind is always disturbed. It is going sometimes this way, sometimes that way. So we have to drag the mind only to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is yoga practice, real practice. Mind is going from here, from Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to so many. Because that has been my practice since time immemorial. So many lives I have passed in that way. Now I have taken a new line of my life. So in the beginning there will be difficulties, but that difficulties can be overcome. Here it is, the suggestion, yato yato niścalati manaś cañcalam asthiram. Because mind is very much agitating, cañcalam, and asthiram, not fixed up, therefore it goes from one kind of thought to another kind of thought.
Lecture on BG 6.21-27 -- New York, September 9, 1966:
Praśānta-manasaṁ hy enam. When mind will be praśānta... Praśānta means not being dragged to think anything more than Kṛṣṇa. That is called praśānta.
There is a nice verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. A devotee is aspiring, bhavantam evānucaran nirantaraḥ praśānta-niḥśeṣa-mano-rathāntaraḥ. Bhavantam eva. The devotee is praying to the Lord, "My dear Lord, when I shall be cent percent, twenty-four hours engaged in Your service?" Bhavantam eva. "Only Yours and nothing more." Bhavantam evānucaran nirantaraḥ. Nirantara means "Without cessation. I shall always be engaged in Your service."
Lecture on BG 6.32-40 -- New York, September 14, 1966:
He is describing his deficiencies that "My dear Kṛṣṇa, my mind is so much restless, agitated," cañcala... Cañcala means restless. Cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi. Pramāthi means just like a madman, pramāthi, without any brain, pramāthi, and balavat, and very strong. Oh, my mind is dragging to somewhere else. I am trying: "No, mind, don't go there." Oh, no, mind says, "No. I must go. I must go." And sometimes we agree. "All right, let me go." So it is very strong. So Arjuna is saying, tasyāhaṁ nigraham. Now, you have... The whole process of your yoga system is, the sum and substance of yoga system is, to control the mind. The agitated mind should be controlled, and the mind has to be focused on the Supersoul. That is the whole purpose of yoga. Now, Arjuna says that tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye. The mind is so agitated that to cut down the mind is as impossible as you want to stop a hurricane. Suppose there is hurricane. It is blowing so strongly, and if one stands before the hurricane and spreading his han..., "No, I will stop it," is it possible? No. Just see.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, March 17, 1968:
So these rascals, they have no knowledge how to train as brāhmaṇa, how to train as kṣatriya, how to train as vaiśya. Just like, of course, in other field of action, in the śūdras and vaiśyas, there is nice training in your country. If anyone wants to become a businessman, oh, there is training, colleges and schools, technological. That's nice, very nice. But why everyone should be dragged for technology? This is foolishness. Just like in your body, for maintenance, proper maintenance of the body you require the head, you require the arms, you require the belly, you require the legs. So all these four divisions of the body required. You cannot say, "Oh, we don't require this head." Oh, it is nonsense. You require everything. You require the head, you require the arms, you require the belly, and you require the leg. This is fit body. Suppose if there is a body without head—oḥ, it is dead body. It is body undoubtedly, but if there is no head, simply the trunk is there, it is called dead body. The head is considered to be the intellectual part of the body. Similarly, if there is no brāhmaṇa in the society, that is a dead body. If there is no spiritual man in the society, that is a dead society.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Calcutta, January 27, 1973:
So I thank you very much for your giving time. But my only request is that all of you try to chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and, if possible, read Kṛṣṇa book, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Don't read Bhagavad-gītā where the attempt is to kill Kṛṣṇa. Don't read. Then it will be spoiled. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said: māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). Sarva-nāśa. If you hear the rascal commentary that "Kṛṣṇa means this, Kurukṣetra means this, body means, Pāṇḍava means this," in this way, if you drag some concocted meaning, then you'll never understand what is Bhagavad-gītā. You'll simply spoil your time. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). That is simply wasting time. Read Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the Supreme."
Lecture on BG 7.15-18 -- New York, October 9, 1966:
Now, I'll give you one example. There was a little boy, five years old, in royal family, Mahārāja Dhruva. He was insulted by his stepmother. The little boy was sitting on the lap of his father, and the stepmother dragged the boy: "Oh, you cannot sit down, sit on the father's, on the lap of your father, because you are not born of me." Oh, the boy became very much, I mean to say, aggrieved at the... Because he was the son of a kṣatriya—they are in modes of passion—so he took it a great insult, and he went to his own mother. The king had two queens. The, I mean to, the senior queen had this boy, and the junior queen had no son. So junior queen was very much envious of this boy. And so he... She dragged the boy from the lap of his father, but the boy felt insulted. He went to his mother and cried, "Mother, my," I mean to say, "junior mother has insulted me in this way. I was sitting."
Lecture on BG 13.26 -- Delhi, September 22, 1974:
We have seen that to occupy the post of president, Mr. Nixon, how much he had to work in the beginning. I was at that time in America. He was advertising, "America needs now Nixon." So he had to spend millions and millions of dollars, so many cliques and so many intricacies, political... But it is gone, the presidency. Somehow or other. And now he is dragged down. Now he's offered position.
So similarly, going to the higher planetary system, you have to undergo so many austerities, penances... Or even if you can go to the Brahmaloka or Brahman effulgence... Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). There is no security in any place. But Kṛṣṇa says, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama: (BG 15.6) "But you can go at a place wherefrom you haven't got to return. That is My paraṁ dhāma."
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- Delhi, November 13, 1973:
So you will find many paṇḍitas like this, many learned scholars. And ask him, "What you are?" He is silent. "Wherefrom you have come?" Silent. "Where you are going?" Silent. "What is God?" Silent. So these kind of paṇḍitas will not save you. If you actually want to save yourself from dragging down again to the lower abominable species of life, then you must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, bhakti-yoga. Vāsudeve bhagavati. Then you will be enlightened. Vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ, janayaty āśu vairāgyam (SB 1.2.7). Because vairāgya means detachment, detachment. When you understand that "I do not belong to this establishment," then naturally you will be vairāgya, that "What interest I have got?" The karmīs are very much attached. Karmīs, they are working very hard. They are thinking that "This material advancement of life will make me happy." But that is not the fact.
Lecture on SB 1.2.9-10 -- Delhi, November 14, 1973:
We are very much proud of our body. "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am prime minister," "I am this," "I am that." The dog is also very much proud. "I am greyhound," "I am this bulldog," "I am this." Yes. Everyone is proud, however nasty body he may live. The hog is also very proud. Although he is eating stool and living in a very filthy place, but if you want to drag him from that place, he will, "Che che che, no, no, I don't want... I am very happy here." There is a story in the Bhāgavata that once Brahmā was cursed and he become a hog in this world. No, Indra. Because Indra was very offending, so he was cursed. He became a hog. So Brahmā thought that "In the absence of Indra the kingdom of heaven is not managed very nicely, so let me go an bring him again, excuse." So when he came, he asked the hog that "Come with me." "Where?" "To the heaven." "Oh, I cannot go. I have got my responsibility. I gave got my responsibility. I cannot go."
Lecture on SB 1.2.15 -- Los Angeles, August 18, 1972:
Suppose our students are coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, somebody is coming to us, māyā will dictate, "Oh, why you are coming here? There are so many restrictions and so rules and regulations. Better give it up." "Why, yes, what is this nonsense? Give it up." This is called prakṣepātmikā. Māyā is dragging. Because the more one is sinful, the more one is miscreant, the more one is the lowest of the mankind, he, māyā will not allow: "Oh, why this rascal is here? He must suffer under me for more..., sometimes more; then he may be allowed." That is māyā's business. Thankless business. Just like police. Police is nobody's enemy, but when criminal, they punish like that, put him in the jail and beats him with a rod. That is the business of māyā, thankless. Nobody will thank police. When police beats, nobody will, "Thank you very much." No. Nobody is happy. Similarly, māyā's business is very thankless task, but she is engaged by the supreme authority to punish.
Lecture on SB 1.2.15 -- Los Angeles, August 18, 1972:
So when actually one becomes intelligent, then the enquiry is: "Why? Why I am put into this miserable condition of life? I do not want this, and it is forced upon me. I do not want to die; death is there. I do not want disease; the disease is there. I do not want this; it is forced upon me. I don't want war, but they, the draft board drags me to the war. Why these are?" This "why" question must be there. That is intelligence. That is Kenopaniṣad, Kena. There is Upaniṣad, Kena. And Sanātana Gosvāmī, when he approached Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he also inquired this "Why?" Ke āmi, kene āmāya jāre tāpa-traya. "Who am I? Why I am put into this miserable condition of life?" That is intelligence.
Lecture on SB 1.2.26 -- Vrndavana, November 6, 1972:
So this is actually India's culture. So I explained in that meeting that "After many, many births, one is given the opportunity to take birth in this holy land of Bhāratavarṣa. Unfortunately, you people, you are, by force, making them materialist. They had the opportunity to take advantage of the contribution of great sages, ṛṣis, to study and to become a successful human being, but you are, by force, dragging them from that attitude to this materialistic way of life. This is violence. This is violence. What you are speaking of, nonsense, nonviolence? This is violence." So about twenty years ago I was thinking like that. So actually, people are being killed not only in India, but outside also, by these blind leaders. They do not know how to lead people, how to make them happy, how to make them successful in their human form of life.
Lecture on SB 1.5.9-11 -- New Vrindaban, June 6, 1969:
So haṁsa, here it is said, tad vāyasaṁ tīrtham uśanti mānasāḥ. They reject, reject. Uśanti mānasā na yatra haṁsā niramanty uśik-kṣayāḥ (SB 1.5.10). There was an incidence in my life. I was, of course, at that time householder. So one my friend, he was going to cinema with his family, and he saw me. I was in the street, and he immediately stopped his car and he asked me that "You come. We are going to cinema." So I refused, that "If you give me one thousand dollars, still I shall not go to cinema." So he dragged me. He took me to the cinema house, but I never entered. I came back. You see? Because it was detestful.
Lecture on SB 1.5.28 -- Vrndavana, August 9, 1974:
Here the two modes of nature is explained, kāma and lobha, er, rajas tamas. So if we are entangled with rajas-tamas, then our perpetual desire for lusty sense enjoyment and greediness will not stop. It will drag me more and more, more and more, and entangle me. But sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati. But if we give up these two qualities, the remainder quality means goodness, that sattve, you will get, you will give, you will get, at least, peace of mind. Sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati. Evaṁ prasanna-manasaḥ. When you are in, in the platform of satisfaction, sattva-guṇa... Just like the brahminical qualification. They are satisfied with anything. A brāhmaṇa is not supposed to improve his economic condition. He's not interested. He's simply satisfied: "By the grace of God, whatever I have got, that is sufficient." God is supplying everyone, even birds and beasts and cats and dogs. Eko yo bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. He is giving food to everyone. So sattva-guṇa means to remain satisfied whatever is obtained by, from God, by His free will. That's all. They are not after economic development.
Lecture on SB 1.8.35 -- Mayapura, October 15, 1974:
On account of ignorance, we are thinking that "This will be very nice. This will be very nice. This will be very nice. This will be..." Kāma-karmabhiḥ, creating some kāma, desire, and working in that way. Therefore kliśyanti. To become Brahmā, that is not very easy thing. Brahmā is such a big post, very qualified, highly advanced in austerities, penance. He is given... He's also a living entity. Just like in your America, you are also a citizen, and President Nixon or Ford, he's also citizen. But by dint of his ardent labor and diplomacy, this way, tha..., he has captured that post. But he's an ordinary citizen. Just like President Nixon. Now he's dragged down. He's no more president. Ordinary citizen. Similarly, if you like you can also become Brahmā. Kāma-karmabhiḥ.
Lecture on SB 1.8.40 -- Mayapura, October 20, 1974:
When Nārada Muni made the hunter a disciple, so he dragged him to the riverside, Ganges, and gave him a tulasī plant, that: "You sit down here and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. And the tulasī plant is here. You offer obeisances." Then he was very much anxious because he was hunter. He has been stopped, his main business, killing business. So he was thinking that "My Guru Mahārāja may not cheat me. He has stopped my business. He has broken my bows and arrows. And now he has dragged me here to sit down and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." Then he asked, "What about my food, sir? I'll sit down here or..." Nārada Muni assured him that "Don't bother. I'll send you your food. You sit down here. You chant, and I will send your food." So he was little doubtful. Anyway, this news, as soon as the news spread in the neighboring places that "A hunter has become a Vaiṣṇava," so out of curiosity, people used to come to see the hunter-Vaiṣṇava. The hunter... When one is Vaiṣṇava, he's no longer a hunter or belonging to the any caste. But people used to say "the hunter-Vaiṣṇava."
Lecture on SB 1.8.40 -- Mayapura, October 20, 1974:
So (reading) "Human prosperity flourishes by natural gifts and not by gigantic industrial enterprises." This is the purport. This gigantic enterprise, industrial, they are called ugra-karma. Ugra-karma. Just like now, New Delhi, there is industry. Every town has got industrial area, and big, big industries are flourishing. Especially when you go from Vṛndāvana side to New Delhi, the first big industry we see—that Goodyear Tire, very big factory. So people are being dragged there that "Come here. You'll get good salary. Why you are working in the field so hard? Come here. You'll get good salary, and..." So they go. But the result is that they are not happy. And when they are not happy, they are, I mean, induced to take wine and meat. In this way, whole world... India, it was not there. Gandhi's movement was to stop this wine, flesh, and as we are prohibiting. But at the present moment, the government is encouraging. It is very regrettable.
Lecture on SB 1.10.4 -- Mayapura, June 19, 1973:
You cannot manufacture all these things in the factory. So therefore the..., at the present moment, the big, big factories, they are the activities of the asuras, ugra-karma. All the people are dragged in the city, industrial area, to engage them in the produce of iron bars, big, big iron bars, Tata iron industry, and so many other industry. Capitalists, they have drawn all the innocent people from the village. And they think that "We are getting fat salary." But what is the use of fat salary? One side you get fat salary; another side you have to purchase three rupees a kilo rice. Finish your salary. This is going on. Let them produce their own food. Let him have some land. Let him produce his own food. Let there be cows. Let cows become happy.
Lecture on SB Excerpt -- New York, March 7, 1975:
Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa seriously. The examples are there. Therefore Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and some envious person engaged some very beautiful prostitute to drag him. But she failed. Chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa is so strong. At mid of night beautiful prostitute, young, she went to entice him. But Haridāsa Ṭhākura said, "That's all right. Your proposal is very nice. Please sit down. Let me finish my rounds." (laughter) So she sat down, and morning, there was morning. So Haridāsa Ṭhākura said, "My dear girl, I am very sorry. I could not finish. So this night we shall finish." In this way, after three nights, the prostitute fell down on his feets, "Sir, I came with this purpose. I was induced by such and such person.
Lecture on SB 1.16.21 -- Los Angeles, July 11, 1974:
So here description of cow-killing is already done. Now in this age, Kali, these things will be lacking. First thing is that no protection for woman. Woman requires protection by the father, by the husband and by the elderly children. But that is now finished. Practically no protection. They are, under the name of so-called freedom, loitering in the street. It is a very abominable condition of life. Now these things are very prominent in the Western countries especially. In India they are still dragging the Vedic culture. So woman are given protection. The father gives protection to the woman, child, and up to sixteen years, utmost. Then she must be married. The father's duty will be finished when the daughter is given to a suitable boy to take charge. That is marriage system. Marriage system is that it is necessary, necessary for social equilibrium. And it is the duty of the father to get the daughter married to a suitable boy. And when she is married, then the father's duty is finished. Unless she is married, the father's duty is not finished. This is Vedic culture. It is called kanyā-dāya. Kanyā means daughter, and dāya means obligation. Kanyā-dāya.
Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972:
If you have no money, then you steal and eat." (laughter) You see? These things are eatables. You see. Produce huge quantity of milk, and make so many preparation out of it, and become happy. This is the instruction Kṛṣṇa is giving. Otherwise what Kṛṣṇa business, He has got to do some such business? No. He is teaching us. Even the urine in cow is valuable. Stool of cow is valuable. Kṛṣṇa in His..., while He is crawling on the yard, He captures the tail of a calf and he drags him, and he is smeared with all stools and urine of the cows. Kṛṣṇa enjoys. He is showing that even the stool and urine of cow is valuable, what to speak of its milk. Cow is so important.
Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972:
If you engage your mind always to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, then the sense deviation, sense going other, otherwise—immediately controlled. Immediately controlled. The senses are very strong. They are compared with serpents. Durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī. Kāla-sarpa. Just like cobra. Someway or other, it touches—immediately death. So our senses are so strong that it is simply dragging us towards hell. Adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisram (SB 7.5.30). Mind is dragging somewhere, eye is dragging somewhere, ear is dragging somewhere, and touch sensation is dragging somewhere. In this way we are perplexed.
Lecture on SB 3.25.2 -- Bombay, November 2, 1974:
Everyone is unfortunate, at least in this age. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyāḥ (SB 1.1.10). Now see everyone. Everywhere, there is simply problems. There is simply problem. One problem in one country, another problem in another country. There is strife, there is government... There is... Even the president, and he is also, has to meet so many problems. At the end he has to be dragged down. Now he's going to die in the hospital. What to speak of others. The problem, only problem. Therefore everyone is unfortunate. This is the conclusion. You may think that "I am very fortunate." President Nixon was thinking, "I am very fortunate. I have become the President of United States." But now he's realizing, "I am the most unfortunate."
Lecture on SB 3.25.9 -- Bombay, November 9, 1974:
So then you will understand ya bhagavān. Ya bhagavān puṁsām īśvaraḥ. Bhagavān means Īśvara, controller. You are not independent. Everyone is dependent. Somebody is dependent of somebody, somebody... But you are dependent. Nobody can say, "I am independent." Even President Nixon, he's not independent. He was dragged down from the post. So you cannot say that "I am independent." That is a foolish proposal. You must always think that you are dependent. That is said, stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (SB 7.5.31). Bahir-artha-māninaḥ, and there is said, te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ. Īśa-tan... We are bound up by the laws of nature, hands and legs, tightly, and you still think that you are independent? You don't care for God? This is the mūḍha. The mūḍha says like that.
Lecture on SB 3.25.10 -- Bombay, November 10, 1974:
Just like Nixon was president; now he's not president. So this is an upādhi. You are Indian, American, this, that—they are all upādhis. Therefore if we are attached, if we are attached to the upādhi, that is called avagraha. Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). And according to the upādhi, I become attached to "me" and "mine"—"I am this," "I am that," and "It is mine, it is..." But actually, they are all illusion. Fact it is. If you suppose... Just like the president was five years very powerful. Now he's dragged down. Then what is the value? What is the value? So it may be for five years or fifty years or utmost hundred years. Or a million years. Just like Brahmā. But they are all temporary. In the eternal time, five years or ten years or hundred years or five million years, they are all limited. They are not eternal. But we are eternal. We living entities, we are eternal.
Lecture on SB 3.25.13 -- Los Angeles, November 10, 1968:
Śreyaḥ and preyaḥ, there are two things. One is called preyaḥ. Preyaḥ means immediately pleasing. And śreyaḥ means ultimately benefit, benediction. Generally, conditioned souls, they are attracted with immediate pleasing things. Just like children. They are attracted by playthings more than education. They do not like to go to school. They like to play the whole day. In my childhood also, I was very naughty boy, and I was not going to school. And my mother kept a special man to drag me to the school. At that time, there was no system like in your country, school buses. One had to go to school on foot. So my father was very lenient. I was not going to school. Preyaḥ, pleasing. Children like to play. Similarly, there are two paths, śreyaḥ and preyaḥ.
Lecture on SB 3.25.13 -- Los Angeles, November 10, 1968:
They are attracted to the..., but the parents, they're guiding, "Oh, you must go to school." Niḥśreyasāya. That is śreyaḥ. The boy, the child, does not like it, but the parents, they are anxious, "Oh, my child is not going to school; he is being spoiled." So dragging him.
Similarly, the scriptures, the sages, the saintly persons, the devotees, the representative of Kṛṣṇa, God, they're very much anxious to take us back to Godhead, back to home. That is niḥśreyasāya. That is the ultimate benediction. To be repaired(?), enamored by the temporary society, friendship and love. And it has become a thankless task for the saintly persons, devotees of God, to drag them: "Oh, please come here.
Lecture on SB 3.25.20 -- Bombay, November 20, 1974:
That is the human life perfection. But nobody is caring. We have become so dull. One can avoid birth, death, old age... Because Kṛṣṇa says the soul, the spirit soul, ātmā, na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit: "It does not die, it does not take birth." And actually, we are experiencing birth and death, old age and disease. Still, we are not alert. No intelligence. For this reason, Sanātana Gosvāmī, when he approached Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he, the first question was, "My dear Lord, some way or other, You have dragged me to Your lotus feet, but I am inquiring from You that ke āmi kene āmāya jāre tāpa-traya, 'What is my actual position? Why am I forced to suffer these three kinds of miserable life of material condition?' " Nobody's inquire, inquiring.
Lecture on SB 3.26.5 -- Bombay, December 17, 1974:
So we shall be very much careful about the senses. The whole yogic process means to control the senses. Yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ. Indriyas are so powerful that it drags us to the hellish condition of life. It is very difficult. So this material world means all crazy, mad fellow after sense gratification. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). Why they are acting unlawful things, either stately unlawful or according to scripture unlawful? Yad indriya-prītaye, only for sense gratification. Yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti.
Lecture on SB 5.5.6 -- Vrndavana, October 28, 1976:
There are two kinds of strong avidyā, ignorance, unawareness. Sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa is covering. Tamo-guṇa is very densely covering, and rajo-guṇa little open, and sattva-guṇa means prakāśa, there is illumination, brahminical qualifications. When one is in the sattva-guṇa then he can understand that "I am not this body. I am different from this body." For them, those who are in the sattva-guṇa, for them it is easier. So therefore the process is Human civilization means not to drag somebody who is already in the sattva-guṇa or in the family of sattva-guṇa, to drag him down to the tamo-guṇa. The modern civilization is like that. The allurement of material civilization is so strong and so bad that those who are by pious activities born in brāhmaṇa family, they are being dragged to the tamo-guṇa behavior like śūdras. They are learning how to drink, how to eat meat, how to have illicit sex. These are the symptoms of tamo-guṇa, lowest type of tamo-guṇa. There are different degrees of guṇa. The degrees are so mixed up. Therefore three guṇas is manifested into 8,400,000 different forms of life, mixture. You can calculate. We have several times calculated. Three multiplied by three equals nine. Nine multiplied by nine, eighty-one. So therefore there are so many varieties. So human civilization should be so arranged that never mind, it is so mixed up, you have to gradually draw him again to the sattva-guṇa. That is human civilization. Not that drag him again to the tamo-guṇa. Somebody, by pious activities, by good work, he's already in the sattva-guṇa, but the arrangement The social, political, economical arrangement is so bad that one is dragged to the tamo-guṇa. This is not civilization. This is degradation. Civilization means elevation. The aim is how to become disconnected with this material body. This is civilization. Otherwise that is not civilization. It is animal life. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kunape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13).
Lecture on SB 5.5.6 -- Vrndavana, October 28, 1976:
This māyā is so strong that it is only trying to drag you—drag you down, drag you down. So many influences. So therefore we sometimes see that these Americans, they are so fortunate they are born in a country where there is no poverty, there is no scarcity. But still, because the leaders are rascals, they have arranged for meat-eating, illicit sex, intoxication, and gambling. Advertise. Advertise naked woman and, what is called, beefeaters, and liquor. This is going on. Advertise cigarettes, just to pull them down again. Go to hell. Punar mūṣika bhava. They do not know what dangerous civilization this is dragging them. Therefore sometimes some saner section of the old men, they come to me, they offer their thanks: "Swamiji, it is a great fortune that you have come to our country." They acknowledge. Yes, that's a fact. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a great fortunate movement. And especially in the Western countries, that's a fact.
Lecture on SB 5.6.3 -- Vrndavana, November 25, 1976:
So if you want to be first-class yogi, always think of Kṛṣṇa within your mind. Do not make friendship that you have become very much advanced: "Now my mind is controlled." It is not so easy, sir. Therefore it is warned, na kuryāt karhicit. Never trust your mind. Always distrust. In any moment it, the mind, can drag you. The example is given here, caskanda tapa aiśvaram. Yad-viśrambhāc cirāc cīrṇaṁ caskanda tapa aiśvaram. Even Lord Śiva—he is called Mahadeva; not only deva, but Mahādeva—he became captivated by seeing the young woman's incarnation, Mohinī-mūrti, became so much captivated. The description is there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Lecture on SB 6.1.3 -- Melbourne, May 22, 1975:
Their only desire is how to push on this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. That's all. It is possible. They had many desires. They are also coming from your country. They had many desires. But they have no other desire now. Their simply desire is how to push on Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is perfection. When you stick to this one desire, that "I shall serve Kṛṣṇa," then you are free from all desires; otherwise not. Otherwise it is impossible. Then desires will drag you to different types of body. Then your suffering will increase. Then we have to come to the body of a pig. Because nature's law is very strict. According to your desire, he will give you body. So you desire to serve Kṛṣṇa. You will get a body like Kṛṣṇa, That's all.
Lecture on SB 6.1.9 -- Nellore, January 7, 1976:
So by pious activities you can be elevated to the higher planetary system in the heavenly planet, but that does not mean completion of your suffering of the material world. Kṛṣṇa has said, therefore, ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokān punar āvartino 'rjuna. Even you are promoted to the Brahmaloka, where the standard of living, duration of life, is very, very big, still, you cannot avoid there these material pains and pleasure, because after finishing your resultant action of pious activities you'll come..., you'll have to come back again in this lower planetary system. Kṣīṇe puṇye puṇar martya-lokaṁ viśanti. After the resultant action of pious activity is finished, you are again dragged within this lower planetary system. Therefore, unless you take to the devotional path, bhakti, because Kṛṣṇa says, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55), if you want to understand God, Kṛṣṇa, then you have to take the only path, bhaktyā, bhakti, or devotional service.
Lecture on SB 6.1.11 -- New York, July 25, 1971:
Therefore Ambarīṣa Mahārāja fixed up his mind always... Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we are teaching our students, how to fix up the mind always in Kṛṣṇa, some way or other. That is the first-class yoga system. And Kṛṣṇa also advises. (break) ...feet, and pray, bhajate. "Kṛṣṇa, I am Your eternal servant. Kindly again engage me in Your service. Somehow or other, without being engaged in Your service, I have been dragged to the service of māyā. Service I am going. I am rendering service. Because I am eternal servant, therefore my serving process is going on. But where it is going on? I am serving my lust, I am serving my anger, I am serving my greediness. So that means, in one word, I am serving my sense gratification. So kindly help me. Instead of serving my sense gratification, let me serve Your sense gratification." That is yoga. That is first-class yoga.
Lecture on SB 6.1.18 -- Honolulu, May 18, 1976:
"If we have got a very nice car and nice residential quarter and nice wife..." Oh, people also do not care now for wife and children. They want car, of course. (laughter) That is essential, although at any moment he can meet accident and finish. So this is not the aim of life. The aim of life is described that how to go back to home, back to Godhead. That should be. So if that is our aim of life, then we must engage ourself in devotional service, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then our life is successful. Otherwise we shall continue and drag the miserable condition of life, means we shall change in different ways, but it will never be successful.
Thank you very much.
Lecture on SB 6.1.27-34 -- Surat, December 17, 1970:
Superficially, we can see that the same mouth is being used, but one is feeling comfortable being carried by the mother, and another is feeling the death knell. Similarly, at the time of death, the devotee's feeling that they are being transferred to Vaikuṇṭha, whereas the ordinary sinful man is feeling that the Yamarāja, the dūtas, the constables of Yamarāja are dragging him to the hellish condition of life. So one should not conclude simply by seeing that he is dying. No. The process is different. Janma karma ca me divyam (BG 4.9). As Lord Kṛṣṇa's appearance and disappearance are all spiritual, transcendental, they are not ordinary things, similarly, Lord Kṛṣṇa's devotee, His representative, who is sent to this material world for preaching the glories of Lord Kṛṣṇa, their appearance and disappearance is also like Kṛṣṇa's. Therefore, according to Vaiṣṇava principles, the appearance and disappearance of Vaiṣṇava is considered all-auspicious. Therefore we hold festivals. Just like yesterday we had the disappearance day of His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Goswami Prabhupāda. So we offered our respects and observed a festival, Āvirbhava, Tirobhava. Tirobhava.
Lecture on SB 6.1.27-34 -- Surat, December 17, 1970:
So in this way, dūre krīḍanakāsaktaṁ putraṁ nārāyaṇāhvayam, plāvitena svareṇa, very appealing voice, he began to ask his youngest son, "Please come here. I am dying." He was very much afraid of the three Yamadūtas who were..., who came there to drag him.
- niśamya mriyamāṇasya
- mukhato hari-kīrtanam
- bhartur nāma mahārāja
- pārṣadāḥ sahasāpatan
Kṛṣṇa is so kind. As soon as He heard that "This man is chanting 'Nārāyaṇa' at the time of his death," immediately He sent His assistants, Viṣṇudūtas, to give him shelter. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. The mahato bhayāt... This man, this Ajāmila, is fallen into great calamity. The Yamadūtas, the assistants of the superintendent of death, Yamarāja, has come there to drag him. So mahato bhayāt. It was a great, fearful, dangerous place. But simply by uttering 'Nārāyaṇa' he was saved.
Lecture on SB 6.1.27-34 -- Surat, December 17, 1970:
The Yamadūtas, the constables of Yamarāja, they are dragging Ajāmila to take him to the planet there Yamarāja is there. And as soon as he uttered the holy name of Nārāyaṇa, immediately Lord Nārāyaṇa's assistants came, and with grave voice they said, "What are you doing? Stop! You cannot take this man to the Yama-mandira." Ojasā. Ojasā, with great gravity they said,
- ūcur niṣedhitās tāṁs te
- vaivasvata-puraḥsarāḥ
- ke yūyaṁ pratiṣeddhāro
- dharma-rājasya śāsanam
The assistants of the Yamarāja, Yamadūtas, saw that they are very beautiful and their bodily features are very attractive because they are coming from Vaikuṇṭha, with four hands.
Lecture on SB 6.1.31 -- Honolulu, May 30, 1976:
So the Yamadūtas were dragging Ajāmila—not this body, but the soul. Body will stay there, but the soul (indistinct). Now wherefrom? Vikarṣato antar hṛdayād. From the core of the heart. Now, from the śāstra you can understand where the soul is. Soul is not in the brain, not in the here, there. No. Therefore when the soul is taken away, going away from the heart, we say "heart failure." Heart failure means the soul has gone. The soul lives in the heart. This is proof from the śāstra. Not only the soul, but the Supersoul also is there. Supersoul is God, Kṛṣṇa, and the individual soul, they're living together. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe (BG 18.61). Īśvara, the Supreme Lord, He's also there, very minute form, aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. The dimension of the soul is also mentioned in the śāstra: one ten thousandth part of the tip of a hair.
Lecture on SB 6.1.31 -- Honolulu, May 30, 1976:
So this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and from this verse we can understand that the ātmā, the soul, is within the heart. Why they are searching the soul? So the... If you want to find out where is soul, and if you dissect the heart, then soul is gone. (laughter) That is another danger. (laughs) Better understand from the authority. That is knowledge. Śāstra-cakṣuṣā. Śāstra... From authoritative statement of śāstra you'll see. Don't see by your blunt eyes, rascal, this consciousness. Then you'll never find the actual fact. Śāstra-cakṣuṣā, authority. Just like here. Śāstra says, "Here is the soul." The Yamarāja is snatching, dragging the soul, not his leg or hand. There's no business.
Lecture on SB 6.1.50 -- Detroit, June 16, 1976:
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura sings therefore: anādi karama phale pori bhavārṇava-jale toribāre na dekhi upāy. Anādi karama, time immemorial I am fallen in this ocean of fruitive activities and I have no rescue from this ocean. Toribāre na dekhi upāy. This is our position. Very, very difficult to come out of these elements. But if we practice, that is possible. Abhyāsa-yoga-yuktena cetasā nānya-gāminā (BG 8.8). Cetasā nānya-gāminā, this is practice. Mind is going somewhere. When we sit down the mind is manufacturing so many ideas. All of a sudden mind is attracted by something which has no connection with my present position, still, mind is dragging me. Therefore Arjuna said, when he was advised by Kṛṣṇa that "You concentrate your mind..." That is the yoga practice. Yoga-indriya-samyaya. So Arjuna said, "Kṛṣṇa it is not possible for me."
Lecture on SB 6.1.55 -- Paris, August 11, 1975:
Knowledge means that "I am not this body," and detachment means "I am not this body; therefore I have nothing to do with this material world." (break)
...of Yamarāja, came to take him to Yamarāja. In the meantime, because he uttered the name of Nārāyaṇa, the order-carriers of Nārāyaṇa also came there. So while the Yamadūtas were dragging this Ajāmila to take him to Yamarāja, the Nārāyaṇa-dūtas warned, "Don't touch him." So Yamadūtas complained that "This man was very sinful. We must take him to Yamarāja." But the Nārāyaṇa-dūtas said, "No, you cannot take because he has uttered the holy name of Nārāyaṇa." So the discussion was going on, "Now who will take him." In the meantime the Nārāyaṇa-dutas challenged the Yamadūtas that "Do you know the principles of religion?" And so they were explaining.
Lecture on SB 6.2.2 -- Vrndavana, September 6, 1975:
So this man deviated from bhāgavata-dharma. Therefore he was to be arrested by the Yamadūtas for purification. That was his external affair. But by chance, by the grace of the Lord, at the time of his death he chanted "Nārāyaṇa," not exactly meaning the Supreme Lord Nārāyaṇa, but his son's name was Nārāyaṇa. He was thinking that "I am being dragged by the Yamadūta. So my son will save me." Therefore he exclaimed, "Nārāyaṇa, please save me." So he meant his son, but Nārāyaṇa, actual Nārāyaṇa, heard it—"O Nārāyaṇa, please save me." This is the... Nārāyaṇa is so kind that although the name of Nārāyaṇa was called by Ajāmila, meaning his son, still, because he has chanted the name, holy name of Nārāyaṇa, it was immediately taken seriously by Lord Nārāyaṇa, and His order-carriers, the Viṣṇudūtas, were sent to save this man. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt.
Lecture on SB 6.2.5-6 -- Vrndavana, September 9, 1975:
So here it is, the same thing said, that yasyāṅke śira ādhāya lokaḥ svapiti nirvṛtaḥ. The child is sleeping in the womb of the mother, and the mother is killing. Then where to take shelter? Similarly, this example is that "This Ajāmila, he might have committed some sins without knowledge. Now he is no more sinful because he has chanted the holy name of Nārāyaṇa, and he is not to be punished." That is the purpose of the Viṣṇudūta. "So why you are dragging him, trying to take him to Yamarāja to punish him? You do not know that he is innocent. We have to..." The real purpose is that everyone... We commit sinful activities on account of ignorance.
Lecture on SB 6.3.18 -- Gorakhpur, February 11, 1971:
So invisible Viṣṇudūtas, they are always everywhere. Just like police constables, Yamadūtas are there, and Viṣṇudūtas are there. Civil guard and the police constables, both are there. So Yamadūtas' business is to arrest the sinful. That is their... Here everyone is sinful. Nobody is free from sin. That is the position of this material world. So Yamadūtas are searching or taking away. Just after leaving this body, one is taken away by Yamadūta to the place of Yamadūta. There is a planet described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So those who are very sinful, they are dragged through hot desert. They cannot... They fall down. Such persons fall down, but still, he is dragged through the desert. These descriptions are there. Sometimes we feel like that. So there is a planet.
Lecture on SB 7.5.1, Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, January 12, 1973:
So his son Prahlāda from the very beginning of his life, because he got instruction from Nārada Muni within the belly of his mother... This is the story. When the demigods conquered over this Hiraṇyakaśipu, they captured his wife Kayādhu. At that time the wife of Hiraṇyakaśipu was pregnant, and Prahlāda Mahārāja was there. So because the woman was pregnant, the demigods were taking her away. On the way, Nārada Mahāmuni met the demigods, Indra. So he inquired, "What you are doing? You are dragging a woman? Oh, this is not good." So they explained that "We have nothing to do with this woman. Because within the womb of this woman there is a son of Hiraṇyakaśipu—he is also demon—therefore, as soon as she gives birth to the child, we shall kill him. This is our program." Nārada Muni said, "No. This child is not demon.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:
That means spent thousands and thousands of dollars. In here also I find so many nice churches, they have been spent by persons. What is the idea? The idea is anyone who has got some money, he wanted to satisfy God. So it doesn't matter what you are doing, but the test of your success will be considered as successful if you try to satisfy God. Because we are, whole life, we are dragging from God. "God give us our daily bread," and God is supplying daily bread. Otherwise, where you are getting bread? You say, "I am purchasing from the market." Oh, where the storekeeper got this wheat? It is produced by agriculture. But do you think that simply by machine it is now produced? No. Unless there is some natural favorable condition, you cannot produce.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 12, 1968:
Then you become purified. Your senses are purified exactly like the same example, that when a citizen is free and willingly obeying the laws of the state, he is free from contamination. And as soon as he is disobedient, he is contaminated. Therefore he is put into the jail. Similarly, our material existence means that we have revolted against the will of Kṛṣṇa or God. Therefore we are dragging the struggle for existence, and as soon as we become again obedient to Kṛṣṇa, we shall always remember that our characteristic is to serve. So by natural way, if we serve God, then we are happy, and by unnatural way, if we serve our senses, then we are unhappy. This is the difference. Service you have to give.
Lecture on SB 7.6.2 -- Vrndavana, December 3, 1975:
So these things happened on account of not clear conception of life. That is Prahlāda Mahārāja. Therefore the clear conception of life, how to serve God, Kṛṣṇa, that is called bhāgavata-dharma. This should be taught to the children. Otherwise when he is engaged in so many nonsense service it will be very difficult to drag him from this false engagement and again establish him to the Kṛṣṇa's service. So when we are children—we are not polluted—we should be trained up in bhāgavata-dharma. That is Prahlāda Mahārāja's subject matter. Kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha durlabhaṁ mānuṣa (SB 7.6.1). We are serving. The birds are serving. They have got small, kiddie, children. They are picking up food and working very hard and bringing it in the mouth, and the small kiddies, they are chanting, "Mother, mother, give me, give me," and eat food.
Lecture on SB 7.7.28, 32-35 -- Mombassa, September 11, 1971:
That is by practice, by mechanical practice, that's all. But here there is no mechanical practice. Here it is factual activity, how to control the senses. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). Hṛṣīka means the senses. The senses are engaged in the service of the Lord. If one thing is already engaged, it cannot be..., especially when one is engaged in the service of the Lord, he cannot be dragged to the service of māyā. Therefore, that is sense control. Sense you cannot extinguish. The living entity, you must have your senses. Living means you have got your senses. But they should be purified. They are now engaged in the service of māyā, and now, by bhakti-yoga process you have to purify and engage the senses in the service of the Lord.
Lecture on SB 7.9.4 -- Mayapur, February 11, 1976:
His mother was attacked by the demigods, headed by Indra, and they were dragging her to their palace. Narada Muni met, said "What are you doing this? You are harassing one woman?" "No sir, we are not harassing, only we are taking her in our place to wait for the deliverance of the child. Then we shall kill him. Because he is born of atheist father, so he is another demon." Narada Muni said, "No, no, no, you are mistaken. He is not demon, he is mahā-bhāgavata." So in the beginning he was mahā-bhāgavata, since he was in within the womb of his mother. And later on he is mahā-bhāgavata. This is called nitya-siddha, eternally mahā-bhāgavata. Eternally mahā-bhāgavata never forgets Kṛṣṇa, in any circumstance. That is the sign of mahā-bhāgavata, nitya-siddha. Prahlāda Mahārāja was put into so many trials when he was only a child, still he never forgot Kṛṣṇa. That is the sign of mahā-bhāgavata. In any circumstances.
Lecture on SB 7.9.4 -- Mayapur, February 18, 1977:
So this Prahlāda Mahārāja is mahā-bhāgavata, mahā-bhāgavata, not because he is now five years old. No. He was mahā-bhāgavata from the womb of his mother. When his mother was attacked by the demigods arresting and was being dragged by the devatas, Nārada Muni was passing there: "What you are doing?" And "She is the wife of Hiraṇyakaśipu, and she has got a child in the womb. So we want to kill that child also." Nārada Muni immediately asked them, "No, no, no, no. He's not ordinary child. He's mahā-bhāgavata. So don't touch." So they agreed. Nārada Muni... This is devatā. Although did some mistake, as soon as Nārada Muni ordered them that "Don't try to harm.
Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Calcutta, March 5, 1972:
So the order was that the brāhmaṇa can stay there and there was a store, he can take his supplies from the store and eat and live there peacefully. And the storekeeper was submitting bill to the king that your guest has taken so many things, kindly pay. So he was paying. So he was testing by the bill. If he would see the bill contains more spices and chilis, he will ask immediately, "Drag this man, he is not a brāhmaṇa." (laughter) "Drag this, he is not a brāhmaṇa." So be careful, don't take much. I know you don't take much. But if you take too much chilis and spices, then you will be considered amongst the non-brāhmaṇas. You can take more sweets. (laughter) So if the bill was submitted containing more sugar, then he would accept, "Yes, that man is brāhmaṇa." (laughter) So these three guṇas means sweet, salt, and chili. Sattva-guṇa is sweet, and rāja-guṇa is salt, and tama-guṇa is chili.
Lecture on SB 7.9.9 -- Montreal, July 6, 1968:
So Prahlāda Mahārāja says the same thing: bhaktyā tutoṣa bhagavān gaja-yūtha-pāya. These material acquisitions, wealth, education, beauty, and so many other things which is very much evaluated in the material world, they are not qualifications for satisfying the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but bhakti. Bhaktyā tutoṣa. The example is that there was an elephant who was in danger. He was being dragged by an alligator in the water, and he prayed to Lord Viṣṇu, and he was saved. The example is that the elephant was not even human being. He was animal, but still, because he prayed to the Lord with devotion, so Lord immediately came to save him.
Lecture on SB 7.9.43 -- Visakhapatnam, February 22, 1972:
Here is a verse spoken by Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda Mahārāja you know, a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa. From the very beginning of his life he was a great devotee. From the womb of his mother, he was a great devotee. It is possible. When his mother was pregnant, the demigods... There was fighting between the demigods and the demons. And while his mother was pregnant, she was being dragged, taken by Indra under custody, and on the way Indra was met by Nārada Muni. Nārada Muni objected, "What is this that you are dragging a pregnant woman? What is this?" Indra explained that "Because she is the wife of Hiraṇyakaśipu, a demon with whom we have just finished our fighting, she (he?) has gone away. So we are taking this lady under our custody so that as soon as she gives birth to a child, we will immediately kill so that the demonic descendants will be no more." Nārada replied that "This child is not a demon. He is a great devotee mahā-bhāgavata. So do not do this. Better give this lady under my custody.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, December 28, 1972:
Similarly affection is there. Similarly this Ajāmila asked for the youngest child: "Nārāyaṇa." But immediately he remembered that Nārāyaṇa whom he served in his boyhood. So immediately the Nārāyaṇa messengers came and saved him. Svalpam apy. He, he executed very little service in his boyhood as a devotee. That saved him from the greatest danger. He was being dragged out by the men of Yamarāja, but the Viṣṇudūtas came and protected him and took him to Vaikuṇṭha. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. By by chance, he remembered Nārāyaṇa because he executed Nārāyaṇa's service. Then he was saved.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, December 28, 1972:
The rascals, they will not understand Kṛṣṇa as Kṛṣṇa says. The rascal will mislead other and mislead himself. He'll go himself to hell and he'll drag all others to the hell. This is going on. This is going on. Everything is there, very plain and clear. One has to act according to that. He gets the benefit. But they, they will not allow. These rascal leaders, they'll not allow. They will be represent Kṛṣṇa as something else. The, the only business is to kill Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Not to accept Kṛṣṇa is fact. All the big commentaries on Bhagavad-gītā, you'll see. They're simply trying to make Kṛṣṇa is not a fact. It is some fictitious. It is some story, mental speculation. This is their business. Demonic. So the condition is very, I mean to say, dangerous. People are being misled.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.109-114 -- San Francisco, February 20, 1967:
Such interpretation, if somebody hears, then his future is doomed. Just like our Gandhi, he wanted to prove, from Bhagavad-gītā, nonviolence. The Bhagavad-gītā is being preached in the battlefield, and it is completely violence. How he can prove? Therefore he is dragging the meaning out of his own con... It is very troublesome, and anyone who will read such interpretation, he is doomed. He is doomed because the Bhagavad-gītā is meant for awakening your Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If that is not awakened, then it is useless waste of time. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu embraced the brāhmaṇa who was illiterate, but he took the essence of Bhagavad-gītā, the relationship between the Lord and the devotee. Therefore, unless we take the real, I mean to say, essence of any literature, it is simply waste of time.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.313-317 -- New York, December 21, 1966:
So there is war. She will always try to get you fall down. Daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). It is very strong, powerful. How you can save yourself? Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. If you persistently simply adhere to the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa, there will be no more strength of this illusory nature to drag you. No more. There will be no more power to get you into this province of sense gratification. Material nature means the jurisdiction of sense gratification. That's all. Simply people are engaged by sense gratification like cats and dogs. That's all. This is material atmosphere. And in the spiritual atmosphere there is no sense gratification; there is only activity for satisfying the Supreme, Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.313-317 -- New York, December 21, 1966:
So if you adherently be always engaged in some sort of service, twenty-four hours in the service of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no power in the world who can drag you into this sense gratification province. You at once become nirguṇa. This is the process. So we have to stick to this principle: "How I can serve Kṛṣṇa always, always?" Īhā yasya harer dāsye. If you cannot do, if you simply think, "How can I do? How can I do? How can I do?" simply this, if you practically cannot do, but if you simply think that "How can I do?" oh, then also you become liberated. Then also you become liberated. And what to speak of when we actually serve. This is such a nice thing, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So if you want to save yourself from this material turmoil, then always stick to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness persistently.
Festival Lectures
His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1973:
So anyway, it was Kṛṣṇa's grace. I would not go, but their point of view was that unless I certify that sādhu, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he'll not be accepted. Therefore he dragged me. So I went to see Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura on that day. On the first meeting, just we offer our obeisances. It is the practice. So immediately he began his talking that "You are all educated young men. Why don't you take up Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's cult and preach all over the English knowing public? Why don't you take up this matter?" So I argued with him in so many... At that time I was nationalist. So I told that "Who will accept our message? We are dependent nation. Nobody will care." In this way, in my own way, in these younger days... But we belonged to the Vaiṣṇava family, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda, Rādhā-Govinda. That is our worshipable Deity. So I was very glad that "Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa cult, Caitanya Mahāprabhu's cult, this sādhu is trying to preach. It is very nice."
His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Hyderabad, December 10, 1976:
So 1922 I met my Guru Mahārāja through the exigency of my intimate friend, Mr. Narendranath Mullik. And I would not go. He told me information, "There is a nice sādhu. Let us go and see." I did not like very much these sādhus in those days, national spirit. So I said, "I have seen many sādhus. They come at my father's care. I was not very much pleased with their behavior." So he dragged me forcibly: "No, I have heard this person is very exalted." So I went. And his first opening version was that "You are educated young men. Why don't you preach Caitanya Mahāprabhu's gospel in the Western countries?" I did not know. So this was his blessing in the first meeting. I did not know, but because we belonged to a Vaiṣṇava family we were very much worshiper of Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda, our family Deity. So I was very much pleased that "Here is a personality who is going to preach Caitanya Mahāprabhu's gospel." I was very much pleased.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Arrival Address -- Los Angeles, February 9, 1975:
Anyone who is engaged very seriously, satata-yuktānām, twenty-four hours, thinking, "Kṛṣṇa, how can I serve you...?" This is the only business. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). Four things: Always think of Kṛṣṇa... This Hare Kṛṣṇa means "O the energy of Kṛṣṇa, O Kṛṣṇa, please engage me in Your service. I have given service to this material world so much, but I could not satisfy the master, neither I am satisfied." Everyone is serving society, friendship, love, family, country, but none of them are satisfied. None of them sat... Even your President, he could not satisfy you. You had to drag him down. Neither he could satisfy himself. Even Gandhi could not satisfy his countrymen. Although he gave so much service, he was shot dead. So this is the material world. You cannot satisfy anyone, neither you become satisfied, materially engaged. This is called material world.
General Lectures
Lecture -- Seattle, October 18, 1968:
Yogamāyā means that which connects you. Yoga means connection. When you are being gradually advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is the action of yogamāyā. And when you are gradually forgetting Kṛṣṇa, that is the action of mahāmāyā. Māyā is acting upon you. The one is dragging you, and one is pushing you opposite way. Yogamāyā. So, just like the example, that you are always under the laws of government. You cannot deny. If you say, "I don't agree to abide by the laws of government," that is not possible. But when you are a criminal, you are under the police laws, and when you are gentleman, you are under the civil laws. The laws are there. In any situation, you have to obey the laws of government. If you remain as a civilized citizen, then you are always protected by the civil law. But as soon as you are against the state, the criminal law will act upon you.
Lecture -- Hawaii, March 23, 1969:
This is unsuccessful life, laboring whole life, and he does not know where he is going. Next life, what is, whether cat or dog or animal or this or that, he does not know. He's in the darkness. Adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). The same repetition of same foolishness and uncontrolled senses, he does not know where he is going. Just like unbridled horses. The man does not know "Where the horses are dragging me, either in the hell or heaven? I do not know." But the horses are not controlled, under his con..., simply running, high speed. That these motorcars are running this way and that way. They do not know whether they will reach their destination. Any, at any point, they may be striking each other and finished. This is not successful life. Successful life means one should have peaceful life, with great hope, future hope, without any disturbance. What is successful life? Even a man is not secure. He does not know when he goes to his office whether his household things are taken away by some thief. You see? Where is success? Successful life means he must feel secure that the government is taking care of everything. That is successful life. He has no cares and anxieties. He's simply developing his spiritual life. That is successful life.
Engagement Lecture -- Buffalo, April 23, 1969:
They do not mind it. Just like animals. Animals, they are always in suffering, but they do not mind it. Recently I was in Hawaii. So in front of my house there was a man who was keeping some animals and birds for slaughtering. Not there, but he was dragging for selling the animals and birds for slaughtering. Now, I was giving example to my students. Now, these animals are standing here, and tell them, "Oh, my dear animals, why you are standing here? You go away. You are meant for being slaughtered." But he has no intelligence. He cannot go. Even in the slaughterhouse also, he cannot go. So suffering without knowledge, without remedy, means animal life, means animal life, one who cannot understand his suffering and he thinks, "Oh, I am very well off. I am very well situated." But that is animal consciousness.
Lecture at Krsna Niketan -- Gorakhpur, February 16, 1971:
Everyone present, they thought it unlawful that "Kṛṣṇa is so young, and such a big stalwart and strong wrestler is engaged with Him for wrestling. This is not good. This is not good." In protest, so many people left the arena. And Nanda Mahārāja began to think, "I should have locked up Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana instead of allowing Him to come here. Oh, so much injustice." But Kṛṣṇa killed them. Not only killed them, the wrestlers who were engaged by Kaṁsa, He immediately dragged Kaṁsa from his throne and simply by fisting He killed him. There are so many wonderful. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's activities are called adbhuta-karmaṇaḥ. It is never expected to be done by any human being. How it can be done by a human being? He's all-powerful.
Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 12, 1971:
Just like Ambarīṣa Mahārāja. First of all we have to give our mind to Kṛṣṇa because mind is the creative force by which we become entangled. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that mind is the enemy or mind is the friend. If you can create your mind your friend, then there is immense profit Kṛṣṇa conscious. And if you create your mind enemy, the mind will drag you in so many things, you will forget your duty and responsibility of human life. Therefore yoga system, practicing yoga means controlling the mind. Controlling the mind. But the easiest process of yoga system is that you simply think of Kṛṣṇa always, then the perfection of yoga.
Town Hall Lecture -- Auckland, April 14, 1972:
He is immediately referred that "You are brahmaṇya-deva go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca, the benedictor of the cows and the brāhmaṇas." Why? Jagad... "Next You are benedictor to the general people in the world. First the go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca." Why? Why Kṛṣṇa should be especially interested with go and brāhmaṇa? These are things. Now, when Kṛṣṇa was child, He was crawling. This is His pastime. By crawling He used to go to the cowshed and catch one calf's tail, and the calf will drag Him and smear His body in cow dung. He enjoyed it. So cow dung is actually so pure. You can test it. One chemical analyzer in Calcutta, Dr. Lal Madhavi(?) Ghosh, he tested. He found all antiseptic properties, although it is stool. So that is the nature of Vedic injunction. You accept it. You are benefited. You save the time. Whatever is stated in the Vedas, if you accept, then you don't require to make research how to find out God or how to find out yourself. Everything is there simply if you accept it. Not blindly. If you want to test it, you can test. Just like this cow dung. In the Vedas it is said it is pure, but if you want to test chemically, you will find it pure. That is Vedic injunction.
Speech -- New Vrindaban, August 31, 1972:
So although there is propaganda in India to forget Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but how they can forget? They're born in a land where Kṛṣṇa appeared. They cannot forget. They have been given the opportunity, took birth in India. That is also due to pious activities. But unfortunately they are being forced to be dragged. I do not wish to discuss this point. But Kṛṣṇa is for everyone. It is not that Kṛṣṇa is for Indians or for the Hindus or for... No. Kṛṣṇa is for everyone. So within your country, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is started since 1966 from New York, and gradually we are having more and more students and branches. So kindly continue this habit. Simply hear about Kṛṣṇa; then Kṛṣṇa will help you. He is within your heart. He'll help you in every way.
Rotary Club Lecture -- Hyderabad, November 29, 1972:
Adānta-gobhiḥ. Our senses are uncontrolled, so our senses are dragging to the darkest region of existence. We do not know that. But we are simply chewing the chewed. We do not try to solve the problem of life; we are simply chewing the chewed. The so-called sociology, politics, or humanitarian work, it is simply chewing the... Just like we are trying to open hospitals. We think it is very great task. But we can... We do not think that how to get out of the diseased condition of life, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9).
Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:
Prabhupāda: How your Nixon is dragged down? How your President Nixon is dragged down? He was in the exalted post, and why he was dragged down?
Devotee (3): They dragged him down.
Prabhupāda: Yes. He was forced to come down. Why?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He broke the rules.
Prabhupāda: Anyone, even in this world or spiritual world, he has got the potency of coming down by misusing his little independence. It is nothing like that, that if you become president, you are secure. If you are not perfect, then you will be dragged down. Or if you think imperfectly... The formula is that in the spiritual world everyone is engaged in the service of the Lord. There is no other conception as in this material world everyone is engaged to serve his senses—he likes something, and he is engaged for that purpose. That service is there, but it is service to himself, his senses. But in the spiritual world there is no such thing as giving service to the senses. Simply giving service to the Lord. That is spiritual world. So as soon as you think that "Why shall I give service to Kṛṣṇa? Why not become independent?" you fall down immediately. So there is potency of thinking like that.
Lecture Engagement at Birla House -- Bombay, December 17, 1975:
There was fight between the demons and the demigods, so the demons—sometimes when there is fight, sometimes one party is victorious, sometimes the other party is victorious—so the demigods' party became victorious, and they were harassing the demons like anything. So Hiraṇyakaśipu's wife, she was pregnant, she was captured by Indra, the King of heaven, and she was being dragged to take her in the house of Indra. In the way, Nārada Muni met them; he chastised Indra. Nārada Muni was devarṣi, ṛṣi amongst the demigods. So he said, "Why you are giving trouble to this woman? This is not good." So the demons replied, demigods replied that "This woman is pregnant, and there is Hiraṇyakaśipu's son.
Sunday Feast Lecture -- London, July 25, 1976:
This life I maybe born in big nation, America, or English nation or some other nation or family, but if I create a mentality of cats and dogs or if I do not take advantage of this human form of life—I remain dull as the trees or the animals—then next life we have to accept a similar body. This is the law of nature. You can say or I can say that "I do not believe in the next life," but that is not the fact. The fact is... Just like if a child says, "I do not believe the next stage or next life, to become a boy," or if a boy says that "I don't believe next stage, to become a young man," so a young man says, "I do not believe that I shall become an old man," that is concoction. The nature's law will drag him, one after another. Similarly, the old man's body, when it is finished, you'll have to accept another body according to your mentality at the time of death. This is the law of nature.
Philosophy Discussions
Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:
Prabhupāda: So He has pointed out that there is a plan, and this is the plan: to bring you back to home, back to Godhead. It is not partial, that somebody may remain here and somebody may go to Godhead. No. The whole plan is that everyone must come back. But he is obstinate, he is obstinate. Just like a bad boy, father says, "Come on," he's not. He's crying, "No, I'll not go." But the father's only business is to drag him. Therefore the final, after speaking all the proposals in the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says finally, "I am giving you final, very confidential instructions," sarva guhyatamam. "You give up all this rascaldom, arguing with Me. Just surrender unto Me."
Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:
Prabhupāda: That is not very important subject, unless there is willing. So that good or bad also has to be trained. The conditioned soul, anyone in this material world, he is in ignorance. It is called darkness. This material world is called darkness. Everyone, more or less, they are in darkness. The Vedas therefore say, "Don't remain in darkness. Go to the light." And the spiritual world is light. Just like day and night. Side by side there is day and night, or sunlight and darkness. So the Vedas say "Don't remain in darkness. Go to the light." So willingness in darkness is imperfect. So this willingness has to be dragged to the light. That requires superior help.
Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:
Hayagrīva: According to the Christian religion, at the end of the world there is a resurrection of the body, that is the gross material body. Kant does not think very much about this. He writes, "For who is so fond of his body that he would wish to drag it about with him through all eternity if he could get on without it?"
Prabhupāda: That is the nature. Even a hog, pig, he is living so abominable. Still, when he is captured for being killed, he cries. He does not think that "My body is so low-grade that I have to eat stool, I live in filthy place, in a very bad smell, and I am trying to save my, this body?" But he cries. So this is called māyā. Although his body is so abominable, he wants to protect it perpetually. This tendency is there because the living entity has actually..., he is perpetual living condition. He wants that, but he wants that in this material body. That is his mistake.
Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is good for him. Because he is fortunate that his sinful reactions are being finished in this life. Otherwise he would have to drag it, he would have to continue, and he might have been a dog or cat, like that. So it is good for him. I said that. It is good for him.
Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:
Prabhupāda: That is impossible. That is rascaldom. It is not possible. Nobody can destroy the willing process.
Śyāmasundara: I'll just read what he says. He says, "Eventually the ascetic will exist only as a pure knowing being, the undimmed mirror of the world. Nothing can trouble him more. Nothing can move him, for he has cut all the thousand cords of will which hold us bound to the world, and as desire, fear, envy, anger, drag us hither and thither in constant pain, to such a man life is an illusion to which he must be indifferent." So his idea is that you cut all the cords of will which bind us to this material world.
Prabhupāda: Then what remains?
Śyāmasundara: Nothing.
Prabhupāda: Hmm?
Śyāmasundara: Nothing.
Prabhupāda: That means he is the philosopher is of śūnyavādī.
Purports to Songs
Purport to Bhajahu Re Mana -- San Francisco, March 16, 1967:
They are seeing every day, every moment, that he is himself in danger, others are in danger. Still, he is thinking that "I am secure." This is the position. So life is very tottering and in dangerous position. Therefore one should take advantage of this human form of life and immediately engage in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That should be the request of everyone to his mind, "My dear mind, don't drag me in the dangerous position. Please keep me in Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
| Page Title: | Drag (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Mayapur |
| Created: | 02 of Dec, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=102, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 102 |