Just like in the Communist country the Stalin was their dictator. And in the historical record it is said that he is the greatest criminal in the history of the world. Greatest criminal. He would not tolerate anyone going against him. As soon as he finds that "This man is going against me," immediately call him, "Now here is poison and here is resignation." Or kill him. "You take poison or I shall kill you." This was his policy. In this way he killed so many enemies. He not only killed the Czar family. So his business was killing. Not that kind of dictatorship wanted. Dictatorship wanted that by his direction the citizens will be so happy that even they will not have any anxiety. Adhayo vyadhayaḥ (?).
Enemy (BG Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Lecture on BG 1.4-5 -- London, July 10, 1973:
Therefore Kṛṣṇa is Absolute. Either His killing or His protecting, it is all the same. You don't think that Kṛṣṇa is killing. No. If anyone is killed by Kṛṣṇa, he immediately gets liberation: the liberation for which great great saintly persons, sages, they undergo severe austerities for life after life, simply by being killed, he gets that. So by becoming Kṛṣṇa's enemy, one gets this benefit. Just think over if you become Kṛṣṇa's friend, what is the benefit. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The Māyāvādīs they are after liberation. So this liberation is granted even to the enemies of Kṛṣṇa. They are also enemies. The Māyāvādīs, they are also enemies. Kṛṣṇe aparādhī. They are offender to Kṛṣṇa because they do not accept the form of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they are offender. So everything studied in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, that is perfect knowledge, and that is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. So it is not that like sahajiyās that we are interested in Kṛṣṇa's rāsa dance, not with this fighting in the Battlefields of Kurukṣetra. This is sahajiyā-bhāva. This is not wanted. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)
Lecture on BG 1.6-7 -- London, July 11, 1973:
Then Duryodhana, first of all he pointed out the military strength of the opposite side. This is intelligence. One should take calculation of the opposing elements or the enemy's side. In fighting the first thing is to take estimation of the enemy's side, how much they are strong, how they have arranged. Then one should calculate how to counteract, how to fight with them, this is intelligence. Without taking any calculation of the other side, if you are not prepared, then how you can become victorious? This is sane proposal, that is, upayan cintayet prajño apayan ca cintayet.. A prajña, an intelligent man, not only think of the bright side on this business, or this fight, or this any..., so many things we have to deal with. Simply we should not calculate the brighter side. There is darker side also. We should always think, "If there is some thief, if there is some rogue, they cheat us, then what precaution I am going to take?" This is intelligence. If I simply calculate that "In this business I will make so much profit." In the meantime, somebody comes and cheats me and go away, then... Therefore upayan cintayet prajña apayan ca cintayet. Darker side also should be thought of. That is intelligence. Just like they are doing. After calculating the darker side—enemy means darker side—they can defeat me at any moment. That is darker side.
Lecture on BG 1.10 -- London, July 12, 1973:
Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, śarīra abidyā-jāl, joḍendriya tāhe kāl: "This body is material body and the senses are our greatest enemies," joḍendriya tāhe kāl. "So out of all the senses," tā'ra madhye jihwā ati lobhamoy sudurmati, "of all the senses, the tongue is formidable." It is sudurmati, it has no limit to taste. I have seen in Japan. Twenty miles away they are coming to taste some fried birds in the hotel. You see. They have got bus. The hotel has got their own bus, and they bring customers from the city and they are coming after office hours just to taste some jungle birds, fried. There is a hotel.
Lecture on BG 1.10 -- London, July 12, 1973:
Maybe, whatever it may be. You have tasted? (laughter) So the tongue is so formidable enemy. Simply for tasting, they will commit so many sinful activities. They will commit so many abominable actions simply for tongue. And that is a straight line. Tongue, then belly, then genital. So if you can control the tongue, the other things will be controlled. Therefore, tā'ra madhye jihwā ati lobhamoy sudurmati. Lobhamoy, it is very greedy. And sudurmati, it very difficult to control.
Lecture on BG 1.16-19 -- London, July 16, 1973:
So enemy, when one enemy fights, the other party, well-equipped, strong, so it breaks the heart of the enemy. That happened. So there is nothing to especially... The breaking of the heart by vibrating different types of conchshell from the side of the Pāṇḍavas, it broke the heart of the dhārtarāṣṭrāṇām. Dhṛtarāṣṭra, his sons, one hundred sons. So from Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Dhārtarāṣṭra, dhārtarāṣṭrāṇāṁ hṛdayāni vyadārayat. And it resounded both in the sky or on the surface. So I think that's all. (end)
Lecture on BG 1.20 -- London, July 17, 1973:
Our business is very thankless task. We say any man who is not a devotee, he is rascal. We say generally. It is very harsh word, but we have to use it. As soon as we see that he is not a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, then he's a rascal. How do we say? He is not my enemy, but we have to say because it is stated by Kṛṣṇa.
If we are really Kṛṣṇa conscious, then our business is to repeat the words of Kṛṣṇa. That's all. What is the difference between a Kṛṣṇa's representative and non-representative? The representative of Kṛṣṇa will simply repeat what Kṛṣṇa says. That's all. He becomes representative. It doesn't require much qualification. You simply repeat with firm conviction. As Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). So one who has accepted this fact, that, "If I surrender to Kṛṣṇa, my all business is successful," he is Kṛṣṇa's representative. That's all.
Lecture on BG 1.21-22 -- London, July 18, 1973:
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).
So if all human beings become vegetarian, not vegetarian, but eater of the Kṛṣṇa's prasādam, all these liquor house and slaughterhouse and brothels will be closed. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We want to close these nonsense places of sinful life: brothels, illegitimate sense gratification, sex relationship, prostitution. If we are embarrassed with this sinful life, there is no possibility of becoming again acyuta. We remain cyuta, fallen. We remain fallen.
Lecture on BG 1.24-25 -- London, July 20, 1973:
Even the demons, when they come, just like Hiraṇyākṣa, Hiraṇyakaśipu. They were Jaya-Vijaya in the Vaikuṇṭha world. So they came here, and Kṛṣṇa asked them, that "If you become My enemy, then within three births you will come back. And if you remain friend, then seven births." So they preferred, "Oh, I shall become Your enemy, Sir, so that I can come back again after three births." So why? That Kṛṣṇa has all the propensities. Just like we sometimes want to fight, mock fight. So in the Vaikuṇṭha world there cannot be any fight. So because Kṛṣṇa wanted to exercise His fighting spirit, He sent His devotee. He became enemy and He fought. So you have to understand Kṛṣṇa in that way, as Hṛṣīkeśa. He knows that unless Arjuna becomes affected family-wise, how Bhagavad-gītā will be there? Therefore although Guḍākeśa, Arjuna, is above darkness, still, by the will of Kṛṣṇa, Hṛṣīkeśa, he played just like ordinary man, affected with his family affection. Therefore Kṛṣṇa in the next verse says... Uvāca. Kṛṣṇa said, "My dear Pārtha, now you wanted to see with whom you have to fight. Now, here is Bhīṣma, Droṇa, and many other kings. All the descendants of Kuru dynasty, your Dhṛtarāṣṭra's sons. Now you see very nicely and be prepared to fight with them." So this is the explanation of Hṛṣīkeśa and Guḍākeśa.
Lecture on BG 1.26-27 -- London, July 21, 1973:
So many atrocities was done to him. Still, when the question of killing came, he was not very happy: "No." This is Vaiṣṇava. This is Vaiṣṇava. He is ready to excuse even the greatest enemy. But Kṛṣṇa does not want. If you insult His devotee, the devotee may excuse, but Kṛṣṇa will not excuse. This is Kṛṣṇa's position. Therefore be careful to insult a devotee. A devotee may excuse you. But Kṛṣṇa will not excuse you. Kṛṣṇa is so strict. He cannot tolerate any insult to His devotee. Therefore this arrangement of fighting. Arjuna wanted, "No, let them be excused." Kṛṣṇa wanted, "No, you must fight. You must kill them." This is the position. So he is within the dilemma. Kṛṣṇa is insisting that "You must fight and kill them," but he is thinking, "How shall I kill my kinsmen?" This is the problem. Therefore, tān samīkṣya sa kaunteyaḥ sarvān bandhūn avasthitān (BG 1.27). All friends are there. Kṛpayā parayāviṣṭo viṣīdann idam abravīt. So this is one side, that if you want to please Kṛṣṇa, then you have to be prepared for killing your so-called relatives. If you want Kṛṣṇa. If you want to please Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 1.32-35 -- London, July 25, 1973:
"My dear Kṛṣṇa, Madhusūdana." He is not addressing Kṛṣṇa as "Kṛṣṇa." He is addressing Him, "Madhusūdana." He is reminding Him that "You also killed, but You kill Your enemies, Madhu." Madhu was a demon. Madhu-kaiṭabha-bhare hari-murāre. Madhu-kaiṭabha-bhare. So, "You are Madhusūdana. You are the killer of Madhu demon, who was Your enemy. You are not Nanda-sūdana or Yaśodā-sūdana." That is reminding Him, little critically, that "You are Yourself Madhusūdana. You kill only Your enemies. Why You are inducing me to kill my kinsmen?" This is the criticism. So etān na hantum icchāmi. So "You may induce me, but I am not going to kill them." Etān na hantum. Hantum, "To kill, I am not willing." Then the question may be that "It is fight. If you do not kill, if you stand still, then they will kill you. Because it is fight. Then what you will do?" "Yes, I agree." Ghnato 'pi. "If they kill me, I agree. Still, I will not kill them." Ghnato 'pi. "Even they kill me, I will not fight, I will not kill them. But if they kill me, that is also agreed; still, I will not kill." Just see how much determination. This is called family attraction.
Lecture on BG 1.45-46 -- London, August 1, 1973:
It is the custom between the kṣatriyas that in the fighting, if the other party hasn't got weapon to fight, this party will supply him weapon, not that the other party without weapon and this party will take opportunity to kill him. This is not the rules and regulation of fighting. There are many rules and regulation of the fighting. Not that "Because he is my enemy, I shall kill him any way." No. There are rules and regulations. If the enemy has broken his chariot, he is fallen down on the ground, the other party also will immediately get down from the chariot. Suppose he is feeling... If one is on the foot and another on the chariot, so he will be in superior position. So therefore the opposite party must also get down from the chariot and walk with him. That means the defeated enemy should be given all opportunities so he may not think that unnecessarily, in weak position, he has been killed. No. So Arjuna says... Arjuna, of course, did later on. When he killed Karṇa. Karṇa was without weapon, and he fell down from the chariot. Karṇa, after falling down from the chariot, and he was trying to raise the wheel of the chariot from the mud, so Kṛṣṇa asked Arjuna "That this is the opportunity to kill him. You kill him immediately." So at that time he had no weapons and he fell down from the chariot, and in that position he was killed by Arjuna by the order of Kṛṣṇa. This is violating the laws.
Lecture on BG 2.1 -- Ahmedabad, December 6, 1972:
So Dhṛtarāṣṭra was thinking whether the two parties, they have settled up. He did not like that. He wanted that "These Pāṇḍavas should be killed, and my sons," I mean to say "the Kauravas, they should come out victorious so that there will be no enemy." He was very much anxious to place his sons on the throne. Because he was blind, he could not acquire the throne. His younger brother was situated on the throne. Now, after the death of his younger brother, he thought that "I missed the opportunity of sitting on the throne. Why not my sons? They have got actual right." That is the background of this Kurukṣetra battle. He was always devising some means, how the sons of Pāṇḍu, his nephews, could be separated and his sons would sit on the throne. That was his idea. Therefore he inquired, kim akurvata. Otherwise, there was no question of inquiring kim akurvata. They went there to fight. They'll fight. But he was suspecting, "If they have made any compromise?" That he did not like. That he did not like. He wanted that "There must be fighting. And they are five brothers. My sons are one hundred in number. So they would be killed, and my sons will be without any rivalry."
Lecture on BG 2.1-5 -- Germany, June 16, 1974:
So Arjuna belonged to the group of men who was meant for giving protection to the society. So when he was declining to fight, Arjuna, when he was declining to fight, at that time Kṛṣṇa gave him advice that "It is your duty to fight." So generally killing is not good at all, but when there is enemy, aggressor, then to kill the aggressor is not sin. So the other party in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, they became aggressor to the Arjuna's party. Now, this is the set up of the Bhagavad-gītā. The real purpose is to instruct Arjuna about spiritual understanding.
Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:
must be very, in every way, very expert and fit. Kṛṣṇa wants to see. Yes. Go on.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "It does not become you. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O chastiser of the enemy."
Prabhupāda: He's specially addressing, "chastiser of the enemy." Where there is no excuse, you must be chastiser. Not that "Because I have become Kṛṣṇa conscious, I'll be very humble." You must be humble, but in need, if there is need, you shall be thunderbolt. That is Kṛṣṇa instructing.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Arjuna said: O killer of Madhu, Kṛṣṇa, how can I counterattack with arrows in battle personalities like Bhīṣma and Droṇa, who are worthy of my worship (BG 2.4)?"
Prabhupāda: Of course, all explanation are not there. Here, these words, Kṛṣṇa addressed Arjuna, "chastiser of enemies." And Arjuna addresses Kṛṣṇa, "Madhusūdana," or the killer of the demon Madhu. "Yes, You are addressing me as chastiser of enemy, but do You think my grandfather, my teacher, they are my enemies? You killed demon Madhu, therefore Your name is Madhusūdana, but You are asking me to kill my grandfather and teacher." That is the hint. "It is all right that Your name is Madhusūdana. You killed one demon whose name was Madhu, but You are asking me, Bhīṣmasūdana? Bhīṣma is my grandfather. And Droṇasūdana?" Sūdana means killer. "So how can I be that?" That is the answer.
Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Nor do we know which is better, conquering them or being conquered by them. The sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, whom if we killed we should not care to live, are now standing before us on this battlefield (BG 2.6)." Purport. "Arjuna became perplexed in this connection, not knowing whether he should execute the fighting with the risk of committing unnecessarily violence, although it is the duty of the kṣatriyas, or whether he should not and prefer instead to live by begging, because if he did not conquer the enemy, begging would be the only means left for his living. There was no certainty of victory because either side might emerge victorious."
Prabhupāda: These are his causes of perplexities, how he was thinking, that has been tried to be explained. Yes, go on.
Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "He offers himself to Kṛṣṇa as a disciple. He wants to stop friendly talks. Kṛṣṇa is therefore the original spiritual master in the science of the Bhagavad-gītā, and Arjuna is the original disciple in understanding the Gītā. How Arjuna understands the Bhagavad-gītā is stated in the Gītā itself, and yet foolish mundane scholars explain that one need not submit to Kṛṣṇa as a person but to the unborn within Kṛṣṇa. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa's within and without, and one who has no sense of this understanding is the greatest fool, the greatest pretender."
"I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I will not even be able to destroy it if I win an unrivalled kingdom on the earth with sovereignty like that of the demigods in heaven (BG 2.8).
"Sañjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told Kṛṣṇa, 'Govinda, I shall not fight,' and fell silent (BG 2.9).
O descendant of Bharata, at that time Kṛṣṇa, smiling in the midst of both the armies, spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna (BG 2.10)."
Prabhupāda: So Arjuna was so serious, and Kṛṣṇa was smiling. (laughs) "Just see the fool, what he is doing." Therefore there was necessity of instructing Bhagavad-gītā. The fool has to be instructed. Yes. This is the... He was smiling. This is childish. He was very serious, "Oh." Just like sometimes a child is very serious, and the father is smiling. Yes. So now Bhagavad-gītā will be spoken. He has accepted Kṛṣṇa as spiritual master. Now He'll teach. So what does He teach? Next?
Lecture on BG 2.1-11 -- Johannesburg, October 17, 1975:
"My dear friend, parantapa..." Parantapa means one who gives trouble to the enemies. This is the material world. A kṣatriya cannot behave like a brāhmaṇa, to excuse. Brāhmaṇa business is to excuse. Kṣamā-rūpa-tapasvinaḥ. Those who are tapasvī, they can excuse, but those who are in the governmental post, to make justice, there is no question of excuse. Life for life. "You have killed one man; you must be killed." This is justice. A brāhmaṇa, he may excuse, "All right, you have killed my man. Never mind. I excuse you." That is a brāhmaṇa's business. But a kṣatriya, the government, the ruling power, he cannot do so. It is his mercy. It is the government's mercy when a murderer is hanged. That is the injunction in the Manu-saṁhitā. "So parantapa, you are kṣatriya. Your business is to punish the unjust." Kṣudraṁ hṛdaya-daurbalyam: "For a kṣatriya this kind of poor-heartedness, that 'I shall not fight...' Give it up. Don't indulge in such thing."
Lecture on BG 2.1-11 -- Johannesburg, October 17, 1975:
He is addressing Kṛṣṇa as arisūdana, the killer of the enemies. He says, "But in my case, I have to fight with Bhīṣma, Droṇācārya. They are my well-wisher, and how can I kill them? It is my duty to offer my respect, touching their feet, and You are enticing me to pierce their body with arrow? So, of course, You have killed so many enemies, but You have killed enemies. Why You are inducing me to kill my grandfather and my teacher?" Of course, Arjuna, also intelligent. He replied that "You cannot accuse me as anārya. This is the consideration. Therefore I am hesitating to fight."
Lecture on BG 2.2-6 -- Ahmedabad, December 11, 1972:
Parantapa means one who can give trouble to the enemies. It is the duty of the kṣatriya. Enemies, aggressor, they should be killed. There is no ātatāyī. Ātatāyī means one who is aggressor. One who kidnaps one's wife, one who take away by force one's wealth, one who sets fire in one's house, these are called aggressor. So aggressor should be killed. Aggressor should be given trouble. So Kṛṣṇa does not teach unnecessarily nonviolence. If kṣatriya becomes nonviolent, then the whole state will be in chaos. They must learn how to kill any criminal. He should be immediately killed.
Lecture on BG 2.2-6 -- Ahmedabad, December 11, 1972:
Now Kṛṣṇa was encouraging to fight; Arjuna was also very intelligently replying. He addressed Kṛṣṇa as Madhusūdana, Arisūdana. Madhusūdana means "the killer of Madhu demon" or "the killer or enemy." So his purpose is that "I have to kill Bhīṣmadeva, who is my so kind grandfather, and I have to kill Droṇācārya, who is my teacher, from whom I have learned this military art. So You have killed the demons and Your enemy, and why You are inducing me to kill my guru and my grandfather?" This is his argument. Kathaṁ bhīṣmam ahaṁ saṅkhye droṇaṁ ca madhusūdana, iṣubhiḥ pratiyotsyāmi: (BG 2.4) "They, my grandfather, my teacher, may chastise me, but how I can pierce with arrows their body?"
Lecture on BG 2.3 -- London, August 4, 1973:
Pradyumna (leads chanting, etc.):
- klaibyaṁ ma sma gamaḥ pārtha
- naitat tvayy upapadyate
- kśūdraṁ hṛdaya-daurbalyaṁ
- tyaktvottiṣṭha parantapa
- (BG 2.3)
Translation: "O son of Pṛthā, do not yield to this degrading impotence. It does not become you. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O chastiser of the enemy."
Prabhupāda: So Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa, is encouraging, kśūdraṁ hṛdaya-daurbalyam. "For a kṣatriya to speak like that, 'No no, I cannot kill my kinsmen. I am giving my weapons,' this is weakness, cowardice. Why you are all this nonsense doing?" Kśūdraṁ hṛdaya-daurbalyam. "This kind of compassion, giving up your duty as a kṣatriya, it is simply weakness of the heart. It has no meaning." Klaibyaṁ ma sma gamaḥ pārtha naitat tvayy upapadyate. "Especially for you. You are My friend. What people will say? So give up this weakness of the heart and uttiṣṭha, stand up, take courage."
Lecture on BG 2.3 -- London, August 4, 1973:
Just like if you have got some disease in the eyes, you apply medicine, and when it is clear, you can see clearly everything; similarly, with these blunt senses, we cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ (Brs. 1.2.234). As śrī-kṛṣṇasya nāmādau, Kṛṣṇa's name, form, quality, etc., is not understand by these blunt senses, so how it is to be done? Now, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. Again jihvādau, beginning from the tongue, controlling the tongue. Just see it is something peculiar, that you have to understand Kṛṣṇa by controlling the tongue? This is something wonderful. How is that? I have to control my tongue to understand Kṛṣṇa? But it is, the śāstra injunction is there: sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. Jihvā means tongue. So in order to see Kṛṣṇa, in order to understand Kṛṣṇa, the first business is to control your tongue. Therefore we say, don't take meat, don't take liquor. Because it is controlling the tongue. The tongue is the most strong enemy as sense, as perverted sense. And these rascals they say, "No, you can eat whatever you like. It has nothing to do with religion." But Vedic śāstra says, "You rascal, first of all control your tongue. Then you can understand what is God."
Lecture on BG 2.4-5 -- London, August 5, 1973:
So do you want me to kill my guru? Gurūn hi hatvā. And not only ordinary guru. This is not that they are ordinary men. Mahānubhāvān. Bhīṣma is a great devotee, and similarly, Droṇācārya also, a great personality. Mahānubhāvān. So kathaṁ bhīṣmam ahaṁ saṅkhye droṇaṁ ca madhusūdana (BG 2.4). "They are two great personalities. They are not only my gurus, but they are great personalities." And Kṛṣṇa is addressed "Madhusūdana." Madhusūdana means... Madhu was Kṛṣṇa's enemy, a demon. So He killed. So "You are Madhusūdana, You are killer of Your enemies. Can You give me any evidence that You have killed Your guru? So why You are asking me?" This is the purport. Iṣubhiḥ pratiyotsyāmi pūjārhāv ari-sūdana. Again Ari-sūdana. Ari means enemy. Madhusūdana, particularly "the killer of the Madhu demon." And next is Arisudana. Ari means enemy. So Kṛṣṇa has killed so many demons, ari, who came to fight with Him as enemy. Therefore His name is Arisudana.
Lecture on BG 2.4-5 -- London, August 5, 1973:
So Kṛṣṇa has got enemies also, what to speak of ourself. This material world is so made, that you must have some enemies. Matsaratā. Matsaratā means enviousness, jealousy. This material world is like that. So there are jealous enemies of God also. They are called demons. Ordinary jealousy or enemy, that is natural. But even to God. Just like yesterday night, evening, somebody came to see me. He was arguing that "Why Kṛṣṇa should be accepted as God?" That was his argument. So Kṛṣṇa has enemies. Therefore Kṛṣṇa... Not only He, but everyone who is in the material world is enemy of Kṛṣṇa. Everyone. Because they want to be competitor of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says that bhoktāram: "I am the supreme enjoyer." Sarva-loka-maheśvaram: (BG 5.29) "I am the Supreme proprietor." And the Vedas also confirm, īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). "Everything is the property of the Supreme Lord." Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. These are Vedic injunctions. Yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante: "From whom everything has come." Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). These are Vedic versions. But still, we, because we are enemies, "No, why Kṛṣṇa shall be the proprietor? I am the proprietor. Why Kṛṣṇa shall be God only. I have got another God. Here is another God."
Lecture on BG 2.4-5 -- London, August 5, 1973:
Then, after many prayers, after pacifying the Lord... He was very angry. Then when He was little pacified, he asked, "My dear Lord, I can ask You one, another benediction. that my father was very, very staunch enemy of You. That was the cause of his death. Now I ask You kindly excuse him and give him liberation." This is Vaiṣṇava son. He did not ask anything for himself. And although he knew that his father was the greatest enemy, still, he is asking his benediction, "This poor fellow may be liberated." So Lord Nṛsiṁha-deva guaranteed, said, "My dear Prahlāda, not only your father, but your father's father, his father, up to fourteen generations, all are liberated. Because you are born in this family." So anyone who has become a Vaiṣṇava, a devotee of the Lord, he is giving the greatest service to the family. Because in relationship with him, his father, mother, anyone, they will be liberated. Just like we have got experience, if a person dies in the fight immaturely, his family is taken care of by the government. Similarly, to become a devotee is the greatest qualification. He has got everything. Yatra yogeśvaro hariḥ yatra dhanur-dharaḥ pārthaḥ (BG 18.78). When there is Kṛṣṇa and when there is devotee, all victory, all glories are there. That is guaranteed.
Lecture on BG 2.7-11 -- New York, March 2, 1966:
Kārpaṇya-doṣa. Kārpaṇya-doṣa means a miserly man, miserly man. He was conscious of the fact that he was a great hero, he was a great fighter, and, at the same time, the enemies were there. So his actual duty was to fight with the enemy. They were offering fight. For a kṣatriya there are some obligations. If somebody challenges that "I want to fight with you," a kṣatriya cannot deny. If somebody challenges, "Yes, I want to bet with you, gambling," a kṣatriya cannot deny. And for that reason, the Pāṇḍavas lost their kingdom. The other side, his cousins, offered them, that "All right, let us come to betting." So betting, the bid was they offered the kingdom. "Now, if you, if you," I mean to say, "defeated, if you are defeated, then you lose your kingdom." So they lost their kingdom.
Lecture on BG 2.7-11 -- New York, March 2, 1966:
So these four divisions are always. Now you can name in a different way. That doesn't matter. But in every society and for all time these divisions are there. So according to Vedic system, this system is observed by generation. So he was a kṣatriya. Now, kṣatriya's duty was to fight with the enemy, and he was not executing that, I mean to say, injunction. Therefore, he is conscious that dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ: (BG 2.7) "Oh, I am deviating from my religion also. It is the duty of kṣatriya. No. So I am now perplexed." So yac chreyaḥ syān niścitam: "Now You should kindly, definitely say." Now, here is a position: "I do not understand what is to be done. You kindly..." Yac chreyaḥ syān niścitam. Niścitam means definitely what is right. Brūhi tan me. Now Kṛṣṇa can say, "Well, I have already saying you that you should fight, but you are not carrying out the order." So he says that śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam (BG 2.7). So he accepted that "All right, whatever arguments we have done so far, let us forget that. Now I accept You as my spiritual master, not my friend."
Lecture on BG 2.7-11 -- New York, March 2, 1966:
This is called adhidaivika suffering. And the suffering of the mind and suffering of the body is called adhyātmika. And there is other sufferings, adhibhautika, attack by other living beings, my enemy, some animal or some worm, so many. So these three kinds of sufferings are there always. Always. And... But we do not want all these sufferings. When this question comes... Now here Arjuna is conscious that "There is a fight, and it is my duty to fight with the enemy, but there is suffering because they are my kinsmen." So he's feeling that. So unless a human being is conscious and awakened to the fact that we are always in suffering but we do not want all these sufferings... This question... Such a person is required to approach a spiritual master, when he is conscious. You see? So long he is animal-like, that he does not know that he's always in suffering... He does not know, he does not care, or he does not want to make a solution. And here Arjuna is suffering, and he wants to make a solution, and therefore he accepts a spiritual master.
Lecture on BG 2.8 -- London, August 8, 1973:
So rājyaṁ surāṇām api cādhipatyam (BG 2.8). Formerly there were many demons who conquered over the kingdom of the demigods. Rājyaṁ surāṇām api cādhipatyam. Just like Hiraṇyakaśipu. He spread his authority even over the kingdom of Indra. Indrāri-vyākulaṁ lokaṁ mṛdayanti yuge yuge (SB 1.3.28). Indrāri. Indrāri means the enemy of Indra. Indra is the king of the heavenly planets, and enemy means the demons. The demigods and their enemy, demons. Just like we have got many enemies. Because we are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, there are so many critics and so many enemies also. They do not like. So this is always. Now the number has increased. Formerly, there were some. Now there are many. So therefore indrāri-vyākulaṁ lokam. When these demons, the population, demonic population increases, then vyākulaṁ lokam. People become perplexed. Indrāri vyākulaṁ lokaṁ mṛdayanti yuge yuge. So when, at that time, Kṛṣṇa comes. Ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28).
Lecture on BG 2.8-12 -- Los Angeles, November 27, 1968:
Devotee: Start at verse 8. "I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I will not even be able to destroy it if I win an unrivaled kingdom on the earth with sovereignty like that of the demigods in heaven (BG 2.8). Sañjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of the enemy told Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, 'I shall not fight,' and fell silent (BG 2.9). O descendant of Bharata, at that time Kṛṣṇa, smiling in the midst of both the armies, spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna (BG 2.10). The Blessed Lord said..."
Prabhupāda: So when we become very serious in a dangerous position, as if we are lost, but Kṛṣṇa smiles. You see? Sometimes we think... This is called illusion. The same example, just a man in dreaming, crying, "There is tiger, there is tiger. It is eating me," and the man who is awakened, he smiles, "Where is the tiger?" (chuckles) "Where is the tiger?" And this man is crying, "Tiger, tiger, tiger." Similarly, when we are very much perplexed... Just like the politicians, they are sometimes perplexed in political situation and claiming, "This is my land, my country," and other party also claiming, "It is my land, my country," and they are fighting very gravely. Kṛṣṇa smiles. "What these nonsense are claiming 'my country, my land'? It is My land, and they are claiming 'my land' and fighting." Actually, the land belongs to Kṛṣṇa, but these people, under illusion, claiming, "It is my land, it is my country," forgetting how long he shall belong to this country or this nation. That is called illusion.
Lecture on BG 2.9 -- Auckland, February 21, 1973:
Woman (1): But you can't... Your body might be an illusion, but to you it's real. And if you abused your life, then that's...
Prabhupāda: Fighting is a kṣatriya's duty, you see. Just like I can give you one example. Just like one man is ordered by the state that "This man should be hanged." Does it mean that the state is enemy of this man?
Woman (1): I disagree with hanging completely.
Madhudviṣa: She also disagrees with hanging.
Prabhupāda: You may disagree, but what is the principle? Do you mean to say the state is wrong, the government is wrong?
Woman (1): (Yes)
Prabhupāda: Well, that is an individual opinion. But according to śāstra, we have to understand that... Suppose your dress, something unclean dress, you have got. So if somebody says that "You take out this unclean dress. Get a...," so is that very (sic:) enimating. Because after all, the soul is within the body. So if the body has become unclean, or some other reason, the body has to be changed, so that is not lack of love. Therefore we have to understand actually what we are.
Lecture on BG 2.9 -- London, August 15, 1973:
Pradyumna (leads chanting, etc.):
- sañjaya uvāca
- evam uktvā hṛṣīkeśaṁ
- guḍākeśaḥ parantapaḥ
- na yotsya iti govindam
- uktvā tuṣṇīṁ babhūva ha
- (BG 2.9)
Translation: "Sañjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told Kṛṣṇa, 'Govinda, I shall not fight,' and fell silent."
Prabhupāda: In the previous verse, Arjuna said that "There is no profit in this fighting because the other side, they are all my relatives, kinsmen, and by killing them, even if I become victorious, so what is the value?" That we have explained, that such kind of renouncement sometimes takes place in ignorance. Actually, it is not very much intelligently placed. So in this way, evam uktvā, "saying that, 'So there is no profit in fighting,' " evam uktvā, "saying this," hṛṣīkeśam, he is speaking to the master of the senses. And in previous verse he has said, śiṣyas te 'haṁ prapannam: (BG 2.7) "I am Your surrendered disciple." So Kṛṣṇa becomes guru, and Arjuna becomes the disciple. Formerly they were talking as friends. But friendly talking cannot decide any serious question. When there is some serious matter, it must be spoken between authorities.
Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Edinburgh, July 16, 1972:
Human society must be divided into four classes of men. Just like in our body, there are four different departments: the brain department, the hand department, the belly department, and the leg department. You require all these. If the body is to be maintained, then you must maintain properly your head, your arms, your belly, and leg. The cooperation. You have heard many times the caste system of India: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. This is not artificial. It is natural. In any society you go, not only in India, in any other country, these four classes of men are there. Intelligent class of men, administrator class of men, productive class of men, and laborer class of men. You call it by different names, but there must be such division. As I told you, there are divisions in my own body—the brain department, the arms department, the belly department, and the leg department. So all the kings, they belong to the arms department for protection of the people. So formerly, the kṣatriyas..., kṣatriya means one who gives protection to the citizens from being harmed by other enemies. That is called kṣatriya.
Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972:
Of course, when there is fight... That is called dharma-yuddha. Dharma-yuddha, by the order of the Supreme. Just like Arjuna was fighting by the order of the Supreme. That is dharma-yuddha. If there is no sanction by the dharma, there is śāstra injunction, "In this case fighting should be there, in case, in this case, there should be no fighting..." So one who follows the principles of regulation in the Vedas, that is called dharma-yuddha. Even there is fight, there is religion, there is piety. Even by killing and being killed. Two kṣatriyas are fighting. Either he kills or he is being killed, in both ways they are profited. That will be explained. Just like Arjuna was advised that "My dear Arjuna, why you are hesitating to fight? Both ways you'll be benefited. If you can kill your enemies, then you get the kingdom, you enjoy. And if you are killed, then you are promoted to the heavenly planets. So where is your loss? Where is your loss?" This is the instruction given. A kṣatriya who is fighting for the real cause, as sanctioned by the dharma-śāstras, when both ways he's profited. If he becomes victorious, he's profited, but if he's killed in the battle, he's also profited. Both ways.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:
Even in your duty. Just like our Captain sāheb is here. I have seen in the ship he has got very serious duty in the ocean. He's always consulting the chart and the latitude, longitude, which side the ship is going. That is anxiety because so many lives, so many property, is under his control. Any, a slight mistake, would play havoc. We do not know. I was asking the Captain sāheb, "Where you are going?" But I do not know. I see simply vast of water. But he has got responsibility. He knows the thing. So any responsible officer... Any responsible... Your President Johnson, he's also full of anxiety. I am also full of anxiety. You are also full of anxiety. Even a, a small bird, you'll find... You give a small bird some grains. You'll see like this: "Is there enemy? Somebody's coming. Somebody's killing me." So full of anxieties. This is the condition. This is the condition. So you cannot, you cannot be free from the anxiety, dehinaḥ.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972:
You cannot make any experiment, neither it is possible to understand who is your father by experimental knowledge. Then how you can make experiment the Supreme Father, God? That is not possible. Simply you have to hear from the authoritative sources. But you can make some experiment. But that is not very important thing. The important thing is to hear from the authorized person. That is important. Therefore, Vedas are called śruti. Śruti means aural reception. You have to hear. Just like when you are sleeping, all your other senses are not active. But ear, if somebody is coming, your enemy, to hurt you, and your friend says, "Mr. such-and-such, wake up, wake up," so you can hear and you wake up and see that somebody is coming. So the ear is very important. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). Anyone who has heard perfectly from the disciplic succession of spiritual master, he is perfect. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda. Ācārya means... Ācāryavān, vān means possession. One who has possessed an authorized spiritual master, he knows. He knows. Veda, Veda means knowledge, knows.
Lecture on BG 2.14 -- Germany, June 21, 1974:
You cannot check the nature's law. Suppose in this life you are very big leader, prime minister, and everything. That's all right, but according to your mentality, you are creating next life. So in this life you remain a prime minister, and in next life you become a dog. Then where is the benefit? There is not... Therefore these atheist fools, they want to deny next life. That is very horrible for them. That is very horrible to them. If they accept next life... They know their life is very sinful. Then what life they are going to get by the laws of nature? When they think of it, they shudder. "Better deny it. Better deny it." Just like a rabbit. Enemy is in his front, and he is going to die, but the thinks, "Let me close my eyes. I am out of danger." This is atheistic view, that they are trying to forget that there is... Therefore they deny, "There is no life." Why not? Kṛṣṇa says that "You had a childhood body. You had a baby... Now you have... Where is that body? You have left that. You are in different body. Similarly, this body you'll change.
Lecture on BG 2.22 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972:
So the Bhagavad-gītā is the only book in the world which teaches to educate these cows and asses to human life. This mass of cows and asses are to be trained with these teachings of Bhagavad-gītā. It is the beginning, that vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi (BG 2.22). This vāsāṁsi, this body, can be changed. Suppose now you are very much a great enemy of Pakistan. Take, for example... I am not... Or Pakistan is thinking "Oh, India, Hindustan, is our great enemy." What is this Hindustan and Pakistan or Russia? This is this body. Next life, you can take birth in Russia, or you can take birth in... There is no certainty. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi. But according to Bhagavad-gītā, you can understand, at the, at the time of death, if you are going on thinking, "Oh, Pakistan, my, is my enemy, enemy," then you get a birth in Pakistan. (laughter) Yes. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). Because I shall get my next body according to my mental condition at the time of death. So just like our women are taught to become very chaste. Why? That is a process to give her a chance to become a male next life.
Lecture on BG 2.24 -- Hyderabad, November 28, 1972:
So Kṛṣṇa is so kind that if you want to do something, first of all He says, "No." Just like a thief, he's praying to God: "My dear Lord, give me some opportunity. I can steal that thing." Kṛṣṇa first of all says, "No, no. Don't do it." But he insists. Then Kṛṣṇa says, "All right. Do it." But as soon as you do it, you become entangled. Why you are doing against the will of Kṛṣṇa? That is your entanglement. Kṛṣṇa says: "Don't do this." Why you are doing that? So Kṛṣṇa is giving you facility to steal others' property, but you become entangled. That is not Kṛṣṇa's responsibility. Your responsibility. Suppose a high-court judge gives sanction that "This man should be condemned to death. He should be hanged," Does it mean the high-court judge is your enemy and hanging you? He has nothing to do to become your enemy or friend. You have committed situation that you should be hanged. He's giving order: "Be hanged." That's all. So your business is to surrender to Kṛṣṇa and act according to His instruction. Then you'll be happy. Otherwise not.
Lecture on BG 2.25 -- Hyderabad, November 29, 1972:
When Kṛṣṇa was playing as a child, He ate earth and the playmates complained to Mother Yaśodā: "Mother, your son Kṛṣṇa is eating earth." Mother Yaśodā called for explanation: "Kṛṣṇa, why You are eating earth? I have given You sandeśa." Kṛṣṇa said, "No, mother, I have not eaten." "No, Your friends are complaining." "No, they have become My enemies this morning. We had some quarrel. Therefore they have combined together to make Me chastised by you." So in this way... Then Mother Yaśodā wanted to solve this problem: "All right, show Your mouth, open Your mouth. I want to see." And when Kṛṣṇa opened the mouth, the mother saw innumerable universes are within the mouth. This is Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 2.25 -- Hyderabad, November 29, 1972:
Kṛṣṇa is served by the devotees in so many rasas, transcendental mellow, or humor. Somebody is serving as servant. Somebody is serving as friend. Somebody is serving as father and mother. Somebody is serving as conjugal lover. These are five primary mellows in which a devotee is connected with Kṛṣṇa. And there are other, seven rasas also. They are not primary; secondary. Somebody is serving Kṛṣṇa as enemy. Just like the asuras. They also serve Kṛṣṇa—as enemy. Somebody is serving, giving pleasure to Kṛṣṇa, by fighting with Him. So there are so many, twelve rasas. Akhila-rasāmṛta-sindhu. All the rasas that we have got experience within this world, they are coming from Kṛṣṇa. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The Vedānta-sūtra says, "Everything, whatever we see within our experience, we cannot experience anything if it is not in Kṛṣṇa." That is Kṛṣṇa. He was stealing, which we consider not very good business. That stealing is also in Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Los Angeles, December 6, 1968:
Devotee: "On the other hand, in modern science and scientific warfare so many tons of chemicals are wasted in achieving victory over the enemy."
Prabhupāda: Yes. They are manufacturing so many atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb, this bomb—huge expensive chemical. So that is lost, so who is crying for that? Go on.
Devotee: "According to the vaibhāṣika philosophy, the so-called soul or ātmā vanishes along with the deterioration of the body."
Prabhupāda: The modern theories, they are exactly like that. They want to... Yes, our Kārttikeya was telling that the boys, the young boys and girls, they put forward this theory that "Our parents have made the position of the world so unsafe. So we do not know when we shall, our this body will be finished. So better to enjoy this bodily sense gratification as far as possible quickly." Is not that theory you were telling me? Huh? Is it a fact they are thinking like that? Oh, now, see this nonsense. Now supposing there is soul... And why not suppose? Because experimentally you have not proved that by chemical combination you can produce such moving things.
Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Hyderabad, November 30, 1972:
The warfare of the kṣatriyas and the warfare at the present moment of the whimsical politicians, it is, they are different. Formerly it was not democracy. Only the kṣatriyas would fight. Especially the king, the royal order, they should come forward. Not that the politicians are sitting very comfortably at home, and poor people, they are given to fight in front of the enemy. No. That was not the system. The king must come forward. The other side, the king also come. And the opposite side, they also, he also should come forward and fight. It was duty. And as soon as the king is killed by the other party, then the other party becomes victorious. There was no more fighting. It is not the so-called king and president is sitting very comfortably and the poor soldiers, they are fighting unlimitedly, and the war is going on for many years. Just like last war we saw at least eight years it continued. Eight years, six years, no. The Battle of Kurukṣetra, it was finished within eighteen days.
Lecture on BG 2.26-27 -- London, August 29, 1973:
So this contradiction, opposing elements, will continue unless there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So this is not a fact that the karma-vādīs simply by discharging your duties nicely... This is... On principle, it is all right. But we must know what is actual morality. There are so many examples. Just like when there is war, to kill the enemies, that is morality. But in peaceful condition if you kill a person that is immorality or sinful. The process is the same, morality or immorality, the process is the same. But sometimes it is moral, sometimes immoral. So how it will be standardized? Therefore Bhāgavata says dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Real dharma, real religion, morality, honesty, they can be decided on the words of the Supreme Lord. That is the... When Kṛṣṇa says "This is all right," then it is all right. When Kṛṣṇa says it is not right, then it is not right. This is our decision. We Kṛṣṇa conscious men, we simply accept. And that is a fact. That is a fact in this way because Kṛṣṇa is the greatest authority, Supreme Being. Supreme means the greatest authority. Just like state says "Now it is wartime. If you kill a number of enemies then you will be awarded with gold medal." The same process of killing. But at another time, when there is no war, if you kill one person you'll be hanged. The killing process is the same, but the judgement is given by the greatest authority, the government. "This is all right, this is not right." Therefore, standard of morality means to abide by the orders of the greatest authority. That is standard of morality. This is the conclusion. You cannot make your own morality. No. If Kṛṣṇa says "This is all right," then it is all right. Otherwise, it is not.
Lecture on BG 2.27-38 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1968:
Devotee: 35: "The great generals who have highly esteemed your name and fame will think that you have left the battlefield out of fear only, and thus they will consider you a coward (BG 2.35)." 36: "Your enemies will..."
Prabhupāda: A kṣatriya... It is the custom of the kṣatriya that if they are wounded on the back side, he is considered a coward, but if he is wounded on the chest, he is accepted as real kṣatriya. That means he has fought face to face. That is the injunction of military art in Vedic injunction.
Devotee: "Your enemies will describe you in many unkind words and scorn your ability. What could be more painful for you (BG 2.36)?" 37: "O son of Kuntī, either you will be killed on the battlefield and attain the heavenly planets or you will conquer and enjoy the earthly kingdom. Therefore get up and fight with determination (BG 2.37)." 38: "Do thou fight for the sake of fighting without considering happiness or distress, loss or gain (BG 2.38)."
Prabhupāda: This is duty. One has to execute duty without any consideration of loss and gain. That is duty, observing duty. Just see. "You are kṣatriya. There is necessity of this fighting. So you should not consider whether you are gaining or losing. It is your duty to fight." Go on.
Lecture on BG 2.32 -- London, September 2, 1973:
So, it is the duty of the kṣatriya to see that everyone is executing his proper professional or occupational duty. We have discussed this point yesterday, sva-dharmam api cāvekṣya. Sva-dharma. This is very important. At the present moment there is no sva-dharma. Therefore according to Vedic injunctions, dharmeṇa hīna paśubhiḥ samāna. One who is not executing his own religious principle, he is no better than the animals. So who will see that everyone engaged in discharging his occupational duty? Sva-dharmam means occupational duty. It is the duty of the king, government. In the beginning it is the duty of the father, of the teacher, to train children to the principles of sva-dharma. A brāhmaṇa, it is the duty of the brāhmaṇa to see that his son is being properly trained up as a brāhmaṇa. Satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā ārjavaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42). Everything is there. The brāhmaṇas should be taught how to become truthful, first of all. A brāhmaṇa will never speak lie, at any cost. It is stated that even if his enemy inquires something confidential from him, he'll say, "Yes, this is my position." This is truthfulness. He'll not even, I mean to say, guile, against his enemy. He should be truthful. Even kṣatriyas, they are also truthful men. Truthfulness is so valuable. That makes one powerful brāhmaṇa. Satyam.
Lecture on BG 2.32 -- London, September 2, 1973:
So Kṛṣṇa wanted to see that these cheaters and rogues must be killed. That was His plan. Therefore He said, yadṛcchayā copapannaṁ svarga-dvāram apāvṛtam: "Arjuna, you are hesitating to fight, but it is a great opportunity for you. Because as a kṣatriya, if you kill these cheaters and rogues, that will be a great achievement for you. And even though you cannot kill them, if you die yourself, then the heavenly door is open for you." Because a kṣatriya who dies in the battlefield for the right cause, he goes to the heaven. If he conquers over the enemy, he enjoys the kingdom. And if he dies... But the cause must be right. Svarga-dvāram.
- yadṛcchayā copapannaṁ
- svarga-dvāram apāvṛtam
- sukhinaḥ kṣatriyāḥ pārtha
- labhante yuddham īdṛśam
Yuddham means a political fight. Nowadays. Just like in our India, Pakistan and Hindustan, they are always planning fighting. That is political. That is political. When the Pakistan's government cannot manage, nobody is managing nicely, neither Pakistan or Hindustan, but they divert their attention the religious slogan—"Hindus are our enemies." Or "the Pakistan is our enemies." The so-called national slogan. Here also, everywhere. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). Here in Europe also the two wars was arranged by the German people, they were envious of the English people. So these wars are not right wars, righteous wars. No. They are play of the diplomats, politicians—they engage. When they cannot manage things very nicely, they engage people into war. That's all. Divert the attention. But war is not meant for that. War is meant for that, when people are not properly being trained up by the king of the state, the other king can attack him.
Lecture on BG 2.36-37 -- London, September 4, 1973:
Pradyumna: Translation: "Your enemies will describe you in many unkind words and scorn your ability. What could be more painful for you?"
Prabhupāda: Niścayaḥ, "uncertainly"?
Pradyumna: Should be "certainly." Translation: "O son of Kuntī, either you will be killed on the battlefield and attain the heavenly planets, or you will conquer and enjoy the heavenly kingdom."
Prabhupāda: You are noting down the mistakes and...? Noting down the mistakes, yes.
Pradyumna: Note down, yes. "Therefore get up and fight with determination."
Prabhupāda: So Arjuna's position is very precarious. There is a Bengali proverb naste bose bhunkata.(?) A girl, he, she is very famous dancing girl. So it is the system... As we have introduced, the girls and ladies, they have their veil, guṇṭhana. It is called guṇṭhana in Indian language. So a dancing girl, when she was on the stage, she saw that so many of her relatives are there as visitors. So she began to draw the veil. So this is not required. You are a dancing girl. Now you have to dance. You cannot be shy. You must freely dance. That is your duty.
Lecture on BG 2.36-37 -- London, September 4, 1973:
So Kṛṣṇa is encouraging, inducing Arjuna to observe the duty. You cannot deviate from duty. That was the point. When there is fight, you must fight regularly, and kill the enemies. That is your credit. When you are fighting with the enemies, if you become compassionate, "How shall I kill?" that is cowardice. Therefore Kṛṣṇa concludes here: hato vā prāpsyasi svargaṁ jitvā vā bhokṣyase mahīm. There are two alternatives. For a fighter, for a kṣatriya, to fight in the battle, either gain victory or die. No via media. Fight to the last point if you are able, then become victorious. Or die. No stoppage. All this fighting were meant like that. According to the Vedic culture, the kṣatriyas... Not the brāhmaṇas. The brāhmaṇas are not encouraged to fight or kill. No. They should remain always nonviolent. Even there is required violence, a brāhmaṇa will not kill personally. He will bring the matter to the kṣatriya, royal order.
Lecture on BG 2.36-37 -- London, September 4, 1973:
So Kṛṣṇa says in two ways that "If you don't fight, then your enemies will blaspheme you." Avācya-vādāṁś ca vadiṣyanti bahūn. "They'll concoct, manufacture some blasphemy against you. You are becoming very much sorry to fight with your kinsmen. Undoubtedly you are very sorry. But if you are blasphemed, defamed by your enemies, better, before getting that, you better die in the fight. And dying, by dying, you are not loser. Because hato vā prāpsyasi svargam. Even if you die, don't think that you are loser, because immediately you are promoted to the heavenly planets. Because you are fighting for the right cause, it becomes puṇyavān, righteous. The heavenly planet is meant for righteous persons. So by dying, by your death in this righteous fighting, you'll be promoted to the heavenly planets. So both ways you will be profited." Hato vā prāpsyasi svargam and jitvā vā bhokṣyase mahīm. "And if you become victorious, then you enjoy the kingdom. So both ways you are profited. There is no loss on your part. Tasmāt, therefore uttiṣṭha kaunteya yuddhāya kṛta niścayaḥ. Kṛta niścayaḥ. Definitely decide it that: 'I must fight. Fighting must be there.' Yuddhāya. For matter of fighting, uttiṣṭha, get up. Why are you sitting like coward?" Encouraging.
Lecture on BG 2.39 -- London, September 12, 1973:
So this is the Kṛṣṇa consciousness benefit. Of course, we should not have any more... Kaṁsa. Kaṁsa, just like. He was simply thinking of Kṛṣṇa. He was Kṛṣṇa conscious fully, always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. But the motive was to kill. So still, Kaṁsa got liberation because he was constantly thinking of Kṛṣṇa. But ac... That is not bhakti. Bhakti is the same thinking of Kṛṣṇa—favorably. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). That is bhakti. To think of Kṛṣṇa as enemy, that is not required. One may think, but a devotee, how can he think of Kṛṣṇa as enemy? He thinks of Kṛṣṇa as friend, as son, as master, as lover. A devotee thinks like that, whereas a demon or an enemy of Kṛṣṇa, he's always thinking of... This is the difference between demon and devotee. Demon is thinking how to wipe out, how to banish Kṛṣṇa, how to kill Kṛṣṇa. They don't want Kṛṣṇa. That is demonic. So therefore they do not know that a demonic person is always suffering. That is due to his forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa. But because he is demon, he is continuing the business.
Lecture on BG 2.46-47 -- New York, March 28, 1966:
So he was hesitating from his duty: "I shall not fight. I shall not fight because by killing my kinsmen, by killing my spiritual master, by killing my teacher, killing my grandfather, I will be sinful." That was his conclusion. Now, Kṛṣṇa says that "If you think in that way, that you shall be, I mean to say, enjoying, enjoying the reaction. Then, of course, you'll not be working in the spiritual field. You don't take in that way because this war is a duty and because I want that you should fight." It is the order from the authority. Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. "Therefore you should fight." So fighting for the cause of the Supreme, that will not affect you. That will not affect you. Just like you can take an example that fighting for the country and killing the enemies, that is taken into good account, but fighting for one's personal cause, fighting or killing one man for personal cause, that man is hanged by the laws of the state. Similarly, fighting is also not bad if it is done for the supreme cause. Anything which is done for the supreme cause, that is transcendental. That is above, I mean to say, our mundane calculation. So Śrī Kṛṣṇa says that "You should not stop working, but you have to work cautiously for the supreme cause. That is the way of working on the spiritual platform."
Lecture on BG 2.46-62 -- Los Angeles, December 16, 1968:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: 52: "When your intelligence has passed out of the dense forest of delusion, you will become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is to be heard (BG 2.52)." Purport: "There are many good examples in the lives of the great devotees of the Lord, of those who became indifferent to the rituals of the Vedas simply by devotional service to the Lord. When a person factually understands Kṛṣṇa and one's relationship with Kṛṣṇa, one naturally becomes completely indifferent to the rituals of fruitive activities even though he may be an experienced brāhmaṇa. Śrī Mādhavendra Purī, a great devotee and ācārya in the line of devotees, says, 'O Lord, in my prayers three times a day, all glories to You. Bathing, I offer my obeisances unto You. O demigods, O forefathers, please excuse me for my inability to offer you my respects. Now wherever I sit I am able to remember the great descendant of the Yadu dynasty, Kṛṣṇa, the enemy of Kaṁsa, and therefore I can get myself free from all sinful bondage. I think this is sufficient for me.' "
Prabhupāda: This is a prayer by Mādhavendra Purī. (chuckling) He says that "I am not going to do anything except serving Kṛṣṇa." This Mādhavendra Purī was the grand-spiritual master of Lord Caitanya. Mādhavendra Purī's disciple Īśvara Purī, and Īśvara Purī was accepted as spiritual master of Lord Caitanya. Nobody can become a spiritual master of the Supreme Lord, but in order to teach us that even the Lord, He also accepted a spiritual master. That is the system. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). Unless He shows us the way, people will say, "Oh, Lord Caitanya did not accept any spiritual master." They can give example. But therefore Kṛṣṇa also accepted spiritual master. This is the system. One has to. Tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). One must accept a spiritual master if he at all wants to know the spiritual science. Without that, it is not possible. Kṛṣṇa science, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, cannot be developed without the assistance of a bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa. Naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghrim (SB 7.5.32). There are very, very, many, many instances.
Lecture on BG 2.58-59 -- New York, April 27, 1966:
Just like a soldier, he is simply awaiting the order of the commander. Then his activities are approved, "Oh, he is doing nicely. Yes." By the approval of the commander, he is killing as many persons, and by this killing art, he is being rewarded, "Oh, you are a good soldier." But that killing, if he does for his personal interest, even he kills one man, he is hanged—by the same state. By the same state for which he is engaged in fighting, if he kills enemies, he is rewarded. He is awarded gold medal, recognition. And that very person, out of the war field, when he comes home, if he kills one man, then he is hanged. If he says that "The same killing I was doing in the war field, and same killing I have done. There I was killing hundreds and thousands of men. I was awarded gold medal. And here I have killed only one person. I am being hanged? What is this?" No. You have killed according to your own whims, and that is from the superior order. That is the difference. Similarly, if we do, if we act according to our mental speculation or mental whims, then we are bound up by the reaction. And if we practice ourself to be active under the direction of the Supreme, then we are free. This is the art. This is the whole art of spiritual life.
Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Such sages feel transcendental pleasure in the gradual advancement of spiritual culture, whereas the man in materialistic activities, being asleep to self-realization, dreams of varieties of sense pleasure."
Prabhupāda: Yes. They are dreaming, "Now we shall do this. Next time, I shall have this. Next time, I shall have this. Next time, I shall kill that enemy. Next time, I shall do this." They are planning like that. Go on.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "...feeling sometimes happy and sometimes distressed in his sleeping condition. The introspective man is always indifferent to materialistic happiness and distress."
Prabhupāda: The introspective man who is after self-realization, he knows very well, "Suppose if I do in future such and such big business, or such... I can construct such big skyscraper house." But because he's introspective, he knows that "What I shall do with all these things? As soon as I exit from the platform, everything remains here, and I take another form of body, begins another life." That is introspection. The materialistic person they cannot understand what is the future. They are thinking this body is everything.
Lecture on BG 3.13-16 -- New York, May 23, 1966:
So the common factor of animal life and human life is these four principles of bodily demands, namely that we require to eat, and we require to sleep, we require some defensive measures for protecting ourself from the enemies, and we require some extent of sense gratification. That is the needs of my body. They are not the needs of my self as I am, spirit soul.
Now, if I want to get rid of this bodily encagement or the threefold miseries of material existence, then I must put myself under treatment. Just like a diseased man goes to a physician for treatment to get out of, get relief from the sufferings of the disease, similarly, our material existence consisting of threefold miseries and birth, death, old age, and diseases... If we are actually conscious for our happiness, we must make a permanent solution of these miseries. That is the mission of human life. So for making that mission fulfilled, we have got developed consciousness than the animals. That developed consciousness should not be misused only for the animal propensities of life. That is the whole thing.
Lecture on BG 3.13-16 -- New York, May 23, 1966:
We have got the eyes, the ear, the nose, the tongue, the hand, the leg, and so many. We have got ten, ten senses, sensory organs and working organs. So these organs there are. Out of all the organs, the tongue is the most uncontrollable organ, tongue. When we eat... Perhaps those devotees who eat with us, we chant this, that śarīra abidyā-jāl joḍendriya tāhe kāl: "This body is the encagement of our nescience, of our ignorance. And in that body the senses are our greatest enemies. Out of that, the tongue is the most powerful enemy." Tā'ra madhye jihwā ati lobhamoy sudurmati. Lobhamoy sudurmati. Because tongue is always hankering after palatable things, and it is making me bound up in so many reactions of my life... That is the secret.
Lecture on BG 3.21-25 -- New York, May 30, 1966:
Titikṣavaḥ means very tolerant, very tolerant, very much tolerant. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ. At the same time very kind-hearted. We find these two characters in the life of Lord Jesus. He was very much tolerant, at the same time kind to the people in general. You see? So titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām. And he is friend. A sādhu is friend of all living entities. He is not only friend of the human kind. He is friend of the animals. He is friend of the trees. He is friend of the ants, worms, reptiles, serpents—everyone. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām. And ajāta-śatru. And because he is friend of everyone, he has no enemy. But unfortunately the world is so infidel, even to such a sādhu there is enemy. Just like Lord Jesus Christ had some enemies, and Mahatma Gandhi had also some enemies who killed him. So the world is such treacherous. Even a sādhu, he has some enemies. You see? But sādhu, from his side, he has no enemy. He is friend of everyone. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām (SB 3.25.21). And ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ, always peaceful. These are the qualities of sādhu, saintly persons.
Lecture on BG 3.21-25 -- New York, May 30, 1966:
We are eternally related with the Supreme Lord, just like the father and the son is eternally related. That relation cannot be cut off. A father may become, a son may become rebellious to his father, but he cannot say that "he is not my father." Is it possible? No, that is not possible. How can it be possible? I may disagree with my father in so many points of view, but if somebody asks you, "Who is your father?" oh, I will have to say the same enemy, who I have taken as my enemy. Similarly, as the father and the son, the relationship cannot be cut off, similarly, our relationship with the Supreme Lord cannot be cut off. It is not possible. If we want to cut off our relationship with the Supreme Lord, or God, by artificial means, then the result will be that we shall be more and more unhappy.
Lecture on BG 3.31-43 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1969:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Purport: "A living entity, as part and parcel of the Supreme Personality, is originally spiritual and pure, as well as free from all contaminations of matter. Therefore, by nature the living entity is not subjected to the sins of the material world, but factually when the living entity is in contact with the material nature, he acts in many sinful ways without hesitation. As such, Arjuna's question to Kṛṣṇa is very sanguine as to the perverted nature of the living entity. Although the living entity sometimes does not want to act in sin, he is still forced to act. This force is not, however, impelled by the Supersoul living within the living entity, but must be due to other causes, and that is explained in the next verse by the Lord."
Thirty-seven: "The Blessed Lord said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material modes of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring, sinful enemy of this world (BG 3.37)."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Passion, if you increase your passion, then when you cannot fulfill your passion, you'll be angry, wrath, one after another. So this is due to our being situated in the modes of passion.
As I have told you, there are three kinds of modes of material nature. One is goodness, one is passion, and one is ignorance. So ignorance is the lowest quality, passion is still better than ignorance, and goodness is the highest good quality within this material world. And one has to transcend even goodness. Then he can go to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness platform. So one should not remain on the platform of passion. He should try to rise on the platform of goodness, and from there he should try to be promoted in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is one method. But if you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness directly, then automatically you transcend the platform of ignorance, passion, and goodness.
Lecture on BG 3.31-43 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1969:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Therefore the human form of life is a chance for the living entity to escape the entanglement of material existence. In the human form of life one can conquer the enemy, lust, by culture of Kṛṣṇa consciousness under able guidance."
Thirty-nine: "Thus a man's pure consciousness is covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire (BG 3.39)."
Forty: "The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust, which veils the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him (BG 3.40)."
Prabhupāda: Yes. This is very important. "The senses, the mind, and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust." If somebody is lusty, and if one has to search out where that enemy, lust, is there, so Kṛṣṇa is giving you direct information, "Here is your enemy." Where? Senses, mind, intelligence—there is lust. So if you can understand, "Here is the enemy," and if you try to drive out the enemy, you take precaution.
Lecture on BG 3.31-43 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1969:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Forty-three: "Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to material senses, mind, and intelligence, one should control the lower self by the higher self, and thus, by spiritual strength, conquer this insatiable enemy known as lust (BG 3.43)."
Purport: "This third chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā is conclusively directed to Kṛṣṇa consciousness through knowing oneself as the eternal servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without considering impersonal voidness as the ultimate end. In the material existence of life, one is certainly influenced by propensities of lust and desire for dominating the resources of material nature. Such desire for overlording and sense gratification are the greatest enemies of the conditioned soul, but by the..."
Prabhupāda: Generally, those who are under the bodily concept of life, they are struggling day and night. Why? Now, to have overlordship of this material nature. This is material activities. And those who are on the mental platform, they are trying to philosophize, mental speculation. Those who are still intelligent, they are taking to this yoga practice by intelligently trying to controlling the senses. But as soon as you come to the spiritual platform, automatically these things are done because all your senses, mind, and intelligence are occupied by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Go on. Yes, go on.
Lecture on BG 4.1 and Review -- New York, July 13, 1966:
Suppose if you are called for fighting with your enemies, you are ready. But if somebody says that "You fight with your sons and daughters and wives and your friends," oh, you'll hesitate. That is quite natural. So Arjuna was placed in such a position, that "I have to fight with my relatives." So he was perplexed. He was perplexed and there was some arguments. We have already discussed. And Kṛṣṇa said that when the question of fighting is there, it doesn't matter who are they on the opposite party. "You are a kṣatriya. You are a fighting man. It is your duty to fight. You should not hesitate."
But Arjuna could not be satisfied with such arguments, and... Arjuna could not be satisfied with such arguments. He declined to fight, and then he surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, "Kṛṣṇa, we are now talking as friends. Now I am, I am serious about learning from You." Because Arjuna knew it perfectly well that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. "So whatever instruction I'll have from Kṛṣṇa, that will be perfect. That will be perfect."
Lecture on BG 4.1 and Review -- New York, July 13, 1966:
And the last, and the last śloka in the third chapter, that He said, "By intelligence we have to conquer over the formidable enemy which has captured three strategic positions." That means the senses and the mind and intelligence. "In three strategic positions, the formidable enemy..." That means ignorance that I am trying to lord it over the material nature, this ignorance. This is ignorance because I cannot lord it over the material nature. It is impossible. I am not so powerful that I can become the master of the material nature.
The whole world's activity is going on under this impression that "We shall be able to conquer over the material nature." This modern scientific advancement of knowledge is aiming in that way. But it is not possible. Because we are not actually the master of the material nature. That is an ignorance. That is an ignorance. We are trying to enjoy the material resources to our best, but that is not possible. That is called illusion.
Lecture on BG 4.1 and Review -- New York, July 13, 1966:
So this has been explained by Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna that "This is your... This sense of mastering over or lording over the material nature, kāma..." Kāma means to enjoy. Kāma means enjoy. "That is your formidable enemy, and that formidable enemy is sitting in three places: on your mind, on your intelligence, on your senses." Now, you have to deal with them very tactfully. How? That you have to replace the enemy with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You have to replace. Simply, you have to replace. Just like if you have got a glass of water, now, if you want to fill up this glass with milk, then you have to throw the water and take milk. Similarly, if your mind is occupied by the lust of enjoying the material world, if you replace Kṛṣṇa on your mind, then you'll find that the enemy which is occupying your strategic position of mind, it will be defeated.
So far we have discussed in the, up to third chapter. Now, today we shall begin in the fourth chapter, what Lord says to Kṛṣṇa, er, Arjuna.
Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:
So here, that master and servant is there, but both of them are cheaters and cheated. That's all. But if we really want to be master and servant, the supreme master is Kṛṣṇa and you engage yourself in His service. You'll never be cheated. You'll never be cheated. You want to love. You love Kṛṣṇa as your husband or lover, you'll never be cheated. You love children. You love Kṛṣṇa as your child—just like Yaśodāmāyi accepted Kṛṣṇa as his child—you'll never be cheated. So the same relationship is there, but it is perverted reflection, and there is no happiness. But when we become bhakta or establish one's relationship with Kṛṣṇa... Just like Arjuna. Arjuna is bhakta. What kind of bhakta? Bhakto 'si me sakhā, sakhā ceti. "You are bhakta, at the same time My friend." So to become bhakta means either you become a friend of Kṛṣṇa or a servant of Kṛṣṇa or a lover of Kṛṣṇa or father of Kṛṣṇa or mother of Kṛṣṇa. In this way, there are so many. Or you become enemy of Kṛṣṇa. Just like Hiraṇyakaśipu.
Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:
rabhupāda: Certainly. Yes.
Guest: Not that you can expect immediately, because that is very difficult like Hiraṇyakaśipu.
Prabhupāda: That is also under Kṛṣṇa's direction, because when they were condemned to go to the material world, they pray that "How we shall be delivered?" Then Kṛṣṇa's giving, Kṛṣṇa gave him direction that "If you treat Me as your enemy, then three..." Yes, quickly. "And if you treat Me as friend, then you'll take long time." They preferred, "Yes, we shall treat You like enemy because our aim is to come quickly." (laughter)
Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:
So that means he is following Kṛṣṇa's direction. That's all. He doesn't mind that "I am going to be enemy of Kṛṣṇa." The principle is that he's following. If Kṛṣṇa says that "You become My enemy," I can become His enemy. That is bhakti-yoga. Yes. I want to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Just like a master is asking servant that "You knock me here." So he's knocking like this. So that is service. The others may see, "Oh, he's knocking and he's thinking, 'I am serving'? What is this? He's knocking." But master wants that "You knock me." That is service. Service means that you obey the order of the master. It doesn't matter what it is. There is very nice example in Lord Caitanya's life, that He had His personal servitor Govinda. So after Lord Caitanya would take prasādam, then Govinda would take. So one day, Lord Caitanya, after taking prasādam, He laid down Himself on the threshold. What is called? Threshold? Door? Doorway. So Govinda crossed Him.
Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:
Then Lord Caitanya was sleeping, and, say, after half and hour, when He got, He saw, "Govinda, you have not taken your prasādam as yet?" "No, sir." "Why?" "I cannot cross You. You are lying down here." "Then how you came?" "I came across." "How you first of all came across, why not again crossing?" "That I came to serve You. And now I cannot cross You to take my prasādam. That is not my duty. That is for myself. And it is for You." So for Kṛṣṇa's pleasure you can become His enemy, you can become His friend, you can become anything. That is bhakti-yoga. Because your aim is how to please Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as the point comes, to please your senses, then you come to material world, immediately.
- kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā kare
- nikaṭa-stha māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare
- (Prema-vivarta)
As soon as we forget Kṛṣṇa and we want to do things for our sense gratification, that is māyā. And as soon as we give up this process of sense gratification and do everything for Kṛṣṇa, that is liberation.
Lecture on BG 4.1-6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1969:
Madhudviṣa: "The Blessed Lord said: Many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them but you cannot, O subduer of the enemy."
Prabhupāda: Yes. The difference is that Arjuna, being constant companion of Kṛṣṇa, he was also present when Kṛṣṇa said to sun-god, but he has forgotten. But Kṛṣṇa, being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he has not forgotten. Just like a, my child. I say, "My dear child, twenty-five years ago you fell down and you were hurt in this way." Although the child has forgotten, but the incident is fact. The father knows. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, the supreme father, He knows everything, and Arjuna might have forgotten. Because one has forgotten, one cannot give details. Just like we had many, many births before this form of body, but we have forgotten that. That does not mean that it did not take place. We had to pass through millions and millions of births. The other day I was explaining. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Simply we had to live in the water to pass through 900,000 species of life. Two millions species of life, plant and trees. In this way we have passed through. So we might have forgotten, but that does not mean it did not take place.
Lecture on BG 4.1-6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1969:
Madhudviṣa: "Arjuna is addressed herein as a mighty hero who could subdue the enemy. At the same time, he is unable to recall what has happened in his various past births."
Prabhupāda: Yes. We are addressed as Dr., Ph.D., D.A.C., but if you ask him, a Ph.D., D.A.C., "My dear sir, what you are? Wherefrom you have come? Where you are going next?" oh, he cannot answer. Similarly, Arjuna is addressed here as the most powerful, but he cannot remember. Go on.
Madhudviṣa: "Therefore a living entity, however great he may be in material estimation, can never equal the Supreme Lord."
Prabhupāda: Yes. They cannot be. Nobody can be equal with God. God's another name is asamaurdhva. Sanskrit name is. Asama means nobody is equal with God, and ūrdhva, nobody is greater than Him. That means everybody is lower than Him. One may be very great in the estimation of our knowledge, but nobody can be equal with God. God is great. That is the real version, "God is great." And nobody can be greater. Then he is not God. If somebody becomes greater than God, then what kind of God He is? God is great.
Lecture on BG 4.1-6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1969:
es. Otherwise how there can be resurrection? Ordinary body cannot be resurrected. He appeared in his spiritual body, certainly. Jesus Christ told, if I remember, that "Lord, excuse these persons," who were crucifying him. Is it not? He knew that "These rascals, they are killing me, but... They are offending certainly. So they do not know that I cannot be killed, but they are thinking that they are killing." You see? But that was offensive, therefore he begged Lord to be excused because God cannot excuse to the offenders of the devotee. He can excuse one who is offender to God, but if somebody is offender to the devotee, God never excuses. Therefore he prayed for them. That is devotee's qualification. He prays for everyone, even of his enemy. And he could not be killed. That he knew. But those rascals, they thought they were killing Jesus Christ.
Lecture on BG 4.2 -- Bombay, March 22, 1974:
We are aspiring after rāma-rājya. Why rāma-rājya? What is the difference between rāma-rājya and this rājya? There is difference. Rāma-rājya means responsible government. Even during the time of Lord Rāmacandra, one brāhmaṇa's son died. So he went to the king to challenge that "What kind of king you are that in the presence of the father the son is dying?" This is responsible government. Responsible government means that a son cannot die before the presence of father. In the Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira's time also, there was no anxiety, adhibhautika, adhidaivika, adhyātmika. These are stated in the śāstra. They were so free, so, I mean to say, carefree. There was no care, no anxiety. Everyone was happy. You'll find in the Bhāgavatam. As soon as there was enemy attack in the Dvārakā city, immediately the kings, royal family, Kṛṣṇa's family, Pradyumna, His son, and others, immediately go out of the city and combat with the enemies. This was the system. People were very carefree. No care, no anxiety. That is the duty of the government. And how to keep the citizens carefree? That you require authorized instruction. That instruction is Bhagavad-gītā.
Lecture on BG 4.4 -- Bombay, March 24, 1974:
But the difficulty is tāny ahaṁ veda. I know all those things, when I appeared last, what did I do, and when I shall again appear. These things known to Me. Tāny ahaṁ veda sarvāṇi. Sarvāṇi, past, present, and future, I know everything. Na tvaṁ vettha parantapa. Although you are a great warrior, parantapa..." Parantapa means one who can get, one who can give trouble to the enemies. Paraṁ tapati. "So although you are a very great warrior, a great personality, but you cannot know this. You cannot know this. That is the difference between you and Me."
That is the difference between God and the living entity. We had our past life, because dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), we have changed our body. And we shall change this body also. after annihilation of this body.... Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Old garments, old cloth, when it is too old, unuseable, then we give it up. We accept another new cloth. Similarly, when this body becomes unuseable, then we change our body. We get another new body. This is the way of transmigration of the soul. This is a fact.
Lecture on BG 4.4 -- Bombay, March 24, 1974:
Therefore here, to inquire about Kṛṣṇa, to clarify the matter, that what is Kṛṣṇa. Because He is all-powerful, all-cognizant, fully conversant, sva-rāṭ, therefore He could speak millions of years ago to the sun-god. This is not story. This is fact. To clarify this matter, Arjuna inquired from Kṛṣṇa, "How can I believe it?" And the answer is next verse, that "We, you, you and Me, both of them took many many times our birth, but you have forgotten because you are a living being and I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead, I have not forgotten. This is the difference between you and Me."
- bahūni me vyatītāni
- janmāni tava cārjuna
- tāny ahaṁ veda sarvāṇi
- na tvaṁ vettha parantapa
"Although you are a very great warrior, you can conquer over your enemies, but you can become.... You cannot become equal to Me." That is the difference between a living entity and Kṛṣṇa. Thank you very much. (end)
Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Bombay, March 25, 1974:
Pradyumna: Translation: "The Blessed Lord said: Many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O subduer of the enemy."
Prabhupāda: Śrī bhagavān uvāca. We have already explained the meaning of bhagavān in connection with the first verse. Still, again, we are repeating, bhagavān... Bhaga means opulence, and when the Sanskrit affix is there, vat-pratyaya, one who possesses opulence, he's called bhagavān. So it is described by Parāśara Muni that
- aiśvaryasya samagrasya
- vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ
- jñāna-vairāgyayoś caiva
- ṣaṇṇāṁ bhagam itīṅganā
- (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47)
"Bhagavān means who possesses these six opulences in full: all riches, all strength, all influence, all wisdom, all beauty, all renunciation." So, it has been analyzed how we possess all these opulences, and it has been found by the great sages that Kṛṣṇa is the possessor of all opulences—all beauty, all wisdom. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). The supreme possessor is Kṛṣṇa. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1).
Lecture on BG 4.6-8 -- New York, July 20, 1966:
For their personal sake, they're always very tolerant, but they are very kind to all people, all living entities, very kind. In spite of their all disadvantages, they try to give something, real knowledge, to the people in general. Kāruṇikāḥ. And suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām. And a sādhu is not a friend of a particular class, particular community or particular country. No. A sādhu, a saint, is he who is friend of all, not only of human being, even of animals and less than animals. These are the qualification of sādhu. Ajāta-śatravaḥ.
And they have no enemies. Or they are not anyone's enemy. Everyone's friend. Enemy, of course, even the greatest man, you will find some enemy. This is the nature of this world. Even the most perfect man will have some enemy. So that is different thing. But the sādhu, the saint, is no, no one's enemy. He's friend of everyone. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām, ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ (SB 3.25.21). Ajāta... They are nobody's enemy, and santa, always peaceful. These are the qualifications of sādhu.
Now, here the Lord says that "I come, or My representative comes..." Why? Paritrāṇāya sādhūnām (BG 4.8). Sādhūnām. The Lord is very much anxious for the saintly persons. Who have sacrificed everything for the service of the Lord, they are very, very dear to the Lord.
Lecture on BG 4.6-8 -- New York, July 20, 1966:
You'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā that, that... Samo 'haṁ sarva... Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ (BG 9.29). The Lord says, "I am equal to everyone." Otherwise, how He can be God. He is equal to everyone. Yes. "I am equal to everyone. Nobody's My enemy and nobody's My friend." Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ: "Nobody's My enemy. Nobody's My friend. I am equal to everyone." But ye tu bhajanti māṁ bhaktyā teṣu te mayi: "But anyone who is devoted to Me, oh, I have got particular attention for him." Although He's neutral, still, the person who is devotee, who's always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, oh, there is a special protection, special. Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa declares... You'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā, kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati: (BG 9.31) "My dear Kaunteya, Arjuna, you can declare it in the, to the world that My devotee will be never vanquished, never be vanquished."
Lecture on BG 4.7-9 -- New York, July 22, 1966:
The sādhu... In the Bhagavad-gītā, in the last meeting, I have described to some extent what is the qualification of a sādhu. Sādhu means saintly person. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām (SB 3.25.21). He's tolerant, he's very kind to everyone, and he's friend to all living entities. He has no enemy, or he is nobody's enemy. And he's peaceful. These are some of the qualification. There are twenty-six qualification in detail. But these are some of the qualification. And in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find the description of a sādhu, saintly person, is given by the Lord Himself.
Lecture on BG 4.8 -- Montreal, June 14, 1968:
Here is a tree. They have also got life. They are also living entities as we are. Simply it is different body. That's all." He has got that sort of body; I have got this sort of body. But the demands of the body are there. Even in cats and dog the eating, sleeping, mating and defending... There is four symptoms of life. The cat also, or dog also, eat; we also eat. They also sleep; we also sleep. They have their sex desires; we have got our sex desire. We want to defend from enemies; they also want to defend from enemies. Similarly, in every species of life we will find these four principles existing.
How you can say that you are better than him? You are better than him when you understand how the laws of material nature is working so that one has become tree to stand up for ten thousands of years, and I have got all freedom to move and to make education, to go to the school, colleges, take education, advancement of knowledge.
Lecture on BG 4.8 -- Bombay, March 28, 1974:
Tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā. You have to learn toleration. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja. He was tolerating. His father became enemy. What is the fault of this little boy, five years? Because he was Kṛṣṇa conscious. His father became enemy.
So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is rather difficult. If you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, you will.... Just like we are experiencing in this land so many obstacles. Now the latest difficulty is they are not sanctioning our plan. "No temple, sir." So we have to tolerate. What can be done? There are so many temples, but we are faulty. Because we are Kṛṣṇa conscious. Our temple will not be sanctioned. So this is going on.
This is not new thing. It is very old thing. As soon as.... Because māyā is very strong. māyā sees that "This person is now Kṛṣṇa conscious. He'll go out of my clutches." Because Kṛṣṇa says, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). Māyā puts obstacles so that he may not go away. But if you stick to your principle, catch Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet very tightly, then you'll be saved. Kṛṣṇa will save. Kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati (BG 9.31). So this is our duty. In spite, despite all difficulties, we cannot give up Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We must go on.
Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Vrndavana, August 2, 1974:
Prahlāda Mahārāja was being chastised by his father, five years old, but he did not know how to protest. He was suffering and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa. What can be done? What can be done? He was completely dependent on his father. And father had no mercy. The only fault was he, Kṛṣṇa, turned Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the fault. And he was being punished. He was punished, punished.
This is the world. Even father will be enemy, what to speak of others. If you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, the whole world will be your enemy. You must be prepared for that. So therefore you require tapasya. Tapasya means voluntarily agree to suffer. That is called tapasya. Voluntarily. Suffering is there, but why not suffer for Kṛṣṇa? Everyone is unhappy. Everyone is in suffering condition. Who is not suffering? Everyone is suffering.
Tri-tāpa-yatana. Adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika. Three kinds of sufferings are always going on. Why you are running fan? Because suffering. There is heat. So where is no suffering? This is called adhidaivika, the scorching heat, scorching, I mean, severe cold. There must be always. We are suffering now due to scorching heat, and when the... We are thinking, "If it is become cooler..." And when it is cool, then also we suffering. Then we think, "If there is some heat." When there is winter, we are hankering after heat, and when there is summer, we are hankering after cooling.
Lecture on BG 4.12-13 -- New York, July 29, 1966:
Now the human society, everyone thinks that "He is low; I am big." Everyone thinks. In his own consideration he thinks, "I am the biggest. I am the big; he is lower." That is everywhere. But Lord Kṛṣṇa is not considering who is bigger. He says, "Even who is considering that 'I am lowborn.' " Because if everyone says that I am lowborn, it is propaganda that "You are lowborn. You are lowborn," so I think, "Yes, I am lowborn." Daśa cakre bhagavān bhūta.(?)
Just like there was a clique. There was a brāhmaṇa. His name was Bhagavān. So he had some enemies. So the enemies, ten enemies, they sat down in ten places, and wherever he was passing, "Oh, you have become ghost! You have become ghost!" "Oh, how I have become? I am living. How I have become ghost?" Next post he goes, he also says, "Oh, you have become ghost! You have become ghost!" In this way, when he passes ten posts, he thinks, "I might be, I have become ghost. Otherwise everyone says I have become ghost." So daśa cakre bhagavān bhūta.
Lecture on BG 4.13 -- Johannesburg, October 19, 1975:
We are feeling too hot. So again, if you go outside, you may feel too cold. So either inside or outside, you are in miserable condition. This is called adhyātmika.
Then adhibhautika. Just like we tried to stop the child disturbing. So the child is another living entity, I am another living entity, but she is causing some disturbance. Not the child, there are other living entities. In your country, of course, it is very less. In our India it is very prominent—mosquitoes, flies, bugs. They give trouble. Or some enemy or some other animal attacks you. This is called adhibhautika.
Adhyātmika, adhibhautika, then adhidaivika. Adhidaivika means all of a sudden there is earthquake or famine or too much rain or no rain. Daivika means it is... We have no control over it. So there are so many. These are the big heading of miserable condition: adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika. And there are many, many other categories.
Lecture on BG 4.13-14 -- New York, August 1, 1966:
But here Kṛṣṇa says, na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti. There is no reaction of the activities of Kṛṣṇa. Just like Kṛṣṇa was commanding over Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukṣetra, and practically He was ordering that "You must fight. You must kill the enemy." Now, this act of Kṛṣṇa's has no reaction on Him. One should understand it. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti (BG 4.14).
If there is any difficulty to understand, we may consult persons who are in the understanding. We may consult books. We may consult authorities. That we can do because inquiry is always allowed. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā (BG 4.34). The, I mean to say, the transcendental inquiry is never forbidden. A sincere person, one can make inquiry. But fact is this. If I cannot understand in my present condition, that is my misunderstanding. But the fact is this that Kṛṣṇa, when He comes, He is not any, like any one of us. He's transcendental. Neither any act which He does, it has got reaction. And He says, na me karma-phale spṛhā, "I have no desire for any fruitive activities."
Lecture on BG 4.13-14 -- New York, August 1, 1966:
The relationship, as we experience in this material world... Just like you are my brother, or she is my sister, or he is my father, he is my, so many relationship we have got. So all these relationships are calculated into five. There are... Practically, there are twelve relationships. Seven relationships are contra, against. Just like you are my enemy. I want to kill you. You want to kill me. That is also one of the relationships, but this is contra. This is not favorable. This is called vivarta. Hāsya, something I see in you, I begin to laugh, or something you see in me, you begin to laugh. So there are different... Altogether, there are twelve relationships in every activities of our life. Out of that, five relationships is very favorable. Not five exactly, but... Yes, five.
Lecture on BG 4.14-19 -- New York, August 3, 1966:
Nirvairaḥ. You should not be anyone's enemy. Others may become your enemy. Because it is quite natural. Anyone who comes with the message of the Supreme Lord, there are persons who become his enemy. Just like Lord Jesus Christ, He came. His only fault was that he was preaching the message of God, and people, some people, not all people, become his enemy, and he was crucified. So this is the world. Anyone who comes as a most, I mean to say, beneficial friend of the world, people take him as the enemy, and they do the same mistake again so that they are bound up again by their own work and they remain in this material world to repeat birth and death, one after another, one after another. So we should be very much cautious.
We should not miss this chance of this human body to become Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to become conscious of Kṛṣṇa. So therefore we must know how to work, how to work. Kiṁ karma kim akarmeti. If we do not know how to work, then we shall be entangled in these material activities. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, saṅga-varjitaḥ. Of course, a Kṛṣṇa conscious person, he also acts just like another material actor, but because he works in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, therefore he's not bound up.
Lecture on BG 4.14-19 -- New York, August 3, 1966:
For example, for example, just like the state. The state has got some laws. Now, suppose if you commit murder, it will be hang, you will be hanged. That is the state law. So if you again, against the state law you commit some murder, you will be hanged. This is vikarma, and I should be cautious. But when the state orders, itself, that "You go and fight. Kill the enemy," that is neither karma nor vikarma. So similarly, when we act under the direction of Kṛṣṇa, that is akarma. That means that karma, that kind of activities, has no reaction. Otherwise, we shall have to act very cautiously so that I may not be entangled with the reaction of my karma.
- karmaṇy akarma yaḥ paśyed
- akarmāṇi ca karma yaḥ
- sa buddhimān manuṣyeṣu
- sa yuktaḥ kṛtsna-karma-kṛt
- (BG 4.18)
Now here is a nice verse. The Lord says, "One who can see karmāṇi, akarma, any work which is being done, but it has no reaction..." Karmāṇi, akarma yaḥ. "I am doing something, but the ultimate result of that work has no reaction." One who can see like that... Karmaṇy akarma yaḥ paśyed akarmāṇi ca yaḥ karma. And akarmāṇi means one who is trying to avoid the reaction of karma, but he is being entangled in karma. Sa buddhimān manuṣyeṣu: (BG 4.18) "He is the most intelligent person." Sa yuktaḥ kṛtsna-karma-kṛt, sa: "He is dovetailed with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and therefore, after doing so many work..." Kṛtsna mean all sorts of work. Still, he is free. Karmaṇy akarma. Even working.
Lecture on BG 4.18 -- Delhi, November 3, 1973:
The example, as I gave you the other day, that a soldier is fighting and killing many enemies or killing many persons, but he is not responsible for killing. The same man, when he is not fighting for the country or for the government, if he kills one man, he is hanged. He is to be hanged. Try to understand. So because he is fighting or killing on the order of higher authority, the government, he is not responsible for all those killings. Rather sometimes he is recognized by giving some medal: "Oh, you have killed so many enemies. Very good." And similarly, if he kills outside the warfield, at home... That is also enemy. Nobody kills nobody unless the other is his enemy. But he will be hanged. If he argues in the court that "In the battlefield I killed so many enemies. I was given recognition. But at home I have killed only one enemy and for which I am going to be hanged. What is this law?" This argument will not stay. So for higher authority's order, if you do something, you are not responsible.
Lecture on BG 4.19 -- New York, August 5, 1966:
Mr. Goldsmith: It was a holy war, and it was looked on as a good war and existed for a good purpose.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Mr. Goldsmith: Kṛṣṇa believed that it was all right to kill the enemies of Arjuna because it was a righteous war.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Mr. Goldsmith: Now, if you have a philosophy like that, can you find peace?
Prabhupāda: What do you mean by peace then?
Mr. Goldsmith: Absence of war.
Prabhupāda: Not necessarily. Not necessarily. Absence of war is not peace. Just think over. Suppose now there is no war. Do you think that everybody is in peace? Ask any individual person that "Are you in peace? Are you in peace of mind or peace of..." No war is not only the cause. There are many other causes which disturbs our peace. War is one of the causes. So simply if you stop war that does not mean peace is guaranteed. No. War is one of the disturbing things of peace. But there are many other disturbing things, many, incalculable, which will disturb you. You see? So we have to take relief from all disturbing position. War is one of the items. And that can be done when you are Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Lecture on BG 4.19-25 -- Los Angeles, January 9, 1969:
So this is only thinking. Actually they do not know what is God. Otherwise they would not have dared to say that "I am God." They do not know the meaning of God. You see. Therefore they are less intelligent. They are thinking, "I am merged into the..." Just like the rabbit. The rabbit when he is faced with some enemy he closes his eyes. He thinks, "Now I am safe." (laughter) The rascal animal thinks that he is safe now. "I cannot see the enemy."
Just like a child. When there is something fearful the child, it is nature, closes the eyes. I have practical experience. When I was young man I went to the zoo with my little son and as soon as there was a tiger cage, oh, the child closed the eyes. Yes. He could not bear the vicious sight. This is natural.
Similarly, these impersonalists they are closing their eyes. That's all. Just like voidists, they are also doing that. "Now I have become free by smoking or by gāñjā eating, drinking, or smoking." You see? These things are simply false imagination. Therefore they are less intelligent. They are not intelligent. Bhāgavata says ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. They are self-complacent that "I have become free, liberated," this and that. But actually their intelligence is very contaminated.
Lecture on BG 4.34 -- New York, August 14, 1966:
Śrī Kṛṣṇa is friend of everyone, but He's a special friend to the devotee. That you will find in Bhagavad-gītā. Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ: (BG 9.29) "I am friend of everyone. Nobody is My enemy, and nobody is My friend. But I am equal to everyone." Sama, sama means equal. Ye tu bhajanti māṁ bhaktyā teṣu te mayi: "But a person who is devoted to Me and is engaged in devotional service with Me, I have got special attention for him."
Therefore Kṛṣṇa's another name is suhṛt satām. Satām. Satām means those who are trying for having eternal life. Because in this material world we don't get anything eternal. All, everything, temporary. Therefore it is called asat. Asato mā sad gama. The Vedic injunction is "Don't try to remain in this temporary world." Sad gama: "Just try to go to the eternal world." Tamaso mā jyotir gama: "Don't try to remain in this darkness. You go to the kingdom of light." These are Vedic injunctions. So Kṛṣṇa, He is within our heart. Hṛdy antaḥ-sthaḥ. Therefore, as soon as we become a little inclined towards Kṛṣṇa, then from within our heart He gives us favorable instruction so that we can gradually make progress, gradually.
Lecture on BG 5.3-7 -- New York, August 26, 1966:
If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, so all enemies and friends, and learned and fools, rich and poor, man, woman, black, white, yellow, oh, everyone can take part. There is no distinction. There is no distinction, and you derive the same profit. That is recommended. So here also, Kṛṣṇa says, ekaṁ sāṅkhyaṁ ca yogaṁ ca yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati. So therefore we have to accept the favorable circumstances. In this age, in this difficult age, if we find the same result by being Kṛṣṇa conscious and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, then I, we should take advantage of it. Why should we stick to certain other principles? That is also good. That's all right, but this is favorable in the present circumstances. That is the point.
Lecture on BG 5.7-13 -- New York, August 27, 1966:
As you have acquired your characteristics, so you create your own work and you create your result of own work and you become entangled. It is not the creation of God. You create. "How I create? If it is sanctioned, if it is controlled by God, then how I create?" The question may be. Yes. The answer is very simple. You can understand that a person who is criminal, who is condemned. Now he's condemned to death or he is condemned to be imprisoned. Now he makes appeal that "Oh, excuse me, what was done(?)." But the judge puts him into the jail or condemns to life. So he thinks that "The judge has condemned me to death or the, he has put me into jail." But is the judge enemy of a particular person that he puts somebody into the jail and condemns to death? No. I have created. I have created my jail life before. The judge is simply giving me the direction. "Oh, you have done this. Now you have to go." He is not responsible. Similarly God is not responsible for my work, neither He creates my work. It is my nature, it is my characteristic, which, by which I create my work, I create the result and I suffer. God simply gives direction because He is the supreme director. Or the agent of God.
Lecture on BG 5.22-29 -- New York, August 31, 1966:
Now, this kāma-krodha, lust, anger, it has been advised in the Fourth Chapter that they are our very great enemies, so we have to give it up. Kāma-krodha-vimuktānām. Kāma-krodha. We have to give up this lust and kāma. Kāma is lust, and krodha means anger. Now, just see... Kāma-krodha-vimuktānām. How kāma-krodha-vimukta, how one can be freed from kāma-krodha? Kāma-krodha, how one can be freed? Just see the same example we see that Arjuna, he was thinking of the welfare of his kinsmen, and Kṛṣṇa was asking that "You should fight." And he was declining. So this kind of declining is kāma, lust, his own sense gratification. As soon as he became to satisfy the senses of Kṛṣṇa, then he is freed from his own kāma, own lust. There is no more his own lust. His own lust was that he was desiring not to fight. But as soon as he agreed to the instruction of Kṛṣṇa, he gave up his own lust; he becomes free from kāma-krodha. So kāma-krodha, kāma-krodha, this anger and this lust, that can be... Actually we can be free from the anger and lust when we are actually in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kāma-krodha-vimuktānāṁ yatīnāṁ yata-cetasām. Yatīnām. Therefore great sages, one who is able to give up this kāma, the lust and anger, they are called great sages. Kṣamā-rūpa-tapasvīnām. Tapasvī, one who is, who are sages, their duty is they always forgive any enemy. Just like you have got very nice example, Lord Jesus Christ. He was being crucified, but he forgave all the persons who were engaged in crucifying him. He prayed Lord, "O my Lord, these people do not know what they are doing." So this is, I mean to say, the signs of great sages. They are not, I mean to say angry. Kāma-krodha.
Lecture on BG 6.1-4 -- New York, September 2, 1966:
This relationship with the Supreme Lord is pervertedly reflected in this material world. And therefore we have got this relationship here, master and servant. But because it is perverted, therefore that relationship is not master and servant. That relationship is with the money and the benefit. There is no love. There is no love. Here in this material world, the master and the servant, that relationship continues so long the master is able to pay the servant. As soon as the payment is stopped, the relationship of master and servant also stops. Therefore that is not eternal. (to someone:) Come on. Sit down here. That is not eternal. Similarly, here also, there is relationship between friend and friend. But in slight difference of opinion the friendship breaks. The friend becomes enemy. Therefore it is perverted reflection. Similarly, the relationship between... (aside:) Come on here. Relationship between mother and son. A slight difference of opinion breaks the relationship, and the son becomes out of the relationship of mother, mother becomes out of... Every way. Husband and wife, a slight difference of opinion, there is divorce, separation.
Lecture on BG 6.2-5 -- Los Angeles, February 14, 1969:
Devotee: Verse number five. "A man must elevate himself by his own mind. Not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul and his enemy as well (BG 6.5)." Purport: "The Sanskrit word ātmā, self, denotes body, mind and soul, depending on different circumstances. In the yoga system, the mind and the conditioned soul are especially important since the mind is the central point of yoga practice. Ātmā here refers to the mind. The purpose of the yoga system is to control the mind and to draw it away from attachment to sense objects. It is stressed herein that the mind must be so trained that it can deliver the conditioned soul from the mire of nescience."
Prabhupāda: In the aṣṭāṅga-yoga system, this eightfold yoga system, dhyāna, dhāraṇā—they are meant for controlling the mind. (Don't make sound.) Mind, unless you control the mind, in the beginning it is said a man must elevate himself by his own mind. Mind is the driver. The body is the chariot or car. So just like if you call your, ask your driver, "Please get me into Kṛṣṇa consciousness temple." The driver will bring you here. And if you ask your driver, "Please get me in that liquor house." The driver will drive you there. The driver's business is to drive you wherever you like. Similarly your mind is the driver. If you can control—but if the driver takes your license, that wherever he likes he will take you. Then you're gone. Then your driver is your enemy. But if your driver acts on your order, then he's your friend. So actually the yoga system means to control the mind in such a way that he will act as your friend, not as your enemy.
Lecture on BG 6.4-12 -- New York, September 4, 1966:
Now these two ślokas, verses, we were discussing last day, that we have to raise ourself to the spiritual standard by ourself. I have to raise myself to the spiritual standard by myself. So I am my friend and I am my enemy. This is the opportunity. There is a very nice verse in Cāṇakya Paṇḍita.
- na kaścit kasyacin mitraṁ
- na kaścit kasyacid ripuḥ
- vyavahāreṇa jāyante
- mitrāṇi ripavas tathā
"Nobody is nobody's friend, nobody is nobody's enemy. But it is only the behavior by which one can understand who is his friend and who is his enemy." Nobody is born enemy, nobody is born friend. But by our mutual behavior, somebody is my friend and somebody is my enemy. Similarly, as we have this dealing in the ordinary daily affairs, similarly, I have my dealing with my self. My self. If I deal with me, myself, as friend, then I am my friend. And if I deal with myself inimically... Then what is that friendship and inimical? The friendship is that I am soul.Somehow or other, I have been in contact with this material nature. So I have to get myself out of the entanglement of this material nature. If I act in that way, then I am my friend. But even after getting this opportunity, if I do not act in that way, then I am my enemy. So ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhur ātmaiva ātmano ripuḥ. So I am myself friend, my friend, and I am my enemy.
Lecture on BG 6.4-12 -- New York, September 4, 1966:
That is explained here, that bandhur ātmā ātmanas tasya. Ātmā means mind, ātmā means body, and ātmā means soul. That, these three things I have already explained the other day that when we speak of ātmā, or self... Just like so long I have got my bodily conception, when I say "my self," I think of my body. When I transcend the bodily conception of life, then I think "I am mind." But actually, when I am in the real spiritual platform, then my self means "I am pure spirit." So according to the stage of development my conception of self are different. So so far nirukta or dictionary is concerned, body, mind, and the spirit soul, everything is called self. Now, here it is called bandhur ātmā ātmanas tasya. Now, here one ātmā is named mind. Mind is the friend of oneself, and mind is the enemy of oneself. So we have to train the mind. If I train my mind for becoming my friend, then my life is successful. If I train my mind to become my enemy, then my life is unsuccessful. Anātmanas tu śatrutve vartetātmaiva śatruvat. But one who has no knowledge of the spiritual self, then his mind acts like his enemy. One who has got the conception of this body as "my self," his mind is his enemy. And one who has got the conception of the spirit self, his mind is his friend.
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:
We have got our relationship in this world, we call that: "He is my friend." Suhṛt and mitra. There are two kinds of friends. Suhṛt means better friend. Actually who is always desiring my welfare, he is called suhṛt. And friend means we have got good will, ordinary friends. Suhṛn mitra udāsīna. Udāsīna means neutral, neither friend nor enemy. We have got relationship within this world. Somebody is my very good well-wisher, somebody is my friend, and somebody is neither friend nor enemy. And somebody, madhyastha, mediator, and somebody actually doing some good. Somebody I think, "Oh, here is a nice gentleman, saintly person." And somebody I think, "Oh, here is a sinful man." According to my calculation, somebody my friend, somebody my enemy, somebody neutral, somebody, I mean to say, a saintly person, somebody my, a sinful person. Now, all these, when you are on the yoga-yukta, when you are in the platform of transcendence, then these distinctions, this friend, enemy, sādhu, saintly, and sinful, that will all be closed. No more. No more. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). Paṇḍitāḥ. When one becomes actually learned, he does not see any enemy or any friend because nobody is enemy, nobody is friend, nobody is my son, nobody is my mother, nobody is... We are all different living entities.
Lecture on BG 6.4-12 -- New York, September 4, 1966:
We are just playing on the platform under the dress of father, mother, wife children friend, enemy. Just like in a drama we set up some character to play, so... But out of the stage we are all friends. Nobody... In the stage I say, "Oh, you are enemy. I shall kill you." And so many things I do. But when out of the stage, we are all friends. Similarly, in this world, in this material world, with this dress, with this dress of material body, we are playing on the stage of material world that enemy and friend and father, mother, son. I cannot beget any son. It is not possible. I simply beget this body. You see. The living entity, that is not my power. Simply by my sex intercourse with my wife, I cannot produce unless that living entity is placed in that emulsification of two secretion. These are stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So this is only stage play.
Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969:
Prabhupāda: All glories to the assembled devotees.
Devotees: All glories to you Prabhupāda.
Devotee: "For him who has conquered his mind, it is the best of friends. But one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be the greatest enemy (BG 6.6)."
Prabhupāda: Yes. This mind, they're talking of the mind. The whole yoga system means to make the mind our friend. The mind in material contact, just like a person in drunkard condition. His mind is... There is a nice verse in Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969:
The mind, I am spirit soul, part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. As soon as the mind is contaminated, I rebel, because I have got little independence. "Why shall I serve Kṛṣṇa or God? I am God." It is simply a dictation from the mind. And the whole situation turns. He's under false impression, illusion, and the whole life is spoiled. And who has failed to do so, if we fail to conquer the mind, we are trying to conquer so many things, empire, but if we fail to conquer our mind, then even you conquer an empire, that is a failure. His very mind will be the greatest enemy. Go on.
Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969:
Devotee: "A person is said to be further advanced when he regards all—the honest well-wisher, friends and enemies, the envious, the pious, the sinner and those who are indifferent and impartial—with an equal mind (BG 6.9)."
Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the sign of advancement. Because here in this material world, the calculation of friend and enemy, everything, is in relationship with this body, or sense gratification. But realization of God or the Absolute Truth, there is no such material consideration. Another point is that here, all conditioned souls, they are under illusion. Suppose a doctor, a doctor goes to a patient. He is under convulsion, he's talking nonsense. That does not mean he will refuse to treat him. He's treats him as friend. Although the patient calls him by ill names, bad names, still he gives him medicine. Just like Lord Jesus Christ said that "You hate the sin, not the sinner." Not the sinner. This is very nice. Because sinner is illusioned. He's mad. If you hate him, then how you can deliver him? Therefore those who are devotees, those who are really servant of God, they have no hate for anyone.
Lecture on BG 6.16-24 -- Los Angeles, February 17, 1969:
That is the fact. Even in your rebellious condition Kṛṣṇa is giving you protection. Without Kṛṣṇa's protection you cannot live even for a second. He's so kind. But when you admit it, when you recognize it, then you become happy. Now Kṛṣṇa is giving you protection but you do not know it because you have taken your life at your own risk. Therefore He has given you freedom, "All right, do whatever you like. As far as possible I will give you protection." But when you fully surrender, the whole charge is to Kṛṣṇa. That is special. That is special protection. Just like a father. The child who has grown up doesn't care for the father, he's acting freely. What the father can do? "All right, do whatever you like." But the child who is fully under the protection of the father, he takes more care.
That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find: samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu (BG 9.29). "I am equal to everyone." Na me dveṣyaḥ: "Nobody is my enemy." How He can be envious? Everyone is Kṛṣṇa's son. How he can become enemy to Kṛṣṇa? He is son. That is not possible. He is friend of everyone. But we are not taking advantage of His friendship. That is our disease. That is our disease. He is friend to everyone. Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu. But one who is recognizing, he can understand that "Kṛṣṇa is giving me protection in this way." This is the way of happiness. Go on.
Lecture on BG 6.30-34 -- Los Angeles, February 19, 1969:
Viṣṇujana: Purport: "Mind is so strong and obstinate, that sometimes it overcomes the intelligence. For a man in the practical world who has to fight so many opposing elements, it is certainly very difficult to control the mind. Artificially, one may establish a mental equilibrium toward both friend and enemy, but ultimately no worldly man can do so, for this is more difficult than controlling the raging wind. In the Vedic literatures it is said: 'The individual is the passenger in the car of the material body and intelligence is the driver. Mind is the driving instrument and the senses are the horses. The self is thus the enjoyer or sufferer in the association of the body and senses. So it is understood by great thinkers.' Intelligence is supposed to direct the mind. But the mind is so strong and obstinate that it surpasses even one's own intelligence as an acute infection may surpass the efficacy of medicine. Such a strong mind is supposed to be controlled by the practice of yoga. But such practice is never practical for a worldly person like Arjuna. And what can we say of modern man? The difficulty is neatly expressed: 'One cannot capture the blowing wind.' And it is even more difficult to capture the agitated mind."
Prabhupāda: Therefore this process, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, it captures the mind immediately. Simply if you chant, "Kṛṣṇa" and if you hear, automatically your mind is fixed up in Kṛṣṇa. That means the yoga system is immediately attained. Because the whole yoga system is to concentrate your mind on the form of Viṣṇu. And Kṛṣṇa is the original personality of expansion of Viṣṇu forms. Kṛṣṇa is just like here is a lamp. Now, from this lamp, from this candle, you can bring another candle, you can kindle it. Then, another, another, another, thousands of candle you can expand. In each candle is as powerful as this candle. There is no doubt about it. But one has to take this candle as the original candle. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is expanding in millions of Viṣṇu forms. Each Viṣṇu form is as good as Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa is the original candle because from Kṛṣṇa everything expands.
Lecture on BG 6.32-40 -- New York, September 14, 1966:
Please come forward. Sukhaṁ vā yadi vā duḥkhaṁ sa yogī paramo mataḥ (BG 6.32). Now, we have been discussing for the last few days about the perfect form of yoga. Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is teaching Arjuna directly the perfect form of yoga. If you actually want to perform the yoga system, then here is authoritative statement by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So we have discussed in details. Now, after hearing the system, Arjuna is replying. Just mind that, that the whole thing was being described in the battlefield, in the battlefield. This whole Bhagavad-gītā was taught to Arjuna in the battlefield. And when Arjuna was just going to release his arms on the opposite party, on the enemy's party, he thought... He got a sentiment: "So why this fighting with my own kinsmen?" That was his illusion, and to eradicate that illusion of Arjuna's, this Bhagavad-gītā was explained by Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, March 26, 1968:
So politically, that "For the time being this poor girl may be saved, and it may be that time will change the mind of Kaṁsa. When her sons will be born he might change his mind." But he was such a great demon that he killed all the sons of Devakī. So the eighth son... It was foretold that the eighth son of his sister would kill him. So when Kṛṣṇa was in the womb of his mother, Kaṁsa was always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Now you see, he was also Kṛṣṇa conscious, but he was Kṛṣṇa conscious not directly, not for love's sake, but as an enemy. He was Kṛṣṇa conscious as enemy. So that is not devotional service. One who is Kṛṣṇa conscious and Kṛṣṇa's friend, Kṛṣṇa's parent, Kṛṣṇa's servant, Kṛṣṇa's lover, that is devotion.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Bombay, January 13, 1973:
The sādhu means one who's purely devotee of the Lord. He's sādhu. Bhajate mām ananya-bhāk. Without any deviation. One who has taken Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, as the only worshipable, he's sādhu. Sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ. Ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ (SB 3.25.21). There, these are the definition of sādhu. Sādhu means titikṣava. One who has taken Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Person, he has to tolerate so many things—so many criticism, so many tribulations. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda Mahārāja had to undergo so much tribulation from the hands of his father because he became a sādhu, kṛṣṇa-bhakta. The only fault was that he was a kṛṣṇa-bhakta. Even the father, the atheistic father, became enemy. He wanted to kill him. You know Prahlāda-caritra. If there is opportunity, we shall speak. It is horrible. Five-years-old boy, because he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa, the father became enemy. Titikṣava. Therefore a sādhu has to become very tolerant.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Fiji, May 24, 1975:
Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca. At the present moment the human society is busy where to find out food, where to find out shelter, how to have nice sexual intercourse, and how to defense from other nation or other enemy. This has become the business. This is always the business of the materialistic way of life. But this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a different life. It is not materialistic way of life. It is the life of spiritual realization. It is little difficult because people are accustomed to think everything in materialistic way. Just like peace. Peace cannot be possible in the animal or materialistic way of life. It is not possible. You cannot expect peace in the cats' and dogs' society. That is not possible. Peace is possible when human being is advanced in God consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- London, August 4, 1971:
So we are..., we have cultivated a nice human society that there are all, I mean to say, what is called? Dogs. The immigration department: "Why you have come here? How!" (laughter) "Yes, sir, I have come here not to harm you. I have to speak something nice thing." "How long you shall stay?" (laughter) "Oh, not more than one month." "All right." (laughter) So immediately watchdog. In every house, "Beware of dog." "Don't enter. Beware of dog." This is human civilization. You see. You cannot enter anyone's house, you cannot enter anyone's country. And if you do... This means this want of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But the Vedic culture says, gṛhe śatrum api prāptaṁ viśvastam akuto bhayam. Even if your enemy comes to your home, you should receive him in such a way that he'll forget that you are his enemy.
Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- London, August 4, 1971:
Gṛhe śatrum api prāptam. Śatrum means enemy. If you see that an enemy has come to your house, śatrum api. Śatru means enemy; api, although. You should receive him in such a way that he'll completely believe you that you are his enemy..., you are not his enemy. That was the system. In the Kurukṣetra war, the two brothers, I mean to say, cousin-brothers are fighting. But after finishing the fighting there is no enmity. These people are going to their camp, they are coming, talking or taking lunch. Very friendly. Friendly. There was another fight between Bhīma and Jarāsandha. The whole day there was fighting. It was decided that one should be killed. That's a fact. The fighting between kṣatriyas it will not end unless one of them is killed. That is kṣatriya spirit. So they know... Bhīma and Jarāsandha knew it very well that this fighting is going on until one is dead, one of the belligerent parties. But at night Bhīma is the guest of Jarāsandha, eating together, talking friendly. This is brahminical culture. For duty's sake, for some cause, we may fight. That's all right. But that does not mean we shall remain inimical always. Gṛhe śatrum api prāptaṁ viśvastam akuto bhayam.
Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- London, August 4, 1971:
So you create the prisonhouse, not the government. Government creates university. "Come there, take education." Māyā is created by you. As soon as you forget Kṛṣṇa, the māyā is there. Just like there is sunshine and darkness, side by side. If you want to keep yourself in the sunshine, there is no darkness. But if you voluntarily come to the darkness, what the sun will do? Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). "You surrender to Kṛṣṇa." But why don't you do it? That is māyā. It is up to you. Therefore you create māyā. Kṛṣṇa does not create. A man is hanged. Does it mean that the high-court judge who orders that "This man should be hanged," the high-court judge is enemy of that man he's hanging? No. He has created his situation that he should be hanged. God is very kind to everyone, but we have created situation so that we suffer. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1)—by our own work and under the supervision of the Supreme. Just like in the state you create some criminal activity. Under the supervision of the government you are punished. All right.
Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Stockholm, September 10, 1973:
What are the animal propensities? Eating, sleeping, sex life and defense. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca, sāmānyam etat paśubhir narāṇām. These are the common formulas both to the animals and the human being. What is that? Eating, sleeping, mating, sex life and defending. Defense. Everyone is doing that according to his own capacity. Cats and dogs, they also eat, they also sleep, they also have sex life, and they also try to defend when there is danger, when there is enemy. So these things are common formulas both for the animal and human being. But what is the especial prerogative for the human being? That is siddhi, how to make life perfect. Therefore here it is said, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). Siddhaye means "for perfection." What is the perfection of life? Perfection of life is no more birth, no more death, no more disease, no more old age. That is perfection.
Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Paris, June 13, 1974:
So with imperfect senses, we cannot understand what is God. The only sense is very, I mean to, usable, just is this ear. Just like man is sleeping, and some enemy has come to attack him or to kill him. So still he's nicely sleeping. But if some friend cries, "Mr. such and such, wake up, wake up! Here is enemy. He'll kill you, kill you!" He can rise up. So when all other senses are useless, the ear can work. Therefore, to understand God, we have to use this ear. And we have to receive the sound vibration and it will act.
Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Vrndavana, October 31, 1973:
This is our real miserable condition. We have to die. We have to take birth again, and again we have to become old, and there will be disease. Between birth and death... Birth is very miserable, To remain in the womb of the mother in a packed-up stage within a bag, and... That is miserable. Biting, the worms biting tender skin. We have forgotten, but these were the miseries for birth. In suffocated condition...But we have forgotten. So forgetfulness is not solution. Closing the eyes before the enemies is no solution. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). So long you are in material condition, you have to suffer all these miseries, either you become rich man or poor man. You may become American or Indian. The miseries of birth, death, old age and disease, they are all the same everywhere, not only within this planet, but also in other planets also. Ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ. This is the intelligence. They are trying to go to the moon planet, or somebody, by karma-kāṇḍīya consideration, they are trying to go to the heavenly planet. But wherever you go, you must know that these four conditions of material life, they are present.
Lecture on BG 7.11-12 -- Bombay, February 25, 1974:
So everything, analytical study is there in the śāstras very minute, senses and power, who has got. The fish, they have got very good sensation power. Means two miles away, they get sensation there is enemy, "Somebody's coming to eat me." These are all described in the Bhāgavatam. The frogs, they can become in samādhi, situated in samādhi, for many, many years. So these things are not very great things, to have samādhi, to have yogic principles. Even in the animals you will find. I read long, long ago that in the coal mine, while they were digging coals, one frog came out from the coal and jumped over and died. That means the frog was buried within the lump of coal for many, many thousands of years, and he was keeping samādhi. Kumbhaka, kumbhaka-yoga they know. So these are not very extraordinary things. Because after all, living entity is eternal, does not die. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). If, by some process, he lives for some time more, that is not very wonderful thing. The wonderful thing is how to stop this birth and death. That is wonderful thing. Not that I am living, say, for fifty years or hundred years, another man is living for three hundred years. That is not very wonderful thing.
Lecture on BG 7.11-13 -- Bombay, April 5, 1971:
Our teeth is meant for eating vegetables and fruits. It is so made. If you eat continually vegetables and fruits, you'll not be attacked with pyorrhea. But if you eat meat—your teeth is not meant for eating meat—you'll very soon be attacked with pyorrhea because breaking the laws of nature. This is one example. Similarly, in our eating, sleeping, mating and defending we are using so many wrong things. Just like formerly there was also fight. That fight was being conducted with arrows and bows. So if you want to kill your enemy, you'll kill your enemy, not others. Other innocent people will not be killed. But nowadays, for defending, we are using atom bomb. So many thousands of innocent men are being killed. So therefore to manufacture or to invent such weapons, lethal weapons, is requiring very good merit, but duṣkṛtina, for committing sinful activities. Even war, there is dharma. That can be also dharmāviruddha. Just like Arjuna fought. He fought dharmāviruddha, under the guidance of Kṛṣṇa. That is not ordinary fighting. That fighting is Kṛṣṇa, because he was fighting under the guidance of Kṛṣṇa. Personally he refused to fight, but when he understood that Kṛṣṇa wanted that fighting, under His guidance he fought. That fighting is Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 7.11-16 -- New York, October 7, 1966:
The necessities of this body are four: we must eat something; we must have rest, sleep for some time; we must defend ourself from the attack of enemies; and we must have the facility for sex life also. These things are necessary for keeping up this body. But one who is going to liberate himself from this material entanglement, he cannot use this excessively. There must be regulated. Just like a diseased person, he is put under regulation. He is also given to eat something. Although eating is not very good for a diseased person, still, he is allowed to eat something, some barley water, some fruit juice, some light food, so that... Starvation is also not good, so he is allowed, but he cannot be allowed foodstuff according to the patient's desire. The foodstuff is allowed to him according to the direction of the physician.
Lecture on BG 8.5 -- New York, October 26, 1966:
They're given there. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda Mahārāja is a great authority in the devotional service. A five-years-old boy, he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. His only fault was that. His father became enemy. His father insistently wanted, "You stop this nonsense, Hare Kṛṣṇa." He would not. So the father wanted to kill him—put him into so many tortures. At last he came out successful, and he was blissful. So therefore he is mahājana. In spite of so much tortures by his father, he did not give it up. Similarly, if we stick to the principle, as it was done by great personalities, Brahmā, Lord Śiva, Nārada, Prahlāda Mahārāja, Janaka Mahārāja... Their stories, their life history is there everywhere in the Purāṇas.
Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Melbourne, April 20, 1976:
And another condition is you have to live under threefold miseries, that miserable conditions pertaining to the body and mind... Even if you are opulent externally, if you are sick, if your mind is not in proper condition, you suffer. That is called adhyātmika. And there are other miseries offered by other living entities. Just like some friend all of a sudden becomes your enemy and he tries to inflict some injuries upon you. You are full of anxieties. This is called adhibhautika. Even there is no enmity, there are so many living entities, just like bugs, mosquitos, other animals. They are always prepared to give us trouble. This is called adhibhautika. Adhyātmika, adhibhautika, and adhidaivika, which is beyond your... Every miserable condition is beyond your control, but especially adhidaivika, famine, pestilence, overflood, no rain, scarcity. This is called adhidaivika. So this is called conditioned life.
Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 22, 1976:
Prabhupāda: To surrender to Kṛṣṇa is the best tactful and if you surrender, He will give you instruction. Then all tactfulness will be there. Teṣām aham.
- teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ
- bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam
- dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ
- yena mām upayānti te
- (BG 10.10)
If you become completely surrendered, devotee of Kṛṣṇa—He is within your heart—He will give you right instruction so that every sphere of life you'll be perfect.
Guest (5): Why are people cruel? Why do they persecute other human beings and torture them? How is it they are able to do this?
Prabhupāda: Because he is not in his normal condition, under the dictation of māyā, he is thinking, "This is my enemy; this is my friend," and he's acting like that. But when he becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, then he becomes learned. There is no more enemy. Everyone is friend. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). That is the highest stage of life. All right. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 9.22-23 -- New York, December 8, 1966:
This is same consciousness. Because wherefrom this consciousness comes unless it is not in Kṛṣṇa? Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). In the Vedānta-sūtra it is stated, whatever you think, whatever you see, it has its origin. And where is that origin? In Kṛṣṇa. Unless in Kṛṣṇa this thinking is not there, that "My devotees..." Kṛṣṇa... Every one of us is son of Kṛṣṇa. That's all right. But especially... Just like a very big businessman, all his employees, they are also taken attention by the person, by the boss. But special attention is taken for his own children. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, He is anxious for all living entities but especially anxious for His devotees. Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ (BG 9.29). You will find in the Bhagavad-gītā that the Lord says that "I am equal to everyone. Nobody is My enemy and nobody is My friend. I don't show anyone any partiality because nobody is My enemy." How God can be anyone's enemy or friend? He is friend of everyone. But ye tu bhajanti māṁ bhaktyā teṣu te mayi. One who is devoted specially to the Lord, He takes special attention.
Lecture on BG 9.27-29 -- New York, December 19, 1966:
Same example we can give: Just like a person is ordered by the high-court to be condemned to death. He will be punished, death punishment. Does it mean that the high-court justice is enemy of that particular person? No. He is not enemy. He has created such situation that he is condemned to death. The high-court judge is not responsible for that. He simply administers the, I mean to say, intricacies of law, of the state. Similarly, there are agents of Lord in the material nature and so many, there are agents we do not know. But there, in the śāstras, we have the Yamarāja, or there is justice department. Everything is there. So he is neutral. It is not that God is kind to somebody and unkind to some other, no. His position is always neutral.
Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo 'sti. Dveṣya means anyone whom I, upon whom I am envious. Of course, our nature is to become envious, even to enemy or friend. Even a friend, I mean to say, develops his material condition, economic development, then we become envious. That is one of the nature of the conditioned souls. Even my son becomes something greater than me, I become envious. So this is nature. So, but God has no such, I mean to say, crude qualities. He is not envious of anyone. Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ (BG 9.29). Nobody is very dear to Him, and nobody is an enemy. "But," He says especially, ye bhajanti tu māṁ bhaktyā, "anyone who is engaged in devotional service and Kṛṣṇa consciousness," mayi te, "he always remains with Me," mayi te teṣu ca api aham, "and I am also with him." Just see. Just a devotee cannot be separated. An unalloyed devotee, he cannot be separated from God.
Lecture on BG 9.29-32 -- New York, December 20, 1966:
The Lord says that "I am... Although I am equal to everyone..." God is nobody's enemy and nobody's special friend, just like the king, the government, nobody's enemy, nobody's friend. As you act, so you get result. Similarly, for common man, there is no special favor from God. Ye tu bhajanti māṁ bhaktyā. Ye tu. This tu means "but." Here is a word, but. But means just like we sometimes say that "I am such and such, but..." "But" means there is something special. So this word is used here, tu. Tu means "but." What is that "but?" Ye tu bhajanti māṁ prītyā: "Anyone who is engaged in devotional service of Me, so for him I have got special attention." Ye tu mām..., ye bhajanti tu māṁ bhaktyā mayi te teṣu cāpy aham: "As he is always, constantly engaged in My service, similarly, I am also engaged always in his service," the Lord says.
Lecture on BG 10.1 -- New York, December 27, 1966:
And, thinking of Kṛṣṇa as enemy or as friend? Sometimes we think of enemy also. Oh, the enemy might be coming. Oh, he's, my enemy is becoming very strong. So not that sort of thinking. Bhakti means...there is... Everything has got definition. That is called śāstra. What is that bhakti? Devotion. Devotion means anuśīlanam, cultivation of Kṛṣṇa knowledge favorably, not unfavorably. Sometimes to kill some enemy, we do many things to kill our enemies. In the laboratory you think of manufacturing atomic, nuclear bombs. That is also thinking. But that sort of thinking is not bhakti. Therefore bhakti means ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). Favorably you have to think of Kṛṣṇa, not unfavorably.
If you think of Kṛṣṇa, just to kill Him. Just like Kaṁsa, His maternal uncle, he wanted to kill his nephew. Kṛṣṇa was the nephew of Kaṁsa. He was always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, how to kill Him. How to kill Him. So that is unfavorable thinking, not that sort of thinking.
Lecture on BG 10.1 -- New York, December 27, 1966:
Man-manā bhava. Just thinking, just be always thinking of Me does not mean that you shall think of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, as your enemy, but as your friend, or lovable object. Man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. Bhakta means we should be always ready to render loving service to Kṛṣṇa. That sort of thinking. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī. Just become a worshiper of Kṛṣṇa. And māṁ namaskuru. And offer your obeisances unto Him. By following these four principles, mām evaiṣyasi asaṁśayaḥ (BG 18.68). Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, "My dear Arjuna, if you follow these four principles, then surely you'll come back to Me, back to home, back to Godhead." This has already been explained in the last verse of ninth chapter.
Lecture on BG 10.1 -- New York, December 27, 1966:
And they are suffering here. Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). They have, somehow or other, they have come in contact with this material nature, and each and every one of these living entities, they are making, having a hard struggle for existence. But under the spell of the illusory energy, they are thinking we are happy. Although whole day and night, they are unhappy. Their desires are not fulfilled. They want something, but they are forced to accept something else. This is going on. This is called hard struggle for existence. Nobody's satisfied. There is always disruption. In this moment, I am your friend. Next moment, I am your enemy. This moment, I am your husband or wife. Next moment, no. Don't see my face. I'll not see your face. Divorce. So these things are going on. So this is called struggle. I am wanting something, but I am accept, I am forcefully being bound to accept something else. This is called struggle. So this is going on.
Lecture on BG 12.13-14 -- Bombay, May 12, 1974:
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means how to become dear to Kṛṣṇa: "How Kṛṣṇa will love me." Kṛṣṇa loves. Kṛṣṇa says that He is no one's enemy and no one's friend. That is in neutrality. But He says, ye tu bhajanti māṁ bhaktyā teṣu te mayi, samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu (BG 9.29). (aside:) That talking, stop. Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ. God must be equal to everyone. He is neither envious to anyone nor friendly to anyone. This is general. But there is special significance. Ye tu bhajanti māṁ bhaktyā: "Persons who are engaged in devotional service with love and faith," teṣu te mayi, "I have got a special intimate relation with him."
Lecture on BG 12.13-14 -- Bombay, May 12, 1974:
Especially devotee is always attacked by the demons. Even the nondevotee is a father. We have seen it, Prahlāda Mahārāja's life. Because Prahlāda Mahārāja was devotee, even his father was enemy, what to speak of others. So devotee will have to meet so many enemies. Just like we have got this from the life of Lord Jesus Christ. When he was being killed by others, he said, to excuse them, "God, they do not know what they are doing." That is devotee's position. Kṣamī, always excusing. We have to learn this.
So these are some of the qualities of the devotees. In the twelfth chapter some of them are being described. And the Bhagavad-gītā we are narrating.
Lecture on BG 13.5 -- Paris, August 13, 1973:
You have seen the sparrow bird. As soon as one, they land, want to eat something, like this, like this. He's afraid. "Is not somebody coming to kill me?" That's all. Everywhere. In the aquatic also. Everyone is afraid for life. But Kṛṣṇa has given them different types of defensive measures. It is learned from the śāstra that the fish, they can, by the waves of the water, they can understand that "Few miles away there is enemy." They can understand. And they become immediately defensive, how to protect. Because this is struggle for existence. I want to eat you; you want to eat me. Jivo jīvasya jīvanam. This is going on. So everyone is afraid. Everyone is taking defense.
Lecture on BG 13.14 -- Bombay, October 7, 1973:
Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was only five years old boy and his father was always chastising him because his only fault was he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So the world is so made, full of demons, that simply for your fault of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra you'll have so many enemies, even your father. This is the position. Simply for this fault, that because we are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, we have got so many enemies. This is the world. Sura and asura. Because the more asuras... They'll never tolerate. The glorifying the Lord, they cannot tolerate. It is very difficult for them. So there are two classes of men, suras and asuras. Sura means viṣṇu-bhakto bhaved daivaḥ. Sura means devatā, or the demigods; and asura means, viṣṇu-bhakto bhaved daiva asuras tad-viparyayaḥ. And asuras means just the opposite number of viṣṇu-bhakta. They are asuras.
Lecture on BG 13.15 -- Bombay, October 9, 1973:
That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ: (BG 9.29) "I'm equal to everyone." Otherwise how He can be God? Nobody is His enemy, nobody is His friend. But ye tu bhajanti māṁ bhaktyā. Persons who are engaged in devotional service with love and faith, for them special consideration. Special consideration.
- teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ
- bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam
- buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi taṁ
- yena mām upayānti te
- (BG 10.10)
These are the statements in the Bhagavad-gītā. If you engage yourself always, satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatām, in bhajana, in offering devotional service... Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam. With love. Not that official. Love. Then He'll talk with you. Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam. He'll give you intelligence. He'll talk with you. Because He is within your heart. Simply you have to qualify yourself how to talk with Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise Kṛṣṇa is not far away. He's within your heart. Otherwise He is very, very far away. If you want to understand by your intelligence, what intelligence you have got? You have to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead by your service and then He'll reveal Himself. "Here I am. What do you want?" That is the process.
Lecture on BG 13.21 -- Bombay, October 15, 1973:
Prakṛtiḥ. Just like one criminal is punished by the magistrate, that "This man should undergo six months imprisonment." So the judge or the magistrate superficially is the cause of his punishment, but actually he's not. He's giving him punishment according to law. I have created such a situation, I have made myself a criminal, and the magistrate, according to law, giving me punishment. So actually, directly, the magistrate is not the cause of my suffering. Why he should be cause? He's not your enemy. This is going on.
- kārya-kāraṇa-kartṛtve
- hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyate
- puruṣaḥ sukha-duḥkhānāṁ
- bhoktṛtve hetur ucyate
So bhoktṛtva, my enjoyment, because we have come to this material world for enjoyment. So everyone's enjoyment is not on the same standard. We can see that. Somebody is enjoying some way, another is enjoying... "One man's food, another man's poison." What is enjoyed by the hog is not enjoyed by other animal. This is going on.
Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Hawaii, February 3, 1975:
One should be truthful. Truthful means that you should be so much truthful that even his enemy asks him, "Where is your money," he'll say, "Here is my money." He'll not, I mean to say, hide anything. That is truthfulness. Of course, in this age it is very difficult, but these are the items, to become truthful, controlling the mind, controlling the senses, śamo damas titikṣā, tolerance, ārjavam, simplicity, then āstikyam, firm faith in the śāstra, scripture.
Just like Bhagavad-gītā is scripture. So firm faith... Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru: (BG 18.65) "You simply always think of Me, Hare Kṛṣṇa." Not difficult. Bhava Kṛṣṇa has given you the tongue. Every one of you can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Where is the... You have no expenditure but great gain. You become highly elevated gradually by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Now, Kṛṣṇa says personally man-manāḥ: "Always think of Me." Not only that, anyone who is thinking of Kṛṣṇa always, twenty-four hours, Kṛṣṇa gives him the certificate—the topmost yogi.
Lecture on BG 16.9 -- Hawaii, February 5, 1975:
Therefore, accepted, God is accepted as the original father. The Christian, they go to the original father: "O Father, O God, give us our daily bread." So we also accept. That is the godly conception. That is the beginning of religious conception. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). What is dharma, religion? It is the codes given by God. That is dharma. Just like the state, the government, gives law: "You have to do like this. Keep to the right." You have to keep your car to the right. This is law. You cannot say, "Why not to the left?" You cannot say. Then you are criminal. Similarly, there are codes and description in the śāstra what God wants. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā God said that bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasām: (BG 5.29) "I am the enjoyer of all sacrifices, all tapasya." You are engaged in some research work, tapasya, for what purpose? Now, finding out some deadly bone. A very big scholar, very big research student... So that is called asura. He has got some scientific knowledge, but he's busy to find out a nuclear weapon, how to kill other enemies. This is the research work. No. That is demonic. The same knowledge can be utilized for finding out God. That is mahātmā. This is the difference.
Lecture on BG 16.11-12 -- Hawaii, February 7, 1975:
Here is no ānanda. In this material world... Ānanda means pleasure, bliss, but here it is not possible. First of all, you have to die. You may manufacture some so-called ānanda, but you'll die. Now, suppose we are dancing here, and if we understand that immediately death will take place, then we shall not be able to enjoy the dancing. Immediately the anxiety will come. So here, ānanda, there is no ānanda. Why there is ānanda? This body is subjected to so many miserable condition of life. We become hungry, we become thirsty, there is death, there is fearfulness, there is enemy—so many things. If you study analytically that this body is simply meant for suffering, so where is ānanda? There is no ānanda; there is no complete knowledge; there is no eternity. Therefore it is called material. Just the opposite is spiritual life, just opposite. There is no death. Eternity. So civilization means that, the process by which we can transfer ourself from this nonpermanent life to permanent life, life of ignorance to life of knowledge, life of suffering to life of enjoyment. That is spiritual life.
Lecture on BG 16.13-15 -- Hawaii, February 8, 1975:
Nitāi: "The demoniac person thinks: 'So much wealth do I have today, and I will gain more according to my schemes. So much is mine now, and it will increase in the future more and more. He is my enemy and I have killed him and my other enemy will also be killed. I am the lord of everything, I am the enjoyer. I am perfect, powerful and happy. I am the richest man, surrounded by aristocratic relatives. There is none so powerful and happy as I am. I shall perform sacrifices, I shall give charity and thus I shall I rejoice.' In this way such persons are deluded by ignorance."
Prabhupāda:
- idam adya mayā labdham
- imaṁ prāpsye manoratham
- idam astīdam api me
- bhaviṣyati punar dhanam
- asau mayā hataḥ śatrur
- haniṣye cāparān api
- īśvaro 'ham ahaṁ bhogī
- siddho 'haṁ balavān sukhī
- āḍhyo 'bhijanavān asmi
- ko 'nyo 'sti sadṛśo mayā
- yakṣye dāsyāmi modiṣya
- ity ajñāna-vimohitāḥ
So last night we discussed about the demons' thinking. Āśā-pāśa-śatair baddhāḥ. He does not know "So long I shall be aspiring more and more, I am getting entangled more and more within this material world. Because Kṛṣṇa is so kind, he has given me freedom to enjoy this material world, but according to my work, I am becoming implicated. So long I'll have a pinch of desire for enjoying this material world, I'll have to accept a typical body." This is the law of nature. When you'll actually be free from all material desires, then it is called mukti, mukti, liberation. That is liberation. So that standard of mukti, mukti standard or mukti platform, is bhakti-yoga.
Lecture on BG 16.13-15 -- Hawaii, February 8, 1975:
There is no question of "how much love I have increased for Kṛṣṇa." That is bhakta, bhakti. But where there is no bhakti, they are thinking of this material increase. Asau mayā hataḥ, thinking others are enemy... Actually, in the higher status of life, a devotee does not think anyone as enemy. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). Samaḥ. He knows that "Nobody can become my enemy unless Kṛṣṇa desires. So why shall I think of him as my enemy? Kṛṣṇa has desired him to act as my enemy just to correct me, just to make me more advanced in spiritual life. So why shall I take any action upon him as enemy?" Of course, this stage is meant for very highly elevated devotee. That is not meant for ordinary devotee. But the fact is this: "How one can become my enemy? If I am Kṛṣṇa's servant, how one can become my enemy? If one is acting as my enemy, it is Kṛṣṇa's desire. I have got some defect, and he is correcting me." Therefore it is called samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). That is the topmost devotee's conception.
But when we are preaching, we have to come to the second stage. There are three stages of devotional life. The first stage, or the lower stage, the middle stage, and the top stage. So this kind of conception, that "Nobody is my enemy," that is on the topmost stage. That is not to be imitated. When you are preaching, you have to come to the middle stage. Even if you are on the top stage, you have to come on the middle stage because you have to discriminate: "Here is a devotee; here is a demon." On the top stage there is no such thing as demon and devotee. The top stage, the devotee sees: "Everyone is engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. Simply I am not engaged." This is topmost devotee's vision, that "I am lacking Kṛṣṇa's devotion."
Lecture on BG 16.13-15 -- Hawaii, February 8, 1975:
So instead of thinking always like this demon that "I have got so much money. Now I shall get further amount of money and it will be like so much money. He is my enemy. I have killed one of them. The other enemy..." This is going on actually, in the material field. So we have to rectify. We have to rectify. Āḍhyo 'bhijanavān asmi: "I am the richest man. I have got so many friends, all aristocratic." Abhijanavān. Janavān, dhanavān. Dhanavān means possessing wealth, and janavān means possessing men, strength, popular strength, and strength of money.
Lecture on BG 18.41 -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:
So there should be educational department to create first-class men by all these qualities. How to become controller of the mind, how to become controller of the senses, how to become cleansed, bāhyābhyantaram, inside clean and outside clean. Śaucam, titikṣā, how to become tolerant, tolerant. One should be not agitated by a single cause. Tolerant, and similarly, simplicity. He should be so simple. It is said simplicity: even the enemy inquires from him some secret thing, he'll say, "Yes, it is like this." Simplicity. And jñānam full knowledge. Full knowledge, what is this world, what I am, what is my relation with this world, what is God, what is my relation with God. Everything full knowledge. And vijñānam, vijñānam means completely application of the knowledge of life. And āstikyam, āstikyam means full faith in transcendental literature, that is called also āstikyam, and full faith in the existence of the Supreme Lord. Āstik... These are the brahminical qualifications. So those who are claiming to become first-class, learned men in the society, they must have all these qualifications. This is Bhagavad-gītā's teaching.
Lecture on BG 18.67 -- Ahmedabad, December 10, 1972:
So we were discussing this verse yesterday. So there are persons abhyasūyati, envious of Kṛṣṇa. Envious. Who is envious of Kṛṣṇa? Demons. Just like Kaṁsa. Always making plan, how to kill Kṛṣṇa. As soon as he heard that his eighth son of his sister Devakī would kill him, as soon as he heard this prophecy, he become a determined enemy of Kṛṣṇa. He was always thinking in a different way. Prātikūlyena. Ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ prātikūlyaṁ vivarjanam. This devotional service means to accept favorable and reject unfavorable. This is called śaraṇāgati. Surrender means to accept favorable things, how I can make progress towards Kṛṣṇa, and prātikūlya, pratikūla means rejecting unfavorable things which are not very congenial for my progress to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Rakṣayiṣyaty iti viśvāsa-pālanam. And to have firm faith that "Kṛṣṇa will give me protection. Kṛṣṇa will give me protection."
| Page Title: | Enemy (BG Lectures) |
| Compiler: | SunitaS, Mayapur |
| Created: | 26 of Aug, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=145, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 145 |