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Escape (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Radio Interview -- March 12, 1968, San Francisco:

Interviewer: Thank you, caller.

Gargamuni: Oh.

Interviewer: Now, I want to ask you something. You said we live in a bad world, but through our mind, our soul, we can escape.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Interviewer: Or through Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We're not solving anything then by doing that. We're sort of, in our own mind, we're running away.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that running away is the best sol... Suppose you are put in a prison house. The solution is to go out of it. If you want to make adjustment of the prison house, that is impossible. You may be a first-class prisoner or second-class prisoner, third-class prisoner, but you will remain a prisoner. But if you want freedom, then you must go out of the prison walls.

Interviewer: But I notice you have many, you seem to have a lot of young men who are part of your organization. These young men must face the material problems of today like the draft and Vietnam and everything.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Interviewer: Isn't it difficult to belong to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and exist in this world we must exist in?

Prabhupāda: Yes, the thing is that persons who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness anywhere, even they are put into a very uncomfortable position, they are not suffering in the same way as ordinary man.

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- November 4, 1970, Bombay:

Haṁsadūta: Do you want to hear the next letter? This is the second letter. "I do not see why you devoted two full pages to the article on 'Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa,' November 8th. Wearing a plain white sari, applying sandal paste on the forehead and wearing nose-rings do not transform one. Churning milk gopī fashion is no way to attain spiritual bliss. The statements made by the devotees of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement reflect an attitude of escapism."

Prabhupāda: Hm. Anyway, we are getting publicity.

Haṁsadūta: (laughs) They're angry. "How can the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa purify the mind? It only closes it to everything else. Purity of the mind lies in knowing all evil and yet abstaining from it. The escapist attitude of the devotees of the movement is reflected in the reply of Adhikārī when he bypasses the question of India's poverty by giving irrelevant answers. The poverty of our country is known to all of us. I am not an atheist, but I find it difficult to digest the sentimentalism in the article."

Prabhupāda: What is that sentimentalism?

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1970, Indore:

Prabhupāda: And as soon as you are lost of regulative principles then you take to all kinds of sinful activities. The regulative principles will keep you on the standard of life. If you give it up, then immediately you fall down, māyā. So this man Ajamila, because he was durācāra, naṣṭa-sadācāra, lost of all regulative principles on account of associating with a prostitute, then, although he was born of a brāhmaṇa family, he became... His livelihood was juha(?), bandy-akṣaiḥ, cheating and stealing. Bandy-akṣaiḥ kaitavaiś cauryaiḥ. Cauryaiḥ means stealing. Garhitāṁ vṛttim āsthitaḥ. This kind of profession is garhitā. Garhitāṁ means... Hitā means beneficial. But this profession is garhitā because it is not beneficial. Ultimately he will be punished either by the king's law or by the God's law. I can escape the king's law by doing something which is abominable but I cannot escape God's law. That is not possible. Therefore, although he is thinking that "Now I am cheating this person," or "I am stealing and getting some profit," that is not good for him. Just like a man is killing some man, another man. So that is not good for him because as soon as he will be arrested he'll be hanged.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- August 14, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: Yes. There is no chance of escape. Chant constantly, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. It remains in the heart. Not only my heart. Others' heart, they also joke, "Hare Kṛṣṇa!" If it can remain in others' heart, why not my heart? Those who are joking me, imitating me. We... Last time, when I was going in Africa, I stopped for few minutes in Athens. Some of the younger residents chant, "Hare Kṛṣṇa!" You see? As soon as they saw us, they began to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. They could understand, "These are Hare Kṛṣṇa people." Yes. So by their dress, by their tilaka, they oblige others to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, either for imitating or for joking. So they gain. But if Hare Kṛṣṇa chanting has got any effect, even by joking like that, he'll get gain. If it is actually spiritual, by simply joking he will get gain.

Interview with Reporters -- November 10, 1971, New Delhi:

Reporter: You are not escapists?

Prabhupāda: No.

Reporter: Maharaja, please go on here helping us. You know, we are (indistinct). (laughter) (Hindi) (break)

Prabhupāda: ...me that "Your Vaiṣṇavism has killed India." And why? "No, Vaiṣṇava means inactive. They say simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and do nothing." Then "You have not seen a Vaiṣṇava," I told him.

Reporter: Pardon?

Prabhupāda: I told him that he has not seen a Vaiṣṇava.

Reporter: Vaiṣṇava.

Prabhupāda: In India there are two major war, Rāma-rājya yudha and kurukṣetra yudha, and there the hero is a Vaiṣṇava-Arjuna and Hanumān.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bob: So one in this material world never escapes his karma completely?

Prabhupāda: Yes, escapes. No more karma. For a devotee, no more karma reaction.

Bob: But you must be the best devotee, and you...

Prabhupāda: Hmm. No, I don't consider I am the best devotee. I am the lowest.

Bob: No! No!

Prabhupāda: You are the best devotee.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Sridhara Maharaja -- June 27, 1973, Navadvipa:

Prabhupāda: He told me that he was given...

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He wanted election of Vāsudeva Prabhu, Gaura Mahārāja and that Bhagavānānanda, but Paraśurāma. But anyhow, he escaped and he came to Tīrtha Mahārāja, his former relative, old Tīrtha Mahārāja, former relative. Then Tīrtha Mahārāja told him that "What about my guru?" "Well, if your guru on one side, another bullock in another side. And if you can plow and produce some crops, and that can be offered to Mahāprabhu, then your guru may have a path of relish." (laughs) See what Tīrtha Mahārāja says, "This is blasphemy." "No, it is true, but this is very cruel. But this is truth."

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Garden Conversation with Mahadeva's Mother and Jesuit Priest -- July 25, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Dunkirk.

Mother: And then they came, when Dunkirk was evacuated, they came back in all these little boats that they escaped in, and they got together and they billeted them... And I was living with my godmother in Sholden (?) in Devonshire. And we had eight acres. And the Army put up huts for them. And they lived there for about eight months until more Indians were sent to make them back to strength again, the regiments, big enough. And then they went overseas again. Some went to Burma, some to Italy. I don't know where they went, of course, but they were very good...

Prabhupāda: They went to die, after all.

Room Conversation with French Journalist and UNESCO Worker -- August 10, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Three things only.

Dr. Inger: Yes. That is one thing they want to avoid.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is their nonsense.

Dr. Inger: In other words, everything else is a plan or an excuse to escape from yourself.

Prabhupāda: That means it is a association of cheaters and cheated. Somebody wants to cheat and somebody's being cheated. That's all. That is our opinion. So how the association of cheaters and cheated can do anything good to the human society? They're cheaters. They do not know how this peace has to be attained, and they're trying to attain peace in their own way. Therefore they're cheaters. You do not a subject matter, how to do it, and you're trying to do it, that means you are cheater. It may be very strong words, but the fact is there. Why should you try something which you do not know adequately? That is our protest.

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: This is their rascal's philosophy. They have no idea that by training one can forget sex life. So if you forget sex life, where is the question of abortion? Where is the question of abortion? But they cannot do that. Therefore, it is said adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisram (SB 7.5.30). By nonrestricted sense enjoyment they are gradually going to the animal, lower grade of life. They cannot explain why there are so many varieties of life. They cannot explain. So this killer of baby within the womb, so the result will be that this man who is, I mean to say, indulging in abortion, he'll be put into the womb, and somebody will kill him. And as many wombs or babies he has killed, he'll have to take so many lives and being killed. So much so that it will be rather impossible for him for hundreds of years not to see the light. He'll remain in the womb and being killed. Does not know the nature's law. One cannot violate the nature's law. You can violate the state law. Suppose you kill somebody, you can escape by trick. But you cannot escape nature's law. As many times you have killed, so many times you have to be killed within the womb. This is nature's law.

Morning Walk -- December 8, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. These are rascals. You see, humanists, they are professing humanists and they are killing so many human beings daily. You see? These are all escapism. What is called? Escaping? They could not find any, I mean to say, solace and now humanity... What they can do? There are so many people suffering in the human society. What they can do? Suppose they are opening hospitals. Is that guarantee for a cure of disease or no death? Then what is the humanity. You cannot do anything. You may advertise yourself, " I have opened so many hospitals and beds." But what you can do? Is that guarantee that there that there will be no disease and everyone will be cured, nobody will die. Then what is the humanitarianism. You cannot do anything.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 17, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That is my point. If you can avoid death, disease, old age, then you are well. You cannot avoid all these things. You must become old man, you must die, you must be diseased; where is the meaning of this well? It is simply concoction. (break) Where is happiness? Where is well-being? That they do not know. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. That they do not know. Just like a man lying on sick bed, and some friends come, "How are you?" "Yes, today I am well." What is this "well"? You are lying on the sick bed, hospital, and you are speaking, "Yes, I am well." (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. There is no "well." So long you are subjected to birth, death, old age and disease, there is no question of "well." When you can avoid these things, then you are well. (break) ...but our independence. What is that independence? No rice, no geha. What is this independence? (break) (Hindi) "godless civilization" saba boka mare hai, bās. (break) ...take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, everything is false. You cannot escape. (Hindi) The death is there. Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). So at the end everything will be taken away by Kṛṣṇa in the form of death. Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham. (japa) Everyone, especially the karmīs, they think that they will live forever.

Morning Walk -- March 12, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Therefore they are against religion. But actually, if we show that we are producing, we are managing, we are educating, then we can counteract the communist tendency. But they are seeing that, that escaping. They say, "They escape responsibility of worldly life and they're indulging in some religious..." That is the tendency. All... Everywhere the government is complaining like that. Therefore they do not want to increase the number of temples, increase the number of devotees. They do not want. Because they say, "These are a class of idle men. They cannot do anything, and they take to this religious life." That is the tendency. They are feeling like that. But if you show that you are actually doing something ideal, then they will appreciate. Make a small unit of community and show ideal life, not idle life. Ideal life.

Morning Walk 'Varnasrama College' -- March 14, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. But our, our position is that we are above varṇāśrama. But for management or ideal society, we are introducing this. We, so far we are concerned, Kṛṣṇa conscious men, we are above varṇāśrama. But to show the people that we are not escaping, we can take part in any order of life. That is our position. Just like if I brush somebody's shoes, that does not mean I am shoemaker. My position is the same. But to show how to do it... Just like a servant is doing. The master is, "Oh, you cannot do. Just see." Just like I show you sometimes how to mop. So I am not a mopper, but I am showing how to mop. So our position is like that. We do not belong to any varṇa and āśrama. But we have to show these rascals. Just like Dhruva Mahārāja. He, he was perfect Vaiṣṇava, but when he was king, he was fighting like anything. Not that, "Oh, I am now become Vaiṣṇava. I cannot kill." What is this? He killed like anything.

Morning Walk at Villa Borghese -- May 25, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: As long as they will not take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they have to tolerate. They must suffer. That is nature's law. That is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā... (BG 7.14). You cannot escape all these miserable conditions of... Mām eva ye prapadyante. If you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then you escape. What is difficulty to become Kṛṣṇa conscious? Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru: (BG 18.65) "Simply always think of Me." We have got nice Kṛṣṇa. And attend the temple, and we see. And what is the difficulty to think of Him always? Or chanting, hearing His name. So there is no difficulty in remembering Kṛṣṇa always. Man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. To become devotee, worship the Lord in the temple, prepare food for Him, and take the prasādam—where is the difficulty?

Room Conversation with Roger Maria leading writer of communist literature -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the only yoga meant for the human being. Any other yoga system practiced, they're against bhakti-yoga. (French)

Jyotirmayī: He said that bhakti-yoga's an escape.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Jyotirmayī: Bhakti-yoga brings to escaping one's responsibility.

Prabhupāda: Then he does not know what is bhakti-yoga. He does not know. (French) Arjuna did not escape. He was trying to escape, but, by bhakti-yoga, he was captured. (French)

Pṛthu Putra: He says the Bhagavad-gītā is a...

Room Conversation with Roger Maria leading writer of communist literature -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Bhagavān: And anyone who joins us loses all his problems. (French)

Yogeśvara: He says then that's very serious because if you have no problems, that means you are trying to escape from the world because the world is full of problems.

Prabhupāda: We are in the Paris City. How we have escaped from the world? (laughter) We have got branches in London, in Paris in New York and big, big cities, and all these boys are coming from big, big cities. How they have escaped? It is not justice. If he says that "They have escaped," that is wrong statement. We are not escaping anything. (French)

Bhagavān: What kind of proof are you looking for? Let's talk about proof. What kind of proof are you looking for? (French)

Prabhupāda: Now, another point is he's accusing us that we're escaping. Why he's escaping Kṛṣṇa consciousness? (French)

Room Conversation with Roger Maria leading writer of communist literature -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Why? He should stay with us. Let us conclude. Why you are flying away? We have started one discussion. Let it be finished. Why you are going away? (French) That means he is escaping.

Yogeśvara: He says because he works in the evenings. He's a theater critic.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. Some way or other, he's escaping. (French) A man...

Yogeśvara: With pleasure, he would like to come back to finish the discussion.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (French)

Jyotirmayī: And with friendship.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Oh, yes. That's it. Don't escape. (French) When we have begun the discussion, let us finish. Don't escape. Thank you. Haribol. Jaya. Thank you. (R.M. leaves)

Room Conversation with Roger Maria leading writer of communist literature -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: They are escaping. We are not escaping. We want to capture everyone. (laughter) He has no clear idea what is the aim of life.

Yogeśvara: He likes to see people engaged in work that is humanitarian, that will resolve the problems of the world.

Prabhupāda: That everyone says. All rascals says like that. Humanitarian. He does not know what is humanitarian. And then killing one capitalist or communist and this and that. Sophistry. Fascist and communist. This is their humanitarian work.

Devotee: He's like one of these rascals who translates the Bhagavad-gītā in a certain way like saying the five Pāṇḍavas are the five senses, and the battlefield is the body?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with Roger Maria leading writer of communist literature -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee: And here we're having a fight with the body, but he doesn't accept that Kṛṣṇa is...

Prabhupāda: Their only business is to escape Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: They're trying to interpret that Kṛṣṇa is just our own intelligence or...

Bhagavān: The point is even when they see the practical proof, they don't accept it. They're so stubborn.

Prabhupāda: You be strong. Don't be... They cannot conquer us. But you be more strong. (end)

Room Conversation with Bishop Kelly -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: One who is following the general instruction, then you can understand that he has actually fully surrendered to God. Then in particular case, if he is required to be given a particular instruction, that is different thing. That is also possible. But how one is God conscious, that is understood that how he is strictly following the general instruction. And otherwise it will be escaping. Somebody will say, "God is dictating me in this way, so I can do this." (chuckles) Then everyone can say like that.

Bishop Kelly: That is true. That is true... Do you wish me to take this away or should I look at it here?

Satsvarūpa: May he keep the book or...

Prabhupāda: No, this is the only one sample I have got. But as soon as we get more copies, we shall be very glad.

Room Conversation with Bishop Kelly -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yes, we are trying our bit to educate people how to revive his original God consciousness. Then he will be happy. Our principle is how to make people happy. There is a verse about the gosvāmīs. Nānā-śāstra-vicāraṇaika-nipuṇau sad-dharma-saṁsthāpakau lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau. This word is very important, lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau: "for the welfare of the people in general." People accuse sometimes—of course, foolish people do that—that these God conscious person they are escaping. No. Who are actually God conscious person is always thinking how to do well to the people in general. Yes. Sad-dharma-saṁsthāpakau. Give it to him. You can take.

Bishop Kelly: Banana?

Prabhupāda: No, take other thing. Keep it there. You take the whole thing.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- May 8, 1975, Perth:

Jayadharma: A person may see somebody do that, may think that they're irresponsible.

Prabhupāda: Yes, escaping, so many accusations. But with all these accusations one can do that. There is no harm. But that position is not for all.

Paramahaṁsa: Due to that poverty-stricken condition, if someone does come to us, they usually want to get something from us.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Yes. You find out this verse, tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ harer (SB 1.5.17). Find out first the index.

Paramahaṁsa: First Canto. Yellow. Yellow.

Morning Walk -- June 16, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: This is another bluff. You see? And these rascals are believing them.

Siddha-svarūpa: Especially they're making, trying to make people feel that their problems will be solved, that when it gets too bad they'll just be able to go to the moon. So there's no real problem even if you ruin the earth because you can always escape.

Prabhupāda: No, no, that mean... What about their moon planet going? That is stopped?

Siddha-svarūpa: I don't think they're sending any more rockets to the moon.

Ambarīṣa: Yes, they're finished now. There's too much litter up there.

Prabhupāda: So, useless.

Siddha-svarūpa: (break) ...a campaign that...

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is humanity. Not that "This man is going to hell. Let him go to hell. I am happy. That's all." That is not humanity. Paropakāra. That is Vedic civilization, paropakāra, not to exploit others.

Devotee (1): A lot of times, Śrīla Prabhupāda, they say that we are just escaping material life. We're not having jobs...

Prabhupāda: How we are escaping?

Devotee (1): A lot of times they say that we don't have jobs and that we should work for...

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: So why shall I... A rich man, does he work? We are rich men. We don't work. You rascal, you have no money. You work. We are rich men. Why shall I work? Any rich man you see, he is not working. He is escaping? What is that? Any rich man who has got money, he is not working. He is engaging all fools and rascals in the factory. So is that, is he escaping?

Devotee (1): A lot of times they say that we're just...

Prabhupāda: No, no, first of all take one answer. That we are rich men, we are Kṛṣṇa's son. So why shall I work like you, an ass? A ass will work unnecessarily. We are not asses.

Yadubara: Actually, we're more active than ever before.

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: Yes. We are rich man's son, Kṛṣṇa's son. Why shall I work? That is the nature. A rich man's son never works. He enjoys. We are dancing and taking nice prasādam. Why shall I work? What do you think? Poor man will work. Rich man, why they will work? He will enjoy. Kṛṣṇa says, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). He is the proprietor of all planets, and we are servants of Kṛṣṇa, a rich man's servant. Why shall I work so hard? The ass will work hard, not a human being. And that is the instruction of Rsabhādeva. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). This human life is not meant for working so hard simply for food and sex enjoyment. That is the business of the hogs. The hogs do like that. They work day and night to find out some stool, and as soon as a little strength, he enjoys sex without discrimination, mother, sister, anybody. Is that life? Tell them, "You are working like hogs, and we are living like human being. That is the difference." If somebody does not work like hog, does it mean he is escaping? (laughter) Just see. And the hog is asking to work like hog. Why human being will accept this proposal? Marshall theory. I was student of economics. He says the human nature is, unless he has got some obligation he will not work. That is the beginning of economics. If one has got sufficient to eat, he will not work. When he is obliged to work for some reason, he works hard. That is the economic theory. So nature is... It is not escaping. If I have got sufficient to eat, why shall I work? What is the answer? This is not escaping, it is comfortable life, not to work and get everything, all necessities.

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: That means they also do not wish to work so hard. They are seeing that "Capitalists are sitting very comfortably and (we) working." They are also thinking, "Escaping." Is it not? So the natural tendency is that "I will not work, and still, I will get my necessities." That is natural tendency. The material world means avidyā-karma-samjñānya tṛtīyā śaktir iśyate. This is out of ignorance they are working so hard. In the spiritual world there is no question of working. You get everything. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu. Everything, whatever you want. So why not endeavor to go there? Why should you work like hogs and dogs?

Viśakha: Śrīla Prabhupāda, they will accuse us of being parasites.

Prabhupāda: No, I am not parasite. Your master. How do you say parasite? I am not going to beg from you. Parasites?

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: ...jīva mā mara. The slaughterhouse maintainer is advised that "You don't die, don't live." Mā jīva mā mara. "Your position... Now you are... If you live, just see how horrible business you are doing. And if you die, you will be slaughtered. So better you don't die, don't live." Mā jīva mā mara. (break) ...nice park, nobody is coming. We Kṛṣṇa conscious people, we are taking advantage. (laughter) They have worked so hard, they are sleeping. We are taking advantage. So they are escaping or we are escaping? Just see how foolish they are. They have worked so hard, and they are not taking advantage. We are taking. So our policy is that "You work hard, and we go and take from you." This is not escaping. This is intelligence, that "You work hard, rascal. You are foolish asses. And we take advantage." Our George Harrison, he is working hard, in England (?). And he worked hard, and he gives a house, Bhaktivedanta Manor.

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: We are not going to construct. Is that escaping or it is intelligence, that "You work hard and give it to me. We enjoy"? This is intelligence; that is not escaping. That is going on. The capitalists, they are engaging these rascals, asses, in the factory, and he enjoys life. That is intelligence. That is not escaping. You know the story of the stag and the jackal? The jackal fell in the well water. So he was not..., unable to come out. So one stag came there. "What is the...?" "Oh, it is so nice. I am dancing. You see? It is very nice." So he also fell down. And as soon as he fell down, he got on his head and got out. So that is intelligence, that "Let this rascal work hard and make a nice park for us, and we shall take advantage of it." This is intelligence. And it is called ajāgara-vṛtti. Ajāgara-vṛtti. Ajāgara means... The big snake is called ajāgara. So this mouse, they make hole and want to live there. And they comfortably living. In the meantime, the ajāgara comes. He eats that mouse and lives comfortably. So our is ajāgara vṛtti. You work for the hole to live comfortably, but we take possession of the house and live comfortably. (break) ...Los Angeles the storekeepers, they ask our men that "You do not work.

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: The big snake is called ajāgara. So this mouse, they make hole and want to live there. And they comfortably living. In the meantime, the ajāgara comes. He eats that mouse and lives comfortably. So our is ajāgara vṛtti. You work for the hole to live comfortably, but we take possession of the house and live comfortably. (break) ...Los Angeles the storekeepers, they ask our men that "You do not work. You live so comfortably. And working so hard, we cannot live so comfortably." And as soon as we ask that "You also come and join," they will not. "No, we shall work like this." We are asking everyone, "Come here," but that will not come. And that is, they are envious. Therefore they say escaping, that they are living at the cost of others so comfortably. That is their enviousness. They see, "They have got so many cars, their face is bright, they are eating nicely, and they have no problem." So they are envious.

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: No, we are inviting them, "Come here." Why do they not come? And that is difficult for them. To chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and dance, oh, it is very big, heavy task for them. They will not come. The most difficult thing is that as soon as they come and they know there is no tea, no liquor, no meat, no cigarette, "Oh, so many no's? Oh." That draft man said? That one draft man came to inquire that some of the boys, to escape from the draft man's call, they joined this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. "So what is the comfort there? They joined instead of going to..." So when he studied that there is no meat, there is no liquor, there is no smoking, there is no gambling, so he said, "It is more difficult. Still, they come." It is more difficult than to go and fight. So how it is wonderful. Actually, for the karmīs, it is very difficult job. Even Lord Zetland he said, "Oh, it is impossible to do this." And actually, it is impossible. That is the adoration of Professor Judah, that "These drug-addicted boys, how they have become Kṛṣṇa conscious?" That is his wonderful thing. You can say that "We are escaping this horrible condition of life: meat-eating, drinking, and intoxication. We are escaping that, these thing, not escaping happiness. You are escaping happiness."

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: And he will not work. Escaping. (break) ...demonic mentality, "I shall not do anything which will be enjoyed by others." And human mentality is that "I shall do something which will be enjoyed by others." That is human mentality.

Brahmānanda: In India isn't it the system that after they harvest the wheat they leave some on the ground for the others to come and pick?

Prabhupāda: Yes. No, they distribute while in the field. They give to the brāhmaṇas, to the temples, to the king, and the balance they take. This is the Vedic system, that if I grow something, first of all twenty-five percent to the king, then to the temple, to the brāhmaṇas, to the poor. And then balance, I shall take. And they produce so large quantity, they do not feel any scarcity. And when the trade came, people understood. Then they want to sell. "Why shall I give to the temple? Why shall I give to the brāhmaṇa? Save it. I shall sell it. I shall get more money, and I shall drink." When trade came. When there was no trade, you grow your own food and distribute freely.

Room Conversation with Mr. & Mrs. Wax, Writer and Editing Manager of Playboy Magazine -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Mrs. Wax: I understand Mr. Patrick kidnapped Lakṣmī-nārāyaṇa. Is he all right?

Jayatīrtha: Lakṣmī-nārāyaṇa, yes he escaped.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Jayatīrtha: There's this one fellow, Mr. Ted Patrick. He goes and he kidnaps the devotees. The parents pay him $1,000 up to $25,000...

Prabhupāda: Ācchā.

Jayatīrtha: ...depending on how wealthy they are. He kidnaps them and tries to brainwash them that this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not good.

Devotee: He calls it deprogramming. He says... He tries to deprogram the devotees that we have simply been hypnotized by chanting. So he has to snap us out of it by deprogramming. And he uses very severe techniques, very harsh.

Prabhupāda: And the parents are inducing him.

Room Conversation after Press Conference -- July 9, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: Why do they not understand, by nature's discrimination the woman is put into greater difficulty by bearing child?

Brahmānanda: That is the one thing they cannot avoid. They cannot escape.

Prabhupāda: Why this arrangement is by nature? How they can change it?

Brahmānanda: Someone was telling me that there have been many instances that when women are being taken to the hospital to give birth to their children—they're in the ambulance, and they are experiencing the pains—that they are cursing their husbands, "Why you have given me this pain?"

Prabhupāda: Yes, because birth pain is very severe.

Room Conversation with Devotees -- August 1, 1975, New Orleans:

Prabhupāda: Just see. (laughs) It may cost two cent. And you have got your sugar also. In this way organize. Avoid machine. Keep everyone employed as brāhmaṇa, as kṣatriya, as vaiśya. Nobody should sit down. Brāhmaṇas, they are writers, editors, lecturers, instructors, worshiping Deity, ideal character. They have no anxiety for food, for clothing. Others should supply them. They haven't got to work. Sannyāsī is always preaching, going outside. In this way keep everyone fully engaged. Then it will be ideal. Otherwise people will criticize that we are simply eating and sleeping, escaping, so many, so many. And actually that is the position. Unless one is fully engaged, oh, that is not good. That is tamo-guṇa. Tamo-guṇa, and rajo-guṇa very active, and sattva-guṇa, intellectual activity. Both of them, active, only tamo-guṇa, not active. (indistinct) Tamo-guṇa means sleeping and laziness. These are the symptoms of tamo-guṇa. Every saintly man can avoid these two things—laziness and sleeping. Of course, as much you require, sleeping allowed, not more than... And keep everyone active, man or woman-all. Then it will be ideal society.

Morning Walk -- September 1, 1975, Vrndavana:

Brahmānanda: We have one devotee. He escaped from Communist Hungary, and he was telling me all the story, how on the borders how much they keep the people from trying to escape. Even in Berlin, in Germany...

Prabhupāda: They shoot.

Brahmānanda: They have a system, automatic shooting, that if you cross a certain line, they have these rays of light, and if you break the ray of light, then automatically all machine guns start firing in the whole area. It's all done...

Prabhupāda: This is their scientific advancement.

Brahmānanda: They've made such a nice place that they're afraid the people will escape from it.

Prabhupāda: And they are thinking, "This system is for happiness."

Brahmānanda: If it's for happiness, then why prevent people from leaving?

Prabhupāda: "Why?"—that you are asking. They think it is happiness. That is called māyā. It is not happiness; still, if somebody is thinking happiness, that is called māyā.

Morning Walk -- September 1, 1975, Vrndavana:

Brahmānanda: Some boys, they escaped from one country, I think Rumania. And they came to our temple. They had heard about our movement, so they came to our temple. They stayed for a little while, but then they were wanting to leave. So they left, and immediately they were apprehended by the authorities in... I think it was in Sweden. And now they are put into camps, they cannot leave, they have to be processed, and practically they are again in jail. They have no freedom. They cannot get a job. They have no passport. It will take them years to get all the papers in order. They have to be investigated to see that they are not spies. So again they are still in the miserable condition.

Prabhupāda: So miserable condition... That is our conclusion, that either you remain this side or that side, it is miserable. By mental concoction you think that "This is better than that." Therefore Kṛṣṇa says frankly, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). That is only shelter. Mām upetya kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam nāpnuvanti (BG 8.15). (break) ...take Kṛṣṇa's words as it is. Everything is there. He said, "This material world is duḥkhālayam; it is the place of suffering." Industrialist, businessman, anyone, even ordinary man, actually everyone is suffering, but everyone is thinking, "I am happy." (break)

Morning Walk -- September 13, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: But where is your sense satisfied? You are crazy. You are repeatedly being kicked by nature, that your senses will never be satisfied. Still, you are trying for that. Even the old man of eighty years old, he is going to the nightclub. Where is sense satis... When his senses will be satisfied? (aside) Jaya. Relaxation. If somebody is relaxing, chanting, they will induce, "Oh, you are escaping."

Brahmānanda: "Misery loves company."

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Brahmānanda: That's a saying, that if someone is feeling misery, he wants other people to also enjoy the misery.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- October 4, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: He is more dangerous than Buddha. What is that big building?

Cyavana: They are building now a prison on the point there, a new prison. I tried to walk there one morning, and they stopped me because they are afraid someone may go in there and make some tunnel or some place where they can escape before they finish it.

Brahmānanda: It looks like a hotel.

Cyavana: Yes. It will be very luxurious.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) (break)

Devotee 2: ...Vyāsadeva and Nara-Nārāyaṇa, they are still in the Himalayas meditating, why don't they come and join our parties and help this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement by their...?

Room Conversation -- October 29, 1975, Nairobi:

Prabhupāda: This is right answer, that you cannot non-cooperate with the stomach. You must serve the stomach. Otherwise your position is very precarious. That is the answer. If the finger thinks that "I shall remain independent and be happy," that is not possible. The stomach must be supplied food, and then all the parts of the body, they'll be happy. That is the point. So you cannot non-cooperate with the stomach. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is the central enjoyer. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). He is the center. Just like ordinarily this African state, if you do not satisfy the state or the president, then you cannot remain happy. Independently you cannot be happy. We require in every step sta... We have come to this park because state is cooperating. In the morning we shall come, and they have prepared it nicely. We are not going to the jungle. So if we actually want happiness we must cooperate with the state. This is crude example. Similarly, if our ultimate aim is to become happy, then we must cooperate with Kṛṣṇa. This is obligatory. You cannot escape it. Then you'll be unhappy. This is the... Stomach. Pranopaharac ca yathendriyanam.

Morning Walk -- November 16, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Our plan is the best because before meeting such catastrophes, go back to home, back to Godhead. This is the best. They are seeing the catastrophe, but they have no way to escape. That is the difference between them and ourselves. Jaya. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. (break) ...said that "There is no need of God, but there is need of girl, of a girl." He said that. Then what is the difference between a scientist and a dog? The dog also does not know what is God, but another female dog he wants. Huh? What is the difference? Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). Then it is proved that he is no better than animal. The animal requires another opposite sex, but he does not know God. Then where is the difference? (break)

Morning Walk -- November 17, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: But there are several movements also. The movement of the earth, sun, and moon.

Prabhupāda: That means again escaping.

Dr. Patel: All harmonic motions...

Devotee (5): Many shooting stars...

Dr. Patel: Things should be thought scientifically.

Prabhupāda: What is the scientifically if you cannot say how many movements are there?

Dr. Patel: All the movements that the heavenly stars and other things are going on in a particular way.

Morning Walk -- December 12, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca, na vidur āsurāḥ (BG 16.7). In which way we have direct out activities, in which way we shall have to stop our activities: they do not know. Āsurāḥ janā. Because they don't take direction from God. They make their own way of speculation. So therefore, they are animals, or demons. Because they do not take direction during life, therefore at the end Kṛṣṇa comes, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). All mental speculation, creation, is taken away at death. (to passerby:) Hare Kṛṣṇa! It is said, kṛṣṇa nama koro vai ar sabe miche palaiba patha nāi yama āche piche: take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, don't try to escape. Because behind you there is Yamaraja! (laughs) He will finish your all concoction. Hare Kṛṣṇa! (end)

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 8, 1976, Nellore:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But then when it does it, what will you do?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: We'll try our best to escape it, but if there's...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We should try to make some provision now if possible.

Mahāṁsa: If the government wants to do that, you can't do anything.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But we are changing.... We are making our constitution look like a welfare society, so this way we may not fall under this.

Acyutānanda: We have to preach to them so that they understand the value of this movement.

Prabhupāda: (break) Europeans, they are coming here not for religion, but they are coming for the Kṛṣṇa culture. You have to make that. Religion they have already got, Christian. Why they should come?

Morning Walk -- April 8, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Just see, in all there are so many husbandless girls, and the children have not gone with the husbands, to the man. They are after the mother. How you'll have equal rights? They cannot. At this your heart will cry, "Oh, I have left my children, I am unhappy." That is... Just like our Hari-śauri's grandmother's advice to his mother to kill him. He said. And she refused. This is natural inclination. How... Artificially they are thinking like that, violating nature's law. Therefore they must suffer. As soon as you break ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate (BG 3.27). These rascals, on account of being misled by misconception of life, ahaṅkāra, false ahaṅkāra, kartāham, I can do everything. Any little pinch of nature's law, if you break, you'll suffer. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). You cannot escape. But still they're thinking, "We're independent." That is ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā, by false prestige, by false identification. He is (indistinct) and he's thinking so many nonsense. Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā. Everything will be explained in Bhagavad-gītā. So try to explain. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's order, yāre dekha, tāre kaha, 'kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128).' Bas, finished, "You become a guru."

Morning Walk -- April 17, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, no, everyone has to work for Kṛṣṇa. Just like a prisoner in the prison house. He is also working for government, but he is forced to do it. Then nobody can escape Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible.

Dr. Patel: Right, sir. But the scientist is not forced to do it. He freely does it.

Prabhupāda: No, anyone. Why scientist? Even cats and dogs, they are also doing for Kṛṣṇa. You cannot.... Nobody can say...

Dr. Patel: But scientist willingly does it to unearth the secret. Don't call him a rascal. The scientist does it.

Prabhupāda: No, I don't say. Kṛṣṇa says.

Room Conversation -- April 20, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He knows, "This dog's mentality of eating, sleeping, sex and defense is not my happiness. My real distress is that I do not want to die; I am being forced to die. So how to escape from this position?" That is happiness.

Mike Barron: Thank you.

Guru-kṛpā: Jaya Prabhupāda.

Mike Barron: Thank you very much.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break)

Morning Walk -- June 3, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. You promise no illicit sex, no, before God, before spiritual master, before fire, and you play hypocrisy. So māyā is not seeing that? How you can avoid? māyā is always there. Yac cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇām. You cannot escape the eyes of God in so many different agencies. And still He is personally sitting within your hearts. How you can escape? You may pretend to be a very great devotee, but the Person, Supreme, He is within yourself, He's seeing everything. No cheating with Him. Nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ. "Oh, I am chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, so even I do something wrong, it will be adjusted." Adjusted, when you are sincere, by chance you have done something. That can be adjusted. But not intentionally. As soon as there is intentional cheating, that you'll have to suffer the effect.

Garden Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, now just see how people are being misguided. Throughout the whole world, the education is for economic development. And here it is condemned that one should not waste his time for so-called economic development. Now our preaching is here, and who will accept it? They'll call us all crazy fellows. We are thinking they are crazy, they're wasting time for economic development, and they are thinking of us, that "These people are crazy, they are doing nothing, escaping." Escaping, do they not say like that?

Nalinīkaṇṭha: Yes.

Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: They do not want to work. Therefore they take advantage of Sunday. Inclination is not to work. But unfortunately that is not possible. If they do not work, they cannot eat. But if we say that "There is a place, without working you can eat, and for example come to us," they will not accept. Then they will say, "You are escaping. You are escaping." (laughs) If you work, that you don't like, and if somebody does not work, he's escaping.

Hari-śauri: Envy.

Prabhupāda: Just see. There is story like that. One saintly person was sitting, and some karmīs came, that: "You are escaping, you are not working." So he said, "Why shall I work?" "You'll get money." "So what shall I do with the money?" "Then you can live peacefully." "I am living peacefully. Why shall I work?" (laughs) So they want to earn money, keep a good bank balance, and at the end of the life they want to live very peacefully, without any working. But if somebody is living peacefully without working, they will criticize him. Envious. They will accuse him, "You are escaping." If the end is this, and I shall live peacefully without any work—I am doing that in my own standard—why you are bothering me?

Garden Conversation -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: The atheist will suffer. Just like anyone who is outlaw, does not believe in the government's law, he'll suffer. If somebody says, "I don't care for government laws," then he'll suffer. Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate (BG 3.27). He's a rascal. He may say so, like madman, that "I don't care for government and government laws," but naturally he'll be punished. He'll be put into jail and suffer. That he cannot check. He may, with empty words, he can say "I don't care for government," but does it mean that he can escape the government laws? That is not possible. Government will see that "Here is a lunatic rascal. Put him into the jail," that's all. Is it not? Is it not practical?

Devotee (1): He can say also that "What is the difference? You are also..., you have to farm..."

Room Conversation -- June 24, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa consciousness does not mean to keep a set of men lazy, who cannot work. That is not Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Everyone must work to his capacity. Prescribed duties. They accuse us that we are escaping. Huh? What is that? We do not escape. We are always busy.

Devotee: Recently I had an opportunity to see a (indistinct) farm community, and I was talking to one of the boys there about Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and they said "You are under Swami Prabhupāda." They said, "We have never seen Prabhupāda smile." I told them that "Yes, birth, death, disease, and old age are nothing to smile about."

Prabhupāda: There are so many pictures, smiling. (laughter)

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja says it is already fixed up. Sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā deha-yogena dehinām. This pleasure is the same, but according to the body... The uncivilized man in the jungle, they are having the same thing. And they are taking civilization that "Instead of living in that hut made of leaves, we are living in skyscraper building. This is advancement." But Vedic civilization says, "No. This is not advancement. The advancement is self-realization, how much you have realized yourself." Not that from the hutment you have come to skyscraper building, therefore it is advancement. Sometimes they misunderstand. In a high-court a judge is sitting soberly, doing nothing, and he is getting the highest salary. And another man in the same court, he's working day and hard rubber-stamping and he is getting not even one tenth of the salary. He's thinking, "I am so busy and working so hard. I am not getting any good salary. And this man is sitting only on the bench and he's getting so fat salary." So therefore this is question like that. The Vedic civilization is for self-realization. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido (SB 1.5.18). Kovido means very learned. He'll simply try for that thing which was not received, which was not achieved in other life. That means self-realization. Just like we are sometimes charged, "escape." What is the charge?

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Devotee: We are escaping from reality.

Prabhupāda: There is the question. (devotees laugh) but their reality is dog's race, and our reality is to advance in self-realization, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is difference. Therefore karmīs have been described as mūḍha, asses. Asses. And asses, why the example is given to the asses? Because the ass works very hard. It loads on the back tons of cloth of the washerman, and the washerman in return gives him little morsel of grass, and he stands at the door of the washerman, eats the grass, again loading. But he has no sense that "If I go out of these clutches of washerman I can get grass anywhere. Why I am loading so much?" The karmīs are like that. They're busy in the office, very busy. If you want to see him, "I am very busy now." (laughter) So what is your result of busy? "Now, I take two pieces of toast and one cup of tea. That's all." (laughter) And for this purpose you are so busy? He does not know why he's busy. Because in the books he's finding, "Now, the balance was one thousand million dollars, now it has become two thousand," that his satisfaction. But he will eat two pieces of bread and one cup of tea.

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: There is the question. (devotees laugh) but their reality is dog's race, and our reality is to advance in self-realization, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is difference. Therefore karmīs have been described as mūḍha, asses. Asses. And asses, why the example is given to the asses? Because the ass works very hard. It loads on the back tons of cloth of the washerman, and the washerman in return gives him little morsel of grass, and he stands at the door of the washerman, eats the grass, again loading. But he has no sense that "If I go out of these clutches of washerman I can get grass anywhere. Why I am loading so much?" The karmīs are like that. They're busy in the office, very busy. If you want to see him, "I am very busy now." (laughter) So what is your result of busy? "Now, I take two pieces of toast and one cup of tea. That's all." (laughter) And for this purpose you are so busy? He does not know why he's busy. Because in the books he's finding, "Now, the balance was one thousand million dollars, now it has become two thousand," that his satisfaction. But he will eat two pieces of bread and one cup of tea. When it was one million dollars, when it was two million dollars. But still he'll work hard. This is called karmī. Asses. Work like asses, without any aim of life. This is asses. Mūḍha. But Vedic civilization is different. The accusation is not correct. They are not lazy. They are busy for higher subject matter. And that busy-ness is so important that Prahlāda Mahārāja says, "Beginning from the childhood," kaumāra ācaret prājño (SB 7.6.1). Not lose a second time. So that is Vedic civilization. But these asses, they do not see that "These men are working like us, like dogs and asses. So they are escaping." Yes, escaping your fruitless endeavor.

Evening Darsana -- July 7, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Bill Sauer: ...in theses that we..., nature tolerates us. We are part of the tree of life, this is the tree of the animal kingdom. And since there is no way that the animal or plant can escape this planet in the body form, but we are here to support this new tree, the tree of technology, the tree of the fourth kingdom, which started out as the animals lived very simply and became more complex until we finally developed a means to launch the seeds of our civilization from this planet to others. We are a special creature which has been given special brain power, special power, which we have abused many times, by the way. But special power in order to create space arks to take, not just humanity, but really an ark of the totality of life to another planet, to, hopefully, hundreds of planets. Because sooner or later this planet will be destroyed by the sun.

Prabhupāda: Other planets also will be destroyed.

Bill Sauer: Pardon?

Prabhupāda: Other planets also will be destroyed.

Room Conversation -- July 7, 1976, Baltimore:

Prabhupāda: No, that is everywhere. But expectation, he is educated, he'll be able. The first thing is in due time, either the girl or the boy must be married, that is Indian system. In due time. Boy not exceeding twenty years or twenty-five years, at most, and girl not exceeding fifteen years, sixteen years, must be. Saṁskāra, this is one of the saṁskāras. Just like garbhādhāna-saṁskāra, this is also one saṁskāra, and marriage is also saṁskāra. Must be married. Daśa-vidha-saṁskāra, ten kinds of saṁskāras, out of which marriage is one of the saṁskāras. And kanyā-dāya. Kanyā-dāya, dāya means by law the father is bound to get his daughter married, by law. He cannot escape the responsibility. This is father's duty.

Room Conversation -- July 7, 1976, Baltimore:

Rūpānuga: You gave the example that if sometimes the man becomes bankrupt he goes to court and the judge says, "You must take this money you have left to your creditors and be satisfied," and he can escape in that way. But the one duty that a father has is getting the daughter married; that he cannot escape.

Prabhupāda: No, therefore it is called dāya, dāya-bhāk, legally he is bound. He may not get his son married, but the daughter must be married. This is father's duty.

Rūpānuga: It is sinful, actually considered sinful, if he doesn't do that.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because without father the daughter cannot be properly married. Daughter or son, everyone, if the father, mother, by their supervision, the boys and girls get married, that is very good. They see how they will be happy. And without father, mother, simply by lusty desires, that selection may be wrong and that becomes actually happened. Therefore there is divorce.

Room Conversation -- August 2, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa has given us many nice places. People can live very comfortably. There will be no scarcity. Cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness very seriously. That is wanted. Therefore in this old age I am struggling so much to see that things are going on nicely. So far I have seen, it is going on nice. But maybe the management is lacking. It may be the māyā is very strong. So be careful. All, you are all old students, and try to organize more and more solidly. The children should be taken, you can give lectures to the mothers, that children should be taken care of. They are future hopes. Child is the father of man. They say that we escape. What we are escaping? We have got all types of social society. There is gṛhastha, there is sannyāsī, there is brahmacārī. Whichever position is suitable, you accept and keep yourself sincere, that's all. Unnatural there is nothing. Is there anything unnatural? And if they think that we're prohibiting this meat-eating, this is unnatural, that we cannot. That is not unnatural, that is natural.

Evening Darsana -- August 11, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Wherefrom this kāma came? Kṛṣṇa answers that. Mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate. What is that? Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanam (BG 15.15). Kṛṣṇa is situated in both the boy's and the girl's heart. So Kṛṣṇa is giving, "You wanted to enjoy, now here is opportunity, you take it." Then Kṛṣṇa becomes cause. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam. "You wanted, you have got, here is. You wanted a young boy-here is." Mattaḥ smṛtiḥ. Therefore He's sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1).

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
(Bs. 5.1)

So even if you say kim anyat kāma-haitukam, still you have to accept God. There is no escape.

Evening Darsana -- August 11, 1976, Tehran:

Guest: No, we had only one war. That was about sixty, seventy years ago, and they entered and they captured Kabul, but the whole brigade was stopped. This was the time Churchill was the only one who escaped troops, and that was the end of it. They never... It was too risky for them.

Prabhupāda: This Afghanistan, when they were Hindus, this Kandahar, the King of Kandahar, his daughter was married to the Pāṇḍavas. Gāndhārī. Gāndhārī(?)...

Guest: That's right.

Prabhupāda: Gāndhārī was the daughter of Kandahar king. Kandahar is still there?

Guest: Yes, well, there are quite a number of Hindus in Kandahar.

Prabhupāda: There are Hindus?

Evening Darsana -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Not convenient, foolishness. A rabbit, when there is some big animals, he closes his eyes. He thinks, "There is no danger." That does not mean he's out of danger. He'll be eaten up. So simply by concocting that there is no life after death, you'll not be escaped. In Bhagavad-gītā informs, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. There is no need of studying any literature, Vedic literature. Dehāntara-prāptiḥ, Kṛṣṇa is giving evidence. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). This dehāntara-prāptiḥ, I was not this body in the beginning, I was a very jubilant child like this. Where is that body? That body is not existing. It is different body, dehāntara-prāptiḥ. So why they do not believe dehāntara-prāptiḥ? I am the same soul who possessed a child's body, young man's body, boy's body. Now I have got the old man's body. So dehāntara is there, and I am still. I remember, I was a child, I was lying down on the lap of my elder sister.

Room Conversation with Dr. Theodore Kneupper -- November 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Dr. Kneupper: Is it possible to escape the conditions of being in the body?

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is possible. That is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. And that is the real problem. As soon as you get a body, you are in trouble.

Dr. Kneupper: What is the purpose of there being a body?

Prabhupāda: Being in body means... What is the purpose of being in the jail? Is there any purpose?

Dr. Kneupper: Some punishment.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So because we are punished, therefore we are getting this body.

Dr. Kneupper: Why does man... Why does the soul come into the body in the first place?

Prabhupāda: Punishment.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 7, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. What he will do, more payment? (?) Then he will kill. This sex life in this material world is so strong, even in the heavenly planets. Big, big ṛṣis. Sex life with animals also there is... Sex life is so strong. Man cohabiting with animal. It makes blind. Vyāsadeva made one of her (his) students pregnant, what to speak of ourselves. Vyāsadeva was born, Satyavatī. She was low class. Although she was born by a king, but her mother was a low-class fisherwoman. And the fisherman raised her as daughter. And Parāśara Muni became attracted. And Vyāsadeva was born. Sex affairs, just see, in the highest circle. Bṛhaspati, the spiritual master of the devatās, he became so much mad for his brother's wife who was pregnant, and forcibly they had sex. Just see. These are examples. Brahmā became attracted with his daughter. Lord Śiva became attracted with the beauty of Mohinī-mūrti, even in the presence of his wife. So this sex life can be controlled only by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. Otherwise there is no... The Bhāgavata has discussed all this because in this material world there is no escape unless we become Kṛṣṇa conscious, from the sex impulse. It is not possible.

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Rāmeśvara: Yes. Then the professor and the head of the Department of Bengali and the dean of the faculty of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Calcutta says, "The world, tormented by psychic troubles like avarice, hate, and other baser qualities of the mind, will never escape from utter annihilation of the soul unless it finds refuge in His Divine Grace. I have particularly read some portions of this English translation of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and I think this book is capable of saving mankind from the clutches of māyā. I have no doubt that the ISKCON will lead the world to the path of divine grace."

Gargamuni: He's a very big scholar, too. He's a Ph.D.

Prabhupāda: No, all of them Ph.D.'s. All...

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- January 30, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: So the crocodile, they do not eat the rats?

Pradyumna: There are all kinds of many living entities there in the sewers of New York. In all sewers in big Western cities. There's once... There's a very famous French novel, and it describes how a prisoner was escaping from troops, so he went in the sewer. And in the sewer there was all kinds of so many things. Once an article about New York sewers...

Prabhupāda: They can live in that nasty water?

Hari-śauri: It's warm. The reason why they're down there is because the sewers are always very warm. So it's very conducive for the alligators. So they grow very big.

Prabhupāda: And what they eat?

Hari-śauri: Rodents. Rats and different things.

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Then what can be done?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They got permission from the court for conservatorship.

Ādi-keśava: But two of the devotees have already escaped.

Prabhupāda: If it is legal, what can I say?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, that's... This is their new tactic now. This is their new tactic, that they're getting the court permission.

Prabhupāda: Then Americans' liberty is gone.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's why the lawyers and others are very alarmed, the intellectuals, 'cause they're seeing it is becoming like Russia.

Room Conversation -- April 5, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All the airports now they are making special security, especially to check any politicians who might try to escape the country, due to being investigated.

Guest (1): Their passports are also taken away. That's what I have heard.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They were, in themselves, the most exalted, and now they are treated as criminals.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: In the Times of India you saw that starlight or side light or something, about Indira Gandhi. In today's paper, Indira Gandhi had gone to a ten-day function at one of the African embassies. She went with her daughter-in-law, and nobody even noticed her. Only fifteen minutes after she left the function did the host realize that Indira Gandhi had come. She went to a party, she stayed there, and she left and the host did not know that "Indira Gandhi is here." That shows how material nature changes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It also shows that actually she had no value, because one who is actually great doesn't lose his value simply by losing an election.

Prabhupāda: Vidvān sarvatra pūjyate. Vidvatāṁ ca nṛpatyāṁ ca naiva tulyaṁ kadācana.(?) She is not a learned man. She occupied the royal seat. That honor was so long there, the royal seat. And who will be honor her?

Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- June 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: There's a very interesting remark by one of the Nobel Prize-winning chemists. His name is St. Georgi(?). He got Nobel Prize for discovering Vitamin C. And he said he was looking for life for last twenty years or so, but, he said, he wound up with the electrons and protons, which don't have any life. He said, somehow life has escaped through his fingers.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yeah, he says that.

Prabhupāda: That life has escaped and life is required.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, that means they couldn't find life.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) Life comes from life, and the supreme life, Supreme Being, is God. That is Kṛṣṇa.

Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- June 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That scientist said life slipped away from his...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, somehow life escaped from his fingers. So that's a proper word. I'm quoting his word, using it as an authentic quote from them. We also use some words which will be not so favorable when they read these things, our things. We're also trying to criticize them, that they are...

Prabhupāda: That do.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...intellectually dishonest, try to propagate a false knowledge in the name of scientific knowledge.

Prabhupāda: That moon hoax.

Letter from Yugoslavia--'Books!' -- June 30, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Right, Śrīla Prabhupāda. "Lord Caitanya did not let them escape, so He..."

Prabhupāda: Our books are sold not for philosophical speculation but practical solution of the problems. The philosophical classes are now being closed everywhere.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, that's a fact.

Prabhupāda: The professors are starving. No students are interested in philosophy. Rather, they take admission in the technological class.

Letter from Yugoslavia--'Books!' -- June 30, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Should I go on reading, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Hm. Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Seeing that the... Lord Caitanya did not let them escape so easily, seeing that the books would be very interesting, he requested both standing orders and several small books. Before leaving the city, I went to two international book shops. One book shop bought several books, and the other shop, an enterprise, wanted to translate two of your books into Yugoslavian language."

Prabhupāda: Eh? What is that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "One bookshop bought several books, and the other shop, an enterprise, wanted to translate two of your books into Yugoslavian language."

Room Conversation about Mayapura Attack Talk with Vrindavan De -- July 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Restrict, that instead of myself, he has to restrict: "Do this way."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Including go to the court. This boy writes further. He says, "They claimed I was brainwashed by Śrīla Prabhupāda and the devotees, and they were here to get me to think for myself again. They kept me up for ten hours at a time for so-called deprogramming, just blaspheming Śrīla Prabhupāda and Kṛṣṇa and telling lie after lie. Finally they let me go to sleep, and in the morning it was time for more blaspheming and lies. But by Kṛṣṇa's mercy I was able to escape out the front door of the house," he says, "which was unguarded. I ran down my block barefoot and was able to get to my friend's house. I told him the story. He gave me enough money to get to a nearby temple. There I served Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and had the association of my Godbrothers, who are most dear to me.

Room Conversation -- October 24, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Light? (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "...miserable condition. Without your mercy there is no possibility of escaping the degrading influence of this Kali-yuga. Most merciful lord and master of the devotees, we have no shelter other than your lotus feet. By Kṛṣṇa's grace the most wonderful Janmāṣṭamī celebration was held at the Cato Ridge farm āśrama in South Africa. The celebration included the opening of a new temple and prasādam facility." He sent a lot of pictures, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Amazing pictures.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Page Title:Escape (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:25 of Feb, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=75, Let=0
No. of Quotes:75