Familiar (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"familiar" |"familiarize"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Nairobi, October 27, 1975:

Devotee (3): Śrīla Prabhupāda, when we are preaching to Christian people or to Muslim people, is there advantage in being familiar with their scriptures or simply Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam?

Prabhupāda: We are not preaching to Christian or Hindu or Muslim. We are preaching to human being. We do not see, "Here is a Christian. Here is a Muslim. Here is a Hindu. Here is a white man. Here is a black man." No. Every living being, his duty is to understand God. This is our preaching. This is our preaching, that "You are living being. You are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. This designation, that 'You are Hindu,' 'You are Muslim,' 'You are Christian,' 'You are this'—these are all designations. Actually you are living being, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore your main duty is to understand Kṛṣṇa." This is our preaching. We are not going to convert Hindu into Muslim, Muslim into Christian. No, that is not our... That is not our business. He may think that he is Christian, he is Hindu, he is Muslim, but we think that he is a spirit soul, part and parcel of God. That is stated in the...

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne

brāhmaṇe gavi hastini

śuni caiva śva-pāke ca

paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ

(BG 5.18)

If one is learned paṇḍita, he does not see Hindu, Muslim, Christian. I went to America, I did not go there to turn the Christian to become Hindu. No, I never said that. Did I say, any, anyone, that "You are Christian. You become a Hindu"? No, never I said. That is not my business.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Calcutta, September 27, 1974:

When Brahmā was asked by Hiraṇyakaśipu, "Give me immortality, sir," he said, "I am myself not immortal. How can I give you immortality?" So ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16). Kṛṣṇa advised Arjuna, "My dear Arjuna, you, if you go to the Brahmaloka, many millions of years duration of life, still, you have to die."

So that is the standard of highest perfection. If you do not die, if you do not take birth... If you know what are the miserable conditions of birth, to remain within the womb of the mother... Not only to remain. Nowadays, modern advanced civilization, they are being killed by the mother. Not only abortion, but they are being killed. Now the Western world is very familiar with these things. So just imagine.

Lecture on SB 3.26.26 -- Bombay, January 3, 1975:

We know everything of Vāsudeva. Hare Kṛṣṇa, oh, this is... What you can teach? We know everything." This is the Indian disease. Because familiarity breeds contempt. Because Indians are familiar with the name of Vāsudeva, with the name of Hare Kṛṣṇa, they think... Just like in European and American cities these boys and girls, they go for saṅkīrtana, and the Indian people, they say, "Oh, we know everything about it. We have now come here to learn how to eat meat, how to drink wine." You see? This is the condition. Bhaja vāsudevam—this is not very much appealing. But this is the only way to become out of entanglement. Otherwise, this śānta-ghora-vimūḍhatvam iti vā syād ahaṅkṛteḥ. We shall always remain in this false ego that "I am this body. I am of this material world," no information of the spiritual world.

Festival Lectures

Six Gosvamis Lecture, Sri Sri Sad-govamy-astaka -- Los Angeles, November 18, 1968:

Woman: Is there anyone similar to Joan of Arc in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam?

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Woman: Are you familiar with Joan of Arc? She was a saint.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Woman: Is there any person in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam similar to her?

Prabhupāda: You want to see Joan of Arc in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam? Why don't you take Joan of Arc of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam? Any activities of devotees, that is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. What do you mean by Bhāgavatam? Bhāgavatam, Bhāgavatam, Bhāgav, this word comes from Bhagavān. Bhāgavata, Bhāgavad-śabda. The word is Bhāgavata. And pertaining to Bhāgavata is Bhāgavata. So Bhāgavata can be expanded to any unlimited. So anything in relationship with God, that is Bhāgavatam. So if Joan of Arc, she was in relationship with God, she is also Bhāgavatam. You should expand Bhāgavatam in that way.