Ghost (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"ghost" |"ghostlike" |"ghostly" |"ghosts"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 1.15 -- London, July 15, 1973:

So in our younger days, the Professor, Dr. W.S. Urquhart. So I heard his lecture, that he did not believe in the karmas. He said that "If I am suffering or enjoying for my last karma, who is the witness? Because some witness must be there that I have done this." But at that time we were not very expert. But this Hṛṣīkeśa is the witness, anumantā upadraṣṭā. Upadraṣṭā. He is simply seeing. So the Christians, they have no Paramātmā idea. Sometimes they say holy ghost. Means a clear idea. But this Hṛṣīkeśa is clear idea. Hṛṣīkeśa. Hṛṣīka-īśa.

Lecture on BG 1.32-35 -- London, July 25, 1973:

So when we are under the influence of ignorance, jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti, then our behavior and activities becomes very abominable, very, very much abominable. Especially in this Kali-yuga, it is stated that people will have no fixed time for eating or sleeping or taking bath. In this way their bodily features will be like ghost.

Lecture on BG 1.37-39 -- London, July 27, 1973:

The Sanskrit word for son, putra means that the son is expected to deliver the forefathers from the hellish condition of life. Sometimes due to our sinful activities, we become ghost. That is very hellish condition. So when śraddhā is offered by the putra..., who will offer? The putra will offer. That is the duty. Then he gets again material body. These are the subtle laws.

Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:

After death according to Vedic regulations, piṇḍa-udaka, piṇḍa, offering Viṣṇu prasāda and water at least once in a year it is required by the family members. And according to Vedic culture, there is one month fixed up in a year when all people will offer piṇḍa and udaka to the forefathers. Tarpana, tarpana. Week or fortnight, for one fortnight. So the idea is that if the forefather in the family has not achieved a proper life... Sometimes due to sinful activities, too much attachment, a man becomes ghost. Ghost, there is ghosts. Bhūta preta piśāca. Not only this life, demonic life, but after death also, there are ghostly lives. They do not get this gross body.

Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:

So on account of one's severe sinful life, he does not get this gross body. Therefore the lupta-piṇḍodaka-kriyā (BG 1.41). Taking for granted that some of my forefathers have become ghostly life and has not got the gross body, so by this piṇḍodaka... Piṇḍa means offering prasāda of Viṣṇu prasāda. Still in India there is a place Gayā. There is Viṣṇu temple, and it is a custom all Hindus... Nowadays, they do not go. They do not believe even. They have given up everything. Due to unwanted children, they don't care for it, what is family, what is piṇḍa-udaka. Simply eat, drink, be merry, and enjoy, that's all.

Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:

In Calcutta, there was a big scientist. His name was Sarpisirat. He was speaking in a, he was atheist number one, he was speaking that: "This piṇḍodaka, by offering piṇḍa, prasāda and water, it will go to my forefather. So just give me to eat downstairs whether I can eat upstairs?" This reasoning. But he does not know that how much there are different types of eating. They do not know there is eating in the subtle body also. The ghosts also, they eat. But the method is different. So even a big scientist speak like that, then how the ordinary people...?

Lecture on BG 2.1 -- Ahmedabad, December 7, 1972:

In this material world, we are so much attached to this bodily relationship that it is to be considered just like we are ghostly haunted.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, December 12, 1976:

This Māyāvādī theory that after liberation we shall all become one with God, that is not mentioned here. This is bogus theory. Real, that we remain individual. So long we are not in a position to act means so long... Just like ghost. Ghost is also individual. But because the ghost does not get this material body they are invisible. They create disturbance for want of this body. Those who have got experience of ghost in some house, the ghost is there, he is individual soul, but because he hasn't got this material covering, that is a punishment.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, December 12, 1976:

If I want to touch you I require hand, and through hand I'll feel the pleasure of touching you. So the ghost wants to touch, but he hasn't got the instrument. That is ghost. But there are ghost. It is not fictitious. It is a fact. Ghost means without this material body.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, December 12, 1976:

So so long we are materially contaminated, we require this material body for enjoying senses. And the spiritual world, we get our spiritual body developed. So there is no question of becoming ghost or... Individual, there is. The person is always existing. That is the purport of this verse.

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- Germany, June 21, 1974:

The foolish men, they cannot understand that "I am compact in some body, either subtle body or gross body." One who is too sinful, very much sinful, he does not get the gross body. He remains in the subtle body, and that is called ghost. You have heard. Some of you might have seen. There is ghost. Ghost means he doesn't get. He is so sinful that he is condemned to remain in the subtle body. He does not get the gross body. Therefore, according to Vedic system, there is śrāddha ceremony. If the father or relative has not gotten the gross body, by that ceremony he is allowed to accept a gross body. That is the Vedic system.

Lecture on BG 2.27-38 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1968:

Every man in the material concept of life is a madman because he does not know his identification. Therefore he's a madman. Piśācī pāile yena mati-cchana haya. Just like a ghostly-haunted man. His father is standing before him and he's calling the father by ill names, because he's ghostly-haunted. Similarly, a living entity who is entrapped by this material energy, illusion, he's a madman. And the whole treatment is to get out of this disease of madness, misidentification, misconception of life.

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

Knowingly, purposefully, I am drinking poison. Poison. Why poison? Wasting time of this valuable human form of life is drinking poison. Just like a man drinks poison. He does not know what is his next life. He's going to become a ghost. For years together, he'll not have this material body as punishment. You have seen? Gaurasundara has written one ghost article in our Back to Godhead. In England, that ghost who fought with Cromwell? There is still fighting. At night, there is sound of fighting going on.

Lecture on BG 4.12-13 -- New York, July 29, 1966:

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."

Lecture on BG 4.21 -- Bombay, April 10, 1974:

When a man is haunted by ghosts, as he speaks all nonsense, he cannot recognize his father, mother or relative.... Sometimes he calls them by ill names. On account of being ghostly haunted. Piśācī pāile. Similarly, in the conditioned state, under the influence of māyā, we are also talking so many nonsense things, "I belong to this family, I belong to this nation, I belong to this community, my business is this," simply forgetting Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on BG 6.40-42 -- New York, September 16, 1966:

The soul goes to another body and we foolishly worship the dead body, which is useless. This is called bhūtejyā. In Sanskrit language it is called bhūtejyā. Ghost worship. Yānti bhūtāni bhūtejyā. So this is only sentiment. But because all the name, fame, assets materially gained, it ends with that body, it remains with that body. Now you have to begin another body according to your own karma. But the spiritual effect which you acquire, that goes with you. Because you are spirit, it goes with the spirit.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Fiji, May 24, 1975:

The Absolute Truth is realized in three features, Brahman, beginning from Brahman, then Paramātmā, Supersoul. I think in Christian world they call holy ghost. Anyway, Paramātmā, the Supersoul. And ultimately the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. That is the statement of the śāstra. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28).

Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Calcutta, March 8, 1972:

And when a person is ghostly haunted, as he talks all kinds of nonsense, similarly, one who has come under the grip of this material nature, māyā-grasta ye, he's talking all nonsense, all nonsense. All these politicking, all politics, sociology, everything, without reference to the salvation of soul, or self-realization, without knowing our spiritual position, they're all nonsense talks.

Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Calcutta, March 8, 1972:

Just like foolish person suffering from some disease, he wants to kill himself, sometimes commit suicide, because he does not know that after suicide, the policy, there is no stoppage; he will have to become a ghost because you have disobeyed. God has given you certain type of body. You have to stay in that body for certain period. That is obedience to God. If you untimely kill this body, then it is sinful.

Lecture on BG 13.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:

Sometimes we become ghost. If we become too much attached, we cannot leave. Therefore too much opulent apartment, opulent life, is not very good for spiritual advancement because we get too much attached to it. My Guru Mahārāja used to advise us that "It is better to live in rented house than to possess own house." Why? Because if we possess our own house, we'll be more attached.

Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Hawaii, February 3, 1975:

It is practically experienced. I know that the ghost, if you go in a house ghostly haunted, if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, they'll go away. They cannot tolerate. In my life there was several incidences like that. In my household life, I was doing business in Lucknow. So there was one house, very big house, worth thousands of rupees' rent, but it was ghostly haunted. So nobody would take that house. I took it at two hundred rupees, (laughter) and very big house. And I was... All the servants, they complained, "Sir, there is ghost." So I was chanting. He was living in several spots, especially on the gate side. So I could understand, but I would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and I was saved.

Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Hawaii, February 3, 1975:

And, say, in 1969 I was guest in the house of John Lennon in London. So there was a ghost in... It was a big plot. There was a guest house. So they complained, "Sir, here is ghost." So I advised them to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and the ghost went away. Yes. This is fact. When there is Hare Kṛṣṇa chanting, these ghostly, demonic living entities, they'll not be able to stay there. They'll go away.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.5.24 -- Vrndavana, August 5, 1975:

Śrāddha ceremony means to offer foodstuff to Viṣṇu, and with the prasādam, to the forefathers or father it is offered so that by eating prasādam, if he is in ghost life or in hellish life, he'll be delivered. This is called śrāddha.

Lecture on SB 1.8.47 -- Mayapura, October 27, 1974:

This morning I was reading the statement of a fisherman who caught Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His trance, and by touching Caitanya Mahāprabhu he became spiritually ecstatic, but he thought that he has become ghostly haunted: "Here is a ghost." And he was thinking, "I am ghostly haunted, so if I become mad, who will take care of my wife and children?" This is the position. The fisherman was actually, spiritually, by the grace of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, simply by touching Him, he was so much spiritually advanced that he was chanting, dancing, crying—means all the symptoms of spiritual ecstatic transformation was visible in his body—but he thought that he had gone mad on account of touching the body, ghost. He was thinking like that.

Lecture on SB 1.16.24 -- Hawaii, January 20, 1974:

Just like a person, when he's ghostly haunted, he calls his father by ill names, but he cannot recognize even his father. So all of us, we are already under the clutches of māyā. That is the position of intoxication.

Lecture on SB 2.1.4 -- Delhi, November 7, 1973:

Ghostly haunted, every one of us. This māyā-grasta, one who is under the influence of this material energy, just like, exactly like a man who is ghostly haunted. Ghostly haunted. Perhaps some of you have seen a man ghostly haunted. He talks all nonsense. Similarly, the māyā-grasta jīva, those who are in this material-too much absorbed in the bodily concept of life, without any self-realization... Everyone is thinking like madman, that "These things will give me protection." Because he has become mad, pramatta. Pramatta. Teṣāṁ pramatto nidhanam. You are fighting with soldiers. That's all right. But if you know, "All my soldiers will die," then what is the use of your fighting?

Lecture on SB 2.3.2-3 -- Los Angeles, May 20, 1972:

You have got your coat, and within the coat there is shirt, and within the shirt, you are. This is gross example. Similarly, we have got this gross body and when the gross body is finished, then I keep myself in this mental body. That is called ghostly body. The ghostly body means one who is living in the subtle body. Ghost is a fact; it is not fictitious. So the subtle body carries me to another gross body. That is called transmigration of the soul.

Lecture on SB 2.4.2 -- Los Angeles, June 25, 1972:

Living entity is eternal. He thinks that "By killing this body, I am free from this bodily miserable condition of life." No. He's immediately..., either he has to accept a next abominable body or he'll have to become a ghost. One who commits suicide. Ghost means no material gross life, but the mental, material subtle life is there. A ghost is carried by the subtle body: mind, intelligence and false ego.

Lecture on SB 2.9.7 -- Tokyo, April 24, 1972:

Just like in Christian philosophy, they say, "The father and the son, the same." Is it not? Yes. So similarly, here the father and son, or the spiritual master and God, they are same, but at the same time not same. It is simultaneous. This is called acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, simultaneously one and different. I think the Christian philosophy is like that. Christ, son, and God, Holy Ghost—they are simultaneously one and different? Is that? So that is the position.

Lecture on SB 3.26.6 -- Bombay, December 18, 1974:

Piśācī, ghost, witch. There is some haunting of ghost, and when a man is ghostly haunted, he speaks so many nonsense. Māyā-grasta. Piśācī pāile yena mati-cchanna haya. Similarly, under the spell of māyā we defy everything, "Where is God? Can you show me God?"

Lecture on SB 3.26.27 -- Bombay, January 4, 1975:

By finishing this body he is finished—no, that is not possible. The result is, because he violated the rules of nature, he becomes a ghost. That is his life. One who commits suicide, he becomes a ghost. Ghost means he does not get this material body. He remains in the subtle body, mind, intelligence. Therefore ghost can go because he is in the mind. Mind speed is very strong. If you have got this material body, you cannot go immediately hundred miles off. But if you are in the mental body, you can go immediately, thousand miles immediately, within a second. So the ghost, they can play something wonderful because... But they are not happy because they have no gross body. They want to enjoy. He's materialist. He has committed suicide for some material want. So he is want of material..., fulfilling material desire. He could not fulfill in this body; therefore commits suicide, but the desire is there. The desire is there, and he cannot fulfill it. He becomes perplexed. Therefore the ghost create disturbance sometimes.

Lecture on SB 5.5.21-22 -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1976:

We have heard, some of them, about the ghost. They have no material body. The advantage of material body... (break) ...they are covered with mind, intelligence, and ego, but their gross body—earth, water, air, fire—that is not there. So one king, he also rejected the material body and remained, Videha. Videha king. So one can remain like that, without this gross body and subtle body, material.

Lecture on SB 5.5.21-22 -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1976:

But in the material world, when one is not covered by the gross body but subtle body, they are called ghosts or pramathās. Those who are good, not harmful, they are called pramathās. And those who are harmful... As in this material world there are good men and bad men, similarly, amongst the persons who has no this gross body, they are sometimes called ghosts and sometimes they are called pramathā.

Lecture on SB 5.5.29 -- Vrndavana, November 16, 1976:

So there are two classes of men. One is foolish rascal, no education. He is called also nirgranthā, and another person who has no connection with this material world, he is also nirgranthā. So here the sign of Ṛṣabhadeva, He became just like a madman, a deaf and dumb, a rascal, a fool, a ghost. But He is not madman. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Lecture on SB 6.1.1 -- Melbourne, May 21, 1975:

Madhudviṣa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? How does one become free from that ghostly body?

Prabhupāda: Ghostly body means he has to suffer for some time. Just like you are put into prison. After your term is finished, then you are liberated. Similarly, a most sinful man, he is given this term, "You remain for some years in the subtle body." Everything is like that. This is also. We have got this body, gross body, under certain condition. When that condition is finished, then I give up this body, I create another condition, and I enter another body. This is going on. Yes?

Lecture on SB 6.1.6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1970:

This material world means it is a place where māyā is predominant. Māyā is predominant means the forgetfulness of God is predominant. Māyā means nothing. Māyā is not a ghost. Māyā is a condition of consciousness. That's all. When you forget God, or Kṛṣṇa, that is called māyā. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is very nicely explained in the Seventh Chapter that daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā: (BG 7.14) "The influence of māyā is so strong that it is very difficult to surmount."

Lecture on SB 6.1.56-62 -- Surat, January 3, 1971, at Adubhai Patel's House:

What is putra-piṇḍa? Caitanya Mahāprabhu also showed us the example. He went to Gayā Pradesh to offer piṇḍa for his forefathers. This is necessary still. In Gayā there is Viṣṇu temple, and in the Viṣṇu temple the oblation is offered at the lotus feet of the... There are many practical cases that one's father or mother became ghost after death, and after offering oblations at the lotus feet of Viṣṇu at Gayā, he was delivered. There are many cases.

Lecture on SB 6.1.63 -- Vrndavana, August 30, 1975:

Graha-grasto means ghostly haunted or influenced by bad star, graha-grasto. Sometimes we become... We are always graha-grasto in this material world. It is said by some Vaiṣṇava poet, piśāci pāile yena mati-cchana haya māyār graṣṭa jīvera sei dāsa upajaya. Piśāci, ghostly haunted or inspired by the witches, when one becomes so, mati-cchana, he becomes bewildered and his intelligence becomes scattered.

Lecture on SB 6.1.63 -- Vrndavana, August 30, 1975:

Just like when we are haunted by ghost—a ghost captures, then vicetasaḥ, we are lost, lost of our our consciousness, our intelligence—he became like that. Tām eva manasā dhyāyan. Then, instead of meditating on Kṛṣṇa, he began to meditate on the lusty affairs of the śūdra and the śūdrāṇī.

Lecture on SB 7.7.32-35 -- San Francisco, March 17, 1967, (incomplete lecture):

Just like one man is haunted by ghost. He shows different caricatures. Sometimes he laughs; sometimes he cries; sometimes he is falldown; sometimes he touches your feet. These are the symptoms.

Lecture on SB 7.9.9 -- Montreal, July 4, 1968:

But actually, the living entity is eternal. Just like a rascal or foolish man thinks that "I am suffering so much. Let me commit suicide, and it will be a great relief." It is foolishness. He will be put into further torture after this life. He will become a ghost. So because they do not know that living creature is eternal, therefore they want to make the ultimate solution as void, zero. But it cannot be zero. It is not possible, because you are eternal. Therefore you have to cure. And that curing process is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 7, 1973:

Pradyumna: Fear.

Prabhupāda: Fear. Suppose if you find a tiger or a something ghostly, you become afraid. That is also rasa.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 10, 1973:

So these rascal think if I suicide, if I commit suicide, and just have a knife on my throat, then all my pains and pleasures are finished. No, that is not... He will be put into more pains and pleasure. Sometimes we'll have to accept, why accept, it is certain, the ghostly body. Because Kṛṣṇa has given you, or māyā has given, māyā has given under the direction of Kṛṣṇa, a certain type of body for enjoying for a certain span of life, you cannot finish it. If you disregard it, then, if you commit suicide, the result will be that you will not be allowed to accept another material body. You will have to remain in that subtle body. That is ghost.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 10, 1973:

Ghostly life means one who has misused this life, this body, and by his whims he has killed this body. He becomes ghost. That means he will have to suffer for so many day, then he'll get another material body.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 10, 1973:

Because without this gross body, the ghostly body is very troublesome, because he wants to enjoy something, but he has no instrument to enjoy. Therefore he creates, the ghost creates trouble. Sometimes captures some body to fulfill his desires, and the man becomes ghostly haunted. There are so many subtle sciences. What do they know, these so-called scientists?

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 13, 1972:

We, those who are materialistic persons, we are mad after sense gratification. Exactly like a person who is ghostly haunted, he speaks all sorts of nonsense, similarly, in our material condition we speak simply all nonsense. Unless we engage our tongue in the talking of kṛṣṇa-kathā... Vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇanuvarṇane. Unless we engage our tongue in describing about the glories of Vaikuṇṭha—Vaikuṇṭha means the Supreme Personality of Godhead—then we shall be talking politics and other nonsense, and waste our time.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.1 -- Atlanta, March 1, 1975:

So you can prepare yourself for better life in the heavenly planets or in a better society in this world or to go to the planets where ghost and other wretches are controlling. Or you can go to the planet where Kṛṣṇa is there. Everything is open to you.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.11-15 -- New York, January 9, 1967:

If by chance we get association of a pure devotee, then by his mercy this illusion becomes over. Tāṅra upadeśa, by his instructions. Sādhu-saṅga means tasmād satsu sajjeta buddhimān. Therefore it is advised that everyone should seek association of saintly persons. And by saintly person's instruction, this ghost of ignorance will be removed. Tāṅra mantre. Just like you have seen ghostly haunted persons? In India there are so many cases. So there are chanter also.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.11-15 -- New York, January 9, 1967:

Prabhupāda: A sorcerer, yes. So they chant some hymns and the ghosts go away. Similarly, if we chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa, then the ghost of māyā by which we are being kicked from this side to that side, that will be over. Tāṅra mantre. If the instruction is received from a saintly person, sādhu, then this illusion of being kicked up from this side to that side by lust and anger under the spell of this material energy will be over.

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 35 -- New York, July 31, 1971:

But dreaming, that I am in such and such position, I am being harassed, somebody is taking my money, somebody is pinching me, so many things. I am in the front of tiger, there is ghost, there is so many things. So these problems, actually there is no problem, but by dreaming he is creating, mental. Asaṅgo hy ayaṁ puruṣaḥ, Veda says that this puruṣa, the ātmā, the soul has no connection with all these things. So we have created, by material concoction, so many problems. So the whole process is how to cleanse this dreaming condition of life.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation Lecture and Bhagavan dasa's Marriage Ceremony -- New Vrindaban, June 4, 1969:

If somebody is haunted by a ghost, there was some expert, I mean to say, chanter, who can drive away that ghost by mantra. And they usually use the mustard seed. They chant the mantra and they throw the mustard seed on the person who is ghost-haunted, and the ghost is driven away. So there is a story that the ghost entered the mustard. He is throwing the mustard, but the ghost has already entered the mustard. Similarly, we are trying to solve the problems, but the problem is this body. The ghost is within this body. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement... Of course, we daily discuss these things, that "I am not this body," and what are the problems. The sum and substance of our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is that we want to go back to Kṛṣṇa.

Initiation Lecture -- Boston, December 26, 1969:

Piśācī means ghost or witches. When one is haunted by ghost he becomes upset of his own consciousness and talks all kinds of nonsense. Similarly, when our existence is covered by the material ghost we talk so many nonsense: "I am this body, and anything in relationship with this body is mine. I am dying. I belong to this family. I belong to this community, nation, this, that, planet." These are all just like a man haunted by ghost speaks nonsense, these are all nonsense. And the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to cure this disease.

Initiation Lecture -- Boston, December 26, 1969:

So these four principles we should follow. We shall not accept anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa. That is our position. And no illicit sex life, no gambling, no intoxication. We are already intoxicated, being haunted by the ghost of māyā. And further intoxication...? Do you think intoxication can be cured by intoxication? No. That is not possible. So these four rules you have to follow. And you keep to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then your life is sublime.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Seattle, September 27, 1968:

So material laws, state laws, you can hide yourself, but God's law you cannot hide yourself. There are so many witnesses. The sun is your witness, the moon is your witness, the day is your witness, the night is your witness, the sky is your witness. So how you can supersede the laws of the Lord? So... But this material nature is so constituted that we have to suffer ādhyātmic, pertaining to the body, pertaining to the mind, and sufferings offered by other living entities, and another suffering ādhidaivic. Ādhidaivic, just like somebody is ghost-haunted, a ghost has attacked him. Ghost cannot be seen, but he's suffering delirium, speaking something nonsense. Or there is famine, there is earthquake, there is war, there is pestilence, so many things.

Lecture at Indo-American Society 'East and West' -- Calcutta, January 31, 1973:

Soul without the body means ghost. Yes, that's a fact. Ghost means he has got no gross body, but he's working with the subtle body. We have got two kinds of bodies. The gross body is made of five elements, earth, water, air, fire, sky. And the subtle body is made of intelligence, mind and ego. So when a soul does not get a gross body, he has to work with the subtle body, that is ghostly life. So ghostly life is not false. Those who are too, too much sinful, sometimes they are condemned not to get a gross body.

Lecture at Upsala University Faculty -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:

The Bhagavad-gītā says, yānti deva-vratāḥ devān. If you want to go to the moon planet, sun planet, Venus planet or any other planet, you just prepare yourself in this life, and at the time of death, you'll be transferred to such and such condition of life. Similarly, pitṛ-vratāḥ, there are Pitṛ-lokas, bhūtejyā, bhūtejyam ghost worshiper. They will also go to such planet. And mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām, Kṛṣṇa says. "Those who want to go to Me, back to home, back to Godhead, they can also go there.

Lecture on Gurvastakam at Upsala University -- Stockholm, September 9, 1973:

The purport is that those who are going, trying to be elevated to the higher planetary system, which is called Devaloka, or the planets of the demigods... There the standard of living, duration of life, is very, very large. Or if you want to be transferred to the Pitṛlokas, or in the lokas of the ghosts, bhūtejyā, or if you want to be transferred to the loka where Kṛṣṇa lives—mad-yājino 'pi mām—now it depends on your practice.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Karandhara: Scientists often take the shelter of this premise, that it's not..., we don't..., we're not trying to find out. Whenever they're asked what is the original source, they say, "We're not concerned with that. We're concerned with just examining the phenomenon of that source."

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is childish. That is childish. Just like I have seen the phenomena, without man there cannot be singing. In the box there must be one man there. This is childish calculation, that's all. Phenomenal study means childish. A fan, in our childhood we will think that a fan is running, there must be some ghost who is running it. So this sort of phenomenal study is not scientific study. It is not scientific. (If) we don't find the original cause, that is not scientific.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: What will be the answer? If you want to worship God, you must worship according to the dictation of God. If you have no such dictation, if you have no idea of God, then how you can worship God? You can worship a ghost, according unto you. If freedom is given to your conception, then you can worship a dog instead of God, because you do not know what is God and what God wants you to do. So without the conception of God, real, how one can worship God by whimsical ideas?

Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:

Śyāmasundara: Yes. So for Christians, suicide is no answer to escape their sinning or their despair. So he says...

Prabhupāda: You have committed so many sinful activities, and simply by killing you are trying to escape. In that way you are committing another sin. You are committing another sin. Therefore these persons who commit suicide, they become ghosts.

Philosophy Discussion on Origen:

Hayagrīva: Like Brahmā, the perfect son. And then there's the Holy Spirit, that is all-pervasive. And all three of these aspects are divine and co-eternal. They exist..., they've always existed within the Trinity of God. They've always existed simultaneously.

Prabhupāda: So our conception is—"our" means Vedic conception—that Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead, as it is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: (BG 10.8) "I am the origin of everyone." Either you call the son or the Holy Ghost, it doesn't matter, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the origin. Then, He has got expansion. That expansion is not actually His son... Or there are two kinds of expansion: His personal expansions and His expansion as part and parcel. His personal expansion is called Viṣṇu-tattva, and the part and parcel expansion is called jīva-tattva—in Sanskrit technical words, svāṁśa and vibhinnāṁśa.

Philosophy Discussion on Origen:

Hayagrīva: Origen believed that it is through divine grace and man's free will working together that the individual soul attains perfection, and perfection consists of attaining a personal relationship with the Infinite Person.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is called Bhakti-mārga. The Absolute Truth is manifested in three features: Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān. Bhagavān is the personal feature, and Paramātmā feature may be compared with the Holy Ghost when situated in everyone's heart. And Brahman feature, everywhere. By His energy He is present everywhere. So the perfection, highest perfection of spiritual life, is to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the person, personal feature of the Lord, and engages himself, the living entity engages himself in His service. Then he is situated in his original, constitutional position, and he is eternally happy and blissful.