Due to a poor fund of knowledge, the Māyāvādī philosophers cannot go beyond the Brahman effulgence, which may be compared to the sunshine. The Upaniṣads confirm that one has to penetrate the dazzling effulgence of Brahman before one can see the real face of the Personality of Godhead.
Go beyond
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 7 - 12
BG 7.13, Purport:
Those who are in the modes of passion and ignorance, and even those who are in the mode of goodness, cannot go beyond the impersonal Brahman conception of the Absolute Truth.
BG Chapters 13 - 18
BG 18.35, Translation:
And that determination which cannot go beyond dreaming, fearfulness, lamentation, moroseness and illusion—such unintelligent determination, O son of Pṛthā, is in the mode of darkness."
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
SB 1.1.3, Purport:
The learned scholar seeks to relish the real rasa in the spiritual form. In the beginning he desires to become one with the Supreme. Thus, less intelligent transcendentalists cannot go beyond this conception of becoming one with the spirit whole, without knowing of the different rasas.
SB 1.11.37, Purport:
The mental speculators misunderstand Him as the Supreme Person, and they consider His impersonal features as inexplicable Brahman to be all. Such a conception is also the product of conditioned life because they cannot go beyond their own personal capacity. Therefore, one who considers the Lord on the level of one's limited potency is only a common man.
SB Canto 2
SB 2.1.38, Purport:
Because they are unable to accept the personal feature of the Supreme Lord, the Lord is kind enough to demonstrate the virāṭ feature of His transcendental form, and herein Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī has vividly described this form of the Lord. He concludes that there is nothing beyond this gigantic feature of the Lord. None of the materialistic thoughtful men can go beyond this conception of the gigantic form.
SB 2.2.23, Purport:
The materialistic scientist's endeavor to reach other planets by mechanical vehicles is only a futile attempt. One can, however, reach heavenly planets by virtuous activities, but one can never expect to go beyond Svarga or Janaloka by such mechanical or materialistic activities, either gross or subtle. The transcendentalists who have nothing to do with the gross material body can move anywhere within or beyond the material worlds.
SB 2.7.18, Purport:
Perfect civilization is the civilization of ātmā, or the soul proper. The civilized man of sense gratification is on an equal level with animals because animals cannot go beyond the activities of the senses. Above the senses is the mind. The civilization of mental speculation is also not the perfect stage of life because above the mind is the intelligence, and the Bhagavad-gītā gives us information of the intellectual civilization. The Vedic literatures give different directions for the human civilization, including the civilization of the senses, of the mind, of the intelligence, and of the soul proper.
SB 2.7.42, Purport:
The materialists have many branches of philanthropic and altruistic activities from a political, national and international angle of vision, but none of the field work can go beyond the jurisdiction of the misconception of identifying the material body with the spirit soul. Unless, therefore, one is saved from the wrong conception of the body and the soul, there is no knowledge of Godhead, and unless there is knowledge of God, all advancement of material civilization, however dazzling, should be considered a failure.
SB Canto 3
SB 3.15.15, Purport:
The modern scientists who are trying to travel in space are having difficulty going even to the nearest planet, the moon, to say nothing of the highest planets within the universe. There is no possibility that they can go beyond the material sky, enter the spiritual sky and see for themselves the spiritual planets, Vaikuṇṭha. Therefore, the kingdom of God in the spiritual sky can be understood only through the authentic descriptions of the Vedas and Purāṇas.
SB 3.25.39-40, Purport:
The Lord promises herein that He takes His devotee to the other side of birth and death. Lord Caitanya, therefore, recommended that one who aspires to go beyond birth and death should have no material possessions. This means that one should not try to be happy in this world or to be promoted to the heavenly world, nor should he try for material wealth, children, houses or cattle.
SB Canto 4
SB 4.25.26, Purport:
The first aphorism in the Vedānta-sūtra is athāto brahma jijñāsā. In the human form of life one should put many questions to himself and to his intelligence. In the various forms of life lower than human life the intelligence does not go beyond the range of life's primary necessities—namely eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Dogs, cats and tigers are always busy trying to find something to eat or a place to sleep, trying to defend and have sexual intercourse successfully.
SB Canto 5
SB 5.1.12, Purport:
An ordinary human being or animal who has accepted a material body cannot go beyond the jurisdiction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead's control. A material body includes senses. However, the sense activities of so-called scientists who try to be free from God's law or the laws of nature are useless.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Preface and Introduction
CC Introduction:
"O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Kindly remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee." (Śrī Īśopaniṣad 15) The impersonalists do not have the power to go beyond the effulgence of God and arrive at the Personality of Godhead, from whom this effulgence is emanating.
CC Adi-lila
CC Adi 3.11, Purport:
Śānta-rasa, or the neutral stage, is not mentioned in this verse because although in śānta-rasa one considers the Absolute Truth the sublime great, one does not go beyond that conception. Śānta-rasa is a very grand idea for materialistic philosophers, but such idealistic appreciation is only the beginning; it is the lowest among the relationships in the spiritual world.
CC Adi 5.14, Purport:
According to Sāṅkhya philosophy, the material cosmos is composed of twenty-four elements: the five gross material elements, the three subtle material elements, the five knowledge-acquiring senses, the five active senses, the five objects of sense pleasure, and the mahat-tattva (the total material energy). Empiric philosophers, unable to go beyond these elements, speculate that anything beyond them must be avyakta, or inexplicable. But the world beyond the twenty-four elements is not inexplicable, for it is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā as the eternal (sanātana) nature.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter Preface:
If one desires to understand the sun as it is, one must first face the sunshine, then the sun globe and, after entering into that globe, come face to face with the predominating deity of the sun. Due to a poor fund of knowledge, the Māyāvādī philosophers cannot go beyond the Brahman effulgence, which may be compared to the sunshine. The Upaniṣads confirm that one has to penetrate the dazzling effulgence of Brahman before one can see the real face of the Personality of Godhead.
Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter Intoduction:
The impersonalists do not have the power to go beyond the effulgence of God and arrive at the personality from whom this effulgence is emanating. At the end of Īśopaniṣad, however, there is a hymn to the Personality of Godhead. It is not that the impersonal Brahman is denied; it is also described, but that Brahman is considered to be the glaring effulgence of the body of Caitanya. In other words, Kṛṣṇa Caitanya is the basis of the impersonal Brahman.
Nectar of Devotion
Nectar of Devotion 1:
On the other hand, a person who is not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness has no good qualities. He may be highly educated from the academic point of view, but in the actual field of his activities he can be seen to be baser than the animals. Even though a person is highly educated academically, if he cannot go beyond the sphere of mental activities then he is sure to perform only material activities and thus remain impure.
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
Krsna Book 87:
"Description of a subject matter necessitates describing its source of emanation, its qualities and its activities. Such description can be possible only by thinking with the material mind and by vibrating material words. Brahman, or the Absolute Truth, has no material qualities, but our power of speaking does not go beyond the material qualities. How then can Brahman, the Absolute Truth, be described by your words? I do not see how it is possible to understand transcendence from such expressions of material sound."
Krsna Book 87:
On the other hand, those who are not devotees but are engaged in uncertain processes of self-realization, such as jñāna, yoga and karma, are understood to be still contaminated. Such contaminated persons, although apparently advanced in self-realization, cannot even liberate themselves, what to speak of those who follow them. Such nondevotees are compared to chained animals, for they are not able to go beyond the jurisdiction of the formalities of a certain type of faith.
Krsna Book 87:
In the Bhagavad-gītā they are condemned as veda-vāda-rata. They cannot understand that the Vedas deal with activities of the material modes of nature—goodness, passion and ignorance. But as Lord Kṛṣṇa advised Arjuna, one has to go beyond the jurisdiction of the duties prescribed in the Vedas and take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, devotional service.
Mukunda-mala-stotra (mantras 1 to 6 only)
Mukunda-mala-stotra mantra 5, Purport:
Human beings advance toward God consciousness when they go beyond the gross materialistic life of eating, sleeping, fearing, and mating and begin to develop moral and ethical principles. These principles develop further into religious consciousness, leading to an imaginary conception of God without any practical realization of the truth. These stages of God consciousness are called religiosity, which promises material prosperity of various degrees.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Lecture on BG 2.22 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972:
That is promotion. Similarly, if a man is very much attached to his wife, he'll think at the time of his... He becomes woman. These are the science. Where is the cultivation of this science? Simply all fools. And they are making research work. What is the research work? Can you go beyond the laws of the prakṛti? It is not possible.
Lecture on BG 2.46-62 -- Los Angeles, December 16, 1968:
Just like your radio message, television sound, they cannot go beyond this earthly planet, at most. But there is sound which can penetrate the whole universe and go to the spiritual world. Sound is all-pervading, that is a fact, scientific fact. If that sound is potent, then it can penetrate even this material sky and go to the spiritual sky and go to Kṛṣṇa directly.
Lecture on BG 2.55-56 -- New York, April 19, 1966:
So far the animals are concerned, they are called... They are also working. They are also working, but working with the help of the nature. But we go beyond the nature. Because we have got better intelligence, we are not satisfied with the nature's product, but we are endeavoring to turn the nature's product by industry into some other thing, and the result is my high intelligence is being used only for the satisfaction of the body without any culture of spirit.
Lecture on BG 4.1 and Review -- New York, July 13, 1966:
Nobody can understand Bhagavad-gītā unless he is a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. That is the first qualification. It is clearly said here. You cannot go beyond Bhagavad-gītā. If you want to understand Bhagavad-gītā, you cannot take help of other methods. You have to take the help as it is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā. He clearly says that bhakto 'si: "You are not only My friend. There are many friends. I can find many friends. But you are not only My friend, but you are a great devotee. Therefore you can understand what is the real sense of Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore I am speaking to you. I am speaking to you."
Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Delhi, November 10, 1971:
So if we improve the method of eating, sleeping and sexual intercourse, and defending, then we don't go beyond the animal propensities. We have got higher intelligence, higher consciousness, not to improve the method of eating, sleeping, mating and defending, but to understand the Absolute Truth. Therefore, without understanding the Absolute Truth, we are simply spoiling our opportunity of this human life.
Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Bombay, March 21, 1974:
Nobody can claim. "I am the wisest man," nobody can claim. "I am the strongest man," that is also, nobody can claim. However one strong may be, he is under the rules and regulation and material nature. He cannot go beyond that. Therefore you cannot find Bhagavān, or the Supreme Person, possessing all these opulences. That is not possible.
Lecture on BG 4.6-8 -- New York, July 20, 1966:
You cannot go beyond your nature. If you go beyond your nature, that is called māyā. Māyā means what is not. Therefore we are all servants, but here, in the material designation, we are trying to be master. Everyone is trying to be master. Therefore so much trouble of existence. If everyone becomes servant, there is no struggle. There is no struggle. Everyone becomes happy because he comes to his natural position.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Calcutta, January 27, 1973:
Those who have developed this mayy āsakta-manāḥ, means to develop your love for Kṛṣṇa. As Caitanya Mahāprabhu said: premā pum-artho mahān. Generally people are attached to four principles of salvation: dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90). But actually you have to go beyond mokṣa. Beyond mokṣa means brahma-jñāna, ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I'm not this body. I am spirit soul, Brahman." Kṛṣṇa is Paraṁ Brahman, and we are all Brahman, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 10.4 -- New York, January 3, 1967:
Just like you have the facility of traveling over the surface of the world or in the outer space on the earth. But you cannot go beyond the orbit. This is called conditioned life. In conditioned life we are limited in our traveling. But in spiritual life you can travel anywhere. The best example is Nārada Muni. He can travel anywhere he likes. Even in this universe we have got a planet which is called Siddhaloka, a planet of the perfect. Not perfect completely, but they are called siddha. Siddha means almost perfect.
Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, September 30, 1973:
So all the sampradāyas, they have got their commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra and... Even Śaṅkarācārya. But his commentary is not accepted by the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas because he has tried to derive some meaning, interpretation. But there is no question of interpretation. When the things are clear, in the Brahma-sūtra, all the sūtras are very clear. So you don't require any interpretation. You can expand, explain very elaborately. That is another thing. But you cannot go beyond the sutra.
Lecture on BG 15.15 -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):
Sometimes he's enjoying as a man, sometimes he's enjoying as a hog, sometimes he's enjoying as a dog, as a demigod, but the enjoyment is the same. But that he does not know. He has to go beyond this, transcend this enjoyment, that information he has no. That is the difficulty.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- London, August 6, 1971:
We are prisoned here within this universe. We are thinking that we are very free to move in the sky with, what is called, sputniks. But you cannot go beyond your limitation. That is not possible. They are going to the moon planet, again coming back. You see. That is our conditional life, that you are conditioned, packed up under certain regulations. If you violate, then you are punishable. You cannot violate. You have to remain within the conditions of material nature.
Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 16, 1971:
You have heard Rabindranath Tagore, poet Tagore. He wrote one article that "When I was in London I saw the people are walking very fast, the cars are going very fast. But I was thinking that 'This England is a small island; they may not fall down on the sea.' " (laughter) If you let loose your dog, it will go on this way, this way, this way, this way, this way. (laughter) This is jagat, going on. Going on, but condition: "You cannot go beyond this."
Lecture on SB 1.2.21 -- Vrndavana, November 1, 1972:
One can speculate about the Absolute Truth to certain extent. Therefore, generally, these speculators become impersonalists. Because they cannot go beyond that. But that impersonal knowledge is not complete. As we have several times stressed on this point, one has to go further, onward: realization of Paramātmā, realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But they stop only in impersonal view. That's all.
Lecture on SB 1.2.33 -- Vrndavana, November 12, 1972:
Vaidhī-bhakti, that is apprenticeship. Real bhakti, parā-bhakti, that is rāgānugā-bhakti. This rāgānugā-bhakti, we have to come after surpassing the vaidhī-bhakti. In the material world, if we do not try to make further and further progress in devotional service, if we are simply sticking to the shastric regulation process and do not try to go beyond that... Shastric process also regulation, that is required. Without shastric process you cannot go to that platform.
Lecture on SB 1.7.6 -- Vrndavana, April 18, 1975:
I am spirit soul, but I do not belong to these material qualities; still, I am thinking, ātmānaṁ tri-guṇātmakam. One cannot go beyond these three guṇas, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa, or mixed. Three into three equal to nine, and again mix, nine into nine equals eighty-one. Therefore there are 8,400,000 species of living entities under the impression that "I am this; I am plant; I am fish; I am mosquito; I am man; I am demigod; I am tiger; I am Indian; I am American."
Lecture on SB 1.8.39 -- Los Angeles, May 1, 1973:
Kṛṣṇa is explaining that we take the senses are very prominent. But beyond the senses there is another, superior thing. That is mind. Beyond this mind, there is intelligence. And beyond this intelligence, there is soul. So how they can appreciate existence of soul if they cannot understand the psychological movement of the mind? Behind that mind there is intelligence. They... Ultimate, utmost, they can approach to the intellectual platform. But one has to go beyond the intellectual platform to understand what is soul, or what is God. Otherwise, it is not possible.
Lecture on SB 1.10.7 -- Mayapura, June 22, 1973:
So everyone is working under the direction of the Supreme Lord. Ocean, although very powerful, very big, still, by the order of Kṛṣṇa, it cannot go beyond the limit. It cannot go. So the... Everything... Yasyājñayā bhramati kāla-cakraḥ. Yac cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ. Now, this sun, the sun, unlimited heat, aśeṣa-tejāḥ, heat. But it is also limited. It cannot expand so much heat so that we may burn into ashes. The sun can do that.
Lecture on SB 1.15.49 -- Los Angeles, December 26, 1973:
If you desire to go to heavenly planet, to Brahmā planet, to Satyaloka, Maharloka, Janaloka... Many thousands and millions of planets are there. Or even if you want to go beyond this material world, to the Vaikuṇṭha planet, Kṛṣṇa planet, Goloka planet, you can go there. This is the science. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ (BG 9.25).
Lecture on SB 1.16.17 -- Los Angeles, January 12, 1974:
Sun, but when it is covered by the cloud, it is called darkness. Or it is covered by another planet, then we find darkness. Actually, there is always light. If you go through the cloud, you come to the sunshine. Everyone has got the experience. Down, when you start your plane, it may be very dark, and then, when you go beyond the sky, seven miles above, then you see there is sunlight. And again, if you start your plane in sunlight, in the morning, in daylight, so in the morning, and go to the western side, you will find never night.
Lecture on SB 1.16.20 -- Hawaii, January 16, 1974:
So if one is not even on the stage of self-realization, how he can teach others? That is cheating. That is cheating. If one is not a graduate, if he becomes a teacher, he is not a teacher; he is a cheater. One must be first of all qualified. That qualification means one must be above the three qualities of material nature. Goodness... Even you have to go beyond the quality of goodness. In the material world we have made, concocted, "This is good, this is bad."
Lecture on SB 2.1.2 -- Paris, June 11, 1974:
So we see people are very busy. Seventy miles speed, they're driving car. But within the Paris, within the Paris, they may go seventy miles, eighty miles, but they cannot go beyond. That, our one countryman, Rabindranath Tagore... So perhaps you heard his name. He was a big poet. So when he was in London, so he saw that people are very, walking very fast. So he remarked that "These people are walking very fast. But there is a very small country. They'll fall down on the sea." You see?
Lecture on SB 2.3.20 -- Bombay, March 24, 1977, At Cross Maidan Pandal:
You have to analyze that "First of all, I am prominent by my senses. My body means my senses. But the senses are useless unless there is mind." Indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ. If your mind is not in order, your senses cannot act. Therefore mind is superior than the senses, and the mind cannot act if you have no intelligence. So manasas tu parā buddhiḥ. And if you can go beyond the intelligence, then you can find out what is soul. So it requires study. It requires education.
Lecture on SB 2.3.24 -- Los Angeles, June 22, 1972:
Śruti means Vedas, śāstras. Śruti-smṛti. And smṛti means books which follow the Vedic principles. Vedas... Suppose you write one book, or anything. If it is just according to the Vedic conclusion, then it is also... It is called smṛti. By remembering the Vedic conclusion... You cannot go beyond the Vedic conclusion. Then it is useless writing. Vedic conclusion must be there.
Lecture on SB 3.25.7 -- Bombay, November 7, 1974:
We are eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, and we should give, render, we should render service to the best of capacity. That is our real constitutional position. But here Devahūti says that bhūmann asad-indriya-tarṣaṇāt. Asad-indriya-tarṣaṇāt. At the present moment in this material world, we are busy to enjoy these material senses. This is our position. Everyone is satisfying. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ, manasas tu parā buddhiḥ... (BG 3.42). In this way, you go, and when you go beyond the range of buddhi, that is soul. That is spiritual platform.
Lecture on SB 3.25.39-40 -- Bombay, December 8, 1974:
It is your choice, where you want to go. You have to go somewhere. You can remain here in this material world, you can remain to the higher planets, or you can go beyond these higher planets. Avyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ, paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ (BG 8.20). There is another nature. This is material nature, and there is another nature, spiritual nature. You can go there also, as you like. You are given full freedom.
Lecture on SB 3.26.7 -- Bombay, December 19, 1974:
The dog is pāra-tantrya, dependent on the master. Similarly, we are now dogs of material nature, pāra-tantrya. We cannot go beyond the rules and regulation, condition, of material nature. That is called pāra-tantrya, not svātantrya.
Lecture on SB 5.5.24 -- Vrndavana, November 11, 1976:
Kṛṣṇa also said śāstra. Kṛṣṇa is also the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He refers to the Brahma-sūtra. Brahma-sūtra-padaiś caiva hetumadbhir viniścitam. So we cannot go beyond the śāstra. We must follow. So in the śāstra it is said, in the Kali-yuga people are so fallen, they cannot be persuaded to so many rules and regulation, but kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet (SB 12.3.51). Simply that is special facility for these fallen... You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa regularly and you become liberated from the material contamination.
Lecture on SB 6.1.25 -- Chicago, July 9, 1975:
We have tried to describe in our Easy Journey to Other Planets, antimaterial, material and antimaterial. So that world, the spiritual world, there is if you go beyond this covering of the sky. You cannot touch even the ultimate covering even, Brahmaloka.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:
If a dog likes that "I shall be President Johnson," is it possible? However, how much he may try, that body will not allow him. Similarly, we have got a particular type of body to enjoy a particular type of sense gratification. If we try to go beyond that, it is not possible.
Lecture on SB 7.6.2 -- Toronto, June 18, 1976:
This material world is called darkness, ignorance. Actually it is dark. Because it is dark, material world, therefore we require the sun. By the grace of Kṛṣṇa, we have got the sun. Yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā. Savitā means sun. Oṁ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ tat savitur vareṇyam. This is Gāyatrī-mantra. So who requires a guru? Jijñāsuḥ śreyaḥ uttamam. One who wants to go beyond this world of darkness. Tamasi mā jyotir gama. This is Vedic injunction. Don't remain in this darkness. Jyotir gama. Go to the world where light is there.
Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Toronto, June 19, 1976:
So we have to go beyond the quality of this āhāra-nidra-bhaya-maithunam, eating, sleeping, sex life and defense. That is necessary so far the body is concerned. But that is being done by the dogs and cats and dogs and hogs. We have to go further. That is bhāgavata-dharma.
Lecture on SB 7.9.5 -- Mayapur, February 12, 1976:
When we walk on the beach we are confident that although the Pacific Ocean is a great vast mass of water, but we are certain it cannot come up to this. It is limited by the order of God, "You cannot go beyond this." So there is no vardhanam. The temporary ebb tide, and flow tide, that is another thing, but actually aputra māna acala pratiṣṭhā, but in the spiritual world the ocean of transcendental bliss increases.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 7, 1973:
If you do not like to become friend of Kṛṣṇa, then you become enemy of Kṛṣṇa. If you like... Because you cannot go beyond these twelve rasas. Still. Kāmād bhayād dveśyād lobhāt, it is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The gopīs approached Kṛṣṇa actually by lusty desires, the kāmāt. Bhayāt: and Kaṁsa was thinking of Kṛṣṇa out of fearfulness. Dveśyāt: the Śiśupāla, he was always envious of Kṛṣṇa. He was also thinking of... Kāmād bhayād dveśyād lobhāt. Some way or other, be in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, and you'll be happy. You'll be happy, this life and next life.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 8, 1972:
Acyutānanda: "Even though a person is highly educated academically, if he cannot go beyond the sphere of mental activities, then he is sure to perform only material activities and thus remain impure."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Our so-called advancement of education means to live on the mental platform. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā manorathena (SB 5.18.12). They have no information of the spiritual platform. They... After bodily concept of life, the next platform is mental and intellectual concept of life. But spiritual life is beyond mental and intellectual concept of life. So unless one comes to the spiritual platform, even on mental and intellectual platform, he cannot do anything good to the society.
Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures
Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 33 -- New York, July 19, 1971:
Vedeṣu durlabham. Vede means in the Vedic literature, if you make research work how Kṛṣṇa is, then it will be very difficult. Then you come to the impersonal only. Vedeṣu durlabham. You have to go beyond the Vedas. What is that? Vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau (Bs. 5.33). Kṛṣṇa is available through His confidential devotee. Not that if anyone has studied very nicely all Vedic literatures he'll understand Kṛṣṇa. No. Maybe, but it is very difficult. Kṛṣṇa can be delivered by His devotee, ātma-bhaktau.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Arrival Talk -- Aligarh, October 9, 1976:
Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma. And they have become very big Vaiṣṇava: "No, I don't go beyond the limits of Vṛndāvana." What is this nonsense? Did Caitanya Mahāprabhu say like that, that "You do not go beyond the limits...?" A devotee, wherever he is, that is Vṛndāvana. That is Vṛndāvana tīrtha. Kurvanti tīrthāni. A devotee, a pure devotee, can make any hell a tīrtha, a holy place. That is devotee.
Initiation Lectures
Initiation of Satyabhama Dasi and Gayatri Initiation of Devotees Going to London -- Montreal, July 26, 1968:
It may be in some scriptures information of God is not fully explained, but if the idea, target, is God, that is a scripture. So generally śruti-śāstra means Vedas, the books of knowledge. So one should not go beyond the books of knowledge, just like we are studying Bhagavad-gītā. So śruti-śāstra-nindanam. Nobody should criticize or malinterpret the statement in the scripture.
General Lectures
Lecture Excerpt -- Los Angeles, June 7, 1972:
Yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ rājā. It is the king of all planets. Rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejaḥ. Aśeṣa-tejaḥ, unlimited temperature. Unlimited temperature. Aśeṣa-tejaḥ. And it is so powerful and so important, but what is his position? Yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro. Under the direction of the Supreme, it is rotating in its own orbit. The sun has its own orbit. Just like this earth has its own orbit, similarly, sun, sambhṛta-kāla-cakro, yasyājñayā... The sun cannot go beyond that orbit.
Rotary Club Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 5, 1972:
Big, big scientists, philosophers, we are trying to understand the activities of the material nature. We cannot go beyond that. That is also very imperfect. Our understanding of this material nature, how it is working, how things are happening in a systematic way, how the sun is rising exactly in due course, due time, how it is setting—there are so many things we do not know.
Lecture Excerpt -- London, July 25, 1976:
So our running has no meaning. It is dog's running. But people are still busy, trying to go here, there. But we are conditioned souls, baddha-jīva, bound up by the laws of nature. We cannot surpass, but still, we are thinking we are advancing, we are going forward. So we can go forward, up to the limit of this universe, Brahmaloka, but ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16)—again you have to come back. You are not free. Those who are free, liberated, so they go beyond this universe.
Philosophy Discussions
Philosophy Discussion on David Hume:
Prabhupāda: There are many insects. They are called diwali pokali. At night they will throng together, in India. So for this insect, it is very difficult to understand that there is another animal which is called man, who has got this duration of his lifetime period in only twelve hours of his life. But the insect cannot go beyond that.
Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:
Prabhupāda: He should go to higher authorities. Why should he remain agnostic? If there is possibility, mind cannot go beyond this, but if the same thing, we say upon the roof there is some sound, now we speculate, but we cannot ascertain what is the sound. But if somebody is actually there, he says, "This sound is due to this." So why I shall remain satisfied with agnostic position, that I could not ascertain what is the sound, and therefore I shall remain satisfied?
Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey:
Prabhupāda: So unless you find out what is the ultimate source of emanation, the knowledge is perfect, hum, imperfect. But you must have to admit, from your experience, that everything has a source of emanation. Anything has. You cannot go beyond your experience. You see this table. This table has got a history. Somebody has collected the wood and he has made into a shape. So everything that you see, it has got a history. So similarly the whole creation, it has got a history, and to know who has created, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), that is perfect knowledge.
Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey:
Prabhupāda: Actually, if somebody asks, "What is your experience?" so the real experience is that we see two things. One thing is matter, inert matter, without any consciousness. Another thing we see, another element: with consciousness. Two things we see. You cannot go beyond this. And above two, these two things, there is one controller—the third element. The third element is the Absolute Truth, and these two elements, one inert and one living, they are categories. So this is a fact.
Philosophy Discussion on Origen:
Hayagrīva: As far as seeming contradictions and seeming absurdities in scripture are concerned, Origen considered these as stumbling blocks allowed by God to exist in order for man to go beyond the literal meaning. He says, "In some cases no useful meaning attaches to the obvious interpretation, but everything in scripture has a spiritual meaning, but not all of it has a literal meaning."
Prabhupāda: Literal... Generally, every word in the scripture there is literal meaning, but one who cannot understand properly because one does not hear from the proper person, he makes some interpretation. But there is no need of interpretation in the words of God. It may be that the words of God sometimes cannot be understood by ordinary person; therefore he requires to understand through the via-media of transparent guru. Guru is fully cognizant of the words spoken by God.
Philosophy Discussion on John Locke:
Prabhupāda: Even little acting on Kṛṣṇa consciousness can save one from the greatest danger—as it was done by Ajamila. He cultivated Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the beginning of his life, then he fell down, he became the greatest debauch. But at the end of life again he remembered Nārāyaṇa and he got salvation. Tatra taṁ buddhi-saṁyogam (BG 6.43). Read Bhagavad-gītā carefully. All answers are there. This philosopher cannot go beyond Bhagavad-gītā.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
Questions and Answers -- September 6, 1968, New York:
Guest: You mentioned these miracles. The only miracle (indistinct) who has gone beyond the material encagement. That is what the yogi is trying, is striving to do, trying to go beyond the material nature. When one mentions miracles, it is surely a proof that he has actually transcended this material nature.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest: But why, why are they trying to transcend material, transcend material nature? Who is doing these miracles? Or why try to do (indistinct) Why should human beings try to do (indistinct)?
Prabhupāda: No. The yoga practice is like that. It is very good, that "Why we should bother ourself with such things?" That is the opinion of the devotees. The devotees, they do not want any such miracles to perform or to make some jugglery to the people. They are satisfied with the service of the Lord.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation with Indian Ambassador -- September 5, 1973, Stockholm:
Prabhupāda: It is king's duty.
Ambassador: (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Ambassador: But we are... We are small people. We can only, we cannot go beyond the...
Prabhupāda: Yes. That I know.
Ambassador: But as individuals we'd be very happy to...
Prabhupāda: No, even if we approach higher authorities... Our men in New Delhi saw Indira Gandhi.
Ambassador: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. She said that "This is the position, that we are secular. We cannot support." Of course, we want simply Kṛṣṇa's support. And we are increasing. We are not decreasing. The movement was started in 1966.
Ambassador: Oh, only?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Ambassador: That's tremendous.
Prabhupāda: Now it is all over.
Morning Walk -- December 30, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Find out the final intelligent. That is comparative intelligence. That we know. But what is that final intelligence? That we must know. That is God. Just like the sun. If we think that beyond this sun there is no more planet, that is not correct. You cannot go beyond this sun. That is another thing. But all the planets are surrounding the sun. That everyone knows.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- February 23, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Body consciousness is mental speculation.
Dr. Patel: That is what I say. You must go beyond that.
Prabhupāda: Ah. This is the gross body and subtle body. So when these jñānīs, they think that they have become liberated, but they are entrapped by the subtle body. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya...
Dr. Patel: These yogis...
Prabhupāda: Then they are also, the same thing: gross material thing.
Dr. Patel: The yoga means to join yourself. Your self means not body, not even mind, but your soul, to the higher soul of, that means the God. That is real yoga. And that is as good as bhakti. Or you call it yoga, anything. Yoga and bhakti comes to same thing then.
Prabhupāda: No, no. Bhakti is real yoga. Others are farce. Yoginām api sarveṣām (BG 6.47). The bhakti is real yoga. That is real yoga. And this is farce.
Morning Walk -- February 23, 1974, Bombay:
Dr. Patel: You have got to go beyond intelligence, mind and everything.
Prabhupāda: Well, we are beyond intelligence, beyond all rascals. We are beyond. That is another thing.
Morning Walk -- March 27, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Just like people are very much attached to fruitive activities. They are attached to that. They do not want to go beyond. The karmīs. Karmīs, their whole ambition is how to go to these heavenly planets. He does not know that what is the benefit of going to the heavenly planets? He does not know.
Morning Walk -- March 30, 1974, Bombay:
Dr. Patel: I am treating the body. I am not in... You are treating the...
Prabhupāda: That's all right. That body is there, and you are absorbed in body. Therefore there is suffering. You may say that "I am not this body, and I am not this body," but when the body's going to be killed, you become afraid. Because you are absorbed. Why go beyond this practical point?
Morning Walk -- March 31, 1974, Bombay:
Dr. Patel: You cannot see with the karma eyes or hear him with these ears. You have to go beyond.
Prabhupāda: No, you can see. Just like with cataract eyes you cannot see. But if the cataract is removed, you can see. So similarly, to see Kṛṣṇa you have to develop attachment for Kṛṣṇa. Mayy āsakta-manāḥ, yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. So you have to be free from the cataract. Then you'll see.
Morning Walk -- April 5, 1974, Bombay:
Dr. Patel: You feel that way, we have no objection. But we should also respect somebody else's views.
Prabhupāda: No, we have got all respect, but not unnecessary respect.
Dr. Patel: But even unnecessary respect sometimes you unnecessarily go beyond, according to the...
Prabhupāda: No, no, we have respect. But a thief should be called a thief. That is truth.
Dr. Patel: You are the magistrate and you are the judge and you are the...
Prabhupāda: No, no, I am not judge. I am talking on the basis of Bhagavad-gītā. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ: (BG 7.15) "One who is a narādhamāḥ, he does not surrender to Kṛṣṇa." So this is judgement. Ah! As soon as we see that one is not surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, we accept, narādhamāḥ. That's all. Whatever he may be.
Morning Walk -- April 10, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Although everyone respects Mahatma Gandhi, but why he was put into jail? According to law. It may be it is man-made law, it is wrong, but the principle is that whatever is judgement of the śāstra, we have to take. It doesn't matter who is that man and how great he is. That is... Yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ, na siddhim sa... (BG 16.23). The śāstra is given stress always. So you cannot go beyond the verdict of the śāstra.
Morning Walk -- May 27, 1974, Rome:
Bhagavān: How far can a bullock cart travel in one day?
Prabhupāda: At least ten miles, very easily, very easily. And maximum he can travel fifteen miles, twenty miles. But when we are localized, we don't require to go beyond ten miles, five miles. Because we have created a rubbish civilization, therefore one is required to go fifty miles for earning bread, hundred miles, hanging.
Morning Walk -- June 8, 1974, Geneva:
Guru-gaurāṅga: About life after death?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Satsvarūpa: They say it doesn't go beyond... They have to agree that the baby's body is gone and the young man's body is gone. They have to agree. But they say that that doesn't mean logically that I have to take another body.
Prabhupāda: What is the other logic? If you have changed your body so many times, why not change this body? What is your reason? Natural course it should be that I have changed so many bodies so this body I shall change. This is natural logic. And what is his logic?
Satsvarūpa: So he said... They say it may be or it may not be.
Prabhupāda: But that is your rascaldom. But this is the real logic.
Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:
Prabhupāda: Anywhere he has written. Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa has written. Kṛṣṇa has spoken, Vyāsadeva has written, and it is accepted.
Priest: But this is what the Christians say about the Bible, and I don't believe it (inaudible).
Prabhupāda: No, no, you don't believe anything, that is another thing. That is another thing. Without belief, you cannot make progress.
Priest: Ah, you have to go beyond.
Prabhupāda: As soon as you... Just like you learn who is your father. You take the version of your mother and you believe that "He is my father." Otherwise there is no other way. How can you know your father? The only means is his mother recommends, "My dear boy, he is your father." And that is perfect, that's all. Otherwise you cannot know who is your father.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico:
Guest (1): But in what sense you use the concept "truth" here? Is it in the ontological sense, or is it in somehow in a more pragmatical human sense, refers to human beings or...?
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is pragmatic, that you cannot see beyond this wall. That is your insufficient knowledge or your senses are insufficient. You cannot go beyond this wall. But that does not mean there is nothing beyond this wall. So if you want to know what is beyond this wall, you have to know from a person who knows it. Yes. Because you cannot see, you cannot know, that is not the end. There must be something.
Room Conversation with Professors -- February 19, 1975, Caracas:
Professor: Is transcendence God?
Hṛdayānanda: They don't want to miss anything.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): They want to know: is God the transcendence?
Prabhupāda: What is the transcendence? Find out the meaning.
Hṛdayānanda: I can read it? First I'll read it in English. To transcend... It only has the word transcend. "Go beyond..."
Prabhupāda: Not "to," the verb, I mean to say, transcendence. So find out the noun.
Hṛdayānanda: Noun is not here.
Prabhupāda: Not here?
Hṛdayānanda: But I can change it into the noun. The transcendence: "That which goes beyond, that which exceeds the limits, rises above." And also transcendence means "that which transcends ordinary limits, the supreme, the preeminent." So I'll translate it.
Prabhupāda: This is the meaning is there, that our mind, our bodily activities, our words, they are all limited. They are all limited.
Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:
Svarūpa Dāmodara: "Defects and Errors in Scientific Research," it will be a title and we will find out all the mistakes that normally found in scientific research. That will be written by Mādhava Prabhu.
Prabhupāda: And add "and how to make it perfect." Find out the defects. Don't be, what is called...?
Rūpānuga: Negative.
Prabhupāda: Negative only.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, we want to bring the, our four defects in our sense perception.
Prabhupāda: Sense perception is defective.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, there are four defects.
Prabhupāda: And if you go beyond the sense perception, that is perfection.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: That will be Mādhava Prabhu's duty.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Room Conversation with Yoga Student -- March 14, 1975, Iran:
Prabhupāda: What is that ānanda?
Young man: Ānanda means bliss, infinite happiness.
Prabhupāda: Infinite. But what is the platform of that ānanda, material or spiritual?
Young man: Of course, ānanda means very much spiritual aspect.
Prabhupāda: But if somebody wants to derive ānanda by sense pleasure, is that spiritual?
Young man: Our practices has...
Prabhupāda: Tantra means they want to derive pleasure through the senses. So is that spiritual?
Young man: Our gurudeva says that not only do we do vidyā-tantra but both the Tantric practices avidyā and vidyā has to be practiced. So one has to go beyond...
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is spiritual.
Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu:
Prabhupāda: What is the actual significance of the soul and soul platform, spiritual..., that they do not know. They are studying from the mental platform. So they have to go beyond mental platform, avāṅ mānasa-gocara, beyond bodily mental platform. Then they will understand.
Conversation with Professor Hopkins -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:
Prof. Hopkins: So the failure is a failure to go beyond.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Prof. Hopkins: The failure is a failure to go beyond, to realize beyond that level of identity, that there is a Lord, who is...
Prabhupāda: Māyāvādī philosophy is defective. They say if everything is God then where is the Lord's separate existence. That is their defect. That is materialist theory. If you take a big paper and make it into small pieces and throw it away, then the big paper is lost. (laughs) The Māyāvādī thinks like that, that if everything is Brahman, Brahman is distributed, then where is..., why you call the Supreme Lord? They think that Brahman being distributed, He is finished. This is Māyāvādī. He does not know the potency of God.
Morning Walk -- November 19, 1975, Bombay:
Dr. Patel: But you see thinking is an apparatus which takes you beyond thinking.
Prabhupāda: That is another.
Dr. Patel: That takes you beyond thinking. You cannot go beyond thinking without thinking to be taken as a fact.
Prabhupāda: But thinking must be intelligent thinking.
Dr. Patel: But thinking is always...
Prabhupāda: Foolish thinking has no value. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhya para mana manasas tu parā buddhir (BG 3.42). So thinking should be under the direction of intelligence.
Morning Walk -- November 19, 1975, Bombay:
Dr. Patel: To go beyond intellect for a body conscious ego, the ego must dissolve and find itself to be a jīva, and then he travels further up to find his own identity and his own relation with God. Before, I mean, mind is one, you cannot go beyond it. That is what my conjecture. I may be wrong for all that.
Prabhupāda: No, no. One has to go beyond the mind, but one, those who are stuck up with the mind, they are useless. So the Western philosophers, they are stuck up with the mind. That is the defect. (break) ...bhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā mano-rathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ. Manorathena, mental concoction, asataḥ. Western philosophers, they take the mind as the soul.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- April 27, 1976, Auckland, New Zealand:
Prabhupāda: And they're taking it, highly civilized way of life. Where you are going? You cannot go beyond this earth. You attempted so much to go to the moon planet, you failed. And where you can go, put-put-put-put? You'll have to stay here. But that rascal does not understand. He thinks, "I am going very fast." Where you are going? You are destined to stay here. That he does not understand.
Room Conversation -- April 27, 1976, Auckland, New Zealand:
Prabhupāda: They cannot understand, these so-called scientists, that we cannot go in this way. There is higher authority. Why it will allow us to go anywhere? Just like the horse running fast, but within the race course. That's all. It cannot go beyond the race course. And similarly, however heroic expedition we may show, you are, what is called, baddha-jīva, conditioned. You cannot cross the condition, that is not possible.
Morning Walk -- June 4, 1976, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: So how can you go beyond your experience? Everything is created. A child may think, "How this car is created?" But it is, factually it is created. He cannot imagine how this nice car is created. Why child? Even elderly persons in a nondeveloped country, they'll be surprised how this car is created. They cannot do it.
Evening Darsana -- July 7, 1976, Washington, D.C.:
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: This gentleman here has a question, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Eugene Thoreau: You mentioned understanding, you mentioned lawyers arguing and the judge make the decision and their higher authority resolves the question. Can you suggest how people can go beyond that to spiritual understanding—not just appealing for judgment over a controversy about facts. What suggestions or comments do you have about achieving spiritual understanding?
Prabhupāda: That is very simple. Spiritual understanding, that is, I was speaking... This is beginning of Bhagavad-gītā. Spiritual understanding is that I am not this body. (to devotee) You move it this way. This is spiritual understanding. So long I am under this bodily concept of life, that "I am this body," "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Hindu," "I am Christian," "I am white," "I am black" and so on, so on, these are all bodily concept of life. So long we keep ourself on this platform, then we are on the material platform.
Interview with Newsday Newspaper -- July 14, 1976, New York:
Interviewer: Does that take on a positive aspect as well so that by not only do I not kill animals and I don't kill men, do I, am I obliged under your system, am I obliged to actively help...
Prabhupāda: Yes, suppose if you are coming to kill me, then I must take advantage of killing you first.
Interviewer: I understand that, and obliged to go beyond.
Bali-mardana: Are you also obliged to help animals, to help other human beings.
Prabhupāda: Yes, we are maintaining animals, giving them food, giving them security of life in all our farms the animals are very free.
Rāmeśvara: We're obliged because they are all part and parcel of God.
Interviewer: And what about with people?
Prabhupāda: Every people. You come to stay with us, we give you all help. Anyone who comes to our society we give shelter, we give food, we give instruction, we give dress, everything. Without any condition. You please come and live with us. For such a nice building we have taken. Our farms are so nice, you can go and see how they are doing. We have got one hundred and two centers all over the world. You'll find they are living very comfortably.
Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:
Dayānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda, is that what it means in the Bhagavad-gītā when Kṛṣṇa says that we have to go śruti-vipratipannā, we have to go beyond just hearing about these different...?
Prabhupāda: Find out that verse.
Dayānanda:
- śruti vipratipannā te
- yadā sthāsyati niścalā
- samādhāv acalā buddhis
- tadā yogam avāpsyasi
"When your mind is no longer disturbed by the flowery language of the Vedas, and when it remains fixed in the trance of self-realization, then you will have attained the divine consciousness."
Prabhupāda: So ritualistic ceremonies, Vedic ritualistic ceremonies. Everywhere there are some ritualistic ceremony. So when you go above this... Just like Kṛṣṇa says in another place, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo. By performing the Vedic ritualistic ceremony, the ultimate goal is to understand Kṛṣṇa. So if you understand Kṛṣṇa, then you may not perform this ritualistic ceremony. Because you have come to the objective. Not before that. That is sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66).
Garden Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:
Caraṇāravindam: Prabhupāda, you wrote in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta that the Caitanya mahā-mantra, śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda, there is no offense to that. And so therefore in the Kali-yuga it is actually more beneficial...
Prabhupāda: Offense is that what is spoken by the ācāryas, if you do not follow, that is offense. Guror avajñā. That is offense. To chant Gaura-Nitāi is no offense. But if our previous gurus have chanted śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda śrī-advaita—why should we go beyond that? That is guror avajñā. Even there is no aparādha, because guru, Kavirāja Gosvāmī, has sung like that and my guru has sung, we should follow that. We should not make any deviation. That is guror avajñā śruti-śāstra-nindanam. Nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ. So it comes to be one of the items of the daśa-vidha-aparādha. Guror avajñā.
Room Conversation (Bullock Cart SKP) -- September 12, 1976, Vrndavana:
Lokanātha: No what?
Prabhupāda: Ostādi, ostādi.
Lokanātha: Flowery language.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) That is God is great. Nobody can defeat Him. Nobody can go beyond Him. Asama-ūrdhva. Nobody is equal to Him. Asama, ūrdhva. Nobody is greater than Him, nobody is equal to Him. That is God. And after there are so many Gods, everyone God. So what kind of God? If God has a competitor, then what is the God? God has no competitor. Asama-ūrdhva. Everyone is down. Asama. Not equal, not ūrdhva. Then down. Two things, three things are there. Equal, level, upper and lower. So there is no upper and there is no equal. Then all lower. Then He's the supreme controller. Īśvara parama. In the lower level there may be īśvara. But they are not parama. Subordinate.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: The thing is that this nationalism is... We have to go beyond that. Actually they're happening, these boys, they're not thinking in terms of nationalism. Otherwise he had no business to come to me and to start this. We are in a different platform, Kṛṣṇa-ism. That is our platform. So we shall go on.
Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Simply by imitating Gosvāmīs by a loincloth they have become... (break) Pṛthivīte āche yata naga... All over the world, as many villages and towns are there, preach. But this paramahaṁsa says, "No, no. I cannot go beyond Vṛndāvana." Kali's..., Kali-yuga paramahaṁsa. Practically, if I remained at Rādhā-Dāmodara temple becoming a paramahaṁsa, then how this institution would have come into existence?
Morning Walk -- January 24, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Prabhupāda: If you work hard, Lakṣmī will come. Our institution is working so hard, all our devotees. Therefore we have no scarcity. We are not bābājīs, taking a mala and smoking bidi. "I do not go beyond Vṛndāvana." Rascal, loitering and associating with so many women, and they have become puffed-up, paramahaṁsas, Rūpa Gosvāmī, imitation Rūpa Gosvāmī. Only a loincloth of Rūpa Gosvāmī.
Room Conversation With Artists and About BTG -- February 25, 1977, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: The thing is that you should not change abruptly without any sanction.(?)
Rāmeśvara: In the past I have sometimes asked you that we wanted to try to follow your example when you were first writing Back to Godhead, offering solutions to problems that people are currently bothered by, making the magazine contemporary and so on, rather than just giving them philosophy, but making it so that it can relate to their...
Prabhupāda: But we... Based on philosophy. You cannot go beyond the philosophy. Philosophy must be there. It cannot be changed. But we have to... You cannot change the wine. That should be the... So therefore, while changing, you can consult.
Rāmeśvara: Yes.
Prabhupāda: That will be...
Rāmeśvara: Now, there has been a tendency that I have observed among the writers to try to use what they call outside information sources, like quoting scientists...
Prabhupāda: That, one cannot do it unless he is very expert in transcendental knowledge. This is not possible for kaniṣṭha-adhikārī.
Bhu-mandala Discussion -- July 3, 1977, Vrndavana:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This question they're still going to put. They're still going to put this question, that they... We say, "Here is Jambūdvīpa, and this is Bhāratavarṣa on the bottom, and you cannot go beyond Bhāratavarṣa because you're conditioned. You're limited. That is our position. And within Bhāratavarṣa there is India. We accept that. Even we accept that. There are oceans. There are continents, seven continents, as described in the Bhāgavatam." So their question is: "Okay, but then how do you explain that you can go this direction and you come out in India, over, back here?"
Prabhupāda: We don't say that, that this direction, what you are saying, it is end. That is not. We say that.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That it doesn't end.
Prabhupāda: That you can go further, but you cannot go. Therefore you are thinking, "This is end of the position." The same dog mentality. He is within that small area. He is thinking, "There is no more, other space." That example is another, that bull. His eyes are closed, and he crushes the oil mill, going. He's thinking he is going three hundred miles.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They keep the eyes blinded so he won't...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...understand what's going on.
Prabhupāda: Because in one place, simply going round, going round, it makes one mad. So those eyes are closed. He is thinking, "This is the end of world."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So you have said that, but still you have not given the solution.
Prabhupāda: This is solution.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You've explained it...
Prabhupāda: Solution is that you are thinking, "This is this." You are making solution. You are making solution.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We're trying to make.
Prabhupāda: But I say, because you are limited, this is not this. What you are thinking, "This is this," that is not.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So what is it?
Prabhupāda: Kūpa-maṇḍūka, the frog in the well, he is thinking that "This is the whole water area."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then what is it? If it is not what I am thinking, then what is it?
Prabhupāda: That I am explaining. Take it.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But we can't explain it. That's the problem.
Prabhupāda: No, no, why cannot explain?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's the problem.
Prabhupāda: It is there, given in the book. What you are doing?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: According to the book, according to Bhāgavata and the picture that we have drawn, there's only one way to go from America to India.
Bhu-mandala Discussion -- July 3, 1977, Vrndavana:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's only one way to go from America to India, not two—at least to our vision. So far, we have not been able to explain it. That's our problem.
Prabhupāda: I do not... What...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, I'd better... I can bring our diagram.
Prabhupāda: Here is America. Here is India. If you go immediately, then one way, that's all.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, only one way. But they go two ways.
Prabhupāda: Two way?
Śatadhanya: From New York or from San Francisco.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They can go from New York, that direction, or they go from Los Angeles, the other way. Either way, they come to India, and they say, "That proves the world is round 'cause we can go like this or we can go this way." But we say, "No, you can only go this way." But the compass shows I am going due east...
Prabhupāda: So we don't say differently. You can go this way.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But we don't say that. Because there's no round, we say... Simply it's a lotus. It's not...
Prabhupāda: No, I... It is the same example. Just a animal is bound up, so he's going this round or this round, the same thing. But you cannot go beyond that.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That they'll... "We accept." I take the view of the scientists.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. Yes. We don't say. Suppose you are going round, you'll go this round or this round, but within the round.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. But the whole question we're saying is that we say, "No, you can only go one way."
Prabhupāda: No, I don't say.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But according to our...
Prabhupāda: If you are going round, you can go round this way or that way.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But there is no round.
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is round. You are thinking round. You are going round...
Discussion about Bhu-mandala -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: There are so many millions of stars and moons that we cannot go.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: As we are conditioned, as everyone is conditioned, our planetarium will have to show the actual facts.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That fact we have learned from Bhāgavatam.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So, so far we have not drawn this fact correctly.
Prabhupāda: That is your inability. That is another thing.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, well that's why we're... That's the question that we've raised. This question that we've raised is due to that.
Prabhupāda: That is you are unable to, but the fact is that you are conditioned. You cannot go beyond that conditioned
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's accepted.
Prabhupāda: So we are also conditioned. But as far as possible we take description from Bhāgavata, try to. That is our... Suppose here is India, here is Los Angeles. You start from India, Los Angeles..., or India, you'll come to Los Angeles. And again return to India. Similarly you start from this again going.
Correspondence
1947 to 1965 Correspondence
Letter to Mr. Bailey -- Allahabad 2 October, 1951:
The Western philosophers mostly of the Sankhya school have less aquaintance with the Vedanta Darsana and philosophers like Kant, Mill, Aristotle or Schopenhauer etc all belong to either of the above five Darsanas except Vedanta because limited human thinking power cannot go beyond that stage. But Vedanta Darsana is far beyond the limited mental speculation of the human brain conditioned by material nature. Unfortunately Sankara who belonged to the Mayavada school made a misinterpretation of the Vedanta for his own purpose to convert the Buddhists in India.
1968 Correspondence
Letter to Advaita -- Seattle 6 October, 1968:
Regarding binding: Some of our students also may learn the art, and so far I know, binding cost should not go beyond 40 cents.
1971 Correspondence
Letter to Giriraja -- London 12 August, 1971:
Tamala should not do like that. The GBC men cannot impose anything on the men of a center without consulting all of the GBC members first. A GBC member cannot go beyond the jurisdiction of his power. We are in the experimental stage but in the next meeting of the GBC members they should form a constitution how the GBC members manage the whole affair. But it is a fact that the local president is not under the control of the GBC.
1974 Correspondence
Letter to Ameyatma -- Bombay 8 December, 1974:
Regarding the sketch of the Six Goswamis I think it is some imagination. Too much imagination is not good. It is better not to go beyond the limitations as described in the Sastras. What is that scaffolding? So better not to do this idea.
1975 Correspondence
Letter to M. V. Sita Ramalai -- Bombay 16 January, 1975:
In regards to your question, we are accepting the Srimad-Bhagavatam as it is without interpretation and in that book in the 3rd chapter of the 1st canto all the incarnations of Godhead are listed. (at least the major ones are there). It is stated there that Lord Ramacandra advented and also disappeared many many 100's of thousands of years ago. This is all I can say on this matter. I cannot go beyond what the sastra says.
1977 Correspondence
| Page Title: | Go beyond |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Alakananda |
| Created: | 17 of Nov, 2008 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=2, SB=10, CC=4, OB=7, Lec=47, Con=36, Let=6 |
| No. of Quotes: | 112 |