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Hundreds and thousands (Lectures, Other)

Lectures

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 21, 1972:

Nidrayā hriyate naktaṁ vyavāyena ca vā vayaḥ. They are wasting their time, valuable time of this life either by sleeping or by sex at night. This is their night's business. And what is day's business.? Divā cārthehayā rājan. In the daytime, simply walking or running by cars. We have seen in your country. there are flyways and always cars, hundreds and thousands of cars. Sometimes I think that so many cars are going this way, and so many cars are going this way. Why they not settle up their business by telephone, that "I do here your business", "I do here,"? (laughter) But that is not possible. Because it is karmī, all of them running this way, whoosh-whoosh, and there is accident. Yes. So many thousands. How many thousands, they die every year? There is statistic. Yes.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.8 -- Vrndavana, March 15, 1974:

If you accept this, then you understand what is Kṛṣṇa. And if you manufacture another dini Kṛṣṇa, no, that will not help you. Kṛṣṇa is one, but He has got many expansions. Therefore the expansions are called āra yata saba dekha. There are... Just like Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma, Viṣṇu, Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa, Catur-vyuha Nārāyaṇa. There are hundreds and thousands of Viṣṇu-tattvas. So āra saba yata dekha tāṅra parikara, expansions. Real, original Kṛṣṇa, the Bhagavān, is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. Ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28).

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.149-171 -- San Francisco, March 18, 1967:

He conquered the mind of the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs by explanation of Vedānta-sūtra. So His, I mean to say, friend, Candraśekhara... Candraśekhara and Tapana Miśra and Sanātana Gosvāmī, they were very much pleased. Caitanya Mahāprabhu had only three or four followers at Benares. Of course, when He was on the street, hundreds and thousands of people gathered round Him. But actually, in His residence there were three, four followers only: Tapana Miśra, Candraśekhara Ācārya, Sanātana Gosvāmī, and one Maharastrian brāhmaṇa. They were very much pleased, naturally. Their Lord was victorious in that great assembly of sannyāsīs. And naturally, they were very much pleased.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.149-171 -- San Francisco, March 18, 1967:

Before Lord Caitanya, the places of pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa was forgotten. People knew only that "In these quarters Kṛṣṇa was born and His pastimes was played here." But no particular places were excavated. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu... After Caitanya Mahāprabhu sent Sanātana Gosvāmī, the importance of that tract of land known as Mathurā-Vṛndāvana became very important. And the importance of that city is due to this Sanātana Gosvāmī, because Sanātana Gosvāmī was authorized to go there and establish temples. So after Sanātana Gosvāmī and Rūpa Gosvāmī, hundreds and thousands of temples were constructed, and there are at least five thousand temples now, after Sanātana Gosvāmī.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.98-99 -- Washington, D.C., July 4, 1976:

So the śāstra says that controller or ruler is the same, and the Sanskrit synonym is īśvara. Īśvara means controller or ruler. So there are different kinds of controllers according to time, sphere. Just like in your country, the President is the controller. In other country somebody is controller. So there are many hundreds and thousands of planets within this universe, and each and every planet there is a controller. The sun planet, there is a controller. His name is Vivasvān. That we find. Similarly, the moon planet, there is a controller. Every planet, there is controller. And above all of them there is another supreme controller of the universe, the Brahma, and there are many millions of brahmāṇḍas, or universes. So there are controllers. But so far Kṛṣṇa is concerned, He is described in the śāstras, Brahma-saṁhitā, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). There are controllers, but the supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. Īśvaraḥ means controller. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His form... He has form.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 25.29 -- San Francisco, January 21, 1967:

That is accepted. That Vaiṣṇavas, or the personalists, they also accept, "Oh, their position is very high." But the difficulty is that Bhāgavata says, āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ (SB 10.2.32). Although they come to the almost nearer, but, anādṛtaḥ patanty adhaḥ. Anādṛta, because they have no shelter. Just like... It is not joke. If you go up by a sputnik some few hundreds and thousands of miles, that is not joke. That is not to be ridiculed. But the danger is that if you do not have shelter, then you come down. If you have no shelter, then what is the use of going up? That shelter is Kṛṣṇa, that supreme abode or Vaikuṇṭhaloka, kingdom of God. So because they have no idea that there is kingdom of God or God is person, you can reach there, you can talk with Him, therefore they have no shelter and their intelligence is not purified, because they have not still completed what is actual knowledge. Actual knowledge, it is stated in the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19).

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 25.36-40 -- San Francisco, January 23, 1967:

This is the sign. If you want to go to some big man, and if you take one straw in your mouth, he'll accept. He will receive you. That is the system. So dante nidhāya tṛṇakam. So Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, he says that "I have taken the straw in my mouth." Dante nidhāya tṛṇakaṁ padayor nipatya. "And I am falling down at your feet." Padayor nipatya kāku-śataṁ kṛtvā cāham. "And I am flattering you in hundreds and thousands ways." Why? Why you are so humble? What is the intention? Kāku-śataṁ kṛtvā cāhaṁ bravīmi: "I want to say something. Please hear." "All right. Say it. What is that?" He sādhava, "Oh, you are very learned man and you are very honest man." He sādhava sakalam eva vihāya dūrād. "For the time being, so long I shall speak, whatever you have learned, please set aside. Please set aside." Sakalam eva vihāya dūrād caitanya-candra-caraṇe kurutānurāgam: "Kindly hear for some time about the topics which Caitanya Mahāprabhu has presented before you." We are servant of Lord Caitanya. So, in the disciplic succession we are trying to present.

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 13-15 -- Los Angeles, May 18, 1970:

This is material sky. In the material sky this is one of the universes. There are millions and trillions of universes. And within this universe there are millions and trillions of planets. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). Jagad-aṇḍa. Jagad-aṇḍa means universe. Aṇḍa: just like an egg, this whole universe. So koṭi. Koṭi means hundreds and thousands. So in the brahmajyoti there are hundreds and thousands of these universes, and within this universe there are hundreds and thousands and thousands, unlimited number of Vaikuṇṭhas, planets. Each Vaikuṇṭha planet is predominated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Except in the Kṛṣṇa planet, all other Vaikuṇṭha planets, they are predominated by Nārāyaṇa, and each Nārāyaṇa has got different names, some of which we know. Like just we utter Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Saṅkarṣaṇa... We have got twenty-four names only, but there are many others. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33).

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 29 -- Los Angeles, November 5, 1968:

Such kind of trees, there are many, not one or two. All the places are covered by all those trees. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam. And the Lord is very much fond of cowherding. And the cows there, they are called surabhīs. Surabhī cow means you can milk as many times and as much as you like. Surabhīr abhipālayantam. And lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ (Bs. 5.29). And the Lord is always surrounded by the goddesses of fortune, lakṣmī-sahasra-śata, not one or two, but hundreds and thousands, hundreds and thousands of goddesses of fortune, they are always serving the Lord. And in this way, eternally, blissfully, the Lord is staying in His abode, which is called cintāmaṇi-dhāma. (aside:) Now, how to stop this?

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 34 -- San Francisco, September 13, 1968 :

That is called, cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu, kalpa-vṛkṣa. Kalpa means whatever you like, whatever you will. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu. Such trees are not one. Just like here in your country, as soon as you go outside the city there are hundreds and thousands of trees, there is neither fruit nor flower, but they are meant for fuel or some other purposes. But there, there are many millions of trees which are all desire trees. Whatever you want, it is present there. The tree will supply immediately. Prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu. And surabhīr abhipālayantam. Kṛṣṇa is engaged in, as, a cowherds boy. He is herding cows. What sort of cows? Surabhiḥ. Surabhiḥ means that cow supplies you milk as much as you like, and as many times you can, you like, you can draw milk from that cow. Immense supply of milk, surabhīr abhipālayantam. Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam, and the Lord is worshiped by many hundreds, thousands of goddess of fortune.

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 34 -- San Francisco, September 13, 1968 :

So, in the, in India it is the system that if anyone goes to a temple or to a saintly person, the ladies especially, and they take some grains in hand, at least one palmful, and contributes. So, ten, twenty, fifty people are coming, and it becomes sufficient for the temple-keepers. That is the system in India still. Still there are many hundreds and thousands of temples in India, and India is advertised as poverty-stricken, but all these temples are being maintain..., maintained by the people from the morsel of their food, still. They contribute. If a sannyāsī goes to the house of a householder, he will never be refused. At least he should be given a little rice, little flour. That is the system. So, so many people are coming to see them, how they have become Vaiṣṇava, saintly person, and contributing, somebody flour, somebody dahl, somebody rice, somebody fruit. "Oh," they thought. "Oh, why Nārada is sending so much? We are only two persons, husband and wife, and he is sending more than twenty person foodstuffs, daily."

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Lecture -- New York, July 28, 1971:

It is not for all. For general people, one has to undergo the regular process of austerity, but one who knows, or one who is fortunate to have the mercy of Lord Caitanya and His disciplic succession, such person, kecid, someone...

And in the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu (BG 7.3). Out of many thousands, hundreds of thousands men, manuṣyāṇām,... Especially it is said manuṣyāṇāṁ. Manuṣya means human being. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu. God realization is not meant for the animals or persons who are almost animals, or animals in the shape of human beings. Animals. At the present moment, in the shape of human beings, the population is animals, assembly of animals, because they do not know beyond the animal propensities. The animal propensities... The animal is busy all day. The bird or any beast, rising early in the morning, they are busy: "Where there is some food? Where there is some sex? How to defend?" Then, at night, "How to take shelter and sleep?"

Festival Lectures

Ratha-yatra -- San Francisco, June 27, 1971:

We have changed dresses as aquatic animals, as many fishes and aquatic animals as there are in the sea, then we are change bodies as creepers, plants and trees for many, many years. Then we change our bodies in the insect life, reptiles life, then we are change our bodies in three..., thirty hundreds of thousands of beasts, then we have got this human form of life. That is also an evolution through many uncivilized form of human life. Now this civilized form of human life, with higher intelligence and consciousness, it is meant for God realization. It is not meant for utilizing as the animals waste their time simply for eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That is not our business. That is part of our business so far the body is concerned. But as spirit soul, our main business is to understand what I am, wherefrom I have come, where I shall go, why I am under the tribulation of threefold miseries of material condition. These questions must be answered. If we do not question, just like live like animal...

Radhastami, Srimati Radharani's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 30, 1968:

That is called tapasya. So if, for tasting a little Brahman pleasure, all materialistic pleasures are to be given up, do you think that the Supreme Brahman, Lord Kṛṣṇa, is enjoying this material pleasure? Is it very reasonable? This Kṛṣṇa, He's enjoying lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam (Bs. 5.29). Hundreds and thousands of goddess of fortune are engaged in His service. Do you think these lakṣmīs are material women? How Kṛṣṇa can take pleasure in the material women? No. This is mistake. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). In the Brahma-saṁhitā you'll find that He expands His ānanda-cinmaya-rasa, the mellow of transcendental pleasure potency. And these gopīs are expansion of His pleasure potency. And Rādhārāṇī is the center. Rādhārāṇī is the center. So Rādhārāṇī is not... Don't take that Rādhārāṇī is an ordinary woman like we have our wife or sister or mother. No. She is the pleasure potency.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Hyderabad, December 10, 1976:

So keep this paramparā system. This Vyāsa-pūjā is paramparā system. Vyāsa-pūjā means to accept this paramparā system. Vyāsa. Guru is the representative of Vyāsadeva because he does not change anything. What Vyāsa-pūjā... What Vyāsadeva said, your guru will also say the same thing. Not that "So many hundreds of thousands of years have passed away. Therefore I will give you a new formula." No. There is no new formula. The same Vyāsa-pūjā, the same philosophy. Simply we have to accept it. Then our life will be successful. Thank you very much.

Varaha-dvadasi, Lord Varaha's Appearance Day Lecture -- Bhuvanesvara, January 31, 1977:

Otherwise you are in darkness, mūḍha. Duṣkṛtina, mūḍha, narādhama. Life is lost. So Kṛṣṇa has so many līlās, activities. Kṛṣṇa is not different from His activities, He is absolute. So these are the occasions we can hear about His activities. We are benefited. Therefore He plays sometimes as mīna-śarīra, as varāha-śarīra, as kūrma-śarīra. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu-kalā niyamena. There are hundreds and thousands of incarnations. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Just like you cannot count the waves of the river, it is going on continually. Similarly, the incarnation of Kṛṣṇa is going on eternally, so many. If you take the opportunity of hearing-śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ visnoḥ (SB 7.5.23)—about Viṣṇu's līlā activities... And if you simply stick to the nirakāra Brahman, what we shall hear? Therefore they fall down, these Māyāvādīs who simply take seriously the impersonal feature of Kṛṣṇa, because there is no līlā. "Brahman brahman ahaṁ brahman brahman," then how long it will go on? It will be hackneyed.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Lecture -- New Delhi, November 10, 1971:

There is a great need for this movement. We want hundreds and thousands of preachers to go outside India and preach this cult. And there are customers ready. Wherever we are opening our branches, it appears as if they are awaiting our arrival. Immediately they take up. So there is very great opportunity. You cannot compete with the Western countries by your technology, however you may make some sewing machine or cycle or Ambassador car. They are hundred years ahead. You cannot make any competition by machine. If you can give them anything and glorify your country, then this is this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then they will admit that you have something. Wherever I go, they inquire, "Oh, India is poverty-stricken. Oh, you have come that part." India is advertised as poverty. Yes, in comparison to Western country it is simply poverty-stricken. We have not enough food, nor enough, I mean to say, house, and above all you have no milk. India, the land where we hear from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that, that the, by the cows' milk in Vṛndāvana there was muddy ground. And in that India now there is powdered milk.

Arrival Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 18, 1972:

Here, you are trying to enjoy the company of young girls, but Kṛṣṇa is also doing that in the spiritual world. Sahasra-śata-sambhrama, lakṣmī. Each girl there is a goddess of fortune. Not only one, but many hundreds and thousands. They're with great respect and reverence trying to serve Kṛṣṇa. Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam. So you can also enter in the company of Kṛṣṇa, as Kṛṣṇa's friend, as Kṛṣṇa's servant, as Kṛṣṇa's consort, as Kṛṣṇa's father, anything. Everything... Here also, there are five relationship: relationship between master and servant, relationship between friend and friend, relationship between father and son, and relationship between boyfriend and girlfriend. All these relationships are emanating from Kṛṣṇa. Akhila-rasāmṛta-sindhu: the ocean of all pleasure. And Kṛṣṇa comes Himself to give you this message. Kṛṣṇa appeared five thousand years ago on this planet, and at Vṛndāvana He exhibited His real pastimes in the spiritual world, so just to give practical demonstration and to invite you there. Kṛṣṇa (is) canvassing: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66).

Arrival Lecture -- Dallas, March 3, 1975:

If he does not take birth again, so does he become zero? Śūnyavādi? No. Mām eti: "He enters into My family." Kṛṣṇa's family... Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana has got a great family. He has got His father. He has got His mother, mother Yaśodā, Nanda Mahārāja. He has got so many friends, hundreds and thousands-boyfriends, girlfriends. The trees, the plants, the flowers, the fruits, the land, the water, the cows, the calves—He is surrounded by a great family. He is not a single person. Suppose if we say, "Now the president is coming." So president means he is not only coming alone; he is coming with secretaries, his ministers, his military secretary and so many other people, some soldiers and bodyguards. He is not alone. So if a material president, insignificant, is always surrounded by his associates, so the Supreme Being, how He is associated with His surroundings, you can just imagine. He cannot be alone. That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not zero, śūnyavādi, as they say that "Everything zero after this," or nirviśeṣa, "Everything like sky." No. He is individual, person. And He says in the Bhagavad-gītā in the Second Chapter, "My dear Arjuna, you, you are a person.

Arrival Lecture -- Dallas, March 3, 1975:

He renounced His material family life. He had very nice wife, young wife, and He was young man, twenty-four years old, and there was a very affectionate mother. He had very good position in the society, Nimāi Paṇḍita. Yesterday you showed one play called Chand Kazi. So He was so influential that simply by His calling, hundreds and thousands of men immediately joined to go to the Chand Kazi's house to perform kīrtana. So just imagine what was His social position, so popular, leader. He had very good position. As a learned scholar, He was known as Nimāi Paṇḍita. Beautiful, very beautiful body, Gaurasundara. Very beautiful wife. Very honored brāhmaṇa, Jagannātha Miśra's son, grandson of Nīlāmbara Cakravartī, very social, aristocratic position. But still, He gave up everything. That means that although He had nothing material, but to show us that material things should be renounced, that is sannyāsa; and enter into the spiritual family of Kṛṣṇa.

Arrival Lecture -- San Francisco, July 15, 1975:

One, two, three, four, five, thousand, ten thousand, million? But there are unlimited, asāṅkhyā. Jīva bhāva sa..., asāṅkhyā. You cannot count how many. Suppose you can become friend of your children at home or your friend's wife, sons and others. But how you can become friends the elephant in the African jungle? You cannot become. But you will see. There are hundreds and thousands of elephants in the jungle of Africa. They are eating, sleeping, very nicely. Who is supplying their necessities? God is supplying. You will find in your room in a hole that thousands of ants are coming out. Are you giving them food? Who is supplying food?

So therefore God is actually the friend of everybody. That is a fact. But we rascals, we are claiming, "I shall be your friend. I shall be your leader." Therefore the leader, so-called leader, is not in peace. How it can be? All leaders are trying to keep his position some way or other, and that is very difficult job, no peace. That is not possible. You know. Your president, Mr. Nixon, wanted to keep himself in the position.

Initiation Lectures

Lecture & Initiation -- Seattle, October 20, 1968:

Yes. Just like there are many nonsense, they say that demigods... Of course, you have no affairs with demigods. Vedic religion there are hundreds and thousands of demigods. Especially it is going on that either you worship Kṛṣṇa or Lord Śiva or Kali, the same thing. This is nonsense. You should not, I mean to, place on the same level with the Supreme Lord. Nobody is greater than Lord. Nobody is equal than the Lord. So this equality should be avoided. Then?

Talk, Initiation Lecture, and Ten Offenses Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 1, 1968:

People are not attracted with this dress in kīrtana party? (laughs) This bare head with tilaka and this dress, they will know that they are coming from, directly from the kingdom of God. (laughs) Actually it is so. They have forgotten God; otherwise they would have received these brahmacārīs so nicely. In India, oh, you'll be received just like gods with this dress. Hundreds and thousands of people will come to receive you. Yes. That is sufficient. (kīrtana) So how Bīrabhadra is feeling? (Bīrabhadra answers?) He has got pains in the body?

Talk, Initiation Lecture, and Ten Offenses Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 1, 1968:

So those who are going to be initiated, they should, especial... Everyone should note it, that we should train our tongue not to talk nonsense things. You see? Simply talk of Kṛṣṇa. We have got so many subject matter. We have got Bhagavad-gītā, we have got Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we have got Teachings of Lord Caitanya—so many books, hundreds and thousands, Upaniṣads, Veda, Vedānta, any one you select—talk. Just like Ambarīṣa. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane (SB 9.4.18). Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, he set a very nice example, that he fixed up his mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, and when he was speaking, he was talking about Kṛṣṇa. So just try to utilize your tongue. It doesn't matter whether it is contaminated or purified, but the process is purificatory. You just train your tongue nicely, engage in Kṛṣṇa. So if you can talk, you go, preach, talk of Kṛṣṇa, talk of Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, lecture anywhere. Then you'll be doing the best service to the people and to yourself.

Initiation Lecture -- Hamburg, August 27, 1969:

So if you constantly keep yourself associated with Kṛṣṇa by chanting this mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, then just imagine how you are being easily purified simply by this process, chanting, jihvādau, engaging the tongue in chanting. And your tongue wants very palatable dishes to taste. So Kṛṣṇa is very kind. He has given you hundreds and thousands of palatable dishes, remnants of foodstuff eaten by Him. You eat. In this way, if you simply make it a determination that "I shall not allow my tongue to taste anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa, and I shall engage my tongue always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa," then all perfection is within your hold. All perfection. Two simple things: Don't eat anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Our Kṛṣṇa prasādam are so variegated, nice varieties... The variety is the mother of enjoyment. How much enjoyment you want with your tongue? You can have simply by eating Kṛṣṇa prasādam. And the more your tongue is purified, the more you relish the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Relish. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam.

Initiations -- Sydney, April 2, 1972:

And at the time of his death, because there were seven days only, so he wanted to do something which may emancipate him. So the Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he arrived in the meeting and he advised him to hear about Kṛṣṇa. In this connection he spoke this verse, śrotavyādīni rājendra nṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśaḥ: (SB 2.1.2) "For ordinary man, there are many, many hundreds and thousands of subject matters for hearing. But this, these engagement are for those who are apaśyatām ātma-tattvam (SB 2.1.2), persons who do not know what is he, what he is, what is self. They have got many things to hear. But one who is interested for self-realization—that is the only business of human life—for him, he should only hear about Kṛṣṇa." Therefore he was addressed as Rājendra. Try to become like Mahārāja Parīkṣit. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Take this. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Next.

General Lectures

Lecture Engagement -- Montreal, June 15, 1968:

I am acting on the concept of my life as this body. Because this body is born of a particular place in a particular country, therefore I am saying that "I am American," or "Indian," or "China" or "German," due to this body. And because I have got relationship with some woman with this body, therefore I accept the woman as my wife. There are hundreds of thousands of women, but the woman who has got relationship with this body is my wife. There are thousands and millions of children, but one child who has got intimate relation with this body I call my son. So if the body falsely identified, then we can understand that our identification with this world is also false. The real identification is, as it is stated in the Vedic literature, ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am Brahman." "I am Brahman" means "I am spirit soul. I am not this matter." So this misconception has to be removed.

Lecture Excerpt -- Montreal, July 18, 1968:

Cloud cannot cover the sun. There may be a cloud overcast in the sky for hundred miles, but even hundred miles, is it possible to cover the sun, hundred miles cloud? The sun is itself so many hundreds of thousand times more than this earth. So māyā cannot cover the Supreme Brahman. Māyā can cover the small particles Brahman. So we may become covered by māyā or cloud, but the Supreme Brahman is never covered by māyā. That is the difference of opinion between Māyāvāda philosophy and Vaiṣṇava philosophy. The Māyāvāda philosophy says that the Supreme is covered. The Supreme cannot be covered. Then how He becomes supreme? The covering becomes supreme. Oh, there are so many arguments and so many... But we follow that the cloud covers the small particles of sunshine. But sun remains as it is. And we practically see also when we go by jet plane, we are over the cloud.

Lecture on Teachings of Lord Caitanya -- Seattle, September 25, 1968:

So we are very much proud of our advancement of knowledge, but actually there is no solution for these four principles of miseries. There is no remedy. They are trying to control birth rate, janma, but still, every minute there are increasing, the population of the world is increasing. Similarly, they are trying to save people from death, but still, people are dying in hundreds and thousands. And they are trying to get out of this old age. So many medicines, so many cosmetics, but old age is taking place. And so far disease, we can discover many high-grade medicines, but there is no stoppage of disease. So one should be very intelligent that there is no remedy for these four kinds of miseries, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi. And a learned man should be inquisitive, "If there is any remedy?" So Sanātana Gosvāmī is presenting himself before Lord Caitanya, that "People say that I am very learned man. But I am so learned man that I do not know what I am and why I am suffering from these miseries although I do not like to suffer."

Lecture -- Seattle, October 4, 1968:

Everything is incomplete. You can supply your family, you can supply your society, you can supply your country, but you cannot supply everyone. But there are millions and trillions of living entities. Who is supplying food? Who is supplying hundreds and thousands of ants within the hole in your room? Who is supplying food? When you go to the green lake there are thousands of ducks. Who is taking care of them? But they are living. There are millions of sparrows, birds, beasts, elephants. At one time he eats hundred pounds. Who is supplying food? Not only here, but there are many millions and trillions of planets and universes everywhere. That is God. Nityo nityānām eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Everyone is dependent on Him, and He is supplying all the necessities, all the necessities. Everything complete. Just like this planet, everything is complete.

Class in Los Angeles -- Los Angeles, November 15, 1968:

The leader(s) themselves, they are blind. They do not know what is the ultimate goal of life. Therefore our position is that we are blind and our leaders are blind, so what will be the result? If a blind man leads other hundred men to cross over the street, certainly there will be some accident because all of them are blind men. If one man is with eyes, open eyes, he can lead hundreds and thousands of men behind him. But if the leader and the led, both of them are blind, then the result will be that all of them will fall into the ditch. So, andhā yathāndair upanīyamānā te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ. They're promising, "My dear citizens, my dear countrymen, if you give me vote, because the country needs me at the present moment, then I shall give you all comforts, all solutions." But he is īśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ. By the laws of God, by the laws of nature, he is tightly packed up. You see? If your hands are tightly knotted, if your legs are tightly, then how you can work? So these leaders, they do not know that they are under the control of the stringent laws of nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27).

Lecture -- Hawaii, March 23, 1969:

All taken together, that is called material world. Yasya prabhā prabhavato... (Bs. 5.40).

In the Brahma-saṁhitā we get this information: yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Jagad-aṇḍa. Jagad-aṇḍa means universes. Koṭi means innumerable, hundreds of thousands multiplied by another hundred, hundred, hundred. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said that this universe is a grain of mustard seed in the bag of a mustard seeds. Just imagine. Can anyone count what is the number of mustards seeds in a bag, in a one-ton or two-ton bag? Innumerable. It is beyond our experience. But there are so many universes just like packed up in a bag. This is called material world. So what to speak of the spiritual world? The spiritual world is at least three times greater than this material world. That information we get from Bhagavad-gītā. Ekāṁśena sthito... Ekam means one part. Even you take...

Lecture Excerpt -- New York, April 12, 1969:

Such a book of wisdom, knowledge. There is no comparison in the world. Take it philosophically or religiously or any way, there is no comparison. And renunciation. When Kṛṣṇa was present, His Yadu dynasty consisted of many hundreds of thousands members. And before His departure He finished them and went away. Renunciation. So my request to you all, that don't accept God very cheaply. If you don't like God, that's nice. That's not... Nobody is blaming you. But don't accept a false God. That will be great blunder. Don't do that. Try to understand actually what is God. And the man who is claiming, "I am God," whether he has got such qualification. That can be tested by only three, six things. Try—whether he's richest than all the people of his contemporary life. Is he the richest than all? Or is he the strongest man than all? Or is he the most reputed person than all? Or is he most beautiful? Or most wise? You have to test like that.

Lecture Excerpt -- New York, April 12, 1969:

So our students in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, wherever it is possible, try to preach this principle. God is not so cheap that any rascal can come and claim that "I am God," or anyone can claim as God. This is most foolish claim. Our Vedic literature gives hundreds and thousands of description how God is to be understood. In the Upaniṣad it is stated, eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He is the chief amongst the living entities. He is the chief amongst the eternals. How He is chief? He is one. God is one. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He is one living entity, supreme living entity, and He is supplying the necessities of all other living entities. That is God—whether He is supplying necessities of all other living entities. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Similarly, there are many descriptions about God. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). Jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ. In each universe there is a chief man, just like Lord Brahmā. Just like in your country the chief man is the president, Mr. Nixon, similarly, in this universe the chief man is Lord Brahmā. And in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, Brahmā's age you cannot calculate even one day. He's living so long a duration of life. But he's not independent. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya (Bs. 5.48).

Lecture -- New York, April 16, 1969:

They do not know what is life. They take it very easily, this life, just like animals. "If I can eat nicely, if I can sleep nicely, if I can have sex life nicely, and if I can defend my country or my home nicely, then my business is finished." This is the modern way of civilization. They take account of the small portion of our life. Just like in the cinema film spool, there are hundreds and thousands of pictures, and that makes one complete picture. Similarly, we are passing through the different phases of life. So out of many thousands of pictures within the film spool, if I simply take care of one picture, that is not very intelligent. That is foolishness. If we take, "Oh, this picture is very nice," that's all—no. So we are passing through many phases of life, different dresses. Vāsāṁsi. Bhagavad-gītā says, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like I am putting on this dress. If it is dirty or if it is very old, then I change; I accept another dress. Similarly, this body is also like that. When it is dirty or when it is old enough, not to be used, then we change to another body, and this body we leave. This is the whole instruction of all Vedic literature.

Lecture Engagement and Prasada Distribution -- Boston, April 26, 1969:

"That Supreme Personality of Godhead Nārāyaṇa is Kṛṣṇa, who is born as the son of Devakī and Vasudeva." So, so far Indian scholars... I don't speak of modern scholars. Those who are authorized scholars of bygone ages, admitted by the Vedic society—Śaṅkarācārya, Rāmānujācārya, and Viṣṇu Svāmī, Nimbārka—and they are stalwarts. And there are many hundreds and thousands of temples of Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu, in India. If you have ever gone, you might have seen. In Vṛndāvana, only a small city of people, there are five thousand Kṛṣṇa temples. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very strong and very old in India. And if you also accept this, without any loss on your part, you will be happy. You will be happy. That is the process of peace.

Lecture -- Bombay, November 2, 1970:

Mahāprabhu has said, ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa-tanayaḥ. Ārādhyaḥ, worshipable Deity, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, who appeared as the son of Mahārāja Nanda, vrajeśa. Ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa-tanayas tad-dhāma vṛndāvanam. Similarly, His place, Vṛndāvana, is also worshipable. Therefore those who are Vaiṣṇavas, especially Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas, they live in Vṛndāvana in numbers. There are hundreds and thousands of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava still living in Vṛndāvana, because they worship the land, Vṛndāvana, as good as Kṛṣṇa because it is Kṛṣṇa's place.

So the sanātana-dhāma... Vṛndāvana is also part of the sanātana-dhāma. The living entity is sanātana, eternal, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). He do not die after destruction of this body. This is the preliminary instruction to understand Vedic knowledge, or spiritual knowledge. If you do not understand the plain fact that "I am not this body. I am spirit soul. I live within this body..." Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Dehinaḥ. Dehinaḥ means the proprietor of the body.

Lecture on Teachings of Lord Caitanya -- Bombay, March 17, 1971:

So if you have prepared your life for going to the higher planetary systems, in the moon planet or sun planet or..., there are so many hundreds and thousands and millions of planets up, and similarly down, and similarly in the middle. Catur (indistinct), fourteen worlds. So, ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā (BG 14.18). If you have developed sattva-guṇa then you will be allowed to go to the upper planets.

Pandal Lecture at Cross Maidan -- Bombay, March 26, 1971:

That is called sense enjoyment. But you, just to keep yourself fit, just to keep your body fit for giving service to the Lord, you can eat Kṛṣṇa prasāda. And so far Kṛṣṇa prasāda is concerned, it is not very bad; it is very good. We offer... Of course, those who are followers of Vedic principles of life, they know how nice foodstuff can be offered to Kṛṣṇa. There are hundreds and thousands of varieties of fruits. There is nice grains also, there is nice milk also, there is sugar also. So you can prepare nice foodstuff on these ingredients which are considered sattvika, sattvikāhāra. Fruits, grains, vegetables, and sugar, rice, wheat, they are considered as sattvikāhāra. So you can prepare. Kṛṣṇa also says that patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord. He can eat everything. Just like we have evidences from His life, sometimes He ate fire. Blazing fire in the forest, He ate up. So He can eat everything because He is God. He has got the potency of accepting anything. That is a different thing. But when He demands from His devotees, He says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, March 31, 1971:

All these boys and girls who are dancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, four years ago, four years back, they never heard of Kṛṣṇa. Of course, some of them knew Bhagavad-gītā, because Bhagavad-gītā is very widely read. But because Bhagavad-gītā was not properly presented, although for the last hundred or two hundred or more than that years, Bhagavad-gītā is widely read all over the world, there was not a single Kṛṣṇa-bhakta. But since Bhagavad-gītā is being presented as it is, within four years there are hundreds and thousands of Kṛṣṇa-bhaktas. That is our point, that you present the thing as it is, without any adulteration. Just like milk, pure milk, if you supply, automatically there will be many customers. But if you sell milk adulteration, adulterating with water, you can cheat somebody for some time, but you cannot cheat all for all the time. That is not possible. So it is now necessary. It is India's culture. People are hankering after this culture, Kṛṣṇa culture. So you should prepare yourself to present Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Then India will conquer all over the world by this Kṛṣṇa culture. Be... Rest assured. We are hankering after help from others. Our government men go there in America: "Please give us wheat. Please give us money.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 6, 1971:

To understand Kṛṣṇa in truth, tattvataḥ, it is very difficult. Out of many hundreds and thousands of people one tries to make his life successful by spiritual advancement, by accepting so many processes, jñāna-yoga, karma-yoga, dhyāna-yoga. And out of many perfect persons..., or, not perfect. Out of many persons who have succeeded in such processes, one may understand Kṛṣṇa. That is difficult also. So without Kṛṣṇa's mercy... The conclusion is: without Kṛṣṇa's mercy, nobody can understand Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is futile to explain Kṛṣṇa, to comment on Bhagavad-gītā, without being a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. That is a fact. It is not that because one is very learned scholar or because one is very learned scientist or philosopher... Without any Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is not possible for him to understand Kṛṣṇa. Athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi (SB 10.14.29). Na cānya eko 'pi ciraṁ vicinvan. Others, they may go on speculating for thousands and thousands of years; still, they will not be able to understand what is Kṛṣṇa.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 7, 1971:

Because in the excessive heat we are troubled. And wherefrom this excessive heat comes? It comes from the material nature. Therefore our struggle for existence is to fight with the impositions of the material nature. So Kṛṣṇa says that in this way fighting, you cannot get out of the clutches of māyā. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). It is very difficult. You may have hundreds and thousands of electric fans, but still you will have to feel the effect of excessive heat. You cannot avoid it. Similarly, you may have hundreds or thousands of heating arrangements; still, you have to feel the effects of the cooling effect of winter season. You cannot... Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (BG 2.14). We have traveled all over the world. I have seen different climatic influence, how people are suffering. In the Western countries they are thinking that "Indians are very happy because the country is very warm," and we are thinking that "The Western people are very happy because the country is very cold."

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 7, 1971:

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu says—He is Lord Kṛṣṇa also—bhārate-bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra. Especially for the Indians. Indians have got special prerogative for spreading this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement all over the world. (applause)

So why you are neglecting your duty? Prepare hundreds and thousands of preachers from India and send outside. This rascaldom, fighting with one another always, it will be forgotten. There will be one under this flag of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is need of such preachers. We should open regular school or teaching institution for preparing preachers all over the world. That is needed. This Bombay city is very nice city. You can do that. We can help you how to do it. Lord Caitanya Himself preached. Although He was very young man, at that time only twenty-four years old, for preaching work He sacrificed everything. He sacrificed His nice, beautiful wife, He left His old mother, His popularity at Navadvīpa as a great scholar and beautiful boy, and He accepted sannyāsa just for the purpose of preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. These are the examples.

Lecture -- San Francisco, June 28, 1971:

It cannot be bad; it is good, provided we follow the rules and regulations. Everything is good. Therefore we are consult various śāstras. Nana-śāstra-vicaraṇaika-nipunau, vicāra. Vicāra means to study them with careful attention. Vicāra. Nana-śās... So these Gosvāmīs were studying many kinds of Vedic literatures. There are hundreds and thousands of Vedic literature—primarily four Vedas, Sama, Yajur, Atharva, Ṛg, Atharva. Then from the Vedas, there are supplementary Vedas, which are called Purāṇas, eighteen Purāṇas. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is one of the Purāṇas, Mahā-Purāṇa. Then there is, there are Mahābhārata, "The Great History of India." Bhārata means India, and Mahā means greater, greater India. The greater India was the whole planet. The whole planet was Bhārata-varṣa. Now it is crippled. It has become a small tract of land. But originally everywhere, this portion of the world, America, it was also Bhārata-varṣa. Sapta-dvīpa, seven islands. Seven islands.

Lecture -- Bombay, March 19, 1972:

Therefore you can see that materially there are so many attempts to find out a platform of universal brotherhood. But there is no universal brotherhood. There is simply platform of enemy. The United Nation is trying to come to the platform of universal brotherhood. When I go to New York, I see the great institution. There are hundreds and thousands of flags. Instead of being united, the flags are increasing, because this universal brotherhood, this equality, fraternity, cannot be established on this material platform. It is not possible. You have to come to the point, to the platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or brahma bhūta stage, then it is possible.

Lecture at Christian Monastery -- Melbourne, April 6, 1972:

And another example can be given. These are Vedic examples. Just like the fire and the sparks of the fire. We have seen, experienced. When there is fire, sometimes there is some sound, "Phut!" immediately hundreds and thousands of sparks coming out. Now these sparks, they are also fire, but not as big as the original fire. But they are fire. Therefore our philosophy, we, following the footsteps of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu: acintya bhedābheda-tattva. The difference is simultaneously we are one with God and different from God. One in quality. God is spirit; we are also spirit. He is Supersoul; we are individual. But God is great, and we are minute fragment. That is difference. Therefore, simultaneously we are one and different, one in quality but different in quantity. You accept also, "God is great." And we say that nobody can be greater than God, neither anyone can be equal to God. That is our philosophy. Asama urdhva. Asama. Sama means equal. Nobody can be equal to God. That is not possible. God is one. You may have some understanding that in the Vedic literature there is mention of many demigods. But the demigods, they are also living entities, a little more powerful than the human beings. That's all. Just like here, in this world also, we find somebody is more powerful than others. But that does not mean he is God. God is supreme, all-powerful.

Town Hall Lecture -- Auckland, April 14, 1972:

According to Vedic system, amongst the learned scholars, if one presents Vedic evidences, then his position is strong. Just like in law court, two lawyers are arguing. One lawyer who quotes from the lawbook various bona fide quotations, the judgment is given in his favor because that is authorized. Similarly, a Vedic statement is accepted in Indian spiritual society. There are hundreds and thousands of men who are still dedicated. Practically the whole population of India, they are dedicated to spiritual life. Perhaps you may not know, but anyone who has taken birth in India, he has got a natural inheritance of spiritual life. Unfortunately, at the present moment the leaders are under wrong impression that in India, being too much spiritually inclined, its material advancement has been checked. But material advancement does not become hampered by spiritual knowledge. That is a wrong impression. Rather, if you become spiritually advanced, your material necessities will be very nicely adjusted. That is the injunction, Bhagavad-gītā, yuktāhāra-vihārasya yogo bhavati siddhi-da. Yoga... Spiritual life means yoga. So yogic life can be very nicely successful if you adjust your material necessities of life.

Town Hall Lecture -- Auckland, April 14, 1972:

Is there any loss? (break) We are all businessmen. We calculate everything in terms of loss and profit. So there is no loss. That's a fact. But if there is any profit, why don't you try it? If there is any profit... There is profit. These boys, these European and American boys who are with me, there are hundreds and thousands of them... They have sacrificed their life. Unless there is some profit... They are not fools. They are not coming of foolish parents or foolish nation. Unless there is some profit, how they are doing? There must be some profit. So without any investment of your money, without losing your time, if you get some spiritual profit, why don't you take this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement? That is our plea. We are imploring everyone. If you think that there are many objection, "If I keep one picture of Kṛṣṇa or I offer Him something, fruits and flowers," all right, don't do that. But what is the objection if you chant? You have got freedom, Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Town Hall Lecture -- Auckland, April 14, 1972:

We are trying with little effort to give this education to the people. It is essential because Kṛṣṇa says, gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca. So far material part of our existence is concerned, there are so many institutions or so many government. They are taking... Just like take, for example, hospital. There are hundreds and thousands of hospital, but where is the hospital for treating the spirit soul? They have no knowledge. They have no knowledge even, what to speak of hospital. This is the hospital. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness temple is the hospital for the diseased spirit soul. And everyone is diseased. Come to this hospital. We shall take care of you and cure your material disease.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture at Art Gallery -- Auckland, April 16, 1972:

We cannot study even one universal position, but we get information from this Brahma-saṁhitā that there are innumerable universes. And in each and every universes there are innumerable planets. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Jagad-aṇḍa means universe, and koṭi means hundreds and thousands. One hundred times of one hundred thousand. That means innumerable. There are innumerable universes—innumerable suns, innumerable moons, innumerable planets. So this is being possible in the effulgence, brahmajyoti, of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's bodily effulgence is called brahmajyoti. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, brāhmaṇaḥ ahaṁ pratiṣṭhā. The brahmajyoti... Those who are jñānīs, those who are trying to approach the Absolute Truth by mental speculation, by dint of our teeny knowledge, they can, utmost, approach to this brahmajyoti. But that brahmajyoti is only emanation of the bodily effulgence of Kṛṣṇa. Yasya prabhā prabhavato (Bs. 5.40). Just like the light and the illumination is coming from the light, from that localized bulb, similarly, the brahmajyoti is coming out. Just like the sunshine, the best example, the sunshine, illumination of the sunlight, sunshine, is coming from the sun planet.

Lecture at Art Gallery -- Auckland, April 16, 1972:

So it is not very astonishing if by 1980 there are majority population, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and dance. There is no... Because it is growing. Now, here is a girl, my disciple. His (her) original name was Janne. Now he (she) is devotee. And she was dancing in a different way. Now she is dancing Kṛṣṇa conscious. She was a very reputed artist, you know, in Australia. Now she has given that. She was earning hundreds and thousands of dollars, but she has given up everything. Now she is Jagat-tarani: she is delivering the world by dancing with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So that is quite possible. It is very simple. Therefore there is every possibility. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 9.59). Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā, when one sees better thing, he gives up the inferior thing. That is nature. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is better engagement of life. So as soon as one understands this philosophy, he gives up the lower engagement and comes to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, January 14, 1973:

Ārādhya, worshipable Deity, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, who appeared as the son of Mahārāja Nanda. Vrajeśa. Ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa-tanayas tad-dhāma vṛndāvanam. Similarly, His place Vṛndāvana is also worshipable; therefore those who are Vaiṣṇavas, especially Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇava, they live in Vṛndāvana in numbers. There are hundreds and thousands of Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇava still living in Vṛndāvana because they worship the land, Vṛndāvana, as good as Kṛṣṇa because it is Kṛṣṇa's place.

So the sanātana-dhāma. Vṛndāvana is also part of the sanātana-dhāma. The living entity is sanātana, eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). We do not die after destruction of this body. This is the preliminary instruction to understand Vedic knowledge, or spiritual knowledge. If you do not understand the plain fact that "I am not this body, I am spirit soul. I live within this body..."

Arrival -- Dallas, May 19, 1973:

This Bhāgavata-dharma especially, first thing is, the children from the very beginning of their life should be given instruction on religious principles of life. What are the religious principles? Religious principle means to understand what is God. That is religious principle. It doesn't matter whether you are Christian or Hindu or Muslim or any... There are many hundreds and thousands patterns of religious system, but according to our Bhāgavata school, we accept that religion as first class which teaches how to love God. That is religion. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). That system of religion is first class wherein the followers are given lessons how to love God. Unfortunately, at the present moment there is no question of how to teach them for loving God. They deny the existence of God. This is the present situation. People have become so rascal that they do not believe in the existence of God. Or somebody believes... Not believes. That is affirmed. Some of them say, "God is dead.

Lecture What is a Guru? -- London, August 22, 1973:

Must go to guru. Not "a" guru; "the" guru. Guru is one. Because as it is explained by our Revatīnandana Mahārāja, guru is coming from the disciplic succession. What five thousand years ago Vyāsadeva instructed or Kṛṣṇa instructed, the same thing we are also instructing. Therefore there is no difference between instruction. Therefore guru is one. Although hundreds and thousands of ācāryas have come and gone, but the message is one. Therefore guru cannot be two. Real guru will not talk differently. Some guru says that "In my opinion, you should like this," and some guru will say, "In my opinion you'll do this"—they are not guru; they are all rascals. Guru has no "own" opinion. Guru has got only one opinion, the same opinion which was expressed by Kṛṣṇa, Vyāsadeva or Nārada or Arjuna or Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu or the Gosvāmīs. You'll find the same thing. Five thousand years ago, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa spoke Bhagavad-gītā and Vyāsadeva wrote it, recorded it. Vyāsadeva does not say that "It is my opinion."

Lecture -- Hong Kong, January 31, 1974:

You eat your own foodstuff. Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthāḥ. This is life. Food is already there, but the difficulty is that we do not know that we should be satisfied with the foodstuff allotted to us by God. Īśāvāsya. The foodstuff belongs to Kṛṣṇa, God. You cannot manufacture in the factory this nice foodstuff—apple, orange, banana and others, so many hundreds and thousands. So therefore the only business of human form of life is to inquire about the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Being. That should be our inquiry. That should be the subject matter of education. Not how to eat, how to sleep, how to mate. These things do not require education. Because the animals, they also know. So everyone knows what is his foodstuff, how to sleep. When there is..., you feel sleepy, he does not ask for "Give me a good apartment, good bedstead." You'll lie down anywhere and enjoy sleeping. Similarly, how to enjoy sex life, nobody requires university education.

Pandal Speech and Question Session -- Delhi, November 10, 1973:

Brahma-bhūta means he is learned scholar, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, self-realized; therefore he has no such distinction that "Give protection to the human being and send the poor animals to the slaughterhouse. Equality." What equality? What the poor animals have done that you are sending them to the slaughterhouse? Is that civilization, this rubbish civilization, maintaining hundreds and thousands of slaughterhouse? So simply speaking "love," "fraternity..." Where is your fraternity? Where is your love? This cannot be possible. This may be big talks only—but to be understood by the nonsense. Unless you become brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20), self-realized, Kṛṣṇa conscious, God conscious, these things are only stories. It is not possible. This is the description in the Bhagavad-gītā.

Public Speech -- Bad Homburg, Germany, June 22, 1974:

Each planet, each and every planet, has got different atmosphere. So unless your body is completely competent to live in such planet, you cannot go there. Just like the scientists say that in the moon planet the temperature is two hundred degrees below zero. Similarly, in the sun planet, the temperature is very, very high, hundred and thousand times degrees above the normal. So in this way every planet has got different atmosphere, different temperature, different standard of life, different duration of life. So one has to become competent to transfer himself in a particular type of planet. So we, as spirit soul, dehi, the possessor of this body... Dehi means one who possesses this body or the occupier of the body, the spirit soul. That is eternal, changing body only, but eternal. Therefore we should not be interested to these different types of temporary body. That is not very good intelligence. So we have to prepare ourself, if we want. There are the full description of each and every planet, and we can prepare ourself according to our desire which planet we wish to go. But Kṛṣṇa says, mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām: (BG 9.25) "Persons who are engaged in My occupational duties, they will come to Me."

Speech -- Vrndavana, April 20, 1975:

And especially in India, because if in India the people are generally Kṛṣṇa conscious. By artificial means they are trying to forget. This is the position. This should be stopped. They have got natural tendency for becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. Therefore in these days, still so many hundreds and thousands of people coming to Vṛndāvana to relish the transcendental mellow of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And now the foreigners are also attracted to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And I am trying to place them in our temple. This temple is one of them. We have got four, five temples in India. We are constructing one big temple in Hyderabad, and we are getting good response. So it is our request to the leaders of the society and to the people of India that they may take this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement, Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, very seriously. It will be good for everyone and the whole world will become peaceful. We do not expect that throughout the whole world everyone will take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But even five percent, two percent, three percent people takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there will be great example. Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhaḥ lokas tad anuvartate (BG 3.21).

Speech to Devotees -- Vrndavana, April 7, 1976:

"You cannot become guru all of a sudden. You must take order from Me." He is jagad-guru. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says you, all of you, to become guru and deliver. Because there are so many innumerable fallen souls in this age-mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10)—we require hundreds and thousands of gurus. But not cheaters. This is the time when requires hundreds and thousands of gurus. But who will become guru? That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's injunction, āmāra ājñāya: "By My order you become guru. Don't be all of a sudden guru. Become guru on My order."

So what is the order of Caitanya Mahāprabhu? He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa Himself. Śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya rādhā-kṛṣṇa nahe anya. Kṛṣṇa varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam... (SB 11.5.32). He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. As Kṛṣṇa orders by directly, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), Kṛṣṇa can do that. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa, but He is acting as devotee.

Address to Rotary Club -- Chandigarh, October 17, 1976:

We are calculating of loss and gain. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that "Even one moment of our life, if it is lost, then you cannot get it back even by paying hundreds and thousands of dollars." One moment of this day, if it is lost, you cannot get it back by paying hundreds and thousands of dollars. So if the moments of your life is spent uselessly, then how much loss you are suffering, you just imagine. Therefore our request is that we have got this valuable life, human form of life, bahu-sambhavānte, after many, many births in the evolutionary process. Now we should try to understand what is Brahman. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Don't spoil it otherwise. And that brahma-jijñāsā and answer is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). Bhagavad-gītā instruction is given just to bring you back to Brahman consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not this bodily consciousness. Bodily consciousness is there in the dog and the cat. So that is not very glorification. We should come to the Brahman consciousness, then brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā. Then you'll be jubilant. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati-samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu (BG 18.54).

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Prabhupāda: Transcendental knowledge means knowledge received from a source which is beyond the reach of my material senses. That is transcendental. Just like we are reading Bhagavad-gītā. So we have no knowledge that there is a spiritual world, but Kṛṣṇa says that there is another nature, a spiritual nature, beyond this material nature. So we understand through the source of transcendental knowledge. We cannot experience. That is explained, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. God, His name, His qualities, His pastimes—nothing can be understood by these material senses. But if you engage yourself in service, they become revealed. That will become confirmed: "Yes, there is Vaikuṇṭha, there is Vṛndāvana, where Kṛṣṇa's pastimes are going on, and I am perceiving myself." These things become revealed gradually, not abruptly you can understand. Therefore common men cannot understand that they say " 'Going back to home, back to Godhead?' What nonsense they are saying?" They cannot understand, because it is transcendental, beyond the reach of these gross senses. But it is revealed: sevonmukhe. If you become submissive, if you engage yourself in the service of the Lord, guru-Kṛṣṇa, and the spiritual master, then these things become revealed. Now one who has got the knowledge by revelation, nobody can mislead him. Just like we believe in the transcendental abode, cintāmaṇi, Goloka Vṛndāvana. If somebody pays out millions of dollars and asks you to forget all these things, we cannot do that. If you give him hundreds and thousands of dollars, that "You believe in this," no, he will not believe. That is transcendental knowledge. So transcendental knowledge is not speculation. It is receiving from higher authority and gradually, by your service attitude, things become clear to you. That is transcendental.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: Well, Hitler came not as a king, he came as a usurper. He's not king. That is going on that any rascal, somehow or other he gets power, he becomes the head. But he has no training how to become actually the protector of the citizens. Therefore after the whole world is in trouble. He whimsically declares war and involve all the citizens, implicate. Therefore this support to monarchy is better in this sense that a person, by saint to saint, or by disciplic succession, or hereditary succession, he can be trained and if one man is trained nicely, he can govern over hundreds and thousands inhabitants(?) very nicely.

Śyāmasundara: He says that in a well-ordered monarchy, the law alone has objective power to which the monarch has got to affix the subjective "I will". In other words the law alone rules, the king is simply the order-supplier for the law.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: If I say that frogs or many others animals lay eggs, millions... Just like the snake. They give birth to so many hundreds and thousands of snakes at a time. So, if so many snakes are allowed to exist, then there will be disturbance. Therefore the nature's law is that the big snake eats up the small, small snakes. That is nature's law. But behind this nature's law there is brain. That is our proposition: that nature's law is not blind. There is brain, and that brain is God. We get it from Bhagavad-gītā: mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). So whatever things are happening in the material nature, it is being done by the indication of the Supreme Lord in order to maintain everything in order. Just like the snake is laying eggs, thousands. If they are not killed, then the whole world will be full of snakes only. So there is a plan that the snakes will eat. Just like tiger. Tiger, they also have their cubs, but the male tiger kills them and the female tiger hides them. So many tigers are coming out. So that is another economic Malthus theory that whenever there is large number of population there must be some war, some epidemic, some earthquake, like that. They should die. So these natural activities are planned; they are not chance. As he is saying, "chance," that means he has no sufficient knowledge.

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That's all right. If your knowledge is limited, then you cannot generalize. Therefore our conclusion is that we don't take knowledge from anyone whose power is limited. There are four defects of the ordinary man—he may be John Stuart Mill or something—because he's to commit mistakes, he's illusioned. Just like he's talking of that induction, studying all men. This is an illusion. He cannot study. Suppose you have hundreds and thousands of men you have studied. That does not mean the whole set of human being is finished. That is, therefore, this theory is illusion. And because he's an ordinary man, he's illusioned that it is possible. So these are the defects. One commits mistakes, one is illusioned, one cheats. This is cheating also. The theory which he is putting forward is never possible to be executed, and still he's posing himself that he is philosopher. That is cheating. His senses are imperfect. He cannot do that. And still he proposes the theory. That is cheating. So these four defects are there: committing mistake, to illusion, to cheat others, and studying everything with imperfect senses.

Philosophy Discussion on Plato:

Prabhupāda: We say that the living entity is part and parcel of God, mamaivāṁśa. Under the circumstances he has got almost all the qualities of God, but partially, because God is great and we are minute. So even though we have got all the qualities of God—not all, certain percentage, say seventy-eight percent—in minute quantity. Just like God has creative power, we have got also creative power. We have created the 747 flying machine. All right, get credit for that, but you cannot create a flying ball like sun floating in the sky. That is difference between God and me. You can take credit that you are keeping suspension in the air a big machine, 747, but it is not in your power that you can float millions and millions of planets floating in the air. That is not possible. Therefore God is great; I am small. That is real Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And as soon as he says, "I am as good or as great as God," then He is a rascal. That is Māyāvādī. He is in māyā. Just like one man in India, he is showing some jugglery. He makes like this and creates some gold, a little gold, but foolish people are enamored. "Ah, he is God." But we are not enamored, but we know that he may create a small piece of gold, but God has created many millions of gold mines. So if creation of gold is the standard of becoming God, then why shall we accept this tiny man as God, who has created the mines, not only one mine, in this planet there are hundreds and thousands of gold mines and there are so many planets. There are, there is, I was reading this, Trikūṭa, Trikūṭa mountain, eight thousand miles high, eight thousand miles wide and long, and it has got three big, big peaks. One is of iron, one is of silver, and one is of gold. So the mountain, eight thousand miles high, peak gold, silver. So who can manufacture such gold? You cannot manufacture gold. That is not possible. So even you may so-called manufacture that, can you manufacture the peak of gold?

Purports to Songs

Purport to Nrsimha Prayers -- Los Angeles, August 2, 1970:

Of course in India there are many temples, but it does not mean that I shall not also establish some temples. Just like there is overpopulation. It does not mean that one should not beget child. Similarly, there may be many hundreds of thousand temples in India, still our this society, ISKCON, should have their own temples. That is the way since time immemorial. There are hundreds and thousands of temples. So my advice to you, I am old man. So even I may not return, you shall continue this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. This is eternal and I shall request you to keep the standard as I have already given you the program. The Deity worship, the kīrtana, the street saṅkīrtana, distribution of literature, books. You should carry on this program with great enthusiasm. That is my request.

In the path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness the first principle is enthusiasm. If you lack enthusiasm then other things will not happen. And you can keep enthusiastic if you follow the rules and regulation and chant regularly Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Otherwise that enthusiasm also will dry. So six things are required for advancing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The first thing is enthusiasm. Utsāhān dhairyāt. And patient. And niścayād, with conviction, firm conviction. Utsāhān dhairyāt niścayād tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt. Following the rules and regulation, chalked out plans. And sato vṛtteḥ, dealing very straightforward. No diplomacy, no politics, no duplicity. That will not help. Sato vṛtteḥ. Vṛtteḥ, his profession should be very straightforward. No underhand dealings. Sato vṛtteḥ and sādhu-saṅga (CC Madhya 22.83), and in the association of devotees. Six things.

Page Title:Hundreds and thousands (Lectures, Other)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:10 of Nov, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=66, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:66