Hunger (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"hunger" |"hungered" |"hungers" |"hungrily" |"hungry"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:

Devotee: How does the devotee go about practicing this Kṛṣṇa consciousness when he's asleep?

Prabhupāda: Yes, Sleep means your gross senses are stopped, but your mind works. Therefore you dream. So if you practice your mind to be engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in dream also you'll see that you are preparing prasādam. "I am going to sell Back to Godhead." (chuckles) That's all. Sometimes some nights when I feel hungry, I dream that I'm eating Kṛṣṇa prasādam very sumptuous. (laughing)

Devotee: Oh, haribol! (laughing)

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Somebody is supplying me nice paraṭā and I am eating. (laughs) But, being hungry, oh, my hunger is not satisfied. I'm eating, eating, till the dream is end. So if you practice, this is the technique. We have to practice in this way, that when all functions of this body will be stopped at the time of death, oh, we shall remember some way or other, Kṛṣṇa. Then successful. Immediately successful. That is the technique.

Lecture on BG 2.6 -- London, August 6, 1973:

There is a proverb in Bengal, khābo ki khābo nā yadi khāo tu pauṣe. "When you are perplexed, Whether I shall eat or not eat,' better not eat." Sometimes we come to this point, "I am not very hungry, whether I shall eat or not eat?" The best course is not eat, not that you eat. But if you eat, then you can eat in the month of December, Pauṣa. Why? It is... In Bengal... Bengal is tropical climate, but when it is winter season, it is advised that "If you eat it is not so harmful because it will be digested."

Lecture on BG 2.13-17 -- Los Angeles, November 29, 1968:

If a person is actually executing devotional service, then he must be happy. If he's not happy, then he's not doing properly. So first thing is this. He might be doing something in the name of devotional service. If he's actually rendering devotional service, then he must be feeling. Just like if you are eating actually, then you must feel strength and satisfaction of your hunger. You cannot say, "I'm eating, but I'm not satisfied of my hunger." That is impossible. This is not possible. Then you are not eating. Or you are eating, but it is being devoured by the worms within your intestines. Sometimes it happens. If there are many worms within the intestines, you go on voraciously eating, but you don't get strength because the eating substance, the essence, is taken by the worms. Therefore the worm treatment is there to kill the worms. Otherwise they will eat everything. You'll feel hungry, but will not get any strength. This is the worm disease. So if I am actually rendering devotional service and I'm not getting any happiness, that means there is some māyā's play. Otherwise there is no such reasoning. He must feel happy. Then he has to rectify the process of his service. Not to change but rectify the process. (aside) What is that? (laughs) It cannot be. If you are actually executing devotional service, you must feel happy. If you don't feel happy, then you are not executing. There is some flaw. Yes.

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

We have to tolerate. That is advised here, that "Because you have got this material body, you have to tolerate, to live within the womb of the mother." Then come out. Then I cannot speak. Suppose I am a little baby, and some worm is biting me. I cannot say "Mother"—because at time I cannot speak—"something is biting on my back." I am crying, and mother is thinking that "The child is hungry. Give him milk." (laughter) Just see how much this... I want something, and I am given something else. That is a fact. Why the child is crying? He is feeling uncomfortable.

Lecture on BG 2.20 -- Hyderabad, November 25, 1972:

So if I think that I, I am this coat, that is my ignorance. And that is going on. The so-called service to the humanity means washing the coat. Just like if you are hungry and I wash your coat very nicely with soap, will you be satisfied? No. That is not possible. So every one of us is spiritually hungry. What these people will do by washing the coat and shirt? There cannot be any peace. The so-called humanitarian service means they are washing this vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni. That's all. And death means... It is explained very nicely that when the dress, your dress, my dress, becomes too old, we change it. Similarly, birth and death means changing the dress. It is very clearly explained. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Jīrṇāni, old dress, old garment, we throw it away, and take another new dress, new garment. Similarly, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti. A new, fresh dress. Similarly, I am old man.

Lecture on BG 2.39 -- London, September 12, 1973:

Just like you'll find in another verse Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Yo me bhaktyā prayacchati: "Anyone who offers Me in love and faith a little flower, a little water, a little fruit," patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam... Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. This is the real point. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person who is giving all the necessities of all the living entities... He is actually the provider, maintainer of everyone. So why He is asking a little fruit, flower and water from you? Is He hungry? No. Yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. Just to induce you again to love Kṛṣṇa. That is the point.

Lecture on BG 2.40-45 -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1968:

The test is that your... Improvement of spiritual life means that you become detached to the materialistic way of life. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). The example is... This is one example. Another example is just like if you are hungry. Actually, every man is hungry for spiritual happiness. Therefore they are not satisfied. They are trying to gratify their senses in so many ways, but still they are not satisfied, because actually he is hungry. Just like this child crying. Mother is offering something, but he's still crying. That means he is asking something which the mother cannot understand. Similarly, the dissatisfaction of the modern world means that actually everyone is hankering after spiritual happiness. But nobody is offering. And even if it is offered, they cannot understand. They do not take it. This is the position.

Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966:

This is my practical experience. And I am here, always working, something reading or writing, something reading or writing, twenty-four hours. Simply when I feel hungry, I take some food. And simply when I feel asleep, I go to bed. Otherwise, always, I don't feel fatigued. You can ask Mr. Paul whether I am not doing this. So I take, I take pleasure in doing that. I don't feel fatigued. Similarly, when one will have that spiritual sense, he won't feel... Rather, he will, he will feel disgusted to go to sleep, to go to sleep, "Oh, sleep has come just to disturb." See? He wants to lessen the time of sleeping. Then... Now, as we pray, vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau. These six Gosvāmīs, they were deputed by Lord Caitanya to discuss this science. They have written immense literature about it. You see? So you'll be surprised that they were sleeping only for one and half hours daily, not more than that. That also, sometimes they forego. You see.

Lecture on BG 3.1-5 -- Los Angeles, December 20, 1968:

Just like a hungry man, if you give him to eat, as soon as he begins to eat, immediately he'll feel satisfaction, and when he is fully fed, he'll say, "No, I don't want any more." So similarly, spiritual advancement means proportionately one should be detestful to material engagement. That is the test.

Lecture on BG 3.8-13 -- New York, May 20, 1966:

He is quite competent because He's all-powerful, almighty. But still, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said—the Lord says—patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati: (BG 9.26) "Anyone who gives Me these four things: patraṁ, puṣpaṁ, phalaṁ, toyam... That means grains, vegetables, and flowers, fruits, all these things. Anyone who offers Me, I take that, offers with, tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam, with devotion." Not that God is hungry, and therefore He is hankering after your offering of foodstuff. Not that. He is quite competent. He has got many things to eat. It is practically His things we are eating. So, but still, if we prepare foodstuff in that way and offer to the Supreme Lord, then, after offering, if we take, then we become free from all sinful reactions.

Lecture on BG 3.11-19 -- Los Angeles, December 27, 1968:

Suppose if I become a very strong tiger in my next life, is that very good promotion? Do you know the life of tiger? They cannot eat even daily. They pounce upon one animal and keep it secretly and they eat for a month the decomposed flesh. Because it is not possible to get chance, kill an animal. God will not give such chance. You see? It is natural. In the jungle wherever there is a tiger, all animals will go away. They will also try to protect themselves, self-protection. So rarely, when he's too hungry, then God gives him a chance to pounce upon another animal. A tiger cannot get to many palatable dishes daily. Oh. It is in human form of life. If we misuse, then we are... You see? We have got all facilities and if we misuse it, then go to the tiger life. Be very strong with pouncing capacity. That's all. All right. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 3.27 -- Melbourne, June 27, 1974:

Just like a tiger. He is also enjoying. He is thinking, "I am very strong. I have got so power, so much jaws and nails. I can jump over any animal and immediately kill him." He is pleased in that position, but, you know, the tiger or the lion, they are so unfortunate that they do not get daily food, in spite of becoming so strong. Because prakṛti-jān guṇān, he is under the influence of the material nature. He... The tiger may be very powerful, but he remains always hungry. Very powerful. Because the other animals, they know that in that corner of the forest there is tiger, nobody goes there. Where he can get food? Hardly chance, by chance he gets one animal and jumps over it. This is called prakṛti-jān guṇān. He thought, "By becoming tiger I shall be very much proud of enjoying," but prakṛti says, "No, sir, you cannot get even daily food. That is not possible." Therefore prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarva... (BG 3.27).

Lecture on BG 3.31-43 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1969:

Positive and negative. Simply negative is no good unless there is positive engagement. So there is no question of negative. Negative is already there. If you taking nice foodstuff, automatically you give up obnoxious and nonsense foodstuff. But if I say, "Don't take this foodstuff. This is not good," and if I don't supply you nice foodstuff, naturally you are hungry; you will have to take whatever is there.

Just like sometimes you have seen the dogs? They are eating stool, their own stool. So I was talking this. One of my students told me that in the last war in the concentrated camp, the human being, they also ate their stool out of hunger. You see? There was no food, so they ate their own stool. So when there is no opportunity of good occupation, one must be satisfied with nonsense occupation. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so nice that one who is occupied with this movement, he cannot go any more to so-called lusty and other nonsense occupation.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Bombay, March 21, 1974:

But the family maintenance is done by the cats and dogs also. They also maintain their family, their wife, children, very nicely, according to their standard. But this age is so fallen that if one, even one is not married, the preliminary necessities of life, eating, sleeping, sex life and protection from fear... These are the preliminary necessities. So the age is so fallen that people have no eating substance even. We know, everyone, how things are going on. People are hungry, no eating substance. And what to say of sleeping? Or what to speak of...? Nobody's married timely, either boys or girls. And nobody's secure. Nobody knows what will happen next moment. This is called Kali-yuga.

Lecture on BG 4.7-9 -- New York, July 22, 1966:

Just like a hungry man. If he's given foodstuff, he knows how far he's satisfied. Nobody has to certify that "You are certified." He will say, "Yes, I am satisfied. I have had very good foodstuff." Similarly, this is the thing. If you kindly spare a little time, you'll feel yourself how much you are making progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and how much making progress in your human mission of life. So I shall request you that we are just trying to, just endeavor, our poor endeavor... It is, still our duty to do it. If you kindly take advantage of this opportunity, both, we shall be benefited. Then that is the process we have adopted here, the Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, and I invite you all to come and take part in it and make your life successful.

Thank you very much.

Lecture on BG 4.9 -- Bombay, March 29, 1974:

Just like a rich man's son. He has forgotten that his father is very rich, or his father has left immense property. But forgetting his real position, he's loitering in the street, hungry. You can call him, "All right, you take some food." That is not real benefit, that is temporary. But if you awaken his real consciousness, that he is the son of a very rich man, his father has got immense property, "Why don't you go back to your father and be happy?" That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. That is stated here. Janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). One has to understand Kṛṣṇa, tattvataḥ, in truth. Not superficially. What is Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa is the supreme leader. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). supreme leader, perfect leader, without any mistake, without any illusion, without any cheating, and without any imperfection of the senses. We have to take direction from such a leader, then our life will be successful. And because we are taking direction from imperfect leaders, cheater leaders, therefore we are meeting with so many problems.

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Calcutta, September 23, 1974:

Bhakti means... When you are advanced in bhakti... Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt. That is the test. The example is... Just like when you are hungry, you are given some food, you are eating voraciously. But when you are satisfied, you'll say, "No more. No more." Similarly, when you get Kṛṣṇa, then you will say, "No more. No more material necessities."

Lecture on BG 4.13-14 -- New York, August 1, 1966:

As we make advance in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness, so we gradually...

Just like a man who is diseased. He is diseased, and as he is being cured by treatment, he gets gradually his healthy condition. He can feel, "Yes, I am feeling well. Now I am feeling hunger. Now I am taking food nicely. Oh, yes, I am getting some strength." Similarly, as we make progress in the matter of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then our original constitutional position becomes revealed. And as soon it is fully revealed, I am free from all these material obligations. Oh, my place is reserved there.

Thank you very much.

Lecture on BG 4.19-22 -- New York, August 8, 1966:

Now, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, He is not hungry. He is not hungry that I shall supply Him foodstuff, and therefore He will be maintained. It is not like that. But still, Kṛṣṇa says that patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ bhaktyā prayacchati: "Any devotee, if he offers Me patram..." Patram means leaf. Puṣpam means flower. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalam. Phalam means fruit. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam. Toyam means milk or water. Generally, it is meant water.

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

What is that? Atyāhāraḥ, eating more than you require. Actually, we should not eat unless we are very hungry. That is good eating. In.... When you are hungry, you can eat any ordinary things. Still, you feel very satisfactory. So not routine eating. Routine eating must be there. We should not eat more than that. But the best principle is that if we do not feel hungry, we should not eat. But if there is no hunger and at the same time no appetite and we eat, that brings indigestion, dysentery, indigestion. So why should we accept that? Therefore it is forbidden, atyāhāraḥ. Āhāra means eating. Eating more than required or āhāra means collecting also. Collecting more than necessity.

Lecture on BG 4.22 -- Bombay, April 11, 1974:

So if we want to serve poor people, that's all right. That is a good business. You are merciful. That also we are doing when we distribute prasādam for everyone's benefit, not for the daridra-nārāyaṇa or rich nārāyaṇa, everyone, Kṛṣṇa's prasāda. So yadṛcchā-lābha, one who is advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he will be happy simply having a little morsel of Kṛṣṇa's prasādam. Yadṛcchā-lābha. Actually when we distribute prasāda, we distribute little, little halavā, everyone is satisfied and everyone is accepting because it is kṛṣṇa-prasādam. This consciousness.... They come here. There are many rich persons, also poor persons, they come here to take a little morsel of halavā. Not that he is hungry, but he is conscious that "If I take little kṛṣṇa-prasādam, I will be benefited."

Lecture on BG 4.28 -- Bombay, April 17, 1974:

That is also, Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). Mad-yājī. Now, suppose if you have nothing to offer. Still, you can, man-manāḥ, by thinking of Kṛṣṇa, by thinking of all materials for worshiping, testing them, sitting in one place, you can go on. That is called man-manāḥ, thinking, thinking of. You can offer Kṛṣṇa, as I described, so many things.

But Kṛṣṇa wants to see how much you are devoted to Him. Dravya-yajña. Kṛṣṇa is not hungry that you have to offer something, very nice foodstuff. That, you must do that. But if you have no such thing in possession, you can do it within the mind. But not that you have got everything to offer... You can offer Kṛṣṇa very nice foodstuff. In that case if you think that "I can do it in mind," that is cheating. That will not be done. But in case you have nothing to offer materially, but still, you can offer in the mind.

Lecture on BG 4.37-40 -- New York, August 21, 1966:

So here Kṛṣṇa is the most authorized personality. Now, anyone who is actually Kṛṣṇa conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious, then you can accept him as the same as Kṛṣṇa. Because a person who is fully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is the bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa. He's the bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa. So keeping faith on Kṛṣṇa or to His bona fide representative is the same thing. So that śraddhāvān, if you follow, saṁyatendriya, with controlled senses, then your result is guaranteed. And you'll feel it.

How you'll feel it? Just like you are hungry and if you are given some food, foodstuff and you eat it, and as you eat it, you feel that "Yes, I am feeling satisfaction," so you'll feel it.

Lecture on BG 5.17-25 -- Los Angeles, February 8, 1969:

Within means self-satisfied. Bhakti... How this process can give you that understanding within? How? One may question that "How it is possible within?" Yes, it is possible. The example is given by Gosvāmīs that just like a hungry man, he wants some food, he's demanding some food, and if you give him nice food he eats, and with each morsel of food he realizes within that "I am eating. I am getting strength. I am satisfied." Is it not? Similarly, you begin this Kṛṣṇa consciousness chanting. You will feel yourself, "Yes. Yes, I am doing something. Yes, I am eating something. Yes, I am getting spiritual strength." Is it not a fact? Actually, if somebody is disturbed, then it is to be understood that his disease is little more acute. Otherwise, in normal condition, if he chants and follows the regulation, then he will feel, "Yes, I am doing something. I am getting something. I am getting strength. I am getting satisfaction. I am feeing I am spiritually advancing." These things will manifest automatically simply by chanting.

Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969:

"If somebody offers Me flower, fruits, vegetables, milk, with devotional love, I accept and eat." Now how He's eating, that you cannot see in the present—but He is eating. That we are experiencing daily. We are offering Kṛṣṇa, according to the ritualistic process, and you see the taste of the food is changed immediately. That is practical. He eats, but because He is full, He does not eat like us. Just like if I give you a plate of foodstuff, you finish. But God is not hungry, but He eats. He eats and keeps the things as it is. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). God is so full, that He can take all the foodstuff that you offer, still it remains as it is. He can eat with His eyes. That is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā: aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. Every part of the limb of the body of God has got all the potencies of other limb. Just like you can see with your eyes. But you cannot eat with your eyes. But God, if He simply sees the foodstuff you have offered, that is His eating.

Lecture on BG 6.25-29 -- Los Angeles, February 18, 1969:

So for this age, when people are so much fallen, no other process will be successful. This process is the only process. It is very easy and sublime and effective and practical, and one can realize oneself. Pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyam. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that you can practically experience. In other system, you do not practically experience how far you are making progress. But this system, if you follow, for a few days, you realize, "Yes, I am making progress." Just like if you eat, you understand that your hunger is satisfied. Similarly actually if you follow this principle of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, you'll see yourself that you are advancing in the matter of self-realization.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, March 17, 1968:

When he develops attachment for Kṛṣṇa. Nobody can certify him. He will certify himself. If you have got attachment for any other thing, then you are not in samādhi. If you have only attachment for Kṛṣṇa, then you are in samādhi. You don't require certificate from others. You know yourself. Just like while eating you can understand whether you are satisfied or not. While eating, if you are hungry man, if you are eating, you'll know, "Oh, I have eaten something. I am feeling now strength." You don't require to inquire from your friend, "Oh, am I feeling strength?" "Oh," he'll say, "what nonsense. You know yourself." Similarly, if you have... You can test yourself whether you have got full attachment for Kṛṣṇa. If not, you are not in samādhi. The test is in your hand. And that is being explained. Mayy āsakta-manāḥ. In full attachment for Kṛṣṇa. And you can understand what is the meaning of attachment. You have got attachment for sex. You have got attachment for so many things. So similarly, if you have developed attachment only for Kṛṣṇa and you have no more any other attachment, then you are in samādhi. It is not artificial. It is practical. (pause) Śrī Rāma.

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

The solution is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says, annād bhavanti bhūtāni: (BG 3.14) "Bhūtāni, all living entities, both animal and man, they can live very nicely without any anxiety provided they have got sufficient food grains." Now what is your objection to this? This is the solution. Kṛṣṇa says, annād bhavanti bhūtāni. So it is not utopian; it is practical. You must have sufficient food grain to feed the human being and the animal, and everything will be peaceful immediately. Because people, if one become hungry, he is disturbed. So give him food first of all. That is Kṛṣṇa's injunction. Is that very impossible, impractical? No. You grow food more and distribute. So much land is there, but we are not growing food. We are growing or busy in manufacturing tools and motor tires. Then now eat motor tires. But Kṛṣṇa says that "You grow anna." Then there is no question of scarcity. Annād bhavanti bhūtāni parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ. But anna is produced when there is sufficient rain. Parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ. And yajñād bhavati parjanyaḥ (BG 3.14). And if you perform yajña, then there will be regular rainfall. This is the, way. But nobody is interested with yajña, nobody is interested with food grain, and if you create your own scarcity, then it is not God's fault; it is your fault.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Melbourne, June 29, 1974 :

Kṛṣṇa cannot be realized by so-called speculation, but if you render service to Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa will reveal to you. Revelation. So, he, how much service he is giving, that will be tested how much he has, I mean to say, realized Kṛṣṇa. This is the test. If Kṛṣṇa is still vague idea to him, then he has not advanced. This is the test. Just like if you are eating something, then you will feel satisfaction. You are hungry, you have been given some food, but you cannot say that "I am eating, also I am not satisfied in my hunger." That cannot be. If you are actually serving Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa will reveal to you. You will know what is Kṛṣṇa, asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ mām, without any doubt, and fullness. Here is the test. If somebody comes, "What is Kṛṣṇa," you say, "Yes, I am serving Kṛṣṇa, but I do not know what is Kṛṣṇa".

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- London, August 4, 1971:

There are 8,400,000's of species of life. If you want the body of a tiger, if you have exercised very nicely to become like a tigerlike strong, then God will give you next life to become a tiger, actual tiger. "Why tigerlike? Become a tiger. I give you all facility. Become a tiger." So what is the use of getting tiger's life? You know... Perhaps you all know, the tigers cannot get food every day. And naturally, if in the forest there is a tiger, the other animals, they are very careful. But when he's too much hungry God provides him one animal. Because God provides everyone's food, so tiger also must have food. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That one Supreme is maintaining all these living entities. So tiger is also part and parcel of God, and he has got that body. So God is kind even upon the tiger, and what to speak of the devotees.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Ahmedabad, December 14, 1972:

So many doubts. In the Ninth Chapter also, in the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, pratyakṣa avagamaṁ dharmyam. Pratyakṣa. Kṛṣṇa consciousness knowledge is so perfect that pratyakṣa avagamam, you can directly perceive how far you are making progress. You don't require to take certificate from others, whether you are progressing or not. You'll understand, yourself. The example is given. Just like a hungry man is eating, so as he going on, eating, he's getting strength and his hunger is being satisfied. So he can understand himself. Nobody requires to certify, "Now you are satisfied," or "Now..." Similarly bhakti, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is so perfect that pratyakṣa avagamam, one can understand directly. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). This is the test of bhakti-mārga.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Stockholm, September 10, 1973:

That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). Everything is being attempted to suppress our miserable condition of life. That is going on. All advancement of science, knowledge, philosophy, theology, anything—the idea is how to stop the miserable condition of life. But the real miserable condition of life according to Bhagavad-gītā is birth, death, old age and disease. Don't go, take seriously, the side—miserable condition. Just like people are very much anxious to feed the hungry, the hungry men. Well, that you can do. That is nice business. But why don't you try that... The hungry man and the welfare man both will die. You cannot stop death, either you feed him well or he is hungry. Death is there. "As sure as death." So actual benefit is... If you can stop death, that is actual benefit. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to stop death. You will be surprised.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- London, March 10, 1975:

Who is there who is not eating? Everyone is eating. But if you prepare, within these items, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam, and prepare nice varieties of foodstuff and offer to Kṛṣṇa, that is yajña. That is yajña. And yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ. If you take prasādam, Kṛṣṇa will not eat everything. He will eat, and He will leave for you also. So don't be afraid that "If I offer Kṛṣṇa, He will take away." (laughter) Kṛṣṇa is not so hungry. Even if He is hungry, He can eat the whole universe. So just satisfy Kṛṣṇa. "Sir, it is all given by You, the food grains, these fruits, flowers. It is Your gift. So You first of all taste or eat. Then I shall eat." Kṛṣṇa is very satisfied.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Nairobi, October 29, 1975:

Go and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and give them food. They are hungry. Then it will be successful. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, let them come and dance with you, and give them prasādam. They are hungry. It will be success. It is not difficult at all. That was Caitanya Mahāprabhu's preaching to the mass of people. He would chant for four hours, and after finishing kīrtana, He'll give them sumptuous food to eat. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was doing this. So you can do this. You collect money not for your eating but for distribution of prasādam. That is required. And if you do that, Kṛṣṇa will send you. Yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham (BG 9.22). There will be no need. We have got about 102 centers, and each center, there are so many people, up to 250, and not less than fifty. So Kṛṣṇa is sending their food. There is no scarcity.

Lecture on BG 7.9 -- Vrndavana, August 15, 1974:

I can see Kṛṣṇa any, any time. If I close my eyes, I will see Kṛṣṇa, how Kṛṣṇa is nicely dressed. I see Kṛṣṇa is very pleasingly eating what I have prepared with devotion, bhaktyā. Real thing is bhaktyā, not official. Not official. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). He does not accept anything even it is not offered with bhakti and by the bhakta. He does not accept. Why He shall accept? Is He hungry like me? No. He simply wants to see how you have learned to love Kṛṣṇa, bhakti, how you are eager to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is... Kṛṣṇa wants to see. Otherwise He does not require your service. Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam (Bs. 5.29). He's always being served by hundreds and thousands of goddess of fortune. They are so much afraid. They are goddess of... We are praying here goddess of fortune, "My mother, Goddess of Fortune, give me some fortune." They are... The goddess of fortune is afraid if Kṛṣṇa may reject. Just like Rukmiṇī. When Kṛṣṇa was joking with her, she thought, "Maybe Kṛṣṇa is going to leave me." Immediately fainted. Immediately fainted. That is the goddess of fortune.

Lecture on BG 7.14 -- Hamburg, September 8, 1969:

So anyone who will take to it, he will understand, yes, he is advancing. It may take little more time or quickly; that doesn't matter. But he will feel it. Pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyam. Just like you are suffering, you are hungry. If actually nutritious foodstuff is given to you, when you eat, you understand, "Yes, I am getting strength. My hunger is being satisfied." This is also like that. If you take to chanting, you will feel, "Yes, I am getting strength. My misgivings are being moved." In this way you go on, go on, go on. The perfect stage will come. It may take little more time or it may come quickly. That depends on my relative endeavor. But it will come. Be sure. And with this faith and conviction and understanding, you make progress. Everything will be all right. But don't be misled that "There is no problem of life; we are very happy, eating, sleeping, mating." This is animal life. There is so many great problems. Very great problems. This birth, death, old age, disease and repeated... Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Once manifested, again nonmanifested, again manifested, again nonmanifested. This body is manifested; now it will be finished. Again we will have to take shelter of a mother's womb by such process, maybe human being or other than human being. Then another body manifested. Then again finished, then again manifested.

Lecture on BG 8.21-22 -- New York, November 19, 1966:

But there is no benefit. But really if one has any spiritual sense, he'll at once cease from all this nonsense enjoyment. That is the symptom of any idea of spirituality. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). The test is... If you have developed your Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if you have developed your devotional spirit, spiritual realization, the result will be that you'll be at once detached from these all kinds of material enjoyment. How it is? The example is given that just like a hungry man, if he's given nice foodstuff, and as soon as he eats and feels satisfaction, he says, "No, I don't want anymore. I am satisfied." Svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce (CC Madhya 22.42). This is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. You'll find.

Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Calcutta, March 7, 1972:

We receive so many letters from our foreign student how they're feeling. Because they have taken seriously, they're feeling obliged that "We have got life pratyakṣāvagamam." Pratyakṣa means direct. Direct. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo. Just like if you eat, you will directly understand whether you are getting strength and whether hunger is being satisfied. You don't require to take certificate, that "I am eating. Am I satisfied?" You know. Why you want to take satisfaction... uh, certificate from other? You know. Pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyam. This is bhakti process. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅga 'tha bhajana-kriyā tato 'nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). These are the different stages. Every stage you will find that "Yes, I am making progress." If you have got śraddhā, if you have got little faith, "All right, these people are teaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

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

That is the test. As soon as he has become Kṛṣṇa conscious, he has fully surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. Immediately he becomes the greatest mahātmā. Sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ. A mahātmā like me, because, simply by changing dress... That is another thing. Because sometimes this dress gives us good opportunity for easy livelihood. That is another thing. But those who take this dress for begging and for fulfilling the hungry belly, that is..., that mahātmā is different thing. He is not mahātmā; he is durātmā. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that if one is inclined to collect money by showing Deity, it is better to become a sweeper in the street.

Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Melbourne, April 20, 1976:

Or suppose you are hungry. You are... On account of your hunger you are feeling headache, you cannot see through your eyes properly, you cannot hear, you cannot work—so many things, problems, will arise. But as soon as you put some food stuff, nourishing foodstuff, immediately you'll feel strength and you'll happy, be happy. That is called pratyakṣa. Pratyakṣa means directly. Avagamaṁ dharmyam. If you are hungry and if you are given very nice, nutritious, palatable food, you haven't got to take any certificate from others. You'll understand yourself, "Yes, I am now feeling strength. I am now feeling energy." This is called pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyam. Similarly, if you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness—that is the process—then you'll feel automatically how you are satisfied. Pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyam.

Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Melbourne, April 20, 1976:

This is pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyam. And susukham. To execute this dharma, this transaction, it is very, very happy. Don't you see? What is their business? They are not going to the factories to work twelve hours. They are simply chanting and dancing. This is their business. And when they are hungry, they are taking very nutritious prasādam. This is called susukham. Very happy. They haven't got to work in the factory, in the mine, in the sea for extracting oil or coal. They haven't got. We have no such business. We are simply engaged in chanting, dancing, and eating Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Susukham. Pratyakṣāvagamam. Practically you can perceive. And how happy it is, you can perceive. Kartum avyayam. To execute this business of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so easy and happy and whatever you do, a little, it is your permanent asset. It will never be spoiled.

Lecture on BG 9.3 -- Toronto, June 20, 1976:

Just like what we are doing here in this temple? These boys, these American and Canadian boy, what they are doing? It's very easy. What is that? Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, dancing and eating prasāda. What is the difficulty? To chant Hare Kṛṣṇa or in ecstasy, dance nicely and dancing, dancing, when you become hungry and tired, take nice prasāda. What is the difficulty? By this process they are becoming devotees. There is no need of discussing higher philosophy or becoming a mystic or magician or juggler or bluffer or cheater, nothing. Simply accept this simple process. You come here and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and automatically you'll be ecstatic. Because this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra is not ordinary sound. It is spiritual sound. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung, golokera prema-dhana hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. This sound, just like you receive sound from distant place, in radio. Similarly, this sound is not produced in this material world. It is brought from the spiritual world. Golokera prema-dhana. There in the spiritual world there are eternal liberated devotees. They are so much ecstatically enjoying simply by chanting and dancing, the descriptions are there, that there is no sex life.

Lecture on BG 9.5 -- Melbourne, April 24, 1976:

Therefore Kṛṣṇa presents, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). Intelligent person, they should always keep before, the sufferings. We are making solution of our suffering for ten years or fifty years or hundred years because we cannot live here more than hundred years. So that is temporary. I am eternal; you are eternal. Our real suffering is to take birth and remain in the womb of the mother. And even coming out of the womb of the mother, the small children, they feel always uncomfortable. Therefore they cry. The mother cannot understand what is the suffering of the... He is hungry but the mother is thinking that he wants to sleep or misunderstanding the child is uncomfortable. In this way childhood is past. Then again we become boy, again go to a school, again examination, again this. In this way the whole life is suffering. But under the spell of māyā, we are thinking we are happy. Therefore it is said mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. If we want to get relief from this business of birth, death, old age and disease, let us take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness, and take His instruction directly and apply it in life. Your life will be successful. This is the subject matter of this chapter.

Lecture on BG 9.24-26 -- New York, December 12, 1966:

God is full. We should not think that "God is depending upon my this little flower or fruit. He is very hungry. When I shall offer this fruit and He'll satisfy His hunger." No. He's pūrṇam. But the qualification is that offering should be in love, in devotion. That He accepts. He accepts your devotion and love. So patraṁ puṣpam. So anybody can worship Kṛṣṇa. This is universal. Patraṁ puṣpam... These four things can be... But one thing you should remember that if we want to cheat Kṛṣṇa—"Oh, Kṛṣṇa wants only patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam, so let Him have this patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam, and for myself, let me eat very sumptuously, the best thing"—that is cheating. Kṛṣṇa can understand. This is for the poorest man.

Lecture on BG 9.26-27 -- New York, December 16, 1966:

Now, the Lord Kṛṣṇa says that "Anyone who offers Me in devotion these four things," patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam, "a bit of leaf and a bit of flower, a little fruit and little water..." So He is pleased to take, accept. Why? Because we are offering Him with devotion and love. That is the only way. Just like if you offer me varieties of foodstuff and very palatable dishes, but if I am not hungry, then all these palatable dishes and varieties of foodstuff is useless. I cannot accept anything. Similarly, if you offer anything to the Supreme Lord, He is full. He does not require your offering. He is always being served by hundreds and thousands of goddess of fortune. Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam (Bs. 5.29). We are, in the material world, we are seeking the favor of goddess of fortune, but in the spiritual world, hundreds and thousands of the goddess of fortunes, they are eagerly trying to serve the Supreme Lord. So He is full. He has nothing to accept from you. But He likes that you should offer Him something.

Lecture on BG 9.34 -- August 3, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Nature is acting by Kṛṣṇa's indication. So nature will punish you. As soon as you violate nature's law, you'll be punished, automatically. Suppose if you, you are not hungry, you have no appetite, bit if you by force if you eat, then you'll increase the disease. Because you have violated. There is no appetite, still you are eating. So you must suffer. If you have infected some disease, so you must suffer from that disease. That nature's law is working. Kṛṣṇa hasn't got to take any direct action. Nature, māyā, is there. As soon as you violate the laws of Kṛṣṇa you'll be punished automatically. You cannot avoid it. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Cannot avoid. Therefore those who are trying to overcome the laws of nature, that is the so-called modern scientists' endeavor. That is foolishness, rascaldom. They cannot do it. It is not possible.

Lecture on BG 10.2-3 -- New York, January 1, 1967:

As you follow the principles, you'll understand.

Just like if you eat proper nourishing foodstuff, you'll feel yourself strength and your hunger satisfied. You haven't got to ask anybody. You'll feel yourself. Similarly, if you come to the proper path and if you follow the principle, you'll understand, "Yes, I am making progress." Pratyakṣa... In the ninth chapter He has said pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ susukham.

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

Sometimes people say that we are now... Just like in India they have taken this point very seriously, that "India is now poverty-stricken. There is no question of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Europeans and Americans, they are now comfortable, so they can take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness." When I go to India, sometimes they speak like that, that "India does not require Kṛṣṇa consciousness because they are in a very awkward condition so far economic condition is there." But that is not the actual fact. The other day, where? I think in Sydney. Some boy, present, he was..., "We have to supply food to the hungry who are dying without food in starvation. Then when I asked him, "how many men you have seen dying out of starvation?" he could not reply. He said, "No. I have not seen." Still, these are pleas, that "People are dying of starvation, people are dying naked." As soon as I ask, "How many people you have seen dying of starvation or naked?" The reply is "No. I have not seen."

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Paris, August 12, 1973:

He's so kind that He's asking every living entity, especially the human being, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). He's self-sufficient. He's not hungry. He is supplying necessities, food, to every living entity. Still He's hankering for a little flower, little fruit, from this living entity. "Please give Me." So this is the position. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati tad aham aśnāmi: "If you kindly give me even little flower, a little fruit, little water, with faith and love, I will eat." Kṛṣṇa is so kind. And He's simply trying to turn the face of the living entity towards Him. Therefore He is always with us. So this is another—Kṛṣṇa has come here in this temple to accept your offerings. So that you may again go back to home, back to Godhead.

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Miami, February 27, 1975:

This is not my word; this is Caitanya Mahāprabhu. You have to associate with kīrtana. The reading is also kīrtana, and chanting on the beads, that is also kīrtana. There is no difference. So make your life in such a way. Either chant Hare Kṛṣṇa or read books. And when you are hungry, you take little prasādam. Don't take much. Then you will sleep more. Take as little as possible. Then you will also sleep... Our business is to conquer over the demands of the body. The demands of the body is eating, sleeping, sex and defense. So spiritual life means make it almost nil.

Lecture on BG 13.5 -- Paris, August 13, 1973:

Therefore Parīkṣit Mahārāja said, nirvṛtta-tarṣaiḥ. Tarṣaiḥ. Tṛṣṇa. Tṛṣṇa means hankering. Hankering. Just like if you are thirsty, you feel: "Where is water? Where is water? Where is water?" That is called tṛṣṇa. So nirvṛtta-tarṣaiḥ means one who has finished all hankering for material enjoyment. He's called nirvṛtta-tṛṣṇa. Nirvṛtta means finished. And tṛṣṇa means hankering. The same thing is described in the Śrīmad-Bhagavad-gītā. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). Kāṅkṣati. Kāṅkṣati means if I hanker, that means still I am hungry or thirsty. But there is a position, brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20) position, by brahma-jijñāsā, that we can get relief of these two activities, hankering and lamenting. The material world, there are two things only: lamenting and hankering. Those who haven't... Those who do not possess, he's hankering. And those who have lost, they are lamenting. But they are two things only. Actually we do not possess. Somehow or other, if we possess, that is also lost.

Lecture on BG 13.14 -- Bombay, October 7, 1973:

He can accept anything, wherever you offer. That Kṛṣṇa says, tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam aśnāmi. Kṛṣṇa says, "I take." Who are you to say that Kṛṣṇa does not accept? Kṛṣṇa accepts, provided it is given with devotion. That is wanted. Tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam. Anyone brings something to offer Kṛṣṇa with bhakti, Kṛṣṇa is not hungry but He accepts... (break)

These are the Vedic injunctions. He takes whole foodstuff, still He remains full. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). These are the Vedic injunctions." So that is, Kṛṣṇa is teaching, sarvataḥ śrutimal loke. He can hear. It is not that Kṛṣṇa is in the Goloka Vṛndāvana, far, far away, therefore we are chanting His glory here, He cannot... (break)

...sarvataḥ śrutimal loke. He can hear everywhere.

Lecture on BG 13.22-24 -- Melbourne, June 25, 1974:

And Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). "A leaf, a flower, fruit and liquid, milk or water, all these things, within these categories, whatever a devotee offers Me in love and devotion, I eat." Kṛṣṇa says. Kṛṣṇa is not hungry. Neither He is dependent on your supply of foodstuff. No. But still, Kṛṣṇa has become your guest. Just like you have brought Kṛṣṇa here. He is very kind. Because you are devotees, you want to serve Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa has come in your temple in a form which you can very easily serve. Kṛṣṇa does not require your service, but He is so kind that He is accepting your service. You are bathing the Deity, you are dressing the Deity, offering flowers, garland, and whatever preparation you can make, you are offering Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa has accepted your service in a form which you can handle. That is His energy.

Lecture on BG 16.5 -- Hawaii, January 31, 1975:

The demands of the body, eating, sleeping, sex life and defense, this is the demands of the body. But if I am situated in self-realization, then these demands will not bother me. There are many persons who are not agitated by hunger, who are not agitated, not having opportunity of sleeping. They don't sleep. Nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau **. About the Gosvāmīs it is said that these things, material demands of the body, sleeping, eating, sex and defense... They are the demands of the body. But how they became gosvāmī or svāmī? Because they were not affected by these demands. That is gosvāmī; that is svāmī. Svāmī means master. Gosvāmī means master of the senses. So if I am servant of the senses, how I can become gosvāmī, how I can become svāmī? That is false, hypocrisy. If you are servant of the senses, then you are go-dāsa. Dāsa means servant, and go means senses. And if you are master of the senses, then you are gosvāmī.

Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Sanand, December 26, 1975:

He said that "This Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the same Kṛṣṇa. He has come to teach vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga (CC Madhya 6.254)." Bhakti-yoga means vairāgya-vidyā, no more this material enjoyment—that is vairāgya. Jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam (SB 1.2.7). The result of jñāna is vairāgya. Vairāgya-vidyā. Bhakti-yoga is vairāgya-vidyā means that bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). Bhakti means one is making progress towards Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and automatically he becomes detestful to the material world. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has given the example: just like hungry man. If he is given food, he takes it, but as he takes it, he becomes satisfied. And when he is fully satisfied, he does not require any more food. There is another śloka given by Yāmunācārya.

Lecture on BG 16.11-12 -- Hawaii, February 7, 1975:

Here is no ānanda. In this material world... Ānanda means pleasure, bliss, but here it is not possible. First of all, you have to die. You may manufacture some so-called ānanda, but you'll die. Now, suppose we are dancing here, and if we understand that immediately death will take place, then we shall not be able to enjoy the dancing. Immediately the anxiety will come. So here, ānanda, there is no ānanda. Why there is ānanda? This body is subjected to so many miserable condition of life. We become hungry, we become thirsty, there is death, there is fearfulness, there is enemy—so many things. If you study analytically that this body is simply meant for suffering, so where is ānanda? There is no ānanda; there is no complete knowledge; there is no eternity. Therefore it is called material. Just the opposite is spiritual life, just opposite. There is no death. Eternity. So civilization means that, the process by which we can transfer ourself from this nonpermanent life to permanent life, life of ignorance to life of knowledge, life of suffering to life of enjoyment. That is spiritual life.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- Caracas, February 20, 1975:

Light is to be realized personally. Light... Just like this room is dark. When there is light, it doesn't require to be enquired, "Is it light?" You personally perceive it is light. Just like you are hungry and foodstuff is given to you and when your hunger is satisfied, appetite is appeased, then you naturally you feel, "Yes, I am satisfied." You don't require to enquire anyone. Therefore it is called self-realization. Automatically you realize. You don't require to enquire. This is the process.

Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Edinburgh, July 17, 1972:

Otherwise, it doesn't matter. I shall starve." They have got that determination, strict. They do not go anywhere, but Kṛṣṇa sends him everything. Just like Bilvamaṅgala. He was not going anywhere. He was living in Vṛndāvana. Kṛṣṇa personally was coming to give him some milk. He became blind; he could not see. So Kṛṣṇa would come just like a boy. "Bilvamaṅgala, I think you are hungry. Will you take some milk?" Oh, he was very glad. "All right, You give me a little milk." Next day He will come. Then he would ask, "Who is this boy, I cannot see. He comes and gives me milk daily." Yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham (BG 9.22). In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that "Unto the devotee who is completely dependent upon Me, I carry personally whatever he needs." Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. That one person is supplying all the necessities of all the living entities. That is God. God is not beggar.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Delhi, November 11, 1973:

Patram, a little leaf or a little water or little flower or little fruit. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam. If you offer to Kṛṣṇa, "My Lord, My Kṛṣṇa, I am very poor man. I cannot give You anything. But I have collected a little fruit, little flower, little water. So I have come to offer You," Kṛṣṇa says, "Yes," tad aham aśnāmi, tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ. He is not hungry, but He wants your love. He wants your love. That is... Therefore He comes, personally He comes. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glāniḥ (BG 4.7).

What is that dharmasya glāniḥ. When people forget how to love God, that is dharmasya glāniḥ? Not that other. So He comes to teach, and ultimately He teaches... In the middle He also teaches, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). This is God's teaching, that "You simply think of God." Man-manāḥ. Mad-bhaktaḥ, "Become devotee of God, worship God." Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). You are coming here. Here is God. You are offering obeisances.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Calcutta, February 23, 1972:

Devotee, real devotee, he does not take anything as distress. He takes everything as Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Tat te 'nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo (SB 10.14.8). Otherwise that is not pure devotion. Actually devotee's never in distress. People may see that he is in distress. Just like there is a very good example. You are going to Māyāpur, you'll find. His name was Śrīdhara, Kolaveca Śrīdhara. His income was very poor. At night he would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra very loudly: "Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa..." His neighboring friends would say, "This man has no income, and because he is hungry now he is chanting 'Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa.' He's hungry." So one day Caitanya Mahāprabhu Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to take away his possession, flowers. He was selling, making business, making some donā, donā.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Rome, May 24, 1974:

Therefore the brāhmaṇas were the heads, and others, kṣatriyas and vaiśyas and śūdras, they used to take instruction from the brāhmaṇas, for their livelihood. That was very good system. That is natural. Just like in this body there are the same brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. The brāhmaṇa is the head, the brain, and the kṣatriya the arms, and vaiśya the belly , and śūdras is the legs. So when the body is healthy condition, the brain is very nice, then the brain gives direction to the legs, to the hands, to the belly. Brain, if one has got good brain, he does not eat much. "Why should I eat more? When I am not hungry, why shall I load the belly?" It requires brain. And "No, here is a very nice palatable thing. Let me load it." Because he has no brain. And after loading, then dysentery. You see? So in every action, the brain is required.

Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- Vrndavana, October 18, 1972:

This is the test of bhakti. Janayaty āśu vairāgyam. A man is tested how much he has advanced in bhakti-yoga by his detachment from material enjoyment. If you, if one is attached to sense enjoyment, at the same time, he poses himself as a great devotee, that cannot work. Just like if you are eating something, then there will be no hunger. A man is hungry so long he does not eat something. So if, if he, if you say, "Yes, I have eaten so much, and still, I am feeling hungry," that cannot be. Actually if you have eaten, then you must not feel hungry. Similarly, if you have actually tasted bhakti-yoga, then there will be no more material attachment. This is the test. Not that artificially keeping a big tilaka on forehead and thinking within always "How to get money, how to get woman?" That kind of is not... They, there..., there will be no more hunger for these material things, especially woman and money. That is the test of bhakti.

Therefore that pure bhakti-yoga can be attained only by executing devotional service to Vāsudeva. Otherwise it is not possible. Vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ, janayaty āśu vairāgyam (SB 1.2.7). Without vairāgya, there is no question of liberation. Of course, a devotee's not hankering after liberation. Why he should hanker after? As soon as he's a pure devotee of Vāsudeva, he's already liberated. Already liberated.

Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- Bombay, December 26, 1972:

We are not meant for going to the cinema or for other sense gratification purposes, but because we have got this body, there is no question that we shall stop eating. We eat prasādam, kṛṣṇa-prasādam, and that is very palatable. Kṛṣṇa-prasādam..., Kṛṣṇa should be offered all first class preparation because Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord. But if we haven't money to supply Him nice thing, the Kṛṣṇa will be satisfied, as Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ pusaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. Kṛṣṇa wants that you offer Him something with devotional love, that's all. Kṛṣṇa is not hungry. Kṛṣṇa is ātmārāma. He is self-sufficient. He does not require. He is producing food for us. That's a fact. We get so many fruits and flower. We don't manufacture it in the factory; neither it is possible. It is Kṛṣṇa's manufacture. It is Kṛṣṇa. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūrayoḥ (BG 7.8).

Lecture on SB 1.2.13 -- Vrndavana, October 24, 1972:

You collect little flower, patram, a little leaf... Whatever you... Not that all. Any one of them." Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam, a little water, yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. Real thing is bhakti, love, devotion. Not that Kṛṣṇa is asking you, "Bring volumes of luci, puri, kacuri, halavā." No. Kṛṣṇa wants your love. Real thing. Bhaktyā. Yo me bhaktyā prayac... Kṛṣṇa is not beggar, neither Kṛṣṇa is hungry, that He has come to your place to eat something. That's not the position, Kṛṣṇa's. Kṛṣṇa wants only your love. Just like father takes the responsibility of the whole family. He works hard day and night to maintain the family. He expects only love from his wife and children. That is the impetus of economic development. Otherwise he's earning daily thousands and lakhs of rupees. It is not that he will eat. He will eat that four cāpāṭis. That's all. Worth six annas. But he works so hard just to be satisfied that his wife, his children love. When he comes at home, he sees them very satisfied.

Lecture on SB 1.2.15 -- Los Angeles, August 18, 1972:

A cat is coming to eat some milk here; you chastise, you... But again it comes, again it comes. Because it is animal. And the difference between animal and man is... Suppose there is very palatable dish. So man, unless he is offered, although he is greedy, although he is hankering after that food, but he's awaiting the invitation, "Yes, you can take." But cats and dogs, without invitation, catches. That is the difference between the man and animal. Animal cannot control; man can control. Although he is hungry, he can control, out of civility: "How can I taste without invitation?" So that is the difference. Therefore, the conclusion is, man's life is meant for control. Not like animal: "I want to eat, immediately catch it." A cat and dog or a cow or a bull-rape. As soon as there is a female, immediately rapes. So there is no punishment. But if you do that on the street, raping, immediately you will be criminal. So that is the difference. The inclination is there, both in the animal and both and in the human being. But a human being supposed to be controlled. That is human life. The more you control, you become perfect. And though, the more you become loose, you are animal. That is the difference.

Lecture on SB 1.2.18 -- Los Angeles, August 21, 1972:

I am expecting something, somebody, that my friend or my lover is coming. So on the door, if there is "koot," "Oh, you have come? No, no. He has not come." The one moment is twelve years. Such kind of separation, when we feel for Kṛṣṇa, that means all dirty things are over. And something for Kṛṣṇa, something for sense enjoyment, that means still the dirty things are there. But the more we engage our time, nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, the dirty things becomes cleansed, gradually. Just like when you are hungry, you are given foodstuff, you eat. The more you eat, your hunger is satisfied. You feel strength, you feel satisfaction. Similarly, the more you advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you feel comfortable, released from the material discomforts. In this way, naṣṭa-prāyeṣu. Gradual process.

Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1972:

He says, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). He understood Kṛṣṇa rightly. Others, they, that story of the yājñika-brāhmaṇas... Not story, fact. They could not understand Kṛṣṇa.

When the yājñika-brāhmaṇas were engaged in sacrifice, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were requested by their friends, cowherd boys, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma, we are hungry. Please give us some food." They knew Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Kṛṣṇa said that "There is a sacrifice, a great ceremony is going on. The brāhmaṇas, the yājñika-brāhmaṇas, are engaged. Go there and ask some food." So they approached. You'll find this description in the Kṛṣṇa book. So the brāhmaṇas refused, because they could not understand Kṛṣṇa. They thought that "Unless the sacrifice is finished, how the foodstuff can be distributed?" But they were so ignorant, that they could not understand that the person for whom the sacrifice was being performed, He's asking personally. That is ignorance.

Lecture on SB 1.2.21 -- Los Angeles, August 24, 1972:

Just like if you are, just like Dhruva Mahārāja. Dhruva Mahārāja wanted the kingdom of his father, but actually when he saw Lord Viṣṇu before him, he said, "Sir, I do not want anything." Svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce (CC Madhya 22.42). "My dear Lord, I have no more any aspiration of this kingdom or that kingdom, that kingdom." This position comes. It is just like that... You are hungry, but if you are given food, if, when your belly is filled up, you will automatically say, "No, no, I don't want any, anything more. That's all right." Kṛṣṇa consciousness is like that. Actually, we don't want to eat. We have nothing to eat. I am spirit soul, you are spirit soul. It is our material hankering. In order to maintain this body, we require some material things to eat. Otherwise, as spiritual soul, I or you don't want to eat anything. There is nothing to be eaten. Therefore the eating propensities should be satisfied by eating Kṛṣṇa's prasādam, so that you gradually become spiritualized and your eating propensities may be diminished. Just like the Gosvāmīs.

Lecture on SB 1.2.24 -- Los Angeles, August 27, 1972:

Kṛṣṇa says that "My devotee, when he offers Me something eatable, with faith, love and devotion, I eat." Then is He speaking lies? No, He eats. But the atheist class of men, they do not know. They see that the plate is full. Sometimes, if He's forced, He can eat also, there are some incidences. Anyway, He, simply by seeing, He can eat. Simply by seeing. If you don't believe that He's not eating... But from the Vedic injunction we can understand that you put the food plate before the Lord, and Lord is seeing, and that is His eating. He's not hungry, but He can eat the whole universe at a time. This is God's position. He can devour the whole universe, as you have seen the virāḍ-rūpa.

Lecture on SB 1.3.14 -- Los Angeles, September 19, 1972:

So the idea is that there is no food problem. As the mother earth said to King Pṛthu that "I am restricting," so the more you become sinful, the food supply will be stopped. This is the law of nature. At the end there will be no foodgrains, at the end of Kali-yuga. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. There will be no foodgrain, no fruits, no milk, no sugar. You have to live on flesh and blood. At that time, being hungry, you will kill your own children and eat flesh and blood. That day is waiting. So this is the civilization. Most heinous civilization. It can only be saved by spreading this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Otherwise there is no way.

Lecture on SB 1.3.29 -- Los Angeles, October 4, 1972:

Then what my offering will be? No, there is no opportunity for offering Kṛṣṇa? No. Kṛṣṇa says, "You can offer Me a little flower, a little leaf, a little water." That's all. Who cannot secure it. Any part of the world, anywhere a person can offer to Kṛṣṇa, "Sir, I have no means. I have secured these things." Now, Kṛṣṇa says, "Yes, that's all right." Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). "This bhakta, one who offers Me in devotion and love." That is the main ingredient. And a nondevotee cannot offer anything Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not poor. Kṛṣṇa has not come here, He is very hungry, He has come here to eat your puri and rasagullā. No. (laughter) (laughs) Don't think like that. But Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He has come before you to accept whatever you can offer with devotion. That is the point. Yo me bhaktyā prayacchati, tad aham aśnāmi. "I eat." Kṛṣṇa says. Kṛṣṇa is a liar? He's God, He says that "I eat."

Lecture on SB 1.4.25 -- Montreal, June 20, 1968:

Just like in the medical laboratory, physiological laboratory, some animals are tested to see the physiological condition of the body, similarly, always these experiments are made on the animals. So Mahārāja Parīkṣit went to the forest for hunting. So he was very tired. He was very tired, and he entered the cottage of one hermitage. He was at that time in meditation. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja was very much thirsty and hungry, and because he was king, he can order anyone, royal order, so he entered the cottage and asked the hermitage, that muni, that "Please give me something to eat. I am very hungry," or "Give me some drinking water." But he was in meditation. By chance he could not hear Mahārāja Parīkṣit. He was silent. But because he was king, king, royal power, he little became agitated, although he was very nice king, "Oh, he is disordering, er, disobeying my orders?" then he became disgusted. And there was a dead serpent lying there. So he took that dead serpent and put it on the neck of the hermitage and went away.

Lecture on SB 1.5.12-13 -- New Vrindaban, June 11, 1969:

That means when we become detestful such abominable things, then we should know that we are advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The test is in your hand. You haven't got to ask anybody, "Do you think I am increasing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness," but you can understand. Exactly in the same way: if you are hungry and if you are eating, you know, by eating, how much your hunger is satisfied, how much you are feeling strength, how much you are feeling pleasure. You haven't got to ask anybody. Similarly, if anybody increases his Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the test will be that he will be disinterested with all material pleasures. That is test.

Lecture on SB 1.8.18 -- New York, April 10, 1973:

This is Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇava conception. Yaśodāmāyi. (S)He has accepted, (s)he is worshiping God as child, so that she is always engaged that Kṛṣṇa may not be in any inconvenience, about His body, about His comforts. Always Mother Yaśodā is anxious that "Kṛṣṇa is now very naughty. He may not capture some monkey, He may not fall down on the water, He may not be burnt in the fire." Always anxious. Because this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. She is always anxious to give protection to Kṛṣṇa. The best service. Kṛṣṇa does not require anyone's service. He is complete, pūrṇam. But for pleasing His devotee, He becomes dependent. He is bothering mother, "I am hungry. Why don't you give Me food. I will steal butter, your stock."

Lecture on SB 1.8.18 -- Chicago, July 4, 1974 :

Kṛṣṇa says, "My devotee, with affection," yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. Kṛṣṇa is not hungry. Kṛṣṇa has not come to you for accepting your offering because He is hungry. No. He is not hungry. He is self-complete, and in the spiritual world He is served, lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam, He is served by hundreds and thousands of goddess of fortune. But Kṛṣṇa is so kind, because if you are seriously lover of Kṛṣṇa, He is here to accept your patraṁ puṣpam. Even you are the poorest of the poor, He will accept whatever you can collect—a little leaf, a little water, a little flower. Any part of the world, anybody can secure and offer to Kṛṣṇa. "Kṛṣṇa, I have nothing to offer You, I am very poor. Please accept this." Kṛṣṇa will accept. Kṛṣṇa says, tad aham aśnāmi, "I eat." So main thing is bhakti, affection, love.

Lecture on SB 1.8.23 -- Los Angeles, April 15, 1973:

Then I am in the material world. And if I am not jealous, then I'm in the spiritual world. Anyone can test. There is no question of whether I'm spiritually advanced or not. You can test yourself. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). Just like if you are eating, you'll understand whether you are satisfied, whether your hunger is satisfied. You haven't got to take certificate from others. Similarly, if you test yourself whether you are jealous, whether you are envious, then you are in the material world. And if you are not jealous, if you are not envious, then in the spiritual world. Then you can serve Kṛṣṇa very nicely if you are not jealous. Because our jealous, enviousness has begin, began from Kṛṣṇa. Just like the Māyāvādīs: "Why Kṛṣṇa shall be God? I am, I am also God. I am also."

Lecture on SB 1.8.36 -- Los Angeles, April 28, 1973:

Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says: māyāra vaśe yāccho bhese. "You are being washed away, carried away, by the currents." The currents also described. The first current is hunger. The second current is thirst. Similarly another current, janma mṛtyu, birth, death, old age. These are all currents. These are different currents of the material nature. We become hungry, we become thirsty. We become overwhelmed with regret, śoka moha, illusion, then birth, death, so many currents. We are being carried away. I am spirit soul. I am put into the material ocean, and the currents, currents are carried away.

Lecture on SB 1.8.40 -- Mayapura, October 20, 1974:

So festival. So there was no scarcity. Why? People were religiously inclined. Even for a beggar, there was sufficient. The temple, sufficient, everything. That is called ime jana-padāḥ svṛddhāḥ. Svṛddha, svṛddha means opulent. All the cities and towns were opulent; villages, opulent, no want. And they depended on the trees, plants, this river, the mountain, the sea. Those who were... They're expert, they would go underneath the sea and pick up the pearls. That is very valuable. And still there are. So for rich men, the jewelries, the silk, nice food, nice building. And poor man, also, even they do not require jewelries, but they were not hungry. Everything was complete.

Lecture on SB 1.8.42 -- Mayapura, October 22, 1974:

So both things should be performed simultaneously, parallel line that you should take up the process how to increase your attachment for Kṛṣṇa, and then automatically detachment will be there. The same example, as given by Rūpa Gosvāmī, that you are hungry. When you take food, that, gradually you become satisfied and your hunger is also satisfied. So when you are fully satisfied... Just like Dhruva Mahārāja said, svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce: (CC Madhya 22.42) "My dear Lord, my dear Sir, I am not hankering after any benediction. I am completely benedicted. No more benediction. I have got everything. I have got You, Kṛṣṇa. So what do I want more?" Yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ. If one gets Kṛṣṇa's favor, if one gets Kṛṣṇa, what does he want more? He has got everything, because Kṛṣṇa is everything.

Lecture on SB 1.8.44 -- Los Angeles, May 6, 1973:

This should be stopped. Prāṇopahārāc ca yathendriyāṇām. Just like the parts of my body, they are indriya, senses. The senses are satisfied, the different parts of my body is satisfied when there is food satisfaction in the stomach. If your stomach is hungry, then how you can be satisfied? You cannot be satisfied. Even there is various arrangement for your sense gratification, but if you are hungry, then you'll not be satisfied.

So the whole world is dissatisfied because the spiritual hunger is not satisfied. Kṛṣṇa is the central point. So spiritual hunger means... We are, our general propensity is to satisfy our hunger. So Kṛṣṇa is the center, Kṛṣṇa is the root, mūla. Yathā taror mūla-niṣecanena tṛpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopaśākhāḥ (SB 4.31.14). Just like watering to the root, you can satisfy the whole tree—the trunk, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruits, everything—if there is water in the root. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is the root of all creation.

Lecture on SB 1.8.44 -- Los Angeles, May 6, 1973:

That's the fact. That is the fact. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā: yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Kṛṣṇa says that "A little flower, little water, little fruit, that's all, if somebody offers Me with devotion and love, then I eat." Kṛṣṇa is not hungry. Kṛṣṇa is not hungry. He is self-satisfied, pūrṇa. But if His devotee offers Him something with love and affection, then He accepts. So do not think that "We have made such nice, sumptuous plate for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa must eat." No. There is no such thing, "must." You cannot make Kṛṣṇa must. That is not possible. So Kṛṣṇa will see how much you have love for Him. Then He will accept. Otherwise He'll reject. Therefore, it is forbidden, those who are nondevotee, those who are not initiated, those who are not chanting regularly, their offering to Kṛṣṇa will not be accepted. We must be very careful. We must know our position, whether I am sincerely following the principles of devotional service. Then Kṛṣṇa will accept. Yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. The real thing is bhakti. So either you offer Kṛṣṇa prayers or you offer foodstuff, everything must be along with bhakti, devotion, love. Then Kṛṣṇa will accept.

Lecture on SB 1.8.44 -- Mayapura, October 24, 1974:

So the baby, packed up, cannot move, cannot say anything but feels pain, therefore moves. And the pregnant woman therefore feels that the child is moving at the age of seven months in the womb. So therefore the struggle begins from the womb. And when the child comes out, again struggle. And he is lying on the bed; some bug is biting. He cannot express. He is crying, and the mother thinks that he's hungry. In this way, wrongly understands, cannot give relief him. And he is going on, crying, crying, crying. We have seen it. We have... Everyone has got experience. Then as soon as he is grown up, he is given responsibility for learning ABCD, or going to school. He doesn't like. No child likes. At least I did not like to go to school. So this is also another struggle. Then, when he is grown up, he is given more and more responsibility, examination, and then married life, then family maintenance. In this way, struggling, struggling, struggling—again death. Again enter into the womb of mother. Again the same struggle. So where is happiness? Therefore when Kṛṣṇa says, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam: (BG 8.15) "This whole material world is a place for suffering only," that is a fact. But mūḍho 'yam, being enamored by māyā, he does not know. He forgets. This life is of forgetfulness, ignorance.

Lecture on SB 1.8.44 -- Mayapura, October 24, 1974:

Kṛṣṇa is not interested with your foodstuff. Kṛṣṇa is interested with your bhakti. Therefore this word is used, yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. Not that "I am very rich man. I can offer Kṛṣṇa luci, puri, halavā. He must take it." Just like we get some palatable foodstuff—we eat up to the neck. No. Kṛṣṇa is ātmārāma. Kṛṣṇa has no hunger. Even if He is hungry, He can fulfill it Himself. He doesn't require your help. But He accepts your foodstuff because you offer Him with bhakti. That is the main thing. Just like you relish foodstuff when you are hungry. If you have got sufficient appetite, any kind of foodstuff, you'll find it is very nice. But if you are offered very palatable foodstuff and you are not hungry—you have no appetite—useless. Similarly, you can Kṛṣṇa offer very nice foodstuff, luci, puri, halavā and other things, but if you have no bhakti, then Kṛṣṇa will not touch. Therefore it is essential; those who are initiated, they should prepare Kṛṣṇa's foodstuff, and the professional man, noninitiated person, cannot prepare. Because a bhakta prepares the foodstuff with some desire that "Let me do it very nicely. Kṛṣṇa will eat."That... That is different thing from the professional man cooking.

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

So the old man had his daughter-in-law. So she was beating her one child. So I inquired through my servant, "Why this young woman is beating her child?" Now, then the servant brought me the news that this boy gave paraṭā to his elder brother who is suffering from typhoid. The typhoid... In typhoid fever, solid food is forbidden strictly, but the boy did not know. He asked his younger brother that "If you steal one paraṭā and if you give me, I am very much hungry." So he became very sympathetic to his brother, and he gave the paraṭā. And the boy was ill; he aggravated the illness. So as soon as the mother heard that he gave a paraṭā to him, he (she) began to beat: "Why did you give?" Now, it was charity, it was affection and sympathetic, but the result was beating with shoes. So if we do not know where charity should be given, then, where affection should be there, then we are under the laws of nature; we shall be punished if it is not properly done. There is punishment.

Lecture on SB 1.10.2 -- Mayapura, June 17, 1973:

That prīti is required. That is the essential quality. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Real thing is bhakti. Kṛṣṇa is not hungry that you will give Him some good food and He will eat it, never mind in which you can give. "Oh, here is puri, halavā. Kṛṣṇa must eat." Kṛṣṇa is not hungry for your puri, halavā. But if there is bhakti, if there is love, then He eats. Tad aham aśnāmi: "Then I eat if there is bhakti, love." "Kṛṣṇa, what can I do for You? I am so teeny, You are so great. Still, I have tried to do something. If You kindly eat." This is mantra. Real mantra is that not so many formalities of mantra. Kṛṣṇa does not say, "One who offers Me with the Vedic mantras..." Never says. Kṛṣṇa says bhaktyā, "with devotion."

Lecture on SB 1.10.5 -- London, August 28, 1973:

That is king. King means he is representative of God. Therefore king is addressed as nara-devatā, the god amongst the human beings. Because as agent of God, Kṛṣṇa, his business is to see that all the citizens, they are happy in their daily necessities of life and they are engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the duty of the government. Not that "You go to hell; give me tax." This is not government. Therefore, the king being pious, how nature was supplying everything, and the citizens were very happy, there was no scarcity. And how they were executing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is true, as people say, that if one is hungry, needy, how he can execute? Therefore it is the duty of the government to see that everyone is happy for the material necessities of life and is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 1.15.24 -- Los Angeles, December 3, 1973:

There are so many diseases, just like diabetes or dysentery. There are so many things. These are the diseases for eating more. That's all. So we are suffering; at the same time, we are eating more. Because we are greedy, we are lusty. This is the cause. So therefore kāmād... We are serving. We are serving our lust, our greediness, and suffering. This is practical. If you have no hunger, if you eat... If you have no appetite, if you eat, then you suffer. If you infect some disease, you'll suffer. That is practical. So we are associating in, being infected by lust, greediness, illusion, fearfulness, so many things. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyam asad-grahat (SB 7.5.5). If you steal, then you will be under fearfulness: "Oh, I may not be arrested; I may be arrested." Because you have done that, asad-grahat, you have done something wrong, therefore you are under the influence of fearfulness. It is very easy to understand.

Lecture on SB 1.15.35 -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1973:

Therefore Kṛṣṇa says patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). This patraṁ puṣpam is not important thing. The important thing is bhakti, devotion. That is wanted. Without bhakti, if you offer Kṛṣṇa very big plate, Kṛṣṇa is not hungry to take your food. He'll not accept it. He'll not accept anything if you do not offer with your love, bhaktyā, love and serving spirit: "My dear Kṛṣṇa, You are so opulent. I have nothing to offer You because You have got everything. But I have tried to collect these things to my best power, so I am offering You. Kindly take it." This is mantra. This is mantra. Don't require much mantra. That meekness, that humbleness, "Kṛṣṇa, I am most insignificant. I have nothing to give You, neither You are very much hungry or You... You have got many, many..." Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam (Bs. 5.29). Kṛṣṇa is served by the goddess of fortune, not one, many millions. Here we are praying to goddess of fortune, "My dear goddess of fortune, kindly give me little fortune. I am very poor." That is our position. We are praying. But Kṛṣṇa's position is that lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam. The goddess of fortune is praying Kṛṣṇa. Just like the gopīs, they are all goddess of fortune. "Kṛṣṇa, kindly take little service..." This is the position.

Lecture on SB 1.15.46 -- Los Angeles, December 24, 1973:

Then udaraṁ-bharatā svārthaḥ satyatve dhārṣṭyam eva hi, dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharaṇaṁ yaśo 'rthe dharma-sevanam. Udaraṁ-bharatā. The interest. I was speaking of interest. Now, in Kali-yuga, the interest will be if you can eat some day very sumptuously, then your all interest is fulfilled. That's all. Means people will be so hungry, so nothing to eat; therefore if they can eat some day very sumptuously, that will be fulfillment of all interests. And satyatve dhārṣṭyam eva hi. And one who will simply play jugglery of words, he will be considered as very truthful. Another, dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharaṇam. One shall be considered very expert if he can maintain his family-wife and children. That means this will be difficult. It has already become difficult. To maintain wife and a few children, that is also a great burden at the present moment. Therefore nobody wants to marry. Evaṁ prajābhir duṣṭābhir ākīrṇe kṣiti-maṇḍale. In this way, when all the people will be infected by the poison of Kali-yuga, brahma-viṭ-kṣatra-śūdrāṇāṁ yo balī bhavitā nṛpaḥ.

Lecture on SB 2.1.5 -- Los Angeles, August 13, 1972:

But He's so kind. He comes just suitable for our, for our being handled by us. That is God's mercy. He, He's in this temple, but He, if you like to worship Him, He can live within your closet. Everyone can take advantage of God, Supreme God. There is no difficulty. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). There is no expenditure. He is agreeable to accept a little fruit, a little flower, a little water. Simply He wants your devotional love. That's all. He's not hungry. Of course, this Society is, according to our capacity, offering Kṛṣṇa the best foodstuff. Not that because He says patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ, therefore we offer Him patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ. No. We offer Him to our best capacity—the best, the best foodstuff. That should be the motto.

Lecture on SB 2.2.5 -- Los Angeles, December 2, 1968:

People open hospitals, schools, colleges, charitable institution. They are nice. But the best contribution to the human society is to revive his lost relationship with God. Just like a rich man's son. Someway or other he has left his father's home and he's loitering here and there. Somebody finds him: "Oh, you are Mr. such and such. You are the son of such and such gentleman. He's very rich man. Why you are suffering? Come, come with me. I shall take to your father." So this is one kind of welfare activity. And another welfare activity, the same person who is loitering in the street, somebody says, "Oh, you are hungry. All right, come on. I shall give you some bread."

Lecture on SB 2.3.13-14 -- Los Angeles, May 30, 1972:

They have no such conclusion. Every living entity has soul. As Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya (BG 14.4). So he's kind not only to the human society. These philanthropists, altruists, nationalists, "this-ists, that-ists." This... They are partial. First of all, they may be kind... They are not kind. They are all selfish. But even though they are kind, they are kind to their own men. Not even outsiders. Not to the outsiders. In your country, they'll throw away grains. But there are so many hungry people; why they should not give? Produce more, if you have got land. You have got men. And they are not producing, they are (not?) engaging. The men are becoming hippies and they're lying idle, without any production. God has given so much land. Produce. Distribute prasādam. This is kindness.

Lecture on SB 2.3.14-15 -- Los Angeles, May 31, 1972:

If you think of Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours, then you'll become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, and your life is successful. Don't allow anything. This requires little practice, abhyāsa-yoga-yuktena cetasā nānya-gāminā (BG 8.8). I should not allow my mind to go, to think of any other subject than Kṛṣṇa. Now we have got so many books. So whenever you find time... You must find time. There is so much time. So read all these books or chant. But when you are hungry, you take prasādam. When you are sleepy, take a snap. Not very much, just to refresh. And go on, either chanting the beads or reading the books or talking about Kṛṣṇa. In this way, always remain in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇuḥ. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means to remember Viṣṇu always, twenty-four hours. Some way or other. Type for Kṛṣṇa, write for Kṛṣṇa, go outside for Kṛṣṇa, saṅkīrtana party, sell book for Kṛṣṇa, bring money for Kṛṣṇa, spend for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Everything Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 2.3.17 -- Los Angeles, July 12, 1969:

In this way, when everything is finished, then the proprietor of the household, he will take his meals, and before taking his meals, he will stand outdoors and call loudly, "If somebody is hungry, please come. Still there is food here." And if there is no response, then he'll take. This is the system of Vedic civilization.

So when Mahārāja Parīkṣit saw that "This sage, although he's sage, he's to be ideal man, he did not hear me. I am thirsty, I asked him water, and..." The injunction is, when you receive somebody, even if you are very poor man, you should offer the guests a comfortable seat and a glass of water. That is not expensive. You can offer anyone a seat: "Please come and sit down here and take a glass of water." And if you can provide, you can give him nice foodstuff, but even if you have got nothing at your home, this thing you can offer without any expenditure, without any botheration: to receive him, "Please come on, come here, sit down. Take a glass of water." That is the system still. In Indian villages... Just like we are sannyāsī, renounced order. There is no problem. You sit down underneath a tree and so many residents will come: "My dear sannyāsī, will you please come and take prasādam?" So many people invite. When Caitanya Mahāprabhu was traveling alone, wherever He goes, He was invited. That system is still there. A sannyāsī is never hungry.

Lecture on SB 2.3.18-19 -- Los Angeles, June 13, 1972:

He will never accept anyone's service. That is brāhmaṇa. Uñcha-vṛtti. If he has no income, he will go on the field ... And when the grains are taken away, some grains fall down. They will pick up all those grains and live on that. Still, they will not go to anyone that "I am hungry. Give me something." No. Uñcha-vṛtti. So our education ... And why we were so independent? Because the education was very high, Vedic education. Satisfied with Brahman realization. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). Not very long ago, say about 300 years ago, there was a brāhmaṇa, a very rigid brāhmaṇa, in Kṛṣṇa-nagara, near our Māyāpur. And brāhmaṇa's business, he was teaching. So the king of that place, means a big zamindar, Rājā Kṛṣṇa-candra ... By his name, that place is Kṛṣṇa-nagara. So he heard about the brāhmaṇa, very learned brāhmaṇa, but very poor. So he one day came to him and asked him, "Brāhmaṇa, can I help you any way?" So he said, "No, I don't require any help from you."

Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972:

Personally, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is teaching us. And He is ordering in the Bhagavad-gītā, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). He is mentioning especially vegetables, grains, fruits. But not that everyone can offer Kṛṣṇa all these things. No. He says yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. He does not accept anything from the hands of a nondevotee. Therefore the non-initiated student cannot offer Him. He doesn't accept. He says especially yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. He must be devotee. He is not hungry that He has come to your temple to eat. No. He is giving food to all the living entities. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That one Kṛṣṇa is giving all the necessities of life to all the living entities. So what we can offer? We cannot offer anything. Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. Still He is very kind. He comes before you as you can handle Him, as you can dress Him, as you can wash Him, you can touch His lotus feet. Kṛṣṇa is giving you chance. It is very difficult to approach Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He has appeared in your temple and He is accepting. According to the rules and regulation, if you offer, He will accept.

Lecture on SB 2.3.20-21 -- Los Angeles, June 17, 1972:

So if you can simply engage your tongue chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and tasting kṛṣṇa-prasādam, you become perfect. Simple thing. There is no difficulty. Whenever there is time, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. And when you feel hungry, take kṛṣṇa-prasādam and live here peacefully. Don't talk rubbish. Then life is successful. Is there any difficulty We are, we are trying to give you kṛṣṇa-prasādam. We are giving you chance to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is our duty. So you take advantage of it, and make your life successful. Otherwise, it is jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta. Dārdurikā. The frogs, frog's tongue, very busy in croaking. But it, it, it is means inviting death, "Please come here. I am sitting here." So similarly, by talking nonsense, we allow our span of life being diminished by the sunrise and sunset, but if we talk about the urugāya-gāthāḥ, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then our life cannot be taken away. It cannot be decreased.

Lecture on SB 2.9.4 -- Japan, April 22, 1972:

Oh, there are enough fruits. Little eating, finish their business. Or take the elephants also. They are eating so much. They have got also food. Therefore śāstra says that "Food is already there." So many people say, "Oh, so many people are dying, starving." And where is the man? Show me who is dying for starvation. These are all pleas. They won't take any tapasya for understanding, but they will work hard like asses, like hogs and dogs, for two meals. But we should consider that we are taking so much penances for simply filling our this hungry belly, appetite. Why not little tapasya for Kṛṣṇa, chanting sixteen rounds? But will... That is also very difficult. Then? Tapasya, penance in pure bhakti-yoga.

Lecture on SB 2.9.16 -- Tokyo, April 30, 1972:

So this is our position. Kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā. And even... Just like this man who killed President Kennedy, he was also killed. So although he accepted to kill President, which he should not have done, but still, the man who paid him or engaged him, he was not satisfied. He also killed him. This is the position. Even if you do something abominable, still, the man for whom you are doing, he will not be satisfied. He can kill you. This is going on. This is the sense of service here in this world. Try to understand. Practically it is all bogus. But I give service because I am lusty; I am hungry; I want to satisfy my senses. Therefore I pose myself: "Oh, I will give you service. I will become prime minister, and I will give you so much service." He will canvass. But as soon as he goes to the post of prime minister, he will do nothing. You cannot see, if you want to see him. While taking votes he will come to your door, "Please give me vote." And when he is in the prime minister post, if you want to see him, "Oh, the prime minister is preoccupied. You cannot see him." So on the whole, simply sense gratification in the name of service.

Lecture on SB 3.25.11 -- Bombay, November 11, 1974:

That is bhakti. That offering is not required... But Kṛṣṇa is not hungry, that He's asking from you little fruit, little flower, little... He is feeding... Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. He is supplying all the necessities of everyone. So why He's begging from you? Because He wants that you love Him. That is Kṛṣṇa's want. You are suffering in this material world, you are entangled in this tree from one branch to another, rotating and suffering. So Kṛṣṇa wants that you do not suffer. You give up this business of jumping like monkey from this branch to that branch, but come to Him and surrender to Him. Śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyam. When this knowledge comes, that is perfect knowledge. Gato mukundaṁ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyaṁ parihṛtya kartam.

Lecture on SB 3.25.21 -- Bombay, November 21, 1974:

We have got hundreds of temples outside India. If Bombay people are not liking, let us go away." No. Kāruṇikāḥ. We have come to distribute Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We must tolerate and give this message to the people. Kāruṇikāḥ. Very merciful, in spite of all trouble. What is the use of...? These boys, these American boys, they have come to help me—not that they are hungry, they have come here. No. My mission is that "You American, your, you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa so that India, people of India will see, 'Oh, Americans, they are also chanting. Why not ourselves? It is our property.' " But unfortunately, so much dull brain. But that is not coming. But still, we have to do it. We have to tolerate and we have to become kāruṇikāḥ.

Lecture on SB 3.25.27 -- Bombay, November 27, 1974:

But all of them are meant for serving Kṛṣṇa. That is explained in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa āra saba bhṛtya (CC Adi 5.142). Kṛṣṇa has expanded. The demigods, they are also living entities like us, but they have got better position. Just like here also in the government. Ordinary living... Everyone is citizen, but somebody has got better position as the minister, as the president or some big officer. Similarly, the demigods, they are also living entities. The same thing as we are but different body. Different... The dog has got the dog's body. He's hungry or there is some company, barking. And somebody has got minister body, he's ordering. He's in better position. And better than him somebody else, better than him somebody else, better than him somebody else. In this way you go up to Brahmā, Lord Brahmā. He also servant of Kṛṣṇa. That is the position.

Lecture on SB 3.25.27 -- Bombay, November 27, 1974:

eSo in the previous verse we have discussed ṛjubhir yoga-mārgaiḥ (SB 3.25.26). Ṛju, very simple method. Ṛju means very simple. Everyone can perform it. Susukhaṁ kartum avyayam (BG 9.2). In the Bhagavad-gītā, very happy. If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and dance, it is very happy thing. And by dancing, dancing, as soon as you become hungry, take prasādam, ready. So where is the trouble? Therefore it is ṛjubhir yoga-mārgaiḥ. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so nice there is no trouble only. And another thing is that that is great hope. Everything you are doing under the spell of māyā we do not know where you are going, what is the ultimate aim. We do not know. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni. We are under the spell of māyā given by the guṇas. You must accept. If you don't take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and give it ourselves on the waves of māyā, then we do not know where we are going. The Caitanya Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says māyār bośe, jāccho bhese', Khāccho hābuḍubu bhāi. Just like a straw in the waves of the ocean or the river.

Lecture on SB 3.25.41 -- Bombay, December 9, 1974:

You cannot make any adjustment, simply moving. And if one is little pious, he can pray to God, "Please get me relief from this condition. Now I shall worship You." This is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, this consciousness. There is consciousness. After seven months, there is consciousness. Then, some way or other, you get out of the womb of your mother. Then there are so many troubles, crying. The child is crying, crying, almost dependent on mother's mercy. The mother sometime cannot understand what the child wants. Some ant is biting, and mother is thinking that she is hungry. But actually it is not hungry, but it cannot say that "One ant is biting on my back," and he is crying. There are worms, there are mosquitoes, and there are bugs, and lying in the stool, in urine, cannot say.

Lecture on SB 3.25.44 -- Bombay, December 12, 1974:

You don't require to be a Ph.D. and M.S.C. God has given you the ear. You go to a person, realized soul, and hear from him. Simply hear from him. That is recommended in this age, because people are very, very fallen. They have no education. They have no inclination how to make perfect life. They do not know what is perfection of life. They think, "If I can eat sumptuously, that is perfection of life." Udaraṁ bharita. Svārtham udaraṁ bharita. In this age, if one man can eat very voraciously, he thinks, "My all interest are finished." He thinks. Because people are so, I mean, hungry, that they think, "If I can get a sumptuous food, that is perfection of life." This is Kali-yuga. Kali-yuga. Svārtham udaraṁ bharita. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. One will feel that "My all interest is now fulfilled because I am voraciously eating."

Lecture on SB 3.26.5 -- Bombay, December 17, 1974:

So you will not be bereft of the prasāda. Whatever you offering to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is so kind, He will eat, and He will leave it again, the same, very tasteful. And you will eat it, and you become spiritualized. Kṛṣṇa is not hungry, that because you will give Him very palatable dishes, He will eat everything. He is self-sufficient. He is being offered such nice dishes by many thousands of goddess of fortune, including Rādhārāṇī, and so He has no need for your nicely prepared foodstuff. But He is so kind that He comes to accept it just to deliver you. Take it like that. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 3.26.21 -- Bombay, December 30, 1974:

"A kṛṣṇa-bhakta, a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, a person who is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, he has no such desire." He has no such desire. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu says in His prayer, na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). This is the position of devotee. Generally karmīs, they want something from God. They go to temple, they go to church, for begging something: "I am distressed. I have no money. Kindly give me some money." "I am hungry, give me my daily bread." "Give me," something "give me." So this so long we are on the platform of "give me," you will never be happy. You will get it. If you go to God and ask Him, "God, give me my daily bread," so it is not very difficult for God to give you bread. He is giving bread to everyone. Why not to you? He is giving bread to the elephants, He is giving bread to the ants, and what you can eat? That is not very difficult thing. But you should go to God not for begging something but for giving something. That is Vāsudeva stage. Then you will get śānti, when you will go to God not for begging material happiness or material liberation, mukti, bhukti-mukti, and not for any jugglery, magic things, just like yogis show some magic.

Lecture on SB 3.26.28 -- Bombay, January 5, 1975:

So that is the test who is a devotee. Simply by advertising himself, advertisements will not do. How much you are freed from the anarthas. Viraktir anyatra syāt. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). The example is given: just like if you are hungry, you are hankering after food, but when sufficient food is supplied to you, then the next stage will be: "No, no, I don't want any more. That's all right." "No, no, take more." "No, no, no, no. I am not..." He is satisfied, fully satisfied. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja: he took advantage of bhakti for some material... Not Prahlāda Mahārāja, Dhruva Mahārāja. I am sorry. So when actually saw Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu, who came to satisfy him, being pleased upon his austerities, little boy of five years, at that time, when he saw Kṛṣṇa, he said, "No, no, I don't want anything." Svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce: (CC Madhya 22.42) "Svāmin, my Lord, I am fully satisfied. I have no more demand."

Lecture on SB 3.26.40 -- Bombay, January 15, 1975:

Nitāi: "Fire is appreciated by its light and by its capacity to cook, to digest, to destroy cold, to evaporate, and to give rise to hunger, thirst, eating and drinking."

Prabhupāda:

dyotanaṁ pacanaṁ pānam

adanaṁ hima-mardanam

tejaso vṛttayas tv etāḥ

śoṣaṇaṁ kṣut tṛḍ eva ca

(SB 3.26.40)

So people may be astonished, that "They are reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Why they are discussing the action and reaction of fire?" Generally, they think Bhāgavata reading means rāsa-pañcādhyāya, bas, immediately jump over to the rāsa-līlā of Kṛṣṇa. Actually to know God means to know everything in detail.

Lecture on SB 3.28.19 -- Nairobi, October 29, 1975:

So the puṇya-karma means yajña-dāna-tapasya... That is called puṇya-karma, pious activities. So in this age who is going to perform yajña? Where is that capacity? It is not possible. And who has got money to give in charity? Everyone is poverty-stricken. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyāḥ (SB 1.1.10). Everyone is unfortunate, everyone in this age. So how he can give in charity? Any country you go-maybe in some special-otherwise you will find poverty-stricken men, hungry men, without any culture, without any education. They are majority. Manda-bhāgyāḥ. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo. And mostly, cent percent Why? Cent percent men, they are mandāḥ, bad men. They won't hear about their real necessities of life. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo. And if they are at all interested for progress of life, they will accept some so-called system, sumanda-matayo. It has no meaning, simply bluff. They will accept that. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo. Why? Manda-bhāgyāḥ, unfortunate. Unfortunate. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ. And always disturbed.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- London (Tittenhurst), September 13, 1969:

So any poor man can offer Kṛṣṇa. There is no need of, I mean to say, luxuriant foodstuff, but it is meant for the poorest man. The poorest of the poor men can secure these four things—a little leaf, a little flower, a little fruit, and little water. Any part of the world. Therefore He is prescribing, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati: "Anyone who offers Me with love and devotion..." Tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam. "Because it is brought to Me with love and devotion," aśn āmi, "I eat." Kṛṣṇa is not hungry, neither He is poor. But the main thing is bhaktyā, devotion and love. So whatever you offer Kṛṣṇa with devotion and love within this group as prescribed by Him, Kṛṣṇa accepts it. So you can offer anywhere. It does not matter that you have to offer in temple. Kṛṣṇa is everywhere. So you offer and eat that. This cauliflower is also flower. This is also flower. (chuckles) And potato is fruit. Fruit, flower.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- Paris, August 12, 1973:

Prabhupāda: His children will not die for want of her. (break) ...maintaining millions and millions of children, why not her?

Jyotirmayī: We saw that in India the people are not chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, now very poor, now dying of anger, oh, hunger, but there is those who are very rich, they are not religious at all. They do not chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, but are very rich and they enjoy very much.

Prabhupāda: Yes, but those who are chanting, they are not dying (laughter). I am Indian. I am not dying.

Guest: I am Indian. I am coming from Calcutta, from the (indistinct). I am seeing every day. This is the first time...

Prabhupāda: But you do not know who are chanting.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- London, September 17, 1969:

They did not know how to drink. These Britishers introduced. There is still a lane, a street, Porterly Street. There was a woman of suspicious character. She was supplied big bottles of wine, and she used to canvass rich men's son to take wine, and it was distributed free. In this way wine was distributed, and people began to drink, gradually. And I have seen a tea set committee. They... Advertising tea, preparing tea nicely. "You take this tea, you'll not feel hungry, you'll be cured from malaria...," and so many things. And people come and take tea in this way. Now any man is taking tea. In the morning they'll gather in the tea stall. You see. So people, they did not know what is gambling, what is drinking, what is meat-eating. So these things were introduced gradually. Still, no rigid Hindu house will allow meat cooking in the house, still. No. If you want to if you want to eat meat, you can go to hotel, but at home you cannot cook, meat-eating.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 12, 1975:

This is the instruction. This is the first education. Go to gurukula and serve the mahat guru, the broad-minded guru, just like a menial servant. What is that? You go collect everything for guru, alms, and do not claim proprietorship. It is guru's property. Whatever you collect, that is not your property. That is guru's property. And go to gurukula, and when guru will ask you, "My dear boy, please come and take your prasādam," then you'll take. If guru forgets to call you, you should fast. This is gurukula. Not that "I am hungry. There is foodstuff. Let me eat." No. Without permission of guru you cannot touch anything. This is the injunction.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 12, 1975:

We are not going to follow your instruction. We have to follow the instruction of the śāstra. You cannot say that "Why you are..." Are we not serving the man? We are trying to give you the knowledge of Kṛṣṇa. Is it not serving the man? The better service—to give knowledge. If a man is hungry, he can give some food. That will give him some temporary benefit. But if you give him knowledge how to earn his livelihood, that is better gift. So people are suffering for want of knowledge. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is giving knowledge to the whole world. Not only that, we are giving prasādam also, hundreds and thousands of people. We are not that simply we are giving knowledge, but we are giving, we are inviting everyone, "Come, live with us peacefully, take Kṛṣṇa prasādam and be Kṛṣṇa conscious." This is our movement. That's all? One more.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975:

Guest (5): I would like to ask this question. You said that Hare Kṛṣṇa helps us along with the path of God realization. Take a simple thing like assuming I was hungry and I said, "food, food, food." That will not necessarily fill me. I'll still be hungry. How could the mere repetition of words bring about God realization?

Prabhupāda: "Food, food, food." (laughter) That is the difference between God's name and material name. In the material name the food, the name of food and actually food—rice, dahl, capati, food—they are different. They are different. But in the spiritual world, God and His name is the same.

Lecture on SB 5.5.25 -- Vrndavana, November 12, 1976:

So people do not want to stop this business. They want to improve the business. "I am eating now without any plate, and if I can eat on the golden plate," they are thinking, "this is advancement of civilization." So the eating process... Eating means kṣut nivṛtti tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ. Tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣut nivṛtti. When one is hungry, when he eats something, according to the taste... A gentleman is eating halavā, purī, and the hog is eating stool. So the taste and tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣut nivṛtti is the same. Either you eat halavā, purī or stool, you are eating according to the taste. Just like in the airplane we sit down. They are asking, "Sir, what can I...?" We say, "We refuse." We don't touch anything in the airplane because we know what is that. And the next man, he is eating very nicely the intestine of hog. We have seen it. He is very nicely eating with spoon and fork, very enjoying. And we are saying, "Oh, what nasty thing he is eating." We don't, do not touch even what is offered. So why? We are taking whatever little things we have taken with us. But the result is the same, tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣut nivṛtti. You are hungry, you take something, so your appetite will decrease and your satisfaction will increase. You will get strength. Tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣut nivṛtti. So this is not improvement. Eating by the hog and eating by the human being, the result is the same. Tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣut nivṛtti. But eating the intestines of the hog or eating halavā, puri, it does not make any difference. Ei bhāla, ei manda' saba 'manodharma'. In this material world, "This is good and this is bad," this is all mental concoction.

Lecture on SB 6.1.2 -- Honolulu, May 6, 1976:

So different. And so far God is concerned, He can eat with legs; He can see with hands; He can eat with eyes. That is God. That is God. Añgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti (Bs. 5.32). Añgāni, that is transcendental. He is not under any rule. He is not under any rule. If you say, "Why Kṛṣṇa is eating by the eyes?" yes, that is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. If you offer something, Kṛṣṇa, simply by seeing, He is eating. That is Kṛṣṇa. And again if you say, "If He is eating, why the plate is full?" that is Kṛṣṇa. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). Kṛṣṇa is not a hungry man like me, that "If you give Me something, I will eat everything, finished." No. Kṛṣṇa can take the whole plate; still it will remain the whole plate, for giving prasādam.

Lecture on SB 6.1.6 -- Sydney, February 17, 1973:

So he was very pleased that "I am working, pulling on this ṭhelā and eating sumptuously, and by evening it becomes all digested and again I'll eat." That is the (indistinct). He's eating sumptuously, and by working, by pulling on the ṭhelā, hard labor, whole thing is digested and again goes in the evening he eats very sumptuously, he is very pleased. That is his success of life. So people are doing like that. They are eating in the morning and working very hard whole day, and in the evening again he becomes hungry and eats more sumptuously. That is his happiness. That is his happiness. But he does not think that these distresses are there, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9).

Lecture on SB 6.1.8 -- New York, July 22, 1971:

So in order to become God conscious, you have to follow some rules and regulations. We do not give any credit to the vegetarians than the meat-eaters. Because one has to eat. But our proposal is, Kṛṣṇa conscious men, that we shall eat remnants of foodstuff offered to Kṛṣṇa. That is our philosophy. And Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26), that Kṛṣṇa says that "Anyone who offers Me a little fruit, a little water, and little leaf with devotion and love, I accept it." Kṛṣṇa is not hungry that He is begging some food from us. No. He is trying to create loving transaction: "You love Me; I love you." Kṛṣṇa is God. Kṛṣṇa, practically by His energy everything is produced. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). So why He should beg for, from me, a little leaf and little fruit and little water? He has no business.

Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- London, August 3, 1971:

You should be satisfied whatever Kṛṣṇa has allotted to you. Therefore we are training our devotees to take Kṛṣṇa-prasādam. Whatever Kṛṣṇa has willfully left after His eating, we take it. But Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He keeps the prasādam as it is. Because He's pūrṇa. He's not hungry. He's feeding millions of living entities. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. So He's not hungry. Neither whatever you are offering to Kṛṣṇa, it is your property. It is Kṛṣṇa's property. You cannot manufacture fruits, flowers, grains, or milk, or anything else. Anything eatable you cannot manufacture in your factory. That is Kṛṣṇa's manufacture. Therefore, actually, it is Kṛṣṇa's property. Simply you have to acknowledge: "Kṛṣṇa, You are so kind. You have given so many things for our eating. First of all, You taste. Then we shall take it." What is the difficulty? This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 6.1.18 -- Honolulu, May 18, 1976:

The mother or the father or the relative takes him. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung these different conditions. So we forget. That is spell of māyā. Then, even in this childhood, there are so many pains. Just like our... Here are children. They are crying. There is some pain. But we cannot understand what is the pain. Suppose some bug is biting. He's crying and mother is thinking that "He is hungry, so he's not stopping. So just..." Our point is: just try to study this life, how much painful it is. This is the human body and what to speak of the dog's body, cat's body? You study very minutely. You'll find, from the beginning of my life in the womb of my mother up to the death point, simply miseries. Simply miseries. Simply.

Lecture on SB 6.1.39-40 -- Surat, December 21, 1970:

Yes, but sometimes... That depends on the person. Sometimes... Those who are pious persons, they know that these rats, they are also hungry and they should be given some food. That is the vision of the pious person. And that is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that in your house you should see not only to the welfare of your children. Even there is a lizard, there is a rat, even there is a snake, you should see how he is also comfortably situated. That is spiritual communism. In Vṛndāvana still, a snake found in the house is never killed, snake. Still a rat is never killed. If you kill a rat in Vṛndāvana, then so many people will come: "Oh, you are committing such sinful acts. You are killing a rat." That depends on the mentality of the person. You can take care of this animal, I mean to say, against the disturbance created by this animal, but you cannot kill them. That is not. But when it is unavoidable, we have to do like that. But as far as possible we should avoid. We have heard from our father that his elder brother in the village had a cloth shop, and there were rats. So at night he would keep a big bowl of rice in the middle of the shop, and the rats will eat whole night. They would not commit any harm to the cloth. They respect it. They are also hungry, they are also living entities. They have also right to live, to eat. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). Everything.

Lecture on SB 6.1.44 -- Los Angeles, June 10, 1976:

So you don't create disturbance. Let us become peaceful." So lion agreed, "All right, if you voluntarily come, I will sleep, and if you enter in my mouth..." So this was the agreement. There was the turn of one rabbit. So he planned something. So he went to the lion a little late. So lion was very angry that "Why you have come late? I am very hungry, and you did not come." (laughter) So the rabbit said, "Sir, there was a danger in the way." "What is that?" "There is another lion, and he wanted to kill me and eat, so I protested, 'No, sir, you cannot kill me. (laughter) I am destined to be killed by such and such lion, so you cannot do it.' " So he was very much pleased: "Where is that lion?" "Please come. I will show you." So he took him near one well. So he... The rabbit said, "He is living within this." (laughter) The lion immediately... "Come on. Make a how!' " So there was vibration, still higher sound, and he saw his photo, yes, shadow. So he thought it, "Yes, there is lion." He immediately jumped over him. (devotees laugh) Finished. So how the lion was killed by the rabbit? Now, buddhir yasya balaṁ tasya: "One who has got intelligence, he has got power." The foolish... So everywhere you will find.

Lecture on SB 6.1.61 -- Vrndavana, August 28, 1975:

He is explaining. He was an emperor. He had ample opportunity of enjoyment, material enjoyment. He was enjoying it. But he said, "Since I have become Kṛṣṇa conscious and I am taking pleasure in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, from that time," bata nārī-saṅgame smaryamāne, "whenever I think of enjoying with woman, I spite on it." This is the test. This is the test, how I am becoming advanced. You do not require any certificate from anyone. You can learn yourself. Just like when you are eating, you do not require any certificate from others, "Whether I am feeling all right?" Eating means you are hungry, so if you eat, you will feel satisfied. Your hunger will be satisfied. You will be getting strength. These are the symptoms that have eaten. Similarly, when you'll no longer be attracted by this sex desire, then you should understand that "I am now making progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness." This is the test.

Lecture on SB 6.1.62 -- Vrndavana, August 29, 1975:

So mano madana-vepitam. Cupid is always disturbing. This material world means this Madana, Cupid, whole material world. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tucchaṁ (SB 7.9.45). Gṛhamedhi means those who have decided to prolong this body for sense enjoyment. That is going on. Everyone is trying so hard. In big, big cities they are working so hard like hogs and dogs, not for... They say that "We are hungry. We must work very hard." But that is not the fact. The real fact is that "We want to enjoy sex." So far hunger is concerned, you can control, but sex desire, it is very difficult to control.

So this material world means that maithunādi. Maithuna means sex intercourse. That is the beginning of material life. You know very well how strong is sex desire in the Western countries. Even old man, going to die, he has also. Although he cannot enjoy sex, still, he is trying his best by medicine, by other means, by intoxication, by stimulant. So that is the only happiness of this material world.

Lecture on SB 7.5.1, Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, January 12, 1973:

So Indians are meant for welfare activities for the whole world. And how they will do? Not by begging: "Give me rice, give me milk powder, give me money, give me this." No. If you spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement all over the world, then you will be respectful. People will like it. They are very hungry for this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So I am struggling alone. I require many Indians to join and spread this movement all over the world.

Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Montreal, June 16, 1968:

Here, of course, in the street, cow is also not visible. In India, in the street, there are many cows. They are allowed to move free. And sometimes the foodstuff is there, and the cow immediately grabs the foodstuff and eats half of it. You see? (laughter) Now, there are human beings also. Suppose a man is here. He is poor man, he is hungry, and he wants to eat that foodstuff. But because he is human being, he has got the control. He is not like, I mean to say, cow, that immediately takes up the foodstuff. Even if he is poor, he can beg, "My dear sir, can you spare little foodstuff?" But he'll not... This is human, humanity. Suppose if there is a beautiful girl and one man is attracted, still, he will feel shame to capture that girl. Of course, here I see the boys and girls, they are kissing in the street, and in India it is very uncivil. No boy, no girls will do that because it is a training. It is a training. So by training, one can restrain the senses. And the more you restrain your senses, the more you become slackened for these material shackles.

Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Montreal, June 16, 1968:

Christ, he was crucified, but he never protested because he had no bodily consciousness at all. So when one is spiritually advanced, there is no bodily consciousness. But we should not imitate. That requires advancement, as we have mentioned. Nothing has to be done in hasty. But if you follow the rules and regulation, then someday it will be experienced that how we have spiritually advanced. Just like if you go on eating, not in the first morsel, second morsel, you become immediately satisfied. But when you are full in your satisfaction of hunger you feel happiness, you feel strength. Similarly, we have to follow the spiritual process, and gradually as we develop we become free from all these demands of the body. There was Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, he was eating only say a few grains of butter every alternate day. Only a few grains of butter only. Every alternate day he was eating. So eating is also nonessential to one who is spiritual advanced. And so-called sex life, oh, that can be given up from the very beginning. And so far defense, nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati (SB 6.17.28).

Lecture on SB 7.6.4 -- Vrndavana, December 5, 1975:

How it is? Now, just like if you are hungry and if you get food, then the more you eat, your appetite or hunger will be minimized, and at last you'll say, "No, no, I don't want any." Similarly, advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness means, "No no, I don't want." Not only saying, "Don't want," but yad avadi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravinde nava nava dhāman udyata rantum āsīt tad avadhi bata nārī-saṅgame. Here our feelings of happiness is sex life. Sometimes we think, "Oh, how I was enjoying sex life with my wife, with my husband." That is also pleasure. They read so many novels because there is sex life. They feel very happy: "How this man is talking with this woman, woman is talking, this woman, and how they are enjoying." So that is subtle, subtle enjoyment. There are eight kinds of subtle sex life. If you see one beautiful woman and if you appreciate, "Oh, how nice the face is," that is subtle sex. If you read books, that is also subtle sex.

Lecture on SB 7.6.9 -- New Vrindaban, June 25, 1976:

So with the tongue begins spiritual life. If we restrict our tongue not to talk uselessly, simply talk of Kṛṣṇa, or chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, read Kṛṣṇa books, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and when you are hungry, take Kṛṣṇa prasādam, then it will be possible. You can control the tongue. And if you can control the tongue, then you can control other senses very easily. Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has given a very easy formula, tār madhye jihvā ati, lobhamoy sudurmati tā'ke jetā koṭhina soṁsāre kṛṣṇa boḍa-doyāmoy, kori, Kṛṣṇa is so kind that from Vaikuṇṭha He has come here in this remote village of America. He's so kind, just to accept your service. Don't think that "Here is a doll." No. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, on the request of devotee, He has come. You should always remember this, that "Here is Kṛṣṇa, personally present." Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu... It requires only advanced sense. When He saw Jagannātha at Purī temple, He immediately fainted, "Here is My Lord." So it is only advanced understanding, but preliminary understanding is that "Here is Kṛṣṇa." Don't think that it is a doll. Even if you think it is doll, but Kṛṣṇa has come to you in the form of doll so that you can see. Otherwise, Kṛṣṇa is always present everywhere. We cannot see. Or you can handle. Kṛṣṇa is everything. So Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He has come here to be seen by you, to be touched by you, to be dressed by you, to be decorated by you, to accept whatever you nicely offer with bhakti. Kṛṣṇa is not hungry or Kṛṣṇa has no food at His Vaikuṇṭha? No. He has got. He is supplying everyone food. So He has got everything.

Lecture on SB 7.6.16 -- New Vrindaban, June 30, 1976:

So the father's property everyone can enjoy, tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā (ISO 1). Just like these children, father, mother, whatever gives, "My dear child, you eat it." Similarly if we think in that philosophy, our process, this Deity worship, the father or the supreme maintainer gives us prasādam, we take it. Actually fruits, flowers or grains, it is given by Kṛṣṇa. We cannot produce it. So how nice system it is, that "Kṛṣṇa, it is Yours, You have given us. So first of all You eat." This is love. Kṛṣṇa is not hungry. Kṛṣṇa can have sumptuous food. He is the maintainer of everyone. So this is how good feeling, very reasonable. Any man with some sense, he'll take it very seriously, "Yes, everything given by God, Kṛṣṇa. So let us offer it first of all to Kṛṣṇa." And there is no fear that Kṛṣṇa will eat everything and then we shall have nothing to eat. It is not like that. Kṛṣṇa's eating is a different way.

Lecture on SB 7.9.11 -- Mayapur, February 18, 1976:

Similarly, as friend, nobody can give any service to Kṛṣṇa, or as enemy, nobody can give any trouble to Kṛṣṇa. Nija-lābha-pūrṇa. This is nija-lābha-pūrṇa. He's always full with all satisfaction. So why Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26)? So does it mean that Kṛṣṇa is so hungry that He has come to beg from us a little flower, little fruit? That some rascal taken this, that Kṛṣṇa comes as beggar, daridra. So when Kṛṣṇa comes as opulent Personality of Godhead they are not interested to serve Him, but when Kṛṣṇa comes as daridra, then they're interested.

Lecture on SB 7.9.11 -- Mayapur, February 18, 1976:

We are offering Kṛṣṇa nice foodstuff, so we are eating this nice prasādam which we never conceived or dreamed, dreamt in our life. Because we are offering to Kṛṣṇa, we become so fortunate to taste this nice prasādam. Kṛṣṇa, nija-lābha-pūrṇaḥ. It is not that if you give a nice plate of foodstuff, Kṛṣṇa eats everything, and you simply see the empty dish. No. Kṛṣṇa eats and again keeps it as it is for... That is Kṛṣṇa. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). The atheist class of men, they think, "We offered so many things. Kṛṣṇa did not eat." No. He has eaten, but He is nija-lābha-pūrṇaḥ. He is not hungry, but whatever you have offered, He has eaten.

Lecture on SB 7.9.37 -- Mayapur, March 15, 1976:

He could be very satisfied to get answer himself that "I am minister. I have got so big salary. I get so much respect." No, he was not satisfied. He went to guru, Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The Vedic injunction is, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Everyone is conscious of the struggle for existence, but they are not serious enough that "Why this struggle for existence?" That "Why?" required. That is human life. The dog is suffering. He is hungry, he's going to a place for some food, and instead of food, he's getting a stroke by the stick. He barks very... He's disappointed that "I wanted food, but I got the stick." (laughter) "I wanted bread; I got stone." This is going on. This is going on. And therefore, in the human society also, they are also struggling and making plans for economic development so that instead of stone, they can get bread. But the struggle is going on. There is no settlement. That is not possible. That is not possible. Either you go to this country or that country, you accept this "ism" or that "ism," unless you come to Kṛṣṇa, there is no possibility of peace. That is stated, very simple words, in the Bhagavad-gītā, that how to stop this struggle for existence.

Lecture on SB 7.9.40 -- Mayapur, March 18, 1976:

How can you satisfy so many masters? Eh? Even in the animal kingdom, they are also servant, but they are servant of one sense. That is also described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Just like the fish. The fish is only strongly under the servitude of the tongue. Therefore the fishing tackle gives something eatable, and the fish immediately... It is not that it is hungry, but because the fish is so greedy—something nonsense is there in tackle—he immediately..., and becomes caught up. Due to the strong inclination of eating, he loses his life. As soon as he's caught up, that... Similarly, other animal... Just like the deer is very fond of hearing nice music. The hunters play very nice music, and they come to hear, and he kills.

Lecture on SB 7.9.40 -- Mayapur, March 18, 1976:

If Kṛṣṇa eats from your hand, then your life is successful. If Kṛṣṇa accepts any bit of service from you, then your life is successful. Immediately you become liberated, because bhakti is not for the conditioned soul. As soon as... Kṛṣṇa therefore adds this word. Kṛṣṇa is not hungry for eating anything from your hand. He's not hungry. But He wants to teach you how to become a bhakta. Mad-bhaktaḥ. Man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. He wants you to become His devotee. Then your life's problem is solved.

So therefore He is prepared to take anything, little, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ (BG 9.26), so that you can begin to give something to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's neither hungry nor wants anything from you. For your benefit, for our benefit, Kṛṣṇa is prepared to take a little leaf, little flower, little water, which is available anywhere all over the world, without any price. Even if I am very poor man I can pick up a flower, a little leaf, patraṁ, and little fruit, and water is available everywhere.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

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

This is the feeling. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavaḥ. This is bhakti. Pareśānubhava. You'll anubha..., you will experience yourself. That is the test. If you experience yourself that "I am different from these persons," then where is the attachment for material things? So that is the test; how much you have become advanced in devotional service, you can experience yourself. The example is given: Just like a hungry man, if he's given food, if he eats, then he experiences himself that he's getting strength, his hunger is being satisfied. The, these things will be experienced. He hasn't got to take certificate from others, "Whether I am advancing in spiritual consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness." He'll feel himself. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhava viraktir anyatra syāt. This is the test.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 5, 1973:

So it was the duty of Yudhiṣṭhira to immediately, what Kṛṣṇa said, immediately to execute it. But because he was on the karma-kāṇḍīya... Of course, they were all devotees, but just to show us... The karma-kāṇḍīya vicāra, they hesitated. Just like the brāhmaṇas who were, yajnic brāhmaṇa, who was performing sacrifices and Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's friends became hungry. So they asked Kṛṣṇa, "Kṛṣṇa we are hungry. Give me... Please arrange for some food." Kṛṣṇa said, "Yes, you go immediately there. The brāhmaṇas are performing yajñas, and ask them for some food." They went, but the brāhmaṇas refused. "Oh, the yajña is not yet performed. How we can give you? No, no. Don't talk." So they came back. Then Kṛṣṇa said, "Go to their wives, the yajñic brāhmaṇa patnī. Go to their wives." And as soon as they went to the wives, they heard Kṛṣṇa's name, they were very much beloved to Kṛṣṇa. Immediately, whatever was there for the yajña, immediately they brought to Kṛṣṇa. This is bhakti.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Calcutta, January 25, 1973:

So now to accept that four, you have to take birth again. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, karma-kāṇḍa jñāna-kāṇḍa sakali viṣera bandha. Karma-kāṇḍa means if you act very piously, next life you get good birth, good opulence, money, janma iśvarya-śruta, good education, beautiful body. These are the resultant actions of sat-karma. And asat-karma means you become poor, ugly, without any education, no riches, always hungry. These are the results of asat-karma. So this is called karma-kāṇḍa. And jñāna-kāṇḍa means to try to merge into the existence of the Lord, which, even if we do, but because you are under the impression of impersonalism, you again fall down. So both by the action of karma-kāṇḍa and jñāna-kāṇḍa one is not secure. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, sakali viṣera bandha. Poison, either in a golden pot or in iron pot, it is the..., the effect is the same. So bhakti is neither for karma-kāṇḍa nor for jñāna-kāṇḍa. Jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167). That is real bhakti.

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

So his crowing sound will be stopped as soon it is swallowed up by the snake. Similarly, we have got this tongue, human body. It is not the cat's tongue or dog's tongue or tiger's tongue or hog's tongue. It is the human being tongue. So this should be engaged for Kṛṣṇa's service by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare... This is... The tongue is being used. And tasting Kṛṣṇa-prasādam. If we simply, if you do not read any śāstra, if you simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, the tongue is... And simply we do not eat anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa. If we take this vow, that "My tongue should be used only for Kṛṣṇa..., by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra... And chanting, chanting, when I become hungry, I take some little prasādam.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.15 -- Dallas, March 4, 1975:

Devotee (1): What if we're going on saṅkīrtana or something like that, how can we be sure that we won't fall down, we won't overendeavor? How can we be sure that we're not pushing ourselves too much?

Prabhupāda: You will feel sure as you make progress. Just like when you are eating, hungry, as you feel satisfaction and hunger satisfied, you can know yourself. (break)

Devotee (2): How can we repay you?

Prabhupāda: You don't require to repay. (chuckles) I am not giving you anything. It is Kṛṣṇa's property. You repay to Kṛṣṇa. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and He will be repaid. (break) Nobody can repay. That is the... Therefore it is better to remain always obliged. That's all. That's all right? Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.118-119 -- New York, November 23, 1966:

Now these Gosvāmīs, the Sanātana Gosvāmī... There is a nice story about Sanātana Gosvāmī, of whom we are now studying. Sanātana Gosvāmī and Rūpa Gosvāmī, two brothers, they went to Vṛndāvana for devotional service. So their all business was... Rūpa Gosvāmī, especially, he was always engaged in writing books. And when he was hungry, he went to some householder: "Give me a piece of bread." And everyone at Vṛndāvana... They were leaders. All the Vṛndāvana inhabitants, they took... Even their household quarrels, they used to represent, "Swamijī, this is our position. Please settle up." So whatever decision he would give to the villagers, they will accept. Their court was Swamijī, Rūpa Gosvāmī. So he was so lovable. So one day Rūpa Gosvāmī was thinking that "If I could get some, I mean to say, commodities for cooking, then I would have invited Sanātana Gosvāmī to take some prasādam." He thought like that.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.31-33 -- New York, January 16, 1967:

So the more we make progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this "my" consciousness and "I" consciousness will vanish. Just like while eating, the hunger and weakness will vanish. When you are hungry, you have not eaten in three days, we become weak and we become hungry. So this is natural consequence. And as soon as you begin to eat, this weakness will disappear and the hunger will disappear, and satisfaction will come. There is no doubt about it. Similarly, if these two things cannot stand together, māyā and Kṛṣṇa, then if I am in Kṛṣṇa consciousness then there is no question of māyā. It may be that I'm not fully Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That may be. Just like while eating it is not that immediately my hunger is satisfied or immediately I get my lost weakness. Takes little time. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa consciousness may be a gradual process of advancement, but this is the rule. If we are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there cannot be any existence of māyā, illusion. That is the test. If I am still in illusion, then I should understand that my business in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not progressing. This is the test.

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

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

Sufficient supply—more than what you need. But how this man can be checked from this evil propensity, to gather money and stock unnecessarily? In India, in 1942, they created artificial famine by this process. Big men, they collected rice. The rice was selling at six rupees per mound. All of a sudden, within a week, it came to fifty rupees per mound. I have seen it. No rice was available in the market. People were hungry. They were purchasing. But the beauty is one American gentleman was present at that time. He remarked that "People are starving in this way. In our country, there would have been revolution." Yes. But the people of India are so trained that in spite of creating this artificial famine, they did not commit any theft, stealing others' property. They died peacefully. Of course, this is a single instance. But the thing is that problems are not created by God. They are created by us. Just like in the... One, my German Godbrother, he said that during the First World War... Perhaps some of you know.

Festival Lectures

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day Lecture -- London, August 21, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa is open to the poorest man for being worshiped. What He is asking? He says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati: "With devotion, if a person offers Me a little leaf, a little fruit, a little water, I accept it." Kṛṣṇa is not hungry, but Kṛṣṇa wants to make you devotee. That is the main point. Yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. That is the main principle. If you offer Kṛṣṇa little things... Kṛṣṇa is not hungry; Kṛṣṇa is providing food for everyone. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. But Kṛṣṇa wants your love, your devotion. Therefore He is begging little patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto. There is no difficulty in understanding Kṛṣṇa and to accept Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But we'll not do that; that is our disease. Otherwise, it is not difficult at all. And as soon as we become devotee of Kṛṣṇa, we understand the whole situation. Our philosophy, Bhāgavata philosophy, is also communism because we consider Kṛṣṇa the supreme father, and all living entities, they are all sons of Kṛṣṇa.

Govardhana Puja Lecture -- New York, November 4, 1966:

So, ya evaṁ visṛjed dharmam. Dharmam means one must execute. That is dharma. Just like to become hungry, it is my religion. This is called religion. We should know what is the meaning of religion. Religion means which we cannot separate from myself. The religion which you can change, that is not religion. Suppose I am Hindu; I become Christian. So neither this Hinduism is religion or Christian is religion. It is a dictionary, English dictionary, word. But dharma, according to Sanskrit word, dharma does not mean that which you can change. I have several times explained this fact.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Bombay, December 22, 1975:

That is success. This is called nivṛtti-mārga, but that is not practical; therefore if we promise that we shall not eat anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa, that is tapasya. If you don't go to the restaurant and eat anything nonsense, that is pravṛtti. But if you want to stop that restaurant-going, then you take Kṛṣṇa prasādam; kṛṣṇa borā dayā moy kori bāre jihvā joy sva-prasāda-anna dilo bhāi. Kṛṣṇa is ready, so many nice, palatable dishes; you take and stop this restaurant-going. This is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Kṛṣṇa does not say "Bring something from the restaurant" or this or that. He says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati: anything, little leaf, little flower, little water. Kṛṣṇa is not hungry, but Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He has come to you, so that you can touch Him, you can dress Him, you can decorate Him, you can offer Him, you can live with Him as servant, as friend, as son, as lover. In so many ways, Kṛṣṇa is giving you chance.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, SB 6.3.24 -- Gorakhpur, February 15, 1971:

So except the devotee of Kṛṣṇa, everyone is simply giving Kṛṣṇa trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble. Therefore, they are called duṣkṛtina. Duṣkṛtina, most miscreant, the miscreants. Don't make any plan. Accept Kṛṣṇa's plan. That will be simply giving trouble to Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, a devotee does not pray even for his maintenance. That is pure devotee. He doesn't give trouble to Kṛṣṇa even for his bare maintenance. If he has no maintenance, he'll suffer, fasting; still, he'll not ask Kṛṣṇa, "Kṛṣṇa, I am very hungry. Give me some food." Of course, Kṛṣṇa is alert for His devotee, but a devotee's principle is not to place any plan to Kṛṣṇa. Let Kṛṣṇa do. Simply we have to do according to the plan of Kṛṣṇa.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Address -- New Zealand, April 27, 1976:

These rascals, so-called leaders, gurus and others, they do not know what is the goal of life. Na te viduḥ. They do not know. Some imaginary theory, "I am God," "I am this," "I am that." A commonsense: "If I am God, then why I am under the control of the material nature?" Eh? This another rascal came, that "I am God." If you are God, so why you have become dog? They say it is līlā. (laughter) Just see. God has come to manifest his līlā by becoming a dog, and he's beaten. Whole day, night, he's hungry. And he has come to your home to ask some food, and you are beating. So God is displaying this līlā. Just see how foolish rascal they are. This is going on. So don't be misguided by such rascals. Either he may be parents or guru or superior, teacher, whatever he may be, don't be misguided. Fortunately you have come to this platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation of Rukmini Dasi -- Montreal, August 15, 1968:

Their business was writing books or chanting and dancing. And other necessities, eating, sleeping, mating and fearing, they practically abolished. There was no question of mating, there was no question of fearing. And sleeping, they used to sleep utmost one and a half hour daily in twenty-four hours. And eating, that is also practically nil. When they felt hungry they would go to some householder's home and beg one capati or two capatis. That's all. Finished. So nānā-śāstra-vicāraṇaika-nipuṇau sad-dharma-saṁsthāpakau. Why? Lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau. The mission of saintly persons is simply to think how this suffering humanity will become happy by spiritual consciousness. That is their business.

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

So this is our program. So invite anyone to join this movement, and you'll be benefited. And you will see practically. It is pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyam. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that this process of self-realization is directly perceivable. Directly perceivable. Pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyam. Just like when you eat, you can understand that you are eating, you can understand that your hunger is being satisfied, you can understand that you are getting strength. So you haven't got to take certificate. You can yourself understand it is so nice thing. Pratyakṣāvagamam. Pratyakṣa means directly, avagamam. You understand it directly. If you meditate, so-called meditation, you do not know how far you are making progress. You see.

Initiations -- Los Angeles, January 10, 1969:

One should know that "Now I am chanting with offense. I have to rectify it." You have to test whether you are increasing your love of God, Kṛṣṇa. Then you should know that you are in progress. Two things cannot go. Just like hunger and eating cannot go together. If you are actually eating, then hunger must be subsided, if you are actually eating. Similarly, if you are actually making spiritual progress, then the result will be that your material hankering will decrease, not that you are being cured, and the temperature is increasing. No. If you are actually being cured the temperature must decrease. If you are in feverish condition, you are taking medicine, then the fever must decrease. This material hankering is a kind of disease. It is never satisfied. But people are hankering more, more, more, more, more... That means temperature is increasing. And when the temperature is 107 degrees, finish life. That's all.

Detroit Initiations -- Detroit, July 18, 1971:

The more you become free from material harassment, the more you make advance in spiritual life, or the more you make advance in spiritual life, the more you become detached to the material life. These are the tests. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). Bhakti, devotional life, spiritual life, the test is that viraktir anyatra. Anyatra means beyond, without Kṛṣṇa, everything becomes detestful. The example is given just like a hungry man, when he's eating, as he's eating so he's feeling satisfaction and no hunger, proportionately. And at one time it will come, he'll say, "No, I don't want any more. I am completely satisfied." Svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce (CC Madhya 22.42). Just like Dhruva Mahārāja. He said, "I am now completely satisfied. I have, I haven't got to ask anything, benediction."

Sannyasa Initiation Lecture -- Calcutta, January 26, 1973:

Temple means there must be sufficient foodstuff. Anyone who comes for foodstuff, he should be given. So by worshiping Kṛṣṇa, these things automatically done. There is no need of extra endeavor. Parātma-niṣṭhā. This is called parātma-niṣṭhā. Etāṁ sa āsthāya parātma-niṣṭhā. Not only now. From time immemorial, all the temples in India, they have got sufficient foodstuff. Even at Nātha-dvāra, if you pay them only one anna or four annas, they'll give you so much nice prasādam. The two annas, four annas, the priestly order, they take. Otherwise, prasāda is distributed. So by worshiping Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa is not hungry. He's fully satisfied. He doesn't require to eat. Temple worship means to distribute the prasādam to the poor.

General Lectures

Lecture Excerpt -- Montreal, July 20, 1968:

So this is the greatest service to the human society, to get out them from the darkness of ignorance. That is the greatest gift. If you put him into the darkness... Suppose a man is suffering from disease and he is asking, "Sir, I am very hungry. Give me some food." If you give him some rasagullā or some very nice foodstuff, neither he cannot eat, neither he can enjoy. And by supplying such things you are making him more and more diseased. You have to cure the disease. Then give him. That's right. So there is no curing process. Simply sense gratification. I want to satisfy my senses, and if somebody talks about my sense gratification, oh, I receive him very nicely.

Lecture Excerpt -- Boston, May 5, 1969:

So therefore I have nothing to ask for." Similarly, when one finds out his eternal relationship with God, loving spirit, then he becomes, say, "Oh, I do not..." Yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ. In the Bhagavad-gītā you will find. If you, I mean to say, go that standard of life, then you will feel, "I have no more want. Finished. All want finished." That is the best gift, that is the best service, when a man will feel that "I have no more want. I am fully satisfied." That is the best service. What is this service, nonsense service? Suppose I am hungry; you give me some food. Does it mean that I shall not be hungry again? That food is already given also in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness move... That is not very difficult job. That is being given also. But we are giving some food which will make him satisfied for good. No more hunger. That is the best service. Just try to understand what sort of service is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness: no more hunger, no more demand. Svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi: "Oh, I am fully satisfied." Varaṁ na yāce: "I have no more demand. Finish." And if you go materially, satisfy your hunger, this, that, this, that, this, that, oh, it is simply illusion. It will never be finished.

Speech to Maharaja and Maharani and Conversations Before and After -- Indore, December 11, 1970:

Prabhupāda: There is oil in (?). Bengali women, they have got hair like this. My sister had so bunch. (laughter) Black hair, and very long. So Bengal is famous for hair and music.

Devotee: Swamijī... (?)

Prabhupāda: Ah, no. This is for distribution of prasāda here. (break) ...hungry, hungry man. And Kṛṣṇa consciousness man, never he is hungry. If you are hungry, come, enjoy. We are never hungry. We are overfed.

Yamunā: Yes. It's a fact.

Prabhupāda: We have to fast practically by feeding others. (laughter) You are after food; we are rejecting food. Is it not?

Haṁsadūta: Yes. We're having trouble avoiding it.

Lecture -- Bombay, March 19, 1972:

Prabhupāda: So everything is scientifically described in the Vedic literature. You haven't got to make any research. It is already there. You have to simply accept it and take it. Then your life will be sublime, your life will be successful. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission is that, to make everyone's life successful. (Sanskrit) Everyone become happy. That is the mission of everyone. "Everyone" means those who are devotees. How people will be happy? That is their mission. It is not that we start a mission just to make some money and to fill up our belly, hungry belly. No. It is a mission to see that everyone is happy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the mission.

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

So actually, everyone is in need of spiritual understanding. So by distributing food, the spiritual food, simply by eating, he will be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even if he does not do anything. But actually, we are inviting persons to come, sit down, chant with us Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and take prasādam and go home. That's all. This is our program. So prasādam is already included. And there is the question of needy men. So we invite any needy man to come and join with us, and we shall feed him. That's all. We invite anyone. But they do not like to come to us to chant. That is the difficulty. "Oh, we'll have to go there and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." So they are afraid. So what can I do? We invite everyone, "Please come here, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, dance with us, and when you are hungry, take some food. We are prepared to give you." So our program is very easy. And actually, these boys and girls, they were not advised in the beginning to become my initiated student. I simply invited, "You please come." I was chanting in the Tompkinson Park in New York, and many of them were coming. So I invited them, "Please come with me. Take some prasādam." So they used to take that. In this way, gradually, they developed Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and after some time they proposed, "Swamijī, make me your disciple," initiation. So I said that "You have to follow the rules and regulations." They agreed, "No illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling. If you are prepared, then I accept you." They are prepared. They given up. I accept them. That's all.

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

Peacefully forget that. It is not possible. You will never be able. Because we believe in the words of Vedic scripture, daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14), you cannot conquer over the laws... (break) "...conquer over the laws of nature, then my liberation is stopped. How it will be possible?" Yes, you can do that. Kṛṣṇa says, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te: "Anyone who fully surrenders unto Me, he can overcome the stringent laws of nature." See practically. The laws of nature, the āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunam... Apart from other laws of nature, I become hungry; I require to eat something. I require to sleep. I require to have sense gratification. So these are laws of nature. But people who are accustomed to bad habits, it is very difficult to overcome them. But those who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are actually overcoming the stringent laws of nature. These are practical.

Sunday Feast Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 21, 1972:

If you are actually inquisitive to understand higher science, uttamam... Uttama means higher. These are not higher sciences, how to earn some money. Earn some money, and eat something, and sleep, and have some sex life, and die—this is not higher science. This is not higher science. Higher science is brahma-jijñāsā, to inquire about Brahman. That is higher science. This science, earning money and fulfilling the hungry belly, this science the birds and beast also know how to do it. It does not require much education. There is no scientific education how to enjoy sex life. Everyone knows how to do it. Similarly, there is no need of scientific education, how to eat or how to find out your food. The birds and beast, they are also finding out, and are they also eating. So these are not higher sciences. The higher science is to inquire, athāto brahma jijñāsā, to inquire about God, the Supreme. And that can be done by the human being, not by others. Not the cats and dogs. So if we do not give education of this higher science to the human society, if we keep them dumb about this, or if we make secular state, prohibitive injunction to understand God, then it is an animal society. It is an animal society. So such things happen sometimes.

University Lecture -- Calcutta, January 29, 1973:

So your anxiety for food, that is not humanly. Even the cats and dogs, they are not anxious for their food. Even the birds, they rise early in the morning, they are also not anxious for the food. God has arranged for food, everyone. Tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham. As you do not try for getting distress, it comes upon you according to your karma, similarly the so-called happiness also will come upon you without any endeavor. But because you have no faith in God, you are thinking that you will die out of hunger. That is not the position. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateto kovido. Our only business is how to become advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is no other problem in human life. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is the human life. But you have been deviated from that high standard of life. You are now questioning in this way. That is my reply. Thank you very much.

Lecture -- London, August 26, 1973:

That's not a very big philosophical problem. Everyone knows what you eat. But don't eat more. Suppose I can eat so much. And if I eat more, then I get indigestion. That is the punishment of the laws of nature. I get dysentery. Then I'll have to starve for three days because I've eaten more. So yuktāhāra-vihārasya yoga bhavati siddhitaḥ. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said if you want to be a yogi or spiritualist, you should not take more than what you can digest, what can you eat. Yuktāhāra. You can satisfy your hunger, but according to yogic principle. Or from health point of view, even if you can eat so much, you can understand that "I can eat so much," you should not eat the whole thing. You should eat half. And one fourth you shall fill up with water, and one fourth you should leave vacant so that there may be ventilation, your digestion will be easily done. This is Āyurvedic law.

Lecture -- Bombay, September 25, 1973:

And it is very easy. It is not very difficult. Anyone can take. But if we take knowingly poison, jāniyā śuniyā viṣa khāinu, who can protect you? So it is our appeal to everyone that take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Even if you cannot give up your bad habits, sinful activities, still, you take the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and your life will be glorified.

Thank you very much. (break) (answering question:) It is just like without eating, if you question that how one is satisfied by eating food. A hungry man, if you give him food, he will say, "Yes, I am satisfied." There is no question of "How?" If you eat... If you are hungry, if you eat, you will feel satisfaction. It is automatic. Similarly, if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, then you will understand. Not from outside. How? You can see how these boys and girls, they are feeling satisfaction. Similarly, if you chant also, you will feel satisfaction. There is no question of "How?" It is so, exactly (as) when you are hungry, if you eat, you will feel satisfaction.

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

When people are become like cats and dogs, the bodily concept of life, and working whole day and night without any spiritual understanding, without the aim of life... So this human life is not meant for that purpose. This is the mistake. It is not that the dogs and cats are eating in a different way. Now we eat in a nice table, in nice plate, and very nicely dressed, and you are eating... But eating process is there. Either you nicely eat or wrongly eat, but you have to fulfill your bell(y) and satisfy your hunger. That is not advancement of civilization. To eat nicely, to sleep nicely, to defend nicely and to have sexual life nicely, that is not advancement of civilization.

Lecture at World Health Organization -- Geneva, June 6, 1974:

Guest (6): Well, I think it's an admirable objective. Certainly it can be realized in small rural communities which acquire the necessary surface to have each member in the community to be self-sufficient. Like in the Middle Ages in this country the monks were more or less self-sufficient within the frame of their land. But outside this, the peasants were really always hungry.

Guru-gaurāṅga: He says that on a small level that may be valid like the monks who have their monastery and they made food enough, but for most people, especially where the climate is so unfavorable... He said that the Swiss people, they could not even stay on the land in the past, but they had to go away to find food because of the climate. So on the whole he does not see the practicality.

Prabhupāda: Well, after all, this is material world. The miserable conditions are there. But as far as possible, try to minimize. Our only aim is how to save time for spiritual cultivation. That is our main aim. So we have to find out the opportunity according to the time, circumstances. We, we do not reject anything. Whatever is favorable, we accept.

Public Lecture -- Konigstein, Germany, June 19, 1974:

I want to eat very nice foodstuff. All right, eat remnants of foodstuff. We offer Kṛṣṇa the best food. That is the regulative principle. Kṛṣṇa also should be offered the best foodstuff, and you take the remnants. Kṛṣṇa is not so hungry that He is... He is taking, but He is leaving also. That is Kṛṣṇa's eating. Kṛṣṇa says that patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati, tad aham aśnāmi: (BG 9.26) "Anyone who is offering Me these foodstuff made of patraṁ puṣpam, vegetable and food grains and milk and this..." He never says, "Give Me meat or eggs." No. He never says. He says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam. These foodstuffs we can prepare nicely in so many ways, and Kṛṣṇa says, "If somebody offers Me with faith and love, I eat it." Now, the question is, you see that "Whatever I offer, these things are there. How Kṛṣṇa has eaten?" Therefore His eating process is different. But He has eaten. That you have to learn from the śāstra, that pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Iso Invocation). He is not hungry; still, He can eat the whole world.

Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:

The Communists are thinking in terms of the human being, and that also within the state, but a Kṛṣṇa conscious person, he is thinking in terms of all living beings. Vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini, śuni caiva śva-pāke ca (BG 5.18). In the Bhāgavata it is stated that a householder, before taking his lunch, he should invite on the street, "Sir, if anyone is still hungry, please come at my place. There is still food. You can take it." And he should see that in the household even the lizard he is not hungry. Even there is a snake, he is not hungry. This is Vedic principle, God consciousness, that "Somehow or other, one animal has become lizard. Maybe he is hungry. So at my house he is. Why he should remain hungry? Give him some food." Nobody likes snake, but in the śāstra it is said, "Even there is a snake, you should see that he is not hungry, he is given some food." So of course, it is very high idea, but it is the complete ideal of so-called Communism, real. It is not that nation... American nation, they are concerned with the human being only. Or any nation.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Jeremy Bentham:

Prabhupāda: You must feel, if it is happiness, you must feel happy. Just like eating is happiness. So if you actually eat, you must feel happiness. It is not that (indistinct). Eating, when you are hungry, eating is happiness. But if you are not feeling happiness then what is the use of eating? By eating if you are feeling happiness, then you are eating. Strength, you'll feel strength, "Yes, I was fatigued. Now eating I am getting strength." Satisfaction. These three things are to be there when you are eating. If there is no satisfaction, no strength, then what is the meaning of eating. There is no...

Śyāmasundara: Someone might raise the point, "Well, the man is hungry and he has no food, therefore in order to feel pleasure he must steal it and cause displeasure to someone else."

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Prabhupāda: That is our proposal. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). Bhakti means one who advances in bhakti, he becomes..., he has no more any taste for material enjoyment. The more one increases in bhakti cult, he decreases his tendency for material enjoyment. That is the test. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra. Unless one becomes detestful for material things, it is to be understood that he is not making progress. This is practical. The example is given just like a hungry man: when he eats, he feels, as he goes on eating, proportionately he feels satisfaction and strength of (indistinct). Similarly, one who is advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he will feel spiritually strong and no taste for material enjoyment. This is practical.

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Prabhupāda: Viṣayaḥ khalu sarvataḥ syāt, śāstra says. This viṣayasu, eating, sleeping, mating and defending—this is called viṣayasu—that is available in every life. A dog is also enjoying, the hog is also enjoying, a poor man is also enjoying, or a rich man is also enjoying. If a rich man has no hunger, then even very palatable dishes will not be very pleasing to him. But a poor man, if he has got hunger, even a rough foodstuff without any ghee or without any..., he eats like anything, like nectar. So the happiness of this viṣaya-eating, sleeping, mating and defending—they are equal everywhere. That does not mean that a rich man is enjoying eating more than a poor man. No. When one eats if one is hungry, the enjoyment is the same. There is no difference. Similarly the hog eats the stool with great eagerness. You pass stool, and the hog is waiting. As soon as you stand up, two or three hogs, "ruh, ruh, ruh," like this. (laughter) You see? So the happiness of eating stool and the happiness of eating halavā are the same. You see? It depends on the different tongues.

Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey:

Prabhupāda: So unless you have faith in some person, how you can be satisfied? Therefore you should find out a person in whom you can place your faith. And who can be a better person than Kṛṣṇa?

Śyāmasundara: If certain specific conditions are met, then the satisfaction is transformed into a value. In other words, if my hunger is satisfied by eating a certain foodstuff, then this foodstuff is given value.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So Kṛṣṇa gives that value. Just like Kṛṣṇa gave the value in Bhagavad-gītā, and Arjuna in the beginning denied to fight, but he agreed to fight. He agreed to fight.

Śyāmasundara: Because he was satisfied by his faith in Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is required.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Prabhupāda: He does not know. That is his goal.

Śyāmasundara: He says... I'll read a statement of his. He says that "The will forces a person to remain alive, even when there is nothing for which to live. It impels him to live and suffer another day, even when there is no hope or promise of any pleasant future prospects. It is like the alms which the beggar receives from life today, that he may hunger again on the morrow. For all men, irrespective of their status, the essence of life is misery and frustration."

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is a good point, but why he is hankering after something? Why he is hankering after...? He is being frustrated.

Śyāmasundara: The will. The will is...

Prabhupāda: Therefore the conclusion is: there is a goal. He is hankering after that goal. But he has not as yet approached that goal, achieved that goal. Therefore, to understand what is that goal, one should approach a spiritual master. Tad vijñānātaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet.

Philosophy Discussion on Martin Heidegger:

Prabhupāda: No. If I do not (indistinct), there must be eating. There must be eating.

Śyāmasundara: So if I feel hungry, I become full of anxiety, "Where is food? Where is food?" He says that this anxiety...

Prabhupāda: Not only that; before becoming hungry, I will acquire food. Just like we go in the market and purchase food. At that time I am not hungry, but I know I shall be hungry, I shall have to eat; therefore we shall have to prepare foodstuffs before I become hungry. That is concern. When I am purchasing foodstuff, I am not hungry actually, but still I know that I shall become hungry in the after..., lunch time, so I must prepare for. That is our concern. I am arranging for an apartment, not that at that time I am feeling sleepy, but I know that I will have to sleep at night. That's why I must have a place. This is my concern.

Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:

Prabhupāda: That is admitted. We say that as soon as there is an embodied living being, he must have hunger, he must have sex impulse. (indistinct), we find in the animals these impulses are there, so why so much philosophy? They are already there. What is the use of philosophizing?

Śyāmasundara: He analyzes that besides the id, or these sex impulses, there is the ego, which is the moral self, which tries to adjust these impulses, these sexual impulses, and tries to...

Prabhupāda: That we have already discussed, that because just like that the sex impulse you are giving him some facility that "You have sex life with your married wife." This is real (indistinct). Not (indistinct) because I have sex impulse, I can (indistinct) anyone, never mind mother or sister, and have sexual intercourse. That is not very nice.

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Prabhupāda: There is purpose, but because he is foolish, therefore he does not see anything as purpose. There is purpose. Just if like I am hungry, this philosopher says accidentally I am hungry, I eat something. No. I am hungry when there is purpose. My bodily limbs are exhausted, they require energy, so therefore I am hungry, I must take some food. The foodstuff will be converted into energy. There is a plan. It is not blank. Everything is going on by plan. The sun is rising under some plan. The moon is rising under some plan. Seasonal changes under plan. Everything is plan. But those demons, they cannot see. They say, "No, there is no plan here."

Philosophy Discussion on B. F. Skinner:

Śyāmasundara: This is their dilemma now, that they cannot find any standard of behavior. Formerly people's behavior was motivated by deprivation. They wanted more economic gain because there was hunger. But now we have everything, so no one wants to work anymore. So now there is nothing that satisfies people enough to make them behave.

Prabhupāda: Therefore the Vedānta gives for him: athāto brahma jijñāsā. Now we have got enough to eat, enough to enjoy. Now we inquire about Brahman. This is the business we should (indistinct). So this is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We are giving knowledge about Brahman, or the Supreme. We are not concerned about giving you some scientific invention, some this invention, that invention. We are giving the ultimate benefit. Now, just like I have come to America with this hope, that "Americans are not properly (indistinct), they have no (indistinct) problems. If I go there, if I speak to them about Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they will be able to take." So if we, the human society, has come to such standard, then the next point is, now they should eat peacefully, sleep peacefully and sense gratification peacefully and, making the mind peaceful, inquire about the Supreme Absolute. This is ideal life.

Philosophy Discussion on Karl Marx:

Śyāmasundara: So the practical result should be satisfaction, happiness.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You are eating, but somebody says, "What you are doing?" But by eating, if you feel satisfaction of your hunger, that is practical. You haven't got to take certificate from others. You are eating; if you feel satisfaction, if you feel strong, that is the...

Śyāmasundara: So these men, both of them, they have a great faith that philosophy can change the world.

Prabhupāda: And this is the real philosophy. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). This is philosophy. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is real... What is the original source? This is real philosophy. What is that Absolute Truth? Everything is relative truth. What is the Absolute Truth? That is philosophy, Vedānta philosophy.

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: Higher stage, that evolution they do not know. Just like in Vaiṣṇava philosophy, śānta dāsya sākhya vātsalya mādhurya. The first, when you have come brahma-bhūtaḥ stage, that is called śānta. "Oh, God is..." Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). When one understands. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19), after many, many births, when one comes to this conclusion that "Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa is everything," sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ, that is śānta stage, mahātmā, great soul. Then, from śānta stage, the development is dāsya stage, to serve Kṛṣṇa. Not simply appreciating Vāsudeva. "Vāsudeva is great, God is so great." Not so much, simply appreciation. "Oh, God is so great? Then I must give some service to God." That is next stage. Dāsya-rasa. Then next stage is vātsalya-rasa..., sākhya-rasa, to give service to God just like Arjuna. Arjuna gave service to Kṛṣṇa but as a friend. That is called sākhya-rasa. Then vatsalya-rasa, to give service to Kṛṣṇa just like Mother Yaśodā. She has become mother. Mother gives always service to the baby, his (her) child, and Kṛṣṇa is passing His childhood pastimes before Mother Yaśodā. Mother Yaśodā is always thinking, "Kṛṣṇa is hungry. Oh, Kṛṣṇa is getting skinny. I must feed Him. I must protect Him from the monkeys. I must protect Him from fire." Always anxious how to give protection to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is giving protection everyone, but the devotee has become so great that Kṛṣṇa is taking his protection, her protection.

Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: The religion is God worship, and everything explained there, just like immortality of the soul, that is philosophy. So it is combination of religion and philosophy that makes sense.

Hayagrīva: For Alexander religion is like hunger, and God is the food for that hunger.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hayagrīva: He writes, "The religious which sets us in search of God is our groping out to the reality which is God. This religious appetite may either be stirred in us directly, by the impact of the world with its tendency to Deity, or it may first be felt by us as a need of our nature." So the desire or hunger for God may be motivated either externally or internally.

Prabhupāda: That I explained this morning partially, that actually we are seeking love of God beginning with the body. That I have explained in this morning, that we love this body because I live within this body. As soon as I give up this body, the body is neglected, it has no value, throw it. So, so long the living soul is there, the body has value. So why the living soul is valuable? Because he is the part and parcel of God. So God is there also within this body. This is explained is the Bhagavad-gītā. There are two living entities. One is..., they all..., both of them are known as kṣetra-jña. One kṣetra-jña only knows about his body, and the other kṣetra-jña knows all other bodies. That is God and the living entity. So the body is important because the living entities are there. The subordinate living entity is the part of the supreme living entity. So ultimately the conclusion is, because a supreme living entity is in the body or within the universe, therefore we have manufactured so many activities of love and society, friendship, nationality, community. Ultimately, when it culminates with love of God, then it is perfect. So the conclusion is that we are searching after the platform where God is love, but it is going on, I mean to say, by degrees, one after another, in different names.