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Identical (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Radio Interview -- February 12, 1969, Los Angeles:

Interviewer: Well, would you say that, agree with those who say that in the people who have understood, in all the great schools of thought they have come to approximately, at least and sometimes almost, identical conclusions. The thinking of the great mystics in all religions have been in essential agreement.

Prabhupāda: The thing is that religion is a different thing. Religion is a kind of faith. You may have your faith in a certain type of procedure; I may have a certain type of procedure. That is different thing. Suppose you are now Christian. You may change your faith to Mohammedanism.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation Excerpt -- June 21, 1972, Los Angeles:

Pradyumna: ...name of the Lord is identical with the Lord Himself.

Prabhupāda: What is that great rascal says that Kṛṣṇa...

Devotee: Kṛṣṇa is the chief of the tribe that lived in Central India.

Prabhupāda: Just see, and he's passing on as a great scholar, such a rascal.

Devotee: He had 10,000 ah, subjects. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: All the ācāryas, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī, Lord Caitanya, all of them become nullified and this rascal comes forward to defy all the ācāryas and push some new theory. Just see. This is going on. (Sanskrit) In the Varāha Purāṇa it is stated that some of the rākṣasas, they will take advantage of Kali-yuga and take birth in brāhmaṇa families, so he is one of them, this rākṣasa. And now he is suffering for that. Greatest calamity, you see? And according to Vedic injunction, the king if he levies tax from the subjects who are sinful, then he has to partake of the sinful action and he'll have to suffer. So, this rascal became the president of India, it is the position of king and on the (indistinct) of him he supported the slaughterhouses and levied taxes and he took high salary, enjoyed it. Now he is suffering the effect, sinful effect.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation With Three College Students -- July 11, 1973, London:

Revatīnandana: No, it won't. It will tell you almost identical information. If you go in the Bible, it will say, "God is your father." Father means he is sufficient to beget a son. Now, if God is a void, how can a son come out from a void? But if God is a person, then he can have son.

Prabhupāda: We have no such experience.

Revatīnandana: Similarly, Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the father of every living being." Therefore Bible and Bhagavad-gītā, they are saying the same thing, but not that "God is void or light," not saying that. Somebody else is saying that. Therefore we are very, very skeptical now. He has not got the authority of these scriptures. If he says, "Your father is a void," that is nonsense.

Prabhupāda: And where is our experience—from void a son is born? Where is your experience? Suppose you are a person. You have dropped from the void?

Room Conversation with Father Tanner and other guests -- July 11, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: No, that is materially difference. But spiritually...

Father Tanner: Spiritually, that is different.

Prabhupāda: No. Spiritually, the Lord and His name, the Lord and His form, the Lord and His quality, They are all identical.

Devotee: No, but there's a little misunderstanding. Prabhupāda is saying "Lord." Not...

Father Tanner: Oh, you're saying "Lord." I'm sorry. I was saying "law."

Prabhupāda: No, no.

Devotee: Law, law, the command, law.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Lord.

Father Tanner: Yes. You can have the letter of the law...

Prabhupāda: No, I'm not speaking of law. I'm talking of Lord.

Father Tanner: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So Lord and Lord's name, They're the same, identical. Just like we are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So this Kṛṣṇa name and the Kṛṣṇa person, identical. Because the Lord is absolute. In the material world, the world of duality, the name is not the substance. If you require water, simply by chanting "Water, water," your thirst will not be quenched. You require the substance water. But in the spiritual world, the Lord and His name, the same thing. If you chant the Lord's name, Kṛṣṇa, or any name of Lord, that is identical with the Lord. Therefore by chanting the holy name of the Lord, you are associating with the Lord. And as soon as you associate with the Lord, you become purified. Because Lord is all-pure. Just like if you associate with fire, you become warm. Similarly, if you constantly associate with the Lord, you remain purified. Therefore our principle is they are always chanting... Just like we are... I am chanting also. (Holds up beads) Or reading some book. Or talking with you about Kṛṣṇa. So we are always connected with Kṛṣṇa, or God. In all our activities... The whole house, you'll see, they are engaged in some sort of work which has connection with Kṛṣṇa. There is no other work. So nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe. Anything attached with God, that is also godly.

Room Conversation with Banker -- September 21, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Ah. So Napoleon was. But before constructing that arch, he was finished in battle of Waterloo. So all the struggle he made to make France a great country and him to become a great leader was futile. It was not perfectly done. In one statue I saw, "France and Napoleon identical." But France is there; where is Napoleon? Therefore it is called illusion, māyā. Just like our Gandhi, in this country, he struggled so hard, got independence. But just after independence he was killed, finished. He could not enjoy. He simply struggled. You cannot say that he had no desire to enjoy. Then how he was sticking to that politics? And because he was sticking to that politics, he was killed. If he would have retired from politics, he would not have been killed. Therefore because he was sticking to that politics means he wanted to enjoy the fruit. But he could not. Therefore we do not know what is the perfection of life. Because we create so-called paraphernalia of perfection of life, but we are not allowed to enjoy it, therefore we must accept, "There is superior power. Without His sanction I may create very favorable situation, but I may not be allowed to enjoy it." Suppose you are bank manager. If the post is that "Yes, you will be appointed to day and tomorrow you will be kicked out." Will you accept it?

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 23, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. Not to take it. It is actually. If it is material body, then how they are getting benefits? If it is a material body. The same example: if it is iron rod, how it is burning? It is fire. When there is burning, you must assume it is fire. Why do you take, "Oh, it is iron rod"? Phalena paricīyate. Phalena paricīyate. By the result you have to... Therefore it is said, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. We, we have no direct contact with Bhagavān, but guru, being representative of Bhagavān, if we satisfy guru, then Bhagavān becomes... Identical. Therefore it is warned: vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ. Similarly, vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ. "Here is a European Vaiṣṇava, he's Indian Vaiṣṇava, it is brāhmaṇa Vaiṣṇava and śūdra Vaiṣṇava." No. That is also, that is also offense.

Morning Walk -- April 2, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. "Everything is I. Everything is I." Because it is His energy, therefore He is. Śakti-śaktimator abhedaḥ. The energy and the energetic, they are identical.

Dr. Patel:

pitāham asya jagato
mātā dhātā pitāmahaḥ
vedyaṁ pavitram oṁkāra
ṛk sāma yajur eva ca
(BG 9.17)

Prabhupāda: Yes. "Everything, these Vedas, that I am." Vedaiś cāham, aham eva vedyaḥ. So these... There are rascals. They claim that "We are Vedic student. We don't believe in Kṛṣṇa. We don't believe in Bhagavad-gītā." You know this rascal society?

Morning Walk -- April 18, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: (break) Everyone makes this mistake. So as he is accepting, as Arjuna accepted, this is paramparā acceptance. (break)

Girirāja: "...the material luminaries, Your transcendental effulgence is identical with brahma-jyotir." (break)

Prabhupāda: ...advised and all the ācāryas advised, Caitanya Mahāprabhu's advised. Why should we go somewhere else? Take shelter of His lotus feet. That's all. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66). This is right conclusion. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). (break) Mahātmā, immediately by surrendering to Kṛṣṇa. Immediately. (break) A child, if he is informed, "God is everywhere," he will never understand what is God. He knows that God is there, that this God consciousness is there. So what is the use of educating him, "Oh, God is everywhere. You don't require to go to temple?" This is nonsense. It is kaniṣṭha-adhikārī. He must know, "Here is God." He goes there, offer respect. All the children come. (break) ...a man, military man like Arjuna.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: Identity is there. That, therefore, I have already said, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānṁ. Both of them are identical so far nitya is concerned or cetana is concerned, but one is dependent, and other is maintainer. That is difference. Both of them are truth. Both of them truth. You are truth; I am truth. You are living; I am living, existing. This is truth. This is truth, but you are professor and I am something else. That is temporary. But so far you are, as living being, and I am, as living being, that is truth. But your dress and my dress, that is temporary. So we have to understand like that. In this material world we are mixed up with temporary and eternal. The living entity is eternal, but his body is temporary. This is the position.

Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Now our next point is that we say that God, the person, is identical with His name. Now, if, by meeting God, by seeing God, you become purified, then by chanting His name also, you'll become purified, because we say God and His name, identical. But if, by meeting God, you become immediately purified of material contamination, similarly, by chanting God's name you immediately become purified. So what is that name of God that acts immediately, exactly like God? So far Kṛṣṇa name is concerned, it is practically that so many thousands of men, they are chanting "Kṛṣṇa," and they are becoming purified. So find out any other name which can act equally. Then that is accepted as God's name, not by imagination.

Garden Conversation with Professors -- June 24, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Because you are speaking. Because you are inquiring, I know the soul. Because you are soul, therefore you are inquiring. As soon as the soul is out of your body, you cannot inquire anymore. Inquiry finished.

Dr. Wolfe: Can one say that soul and life are identical?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Identical... Life is the symptom of the soul. Because the soul is there, therefore life is there. And as soon the soul is not there, there is no more life. There is sun in the sky, and the light is there, sunshine. When the sun is set, there is no more light; it is dark.

Dr. Pore: Is the body, then, to be resisted? Is the body to be disciplined, to be resisted, to be ignored? Is that what you're suggesting?

Prabhupāda: Ignored?

Bahulāśva: How to treat the body?

Dr. Pore: How do you treat the body?

Prabhupāda: Make the best use of a bad bargain. (laughter) It is a bad bargain. But we have to utilize it.

Morning Walk -- September 18, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That is not different. Each of them are identical.

Dhṛṣṭaketu: But there are new ones also? New pastimes?

Prabhupāda: Everything identical. Now, this grass grown here and this grass grown there, there may be some difference, but they are identical. Harer nāma harer nāma... (CC Adi 17.21). (break) ...that professor who has reviewed Caitanya-caritāmṛta?

Brahmānanda: I think it was J. Bruce Long. Cornell University, very respected university.

Prabhupāda: Oh. And what he is there?

Brahmānanda: Professor of Asian Studies. Kirtirāja says that he is considered one of the authorities.

Prabhupāda: Of Indian. Indology.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Press Conference -- April 27, 1976, Auckland, New Zealand:

Prabhupāda: It is not my—everyone's. You are in ignorance; you do not know; therefore we are trying to educate you. It is yours also. It is not a personal thing. It is meant for the living entities. That you people, you do not know, that we are all living entities. There is slight description of the evolution by Darwin. But he's also not in perfect knowledge. The real fact is the..., I am not this body, you are not this body. I am living entity within this body. Just like you are within your coat and shirt. The coat and shirt you are not. Similarly, we living entities, we are within this gross and subtle body. The gross body is made of earth, water, air, fire, and the subtle body is made of mind, intelligence, and egotism. So we are within this. So nobody knows; there is no educational system, what is our real constitutional position. We are wrongly accepting this body. And that kind of acceptance is there in the animals. The dog also thinking that "I am this body." So if I am thinking like that, "I am this body," then what is the difference between the dog and me? We are educating from him that point of view, that the living entity is entrapped within this body, and according to his desire, he's changing different types of body and undergoing continually birth and death. So in order to save him from the cycle of birth and death, one has to understand God, or Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means God. Then he comes to his real, identical position as spiritual body, and then he lives forever. He lives forever. Just like a man changing constantly dresses; that does not mean he's dying. Similarly, we do not die. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). After destruction of this body, we are not dying. We remain. But we simply accept another body. So this is a great botheration. But people are in ignorance. They're thinking that after death there is no life. This ignorance is a great, I mean to say, difficult position. So we are trying to educate them how to get out of this entanglement of cycle, birth and death. And therefore there are so many books on this subject matter. It is a very serious movement. It is not compared to the so many rascal movements. So if you are serious, you can study our books, you can try to understand the philosophy, science; then the whole human society will be benefited.

Room Conversation with Siddha-svarupa -- May 3, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: This is our position. Gradually they will show Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. In India also, although India's... They will want to crush down this movement. So this will be up to Him. Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa's movement, the same thing. And Kṛṣṇa was attempted to be killed by Kaṁsa class of men and his company, the demons. So it will be there; it is already there. Don't be disappointed, because that is the meaning that it is successful. Kṛṣṇa's favor is there, because Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's movement is not different, identical. So as Kṛṣṇa was attempted to be killed, many, many years before He appeared... At eighth child, if the mother produces child yearly, still ten years, eight years before His birth, the mother was to be attempted to be killed. So there may be attempt like that. And Lord Jesus Christ was killed. So they may kill me also.

Garden Conversation -- October 14, 1976, Chandigarh:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa also says, ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyāt. Ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhicit (SB 11.17.27). Ācārya and Kṛṣṇa-identical. Who is ācārya? Who speaks on behalf of Kṛṣṇa, he is ācārya. Ācārya means one who speaks on behalf of Kṛṣṇa. That is ācārya.

Indian man (4): Because Kṛṣṇa never wrote any book...

Prabhupāda: He spoke.

Indian man (4): ...therefore we have to depend upon His...

Prabhupāda: No, no. Kṛṣṇa did not write, but Kṛṣṇa spoke. If you speak and if I note down and write, what is the difference? Because you did not see, therefore it is not good? He spoke and I note down, er, you note down. Then it is as good. Kṛṣṇa was speaking, and Sañjaya was noting, and that was written by Vyāsadeva in the Mahābhārata. So what is the difference?

Page Title:Identical (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:07 of Dec, 2010
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=15, Let=0
No. of Quotes:15