Inexperience (Conv. and Letters)

Expressions researched:
"inexperience" |"inexperienced" |"not experience" |"not experienced"

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

But if once it is made perfect, then it will be easier to print more and more.

Room Conversation -- August 21, 1971, London:

Haṁsadūta: And another thing I wanted to ask you about, Prabhupāda, is that Maṇḍalībhadra, he wants to make your literature perfect, which is natural because we want to make the nicest presentation. But the devotees are saying that the translation... For instance, this Easy Journey to Other Planets, has been in the process so long, it has so many times been reworked, that it's no longer palatable to them. They don't even read it. They'd rather have the English version. So I know that Your Divine Grace has said you have full faith in his ability to do the work...

Prabhupāda: No, no. If you... you find out somebody else. He can also do.

Haṁsadūta: Because my opinion is that he's becoming overworked, it's becoming strained, so much so that we're not even able to bring it to the printer because he insists on making every time more and more corrections.

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) It never comes to perfection.

Haṁsadūta: It never comes to perfection. It can, you know. For instance, this little booklet, Easy Journey to Other Planets, one of the things that has been holding it up is because the diacritic marks, to get the diacritic marks in there perfectly... We took it to a professional composer. Of course, they're not experienced, so they didn't, at first they didn't want to do it and then... At any rate, my opinion was first let us print it without the diacritic marks, and then the second edition make it with diacritic marks. Improve it by editions rather than wait until it's completely perfect before we put it on the market because...

Prabhupāda: But if once it is made perfect, then it will be easier to print more and more.

Haṁsadūta: That's true, but see, what has happened is the entire sum has been lost...

Prabhupāda: He could not finish any one?

Haṁsadūta: No, not even the magazine was finished. The magazine before this recent one, I put it together myself from old magazines.

Prabhupāda: There are so many German students. They cannot do?

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Suppose you are trying to do something and due to your inexperience you sometimes fail, that is not fault. You are trying.

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Girirāja: There are other things which we're instructed to do which even though we try to do we cannot do perfectly yet.

Prabhupāda: How is that? You try to do and cannot do? How it is?

Girirāja: Like chanting attentively. Sometimes we try to...

Prabhupāda: That is not fault. Suppose you are trying to do something and due to your inexperience you sometimes fail, that is not fault. You are trying. There is a verse in Bhāgavata that a devotee is trying his best, but due to his incapability he sometimes fails. So Kṛṣṇa excuses. And in the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said, api cet sudurācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk (BG 9.30). By, due to his bad habit, past, sometimes, not willingly, but due to his habit, habit is second nature, he does something nonsense. But that does not mean he is faulty. But he must repent for that, that "I have done this." And should try to avoid as far as possible. But habit is the second nature. Sometimes, in spite of our trying hard, the māyā is so strong, push me into pitfalls. That can be excused. Kṛṣṇa excuses. But those who are doing willingly something, that is not excused. On the strength that "I am a devotee, I am chanting. Therefore I may commit all this nonsense, it will be nullified." That is the greatest offense.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

This Saṅkīrtana Movement, even though conducted by inexperienced young men, but they are creating delight to the masses.

Room Conversation with Two Buddhist Monks -- July 12, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: We cannot understand God by our present senses. So the senses are to be purified. And that purification begins: sevonmukha, by engaging the tongue, jihvādau, in the delightful activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So practically we are getting result. These boys, they were very morose, but now they are very delightful simply by following this method, engaging the tongue in the service of Kṛṣṇa. Tongue has got two business: tasting and chanting, vibrating. So they are vibrating harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21), and tasting Kṛṣṇa prasādam. And we are practically seeing that they are becoming delightful, living very happily, preaching all over the world. I started this movement alone in 1966, but these boys, inexperienced boys, having no spiritual training... They were trained up in their own ways, meat-eating, illicit sex, intoxication, but they gave up all these habits and delightfully they are going any part of the world and preaching this cult, and we are meeting with success. It is not that I have gone every place. It is not possible. I am old man. So I give them direction. Just like this boy. He's a gṛhastha. So husband and wife, they are organizing in Germany. We have got four, five branches in Germany. We have published this record and so many books and literatures. So this Saṅkīrtana Movement, even though conducted by inexperienced young men, but they are creating delight to the masses.

Yes, you are eternal. Because you were a child and now you are grown up, but you know that you were a child. Therefore you are eternal.

Morning Walk -- December 18, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: That is God. God is always existing. Not "come from." That is God. Nityo nityānām. You are also existing. This knowledge, they are lacking. Just like I am, you are, we are eternal. We are eternal. We are changing body. Because they do not believe or do not try to understand that I am not this body, therefore the whole mistake is there.

Devotee: The scientists would use the same argument. The scientists would say, "Well, since I have not experienced that I am eternal, therefore how can I accept that I am eternal?"

Prabhupāda: Yes, you are eternal. Because you were a child and now you are grown up, but you know that you were a child. Therefore you are eternal. You were a child, but you have no that child's body. Now you have got a different body. So although you have got different body, you know that you had a body like a child. Therefore body has changed. You have not changed. That is eternity.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

If the government wants prayer, why they have prohibited in the schools? This is contradiction. Point out. This law was introduced due to inexperience.

Morning Walk -- January 12, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Do something practical. "Prayer means to chant the holy name of the Lord. If you have no holy name of the Lord, we are giving you. So you have no expenditure, neither you have any loss. So why don't you try this? Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." This will be reasonable. Is it not? And if they actually chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, then automatically the prayer and everything will be done.

Umāpati: But they still would not be allowed to do it in school. There's a law against that, officially, in school.

Prabhupāda: That you can introduce.

Umāpati: We should try to fight that?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Now in the schools, now the senator have fixed up one date for prayer?

Prajāpati: Yes, one day.

Prabhupāda: Some 30th or 31st April. So if the government wants prayer, why they have prohibited in the schools? This is contradiction. Point out. This law was introduced due to inexperience. Now they are coming to experience that it has not helped us. Therefore they are introducing prayer. So why don't you take it?

Umāpati: We should ride with that. We should try to get in on that.

Prabhupāda: Otherwise what is the use of introducing prayer again? They have experienced that this without prayer, things have failed. That's a fact. You take this point.

Experience should be taken from a person who has got real experience. Not that "Because I cannot see, it is void." That is not experience.

Morning Walk -- April 12, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, that does not mean... There are ghosts. Ghost means subtle life. It is not gross. So people know and has got some idea of the ghost, but they have no descriptive idea. Here is a descriptive idea. That is śāstra. Just like less than the śūdras, it is called pañcamas. How many pañcamas are there, that is described in the Bhāgavata. Kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra-śumbhā yavanaḥ khasādayaḥ (SB 2.4.18). That is śāstra. Gives full explanation, full knowledge. Śāstra cakṣuṣā. We have to accept through the śāstra. Not that "Because I have not seen, therefore it is false." No. Vyāsadeva has no business to tell you something false. Otherwise he would not have been accepted as the supreme guru by all the sampradāyas. You cannot defy Vyāsadeva. He is saying, you have to accept. "I have seen. I have no experience," that doesn't matter. So many things you do not know. Just like a child has no experience what is the other side of the sea. Does it mean that there is nothing? A child may say like that, but a person who has visited the Arabian countries and others, "Oh no, no, no. There are so many things." So experience should be taken from a person who has got real experience. Not that "Because I cannot see, it is void." That is not experience.

Why not experience? He knows that "I am that active principle." Everyone knows that "I am not this body." When I say, "This is my finger," I don't say, "I finger." So "I," what "I"? That realization, self-realization, that "I am part and parcel of God." So that he knows, that "I am part and parcel of God. So therefore my duty is to serve God."

Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: Or those who are engaged in devotional service, they are all... Just like these boys, my students, they are trained up how to be always in devotional service. So one who is engaged in devotional service, he is supposed to be already self-realized. Because he has understood "what I am," yes. And then he sticks to devotional service. Otherwise, he cannot. If one thinks, "I am this body," then he cannot be engaged in devotional service, or he cannot stick. He knows that "I am part and parcel of God. So my duty is to serve God." This is self-realization. And then he engages himself in devotional service.

Professor Durckheim: I say, master, that when you say he knows, you don't speak about this knowledge.

Prabhupāda: Which knowledge?

Professor Durckheim: You came already... You say "believe and by this know that I am participating in the great divine person." And yet I didn't experience it.

Prabhupāda: Why not experience? He knows that "I am that active principle." Everyone knows that "I am not this body." When I say, "This is my finger," I don't say, "I finger." So "I," what "I"? That realization, self-realization, that "I am part and parcel of God." So that he knows, that "I am part and parcel of God. So therefore my duty is to serve God." So they are engaged in serving God. So this serving God, or devotional service, is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā... Find out that verse, that:

māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa

bhakti-yogena sevate

sa guṇān samatītyaitān

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

(BG 14.26)

So unless one is self-realized, he cannot be engaged in the service of the supreme self. Ordinarily, a master and a servant, a servant knows that "I am engaged by the master. He is giving me food. He is giving me shelter. He is giving me everything for his service." So he is careful in his service. This is a material example.

I am always inexperienced because my power of understanding is very little. Therefore I must get experience from a person who is perfect.

Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: Therefore Vedic instruction is tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). In order to get first-class experience of the perfection of life, you must approach guru. That is the Vedic injunction. Samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. Now, who is guru? Whom shall I approach? So the next line explains that approach such guru, śrotriyam, who has heard from his guru perfectly, that guru. Who had no chance of hearing from perfect guru, he is not guru. This is called guru-paramparā, disciplic succession. I hear from a perfect person, and I distribute the knowledge the same way, without any change. So Kṛṣṇa gives us knowledge in the Bhagavad-gītā. We are distributing the same knowledge. It is not by our... (aside:) Water is not required. Water I don't want. There is water. So I am always inexperienced because my power of understanding is very little. Therefore I must get experience from a person who is perfect. Then my experience is perfect. Just like a child does not know what is this. he asks his father, "What is this, father?" Father says, "My dear child, it is microphone." The child knows it, "microphone?" That knowledge is perfect, although his capacity is imperfect.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

If you add some concoction just like somebody says that "I may do whatever I like independently. If I chant, then everything is all right," this is nonsense addition. It is not the fact. That is the danger. Some inexperienced man, he introduces some concoction. Sometimes they say, "Prabhupāda said it." More misleading.

Morning Walk -- February 3, 1975, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is helping one another. If I am deficient, by seeing your example I shall correct myself. This is the idea, not that a fool's paradise: all fools and join together. Not like that. There should be ideal life, at least the leaders, the president, the GBC. They will show the example, and they will follow. Then it is beneficial. And all of them are fools? Then it is fool's paradise. At least, in the blind association, at least if one man has got eyes, then he can lead all the blind men. But if all of them are blind, then it is fool's paradise. So somehow or other, we have got now a position. People likes us. So we should not spoil by personal sense gratification. That is my request. If we can maintain this institution rigidly according to the order, then many people will be benefited. By seeing our behavior, by character, they will become. Apani ācāri prabhu jīveri śikṣāya. The leader should be ideal.

Devotee (1): We should dedicate our lives to preaching this message of Lord Caitanya.

Prabhupāda: Yes, preaching, preaching, you will become perfect preacher. Preach only what you have heard from Kṛṣṇa and guru, that's all. Don't add and subtract. Then you are secure. And if you add some concoction just like somebody says that "I may do whatever I like independently. If I chant, then everything is all right," this is nonsense addition. It is not the fact. That is the danger. Some inexperienced man, he introduces some concoction. Sometimes they say, "Prabhupāda said it." More misleading. Yes.

It is not just we. You have to become expert to convert another expert. If you are not experienced, how you can convert others?

Morning Walk -- May 8, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Yes, Caitanya Mahāprabhu's... Śrī-caitanya-mano 'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale, svayaṁ rūpa gosvāmī. Who established the mission of Caitanya Mahāprabhu? Rūpa Gosvāmī. He was minister. He was not a cultivator, plow department.

Paramahaṁsa: It's very difficult in Kali-yuga to get the advanced materialists such as ministers and big businessmen...

Prabhupāda: You can convert. It is not difficulty. How the Rūpa Gosvāmī was converted? Because the expert man... That person was Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So if you become expert, you can convert. How this governor was coming, how these politicians were coming?

Paramahaṁsa: Because you're the expert.

Prabhupāda: It is not just we. You have to become expert to convert another expert. If you are not experienced, how you can convert others?

Paramahaṁsa: Is it true that you will end up converting people according to your own..., in other words, you convert people of your own caliber?

Prabhupāda: Not own caliber, any caliber. That requires expert management.

If you assemble some not experienced men, then how there will be unity?

Room Conversation with Yogi Bhajan -- June 7, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Bhagavad-gītā and the education is there, that, immediately Kṛṣṇa says, dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Asmin dehe, there is the soul. This is the beginning of education. But there are many learned scholars; they do not believe in the soul. That is the difficulty. They do not believe. A big, big professor.... I have been in Moscow. Professor Kotovsky, he said, "No, there is no soul. After this finishing of the body, everything is finished."

Yogi Bhajan: But they don't have experience.

Prabhupāda: Therefore... So if you assemble some not experienced men, then how there will be unity?

Yogi Bhajan: No, granted. What we are trying to do is we are giving out a call to all learned, the unlearned... But basic fact is: there is a desire somewhere in the ether that everybody wants to feel each other. And they have not done anything good by negating each other or talking negatively. They have not gained anything. They have realized it now. Otherwise...

Prabhupāda: Now, what will be the basic principle of unity? That is the point.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

That means our men were not experienced, Jagadīśa and Govardhana.

Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: There was no objection.

Mādhavānanda: He sold it to the lawyer, Ambarīṣa's lawyer. He did not do a very good job for us, and the proof is that the owner sold the boat to the lawyer. He got a very good deal. So he was working with Groane(?), the former owner.

Prabhupāda: In his favor.

Mādhavānanda: In his favor.

Prabhupāda: Cheating.

Mādhavānanda: Yes. And the boys were not experienced enough to protect the property. Chandeliers were taken, statues, some furniture. It was not done very nicely.

Prabhupāda: That means our men were not experienced, Jagadīśa and Govardhana. Who else? Who was in charge?

Mādhavānanda: Govardhana was the president. If the lawyer knows you do not know, then he will take advantage. (break) He measured the two rooms, and the lecture hall length is forty-seven feet and twenty-seven feet wide. And the temple room length from the back to the altar, not including the Deities room, altar, is fifty feet.

Prabhupāda: Smaller.

Your fertile brain, when it is operated with hammer, so you did not experience? How do you say that you have no experience? You are suffering every moment.

Garden Conversation -- June 28, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: No experience? You are not diseased? Do you want disease? Still, you say you have no experience? When you are put into some disease and go to hospital and the doctor surgically operates your body, so you have no experience? You did not want that. Your fertile brain, when it is operated with hammer, so you did not experience? How do you say that you have no experience? You are suffering every moment. But you don't want suffering. How do you say that there is no experience? That is foolishness. They are suffering every moment, adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika. Still, you say you have no experience? Means shameless. In Indian language we call vehāyā. He has got repeated experience; still, he'll say, "No, I don't care for it."

Rādhāvallabha: How does he have experience of rebirth?

Prabhupāda: Apart from that... That you have to take. Because you are put into difficulty which you do not want, this is your experience. So the intelligent man's question will be that "I did not want this, but who has put me into this condition?" That is intelligent.

You are going to Hare Kṛṣṇa through Nitāi-Gaura. Nitāiyer karuṇā habe braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pābe. The principle is don't try to manufacture. Because you are not experienced.

Garden Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Offense is that what is spoken by the ācāryas, if you do not follow, that is offense. Guror avajñā. That is offense. To chant Gaura-Nitāi is no offense. But if our previous gurus have chanted śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda śrī-advaita—why should we go beyond that? That is guror avajñā. Even there is no aparādha, because guru, Kavirāja Gosvāmī, has sung like that and my guru has sung, we should follow that. We should not make any deviation. That is guror avajñā śruti-śāstra-nindanam. Nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ. So it comes to be one of the items of the daśa-vidha-aparādha. Guror avajñā.

Caraṇāravindam: Should we consider that it's more beneficial for people to hear bhaja śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya...

Prabhupāda: Why? There is already... Why should you go here and there? There is already śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda. Why you are so anxious to go out of it?

Caraṇāravindam: No, I'm saying is it more beneficial for people to hear that mantra than the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Is it more beneficial for people to hear the Pañca-tattva mantra than the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra?

Prabhupāda: Oh yes. You are going to Hare Kṛṣṇa through Nitāi-Gaura. Nitāiyer karuṇā habe braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pābe. The principle is don't try to manufacture. Because you are not experienced. So what nonsense you will manufacture, that will be offensive. Better go on, the simple thing.

No, it's not experience. Then there is no. If you do not accept one authority, then there is no answer of your question.

Room Conversation with Indian Man -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Prabhupāda: Now where you get the knowledge?

Indian man: From the learned one.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So who can be learned more than Kṛṣṇa?

Indian man: To be honest about this whole thing as for memory level goes, I have forgotten the Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. By the virtue of coming in contact with you realized people, we can also understand. Otherwise it's the gospel truth, written in scripture, holy men say we accept it. It's not our experience.

Prabhupāda: No, it's not experience. Then there is no. If you do not accept one authority, then there is no answer of your question.

Indian man: We have to accept. But realization is not there, as you holy men will say.

Prabhupāda: We don't require realization. Realization will be had.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

That is not experience. That is only dream. That is not experience. Nobody has seen. Somebody came, (indistinct) only saw. And there are other devotees, he is so advanced, only he could see.

Room Conversation -- January 28, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: They came. Nobody could see. Only he could see. This is bogus. You should never encourage that. This is bogus! That's all. If somebody comes, everyone will see. And "If I see only; nobody can see," this is bogus. Don't encourage these bogus things.

Pṛthu-putra: I don't encourage these things.

Prabhupāda: "Only he could see." He's so advanced, his eyes are only fit to see that and nobody, others. That is bogus. Others have also eyes. But oh, he has got transcendental eyes.

Pṛthu-putra: No, no. It wasn't like this. It's not thing like this. It's not... No, but from...

Prabhupāda: Why you become authority of understand? That is not good.

Pṛthu-putra: Because I had these experiences, and they don't me deviated from studying...

Prabhupāda: That is not experience. That is only dream. That is not experience. Nobody has seen. Somebody came, (indistinct) only saw. And there are other devotees, he is so advanced, only he could see. This is bogus. This is bogus. They came. Nobody could see, only he could see. This is bogus. You should never encourage it. This is bogus, that's all. If somebody comes, everyone will see. If I see only, everyone... This is bogus. Don't encourage it, bogus.

Pṛthu-putra: I'm not encouraging these things.

Prabhupāda: Only he could see, he's so advanced, for his eyes only. He could see, and nobody else. That is bogus. Others have also eyes. But he has got transcendental eyes.

And he is not experienced.

Room Conversation -- November 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No, you have to stop.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, that's not necessarily the only solution, to stop. I just explained, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that that is not the only way. Another way may be that they add some other kind of medicine which stops the passing of stool. The medicine you're getting is supposed to be doing good to your kidney and liver. That it causes you to pass stool, that is not good, but at the same time, it may be doing good for the kidney and liver. If you stop taking it, then how will you heal the kidney and liver? Simply by not passing stool, that's not going to heal the kidney and liver. What we want is that you should not pass stool too much and at the same time you can still have your kidney and liver healed. Naturally, if you stop taking medicine, the stool may stop passing.

Prabhupāda: And he is not experienced.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, I don't know ...He's not as... The point is, for such a thing that you have now, passing stool, I don't think that requires a highly learned kavirāja. That's a common ailment, that someone passes stool too easily. That's not a very difficult ailment to take care of.

Prabhupāda: So consult him.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm. I think this is the time to do that. This is a side effect of taking the medicine. Just giving up taking medicine may solve one problem, but it's not going to solve the main problem. This is to say that we're putting some hope on this kavirāja from Calcutta. If eventually he is shown that his medicine didn't work, then I won't..., I wouldn't say anything. But I'm going on the argument that his medicine is doing some good. So I don't want to see it stopped. So you have no objection if we consult the other kavirāja, do you?

Prabhupāda: What can be done?

1973 Correspondence

Sometimes in the neophyte stage of devotional service, in order to withstand the attack of Maya and remain strong under all conditions of temptation, young or inexperienced devotees will adopt an attitude against those things or persons possibly harmful, threatening to their tender devotional creeper.

Letter to Lynne Ludwig -- Los Angeles 30 April, 1973:

Your complaint is that you have met two of my young disciples in California and they appeared to you as having "a very negative outlook towards the people they meet." Of course, I do not know the case, what are the circumstances, but kindly forgive my beloved disciples any unkindness or indiscretions on their part. After all, to give up one's life completely for serving the Lord is not so easy thing. And Maya, or the illusory material energy, she tries especially hard to try to get back and entrap those who have left her service to become Devotees. So sometimes in the neophyte stage of devotional service, in order to withstand the attack of Maya and remain strong under all conditions of temptation, young or inexperienced devotees will adopt an attitude against those things or persons possibly harmful, threatening to their tender devotional creeper. They may even over-indulge in such feelings just to protect themselves, and thus they will appear to some non-devotees, who are perhaps themselves still very enamoured by the material energy of Maya, as being negative or pessimistic.

1975 Correspondence

I have never said that my disciples should sever all relationships with friends, relatives and others, but sometimes an inexperienced devotee may do it out of fear of being too much attracted to the materialistic way of life by associating with such persons.

Letter to Doctor Currier -- 15 February, 1975 Mexico City, Mexico:

Thank you for your kind suggestions and interest in our movement. In brief, I have always instructed my disciples to eat only healthy foodstuffs which will be beneficial for the body and mind. Not only that, but I have also instructed that whatever they eat must be first offered to the Supreme Lord Krishna for His pleasure and then they can take the remnants which are called Prasadam or mercy of the Lord. We are very practical. Whatever is necessary for the maintenance of the body and mind, we will accept. I have never said that my disciples should sever all relationships with friends, relatives and others, but sometimes an inexperienced devotee may do it out of fear of being too much attracted to the materialistic way of life by associating with such persons. An experienced devotee is strong enough not to be affected, rather he can help others to become purified by his association. For more information, I suggest you visit one of our centers there in California. Thank you again for your concern.